World

South Africa's murder rate in 2013 was 23 times higher than in France (wikipedia). As if this was not enough the country suffers badly from high rates for rape, car hijacking, kidnapping or farm attacks. But crime is not the only curse, corruption and misgovernment hold back the country on its way to flourish.

India Little is known in the West about the bloody clashes between India and its Maoist movement. However, India has been facing an insurgency by so-called Naxalite fighters for years. On 29 May alone, 17 people were brutally killed and more than 20 others injured in an ambush in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh. Incidents like this are not uncommon …

Expansion of the Tuareg The Tuareg are primarily nomadic or semi-nomadic. They inhabit the arid and semi-arid regions of the Sahara and sub-Saharan Africa, stretching across Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Libya. The right to self-determination is a fundamental principle of international law, meaning that all peoples should be free to choose their own country. Unfortunately, many of …

Turkic Languages When talking about ‘Turks’, one usually means the people of Turkey. This seems a natural reference for a country called Turkey. However, the modern state of Turkey is not very old. It was only established in 1923 as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. During the Ottoman Sultanate period, the inhabitants of this political entity were not …

Myanmar, Burma Recently, more and more positive news has emerged from Myanmar (Burma) as the country transitions from military dictatorship to civil society. Burma has its own heroine in the struggle for freedom in the form of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. However, it seems that not everyone is destined for freedom. In the far west of …

America Every year on 12 October, America commemorates Christopher Columbus’s arrival. This event, commonly known as the ‘discovery of America’, marked the beginning of the European seizure of the entire continent. As a result, the land was settled and developed over time. Different major nations have originated in the Americas since then, including the world’s leading economic and military power, …

Europe Bosnia and Herzegovina Ratko Mladić was arrested in May 2011. As the main culprit, he stands accused of the Srebrenica massacre. Under his command, 8,372 Muslim men and boys, aged between 12 and 77, were brutally murdered. This marked the tragic culmination of the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Bosnia by the Serbs. It is also a symbol of, and a …

Pakistan Until the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, few people knew about either Afghanistan or Pakistan. It was through the struggle against the Soviet Union that the West became increasingly aware of this region of the world. The Mujahideen, the heroes of the Hindu Kush who drove the communists out of the country, were admired all over the world. …

Ganze Welt Jean Henry Dunant, the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. The ICRC has always been committed to defusing conflicts through negotiation with all parties involved. In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. Through this award, he became synonymous with a new …

Peru Contrary to what some people might think, the Amazon basin does not only lie in Brazil, but it also spreads over several countries, including Peru. According to the English Wikipedia, around 60% of Peru belongs to this geographical region (an area equivalent to that of Italy and Spain combined!). On 14 April 2011, Eduardo Nayap Kinin became the first …