Section: Foreign Policy (USA)
Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, December 15, 2014
To keep up with Democracy Lab in real time, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. William Armstrong examines the Turkish government’s new strategy of information warfare. Christian Caryl interviews a Ukrainian reformer who explains why the fight against corruption may be even more important than resisting Vladimir Putin. Anna Nemstova reports...
FP’s Situation Report, presented by Lockheed Martin: Australia’s fears are realized with hostages crisis in Sydney; Fallout from the torture report continues; Congress raises the stakes with Russia; and much more.
Australian fears are realized as gunmen believed to be radical Islamists have taken hostages in Sydney. Australian officials have long warned that its citizens were fighting in the Middle East under the Islamic State banner, leading to concerns that the fight against the group could land on Australia’s shores. It now appears if their fears...
Who Will Foot the Bill in Ukraine?
When it comes to fighting the economic battle over Ukraine, the West has been much more willing to hit Russia in its pocketbook than play sugar daddy to Kiev. The International Monetary Fund, after hinting in September that Ukraine would come up short, officially sounded the alarm this week, acknowledging that Kiev’s coffers face a $15...
New Russia Sanctions from Departing Congress
On its way into the history books, the 113th Congress is ladling up a fresh batch of sanctions on Russia, especially targeting the energy sector and authorizing military aid, in a bid to force Moscow to end its aggressive and destabilizing incursions into the eastern Ukraine. The lame-duck Senate passed the Ukraine Freedom Support Act Thursday....
A Blast from the Past in Grozny
On a recent afternoon, during a visit to Grozny, the capital city of Russia’s Chechen Republic, I walked with several local reporters down Putin Avenue, a street that was named after the Russian leader in the early years of this century, not long after the Kremlin’s armed forces succeeded in tamping down a long-simmering rebellion and...
Pakistan Arrests Suspected Al Qaeda Commander; Indian Citizen Allegedly Behind ISIS Twitter Handle; School Bombing in Kabul
Pakistan Pakistan arrests suspected al Qaeda commander Pakistani authorities arrested Shahid Usman, a suspected commander in al Qaeda’s South Asian wing late Thursday night (Reuters, Dawn). Police arrested Usman, who they say was actively planning attacks, along with four others in Karachi. They also seized weapons and 22 pounds of...
FP’s Situation Report, presented by the UAE Embassy: CIA chief refuses to rule out future torture; U.S. closes last detainee site in Afghanistan; Democrats break with Obama on the Islamic State; and much more.
By David Francis and Sabine Muscat The CIA refuses to rule out torture and urges the nation to turn the page on the torture report. Agency Director John Brennan admitted at a rare press conference at Langley that some of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation tactics were “abhorrent” but refused to call them torture. He also refused to agree with...
The Other War in Ukraine
What’s the best way to save Ukraine? “By reforming the country,” says Sergii Leshchenko, a freshman member of the Ukrainian parliament. The war against Russian aggression isn’t the only front in his country’s struggle for survival right now. Leshchenko says that he’s even more worried about the fight against...
Escape From a Nightmare
EASTERN CAMEROON — Aboubakar Goton, 40, used to be wealthy and influential. Just over a year ago, Goton, a Muslim, was the mayor of Bossemptélé, a trading center of 22,000 residents in the Central African Republic (CAR). He owned one of the town’s biggest shops and had a large herd of cattle, a traditional sign of wealth in the mostly rural...
Ghani Shocked Over US Senate Report; US Says Pakistani Operation Disrupted Militants; Modi Meets Putin
Afghanistan Ghani expresses shock over U.S. Senate report Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Wednesday that he was astounded by the new revelations of CIA torture in Afghanistan and elsewhere that were revealed by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report released on Tuesday (NYT, RFE/RL). Speaking at a news conference in Kabul,...
