Geopolemics Home Page

Afghanistan

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:03:03 +0100

Back to full scale war?
The 15 April attacks in Kabul and a number of other locations in eastern Afghanistan were unusual in terms of the number of attackers committed (almost 40), but more importantly because of its likely target audience. The wave of attacks seems in fact to have been meant to show to the rank-and-file of the Taliban that there was no issue of the leadership negotiating while the fighters were risking their lives in the battlefield. The Qatar negotiations had been meant to be secret, but once they were disclosed last summer the Taliban were seriously embarrassed. By 2012 signs of disconcert and of declining discipline within the Taliban ranks were emerging, including with some senior people opening up their own private talks. One of them, Mullah Ismail, was arrested and perhaps even executed for this (as well as for having taken a sizeable bag of money as a reward). The Taliban have now to get this divisive phase behind them; whoever leaked the information about the Qatar talks to Kabul in the summer of 2011 achieved his aims of sabotaging the negotiating effort.

Denial
In the meanwhile the Afghan government still seems in denial of the fact that the 'western imperialists' are now slowly on their way out. Every week some news emerges of a new decision. In this sense, the Australians announce that they will be out by June 2013, so also do the Norwegians. The French might

Albania

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:05:10 +0100

Albanians represent one of the largest ethnic diaspora in Europe, with three million inhabitants of the country itself, three million more in the Balkans as a whole and a million across Europe. This NATO member has tried abortively to achieve EU accession status, but been thwarted in its attempts by the sparring of its two main political factions, the right wing, Alliance for Change coalition, to which Prime Minister Sali Berisha belongs, and the Socialists, whose divisions have led to a state of political gridlock. Accusations of ongoing corruption have also tarnished the reputation of this nation, whose transition to democracy has been turbulent.

Following a March 2 meeting with EU senior officials in Brussels, Albania's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edmond Haxhinasto, optimistically told the press that the country stood a 'realistic' chance of gaining candidate status. On March 19, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that Hungary supported Albania's accession to the EU following a meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha in Budapest. The EU Delegation to Albania has made a series of gestures towards improving Albania's rights record and tolerance, by offering 10 NGOs grants worth a total of �1.2 million to promote democratization, with particular reference to the representation of rural women in political life, access to economic opportunities for victims of domestic

Armenia

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:15:10 +0100

On May 6, parliamentary elections will be held in the Caucasus nation of Armenia. To many outside observers, the political landscape is a flurry of acronyms, characterized by shifting alliances. The sheer proliferation of parties makes it a challenge to untangle the various interests at stake. What is clear, however, is that electoral fraud has beset past elections, and many view current President Serzh Sargsyan as synonymous with a host of practices which call into question the political elite's alleged commitment to democracy.

At the helm of this nation of three million people is currently the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), which officially holds 63 seats in the country's 131-member parliament and also benefits from the support of around a dozen nominally independent deputies. Led by Serzh Sargsyan, who has been president since 2008, they are also the favourites to win May's trip to the polls. Since the last election, the ruling coalition comprised of the President's Republican Party, Gagik Zaroukian's Prosperous Armenia Party, Arthur Baghdassaryan's Country of Laws Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) (Dashnag party), which later defected. The other main party, which used to be a coalition partner of the HHK, is the prosperous Armenia Party (BHK). This is run by Gagik Tsarukian, a businessman often regarded as a prot�g� of Robert Kocharian, the second president of Armenia, from 1998-2008. Th

Azerbaijan

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:24:45 +0100

Azerbaijan, a Caspian nation of nine million people and the third largest holder of oil and gas in the post-Soviet space, continues to be held in the authoritarian grip of President Ilham Aliyev who succeeded his father Heydar in 2003. Memorably likened in a Wikileaks cable to a 'mafia crime boss', Aliyev has courted controversy over rights abuses in his secular regime, which is oiled by a booming energy sector. Like neighbouring kleptocracies he is accused of overseeing a system in which the gap between rich and poor is widening and the infringement of civil rights a regular occurrence.

Last year Azerbaijan had the unlikely good fortune of winning Europe's famed Eurovision song contest - the result being that this May its capital, Baku, will host the event which gains considerable media attention across the continent. The central Asian nation already has a predilection for grandiose construction projects funded with the gains from the oil and gas boom. The capital city prides itself on presenting a gleaming facade to Western investors and the international media. The necessity of building a venue to host Eurovision has been an opportunity for the Aliyev regime to splurge an undisclosed amount of funds on the 'Crystal Hall', a 23,000-seat auditorium on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The building project has attracted waves of anger from local citizens after the town council allegedly evicted scores of people from t

Bangladesh

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:54:55 +0100
After the news of a coup attempt by sections of the Bangladeshi army with Islamist sympathies earlier this year, the ruling government has whipped up pressure against the Opposition parties by instituting a second tribunal against BNP and Jamaat leaders who have allegedly committed war crimes. The decision came immediately after the BNP, the key Opposition party in Bangladesh, staged massive protests against the Awami League government and asked it to step down. With high-profile figures from both the Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP to be tried, the move has been termed as being politically motivated. Whether or not the current government will survive the political heat of the mass rallies by the Opposition parties is still to be seen, the post-coup attempt political atmosphere is definitely heating up. On a developmental note, Bangladesh is proactively tapping cheap energy sources from its South Asian neighbours to fill a large energy deficit that it faces. Nobel Laureate says "No Thanks !" Bangladesh's Dr. Muhammad Yunus, who won a Nobel Prize for his work in microfinance, says that he had no interest in becoming the new head of the World Bank despite being proposed for the position by PM Sheikh Hasina. Having accused Dr. Yunus for "sucking blood from the poor" in December 2010, Hasina's move came as a surprise. She has often clashed with the 70-year old who founded the Grameen Bank in 1983 to provide small loans to the

Belarus

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:47:59 +0100
Authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenko has released two political prisoners held since a crackdown on the opposition in December 2010, but the surprising move could only be a small concession that does not necessarily mean that he plans to bow down to EU and local pressure to release the remaining prisoners or to do more to respect human rights and democracy.

On April 14, former Belarus presidential candidate and leading opposition figure Andrey Sannikau was released from prison. The 58-year-old former deputy foreign minister had been detained since he was arrested on 19 December 2010 at a rally held on the night flawed elections saw President Alyaksandr Lukashenko remain in power. The next morning, Dzmitry Bandarenka a democratic activist and former campaign aide to Sannikau who was arrested at the same rally in 2010, was also freed.

The pardons were an unexpected response to Western pressure over the persistent rights abuses in Belarus, which became intolerable when the President won another term in a December 2010 vote that was marred by fraud and criticised by international observers. That vote sparked large rallies that police brutally dispersed, and seven of the nine presidential candidates were arrested alongside thousands of political activists. The EU called for all prisoners to be released and applied sanctions against Lukashenko's regime an asset freeze and visa ban on the president and 156 other key officials two months af

Bosnia Herzegovina

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:03:18 +0100

The central government of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, newly formed after a year and a half of political gridlock has a fully charged agenda as spring approaches. Whilst it has, in its three months of existence, hastened to tackle some pressing matters, such as settling on a budget to redress some of the backward economic momentum of the past two years and examining its EU accession plans, there are an overwhelming number of matters to clarify after a lengthy spell in the wilderness.

Since February, Bosnia has been at odds with the International Monetary Fund over its budget. The fund has demanded that Bosnia reform its budget if it wishes to receive a $1.44 billion loan initially agreed upon in 2008. After an initially querulous response, Bosnia's Prime Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda, who chairs the Fiscal Council, announced to the press at the start of March that the state will negotiate for a new arrangement. A requisite of gaining IMF support, which many Bosnians across the two autonomous regions view as the best way of regulating the country's balance books, was to draw up a three-year budget framework. This has now been done, with the general fiscal framework for the consolidated central budget in the next three years set at $634.6 million per year. The issue of Bosnia's economy, which has suffered greatly from the period without a central government, is complicated by the fact, that whilst there is now

RECOVERY OR RUIN

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:23:19 +0000

"FEAR HAS REPLACED TRUST IN OUR APPROACH TO THE ECONOMY"

"The great economic thinkers of the 20th Century, Keynes and Galbraith, knew that left to their own devices, the bankers and financiers would bring the roof in on the whole system. Banking as we have known it has totally failed and must be replaced by a new and preferably more democratically structured global format".

"The mind-boggling global financial derivatives market, including interest rate and credit default swaps at the end of 2007, had a gross value of an estimated $393 trillion. Ignorance plays a large role here. The truth is that even now nobody knows exactly how bad things are and how many trillions of uncollected derivative debts are still out there. More than $200 trillion in open derivative contracts were not on the balance sheets because so many of the derivatives were zero sum contracts where one liability was set off against another credit elsewhere.

"What is called for in this global economic crisis is an entirely new economic order".

Bulgaria

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:19:43 +0100

The EU's poorest member state, Bulgaria, has had a frenetic few months. The country's Prime Minister, Boiko Borisov, the head of the popular ruling GERB party, has recently overseen a number of cabinet dismissals, designed to re-energize the flagging departments of health and energy, which he believes are in need of urgent reform. The firings represent, some say, an attempt to propitiate the populace in a country in which mass protests are becoming increasingly frequent. Bulgaria's long-standing problems of corruption, organized crime and a lack of transparency are not only the concerns of the European Union, which continues to take Sofia to task but also of its citizens themselves. With an election looming, Borisov has a hearty incentive to take note of any signs of popular discontent.

On March 16, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov announced a cabinet reshuffle, supposedly to tackle problems in the energy and health sector ahead of the 2013 election. Although Borisov's centre-right GERB party retains considerable popular support, certainly more so than the socialist opposition, there are fears that the economic situation will dent the ruling party's popularity. Outgoing Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov will be replaced by his former deputy, Delyan Dobrev, ostensibly for failing to implement any major energy projects since the GERB party came to power in July 2009. "If we must compare energy during t

Croatia

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:52:43 +0000
Croatia has been seen by many analysts as a Balkan success story. It is a country which has managed to overcome the fallout of decades of totalitarianism, quickly succeeded by conflict and bloodshed, by sheer political will. This nation of almost 4.5 million people has managed to wage a war on the ills of the post-conflict state lawlessness, corruption and economic chaos to a largely successful end. Croatia's current conservative HDZ party government has been particularly successful in extirpating graft but, perhaps as recent events would suggest, at its own expense.

The first country in the Balkans to be granted EU accession status, Croatia can boast of leaps and bounds in its improvements to the judiciary, to levels of transparency as well as its promotion of a sterling anti-corruption drive. Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and President Ivo Josipovic will sign the treaty of accession to the EU on December 9. The success of its accession agenda is a boon for the conservative prime minister who has been compared by some pundits to Angela Merkel. "This is great news for Croatia, for the government and for me personally as Prime Minister," she told reporters, adding that the signing will signify the Balkan nation 'practically' becoming an EU member. It comes as little surprise that Kosor is capitalizing on this political point, as her party, the HDZ faces a barrage of unwanted scrutiny for issues relating to corruption, some

Targeting The Heretics

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:31:09 +0100
A CHINESE PUZZLE

by

Peter Crisell

________________

Where Did It Go Wrong With the Falun Gong?
In China, the Falun Gong was introduced to the public in 1992. Its teachings embrace spiritual, religious, mystical and metaphysical ideas, and place emphasis on morality and virtue. The practice also promises health benefits to the practitioner. Falun Gong echoes traditional Chinese beliefs that humans are connected to the universe through mind. It attempts to unveil myths of the universe, time-space, and the human body. It places a heavy emphasis on morality in its central tenets - truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance and its teachings draw on Buddhist and Taoist concepts - and on qi gong, the art and science of using breathing techniques, gentle movement, and meditation to cleanse, strengthen, and circulate the life energy (qi). This eclectic mixture

Czech Republic

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:22:52 +0100
German-Russian energy moves alarm the Czech PM
The Czech Republic is concerned by close energy ties between Germany and Russia because they may threaten Czech energy security, PM Topolanek said on November 20. Topolanek, a right-wing prime minister who took office last year, said the country was developing diplomatic activity and practical plans to diversify oil and gas supplies. "We have big concerns, and I talk about it very openly so I can say it here, from the kind of new big friendship between Berlin and Moscow," he told a business conference.

