Now that the talks with Iran on its nuclear program appear to be on the ropes, are we on the road to war? The Israelis threaten it almost weekly, and the Obama administration has reportedly drawn up an attack plan. But in a sense, we are already at war with Iran.
In a recent interview, the eminent geo-strategist Ian Bremmer suggested that a “nuclear-armed Iran” is inevitable because, in an emerging “G-Zero World” where no single bloc of countries can dominate international affairs, the emerging powers can frustrate the West’s efforts to thwart Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. But recent years have given lie to this argument.
As Turkey and Iran seek to extend their respective influence throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, their interests and regional agendas have inevitably clashed, as evidenced by their conflicting positions on the turmoil in Syria. But although divergent interests in the Syrian conflict pull Turkey and Iran in opposite directions, their mutual interests in maintaining cordial relations will likely prevent the Syrian issue from precipitating a major split.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is shaping up to be as bad as NAFTA or worse.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia’s first woman president, has been praised internationally for her efforts to address war crimes from the country’s civil war and for negotiating significant debt relief, even winning the Noble Peace Prize as a result. However, a briefing held last Thursday by IPS’ Foreign Policy in Focus coinciding with Sirleaf’s recent visit to the United States drew attention to areas that Sirleaf has failed to adequately address. The event was well attended, with more people than could fit into our conference room.
Multinational corporations can override the domestic laws of countries through the international tribunals.
Even though Deutsche Bank helped cause its financial crisis, Spain is bailing it out.
The hopes of Mexico’s president Felipe Calderon to have the European crisis under control before he presides over the G20 Summit have been dashed. Although the immediate threat of an economic meltdown has subsided, the crisis is far from over. Continued uncertainty in Greece and growing crisis in Spain are the most recent problems that have worsened the situation in the euro zone, said the European Commission in its weekly report for the last week of May. As usual, it called for holding the line.
“I’m going to see the European cup having resolved the situation,” claimed Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Sunday, after a bailout of the country’s banks worth up to €100 billion was announced. The Spanish team drew, but the Spanish people continue to lose – paying for a crisis that has left them with “not much bread, and terrible circus” (Poco pan y pésimo circo), in the words of a Spanish rap-rock song that sounds more apt today than when it was recorded over 15 years ago.
Dilma Rousseff interrupted the speech of Barack Obama. The President of the United States was speaking about the advances of various countries in Latin America, commenting that now there exists “a prosperous middle class” that represents a business opportunity for companies from his country. “Suddenly, they are interested in buying iPads, interested in buying planes from Boeing.” “Or Embraer,” interjected Dilma, yielding applause.