Faced with greater diplomatic pressure from Beijing and belt-tightening in Washington, U.S. allies like Japan have started to rearm in earnest. Asia is quickly becoming “the most militarized region in the world.” U.S. partners and allies in the region plan to spend 53 percent more between 2013 and 2018 than they did in the previous five-year period. […]
At the turn of the century Afghanistan was economically comatose. The arrival of international forces in 2001 also marked the start of unprecedented international support. After 12 years of conflict, Afghanistan remains a burden for the international community. Read Here – The Diplomat
“Sarajevo, 21st-century version.” This is how political scientist Anne-Marie Slaughter, the director of policy planning under former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, refers to what is currently brewing off the Chinese coast, where the territorial claims of several nations overlap. Read Here – Der Spiegel
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat once called it the last war. But 40 years after Sadat uttered those words, the Arab-Israeli conflict has no end in sight. The story of the war that Egyptians call the October War and Israelis know as the Yom Kippur War has never been thoroughly explored. Read Here – Al jazzeera
As U.S.-Iranian diplomacy heats up, and the Israeli prime minister expresses worry about the risks of negotiations, it’s fascinating to look back 40 years ago to the prelude to the 1973 Arab-Israeli war – when a hauntingly similar set of circumstances prevailed. Read here – The Daily Star
As American troops prepare to leave Afghanistan, the country and its current rulers prepare to face a new reality: the return of the Taliban. Read Here – Der Spiegel
The recent deal on Syria could be jeopardised by the various conflicting alliances and interests of the countries in the region Read Here – The Hindu
Turkish-Iranian posturing on Syria, with Ankara arguing for more than limited strikes against the regime and Tehran saying that whoever strikes President Bashar al-Assad must bear the consequences, serves as a harbinger for the birth of a new Middle East order. Read Here – CNN
Has Iran’s position on Syria begun to change? This is a crucial question, as Iran’s tone toward military action against Syria has altered from being threatening throughout years of supporting Bashar al-Assad, to becoming much milder. It appears as though the issues around the chemical weapons instigated this change; the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, strongly […]
Kabul is not kind to drivers. It’s a city still expanding between mountains from which rival warlords used to lob ordnance at one another, and the legacy of those men who once laid waste to what was below remains here, on the streets, in the craters they left behind. Read here – The Atlantic
looking beyond borders 