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UN Anti-Vatican Report ‘Payback’ For Pro-Life Work, Critic Says

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By CNA

A recent United Nations report criticizing the Catholic Church on sex abuse and its moral teachings should be understood in the context of efforts to diminish the Vatican’s pro-life influence at the U.N., a scholar has said.

Anne Hendershott, a Franciscan University of Steubenville sociology professor, said Feb. 10 in Crisis Magazine that the U.N. will likely continue its abortion advocacy, efforts to expand contraception access, and efforts to normalize homosexuality.

“The Catholic Church is one of the few remaining barriers to this expansion,” she said. “There will be continued attacks and the Church needs to prepare for them as the United Nations will continue to attempt to diminish the authority of the Church by resurrecting old clergy abuse cases and inflating statistics on past misdeeds by priests.”

She said the Holy See has been “the major barrier” to U.N. advocacy of worldwide abortion and contraception distribution and there are efforts to “diminish the influence of the Church on life issues.”

In a Feb. 5 report, the United Nations’ Committee on the Rights of the Child claimed that the Vatican had “systematically” adopted policies allowing priests to rape and molest children. The report said the Church should open its files on previous cases of abuse. It criticized Catholic teaching on abortion, contraception and homosexuality. The report also advocated changes in Catholic doctrine on life and sexuality.

The report drew significant media coverage and critical responses from the Holy See’s representatives.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, who heads the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the United Nations in Geneva, said that the report was in some ways outdated and ignored recent efforts to prevent abuse. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the committee appeared to exceed its boundaries and gave disproportional attention to organizations with “well-known” anti-Catholic prejudices.

Hendershott, who has written extensively on the politics of abortion, said it was likely that the report was “payback” for Catholic opposition to abortion and contraception.

Citing Austin Ruse of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, she said the Catholic Church’s successful work to block a “right to abortion” at the 1994 U.N. Population Fund Cairo conference has thwarted the work of the Population Fund, the Norwegian government, and other abortion advocates like Catholics for Choice.

The Population Fund works with governments to expand abortion and contraception access. It has drawn significant support from wealthy sources like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Catholics for Choice, a group backed by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, in 1999 led an effort to remove the Holy See as a permanent observer at the U.N. That effort drew significant resistance and had no support from any U.N. member states, though the group has recently re-launched the effort.

Hendershott suggested it is time for the Catholic Church and the Catholic laity to “stand up to the bullying by the various committees of the United Nations” and expose the U.N.’s “real agenda” of abortion and contraception expansion while defending the Church as the “true protector of children.”

“While the Church was unable to convince all countries – including the United States – of the evils of abortion, the Vatican, as a sovereign state, continues to play an important role at the negotiating table in areas in which the Church has a stake in helping to ensure the right to life and the dignity of the person,” she said.

The article UN Anti-Vatican Report ‘Payback’ For Pro-Life Work, Critic Says appeared first on Eurasia Review.


Beijing Takes Gentle Approach To Deflating Real Estate Bubble – OpEd

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By Geopolitical Monitor

By G. Bin Zhao

Despite increasingly strict regulations, investment in China’s real estate industry, as well as sales totals and prices, still achieved high levels of growth last year. During the Communist Party’s third plenum, the new leadership announced reform measures in a number of areas, but many people were left puzzled by the fact that the real estate sector – the source of the most vocal public complaints – didn’t appear to fall within the scope of these new policies.

The real estate bubble continued to grow last year, furthering the unequal distribution of wealth and increasing social tension, and leading many to question the determination of the government to build a more just and equitable society.

The latest official figures show that, last year, national investment in real estate development hit 8.6 trillion yuan (HK$11 trillion), an increase of 19.8 per cent over 2012, accounting for about 20 per cent of investment in fixed assets.

It is well known that the real estate bubble is harmful to the Chinese economy because it attracts and holds capital, talent and other resources that could be better used to develop other important industries, adding to the difficulties of transforming the nation’s economy. In some ways, it’s like an unexploded bomb; handled carelessly, it could cause economic devastation or, at the very least, lead to an incident similar to the US subprime mortgage crisis.

Many people are concerned that the new leadership has introduced very few important regulatory measures to deal with this impending crisis. The third plenum said little on the regulation of real estate, save for the need “to speed up real estate tax legislation and introduce timely reforms”.

Previous leaders tried hard to regulate rising real estate prices, without success. By contrast, the current leadership seems intent to downplay the importance of this issue. Li Keqiang has never publicly mentioned the real estate industry since he became premier, while President Xi Jinping only briefly discussed the core rules for real estate policy last October during a Politburo study. Still, some of the government’s recent policies do provide clues about these core rules.

Overall, the government aims to build a market-based system for housing to meet multiple levels of demand, while ensuring the provision of basic housing. This is consistent with the main thrust of the third plenum, that “the market must play a decisive role in allocating resources”. The objective is to ensure that everyone’s basic housing needs are met.

In other words, the government will not directly intervene in the market, but it will provide basic housing for low-income groups through the development of public rental housing, low-rent housing, and the transformation of various shanty towns.

In addition, the government will work to establish a standardised and stable housing supply system. While increasing supply, it will be necessary to make adjustments as people’s needs change. Meanwhile, the total supply of land for housing should be increased, with priority going to building affordable housing.

Clearly, real estate policy has undergone a fundamental change. However, many developers and investors believe leaders are not really talking about “regulation”, and therefore mistakenly think policies are becoming looser.

I believe senior leaders realise the significant dangers of a property bubble, and this will be reflected in real estate policies for this year.

Leaders will seek to avoid causing a massive shock to the market with the implementation of any new policies, considering the impact property has on the overall economy. Last year, for example, income from real estate and related land sales and construction was 6.6 trillion yuan, accounting for 36.5 per cent of national public finances, also contributing more than 50 per cent of local government revenue. Therefore, new policy implementation will be gradual and modest. This has contributed to some of the misunderstanding among the public.

Second, once the overall objectives are formally determined, that is, to meet the basic needs of the public, investment behaviour in the market will be limited. The core reason for China’s real estate bubble lies in the fact that the market has deviated from the basic demand and supply relationship and become an investment market. Thus, the most effective policy will be to let the market return to its fundamental state; this explains why Xi said regulating housing demand is important.

Also, one should not underestimate the power of the decision during the third plenum to accelerate the introduction of property tax legislation and other measures. Property taxes are implemented in many countries and have proved very effective. They not only inhibit investment behaviour, but also create a substantial income base for local governments. Pilot tax schemes have been running in Shanghai and Chongqing since 2011. Expanding the scope, and the level of tax, will have a profound impact on the market.

In addition, some analysts believe that the plan to create a nationwide unified real estate registration system may lead some people to sell their real estate holdings, particularly those obtained through unlawful activities.

Finally, while the three super-tall skyscrapers in Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial district may dwarf those in New York, London or Hong Kong, we should remember the reality: China is still a developing nation no matter how many tall buildings it constructs. Real estate’s sole purpose should be to meet the people’s basic need for living and working; there are many other, more important issues that need our attention before we can move towards a higher level of civilisation.

This article first appeared in the February 10th edition of the South China Morning Post.

