Militia Mayhem Underscores Libya’s Power Vacuum, Threatening its Revolution


It’s hardly unexpected that a U.S. political-media culture that routinely repackages yesterday’s panicky improvisations as today’s established “doctrines” has seen many in Washington hail Libya as “the new model” for U.S. intervention abroad. With comparatively limited investment of Western treasure — and no troops on the ground, …

Smart Power? Not in the Middle East


The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not the ideal test-bed for the proposition that the United States can compensate for the decline of its ability to influence events through military and economic muscle through “smart power“, putting diplomacy in the lead and leveraging more limited U.S. hard power through coalitions and making use …

Why Kyrgyzstan’s Presidential Election Matters


From the farce of Borat to the ignorance of Herman Cain, the politics and people of Central Asia get short shrift in the U.S. But deride the ‘Stans at your peril. The old crossroads of the Silk Road now rest upon 21st century geo-political faultlines, etched by the competing strategic interests of Russia, China, and the U.S. …

Planet 7 Billion: Five Crisis Hotspots to Watch


The following is a guest post from TIME contributor Joe Jackson.

As the planet’s population climbs towards a new U.N.-projected peak of 10.1 billion by the turn of the next century, competition for resources within and between states will likely intensify. So too, goes the logic, will the number of resulting conflicts over oil, …

Palestinian Statehood Gets Recognized by UNESCO: What’s Next?


Unesco’s approval of full membership for Palestine is not without practical significance: The U.N. organization bestows and enforces the status of World Heritage Site, and with portions of the Heritage-aspirant Dead Sea located in Palestinian territory, as well as Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and the Hebron tomb of Abraham and …

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