Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
South Africa’s Announcemnt That It Intends To Withdraw From The International Criminal Court Draws Critics In Africa and Beyond
South Africa’s announcement on Oct. 21 that it intends to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, which has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, has met strong opposition from civil society groups in that country and other African and international human-rights organizations. Africa has played major...
Why Russia Will Remain the Centerpiece of US Foreign Policy After the Elections
With the final stretch of the U.S. presidential elections upon us, Russia’s challenge in Syria has rapidly developed into a centerpiece of the foreign policy debate. The candidates need to formulate a clear vision of how to deal with Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has played a weak hand impressively. His nation’s economy is...
Clinton: A Hawk In The Wings
When Barack Obama was running for office in 2008, he was determined to redirect U.S. military efforts away from the “bad war” in Iraq and toward the “good war” in Afghanistan. This commitment to extricate the U.S. military from the dismal aftermath of a botched exercise in regime change earned Obama the exaggerated designation of “peace...
Trumpism 101: The Outsider, Ignored For Years. No Longer.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of pundits the world over have written about the various themes that have come to life in this wild election year. But I daresay only a handful of thinkers can rightfully claim they examined these themes and warned about a coming revolt years ago. I am one of the few, a social anthropologist studying power and...
U.S. And U.K. Will Send Troops, Planes To Deter Russia In The East
BRUSSELS ― Britain said on Wednesday it will send fighter jets to Romania next year and the United States promised troops, tanks and artillery to Poland in NATO’s biggest military build-up on Russia’s borders since the Cold War.Germany, Canada and other NATO allies also pledged forces at a defense ministers meeting in Brussels on the...
Russia Beefs Up Baltic Fleet Amid NATO Tensions: Reports
Russia is sharply upgrading the firepower of its Baltic Fleet by adding warships armed with long-range cruise missiles to counter NATO’s build-up in the region, Russian media reported on Wednesday.There was no official confirmation from Moscow, but the reports will raise tensions in the Baltic, already heightened since Russia’s 2014...
NATO Seeks Troops To Deter Russia On Eastern Flank
NATO will press allies on Wednesday to contribute to its biggest military build-up on Russia’s borders since the Cold War as the alliance prepares for a protracted quarrel with Moscow.With Russia’s aircraft carrier heading to Syria in a show of force along Europe’s shores, alliance defense ministers aim to make good on a July...
How the U.S. Election Has Derailed Obama’s ‘Pivot’ to Asia
The great paradox of the U.S. presidential election campaign is that it has helped achieve some of China’s cherished strategic aims ― weakening the U.S.-led post-World War II alliance system in the region and undermining a central plank of U.S. President Barack Obama’s “pivot” to Asia, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or the TPP. By...
A calm before the storm? The socio-political situation in Ukraine
While the war in Donbas in Eastern Ukraine is slowly turning into a frozen conflict, the socio-political situation in Ukraine is entering a phase of calm, with short-term prospects for political upheavals and popular discontent present but rather low. Yet longer-term evolutions do not bode well for the stability of the country, as several factors...
Why Russia’s Military Escalation in Ukraine is Domestically Driven
On August 11, 2016, the Russian military held naval war games on the Black Sea, and placed its troops in Crimea on “combat alert.” Russia’s military escalation immediately followed Kremlin allegations that Ukrainian commandos had killed 2 Russian servicemen in Crimea. As the Russian Defense Ministry recently expanded...
