Archive | January, 2011

Though Egypt blocked Twitter following the protests that erupted on January 25th, tweets about Egypt have surged in the days leading up to and after the start of the revolution that has rocked the capitol.
According to Sysomos, the number of …

Overall, observing today’s India evokes an alternating mixture of despair and heady optimism. At the face of it, her problems seem insurmountable and yet, incredibly, her citizens are rushing forward with a glint in their eye that suggests that they know where they want to be – and they’ll figure out a way to get there.

Burma’s first elected parliament in half a century convened in its new compound in Naypyitaw today. It was not met with any enthusiasm by the Burmese people, however, who viewed the November 7 elections as a charade and do not expect any change under the new government. Unfortunately, this lack …

The demonstrations in Egypt began as a referendum on the poor economic conditions and have slowly morphed into calls for democratization, but the underlying sentiments of the Egyptian people and strong support for the radical Muslim Brotherhood continue to shine through the rhetoric.
In several news articles today, Israel and the …

Investors have largely shrugged off several of these unexpected developments recently, including the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, but the situation in Egypt has the potential to cause more widespread uncertainty in Global Markets, especially if oil and other commodities keep surging or the unrest spreads to more countries in the Middle East.

The thing to watch in Egypt is the military.  It all goes back to Crane Brinton’s observation, made in The Anatomy of Revolution, that:
…it is almost safe to say that no government is likely to be overthrown until it loses the ability to make adequate use of its …

The recent official state visit to Washington, DC, by China’s President Hu Jintao, was as boring and as uneventful as all the experts expected to be but hoped it would not.  President Obama pulled out the red carpet for President Hu, with all the majesty and fanfare that the Chinese …

Short-term measures will not address the roots of India’s food crisis. Long in the making, the real problems extend far beyond a spike in spot prices caused by variable weather and their resolution will require much more than changes in the Cabinet lineup.

The Times has published a good piece  on Grameen Bank founder Md. Yunus growing troubles.  Columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a piece some weeks ago on Grameen and, perhaps, due to his own work on women’s capabilities, he might have spread the word that this …

As the Egyptians continue demonstrating against the government of President Hosni Mubarak, there have been three outcomes posited, although only one of those results would be advantageous for security in the Middle East and Israel’s future.

The pro-democracy movement takes hold: the protests began as an economic referendum on the Mubarak government, with …

Tunisia was easy. Small country, educated middle-class and a weak Islamist element. For many European heads of state, the toppling of Ben-Ali was irksome (his ties to the continent ran deep — trained at Saint-Cyr, ambassador to Poland), but manageable. Other than the French foreign minister’s disturbing offer to provide …

I don’t ever want my name as a journalist to be prefaced with the phrase “Pulitzer-prize winning reporter.” It’s not that I am against winning the Pulitzer Prize for my work someday, or that I think the Prize is the mark of a bourgeois journalist. There are simply too many …

By Sean Patrick Murphy
This excellent and moving documentary reveals the plight of Zimbabwean white farmers under the rule of President Robert Mugabe.
It centers on 75 year-old Michael Campbell, who has lived in Zimbabwe since 1974. He is the victim of invasions of his property, intimidation, and brutal violence for not …

On 26th January 1950, India will be an independent country. What would happen to her independence?…What perturbs me greatly is the fact that not only India has once before lost her independence, but she lost it by the infidelity and treachery of some of her own people….This anxiety is deepened …

Last week I blogged about Human Rights, China, and National Security Policy; in light of ongoing events in Egypt I thought  I would expand on those thoughts as applied to the Egyptian uprising.  As I write this, President Mubarak has asked his cabinet to resign and has appointed for the …