Analysis

Analysis

Can Alternative Livelihoods Dismantle Colombia’s Narcotics Empire?

26 January 2016 -

As the news about El Chapo’s recapture continues to make headlines, MO* explores Colombia’s narcotics empire to understand how the development of alternative livelihoods is trying to combat the illicit drug trade and production from the inside.

Analysis

From emergency aid to a new Nepal

12 November 2015 -

Almost 3 million Nepali are struggling to recover from the April earthquake. Hundreds of aftershocks prevented reconstruction and a monsoon causing over 6000 landslides lengthened the emergency. A team of Belgian journalists followed the aid money to investigate the situation six moths after the disaster struck. They found patience, solid ...

Analysis

Is Kabila on his way out?

12 October 2015 -

President Kabila faces challenges on a number of fronts, from the opposition to the grassroots to members of his own inner circle. How much longer can he hold on?

Analysis

Burundi 2005-2015: Autopsy of an embryonic democracy

15 September 2015 -

Burundi went from a country heading towards peace in democracy to a country heading straight for the abyss. Kris Berwouts traces this unfortunate fall from grace in this well-informed analysis. 'The political crisis leaves Burundi not only on the brink of civil war, but also close to economic collapse.'

Analysis

Putin's media takeover

3 August 2015 -

The Russian government does not only keep a close watch on television channels, radio broadcasters and printing press, it also tries to control the internet. This makes it even more difficult for Russians to obtain information that has not been screened by the Kremlin.

Analysis

Pakistan’s Internal Debate on Extremism

11 June 2015 -

Pakistan is fast losing traditional space to emotional sloganeering, empty rhetoric and fake jubilations in its war against terrorism. Every act of terrorism against an individual or a group with particular intellectual, sectarian or ethnic identity establishes the fact that cosmetics are no longer sufficient to hide the ugly face of reality. With ...

Analysis

Roots of radicalisation in Pakistan

29 May 2015 -

The political and intellectual consensus against terrorism in Pakistan is getting regular shocks by unabated terrorist attacks on civilians and communities. With 1520 people killed during 5 months of 2015, the “motivated vigor” of civil and military leadership has started sounding shallow despite the successes of military operations in ...

Analysis

The Widening Black Hole of Karachi

18 May 2015 -

Pakistan might look like a puzzle with too many missing pieces. Then try solving Karachi. It has all the complexities and contradictions of Pakistan, plus the intensity of a megacity on steroids. If that sounds sexy, think again. Karachi produces more victims than a country at war would do on a normal day.

Analysis

Who is killing dissent and diversity in Pakistan?

5 May 2015 -

The spate of targeted attacks on high profile academics and a peace activist jolted Pakistan out of lofty dreams of $46 billions neatly spread in a colorful corridor. Ridiculing the claims by civil and military establishment about ongoing operation against target killers and terrorists, the murders created a thick wave of gloom, despair, anger and ...

Analysis

Will Pakistan-Saudi relations survive Yemen crisis?

27 April 2015 -

Ceciel Shiraz Raj will provide MO* with a weekly analysis of the trends shaping Pakistan. He reads the vociferous media in his country and boils all the screaming headlines down to what really matters. The life and tmes of a Hard Country, as Anatol Lieven called Pakistan.

Analysis

‘Europe, still one country ahead’

27 April 2015 -

When it comes to migration, all the eyes have been on the Mediterranean recently. The sheer scope of the human tragedies off the European coasts and the indifference of our continent are hard to grasp. But the sea isn't the only gateway to Europe. Thousands of people are making their way up north by land, across the Western Balkan.

Analysis

Cocaine trafficking across Europe in the age of technology

23 April 2015 -

With technology evolving rapidly, drug trafficking is set for the dawn of a new era. It is now possible to buy drugs online and have them delivered right to your doorstep just like any other product. How is this changing the relationship between drug suppliers and users? MO* looks at how cocaine dealers, users and law enforcement agencies are adapt ...