A major Indian trade mission is in Iran seeking to exploit Tehran’s increasing diplomatic and commercial isolation to rectify India’s trade imbalance with Iran. But while Indian companies are understandably eager to take advantage of the resulting commercial opportunities, the Indian government must soothe U.S., Israeli and European concerns that Indian firms will simply undercut international sanctions against Iran by “backfilling” Western companies currently departing the country. India’s behavior highlights a major problem with the Iran sanctions regime: Many countries face a different set of calculations with regard to Iran than the United States, Israel and the European and Persian […]

Raw Video: Europeans Protest Nuclear Power

Anti-nuclear protesters took to the streets in Germany, France and Belgium to mark the one-year anniversary of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster. Protesters called for a reduction in the reliance on nuclear energy. World News Videos by NewsLook

As someone who thinks long and hard about global futures, I participate in a lot of professional forums where experts discuss the growing complexity of this world and question the ability of existing political systems, both democratic and authoritarian, to handle it. Some professionals, like Thomas Homer-Dixon, fret about an “ingenuity gap,” while regular readers of this column can attest to my frequent accusation that today’s political leaders lack “strategic imagination.” In short, we’re all arguing that politics isn’t keeping up with economics, much less technology. And it scares us. Things get more depressing when the subject of future generations […]

Relations between the United States and Vietnam have progressed rapidly and comprehensively since the normalization of ties in 1995. In just the past few years, the two countries have inked agreements in areas including environmental protection, nuclear energy and health research cooperation. They have also deepened their robust economic relationship, with Vietnam signing on to the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, and have declared their common interest in freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Yet if the U.S. and Vietnam wish to take their emerging strategic partnership to the next level, as officials from both sides have indicated, […]

Many commentators are predicting that with Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency in Russia, the improvement in relations between Moscow and Washington that occurred under the stewardship of U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will come to an end. Some are even forecasting a return to a more confrontational period in U.S.-Russia relations, given Putin’s history of negative comments about the United States. After all, last August, the then-Russian prime minister and now president-elect castigated Americans for “living like parasites off the global economy.” And in a pre-election essay published in Moskovskiye Novosti last month, Putin lambasted […]

Even as India refuses to join the U.S.-led sanctions regime on Iran, New Delhi is simultaneously cementing ties with Tehran’s long-standing rival, Saudi Arabia. Last month saw the first-ever visit by an Indian defense minister to the kingdom in a move that signals as much New Delhi’s willingness to emerge as a net provider of security to Saudi Arabia as Riyadh’s desire to look beyond Pakistan for its security needs. At a deeper level, the visit underscored the fact that the Gulf Cooperation Council — of which Saudi Arabia is the largest constituent — and India now view each other […]

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Economic volatility and a restrictive political system have prevented Vietnam from fulfilling its potential as a significant Southeast Asian actor. But with the “China+1” effect — where rising costs in the Middle Kingdom push investment and manufacturing to other locations — likely to gather momentum, and amid unusually strong signals of reform emanating from Hanoi, there is renewed cause for optimism. The incentives to change have never been greater, and after several false dawns, the opportunity now being presented to Vietnam may be too compelling for even the hard-liners to resist. With a young […]

Editor’s note: This will be Robert Farley’s final “Over the Horizon” column at World Politics Review. However, we look forward to featuring his work in WPR in the future. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Robert for making “Over the Horizon” a must read over the past year and a half and to wish him success in all his many endeavors. The intellectual battle over the future of American hegemony has been joined. Andrew Bacevich argues that the American Century has ended and that further American pretentions to hegemony will lead to disaster. Michael Cohen argues that the […]

It is a truism of today’s networked world that a variety of nongovernmental stakeholders serve as important adjuncts to official diplomacy. In the G-20, for instance, this has given rise to parallel consultations with an L-20 of labor leaders, a Y-20 of youth leaders and a B-20 of business leaders. Most recently, advisers currently helping Mexican President Felipe Calderón prepare to host the next G-20 summit in June sought additional counsel from experts from think tanks around the world, inviting us to the first-ever “Think-20” last week. Converging at the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores in Mexico City, participants from 15 […]

Global Insider: Without Fracking, Bulgaria is Stuck on Russian Gas

In January, Bulgaria banned hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, after nationwide protests against the natural gas extraction method. In an email interview, Tomasz Daborowski, an analyst in the Central European department at the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw, discussed Bulgaria’s energy security. WPR: What is the current size and scope of Bulgaria’s energy sector, and what are its estimated reserves? Tomasz Daborowski: The energy sector in Bulgaria is relatively small in global terms but quite considerable compared to other Bulgarian industries and to other energy sectors in Southeastern Europe. The power sector is the most important: The country has one […]

The Obama administration’s claim that sanctions on Iran are working is belied by a problematic truth: Sanctions are a short-sighted and often ineffective tool of statecraft. In the case of Iran, they have had a strongly negative impact on the average Iranian, thereby diminishing the United States’ moral standing in the world and undermining the goal of reducing the security threat posed by Iran. Recognizing this, the U.S. should embrace a new strategy of principled re-engagement with Iran that revisits diplomacy and minimizes harm to regular Iranians. Such a strategy is the best way to alleviate the long-term threat posed […]

On Jan. 17, the Obama administration announced its intention to support a diplomatic initiative to strengthen international norms protective of the global commons of outer space. Key norms in need of strengthening include the mitigation of space debris, especially debris produced by antisatellite (ASAT) tests; the elaboration of rules for space traffic management; and the development of procedures to increase the safety of satellite operations and human spaceflight. The Code of Conduct for responsible space-faring nations that President Barack Obama seeks would take the form of an executive agreement reflecting voluntary measures, rather than a treaty. Space diplomacy is rarely […]

With the emergence of cyber conflict as an increasingly important concern of policymakers, the possibility is sometimes raised that nations could enter into arms control agreements of some kind to reduce the likelihood that such conflict will occur and/or to reduce or limit the damage that any such conflict might inflict. Advocates of such agreements suggest that they would enhance the cybersecurity posture of the United States. Nonetheless, there are many challenges that stand in the way of reaching such agreements, and progress toward such agreements may well be slower than some observers would like. In the 21st century, information […]

Energy security has become a strategic as well as an operational imperative for U.S. national security. As tensions continue to escalate with Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, it has become clear that the U.S. military urgently requires new approaches and innovative technologies to improve fuel efficiency, increase endurance, enhance operational flexibility and support a forward presence for allied forces while reducing the vulnerability inherent in a long supply-line tether. Assured access to reliable and sustainable supplies of energy is central to the military’s ability to meet operational requirements globally, whether keeping the seas safe of pirates operating off the […]

The veto by Russia and China in February of a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down has stalled efforts by the U.S., its European allies and the Arab League to halt the bloody crackdown in Syria through U.N. action. Though the U.S. is currently drafting a new U.N. resolution, calls by some observers to arm the Syrian resistance have now been echoed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf Cooperation Council states eager to see the pro-Iranian Assad regime replaced by a Sunni-dominated government. Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined the ranks of […]

Global Insider: With China Ties Growing, Indonesia Avoids Taking Sides

Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro visited China in February, where he met with Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie to discuss boosting military ties. In an email interview, Kai He, an assistant professor of political science at Utah State University, discussed China-Indonesia relations. WPR: What is the current extent of defense ties between China and Indonesia, and are there any noticeable trends or trajectories? Kai He: The current military relationship between the two states has developed steadily. Since 2006, military officials from the two countries have held regular security consultation talks. In 2007, the two countries signed an agreement to enhance […]

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