Asia

  In October 2018, the Supreme Court of India turned down a plea by the Central and Chhattisgarh governments to adjourn a case challenging the retention of members of a banned tribal[1] militia in official state forces. The governments justified their appeal on the grounds that the matter was “sensitive” and could affect the results […]

After nearly eight years and immense human suffering, the Bashar al-Assad regime is nearing victory in Syria. Aleppo City, Homs, and Rif Damascus—once strongholds of the opposition—have fallen to government forces. President Assad, who in the course of the conflict has employed chemical weapons and indiscriminate violence against Syrians, has now turned his sights on […]

In Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo’s Integrated Aluminum Industry Plan (the “Plan”) has sparked a contentious debate about how to exploit bauxite – the primary ore used to make aluminum – in a manner that will not jeopardize the country’s sustainable development. The Plan calls for the construction of mines to triple bauxite output, facilities, such […]

World War II leveled Manila. The war destroyed infrastructure and seriously damaged critical parts of Southeast Asia’s first railway system. In response to the devastation and operators’ failure to address transportation demands, army-surplus trucks were repurposed into “Jeepneys” intended to accommodate 16–24 passengers. Temporary certificates to operate were extended to underfinanced operators so long as […]

Though I was born at a time when Iran and Iraq were at war with each other, no conflict has been more formative to my identity than the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Years after Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered his now infamous address at the U.N. accusing Iraq of threatening the post-9/11 world […]

October 20, 2020 is a day that Na-Yeong and her family dread, and one that most South Koreans resent. It is the day the man who brutally raped 8-year-old Na-Yeong while drunk, leaving her with lifelong physical and mental disabilities, will be released from a prison in Pohang, South Korea. In 2008, Cho Doo-Soon was […]

Much of the debate on MOE’s recent moves to integrate schoolmates of different academic streams via Subject-Based Banding (SBB) has focused on whether SBB will be effective, or what the implementation of SBB will look like. However, one underdiscussed aspect of MOE’s policy change is its lack of impact on single-stream schools. Izzah Haziqah Haris explores why this is a problem, and potential policy options to deal with this issue.

What happens to your recycling when the noisy, traffic-inducing truck picks it up each week? If you are like me, you picture it arriving at a nearby plant and then magically getting reincarnated. The reality is more complicated. First, our recycling is cleaned, sorted, and packaged into bales at local Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs). Then, […]

Since 1979, the Special Assistance Plan (SAP) program has promoted the study of Chinese language and cultural values at 26 primary and secondary schools. By tracing the history of the program, Shaun Loh makes a case for why the SAP program in its current form is problematic, and argues that it should either be abolished or significantly reformed.

In early April, the Trump administration designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of Iran’s military, as a terrorist organization. The decision was unprecedented. As Trump himself noted, the IRGC designation marked “the first time that the United States has ever named a part of another government as a[n] FTO” (Foreign Terrorist Organization). In […]

In late 2016, most people had never heard of Muhammad bin Salman or Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Both, however, would take control of their respective countries within six months. The shifts of power in Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan represent an abrupt interruption of stable, autocratic regimes. At the outset, there was no reason to expect long-lasting changes […]

In September 2015, a mob attacked and killed a 52-year-old Muslim man, Mohammad Akhlaq, pulling him out of his home in a village near Delhi, India, on suspicions of eating beef. Not only did Prime Minister Narendra Modi remain silent following the attack, but some politicians of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defended the […]