World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Sweden are involved in a serious dispute.  There are few who are willing to defend Saudi human rights practices, but there are remarkably few who are willing to do so openly.  Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom did so and cancelled a planned arms deal with Suadi Arabia after she was prevented from speaking about democracy and women’s rights at a meeting of the Arab League in Cairo.  Saudi Arabia recalled its Ambassador for Swedish interference in its internal affairs and is threatening additional measures.  Sweden is at risk of losing an important trade partner because of its sincere commitment to human rights.

The US is reassessing its relationship to Israel because of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s change of position with respect to the creation of a Palestinian state.  The two-state solution to the question of Palestine has been the US position since the founding of the state of Israel in 1947, and the US would be hard-pressed to support Israel without firm assurances concerning the rights of the Arabs who live in the region.  As expected, Prime Minister Netanyahu has denied that he had disavowed the possibility of a Palestinian state after the election was over.  The New York Times has compiled a list of his statements over the years on the issue and one can decide for oneself whether one should trust the Prime Minister.

Diplomatic envoys from China, South Korea, and Japan have met for the first time in three years in hopes of reviving a practice designed to keep lines of communication open  among the three Asian states.  The annual meetings were scrapped three years ago because of rising tensions in the region due to South Korea’s and China’s belief that Japan had not yet fully apologized for its role in the second world war.  The tensions were amplified by Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s plans to revitalize the Japanese military.  Those plans are still proceeding, but the rebirth of the talks are a sign that the states have decided that they can manage the changes.