The US, Pakistan and that dysfunctional relationship

May 25, 2012 7:25 pm by Geoff Dyer

This was the week when the US and Pakistan were supposed to start patching things up. Instead, it has ended in a new round of mutual recriminations, including a rare bipartisan bout of indignation from the US Senate.

Just as the US and Nato are trying to sketch out long-term strategy to keep Afghanistan stable once most troops leave at the end of 2014, the never-ending downward spiral in US-Pakistan ties is casting those plans into ever-further doubt.

The latest signs of ill-feeling came as a Senate committee voted unanimously on Thursday evening to cut $33m from next year’s foreign aid budget for Pakistan, $1m for every year in the jail sentence that Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi was awarded earlier this week.

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Posted in Afghanistan, Foreign affairs, Pakistan, US foreign policy |

Egypt: between the old regime and an Islamist future

May 25, 2012 5:59 pm by Roula Khalaf

According to unofficial vote counts Egyptians next month will face a choice between a “feloul”, a remnant of the old regime, and a Muslim Brotherhood candidate, the Islamist movement and largest party in parliament.

Assuming the results are confirmed, the run-off will be seen by many as a race between the past and an Islamist future.

Mohamed Morsi, the Brotherhood candidate, was said to have secured 26 per cent of the vote in the presidential election, followed by a 24 per cent share for Ahmad Shafiq, a former air force commander whose campaign played on Egyptians’ yearning for security.

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Posted in Egypt |

FT podcast: World Weekly

May 25, 2012 12:42 am by FT

Egypt’s presidential election

Egyptians are voting in the first democratic presidential election in their nation’s history this week, but with the powers of the office that the winner will hold still unclear and the economy in tatters, many questions remain. Heba Saleh and Borzou Daragahi, FT correspondents in Egypt, and Roula Khalaf, Middle East editor, join Shawn Donnan to discuss.

Posted in Egypt |

Egypt’s election sends a message to the Arab world

May 23, 2012 5:35 pm by Roula Khalaf
A boy checks the list of voters' names inside a polling station in Cairo on May 23. AP Photo/Manu Brabo

A boy checks the list of voters' names inside a polling station in Cairo on May 23. AP

Egypt’s “pioneering” role is hailed this morning by the press in the Arab world. And for good reason: the Egyptian presidential election is a historic moment for the region, the first time that Arabs are allowed to genuinely and freely choose their president. What happens in the largest Arab nation matters elsewhere – Egypt influences Arab public opinion and points to political trends.

I’ve heard much talk in recent months about how Egypt’s chaotic transition is damping hopes for political change and frustrating those who want to put pressure for political reforms in other Arab states. Between Egypt’s messy transition and Syria’s violence, many have lost faith in the Arab awakening.

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Posted in Egypt |

Baghdad Diplomacy

May 23, 2012 2:37 pm by James Blitz

When Iran proposed a few weeks back that a meeting with world powers to discuss its nuclear programme should take place in Baghdad, US and British diplomats were not exactly thrilled by the idea.

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Posted in Iran, Iraq, Middle East |

Reporting Back: Courtney Weaver on Azerbaijan

May 23, 2012 2:02 pm by FT

In our Reporting Back series, we ask FT foreign correspondents to tell us about a recent trip.

Courtney Weaver, a correspondent for the FT in Moscow, visited Azerbaijan ahead of the Eurovision song contest – the final of which is being held in the country’s capital, Baku, on Saturday.

Why now? The fact that Azerbaijan is hosting Eurovision this year has shone a light on the Caspian country of 9 million people – and in particular, its human rights record. The event itself is typically a festival of kitsch in which contestants from 41 European countries, clad in sequins and tights, sing their hearts out for their nation. Azerbaijan has embraced the contest as a chance to shape the West’s opinion of the country and what defines it.

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Posted in Europe, Reporting Back |

Behind closed doors: a Greek tragicomedy

May 22, 2012 8:19 pm by FT

By Tony Barber, Europe Editor

Greece, teetering on the precipice of the eurozone, is to hold a parliamentary election on June 17. This will be its second such vote in 43 days. A depressing insight into the country’s political paralysis was provided by transcripts of discussions that President Karolos Papoulias, Greece’s head of state, held with party political leaders on May 13 in an attempt to resolve the impasse.

These transcripts (made public by the president’s office) would make you roar with laughter – if you weren’t weeping in despair at the petty-mindedness, stupidity and shamelessness of some of Greece’s politicians.

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Posted in Europe, Greece |

In the Picture: Egypt’s presidential elections

May 22, 2012 5:38 pm by Esther Bintliff
John Moore/Getty Images

Supporters of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi at an election rally. John Moore/Getty Images

On Wednesday and Thursday, Egyptians will go to the polls to vote in the first democratic presidential election in their country’s history.

Coming some 15 months after the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, the vote is a pivotal step for Egypt; a moment that the demonstrators in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir square could only have dreamed of when they first called for the overthrow of Mubarak in early 2011.

The result remains impossible to predict. There are twelve candidates, of whom five are considered the main contenders, but polls vary wildly as to their chances, and many voters are undecided. Unless one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote – which seems unlikely – a second round between the top two candidates will be held on June 16 and 17. Meanwhile the actual role and powers of the President have yet to be spelled out. Here’s your background reading:

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Posted in Egypt, In The Picture, Middle East |

Breivik trial takes Norway through valley of death

May 22, 2012 12:51 pm by FT

Anders Behring Breivik in court, May 21, 2012. REUTERS

By Martin Sandbu

The terror trial against Anders Behring Breivik – now in its sixth week – may have slipped away from the attention of the world press.

But in Norway, there is little respite from proceedings that have now passed the halfway mark. While the court took a two-day recess for the national holiday – ‘Constitution day’ – on May 17, it will now keep working until the trial concludes on June 22.

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Posted in Europe |
From FT.com May 21, 2012

By Gideon Rachman

As I read the umpteenth article on the “Grexit”, a phrase from the film ‘Marathon Man’ ran around my head. In this cult-thriller, Laurence Olivier plays a war criminal turned dentist who tortures Dustin Hoffman by drilling through his dental nerves without anaesthetic. As he does so, he asks repeatedly “Is it safe?”

Posted in Europe, Financial crisis, Global economy, Greece |
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The World

with Gideon Rachman

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Gideon Rachman and his FT colleagues debate international affairs. Read more on the authors.

Gideon became chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times in July 2006. He joined the FT after a 15-year career at The Economist, which included spells as a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Washington and Bangkok. He also edited The Economist’s business and Asia sections.

His particular interests include American foreign policy, the European Union and globalisation
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