Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Burma One Year After Suu Kyi Victory (Video)
The United States needs to combine firm backing for democratic progress and human rights in Burma with a rigorous understanding of the country’s many divisions, to help ensure its development stays on track, says Derek Mitchell, a former U.S. ambassador there and now a senior advisor at USIP. He spoke in a videotaped conversation with USIP President Nancy Lindborg. They were wrapping up a week-long visit that included a meeting with now-State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party took power in March 2016 after 50 years of military rule.
Despite Threats, Hezbollah Unlikely to Hit Israel Now
The Lebanese militia Hezbollah's intensifying threats against Israel, such as warnings that the group could cause massive casualties by striking Haifa’s ammonia facilities, probably are less dangerous than they appear. While an outbreak of fighting between the two antagonists is always possible, for now Hezbollah has little motive to disturb the unspoken rules that govern their enduring conflict.
Plan B for the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?
President Trump took many watchers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by surprise with his Feb. 15 statement that he’s “looking at two-states and one-state” and would support a solution “that both parties like.”
Iraq’s Electoral Cycle Threatens Political Talks (Video)
Political reconciliation risks getting lost in sectarian electoral competition, says Sarhang Hamasaeed, the director of Middle East programs at USIP, in a new video. That makes it urgent for the international community to help Iraqis navigate not only the military operation, but also political talks.
Fight Against Violent Extremism Suffers Research Gaps
The Trump administration’s effort to craft a new White House strategy to defeat the self-styled Islamic State extremist group has revived key questions, such as why young people join such organizations and how to reduce violent extremism or even prevent it in the first place. A recent analysis of studies conducted over the past 18 years reveals significant gaps in research that undermine the ability to curb this pervasive threat.
How Iran May Use Iraq to Deflect New U.S. Pressure
Iraq’s grinding war to dislodge the Islamic State from its last Iraqi strongholds has obscured a simmering — and in some respects equally important — political battle in Baghdad. At stake is Iranian influence in Iraq and how it might be used by Tehran to counter any increased pressure from the new U.S. administration in Washington. The latest maneuvers involve murky motives, foreign influence and multiple leaders of divergent constituencies.
Can China Help Get Burma’s Peace Process Back on Track?
The second major political dialogue of Burma’s peace process was supposed to begin on February 28. But reports this week indicate that the meeting will be delayed until March. As Burma’s leaders scramble to bring all the relevant parties to the table, China also is playing a role in getting the process back on track.
Afghan Women Defy Taliban in a City on the Edge
Kunduz once bustled as the cotton-mill capital of northeast Afghanistan. Amid Afghanistan’s 39-year-old war, it is now half-empty, fearful and bullet-pocked—a target in the Taliban’s fight to capture a major city. Remarkably, Kunduz also is a stronghold of Afghanistan’s women’s movement, including a handful of women-run radio stations. So when Taliban fighters briefly seized Kunduz in 2015 and attacked it again last year, they tried each time to kill Sediqa Sherzai, a journalist and mother who runs Radio Roshani.
Somalia’s Peaceful Presidential Handover Bolsters Hope
A Washington D.C. taxi driver from Somalia reflected the mixture of relief and trepidation among his countrymen back home and other observers the day after the country’s latest momentous election last week. “My heart is smiling,” he told me after I’d greeted him with some of the few words of Somali that I know. But our conversation soon turned, naturally, to the hurdles yet to come for a strategic but struggling coastal sliver along the Horn of Africa.
As Netanyahu, Trump Meet, How to Keep Doors Open to Peace?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington tomorrow is likely to produce at least a few initial signs of next steps in a decades-long conflict—and equally long efforts to resolve it. It’s unclear how President Trump will engage on the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, but he has indicated his interest in “making the ultimate deal.” He also recently issued a statement on the unhelpful nature of settlements, and affirmed his commitment to the two-state solution.