Fair Observer's five best China articles of 2012.
1: Islands’ Dispute Recasts China-Taiwan-Japan Relations — Malcolm Cook
Domestic politics in China, Japan and Taiwan are intensifying the territorial dispute over the Senkaku/...
Fair Observer's five best India articles of 2012.
1: Manmohan – Ever a Courtier, Never the King — Atul Singh
Fair Observer’s Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Atul Singh, analyzes Manmohan Singh’s performance as Prime Minister and argues...
Fair Observer's five best Arts & Culture articles of 2012.
1: The Poet as the Journalist of the Spirit — Yahia Lababidi
Can poetry help us through times of political upheaval?
2:...
Fair Observer's five best North America articles of 2012.
1: Taking a Step Forward for Canadian Nationhood — Michael Morgenthau
Queen Elizabeth II may be a valuable symbol for Britain, but as a Canadian figurehead she contributes little to the...
Efforts to destroy Colombia’s powerful cartels have only succeeded in fragmenting these once mammoth criminal organizations.
Medellín and Cali are Colombian cities that ring familiar for their association with two of the most powerful drug cartels that once provided the vast majority of cocaine across the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
However,...
The FARC rebels emerged from decades as minor insurgency into a major threat. But over the last ten years, a Colombian military offensive has beaten them along the war path and forced them to the negotiation table.
For nearly 50 years, a revolutionary movement has been pulsing through the heart of the Colombian Amazon. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s...
Though the near half century of conflict with Colombia’s longest running guerilla insurgency may soon come to an end, the FARC are just one player in a much larger field of violent actors.
A New Dialogue with a Long Past
After two months of negotiations between the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the...
Destabilisation in Yemen and Pakistan is tipping the scale in the wrong direction for the US drone warfare policy.
A highly controversial element of the war on terrorism, drones have led to troubling circumstances in both Pakistan and Yemen. Even as the US painstakingly sought to eliminate terror networks employing the smartest piece of its military technology over the past...
Yemen replaced Pakistan as the primary destination for US drone strikes in 2012. In both countries, official government support for this US policy often comes at odds with the average citizen.
Yemen’s President, Abd-Rabbo Mansur Hadi, does not have any particularly strong local powerbase in the country, normally a pre-requisite for leading as unstable a country as Yemen....
In October, the Pakistani cricket star turned politician Imran Khan, led a much-publicized ‘peace rally’ against American drone strikes to the brink of the world’s most precarious region - South Waziristan. Accompanied by a contingent of American anti-war activists from Codepink and thousands of supporters from across the country, Khan hoped to bring unprecedented...
As new technologies change the way war is waged, important new 'sociologies' emerge - both within the nations inventing and using the new weapons and among those upon whom they are inflicted.
For that straw and mortar community, they are smitten as if by a mysterious, Old Testament retribution. There are the chickens scratching the earth for seed, the kids...
Japan has always been impressive, utilizing its innovations and technological developments to dominate in an information age. This is Part II of II in which the author is perusing Japan's prospects of increasing economic prosperity along with the need...
Japan’s post-World War Two economy has always been described as one of the most robust and progressive of the modern era. However, recent political troubles, volatile economic circumstances, and natural disasters have forced a more critical examination of the future of Japan.
...
In the last part of this series, Vaclav Smil further discusses the rise and fall of many of Japan’s famous manufacturing companies in the light of Japan’s economic performance over the past two decades
In 2007 Japan’s global trade surplus reached about $83bn and despite the subsequent global economic downturn, it was still at $75bn in 2010 (JETRO 2012). The...
Vaclav Smil discusses Japan’s economic challenges with particular reference to the rise and fall of many of its famous manufacturing companies.
Domestic debt ownership has obvious advantages. Above all it allows the country's government finance to be isolated from the outside world and to keep bond yields very low. But there is also an obvious downside as the aging...
Will Lynch reflects on his recent trip to Egypt, and argues that it is time for Egyptians to realize the world will come back to them when they put down the stones and pick up their ballots.
During December’s constitutional referendum in Egypt, I was among the relative handful of tourists seeing the sites there. While I was there as a tourist, the anger magnified by the...
A new phase of political conflict between the Islamist-bloc and the pro-civil state bloc has been launched in Egypt. The emergence of this phase is based on the results of the battles in the street, polling stations and in political headquarters; the result will be decisive for all parties.
