By Eric Walberg

Canadian rock legend Neil Young has taken to the road with a mission. Sunday night, he laid down the gauntlet on national TV, calling the Canadian government “completely out of control” as he began his “Honour the Treaties” tour in Toronto. His goal is to help First Nations in their fight against the expanding oilsands projects in Alberta. To the government, “Money is number one. Integrity isn’t even on the map.”

Honour the Treaties is a series of benefit concerts in Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary to raise money to support the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) in their battle against a multi-billion dollar expansion of the oilsands project in northern Alberta. ACFN’s 2007 court challenge to Shell’s lease at the Jackpine Mine failed in 2011, but is being appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada.

“The oil sands projects are among the very dirtiest on earth,” said a defiant Young. Just to extract and process the toxic sludge each day “produces as much CO2 as all the cars in Canada”, three times as much as more efficient methods. “This oil is going not to Canada, but to China where the air quality has been measured at 30 times the levels of safety established by the World Health Organization. Is that what Canada is all about?”

This is bad PR for the scandal-plagued Conservatives. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office immediately issued a statement insisting that Canada’s environmental laws are “rigorous”, and piously vowed to “ensure that companies abide by conditions set by independent, scientific and expert panels.” The statement snidely accused Young of hypocrisy: “Even the lifestyle of a rock star relies on the resources developed by thousands of hard-working Canadians every day.”

Young wasted no time in turning the tables, insisting that the tarsands “violate our laws, traditions, values” and the “inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples under international law”, that it is the Harper government that is being hypocritical. Young went to see for himself, touring one of 50 oilsands sites, and was shocked at “the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. It`s the greediest, most destructive and most disrespectful demonstration of something that has run amok.”

Fait accompli?

Shell, Marathon and Chevron plan to massively expand their mining operations at Jackpine, about 70 km north of Fort McMurray, in Cree territory. According to CBC, “Shell’s assessment projects that 185,872 hectares of wetlands in the area will be lost or altered as a result of the Jackpine Mine expansion and other industrial activity … 21 kilometres of the Muskeg River would be destroyed as a result of the mine extension.” When the Conservative government announced final approval last December, Shell stated—anticipating smooth sailing—that it had already purchased 730 hectares of former cattle pasture to compensate for this destruction.

“And that’s Shell’s calculations! What about ours?” asks activist Jennifer Tsun. “Can someone let the migratory birds know? The caribou also need to be notified. And the fish in the water.”

The Athabasca deposit is located within the boundaries of Treaty 8 and overlaps traditional Indigenous lands of the Dene, Cree and Metis. “ACFN has, for the longest time, fought industry and government to really set lands aside for ACFN for the practice of treaty rights”, said Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Elder Pat Marcel. “I have been pushing for 20 years now for consultation to happen.” A dispirited Marcel fears that the expansion will lead to a rush of other mining projects, destroying irrevocably what’s left of their environment.

Canada’s Federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq admitted, “that the designated project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.” Nonetheless, she okayed the expansion, since the Cabinet “decided that the significant adverse environmental effects that the designated project is likely to cause are justified in the circumstances.”

Protest groundswell

Opposition to the tarsands and the Northern Gateway pipeline project to move the oil to British Columbia for export is gaining momentum, building on the Idle No More movement among natives across the country, as well as campaigns by non-native Canadians who are haunted by the Conservative government’s disregard of the disastrous fallout of its mania for money. In his CBC interview, Young compared what he saw in Fort McMurray to a slow-motion version of what the US did to Hiroshima on August 6&9, 1945. “I always felt that Canada was a different place, where the values were different and where we cherish the natural surroundings that we’re in,” he lamented.

The campaign against the tarsands has several aces up its sleeve: for one, the support of US natives and environmental activists, and (so far) US President Obama, who has shown little enthusiasm in the scheme, recently appointing an opponent of the tarsands, John Podesta, as a White House adviser.

Secondly, even if Alberta’s Conservatives (and judges) support the project, the toxic sludge dredged up and refined at such a terrible cost must transit British Columbia, where there still is no clear legal title to the land in question, since the BC government expropriated the land as “unoccupied wilderness” prior to the arrival of European settlers. Hmm. Tell that to BC natives.

This is only one of several campaigns against the Conservative agenda for natives and energy exports, stretching from coast to coast. Last November Alberta’s Lubicon Lake Nation peacefully occupied an access road to Penn West Petroleum’s oil lease site. Penn West plans to frack the natives’ territory, a process arguably as destructive as the extraction of tarsands. Whether or not their seismic pounding will find gas, it will cause widespread destruction, including the poisoning of Haig Lake and Sawn Lake, the community’s main source of fish.

In western Ontario, Grassy Narrows Council and Chief Simon Fobister rejects Ontario’s plan for another decade of clear-cut logging on Grassy Narrows territory, which would destroy what little mature forest remains.

In New Brunswick, the standoff in Mikmaq territory continues at the encampment at highway 11, so far preventing the fracking of Mikmaq lands, despite harassment by the RCMP. The corporate ‘Goliath’ there is Irving Oil, which operates Canada’s largest oil refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, and has made New Brunswick a ‘company town’, where Irving controls much of the economy, including media, lumber and transportation services. The Mikmaq ‘Davids’ are already a legend.

Blowback from Ecuador

Harper’s energy and native troubles are not confined to Canada. An Ontario court recently ruled that Ecuadoran farmers and fishermen can try to seize Chevron Canada’s assets, based on a 2011 Ecuadoran court decision which found it liable for soil and water pollution near oil wells, which has ruined the health and livelihoods of people living in nearby areas of the Amazon rainforest. Since then, the victims have been trying to collect $18 billion in environmental damages without success. A Chevron spokesman vowed, “We’re going to fight this until hell freezes over. And then we’ll fight it out on the ice.”

Ecuadorans are also resisting the attempt by a Canadian mining firm to buy up and flatten a mountain (I’m not kidding), wiping out the village where locals have been mining gold in a low-tech, relatively environmentally friendly way for five centuries. This latest scandal is the subject of a documentary “Marmato” by Mark Grieco to be released this year.

I wonder where Harper’s sympathies lie in far-away Ecuador? Will he do what’s right—tell Chevron to pay up, tell his mining buddies to leave Marmato’s villagers in peace? Is there hope for justice for Ecuadorans from Canada’s legal system? Even the US ambassador to Ecuador in 2011 said, “I think we should be cleaning up the oil, and the lawyers are telling us not to. And we’ve got to figure out a political compromise. We’ve got to figure out a way to just get this done.” Imagine a Canadian ambassador willing to say that.

Harper’s silver lining?

Chevron’s tarsands assets would go a long way to undo the devastation that it (and its predecessor Texaco) did in Ecuador over the past half century. Hey! That would mean stopping the tarsands, which would let Canada cut its outsize CO2 emissions. As for fracking, putting a stop to that obscenity would be a blessing to everyone except a few Conservative cronies. This show of good will would be a great way to make peace with Canada’s First Nations and recoup some of Canada’s tattered reputation in the world. Win, win, win.

