Diplomacy & Politics Archive

JERUSALEM — When a Palestinian rocket hit a training base in Israel on Sept. 11, sending 67 soldiers to the hospital, many in Israel, in Gaza, and beyond thought it would be the event that would launch a full-scale Israeli invasion of Gaza to put an end to the rocket attacks once and for all. Hamas quickly began evacuating key locations, and many in Gaza began stocking up on food and water, fearing a massive Israeli response. Instead, what they heard was thundering demands for action from the Israeli right, followed by a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert […]

MUZAFFARPUR, India — Looking out over gray waters that have drowned the rice paddies that are his livelihood, laborer Bhavat Nagar swore no flood he could recall came close to the size of the latest monsoon deluge that also washed away most of his village and a neighbor’s child. “This is the worst it has been,” he said, shaking his head. “We always lose a little, but now we have lost everything. I don’t know what to do.” This reaction was replayed by dozens of landless poor in northern Bihar state, the region worst-hit by this year’s South Asia floods. […]

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. DETAINED IRANIAN-AMERICAN LOOKS TO HEAD HOME — A spokesman for Iran’s judiciary confirmed detained Iranian-American consultant Kian Tajbakhsh likely will soon be free to return home after months in Iran’s Evin prison. The statement from Ali Reza Jamshidi came during a state-organized visit for journalists to view conditions at the much-maligned facility, where brief interaction with a reportedly well-looking Tajbakhsh was allowed. Authorities have not filed official charges against Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant for […]

ATHENS, Greece — When Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis called for elections last month, he couldn’t imagine that the forces of nature might unite to thwart his party’s bid for a second term. Just weeks before the general elections, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 16, forest fires fueled by wind, drought and the summer heat made the hills of the Peloponnesus bald, laying bare the inefficiencies and corruption of the country’s political leadership. Greece doesn’t have a nationwide land registry nor forestry maps, pointed out foreign media, and lax development laws encourage arsonists, who started many of the fires. Firefighters struggled […]

MEXICO CITY — For decades, the Mexican president’s annual Sept. 1 national address was an extravagant bit of political pageantry. The chief executive would kick off the event by touring the capital’s streets in a convertible, waving to adoring crowds under a shower of confetti. Then, he would strut into Congress and speak at length, sometimes for hours, on his administration’s achievements of that year. Today, the event remains a prime example of Mexican political theater, but with an important distinction — with the advent of democracy, the proceedings are now unscripted and occasionally unruly. In 2006, former President Vicente […]

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may not have had his predecessor’s flare for politics, or been able to match what came to be known as “Koizumi theater,” but he sure knows how to make a dramatic exit. Abe stunned most political observers, and many members of his own party, by abruptly announcing his intention to resign Wednesday, leaving the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) scrambling to find a successor. The next day he was checked into hospital suffering from exhaustion. In many respects the decision to step down is not surprising — Abe’s party took a pummeling in […]

VIENNA, Austria — Jamel, Germany, is haunted. Fastened onto the plains near the Baltic Sea, Jamel is a hamlet of a few dozen people; a quiet retreat from a quickened world. But this would-be sleepy little outback stirs with trouble, strangled by the choke hold that a clan of neo-Nazis have held it in for more than 15 years. Led by 30-something-year-old Sven Krueger, the gang of neo-Nazis has rooted out anyone who has dared to complain about their Nazi celebrations, their Nazi music blasting, their Nazi flags waving or the Nazi graffiti that mars the city’s infrastructure. Residents who […]

WASHINGTON — The hybrid war crimes tribunal set up by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations achieved what international observers described as a major milestone in July when it delivered sentences of 45 and 50 years to three men convicted of committing war crimes during Sierra Leone’s late-1990s civil war. The ruling at the Special Court for Sierra Leone marked the first-ever conviction of an African warlord for using child soldiers, and it came just a few weeks before a second round of convictions, on Aug. 2, in which two other former militia leaders were found guilty […]

