Politics

Posted: Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Author: Sarah Khederian

As the heads of state of 47 nations descend on Washington, DC, there has been much speculation about what Obama’s Nuclear Summit will accomplish during this month rife with nuclear negotiations and conferences. The summit comes after the signing of a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between Russia and the US as well as the release of the Obama Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review and just before the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference next month.

The Summit formally focuses on what nations are doing to secure their nuclear weapons and keep them from falling into the hands of terrorists. Jonathan Alter argues that “Obama sees himself as a complacency buster,” who will call out “many of these countries [who] wrongly assume that terrorists couldn't gain access to nuclear materials, and wrongly figure that if a device were to detonate, it would do so in the U.S. or Israel—not where they live. If it does nothing else, the summit will disabuse Obama's peer group of these myths and elevate the issue to the presidential level.” It is precisely on this kind of topic which Obama can produce a successful conference (he already got the Ukraine to agree to eliminate its stores of enriched uranium and Canada and Malaysia to pledge greater security for their stockpiles).

Date: Monday, March 23, 2010
Author: Elise Hogan

In a rally held March 17th, nearly 3,000 protesters led by Omurbek Tekebayev gathered at the presidential palace in Kyrgyzstan to protest President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s rule. Among other stipulations, the opposition called for Bakiyev to release political prisoners, and “stop repressions” within one week (by March 24th, 2010) and threatened to oust the president if those conditions were not met. While the extent of the offending repression is unclear, it is true that Bakiyev’s policies have become increasingly undemocratic over his five year rule. After the 2005 Tulip Revolution, former leader Askar Akayev was exiled in favor of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was then elected with an 89% vote and has retained power ever since. Most recently, Transparency International ranked Kyrgyzstan 166th out of 180 countries, and Freedom House downgraded the nation to “not free” status in January 2010. Outspoken politicians and intellectuals are being murdered and economic stagnation has led to futile remunerative efforts such as increasing utility taxes and tariffs. Meanwhile, Radio Free Europe and many independent and U.S. government-backed media outlets were part of a coordinated blackout in the past few weeks as the government has attempted to quell the voice of opposition.

Posted: Monday, February 1, 2010
Author: Sarah Khederian

A January 14 decision by the Iraqi Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice to outlaw 511 Iraqi politicians with former Baathist ties has spurred outrage on both the streets of Baghdad and the corridors of the White House. Many reports on the recent Iraqi ban emphasize that more than 500 Sunni politicians have been disqualified from the electoral process, though the actual figures show that the majority of the people banned are Shiite, signifying a resurgence of the sectarian politics which characterized and devastated post-invasion Iraq. The Sunni outcry signifies the extent to which Sunnis feel disenfranchised and put out by Shiite politics while those who believe in a post-Saddam Baathist party are seeing their political voice disappear. An op-ed in the New York Times by Kenneth Pollack and Michael O’Hanlon even labeled the prohibitive order a “Ban on Democracy” which not only threatens the short-term future of Iraq’s democracy for its upcoming March 7 parliamentary elections, but also calls into question the very nature of the Iraqi political system.

Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Author: Ed Levandoski

Iraq’s constitutionally mandated elections may be postponed, due to political tensions and terrorist attacks. A dispute between Parliament and the Vice President over the percentage of seats reserved for ethnic minorities and Iraqis abroad resulted in a veto and stalled efforts for the election to occur prior to the January 31 deadline. With the possibility of elections becoming less and less likely before the deadline, Iraq faces a potentially major political crisis. The current U.S. military withdrawal plan is based on elections being held by the deadline, and any delays could force a change in the withdrawal plans. Additionally, it remains unclear what would happen if elections are not held before Parliament is dissolved 45 days after January 31.

Posted: Monday, October 19, 2009
Author: Rammin Mostaghimi

Indices have been developed as numeric measures of qualitative assessments in fields as disparate as water quality and political freedom. They are often used by politicians and researchers as supposedly objective and comparable measures within many fields, but a recent high-profile split between two key players from one of the most prominent indexes has called this into question.

Posted: Thursday, October 15, 2009
Author: Kelly Doffing

An article in the Washington Post yesterday reported that the Obama administration is pressuring Saudi Arabia to accept 97 Yemenis currently incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Administration officials aim to enroll the prisoners in Saudi Arabia’s highly-acclaimed terrorist rehabilitation program, which has boasted impressively high success rates while keeping recidivism low. U.S. officials have been increasing pressure on Riyadh, which has been reluctant to negotiate, as the January deadline to close Guantanamo approaches.

Posted: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Author: Kelly Doffing

President Obama is convening a top-level meeting today in the White House Situation Room with members of his national security team to discuss US strategy in Afghanistan. In attendance will be Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, General David Petraeus, Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and other top officials. General Stanley McChrystal, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, will remotely attend the meeting from Germany.

Posted: Friday, August 14, 2009
Author: Andrew Akhlaghi

The initial narrative of the Iranian elections has changed significantly. At first, it seemed that the elections were really a contest between two rival camps of political elites. The elections seemed to pit Mousavi, backed by Rafsanjani’s money and connections, against Ahmadinejad, backed by Khameini’s money and connections. The electoral violence and street protests initially seemed to show these two factions continuing to vie against each other for power. It appeared that Ahmadinejad and Khameini were working in tandem to steal the election and Mousavi and Rafsanjani were leading the opposition. This narrative has been complicated by the gradual internal drift that both these pairs have experienced.

Posted: Friday, August 7, 2009
Author: Natalie Matthews

The United States and South Africa pledged joint action July 7th to pressure Zimbabwe to implement reforms after Secretary of State Clinton’s talks with South African International Relations Minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane. A more robust partnership between South Africa and the US is expected under President Obama and South African President, Jacob Zuma. Clinton is to meet Zuma this Saturday.

Posted: Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Author: Andrew Akhlaghi

The defection of Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon, from the March 14th coalition is important for three reasons. One, it shows that the political landscape of Lebanon is more pragmatic than ideological, and is characterized by a shifting network of alliances that maintain some level of political equilibrium in the country. Two, it points to concerns about more Syrian influence in Lebanon. And three, it may show that Syrian influence could increase the profile of Michel Suleiman, president of Lebanon, and the countries beleaguered central government.