Today's BBC featured an article about a small town in Michoacan, the state that has been consumed by drug violence. But today's story centered on the affect that decreasing remittances is having on town, a decline of around 12% thus far. Many families are sending less money from the US to their relatives in Mexico, […]
It is hard not to frame the war of words between the African National Congress and the Congress of the People as akin to the two toughest kids in school meeting up on the playground. The hints of threats pass from the lips of ANC spokesmen even as COPE's people claim not to be at […]
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games , Considered a successful demonstration on behalf of Beijing, which debuted its growth to the rest of the world, but all the attention the country received was not awarded without controversy over its contested human rights record, and unfavorable environmental practices. Strategic Economic Dialogue , Gained momentum at the beginning of […]
Robert Mugabe is using allegations (most of which appear to be of his own creation) of a plot against ZANU-PF leaders as justification to engage in what The Mail & Guardian is calling “a new, bloody, crackdown” on the opposition. Given that Mugabe and his spokespeople are blaming the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for […]
The Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA; full disclosure — I have been a member since the organization's founding) will be holding a forum with the U.S. Air Force Research Institute on February 13, 2009 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Air Command and Staff College at Alabama's […]
The foreign minister of Afghanistan met with his regional counterparts on Sunday in Paris to discuss closer cooperation in terms of narcotics trafficking, counterterrorism measures, and how to stabilize the country. The conference was brought together by France's Foreign Minister Bernard Koucher who asserted: "There is a consensus that there can be no peace, security […]
Jimmy Carter visited the Middle East this week, and spoke at the American University of Beirut on the importance of a settlement between Israel and Palestine in the near future. He seemed optimistic regarding the capacity of the President of the United States to nudge the Israelis toward mutually agreeable conditions for settlement: “I found […]
As the year closes, we’re focusing on 2008 in review. Below is my take; see my co-blogger Alejandro's commentary here. Summary 2008 has been an extremely turbulent year in Mexico. Drug-related violence dominates the headlines and is now the most pressing issue facing the country. Following President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on drug cartels–including deployment of […]
The Atlantic Philanthropies has cast its gaze on South Africa, and particularly on the issues of land reform and protecting the country's rural poor. From this page you can access the (pdf) Atlantic Report, “Lessons From A Communications Campaign For South Africa's Rural Poor.”
There is nothing constant in today's world, hence the growth of 24/7 news media. In the United States, almost all the news channels update news every 15 minutes, in addition to running a non-stop news ticker at the bottom of their screens. Newspapers around the world constantly update their online editions to stay relevant and […]
On Sunday, the a reported 94% of the people of Turkmenistan participated in the nation's 4th Mejlis (parliamentary) elections. Turkmenistan's government run Central Election Commission called the vote a great success and ‘historic.’ The election is supposed to represent a more open and democratic Turkmenistan, as the country's President Berdymukhamedov earlier this year reformed the […]
I just finished watching Questar's Modern Warfare ‘Russia in Afghanistan’ documentary and it contained some great and dramatic footage of the ten year war, which ended in yet another defeat of a world power in the Hindu Kush. Many elements of this bygone war are strikingly similar to the current NATO/Afghan government led war against […]
An Egyptian telecommunications company has become the first mobile-phone company to invest in North Korea. The 25-year license agreement includes a $400 million dollar investment and a 75/25 partnership with a state-owned Korean company. Read about it here and here. Naguib Sawiris, owner of Orascom Telecom Holding, is in North Korea to ink the deal. […]
Turns out that Bob Dylan dug Oum Kalthoum. Here's a paragraph from Al’ America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots by Jonathan Curiel, excerpted here on alternet.org: Kalsoum, whose last name is often spelled Kalthoum or Khulthum, was Egypt's greatest singer — the equivalent of Barbra Streisand, Billie Holiday, and Maria Callas rolled into […]