Since Nixon’s visit to Beijing, the US has talked to China in every conceivable format, yet relations continue to strain. It’s time for American leadership to show strength rather than conciliation. Read Here – WorldAffairsJournal
European security officials had finally gained the upper hand over privacy advocates when it came to intelligence sharing with the United States. But after revelations of the NSA‘s expansive European spying program, the pendulum is about to swing the other way. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
Trade is not a cure-all for grinding poverty, but a free-trade deal between Pakistan and India would help foster economic growth and regional peace. And the political timing has never been better. Pakistan‘s new Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, should seize the moment. Read Here – Christian Science Monitor
The rejection by Egyptians of their Islamist government marks a turning point — not only for that country, but for the entire Middle East. Over the course of the past couple weeks, the Egyptian people have made a clear and powerful statement that political Islam cannot and should not be allowed to suppress the broader popular […]
The Abbottabad (Osama bin Laden) Commission has concluded that the global terror kingpin’s nine-year-long stay in Pakistan and the May 2011 secret US raid, in which he was killed, were because of “gross incompetence” of the state institutions, but was particularly critical of ISI for being too casual in first tracking him and then investigating the May […]
World economic growth will struggle to accelerate this year as a U.S. expansion weakens,China’s economy levels off and Europe’s recession deepens, the International Monetary Fund said. Read Here – Bloomberg
More and more, unmanned machines such as drones are waging war. So far, governments kept humans as the operators. But now militaries worldwide are developing armed autonomous robots with the capacity to use lethal force on their own. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
It would be perversely ironic if Edward Snowden’s crusade against the U.S. government Internet surveillance programs resulted in less Internet freedom in Russia. Read Here – Moscow Times
Two groups of people — The Muslim Brotherhood and the military — will determine Egypt’s future and it is important understand which direction events could go, writes Omar Ashour Read Here – Bloomberg
General (retired) Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s former military strongman and once Washington’s trusted ally in the war on terror, may soon be prosecuted, the first time in the country’s history that a former army chief will face legal action for violating the constitution and tampering with its democratic institutions. Read Here – The Hindu
looking beyond borders 