The parliamentary elections in Iraq are taking place today — another major step for the Iraqi people and their government. But there have been roadblocks. Reports of violence relating to the elections have been scattered throughout media outlets this week and last. But Iraqis have ventured out, deciding that boycotting the elections only serves to […]
In a report published and reported on the first state TV station of Saudi Arabia, 250 children die each month as a result of falling into sewage-ways in the streets of the capital, Riyadh. The covers to sewage-ways are reported to be dysfunctional.The engineer responsible for the sewage system at the Ministry of water and […]
Is South Africa’s African National Congress in for an (another?) epochal political upheaval? Those observers who look at South Africa and only see a country with one-party political dominance miss the fact that within the ANC there is a vibrant, no-holds-barred, rough-and-tumble political culture in which disagreement appears to be the default setting. The South […]
The clock continues to tick down toward the opening game of the World Cup, which will pit hosts Bafana Bafana against a Mexican team that has to wonder about its bad luck in drawing the hosts for what will be an emotion-laden first game. There are fewer than a hundred days remaining before the world […]
SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, has just issued a report by Linda Jakobson arguing that China will seek to gain more of a role in the Arctic in the coming years, both politically and economically. The press release and the report, entitled “China and the High North prepare for an ice-free Arctic,” are […]
The Guardian published an op-ed by Simon Chestertman and Kishore Mahbubani today. Though a run-down of the pragmatic way countries in Asia have dealt with global challenges, the article features Brac and Grameen Bank prominently. “Asia has emerged as a leader in social entrepreneurship. The successes of social businesses such as Grameen Bank and Brac in Bangladesh have contributed […]
When it comes to prognosticating, the most dangerous game political scientists play (game theory can be quite scary though), about Afghanistan’s future, you could do a lot worse than Central Asian analysts Joshua Foust and Ahmed Rashid. In two recent pieces, Foust in the New York Times and Rashid in a lecture in Philadelphia, each […]
The Bangladesh Rifles, the unit of the military that revolted against its own military officers will be changing its name to the Border Guards Bangladesh. As the BBC reports: “It is not clear how much the changes will cost. Several trials are under way of thousands of border guards accused of taking part in the […]
The virtually nonexistent peace process has been stalled and opposed by domestic factions in both Israel and Palestinian society, creating a cycle of apathy that has not been broken for a long time. Both Israeli and Palestinians have blamed each other for the delay in resuming talks, both citing the other sides intransigence in rejecting […]
Ariel Sharon, George W. Bush, and Yasser Arafat were stubborn leaders vis-à-vis matters of extreme importance to their nations. Their stance on crucial issues was as clear as the sun in a cloudless day. Weary and suspicious of each other, they insisted on changes in the attitude of their counterpart before Middle East talks could […]
How did Commodore Matthew Perry convince the Tokugawa bakufu to accept his terms and conditions, and open up Japan? A persuasive Power Point presentation, according to Hayashi Yuuji. This is just too good to keep to myself – apologies to non-Japanese readers.
Just as quickly as Japan watchers fell silent on Futenma, they’ve picked it back up. This is nothing if not expected: it wasn’t until PM Yukio Hatoyama and his party offered up a policy proposal for the protracted re-negotiations that much else could be said on the topic. They promised an answer by May, and […]
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