Guinea

well, to be honest , i can say that almost 95% of guinean people want a new gov with a new intellectual leader ( i mean intellectual president ) wich can lead the country toward development. because actually globalization has awaked all minds in Guinea. so, now youth claims real democratie; best education..and more in order to use geologic potentiality that god has given to us in the interest of the nation.for exemple, lets refer to the biggest mining company based in Guinea about more than 20 years ago. this company is called FRIGUIA. since then this company has been extracting bauxite from our land . but 80% of graduate student still of job..that means only both the membership of gov and the company are making profit in this deal. they usually sign mining convention to make their own money and send their children abroad to do good studies ( i mean the gov )

for the moment, that is all i can say...waiting forward to read from you...

NB: you can also visite those web sites for several informations even about that company or another else.. : www.guineenews.org or www.aminata.com....

CO2 Levels Begin Accelerated Climb

With the shocking loss of the Arctic sea ice this summer and several new reports this week that oceans and tropical forests are now absorbing less of the world's steadily rising carbon emissions, our collective train wreck appears to have already tipped into fast forward.

"Global warming is a big feature of our lives now. It is no longer something that only future generations will have to cope with," said Ted Scambos, senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre in the U.S. city of Boulder, Colorado.

The major ecosystems that absorb carbon emissions from the atmosphere are failing, and it is happening faster than anticipated, Scambos told IPS.

Stephen Leahy

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More Cars or More Transportation Alternatives: What Will the World Choose?

As Tata Motors, one of Asia’s leading automakers, prepares to tap into India’s middle-class market by releasing the “world’s cheapest car” in 2008, other countries with a long history of car dependence are grappling with ways to limit the social, health, and environmental costs of motorized transport. One alternative is so-called bus rapid transit (BRT), which operates like rail transport but offers more flexibility in routes. The systems are gaining popularity in cities in the automobile-loving United States as well as in rapidly developing nations in Asia and Latin America.

Alana Herro

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Indian Gap supplier using child labour

An Indian supplier to clothing retailer Gap Kids, one of the successful arm of the High Street giant Gap, has been found using child labour to produce garments, a media report said on Sunday.

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Rumsfeld Charged with Torture in French Court

The complaint was registered at the office of the prosecutor of the Court of First Instance in Paris when Rumsfeld was in the city for a talk sponsored by Foreign Policy magazine.

"Rumsfeld must understand that he has no place to hide," Ratner added in a statement after filing the complaint. "A torturer is an enemy of all humankind."

The charges against Rumsfeld were brought under the 1984 Convention against Torture, ratified by both the United States and France, which has been used in France in previous torture cases.

Haider Rizvi

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This year's winners are:

* Coca-Cola - for continuing the international marketing of its bottled water, Dasani, despite admitting it comes from the same sources as local tap water.

* Kellogg's - for the worldwide use of cartoon-type characters and product tie-ins aimed at children, despite high levels of sugar and salt in their food products.

* Mattel - for stonewalling US congressional investigations and avoiding overall responsibility for the global recall of 21 million products.

* Takeda Pharmaceuticals - for taking advantage of poor US regulation and advertising sleeping pills to children, despite health warnings about pediatric use.

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A country at war.

Pakistan is about to descend even deeper into violence and chaos, as the front-line state in the war on terror prepares for an all-out offensive on the jihadi militants entrenched in Waziristan, the country's lawless northern province. In what amounts to total war on the Taliban and al-Qaeda, President Musharraf is planning to bring the whole region under military control. This is a high-risk strategy, as the consequences of failure could be devastating for Pakistan. They could even lead to the break-up of the country.

Ziauddin Sardar

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Guinea: Youths protesting power cuts

UN Regional Information Network (IRIN)
October 24, 2007

Labe (Guinea) - “Electricity for all or for nobody”, chanted the 1,000 young protestors in Labé, central Guinea, as they marched on the town’s state electricity office earlier this month, chased out the staff and barricaded the doors. The youths then marched to the governor’s office
and handed him the keys, appealing to him to find a solution to Labé’s electricity problem.

