The President of Kazakhstan suggests his country should be renamed
President Nazerbayev doesn't want to rule a "stan" any more. So he's suggesting it become Kazakh Yeli or Kazakhiya.What’s in a name? When it comes to geographical place names, quite a lot actually, as...
View ArticleUkraine is at war, we're just not admitting it yet
Ukraine finds itself in an impossible clinch, where it is alternately patronised (“those heroic Ukrainians!”) and refused serious help to counter Russia’s bailouts. With people dying on the streets as...
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Pussy Riot and the new age of dissident art
Neither of these two new books about the feminist art collective leave one optimistic about the immediate future of Russian politics, but they show the deep effect the saga has had.Kicking the Kremlin:...
View ArticleSailing for North Korea: A voyage to the town where no one knows the Beatles
The Chinese have always made the crossing: historically for trade, more recently for tourism. In May 2013, the North Korean city of Sinuiju opened up to westerners for the first time.The Friendship...
View ArticleNo chickening out for activists subject to intimidation in Kiev
“I don’t hide behind the title ‘journalist’ any more,” says Tetiana Chornovol. “My investigative reporting is just one of the weapons I use in my battle against Yanukovych and his clan.”Tetiana...
View ArticleTwo members of Pussy Riot arrested in Sochi
Nadia Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina, who were released from prison less than two months ago, say they were arrested in Sochi with a group of activists and journalists.This article first appeared on...
View ArticleUnderground epidemic: the tuberculosis crisis in South Africa's gold mines
Of the 2.3 million new cases of TB reported in Africa last year, almost a third were connected to mining in sub-Saharan Africa. According to research, one mine worker with active TB can spread the...
View Article400 Nepalese construction workers have died since Qatar won the World Cup bid
Why are international sporting events so dangerous for construction workers?Around 400 Nepalese workers have died in construction sites across Qatar since the oil-rich Gulf state won the bid to host...
View ArticleThe war on bread: how the Syrian regime is using starvation as a weapon
For Syrians, the war on bread began a long time ago. Long before the siege of Yarmouk, before last week’s abortive evacuation of Homs, before the war even began, the regime’s neoliberal economic...
View ArticleBelgium extends its euthanasia laws to children
Belgium has lifted all age restrictions on euthanasia, despite concerns that the legislation has been rushed through.Yesterday, Belgian lawmakers voted 86-44 to extend the country’s euthanasia laws to...
View Article“Good” and “bad” war – and the struggle of memory against forgetting
The regime that Washington created in the South, the “good” Korea, was set up and run largely by those who had collaborated with Japan and America.Fifty years ago, E P Thompson’s The Making of the...
View ArticleNegotiating a path to peace: from Geneva to Aleppo, via Moscow
Syrian peace talks are promising, but much will need to be agreed (and a few Gordian Knots sliced) before there can be a lasting peace.On the surface, little seems to have been achieved in talks on the...
View ArticleGender inequality is costing the global economy trillions of dollars a year
A UN report released today has found that progress made towards reducing poverty is at risk of being reversed because of widening inequality and a failure to strengthen women's rights.According to a...
View ArticleThree years on from the Arab spring, Egyptians hope another strongman can...
Were millions in the region wrong to believe they deserved better?While hundreds of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets in 2011 to protest against Hosni Mubarak’s thirty-year rule, I was...
View ArticleAs the US turns against new sanctions on Iran, has the Israel lobby lost its...
The Aipac lobby group is famed for its ability to move bills, spike nominations and keep legislators in line – but is its influence waning?In House of Cards, the award-winning US television show...
View ArticleWhy is the Canadian rock band Skinny Puppy invoicing the Pentagon for $666,000?
How would you react if you discovered your music was being used to aid interrogations?How would you react if you discovered your music was being used as an instrument of torture? I like to think that...
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We cannot end FGM in the UK without ending it in Africa
We won’t stand aside as this violence is inflicted on girls in the UK and around the world. Britain is now the world’s biggest supporter of activity to end female genital mutilation.Around the world,...
View ArticleHow the west was lost: Frank Furedi’s First World War
The Great War’s greatest legacy is uncertainty and a never-ending search for meaning.First World War: Still No End in Sight Frank FurediBloomsbury, 288pp, £18.99A century ago, the First World War tore...
View ArticleWhy the US should apologise for deaths in Iraq
A US apology will not bring back the thousands of dead Iraqis, but at least it will amount to an acceptance of moral responsibility.After the invasion of Iraq, the US electorate sent a clear message to...
View ArticleCalm, classless, striving for beauty: Yes, Scandinavia really is all it's...
British commentators have been dismissing Scandinavian culture and politics using selective statistics and un-contextualised observations. But from smart young people to art and happiness: the...
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