Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
The Arab Spring (1): why was it called that?
June 6th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, I attended the first a number of short courses that I will be attending this summer at the City Literary Institute in central London. The title was “The Arab Spring” and the lecturer was Dr James Chiriyankandath of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London. It was a comprehensive day […]
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What is it like to be a practicing Muslim at Ramadan?
June 4th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
If you’re a practising Muslim, you’ll be preparing for the start of the month-long Ramadan which this year is expected to begin on Monday. If you’re not a Muslim, you probably have little idea what is involved. This is because so much media coverage of Islam is about the small number of fundamentalists and not […]
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Britain fourth on ‘good country’ index thanks to science and technology
June 3rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The British are not very good at taking pride in themselves or their country, so we should celebrate this news that the UK has come fourth in the latest version of something called the good country index. A major factor is its global contribution to science and technology, thanks to the high number of journal exports, […]
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A review of a new book on the Kurds and Kurdistan
May 31st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The Middle East is perhaps the most turbulent and complicated region in the world in terms of the conflicts and parties involved. A recently-published book, entitled “The Kurdish Spring: A New Map Of The Middle East”, looks at events since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, examining the history of Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran from […]
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What is Kurdistan and who are the Kurds?
May 24th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I’m reading a fascinating book called “The Kurdish Spring: A New Map Of The Middle East” by the American author David L Phillips. He explains just how differentiated are the Kurds – “the largest stateless people in the world” – geographically, linguistically and religiously. The total area of Kurdistan is about 600,000 square kilometres, roughly […]
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Why has Egypt suddenly given away the islands of Tiran and Sanafir?
May 16th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Around the world, there are many disputes over the ownership of islands – for instance, look at the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Countries that currently own these islands fiercely resist the claims of other states. Yet recently Egypt – or at least its dictatorial leader – suddenly gave to Saudi Arabia […]
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The most compelling reason to be cheerful: now is the best time in history to be alive
May 15th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
“Now is the best time in history to be alive. Angry voices will loudly deny this but that doesn’t make it any less true. Despite the many miseries that plague our world, humanity as a whole has never climbed so high, so fast. If you could choose to be reborn at any moment in history, […]
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Which are the most corrupt nations on earth?
May 11th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
British Prime Minister David Cameron has been caught telling the Queen that Nigera and Afghanistan are “fantastically corrupt” [see story here]. Is he right? Well, yes. It probably would have been better not to have said this just before hosting an international event on corruption at which these two countries are represented or at least […]
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Will there ever be a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict?
May 8th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
In an article in today’s “Observer” newspaper, Dov Waxman and Dahlia Scheindlin consider a two-state solution, a one-state solution, and their recommended confederal approach. As regards the usual option for a resolution of the conflict, they write: “The two-state solution – the creation of two separate countries divided by a border roughly along the 1949 […]
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UN risk expert warns we are heading for catastrophe over natural disasters
April 25th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Last year, earthquakes, floods, heatwaves and landslides left 22,773 people dead, affected 98.6 million others, and caused $66.5bn (£47bn) of economic damage. Yet, according to UN figures, in 2014 just 0.4% of the global aid budget of $135.2bn – roughly $540m – was spent on efforts concerning disaster risk reduction (DRR) – things like infrastructure, storm […]
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