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Maduro's Venezuela, When "Democracy" Is Worse Than Dictatorship
Worldcrunch.com / EL ESPECTADOR -OpEd- As the old saying goes, no situation is so bad that it can't get worse. The cruel irony of Venezuela's going from bad to worse is how the government of President...
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Imperial Memories Of Palaces Past
Worldcrunch.com / WORLDCRUNCH On two separate trips, we visited the Hofburg imperial palace you see here in the bustling center of Vienna, as well as the emperors' exuberantly baroque summer residence...
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Syrian War, With The Displaced Of Homs Trickling Back Home
Worldcrunch.com / SYRIA DEEPLY HOMS – Akram al-Khoule and his 7-year-old son hold hands as they stare at the once familiar primary school building, now demolished, looted of its contents and stripped...
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Catalonia Like Quebec? Spain Should Be As Cool As Canada
Worldcrunch.com / LE MONDE PARIS — What is France to do, as neighbors, and we Europeans, as fellow citizens, faced with the declaration of independence of Catalonia? It undermines a large European...
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Why Chinese Arms Sales In Asia Are Booming
Worldcrunch.com / LE TEMPS HONG KONG — Last week, China’s ambassador to the Phillipines, Zhao Jinhua, delivered 3000 assault rifles to Manila during a ceremony at the Philippine Army headquarters. At...
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Algeria To Sardinia, A New Migrant Route To Europe
Worldcrunch.com / WORLDCRUNCH CAGLIARI — Just over 280 kilometers (174 miles) of Mediterranean water separates the Algerian port city of Annaba from the Sulcis on the southwest coast of the Italian...
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Washington: On Missing Squares And The Meaning Of A Park
Worldcrunch.com / YONDER WASHINGTON — This is an elegant city. It is smooth and soft-spoken. It’s clean and well kept, possibly because most of the residential buildings in the city are family...
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Lebanon, Palace Intrigue And Risks Of The Next Proxy War
Worldcrunch.com / WORLDCRUNCH -Analysis- Lebanon can be seen as a microcosm for the entire Middle East: intractable sectarian conflict, economic potential, terrorist threats and a labyrinthine web of...
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So Many Mouths To Feed: Argentina's Golden Opportunity
Worldcrunch.com / CLARIN BUENOS AIRES — As a major food producer, Argentina is well positioned to cash in on growing global demand. Of that there's little doubt. And yet, for all of its beef and...
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Gérard Depardieu, The Impossible Interview
Worldcrunch.com / LE FIGARO PARIS — It was a Sunday morning in October of somber skies and light rain. But we couldn't have been more charged up, heading to Gérard Depardieu’s residence in the 6th...
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An Italian Soccer Metaphor For Europe's Troubles
Worldcrunch.com / WORLDCRUNCH -Essay- This was not how he wanted to say goodbye. Gianluigi “Gigi” Buffon’s tears were featured Tuesday on the front pages of Italian newspapers, and not just the...
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When Trump Went To China, "America First" Blindness v. Visionary Xi
Worldcrunch.com / LES ECHOS -Analysis- PARIS — When John Adams began to compose the opera Nixon in China in 1985, nearly 15 years had passed since the event that marked an important turning point in...
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Exotic Fruit To Fair-Trade Fabric, Colombia's New Export Potential
Worldcrunch.com / EL ESPECTADOR BOGOTÁ — The dragon fruit, or pitaya — that exotic fruit resembling a yellow or red flame and touted for its many health benefits — might just be the great new hope of...
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Central American Gray
Worldcrunch.com / WORLDCRUNCH This is the capital of Belize, the tiny state in Central America. Unlike colorful cities in neighboring Mexico and Guatemala, I remember the capital Belmopan as a...
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Bitcoin Limits: A Matter Of Trust, Not Technology
Worldcrunch.com / BLOOMBERG NEWS The Bitcoin rate spike, still alive despite bitter divisions in the community that supports the cryptocurrency, has laid bare the biggest problem with Bitcoin:...
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From Aung to Zimbabwe, Foreign Pressure Goes Only So Far
Worldcrunch.com / WORLDCRUNCH Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s three decades in power may finally be over. Gunfire broke out late Tuesday in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare as military panzers...
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How Globalization Fuels Separatist Movements
Worldcrunch.com / LE FIGARO -Analysis- PARIS — The Catalan flag fluttered alongside the European flag and its 12 stars on Oct. 27, when Catalonia declared its independence from Spain. But Jean-Claude...
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Gift Or Bribe? New South Korean Graft Law Treads On Tradition
Worldcrunch.com / KBR SEOUL — Stella came to South Korea on a government scholarship to do a PhD. She says when she arrived from Europe, she found that the degree came with some "unofficial" costs. "I...
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Displaced Guatemalans Languish On Mexican Border
Worldcrunch.com / WORLDCRUNCH LAGUNA LARGA — Four months ago, hundreds of villagers were expelled from their land in the jungles of northern Guatemala. The government claimed they were encroaching on...
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Au Pair Or Indentured Servant? Globetrotting Babysitters Face Exploitation
Worldcrunch.com / LE MONDE PARIS — Young women marched in London last month in memory of Sophie Lionnet, a young French au pair who had been murdered and whose charred remains were discovered on Sept....
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