US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday strongly condemned the Islamic State’s killing of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

“We extend our sincere and heartfelt condolences to his wife, his family, and his loved ones, as well as to the people of Japan,” Kerry said, adding, “The barbaric killing of Kenji Goto, and of Haruna Yukawa before him, shows again ISIL’s brutality and extremist agenda.”

Kerry said the United States knows this pain on a personal level born of our own experience.

“We share the sorrow and continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our ally Japan in confronting terrorism. We commend Japan’s support for those in the region who have been displaced by ISIL, the Syrian regime, and other militant groups,” Kerry said

Kerry noted that Japan’s generous assistance to vulnerable communities fully reflects its commitment to international peace and development.

The post Kerry Condemns Islamic State Slaying Of Japanese Citizen appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Abdulrahman Al-Rashed

Three bullets hit a Flydubai jet at Baghdad airport last week causing the suspension of not only many flights to the Iraqi capital, but the suspension of hope and international confidence in the Iraqi government and its ability to control the country.

It will take time before the major airlines resume flights and transfer thousands of passengers and cargo to and from the Iraqi capital, which plays a major role in strengthening confidence in the regime and state institutions. Much more needs to be done than increasing the airport’s defenses and securing its surroundings. The problem now lies in the shaken confidence caused by the government’s inability and weakness.

Official Iraqi statements did not dissolve concerns because they were obviously trying to deny what happened, saying that it was an accident and winds caused the diversion of the plane’s landing, among other excuses. Had the shooting occurred in a city outside conflict zones, it might have been taken as an accident, but the bullets deliberately targeted the plane; it was not a weapon used in a wedding ceremony or march, as one official said.

Is the capital safe? Is Iraq less secure today than it was a year ago? The incident awakened old fears of the Islamic State (IS) storming Baghdad along with terrorist forces allied to it; those concerns emerged last year.

What is more serious than the targeted shooting of the passenger jet, is the inability of the Iraqi leadership and politicians; they are still discussing the security decisions that Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi pledged to achieve in last September, such as the establishment of the National Guard.

Months have passed and two Iraqi cities are still under IS control, Mosul and Tikrit, along with about one quarter of the Iraqi territories occupied or threatened by the terrorist organization.

When seven foreign airlines suspend their flights to the capital’s airport, it reflects the concerns regarding the overall situation. It reflects the discomfort regarding the inability of the government to accomplish its targets to fight terrorism in accordance with the program that was announced after Al-Abadi took office. The popular mobilization, which is a quasi-governmental and sectarian militia, was founded in one day, but the National Guard, which is supposed to fight terrorist groups, is still under discussion.

If the Iraqi government does not prove its seriousness and ability to lead the country and unite all forces, provinces and communities, it will definitely lose the battle against terrorism. Iraqis have to learn from the disintegration and collapse of the situation in neighboring Syria.

It is a collapse resulting from the weakness of the central government. What is even more serious is the conviction of the Syrian people that the authorities no longer represent them, and this is what helped in the spread of sedition. Therefore, trusting the government’s ability and good intentions are two main prerequisites to restore both internal and external confidence in the country. Will we see Al-Abadi fighting for his government, state, country and mainly for himself?

The post Iraq: Security Remains Elusive – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Michele Penna

There are times when a detail can tell a whole story, and the death of a giant amphibious animal in Guangdong is one such case. It all began on Monday, when the Southern Metropolis Daily, a local Chinese newspaper, published the story of how three of its journalists were beaten by police after they caught officials banqueting on a giant salamander.

The paper says it was tipped off that a group of local officials was about to dine on the endangered amphibian, a specialty in Cantonese cuisine, in a restaurant in Guandong on January 21 and sent two reporters and one photographer to investigate. Once they arrived at the restaurant, the three journalists managed to snoop on 28 diners, including police officials. Their identity was soon discovered and they were beaten, the photographer’s camera was smashed and their phones taken.

The story is so unusual it has left readers flabbergasted – one of the officials involved even said, in a rather mafia-like style: “In my territory, it is my treat.” But it also works as a pocket-sized compendium of some of the issues faced by contemporary China, beginning with the main course on the menu: the giant salamander – known to specialists as andrias davidianus – is the largest amphibious animal on the planet, and is highly endangered.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the giant salamander “was once reasonably common but has declined catastrophically over the last 30 years, principally due to over-exploitation, and it is now very rare, with few surviving populations known.” In China, says the  IUCN, the species is included among the Class II major protected wildlife species.

At a moment when many Chinese citizens are becoming increasingly sensitive dwindling wildlife and authorities are trying to somehow protect the environment, the news comes as a powerful reminder that old ways die hard.

The banquet, which reportedly cost $1,000, also flies in the face of a recent crackdown on extravagance by the Chinese government. In the very first months of his presidency Xi Jinping intervened to curb excessive spending by public servants: parties, lavish gifts, gargantuan banquets and pretty much all that used to be common among officials quickly became problematic.

The public reacted positively to the campaign, but the crackdown went so far that it had an impact on the economy, according to Chinese media. In August 2014 shark fins prices – shark fins being an expensive treat usually regarded as a luxury – declined by almost 50 percent as compared to the same period in 2013, while sales were down by 80 percent in Guangzhou’s market.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Shen Jianguang, chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong, argued that “the anti-corruption action by Xi is creating unprecedented phenomena, including an absolute fall in high-end restaurant sales.”

Finally, another important part of the story is the role played by Chinese media, who exposed local officials and won their battle: the trio of journalists was attacked, sure, but they were eventually able to publish and were protected by authorities, who turned against the police forces. So far 14 policemen have been suspended and on Tuesday a police chief in Shenzhen was put under investigation. This time around, scribes and salamanders alike have been avenged.

The post Chinese Journalists Beaten For Exposing ‘Salamander Banquet’ – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi

Probably the beat of events in Riyadh last week was faster than ever. Often described as a quiet and calm capital, Riyadh topped the agendas of news agencies and political commentators last week.
Fresh blood was injected in Saudi institutions, mainly in the new Cabinet, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman recently appointed. These designations come after a series of quick decisions to organize the internal ruling house backed by the Council of Allegiance.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Photo by Mazen AlDarrab, Wikipedia Commons.

King Salman is a decisive leader and closer circles say he can make strong and fast decisions soon as he is convinced of their value and importance to people. In a remarkable move, he poured SR110 billion into the Saudi economy by giving a two-month salary bonus for civil servants, students, people with special needs and people receiving welfare as well as payments for charitable societies and housing projects.

These decisions will positively influence the national economy as experts expect them to revive the economic cycle by 70-80 percent, and send a message of reassurance to citizens that the state has their comfort as its top priority, regardless of the challenges such as the drop in oil prices and the accompanying negative expectations. Clearly, Riyadh’s confidence stems from its massive oil reserves, that allow the state to focus on the internal investment, improve the cost of living and implement infrastructure projects.

An organizational important decision that will make a qualitative shift in the cabinet’s work is establishing two new councils. The first is the Council for Political and Security Affairs, which will be chaired by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, second deputy premier and interior minister, and will consist of nine members; the foreign minister, National Guard minister, Islamic affairs minister, culture and information minister, ministers of state, and Chief of General Intelligence as the only non-ministerial body, yet it has a close tie to the political and security work in the state.

This council is expected to have a major role in the Saudi decision-making as a reference in political decisions and military and security plans. It merges decision makers in politics and economy in one body within the grand executive authority in the state, the council of ministers. Such a method, implemented by many governments around the world, guarantees a faster pace of work and creates a sense of harmony, thus empowering the role of the council of ministers, guaranteeing their access to decisions as well as supporting their team work.

In this regard, dismantling the national security council will help decrease bureaucracy and prevent authority conflicts.
The other equally important council is the Council for Economic and Development Affairs which is directly connected to the needs and interests of citizens. The council will be chaired by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defense minister, head of the Royal Court and King Salman’s special adviser.

Institutionalizing the Council of ministers will definitely improve its efficiency, ensuring that decisions will be studied with enough time before being finalized and implemented.

