Archive

June 14, 2019

Dried-out Streams and Broken Dreams

NEED TO KNOW GUATEMALA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a3903b60-311e-4a0e-bf52-eb48d15b410d.png"] Dried-out Streams and Broken Dreams Many Americans blame Mexico for the migrant crisis on the southern border. But Guatemalan voters might have a greater say on the issue. Corruption is arguably the primary driver of emigration in Guatemala and the rest of Central America. Corruption...

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June 13, 2019

Darkness Visible

NEED TO KNOW CHINA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/3b24ae0f-40a7-4b9c-90bb-2e75ed1feac6.png"] Darkness Visible Imagine if an American president put facial recognition security cameras in mosques, banned the traditional Islamic greeting “as-salaam alaikum” and compelled Muslims to eat during the fasting hours of the holy month of Ramadan that ended in early June. Imagine if...

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June 12, 2019

Headwinds

NEED TO KNOW EUROPEAN UNION [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e5b071a0-f819-400f-82ba-dc62c31b3637.png"] Headwinds Left-leaning activists in Europe have been throwing milkshakes on populist politicians like Nigel Farage, who led the campaign for Britain to exit the European Union. It’s immature, the Independent admitted, but “milkshaking” is arguably a form of potent political protest. “The recipient...

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June 11, 2019

Set in Stone

NEED TO KNOW SYRIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a0fb995d-af7e-4394-ad02-ecc76a056a44.png"] Set in Stone New statues of the Assad family are going up around Syria. Rebels tore them down when the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime began in 2011. Now, with the help of Russia and Iran, Assad has largely defeated the insurgency....

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June 10, 2019

Falling Upwards

NEED TO KNOW RUSSIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/590fa22c-cb98-46d1-92e0-b6539b2a1173.png"] Falling Upwards Russian President Vladimir Putin regularly cultivates a tough guy persona. But last month as he skated a victory lap after a hockey game, he faceplanted on the ice on national television. “In the footage, Mr. Putin’s teammates look nervous as he goes...

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June 07, 2019

Emperors and Old Clothes

NEED TO KNOW KAZAKHSTAN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/c2809517-484b-45d3-ae43-9766d8cdda51.png"] Emperors and Old Clothes Foreigners dumped $24 billion into oil-rich Kazakhstan last year – more than 90 percent of all direct foreign investment in Central Asia in 2018, according to the Astana Times. Folks like Steve Bannon visit the former Soviet republic, extolling the...

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June 06, 2019

Politics & Pachyderms

NEED TO KNOW BOTSWANA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/15cba0b9-3d17-4f25-b35e-21cc9789d865.png"] Politics & Pachyderms Approximately 450,000 elephants roam Africa. Poachers kill around 30,000 annually. Do the math. At that rate of illegal hunting, the days of the world’s largest land animal are numbered. So one might question the optics of Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi giving footstools made...

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June 05, 2019

Fighting For Hyggeligt

NEED TO KNOW DENMARK [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/836af55b-364e-4605-90cf-047e656ac8ba.png"] Fighting for Hyggeligt Some things are truly Danish: Lagkage (layer cake) and Wienerbrød (pastries), a prized feeling of coziness and warmth called Hyggeligt, and a deep acceptance of paying high taxes. 'I don't mind paying taxes as long as everyone is okay,' is a...

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June 04, 2019

The Kurdish Question

NEED TO KNOW IRAQI KURDISTAN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/0c38a7d3-e4bd-4693-833c-aeff4232f230.png"] The Kurdish Question Two Turkish soldiers died in northern Iraq recently. They were fighting in Turkey’s "Claw Operation" against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant group fighting for an independent Kurdish state in the region, or at least equal rights and political autonomy...

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June 03, 2019

Green Wave

NEED TO KNOW EUROPEAN UNION [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e5b071a0-f819-400f-82ba-dc62c31b3637.png"] Green Wave For all the talk of right-wing populism in Europe, the real winners of recent elections for the European Parliament were the Greens. In the US, the Green Party is relatively weak in a system where two parties dominate, though Ralph Nader’s...

