November 18, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Pres. Obama has reportedly secured Chinese president Hu Jintao’s pledge of cooperation on global economic recovery, efforts to curb emissions and combat climate destabilization, and nuclear non-proliferation, both in Iran and North Korea. The pledge of cooperation came despite Obama’s demand that China honor the “universal” human rights of its people, alongside differences over how strongly to pressure Iran to guarantee its nuclear pursuits are legal and peaceful in nature.
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November 17, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Last week, the United States’ ambassador to Afghanistan, retired Lt.-Gen. Karl Eikenberry, warned against sending any additional troops to Afghanistan in support of the corrupt system of government headed by Hamid Karzai, who appears to have rigged the recent presidential election that returned him to power. Investigative reporter and Afghanistan specialist Peter Bergen has told CNN the comment is “seismic”, but warned a delay based on waiting for the Afghan government to become less corrupt could mean years without effective resolution of security conditions there.
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November 16, 2009 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
In a vile new low, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani has said he expects bringing the accused 9/11 mastermind to justice will directly cause new terror attacks on New York. Mr. Giuliani is now seeking to use the memory of 9/11 and the very real and lasting trauma felt by so many people, to [...]
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November 11, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: Comments Off
Lebanon has formed a new government of “national accord”, which will include majority leader and prime minister designate Saad Hariri and also representatives of Hezbollah, the militia group seen as a terrorist threat by Israel, and which was the target of an Israeli bombing campaign in 2006. The UN Security Council congratulated Lebanon on moving forward with national unity and wished the new government well.
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November 11, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
This report alleges widespread routine abuse of foreign-born domestic workers in Lebanon. Domestic workers are excluded from Lebanese labor regulations and does not monitor treatment in the home. It is reportedly common for employers of foreign domestic workers to illegally seize their passports upon arrival and forbid them to leave the home.
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November 8, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Haley Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi, today told David Gregory on NBC’s Meet the Press that the president’s decision about whether to send more troops to Afghanistan should not be politicized by Republicans. He said that he’s always been of the mind that domestic politics should “stop at the border” and that the president [...]
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November 1, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan’s former foreign minister, has declared his withdrawal in protest from the presidential runoff election against Pres. Hamid Karzai. Abdullah says Karzai’s refusal to make key changes to the electoral commission —appointed by Karzai— to prevent a repeat of massive widespread fraud means there is no way the runoff can be free, [...]
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October 19, 2009 :: The Editors :: Comments Off
A suicide bombing yesterday in Pishin killed at least 6 Revolutionary Guards commanders and 37 other people and appears to be an attempt to strike at the leadership of the nation’s premier security forces. Tehran attributes the bombing to what it alleges are “western” efforts to destabilize Iran. There are also concerns the bombing may [...]
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October 18, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: Comments Off
The fraud perpetrated in Afghanistan’s election was so pervasive, international monitors fear it may never be possible to determine the actual results. At least 1.5 million ballots are believed to be illegal or fake votes. Entire district tallies are reported to be possibly comprised of fake ballots. The report from the UN-backed electoral complaints commission [...]
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October 16, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
There are rumors circulating that Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, is dead, or in a coma. The rumors are unconfirmed, which also means not proven false, and this has spurred still further speculation that the rumors might be true and Iran’s government struggling to determine how to see a smooth transition to a successor’s reign. The most prominent cleric after Khamene’i is a staunch opponent of the government of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.
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October 15, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
School taxes are soaring, but schools are losing funding. States are going bankrupt and teachers are being threatened with mass layoffs. Property taxes are high, but property values are falling, and banks won’t refinance and won’t make new loans. The federal government is working to foster economic recovery through targeted investment, lending and community-building projects. But states are dealing with the budget crisis by hiking property taxes and shifting more responsibility to municipalities.
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September 30, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
An 8.0-magnitude earthquake, off the coast of Samoa, has resulted in a tsunami that came ashore just minutes after warnings were issued. Many areas received no warning, and officials now say at least 99 people have died. They also estimate the death toll could rise steadily as remote areas are accessed and the full scale of the tsunami is better understood and a comprehensive count of missing persons can be made.
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September 29, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
In Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus’ advanced counter-insurgency strategy worked because a large key population, in Anbar province, wanted it to work. Petraeus, the leading counter-insurgency intellectual among the American military brass, was elevated to Iraq operations commander, because there was a need to use his know-how in community-building-linked counter-insurgency. The Anbar Awakening, however, was a grassroots, local movement among clergy, police and communities that wanted to push insurgents out.