Restructuring the government is a needed move, particularly in light of the economic situation and the growing competition in the development and economic performance around the world.
King Salman not only sought a comprehensive change in the government, he proved that restructuring the state’s work is the key, especially after canceling 12 councils dealing with education and oil, among others, to guarantee harmony in governmental decisions.

The King’s decrees were marked with speed, clarity and decisiveness, mostly due to his long experience as one of the pillars of the Saudi ruling system for more than five decades in various capacities.

Saudi Arabia is moving toward a new phase of political and developmental work and the government reshuffle indicates a decisive and strong beginning, an important step in the long and difficult path to modernize the nation and to achieve the reforms Saudis have long waited for.

The post Riyadh: Rapid Changes Give Clear Message – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Hillel Fradkin and Lewis Libby*

Recently intercepted communications from the Middle East shed new light on “Deflate Gate.” Excerpts, below:

From the Lebanese Office of Trade: “Both teams wanted to win. The Patriots thought of deflating the ball first. What are you going to do?”

From the Emir of Qatar: “Remind me—which do we own, the Patriots or the Colts?”

From the Egyptian press: “The Indianapolis Colts, losing at half-time, deflated the balls so that the Patriots would be disqualified and the Colts could play the Superbowl. Obvious, really.”

From Palestinian Hamas headquarters: “Secretary Kerry ordered deflation to distract Americans from his secret decision to allow the Jews new construction in the West Bank.”

From the former Saudi Ambassador to London: “Jews, who own all the football teams, paid referees to deflate the balls to increase attention for the Superbowl.”

From the Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards: “The Saudis hide the truth: Increased Superbowl viewership means more people see TV commercials which have subliminal Jewish messaging: ‘Bomb Iran.’ If Tom Brady does not confess this, the nuclear talks are off.”

From Al Qaeda head Ayman Al Zawahiri: “Al Qaeda deflated the balls. Washington is next.”

From the Islamic State: “The Islamic State deflated the balls. Washington and Tehran are next.”

From the Taliban: “The Americans deflated these ‘pig-skins’ to insult Islam and draw attention to half-naked cheerleaders who should be whipped in their stadiums, as we do.”

From Iraqi Shia leader al Sadr: “Sunni deflated the balls so that the Shia team trainer would be blamed.”

From former Iraqi President Maliki: “What does the IRGC want me to say?”

From Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei: “Secretary Kerry told me last night, ‘War has to be the last resort.’”

From the office of the President of Kurdistan: “Does anyone realize there is a war going on?”

From Tel Aviv: “Brady either did or didn’t direct deflation of the balls. Which is better for the Jews?”

About the authors:
Hillel Fradkin
Director, Center on Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World

Lewis Libby
Senior Vice President

The post ‘Deflate Gate’ Through Middle Eastern Eyes – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

A woman from Canada, displaying staunch support to jihadists, has been tracked all the way from Toronto to the ISIS stronghold in Syria via Twitter geo-tagging. She even infiltrated hard to reach “enemy” territories, a Canadian intelligence group says.

According to a new report from the Canada-based open source intelligence research group iBRABO, one woman – identified only as “L.A.” – traveled from Canada to the frontlines of Islamic State-controlled territory, giving away her locations with every tweet, as she visited besieged cities in Syria and Iraq.

Although ISIS is known to have many female sympathizers, this is the first time a woman has been tracked all the way from a Western country directly to the battlefield, where she appears to be actively engaged in Islamic State operations.

Tracking her cellphone’s geo-tagging function on Twitter, the group concluded that her movement “reflects a broader trend of women becoming more active in supporting male jihadists, such as intelligence collection, implementation and adherence to Sharia Law, and even reported execution of punishments to women judged to be in transgression of Sharia Law.”

The woman – now using an image of a gruesome ISIS beheading scene as her banner photo – was tweeting from Toronto up until November 23, 2014. She reappeared in early December, in the major ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria.

She has traveled “across more ISIS controlled territory than any other ISIS account we have monitored,” the group said, pinpointing her locations throughout December and January in Mosul, Aleppo, and Kobani – all major ISIS battlegrounds.

Female presence on the frontline is unusual, the report notes, as female sympathizers usually serve as “jihadi brides” and are not allowed to fight. But in this case, her tweets reveal her active role on the battlefield.

“I did not see in their actions anything but the utmost of respect for me as a sister,” she wrote in Arabic from Kobani on December 25. In another tweet, she wrote: “God bless those who live on His path and who die on His path.”

“It is possible that with the severe losses ISIS was experiencing they needed the ability to gather intelligence using women, and thus allowed L.A. to penetrate into Kobane,” the TRAC report speculates.

Citing a recent report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which said that about 550 of the 3,000 Western citizens on ISIS territory are women, the researchers concluded that “waiting until Canadians have travelled to Syria and are fighting on the frontlines with ISIS is simply too late” and called for a recalibration of prevention strategy.

The post Female Jihadist Geo-Tracked From Canada To ISIS Frontline – Report appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Elise Harris

During his Sunday Angelus address Pope Francis announced he will visit the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo in June, where WWI broke out in 1914 with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I would like to announce that Saturday, June 6, God willing, I will go to Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the Pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square Feb. 1.

“I ask you right now to pray that my visit to those dear people is one of encouragement for the Catholic faithful, fosters seeds of good and contributes to the consolidation of fraternity and peace.”

As part of his trip Pope Francis will be visiting the local Catholic community, but will also be entering a nation marked with vast ethnic and religious diversity, which served as a key factor in the country’s recent war.

Pope Francis’ visit to Sarajevo falls less than a year after the July 28 centenary of the start of WWI last year, as well as 20 years after the conclusion of the Bosnian War, which lasted from April 1992 until December 1995.

In a June 16-17 Oasis conference in Sarajevo discussing the temptation of violence among religions, the country’s archbishop, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, spoke with CNA about the ethnic and religious tensions that still linger in the country.

Cardinal Puljic told CNA June 17 that Catholics in Bosnia are “in a grave position.”

“There is no equality and this is a problem. There is no equality in the Serbian Republic, there is no equality in the federation, (and) where there is no equality, it isn’t possible to live in peace.”

Cardinal Puljic is the sixth and current Archbishop of the Vrhbosna diocese in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

It is a country, the cardinal said, in which Christians, including those from Orthodox and Catholic traditions, Muslims and Jews live together alongside one another.

With such diversity, Cardinal Puljic explained that “We want to create a paradigm for Europe where it is possible to live together with respect and human rights,” and noted that this “doesn’t depend only on communities of different religions.”

It is also the responsibility of “the international community and the local politics who need to create equality.”

Historically divided into three key ethnic groups, Bosnia-Herzegovina is composed of a majority of Muslim Bosniaks followed by a large percentage of mostly Orthodox Serbs and a great population of Croats, a majority of which are Catholic.

The current religious and ethnic situation is complex, Cardinal Puljic observed. The region has seen a series of wars, the most recent of which is the Bosnian War of 1992-1995 in which the country’s Serb population began a policy of ethnic “cleansing” in large areas of Bosnia inhabited by non-Serbs and Muslim, Croat and Serb populations who opposed their army.

With a diverse population of local Christians, Catholics in Bosnia form a minority whereas the Serbian Republic is mostly Orthodox and the Federation is a majority Muslim.

Cardinal Puljic said that there are currently “great tensions between Orthodox Christians and Muslims,” and observed that Catholics “are like catalysts between them. We want to create tranquility (and) a climate of dialogue.”

The post Pope Francis To Visit Bosnia-Herzegovina In June appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Khalid al-Taie

The “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL) has carried out brutal acts against health workers in Mosul since seizing the city in June, including killings, intimidation and persecution.

From June until mid-January, the group executed 14 doctors, Iraq’s Independent High Human Rights Commission said. On Tuesday (January 27th), Kurdish daily Rudaw reported that 10 Mosul physicians were executed by ISIL.