The article Beijing Takes Gentle Approach To Deflating Real Estate Bubble – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Drugs And Golden Triangle: Renewed Concerns For Northeast India – Analysis

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By IDSA

By Namrata Goswami

India has been working on plans of building economic corridors in Northeast India’s neighborhood to boost foreign trade and to give the economy the much needed leap forward. Execution of these plans is crucial to achieve the goals of India’s Look-East policy.

Northeast India can develop, prosper and eventually overcome its troubles by engaging eastern foreign neighbours. Especially with the recent agreement on the Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor blueprint, India can access markets in China’s west and southwest, through the Northeastern borders. Yunnan, the neighbouring province in China is the network hub for trade and connectivity with the rest of the country. Equally important for Northeast India is the regional connectivity under the sub-regional and regional cooperation such as ASEAN, SAARC, and the Greater Mekong Sub-region Cooperation (GMS). That said, a word of caution is appropriate to understand the ugly behemoth of narcotics trafficking intertwined with ethnic insurgencies in the neighbouring Golden Triangle. Huge quantities of illicit narcotics can easily ride the new access routes of greater connectivity and can blow up already existing issues of secured human health and wellbeing of society.

India’s security strategy for the economic corridors and connectivity will have to entail water tight anti-drugs control measures and mechanisms to snuff out the possibilities of surges in narcotics trafficking that may result from better connectivity and established networks of peoples across the region.

Bordering Myanmar to the east are the four Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. Each state’s data from the National AIDS Control Organisation reports show high numbers of HIV-related diseases and volumes of drug trafficking. Narcotics and contraband firearms are regularly trafficked across the unmanned border as the routes of western Myanmar are controlled by India’s north-east insurgents. In recent years, Manipur has witnessed huge quantities of contraband high Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride (PH)-content drugs, manufactured in India, being trafficked into Myanmar for processing narcotics especially heroin. The thriving ethnic insurgencies of Manipur with their own “tax structure” help to exacerbate the problem. Pseudoephedrine is smuggled from New Delhi to Myanmar and China via Guwahati by conduits based in Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram (See Figure I)

Figure I: Flow of Drugs in the Golden Triangle and Northeast India

fig1
Source: Namrata Goswami

Traditionally, the Golden Triangle is a region between the borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand; a famous region for its opium production. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) latest Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2013, opium cultivation in the Golden Triangle went up by 22 per cent in 2013 propelled by a 13 per cent growth in Myanmar. This registered a 26 per cent rise from 2012 in opium cultivation and yield.1 A decade ago, the Golden Triangle supplied half the world’s heroin, but drug barons backed by ethnic militias in Myanmar have turned to trafficking massive quantities of amphetamines and methamphetamines – “which can be produced cheaply in small, hidden laboratories, without the need for acres of exposed land”2 and these narcotics now dominate the Myanmar part of the Triangle. Insurgencies in Myanmar have been funded by narcotics trafficking. Cease-fires with the civilian government of Myanmar have left rebel groups free to continue their manufacturing and smuggling without interference. Since insurgencies based on purely ethnic issues are on the way out, high profits and access to the lucrative Thai and foreign markets now drive narcotics production and trafficking. The Myanmar government can do little to counter drug trafficking in the Golden Triangle as traffickers are well organized Chinese syndicates operating from outside Myanmar.3

Myanmar’s Wa ethnic group is the largest producer of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS). The United Wa State Army (UWSA) is sustained by narcotics money in addition to arms contraband. Increases in the use of methamphetamine in Thailand have contributed to regional instability and Thailand’s National Security Council now recognizes narcotics smuggling as a critical threat to its national security. Thailand accuses Myanmar of unleashing “narcotic aggression” on Thailand and with the stupendous increase of methamphetamine production within Myanmar, drug trafficking into Thailand from Myanmar is on the rise. Ethnic militias like the UWSA and Shan State Army (SSA) control most of the 1800 km Myanmar border with Thailand and corruption within the Thai security forces has abetted a thriving narcotics trade. Within Myanmar, the UWSA has emerged as the largest producer of methamphetamine. Mong Yawn, the drug base of the UWSA in the Shan state in Myanmar, enjoys direct access to the Thai province of Chiang Mai, emerging as one of the biggest drug boom towns near the Myanmar-Thailand border. Methamphetamine smuggling from Myanmar into Thailand by UWSA amounts to 200 million pills per year. Besides tackling border corruption within its ranks, the Thai military has a dangerous task, challenged as it is by the Shan and Wa armies complicit with narcotics crossing the border.

China’s Drug Control Strategy

The former military junta in Myanmar had been at war with the ethnic rebel groups of the Wa and the Shans interspersed with periodic ceasefires. The UWSA had earlier supported the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) but later retreated to the northern part of Shan state. The Tatmadaw also propped up several ethnic militias as a check against the ceasefire rebels. These various ethnic armed groups struck deals amongst themselves to facilitate the profitable narcotic trade.

China’s Yunnan province has a 1997-km border with Myanmar and narcotics have adversely affected many Chinese border villages. Previously heroin use made Yunnan suffer the highest HIV rate of any Chinese province or autonomous region. Ruili, the border town in Yunnan, suffers from two-thirds of drug users infected with HIV due to sharing contaminated injections. This situation is further aggravated by the presence of guns and a heightened risk of border related violence.

In 2000, taking advantage of the ongoing conflicts in Shan state in Myanmar, China persuaded the ethnic Wa to relocate with their drug production units from the Myanmar-China border to the Myanmar-Thailand border (See Figure II). The UWSA, aided by the Tatmadaw, had wrested the new acquired territory from the control of the SSA of Khun Sa, the opium warlord and ‘King’ of the Golden Triangle. This move reduced drug trafficking into China and at the same time dumped the problem on Thailand. China armed the Wa with weapons and supplied money. In return the Wa would control the entrance and exit regions of Shan state and ‘help’ the Chinese in constructing roads through the territory giving China the much desired access to the Myanmar coast. The Tatmadaw also formed an alliance with the UWSA to first defeat the Shans and second to serve as proxies in fighting the Thai army at the border.

Figure II: Migration of Wa from the China-Myanmar Border to the China-Thai Border

fig2
Source: Namrata Goswami

However China still suffers narcotics trafficking, with 3.2 tons of ATS seized in the Yunnan province in 2009. China has taken measures in the pharmaceutical industry to deter illegal drug production. The latest seizure of 3.3 tons of crystal methamphetamine in South China, Guangdong province, was made in early 2014.4 However, China is far from ensuring that the flow of drugs remains limited, and its own provinces escape its lethal effects.

Implications for Northeast India

Illicit drug trade along the Golden Triangle has serious implications for Northeast India. First, opening up to Southeast Asia carries a double edged sword. On one hand, it promises development and investments. On the other hand, it invites the danger of rapid flow of illicit drugs and arms. Second, without effective drug control mechanisms that guarantee that illicit trade is kept to the minimum, the adverse consequences of illicit drugs on Northeast society could leave long term negative effects. Third, India should establish institutional mechanisms with China, Myanmar and Thailand to counter-illicit trafficking. Finally, there must be a long term Indian strategy to limit drugs trafficking, address the social impact of drug addiction, spread the word about the ill effects of drug abuse in schools, and established efficient rehabilitation centres in the HIV and drug zones in Northeast India. There is perhaps no other way to address the life threatening effects of drug addiction and HIV, currently destroying youths in Northeast India especially Manipur.

Views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDSA or of the Government of India.

