Paul Salopek of National Geographic is an ambitious guy. In 2013 he began ‘Out of Eden‘, a journey to trace—on foot—the travels of humankind from our origins in Ethiopia to our last stop in South America. As much as Salopek’s trek is an odyssey through time, it is also a journey through space. Recently, Salopek traversed … Read more
Despite threats from the Taliban and fears of corruption, Afghanistan’s elections went forward without significant incident on April 5. With President Hamid Karzai constitutionally barred from seeking reelection, new candidates such as Abdullah Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, and Zalmai Rassoul have been jockeying for position over the past several months. The election and ensuing transfer … Read more
It was 3 a.m. on April 5 when my parents called me from Afghanistan. Their first words were, “We voted today.” I could hear the excitement in their voices and the hope in the way they talked about the election. Just like my family, for many Afghans April 5, 2014 was the biggest day of … Read more
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent time in office has not been without excitement. In addition to dismissing half of his cabinet during a corruption scandal in late 2013, Erdogan and his regime are now under close international scrutiny for preparing a “false flag operation,” an operation organized by one country under the guise of another. … Read more
In November of last year, Iran and a six-nation group that included the U.N. Security Council and Germany signed a historic agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. Regardless of whether a permanent deal can be reached, the apparent policy shift on the part of Iranian leaders seems to validate the sanctions imposed by the United States, … Read more
On February 26, Egypt’s most powerful man, Minister of Defense and Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, declared that he would not run for president, according to a Reuters-documented government source. After months of speculation, the Egyptian people, weathered by three years of sporadic revolutionary activity and starved of much-needed economic and political change, were looking … Read more
In early January, the nation of Iraq saw days of intense violence and conflict, culminating in the capture of the Iraqi city of Fallujah by forces linked to Al-Qaeda. Fighting has raged around Fallujah and other cities in Iraq’s restive Western Anbar Province in recent weeks, and has become a three-way struggle between army forces loyal … Read more
In recent months, international attention on Iran has shifted from the usual fear and disapproval of its policies to an attitude of hopeful intrigue. In the months between President Hassan Rouhani’s election in June and the much-publicized phone call between Rouhani and President Obama on September 27, concerns over Iran seemed to subside. Iran has … Read more
On December 28, The United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced that the December 31 deadline for complete destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons will not be met. Citing “a number of external factors,” the announcement by the UN and the OPCW signals a failure of the international community to meet a … Read more
Several days after the news of an interim deal with Iran on its nuclear program, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) penned an editorial summarizing many conservative criticisms of the agreement. Partisan politics aside, Republicans have consistently been much more hawkish on the issue of Iran, as evidenced by moments such as John McCain’s famous “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” gaffe … Read more