By Eurasia Review

Romanian President Traian Basescu has been reportedly found guilty of discriminatory remarks about Roma (Gypsy) population by country’s official National Council for Combating Discrimination and now Hindus want him to resign.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that Basescu had no moral standing to continue in the government after making such disparaging remarks about a major group of the population.

The Council reportedly fined Basescu for saying “very few of them (Roma) want to work” and “traditionally many of them live off stealing”, in a news conference in Slovenia in 2010.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, although applauded the Council for declaring Basescu guilty but criticized it for letting him go with just about $185 fine. How a President could represent a country when he had such a prejudiced opinion about a large ethnic group of its population, he asked.

Rajan Zed sought European Union intervention if Basescu did not resign. It seemed like an attempt by Romania’s President to demonize the already most prejudiced against community in Europe and eternalizing negative stereotyping of them, instead of showing strong political will to integrate them, Zed noted.

“Human Rights Practices for 2012″ report about Romania by US Department of State said: There was systematic societal discrimination against Roma…Anti-Roma banners, chants, and songs, particularly at large televised sporting events, were prevalent and widespread.

Europe’s most persecuted and discriminated community, Roma were reportedly encountering apartheid conditions in Europe. Roma reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, Zed pointed out.

Romania’s Roma community is said to be the biggest in Europe and according to reports, between 1.8 and 2.5 million Roma live in Romania and about 75 per cent live in poverty.

In Berlin in January, Basescu again reportedly made derogatory remarks against Roma, besides calling a journalist “dirty Gypsy” in 2007 and blaming Roma of stealing in buses in 2011.

The article Romania President Basescu Asked To Resign Over Discriminatory Roma Remarks appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By RT

A massive DDoS attack hit EU- and US-based servers, with security companies reporting it to be even more powerful than last year’s Spamhaus attacks. While the method of the attack was not new, CloudFlare warned there are “ugly things to come.”

Only scant details about the attack were released by US-based web performance and security firm CloudFlare, which fought back against the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack early Tuesday.

According to CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince, the attack reached 400 gigabits per second in power – some 100Gbps higher than the notorious Spamhaus cyber-assault of March 2013 that at the time was branded the largest-ever attack in the history of the internet.

“[It was] very big. Larger than the Spamhaus attack from last year… Hitting our network globally but no big customer impact outside of Europe,” Prince was quoted as saying by TechWeekEurope blog.

Prince said one customer was initially targeted by the attack, but added that he would not disclose the customer’s identity.

The company spent several hours mitigating the attack, but said that the European network was largely unaffected. When helping to deal with the massive cyberwar on Spamhaus last year, CloudFlare claimed it slowed down the entire World Wide Web, which prompted critics to dub the company’s part a “PR stunt effort.”

CloudFlare had some spooky statement to offer its customers this time as well. According to Prince, the latest attack has shown someone has got “a big, new cannon,” and it could be a “start of ugly things to come.”

French hosting firm OVH also reported being hit by an attack of more than 350Gbps in strength, but it was not clear whether it was the same attack CloudFlare experienced.

The technique used by Monday’s attackers was not exactly new, as they exploited the Network Time Protocol (NTP) used to synchronize clocks on computer systems. A weakness in the protocol allows querying an NTP server about connected clients and their traffic counts. If made en masse, such requests can generate an overwhelmingly large traffic, bringing down the target just like a typical DDoS attack would do.

What makes the recent attacks worse is the so-called “spoofing” of IP addresses of attackers, making it look as if the victim is actually generating those spam requests. The number of trash requests also skyrockets by “large” replies thrown back at the target from a number of servers “compromised” in the attack. For this reason, such tactics are often referred to as an “reflection and amplification” attack.

Back in January, the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) issued a warning about such NTP amplification attacks after a number of prominent gaming services were brought down by them in December, including Steam, League of Legends and Battle.net.

While CloudFlare in its warning urged server administrators to patch and upgrade their NTP servers to solve the issue, it appears that few have since bothered to carry out these security measures.

The article Massive DDoS-Attack Hits EU, US appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By EurActiv

(EurActiv) — EU leaders welcomed today (11 February) the resuming of peace talks in divided Cyprus, in a fresh attempt to end one of Europe’s most enduring conflicts and a decades-old obstacle to Turkey’s hopes of joining the European Union.

Leaders of the island’s rival Greeks and Turks are due to meet in no-mans-land, at an airport compound in the capital Nicosia that was abandoned in past fighting and is now used as a base for the United Nations peacekeeping force. It will be their first formal encounter for almost 18 months.

Nicos Anastasiades, president of the internationally recognised Cypriot government, and Turkish Cypriot leader Derviş Eroğlu will mandate a U.N. envoy to read out a joint statement outlining the basic principles that should govern a settlement.

They will then leave their aides to negotiate the minutiae of any deal in a process which could take months, aimed at healing the split between the two sides caused by war in 1974.

“I do not only wish [Tuesday] will be the start of a process which yields results, but I am also vowing that I will work towards this,” Kudret Ozersay, the Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator, said on Twitter.

The President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, and the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy issued a statement, welcoming the agreement by the leaders of the two communities to resume talks.

The European Commission is keen to play its part in supporting the negotiations, conducted under UN auspices and to offer all the support the parties and the UN find most useful, the statement reads.

Accordingly, Barroso will send a personal representative, and in parallel, the European Commission will step up efforts to help the Turkish Cypriot Community prepare for implementation of the acquis. Although the entire island of Cyprus is considered EU territory, EU legislation doesn’t apply on the Turkish-controlled North, which doesn’t benefit either from EU funds.

Cyprus’s partition is a headache for the European Union. The island is represented in the EU by its Greek Cypriots, with veto-wielding rights over Turkey’s wish to join the bloc.

Turkey invaded Cyprus’s north in 1974 after a Greek inspired coup. It provides political and financial support to a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state there.

Direction

Endless rounds of talks have failed to make headway on attempts to unite Cyprus as a union of two autonomous regions with one central government.

“It’s a good text … it certainly helps set the direction [of talks] and that can only be a good thing,” one diplomat told Reuters, referring to the joint statement outlining the principles of a deal.

But a junior partner in Anastasiades’s centre-right coalition, the centrist Democratic Party, says the text is unbalanced in Turkey’s favour and has said it could quit the government over the issue.

“The Turkish side achieves most of its long-standing ambitions, before talks have even started,” said party Chairman Nicholas Papadopoulos, son of the late Tassos Papadopoulos, a former president who rejected a U.N. reunification blueprint in 2004.

The threat is to a government which brokered a painful international bailout last year, staving off bankruptcy, and it could complicate an EU and IMF-directed economic reform programme that Cyprus has undertaken in return for €10 billion in aid.

Analysts, however, said the impact to the bailout if the party did quit the government would be minimal.

“If they do quit the coalition they won’t mess up the MOU too much,” said British economist Fiona Mullen, referring to the economic adjustment programme. “Because [if they did] they will get blamed for the collapse of the economy.”

The article EU Hails Resuming Of Cyprus Reunification Talks appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Trend News Agency

Moscow considers the U.S. unilateral sanctions against Iran as illegal and hindering further progress in negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov told journalist on Feb. 11, RIA Novosti reported.

“We clearly reject such steps. The U.S. unilateral sanctions are illegitimate and contrary to the normal course of development of bilateral relations, and in this particular situation they impede further progress in the negotiations [on Iran's nuclear program],” the diplomat said.

The U.S. Department of Treasury last week blacklisted a number of companies and individuals from several countries for “support to Iran’s nuclear program and active support of terrorism”, despite the fact that in late January, the country began to weaken the sanctions against Iran under an agreement between this country and P5+1 group.

The agreement, reached in November 2013, provides suspension of certain aspects of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief of the sanctions.

The article Russia Considers US Unilateral Sanctions Against Iran Illegitimate appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By MISNA

“They are alive and in good health. We seized a 4X4 (vehicle) of the enemies of Islam with their accomplices”, said Yoro Abdoulsalam, head of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), claiming the abduction of five aid workers.

A few hours earlier, the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) had expressed “concern” over the whereabouts of a team operating in the untable northern region of Mali, missing since February 8. The five-member team, all Malian nationals and four ICRC workers and one a vetenerian of another organization, were en route from Kidal (extreme north-east) to Gao (further south).

The abduction comes amid renewed tension in northern Mali, already theater to an 18-months armed crisis that broke out in January 2012 when the desert region of Azawad was seized by local Tuareg armed groups (MNLA) and Jihadist groups linked to AQMI (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), including the MUJAO and Ansar al Din.

The conflict on paper concluded months ago after the intervention of Operation Serval French forces and UN peacekeepers, but in reality counter-terrorism operations are still underway. Security and controls were in fact stepped up yesterday in the capital Bamako, over an alarm launched by the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) of an imminent risk of car-bomb attacks. Authorities set up check-points in the main areas of the city and military guards at sensitive possible targets.

