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Beyond the Golden Couples of Pyongyang

Beyond the Golden Couples of Pyongyang

It’s not likely that an Occupy Pyongyang movement will set up tents in Kim Il Sung Square anytime soon. Protest, after all, is virtually non-existent in that society. But the same widening inequalities that plague the United States and the global economy can also be found inside North Korea. What was once a relatively equitable society, albeit at the low end of per-capita GDP, has been experiencing a rapid polarization in wealth. The implications of this widening gap on North Korean government policy–as well as on international policies promoting human security inside North Korea–are enormous.

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Beating China, Corporate Style

Beating China, Corporate Style

As anxiety about the end of American hegemony abounds and the U.S. unemployment rate remains high, talk about the necessity of out-competing China is on the rise. The leading presidential candidates have zeroed in on China as a major threat to U.S. economic security and have vowed to ensure that the United States remains on top of the global economic ladder.

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The Bitter Taste of Brazil’s World Cup

“The people believe that they will prosper with the arrival of the World Cup, but the truth is that they will be brutally repressed,” warns Roberto Morales, advisor to Socialist Liberty Party Representative Marcelo Freixo. The agreements between the Brazilian government and the Federate International Football Association (FIFA) restrict merchandise sales around the stadiums and ban vendors from coming within two kilometers of the events.

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Remotely Piloted War

In the American mind, if Apple made weapons, they would undoubtedly be drones, those remotely piloted planes getting such great press here.  They have generally been greeted as if they were the sleekest of iPhones armed with missiles.

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Risks for Dark-Skinned Libyans

Racism in North Africa has a long and complex history. In Libya, racial injustice has reached obscene proportions since the uprising against Qaddafi began in February 2011. Throughout the past year, dark-skinned Libyans and economic migrants have been subjected to torture, beatings, killings, rape, robbery, arbitrary arrests and, in several instances, horrific public lynchings.

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