Regions

The United States maybe  in the initial stages of a Southeast Asian foreign policy overhaul; the Obama Administration is not only reconsidering its sanctions against Myanmar, but also reevaluating America’s policy toward the entire Southeast Asian region.  Brian McCartan has an informative article on the recent removal of Cambodia and Laos from the United States’ […]

The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip released its first major motion picture in an effort to transform a small lot in the embattled territory into an Islamic Hollywood. The film, produced by Hamas with $200,000 over 10-months,  depicts the story of 23-year old Hamas commander Emad Akel who was killed in 1993 by Israeli […]

On March 21 celebrated Zimbabwean poet Julius Chingono was briefly detained in Harare. His offense was “reciting offensive literature.” The literature in question was his powerful “My Uniform,” which he read on the capital city’s First Street in honor of World Poetry Day.  I reproduce it here: My Uniform When the bread bin is empty I put on […]

CNN is reporting that Malaysian-born Noordin M. Top is believed to have been involved in the recent bombings at the Jakarta Marriott and Ritz Carlton, in the Mega Kuningan business district: Top is reportedly an officer, recruiter, bombmaker, and trainer for the JI group that was involved in a previous attack on the Marriott — […]

I am not a fan of Asif Zardari, but I have to give him credit for swallowing his ego, yet again, and going to meet Nawaz Sharif at Sharif’s residence. Given Pakistan’s awful economical and political situation, I do admire Zardari’s commitment to finding common ground with as many political parties as possible to keep […]

That question, asked at Russia’s opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta back in 2006, after the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, was answered on Wednesday with the slaying of human rights activist Natalya Estemirova. “Who is to blame for Natalya’s murder?”, asks Oleg Orlov, head of Moscow-based Memorial. “His name is Ramzan Kadyrov.” Indeed, writes the Christian Science […]

India will send 500 specially trained troops to Sri Lanka to help with the demining process in the northern parts of the country. Demining is the process of removal of landmines. According to the United Nation Sri Lanka had 459 known minefields yet to be cleared as of October 2008. Many more were reportedly added […]

In this Sunday’s New York Times Book Review journalist Joshua Hammer gives a positive review to Michela Wrong’s latest book, It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower. Here is the lead paragraph: Michela Wrong has built a distinguished literary career telling stories of African corruption and Western complicity. A former Africa […]

Although I entirely disagree with the African Union’s decision not to fall in line behind the International Criminal Court’s indictment of Sudan’s President Omas al-Bashir, I understand the driving sentiment. As a general rule African nation states are wary of being dictated to from the West, and they tend to circle the laager, to appropriate a […]

Nelson Mandela turns 91 this weekend. To commemorate Madiba’s birthday the Mail & Guardian has put together special features on Mandela-related posters during the struggle years, A collection of Zapiro’s M&G Mandela depictions, and Mandela in his own words.

President Nursultan Nazarbaev recently signed a new law placing blogs, social media networks, and chatrooms under the rubric of “mass media”, effectively creating criminal liability for users of these internet communication platforms  and permitting the government to shut down and censor websites as it sees fit. The government denies this law as being any kind […]