Latin America has suffered centuries of resource exploitation at the hands of foreign powers, without translating gains to the majority of the population. However, there are signs that the effects of China’s appetite for these same resources may break the disastrous boom bust cycles of the past.
Another world power has come to feast on the bounty of Latin...
Chinese immigrants have a history in many Latin American countries that vastly predates China’s demand for the region’s resources. Their presence has been a point of cultural enrichment, as well as social tension.
From wandering under the red paper lanterns that decorate the Barrio Chino on Calle Dolores in Mexico City to tasting the rich, ginger-laced fusion...
China may have limited cultural appeal in Latin America, but its economic ideology has gained credibility over the US model.
Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro curse the evils of US imperialism and extravagance, but still enjoy baseball as a pastime. While they find their economic models much more in line with that of the Chinese, they are much closer culturally to the...
China’s rising power is not the cause of declining US influence in South America and the implications of China’s increasing presence on the continent will affect each country differently.
Thirty years ago, developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America contributed far less to the global economy when compared with the US and Western Europe.
Over...
When it comes to important issues such as extradition and the death penalty, should the executive, in the face of the secretary of state, have the last say?
It is unsurprising that the two polarized results occurring in the extradition cases of Gary McKinnon and Abu Hamza et al., have provided a catalyst for debate with respect to the division of the role of the executive and...
While the US has waived the death penalty in order to secure the extradition of Abu Hamza al–Masri et al., the accused – and those resisting extradition to the US – still face harsh prison conditions and a likelihood of unfair trials.
The British government’s recent extraditions of Mustafa Kamel Mustafa (aka Abu Hamza al-Masri), Khalid al-Fawwaz, Adel...
The 2003 extradition treaty between Britain and America continues to create controversy, with its critics protesting that it puts the UK at a disadvantage vis-à-vis the United States.
Extradition is the response to a simple problem: what to do when a person has committed a crime in one country but can’t be found there. The classic extradition situation involves...
To bolster the US government's foreign policy, Washington would be well-advised to attempt to plant and cultivate a relationship with the PJAK, the armed-Kurdish resistance group at odds with Iran.
The hills and mountains of the Kurdistan province of western Iran serve as the battleground and shelter for the most potent armed resistance group in the Islamic Republic. For...
In war-torn Syria, the historic dream for Kurdish nationhood has arisen yet again. Although the Kurds are presented with a historic opportunity, autonomy is still a far-fetched quest for the Syrian Kurds, today. Regardless of the outcome, no government in the region can wish away the Kurdish struggle any longer.
By Azadeh Pourzand and Venessa Parekh
In...
While working with the Obama campaign in the swing state Florida, Miranda Margowsky realized that poor voting conditions won't stop passionate voters.
It was 5am when I pulled into the parking lot of an early voting site in Miami for the first day of early voting. There were already 30 people in line outside of the library, huddled inside blankets and clutching...
Lawyer Frank Currie spent election week working for the Obama voter protection effort in Milwaukee.
I wanted to address voter protection issues because I have been really disturbed by efforts to suppress the disadvantaged vote in many states. I had originally intended to work in Miami because of my experiences monitoring polls in the 2008 election – at that...
As political realities in the Middle East shift, the United States must redefine its relationship with Israel or risk losing strategic influence in the region.
It has been just over a week since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire ended Israel’s eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip. As the fog of war recedes, two issues have become uniquely apparent. The first...
Stripped of the usual polemics and accompanying rhetoric, here, in the wake of Operation Pillar of Defense, an American humanitarian worker tries to give a citizen's perspective of the Palestinian issue within the context of the Arab world and its relations with the west.
The "Other"
Like all Jews born into America after the massacre in...
Those who supported Obama's re-election have an obligation to challenge his unconscionable support for Israel's attacks against the Gaza Strip, argues Stephen Zunes.
The November 21 ceasefire between Israeli and Hamas forces is a huge relief for the civilian population on both sides — the primary victims of the conflict. But the Obama administration’s...
