From Foreign Policy: Imagine a tiny country flush with oil money, where the wealth per person is on par with that of Spain or Italy. Now picture a place quite the opposite, where nearly two-thirds of the population lives in extreme poverty and infant and child mortality rates are on par with those of the… Read More »
Q & A on Free Trade Zones in Africa.
Throughout its 5000 year history, debt has always involved institutions – whether Mesopotamian sacred kingship, Mosaic jubilees, Sharia or Canon Law – that place controls on debt’s potentially catastrophic social consequences. It is only in the current era, writes anthropologist David Graeber, that we have begun to see the creation of the first effective planetary… Read More »
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column that borrowed a bit from Hernando de Soto. Today, I read this from Peter Schaefer at the Foreign Policy website. The concluding paragraph: Yunus and de Soto offer us real insights into how the poor can, finally, work themselves out of poverty: Yunus shows they need… Read More »
1. First of all, congratulations to NEXT on going daily. They fed as the banking issues unfolded last Friday. See their editorial of today. 2. Following the relationship between China and Latin America? Check out Aleksandra Gadzala’s post on it on her very informative blog. 3. WHO warns against homeopathy use 4. If sex at… Read More »
… and soft power It is, of course, pointless to talk to al-Qaida. Their leaders cannot be attracted by American values. But the young people that Osama bin Laden wants to recruit for new terrorist attacks can be reached. That is where the soft power comes in. His interview with Der Spiegel is here.
is here.
1. Our good old East German car, Trabant, to get a makeover. Prototype out in September 2. Check out a list of interesting anthropology blogs 3. What is the future of jazz? 4. Africa’s mobile banking revolution 5. Kola Tubosun is currently a Fulbright scholar in the US, and he is writing a travelogue 6.… Read More »
1. Nancy Scheper-Hughes: Public anthropology through collaboration with journalists 2. A way to save the Newspaper industry? Rupert Murdoch’s idea. 3. And while we are still on the industry saving news, it seems Spotify is offering a way to save the music industry. At least that is what The Economist and More Intelligent life think.… Read More »
A high-profile government amnesty program aimed at stopping militants in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region from bombing pipelines is coming under fire for not seeking permanent solutions to the area’s underlying problems. Continue reading at the Wall Street Journal website.