Israel has few qualms about maintaining its current borders with the Palestinians, or so argues Tova Norlen. She attributes this attitude and policy to the growing political polarization of Israeli society, which is reflected in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's new government.

The current financial and economic crisis has brought enormous strain in the industrialized world, in Europe in particular.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is meeting Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Moscow today (21 March), slammed the EU for behaving "like a bull in a china shop" on the proposed Cyprus bailout.

The Center for Security Studies has just published its annual Strategic Trends volume. Today, we speak to its authors about some of the issues they raise and the themes they stress. For the rest of this week, we will then feature a chapter-a-day from this well-regarded text.

According to Washington’s official stance, America’s activity within the area of the Central Asia is exclusively related to preserving its presence in Afghanistan (even the term “promotion of democratic values” is no longer mentioned).In addition,

"With the full support of a feckless policy elite and an uncritical media establishment, Washington is slipping, if not plunging, into a new Cold War with Moscow." Strong words from Professor Stephen Cohen in a January article published in The Nation, who is a lonely voice in the US academic establishment with an unpopular point of view.

In 1997-1998, Indonesia faced one of the most costly financial crises in recent history, as nearly its entire banking sector collapsed.

Indonesia has huge potential geothermal resources, but development has been slow and speeding it up is considered a herculean task. The high cost of investment and lack of government capacity are often cited as hindrances to development, along with familiar concerns from the era of decentralized government about unclear regulatory and institutional frameworks.

Throughout 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, Vietnamese households and businesspeople lived in uncertainty and fears about the nation’s falling economic performance.

With the notable exception of Bahrain, the monarchies of the Middle East have emerged from the Arab Spring basically unscathed – for now. In today’s Q&A presentation, the CSS’ Lorenzo Vidino explains why they have been able to cope with the political challenges of the region.