ViewsWeek Views from around the world
Developments in the aftermath of bilateral talks between Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Sept. 3 are being commented on by the media and Caucasia experts in Turkey. During the meeting, Armenia expressed interest in joining the Customs Union created by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and in the Eurasian Economic Union that will be created in …
December, 2013
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1 December
Africa’s Kings, Adapt or Die!
Africa’s monarchs are resilient. For centuries they ruled through intricate hierarchies of clan and kinship. Then colonial invaders polarised them, deposing some and courting others. Independent African states are proving just as testing for traditional authorities. Many African states – from Morocco to South Africa – provide a role for traditional rulers. Just two kings run countries but countless others …
November, 2013
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29 November
Changing Geopolitical Configurations in the Middle East
The geopolitical makeup of the Middle East is changing. In any kind of significant geopolitical change there are bound to be winners and losers, while others just try to hold their own, indeed, even hoping for stalemate. What I attempt to do in this article is suggest which countries and peoples may be winners and which or who may be …
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29 November
Violence Against Women is Systemic in Nicaragua
The 2013 Global Gender Gap Report, released Oct. 25 by the World Economic Forum (WEF), ranked Nicaragua 10th in the world in gender equality — a move the women´s movement in the country criticized, stating publicly Nicaraguan women are facing a double standard when it comes to their rights. Although there is equal representation of women in government institutions at …
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29 November
Violence Against Women is Systemic in Nicaragua
The 2013 Global Gender Gap Report, released Oct. 25 by the World Economic Forum (WEF), ranked Nicaragua 10th in the world in gender equality — a move the women´s movement in the country criticized, stating publicly Nicaraguan women are facing a double standard when it comes to their rights. Although there is equal representation of women in government institutions at …
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28 November
Ukraine’s Path Not Taken
Sometimes history can be too ironic. This week, as Ukraine marked the 80th anniversary of the Holodomor, Stalin’s engineered famine in Ukraine, President Viktor Yanukovich’s government announced that it would not sign a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the European Union at a summit in Vilnius on November 28. Just like that, Ukraine’s chance to transcend its tortured …
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27 November
Spying Down Under – One Big Scandal in Indonesia
Indonesians are usually an easy-going, amiable people. But last week, they were boiling with anger and a sense of betrayal after revelations that Australia’s Signals Directorate had been tapping the phones of senior Indonesian government officials, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and, worst of all, his wife, First Lady Ani Yudhoyono. Aussie intelligence was also spying on the very same …
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25 November
Iran Deal Overshadows Turkey-Egypt Issues
P5+1 countries and Iranian foreign ministers might have announced in Geneva yesterday that they reached an agreement on control over Iran’s nuclear program, but the most important story regarding the Middle East will probably be something else. International media would probably focus on Egypt’s expelling of the Turkish Ambassador to Cairo as “persona non grata” and downgrading diplomatic relations on …
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24 November
The Great Syrian Risk Game
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has asked his envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, to set a date for the Syrian peace conference — called Geneva II — in mid-December. The expectation of a November meeting has now slipped by. A quarter century ago, Mr. Brahimi was the envoy tasked to bring peace to the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). …
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24 November
Libyan State on the Brink of Collapse
A little over two years after the former Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, was captured and killed by rebel militiamen outside the town of Sirte, the Libyan state is teetering on the brink of collapse. A dozen different militia organizations have more authority than the central government, and if ordinary civilians protest at their arbitrary rule they get shot. That happened …