The demonstrators did not use violence in the 10 October protest, sources in Labé told IRIN. “We just wanted to talk to the authorities and tell them our grievances,” Balde Thierno Souleymane, 22, said. “In Labé there was electricity in this or that area or for this or that family.
It was just nonsense.” Since the protest, there has been no electricity anywhere. Electricity problems have been the norm in Labé, like the rest of Guinea, for decades. The UN Development Programme said as of 2006 just 8 percent of Guinea’s some 9.4 million people had access to electricity. So why the protests now?

“Today, because of the strikes [of January and February 2007] Guineans have the guts to say what they want,” Balde told IRIN at the Moromi Café, a popular Labé gathering place for youths. Early this year Guinea saw unprecedented citizen demonstrations, as thousands of people poured into the streets denouncing poor living conditions. The protests, in
which security forces cracked down on civilians, paralysed the country for weeks. Guineans and outside observers alike say the nationwide strikes transformed Guineans, giving them a taste of the power of taking to the streets.

“Post-strike, what is irreversible is the awakening of the people’s conscience,” said Rabiatou Serah Diallo, secretary general of the National Confederation of Workers and a leader of the demonstrations. “This is not negotiable. It is irreversible. Today, the Guinean people know they
must fight to claim their rights. And they know that it will not be easy.” “Today the Guinean is going to stand up,” Balde in Labé told IRIN.

“Since the strikes a lot of things that people have long kept quiet about are coming out now.”

Alpha Ousmane Sacko, a Labé tailor, said: “We’ve finally seen that we’re too far behind the times. From now on, the people must speak up, they must not remain silent.” “Electricity is the motor here,” Sacko added. “If there is electricity the people can work at all hours they want
to.” Balde said for now, when night falls the city essentially stops moving. “Around 7pm, everyone rushes to get home. This means anyone who has a business or store in town cannot work past a certain time.” He said no one is happy with the power being cut off, but the youths see it as a temporary situation "while a lasting solution is sought.”

According to a government statement transformers were sent to Labé and the nearby town of Mamou in 2005 to boost electricity capacity there, “but the equipment did not work in Labé.” Youths told IRIN equipment has arrived in Labé over the years, but they accuse authorities of
misusing it or selling parts. Ramatoulaye Diallo, a mother of two in Labé, told IRIN the power cutoff is not felt by most. “It’s something we’re already used to; most of us live the problem of no electricity every day.” She added: “It’s not right that power is not available for all residents.”

Balde said, “Life is too hard here. We’re pushing so that our children and their children can live in better conditions.” He said Labé youths were waiting for a response from authorities. “The governor promised that he would go raise the issue in Conakry. We’re waiting now for his
response to us. We’re insisting, but we know this cannot be resolved in just one day.” One week after the Labé protests, the Minister of Energy and Water brought the issue to the weekly cabinet meeting. A communiqué from the meeting said the cabinet heard EDG’s director and would soon receive a delegation from the Labé governor’s office, “with the aim of ruling on this issue which is of great concern to the government.”

Coming in out of the cold: Cold fusion, for real

After the 1989 announcement of fusion in a bottle, so to speak, and the subsequent retraction, the whole idea of cold fusion seemed a bit beyond the pale. But that's all about to change.

A very reputable, very careful group of scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles (Brian Naranjo, Jim Gimzewski, Seth Putterman) has initiated a fusion reaction using a laboratory device that's not much bigger than a breadbox, and works at roughly room temperature. This time, it looks like the real thing.

Michelle Thaller

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Guatemala: a good place to kill

Guatemala's election is taking place against the background of a corroded state, riven society, disconnected elite and paralysed people.

"Guatemala has death-squads, polo matches, mega-churches and four television channels, all belonging to one foreigner. Only Russia has a higher murder-rate for women, only China exports more children for adoption to the United States. "

Ivan Briscoe's riveting essay dissects the elements of an unfolding crisis.

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The benefits of nuclear energy

Nuclear energy is a clean, safe, reliable and competitive energy source. It is the only source of energy that can replace a significant part of the fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) which massively pollute the atmosphere and contribute to the greenhouse effect.

