Archive for July, 2009

This detailed Paper discusses a range of factual and international legal issues relating to the military operation undertaken by the Israel Defence Forces (“IDF”) in Gaza in December 2008 – January 2009 (the “Gaza… »

The now daily revelations about Silvio Berlusconi’s sex life suggest to many a leader unfit to govern. Yet in the extensive coverage in the international press and the growing condemnation of the Italian prime minister’s behaviour, bigger problems are being missed that go to the heart of Italy’s decline and which will not be remedied… »

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said China must stop targeting the island with hundreds of missiles to extend the deepest thaw in relations in six… »

Moldova’s pro-Western opposition parties appear to have unseated Europe’s last governing Communist Party in repeat parliamentary elections that have become a test of whether this impoverished former Soviet republic will lean toward the West or… »

A spate of militant clashes in Tajikistan may indicate that the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan are spilling beyond their borders – a top concern for neighboring Central Asian nations and… »

Moscow will grant a $150 million loan for two years to Cuba to finance deliveries of Russian construction and agricultural machinery and equipment. The two countries also signed a preliminary agreement on Russian oil company Zarubezhneft’s operations in Cuba’s exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of… »

Twenty German companies have drawn up ambitious plans to meet at least 15 percent of the European electricity demand by 2020 from solar thermal power plants installed in the North African Maghreb… »

Iran’s top representative in Bolivia said Tehran has approved a 280 million US dollars loan for the Bolivian government to develop its industry and energy… »

President Obama’s top Sudan envoy said Thursday that there was no basis for keeping Sudan on the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism and that it was only a matter of time before the United States would have to “unwind” economic sanctions against the Khartoum… »

The role of religion in overseas assistance has long been highly sensitive for a country founded on the principle that state and religion should be separate. But as U.S. policymakers seek to curtail the influence of radical Islam, they are being increasingly hamstrung by legal… »

According to conventional wisdom, the global economic crisis is accelerating the transfer of power and influence from the West to Asia. The United States has been particularly hard hit by the downturn and America’s loss is China’s gain. This shift is transforming international economic decisionmaking. The G8, the traditional locus of power, has been fatally… »

Characterising reform in Saudi Arabia is difficult due to the pronounced opacity of Saudi policy making. King Abdullah has often been portrayed as a reformer and since his accession to the throne expectations for change have been high.Tentative measures such as elections to the municipal councils in 2005 have been heralded as signs of incipient… »

(PDF) – This paper examines the Philippines as an archipelagic and maritime nation, with a particular focus on the strategic thinking that underlies its policies in the area. The author argues that the Philippines has been progressing more as a maritime nation rather than an archipelagic one, primarily because of difficulties in defining the limits… »

In 2008, WFP faced a particularly difficult set of challenges, provoked by dramatically rising food
and fuel prices and aggravated by widespread turmoil in international financial systems. Steady progress towards reducing global hunger not only ground to a halt but began to slide in the opposite direction. The number of undernourished people in the world increased… »

(PDF) – Today, in some areas of the West, existing water supplies are, or will be, inadequate to meet the water demands of people, cities, farms, and the environment even under normal water supply conditions. Five interrelated realities of water management are creating crises in important areas in the West. These realities are:
*Explosive population growth
*Water… »

While the final results have yet to be announced, early indications show that Gorran has managed to upset the dominant Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party (PUK) in its traditional stronghold of Sulaymaniyah. The loss of many seats in the city is seen as a harbinger of a potentially difficult period for both the Kurdistan Regional… »

The World Bank Group (the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency) committed US$ billion 3.2 in fiscal year 2009 to MENA countries as they continue to manage the impact of the global financial crisis while maintaining the pace of reforms for… »

The image of the United States has improved markedly in most parts of the world, reflecting global confidence in Barack Obama. Signs of improvement in views of America are seen even in some predominantly Muslim countries that held overwhelmingly negative views of the United States in the Bush years. Israel stands out in the poll… »

Russian plans to open a second military base in Kyrgyzstan are being seen as a challenge to neighbouring Uzbekistan, which regards itself as the dominant power in the… »

An overwhelming majority of Palestinians believe Hamas leader in exile Khaled Meshaal has recognised Israel’s right to exist following his June speech where he expressed support for a two-state solution, a recent poll… »

Fateh, the movement that has led the Palestinian struggle for decades, is at a dangerous crossroads. At stake is not only its unity but more significantly its mere… »

The trilateral meetings were originally initiated in 2007 and since then the three parties have met to make coordinated action against the PKK more effective. Previous meetings were held in November 2008 in Baghdad and discussed the basis for possible action plans after the U.S. withdrawal from… »

Middle East news giant Al Jazeera has gained its first big foothold in the U.S. TV market. Now it has to overcome perceptions of… »

The streets of the Iranian capital are reportedly quiet one day in the wake of clashes that erupted in several neighborhoods after police forcibly dispersed a mourning ceremony to honor those killed in Iran’s postelection… »

