Good News! (Lena Bell)

The World Bank released a report last Wednesday saying economic development has seriously picked up in sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, after decades of warfare, drought, and famine, these African countries are moving in the right direction. The World Bank report attributes the region’s progress to more strategic economic policies, improved stabilized government, trade expansion, strong global [...]

“Was it the Chad?” (Lena Bell)

This article begins by discussing King Leopold of Belgium’s presence in late 19th century Chad, where he set up orphanages for all the needy children. The orphans Leopold was searching for did not actually exist and his army therefore kidnapped boys from their homes and put them in these centers for education, military training, and [...]

Rwanda Replay (Sam Cammer)

    On October 25th in the Economist, there was a second article that I wanted to talk about that week and figured I would discuss in this weeks post.  This article discussed the growing internal tensions within the Congo.  The Tutsi minority in the country has broken the cease fire and heavy fighting has broken [...]

Who would’ve known? Slavery in Mauritania (Lena Bell)

    This week in Mauritania, a country I know little about, a man and his mother were arrested for enslaving children. Speaking to reporters and the police, the mother of the two teenagers admitted that she had fled the same master ten years earlier, even at the expense of leaving her young children behind to [...]

An Oscar for Africa (Sam Cammer)

.         How do we prevent corruption in Africa? “Mr. Ibrahim, a Sudanese-born British businessman” has created an ‘Oscar’ for politicians in Africa. This award, called the “Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership”, is designed to provide a motive for African leaders to behave and act, as leaders of a country should.
.    [...]

IMF – “coincidentally” good timing (Lena Bell)

This past weekend, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank hosted a meeting of the “world’s top financial and banking officials.” At similar meetings in the past, leaders from poor countries have been forced to listen to leaders from rich, western countries tell them how to restructure their economies and “modernize their capital [...]

Aremenian Genocide (Alex)

“Geez could this be up at a worse time” writes Nouri. I could not agree more with him as Turkey rolls its tanks into Iraq, Bush gets angry and Pelosi is rethinking her pledge to bring it to the floor. (check out my post on the FS middle east blog). He points out that most efforts by [...]

Trouble in Paradise: Shiites grow disillusioned with militia in Baghdad

Lena Bell
So there’s a lot going on in this article but I’m going to wrangle it the best I can.  Residents of Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad are relying less and less on the Mahdi Army and now see it as a “band of street thugs without ideology.” Shiites describe the members of the Mahdi Army [...]

Reading the News Made Easy

One of the tricky things about the internet is how to make sense of so much information without wasting lots of time. Scholastici.us is a “student productivity” blog that looks at how technology can make students’ lives easier. Today he had a post about using RSS feeds and RSS readers to quickly [...]

The Arab Influence on the “Tongue” (Jackson Sinder)

Did you know that every time you sit down for a three-course-meal, you are participating in a process originated by 9th century Arabs? Ziryab, a 9th century Baghdadian known chiefly as a musician, promoted the idea that a meal should begin with appetizers, be followed by a salad, the main course, and finally, desert. In [...]