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September 27, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Iran’s precarious ruling power bloc, centered around Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i and Pres. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, continues to use detention as a means of silencing the opposition. The Green Path of Hope movement started by Ahmedinejad presidential rival, the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, has continued to stage protests and demands the release of leading politicians being held for protesting the legitimacy of the 12 June election.
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September 22, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
Pres. Barack Obama today delivered his first address to the UN General Assembly, promoting cooperation to green the global economy and combat climate change. He pledged the US would lead by example, and called on other nations to find common ground and work to secure the global environment against irreversible degradation.
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September 22, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The UN General Assembly, which brings together every head of government in the world, to offer their country’s position on issues, their country’s demands regarding trade and conflict negotiations, their country’s hopes for a more harmonious world, this year truly grapples with issues of global consensus. Economic recovery, for many parts of the world, will require an unprecedented expansion of women’s rights and sustained attention to responsible environmental stewardship.
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September 9, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The Communist party boss for Xinjiang province was is known as one of China’s toughest remaining strongmen, according to numerous reports. But when somewhere between 1,000 and 20,000 residents of Urumqi, the regional capital, took to the streets, Beijing reacted by removing the party chief in hopes of curbing inter-ethnic unrest and growing anti-government sentiment.
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September 3, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Since the day of the Afghan presidential election, there has been heated rhetoric on both sides, complete with accusations of massive vote-rigging, hostile acts, intimidation and other attempts to distort the voting process. By all accounts, it is amazing that the Afghan vote went ahead in a climate of outright terror and intimidation, owing to the Taliban-led insurgency and brutal attacks on civilians, including women and young girls.
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August 31, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The Japanese opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has won an historic landslide victory in the nation’s parliament. Winning 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, the DPJ now holds a nearly two-thirds super-majority, and has a mandate to effect major change in government. Yukio Hatoyama says his party will break the bureaucracy and pave the way for a more dynamic, 21st-century Japan.
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August 30, 2009 :: staff :: 3 Comments
Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has thrown off the veil of pretending to honor democratic constitutional process, calling for the prosecution of opposition candidates for their criticism of his policies and the handling of the election. Even as Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, the supreme leader, acknowledged Wednesday that opposition leaders are not in league with any foreign [...]
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August 25, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 4 Comments
Iran has put on trial a fourth group of leading opposition supporters, including some who served as ministers in the reformist government of former president Mohammad Khatami. The prosecution alleges the accused are guilty of conspiring with foreign powers to sow civil unrest in Iran and destabilize the republic. Opposition leaders and independent observers say the accused are being put on trial for nothing more than being in the opposition, within a democratic system.
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August 21, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Both Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s incumbent and only post-Taliban president, and his main rival Abdullah Abdullah, claim they are ahead in early counting of the ballots. According to Australia’s ABC news service, “there are reports that in some parts of the country there has been violence, irregularities, and low voter turnout”. The procedural troubles have arisen despite word from international observers that the election appeared to be largely peaceful and to meet democratic standards.
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August 17, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
The Iranian government has ordered the closure of an opposition newspaper which was to publish a statement by opposition candidate Medhi Karoubi —3rd in the June election tally—alleging Iranian security forces were raping political prisoners. Karoubi had made the claim previously, and says there is evidence to support the claim; his statement was to defend himself against criticism from the government and might have included evidence. The paper’s closure effectively stops the publication of his statement in the Iranian press.
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August 15, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: Comments Off
Sen. James Webb (D-VA) has won the release of American John Yettaw, who was sentenced to 7 years, including hard labor, for swimming to Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s lakefront home, effectively breaching the terms of her house arrest. Suu Kyi’s house arrest was extended by 18 months after she was convicted for allowing Yettaw to rest and recuperate at her home; the sentence will exclude her from the planned 2010 elections process.
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August 15, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
A World Bank study has projected that the global financial crisis and resulting recession will plunge some 53 million people across “emerging markets” —like China and India— into absolute poverty, in 2009 alone. In China, tens of millions of people have lost jobs related to the export-dependent manufacturing sector.
