EU Increases Sanctions, Iran’s Military Elite Now in Charge

Posted on 30. Jul, 2010 by admin in Economy, Energy Security, Middle Class Crunch, War on Terror

This week in Iran, our friends at “The Week in Green” point towards general acknowledgment that Iran is now controlled by the military–not the clerics.

Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright

Posted on 29. Jul, 2010 by admin in Environment, Uncategorized

Tigers amaze tourists and scare villagers in Nepal, but maybe the incense burned and the diyos lit for the tiger god Bag Bhairav are working.

The tiger population in Nepal has increased this year, according to a recent data released by the government on the occasion of the first “Tiger Conservation Day.”

There are total of 155 adult tigers—or, about six adult tigers per 100 square kilometers. Last year, the record showed a total of 121 adult tigers in Nepal. Officials said this was a good population for breeding purposes.

This is good news for conservationists, as the worldwide tiger population is decreasing due to deforestation, encroachment and poaching. The total population is estimated to be 3,500.

The governments of Nepal and India signed a joint resolution to work together to conserve tigers. India and Nepal together hold over fifty percent of the world’s tigers.

The resolutions were signed as an outcome of the 4th Nepal-India Consultative Meeting on Trans-boundary Biodiversity Conservation, at a function held in Kathmandu on Thursday.

“Besides having common boundary, we are facing similar challenges of tiger conservation. Such relation is extremely important for combating illegal wildlife trade and landscape level conservation for tigers and other wild animals,” said SP Yadav, the joint director of the National Tiger Conservation Authority of India.

Tiger Population Monitoring was done in Chitwan National Park under the coordination of Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and with the support of WWF Nepal and National Trust for Nature Conservation.

Authorities have said that Nepal’s habitat is best for tiger conservation, as tigers look for peaceful and dense jungles. The Nepalese government says it is committed to increasing the tiger population to 250 by 2022, which would be the next Year of the Tiger.

—Rajneesh Bhandari

Tea Party Comes to Brooklyn

Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by admin in Economy, Middle Class Crunch, Uncategorized

Is the Tea Party a real movement, an actual party or just a bunch of cranks? Well, the party has come to–of all places–Brooklyn. Its leader used to play guitar with members of Nirvana and Sonic Youth–and he’s no fan of Sarah Palin. John Kenneth Press explains why the movement is not extremist, and why Kurt Cobain wouldn’t be a member.

Buddha Boy Not So Zen

Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by admin in Middle Class Crunch, Uncategorized, War on Terror

The 20-year-old “Buddha Boy” of Nepal, who is famous for meditating in the dense forest of Ratanpur village since 2005 and whose followers claim is the reincarnation of the Buddha, beat up more than a dozen villagers last Thursday before locking them in a room.

Ram Bahadur Bomjan told officials that the villagers were smoking cigarettes and disrupting his meditation.

Bara District police superintendent Manoj Neupane said in a phone interview, “Seventeen people have come to us claiming that they were beaten by Bomjan and we are investigating the issue.”

Bomjam, who claims to be in penance (or, meditating), has advocated non-violence and campaigned against the mass sacrifice of animals. Last year, he even addressed the public highlighting non-violence and peace.

Bomjam has claimed that he can mediate for months without eating food. But the 17 villagers, who say they were in the jungle to collect firewood, told police that Bomjam beat them and detained them. Police have sent the injured for medical checks in the nearby Bara Hospital.

The “Buddha Boy” told journalists and police that he slapped the villagers “as a punshiment” for smoking and mimicking him.

