The history, agenda, and future of ‘Sarkozysm’.
Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2012 presidential campaign has often been depicted as extremist by mainstream US media. He embodies a turning point in...
A multidisciplinary, multinational, multimedia journal that provides analysis of and context for issues, trends and events of global significance.
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Why ‘Occupy’ Does Not Make Sense to Brazil
By Valeria MonteiroAn insider’s opinion on Brazil’s apathy to the Occupy movement.
Brazilians seem to have had either little interest, or have greatly misunderstood the purpose of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. With the exception of a small number of fools like me, excited and involved in the process, who thought it possible to play Don Quixote and win, most people sat idly by...
India-Pakistan: Hope and Reality
By Vikram SoodAn Indian veteran’s perspectives on the India-Pakistan relationship.
Old shibboleths and half-truths take a long time to wither away. Pakistan still likes to believe, or at least its leadership does, that India is determined to undo the partition and grab Pakistan.
It is essential that Pakistan be convinced through force of logic and reality, and not by hopeful...
The Sarkozy Revolution of the French New Right
By Eddy FougierThe history, agenda, and future of ‘Sarkozysm’.
Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2012 presidential campaign has often been depicted as extremist by mainstream US media. He embodies a turning point in French right-wing history. He represents the French version of what was called the “New Right” in the US during the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s and in the UK...
Turkey and Tehran: Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place
By James M. DorseyTurkey’s besting Iran in the contest for the hearts and minds of advocates of change in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa is proving to be both a blessing and a curse. With tension mounting over Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the perceived window of opportunity for a military strike closing, Turkey faces increased challenges and the threat of a proxy war...
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The US Dollar: The World’s Currency and the World’s Problem
By Prof. Dr. Rolf J. LanghammerAnalysis on the unexpected relationship between the dollar’s international acceptability and the US military’s global presence.
Since World War II, the US has provided two essential services to the rest of the world: an international currency and international military protection. Producing them was costly, both in terms of achieving dollar stability and undertaking...
Ageing and the Financial Crisis: More Than Meets the Eye
By Andrew PollenWhat does ageing have to do with the European financial crisis?
Developed country societies have been steadily getting older ever since the coming of the industrial revolution. But now they are ageing more quickly as birth rates in many developed countries continue to remain well below replacement rate and life expectancy continues to rise. Median ages in several countries are...
Europe’s Banking Supervision
By Nicolas VéronWhy the world should care about the European debate on bank capital requirements.
The European Union’s finance ministers are furiously debating a piece of legislation known as CRD4/CRR (the acronyms stand for the fourth Capital Requirements Directive and the Capital Requirements Regulation). The measure is intended to implement the Basel III accord on bank capital,...
The Frog and the Scorpion
By FPIF Foreign Policy In FocusThough China’s economy is growing at blinding speed, the country is witnessing increasing unrest in its towns and cities.
Behind the political crisis that saw the recent fall of powerful Communist Party leader Bo Xilai is an internal battle over how to handle China...
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The New Business of Africa: Markets and People Transforming the...
By Jake BrightForecasts about growth in Africa have been revised drastically, and as investment and know-how pour in, Africa is expected to become the fastest growing region over the next decade.
International CEOs who have not recently revised their appraisal of Africa would be well served to do so, and quickly. There is an unprecedented transformation occurring across the continent...
The Changing Face of Africa
By Tony O. ElumeluAfrica has grown by leaps and bounds over the last two decades, and will continue to do so.
What a change a decade makes. Africa has come a long way since The Economist headline (now described as “regrettable”) of May 11, 2000 that referred to Africa as “The Hopeless Continent”.
We are seeing a noticeable shift in the way the continent is...
US Firms in Europe: Waiting for the Good News
By Knowledge @ Wharton*[This article was originally published by Knowledge@Wharton on April 25, 2012.]
Why euro zone woes are creating headwinds for global firms.
Europe is in crisis -- and that has major implications for multinational firms with significant operations in the...
Uganda: More than Kony 2012
By Mara FoundationMara Foundation in Uganda offers its perspective on the Kony 2012 campaign, demonstrating how it has “piggy-backed” the viral fame of Invisible Children’s video, and details a personal reaction of an employee.
Despite its achievements, Invisible Children’s viral video “Kony 2012” has created a negative impression about Uganda, which may...
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What Iran Really Thinks
By Mahmoud AyadIn a response to Iran Observer, a previous contributor to Fair Observer, Shayan Arkian and Mahmoud Ayad argue to dispel notions of pure idealism, religiosity, and military/nuclear ambitions in Iran.
On February 27, 2012 an anonymous author wrote an article named “...
China's New Defence Budget: What Does It Tell Us?
By S.Rajaratnam School of Internationa...By Richard A. Bitzinger
China’s new defence budget – particularly given the sizable and growing funding it dedicates to military R&D and procurement – demonstrates Beijing’s continuing resolve to gain military power commensurate with its growing soft power.
In early March, China released its defence budget for 2012, which broke the symbolic $...
Don't Despair on Annan’s Syria Plan -- Yet
By Jeffrey LaurentiAfter appraising the milieu of the recent coalition Paris meeting regarding the Syrian humanitarian crisis, Laurenti argues that “the layering in of international military monitors, including some from Russia and China, plus a large humanitarian relief operation… “are the most efficacious policy options moving forward”.
The Paris meeting this month of...
Why Netanyahu's Afraid of Diplomacy
By Trita ParsiStemming from its fears of an amending Iran-US relationship, Israel has mischaracterized the recent P5+1 talks as a failure for western interests. In reality, there are hopeful signs of progress towards a peaceful resolution of the potentially dangerous situation, says Trita Parsi.
