Worldcrunch
-OpEd- ROME – Italy’s entire political establishment is working together to avoid the collision between addressing the urgent social and economic problems that are engulfing the country, and the personal and judicial destiny of Silvio Berlusconi. Every time there is a political statement, and on the regular talk-show circuit, it is repeated over and over […]
KUALA LUMPUR – The father, Anwar Ibrahim failed: the opposition coalition he’s been leading lost this month’s national elections. By all accounts, he will never be Prime Minister. The daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, was instead reelected comfortably to her seat as Member of Parliament in the May 5 legislative ballot. Time is on her side, […]
Disgusted by the “spirit of May ’68” the new generation of French Catholics isn’t shy about taking on what they see as the moral wasteland that has taken over the country’s establishment.
-Essay- PARIS – Charity starts at home, as the saying goes. So the very least that can be expected of communication consultants is that they are successful at communicating. And they have been successful – well beyond expectations. They have not only managed to take a front-and-center seat in electoral campaigns, they are now also […]
YONHAP NEWS AGENCY, KOREA TIMES, KOREAN HERALD (Korea) Worldcrunch SEOUL – South Korean President Park Geun-hye fired her spokesman Yoon Chang-jung on Friday, amid allegations that he had sexually assaulted a woman during an official visit to the United States. According to the President’s office, Yoon Chang–jung was dismissed on the grounds that he had […]
Worldcrunch A year after Saudi Arabian women were allowed to participate in the Olympic Games for the first time, the government announced this week that girls could now play sports in private schools. The news on the Saudi sports front reminds us that advances on gender equality around the world remain both slow and uneven, […]
Italy’s Giulio Andreotti died this week at the age of 94. His handling of the abduction of fellow politician Aldo Moro tells us much about the seven-time prime minister.
AFP, ALJAZEERA (Qatar), PAK TRIBUNE (Pakistan), REUTERS, ZEE NEWS (India) Worldcrunch KURRUM – The death toll from a bombing at a political rally near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has increased to at least 25 as of Tuesday morning, making it the deadliest attack to date on the current national election campaign, says the AFP. The explosion […]
From South Korea to Ukraine to the Alabama state house, politicians are ready to fight for their ideas. Literally. The latest example comes from Venezuela, where legislators got into a mega-brawl Tuesday over the contested results of the recent presidential election. Buckle up and roam around our map of Parliament fights to see lawmakers getting […]
CORRIERE DELLA SERA, LA REPUBBLICA, LA STAMPA (Italy) Worldcrunch ROME – A day after a dramatic shooting outside Italian government headquarters, one of the two injured Carabinieri police officers remains in critical condition Monday as Italy’s entire political system attempts to begin its own recovery with a key confidence vote in Parliament. Sunday morning’s shooting […]
A mild-mannered centrist, Enrico Letta has a well-placed uncle.
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (China), BBC NEWS (UK), Worldcrunch BEIJING – One day after formally appointing Xi Jinping as the country’s new president for the next 10 years, China leaders have named Li Keqiang for a five-year term as premier, the last leg of a well-oiled generational transition of power. Although Xi and Li hail […]
Worldcrunch In elections, there are winners and there are losers. But what happens when the winner cannot actually claim victory? How can the loser manage to hold all the cards? Both Italy and Israel are famous for getting stuck in just these sorts of Byzantine deadlocks, and coincidentally both Mediterranean democracies are swimming in it […]
RUE89, BVA (FRANCE) Worldcrunch PARIS – In an exclusive interview with right-wing magazine Valeurs Actuelles, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that he was thinking about a political comeback. After his defeat at the last presidential elections, Sarkozy had said he was leaving politics for good. According to Rue 89, the interview will be published […]
BUENOS AIRES – Whatever your view is regarding the Hugo Chávez’ era in Venezuela, it is impossible to ignore two central facts: 1) Chávez was a product of the deep failure of the Venezuelan political system; 2) The deceased president had a strong influence on Latin America, during a historic moment when many countries in […]
(Hint: it won’t ever come true)
LE MONDE, AFP, FRANCE 24, LIBERATION (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Stephane Hessel, the French best-selling author, Resistance figure and diplomat died last night at age 95. He is mostly known however, for his rights activism – his tireless combat for the disenfranchised and illegal immigrants, writes France 24 and is considered the father of the […]
Beppe Grillo’s protest movement was the winner in Italy’s election that signals a failure of an entire political class.
-OpEd- TURIN – Perhaps we deserve Berlusconi and his lies. Not the Italians, maybe, given as a single citizen is largely powerless in the face of a political system. But the media, especially the television, definitely does deserve him. A brief explanation is required: For the last three weeks, every time I turn on the […]
KFAR KAMA – Bent down in his field in this lower Galilee town, Amjad Shami points out the countless underground tunnels dug by voles. Three years ago, he says, these rodents destroyed his entire harvest. Shami says he continues to try to fight them with pesticides, which do little more than poison his land, infect […]
How the intersection of show biz and state power looks from China.
