Dossier articles from the past 3 months
Far from the reflectors of global strategies and tensions, the small South-East Asian island country seems to be suspended in a reality of wellbeing and peace. But it is really living through profound contradictions and in danger of drifting into fundamentalism as has happened in other nations of southern and South-East Asia provoked, if not…
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With a population that is 70% ethnically Malayan, Brunei has been under the influence of a much more rigid version of Islam as compared with bordering Malaysia and neighbouring Indonesia. The situation leaves little room for religious freedom for other faiths, especially Christianity, of whatever origin, be it Chinese, tribal or immigrant. The problem is…
Read moreA small Catholic population. The seven pastoral priorities. Living under Sharia Law. Cardinal Cornelius Sim, apostolic vicar of Brunei talks about his community. Last November, Pope Francis made mons. Cornelius Sim apostolic vicar of Brunei, a cardinal. “For me, it was a bit of a shock and unexpected”, said mons. Sim. “I think this appointment’s…
Read moreSeven years have passed and the real reasons for the introduction of the most severe version (at least on paper) of the Islamic penal code are still unknown, at least in part. From among the various analyses of the question, we may synthesise three points of convergence. The first is that of national identity, closely…
Read moreMarch 2021 will mark the tenth anniversary of the Syrian war. The bulk of the fighting ended in 2017, but Syria continues to suffer. The people, those outside Damascus and Latakia especially, live on the edge of famine, and the country is completely devastated. No reconstruction has occurred, and half the population has been displaced.…
Read moreThe definition of civil war has never quite applied in the case of Syria. Ever since the armed insurrection against the Assad government began in 2011, it has never been a clear case of insurgents fighting against the ‘regime’. Rather, the war quickly degenerated into a series of ethnic, confessional and national conflicts of which…
Read moreThe Russians are the ones who, having taken a direct military role alongside Damascus in 2015, have done most to defeat ISIS and perhaps, more importantly, the other rebel forces. The Turks will want to ensure that they can maintain a military presence in northern Syria to watch over Kurdish separatist ambitions. Israel keeps the…
Read moreOn 6 March 2011, a group of teenagers wrote anti-government graffiti on a school wall in Dara’a, a Sunni-majority city in the south of the country, suffering from a long drought and poor harvests. During the following days, the regime reacted with arrests and one of the students was found dead. But instead of fear,…
Read moreThe Black Sea, besides being a transit zone for oil, is rich in energy deposits which caused it to be defined as ‘The New North Sea’. The exploration of these resources has accelerated in the past decade due to advances in technology that enabled the limits imposed by the presence of underlying geological risks and…
Read moreA further crucial element in the balance of power in the Black Sea is that of the control of the straits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. In past centuries, these passages represented the largest prize in the geopolitical confrontation between Russia and Turkey. On the basis of the Montreux Convention of 1936, passage through…
Read moreThe Black Sea is situated in the centre of the vast geographical area that runs from the Adriatic to the Caspian Sea. Together with the Maghreb, the Mashreq and the Balkans, it constitutes one of the sub-regions of the Mediterranean Sea. The different strategic priorities of the countries facing the basin with their heterogeneous historical…
Read moreIt was the conflict that broke out between Russia and Georgia in 2008 that challenged the balance of power imposed by the United States in the area of the Black Sea. Georgia, after winning independence in 1991, adopted a pro-western stance with the aim of joining the North Atlantic Treaty. This induced Tbilisi to promote…
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“We want to create a federation of international journalistic organisations that collaborate in this effort, starting from the global South,” says Filipino journalist and 2022…
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Once upon a time, there was a leopard. He had a huge walnut tree that was full of nuts. Stingy as he was, however, he forbade…
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Three young Comboni missionaries from three continents share their vocation stories and missionary experiences. Fr Victor Cunanan Parungao from the Philippines reflects on 15 years of…
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