Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, China, June 9, 2015 (Wang Zhao/Pool Photo via AP).

During a session of the Angolan parliament late last month, members of the main opposition party, UNITA, boycotted a vote on a private investment law because of concerns over transparency. It was a rare display of dissent against President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, with some UNITA lawmakers questioning the details surrounding recent loan deals with China, struck during dos Santos’ visit to Beijing in June. “How much did our president get from China? Nobody knows. How will we pay for it? Nobody knows,” Raul Danda, a UNITA legislator, told his fellow parliamentarians. “We asked our president to explain what he […]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a media conference after a meeting of eurozone heads of state at the EU Council building, Brussels, July 13, 2015 (AP photo by Michel Euler).

Ever since the last-minute agreement reached last month to reopen negotiations for a third bailout for Greece, Germany has become the target of harsh criticism both in the European Union and the United States. The agreement, which set even harsher terms for reopening talks than what had been on offer before Athens called for a referendum it hoped would strengthen its bargaining position, has been characterized as a “German diktat,” with critics calling the German government vindictive, contemptuous and brutal. Such criticism stands in stark contrast to perspectives in Berlin, where many policymakers regard the compromise found as a rather […]

Soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army 1st Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Division prepare for a demonstration, Beijing, China, July 12, 2011 (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley).

One of the hottest reads among Washington national security experts this summer is not the latest White House policy document or a big report from an influential think tank, but a novel by two of the national security community’s own: Peter Singer and August Cole. Their book, “Ghost Fleet,” is a riveting thriller in the Tom Clancy tradition. Much of the attention it is getting is due to its explanation of cutting-edge military technology, but it is also captivating—and important—because its core scenario is one that every policymaker and policy expert fears: a major war between the United States and […]

Then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, shakes hand with Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Ngeuma at the Elysee palace, Paris, Oct. 30, 2007 (AP photo by Jacques Brinon).

On July 30, Societe Generale, one of France’s biggest banks, was declared an “assisting witness”—somewhere between a suspect and a witness—in a money-laundering case against Teodorin Obiang, the son of Teodoro Obiang, Equatorial Guinea’s president who has been in power since 1979. Days later, Maixent Accrombessi, a close aide to Gabon’s president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, was held for questioning in a corruption probe in Paris hours before he was set to return to Libreville. His detention was part of an ongoing investigation into the French military-uniform company Marck—which signed a $7.6 million contract with Gabon in 2005—on suspicions of corruption […]

A FARC rebel stands guard on a hill before the release of two hostages, Montealegre, Colombia, Feb. 15, 2013 (AP photo by Juan B. Diaz).

If Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is successful in reaching an elusive peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), maintaining peace in the rural outposts of Colombia where the guerillas operate as a de-facto shadow government will prove exceedingly difficult. James Bargent explores this “other Colombia” in his World Politics Review feature this week. In the latest Global Dispatches podcast, Bargent, speaking from Medellin, and host Mark Goldberg discuss the challenges of implementing a potential peace deal in the remote areas of Colombia where the FARC has long held control and the Colombian government has a minimal […]

Supporters of former Sri Lankan president and parliamentary candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa cheer for him during an election campaign rally, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, July 17, 2015 (AP photo by Eranga Jayawardena).

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—After gently glancing his fingers over a miniature statue of the Hindu goddess Parvati attached to the dashboard of his taxi, Ganesan sped past the tollbooth onto the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway connecting Bandaranaike International Airport to Colombo. “This is the work of Rajapaksa,” he muttered, referring to the multimillion-dollar, multilane highway. Partly funded by the Chinese, the road was built by former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who, after dominating the island country’s politics for a decade, was surprisingly defeated in January’s presidential election by Maithripala Sirisena. Now, with Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections scheduled for Aug. 17, Rajapaksa is […]

A Lebanese woman covers her nose from the smell as she walks on a street partly blocked by piles of garbage, Beirut, Lebanon, July 27, 2015 (AP photo by Hassan Ammar).

It is not every day that a population gets to experience the failings of government quite so pungently. Beirut, the cosmopolitan capital of Lebanon, has been choking in garbage. A brief respite due to a partial temporary solution will soon come to an end, and authorities are warning of grave health consequences if rotting refuse and garbage fires start choking the city again. But Beirut’s garbage crisis looms as much more than a health, welfare or infrastructure matter. More than anything, it is an unmistakable, asphyxiating metaphor for the country’s precarious political situation. And it may become the most unlikely […]

A bulldozer works on the new section of the Suez Canal, Ismailia, Egypt, July 29, 2015 (AP photo by Nariman El-Mofty).

Billboards in New York’s Times Square advertise it as “Egypt’s gift to the world.” An expansion of the Suez Canal, completed in just a year—at President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s request—is set to formally open Thursday, with a party estimated to cost $30 million and full of foreign dignitaries. Those ads in Times Square, which have also appeared in London and, curiously, in a special cover wrap of some editions of The Economist, claim that “Egypt boosts the world economy.” How? By allowing two-way shipping traffic that, the Suez Canal Authority says, will cut transit time by seven hours. But plenty […]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is received by the Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov, Astana International Airport, Kazakhstan, July 7, 2015 (photo from the office of the Indian Prime Minister).

There has been no shortage of buzz about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s activist foreign policy since he took office in May 2014. He has visited a number of countries in India’s immediate neighborhood, expanding India’s “Look East” policy by looking north to Central Asia. He has boosted ties in Europe, traveling to France, Germany and Russia; and the Middle East, hosting Gulf leaders in New Delhi; in addition to visits for bilateral meetings and multilateral summits from Australia and Japan to Brazil and the United States. All in all, he has brought renewed vigor to India’s foreign policy concerns […]

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, Washington, D.C., Aug. 4, 2015 (U.N. photo by Mark Garten).