PARIS — There has been much talk of late of impending “changes” in French foreign policy. New French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s programmatic speech last month on foreign policy matters — and especially his remarks on the “unacceptability” of an Iran armed with nuclear weapons — first spurred such discussions. Then came the publication last week of former French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine’s commissioned report to the French President on globalization and French foreign policy. Védrine, a Socialist, served as Foreign Minister from 1997-2002 in the government of Lionel Jospin, in which capacity he famously qualified American counter-terrorism efforts in the […]

DENPASAR Indonesia — After 20 years in exile, José María Síson was arrested in Utrecht, Holland, Aug. 28 and charged with ordering the murder of two dissidents of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Although he now calls himself a “consultant” to Asia’s oldest rebel movement, Síson is widely perceived to be the leader of the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), both of which he founded nearly 40 years ago. His arrest has given rise to a whirlwind of opinions, with some experts stating that it could be a severe blow to the […]

The strict morality of life in Ramallah, where honor killings might be performed when pregnancies occur outside of marriage, means navigating the issue of sex is extremely fraught. Young people must balance the images they receive from the outside world and their continual anxiety about committing sin if they should follow their natural urges before marriage. RAMALLAH, West Bank — On first glance, the city of Ramallah in the West Bank appears boring: conservative and chaste. Most women wear headscarves and quickly avert their eyes when men are watching. There is nothing flirtatious about the gesture. In the course of […]

RABAT, Morocco — Elections in Morocco that were projected to hand large gains to a moderate Islamic party on Friday ended with a record low voter turnout and only incremental changes to the parliament’s makeup. The Justice and Development Party (PJD), Morocco’s largest opposition party, was expected to increase its representation from 42 seats to as much as 80 in the 325-seat parliament, but only managed to win 47 seats, despite competing in more districts than in the previous election. The record low voter turn out was widely interpreted as a sign that Moroccans are dissatisfied with the current government […]

KAMPALA, Uganda — Northern Uganda has been mired in violent conflict for over 20 years. And though it rarely receives as many headlines as nearby fighting in Darfur, Somalia, or even Eastern Congo, the war in Northern Uganda, one of Africa’s longest running conflicts and humanitarian disasters, is inching toward a possible resolution. In Juba, Southern Sudan, negotiators from the government of Uganda and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) recently signed the third phase of a five-part peace agreement. The progress is important, but the government of Uganda and its Western sponsors still have much to answer for. Even […]

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. HOLLYWOOD CALLS FOR SUU KYI’S RELEASE: More than two dozen Hollywood stars, including Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Aniston and Jim Carrey, signed an open letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Sept. 6 urging the world’s top diplomat to personally intervene in the case of detained pro-democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi. “This courageous, brave woman whom many call ‘Burma’s Nelson Mandela’ should be released and the military regime should end its attacks […]

Cao Gangchuan recently completed the first visit by a Chinese defense minister to Japan since then-minister Chi Haotian made such a trip in February 1998. During Cao’s five-day sojourn, he met with senior Japanese political and military leaders, including the new Japanese Defense Minister, Masahiko Komura. Cao’s visit to Japan helped advance the modest détente that has characterized Sino-Japanese relations since Shinzo Abe became Japanese prime minister in September 2006. Abe has prioritized improving the ties between China and Japan, which had deteriorated sharply under his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi. Cao invited Komura to make an official visit to China sometime […]

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Uncertainty about Lebanon’s political stability in an atmosphere of increasing sectarian division and rumors that Hezbollah is beefing up for an offensive against Israel are testing the allegiances of women loyal to the paramilitary group. Given the influence of women in Hezbollah, their ambivalence has the potential to spread further and ultimately shake the foundation of its political support among Lebanon’s Shiites. While tens of thousands gathered last month to commemorate the anniversary of Hezbollah’s self-declared “divine victory” against Israel (which left more than 1,200 Lebanese and 150 Israelis dead), some Hezbollah supporters question whether the sectarian […]

NEW YORK — A Chinese general was appointed to command a United Nations peacekeeping mission for the first time on Aug. 27. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Maj. Gen. Zhao Jingmin to lead the mission in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, where U.N. peacekeepers have monitored a ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, an armed separatist group, since 1991. Zhao will replace Gen. Kurt Mosgaard of Denmark, who completed his tour of duty Sept. 3, according to U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas. Zhao has an impressive biography and his appointment is not expected to generate any controversy in the Security […]