[ARTICLE] Battle Company is Out There

NY Times reporter Elizabeth Rubin joins troops at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to investigate potentially deeper problems with the counterinsurgency campaign.

[ARTICLE] Shipping Costs Start to Crimp Globalization

The cost of moving goods around the world may be the largest barrier to global trade.

[ARTICLE] The Last Bite: Is the World's Food System Collapsing?

As the issue of food scarcity looms large in the national and foreign policy of many states, the World Bank recently announced that 33 countries are confronting food crisis

As Wilson argues, the current global food market fosters both scarcity and over-consumption, while imperiling the planet's ability to produce food in the future.

[COMMENTARY] End the US-Cuba embargo: its a win-win

Can common interests and cooperation lead to the normalization of relations with Cuba?

[OP ED] Bretton Woods, The Sequel?

Can a new "Bretton Woods," or international financial regulatory system fix our current global economic woes? Or would it be more effective to handle it on a national level?

[OP-ED] An Ice-Cold War

As climate change threatens to expose greater portions of the Arctic for resource exploration, the race among nations to stake claims has already begun.

[OP-ED] Urgent aid for Afghanistan

Reporter Anatol Lieven examines the current volatile situation in Pakistan and what role future U.S. policy may play.

A Doomed Presidency

Journalist Peter Preston argues that with the army poised for a coup and the Taliban winning hearts, new President-elect Zardari doesn't stand a chance.

A Strategic Economic Engagement - Strengthening U.S. - Chinese Ties

Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson writes on the importance both economically and strategically of engaging China further in the global economic system.

Americas Reporter

An Asian Bond Could Save Us From the Dollar

Former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra argues that Asian countries holding substantial dollar reserves should work together to "create an Asia bond to contain the fallout from a weak dollar."

CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons

Debate Is Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set Up After 9/11

 

Energy study downgrades Arctic bounty

The world shouldn't count on the Arctic as a major long-term source of energy and the U.S. cannot count on the icy north to move the country toward energy independence, according to a study released Wednesday by two energy research firms.

EurasiaNet

EurasiaNet provides information and analysis about political, economic, environmental and social developments in the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as in Russia, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia. Based in New York, the web site also offers additional features, including newsmaker interviews, book reviews and a discussion forum.

Food Security (IRIN)

IRIN offers news and analysis from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It provides up-to-date news about food security situations around the world, as well as information on global initiatives to combat hunger and reform food aid policies.

FPA Newslinks: Asylum from Iraq

FPA Newslinks this week reviews the state of Iraq's externally and internally displaced persons, highlighting Western developments that are raising restrictions and actually threatening to send refugees back.

FPA Newslinks: Aiding India with Nuclear Capability

FPA Newslinks examines the substance and the controversy of the U.S.-India nuclear trade deal finalized last week.

FPA Newslinks: Clandestine Plan for Northern Iraq Leaked

FPA Newslinks reviews the recently leaked plan to aid Turkey against Kurdish guerillas in Northern Iraq, and examines the assertion that the leak was deliberate.

FPA Newslinks: Cooperation in North Korea

On Thursday, June 28, United Nations inspectors stepped foot in Yongbyon, North Korea for the first time in approximately five years. In December of 2002, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring officials were expelled and the Yongbyon reactor went immediately into operation.

FPA Newslinks: South Korean Hostage Crisis in Afghanistan

Two weeks after the initial seizure of 23 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan, the Taliban continues to use the aid volunteers as a negotiation tool to obtain the release of their jailed counterparts. The situation began on July 19, 2007 when the volunteers were kidnapped off the main road between Kabul and Kandahar in the Ghazni province and unfolded as the Taliban began setting several deadlines for the hostages' lives. The most recent death was that of 29-year-old Shim Sung-min, who was died the night of July 30 from what appeared to have been a gunshot wound to the right temple. This marks the second hostage lost after the body of the group's leader and pastor was found the week prior in the desert area of Ghazni. The situation remains grim for the remaining 21 hostages as another deadline passed on Wednesday, August 1, but Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who is speaking on behalf of the Taliban, indicates that the additional hostages have not yet been harmed.