Neil Young’s Honour the Treaties tour is a risky gamble in the messy oilslick of politics. He’s staking his personal legend on solidarity with Canada’s First Nations. But the creator of “Heart of Gold” clearly sees a 21st century legend in the making, and wants to be part of it. “You want to know who is leading this protection?” asked one shivering Mikmaq protester last November. “The people that walk this earth, my ancestors. It is in our hearts to protect this and our hearts are leading this.”

A version of this appeared at PressTV

The article Alberta Oilsands Projects: Canada’s Hiroshima – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Daily Gains Letter

By Moe Zulfiqar

Our neighbor to the north is facing some headwinds. In Canada, there are troubles developing that may drive the country toward an economic slowdown. In 2008, the ripple effects from the U.S. economy into the global economy caused an economic slowdown in many countries. The Canadian economy was one of the few nations that didn’t suffer a major hit; it was able to stand strong.

Now, Canada may not be able to stay on such strong footing, as it faces a possibly severe economic slowdown due to a few phenomena that are starting to line up to create a perfect storm.

First of all, the housing market in the Canadian economy is becoming much overvalued. According to Deutsche Bank, the Canadian housing market is the most overvalued housing market in the global economy. Looking at the value of the Canadian housing market as a ratio of home prices and rent, this market is overvalued by 88%. (Source: Babad, M., “Canada’s housing market most overvalued in the world, Deutsche Bank says,” The Globe and Mail, December 11, 2013.)

As we move through the beginning of 2014, the Canadian housing market is showing signs of a slowdown. Building permits, one of the early indicators of which direction the housing market is headed, saw a 6.7% decline month-over-month in November. (Source: “Building permits, November 2013,” Statistics Canada web site, last accessed January 9, 2014.) If the housing market soon faces troubles and prices decline, a major economic slowdown could follow.

Secondly, the employment situation in Canada, another indicator of an economic slowdown, is becoming dismal. In December, Canada’s unemployment rate increased by 0.3% to stand at 7.2%. Jobs growth in the country was also very anemic in 2013. On average, 8,500 jobs were added each month in 2013. In 2012, this number was 25,900. The jobs growth rate has declined by more than 67% year-over-year. (Source: “Labour Force Survey, December 2013,” Statistics Canada web site, last accessed January 10, 2014.)

Thirdly, household debt in Canada continues to increase, recently hitting an all-time high. In the third quarter, household debt compared to disposable income in Canada stood at 163.7%; in the second quarter, it was 163.1%. (Source: “Canadian household debt ratio climbs to record in third quarter as mortgage borrowing hits $1.13-trillion,” Financial Post, December 13, 2013.) Of course, increasing household debt could take the Canadian economy into an economic slowdown, because as households gather more debt, they have to make higher payments to service the debt, which causes a slowdown in consumer spending.

Last but not least, crude oil prices have been declining since September of 2013. Canada has become a major producer of oil. If oil prices remain suppressed, profitability declines, forcing producers to make changes to their operations, which could include mass lay-offs to control expenses. This could send the country toward an economic slowdown, as well.

But what does an economic slowdown mean to American investors?

If the Canadian economy does go through an economic slowdown, the value of the Canadian dollar could decline. American investors can profit from this by shorting such exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as CurrencyShares Canadian Dollar Trust (NYSEArca/FXC). This ETF tracks the performance of the Canadian dollar. By shorting it, investors will be able to profit when the Canadian dollar goes down in value.

The article How American Investors Can Profit From Canadian Economy’s Demise – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

Reporters Without Borders said Friday it condemns yesterday’s arrest of Jitendra Prasad Das, a subeditor with the regional Oriya-language daily Samaj in Cuttack, in the eastern state of Odisha, in connection with the publication of a picture of the Prophet Mohammed on 14 January.

The media freedom organization also calls for investigations into attacks on the newspaper’s offices in Cuttack and other cities in Odisha so that those responsible can be brought to justice.

“We urge the authorities to release Jitendra Prasad Das without delay,” Reporters Without Borders said. “They must not bow to pressure from the street. This journalist committed no crime and arresting him just to defuse the anger of fundamentalists is not justifiable.

“We regret that Samaj did not protect this young journalist by taking responsibility for publishing the picture. This attitude is indicative of the pressure under which it was placed and the self-censorship it feels forced to adopt.”

Reporters Without Borders points out that the only curbs on freedom of information tolerated under article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights are those that protect the rights or reputations of others, national security, public order, or public health or morals. The criteria for applying any such restrictions on freedom of expression and information must be extremely precise.

Restriction of freedom of expression and information under criminal law is only permitted in cases of spoken or written words manifestly inciting hatred, violence or discrimination against a community or individual, or violating a person’s privacy, noted the organization, adding that a strict distinction must be made between offences against beliefs, ideas and dogma, on the one hand, and offences against persons, on the other. Only the second are admissible in law.

The offending picture of the Prophet accompanied a short text in a special issue that Samaj published on 14 January, which Muslims celebrate as his birthday.

As Islam forbids any pictorial representation of Mohamed, members of the Muslim community demonstrated outside the newspaper’s offices in Cuttack, Balasore, Rourkela and Kendrapada, demanding a public apology. Although editor Satya Ray published an apology in the newspaper, protesters ransacked its Balasore office and torched its Rourkela office.

As the person supposedly responsible for the inclusion of the picture, Das was arrested at the newspaper’s headquarters in Cuttack yesterday on a charge of “hurting religious sentiments.”

When the entire editorial staff told the police that they wanted to be arrested, the police said they were arresting Das just to defuse street tension. He was nonetheless taken before a judge.

Calling for Das’ release, National Union of Journalists secretary general Prasanna Mohanty criticized the Samaj management for giving Das’ name to the police instead of taking collective responsibility.

Last month, Reporters Without Borders published a report on blasphemy entitled “Information sacrificed on altar of religion.” It examines the dangers to freedom of information from censorship in the name of religion and the belief that religion and “traditional values” should be untouchable.

Working as journalist is tough in India, which is ranked 140th out of 179 countries in the 2013 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index and which is one of the world’s deadliest countries for media personnel.

The article India: Publication Of Mohamed Picture Triggers Riots, Journalist’s Arrest appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

Euthanasia is a directed attempt staged with an express design to relieve the pain and suffering of a person on the face of a terminal ailment. A person, who is sustaining a severe pain and the dolorous episode of suffering will ultimately culminate in the loss of his life, is euthanized in order to set him free from the ordeal in advance. This practice is widely debated in various countries and some of the countries have given legal status to its exercise considering its desirability. I am taken aback by the overriding power of surprise to witness a phalanx of critics hurling the spears of criticism upon the exercise of euthanasia on phony grounds. Can the pain of human being be belittled on account of some handful critics adhered to their primitive ideas? Is the practice of conforming to the primitive norms of society much more sacred than the relief of a person gripped by an anguishing agony? The answer is a big No.

If a dying animal with a spear in its body is euthanized to relieve its pain, how can we forget the sanctity of a human life that is left in the ocean of pain with no mercy in times of dire need? The biological advancement has made human capable to cure multitudinous illnesses. The chronic ailments like Cancer and TB are also cured by biological treatment. A slightest of pain in the head to the most severe agonies in the body, biology has carved out the possibility to cure them. But, many a times the knowledge of biology becomes answerless. Certain ailments after reaching the advanced level don’t show flexibility to treatments and their resistance results in the loss of life. Many of them unfold upon us a story of painful end. This pain becomes unbearable in a situation when treatment of doctors becomes a formality due to the inevitable death. Under the grave condition when the possibility of evading the clutches of death has dwindled to zero and the spiraling pain is unendurable, one can justify the direct intervention to euthanize that person for good.