The Czech Republic takes about 80 percent of its gas and most of its crude oil from Russia, and Topolanek's centre-right cabinet has made energy security one of its priorities.
Relations between the pro-U.S. government and Russia have been strained since the Czechs began to contemplate a US request to build part of a U.S. missile defence shield in the country, earlier this year. The Czech Republic is hostile to the whole idea, which it sees as directed against the Russians, not rogue regimes the other side of Eurasia. Geography would appear to bear them out.

But Toplanek and President Vaclav Klaus are out-and-out Atlanticists and both markedly reserved about Russia, whom they well remember as oppressors of their country before 1989.

Russia and Germany are planning a 1,200 km (745.6 miles) pipeline under the Baltic Sea, called

Estonia

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:29:50 +0100
There is no doubt that there is a Nordic communality of nations. They have a common past and they hope a common future. There is a common constant - fear of Russia.

Nordic and Baltic prime ministers meet in Oslo
The Estonian Prime Minister feels that everyone should be concerned about developments in Russia. "Naturally I am worried about the way things are developing in Russia. Only three years ago the state accounted for 50 per cent of the Russian national economy: now it is 70 per cent." Andrus Ansip said in the Norwegian capital Oslo, where the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania met on November 12, along with their colleagues from the five Nordic countries.

The leaders of the Baltic countries were nevertheless cautious in their statements on how the possible accession of President Putin to the post of Prime Minister after his presidency runs out might affect the situation in the Baltic States. "Let's see what happens in March. Today we can only speculate, and that is not the job of a prime minister", said Lithuania's Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas. Latvia's leader was also cautious. "Nobody can predict what will happen in the elections for the Duma and the Presidency. We are open to cooperation", said Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis. As it so happens, it will not be his job to be so, as he became obliged by a domestic crisis to step down on December 5.

Onl

Georgia

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:03:52 +0000

Georgia is inflating the level of military cooperation that it has with the US in order to stand tall against Russia, but the White House is keen to dampen its fire in order to have a more open dialogue with Moscow on the issues of Syria and Iran.

After visiting the United States on February 1, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said that talks that he had held with US President Barak Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton had raised US-Georgian strategic ties to a "new level". Then, after a follow-up meeting between Georgian Defence Minister Bacho Akhalaia and his American counterpart, Leon Panetta, in Brussels, The Georgian Ministry of Defence issued a press release, saying, "The US side expressed its readiness to extend assistance with regard to enhancing Georgia's defence capabilities which implies new levels of cooperation. From now on the American side will focus not only on preparation of Georgian military servicemen for peacekeeping operations, but on enhancing and improving Georgia's defence capabilities."

The issue of defence between the two countries has been strained since the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia. Since then, the United States has not provided Georgia with any weapons, although it has given Georgian troops military training. Georgian officials have complained that there is effectively an embargo against them, and president Mikheil Saakashvili ha

Greece

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:16:33 +0100
Recent weeks have seen Greece's debt crisis, which has plagued the country for the past 18 months, reach critical levels. Needless to say the consequences of the financial free-fall have been far-reaching and political in nature. Not only has the nation's battle with its 370 billion euro burden precipitated a wave of popular unrest which has called into question the increasingly authoritarian methods of George Papandreou's socialist government, but its negotiations with the IMF have raised a whole series of questions relating to national sovereignty. The issue has not been contained within Greece but has precipitated a crisis across Europe as fears of euro contagion threaten to undermine the indebted economies of Italy, Spain, Ireland and Portugal, plunging the euro itself into an existential crisis. In addition to this, the debates over how to manage the Greece crisis have revealed a series of fault lines in the European Union.

So where does the problem stem from? With the benefit of hindsight, many commentators have noted that Greece's problems began when the country joined the Eurozone in 2001. At this early stage, borrowing began with disregard for the widening deficit. Alarm bells may have begun ringing when Athens admitted, post-entry, that the government had managed to avoid a key requisite of EU accession, as its deficit had not been below 3% since 1999, contrary to the demands of EU rules. Public spending and pu

Hungary

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:31:46 +0100
At the brink
Hungary is in a ghastly hole. It began to run a huge public deficit, nearly 10%of GDP. The ex-communists who ran the show kept making promises that they could not keep.

The government is nearing the end of its period of severe fiscal austerity, but the structural reforms will continue and a budget deficit of less than 3% of gross domestic product is within reach in the coming years, Prime Minister Gyurcsany said on November 15.

"The period of austerity measures seen in the past 1.5 years is over but this doesn't mean that the reforms are done. Now a period of improvement and construction is to come," Gyurcsany said at a conference organized by domestic think tank GKI.

The ongoing painful reforms of Hungary's healthcare, education, and public sectors are not only aimed at bringing the budget back to a sustainable course but also at putting an end to stop-go fiscal cycles, and at convincing Hungarians that no more can be spent on social services than is received in the budget.

"In a small and open economy such as Hungary's, we need to aim to have a budget that has not a 3% deficit but which is totally balanced (with no deficit)," Gyurcsany said.

Hungary recorded the biggest budget deficit as a percentage of gross domestic products in the European Union last year, at 9.2%. The austerity measures carried out this year and last year amoun

India

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:44:21 +0100

Ranging from entering the Premier League of countries that have indigenously developed nuclear-capable inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), to the possibility of strengthening relations with Pakistan, this has been an eventful month for India. It tested Agni V, its ICBM with a range of 5,000 km adding credibility to its no-first-use nuclear policy. In addition to this, New Delhi hosted the 4th BRICS Summit that saw the signing of two important agreements that could lead to the creation of a South-South (BRICS) Development Bank on the lines of the World Bank, and reduce the salience of the US$ as a trading currency among member countries. Domestically tension between India's States and it's Centre continues to brew, over the crucial issue of setting up the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC). Most importantly, though, India and Pakistan might be at a point of resolving the decades old and world's most high-altitude conflict on the Siachen glacier and end the battle-of-nerves between the armies of the two countries.

India tests its first ICBM
Entering that elite club of countries with Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) technology, India successfully test-fired Agni V, a nuclear-capable ICBM with a range of 5,000 km. The test has been termed as a 'quantum leap in India's strategic capability.' It will provide credibility to India's no-first use nuclear policy by strengthening its s

Iran

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:33:35 +0100

Diplomatic blinks
As evidence of sanctions having a significant impact on Iran's economy grows and the price of oil rises, the two diplomatic sides have been exchanging signals that they are ready to talk. The Obama administration has indicated (through the Turkish government) that Washington would be satisfied if the Iranians could demonstrate that their nuclear programme is civilian only in nature. The move coincides with a renewed Iranian willingness to negotiate, although so far it proved difficult to even to agree on the location where negotiations would take place. Teheran is locked in a confrontation with Ankara over Syria, where the two countries support opposite sides, and proposed Baghdad as a host, as opposed to Istanbul as proposed by the westerners. In fact the Iranians even treated harshly the visiting Turks, as Ahmadinejad avoided meeting Turkish prime minister Erdogan, who also had to fly to Qom to meet Supreme Leader Khamenei. Upon returning to Ankara, Erdogan decided to join the US-sponsored sanctions and to cut purchases of Iranian oil by 20%.

Eventually the Iranians agreed to see the talks hosted in Istanbul, perhaps an indication that the Iranians do not see it fit to keep postponing. Moreover, although the relations between Ankara and Teheran are far from their peak, Turkey is still well positioned compared to western powers to talk to Teheran. How long that will be the case is a

WHEN ANGER IS APPROPRIATE

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:54:59 +0100
Anger is perhaps not just forgivable but highly appropriate, after reading the following report on 21st century slavery. But emotion is always misplaced unless the facts are themselves objective, well sourced and sensibly interpreted. Thus our report refers to "Europe's Modern Slave Trade - Human Trafficking" - rather than the long existing Latin America-to-USA traffic; or the equally heinous intra-Asian variety, to which of course we make reference. This is partly because in Europe, this scandal is probably newer with the collapse of communism. Thus it is reasonably well documented.�

We also make a distinction between regrettable male and female 'human smuggling,' where those often economic refugees being smuggled, are complicit with their smugglers. This we see as distinct from the unmitigated evil of old-fashioned slavery, where an unwilling victim, often a stolen child or helpless young woman, is under the control and at the disposal of the trafficker.�

But also we refer to Europe because the remit of newnations.com is to report the affairs of currently forty-five 'nations in transition,' and we name here several of those nations as being involved. Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. All these are named in this report as being the greatest sources of trafficked victims.�

A current exhibition of worldwide human trafficking in the Museum of World Culture in Sweden's Gothe

Iraq

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:46:52 +0100

Maliki fears no 'Awakening'
Prime Minister Maliki continues defying predictions of his forthcoming demise by outmanoeuvring his rivals and consolidating his hold at every crisis he faces. Maliki's efforts to wreck the mainly Sunni coalition led by his rival Allawi appeared to have achieved his aims as the end of March approached. Vice-president Hashemi was not only on the run, but increasingly isolated as the Kurdish regional government appeared to reconsider the support they had been lending to him, after Baghdad shared evidence pointing to his actual involvement in political murders!

Most importantly for Maliki, many supporters of Allawi's Iraqiya coalition are now bitterly critical of Allawi's emotional reaction to Maliki's onslaught: the boycott of the parliament ended in failure and only showed how Iraqiya was not able to protect the interests of its own members and supporters. Iraqiya is now disintegrating, with some willing to reach an accommodation with Maliki and others more inclined to radicalise their opposition. This serves Maliki well: he needs some violent opposition to justify his increasingly authoritarian rule and indeed his determined crack down on Hashemi and his unwillingness to back track have been perceived positively among many Shiites: they think they might have found the strong leader they were looking for.

After the Sunnis, the Shiites, after the Shiites, th

Kazakstan

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:48:10 +0100

Kazakhstan has levied harsh criticism against the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), signalling a shift from its previous desire to be a major player in the Western bloc.

In the past few months, the Kazakh authorities have shown that they are not making headway with democratisation despite previously taking central stage in the OSCE, a body that looks to foster democratic principles.

On 16 December last year, 16 people were killed and another 100 injured when police and striking oil workers clashed in the country's western Manghystau region. The violence erupted in the town of Zhanaozen when police tried to clear the main square to erect yurts as part of celebrations to mark the anniversary of Kazakh independence. The square had been occupied for more than six months by hundreds of disgruntled workers at an oil facility controlled by state-owned KazMunaiGaz and, when told to move on, the strikers threw rocks at police, who retaliated with live gun fire.

Then on January 15, parliamentary elections were held in the country which saw three pro-presidential parties enter parliament. No opposition forces won any seats. Observers from the OSCE said: "Notwithstanding the government's stated ambition to strengthen Kazakhstan's democratic processes and conduct elections in line with international standards, yesterday's early parliamentary vote still did not meet funda

Kyrgyzstan

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:58:08 +0100

Kyrgyzstan's fragile stability is being threatened by the mistreatment of ethnic Uzbeks and the desire of presidential candidates to change the constitution.

According to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, authorities in Kyrgyzstan continue a campaign of torture and injustice against minority ethnic Uzbeks. The groups warn that the Kyrgyz government's failure to address the discrimination, which has been ongoing since ethnic violence between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks (who are in the minority) erupted last June, killing over 400, could rekindle violence.

