Owner: Thorns for Saadi URL:http://thornsforsaadi.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:21:57 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: An exploration of politics and world culture, seeking to unite a global audience by focusing on issues and events that seldom make it to the mass media. Site statistics:Click here
Curfews in Burmese Cities 2007-09-25 14:30:00 Amidst the growing international outcry over the situation in Burma, the military government has issued a curfew for many of the country's largest cities. This followed an eighth consecutive day of protests led by the country's revered Buddhist monks and opposition politicians, who are unlikely to conform to this latest command. It is possible that we will soon see a repeat of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising in which 3,000 people were killed by the military. Read more:Cities
New PM for Japan 2007-09-25 09:20:00 Yasuo Fukuda, a former chief cabinet secretary from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was approved today as the new prime minister of Japan
. Mr. Fukuda won the vote handily, although there had been much speculation that the job would go to the LDP's secretary-general, Taro Aso.This followed the September 12 resignation of prime minister Shinzo Abe, who held a approval rating of below 30% for much of his scandal-ridden year of rule. Public disapproval of Abe and the LDP was expressed in the recent parliamentary elections, where the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) secured a majority in the upper house.
How many countries can you name? 2007-09-25 08:11:00 Test your geographic knowledge with this quiz, where you have ten minutes to name all 192 UN Member States. Quite difficult, given the lack of visual aids.
The Good and the Bad 2007-09-25 07:47:00 A recent report by the Ibrahim Index named Mauritius as Africa's best governed state. It was followed by Seychelles, Botswana, Cape Verde, and South Africa. It is not surprising that three of the top five (Mauritius, Seychelles, and Cape Verde) are small island nations that rely heavily on tourism and have relatively high per capita incomes. Internal stability often has much to do with the quality of life (or economic satisfaction) of the people.At the bottom of the scale are Guinea-Bissau, Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia. Most of these have recent histories of violence, and have unstable economies exacerbated by rampant corruption and graft.One spot of good news is Rwanda, which jumped 18 spots in only five years. In the international community the country is best known for the civil war that culminated with the Rwandan Genocide in 1993. These events were dramatized in the 2004 film, Hotel Rwanda.
Illegal Punishment 2007-09-24 15:59:00 Today is the fifth day since Israel declared the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity" as a result of an increase in rocket attacks, cutting off electricity and fuel to an area where over 70% of the 1.5 million residents live in poverty. Aid agencies and humanitarian groups have denounced this move as collective punishment, forbidden by international law. Israel has been condemned by many world leaders - most notably the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon - for its extreme policies toward the Palestinian people. Read more:Punishment
Intensification 2007-09-24 14:32:00 In the past two days, the Burmese people have taken to the streets in increasing numbers to show their dissatisfaction with the military government. Anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 people took to the streets of Rangoon - the nation's capital - today, led by the Buddhist monks and nuns that have become the figurehead of the movement. It was the largest demonstration in nearly 20 years, a testament to the brutal efficiency of the Myanmar police-state. Seth Mydans of the New York Times writes that: "The demonstrations proceeded under the shadow of the last major nationwide convulsion, in 1988, when even larger pro-democracy protests were crushed by the military at the cost of some 3,000 lives." A number of smaller demonstrations were held elsewhere, including one in the city Mandalay with an estimated 10,000 protesters.For the first time today, the military junta responded to the growing demonstrations. Although the wording was decidedly neutral, the statements carried a veiled threat. B
A Beginning 2007-09-22 13:03:00 Thousands of Buddhist monks march across Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. It is a highly incongruous image; columns of red-robed figures with shaved heads and bare feet slowly walk down the middle of roads, watched by onlookers in neatly pressed shirts and carrying cell phones. Why are they marching, and more curiously, why have the riot police of a notoriously repressive state not intervened?For many people, the answers to these questions have little importance. A military junta has ruled Burma (the name is still used by those refusing to acknowledge the regime) since 1962, when a military coup d'etat ended the fledgling democracy established in 1948. Ever since then the country has been dominated by the military, whose economic policies and mismanagement have kept the country in a state of impoverishment. To combat the prevailing unrest, the junta has virtually thrown out the idea of human rights. A 2004 report by Freedom House, a non-profit organization advocating democracy and fr
Return of the Taliban? 2007-09-29 17:30:00 Today Afghan President Hamiz Karzai announced his intention to meet with the leader of the Taliban
- Mullah Mohammad Omar - and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister and warlord who has admitted to helping Osama bin Laden escape from the Tora Bora mountains in 2001, to discuss peace. Karzai will reportedly offer the men and their followers positions in the government.If Mr. Karzai seeks to end the years of turmoil beginning with Mohammed Daoud Khan's coup in 1973 and the Soviet invasion of 1979, making peace with the Taliban is not the solution. From 1995-2001, their rule was one of the most repressive in the world, and curtailed economic growth in one of the world's poorest countries. It is not so hard to understand why Mr. Karzai is seeking to make peace with these militant leaders. His own government is weak, and the Afghan military is a pitiful force; even with the 30,000 NATO troops the country is divided into private fiefdoms ruled by warlords funded by the heroin trade. Read more:Return