Depuis plus de dix ans, parmi les pays émergents, seule l’économie indienne a paru principalement tirée par sa demande intérieure. Tous les autres pays ont trouvé, de manière directe ou indirecte, l’économie américaine comme acheteur de dernier ressort. Et, pour avoir peu participé de ce mouvement, les pays du Maghreb ne comptent pas parmi les… »

Iran has deployed a flotilla of warships and support vessels into the Gulf of Aden, the second in recent weeks, and says it also plans to establish a new naval base in the Gulf of Oman, at the southern end of the chokepoint Strait of… »

Chinese border police have seized 70 kg (154 lb) of the strategic metal vanadium bound for North Korea, a local newspaper said on Tuesday, foiling an attempt to smuggle a material used to make missile… »

Jordan is forging ahead with a peaceful nuclear programme that would turn the energy-poor kingdom into an exporter of electricity, nuclear chief Khaled Tukan… »

A whopping 58 percent of Republicans either think Barack Obama wasn’t born in the US (28 percent) or aren’t sure (30 percent). A mere 42 percent think he… »

North Korea seized a fishing boat from the South on Thursday after it accidentally strayed into the North’s waters, officials said, amid tensions on the peninsula over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile… »

The Democratic-controlled House is poised to give the Pentagon dozens of new ships, planes, helicopters and armored vehicles that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says the military does not need to fund next… »

Turkmenistan’s pledge to take Azerbaijan to court over the two countries’ rival claims to Caspian Sea oil fields has sparked more confusion than anger in Baku. Some Azerbaijani experts even believe that an international arbitration hearing could prove the best way to resolve a long-standing energy… »

Security concerns could delay plans by Nigeria, Niger and Algeria to build a 2,580-mile pipeline across the Sahara to carry natural gas to… »

Colombian plans to lease three military bases to the US marks a change in Andean counternarcotics operations and reignites regional drug-war… »

From Somalia to Iraq, Afghanistan to Lebanon, an emerging global landscape of variable security threats is provoking United States military analysts into an intense process of… »

The Burundi peace process has made much progress in recent months. The last rebel group, the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People – National Forces of Liberation (Palipehutu-FNL), has renounced the use of arms and been registered as a political party. The recent positive developments are in large part linked to the involvement… »

On November 5, 2008, the Chinese government released a policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean, as it had previously done so for Europe in 2003 and for Africa in 2006. The release of the paper deliberately coincided with the unfolding of the current financial crisis; this congruence of events has allowed China to… »

U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske is in the middle of a four-day visit this week to Mexico, where he is meeting with Mexican government officials to discuss the two countries’ joint approach to Mexico’s ongoing cartel… »

An intensifying arms race looms over Latin America because of copycat weapons buying triggered by recent military buildups in some countries and reactions of their neighbors, defense analysts… »

Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia on rebuffed US calls for diplomatic overtures toward Israel and said the Jewish state’s settlement expansion is jeopardising efforts to revive peace… »

Clashes between Iraqi troops and members of an Iranian opposition group continued Wednesday morning after a bloody raid Tuesday on the opposition group’s camp. The attack was the Iraqi government’s boldest move since it declared its sovereignty a month ago and the latest sign that American influence is waning as Iranian clout… »

ETA, which is pronounced “etta,” is a leftist group that conducts terrorist attacks to win independence for a Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France. ETA stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, which means “Basque Fatherland and Liberty” in the Basque language. When the group formed in 1959, its founders focused on Gen. Francisco Franco’s… »

A senior U.S. Defense Department official voiced skepticism about proposals that would more narrowly circumscribe the role of the nation’s nuclear… »

(PDF) – The ongoing conflict in Afghanistan continues to take a heavy toll on the country’s civilians, according to the United Nations mission there, which recorded over 1,000 deaths in the first six months of 2009 – 24 per cent more than during the same period last… »

17 dams recently built on the Mekong and its tributaries in China, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, as well as 11 more in the planning process, are threatening Mekong River fisheries – and thereby the food security they have provided for millions, critics… »

Thousands of Somalis fleeing fighting around the capital have massed in a northern town, trying to cross the Gulf of Aden and sneak into Yemen, the U.N. refugee agency… »

The U.S. Air Force made its last flight from its military base in Manta, Ecuador in mid-July; it’s closing because of Ecuador’s concerns over arrogance and aggression. While the Pentagon abided by the eviction, it didn’t use the occasion to re-examine its missions in the region or correct its overreach. On the contrary, the military… »

One of the lingering effects of the food price crisis of 2007–08 on the world food system is the proliferating acquisition of farmland in developing countries by other countries seeking to ensure their food supplies. Increased pressures on natural resources, water scarcity, export restrictions imposed by major producers when food prices were high, and growing… »

President Hugo Chavez recalled his ambassador from Bogota on Tuesday and threatened to halt Colombian imports after the neighboring country said anti-tank weapons found in a rebel arms cache came from… »

The number of prisoners put to death worldwide decreased in 2008, a human rights group said, adding that China retained its position as the world’s top… »