Euthanasia can be classified into three types depending upon the consent of the subject to be euthanized. One is the voluntary intervention, in which the subject is ready to undergo the process. Second is the non-voluntary in which the consent of subject for the process is missing and the third one is the involuntary in which the subject flatly rejects the idea of any form of euthanization. Furthermore, two procedural methods can be undertaken to complete the process of euthanasia_ active and passive. The active euthanasia is a procedure through which a lethal substance is injected to relieve the pain. It subsumes the overdosing of medicines, the excess injection of insulin detrimental to health and so on. The passive euthanasia is that procedure in which the due medication is withheld till the loss of life.

After navigating through the technicalities of this issue, we can now explore the possibility of its legality across the world. The involuntary euthanasia (be it active or passive) in which the subject remains adamant to taste the natural death with terminal illness is not justified on neither rational ( or for that matter any ethical grounds) nor it is given legal status in any country, but the voluntary and non-voluntary types with passive methods are points of discussion and demand a comprehensive dialogue and intellectual debate. The non-voluntary euthanasia is one that is done without the consent of subject or his acquaintances. A child born with severe defects and will hardly win the race of life and constitute potential threat to the health of mother must be put to death in early stages. In this case, it is necessary to consider the fact that the child is not living a normal life and his death is inevitable, thus passive euthanasia becomes justified. A person who has sustained a brain break-down can be euthanized on the face of his ultimate death. But, the practice of euthanasia is accepted on passive methods, which means only the due medication is withheld without the injection of lethal substance. This same case is applied to the above two examples.

The voluntary euthanasia with passive method is also justified in the lights of its benefits to humanity. A person harbouring the terminal disease of Cancer in its advanced form can be euthanized to relieve his pain by withdrawing his medication. The pain suffered by a person in bone cancer is beyond the stretch of our Imagination, and its advanced condition denies any recovery. If the board of doctors, after considering the condition of patient and the painful ordeal, recommend the intervention of passive euthanasia with the consent of patient, no ethical or religious barriers must come behind their action.

The religious doctrines since the origin of societies have played an important role in shaping ethical standards. There is no major religion that allows the legality of active euthanasia in any shape (voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary), and the passive involuntary euthanasia. But certain religious doctrines show some flexibility towards passive euthanasia having voluntary and non-voluntary form.

Buddhism is totally against any form of euthanasia and declares it an act of homicide. The religion of Christianity is divided into two sects on this issue. Protestants argue for the legal status of passive euthanasia, remember that the involuntary is unacceptable in all religions so it is out of argument in the religious debate. The religion of Judaism is also split into two denominations with one giving legal status to passive euthanasia. The religion of Islam also has some schools of thought( Imam Abu Hanifa’s verdict on holding back the medication of a patient destined to apparently inevitable death defines this stream of thought)that give allowance to the passive euthanasia on account of ethical considerations.

The ban of active (voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary) and the passive involuntary euthanasia is still in operation in all countries and will remain presumably forever, but the legality of passive euthanasia is disputed and has knocked the doors of intellectual debates in recent times. Countries in the likes of Belgium, Netherland, Luxemburg and some states of USA have given it a legal status and some other countries are considering this issue with utmost delicacy. Only the time will determine the future of euthanasia but one can declare it ethical to adopt those norms that are compatible with the modern biologically advanced world. The conformity to norms and values shouldn’t be a hurdle in our way to serve humanity at our best in near future.

The article Euthanasia And Its Ethical Connotations – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

The Ukrainian parliament should immediately repeal new legislation that requires some independent groups to register as “foreign agents” and introduces numerous restrictions on public demonstrations, media, and the Internet. The legislation, which consists of dozens of amendments to numerous laws, was rammed through parliament in two days.

The amendments require Ukrainian groups that receive funding from foreign sources and participate in “political activities” to register as “foreign agents.” They also criminalize libel, impose additional restriction on mass media and the Internet, and introduce administrative and criminal penalties for a wide range of violations related to protest activities.

“These amendments are a serious blow to basic freedoms, association, and expression,” said Yulia Gorbunova, Ukraine researcher at Human Rights Watch. “They are obviously a response to the recent protests and are the biggest setback to rights in Ukraine in years.”

The draft law was introduced on January 14, 2014, the first day parliament was in session after the holiday recess, by two members of the ruling Party of Regions. Parliament voted on January 16 without review by parliamentary committees or any discussion.

During the morning of the session on January 16, several opposition deputies blocked the podium and prevented the parliament’s chairman from leaving his office. Once the session started, and several minutes after the vote on the 2014 budget, the vice speaker proposed adding to the agenda other draft laws in the remaining time. The vice speaker also announced that since the opposition was trying to block the parliament’s work, the voting on remaining laws would continue without debate and with a show of hands instead of using the electronic voting system.

Within 20 minutes, parliament had approved all the amendments and seven additional laws.

The amendments affect a series of Ukrainian laws, including the Code of Administrative Offenses, the Criminal Code, the Law on Civic Associations, the Law on Security Services, the Tax Code, the Law on the Status of Judges, and the Law on Telecommunications.

The amendments borrow heavily from similar legislation adopted in 2012 in Russia and used for cracking down on independent groups there. They require nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign funding and participate in “political activity” to register as “foreign agents” and include the words “foreign agent” in their names and all their materials. Political activities are broadly defined as involvement in “decision-making by state bodies, changing their defined public policy, and for forming public opinion for the above purposes.”

Groups will have three months to register, and failure to comply may lead to the organization being disbanded by a court. “Foreign agent” groups will have additional tax burdens and extensive additional reporting requirements.

“The ‘foreign agents’ law is, and is intended to be, very damaging for independent advocacy in Ukraine,” Gorbunova said. “By trying to equate foreign funding with being an agent of foreign interests, it aims to tarnish independent groups as “hidden enemies.”

The law’s ambiguity and broad scope of interpretation also opens it to abusive and arbitrary enforcement, Human Rights Watch said.

The amendments also introduce criminal responsibility for libel, decriminalized in Ukraine in 2001. They further criminalize “extremist activity,” broadly defined as production, possession, and dissemination of “extremist” materials that may contain calls to capture state power by force or “interfere with activities of state authorities,” including through media and the Internet as well as at public gatherings and rallies. Penalties range from a fine to up to three years in prison.

The amendments impose several new restrictions clearly aimed at suppressing protests that have been ongoing in Kiev and other cities since November 2013. They introduce new types of administrative offenses – including wearing masks and helmets during public rallies, forming convoys of five cars or more, and installing tents, stages, and other constructions for holding a rally – and increase sanctions for such existing offenses as violating the procedures for organizing or participating in public protests.

The law also introduces harsh criminal sanctions for certain violations – for example, up to five years in prison for blocking administrative buildings and premises.

