Politics
Politics
Fair Observer's analysis of political issues, events and trends and their national, regional and international consequences.
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360° Analysis / Asia / Central Asia / Kyrgyzstan / NATO / Politics / Russia / Tajikistan / Uzbekistan / AsiaBy Will LynchEven as Asia has been booming, the Arab world awakened and Africa now rising, Russia's "near abroad" is now on the ropes. The expectations following Independence have been dashed. Here is an account by someone who lives and works that regional trauma. What happens if the current trends continue? What if Central Asia continues on its current path? What might life be like in 2025? The current situation is characterized by little attention being paid by local governments and international donors to citizen opportunity within Central Asia. Rather attention is paid to securing the current order - drug trafficking, migration control, counter-terrorism and resource exploitation....
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360° Analysis / Assam / Bangladesh / Congress / India / Kashmir / NRC / Politics / Tarun Gogi / AsiaBy Mayank SinghWith scores dead and over five hundred thousand refugees in government protected camps, with violence which refuses to abate, Assam is staring at a human tragedy of humungous proportions. The vote bank politics practiced by the Indian political masters has transformed the North Eastern Indian state of Assam into a simmering cauldron of communal violence between the indigenous Assamese Bodos and the Bangladeshi Muslims who have migrated illegally into the Indian territory. The violence in Assam has exposed the fault lines, and is capable of exposing and worsening the communal divide in Assam. The volatile situation was summed up by Tarun Gogoi, ironically, the Chief Minister of the...
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360° Analysis / Iraq / Politics / Shia / Sunni / Syria / Middle EastRecent reports of Iraqi Shi’a militias operating in the Damascus suburbs indicate the inflammation of yet another firing line in the Syrian Civil War. This article combines current events, analysis, and the field experience of Nicholas A. Heras in Sayyida Zainab. A recent and important article, entitled “Iraqi Shi’ite Militias Fight Syria’s Assad,” published by the Reuters news agency, indicates that Iraqi Shi’a militias are beginning to operate openly in Syria. Their mission is described in part as protecting the large Iraqi refugee community that is still resident in the country, particularly in the southern suburbs of Damascus. According to the article...
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In 2009, a Department of Homeland Security report on right wing extremism in the United States caused a media outrage that led to the DHS Domestic Terrorism Unit being shut down. Three years on, the author of the report outlines the consequences of its dismissal by the federal government. Violent, domestic non-Islamic extremism (specifically, the anti-government, xenophobic and racist variety) is a growing threat in the United States and Europe. This threat emanates from extremist belief systems that represent a broad range of religious, political and social causes. In the United States, the rightwing extremist movement consists primarily of white supremacists, militia extremists,...
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2012 / 360° Analysis / Debate / Elections / obama / Obama Debate / Politics / POTUS / President / Presidential Debate / Romney / Romney Debate / United StatesBy Fact BlinkThe third US presidential debate took place last night, the 22nd of October, on the topic of foreign policy. Over the course of the campaign, the Romney camp has argued that unrest in the Middle East reflects the ‘unraveling of the Obama doctrine,’ while President Obama and his deputy, Joe Biden, have stressed how unlike in the past, when the US acted alone, the world is now united behind America – for example, in imposing strict sanctions on Iran. So who is right about Obama’s effect on America’s global standing? The data offer something for both sides. While European and Latin American perceptions of the US have improved considerably since the...
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360° Analysis / Ivory Coast / Nigeria / Politics / Somalia / Sudan / Uganda / United States / AfricaBy Matteo FigusBarack Obama’s policy towards Africa has probably not lived up to the expectations that accompanied his election, but instead managed to create an intense debate paving the way for a total change of direction. When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, expressions of joy were seen across the world, especially in Africa. His origins, the first black American president, created among Africans the expectation that finally the continent would be placed at the top of the agenda. The years 2008-2012, instead brought turmoil, disillusionment and even some sort of rancorous reflection on Obama’s African legacy. What is the reality and how to assess Obama’s policy? In June 2012, Obama...
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360° Analysis / Barack Obama / Chavez / Elections / Latin America / Politics / presidential elections / USA / Venezuela / AmericasBy Trevor CohenChavez has used his personal charisma backed by generous aid spending to build an anti-empire to counter the US in its crusade for free trade. But though he is ideologically opposed to the US economic system, he is realistically reliant on its power. Upon meeting the President of the United States for the first time, Hugo Chavez handed Barack Obama a copy of Eduardo Galleano’s classic book, Open Veins of Latin America. The gesture spoke to Chavez’s anti-imperialist rhetoric in foreign policy, but also to the root of its power. Chavez has attempted to reclaim centuries of resource exploitation at the hands of first world economies, by redirecting oil...
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360° Analysis / Humanitarian / Iraq / Lebanon / Politics / Syria / United States / Middle EastThe recent assassination of Wissam al-Hassan in Beirut, brings us one step closer to more war and chaos in the Middle East. Given the history of widespread violence and the implications for the US, why are the largest of the American charities — many of which have provided billions of dollars worth of US government relief assistance in the region for over 60 years — so silent? I first succumbed to the notion of working in a humanitarian effort overseas in 1981. Before that I had been a soldier and a manager of a small business. Of course, the reasons for this transition were mixed but among them was the ambition to right some wrongs. As a newcomer, I was sent to war —...
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360° Analysis / Beirut / Lebanon / Politics / Syria / Middle EastThe memory of mass violence is never simply a memory in Lebanon, a country which has long endured sectarian strife and is now also feeling the effects of the civil war in Syria. It is surreal to wake up to news of a car bomb back home in Lebanon, now thousands of miles away. Immediately, the war-shaped body is both numb and preoccupied with images of death and destruction. The mind wanders and sutures the past, present, and future seamlessly. Phone calls, emails, and texts begin. The space between a call and its response seems immense, and the time it takes to hear from blood and choice family — particularly when they live or work or frequent the targeted neighborhood — is...