As the year closes, we’re focusing on 2008 in review. Below is my take; see my co-blogger Alejandro's commentary here. Summary 2008 has been an extremely turbulent year in Mexico. Drug-related violence dominates the headlines and is now the most pressing issue facing the country. Following President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on drug cartels–including deployment of […]
The Atlantic Philanthropies has cast its gaze on South Africa, and particularly on the issues of land reform and protecting the country's rural poor. From this page you can access the (pdf) Atlantic Report, “Lessons From A Communications Campaign For South Africa's Rural Poor.”
There is nothing constant in today's world, hence the growth of 24/7 news media. In the United States, almost all the news channels update news every 15 minutes, in addition to running a non-stop news ticker at the bottom of their screens. Newspapers around the world constantly update their online editions to stay relevant and […]
On Sunday, the a reported 94% of the people of Turkmenistan participated in the nation's 4th Mejlis (parliamentary) elections. Turkmenistan's government run Central Election Commission called the vote a great success and ‘historic.’ The election is supposed to represent a more open and democratic Turkmenistan, as the country's President Berdymukhamedov earlier this year reformed the […]
I just finished watching Questar's Modern Warfare ‘Russia in Afghanistan’ documentary and it contained some great and dramatic footage of the ten year war, which ended in yet another defeat of a world power in the Hindu Kush. Many elements of this bygone war are strikingly similar to the current NATO/Afghan government led war against […]
An Egyptian telecommunications company has become the first mobile-phone company to invest in North Korea. The 25-year license agreement includes a $400 million dollar investment and a 75/25 partnership with a state-owned Korean company. Read about it here and here. Naguib Sawiris, owner of Orascom Telecom Holding, is in North Korea to ink the deal. […]
Turns out that Bob Dylan dug Oum Kalthoum. Here's a paragraph from Al’ America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots by Jonathan Curiel, excerpted here on alternet.org: Kalsoum, whose last name is often spelled Kalthoum or Khulthum, was Egypt's greatest singer — the equivalent of Barbra Streisand, Billie Holiday, and Maria Callas rolled into […]
Making predictions is a fool's man's game…thankfully I love that game! While one cannot foresee what exactly the future holds, some trends can be seen. For instance, it is hard to foresee any changes in the political leadership of all the Stans’, as they are all deeply entrenched and seem to have learned much from […]
Welcome to the Brazil blog, the latest addition to the Foreign Policy Blogs network.
KABUL: Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where he spoke to troops battling the Taliban and held talks with President Hamid Karzai as a police officer and six Taliban have been killed in military operations in southern Afghanistan. The visit came as government and military sources speaking on […]
I realize that there is little that is funny about the situation in Somalia, including the piracy crisis that is the direct result of the anarchy and statelessness dominating that country on Africa's Horn. That said, is it just me, or does the following headline from the Mail & Guardian seem more like the promotional […]
Popular from Press
