Paper Wars
January 27, 2012 4 min. read

It’s all-out war, and yes, South Indians plan to relish every minute of it. After all, it is rather gratifying to see the dignified Hindu getting down and dirty with the more boisterous Times. In a recent series of much-discussed ads, The Hindu wittily takes on the Times’ penchant for sensational and tabloid-centric news, urging […]

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Standing up for Women’s Rights
January 27, 2012 4 min. read

Amal Hassan, a young mother of three, began fighting to promote women’s rights in Yemen based on her own experiences of injustice. Amal always aspired to better herself academically as she felt she truly came alive when she was learning new things, her mind opening up to novel possibilities and ideas. Like many women across […]

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Toy Story: Revolt of the Little Guys
January 27, 2012 2 min. read

“Political opposition forces are using new technologies to carry out public events” lamented an exasperated Russian police chief yesterday. What are these insidious technologies? Twitter? Talking spy rocks (wait, those are British!)? Putin’s beloved nano-particles? Wait, he was getting to that. The protesters are “using toys with placards at mini-protests”, he concluded. That’s right: toys. […]

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With New Fiber Optics Cables, Competition Moves to Seafloor
January 26, 2012 5 min. read

First it was server cooling rooms. Now, new, trans-Arctic telecommunications cables might be the next big thing up north. At this year’s Pacific Telecommunications Council conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, there was much talk about a potential subsea optical transmission cable that could be laid under the Arctic Ocean thanks to the melting ice cap. Network […]

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Brazil’s Women Leaders on Top of the World
January 25, 2012 3 min. read

The way to become a top CEO in Europe or the US has often come from societies that promoted the top achievers in schools and universities into positions of great influence and great wealth. With hard work and luck a person of normal means could often get into high positions, very few can achieve this, […]

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Republic Day Reflections
January 25, 2012 7 min. read

Salman Rushdie’s effigy is burned in Mumbai Just in time for Republic Day, which commemorates the adoption of a post-colonial constitution on January 26, 1950, a series of events lays bare the limits on freedom of expression in India. Foremost among these is the raging controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie’s scheduled appearance at the Jaipur Literature […]

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I’m Coming Home, I’m Coming Home, Tell the World I’m Coming Home
January 24, 2012 2 min. read

The return of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Thailand appears to be a formality at this point; a question of when, not if. It was inevitable as soon as the polls closed in Thailand’s last election this past July which saw Thaksin’s reincarnated Pheu Thai party, headed by his sister Yingluck, emerge victorious on […]

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In Which The Economist Loses a Debate Against Itself
January 24, 2012 2 min. read

The Economist had a piece on South Africa in the latest issue that unintentionally contradicted itself. I usually try not to let others do my work for me, but these two paragraphs warrant regurgitating in full: The ANC has marked up some notable achievements. It enshrined civil and social rights in the constitution. It abolished […]

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Is Cuba Part of Obama’s “Long Game”?
January 22, 2012 4 min. read

For those who have not yet read Andrew Sullivan’s Newsweek piece on Obama, published this past week, take note: it should be required reading for all U.S. voters as the country continues its journey toward the 2012 presidential election. Self-identified as a conservative-minded independent, Sullivan takes on the liberal, conservative, and moderate critiques of Obama’s term […]

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Great Decisions 2012: Inside Indonesia — A Review
January 22, 2012 6 min. read

It is the world’s largest Muslim country but remains for the most part secular. It is home to the eighteenth largest economy on the globe but more than sixteen percent of the population lives on less than $2 per day. Indonesia has long been considered the linchpin for Southeast Asia and, indeed, serves as a […]

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Why is Suicide Rampant in Japan?
January 22, 2012 6 min. read

The number of suicides in Japan surpassed 30,000 for the 14th year in a row in 2011, according to the National Police Agency. The numbers released this month show 30,513 people took their lives last year, down 1,177 from 2010. At a suicide rate of 28.3 per 100,000, Japan ranks third among OECD countries, and […]

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A Tale of Two Diasporas
January 20, 2012 7 min. read

Guest Contribution by Reza Marashi The following piece was written by Reza Marashi in Foreign Policy Magazine on January 19, 2012. Mr. Marashi is Director of Research at National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and a former Iran Desk Officer at the U.S. Department of State.  The image in this piece, however, is a choice of […]

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