Category: Geopolitics

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Geopolitics

In Syria, Mannequin Parts Become Artificial Limbs

Demands for prosthetic limbs in Syria are overwhelming.
Demands for prosthetic limbs in Syria are overwhelming. themostinept/Worldcrunch

DOUMA — Thousands of Syrians have lost limbs during the country’s three-year war. Here in the Damascus suburbs, two men have opened a workshop where functioning prosthetics are fashioned out of found materials. When Omar al-Ahmad celebrated his 13th birthday this year, he didn’t mark the milestone by shopping for new clothes with his father in downtown Damascus, coveting — as he would have done before the war — the uniform of his favorite soccer team on a mannequin in a shop window. Instead, his gift was the right arm of a mannequin, fished out of rubble by his father […]

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Geopolitics

After Sewol, An Election In South Korea’s Saddest City

The mourning is everywhere in Ansan
The mourning is everywhere in Ansan Ben Weller/ZUMA

A visit to Ansan, South Korea, where a month after 260 of its children died in the South Korean ferry sinking, the city must elect its mayor. Mourning and anger are the politics of the day.

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Geopolitics Society

King Juan Carlos, Charlie Chaplin And Calling It Quits

Juan Carlos I of Spain in 2011
Juan Carlos I of Spain in 2011 Estonian Foreign Ministry/Worldcrunch

Geraldine Chaplin once recalled her famous father’s resilient humor, which persisted even onto his death bed. At 88, Charlie Chaplin’s health was failing, and as doctors and relatives observed him, his eyes closed and barely breathing, Geraldine’s mother audibly declared that the “final moment” had come. “I’m just playing dead,” Chaplin muttered back. He remained […]

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Geopolitics Society

So Very Wrong For Brazilians To Root Against World Cup

In Ipanema, Brazil
In Ipanema, Brazil Jimmy Baikovicius

Brazil’s national sport of ‘futebol’ is the expression of all that is right in a sometimes troubled country. Plans by protestors to take out their anger on the World Cup are destined to fail.

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Geopolitics

Farewells, May 2014: Maya Angelou, Gen. Jaruzelski, 5 Other Notable Deaths

Farewells, May 2014: Maya Angelou, Gen. Jaruzelski, 5 Other Notable Deaths

A young tennis champion, a controversial Polish general and an influent author were among those to whom we bid farewell this past month.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Jihad Makes Anti-Semitism Deadly Again In Europe

Tel Aviv funeral of the Israeli couple killed in the Brussels Jewish Museum shooting
Tel Aviv funeral of the Israeli couple killed in the Brussels Jewish Museum shooting Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua/ZUMA

Like the Toulouse shootings two years ago, the cold-blooded killings at Brussels’ Jewish Museum show radical Islam mixing with anti-Semitism to target Jews 70 years after the Nazis’ demise.

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Geopolitics Ideas

In Poland, Unlikely Orphans Of The Last Communist General

General Wojciech Jaruzelski in Warsaw in 1982
General Wojciech Jaruzelski in Warsaw in 1982 Arthur Grace/ZUMA

Protesters from the political far-right denounced the funeral honors bestowed on the last Polish communist dictator, General Jaruzelski. But with him gone, their cause may disappear too.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Global Capitalism Begets Global Slavery

In this file photo (2005), exploitative labor at a brick factory in the Indian state of Punjab
In this file photo (2005), exploitative labor at a brick factory in the Indian state of Punjab Pete Pattisson/ZUMA

In 1930, the International Labour Organization set a goal to eradicate forced work. Today, 21 million people are exploited around the world. Globalization is making matters worse.

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Geopolitics Society

Turkey Labels Christian Church Website Pornography

Christian praying in southeastern Turkey
Christian praying in southeastern Turkey diyarbakirkilisesi.com

DIYARBAKIR — When Aykan Erdemir, a parliamentary member from Turkey’s Republican People’s Party, tried to visit the website of a Christian church located in the country’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir, he was surprised to see that the parliament’s filtering system recognized it as pornography. The preacher of Diyarbakir Protestant church, Ahmet Guvener, said he thought […]

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Geopolitics Society

Argentine Model Suing Yahoo, Google Over Porn And Prostitution Links

Argentine Model Suing Yahoo, Google Over Porn And Prostitution Links
Manuela Capitanucci

The Supreme Court in Argentina is weighing the case brought by María Belén Rodríguez, whose name redirects to X-rated sites in the major search engines.

