Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
President Trump was scheduled to meet with Russian President Putin at the G20 summit. After Russia seized 3 Ukrainian vessels, former ambassador William Taylor, discusses if the meeting is still on.
The U.S. Institute of Peace mourns the death of Betty Bumpers, a schoolteacher, First Lady of Arkansas and adept political campaigner whose work promoted a reduction of tensions and nuclear weaponry during the Cold War, elevated the voices of American women in policymaking, and improved health for children. Bumpers tirelessly pursued her campaigns among American political leaders in Congress and several presidential administrations, and at the grass roots, in living rooms and local schools nationwide. From her home in Little Rock, Arkansas, Bumpers founded a citizens’ campaign, called Peace Links, that grew to national and global prominence. Bumpers served as a member of the U.S. Institute of Peace Board of Directors.
In an unlikely career renaissance, onetime neoconservative darling and Iraq War supporter Zalmay Khalilzad has re-emerged as President Trump’s top envoy in Afghanistan. The Afghan-born Mr. Khalilzad, who made his mark in the George W. Bush White House navigating Washington’s Iraq war policy in the wake of 2003 invasion, is not wasting any time as he seeks to forge an elusive peace deal in America’s longest war, holding three days of talks with top members of the Taliban in Qatar last week. The direct talks with the Afghan Islamist insurgency group...
The National Defense Strategy Commission (NDSC), a congressionally mandated panel charged with examining and making recommendations with respect to the national defense strategy for the United States and whose work has been facilitated by the United States Institute of Peace, released its final report on November 14, 2018.
U.S.Vice President Mike Pence will be attending the US-ASEAN Summit in Singapore and the APEC Summit in Papua New Guinea in mid-November, where he is expected to highlight the Trump administration's vision of a "free and open Indo-Pacific." The strategy was designed to replace the Obama-era "Pivot to Asia," but as White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports, many are still unclear about what this strategy means.
Tens of thousands of South Sudanese cheered, paraded and danced around the grounds of the John Garang Memorial Park in the capital city of Juba last week, celebrating a fresh peace deal. It was a striking change of mood for a country that has seen little joy in the past five years, ripped apart by a civil war that has displaced millions and left hundreds of thousands dead. Rebel leader, Riek Machar, who once served as the country's vice president, had flown back from exile and took the stage last Thursday along with South Sudan's president, Salva Kiir. The arch...
The talks with North Korean officials Thursday were for planning the next summit, but the meeting was postponed over scheduling conflicts. President Trump now says he's in no rush...
A few Nigerian newspapers reported erroneously this week that the U.S. Institute of Peace has made a prediction about the possible outcome of Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election. USIP never makes predictions about election outcomes and has not done so in this case. The Institute’s work on elections is confined to helping nations avoid electoral violence.
Asian leaders will be meeting at the U.S.-ASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit in Singapore Nov. 15. Despite evidence of rising authoritarianism, human rights violations and regression of democracy in the region, these issues won't be high on the agenda. What is causing this trend, and why is the Trump administration largely silent on it? White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
Washington being Washington, the expectation is that books born in this city should focus on matters of high policy. On that front, Prudence Bushnell’s account of the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya—and that of its counterpart in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania—on Aug. 7, 1998, does not disappoint. Indeed, her book, Terrorism, Betrayal, and Resilience: My Story of the 1998 U.S. Embassy Bombings, raises important questions about how the Washington policy establishment missed the clues that might have allowed it to foresee, and possibly prevent...