Stories about International Relations from January, 2013
31 January 2013
Morsi Courts Merkel while Unrest Continues in Egypt
A Photoshopped picture of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi kissing German Chancellor Angela Merkel went viral, drawing ridicule from netizens, who criticised Morsi for traveling abroad at a time when his...
Slovak PM's Support for 2022 Winter Olympics Bid Draws Criticism
Whereas Norway and Switzerland are planning to hold referenda before submitting their 2022 Winter Olympics bids, the fate of the Slovak-Polish joint bid already seems decided: the Slovak Prime Minister...
30 January 2013
Colombia: A Long Way to Peace?
Despite ongoing peace talks, Colombia refused to recognize the most recent ceasefire declared by the FARC and launched an airstrike on New Year's day. Meanwhile, the deadline for brokering a...
Why Did Mali's ‘Soldier of Death’ Go Viral?
This photo of a French soldier wearing a scarf depicting death's face has been shared around the world and has become a concrete symbol for many of the start of...
29 January 2013
North Korea: A Sign of Change or the Same-Old Rhetoric?
Kim Jong-un’s New Year message emphasized, among other issues, the importance of inter-Korean relations. While many observers read this as a signal that North Korea plans to open-up in 2013,...
28 January 2013
Yemen: United Nations Security Council Delegation Visits Sanaa
A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) delegation visited Yemen Sunday January 27, 2013, to boost President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi and help push forward national reconciliation talks. Netizens react to the...
Central African Republic: How Strong Is The Peace Deal?
After a month of political and military instability, the Central African Republic government, led by President François Bozizé, and the rebel coalition Séléka signed a new peace deal in Libreville...
27 January 2013
Where Russia's Honest Ones Go to Die: Dolmatov's Suicide
On the morning of January 17, Russian political refugee Alexander Dolmatov was found having hanged himself in a solitary cell of a Dutch deportation center. Dolmatov left Russia last summer,...
25 January 2013
24 January 2013
Mexico: Florence Cassez, Guilty of Kidnapping or Victim of a Staged Process?
A great fuss has taken over the cyberspace after the French citizen Florence Cassez was released from a Mexican prision where she stayed seven years charged with kidnapping, illegal gun...
Turkmenistan: Human Rights? What Human Rights?
In Turkmenistan, which ranks among the world's "worst of the worst" human rights abusers, the very existence of such rights is seen as 'fiction'. Some netizens blame Ashgabat's repressive regime...
23 January 2013
Philippines: US Navy Ship Damages ‘Protected’ Tubbataha Reefs
Filipino netizens, environmentalists, and nationalists are angry after a United States Navy minesweeper, the USS Guardian, caused damage to the corals of the Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea. The...
Côte d'Ivoire: Charles Blé Goudé Charged with War Crimes
After his arrest in Ghana, Charles Blé Goudé, nicknamed ‘Street General’ and close associate of former president Laurent Gbagbo, was charged with war crimes on January 21, 2013. His arrest...
22 January 2013
On Inauguration Day, US Drones Strike Yemen
Barack Obama was sworn in for a second term as President of the United States yesterday [Jan 21, 2013]. Ironically while the crowd was cheering his inauguration line “A decade...
