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Tehran Imam Condemns Paris Attack, Partly Blames West

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The Tehran Friday Mass Imam condemned the deadly attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris this week, saying: “we firmly condemn the terrorist attack in France and Confirm that Islam does not permit the killing of innocent people whether they are in Paris, in Syria, in Iraq, in Yemen, in Afghanistan or in Pakistan.”

Ahmad Khatami added however that the West should be held partly culpable in the attack, saying: “The weapons of these terrorists are provided by U.S. dollars, British pounds and the EU euros. You have reared these bests in you own sleeves.”

On Wednesday January 7, twelve people were killed when armed assailants attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine which often publishes caricatures of Muslim holy figures.

Addressing the West, Khatami said on Friday January 9: “These terrorists are reared with your political support and the support of your allies…Know that the path you have been treading the past 10 years is the wrong path.”

Yesterday Iranian Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack on Charlie Hebdo but also spoke out against insulting the values of different religions.

The post Tehran Imam Condemns Paris Attack, Partly Blames West appeared first on Eurasia Review.


Why Are Women Joining The Islamic State? – Analysis

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By Elena Veatch*

Among its many acts of terror, the Islamic State has a well-earned reputation for violence against women.

Labeled exceedingly radical even by al-Qaeda’s standards, the group’s reprehensible treatment of women has included sexual enslavement, forced marriages, and the execution of women who make unapproved contact with members of the opposite sex. These are just a few of the many vicious tactics of gender subordination highlighted by a recent United Nations report.

However, women are still joining the group — many by choice. The question, naturally, is why?

A Role for Women

We tend to associate acts of terror with men, presuming women to be inherently less violent. Over the years, al-Qaeda in particular has discouraged women from getting directly involved in its activities.

However, female insurgents have played integral roles in suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks in the Middle East. Palestinian women proved eager recruits in the Second Intifada, for example, just as others did in Lebanon on behalf of largely secular organizations resisting Israeli aggression in the 1980s.

For its part, the Islamic State has actively sought to entice women into joining its ranks — albeit, generally to play non-combat roles.

In February 2014, it created two female brigades — al-Khansaa and Umm al-Rayan — to enforce its stringent conceptions of Islamic morality. The group deems single women between the ages of 18 and 25 eligible to participate, providing a monthly salary of 25,000 Syrian pounds — the equivalent of about $140, as of this writing — as an incentive.

These women do not commit the conspicuous acts of terror that have made the Sunni extremist group infamous. Instead, they perform tasks such as searching people who pass through checkpoints, in part to expose men who have disguised themselves as women to avoid recruitment. They also serve as the Islamic State’s morality police, ensuring that female community members in seized areas dress appropriately in full niqab and refrain from going out in public without male accompaniment.

Accounts from women detained by al-Khansaa indicate that female brigade members do not merely obey orders from male leaders in the execution of their policing duties. Rather, to some extent, they seem to revel in their access to power. “They insulted me and yelled at me,” recalls Zainab, a young Syrian girl who was detained in March 2014. “Nobody talked to me or told me the reason for my detention. … The brigade has created fear among the women and girls of Raqqa.”

A Choice among Patriarchies

Although the Islamic State’s presence has undeniably exacerbated the oppression of women in Iraq and Syria, conditions were never ideal for women in these states in the first place (though by some measures they were better than in nearby countries).

In communities where honor killings continue to occur, female victims of rape are stigmatized, regardless of whether it’s members of the Islamic State committing the atrocities or someone else. Similarly, in places where women cannot decide for themselves how to dress or how to act, they remain subject to the authority of men, regardless of who’s in power.

Yet if the Islamic State seems even worse, why do women join?

Some contribute to the radical movement out of concern for their own safety. In northern and central Iraq, many women have been left to fend for themselves in the absence of male family members who have been roped into combat or killed. Joining the Islamic State could grant these women a sense of security. On the other hand, a genuine feeling of obligation among women to oppose the Iraqi government’s routine mistreatment of Sunnis could also be at play.

A more fascinating explanation, however, rests on the premise that women yearn to be entrusted with positions of authority in societies where traditional values already restrict female autonomy.

Syrian women participated in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, but since the onset of the civil war that followed, they’ve had to focus on survival rather than on instigating change. Just as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has successfully included women in his own counter-insurgency tactics, perhaps the Islamic State has convinced some women that the perception of being in control — with the authority to subjugate members of their own community — is more desirable than the alternative: feeling the weight of their oppression each day.

The complicity of these women in enforcing strict conceptions of morality illuminates the unfairness of the pre-Islamic State lives they wished to escape. The Islamic State’s version of Islam surely oppresses women, but so too does the existing patriarchy in the societies the extremists have penetrated. “There is a process of female emancipation taking place in the jihadi movement,” explains Norwegian defense expert Thomas Hegghammer, “albeit a very limited (and morbid) one.”

Without the help of women at the local level, the Islamic State would not have been able to establish its presence in the Middle East so rapidly and effectively. But as women have discovered all over the world, helping to build a society scarcely prevents them from finding themselves at the margins of it.

* Elena Veatch is a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus and a student at Skidmore College.

The post Why Are Women Joining The Islamic State? – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa Defeated, Sirisena Sworn In As President

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Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena won Sri Lanka’s presidential vote with 51.3 percent of votes against 47.6 percent of exiting president Mahinda Rajapakse.

Sirisena was sworn in today as the nation’s 6th President before Supreme Court Judge K. Sri Pavan, on Independence Square in Colombo. Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the opposition United National Party (UNP), also took oath as the new prime minister before the new President.

In an address to the nation after the swearing ceremony, Sirisena stataed that this will be his only term and he will not run in the next election. He stressed that his priority will be to introduce “a new political culture”, inspired by the vision of “DS Senanayake (independence activist who served as premier from 1947-1952) and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike (fourth premier, assassinated in 1959), the great leaders of our nation”.

A few hours earlier in a news conference, Wickremasinghe urged all citizens to welcome the new leader, emphasizing that voters gave a clear mandate for a new political culture and good governance. The new premier also called on the nation to celebrate the victory without resorting to violence or political vendettas.

“No group or individual should feel authorized to take the law in their own hands and sabotage the existing system”, said the new Premier.

The post Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa Defeated, Sirisena Sworn In As President appeared first on Eurasia Review.

A Game As Old As Empire: Return Of Proxy Wars In Afghanistan – Analysis

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History is repeating itself in Afghanistan. Proxy wars and great power politics is returning to the country. It is putting Afghanistan once again at the center stage of regional and global rivalries over influence for a variety of geostrategic interests and the quest for resources. This time unlike the past, there are many players including almost all the neighbors of Afghanistan with the prominent players being Pakistan, Iran, China and India.

Afghanistan at its origin, observed Lord Goerge N. Curzon, was an empty space on the map which was neither Persian nor Russian and British. It was purely a geographical space which emerged and used as a buffer zone as a result of great power politics between the former British Empire and Russian Tsar. Some scholars and historians term Afghanistan as an accidental nation. The nomadic, semi nomadic and settled ethnic groups living in this rugged but vitally strategic land were used as tools to extend the influence and interests of one Empire against the other. The monarchies and militia groups trained and funded by these two empires emerged as a result of these great rivalries used to take turns in preparing the ground for government collapse and capturing Kabul centric power through assassinating monarchs, waging coups and rebellions to further the interests of their empire pay masters.

In recent times, the Afghan government and its allies are complaining about enemy sanctuaries and safehavens across the border in Pakistan and Iran for the growing insurgency in the country but this phenomenon is nothing new. Afghan monarchies and successively the Afghan communist regime were toppled through rebel leaders, dethroned Kings, disgruntled tribal and religious leaders who enjoyed financial and military support in the courts of British Raj, Persian Empire and Russian Tsar and in recent times in safehavens and training grounds provided by the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies.

This time around the stakes are higher and the game is much more complicated than the yester-years and various countries are furthering their interests within the country through their proxy groups often times with ethnic, racial and sectarian ties to their sponsors.

Understanding the depth of this problem, recently the new Afghan President, Dr. Ashraf Ghani has been consistently warning Afghan neighbors in various forums including the recent SAARC leaders summit in Nepal, Heart of Asia conference in Beijing and other multilateral and bilateral meetings that he will not tolerate proxy wars in his country and will not allow Afghan territory to be used against its neighbors from any party involved in the country. But the realities are different with limited wrath of the Afghan state extending beyond major urban centers. This makes ensuring and delivering the promise of Dr. Ghani a difficult job.

Today, Pakistan claims that India is using Afghan territory to support Baloch separatists and Tehreek–i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) whereas India has been over the years warning and complaining to the international community over Pakistan’s duplicity and complicity in various terrorist attacks within and outside India. The recent bombings of Indian Embassy and consulate in Afghanistan are in no doubt the handiwork of the various extremist groups supported and trained by the powerful Pakistani military intelligence agency ISI.

Furthermore, Iran and Saudi Arabia are vying for influence to promote or protect the Shiite and Sunni domination within the power structure in Afghanistan. Russians and Chinese are concerned about Chechens and Uighurs in the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan and finally an unstable Afghanistan infested with proxy groups present a great threat to the Central Asian states and the security of the Russian Federation and the commercial and economic interests of China in Central Asia.

It seems that history is repeating itself once again in Afghanistan. With the advent of technology and advancements in the land, sea and air transport it seemed that countries such as Afghanistan which were pivotal geostrategic land bridges might have lost its importance but it seems that these new developments have not done much to diminish the geopolitical importance of the Afghanistan. Geography is still a significant factor in deciding the political and economic fates of the states.

The Rise and Fall of Regimes in Afghanistan: Proxy wars and Regime collapse in Afghanistan

By several estimates the average lifetime of republican regimes in Afghanistan is 3.5 years with significant statistical outliers in Afghan monarchies. These are normally regimes which normally lasted over a decade. The reasons for such rapid regimes changes, coup d’états and state collapse in Afghanistan are many chief among them exclusive politics and rebellions supported by outside actors.

One of the effective instruments for toppling various Afghan regimes has been proxy warfare exploiting ethnic and/or religious sensitivities. Without a few exceptions almost all of the historical rebellions in Afghanistan are organized, trained and funded by outside actors and regional players. The British Raj gave refuge and sanctuary to various toppled Afghan kings and statesmen and eventually paved the way for their return whereas the same tactic was used by the Russian Tsar. The Russian Tsar hosted the Afghan emirs including Amir Abdul Rahman Khan, Amir Shir Ali Khan and several other Afghan monarchs in the former “Bukhara” and later on assisted them in their return to power. The last Afghan King,

Mohammad Zahir Shah, by several accounts was born in British India and completed his education in France and occupied the throne after his father who also came to power with considerable British support and was later assassinated in a school shooting also enjoyed significant regional support by remaining neutral in regional rivalries.

Furthermore – the Afghan communists, Mujahiddins and more recently Afghan Taliban were all movements which were actively supported, trained and assisted in their rise to power by regional powers. Therefore – outside powers always play a pivotal role in the rise and fall of various regimes in Afghanistan.

Old Game – New Players: Proxy war and Ethnic Conflict in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been at the epicenter of the “Great Game” and later on the cold war rivalry between the former Soviet Union and the United States in the lead. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Afghanistan was abandoned to Pakistan and the proxies of other countries chief among them Iran, India, Russia and Central Asian states each of whom supported a particular ethnic faction. It led to a bloody civil war which lasted for almost a decade resulting in the hundreds of thousands of death of civilians.

Today,this old game is returning with new players. The new proxy war is more localized with regional players i.e. Pakistan and India playing the lead role followed by Iran and Saudi Arabia to safeguard their interests. The stakes are higher this time and so are the costs of inaction for Afghanistan.

Absence of Indigenous Economy: Financial and Economic Dependence

The absence of an indigenous economy and source of financial revenue has made the political sovereignty and military independence of Afghanistan vulnerable to various regional players.

For years, Afghan political elites and parties have been dependent on regional funding and support to pursue its political goals inside Afghanistan. The Afghan communist party factions i.e. PDA Khalq (People) and Parcham (Flag) factions were heavily reliant on Moscow while various Mujahiddin factions on Pakistani, Iranian, Saudi Arabian and Western support and the current Afghan government is heavily reliant on western military and financial support.

