Scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the U.S. a more responsible global partner.
Democracy & Governance

All Roads Lead Back to China

by | Jun 7, 2011

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

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Deception and Diplomacy: The US, Japan, and Okinawa

by | Jun 7, 2011

By insisting the US retain its military assets, with full freedom in their use, returning only the unnecessary responsibility for local Okinawan administration, and paying a huge sum to sweeten the deal, Japan ensured that the island’s principle raison d’être would continue to be war, making a mockery of the Okinawan people’s revulsion for war and their desire for the peace principle at the centre of the constitution.

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Review: America, Hitler, and the UN

Review: America, Hitler, and the UN

by | Jun 2, 2011

According to convention, the United Nations began with the signing of the UN charter in San Francisco in 1945. From that beginning, the organization evolved into a global deliberative body of nearly 200 member states. For some, the UN is incapable of managing an anarchic international system. For others, the UN represents an attempt by the major powers following World War II to maintain or expand their empires by dressing them in the guise of an international democratic order.

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All Roads Lead Back to China

All Roads Lead Back to China

by | May 24, 2011

Ghanaian cocoa, Gabonese iron and Congolese oil have been swapped for construction of dams (Bui, Poubara, and River Dam), 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…

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The IMF: Violating Women since 1945

The IMF: Violating Women since 1945

by , | May 19, 2011

For many in the developing world, the IMF and its draconian policies of structural adjustment have systematically “raped” the earth and the poor and violated the human rights of women. It appears that the personal disregard and disrespect for women demonstrated by the man at the highest levels of leadership within the IMF is quite consistent with the gender bias inherent in the IMF’s institutional policies and practice.

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