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Geopolitics

Living With War In Ukraine

A local resident shows a shell case on the outskirt of Lysychansk in Donetsk region.
A local resident shows a shell case on the outskirt of Lysychansk in Donetsk region. Dai Tianfang/Xinhua/ZUMA

DONETSK — When Ilya Pogorelov leaves his apartment, everything seems normal, at least in the neighborhood where he lives. The 21-year-old student lives with his parents in Kirowski, on the outskirts of Donetsk. “You don’t see any fighting here,” he says by phone. In this residential area, parents are out walking with their kids, and […]

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Geopolitics

It’s A Girl: The Tragedy Of Gendercide Around The World

It's A Girl: The Tragedy Of Gendercide Around The World

By Julie Farrar LONDON — If nobody meddles with the natural course of human biology, there should be 100 girls born for every 105 boys. But, tragically, there are places in the world where people are still obsessed with only having sons, and ready to act on it. It is estimated that there are 200 […]

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Geopolitics

Syrian Regime Hunts Down Men Dodging Mandatory Army Service

Young would-be soldiers duck Syria's military service mandate
Young would-be soldiers duck Syria's military service mandate Syria Deeply

DAMASCUS — Across the country, an increasing number of would-be soldiers are ducking Syria’s mandatory 18-month military service requirement. In most cases, the young men are either hiding out — or taking up arms for the opposition. Hossam, a 26-year-old from Hama, has been summoned by the Syrian army to fulfill the compulsory 18-month service required of all young men here. But three years into a conflict that has killed more than 62,800 fighters from all sides, he is refusing to comply. “The Syrian army is no longer the nation’s army, and nothing motivates me to join it,” he says. […]

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Geopolitics

Europe Must Break Russia’s Energy Blackmail

A pipeline operator in Portovaya bay, northwestern Russia,
A pipeline operator in Portovaya bay, northwestern Russia, Xinhua/Xinhua/ZUMA

BRUSSELS — There is no shortage of good advice for Europe. The United States recommends becoming independent of Russian gas supplies — Vice President Joe Biden, on a recent visit to Romania, passed that tip on to Prime Minister Victor Ponta. “We have to make certain that Russia can no longer use its energy resources […]

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Geopolitics

Something Is Rotten In Europe

British UKIP leader Nigel Farage has zeroed in on what's wrong with Europe
British UKIP leader Nigel Farage has zeroed in on what's wrong with Europe Joel Goodman/London News Pictures/ZUMA

The European establishment has a decade-long listening problem, and it won’t be solved by shaming the anti-EU populist parties that scored big in this week’s election.

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blog Geopolitics

Ihor Kolomoyskyi, A Ukrainian Oligarch Rises In The East

Billionaire Ihor Kolomoyskyi in front of PrivatBank HQ in Dnipropetrovsk.
Billionaire Ihor Kolomoyskyi in front of PrivatBank HQ in Dnipropetrovsk. Yuri Jorba screenshot/Olga Vaganova/Worldcrunch

While billionaire incoming president Petro Poroshenko takes over in Kiev, the fate of the country may also be in the hands of another super-rich businessman from contested eastern Ukraine.

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Geopolitics Ukraine Winter

For Maidan, Ukraine’s Election Is Not The End

Maidan protesters aren't going anywhere.
Maidan protesters aren't going anywhere. tram_338 via Instagram

Maidan protesters remain in Independence Square, keeping guard despite the election of a new president. When will they leave? The vegetable gardens and henhouses suggest no time soon.

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Geopolitics

Argentine Police Accused In “Crucifixion” Attack

Buenos Aires police
Buenos Aires police Leandro Kibisz

BUENOS AIRES — Twelve Argentine policemen were being questioned for their suspected role in beating and “crucifying” a detainee, who was found strapped to a street pole in the district of San Francisco – Frontera, northwest of Buenos Aires. A witness called police early after spotting the victim on Saturday; his head and face were […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

The Sick Man Of Europe Is France, In Every Sense

Leader of French far right party National Front, Marine Le Pen
Leader of French far right party National Front, Marine Le Pen Elienne Laurent/Xinhua/ZUMA

PARIS — France, the sick man of Europe… Until now, we have been using this old phrase as a provocative way to characterize this country’s current economic situation. But after the results of Sunday’s European elections, this phrase now can be used to refer to something broken in French politics. With the victory of the […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Measuring The True Weight Of Economic Sanctions

