The electoral victory of Sweden’s centre-right coalition forces is a historic setback for the country’s once-hegemonic Social Democrats. The pain of defeat is sharpened by the electoral advance of the anti-immigrant Swedish Democrats. To find their way across this new political landscape the centr
Nicaragua's struggle against dictatorship three decades ago inspired the world. The small central American country once more needs wider attention, says its former vice-president Sergio Ramírez.
When Putin sat down to tea with artists and musicians before a charity concert last month, he could not have expected difficult questions, writes Olga Sherwood. He had not counted on DDT's Yury Shevchuk, who found the courage to stand out from the crowd and launch a memorable and principled critic
The narrow defeat of a populist-nationalist coalition, and in particular the advance of a party advocating Slovak-Hungarian collaboration, could open Slovakia to a better era, says Juliana Sokolova.
The new constitution which the Kyrgyz people voted in on 27 June 2010 seeks to break the presidential pattern of government. But the recent violent upheaval has left the government weak. America and Russia both need Kyrgyzstan to thrive as a country ruled neither by despotism nor fundamentalism. T
The violent protests of July 2009 in Urumchi revealed deep-rooted problems in Beijing’s policy towards the Uyghur people of Xinjiang region in China’s far west. The path to resolution can only be unblocked by acknowledging the Uyghurs’ right to speak, says Henryk Szadziewski.
The political atmosphere that surrounded the constitutional referendum in Kyrgyzstan shows that the country’s crisis is not over, says Sureyya Yigit in Bishkek
The explosion of violence in southern Kyrgyzstan is the result of social pressures, economic hardship and political malpractice. The interim government’s constitutional referendum can do little to address these problems, says David Gullette.
The explosion of terrifying violence in southern Kyrgyzstan reveals deep-rooted problems in this central Asian state. A provisional map of the crisis, by Sureyya Yigit in Bishkek.
The humanitarian crisis in southern Kyrgyzstan fits all the requirements for international intervention. So why is it not happening, ask Natalia Leshchenko & David Hayes.
The violent descent of parts of Kyrgyzstan into communal conflict since the overthrow of its president in April 2010 leaves a security vacuum whose dangerous effects could be felt across central Asia, says Vicken Cheterian.
The Burmese junta’s sophisticated and ruthless project of reinvention - “SPDC 2.0” - is preparing the way for an extension of its rule in civilian guise, says David Scott Mathieson.
