What’s the difference between spray-painting a gigantic penis on a St Petersburg drawbridge and overturning a couple of police cars? Possibly five years in jail. But if both were symbolic acts of petty hooliganism (recently done by the hipster anarchist group Voina, Russian for ‘War’), why did the activists get off with only a slap […]
Greenland is requiring companies that drill in its waters to pay for a $2 billion bond upfront – before drilling even begins – in order to cover the cost of cleaning up any oil spills that might occur. Already, Greenland had some of the “strictest [requirements] made to date to any oil company,” according to […]
The International Crisis Group (ICG) released a new paper on Afghanistan’s judiciary sytem, its faults, failures and the way back to institutional legitimacy and stability. Please find the executive summary here. However, I highly recommend that you read the paper that you’ll find here, in PDF format. In the meantime, here’s a taste: The legal […]
“Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do”, article @http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/14/orphans-cambodia-aids-holidays-madonna
The fight over forced homelessness of one by the other has gone beyond personal and political rivalry between Sheikh Hasina and Begum Zia. BNP supporters have called a strike this weekend and took to the streets to protest Khaleda Zia’s eviction from her cantonment home; police have beat back party activists, and failing to do […]
The news of reconciliation in Afghanistan is nothing less than three-headed Cerberus, internally conflicted and unruly. One head: the Karzai story, pushed about in the major media outlets, that NATO is helping broker preliminary, testy, exchanges that might well precede a contested power-sharing agreement. The second, reported by the BBC is that the Taliban are […]
Salva Kiir, a former rebel leader who leads South Sudan’s semi-autonomous government, has urged his compatriots to register “en masse” for January’s independence referendum. Plans for the vote really do seem to be proceeding slowly but steadily. But one hitch is the fact that Western donors appear to have reneged upon or been slow to […]
Within the next couple of hours preliminary results from Guinea’s election should finally be known. But instead of being a time for celebration tensions have risen to the boiling point. Clashes between protesters and security officials have resulted in at least one death. Politicians have the opportunity to step in and try to quell violence […]
I am not sure if it is just me, but it is dawning on me that the IMF has one standardized economic solution when it comes to tackling Africa’s economic crisis: Cut spending, cut spending, and cut spending! Under the guise of the so-called “fiscal road map” presented in October to the International Monetary Fund (otherwise […]
The tension between Turks and Greeks have always been remarkable due to long history of wars. The elderly population from both sides continues to pass on their judgments to next generations. Even though there is hope for talks between Turkish and Greek youth for the sake of economical relations, it seems like the hatred still […]
Pressure continues to build in Lebanon in anticipation of indictments in the Hariri tribunal. Members of Hizballah are widely expected to be named in the case, which could ignite mounting tensions between the pro-West March 14 government and the Party of God. The rhetoric coming out of south Beirut has been increasingly threatening. Last week, […]
The greatest challenge to affecting change in current U.S. policies toward Cuba, of course, is the fractious political environment and correspondingly disparate views (both in the public and within government) on what should be done. Nearly everyone seems to agree on a key point about Cuba policy: the embargo and related travel ban have not […]
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