Formerly known as French Somaliland (1883-1967) and renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (1967-1977), the colony took the name of Djibouti when it gained the independence from France in 1977. With a total area of barely more than 20,000 km2 (little smaller than the Italian region of Lombardy) and a population of approximately one…
When Saudi Arabia launched a diplomatic crusade against Qatar last June, it was widely speculated that the crisis would reach a swift resolution, as was the case with a similar situation three years prior. However, 2014 saw a quieter conflict in which the diplomatic impasse was relieved after a series of clandestine agreements were struck. The…
Exactly 40 years ago, in 1978, Deng Xiaoping took China by the reins and led it on a path of mass economic reform; dismantling the agriculture sector and encouraging foreign investment which revived an advanced economic system that had been stagnating and declining for nearly five centuries. Of course, such a rapid growth was in-part…
October 18, 2017: inauguration of the XIX National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The Beijing authorities, among many themes, have decided to take stock of the protection of human rights in the country by issuing a publication entitled “The new achievements of China in the field of human rights (2012-2017)” to celebrate the progress…
That between the two Koreas is a war that has been fought for more than fifty years, although the three-year conflict between the US-led coalition under the United Nations flag and the North Communist regime led by Kim Il-Sung, supported by China and the Soviet Union, ended in the far 1953. The war did not…
Kim Jong-un warned the world that his country will keep building up its nuclear arsenal regardless of sanctions, political or military pressure. North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile. It’s North Korea’s 11th missile test this year. The launch “ignores repeated warnings from the international community,” and “shows its threat was further increased”, sayd Japanese…
