The Council on Foreign Relations hosted a discussion titled “Biofuels in the Americas” featuring David J. Rothkopf and C. Ford Runje. Participants discussed the drawbacks of corn-based ethanol as well as the opportunity that Latin American countries have to diversify their economies via the energy sector by developing biofuel industries. Listen to an audio podcast […]
Last week, I noted the arrest of Mr. Rejepov, former head of one of Turkmenistan's security apparati. This week, a former confidante of Turkmenbashi and former Agricultural minister Meredov has been arrested. Ferghana.ru translates reports from Vremya Novostei: Paizygeldy Meredov was arrested for corruption and financial fraud in the cotton industry. His son, Batyr Meredov, […]
Historians of Africa have long tilted against some of the hoariest, most insidious false assertions made about Africa. Three men who were giants in their fields and in Western intellectual life generally embody the representation of Africa as a land without history, and thus as a land unworthy of attempting to understand. In the eighteenth […]
Based upon an RFE/RL news story that came out yesterday: Saken Tauzhanov, a journalist with, apparently, a no-nonsense style and a “caustic wit”, was killed August 2nd when he was hit by a large truck as he crossed the street. Mr. Tauzhanov wrote for kub.kz . At the time of his death, he was writing satirical […]
Two notable talk-talks in U.S. election campaigns are creating a stir in Central Asia: 1. Representative Tancredo (R-Colorado) in a town hall meeting on August 3rd, told approximately 30 people in Iowa that any further depredations by Islamic terrorists on U.S. soil would be met, if he were the commander-in-chief, by immediate attacks upon the Holy Cities of Islam, Mecca […]
Economic development in Africa can be a daunting concept. Countries with little infrastructural foundation are difficult to penetrate, and one of the key dilemmas comes with where to start. Food security, political instability, military conflict and crime, economic chaos — these problems can make building roads and bridges and phone networks nearly impossible to conceive, […]
In order to get ready for the SCO Summit, I want to give a kind of mini-history of collective security after the Warsaw Pact broke down in 1989 as it applies to Central Asia (and, inseparably, to the Caucasus). I realize that I do not have here a culturally-relevant illustration, (or for that matter, a weaponry-relevant picture, either) […]
The South African wine industry is burgeoning and has been for several years. Wine exported from the fertile terroir of the lush Western Cape vinyards can be found in any city in the United States, and indeed, even in smaller communities the occasional gem can be found with “Product of South Africa” stamped on the […]
Afghanistan is figuring in the news these days as U.S. presidential candidates call attention to it; as Mr. Karzai was invited to Camp David for strategy sessions; and as more hostage-taking incidents indicate a decreased security. Yet in today's RFE/RL Newsline, the U.S. will be slashing aid to Afghanistan by over 50%. Here is the […]
If you ever took a course in international relations, you’ve already been here and done that, but you can comment if you like: Starting on August 16th, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) begins its Annual Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a collective security organization that demonstrates many elegant capabilities within the Central Asian region. While Bishkek scours […]
I have previously discussed the controversy over changing names of municipalities, streets, and the like in South Africa. These debates tend to be so contentious because they operate at the nexus of history, identity, ethnicity, and mythology, a potent brew anywhere, but particularly pungent in post-Apartheid South Africa. About a year-and-a-half ago I tried to wrestle […]
Uitenghage, and industrial city not far from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape is South Africa's Detroit. It has long been the center of South Africa's automobile production, with companies such as Volkswagen having a heavy presence. Recent reports indicate that VW is planning to shift production of right-side-drive VW Golf models for the Asia-Pacific region from […]
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has signed into law the Interception of Communication Act, which formalizes the government's ability to eavesdrop on phone conversations, to read people's email and faxes, and generally to facilitate Zimbabwe's full descent into a totalitarian state. The law even requires internet providers to install the equipment to allow the government to […]
The coming weekend's New York Times Book Review includes Walter Kirn's positive assessment of South Africa Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee's new collection of literary criticism, Inner Workings: Literary Criticism, 2000-2005. The concluding paragraph asserts: “Inner Workings is Coetzee's master class, and he honors us, too, by letting us sit in on it, despite our spotty […]
Kazakhstan: —Thirty members of the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir group go on trial in Kazakhstan for recruitment. Unlike many such trials in Central Asia at large, it looks as if this trial has caught some leaders of the movement. –More trouble developing the Kashagan oil field means that production is being pushed back to 2010. This field […]