Editor’s note: Guest columnist Neil Bhatiya is filling in for Michael Cohen, who will return next week. On Monday, President Barack Obama unveiled the final version of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) rules. The new regulations, a tweak to initial rules that had been released in June 2014, are meant to provide the framework for individual U.S. states in meeting emissions-reduction goals in their electricity sectors. In forecasting a 32 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels, the plan relies on incentivizing the adoption of low-carbon energy sources nationwide, especially solar and wind power. As […]

An opposition demonstrator holds a sign in French reading "No to a third term" next to a burning barricade, Bujumbura, Burundi, June 3, 2015 (AP photo by Gildas Ngingo).

On Tuesday, a prominent human rights activist and critic of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza was shot and seriously injured by gunmen on motorbikes in the capital, Bujumbura. The attack comes days after a powerful general and close ally of Nkurunziza was shot and killed Sunday. These are just the latest events in what has been a tense and often violent several months following Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third term in April. Many in Burundi deemed that move unconstitutional, and breakaway members of the military attempted a failed coup in May. As many observers predicted, Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a […]

Demonstrators hold a banner that reads in Spanish "No more FARC, no more kidnapping, no more terrorism, no more violence" at a protest against the FARC, Bogota, Colombia, Feb. 15, 2013 (AP photo by Fernando Vergara).

Colombia’s conflict has always looked different from the vantage point of the jungles, mountains and plains of the country’s most forgotten corners. This is “the other Colombia”: a country of extreme poverty, underdevelopment and state neglect, where Marxist guerrillas have fought the military to a stalemate in over half a century of conflict—and where the peace agreement those rebels are currently negotiating will face its toughest tests. “The country still has these ‘black holes,’ where the state has no monopoly on arms, where there is no institutional presence, no authorities, not even a military presence,” said Orlando de Jesus Avila […]

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addresses reporters with Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiyah after briefing members of the Gulf Cooperation Council about the Iran nuclear deal, Doha, Qatar, Aug. 3, 2015 (State Department photo).

Editor’s note: This will be Richard Weitz’s final “Global Insights” column at World Politics Review. We’d like to take this opportunity to express our deep gratitude for all the support he has shown for WPR since its inception, and we look forward to working with him regularly in the future. One of the main goals of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest Middle East trip is to reassure U.S. partners there that the recent Iran nuclear deal will not jeopardize their security. The Obama administration is using several instruments to achieve this goal, including helping the Persian Gulf states […]

A demonstrator holding a Haitian flag blocks a police car during a march to protest the Dominican Republic's deportation of Haitians, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 21, 2015 (AP photo by Dieu Nalio Chery).

On Aug. 9, Haitians will begin a lengthy and long overdue electoral process by voting in the first round of parliamentary elections. On Oct. 25, they’ll vote again in the legislative runoff, as well as in municipal and local elections and the first round of the presidential poll. And finally, if a second round of the presidential election is necessary, as it probably will be, Haitians will go back to the polls on Dec. 27. Over the upcoming election season, Haitians will be choosing 1,280 local representatives, 140 mayors, 20 Senators, 118 deputies and President Michel Martelly’s successor. The road […]

Afghan security personnel inspect a damaged vehicle at the site of a suicide attack that targeted a NATO convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 7, 2015 (AP photo by Rahmat Gul).

The “Wizard of Kandahar” is no more: The Afghan Taliban and family of Mullah Muhammad Omar acknowledged the death of the elusive Taliban founder and leader in a statement late last week. Mullah Omar’s death will have serious ramifications not just for the future of Afghanistan, but also for regional stability and the global jihad. Immediately, the confirmation of Mullah Omar’s death has resulted in the indefinite postponement of the latest round of Pakistan-hosted peace talks between the Afghan Taliban and President Ashraf Ghani’s government in Kabul, which had been scheduled for last Friday. The one-eyed leader’s passing may not […]

A fishing boat leaves Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Nov. 2, 2013 (photo by Flickr user berkuspic licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license).

In May, Costa Rica’s National System of Conservation Areas tested the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor collect evidence of illegal fishing and poaching. In an email interview, Marco Quesada Alpízar, the director of Conservation International’s Costa Rica program, discussed Costa Rica’s fishing industry and fisheries policy. WPR: What is the current state of Costa Rica’s fishing industry? Marco Quesada Alpízar: Over 90 percent of Costa Rica’s fishing industry operates on the Pacific coast. The main fishing fleet comprises small-scale operations, composed of thousands of fishermen—4,000 to 6,000 in the Gulf of Nicoya alone—30 to 50 percent of which […]

Boys drink water being pumped out of the existing potable water system, which is to be improved by the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, Saut d'Eau, Haiti, June 28, 2012 (U.N. photo by Victoria Hazou).

It is turning into a summer of big diplomatic deals at the United Nations. Two weeks ago, the Security Council endorsed the Iranian nuclear deal. This weekend, diplomats signed off on an arguably even more complex bargain: the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is a sprawling set of 169 targets that the world is meant to achieve by 2030, ranging from eradicating poverty to fostering peaceful societies. Skeptical commentators worry that this amalgam of good intentions is too unwieldy to gain traction, in contrast to the crisper Millennium Development Goals articulated in 2000. But it is still impressive that […]

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