During his tenure as former President Hamid Karzai acknowledged that his office is receiving millions of dollars from western and regional intelligence agencies for various payments. This clearly implies that just like British Raj and Russian Tsar was buying loyalty in the Afghan royal court then today the same financial manipulation in exchange for loyalty is happening in the corridors of Afghan Presidential palace.

This dependence has made Afghanistan and its multiethnic mosaic social structure vulnerable to political manipulation and the biggest threat to its national security and long term stability. Almost all of the ethnic and religious groups in Afghanistan are in various ways politically and economically supported by regional countries.
For Afghanistan to preserve its political sovereignty in the true sense of the word – it has to find a sustainable source of financial revenue and a comparative advantage. Political sovereignty without financial independence have no meaning. So long as Afghanistan remains a financially dependent state it will remain an unstable state vulnerable to regional proxy wars.

The Vicious Cycle of Traps: The Crisis of Governance and Statesmanship

Afghanistan since its establishments as an independent state has been consistently tangled in four traps of poverty, bad governance, geographical limitation and internal conflicts. Each of these traps have been reinforcing each other.

Throughout history, Afghan statesmen have either completely monopolized power or wealth or been struggling for the control of the country through quelling internal rebellions under various banners and causes. This has given the little time to think strategically about their country and its vision and future. The first Afghan statesmen who rose to fame due to his 5 year plans and presenting the first vision of governance, economic development and addressing internal conflict and geographic limitations of the country was Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan who fell out with his communist allies and was brutally murdered inside the Afghan Presidential palace. The rest of the government have either been too much preoccupied with preserving power or fighting for control of the country.

In essence, the country has been in some sort of war since its establishment as an independent state. It has suffered from a crisis of governance and leadership and the traps have only been pushing Afghanistan deeper and deeper into a state of crisis.

From Vicious Cycle to Virtuous Cycle: Hard Decisions to make for Afghanistan

To reverse this historical trend and address the four traps of poverty, bad governance, geographical limitation and internal conflicts; Afghan statesmen and policymakers will have to make some very hard choices and bring Afghanistan out of this vicious cycle and put into a virtuous cycle of stability and peace. Some of these hard decision require statesmanship, courage combined with a vision and farsight for the country.

To address these four traps Afghan statesmen and policy makers will have to take the following three vital steps:

(a) Forge a national agenda and broad based consensus across all political parties and ethnic groups on key national interests, priorities and threats of the country. Afghanistan should start a national movement of internal rejuvenation and national awakening. Afghanistan will only prosper at a time when its leadership and commoners understand that the only way to stability is through the hardwork and unity of Afghans and its neighbors. Nobody else can hand in peace and stability to Afghanistan but the Afghans themselves with their neighbors.

(b) Afghanistan will have to reach a fundamental agreement with its neighbor particularly Pakistan and Iran that in return for safeguarding their legitimate interests in Afghanistan – they will stop interference and proxy warfare in the country. This can be done through a long process of honest and direct diplomatic and bilateral negotiations.

(c) And finally without an indigenous economy and financial self-reliance, Afghanistan cannot become a truly sovereign state. Financial dependence and economic vulnerabilities will continue to make Afghanistan and various Afghan ethnic groups prone to political manipulation and military sabotage by regional players and criminal networks.

How to Manage Regional and Global Interests – A Framework

When it comes to the management of regional interests in Afghanistan – there are three schools of thought who in some cases pursue complementary and also contradictory views.
The proponents of the first view opine that Afghanistan like many other countries with a vital geostrategic location should take advantage of these rivalries to build itself. This means that through wise leadership and smart diplomacy just like Pakistan, Afghanistan can exploit the geopolitical vulnerabilities of its allies and neighbors and in return get the required economic and military assistance to build its economy and military capabilities. This is very hard under the current circumstances

The proponents of the second view are supporting that Afghanistan should remain a neutral state and give vital guarantees to its neighbors and other major powers that its soil will not be used against one or several of its neighbors. This policy has been pursued time and again by Afghan statesmen and policy makers but it has not paid much dividend except it kept the country weakened and divided.

And finally the proponents of the third view advocate that Afghanistan should ally itself with one of the major global powers i.e. United States, China or Russia and by getting the required security and economic guarantees and then serve as the frontline state in ensuring its interests through the pursuit of the interests of its allied power.

All of the above options require a broadbased and strong government in Kabul with a long term view of its interests. Afghanistan will sooner or later have to make some tough decisions when it comes to its survival and long term interests or get dumped as it often does into the dark pages of history.

Throughout history, Afghan statesmen and monarchs have fallen prey to the great power politics and regional proxy warfares due to their failure to manage the geopolitical and strategic interests of various regional and global powers in its soil. Though – this time the stakes are higher and involves the survival of the Afghan state. A combination of smart leadership, active diplomacy and a strong state will enable Afghanistan to swim the tides.

The post A Game As Old As Empire: Return Of Proxy Wars In Afghanistan – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Anonymous Declares War On Terrorist Websites

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Hacktivist group Anonymous has threatened to avenge the recent terrorist attacks in France by tracking and bringing down jihadist websites. The group’s YouTube message directly confronts Al-Qaeda and Islamic State on the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

“We are declaring war against you, the terrorists,” says a figure wearing the symbolic Guy Fawkes mask in a new online clip, released with a statement.

The hashtag #OpCharlieHebdo is visible in the video that dedicates the message to: “Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and other terrorists.”

It says that the hacktivist group will be going after and shutting down all terrorist accounts on social media in a mission to avenge those killed in the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

The video was uploaded to the group’s Belgian YouTube account.

Earlier, Anonymous posted a statement on Pastebin, titled: “Message to the enemy of the freedom of speech.”

“Freedom of speech has suffered an inhuman assault … Disgusted and also shocked, we cannot fall to our knees. It is our responsibility to react,” the statement says.

The group had successfully attacked many websites in the past, including government, military, religious, and commercial pages.

Anonymous’ signature move is to overwhelm the servers with traffic by sending out distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which knocks out the websites.

On Wednesday, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked by Kalashnikov-wielding gunmen, who killed 12 people, ten journalists and two police.

This was followed by a massive manhunt for two suspects, identified as brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi. Cherif Kouachi told a French channel that they carried out the attack on behalf of Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

The police operation ended on Friday when both were killed in a shootout with police in Dammartin-en-Goele printworks north-east of Paris.

As police forces were pursuing the brothers, Kouachi-linked gunman Amedy Coulibaly entered a kosher grocery store in Paris on Friday, killing four and taking 16 more people hostage. Security forces stormed the store, killing the hostage taker.

Following the terror suspects’ death, several media outlets, notably the AP and The Intercept, reported receiving a statement from a source within Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), commonly referred to as Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

The statement claimed that AQAP leaders directed the terror attacks in France “as a revenge for the honor of Prophet [Muhammad]” and in accordance with late Osama Bin Laden’s threats. It directly referred to the Wednesday attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which is known for controversial cartoons mocking religion, including Islam.

However, the statement added France was also targeted for its “role in the war on Islam and oppressed nations,” warning that “the crimes of the Western countries, above them America, Britain and France will backfire deep in their home.”

The post Anonymous Declares War On Terrorist Websites appeared first on Eurasia Review.

France: Charlie Hebdo Attack Funded By Al-Qaeda In Yemen – Reports

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Cherif Kouachi, one of the two Charlie Hebdo gunmen, claimed Wednesday’s attack was funded by al-Qaeda of Yemen, reported Reuters. Kouachi and his older brother killed 12 people in the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine.

Three days after the attack, French security forces surrounded and killed the brothers who were holding a hostage at a printing works northeast of Paris. Prior to his death, Kouachi told BFM-TV he received funding from Anwar al Awlaki, a well known al-Qaeda international recruiter and preacher who was killed in a 2011 drone strike.

“I was sent, me, Cherif Kouachi, by Al Qaeda of Yemen. I went over there and it was Anwar al-Awlaki who financed me,” he said by telephone.

Said Kouachi, the other attacker, allegedly met with al-Awlaki in Yemen as well, according to a Yemen security official.

Al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula has since praised the attack. A member called the attack “revenge for the honor” of the Prophet.

The kosher supermarket hostage taker, Amedy Coulibaly, asserted he and the Kouachi brothers coordinated the attacks. Coulibaly was a member of Daesh, and all three attackers were members of the same Paris Islamist group.

Original article

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Nigeria: Witness Describes Boko Haram Massacre

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“It was a massacre. Baga was a populated and active town, despite having already been attacked by Boko Haram”, told to MISNA Father Timothy Cosmas, who heads the Justice and Peace Commission of the Maiduguri diocese, in north-east Nigeria, torn by ongoing violence and attacks by the Islamist group.

“The majority of the victims were killed after the Boko Haram militants occupied the multinational force base in the town Saturday, which had been recently abandoned by a contingent deployed by Chad”, said Fr. Cosmas.

The head of the Justice and Peace Commission could not confirm the number of victims, but based on accounts by his sources it appears that hundreds of people were killed.

Fr. Cosmas however stressed that “the massacre confirms the incapacity of the government and Nigerian army to stop the Boko Haram advance”. An incapacity that could weigh heavily in a few weeks on the outcome of the legislative and presidential elections.

According to the priest, exiting President Goodluck Jonathan is increasingly unpopular due in fact to the inefficiency and delays in adequate policies and military strategies to combat the Boko Haram. It appears inevitable that the current situation goes to the advantage of his main tival in the presidential race, Muhammadu Buhari. “The Boko Haram emergency will in all probability give him an advantage”, concluded the head of the Justice and Peace Commission.

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Islamic State Executes Tunisian Journalists In Libya

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By Monia Ghanmi

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Tunis on Friday (January 9th) to protest the purported slaying of two Tunisian journalists by Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Libya.

The eastern Libyan branch of Daesh on Thursday evening said it had executed reporter Sofien Chourabi and camera operator Nadhir Ktari.

“We are all Sofiene, we are all Nadhir,” proclaimed placards brandished by the demonstrators.

A website for the so-called Islamic State of Cyrenaica posted photos of the two journalists, saying the group had “enforced God’s Sharia against them”.

The claim had not yet been confirmed by Tunisian authorities.

“We hope this information is not true. These are innocent journalists who went to Libya to do their job,” Tunisian Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi told Mosaique FM.

But Abdelaziz Raouaf, a Libyan journalist and TV host in Tobruk, told Magharebia that the Tunisians had been executed.

“They were executed in Sirte where a group affiliated to Ansar al-Sharia, which is supported by the Misrata-based Libya Dawn militias, is based. These groups are trying to occupy the oil crescent, but have suffered heavy losses, and therefore, they wanted to get rid of prisoners fearing their whereabouts would be found out,” he said.

Chourabi and Ktari disappeared on September 8th, 2014 at a checkpoint, near Ajdabiya. The employees of private channel First TV were conducting an investigation for the show “Doussiyat”.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essesbi on Friday received the sombre families of the two men at Carthage Palace in Tunis.

The alleged executions came just two days after ISIS officially declared itself as a force in Libya, revealing that it has expanded its operations across the country.

The group has posted pictures of what it said were operations carried out by its elements against the Libyan army in al-Laithi area, the last of its strongholds in Benghazi. The group also revealed that it possessed C-5 rockets.

As soon as news about the two journalists’ deaths was aired, Tunisians expressed their sadness and strongly condemned the terrorist act.

“I’m very sad this evening for the death of the two innocent journalists who were just doing their job in reporting the news,” said Soumaya Farjallah, a science student. “They have done nothing, and I’m very angry at how they died.”

“We hate the terrorists, we don’t want them to live among us because we love peace and we always yearn for freedom,” she added.

Raouaf, the Tobruk-based journalist, expressed optimism that radical Islamic groups would be eliminated.

“The area they’re controlling is gradually shrinking; 90% of Benghazi is now under the army’s control, Derna is besieged, and the army has started to move in western Libya,” he said.

“With God’s help, we’ll take them out soon.”

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Saudi Arabia Says Terrorists Trying To Stall Country’s Progressive March

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Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance has urged the nation to stand together in fighting the menace of terrorism.

According to the Ministry,  Saudi Arabia is one of the most targeted countries in the world “because terrorists are seeking to thwart its progress in the economic, scientific and social fields.”

The four suicide bombers, who attacked a border post close to Iraq on Monday, were motivated by a deviant ideology and wanted to destroy the Kingdom’s peace and security, Salman Al-Omri, the ministry’s spokesman, said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

The Kingdom is the most targeted country in the world by terrorists, said the spokesman.

