Category: Global Politics
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Shinzo Abe, Invincible No More
Japan is not a country that is used to long-lasting leaders. As such, Shinzo Abe, who is now the third longest-serving leader in postwar Japan, is a unique figure, and some have even viewed him as virtually invincible. Now, however, amid scandals and slumping popularity his political mortality has become increasingly clear, and the fall…
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In Brexit Britain, the Knives Are Out
A knife in the back is something that British foreign secretary Boris Johnson should know quite a bit about. It was just last year when the flamboyant Brexit poster-boy, who had been so sure that he was about to succeed David Cameron as prime minister, was betrayed by best buddy Michael Gove. It worked out…
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Conspirator in Chief?
“What did the president know, and when did he know it?” This was the question asked by Senator Howard Baker who worked on the Senate committee investigating the Watergate Scandal. It was an appropriate question back then when it pertained the extent to which Richard Nixon was involved in the Watergate scandal. The question remains…
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Emperor Macron
Emmanuel Macron seems to have royal aspirations. That is an odd statement to have to make about France’s new president. At 39, he is France’s youngest president in history; hardly a man who would have the gravitas necessary for the grandeur of royalty. A political centrist who favours greater European integration and globalisation, the forward-looking…
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Welfare State Woes
What do Mitch McConnell and Prayut Chan-o-cha have in common? Not much at first glance. One is the Republican Senate Majority Leader of the United States, a masterful tactician who many in Washington fear. The other is the prime minister of Thailand, who came to power by means of a coup and is now preparing…
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The Puzzling Embrace of Jeremy Corbyn
I didn’t intend to write about the British election again so soon, but a topic has intrigued me enough that I felt the need to write a short post. Over the past few days since the UK general election, we have been witness to one of the more rapid and curious transformations in public opinion…
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The Ironic Lady
This was not how it was meant to be. A month and a half ago, Theresa May, the British prime minister, stood confident in front of 10 Downing Street. She had come out to declare the need for a snap election to ensure that Brexit can properly be delivered. “Our opponents believe that because the…
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The Myopia of the Trump Administration
Donald Trump’s administration is incredibly myopic. This is the main takeaway from the president’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate change agreement. Let us first make clear that Trump’s announcement today was largely theatrical and will have no real impact on the Paris agreement itself. The reason for this is that…
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Theresa May’s Poisoned Chalice
Adults in the Room is the title of the memoirs written by Greece’s former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis. In the book, Varoufakis describes the negotiations he conducted with the Eurogroup and the institutions in order to try to secure a new agreement on how to solve Greece’s debt crisis and to secure debt relief. While this…
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Rationalising the Irrational
Vox recently published an article, written by David Roberts, titled “We overanalyse Trump. He is what he appears to be“. In it, Roberts discusses the concept of a “theory of the mind”: the capacity that humans develop to “read” humans and to understand their beliefs and goals. As such, humans with this capacity are consistently…
Ken Mathis Lohatepanont 