 

1. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), “Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2013” at http://www.unodc.org/documents/southeastasiaandpacific/Publications/2013/SEA_Opium_Survey_2013_web.pdf(Accessed on February 05, 2014).
2. Ben Doherty, “Drug Smuggling into Thailand Soars Ahead of Burma Elections”, The Guardian, June 21, 2010 (Accessed on February 04, 2014).
3. Please see Paul Sarno, “The War on Drugs”, Southeast Asian Affairs, 2009, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. 223-241(Accessed on February 10, 2014).
4. “Drugs Seized in Raids on Southern Chinese Villages”, Reuters, January 03, 2014 (Accessed on February 10, 2014).

Originally published by Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (www.idsa.in) at http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/DrugsandtheGoldenTriangle_ngoswami_100214

The article Drugs And Golden Triangle: Renewed Concerns For Northeast India – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Immigration And National Survival – OpEd

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By Selywn Duke

When pondering our obsession with immigration, I’m reminded of how people in the ridiculous dystopian film Idiocracy were watering their crops with an energy drink called Brawndo. And even though the crops weren’t growing, the suggestion to try water instead was met with the following conditioned response in the drink’s defense: “It’s got what plants crave! It’s got electrolytes!” No one knew what electrolytes were. No one could explain why they were in Brawndo.

It was all sloganeering.

And so it is with immigration. Why do we have immigration? “Because it’s got what America craves! It’s got people!” But why does the US, the world’s third most populous country, need more people? “Because they’re in immigration! It’s got what America craves!”

The problem with a blanket advocacy of “immigration” is that, as with “ideology,” it is a category, not a creed. If someone proclaimed, “We need ideology!” we should ask, will any one do? Will liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism, Nazism, Marxism or socialism all serve equally well? Likewise, we should ask about immigration: would importing 10 million liberals, conservatives, libertarians, Nazis, Marxists or socialists all serve the US equally well? (Mind you, the majority of today’s new immigrants are socialist minded.) Would importing 10 million Russian nationalists, Chinese nationalists, Iranian nationalists or Mexican nationalists be as wise as having 10 million more American nationalists? Hey, who needs discernment?

No one, apparently, when in the grip of a certain simplistic dogma of our time, “immigrationism.” This is the belief that immigration is always good, always necessary and always above reproach — at least in Western nations. Nobody ever seems to ask why Japan has no immigration.

Nobody, for instance, asks where Japan will get the needed skilled workers, even though this is a popular question posed in the wake of the Swiss vote to limit their demographic upheaval. In answering this question, note that a nation — in the true sense of the word — is an extension of the tribe, which itself is an extension of the family. Now, what if your family needs to have pipes fixed and no one within your home has the requisite skills? You hire someone with the necessary expertise, pay him his fee, and then he leaves when the job is done.

You don’t adopt a plumber.

In other words, work visas will suffice.

Yet much of what justifies immigration is purely ideological. For example, there is a certain argument made by certain political partisans, often, it seems, because they think it makes them sound clever, cosmopolitan and cool. It is that people of European heritage came to this continent and dominated its native peoples, so it’s merely karma if the same now happens to us. The cry is, “What about the Indians?!” Two things leap to mind here. First, how does allowing our nation to be Balkanized and to descend into tyranny help the Indians? A falling tide grounds all boats. Second, this hate-America-first position is the prattle of a child, someone having a temper tantrum and talking about how he hates mommy and will run away from home. But it’s all just theoretical. It’s easy to look forward to our 476, to Rome’s impending fall, when sitting in your warm house with a stuffed refrigerator on your equally stuffed derrière and sending your puerile Internet messages on the latest iPad. But the reality of Goths breaking down your door would shatter that fantasy world fast.

Speaking of the Indians, some have the notion that “we” (and the critics are talking about white folks here) aren’t the first Americans, anyway. But as Sitting Bull grandson Ernie LaPointe mentioned after Barack Obama cited the legendary Indian as a great American hero in his children’s book Of Thee I Sing, Sitting Bull did not consider himself an American; he was a Lakota. No doubt. Remember that “America” is of European origin — derived from Italian Amerigo Vespucci’s name — and these United States were a product of a founding document crafted by European-descent people. You can debate whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. But it is a factual thing.

Nonetheless, it is true that “we” dominated the Indians. And the Etruscans for a time dominated the Romans, who later dominated other groups on the Italian peninsula and ultimately were dominated by “barbarians” in the West and Muslims in the East. The Aztecs dominated other tribes as did Shaka Zulu in Africa. All sorts of European groups were dominated and subsumed as well, which is why you don’t hear about Goth, Frank, Lombard, Alan, Burgundian, Gaul and Frisii lobbying groups. Heck, the painfully politically correct documentary series The West pointed out that the Lakota justified their dominance of other tribes to the U.S. government by saying that they were only doing what “we” were doing. This is true. A modern-day Lakota featured in the series framed their conquest this way (I’m paraphrasing), “We were very good at what we did.”

This is also true.

And the Europeans were better.

I could leave it at that, were I content to operate by the principle might makes right. But since it’s more true that right makes might, let’s delve further.

Since “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” should we humans just commit mass suicide to atone for our manifold trespasses, with the West leading by example? Better virtue shorn than a goodness evil born? Sure, we shouldn’t forget that most all civilizations found their genesis in blood and conquest. And we should remember, as Genesis informs, that God brings good out of bad.

The point is that we have a civilization here, now, today, and the question is always the same: is it worth preserving? No? Then, fine, scrap it. But you’d better be sure of your judgment, not only because dead civilizations, like dead men, stay dead, but because something will take your civilization’s place. And that something will not be forged by seraphim and cherubim; it will be something very human and, though I repeat myself, very flawed.

And if the answer is yes, our civilization is worth preserving? Then you take the necessary measures to do so. And to the hate-America-first crowd you say: if death is preferable to enjoying the fruits of a painfully human past, then you lead by example and drink the hemlock. Leave the rest of us to do the work of adults.

Of course, any culture can be improved. But thinking that cultural relativists — who can’t effectively differentiate between good and evil because they’ve convinced themselves everything is gray — are equal to this task is like thinking that a dietary relativist could improve your diet. Since the latter would be blind to the laws (the truth) of human nutrition and would then have nothing but taste as a guide, he just might steer you toward junk food — and maybe worse.

Those colorful berries on that bush are awfully pretty, you know.
The real lesson to be learned from North America’s second great migration (the first being the Paleoindians’ arrival approximately 20,000 years ago) is this: say what you will about the Indians, they fought the good fight. They didn’t invite millions of unassimilable foreigners into their lands, give them special privileges, and then justify it all by saying that they were just here to do jobs Indians wouldn’t do (like colonize Indians).

A discussion of immigration today is nothing less than a debate about what your nation is going to be tomorrow. Will it be relegated to the history books like the Alans, Angles, Franks, Frisii and Goths, or will it continue to write history? Is it worthy to do so? These are legitimate questions that should be tackled by legitimate thinkers, not people who hide a visceral hatred of Western civilization inside a Trojan horse proclaiming the equality of all peoples.

