Critical Analysis: Mexico City In Crisis: The Western Hemisphere’s Largest City Can’t Quench Its Thirst

A recent hiccup in Mexico City’s water quality has sparked new debate around the metropolis’ water system. In the last few weeks, Mexico City residents have been complaining about their tap water. Inhabitants have noticed an extraordinarily strange taste and smell of their water, but the country’s National Water Commission (CONAGUA) assures the public that … Read more

Critical Analysis: Drone Strikes in Pakistan Surge in the Summer

Though the news media is seemingly all eyes on the Olympics this week, drones have been making magazine covers and headlines as attacks on militants in Pakistan have escalated during the summer and days before a visit to Washington by Pakistan’s intelligence chief. Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), are what their proper … Read more

Critical Analysis: North Korea Recognizes its First Lady

In North Korean media, a mysterious woman has been showing up alongside Kim Jong-un.  This woman was seen attending an important gala concert, followed by a kindergarten, and most recently at the inauguration of an amusement park.  However, at this most recent event, North Korean media reported that this woman, now identified as Ri Sol-ju, … Read more

Critical Analysis: “Radical Reforms” Likely in the Wake of LIBOR Scandal

In the wake of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) scandal that cost Barclays Bank 290 million pounds ($455m) in fines and the bank’s CEO and chairman their jobs, world financial leaders are calling for reforms to the interest rate system that affects $800 trillion worth of financial instruments.  Sir Mervyn King, governor of the … Read more

Protected Witness in Mladic Trial Recalls His Survival of a Mass Execution During the Srebrenica Genocide

This is a summary of the Prosecution’s cross examination of witness RM255 on July 19, 2012 in the war crimes case against General Ratko Mladic. Bosnian Serb ex-army chief Ratko Mladic oversaw the Serb army “obliterating everyone like a fire,” a protected witness said Thursday. Separated by Serb soldiers from his family while trying to … Read more

Critical Analysis: U.S. Naval Ship Fires on Indian Pleasure Boat

A U.S. Navy supply ship fired at a small boat in the Persian Gulf on Monday, injuring three people and killing one. United Arab Emirates officials reported that the casualties were Indians on a small, white pleasure craft. Before the incident, which some are calling a reflection of rising tensions in the region, the small … Read more

Hands Off My Patagonia: Chile Leverages its Most Precious Biogem as it Struggles to Satisfy a Growing Need for National Energy

The future of Chile’s Patagonia continues to be a source of steep controversy as a large-scale dam project looms. HidroAysén is the name of the $3.2 billion hydroelectric dam project that appears to be slowly moving forward in the Aysén region of the South American country. If HidroAysén is executed according to current plans, it … Read more

United States’ First Universal Jurisdiction Prosecution for Piracy

On July 13, 2012, the U.S. Federal District Court for the District of Columbia handed down United States v. Ali Mohamed Ali.  This case is remarkable for several reasons: first, it is the first time the United States has used the principle of universal jurisdiction to prosecute a Somali pirate and second, the prosecution is … Read more

Critical Analysis: The Trans-Pacific Partnership and its Discontents

President Obama is touting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as a 21st Century trade agreement, a model for everything from industrial goods to Internet services. The principal purpose of which, like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), is to increase trade and remove restrictions on the flow of goods and capital between member states. So … Read more

Critical Analysis: Fukushima Reactor and Japanese Nuclear Policy

In the wake of wide-scale protests in Tokyo on June 29 over the restart of two Kansai Electric Power Co. nuclear reactors, the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission released an 88-page report that describes Fukushima as a “profoundly man-made disaster.” The report disputes the government’s argument of the failure of the Fukushima cooling systems … Read more