Government and civil society sources in the northern city of Gao also denounced “a reinforced return on the ground” of MUJAO fighters. A few dozen Jihadists yesterday launched an attack against the area of Djebock, around 50km from Gao. Security minister Sada Samake attributed the same group recent ambushes against civilian vehicles in the area and also violence last week between Peul and Tuareg communities, which left some thirty dead. Also the Tuareg Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA, allied to the MUJAO in 2012) accuses the Jihadists of a “terrorist massacre” of some 30 Tuareg civilians in the city of Tamkoutat, not far from Djebock. MINUSMA sources instead linked the deaths to community clashes between the Tuareg and Peul.

The article Mali: Jihadists Claim Abduction Of Aid Workers appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

Traffickers have kidnapped, tortured, and killed refugees, most from Eritrea, in eastern Sudan and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, according to dozens of interviewees said Human Rights Watch. Egypt and Sudan have failed to adequately identify and prosecute the traffickers and any security officials who may have colluded with them, breaching both countries’ obligation to prevent torture.

The 79-page report, “‘I Wanted to Lie Down and Die:’ Trafficking and Torture of Eritreans in Sudan and Egypt,” documents how, since 2010, Egyptian traffickers have tortured Eritreans for ransom in the Sinai Peninsula, including through rape, burning, and mutilation. It also documents torture by traffickers in eastern Sudan and 29 incidents in which victims told Human Rights Watch that Sudanese and Egyptian security officers facilitated trafficker abuses rather than arresting them and rescuing their victims. Egyptian officials deny there are trafficker abuses in Sinai, allowing it to become a safe haven for traffickers.

“Egyptian officials have for years denied the horrific abuse of refugees going on under their noses in Sinai,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher for Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “Both Egypt and Sudan need to put an end to torture and extortion of Eritreans on their territory, and to prosecute traffickers and any security officials colluding with them.”

Since June 2013, the Egyptian authorities have intensified security operations in Sinai in response to almost weekly assassinations and attacks on police and military officers by Sinai-based groups. Security officials should ensure that their law enforcement operations include identifying and prosecuting traffickers, Human Rights Watch said.

The report draws on 37 interviews with Eritreans by Human Rights Watch and 22 by a nongovernmental organization in Egypt. The people interviewed said they had been abused for weeks or even months, either near the town of Kassala in eastern Sudan or near the town of Arish in northeastern Sinai, near Egypt’s border with Israel. Human Rights Watch also interviewed two traffickers, one of whom acknowledged that he tortured dozens of people. The report also draws on interviews conducted by other nongovernmental organizations outside Egypt who have interviewed hundreds of torture victims, and on statements by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) relating to its interviews of hundreds of such victims.

The victims said the Egyptian traffickers had tortured them to extort up to US$40,000 from their relatives. All of the witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they saw or experienced abuse by the traffickers, including rapes of both women and men; electric shocks; burning victims’ genitalia and other body parts with hot irons, boiling water, molten plastic, rubber, and cigarettes; beating them with metal rods or sticks; hanging victims from ceilings; threatening them with death; and depriving them of sleep for long periods. Seventeen of the victims said they saw others die of the torture.

Relatives who heard the victims scream through their mobile phones said they collected and wired the vast sums of money the traffickers demanded.

Since 2004, over 200,000 Eritreans have fled repression and destitution at home to remote border camps in eastern Sudan and Ethiopia, dodging Eritrean border guards with shoot to kill orders against people leaving without permission. They have no work prospects in or near the camps and until 2010, tens of thousands paid smugglers who took them through Sinai to Israel.

By 2011, Israel had completed large sections of a 240-kilometer fence along its border with Sinai to keep them out. Since then, traffickers have continued to kidnap Eritreans in eastern Sudan and sell them to Egyptian traffickers in Sinai. Every Eritrean Human Rights Watch interviewed who had arrived in Sinai in 2012 said that traffickers had taken them from Sudan to Egypt against their will.

Human Rights Watch received new reports of trafficking from eastern Sudan to Sinai as recently as November 2013 and January 2014.

Eritreans told Human Rights Watch that Sudanese police in the remote eastern town of Kassala, close to Africa’s oldest refugee camps, intercepted them near the border, arbitrarily detained them, and handed them over to traffickers, including at police stations.

Some of the victims also said that they had seen how Egyptian security officers had colluded with traffickers at checkpoints between the Sudanese border and Egypt’s Suez Canal, at the heavily policed canal or at checkpoints on the only vehicle bridge crossing the canal, in traffickers’ houses, at checkpoints in Sinai’s towns, and close to the Israeli border.

Despite the widespread knowledge of the trafficking in Sinai and the severity of the abuses, senior Egyptian officials have repeatedly denied that the trafficking is taking place. The few who acknowledge possible abuses say there is not enough evidence to investigate.

As of December 2013, Egypt’s public prosecutor had prosecuted one Sinai trafficker’s accomplice living in Cairo, according to a lawyer representing trafficking victims. According to international groups following trafficking cases in Sudan, the Sudanese authorities had prosecuted 14 cases involving traffickers of Eritreans in eastern Sudan. By the end of 2013, Sudan had prosecuted four police officials and Egypt had prosecuted none in connection with the trafficking and torture.

Both countries’ failure to adequately investigate and prosecute traffickers who severely abuse their victims and the alleged collusion by security officials breaches their obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, international human rights law, and, in Egypt’s case, national and international anti-trafficking laws, Human Rights Watch said.

Egypt should use its increased security presence in Sinai to apprehend traffickers, in particular near the town of Arish, and investigate security officials colluding with them at the Suez Canal and in Sinai. Sudan should investigate collusion with traffickers by senior police officials in and around Kassala, including in police stations.

“Egypt and Sudan are giving allegedly corrupt security officials a free pass to work with traffickers,” Simpson said. “The time has long passed for Egypt and Sudan to stop burying their heads in the sand and take meaningful action to end these appalling abuses.”

When traffickers free Eritreans whose families have paid their ransom, Egyptian border police often intercept the Eritreans and transfer them to military prosecutors and then detain them for months in inhuman and degrading conditions in Sinai’s police stations, victims said. The Egyptian authorities deny trafficking victims their rights under Egypt’s 2010 Law on Combatting Human Trafficking, which says they should receive assistance, protection, and immunity from prosecution.

Instead, the authorities charge them with immigration offenses, and deny them access to urgently needed medical care as well as to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, which considers refugee claims in Egypt. Egyptian authorities have repeatedly claimed that all Eritreans intercepted in Sinai are illegal migrants, not refugees, ignoring the fact that since mid-2011 most Sinai trafficking victims have been taken from Sudan to Egypt against their will.

Egyptian authorities only release detained Eritreans when they have raised enough money to buy an air ticket to Ethiopia. There, many come full circle, living once again in the refugee camps near Eritrea where they originally registered as refugees.

International donors to Egypt, including the United States and the European Union and its member states, should press Egyptian and Sudanese authorities to investigate and prosecute traffickers and to investigate any collusion by security officials with traffickers.

“It is too late for the tortured trafficking victims who have gone through hell in Sinai,” Simpson said. “But the international community can try to prevent hundreds more Eritreans from falling into the hands of abusive traffickers, while insisting that past crimes should not go unpunished.”

The article Egypt/Sudan: Traffickers Who Torture appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By IPCS

By Bo Zhen

On 27 January 2014, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ended his three-day visit to India. The visit was important particularly in light of the strenuous ties between Asia’s two top economies over a dispute over islands in the East China Sea. Prime Minister Abe’s visit brought India and Japan closer as they covered significant grounds for bilateral cooperation. The two countries signed a series of agreements covering national security, economic development, weapons importation, joint military exercises, cultural exchanges and other aspects of cooperation mentioned in the Joint Statement.

Abe’s visit showed Japan’s desire to strengthen the strategic bilateral relationship with India at the time of rising tensions in the region. However, the two sides did not discuss China who has territorial disputes with both. The main focus was on practical cooperation and neither initiated talks about China because the symbolic meaning of Abe’s visit was already very strong – increasing Chinese economic and military capability has pushed India and Japan to stand closer. The first joint naval exercise between India and Japan was held in Japanese waters in 2012. Economic ties between both have been strengthened further, with the bilateral trade amount increasing by 80 per cent in the last five years, almost reaching USD 18 billion.

Japan’s Containment Strategy: In India’s Interest?
Japan’s effort is obvious and it is true that India and Japan have many mutual interests, especially in the aspects of trade and economic cooperation, infrastructural investment, hi-tech industry, maintenance of regional security etc. However, it is still too early to say that Japan’s wish to contain China is an advisable choice not only for itself but also for India. Before Abe’s high-profile visit, many political preparations were done, including the visits by the Japanese Emperor and Japan’s defense minister. Despite Japan’s recent efforts to strengthen ties with India, it would still be very difficult for Japan to get India involved in its containment strategy.

