In The News

Malaysia’s Mahathir Resigns: Asia Sentinel

John Berthelsen and Murray Hunter February 24, 2020
Malaysians are express dissatisfaction with political machinations. Mahathir Mohamad resigned as the 94-year-old prime minister. A coalition adjustment plan fell apart, as “moderate Malays and members from Sabah and Sarawak refusing to go along with a grouping that included the fundamentalist Parti Islam se-Malaysia, and others finding it a bridge too far to join the deeply corrupt United Malays...

NBA Financial Hit From China: Wall Street Journal

Ben Cohen February 23, 2020
A Houston Rocket basketball executive tweeted support for the Hong Kong protests in October, upsetting the close relationship between China and NBA. The fallout could result in a financial hit for NBA. The NBA commissioner suggests the loss may reach $400 billion in response to speculation that the total could be $1 billion. Disturbed by the NBA’s support for free speech, China stopped...

Globalization and Extremism: New Internationalist

Helena Norberg-Hodge February 22, 2020
Extremism and authoritarianism are rising, and Helena Norberg-Hodge, writing for the New Internationalist, blames economic globalization. She writes about Ladakh, an area administered by India that opened to tourism and development in mid-1970s. With increased economic development and external funding, local farming went into decline. Competition for jobs increased, contributing to ethnic and...

World Watches Moves by India: Frontline

Anando Bhakto February 18, 2020
Global leaders are speaking out about India’s unilateral action ending semi-autonomous status for Jammu and Kashmir. The European Parliament has tabled a resolution criticizing the move until March, giving time for India’s courts to offer a resolution, and a US congressional panel is reviewing reports on Kashmir. In addition, six resolutions, also tabled, have criticized the Citizenship...

Oman’s New Sultan: Economist

February 17, 2020
Although Haitham bin Tariq’s accession to the position of Oman’s sultan, while surprising, went out with a hitch. Haitham plans to continue down the path laid down by the late Qaboos bin Said. In 1970, backed by the British, Qaboos took the throne from his reclusive father and charted a course towards steady development. As a recent article for the Economist notes, “though it is not as oil rich...

Lebanon on “Brink of Chaos”: Washington Post

Liz Sly February 17, 2020
Lebanon’s peaceful protests that began in October have turned violent in the face of further economic collapse in early 2020. For instance, a protest in late January saw “heavily armed troops joined riot police at the scene, some carrying shoulder-launched rockets.” Protestors and security forces have begun clashing in recent weeks, with police resorting to firing rubber bullets, teargas and...

Sinn Féin Gains in Irish Election: AP

Jill Lawless And Nicolae Dumitrache February 11, 2020
UPDATED: Sinn Féin won nearly 25 percent of the vote in Ireland’s February 8 election. “In a surge that upended Ireland’s traditional two-party system, the left-wing nationalist party beat both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the centrist parties that have governed Ireland since it won independence from Britain a century ago,” reports the Associated Press. “Sinn Fein’s left-wing proposals for tackling...