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In The News Migrant Lives

Bihari Limbo: The Urdu-Speaking Minority Chasing A Citizenship Mirage In Bangladesh

The Urdu-speaking minority remains marginalized in Bangladesh, facing poor living conditions and limited access to education and services. Many Biharis feel abandoned by the government’s unkept promises of citizenship.

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Eyes on the U.S. In The News

After History-Making Iran Attack, Trump Is Back To “Deal” Mode — And Counting On Putin

Donald Trump campaigned on ending America’s “forever wars” in the Middle East. But with airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, he’s become the president who finally crossed a line avoided by eight of his predecessors. He will now to try strike a deal, with an assist from Moscow.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan: Perils Of A Diplomatic Triangle

Russia’s foreign minister visited Pakistan for the first time in nine years — just in time for the deadline for U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan. It points to an important change of actors in one of the deadliest conflict zones in the world.

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Eyes on the U.S. Ideas

To Fix The Border, Biden Needs To Look Beyond It

Rather than ratchet up spending on America’s already bloated military, the U.S. president should take a broader view of national security and help develop economies elsewhere.

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In The News

‘Blue Cards’ And Quotas: Europe’s Search For A United Immigration System

The EU introduced its ‘Blue Card’ system to facilitate the arrival of qualified, non-European professionals. But only one country — Germany — really takes advantage of it.

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Economy Eyes on the U.S. Ideas

A French Defense Of Trump’s New Tariffs On European Products

The U.S. president has a history of strong-arming trading partners. But the move to tax things like French wine and Spanish olives is actually justified.

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In The News

Carrefour Says Au Revoir To China: Lessons In Global Commerce

As Carrefour gets ready to sell a majority of its operations in China, lessons can be learned from the history of the French retail giant’s choices over the years.

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In The News

Future Defense, Europe Must Get Equipped For Post-U.S. Order

-OpEd- WASHINGTON — After many weeks of claiming, dishonestly, that European allies “owe us a tremendous amount of money for many years back” — in fact, Europeans spend far more money on European defense than does the United States — and after referring to NATO members as “delinquent” and worse, President Donald Trump appears to have handed America’s European allies an ultimatum: Pay up, spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on the military, do it fast — or the United States will pull out. We can “go it alone,” he told them, by some accounts. During the news conference […]

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Ideas The Endless War Trump And The World

Trump, Jerusalem And The End Of American Diplomacy

Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is the surest sign that President Trump wants to dismantle the entire international relations system that the U.S. helped build after World War II.

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In The News

When France’s Foreign Legion Becomes French

Each year, about 200 soldiers from the elite military unit become naturalized French citizens.

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Geopolitics Trump And The World

Six Months On, The Twisted Irony Of The Trump Presidency

In strange and not-so-strange ways, Donald Trump’s actions are having the opposite effect of what he intended.

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In The News

Paris To Berlin, A Unique Chance For Europe

-Analysis- Some new presidents wait three months until they make their first overseas trip. Not Emmanuel Macron. Following in the footsteps of his predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, the freshly-elected, 39-year-old French president headed to Berlin today, just 24 hours after his inauguration. A stronger, more united Europe sits at the top of Macron’s […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics

Trump’s Policy Toward Latin America Is Worse Than Just A Wall

-OpEd- BOGOTÁ –– For some time now, Latin America has not figured on the U.S. State Department’s agenda. If the continent did appear, it was at the bottom of the government’s list. This indifference has only grown starker since Donald J. Trump moved into the White House. This state of affairs is neither good nor […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Trump And The World

Flying Blind, Trump’s Foreign Policy Keeps Allies Guessing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As he nears his 100th day in office, President Donald Trump’s efforts to appear decisive and unequivocal in his responses to fast-moving global crises have been undercut by a series of confusing and conflicting messages from within his administration. Over the past two weeks, policy pronouncements from senior Trump aides have often been at odds with one another — such as whether Syrian President Bashar Assad must leave power as part of a negotiated resolution to end that nation’s civil war. In other cases, formal White House written statements have conflicted with those from government agencies, even […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

