OZY – Some of Brazil’s national parks are coming under new management – that of private companies. In her latest piece, Shannon Sims investigates this trend, which has been brought on in part by the lack of resources of local governments. In the privately managed parks, infrastructure and maintenance have improved, but these changes have […]
We are still in Puerto Escondido, or more accurately Nopolo. We have been taken in by a couple I met when I drove from La Paz to San Diego to meet Josh and sail the coast. She and her husband retired here and they have been a literal port in the storm for us. Hurricane […]
OZY – In her latest piece, Pooja Bhatia interivews actor Rainn Wilson about Lide, his nonprofit organization based in Haiti. Wilson is best known for playing the wacky but hilarious Dwight Schrute on The Office, but has taken on the role of philanthropist in support of arts education for girls in the Haitian countryside. Bhatia engages Wilson […]
Until the summer of 2014, La Paz had lived up to its name, which means ‘the peace.’ The coastal city on the Baja peninsula seemed immune from the drug trafficking violence of the mainland, which is estimated to have claimed 120,000 lives since 2006. But on July 31st, that bloodless exemption vanished. On the side […]
August 30, 2015 Under the banner “Picture stories from here and there,” the Beirut collective Samandal publishes local and international comix. For the uninitiated, comix imply countercultural, illustrated tales for adult audiences. Personal, quirky, and rebellious, comix have no boundaries. The underground art spans from word-heavy narratives in ink to wordless sequential illustrations, reminiscent of […]
The New York Times – Andrew Tabler was quoted in Michael R. Gordon’s recent piece on rising US-Russian tensions over Syria. Tabler commented on the differing views in Russia concerning support for President Bashar al-Assad, saying; “The escalation is completely in keeping with hard-line Russian positions on Assad, which are juxtaposed with more conciliatory positions by the […]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: The Sultanate of Oman’s economy is driven by oil, but seafaring has always been the original industry: at its peak, the Omani trade empire spanned the Persian Gulf, southern Iran, Pakistan, and East Africa. Today, Oman is in the process of re-asserting its maritime prowess in the realm of diplomacy, trade, and security, with […]
We arrived in Puerto Escondido last night, a large natural harbor. It was my first good night of sleep since leaving La Paz; even the lightning storm that cruised by in the night couldn’t keep me away. (This was our first night with no swell or wind waves to toss us around inside the boat while […]
Foreign Affairs – In his latest article, Neri Zilber discusses the surprising lack of a third intifada, or uprising, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. An intifada has not broken out since the second intifada in 2000 despite the firebombing of a Palestinian home in the village of Duma of by Jewish terrorists in late July of this year. Zilber […]
Reuters – Gregory Feifer shares a fascinating look at Vladimir Putin’s public-relations tactics in his latest article. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov was recently reported to have been enjoying a lavish and expensive honeymoon on a yacht and to have worn a $620,000 watch at his wedding ceremony, spending several times the yearly salary of a typical civil […]