NEED TO KNOW IRAN Fingers in Ears The United States reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil and shipping in early November. The sanctions had been suspended under the nuclear disarmament agreement that President Barack Obama struck with Iranian leaders in 2015. President Donald Trump pulled out of that deal, saying he...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW BRAZIL Brace, Brace Jair Bolsonaro, the populist president-elect of Brazil, has been repeatedly compared to US President Donald Trump. The Intercept’s Glen Greenwald thought those comparisons weren’t fair – to Trump. Greenwald is no fan of Trump. But Bolsonaro, he argued, is a dangerous extremist who...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION Snores, Conspiracies and Reform Mention the World Trade Organization and most Americans will either start snoring (think: Japan suing South Korea over shipbuilding subsidies) or cite conspiracy theories about a totalitarian New World Order. US President Donald Trump has called the WTO a...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CUBA Cuba Libre, on Ice Originating in Cuba in the early 20th century, the Cuba Libre (Rum and Coke) is considered a mediocre drink, almost an insult to the aged dark liquor that – if one is lucky – sometimes infuses it. Still, the sweet...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW KOREAS Kimchi Diplomacy Around 17,000 schoolchildren in North Korea recently held a gymnastics show called “Glorious Country.” The show didn’t include the usual militarism that marks such celebrations in the Hermit Kingdom, wrote the New York Times. Instead, the spectacle alluded to talks between US President...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ORTHODOX CHURCH Holy Politics A battle for the soul of the Eastern Orthodox Church is underway. The result might rival the Great Schism that sundered the ties between the Catholic and Eastern Churches in 1054, because it could split the Orthodox church itself. As the Financial Times...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SRI LANKA A Bloodless Coup The turmoil in Sri Lanka has been called a “coup without guns.” In late October, President Maithripala Sirisena fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Reuters explained. Action was necessary, Sirisena insisted, because Wickremesinghe had been...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SYRIA Mission Impossible Geir Pedersen helped orchestrate the famous handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at the White House in 2000. Now the Norwegian diplomat is the new United Nations envoy to Syria. In working to achieve a sustainable peace to...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW EASTERN EUROPE The New Geopolitics “Fort Trump” became a punchline in September after President Andrzej Duda of Poland suggested the name for a permanent US military base his country has proposed on its soil. The New York Times described how Polish commentators panned Duda’s suggestion. But more important...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW MADAGASCAR The 36-Way Race Madagascar is in the height of campaign season, with 36 candidates, including four ex-heads of state, running for the presidency. “Hidden from the world’s view or interest a Titanic battle for democracy and human rights over greed and self-interest is being waged...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW HONDURAS No Place Like Home Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez recently tweeted that he wanted to send officials to Guatemala to help Hondurans seeking to come home. The irony was that Hernandez was arguably the reason the thousands of Hondurans in the migrant caravan now heading toward...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CONGO Kleptocrats, Militias and Ebola The Democratic Republic of Congo might change if the country can get out of its own way. Leaders of the nation’s diverse opposition political parties recently met in South Africa and agreed to choose a single candidate to confront Emmanuel Ramazani...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW GERMANY Exit State Right In bowing out, German Chancellor Angela Merkel demonstrated yet again that she’s one of the world’s most masterful politicians. On Monday, after her Christian Democratic Union party and its allies suffered a major setback in regional elections in Hesse – and, a...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW NEW CALEDONIA Liberty or Croissants Most Americans don’t know much about the history of the vast French empire or the extent to which France projects its power through its remaining overseas territories. That power is under scrutiny these days in New Caledonia, an archipelago some 900...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW GUINEA-BISSAU By the Numbers Thousands demonstrated in the tiny West African nation of Guinea-Bissau recently. At issue was the slow pace of a national census to register voters before the Nov. 18 legislative elections. “Thousands of people have not yet been registered, it’s too crazy,” a protester...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW MEXICO For We're Bound for the Rio Grande President Donald Trump was expected to send troops to the Mexican border to help stop a caravan of thousands of Central American migrants from entering the US. “If the troops carry arms, it will be solely for self-defense,”...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW UNITED KINGDOM Fool in the Rain Lifespans in the United Kingdom rose for almost 130 years as improvements in medicine and hygiene eliminated common fatal diseases, technological and labor advances put an end to many dangerous, back-breaking jobs, and widespread economic growth improved quality of...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ECUADOR The World's Worst Guest The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is a heroic activist-whistleblower to some and a Russian-backed provocateur to others. He’s also “one of the world’s worst houseguests,” according to Vox. An Australian computer engineer, Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW YEMEN The End of Impunity Yemenis in refugee camps in the northern reaches of the Middle Eastern country have taken to boiling leaves to stave off hunger. Sooner or later, of course, such measures won’t work. Sky News visited a camp and found severely malnourished children in...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW IRELAND A Poet, A Mood The office of the president of Ireland is largely ceremonial. “But as the country’s first citizen, the president is often looked upon to capture and reflect the national mood, and as a diplomat, represents the country and the Irish diaspora...
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