Michael Williams

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In return for this abrupt reversal of long-standing Philippines policy regarding the South China Sea, Beijing is believed to have offered Manila trade deals worth $13 billion. Photo by Getty Images.

MundoAméricaMundoAsia,

One of the hallmarks of US foreign policy under President Obama has been the attempt to reorient the direction of the State Department towards a rising Asia and away from the Middle East, where the Bush administration had invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the self-evident economic importance of Asia, and the rising challenge of China as a power second only to the United States, the task has not been easy. Try as the president has, extricating the US forces from Iraq and Afghanistan has proven difficult. The current assault on the ISIS-controlled Iraqi city of Mosul would be impossible without substantial US support including US Air Force attacks and substantial special forces involvement.…  Seguir leyendo »

Newly appointed United Nations General Secretary, Antonio Guterres speaks to the press, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Lisbon, on October 6, 2016. Photo by Pedro Fiúza/NurPhoto via Getty Images

InternacionalONU

Antonio Guterres has defied expectations. It had been anticipated that the ninth Secretary General of the United Nations would be a woman and from Eastern Europe.

There were no shortage of women candidates including former New Zealand Prime Minister and head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Helen Clark, two Bulgarians, former EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva and Irina Bokova, former Director General of UNESCO.

The other women candidates were Vesna Pusic, former Croatian Foreign Minister and Natalia Gherman former Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister.

The other male candidates were Vuk Jeremic, a Serbian politician and the Slovak Miroslav Lajcak, former Montenegrin Prime Minister Igor Luksic former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim and finally the former Slovene President Danilo Turk.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalONU

The campaign to become the next secretary general is now well under way, although the final outcome may well not be determined before the end of the year. The current incumbent, Ban Ki-Moon finishes his second five-year term in office on 31 December. The UN Charter describes the secretary general as the ‘chief administrative officer’ of the organization, akin to the role of a permanent secretary in the British civil service, from which the model was derived. In practice of course it is much more. The secretary general is at the heart of international diplomacy as anyone who has been in New York in September knows all too well.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

In years to come historians may note the recapture of the ancient city of Palmyra, following closely on the heels of brutal Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) assaults in Brussels on 14 March, and of course earlier in Paris, as a turning point in the five-year-old Syrian war. More than ever, Western populations and governments fear further mass killings in European and North American cities perpetrated by ISIS. While everywhere counterterrorist measures are being tightened further, urgent thought needs to be given to a coherent Western strategy to the greatest threat to democracy in decades. As Tony Blair argued in the Sunday Times on 27 March, without that strategy the West is likely to face ‘periodic but increasingly frequent acts of terrorism that will result in many more victims and start to destabilize our political and social cohesion’.…  Seguir leyendo »

A Syrian refugee feeds his daughter in Berlin on December 21, 2015, two days after a new UN resolution brought renewed hope for peace. Photo by KAY NIETFELD/AFP/Getty Images)

MundoOriente Próximo,

Last Friday, December 18, was not the first time the Security Council has adopted a resolution on the Syrian Civil War. In fact there have been seven resolutions since the outbreak of the war in the spring of 2011, but these have dealt mainly with the humanitarian situation and the question of chemical weapons.

The reason the Council has not been able to act decisively before stems primarily from the deep divisions between the West and Russia, although it should be noted that China, another permanent member of the Security Council, consistently backs Russia. Those differences remain but Friday’s resolution breaks new ground not only in calling for a political settlement of the conflict with a transitional government, but also in recognising “ensuring continuity of government institutions”, namely those presently controlled by President Assad.…  Seguir leyendo »