Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
The shock defeat of Joe Lieberman
August 9th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Joe Lieberman is a lifelong Democrat who has been a US Senator for Connecticut for 18 years. He was the running mate to Al Gore in the Presidential election of 2000 and he tried for the Democractic candidacy in the race of 2004. The news of his defeat in the Democratic primary to newcomer Ned […]
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Forgotten world (25): Georgia
August 4th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
As the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, independence was achieved by countries which had previously enjoyed it, including Georgia with a population of around 4.5 million. The Georgian Eduard Shevardnadze, the USSR’s minister for foreign affairs, was one of the main architects of the Perestroika reforms of the late 1980s. However, on returning to an […]
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Forgotten world (24): Mexico
August 3rd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Mexico is a large country (population over 100 million) with the highest per capita income in Latin America. but it is overshadowed by the mighty United States with which it shares a 2,000-mile border. Although average incomes are relatively high for the region, there are massive inequalities in wealth: half the population is classed as […]
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The global battle of values
August 2nd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
The thoughtful speech made by Tony Blair to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council yesterday is worth reading in full. At its heart, it argues that the war on terrorism is not the West versus the East but what he calls “Moderate, Mainstream Islam” against what he calls “Reactionary Islam”. I agree with this. He […]
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Forgotten world (23): Moldova
August 2nd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Moldova is one of the many ‘new’ countries that emerged with the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Totally landlocked, it is located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the east and has a population of almost 3.5 million. In fact, two-thirds of Moldovans are of Romanian descent, the languages are virtually […]
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Forgotten world (22): Kuwait
August 1st, 2006 by Roger Darlington
In 1990, Saddam Hussain’s Iraq invaded the small, next-door country of Kuwait and precipated the first Gulf War. The US-led coaliition was clearly right to liberate Kuwait, but the country was far from the democratic ideal to which the Western powers aspired. The substantial immigrant community was exploited, there was no free trade union movement, […]
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Forgotten world (21): Cyprus
July 31st, 2006 by Roger Darlington
On four occasions now, I’ve had a week-long feature on NightHawk devoted to parts of the world that tend to be under-reported or even forgotten. You can check out the previous 20 entries here. This week, I plan to run a fifth series of postings on this theme. Let’s start with Cyprus. On the one […]
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An atlas of global inequality
July 30th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Global inequality has grown dramatically over the last 300 years. At the end of the 20th century, global income inequality was greater than ever before. There is debate amongst academics, between street protestors and global institutions, and elsewhere, about the whether inequality is rising or falling. The Atlas of Global Inequality – created by the […]
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How many are dying?
July 29th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
The events in the Middle East over the last few weeks have been horrific – but they are taking the media’s attention away from other killing fields. Today’s “Guardian” newspaper states that, over the last 17 days, the death toll in Lebanon, Gaza and Israel has been 616 – each death a terrible tragedy. Yet, […]
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What’s it like to be a worker in China?
July 28th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
According to a New York-based labour rights group called the China Labor Watch (CLW), over 1,000 workers have rioted over poor working conditions at a factory in Guangdong province which produces toys for McDonald’s and other firms . The CLW’s investigation found that employees at the factory typically work 11 hours a day, six days […]
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