Today's RFE/RL has an article on Kyrgyzstan's problems with border control. The Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Marat Sultanov, has sought Russian help via the CIS collective security arrangements now undertaken through the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization. Recently, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan implemented a short-term arrangement of greater access between the two countries, only to have it […]
Last week, Nathan Hamm at Registan.net posted twice on new constitutional reforms in Kazakhstan. In the first, he discussed how new constitutional changes would answer objections that many member states have toward Kazakhstan's OSCE leadership bid. In the second post, Nathan wrote that his earlier post might have been too optimistic, as some of the implications […]
Three notable Mexican film directors have signed a $100 million deal with Universal Pictures in Los Angeles to produce five movies, including Spanish-language films. Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who individually directed last year's Oscar-recognized Hollywood hits “Pans Labyrinth,” “Babel,” and “Children of Men,” will call their new production company Cha Cha Cha. […]
The U.S. Senate this week will debate an immigration bill supported by President Bush that would provide legal status to approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the U.S. Allowing 600,000 workers into the country without their families, the measure's guest worker provision would grant them 2-year periods of stay for a maximum of 6 years. For further […]
Over at The Boston Globe Derrick Z. Jackson reminds readers that among Jerry Falwell's many loathsome views, the recently departed openly and unrepentantly supported Apartheid South Africa. While it may not be especially edifying to dance on a man's grave, there also are few reasons to celebrate Falwell's life in which hatred was couched in a flatulent and warped version of Christianity. […]
RFE/RL's Daniel Kimmage noted in yesterday's and today's RFE/RL Newsline: May 16: Akmarat Rejepov, Head of Turkmenistan's National Guard, and Geldymurad Ashirmuhammedov, Turkmenistan's Minister of National Security, were dismissed from their posts. Mr. Rejepov was ostensibly going to be ‘reassigned’ to another position. May 17th: Mr. Rejepov was arrested. May 18: Ashirmuhammedov is reported as arrested […]
Three stories from the United Nations News Agency, IRIN, point to Tajikistan's poverty and resulting problems for children, families, migration, and a host of other problems that result from poverty. All three of these articles show how difficult it is to rise from poor circumstances. Furthermore, they show that even responsible choices by virtuous people […]
The first tidal wave In 1996, Martha Brill Olcott wrote an important paper on the pressures for migration in Central Asia during the 1990's: “Demographic upheavals in Central Asia.” In this paper, she discussed the many Central Asian natives, primarily of Russian ethnicity, who picked up stakes and left the five newly-independent Central Asian states […]
In part 1 of this series, I reviewed a joint presentation of The Brookings Institution and UNU on the unequal distribution of wealth under globalizing conditions. Once again, states are charged with redistributing this income through policy planning and the social contract, and courting investment from other states, international organizations, and most of all, transnational […]
One long-held belief in globalization literature is that developed nations find themselves torn between the lure of expanding investment opportunities at the same time that jobs for its middle and lower class begins to fall apart. A lecture on "The Impact of Globalization on the World's Poor" at The Brookings Institution announced a new study […]
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 411-3 this week to delay a Bush Administration plan to provide Mexican trucks full access to U.S. highways. Proponents of allowing full access say it will save American consumers hundreds of millions of dollars. Opponents are concerned that the Mexican trucks will not meet U.S. safety standards. The House […]
China's role in Africa will continue to grow in the coming decades. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is China's voracious appetite and need for oil. But the Chinese have shown little interest in issues related to human rights, which they always shrug off as being a matter of internal […]
With the chaos in Zimbabwe and the utter catastrophe that is Sudan, it is easy to let the evergreen of African nightmares slip across the transom unnoticed. But rest assured, the Democratic Republic of the Congo still stands astride Africa's Big Men like a colossus. The DRC may temporarily find itself displaced in this dubious game, […]
Last week, I posted critical thinking from the blogosphere on the metaphors commonly used when discussing Afghanistan. Now I want to contribute my own two cents on a common metaphor used in Central Asia: The New Great Game. The N.G.G. is a term that now stands for more than one aspect of Central Asian affairs, which has confused the set of […]
(Tokyo Sexwale Pictured With Nelson Mandela.) Tokyo Sexwale is an ANC Stalwart, former premiere of Gauteng, and multimillionaire businessman. The chairman of Mvelaphanda Group has been in the news a great deal lately. He recently drew headlines for joining the Washington, DC-Based Brookings Institution's International Advisory Council (IAC). The IAC is a “group of 24 […]