Analyses
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Analysis on the tenuous relationship between Thailand and Cambodia, and the role that the political leadership of both countries has in the current situation. In January 2008, another episode of tension between Thailand and Cambodia reignited when Thailand protested against Cambodia’s plan to have the Preah Vihear temple registered with UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Since then nationalism has been rife and several military and diplomatic clashes between both sides have occurred, with each party blaming the other. While the current border issue is a serious matter in itself, the root of the conflict, however, may be much more deeply embedded in the pair’s relationship. Despite...
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Insight into factors which radicalize and lead certain people to become suicide bombers. America has not yet experienced a suicide bombing on home soil, but on 17 February 2012, the FBI arrested a Moroccan-born, long-time resident of the US, Amine el-Khalifi, while he was apparently intent on blowing himself up at the Capitol. The arrest led to revelations that his suicide bomb was a fake and that he was the subject of a sting operation since December 2010. Sting operations are controversial because nobody can be sure that the target would have acted the same without the sting. Most terrorists get to terrorism via some sort of socialization; in this case, the FBI was part of the...
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Analysis on the scandal which led to the resignation of German President Christian Wulff, and how this reflects on the accountability of public officials in Germany. On Feb 17thGerman President Christian Wulff announced his resignation as a result of a media campaign against him. This has shaken the German political establishment. Instead of each party fielding its own candidate for the presidential election, the parties met together to find a suitable replacement. Even by the consensual standards in German politics, this was a unique event. The “Causa Wulff” began with the publication of accusations that Mr. Wulff had taken a loan from Egon Geerkens and that this loan had...
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By Mayank SinghThe Congress party in India has appeased Muslims by granting them policy favors. This strategy has produced unforeseen side effects and is leading to further fragmentation along religious lines. “Peace for our time,” proclaimed the British premier Neville Chamberlain after his Faustian bargain with Hitler at the Munich conference in 1938. His appetite satiated by appeasement, Hitler was soon rampaging through Europe. India’s ‘Munich moment’ arrived in 1985 courtesy of an old Muslim woman’s fight for justice. Shah Bano, a 70-year-old Muslim divorcee, was sanctioned maintenance money by the Supreme Court of India. Her husband was ordered to pay Rs.500 ($9...
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By Ted BriggsAnalysis on whether redistricting, polarization, and residential self-selection are responsible for the political homogenization of states and districts in the US. If they have not finished already, American states are wrapping up the decennial tradition of drawing Congressional electoral boundaries. Redistricting is a decidedly political affair and the fate of many a politician hangs in the balance, yet it has become fashionable among pundits in the media to claim that politicians draw their districts in an electorally advantageous (that is, uncompetitive) manner. This, they argue, exacerbates polarization because members of Congress cater to more solidly partisan constituencies. Indeed,...
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Analysis and overview of the twists that Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua have each taken on their uncertain paths to democracy. After a decade of growing popularity, democracy has hit a slump in Latin America. In all but three Latin American countries, fewer people than last year believe that democracy is preferable to any other type of government, according to a recent Economist poll. In the cases of Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, the drop in support of democracy is significant. The 2009 removal of democratically elected Manuel Zelaya and the post-coup human rights abuses of the government of Porfirio Lobo are obvious indicators that Honduras is on the wrong track. Dozens of...
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By Angela Garvey Hammond You’d think that creating a more equitable distribution of wealth would curb the urge to spend on status symbols—be they designer handbags or flat-screen TVs—as the “have-nots” try to “keep up with the Joneses.” But new marketing consumer research shows that people will pay the price to stand out, even if they can’t afford it. Alfie is a London hair stylist. He is 25 years old, smart and fond of expensive designer clothes. He puts himself into the low-income bracket and admits his spending habits go way beyond his monthly salary. “I live in the moment, I spend rather than save, and once I have splurged, I wait...
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Honduras has become a human rights disaster. The country now has the world’s highest murder rate. And impunity for political violence is the norm. For all this, the United States deserves a good deal of the blame. by Mark Engler I was pleased to see the New York Times recently publish a hard-hitting op-ed by Dana Frank that makes this case. Lest anyone in this country think that things in Honduras have settled into a peaceable, post-coup normality, Frank describes the post-June 2009 chain of events—a coup that the United States didn’t stop, a fraudulent election that it accepted—[that] has now allowed corruption to mushroom. The judicial system hardly functions....
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Judy Dempsey focuses on the strategic importance of the South China Sea, which has become a new geopolitical tension in Asia. by Judy Dempsey When President Barack Obama announced last November that 2,500 U.S. marines would operate out of a base in northern Australia, he confirmed a fundamental shift in Washington’s security strategy. The U.S. was going East. The deployment in Australia, the largest since World War Two, will begin this year. The troops will be based in the Darwin, just 820 kilometers from Indonesia. Known also as “Pearl Harbour of Australia,” it was there, during a surprise attack in 1942, that the Japanese dropped more bombs than on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii...