World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The Chinese and Japanese are holding meetings in an effort to reach some sort of agreement on the status of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands.  The dispute flared up last year after the Japanese purchased the islands from private Japanese hands and there has increasing military activity by both sides in the region.  The initial reports about the meetings do not suggest that much progress is being made, but the simple fact that there are talks going on is in itself a good sign.

The civil war in Syria seems to be reaching a critical point in its 22-month history.  The Syrian army has reorganized, emphasizing more loyal troops from the Alawite sect, and is gathering to make a sustained push against the rebels near the town of Daraya.  If successful the Syrian army would prevent the rebels from establishing a contiguous corridor of rebel controlled territory and deal the rebels a serious psychological blow.  Since there are few journalists in the country right now, we’ll have to watch carefully for how the battle unfolds.

There have been large protests in Egypt on the second anniversary of the initial uprising that led to the overthrow of the Mubarak dictatorship.  The protesters believe that progress toward full democratization of the political system has been too slow and ineffective.  Several people have died in the protests and it isn’t clear how long-lived the protests will be.