January 2012

European summits come and go and the White House and Congress bicker endlessly, to no effect. “The markets” are well aware of this, they see the elected representatives of the American people running round like headless chickens, at the mercy of forces they created but are now unable to control. Yet there will soon be presidential elections in the US, France, Russia and elsewhere. The media are concentrating on these, creating a surreal sense of disconnection between words and action. (...)

Recent violence in Tahrir Square has confirmed the split between Egypt’s armed forces and the protestors. Meanwhile in Suez the Salafists, who triumphed in the legislative elections, will have to respond to demands for social justice and freedom

After the crash of 2008, everybody expected the 1930s’ scenario — popular revolt against big business and its governmental cronies and facilitators. It looked as if it might happen, and then came the rightwards lurch that gave the Republicans the majority in government. But how will they fare in the coming elections?

Is it possible, after all the fanfares and baroque praise, that those ugly euro coins may go the way of the far more beautiful Maria-Theresa thalers and Spanish pieces of eight?

Democratic governments have balanced crises in their societies and economies since the second world war through inflation, then public debt, then private debt. All worked for a while, until the great crash of 2008. Now we are in uncharted territory

Latin American voters believe women run politics and nations less corruptly, and even male-led governments have realised that investment in women’s social advancement improves life overall. But the struggle is far from over

An indigenous community in Mexico wants to drop protected conservation status for its area because it feels it has lost real control of its land and way of life. Concern about carbon emissions is blinding policy makers to the failures of some of their conservation policies

Six years ago the colonial-built Strand Road in Rangoon was scheduled to become a historic district down by the river. Right now, it’s an improvised boardwalk, a place of construction and modest fun. Next year, it’ll be a multi-lane export superhighway. As it goes, so does Burma

Operation Green Hunt was declared in 2009 to suppress India’s long-running Maoist rebellion. To the delight of leftwing intellectuals whose support for the Maoists has grown, the Supreme Court has now ruled against the use of state‑ militia by the Chhattisgarh government

Compared with the six hundred years of the Ottoman Empire and two millennia of (intermittent) Chinese imperial rule, the nation-state is a blip on the historical horizon. The transition from empire has lessons for the present, and maybe the future

More and earlier teaching won’t redress childhood disadvantages, and not everyone will be able to go to university, or get graduate level jobs afterwards. Rebalancing the future will require a different approach

Each year millions of people die from avoidable or curable illnesses. Since 2002, an unprecedented financial effort has helped transform world health. Malaria is on the wane, a third of those in need receive treatment for Aids, and the fight against tuberculosis is under way. The 10 year-old Global Fund, which collects money from donor countries for programmes in 150 countries, is the main mechanism for this progress. But the present financial crisis may impact on its work

Each minute, a child dies of malaria. Yet medicines exist. And a vaccine may come soon

Though the Global Fund has allowed so many lives to be saved, the financial crisis is worrying: what if it means decreased funding?