Three military dictatorships in West Africa have announced a split with a major regional organization which they had helped cofound almost half a century ago, marking an increasingly bitter division in the region, with global implications.
In recent years there has developed a shadowy competition for influence between Russia and France on the African continent, and Moscow seems to be winning.
France and the United Kingdom have ceased support for the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, the deadliest currently in operation. These withdrawals followed a decade of fruitless attempts to end hostilities between the West African nation’s government and its rebel Islamists.
As many as eleven people around the world are dying of hunger and malnutrition every minute—outpacing Covid deaths—according to a report published Friday by the international charity Oxfam.
We shouldn’t wait for the government to deign to divvy out what it thinks foreigners want, as if it’s the omotenashi (hospitality) Japan offers any guest. Instead, NJ residents should be telling the government what they want, on their terms.
The debate on the meaning of Article 9 of the Constitution is once again making headlines. Beyond the proposals for reinterpretation, and even formal amendment, we can observe yet again practical policy moves crossing its boundaries. In part, these moves reflect the always difficult distinction between defense and offense. Another line which may be shifting is that between self-defense and collective defense.
The return of Shinzo Abe to the Japanese premiership was expected to lead to renewed efforts to build ties with fellow democracies, albeit within a pragmatic framework designed not to give the appearance of an explicit containment policy vis-à-vis China.
