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MO*lecture: Who profits from Congo’s raw materials?

16 September 2013 -

MO*lecture: panel composed of David Van Reybrouck, Karel De Gucht, Chrispin Mvano, Steven Spittaels and John Vandaele.

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Broader, Deeper, Faster: the Canal 2.0

16 September 2013 -

Central American Panama is currently expanding its Canal. The first megaships will pass through its new locks by 2015. With this megaproject Panama aims to become a logistical intersection for the entire continent and potentially for a rapidly evolving global economy. Panama is responsible for broadening the Canal itself, which in turn, initiated a ...

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MO*lecture: The Future of Pakistan

12 September 2013 -

Pakistan has elected a new government with Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister, and a new President has taken office. This year, the country should also get a new Chief Justice and a new Chief of Army Staff. Do all these changes at the top launch Pakistan towards a new and more promising future, or will the country struggle on and continue to be confron ...

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The red telephone line between Brussels and Washington

11 September 2013 -

Like the Soviet Union and the US used to have a “red telephone line” during the Cold War in case of emergency, also the EU has a direct emergency line with Washington. Did the NSA try to spy on Brussels through that connection? Alexandro Legein, head of the Security Service of the European Council, comments.

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Tunisia's burning issues

27 August 2013 -

Statistics show that the number of people setting themselves on fire in Tunisia is on the rise. According to the Interior Ministry, since 2010, there has been a five-fold increase in the number of people setting themselves alight across the North African state.

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“An opinion should never become an incitement to hatred or violence’’

27 August 2013 -

Navanathem Pillay advocated for Nelson Mandela when he was held prisoner at Robben Island. Today she is the highest-ranking defender of human rights in the world. "I've never met anyone who, on the basis of tradition or culture, rejects the right to be free of fear or poverty."

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The German Energiewende: It is our energy !

8 August 2013 -

Germany is undergoing an ambitious energy transition, or as they say in German: an Energiewende. While it's not certain that the country will meet its goals, many Germans are making their own efforts as the financial crisis fuels a desire to collaborate on producing renewable energy locally. Some, however, are critical of the increasing costs.

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Serious cyber attack hits Belgian military intelligence service

7 August 2013 -

Early 2013, experts of the US Cyber Command helped the Belgian military intelligence service ADIV get on top of a serious cyber attack. In an exclusive interview with the Belgian monthly magazine MO*, general Eddy Testelmans (head of ADIV) sheds some light on the events and on Belgium's own capability to intercept communications abroad.

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Paradise belongs to everyone

5 August 2013 -

They are all over the place on the West Bank of the Jordan and they look at you from walls, in bus shelters and on lampposts: the Palestinian martyrs. Photographer Sander Buyck and journalist Ward Schouppe went to Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jenin and to the villages and camps around these cities to better understand this obsession with martyrdom. A story ...

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'Men use Islam to do whatever they want'

5 August 2013 -

For her, there's no doubt about it: women in Afghanistan are treated as second-class citizens. That certainty is a continuous source of pain, anger and motivation to keep working, because she is convinced that another world for women is possible. Razia Arefi coordinates the activities of Mothers for Peace in Afghanistan.

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The growing pains of Brussels

15 July 2013 -

Spanish rates of unemployment, Chinese levels of income inequality and a diversity comparable to that of New York: Brussels has it all. The city is driven by modern dynamics but is governed by institutions stemming from old inter-community tensions. The growing sense of "Brussels" can help to better address the problems.

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“I will defend my territory, but I also dare to move this territory”

8 July 2013 -

'Fabulous news and well deserved it is, that Sidi Larbi receives the 2012 Flemish Culture Prize. His work bridges gaps, opens eyes, and creates universes into which one is absorbed as a spectator.' That was Goedele Janssens' response on the de Singel culture house website following the announcement of choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's show Puz/z ...