Research Briefing
The latest round of Israeli/Palestinian talks, 2013-14
Attitudes to US Secretary of State's drive to revive the Middle East peace process have generally been pessimistic. Is that justified?
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Research Briefing
Prospects for Afghanistan as ISAF withdrawal approaches
2014 is a pivotal year for Afghanistan, with a crucial presidential election in April and the end of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) combat mission in December. Security overall is deteriorating in Afghanistan and although the Afghan National Security Forces are taking the lead, questions remain about their effectiveness and the government’s dependence on international help to pay for them. It is unclear whether there will be any Western military presence after 2014. Negotiations with the Taliban do not seem to offer much hope.
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Research Briefing
Syrian refugees and the UK
In July 2013, the United Nations estimated that more than 100,000 people had been killed in the conflict in Syria. Since then the UN no longer makes estimates. More than 9 million Syrians need help in the country, 6.5 million of whom are internally displaced. 2.4 million Syrians have fled abroad. 2 million Syrian children
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Research Briefing
The “MINT” emerging economies
Ever since the success of the acronym “BRICs” – coined at the beginning of the 2000s to describe the large fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China – economists and investment managers have been attempting to come up with another collection of large emerging economies with bright prospects that can be combined to form
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Research Briefing
The Prawer-Begin Plan
There has been a lot of controversy about the Prawer-Begin plan to relocate some of Israel’s semi-nomadic Bedouin population to approved towns, with the UN Human Rights Council saying that it violates Bedouin rights and is discriminatory. In December it was announced that the bill would be substantially amended after opposition from both left- and right-wing politicians in the Knesset.
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Research Briefing
The Deal with Iran
On the 24th of November, the world woke up to news that a deal had been reached between the Permanent Five plus One (the UK, US, France, China, Russia and Germany) and Iran. A Joint Plan of Action was the outcome of weeks of hard negotiations. The deal was indeed revealed to be the fruit of years of US-Iran secret negotiations alongside a decade of public Iranian diplomacy following the revelation of a wide scale Iranian enrichment programme. This note seeks to outline the terms of the deal and reactions to it, background information for context and give a sense of potential technical and geopolitical outcomes.
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Research Briefing
Interpal
The UK charity collects money for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and in Lebanon and Jordan. It has been the subject of controversy because of allegations that money distributed by it has gone to promote terrorism. After some delays it has been cleared by the Charity Commission, but it is still a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organisation, on the US Treasury’s list.
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Research Briefing
Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius: carrots v sticks
Another victory for Vladimir Putin?
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Research Briefing
Recent developments in Iran
Does the election of Hassan Rouhani in iran mean that the nuclear crisis will be resolved?
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Research Briefing
Azerbaijan and the 2013 presidential election
Human rights abuses were widely reported to be increasing in the run up to the 2013 election in Azerbaijan
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Research Briefing
Qatar 2013
Qatar has the highest standard of living in the world and has been raising its international profile, not without controversy
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Research Briefing
US Government and Congress Response to Syria
A look at the political situation in the US after President Obama's surprise decision to seek Congressional authorisation on Syria.
Total results (page 22 of 29)