ViewsWeek Views from around the world
The negotiations between Iran and the west have not yet produced a deal. At the same time, the BBC’s Mark Urban, a defense correspondent, has unearthed a worrying connection between Iran moving towards the nuclear bomb threshold and a Saudi Arabian decision to produce a nuclear bomb with Pakistani help. “Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects and …
November, 2013
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8 November
The Poisoned Chalice of Tanzania’s Land Deals
For more than a decade Tanzania has been wooing foreign investors to help modernize and reinvigorate its agricultural sector – which engages about 80 percent of the population – as a way of boosting national development. But many supposed beneficiaries, such as smallholder Ahmed Kipanga, a 37-year-old father of five from the coastal Kisarawe District, feel short-changed. “I used to …
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5 November
China Sees Bangladesh’s Role in Southeast Asia
Recently, Bangladesh’s foreign minister Dipu Moni met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing to push forward the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor. The initiative follows China’s intensified co-operation with Pakistan in South Asia and recent Asian summits in which both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have been promoting a new “maritime Silk Road” and deeper economic co-operation with Southeast …
October, 2013
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31 October
The End of an Era in Georgia
The presidential election in Georgia on Oct. 27 ended a decade of pro-Western Mikheil Saakashvili’s tenure. According to the Georgian constitution, presidents can serve only two terms. Saakashvili had been in office since 2004 and was forced to transfer his powers. Although he earlier toyed with the Putin-Medvedev model, creating an all-powerful prime minister, his chances of staging a comeback to the …
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30 October
Indigenous Communication Gains Strength in Ecuador
In Latacunga, capital of Ecuador’s Cotopaxi province, the antenna for Tv MICC stands beside the one for state television. It’s a symbolic victory for the country’s first Kichwa-language television station, which started operating in 2009 following an initiative by the Cotopaxi Indigenous and Campesino Movement (MICC). After four years, the station is second in ratings in this central province of …
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29 October
Iran: New Emerging Geopolitics in the Middle East
While many Americans’ eyes were glued to the TV regarding the dysfunction of government in Washington, eyes elsewhere in the world were observing the current geopolitical and potential geo-strategic changes taking place in the Middle East. The news from Washington diverted attention from the horrible civil war in Syria and the renewal of negotiations among the five permanent members — …
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27 October
How to Get the Whole World Mad
“GENTLEMEN do not read other gentlemen’s mail” sniffed US Secretary of State Henry Stimson in 1929 when told that American cryptographers had broken Japan’s naval and diplomatic codes. Stimson, who later headed the War Department, ordered code-breaking shut down. Alas, there are not any old-school gentlemen left in Washington these days. Revelations of US electronic spying by whistleblower Edward Snowden have …
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27 October
Dozens of Saudi Women Openly Defy Ban on Driving
Brushing off threats from the government, more than 60 Saudi women got behind the wheel on Saturday in a bold protest of the nation’s de facto ban on women driving. Sara Hussein, a Saudi woman involved in the effort, drew parallels to the U.S. civil rights movement: “Think back in history — Rosa Parks was the only person who sat down on the …
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27 October
Middle East’s Forgotten Conflict
In the commotion created by the Arab Spring and following disturbances, the focus of international politics moved away from Iraq. The especially brutal civil war in Syria, the coup d’état and subsequent turbulence in Egypt, the tensions in Lebanon, Libya, and Yemen and the elections in Iran, have all diverted international attention away from Iraq. However, Iraq is still located at the …
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26 October
Central Asia’s New Silk Road, Paved by China
Over the past decade, Central Asia has grown from a marginal position in Beijing’s strategic calculus to the top of its diplomatic priorities: China is fast emerging as a vital economic and political player in this strategically located and resource-rich region. In early September Chinese President Xi Jinping visited several Central Asian countries bringing billions in investment — a trip that …
