In Today’s Morocco, Everyone’s a Democrat

As the Arab world demands greater democracy – and appears to be winning it in the streets – activists and politicians from across Morocco’s ideological spectrum are scrambling to establish their democratic credentials. The sense is that greater democracy is coming – whether it be through popular revolt or swift reforms from the royal palace – and no one wants to be left behind [...]

The Saudi way?

I am told it is the Saudi way, but it is not the way I am used to. First, the Minister of Information, Abdul Aziz Mohiddin Khojah answers his own phone. He also makes his own appointments, inviting me to meet him at his office in Riyadh today [...]

Lock’em up

Al Dustour newspaper is not alone in naming and shaming Egyptian officials suspected of corruption. Some folks I talked with in Cairo today are heartened by recent efforts to take down shady operators. But they admit it’s only the beginning of a colossal task ahead.

Reading between the lines in Riyadh

The art of diplomacy is being tested in capitals around the world these days as events in the Middle East and North Africa continue to thunder and roll through the region. In Saudi Arabia, it seems it is no different. I saw evidence of that today at, of all places, the opening of Saudi Arabia’s huge international book fair in Riyadh [...]

What’s happening in Egypt

I’m back in Cairo getting up to speed on where things are right now with the Egyptian revolution. If you can pull yourself away from the latest appearance by Col. Gaddafi, here is some great writing on Egypt [...]

Saudi Arabia’s dueling petitions

Word today of another petition, a traditional protest platform in this country. This one carries more than 100 signatures of academics and activists and businessmen. It may not sound like much, but it stands out in a country that rarely sees dissent. I spoke to one of of the signatories , activist and academic Khalid Al-Dhakil, who said he feels this petition drive differs from those in years gone by because “circumstances are different” [...]

Baby Monkey Gangs Reveal Genetic Effects of Loneliness

Loneliness isn’t just a state of mind. It also affects our bodies. A growing number of studies are showing that a feeling of loneliness is associated with heart problems, viral infections, and an increased risk of death. And those health problems, in turn, are associated with huge differences in gene activity. Some genes, like ones involved in inflammation, are more active in lonely people. Others, such as genes that code for antiviral defenses, are less active.

Conservation and the Spirit World

The most intriguing session I attended at this year’s AAAS meeting was led by Stanford ecologist José Fragoso. In it, Fragoso described how he and his colleagues are working with indigenous groups in Guyana and Brazil to find out how cultural change affects the diversity of species in the surrounding forests and savannas.

China’s Jasmine crackdown

Stravinsky had his Rite of Spring; China’s Communist Party has its own. As the first warm(er) breezes blow, Internet connections slow and sometimes fizzle out entirely. Spring in Beijing brings the annual 10-day meeting of the National People’s Congress, which this year starts on March 5th. China’s leaders, and more to the point China’s security apparatus, views this as a “sensitive time,” a time when public opinion must be kept “harmonious.” That is to say, criticism of the Party’s record or style of governance, is to be silenced.

The Bilingual Brain

I have always considered myself a linguistic mutt. I grew up speaking Bengali (my mother tongue), Hindi (India’s national language), and English (a legacy of India’s colonial past). So I was thrilled to learn that the 2011 annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) had a session on bilingualism. It was titled “Crossing Borders in Language Science: What Bilinguals Are Telling Us About Mind and Brain.”

On the Road with the Chinese Foreign Ministry: Anatomy of an Explosive Story

Sometimes, how a story is told can tell you almost as much as the story itself. So it was with an explosion that went off at 10:30am on Thursday, August 19, in the town of Aksu, in China’s far western region of Xinjiang, about 400 miles southwest of the capital Urumqi. Context is everything, here. Xinjiang has for centuries been home to the Turkic Muslim ethnic group called Uighurs – indeed, it is officially called the “Uighur Autonomous Region.” But these days, Uighurs make up barely half of the region’s population. That’s because, for the past 60 years, the Chinese government has encouraged members of the dominant Han Chinese ethnicity to move to Xinjiang to tame and develop China’s wild west. Continue reading

Follow along with Mary Kay Magistad’s special dispatches on her trip to the Uighur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, in China’s far west and the largely ethnic Tibetan province of Qinghai.

On the road with China’s Foreign Ministry

It used to be in China that the only way foreign correspondents could legally travel in the provinces was with government minders – or, if you will, facilitators. As time went on, China became more open, and more and more foreign correspondents bent or flouted the rules, the rules eventually changed. Since January 2007, foreign journalists have officially been allowed to go (almost) anywhere in China, and talk to anyone who’s willing to be interviewed. Almost anywhere – except Tibet. And local areas that make up their own rules – like, certain parts of Sichuan after the 2008 earthquake, or the southern Xinjiang city of Kashgar, or many places that have just put down a demonstration. <a href="Continue reading

Follow along with Mary Kay Magistad’s special dispatches on her trip to the Uighur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, in China’s far west and the largely ethnic Tibetan province of Qinghai.