By selecting their children to run in upcoming elections, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and other government leaders may be widening the gap between the rich and powerful and the grass-root members in the country’s ruling party, observers and rights groups say. Cheam Yeap, a senior member of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), confirmed this [...]
Cambodia: Election List May Widen Divide In Hun Sen’s Party
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George Orwell, Jewish People And State Of Israel – OpEd
By Neil Berry What would George Orwell make of the inauguration in Britain this winter of an annual George Orwell Day? The author of the celebrated anti-totalitarian novel 1984 is being officially turned into a secular British saint. Perhaps he would be flattered. More likely this sardonic Puritan, who died in 1950, would have greeted [...]
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America’s Disappeared – OpEd
Injustices do not become any less unjust the longer they are not addressed, and when it comes to the “war on terror” launched by President Bush following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, those injustices continue to fester, and to poison America’s soul. One of those injustices is Guantánamo, where 166 men are still [...]
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Obama’s Israel Trip: It’s Iran, Stupid! – OpEd
Much of the U.S. media that’s written about Pres. Obama’s upcoming visit to Israel (next month) has focused on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. This narrative says Obama is coming to jump-start negotiations or reaffirm his commitment to finding common ground between the parties. While Galey Tzahal reports (Hebrew and English summary here) Bibi’s remarks indicating [...]
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Kerry Embarks On First Overseas Trip As Secretary Of State
(RFE/RL) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry leaves today on a visit to nine countries in Western Europe and the Middle East on his first overseas trip since assuming his post three weeks ago. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Kerry is calling the trip ‘a listening tour’ and sees it as a chance [...]
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Depardieu Takes Up Residence In Russia
(RFE/RL) — French actor Gerard Depardieu has been formally registered as resident of Russia’s Republic of Mordovia. Depardieu was registered as resident at No.1, Democracy Street in the regional capital Saransk, some 650 kilometers east of Moscow. At a ceremony in Mordovia’s National Theater on February 23, Depardieu signed a form and had his passport [...]
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The Economic Growth Imperative Within Capitalism And The Islamic Viewpoint – Analysis
By Jamal Harwood and Sarfraz Wali Introduction There has been much discussion during the on-going financial crisis, on how to initiate a sustained recovery and the consensus shown by the mainstream commentators has been through returning to sustained economic growth. Such is the focus in the capitalist order towards growth, that any program or strategy [...]
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Did Pope Benedict Quit To Dodge Blame For Misdeeds Or Just To Do The Right Thing? – OpEd
By Igor Ogorodnev The latest allegation that a gay priest blackmail scandal was the reason for Benedict XVI’s sudden resignation shows that his sudden decision will be queried long after his departure, perhaps robbing him of his greatest achievement while in office. Italian newspaper La Repubblica has reported that the Pope was overwhelmed when presented [...]
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What’s Immoral For The Private Goose Is Moral For The Government Gander? – OpEd
Why do so many people consider certain actions to be immoral if taken by private persons, but not immoral—perhaps even morally praiseworthy—if taken by government officials? One possibility is that people have become accustomed to government officials’ taking certain actions (e.g., getting income by insisting that people either hand over their money or suffer punishment) [...]
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The U.S. Must Stop China’s Bullying Of Japan – OpEd
By Aaron Friedberg and Gabriel Schoenfeld Is the Obama administration pivoting away from its “pivot”? Today’s visit to Washington by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will begin to provide an answer. The pivot, of course, was the Obama administration’s signature first-term foreign policy initiative. Starting in 2012, in response to signs of increasing Chinese assertiveness, [...]
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Azerbaijani President Sacks Local Leaders To Defuse Anger
By Kamal Ali Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev has sacked the head of a district where riots took place last month, in what some see as a way of dissociating himself from concerns about local-level corruption. On February 14, the president dismissed Nizami Alakbarov, head of the Ismayilli district. The town of Ismayilli was the scene [...]
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Iran Determined To Defend Its Nuclear-Rights Entirety
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili has reaffirmed Iran’s determination to defend the entirety of its rights to peaceful nuclear energy. “Within the framework of the regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), we fulfill all our obligations under the Safeguard Agreement,” Jalili said. “We should [...]
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Iran Viewpoint: Managing Almaty Negotiations Without Capitulation Or Escalation Of Tension – OpEd
By Mahmoud Reza Golshanpazhooh As the public announcement goes, the new round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers will be held in the Kazakh city of Almaty on February 26, 2013. Before negotiations get underway, it would be helpful to mention a few points which would clearly show how [...]
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Too Fat To Vote: Will A Supreme Ku Klux Kourt Kill Dr. King’s Dream Act? – OpEd
You know why black folk in the south don’t vote? According to The New York Times and the experts at the Pew Charitable Trust, they’re just too damn fat! Normally I wouldn’t care what the Times is passing off as fact, except for that, on February the 27th, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments [...]
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Obama Calls For U.S. Election Reforms
By Kent Klein While Americans are proud of their democracy, some are saying the election system is not working as it should. Reports of long lines at the polls have led President Barack Obama to call for reforms in the way Americans vote. As President Obama celebrated his re-election last November, he acknowledged that too [...]
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Karzai Orders U.S. Special Forces Out Of Two Provinces, Citing Torture And Murder
The Afghan government has demanded the withdrawal of all US Special Forces on Sunday from the Wardak and Logar provinces within two weeks, accusing them of “harassing, torturing and murdering innocent civilians.” Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said that President Hamid Karzai had ordered the ministry of defense to kick out the US Special Forces, which [...]
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Hollywood Prepares For Oscars
On Sunday, the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles will be home to the 85th Academy Awards. This year, the races among the six major categories are all over the board. Some are clear-cut, and some are toss-ups. The stage is set for the 85th Academy Awards on Sunday, with Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage drama “Argo” [...]
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The New Super-Weapon Of The Taliban: Philanthropy For Islamic Education – OpEd
If a frequent traveler to Thailand goes around the country today, a rapid rise in the prominence of Muslims will be noticed, stretching from Chiang Rai in the north of the country right down into the south of the country. Many of Thailand’s 6-7 Million Muslins are totally integrated into Thai culture and society, a [...]
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Militant Jerusalem Fans Challenge Founding Principle Of Israeli Foreign Policy – Analysis
When militant supporters of right-wing soccer club Beitar Jerusalem last month vowed to keep their team pure in protest against the hiring of two Chechen Muslim players they went beyond what are usually accepted expressions of racism in Israel to unwittingly challenge a founding principle of Israeli foreign and defense policy coined by the country’s [...]
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Armenians Protest Election Results
(RFE/RL) — As many as 4,000 supporters of former Foreign Minister Raffi Hovannisian, who finished second in Armenia’s February 18 presidential election, have demonstrated in the capital, Yerevan. The protest was not sanctioned by the authorities. Some 8,000 Hovannisian supporters protested on February 22 in Yerevan, and smaller protests were held in other cities on [...]
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