Friedman on Geopolitics

A highly publicized Israeli air force exercise over the Mediterranean Sea in early June could have been a dress rehearsal for an attack against Iran or an exercise in psychological warfare. [more]

The creation of a European state suffered a grievous -- if not fatal -- blow at the hands of Irish voters June 12. [more]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has fired the secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force chief of staff. [more]

Saudi Arabia will host an interfaith conference June 4. The conference highlights the Saudi desire for regional stability so the Arab country can continue cashing in on record-high oil prices. [more]

As oil prices passed $120 a barrel, they clearly began to have global impact. Recently, we have seen startling rises in the price of food, particularly grains. The world is refocusing on high commodity prices. [more]

In the past few weeks, rumors of a geopolitical shift in the Middle East have reached a crescendo. [more]

Mexico has witnessed the killings of several high-profile officials in the past weeks. [more]

Gen. David Petraeus has been recommended to be the next head of U.S. Central Command, a position that would give him oversight of both the U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. [more]

The Middle East, already monstrously complex, grew more complex last week. [more]

Iran and the United States are locked into increasingly public negotiations over Iraq’s future. While Washington is never going to trust Tehran and vice-versa, a solution to the Iraq question is possible provided it creates an institutionally neutral Baghdad. [more]

China is surrounded by territory that is difficult to traverse, making invasion in either direction challenging. [more]

As usual, rumors of an Arab-Israeli war are swirling in the Middle East. [more]

Russia has taken advantage of the U.S. preoccupation with the struggle against global jihadism to attempt to re-establish its sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union. [more]

Processes are under way that are shifting French foreign policy. [more]

Five years have now passed since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. [more]

Over the last few decades, China, Japan and South Korea have dabbled on the international stage mainly via so-called "soft power" tactics. [more]

Americans have been waiting for the next cataclysmic economic downturn since 1929. There is now an emerging consensus that the United States has entered a recession. The question thus emerges whether this is in fact the next "big one," or just 1991 and 2001 all over again. [more]

The U.S. war in Afghanistan often is seen as a "good war" even by those who oppose the U.S. involvement in Iraq. The Afghan war is in trouble, however. Whether that matters depends upon the status of al Qaeda. [more]

The Serbian province of Kosovo declared its independence on Feb. 17. Whether the move sets precedent under which larger powers can redraw smaller nations' boundaries without U.N. authorization has been much discussed since then. [more]

Ongoing U.S.-Iranian talks over Iraq's future appear to be approaching a public phase, with Iran announcing a new round of talks next week and Iran's president visiting Iraq before March 20. [more]