Two recent controversies drew attention to the malaise and frustration regarding the state of soccer in China. But the travails of Chinese soccer are also helpful as a prism for understanding how Xi’s leadership style helps spawn corruption-fueled boom-bust cycles in the economy and the crackdowns that inevitably follow.
The Best International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards is supposed to help Hollywood forge closer ties with foreign film industries. But flaws in the category’s rules and process have not only have made it highly politicized and often unfair, but have also prevented it from fulfilling its purpose.
In January, Burundi severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda, accusing Kigali of supporting a DRC-based militia that attacked a Burundian town the month prior. Though sudden, the rift between Burundi and Rwanda just two years after their ostensible reconciliation is unsurprising and can be traced to the conflict in eastern Congo.
