· January, 2009

Stories about Politics from January, 2009

Russia: Putin in Davos

  31 January 2009

Leopolis writes about Putin's appearance at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos: “Despite being lost in translation, the Putin-Dell exchange illustrates the fact that Russia and the West are...

Madagascar: The mayor proclaims himself president

  31 January 2009

A dispute between the president of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanan, and the mayor of the capital, Andry Rajoelina, thrust Malagasy citizens into violent rioting and looting last week, and has now escalated into a power struggle for the presidency itself.

Bermuda: No Thank You?

  30 January 2009

Vexed Bermoothes is sceptical about the Premier's “kind offer” to subsidize the University of the West Indies, saying: “It’s more ideology than about educational opportunity.”

MENA: Reflections on Obama's Al Arabiya Interview

  30 January 2009

It came as a surprise to many people that US President Barack Obama gave his first formal interview as president to an Arab television channel. Some were optimistic with Obama's replies, while others were disappointed. Yet, almost everybody was more concerned about the decision to have the interview conducted for Al Arabiya.

China: Sino-French Ties in 2009

  30 January 2009

Mr. Song Luzheng (宋鲁郑), a Chinese blogger who specializes in international politics, recently listed the five factors that have undermined the Sino-French relations (zh). He asserts that it is too...

Tajikistan: Terrible Tajik-Uzbek relations

  30 January 2009

Vadim says that Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have chronically had bad relations since early history of the two countries, and the most recent actions of Uzbekistan made these relations even worse.