North Korea's dangerous game
In May, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates called North Korea’s apparent progress on nuclear weapons and long-range missiles ‘a harbinger of a dark future’. Since then, further confrontational moves by the pariah state have continued to raise tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea’s past provocations were viewed as attempts to gain attention and concessions from the outside world. Now, however, it seems to be playing by different rules.
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What now for Obama's Iran policy?
The turmoil in Iran in the wake of its disputed presidential election would appear to complicate plans by US President Barack Obama to embark on a new policy of engagement with Tehran. But the president and his administration are saying that nothing essentially has changed: there will be efforts to begin talks with Iran on its nuclear programme – and possible sanctions if such talks fail to deliver.
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Obama tackles Mideast peace
With his recent speech in Cairo and other diplomatic overtures, the new US president has not hesitated to show his willingness to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process. But while Obama wants to oversee Israeli–Palestinian negotiations, there are questions about the parties’ current ability to engage constructively. Israel has a hardline right-wing government and the Palestinians are split.
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Chechnya's war hangover
In April, Russia declared an official end to the second war in Chechnya – after ten years. But Moscow’s imminent withdrawal of 25,000 security forces will not automatically bring democracy and peace to the federal republic. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov rules with an iron fist. Meanwhile, violence is spreading across other parts of the Caucasus.
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Shock win in India
The Congress party’s strong performance in this year’s Indian parliamentary elections defied all forecasts. However, hopes that the Congress-led government will rapidly push through economic reforms could be disappointed. Congress must address the needs of the many rural poor who voted for it and some of its coalition partners may oppose major liberalisation.
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