In Cuba's Port of Mariel
In Cuba's Port of Mariel Liu Bin/Xinhua/ZUMA

Empirical research suggests that economic sanctions are at best ineffective and at worst counterproductive. But Russia may yet pay a hefty price for its Ukraine aggression.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Erdogan And The Bitter Lessons Of Modern Muslim Leadership

"Religion is no longer an ally of the weak, the disenfranchised, the wounded. It is in the service of rulers and is dangerous to anyone who does not wish to capitulate."
"Religion is no longer an ally of the weak, the disenfranchised, the wounded. It is in the service of rulers and is dangerous to anyone who does not wish to capitulate." Ashraf Amra/APA Images/ZUMA

-OpEd- BERLIN — There’s a cold civil war in Turkey. An event like the mining catastrophe and its 301 victims could have united the deeply split country, emotionally. But not even the grief of so many Turks could bring supporters and opponents of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan together. Turkey is split into at least […]

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Geopolitics

Violence Returns To Yemen After Arab Spring Success

A Yemeni soldier checks a car in Sanaa, Yemen, on May 6, 2014 — Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua/ZUMA
A Yemeni soldier checks a car in Sanaa, Yemen, on May 6, 2014 — Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua/ZUMA Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua/ZUMA

Old regime elements and al-Qaeda are both interested in fostering violence and widening instability as the Middle Eastern nation tries to stay on path to democracy.

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Geopolitics

As Europe Votes, EU Parliament Members Defend Lavish Perks

The shiny life in Strasbourg
The shiny life in Strasbourg European Parliament

BERLIN — When the European parliament meets, each delegate gets a 304-euro daily stipend for participating. In Germany, this is unheard of in both federal and state parliaments. And Green delegate Sven Giegold believes that the European Parliament should dispense with the payments. “A per diem of 304 euros is absurd,” the German delegate says. […]

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Geopolitics

A Close-Up View Of Egypt’s Media Fawning Over Al-Sisi

Al-Sisi supporters demonstrate near Tahrir Square on March 28, 2014
Al-Sisi supporters demonstrate near Tahrir Square on March 28, 2014 Pan Chaoyue/Xinhua/ZUMA

Token tough questions are drowned out by heaps of praise for the general-turned-presidential candidate, and even some Hosni Mubarak nostalgia.

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Geopolitics Society

In Syria, That Other Casualty Of War: Education

A school worker shows a classroom damaged by a mortar shell in Damascus
A school worker shows a classroom damaged by a mortar shell in Damascus Zhang Naijie/Xinhua/ZUMA

Many Syrian children are forced to leave school and work as child laborers for employers who ofter mistreat them. New statistics shows a 30% drop in school attendance since the war began.

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Geopolitics

Turkish Mine Disaster: Gas Masks Were Old, Cheap, Made In China

Recuers wait outside the entrance of the Soma mine on May 15.
Recuers wait outside the entrance of the Soma mine on May 15. Lu Zhe/Xinhua/ZUMA

With more than 300 dead, survivors of last week’s Soma mine disaster in Turkey say their gas masks were useless. Turns out they were 20-year-old dirt cheap models. All apparently legal.

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Geopolitics

Long Shielded, Thailand’s Monarchy Facing Hard Questions Amid Unrest

Supporters of the Thai monarchy celebrated the 64th anniversary of the coronation of King Bhumibol on May 5.
Supporters of the Thai monarchy celebrated the 64th anniversary of the coronation of King Bhumibol on May 5. Jack Kurtz/ZUMA

Reports of the Thai army taking control in a military coup come as a growing number of activists are openly challenging the country’s long-reigning King Bhumibol.

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Geopolitics Society

Vietnam Will Pay A Price For Its Anti-Chinese Violence

Evacuating Chinese workers hit by violence in Vietnam on May 13.
Evacuating Chinese workers hit by violence in Vietnam on May 13. Guo Cheng/Xinhua/ZUMA

Last week’s anti-Chinese protests led to vandalism of Chinese and Taiwanese factories, causing casualties and property damage. But Vietnam could wind up the worst victim in the long run.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Turkey’s Mining Toll, Dirge Of A Tragedy Deepened By Its Leaders

People rescue the trapped miners in Soma
People rescue the trapped miners in Soma Lu Zhe/ZUMA

More than 300 dead in last week’s mining disaster in Soma, rage from the people, and utter insensitivity from an Erdogan government interested only in its own fate.

