ViewsWeek Views from around the world
Ahead of two major transition processes – the 2014 NATO withdrawal and the forthcoming presidential elections – in the country, there are increasing concerns on the future of women’s rights in Afghanistan. While a recent report by the World Economic Forum on global gender gap indicated a considerable improvement on decreasing the gap between genders in most of countries across …
November, 2013
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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31 October
Pakistan to Begin Exporting JF-17 Thunder Fighter Jets
Pakistan will begin exporting the JF-17 Thunder multirole fighter jet next year Pakistani media outlets reported on Friday, citing unnamed officials from the Ministry of Defense Production. According to a report that appeared in multiple Pakistani newspapers, “The Pakistan Air Force has been assigned [a] target of exporting 5 to 7 JF-17 Thunder planes next year and discussions in this regard are under …
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31 October
Malala’s Theme
Literally missing by inches being named the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the young Pakistani girl who achieved international fame after being shot in the head and neck on a school bus in the Swat Valley by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on October 9 last year, Malala Yousufzai felt she had not yet done enough to earn …
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31 October
Maldives Democracy Kidnapped
On 7 September 2013, 88 percent of the Maldivian electorate turned out to vote in the country’s second ever democratic election. In the glorious Saturday sunshine, over 200,000 people headed to over 400 polling stations on over 200 islands scattered across the Indian Ocean to vote for one of four candidates. Hundreds of Maldivians did the same in Sri Lanka, …
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30 October
A Vote for the Social Sciences in India
Although the elections are still some time away, a different political climate is being created by various stakeholders. The tone was set with Anna Hazare’s and the nationwide stir against growing corruption in high places and the demand for the setting up of an independent body at the apex to examine cases of money laundering and the misuse of public …
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30 October
Farmers Seek to Secure Food Sovereignty in Honduras
In many Honduran communities, men and women awake at dawn to tend the land to feed their families. The hillsides and valleys at daybreak smell of freshly made coffee and damp earth, so much so it’s a part of the national identity. Nevertheless, the campesinos are one of the most vulnerable populations in a country where land scarcity is a daily battle. …
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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
Turning Point in Pakistan’s War on Polio
On the eve of World Polio Day 2013, this highlighted an ever-increasing trust deficit between the government and the parents of at-risk children in outlying communities, a deficit that is costing Pakistani lives. We are at a strange turning point, where our indisputable success is marred by our unfortunate failures. The polio eradication campaign’s numbers are certainly impressive on paper. …
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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 — …
