Silvio Berlusconi is out and Angela Merkel was reelected. Nelson Mandela and Hugo Chavez passed away. Fidel Castro didn’t. People took to the streets in Kiev and Bangkok, Cairo and Khartoum. The president of Syria ignored Barack Obama’s red line and used chemical weapons, while Iran was willing to engage in negotiations with the United […]
When India’s supreme court effectively re-banned gay sex, it set aside the ruling of one of its own high courts in favor of a law imposed on India by its British occupiers in 1861. That means it has now re-joined 75 other countries that explicitly punish gay sex with imprisonment. Read Here – The Atlantic
China rolls out a national talent programme, which observers says is aimed at capturing a Nobel Prize Read Here – China Daily
Pew’s Religious Restrictions Report finds that India scores “high” on government restrictions and “very high” on social hostilities indexes. In addition, a Pew survey of nations with significant Muslim populations excluded India, as local survey houses feared that questions on religious identity and belief could put interviewers’ safety at risk from local authorities or residents. […]
Each explosion of “disruptive transformation,” be it the anti-corruption campaign or the post-Nirbhaya protests, has ended in a whimper. For the past 20 years, India has been growing and growing while remaining exactly the same. The glitz of ‘new’ India has proved skin-deep, and each day brings a new revelation of the same old ugly […]
More bicycles were supposed to make Europe’s cities more livable. Instead, the popularity of two-wheeled travel is causing problems in some cities in Holland and Denmark, where traffic jams and parking shortages are common. Still, planners remain optimistic. Read Here – Der Spiegel
There is a country in the Middle East where a youthful, educated and culturally Westernised population pulses with inventiveness and vitality. Its society is religious, certainly, and harbours a deeply ingrained suspicion of Britain and America, yet it also turns an implacably hostile face towards al-Qaeda’s brand of Sunni radicalism. Read Here – The Telegraph, […]
Arab societies are often regarded as bad places for women and girls. According to many observers, Arabic and Islamic culture can combine to foster attitudes that are inhospitable to gender equality. The results of a survey experiment we are conducting may challenge common assumptions. Women do face special difficulties in Arab lands, which are reflected in […]
There is broad consensus both within and outside China that the existing regime relies primarily, if not solely, onperformance for its legitimacy. Hence the popular theses of “resilient authoritarianism” and “adaptive authoritarianism”: the Chinese party-state has to do and has been doing everything possible to navigate a complex and sometimes unstable domestic and international environment […]
China is a failure when it comes to soft power – or so we’re told. A giant in the hard-power leagues of money and military strength, China is often portrayed as a minnow swimming against the global tide of ideas and perceptions. Unloved and misunderstood, the country can only get things done through the use […]
looking beyond borders 