Labor Re-Education Camps in China Shrouded in Secrecy

Experts estimate that China’s re-education through labor programs holdanywhere from 300,000 to one million citizens, but beyond that, notmuch else is known. France24’s report looks at the secrecy of thesecamps and some of the their tenants’ more suspicious deaths. Someexperts believe Beijing is trying to do away with such camps, but ismeeting push-back from provincial government officials.

As the highly publicized rollout of the new U.S. policy on Sudan made clear, Sudan has become an unlikely foreign policy priority for the Obama administration. For this, the Sudanese can thank the Darfur advocacy movement, which effectively put the nation on the map for the American public over the past six years. Sudan certainly deserves every bit of attention it receives. If Africa’s largest nation again implodes, it threatens to further destabilize what is already an unstable region of the world. But the internal tension hidden within President Barack Obama’s newly formulated Sudan policy is that Darfur is no […]

Former Prime Minister for Hire?

As WPR Contributor Nicolas Nagle discussed, it looks like Tony Blair is the front-runner for the position of President of the European Council, though Blair has not said that he will run for the position. As the Lisbon Treaty comes into effect in the coming months, the Council will be looking for a permanent president and some, including current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, feel Blair is the man for the job.

World Citizen: PA Elections in January? Don’t Count on It

One of the most reliable lessons one gleans from observing intra-Palestinian politics is the need to always expect the unexpected. Important events have a tendency not to unfold according to plan. We should keep that in mind when considering Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ sudden call for new parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on Jan. 24. Less than three weeks ago, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit announced that, at long last, the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah would sign a reconciliation agreement in Cairo on Oct. 26. Egypt, as the mediator that helped craft the deal, […]

BRUSSELS, Belgium — If all goes as expected and the Lisbon Treaty finally enters into effect in the coming months, the European Union will soon face another major challenge: electing a permanent president for the European Council. The debate has already begun in Brussels over not only who would be the most suitable candidate for the job, but also over the functions the post should include — a subject about which the Treaty itself is particularly vague. Opinions are divided between those who want a strong president that would be the EU’s “face” to the world and those advocating for […]

Tehran Rocks While Afghans Get Optimistic

Dare I say it? A few shards of optimism coming out of Iran and Afghanistan? Yes, according to two videos we posted in our video section today. The first video, from Al-Jazeera, looks at a new Persian film, “No One Knows About Persian Cats,” which tells the tale of a young man and woman who try to form a band after being released from prison. Their efforts take us through the underground rock scene of Tehran where the city’s youth fight for their jams. Though the story is fictional, actors from the film (now in exile in the U.K, after […]

Poll Suggests Slight Optimism in Afghanistan

A new survey by the Asia Foundation shows that more people inAfghanistan feel the country is moving in the right directioncompared to the same poll last year. Those who felt that Afghanistanwas, in fact, worse for the wear, contributed the downfall to a lack ofsecurity and corruption. VOA News’ Meredith Buel reports on theresults.

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Party agreed to form a new government with the upstart conservative Free Democrats on Saturday, setting the stage for major changes in both German domestic and foreign policies. The CDU and the FDP, which is led by Guido Westerwelle, have been locked in tough negotiations over both cabinet appointments and policy platforms for weeks. Westerwelle, who is expected to be named foreign minister, was pushing for tax cuts of $52 billion, while Merkel was advocating much more modest cuts. In the end, it appears as if Merkel was the one […]

The United States and France have joined a chorus of disapproving African states to condemn recent events in Guinea — events that have dimmed hopes that the isolated and resource-rich West African nation might finally achieve democratic civilian rule following the death last December of longtime autocrat Lansana Conté. One voice that has opted against singing from the international hymn book, however, is arguably Guinea’s most important interlocutor: China. Instead of opprobrium, Beijing appears to have offered Guinea incentive, in the form of a multi-billion dollar investment in oil and minerals — the latest installation of the checkbook diplomacy that […]

Some Believers Grapple With The Separation Of Church and State in Turkey

It is illegal for a religious group to interfere with politics in Turkey, a strictly secular governing system, but religious groups are on the rise and challenging this paradigm. Nilufer Narli, a sociology professor at one of Istanbul’s universities, equates religious movements such as Gulen and Mustazaflar-der (Association for the Oppressed) to the evangelical movement in the United States. Worldfocus’ Gizem Yarbel reports on the rise of religion in Turkey.

