The principal messages from leaders meeting at the APEC summit recently concluded in Sydney Australia are to prioritise action to reduce climate change and to successfully conclude the WTO Doha round trade talks. These are entirely appropriate prime objectives. Unfortunately, the US, which is the largest per capita carbon emitter and world superpower, and Australia, …
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Category:2 Geopolitics
Iraqis want end to occupation more than ever
A survey for the BBC, ABC News and NHK of more than 2,000 people across Iraq shows that about 70% of Iraqis believe security has deteriorated in the area covered by the US military “surge” of the past six months. The relative optimism registered in November 2005 has deteriorated to the gloom of this year’s …
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Baghdad dividing wall counters peace
Construction of another dividing wall in Baghdad between Shula and Ghazaliya districts causes more division than unity. It is another sign of the primitive knee-jerk thinking of an administration resorting to primitive policy. The wall is an attempt to separate Sunni and Shia districts. But of course it also separates families, neighbours and communities, it …
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US changing policy; will reduce troops in Iraq
Over the past month there has been a definite change in the US administration policy of troop levels in Iraq. The surge is over and political pragmatism underpins troop reductions. On September 13 Bush said that about 30,000 troops might return home by summer 2008 (pre-surge level), starting with 5,700 by Christmas. Then on 14 …
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Ahmadinejad can’t visit WTC site
It is a shame that several authorities have refused permission to the President of Iran to visit the site of the World Trade Center to pay respects. Ahmadinejad arrives today to address the UN general assembly. Permission to visit Ground Zero was requested of and refused by the police department, the US Secret Service and …
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UN still won’t recognise Taiwan
The United Nations has once again blocked Taiwan’s quest for membership. A key UN committee rejected a proposal from Taiwan’s allies to put its bid on the agenda of the general assembly, which met in New York in mid-September. This is the 15th consecutive year that Taiwan’s quest for membership of the United Nations has …
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US waking up to the reality of Palestine …?
It is surprising to hear US Secretary of State publicly announcing that Palestine must be recognised if peace talks are to make progress. Surprising partly because it is the same person that provided much of the authority for invading Iraq and partly because it is against the wishes of the Israeli propaganda machine which has …
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Torture isn’t justified
That’s my conclusion after reading an essay on torture by The Economist. The analysis indicates that generally torture is not effective or justified, though the argument that it might save lives is that of the devil’s advocate and does not stand up to ethical scrutiny. Its justification can only ever be self-serving and therefore unbalanced.
US executive tends to secularism
Religion can be a useful guide to morality, but history has shown that it should be separate from politics. This is more so today than ever before because there is such diversity of belief and there is no majority view, even on a nominal basis, let alone a practising one. The current US president has …
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US-Iran tension increasing
Tension over Iran’s nuclear programme is building. While Iran is obviously behaving badly, they have not been given the kind of out required to encourage more conciliatory behaviour. The US continues to pressure a halt to the nuclear programme but has not responded to Iran’s request for an equal policy (which is not actually written …
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