Firstly, it is not likely that India would follow Japan’s plan blindly. For a long time now, India has implemented an independent foreign policy which is based on the non-alignment strategy. History, domestic conditions and complicated cultural and religious nuances have determined that India would not simply comply with orders by other countries.

Secondly, it is very natural and meaningful for Japan and India to enhance economic cooperation, but to convert this cooperation into motivation to contain a third party is another story. Moreover, Indo-Japanese economic cooperation could avoid political motivations. In a globalised world, Japan is one amongst many of India’s economic partners. In 2011, bilateral trade between China and India was USD 73.6 billion, which was more than five times the trade amount of India and Japan (around 14 billion USD) in 2011, and it is speculated that this will increase to USD 100 billion in 2015. Since the BRICS has become an important economic cooperation organisation and is posited to plays a key role in the world arena, mutual economic relations among the members will definitely be enhanced in the future.

Thirdly, it has become clear that India has become a crucial player not only in the South Asian region but in globally as well, and this is attributed to its unique geopolitical position. India is the continental bridge connecting West Asia and Southeast Asia, and it therefore acts as a link to East and West Asia. The strategic importance of India would not allow the US or Japan to enjoy their strategic advantages freely. It could be postulated that in the 21st century, geopolitics continues to dominate the foundation of India’s foreign policy.

India-China: Smooth Development of Bilateral Relations?
The India-China bilateral relationship will not be affected much by India-Japan relations. For the first time in five decades, Indian and Chinese leaders visited each other’s capital in the same year. The mutual visits have shown that India-China relations have grown over time and current issues among India, China and Japan are not likely to stop this trend.

First, issues continue to bedevil China-Japan and China-India relations, but problems between the latter are still controllable with huge potential for cooperation. Therefore, it is in India’s interest to seek engagement with China and not to distance itself – otherwise, the cost will not only mean a huge loss of bilateral trade but also a hostile China. More importantly, India may not get the support it requires from Japan when facing China. Second, civil nuclear cooperation may seem like a very attractive deal for Japan, but it is not so for two reasons: Japan is not the only source for India’s acquisition of civil nuclear technology, and even if Japan were to build a nuclear weapon, it would not need technological assistance from India.

Third, Indo-Japanese cooperation for infrastructural development in Northeastern India can hardly be seen as an economic scheme – it is much more political. How much development does India really want in this region? How many practical difficulties exist here? How much progress can actually be achieved?

All in all, as the world’s second largest and Asia’s largest economy as well as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China will continue to strengthen Sino-Indian relations. As PM Manmohan Singh said, “There is enough space in the world for the development of both India and China and indeed, enough areas for India and China to cooperate.” This is also true for China, India and Japan.

Bo Zhen
MA Politics (International Studies), SIS, JNU

The article Assessing Japan-India Relations: A Chinese Perspective – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By VOA

By Dan Robinson

Presidents Barack Obama and Francois Hollande hailed the strength of the U.S.-France alliance as Hollande continued a state visit to the United States. They also voiced unified positions on Iran sanctions and Syria.

On a bright but cold Washington day, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama welcomed Hollande in the traditional ceremony on the White House South Lawn.

After inspecting a military honor guard, the two leaders shook hands with spectators holding French and American flags. Obama paid tribute to a deepening alliance with America’s oldest ally.

“Yesterday at Monticello, we reflected on the values that we share, the ideals at the heart of our alliance. Here under the red, white and blue, and the blue, white and red, we declare our devotion once more to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Liberte, egalite, fraternite,” said Obama.

Both leaders said France and the United States owe their freedom to each other. President Hollande called it a great day for America and France, and spoke through an interpreter about historical bonds.

“We are always united by a common history. From Yorktown to the beaches of Normandy, as you said so rightly, each of our countries knows what it owes to the other — its freedom,” said Hollande.

Questions about Syria and nuclear negotiations with Iran dominated a more than hour-long news conference.

Calling the situation in Syria “horrendous,” Obama said they agreed on the importance of Syrians achieving a political solution and dealing with the humanitarian crisis.

“We are going to continue to commit to not just pressure the Assad regime but also to get countries like Russia and Iran to recognize that it is in nobody’s interest to see the continuing bloodshed and collapse that is taking place inside that country,” said Obama.

President Hollande stressed the importance of continued negotiations.

“The only purpose of this conference is to make political transition possible. It is not about discussing humanitarian measures only. It is all about making sure that a political change be possible which eventually will have to take place in Syria,” said Hollande.

The French leader blamed the Syrian regime for blocking progress. He echoed President Obama’s concern about Russia blocking a vote on a Syria resolution in the United Nations Security Council.

President Obama saluted Hollande for matching words with action in making France a global leader, mentioning Mali, Central African Republic, as well as joint pressure to remove chemical weapons from Syria, and the Iran nuclear negotiations.

Both leaders warned that P5+1 nations are determined to continue enforcing existing Iran sanctions while talks continue. Obama issued this warning to companies seeking to position themselves in Iran.

“Businesses may be exploring, are there some possibilities to get in sooner rather than later if and when there is an actual agreement to be had, but I can tell you that they do so at their own peril right now, because we will come down on them like a ton of bricks,” said Obama.

Hollande said U.S. support enabled the success of French operations in Mali against Islamist fighters.

“It was only successful because a decision was made by the international community. It was successful because Americans took part and Europeans helped as well as Americans who also gave their support and a president has now been elected in Mali and the Malian state has now found its authority again,” said Hollande.

Other topics included spillover effects in the Middle East from the Syrian conflict, Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations, trade and climate change.

On National Security Agency spying, President Obama said France and other longtime allies were the first to be consulted regarding changes being made to surveillance activities. Obama said the United States must be respectful of privacy concerns of French citizens.

President Hollande indicated that any differences on the issue have been resolved.

“Mutual trust has been restored, and that mutual trust must be based on respect for each other’s country but also based on protection of private life, of personal data,” said Hollande.

Before a state dinner late Tuesday, Hollande went to Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen U.S. soldiers and lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

He also presented six U.S. veterans with the French Legion of Honor to demonstrate, as he put it, that “France will never forget the spirit of sacrifice by American soldiers who left their homes to liberate France and Europe.”

President Obama announced Tuesday that he has accepted Hollande’s invitation to visit France for observances on June 6 marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

The article Obama Welcomes Hollande To White House appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By RT

Ally or not, the US does not have an agreement with any country that would prevent espionage in light of national security concerns, President Obama said on Tuesday, prior to an official state dinner with a European head of state.

During a joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande, Obama was asked whether his selection of France for the first state visit of his second term as president signalled a post-spying agreement with America’s European ally. Through documents supplied by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, it was revealed that the NSA spied on French citizens and the internal communications of France’s foreign ministry and diplomats.

“There’s no country where we have a no-spy agreement,” Obama answered.

The US has long worked on global surveillance operations in conjunction with the other members of the so-called “Five Eyes” contingency: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Yet even the Five Eyes countries have not committed to avoid spying on one another.

Obama went on to highlight the changes he has ordered US agencies to make regarding direct surveillance of foreign leaders.

In announcing those changes in January, Obama said that the US is the “world’s only superpower” and must continue to conduct operations allies are not able to accomplish on their own.

“We will not apologize simply because our services may be more effective,” he said, “but heads of state and governments with whom we work closely . . . should feel confident that we are treating them as real partners.”

The US government “will continue to gather information about the intentions” of foreign governments, Obama said. Yet he also promised the NSA “will not monitor the communications of heads of state” atop the ranks of allied partners unless there are compelling national security purposes at stake.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act would be subject to reform as well, Obama announced, allowing the US to intercept the communications of overseas targets with important information without putting as many Americans and foreign persons incidentally targeted under the looking glass.

Speaking after Obama on Tuesday, Hollande said the two nations had put the controversy behind them, though he said foreign citizens’ privacy must be respected on some level.

“Mutual trust must be based on respect for each other’s country, but also based on the protection of private life, of personal data,” Hollande said.

There has been no indication to date that Hollande was the target of any NSA spying.

“Following the revelations that appeared due to Snowden, we clarified things, Mr. Obama and myself, we clarified things. And then this was in the past,” Hollande added. “Mutual trust has been restored.”

Hollande’s restored faith in the Franco-American alliance comes just in time for Tuesday night’s state dinner at the White House. Included on the guest list for Tuesday’s banquet honoring Hollande is NSA Director Keith Alexander.

The article Obama Says No Nation Avoids US Spying appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By VOR

US Republicans capitulated Tuesday to President Barack Obama’s call to extend the nation’s borrowing authority with no strings attached, dialing back the threat of an election-year fiscal showdown. The House of Representatives narrowly approved a measure to suspend the US debt ceiling until March 2015. It now moves to the Senate, which will begin debating the bill Wednesday.

A drama-free extension of borrowing authority without other conditions would mark a shift away from recent confrontations that brought the world’s largest economy to the brink of default, culminating in the US government being shuttered for 16 days last October.

It could also avoid the turmoil that rocked US and international markets during the previous debt limit fights.

