Dive into the archives.
- Isolating Iran
I guess football really does reflect global politics. Iran was banned from FIFA today for government interference. The Iranian sports ministry is famous for its heavy-handedness. Iran’s FIFA ranking will go from 38 to nil. I wonder if Iran will accuse FIFA of being a tool of America like Canada?
- Recognizing Global Integration and Regional Fragmentation
Although rather a post for Younghusband, there’s interesting news from Canada today:
PM to recognize francophone Quebec as ‘a nation’
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Parliament he would recognize the country’s francophone Quebec province as a “nation” within Canada. In an unprecedented move to woo Quebec separatists, he said he would present a motion later [...]
- French Judge issues warrant for Rwandan President
(Europe’s peculiar approach to “human rights” laws have been previously discussed here, here, and here.)
The West didn’t lift a proverbial finger to help Rwanda during the 1994 genocide that left 900,000 citizens dead. Yet now the Paris prosecutor’s office has approved warrants for the arrest of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and other military and [...]
- The Perilous Balance between Realism and Idealism
Kaplan has some words on the future of interventionism, the Democratic victory in the congressional elections, and America’s challenge of balancing realism and idealism in foreign affairs.
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Interventionism’s Realistic Future
By Robert D. Kaplan
Wednesday, November 22, 2006; A21Hard-core foreign policy realists (the kind who say this country should rarely intervene again, anywhere) are hoping [...]
- The nationalist arms race in NE Asia
The Power and Interest News Report — a new to me site that provides geopolitical analysis from an IR realist point of view, “leaving the moral judgments to the reader” — offers an analysis on Japan’s leadership and regional relations:
Nationalism has been rising in all three countries [Japan, China, Korea], and reversing this trend will [...]
- Ending a Quarter Century of Enmity
Although the US was hostile towards both Syria and Iraq through the 1990s, those two states themselves were on very unfriendly terms. During the Iran-Iraq War, secular Baathist Syria sided with the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Baathist regime in Iraq, showing that domestic governing ideology means little when realpolitik is in play. [...]
- Jihad Tax
I recently had the opportunity to attend a seminar on foreign investment in Libya, which has spent this year making great efforts to attract overseas investment in its oil fields. American, Japanese, and French countries are winning the largest number of concession agreements in recent bids, but there is much left to be explored. [...]
- Flash Mob Shield
An interesting use of swarming:
Palestinians form human shield in Gaza City
Hundreds of Palestinians formed a human shield around the home of a militant in the northern Gaza Strip to prevent an Israeli airstrike on the building, residents said. People flocked to the home of Mohammedweil Baroud after he received a warning from the army late [...]
- Listening to Iraqi voices
Here is an interesting video blog seen tonight on CNN: Alive in Bagdad
Each week they post a short video (3-7 mins) from Iraq made by an Iraqi civilian. From their mission statement:
Alive in Baghdad is empowering Iraqis to share their stories with the world, and provides a place of education and interaction for global citizens [...]
- Korea admits Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals Void?
Via the Marmot (here and here), the Korean government Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism has cleared 83 of 148 Koreans convicted by the Allies of war crimes during World War II. On what grounds? Turns out the Koreans were victims of Japanese imperialism, suffering the “double pain”Â? of [...]
