Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Mitch Moxley BEIJING, Aug 27, 2010 (IPS) – While Hollywood blockbusters and state-funded historical epics continue to dominate China’s box office, a vibrant independent film scene is quietly growing. Lacking distribution channels that lead to wide audiences, these films, which tend to focus on aspects of day-to-day [...]
Algeria Keen to Improve Battered Image
August 24, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By IDN Middle East Desk IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis (IDN) – In an apparent move to improve its image in the West, Algeria has decided to allow several international non-governmental organizations, previously banned, to return to the county in September 2010. According to the Algerian daily ‘El Akhbar’, the organizations [...]
MEXICO: Threats Against Journalists: "You’re Vulnerable, and It’s Hard to Accept"
August 20, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Daniela Pastrana MEXICO CITY, Aug 20, 2010 (IPS) – "The threats change your whole life," said Jade Ramírez, a journalist who has been living for months with that burden, which also hangs over a growing group of her colleagues in Mexico. "You adopt safety procedures that you [...]
Kazakhstan Has Good News Twice
August 19, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By Prakash Joshi IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis NEW DELHI (IDN) – President Nursultan Nazarbayev of the oil-rich Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan has more than one reason to rejoice. Both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a new opinion poll have good news for the life-time president. The International Monetary [...]
PHILIPPINES: Despite Ad Ban, Tobacco Industry Seduces Customers
August 12, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Kara Santos* MANILA, Aug 12, 2010 (IPS) – Adventure motorcycle tours, and driving and racing events organised by tobacco firms. Canopies bearing cigarette brands in popular restaurants. Tobacco brands appearing beside the signages of convenience stores, whether along the Philippine capital’s urban alleys or provincial roads. These [...]
BALKANS: The Turks Return
August 11, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Aug 11, 2010 (IPS) – It’s not often that the leading Belgrade daily Politika devotes two of its four foreign pages to the praise of one nation, but it did so for the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month. [...]
Honduras Bashed for Rights Violations
August 10, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By S. J. Chander IDN-InDepth NewsAnalyis TORONTO (IDN) – Human Rights Watch has called on the Honduran government to provide protection to journalists and members of the political opposition, prosecute people responsible for human rights abuses, and restore the independence of the judiciary. "Violent attacks on journalists and [...]
Where Silence is Not Golden — But Safe
August 4, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By Stanislaus Jude Chan* IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint SINGAPORE (IDN) – "Chewing gum is banned in Singapore?" a curious friend in Bangkok asks. Encouraged by my nod, she cautiously probes: "What happens when you get caught, death sentence?" You laugh. Perhaps the question was almost child-like in its naivety. But [...]
CHINA: New Technology Deals Blow to Writing Mandarin Characters
August 2, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Mitch Moxley BEIJING, Aug 2, 2010 (IPS) – Yu Daihai, a 23-year-old college graduate from Dandong city in northern Liaoning province, uses his computer and mobile phone everyday to communicate with his friends. But technology is having an unwanted side effect: Yu, like a growing number of [...]
WIKILEAKS: THE IMPLICATIONS
July 29, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy B.RAMAN The leakage of nearly 90,000 documents relating to the Afghan war for the period between January 2004 and December 2009 by Wikileaks, a US web site which disseminates secret information of public interest received from whistleblowers after verifying the authenticity of the secret information, could damage the chances of [...]
