A Bolivian Seaside Drama

Building Bridges to the Sea? photo: Señor Hans, flickr

Earlier this week, Bolivia threatened to take Chile before an international court after Chile failed to respond to a deadline set for negotiations to settle a more than 100-year-old dispute between the two nations on questions of access to the Pacific Ocean.

Mr Morales was speaking on Bolivia’s “Day of the Sea”, the day when it commemorates its defeat by Chile in the 19th Century War of the Pacific: “Our fight for maritime re-vindication, which has marked our history for 132 years, must now include another element”, he said at the ceremony in La Paz. “We must go to international tribunals and organizations to demand free and sovereign access to the sea.”

Responding, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said that Santiago sees any negotiation on this matter with La Paz as a “serious obstacle” to their already strained relations. “Bolivia cannot expect a direct, frank and sincere dialogue while it simultaneously manifests its intention to go to international tribunals,” he said.

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All Eyes on Libya

Libyan Uprising, by Libyan_Uprising.svg: Rafy, en:User:Interchange88 derivative work: War.dog (Libyan_Uprising.svg) [CC0 (creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons
Libyan Uprising (Source WikiCommons)
How do you follow the situation in Libya? Where do you get your background information from?

Here is a selection of fascinating links we’ve come across:

We’ve missed your favourite source of information? Leave us a comment!

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Uncategorized

ISN Insights – Week Ahead, Look Back

It's week 12 on our 2011 editorial calendar, Photo: Leo Reynolds/flickr

Coming up this week in our ISN Insights coverage:

  • The Jamestown Foundation’s Roman Muzalevsky takes a closer look on Monday at Kazakhstan’s growing regional ambitions evidenced in its increasing commitment to strategic dialogue initiatives.
  • On Tuesday Dr Harsh V Pant from King’s College London’s Department of Defense Studies examines India’s renewed Look East Policy  — particularly in relationship to Japan — as the country works to offset China’s growing regional prowess.
  • Wednesday, we examine Robert Mugabe’s new wave of violence against Zimbabwe’s political opposition in reaction to fears of an Arab-style uprising, courtesy of Professor Derek Catsam.
  • A Swiss Peace Foundation analysis from Dr Didier Péclard and David Lanz on Thursday explains the many challenges to the primarily endogenous process that is statebuilding.
  • We round out the week on Friday in a podcast discussion about the ICC with the President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, Christian Wenaweser.

And in case you missed last week’s coverage, you can check it out here: backsliding on democracy in the Ukraine; China’s growing naval prowess; the status of Ethiopian Jews in Israel; a new multinational effort to fight transnational organized crime in Central America; and a podcast about evolving US foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific.

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Business and Finance

Bad Blood

Shhh! Secret Testing Facility. Photo: slurpiesandstraws☮/flickr

On Monday, 14 March 2011, seven Guatemalan citizens filed suit against US health officials over nonconsensual medical experiments – including the infection of some 700 Guatemalan prisoners, soldiers, mental patients and orphans with syphilis – carried out in the Central American country by American doctors between 1948 and 1964.

The Guatemalan study, which was never published, came to light in 2010 after Wellesley College Professor Susan Reverby stumbled upon archived documents outlining the experiments led by the controversial doctor John Cutler. According to the documents, American scientists persuaded prison and orphanage authorities to allow them to deliberately infect hundreds of Guatemalans with syphilis in order to test the efficacy of penicillin, in exchange for medical equipment like refrigerators, and medication to treat epilepsy and malaria.

Today’s Guatemalan lawsuit calls to mind the 1930s Tuskegee syphilis experiments in Alabama, where hundreds of African Americans were observed for over 40 years, without being told they had been infected and without being treated, even after penicillin became available. Needless to say, US government doctors at the time thought it perfectly appropriate to experiment on disabled people, minorities or prison inmates – practices all too familiar from Europe and East Asia in the 1930s.

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Business and Finance

Will Natural Gas Power the 21st Century?

How will we satisfy our demand for power in the future? Lightning - Courtesy of Hugol/flickr

The “Nuclear Power Renaissance” might be coming to an end before it has had the chance to flourish. In light of the current nuclear meltdown in Japan, people are growing increasingly suspicious of nuclear plants. Governments in several countries are thus postponing or reviewing plans to advance nuclear power as the keystone of their electricity supply.

In their search for alternatives, policy makers would be well advised to take a good look at natural gas. Recent developments in the market are likely to render it increasingly attractive for consumers.

Firstly, the geography of gas supply is currently being turned upside down. Technological progress has enabled the exploitation of gas reserves previously thought inaccessible in North America. As a consequence, the US has become the world’s main producer, overtaking natural gas giants Russia and Iran.

Europe, India and China, too, are thought to be sitting on vast gas reserves, which may now be exploited thanks to new drilling techniques. At the moment, it remains uncertain how soon, and to what extent, these gas reserves will become economically viable. Nevertheless, global supply of natural gas is expected to rise markedly in the long run. Increased supply coupled with current sluggish demand (due to the global recession) should keep prices low. Moreover, consumers will be able to boost energy security by diversifying their natural gas supply.

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