From Bully to Friend: Changing America’s international image

Even though President Obama is enjoying his holidays in Hawaii, he will most certainly think about his past and future decisions. Without a doubt, the Middle East will figure prominently among his list of key topics for the year 2014. Read on! →

Peace down the line: Are Iran and the US ready to talk?

On Friday the 27th September, the president of the United States and his Iranian counterpart had a 15-minute phone talk, which signalled the first such high-level dialogue between these two countries for over 30 years. Since the Iranian Shah was Read on! →

LONG ISLAND SOLAR FARM

USA: Germany sets solar power records, but America lags behind?

Earlier this year, Germany toppled their own record for energy production using solar power, with daily output of 23.9 gigawatts. While Germany has spent the past several years topping records for solar power output, other central European nations like Bulgaria Read on! →

Secretary of State John Kerry meet with PM Benjamin Netanyahu, at the David Citadel Hotel Jerusalem April 9, 2013

USA: A naïve push for Israeli-Palestinian peace?

The recent attempt to restart the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations by the United States has been met with significant scepticism and criticism. There have been a number of obstacles that have hindered renewed efforts by the United States to restart the Israeli Read on! →

Obama at a pre-election rally in 2012

USA: Scandals and the Obama Administration

Legacy: the buzzword for all incumbents of the oval office fortunate enough to have won a second term. On that clear night in Chicago’s Grant Park in 2008, any brief thought of the president-elect’s legacy was undoubtedly clouded out by Read on! →

Graffiti showing the top leaders of the Colombian revolutionary group FARC

Colombia: Is peace with FARC getting closer?

A possible first step towards peace was reached in the Colombian government’s struggle with the FARC guerrilla group came on the 26th May 2013, when negotiators at the talks in Havana announced a deal on land reform. For Colombia, this Read on! →

A medical cannabis club in 2005.

USA: Cannabis legalization sees opposition from unlikely source

The American states of Washington and Colorado made international news last November, when voters from both states passed initiatives to legalize the use of marijuana for recreational use. Voters had previously voted for laws protecting cannabis use for qualified medical Read on! →

Canada: Harper’s retreating foreign policy

In October 2010, the United Nations started the voting procedures for the non-permanent seats of the Security Council. Canada, who had until this point been on the council six times before hoped that this time would be no different, having Read on! →

YPF petrol station in Argentina.

Argentina: The beginning of a wave of resource nationalism

Despite the Arab Spring, it was not a Middle Eastern country which grabbed biggest headlines for resource nationalism in 2012. It was Argentina, where populist President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner proposed a bill on April 16 to renationalize Yacimientos Petrolíferos Read on! →

USA: Liberals lax on Obama’s foreign policies [op-ed]

Nobel Peace Prize winning President Barack Obama has recently reiterated his desire to close Guantanamo Bay. The news was warmly welcomed by US liberals keen to show their conservative counterparts that their man in the White House is a force Read on! →