Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
Who will win the Israeli general election?
March 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
My American Jewish friend David Eden has produced this analysis of what might happen after the election on Tuesday: “With the Israeli elections just a few days away, many of my friends have been asking me what the results will be. Will Bibi win? Will it be Herzog & Livni? Which will be the third […]
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Do you understand the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam? (1)
March 11th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I have just started to read “Zone Of Crisis: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran And Iraq” by Amin Saikal, an Afghan-born scholar of international affairs who is Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University. Afghanistan and Pakistan are predominately Sunni states, while Iraq and Iran have a Shia majority population […]
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British man in secret detention in Ethiopia eight months after rendition
March 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I have recently returned from a two-week holiday in Ethiopia, so I am very disturbed about the case of Andargachew ‘Andy’ Tsege. Tsege, a British national of Ethiopian origin who is Secretary General of the outlawed Ethiopian opposition group Ginbot 7, disappeared at Sana’a airport in Yemen on 23 June 2014 while he was travelling to […]
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Bibi or not Bibi? That is the question (for Israelis)
March 2nd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
If you think British political opinion is very fluid at the present time and that the result of the General Election in two months is impossible to forecast, spare a thought for Israeli voters who go to the polls in less than three weeks time. Incumbent Prime Minister and leader of the Likud Party Binyamin […]
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What does the Syriza victory in Greece really mean?
January 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Maria Kyriakidou is a Greek academic working in Cultural Politics, Communications and Media at the University of East Anglia and has written a thoughtful analysis of the election result in a blog posting which concludes: “As the world, therefore, either celebrates or condemns Syriza’s win, Greeks are once more confused. The political powers of the […]
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North Korea’s family of three dictators
January 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
In the global community, no nation is as closed and inscrutable and unpredictable as North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). This is why I am currently reading “North Korea” State Of Paranoia” by Paul French. Throughout its life-time, the DPRK has been ruled with utter totalitarianism by a succession of three […]
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Remembering the earthquake in Haiti five years ago today
January 12th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Exactly five years ago today, the people of Haiti suffered a terrible earthquake that registered a catastrophic 7.0 on the moment magnitude scale. What was the result and what has happened since? The death toll will never be known but estimates vary between 90,000-300,000. The number of people displaced was around 1.5 million. A cholera epidemic […]
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#jesuischarlie – remembering the Paris victims
January 8th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Charlie Hebdo editor and cartoonist Stephane “Charb” Charbonnier, 47 Cartoonists Jean “Cabu” Cabut, 76, Bernard “Tignous” Verlhac, 57, Georges Wolinski, 80 and Philippe Honore, 73 Economist and regular magazine columnist Bernard Maris, 68, known to readers as Uncle Bernard Mustapha Ourrad, proof-reader Elsa Cayat, psychoanalyst and columnist, the only woman killed Michel Renaud, who was visiting from the […]
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How concerned should the world be about North Korea?
January 7th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
There is a tendency – perhaps encouraged by the recent comedy movie “The Interview” – to treat North Korea as a bit of a joke. But it poses a serious threat to South Korea and the wider world, as underlined by today’s item in the “Guardian” newspaper: “South Korea has claimed that North Korea has […]
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A satellite picture of North Korea by night – notice anything?
January 5th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Except for the capital Pyongyang, the nation is in darkness – a total contrast to South Korea below or China to the left or Japan to the rightI’ve just started to read a book I was given for Christmas: “North Korea” State Of Paranoia” by Paul French. I’m hoping I’ll learn more about why North […]
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