Is this the rise of another Hugo Chavez for Latin America?
Category: Geopolitics
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For Cuba, Now Come The Hard Questions
Once the noise dies down over the deal with the U.S., Cuba’s educated populace may not take it so well when it realizes the communist regime will budge very little at home.
It’s been a year of both earnest and outrageous comments from across the globe.
JERUSALEM — I was walking down Via Dolorosa — the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem. In front of me were three young Germans. They found the whole thing laughable, and kept confirming this to each other by pointing out all the stupid details. “Here, look, we’re at the next station. What does it say […]
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The Year In Numbers, 2014
Looking back on 2014, month by month, summing up the news — by the numbers. JANUARY According to a study published in the journal Science, at least 20% of the Neanderthal genome can be found in modern-day Europeans and Asians. Between 1% and 3% percent of human DNA comes from Neanderthals. “Individually, we are a […]
Here are some of the best stories we ran this year, from our fair-minded but ever subjective staff of journalists, translators and editors. Crunchers united! From Ukraine To Syria, Mercenaries With A Cause Hurriyet / TURKEY Le Monde / GUINEA, SIERRA LEONE, LIBERIA Süddeutsche Zeitung / GERMANY Economic Observer / CHINA Kommersant / RUSSIA, UKRAINE […]
Despite FARC declaring a ceasefire, peace won’t come to Colombia until warring parties in decades of civil war admit to all the people they’ve kidnapped, tortured and killed.
The rising battle between the forces of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and exiled imam Fethullah Gulen is a high-stakes power struggle. But some in Turkey want no part of it.
SAFED — Two unarmed UN peacekeepers stand beside a rusty telescope observing the Syrian border from the Golan Heights on the Israeli side of the 1974 ceasefire line. The air is cold and wintery. Nearby, in the Coffee Anan store (anan, meaning cloud in Hebrew), an Israeli intelligence officer points down towards the bottom of […]
If nothing else, the United States and Cuba stand to earn plenty of cash with a future end to sanctions feeding booms of American exports, Cuban tourism and infrastructure development.
The decision by the United States and Cuba to restore diplomatic ties looks like good news for now: for Cuban families, for regional democracy and for peace in war-torn Colombia.
A quick roundup of who has been saying what around the world.
Images that made the news.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done great harm to Israel’s reputation, and the early elections he’s called for March are a perfect chance to end his hold on the nation.
After opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was jailed, the Maduro government is now targeting another political nemesis, Maria Corina Machado. The world must take notice.
Hong Kong’s umbrella protesters have all but conceded defeat, and China is taking a victory lap. The showdown offers a glimpse of Beijing’s new use of smart power, and its deeper weaknesses.
Damascus regime’s counter-insurrection chief has become a cult hero for his battlefield prowess. But Bashar al-Assad is unlikely to stand for long for worship of anyone else but himself.
The news quantified…
SEOUL — For a long time, China was the only ally of real consequence of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This is no longer the case, as Moscow and Pyongyang have been edging closer together over the past year. Russia’s multiplying contacts on the North Korean spectrum, where it has played a very discrete […]
Martial law has brought calm but not peace to Thailand. A report released this week by the International Crisis Group warns that the military regime’s stifling of dissent could ultimately lead to greater turmoil. The military claims that the coup d’etat last May was staged to maintain order after six months of street unrest by anti-government protests. They took TV channels and radio stations off the air, and only heavily censored versions have been allowed to return. Several hundred academics and activists have been detained. Many others have fled to the west where they are applying for asylum. From his […]
There’s always a clever argument – security, stability, secularism – to put rule of law and democracy on hold. But denying human rights is a certain recipe for destruction.
News in images
AL-HALBOUNI — Adel, a teenager, worked with his father at their small shop near al-Halbouni, not far from Damascus. By age 17, he had dropped out of school to support his family, as their financial situation grew desperate after years of war. Adel wasn’t a supporter of Syria’s government, but that didn’t prevent him from being forced to fight on its behalf. He was arrested at one of the army checkpoints in the town of Qudsaiya in the Damascus countryside, then sent off to battle. “We were on our way to work,” Adel’s father recounts. “We got stopped at a […]
Groundbreaking on the much heralded Central American project is said to be imminent. But huge doubts linger, including the bankrolling of the project by a mysterious Chinese businessman.
The young Turkish-German woman was killed after defending others, and in death has become a symbol of how immigration is central to Germany’s modern history.
They moved to Israel from Argentina, or are the descendants of those who did. Despite the insecurity and fading hopes of peace, Argentine Israelis refuse to pack their bags in despair.
A Swiss NGO convenes representatives of 35 rebel groups in Geneva to talk about the mechanics, and great difficulties, of respecting humanitarian laws when fighting civil wars.
As the 20th UN Climate Summit begins in Peru, one faster way to fight global warming is to steer investors away from oil and gas, and bet instead in clean energy. The planet depends on it.
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Maidan, A Year Of Living Dangerously
Last December, amidst dramatic protests in Kiev, few imagined that the Maidan protests would lead to land grabs and open warfare. The symbols and substance of Ukraine’s iconic square.
Amid the mayhem of civil war, huge money is to be made from stealing and selling archeological treasures from Iraq and Syria. ISIS ambitions are fueling an already huge black market.
MACENTA — Just a few months ago, people would queue outside the shop of Jean Segbé Bavogui, 41, a tailor in Banizé, a neighborhood outside the Guinea town of Macenta. But the small workshop is now empty. Bavogui hasn’t seen any clients or received any orders for over a month. Even the well outside his […]
TEL AVIV — Olive branches are a symbol of peace, but Palestinian olive production has become a sign of the economic troubles that come with Middle East conflict. The approximately 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of olive groves represent around 45% of Palestinian agriculture land, with most centered in the West Bank’s mountainous territories. With […]
Words that made news …
The news quantified…
KOBANI — Sardar is a 26-year-old fighter in the ranks of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, known by its Kurdish acronym, the YPG. A former blacksmith, he has taken up arms for the past five years, since he first became involved with the militant group. In his eyes, it is the core of a Kurdish army that will someday represent the future state of Kurdistan. His priority now is to defend the city of Ain al-Arab, also known by its Kurdish name Kobani. The city has been under attack by ISIS since September. “Compared with the weapons used by ISIS, […]
The ISIS terror group believes that if it is Allah’s will, the organization will take over much of the world. But at the moment, Allah doesn’t seem to be on their side.
Nestled in between Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea, far from mainland Russia, Kaliningrad feels much more like Europe, and its residents are proud of its Western-like values.
Chile has the largest Palestinian population outside the Arab world. This neighborhood in Santiago is bound by a singular mix of history, soccer and headlines coming out of Gaza.
After Latin America and Europe, the Middle East and Africa want to bury their dictatorships. But it is an arduous and often twisted process of political revolution.
Considered history’s worst industrial accident, having killed thousands in a Dec. 3, 1984 gas leak at a Union Carbide plant in India, the health effects in Bhopal can still be felt today.