After the constitutional referendum battle between the adherents of the Islamist and...
As political unrest increases in Egypt, Iman Bibars gives a personal account of recent events.
Open any international newspaper of late and you will read a misleading, watered-down version of the truth.
"Muslim Brotherhood supporters clash with protestors, Morsi’s backers and rivals battle in streets of Cairo, Egypt descends further into political turmoil...
El-Baradei’s recent interview with Der Spiegel has caused heated debates among Egyptians regarding the Holocaust. Mina Monir argues that the West and Israel should prepare themselves for a new political scenario in a nation that was once the largest Western ally in the Middle East.
As Egypt sinks deeper into political instability, the question over the...
After a period of power sharing, elections in Kenya have been successful. However, a similar success cannot be expected in Zimbabwe. Judith Vorrath argues that power sharing is not a guarantee for change.
...Zimbabwe’s new constitution has been approved in a democratic referendum. But what does this mean for the country’s future?
Zimbabweans approved a new constitution making another step toward normalization. The new constitution was an important part of the 2008 power sharing agreement between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, and its approval now...
Without credible commitment of all political actors, a smooth transition to democracy will be hard to achieve.
Four years into the Inclusive Government (IG) formed amongst the disputant political parties to unlock the 2008 election deadlock, parties are now readying themselves for another possibly bruising electoral contest without any reforms. Work by the cabinet...
The Zimbabwean power sharing agreement of 2008 was hailed as a stepping stone to future improvements in this troubled country. But four years on, changes have occurred in Zimbabwe. Now to Africa and the world, the question that remains is whether the country is heading in the right direction.
Economy: From Disaster to an Unbalanced Growth ...
Artist Bianca Nandzik looks at the progression of land art from monumental works cut into the earth’s landscape towards a quieter, more ephemeral art form. [View the photo feature, Rethinking "Land Art".]
In the late 1960s, a group of artists protested against the conventional...
Peter Krsko, founder of Albus Cavus urban art collective from Washington DC, talks about the importance of art in developing local communities.
The development of healthy communities in urban centers depends on active involvement of their members. One of the most effective ways to educate and encourage the young...
Marie-Jeanne Berger looks at the (post)revolutionary art scene rising from the streets of downtown Cairo.
I’ll Die Anyways
“I feel lucky that I as an artist haven’t been persecuted during the time of Mubarak,” says Egyptian cartoonist Makhlouf. “Not like [assassinated Palestinian cartoonist] Naji al-Ali, or [imprisoned and...
Yessi Bello explores the premise that graffiti is a valid form of political activism as opposed to a form of vandalism. The article outlines the reasons why graffiti should be considered as an art form serving as a political commentary of the time, using the Berlin Wall as a case study. This article is the last of a three part series. Read part one ...
The overwhelming victory of the incumbent Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the assembly polls in Gujarat has set the alarm bells ringing in New Delhi.
The Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, already tottering under allegations of financial embezzlements and lack of governance, is apprehensive of Modi’s shifting his sights to New Delhi. Various...
Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, returned to office for an unprecedented fourth term. With this victory, the fate of India’s two national political parties has changed, and the battles within and without will play out over next few months leading up to the national elections in 2014.
Narendra Modi has been re-elected as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, giving...
After Narendra Modi's victory in Gujarat, where does the BJP stand?
Is BJP’s, more specifically Mr. Narendra Modi’s, winning in Gujarat good for the nation as a whole? I personally think it is since not only does it provide continuity of governance in Gujarat but also strengthens the BJP at national level. This augurs well for the national political scene...
Modi won the Gujarat elections because of his administrative competence and, as he looks to move to national politics, the US will have to change tack and reach out to him if it wants better relations with India.
Gujarat, India’s western seaboard with 60 million people, reelected Narendra Modi to power. A charismatic orator, Modi has a reputation for being...
How the remains of the civil war influence the relationship between Sri Lanka-India.
Bilateral relations between India and its southern neighbour, Sri Lanka, have traditionally been cordial and friendly with repetitive periods of underlying strain – offshoots of India’s failed intervention in the Lankan ethnic conflict. Despite momentary downward swings, relations...
Sri Lanka's way to peace
After decades of civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government, the country has finally achieved peace and is starting to experience economic prosperity. Though significant problems remain within the small island nation, Westerners should be careful not to impose their ideals onto the population which is...