If we want to be serious about climate change and the end of oil, we must promote the more efficient use of energy, we must use renewable energies – wind and solar – wherever possible, and adopt a more sustainable life style. But this will not be nearly enough to slow the accumulation of atmospheric CO2, and satisfy the needs of our industrial civilization and the aspirations of the developing nations. Nuclear power should be deployed rapidly to replace coal, oil and gas in the industrial countries, and eventually in developing countries.

Bruno Comby

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Nepalese Civil War

The Nepalese Civil War was a conflict between government forces and Maoist rebels in Nepal which lasted from 1996 until 2006. The war was started by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on February 13, 1996, with the aim of establishing the "People's Republic of Nepal." It ended with a Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed on 21 November 2006 which is now monitored by United Nations Mission in Nepal.

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100 peso bill.

...Roca's approach to dealing with the Indian communities of the Pampas, however, was completely different from Alsina's, who had ordered the construction of a ditch and a defensive line of small fortresses across the Province of Buenos Aires. Roca saw no way to end native attacks (malones) but by putting under effective government control all land up to the Rio Negro in a campaign that would "extinguish, subdue or expel" the indians who inhabited there. This land conquest would also strengthen Argentina's strategic position against Chile.

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No deal with kidnappers of Japanese student, says Tehran

Oct. 15 - Tehran on Monday said that Iran would make no compromise with the kidnappers of a Japanese student in south-eastern Iran.

"Iran has had no compromising negotiations with the kidnappers and will neither pay any ransom nor make any exchange," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said in a press briefing.

Satoshi Nakamura, 23, was reportedly kidnapped last Monday in Bam, Kerman province, by the notorious criminal band of Ismael Shahbakhsh who has demanded the release of his son from jail in return of the Japanese student.

Confirming that the Japanese national was still alive, the spokesman said that Iranian security forces would spare no efforts to enable his swift release.

The spokesman denied Japanese press reports that Nakamura would soon be released but said he nonetheless hoped that this would soon be the case.

The kidnapping case is being dealt with by the Rassoul Akram security headquarters in Kerman, which is affiliated to the para- military revolutionary guards.

Nakamura is believed to been have transferred to the neighbouring Sistan-Beluchistan province or even to Pakistan, but no official statement has yet been made on his whereabouts.

The Japanese government also denied receiving any information on Nakamura's release, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Monday.

The abductee's father on Monday released a statement saying that the family hopes for Nakamura's early release and safe return home at the earliest possible date.

The father also apologized for causing trouble and said the family had earlier opposed his son's trip to Iran. The student was allowed to go in the end but was also told to avoid dangerous locations, Japanese media said./-

Situation in Turkey may develop by “Germany and Holocaust” scenario

The situation in Turkey may develop by “Germany and Holocaust” scenario, said Alexander Sotnichenko, senior analyst of the Saint Petersburg Center of Oriental Studies.

The powerful Armenian lobby in the U.S. yields the palm to the Jewish lobby only. It constantly pressed on the U.S. presidential candidates and Senators to follow the example of France and Russia and pass a resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as Genocide. The term “genocide’ is a very important factor,” he said reminding that all presidential contenders pledged to recognize the Armenian Genocide but none dared to do so hitherto in a fear to lose Turkey as a strategic ally,” the expert noted.

“The history of this resolution records many years. Turkey has been one of the strongest U.S. allies in Middle East since 1946. After the Islamic revolution in Iran, it remained the only one. The United States always attached priority status to relations with Turkey,” he said.

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Cities take the lead on climate change

VAXJO, Sweden - When this quiet city in southern Sweden decided in 1996 to wean itself off fossil fuels, most people doubted the ambitious goal would have any impact beyond the town limits.

A few melting glaciers later, Vaxjo is attracting a green pilgrimage of politicians, scientists and business leaders from as far afield as the United States and North Korea seeking inspiration from a city program that has allowed it to cut CO2 emissions 30 percent since 1993.

Vaxjo is a pioneer in a growing movement in dozens of European cities, large and small, that aren't waiting for national or international measures to curb global warming.

