Last month the Obama administration eased financial and investment sanctions on Myanmar, praising it’s government for freeing hundreds of political prisoners and finally allowing the political opposition to take part in elections. While the easing of sanctions demonstrates valuable support for further political reforms in Myanmar, the US investment policy does not effectively address the [...]
Published under
china,
foreign policy,
United States on Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Which country offers the most attractive model for development for a rising country – the United States or China? The answer used to be easy, but not any longer.
Published under
central asia,
United States on Friday, May 20th, 2011
The Council on Foreign Relations reports that the United States could quite possibly be making headway into possible talks between North and South Korea, based on information from the State Department. At a State Department briefing earlier this week, the spokesman stated that U.S. Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea Ambassador Robert King may be [...]
Published under
russia,
United States on Monday, May 16th, 2011
As the United States and Russia look to improve their equivocal relationship, there is still great hesitation as to what the future may hold for the two powerhouses. The Moscow Times reports that both sides are eager to come to a common agreement on how they can best serve each other, but with corruption and government [...]
Published under
corruption,
United States,
Venezuela on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Washington Examiner Columnist, Vice President at the Cato Institute and author of “The Cult of the Presidency“ Gene Healy clearly despises rhetoric. His article, recently published in the Examiner, opens by emphasizing the repetitiveness with which Obama deals with each administrative failure – by pushing the charm offensive. However, unlike Healy’s many counterparts at the Examiner, his is [...]
Published under
corruption,
Latin America,
United States on Friday, January 15th, 2010
There are scant signs of help from the Haitian government during the ongoing crisis that has truly shook the world. The government appears scattered by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake Tuesday evening. The streets were filled with beleaguered residents milling about, left with no jobs, no instructions on what to do, and no place to buy food [...]
Published under
oil,
United States,
Venezuela,
War on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
The Inter-American Dialogue has recently published the works of Michael Shifter, here specifically on the dangerous alliance between Iran and Venezuela, the mastermind behind the union, Hugo Chavez, a skilled provocateur indeed and its geopolitical ramifications hindering infrastructure, human rights and international development in every regard. The following is excerpted from his article, “The Chavezjad Doctrine: [...]
Published under
corporate foreign policy,
United States,
Venezuela on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
It is hard to envisage what role Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, has in mind for the dozens of Russian tanks on his latest military shopping list. The strategic purpose of a recent tour that took him to some of the world’s least salubrious regimes is, however, easier to discern. And it has led America’s State [...]
Published under
Africa,
United States,
Zimbabwe on Monday, September 7th, 2009
African leaders will step up calls on today for an end to Western sanctions against Zimbabwe and will urge South Africa to plead Zimbabwe’s cause within the Group of 20 industrial and emerging nations, officials said. The New York Times has reported tht countries of the Southern African Development Community will also press Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, and [...]
Published under
china,
United States on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
American and Chinese officials said all the right things during this summer’s inaugural round of their Strategic and Economic Dialogue. President Barack Obama pledged to “forge a path to the future that we seek for our children.” Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo wondered aloud whether America and China can “build better relations despite very different [...]