Guy Taylor
Articles by Guy Taylor
More than 100 bodies of drowned migrants wash ashore along Libya coast
The bodies of more than 100 migrants and refugees whose boat capsized while trying to cross from North Africa to Europe washed ashore along northwestern Libya's Mediterranean coast on Friday. Published June 3, 2016
Avigdor Lieberman appointment hits Israeli, Palestinian peace hopes
The prospects for a peace process with the Palestinians was so bleak that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin's Netanyahu's appointment of a hard-right defense minister last week has barely provoked a ripple of global media attention. Published June 2, 2016
State Department admits Iran press conference edited, not a glitch
The State Department acknowledged Wednesday that officials intentionally altered the video record of a 2013 department press briefing to delete comments about then-ongoing nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran -- claiming that an unidentified U.S. official had ordered the comments removed. Published June 1, 2016
North Korea heaps praise on ‘wise’ Donald Trump
North Korea's state media published a op-ed slamming Hillary Clinton and praising Donald Trump on Tuesday, roughly two weeks after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said he'd be open to direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to halt the communist nation's nuclear program. Published May 31, 2016
India-Iran Chabahar port deal reveals tense Asian rivalries
A little-noticed deal this month between India and Iran to develop an obscure port in the Gulf of Oman is offering a glimpse into just how dramatically last summer's Iranian nuclear accord stands to upend South Asia's geopolitical dynamics — as New Delhi pushes to expand its influence in nearby Afghanistan, outflank rival Pakistan and challenge Chinese dominance in the region. Published May 29, 2016
Rodrigo Duterte, Tsai Ing-wen wins in Philippines, Taiwan may trigger U.S.-China friction
With new leaders in Taiwan and the Philippines less willing to kowtow to an increasingly assertive China, East Asia's delicate geopolitical balance is shifting just as President Obama makes a valedictory tour of the region to highlight his administration's "pivot" to Asia and its readiness to support the countries on China's periphery. Published May 24, 2016
Lawmakers slam Saudi record on fight against terrorism
Members of the Saudi royal family are "up to their eyeballs" in supporting terrorism, a veteran Republican lawmaker charged Tuesday, as members of Congress raised sharp questions of the state of U.S.-Saudi relations and Riyadh's contribution to the fight against al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Published May 24, 2016
ISIS beheadings, crucifixions in Libyan city documented by rights group
The Islamic State terror group's top North Africa affiliate has decapitated, crucified or shot to death at least 49 people over the past year in the Libyan city of Sirte, according to a report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch. Published May 18, 2016
Assad won’t budge in Syria; Obama lacks leverage: Former diplomat
With international peace talks on Syria seemingly going nowhere Tuesday, the Obama administration's former ambassador to the war-torn nation predicted Syrian President Bashar Assad will remain in power as long as Washington and its allies fail to challenge him militarily. Published May 17, 2016
Nargorno-Karabakh: John Kerry works with French, Russians to settle Armenia, Azerbaijan conflict
Despite multiple tensions in the bilateral relationship elsewhere, Washington and Moscow on Monday worked together to push an elusive settlement to the frozen Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, after the worst outbreak of violence in decades ripped through the disputed South Caucasus territory last month. Published May 16, 2016
Donald Trump inspires outrage, amusement, respect among U.S. rivals Iran, Russia, China
China's state media have called him "bigmouthed" and a "clown," although polls and Internet chat sites show many ordinary Chinese respect his business acumen. Russian President Vladimir Putin has heaped praise on him, and other Russians think he will take a less ideology-driven approach than President Obama -- or Hillary Clinton -- toward Moscow. The Iranians are still trying to figure him out. Published May 15, 2016
GOP lawmakers back effort to screen social media accounts for security clearances
Republican lawmakers voiced support Friday for authorities to look more closely at things like the Facebook and Instagram accounts of applicants for government security clearances -- a day after the Obama administration issued new guidelines for using publicly-available social-media information in federal background checks. Published May 13, 2016
Boko Haram ‘on the defensive’ as U.S., allies prepare to escalate fight
A high-level delegation of U.S. diplomats will huddle with their African counterparts in Nigeria this weekend in hopes of escalating the fight against Boko Haram, just as analysts say signs of real progress are finally emerging in the fight against the brutal jihadi terror group. Published May 12, 2016
Kenneth Bae details North Korea prison ordeal, says ‘God’s will’ put him there
Kenneth Bae says one of most jarring aspects of his long stay in a North Korean prison was a conversation he had with a prison guard watching over him in the labor camp. Published May 11, 2016
Recep Tayyip Erdogan slams EU’s demands in fight on terrorism
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out Tuesday at what he said was pressure from European Union leaders for his nation to ease its anti-terrorism laws, claiming that Europe — unlike Turkey — is provides refuge for groups that support terrorists. Published May 11, 2016
Ri Yong-gil, North Korean general thought to be executed, is actually alive
A top North Korean military general reported to have been executed three months ago is actually very much alive and has now been appointed to two senior-level positions within the nation's ruling Workers' Party. Published May 10, 2016
Workers’ Party congress a choreographed power play for Kim Jong-un
North Korea will open Friday its once-in-a-generation party congress, a five-day spectacle of political theatrics in Pyongyang, where young dictator Kim Jong-un is expected take center stage for a final consolidation his power in the isolated and nuclear-armed nation. Published May 5, 2016
Shinzo Abe, Vladimir Putin to meet as U.S. pursues Japan’s support
Even as the Obama administration seeks to forge a united front with its allies against Russia, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in what many see as the latest twist to Tokyo's balancing act between Moscow and Washington. Published May 4, 2016
U.S. military currently unable to handle major crisis: Study
U.S. military readiness has deteriorated over the past year, according to a new study by a conservative think-tank that said the four service branches are unable to "meet their day-to-day requirements" and lack the "operational depth required to respond to a major crisis." Published May 4, 2016
John Kerry vows not to let Aleppo fall to Syrian President Bashar Assad
Secretary of State John F. Kerry vowed Tuesday not to allow Syria's largest city and onetime moderate opposition stronghold of Aleppo to fall to the regime of Syrian president Bashar Assad -- even if that means abandoning the fragile cease-fire that U.S. officials have been trying to uphold in the war-torn nation. Published May 3, 2016