South Africans are gearing up for many fights in 2009. It increasingly appears that one of these, sure to be among the most explosive, may be a serious reconsideration of the role, efficacy, and direction of affirmative action. The Congress of the People (COPE) has made clear its serious concerns over the nature of affirmative […]
A lack of economic diversification has long plagued much of Africa. During the colonial era and well beyond mono-crop agriculture did demonstrable harm to numerous societies. One of the destabilizing factors that fueled the conditions that created the Rwandan genocide, for example, was the collapse of coffee prices in a country dependent upon exporting coffee beans. Increasingly the […]
“Everything is fine, until the moment when it is not. And when that moment comes it can be very quick and very bad.” — Aiméry Mbounkap, a site planner for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The New Yorker has a lengthy feature revealing just how difficult it is to be a humanitarian aid […]
I do not watch the American network news programs. There are too many better options and the quality of the evening news programs, while rarely awful, is pretty shallow. I was not surprised, then, to find out that the coverage of international affairs on the network news programs reached a record low in 2008. I would surmise, […]
Just when the situation in Zimbabwe seems to have reached depths that defy absurdity a new story crosses the transom that baffles the imagination. The latest piece of bemusement comes with the tale of the arrest of three white men on charges of training terrorists with the goal of overhtrowing Robert Mugabe. The three did in fact have […]
In The Washington Post Chris Beyrer and Frank Donoghue illustrate the ways in which the cholera epidemic is merely a small (albeit visible and alarming) component of Zimbabwe's health crisis. And they blame Robert Mugabe for this spiraling crisis. Reductionist? Perhaps. Inaccurate? Not in any meaningful way.
Blog readers (this one specifically and readers of blogs more broadly) have probably noticed FP's slew of new weblogs. (There are many – read the full list here). One, Shadow Government, features a group of conservative thinkers, and their collective bios are full of phrases like “the McCain-Palin 2008 campaign” and “the 200something National Security […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan , Pakistan fired its national security adviser amid tensions with India over the Mumbai attacks, a sign of strain on the weak civilian administration as it responds to growing pressure to track down and punish the alleged masterminds. Mahmood Ali Durrani, a former ambassador to the U.S. and seen by critics as too […]
WASHINGTON — The biggest foreign-policy challenge awaiting President-elect Barack Obama isn't Iraq or Afghanistan but Pakistan, President George W. Bush's national-security adviser said. In an interview previewing a valedictory speech he plans to give on Wednesday, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Pakistan's increasingly turbulent border region poses threats not just to the U.S. mission […]
Best wishes for 2009 and apologies for the long absence! I’m back, reading up copiously and will return to pressing Russia topics, including the gas crisis, within days! Meanwhile, take a look at these amazing Soviet holiday cards…
In the early 90s, I used to listen to a Radiohead song called "Electioneering" from their groundbreaking album, OK Computer. The song bitterly bemoans the UK/US electoral process and vote getting tactics by politicians and parties. Though the song brilliantly and rather accurately portrays some of the unfortunate truths of our electoral system, it is […]
For a number of years, Mexico was at the forefront of political science research and teaching in Latin America. Jose Antonio Aguilar Rivera, a Professor at CIDE in Mexico City, argues that this is no longer the case. In an article in Nexos, an influential magazine, Professor Aguilar presents a clear and powerful argument that […]
Between the holidays, lots of travel, and general end-of-old-year, beginning-of-new activities I have not been able to devote much-deserved time to the coup in Guinea. This allAfrica article assesses the regional political ramifications that Guinea's forced regime change has wrought.
QUETTA, Pakistan: The gory practice of forcing alleged criminals to walk on burning coal to prove their innocence is frivolously disowned by many in Balochistan, yet it regularly draws hundreds of tribal spectators. The illegal phenomenon continues unchecked with increasing likelihood of the practice spreading to other parts of the country's least literate province. Charbeli, […]
Robert Mugabe has taken a month-long leave, part of which he will spend outside of Zimbabwe. To say the least, Mugabe's plans raise a slew of questions. Are there any ramifications for this trip? Is this merely Mugabe's solipsism coming to the fore? Is the old despot suffering from ill health? Is it even remotely […]