House Speaker John Boehner, unable to gain sufficient support from his fractured party for a plan he unveiled Monday that would have tied the debt limit to a revision of military pension benefits, introduced the debt ceiling bill knowing it would need support from nearly all Democrats.

The legislation passed by 221 votes to 201, a clear victory for Obama in the wake of the shutdown that Americans blamed largely on Republicans.

Boehner said it was “a lost opportunity” to work together to find cuts and reforms equal to the increase in the debt limit.

But when his earlier plan collapsed he offered a debt ceiling hike with no accompanying legislation, violating his own principle, put forward in 2011, that extension of borrowing authority be accompanied with federal spending cuts in equal measure.

Vice President Joe Biden said Boehner’s stand-down was “a victory for the country,” while the White House called the vote “a positive step in moving away from the political brinkmanship that’s a needless drag on our economy.”

Boehner said Obama was clearly “the one driving up the debt,” currently at $17.3 trillion, and that the president will be forced to own it as lawmakers gear up for campaign season ahead of November’s mid-term elections.

“Only in Washington would the solution to a $17 trillion national debt be an increase in our borrowing limit,” frustrated House Republican Jason Smith said.

The measure now heads to the Senate. Legislation there can bog down in procedural votes, and a delay would risk the government’s ability to pay all of its bills.Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell was silent on whether his members would seek to force a 60-vote threshold to advance the measure in the 100-seat body. That would require Republicans to join Democrats to move the bill forward.

“We’ll see how it plays out,” McConnell said.

Senator Roy Blunt was one of several Republicans prepared to vote no.

“Increasing the debt ceiling without changing behavior is not a good idea,” he said.

Meanwhile US stocks added more than one percent Tuesday, supported both by the Boehner announcement and Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen’s comments on monetary policy in her first congressional testimony in her new role.

The article US House Votes To Raise Debt Ceiling Without Condition Until March 2015 appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Salma Yusuf

As organised and natural processes of post-war nation-building are continuing in Sri Lanka, it is important to infuse the discourse with a critical component of democratisation: The need for public participation and ownership of programmes of nation-building. Such will undoubtedly contribute to the sustainability of initiatives and the maximising of its dividends. Who participates – to what degree, at what stage, and in what capacity – is therefore critical.

Comparative experience shows that nation-building processes with structured opportunities for broader public participation can widen the range of issues addressed, including the structural causes of conflict; to help produce broadly legitimate peace and reconciliation agreements; strengthen the capacity for inclusive political participation in future governance and to facilitate a degree of political reconciliation.

The possibilities for more participatory models are revealed from South Africa to Northern Ireland, Guatemala to Mali, and the Philippines to Papua New Guinea-Bougainville.

To this end, three modes of public participation in a peacemaking mechanism in Sri Lanka can be considered.

Representation through multi-party negotiations: South Africa’s negotiations and Northern Ireland’s Belfast Talks

Multi-party negotiating forums act as the deliberative or decision-making body to decide the political future of the country, potentially formalised through public referendums or constitutional reforms. Political party structures serve as the channel to promote constituency interests and values; negotiators are able to consult party members and public constituencies and potentially bring them along in the process. Multi-party negotiations can potentially create opportunities for new political groupings to emerge. Various decision-making procedures are utilised for formalising agreements, including ‘sufficient consensus’, voting and public referendums.

The impressions of South Africa’s Eldred De Klerk are valuable: ‘During the transition, South Africans started to debunk misperceptions and myths about each other. As trust increased, they began to make the political compromises necessary for a mutually acceptable future. They soon learned that the benefit of engagement was in the process itself as well as in the outcomes…And to this end all stakeholders – and as many people as possible – needed to be engaged and the process to be as transparent and accessible as possible.’ (http://www.c-r.org/sites/c-r.org/files/13_Public%20Participation%20in%20peacemaking_2004_ENG_F.pdf)

Consultative processes accompanying peace negotiations: Guatemala’s Civil Society Assembly and the Philippines National Unification Commission

Such a mechanism typically engages organised civil society, either as diverse sectors or those located in specific regions or localities. The focus is on identifying conflict issues and making recommendations to address them; the process can influence the official negotiating agenda and substantive agreements. Consultations can happen at different ‘levels’ including local, provincial and national and involve different groupings. Heterogeneity in society means diverse groupings potentially in the same forum, creating the possibility of forging common ground on contentious issues that can contribute to practical change and facilitate a degree of reconciliation. Processes have the potential to take debates outside elite circles and into the public sphere, thus helping to open the process to ordinary people and contribute to social consensus.

Guatemala’s Enrique Alvarez and Tania Palencia Prado shared conclusions on the national public participatory mechanisms: ‘The peace accords finalised in December 1996 brought a formal end to a war that had lasted intermittently for 36 years. They included almost 200 substantive commitments that, if fulfilled, would bring significant changes to the structure of the Guatemalan state and society…The scope of the accords was due partially to several mechanisms that enabled representatives of organized sectors of civil society to discuss problems largely untouched in public debate for decades…’ (http://www.c-r.org/sites/c-r.org/files/13_Public%20Participation%20in%20peacemaking_2004_ENG_F.pdf)

Direct participation at local level: Mali’s inter-community meetings, Columbia’s municipal constituent assemblies, South Africa’s local and regional peace committees

This model engages all those with an interest in the ways of reaching and implementing an agreement, sometimes involving thousands of participants. It is generally suited in a local context and typically aims at generating a ‘pragmatic space’ between those inter-dependent communities by addressing issues within their control.
These localized processes can help to generate a new approach to politics and create spaces conducive to national reconciliation.

As Kare Lode noted, ‘It was only when thousands of people …engaged directly in inter-community peacemaking that the path to national reconciliation opened. The involvement of all those most affected by the conflict in open and inclusive decision-making meetings was able to achieve what official political negotiations could not: A transformation of the conflict and consolidation of peace.’ (http://www.c-r.org/sites/c-r.org/files/13_Public%20Participation%20in%20peacemaking_2004_ENG_F.pdf)

Public participation should also be understood within the wider context of the right to effective participation in governance. To this end, citizenry as a whole, as individuals and as groupings, need to take their role as citizens seriously, something which is not always the case in Sri Lanka. The responsibility of citizens can never be absolutely abrogated through social contract, as a residuary responsibility remains with the citizen and is non-alienable in an absolute sense as expounded by jurists of the theory be it Hobbes, Locke or Rousseau.

The problem of scale means that it would be difficult for every member of a society to meaningfully participate directly at the national level, although there may be more scope at the national level. Thus the number of potential dilemmas concerning accountability and representativeness of the participants must not be overlooked. Several methods have been used to help address this in the political representative context: Delegates were chosen through public elections and referenda were organized to ensure both a constituency mandate and consent to the agreements reached.

The consultation mechanisms did not include such formal measures; yet although influential, the participants were not charged with the responsibility of making legally-binding agreements about their country’s future. More salient criteria might be whether they truly represented the diversity of public interest and opinion and whether they were able to generate a broad social consensus in support of the process and agreements reached.

Whichever model or combination is adopted or indeed adapted for the Sri Lankan context it must ensure that it suits the local realities, both politically and socially. A challenge, however, will be to inculcate in citizens the need and value of participating in nation-building endeavours with both a sense of responsibility and ownership. Education and awareness-raising can be an useful first step.

This article appeared at the Daily Mirror and is reprinted with permission.

The article Democratising Nation-Building – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Binoy Kampmark

It is the great dilemma about democracy. Left in certain hands, it can become a beastly thing. America’s founders, notably James Adams, were suspicious of its vulgar appeal, its tendency to succumb to tyranny. But is that the point of it? Like free will, its existence is bound to put us on the path to doom and depravity at certain points in time. Such independence comes with it the power of self harm.

Enter, then, the canton system in Switzerland, a country that has managed to combine a democratic system with a good deal of paranoia and knee-jerk populism. What matters in that context is that it is democratic and seen as democratic. This idea is fed by the Swiss themselves, who have been convinced that equality exists, that the voices of everyday citizens will be heard, and no elite interests exist.

Such a narrative on vibrant sovereign will is a convenient fiction. The Swiss peoples did not come together to plot a singular state to the rhythm of democracy. They came together out of disliking everything else. As a piece in Der Spiegel (Feb 10) by David Nauer observes, “The German-language areas don’t want to belong to Germany, the Suisse romande don’t want to be part of France and the Ticinesi don’t want to become part of Italy. Instead, they are Swiss.” It was an identity built on rejection.

That the “yes” vote in a referendum favouring the reintroduction of immigration quotas on those coming from the European Union should have just scraped in should not be a shock. What was surprising was the smaller margin – 50.3 percent. “Faced with the negative effects of the pressures caused by immigration,” suggested the Tribune de Geneve, “voters wanted to send out a strong signal”.

