Two weeks ago Wikistrat launched a simulation on North America’s energy bonanza. In case you’re wondering, Wikistrat is a firm that relies on a six-continent wide arsenal of analysts to stake out geostrategic scenarios, and the scope of its simulations are equally broad, at least at the start. For example: What if current estimates of [...]

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Despite an infusion of funding from international donors to dull the effects of an ongoing drought in West Africa’s Sahel region, countries in the region are still in danger.  One of these countries, Mauritania, has a perennial problem with locusts that attach crops and is “a country that is three times the size of Arizona [...]

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It would be my first blog on the great transformation taking place in the Arab World, and it is a transformation long overdue. What’s happening is not a freak moment in history but it is rather a natural reaction to what has been a long suppression of Arabs by other fortunate Arab oligarchs and bands [...]

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Here are the most recent updates from four of the eight SAARC nations. For news from the rest of the countries, please visit their respective national pages. … MALDIVES – A top US diplomat arrived in the Maldives on February 11 to help resolve a deepening political crisis sparked by the ousting of the Indian [...]

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Dear FPB Readers, My name’s Adil Elassali and I just like to take a quick moment to announce my return from my long absence. I am happy and excited to resume blogging again along with my colleagues for the Middle East region. This World is changing, Resistance is futile! Syndicated from: Foreign Policy BlogsForeign Policy [...]

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Children in Somalia continue to suffer needlessly from hunger as politics hinder the much needed distribution of food aid. In Somalia, it is women and children who bear the brunt of the famine. Children are susceptible to malnutrition that decreases their ability to fight off disease, while women are unable to access the services they need [...]

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Brazil has been affected in recent weeks by suggestions of a slow down in Brazil’s usually hot economy. Inflation in China also has received some attention. The result was that some market studies have been done on the BRICS and emerging economies showing that countries like Mexico, South Africa and Vietnam are doing quite well [...]

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As I write these words, demonstrations are unfolding in the public squares of Syrian cities and towns, as they have done every Friday for the last eleven months, since the people of Dir’a first took to the streets to manifest their discontent at the indignities imposed upon them by the Asad regime. Grainy scenes of [...]

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There are two kinds of people currently following the Africa Cup of Nations: Those who are stunned by Zambia’s advance to the finals of Africa’s biennial championship and liars. Once the semifinals were set there were precious few observers (outside of certain wildly optimistic circles in Mali and Zambia, I suppose) who saw anything other [...]

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Mere days after sobering official ceremonies marked the end of the U.S. mission in Iraq, America’s most dubious partner – Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki – charged his Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi with aiding and abetting terrorism and sought to remove his Deputy Prime Minister, Saleh al-Mutlaq from office. In short order, sectarian violence spread [...]

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Photo: AMREF UK In December’s post, Expectant American Mothers Help Raise Funds for Mothers in Developing Nations,  the Imagine Me & You contest finalists had been announced.  The Million Moms Challenge has now chosen a winner from its photo contest, in which hundreds of expectant mothers from across the United States submitted images with original messages, written on their [...]

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A couple of weeks shy of the scheduled presidential elections, Vice-President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi announced in an official ceremony that he would run for president, adding that he hoped Yemenis would entrust him with the responsibility of running the affairs of the state. On Tuesday, Yemenis across the country woke up to find that [...]

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As Europe suffers a severe a cold snap, EU-Russian relations are experiencing a proverbial chill. The diplomatic cooling is the result of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s criticism of Putin’s democratic credentials. The sharpness of Ashton’s critique was for many a somewhat surprising, yet desirable development. Indeed, the tough stance on the state of [...]

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Naoyuki Shinohara, IMF deputy managing director (Asahi Shimbun) The International Monetary Fund said Japan should triple its consumption tax in order to cut the country’s massive public debt. At 5 percent, Japan’s consumption tax rate is one of the lowest in the world. Anoop Singh, IMF chief for Asia, said “It has been our sense… [...]

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