The article Immigration And National Survival – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Saudi Arabia King Spares Indonesian Maid Accused Of Sorcery

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By Arab News

By Ghazanfar Ali Khan

An Indonesian housemaid, on death row for sorcery, has been pardoned by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

“Ati Bt Abeh Inan, who has been languishing in Al-Ahsa jail for casting a magic spell on her employer and his family, has been released and sent back to Indonesia,” said Ahrul Tsani Fathurrahman, a spokesman for the Indonesian Embassy, on Wednesday.

“The embassy expresses its gratitude to King Abdullah and to authorities in Saudi Arabia for their cooperation in releasing Ati,” said Fathurrahman.

Ati hails from an impoverished region of Sukabumi in West Java.

The maid, who was reunited with her family this week in Indonesia, had been working for a Saudi family in Al-Ahsa since 2003.

“The case of Ati could be classified as a death-row case … as you know, practicing or using black magic, or what we call witchcraft, could lead to a death sentence in the Kingdom,” said Fathurrahman.
Her case was complex one because “her employer himself accused her of using black magic and allegedly forced her to admit the allegation,” he said.

She was then sentenced by Al-Ahsa General Court in 2003 by her admission of the allegation.

The spokesman was also asked about progress made in the case of another Indonesian housemaid due to be executed this month.

He said “Satinah Binti Jumadi Ahmad, a 40-year-old Indonesian female worker, has received clemency from her employer’s heirs upon condition that Satinah and her family pay SR7 million in blood money.”

Satinah may be executed this month if her family or the Jakarta government fails to raise the money.

Satinah is facing death for murdering her employer and fleeing with SR37,500 cash in 2007.

Fathurrahman said: “Satinah’s family has so far been able to collect SR4 million, including SR3 million in contributions by the Indonesian government.”

This also includes about SR500,000 donated by Indonesians and another SR500,000 from an unnamed Saudi donor.

“Satinah’s family, especially her only daughter, 20-year-old Nur Afriani, sincerely hopes that the victim’s heirs will accept SR4 million in blood money,” said Fathurrahman.

Nur was 11 when her mother left her in Indonesia.

Arab News asked the embassy about the date of execution if the demanded amount is not raised.

It suggested the Qassim governorate be contacted for details.

The article Saudi Arabia King Spares Indonesian Maid Accused Of Sorcery appeared first on Eurasia Review.

India: The Caravan And A Defining Election – OpEd

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By Arab News

By Aijaz Zaka Syed

We live in interesting times. And they seem to be getting more interesting by the day as India hurtles toward a defining general election.

The ‘Caravan’ magazine cover story, sensational as it is, should hardly come as a surprise to anyone. This is something that has been known to just about everyone in the know of things — government of the day, intelligence agencies and even journalists.

The media is actually guilty of sitting on the story even when some publications like Tehelka had the courage to reveal the plot and key players a couple of years ago. What the ‘Caravan’ expose does is put the culpability for this breathtaking conspiracy where it belongs — right at the top of the Sangh juggernaut. But look at the amazing reaction it has generated from the media, which tells its own story about the taming of once fiercely independent Indian media.

Imagine if instead of Swami Aseemanand, a Muslim cleric had featured in the explosive ‘Caravan’ cover story and he had sung about a grand conspiracy to wreak havoc across the country by attacking sensitive targets! Imagine for a moment if instead of the RSS, ‘Caravan’ had blown the lid off the role of the Jamaat-e-Islami or Tableeghi Jamaat in spectacular terror attacks across India!

I shudder at the very thought of the swift, overwhelming chain of reaction such an eventuality would have set off — from the government, police and security agencies, media warriors and, above all, from our friends from Hindutva brigade.

Many of those picked up after the Samjhauta, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer shrine and Malegaon attacks got a foretaste of such infinite possibilities. No one knows how many lives and families were wrecked by the witch hunt, which did not stop even after the arrest of Aseemanand, Sadhvi Pragya and others.

The Caravan journalist, Leena Gita Reghunath, who spent two years interviewing Aseemanand and working on the story of a lifetime, writes: “Aseemanad’s description of the plot in which he was involved became increasingly detailed. In our third and fourth interviews, he told me that his terrorist acts were sanctioned by the highest levels of the RSS — all the way up to Mohan Bhagwat, the current RSS chief, who was the organization’s general secretary at the time. Aseemanand told me that Bhagwat said of the violence, ‘it’s very important that it be done. But you should not link it to the Sangh…’.”

“Aseemanand told me about a meeting that allegedly took place, in July 2005. In a tent pitched by a river several kilometers away from the temple, Bhagwat and Kumar met with Aseemanand and his accomplice Sunil Joshi. Joshi informed Bhagwat of a plan to bomb several Muslim targets around India.”

“According to Aseemanand, both RSS leaders approved, and Bhagwat told him, ‘You can work on this with Sunil. We will not be involved but if you are doing this, you can consider us to be with you….”

Does that leave any room for doubt? Yet the RSS, BJP and their cohorts remain as defiant as ever.

‘Nonsense…lies…fabrication…conspiracy!’ They shouted and outshouted everyone in television debates with the usually rancorous hosts treating them with utmost veneration as if they were quizzing them about some minor domestic discord.

The fact that the ‘Caravan’ interview was conducted over a period of two years inside the Ambala jail, where Naturam Godse was hanged for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi, and the magazine has produced recorded transcripts running into nine hours and 26 minutes to back its report seemed to make no difference.

In tactics now familiar and used repeatedly and successfully, they have reduced the whole debate about something that involves national security to the fine academic point about the “legality” of such an interview taking place inside the prison. A clever former Mumbai police commissioner cited the jail manual that does not allow such interviews and meetings without the express permission of jail authorities!

The issues raised by Aseemanand’s damning disclosures have not made it to the ongoing national electoral debate either despite the fact that he also directly implicates the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in his shenanigans. He talks of Modi’s blessings in his anti-Christian violence in Gujarat’s Dangs region that coincided with the post-Godhra pogrom of 2002.

What is most disturbing about this whole business is not Aseemanand’s confession — predictably disowned since — or the fact that the RSS may get away with murder all over again.
What should be a cause of concern to everyone who cares for India and its wellbeing and democratic, plural character is the fact that the mindset that created men like Aseemanand no longer represents a tiny, lunatic fringe. It has gone mainstream and may soon take over the reins of the great republic.

The terror attacks that Aseemanand and his group unleashed and the number of lives that they claimed, serious as they were, are a mere footnote to the larger threat that these forces pose to the nation’s future and security.

I know that if in less than hundred days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes charge in Delhi it wouldn’t be the end of the world or the Idea of India as we know it. This nation with its fiercely secular and liberal constitution, robust democratic institutions and tolerance of its people is too strong for that.

However, given the ideological baggage and the not-so-secret agenda of the Parivar and men who groomed the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate all these years for the top job, it takes no extraordinary imagination to see where the country is eventually headed.

As US-based journalist, Aslam Abdullah, argues, India will remain a republic committed to secularism, pluralism and democracy but under the new dispensation, the definitions of these ideals themselves would change.

We have seen how Gujarat, billed as Hindutva’s ideological and political laboratory, has been transformed under the Dear Leader. A similar fate awaits the nation, unless rest of the political spectrum which remains hopelessly divided and directionless, and the reasonable, sensible majority of the country wakes up to the perils that lie ahead.

