http://www.realclearworld.com/ en Copyright 2008 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:07:35 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:18:02 -0500 Hooman Majd, New York Times The supreme leader still rules, but the Rowhani victory could offer opportunities for Iranians, and the world.]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/in_iran_hints_of_hope_and_change_149111.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/opinion/global/in-iran-hints-of-hope-and-change.html? 100149111 AM Update 194082 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:49:59 -0500 Michael Singh, Wash Post The election of Hassan Rouhani as the next president of Iran has prompted two sorts of reactions among U.S. officials and Iranian analysts. Some see in Rouhani's victory a reformist resurgence and are urging the Obama administration to reach out in an effort to "strengthen" him, much as the Clinton administration sought to do after the election of Mohammad Khatami in 1997. Others see a wily trick by Iran's supreme leader, seeking to slough off the pressure of sanctions by presenting a smiling face to the world and buy more time with diplomacy while expanding...]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/irans_actions_speak_louder_than_elections_149114.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michael-singh-iranian-actions-speaker-louder-than-election-results/2013/06/18/f5143a7a-d81b-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html 100149114 AM Update 194228 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:12:52 -0500 Quentin Peel, Financial Times There is also a palpable feeling of disappointment with the Obama presidency, particularly in a country that expected so much of him. He has not closed down Guantánamo. He uses armed drones to attack civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He hasn’t really pushed a climate change agenda, opting instead for fracking. Now, he is said to have sanctioned lots of snooping.]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/obamas_chance_to_rekindle_europes_love_149106.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/05f1abac-d786-11e2-a26a-00144feab7de.html 100149106 AM Update 194218 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:22:32 -0500 Matthew Yglesias, Slate You may not be interested in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), but TTIP is interested in you. And you may not recall the moment in Barack Obama’s State of the Union address when he called for a free trade pact with the European Union, but policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic have continued to grind forward with the process. Last Friday, the European Union’s trade ministers delivered an official mandate to the European Commission to begin negotiating an agreement. No matter how dull it sounds, if it happens, it’s going to be a really...]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/a_europe-us_free_trade_deal_would_be_huge_149109.htmlhttp://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/06/ttip_transatlantic_trade_and_investment_partnership_would_create_the_biggest.html 100149109 AM Update 194221 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:49:57 -0500 Nick Turse, TomDispatch The Gulf of Guinea. He said it without a hint of irony or embarrassment. This was one of U.S. Africa Command's big success stories. The Gulf... of Guinea. Never mind that most Americans couldn't find it on a map and haven't heard of the nations on its shores like Gabon, Benin, and Togo. Never mind that just five days before I talked with AFRICOM's chief spokesman, the Economist had asked if the Gulf of Guinea was on the verge of becoming "another Somalia," because piracy there had jumped 41% from 2011 to 2012 and was on track to be even worse in 2013. The Gulf of...]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2013/06/19/how_the_us_military_is_wrecking_africa_105249.htmlhttp://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2013/06/19/how_the_us_military_is_wrecking_africa_105249.html 200149100 AM Update 194212 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:13:49 -0500 Jeremy Jennings, Standpoint Cast your mind back, if you can, to the summer of 1983. Francois Mitterrand was President of France and the French Socialist Party led a government containing four Communist Party ministers. Times were good for the English tourist. One pound bought 12 francs. A good lunch in the Dordogne was yours for a snip. Times were less bright for the French. The extensive nationalisation of French banking and industry combined with significant increases in public spending on pensions and other social benefits had produced a jump in inflation, an alarming balance of payments crisis and two devaluations...]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/hapless_hollandes_french_farce_flops_149098.htmlhttp://standpointmag.co.uk/dispatches-june-13-hapless-hollandes-french-farce-flops-jeremy-jennings 100149098 AM Update 194165 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:05:31 -0500 Jonathan Kay, National Post If anyone could have fixed that broken country, it was the U.S.. Unfortunately, it was too much for even them.]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/leaving_afghanistan_heads_held_high_149115.htmlhttp://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/06/19/jonathan-kay-heads-held-high-in-afghanistan/ 100149115 AM Update 194229 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:05:04 -0500 Orhan Cengiz, Radikal/Worldcrunch Originally published in Radikal. ISTANBUL - If I were inclined, I could wax all day about the new National Intelligence Agency law. I could opine, for example, that "Even George Orwell could not dream of an intelligence agency that would keep the urine samples of its people." But that's for another day. I could also explain how the law about gatherings and demonstrations is wrongly enforced. How the horrible record of human rights violations of recent weeks - the woman in red being gassed in the face, gassing the Divan Hotel and shutting the doors - are perfect examples of...]