Disappointed in Almaty

by Charles Naas The second round of talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan between the P5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) and Iran ended just about where they started — no advance from the March talks and the glimmer of… Continue Reading

Libya Intervention More Questionable in Rear View Mirror

by Jim Lobe via IPS News While the tenth anniversary last month of Washington’s invasion of Iraq provoked overwhelmingly negative reviews of the adventure except among its most die-hard neo-conservative proponents, a more recent – albeit far less dramatic and… Continue Reading

AfPak Insider Dissects Obama’s Policy Missteps

by Robert E. Hunter Publication this month of Vali Nasr’s The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat, could not have been better timed. The US and the NATO allies are in the process of disengaging from Afghanistan — however… Continue Reading

Mali: Players Increasingly Thinking Long-Term

by Wayne White Continuing extremist attacks in northern Mali are a reminder that this vast Saharan region, given to raiding and smuggling for more than a millennium, could remain an attractive haven even for a much weakened al-Qaeda in the… Continue Reading

Report: Engage Iran’s People While Preventing Nuke

by Jasmin Ramsey via IPS News The U.S. should not only focus on the short-term goal of “suspending or delaying” Iran’s alleged quest for a nuclear weapons capability, but also on “curtailing Iran’s other worrisome activities in the region while… Continue Reading