Hailed by President Obama as “[t]he most popular politician on earth,” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil is stepping down from his post after two terms following the Oct. 31 election of Dilma Rousseff, whom the president endorsed as his successor. Barred by the constitution from seeking a consecutive third term, President Lula … Read more
With the gunshots subsiding and the police force under government censure for its attempted overthrow of Ecuador’s democratic president Rafael Correa, order appears to have been reestablished as quickly as it was placed under seige in Quito. Yet, the attempted coup d’état that left President Correa a hostage in a hospital while the Quito police … Read more
The threat of Islamism in Turkey is overblown On Feb. 25, 2010, some 40 top Turkish military officers were arrested for allegedly plotting a coup against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (the AKP). The Islamic party had recently exacerbated its already strained relations with the military, which has long … Read more
A close election indicates a strengthening democratic process Iraq’s parliamentary elections in March prompted a 62 percent voter turnout, with 12 million Iraqis voting for the next leaders of their fledgling democracy. For a country that has recently been dominated by sectarian conflict, the sight of millions of Iraqis going to the polls in spite … Read more
Time is running out for the Mexican drug war Since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 promising to end Mexico’s illicit drug trade, more than 18,000 people have been killed, and the death toll rises every month. In Ciudad Juarez, a border city and a primary smuggling point to the United States, 2,600 people … Read more
Well, not completely. But Mikheil Saakashvili, the President of Georgia, did boast yesterday that the wine produced in Georgia is simply so good (thanks to his free market reforms) that he hopes the Russians continue their embargo, because to sell it on the Russian market would be a waste – the Russians, he explained, will … Read more
In a bold step intended to reduce poverty, the European Union will soon be providing some of the Continent’s poorest citizens with subsidized plane tickets and hotel rooms. The Toronto-based National Post reported on Monday that the European Union has declared traveling for tourism a human right, and is launching a scheme to subsidize vacations … Read more
The EU’s Islamic Identity Crisis President Obama’s address to the Muslim world in Cairo last June called for a new beginning between the United States and Islam, one based on tolerance, dignity, and mutual respect for religious differences. Just two weeks later, French President Nicolas Sarkozy stood before parliament to justify France’s infamous ban on … Read more
Copenhagen postmortem and the question of climate aid. After two years of intense negotiation and eager anticipation of a new international climate-change framework, the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009 delivered weak progress towards a legally binding treaty. Conflict and stalemate characterized the negotiations in Copenhagen, often revealing deep-seated divisions between the developed and developing worlds. … Read more
Why Chile’s new conservative leader isn’t much of a change. On Jan. 17, the Chilean presidential run-off election concluded with the victory of a former Harvard economics teaching fellow, Sebastian Piñera. The Conservative Piñera, the third-richest Chilean and the holder of a Harvard Ph.D in economics, ended two decades of uninterrupted rule by the center-left … Read more