He said, “The terrorists do not want to see security, safety and stability prevailing in this country under the leadership of a strong government based on the book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet ( peace be upon him).”

These terrorists are trying to hold back the advancement of the Kingdom as it “strives to join the ranks of the most advanced countries on the economic, education, social and medical fronts, said Al-Omri.

These enemies of Islam are trying to destabilize the Kingdom’s prominent position in the Arab and Islamic world, the Ministry said.

“If those terrorists were, as they claimed, sincere adherents of Islam, and Muslims, they should have striven to protect the blood of Muslims,” said the spokesman.

“They should have been keen to ensure the safety of the country where the two holy mosques are located and should have supported its rulers who are serving Islam and Muslims, instead of becoming tools of the enemies who have nefarious designs and are killing innocent people,” he said.

He urged the people to stand together and fight this menace. It is everyone’s duty to “uncover the falsehoods, prevarications and misinformation” disseminated by these terrorists,” he said.

“It is not only the duty of the security forces to defend the nation but also scholars, preachers, imams, students, teachers and the media,” he said.

The attack on Monday in Arar resulted in the deaths of Brig. Audah Al-Balawi, Cpl. Tariq Halwani and Pvt. Yahya Nujmi. The injured officers are Col. Salem Al-Anazi and Pvt. Yahya Muqri.

Two of the attackers died when they detonated their bombs, while two others were shot and killed by security officers.

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Iran Says Kerry To Meet Zarif To Discuss Nuclear Issue

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Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said Friday that the country’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry are to meet in Geneva in January.

The two top diplomats will travel to the Swiss city on Wednesday, Jan 14 to meet prior to the bilateral meeting of their deputies, the senior nuclear negotiator said, according to Al-Manar.

Araqchi said that the Iranian and American delegations will subsequently hold bilateral talks Jan 15 to 17 in Geneva and that Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers will negotiate at the level of deputy foreign ministers on Jan 18.

Nuclear negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 group – the U.S., Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – wrapped up their latest round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva on Dec 17, 2014.

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Call For Saudi Arabia To Free Blogger Who Was Publicly Flogged

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King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia should overturn the lashing and prison term for a blogger imprisoned for his views and immediately grant him a pardon, said Human Rights Watch on Saturday. Saudi authorities lashed Raif Badawi 50 times on January 9, 2015, in front of a crowded mosque in Jeddah, part of a judicial sentence of 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for setting up a liberal website and allegedly insulting religious authorities.

The charges against Badawi are based solely on his peaceful exercise of his right to free expression, Human Rights Watch said. Badawi established his online platform in 2008 to encourage debate on religious and political matters in Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities have detained Badawi in Jeddah’s Buraiman prison since his arrest on June 17, 2012.

“Corporal punishment is nothing new in Saudi Arabia, but publicly lashing a peaceful activist merely for expressing his ideas sends an ugly message of intolerance,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director. “Saudi Arabia is showing a willingness to inflict vicious and cruel punishments on writers whose views it rejects.”

A witness to the flogging in front of the Juffali Mosque in central Jeddah following Friday prayers told Human Rights Watch:

There was a very large gathering [of people]. They brought out Raif from the prison car and put him in front of people gathered in a circle around him. Then the officer lashed him 50 times. After the lashing the gathered people shouted in one voice saying “God is great,” and they took Raif and returned him to prison.

The witness said that Badawi suffered visible bruising as a result of the flogging, but was able to walk back to the prison car on his own.

The Jeddah Criminal Court originally convicted Badawi in July 2013 and sentenced him to seven years in prison and 600 lashes, but an appeals court in May 2014 increased the punishment to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes. The appeals court judgment, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, sentenced Badawi to five years in prison and a fine of 1 million Saudi Riyals (US$266,000) for setting up a liberal website, and another five years in prison and 1,000 public lashes for “blasphemous phrases on his Facebook page and disobedience to his father.” The judgment bans Badawi from any media work or foreign travel for 10 years after his release from prison.

The judgment provides that the lashes are to be carried out in 20 sessions of 50 lashes in front of the Juffali Mosque, with at least one week between sessions. Saudi activists told Human Rights Watch that lashing is generally carried out with a light wooden cane, and the blows are distributed across the back and legs, which leaves bruising but normally does not break the skin.

International human rights law prohibits judicial verdicts imposing corporal punishment, including lashing, as constituting torture, Human Rights Watch said. Saudi Arabia ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1997. The United Nations Committee against Torture, in its 2002 comments on Saudi Arabia’s first and only report to the committee, criticized “[t]he sentencing to, and imposition of, corporal punishments by judicial and administrative authorities, including, in particular, flogging and amputation of limbs, that are not in conformity with the Convention.”

The flogging is the latest in a series of harsh penalties handed down against Saudi human rights activists and peaceful dissidents, Human Rights Watch said. Those prosecuted include Waleed Abu al-Khair, Badawi’s lawyer, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in July 2014 solely on account of his peaceful criticism of Saudi human rights abuses in media interviews and on social media, and Fadhil al-Manasif, who faces 14 years in prison on charges stemming largely from his assistance to international journalists covering eastern province protests over the treatment of Shia Muslims in the Sunni-dominated country in 2011-12.

Su`ad al-Shammari, another liberal activist who worked with Badawi to set up his website, was arrested in October 2014 in Jeddah. A Saudi activist knowledgeable about the case told Human Rights Watch that she faces the charge of “insulting the messenger and the hadith [sayings and deeds of the Prophet Mohammed]” in connection with 2013 tweets that allegedly criticized religious authorities. Al-Shammari is also detained in Jeddah’s Bureiman prison.

Another prominent human rights activist, Mikhlif al-Shammari, was convicted by the Khobar Criminal Court on November 3, 2014, and sentenced to two years in prison and 200 lashes for, in part, visiting prominent Shia figures in the eastern province as a good-will gesture. The Specialized Criminal Court had previously convicted him in 2013 in a separate trial on charges of “sowing discord” and criticizing Saudi officials in his online writings, and sentenced him to five years in prison and a 10-year ban on travel abroad.

“The cruel and unjust treatment of Badawi is sadly just one piece of a broader crackdown on peaceful dissent in Saudi Arabia,” Whitson said.

The post Call For Saudi Arabia To Free Blogger Who Was Publicly Flogged appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Public Democracy – Analysis

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The concept of representative democracy, after assuming a novel version of democratic legitimacy, came to dominate our lives in the 21st century through a practice which is commonly referred to as ‘public democracy’. Behind this convention lies the respect for people’s free will and convictions as individuals.

By Ozdem Sanberk**

Over the last couple of years, news pieces and articles that seriously damage Turkey’s reputation became all the more prevalent in the European, American, and even the Middle Eastern media. The fact that a deepening pessimism concerning Turkey has begun to overwhelm global public opinion with the accumulation of such publications and broadcasts does not escape our notice. These publications and broadcasts are overshadowing and even rendering meaningless the favorable outcomes of the rapid change in our country that have contributed to significant long-term progress in terms of economic, political, infrastructural, and social development. Moreover, they reflect a growing tendency of the international community to assume a hostile attitude and stance against Turkey. It is clear that the continuation of such a trend will serve neither our economic and social progress, nor our national security and stability. Furthermore, this current state of affairs also undermines our country’s respectability and influence in the international arena.

Interestingly enough, however, remains the fact that anti-Turkey sentiments that are beginning to take root in foreign public opinion are unsuccessful in causing much discomfort for political circles in the Turkish government or for a significant portion of the Turkish people. If these negative receptions were to cause any discomfort at all, the necessity to take countermeasures to influence foreign public opinion would certainly rank high on Turkey’s political agenda. Nonetheless, Turkey’s disregard for any international reaction, which may even stretch to outright defiance in the face of criticism, is nothing new, in fact it is rather a decade-old phenomenon that requires further elaboration.

The 21st century belongs to the “public”

While Jacques Delors, a European opinion leader and wise man, once said that the 19th century was the century of “parliaments”, the 20th century belonged to the “masses”. Likewise, the 21st century is asserting itself as the century of “public opinion”. Indeed, we see that decisions made by governments, laws adopted by parliaments, and even judgments delivered by courts in functioning democracies today are at times more or less nullified in real life. With each passing day, we are witnessing an increase in the frequency and effectiveness of various activities carried out by the media, research centers, professional associations, chambers, and all sorts of other NGOs. Besides popular demonstrations, acts of civil disobedience, and campaigns led by print, visual, and social media, samplings, public surveys, plebiscites, and referenda are also gaining currency in today’s political scene. The de facto public institutions mentioned above, each of which carry the banner of their own “constituencies”, question the decisions, laws, and legal verdicts produced by the legitimate organs of representative democracy. They can even mutilate the international validity and defuse the practical implications of formally shaped decisions, laws, and verdicts on a global scale. Because official decisions, laws, and judgments that are exposed to intense spotlight and public invalidation lose their universal legitimacy and become inapplicable, they are eventually revised or replaced by new decisions, laws, and judgments.

Public democracy

With this in mind, the range of representative democracy, whether under a parliamentary or presidential regime, extends beyond the conventional realm of formalities that we are used to restraining it with. After assuming a novel version of democratic legitimacy, this system comes to dominate our daily lives through a practice which is commonly referred as “public democracy”.* Behind this convention lies the respect for people’s free will and convictions as individuals. Considering the extent to which such “respectability” is afforded a central role in the formation and functioning of modern societies, it is possible to say that an era in which today’s representative democracies will gradually evolve into public democracies awaits us in the decades ahead. Taken together with the concept of “digital democracy”, which emerged in the electronic environment facilitated by tremendous advances in communication technologies, projections focusing on the future of “public democracy” give us a hint as to the magnitude of the future revolution the world is about to experience in terms of the freedom of expression and fundamental rights.

We see the impacts of the increasing weight of public opinion in shaping formal processes and decisions in the realm of international relations and international law. The general public can easily take to the international stage by way of visual, print, and social media. Thereby, agreements, decisions, and consensual rules that are reached through orthodox channels and based on conventional forms of legitimacy can lose their practical viability and effectiveness either gradually or instantaneously. Here, they are totally driven away from their original focus and function in due course. In this case, the international community is left no choice but to prepare new agreements. Therefore, we need to take into account the tremendous influence exerted by the general public over the realm of foreign affairs as much as we need to consider its power to seriously steer the course of domestic political mechanisms. This is why modern states feel obliged to employ “public diplomacy”, which partly means molding and manipulating public opinion, in response to the determinant role played by the general public in the field of diplomacy among others.

Absolute transparency

A consequence of these developments in our political life is the fact that the era in which public perceptions could be played down is now over. In the 21st century, neither ruling parties nor leaders, no matter how powerful they are and irrespective of the question whether they seized power through democratic channels or not, have the luxury to say “I’ll do whatever I want regardless of what the people want”. In today’s global economic system, no government is able to determine interest margins, inflation rates, or exchange rates in a unilateral fashion insulated from external influences. In essence, governments are no longer able to curb supply and demand, and in today’s cyber sphere, nobody can sustainably restrict basic rights and liberties. There is no way to shape and confine individuals’ political convictions. Thanks to the absolute transparency provided by digital democracy, ruling elites cannot prevent people from discussing and assessing in detail each and every step they take. All these factors pit the general public against governments, rendering common people more powerful than ever as a virtual actor that has tremendous influence in shaping domestic and foreign policy.

The danger

The danger awaiting those governments which are confronted with the challenge posed by this new and powerful political actor is their propensity to see public perceptions, rather than their own actions and methods, as the main source of all hardships they are confronted with. This is because such a misguided approach ultimately leads ruling parties to attempt to resolve problems by way of perception management rather than by addressing underlying causes, a common mistake that transcends geographical boundaries. In other words, governments can make the fatal mistake of trying to amend public perceptions concerning a problem rather than fixing the true problem itself. Such a superficial approach is considered far easier for a government, and it therefore becomes preferable as a short-term solution. But such a course of action is obviously doomed to fail in the long-run. On the other hand, when ruling parties completely neglect public perceptions, any solution that is offered is most likely to fail. Here, it can be easily forgotten that coming up with successful remedies in a political and economic environment where negative perceptions prevail will be no simple task.

