Zimbabwe’s Election Year
January 10, 2013 4 min. read

[Image From SW Radio Africa] Zimbabwe no longer occupies a great deal of space in international media coverage. Even in South African media the neighbor north of the Limpopo has returned to secondary status, on the backburner but not on the boil. And it is true that things in Zimbabwe are not what they were […]

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EU Kicks Off a New Fund to Help Oppressed
January 10, 2013 5 min. read

Pro-democracy and human rights movements beyond the EU borders will have a new access to grants from a budget of the newly established European Endowment for Democracy (EED). However, even though The Board of Governors of the EED held its meeting in Brussels on 9 January 2013, which also marks its official launch, the future […]

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The United States, China and India: Unintended Consequences of Great Power Politics
January 10, 2013 6 min. read

October 2012 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Sino-Indian War. Communist China launched a surprise attack across the Himalayas to “teach India a lesson,” according to Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai.  After 32 days of fighting and embarrassing Indian defeats, the Chinese announced a unilateral ceasefire and withdrew behind the McMahon Line, the de-facto boundary […]

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Austria: Compulsory Military Service Haunted by the Ghosts of Stalingrad?
January 10, 2013 5 min. read

For the first time in my living memory, the Austrian Federal Army is front-page news of Austrian papers and is debated heatedly on public television. Riding a populist crest but lacking the foresight of any clear direction, Vienna Mayor Michael Hauepl, Federal Chancellor Werner Feymann, and Minister for Defense and Sport Norbert Darabos are calling […]

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Racial Inequality in South Africa at the Heart of Workers Strikes
January 10, 2013 4 min. read

On January 9, 2013, violent clashes between farm workers and police broke out in De Doorns town, South Africa, resulting in the use of rubber bullets and approximately 50 arrests. De Doorns is a major grape producing area nestled about two hours northeast of Cape Town. It is part of a region that is home […]

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Thailand’s Dirty Little Secret
January 10, 2013 3 min. read

The deplorable decision by the government of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to forcibly repatriate around 70 ethnic Rohingya fleeing ethnic violence in neighboring Myanmar this past week should certainly not come as a surprise. Successive governments have routinely prevented asylum seekers from remaining in Thailand from various trouble spots surrounding the country. This is […]

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Depardieu, Depardon’t
January 10, 2013 1 min. read

Okay, I know everyone has had enough of the Depardieu story by now, but that’s no reason to pass up an opportunity for blatant self promotion! In today’s International Herald Tribune, I ask whether the fat Frenchman may not simply be the corporeal embodiment of modern neoliberal capitalism. And now to feel less bad about […]

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The Other Side of Immigration (2009)
January 9, 2013 2 min. read

It’s the economy, stupid. That mantra from Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential race pretty much sums up the core issue when it comes to immigration from Mexico to the United States. Many Mexicans abandon the countryside in their native country to seek a better life in the United States. The main reason: they cannot compete with […]

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A Year In Review: New Year. Nuclear Iran?
January 8, 2013 10 min. read

On March 5, 1957, under the Atoms for Peace Program, Iran started its nuclear program with the United States’ assistance. Initiated during the Eisenhower administration and reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the relationship aided Iran’s quest for peaceful atomic energy.  In 1968, Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an international agreement created to […]

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A Candid Discussion with Siamak Dehghanpour of VOA
January 8, 2013 11 min. read

Siamak Dehghanpour is an Iranian-American journalist and television personality. He is the host of the “OFOGH”, a news television talk show program on the Voice of America (VOA) television’s Persian News Network (PNN). OFOGH (Horizon) covers a wide range of issues in Iranian affairs as well as geopolitics of the Middle East. Mr. Dehghanpour is […]

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Chuck Hagel on China
January 8, 2013 5 min. read

Following the failure of his nomination of Susan Rice to head the Defense Department, President Obama has nominated Chuck Hagel, 66, a former Republican senator and Vietnam veteran as the next Secretary of Defense. Hagel was awarded two Purple Hearts for wounds he received serving as an infantry squad leader in Vietnam, then entered the […]

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Connecting Dots in the Triangle of Threat
January 6, 2013 8 min. read

  Just as the temperature of the “security threat” slowly declines in Somalia, it rises in other parts of East Africa. Elements of mainly political, religious, and clan/ethnic nature continue to shift and create new volatile conditions. Though not entirely interdependent, these conditions could create a ripple effect across different borders. Depending on one’s purview, […]

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