In a report released on June 8, Human Right's watch said: "The profoundly flawed investigations and trials, mainly affecting the ethnic Uzbek minority, undermine efforts to promote reconciliation and fuel tensions that might one day lead to renewed violence." The report went on to say that Kyrgyz authorities' failure to investigate widespread allegations of torture and abuse in the justice system is "astonishing," while "perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment have enjoyed virtual impunity for their crimes."
Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva has acknowledged that Uzbeks have been subjected to police harassment and unfair prosecution, but most government officials say that the legal system does not discriminate against Uzbeks. The majority of authorities and law enforcement officials in southern Kyrgyzstan are ethnic Kyrgyz. According to offi

Latvia

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:41:44 +0100
Resignation Of Premier Aigars Kalvitis
The news broke on November 7 that the Latvian Prime Minister, Aigars Kalvitis, will step down on December 5. He has been Prime Minister since December 2004.

Kalvitis announced his decision after a November 7 meeting with President Valdis Zatlers, who has gone on the record saying that the government should resign once it has passed a budget for 2008.
The December 5 deadline should give Kalvitis time to push the budget through as well as ratifying a definitive border treaty with Russia and possibly also completing reorganisation of local government.

However, it seems that Kalvitis intends that the government itself should continue even after his departure. According to a report in November 8's Dienas Bizness, he will appoint new ministers for the Economy, Foreign Affairs and Welfare before his departure, a signal to Zatlers that a dissolution of parliament would be untimely.

Not surprising in the circumstances
Mr Kalvitis' resignation is hardly surprising and comes after a period of intensified political and economic crisis in Latvia. Nonetheless, his resignation clearly intensifies the crisis further and increases uncertainties about the political and economic situation in the country.

It seems clear that Mr Kalvitis' resignation has been masterminded by the power brokers in the three governing coalition

Lithuania

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:42:37 +0100
With winter rapidly approaching, everyone in the Baltic states is concerned with energy. Lithuania is in the same boat as the other Baltic states vis-a vis energy, an over-reliance on one supplier - Russia. It is also the key state to help them to diversify, as we shall see.

Energy issues
A paper on a European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy issued by European Union Energy Commissioner Latvian Andris Piebalgs in March 2006 referred to the Baltic states as an "energy island." It was the first time the phrase was used, it caught on and has been going the rounds ever since.

Piebalgs's label for the Baltic states refers to their being cut off from supplies of oil, gas, and electricity. With few natural resources of their own, the Baltic states are increasingly reliant upon external suppliers. More troubling for states that only managed to break free of the Soviet Union 16 years ago, the word "suppliers" can be replaced, for all intents and purposes, with the singular, "supplier": Russia.

Piebalgs revived his catchphrase while speaking in Riga in May, saying: "I would like to see the Baltic states at the heart of [the EU's energy] transformation. This would fit well with the acute need for greater security of energy supply in these states, which have for too long been an energy island dependent upon one major supplier of gas."

Worries about th

Libya

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:36:34 +0100

Little Ado about Everything
The situation in Libya almost six months after Qadhafi's death is less than peaceful. The government's effort to mediate armed tribal disputes that seem to grow like mushrooms is ineffective; the militias know the government lacks authority, while they enjoy local legitimacy. In the months leading to the capitulation of Qadhafi's regime, the militias were all that stood between the population and the loyalist forces. These disparate groups not only managed the actual warfare, they also oversaw the continuation of some basic services. While the regime collapsed early in Eastern Libya, leaving Benghazi as a de-facto opposition capital under the CNT, Western Libya, or Tripolitania did not have any CNT presence.

The situation in Libya almost six months after Qadhafi's death is less than peaceful. The government's effort to mediate armed tribal disputes that seem to grow like mushrooms is ineffective; the militias know the government lacks authority, while they enjoy local legitimacy. In the months leading to the capitulation of Qadhafi's regime, the militias were all that stood between the population and the loyalist forces. These disparate groups not only managed the actual warfare, they also oversaw the continuation of some basic services. While the regime collapsed early in Eastern Libya, leaving Benghazi as a de-facto opposition capital under the CNT, Western Libya, or Trip

Macedonia

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:53:43 +0100

Ethnic tensions have resurfaced in Macedonia over the past few months following violent incidents in March and the murder in April of five ethnic Macedonians. The unrest undermines the political and economic gains made by the Former Yugoslav Republic in recent years and threatens to thwart its ambitions of joining the EU.

Macedonia has received praise from the EU for becoming more financially and politically stable since it became independent 20 years ago. The country's candidacy for membership to the EU was registered in 2005 and its conservative ruling party, the VMRO-DPMNE, has made the country's accession a priority. On March 15, Macedonia came closer to that goal when it began preliminary talks with the EU aimed at reducing the length of negotiations for full membership.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said the talks focussed on maintaining the pace of reforms the country must implement in order to satisfy the EU. The areas that must continue to be reformed include public administration, the rule of law, media freedom, election processes, and the economy. That positive move signals an end to a previous stalemate in talks caused by Greece's ongoing objection to Macedonia's accession to the EU over the name of the country, which Athens says implies a claim to Greek territory also called Macedonia.

But around the same time as that positive shift, tensions between ethn

Moldova

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:16:25 +0100

On August 27, Moldova celebrated 20 years of independence from the USSR. This tiny nation has, since 1991, been beset by problems relating to its constitution, its ethnic complexity, the breakaway state of Transdniester and, like so many of its neighbours, finds itself uncomfortably juxtaposed between competing spheres of European and Russian influence. Some view the nation of three and a half million people as the most troubled of the 15 independent post-Soviet nations; many argue that any progress it makes, as a result, is all the more laudable.

An incontrovertible issue for this small democracy is that, since 2009, Moldova has lacked a president. Elections held in April 2009, which were won by the Communists, were met with widespread accusations of electoral fraud. Protests followed, including the ransacking of parliament and government buildings, in which three people died. The mandate of the Communists, who had at that point been in power for 8 years, was insufficient to elect a president. In July of the same year another election resulted in the creation of a coalition, the Alliance for European Integration, which consists of the Liberal-Democrats, the Liberals, and the Democrats, and Our Moldova Alliance. The defeat of the former ruling party was abetted to some extent by the defection of Marian Lupu, who had been a high-ranking Communist, to the Democratic Party. These factions did not, however, have the 61

Montenegro

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:45:58 +0100
The newest of the new
Montenegro became the latest country to emerge last year when its people voted just enough, 55% in May, to obtain independence. Any rerun would see this victory repeated with a landslide, so popular has the independent reality been.

Montenegro separated from its former federal partner, Serbia, in June 2006 after a referendum on independence. It was an independent state until 1918 when its leaders opted to join the newly-formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes that later became Yugoslavia. Montenegro was the smallest among the six republics in federal Yugoslavia and it was the only republic to stay in a federation with Serbia after 1992.

Montenegro is poised to do really well. It is a jewel of a new country on the Adriatic. It has everything a nature-lover could want and is a tourist paradise close to the heart of Europe.

Its property market is the most expansive on the continent. It can expect a continuing flood of rich entrants, boosting prices. In particular it has attracted Russians some of whom have purchased the choicest developments.

But its own people have problems all the same. Not everything is paradise for them.

The EU beckons
This became clear in the EU report on Macedonia for this year.The Commission expects Montenegro to produce significant results in relation to improving administrative capaci

North Korea

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:14:48 +0100

North Korea: Rocket backfires
Ordinarily North Korea does not lack for longueurs. A month can easily pass with nothing much happening. April 2012 was never going to be such a month, given the long build-up to the centenary of its founding leader Kim Il-sung: born as the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912.

In the event the past month turned out to be especially eventful. So much so that this update for NewNations will focus mainly on one theme, namely April 13's rocket launch. In hope that May will prove less eventful, we shall cover April's other news two major meetings which saw Kim Jong-eun assume the top state and party positions in a month's time.

Global media, which surprisingly often play along with Pyongyang's game, evinced huge interest in the rocket. All the more so because, with unprecedented openness attributed to Kim Jong-eun personally North Korea invited what it sometimes calls "the reptile press" to come take a peek at the rocket and satellite in situ; although not to witness the actual launch.

Though laudable, such glasnost may have been a mistake and not only because in the event (as NewNations readers are doubtless aware) the rocket exploded 90 seconds after lift-off. To its credit and against precedent, Pyongyang did admit this embarrassing failure: albeit not at once but in a terse announcement four hours later. Nothing further has been sai

2008 - A YEAR OF DESTINY

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:50:53 +0100
With the summer behind us, it is not too soon to consider 2008, when the most powerful job in the world will change hands and also what is perhaps the world's second to the top job, a contender for the next most powerful presidency - because Russia's leader must be in the running for that distinction. Within no more than seventeen years from the collapse of the USSR - when Putin's eight year presidency terminates, the crippled federation of nations that emerged from the wreckage is looking transformed today. When Putin came to power, the centre was a shambles - close to anarchy with many of its 89 constituent republics going their own way and its economy in the hands of oligarchs, who with state connivance had acquired control of the commanding heights of financial power. Many of its citizens had forfeited their life savings - victims of an economic shock therapy that led to meltdown. Few of the faults of the soviet command economy had been rectified and Russian manufacturing was at its lowest ebb. Right across the vast expanse of the world's largest nation, gangsters had become the new aristocracy, the rule of law had given way to the rule of the gun, indeed it was widely called by involved westerners, "the Wild East". The nation was close to becoming a basket case.

It is hard to fully appreciate how fundamentally things have changed. Putin, relying on his trusted cohorts from the security services and the military, as Cromwell did with his

Outposts of Tyranny

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:16:40 +0100
Condi Rice named six nations described as 'Outposts of Tyranny.' and "Fear Societies". These are Cuba, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Iran, North Korea and Belarus.

These are all good choices, but we note that no allies of the US or 'hosts' of US military bases, or oil and gas supplier nations are listed except Iran, with whom the US has famously had a spat for 30 years now. Did she overlook any others?

We invite readers to add any more nations, particularly since the Fourth Division of our Democracy Report consists of 74 nations, many of which fall into her category of 'Fear Societies.' :-

Pakistan

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:11:48 +0100

More gas hopes
Despite the failure of Chinese banks to fund the Pakistani tranche of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, the Iranians are anyway building their own tranche and plan for completion by 2014. The Pakistanis are also showing new interest in the purchase of Algerian liquefied gas, following an American decision to reduce such imports thanks to increased local production of shale gas. The Algerian gas would then be re-gasified in Pakistan, for which building a US$1.5 billion plant would be necessary. In the medium and long term, this could bring some relief to Pakistan's energy sector.

In the meanwhile, the four-way war between courts, army, PPP and PML-N does not even spare the beleaguered power generation sector, despite ever worsening energy black-outs. Pakistan's Supreme Court recently deliberated and pronounced that the rental power contracts signed in the past by the PPP with private power suppliers are illegal, and have to be considered as rescinded. Some power plants have already been shut down and staff laid off.

Reopening Torkham?
Although the Pakistani authorities have been hinting that they might reopen the Torkham border crossing point with Afghanistan, which has been closed for several months, the list of conditions imposed by the parliament is very stringent. In particular they ask for an end to drone strikes. At least now the Pakistanis have made clea

Philippines

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:05:30 +0100

A fresh assertiveness
It is an encouraging year for those who watch developments in the Philippines.

Three items of interest this month show that President Aquino is starting to redirect policy towards issues that have lain festering for many years. First among these is the breakthrough on the talks between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) over the future of the Bansgsomoro people the Muslim population of Mindanao. The second is the judgment of the Supreme Court over the redistribution of land assets of the president's own family home (hacienda) to the tenant farmers who have worked the land for generations. The final noteworthy issue to come to the fore is the new assertiveness of the Philippines over its claimed territorial assets in the South China Sea in the face of rival claims of China.