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May 31, 2019

Race to the Bottom

NEED TO KNOW MALI [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/08b7c772-6d56-42c5-afc1-d54feb1fb860.png"] Race to the Bottom Gunmen on motorcycles recently shot and killed seven people in the remote Malian town of Koury near the border with Burkina Faso. A similar motorcycle attack occurred at the same time in Boura, 34 miles away, but nobody died. That,...

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May 30, 2019

Making Space for Hope

NEED TO KNOW INDONESIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/b09de5b3-a0c2-45fe-9ffc-da3cf31ac3de.png"] Making Space for Hope Filipinos, Cambodians and other Asians have expressed their confidence in strongmen in recent years. Indonesia, however, did not – bucking a trend. President Joko Widodo recently won re-election, beating out Prabowo Subianto, a former army general and former husband of the...

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May 29, 2019

Toilets, Hoes and Hammers

NEED TO KNOW INDIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/6c1e91bd-d64f-473f-b468-ad3e35a0f829.png"] Toilets, Hoes and Hammer Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a disruptor in his first five years in office. He divided Indians, alienating religious minorities especially with his appeals to Hindu nationalism, even though technically his government is secular. He stirred controversy with...

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May 28, 2019

Sturm und Drang

NEED TO KNOW GERMANY [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/18ca6ce9-4a8f-46d8-b0b3-84a7601584cd.png"] Sturm und Drang Solomon Michalski became the target of bullies in his school in Berlin when he innocently revealed that he was Jewish. “Solomon was walking home and stopped into a bakery. When he emerged, he found one of his tormentors pointing what looked...

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May 27, 2019

Rolling Up the Shirt Sleeves

NEED TO KNOW MADAGASCAR [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/dd33a598-1b74-4e18-bcf8-06d96a5f10cd.png"] Rolling Up the Shirt Sleeves The East African island of Madagascar has the dubious distinction of suffering the worst deforestation on the planet. So it’s heartening that some Malagasy teenagers are working with environmentalists to practice sustainable farming that feeds people while preserving forests...

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May 24, 2019

The Ties That Break

NEED TO KNOW IRELAND [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/837de6c4-b5ea-4e00-b61f-328197110d67.png"] The Ties That Break Voters in the Republic of Ireland recently amended their constitution to permit abortion and legalize same-sex marriage. Now they are poised to streamline divorce in a May 24 referendum, another move that, if successful, could reflect the changing character of...

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May 23, 2019

The Third Gulf War

NEED TO KNOW IRAN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f1b959a6-57f4-43ee-90de-703ff3b3eb72.png"] The Third Gulf War War could have broken out between Iran and the United States two years ago. The conflict would have begun when American jets killed militants associated with Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese militia, as they approached a US military base in Syria. War...

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May 22, 2019

Redefining Local

NEED TO KNOW EUROPEAN UNION [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e5b071a0-f819-400f-82ba-dc62c31b3637.png"] Redefining Local The European Parliament doesn’t get much respect. As CNN reported, many Europeans don’t know its functions, even though it affects their lives directly as the European Union’s legislative branch. But this year, as voters go to the polls between May 23 and...

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May 21, 2019

Magical Thinking

NEED TO KNOW MALAWI [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7f32af3b-ebe9-45e5-a711-2f112bceaf8d.png"] Magical Thinking Bon Kalindo, a parliamentary candidate in Malawi, listed the ways albino body parts might be used to gain favor and fortune. As the Economist explained, he and other Malawians believe the “magnetic liquid” inside humans lacking pigmentation has magical properties. Kalindo is...

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May 20, 2019

Wanted: Bold Solutions

NEED TO KNOW BELGIUM [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/6ec199f2-e2a6-479a-ae48-ef04fc481a29.png"] Wanted: Bold Solutions Riven with divisions that mirror the country’s French and Flemish-speaking regions, Belgian politics have long been contentious. In 2010, for example, the separatist New Flemish Alliance won an upset victory in parliamentary elections, triggering a political crisis that prevented a government...

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