With the rise of Qatar and Turkey as international players, Egypt is eager to re-establish its role at the forefront of regional affairs.
As Mohammed Morsi grapples with an unsurprising domestic backlash following a highly controversial presidential decree in which he unilaterally granted himself additional powers, last week Egypt was thrust under the regional spotlight with...
Despite the financial crisis, a diminishing birth rates and seemingly unsustainable welfare states, Glenn Carle believes German leadership might offer a solution for structural reform in Europe.
It is easy to say that Europeans should have more sex. Demography is destiny, after all, or so it has seemed for millennia, and what could be better than sleeping your way to world...
Camille Barré looks back at the theories that shaped debate on EU integration and asks what the European Union might do to counter the wave of internal separatism.
The EU has been trying to find new solutions to improve the union and to make it stronger. One proposal in particular has sparked interest as well as scepticism: to transform the European Union into a...
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech on the future of Europe promised a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union but it left more questions than answers.
1. Cameron says the referendum will take place after a renegotiation of Britain’s terms of membership and that he will lead the yes campaign. But, this leaves a rather gaping...
As separatist tensions follow recent elections, Pieter Cleppe weighs the prospects of a confederate Belgium.
One of the main challenges for the future of the European Union is the fate of the euro zone. Will it become a sustainable political union, a quasi-country that could be called “euroland” - or will it break up? Interestingly, Belgium might offer some useful...
Reforms in judiciary and governance to stamp out corruption and abuse of power are long overdue in China. The question, however, is how far and how fast they would be achieved under the new Chinese leadership.
Historically speaking, China has problems with the law. The older generation does not see laws as rights but rather as rules that are thrust upon them, to be obeyed...
What to expect from China's new leadership in 2013.
It’s now been well over two months since the Communist Party in China handed power to a new generation of leaders led by Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang. Since then we’ve had copious analysis on what can be expected from a Xi-Li administration, and while nobody really knows for sure, Xi most definitely offers a...
China’s new leaders must deal with the challenge of endemic corruption and increasing numbers of mass incidents.
In 1993, at the 72nd anniversary of the founding of China’s Communist Party, Jiang Zemin warned of the threat that corruption posed to China, stating: “If we do not take resolute action to curb corruption, and let it worsen, we shall...
Facing a divided and unequal society, Xi Jinping and the other new leaders have to embrace serious reforms.
On November 15th the world changed. A little. Or maybe a lot. Not just because the US general election results were known, but because arguably the most important superpower changed its leader. Hu Jintao steps down and Vice-President Xi Jinping took over the...
Mexico’s President-Elect Pena Nieto has bold plans to reshuffle public perception of corruption away from the top leadership and towards the local government.
Peña Nieto`s Three Opening Gambits
Mexican President-Elect Enrique Peña Nieto seems to have already prepared three term-opening political gambits. They all hinge on a re-...
If Mexico’s next president can turn his ambition into effective policy, then his six-year term may be the most productive in the country’s recent history.
The story is all too familiar. A conservative president launches a disastrous war against terrorism, killing tens of thousands of combatants and civilians. After his term, his party is swiftly...
A student movement in Mexico challenges the monopolization of traditional media through the use of social media and their rise provides an interesting study in media both old and new.
Like a bizarro Tea Party mixed with the youthful cyber-savvy and anarchistic Occupy Movement, emerges the Yo Soy el 132 ("I am the 132"), a collection of student activists demanding an...
Nicholas A. Heras analyzes the challenges associated with potential resource revenues for the Lebanese state. The fault lines of a potential political conflict would further entrench pre-existing divisions. [Note: This article was originally published by The ...
As the Middle East and North Africa attempts to industrialize and modernize its economies, there are significant energy challenges ahead.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has some of the largest energy reserves in the world. Yet, while the region is attempting to industrialize and modernize its economies, there are key energy challenges ahead. The most significant...
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