The report said ISIL had shot the physicians over their refusal to treat fighters wounded in clashes or shelling.

Because of extensive attacks and shelling on ISIL, Mosul hospitals are filled with ISIS wounded fighters, Rudaw reported, adding that the group has evacuated all other hospital patients in order to treat its own wounded fighters.

ISIL’s crimes have affected many segments of Iraqi society, and doctors too have had their share of “systematic targeting including killings, intimidation, enforcement of strict orders, persecution and spreading terror”, commission member Fadhel al-Gharrawi told Mawtani.

Ministry-linked monitoring teams and civil society organisations reported that 14 male and female doctors, most of them from Mosul, were killed by ISIL elements between June and mid-January, al-Gharrawi said.

The doctors were killed for their views, as all refused to co-operate with ISIL and consistently criticised the group’s inhumane actions, including some female doctors who refused to comply with stringent orders the group issued at hospitals, he added.

ISIL “forced female doctors to wear a veil over their faces when outside the house and at work and has not allowed them to mix with male doctors or provide treatment to men, threatening them with murder, rape and physical punishment if they refuse to comply”, he said.

“Many doctors have been able to escape from Mosul but those who were unable to leave are living in tragic conditions today, suffering despicable crimes at the hands of ISIL gangs,” he said.

Human Rights Ministry spokesman Kamel Amin told Mawtani that the ministry obtained information that “many workers at Mosul hospitals and medical centres have suffered harassment and strong oppressive measures.”

Gunmen known as “hisbah” are in charge of pursuing those who violate ISIL rulings and orders, he said. Every morning, they stand at the gates of medical institutions to inspect whether female doctors are wearing a veil and frequently carry out surprise raids on hospitals to ensure they are not in violation of ISIL’s interpretation of “Islamic law”.

“We have recorded abuses of female doctors who were scolded and threatened with public execution for having refused to wear a veil when performing their work,” Amin added. “There is also blatant interference and tampering with medical work including preventing male doctors from treating female patients and vice versa, which has pushed several doctors to stop treating patients and shut down their private practices.”

Amin said his ministry is working to document these abuses in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq.

The ministry is continuously working to “expose ISIL’s barbaric actions and enlist support for a quick elimination of that bloody group to free people from its evil”, he added.

Health Ministry media director Dr. Ahmed al-Rudaini spoke to the ministry’s concern over the crimes and abuses health workers are suffering at the hands of ISIL elements in areas under the group’s control, particularly Mosul.

There are reports that female and male doctors were executed after refusing to treat wounded ISIL men or to carry out the group’s orders, he told Mawtani, Doctors also have been experiencing a constant stream of violence and intimidation, including threats of murder, beating, harassment and interference with their medical work.

“We are deeply concerned following the information we have been getting,” he said. “The terrorists do not care for people’s lives and rights and are ready to carry out further horrible crimes.”

The post Iraq: Islamic State Executes 24 Doctors In Mosul appeared first on Eurasia Review.

During Medieval times almost all Christian theologians accepted the Ptolemaic earth centered Greek view of the universe as an absolute universal truth. The Catholic Inquisition punished those who dared to voice other ideas.

I do not know why they believe that the rarity of life in our universe proves that God must have created life only on this planet. Perhaps they believed that if intelligent life were found to exist on other planets; it would diminish the miracle of God’s creation of Human Beings.

For me the opposite is true. That God’s universal creation is filled with life is simply the result of God’s mercy and love of all living things. The Qur’an and the Hebrew Bible teach that the Living God created the whole universe to be conducive to the universal development and evolution of life.

The Qur’an says, “We have not sent you but as a blessing for all the worlds.” (Al-Anbiya 107) Many commentators say this refers to the 18.000 worlds created by Allah. Our world is one of them. (Mir’at-e-Kainat, vol.1, p.77).

The Hebrew Bible says in the Zabur of Prophet David, King of Israel; “Your kingdom is a kingdom of all the worlds; and Your dominion is for all generations.” (Psalms 145:13)

I am a Reform Rabbi who first became interested in Islam 55 years ago, when I studied it at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. I have continued my study of Islam off and on since that time. I now consider myself to be a Reform Rabbi and a Muslim Jew. Actually I am a Muslim Jew i.e. a faithful Jew submitting to the will of God, because I am a Reform Rabbi.

As a Rabbi I am faithful to the covenant that God made with Abraham – the first Muslim Jew, and I submit to the commandments that God made with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. Thus, I see scientific things from the perspective of both the Qur’an and the Torah.

In January 2013, astronomers estimated that there could be at least 17 billion Earth-sized exoplanets in just our galaxy; the Milky Way. They also said that one in six stars could host an Earth-sized planet in a close orbit.

Now, two years later, proof that Allah’s Universe is filled with life is coming closer. NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has discovered a star with three planets only slightly larger than Earth. The outermost planet, which is 50% larger than planet earth, orbits in the zone where surface temperatures could be moderate enough for liquid water and perhaps life to exist.

The star ranks among the top 10 nearest stars known to have transiting planets. The star’s close enough for astronomers to study the planet’s atmospheres to determine if it has oxygen could possibly be conducive to multicellular life forms.

The star is a cool red M-dwarf about half the size and mass of our own sun. At a distance of 150 light years, the star ranks among the top 10 nearest stars known to have transiting planets. The star’s proximity means it’s bright enough for astronomers to study the planets’ atmospheres to determine whether they are like
Earth’s atmosphere and possibly conducive to life.

For those who believe in the One God of all the inhabitable worlds, these two new scientific studies are not shocking. For unlike the Roman inquisition’s condemnation of Galileo, no Muslim or Jewish astronomer was ever condemned by a Muslim or Jewish inquisition, because Jews and Muslims never had an institution like the inquisition.

Also, because both Muslims and Jews had many philosophers who were critics of Aristotle’s and Ptolemy’s science, most medieval Jewish and Muslim religious leaders did not feel they had to prevent new science from disagreeing with Greek science.

Thus, even as new discoveries always change the scientific understanding of God’s universe; the religious belief that the whole universe exalts God and reveals God’s glory remains the same.

As it is written in the Zabur of Prophet David, King of Israel; “The heavens declare the glory of God.” (Zabur of David-Psalm 19:2)

The post Proof Closer That Our Universe Is Filled With Life – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Neena Bhandari

The small Pacific island country of New Zealand has punched above its weight in the international disarmament debate. For nearly three decades it has pursued an active nuclear free policy, banning entry of US warships carrying nuclear weapons or propelled by nuclear power into its ports despite being part of the ANZUS Treaty.

NZ, along with the United States (US) and Australia, was amongst the three original signatory governments to the ANZUS treaty, a trilateral framework for security arrangements and cooperation, which was concluded in 1951.

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, New Zealand opposed French nuclear tests in the Pacific. In 1983, the visit of the nuclear-powered frigate USS Texas sparked protests. Ordinary people spurred an anti-nuclear movement, which reached its peak in the mid-1980s and shaped NZ’s foreign policy and identity as a nation.

“It was an extremely broad campaign, which included professionals, neighbourhood groups, students, religious, non-religious, young and old. In many ways, it was the diversity and the non-hierarchical nature of the movement that was part of its appeal and strength. At one point there were over 300 local activist groups across the country,” says Marie Leadbeater, the author of `Peace, Power and Politics: How New Zealand became nuclear free.

The defining moment came in July 1985 with the sinking of the Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior, which had been involved in protests over French nuclear testing.

The then Prime Minister David Lange said: “There is only one thing more dangerous than being attacked by nuclear weapons and that is being protected by them.” In 1987, the Labour government passed the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act.

“The legislation is now so well entrenched in the New Zealand psyche, that no party would propose rescinding it in the future. The National Party (the leader of the current government) has now said explicitly that they would not repeal that legislation,” Maryan Street, former NZ Labour Party Spokesperson on Disarmament and Arms Control, told IDN.

Agrees Kennedy Graham, Green Party MP with responsibility for global affairs. “There is multi-party support now for New Zealand’s Nuclear Free Zone legislation.”

