By: Kavita Bapat The advancements to the drug trade made by the Mexican Zeta cartel in Guatemala have turned the nation into more than just a way station for drugs travelling from Colombia to the US. Guatemala is increasingly becoming a storehouse and staging area for drugs awaiting safe passage into Mexico. Although military rule Read More…
Articles
Guatemala: Central America’s Most Tormented Nation
By: Kavita Bapat On 8 December, Mexican police seized 205 tons of drug precursor chemicals at the bustling Lazaro Cardenas port. The chemicals originated in China and were destined for Guatemala’s Puerto Quetzal, one of the world’s busiest intersections for illegal drugs. Guatemala’s position as an interlocking state between Colombia and the US along with Read More…
Rebranding Burma
By: Kavita Bapat Friday 18 November marked a decisive shift in Burma’s long-isolated history, as its main opposition leader Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, agreed to rejoin the country’s political system and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the first high-ranking American official to visit the Southeast Asian nation in over 50 years. Read More…
Another Roadmap for Afghanistan
By: Kavita Bapat A decade ago, an international conference on Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany, attempted to plan for the future of the war-torn country. At that time, aspirations for a successful transfer of power in Afghanistan, as well as for security and the development of human rights were spoken about. Amid ongoing uncertainty ten years Read More…
Putin on the Precipice
By: Simon A. Miles This round of Russian elections were not intended to produce a surprise result. A “managed democracy” such as Russia with its hobbled opposition, muzzled media, and rampant vote rigging is by its very nature supposed to hand sizeable victories to the ruling party: Vladimir Putin’s United Russia. However, the Duma (parliamentary) Read More…
Emboldened al-Qaeda Offshoot Prompts Western Action
Once considered a quiet front in the global “War on Terror,” the Sahel region of North Africa has become an area of increasing concern for Western governments. Emboldened by mercenaries and heavy weapons crossing out of Libya, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has engaged in a spree of kidnappings and attacks, prompting Canada, the Read More…
NATO’s Parliamentarians – Part III
By: Ryerson Neal Glenn Thibeault is the NDP Member of Parliament for Sudbury. He serves as Critic for Consumer Protection and Amateur Sport. In October he attended his first session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest, Romania. Q. What got you interested in the parliamentary side of NATO? A. I’ve always had Read More…
NATO’s Parliamentarians – Part II
By: Ryerson Neal In October, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly met for its 57th Annual Plenary in Bucharest, Romania. The Assembly is an inter-parliamentary organization composed of legislators from NATO members and associate countries. It acts as a forum for legislators to exchange views and discuss defence and security matters. Throughout the year, the Canadian NATO Read More…
2011 NATO Tour in Review
Click to open .pdf 2011 NATO Tour Review
A Conversation with Senator Joseph Day, Chair of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Defence and Security Committee
By: Ryerson Neal Sen. Joseph Day has represented Saint John – Kennebecasis, New Brunswick, in the Canadian Senate since 2001. He is a member of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association and takes a keen interest in defence issues. In October, he was part of the Canadian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest, Romania. Read More…