Over 600 high school and undergraduate students attended the Model United Nations (AUSMUN) conference at the American University of Sharjah last week. The three-day conference, now in its ninth year, allowed student delegates to simulate the various United Nations committees and develop a sound understanding of international relations and diplomacy.

China has quickly changed before the world’s very eyes, becoming a global superpower and ironically, an impressive leader in capitalistic growth and economic supremacy. [...] These changes in China’s branding and it’s increasingly “Western” appeal have led to an influx of eager businessmen arriving in China with the hopes of enjoying a piece of the “prosperity pie”.

“Diplomacy and the Arts, Then and Now,” brought focus to the importance of government-sponsored tours by performers in international relations on Thursday. The seminar was sponsored by the Department of Romance Studies and the program in Medieval and Early Modern Studies Dorothy Ford Wiley fund.

An affiliate of the largest and most powerful Kurdish party in Syria, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), opened its first official mission abroad — in Moscow. Given the amount of military and political support the PYD has received from the United States, this decision is likely to be received with some shock and confusion in the West. But a closer examination of the PYD’s historical experience and core interests suggests that the politics behind a potential realignment with Moscow makes strategic sense.