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GLASGOW, Scotland — In what some here are calling a throwback to the electoral bedlam that surrounded U.S. President George W. Bush’s controversial win over Al Gore in 2000, Scotland’s recent election proved chaotic, with a divisive outcome that could threaten the future of the whole United Kingdom. As the dust settles around the May 4 vote for a new Scottish Parliament, the Scottish National Party (SNP), which attracted worldwide attention in the months leading up to the election by running on a call for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom, has emerged victorious. Public wrangling over the fate […]

When leaders of the two main rival factions in Palestinian politics signed a unity deal under Saudi auspices in February, the internal violence that had gripped the Palestinian Territories was supposed to come to an end. Instead, what came to an end was international news coverage of a crisis that has turned Palestinian society — particularly in the Gaza Strip — into a Hobbesian picture of lawlessness and despair.<<ad>>The Gaza Strip, which Israelis evacuated almost two years ago, is the scene of almost daily murders, kidnappings and shootouts, for reasons ranging from personal feuds to religious zealotry. Children are dying […]

WASHINGTON — In recent months, federal and state homeland security officials have become increasingly concerned that terrorists and other groups might attempt to imitate the insurgents in Iraq and employ chlorine-bombs and other chemical weapons within the United States. Even before insurgents in Iraq began detonating trucks carrying bombs combining conventional explosive with industrial chlorine, U.S. government and non-government experts had identified the United States as potentially vulnerable to terrorist attacks against chemical plants or rail tankers transporting toxic chemicals such as chlorine. In their “National Planning Scenarios” (pdf file), analysts at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified a […]

DENPASAR, Indonesia — As the 45 million Filipinos eligible to vote get ready to make a choice in their country’s May 14 mid-term election, the Philippines political landscape has been disturbed by the sound of guns, and filled with a mix of celebrities, rebels and political dynasties. Several actors, a current boxing world champion and a certain “Bin Laden” are among the nearly 87,000 candidates vying for 17,000 national and local positions, which include all of the 250 seats in the House of Representatives and half of the 24 Senate seats. In the meantime, reports indicate that up to 80 […]

BERLIN — The Iranian nuclear issue was a major topic of discussion during this week’s EU-U.S. summit in Washington. The current Western strategy of combining increasingly severe sanctions on Iran with offers of civil nuclear and other assistance has not succeeded in limiting Iran’s progress towards achieving the capacity to manufacture a nuclear bomb. Although European Commission President José Manuel Barroso warned Iranian leaders against trying to divide Europe and the United States, this week’s meeting in Washington suggests that EU and U.S. leaders disagree over the appropriate next steps toward Tehran. Despite years of negotiations and sanctions, President Mahmoud […]

WASHINGTON — The United States is moving forward on plans to establish an Africa Command that will anchor military operations across a continent seen to be of increasing strategic importance and threatened by transnational terrorists. But critics argue the initiative could backfire and fuel radicalism in areas where it is not yet a problem. The new force, known informally as AFRICOM, will preside over all countries on the continent except Egypt and is expected to be operational by the fall, according to Pentagon officials, who say it is needed to secure vast, lawless areas where terrorists have sought safe haven […]

KARZAI GOING? — Are Hamid Karzai’s days numbered as Afghanistan’s president? Knowledgeable Afghan expatriates predict Karzai will probably not last out the year. Initially named interim president at Washington’s insistence in 2001, he ran for the office virtually unopposed in Oct 2004 and was elected for a five-year term. But the Bush administration is losing confidence in his ability to take the necessary steps to halt Afghanistan’s slide back into chaos. Even if NATO forces are successful in containing the Taliban threat this summer, it’s still up to Karzai’s government to regain public confidence by cleaning up corruption, reforming the […]

BANGKOK, Thailand — When Iran looks west, it faces trade sanctions, political hostility and military threats. So now the vilified government is turning to the east, where energy-hungry Asia is embracing it as a regional partner. Trade and investment between Iran and Asia is exploding, with Asia’s booming economies keen to buy Iranian oil and natural gas, and Iran desperate for Asia’s advanced technology. “Asia needs our energy and we need their technology,” said Iran’s ambassador to Thailand Moshen Pakaein, from Iran’s newly expanded $5 million diplomatic compound in Bangkok. Behind the ultra-modern frosted glass and concrete building — which […]

