China’s increasing financial and economic assertiveness suggests its star is only set to rise on the world stage and that has prompted some major swagger on the part of its leaders. Swagger the nation’s long-term view doesn’t warrant. Commentary by John Robson.
Walled nations of the world
No country builds walls voluntarily — yet they are making a comeback for the same reasons they have been familiar features of civilized life for centuries.
A taxing new era
As foreign aid dries up in the age of austerity, low-income countries are being asked more and more to generate their own funds for development. One recommendation is taxation. Taxes produce revenue and taxed citizens are more likely to hold their governments to account for how development funds are spent. Developing countries say rich nations need to pay their share of taxes too.
Silence of the dammed
Among the conflicting opinions over hydroelectric development of the Mekong River Basin, one voice seems to be missing, writes longtime development worker and researcher JeeRung: the local communities of Laos directly affected. She breaks down why.
The impending dam disaster in the Himalayas
Two of the most populous nations—China and India—are building hundreds of dams in a violently active geologic zone.
Patricia Adams: China must free activists who championed environment and the rule of law
China must free Guo Yushan and He Zhengjun and restore confidence in their country.
Chinese authorities crack down on the country’s public interest groups and lawyers
On July 9, more than 100 lawyers in China issued an open letter on the Internet calling for an end to the shuttering of public interest groups and the detention and prosecution of individuals working for the public good.
Greece, the way out
The Greek government has only one sensible choice.
Russia’s Grentrance
If Greece leaves the eurozone, Russia will enter it, casting a chill over Europe.
The world’s biggest hydropower project may be causing giant landslides in China
A massive landslide this week is only the latest natural disaster critics believe the Three Gorges Dam has caused—even officials admit there have been 70% more landslides and bank collapses in the dam’s reservoir area since it was built 12 years ago. Lily Kuo for Quartz reports.
Massive landslide capsizes boats on Yangtze tributary
Massive landslide in China caught on video along the northern bank of the Daning River, a Yangtze tributary. Details still forthcoming. Various reports say boats capsized, 4 people injured, 1 missing.
Red Cross raised half a billion dollars to help Haiti rebuild … six homes
Publicly it has celebrated its work but, in reality, the Red Cross has repeatedly failed on the ground in Haiti. An investigation reveals damning insider information that exposes the group’s dubious claims.
Environmental protests expose weakness in China’s leadership
Mass protests are a growing fixture in China’s grassroots’ not-in-my-back-yard environmental justice movement. A lightning rod for public action concerns PX plants – chemical factories located elsewhere in the world that do not incite large-scale protests the way they do in China. Yet the Chinese government cannot convince citizens they are “no more harmful than a cup of coffee.”
China gets back to nukes
Driven by the need for clean energy in its war on pollution and further accelerated by worldwide global warming fears, China is set to resume plans for a nuclear renaissance that has many sounding an alarm over safety concerns.
Brazil’s Belo Monte dam puts livelihood of 2,000 families at risk, prosecutors say
Federal prosecutors say the Norte Energia consortium behind the $11-billion Belo Monte dam, the world’s third largest, has violated 55 previously agreed-to items that are endangering locals’ means of survival. Efforts to move residents should be suspended, they say.
Probe International 