The new legislative amendments introduce mandatory licensing of Internet providers and require all mass media that provides information services to the public to obtain state registration as an “information agency.” They further allow the state to limit access to an information agency or an Internet resource that disseminates information that is “against the law” or operates without a license, including by blocking access to Internet sites without a court decision.

“The law effectively is an effort to halt politically unwelcome public rallies,” Gorbunova said. “Between the overly broad definitions and disproportionate punishments, its primary goal is to have a chilling effect on the protest movement in Ukraine.”

The article Ukraine Must Repeal Repressive New Legislation, Says HRW appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By MINA

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Foreign Ministry on Thursday announced a plan to open a contemporary consulate in Brazil to provide assistance for BiH soccer fans during the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.

BiH Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagundzija signed an agreement with BiH Football Association President Elvedin Begic over cooperation to give assistance in need to soccer fans.

Lagumdzija said that the primary function of the consulate is to provide legal protection and consular services to BiH citizens travelling to Brazil to watch World Cup soccer watches. Some 3,000 to 5,000 BiH soccer fans will go to Brazil, local media reported.

BiH, who has no embassy in Brazil, will discuss the issue with the Brazilian government, including the location of the temporary consulate, among other things.

The BiH national team has qualified for the 2014 World Cup finals, first time in its history.

The article Bosnia To Open Temporary Consulate In Brazil For Football Fans appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Radio Zamaneh

Iran’s minister of communications says the committee for determining criminal content on the web has met to discuss the new administration’s policies in order to reach consensus on which sites will be subject to filtering.

The Fars News Agency reports that the minister announced that the meeting was constructive, with the members agreeing that “anti-religious and immoral sites” will be restricted while sites that “do not instigate corruption” and increase public knowledge will be freely accessible.

The minister also commented on mobile telephone software applications, saying their use is permitted so long as they do not invade private space.

”If the private space of individuals is invaded, then that particular application is invasive and will be made inactive, and the other parts will have no problem,” Mahmoud Vaezi said.

The minister expressed hope that the public will be satisfied with the results of the meeting.

Iranian internet users face widespread restrictions in accessing various websites, and the new administration is attempting to ease some of these restrictions without drawing too much fire from hardliners in the Islamic Republic establishment.

The article Iran: Internet Committee Discusses Loosening Online Restrictions appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has urged end to social hostilities and government restrictions on Hinduism in various countries of the world.

According to a new study by the Washington DC (USA) based Pew Research Center on “global restrictions on religion”, published on January 14, Hindus were harassed and intimidated by governments or social groups in 33 countries from June 2006 to December 2012.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, stressed that social hostilities involving religion and government restrictions on religions should not have any place in the 21st century world.

Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought, Rajan Zed pointed out.

The study, however, did not list the countries where Hindus were harassed and intimidated.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Alan Murray is the President.

The article Social Hostilities And Government Restrictions On Hinduism Should End, Says Group appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By CNA

Retired pontiff Benedict XVI celebrated his brother Monsignor Georg Ratzinger’s 90th birthday on Jan. 15 at the Vatican with a sung Mass and a simple concert.

The director of the Holy See’s Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, told reporters the celebrations began in the morning at the former pope’s Vatican residence, Mater Ecclesia.

Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, prefect of the papal household and personal secretary of Benedict XVI, concelebrated at the Mass which was attended by close friends and Benedict XVI’s “family” of religious women from Communion and Liberation’s consecrated lay order Memores Domini.

The celebrations continued with a Bavarian style breakfast and joyful song. At 5:45 p.m., the Ratzinger brothers attended a music concert in honor of Monsignor Ratzinger at the studios of Vatican Radio, featuring piano, violin and a tenor singer.

The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller – who worked with Msgr. Ratzinger when he was director of the choir at the Cathedral of Ratisbona – also attended the concert.

The article Benedict XVI Celebrates Brother’s 90th Birthday With Day Of Music appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By VOA

South Korea has rejected demands from North Korea to call off military drills with the United States, which Pyongyang routinely calls provocative rehearsals for invasion.

Pyongyang’s state media warned Thursday of what they called “unimaginable calamities and disasters” if the upcoming exercises, called Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, proceed as scheduled late next month.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Friday that the drills are defensive in nature, like those conducted by all sovereign states.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry dismissed the threats on Thursday. A spokesman warned that Seoul will “mercilessly and decisively punish” Pyongyang in the event of a provocation.

The annual military drills are a routine source of tension between the two longtime foes.

The article South Korea Rejects North’s Demands To End Military Drills With US appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By IDN

By James Mackie

While the debate on Scottish independence is heating up prior to the referendum in September 2014, it is important to consider what implications an independent Scotland would have for UK and European development aid. While the UK aid would undoubtedly be affected, this new donor country would need to make an effort to minimize the effect on further aid fragmentation.

Scottish independence would lead to more fragmentation of European development cooperation and a major reduction in Department for International Development (DFID) programmes as a result of an estimated GBP 1 billion cut in its budget, yet neither of these two outcomes are really dealt with in two recent reports on what a Yes vote in the 2014 Scottish referendum would mean for development cooperation.

The UK House of Commons International Development Committee (IDC) published its report on the Implications for development in the event of Scotland becoming an independent country on December 19 and a few weeks earlier the Scottish development NGO umbrella Network of International Development Organisations in Scotland (NIDOS) launched its proposals on how to shape a ‘coherent international development policy for Scotland.’

Both reports welcome some key features of a development policy announced in the Scottish government white paper on Scotland’s Future such as a commitment to enshrining in law the international 0.7% ODA/GNI target and a ‘Do No Harm’ commitment to promoting policy coherence for development.

The IDC estimates a GBP 1 billion or 8.3% cut in DFID’s budget on a pro-rata basis of Scotland’s share of the UK population. It quotes the Secretary of State to say that like every Government department ‘we would have to cut our cloth according to the budget we are given’, but it does not go into detail on what this might entail in terms of either DFID’s bilateral programme or its funding to multilateral organisations. Equally while the Committee makes a strong point about how Scotland cannot hope to have as much of a transformational influence as DFID, it says nothing about the possible loss of influence DFID might suffer as a result of such a major reduction in its budget. Of course Secretary of State Justine Greening will still be able to maintain that she expects to continue to meet the pro rata 0.7% target, but such a large budget cut in real terms will nevertheless have consequences.

Rather than focusing on the impact on development the Committee makes a major point about the likely disruption to DFID’s work caused by the need to close its office in Scotland. This office employs some 550 of DFID’s 1,280 UK based civil servants and relocating most of these to England would involve costs and disruption over several years and a ‘risk to DFID’s staffing structure’ that needs to be carefully managed.

Scottish contribution

The NIDOS report on the other hand, focuses on policy recommendations for a new Scottish international development programme. One of its strongest emphases is on policy coherence for development (PCD). Here it argues that Scotland should aspire to follow Sweden’s approach to PCD and it provides a well-informed analysis of the implications such a choice would imply in terms of long-term policy thinking, cross-party political support and regular monitoring and accountability. It also refers to the EU’s biennial PCD report and the importance the European Consensus on Development attaches to PCD. If a new post-independence Scottish government were indeed able to follow such a path this would provide a welcome boost to the promotion of PCD in Europe.

