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. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS MOQTADA AL-SADR? — The cleric is not in Tehran, but in Kufa, southern Iraq, according to a Western source. Stories that he has fled across the border are incorrect, according to Albrecht Gero Muth, a former adviser to Kofi Annan when the latter was U.N. Secretary General, who remains in contact with al-Sadr. Presumably, the rumors are designed to focus on al-Sadr’s link with [...]
MIAMI — Venezuela is beefing up its military capabilities by land, sea and air in preparation for what one senior official called a possible “asymmetrical conflict” with the United States. Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States Bernardo Alvarez said that while his country is preparing for possible warfare with the United States — a notion President Hugo Chavez has repeatedly asserted — Venezuela is nonetheless in complete compliance with international and regional non-proliferation treaties. By characterizing a warfare scenario with the United States as “asymmetrical,” the ambassador was acknowledging the distinct firepower and personnel advantage of the United States, though [...]
On February 5, 2007, Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski accepted the resignation of Defense Minsiter Radoslaw Sikorski. Although Sikorski’s departure will have few short-term implications, over the long term it could weaken Poland’s support for several important American-led security initiatives. Sikorski indicated that he resigned out of frustration because the government would not provide him with sufficient resources to ensure the success of the country’s expanded role in the NATO-led post-conflict stability operation in Afghanistan. Characterizing the deployment as Poland’s “most dangerous mission since WWII,” Sikorski had unsuccessfully requested substantial funds to enable the Polish military to generate goodwill among [...]
