Bangladesh’s toxic politics: Hello, Delhi

It is up to India to try to stop Sheikh Hasina ruining Bangladesh The Punch-and-Judy show of Bangladeshi politics, in which the ruling party—run by the daughter of a former president—bashes the opposition—run by the widow of a former president—before swapping places with it, has been running for decades. The outside world rarely pays attention [...]

Rewarding Progress: Time for a suspension of sanctions on Burma?

Today marked another landmark in Burma’s recent history. The visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron is both the first visit by a western leader to Burma in decades and the first ever visit by a British Prime Minister to the country since its independence in 1948. The visit is also significant because Britain has [...]

Cameroon: Biya Tipped to Win After Temporary Results Are Leaked (VIDEO)

A week after the October 9, 2011, presidential election in Cameroon, the National Commission of General Census has just finished analysing minutes of the 24,000 polling stations disseminated in Cameroon and abroad, and established a temporary count of the votes. Weekly newspaper Le Messager published a leak of these temporary results in an article; the [...]

China’s efforts to internationalize its currency

It is a well know fact that China undervalues its currency, by pegging the renminbi (RMB) to the dollar at an artificially low level. This, along with other subsidies and mercantilist trade policies, keeps Chinese exports cheap, and thus more attractive to consumers in the U.S. and Europe. Because China is the manufacturing hub for [...]

Muzzling the media in Malaysia: libel and censorship

It was abundantly clear from the reaction to the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9th that the Malaysian government has become ever more insecure about its hold on power. And yet as the government becomes ever more insecure the measures it resort to in order to shore up its hold on power become ever more [...]

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