This paper is part of a MEI scholar series titled “The Middle East and the 2016 Presidential Elections." Introduction The largely declining challenges to U.S. national security in the Middle East and North Africa are widely known across the domestic political spectrum. There remain, however, sharp political differences about the appropriate means to achieve U.S. objectives. The military option has been over utilized and is becoming less relevant, even if it remains vital to framing the strategic environment. Civilian instruments, such as diplomacy to create a regional security architecture and international assistance in building more inclusive and effective states, are increasingly required.…

David Cameron is facing calls for urgent action against tax havens in UK overseas territories and Crown Dependencies, as Britain was revealed to be at the heart of a shadowy global network of companies used by the super-rich to hide their wealth.  Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn will accuse the Prime Minister of only paying lip service to the issue of offshore tax havens in a speech later on Tuesday. As tax authorities around the world were spurred to action by therelease of 11.5m documents leaked from the secretive Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealing how it helped clients dodge taxes and international sanctions, UK campaigners for tax justice…

(Jerusalem) – Israeli security forces are abusing Palestinian children detained in the West Bank. The number of Palestinian children arrested by Israeli forces has more than doubled since October 2015. EXPAND Israeli border police arresting Ahmad Abu Sbitan, 11, in front of his school in East Jerusalem. The police accused him of throwing a stone at them. © Majd Gaith Interviews with children who have been detained, video footage, and reports from lawyers reveal that Israeli security forces are using unnecessary force in arresting and detaining children, in some cases beating them, and holding them in unsafe and abusive conditions. “Palestinian children are treated…

Homme d'État chinois (Shaoshan, Hunan, 1893-Pékin 1976 Mao participe à la fondation du parti communiste chinois en 1921. C’est pendant la Longue Marche conduite pour échapper au Guomindang qu’il devient chef du parti en 1935. Après avoir conduit la guerre contre le Japon, puis le Guomindang, il fonde en 1949 la République populaire de Chine qu’il dirige jusqu’à sa mort, l’emportant sur ses rivaux au prix d’initiatives aventureuses comme le Grand Bond en avant…

The U.S. president talks through his hardest decisions about America’s role in the world. riday, august 30, 2013, the day the feckless Barack Obama brought to a premature end America’s reign as the world’s sole indispensable superpower—or, alternatively, the day the sagacious Barack Obama peered into the Middle Eastern abyss and stepped back from the consuming void—began with a thundering speech given on Obama’s behalf by his secretary of state, John Kerry, in Washington, D.C. The subject of Kerry’s uncharacteristically Churchillian remarks, delivered in the Treaty Room at the State Department, was the gassing of civilians by the president of Syria,…