Section: Foreign Policy (USA)
Kiev’s Mayor Talks Corruption, Russian Gas, and Why He Shouldn’t Have to Explain That His Daughter’s Not a Stripper
During his boxing days, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko was known as “Dr. Ironfist,” a nod toward the towering man’s combination of brain and brawn. (He holds an honorary doctorate from the National Agricultural University in Kiev.) At 6’6” and built like a Soviet-era tank, the former World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion looks...
Pushing Back Against a Chinese Lake in the South China Sea
China’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea are prompting a soul-searching query from Hanoi to Washington: At what point does a sliced-up salami cease being a salami at all? In a short space of time, China’s unilateral and incremental efforts to carve out a greater presence in the South China Sea — by, for example, turning empty...
These Are the Most Influential World Leaders on Twitter (and Why That Doesn’t Matter)
Because of its near total ubiquity, it’s easy to overlook just how crucial Twitter has become to the public work of international diplomacy, where its used for both public outreach and propaganda. Nine years after the service’s founding, the social media tool has been so widely adopted by world leaders and their governments that it...
Rediscovering A Grand Foreign Policy Strategy
I was saddened when Dr. William Martel died earlier this year. He was taken from us at too young an age. He was a professor at Tufts with a strong interest in public service. Bill and I both served on Gov. Mitt Romney’s foreign policy team in 2012. He was an upbeat person, an action-oriented intellectual, and a patriot. Bill was one of...
Situation Report: Baltimore is burning, IEDs and drones in Ukraine, the F-35 gets dinged again, and lots more
By Paul McLeary and Ariel Robinson RED SIREN Up to 5,000 armed Maryland National Guard troops are currently on their way to patrol the streets of Baltimore after a series of rolling street fights between rioters and a disorganized and mostly ineffective Baltimore Police Department. The rioting comes in response to the funeral of Freddie Gray, the...
Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, April 27, 2015
To keep up with Democracy Lab in real time, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Josh Cohen warns that a new law passed by the Ukrainian parliament — which honors nationalist groups that participated in the Holocaust — is a dangerous mistake. In light of last week’s horrific migrant boat sinking in the Mediterranean, Mohamed Eljarh gives us...
Dear Ukraine: Please Don’t Shoot Yourself in the Foot
Despite the unceasing flare-ups of separatist violence in the Donbass, Ukraine’s new government has managed to take some steps to move the country forward: it has passed legislation to combat corruption, secured funding to stabilize the economy, and reined in its oligarchs. But the country’s national parliament, the Supreme Rada, has...
U.S. Assumes Arctic Council Leadership Amid Increasing Tension in the Far-North
Last weekend, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin sparked a minor diplomatic crisis when he decided to visit the Norwegian island of Svalbard. Blacklisted from entering most of Europe due to sanctions related to Russian actions in Ukraine, Rogozin stopped on the Arctic island en route to a Russian scientific mission on the North Pole. He...
No Deal in Sight for Greece
Greece is one step closer to running out of money, after a meeting of European finance ministers Friday closed without a deal or any indication that a compromise over a needed influx of bailout money was likely before the end of the month. The impasse is bringing Athens closer to default and the possible need to leave the eurozone. Instead of an...
Situation Report: Mystery cash in Afghanistan; bigger guns for U.S. troops in Eastern Europe; Russia continues to bulk up; and more fun stuff
By Paul McLeary and Ariel Robinson When too much still isn’t enough. Seems that for a brief time, U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan found a new way to fund their wartime projects by pulling cash out of a fund set aside for small reconstruction projects. Unsurprisingly, we have no real idea where that cash went. Between 2008 and 2014,...
