Former Mayor Kasim Reed caught flak from many sides last year when it was revealed that the city spent $90,000 on his team’s trip to South Africa, largely on business-class airfare. At the time, the mayor said he had lined up “private funds” to pay for nine team members’ upgrades from coach class on the grueling Read more
Expert: Turkey Fast Becoming ‘Elected Autocracy’ Under Erdogan
Turkey was once held up in the West as a model of how a predominately Muslim country could thrive as a secular democracy. With the consolidation of power by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in recent years, that illusions is gone. And that’s complicating the way the U.S. deals with its NATO ally at a tumultuous time Read more
Atlanta Council on International Relations Puts Spotlight on Korean Peace Prospects
Sunny Park has received more prestigious awards both in Atlanta and in Korea than you could count on all of your fingers. He also has been a member or board director of 15 nonprofit organizations and he is the first Asian to have served as vice chairman of the Georgia Ports Authority. He also has been Read more
Former Liberian President: Despite Challenges, African Democracy Gaining Steam
Just weeks removed from a 12-year stint in office, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf didn’t seem keen to talk about specific transitions of power during a World Affairs Council of Atlanta breakfast Thursday. She was curt on the performance so far of her successor, former soccer star George Weah, and she only had a brief comment about Read more
France’s Southeast U.S. Rep Switches Party and Forms Law Firm With Political Ally
The twists and turns of French electoral politics send out repercussions as far as Atlanta where the law partners Dominique Lemoine and Frederic Lefebvre have abandoned their allegiance to France’s Republican party in a move partially motivated in response to France’s National Front far-right party, which is following policies made popular in the U.S. by Read more
Books 2017: The Downside of Tyranny
Book: Travels with Herodotus (Vintage International) Author: Ryszard (Richard) Kapuscinski Review by: Phil Bolton, publisher, Global Atlanta I had never heard of Ryszard (Richard) Kapuscinski before receiving his book “Travels With Herodotus” from my brother-in-law the Christmas of 2016. Imagine a journalist with the writing skills of Graham Greene (or Joseph Conrad), the reportorial skills of Read more
Atlanta Customs Office Ordered to Speed Up Release of Trump ‘Travel Ban’ Documents
A federal court in Atlanta on Wednesday ordered the local U.S. Customs and Border Protection office to speed up the release of documents related to the treatment of travelers during the early days of President Donald Trump’s so-called travel ban. The ACLU of Georgia sued to gain quicker access to what it says are more than 17,100 pages of documents, Read more
Chancellor Merkel Wins but Takes a ‘Blow’ in Sunday’s Election as Atlantans Look On
More than 50 German speakers witnessed the results of the German Bundestag Election Sunday, Sept. 24, at the German Cultural Center (Goethe Zentrum) in Midtown, which returned Angela Merkel as chancellor for the fourth time, but also gave a far-right party seats in the German parliament for the first time in half a century. The Read more
Atlantans Inspired by Indian Prime Minister Modi’s Washington Visit
Phones and other electronic devices were taken away, but the experience was memorable enough for Viren Mayani that he had no need for a recording. Mr. Mayani, an Atlanta-based consultant, was one of at least a dozen Georgians among more than 700 Indian community leaders who attended a private event at the Ritz-Carlton DC to hear from Prime Minister Narendra Modi Read more
Tensions in the Persian Gulf Not Interrupting Travel Through Qatar’s Hamad International Airport
While the Persian Gulf dispute drew widespread attention around the world, Qatar‘s Hamad International Airport remained busy as a beehive as planes arrived from and departed to all corners of the world. Headed to Delhi, India, on July 3 to meet up for a 10-day business trip with Ani Agnihotri and Vir Nanda, leaders in Read more