The vote split the nation. The French-speaking West generally favoured an open immigration policy – they had more reason than any to be concerned by any supposed “negative” effects, given their greatest exposure. The Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, estranged from the Swiss centre of power and policy, had no reason to reward the cosmopolitans with what they wanted. Symbolically, at least, they feel left out (Worldcrunch, Feb 10).

The SVP or Swiss People’s Party, who initiated the referendum, was thrilled at the result. Their campaign was one of lacing old fears with the sweetness of reason. The trains, for example, were getting too full. Congestion and crowding were becoming problems. All of this have produced what the Swiss have called Dichtestress – “crowding stress”. As with so much that comes from irrational impulse, those who voted for the initiative had no reason to be affected at all – distinctly free of crowding stress. But perception is everything.

The business minded in Switzerland will be worried, bearing witness to a patient keen in suiciding. Energy, research and agriculture are set for a squeeze. While the Swiss have been stringently opposed to being in the EU, they have partaken of its offerings via movement of goods and people. The trading area offers them a huge market. Most Swiss goods find a home across the border. It also offers them a pool of qualified labour which underpins numerous company agreements.

Even financial Zurich has lost some of its dullness even if the restaurant and bar scene proves a strain on the wallet. It comes down, in large part, to a credo embraced by the EU and the Swiss business and political powers: that of freedom of movement.

Little wonder, then, that those in Brussels have been shaking their heads at those in Bern, with whom they have been long negotiations with. As the European Commission explained, “This goes against the principle of free movement of persons between the EU and Switzerland. The EU will examine the implications of the initiative on EU-Swiss relations as a whole” (BBC, Feb 9). Reproaches are bound to follow.

For all of Switzerland’s success, there was that old incoherent feeling that something was just not quite right. Immigration brings with it changes, some of them “negative”, which in the Swiss context is simply the fear of any change. The “yes” vote was one aimed squarely, as the Corriere del Ticino explained, at “the government, parliament, the business community, trade unions and the overwhelming majority of the political parties”.

Some of the blame, as far as it can be found, must rest with those groups who fell asleep at the wheel of the European issue. The SVP cunningly and destructively pounced on the issue – bagging and mocking Europe tends to get parties votes these days, and they proved no different. For some time, economic liberals were sharing the same bed as the SVP, a dangerous arrangement, if ever there was one.

The grand paradox of having wealth doesn’t lie in its grant of greater security. It creates, rather, an acute fear of losing it. It is not money itself that is the root of any evil per se – it is its possession that complicates the picture. Those who fear losing economic primacy are bound to impose measures achieving that very fact.

The article Paranoia And Swiss Immigration Vote – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Jim Kouri

A former U.S. Navy cryptology technician was sentenced on Monday to 30-years in federal prison for his attempt to steal military secrets and give them to men he believed were spies for the Russian Federation, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The 40-year-old submarine systems operator, Robert Patrick Hoffman of Virginia Beach, Va., was sentenced by Senior United States District Court Judge Robert Doumar in an Eastern District of Virginia courtroom.

“By attempting to hand over some of America’s most closely held military secrets, Robert Hoffman put U.S. service members and this country at risk,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Carlin.

“ Today, Mr. Hoffman is being held accountable for his actions. This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation’s secrets. I commend the prosecutors, agents and analysts who worked diligently on this case,” said Carlin, who works in the DOJ’s National Security Division.

“Hoffman attempted to spy on behalf of the Russian Federation and betrayed the trust this country placed in him,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Dana Boente. “He was willing to place American lives at risk for personal gain.”

Following a five-day jury trial that ended on Aug. 21, 2013, a Norfolk jury found Hoffman guilty of attempted espionage, as charged in the one-count superseding indictment filed on May 8, 2013, which was covered by an Examiner news story.

According to court records and the Examiner, Hoffman is a U.S. citizen born in Buffalo, N.Y., who served for 20 years in the U.S. Navy until retiring with the rank of Petty Officer First Class on Nov. 1, 2011.

Hoffman’s MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) in the Navy was Cryptologic Technician – Technical (CTT). As such, he served onboard — or in conjunction with — U.S. nuclear submarines for most of his career. Hoffman operated electronic sensors and systems designed to collect data and information about potential enemies, scanned the environment for threats to the submarine, and provided technical and tactical guidance to the submarines’ commanding officers.

Because of his MOS, of necessity, Hoffman held security clearances and regularly received access to classified national defense information about U.S. submarines and their capabilities and equipment, about specific missions, and about U.S. military and naval intelligence.

As a condition of receiving access to this sensitive information, Hoffman repeatedly signed nondisclosure agreements and regularly received training about his obligations to protect intelligence and to report without delay any suspicious contacts, according to trial testimony.

In 2012, the FBI agents initiated an investigation to determine if Hoffman was willing to act as an agent for a foreign government and commit espionage against the United States by divulging classified information, according to the Examiner.

As part of this investigation, undercover FBI agents posing as operatives of the Russian Federation contacted Hoffman seeking defense information. On three occasions in September and October 2012, Hoffman did just that and filled the drop site with encrypted thumb drives containing answers to the questions posed to him by persons he believed to be Russian agents.

In his answers, Hoffman supplied, among other things, national defense information classified at the levels of secret and top secret/sensitive compartmented information. Following these disclosures, FBI and NCIS (Navy Criminal Investigation Service) agents arrested Hoffman on Dec. 6, 2012, and the court ordered him detained.

The article Former US Navy Cryptology Tech Imprisoned For Espionage‏ appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Eurasia Review

Allianz said Tuesday it is extending its partnership with FC Bayern München far into the future. As part of a capital increase, Allianz SE is acquiring a share of 8.33 percent of FC Bayern München AG for 110 million euros.

FC Bayern München AG intends to use the capital from the Allianz SE investment for the repayment of debts and for the constitution of a youth football center of excellence. The naming rights, including an option, for the FC Bayern München stadium, the Allianz Arena, have been secured long-term until 2041.

The partnership between Allianz and FC Bayern München, which has existed since 2000 and become widely visible since the opening of the Allianz Arena in 2005, will be intensified and extended as a result of this equity investment.

The Allianz Arena is already the single most successful marketing measure taken by Allianz. It creates national and international brand awareness and sympathy. Since 2005 more than 23 million people have visited the arena. Worldwide the arena regularly reaches 750 million sports fans in 204 countries. With 3.2 million visitors every year, the Allianz Arena has more than twice the number of visitors than Neuschwanstein Castle with approximately 1.4 million visitors and has meanwhile come to be the most frequently visited attraction in Bavaria.

As part of the shareholding, a number of individual measures have also been agreed. Thus the presence of Allianz in the arena and in FC Bayern München’s brand identity will be strengthened. Moreover, tailor-made insurance products will be developed for fans and offered via the website of FC Bayern München. Finally, Allianz will provide new services in the stadium to increase its attractiveness for visitors and families in particular.

Allianz has meanwhile extended this success concept internationally to a further four stadium cooperations: Allianz Park in London, Allianz Riviera in Nice, Allianz Stadium in Sydney and Allianz Parque in São Paulo (summer of 2014).

The article Allianz Strengthens Cooperation With FC Bayern München On Long-Term Basis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By James M. Dorsey

Qatari organizers of the 2022 World Cup — in a bid to fend off criticism in the European parliament, convince world soccer body FIFA of progress made in improving conditions of foreign workers, and side line political demands by international trade unions – has issued the Gulf state’s most detailed workers welfare standards to date.

The 50-page document to be included in all World Cup-related contracts was issued two days before a hearing in the European parliament at which FIFA executive Theo Zwanziger is expected to testify on Qatar’s progress.

Qatar has been under pressure by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and human rights groups since winning the World Cup hosting rights to address concerns about the living and working conditions of foreign workers, who account for a significant majority of the Gulf state’s population. Critics noted that the standards do not apply to a majority of vast infrastructure projects that don’t fall under the purview of the World Cup organizers.

FIFA publicly joined the fray following reports last fall in Britain’s The Guardian and other media detailing a high death rate among workers and appalling living and working conditions. It demanded late last month that Qatar report progress in addressing the issues in advance of this week’s parliament hearing and next month’s FIFA executive committee meeting.

The ITUC charged in a statement that the Qatari Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy’s Workers’ Welfare Standards “do not deliver fundamental rights for workers and merely reinforce the discredited kafala (sponsorship) system of employer control over workers.”

The union criticized details of the standard but reserved its harshest criticism for the committee’s failure to address the sponsorship system or its more political demands for workers’ rights to form independent unions and engage in collective bargaining.

Qatari officials noted that the kafala system as well as the ITUC’s political demands fall beyond the committee’s authority and were the responsibility of other ministries and government entities. They drew a distinction between the approach of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which was involved in the drafting of the standards, and that of the ITUC. It was not immediately clear if the committee had invited the ITUC to participate in the drafting of the standards.

The ITUC’s political demands cut to the core of Qatar’s political and social existence. The call for free trade unions and collective bargaining challenges the political system in what is an enlightened autocracy. Together with the kafala system which makes workers dependent on their employers for their permits and restricts their freedom to seek alternative employment or travel, those demands raise existential issues in a country in which the citizenry accounts for at best 15 percent of the population.