However, although the report does recognise European work on PCD, it remains silent on the wider EU framework for development cooperation that Scotland would be expected to operate in if it continued as a member of the EU. The contextual chapter talks about the global and UN context but says nothing about the EU. Yet if Scotland stayed in the EU then part of its contribution to the EU budget would be for development cooperation and it would be expected to pay into the European Development Fund.

A sizeable proportion of Scottish Official Development Assistance (ODA) would therefore be channelled through the EU, and Scottish government representatives would be expected to participate in Council working groups overseeing the use of this ODA. There are several EU member states with aid budgets of around Euro 1 billion, similar to what Scotland might have, and around a dozen with less.

There is therefore plenty of small donor experience in the EU from which Scotland could learn in defining a clear vision and role for Scottish development cooperation. Scotland would also be expected to reflect the European Consensus and the more recent Agenda for Change in its own policy. Although the NIDOS recommendations are not far removed from these two policy statements their relevance to an independent Scotland is not explicitly recognised.

Aid fragmentation

Perhaps the most difficult issue however is the further aid fragmentation that Scottish independence would bring. The continued aid effectiveness debate from the 2005 Paris Declaration has highlighted that global aid delivery is too fragmented and that raises costs for partner countries. New member states joining the EU has regularly meant an increase in the number of donors and Scotland should learn from this.

While it is to be warmly welcomed that an independent Scotland would seek to make a substantial contribution to international development, a new Scottish government would need to think carefully about how to manage this contribution responsibly without causing further fragmentation and higher costs for partners.

Working with a limited number of partner countries as both the current Scottish government and NIDOS are suggesting, is certainly helpful, but even better would be to take the really radical step of avoiding to create a new development agency altogether and instead channelling 100% of Scottish ODA through existing delivery organisations such as NGOs, the UN or the EU.

Dr James Mackie is Senior Adviser EU Development Policy to the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) based in Maastricht. This article was originally published on ECDPM Talking Points on January 16 and reflects the author’s personal view. It is being reposted with slight modifications.

The article Implications Of Scottish Independence For Development Cooperation – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

In this week’s address, President Obama said 2014 will be a year of action, and called on both parties to help make this a breakthrough year for the United States by bringing back more good jobs and expanding opportunities for the middle class.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
January 18, 2014

Hi, everybody. This week, I visited a company in Raleigh, North Carolina that helps make electric motors that save businesses money on energy costs and cut harmful carbon pollution.

And I stopped by N.C. State University, where engineers are set to develop the new technology that will make those motors even better.

It’s part of my push not only to make America home to more high-tech manufacturing – but to make America more attractive for the good jobs that a growing middle class requires.

And increasingly, we are. Thanks in part to our all-of-the-above strategy for American energy, for the first time in nearly two decades, we produce more oil here at home than we buy from the rest of the world. We generate more renewable energy than ever, and more natural gas than anybody. Health care costs are growing at their slowest rate in 50 years – due in part to the Affordable Care Act. And since I took office, we’ve cut our deficits by more than half.

So we are primed to bring back more of the good jobs claimed by the recession, and lost to overseas competition in recent decades. But that requires a year of action. And I want to work with Congress this year on proven ways to create jobs, like building infrastructure and fixing our broken immigration system.

Where Congress isn’t acting, I’ll act on my own to put opportunity within reach for anyone who’s willing to work for it. That’s what I did in Raleigh by launching America’s second “manufacturing innovation institute.” It’s a partnership between companies, colleges, and the federal government focused on making sure American businesses and American workers win the race for high-tech manufacturing and the jobs that come with it – jobs that can help people and communities willing to work hard punch their ticket into the middle class.

I firmly believe that this can be a breakthrough year for America. But to make that happen, we’re gonna have to act – to create good jobs that pay good wages, and to offer more Americans a fair shot to get ahead. That’s what I’m focused on every day that I have the privilege of serving as your president. That’s what I’m going to be focused on every single day of this year.

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

The article Obama: Making 2014 Year Of Action To Expand Opportunities For Middle Class – Transcript appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By RT

Libya has launched air strikes against militants in the south of the country in an attempt to end the armed clashes. Libyan Defense Ministry blamed forces loyal to ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi for sparking the unrest.

“A force was readied, then aircraft moved and took off and dealt with the targets,” Defense Ministry spokesman Abdul-Raziq Shabahi told reporters in Tripoli as quoted by Reuters.

The Libyan government put the troops on alert after gunmen stormed an air force base near the southern city of Sabha, 770 kilometers south of the capital Tripoli. The assailants also stormed at least two military bases in the city, an unnamed military official said according to the AP. After attackers entered the air force base, Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said the government was still in control of the town and its civilian airport, according to Reuters.

Earlier in the day, Libya’s General National Congress declared a state of emergency during an “extraordinary session” about the situation in the southern town of Sabha, following violence in the region that has been raging for days, AFP reports. Since the clashes started a week ago, at least 31 people have been killed in the fighting between the Arab Awled Sleiman tribe and Toubou minority tribesmen.

“The troops from Misrata have been commissioned by the government to conduct a national task … to spread security and stability in the region,” Zeidan said, as quoted by Al Arabiya.

By the evening, defense ministry spokesman Abderrazak al-Shebahi said the army had recaptured the Tamenhant base, tracking the militants of the former supporters of the ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi after they fled into the desert.

“We know them and we are going to track where they are going,” al-Shebahi said.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) called on Saturday for the “immediate end to the armed clashes” in the city of Sabha and urged all the sides to “resort to peaceful means to resolve the differences” and “restore calm.” The mission has also called for a thorough and impartial investigation of the events.

The clashes come as Tripoli struggles to contain heavily-armed militias, tribesmen and Islamists, some of whom took part in toppling Gaddafi in 2011 but have since refused to disarm.

Earlier, two Italian construction workers were also kidnapped by unknown assailants in the country’s volatile east. According to a security source quoted by Reuters, the Italians were kidnapped in the radical Islamist stronghold of Derna, east of Benghazi, where they had been working at a cement factory.

Since the deadly assault at the US consulate in September 2012, Benghazi has been rocked by a wave of assassinations of army and police officers as well as car bombings. A mix of militias and armed tribesmen has also seized the main oil export ports in eastern Libya, pressing for political autonomy and drying up the country’s crucial oil revenues.

The article Libyan Air Force Attacks Targets In South After Gunmen Storm Airbase appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By James M. Dorsey

If Israeli soccer pitches are any indication, Israeli attitudes towards Palestinians do not bode well for US Secretary of State John Kerry’s Middle East peace efforts. The story echoing from the pitches is one of racism, racial superiority, bigotry, double standards and little sincere effort to address a key issue that undermines Israel’ s projection of itself as a democratic state founded on the ashes of discrimination , prejudice and genocide.

Miri Regev, a parliament deputy for Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s governing party and a former brigadier general, illustrated the problem recently on her Facebook page. Ms. Regev called for the expulsion from the premier league of Bnei Sakhnin, a top Israeli club from the Israeli Palestinian town of Sakhnin, because its fans had flown Palestinian flags during a recent match.