Populism and demagogy

Another danger for governments is evident in the case where they place blame based on conspiracy theories in a bid to manipulate public perceptions rather than addressing the root of the problems. Such a preference to gloss over problems usually leads governments to embrace populism, which in turn brings with it false heroism and demagogy. Populism, demagogy, and false heroism feed on rage and emotion. The greatest challenge to democracy is the creation of an emotional and outraged society. An emotional society fails to make decisions in an intelligent way based on research and inquiry, but instead acts under the influence of false heroism. Thereby, a vicious cycle between the populist discourse devised by the ruling party and the people’s instant emotional reactions comes into existence. Such an outcome neither allows the resolution of deeply-embedded contradictions within the society nor does it lay the basis for stability and social welfare.

Perception management based on mainstream virtues

All in all, acknowledging the primacy of public perceptions as a game-changer in both domestic and foreign affairs is an important task for modern-day governments. In this regard, making the best use of perception management is possible only by embarking on a democratic model that prioritizes the individual being, emphasizes liberties, strives to preserve gender equality, and upholds universal ethics. A government that runs afoul of public opinion can change the harmful beliefs concerning its qualities and fate only by adopting policies based on mainstream virtues that gain widespread public acceptance in the civilized world. If a government capitalizes on these virtues in shaping its strategy regarding public diplomacy, and if it can manage to make a consistent and penetrative effort based on the abovementioned principles, then it can gradually acquire a reputation through a painstaking albeit rewarding process. However, as the old saying goes, to destroy is easier than to create. A simple statement or representation can suffice to undo years of image-building.

(*)Alain Minc (L’Ivresse Democratique) Gallimard.

About the author:
Ozdem Sanberk,
Director of USAK

The post Public Democracy – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

2015 Crucial For A Nuclear Weapon Free World – Analysis

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By Jamshed Baruah

2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and promises to be a crucial year for moving toward a world without nuclear weapons. While indications are that the global movement for banning the bomb is gaining strength, attempts to open a new chapter in nuclear arms race should not be underestimated, a close look at developments in 2014 shows.

A sign of growing awareness of the need to abolish atomic weapons is that 155 governments – more than 80 percent of the members of the United Nations – supported the Joint Statement on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons tabled at the General Assembly in October 2014.

The view powerfully expressed in the Joint Statement, that it is “in the interest of the very survival of humanity that nuclear weapons are never used again, under any circumstances,” expresses the deepening consensus of humankind, noted Daisaku Ikeda, President of Soka Gakkai International (SGI), an indefatigable champion of a world without nuclear weapons.

Government representatives of 44 out of 158 states, which participated in the December 8-9 Vienna International Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, said that as long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use by design, miscalculation or madness, technical or human error remains real.

States that expressed support for a ban treaty at the Vienna Conference include: Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea Bissau, Holy See, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Senegal, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, Timor Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Echoing worldwide sentiments, Pope Francis called in a message to the conference for nuclear weapons to be “banned once and for all”. In the message, delivered by Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, Pope Francis told nearly 1,000 participants representing 158 states and over 200 civil society organizations that:

“A world without nuclear weapons’ is a goal shared by all nations and echoed by world leaders, as well as the aspiration of millions of men and women. The future and the survival of the human family hinges on moving beyond this ideal and ensuring that it becomes a reality.”

The Vienna conference was the third after the Oslo (Norway) gathering in 2013 and Nayarit (Mexico) early 2014. Unlike the previous conferences, the United States and Britain – two of the five members of the nuclear club, along with France, Russia and China – participated. In addition, an unofficial representative from China attended the meeting. Two other nuclear-armed states, India and Pakistan, who took part in the previous two meetings, were also present in Vienna.

Responding to the call of 44 states for banning the bomb, Austria delivered the “Austrian pledge” in which it committed to work to “fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons” and pledged, “to cooperate with all stakeholders to achieve this goal”.

Kudos for Austria

As a gesture of praise for the Austrian pledge, the Washington-based Arms Control Association (ACA) designated Austria’s Director for Arms Control, Non-proliferation, and Disarmament Ambassador Alexander Kmentt as the 2014 “Arms Control Person of the Year”. The ACA announced on January 8 that Kmentt had received the highest number of votes in an online poll.

“Ambassador Kmentt deserves enormous credit for making the third conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons the most inclusive and extensive yet,” said Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “The Vienna conference has changed the international conversation about nuclear weapons and provided renewed urgency to the effort to move toward a world free of nuclear weapons,” he said.

“The majority of states parties to the NPT (Non-proliferation Treaty) will expect the upcoming Review Conference in May to take into account the findings and conclusions of the Vienna conference and prompt the world’s nuclear weapon states to make faster progress on their NPT Article VI commitments,” added Kimball.

NPT, which entered into force in March 1970, seeks to inhibit the spread of nuclear weapons. Its 190 states-parties are classified in two categories: nuclear-weapon states (NWS) – consisting of the United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom – and non-nuclear-weapon states (NNWS). Under the treaty, the five NWS commit to pursue general and complete disarmament, while the NNWS agree to forgo developing or acquiring nuclear weapons.

Article VI commits the NWS to “pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”

PNND Council member EU foreign minister

Another important development that boosted the movement for a nuclear weapon free world was the nomination of Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini as the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, replacing Catherine Ashton.

Mogherini has played an active role in PNND (Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament). endorsing a number of PNND member-led initiatives including the Parliamentarians Declaration Supporting a Nuclear Weapons Convention and the Joint Parliamentary Statement for a Middle East Free from Nuclear Weapons and all other Weapons of Mass Destruction.

She has spoken at several PNND events and led initiatives in the Italian parliament including a resolution adopted unanimously in June 2009 supporting the UN Secretary-General’s Five Point Proposal for Nuclear Disarmament. (Read: Italian Parliament adopts disarmament resolution).

Mogherini has been a member of PNND since she first became a member of the Italian parliament in 2008, and has served on the PNND Council since 2010. She has also become a member of the European Leadership Network for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, and of the CTBT Group of Eminent Persons.

PNND has also worked with her husband Matteo Rebesani in his role as one of the organisers of the Nobel Peace Summits – in particular to build an active nuclear disarmament program for the Summits and for cooperation between Nobel Peace laureates on nuclear disarmament (Read: Parliamentarians and Nobel Laureates advance nuclear abolition).

‘Nuclear deterrence’

While these and similar development give cause for sanguine optimism that 2015 might turn out to be a milestone on the road to a nuke-free world, tensions in relations between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine have triggered discussions about the continued relevance of ‘nuclear deterrence’. Supporters of this theory hold that nuclear weapons are intended to deter other states from attacking with their nuclear weapons, through the promise of retaliation and possibly mutually assured destruction (MAD).

‘Sputnik’ reported on December 17 that the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, still considers nuclear arsenals as a crucial factor of international security. Such destructive weapons must be prevented from falling into the hands of extremists at all costs, he said in an interview with RT TV channel.

“I do not agree with those who claim that nuclear threat is not a deterrent anymore. We are now far more aware of what nuclear weapons and nuclear power are [capable of],” Gorbachev reportedly said.

Gorbachev cited Russia’s R-36M (SS-18 Satan) intercontinental ballistic missile, which he said has an explosive force “of a hundred Chernobyls,” as an example of why nuclear weapons are still a crucial factor of international security. He stressed this kind of destructive weapons must be prevented from falling into the hands of extremists at all costs.

Earlier in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized the importance of maintaining the country’s nuclear deterrence capability due to the growing number of security challenges.

As one of his final acts of 2014, on December 26, President Putin signed Russia’s new military doctrine. In principle, the doctrine, an official statement on national defence, is regularly updated and made public. Its previous iteration had been in place since February 2010.

Writing in the National Interest on December 31, Dmitri Trenin said: “In the run-up to the publication of the text, there were gloomy predictions. One suggested that the United States and its NATO allies would be formally designated Russia’s likely adversaries. Another one, based on the remarks of a senior serving general, expected Russia to adopt the notion of preventive nuclear strike. Neither of these provisions found its way into the published document. The doctrine does, however, faithfully reflect the sea change that occurred in Russia’s foreign policy and security and defense postures in 2014.”

Trenin argues that essentially, for Russian Commander-in-Chief Putin and for his generals, admirals and security officials, war in 2014 ceased to be a risk and turned into grim reality. Russia has had to use its military forces in Ukraine, arguably the most important neighbor it has in Europe. The conflict over Ukraine, in Moscow’s view, reflects the fundamental reality of an “intensification of global competition” and the “rivalry of value orientations and models of development.”

“There was a time when nuclear weapons were seen as the best way to prevent world war. Not anymore,” says an observer of the Vienna conference.” “Supporters of disarmament – including the Red Cross, Pope Francis, and, believe it or not, Henry Kissinger – say that’s wrong” and that deterrence does work in a multipolar world. Instead, the presence of nuclear weapons just creates an incentive for more proliferation, as small countries try to one-up their regional adversaries.

Addressing experts in Geneva on December 17, Robert Wood, the U.S. Special Representative to the Conference on Disarmament said: “Looking ahead, it remains the policy of the United States to achieve the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. And we are facing new challenges as we consider how to responsibly eliminate the last 15% of those weapons. As we move to smaller and smaller numbers, leading to zero globally, we must in turn become rigorously more and more confident and trusting that all are fulfilling their commitments.”

He added: “In considering future reductions, the United States believes that the focus must be on responsible measures that can be trusted and verified. We will learn from our past experience and continue to move ahead with each step building on the last. While there is no pre-determined sequence of steps, and indeed we should pursue progress on multiple paths, there is no way to skip to the end and forgo the hard work of preparing for the technical and political disarmament challenges that lie ahead. Patience and persistence are needed from all NPT parties both among and beyond the P5 (USA, Russia, France, UK and China).”

The post 2015 Crucial For A Nuclear Weapon Free World – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Islamic State Attracts Moroccans

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By Imran Binoual

As jihadist recruiters stake out northern Morocco and the kingdom witnesses an unprecedented spike in security threats, Magharebia visits Fnideq to see why and how young people leave home to join the Islamic State terror organization.

Border towns vulnerable

“The Fnideq area is known for the participation in the ISIS jihad of its youth, specifically those from the Ras Lota neighborhood,” says Mustafa al-Chaer, president of local NGO “Ras Lota for Communication”.

There are two kinds of recruits from the region, he explains.

“The first category consists of youth clinging to the jihadi idea. The second was influenced through YouTube or the internet in general,” he tells Magharebia.

He adds, “This category of youth surprised us. We thought we were quite far away from this kind of thinking, until their families were informed that their children had traveled to Syria… These were ordinary young people, but they had a kind of weakness, meaning that this way of thought controlled them, attracted and lured them.”

“I personally uncovered some of the recruits and confronted them, because they had been influenced by brainwashing,” he says. They include “youth whose parents are wealthy” and others “who belong to poor classes”, al-Chaer adds.

The location of the region also plays a major role in its vulnerability.

“Fnideq is a border area,” he notes. “These areas have become more vulnerable to the migration of youth. As it is said, most problems are solved at the center, meaning major cities such as Rabat and Casablanca, while small cities are ignored or marginalized.”

And youth of marginal cities, he adds, “either become deviant and deal drugs, or turn to religious extremism”.

But according to Al-Chaer, there has been a decline in Daesh appeal, especially since there’s always news about the death of yet another young man from the region.

Parents have also begun to tighten control over their children, and security authorities are anticipating events instead of reacting.

Jihadi recruiters target poor

Fnideq community activist Mohamed Youness says that young people here are more vulnerable to extremist recruiters than those living in other Moroccan cities.

“Among the reasons I noticed – as a son of the region – are the marginalization witnessed by the city of Fnideq; the failure of the political parties or civil society to educate these young people, in order to integrate them in the city’s policies; and their exclusion by the state,” he tells Magharebia.

Autonomous city of Ceuta. Photo by Ongayo, Wikipedia Commons.

Autonomous city of Ceuta. Photo by Ongayo, Wikipedia Commons.

And then there’s the proximity to Ceuta.

“Spanish security arrested the famous Ceuta cell, which had a role in this case, recruiting fighters for Syria,” Youness notes.

Young people were brainwashed into leaving, yet when they arrived in the conflict zone, they discovered the truth and ran away.

Now, many want to return to their homeland but fear they will be detained by Moroccan security authorities and prosecuted on terrorism charges.