The ILO and human rights organizations, while sharply critical of the kafala system, have acknowledged that many Qatari rules and regulations go a significant distance in meeting international standards. Qatari officials have admitted in the past that they were lagging in enforcing those rules but note that the labour ministry has in recent months increased its number of inspectors by 30 percent.

Similarly, the impact of the newly issued Workers’ Welfare Standards stands and falls with their enforcement. With only 38 workers working currently working under contracts that fall within the responsibility of the supreme committee, officials say the degree of enforcement will only be evident later this year as work on World Cup-related infrastructure kicks into higher gear. The committee in its document vows that the standards will be “robustly and efficiently monitored and enforced.”

On paper, the standards constitute a significant improvement in shaping workers’ working and living conditions. Following in the footsteps of Qatar Foundation, the state-owned entity, that funds education, science and community development, the standards extensively address the recruitment of foreign workers, which constitutes one of the most onerous segments of the migration cycle.

Workers often arrive in Qatar seriously indebted to recruiters who charge them significant fees for recruitment and passage to the Gulf state. Those fees can include an average kickback of $600 per worker to an employer’s recruitment executive. Qatar Foundation last year enshrined in its charter the principle that a worker should not pay for his or her recruitment.

The committee’s standards demand that a workers’ welfare compliance plan be part of all tender documents. The plan would need to include a template for contracts with recruitment agencies registered with the Qatari labour ministry in a bid to cut out unethical middlemen and combat corruption. The ITUC asserted that the ministry has so far failed to stop the charging of fees even though they violate Qatari law.

The standards further address a host of issues that are at the core of harsh criticism of Qatar that has cost it significant reputational damage. These include assurances that workers’ passports shall not be confiscated by their sponsors; ensuring timely payment of wages; guarantees that workers will not be penalized for filing complaints; a hotline for workers to file complaints; health, safety and security standards; provisions for adequate housing; hiring of a company worker welfare officer; and a four-tier monitoring and enforcement system.

In its statement, the ITUC charged that “not a single change has been made or recommended to Qatar’s laws that deny workers their fundamental rights. No workplace voice or representative is allowed for migrant workers in Qatar. A worker welfare officer appointed by the employer is no substitute for a duly nominated worker representative.” It dismissed the standards as an “old, discredited self-monitoring system which has failed in the past in Bangladesh and other countries where thousands of workers have died” – an apparent reference to Bangladesh’s textile industry that has witnessed multiple incidents as a result of unenforced standards.

Denouncing the standards as ‘a sham,” the union asserted further that the standards provided for only one social worker for every 3500 employees did not provide details of how complaints would be handled or who would manage the hotline; failed to set up a system to record workers’ deaths ensure autopsies; did not express the intention to prosecute contractors for breaches; and made no reference to Qatar’s high summer temperatures.

“Qatar has to change its laws, nothing else will do,” the statement quoted ITUC secretary general Sharan Burrow as saying.

Countered a Qatari official: “This is a significant step forward. It is part of a process to unify standards with other major stakeholders in the country. It contains a lot of positive decisions.”

The question is whether the steps will be enough to satisfy Qatar’s most ardent critics. Most probably little short of abolishing the kafala system will and that entails significant social and political change that cannot be achieved with the stroke of a pen.

The article Workers’ Welfare In Qatar: Navigating A minefield – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Richard Silverstein

I was reading this article which recounted a statement by an Israeli government minister, who declared his support for the one-state solution.  No, he wasn’t a member of Hadash or even Meretz, he was a member of Naftali Bennett’s Bayit Yehudi, as ultra-nationalist as they come.  But what really struck me was this language:

Kalfa, who is a member of the Israeli Knesset, told The Times of Israel newspaper that Palestinians should be treated equally and given the rights of complete citizenship in Israel as part of the one state solution. He also called for giving them the right to invest in infrastructure.

Renowned for his strong opposition of the two-state solution, he called for establishing one state on the whole area of ‘Israeli land” where all people, Arabs and Jews, become full citizens with equal rights.

This way, the extremist MK claims, Israel would distance itself from the accusations of marginalising Arabs and that it racially discrimination against them.

There is a reason why neither I, nor many other observers of the Israeli-Arab conflict, took these proposals by the far-right seriously.  They appear to contradict every principle they should hold sacred.  Most importantly, a Jewish majority in Israel.  There is no doubt that if Israel absorbs the Palestinians from the Territories, they will become, if not immediately, then eventually a majority.  Then the idea of Jewish sovereignty dies.  The Jews will become just another ethnic group within a panoply of Israeli ethnic groups.

Indeed, if you read the entire Yisrael HaYom article, you’ll find plenty to make you wonder whether Kalfa’s ideas are sincere or even well thought-out:

“It is obvious that we cannot go the way of a two-state solution,” Kalfa told Israel Hayom. “I am in favor of one country for everyone. Palestinians? There has never been and there currently is no [Palestinian] nation.”

Kalfa, who was once a resident of Atzmona community in the since evacuated Gush Katif settlements, also provided an answer for his detractors who claim that Israel will no longer be a Jewish state if his suggestion is followed. “One way or another, the Jews will remain the majority in the state,” he said.

First, it appears clear that these far-right proposals intend to leave Gaza out in the cold.  I haven’t heard of any far right advocate of this idea suggesting Gazans should be part of it.  And if they’re not, it’s a non-starter.  If the Gazans are included, then the new Palestinians citizens (4-million), together with the existing Israeli Palestinian citizens living within the Green Line (1.5-million), would be a sizable minority.  If not now, then certainly within a short period of time, they’d become the majority.

That’s why I always believed this idea was some sort of feint or trick.  Surely, they’re not suggesting full citizenship and equal rights?  And some of the far-right proponents are suggesting a set of stages whereby the Palestinians would gain citizenship.  That plan surely won’t fly.

But if there are no tricks involved, if the far right is willing to embrace all the Palestinians living in the Territories, then who are we to stand in their way?  Let’s ditch the two state solution advocated now only by John Kerry and an increasingly embattled set of liberal Zionists and turn to a solution that, while complicated, makes far more sense.

Back in 2010, Moshe Arens (no left-wing radical, he) was one of the first to advocate one state.  Though I detected an unwillingness to include the Gazans in his plan, it seemed straight-forward enough.  He offered the Palestinians full citizenship and voting rights.

But I wonder if he doesn’t still believe he has a trick up his sleeve.  As an Israeli-American friend with whom I’ve been discussing this warned:

Divide and conquer is a principle thousands of years old, and Israelis have practiced it with great determination.

Perhaps Arens and the far-right believe that the Israeli Jews, who’ve exercised democratic rights for decades, will be a much more coherent political force; while their newly-enfranchised Palestinian counterparts will be a splintered lot.  This is, after all, entirely possible.  The Palestinian majority may, for a time, maintain a variety of parties and political stances that prevent them from uniting to exert political control.  If that were the case, Jewish parties might have more coherence and homogeneity.

But I’d guess that after a time, the various ethnic forces would coalesce into a more stable set of political agendas.  Then Palestinians would take control.  And then, I can’t see how the ultra-nationalists would be happy.  But if they want to make such a proposal now, who are we to stand in their way?

In science, they say that the simplest solution is always the best.  You may find another solution that is more complicated that works–but always stick with the simplest.  Given Israel’s long history of rejection and intransigence in adopting the provisions of a two state solution, it appears the Israeli ultra-nationalists are onto something.  And we should take note.

This article appeared at Tikun Olam.

The article The Israeli Far-Right’s One-State Solution – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Pambazuka News

By Narcisse Jean Alcide Nana

With his five-day African tour, Japan’s leader Shinzo Abe has landed on the continent as “Japan’s top salesman.” Cladded with a business delegation, Shinzo Abe is pledging more than $14 billion in aid and trade for Africa. In Abidjan, Japan pledged $ 84.4 million dollars for security in the Sahel region. Japan renewed its pledge of $ 32 billion for private and public support to African economies for the next five years. But shifting boldly from the demeanour of an international aid assistant, Japan signalled its pragmatic vision on the continent by focusing on trade and business in Mozambique.

MOZAMBIQUE TO JAPAN’S RESCUE

In Maputo, Prime Minister Abe is opening venues to meet Japan’s quest for energy security. Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan has become the world’s biggest importer of liquefied natural gas. Nippon Steel is developing a coal mine in Mozambique. Shinzo Abe pledged to invest $ 672 million in loans for Mozambique. This loan will secure the construction of a transportation network connecting the Mozambican Nacala port to Malawi and Zambia to secure the transportation of Mozambique’s liquefied gas. The Japanese Chiyoda Corp. is bidding for the $ 20 billion contract for the construction of the plants.

