PBS: Escaping Eritrea … [Read More...] about ካብ ውሽጢ ቤት ማእሰርታት ኤርትራ
UPFRONT
Uzbekistan After Karimov – Its Grim Prospects
Erica Marat | September 7, 2016 | Foreign Affairs Update (September 8, 2016): On September 8, Uzbekistan’s parliament appointed Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev interim head of state, replacing Nigmatilla Yuldashev, the chair of the parliament’s upper house. Mirziyaev will likely ascend to the presidency in the coming months after a tightly controlled national election. … [Read more...] about Uzbekistan After Karimov – Its Grim Prospects
How the world forgot “Africa’s North Korea” Eritrea, and what this means for migration
Gabriel Pogrund | 9 September 2016 | New Statesman Britain receives more asylum seekers from Eritrea than anywhere else, but the isolated African state somehow still hides in the world's blindspot. This summer, Eritrea turned 25. On a hazy evening in Asmara, the crumbling pastel-coloured capital, a foreign official offers a rare insight into the current state of … [Read more...] about How the world forgot “Africa’s North Korea” Eritrea, and what this means for migration
West of Suez for the United Arab Emirates
Alex Mello and Michael Knights | September 2, 2016 | War on the Rocks Bases on the Horn of Africa serve Emirati power projection ambitions. Britain militarily withdrew from areas “east of Suez” in 1971, triggering the Trucial States to form today’s United Arab Emirates. Now, 45 years later, this Arab country is increasingly focused on projecting military power “west of … [Read more...] about West of Suez for the United Arab Emirates
What the G20 is doing – and why it matters
Neil Renwick | September 2, 2016 | The Conversation As the leaders of the world’s 19 biggest economies and the European Union meet in the beautiful southern Chinese city of Hangzhou for the culmination of China’s year at the helm of the G20, it pays to ask exactly what they’re doing – and why it matters. Yes, the G20 really does matter, and for a whole fistful of … [Read more...] about What the G20 is doing – and why it matters
The United Nations: What’s the Point?
Uri Friedman | Sep 2, 2016 | The Atlantic It’s not clear the organization can effectively confront—or even survive—today’s challenges. What if the United Nations didn’t exist? It’s a question easily answered, because for nearly all of human history, it didn’t. History “teaches us that order in international relations is the exception, rather than the rule,” Kevin Rudd, … [Read more...] about The United Nations: What’s the Point?
Once a Bucknell Professor, Now the Commander of an Ethiopian Rebel Army
JOSHUA HAMMER | AUG. 31, 2016 | The New York Times Why Berhanu Nega traded a tenured position for the chance to lead a revolutionary force against an oppressive regime. Berhanu Nega was once one of Bucknell University’s most popular professors. An Ethiopian exile with a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research in Manhattan, he taught one of the economics … [Read more...] about Once a Bucknell Professor, Now the Commander of an Ethiopian Rebel Army
Syrian Kurds vow to fight to the death to stop Turkey ‘invading’ their territory
Patrick Cockburn Damascus | 03 September 2016 | The Independent Officials fear growing co-operation between the Syrian and Turkish governments in opposition to Kurdish separatism The Syrian Kurdish leadership vows to defend their de facto state in north east Syria to the end, but is fearful of a growing understanding between the Syrian and Turkish governments in … [Read more...] about Syrian Kurds vow to fight to the death to stop Turkey ‘invading’ their territory
Yellow Fever Timeline: The History Of A Long Misunderstood Disease
Susan Brink | August 28, 2016 | NPR No one knows for sure, but scientists believe that yellow fever has plagued the world for at least 3,000 years. in all likelihood, the disease started in the rain forests of Africa. It rode barges and sailing ships to tropical ports around the world, followed the slave trade to the Americas, interrupted the building of the Panama … [Read more...] about Yellow Fever Timeline: The History Of A Long Misunderstood Disease
Alan Kurdi symbolised an army of dead children. We ignore them at our peril
Robert Fisk | September 2, 2016 | The Independent One year on, has the world forgotten the three-year-old boy washed up on a Turkish beach, asks Robert Fisk The body of Aylan Kurdi has gone beyond the ‘iconic’. Being small and dressed like a little European boy, and being white rather than brown-skinned, his very name posthumously and subtly shifting to the homely … [Read more...] about Alan Kurdi symbolised an army of dead children. We ignore them at our peril
Zimbabwe’s interregnum: new wine, old bottles?
David B. Moore | August 3, 2016 | The Conversation Analysts have celebrated July’s events in Zimbabwe as indications of a vibrant and social media-based new citizenry with possibilities of leading an African Spring. Like the Arab one, but successful. Some invoke the generation of “born-frees” – those born after Zimbabwe’s liberation in 1980 – as a new political … [Read more...] about Zimbabwe’s interregnum: new wine, old bottles?