http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher en-us Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:25:04 -0500 Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:25:04 -0500 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2012022100 As Russians go to the polls on March 4 to choose a new president, there's little doubt about the outcome. Vladimir Putin, who has been president or prime minister since 1999, is considered a shoo-in. Yet, despite years of rapid economic growth fueled by boosted oil and gas exports, Putin's efforts to extend his authoritarian rule are facing a new and destabilizing challenge. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets since December to protest pervasive corruption and alleged electoral fraud. In the past, Putin has dealt firmly with political opponents — many of whom have been exiled, imprisoned or died in mysterious circumstances. But now many are wondering if Russia's winter of protests will mark the start of a “Snow Revolution,” inspired by the “Arab Spring” movement that toppled dictators across the Middle East last year. The upheaval has strained relations with the West — as has Russia's recent support for the repressive Syrian regime — leading to questions about what lies ahead for Russia, a nuclear power and the world's second-largest oil producer. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2012022100 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2012020700 Successive U.S. presidents have insisted that a nuclear-armed Iran is “unacceptable.” Iran's Islamic leadership insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, but even as U.N. inspectors headed to Tehran in late January, the body of evidence from earlier inspections raised nagging questions that the Iranians have failed to answer, such as why facilities for a peaceful program would be buried hundreds of feet underground. A nuclear Iran would alter the strategic balance in the tense Middle East and, some say, possibly trigger a regional atomic arms race. Although the United States and Europe have imposed tough economic sanctions on Iran, the Iranians have not stopped enriching uranium or begun operating their nuclear program with more transparency. But with Israel reportedly considering a pre-emptive strike on nuclear facilities in Iran — which has vowed to destroy Israel — the question of the sanctions' effectiveness may be moot. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2012020700 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2012011700 Since emerging from the Soviet Union's orbit 20 years ago, the five nations of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — increasingly are popping up on geo-political radar screens. Given the proximity of the “Stans” to Afghanistan, where NATO continues to wage war on Al Qaeda and the Taliban, Western powers are ardently wooing Central Asia's leaders in an effort to maintain military bases in the region. There are also rich resources at stake. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan's abundant oil and gas reserves have made them magnets for foreign investors, especially from energy-hungry China, as well as from Europe and the United States. Central Asia also faces a daunting array of domestic challenges, from bloody ethnic clashes and Islamist terrorist attacks to criminal gangs that traffic in drugs and human beings. Meanwhile, some experts wonder if Central Asia, with its repressive, dictatorial leaders and weak but deeply corrupted governments, will soon see its own version of an “Arab Spring” — a popular uprising that will sweep away its aging regimes. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2012011700 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2012010300 To Westerners, the Arabic word Sharia often conjures up images of amputations for Muslim thieves and stonings of adulterous women. But the term actually encompasses all Islamic religious precepts — including how to pray — and its interpretation differs from region to region. Only a few Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, carry out such harsh Sharia penalties today. And, some Muslim countries, such as Tunisia and Morocco, have passed progressive laws giving women equality with men — in the name of Sharia. In recent years, imams at English mosques have been adjudicating hundreds of requests from Muslim women seeking religious divorces. Critics say these Sharia tribunals constitute a parallel legal system that discriminates against women. But researchers say they mainly free women to remarry in keeping with their faith. After recent electoral gains by Islamist parties in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, human-rights advocates worry that new governments may reject progressive interpretations of Sharia for the harsher, Saudi- or Iranian-style versions. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2012010300 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011122000 Ever since dozens of countries gained independence after World War II, scholars have been trying to understand why some new countries were able to grow and prosper while others stagnated. One prominent theory, known as the “resource curse” or the “paradox of plenty,” holds that developing nations with valuable oil, gas or mineral reserves are less likely to thrive than their resource-poor neighbors. Proponents say revenues from extractable resources can distort economies, promote corruption and shore up autocratic leaders who waste or steal public money. The resource curse concept is hotly debated, and many analysts see no direct link between mineral wealth and economic growth. But anti-poverty advocates and citizens' groups widely support it and say extractive industries and governments should disclose the amount of money a government receives for its nation's natural resources. That's the best way for citizens to ensure their leaders are sharing the wealth and spending it wisely, they say. