China-US Relations in South East Asia

US and China continue to clash in the South China Sea over the perceived spheres of influence of both governments. China has launched its clearest warning yet that it is running out of patience with the US.

http://the-diplomat.com/new-leaders-forum/2011/06/26/china-plays-nationalism-card/

South Sudan Secedes

The impending secession of South Sudan and the impact on the people of particular disputed areas, and indeed the international community.

http://www.towardfreedom.com/africa/2379-toward-secession-the-future-of-south-sudan

Integration in the Netherlands

"The integration will not be tailored to different groups"

The Netherlands to introduce a new bill on multi-culturism in which the Dutch society "takes

a central role" and the previous policy of a parallel societies within the country is abandoned.  

http://www.hudson-ny.org/2219/netherlands-abandons-multiculturalism

The Gender Imbalance Timebomb in Asia

"Sex selection starts with the urban, educated middle-class and filters down"

Gender selection and Asia's missing girls.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/21/gender-selection-abortion-crisis-in-asia-india-u-s.html

Where is the Water?

Infographic on the availability of access to clean water in the world.

http://www.good.is/post/infographic-lack-of-clean-water-access-worldwide/

Monroe in Asia

The differing versions of hegemonic powers in the world: the Free-rider, the Strongman, and the Constabulary models, and how the Monroe Doctrine applies them to China, India and the USA in Asia.

http://the-diplomat.com/2011/06/15/monroe-doctrines-in-asia/

Italians Finding Their Voice

"On June 12–13 Italians voted “yes” on four referendums in a resounding defeat for the Berlusconi government. It came just two weeks after the center-right was roundly voted down in municipal elections across Italy, and was a blow that even some of Berlusconi’s own colleagues think the prime minister cannot survive. But it was more than that. This was a vote that went far beyond parochial Italian politics: a vote in which citizens had their say on how to manage natural resources and energy policy, a vote against the neoliberal axiom that “private is better,” against industry lobbies and powerful insiders with euro signs in their eyes, against the view that some of us are more equal than others."

http://www.thenation.com/article/161440/direct-democracy-italy

Tyranny in the National Conscience?

Was the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia a result of radical Agrarian Marxism? Or of a desire to build a rural utopia? This article argue that the seeds of the worst of the atrocities were alive within the psyche of the nation and it's people, from 'fatalistic Buddism' to a traditional disdain for urban life.

http://historytoday.com/tim-stanley/contrarian-question-identity-0