Diplomacy & Crisis News

From its fascist architecture to the 'Puppet Emperor Palace', relics of the occupation linger in the former Manchurian capital.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been a hawk since the days of W. His looming defeat could finally mean an end to one of the most controversial foreign-policy eras in recent history.

It's not about the "icebreaker gap" — it's about business as usual.

India Bonus read: “India and Pakistan’s Dialogue of the Deaf” by Mohammad Hanif (NYT) 10 major workers’ unions go on strike in India Nearly 150 million workers belonging to 10 major workers’ unions in India have gone to strike on Wednesday to protest policies of the Narendra Modi government (BBC, Hindu). The strike seems to ...

By Paul McLeary with Adam Rawnsley The friendly skies. The CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) have teamed up to fly armed drones over Syria, several U.S. officials confirmed to the Washington Post’s Greg Miller. Despite highly-touted plans for the Obama administration to scale back the amount of direct-strike work the CIA performs ...

The CIA and Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) are conducting a drone campaign against high-level Islamic State targets in Syria, the Washington Post reports. This clandestine campaign is being run separately from the international coalition’s effort and has targeted senior officials in the terrorist group, especially those working on supporting and expanding the Islamic State’s ...

Following the first executions in Chad since 2003, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today deeply regretted the resumption of the death penalty in that country and called for an official moratorium on its use.

The top UN official in Somalia, Nicholas Kay, has strongly condemned today’s attack by Al Shabaab militants on an African Union Mission (AMISOM) base at Janaale, Lower Shabelle Region manned by troops from the Ugandan contingent.

A new report published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on assistance to the Palestinian people warns that the Gaza Strip could become “uninhabitable” by 2020 if current economic trends persist.

Even as aid agencies continue to reach those impacted by the Syria conflict, the needs of the 7.6 million people displaced by the war and the 4 million others who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries are “greater than ever,” and the world’s worst humanitarian crisis looks set to deteriorate even further unless a political solution is found, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator said today.

Parliaments have a critical role in translating the new sustainable development agenda – which world leaders will adopt later this month at the United Nations – into real improvements for the lives of the world’s people, says the head of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

The United Nations General Assembly today approved a resolution sending the draft ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ to Member States for adoption later this month, bringing the international community “to the cusp of decisions that can help realize the… dream of a world of peace and dignity for all,” according to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The United Nations refugee agency announced today that it managed to deliver humanitarian aid to non-Government-controlled areas in eastern Ukriane for the first time in several weeks, including to Horvlika and other nearby areas north of Donetsk, which experienced heavy fighting in August.

The number of “exhausted and desperate” women and children making their way from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq through the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia seeking refuge in Europe has tripled in the past three months, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today.

The detection of a new case of Ebola in Sierra Leone over the weekend after the West African country had marked almost three weeks of zero cases has prompted the use of an experimental vaccine to fight the disease, according to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO).

A ground-breaking air quality measuring device expected to cost up to 100 times less than existing solutions has the potential to “revolutionize” air quality measurement in developing countries and help prevent deaths from air pollution that claim 7 million lives each year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Dominique David, rédacteur en chef de Politique étrangère, présente le numéro d’automne, consacré à l’Algérie : « L’Algérie, nouvelle puissance régionale ? »

Edito Politique étrangère : « L’Algérie… par Ifri-podcast

The UN human rights office said today it is alarmed by the steep increase in the number of civilian casualties in Yemen’s Taiz governorate in recent weeks, as well as by the “untenable” humanitarian situation which is being made worse by the blockage of supply routes into Taiz city by local “popular committees” affiliated with the Houthis.

Le numéro d’automne de Politique étrangère (3-2015), consacré à l’Algérie, vient de paraître !

Dans un environnement en feu, l’Algérie semble étrangement calme, mais les orages s’approchent : chute du prix des hydrocarbures dans une économie très dépendante, baisse d’une rente qui assure la paix sociale, blocage du système politique, déstabilisations du Maghreb (Tunisie, Libye…) et du Sahel (Mali…). Alger se retrouve face à des choix difficiles. Comment régler la succession du président Bouteflika, avec une société de plus en plus dépolitisée mais qui conteste l’opacité du régime ? Est-il possible de diversifier enfin une économie toujours structurée par la rente ? Comment se garder des désordres extérieurs ? Principale puissance militaire de la région, l’Algérie a choisi depuis des décennies le non-engagement extérieur, une option qui n’est plus viable. Au plan interne et au plan externe, le régime va devoir démontrer une souplesse qui lui permette de gérer des situations nouvelles et potentiellement très dangereuses.

Cette livraison de Politique étrangère s’attache également à deux thèmes majeurs de l’actualité de 2015 : le centenaire du génocide arménien, occasion de rapprochement entre Ankara et Erevan gaspillée, mais révélatrice, entre autres, des contradictions turques ; et la mutation des migrations internationales, en particulier celles qui concernent l’Europe et l’espace méditerranéen.

La négociation d’un éventuel TTIP, la vision chinoise des « nouvelles Routes de la soie », l’état de la Somalie, la piraterie dans le golfe de Guinée, les rapports entre les États musulmans et l’islam de France : autant d’autres sujets de réflexion développés dans ce numéro, au cœur des débats internationaux les plus présents.

Découvrez le sommaire ici.

Téléchargez le dossier de presse ici.

Achetez le numéro 3-2015 de Politique étrangère ici.

Abonnez-vous à Politique étrangère ici.

Political crises and violent protests rocked a number of countries in August, including Guatemala, Nepal, Lebanon and Iraq, where popular unrest threatens to topple the government and overturn the post-2003 political order. Deadly conflict worsened in Yemen, Afghanistan and Kashmir, while violence increased in Burundi following President Nkurunziza’s successful run for a third term, and instability remained the norm in the Central African Republic where UN peacekeeping efforts faced a series of setbacks. A border crisis also prompted a dangerous spike in tensions between Colombia and Venezuela. On a positive note, August saw a peace agreement in South Sudan, strengthened prospects for political and constitutional reform in Sri Lanka, and an important political agreement ahead of October elections in Guinea.