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2013/06/19/erdogan_driving_turkey_off_a_cliff_105250.htmlhttp://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2013/06/19/erdogan_driving_turkey_off_a_cliff_105250.html 200149104 AM Update 194216 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:52:07 -0500 Aram Nerguizian, CSIS While supportive of popular protesters and regime change in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, at no point has the Shi'a militant group Hezbollah signaled any intention of scaling back its support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. To the contrary, its support has steadily escalated from threats in 2011 to shift attention away from Syria to potential escalation along the UN Blue Line separating Israel and Lebanon to an increasing military role in Syria starting in 2012. It was at least in part thanks to Hezbollah that the Syrian military was able to retake the strategic...]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2013/06/19/hezbollahs_necessary_war_of_choice_in_syria_105248.htmlhttp://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2013/06/19/hezbollahs_necessary_war_of_choice_in_syria_105248.html 200149101 AM Update 194213 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:12:52 -0500 Candace Sutton, Herald Sun SINCE attempting to bring the planet to the brink of World War III in March, the world's favourite mad man North Korea's Kim Jong-un has been mostly missing from international headlines.]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/miss_him_kim_jong-un_is_keeping_busy_149116.htmlhttp://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/been-missing-kim-jongun-here8217s-what-he8217s-been-up-to/story-fni0xs61-1226666432152 100149116 AM Update 194230 Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:27:33 -0500 Cristina Odone, Foreign Policy Europe prides itself on its democratic credentials. So why is a tiny band of underdog dissidents having such a hard time fighting the continent’s last dictator?]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/europes_dirty_little_secret_149099.htmlhttp://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/06/18/europes_dirty_little_secret 100149099 AM Update 194167 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:37:27 -0500 Marc Herman, Pacific Standard Guns are pouring into Syria. Is anyone keeping track?]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/is_anyone_counting_the_guns_in_syria_149110.htmlhttp://www.psmag.com/politics/is-anyone-counting-the-guns-in-syria-60463/ 100149110 AM Update 194222 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:54:50 -0500 K. Yhome, East Asia Forum The new route for oil and gas imports to China is a significant imprint in the geopolitical landscape of the region and forms a key factor in the strategic calculus of major actors. The pipelines are also the first signs of China realising the dream of opening up its southwest provinces to the Indian Ocean. China is moving closer toward establishing what has been described by some Chinese scholars as Beijing’s ‘two-ocean strategy’ — achieving naval control in the Pacific and Indian oceans.]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/pipelines_fuel_chinas_growing_naval_power_149102.htmlhttp://www.eastasiaforum.org/2013/06/19/the-geopolitics-of-chinas-new-energy-route/ 100149102 AM Update 194214 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:14:27 -0500 Ruth Alexander, BBC News Every 15 seconds a child dies of hunger, says a campaign by charities urging G8 leaders to pledge more aid for the world's poorest families - or every 10 seconds, according to the latest version of the slogan. But does this paint an accurate picture?]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/how_often_are_children_dying_from_hunger_149107.htmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22935692 100149107 AM Update 194219 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:17:20 -0500 Jack Barry, Vice At the end of last month, Costa Rica witnessed its first turtle conservationist murder. On the evening of the May 30, Jairo Mora Sandoval and four other conservationists were abducted while carrying out their checks on Moin beach near Limon, a city on the east coast of the country. While the four others were tied up and left in a house, Sandoval was beaten to death. His body was found in the early hours, allegedly with sand stuffed in his mouth—a clear message to conservationists that they should keep their mouths shut. For years, volunteers in Costa Rica have battled against...]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/19/why_costa_ricas_drug_addicts_kill_turtles_149108.htmlhttp://www.vice.com/read/costa-rican-drug-addicts-are-killing-turtles-for-crack 100149108 AM Update 194220 Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:15:44 -0500 Jakob Augstein, Der Spiegel Is Barack Obama a friend? Revelations about his government's vast spying program call that assumption into doubt. The European Union must protect the Continent from America's reach for omnipotence.]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/18/europe_must_protect_itself_from_america_149080.htmlhttp://www.spiegel.de/international/world/europe-must-stand-up-to-american-cyber-snooping-a-906250.html 100149080 AM Update 194043 Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:08:47 -0500 Josef Joffe, Wall Street Journal America is the world's No. 1 and Germany is Europe's, yet both seem content to punch below their weights.]]>http://www.realclearworld.com/2013/06/18/two_great_powers_no_real_leadership_149084.htmlhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323566804578549094192563534.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopBucket 100149084 AM Update 187689