Briefing Archive

The main debate at this year’s National People’s Congress in Beijing centered on the balance between socialism and capitalism, what Premier Wen Jiabao called the “two unswervinglies.” The communist country’s first private property law, a new tax code for businesses, and increased social spending for rural regions were debated contentiously in the Great Hall of the People — at least by the standards of China’s highest legislative body — as well as in the state-controlled press. Less controversial amongst the 3,000 delegates and Chinese press was a significant increase in military spending. However, this announcement caused the greatest anxiety outside […]

Editor’s Note: This article is the first of a two-part series on the gang culture and violence in Guatemala. Read Part II. GUATEMALA CITY — The ambulance arrives with its siren wailing and a team of medics runs to the emergency room entrance. The doors of the vehicle burst open and a trolley is lowered down with a young man lying on it groaning. It is 2:19 in the morning and Gersen Armando Ramirez Santus, a tattooed gang member, has just been shot twice in the chest on the crime-teeming streets of this city. Guatemala is a nation still traumatized […]

ACCRA, Ghana — The green, red and yellow colors and the black star of Ghana’s flag symbolized the rush of pride felt by many people here as their country celebrated 50 years of independence from Britain. Some sported hats and wristbands, while others wore t-shirts, emblazoned with the government slogan, “Championing African excellence.” A few even donned the flag like a cape as they enjoyed their Mar. 6 holiday, the date of founding President Kwame Nkrumah’s declaration of independence in 1957. The vibrant displays of patriotic fashion certainly pleased the eye, but they could not disguise the dissatisfaction with Ghana’s […]

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — If Colombians were ever in doubt about the special relationship their leader enjoys with the White House, then President George W. Bush’s words last week left no room for speculation. As Bush embarked on his five-nation tour of Latin America, he gave Colombia’s President, Alvaro Uribe, a glowing report. “In my judgment, President Uribe has done a fabulous job in leading this country. He has been very firm and very dedicated and the results are impressive,” said Bush, in an interview with Latin American journalists at the White House last week. “I think his leadership places him […]

Corridors of Power is written by veteran foreign affairs correspondent Roland Flamini and appears in World Politics Review every Sunday. Click here for the Corridors of Power archives.BANDAR REMEMBERED — Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabian national security adviser, is well known in Washington, where he spent 22 years as the Saudi ambassador. When he comes to town these days — which is often — it is as one of the key architects of Saudi Arabia’s recent emergence from publicity-shy kingdom to key player in Arab diplomacy. As an indication of its new activism, Saudi Arabia will host the annual […]

The signing last month of the India-Pakistan “Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons” represents an essential next step in the security normalization process between the two countries. The accord, signed on Feb. 22 in New Delhi, culminated three years of general discussions and several months of detailed drafting sessions. Although differences persist regarding the status of Kashmir and other issues, the governments of India and Pakistan have adopted several confidence-building measures in recent years. This reconciliation process began in December 1988 with an agreement that prohibits either country from attacking the other’s nuclear installations and […]

Violence and militancy in Nigeria — particularly in the oil-rich Niger Delta — continues to hamper petroleum production in the volatile West African nation and threatens to disrupt upcoming presidential elections, analysts and experts tell World Politics Review. In just the last few days, at least 10 people have been killed in an around Port Harcourt, the de facto capital of the delta, where some 2 million barrels of oil are produced a day, according to independent estimates. Dozens of kidnappings since the beginning of the year by armed militants have prompted foreign oil firms to evacuate thousands of workers […]

Submarine-launched Trident ballistic missiles are currently the United Kingdom’s only nuclear delivery system, and the submarines that carry them are nearing the end of their operational lifetimes. A serious debate has arisen in Britain over whether new submarines should be developed — and, by extension, whether the country should renew its independent nuclear deterrent. The U.K. currently deploys its Trident nuclear missiles on four Vanguard-class submarines, which are due to be decommissioned in the 2020s. In December 2006, the British government found that designing and building new submarines to carry the Trident force would take 17 years — in order […]

BAKU, Azerbaijan — Oil-rich in a troublesome neighborhood, Azerbaijan ranks high among Western-leaning former Soviet satellites the United States wants in its corner. But critics counter that better relations with Washington must be in step with democratic reforms, and not obscure a grim human rights record that could become a destabilizing force within the country. The high-profile case of a leading reform minister imprisoned on still unproven charges cuts to the heart of the debate. The Bush administration last April came under heavy fire for receiving President Ilham Aliyev at the White House following 2005 parliamentary elections roundly condemned by […]