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011122000 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011120600 The number of foreign orphans — usually from developing countries — adopted by families in wealthy countries has plummeted in recent years. In 2010, only 30,000 of the world's nearly 18 million orphans were adopted by parents from other countries. Nations such as South Korea, Brazil, China and Russia — which traditionally allowed thousands of children to be adopted overseas — have drastically restricted or shut down their foreign adoption programs, in part because of fears that the huge amounts of money spent by prospective parents and adoption agencies — up to $100 million a year — have led to bribery, fraud, trafficking and kidnapping. The Hague Convention, an international treaty to regulate international adoptions, has been endorsed by many countries, with mixed results. Adoption advocates say the crackdowns mean that up to 2 million children still languish in sometimes squalid institutions, many of whom will end up living on the street after leaving their orphanages. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011120600 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011111500 For most of recorded history higher education was reserved for the elite few. Today, the number of students attending colleges and universities around the world is exploding — a phenomenon specialists call the “massification” of education. Worldwide, university enrollment has grown from about 100 million in 2000 to 158 million today and is expected to reach 263 million by 2025. Higher education is also becoming much more international. The number of students studying outside their home countries is soaring; universities are opening branch campuses in other nations and expanding partnerships with foreign institutions at a rapid pace. But the massification of education also has raised concerns. Some experts worry that educational standards are falling, while others say a glut of graduates could find themselves saddled with debt and facing limited job prospects. Some even question whether the traditional university model still makes sense in the Internet age. Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011111500 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011110100 Known for their towering, ultramodern skyscrapers and jaw-dropping energy reserves, the six Arab monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are striving to improve regional stability amid the turmoil of the Arab Spring. The economic and security coalition — made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with huge fiscal surpluses that are financing, among other things, construction of state-of-the-art facilities for higher education and international sporting events. However, the six Sunni-led Muslim countries — key U.S. military allies — face ongoing unrest from a Shiite majority in Bahrain, uncertainty about the intentions of Shiite regimes in neighboring Iran and Iraq and an unstable Yemen, home to Al Qaeda-linked terrorists. The GCC countries also are struggling to balance their overdependence on foreign labor with the need for more jobs for their huge, youth populations. Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011110100 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011101800 Global food prices reached record highs early this year, sending millions around the world into poverty and contributing to starvation in East Africa. Many blame the government-subsidized growth in the market for biofuels, such as ethanol. Biofuels are expected to consume 40 percent of this year's corn crop from the world's largest producer — the United States. Others say commodities speculators caused food prices to ricochet wildly. Europe is considering adopting restrictions on speculation similar to a new U.S. law, but Wall Street is lobbying hard to weaken the American regulations. Perennially high food prices may be the first sign that changing climate is handicapping agriculture. To feed the world's growing population, experts say farmers must double their food output by mid-century — a tall order to fill without destroying more rain forests and further boosting planet-warming carbon emissions. The solution may be a combination of two warring philosophies: high-tech agriculture and traditional farming methods that are kinder to the environment. Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011101800 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011100400 An estimated 160 million babies in China, India and other Asian countries have been aborted or killed over the last 30 years — just because they were girls — in a phenomenon some are calling “gendercide.” A strong cultural preference for sons has existed for centuries in Asia. But in recent decades anti-female bias has combined with falling fertility rates, China's coercive one-child policy, new, high-tech prenatal gender-detection tools and widespread access to abortion to produce unprecedented gender imbalances in the region. An alarming shortage of females is changing the fabric of societies, with many villages so devoid of women the men cannot find wives. Governments are struggling to reverse societal attitudes toward daughters, but the changes will be too late for the 30-50 million Chinese men who over the next 20 years won't be able to marry. The gender imbalance already has led to increased kidnapping and trafficking in women and higher prostitution rates in the area. And experts worry that having so many unmarried men could threaten stability and security, because studies show that having large numbers of unattached young males leads to “the criminalization of society.” Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011100400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011092000 Indigenous peoples in lands conquered by white Europeans — the Americas, Australasia and the Arctic — face a wide range of environmental, cultural and social problems. The world's native populations have rebounded numerically since the early 1900s, when many had been decimated, often by harmful assimilation policies. Australia and Canada have formally apologized for their earlier assimilation policies, and many indigenous groups today are seeking — and being granted — legal recognition of their political, economic and cultural rights. But uncertainty hangs over the survival of native cultures. Fewer young people speak their mother tongues and traditional customs are dying out. Moreover, native peoples often face daunting social problems, including dramatically lower life expectancies and significantly higher rates of poverty, suicide, alcoholism and domestic violence than among nonindigenous populations. Now, native groups face perhaps one of their biggest challenges: governments and private developers encroaching on their ancestral lands to exploit energy and other natural resources. Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011092000 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011090600 Conflicts over land ownership are intensifying around the globe, as population growth, climate change and food insecurity make land an increasingly scarce resource. Private investors and governments are scrambling to purchase vast tracts of arable land. Such “land grabs” have increased more than 10-fold in the last two years. However, because up to 70 percent of the planet's land remains potentially in dispute because of the lack of clear titles, indigenous owners often end up losing their land to big investors. Meanwhile, long-festering land issues slow poverty reduction, and land disputes are at the root of social conflicts in countries from Cambodia to Colombia. Early land reform efforts in Latin America are eroding, and Asian land redistribution projects are causing tension between farmers and urban tenants. While some countries are successfully addressing land policy issues, experts say the need to grow economies and feed growing populations will only increase land disputes worldwide, potentially triggering more violence. Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011090600 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011081600 The more than 1,000 active satellites orbiting the Earth present vulnerable targets to hostile nations, and attacks could cause wide-ranging damage: Weather satellites help predict hurricanes; communication satellites support telephones and other electronics and satellite-based navigation networks provide myriad services worldwide. Moreover, an attack on a satellite also would add to the more than 12,000 pieces of potentially dangerous space junk already orbiting the Earth at speeds exceeding 17,000 miles per hour. So far, weapons have not been deployed in space that threaten satellites, nor has a satellite been deliberately destroyed by hostile action. But both the United States and China have shown they can target and destroy satellites. Some U.S. military leaders have pushed for the United States to achieve “space superiority,” in part by developing a controversial system that could destroy incoming enemy missiles. Because such a missile defense system could also target satellites, many countries want it outlawed. But international negotiations to ban or regulate anti-satellite and other space weapons have been stalled for years. Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011081600 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011080200 When Fidel Castro said earlier this year that communism had failed in Cuba, one might have thought the sun had finally set worldwide on the Marxist-Leninist ideology. But, despite Cuba's shaky economy and the fall of the Soviet Union and its satellite states nearly 20 years ago, one in five people on the planet still lives under communist rule. Single-party authoritarian communist governments still run five countries: Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea and — most significantly — China, with its 1.3 billion inhabitants. In addition, elected communist parties run the governments in Nepal and Cyprus, while communist parties are members of ruling coalitions in South Africa, Belarus, Brazil and six other nations. In Europe and elsewhere, modern communist parties are more centrist than their leftist ancestors. Academics still debate whether the threat of communism was overrated during the Cold War, whether President Ronald Reagan was responsible for the fall of the Soviet Union and if today's communist economies are sustainable. Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011080200 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011071900 Headline-grabbing arrests of kidney brokers and renegade doctors provide glimpses into a global black market in human organs that is thriving from South America to Asia. The World Health Organization estimates that 5–10 percent of the 100,000 organs transplanted each year have been purchased illegally, typically from poor people desperate for cash. In China, thousands of organs reportedly have been forcibly removed from prisoners to feed a lucrative “transplant tourism” business. The full scope of the global organ black market remains unknown because transplant doctors and hospitals either don't know the organs were trafficked or are complicit in the deals. Critics say hospitals should disclose the source of all transplant organs so illegal sales can be tracked. Some doctors say legalizing government payments to organ donors — as Iran has done — is the only way to eliminate trafficking, but the mainstream medical community says such payments would only exploit the poor. Artificial organs eventually could help satisfy the growing demand for organs, eliminating the black market. Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011071900 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011070500 North Korea is one of the world's last family-run communist dictatorships. As 2012 approaches — the year North Korea has vowed to become a “powerful and prosperous” nation — the regime's ailing leader, Kim Jong Il, appears determined to extend his family's tight grip on power by anointing his son, Kim Jong Un, as the next leader. Recently, the government — with 1 million troops and a growing nuclear-weapons program — has conducted provocative military actions against South Korea. But the country hasn't been able to feed itself for decades, depending on charitable organizations and other nations — mainly China — for food donations. The reclusive regime severely restricts contact with the outside world and freedom of thought, conscience and expression. It runs 14 prison camps where public executions and torture are common. Given the country's mercurial leaders and its determination to continue developing nuclear weapons, many see it as one of the most dangerous threats — to the South, the region and the rest of the world. Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011070500 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011062100 Peacebuilding is the international community's newest approach to ending cycles of conflict in hot spots around the world. It recognizes that even if conflict has officially ended, the risk of violence often remains ever-present. In fact, roughly 40 percent of post-conflict countries have faced renewed violence within a decade. Peacebuilding tries to improve the prospect for lasting peace by helping to stabilize societies, strengthen institutions and reinforce governments. Since 2005, the United Nations has spent $250 million on peacebuilding projects in 19 countries — most of them in Africa but also in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Haiti and Kyrgyzstan. But does this approach work, and can it be replicated in countries with drastically different histories and cultures? Is a democratic society a prerequisite for lasting peace? Critics of peacebuilding say it will take more than a new philosophy to fix the world's most fragile states. Proponents say it is the best attempt yet at dealing with the aftermath of conflict. Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011062100 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011060700 Centuries ago, Brazil was a remote Portuguese colony. Today the biggest nation in Latin America has evolved into a stable democracy, a regional power and an important U.S. and European Union partner. Economic growth has been steady, fueled by rising food exports, and the burgeoning oil and ethanol industries have helped the country become energy independent. Twenty-eight million Brazilians have been lifted out of poverty in the past decade. Globally, Brazil participates in numerous peacekeeping missions and is becoming an aid donor rather than recipient. The picture is not all rosy, however. Brazil needs major infrastructure upgrades before it hosts the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. The Amazon rain forest continues to disappear, drug gangs control many city slums and the country increasingly relies on cheap Chinese imports. Nevertheless, as Brazil's new President Dilma Rousseff — a former guerrilla fighter — begins to make her mark, Brazil is a booming regional power. Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011060700 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011051700 Portugal has become the third eurozone government to seek a bailout loan from the European Union, which is struggling to prevent a debt crisis from crippling its poorest members and spreading to richer euro countries. Historically impoverished nations such as Ireland, Portugal and Greece experienced a surge of wealth in the 1990s after adopting the euro. But in the wake of the worldwide economic crash and recession, that wealth proved to be an illusion based on cheap credit from Germany and other stronger economies. The euro's defenders say the crisis has created a new determination to fix the eurozone's defects, particularly its lack of strong centralized governance. But the rise of nationalist parties in richer countries opposed to bailouts could hamper a solution. And despite years of rhetoric about European unity, critics say individual nations will never give up enough of their sovereignty — especially their right to tax and spend on liberal social programs — to become part of a United States of Europe. Sun, 01 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011051700 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011050300 Massive, largely peaceful demonstrations in January and February forced longtime autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt from power, including Hosni Mubarak, who had dominated Egypt for more than 30 years. Subsequently, protests erupted in at least a dozen other countries across the Arab world, several of which continue. Using social media to organize, young demonstrators have called for the removal of long-entrenched corrupt regimes, greater freedom and more jobs. They have been met with violent government crackdowns in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain, while in Libya strongman Moammar Gadhafi is battling a ragtag rebel force backed by NATO. As the region reverberates with calls for change, scholars say some key questions must be answered: Will the region become more democratic or will Islamic fundamentalists take control? And will relations with the West and Israel suffer? Then on May 1, al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan. Once, such news might have triggered anti-U.S. protests across the region. Now, it seemed, those bin Laden had tried to radicalize were more interested in jobs and freedom than in bin Laden's dream of a vast, new Muslin caliphate. Sun, 01 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400 http://library.cqpress.com/globalresearcher/cqrglobal2011050300