The US Government has not attempted to overturn NZ’s nuclear ban, but in the past five years it has begun to re-establish defence and strategic ties with New Zealand. In November 2010, the then US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the then NZ Foreign Minister Murray McCully, signed the Wellington Declaration, which laid the framework for a new strategic partnership between the two countries.

In June 2012, the Washington Declaration further enhanced defence cooperation arrangements that included maritime security, counter-proliferation, counter-terrorism, and anti-piracy. Under this agreement, NZ agreed to join RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific), the world’s largest maritime exercise, and joint exercises with the US and Australian forces.

Cautions Nic Maclellan, author and researcher: “We should be careful and not glorify NZ’s position too much as it is changing. Recent revelations by Wikileaks and Edward Snowden have highlighted the level of engagement between the ANZUS allies and the five party UKUSA agreement also known as the `Five Eyes Treaty’, whereby the UK, Canada and the ANZUS allies share signals intelligence.”

NZ has two signals intelligence bases in Tangimoana and Waihopai. Leadbeater says, “I opposed NZ’s participation in the UKUSA agreement on account of its lack of transparency and it’s potential to make us party to spying on other nations and even contributing to wars.”

The ANZUS allies are also part of the Quadrilateral Defence Coordinating Group with France as an observer. So is there renewed pressure from the US on NZ to join the nuclear umbrella?

“The US understands that our nuclear legislation is a no-go area and works with us around it. They see us as a leader in the area on non-proliferation and disarmament. We were also invited by US President Barack Obama to attend the security conference on the threat of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists,” Street, who is also the former Chair of NZ Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, told IDN.

Dangers lurking

NZ’s clean green image further promoted as 100% Pure by the Tourism NZ campaign is partly to do with the country being nuclear free. It doesn’t have nuclear power so the chances of a localised accident occurring are slim.

But Street warns: “The most real danger would be in the transporting of nuclear waste through our waters (eg: depleted uranium, yellow cake from Australia, etc.). There is no protection against that happening and therefore we would be vulnerable to an accident occurring to any of those vessels. Protection against that would require new legislation around hazardous goods and substances.”

NZ has been very active in highlighting the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons in direct contrast to Australia. By October 2014,155 countries had signed the NZ-led UN statement on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.

“Given the width of support for the New Zealand initiative among members of the UN it seems to me that the time is right to nail down the illegality of nuclear weapons through international agreement. Now New Zealand is on the Security Council and I hope we will keep our foot on the pedal and advance strongly the cause of nuclear disarmament,” wrote former NZ Prime Minister, Sir Geoffrey Palmer in an article `The Nuclear Nightmare’ in November 2014.

The International Court of Justice in its advisory opinion on Nuclear Weapons in 1996 had stated: “The destructive power of nuclear weapons cannot be contained in either space or time. They have the potential to destroy all civilization and the entire ecosystem of the planet.”

Today, the anti-nuclear movement is not very active in NZ, but there is a strong small core group of people, who are active in global anti-nuclear activities.

As Kate Dewes, a nuclear abolition activist who has carried on this fight for over three decades told IDN, “There are a few groups, both national and local, which have members on the government appointed Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who give advice as to what the government should be doing to implement the NZ Disarmament and Arms Control Act of 1987. Some groups meet regularly with the Ambassador for Disarmament and ministry officials to encourage them to take leadership on current disarmament issues such as nuclear abolition, banning of landmines, cluster and depleted uranium munitions, and the Arms Trade Treaty.”

“The New Zealand population will never accept a role in upholding nuclear deterrence under the ‘nuclear umbrella’. We have won that debate and young New Zealanders are very proud of our nuclear free policy”, added Dewes, quoting a 1986 opinion poll that confirmed that 92 percent New Zealanders opposed nuclear weapons and 69 percent opposed warship visits; 92 percent wanted NZ to promote nuclear disarmament through the UN, while 88 percent supported the promotion of nuclear-free zones.

Successive opinion polls in Australia have shown that Australians overwhelmingly reject nuclear weapons. “Yet our government, in deference to the US, remains opposed to the idea of a treaty banning these ultimate weapons of mass destruction. We are calling on the government to rule out any role for nuclear weapons in our nation’s military doctrines, just as New Zealand did in the 1980s, and to join efforts to achieve a global ban”, Australia Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Tim Wright, told IDN.

Australia is part of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty and like NZ, Australia also has nuclear-free legislation, the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty Act 1986. “However, this legislation (and the treaty itself) doesn’t prevent US nuclear-armed vessels from entering Australian ports, nor does it prevent Australia from maintaining its policy of extended nuclear deterrence”, says Wright.

The post New Zealand Robustly Defends Nuclear Ban – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

The United States took an active part in the February 2014 coup in Ukraine, which installed pro-Western authorities, US President Obama told CNN Sunday.

“And since Mr. Putin made this decision around Crimea and Ukraine — not because of some grand strategy, but essentially because he was caught off-balance by the protests in the Maidan and [Ukraine’s then-President Viktor] Yanukovych then fleeing after we had brokered a deal to transition power in Ukraine,” Obama said in an interview.

Yanukovych’s decision not to sign an association agreement with the European Union in late 2013 triggered a mass wave of protests across Ukraine, which culminated in the February coup. Following the February events and the rise of aggressive nationalism in the country, Crimea seceded from Ukraine and joined Russia in March 2014, following a referendum, in which 96 percent of voters were in favour of reunifying with Russia.

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By C. Raja Mohan*

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to expand the engagement with the United States on regional security in the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean has set off much hand-wringing in New Delhi’s foreign community about the potential Chinese reaction. This is not surprising, given the deep concerns in the UPA government that drawing close to America might provoke China. Although it was then-PM Manmohan Singh who took the initial steps in the first term of the UPA to expand the strategic partnership with the US and its Asian allies, there was a definite attempt at distancing Delhi from Washington in the second term.

These fears were more about the lack of self-assurance in the Congress leadership and the security establishment rather than a credible assessment of China’s foreign policy record, or its current geopolitical calculus, or the nature of Asia’s international relations today. Consider, for example, the fact that China had been closer over extended periods of time to Washington than India has ever been to America in the last seven decades. Even today, China’s economic and commercial relationship is much thicker than Delhi’s ties with either Washington or Beijing.

If India’s trade with the US and China stands at around $100 billion and $70 billion respectively, China-US trade now stands at $560 billion. Even America’s Asian allies, including Japan, South Korea and Australia, have dense relations with China. Instead of viewing its relations with Washington and Beijing in binary terms, Delhi must recognise that its relations with both America and China have potential and must be developed with greater purpose and vigour.

China, of course, does not limit its partnership with America by citing the concerns of its large neighbours like Russia, Japan and India. Beijing, in fact is urging the US to agree to a “new type of great power relations” with China that could generate a shared leadership between the two giants.

Beijing uses its relationship with America to secure its own national interests, shape the global balance of power and reshape its regional environment. Unlike the UPA government, the NDA governments of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Modi have not been paralysed by the fear of engaging all the great powers with equal enthusiasm.

Pakistan story

The idea that Beijing will react violently to India’s engagement with America is also not borne out by the history of China-Pakistan relations. After all, Pakistan has been a strong military partner for both America and China. Pakistan joined the US military alliance system in the 1950s, including the Central Treaty Organisation and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation, at a time when America was determined to combat communism in Asia and did not recognise the People’s Republic of China.

The military alliance with America did not prevent Pakistan from warming up to China in the 1950s. Unlike India, where the hot air about non-alignment began to introduce ideological rigidity and strategic incoherence into India’s foreign policy, Pakistan thought more creatively about the possibilities with America and China. Navigating the complex dynamic between Washington and Beijing in the 1950s and 1960s, Pakistan became a valuable bridge between America and China when the two sides wanted to normalise relations at the turn of the 1970s. China did not object to an intense military partnership between America and Pakistan in the 1980s, or when Washington declared that Islamabad is a “major non-NATO ally” in the 2000s.

