While Libya’s post-revolution central government struggles to exert control over a restive populace and get the fractured nation’s economy back on track, it has also been fighting a legal battle against the International Court of Justice over the right to try members of the late Muamar Gaddafi’s regime in Libyan courts. The two men in […]
Is Egypt softening stance toward Ethiopia’s mega-dam?
After months of heightened tensions and exchanges of occasionally bellicose rhetoric between Egypt and Ethiopia over the latter’s plan to build a massive hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile, the diplomatic row between two of Africa’s most powerful states might be cooling. Egypt’s minister for water resources and irrigation, Dr. Muhammad ‘Abd al-Mutalib, told press […]
Kerry: tilting at peace talks, or redefining America’s role?
In the Financial Times, columnist Philip Stephens praises US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts in the service of the Israel-Palestine peace process, despite seemingly overwhelming odds against him. Listing a litany of recent failures in US and European foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa, Stephens imagines how much worse things might be […]
Crocker: Keep Syrian conflict contained and in context
Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who has served in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, says that the current war between Bashar al-Assad’s regime and an array of opposition factions should be understood in the context of a three-decade-long regional conflict, rather than that of the “Arab Spring.” He also argues that the call for America to “do something” […]
Afghanistan shuts border to US materiel over customs spat
The Washington Post reports that Afghan authorities have prevented US and NATO military shipments from crossing the country’s borders and demanded that the US pay $70 million in fines for failing to submit customs forms. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction warned in a letter to Congress last month that Afghan ministries were seeking […]