Diplomacy & Crisis News

Seven years after the Great Recession, the Fed keeps money dirt cheap.

The Security Council today extended the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) until 30 September 2016, and authorized a reduction in the number of its personnel, as preparations continue for the security transition to the country’s authorities next year.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is eager to get countries to submit as soon as possible their action plans that will form the basis of the new universal climate change agreement to be adopted in December in Paris, a senior United Nations official dealing with the issue said today.

Croatia has announced that its country is full, despite encouraging migrants to arrive just yesterday.

The top United Nations official in Afghanistan told members of the Security Council today that the country’s path to stability and self-reliance cannot be taken for granted, and that support from the international community continues to be crucial.

The United Nations human rights chief said today he is “appalled” at the recent actions displayed by the Hungarian Government in its treatment of refugees and migrants, and urged European institutions to take firm action to respond to the crisis affecting several countries.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today highlighted specific actions aimed at ending sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations personnel that require “urgent” support from countries that provide troops and police to peacekeeping operations.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations human rights chief today spoke out against the coup d’état in Burkina Faso and called for the immediate release of the country’s transitional leaders.

When it came to foreign policy last night, the GOP contenders showed they still have a lot to learn.

The United Nations programme that works to combat HIV/AIDS is working with the Government of Kenya in a bid to end the AIDS epidemic in the country by 2030, through the creation of a new data-collecting tool to track progress in current HIV programming.

The signing of the nuclear accord between Iran and the P5+1 answered a question that has bedeviled the U.S.-Iranian relationship for 36 years. Decades after the 1979 uprising that ousted Washington’s ally, Shah Reza Pahlavi, and led to the 444-day captivity of American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the United States is no longer intent on effecting regime change and settling scores. The nuclear accord signifies a belated acceptance of, and accommodation with, the Islamic Revolution and the clerical order it spawned. What does this mean for Iran? That a relaxed leadership can now look inward to fix the country’s ailing economy. But what if it also decides to invest further into Iran’s power projection in the region?

Malaria death rates have plunged by 60 per cent since 2000, but the ancient killer remains an acute public health problem with 15 countries mainly in sub-Saharan Africa accounting for some 80 per cent of cases and deaths globally, according to a new United Nations report released today.

“The American Marines made quite the man out of you!”

What would happen if the president of the U.S. could not trust the Army to carry out a mission?

Dominique DAVID, conseiller du président de l’Ifri, rédacteur en chef de Politique étrangère et co-directeur du Ramses était l’invité de Thierry GARCIN sur France Culture, mercredi 16 septembre 2015, dans l’émission « Les Enjeux internationaux ». Il y a présenté l’édition 2016 du « Rapport annuel mondial sur le système économique et les stratégies » et examiné la question de l’existence d’un véritable système international.

« On parle souvent du « système international » sans vraiment le définir, de la « communauté internationale » en en faisant un tout, de la « société internationale » en en faisant un fourre-tout, de l’« ordre international » en cachant le désordre international, pourtant si manifeste. »

Mais comment fonctionnent les relations internationales, qui reposent en grande partie sur les relations interétatiques, malgré une certaine mondialisation de la politique étrangère, voire de la diplomatie ?

Promeuvent-elles avec tant de succès la démocratie ? S’achemine-t-on vers un monde plus multipolaire ?

Le rôle de l’État reste-t-il déterminant, quels que soient les régimes en place ?

La recherche de l’équilibre n’est-elle au fond qu’un processus sans fin ?

Pour écouter l’émission, cliquez ici.

Pour découvrir le sommaire du Ramses 2016 cliquez ici.

A “heinous” attack against a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Yola, north-eastern Nigeria, where some 32,000 people have found refuge, was strongly condemned today by an independent United Nations human rights expert.

(Own report) - Germany's close Arabian allies are using German weapons to launch their deadly offensive on Yemen's capital. Saudi Arabia has been carrying out its aggression on that country for about half a year, seeking to drive the Huthi rebels, considered allies of Iran, out of Sana'a. The Saudi military is using German weapons to wage its war, and its allies - the United Arab Emirates and Qatar - have also been equipped by German arms manufacturers. The air forces of these three Gulf dictatorships have been training aerial combat with the Bundeswehr and acquired skills that they could now put to use in their offensive on Sana'a. This is significant because observers have noted their extreme ruthlessness in combat methods. More than 5,000 people, half of them civilians, have been killed; a vast number of others have fled. However, the majority of those fleeing cannot leave their country - also because German technology blocks their routes at the Yemeni borders. Relief supplies into the country are insufficient due to a Saudi blockade. More than a quarter of the population is currently suffering acute starvation. Germany, however, is continuing its arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia's war coalition.