As local high school teacher Zakaria, tells Magharebia, “Moroccan fighters who join jihadi cells find themselves between two options, the sweetest of which is bitter.”

“It is difficult to step back and return to the homeland for fear that they will get imprisoned in their country, and bitter to face death in a bloody battle,” the teacher adds.

The curse of ISIS on Martil

The city of Martil, part of the province of M’diq – Fnideq, is home to a number of young people who have joined Daesh, and yet few residents are willing to talk about it.

One man confirms that terrorist cells in Martil are actively trying to youth to join the Islamic State.

“These cells have targeted recently a group of inner city youth to join ISIS, including three young men from Chbar, and the rest from marginal neighborhoods like Diza and Zawiya,” he tells Magharebia.

“They say it will provide them with a good living in Syria,” he says. “Most of these young people were lured by the cell in exchange for fictional funds.”

Today, as we visit the town, security forces are looking for the parties behind pro-ISIS graffiti that appeared in Martil’s poor Ahriq neighborhood.

They have already tightened surveillance of train and taxi stations.

By monitoring all suspicious activity, they aim to crack down on the recruitment and dispatch of young Moroccans to ISIS.

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Jamaat Ansar Al-Islam In Syria Joins The Islamic State? – Analysis

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By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi for Syria Comment

As outlined previously and elsewhere in my writings, Jamaat Ansar al-Islam (JAI) is a jihadi group that originated in Iraq and expanded into Syria in 2011 thanks at least in part to the efforts of one Abu Muhammad al-Muhajir (an Iraqi himself who was later killed near Mosul while returning from Syria to Iraq). A rival of the Islamic State (IS) because it did not accept the statehood claims of IS or its previous incarnations, JAI tried to ride the initial rapid wave of IS-spearheaded insurgent gains in Iraq beginning with the fall of Mosul in June 2014 but soon found itself suffering from arrests, killings and defections at the hands of IS.

By the end of August 2014, a statement had been issued in the name of JAI Iraq’s Majlis Shura affirming the dissolution of JAI in Iraq and joining IS. Although this statement was denied by those controlling JAI Iraq’s official Twitter account, it is apparent that the affirmation of allegiance to IS represented the vast majority of JAI Iraq, leaving the remnant loyalists no choice but to quit the field, with the result that there have been no more releases in the name of a JAI Iraq, including a very significant break from previous years with the lack of an Eid al-Adha message or media release. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, JAI Iraq has ceased to exist.

JAI Syria reportedly in the ‘Sahel’ region of Syria (Latakia). Photo released last month by the @ansarulsham account.

JAI Syria reportedly in the ‘Sahel’ region of Syria (Latakia). Photo released last month by the @ansarulsham account.

All this is in contrast with JAI’s Syria branch, which had originally spanned the entirety of northern Syria but on account of conflict with IS became confined mainly to Aleppo and Idlib provinces, more recently making a claimed showing in Latakia province. JAI Syria, which put out photos for Eid al-Adha, continued to advertise its presence on the ground with photos displaying its banner and members via its official Twitter account @ansarulsham.

Now, however, a controversy has arisen whereby the @ansarulsham account has issued a statement declaring a supposed decision by JAI Syria’s leadership for the group to pledge allegiance to IS:

Statement 449
17 Rabi’ al-Awal 1436
8 January 2015

Allegiance of JAI in Bilad al-Sham [Syria] to IS

[…]

Indeed we give good tidings to the Islamic Ummah in the east and west of the land of the fact that ‘JAI in Bilad al-Sham’ is following the example of their brothers from ‘Ansar al-Islam in Iraq’ and so we announce our pledge of allegiance (bay’ah) to Caliph Ibrahim- may God protect him- the Caliph of the Muslims…And this pledge of allegiance is to be considered the dissolution of ‘JAI in Bilad al-Sham’ in answer to the command of God Almighty both to do away with division and unite the Muslims under one banner and Caliph who may implement the ruling of God’s law in the land, declare all tyranny of idolatry to be disbelief, defend the sanctities of the Muslims, give victory to the Ahl al-Sunna in every region of the Earth, while not compromising his religion for the material world or bartering at the expense of the upright direction [program]. We have announced this pledge of allegiance and hope it to be a source of pain for all the disbelievers and hypocrites and a source of joy and happiness for all the Muslims.

This statement is to be considered the last from the group in Bilad al-Sham and this account is the sole official account for the group and any statement issued after this number as false and coming from factions not linked to us (…).

Leadership of JAI in Bilad al-Sham.
17 Rabi al-Awal 1436
8 January 2015

This statement had been preceded in time by the establishment of another account on Twitter- @ansarulislam_sh- that claimed the @ansarulsham account had been hijacked:

“After we lost connection with our account @ansarulsham and until we recover it, we will tweet and work using this new account. And we inform you that the group is not responsible for what is published on the aforementioned account, including the last two tweets [from January 5 urging followers to expect a new release] and what will be published after. And the brothers are currently working to recover it, so until then this is our sole official account on Twitter.”

Photo from the latest series released by @ansarulislam_sh

Photo from the latest series released by @ansarulislam_sh

The account then published a series of images of a graduation of a new cohort of children from Qur’an memorization school- a program said to have been done in cooperation with JAI Syria. The date given is 17 Rabi al-Awal 1436 AH, though the corresponding Gregorian date given (4 January 2015) appears to be incorrect. Perhaps there is a confusion in that the photos may have been produced on 4 January 2015.

So what is going on here? Which of the two accounts represents the majority of JAI Syria? Is this the end of JAI Syria?

To answer the last of the above questions in a short phrase: probably not. To preface though, one should not give too much credence to Ansar al-Islam fanboy accounts like @ansaruna, who has his/her facts confused in claiming a logical contradiction between this purported allegiance to IS by JAI Syria and a supposed IS claim that ‘hole [sic: whole] Ansar al-Islam give them bay3a [bay’ah]’ 5 months ago. Actually, the original statement put out in JAI Iraq’s name by the majority of IS loyalists in August 2014 never claimed the dissolution of all of JAI but only the Iraq branch, while urging the Syria branch to follow its example.

In any case, the situation in Syria vis-a-vis JAI and IS is not exactly analogous to that in Iraq. In Iraq, territory can be divided three ways: Sunni insurgent control, central government forces control, and Kurdish control. For the non-IS insurgent groups in Iraq, the latter two do not offer a ‘third way’ of safety from the power of IS in the way that remaining rebel-held territory in Syria does. Already another notable difference exists in that the @ansarulislam_sh account is at least trying to substantiate JAI Syria’s continued existence with visual evidence, something which the JAI Iraq remnants that controlled the official Twitter account failed to do after denying the statement of joining IS (with no subsequent statements, photos, videos etc.). Further, in Iraq, the eventual statement by IS loyalists in JAI Iraq did not come from nowhere but had rather been the product of two months of direct pressure on the group from IS’ power with a series of pledges of allegiance first advertised by IS in late June 2014.

There is also the issue of practicality: being spread in Idlib, Aleppo and Latakia, would it be so easy for the entirety/majority of JAI Syria, if it merged with IS, to evacuate to IS-held territories? Here, some further context and clarification of the JAI Syria presence are needed. According to a Jabhat al-Nusra member from Aleppo with whom I spoke on my trip to the Azaz district last month (18th-22nd December), JAI Syria is thought to have “hundreds” of members and has been working with Jabhat al-Nusra on e.g. the contested Handarat front in Aleppo province. This is so even as some members of JAI Syria have given allegiance to Jabhat al-Nusra. Further, the spokesman of Northern Storm, which also fights on the Handarat front, claimed to me that JAI Syria is specially protected by Jabhat al-Nusra (I would add that there appears to be a close bond with the independent jihadi coalition Jabhat Ansar al-Din). Indeed, it was precisely my asking about JAI Syria that attracted the suspicion of Jabhat al-Nusra in the Azaz area, on the grounds that I might be gathering information on Jabhat al-Nusra and JAI Syria positions to hand over to the coalition.

Yet the control of the @ansarulsham account by IS loyalists within JAI Syria’s ranks could not have come from nowhere. Some serious defections have clearly happened. Indeed, Abu Obeida the Salafi- JAI’s ‘intellectual heavyweight’ based in Iraq and still supporting JAI in Syria- wrote on Twitter before the issuing of the allegiance pledge by @ansarulsham: “How odd! Some [emphasis my own] of the soldiers and amirs from JAI don’t know of the coming decision….” He thus concedes that the allegiance pledge has involved at least some commanders within JAI Syria.

It is also evident here that IS has pursued the familiar strategy it applied to JAI Iraq and Jamaat Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in Sinai/Gaza: that is, urging those within the group ready to pledge allegiance to issue a statement in the name of the entire group announcing allegiance in the hope of overcoming those who object. That some high-rank JAI Syria members might choose to join IS should not come as much of a surprise: similar defections have happened within Syria’s other jihadi groups. But the evidence at present does not quite suggest that this latest IS move against JAI Syria is fatal. In short, expect JAI Syria’s presence to continue on the ground for the time being, though it is possible that those from JAI Syria who have not pledged allegiance may end up fully merging with Jabhat al-Nusra and/or Jabhat Ansar al-Din if it is felt the group’s continued existence is an unviable project. On the whole, looking at the big picture in Iraq and Syria, JAI is a mere shadow of its former self.


H/T to my friend and colleague Caleb Weiss for drawing the @ansarulsham statement to my attention and first raising the questions that led to the genesis of this article.

This article was published at Syria Comment.

The post Jamaat Ansar Al-Islam In Syria Joins The Islamic State? – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.


Half Of Shas – OpEd

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THE SHAS party has split into two. Opinion polls show that both parts are hovering around the 3.12% threshold which is now necessary for entering the Knesset, after the minimum was raised by the last Knesset.

Many people in Israel would be glad if both parts do not make it, and Shas would disappear once and for all from our political landscape.

Not I.

SHAS IS the party of oriental orthodox Jewish Israelis. It is debatable whether it is foremost orthodox or foremost oriental. I believe that the oriental part of its outlook is far more important.

(The term “oriental” needs some explanation. Jews from Muslim countries used to be called “sepharadi”, but that is a misnomer. Sepharad is the Hebrew name of Spain, and the terms applies properly only to the Jews who were expelled from Spain by the Catholic Majesties Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. They were welcomed by the Ottoman Muslim empire and spread from Morocco to Bulgaria and Iran. However, most Jews from Muslim countries are not Sepharadim. My magazine, Haolam Hazeh, started to call them Mizrahim, Orientals, and this term is now generally accepted.)

Orientals are now about half the Jewish population of Israel. The rift between them and the Jews of European origin, which was expected to disappear over time, is growing. Orientals feel discriminated against, despised by the Ashkenazi “elite” and generally mistreated. They bear a deep grudge. (Ashkenaz is the old Hebrew name for Germany, but applies now to all Europe.)

HERE I must explain my special relationship with the oriental problem. Don’t stop me if you have heard it before.

In the middle of the 1948 war I was promoted from private to squad leader and was allowed to choose between Polish and Moroccan recruits. I chose the Moroccans, sprinkled with Libyans and Turks. Without a common language, I trained them and led them into the fighting. I tried very hard to treat them fairly. They thanked me by risking their own lives to save mine when I was severely wounded.

Already during that war, I realized that something was going very wrong. My soldiers, volunteers who had come to Israel to fight without their families, felt that the old-timers – and especially the girls – saw them as knife-wielding savages.

The interaction between these immigrants and the “old” inhabitants was based on mutual misunderstandings. The old-timers who were born and grew up in the country felt vastly superior, and sincerely wanted to help the “primitive” newcomers to become like us. The newcomers, who met prejudice everywhere, naturally resented this attitude. This generally happens in immigration countries.

Fresh from my army experience, I saw from early on that a tragedy was brewing. Already in January 1954 I published in my magazine an investigation entitled “Screwing the Blacks” which caused a nation-wide scandal. We were accused of inciting hatred, sowing division and what not. It took decades for the country to realize that they had a major problem on their hands. In the intervening years, my magazine generally supported the Orientals.

THE RIFT between Ashkenazis and Orientals is only one of several in Israel. There is a profound rift between orthodox and secular, Jewish and Arab, old immigrants and new ones (from the former Soviet Union), leftists and rightists, inhabitants of Tel Aviv and its surroundings and the “periphery”, and, of course, between well-to-do and poor.

