Two leading developing nations have experienced significant problems that raise the deep troubles in their societies, whether it's raced-based or socio-economic.


The killing of a white supremacist leader in South Africa has stirred up tremendous anger and fears of racist violence, providing a stark illustration that racist tensions have still not been entirely eliminated in this diverse but troubled nation.

Speaking about troubled nation, Thailand has been plagued by a continuous large-scale demonstration by opposition "Red Shirt" supporters in the capital that has led to violence and deaths. The situation is tense as the protests show no signs of abating and the protesters appear to have received some sort of support from the military head who has called for parliament to be dissolved. This ongoing protest, the latest in a series of protests from different sides over the past few years, is the result of deep fissures in the country between generally speaking, its rural and lower-income peoples and urban, middle and upper-classes.

The Atlantic's Robert D. Kaplan's latest piece is on the top American general in Afghanistan and why he thinks the country is still salvageable. Stanley McChrystal, a special forces commander who previously served in Iraq with an impressive record, seems to really believe in the possibility of victory, that accomplishing key objectives, such as holding on to areas "where the water and the roads are," and staying for the long-term, will help bring peace and defeat the Taliban. Kaplan, a renowned world affairs expert who has written many books on foreign nations including on Afghanistan and the famous essay The Coming Anarchy, writes some surprising things about Afghanistan, such as its coherent sense of nationalism and the desire of its people for modernity and stability. Not surprisingly, Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is described as weak and incompetent, allowing corruption to thrive due to his dependence on and empowerment of warlords. The article also shows the attempts by the U.S. military to boost the competency of the Afghan military through fostering U.S.-Afghan teamwork and letting the Afghans undertake operations for themselves (a novel concept, I'm sure).

In the form of a book review, Joshua Kurlantzick explains why Thailand is on the verge of possible breakup. He explores the basic conflict between the "Reds" and "Yellows," the mass groups of protesters who respectively, basically support and oppose deposed former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Kurlantzick also mentions the growing Islamic insurgency in the southern provinces, who are culturally and religion-wise distinct from the rest of the country. The article does well to explain the nuances of the Red-Yellow division, outlining the shortcomings and wrongdoings in both sides. In the end, this deep chasm, based on socio-economic and urban-rural fissures, may prove too much for the nation to survive, Kurlantzick says in a bleak prognosis.

This Foreign Policy article makes a controversial argument that Africa's wars
are unstoppable, because they're not about fighting for freedom or against oppression anymore, but only for plunder, women and territory. Gone are the great rebel leaders of the past such as southern Sudan's John Garang and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, instead there are only rapacious and vicious warlords such as the LRA's Joseph Kony in Uganda whose supposedly Christian militia has indulged in rape, child capture and mutilation. The article is compelling though it has a sort of simplistic and sensationalistic style.

Is this world full of war? This photo essay from Foreign Policy magazine shows that
this is an affirmative, at least for 33 places. The usual suspects, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, the DR Congo, formerly Zaire, and the Central Caucasus are covered, but others like Thailand and Nepal make the cut as well. Insurgencies in Iran and India Kashmir are also included. On the other hand, it is surprising to see Peru and Northern Ireland mentioned, which though they have had long-running civil conflicts, seem to be undergoing periods of relative peace.
There are a lot of stunning pictures, see photo 17, and the captions provide brief but detailed info.

Private armies or militias are still in vogue in the Philippines, as this NY Times piece shows with a little political family feud. While these feuds mostly arise from political battles, these conflicts sometimes grow to include Muslim insurgents. The article suggests that the Arroyo government is not too serious about disbanding these private militias, especially as allies of Arroyo use them. It is a pity, especially in light of the massacre of all those journalists and civilians in Nov.

The country of Niger, located in West Africa, suffered a coup last Thursday that removed the country's president Mamadou Tandja from power. The overthrow was conducted by military officers and is seen as a favorable event by some in the country, including by an opposition leader. This is mainly due to Tandja's changing of constitutional rules to allow him to serve beyond his legal term limit. This audacious move even led to condemnation from its fellow West African nations as it was suspended from Ecowas (Economic Community Of West African States).
It remains to be seen how the military junta that has taken over will react in the coming days and months.

Newsweek has an interview with former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who now serves as the U.N. special envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It's not too long but one of the best remarks is when Obasanjo is asked on China's "colonization" of Africa. First he directly criticizes the use of the term, then he says "We regard America and Europe as old friends. We keep old friends but we make new friends in Japan, India, and China."
New friends and old friends indeed. A rather smart way of describing relations with the West and Asia in a positive manner without showing any preference, if you ask me.

A perfect graphical representation of why India still lags significantly behind China, much less the developed world. This is a photo essay of child laborers working in the capital city New Delhi on construction sites. The city is undergoing a wave of construction for the Commonwealth Games in October and desperate contractors are using children to finish the sites on time. They work alongside their parents who are also laborers, but still a wretched and disturbing situation nevertheless.

Kind of late, but this piece by Howard French on the Congo war and the role of Rwanda is a very eye-opening read. French reviews three 2009 books on the Congo crisis, that provide a more nuanced and informative explanation of the fighting and instability in that troubled Central African country.