FOLHA DE SAO PAULO (Brazil) Worldcrunch BRASILIA – Francisco Everardo Oliviera Silva – better known as Tiririca (Grumpy) – was elected to the Brazilian Parliament in 2010 with the highest number of votes. He had campaigned on the slogan “Vote Tiririca, it can’t get any worse.” Now he says he has lost hope for politics […]
AP, NEW YORK POST (U.S.) Worldcrunch NEW YORK– Former New York Mayor Ed Koch died early Friday at the age of 88. A spokesperson said that Koch, who ran NYC city hall through most of the 1980s, died of congestive heart failure. PATRICK J. CASHIN & US NAVY In and out of the hospital for […]
Barack Obama’s longtime campaign guru David Axelrod has a new client: Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. Axelrod slipped into Rome to meet privately with Monti, 69, a political centrist and longtime university professor and European Union Commissioner, who served one year as caretaker Prime Minister. Monti is now in his first campaign for higher office, […]
Many across the Arab region believed Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Egypt was the path to a new unity to defy Israel and the U.S. in the region. A different reality is setting in.
BUENOS AIRES – The organization of the 1934 World Cup in Italy by Mussolini and the 1936 Olympics in Germany by Hitler helped those governments legitimize their regimes around the globe. Sport in general – and soccer in particular – is a phenomenon that integrates society, promotes values and arouses a large interest amongst very […]
THE JAPAN TIMES, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, (Japan) THE NEW YORK TIMES (USA), BBC NEWS (UK) TOKYO – Japan’s new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has unveiled his Cabinet lineup, as he begins the task of resuscitating the country’s economy. Parliament voted Shinzo Abe back to power after Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda resigned Wednesday, ending the country’s […]
PRETORIA – Jacob Zuma sang in the choir when he was a political prisoner on Robben Island in the 1970s. South Africa’s president has a remarkable voice, and these days he uses it particularly effectively during election campaigns. Not necessarily when he gives speeches (he tends to read these) but in the songs he sings; […]
GOMA – Following the withdrawal of the M23 rebel troops that for 12 days occupied the eastern city of Goma, locals remain cautious and fearful, despite reassurances from government authorities. Meanwhile, those who had supported the M23 are keeping a low profile. The M23 rebels took control of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu […]
THE CANBERRA TIMES (Australia) Worldcrunch CANBERRA – Though still holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has declared his intention to run for the Senate in his native Australia, and to launch a WikiLeaks party early next year, reports the Canberra Times. Photo – Mataparda/espenmoe In an exclusive interview with […]
SANTIAGO – Enrique Peña Nieto hasn’t stopped moving. Since he took over as president of Mexico, two weeks ago, he has signed enough documents and made enough promises to keep his government busy for the whole six years they have in front of them. In his inaugural address, he laid out a 13-point plan with […]
ROME – For a foreigner who doesn’t understand the Byzantinism of Italian politics, it will seem paradoxical: as of yesterday, the majority that has kept Mario Monti’s government in place is suddenly hanging by a thread, even as the main economic packages were approved by the legislature. And now, elections could be right around the […]
WASHINGTON D.C. – As the campaign draws to a close, the American people have been hit by a barrage of promises of a better, more civil future. The two candidates have vowed, even sworn, that they will work harder with the opposition. Mitt Romney mentioned it first in one of his advertisements and confirmed it […]
KOMMERSANT, 36ON.RU, MOSCOW TIMES (Russia)

 Worldcrunch VORONEZH – Russian Billionaire (and owner of the Brooklyn Nets) Mikhail Prokhorov has announced that he will open a “School for Citizen Leaders,” in this city of nearly one million, some 500 kilometers due south of Moscow, 36on.ru reports. The stated goal of the school will be to find […]
XINHUA, CHINA NEWS, CAIXIN BLOG, UDN NEWS (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – The Chinese government likes to boast of its superiority to the West, thanks to its socialist economy “with Chinese characteristics.” For years, it was virtually impossible to publicly say something out of step with this idealized view of the nation. But now, in what […]
-Op-Ed- MOSCOW – The reality of our lives in Russia is that the beginning of the 21st century is being dominated by the political leadership of Vladimir Putin. But it is perfectly obvious that the next couple of years will be the most difficult, and for Russian society these years will be the most important. […]
These days for Chinese officials the question of age is an even more sensitive issue than it is for a lady. Recently, Zhou Lian, professor at Peking University, likened Chinese officials’ climbing up their career ladders to “participating in a championship,” as everyone vies with everyone else as they try to advance. Within this context, […]
ABC ONLINE, HERALD SUN, THE AGE (Australia) Worldcrunch CANBERRA -Tony Abbott has become the first opposition leader in nearly 26 years to be thrown out of federal parliament, during a heated question time on school funding, reports ABC News. Tony Abbott today was the first opposition leader to be ejected from parliament in 26 years. […]
ANALYSIS – The announcement by Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño at a press conference that Ecuador would grant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange asylum met with cries of approval and applause from assembled journalists. As always, whenever the government of Ecuador calls an official press conference, mostly only journalists close to the government are invited. The […]
OP-ED – A German newspaper recently published a list of the “ten most dangerous politicians in Europe.” When something bad happens we immediately start looking for someone or something to pin the blame on. It makes no difference if the “bad” thing was the capsizing of a cruise liner, a war that ended in a […]