foreignpolicy
What next for Putin’s Russia?
By Alan Selby Against a backdrop of growing discontent, and widespread allegations of fraud, Russia’s recent elections heralded Vladimir Putin’s re-election to the presidency. The man who many still saw as Russia’s de facto leader will now resume his tenure, four years after ostensibly ceding power to Dmitry Medvedev. In light of these developments a […]
Screening: An Arab Spring in Saudi?
By Charlene Rodrigues This time last year, when we witnessed uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, Shaimaa Khalil’s curiosity took her to the streets of Saudi Arabia to investigate what was happening in one of the world’s richest oil-producing countries. The resulting documentary, An Arab spring in Saudi?, is a study of the authoritarianism of the Saudi […]
Frei at The Frontline Club
By Alan Selby A packed house at The Frontline Club heard Matt Frei regale them with tales from his long and illustrious career. The former BBC Washington correspondent, recently poached by Channel 4 News, was on fine form as he spoke to former BBC executive Vin Ray about more than 20 years with the BBC: […]
Rebuilding Libya
View in iTunes Watch the event here. By Alan Selby Much has happened since this time last year. The 15th of February 2011 saw the first Libyans take to the streets of Benghazi against a brutal dictatorship which ruled over them for 42 years. The events that followed sent shockwaves around the world, led to a […]
American Muslim: Freedom, Faith and Fear
By Alan Selby A lot has changed in the years since 9/11. The date itself has become emblematic of a change in attitudes towards Islam, perhaps most notably in the country which bore witness to the infamous attacks that day. Popular opinion has shifted, and the land of the free has become an increasingly […]
A decade of wrong decisions and damaging policies
Watch the event here. By Sara Elizabeth Williams The West’s reaction to 9/11 was excessive and misguided, wrongly influenced by hubris, hysteria and ignorance. Ten years on, we are still mired in a mess largely of our own making. Last night’s First Wednesday Special: Changing world – conflict, culture and terrorism in the 21st century, which […]
Osama bin Laden’s death: What difference will it make?
Watch the full event here. By Patrick Smith On the day after al Qaeda’s “leader” Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in a daring raid on a nondescript compound outside Jalalabad, BBC Urdu sent out reporters into four cities across Afghanistan and Pakistan. Not to ask questions, but to observe. To sit at […]
David E. Hoffman: Reagan, Gorbachev and the Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race
By Camilla Groom Watch the event here. With detailed insider knowledge David E Hoffman told the story of how the president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and the US president Ronald Reagan prevented the escalation of the Cold War into a full-blown conflict. As a reporter for the Washington Post Hoffman followed Reagan throughout […]
First Wednesday: Cairo and The Middle East protests
By Will Spens With scores of protesters killed or injured in recent clashes, February’s First Wednesday was a sold out discussion focusing on the current and dynamic wave of popular protest across parts of the Arab world. What was seen in Tunisia two weeks ago has been replicated on the streets of Egypt’s […]
What can the West do about the ‘information black hole’ in Sri Lanka?
By Jasper Jackson More than 30,000 civilians may have died in the final days of the Sri Lankan civil war, according to the International Crisis Group. But an “information black hole” created by the Sri Lankan government has prevented the world from uncovering the actions of both state forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil […]
Bosnia: Will the uncertain peace deal hold?
View in iTunes By Joseph Stashko Almost 15 years after the Dayton Agreement, the future of Bosnia is still very uncertain. That was the unanimous agreement by the panel at last night’s Frontline Club, comprising of Paddy Ashdown, Kemal Pervanic, founder of Most Mira charity, and chaired by Allan Little, the BBC correspondent who spent […]
Fatima Bhutto speaks out against Pakistan’s digital liberty crackdown
By Gouri Sharma Fatima Bhutto has criticised authorities in Pakistan for cutting off access to Facebook earlier this month. Bhutto used her appearance at the Frontline Club on Wednesday to highlight wh she things th the government was wrong to ban access to social networking sites for containing what it has called "blasphemous" content. If […]
Nick Clegg rides Sky high: The second leaders’ debate
View in iTunes While there were no definitive answers on Trident, Iran, or immigration at last night’s second televised leaders’ debate, one thing is for sure: it was an entertaining night of political theatre as Britain’s three vying political leaders grappled with foreign policy and the new televised format. The Frontline Club screened the second […]
Wikileaks video portrays the dangers of reporting the war on terror
By Ewan Palmer Last night Wikileaks revealed a shocking video of two US military helicopters killing a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad, including two staff members of Reuters. The footage was shot in 2007 and shows an unprovoked attack filmed from one of two Apache military helicopters. Two children were also […]
First Wednesday: Is there a common enemy?
By Julie Tomlin We’ve started putting together April’s First Wednesday event: After the bomb blasts in Moscow on 29 March and in Dagestan two days later, we will be talking about Russia and its response to the recent terrorist attacks. We are currently working on inviting guests to speak about that. The focus of the […]
Russian suicide attacks: Where does this leave the War on Terror?
By Ewan Palmer How serious is the threat from terrorism to the modern world? The suicide bombings in Moscow and Dagestan this week altogether killed 51 and, despite the likely localised inspiration for the attacks, fears of more violence elsewhere in Europe have been raised once again. But is there any justification for the current […]
UK’s Afghanistan ambassador stresses need to negotiate with ‘unsavoury people’
UK and international forces will need to negotiate with insurgents, warlords and people responsible for serious human rights abuses in order to achieve stability and halt the deathtoll in Afghanistan, according to the UK’s out-going ambassador to the country. Mark Sedwill, speaking at a sold-out Frontline Club event ahead of the London Afghanistan Conference this […]