A troubling look into the problems at diamond mines in Zimbabwe, where violence, rape and extortion are alleged to have been committed by government forces to take control of the mining. While attempts have been made by diamond companies to refuse purchasing diamonds directly from these mines, smugglers are able to take them across the borders to neighboring countries like Mozambique and sell them illegally and profitably.

A new report by advocacy group Global Witness states that violence, rapes and forced displacement of hundreds of thousands in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is linked to multinational mining companies. An area rich in minerals and other natural resources, violence, poverty and disaster have been an unavoidable fate of many of its locals.
Here's a good summary on the report on the HuffPost.

Also on the HuffPost, a list of 10 top stories to watch for in Africa.

Paul Krugman sees a bleak immediate future for the U.S. economy-wise in this piece. As he said, blips happen even in the worst economic times, because when economic activity dropped as deeply as it did last year, then a little jump or improvement is not surprising. The question is how sustainable it can be, and my feeling is it's not. It's funny when everytime there is some slight rise, or a decline that is not as deep as expected in the U.S., such as with unemployment figures or holiday shopping, there are industry pundits and media reports that highlight optimism, as if they expect things will return to normal very soon.

The visit by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to meet Syrian leader Bashar Assad in Damascus a little over 2 weeks ago- sign of great relations between the two neighbors or an indication of how strong and menacing Syria still is to Lebanon, as Michael Totten and this Weekly Standard piece say.

Are coups still being done anywhere?
Well yes, in Africa, there've been a few in the past year in Guinea, Madagascar and Mauritania.
U.S. President Barack Obama recently announced a cessation in benefits to several of these states as punishment for their illegal and unconstitutional transition in power.

Guinea, situated in West Africa just north of major 90s troublespots Sierra Leone and Liberia, is in a particularly precarious state, after infighting among coup leaders earlier this month, resulted in the coup leader to be shot and seriously wounded.

Southern Sudan, one of the world's most underdeveloped areas, will hold a referendum in 2011 to decide if it will break away from Sudan to form a new nation. This is significant because this is the culmination of long-time tensions between the North and South, with (at the risk of simplifying the state of affairs) the former's people being mostly Arabic-speaking and Muslim, and the latter being mostly non-Muslim. The area has experienced heavy violence and severe humanitarian troubles, raising fears from some who feel this is part of a plot to undermine the fragile peace in the region and intensify conflicts amongst the people in the South with each other.

The South fought a bitter and devastating war with the Sudanese government that lasted over 20 years (from the early eighties to 2005) and killed over a million people. The two sides signed an agreement that has continued till the present, but with one of the conditions being a referendum for secession. It will be tough if the referendum actually succeeds, given the humanitarian problems and violence, so any fledgling South Sudan state will have its work cut out.

Dubai's debt extension request, basically an admission that they can't pay up their debts now, really put a scare on the world and showed just how badly this former global darling has fallen. While the global economy has seemed to have overcome this shock, Dubai's troubles are likely to continue further. Its ruler, with his great, extravagant vision, still seems defiant. Some also believe that this may be the first in a series of national and corporate debt crises worldwide.

Great news in Somalia as a Canadian freelance journalist was just released after over a year in captivity by an armed militia. A ransom was paid and groups like Reporters without Borders had been working to get her release for a long time. The news seemed really bleak back in August, with rumors of her even having been raped and impregnated. It's good that this didn't happen, at least the pregnancy part, but she did claim to have been tortured.

On the other hand, at least 18 journalists experienced a gory fate in the Philippines, after they were killed after being in a convoy with over 50 persons who were stopped, captured and mostly executed by armed militiamen, allegedly hired by a politician. This has to be one of the worst events involving journalists, maybe even unprecedented in modern times. Imagine if this had happened to American journalists, say in Iraq for example, the international outcry would have been even greater.

It's fitting that while I've been dormant on this blog these past two months, tensions have become worse in Iraq, Afghanistan and even East Asia with signs of widening differences involving the U.S., Japan, China and East and Southeast Asia in general.

First, while fighting has continued in Afghanistan and the situation has become so serious that the U.S. military's top leadership is calling for more troops, Asia Times has a crazy article about foreign helicopters ferrying Taliban troops around. The reason: "According to Rahim Rahimi, a professor at Balkh University, America and the United Kingdom are trying to keep all of Afghanistan insecure, so that people feel the need for the foreign forces."

Meanwhile Iraq saw some massive blasts in Baghdad that have come after a relatively long period of relative calm.

As the world struggles to overcome this ongoing economic crisis, China continues to get a lot of attention, or I might say hype, especially over its possible ability to help lead the world economy out of this crisis. It is no exaggeration to say that some have already anointed China as the next superpower, ready to pass the U.S. and take up a leading position in the world equivalent to its historical and cultural standing. Yet as always, it's good to be cautious about China, as these articles from Time magazine show. One asks if China can really "save the world?" while the other reminds people that nothing can be taken for granted about the future.