At a conference convened by the International AIDS Society and sponsored by the United Nations, 25 leaders and HIV-positive women activists from across Latin America gathered to strategize for the 17th International AIDS Conference to be held in Mexico next year. Participants emphasized the need to address the social stigma and cultural conditions affiliated with the […]
National Public Radio (NPR) reporter Lourdes Garcia-Navarro filed a report examining how Mexico City is leading the way in Latin American liberalism. Reflected by the Mexico City Assembly passing progressive measures on civil unions and abortion, local attitudes are not as they once were. With its trendy art scene, the city recently hosted controversial photographer Spencer Tunick's […]
There was a long span of time when the issue of the South African role in sport was arguably the single most contentious debate in the global sporting community and it was a discussion that came to transcend the voundaries of athletic competition to become a global concern. Sport reflected politics, sports intensified politics, sport […]
As Nathan Hamm at registan.net reminded me, today marks the second aniversary of the Andijan Massacre. Central Asia watchers know that this horrific event has intensified the conduct of internal control within Uzbekistan, and changed diplomatic discourse regarding Central Asia ever since. Andijan's heroine is Mahbuba Zokirova, the lone witness in the Andijan trials to contradict the […]
Sometimes it seems that the United Nations goes out of the way to prove its own fecklessness. The latest example? A government- (read: Robert Mugabe) chosen representative from Zimbabwe is about to be named the chair of the UN's 53-member Commission on Sustainable Development. Of course the UN is not acting alone — in the […]
Yesterday, I attended the Third Annual Sakip Sabanci lecture at The Brookings Institution, a joint presentation of Sabanci University and Brookings. The lecture series is devoted to developing scholarship concerning Turkey's relationships in the international system. The speaker was former Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who has been involved in U.S. diplomatic efforts since at least the Vietnam War, through […]
US diplomacy in the developing world has often failed to capitalize on its full array of experience with national development. State and nation-building literature focuses upon the present, but the past reveals how the US accomplished its own nation-building–and how supremely difficult this 200-plus year project has been. I’m talking about the Wild West. Go ahead and laugh, because a. this will probably […]
Notes from the blogosphere: In April, I collected four posts from three blogs that take apart conventional metaphors and assumptions, either in a large way or small. These phrases have taken on the ring of tired, unhappy, and uninteresting truth–but may not be true. Their constant repetition has led to hopelessness and apathy. Yet the issues these […]
Tajikistan's President Rahmon has been visiting Iran as head of his country's economic delegation. It appears to have been a fruitful meeting for both sides: Transportation and Energy: New initiatives on land, rail, and air transport were agreed upon between the two countries. This is extremely important news, as transport via Uzbekistan for Tajikistan's commerce […]
Just as an FYI: For access to the BBC's weekly program “South Africa Direct,” with links and other information, go here.
On Tuesday Bill Clinton announced that his foundation has brokered a deal with Indian pharmaceutical companies to provide generic AIDS drugs in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Afria will obviously provide a huge market for these drugs. There are perhaps a few of lessons to learn here. The first is that it is unlikely that these Indian companies, […]
According to BBC, journalist Umida Niyazova has had her sentence lifted because she has changed her trial plea from ‘not guilty’ to guilty, and because the judge had compassion over separating a mother from her 2-year-old boy. She recanted her association with human rights groups and others, citing ‘undue influence from her environment’. I remain grateful for her brilliant work through discouraging […]
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