The heat of the summer in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang has been punctuated once again by mass violence. In the oasis city of Hotan, authorities say rioters from the Uighur ethnic group attacked and set fire to a police station on Monday, killing four people including a paramilitary officer, a security guard and two …
From the Magazine: Red State — Why China’s Leaders Are Reviving Maoism
Twelve-year-old Chen Le is a typical Chinese kid. He loves flying paper airplanes, plays Ping-Pong and dreams of becoming a scientist. And he aims one day to join the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so, as Chen puts it, “I can puff out my chest and say I am a party member.” The public school that Chen attends in China’s southwestern …
Strauss-Kahn Still Casting Shadows Over French Socialist Presidential Primaries
With expectations high that New York prosecutors may drop their sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn prior to their looming Aug. 1 court date, the former International Monetary Fund chief is apparently trying to resume something closer to the normal life he led before his May 14 arrest. On July 15, Strauss-Kahn and wife …
Call Scotland Yard: Britain’s Prime Minister Is in Deep Trouble
David Cameron presented himself to British voters as the candidate of change. He certainly hasn’t let them down. The Prime Minister can claim personal responsibility for triggering a series of unexpected and convulsive changes to public life in Britain that have left Britons, in the words of one habitually understated government …
Why the CIA’s Vaccine Ruse Is a Setback for Global Health
Last week, the Guardian broke the news that in the run-up to the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, the CIA used a vaccination campaign as a ruse to get DNA evidence from the al-Qaeda leader’s kids. With help from a Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, they set up clinics in two neighborhoods, delivering doses of the Hepatitis B …
What Comes After the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process?
An Italian philosopher once remarked that moments when “the old is dying and the new cannot be born” are marked by a “great variety of morbid symptoms”. Watching the machinations of the Obama Administration and its allies, the Palestinian leadership and its rivals, and the Israeli government ahead of a planned U.N. vote on …
China Sees Red After the Dalai Lama Visits Obama
President Barack Obama’s interactions with the Dalai Lama have always been an awkward dance. Meeting with a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, especially one as widely recognized and respected as Tenzin Gyatso, would seem to be the sort of thing Obama would welcome. In the U.S. political scene the Tibetan spiritual leader is the …
China’s Religious War: Cardinal Zen Talks Beijing and the Vatican
For the third time in a year, China has declared war on the Vatican, according to one preeminent Cardinal. The Chinese government-sanctioned Catholic Church ordained Joseph Huang Bingzhang as a Catholic bishop July 14 in the city of Shantou, in southern Guangdong province. The move was made despite the express opposition of the Pope. …
Cover Story: How Murdoch Will Struggle to Preserve His Influence
The tabloid saga gripping Britain — a tangled tale of criminality and corruption, of politicians in thrall to the power of the press and of police in the press’s pay — has elements of farce but even more of tragedy. Take Graham Foulkes, whose 22-year-old son David was one of 52 people killed by suicide bombers in London six years …
Couch Potato Briefing: Harry Potter Special
This week’s Global Spin round-up of rental movies to watch this weekend takes its cues from the release of the last Harry Potter film — here are five flicks from around the world all steeped in their own magic.
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Hayao Miyazaki is a veritable …
Third Time Lucky? Murdoch Finally Accepts U.K. Chief Exec’s Resignation As FBI Launches News Corp. Investigation
In an affair that intrigues and baffles, perhaps the most puzzling question was this: why on earth was Britain’s highest-ranking redhead after Prince Harry still clinging on to her job at the helm of News International, News Corporation’s London-based subsidiary—and why did Rupert Murdoch seem so determined to keep her there? Those …
America or China? The World Has Already Decided Who’s No. 1
Who’s the world’s new superpower? China, according to a poll by Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, which surveyed more than 27,000 people globally:
In 15 of 22 nations, the balance of opinion is that China either will replace or already has replaced the U.S. as the world’s leading superpower…This especially is
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Is the CIA Helping Run a Secret Prison in Somalia?
An interesting exposé in The Nation, the left-of-center U.S. newsweekly, explores how the CIA has participated in the running of secret detention and interrogation centers in Somalia. The article’s author, Jeremy Scahill, claims the CIA mans an operation in a “sprawling walled compound” by Mogadishu’s airport and sends out …