Africa and Middle East rebellion against political Islam
Across the Arab world, a new round of revolt and internal upheaval is underway: in Algeria, Sudan, Iraq and Lebanon the fundamentalist forces that today embody political Islam are openly opposed by the peoples in revolt. And a survey shows that democracy is the answer to the Islamist winter.
Seventy years of NATO, more a funeral than a birthday
The NATO summit in London last week, which was supposed to be a celebration of the 70th birthday of the Atlantic Alliance, instead brought to light the profound split between its different members, above all between the United States and Europe, which obviously have very different interests. In addition, NATO is paying the price of never having reckoned with its defeat in Afghanistan against the Taliban, disguised as a retreat of combat forces completed in 2014.
Vietnam, the murky truth about human trafficking to the UK
“No-one wants to live in a communist state and Vietnam’s economic boom is fake news. That's why people escape. Don’t believe the government, only certain party members and officials are getting richer, ordinary people are becoming poorer.” A representative of the Vietnamese community in the UK speaks out.
Hong Kong: the Catholic-led protest that challenges Beijing
A conversation with Steven Mosher (Population Research Institute) on the events in Hong Kong. "The discontent over Beijing's multiple violations of the Sino-British Agreement has been building for many years. Public anger boiled over with the introduction of the extradition bill, which puts everyone in Hong Kong at risk of being "shanghaied" over the border to China. But even the promised withdrawal of the bill will not resolve the deeper underlying grievances of the Hong Kong people". "The demonstrations were started and led by Hong Kong's Catholics, who are roughly 8 percent of the population. But to this number must be added the many non-Catholic students who attend Hong Kong's many Catholic high schools and colleges".