All three issues are worthy of the world's consideration.

The future of Mindanao
Political tensions in Mindanao have plagued all the Philippines Governments for generations. The Islamic Bangsomoro people, who claim to be the original inhabitants of Mindanao were never properly colonised neither by the Spanish nor the Americans and since the independence of the Philippines following the Second World War, they have chaffed under what they see as 'the Christian yoke' of the government in Manila. Periodically this tension has bo

Romania

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:23:12 +0100

The EU's poorest member state, Bulgaria, has had a frenetic few months. The country's Prime Minister, Boiko Borisov, the head of the popular ruling GERB party, has recently overseen a number of cabinet dismissals, designed to re-energize the flagging departments of health and energy, which he believes are in need of urgent reform. The firings represent, some say, an attempt to propitiate the populace in a country in which mass protests are becoming increasingly frequent. Bulgaria's long-standing problems of corruption, organized crime and a lack of transparency are not only the concerns of the European Union, which continues to take Sofia to task but also of its citizens themselves. With an election looming, Borisov has a hearty incentive to take note of any signs of popular discontent.

On March 16, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov announced a cabinet reshuffle, supposedly to tackle problems in the energy and health sector ahead of the 2013 election. Although Borisov's centre-right GERB party retains considerable popular support, certainly more so than the socialist opposition, there are fears that the economic situation will dent the ruling party's popularity. Outgoing Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov will be replaced by his former deputy, Delyan Dobrev, ostensibly for failing to implement any major energy projects since the GERB party came to power in July 2009. "If we must compare energy during t

Russia

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:10:47 +0100

The opposition has won surprising victories in local mayoral elections that could herald a shift in the country's United Russia-dominated political landscape. To claw back popularity and to be seen as a more democratising force, following the unrest over United Russia's win in the last election and Putin's return as President, the Kremlin is setting up what it says will be an independent Television network and a unit to investigate crimes allegedly committed by police. Resurgent violence in the North Caucasus is putting a squeeze on government forces and after 40 years of frosty relations, Pakistan and Russia are finally breaking the ice.

In the interim period between Vladimir Putin winning the Presidential election on March 4 and taking up his post in May, the opposition has made significant gains in local elections, which could slowly change the tide in Russian politics.

On April 1, opposition candidate Yevgeny Urlashov crushed his United Russia-supported opponent, oligarch Yakob Yakushev, taking nearly 70 percent of the vote to become the mayor of . Yaroslavl. That surprising victory came after wins for other opposition candidates in the regions, including mayoral elections in the city of Tolyatti and in the town of Chernogolovka in Moscow Oblast. Masha Lipman, a political analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center thinks that those gains show that United Russia's dominance over every corner of Russia

Serbia

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:49:50 +0100

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said: "This is a remarkable achievement, a result of the efforts demonstrated by both sides in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. I hope it will encourage Serbia to undertake further efforts to meet the political and economic criteria for EU membership."

Serbia has worked hard to meet the EU's criteria for candidacy, including doing more to deliver war criminals to The Hague and tackle corruption, but one of the main stumbling blocks has been ongoing tensions between Serbia and Kosovo. Ethnic Serbs make up the majority in northern Kosovo and most have not accepted Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence.

Recognition of Kosovo is not a prerequisite of EU accession, but normal relations are. Serbia and Kosovo reached a breakthrough at the end of February when Belgrade agreed to allow Kosovo to use its flag at regional meetings and sign international agreements. The two sides also agreed to jointly manage and allow freedom of movement in Kosovo's north, where there have been road blocks and clashes in recent months between NATO peacekeepers and Serbs.

Serbia was isolated during the 1990s after its then leader, Slobodan Milosevic, was blamed for starting the wars in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo. Now in a dire economic situation blighted by corruption and organised crime, the country hopes that joining the EU will help to all

Slovakia

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 09:16:49 +0100
Slovakia is beset, like so much of Eurasia, by natural disasters.

Radicova to the rescue
Prime Minister Iveta Radičov� interrupted her holiday in Croatia and went straight back to Slovakia due to the floods that have hit the Upper Nitra area especially hard, Radičov�'s spokesman Rado Baťo told the TASR newswire on August 16.

It was announced that Radičov� had set aside �300,000 from the premier's reserve as relief for areas in Upper Nitra hit by the floods at the weekend. At the same time, the prime minister expressed her sorrow over the loss of human life and sent her condolences to the bereaved.

First auction of natural gas
Slovakia's dominant gas firm SPP has arranged the country's first auction of natural gas at which it plans to sell supplies for 2011 and potentially the following two years, it said on Auguat 19.

The successful bidder will offer the best price per 1 MWh of gas during the auction, which is to be held between August 20 to September 8, SPP said.

"We are expecting interest in this form of gas sale primarily from the side of large industrial customers, as well as from the side of gas traders...," SPP Gas and Trade Division Director Dusan Randuska said in a statement.

SPP, which operates a pipeline carrying around 70 percent of Europe's consumption of Russian natural gas, said it expe

Slovenia

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 09:17:28 +0100
The departing president, who remains head of state until just before Christmas, is an unusual man and deserves this tribute:-
Martin Fletcher, Times Online

It is not often that you ask a European head of state whether he has gone loopy, but in the case of Janez Drnovsek, Slovenia's reclusive President, the question seems almost unavoidable.

Bald, monkish and skeletally thin, Drnovsek has abandoned his capital for a mountain retreat. He no longer speaks to his Government. He boycotts state occasions, and disappears for weeks at a time. He has turned vegan, talks like a New Age mystic of his quest for "higher consciousness" and "inner balance", and communicates with the Slovenian people through books on spirituality. He set out to tackle the problems of the world from a country smaller than Wales, and has become a champion of progressive causes.

It is an astonishing transformation for a man who, as Slovenia's Prime Minister from 1992 until he was elected President in 2002, was regarded as a dull, grey technocrat. It was triggered by the prospect of imminent death. In 1999 he found that he had kidney cancer and, in 2001, that the cancer had spread to his liver and lungs. His doctors said his condition was incurable.

Any serious illness comes as a shock, but "the shock can be beneficial because one is caught in patterns of behaviour and somehow you do them mechanically and

Poland

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:49:05 +0100
New government sworn in
Following a resounding victory in October parliamentary elections, Poland's new Prime Minister Donald Tusk was formally sworn in by President Lech Kaczynski on November 16, before he and his coalition government's ministers took office in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Warsaw.

"So help me God," said Tusk, leader of Poland's election-winning liberal party, as he pledged to serve the country, using a formula, which although optional, is traditionally used in government ceremonies in deeply-Catholic Poland. His 18 ministers were then sworn in one by one.

Tusk said his ministers were "well prepared and decent," adding "state power should serve the people, not dominate them." His government intended to focus on "health, wages and home security," Tusk added.

Tusk's Civic Platform (PO) Party beat the conservative Law and Justice Party in a snap election on October 21 and ended the unprecedented political double act of deposed Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski with his identical twin, who of course remains the president, Lech Kaczynski.

The PO victory also ended the rule of Kaczynski's fractious three-party coalition, which had struggled through two years of in-fighting, scandal and criticism.

A new coalition forms
Tusk takes over with a new coalition, forced on him due to the fact that Civic Pla

South Africa

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 09:18:31 +0100
The possibility of a settlement in the 'hate speech case' against Julius Malema was raised during his cross-examination in the High Court in Johannesburg April 21. "If the spirit is the same here certain things... will die a natural death because we appreciate one another. And it doesn't need a court order," said the ANC Youth League president. Afrikaner interest group AfriForum and farmer representatives TAU-SA have taken Malema to the Equality Court over his singing of the lyrics "idhubhula ibhuna", which translate from isiZulu to "shoot the boer". Malema has said he did not recognise the translation from isiZulu as "shoot the boer". He said that the two parties had moved closer. "We are coming very close to each other." Malema was led through questioning on whether he was open to dialogue to solve the matter, which has also sparked a national debate. AfriForum deputy CEO and youth movement leader Ernst Roets has explained that he and the group's supporters find the lyrics threatening, particularly to minorities and with his understanding of the translation of the word "ibhunu", it poses a threat to the safety of Afrikaners and farmers. Malema, who was trained to carry and use a gun by the age of 13, was adamant that this was not the case, adding that the isiZulu word for farmer was "umlimi". He also denied a submission by Du Plessis that the lyrics were part of a greater plan to remove white farmers from their land. Asked whether the A

A McCain presidency next?

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:58:31 +0000

What would McCain do for the world?
With Senator McCain so far out ahead of Republican candidates, it is now possible to evaluate his role as president if he were to go on and win the presidency. As to the likelihood of that, one can only say nine months before, that nobody knows. Polling intentions this far away from November are completely unreliable. Another vital aspect of the competition, is which one of the two Democrats, Clinton or Obama, will be his opponent. That may not be known until August, which gives McCain quite an advantage, affording him time to look and sound presidential, and build his campaign, whilst the two democratic front-runners in their laborious struggle for supremacy, will inevitably continue to damage each other.

It would probably be true to observe that if McCain were to win in November, he would take power in a situation where the Democratic Congress, the party, and Democrats in the country would be in trauma. Not to win in this years election, with a choice between two seemingly attractive candidates, and after eight disastrous years of a Republican administration, with the outgoing President considered by many to be perhaps the worst ever, is for the Democrats the worst possible nightmare.

The privacy of the polling booth where people will decide - not necessarily in the way they have told friends and pollsters - is a key element on the day itself. Will deep-seated prejudice again

Syria

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:30:36 +0100

Damned if you do, Damned if you don't? How to Resolve the Crisis in Syria?
The key lies in that Syria must develop a leadership; the Alawite regime will not be influenced diplomatically; the future is bleak for the Alawites in Syria just as it was for the Christians in Lebanon in the 1980's, where it took 15 years to alter the balance of power. Syria and Lebanon just as Iraq have been nation states in name only. They have lasted and worked, so long as such repressive and dictatorial regimes succeeded in co-opting some strata, while coercing the majority of the population into submission. In Syria the Sunni population has been subjugated; yet the wealthy business elite was successfully co-opted, particularly in the past few years of the regime, as investment funds were allowed to enter Syria from the Gulf states, fuelling a wealthy and influential Sunni elite. That elite, still largely supports the regime. Other minorities, of which there are several, such as the Christians or the Druze, were happy to compromise any desire for power or 'democracy,' in return for security and the right to exercise their faith freely. These groups have not yet turned against the Asad regime because they have not yet seen any better alternative.

Many sectors of the population fear the unknown, the vacuum that would be left if the Asad regime should collapse thanks to foreign, presumably US led, military action emulating t

Taiwan

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:40:20 +0100

No gain without pain
President Ma Ying-jeou has not yet been inaugurated into his second term - that happens on 20 May, but already the storm clouds are gathering.

This is going to be a tough year for Taiwan as it will be for much of the rest of the world; but the Taiwanese are not used to tough times. Democracy is all very well but as we all know, when the down cycle kicks in, governments find it hard to take the tough decisions needed to restore longer-term health.

In his first term of office that ends next month, Ma and his government avoided some of the tougher domestic decisions; hoping that the improved relationship with Beijing would translate into a stimulus for higher economic growth, higher tax revenue and higher incomes that would keep the populace happy. The GFC of 2008-09 was the spoiler in that scenario and it seems we are not out of the woods yet.

Economic indicators for the first quarter of 2012 show that economic growth continues to slow. With an economy that is heavily dependent on foreign trade for its wellbeing, a lukewarm global economy spells trouble for Taiwan, especially when it leads to a dramatic loss of consumer confidence and shrinking markets for Taiwan's high-tech output products.