Karl Ritter

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Unserved by banks, poor Kenyans now just use a cellphone

Unserved by banks, poor Kenyans now just use a cellphone

With a click of a cellphone key, Bernard Otieno makes the transfer – sending funds instantly from his residence in a sprawling Nairobi slum to his wife, who holds down their rural family farm some 250 miles away.

Mr. Otieno, a security guard who works the night shift, used to risk carrying cash on infrequent, slow trips to his hometown or pay high rates to send money through the post office.

Now, he's one of a growing number of Kenyans tapping into a service called M-PESA – M for "mobile" and pesa for "cash" in Swahili. Launched this year, it's one of the world's first cellphone-to-cellphone cash-transfer services for people who lack access to conventional banks.

Matthew Clark

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Alliance of the Peoples of the Forest

PEOPLES OF THE FOREST, UNITED IN NA ALLIANCE OF THE PEOPLES OF THE FOREST, LAUNCH MANIFEST TO SAVE THE AMAZON FROM THE TRAGEDIES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

WE, the Peoples of the Amazon Rainforest, reunited in the Negro River during the I Seminar on the Importance of the Peoples of the Forest in the Context of the Global Climate Change", organized by the Alliance of the Peoples of the Amazon Rainforest, a twenty-year old network working in the defense of the Amazon and of a better way of life for its peoples, decided:

WARN:

About the impact of the Climate Changes on the Planet, Brazil and the Amazon. Cientists reiterate that global warming can elevate the Amazon temperature in up to 12 degrees Celsius still in this Century, which will result in less rain, more draugth, less biodiversity and more danger for the peoples of the Amazon. And this impact is not virtual. It is already been felt by our communities, where our indigenous populations can no longer use the lunar calendar, because the wheather has already changed in our region.

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As war rages below, Iraqi Kurds lure tourists

"Stability here is not understood in the world yet," Minister of Tourism Nimrud Baito said. "We need a media revolution to let people know that the Kurdistan region is something different from Iraq, especially as far as security goes. We think (conditions) here are only going to get better and better."

Faith in the future has attracted massive investment from one unlikely source -- neighboring Turkey.

Hundreds of diesel trucks rumble across the northern border each day with steel, concrete and other raw materials to feed a construction boom, despite heated rhetoric by Turkish officials over the Iraqi Kurds' unspoken bid for independence. Of nearly 600 foreign companies registered in the region, about 350 are Turkish.

Board of Investment leader Herish Muhamad says the Kurdish region expects rapid growth, thanks to a business-friendly climate that gives "maximum" rights to investors -- minimal state interference or bureaucratic red tape; the freedom to repatriate capital abroad or shut down anytime, or to import workers from anywhere in the world; a 10-year tax exemption, and no customs duties for five years on imported materials.

Jason Motlagh

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India’s Backdoor War

India today is a media darling with a brisk economy to back it up. But rapid, urban-based development has passed by the rural poor, giving oxygen to a violent separatist movement that grows bolder by the year.

As Bollywood and the info-tech boom of the New India grab headlines, a low-intensity insurgency waged by Indian Maoist guerrillas – known as Naxalites – has gone virtually ignored for more than four decades. Their strength is largely due to the plight of “tribals” living deep in the central and northeast provinces, where state authority is weak at best and basic services are non-existent. Making matters worse is the state’s seizure of land for mining and forestry concessions.

Jason Motlagh

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Zen

When people are happy and contented, they tend to take life for granted. It is when they suffer, when they find life difficult, that they begin to search for a reason and a way out of their difficulty. They may ask why some are born in poverty and suffering, while others are born in fortunate circumstances. Some people believe that it is due to fate, chance, or an invisible power beyond their control. They feel that they are unable to live the life they desire so as to experience happiness always. Consequently, they become confused and desperate. However, the Buddha was able to explain why people differ in their circumstances and why some are more fortunate in life than others. The Buddha taught that one's present condition, whether of happiness or suffering, is the result of the accumulated force of all past actions or karma.

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Pregnancy kills over 500,000 women a year

More than half a million women still die every year in pregnancy or after childbirth in spite of two decades of efforts to bring down the toll, reports revealed on Friday.