FPA Newslinks: Stubborn Core Policies on Missile Defense

FPA Newslinks looks at the ongoing U.S.-Russian deadlock over the Central European component of the American plan, which President Putin's alternative proposals have failed to alleviate.

FPA Newslinks: The Fight Against HIV/AIDS

Links to global news sources on U.S. efforts to curb HIV/AIDS in Africa and beyond.

FPA Newslinks: The Iraq Surge

The United States stepped up its hunt for al-Qaeda insurgents early Tuesday morning with a major military offensive called “Operation Arrowhead Ripper.” Attacks and raids are aimed towards the northern and southern flanks of Baghdad where insurgents are said to have established sanctuaries. The purpose of this offensive is to seal all the cracks that allowed insurgents to slip through in the past, one of them being Baquba with an estimated 300 to 500 fighters. This 10,000 U.S. troop offensive is possible due to the surge of 28,500 US troops into Iraq. Approximately 30 people identified as al-Qaeda members have been killed since the commencement of this operation, but there is still doubt as to whether it is capable of smothering the terrorist regime. Prior operations, such as the siege of Fallujah in 2004, were able to capture and kill many insurgents, but al-Qaeda has consistently managed to regroup and reenergize.

FPA Newslinks: The National Intelligence Estimate

FPA Newslinks surveys the unclassified section of this week's National Intelligence Estimate, and discusses the international and domestic political aftershocks.

FPA Newslinks: The World on Global Warming

FPA Newslinks reviews recent developments in major powers' positions and assessments of the global warming phenomenon.

From Victory to Success: Afterwar Policy in Iraq

Foreign Policy magazine organizes links to their archived articles on post-war Iraq policy.

getc4tdomvar

Great Decisions News Updates 2006

Great Decisions News Updates help Great Decisions participants stay up to date with the latest news on 2006 topics!

In Parting Move, Bush Sets Arctic Priorities

As Bush prepares to step down from office, he lays out American military, economic and diplomatic priorities in increasingly accessible Arctic waters, including the assertion of U.S. rights to the Northwest Passage.

Key Facts: Afghanistan

The website provides articles on current events and political as well as social commentary on Afghanistan.

Key Facts: Pakistan

The website provides metrics on Pakistan's people, health, education, economy, government, and military.

L'échec de George W. Bush

A deux ans de la fin de son dernier mandat, l'échec du quarante-troisième président des Etats-Unis, sanctionné par les urnes lors des élections de midterm du mardi 7 novembre, affecte la planète tout entière.

 

LEAVE ZIMBABWE AND MUGABE ALONE

LEAVE MUGABE AND ZIMBABWE ALONE!

 

For some time now the West through its media has focused its attention on Mugabe and Zimbabwe. Aside their giant media houses like the BBC and CNN, Aljazeera have lately joined the bandwagon, running daily documentaries on the impoverishing state of Zimbabwe. They have even been innovative enough by stepping into the world of adverts and clutching such opportunities to further demonize Mugabe and Zimbabwe. The recent TIGO advert is a clear case in point!

 

There is absolutely no problem with the western media charting such a cause. Such reportage does not only form part of their editorial policies but its foundations. Their motives are clearly defined and it is that which inures to their ultimate benefit and nothing else. What remains significant is that all these giant western media houses currently in this war against Zimbabwe have in no way hidden their interest. Whiles the BBC’s motivation is driven by Mugabe’s righteous reclaim of white-occupied (not white-owned) farmlands by mostly British, the CNN’s is on a solidarity march. The partial manifestations of its imperialist and hidden racial sentiments are also real and cannot be overlooked.

 

Whiles reason is adequately found in justifying the war on Zimbabwe by Western media, the thinking by some African journalists in this regard is very appalling. They lack understanding; they have no perspective and obviously no direction. They have joined the west in demonizing Mugabe and Zimbabwe. In fact, they even lack history. But this is just what happens when a purpose driven journalism is absent. At the inauguration of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s maiden President, could not have struck much sense in his cautioning statement to journalists across the continent when he said:

 

We are in a revolutionary period and we must have a revolutionary morality in journalism and all other walks of life. We cannot be neutral between the oppressor and the oppressed; the corrupter and the victim of corruption; between the exploiter and the exploited; between the betrayer and the betrayed. We do not believe that there are necessarily two sides to every question; we see right and wrong; just and unjust; progressive and reactionary; positive and negative; friend and foe. We are partisan!

