WATCH: My escape from North Korea

As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee thought her country was “the best on the planet.” It wasn’t until the famine of the 90s that she began to wonder. She escaped the country at 14 to begin a life in hid...
by Natasha Lipman
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EU Accounts: Are the Eurosceptics Right?

One of the arguments most used by eurosceptics is the fact that the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has refused to sign off the European Union’s accounts for the 18th year in a row. That does sound like a pretty devastating ...
by Thomas Bignal
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Time for Business-Executive Politics in the MENA Region

For decades Arab politics has been an easy ride for the well-established circles that governed states and countries in the MENA region. Whether it is by virtue of blood as in monarchies, money as in oligarchies or simply heavil...
by Mohamed Belarbi
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Clearing the Smoke, Part III: Monkeys Throwing Nuts

For this last part of my threefold contribution I will try to clarify what exactly is meant by populism, nationalism and independence. In my previous contributions, I have been rather harsh on both populism and nationalism, and...
by Gilles Pittoors
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Venezuela: A New Chance for Hope

For those of us Venezuelans who fall under the category of ‘opposition’, president Chavez’s death has come to represent a new hope for change. Beyond the respect we have payed for Mr. Hugo Chavez’s death...
by Claudia Gonzalez
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International Political Forum

The UN Creates an Aggressive Supranational Fighting Force

Amid very little fanfare on the part of international media, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously approved of an unprecedented addition to one of its missions. On March 28, delegates drafted Resolution 2098 (2...
by Cody Wooden
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The EU is Creating a Lost Generation

The European efforts to avert a lost generation will fail. Unless we really improve Europe’s competitiveness and invest in the future, the young will become fed up with the EU. If you’re young in Europe, you will have a dif...
by Joop Hazenberg
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International Political Forum

The Pros and Cons of Drafting Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox

The Israeli public largely objects to the current policy of allowing ultra-orthodox Jewish youth to avoid army service, but the rule has long been upheld thanks to political power play. Now, for the first time in 18 years, an I...
by Global Voices
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International Political Forum

Iran and the Arab Uprisings

Ever since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has tried to cast itself as the head of the radical camp in the Middle East. Iran’s foreign policy did not lose its revolutionary zeal through the years. Iranian support for radical mov...
by Maged Mandour
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