Ashish Kumar Sen

If history is any guide, sanctions imposed by the Obama administration on Russian officials, individuals and a bank as punishment for Russia ’s actions in Ukraine are unlikely to defuse a crisis that has been likened to the Cold War.

Four days after Israel ’s defense minister publicly accused the U.S. of showing weakness around the world, the Obama administration is still waiting for an apology.

The Obama administration on Friday expressed concern over Turkey’s decision to ban Twitter and urged the government in Ankara to lift the restrictions.

The Obama administration is seething at criticism from Israel ’s defense minister who this week accused the U.S. of showing “weakness” around the world.

SEALs’ tanker seizure highlights Libyan power wrangling over oil, power The daring, high-seas seizure of a rogue oil tanker by U.S. Navy SEALs off the coast of Cyprus this week has focused fresh attention on the power struggle that has turned Libya into a political time bomb more than two years after the ouster of strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

Ukraine casts a shadow over Syria March 15 marked three years since the start of the unrest in Syria that quickly developed into a civil war which rages ferociously to this day.

Kerry warns of ‘very serious’ response to Crimea-Russia alliance The U.S. and its European allies ratcheted up the threat of economic sanctions and visa restrictions on Russia on Thursday if Moscow continues to escalate the crisis in Ukraine — as thousands of Russian troops conducted military maneuvers near the Ukrainian border.

US court drops visa case against Khobragade   A federal judge in New York has dismissed the case against Devyani Khobragade, whose arrest and strip search on charges of visa fraud frayed the US-India relations. But prosecutors hinted that they may file a new indictment based on claims that she exploited her Indian housekeeper.

John Kerry says any resumption of aid to Egypt would depend on reforms in Cairo Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Wednesday that the Obama administration will soon decide on whether to resume military aid to Egypt , including Apache helicopters key to counterterrorism operations in the lawless Sinai Peninsula that abuts Israel .

Reset? What reset? U.S.-Russia ties at worst since Cold War   Five years ago, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton playfully presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a red “reset button,” a symbol of the Obama administration ’s intention to improve ties that had hit a low point during the George W. Bush administration .

Minister sees breakthrough ‘in months’ for long-split Cyprus The top diplomat from the Turkish north of Cyprus said core differences with the Greek south could be resolved in a “matter of months,” putting the divided Mediterranean island’s reunification within reach for the first time in four decades.

Israelis had U.S. help in intercepting Iranian missile shipment to Palestine The State Department revealed Wednesday that even as the Obama administration was engaging in direct and very high-stakes nuclear negotiations with Iran , U.S. officials for months have been secretly collaborating with Israeli intelligence to track an illicit Iranian weapons shipment bound for Palestine .

Russia’s neighbors shiver amid Putin’s Cold War moves in Ukraine Moscow’s declaration that it intervened in Ukraine to protect Russian “citizens and compatriots” and would do so again has sent shock waves across former Soviet republics that have large, and often restive, ethnic Russian minorities.

Obama shoved to sidelines as Russia ignores U.S. threats of isolation President Obama warned Russia on Monday of possible U.S. sanctions over its military land grab in Ukraine , but Moscow brushed aside international threats, tightening its stranglehold on Crimea and calling audaciously for a national unity government in Kiev.

This certainly looks like ‘Rocky IV’  High on U.S. President Barack Obama’s foreign policy to-do list when he first came to office in 2009 was to “reset” the U.S.-Russia relationship.

Spread of brutal Nigerian terrorist group alarms U.S.   Boko Haram , the al Qaeda -inspired African terrorist group fighting to establish an Islamic state rooted in Shariah law, is expanding its operations from northeastern Nigeria into neighboring Cameroon and Niger — much to the alarm of U.S. officials.