World Affairs Articles

Politics » World Affairs | By Jack Deal @ Thursday, 10th April 2008 @ 3:33 PM

In 2006 Mexico averted what would have been a disaster for Mexico, the United States and Latin America. Felipe Calderon of the PAN party narrowly defeated Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador or AMLO of the PRD party in one of the closest and most amazing national elections ever held in the Western Hemisphere. In January 2006 AMLO was ahead in the polls outdistancing his nearest rivals by two to one; an insurmountable lead in a three party race. Through a series of incredible politi... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Dashwood @ Wednesday, 2nd April 2008 @ 1:29 PM

When we see and hear leaders of Europe on a British television, it is refreshing to hear such diamond thinking. What they say has great and good events coming at us, even through all the gloom of the moment. They speak to a delegate from Russia, and from Serbia, and we hear of their amazing brilliant thinking. Their minds are of peace and so beyond those of the warrior man from Russia and the man from Serbia. The man from Russia, we know, is there as ethnic bully big brother Slav to protest that... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Dashwood @ Monday, 31st March 2008 @ 8:51 AM

The irony that from ancient Chinese antiques history, when the Economist says China was by far the richest nation in the world. Marco Polo was thought mad for all his wild stories of this fabled land, even though diamonds and gemstones, riches and silks that he wore ten layers thick under his beggars poor coat. There was also this advance in civilization called gunpowder, which was to change Europe forever. In fact, the first use of gunpowder in Europe was not so far from Venice, over in... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Jack Deal @ Sunday, 30th March 2008 @ 1:35 AM

The timing could not have been worse or better depending on one's perspective despite the efforts of the Chinese Communist Party to pull out all the stops to make sure the upcoming Summer Olympics is a great show. Too bad. It's certainly hard to penalize the athletes that have worked so hard but the Olympic Committee knew when they picked China this might happen and the Committee should have known better. The Committee was obviously trying to make a political statement by... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Dashwood @ Saturday, 29th March 2008 @ 8:05 AM

Healthy lifestyles would not have suggested you be a capitalist in 1948 Shanghai when Chairman Mao came to power. And history well knows indeed, for the decade to succeed, it was off with their lives, a million bullets a month, for those months to proceed. By 1950, the Panda was so secure in its new throne, while North Korea was a distraction, it took over Tibet. And while we all huffed and we puffed, and defended Seoul to the end. Korea, unlike far away Tibet, was on a peninsula so easy... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Dashwood @ Thursday, 27th March 2008 @ 2:16 AM

What a day of irony on the international news from London! From the hopes of Greek antiques democracy, the torch being lit in Olympus near Athens, to views of Chinese police in Tibet walking the streets, running at and hitting to the ground any saffron robed young man. And then just now to election which have today concluded in Bhutan, the mountain kingdom just over those very high hills from Tibet. In fact, I noticed, in seeing the long lines of peoples of Bhutan lining up to vote, they... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Dashwood @ Wednesday, 26th March 2008 @ 5:42 PM

Our recent talk about the amazing vote in a classroom in China dealt with the inevitable fact that as a national economy improves, so does the free will of the people who realize their cooperative industry is helping this happen. Our British documentary team that I am watching did that usual approach, when we want to document the day in the life of a lion, or stranger, is just hang around so much, often with your sly side camera catching the action while your main camera and your face st... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Dashwood @ Wednesday, 26th March 2008 @ 3:57 PM

The British television show I have been watching the past several days has had our camera man and an interpreter follow and listen two young lads through their day, at home and at school. They are unhappy with each other, and we see on the screen what they are saying as they speak. The slightly taller boy is the Hall Monitor, and the other boy says he speaks for the others when he asks the Hall Monitor to not pull them by their shirts, but speak to them. The hall monitor is fending off t... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Dashwood @ Tuesday, 25th March 2008 @ 2:04 PM

The television shows American Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi sitting in harmony with the spiritual leader of Tibet at his safe haven in north India. And we say bravo. Like Steven Spielberg recently, who we also applauded, a brave voice who speaks as a leader has said shame, China. We all know that the policy of China has been to undermine the historical honest Buddhist faith in Tibet, even forwarding their Beijing blessed holy man, who is of course little respect in Tibet. The new... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Dashwood @ Tuesday, 25th March 2008 @ 10:06 AM

These words about the use of power by Lincoln had me think of the legacy of power that America had enjoyed during the presidencies of the first President Bush, and also with Bill Clinton. In a touch of brilliance to push all signatories to sign the Akron Accord for some short peace in the area, Clinton held the meeting at the location of largest fleet of air bombers in the world at Akron. Clinton of course had all enjoy a military review of the entire length of this vast airfield filled ... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Dashwood @ Monday, 24th March 2008 @ 8:12 PM