After sleeping all this while, the Left and regional parties have suddenly woken up to alliance possibilities, two month before the critical election. Is it any wonder then they invite nothing but derision and accusations of political opportunism? As for the Congress, it appears to be in total meltdown, which is not surprising given the grievous injuries it has inflicted on itself, in the past couple of years. If the series of corruption scams, inept response to various crises and uninspiring leadership crippled and bled the governing party and the UPA, its failure to confront Modi all these years that is directly and squarely responsible for the predicament is staring us in the face. The Congress has just sat there in the face of gathering threat, immobile and frozen like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

But the royal thrashing that the grand old party is all set to receive, as is being foretold by most opinion surveys, is the least of my concerns. The Congress may merely lose power. What the nation has at stake is much more serious and profound. As in the legend of Hamelin, we all seem to be struck by a spell and are marching like children, eyes and ears wide shut, behind our own Pied Piper toward an unknown end.

Aijaz Zaka Syed is a commentator on the Middle East and South Asian affairs and Editor of ‘Caravan’ online newspaper.

The article India: The Caravan And A Defining Election – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Facebook Offers New Gender Options

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By PanArmenian

Facebook has announced that it will allow users to customize their gender, after consulting on the subject with gay and transgender advocacy groups, BBC News reports.

The 50-odd options, which include “bi-gender”, “transgender”, “androgynous” and “transsexual”, will allow people “to express themselves in an authentic way”, Facebook said in a post.

Users can also choose whether to be referred to as “he”, “she” or “they”.

The new options will initially only be for those using the site in U.S. English. They were formulated after consultations with five leading gay and transgender rights’ organizations, Facebook says.

“There’s going to be a lot of people for whom this is going to mean nothing, but for the few it does impact, it means the world,” Facebook engineer Brielle Harrison told the AP. “For the first time I get to go to the site and I get to specify to all the people that I know what my gender is and I can let only the people that I want to know, see that.”

The San Francisco-based Transgender Law Center welcomed the move, saying “many transgender people will be thrilled” at the news.

One estimate in a report by the Williams Institute think tank in 2011 said that an estimated 0.3% of adults in the U.S. were transgender, almost 700,000 people.

The article Facebook Offers New Gender Options appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Evangelist Will Graham Preaches To More Than 31,000 In Sri Lanka

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By Eurasia Review

Evangelist Will Graham preached to 33,100 people in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, over the weekend. The three-day Celebration of Grace with Will Graham was held Feb. 7-9 at the Moratumulla Methodist Church Grounds.

Local organizers referred to the Celebration as the largest evangelistic outreach ever held in the largely Buddhist nation. In the days leading up to the event, local Christians handed out approximately 25,000 invitations to neighbors, co-workers and commuters at the train station.

“Money cannot change the human heart. Only God can change your heart,” Graham told the gathered crowd, his voice carrying across loud speakers that had been set up in a one kilometer radius around the venue. “Maybe you are dealing with death, and you’re not sure where you’re going to spend eternity. Tonight you can be assured. Salvation is waiting for you.”

In response to Graham’s invitation, a total of 6,819 people crowded in front of the stage and made a commitment to Christ, according to the event’s organizers.

The Celebration of Grace with Will Graham marked the first time that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) hosted a multi-day event in the country. Previously, the churches in Sri Lanka had participated in Billy Graham’s Mission World outreach, watching the evangelist live via satellite from San Juan, Puerto Rico, in March 1995.

The article Evangelist Will Graham Preaches To More Than 31,000 In Sri Lanka appeared first on Eurasia Review.


India: ‘Blinking’ Marian Statue Attracts Thousands In Chennai

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By UCAN

A day after news spread that a Marian statue was blinking, thousands are crowding the Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine at Perambur, in Chennai.

People from all corners of the city thronged the church just to get a glimpse of the statue, which authorities of the 114-year-old shrine said, was brought from a foreign country and erected some 75 years ago.

Police are managing the traffic and the crowd. In long winding queues, people stood singing devotional and reciting prayers as they waited for a chance to look at the statue.

“It’s a miracle. Maybe she wanted people to know that it’s not just a stone and she’s alive,” said Kalpana of Vyasarpadi, who came with her little son.

Devotees were excited as they felt that the Lady of Lourdes had blessed them on Tuesday – the day of the 114th annual feast at the church. “About 20,000 to 30,000 people have come so far,” said Fr Joe Andrew, Rector and Parish Priest.

“Many of them were hoping that a miracle would take place,” he added as he explained the history behind the church – Lourdes is a place in France where the Mother is said to have appeared before the poor and the sick.

Apart from the local crowd, the church also received a huge response from devotees living abroad in countries US, Australia, Dubai and New Zealand after a video posted on the internet went viral.

If there was a group of Christians on one side in queues waiting to have a glimpse, there were many large groups waiting to ‘copy’ the video of the statue’s ‘blinking eyes’ to their cellphones using bluetooth.

“I got the blessings of the Lady of Lourdes but I could not bring my family. So, I’m taking this video home,” said Martin of Perambur, who was waiting patiently despite the crowd.

Source: New Indian Express

The article India: ‘Blinking’ Marian Statue Attracts Thousands In Chennai appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Robert Reich: Why The Three Biggest Economic Lessons Were Forgotten – OpEd

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By Robert Reich

Why has America forgotten the three most important economic lessons we learned in the thirty years following World War II?

Before I answer that question, let me remind you what those lessons were:

First, America’s real job creators are consumers, whose rising wages generate jobs and growth. If average people don’t have decent wages there can be no real recovery and no sustained growth.

In those years, business boomed because American workers were getting raises, and had enough purchasing power to buy what expanding businesses had to offer. Strong labor unions ensured American workers got a fair share of the economy’s gains. It was a virtuous cycle.

Second, the rich do better with a smaller share of a rapidly-growing economy than they do with a large share of an economy that’s barely growing at all.

Between 1946 and 1974, the economy grew faster than it’s grown since, on average, because the nation was creating the largest middle class in history. The overall size of the economy doubled, as did the earnings of almost everyone. CEOs rarely took home more than forty times the average worker’s wage, yet were riding high.

Third, higher taxes on the wealthy to finance public investments — better roads, bridges, public transportation, basic research, world-class K-12 education, and affordable higher education – improve the future productivity of America. All of us gain from these investments, including the wealthy.

In those years, the top marginal tax rate on America’s highest earners never fell below 70 percent. Under Republican President Dwight Eisenhower the tax rate was 91 percent. Combined with tax revenues from a growing middle class, these were enough to build the Interstate Highway system, dramatically expand public higher education, and make American public education the envy of the world.

We learned, in other words, that broadly-shared prosperity isn’t just compatible with a healthy economy that benefits everyone — it’s essential to it.

But then we forgot these lessons. For the last three decades the American economy has continued to grow but most peoples’ earnings have gone nowhere. Since the start of the recovery in 2009, 95 percent of the gains have gone to the top 1 percent.

What happened?

For starters, too many of us bought the snake oil of “supply-side” economics, which said big corporations and the wealthy are the job creators – and if we cut their taxes the benefits will trickle down to everyone else. Of course, nothing trickled down.

Meanwhile, big corporations were allowed to bust labor unions, whose membership dropped from over a third of all private-sector workers in the 1950s to under 7 percent today.

Our roads, bridges, and public-transit systems were allowed to crumble under the weight of deferred maintenance. Our public schools deteriorated. And public higher education became so starved for funds that tuition rose to make up for shortfalls, making college unaffordable to many working families.

