Politics
Politics
Fair Observer's analysis of political issues, events and trends and their national, regional and international consequences.
-
360° Analysis / Army / Democracy / Eisenhower / India / military / Navy / Politics / PSU / Sino-Indian War / TATRA / Global Security / AsiaGiven the mess India’s higher defence management is, the government must take steps to build an abiding civil-military relationship. The Context Much water has flown down the tributaries of mighty Brahmaputra since the fatal night of 19/20 October 1962 when the Sino-Indian war commenced. Yet, it has not washed away the shame of India’s humiliating defeat, caused by “unspeakably incompetent generals and the political leaders that had assigned them the commands for which they were unfit”, if the spate of recently published articles are to be believed. After five decades, one could see similarities in the present scenario. Civil-Military relationship was...
-
360° Analysis / Iraq / Jordan / Politics / Syria / Middle EastBy Siraj DavisSiraj Davis compares the lives of Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan in a report, which ultimately indicates that the UNHCR and IOM still have a lot of work to do. Download the full report here. Background The following is an executive summary from a report involving interviews with Iraqi refugees in Jaramana, Syria and Hashemi Shemali, Jordan. It is not inundated with data but instead presents personal insight into the real-life stories behind the didactic statistics that are normally accumulated to depict lives of refugees. The investigation provides a few personal accounts of the ineffable tragedy Iraqi refugees have endured while simultaneously providing a conduit for all refugees...
-
360° Analysis / Elections / obama / Politics / presidential elections / Putin / Romney / Russia / United States / WTO / EuropeA re-elected Barack Obama, despite his support for Russia's WTO membership, the signing of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and his overlooking of the Kremlin’s crackdown on the opposition, may not really be preferred by Russia's leaders over Mitt Romney. By Lilia Shevtsova and David J. Kramer In his speech accepting the Republican nomination for president, Mitt Romney vowed to take a hard line in dealing with Russia. “Under my administration,” he said, “our friends will see more loyalty, and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone.” Earlier in the campaign, Romney had cited Russia as “our number one...
-
360° Analysis / Afghanistan / Iran / Israel / Libya / obama / Pakistan / Politics / Romney / United States / Middle EastIn the presidential campaign, American foreign policy towards the Middle East has overshadowed other regions by far – underlining considerable differences between each candidate’s approach to this part of the world. Issues in the Middle East with global significance are developing by the day. Recent events, like the violent protests in Libya and Egypt, Iran’s growing nuclear program and massacres in Syria have brought the US presidential candidates’ respective foreign policies, a fringe issue thus far in the 2012 election, to the forefront. In the presidential campaign and debate American foreign policy towards the Middle East has overshadowed other regions by far....
-
Politics / United States / Europe / Focus Article / Middle East / Americas / Africa / Asia / OceaniaFair Observer's five best articles for October. This is the season of festivals. Eid al-Adha was just celebrated, Halloween is today and Deepavali follows soon thereafter. In the northeast of the US where our hyper kinetic Editor-in-Chief is on tour, Hurricane Sandy has departed after devastating the daily lives of many millions. In Munich it is already snowing in October and winter seems to be setting in early in the northern hemisphere this year. Yet, despite all of nature’s power, the most important event on everyone’s mind is the US election. Two candidates, both Harvard graduates, are engaged in a bitter slugfest and the results are too close to call. A large section of...
-
360° Analysis / Iran / Israel / Palestine / Politics / Saudi Arabia / Syria / United States / Middle EastAs the US presidential election looms, David Holdridge argues that Washington must make some fundamental changes if it is to be relevant to the new global dynamic, particularly in the Middle East. For the most part, those of us who were on the front lines of American foreign policy were excluded from the committee hearings and round tables where policy was drawn up. With the advent of new media, that is slowly changing. Soldiers and humanitarian workers are getting a voice. They are not sequestered in policy conclaves nor are they the dog or pony for those quick views usually afforded to the architects of the policy. Rather, they are the ones who have far too often lived the disappointment...
-
Political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa has forced the United States to re-evaluate its interests and foreign policy in the region. Background After World War I, access to natural resources became one of America’s top priorities, as oil was becoming increasingly important in modern industrial society. The United States pursued an "open door policy" to provide American oil companies with equal access to foreign oil, predominantly from the Gulf countries. Washington averted a collision with British oil interests in the Middle East by backing a stream of cooperative arrangements between the two countries from 1928-1934, which enabled the pair to dominate the...
-
360° Analysis / Bahrain / Jordan / Politics / Saudi Arabia / Middle EastBy James M. Dorsey The ever sharper sectarian divide between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims in the Middle East constitutes the Achilles heel of Gulf monarchies like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. They have been resisting political reforms and seeking to insulate themselves from the wave of popular protests that have swept the region for the past two years. Arab monarchs pride themselves on having so far largely managed widespread discontent in their countries with a combination of financial handouts, artificial job creation, social investment and in the cases of Jordan and Morocco, some constitutional reform. Yet, in the shadow of the escalating civil war in Syria, it is monarchies like Saudi...
-
360° Analysis / Debate / Foreign Policy / obama / Obama Debate / Politics / Presidential Debate / Romney / Romney Debate / United StatesIn their final debate before the elections, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama subscribed to double standards. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the third and final presidential debate of the 2012 campaign was the similarity between the two candidates on many basic foreign policy issues. Part of the reason is that, as he did in the first two debates, GOP candidate Mitt Romney reversed himself on a number of extreme right-wing positions he had taken earlier in a desperate effort to depict himself as a moderate. At the same time, Obama’s hawkish stances served as yet another reminder of just how far to the right Obama has evolved since running as an anti-war candidate just four years ago...