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August 13, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
Pres. Barack Obama yesterday hosted 16 new Medal of Freedom recipients at the White House, honoring their lifelong contributions to the expansion of human understanding and the promotion of individual liberty and human dignity. Among the recipients were scientists and activists, soldiers and political leaders, preachers and athletes, native Americans, African Americans, Latin Americans, Africans and Asians. The 16 laureates exemplify not only rare talent and indomitable spirit, but also a devotion to human dignity and understanding.
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August 11, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The military junta that rules Burma —which it has renamed Myanmar— with authoritarian zeal has handed down a guilty verdict against the nation’s leading pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi. Human Rights Watch says the verdict is a “reprehensible abuse of power”. US president Barack Obama has called the process a “show trial” and has called for Suu Kyi’s immediate, unconditional release.
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August 11, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: Comments Off
In the first election since the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the Tamil Tiger rebels), ethnic Tamil voters appear to have signaled their desire to achieve self-rule. A pro-rebel party won the largest number of seats in local council elections in Vavuniya and the second most in Jaffna.
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August 7, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The great Coral Triangle, a region of coral-dense seas demarcated by Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor L’Este, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the Philippines, is said to be 10 times as biodiverse as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. 76% of all known species of coral are found in the Coral Triangle, and warming ocean temperatures are causing advanced coral bleaching and endangering the entire regional ecosystem.
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August 5, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
During a brief mission to the North Korean capital Pyongyang, former US president Bill Clinton secured the release of two jailed Korean-American reporters, Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Lee and Ling had been sentenced to 12 years hard labor for allegedly violating North Korean law by filming without state permission. Clinton met personally with DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, who is reported to be in ill health, and there is speculation the visit could create an opening for US-DPRK dialogue on a range of issues.
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August 2, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
The Iranian government has begun trials in which it alleges some 100 participants in the post-election opposition protests were violent rioters and terrorists seeking to overthrow the government. A number of officials in the government say the trials were begun without their being notified and may already be in violation of fundamental due process laws.
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August 1, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Corazon Aquino, who served as the 10th president of the Philippines, has died due to complications from colon cancer, at the age of 76. She is known affectionately by millions of Filipinos by the nickname Cory, and is remembered as the woman who helped orchestrate the ‘People Power’ non-violent revolution that deposed the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. She served as president from 1986 through 1992.
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July 30, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
The alleged violent, even lethal brutality which Iran’s security forces have used against detained opposition supporters has mushroomed into a full-blown prisoner-abuse scandal that is sowing anger and shock among the people of Iran. The alleged abuses run the gamut from mass beatings in darkness, ripping off of finger and toe nails and forcing detainees to lick the inside of dirty toilets. At least 150 people are estimated to have been killed in the crackdown, since the 12 June vote.
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July 29, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The United States is working to develop closer strategic and economic relations with China. The relationship has always been tricky, due to the binary opposition of strategies, which is convenient for those who would like to disqualify the other side’s policies as “evil” or contrary to all reason. Pres. Barack Obama has been clear that he sees the US-China relationship as one of global ethical responsibility, and the driving economic and political bond in the 21st century.
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July 25, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The Iranian opposition has grown resurgent as top clerics decried the government’s crackdown on civilian demonstrators and called for the release of political prisoners and accountability and legitimacy among the leadership. Now, a global day of action has been organized by Iranian opposition groups in exile, with demonstrations in Manila, Seoul, Brussels, Berlin, London, New York and elsewhere.
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July 23, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
Access to the internet must be a basic human right, across the globe, for a number of reasons. First of all, legitimate, transparent democratic processes of government require in today’s world that information flow freely and that citizens be empowered to share information and to find information, according to their choices and their needs.
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July 23, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: Comments Off
The 26-year civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been declared ended, with the taking of the Tigers’ last strongholds, the reported “liberation” of the civilian population of the region, and the killing of LTTE founder and supreme commander Velupillai Prabhakaran, whom the government declared to have died on 18 May 2009, in an attack on an ambulance reportedly carrying LTTE leaders.
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July 20, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Former president and leading reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami has urged that Iran hold a nationwide referendum to allow voters to judge whether the 12 June election was legitimate or whether the government has sought to stay in power through mass fraud and other illegal means. Several reformist websites have reportedly carried the news, with Khatami saying “Durability of order and continuation of the country’s progress hinge on restoring public trust”.