Little has changed, particularly in much of the developing world. Women die of avoidable complications such as high blood pressure or haemorrhage in childbirth - and often the baby dies too or does not survive the next few years without a mother. Tens of thousands die painfully in backstreet abortions in countries where contraception is not readily available and abortion is heavily restricted or banned.

China Daily

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Turkey weighs costly retaliation on Armenian resolution

"It may be long before the law of love will be recognised in international affairs. The machineries of government stand between and hide the hearts of one people from those of another."

M.K. Gandhi

...Faced with the day after, the Turkish capital is now thoroughly and, perhaps, reluctantly evaluating ways of retaliation. Thoroughly and reluctantly because retaliation through halting cooperation with the United States in strategic and economic areas is a double-edged sword that may equally harm Turkey, analysts agree. High tension in relations with the United States may prove to be an undesired situation for the Turkish government, which has worked carefully and successfully to achieve economic stability throughout the nearly five years that it has been in power.

As the White House had underlined, Turkey is an important logistical player in the Iraq war. The bulk of supplies for troops in Iraq pass through Turkey’s İncirlik airbase, and Turkey provides thousands of truck drivers and other workers for US operations in Iraq. Supplies also flow from the base to troops in Afghanistan.

A closure of İncirlik and halting cooperation with the United States on Iraq could be two ways of hurting US interests in a critical region like the Middle East. There are other steps that Turkish officials have refrained from publicly mentioning, such as cutting Turkey’s ongoing support for operations of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan or further tightening restrictions on ties with Armenia. There are tens of thousands of Armenians working in Turkey who do not meet the proper legal requirements, such as obtaining work or residence permits. And although there are no formal ties with Armenia, charter flights are in service between the two countries and Turkish goods find their way into the Armenian market.

Emine Kart

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Don't mention the dirty "GMO" word!

Across Europe, 70 % of consumers have rejected GM foods. Therefore many food retailers and manufacturers have pledged to source their products from GMO-free sources. Due to GMO contamination, however, it may become difficult or even impossible for conventional and organic farmers to stay GMO-free. The future of sustainable agriculture is under threat. Firm (so called "coexistence") legislation to restrict the growing of GM crops and to safeguard conventional and organic farming from genetic pollution is urgently needed, but still far away from realisation. Also a legal regime is needed to make GMO operators and GMO producers liable for damage that GMOs can cause to the environment and human health.

Friends of the Earth's European GMO Campaign is working to safeguard GMO-free agriculture and to ensure that European citizens have the right to choose GMO-free food. To achieve this, Friends of the Earth's national groups across Europe are working together to:

• actively lobby at EU and national level to strengthen GMO legislation;
• promote the creation of GMO free zones;
• increase public awareness and participation in decision-making about GMOs, and help ensure that consumers can exercise their right to choose about GM crops and food;
• research information and propose policy solutions.

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A new start for the young at art

He's walked the tightrope at a circus, boiled cocoons at a silk unit from 3 am to midnight waiting for that odd powercut to provide a break, been part-time ragpicker and a fulltime beggar on the streets of Bangalore. A long CV for a 13-year-old but the past isn't what Nagaraj likes to talk about. Though he can still amaze you by sprinting across a parapet in true circus style, it's his skills with the brush that this blossoming artist is most keen to show off. Having already found buyers for many of his works, Nagaraj can not only afford to stay off the street but even fund the education of two other child labourers.

A childhood lost and a childhood regained. It's a transformation that very few of the country's 12.7 million child workers can make. But in Bangalore's Born Free Art School, art is making that leap of faith possible. Seventeen-year-old Raja was a ragpicker before he began giving shape to stone. Not one for drawing before he starts pounding, Raja says the picture's clear in his mind's eye. "Art needs discipline and concentration. For instance, a sculptor has to beat a stone 30,000 times before it takes shape. Many streetkids come here with a drug habit but it's art that weans them away," says John Devaraj, a sculptor who has founded this school.

