by Louis Kriesberg In the eighth year of Barack Obama’s presidency the struggle over assessing the correctness of his foreign policy is understandably under way. Unfortunately, too often the struggle is waged in extreme, ill-founded terms. Many Republican leaders and...
There are a number of no-go zones in the world for Barack Obama these days. Damascus is enemy territory. Most of Iraq and Afghanistan are too dangerous. Pyongyang has never hosted a sitting U.S. president, and Kim Jong-Eun frankly prefers Americans with better jump...
As the Colombian government and the FARC guerilla group continue negotiations to end Latin America’s longest-running conflict, a coalition of civil society organizations is calling for the inclusion of Afro-Colombian and indigenous voices in the peace talks. Last...
During the George W. Bush years, pundits and journalists were constantly speculating whether North Korea would be next in line for regime change. After all, Bush had included North Korea in his “axis of evil” speech in 2002. One year later, the Pentagon invaded Saddam...
The governments of United States and Cuba are opening embassies this week in Havana and Washington. This is a major watershed in the road to full normalization of relations between the two states and the two societies. This is also a major win for democracy because...
Cuba and North Korea share a great deal in common. They are both led by dynastic rulers. They retain their nominal affiliation to revolutionary Communism. They suffer under U.S. embargoes that have been in place for decades. And although they registered...
What is good for the goose is good for the gander. This very American expression came to mind while I watched last month’s confirmation hearing for Noah Mamet, who was nominated by President Obama to be the U.S. ambassador to Argentina. The chairman of the committee,...
A rapper, a graffiti artist, a blogger, two independent lawyers: In all, 17 students have arrived from Cuba with U.S government-sponsored scholarships to study at Miami Dade College. Having students from Cuba in the United States is a welcome development. Reforms to...
The long struggle of Nelson Mandela—from freedom fighter and political prisoner to president of South Africa—has, in death, received universal acclaim from world leaders. Even George H.W. Bush, who was U.S. president when a white racist dictatorship held the...
Just before Thanksgiving, Cuban-American families who had hoped to spend the holidays with their Cuban relatives got some bad news. On November 26th, Cuba suspended consular services — including the issuing of passports and visas — at its interest section in...