Uncategorized Archives - Page 26 of 274

Sierra Leone: From Swords into Ploughshares

by Tiago Faia | Jun 5, 2013

“No Bio, no Salone!” shouted fervent supporters of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) as results were announced from the November 2012 presidential election. The party’s leader, Julius Maada Bio, had been defeated by incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People’s Congress (APC). After a period of turmoil, the country is left with a question: Is “Salone with no Bio” a viable prospect for peace and development in Sierra Leone?

The City and the City

by John Feffer | May 24, 2013

Kosice is not simply one city. Like any Central European metropolis worthy of the name, many urban incarnations coexist cheek and jowl in this charming capital of eastern Slovakia. Yet even as the architecture of Kosice’s many cities now forms one harmonious, unified whole, Kosice contains multiple cities in another, more ominous sense.

The Hashimoto Controversy and Japan’s Failure to Come to Terms with its Past

by Walden Bello | May 22, 2013

The words were so brazen that they have created a firestorm globally. Characterized as “outspoken” and “brash” in the international media, Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto has claimed that “comfort women”—the thousands of Asian women who were forced to serve as prostitutes during the Second World War—were “necessary” for the morale of Japanese troops.

Purifying America’s Textbooks of Ethnic Studies

by Dan Vera | May 17, 2013

We’ll start with the gold of Havana’s women,
who hearing you needed money for your revolutionary war
offered their wedding rings and necklaces,
to be melted,
to finance your white-wigged revolution

Trouble on the Other Side of the Euphrates

by Daniel DePetris | May 16, 2013

Spurred on by the deaths of hundreds of Iraqi civilians each month this year, and by persistent complains about the government’s poor performance and rising authoritarianism, Iraqi demonstrators are now taking matters into their own hands. With ever louder chants of effective governance from certain sectors of the country, what Iraq may be going through is its own version of the Arab Spring movement—smaller and less universal, but equally empowering to those who are in the middle of it.

Infantalizing North Korea

by John Feffer | May 10, 2013

Political Cartoonists love to portray North Korea as an irrational and infantile force. It’s either a baby with a nuclear rattle or a little truant in need of a timeout. The relative youth of the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, encourages such representations, but the practice predates his ascension to power. It’s time for us to grow up in our assessments of North Korea. Belittling North Korea, literally and figuratively, ultimately prevents us from developing our own mature alternatives.

Trade-Offs Needed to Enhance U.S. Soft Power

by Lawrence Korb, Miriam Pemberton | May 8, 2013

Retired Gen. David Petraeus and Michael O’Hanlon are correct that we should protect funding for the State Department and the Agency for International Development (“Fund — Don’t Cut — U.S. Soft Power” POLITICO, May 1) because doing so enhances our national security. Their comments are in line with those of former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who made this point several times during his time in office.

High Times in Yugoslavia

by John Feffer | May 7, 2013

Meanwhile, Yugloslovia promoted a third path between communism and capitalism: worker self-management and a limited private sector.

Congressman Keith Ellison on US Drones in Africa and Media’s Portrayal of Muslims

by Jon Letman | May 3, 2013

Keith Ellison, who in 2006 became the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress, has spent much of his tenure forging closer relations with Middle Eastern and African countries, from Malawi and Mauritania to Liberia, Libya, and Sudan. He’s traveled to the region more times than he can recall, most recently to Somalia in February, as the first member of Congress to visit the war-torn nation in four years.

U.S. Efforts to Block Democracy in Venezuela Harm Hemispheric Relations

by Laura Carlsen | May 2, 2013

The U.S. government stands alone among major world governments in refusing to recognize the results of the recent Venezuelan presidential election. The petulant position of the Obama administration harms U.S. relations across the entire hemisphere and feeds a scenario of violence in that Caribbean country.