And Wall Street was deregulated — creating a casino capitalism that caused a near meltdown of the economy six years ago and continues to burden millions of homeowners. CEOs began taking home 300 times the earnings of the average worker.

Part of the reason for this extraordinary U-turn had to do with politics. As income and wealth concentrated at the top, so did political power. The captains of industry and of Wall Street knew what was happening, and some played leading roles in this transformation.

But why didn’t they remember the lessons learned in the thirty years after World War II – that widely-shared prosperity is good for everyone, including them?

Perhaps because they didn’t care to remember. They discovered that wealth is also relative: How rich they feel depends not just on how much money they have, but also how they live in comparison to most other people.

As the gap between America’s wealthy and the middle has widened, those at the top have felt even richer by comparison. Although a rising tide would lift all boats, many of America’s richest prefer a lower tide and bigger yachts.

The article Robert Reich: Why The Three Biggest Economic Lessons Were Forgotten – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day And Monogamy – OpEd

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By Alan Caruba

A great marriage is a marvelous and mysterious thing. My parents celebrated 64 years of marriage together until my Father passed away. Even into his 90s, he could not leave the dinner table without pausing to give her a kiss. They enjoyed each other’s company and gave each other the space to pursue their interests.

Valentine’s Day arrives preceded by two weeks of commercials in which men are reminded to purchase flowers, chocolates, pajamas, or teddy bears for the women they love. In my parent’s era—they were born in 1901 and 1903—and in the era in which I spent my childhood and became a young man, the 1940s and 1950s, courtship was expected to result in marriage. Getting divorced or having a child out of wedlock was a disgrace. Compare that to the present era.

In the 1950s, having returned from the great drama of World War Two, men wanted to settle down and start families, and as William Tucker notes in his new book, “Marriage and Civilization: How Monogamy Made Us Human”, “More than 75 percent of households were occupied by married couples. Illegitimacy was a miniscule 5 percent…The phenomenon of “single motherhood” was virtually unknown.”

My Father, a Certified Public Accountant, was the breadwinner, but my Mother also contributed because, for three decades she taught gourmet cooking in adult schools where we lived. She was an expert on wine and wrote two cookbooks, gaining awards from France and elsewhere. I grew up in a town that was the quintessential suburb filled with tree-lined streets and broad lawns. The men went off to work. The women=0 tended to the children and the home.

Their generation and mine could never have imagined the society in which we live today. Tucker asks, “Should we attempt to strengthen the traditional two-parent family or do we accept broken homes and single motherhood as a ‘new type of family’—one that seem to require the everlasting support of the government?”

If we do not strengthen the traditional family, our society, our values, and our nation will be in deep trouble, if it isn’t already. A nation in which abortion was legalized in 1973 has witnessed the destruction of the lives of 55,772,000 unborn children and counting.
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One of my friends was Betty Friedan, the author of “The Feminine Mystique”, published originally in 1963. A formidable intellect, Betty was also a socialist to the core. The book spoke about the pent-up wishes of women to be something more than wives and mothers. It unleashed a revolution and in 1981 she followed it up with “The Second Stage” which she called “a problem that has no name.” How were women supposed to live with their new freedoms? She inscribed the book to me, “For Alan—who surely is a second stage man.”

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“Since antiquity, monogamy has been the general rule of Western civilizations,” notes Tucker. “It is often easy to overlook how unique the organization of human society is in nature. Of all the species ever identified, approximately 95 percent are polygamous.” We share a unique commonality with chimpanzees. “Chimps and humans are the only two species in nature where the band of male brothers forms the core of the group…The result is that human beings are the only species in nature where males work together in the context of social monogamy. That is what makes us unique. It makes us human.”

There’s more. “Within the anthropological record, there is a statistical linkage between democratic institutions and normative monogamy.” Dating back to ancient Greece, “the peculiar institutions of monogamous marriage may explain why democratic ideals and notions of equality and human rights first emerged in the West.”

“Monogamous families,” writes Tucker, “create socially conscious human beings ready to live in peaceful societies.” There are a billion Muslims in the world and Islam permits polygamous marriage. The nations where it is the dominant religion have a long history of warfare with each other and with nation s in which monogamy is the standard.

“Monogamous marriage is the most thrilling adventure anyone ever undertakes—that perilous encounter with an individual who is so much like you yet so different, the other half of your humanity, without whom you are never a complete human being, It relies not on sex, which is easy, but on romance, falling in love and staying in love, which is the work of a lifetime.”

Happy St. Valentine’s Day!

The article Celebrate Valentine’s Day And Monogamy – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Ron Paul Launches Clemency Petition For Edward Snowden

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By RT

Former Texas congressman Ron Paul has announced a petition aiming to secure clemency for Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency whistleblower who revealed extensive US surveillance programs and ignited a national debate on Americans’ privacy.

In a video released Thursday on the Ron Paul Channel, an online network the libertarian started last summer, he calls on supporters to sign the petition in an attempt to bring Snowden home to the US safely before his temporary visa in Russia expires in July.

“Edward Snowden sacrificed his livelihood, citizenship, and freedom by exposing the disturbing scope of the NSA’s worldwide spying program,” he said. “Thanks to one man’s courageous actions, Americans know about the truly egregious ways their government is spying on them.”

Paul worked as a physician before serving in Congress intermittently in the 1970s and 1980s then again from 1997 until 2013. He is best known for his libertarian positions, which often put him at odds with members of the Republican party. Paul has repeatedly lent public support to Snowden since the former NSA contractor came forward to admit he leaked classified documents to journalists affiliated with the Guardian and the Washington Post.

“By signing this petition, you are telling the US government that Mr. Snowden deserves the right to come home without the fear of persecution or imprisonment,” the website stated.

Paul’s announcement comes one day after his son, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), filed a lawsuit against US President Obama and the NSA seeking to stop its collection of phone metadata. The younger Paul said his class-action suit is in response to the intelligence agency’s violation of the Fourth Amendment, which requires law enforcement authorities to obtain a judicial warrant before conducting a search or seizure.

“There’s a huge and growing swell of protest in this country of people who are outraged that their records are being taken without suspicion, without a judge’s warrant, and without individualization,” Paul said. “I’m not against the NSA, I’m not against spying, I’m not against looking at phone records. I just want you to go to a judge, have an individual’s name and [get] a warrant. That’s what the Fourth Amendment says.”

Yet the senator, who shares many of his father’s libertarian positions and like his father is expected to mount a presidential campaign of his own in 2016, does not share Ron Paul’s stance on clemency for Snowden.

“I don’t think Edward Snowden deserves the death penalty or life in prison. I think that’s inappropriate. And I think that’s what he faced,” Paul told CBS last month. “I think the only way he’s coming home is if someone would offer him a fair trial with a reasonable sentence.”

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CNN Begins Internal Investigation Into Ugly Monument List

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By Ria Novosti

CNN has begun an inquiry into how it included a memorial to Soviet soldiers from World War II in a list of the world’s ugliest monuments.

Representatives of the TV channel apologized for its action in a meeting Thursday with the Russian ambassador to the United States, and said that an “internal investigation” had begun.

“CNN representatives expressed their sincere regret about the incident,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “An internal investigation is being carried out into the publication of this list, which defiled the memory of those who died in the war against Nazism.”

