Is Supreme Leader Khameini’s assertion of his will over President Ahmadinejad the step back that it seems for Iran?
Has Iran’s President Ahmadinejad Become a Sympathetic Figure?
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Democracy & Governance
Like Strauss-Kahn, Christine Lagarde Dragging Baggage Into Likely IMF Directorship
Like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, leading candidate for the IMF directorship Christine Lagarde has skeletons in her closet.
If She is Still There
One of the chief reasons for Western audiences to watch Up the Yangtze is its intimate portrayal of the aspirations and anguish of the Chinese citizens depicted in the film. With so much glib reductionism on offer by Western commentators, it is refreshing to hear Chinese voices expressing their own hopes and frustrations.
Refugee Crisis Deepens in Mexico
“It is undeniable that Mexico is going through a situation of violence in which groups of armed civilians (organized crime) sow terror and death, provoking the displacement of entire families so they are not murdered,” read a statement from three human rights groups.
100% Scared: How the National Security Complex Grows on Terrorism Fears
In terms of damage since 9/11, terror attacks have ranked above shark attacks but below just about anything else that could possibly be dangerous to Americans, including car crashes which have racked up between 33,800 and 43,500 deaths a year since 2001.
Humala’s Victory in Peru’s Presidential Election Cause for Cautious Optimism
Ollanta Humala’s presidential victory is not a mandate for radical change, but a mandate to address the concerns of the provinces
Europeans Must Pay to Head IMF
The probability that the next IMF managing director will be yet another European provides an unpleasant lesson about the current state of international affairs. The leading emerging market and developing countries may have gained greater access to the key global economic governance policy-making forums, but they do not yet have the organization or the economic power to prevent the G7 from enforcing their will on international economic matters of most interest to them.
New Peruvian President Humala’s First Challenge: a Polarized Peru
The presidential elections were a deeply polarizing political process, that pitted Ollanta Humala’s nationalist policies against the conservative program of Keiko Fujimori.
NGOs Call for IMF Head to Be Chosen by Double Majority
While, in theory, voting shares are supposed to reflect each country’s relative weight in the global economy, political factors – notably Europe’s resistance to giving up its power on both boards – have resulted in over-representation by Western economies, which consequently dominate policy making in both agencies.
All Roads Lead Back to China
Ghanaian cocoa, Gabonese iron and Congolese oil have been swapped for construction of dams, allowing Chinese corporations such as Sinohydro to capture the bulk of Africa’s hydropower market. The ‘barter system’ thus enables China to export goods and labour, facilitating for China the opportunity to ‘import’ their recycled project capital in addition to African resources. In the process, China has activated arguably the same ‘Western’ capitalist vehicles of engagement