Regions

It seems that Nigerians are rather dissatisfied with their political system and their leaders. Nigeria in so many ways has the potential to be to West Africa what South Africa is to the southern part of the continent. But too many years of chaos and misrule have pretty much assured that Nigeria will be a […]

Two news articles on increased HIV in Central Asia this week: first, in Tajikistan,  IWPR writes that HIV treatment and incidence is not well known by medical practitioners in Central Asia.  HIV treatment was made available for the first time ever in Tajikistan last year.  In the meantime, many patients have already died from the ravages […]

Mbuyiselo Botha, general secretary of the South African Men's Forum, argues in The Mail & Guardian that “President Thabo Mbeki stands at the centre of the struggle for the liberation and empowerment of women in South Africa.” Without diminishing Mbeki's administration much of the credit deserves to go to the South African Constitution which has […]

Those “open and constructive” meetings between Kazakhstan and the Kashagan consortium led by ENI are proceeding apace.  The newest salvo in the negotiations is that Kazakhstan is asking for USD 10 billion in damages for non-performance of contract obligations. Later in the article, one oil analyst dismissed Kashagan's importance.  This has to do, I’m sure, with […]

The Rugby World Cup kicks off in France later this week, with the hosts taking on Argentina in the tournament's inaugural game on Friday. The Springboks enter the tournament on something of a roll and are expected to contend for the title along with New Zealand, Australia, and local favorites, France. South Africa's Pool A, […]

Pledging to “transform Mexico,” President Felipe Calderon this weekend delivered his first State of the Union address. He vowed to continue using the military in fighting the drug war and highlighted economic achievements, including the creation of 618,000 jobs since January. The President also advocated reforms in the tax system and election laws, with the […]

Lots of news: this is just some of it.  Most of the news agencies seem to carry the domestic aspects for their own states of Afghanistan commitments–while most of the Afghanistan blogs seem to cover Afghanistan itself.  There may be something to think about in that picture. Accurate reporting encouraged: –A wonderfully sarcastic week at Afghanistanica, where […]

The world is an interesting place, and Central Asia among the most interesting regions of the world.  Now getting caught up for the week: Central Asia General: –In an interesting counterpoint to most discussion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization written in English, Japan Times has editorialized that the SCO is of benefit to the world community.   […]

This week, China and Mongolia again agreed to work together to preserve an item of common cultural heritage, known as the long-song.  Songs and rituals are known as intangible cultural heritage–unlike an archeological site or preserved document, they rely upon performance or behavior (“expressive culture”) in order to survive. The preservation effort: UNESCO began documenting world […]

Some new resources from the FPA are now available on-line.  First of all, Abigail Mahoney has done a news round-up and fall update on Central Asia, particularly Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.  It's a good, quick, fact-filled read. Second, Marco Vincenzino has written a special two-part series on Afghanistan.  The first part covers the domestic and […]

If only it were that simple: but a crop of news analysts and bloggers are seeing a rise in Realist theoretical constructs to explain what is happening in Central Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere. What is Realism? Contrary to its title, realism is not universally held to be the most “realistic” of theories.  It […]

NPR has a feature on how Zimbabwe represents inhospitable terrain for journalists. One journalist explores why: In Zimbabwe, practicing journalism is forbidden. Reporters caught working without government permission face beatings, long prison sentences, or worse. The job becomes especially perilous when the story about the local police force, focusing on police brutality So why do […]