After the Sept. 16 Blackwater scandal, which drew unprecedented attention to the role played by private security contractors (PSCs) in Iraq, these firms have increasingly come under scrutiny in other theaters of war, such as Afghanistan. But while efforts in Afghanistan to rein in PSCs seem to parallel those in Iraq, they are driven by different dynamics — and have very different implications. Earlier this month, the Afghan parliament, emboldened by the Iraq legislature’s attempt to assert jurisdiction over contractors, drafted a law that could curb operations by private security contractors. Then last week Afghanistan’s Ministry of the Interior (MOI) […]

WASHINGTON — Much of the controversy surrounding a congressional committee’s approval of a resolution condemning as genocide the massacre of Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire has focused on the action’s geopolitical ramifications. But a key question remains unanswered: How did the world’s most powerful body of lawmakers come to feel compelled to register a position on an event that happened almost a century ago? By some accounts, the answer is simple: lobbying. Others, however, contend that the power of the Armenian lobby in the United States has been exaggerated and that the genocide resolution has gotten traction […]

AMSTERDAM — Is it possible that NATO, probably the mightiest, certainly the wealthiest, military alliance the world has even seen, could leave Afghanistan defeated by the Taliban, a band of religious fanatics with an ideology harking back to the 7th century? During two days of talks just completed in the Dutch resort of Noordwijk along the North Sea coast, defense ministers from NATO countries discussed the future of the mission in Afghanistan in tones that betrayed a sense of urgency bordering on despair. In the Netherlands, whose troops are fighting in the most dangerous region of Afghanistan, the mission is […]

CONGOLESE WARLORD IN THE DOCK — Democratic Republic of Congo general and former militia leader Germain Katanga made his first appearance in front of the International Criminal Court at The Hague Oct. 22, where he will face nine counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Katanga, also known as Simba, stands accused of — among other things — organizing the massacre of 200 civilians, conscripting children for use as soldiers and sexually enslaving survivors of the brutal attack on the village of Bogoro in February 2003. “The victims of these crimes deserve to see justice for their suffering,” Param-Preet […]

RAIPUR, India — To reverse military setbacks in key backcountry areas, India’s Maoist insurgents have adopted a new strategy that favors coordinated mass attacks over hit-and-run guerilla warfare, and they have stepped up their recruitment efforts on the Internet. Pro-Maoist spokesmen say the move towards larger, less-frequent strikes is the result of recent setbacks in states like Andhra Pradesh, where police forces have killed hundreds of fighters and arrested top leaders since peace talks collapsed in late 2004. But they cite the spread of activities to more states as a sign the movement is down but far from out. “The […]

BANGKOK, Thailand — As the United States and the European Union consider tightening economic sanctions against the Burmese military regime, U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is touring Asia to promote the idea of giving the repressive generals “incentives” to change their ways. Gambari is spinning the idea of some form of financial help to address the economic mess Burma has descended into under prolonged dictatorship. It was financial desperation among a population of 54 million, most living on the breadline, that triggered last month’s monk-led mass protests over fuel price rises of up to 500 percent. Gambari is talking vaguely […]

TOKYO — Reports that India’s nuclear deal with the United States is faltering have prompted a string of gloomy editorials in Indian newspapers. With the government of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apparently reluctant to face down opposition from its Communists allies, the deal is, as the Times of India lamented, “probably . . . in the deep freezer.” But 3,500 miles away in Tokyo, recently installed Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda may not be feeling quite so gloomy, for the deal risked becoming an awkward sticking point in the blossoming relationship between nuclear state India and the avowedly anti-nuclear […]

Editor’s Note: Rights & Wrongs is a weekly column covering the world’s major human rights-related happenings. It is written by regular WPR contributor Juliette Terzieff. ARAB ONLINE MEDIA COVERAGE LACKING — Arab online media is not doing a thorough job of covering human rights and the issues that surround them, according to a new study by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. The report, “Electronic Media and Human Rights,” studied a year’s worth of content on eight of the largest Arabic Web sites including aljazeera.net, alarabiya.net, naseej.com and islamonline.net. An estimated 29 million people in the Arab world regularly […]