“The situation where a [soccer] club receives support from the State of Israel as part of its sports-sponsorship policy, while the club fans are waving the flags of Palestine, is unacceptable,” Ms. Regev said, vowing to introduce legislation against the team in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar quoted a spectator as saying that fans in one terrace of the town’s Doha Stadium had waved two small flags.

More serious was Ms. Regev’s omission of the fact that supporters of Bnei Sakhnin’s arch rival, nationalist Beitar Jerusalem, notorious for its militant, racist fan base, had burnt a Quran, the Muslim holy book, during the match. Beitar sparked outrage last year when its fan unfurled a yellow banner in a stadium emblazoned with the words, ‘Beitar, Pure Forever.’

The language and imagery reminiscent of Nazi propaganda was a protest against the club’s hiring of two Muslim players from Chechnya. In a country, in which Israeli Palestinians are among its top players, Beitar is the only team to have never hired a Palestinian. Bnei Sakhnin, the first team from an Israeli Palestinian town to win the State Cup, has had Israeli Palestinians and Israeli Jews playing side by side from the day it was founded.

Soccer constitutes for Palestinians what football scholar Tamer Sorek calls an integrative enclave, a space where non-Jewish Israelis are fully accepted in Israeli society and able to flourish professionally without inhibition.

Mr. Sorek tells the story of Israeli Palestinian club Maccabi Kafr-Kana that in the mid-1990s visited Jordan to play against Al Wehdat, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism named after the Palestinian refugee camp in the Jordanian capital where it was founded. The match gained symbolic importance because it pitted two teams projecting a shared identity against one another that have long been divided by more than physical borders.

Residents of Al Wehdat included families that had fled Kafr-Kana when the Jewish state was established. Minutes before the start of the match, Al-Wehdat managers pulled Kafr-Kana’s manager and sponsor, Faysal Khatib, aside to request that he not field his three Jewish players or if he did to ensure that they would not speak Hebrew.

Mr. Khatib refused saying his team consisted of players, not Palestinians and Jews, and that all his players spoke Hebrew, not Arabic. It took Mr. Khatib several days to get his way. When the match was finally played, Kafr-Kana won 3:2. Its three goals were scored by its non-Arabic speaking players.

It’s a degree of standing up for principle that has yet to be matched by the Israeli Football Association (IFA), the only Middle Eastern governing soccer body to have an anti-racism unit and policy, or Beitar’s management, whose efforts to curb the racism of its fans have been limited. The IFA has repeatedly disciplined Beitar for the racism of its fans, but those measures have had little effect.

To be fair, Israel is the not the only place where Israeli and Palestinian identity politics spill onto the pitch. Dutch club Vitesse sparked criticism when it went ahead earlier this month with a visit to the United Arab Emirates despite a last minute decision by the UAE to ban the club’s Israeli defender Dan Mori from entry. Similarly, Jewish groups were outraged when in Chile the Palestine Football Club, founded in 1920 by Palestinian immigrants, included all of Israel in a map of Palestine on its shirts. German club FSV Frankfurt late last year cancelled a sponsorship agreement with state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines after it discovered that the carrier refuses Israeli passengers.

None of these incidents alter the image of Israel painted on pitches in a country where Palestinians with Israeli citizenship constitute an estimated 20 percent of the population. They like the recent Israeli government announcement that it was licensing new homes on the occupied West Bank, inspire little confidence that Israel is willing to match Secretary Kelly’s commitment to Middle East Peace.

In fact, viewed from the pitch, Israeli reality may have been more accurately depicted by Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon who was recently quoted as saying that Mr. Kelly “who…is acting out of an incomprehensible obsession and a messianic feeling – cannot teach me a single thing about the conflict with the Palestinians. The only thing that can save us is if Kerry wins the Nobel prize and leaves us alone.” Mr. Yaalon was forced to apologize for his comments.

The article Israeli Pitches: A Tale Of Racism, Bigotry And Double Standards – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By VOR

Andrey Karginov’s crew from the KAMAZ-Master team has won the Dakar-2014 rally in the truck category. Before the last stage that took place on Saturday and finished in Chilean Valparaiso, Russian racer Karginov was ahead of Dutchman Gerard de Rooy (IVECO) by over seven minutes.

On the 90thkilometre of the track Chinese sportsman Zhou Yong had an accident and blocked the track. As a result, Karginov lost a lot of time.

In the end, the referees decided to give him back the lost minutes, which was enough for his victory. De Rooy is second. Eduard Nikolayev’s team (KAMAZ-Master) is third in the overall standings.

Dmitry Sotnikov and Anton Shibalov (also KAMAZ-Master) won the fourth and fifth places respectively.

The article Dakar-2014: Russian KAMAZ-Master’s Karginov Wins Rally Among Trucks appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

Hindus have applauded the appointment of Anthea Winn as the Captain of Royal Ascot Golf Club in Ascot, Berkshire County, United Kingdom (UK); first-ever woman captain of a royal golf club in British history.

It was a step in the right direction, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed stated in Nevada (USA) today.

There are reportedly 34 royal golf clubs in UK—clubs which have received patronage from the royal family.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted that women leadership in royal golf clubs was long overdue. He urged other royal golf clubs also to appoint women captains, thus bringing an end to gender discrimination existing for long time.

Quoting scriptures, Rajan Zed explained that ancient Manusmriti said: “Where women are revered, there the gods are pleased; where they are not, no rite will yield any fruit.”

Meanwhile, Zed has also asked Scotland’s Muirfield, The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, to open membership to women also. Men only 269-years old membership policy of Muirfield was highly inappropriate, immoral and archaic, Zed added.

Rajan Zed pointed out that instead of being proud of its traditions, intransigent Muirfield should be ashamed and embarrassed of its exclusionist policy of barring women members. Male-only membership policy of Muirfield needed to go and right now. Clubs like Muirfield, who refused to treat women as equal, should not be in the business in 21st century Scotland and world.

Zed further said that golf’s governing body R&A, which organized The Open Championship, golf’s oldest Major, should not stage tournament at Muirfield in the future unless it changed its men-only membership policy; and should strongly address this sexism and promote equality, instead of turning a blind eye to it.

Rajan Zed indicated that The Church of Scotland and its Moderator Right Reverend Lorna Hood should also come out openly advocating treating women with equality and respect they deserved and persuading Muirfield to allow women to become members. Women should not have to face such a struggle to gain acceptance at Muirfield, which seemed to have refused to progress with the society.

The article Hindus Laud Appointment Of 1st Woman Captain In British Royal Golf Clubs‏ appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Al Bawaba News

Commercial attaché of Iran Embassy in Yemen, Ali Asadi, who was seriously injured after being shot by unknown gunmen in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, has succumbed to his wounds.

“The Iranian diplomat has succumbed to injuries” he sustained during the attack in Hadda, a diplomatic district south of the capital, said a medical source at the hospital where the diplomat was transported.

The Iranian diplomat was shot by unknown gunmen outside the ambassador’s residence in Sana’a on Saturday.

“Unidentified assailants in a van fired on the diplomat three times as he was leaving the ambassador’s residence near a shopping center in Hadda,” a police source told AFP.

The assailants first tried to kidnap the Iranian diplomat but when they faced resistance, opened fire on him.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham strongly condemned the terrorist attack, saying that Yemeni authorities are investigating the attack.