An interesting idea 2007-09-29 10:30:00 For much of the history of the environmental movement, we have associated green energy with solar panels, ethanol, and windmills. However, the BBC reports that there is a new plan to extract energy from the ocean's waves. This project, undertaken by the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC), will use energy converters off the Orkney coast of Scotland to produce energy capable of powering thousands of homes. If the project is successful, there is a good chance that it will spawn numerous others in locations where the wind and waves have until now proved only annoyances. Read more:interesting
A repeat of 1988? 2007-09-29 09:52:00 For the past three days, the military junta in Burma has cracked down upon the protests in the country's major cities, arresting hundreds of pro-democracy protesters. Although the death toll is impossible to estimate, official counts put the figure at nine to thirteen, including a Japanese journalist. In addition, hundreds - perhaps thousands - have been arrested or injured by riot police, and the New York Times reports that tens of thousands of monks - the emblem of the current protests - have been blockaded in their monasteries by combined police and military forces. Further protests have continued, but have been unable to achieve the size and scale seen before the crackdown. According to the Associated Foreign Press, as many as 10,000 protesters marched in the city of Rangoon on Friday, encountering heavy police resistance. Many world leaders, including US President George Bush and British PM Gordon Brown have reiterated their condemnation of the repressive regime.The junta has alr
Attacks upon Protesters 2007-09-26 07:13:00 Hundreds of monks and protesters have been arrested in Burma as they sought to defy the curfew imposed by the ruling military junta. Many monks have been blockaded inside their temples by police, which have literally flooded the streets of Rangoon and other cities. Already there are numerous accounts of beatings and several deaths resulting from the crackdown.It is clear that the hardline action by the junta has had an opposite effect. In most cases, the forcible dispersion of demonstrations is a sign of weakness, not strength. By seeking to suppress the protests, the generals have exposed their fears of the Burmese people.
Blackwater's indiscriminate violence 2007-10-02 08:00:00 A report released by the US Congress has accused Blackwater
, a private security firm operating primarily in Iraq, of around 200 shootings since 2005 (in over 80% of the cases they opened fire first). One of the most infamous incidents occurred on September 16, when Blackwater employees killed eleven Iraqis in a Baghdad square, earning the firm the unanimous condemnation of the Iraqi government. In many such cases, justice has been fleeting. One example is the killing of a security guard to one of the Iraqi vice presidents. John M. Broder of the New York Times reports:"An official of the United States Embassy in Iraq suggested paying the slain bodyguard’s family $250,000, but a lower-ranking official said that such a high payment “could cause incidents with people trying to get killed by our guys to financially guarantee their family’s future.” Blackwater ultimately paid the dead man’s family $15,000. In another fatal shooting cited by the committee, an unidentified State Depa
Korean leaders meet for a second summit 2007-10-02 07:36:00 In Pyongyang, the capitol of North Korea, president Kim Jong-il met with South Korea's president, Roh Moo-hyun to discuss peace and future cooperation. It was the second time the heads of state have met since 1953, when the Korean
War ended in a cease-fire (the other occurred in 2000). In recent years, South Korea has sought to improve relations by providing investment and aid to the impoverished North, in part to provide an incentive for the country to cease nuclear operations. However, Al-Jazeera reports that most South Koreans are skeptical about the benefits to be derived from another summit.Even if the talks will not resolve any major problems, they are a step in the right direction. When seeking to improve relations, it is imperative that cooperation be reinforced through an open dialogue and joint initiatives. Closing borders and refusing contact will only preserve flawed relations and hinder economic growth and development.
Exploitation of the Congo 2007-10-01 18:17:00 Colonialism may have ended in the middle of the 19th century, but foreign powers still exert a great influence over the African continent. Although the methods of intervention are different, the motives have remained unchanged. Instead of colonial governments, the major players are vast multinational corporations that seek to tap Africa's abundant natural resources.On such an expansive subject as resource exploitation, an all-inclusive depiction of the present situation is a highly ambitious endeavor. Africa is a vast continent with numerous states and tremendous biodiversity, and the numerous differences serve only to make the existing picture even more amorphous. For this reason I will focus upon the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a nation with enormous levels of unrealized potential.Known as Zaire from 1971-1997, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was formerly a Belgian-administered colony. A wave of nationalist sentiments in the 1950's led to the first parliamentary election Read more:Exploitation
Learn about religions 2007-10-01 15:07:00 How much do you know about world religions? Find out in this quiz from the BBC.More about religions:BBCSacred TextsWorld Religions IndexReligion Facts
Monks to be Imprisoned 2007-10-01 12:10:00 As reported by the BBC, around 4,000 Burmese monks involved in the Rangoon protests will be transferred to prisons in the north. It is a brutal gesture toward the widely revered figures, and too early to predict whether the populace will react with anger or fear. Read more:Imprisoned
Putin as PM? 2007-10-01 11:57:00 Required to step down as president next year, Vladimir Putin
has expressed interest in becoming the next Russian prime minister. In a country ruled by a brotherhood of ex-KGB and FSB agents (The Economist charges that every three out of four senior Russian officials have connections to the KGB and other security/military organizations), his odds appear very good.
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