Strategic influence

If Delhi drones on endlessly about strategic autonomy as some kind of uniquely Indian concept, Pakistan is only one example of how all countries, big and small, seek flexibility in foreign policy and seize opportunities that present themselves. India’s problem lies in the infusion of ideology into the concepts of strategic autonomy and non-alignment. From a practical perspective, “strategic autonomy” is about expanding one’s room for manoeuvre by engaging all potential partners.

In India, though, the idea of “strategic autonomy” has been viewed through an anti-Western lens over the decades. Signing a security treaty with the Soviet Union in 1971 was not seen as undermining India’s strategic autonomy, but doing anything with America was denounced as a departure from non-alignment. In India’s foreign policy discourse, sitting together with China and Russia in a room was welcome, but building a joint platform with the US and Japan was not. Modi is saying that India can no longer afford this kind of ideological self-indulgence.

As one of the world’s largest economies and as a rising power, Modi is suggesting that India needs “multi-alignment”, or more intensive partnerships with all great powers, including America and China. The PM is also signalling that, given India’s expanding interdependence with the rest of the world, what Delhi needs is “strategic influence” in regional and global affairs.

*The writer is a Distinguished Fellow at Observer Research Foundation and a Contributing Editor for ‘The Indian Express’

Courtesy: The Indian Express, January 31, 2015

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The last time Sri Lanka had a president and cabinet of ministers from two different parties was in the 2001 – 2004 period: the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP), respectively. President Chandrika Kumaratunga (SLFP) was re-elected in 1999 and in 2001 the coalition headed by Ranil Wickramesinge (UNP) won the general election. The expected cohabitation between the two failed because the president used her constitutional powers and prematurely dissolved parliament in 2004. The UNP government collapsed with the dissolution of parliament.

Sri Lanka’s Maithripala Sirisena. Official photo via Facebook.

Sri Lanka has been forced into a SLFP-UNP combination again following the recently concluded presidential election. Chairman of the SLFP Maithripala Sirisena is now the president and the cabinet is headed by UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinge. The combination seems to be sailing smoothly and the cohabitation between the two will not be a problem, at least in the short term. The main difference this time around is the fact that President Sirisena was elected mostly with the UNP votes in January 2015. Therefore, he will not allow his party men to topple the government until the 100-day reform program the government has announced is completed. This reform program is President Sirisena’s election promise.

General Election

However, the Prime Minister has already declared that the parliament will be dissolved in April of this year, presumably after the reform program is concluded. This suggestion leads to several unanswered questions. The most crucial and intriguing question is, what would be the position of President Sirisena in the forthcoming parliamentary election?

Although the President and the Prime Minister are talking about a national government, the indication is that the SLFP will contest independently or with its minor allies as the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). Would President Sirisena, as the chairman of the SLFP, underwrite his party? Or would he support the UNP and its allies? Both are tricky propositions. Supporting and propping up his party would force him to betray the people who voted him to power. Throwing his weight behind the UNP-led coalition would jeopardize his position within the SLFP. As a compromise, the president may very well choose to stay neutral in the parliamentary election.

However, a neutral stance of the president will indirectly favor the SLFP and force the UNP into a sort of crisis. The UNP cannot be too confident about the general election in April, if one goes by the recent (presidential) election results.

In the last presidential election the UNP-led coalition obtained 51.3 percent of the total votes cast. This coalition is unlikely to be intact, as some of the coalition partners will certainly contest alone. For example, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which endorsed the UNP-led coalition and Sirisena’s candidacy, will contest independently. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which desisted from contesting in January 2015 will also contest.

Presumably, the JVP votes went to Sirisena in the presidential election because the party indirectly campaigned against Rajapaksa. These two parties combined will take about eight percent of the votes Sirisena gained in January. Therefore, the UNP or a UNP-led coalition is unlikely to gain 50 percent of the votes in the general election.

Meanwhile, the 47.6 percent votes Mahinda Rajapaksa polled could be solid SLFP votes, which probably will go to the SLFP or an SLFP-led coalition. Possibly, the only major problem the SLFP will have is the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), which could defect and join the UNP. Defection of the CWC will not dent the SLFP votes too much because the plantation Tamil votes are already split between the CWC and parties that support the UNP. Therefore, if the parliamentary election is held today, the SLFP (and its partners) probably will gain more than 50 percent of the seats in the national legislature.

UNP Strategy

The UNP has about three months to address its electoral concerns. The government is in the process of undertaking three major schemes: (1) introducing constitutional and other reforms to address problems of good governance, (2) trying to address the now deep-rooted culture of corruption in the country, and (3) introducing relief measures to target issues created by the high cost of living. The new government through its interim budget has offered a number of relief measures, including price reduction of some of the essential goods and salary increases.

Obviously, one of the objectives of these schemes, especially the interim budget, is winning more votes in the forthcoming election. These actions may fetch more votes, but they do not guarantee a victory for the UNP-led coalition.

The problem is that a possible collapse of the present bipolar arrangement with President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremasinge at the helm will be a setback for the people who spearheaded the change of governance in January. This could also reverse the reform agenda. A regular election would allow the corruptors, abusers and authoritarians to return to power with ease. A regular election would not be a good idea until the political culture is modified and reformed.

National Government

A solution to this dilemma might be possible if President Sirisena could engineer a short-term alliance based on an electoral pact between the UNP and the SLFP to form a national government. A short-term alliance between the UNP and the SLFP in order to successfully complete the reform program might be the answer to various problems that could emanate from an immediate general election. The history between these two parties does not suggest that they can come together or coexist. On the other hand, currently they are together because the president and the cabinet are cohabitating effectively. Therefore, an arrangement based on the notion of a national government comprising the SLFP and the UNP could be an extension of the present reality. They can part ways when the democratization process is over.

One of the drawbacks of this idea is that there will not be a strong opposition party in parliament because both major parties will be in the government. An effective opposition is important for good governance. However, if the UNP and the SLFP could come together, the responsibility of leading the opposition will rest with the JVP or the TNA. The JVP increasingly is becoming a responsible party promoting democratic ideals. It could continue to be an effective watchdog. Therefore, leaving the opposition to the JVP cannot be such a bad idea. If the TNA wins more seats to become the main opposition, it will be the second experiment. The first experiment in 1977 failed badly.

The post Sri Lanka: A Precarious Transition And National Government? – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Despite numerous international and regional conversations on food security of late, the problem of hunger and malnourishment still persists in Asia. There is a need to relook existing strategies to secure food for affected groups in the region if the vision of a food secure Asia is to be realised by 2025.

By Tamara Nair*

In retrospect, of the many grand-scale food security conversations that have taken place in 2014, few have been all-inclusive. While there are successes in terms of food security in Asia in general, these do not address the needs of the large numbers of hungry and undernourished in the region.

There are growing challenges posed by hunger and undernourishment in Asia as reflected in the inability to meet the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS) target of halving the number of undernourished people by 2015. Perhaps the time has come to broaden the thinking as to who we should be having conversations with and what else we should do to establish secure and equal access to food for everyone.

Beyond availability and access to food

The persistent existence of great numbers of hungry, undernourished people in Asia should prompt a relook at existing approaches of access to and availability of food. Food security is often intertwined with other human insecurities such as lack of economic growth, unemployment, and even unfair economic competition and gender bias. For example women and girls often suffer food insecurities given cultural bias in resource distribution in parts of Asia.

Recent events in the South China Sea involving illegal fishing can be a result of insecurities due to unfair competition, pushing fishermen further beyond their fishing territories. For these groups, food security may well extend beyond issues of increasing food production. Their insecurities can also be steeped in cultural politics played out at the local level.

If the intention is to achieve a food secure region, where hunger and undernourishment is considerably lowered, our ideas on food security must expand and evolve – from access and availability to include addressing drivers of hunger and undernourishment.

Appreciating local complexities

For most Asian nations equal access to food opens up Pandora’s Box in terms of problems that can only be collectively addressed. Some of the ways to address them are the deliberate inclusion of local governments, local communities, welfare organisations, women’s groups and cooperatives, clan or caste associations and human rights advocates. But first, we need to acknowledge that existing food policies might not be effective.