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July 19, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
The Khmer Rouge sought to establish a red Khmer empire in Cambodia, with some ambitions of expansion beyond the nation’s borders, by stamping out any human life or mind that varied from the project, as narrowly conceived by Pol Pot and his murderous regime. The “killing fields” that ensued, with the mass slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million people, were an attempt to establish a new break in time, the time before and the time after the purification —as the regime proposed— of all Cambodia.
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July 19, 2009 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
Sami al-Haj, a reporter working for TV news network al-Jazeera, was jailed for six years at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, before being cleared and released. He is now setting up a team to file suit against former Pres. George W. Bush and other officials within his administration for damages related to his imprisonment.
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July 19, 2009 :: staff :: 7 Comments
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is back on the world stage, making a major visit to India, to discuss strategic issues, energy, diplomacy and counter-terrorism. She used her arrival to warn India not to make the same mistakes the US has made in delaying action to reduce emissions and combat climate change. She suggested “a great country like India” has the resources and ingenuity to avoid falling into the same traps of political inaction.
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July 18, 2009 :: Denver Lessing :: Comments Off
Pictures and video from Tehran yesterday showed government forces storming into huge crowds of unarmed civilians, many of them gathered to support the opposition leaders who had gone to Tehran University to listen to Ayatollah Rafsanjani, a leading cleric and former president, deliver a sermon at Friday prayers. The security forces rode motorcycles into crowds of demonstrators and used teargas and batons to assault those assembled.
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July 17, 2009 :: staff :: 4 Comments
Wearing green wristbands indicative of support for Mir Hossein Mousavi’s opposition movement, a large but undetermined number of protesters gathered outside Tehran University, after prayers led by Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to express their support for the defeated presidential candidate and his charges of election fraud. The Ayandeh news web site estimates that between 1.5 million and 2.5 million people gathered around Tehran University, either to get a glimpse of Friday prayers or show support for the opposition.
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July 17, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Opposition presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi will reportedly attend Friday prayers in Tehran, to be led by Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, their most powerful supporter in the clerical establishment, seen as a chief rival to Pres. Ahmedinejad and Ayatollah Khamene’i. The event will be the opposition leaders’ first public appearance since the disputed presidential election of 12 June.
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July 13, 2009 :: Denver Lessing :: Comments Off
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the secret CIA program, allegedly ordered concealed from Congress by then vice president Dick Cheney, was a plan to kill or capture Al-Qaeda operatives, in response to a 2001 directive of Pres. George W. Bush. The secret program’s existence —though not its details— became known last week when sources involved in the CIA director’s testimony on the issue made known Cheney’s involvement in ordering the CIA not disclose the program’s existence to Congress.
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July 13, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: One Comment
Amid a flurry of damning reports about Bush-era counterterrorism tactics and government secrecy, CNN now reports “President Obama has ordered national security officials to look into allegations that the Bush administration resisted efforts to investigate a CIA-backed Afghan warlord over the killings of hundreds of Taliban prisoners in 2001.”
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July 12, 2009 :: staff :: 5 Comments
The death toll in the capital of Xinjiang rose last week from initial reports of 100, to 140 killed, then 156. Now, there are reports that over 180 people have died in the inter-ethnic clashes between Uighur muslims and ethnic Han Chinese, relative newcomers to the region, brought in by policies imposed from Beijing. Reports of who exactly has borne the brunt of the violence are still difficult to confirm.
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July 12, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Honey is a surprisingly complex and mysterious substance, known to have antibacterial properties, but which continues to reveal new qualities apparently favorable to human health. Now, scientists in Australia have discovered that a specific type of honey, is highly effective at killing the multi-resistant “superbug” MRSA. The discovery could give medical science a way to combat the spread of multi-resistant bacterial strains.
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July 11, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Former US vice president Dick Cheney has been linked to the 8-year long cover-up of a secret CIA project about which Congress was never briefed, until last month. The current director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, only learned of the secret project —details of which have still not been released— last month. He immediately ordered its closure. Now, it has been revealed that in a closed-door briefing last month with members of Congress, Panetta revealed that former vice-president Cheney ordered the project be concealed from Congress.
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July 11, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: Comments Off
As part of its deal to transition major security operations in Iraq to the Iraqi military and civil authorities, the United States has released 5 Iranian officials it had been holding on charges of engaging in covert operations inside Iraq. The officials —whom Iran calls diplomats— were released into the custody of Iraqi authorities, were met personally by prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, and were officially freed by Iraq.
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