CNN’s list of the world’s ugliest monuments included the Courage monument at the Brest Fortress, the site of the first major fighting between Soviet forces and the invading Nazi German army in June 1941.

Soviet soldiers fought desperately to defend the fortress for longer than expected, and it has since become a symbol of Soviet resistance during the war.

CNN withdrew the article and apologized “for the unintended offense.”

The article CNN Begins Internal Investigation Into Ugly Monument List appeared first on Eurasia Review.

China Deletes Media Reports Calling Beijing ‘Unlivable’

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By RFA

China’s Internet censors on Thursday deleted online references to an official pollution report which described the capital city as nearly unfit for human habitation, while state media tried to limit the damage to Beijing’s international image.

The English-language tabloid Global Times newspaper, which has close ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, quoted one of the report’s authors as saying that the media had “exaggerated” its findings.

The Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences report, released this week, ranked Beijing second to last in an index of 40 world cities.

“The pollution index nears extreme levels, and is near a level that is no longer livable for human beings,” the report concluded.

Tokyo, London, Paris, New York and Singapore took the top five places, while Shanghai and Beijing ranked 21st and 31st respectively, based on factors such as economic vitality, social stability, culture, urban management, ecology and city space.

The Chinese government has announced a series of measures aimed at combating pollution, including the smog problem, which is known colloquially as “airpocalypse,” including a 10 billion yuan (U.S. $1.65 billion) anti-pollution fund announced by China’s cabinet, the State Council, this week.

The fund will offer rewards to local governments that clean up their act, and is targeted at reducing harmful particulate matter air pollution like PM 2.5.

China’s smog has brought large swathes of the country to a standstill, particularly in the north, forcing airports to cancel thousands of flights, schools to close and reducing visibility on city streets.

Beijing plans to shutter hundreds of polluting factories under new pollution rules that come into effect on March 1, official media reported.

Little hope

But Zhengzhou-based environmental activist Cui Cheng said he didn’t place much hope in a government that was so frightened of a scientific report.

“If they get so worried about an article written by experts, as if all hell is going to break loose, then there’s not much hope they’ll be able to fix the smog problem,” he said.

He said the new guidelines were still only on paper.

“I feel there is still too little in the way of a truly strategic shift in the industrial economy,” Cui said.

He called on the government to release further evidence detailing measures taken to reduce the smog.

“For example, exactly how much the oil industry has invested in cleaning up, and what the results of that were, and how much smog they now currently contribute,” he said.

“They must give people some answers.”

Exodus

The widespread pollution and food safety scandals may be behind a mass exodus of China’s millionaires to cleaner lands.

Mainland Chinese applicants made up 91 percent of applications for Australia’s investment visa scheme since it was launched in 2012, recent reports said.

And Canada is wading through a backlog of 57,000 applications for similar emigration papers from people in China.

A Beijing resident who gave only his surname Zhao said many ordinary Chinese would also like to leave.

“Put it this way; I’ve been planning to emigrate for a long time now, because I can’t stand it any more,” Zhao said. “It’s like living in the middle of poison gas.”

He described the scene outside his home in the suburb of Tongzhou as a bluish haze made up of industrial emissions.

“It’s definitely not fit for human habitation,” Zhao said. “There’s no doubt at all about that.”

He said had become visibly worse two years ago. “Now it’s really, really serious,” Zhao said. “And it’s continuing to get worse.”

Northern pollution

Around 600 million people are affected by air pollution and smog days that plague northern China, according to a July report from China’s State Development and Reform Commission.

And a recent report by the American National Academy of Sciences found that residents of northern China could be losing five years of life expectancy compared with those in the south, which until recently has enjoyed better air quality.

Reported by Yang Fan for RFA’s Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

The article China Deletes Media Reports Calling Beijing ‘Unlivable’ appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Indonesia On Alert For Jihadists Returning From Syria

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By Central Asia Online

By Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata and Aditya Surya

Indonesian jihadists returning from the Syrian civil war could pose a national security threat, Indonesia’s counterterrorism chief has warned.

Jihadists coming home from Afghanistan formed radical and terrorist groups, according to National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) head Ansyaad Mbai, and history could repeat itself.

“We fear they also may have been trained in Syria. We need to anticipate that upon their return. We should learn from our own bitter experiences of the past,” he told Khabar Southeast Asia, adding that his agency would monitor the movements of newly returned Syrian war veterans.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some 50 Indonesian militants are in Syria.

“We [got] the information from the Syrian intelligence, but we still can’t confirm their whereabouts as they may have taken a non-procedural way to enter the country,” Tatang Budi Utama Razak, the ministry’s director of legal aid and protection for Indonesians abroad, told Khabar.

Responding to Syria veterans

The impact of returning jihadists will depend on many factors such as ideology and how communities respond to the Syrian veterans, former Indonesian Police Chief Da’i Bachtiar said.

The government could reach out to jihadists under BNPT surveillance and recruit them as part of a non-violent jihad to help develop the country, he suggested.

“Prevent them from being unemployed; get them involved in skilled job training or recruit them to work in accordance with their skills,” Da’i told Khabar.

Central Jakarta cleric Muhammad Sutoyo called on fellow Muslims to be vigilant and not allow homecoming extremists to import their brand of jihad from Syria.

“Muslims have different interpretations of ‘jihad’. However, we all must recognise that Islam teaches us to be tolerant and to love others. Therefore, whatever happened in Syria should not be brought home,” he told Khabar.

Jemaah Islamiyah active in Syria, report says

A recent report by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) examined Indonesian jihadist involvement in the Syrian conflict.

“As far as we know, the number of Indonesian combatants is still in the dozens, but it could climb,” IPAC Director Sidney Jones said in a statement accompanying the report’s January 29th release. “Jihadi humanitarian assistance teams now appear to be facilitating the entry of fighters as well.”

Riza Fardi, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Indunisi, was killed in Syria last year, the report noted. Riza, from West Kalimantan, graduated from the Al-Mukmin Ngruki Islamic boarding school in Solo.

The most active Indonesian group in Syria is Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings. Between late 2012 and January 2014, JI’s humanitarian arm, the Hilal Ahmar Society of Indonesia (HASI), sent ten delegations to Syria to deliver medical aid and cash to the Islamic resistance, the report said.

“The danger remains that fighters returning from Syria could infuse new energy into Indonesia’s weak and ineffectual jihadi movement,” the IPAC study concluded.

The article Indonesia On Alert For Jihadists Returning From Syria appeared first on Eurasia Review.


Algeria Leads Fight Against Terror Financing

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By Magharebia

By Walid Ramzi

Algeria’s initiative to criminalise ransom payments to terrorists is winning international and regional support.

Meeting in Algiers on February 4th, African and foreign officials agreed to implement the “Algiers Memorandum on Good Practices on Preventing and Denying the Benefits of Kidnapping for Ransom (KFR) by Terrorists”.

The Group of Eight in the United Nations Security Council had already adopted the Algerian memorandum, presidential advisor Kamel Rezzag-Bara said. The Security Council also gave a directive to work on expanding international support for the initiative.

For his part, African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (CAERT) Director Ambassador Francesco Jose Madeira said that more than 35 per cent of abductions committed by terrorist groups for ransom were recorded in Africa.

“International terrorism has taken a new form with the split of al-Qaeda into several independent branches, each trying to find its own sources of funding,” he noted.

