Regions

How is it that Mexico got caught up in an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States? Manssor Arbabsiar had his flight itinerary diverted from Mexico City to New York, where U.S. law enforcement arrested him for plotting the murder of Adel Al-Jubeir in Washington, DC. Apparently Arbabsiar, an Iranian who […]

A portly man stands covered in glistening crude oil: this visual joke on that iconic scene from Goldfinger sets the scene for British photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews’s exploration of life in post-Soviet Central Asia. This week, she won an international photography award for a series on Naftalan, Azerbaijan, and its crude oil spa treatments. Equally […]

Although the rugby world’s attention is understandably focused on the New Zealand-France match that will determine the world champion this weekend, Ecouter La Radio has a story (also available here in the original French) on an organization that is using rugby to help change the lives of poor children in Senegal. It is easy to […]

“It is necessary to restore order in the administration of Haiti,” declared Monseigneur Guire Poulard, the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, during a meeting with officials of international volunteer groups. “If the country was well organized,” he added, “in 10 years it would be rebuilt.” In its article, Mgr. Guire Poulard wants more Order in the Government, […]

Japanese camera and precision-technology maker, Olympus, announced the firing of its president and CEO, the Briton Michael Woodford, last Friday. Woodford, one of the few foreign CEOs in Japan, apparently ruffled some feathers in Olympus’s hierarchy, leading to culture clash. The firing of Woodford illustrates how Japanese values are sometimes at odds with Western, and […]

For the first time ever, the Norwegian Chief of Defence is paying a visit to the Russian General of the Army in Moscow. On October 11, Chief of Defence Harald Sunde visited General Nikolai Makarov in Moscow to discuss bilateral cooperation. Over the past two decades, Norway and Russia have built a strong history of […]

Hollywood and other sects have made millions of dollars speculating on the eventual end of the world in 2012. However, should 2012 be instead seen as the year of the renouveau? Powerful states will go through a change of leadership next year; as is the case with France, the United States, China, Russia, Spain, India, […]

It’s a story that could have been written by Borges. A powerful man publishes a satirical novel under a playful yet obvious pseudonym. The book’s protagonist is a fiercely intelligent, insecure and amoral intellectual, a “‘vulgar Hamlet’ who can see through the superficiality of his age, but is unable to have any real feelings for […]

“Japan: The Strange Country” is a short, animated documentary by graphic designer Kenichi Tanaka. It illustrates a lot of things I’ve been talking about on this blog, and sums up Japan great in under 12 minutes. Tanaka explains that even though Japan is a relatively small country, it is significant for both its heritage and […]

The flagship of Canada’s aging fleet of icebreakers suffered mechanical failure to its center propeller on September 19 and has been anchored off the coast of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut since September 27. The 42-year old St-Laurent had been on a joint mission with the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy to conduct bathymetric surveys and mapping of the […]

Explosive campaign on Change.org asks Sweden’s minister for migration and asylum policy to reconsider deportation of 20 Iranian Kurds facing prosecution and possible execution in Iran. Amsterdam – More than 56,000 people from over 40 countries have joined a popular campaign on Change.org demanding the Swedish government grant asylum to 20 Iranian Kurds who face […]

I’m still recovering from the 1-2 punch of the Boks being ousted from the IRB Rugby World Cup and Bafana Bafana getting pipped at the wire for a berth in the finals of the African Cup of Nations on a dubious tiebreaker. The frustrations derive from different sources, however. As an almost universal rule I […]