The United States, by all indications, will soon become a belligerent in Syria’s civil war. The Syrian government‘s alleged use of chemical weapons to kill hundreds crossed a redline that U.S. President Barack Obama claimed a year ago would be the game changer, and the game for Washington, London, and Paris has clearly changed. Yet […]
WASHINGTON: The US-China rivalry is today’s defining geostrategic competition. Washington is currently the biggest kid on the block, and Beijing is the strapping new boy who just moved into the neighborhood. A rivalry was almost inevitable. And there’s growing evidence that the other kids on the street expect that one day there will be a […]
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not a crazy, irrational, or reckless zealot searching for opportunities for aggression, as this sweeping intellectual profile shows. That means there’s room for the United States and Iran to improve ties — if Washington can convince Khamenei it’s not determined to overthrow the Islamic Republic. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
Iran has positioned itself as an important regional actor in Central Asia and is committed to playing a role in neighboring Afghanistan. As U.S. troops draw down their numbers in Afghanistan, Washington should consider how improved U.S.-Iranian relations could further long-term U.S. policy goals in Afghanistan and in the region. Read Here – Carnegie Endowment […]
When he visited Washington in February of last year, then Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping talked about “a new type of relationship between major countries in the 21st century.” Since then, he has been elevated to general secretary of the Communist Party and this formulation has been shortened to “a new type of great-power relationship.” American […]
Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan‘s new prime minister, faces important challenges if he is to improve his country’s economic and security situation, as well as make progress in relationships with Kabul, New Delhi and Washington. His first priority, however, will be to forge a good working relationship with the military. Read Here – IISS
India’s addition would only enhance the TPP’s transformative potential. And a TPP including India would do more to buttress Washington’s ties to New Delhi than any number of high-level junkets. What’s not to like? Read Here – Politico
Remember when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict made front pages every day and the United States fought wars to secure oil and gas in the Middle East? Back then, the region’s political problems were of primary economic importance to Americans. But now, as the prospect of energy independence dawns, to whom does the Middle East really matter? […]
The United States is facing the worst of all worlds in the Middle East: interventions that erode Washington’s prestige and popularity but fail to exert enough influence to secure U.S. interests. If Secretary of State John Kerry‘s effort to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks is to succeed — and if the United States is to secure its […]
Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan‘s new prime minister, has already made clear that, unlike his predecessors, he won’t tacitly endorse the United States’ current counterterrorism operations. That leaves Washington with one option: finding some way to cooperate with Islamabad on drone strikes without diminishing their effectiveness. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
looking beyond borders 