The CIA Original Headquarters Building at Langley, Virginia (CIA photo).

The summer’s headlines—from how to verify the Iran deal to combating the self-declared Islamic State to, most recently, new revelations about the National Security Agency (NSA) and the telecom giant AT&T—all have something in common: the role of intelligence in keeping the United States safe. For better or worse, since the release of diplomatic cables from Wikileaks and classified NSA documents from former government contractor Edward Snowden, the American public has a deeper understanding of at least some of the ways that intelligence contributes to U.S. national security. The NSA documents were the source of The New York Times’ recent […]

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks during a ceremony to mark the 68th anniversary of Martyrs' Day at the headquarters of her National League for Democracy Party, Yangon, Myanmar, July 19, 2015 (AP photo by Khin Maung Win).

After months of deliberation and conflicting public statements, it’s finally official: Myanmar’s principal opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), will contest elections set for Nov. 8. Party leader and venerated pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi made the announcement last month, despite expressed reservations that the election will not be completely fair. Those sentiments have grown this month, after deadly floods in much of the country killed nearly 100 people and displaced more than 250,000. Suu Kyi and other opposition members worry that Myanmar’s generals may use the floods as an excuse to delay or interfere in the […]

The Vladivostok Mistral-class helicopter carrier docks at Saint-Nazaire harbor, France, Nov. 14, 2014 (AP photo by Laetitia Notarianni).

After reports last week that France and Russia reached a deal on compensation for France’s decision to cancel the sale of two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said in an interview Friday that the exact amount France will pay Russia will be announced when the deal is approved by Parliament. It was first reported that France would repay Russia $1.3 billion for the nixed deal, which would include compensation for the training of 400 Russian sailors and updated port infrastructure in Vladivostok. Reports later surfaced that the price tag would be closer to $2.2 billion. But […]

Police prevent demonstrators marking Teacher's Day from approaching the Zocalo plaza in Mexico City, May 15, 2015 (AP photo by Marco Ugarte).

The ongoing fight over education reform in Mexico has often resembled a popular uprising rather than a labor dispute. Over the past two years, members of a powerful teachers’ union from the south of the country have occupied plazas, hijacked local radio stations and disrupted elections in their bid to have a controversial 2013 bill restructuring Mexico’s public school system revoked. The clash between union leaders and the federal government has defined much of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s time in office, as he has pursued an ambitious reform agenda that has stalled under corruption allegations and popular unrest, mostly over […]

Fox News moderators Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier speak before Republican presidential candidates take the stage for the first Republican presidential debate Cleveland, Oh. Aug. 6, 2015 (AP photo by Andrew Harnik).

A glance at the most popular sources of political news today—whether websites, television, radio or, for the old-fashioned consumers, print—provides a stark reminder that in the United States, politics and celebrity have merged. For superstar pundits, television and radio “infotainers,” and would-be office-holders, celebrity status equals political influence. This affects all aspects of American politics but is particularly powerful in the realm of security policy, where the public has little direct expertise and so must lean heavily on opinion-shapers. It wasn’t always this way. Once the public tended to defer to national security authorities who had earned their influence through […]

People hold up pictures of the victims from the AMIA Jewish community center bombing on the 21st anniversary of the terror attack, Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 17, 2015 (AP photo by Victor R. Caivano).

A new high-profile trial started last week in Buenos Aires, opening another act in the cloak-and-dagger drama surrounding a decades-old terrorist attack in the Argentine capital. Once again, charges and countercharges about Middle Eastern powers, shady characters and secret payments to local players are bound to come to light. Once again, the principal perpetrators will escape punishment in a case that has continued to claim victims as recently as this year, when the case’s special prosecutor, still leading an ongoing parallel investigation, was found dead in his apartment. When this court proceeding ends, the one thing that is certain is […]

Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso addresses the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly, U.N. headquarters, New York, Sept. 26, 2014 (AP photo by Richard Drew).

On Tuesday, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, president of the Republic of Congo, removed two ministers who had recently opposed constitutional amendments he proposed to facilitate his candidacy for a third presidential term in 2016. Sassou, as he is referred to in Congo, is among Africa’s longest-serving dictators and has held power almost continuously since his military appointment in 1979. After losing power in the country’s first multiparty elections in 1992, he emerged victorious in 1997—backed by Angolan troops—following a bloody civil war. He has retained power since. His push, then, to amend the constitution to extend his rule came as no surprise. […]

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak at a government event, Putrajaya, Malaysia, July 8, 2015 (AP photo by Vincent Thian).

Since early July, when The Wall Street Journal and the Sarawak Report, an investigative website, reported that companies linked to the embattled, indebted Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB had allegedly transferred up to $700 million into the personal accounts of Prime Minister Najib Razak, Malaysia’s normally placid politics have exploded. The allegations came amid an ongoing battle within the ruling coalition between Najib and supporters of longtime former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. On Monday, Mahathir declared in a statement that democracy in Malaysia was dead, “because an elected leader chooses to subvert the institutions of government and make them his […]

Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and first lady Rosario Murillo commemorate the 36th anniversary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front withdrawal to Masaya, Managua, Nicaragua, July 3, 2015 (AP photo by Esteban Felix).

