Gordon Brown’s borrowed time and African tragedy at the Cup of Nations

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[Story Ticker] : January 11 update

We’ve seen Gordon Brown against the ropes before and he fought back to hold on a little longer, but under renewed pressure can he really see this fight through to the end? With David Milliband now deemed a bottler for his role in las weeks attempted coup, is there anyone who could really offer a viable alternative for the party in the run up to the next election? Up on our story page we’ve suggested you might want our correspondents to find out more for you on the continued challenges to Gordon Brown’s authority as leader of New Labour in the run up to the next election…

Meanwhile over in Africa tragedy threatened to tear apart ther Africa Cup of Nations. However it has now commenced and with our network of correspondents in the region on standby, let us know the stories you want more on. Check out the story pitch here, as we wonder whether the cup can triumph over tragedy.

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NATO of the South

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Can Chávez and Gaddafi’s proposed NATO of the South really work?

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez this week played host to thirty or so African and Latin-American leaders. Brought together by Chávez for an intercontinental summit, invitees included controversial leaders such as President Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi.

Chávez, Gaddafi and Mugabe are never likely to be any western leader’s preferred dinner guests and the gang don’t seem interested endearing themselves anytime soon… Gaddafi and Chávez announced from the summit that they are hoping to form an “anti-imperialist” front across Africa and Latin America that they see as becoming the NATO of the South.

“The world’s powers want to continue to hold on to their power,” Colonel Gaddafi announced somewhat richly for a dictator who had a white limousine flown all the way to Venezuela to meet him at the airport.  “Now we have to fight to build our own power”.

Whilst the behavior of Gaddafi often seems farcical, he is not without influence in the sphere of international politics as was recently illustrated by what many have interpreted as a trade for oil of  Lockerbie bomber, Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi. The eccentricity of Gaddafi’s behaviour perhaps overshadows it’s malignance. Meanwhile Chavez’s polarized Venezuelan citizens love and loathe him with partisan passion whilst he too attains a severity of international influence through his nation’s wealth of oil. Meanwhile Mugabe, despite his horrendous human rights record remains in power with international powers seemingly unable or unwilling to depose him.

This proposed NATO of the South’s membership roster seems a promising idea that has been initiated with a rather peculiar blend of power, hypocrisy and eccentricity by worrisome individuals. You can use Global for Me as a tool to explore the issues discussed here or whatever issues you are interested in- covered in a rather more balanced, informed and analysed way than I have here by Global For Me’s experienced network of expert professional journalists.

For whatever stories you want explored further; at Global for me, we have the correspondents to provide coverage and analysis for the stories you want to know more about.

Post your commments and let us know what you think… up on the stories page.

Kit- GlobalFM