When mass protests erupted in Iran following charges of fraud in last June’s presidential election, Western leaders — particularly U.S. President Barack Obama — took pains not to taint those domestic disturbances with foreign fingerprints. To foreigners concerned about Iran’s nuclear aspirations, the sight of muscular internal dissent suddenly presented new and intriguing thoughts: International opposition to the Iranian nuclear program is not the only problem faced by the ruling powers in the Islamic Republic. The disturbances revealed one of Iran’s great weaknesses: widespread discontent with a regime of questionable legitimacy. Now that the regime has suppressed the protests, however, […]

‘This Is Not Going To Be A Perfect Runoff’: UN Predicts Flaws In Round Two

Kai Eide, UN Special Representative to Afghanistan, is making it clear that he expects the second round of elections in Afghanistan, which are fast approaching, to be riddled with similar problems as the first. He suggests the silver lining is that this time around, less fraud can be expected. In an interview with Al-Jazeera’s Imran Garda, Eide deflects questions of culpability for the firing of one of Aide’s subordinates, Peter Galbraith, who denounced corruption right after the first round election took place.

Karzai Accepts Runoff After International Pressure

President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, accepted an internationally called for runoff election while speaking alongside Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) in Kabul. In the first round vote two months ago, one-third of Karzai’s votes were discarded after being deemed fraudulent by the Independent Election Commission. It is unclear what, if any, involvement Karzai had in the initial election violations, but it is apparent that he is now prepared to go ahead with a second round of voting. “We consider the decision made by the Independent Election Commission as legal and right,” he says. The runoff election, which will pit Karzai against […]

Some Improvement in Zimbabwe Economy, as Another Crisis Looms

Zimbabwe’s fragile unity government is facing yet another crisis. The development is all the more unfortunate because, asVoice of America reports, the new government has actually made some progresstoward stabilizing the ailing Zimbabwean economy. The introduction ofthe U.S. dollar and South African rand has been particularlyinstrumental in bringing inflation under control and facilitatingcommerce, though life remains very hard for most Zimbabweans. Voice ofAmerica’s Scott Bobb reports from Harare.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Zimbabwe’s national unity government, limping since its formation on Feb. 15, 2009, is now threatened with an ultimate collapse. After a meeting of its leadership committe last Thursday, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party announced that it was temporarily pulling out of the coalition with President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU (PF) and the smaller MDC faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara. The angry reaction was spurred by Wednesday’s indictment of Roy Bennet, the party’s treasurer. But the MDC said that some outstanding policy issues and a hardliner stance within Mugabe’s […]

A decade after the U.S. Senate declined to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), President Barack Obama is preparing an effort to reverse that decision. But to secure Senate backing this time around, the Obama administration must first overcome residual concerns among some senators that the treaty will harm U.S. national security. The CTBT prohibits all nuclear explosions, whether for military or other purposes, in any environment. Its practical effect would be to extend test prohibitions contained in current treaties and agreements to include underground testing of all nuclear explosive devices, the last domain not formally prohibited by existing […]

Power Sharing May Be The Only Way in Afghanistan

The Asia Society’s Jamie Metzl, a Kabul-based election monitor in the first round of Afghan elections, says a power sharing agreement may be the only way for current President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai to regain any sort of legitimacy to his regime. He explains the expansive ‘systemic’ nature of voter fraud and how that implicates the Karzai government. World Focus’ Daljit Dhaliwal speaks with Metzl.

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