Original article

The article Iranian Diplomat Killed In Drive-By Shooting In Yemen appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Al Bawaba News

Egyptian authorities are expected to announce on Saturday the official results of this week’s referendum on a new constitution, a day after clashes between security forces and Islamist protesters killed four people.

State media, citing initial estimates, said around 95 percent of voters supported the new constitution.

The new charter would replace one approved under former President Mohammad Mursi, who was ousted by the military in July following mass protests demanding his departure.

Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood had called for anti-government protests and a boycott of last week’s vote, seeing it as part of a coup against the country‘s freely-elected leader.

The referendum is a key step in the political transition plan the interim government has billed as a path to democracy, even as it presses a fierce crackdown on the Brotherhood.

On Friday, at least four people were killed in clashes between Brotherhood supporters and police across the country.

One man was killed by a gunshot wound to the neck in the city of Fayoum, south of Cairo, a local health ministry official told Reuters.

Three people were killed in clashes in the Cairo area, the security sources said. Two were shot and the circumstances of the other death were unclear.

Supporters of the Brotherhood also clashed with security forces in the city of Suez, MENA reported, as well as in Ismailia and a number of locations in the capital, security sources said.

Original article

The article Egypt To Announce Results Of Constitution Vote appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Keshav Prasad Bhattarai

Lebanon — a country that has a history of some seven thousand years and a country that was renowned for its peace and prosperity in Middle East just before 1975 — is at the risk of becoming a Kurukshetra of devastating sectarian proxy war between Sunni Muslims and Shiites backed by Saudi Arabia and Iran.

According to a Time report, experts are convinced that the war fought in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon is not three different wars; but they are the one fought on three countries and have every possibility to rip the entire Middle East apart.

On January 11, an American legislator Frank R Wolf has written in the opinion page of the Washington Post with a title that says, “How Obama is losing South Sudan” It was the country the United States had midwifed to create. The man the United States picked to rule South Sudan is also rife with corruption and has little room for dissent. Not surprisingly, the newest nation that was born in July 2011 along the ethnic line – is heading into a civil war, and thereby is in the way to join “the notorious ranks of failed states”, Wolf concluded.

On January 17, according to Reuters, a Taliban suicide bomber and gunmen attacked a restaurant popular with foreigners in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul, killing 21 people that include three UN staff, the top IMF official in Afghanistan and other three Americans.

A recent CNN poll has just revealed that only 17% of those Americans questioned say they support the 12-year-long war in Afghanistan; some other 82 Percent were opposed to the longest war the U.S. fought in its history. However, in October 2001 in a similar opinion poll, 90 percent of Americans had supported U.S. military action in Afghanistan.

Startlingly, on the other hand, Hamid Karzai during a press conference in New Delhi, on December 14, made a bitter remark that he no longer trusts the United States. It is a matter to note that America itself, had installed Karzai as the Afghan President after it ousted the Taliban led government in 2001. Hamid Karzai even did not pay heed to the repeated concern expressed by Obama administration while releasing dozens of prisoners accused of attacking Americans.

Similarly, earlier Karzai had refused to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that intended to shape U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after NATO’s troop withdrawal by the end of this year 2014.

Following to it, the Washington Post revealed that the “new national intelligence estimate of the Afghan war affirms” that this military “adventure was ill-conceived” and was “poorly executed” throughout. By any light, the longest war in U.S. history “has been a wasteful failure, and the sooner we’re out of it, the better”, the Post story published on December 31 views.

Two days earlier, on December 29, Ernesto Londoño, Karen De Young, and Greg Miller in the same newspaper — while giving reference to the newest American intelligence assessment — predicted that the gains the United States and its allies have made earlier are likely to have been significantly eroded by 2017. Intelligence assessment that includes input from the country’s 16 intelligence agencies say that even if the U.S. continues to maintain a few thousand troops and continued economic aids to Afghanistan, the situation will hardly improve.

Experts who are putting close eyes on the development in Afghanistan in relation to Al Qaeda and Taliban have endorsed that the Obama administration’s “false narratives” is going to endanger U.S. national security.

A news report published by The New York Times ( January 10,2014) stated that the Radical Sunni militants aligned with Al Qaeda in their bid to seize control of Falluja and Ramadi, two of the most important cities in Western Iraq, burnt out police stations, freed prisoners from jail and occupied mosques. Al Qaeda banners flying over these two cities where the Americans had fought some of the costliest battles in Iraq has not only raised painful memories, but also the renewed questioning about the efficacy of outside efforts to resolve the deep and bitter conflicts of the Middle East – the New York Times, continues. Indubitably, control over these two cities in Al Anbar region bordering Syria and Jordan would give Al Qaeda a great strategic advantage in the Middle East and North Africa.

A report ( August 2013) prepared by Anouar Boukhars for Hivos -– an international development organization based in Netherlands, FRIED a European Think Tank for Global Action and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs — has stated that while violent extremists are being subdued in one area, new hot spots of confrontation are emerging. When Al Qaeda and its transnational affiliates are forced out of one of their safe havens, expanding the threat boundaries manifold – they come to exploit security vacuums in much of North Africa and Sahel region.

In April 2013, UN Security Council’s Group of Experts has prepared a report collecting information from investigators made after 28 visits to 15 countries in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, including 10 visits to Libya. Quoting this report international news agencies have mentioned that after NATO backed rebellion toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, a dreadful power vacuum have been created in Libya following a weak and poor governance. Owing to this, non-state actors, terrorist and criminal elements in Libya, seized weapons and military materials from the state arsenals; they were trafficked out of the country, and transported to neighboring countries at an alarming rate. This way the Libyan weapons have been fueling conflicts in Mali, Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere in the Arab region.

Cost of War and Future challenges

In a report (March 2013) prepared by Linda J. Bilmes for Harvard University, says that the “Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, taken together, will be the most expensive wars in US history – totaling somewhere between $4 to $6 trillion.” According to the report, the United States has already spent almost $2 trillion for the military campaigns and the amounts as Blimes says are only a fraction of the ultimate price tag. The biggest ongoing expense will be spent on long-term medical care and disability compensation for service members, veterans and families, military replenishment and social and economic costs.

The report further states that the Afghan and Iraq wars have added some $2 trillion to the America’s debt, contributing about 20% of the total national debt added between 2001 and 2012 forcing the country apply severe austerity measures and defense budget cuts. “The US has already paid $260 billion in interest on the war debt. This does not include the interest payable in the future, which will reach into the trillions”, Blimes in her report mentions.

In another authoritative study — Watson Institute for International Studies of the Brown University, with contributions from more than 20 noted experts, have estimated at over 330,000, death toll — mostly civilians, in wars of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Causalities if calculated with war related sufferings and deprivations have long past the one million mark, the study says.

The question may be raised on the achievement of the global War on terrorism. Undoubtedly, Osama bin Laden and some of his top lieutenants have been killed. Saddam Hussein is dead, but Iraq and Afghanistan are far from being peaceful and stable democracies after such a huge cost of war. The experts have widely admitted that although Al Qaeda’s global leadership located along the Afghanistan- Pakistan border has been weakened by persistent U.S. strikes; they are far from being defeated.

