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Economy In The News

Can BRICS+ Truly Reform The Global South? A Skeptical View From India

Some 17 years since its founding, BRICS+ (now including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Indonesia — beyond founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) continues to struggle with delivering on its promise to reform global governance and represent the Global South.

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Food / Travel

South Of Italy To Gulf Of Thailand, Can “The White Lotus Effect” Last?

Madonna, the TV show The White Lotus, fashion shows, weddings — little by little, the beauty of neglected regions like Sicily and Puglia has rightfully emerged in the algorithm of digital desire. Finally, the secret power of Southern Italy has gained a global audience.

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Food / Travel

The ‘White Lotus’ Effect? Tourism Is Booming In Southern Italy

Madonna, the TV show The White Lotus, fashion shows, weddings — little by little, the beauty of neglected regions like Sicily and Puglia has rightfully emerged in the algorithm of digital desire. Finally, the secret power of Southern Italy has gained a global audience.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Kissinger v. Allende, A South American Lesson For What’s At Stake In Ukraine

The cold arrogance of Henry Kissinger extends from Santiago de Chile half a century ago, where he helped orchestrate the violent overthrow of the leftist President Salvador Allende to his view today on Russia’s would-be “sphere of influence.”

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Geopolitics Russia-Ukraine War

What Does Prigozhin’s Death Mean For Russia’s Ambitions In Africa?

Russia has entered the race for influence in Africa over the past decade, largely on the shoulders of the Wagner Group and its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin. What happens now is unclear, though Vladimir Putin won’t want to cede any ground to other world powers in the race for influence on the continent.

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Geopolitics

Soft Power, Hard Ball: Why The U.S. Wants Back In UNESCO

The U.S. is set to rejoin UNESCO, after Donald Trump pulled the country out in 2017, accusing it of being biased against Israel. The reasons for the return include artificial intelligence and pure geopolitics.

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Ideas

Vaccinating The World Requires More Than Just Doses

It’s imperative that people everywhere also have access to COVID-19 vaccines. But shipping and sharing the vaccine doses is only half the battle.

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Economy Geopolitics Ideas

The Economics, Both Real And Imagined, Behind Latin America’s Unrest

Many people have had to tighten their purse strings in recent years. But that’s only part of what’s fueling frustrations in the region.

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blog Society

Up The Ibis Tree

The fauna and flora of South Africa rank among the most impressive I’ve seen anywhere in the world. Near Durban in the east of the country, I caught them both on vivid display, as a tree filled with white ibis.

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In The News

Looking For Mandela’s Gold

These “birds of paradise” flowers are native to South Africa. And indeed, they thrive near the Drakensberg mountain range. Alas, these one are not of the Mandela’s Gold variety — the rare yellow form named after the anti-apartheid leader a year before we went there.

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In The News

Young Passion For Pansori, Reviving A South Korean Tradition

Youth performers revive pansori, the folkloric art of musical storytelling, a South Korean cultural heritage.

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In The News

Los Angeles Celebrates Latin American And Latinx Art

The Getty Center launches a festival of Latin American art that also considers its influence on American culture and identity. In the age of Donald J. Trump, this has become doubly significant.

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In The News

Finding Humor In A Harrowing Escape From North Korea

Choi fled to freedom in South Korea, where he has managed to turn his frightening experiences into a laugh-out-loud online comic strip.

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In The News

South Sudan, Where Famine And Ethnic War Feed Each Other

After becoming the world’s newest country by separating from Sudan, the nation of South Sudan faces a grave food crisis brought on by ethnic and religious conflict.

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Geopolitics

Welcome To Yanbian, China’s Flourishing “Third Korea”

Despite China’s geographic and political proximity with North Korea, it’s South Korea for whom the country’s autonomous Yanbian area has rolled out the red carpet.

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Eyes on the U.S. Society

A Utopian Mississippi Bookstore, Where Faulkner Lives On

OXFORD — The walls in this Oxford, Mississippi, bookstore are covered with pictures of authors. One by one, Richard Howorth comments on them, as if this place were an open book narrating a multitude of unfinished stories. With his wife, this keen-eyed slender man with a dry humor has owned and managed Square Books, housed […]

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Geopolitics

North Korea Fires Fifth Missile In Third Straight Day Of Tests

YONHAP, THE KOREA TIMES (South Korea), AAP (Australia) Worldcrunch SEOUL – North Korea fired its fifth test missile in three straight days on Monday, in the latest series of weapons drills that have been condemned by South Korea and United Nation chief Ban Ki-moon, reports the AAP. According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, the […]

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Geopolitics

How The Swish Of A Skirt Is Changing South Korea’s National Identity

SEOUL – North Korea recently attacked newly elected South Korean President Park Geun-hye, making a jibe at the “venomous swish of her skirt.” The swish of South Korea’s long traditional silk skirts has long been used as a macho joke – if not an insult – targeted toward strong women. Aggressive women, women who do […]

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Geopolitics

North Korea Warns Japan That Tokyo Will Be Its First Target

YONYAP (South Korea), JAPAN TIMES, THE DIPLOMAT (Japan) Worldcrunch TOKYO – North Korea warned Japan on Friday that Tokyo would be its first target of a nuclear strike if it continued to maintain its hostile stance, reports Yonyap news agency. North Korea criticized Tokyo’s standing orders to destroy any missile heading toward Japan, threatening that […]

Categories
Ideas

Kim Jong-Un’s Sabre-Rattling And The First Lesson Of The Cold War

Nuclear arms are more shield than weapon, so long as no one is suicidal.

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Geopolitics

Report: North Korean Soldiers Deserting Front Line

KOREA TIMES, CHOSUN ILBO, YONHAP (South Korea) Worldcrunch PYONGYANG – A “large number” of soldiers are deserting the North Korean ranks due to the growing tensions with its southern neighbor, US sanctions and insufficient food supplies, according to a South Korean official source. The number of deserters stationed in the frontlines has multiplied by seven […]

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