Indeed the latest numbers show that factory output is indeed declining, dragging down the overall industrial production index with it. Export orders

Tajikistan

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:55:46 +0000
Russia is taking steps to gain more military control over Tajikistan once US troops leave Afghanistan in 2014, while spats between the governments of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, popular discontent caused by poverty and the authoritarian regime of President Emomali Rahmon look set to destabilise Central Asia further.

On 20 December, members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan reached a tentative agreement that would require the say so of all seven member states if any foreign military forces want to be based on any of their territories.

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan all currently host foreign troops as part of NATO's military operation in Afghanistan and the CSTO move looks set to prevent that from happening in the future. Speaking at a meeting of the heads of state in Moscow, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev said: "From now on the deployment of military infrastructure facilities on the territory of our countries by non-CSTO countries will be possible only with the agreement of all CSTO allies."

While the leaders did not sign any agreement binding them to this arrangement and it was not clear when the issue would come up for formal approval, its a clear sign that Russia which unofficially holds the reigns of the CSTO is keen to make sure that America's 13-year presence in Centra

Turkey

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:57:28 +0100

Turkey continues to dismantle the military powerhouse which once had sway over the country's political structure with a number of trials of ex-military officials. A new human rights education program in schools in cooperation with the EU, has arguably shown a willingness to engage in human right issues. However complaints of unfounded arrests, repression of the media and political opponent continue to blight its reputation. In terms of foreign policy, Erdogan is arguably finding it increasingly challenging to maintain Turkey's standing as a successful self-appointed East-West mediator. A recent high profile visit to China reaped mixed results.

Turkey's charismatic Prime Minister Tayyep Reccip Erdogan of the ruling Justice and Development party, continues to enjoy a prominent position on the global political scene, largely thanks to the ongoing turbulence in the Middle East. Erdogan has shaped himself as a pivot between the West and the Arab sphere, which, thanks to ongoing conflict in Syria and Iran's inflammatory nuclear aspirations, is a global clarion call to action. His repositioning away from the EU, the result of both European reluctance regarding Turkey's bid, and the new geopolitical alignments created by the Arab Spring, means that, some would argue, Turkey has less incentive to curb rights abuses, for which the country is often chastised.

In matters domestic, the past month has seen Erdogan's

RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:41:01 +0000

Russia must find its own way towards democracy. It has never known this desirable state of affairs and at many levels is deeply suspicious about the implied western values being imposed upon it. Of course this is primarily a top-down attitude but there is little evidence that there is much in the way of public "demand" for the various freedoms, that the western world characterises as democracy. 'Interference' is how the state regards foreign-funded NGO campaigning and right now the state has a lot of support from the people. Even more offensive in Russian eyes, are the otiose public pep-talks made by western leaders such as the US President, pointing out their slippage, or lack of achievement in democratic standards. The Russians can and do respond by referring to a long list such as: the disgracefully undemocratic Florida conclusion to the US presidential election of 2000; to the US engaging in an offensive war in Iraq without UN sanction, resulting in scores, perhaps hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, and many more injuries; to the US unilaterally departing from the Geneva conventions on prisoner of war treatment at its prison camps, Guantanamo and elsewhere; they refer to such scandals as Abu Gharaib and of US agencies hijacking suspects 'for rendition,' off the streets of other countries - the list goes on. It can be summarised as people that live in glass houses shou

Turkmenistan

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:26:20 +0100

Turkmenistan's President, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has overseen this reclusive gas-rich state since 2006. He was re-elected in February with 97% of the vote, in a trip to the polls unattended by OSCE monitors, which could only be described as a one-man race. Berdymukhammedov's Democratic Party of Turkmenistan is effectively the state's only party; the opposition is for the most part exiled. The regime is a repeat offender in terms of civil rights abuses and quashing media freedom. Reporters without Borders, the French advocacy group for journalists, has ranked Turkmenistan third from the bottom in its annual press freedom index every year for the past five years. There have been signs recently of some overtures towards international bodies and the regime has also declared that it has embarked on a process of democratization. Whether these gestures will yield any concrete results, is another matter.

Two days before his inauguration, President Berdymukhammedov appeared on public television with a pledge to create "the conditions for a multi-party system in Turkmenistan". The February election continues to attract international attention for its complete shirking of democratic principles: the opposition candidates actually endorsed the country's leader and it was reported that individuals who attempted to register as independent candidates were harassed and intimidated. In an interview with RFE/RL, Robert Blake, th

Ukraine

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:50:54 +0100

Europe has levelled harsh criticism against Ukraine's leaders for the second time in six months over the imprisonment of opposition figures and President Viktor Yanokovych's popularity is nose-diving amid growing economic hardship and lack of reform.

On February 27, a Ukrainian court sentenced former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko to four years in prison after finding him guilty of embezzlement and abuse of office. The court also ordered the confiscation of Lutsenko's property.

The ruling said Lutsenko failed to observe proper procedures in hiring and paying a close acquaintance while serving as interior minister from 2007 to 2010. Lutsenko is a close political ally of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and he has consistently denied the charges against him.

Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year sentence in a prison in the eastern city of Kharkiv after being convicted of exceeding her powers when she signed a 10-year gas deal with Russia in 2009 that the authorities say was not in Ukraine's interests.

As with Tymoshenko's imprisonment, European Union officials have criticised the authorities' treatment of Lutsenko. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the verdict casts doubt on the independence of the Ukrainian judiciary.

"I think it further proves the point that the legal system in Ukraine is now used to criminalise what are essentially political activities

Vietnam

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:34:33 +0100

It's been thirty seven years...
April 30 marks the 37th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Vietnam has come a long way since that time yet the country remains divided: not on North-South lines but rather in terms of the urban-rural divide. It is this problem that the government will need to tackle as it grapples with further reform measures. As farm workers are evicted from their land in the name of economic progress, some believe the government needs to take measure that will keep them down on the farm.

Saigon fell thirty-seven years ago this month and with it the Vietnam War that began in 1955, finally ended. Fifty-eight thousand Americans died in that war as well as 500 Australians who fought alongside them. Estimates of Vietnamese killed vary, but it is commonly assumed that around 3 million perished, certainly Vietnam says that, of which more than two-thirds were civilians. Ten per cent of the population died as a result of war. It is easily forgotten that on the heels of the end of hostilities with the US and allies, there was an opportunist Chinese invasion in the north, which the battle-hardened NVA 'saw off' as well.
But while the Vietnam conflict remains etched deep in the Western psyche and especially that of the Americans and Australians the Vietnamese themselves have moved on. With a median age of less than 25 years, more than half of the population have no memory of it or at lea

Egypt

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:10:05 +0100

An Egypt ruled by principles idealized as a 'spring' should not be digging up such as laws as those that limit free speech and engagement with civic minded youth. Nevertheless, Egypt is not entirely to blame. The United States gives it plenty of excuses to enforce such laws and Egyptian ministers, who appear to have confused the Arab Spring or Awakening, with a call for more nationalism rather than common sense, play the 'Israel card' to stifle criticism. Justifying the trial, in February, the minister for International Cooperation, Fayza Abul Naga, stated that US pressure to release the workers was "preventing Egypt from becoming a democracy, a modern state with a strong economy...affecting Israel's interests directly". As disingenuous as the statement is, it does point to the fact that the United States should put more pressure on Israel to engage in serious peace talks with the Palestinians, because if there is one thing that the Arab awakening has achieved it is to have given the 'Arab Street' more power. The 'Arab Street' apparently still cares about the Palestinian issue. Even if this 'care' can be exploited by those with unsavory ambitions and too much power, it is a powerful excuse for inaction and ultimately for repression if free speech and progress. Just because the 'Street' calls it 'democracy' doesn't mean that this 'democracy' will reflect the current understanding of this concept in the Western world.
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Uzbekistan

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:49:34 +0100
Britain and NATO's plans to send their military and non-military equipment home from Afghanistan as part of the 2014 exit strategy is being complicated by Uzbekistan's unpredictable approach to cooperation over the Northern Distribution Network.

Opening up a northern exit route through Central Asia is a major part of the logistics involved in Britain and NATO's planned withdrawal. At the end of February, British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond went to the region where he signed a deal with Kazakhstan that allows equipment to be transported to and from Kazakhstan by air. The two sides also agreed to start negotiations on a land transit arrangement. Much less was reported about Hammond's trip to Uzbekistan a day later to discuss the north land route. Nick Harvey, British armed forces minister, went to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan shortly afterwards for further discussions.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said, "Current exit routes from Afghanistan are by air only, following closure of the surface route through Pakistan in response to the cross-border incident in November 2011 [when 24 Pakistani troops were killed by US military]. The likely duration of the border closure is not yet clear. Planning is ongoing to utilise alternative routes should the Pakistani border remain closed in the longer term. Negotiations are also under way to establish surface and air exit routes through and over the Central Asian republics.

Zimbabwe

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:18:57 +0000
The UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the South Africa Company in 1923. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favored whites in power. In 1965 the government unilaterally declared its independence, but the UK did not recognize the act and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority in the country (then called Rhodesia). UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising finally led to free elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980. Robert MUGABE, the nation's first prime minister, has been the country's only ruler (as president since 1987) and has dominated the country's political system since independence. His chaotic land redistribution campaign begun in 2000 caused an exodus of white farmers, crippled the economy, and ushered in widespread shortages of basic commodities. Ignoring international condemnation, MUGABE rigged the 2002 presidential election to ensure his reelection. Opposition and labor groups launched general strikes in 2003 to pressure MUGABE to retire early; security forces continued their brutal repression of regime opponents.

Saudi Arabia

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:11:48 +0100

The Grand Prix debacle revitalized the al-Wafaq movement and sooner or later the monarchy in Manama will have to come to terms with the fact that violent repression alone will only embolden the movement. A compromise between the Shiites and Sunnis in neighbouring Bahrain, resulting in more powers and influence for the Shiite majority, frightens the Saudis. The latter would then face greater pressure to deal with their own Shiites, who have long been treated as second class citizens, owing to the Wahhabi distaste for heretical Islamic sects. The Saudis would also consider a more 'Shiite-friendly' Bahrain as an Iranian affront, regardless of the fact that Iran is reputed not to have played any role in the al-Wafaq protests.
.Ultimately, Bahrain reflects the most tragic aspect of the 'Arab Awakening', which is that a genuine desire for more political freedom has translated from Morocco to the Gulf, to varying degrees of intensity, into an Islamist 'awakening' rather than a truly democratic one.

The Bahrain F1 Grand Debacle
The Formula One Grand Prix that was held on April 22 was intended as an event to highlight national unity and peace in Bahrain. The event was cancelled in 2011 in view of the popular uprising by the Shiite majority against the Sunni monarchy and this year's race was supposed to demonstrate before the world, (and the government spent some USD 40 million to host it), that l

Wanted a world leader

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:20:02 +0000
TOPIC : “WANTED A WORLD LEADER”

In November 2006 newnations.com published a Special Report with the above title, regretting that the constructive world leadership the USA offered throughout the Cold War, and indeed the Balkans wars, has been dissipated by the Bush/Cheney administration. Now there is a leadership vacuum. Who else we asked, could give world leadership? In the absence of any obvious candidates we observed:-

Whilst it is true that no other single nation state has the standing to provide unique world leadership it is not unreasonable that a group of nations may at least collectively provide this in areas in which the US will not, or for other reasons, does not engage.