In a testimony before U.S. Congress subcommittee on – Global al Qaeda: Affiliates, Objectives, and Future Challenges, (July 2013) Seth G. Jones – the International Security and Defense Policy expert at the RAND Corporation, has argued that since 1988, there has been a net expansion in the number and geographicscope of al Qaeda affiliates and allies over the past decade.

This growth according to Jones is contributed by several factors – the Arab uprisings, weakened regimes across North Africa and the Middle East, and the growing sectarian struggle across the region between Sunni and Shia ethnic community and the militant groups representing these communities.

Because of Al Qaeda’s terrorist activities, although Pakistan has suffered a lot, but much is said and written about Al Qaeda and its affiliates receiving strategic support and sanctuary from core Pakistani leadership among political parties and security agencies. This has offered local affiliates of Al Qaeda run their operations autonomously in a wide region extending from India and Bangladesh to the Philippines and Indonesia. Similarly, Al Qaeda and its allies in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon have made their presence felt mainly in North Africa, and even in countries of West and Central Africa.

By the end of this year, United States is scheduled to withdraw its armed forces from Afghanistan. Before such withdrawal, United States wants to ensure the national security and democratic stability of the war torn country at the hands of the Afghan armed forces. Before such withdrawal, Afghanistan will have a presidential and provincial election in April 2014. The election will play a pivotal role in contributing long-term security and stability of the country. Certainly, failures of the elections will have catatastrophic implications not only for Afghanistan but also to the region as a whole including the United States.

In this regard, Seth G. Jones with Keith Crane has produced another report (November 2013) for Council on Foreign Relations. The report titled -Afghanistan After the Drawdown, says that after the withdrawal, Afghan National Security Forces under the new president will have the total responsibility of ensuring peace and democratic stability of the country. The report further admits that even after its military withdrawal, United States retains some vital interests in Afghanistan, including preventing a civil war like situation where the Al Qaeda or its affiliates like Taliban could regain their control in Afghanistan.

In case, Al Qaeda and its allies return to Afghanistan, it could bring a more critical and dangerous phase of terrorism in South and Central Asia and in Middle East. China’s already volatile Muslim dominated Xinxiang province bordering Afghanistan may see a serious round of Uyghur separatist movement. In such a case, the most precarious part of the development will be that Al Qaeda and its allies will be assured and confident that after the withdrawal, United States will never return to Afghanistan. It will give huge benefit to Al Qaeda in two ways – first, it will end American influence in the region and will erase its strategic credibility in the region and all over the world. The second is that Al Qaeda will come to believe that no other power on earth than America could prevent them from achieving their dream of creating a new Islamic Caliphate that includes the completely Muslim dominated countries from Pakistan and Kazakhstan to Turkey and Saudi Arabia and from there to North Africa.

Cannot We Learn the Unlearned Lessons of History?

William R. Polk, a Harvard scholar and former member of Policy Planning Council of U.S. Department of State, has written a well-researched book- Violent Politics: A History of Insurgency, Terrorism, and Guerrilla Warfare. In the book Polk has admitted, “We came close to genocide in Vietnam- where we dropped more bombs than all the armed forces of the world exploded during the Second World War, poisoned or burned vast tracts of the country, and killed about two million people. Despite all this, we still lost the war. We did not learn the lesson in Vietnam. We still have not.”

There are some other incredible facts when Viet Minh took actions against the French colonial masters in 1944; they were just thirty-four, but when the war ended the causalities had reached 3.8 millions. The Naxalite movement in India started by some handful activists in a small village of West Bengal with primitive weapons like bows and arrows, have now some more than 30,000 modern weapons and explosives and their writs run across some one third of 600 Indian districts. Similarly, a small numbers of Maoist activists in Nepal when went into insurgency they had just one or two old modeled guns- that hardly fired, but within ten years they had acquired the most advanced kind of weapons available in the world. With them at their disposal, they were completely able to disrupt the state activities and could force the state negotiate with them and accept their terms.

Indeed, democracy — a rule accountable to the people through defined institutional process — driven by reason, justice, and equality, is a birth right of every individual around the world. However, building institutions of democracy and maintaining democratic political order, has become a much treacherous job for many societies. Instead, if democracy is not rooted and developed in their own societies – along with the values the society has adopted for centuries, it is very hard for a modern democracy get succeed in these societies. In real terms those values that are far stronger than the state itself, will do everything to disqualify a democracy and its sustainability.

One kind of example is available in former Soviet Union. It was a strong state – based on equality. Owing to revolutionary enthusiasm, it had destroyed traditional Russian societies and values. It created all-powerful monolithic communist structure over them, but when its political order failed, the state collapsed, because there was no society to come and rescue it from its all out fall.

China, without any precedent in world history, has made a tremendous achievement in creating prosperity for its people. Nevertheless, this unprecedented economic achievement in human history is induced by the state led growth by the same kind of monolithic communist structure. Today, the world is scarred over the issue that if the communist order collapses in China – the crisis will have far-reaching consequences to all major economies and to the other developing countries in every corner of the world as well, because in a globalized world economy China is also leading the world’s second largest economy. As in Soviet Union China lacks societies to come before to rescue if it fails.

There are some other kinds of examples. During Maoist insurgency, the state was completely absent from many parts of the country. The government existed only behind the barricaded structure of the security forces. Public goods for the people from the state were minimal or nonexistent at all, but the nation, society survived, their social life, unity, and harmony among people remained intact. People’s economy although was limited to its sustenance level, ran smoothly as if nothing happened.

Similar is the case of India. One third of its territory is rife under Maoist insurgency and some other kind of ethnic conflicts are chasing India for decades, but even then India is leading the world’s largest democracy with a vibrant economy. More than state institutions, Indian societies largely play a vital role in sustaining its flourishing democracy and economy. Likewise, no modern state and society exists in Pakistan, but it is surviving under unthinkably terrible internal and external pressures.

In conclusion, traditional societies too, had and have developed and expanded secured areas for people, with some kind of inclusive distribution of political power, equality, and justice for its citizens. Had not they developed such values and institutions, it would have become impossible for them to have thousands years long history and culture so enriched and fabulous. Have we been able to develop and modernize them with the support of more inclusive democratic institutions and culture of power sharing and grievance handling and had western countries invested adequate intellectual and technical efforts in modernizing the indigenous democratic practices of these societies, we would have more peaceful and prosperous democratic world order. This would have left very small or no room for insurgency or terrorism. That in return, would also have helped western countries to get rid with some of the challenges their political system and economy are living with.

kpbnepal@gmail.com

The article Unlearned Lessons of History: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has condemned in the strongest terms the barbaric attack on Friday evening in Kabul, which has led to the death of at least 16 Afghan civilians and foreign nationals, including international staff dedicated to helping the Afghan people.

“I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and I wish speedy recovery to the wounded,” Rasmussen said.

“We stand in solidarity with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, other international organisations and nations who are seeking to verify the status of their personnel,” Rasmussen added.

According to Rasmussen, “There can never be any justification for such indiscriminate acts of terror and destruction.”

The article NATO Secretary General Condemns Attack In Kabul‏ appeared first on Eurasia Review.