Whether or not Spain can overcome the challenges it now faces—which stem from the same source as those in Greece—depends on how quickly and forcefully the government responds.
Following U.S. pressure and a message of support from the Arab League, indirect talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders are set to begin this week. In spite of U.S. efforts, however, the talks are unlikely to lead to a breakthrough.
The Yemeni government is mired in an unwinnable and sporadic civil conflict in the northern governorate of Saada that has weakened the central government, accelerated the economic crisis, and threatens global stability by emboldening al-Qaeda.
The Santiago Principles and the commitment of their sponsors—some of the biggest sovereign wealth funds—are an important test for the viability of new forms of global governance.
The widely-held belief among both Chinese and Western observers that China is growing increasingly assertive has the potential to create significant challenges for Sino-U.S. relations.
The 2010 NPT Review Conference is not a make-or-break moment for the nonproliferation regime. Countries should realize that they each have an opportunity to create positive momentum for further strengthening the regime after the Review Conference.
The post-election phase in Iraq appears even more difficult than anticipated, postponing improvements in Iraq’s long-term security and economic development.
The upcoming Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference is a chance for all states—not only the United States—to stabilize and strengthen the nonproliferation regime.
The emergency aid for Greece buys the Euro area some valuable time, but Europe will need to enact a credible plan that addresses the situations in both Greece and other vulnerable countries if the Euro area is to survive in the long-term.
Insisting on the establishment a Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone in the Middle East is unrealistic and creates counterproductive expectations. A Nuclear-Test-Free Zone, however, would be a step in the right direction.
China is poised to export two power reactors to Pakistan, despite guidelines adopted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group. The transaction is about to happen at a time when China's increasingly ambitious nuclear energy program is becoming more autonomous.
Despite its importance, Russia’s perspective on the war in Afghanistan has typically been missing from previous analyses of coalition policy. Moscow views Afghanistan largely through the prism of security threats to itself and its Central Asian neighborhood.
A carbon fee would discourage carbon emissions, encourage the transition to low-carbon fuels, and provide revenue to finance America's transition to a new world order of clean energy.
Tensions between Georgia and Russia continue to simmer, in the aftermath of the five-day war of August 2008. Without disinterested help from the West, Georgian president Saakashvili’s rhetorical invocation of a Russian threat could all too easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Though Italy has exhibited better fiscal management than Greece, its debt level is still higher and its competitiveness has deteriorated just as sharply. To avoid its own sovereign debt crisis, Italy must raise its primary balance, cut labor costs, and enact structural reform.
Neither the expansion of NATO—even if Russia is added—nor the European security pact proposed by Medvedev alone are capable of uniting Europe. What is needed is the creation of a common security zone encompassing all of these states in which war and the use of armed forces would be abolished.
The tragic death of the Polish president might give Poland and Russia a chance to move beyond their historical animosity, but it will still take hard effort on both sides to break away from the past and at long last come to terms with each other.
State-sponsored assassination is on the rise worldwide. Aside from questions of moral justification and legality, political assassination also brings to the fore practical policy considerations, not least the law of unintended consequences.
Western NGO strategies for promoting democracy and human rights in the Arab world contain serious flaws. They treat the diverse Arab world as a homogeneous entity and refrain from working with some of the local organizations that have the greatest impact on the ground in Arab societies.
A less costly and more effective way for the international coalition to overcome the impasse in Afghanistan is a negotiated agreement with the Taliban, which could pave the way for a unity government.