What Trump Talks About When He Talks About War

-OpEd- When U.S. President Donald Trump recounted last week’s bombing of Syria to a Fox News journalist, the first direct U.S. assault on the regime of the war-torn country, he shared an anecdote — in vivid detail — about eating chocolate cake with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-A-Lago estate. Trump: “I was sitting […]

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In The News

That’s A Long Time In Geopolitics

By now, that famous Harold Wilson quip “A week is a long time in politics’ can also just as well be applied to geopolitics. Last Monday, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi was enjoying the diplomatic courtesies and photo ops of a White House meeting with Donald Trump, as the world’s attention was mostly focused on […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics

For Trump, What’​s Really Driving About-Face In Syria?

WASHINGTON — It is either a turning point or a welcome aberration that President Trump found the cruelly extinguished lives of Syrian children to be compelling (or at least contributory) in his decision to use force in Syria. The nerve gas attack by the Bashar al-Assad regime, he said, “crossed a lot of lines for me . . . innocent children, innocent babies — babies, little babies.” Much of Trump’s appeal during his presidential campaign was based on dehumanization — the characterization of migrants as criminals and refugees as terrorist threats. This is the first instance I can recall of Trump showing […]

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In The News

Trump’s Foreign Policy, Lots Of Bluster And Little Else

WASHINGTON — When President Barack Obama delivered State of the Union addresses without a full and detailed discussion of foreign policy, conservatives justifiably complained. We are a country at war, with rising, big power threats in an increasingly unstable world. All true. And yet when President Donald Trump said virtually nothing of substance Tuesday night on national security, conservatives by and large gave him a pass. Trump’s highlighting of the widow of slain Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens obscured the lack of substance on the cause for which Trump correctly said Owens gave his life. Repeating that we will eradicate […]

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Ideas Trump And The World

A Very Dangerous Man In The White House

Beyond his media attacks and over-the-top reality TV performances, Donald Trump’s lack of command of the issues is what should worry us.

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Economy Society

Foreigners Accept Red Tape To Buy Property In Vietnam

Vietnam has come a long way since the real estate bubble burst a few years back.
Buyers are scooping up properties since a new law opened the market to foreigners.

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Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics Ideas

The U.S. Gets It Wrong Again With Venezuela Sanctions

The White House move to impose sanctions on Venezuela was a badly timed swipe against the authoritarian government that may have imploded on its own. Instead, the U.S. gave it new life.

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Ideas Society

Latin American Pride Is At Home – Not In Miami!

Colombians seem to worship all things Anglo-American, “Miami-style” most of all. It’s a sign of our own socio-cultural shame and some appalling choices made by past governments.

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Society

Is This My Country? On A Rome Bus, An Awful Question Answered In Perfect Italian

Being born in Italy doesn’t guarantee you citizenship. For those who grew up children of immigrants, proving you deserve a passport can be like a bus ride to nowhere.

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Society

Sweden Pays The Price Of Segregation

Even if the urban riots in Sweden last week took many by surprise, the signs were all around.

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Economy

Nationalizing The Elite: The Kremlin’s New Plan To Quash Dissent

Vladimir Putin is genuinely convinced that protests against his rule are fomented abroad

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Economy

China Investment In Africa And The Risks Of Savage Capitalism

Chinese firms setting up shop on the African continent must do their homework on more than just strictly business conditions.

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Society

Re-Entry Shock – When Expats Move Back To Find *Home* Now Feels Foreign

FRANKFURT – After the plane landed, the Baier family felt a little lost. The customs officer didn’t smile; the taxi driver seemed annoyed by the amount of baggage they had. The Baiers (not their real name) were “home,” back in Germany – but it seemed foreign to them. The family breadwinner, Markus, had spent nearly […]

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