Sheila A. Smith, a CFR adjunct senior fellow who lives in Tokyo, says Yasuo Fukuda, the new Japanese prime minister, is likely to be a moderate force in Japanese politics.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga says he is committed to carrying through political reforms despite lagging progress and concerns the country is devolving deeper into ethnic-based politics.

Robert E. Hunter, who was U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Clinton administration, says he does not expect NATO foreign ministers to enlarge the alliance to include Georgia or Ukraine at the next m…

Joshua Landis, an expert on Syria, says the recent U.S.-Syria meeting produced little because of the ongoing U.S.-backed probe into the killing of Lebanon’s former prime minister.

Vali R. Nasr, a leading expert on Shiites, says the fighting in southern Iraq amounts to a power struggle between pro and anti-U.S. Shiite militias. The country’s Shiite prime minister, he says, is “…