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Brazilian NGOs launch unique initiative to end Amazon deforestation

Nine Non-Governmental Organizations - Instituto Socioambiental, Greenpeace, Instituto Centro de Vida, Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International-Brazil, Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira, Imazon and WWF-Brazil - launch today (October 3rd) in Brasília a National Agreement to Acknowledge the Value of the Forest and to end Amazon Deforestation.

Civil society's proposal is an unique initiative to establish a broad commitment among several sectors of the Brazilian Government and the society about the necessary and urgent measures to ensure Amazon rainforest conservation, given its crucial importance to maintaining the climate balance, conserving the biodiversity and preserving the way of life of millions of people who rely on the forest to survive.

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Turkey blasts Armenian genocide bill

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkey swiftly condemned a House panel's approval of a bill describing the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians as genocide, and newspapers blasted the measure on their front pages Thursday.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the bill Wednesday by a 27-21 vote despite intense lobbying by Turkish officials. The committee's vote was a triumph for well-organized Armenian-American interest groups who have lobbied Congress for decades to pass a resolution. President Bush warned that it could harm U.S.-Turkish relations, already stretched by accusations that Washington is unwilling to help Ankara crack down on Kurdish rebels based in Iraq.

C. Onur Ant

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Turkey plans long stay in northern Iraq

The (turkish) government will send a motion to Parliament next week requesting authorization for a cross-border operation into northern Iraq to deal with a terrorist threat based there, with a possible incursion expected to involve up to 15,000 troops, government and security sources said.

Troops pounded PKK camps in N. Iraq with artillery fire after the government announced it would seek Parliament's approval for a cross-border military operation. This file photo shows soldiers carrying out an exercise in the area at an earlier date.

If it takes place as planned, this will be the largest-scale cross-border operation on Iraqi soil since 1997, when 50,000 soldiers entered northern Iraq. Sources said the military measures on the Iraqi side of the border will not be confined to a one-time operation carried out by a massive number of troops, as authorities are also planning to boost the existing Turkish military presence in northern Iraq to increase the Turkish military's ability to deal with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) threat over the border. A 150-member Turkish military base in the Bamerni area near Dohuk in northern Iraq will be reinforced with professionally trained personnel so that operations against PKK bases in the region can be conducted on a more regular basis.

Ercan Yavuz

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Who are indigenous peoples?

United Nations human rights bodies, the International Labour Organisation, the World Bank and international law apply four criteria to distinguish indigenous peoples:

1. Indigenous peoples usually live within, or maintain an attachment to, geographically distinct ancestral territories.

2. They tend to maintain distinct social, economic and political institutions within their territories.

3. They typically aspire to remain distinct culturally, geographically and institu-tionally rather than assimilate fully into national society.

4. They self identify as indi-genous or tribal.

There is no universal and unambiguous definition of the concept of 'indigenous peoples', since no single accepted definition exists that captures the diversity of their cultures, histories and current circumstances. However, all attempts to define the concept recognise the linkages between people, their land and culture.

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'Depleted' Taliban steps up suicide bombings

Gereshk, Afghanistan

British forces used to describe the Gereshk valley as the "black heart of Taliban country". After months of ferocious fighting, much of this area of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan has been reclaimed, and reconstruction and development work is at last under way.

But the violence has not abated. Instead, it has taken on the lethal form of suicide bombings.

The Taliban have incurred heavy losses in the area recently and this has prompted them to adopt the type of suicide bombing attacks prevalent in Iraq. Such bombings have claimed the lives of 35 people and have wounded 82 in a series of attacks in and around the town.

Kim Sengupta

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Public health: The hidden menace of mobile phones

Research into the link between regular handset use and disease reveals the risks rise significantly after 10 years, despite official assurances that they are safe.

Geoffrey Lean

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Major airline refuses to help with forcible removal of immigrants

An important part of the Government's immigration policy has suffered a serious blow after a leading airline announced it would no longer carry failed asylum-seekers who were being forcibly removed from the United Kingdom.

XL Airways, which has a fleet of 24 aircraft, said it was opposed to the policy because it had "sympathy for all dispossessed people in the world".

Robert Verkaik

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Pakistan enters political limbo

Pakistan has entered a period of political limbo, caught between Gen. Pervez Musharraf's presidential election win and a future Supreme Court ruling on whether he was even eligible to run.

