The Foreign Desk

When José Eduardo Dos Santos first came to power in Angola, Jimmy Carter was president of the US and Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union. Some 37 years later Dos Santos’s grip on power remains as strong as ever. Next year he will once again lead his party, the MPLA, into elections that he will surely win. But as the oil-dependent economy crumbles and the crackdown intensifies, will ordinary Angolans find a way to fight back?

For some sportsmen and women from poor countries, the chance to perform abroad isn’t simply about representing their nation. Sometimes it’s about an opportunity to escape.

Since South Africa’s first democratic general election in 1994 the African National Congress has won the majority of votes across the country every single time. But this month something changed – a new phase of democracy may be about to begin.

This is a divided city: the west is controlled by the Assad government, the east held by rebels. And if either side eventually wins it could have a dramatic effect on the outcome of the entire Syrian war. Monocle’s Steve Bloomfield speaks to Dr Lina Khatib, professor Paul Rogers and the former US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford.

Just because most of the media is focusing on sport doesn’t mean the world’s horrors have disappeared. Vladimir Putin, for a start, is still keeping himself busy. And really, what better time to stir things up than when other world leaders are on holiday and the rest of us are watching the Olympics.

Now that the Olympics Games have begun, what better time to ask why cities so desperately want to host it? We discuss Toronto’s failed bids and Antwerp 1920 in the days when small cities had their moment in the Olympic sun. Plus: we talk to sports historian David Goldblatt, author of ‘The Games: A Global History of the Olympics’.

As with any separatist movement, good old-fashioned sentimental nationalism is essential and Catalonian separatists have an abundance of material on this front: a different language, a distinct culture and a divergent political tradition.

When Rio won its bid to host the Olympics back in October 2009, Brazil was on the rise: its economy was strong and its leader was popular and charismatic. Now, against a backdrop of corruption scandals, an impeachment process and a free-falling economy, we ask whether the Rio Olympics are such a good idea.

Brazilian politics is not at its best and no doubt there will be problems and huge costs involved in the country hosting the Olympics. But the Games have the potential to bring nations together. So, is it worth it?

For a brief moment last Friday it seemed as if the attempted coup in Turkey would succeed. That it failed should be a cause for celebration, regardless of your views on the authoritarian nature of the Erdogan government. But the crackdown that has followed should worry those who believe in democracy. We ask where the coup attempt and the subsequent crackdown leaves the country.