Roughly 47 years after having banned Cuba from the Organizationof American States, Latin American leaders are angling to reinstate theisland nation, despite the fact that it lacks the democraticcredentials spelled out in the OAS charter. The effort is aprominent storyline heading into the April 17-19 Summit of the Americasin Trinidad and Tobago, where 34 leaders from the hemisphere will meetto discuss the global economic crisis, energy policy and securityissues, among other things. But the meeting’s narrative also includesPresident Barack Obama’s first opportunity to redefine U.S.-LatinAmerican relations, which took a backseat under former President GeorgeW. Bush. “The perception coming up from [...]
The tiny desert town of Abeche, in eastern Chad, offers a curious sight: Sandwiched between the mud huts that most people call home and the compounds belonging to international aid workers is a humble Chinese restaurant catering to Chad’s growing population of Chinese engineers and managers. Significantly, no equivalent American-style restaurant is to be found. The same holds true across the resource-rich, institution-poor developing world, in countries as remote as East Timor and as dangerous as Somalia. While much of the military establishment in Washington continues to plan for a possible conventional war with China, Beijing is studiously avoiding a [...]
Joe Hung has an interesting piece in the China Post about the possibility that Japan, spurred by recent provocations from North Korea as well as a desire to inject fiscal stimulus into its flagging economy, might begin throwing off some of the chains that constrain its military development. The piece is heavy with baggage from the era of Japanese expansion during the Depression and Second World War, and as such strikes a bit of a discordant note to Western ears; however, the political and economic discourse of this economic crisis has been heavy with references to the experiences of the [...]
