Basra Fighting may overshadow NATO Summit – Sunday Business Post
March 30th, 2008
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/03/30/story31621.asp
Civil war may loom again, with Moqtada al-Sadr and Abdul Hakim – both Shi’ite warlords – now facing-off, and Sunni tribes armed by the US increasingly disenchanted at being sidelined by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-dominated government, whose army has been unable to stop the fighting and has little sway with al-Sadr or Hakim. This fiendishly-complex tinderbox will likely overshadow next week’s NATO summit, which already had plenty on its plate.
The alliance turns 60 next year, and since Communism’s European collapse removed its founding raison d’etre, a midlife crisis ensued. After 9/11, however, NATO invoked its collective defence provision for the only time in its history, and in 2006 it took over leadership of UN-sanctioned military operations in Afghanistan. (more…)
Sudan: The last ten percent – ISN
March 25th, 2008
Darfurian girl branded by janjaweed (ISN)
Despite renewed violence in Darfur and Abyei, Sudan’s government thinks the country is more or less at peace, Simon Roughneen writes for ISN Security Watch.
Since early February, Sudanese air strikes and ground attacks in western Darfur, carried out in tandem with janjaweed militia elements, have displaced between 30,000-60,000 people and left unknown numbers dead or missing.
Meanwhile, deadlock over the future status of Abyei, an oil-rich disputed region along the north-south divide in Sudan, has contributed to a recent upsurge in fighting between the southern army and local Arab pastoralists affiliated to the National Congress Party (NCP), the dominant component in the country’s national unity government.
Despite this upsurge in violence, the peace deal between north and south is already 90 percent implemented, this according to Dr Rabbi Abdul-Atti, an adviser to the Sudanese information minister, speaking to reporters in Nairobi.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) is the former southern rebel group now in uneasy government partnership with the NCP. (more…)
Zimbabwe braced for election – Sunday Business Post
March 23rd, 2008
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/03/23/story31422.asp
Zimbabwe will elect a new president, parliament and senate on Saturday, amid fears of post-election violence.
ZANU-PF leader and president Robert Mugabe has ruled since independence, and will run against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The Movement for Democratic Change leader was a narrow loser in the 2002 elections, which were widely believed to have been rigged. (more…)
Albania comes in from the cold – Sunday Business Post
March 16th, 2008
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/03/16/story31233.asp
Simon Roughneen in Tirana
‘Euro-Atlantic integration’ was the buzzword among officials from Albania’s Prime Minister’s Office and Ministries for
Statue of Skanderbeg, Tirana (Simon Roughneen, Feb 2008)
Defence and Foreign Affairs, speaking to this reporter during last week.
Albania is a country split four ways confessionally – between Sunni Muslims, Sufi Muslim Bektashis, Catholics and Greek Orthodox – and two ways tribally, with northern Ghegs and southern Tosks. But all now seem to be pulling one way politically.
“It has been a long time coming, but Albania is ready to rejoin the West. In truth and in spirit, it never left”. So said Tirana’s Catholic Archbishop, Rrok Krol Mirdita, interviewed Tuesday last.
Albania expects an official invitation to join NATO at the upcoming Bucharest summit, and has started the EU accession process. Last week Tirana pledged another 160 troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, backing pro-western rhetoric with boots on the ground. In July 2007, President Bush visited Albania to rapturous acclaim – a pro-Americanism that locals date to Woodrow Wilson’s vetoing Albania’s partition during Versailles treaty negotiations. (more…)
Malaysia’s political tsunami: next the shockwaves
March 13th, 2008
KLs Petronas Towers (Simon Roughneen, Aug 09)
In what Kuala Lumpur’s Star newspaper dubbed ‘ a political tsunami’, elections in tourist-haven Malaysia have cut the ruling coalition majority by a third, and threaten discord in the usually peaceful multiethnic society. The shockwaves hit in earnest on Tuesday when the new ethnic Chinese-led state government- in industrial powerhouse state Penang – stated it would discard a long-running and controversial pro-Malay affirmative action policy. The last time Malay interests were challenged so directly, in 1969, race riots left over 1000 Chinese dead.
In Saturdays election, the incumbent National Front coalition lost control of four state governments and shed 60 seats, as ethnic minority voters deserted the coalition that has governed since independence, raising questions about Malaysia’s future stability. The 14-party amalgam came into the election with a mammoth 199 out 220 seats, a 91% majority garnered with only 64% of the popular vote in the last election, held 2004. While the NF remains at the helm, its reduced majority means the hitherto typical rule-by-fiat will not longer be possible. Chinese- and Indian-Malaysian voters have opted for ethnic opposition parties, and even some of the country’s 60% Malay majority have voiced their concerns over growing crime, economic slowdown and ethnic tensions, by divesting from the status quo.
In August 2007, the country marked the 50th anniversary of its independence, but one of the world’s post-colonial successes has seen a marked rise in ethnic and religious tensions over the past year, in a Muslim-majority country. (more…)
Young Paisley departure stirs rumours on dad – The Washington Times
March 2nd, 2008
Ian Paisley, 1969
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/mar/03/young-paisley-departure-stirs-rumors-on-dad/
DUBLIN — The resignation of Ian Paisley Jr. has prompted speculation that his octogenarian father, Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley Sr., will step down as well.
