Tasha Kheiriddin, Nat'l Post
Participation by young voters surged in the last election and they mostly voted Liberal.
Thomas Erdbrink, New York Times
It is a scene that seems as ageless as the women who sit before the looms and weave the rugs, a process that can take as long as a year. And now even the factory is threatened. With six years of Western sanctions on the carpet business and punishing competition from rugs machine-made in China and India, these are hard times for the craft of Persian rug making. Many veterans wonder whether it can survive.
Francisco Toro, Vox
Venezuela is in the midst of a stunning social, political, and economic collapse. The country of 30 million people is facing dire food and medicine shortages, frequent power outages, serious political unrest, the world's highest inflation rate, rampant violent crime, and one of the world's highest murder rates. Earlier this month, Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro,à declared a state of emergency.In short, Venezuela has become the world's most visibly failing state.
Lee Smith, Weekly Standard
Guess who's not part of the White House's Iran deal echo chamber? Yep, Qassem Suleimani. The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force thinks Iran and America aren't poised for realignment, but rather are at war. And Iran, he says, is thrashing the great Satan. Iran relied on logic during its confrontation with the U.S. and benefited from its enemies' mistakes, Suleimani said in a speech yesterday. Iranian support [of the Assad regime] forced America... Читать дальше...
Daniel Byman, Slate
Even though they have different aimsâÂÂwith al-Qaida focused more on attacking the United States while ISIS seeks to consolidate and expand its stateâÂÂthe movement as a whole is bound by numerous personal ties, often based on shared fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other fronts. Many of the individuals involved, particularly outside the Iraq and Syria core, see themselves as brothers-in-arms and are not eager to choose sides. Not to mention that both sides are reaching for the same funding sources and recruits... Читать дальше...
Tom Harris, Daily Telegraph
Old age is a political issue, arguably one of the most pressing of those we face as a nation. How can we explain our tendency to ignore or kick into the long grass areas of policy that are so complicated, controversial and yet so crucial they really shouldn't be ignored at all?
Amos Harel, Foreign Policy
The appointment of Avigdor Liberman as Israel's new defense minister is jolting the country's politics and sparking fears of a "shoot first, and ask questions later" military policy.
Julie Ray, Gallup
Just 1% of Russians approved of U.S. leadership in 2015, the lowest rating in the world and also the lowest that Gallup has measured in the past decade. But most of the world does not have as strong distaste for U.S. leadership.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN
Libya is a near-failed state -- and amid the chaos, ISIS is trying to exploit the war-torn country's migrant route from Tripoli to the shores of Europe.
George Will, Wash. Post
Americans should pay close attention: This debate concerns matters germane to their present and future.
Jonathan Russo, Observer
China's number one export is not steel, electronics, textiles or toysâÂÂIt is deflation.
Jason Horowitz & Maggie Haberman, NYT
In the interview on Wednesday, Dr. West, a public intellectual who is well known for his provocative statements â he once called President Obama a âÂÂRockefeller Republican in blackfaceâ â went further than Mr. Sanders has gone. Dr. West accused the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of âÂÂwar crimesâ and said that âÂÂthe role of money and lobbies makes it difficult for there to be a candid dialogueâ on Israel.
Luis Ferreira Alvarez, Ramen IR
The retreat of the âÂÂPink Tide', the rise of left-wing governments in Latin America over the past decade, has become clear over the past year and a half.Ã
Emanuele Ottolenghi, RCWorld
On March 19, the FBI arrested Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab upon his arrival in Miami for evading sanctions against Iran, money laundering and bank fraud. Zarrab, who pleaded not guilty in Manhattan's District Court, is now awaiting trial. The Zarrab trial may look like proof that the Obama administration -- even after last year's nuclear deal with Iran -- is serious about upholding its sanctions policy. In fact, much like Secretary of State John Kerry's... Читать дальше...
Paul Roderick Gregory, Forbes
Vladimir Putin is obviously pushing to make himself Russia's first without equal, with a huge private army to make him invulnerable to demonstrations, riots and palace coups.
Joel Weickgenant, RealClearWorld
So where is Romania, then? Optimistically, it is a state at work consolidating itself.
Edward Delman, The Atlantic
Alan Sked says Britain should secede from the empire the EU has becomeâÂÂjust as the U.S. did from Britain.
Samy Adghirni, Worldcrunch
OCUMAREà â It's midday on this Thursday, and hundreds of people are squeezing inside a supermarket in Ocumare, a poor city about an hour's drive south of Caracas. Armed police officers are allowing people in, but just a few at a time, infuriating the multitude massed outside since dawn to buy corn flour at a government regulated price.
Reid Standish, Foreign Policy
Neither Sweden, nor its neighbor Finland, are currently members of NATO â a throwback to both countries' histories of military neutrality andà complex relationswith Moscow. Since the end of the Cold War, Helsinki and Stockholm cooperated more closely with the militaryà alliance and debated potential membership. In late April, the Finnish Foreign Ministryà publishedà an independent report exploring the consequences of NATO membership for Helsinki. The report's... Читать дальше...
Hitoki Den, Japan Times
Japan-U.S. relations will likely remain the cornerstone of America's foreign policy in Asia regardless of who wins the presidential election.
Eleanor Albert, Council on Foreign Relations
Differences over Taiwan's status fuel tensions between the island and mainland, yet economic ties continue to deepen. This Backgrounder explores the cross-strait relationship.
Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg View
IMF and eurozone officials took care of their political problems, not Greece's economic ones.
Judy Dempsey et al, Carnegie Europe
A selection of experts answer a new question from Judy Dempsey on the foreign and security policy challenges shaping Europe's role in the world.
Gene Grossman, Harvard Business Review
They don't have as much impact as either critics or advocates believe.
Stratfor
Stratfor Deputy Editor Lynn Wise and Middle East Analyst Toba Hellerstein discuss the sometimes conflicting interests that arise around Middle Eastern holy sites.