That, by itself, is not so tragic. Every country has internal rifts of diverse kinds.

What is so bad about our rifts is that they are really one and the same. The great majority of the Orientals are also religious, rightist, poor and living in the periphery. They dislike the Ashkenazis, the secular, the Arabs, the leftists, the Tel Avivis, the rich and the “elites” in general.

They are also the electoral basis of the Likud.

WHY, FOR God’s sake?

Logic would dictate the very opposite. The Likud is neoliberal, an instrument of the super-rich, the proponent of policies that make the poor poorer, that divert huge funds from education, health and welfare to the settlements and the army. The great majority of the settlers are Ashkenazi.

When an Oriental votes for the Likud, he votes against his own interests. So why does he do it?

There are many explanations, all of them valid.

One of them is that, when the mass of Orientals came to Israel, they found a society that saw the Arabs not only as archenemies, but also as primitive and contemptible. But the Orientals spoke with the guttural sounds of the Arabs, their music was Arab, their culture and mentality was Arab. So the newcomers hastened to shed all these Arab attributes, though with little success. They professed an abiding hatred for everything Arab.

One curious aspect was the retroactive remaking of history. Muslim rulers had welcomed the Sepharadi refugees, who settled throughout their Empire. Jews in Islamic lands lived in peace, protected by Muslim rulers who were enjoined by the Koran to protect Jews (and Christians), the “peoples of the Book”. No pogroms (a Russian word), no expulsions, and, of course, no Holocaust. Anti-Jewish incidents were rare and local.

Yet in Israel, the immigrants from Morocco, Egypt, Iraq and Iran, and even more so their descendents, are convinced that their life in the Muslim world had been one long hell, even before the advent of Zionism started a real struggle.

Once, during a debate in the Knesset, Abba Eban said the same. I sent him a private note and protested furiously. He half-heartedly apologized (“There were lights and shadows…”) and sent me his large book on Jewish history, in which he made no such claim.

Curiously enough, Palestinians believed for many years that the “Jewish Arabs” would bring about peace and reconciliation, unlike the Arab-hating Ashkenazi Zionist leadership. Arab citizens in Israel also believed that the Oriental Jews would become a “bridge”. They were bitterly disappointed.

Another reason for the attachment of Orientals to the Right in Israel is their socio-economic status. It is a world-wide phenomenon that in colonial countries, the lowest layer of the dominant nation (“white scum” in the US) is the most extreme enemy of the national minorities.

And there is the emotional factor. The Right generally speaks an emotional language, appealing to the heart, while the Left uses cold logic, appealing to the brain. Secular logic does not appeal to the masses of Orientals, who wear kippahs. However, the religion of the Orientals is generally far more moderate and tolerant than the fanatical religion of the Orthodox Ashkenazis.

THE SHAS party was founded in 1982, after several previous attempts to set up an Oriental political force had failed. Shas (the name means 360, the number of the books of the Talmud) was moderately orthodox. In general, Oriental Jews are far more easy-going and tolerant in their religious outlook than their orthodox Ashkenazi counterparts.

The outstanding religious guide and political leader of Shas was Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a charismatic Iraqi-born rabbi, considered a religious genius. It got 4 seats in 1984, rose to 17 in 1999 and settled at around 12 seats.

Its initial rise was due to the meteoric advent of a Morocco-born young man, Aryeh Deri, a very talented politician, who at the tender age of 28 had already attained the rank of Director General of the Interior Ministry.

Deri attracted my attention when he clearly advocated peace with the Arabs and saw his party as an instrument to this end. Rabbi Ovadia, too, advocated peace and unlike almost all other prominent rabbis declared that it was permissible to give the occupied territories back to the Arabs if it saves Jewish blood. He visited Egypt and there expressed similar views.

All this convinced me to support the party. I chose Deri as the Man of the Year of my magazine and wrote a lengthy article, in which I stressed the mission of the Orientals to make peace, based on the cultural symbiosis of Arabs and Jews since medieval times. All the great personalities of the Oriental Jews, from the religious thinker Moshe Maimonides, who was the physician of Saladin, to the outstanding poet Yehuda Halevy, spoke and wrote Arabic and are also part of Arab culture.

However, throughout the years Shas moved further and further to the right, prompted by the masses of its voters. It was generally an ally of Likud. But during the Yitzhak Rabin interlude, it was Shas which enabled the left-wing government to achieve the Oslo agreement.

RABBI OVADIA died 15 months ago and was buried in the largest funeral Israel has ever seen. He left behind two heirs, who can’t stand the sight of each other.

One is Deri, who had in the meantime been sentenced to 4 years in prison for bribery and fraud and was released after 2 years and 6 months.

The other is Eli Yishai, a humorless, fanatical politician. I once sat next to him on a bench in the Supreme Court. It was like sitting next to a nervous volcano. He did not sit quiet for a moment, moving his limps all the time, and from time to time jumped up to say something. The judges ordered him again and again to sit down and be silent.

The enmity between the two is personal, but it has profound political implications. Shas has split into two almost equal parts.

The part led by Yishai has turned determinedly to the extreme right and is looking for allies among the far-out and even fascist elements. They lead furious attacks on Deri, whom they accuse of being an Arab-loving leftist. As proof they circulate an interview I gave years ago, in which I praised Deri’s attitude towards peace. (When accused that I am his friend, he replied with dry humor that with friends like me, he doesn’t need enemies.)

THE PRACTICAL implication of all this is that if Deri’s Shas survives the election in March with 5-7 seats in the next Knesset. his party may be a possible candidate for a center-left coalition – if the numbers add up. This could be crucial.

For me, this would be the realization of a dream. It would mean that the Israeli peace movement would break out of its Ashkenazi, elitist ghetto, and meet with at least a part of the Oriental masses.

At the moment, this is only a possibility. If I were religious, I would pray for it.

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Iran Calls On Venezuela To Help With Falling Oil Prices ‘Plot’

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The President of Iran Hassan Rouhani has called on Venezuela and other aligned OPEC countries to join forces in defusing the plot of a number of countries to decrease oil prices, Iranian news agency FARS reports on Saturday.

“Undoubtedly, cooperation among the aligned countries in the OPEC can both defuse the plots of certain powers against the organization and help stabilize an acceptable price for oil in 2015,” the agency quotes Rouhani as saying in a meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro in Tehran on Saturday.

Maduro also urged other oil exporting countries for cooperation in order to return stability to oil prices, according to the Venezuelan Noticias24 newspaper.

The Venezuelan president stated earlier that his country would make every effort to ensure the oil price stood at $100 per barrel.

Earlier in November, while meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez in Tehran, President Rouhani already underlined the need for cooperation between Tehran and Caracas to help stabilize the crude prices in the global markets in a bid to prevent instability of the international economy.

“The sudden fluctuations in oil prices (negatively) influence the stability of the global market and hence we should try to maintain balance in oil prices,” the agency quotes the Iranian president as saying at that meeting.

The oil prices have fallen dramatically since June 2014 and now stand at $50 per barrel.

In November 2014, OPEC decided to keep oil output quota at 30 million barrels per day, which only increased the further drop in oil prices.

On Wednesday, the price for Brent crude fell below $50 per barrel, marking the lowest point since 2009 and a 50 percent drop from summer 2014 levels. Amid the indications of the US oil reserves reduction, the prices increased for a couple of days, however on Friday continued to drop.

Oil exporting countries, including Venezuela, Iran and Russia have faced significant economic problems due to the low prices on crude.

The Iranian head of state also stressed that both countries are opposed to terrorism and extremism in the world and help each other in the establishment of stability and security across the world.

And also called for the further development of bilateral relations in trade, investment, exports of technical and engineering services, medical industries, ship-building and direct flights between the two countries.

The post Iran Calls On Venezuela To Help With Falling Oil Prices ‘Plot’ appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Pakistan Boat Operation: Was There Any Other Option With Coast Guard? – Analysis

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By Vikram Sood*

These must be tense days for the security forces and intelligence agencies. There is heightened cross-LOC firing, repeated attempts at intrusion as Pakistan desperately looks for a diversion from Peshawar. If the social media is any indication, then their aim is to somehow pin all blame on India for whatever has gone wrong, or will go wrong, in Pakistan. They wish to convince the world that they need continued support from them against an ‘expansionist’ India. The current psywar campaign in Pakistan is more to convince their own people of an imagined eternal threat rather than frighten India, because deep down there is a realisation that the trouble is from within and not from external factors.

The forthcoming visit of President Obama for the second time to India, and that, too, without going to Pakistan, is another cause for ire in the Pakistani establishment more than anything else. Pakistan will continue to escalate tensions on the border, hoping to loom large in the India-US dialogue and also hoping that the escalation can be controlled after the visit.

All this would make intelligence and security agencies in India edgy, as for them the crisis of 26/11 and the many before that are memories that will always linger. Intelligence agencies normally function on a worst-case scenario and work from that high base, eliminating threats. It also known that smugglers are commonly used as couriers or even to provide cover to terrorists (Remember Mumbai 1993). Moreover, terrorists do not come wearing uniforms or carrying genuine identity cards. The task of intelligence agencies is to detect, deter, and help destroy threats, and none of this is easy.

But, that is not the main purpose of this article. This is only the context to what happened on the high seas off Porbunder on New Year’s Eve. An incident took place and within hours, we had judgmental comments, insinuating motives and attributing failures from the cosy comfort of our drawing rooms or in the limelight of TV screens. No one really knew what had happened, yet everyone had an answer. The only persons who knew were the men on board, who are presumed dead, or the men who challenged and chased the boat. The worst was the Congress party trying to score political points even in this case. One of the most important lessons from IC 814 and Mumbai 26/11 has been that our local agencies must be sufficiently empowered and authorised to act swiftly and effectively in good faith.

The boat was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the choice was limited to take the challenge to its logical conclusion, including shooting it down or blowing up the boat as soon as possible. Inviting the suspects over for a cup of tea to find out their plans was not an option the Coast Guard or anyone else had at that time. The venue was close to Porbunder, where the Prime Minister was scheduled to visit, and there would have been a high-security alert prior to the visit. There was no foolproof way of ascertaining whether the boat was on an innocent mission, was probing defences, or on a live operation. Refusal to respond to the challenge should be enough cause for suspicion, and an attempt to sail away, more so. The choice was limited to challenge and intercept, or pretend nothing happened. Any worthwhile force would have taken the first option. The Coast Guard were not on a humanitarian mission; they acted on intelligence inputs. There is no “what if” in such circumstances.

Since different government departments have made statements, we will have to accept these, unless there is considerable evidence to the contrary. Surely, these must be based on informed intelligence inputs, and not on hearsay or speculation. Truth needs to be known (as facts are now emerging), but surely not by raising temperatures and drama on the screen.

After all the high-decibel debates have died down, it is important to plan for the future and accept that incidents of this kind will, unfortunately, happen again. No systems are perfect and they need constant upgrading. The other message is for all of us and our adversaries — which is that our guardians are alert and hopefully they will remain empowered to take action on their own, in future. These messages are best delivered quietly, without the kind of media hype that accompanies all India-Pakistan relations. Preconceived notions and opinions devoid of facts are dangerous.

* The writer is an Advisor to Observer Research Foundation and a former chief of Research and Analysis Wing

Courtesy: www.mid-day.com

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France Calls Emergency Counter-Terrorism Meeting On Sunday, Spain To Attend

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Spain’s Minister for Home Affairs, Jorge Fernández Díaz, will travel to Paris on Sunday, January 11, to attend an emergency meeting called by the French authorities, which will also be attended by the Home Affairs Ministers of the European countries most affected by terrorism, together with the United States, the counter-terrorism coordinator for the European Union and the European Commissioner for Home Affairs.

This emergency meeting was called by the French Ministry of Home Affairs following the terrorist attack that took place on Wednesday in Paris – the most serious attack in the last 40 years – leaving a provisional toll of 12 dead and 11 injured, following heavy gunfire from two of the three terrorists that formed part of the gang, entering the premises of the magazine “Charlie Hebdo”.

This meeting will take place on Sunday at 11 am between the Home Affairs Ministers of the countries mentioned above.

