PBS: Escaping Eritrea … [Read More...] about ካብ ውሽጢ ቤት ማእሰርታት ኤርትራ
UPFRONT
The Coronavirus Could Reshape Global Order
China Is Maneuvering for International Leadership as the United States Falters Kurt M. Campbell and Rush Doshi | March 18, 2020 | Foreign Affairs With hundreds of millions of people now isolating themselves around the world, the novel coronavirus pandemic has become a truly global event. And while its geopolitical implications should be considered … [Read more...] about The Coronavirus Could Reshape Global Order
Why this crisis is a turning point in history
The era of peak globalisation is over. For those of us not on the front line, clearing the mind and thinking how to live in an altered world is the task at hand. JOHN GRAY | 1 APRIL 2020 | New Statesman The deserted streets will fill again, and we will leave our screen-lit burrows blinking with relief. But the world will be different from how we imagined it in … [Read more...] about Why this crisis is a turning point in history
How Does the Coronavirus Behave Inside a Patient?
Coronavirus Chronicles | April 6, 2020 Issue | The New Yorker In the third week of February, as the COVID-19 epidemic was still flaring in China, I arrived in Kolkata, India. I woke up to a sweltering morning—the black kites outside my hotel room were circling upward, lifted by the warming currents of air—and I went to visit a shrine to the goddess Shitala. Her name means … [Read more...] about How Does the Coronavirus Behave Inside a Patient?
The Year of the Locust
Simon Allison |21 Feb 2020|Mail & Guardian "In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many … [Read more...] about The Year of the Locust
The New Spheres of Influence
Sharing the Globe With Other Great Powers GRAHAM ALLISON | March/April 2020 | Foreign Policy In the heady aftermath of the Cold War, American policymakers pronounced one of the fundamental concepts of geopolitics obsolete. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described a new world “in which great power is defined not by spheres of influence . . . or the strong … [Read more...] about The New Spheres of Influence
What Happens in Sudan Doesn’t Stay in Sudan
Will Khartoum Become the Center of a New African Order or an Appendage of the Gulf? Michael Woldemariam and Alden Young |July 19, 2019 | Foreign Affairs It’s the end of an era in the Horn of Africa. After three decades in power, Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir fell in April. Mass antigovernment protests erupted, and a military coup soon followed. Now the remnants of … [Read more...] about What Happens in Sudan Doesn’t Stay in Sudan
The world before this coronavirus and after cannot be the same
Ian Goldin and Robert Muggah | March 27, 20200 | The Conversation With COVID-19 infections now evident in 176 countries, the pandemic is the most significant threat to humanity since the second world war. Then, as now, confidence in international cooperation and institutions plumbed new lows. While the onset of the second world war took many people by surprise, the … [Read more...] about The world before this coronavirus and after cannot be the same
Learning to Live With Despots
The Limits of Democracy Promotion Stephen D. Krasner |March/April 2020 Issue | Foreign Affairs Throughout its history, the United States has oscillated between two foreign policies. One aims to remake other countries in the American image. The other regards the rest of the world as essentially beyond repair. According to the second vision, Washington should demonstrate … [Read more...] about Learning to Live With Despots
The Weakness of the Strongman
Power Grabs by Putin and Xi May Bode Well for Democracy’s Future Adam E. Casey and Seva Gunitsky |March 23, 2020 | Foreign Affairs Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his support for a constitutional change to allow him two more terms in office. When these terms end in 2036, he will be 84 years old and—if he makes it—the longest-ruling leader … [Read more...] about The Weakness of the Strongman
The United States Must Not Pick Sides in the Nile River Dispute
Ethiopia and Egypt are at odds over a Nile dam. Washington should be helping them compromise, rather than doing Cairo’s bidding. By Addisu Lashitew | March 14, 2020 | Foreign Policy Egypt and Ethiopia have once again locked horns over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile. On Feb. 26, Ethiopia temporarily suspended its participation in the … [Read more...] about The United States Must Not Pick Sides in the Nile River Dispute