NOMINEE LEADERS

Perhaps an intelligent or at least interesting solution to raise the action level, and avoid sterile circular debate with little achieved, would be for some of the topics (illustrated by the selection above), to be raised by a group of nations in the UN General Assembly. There they would seek the power to second one of their number to lead in devising an action plan, with an invitation to all nations to take part in its implementation. Perhaps the US could be shamed into acquiescence and reassert its ability to lead, not to go even further out

African Yellowcake and the Intelligence Stew

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:35:51 +0000

OTHER TOPICS:

Shafting Al-Jazeera

AFRICAN YELLOWCAKE & THE INTELLIGENCE STEW

On 28 January 2003 President George W Bush gave his annual State of the Union address and as part of the build-up for invading IRAQ included an "infamous 16 words" quoting British Intelligence sources, relating to IRAQ procuring Uranium from Niger. "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

It is now agreed by all, that whilst there was some circumstantial evidence of Iraqi interest some years before, a letter purporting to prove this, had been professionally forged. As is well known, the furore that followed sent the various allied intelligence communities involved into a flat spin. To read them at their most devious, the leaks and plants that followed are well illustrated in the Wikipedia extract we include below in 'Background'.

Shafting Al-Jazeera

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:41:24 +0000

OTHER TOPICS:

African Yellowcake & the Intelligence Stew

SHAFTING AL-JAZEERA

"In November 2005 we produced a special report "Shafting al Jazeera," based on a leaked memo from the office of Prime Minister Blair of a conversation between him and President George.W Bush.

Just about now, the British civil servant David Keogh, and political researcher Leo O'Connor are due to go on trial under the Official Secrets Act, for allegedly leaking the document.

We forecast that the story would "run and run, well into this century," but we got that wrong, because the British Government threatened dire consequences to any of the media that published the leaked memo, which of course we have not seen.

Various explanations of Bush's comments have been offered and rebutted, as can be seen in our background below.

Has US democracy lost its way?

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:20:50 +0000
TOPIC : “HAS US DEMOCRACY LOST ITS WAY?”

Our newnations.com Special Report, "The Ministry of Truth" asked this question from which comes this extract:

DEMOCRACY AMERICAN STYLE

This presidency may be judged as having achieved something many would have previously have thought of as impossible. The USA, which despite its less than full respect for human life, and uneven record on domineering foreign policy - Central and Latin America in particular come to mind - had managed to hold to an image as a model of what democracy could be, a beacon of light for an oppressed world. Because this coincided with being the militarily most powerful nation on earth, the leader of the winning side in the cold war, America could be and was represented as being the national equivalent of the moral high ground. There was always an ugly side, but by straight comparison with that half of the world led by the USSR, given the balance of good versus evil in the rival systems, the US was then undoubtedly a long way ahead. But Bush/Cheney have radically altered this perception of America.

HAS US DEMOCRACY LOST I

Essentials of democracy

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:21:19 +0000
TOPIC: "ESSENTIALS OF DEMOCRACY"

In the current edition of www.WorldAudit.org our Publishers Overview makes the following observations:

ESSENTIALS OF DEMOCRACY

We find the term democracy being consistently misused by people who should know better, particularly in the current middle-eastern context, as merely the opportunity to register a vote.

Without the depth of the other key democratic criteria, that just makes no sense. What kind of choice is possible for a democratic citizen, when the only available decision is between a repressive military government and a religious party seeking to turn the clock back to the seventh century. (Egypt and Algeria were recent examples of such a stark choice, Iran's version is that all candidates have to be approved by the religious authority, (just as in the USSR all candidates had to be communists). Iraqi elections, with the addition of an ethnicity (Kurds), became effectively a census between Shia and Sunni Moslems, with secular parties nowhere.

The essentials to create a platform for democratic c

RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:21:56 +0000
Russia must find its own way towards democracy. It has never known this desirable state of affairs and at many levels is deeply suspicious about the implied western values being imposed upon it. Of course this is primarily a top-down attitude but there is little evidence that there is much in the way of public "demand" for the various freedoms, that the western world characterises as democracy. 'Interference' is how the state regards foreign-funded NGO campaigning and right now the state has a lot of support from the people. Even more offensive in Russian eyes, are the otiose public pep-talks made by western leaders such as the US President, pointing out their slippage, or lack of achievement in democratic standards. The Russians can and do respond by referring to a long list such as: the disgracefully undemocratic Florida conclusion to the US presidential election of 2000; to the US engaging in an offensive war in Iraq without UN sanction, resulting in scores, perhaps hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, and many more injuries; to the US unilaterally departing from the Geneva conventions on prisoner of war treatment at its prison camps, Guantanamo and elsewhere; they refer to such scandals as Abu Gharaib and of US agencies hijacking suspects 'for rendition,' off the streets of other countries the list goes on. It can be summarised as people that live in glass houses should not throw stones, let alone take a high moral line with other 'malefactors'.

PAKISTAN: CRISIS... OR WHAT?

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:22:29 +0000
In posing the question : is the outside world "talking up" the level of the political crisis in Pakistan we have to be aware that the western media in particular are easily influenced by the supporters of the dynastic candidate Benazhir Bhutto, who had high hopes of getting back into power at some level, after the forthcoming legislative elections. Her chances of being allowed back into PAKISTAN without being arrested on spectacular corruption charges relating to her period in office, are presently dashed, which is not to say that it won't change again. It is often revealing in such circumstances of unrest, to look at a nation's financial markets, normally a barometer of the seriousness of the national mood, and see what they are telling us. As we report, the ongoing political crisis - including a recent alarming loss of life in street clashes- shows no signs of affecting the economic and financial situation, which is on the 'up,' as we detail. It hardly sounds as though revolution is just around the corner!
What is not in doubt is that Musharaff is hard-pressed, partly through the widespread ignorance in parts of the western media that suggests that somehow, fanatical islamists of which Pakistan has too many, have an interest in democracy, and that Musharaff's perceived anti-democratic moves, like the suspension of the Chief Justice, confirm that restoring to power the corrupt political parties of h

'Rockets on Israel'

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:45:52 +0100

IF YOUR COMMUNITY WAS BEING ROCKETED BY A NEIGHBOURING, ALTHOUGH FOREIGN COMMUNITY, WHAT WOULD YOU EXPECT YOUR GOVERNMENT TO DO?

BUYING-UP THE AFGHAN POPPY

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:23:06 +0000
In our Newnations October '06 Publishers Overview we made the following proposal about the Afghan Poppy crop, which accounts for 90% of world supply of opiates. In the March '07 edition of the UK magazine "Prospect" in an interview with President Musharraf of Pakistan we discover that he endorses this approach. "Prospect" also tells us that the original idea of buying the whole crop, first saw the light of day on being floated by Emmanuel Reinart of the Senlis Council- a development think-tank, in 2005.
Is this not a classic example of an idea whose time has come?

AFGHANISTAN - A POPPY STORY
Consider these statistics which are included in this month's (OCT '06) AFGHANISTAN report:
1) "The yearly shortfall in cereal production is of 1.2 million tonnes out of a total consumption of 6 million tonnes, leaving 2.5 million Afghans at risk."

2) "The new poppy crop 50 % higher than last year will add a new boost (to the economy)".
Hurrah for boosts to the economy but now it's an acknowledged 'crop' - a part of the agri-business - what kind of madness is this?

It is true that the cereal shortfall is due to drought but clearly opium poppies are a preferred crop. So the wretched heroin users in the US and Europe and Russia will continue to get

Predictions 2008

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:20:40 +0000
"a man may prophesy, with a near aim, of the main chance of things" Shakespeare. (Henry IV).

Fortunately for the prophecy industry the standard is not high since the record is so deeply unimpressive. Fair enough perhaps, that we are all incapable of predicting such specific cataclysms as the December 2004 Tsunami - an underwater earthquake after all - that devastated large areas of South Asia. But we in the west are anyway inured to such disastrous acts of nature happening, so long as it is such a long way away. Look at the almost annual devastation of Bangladesh - a combination of predictable violent weather in the Bay of Bengal, inadequate government in Dhaka, and the vast numbers of people living with few defences in the low-lying Ganges estuary. Were that Europe, then the best case example of the largely below sea-level Netherlands, shows how it would be dealt with. The difference perhaps, lies in the political system and in access to the immense capital required for such massive civil engineering. [Although when a similar event happened in New Orleans, the presumably advanced US technology failed].

In foreseeing natural events we get fairly regular predictions about worldwide 'flu epidemics, of a general or specific kind. 'Bird flu' for example. The tabloids in their never-ending daily pursuit of conflict and sensation, tend to fall back on world-wide plagues on a slow news day. We have been spared the

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:43:15 +0100

Special Reports
AFTER COPENHAGEN THERE IS NO PLAN 'B'

Wed, 18 May 2011 12:40:03 +0100
Al-Qaida has failed:

LESSONS FROM THE 'ARAB SPRING'

by

Alessandro Bruno

The lessons from the 'Arab Spring'
Americans and people all over the world rejoiced at the elimination of Osama bin Laden (ObL), the world's number one terrorist on May 1, 2011, when he was killed in a daring raid by American special forces in Abbotabad, Pakistan. The sudden demise of a figure so emblematic of the past decade, one that diverted the focus of Western foreign policy on confronting terrorism and Islamism, has raised many questions. Apart from security planners and those rightfully concerned with whoever may seek to avenge ObL's death and the course that al-Qaida will adopt in the post Bin Laden future, it is worthwhile reflecting upon the role played by al-Qaida and similarly minded Islamic fundamentalist groups, in shaping social and political developments in the Arab world, specifically the "Arab Spring".

The September 11 terrorist attacks embroiled the United States in a seemingly endless struggle with Islamic peoples, elevating the 'appeal' or threat - of Islamic radicalism as an agent of change in the Islamic world, in a way comparable with the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The figure of Khomeini, had been replaced by Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network. Western diplomacies and academic circles had since 9/11 always expected that it would be I

TestAdmin

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:43:52 +0000
Checking

The Afghan National Army

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:08:01 +0000

�THE AFGHAN NATIONAL ARMY AND THE LIMITS OF AFGHANIZATION
________________

When it was originally conceived in 2002, the Afghan National Army (ANA) was mainly designed as a tool of nation-building. It was supposed to act as a melting pot of recruits coming from all provinces of Afghanistan, contributing therefore to the formation of a national identity. As such, it was also supposed to provide the central government with some leverage against regional strongmen, reluctant to take directions from Kabul and keen to protect their own turf. The ANA was not designed as a counter-insurgency force, nor as an army capable of defending the country from its neighbours. Its combat force is structured in conventional light infantry battalions, suited to take on the militias of Afghanistan's warlords, but not so much any real guerrilla force. Moreover the ANA has not been trained in anti-aircraft or anti-tank tactics or supplied with the relevant weaponry. As long as Afghanistan was under international tutelage, an army capable of matching those of its neighbours was not considered to be necessary, and perhaps even to be a potential irritant to the Pakistani government, always concerned about the possibility of being surrounded by hostile forces.

Since then, the situation in Afghanistan has changed a fair deal. The Neo-Taliban insurgency has been gradually spreading, and

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:57:32 +0100

World Audit 2012

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:05:22 +0000
The 12th World Audit annual report of this millennium,
this global survey is concerned with the condition of
democracy as it relates to the 150 nation states with
populations exceeding a million.
We define democracy via the criteria of
Human Rights; Political Rights; Free Speech; and the Absence
of Public Corruption.
World Audit has been publishing this annual survey since 1997.
Numbers are adjusted during each year when new data become
available. Methodology: The World Democracy tables' side
notes, explain our sources and how we build the statistics
into tables of rank.

WORLD DEMOCRACY IN JANUARY 2012

OVERVIEW

India - Pakistan: What hope for a lasting peace?

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:32:11 +0100

World Democracy 2010

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:37:42 +0000

The 20th World Audit report of the millennium, this survey is
concerned with the condition of democracy as it relates to 150
nation states all those with a
population of more than a million.

We define democracy via the criteria of
Human Rights; Political Rights; Free Speech; and the Absence
of Corruption.

We have been publishing this survey since 1997. Numbers are
adjusted during each year when new data become available. This
report is able to compare the results of 2001 over ten years
with those of 2011.

