Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
The murder of trade unionists
June 14th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has documented a dramatic increase in the number of trade unionists murdered in 2009, with 101 killings – an increase of 30% over the previous year. Of 101 murdered, 48 were killed in Colombia, 16 in Guatemala, 12 in Honduras, six […]
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Iran one year on
June 12th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
It’s exactly one year since the Iranian presidential elections when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner after a blatantly fraudulent exercise. The ‘Green revolution’ has stalled because of the intimidation and violence of the regime, but the grievances remain unresolved and the regime is not as stable as many imagine. I have read two good […]
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A taste of Johannesburg
June 11th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Later today, the greatest sporting event on the globe opens when the World Cup 2010 commences with a ceremony in South Africa’s Johannesburg. It is the first time that the event has been held in Africa and there are some real security fears. At the start of a tour of Southern Africa, I once spent […]
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Forgotten World (210): Tuvalu
June 11th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Tuvalu is a group of nine tiny islands in the South Pacific which won independence from the United Kingdom in 1978. Five of the islands are coral atolls, the other four consist of land rising from the sea bed. All are low-lying, with no point on Tuvalu being higher than 4.5 metres above sea level. […]
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Forgotten World (209): Slovenia
June 10th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Slovenia – not to be confused with Slovakia – was formerly part of Yugoslavia and has a mere 2 million citizens. Unlike Croatia or Bosnia-Hercegovina, Slovenia’s independence from Yugoslavia was relatively bloodless. The move was undoubtedly aided by Western European recognition of the Slovenes’ aspirations and the low proportion of other ethnic groups in the […]
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Forgotten World (208): Grenada
June 9th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Grenada and six smaller islands – a Caribbean nation of only 100,000 – made world headlines in 1983 when a split in the governing Left-wing party led to the overthrow and execution of the charismatic leader Maurice Bishop and provided the pretext for a US invasion. The country was dealt a serious blow in 2004 […]
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Forgotten World (207): Republic of the Congo
June 8th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The Republic of the Congo is not to be confused with the neighbouring and larger Democratic Republic of the Congo. This Congo is sometimes known Congo-Brazzaville (after its capital) and has a population of only 3.7 million (compared to around 70 million in the DR Congo). After three coup-ridden but relatively peaceful decades of independence, […]
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Strikes and suicides by Chinese workers
June 7th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The suicides at Foxconn and the strike at Honda’s components factory in Foshan have focused almost unprecedented international media attention on the plight of China’s workers. Commentators have asked why are workers taking such drastic action, are we seeing an upsurge in worker activism, and if so could that threaten social and political stability in […]
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Forgotten World (206): Bahrain
June 7th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
It’s been four months since I had one of my regular weeks of postings in my long-running series called Forgotten World – a look at parts of the world that hardly feature in our media or thoughts. You can check the previous 200 entries here. But there are still some countries that haven’t been covered, […]
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Who sank the “Cheonan”?
June 6th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, we visited our Chinese ‘family’ and together we went round to see other Chinese friends including one who has a PhD on China’s role in the United Nations Security Council. As well as deep friendship, I always enjoy seeing our Chinese friends because it gives me an insight into a very different culture […]
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