Large numbers of rural and urban poor still go to bed hungry despite impressive economic growth in the region. In addition to looking at increasing food production and trade, we also need to look at the reasons why people are still hungry and undernourished. Hunger and undernourishment are complex issues interwoven with several other insecurities, not just joblessness or the lack of money to buy food. Localised strategies to identify specific conditions triggering these insecurities, including that of food, are essential.

Expanding income-earning opportunities would be a positive step in this direction. Local development strategies should aim towards creating employment opportunities for the poor in both rural and urban settings. This should include job opportunities for women. Numerous local projects around Asia show that as female (or combined household) income earning potential increases, household food insecurity falls.

This is an effective strategy and more resources should be channelled at local levels for this to happen. Unfair competition should be tempered through the creation of local cooperatives that can give vulnerable small-scale food producers greater collective bargaining power in food production and food market activities. Local government or other relevant institutions should also exercise effective targeting strategies to identify deserving beneficiaries for various food safety nets, such as public distribution systems, cash hand-outs or meal distribution.

Political participation

We also need to consider increasing capacities of these groups through effective political participation. There should be opportunities for vulnerable groups to participate in development planning and to some extent, be able to influence decisions made. Local level participation in development strategies can create greater trust between various stakeholders in projects that address poverty or income generation and make agencies more accountable to the beneficiaries of various policies put in place.

These strategies are in place in several Asian countries. However, relentless hunger among the poor and vulnerable indicates that the effectiveness of existing policies should be examined and more should be done to fine tune its reach.

Empowering vulnerable groups with income earning potential, removing unfair competition and giving them opportunities to exercise their rights as citizens will go a long way towards removing barriers that result in creating food insecure groups despite well-meaning policies. These are just some of the complexities that need attention in addition to macro-scale solutions like increased food production and trade.

Towards a food secure ASEAN

ASEAN’s post 2015 agenda will be looking into a 10-year timeframe for food security. The International Food Policy Research Institute has also chosen 2025 as the year the world should aim to eradicate hunger.

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015 has strategies to enhance the long-term competitiveness of regional food commodities. In its grand plans however, it is easy for the vulnerable to slip through the cracks. While AEC presents opportunities for greater integration and growth we need to exercise caution that broad regional agendas do not see some groups become ‘outliers’ in regional development.

Governments should undertake poverty alleviation strategies and support efforts to promote community participation. Such strategies should aim to promote greater trust between stakeholders, provide jobs to generate incomes and help to effectively target food vulnerable groups.

By identifying the food insecure and addressing the complexities of their daily lives, issues of hunger and undernourishment can be better determined. Enhancing the welfare and rights of the citizens can lead to domestic policies that are more pro poor and are able to address their insecurities.

Similarly, regional trade arrangements should include measures to safeguard those who will be most vulnerable to market instabilities. Fairer market conditions will allow ASEAN to achieve greater equitable regional development, which will in turn contribute towards a food secure Asia.

*Tamara Nair is Research Fellow with the Centre for Non Traditional Security (NTS) Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.

The post A Food Secure Asia By 2025: Addressing Vulnerable Groups – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Jax Jacobsen

The World Bank, earlier this month in its Global Economic Outlook for 2015, warned of ‘disappointing’ global trade growth in the international economy. This may spell trouble for ongoing negotiations to secure one of the biggest trade deals in history – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States.

How much has global trade growth slowed down?

The World Bank credited weak international demand for the stagnation of global trade, pointing out that import demand is 19 percent below its predicted level for 2015, largely due to gross domestic product (GDP) falling 4.5 percent below what economists would expect it to be had the 2009 slowdown never happened.

Though global trade had grown at 7 percent per year for the 30-year period preceding the 2009 financial crisis, growth has fallen to approximately half that pace in 2013 and 2014. Global trade growth for the medium term is expected to increase to 5 percent – an increase of less than 1 percent from current levels.

What is slowed growth’s impact on future trade levels?

On a more specific level, the import demand of both the United States and the European Union was down from trend by 20 percent. In a global trading system in which high-income countries account for 65 percent of total global imports, a decrease in import demand in both these regions will have serious negative implications for the rebounding of international trade.

However, the World Bank acknowledges that import demand is a short-term factor which does not fully explain the stagnation of global trade. A more long-term factor which has a much greater impact is the extent by which trade is dependent on income growth. Global GDP is expected to grow by 3 percent (down from an earlier projection of 3.4 percent), but that no longer guarantees an equivalent growth in international trade.

According to the World Bank, international trade is no longer as tractable to global GDP growth as it once was, due to a range of factors such as the maturing of global value chains, lowered spending in investment, and an increase in government spending.

The World Trade Organization cut its own expectations for 2015 global trade growth in September 2014, lowering its estimate from a 5.3 percent to 4 percent. This cut only deepens the dependency of rising trade numbers on economic growth, and further demonstrates the need for new trade agreements to increase global trade growth independent of global GDP growth. This is precisely why the success of the TTIP talks is so vital. If a deal is signed, it is expected to increase the European Union’s economy by $152 billion, while the U.S. economy would grow by US $110 billion.

There are concerns that the slowdown of the EU economy, particularly in Germany and France, may put TTIP talks on hiatus, with EU countries being less willing to open up their economies to additional competition from across the pond at the expense of domestic firms’ profits. Trade specialists on both sides of the negotiations are trying to close the deal before this becomes a major obstacle to the creation of this massive trading bloc.

Other issues on TTIP horizon could derail talks

In mid-January, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom called for further study on one of the more contentious aspects of a trade deal. This could slow down a return to negotiations by as much as six months.

The two sides have already gone through seven rounds of negotiations since the process began in early 2013, with the next round of negotiations originally expected to begin at the start of February in Brussels.

The controversial provision in question concerns the Investor-State Dispute Settlement, which would allow companies investing in foreign countries to sue those countries’ governments should changes in local environmental or health laws impact their profits.

The clause is tremendously unpopular in the EU. Opposition groups in the EU are also unhappy with negotiations they characterize as non-transparent, and believe that it will result in an agreement that will erode governments’ capacity to independently make policy decisions.

Meanwhile, some Americans are concerned that US companies will lose their advantage in bidding for US government contracts (TTIP, when signed, would require equal opportunity for foreign and domestic firms to compete).

Does a breakdown in talks mean an opportunity for Canada?

If TTIP talks were to fail, one country would certainly benefit: Canada.

Canada has been negotiating with the EU on its own Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement for the past five years, and the agreement is now awaiting final signatures.

Canada stands to benefit hugely from the deal, especially if TTIP collapses.

“If the EU-US talks succeed, it will build a bigger market for North America in the European Union,” an insider to the deal told a conference in Montreal in November 2014.

“But if they happen to fail, we’ll have the advantage over the United States.”

This article was published by Geopolitical Monitor.com.

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Families of journalists involved in the Al Jazeera trial, said that Australian journalist Peter Greste left prison early Sunday morning.

The Australian Embassy could not confirm the news, but said it would answer questions from the media on Monday.

Greste was initially handed seven years in a maximum security prison over charges of aiding a terrorist group, tarnishing Egypt’s image abroad, and threatening Egypt’s national security.

He was arrested on 29 December 2013 together with two other Al Jazeera English journalists; Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy, and Egyptian Baher Mohamed.

On 1 January, Egypt’s Court of Cassation accepted an appeal filed in the case of Greste, Fahmy and Mohamed.

Fahmy was handed the same sentence as Greste, while Mohamed was given seven years plus an extra three years for being in possession of a fired bullet casing.

Original article

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An upset Hindu group has urged “Bond Street Chocolate” of New York to withdraw its “Ganesh Chocolate”, which is a figurine of Hindu deity Lord Ganesh made with chocolate, calling it highly inappropriate.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be eaten casually.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged Bond Street Chocolate to show some responsibility, respect and maturity; understand the hurt feelings of Hindu community and stop manufacturing Ganesh shaped edible chocolates.

