7 Middle East crises that are a bigger problem than Iran’s nuclear program

The Obama administration secured vital support for the Iran deal this week, after it emerged that at least 42 senators endorsed the proposed agreement, announced in July in Vienna at a summit between Iran and world powers. The White House likely won't have to veto a congressional bill aimed against it, meaning the pact's smooth passage is now more or less a fait accompli.

An undated image allegedly shows smoke billowing from the Baal Shamin temple in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra going up in a plume of smoke. (Welayat Homs/AFP)

That, of course, doesn't mean the rancorous debate over the rights and wrongs of the deal will end. The threat of Tehran's nuclear program has seemingly sucked up all the foreign policy oxygen in Washington in recent months and will stalk the election campaign in the months ahead, beginning with a Donald Trump-Ted Cruz rally on Wednesday in the capital.

Anti-Submarine Operations in the Indian Ocean

Malabar 2012

Image Credit: Official U.S. Navy Page

As India and Australia prepare to embark on their first-ever bilateral naval interaction in the Bay of Bengal this month, reports suggest the exercises will focus on anti-submarine warfare (ASW). This is being seen as evidence of a growing regional consensus on the threat posed by Chinese undersea operations in the Asian littorals. Australia is reported to be sending a Lockheed Martin’s P-3 anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft, a Collins-class submarine, and ASW frigates, while India will be deploying a P-8 long-range anti-submarine aircraft, along with other surface assets.

Τα κράτη του Κόλπου και η υποχώρηση του πετρελαίου

Η πτώση των τιμών του πετρελαίου κατά 55% στο προηγούμενο έτος, προέρχεται από μια κλασική ανισορροπία προσφοράς και ζήτησης. Ενώ η ζήτηση αυξήθηκε με μέτριους ρυθμούς εξαιτίας της βραδείας οικονομικής ανάπτυξης ή της οικονομικής στασιμότητας σε πολλά μέρη του πλανήτη, η προσφορά αυξάνεται με πιο ταχύ ρυθμό. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, η προσφορά στις ΗΠΑ έχει αυξηθεί και η παραγωγή του OPEC –η οποία περιλαμβάνει τους μεγάλους Άραβες παραγωγείς, το Ιράν και άλλες χώρες- έχει υπερβεί τη ζήτηση.

Moving Toward a Geopolitical Marketplace

This column frames a question to which I do not have the answer. Or think of it as a historical agenda: How can we bring the logic of free market exchange into the domain of geopolitical conflict?

Why would we want to do such a thing? It's not simply a matter of substituting gold for guns, or nonviolent exchange for violent exchange. The question I am posing is not based on some utopian hope for perpetual peace. The distinction I want to focus on is the difference between zero-sum conflict and positive-sum exchange.