“Terrorist groups are in control of entire regions,” he added, describing “the proliferation of this activity as a lucrative industry”.

He attributed the prevalence of kidnappings in Africa to rampant corruption and criminality, the disruption of the distribution of resources, political instability and lack of development.

Although there is international consensus for an end to the payment of ransom to kidnappers, the measure’s translation on the ground is still hampered by the absence of enforcement mechanisms.

Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra told Afrique-Asie last month that the international consensus with regard to the condemnation of hostage-taking and ransom had not yet been codified in an international legal form.

“Algeria intends to launch a new initiative, aimed at expanding the mechanisms of trapping the payment of ransoms to kidnappers, be they terrorist groups or drug traffickers. This came about after it became clear that there are strong links between terrorism, organised crime, and smuggling groups,” the minister said.

Algeria will continue co-operation with its partners to start new talks at the United Nations on the ratification of restrictive tools and mechanisms, he added.

Analysts confirm that drying up the sources of terror financing requires international co-operation.

Military expert Tahir ben Thamer said, “The fight against terrorism has become an international issue due to the expansion of the scope of activity of terrorist groups and the emergence of dozens of groups that embrace extreme takfirist ideologies.”

“The transmission of abductions from the Sahel to other African countries stresses the need to adopt a unified approach that can be implemented on the ground,” he added.

“Paying ransoms encourages terrorist groups,” he said.

The article Algeria Leads Fight Against Terror Financing appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Mauritania: New Government Installed

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By Magharebia

By Bakari Guèye

Mauritanian Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf presented his new government on Wednesday (February 12th).

All key ministers kept their posts in the new administration. The defence, interior, foreign, finance and justice portfolios remain intact. Meanwhile, eight ministers lost their positions while 11 others made their entrance into the fresh cabinet, which includes six women.

The day after his routine resignation earlier this month, the prime minister thanked “all those members of the government for the work they have accomplished, which is starting to bear fruit in all areas, whether it’s to do with access to water, electricity, health or education services for the public as a whole”.

According to analyst Mohamed Ould Mohamed Lemine, “Dr Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf’s reappointment as head of government is seen as a well-earned reward for a winning team which shouldn’t be replaced.”

The new government comes after the country’s ruling Union for the Republic (UPR) and its allies won 76 of the 147 seats in parliament last November and December.

“Looking at our country and the formation of a new government, Prime Minister Dr Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf has every chance of keeping his promise about ensuring broad representation within his team of the political forces making up the presidential majority and the fringe of the opposite party frequently referred to as the talking opposition,” remarked analyst Sidi El Moctar Ahmed Taleb.

Mohamed Fall Oumeir, an editorial writer for La Tribune, said that “in the end, Dr Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf has been returned to power,” adding, “He has promised a government with good skills and broad representation.”

“Ould Mohamed Laghdaf’s return to power was predictable; the prospect of the imminent presidential election did not give President Ould Abdel Aziz the room for manoeuvre necessary to allow him to change his plans in any fundamental way,” the editorial writer continued.

In the words of Oumeir, the president chose to hold on to the man who stood beside him and steered “the country out of the crisis in July 2009 and in whom he has renewed his confidence. This has avoided making a choice between other hopefuls whose proximity could have upset the current plans.”

There was a lukewarm reaction from the public. Ahmed Ould Sidi, a teacher, said, “This new government will bring nothing new. It’s the same people who have been there for five years, and they haven’t been able to solve the big problems faced by Mauritanians.”

Mariam Diop, who works for a public company, spoke in much the same way: “I don’t think this new team will do any better than its predecessor.”

“We’re just a few months away from the presidential elections, and the ministers will all be busy playing politics with the aim of getting President Ould Abdel Aziz re-elected,” she stated.

The article Mauritania: New Government Installed appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Venezuela: President Maduro Denounces Coup Attempt

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By MISNA

Clashes in the Venezuelan capital Caracas during a student demonstration against the government of President Nicolas Maduro left at least two dead. According to the El Mundo newspaper, 23 were killed and 70 arrested accross the nation. Many also suffered gunshot injuries.

The students also took the streets in Merida, Tachira, Barquisimeto, Valencia, Maracaibo, Puerto Ordaz and Mérida in protest over growing insecurity on university campuses and the economic crisis. The protests also aim to slam the police crackdown, use of firearms and resorting to the anti-terrorism law, violating the constitutional right to peaceful protests.

Parliament speaker Diosdado Cabello denounced the killing of the leader of the ‘colectivo’ pro-government group, Juan Montoya, “in a vile manner by the fascists”. In a live TV address, President Maduro stated that a “coup attempt is underway” and promised “justice for the victims”.

In a bid to fight rising cost of living, the government approved the ‘Ley de Precios Justos’, fixed price law, in a move to control prices and deal with the shortage of basic goods. The law bans traders from selling at over 30% profit in respect to retail price, with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

The article Venezuela: President Maduro Denounces Coup Attempt appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Niger: Three More Journalists Arrested

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By MISNA

Three reporters of the Anfani private radio were taken into custody yesterday for questioning in connection to a recent interview with a teachers union leader, who was also arrested. According to the Anfani radio and other private broadcasts in Niger, the director Adboul Razak Idrissa and reporters Haoua Maigari and Moussa Hassane are in custody of judicial police “for still unclear reasons”.

The three last week participated in a TV debate on Channel 3, which angered authorities. Also the unionist Ismael Salifou was arrested after an open row with a Public education official in Zinder (central Niger). Authorities accuse Salifou of using “offensive” terms against the Head of State Mahamadou Issoufou in the interview with the Amani broadcast. In the interview on January 22, the union leader denounced the transfer by authorities of a teacher from Zinder to his birth region of Tillabéri “on an ethnic basis”.

With these, nine journalists have been arrested and questioned over the past weeks, as well as three civil society activists and unionists. Justice minister Marou Amadou warned that he will not “tollerate abuses by the media”, which he claims “foments ethnic hatred” and “instigating uprisings and a coup”.

Among the key cases is that of the journalist Soumana Idrissa Maiga, released but charged with “plotting against state security” and “criminal association” following the publication of a critical article on pressures on the Enqueteur, the nation’s only independent newspaper.

The political opposition and media watchdogs denounced this wave of arrests and detentions as “violations of the laws on press freedom”, accusing authorities of attempting to “silence democracy”. There has been mounting criticism against President Issoufou for his management of power, wide corruption and public media consoring. The newxt elections are set for 2016.

The article Niger: Three More Journalists Arrested appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Iran: Rapists Put To Death In Latest Public Hangings

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By Radio Zamaneh

Two men convicted of rape and kidnapping were hanged in public this morning, Thursday February 13, in the city of Shiraz.

One of the executed men had been convicted of the kidnapping, rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Fars Penal Court and sentenced to death.

The other convict was arrested in December of 2008 for kidnapping and raping a number of victims in Shiraz.

Amnesty International has been highly critical of the rising rate of executions in Iran, especially denouncing the practice of public hangings.

Amnesty International reports that in 2013, 401 people were hanged in Iran and 53 of those hangings were in public.

The head of Iran’s Judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has supported the public hangings, saying they are carried out in special cases in accordance with the country’s criminal law, Islamic law and judicial verdicts.

The article Iran: Rapists Put To Death In Latest Public Hangings appeared first on Eurasia Review.

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