KATMANDU, Nepal — The postponement of Nepal’s crucial November elections has dealt a serious blow to the Himalayan nation’s fragile peace process, dashing the credibility of the interim government, allowing time for the security situation to worsen and shifting the focus of peace talks away from elections and towards the much thornier issue of armies. Earlier this month, the polls were delayed for a second time because of new Maoist demands and general political apathy. An emergency session of the interim parliament broke for a festival holiday on Oct. 16 without managing any breakthroughs amongst bickering parties. The result in […]

KABUL, Afghanistan — It’s a daily ritual for 8-year-old Bismillah. Every morning, five grimy plastic cans slung over his tiny shoulder, he descends a rugged hillside, negotiating the steep pitches of scree and gravel with goat-like agility. At the bottom of the hill, he waits under the broiling sun in a long queue leading up to a spigot. But wait he must or his family will be left without drinking water for the day. Bismillah lives with his handicapped father, mother and four sisters in a mud-and-wood house in a cramped settlement clinging to a shale-brown hill overlooking Kabul. With […]

“Daddy, I thought you were coming home after Bayram,” read somber headlines in newspapers across Turkey Oct. 10, capturing the sentiments of the daughters of a soldier killed by a PKK ambush in southeastern Turkey. Bayram is the three-day celebration that started Oct. 12 to mark the end of the month of Ramadan. It is custom for fathers, sons, brothers and husbands fulfilling their military duties to return home on Bayram to briefly visit their loved ones, and bring presents and candies to children. The last two weeks have seen the assassination of 30 soldiers in the perilous southeastern border […]

HONG KONG — Australians will go to the polls on Nov. 24 after Prime Minister John Howard staked what’s left of his enormous political career and called an election that most analysts believe he will lose, heralding an overhaul of Canberra’s political landscape that would shape key policy at home and abroad. The announcement came after Howard made the ritual visit to Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Australia, the Governor General Michael Jeffery, on Sunday, where he requested parliament be dissolved and an election called. Howard is U.S. President George W. Bush’s staunchest remaining war ally, and the U.S. leader […]

The crisis in Myanmar has bedeviled the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a time when its members had hoped to focus on celebrating the organization’s 40th anniversary. Although most other ASEAN governments oppose the military government’s repression of Myanmar’s peaceful opposition, they have proven unable to break fully with their traditional policy of non-interference in member governments’ internal affairs. The decision to invite Myanmar into ASEAN in March 1997 resulted from a fleeting consensus among members that granting Myanmar membership was preferable to its continued exclusion. Even those ASEAN states most censorious of the Myanmar government, led since […]

On Oct. 6, 2007, the leaders of the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec) convened their 15th anniversary summit at Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin described this session of the Eurasec Intergovernmental Council as one of the organization’s most successful, the most notable development at the meeting was Moscow’s decision to pursue deeper economic integration with only some of the organization’s members. Eurasec’s main function is to promote trade ties among countries that formed an integrated economic system during the Soviet period. Since the U.S.S.R.’s disintegration in 1991, these states have frequently diverged in their national macroeconomic policies and have […]

If Myanmar’s military leaders appear immune to internal pressure for change, and if they care little about the protestations of the “international community” unless such pressure can directly effect their interests, the two rising world powers on Myanmar’s borders perhaps hold the last hope for influencing the junta. The conventional wisdom says that even if China is ultimately unwilling to play a positive role, India can be counted on. “I think India would be able to exercise influence on Myanmar. China needs natural resources so badly that it may not be willing to call for the use of force. As […]

According to statements made Sept. 27 by the Turkish Minister of Energy Hilmi Güler, Ankara and Tehran plan to sign an accord this month on the exploitation of the natural gas reserves of South Pars on the southern Iranian coast. In a preliminary agreement concluded in July, it had already been agreed that Turkey’s state-controlled oil company would invest some $3 billion over seven years in the construction of operating equipment. In addition, Turkish and Iranian enterprises are supposed to develop joint ventures for the transport of the gas by way of a pipeline system that will extend to eastern […]

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan — Its snow-capped peaks, crystal-clear lakes and pristine landscapes could put Tajikistan on par with pastoral hot spots in New Zealand or Switzerland. However, lingering Soviet-era paranoia and a dizzying array of as many as 11 permits required for travelers wishing to visit, set against a backdrop of a public infrastructure that could only kindly be called crumbling, make it unlikely that this Central Asian nation will be vying for the title of top tourist destination anytime soon. Divesting themselves of the tangles of red tape to be more accessible to travelers, tourists and investors has been a […]

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