In 2010, Obama will have a miserable year, NATO may lose in Afghanistan, the UK gets a regime change, China needs to chill, India's factories will overtake its farms, Europe risks becoming an irrelevant museum, the stimulus will need an exit strategy, the G20 will see a challenge from the "G2", African football will unite Korea, conflict over natural resources will grow, Sarkozy will be unloved and unrivalled, the kids will come together to solve the world's problems (because their elders are unable), technology will grow ever more ubiquitous, we'll all charge our phones via USB, MBAs will be uncool, the Space Shuttle will be put to rest, and Somalia will be the worst country in the world. And so the Tens begin.

The Economist: The World in 2010. [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Nov 14, 2009 - 60 comments

Zimbabwe: Holds diplomats (after threatening to burn them), suspends aid, bans opposition rallies.
posted by Artw on Jun 6, 2008 - 70 comments

Development porn and Humanitarian badges. A moment of Truth
posted by Student of Man on Feb 27, 2008 - 56 comments

The Utopian Nightmare : "What is utopianism? It is promising more than you can deliver. It is seeing an easy and sudden answer to long-standing, complex problems. It is trying to solve everything at once through an administrative apparatus headed by “world leaders.” It places too much faith in altruistic cooperation and underestimates self-seeking behavior and conflict. It is expecting great things from schemes designed at the top, but doing nothing to solve the bigger problems at the bottom." Also, be sure to check out the the 16 ideas, values and institutions that may not be with us 35 years from now written by a variety of interesting people and compiled as part of Foreign Policy's 35th anniversary (although not all are free or available without registration).
posted by loquax on Aug 31, 2005 - 23 comments

Some good news! The greatest problem Africa faces is bad government. When the President of Togo died earlier this month, the constitution dictated that power should go to the head of Parliament, until democratic elections could take place. The army expressed their regret that this couldn't happen, since the head of Parliament was out of the country. This was due to the army closing all the borders. They instead gave power to the ex-President's son, and altered the constitution to remove any reference to presidential elections. Now, it looks like progress is being made through protest and peer-pressure.
posted by Pretty_Generic on Feb 22, 2005 - 9 comments

Vice President Cheney declares the no-wmd report justifies war. So what exactly were they going to do to us that was dangerous, think about the act? In related news, widespread genocide is a potential thought of an african government, let's get em?
posted by omidius on Oct 7, 2004 - 98 comments

Léopold Sedar Senghor, poet and first president of Senegal, dies at 95
He was the founder the négritude movement in French poetry, and a leader of African socialism. This "This Day" article discusses the political side, crediting him with Senegal's relative peace and success. This Libération article gives some biographical details. Like his friend and colleague, Senghor's negritude poems used images and symbolism of African folk cultures in French modernist verse to create a liberated identity for Africans.
posted by rschram on Dec 21, 2001 - 6 comments

Tanzania 9th most corrupt country , of course the word here is that they bribed transparency international to place them above kenya....... according to the director "HIV AIDS is killing millions of Africans, and in many of the countries where AIDS is at its deadliest the problem is compounded by the fact that corruption levels are seen to be very high. While it is imperative that richer countries provide the fruits of medical research at an affordable price to address this human tragedy, it is also essential that corrupt governments do not steal from their own people. This is now an urgent priority if lives are to be saved." local traditions don't help either. what this story does not say is that 4,000 girls will be circumsised at this ceremony and the govt/police won't interfere.
posted by quarsan on Jul 16, 2001 - 5 comments

African Union to be born at summit this week. Modelled on the European Union, the new organization's charter will include plans for an African central bank, a court of justice, a single currency and a parliament. Is this what Africa really needs?
posted by tranquileye on Jul 9, 2001 - 18 comments

Bono meets at White House
"We have an ongoing discussion here with people in the White House about the AIDS issue and Africa. It's very, very important to this president and the administration." Huh?
posted by Gilbert on Jun 2, 2001 - 18 comments

Senegal's Elections make for an intresting comparison to this one, don't you think?
posted by clockwork on Nov 9, 2000 - 0 comments

Bleeding Africa. I don't even understand exactly what the objective of the original mission was, other than risk your lives because we tell you to. Shouldn't we have goals when we send military units into action? (I say we because to me, the UN is all of us.) It reminds me of this article about how the Kosovo operation ignored the painful lessons America learned in Vietnam. I don't pretend to understand how we can solve these mammoth problems, but they still concern me. Is military force really the answer here?
posted by Ezrael on Jul 16, 2000 - 12 comments