The week with IPS 2/28

	Economic Reforms Needed for Peace in South Sudan Charlton Doki Gatmai Deng lost three family members in the violence that erupted in South Sudan on Dec. 15 and lasted until the end of January. And he blames their deaths on the government’s failure to use the country’s vast oil revenues to create a better life for its almost 11 million people. When the ... MORE > >
	North Korea Doing Fine Without the South Ahn Mi Young If the North Korea of the 1990s was seen as a starving nation that produced an exodus of hungry people, then the picture should be even gloomier now – six years after it stopped receiving South Korea’s generous aid. But it’s not. The nation of 24 million people, widely said to be the most secretive ... MORE > >
	U.N. Report on South Sudan Paints Grim Picture Samuel Oakford An interim human rights report released by the beleaguered U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan is being tentatively hailed by rights groups and observers who have pressured the mission to be more transparent with its findings. The report, delivered to the Security Council Friday and tweeted ... MORE > >
	Smuggled Medicines Save Lives Ashfaq Yusufzai They are contraband, yet a large number of Pakistanis have come to depend on drugs made in India and smuggled into Pakistan. Patients as well as doctors say these are cheap and effective, even as law enforcers look the other way. The two countries do not have a trade agreement on drugs, but ... MORE > >
	U.S., EU Out-Manoeuvred by Syria Thalif Deen An inflow of Russian-made weapons. Political and military support from Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Sharp dissension among fractious rebel groups. And the unyielding loyalty of the armed forces. These are four primary reasons why Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has succeeded ... MORE > >
	EU No Instant Saviour for Ukraine Pavol Stracansky Ukrainians are facing years of pain and upheaval if the country moves towards closer EU integration – or the prospect of the country being left to “rot” if they do not, experts say following the weekend’s revolution. European leaders have pledged support for the East European state following the ... MORE > >
	Where Would You Like Your New Glacier? Marianela Jarroud The idea sounds like harebrained science-fiction, but the accelerated retreat of glaciers due to global warming and the effects of mining is leading scientists to seek to restore or recreate these valuable reservoirs of fresh water. “There are a number of technologies for saving and creating new ... MORE > >
	Somalis Caught in Crossfire as Al-Shabaab ‘Plays to Survive’ Ahmed Osman As the Somali government plans to launch a new military campaign to wipe out the Islamic extremist group, Al-Shabaab, from its strongholds in this Horn of Africa nation, experts say that its Somalia’s innocent who live in areas controlled by the group who will suffer the most. On Friday, ... MORE > >
	Ayurveda Offers Balm to Cancer Patients K. S. Harikrishnan Balakrishnan, a labourer from Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala, was suffering from oral cancer. He was admitted to the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) in Thiruvananthapuram. After the first course of radiation therapy, the 60-year-old could not eat or drink because of severe pain and ... MORE > >
	‘Humanitarian Crisis’ for Ogaden Living Near Ethiopia’s Oil Fields Ed McKenna New allegations of scorched earth evictions of the Ogaden people have raised concerns that a lack of benefit sharing could escalate instability in the region and reinforce separatist tensions as foreign energy companies prepare to extract oil and gas from troubled southeastern Ethiopia. “The ... MORE > >
	Poverty Rises Amidst Gold Catherine Wilson Natural reserves such as gold, copper, nickel, gas and timber are being extracted in the western Pacific island states of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands to feed the soaring economies of East and South East Asia. But despite these Pacific nations recording economic growth rates of 6-11 percent ... MORE > >
	Recession and Repression Fuel Anger Pavol Stracansky As Ukraine’s capital experiences the worst violence in its post-Soviet history, some protestors are warning that the festering discontent with the regime which led to the current crisis is unlikely to disappear overnight even if a solution to the current impasse is found. When the ... MORE > >