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Newsletter Editor, Gabriella Ippolito. Feel free to contact the editor at newsletter@bluestarstrategies.com
with any questions or comments.

IN THIS ISSUE

UK General Election 2015: The end of the two party system?
ASIA'S GAME OF THRONES: Pivot to Japan
Eurasian Integration and Free Trade Skirmishes
Pope Francis: courting controversy or tackling difficult issues?

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UK General Election 2015: The end of the two party system?

By James Le Grice of London-based Network Partner Insight Consulting Group

The UK General Election is just over a week away, and political pundits are almost
unanimously ruling out the prospect of any party winning a Parliamentary majority.
This year's election has seen an unprecedented focus on popular small parties and
the potential coalition agreements that either Labour or the Conservatives may seek
with them to form a government. Many question whether Britain is seeing the end
of its traditional two-party system. This point, however, is overstated. The unlikelihood
of either major party securing a majority reflects more on recent shifts in their
ratio of Parliamentary seats and the struggle of their leadership to appeal to a
wide support base than it does on a British preference for coalitions.

Read the full article here. [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001opKjsoz5smwyqphZ1WqLC45WRgMBBGAcG4Aw6742c9sWBnvU0veJ54Fpmh_m8D0jn4Js89NW4NE2la2GC994MSLV_7CxkCWjhyBotK6FPGOgbozBy-s3Hi68AnhvWH4RWUbZuuEEpTwWJJlLNOr7XWhrQQvBapVVaO87Ts0Ub6YQBMwsHLFeP3Ld7YXYBzTVZNHps0HhijOLNHLAc_le61y57KMy4OSiw1MdfENrwdwbPlMXx2Ajp04lEGs9SenEEnY58CnjKsqi3XwsqFS7V8qkdQeSi3bzyRoPFGHx9mc=&c=zHxV9xrzYbYCLnWYA_EK8zvUUvpPHCOge2clz4aA_KWVGQHCKo0DJA==&ch=shs2HA99NvpVcTM_ZoHab0t51LsaXlSYYmk9z77YFxaCBcehpVhA2w==]
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ASIA'S GAME OF THRONES: Pivot to Japan

Excerpted from an article by Jeffrey Gedmin, Blue Star Senior Advisor, Co-Director
of the Transatlantic Renewal Project at the World Affairs Institute, and Chairman,
global politics and security, at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

The Japanese fought to the bitter end in 1945 and surrendered in August of that
year after the United States dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. General Douglas MacArthur's postwar occupation brought reconstruction
and the beginnings of reconciliation with the United States, a new constitution,
democracy-and the seeds of modern-day Japanese pacifism. Now, on the eve of the
70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Japan's conservative Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe-who is scheduled to meet with President Obama next week and
address a joint session of Congress on April 29-is working to alter Japan's pacifist
course and turn the island nation of 127 million into a normal country. It's time.

I had a chance to get a feel for Abe's challenge on a recent visit to Tokyo and
Okinawa as part of a delegation of policy experts and former senior U.S. officials
(the trip was sponsored by the Japanese foreign ministry)...

Read the full article here. [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001opKjsoz5smwyqphZ1WqLC45WRgMBBGAcG4Aw6742c9sWBnvU0veJ54Fpmh_m8D0j84eQuytN8_6Zw0gtfkzLGSq57Ys6ucSLbnuVO9_sTfCLeBzGAszXKLn4-6OE0TgknhpYy7eFUga-NV5yt9wX7r4HZwBziuPUzIag0xi4RS7W5X8IYmLsYzZ-y0hUkkeYK5fmaXRxQPu-5vftFcagRp_eLfOzCqOCS7xs-oqQUcU7lOj8V_RsDgJvFxN2NK-ZgcU1chclPKRJn7uA2LZGPQ==&c=zHxV9xrzYbYCLnWYA_EK8zvUUvpPHCOge2clz4aA_KWVGQHCKo0DJA==&ch=shs2HA99NvpVcTM_ZoHab0t51LsaXlSYYmk9z77YFxaCBcehpVhA2w==]
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Eurasian Integration and Free Trade Skirmishes

Last month the leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAU) met in Astana, Kazakhstan,
to discuss regional economic growth strategies. Despite the EAU having been launched
only three months ago, the summit underscored the degree to which geopolitical struggles
in the post-Soviet landscape are undermining the economic benefits of the alliance.
The Union was set to represent the strength of Eurasian regional ties and offer
an alternative to other free trade agreements. And yet, despite its potential and
the goals it had set for itself, the alliance is showing signs of weakness and intensifying
rifts between its constituents, ranging from economic interests to international
political matters.

Read the full article here. [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001opKjsoz5smwyqphZ1WqLC45WRgMBBGAcG4Aw6742c9sWBnvU0veJ54Fpmh_m8D0jhH6fglKQnP8qkcZMmU_6lKxhmLyF7tAlW5TLE06qvwovBENsSHI7ghoVZZ8DAATeeKTsa_krUmRJf-u6w0Z75gPK04r7eAKTzGunvi6Th_N7rPedYCFQ3MNeZZ6F4Sps2mPUkrLWPALkuKgr9LGrl7q95Va1kum8HskHTBQ7gm1FJboFYoxB5-jObk9fQX_caosBI_XRgL2C9hC4PkruZaREJSHHutGs&c=zHxV9xrzYbYCLnWYA_EK8zvUUvpPHCOge2clz4aA_KWVGQHCKo0DJA==&ch=shs2HA99NvpVcTM_ZoHab0t51LsaXlSYYmk9z77YFxaCBcehpVhA2w==]
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Pope Francis: Courting controversy or tackling difficult issues?

Since being elected, Pope Francis (formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina)
has not shied away from speaking out on difficult or controversial topics. Whether
or not one believes that the Pope should have a role in speaking on matters related
to foreign policy, his opinion is influential and widely reported throughout the
world. Thus far, he seems to want to exercise his role as an international diplomat
energetically and has become and outspoken advocate on numerous subjects and enabled
dialogue between opposing parties.

Pope Francis most recently caused waves by referring to the WWI Turkish massacre
of an estimated one and a half million Armenians as genocide, a term which President
Obama and some other world leaders will not use regardless of lobbying by Armenian-Americans
and the Armenian government. The Turkish government reacted to the Pope's choice
of words with anger and President Erdogan said in a speech, "I condemn the pope
and would like to warn him not to make similar mistakes again." The Pope did not
recant his statement and emphasized his belief in "frankness," even though the Turkish
government recalled their envoy to the Vatican.

Read more here. [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001opKjsoz5smwyqphZ1WqLC45WRgMBBGAcG4Aw6742c9sWBnvU0veJ54Fpmh_m8D0ja8eetUqLJw-DaGNVSW4ACzJV2Fjc7xZmFm4bPilaVFPKrcHK-qTh4UztNzvIzbLid1P-YrxYpc-KKc0G5I_cwuppzgvebCwHdQhJXRvo8ZL1dJRy901D5HCkDIUIx50YBlfx3-EZyC2_fGicwE8DlUXnY-oOKJKOsH7d-aaTyfJ-PwdqzahhAYGXuQwYYQokLJ4RGhMRJVsAfsn9BhRQisK830o0Bj1o_NcaK2pVQjbc0pHvtMgMuw==&c=zHxV9xrzYbYCLnWYA_EK8zvUUvpPHCOge2clz4aA_KWVGQHCKo0DJA==&ch=shs2HA99NvpVcTM_ZoHab0t51LsaXlSYYmk9z77YFxaCBcehpVhA2w==]

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