What is it about transition societies? No matter how far away they are from each other or how different their culture and history, they have much the same problems: inequality, crime, corruption, a single dominant party, health crises, poor education systems and pervasive nostalgia for the old regimes. Russia’s transition from Communism and South Africa’s […]
“An irreparable loss for ice hockey”. That’s how Vyacheslav Fetisov, head of KHL, the Russian equivalent of the NHL, called today’s horrific plane crash that wiped out the Locomotiv ice-hockey team en route to Belarus, killing 43. Only two people survived the crash as their 18 year old Russian Yak-42 jet failed to gain altitude, […]
Back in April 2011, the United States and the EU agreed to strengthen their cooperation by redefining the goals of the EU-US Working Group on Cyber-Security and Cyber-Crime. This group was established at the EU-US Summit in November 2010. A couple of weeks ago, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Subcommittee on Security and Defense […]
According to Turkish daily Sabah, Turkey’s new strategic focus is shifting from the Aegean towards East Mediterranean. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had indicated earlier that Turkey would take steps towards ensuring freedom of navigation in Eastern Mediterranean, as a reaction to the Palmer report. In the following days it is expected that the Turkish Navy […]
Sandwiched between pages 78 and 79 of the current volume of Foreign Affairs is a sponsored essay on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. At the bottom of the article are pics of two business leaders and one high-profile minister, Wagner Rossi. Mr. Rossi was Brazil’s minister of agriculture, at least until last month. He became the […]
Huang Nubo, a Chinese businessman and former government official ranked by Forbes’ as China’s 161st richest person in 2010, intends to buy the Grimsstadir farm in northeastern Iceland for $8.8 million dollars. The farm stretches across 300 square kilometers of scenic land near Dettifoss, Europe’s most powerful waterfall, and Myvatn, a volcanic lake. Since the […]
Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s volatile and unpredictable President has moved from his insistence that his country would hold elections in 2011 and now says that Zimbabwe’s elections will be held no later than March 2012. For Mugabe the exact date of the elections matters much less, it seems, than his ability to dictate terms. For Mugabe […]
It has been said that the best compromise is one that leaves all parties unhappy. If that is true, then the UN’s Palmer Report was a massive success. So why is everybody so angry? The Palmer Report says that Israel “used unreasonable force in the raid of the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara, but added that […]
That education is a universal right is a principle enshrined in both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, for a large part, in the psyche of humanity. Therefore, the idea that one would be barred from higher education based on one’s religious convictions becomes absurd at best. This is the absurd reality that the […]
Yoshihiko Noda delivered his first press Friday since becoming Japan’s newest prime minister. He announced the four top priorities of his cabinet, which was sworn in Friday. Noda’s top priority is recovery of the disaster-hit areas of the March 11 quake and tsunami. The government aims to pass a third supplementary budget for reconstruction, expected […]
Online campaigns are viewed as the most democratic medium in contemporary times. There are numerous examples of social media resulting in change and enhancing accountability in countries, towns and villages. As someone who studies the positive impact of social media on civil society interactions, it’s heartening to witness these developments. Various forms on online protests, […]
The following is a contributing piece from guest writer Ladan Yazdian. Ms. Yazdian is a foreign affairs and Middle East specialist. She holds a BA and an MA in political science. She is currently a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech, working on global security, foreign policy, international relations, and human rights. In the wake of […]
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