Worldfocus  

The North Korean economy is one of the most isolated on earth and still relies on heavy industry and military spending — in addition to huge amounts of food and fuel aid. Experts on the Hermit Kingdom base their understanding on a mix of theories, scattered anecdotes from defectors — and scant hard facts. In terms of per capita GDP — $1,800 — North Korea is East Asia’s poorest country. But we know little about the country’s black markets. And we struggle to find accurate statistics on the nation’s true standard of living. Martin Savidge hosts Barbara Demick and Leon Sigal.

In the aftermath of last week’s earthquake in Haiti, the Dominican Republic has expressed solidarity with its neighbor. Though Haiti and the DR share the island of Hispaniola, their histories, cultures and economies greatly differ. Racial tensions, stateless children and immigrant violence have created tensions along the border. Martin Savidge hosts Marselha Gonçalves Margerin of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights and Michele Wucker of the World Policy Institute to discuss these unequal neighbors.

Yemen has dominated the news recently, since U.S. authorities learned that the alleged Christmas Day bomber trained with al-Qaeda in Yemen. Mutallab purportedly has links to radical imam Anwar al-Awlaki, the cleric known to have contacted alleged Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Hassan. Martin Savidge will host Christopher Boucek and Sudarsan Raghavan. We’ll examine the situation with al-Qaeda in Yemen and then address additional angles of the shifting circumstances there. The show will analyze the background of three different ongoing conflicts: * al-Qaeda in Yemen (current activities, terror threat, government efforts) * Houthi rebels in North (independence goals, Iran v. Saudi, Shia minority) * South Yemen separatists (historical roots, central government weakness, clans)

‘The Stans’ refer to the five post-Soviet Central Asian republics — Kazakhstan, Krygyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — with similar historical, political and cultural roots. ‘The Stans’ are protecting their cultural identity by proposing ethnic language policies — potentially banning the use of the Russian language. In Kyrgyzstan, there’s a proposal to make Kyrgyz the official language of diplomacy and in Tajikistan, there’s another to ban the use of Russian in public institutions and official documents. We’ll examine relationships with post-Soviet Russia, and how China and the United States are vying for ‘The Stans.’ This week, Chinese President Hu Jintao opened a new gas pipeline that extends from Turkmenistan to north-west China — the first without Russia’s Gazprom. Martin Savidge hosts William Fierman, a professor of Central Asian studies at Indiana University, and Nikolai Petrov, a scholar at The Carnegie Moscow Center.

This week, world leaders from almost 200 countries are meeting to discuss the future of our planet. From Tonga and Mauritius to Japan and Brazil, the community of nations hopes to enact lasting change. While a host of difficult decisions often scare business leaders, voters and politicians, global pressure continues to mount. China and India, as well as the U.S. and E.U., have already committed to significant cuts in the release of harmful greenhouse gases. Will China accept lower growth, stricter rules and higher energy costs that could result? While virtually no one in China denies climate change, debate focuses on the speed of the shift to renewable energy. We want to take a closer look at how China is developing alternative energy as part of its rapid greening.

Chile’s economic “miracle” has lifted many Chileans from poverty and become a fiscal model for Latin America. Since the 1980s, Chile’s has halved the number of people below the poverty line. But while the middle class grows, the divide between rich and poor deepens. Moreover, middle-class Chileans are under more stress and working longer hours than before. Martin Savidge hosts Peter Winn and Victoria Hurtado to discuss the underside of Chile’s prosperity, focusing on the middle class, growing inequality and the younger generation.