With its muddy roads, humble huts, and constant military patrols, Bajo Aguán, Honduras feels a long way away from the slick polish of the recurring UN climate negotiations in the world’s capital cities. Yet the bloody struggle going on there strikes at the heart of global climate politics, illustrating how market schemes designed to “offset” carbon emissions play out when they encounter the complicated reality on the ground.
Assad Is Not All That’s Toxic About Syria
Syria possesses massive amounts of chemical weapons.
Body Counts in Libya Could Prove Embarrassing
Most of the deaths in Libya occurred after the UN Security Council authorized the NATO sorties.
Cut Off the Money From Syria’s Enablers
It’s time to identify those sectors, such as weapons, from which the Assad regime derives its power — and disrupt business as usual.
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.
President Obama Drinks the Israel “Delegitimization” Kool-Aid
Meanwhile, negotiations with Iran could “delegitimize” diplomacy.
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.
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.
Darned Ingrate Iraqis!
Iraq takes it personally.
Solving Syria Requires Separating Myth From Reality
Since it sits at the strategic heart of the Middle East, separating myth from reality in Syria is crucial.