Thank you, Joshua Foust of Registan.net and The Conjecturer, for this very useful format. Afghanistan and Pakistan: –Jeff at the Peace Like a River blog talks about the UK's Operation Chakush in Helmand. –My colleague Dan Graeber discusses UNAMA's new investigations of discovered mass graves in Afghanistan at the FPA War Crimes blog. Hostage News: –Four of […]
In my continuing quest to make reality more closely match the expert opinion and political directive, (or, perhaps more properly, vice versa) I offer some aphorisms by La Rochefoucald that might make us laugh but also help us question the motives of those with the most high-minded intentions. A little about Francois, duc de la Rochefoucald (1613–1680): though […]
Breaking news from Ferghana.ru: Akmurad Rejepov used to be a chief of the Presidential Security Service under the former Turkmenistani President, Mr. Niyazov. Before that, KGB-man. His relationship with Niyazov allowed him to exercise the threads of power from behind Turkmenbashi's back. The rise of President Berdymukhamedov is commonly believed to have been facilitated by Mr. […]
National Public Radio (NPR) has a report on the tension that is once again growing in Oaxaca, where leftist groups continue to call for the ouster of the Governor. To listen to the report, “Deep Divisions Remain in Oaxaca,” click here.
The sometimes problematic nature of China's relationship with Africa is nowhere more stark than in Beijing's engagement with Sudan (see also here, here, here, here, and here). Over at The New Republic Eric Reeves, one of the foremost authorities on the crisis in Darfur, has a piece telling us to be wary of China's support […]
Yesterday, the United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peace-Building (UNTOP) lowered its flags and closed the doors after a ten-year presence in the republic. The UNTOP mission began in 2000, after the UN Mission of Observers in Tajikistan monitored the cease-fire of the Civil War from 1996 to 2000. It has been a decade since the […]
Privation connected to poverty and vulnerability to climate change is wreaking havoc throughout the continent. Lesotho continues to suffer from drought-fueled food shortages. The droughts have also affected Swaziland and South Africa. The economic crisis in Swaziland has led to increased sex trafficking among children as well as women. Informal settlements in Namibia are embody hell on […]
According to a new release I received from the World Bank (Why, yes of course, the World Bank corresponds with me often) there is some great news from Tajikistan: New Rural Health Centers that are up and running. These indicators show what the World Bank can do, in partnership with a willing state: Health Data […]
I’ve mentioned the Islamic group Hizb-ut-Tahrir in this blog before, and I will again. Hizb-ut-Tahrir is one of the many banned Islamic groups in Central Asia and elsewhere in the world. This video announces the world conference of Hizb-ut-Tahrir which begins on August 12, 2007–a scant two weeks from now. This 4 to 5 minute […]
Suffice it to say that one should not turn to ESPN for rugby coverage. Nonetheless this preview should at least give Americans some sense of the favorites heading into this year's World Cup in France. The headline, “All Blacks, Les Bleus and Wallabies are the favorites” is a little misleading. New Zealand, France, and Australia […]
Kyrgyzstan has recently reported that nine out of the eleven cases of HIV in the Osh district are children who contracted the virus during regular medical treatment. Yesterday, President Bakiev ordered an investigation of this horrifying situation. The pain of this to individuals and their families is enormous and so unnecessary. The suffering from this radiates outward to society as […]
A June 26, 2007 video from Jason Motlagh for World Politics Review shows the difficulties for Afghanistan's domestic security forces. It's about 4 minutes long. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=6080795202067592791 ” width=”400″ height=”326″ wmode=”transparent” /] The training program takes three years, and has been seriously underfunded. Police work, as one of the interviewees on this video assert, means that […]
The Economist recently profiled Elba Esther Gordillo (“'the teacher’ holds back the pupils“), the head of Mexico's National Educational Workers’ Union, Latin America's largest union with a membership of 1.4 million teachers across the country. Ms. Gordillo's political power, due in large part to the size of the teachers’ union, leads the Economist to claim […]
In this week's New York Times Book Review, John Donnelly, who covers global health and the environment for The Boston Globe, has written a favorable review of Helen Epstein's The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS. An important book on a vital topic, The Invisible Cure posits that the best solutions to the […]
There's so much news and so many who report it well, it's difficult to hit all of the high points without a round-up. Afghanistan: –One of the South Korean hostages has been killed. Negotiations continue for the other 22 hostages, who are, according to the ROK government, safe for the moment. Reuters builds a Timeline […]