Musharraf scored an overwhelming victory Saturday in a vote by lawmakers that was boycotted by much of the opposition in protest against the U.S.-allied military leader.

The country must now wait at least 10 days for the Supreme Court to either confirm the result or disqualify Musharraf because he ran for re-election while retaining his position as army chief, which the constitution prohibits.

Sadaqat Jan

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The power behind the robe

The Buddha said: “When the ruler of a country is just and good, the ministers become just and good; when the ministers are just and good, the higher officials become just and good; when the higher officials are just and good, the rank and file become just and good; when the rank and file become just and good, the people become just and good.”

If these admonitions are followed by the large community of monks—the Sangha—in predominantly Buddhist Burma, the lingering “love lost” relationship between the country’s military rulers and its monks should be no surprise.

Aung Zaw

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The Armenia thing.

ANKARA-Reuters

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has told U.S. President George W. Bush that ties between the two countries will be hurt if the U.S. Congress passes a bill on the Armenian genocide, Turkish television reported Friday.

Erdoğan, who issued a similar warning earlier this year, made the comment in a telephone call to Bush, news channels CNN Türk and NTV reported. Erdoğan also called Israeli President Shimon Peres to secure Israel's support for Turkey's position. Peres, in return, reiterated that Israel will continue to support Turkey's position according to the news channel NTV.

The Bush administration opposes the resolution on the events in 1915 as the Ottoman Empire broke apart, but the U.S. Congress is now dominated by the Democratic Party and has become more influenced by the Armenian Diaspora.

Turkey is a key NATO ally of Washington and a moderate Muslim country whose support it needs in the region as it fights Iraqi insurgents and confronts Iran over its nuclear program.

A senior Turkish lawmaker has also warned previously that Ankara could consider restricting the U.S. military's use of Incirlik air base, a logistics hub for the Middle East, if the bill is passed.

Turkey has already sent delegations to the United States in a bid to halt the resolution.

Afghanistan...

Testimony by Mark L. Schneider, Senior Vice President, International Crisis Group to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on “Counternarcotics and Police Training” in Afghanistan, 4 October 2007

...poppy cultivation is directly linked to insecurity and “inversely related to the degree of government control”. That report shows that from virtually no opium cultivation in the final year of the Taliban regime in 2001, today Afghanistan produces 93% of the world’s opium, cultivated on 193,000 hectares or 500,000 acres of land, a 17% increase after last year’s 59% increase. Afghanistan opium poppy now grows on land equal to nearly the size of the state of Rhode Island. Equally worrisome is that potential opium production in 2007 probably hit a world record at 8200 metric tons, a rise of 34%.

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Afghan deaths up 55 percent

...Azimi said Pakistan last spring expelled foreigners – such as fighters from Uzbekistan - from its tribal region, a move that has had a negative impact on Afghanistan.

"When they said that all foreigners must leave Pakistan, where did they go? They came to Afghanistan," Azimi said. "They joined with the enemy and started fighting against Afghan forces here."

Afghanistan's security forces have also been hit hard, with more than 600 police killed already this year, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary, a higher figure than the AP count, which shows a total of 600 police and army soldiers killed this year.

Rahim Faiez

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Yet another tradition becomes a crime

The tradition of keeping the hand on the horn and traveling as a wedding convoy with dozens of cars continues even though it has become a threat to traffic safety and a primary cause of noise pollution. But another tradition, that of stopping the wedding convoy and asking for money, now faces extinction due to increasing wedding costs in the modern world and the fact that people have even less of a reason to hand out money.

Doðan News Agency

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The Revision of Ancient History - A Perspective.

Ancient History as taught today is a disaster area. Nothing fits convincingly together. The development of the arts, cultures and technologies from earliest times shows inexplicable incongruities. Art historians and archaeologists are in disarray. Why? Because the chronology of the first and second millennium BC is badly wrong. How did this disaster happen? As accident investigators well know, the sequence of events leading up to major disasters is invariably a sequence of highly unlikely and unexpected happenings and coincidences.

