Uncategorized Archives - Page 29 of 279

Kurdistan: The Next Autocracy?

by Derek Monroe | Jun 13, 2013

Kurdistan has enjoyed an unprecedented level of political and economic stability since the end of the first Gulf War in 1991. Yet not all is well in Kurdistan, due in part to the dominant presence of one ruling family. Descended from a political dynasty that has built a power base over centuries of fighting, regional president Massoud Barzani has blossomed into an authoritarian ruler not unlike many whose regimes are now crumbling from the internal pressures of the Arab Spring.

Vultures Over Burma

by Kyi May Kaung | Jun 7, 2013

A poem: To all the men and women who sing change change change Mee-ahn mar–we never heard of you before.

Overcoming ‘Strategic Suspicion’ — Goal of Obama-Xi Summit

by Jim Lobe | Jun 6, 2013

This week’s relatively informal and unscripted summit between the presidents of the United States and China on a private estate in southern California is being welcomed by most analysts here as a virtually unprecedented opportunity for each side to gain a better understanding of the strategic aims of the other.

Hungary: A Cancer in the Middle of Europe

by John Feffer | Jun 6, 2013

Something is dreadfully wrong with Hungary. Worse, what’s wrong with Hungary is not unique in Europe. What’s eating away at a free society in Hungary has metastasized. This same cancer is present elsewhere on the continent, even if it hasn’t come to the attention of diagnosticians.

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.