Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
Remembering the Japanese tsunami
June 18th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Three months after a giant tsunami devastated the north-east coast of Japan, what does the location look like? Check out these remarkable photographs.
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Which are the worst countries in the world for a woman?
June 15th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Afghanistan Democratic Republic of Congo Pakistan India Somalia Further information here.
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How long can Belgium manage without a government?
June 13th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The short answer is: at least a year. It is now exactly one year since Belgium ceased to have a proper government and began muddling along with caretakers ministers. It doesn’t seem to bother Belgians – sorry, the Flemish and the Walloons – much but it does beg the question of whether Belgium can survive […]
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How long can Lebanon manage without a government?
June 13th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The short answer is: at least five months. Najib Mikati was appointed as Lebanon’s prime minister-designate on 25 January 2011. He was asked to form a new government after winning the support of a majority of members of parliament, but he still not managed to win agreement between the parties – yet one more unstable […]
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The world’s most and least peaceful states
June 10th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The Global Peace Index (GPI), produced annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace, is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. It gauges ongoing domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society, and militarisation in 153 countries by taking into account 23 separate indicators. The 2011 report is now available. The most peaceful […]
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Is Iran really building a bomb?
June 9th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
It is widely assumed – and much Western foreign policy is based on this assumption – that Iran is actively and urgently working on the creation of an arsenal of nuclear weapons that would represent an existential threat to its neighbours. most obviously Israel. But is this true? In this article, Six former ambassadors to […]
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The tinderbox that is the Middle East
June 8th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
For anyone remotely interested in international affairs (and I am very interested), events in the Arab world this spring have been both fascinating and exciting. Dictators have been overthrown in Tunisia and Egypt, the leader in Yemen may not return from hospitalisation outside the country, and it should be only a matter of time before […]
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Ratko Mladic and the siege of Sarajevo
May 28th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I was delighted this week to hear the news of the arrest at long last of the Bosnian Serb leader Ratko Mladic. Of all his war crimes, undoubtedly the most horrific was the massacre at Srebrenica in 1995, but I have a particular interest in his responsibility for the siege of Sarajevo from 1992-1996. In […]
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Cheer up! It’s not the end of the world …
May 22nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Were you relieved by the news that the world did not end yesterday? Probably not. After all, we constantly have such apocalyptic forecasts which are invariably nonsense and so many religions and cultures have a story or belief about the return of some sort of saviour, something I’ve blogged about here. What was different about […]
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Amnesty International’s annual human rights report
May 13th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Growing demands for freedom and justice across the Middle East and North Africa and the rise of social media offer an unprecedented opportunity for human rights change – but this change stands on a knife-edge, said Amnesty International as it launched its global human rights report on the eve of its 50th anniversary. The report […]
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