Rajan Zed indicated that inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees. It was highly insensitive to create an edible Hindu deity.

Zed further said that such trivialization of Hindu deity was disturbing to the Hindus. Hindus were for free expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more, but faith was something sacred and attempts at trivializing it tormented the devotees, Zed pointed out and added that businesses should be respectful to various faith traditions.

Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled, Rajan Zed noted.

In Hinduism, Lord Ganesh is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking. Moksh (liberation) is the ultimate goal of Hinduism. There are about three million Hindus in USA.

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“Poverty affected 28 percent of Latin America’s population in 2014, revealing that its decline has stalled at around that level since 2012, while indigence rose to 12.0 percent from 11.3 percent during the same two-year period in an overall context of economic deceleration”, revealed the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in its report “Social Panorama of Latin America”, presented on Jan. 26.

The ECLAC said that in absolute figures and taking in account the demographic growth, in 2014 the poverty affected 167 million people, 2 million more than 2013. Meanwhile, 71 million suffered extreme poverty or indigence, an increase of 2 million over the previous year.

“The recovery from the international financial crisis does not seem to have been taken advantage of sufficiently to strengthen social protection policies that reduce vulnerability in the face of economic cycles. Now, in a scenario of a possible reduction in available fiscal resources, more efforts are needed to fortify these policies, establishing solid foundations with the aim of fulfilling the commitments of the post-2015 development agenda,” said ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena.

In addition to analyzing poverty in terms of income, the 2014 edition of this annual study presents a complementary and multidimensional measurement that covers five areas: housing, basic services, education, employment and social protection, and standard of living (which refers to monetary income and the possession of durable goods). According to ECLAC, a person is considered poor if he or she is lacking simultaneously in these areas.

“Despite the minimal changes in terms of rates, the new estimates show that extreme poverty has returned to the levels estimated for 2011 and thus lost some of the ground gained in previous years,” the inform said. “This is nothing new — the data set out in previous editions of ‘Social Panorama’ have shown similar trends. According to regional estimates, the downtrend in the rate of poverty and extreme poverty slowed and even reversed in the early years of this decade. This, combined with population growth, pushed the number of extreme poor up for 2013.”

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In the second attack of 2015 on a mosque of the Shia sect in Shikarpur in Sindh over 60 people were martyred. The first attack was in Rawalpindi. Sindh police has een prompt in terming it a suicide attack. Reuters reported that Jundullah, a splinter group of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which last year pledged support to the Islamic State group based in Syria and Iraq, claimed responsibility. “Our target was the Shia mosque … They are our enemies,” said Jundullah spokesman Fahad Marwat.

Residents of Sindh showed complete solidarity with the families who lost their near and dear. The Sindh government announced a day of mourning in solidarity with the families of the victims and said the national flag would fly at half mast and compensation was also announced for the victims’ families.

On the call of Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM), a large number of men, women and children staged sit-in protests in various parts of the provincial capital. Protesters said that terrorists are roaming freely and the government has failed to protect citizens’ lives. MWM was joined by Sunni Ittehad Council, Sunni Alliance, Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek. However, many of the political and religious party remained completely aloof.

Over the years it has been alleged that Punjab offers safe sanctuaries for militants, but PML-N denied this. In the aftermath of the Shikarpur carnage, Federal Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan has accepted the presence of various militant groups and extremists operating in Punjab.

According to scanty information provided to media 14,000 individuals have been hauled up for investigation; 341 allegedly involved in hate speech; 1,100 warned for misuse of loudspeakers; and 41 shops closed for distributing hate material. These numbers pertain only to the recent National Action Plan.

The revelations by the interior minister indicate a continuing unwillingness to be as forthright as possible. Virtually nothing has been done in over a decade to clamp down on extremist and militant outfits in the province. According to the minister the groups operating in the province have soared to 95, well above the nationally banned 72 groups that the interior ministry itself has listed.

His revelation prompts following questions rightly raised by Dawn in one of its editorial:

• Which groups comprise the list of 95 militant/extremist outfits
• Which additional groups have become active in Punjab?
• Who are the leaders of these groups?
• Where do they operate?
• What is their reach?
• Who funds them?
• Which madressahs, mosques or religious networks are they tied to?
• What attacks have they carried out?
• And, perhaps most relevantly, what types of attacks are they suspected of planning?

In any investigation, first the motive of crime has to be determined. Police by declaring this a suicide attack have freed themselves and Reuters reports that involving Jundullah is likely to mislead further investigation.

Linking Jundullah with TTP is totally misleading as these two groups have nothing in common.

While it is almost impossible to deny foreign involvement in such incidences, the real operators are certainly Pakistanis or those coming from other countries having found safe sanctuaries in Pakistan.

One has all the reason to believe that most of the extremist outfits have bases in KPK, Punjab and Baluchistan.

While these operators may kill hundreds of innocent people in those provinces to spread terrorism, killings in Sindh are aimed at making Pakistan economically weaker.

As such the interfaith harmony is at its peak in Sindh and Shia-Sunni rift is not a local phenomenon. Many in Sindh believe that sectarian killing in the province is done by groups based in other provinces.

The post Pakistan: Shia Carnage In Shikarpur – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

By Odomaro Mubangizi*

A recent Pambazuka News issue carried an article by the world reknowned scholar-activist Prof Yash Tandon discussing Pope Francis’ ideas on global poverty as contained in his encyclical (papal letters addressed to the church and the world) ‘The Joy of the Gospel’. Prof Tandon makes an accurate analysis of the Pope’s critique of the global international system that creates too much wealth while leaving many people wallowing in abject poverty. This critique of the global system has left some champions of unbridled free market economy uncomfortable, since their economic theories are challenged as not being the best solution to solve global poverty.

Now that even secular scholars like Prof Tandon have developed an intellectual interest in Pope Francis’s ideas, it is high time we looked more closely at the deeper insights informing the Supreme Pontiff’s bold claims and massive global following even among non-Christians. The theory that will inform this discussion is that of Joseph Nye known as ‘Soft power’—the ability to attract – as opposed to the ‘hard power’ of economics and militarism or force. Clearly, Pope Francis has demonstrated a rare skill to wield soft power in a world facing the crisis of the international order. The second conceptual framework that can help us understand Pope Francis’ global appeal is that of global governance, that recognizes the fact that non-state actors are now part and parcel of the governance architecture, crucial among these actors being faith-based organizations, among which the Roman Catholic Church occupies a strategic position.

Why does Pope Francis capture the imagination of vast audiences across the globe as he travels to different parts of the world? Why do the statements he makes leave a deep and lasting impression in the minds and hearts of millions if not billions of people?

ARE WE FACING A CRISIS OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER?

Francis Fukuyama announced the “end of history” celebrating the triumph of liberal democracy and the free market over communism and state controlled economies. This triumphalism was short-lived when fundamentalist groups rose to the occasion with the dramatic 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers. The rest, they say is history. The end of the Cold War did not usher in the much anticipated global peace and prosperity. While some countries have indeed prospered with the opening of the economies, some have remained trapped in abject poverty. While some countries are safe and stable, others have been declared failed states, the most dramatic being Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq to name a few.

The uni-polar world that was ushered by the end of the Cold War has also brought new threats to the international system. Key among these are global terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al Shabab and Islam State militants. One wonders who is in charge of bringing peace in the current international system. It is not clear as to why a rug-tag of armed groups such as Boko Haram can hold an entire state machinery at ransom as the international system looks on helplessly. And it is not only African states that are under threat—just consider what the militant group did in France recently. Then add the Ebola crisis that took the West African states by surprise and all the health care systems as well as the international system could not contain the pandemic in a reasonable time.

2015 was the deadline for meeting the much celebrated Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Some countries have made great strides in meeting these, but others have failed to meet the goals. Another set of Sustainable Development Goals has been designed and will soon be launched. 2015 is supposed to be the year of Action. There is hope and some pessimism.

