All articles from Robert Marquand

Obama's big Africa push: Let there be light (+video)

President Obama pledged loan guarantees to help expand electrification in sub-Saharan Africa.
Africa Monitor Far apart on US shores, Bush and Obama find time to meet in Africa (+video)

The two US presidents, in Tanzania together by 'coincidence,' will lay a wreath at the site of a 1998 Al Qaeda bombing of the US embassy.
Africa Monitor Circle of history: Will Barack Obama visit Nelson Mandela?

With Obama in South Africa, Mandela's family has said a private visit between the two men might be meaningful for the South African leader.
Nelson Mandela and the qualities 'within easy reach of every soul'

President Obama shouted him out today. Only recently has Mandela's private thinking during his darkest days come to light: 'Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.'
One man's escape from Camp 14 and North Korea

Only one prisoner born in North Korea's gulag is known to have escaped to tell his story. A Q&A with Blaine Harden, the journalist who wrote about Shin Dong-hyuk.
North Korea's hidden labor camps exposed

A new UN panel is vowing to hold North Korea's Kim regime to 'full accountability' for decades of mass crime and murder. Will Pyongyang face ICC indictment?
Why China won't help the US on North Korea

Many Asia watchers are dubious that China either can or will take decisive action to push North Korea away from nuclear threats. Here are five underlying reasons why:
US military chief in Beijing warns of North Korea 'miscalculation'

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Dempsey is in China looking for help on North Korea. Though Beijing indicated it was 'working on' it, there are a number of reasons why China might be reluctant to push the North too hard.
Nuclear North Korea entreats Mongolia for help in feeding its people

Kim Jong-un, the young leader in Pyongyang, finds that destabilizing East Asia can help build quite an appetite.
Global News Blog Pakistan won't have Musharraf to kick around anymore

General Musharraf was a somewhat benign autocrat who wanted to be like Ataturk; but his return from exile to get elected in the top job, smacks of miscalculation.
Kim Jong-un's goal? Status as the unequivocal god-king of the North.

Kim Jong-un is showing he is firmly in charge of North Korea, capable of challenging the mighty United States and a worthy successor to the Kim dynasty. That might be a good thing.
Amid crisis, influential South Korean politician wants to deploy US nukes

A member of the South Korean National Assembly called for US tactical nuclear weapons on the peninsula. He also suggested that Seoul consider developing its own deterrent.
North Korean war talk: hot air or serious threat?

Pyongyang has cut the last military hotline to the South and says it's ready to target US bases in Hawaii, Guam, and South Korea. So why is there no sign the North is really girding for war?
Global News Blog North Korea turns up volume by silencing final military hot line

What happens now?
North Korea targets Hawaii, Guam in latest threat (+video)

The secluded state has been ramping up its rhetoric in recent weeks in response to new UN sanctions and joint military drills by the US and South Korea.
Global News Blog Hong Kong court rejects Filipino maids' plea for residency

Domestic workers in Hong Kong have long been treated a notch below other foreign workers, and are told that admission into the country can never be for the purposes of settlement.
Global News Blog Cyprus still groping for a solution to a banking crisis that's roiling Europe

Cyprus lawmakers are facing hard choices. Swallowing a bitter pill in exchange for a European bailout or leaving the eurozone are just two of them.
Global News Blog Cyprus's Plan B: What will happen if Moscow won't foot the bill?

Cypriot officials have now lingered in Moscow for a second day of talks regarding a potential bailout deal. Meanwhile, the government is also looking into internal options to drum up funds.