Netanyahu and Obama are at it again. The hardline Israeli Prime Minister, standing next to Senator... -
Truth is Stranger than Science Fiction
By Vikram SoodThe changing concept of security influences the development of new weapons and security measures.
H.G. Wells gave us The War of the Worlds, the first science fiction novel about Martians landing on earth, and is sometimes credited with thinking up the tank in his 1903 short story The Land Ironclads. Jules Verne, after whom the French have named their...
Post SOPA: The Next Frontier for Internet Copyright Protection
By Knowledge @ Wharton*[This article was first published by Knowledge@Wharton on February 1, 2012]
Upraising social question about the gap between personal liberty in the internet and the interests of industries against web piracy....
A Digital Eden
By Juan VilloroA eulogy. Translation by Martin Villanueva Ordas.
Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco in 1955, and grew up to the tunes of the Grateful Dead. Growing up in a psychedelic society, he saw the digital culture as a way to expand consciousness and make money with an extraordinary sense of taste. A cybernetic dandy, he conceived Apple in the way of a mirror, as an elegant...
Neuroinformatics Heads to School: The Future of Personalized Learning
By Elizabeth RickerThe future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed.
—William Gibson, quoted in The Economist, December 4, 2003
In America, we love personalization: personal computers, personal trainers, and more recently, personalized medicine. Because we especially prize individuality, the ground is fertile for developing services that cater to...
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Trauma Work for Peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina
By Martina BockA trauma therapist describes the necessity of healing the war-affected youth of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
This year is the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the Bosnia-Herzegovina War (1992-1995). Although this seems to have been a long time ago and though most of the visible traces of the war have now been removed, the land and its people are still very shaped by the war. The...
Chinese and American Healthcare Systems: A Comparison
By Adam C. Powell, PhDHealthcare is specific to each country and is shaped by the political, social and economic conditions of the moment.
China and the United States are both in the process of undergoing healthcare reform. In 2009, China announced its healthcare reform, which it elaborated upon through the 12th Five-Year Plan released by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 2011...
Health Education in the 21st Century
By Ulrich HemelFive crucial Issues from the standpoint of global civil society.
Everybody agrees on the need for health education but there is not yet a common understanding of what that means and how far reaching health education should be.
From the standpoint of civil society in a global perspective, the first agent of health is every person in his or her first person, independent of...
What Can We Do?
By Matthew C. Mireles, PhD, MPHCommentary on the supply and demand of medicine, its overuse, and the need to regulate and optimize the accessibility of medicinal drugs in the US and beyond. This is the last in a series of four articles on the topic. Please click here for part one,...
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Potential is Not Enough
By Luiz SilveiraBrazil is potentially an agricultural giant but its farmers are challenged by low competitiveness.
Ask anybody at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the IMF or even the CIA, and you will get the same answer: Brazil is the country with the highest agricultural potential in the world. At present, however, this potential is compromised by the sector’s high...
Ghanaian Oil: Only for the 1 Percent?
By FPIF Foreign Policy In FocusBy Kwei Quartey
Rather than fostering development, the workings of the oil industry in Ghana seem to be damaging communities and re-routing wealth out of the country.In 2007, substantial oil deposits were discovered...
The Forgotten Sun: Climate Catastrophe is Called Off
By Dr. Sebastian Lüning and Prof. Dr. Fr...Failure to comprehensively examine all the drivers of climate change may produce a false fear of a dangerously overheated planet.
Scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) are convinced that by using fossil fuels man is currently destroying the climate. But we do have one last chance; modern industrial society has to abandon its current way of...
Survival of the Dumbest?
By Peter ByrneThoughts on the climate change debate.
In mid-February, several thousand scientists descended in a flurry of umbrellas upon rain-soaked Vancouver, Canada. The occasion was the annual meeting of the world’s largest science club, the American Association for the Advancement of Science. For nearly two centuries, the association has slowly settled scientific controversies by...
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The Alternative to Green Pimped Architecture
By Xaveer Claerhout and Barbara Van Bier...Kinetura designs adaptable lamps and building applications that react to the surrounding light.
Designing lamps is like conceiving architecture on a micro scale. A light source with its fixture, and the natural light surrounding a building are obviously related. The design and architecture of both buildings and lamp fixtures need to maximize the utility and...
Europe: Who is In and Who is Out?
By Dr. Barbara SteinerThe Europe (to the power of) n project is an international collaborative art project founded to explore the possibilities of a European identity without transforming it into a substantial and exclusive one.
Answering the questions of where and what Europe actually is, or what it could one day become, is impossible. As we come closer to Europe in a geographical sense, a series...
Une Oeuvre d'Art Vivante
By Jean-Yves PiffardJean-Yves Piffard makes ephemeral works of art which are formed from and within nature. He offers an insight into his creative process.
December 2007. I am on the Carnac site in Brittany, France. The Atlantic ocean is stirred up, and all around me the sand that lies uncovered by the outgoing tide is wrinkled and spreads out before me like a virgin desert, untouched by human...
Journeying Beyond Land Art: an Ecological Shift
By Martin HillMartin Hill is a sculptor, photographer and adventurer. He discusses the impact land art has had on his work and the importance of working in harmony with the environment.
The defining characteristic of the land art movement is working directly on the land, a breakaway from the art gallery system. It not only depicts the landscape, it engages with it. The movement didn’t...