 

If there was anything called objectivity, then Nkrumah’s statement is not far from it. Until journalists come to this effective conclusion, we shall continue to see through the lenses of the West on our own soils, we shall not stop culling African news from foreign media and the retrogressive fight against ourselves shall not seize. The question of finance should not even attempt coming up; where there is a will there is a way. African governments are able to finance all sort of things even war in some parts of the continent. The difference is leadership and their choices thereof.

 

We must be prepared to go there ourselves and report what the real news is. When the Arabs felt so, Aljazeera was immediately born to accomplish the task. Journalism is not sitting behind a computer conjuring stories or in a studio reading announcements, it goes further. It demands a high level of consciousness that explains the similarities and contradictions in society and the world at large. This way, it portrays and project an overall agenda; and in this case, the African agenda.   

 

For a moment lets ask ourselves the interest of those Ghanaian journalists and media Houses who have just joined the dinosaurs in demonizing Mugabe and Zimbabwe; What interest have for instance, Tv3 or Metro TV in telling Ghanaians that Zimbabwe is poor, that the only bread making factory is closing down or has closed down? What problems does such news item solve other than the western imperialist aims it enforces?

 

In any case, have these media houses gone further to ask what has resulted in Zimbabwe’s current predicament? Are they for instance aware that even as the whites left they deliberately destroyed almost all farm machines and have effectively made it impossible for the importation of their replacement? Are these Ghanaian journalists aware of the sanctions currently over the roof of Zimbabwe? Would a rather tacit campaign on their part for the sanctions to be waved not see a Zimbabwe glowing? What about frantic efforts on their part to get African governments to come to Zimbabwe’s aid? What is wrong with us?

 

It is high time journalists of Africa became African journalists. They must have an interest; the African interest! They must begin to understand that, war against any African country is war on the rest of Africa. If the politicians wont, journalist must! A revolutionary morality will mean rising to pick up the broken pieces, providing active support, forming groups and associations and moving to help Zimbabwe stand; if Zimbabwe is dying we do not need Aljazeera, CNN, BBC or the IMF/World Bank to tell us, we must know it ourselves and this could be done through the effective coordination of for instance all state owned media across the continent just if we are poor; but even more effective, by local private journalists or local private media houses.

 

We may be against Mugabe but we can insist that we shall not rise against Zimbabwe, we shall clothe its women, feed its children, uplift its disadvantaged and underprivileged just like Zimbabwe would have done, once the rest of Africa extends a helping hand in her great hour of need. At least, this will make nonsense of the directives of retrogressive institutions as the IMF/World Bank as they stated in no uncertain terms some few months back, that, financial assistance would only come to Zimbabwe on grounds of regime change. What stupidity? Since when did regime change become an item on the conditionality list for these evil forces; may be long ago, but now they have become even more confident.

 

More to the point, by their own reportage, the people of Zimbabwe are suffering; many others are fleeing and some even dying. Thus a financial request only follows that it is going to be used to mitigate these problems. But here we are, the IMF/World Bank is saying that the people of Zimbabwe should die just because of one man. The paradox; this “one man” is asking for help on behalf of the “dying people” of Zimbabwe and the extent to which the IMF/World Bank cares, is the extinction of this man or they perish.

 

It is important to understand that, the issues are deeper than what we can ever imagine. There is a conspiracy and it can only be unravelled by an African centred journalism. These institutions have never been interested in the good of Africa than its maintenance at subservience. Aside, Africa’s selfish, greedy and ignorant leadership over the years, the Breton woods institution comes next as the cause of the scourge in Africa. We are aware of their agents located in almost every government ministry in many African countries. Ghana is no exception.

