The Future of Sovereignty As Dictated by China
BY WILLA FREJ: Last month, security officials in Laos arrested Mr. Naw Kham, a notorious drug lord who had been evading an international manhunt that lasted six months. Although his capture took place 100 miles downstream from the Chinese border, along the Mekong River, it was orchestrated in Beijing by top Chinese government officials intent...
Gay Rights in South America
BY NITIKA KHAITAN: The federal Defense of Marriage Act may have appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court last Wednesday, but the United States lags behind in the globalization of same-sex marriage rights. And the countries ahead of it include not only the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain or other parts of Europe but also Argentina, Brazil and...
Iran and Intelligence
BY DANIELLE BELLA ELLISON: “Barack Obama said it would take Iran a year or more to build a nuclear weapon,” began an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. The New York Times likewise reported the President’s assurance that “his administration believed it would take Iran ‘over a year or so’ to develop a nuclear...
Dear China
BY WILLA FREJ: This is a momentous time for China, as it marks the much anticipated, once in a decade leadership transition. In a matter of days, China is poised to install Xi Jinping as its new president. In anticipation, Chinese scholars, journalists and activists have submitted an open letter to the new leadership slate....
Weighing the Complexities of the Aid Freeze
BY EMMA GOLDBERG: In early January, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda denounced the unfairness of the Western world. He evoked as an example the recent trend of foreign aid suspension due to allegations that Rwanda has been supporting M23 rebels in the Congo. Kagame definitely has a point. In a United Nations-commissioned report, experts accused...
The Chinese Approach to North Korean Nukes
BY WILLA FREJ: China has historically avoided engaging in any type of hawkish behavior towards North Korea. The growing Eastern power cites history, culture, and border stability as reasons to cut Pyongyang some slack. Despite this trend, China decided on January 22 to sign UN Security Council Resolution 2087, which called for tightening of sanctions...
‘Baby Doc’ indicted for not-so-baby problems
BY NITIKA KHAITAN: Jean Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier is by no means a household name today. But as a former Haitian leader accused of committing crimes against humanity, he perhaps deserves less obscurity. This past week, on 7th February, he missed a court appearance for the second consecutive time, re-emerging in the world spotlight. ‘Baby...
Questions for the Muslim Brotherhood
By Nasos Abuel As many analysts have remarked, the Arab Spring has been succeeded by a Muslim winter. Although it was liberal ideas of democracy and social justice that provided the impetus for most revolutions in the Arab world, it is conservative Islamic tenets that are being employed in order to erect the new edifice...
When religion precipitates law: Abortion in Latin America
BY NITIKA KHAITAN: On October 10, 2012, Uruguay passed an abortion law that was absolutely shocking to its region. So shocking, in fact, that in January 2013, 100% of doctors in some Uruguayan medical centers have chosen to opt out of it[1]. Latin America may be the worst place in the world to get an...
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