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Geopolitics Society

Narco-Deforestation, How Drug Trafficking Destroys The Environment

Soldiers of Guatemala's Army have to avoid contraband, tax evasion, human trafficking, and other crimes that are committed in the frontier with the south of Mexico.
Soldiers of Guatemala's Army have to avoid contraband, tax evasion, human trafficking, and other crimes that are committed in the frontier with the south of Mexico. STR/ZUMA

Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua offer vivid proof of the ravages that narco-trafficking inflicts on the environment, from clandestine landing strips to roads built to transport illegal drugs.

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Geopolitics

Kiev Military Brass: We Will Not Negotiate With Separatists

In Luhansk — Photo: Igor Golovniov/ZUMA
In Luhansk — Photo: Igor Golovniov/ZUMA Igor Golovniov/ZUMA

A sit-down with a top Ukrainian defense official, who lays bare the realities on the ground in the embattled country and draws clearly the lines that will not be crossed

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Geopolitics Ukraine Winter

Inside Ukraine’s Make-Or-Break Elections

May 11 referendum in Luhansk
May 11 referendum in Luhansk Igor Golovniov/ZUMA

Old battles are renewed in the May 25 vote to be Ukraine’s next president. But the first order of business is to make sure the ballot takes place.

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Geopolitics

Al-Sisi’s Impenetrable Campaign To Be Egypt’s Next President

In Cairo — Photo: Mohammed Bendari/APA Images/ZUMA
In Cairo — Photo: Mohammed Bendari/APA Images/ZUMA Mohammed Bendari/APA Images/ZUMA

CAIRO — The barbed wire blocking the road is the only indication of the whereabouts of presidential hopeful Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s campaign headquarters, located in the posh Al-Showaifat area in Cairo’s northern Fifth Settlement suburb. After many failed attempts to reach campaign officials, Mada Masr’s brief visit to al-Sisi’s campaign headquarters yielded no better results. […]

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Geopolitics

Verbatim: Walesa, Greenwald, Depardieu

Verbatim: Walesa, Greenwald, Depardieu

Quotes that made news, news that made quotes…

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Geopolitics

A Pause In The War, Returning Home In Syria

The Damascus suburb of Barzeh
The Damascus suburb of Barzeh Facebook page

DAMASCUS — Despite relative calm after months of heavy fighting, Syrians returning home to the Damascus suburb of Barzeh are finding their homes in need of repairs that are often too pricey to take on alone. At the beginning of the year, in besieged suburbs of Damascus and in rural villages within the province, local opposition officials signed temporary cease-fire agreements with the Syrian government. Rebel fighters put down their weapons and, slowly, civilians were allowed to return to the long-embattled neighborhoods. Barzeh, a northwest suburb of the Syrian capital, was one of the first communities to recognize a cease-fire […]

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Economy Geopolitics

Those Global Credit Bubbles Are Eerily Similar To 2007

In the London underground — Photo: Chris Brown
In the London underground — Photo: Chris Brown Chris Brown

From U.S. student debt to staggering housing inflation from London to Shanghai, there are signs of cracks invoking fear among economists of another impending financial crisis.

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Geopolitics

The Myth Of The Greek Recovery

Trade unions protest against government plans to cut public sector jobs in Athens, July 2013
Trade unions protest against government plans to cut public sector jobs in Athens, July 2013 Aristidis Vafeiadakis/ZUMA

While European politicians have been hailing an economic uptick in the troubled Greek economy, Greeks themselves have yet to see any real signs of rebound. What explains the divide?

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Geopolitics Society

Not All Roads Lead To Kiev: A Tour Of Ukraine’s Barricaded Capital

Barricades in easterrn Ukrainian city of Luhansk
Barricades in easterrn Ukrainian city of Luhansk Igor Golocniov

Somewhere between war preparations and street theater, the barricades along the roads in Ukraine offer a sign of where the country may be heading.

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Geopolitics

*Happy* Witness: Slain Photographer Camille Lepage Remembered

Camille Lepage in March 2014 in a market in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. Photo: Christian Putsch
Camille Lepage in March 2014 in a market in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. Photo: Christian Putsch Christian Putsch

French photojournalist Camille Lepage was killed at the age of 26 in the Central African Republic. Despite her youth, her passing leaves a huge hole in crisis reporting. Memories from a German friend and colleague.

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Geopolitics

Why France May Hire Police Officers Straight From China

Chinese tourists in Paris
Chinese tourists in Paris zoetnet

It’s a business decision, above all.

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