 

Mugabe’s fingers may not be clean but Zimbabwe’s woes are not self inflicted, it is artificial but its consequences are real. The true oppressors are the parents of the countless sanctions on the head of Zimbabwe, those that have brought to the people suffering, and those that have set policies deliberately meant at destabilizing the economy of Zimbabwe and bringing it to its knees. If Africa rises, this economic sabotage will not last and our victory will be established.

 

The unnatural silence of African governments is those journalists must attack. What they should be doing is rallying support for the dying people of Zimbabwe, calling on governments across the continent to turn their attention on the land. Little by little, Africa will become for Africans as we start with the donations; the donation of teachers, the donation of food, the donation of funds, of labour, and of machines. The African journalist would have then achieved the revolutionary morality. Africa, Arise!

 

Ernesto Yeboah

(ernestoyeboah@yahoo.com)

Accra, Ghana

Monday, 24 September, 2007   

Letter from China - Angry Youth: the new generation's neocon nationalists

Reporter looks at China's next generation of nationalists.

liracc

Low expectations, but guarded optimism: Egypt likes Obama's political 'realism'

"Guarded optimism" for what is hopefully Obama's realist approach towards regional issues in the Middle East, including the U.S.-Egypt relationship.

Newlinks: Bush in the Middle East

Newslinks looks at President George W. Bush's first visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Newslinks: Prosecuting Piracy

This edition of newslinks looks at the prosecution of piracy in the U.S.

Newslinks: U.S.-India Nuke Deal Stumbles

Newslinks looks at India's likely rejection of a U.S-India nuclear deal.

Noticias de Irán en Español

novarva

novarva

Op-ed: How Quickly Bush Forgot

Some people suppose that President Bush's freedom agenda was buried last Wednesday by the report of the Iraq Study Group. In fact, history will show that the administration largely smothered its own baby, even before Iraq's descent into civil war propelled the resurrection of James Baker and other "realist" friends of Middle Eastern dictators.

Evidence of that conclusion could be found in Washington on the same day Baker delivered his report, as administration officials, members of Congress and business executives gathered for a glittering dinner in honor of Mehriban Aliyeva, the visiting first lady of Azerbaijan.

Russia and the U.S. in a Post-Aug. 8 World

Will and can Russia challenge the post cold war international order?

The commander is right... you'll never beat the Taliban

Commentator Patrick Cockburn argues that the U.S. policy in Afghanistan "has been catastrophically misconceived."

The EUobserver

A free online newspaper covering European current affairs including foreign affairs. Updated at least twice every weekday.

The Middle East Times

Weekly source for news and independent analysis of politics, sport, business, religion and

culture in the Middle East.

The West should wash its hands of Karimov

Craig Murray, who was sacked in October 2004 as UK ambassador to Uzbekistan after he spoke out against rights abuses, says the Uzbek government is beyond the pale and the West should wash its hands of it. In an interview with Aljazeera.net, London-based Murray predicts that Islam Karimov will maintain his position, but says Uzbekistan will continue to suffer internal violence as long as he is in charge. The killing of hundreds of protesters in Uzbekistan by government troops has focused the world's attention on the strategic Central Asian nation.

Understanding Afghanistan

The Atlantic looks back at the history of conflict in Afghanistan with a collection of articles published in the magazine from the 1950s to the 1980s, when the country was often a pawn in the cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union

US Dept. of State: Washington File

The Washington File provides United States Government official texts, policy statements and interpretive material, features, and byline articles prepared daily by the U.S. Department of State, International Information Programs.

War On Terrorism Web Sites

Outstanding web sites rich with information, especially opinions, about the September 11 terrorist attack. Opposing views placed side by side provoke thought about US foreign policy.

We Don't Need Guantanamo Bay (OpEd)

Thomas B. Wilner argues that the U.S. can close Guantanamo Bay without damaging its security interests.

Winning the Battle, Losing the Faith

"When ordinary people lose their faith in their government, then they also lose faith in the foreigners who prop it up. The day that happens across Afghanistan is the day the coalition loses the war."

World Leaders Magazine

World Leaders Magazine is the new online open forum for the world leadership community that is supported by over 50 Presidents, Prime Ministers and Senior Government Ministers who serve on the Editorial Advisory Board.

World Leaders Magazine can be viewed at www.wlm.com