Strategic Thinking on East Africa

New York Times Photo The White House adviser Gayle Smith attending a meeting with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr last year.Credit Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press Getting back to business post-Thanksgiving, the Senate is scheduled to vote Monday evening on the stalled nomination of Gayle Smith to be administrator of the United States Agency for International […]

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Here’s how the reporting on human rights abuses makes things look worse than they are. BY JAY ULFELDER In the past few years, two prominent scholars have written books claiming that human rights practices around the globe have stagnated or slipped into decline. In The Endtimes of Human Rights, Stephen Hopgood argues that the “civilizing mission” that led […]

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By JOHN NGIRACHU Pope Francis on Wednesday asked Kenyan leaders to take care of the needs of the poor and protect the country’s abundant natural resources to benefit future generations. Speaking at State House, Nairobi, last evening, the head of the Catholic Church, also sent his blessings, saying in Kiswahili “Mungu aibariki Kenya! (God bless […]

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The Strathink Editorial Team The recent Valetta Summit on Migration has taken on a new meaning in the aftermath of the recent terrorist attack on Paris. We cannot dismiss the fears of Europeans and North Americans that some immigrants may bring with them an agenda of wanton murder and destruction as demonstrated by the attack […]

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Aryn Baker / Addis Ababa @arynebaker Nov. 12, 2015 Jin Yu—Xinhua Press/CorbisPresident of the European Council Donald Tusk speaks at the press conference with Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat (L) and President of Senegal Macky Sall (R) following a two-day summit on migration that ended in Valletta, Malta, on Nov. 12, 2015. A two-day […]

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CHINESE “AID” TO AFRICA: BE CAREFUL COMPARING APPLES AND DRAGON FRUITS Authors: Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Brad Parks, Austin Strange, Mike Tierney Editor’s note: This article was originally published in a modified form, “Many in the West fear Chinese ‘aid’ to Africa. They’re wrong. Here’s why,” on the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog on October 20, 2015. Western pundits have a narrative about […]

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Best-selling writer and chef Anthony Bourdain teamed up with another best-selling writer and chef, Marcus Samuelsson, to visit Ethiopia for the CNN broadcast of Parts Unknown. Accompanied by Marcus’ wife, internationally-renown model Maya Haile, the three show us a “different Ethiopia” than the one depicted in the news-dominated images of poverty and famine. Rural life […]

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From African Arguments Posted on October 20, 2015 by Anjli Parrin & Modupe Odele The US military says it only has a “small footprint” in Africa, but leaks and investigations reveal a sprawling network of operations and drone bases. An unmanned Reaper drone comes in to land. Photograph by Fg Off Owen Cheverton. An unmanned […]

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by Gregory Alonso Pirio and Robert Pittelli Africa is increasingly becoming a target of Russia’s renewed international assertiveness; its economic and military forays into Africa are often overshadowed, however, by Russian aggression in the Ukraine including the annexation of Crimea and its military backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The quieter but dramatic Russian engagement […]

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From The Brookings Institution During his visit to the United Nations just last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping made major pledges in foreign aid. This included $2 billion to the new South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund, debt forgiveness for least-developed countries, and $100 million in military assistance to the African Union, as well as a 10-year, $1 billion “peace […]

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