On March 2, Italy’s political crisis ended as rapidly as it had begun when the Italian parliament reconfirmed Romano Prodi as the country’s prime minister. By obtaining majority backing in both the Chamber of Deputies (by 342-253) and the more closely divided Senate (162-157) — Italy’s lower and upper houses of parliament, respectively — Prodi prolonged the tenuous life of his center-left governing coalition. The previous week, Prodi’s coalition government lost a key foreign policy vote in the Senate after the defection of two Senators resulted in the government’s falling just short of the necessary majority in that body. The […]

MADRID, Spain — How many people spilled through the streets of Madrid on Feb. 3, marching alongside relatives of Spain’s terrorism victims, as they protested concessions the government appears prepared to make in order to re-engage the Basque separatist group ETA in a no-fault “peace process”? Well, there were either 1.5 million or 181,200 people taking part, depending on whose police force you want to believe. That latter figure is courtesy of Spain’s National Police, which is controlled by Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Interior Ministry. The claim of 1.5 million is from the Foro de Ermua, the group […]

CARACAS, Venezuela — A former paratrooper, President Hugo Chavez is used to battling his adversaries without giving an inch. This time, Chavez has his sights set on Venezuela’s food industry, which he blames for shortages that have left many Venezuelans without basic foods, especially beef, chicken, milk and sugar. “On the hoarders and speculators, I declare war,” Chavez said on his “Hello, President” radio show recently. He added: “If you don’t want to sell beef, don’t — we will sell it. But we’re going to take away the butcher shop, we’re going to expropriate the butcher shop, no matter how […]

KADENA AIR BASE, Japan — Eyeing the threat of a potentially nuclear-armed North Korea, Japanese leaders are navigating delicate domestic politics and a complicated relationship with Japan’s closest ally, the United States, as they embark on selective military improvements. The Japanese constitution, written with U.S. guidance in wake of Japan’s catastrophic defeat in World War II, categorically prohibits a standing military. Since the 1950s, the nation has maintained “self-defense forces” that are military services in all but name. Nevertheless, legal limitations and a deep vein of pacifism among the Japanese electorate have hamstrung the development of these forces. Japan devotes […]

TBILISI, Georgia — The breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia has voted in parliamentary elections its leaders hope will confer long-awaited international recognition, but Georgia’s president and the West dismissed the ballot and said results will not be recognized. Abkhazia’s status has become a sensitive issue between Georgia and Russia, which has given tacit support to separatists there and in nearby South Ossetia. Although the conflicts remain frozen, analysts say the region is a potential flashpoint as tensions mount between the two countries. Georgia accuses Russia of interfering with its internal affairs, while Moscow counters its southern neighbor has become increasingly […]

Russian dissatisfaction over U.S. plans to deploy missile defense radars and interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic has become so intense that senior Russian political and military leaders have recently warned that Moscow might withdraw from the two most important arms control treaties relating to European security. First, Russian policy makers have indicated they might renounce the December 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. This accord prohibits Russia and the United States from developing, manufacturing, or deploying ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. Its negotiation ended one of the most dangerous periods of […]

Corridors of Power is written by veteran foreign affairs correspondent Roland Flamini and appears in World Politics Review every week by Sunday morning. Click here for the Corridors of Power archives. WHO OWES WHOM? — Invasions, as the Bush administration can attest, are costly undertakings. But in the case of Iraq, the United States is unlikely to follow the example of the Russian government, which has sent Afghanistan the bill for the 1979 Soviet invasion and subsequent occupation. Moscow is asking the Afghans to pay $9 billion it says Russia spent on “development” in Afghanistan in the infamous decade that […]

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — For about a decade, Elizabeth Newton, 69, had heard about the Pan-African Film and Television Festival here through mentions in England’s Sunday newspapers. The retired farmer from North Yorkshire never thought about visiting Africa’s foremost film festival, a biennial event that began in 1969, until she saw “9/11,” a movie in response to the 2001 attacks on the United States by 11 directors around the world. The contribution of Idrissa Ouédraogo, perhaps this West African nation’s foremost director, about two children’s attempt to cash in on sighting a man who may or may not be Osama […]