KATMANDU, Nepal — In the thin air of Mount Everest base camp last week, a group of five American activists thumbed their frozen noses at the Chinese Government by holding their own “opening ceremony” on behalf of Tibet. They unfurled a banner that parodied China’s Olympic slogan: “One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008,” it read. As a cameraman sent live images via the Internet, the activists even lit their own torch and sang the Tibetan national anthem — minutes before Chinese border guards took them into custody. The stunt was the latest effort to use next year’s Olympic Games […]

Last week’s two-day summit between President George Bush and Shinzo Abe, who was making his first visit to the United States as Japanese prime minister, provided an opportunity to take stock of the profound changes occurring in the bilateral security relationship. Despite Japanese-American differences over several regional security issues, the two countries have continued to strengthen their bilateral defense ties in several dimensions.<<ad>>Under the auspices of their bilateral Security Consultative Committee (SCC), the two governments have engaged in a major effort to restructure their defense alliance. For several years, the SCC has been issuing joint statements articulating the two countries’ […]

BERLIN — On the eve of the U.N.-recognized World Press Freedom Day, several African journalists visiting here for an industry conference reflected on the state of media freedom in their home countries. They painted a picture of a continent where, despite some positive strides, media oppression has yet to be overcome by government respect — and public demand — for the basic rights to know and inform. The tiny Horn of Africa country of Eritrea is among the world’s top oppressors of the free press, according to the latest press freedom rankings from Reporters Without Borders (RWB). Even South Africa, […]

If Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is looking for someone in Israel willing to stand up and fight for his political survival, the only place he may find that person is staring straight into the mirror. Olmert’s approval ratings could hardly go any lower — and that was even before Monday’s release of partial results from the Winograd Commission investigation into what went wrong in Israel’s war with Lebanon last summer. Olmert’s survival looks like the longest of long shots, and yet, the road ahead looks anything but clear for his political opponents. The Commission skewered Olmert, declaring that he “bears […]

It was a strange scene. Over 3000 followers of the radical Wahhabi current of Islam had come to the northeast Bosnian town of Tuzla to bury their leader Jusuf Barcic, who had recently died in a traffic accident. The coffin in front of the mosque was draped in a green cloth. Men with long beards chanted “Allahu Akbar”: “God is great.” As press photographers tried to photograph the scene, they were first cursed and then beaten. The police did nothing. “We did not expect there to be so many people,” an officer told the newspaper Oslobodjenje. Religious fundamentalism is on […]

Gunmen launched a brazen pre-dawn raid on an oil field in southern Ethiopia on April 24, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers in their sleep. The attack was the direct result of the spreading instability on the Horn of Africa, where the violence in Somalia following Ethiopia’s invasion is bleeding across the border, back into Ethiopia. While the attack was apparently not aimed at China, it highlighted the growing backlash against China across Africa. As part of Beijing’s “Go Abroad” strategy, under which Chinese firms are encouraged to invest around the world to help fuel China’s rapidly expanding economy, […]

TOKYO — In February 1946 the U.S. forces occupying Japan drew up a new constitution for a country that had been left shattered by the Pacific War. Many Japanese cities were left in ruins, with vast swathes of them reduced to ash by intensive American firebombing. Fast-forward six decades to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit last week to Washington, and Japan presents a very different picture. Despite a more than decade-long slump, Japan’s economy remains the second largest in the world. It is a respected member of the international community and was found in a BBC poll in March […]

Nigerian President-elect Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’Adua has pledged to secure the insurgent-riddled Niger Delta in an apparent bid to solidify his contested victory in last month’s election and prove his commitment to the country’s resource and revenue base. “If government must succeed in its bid to secure the country, it must secure the Niger Delta region,” said Yar’Adua Friday in one of his first official appeals as the troubled West African nation’s next elected leader. “I have given my pledge that the Niger Delta is a strategic part of this nation and will be treated as such. We will take […]