Methodology: The World Democracy
league tables side notes, explain our sources and how we build
the statistics into tables of rank.

CAN DEMOCRACY RECOUP?
________________


REDLAND-WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:23:37 +0000
A tour d'horizon of future conflict
It is in the nature of military planning that we are never going to know quite how, in times of peace, the evaluation of risk takes place in respect of potential enemies. This, should be the most critical element in planning military expenditure - but is it? It is not to say that we can discount the human traits in the responsible committees, of going for a number they think they might get, in competition with other government priorities. Nor can we disregard the substantial weight and inducements of arms lobbyists, given the way politics is done in some of the big spending countries. Even other factors like the 'whose turn' it is, amongst the top brass of certain third world army, navy, or airforces, for the substantial 'commissions' that flow to them with big arms orders, can determine whether it is to be jet fighters, tanks or submarines, procured in any given year.
Assessing future risk in terms of defence expenditure is an awkward business particularly now, when novel weapons systems and their massive R&D budgets need to be in place and expended during many years before they are to become operational. Nothing could illustrate that better than the current US anti-missile missile, which is planned to go operational, and causing a big row with Russia as a result, even though it is not yet, and may never be reliable.

The arms industries of the world of c

SO HOW IS DEMOCRACY DOING?

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:33:18 +0000
This is the fifteenth world audit report of the millennium, in which we review the state of public corruption; current practice in human rights; political rights; free speech; and the overall state of the rule of law in 150 nations (all those exceeding one million population). By reference to these, we compile the world democracy table with its subsidiary statistical tables. We recommend that readers check out our methodology (button on left hand sidewalk of democracy table) to make the most sense of these results and the commentary below.�

We also recommend readers who seek more in-depth, regular information, to our sister website, www.newnations.com This offers updated monthly analytical reports currently for 45 'nations in transition' (emerging or submerging); many polemical, geopolitical 'special reports', plus five years worth of easily accessible archive material.�

SO HOW IS DEMOCRACY DOING?The very term democracy is routinely misused by people who should know better. The opportunity to cast a vote can be quite meaningless unless there are transparently honest elections, with genuine voter choice of parties and people. Also as Stalin is said to have observed, "its not important who stands for elections what matters is who counts the votes." What that has come to mean for objective commentators, is that with nations outside established democratic practice and the rule of law, wh

AFGHAN DRUGS

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 22:37:40 +0100

The problem gets worse with even greater quantities of opiates being produced by Afghan farmers. The way the 'official' US line has it, these illicit drugs are funding the Taleban war effort, but this is to ignore that the Taleban are only resurgent in certain parts of Afghanistan and therefore the Taleban can only be partly responsible. Meanwhile these illicit drugs are by far the countries largest export, bigger than anything in the 'white market.' The money that is engendered at every level in government both national and regional, including the ability of the freewheeling warlords to hold down their regions and arm their supporters, has been and remains dependent on the drugs trade.
But various means of destruction employed, despite claims of some success, have to stand alongside new data on increased acreage and greater yields.

Our PRESCRIPTION is to have the Afghan government working alongside allied and friendly governments who must fund the solution, to impose an intervention buying regime for one harvest, paying a price marginally below the current price of grain (or whatever alternative crop is indicated and to provide that seed for the next growing season). That all the intervention-purchased poppy crop should be burned, less whatever part international Big Pharma would be prepared to buy-in for legitimate pharmaceutical use. That it be

IRAQ

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:33:54 +0100

The root problem which will not go away when the western troops leave, is that there is now such visceral hatred and fear between the two rival sects of Islam, and this is not excluded from the Iraqi army and police, who on present form will in the absence of foreign troops, probably be out of civilian control - and of course there are waiting in the wings, the massive sectarian armed militias. It could take a generation to enable the communities to live together without well justified fear. The path that the US is taking with the only possible successor power to themselves, the elected civilian government, ignores the fact that unlike a 'proper' democracy, these politicians are for the most part not elected on any platform of proposed policies, but in the interests of the tribal and sectarian groups from which they come. That can only mean in such a crude and vengeful environment that the sectarian majority will oppress the sectarian minority, who will have no recourse to justice - except that which comes from the barrel of a gun!

Our PRESCRIPTION is that Iraq should quickly become a federation. They should recreate (approximately) the boundaries of the three historic Ottoman provinces that preceded the end of WWI and the subsequent 1932 British creation of an independent state of Iraq, which can be seen to have spectacularly failed under quite different forms of government.

Government of each component province should be st

WORLD LEADERSHIP

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 22:38:28 +0100

From midway through WWII and throughout the cold war, indeed until the end of the 20th C the democratic nations looked for leadership from the elected presidents of the USA, and on the whole they did a pretty good job. Bush /Cheney changed all that, despite the massive amount of goodwill that accrued to them following 9/11.
After a full-hearted wave of international support for the military intervention in the Afghan civil war, to overthrow the Taleban hosts of the al Qaeda terror group, suddenly many nations came to the realisation that they could not follow such a further lead as Washington was to next offer. This was primarily in the irrelevant invasion of Iraq in pursuit of a US neo-con policy with no acceptable logic to Europeans and many others. The discovery that there had been a false prospectus for the Iraq invasion made matters worse. This, plus dismay at the calibre of the Bush-Cheney presidency, for the first time in more than half a century resulted in a US administration which many significant nations were no longer prepared to follow, as they had their predecessors. It does not help that the outstanding problem of Iran and it's nuclear ambitions, could hardly be moderated by a US whom itself refuses to give up the ability to conduct experimental nuclear explosions, and has easily the largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world, having just announced a modernisation

Trans-national Terrirism

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:27:28 +0000
Trans-national Terrorism

It might be worthwhile for the UN to recommend a procedure to encourage all nation states suffering external terrorist attacks, to set up in each instance an emergency committee with intelligence analysts from both the victim nation and the nation accused of the outrage, chaired by a UN appointed neutral. They should first pool their information, identify and seek to agree on what the terrorists hoped to achieve, and then counsel their governments to do the opposite.

Water Wars

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:36:23 +0000

Georgia

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:33:26 +0100
Our New Nations solution to the GEORGIA problem is to model a treaty on that of the Panama Canal Zone and have the EU (whose markets these mainly are for), lease a pipeline corridor for the existing and new pipelines through GEORGIA, with EU nations troops to protect the corridor. That would mean that RUSSIA would not invade, short of WWIII, and it avoids the obvious risks of extending NATO alliance membership to GEORGIA who would of course enjoy enhanced leasing and transit fees.

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:34:19 +0000
WAR IS NOT INEVITABLE...BUT!

by

Alessandro Bruno

________________

��
The South Sudanese Independence Referendum & the Regional Implications
In September US secretary of State Hillary Clinton described as a "ticking time bomb'. the prospects for the January 9, 2011 referendum for the independence of South Sudan - and one to determine if the contested oil rich Abyei region should join the North or the South. While there are reasons, and circumstances, to suggest that the Referendum will be held on time and that the Sudanese leadership may respect the voters' likely decision to split from Khartoum, the prospect of renewed tensions, and possibly war, between North and South Sudan still remains high. Even if the split between South and North occurs peacefully, the emergence of a new nation state in east-central Africa will carry important implications for the region and beyond, which carry their own special risks. The outcome of the referendum will also affect the way the Sudanese government will manage the persisting tensions in the Darfur region.

Since independence from Britain in 1956, North and South Sudan have fought two civil wars; Sudan has known very few years since it became an independent state without war. The areas of conflict have always concerned South Kordofan, the Blue Nile region and the Abyei. In 2003, the Darfur issue precip

Enslavement of Women

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:18:46 +0000

Predictions about South Africa

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:16:04 +0000
Predictions about South Africa

Obama's First Hundred Days

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:13:31 +0100

OBAMA'S FIRST HUNDRED DAYS

As he approaches the 100 day mark, we now know three things about Barack Obama that were not clear before. First, he is a war president, not a peace president. Second he wants to reform capitalism, not to transform it. Third, he is almost as much on his own, struggling with a world which is hostile, indifferent, or simply seeking advantage, as was George W.Bush. Obama's style, elegance, and intelligence are obviously in marked contrast with his predecessor, and the quality of his advisors higher, and there is a warmth of feeling toward him in almost every quarter which is unprecedented since Kennedy. Yet the combination of the weight of the Bush legacy and the conservatism of Obama and his team means that he is mapping out his presidency along lines which show a strong continuity with the Bush years. The key question for the future is whether he will become more or less radical as that presidency develops.

A War President
When Obama outlined his plans for Iraq in February, he significantly chose to do so before a military audience. He spoke first to American soldiers because he knew he was not going to be announcing an end to their exposure to the dangers of combat but forecasting a considerable extension of it. His speech was supposedly about withdrawal, but it was in tr

WORLD AUDIT DEMOCRACY 2009

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:17:42 +0000

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:49:13 +0100
Tax Havens

A Blight on Democracy and Development

By

Peter Crisell

Tax or no tax?
American founding father, Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) famously remarked: "'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." However, taxes aren't so certain if you're rich enough to avoid them by going offshore to a tax haven. New York millionairess and tax fraudster, Leona Helmsley, got it right when she remarked, "We don't pay taxes. Taxes are for the little people". In this article, we draw attention to the fact that 'free riding' in relation to tax is a multi-million dollar global industry.

It is self-evident that tax havens undermine democracy. They do so by contributing to inequality and poverty, distorting markets, undermining financial and other regulation and curbing economic growth. They accelerate capital flight from the poor to the rich countries, and promote corruption and crime around the world.

Why pay taxes?
Most of us don't much like paying taxes and do so with some reluctance. But we know that in representative democracies, the money raised in taxes provides us with services that we cannot provide for ourselves and which can only be provided collect

Publishers Overview

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:18:40 +0000

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:22:08 +0000

WORLD DEMOCRACY

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:47:24 +0000
________________

GLOBAL CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY

IS THE G20 THE WAY AHEAD?

by

Peter Crisell
________________
��

The constitution, membership and decision-making structures of organisations like the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, reflect the global power relationships of a bygone age and do not take into account the rapid changes that have occurred since. One effect of this is arguably the over-representation of the old European colonial states whose power and influence is in decline with corresponding under-representation of the emerging countries of Asia and elsewhere. In the case of the UNSC, which we discuss here, the membership is based on ten member states elected by the General Assembly for a two year term and five permanent members (each having a veto) who all happened to be the winners in the world war that finished sixty six years ago. This restricting of permanent membership (including veto powers) excludes: Germany, Europe's largest country and leading economy; and Japan, the world's second or third most successful world economy, depending on the data one chooses. For this representation (imposed by the victors of a war fought long before most of the world's citizens alive today were born) to continue, is now absurd in the face of the great globa

Putin

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:39:05 +0000

The Chinese Challenge

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:36:09 +0100
________________

THE CHINESE CHALLENGE

by

Bryan Gould
________________

An Economic Triumph
I first went to China in 1978 as a member of a British Parliamentary delegation. We were the first Western politicians to be invited into China following the fall of the Gang of Four.

The trip was like visiting the moon. The country was unlike anything I had ever seen. Literally everyone wore drab-coloured Mao tunics. The only cars were heavy black Soviet-made limousines that ferried senior Party officials around Beijing; otherwise, everyone rode bicycles.

There were no shops, apart from the handful of Friendship Stores that were open exclusively to foreign dignitaries and diplomats. Otherwise, the only signs of commerce were the mounds of cabbages and pumpkins piled up on street corners and brought to makeshift markets by peasants from the countryside.

There was no colour anywhere, apart from huge red banners proclaiming the Five Modernisations. It was impossible to escape the blare of loudspeakers, broadcasting party propaganda, on trains, in streets and from poles in the fields. When we ventured out of our state-run hotel (also restricted to foreign visitors) in the evening, we would attract large crowds who had never before seen a white face.