Stanley Hoffmann, spécialiste de relations internationales à l’université de Harvard, vient de nous quitter. En 1983, il avait publié dans Politique étrangère (4/1983) un article remarquable sur la pensée de Raymond Aron. Ce texte avait été republié en 2006, à l’occasion du 70e anniversaire de notre revue. Nous vous invitons à le relire.

L’ampleur de l’œuvre de Raymond Aron a toujours fait le désespoir de ses commentateurs – et de ses disciples. On peut s’attendre à la publication de divers textes inédits ; néanmoins, hélas, cette œuvre est désormais achevée. Ce qui devrait permettre d’étudier enfin, en profondeur, la contribution scientifique qu’elle a apportée – de séparer en quelque sorte les deux activités que Raymond Aron a menées de concert et a souvent entremêlées : l’activité proprement journalistique, commentaires d’une actualité qu’il se sentait le devoir d’élucider et d’interpréter, et l’activité du théoricien, philosophe de l’histoire, sociologue des sociétés contemporaines, ou critique de la pensée politique et sociale des grands auteurs.

Lire la suite de cet article.

Presidential ExtraEssays for the PresidencyRebooting Republican Foreign PolicyGetting the GOP's Groove BackThe Clinton LegacyRenewing American LeadershipRising to a New Generation of Global ChallengesReengaging With the WorldToward a Realistic PeaceSecurity and Opportunity for the Twenty-first CenturyAn Enduring Peace Built on FreedomA New RealismAmerica's Priorities in the War on TerrorBridges, Bombs, or Bluster?A Strategy of PartnershipsForeign Policy for a Democratic PresidentCampaign 2000: Promoting the National InterestCampaign 2000: A Republican Foreign PolicyCampaign 2000: New World, New Deal: A Democratic Approach to GlobalizationA Republican Looks at Foreign PolicyA Democrat Looks at Foreign PolicyAmerica's First Post-Cold War PresidentA Republican Looks at Foreign PolicyA Democrat Looks at Foreign PolicyThe 1988 Election: U.S. Foreign Policy at a WatershedAmerican Foreign Policy: The Bush AgendaThe 1988 ElectionForeign Policy and the American CharacterAfter the Election: Foreign Policy Under Reagan IIThe First Term: From Carter to ReaganThe First Term: Four More Years: Diplomacy Restored?The First Term: The Reagan Road to DétenteBeyond Détente: Toward International Economic SecurityFor a New Policy BalanceThe End of Either/OrAsia After Viet NamPolicy and the PeopleThe Presidency and the PeaceTwo Years of the Peace CorpsU.S. Policy in Latin AmericaA Democrat Looks at Foreign PolicyPutting First Things FirstThe Senate in Foreign PolicyForeign Policy in Presidential CampaignsKorea in PerspectiveNovember 1952: Imperatives of Foreign PolicyThe Challenge to AmericansThe Foreign Policy of the American Communist PartyThe Promise of Human RightsOur Sovereignty: Shall We Use It?European Legislation for Industrial PeaceLabor Under the NazisThe Permanent Bases of American Foreign PolicyPolitical Factors in American Foreign PolicySome Foreign Problems of the Next AdministrationOur Foreign PolicyOur Foreign PolicyForeign AffairsForeign Relations of the United States, 1921-1924American Foreign Policy: a Democratic ViewAmerican Foreign Policy: a Republican ViewAmerican Foreign Policy: a Progressive ViewAfter the Election1024 x 76832.0.0PortraitSeptember 15, 2015

(Own report) - Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, is calling for the Bundeswehr's deployment in Syria. It is high time, to discuss "seriously" the creation of so-called safe havens and "no-fly zones in and around Syria," according to Ischinger. This "of course" would call for the participation of the German Armed Forces and in relationship to the deployment of ground forces, "nothing can be ruled out." Ischinger is also providing justification for going to war. Whereas Syria has been submerged in war, because of the arms supplies furnished by the West and its regional allies to insurgent militias - including Al Qaeda and the "Islamic State" (IS), this influential diplomat claims that the current "conflagration" is the consequence of Western non-intervention. These war plans are, however, a reaction to Russia's growing influence also in the Middle East. In recent months, Moscow has been holding extensive negotiations in view of settling the Syrian war. In his speech before the UN General Assembly on September 28, President Putin is expected to propose a new anti-IS coalition, with inclusion of the Syrian government. Therefore, in the framework of the Western Alliance, Berlin would like to counter Russia's growing role in international politics.