China's increasing presence in Africa has become clear in the past couple of years. (For my own writing on this — with links — see here, here, here, here and here.) The Asian continent's other giant, India has been watching, and has designs on increasing its presence in Africa. China's role at best represents a dual-edged sword, and in the […]
The crisis in Zimbabwe, and especially the economic catastrophe, has proven to have a levelling effect in the country. This is, of course, a levelling in which a draining pool has lowered all inner tubes, and not one in which a rising tide has lifted all boats, and so it is probably of slim solace […]
The state of Canada is announcing a new USD 30 million grant to help develop and sustain the struggling Afghanistan justice system. This is part of the USD 1.2 billion that Canada has pledged in support of Afghanistan between now and 2011. The Canadian aid has been announced in conjunction with an Afghanistan rule-of-law seminar in Rome. […]
On July 3, the World Bank announced that it would support the development of new telecommunications infrastructure in Afghanistan up to 76.5 million dollars. Previous infrastructure has been bombed, torn up, and salvaged for its wire and other components around the country. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is a part of the World Bank […]
Dateline, London: The Kazakhstan Growth Forum was held in London June 27 through 29; according to the lineup, over 600 primarily economic entities attended. These included: the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; British-Kazakhstan Association leadership; and various oil companies and banks. One bank attending is Raffeissen bank, which is one of the Austrian banks […]
Robert Mugabe has stepped in to try to staunch the bleeding in the Zim economy. But like just about everything he does when it comes to his country, his methods are dubious. This time around he is taking a strong stand in intervening in the economy, which includes increased nationalization of industries and the expansion […]
Opposition parties are making hay out of recent crime statistics indicating that some forms of crime are on the rise: “We are alarmed at the increase in murder (2,4 percent), the 118 percent increase in bank robberies, 52,5 percent increase in robberies at business premises, the 21,9 percent increase in cash-in-transit heists, and the sharp […]
Golden opportunities to make nice with Turkmenistan: New diplomacy: Mr. Berdymukhammedov has decided upon a new spelling (post in Russian) for his name, with one M–Berdymukhamedov, hereinafter. This decision was made to further communication between Kazakhstan and Russia, as the double M appears to be less pronounceable in Kazakh and Russian. Such accommodation is a strong signal that Turkmenistan's […]
Well, I didn't post as much last week as I normally do, and that's because I went to New York to talk to the Foreign Policy Association's Teacher Training Institute about Central Asia. What a great group of teachers! We are used to thinking that politics is something that happens on the world stage, but anyone […]
President Felipe Calderon criticized the U.S. Senate's failure to pass the Bush-backed immigration bill, saying that the lack of reform “worsens illegal immigration.” An El Universal editorial stated, “It's obvious that the politicians in (the U.S.) want laborers, but they are not willing to legalize the labor that they need,” and thus, “migrants will continue […]
One does not usually look to Vanity Fair for gravitas, much less for edifying coverage of Africa. Nonetheless, the July issue, including the VF website, invited U2's Bono to be guest editor of a special issue devoted to Africa. There is more than enough pop ephemera contained within this special edition, to be sure, but there […]
In a previous short post, I noted that Mr. Niyazov's successor, President Berdymukhammedov, had eschewed the country-wide birthday party that had become customary for Turkmenbashi in favor of more private celebrations. I was particularly pleased that he had separated the public from the private realm. However, it appears that some gaudy and celebratory moves were made […]
The ANC Policy Conference in Midrand wraps up today after three days of political dialogue that the Mail & Guardian has described as “robust.” Despite Thabo Mbeki's protests that things have not been too robust, certain issues that we have discussed here before — succession, the linkage between the party leadership and the national presidency — […]
Your faithful scribe is almost but not quite back home and thus to something resembling normalcy. Full-scale blogging should resume next week. In the meantime, here are some Africa-related links: In Zimbabwe the Interception of Communications Bill only awaits Robert Mugabe's signature. My guess is he's thrilled to do so, helping seal Zimbabwe's totalitarian status. Meanwhile MacDonald Dzirutwe avers […]
Peak of a ten-to-twelve year cycle: Moroccan locusts. Earlier this month, IWPR reported that Tajikistan's efforts against the current anti-locust plague was proving to be only partly successful. 55,000 hectares of grainland has been treated with pesticide, but lacks of equipment have made the effort less than what is needed. The locusts migrate from Afghanistan and […]