This is the context in which Pope Francis’ prophetic voice has come on the global stage with some fresh insights as a thought leader of immense global stature. Is he a credible voice to bring humanity to the basics? Will the world political leaders pay heed? Will his global vision be embraced by international policy makers?

ELEMENTS OF POPE FRANCIS’ SOFT POWER

One who heads the Roman Catholic Church has to be exceedingly humble to avoid the temptation of power tripping. Do not be deceived by the Vatican State (seat of the Supreme Pontiff) that is just 109 acres of land! The Vatican also has diplomatic missions in about 122 countries and still counting; Catholic Dioceses are over 2000. The number of catholic schools, hospitals, charitable agencies such as Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and Caritas far outweigh those of any single country on earth. One who leads such a multinational system can easily be corrupted by what Lord Acton characterized as: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Right from the time of his election as Pope, Francis portrayed himself as a humble servant who even begged Christians to bless him. And his famous phrase “Who am I to judge” has won the hearts of many.

Without comparing Pope Francis with previous pontiffs, it is clear that while in general previous popes tended to pontificate and issue complex doctrines, he tries to use simple and straightforward messages from his heart. He oftentimes delivers homilies not from a written text but from his heart. In his messages, he tries to bring out issues of the poor and suffering as needing great attention as opposed to deep theological doctrines. This makes him very close to the ordinary people. The fact that he comes from Argentina, a developing country, makes him a champion of the world’s majority who struggle for basics of life.

While the world is deeply polarized along religious lines with fundamentalist groups wrecking havoc, he tries to preach religious tolerance, stressing what unites than what divides. His recent trip to Turkey was such a gesture. He also recently joined other religious leaders to form a global network against human trafficking. He takes the suffering of humanity very seriously. He does not let the plight of refugees who cross dangerous seas escape his attention.

Even on some delicate moral issues such as divorced couples, he tries to show compassion rather than being judgmental. He has called upon the universal church to rethink its attitude towards those whose marriages are in difficulties or who even divorce. He even dares to address delicate issues of new marital arrangements that are not consistent with the church’s doctrine, stressing the need for understanding rather than condemnation.

On some delicate international issues such as war and economics, he does not shy away from calling for peaceful resolution of conflicts, avoiding offensive publications that might provoke violent reactions and challenging the unequal distribution of the world’s resources. He has curved for himself a niche as a conscience of the world amidst hushed voices from the high and the mighty.

POPE FRANCIS COMING TO AFRICA 2015

True to the pattern of Pope Francis’ option for the marginalized sections of society, it has been informally said that he is coming to Africa later in the year. The lucky countries to be visited are Uganda and Central African Republic. While the Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi was guarded on the exact dates for the papal African trip, there were underground preparations in Uganda, as soon as the sacred rumor started making rounds. Late last year, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni made a trip to the Vatican, and it is reported that he, together with the Catholic hierarchy in Uganda had extended an invitation to Pope Francis to visit Uganda.

The choice for Uganda has great justification. Uganda is home to the famous Uganda Martyrs whose national feast is celebrated on 3rd June. The catholic population in Uganda is about 45% of the 37 million Ugandans, with a vibrant Christian faith. If you add the protestants who are about 35% of the population, then you have a predominantly Christian country that can host Pope Francis with pomp. The last time the Supreme pontiff visited Uganda was in 1993 when Pope John Paul visited the pearl of Africa (as Winston Churchill labeled Uganda). This was 21 years ago. But the history of popes visiting Uganda dates back to 1969 when Pope Paul VI visited Uganda and consecrated over 30 African Bishops—it was the first time a Pope visited the African continent. There is also a geopolitical advantage for selecting Uganda. The region that is much talked about as the Great Lakes Region has Uganda as the epicenter. People from Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia, will easily come to Uganda to catch a glimpse of the Holy Father. In fact, every 3rd June pilgrims who come to celebrate the Uganda Martyrs day trek from Kenya, Rwanda, and DRC, taking several days by road to the Uganda Martyrs Shrine in Kampala. And of course Uganda has had its fair share of political turmoil, significant being the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency that lasted over 23 years wrecking havoc in Northern Uganda. Scars left by this ugly war need to be healed by the Pope’s visit.

Going by the trend so far, Pope Francis is likely to attract a mammoth crowd of believers and fans of all creeds and ideological persuasion. Of course, the politicians in Uganda will maximize their political capital from such a high profile visit. Elections are due 2016 – the timing is perfect. Such a high profile visit will also be an opportunity to speak about governance, peace and care for the needy and marginalized.

Uganda’s weather is ideal for hosting a large crowd of papal enthusiasts. Open fields with Kampala’s tropical climate will provide free shelter, as it always happens on the Uganda Martyrs day. Uganda is also blessed with abundant food. Kampala city can comfortably feed over 10 million people for a week. Another vital factor is security in the country. There has been relative security for over 25 years—pilgrims will freely roam the streets of Kampala at any time of the day including the night.

Will there be enough accommodation for such a large crowd of people? Uganda hosted Commonwealth Heads of State Summit in 2007. Lots of hotels were built for this global event and many more have been added – “There are many rooms in Uganda’s mansions.” But also given Uganda’s hospitality, many families will be willing to host pilgrims. No doubt, the Pope’s visit will also boost Uganda’s “soft economy”—especially tourism and hospitality. The visit will bring not only heavenly but also economic blessings.

The other choice, Central African Republic is also on target. This country has gone through tough times with Christians fighting with Moslems. Pope Francis’ soft power is much needed to bring about healing and dialogue between Moslems and Christians. And there is a good balance: Uganda being an English speaking country and Central African Republic being a French Speaking country.

With the mantra of Africa rising, Pope Francis will boost this optimism of Africa on the rise and also help to amplify the voice of those who are promoting social justice and good governance on the continent. Pope Francis’ soft power is what Africa needs in dealing with Al Shabab , Boko Haram, the conflicts in South Sudan, Eastern DRC, Central African Republic, and the influx of refugees.

As Africans wait eagerly for Pope Francis’ visit to the rising continent, the year 2015 will move quite fast. No one knows what other events will happen in this mysterious continent as the year 2015 unfolds. The wish is that 2015 becomes Africa’s year of jubilee and prosperity both in material and spiritual terms.

CONCLUSION

Given the current crisis in the international order, Pope Francis has come as a fresh impetus to boost humanity’s optimism. He has come just at the right time when the world needs a sober voice that can address humanity without being trapped into ideologies or dogmas that usually polarize. Those who hold the possibility of cosmopolitics or global governance have an ally in the person of Pope Francis. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will replace MDGs have a worthy ambassador in Pope Francis.

The question lingering in many people’s minds is: Will the world listen to Pope Francis and heed his call for a more caring and compassionate humanity? Will the world leaders who have been schooled in and intoxicated by political realism as a norm for international relations embrace a more humane vision of dialogue, solidarity and care for one another and the environment, for which Pope Francis stands?

Of course, there are some who interpret Pope Francis’ non-dogmatic stance as lack of sharp clarity on moral issues. To such we can only say, humanity has come a long way, and our long experience on plate earth assures us that moral and ethical issues are never in black and white. Human beings are much more complex than simple doctrinal formulations can comprehend. Those who prefer that humanity goes back to the time of the inquisition to settle doctrinal issues may try their luck. But fundamentalist groups currently abound to give us sufficient evidence against that dangerous path. Soft power is the way to go. Jesus himself, for whom Pope Francis is a vicar on earth, offered an alternative vision for humanity and also espoused soft power using concepts such as: love of neighbor, love of enemy, compassion, helping the needy and forgiveness.

It is hoped that Pope Francis’ soft power will bring fresh perspectives on how to address Africa’s burning issues of uneven economic development, sluggish democratization processes, pockets of insecurity and misuse of natural resources.

* Dr Odomaro Mubangizi teaches philosophy and theology at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Addis Ababa and is Dean of the Philosophy Department, as well as Editor of Justice, Peace and Environment Bulletin.

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