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Development Bank In Latin America: Towards So-Called Radical Emancipatory Project? – Analysis

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By Clemént Doleac*

Mainstream lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and the World Bank (WB) have proposed in regional loans that development projects to Latin America being made.[1] These loans and projects proposed to Latin American countries associated with international lenders are mostly based in Washington, D.C., and scheduled to be accompanied by conditionalities. These conditions could include the privatization of the public sector, openness of the local economy, promotion of free trade agreements, and the end of public subventions to support local producers.[2] These conditions will be based on a neoliberal ideology, a mainstream international economic ideology in the hemisphere during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s that continues to dominate development throughout the southern hemisphere.[3] However, in the past, these conditions have failed to consistently lead the region to more prosperity, reduce poverty, and improve quality of life.[4] If conditions are rejected or disrespected by potential borrowers, then the lender will most likely deny the possibility of future loans.[5] As a result of rejecting these conditional loans that hide the U.S. Government’s act of financial hegemony behind an approach that emphasizes the mainstream, some South American governments are likely to choose to promote new institutions in order to provide loans without conditions, or even ones that are beneficial for their own countries rather than their less privileged neighbors. The Bank of the South (Banco del Sur) and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA, Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América) Bank are two of the dedicated new institutions for such new project.

Founding Concepts and Ideology of the Banco del Sur

The Banco del Sur was created in December 2007, in order to specifically finance economic and social development projects.[6] This bank has tried to capture private funds mostly concentrated in the United States in order to finance productive investments and industrialization projects; small, medium, and large manufacturing production units at intra and extra-regional levels; social projects. Also, the construction of infrastructure, energetic projects, trade integration projects, have been aimed at reducing regional disparities.[7] The Banco del Sur is also supposed to promote projects based on social justice and respond to a string of environmental emergencies. The bank has therefore been conceived as an alternative project aimed against hegemonic institutions such as the IADB, the WB, or the Development Bank CAF and their conditional loans that has led to structural adjustment projects during the 1980s and 1990s, not one but two economic lost decades in Latin America.[8]

Former Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez inspired the creation of the Banco del Sur. In the course of speaking at a series of international forums, he advocated for the repatriation of Latin American countries’ international reserves deposited in bank reserves in a number of Northern countries, such as U.S.-based financial institutions. Ideally, he intended to use these funds to finance development and poverty eradication projects. He constantly highlighted the dire need for a new international financial system in which the Banco del Sur could have its own prominent location. The ideology behind the project can be quickly described as contra-hegemonic and was supported by actors of civil society such as the Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt (Comité pour l’Annulation de la Dette du Tiers-Monde, CADTM). CADTM director Eric Toussaint as well as non-mainstream scholars, and Bolivarian members (ALBA which include as member states Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Santa Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines) also have supported it to one degree or another.[9] Another objective of the Banco del Sur is aimed at coordinating the macro economic and monetary regional policies. It was therefore designed as a fundamental pillar of integration and funding of the South American Nation’s Union (Union de las Naciones Sur-Americanas, UNASUR).[10]

The Banco del Sur Capital and Institutions

The bank will have an authorized capital of $20 billion USD, with 20,000 trade shares, each with a par value of $1 million USD. The subscribed capital is $7 billion USD and the authorized capital is $20 billion USD, twice as much as the financial capacities of the lending multilateral agency, CAF.[11] While only UNASUR member states may hold the main shares, every state in the world may be a purchaser of secondary shares. Finally, central banks, mixed public and semi-public financial institutions (if a state is a main shareholder), or multilateral lending agencies can also buy the secondary shares.

The Banco del Sur is the largest development bank in the region after the Brazilian Development Bank (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social, BNDES). To withdraw this very important capital, shareholder countries have different deadlines depending on their economic solvency. Thus the three main countries, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela will provide 20 percent of the subscribed capital one year after the agreement but they have up to a year after ratification to provide the capital. The remaining 80 percent of the capital will be provided in four annual equal and consecutive deposits. These three countries endorsed for $7 billion USD shares. Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay will provide no less than 10 percent of their shares after ratification during the first year and the remaining 90 percent in nine annual deposits equal and consecutive with the possibility to accelerate these deposits.[12] The UNASUR member states can buy up to $3 billion USD shares.

Each of these countries can provide access loans for an amount up to eight times their subscribed capital, while the three founding countries and largest subscribers cannot obtain loans exceeding more than four times their promised capital. The principal shares will be paid in U.S. dollars, or by a payment of up to 90 percent in U.S. dollars and 10 percent in local currency for each share. Whichever the method of payment chosen, 20 percent will be effective capital and the remaining will be used as capital guarantee. If the bank faces financial difficulties, the capital guarantee may be required and must be paid in cash.[13]

Banco del Sur operates in accordance to three main bodies.[14] The first one is the Ministers Council, incorporated by the ministers of economy, finance, treasury or equivalent member state officials. The Ministers Council is aided in this task by a board of directors, composed of one representative of each member state, appointed by the Council of Ministers after being proposed by the country. The second is the Executive Board, whose members are the shareholders of the bank (with each member having the right to name a director). Also, directors are nominated by minor shareholders, and hold voice, but no vote. Finally, Banco del Sur counts with an Executive Board integrated by the representatives of the member states. It selects a president that serves as the bank’s legal representative and who chooses the Executive Committee. This Executive Committee will be composed of a president and a maximum of three directors (with at least one from a member of states subscribing smaller amounts of capital like Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, and Uruguay). Each member state has one vote. Loans over $70 million USD require a two thirds vote of the Directors and should represent more than 66 percent of the main shareholders of which Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela account for 85.7 percent. This illustrates the importance of these three countries within Banco del Sur and also reflected in the capital of the Bank.[15]

Contra-hegemonic Project or Another Hegemonic Project? The Ambiguous Role of Brazil

At the time that Banco del Sur was founded, severe tensions between the main actors became an issue. The Bolivarian countries were looking for a radical change and a redefinition of regional finances. Other more moderate countries, such as Argentina and Brazil, wanted to make a regional financial system, not reinvent it.[16] The argument focused on several key issues, such as the possibility of financing large private corporations, or prioritizing sustainable and environmentally friendly local entreprises. The loan’s conditionality was potentially another obstacle to be overcome. The underlying question was: should Banco del Sur work with traditional practices similar to international lenders or not impose any conditions for the loans? Finally, the debate focused on the need to finance Banco del Sur through member states’ financial reserves or through bonds and thus foreign capital. On these three questions, the same divisions appeared between ALBA member states and the other countries. Bond issuance was not retained as an option and Banco del Sur could count on only $3.5 billion USD, based on member states’ capital, and priority was given to large industrialization and infrastructure projects.

The main problem of Banco del Sur has been Brazil’s hegemonic attitude. Brazil already had its own Development Bank, the BNDES, which has a capital of $50 billion USD, exceeding Banco del Sur by nearly 15 times. Brazil has had a very passive attitude during the negotiations and did not even attend preparatory meetings for the Banco del Sur founding treaty. The Brazilian government seem to have no interest in promoting Banco del Sur with a panoply of new projects due to its national interests. In fact, the BNDES already financed foreign-based projects. The BNDES belongs to Brazil whereas, Banco del Sur does not. Because the project did not hugely benefit Brazil’s national interest, Brasilia demonstrated little regard.

Deficiencies and Limitations of the Banco del Sur: Discussions of a Regional Currency

The fact is that the Banco del Sur’s capital is very limited and insufficient to fill the needs of the region. However, Banco del Sur does not impose any conditions to its loans – a very important difference compared to Washington-based lenders. Additionally, Banco del Sur does not play a particularly important role in the autonomy of local currencies against the U.S. dollar, which remains the reference currency in Latin America’s financial system. Currently, Latin American countries must attract foreign investment while orienting their economy towards export to the United States as a means to attract U.S. dollars (the only currency accepted on international markets for goods and services). Without the U.S. dollar, Latin American countries would not be able to import raw material, technology, and services, while supporting their effort to export to the U.S.. Financial crises occurred historically when these countries could not consider to pay their debt loans (held in the U.S. dollar) because they could not attract enough of this currency, and their own local currencies were devalued. Discussions on a new regional or global financial architecture in order to replace the U.S. dollar are not new. Banco del Sur does not address the idea of a regional currency, the control of foreign reserves, or the establishment of intra-regional trade in regional currencies in order to reach financial stability. There are no common fiscal, monetary, or exchange rate policies proposed in order to assure macroeconomic stability.[17]

Economists, mainly based in the United States, propose two other opposing strategies. The first is to create a supranational currency to replace national currencies, based on the European model of the Euro, in order to substitute the U.S. dollar. The second strategy proposes the adoption of one national currency as a regional currency that would lead to the dollarization of Latin American economies, with an asymmetric monetary union advocated by many orthodox economists.[18]

One of the fundamental functions of a regional bank would be to retrench on capital volatility. This overall objective seeks here to promote local investment and the promotion of local economies, preserving the sovereignty of local currencies, and protecting the region against speculative attacks and external financial shocks. All these goals cannot be reached without a fbank filling its duties as currency manager. The Banco del Sur could have extended its role as a central bank; a regional transmitter, creator of currency, and coordinator of macro-economic policies. But the option chosen was to focus on a much smaller role as a single international lender.[19]

A supranational currency promoted by the Banco del Sur could result in reduced dependence on the dollar. With such a mechanism, the only two other currencies allowed to operate in the region would be national and regional currencies. This function of a central bank, as well as a development bank, would not replace the central banks of member countries for their original roles. Rather it would act as a central body that provides, coordinates, and monitors monetary transactions involving capital controls at both the national and regional level. This possibility would be a very concrete way to fight against the dollarization of Latin American economies and against the ebb and flow of foreign capital that causes economic bubbles, and helps to prevent capital volatility.[20]

Due to Brazilian and Argentinian opposition, the Banco del Sur was never turned into a regional central bank causing some countries to propose another option. That is how the far more ambitious Banco del ALBA was born.

The Goals, Capital, and Institution of the Banco del ALBA (BA)

ALBA is an integration platform built on the principles of solidarity, complementarity, cooperation, and justice against the current neoliberal integration model that has been promoted by the United States since the 1980s and 1990s by means of the Washington Consensus. This consensus is a neoliberal pro-free trade package of economic measures designed by the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, in Washington DC, to induce crisis-wracked developing countries, and to expand the power and influence of the private sector.[21] After several rounds of negotiations, the funding phase of the Banco del ALBA was signed on January 26, 2008 during the VI summit of ALBA in Caracas, Venezuela, by the five member countries at the time: Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Dominica.[22] Its headquarters are located in Caracas, and a branch has been established in Cuba. The creation of the ALBA was also in opposition to the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). ALBA is a political, economic, and social alliance that promotes independence, self-determination, and self-identity of the people who compose it, as part of a process to oppose the north American hegemony.

This bank initiative was a second attempt to promote regional development against U.S. primacy. The basic objectives of the BA are to fund development projects in key sectors of the member countries’ economy. The purpose was to improve productivity, job creation, innovation, invention, development, and production lines, so that this will be done to protect the environment and to preserve natural resources; to fund programs and development projects in the social sector; to expand and connect the infrastructure of member countries in order to improve and guide national production to ensure, among other things, sovereignty and food security; to promote and create and administer refundable or non-financial funds oriented to strengthen economic, social, and environmental policies; as well as to create and administer emergency aid in case of natural disasters and other special funds; and finally to develop and promote the practice of fair trade goods and services.[23]

In order to achieve these goals, the BA has to be able to assign credit and engage in other financial transactions for businesses. The BA also must be equipped to provide cash services to government agencies in addition to international partners to the ALBA member countries. Its internal operation is based on equal representation for each country and a democratic system of decision-making. The financial capital at the beginning of the BA was $1 billion USD. Each member has contributed according to its financial ability. The initial capital is much less than that of the Banco del Sur, which was $7 billion USD. The bank’s governing body is the Ministerial Council (composed of the ministers of economy, trade, finance, and the chairman of the central bank of each member country); the Executive Management Board (elected representatives for 3 years); the CEO (legal representation of the bank) and the General Manager (appointed by the Council of Ministers with the executive authority to manage the bank).[24]

A Common Virtual Currency for Regional Exchange – A Potentially Revolutionary Approach

Compared to Banco del Sur, the most important novelty from the BA is the use of a new international currency called Regional Compensation Unique System (Sistema Único de Compensación Regional, SUCRE) in reference to the lost currency of Ecuador, the SUCRE.[25] This could be part of an integration tool, led by ALBA member states, towards a more decisive monetary edifice. This regional compensation system was a mechanism set up in October 2009, at the same time as the creation of ALBA through a constitutive treaty ratified on the same occasion.[26] This system is based on the use of a virtual currency called SUCRE that registers the transactions between member states’ central banks. This virtual currency allows for tracking importation and exportation between two countries with the only dues being the difference (negative or positive) in local currencies. Such a system allows the member states to avoid using the U.S. dollar for their regional trade requirements. During the last bilateral meeting between Ecuador and Venezuela and during other speeches at regional and global forums, Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador, spoke about the absurdity of using an extra-regional currency for regional trade and currency repatriation.[27] We can therefore consider this plan as a system of economic and financial integration among the rubric of member countries: Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Uruguay in 2013. The common aim is to promote the use of SUCRE for intra-regional trade, to reduce asymmetries between member states, and to propose mechanisms to reduce transaction costs. It is a first step towards macroeconomic policies under the coordination and the path toward economic integration. The inspiration for this Latin American project was the 1950-60 European Payments Union, occuring when the European Union was still the European Economic Community (EEC). SUCRE was also inspired by the creation of the European Currency Unit (ECU), the Euro forerunner. It is also influenced by the draft “Bancor” Keynes proposed in the wake of the Second World War.