I returned to China in 1995 as the

Iran

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:30:03 +0100
Iran

Iran is either bluffing or telling the truth regarding its nuclear intentions, or perhaps it is still making up its mind. This ancient nation is a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation pact. It insists that it is only seeking to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, as under that pact it is fully entitled to do.

That has not been shown to be untrue.
It is the job of the IAEA to monitor what is happening in the nuclear field but of course, the intelligence services of many countries have set out to do that as well. But, as was shown over Iraq, their product is not necessarily trustworthy. The continuing problem for many observers is that Iran combines a regime cruel to its own people, with a loudmouth president who talks particularly belligerent talk, specifically threatening Israel.

Iran is one of the world's oldest and proudest nations. In addition it has the world's largest concentration of Shi'ite Moslems and for this reason is feared by it's Sunni neighbours, like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, where Shi'ite citizens are secondary to the majority Sunni. To make matters even more complicated, Iran is a 'Theocracy' where belief must conform to what is the official religious line. If there is any contradiction, established facts are outweighed by religious teachings from the senior approved priests. So belief trumps rationality very dangerous for ever

Quo Vadis Europe

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 11:02:17 +0100
A VICTIM OF ITS OWN SUCCESS

by

Martin Woollacott

________________

�
A Victim of its Own Success
Has the European idea lost its potency? The question is unavoidable as one looks at the Europe of today, wracked by economic crisis, institutionally confused, divided in its counsels, and in danger of reverting to the principle that narrowly conceived national interest should be the main guide to action. The original European impetus was not only the negative one of avoiding war. It also sprang from a realisation on the part of the main European powers that their decline was inevitable unless they joined together. Economically, militarily, and diplomatically they could count for far more in the world if they acted in some respects as a collective. Of course, national interest and European interest would in practice be entangled. French leaders invoked Europe to sustain French objectives, while Timothy Garton Ash called his history of post-war Germany "In Europe's Name," to describe the way in which German ambitions were always represented, as well as sometimes genuinely modified, to fit a European template. Even the sceptical British were on occasion ready to see Europe as a multiplier. Yet, while Europe often faltered, it neverthless moved on from success to success.

It is now in a sense the victim of those successes. The problems which the Eu

The Afghan Army: Is it fit for purpose?

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:10:35 +0100
The Afghan Army:

Is it Fit for Purpose?

________________
��

The transition from NATO to Afghan leadership in the security sector officially started in July 2011, with a few locations being handed over to Afghan control. It was a muted beginning of the transition: all the locations transitioned to the Afghans were comparatively quiet and safe ones. It is well known that ISAF's outgoing commander, Gen. Petraeus, was very tepid towards the transition, although he would not openly elaborate on his motives. It is also known that Afghan president Karzai, President Obama and the European governments were more supportive of a transition as fast as possible. At the centre of the debate on the viability of transition in the medium and long run is the question of whether the Afghan security forces are really ready to take the lead and eventually to fight it out on their own. In particular, it is the Afghan army that will be the cornerstone of efforts to Afghanise the conflict. If the Afghan army cannot do the job, transition is not going to be the road to success.

Achievements and failures
When Gen. Caldwell, the head of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, took over the job of training Afghan Army and Police, he portrayed what had been done by his predecessors in a very negative light; even the basic training course, which accounted for almost all of the Am

Morocco

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:27:23 +0100
Morocco

The Arab 'Awakening' Could Still Arise

Some of Morocco's problems derive from its overly close economic ties to Europe. Right now there is a growing crisis south of the Sahara, the Sahel that will inevitably affect Moroccan security. Mali, a poor country but one of the shining examples of parliamentary democracy in Africa, suffered a coup while enduring a separatist war with regional consequences in the north. Niger has faced another drought and is suffering from another period of famine. The Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali, which has seen the bulk of the fighting led by opportunist Islamist forces, could prompt a renewal of militant fighting in Western Sahara, seeing as little progress has been made in the latest round of talks. If a solution isn't found soon, Western Sahara, in the context of the turmoil in the Sahel, could promptly become embroiled in the web of terrorist and smuggling networks that are threatening North and West Africa.

In North Africa, Algeria and Morocco are the two countries that have experienced the softest manifestations of the Arab Awakening. Algeria avoided the turmoil largely because it had experienced an 'awakening' of its own throughout the decade of the 1990's that permanently 'put to sleep' over 100,000 people. Morocco avoided massive uprisings thanks to the existence of institutions capable of absorbing and translating social dissent into poli

NATO: Where is it Going?

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:28:42 +0100
NATO: WHERE IS IT GOING?

by

Clive Lindley

________________

In June 2006 Newnations published: "What Is Nato For?" This essay asking essentially the same question, is intended to follow on, to see if the intermediate five years have in any way clarified or obscured an answer.

At the time of our earlier article, relationships with post-USSR Russia had settled down, if not quite normalised, but it was obvious that they were no longer a power seeking to control the world by military means. As to China, although they had made remarkable progress in every sphere of activity, their military expenditure had been at about one sixth that of the USA, (but in PPP terms is currently about two thirds of the US figure). Its economic advance largely based on selling its manufactures to the western world, is nothing short of prodigious and greatly enhances its world status.

In a study concerning only European security - Nato's original role, that would have little bearing on asking the question of where is Nato going? But the geographical mould is broken. Afghanistan is half a world away from the North Atlantic in distant south central Asia.

What Nato actually now is, does not need much explanation. Geoffrey Wheatcroft's suggested term: 'America's Foreign Legion,' is close to the mark. Before 2001 the fact could hardly have been foreseen that elements of the US's Nato all

Liberal Democracies

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:21:23 +0000
LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES:

ARE THEY AT THE MERCY OF MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS?

by
PETER CRISELL

________________

"The twentieth century has been characterised by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy." (1)

The danger of corporate power
President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said: "The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power." In a previous article, it was argued that the private power of multinational corporations (MNCs) undermines democracy when these companies do not pay their taxes. The use of tax havens, we argued, contributes to inequality and poverty, distorts markets, undermines financial and other regulation, and curbs economic growth. Furthermore, such activities accelerate capital flight from the poor to the rich countries, and promote corruption and crime around the world (2).

In this article we examine whether corporate power itself global and ubiquitous is a threat to democratic government in other respects. Hitherto the creed of fre

India Rising: How Far, How Fast?

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:41:27 +0000
INDIA RISING:

HOW FAR, HOW FAST?

by

Dr Surjit Mansingh

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The process of rising from a lower to a higher level of performance can be measured by objective fact as well as by subjective expectation or perception. India's emergence from the miserable pit in which it was left at the time of independence in 1947, to its present day status as second only to China in the magnitude of its economic miracle, is well documented as an objective fact. So is the international respect India currently receives as one of the shapers of the twenty first century, a member of the Group of Twenty (G-20) charged with helping to manage global finances and development, a possible permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a desirable strategic partner of every important state, including the United States of America (US). Subjective perceptions, however, vary according to individual experiences, expectations, and criteria of judgement, so that there are different answers - enthusiastic and cautious -- to questions about how far and how fast, India can continue to rise. We review briefly India's economic, political and social record over the past six decades, and then consider contemporary factors that prompt optimistic or discouraging forecasts for the near future.

Background
Since ancient times, India was known as the land of fabled wealth and s

Myanmar

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:38:05 +0100
Myanmar

With political reforms being implemented at a fast pace and economic pressure due to international sanctions being eased a little, April 2012 can safely be considered a historic month for Myanmar. Despite a standoff over a clause in the new Constitution and her boycott of the Parliament seat, National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi won the first by-elections in Myanmar since 1990. The reforms have been recognised and appreciated by the international community, particularly the US and the EU, by starting to suspend some of the tough economic sanctions, and opening avenues to provide developmental aid, so as to strengthen the democratic process. Finally, in addition to the domestic political and global economic events, the government of Myanmar struck a deal with the Karen rebels and is moving ahead to solve the longest and most violent ethnic conflict in its history.

By-elections and win of Aung San suu kyi
Inching slowly towards democratic politics, by-elections were held in Myanmar that saw the victory of National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Competing for the first time since 1990, the NLD won 43 of only 45 seats available in the landslide victory. However, the NLD says that it will boycott the Parliament until the government withdraws an oath-of-office from the Constitution, that grants reservations to the army in the Parliament and to safeg

HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER ATTACK

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:21:10 +0000

AL QAIDA

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:27:31 +0100
AL QAIDA, AQIM & AQAP IN THE WAKE OF 'THE ARAB SPRING'

by

Alessandro Bruno

________________

Al-Qaida, or what it represents, was Sunni Islam's response to Shiite radicalism. Sunni Islam which is much more numerous, has an altogether wider international reach and because of its links to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, the Cold War and Pakistan, all of which have an impact on western interests, al-Qaida succeeded in embroiling the United States in new wars in the Middle East. Al-Qaida seemingly elevated the popularity of Islamic radicalism as an ideology for change in the Islamic world, in a way not seen since the Iranian revolution of 1979. In this case, the figure of the Shi'ite Khomeini, the Iranian supremo, was replaced by Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaida network. A tragic consequence of the popularity of Islamic radicalism is that governments throughout the Middle East have used this phenomenon as their excuse to resist calls to extend more political and social freedoms, while justifying the use of repressive police and security forces. Nonetheless, given the revived cultural relevance and the socio-economic links that have enabled the formation of grass roots Islamic movements, it is inevitable that Islamic politics will be an important component of any democratizing effort in the Islamic world.

The 'Arab Spring', presents a fresh existential problem for the infamous terrorist organizati

Nuclear Nightmares - and Nonsense?

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:26:02 +0100

Crimes Against Humanity

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:15:27 +0100
THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: TEN YEARS OF SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

by

PETER CRISELL

________________
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"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".
Martin Luther King, Jr.

International justice: an old or new idea?
Alongside centuries of armed conflict, there seems always to have existed a parallel belief that inhumane conduct such as the abuse of prisoners and the rape of civilians - should be tried and punished by law. However, for centuries jurists perceived international law solely in terms of relations between states. Prosecution for war crimes was therefore only possible in national courts. In situations where the perpetrators of atrocities continued in power and the victims remained subjugated, justice was rarely done. (1)

The idea that there should be international laws to deal with war crimes usually collided with a contrary belief in state sovereignty, a principle established by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. It was only at the turn of the twentieth century that the idea of international prosecution for human rights abuses began to take hold. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 were the first significant attempt to codify the laws of war in an international treaty. They provided for protection of civilian populations, respect for family honour and rights, for the lives of individuals and respect for religious conviction

THE ARAB LEAGUE

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:02:05 +0100
THE ARAB LEAGUE & GULF CO-OPERATION COUNCIL IN THE ARAB AWAKENING

by

Alessandro Bruno

________________

The Arab League was formed in 1945 as the expression of a nascent Arab nationalism following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1919, weakening European colonialism in the Middle East and North Africa and the challenge posed by the emerging State of Israel (formalized in 1947 by the UN).

Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Transjordan (later Jordan) and Iraq were the founding members; Today, the League includes 22 full members and four observer states. While it is easy to discuss the history of the League, its evolution and its resolutions, it has become ever harder to discuss its purpose.

Apart from expanding, the League has most famously been noted for its 'suspending' and chastising. Egypt was suspended in 1979 when it signed the Camp David peace accords with Israel. More recently, on January 22, 2012, the Arab League suspended Syria over its repression of the anti-government revolts that have plagued the country since March 2011.

The Arab League's 'suspensions' of membership offer rare examples of unity within the Arab world; indeed, as an organism, the League, has been most effective at emphasizing the deep political divisions that characterize the Arab world. In the past year, however, the League has reached a remarkable degree of consen