Uncertainty remains over whether Croatia will actually join the EU in July and what it will mean if it does – while local elections will pose the first test of the government’s popularity. By Boris Pavelic With the historic date of EU accession approaching next year, Croatia differs from other post-Communist EU member states in [...]
Croatia: Date With Destiny May Disappoint – Analysis
↧
↧
Pakistan: Punjab, Down, Not Out – Analysis
By Tushar Ranjan Mohanty The amir (chief) of the Punjab chapter of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Amir Asmatullah Muawiya, announced an offer of conditional ceasefire to the Pakistan Government which envisages an end to Pakistan’s participation in the Afghan war and the reshaping of the country’s Constitution and foreign policy according to the Quran and Sunnah. [...]
↧
India’s Pakistan Policy: A Saga Of Flawed Approaches – Analysis
By Dr Subhash Kapila “Delhi’s Pakistan policy has all the emotional intensity of a battered wife with a karmic commitment to marriage. Justice must surrender to appeasement in the pursuit of some higher purpose” “He (Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik who recently visited India) is neither unique in Pakistan’s governing elite, nor a maverick; he [...]
↧
Probe Finds ‘Inadequate Fireproofing’ In Japanese Reactors
A number of Japanese nuclear plants are ill-equipped to deal with fires, a report in the Japanese media has revealed. In the wake of the country’s Fukushima disaster, poor fireproofing could set back the reactivation of nuclear stations by years. The results of the investigation published in Japanese newspaper Manichi Shimbun showed that over 10 [...]
↧
Kashmir: Asian Flashpoint Revisited – OpEd
By Dr Gyan Basnet The debate over the territory of Jammu and Kashmir has strained relations between India and Pakistan for more than sixty years. The continued hostility between these two countries over the territory is a real threat to peace and security in the South Asian region and even further afield. The debate has [...]
↧
↧
France: 1,200 Vehicles Torched
(RFE/RL) — French authorities say nearly 1,200 parked vehicles were set on fire during New Year’s Eve across the country. Interior Minister Manuel Valls said vandals set 1,193 vehicles on fire. He also said police and rioters clashed in Strasbourg and Mulhouse, and 339 people were arrested. It was the first time in three years [...]
↧
Jordan Rings In New Year On Tough Note: We Can Handle Our Syrian ‘Chemical’ Neighbor
Jordan has said it is prepared to deal with any potential chemical weapon threat posed by the violence in neighbouring Syria. The country, however, added that it will not enter “any alliance” to protect itself. Jordan, the US and others have expressed concern that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could use chemical weapons in a last-ditch [...]
↧
U.S. Strategy For Countering Violent Extremism: An Assessment
By Will McCants and Clint Watts The United States and its allies devote considerable financial and human resources to countering violent extremism (CVE). CVE is a central pillar of the United States’ domestic and international counterterrorism effort, following the lead of the United Kingdom’s Prevent initiative begun several years earlier. Like the United Kingdom, the [...]
↧
House Voting On Fiscal Cliff Deal
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have agreed to vote on a Senate-passed bill that would avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” of automatic tax increases and mandated spending cuts. The Republican-dominated House will take a straight up-or-down vote after three days of intense negotiations. The Senate passed the measure in the early morning hours [...]
↧
↧
Ralph Nader: Compare The 1912 Elections With The 2012 Elections – OpEd
Before the electoral year of 2012 slinks into history, it is worth a comparative glance back to the electoral year of 1912 to give us some jolting perspective on how degraded our contemporary elections, voter performance and election expectations have become. One hundred years ago, workers were marching, picketing and forming unions. Eugene Debs, the [...]
↧
US House Approves ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Deal
After Republicans dropped their demands for additional spending cuts the House approved legislation meant to avert the ‘fiscal cliff’. The representatives lined up 257 to 167 in favor of the bill. Earlier, the House Republicans expressed their opposition to the measure to avert the ‘fiscal cliff’ in its current form. GOP leaders were considering an [...]
↧
Venezuela: Chavez ‘Aware,’ Condition ‘Complex’
(RFE/RL) — Venezuela’s vice president says President Hugo Chavez is conscious and aware of his health condition following his fourth cancer surgery in the past 18 months. Vice President Nicolas Maduro said he has visited Chavez twice in the past three days in Cuba, where Chavez had surgery December 11. Maduro told a television channel [...]
↧
Iran Slams U.S. ‘LatAm’ Law As “Interventionist”
Iran has condemned the new U.S. law signed by President Barack Obama that seeks to counter Iran’s alleged influence in Latin America, calling it “a blatantly interventionist” move. ISNA reports that Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast: said on Tuesday January 1: “We recommend that instead of such interventionist moves, they respect the rights of [...]
↧
↧
Global Markets Climb As US Congress Averts Financial Crisis
World markets are opening 2013 on a high note, after the U.S. Congress reached a deal to avert an early 2013 financial crisis that threatened to send the world’s largest economy into recession. In the U.S., key stock markets all jumped 2 percent or more in the first half hour of trading Wednesday. Stocks also [...]
↧
Quadrantid Meteor Shower To Be Seen Overnight On Jan 3, 4
By Boris Pavlishev The annual Quadrantid meteor shower will occur overnight on January 3 and 4. The Quadrantids (QUA) are one of the heaviest meteor showers. If you watch the northern part of the sky dome you will see meteor flares twice a minute. According to a popular belief, if you wish upon a shooting [...]
↧
The Ongoing War: After The Battle Over The Cliff, The Battle Over The Debt Ceiling – OpEd
“It’s not all I would have liked,” says Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, speaking of the deal on the fiscal cliff, “so on to the debt ceiling.” The battle over the fiscal cliff was only a prelude to the coming battle over raising the debt ceiling – a battle that will likely continue [...]
↧
US Sperm Donor Sued For Child Support
A man in Kansas who donated his sperm to help a lesbian couple have a baby in 2009 is now fighting efforts by the state to force him to pay child support, a move he said has already prompted some men not to become sperm donors, local media said. “I don’t even have to guess [...]
↧
↧
Fiscal Cliff Over, Now The Attack On The People Begins – OpEd
By Kevin Zeese Last night, Congress passed a watered down fiscal cliff package that will raise taxes on everyone, but the worst is yet to come, and this “deficit cutting” measure contains some surprises. Economist Jack Rasmus highlights Obama’s comments after passage which signal what we can expect: “I am very open to compromise . [...]
↧
The Big Heist In The Great White North – OpEd
Canada’s housing bubble has burst and prices have started to fall. Sales have dipped for 8 straight months as buyer interest has begun to wane. Housing sales in November dropped 12 percent from the same month last year, while previously-hot markets of Vancouver and Toronto saw declines of 28.6% and 16% respectively. Despite the media’s repeated predictions [...]
↧
UN Human Rights Office Says Over 60,000 Killed In Syria Conflict
(RFE/RL) — Syrian activists say dozens of people have been killed by an air strike on a gas station in the outskirts of Damascus. Local residents said that they saw burning bodies and horrific scenes after the attack near the town of Maliha. According to activists, the attack sparked a huge explosion in which up [...]
↧
