Blossoming Russia
From the 20-25 January 2013 I visited the city of St. Petersburg, giving lectures in two prominent academic institutions â […]
History
Panama â a Country in Transition
Whoever has been fortunate enough to transit the Panama Canal by ship, has been part of a unique experience. In […]
Accidental Diplomacy: Australian-Japanese Relations
Disasters create strange bedfellows. What good could anyone imagine would come from the horrors of the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear leak that hit […]
The Glory that was Greece
The Greeks may currently owe us a lot; but our debt to the Greeks is immeasurable. Small comfort to a […]
Letter from Aotearoa New Zealand
Kia Ora and warm greetings from the South Pacific. Welcome to Aotearoa New Zealand. Let us introduce you to our […]
Long before the No Fly Zone, the US hit Gaddafiland hard
âWhy consult the crystal ball when you can read the book?â â Aneurin Bevan The Anglo-French led air incursion over […]
Egypt: Discontents of modernity, promise of antiquity
When Ibn Khaldun, the 14th-century polymath and forefather of modern-day social sciences, arrived in Cairo after spending 50 years in […]
âThe Islamic Republic wonât last forever. The Iranian Phoenix will be rebornâ
No country, except perhaps North Korea in recent years has attracted so much adverse attention as the Islamic Republic of […]
Jordan: a unique brand of hospitality
Among the worldâs many tourism destinations, not more than a handful may be said to live up to the hospitality industryâs old dictum of âtreat visitors as you would treat guests in your own homeâ. And it tells us a lot about the human condition that Jordan, a young and in many ways improbable country saddled with more than its fair share of economic and political problems, is one of them.
Malaysia: An ‘open house’ tradition
Those who have visited this Southeast Asian destination in the past few weeks have been treated to the spectacle of […]