(RFE/RL) — Lawyers for some 190 Iraqis who claim they were abused by British troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2008 are pushing for a public inquiry. Claims of beatings, sleep deprivation, and sexual and religious abuse are being presented to Britain’s High Court in London on January 29. They come from the testimony of [...]
New Allegations Of Abuse By British Troops In Iraq
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North Korea: “An All-Out Confrontation” After Fresh UNSC Sanctions? – Analysis
By Rajaram Panda On 22 January 2013, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2087 (voted unanimously), condemned North Korea for its rocket launch in December 2012. The new resolution saw the rocket launch as a violation of earlier sanctions imposed by the UN in 2006 (Resolution 1718) and strengthened in 2009 (Resolution 1874). How has [...]
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Patriots In Turkey – Analysis
By S. Samuel C. Rajiv Two Patriot anti-missile defence systems each belonging to the United States, the Netherlands and Germany (for a total of six such systems) are being deployed on Turkish soil along the 900 km border with Syria. The US Patriots are to be deployed at Gazientep, a Turkish town about 50 km [...]
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Cooperation Between India And Bangladesh On Control Of Arsenic Poisoning – Analysis
By Gautam Sen Bangladesh and India are substantially affected by arsenic poisoning of ground water. The magnitude of the problem is very acute in the case of Bangladesh, with nearly 85 million out of 125 plus million and 59 out of 64 districts affected by this scourge. In India, in the adjoining state of West [...]
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Iranian Authorities Launch Mass Arrest Of Dissident Journalists
Iranian security forces have launched a fresh wave of arrests against dissident journalists. On Sunday, security forces raided the offices of reformist newspapers Shargh, Etemad, Bahar and Arman and detained at least ten journalists there. Security agents also forced their way into the office of Aseman, a pro-reform weekly. During the simultaneous raides, the following [...]
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Tensions Rise Over Status Of Serbian Province
By Bojana Barlovac Strongly conflicting arguments continue over the future of Serbia’s northern province of Vojvodina, with some demanding more autonomy, and some less, or none at all. A poster war on the theme of the status of the Serbian province of Vojvodina has been launched in the city of Novi Sad. The Vojvodina Party, [...]
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2013 World Press Freedom Index: Dashed Hopes Follow Spring
After the “Arab springs” and other protest movements that prompted many rises and falls in last year’s index, the 2013 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index marks a return to a more usual configuration. The ranking of most countries is no longer attributable to dramatic political developments. This year’s index is a better reflection [...]
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Venezuela: Calls To Investigate Deaths In Prison Crackdown
The Venezuelan authorities should investigate the security forces’ use of lethal force during a prison weapons search on January 25, 2013, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should take urgent measures to ensure that such incidents are not repeated. According to official reports, at least 56 prisoners and one member of the National Guard [...]
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Sahel Ulemas Partner Against Extremism
By Hayam and Jemal Oumar Religious leaders from Algeria, Mali, Niger and Mauritania this week decided that the most effective way to support peace and eradicate extremist ideas would be to work as a team. The imams, who initially came together in November to condemn the extremism in Mali, met in Algiers on Wednesday (January [...]
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Iran Expresses Hope Kerry To Reform US Anti-Iranian Policies
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has expressed hope that new US Secretary of State John Kerry would contribute to softening Washington’s policies towards Iran. “I hope that … Kerry would at least rectify part of the US government’s anti-Iranian stance and policies,” Salehi said. The Iranian minister also called on Kerry to “reform oppressive, [...]
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Hillary Clinton Leaves Office Without Clarifying Her Future – OpEd
While everyone was expecting exactly what would be her parting words, if it were to be a goodbye or see you later, Hillary Clinton on Friday left her post as Secretary of State of the United States with a simple “thank you and God bless” — leaving in the air therefore the question of whether [...]
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Iran: A Missile In The Monkey’s Shadow? – Analysis
By Ajey Lele Iran has successfully sent a monkey to space and also retrieved it back alive. Has Iran thereby “made a ‘monkey’ of its adversaries”? Or was this demonstration just a smokescreen to experiment with its ballistic missile capabilities? Or is it actually a signal to the rest of the world about Iran’s technological [...]
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Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk’s Visit To India: Towards An Assuring Alliance – Analysis
By Medha Bisht The year 2013 started on a high note for India-Bhutan relations. While the Indian External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid, was on an official visit to Thimpu on January 14, 2013, Bhutan’s fifth king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk, graced the chair of the chief guest on the Indian Republic Day. Even though the [...]
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The Slow And Steady Rise Of The Chinese Yuan – Analysis
By Ronan Keenan “Chinese citizens welcome US President Barack Obama’s re-election, saying it would benefit bilateral relations,” reported China’s official news agency Xinhua in November. Any Chinese optimism surrounding Obama’s victory was surely not a reflection of the President’s handling of Sino-American relations, but relief at the election of the lesser of two evils. Mitt [...]
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Egypt League To Restart Amid Protests And Finger Pointing Of Police – Analysis
Egypt’s premier soccer league is scheduled to resume this weekend for the first time in a year amid concern about security against the backdrop of violent anti-government protests and the leaking of a court report that holds the police as well as fans responsible for last year’s death of 74 people in a politically loaded [...]
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White House Photo Shows Obama Engaged In Sport Shooting
By Kent Klein The White House has released a recent photo of President Barack Obama shooting a shotgun, in response to a lawmaker who questioned whether he had ever been skeet shooting. The president’s top communications adviser, Dan Pfeiffer, sent the picture out Saturday morning on Twitter after critics expressed doubt about Mr. Obama’s claim [...]
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US Won’t Scale Back Drone Warfare, Says Panetta
The US is engaged in a global war on terror, and drone strikes are an effective tool to eliminate Al-Qaeda militants planning terror attacks on America, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told AFP, adding that drone operations should stay covert. The US will not curtail its extrajudicial assassinations in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, Panetta [...]
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US-Russia Cooperation Should Continue – Vice President Biden
US Vice President Joe Biden told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday that Washington and Moscow should continue cooperation in various spheres despite differences. Biden and Lavrov met on the sidelines of the 2013 Munich Security Conference in Germany. “The Vice President emphasized the importance of the two countries working together in the interest [...]
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Clinton Blames America For Failures In Islamic Regions – OpEd
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turned over her office to Sen. John Kerry, she stated on Friday during her speech at the Council on Foreign Relations that America is at fault for the unrest in the Muslim world because of a failure to explain U.S. policies. When a reporter questioned Clinton on why favoritism [...]
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Real Sustainability Versus Activist Sustainability – OpEd
Activist sustainability concepts don’t meet environmental, humanitarian or sustainability tests By Paul Driessen Companies everywhere extol their sustainable development programs and goals. Sustainability drives UN programs like Agenda 21, EU and US green energy initiatives, and myriad manufacturing, agricultural, forestry and other efforts. But what is sustainability? What is – or isn’t – sustainable? Former [...]
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