Rabih Mroué is a Lebanese theatremaker and performer who performed all over Europe. During the Moussem Art Festival his Make me stop smoking was staged in Antwerp and in Brussels. It is an intriguing performance of a local artist using a global language.

In six months time – from April till October- governments all around the world have invested 8 trillion dollar in the banking system. And we’re nowhere near the end.

According to the European Commission, Europe and China should urgently set up talks about Africa. The Commission also calls for a conversation on peace and safety, infrastructure, environment and mineral wealth, agriculture and food in the black continent. According to critics, Europe only wants to defend its commercial interests and wants China to ...

Kirkuk has become a persistently emblematic case for Iraq. For the Kurds Kirkuk is their fourth province, a logical extension of the Kurd Autonomous Region (KAR). The Arab Iraqis and the Turkomen however claim Kirkuk to remain under Bagdad’s wings. The city and the province of the same name are already considered the ultimate test case for Iraq’s n ...

Seventeen years ago Albania was completely isolated from the rest of the world. Today, European membership is on the horizon. But every process of transition has to deal with growing pains.

The United Nations General Assembly elects a president every year. For the 63th session which began on September 16, the world’s nations elected the former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann. Father Miguel d’Escoto, to be precise. He uses the presidential podium not only to anounce the next speaker, but also to anounce that ano ...

Chenjerai Hove (52) is one of Zimbabwe’s biggest authors and most respected thinkers. He lives in exile in Norway but stayed in Vollezele -a small village in Flanders- for a while to work on an update of Shakespeare’s play King Lear. Hove: ‘Just like Lear, Mugabe surrounds himself with flatterers and people who confirm his policies.

The struggle against drugs in the 'Golden Triangle' – Laos, Birma and Thailand – causes many victims among the poorer farmer families. Traditionally, they are specialized in growing opium poppies. Following severe efforts of governments to counter opium growing, these farmers are now deprived of their income.

After years of negative reporting about silenced media, crushed street demonstrations, forged elections and political repression, this summer finally good news came from Belarus. President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime released its most important political prisoners. Is there a wind of change blowing through Europe’s “last dictatorship”? The parlia ...

Although being a very friendly and modest person, Damon Galgut writes gloomy novels about mankind and the human intercommunication skills. He creates magnificent stories while using desolate landscapes and corrupted governments. In short, he offers us a consoling pessimism.

Policy makers, company leaders and social movements are becoming aware of the many problems facing the planet today. And they want to make an effort to create something new. Different and better. A term that seems to be catching on to cover this process is transition