Thirty-six years after the 1979 revolution that overthrew the entrenched Somoza dynasty, Nicaraguans still fill Plaza La Fe in Managua to celebrate Liberation Day festivities every July 19. While to some it may look like an exercise in grand nostalgia, supporters of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and President Daniel Ortega view the revolution as an ongoing process. Yet some question how far the current administration has drifted from the guiding principles of the revolution and claim he is building a dynasty of his own. Ortega’s Return and the Consolidation of Power After being voted out of power following […]

Indian Prime Minister meets with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Nov. 12, 2014 (Photo from the website of the Indian Prime Minister).

Last month, India and Thailand signed a series of agreements, including a tax avoidance deal and extradition treaty. In an email interview, Pongphisoot Busbarat, a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asia Institute, discussed India-Thailand relations. WPR: How extensive are Thailand’s economic ties with India, and what are the main areas of cooperation? Pongphisoot Busbarat: Thailand’s economic ties with India are multilayered, based on bilateral, subregional and regional schemes. These arrangements were made possible by the complementarity of both countries’ foreign policy strategies since the early 1990s: India’s “Look East” policy and Thailand’s “Look West” policy. The Joint Commission […]

President Barack Obama speaks about the nuclear deal with Iran at American University, Washington, Aug. 5, 2015 (AP photo by Carolyn Kaster).

Last week at American University, Barack Obama gave one of the most important foreign policy speeches of his presidency. In it, he laid out his detailed argument for supporting the Iran nuclear deal. The president offered a veritable legal brief on why the deal makes the most sense for U.S. national security interests, why it’s better than any alternative, why its critics are wrong and why the agreement builds on a “tradition of strong, principled diplomacy” in U.S. foreign policy. But beyond that, Obama’s speech did something with even greater implications. It highlighted the widening dividing line between Democrats and […]

Fighters against Shiite Houthi rebels stand on their armored vehicles on a road leading to Al-Anad base near Aden in the southern province of Lahej, Yemen, Aug. 3, 2015 (AP photo by Wael Qubady).

Soon after the initial shock of Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in Yemen against Houthi rebels and military units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh had subsided, an important question arose. Would Riyadh, reorienting itself as an aggressive regional military force to be reckoned with—and no longer willing to ride on the coattails of the United States—put boots on the ground in Yemen? The new Saudi monarch, King Salman, and his son Mohammed bin Salman, the young defense minister and deputy crown prince, signaled their willingness to send troops into Yemen—just not their own. But they had trouble enlisting help […]

President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro during their historic meeting at the Summit of the Americas, Panama City, Panama, April 11, 2015 (AP photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais).

On July 20, an honor guard of three Cuban soldiers in full dress uniform raised the island country’s flag over the embassy in Washington for the first time since January 1961. The re-establishment of diplomatic relations concluded “the first stage” of the dialogue between the United States and Cuba, said Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, but a “complex and certainly long process” of negotiations still lay ahead before the two countries would have truly normal relations. “The challenge is huge,” he added, “because there have never been normal relations between the United States of America and Cuba.” Indeed, myriad issues still […]

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe holds a wreath during a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, Nagasaki, southern Japan Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015 (AP photo by Eugene Hoshiko).

Almost 70 years to the day after the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and four and a half years after suspending its entire nuclear energy program, Japan restarted a nuclear reactor today, the first to operate under new safety requirements adopted in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster. While the news is noteworthy in and of itself, Japan’s historical approach to its civil nuclear program, as well as to nuclear weapons in particular, is especially instructive in light of the Iran nuclear deal. Many observers have suggested over the years that Iran could well aspire to the so-called Japan […]

U.S. Navy ships in formation with Indian navy ships during Exercise Malabar 2012 (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James R. Evans).

Last month, after years of hedging on the issue, India agreed to include Japan as a permanent participant in its annual Malabar naval exercises with the United States, set this year for October. Japan has participated in the Malabar exercises before, but only as an invited observer. The decision to expand the Malabar exercises is a significant turning point not just for India’s role in the region, but also for the development of the trilateral relationship among the U.S., Japan and India. This long-underperforming trilateral partnership brings together the U.S. and the two largest and most influential democracies in the […]

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks to reporters at United Nations headquarters, July 28, 2015 (AP photo by Seth Wenig).

Last month, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro formally requested that the U.N. mediate its long-standing border dispute with Guyana. In an email interview, Mark Kirton, senior lecturer at the University of the West Indies, discussed Guyana’s relations with Venezuela and the impact of the territorial dispute on bilateral ties. WPR: How extensive are Venezuela and Guyana’s political and economic relations, and what are the main areas of cooperation? Mark Kirton: Relations between the two countries are characterized by prolonged periods of controversy and tension, interspersed with short periods of economic and political cooperation. Tensions stem from Venezuela’s claim to the Essequibo […]

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution creating a Joint Investigative Mechanism to identify those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria, New York, Aug. 7, 2015 (U.N. photo by Eskinder Debebe).

The United Nations was famously founded to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” It has a distinctly mixed track record on this front. Today, the U.N.’s goal often seems to be best described as making the scourge of war a little bit less dreadful. The Security Council demonstrated this tendency last Friday, when it endorsed an American-backed resolution launching a new panel to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria’s civil war. The panel, which will involve the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), is empowered to identify those responsible for dropping […]

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