Keynes’ Bancor and the International Clearing Union

British economist, John Maynard Keynes, proposed the creation of a “global bank, which he called the International Clearing Union (ICU),” which would issue its own currency, the Bancor, exchangeable at fixed rates with national currencies.[28] The Bancor was thought to be a unit of account among nations, to be used to measure a country’s trade deficit or trade surplus.[29] Every country would have an overdraft facility in its ICU Bancor account, limited “to half the average value of its trade over a five-year period.”[30] The member states of this ICU would need a powerful incentive to clear their international accounts. To solve this issue, Keynes proposed that any country with a large trade deficit (equating to more than half of its Bancor overdraft allowance) would be charged interest and obliged to reduce the value of its currency as well as to shrink measures overtaken in order to prevent the export of capital. These conditions can look similar to those of IMF loans, but in fact, Keynes proposed very strict conditionality for the country with an important positive credit balance, and the ICU would charge interest on more than half the size of its overdraft facility at a rate of 10 percent.[31] These creditor countries would also be obliged to increase their currency value and promote the export of local capital. If these measures were not effective, the surplus would be confiscated. Because of this strong incentive, the most powerful countries would automatically clear other nations’ deficits. This system would promote the reduction of financial crises, due essentially to imbalance of trade among nations accumulating a trade deficit and a debt with a high cost to lender nations.[32]

New Paths Against U.S.-based Development Lenders

It is very difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the SUCRE given the limited time in which it has been actively in use. It can be stated, however, that Latin American leaders are satisfied with its initiation. Indeed, trade of SUCRE increased to 1.5 billion in 2012, compared to 246 million in 2011 and only 10 million in 2010. The estimated regional trade in SUCRE in 2013 continued to increase. The Venezuelan government has stated that the total amount exchanged in SUCRE was $850 million USD turned over during 2013.[33] A great victory of SUCRE is the announcement of the incorporation of Uruguay Monératire Regional Council, the first integration of a non-ALBA member state country to this mechanism.[34] This opens the path for a gradual evolution of Banco del ALBA influence in Latin America, which if it continues to grow, could become a model for intra-regional trade, integration, and macro-economic policy coordination in South America.

The relevance of creating a second development bank two years after the creation of the Banco del Sur is questionable. However, the BA was created to improve on the Banco del Sur and guard against Brazilian influence on the latter. Additionally, the Banco del Sur was not considered sufficient in order to fill the ALBA member state’s objectives of integration. The Banco del Sur did not intend to create a monetary union or coordinate macroeconomic policy, which the BA does. It was also thought that the reserves available to the Banco del Sur were insufficient for the development of the region. While the Banco del Sur focused on financing infrastructure and industrialization projects, the BA proposed to go further and increase both economic and financial coordination. These two different paths lead to more independence from U.S.-based lenders and their conditional loans, all while strengthening sovereignty and investment in Latin America without the support of the United States or Canada.

* Clemént Doleac, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.

Notes:

[1] The official websites of these organisms can be find here : for the CAF http://www.caf.com/es/paises-accionistas , for the WB http://www.worldbank.org/, for the IMF http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm and for the IADB http://www.iadb.org/en/inter-american-development-bank,2837.html

[2] AAGARD Alexia “Prestamos condicionados del FMI” in Seminario de Integracion y de Aplicacion – Licenciatura en economia, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Economicas. 2010. Consulted on http://crecimientoeconomico-asiain.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/9/0/1290958/prestamos_condicionados_fmi.pdf on November 12, 2014.

[3] GIGLI Juan Manuel, “Neoliberalismo y ajuste estructural en América Latina” consulted on http://www.juangigli.com/wp-content/uploads/ajuste_estructural_juan_gigli.pdf on November 12, 2014.

[4] ARRIOLA PALOMARES Joaquin, El fracaso de los programas de ajuste estructural en America Latina, consulted on http://www.uca.edu.sv/revistarealidad/archivo/4e525c3274f7celfracaso.pdf on Noember 12, 2014 and SIERRA LARA Yoandris, «Los impactos de la globalizacion neoliberal en América Latina” on RCI-Net Globalizacion on Abril 2012 consulted on http://rcci.net/globalizacion/2012/fg1357.htm on November 12, 2014. and Ochoa García, C. Globalización, Neoliberalismo y Porvenir

[5] HAGBRINK Isabel “Overview of the Inter-American Development Bank”, Office of External Relations of Norway. Consulted on http://www.norway.org/nr/rdonlyres/1bd8f08a80874f24bdc5d3ba19095b96/27980/hagbrink_isabel.pdf on November 12, 2014.

[6] PONSOT Jean-François, and ROCHON Louis-Philippe, “South America and a new financial architecture”, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics /Winter 2009–10, Vol. 32, No. 2 155.and REGUEIRO Lourdes, BARZAGA Mayra, UNASUR:proceso y propuesta, à consulter sur http://www.fedaeps.org/IMG/pdf/Libro_UNASUR.pdf le 20/11/2013 and MARSHALL Wesley C. and ROCHON Louis-Philippe, “Financing economic development in Latin America: the BS”, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics /Winter 2009–10, Vol. 32, No. 2 185.

[7] Ibid.

[8] BRIEGER Pedro, « De la década perdida a la década del mito neoliberal » Publicado en La globalización económico-financiera. Su impacto en América Latina (AAVV), Ed. CLACSO, Buenos Aires 2002. and Rodríguez Asien, E.: “El BS y el Banco del ALBA” en Observatorio de la Economía Latinoamericana Nº 93, febrero 2008. Texto completo en http://www.eumed.net/cursecon/ecolat/la/

[9] CADTM, El Banco del Sur: Avances y desafíos, Date de mise en ligne : Martes 7 de octubre de 2008.

[10] REGUEIRO Lourdes, BARZAGA Mayra, UNASUR:proceso y propuesta, à consulter sur http://www.fedaeps.org/IMG/pdf/Libro_UNASUR.pdf le 20/11/2013

[11] Jean-François Ponsot, and Louis-Philippe Rochon, “South America and a new financial architecture”, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics /Winter 2009–10, Vol. 32, No. 2 155.

[12] REGUEIRO Lourdes, BARZAGA Mayra, UNASUR:proceso y propuesta, à consulter sur http://www.fedaeps.org/IMG/pdf/Libro_UNASUR.pdf le 20/11/2013 and Jean-François Ponsot, and Louis-Philippe Rochon, “South America and a new financial architecture”, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics /Winter 2009–10, Vol. 32, No. 2 155.

[13] Ibid.

[14] This part of the article is based on REGUEIRO Lourdes, BARZAGA Mayra, UNASUR:proceso y propuesta, à consulter sur http://www.fedaeps.org/IMG/pdf/Libro_UNASUR.pdf le 20/11/2013

[15] REGUEIRO Lourdes, BARZAGA Mayra, UNASUR:proceso y propuesta, à consulter sur http://www.fedaeps.org/IMG/pdf/Libro_UNASUR.pdf le 20/11/2013 and Jean-François Ponsot, and Louis-Philippe Rochon, “South America and a new financial architecture”, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics /Winter 2009–10, Vol. 32, No. 2 155.

[16] Ibid. and REGUEIRO Lourdes, BARZAGA Mayra, UNASUR:proceso y propuesta, à consulter sur http://www.fedaeps.org/IMG/pdf/Libro_UNASUR.pdf le 20/11/2013

[17] FERRARI-FILHO Fernando (2014). A regional arrangement proposal for the UNASUR. Revista de Economia Política.

[18] SALAMA Pierre, La dollarisation : Essai sur la monnaie, l’industrialisation et l’endettement des pays sous-développés, Paris, La Decouverte, Coll. “Agalma” fevrier 1989, postface de Luis Carlos Bresser Pereira (102 p.).

[19] GNOS, C.; MONVOISIN, V.; PONSOT, JF. 2011. “Proposal for a regional clearing Union in South America”. Proceedings of the IV International Congress of the Brazilian Keynesian Association, Rio de Janeiro, August. And FERRARI-FILHO Fernando (2014). A regional arrangement proposal for the UNASUR. Revista de Economia Política.

[20] SALAMA Pierre, La dollarisation : Essai sur la monnaie, l’industrialisation et l’endettement des pays sous-développés, Paris, La Decouverte, Coll. “Agalma” fevrier 1989, postface de Luis Carlos Bresser Pereira (102 p.).

[21] GORE Michel, “The Rise and Fall of the Washington Consensus as a Paradigm for Developing Countries » World Development, Volume 28, Issue 5, May 2000, Pages 789–804. ; ASIEN Rodríguez, E.: “El BS y el Banco del ALBA” en Observatorio de la Economía Latinoamericana Nº 93, febrero 2008. Texto completo en http://www.eumed.net/cursecon/ecolat/la/ ; WILLIAMSON, John: What Washington Means by Policy Reform, in: Williamson, John (ed.): Latin American Readjustment: How Much has Happened, Washington: Institute for International Economics 1989.

[22] Site officiel de “la Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América – Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblosl” (ALBA-TCP) : www.alba-tcp.org

[23] Ibid.

[24] ASIEN Rodríguez, E.: “El BS y el Banco del ALBA” en Observatorio de la Economía Latinoamericana Nº 93, febrero 2008. Texto completo en http://www.eumed.net/cursecon/ecolat/la/

[25] SALAMA Pierre, La dollarisation : Essai sur la monnaie, l’industrialisation et l’endettement des pays sous-développés, Paris, La Decouverte, Coll. “Agalma” fevrier 1989, postface de Luis Carlos Bresser Pereira (102 p.). ; ASIEN Rodríguez, E.: “El BS y el Banco del ALBA” en Observatorio de la Economía Latinoamericana Nº 93, febrero 2008. Texto completo en http://www.eumed.net/cursecon/ecolat/la/

[26] Site officiel de “la Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América – Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblosl” (ALBA-TCP) : www.alba-tcp.org

[27] MAZZEI Umberto, “Correa: Freedom without justice is akin to slavery”. Speech pronounce at UNCTAD Raúl Prebisch Lecture, in ALAI, América Latina en Movimiento, 2on Octuber 27, 2014. Consulted on http://alainet.org/active/78347&lang=es on November 10, 2014.

[28] PONSOT Jean-François, and ROCHON Louis-Philippe, “South America and a new financial architecture”, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics /Winter 2009–10, Vol. 32, No. 2 155. and KEYNES, J.M. (1944/1980). Activities 1940-1944: Shaping the Post-War World, the Clearing Union. London: Macmillan (The Collected Writings of John MaynardKeynes, Vol. 25, edited by Moggridge, D.). and MONBIOT Georges “Keynes is innocent: the toxic spawn of Bretton Woods was no plan of his” in The Guardian, on November 17, 2008 on http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/18/lord-keynes-international-monetary-fund consulted on November 20, 2014.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Ibid.

[32] Ibid.

[33] Radio Nacional de Venezuela, “Intercambio comercial con Sucre ha alcanzado $850 millones durante 2013 » in RNC en Economía, Publicado 27 agosto, 2013.

[34] TeleSUR (www.youtube.com/user/telesurtv). «Uruguay firmó carta de solicitud de adhesión al Sucre» (en español). Consulted on November 10, 2014.

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