A five-day African tour by Shinzo Abe has brought about a display of strings of diplomatic talk tactics and gossip. Japan and China traded waspish titbits of mutual accusations. So far, Abe’s visit is not seen in Beijing as an interesting diplomatic footnote in Japan’s foreign policy. Beijing saw it as a carefully crafted diplomacy of containment against Chinese influence in African affairs and a way of cozying to Africa by means of a forceful and assertive display of Japan as an “economic giant.” Beijing holds a suspicion that Japan’s aid to Africa is gambling on purely political motives and interests. China has pledged to double its aid to Africa to $20 bn a year to maintain its economic and political clout over the continent. Alluding to Beijing’s aid on the continent, Japan even wryly confessed having no regret for not buying off African leaders with lavish headquarters and office towers as donations. Japan positioned itself as building on human capital in Africa.

CHINA AND JAPAN’S ECONOMIC FOOTPRINTS IN AFRICA

Beyond this heated diplomatic rhetoric, both China and Japan are pursuing their domestic interests on the continent. China’s trade with Africa is growing over 20 percent a year and reached $110 billion in 2011. China’ state-owned mining companies were given the green light to secure precious commodities as far as Zambia’s copper, Gabon’s iron ore, Angola and Sudan’s oil are concerned. Africa provides one-third of China’s imported oil. By 2020, China will take the lead as the world’s largest net importer of oil. By 2035, China will roughly need 13 million a day of net oil consumption.

CHINA MUST ADJUST TO A NEW COMPETITOR

Thus, both China and Japan are not ascending to Africa under the wings of a charity mission, and far from being candid benevolent benefactors. Charity will certainly not pull the continent out of poverty trap. African continent expects investment that disperses wealth while promoting job creation. Nevertheless, Japan’s recent economic footstep on the continent signals the end of an era. The era of safe Chinese investments and cheap exports on the continent is over. China’s oil safari in Africa has crossed a new banner: Japan’s energy diplomacy on the continent. As for now, China’s growing expansion into Africa’s mineral resources and oil markets has to readjust to a new competitor. As Japan has elected Africa the last frontier of its diplomatic horizon, the time is now for the continent to stretch out its own interests to meet the priority of its frontiers.

Narcisse Jean Alcide Nana holds a BA in Philosophy, MA in Political Theology from Boston College and is currently specializing in International Security at the University of Leicester, UK.

* THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR/S AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM

The article China’s Oil Safari Crosses Japan’s Energy Diplomacy In Africa – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Pambazuka News

By FikreJesus Amahazion

Nestled in the turbulent Horn of Africa (HOA) region, Ethiopia is Africa’s oldest independent modern nation-state and second most populous. [1]

The second poorest country in the world according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Multidimensional Poverty Index, [2] Ethiopia consistently ranks extremely low upon a variety of socioeconomic, development and human rights indicators. [3]

Recently, however, Ethiopia has experienced economic growth – making it amongst ‘Africa’s best performing economies.’ [4] This development reiterates the Ethiopian government’s lofty ambitions to attain ‘middle-income status by 2020.’ [5] The validity, sustainability, and possible ramifications of Ethiopia’s purported and ambitious economic transformation in the near future – which could prove beneficial domestically and regionally – merits closer analysis.

*Source: African Development Bank: African Economic Outlook [6]

Further challenges include high levels of youth and female unemployment, greater efforts being required to identify and address the needs of those in severe and chronic poverty (approximately 25 million or 27 percent of Ethiopians live in extreme poverty), and pervasive malnutrition. [8]

Ethiopia’s economic growth also arouses questions of equitable growth and redistribution. Handley et al. (2009) outline that, although essential, economic growth is not always wholly sufficient to reduce poverty or inequality. Rather, an assortment of measures must be undertaken to ensure that poorer strata of society are incorporated into national economic growth. [9] Even with Ethiopia’s past reduction of much national inequality, dramatic inequities in education and employment – and broad discrimination – along rural-urban, gender, and ethno-religious lines are starkly apparent. [10]

Another critical issue emanating from Ethiopia’s economic growth and general developmental efforts is the manner in which they have been pursued. For example, a vital component of Ethiopia’s agricultural development strategy is the ‘villagization’ program that entails the relocation of millions of people from locations reserved for industrial plantations. [11] Ethiopia is an agrarian-based society in which more than 80 percent of Ethiopians depend on agriculture and pastoralism for subsistence. Issues arising from the program have led to greater food insecurity, a destruction of livelihoods and the loss of cultural heritage. Additionally, the program, which frequently utilizes forced evictions, has been plagued by a plethora of human rights violations. A variety of human rights groups have documented beatings, killings, rapes, imprisonment, intimidation and political coercion by the government and authorities. [12]

While Ethiopia has suggested that leasing land to foreign investors is necessary to modernize farming, enhance domestic food production and generate employment, [13] it continues to struggle mightily with hunger, under-nutrition and stunting. [14] Further, a UN report has even suggested that such investment deals negatively impact local populations. [15]

Importantly, projections of Ethiopia’s forthcoming evolution into a middle-income country must address the fact that Ethiopia remains overwhelmingly dependent on foreign aid. Long unable to produce enough food for its population, the nation has been dependent on foreign food aid for decades; [16] recent World Food Programme data illustrates that the country remains one of the largest recipients of food aid in the world. [17]

*Source: World Food Programme and World Bank [18]

In addition to its reliance on food aid, Ethiopia is highly dependent on external economic assistance. In 2011, Ethiopia was the world’s fifth largest recipient of official humanitarian aid and received $3.6 billion in total assistance, [20] the latter figure representing between 50-60 percent of its total budget. [21] Additionally, Ethiopia’s 2011 share of total official development assistance – approximately 4 percent – placed it behind only Afghanistan.

According to Finland’s Country Strategy for Development Cooperation in Ethiopia, published by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia’s dependency challenges include the fact that its ‘…humanitarian support programmes are fragmented,’ [22] an outcome likely influenced by the expansive network of foreign development, religious, and charity organizations (2000-4000 in total). [23] The Finnish report also notes that ‘a large proportion of the Ethiopian people have limited coping mechanisms at their disposal.’ Furthermore, the country is faced with ‘an immediate need [to] transition from humanitarian aid to development [and]…without a range of dynamic and comprehensive activities to promote effective private sector development, particularly in agriculture, it will be very difficult to achieve the anticipated growth rates under the [growth and transformation plan].’ [24]

In fact, recent years have seen Ethiopia’s vaunted annual GDP growth rate decrease. [25] Utilizing World Bank data, which reports Ethiopia’s 2012 GNI per capita as $380 (current US$), [26] Ethiopia’s transition to lower middle-income status (between $1,036 – $4,085) [27] would require an annual growth rate of approximately 20 percent. This would appear to be highly unlikely, even if overlooking its recent descending economic trend or the negative effects of inflation.

These issues may be exacerbated by an array of financial risks. According to the IMF, Ethiopia faces growing external debt, [28] even though it was the beneficiary of debt cancellation in 2005 via the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiatives (MDRI) programs. [29] Additionally, it is has experienced a worsening of its foreign exchange shortage, and a lack of sufficient financing for its growth and transformation plan. [30]

Beyond the aforementioned developmental challenges, issues of aid dependency and financial risks, domestic governance and external geopolitical factors represent critical concerns for Ethiopia. A multicultural, ethnically-diverse country with a state-structure built along institutionalized ethnic entrenchment in a nominal federal arrangement dominated by a single minority group; rising tensions with a resilient, large and historically repressed Islamic constituency; and troubled ties with neighbours are both challenges and possible impediments to Ethiopia’s projected economic growth unless adequately addressed.

Currently, political oppression, ethnic discrimination, extrajudicial executions, torture and other abuses in detention, [31] in addition to economic factors, have led hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians to flee the country. Many fall prey to human smugglers and traffickers who engage in a variety of the most depraved forms of abuse or exploitation. [32]

Additionally, Ethiopia has been at the forefront of a variety of conflicts. The separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) continues to wage an insurgency against the central government, [33] while terrorism – largely arising from Ethiopia’s policies and interventions in neighbouring regions – has been a constant threat. According to Global Humanitarian Assistance, in each of the years from 2002-2011 Ethiopia was engaged in some form of active conflict. [34] Prior, the 1998-2000 period saw Ethiopia wage a costly war against Eritrea. Since then, Ethiopia has failed to abide by its obligations as ruled by the international Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, [35] and instead continues to occupy sovereign Eritrean territories – thus posing an unnecessary problem to both countries and the surrounding region. [36] Ethiopia’s recent tension with Egypt regarding the construction of Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam is an additional dimension that complicates an already tenuous regional political landscape. [37]

Last, a potential crisis within or outright collapse of the Ethiopian state calls into question any projections of Ethiopia’s impending transition to middle-income status. Since 2006, Ethiopia has experienced a downward trend in the Fund for Peace (FFP) Failed States Index, while for 2013 it received amongst the lowest rankings. [38] This outcome is buttressed by Marshall and Cole’s (2011) State Fragility Index and Matrix which classifies Ethiopia as one of the eight ‘most fragile’ states in the world. State fragility is reported as an aggregate score of an array of governance categories including state effectiveness, legitimacy, security, armed conflict and other socio-economic and political factors. [39] Finally, the National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds (2012) suggests that Ethiopia is among the top 15 ‘high risk’ nations slated for state failure by 2030. [40]

*Source: Center for Systemic Peace [41]

Fikrejesus Amahazion is a PhD candidate focusing on Political Economy, Development and Human Rights.