A student of life, and well into the final third of my mortal life, one can hear one's own folly and reckless statements, long since internally dismissed and distanced from, come at us from the mouths of others. Whether it is listening, as long as I could, to a modern Ralph Nader who I and millions had revered for his vital expose of the fail safe failures of most American and other national automobiles. Ralph Nader was a virtuous noble figure who had been investigated by the auto ... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Dashwood @ Wednesday, 12th March 2008 @ 2:53 PM

Healthy lifestyles are not even on the horizon for millions around the earth, and nowhere is this situation worse than in Darur, Sudan, Africa. And now the world has witnessed a rare shaming of a nation as Steven Spielberg has just inflicted on China. This nation that has begun to lecture other nations has found that a very effective way to deflect criticism of some of the inhumane behavior of official China. The silencing of Tibet and flooding it with coastal Han, the suppression... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Marc Choyt @ Monday, 25th February 2008 @ 8:57 PM

A few years ago, my wife and I purchased from our Thai suppliers some rubies that were probably from Burma. We wondered what the conditions were under which they were mined and cut, and if owning rubies from Burma was out of alignment with our values. This past October, after the brutal squelching of the Burmese pro-democratic movement resulting in scores of deaths, Burmese rubies have made the headlines. In October, the press, such as Reuters, CNN and Fortune Magazine picked up the te... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Ann Knapp @ Monday, 4th February 2008 @ 7:32 PM

Nothing says home to deployed military personnel like a care package. Filled with treats, necessities, and greetings, a care package can be a huge morale booster for those far from home - especially during the holidays. "Mail is one of the greatest morale boosters we can give our troops during the holiday," said Postmaster General John E. Potter. "When they see that package or letter waiting for them on their bunk or hear their name at mail call, it brings them that much closer to fa... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Jack Deal @ Wednesday, 21st November 2007 @ 10:12 PM

Some years back my pal Bill and I used to stop for a glass of wine at Pearl Alley after work. One night seated next to me was the editor of a local cartoon magazine specializing in anything anti-American or pop-revolutionary. The editor mentioned jokingly that things were getting so bad in the USA now that he was thinking of moving to Cuba. I replied that was fine but he better find another line of work because if he prints one issue there he could get life in prison. The editor wa... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Leslie Hardy @ Wednesday, 31st October 2007 @ 9:13 AM

The election of Abdullah Gul as President of Turkey on 28 August 2007 is controversial because of his Islamic background. Now that both the Prime Minister and President have religious backgrounds, his election is widely viewed as a threat to the secular ethos of the Turkish State. Although Mr Gul, in his accession speech, pledged allegiance to the secular constitution and the legacy of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, there are many who view such commitments as cosmetic. more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Roger Munns @ Tuesday, 30th October 2007 @ 11:01 AM

Helping write off Africa's debts and increasing financial assistance has increased in recent years, with awareness being raised throughout the developed world by Sir Bob Geldof. The campaign to write off Africa's debts has been led politically by Britain's new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who as Chacellor of the Exchequer used his position to influence other G8 countries to follow Britain's lead. But smaller countries have joined in with increased assistance, a... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Leslie Hardy @ Tuesday, 16th October 2007 @ 11:17 AM

Israeli warplanes attacked a Syrian target on 6 September 2007. The secrecy and lack of comment has perplexed international commentators. The target was at Dayr az-Zawr, in north east Syria. Syria was first to report the incident, and said their air defences fired at an Israeli warplane that had penetrated Syrian airspace and dropped explosives. The plane/s then left Syrian airspace, travelling towards the Mediterranean via Turkey. Turkey subsequently announced that two Israeli fu... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Derek Both @ Wednesday, 10th October 2007 @ 9:22 PM

The quality of water in developing countries has long been a hot topic of debate with many people questioning the poor hygiene standards people in these countries are subjected to. However, India has taken a step forward as they have had a revolution in their sanitation sector. The developing country is getting closer to improving the quality of their water that is available to its population. Coverage of the problem has increased from one percent in 1981 to 48 percent in 2007 which mean... more...

Politics » World Affairs | By Leslie Hardy @ Tuesday, 4th September 2007 @ 7:33 AM

The election of Abdullah Gul as President of Turkey on 28 August 2007 is controversial because of his Islamic background. Now that both the Prime Minister and President have religious backgrounds, his election is widely viewed as a threat to the secular ethos of the Turkish State. Although Mr Gul, in his accession speech, pledged allegiance to the secular constitution and the legacy of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, there are many who view such commitments as cosmetic. more...