Issues

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NYRB: Syria's Refugees: The Catastrophe

Authors: Hugh Eakin and Alisa Roth

"One of the misconceptions about the Syrian refugee crisis is that it mainly involves people in large camps, above all in Jordan and Turkey....But according to UN figures, a full three quarters of the Syrian refugee population throughout the region are surviving on their own in towns and rural areas."

See more in Syria; Refugees and the Displaced

Video

A New World of Migration: The Development Challenge

Speakers: Peter Sutherland and William Swing
Presider: Doris Meissner

Watch this meeting live on Wednesday, October 2, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Experts explore how governments, the private sector, and civil society should address the effects of international migration and discuss possible outcomes of transnational challenges.

See more in United States; Migration

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New Yorker: The Shadow Commander

Author: Dexter Filkins

"Suleimani took command of the Quds Force fifteen years ago, and has sought to reshape the Middle East in Iran's favor: assassinating rivals, arming allies, and directing a network of militant groups that killed hundreds of Americans in Iraq. And yet he has remained mostly invisible to the outside world. 'Suleimani is the single most powerful operative in the Middle East today,' a former C.I.A. officer in Iraq, told me, 'and no one's ever heard of him.'"

See more in Syria; Military Leadership

Ask CFR Experts

Will the Obama administration show a greater interest in Africa in the second term?

Asked by Nuno Halpern, from West Sussex

The Obama administration is demonstrating a renewed interest in African economic partnerships after largely ignoring the continent during the president's first term. During his summer 2013 trip to Africa, President Obama articulated a policy focus on energy and business ventures. He announced that the United States would aim to expand sub-Saharan Africans' access to electricity and committed $7 billion over five years to the "Power Africa" initiative. He also vowed to send more trade missions to Africa and invite African leaders to a U.S. summit in 2014.

Read full answer

See more in Africa (sub-Saharan); United States; Politics and Strategy

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The New Republic: What Really Scares Vladmir Putin the Most

Author: Julia Ioffe

"'[Putin's] worldview is that the world is in such a chaotic, incomprehensible state, that all attempts to influence it with direct action are counterproductive and only bring the opposite of the intended result,' says Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor of Russia in Global Affairs, who is seen as a good decoder of the Kremlin's thinking. Furthermore, the trope of U.S. obligation to do this or enforce that is more than galling to Putin, Lukyanov says. It is incomprehensible."

See more in Russian Federation; Politics and Strategy