Diplomacy & Politics Archive

The news this past weekend of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s impending return to the presidency has elicited a wide range of commentary on the potential impact it might have on Russia’s foreign policy and, in particular, on U.S.-Russia relations. There are several key points that one should keep in mind when considering the development. First, in the years since he left office in 2008 after serving as president since 2000, Putin has remained Russia’s most powerful figure. He has been able to determine policy in any area and any direction, constrained only by objective factors related to Russian state […]

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung recently visited Indonesia, where he and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed to establish joint patrols of their countries’ maritime border. In an email interview, Donald Weatherbee (.pdf), a professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina, discussed Indonesia-Vietnam relations. WPR: What is the recent history of Indonesia-Vietnam diplomatic, trade and defense relations? Donald Weatherbee: Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Indonesia earlier this month was the usual courtesy call by a newly named head of government to his counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Indonesia and a Hanoi-based […]

There is broad bipartisan agreement that few national security issues are as critical as how to deal with America’s crippling debt. Getting America’s fiscal house in order will require difficult budgetary choices. This means that we need to make smart decisions about what is most needed to safeguard U.S. national security in the 21st century. A close look at the Pentagon budget reveals numerous programs that are more suitable to defeating the Cold War-era Soviet Union than to addressing current security threats, such as weak and failing states, cyberattacks and nuclear terrorism. A particularly egregious example is the budget for […]

The real clash of civilizations in the 21st century will be not over religion, but over food. As the emerging East and surging South achieve appreciable amounts of disposable income, they’re increasingly taking on a Western-style diet. This bodes poorly for the world on multiple levels, with the most-alarmist Cassandras warning about imminent resource wars. But the more immediate and realistic concern is the resulting health costs, which will inevitably trigger a rule-set clash between nanny-state types hell-bent on “reining in” a number of globalized industries — agriculture, food and beverages, restaurants, health care and pharmaceuticals — and those preferring […]

If only UN walls could talk, center stage drama would be their story. ­From the confrontational, to the surprising, to the outright wacky — the UN General Assembly pilgrimage never fails to impress.

A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel ruled earlier this year that China was violating its obligations in restricting exports of several raw materials. In an email interview, Terence Stewart, an expert in international trade law at the law firm Stewart and Stewart, discussed China’s compliance with its WTO obligations. WPR: What has been China’s track record on compliance with its WTO obligations since its accession in 2001? Terence Stewart: China’s accession to the WTO has been a great experiment for the global trading system. Many of China’s obligations were phased in, so not all obligations were in place by late-2001. […]

In an effort to defuse the short-term crisis generated by the Palestinian push for United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state this week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has offered a compromise proposal: a “precise timetable” of negotiations under the aegis of the Quartet that would produce a final status agreement between Palestinians and Israelis in a year’s time. The proposal’s utility as a practical means of generating an actual solution is minimal, but it could represent a face-saving off-ramp way for the U.S. from the current confrontation. On paper, setting deadlines for negotiations makes sense. But in the real world, […]

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement last week that he will introduce sweeping reforms has mostly met with a positive reception. Some observers have also added that in seizing the political initiative on reform, he has stopped the momentum of Bersih, a grouping of 62 civil society organizations closely associated with the opposition coalition. There are grounds for a less-rosy assessment, however. What Najib has promised, and how Bersih is likely to respond, needs to be seen in the context of both Najib’s recent slump in popularity and indications that he wants to burnish his image before calling a snap […]

China has strongly condemned US plans for a $5.3bn upgrade to Taiwan’s US-built F-16s, calling it a “grave interference” in its internal affairs and threatened to undermine relations with the United States.

A Muslim woman has launched a bid to become the president of France in protest against a ban on Islamic veils.

The recent Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling ordering Venezuela to stop trying to block a leading opposition candidate from challenging President Hugo Chávez in upcoming elections has breathed fresh life into the field of candidates seeking to unseat the Venezuelan leader. The ruling, met by brazen criticism from Chávez, paves the way for Leopoldo López Mendoza, the 40-year-old former mayor of a wealthy Caracas suburb, to run in primary elections slated for next February. More importantly, according to Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, the ruling sets the stage for […]

Japan recently moved to provide aid to the rail sector in Bangladesh, with as much as $1.7 billion in infrastructure funds under discussion. In an email interview, Purnendra Jain, a professor at the University of Adelaide’s Center for Asian Studies, discussed Japan-South Asia relations. WPR: What is the state of Japan’s relations with South Asian countries, and who are its major interlocutors? Purnendra Jain: Japan’s overall relations with the South Asian nations have had a rather low profile throughout the postwar period. Japan became a lead supplier of official development assistance (ODA) to a number of countries — such as […]

At first sight, ideology readily suggests itself as the main explanation for Turkey’s redefinition of its relations with Israel. After all, the gradual rift and impending breakdown of strategic relations between the two countries began once the moderately Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) rose to power in Turkey. Upon closer examination, however, other factors are more fundamental in accounting for the split. Simply put, Turkey no longer needs Israel. This change is related less to the Turkish government’s Islamic ideology and more to geopolitical trends and a concomitant shift in the global and regional balance of power. While ideology […]

When Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in his Tunisian village last December, nobody knew he would electrify the entire Arab world and send the existing political order in the region into a long period of turmoil. Very quickly, however, there were signs that the success of Tunisian demonstrators in toppling their long-ruling dictator had sparked something important — something with probably lasting, although unclear consequences. As the first signs emerged that the movement might catch on elsewhere in the region, a catchy label derived from Czechoslovakia’s brief Cold War-era uprising against Soviet rule quickly engraved itself in the Western […]

The recent announcement by Turkey of a new vision for the Middle East to be built upon a burgeoning alliance with Egypt raises the question of whether such a partnership could be realistic in the years ahead. Turkey’s desire for such a partnership was evident in the bold description provided last weekend by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who called for an “axis of democracy” anchored upon the region’s two biggest nations. However, the extent to which Egypt may be willing to embrace such an alliance is far from certain, says Michele Dunne, director of the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center […]

This is the second of a two-part series examining the policies and political challenges facing the new government of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Part I examined domestic issues. Part II examines foreign policy and the implications for regional stability. With its domestic opponents watching closely for missteps, the government of Thailand’s recently elected prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, will have to tread extremely carefully in matters of foreign policy. The mishandling of relations with Cambodia by the administration of Yingluck’s predecessor, former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, had resulted in border skirmishes that killed 28 people this year alone. Yingluck’s Pheu […]

Ten years ago, the concept of “network-centric warfare” dominated U.S. military thinking and deployment. An outgrowth of work associated with the Revolution in Military Affairs, network-centric warfare envisioned a battle space in which information dominance and standoff killing power gave the U.S. military supremacy across the combat spectrum. Influential in doctrine and acquisitions, network-centric warfare offered the tempting promise of eliminating Carl von Clausewitz’ fog of war, making the battlefield legible and, for well-prepared U.S. forces, malleable. Platforms such as the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship and DDG-1000, the Army’s Future Combat System, and the F-35 multirole combat aircraft were envisioned […]