REFERENCES

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13349398
[2] http://theafricaneconomist.com/10-poorest-countries-in-the-world; http://hdr.undp.org/en/data
[3] Kloos, H., D. Haile Mariam, and B. Lindtjorn. 2007. “The AIDS Epidemic in a Low-Income Country: Ethiopia.” Human Ecology Review. 14 (1): 1-17.
[4]http://www.afdb.org/en/countries/east-africa/ethiopia/
[5] http://tinyurl.com/na6jk6o
[6] http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/
[7] http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/english
[8] http://tinyurl.com/pe6a9nl; https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads; http://www.eeaecon.org/node/5022; [9] http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=452585&section=1.4
[10] Handley, G., K. Higgins, B. Sharma, K. Bird, and D. Cammack. 2009. “Poverty and Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Overview of Key Issues.” Overseas Development Institute. Working Paper 299: 1-82.
[11] http://www.irinnews.org/report/64382/ethiopia-inequality-gender; USGOV. 2011. “Ethiopia: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011.” United States Department of State. Retrieved from: http://tinyurl.com/owmok2g; UNESCO. 2012. “UNESCO Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education – One Year On.” UNESCO. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/
[12] http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/development-aid-ethiopia
[13] http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/development-aid-ethiopia
[14] http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/
[15] http://www.wfp.org/stories/10-things-everyone-shou; http://www.voanews.com/content/hunger-costs-ethiopia-billions-of-
[16] http://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/en/
[17] http://sites.tufts.edu/jha/archives/1754
[18] http://www.wfp.org/fais/reports/quantities-delivered-two-dimensional-report
[19] http://www.wfp.org/fais/quantity-reporting; http://data.worldbank.org/
[20] http://sites.tufts.edu/jha/archives/1754
[21] http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/countryprofile/ethiopia
[22] http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files
[23] http://formin.finland.fi/public/default.aspx?contentid=274547&cont
[24] https://www.devex.com/en/news/a-year-on-ngos; http://www.icnl.org/research/monitor/ethiopia.html
[25] http://formin.finland.fi/public/default.aspx?contentid=274547&cont
[26] http://www.tradingeconomics.com/ethiopia/gdp-growth-annual
[27] http://data.worldbank.org/country/ethiopia
[27] http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-classifications
[28] http://tinyurl.com/pe6a9nl
[29] http://tinyurl.com/np56aqd
[30] http://tinyurl.com/pe6a9nl
[31] http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/ethiopia?page=1
[32] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24663049; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23321638
[33] http://www.irinnews.org/report/96658/briefing-ethiopia-s-onlf-rebellion
[34] http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/countryprofile/ethiopia
[35] http://www.pca-cpa.org/showpage.asp?pag_id=1150
[36] http://africanarguments.org/2013/12/16/time-to-bring-eritrea
[37] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-08/ethiopia-rejects-egyptian
[38] http://ffp.statesindex.org/ethiopia
[39] http://tinyurl.com/kmywtme
[40] http://tinyurl.com/cdcgujn
[41] http://tinyurl.com/kmywtme

* THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR/S AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM

The article Ethiopia: Recent Economic Growth And Potential Challenges – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Iran Review

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the rhetoric of threat against the Iranian nation is “worthless and childish.”

Addressing a massive gathering of people celebrating the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Rouhani said, “On behalf of the nation of Iran, I declare with a clear voice that threatening the nation of Iran is worthless and childish since our nation has, over the past 35 years, resisted against various threats from the enemy and achieved victory.”

“I say to the P5+1 countries that nuclear negotiations are a historic test for Europe and the United States. Should they proceed within the framework of law, the rights of the nation of Iran, common interests, mutual respect, interaction, and cooperation in the nuclear negotiations, they will receive a positive and proper response from Iran,” President Rouhani said.

“But, if they seek to repeat the improper and wrongful manners of the past, they should know that they have taken steps to the detriment of their own nation, the region, global welfare and stability…,” the Iranian president added.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has reaffirmed Tehran’s position to continue developing its nuclear energy program for peaceful purposes.

“Similar to other nations, the Islamic Republic of Iran considers itself entitled to enjoy all peaceful technologies, including peaceful nuclear technology,” Rouhani said.

“Unlike others who want atoms for war, we want atoms for peace. This is why, this [Iranian] administration held serious negotiations with the P5+1 (permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) with complete seriousness to create more confidence for world public opinion,” he added.

Rouhani expressed Tehran’s preparedness to enter the next round of talks with the Sextet of powers on February 18 in order to achieve a final and comprehensive agreement, noting, “We are serious in this respect as we were in the first step and the doors of our country are open to the [International Atomic Energy] Agency (IAEA).”

The president argued that the Islamic Republic has been a victim of weapons of mass destruction itself and rejected allegations that Iran is after such weapons.

Rouhani also called on the foreign envoys to convey Iran’s goodwill message for more cooperation with their countries.

The article Rohani Says Rhetoric Of Threat Against Iran Worthless appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Central Asia Online

By Ashfaq Yusufzai

The Pakistani Taliban are once again proving that they do not care about Islam and social values, Pakistanis say.

A suicide bomber February 2 hid a bomb in his turban and detonated it inside Peshawar’s Picture House Cinema, killing at least five movie-goers and injuring dozens.

A Peshawar group linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) initially denied responsibility but later acknowledged it.
Desecration of sacred symbols

Pakistanis find the Taliban’s violation of sacred symbols repulsive.

“The Taliban used the turban to evade security,” Senior Superintendent of Police in Peshawar Najibullah told Central Asia Online in explaining the militants’ rationale for using the tactic. “The police as well as private security personnel didn’t check the turban because they never thought that insurgents would use the sacred headdress.”

Now the militants will force another turn of the ratchet by security forces, who will have to search men wearing turbans, he said.

“The turban is a symbol of dignity and self-respect, and its use in terrorism is highly reprehensible,” Malik Mushtaq Ahmed, a resident of Bajaur Agency, told Central Asia Online.

“In our society, the turban is a mark of authority because it’s worn by tribal chiefs or highly revered clerics,” Maulana Muhammad Rafiq, a prayer leader at Abu Bakar Mosque in Peshawar, said.

“I never thought that terrorists would hide a bomb in a turban so I never checked them,” Ghani Shah, one of the guards at the Picture House Cinema, told Central Asia Online. “We paid more respect to those who wore the turban.”

By showing disregard for religious and social traditions, the militants have proven their indifference to Islam and to social values, he said.

“The Taliban have already used women and children as suicide bombers to perpetrate their reign of terror and are now looking for more innovative ways to harm people,” he said.

Political leaders also condemned the religious attire’s desecration.

“The turban is a boundary between faith and infidelity,” Qari Rasool, also a prayer leader at Abu Bakar Mosque, quoted the Prophet (PBUH) as saying. “And the community will never fall apart as long as its members wear the turban.”

“Attacking schools, mosques, funeral ceremonies, jirgas, markets and health facilities is the hallmark of Taliban-style terrorism,” Awami National Party leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain said. “Using the turban is a new tactic that will bring [the Taliban] dishonour.”

The Taliban have been losing public support rapidly because of such outrageous acts, he said, noting that militants have also desecrated the Koran in some bombings.
History of desecration in region

Militants concealing bombs in turbans are new to Pakistan but not to Afghanistan, where several such incidents have happened.

In one, a suicide bomber hid explosives in his turban when he targeted the funeral of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother Ahmed Wali in Kandahar in July 2011. The bombing killed five mourners.

Later that month, Kandahar Mayor Ghulam Haider Hameedi died at the hands of another turban suicide bomber.

On September 20, 2011, yet another turban bomber killed Afghan High Peace Council Chairman and former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani at his home in Kabul.

After that spate of turban suicide bombings in 2011, President Karzai urged religious scholars to launch a campaign aimed at discouraging the misuse of religious attire for terrorism.

Moving forward despite attacks

Peshawar cinema operators and performers remain steadfast about not caving in to threats.

“We will provide entertainment to the people despite terrorism,” Shahid Khan, a Pashtun film actor based in Peshawar, said.

The Taliban in the Swat Valley and in Afghanistan have killed singers, dancers and actors, but they’ve failed to eliminate the performing arts, he said, adding he intended to make films about the Taliban’s use of turbans, toys, women and children in terrorist plots and to inform the public how to thwart their attempts.

Terrorist attacks will not break entertainers’ resolve because they don’t fear the terrorists, Khan said.

The article Pakistan Condemns Turban Bombings appeared first on Eurasia Review.