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681 - 690 from 772 . In "Opinion / Editorial"
Palestine enters Interpol
Chalk up another international victory for the Palestinians. The International Police Organization, better known as Interpol, has voted to accept Palestine as a full member state.The move, at Interpol’s annual General Assembly meeting in Beijing, passed in a secret ballot by a vote of 75 to 24, with 34 abstentions.Interpol membership is a resounding success for the Palestinians. Interpol is the world’s biggest international organization after the United Nations. The Palestinian initiative to join Interpol is also part of an overall strategy to join as many organizations as possible. And entry into Interpol came despite furious Israeli efforts over the last few weeks to thwart it. The US was also actively involved up until the last minute in trying to stop the move. Both could not...
September 29, 2017

Palestine enters Interpol

A dangerous can of worms
Whatever the outside world thought about their referendum, there was never much doubt that Iraqi Kurds would vote for independence. Indeed, the very fact that there was such widespread international opposition to the move appears to have reinforced the determination to have a vote, even by those who were dubious about the prospects of an independent Kurdish state.Although the Kurds of Iraq have enjoyed considerable autonomy since the fall of Saddam Hussein, to say nothing of an acknowledged position within Iraq’s constitution, Kurdistan Regional President Masoud Barzani has insisted that his people have the right to choose their destiny. He has also accused the international community of double standards, claiming that while the likes of the Americans advocate democracy, they have...
September 28, 2017

A dangerous can of worms

Women drivers
The decision by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to permit women to drive has produced widespread international coverage, all of it praising the move. Women in the Kingdom also clearly appreciate the change, for which a vocal lobby has been pushing in recent years.The King said that scholars had found that as long as the necessary Shariah guarantees are ensured, there was nothing that prevented a woman from driving. There have long been reservations among some religious leaders about female motoring. The conservative values that underpin the Kingdom have always been a source of strength. In a world driven by liberal values, criticizing Saudi Arabia’s cautious and thoughtful approach to change was an easy win for those who fear the Kingdom’s power and influence.Such...
September 27, 2017

Women drivers

More Tehran snake oil
Whether or not Iran did test a powerful new missile last week is less relevant than the fact that it said it did. US intelligence asserts with some confidence that there was no such launch of a Khorramshahr ballistic missile with its supposed range of 2,000 kilometers.Officials in Washington insist that TV footage Tehran put out was seven months old and dates from a failed launch. The suggestion seems to be that if the Iranians tried again last week, that launch also failed.What this latest piece of apparent hokum demonstrates yet again is the sheer duplicity of the regime of the ayatollahs. They hoodwinked Barack Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry into backing the 2013 Geneva nuclear deal, which dictated that Iranian nuclear development would be suspended merely for 15 years. But...
September 26, 2017

More Tehran snake oil

Merkel should stand tall
ANGELA Merkel’s victory in the German election was bittersweet. She begins her fourth term as chancellor knowing that her country’s politics have been transformed alarmingly by the rise of the blatantly Islamophobic Alternatif für Deutschland (AfD).Thanks to Germany’s proportional representation system, the AfD, which won just under 13 percent of the vote, has gone from having no seats in the 709-member parliament to holding 94 and becoming the third largest party. Though Merkel’s Christian Democrats won the support of a third of the electorate, it was in fact the party’s worst result since 1949. No wonder therefore that in the victory celebrations, Merkel only managed once or twice to force a smile. Much of the time she looked grim.But in actual fact she ought to have been...
September 25, 2017

Merkel should stand tall

S. Sudan election a bad idea
WITH South Sudan in the grip of nonstop violence, President Salva Kiir may think a re-election may give him much needed legitimacy and hence his decision to seek a fresh mandate next year. But what is in the best interest of Kiir may not necessarily be so for his country. On the contrary, it will prove catastrophic, warn two UN experts who visited the conflict-torn country this month.Yasmin Sooka and Godfrey Musila said an election at this juncture will be neither fair nor free. Opposition leaders who challenge Kiir’s authority are forced to remain abroad. Any impression that Kiir has stolen the election will only worsen the conditions in South Sudan which plunged into civil war in 2013 when president fell out with his deputy, Riek Machar. What was initially a power tussle between the...
September 24, 2017

S. Sudan election a bad idea

Fatah, Hamas and a grain of salt
THAT Hamas has agreed to steps toward resolving its decade-long split with Fatah promises the start of a new era in inter-Palestinian relations. Its announcement that it would dissolve a rival shadow government and was ready to hold elections in the Gaza Strip will strengthen the Palestinians’ bargaining power in peace negotiations with Israel because for the first time in years, Palestinians will again be represented by a single government. However, this is not the first time Fatah, the mainstream faction in the West Bank, and Hamas, the ruling faction in Gaza, have come close to sealing a peace deal, only to see it unravel later.Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, having seized it in a near civil war from Fatah that killed hundreds of people following a dispute over parliamentary elections...
September 23, 2017

Fatah, Hamas and a grain of salt

Proudest moment
AS Saudi Arabia marks its 87th National Day, the Kingdom is looking into the rearview mirror to see what transpired in the year gone by, and the windshield to see what’s ahead.Much has taken place since last year’s anniversary. In June 2017 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman appointed Prince Muhammad Bin Salman as the new crown prince. Prince Muhammad also became deputy prime minister and retained his post as defense minister, at 31 the youngest in the world.In a move symbolizing a generational change, Crown Prince Muhammad is widely seen as the face of modern Saudi Arabia and one of the driving forces behind Vision 2030, the Kingdom’s long-term economic plan to move drastically away from its reliance on oil revenues and build up the private sector.One of the highlights of...
September 22, 2017

Proudest moment

Herding cats in Libya
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took up his job this year at a time when the in-basket in his new office was suddenly filling with crises. To Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have been added rampant nuclear North Korea, blustering and belligerent US President Donald Trump and genocidal Myanmar led by the fallen international peace idol Aung San Suu Kyi.At the UN General Assembly this week Guterres, reflecting on the number of dangerous conflicts, said there was one that now had an historic opportunity for resolution. He was speaking of Libya. Since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has lurched deeper into chaos. The militias that helped bring down the dictator refused to disarm.Instead they set up local fiefdoms where they run profitable rackets. They smuggle abroad...
September 21, 2017

Herding cats in Libya

Proof of a zero-sum game?
RUSSIA’S recent Zapad military exercise caused flutters of alarm in nearby Eastern European states. Zapad was in part a response to June’s NATO BALTOPS (Baltic Operations) exercise. Both were scheduled events and displays of military muscle. But neither the Russians nor NATO invited each other to send fully-fledged observer teams, signifying the heightened wariness on both sides.However, given satellite surveillance and advanced signals monitoring, the presence of foreign military observers is probably now unnecessary. All armed forces need such maneuvers to test how their different arms can function together, to see how their equipment can work in battlefield conditions and of no less importance, to examine how effectively their command and control systems work. For the homogenous...
September 20, 2017

Proof of a zero-sum game?

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