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As it’s the Chinese New Year holiday, I figured a change of pace might be in order. All holidays are a time to reflect and remember, so I thought I’d share some of my memories of my travels in Pakistan in the spring of 1992. Although much time has passed, the places and the people I encountered have become all the more relevant since, due to 9/11 and the war against Al-Qaeda. Many of the places I visited — such as the Swat Valley, and the tribal areas around Peshawar — would now be completely off-limits to an American traveling alone. For those who are awaiting my next installment of data points on the Chinese economy, never fear — I’m still on the case.
Patrick Chovanec
What's It Like to Be a Tourist in North Korea? - Interview by Christina Larson | Foreign Policy
On special guided trips, arranged for tourists and permitted by Pyongyang, Patrick Chovanec, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing, has twice visited North Korea. On each trip, he and his fellow travelers were accompanied by official guides, only permitted in certain areas, and asked to delete "objectionable" photos from their digital cameras. Yet the visits afforded Chovanec a rare glimpse inside the Hermit Kingdom.
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In late March, less than three weeks after Putin's re-election to the Russian presidency, an online petition emerged, calling for stricter controls on foreign-funded Russian NGOs. Kevin Rothrock reports.One of the biggest challenges facing our fast-growing social media team is finding the best talent out there. We have rarely resorted to recruiters, instead preferring to use social media. My colleague in Beijing, Jeremy Webb, created this flowchart to help in his search for talent. Posted on Sina Weibo, China’s largest Twitter-like platform, he
Thomas Crampton - Social Media in China and Asia
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Peckham Rye after riots, by Amanda Vincent-Rous, 8/8/11, Flickr cc “Why did thousands of London’s youngsters set about destroying shops and fighting against the police for four days in August 2011?” asks Federico Varese. “The official government interpretation...is that we are dealing with well-organized thieves and ‘petty criminality.’
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