With his father at his side, the younger Mr. Paisley quit his post as junior minister last week over links to a real estate developer from whom he bought a house.
Known to locals as “Young Paisley,” he has not been cited for any crime nor has there been anything more than an implication of something inappropriate afoot.
Still, the scandal was enough to force him out of the Cabinet, although he will continue to serve in the national legislature.
The resignation cost Ian Paisley Sr., 82, the sprightly leader of Northern Ireland’s biggest pro-British political group — the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) — support of a trusted aide. (more…)
Sovereign wealth funds could face operating regulations – Sunday Business Post
March 2nd, 2008
SWFs image from ResearchRecap
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/03/02/story30894.asp
The European Commission and the US Congress last week floated operating guidelines for sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), which are the talk of the town in global financial circles these days.
SWFs are government-run investment vehicles. They have mushroomed over recent months, as banks such as Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley benefited from an overall US$67 billion (€44 billion) infusion into the US, from state-backed white knights offering bail-outs after the sub-prime crisis ‘‘We’re open for business,” was EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy’s verdict last Wednesday.
However, Russian gas pipeline politics have prompted concerns about Moscow potentially using resource revenue for political purposes. The EC and US may seek transparent disclosure of investment strategies and for SWFs to adhere to purely commercial activity, although all relevant terminology awaits precise definition.
‘‘I think [SWFs are] quite constructive and we should be open to [. . .] that kind of investment,” said Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke during an address to the US joint Houses last week. (more…)
Pipeline deal strengthens Russian grip on Europe’s gas supplies – Sunday Business Post
March 2nd, 2008
At gas terminal in Ukraine (BBC)
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/03/02/story30892.asp
Russia notched up major success in its quest to establish a strategic stranglehold on gas supplies to western Europe last week.
Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany met outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last Thursday, inking a deal to allow Russia’s Gazprom to extend a pipeline, already set to cross Bulgaria and Serbia, into western Europe.
The Serbian agreement was part of a package where Gazprom gets a controlling stake in Nis, the Serbian national oil company, in exchange for Russia backing Serbia’s opposition to Kosovar independence in the UN Security Council.
Alex Brideau of business risk analysts Eurasiagroup, told The Sunday Business Post that Russia’s policy was ‘‘guided primarily by the desire to maintain the country’s position in the natural gas business in Europe over the coming decades, given its importance to Gazprom and the overall economy’’, rather than based directly on Kosovo. (more…)
End nigh for pulpit-pounding Paisley? – ISN
March 2nd, 2008
Rev Paisley pictured with Martin McGuinness (BBC)
By Simon Roughneen in Dublin
Now almost 82, the long-time Ulster Protestant firebrand frontman Ian Paisley looks set to depart his formerly strife-torn region’s political scene. His son, Ian Paisley Jr, formally resigned his Belfast ministerial post late last week, after a drip-fed series of revelations showed the younger Paisley as too close to a property developer for the liking of rival politicians.
With his father at his side, Paisley Jr said he was proud to have served in the power-sharing executive.
“I leave with high hopes, good spirit, deep humility and with gratefulness in my heart,” he said.
Ian Paisley paid tribute to his son’s contribution to government. “I would just like to say, as the first minister, a word of thanks [...] to my son Ian for the hard work he did while he was in office.”
Young Paisley has not been cited for any illegality, nor has there been anything more than an implication that something inappropriate was afoot. But it was enough to force his hand. (more…)
Kosovo or Kosova? New York or Makkah? – IslamOnline
February 25th, 2008
Partying at the Newborn Sq, downtown Pristina, Feb 2008 (Simon Roughneen
Although some Western countries still refuse to recognize the new Albanian-majority state in the Balkans, the major powers — the US, the UK, Germany, and France — are backing the declaration of independence made by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci on Sunday, February 17, 2008. The former Yugoslav, and later Serb, province of Kosovo disappeared into history, and the Republic of Kosovo (or “Kosova” as the Albanians pronounce the name) came into being.
At street celebrations all afternoon and into the night after the declaration, backed by a unanimous vote by an extraordinary parliamentary session, the Kosovars drove noisy motorcades around Pristina’s central thoroughfares, honking wildly and brandishing Albanian and US flags. It is a marked contrast, then, to the usual agent-provocateur media images of enraged Muslims in Iran, Pakistan, the West Bank, burning the “stars and stripes” and chanting “Death to America.”
In fact, Islam, and religion generally, might be described as attenuated in former communist Eastern Europe because of the legacy of state-sponsored atheism in some cases and brutal repression in others. To Laura Krasniqi, a pharmacy student in Pristina, “faith is different from identity.” However, Fitora Rama, a student from Pristina, told IslamOnline.net (IOL), “We have to thank the US and the NATO — they have done so much for us here.”
However, the Kosovars have a humorously cynical view on international bureaucratic excesses. (more…)