John Crowe

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SEPTEMBER 2007 TRENDS

Eleven actual or potential conflict situations around the world deteriorated in September 2007, according to the new issue of CrisisWatch, released today.

Deteriorated Situations
Algeria, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Fiji, Lebanon, Myanmar/Burma, Nepal, North Caucasus (non-Chechnya), Somaliland (Somalia), Sudan

Improved Situations
Chad, Liberia, Sierra Leone

Unchanged Situations
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conflict history - Iran

Head of State: President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, June 2005-
Chief of State: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 1989- (appointed for life by Assembly of Experts)

With world's second-largest oil reserves, Iran served as western anchor in Middle East under Western-installed Shah regime from 1953 until 1979 Islamic revolution. The Shah had grown increasingly repressive in 1970s, relying on detention of political opponents, widespread torture, and martial law imposed in 1978. Various groups jockeyed for power after Shah’s departure, including communists, secular nationalists and Islamic socialists. Islamists loyal to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini eventually consolidated power and Iran became Islamic republic 1 April 1979. Khomeini soon assumed title "Supreme Leader", criticising West and secular Arab dictators alike and promising benevolent political Islam. U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in 1979 and failed rescue mission secured mutual enmity and further weakened American public image in the Middle East.

Western-backed Iraq invaded Iran in 1980 to take advantage of Iran's weakness, change disputed border on Shatt al-Arab waterway, and claim regional dominance. The war reached standstill in 1988 with estimated 800,000 to 1 million deaths. Iran supported militant Muslim groups in Middle East through 1980s and 1990s, including Hezbollah in Lebanon. U.S. Iran-Contra scandal saw illegal U.S. arms sales to Iran in effort to free hostages in Beirut, with proceeds used to support Contras in Nicaragua.

Following Ayatollah Khomeini’s death in 1989 and his replacement with former president Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s relations with West improved somewhat – mainly with Europe – despite fatwa issued against writer Salman Rushdie. Iran remained neutral in 1990 Gulf War and 2001 Afghanistan war, being enemy of both Iraq and Taliban. Iran maintained this stance again in 2003 Iraq war. Nevertheless, suspected support of militant groups in Lebanon and Palestine earned Iran U.S. sanctions in 1995 and Bush Administration’s label of "axis of evil" in 2002.

Khatami’s 1997 election brought about greater cooperation with neighbouring Arab countries and increased political and economic ties with Europe. Iran continued its civilian nuclear program, despite growing international concerns about its professed peaceful intentions. Internal tension in Iran between reformist Khatami and conservative chief of state caused deadlock in decision-making and political polarisation. President Khatami’s mandate (77 per cent of 2001 vote) did not lead to promised reforms and public disenchantment grew. Disqualification of reformist candidates by Council of Guardians led to conservative victory in February 2004 parliamentary elections. From 1999 to 2003, Iranian authorities continued to suppress student protests as internal dissent among large youth population increased.

Economic dissatisfaction led to surprise election of President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad in June 2005, defeating centrist former President Hashemi Rafsanjani running on platform of economic populism, to become Iran’s first non-cleric president in twenty-four years. Ahmadi-Nejad’s harsh pronouncements against Israel and uncompromising tone have significantly strained relations between West and Iran. In November 2005, Iranian Ambassadors to UK, Germany, France, and UN’s Geneva and Vienna offices were relieved of their posts. Supreme Leader Khameni appointed Rafsanjani as Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Discernment council as a check on Ahmadi-Nejad’s power, but the result of this has been inconclusive.

Also uncertain is the state of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. In October 2003, IAEA passed resolution that acknowledged Iran’s right to acquire nuclear technology for civilian energy use. In return, Iran agreed to voluntarily suspend uranium enrichment and allow additional IAEA protocol inspections. But since August 2005, Iran has broken off nuclear negotiations with the West, removed IAEA seals at certain research plants, and restarted uranium enrichment in Natanz. IAEA Board of Governors officially reported Iran to UN Security Council in February 2006. So far Iran has refused Russia’s proposal to host enrichment sites for its nuclear program on Russian territory, and UN Security Council is to debate utility of economic sanctions.

Updated March 2006

International crisis group