–Rajneesh Bhandari

“This Heat will be the Norm”

Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by admin in Economy, Energy Security, Environment

If you think this summer has been rough on the East Coast, David Easterling, chief of the Scientific Services Division at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C, has some disconcerting data for you. With 2010 on track to becoming the hottest summer on record, the climate models and data run by Easterling point toward something disturbing: within 20 years, this weather could become the standard, not the exception:

Week 58–Supreme Leader Challenged

Posted on 23. Jul, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized, War on Terror

A challenge from a jailed journalist to the veracity of Iran’s Supreme Leader was followed by calls for a “green media” to counter government-controlled information. The latest Week in Green from our partners in Tehran:

It’s Great Britain, Prime Minister – Not Grovelling Britain

Posted on 23. Jul, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized, War on Terror

It was meant to put Britain’s relationship with the United States back on an even keel. Instead, Prime Minister David Cameron’s first official trip to Washington this week managed to make Great Britain look more like Grovelling Britain.

The Prime Minister’s inner suck-up reared its head early on when he allowed four US Senators to hijack the agenda. Ahead of the trip, the Senators had pressed for a meeting to discuss their call for an investigation into the release of the Lockerbie bomber; a request Mr. Cameron’s office initially rebuffed by offering to have Britain’s ambassador to the US meet with them instead. Within hours of landing however, Mr. Cameron flip-flopped and agreed to sit down with the gang.

The point here is not whether the issue was worth discussing but rather who was worthy of raising it with our Prime Minister. I bet Margaret Thatcher wouldn’t have rearranged her schedule to kowtow a bunch of lower ranking American statesmen riding a wave of British bashing ahead of a mid-term election.

The chummy joint press conference between the Prime Minister and President Obama tried to gloss over any disparities between the two leaders. But the pretence of equality was soon dashed by none other than the Prime Minister himself when he gave his view of US-British relations to an American television presenter. ‘We were the junior partner in 1940 when we were fighting against Hitler. We are the junior partner now.’ The United States didn’t enter the war until 1941. But Mr. Cameron did more than embarrass the history departments of Eton and Oxford. He belittled what was arguably Britain’s finest hour and betrayed the public trust by demeaning the nation before a foreign audience.

The Barack and Dave Show

I’m not arguing that Britain can match the US in economic size or military strength. As I’ve said before, we’re not a superpower. But that doesn’t mean our Prime Minister should tell America we’re inferior to them. Given the sacrifice of British blood and treasure in Afghanistan and Iraq, Mr. Cameron’s words are all the more offensive. If we’re so ‘junior’ let another, more ‘senior’ country stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Yanks and we’ll bring our troops home.

I had hoped that when the new coalition took power, Britain’s government would grow a backbone and start putting our national interest ahead of America’s. Sadly though, David Cameron has shown that when it comes to playing lapdog, he’s no different than his labour predecessors.

Bob Shepherd is an ex-SAS soldier and bestselling author of The Circuit. His debut novel The Infidel will be published August 5th by Simon & Schuster UK. To read more posts by him, please visit www.bobshepherdauthor.com.

Kathmandon’t

Posted on 21. Jul, 2010 by admin in Energy Security, Environment, War on Terror

After nearly a month since Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned from his post, Nepal was expecting a new prime minister today.

The government—after missing the deadline to write a new constitution—did nothing specific in the past 21 days except wait for a new government to take over. While millions of Nepalis struggled through the workday with only four hours of electric power, the three major political parties–Maoists, Nepali Congress and CPN UML–were claiming political power. But, none of the three prime ministerial candidates managed to score a simple majority.

One of them looked very familiar. Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal—“Prachanda”—was back a year after being forced to resign as prime minister after an attempt to sack the army chief was revoked by president Ram Baran Yadav.

A candidate needs to get 300 votes in his favor to win, and as none of the parties have majority, the candidates need to find coalition support. The intrigue began in early morning Wednesday, when Maoists decided to support the CPN UML if they got a two-thirds majority in the election.

By the afternoon, CPN-UML’s Jhalanath Khanal—who had joined the race thinking that Prachanda would withdraw—came close to securing the PM post after Maoists and two other parties expressed their conditional support to him. Khanal himself went to meet members of one group, the Front, asking for support. The Front declined, saying that they “will not vote as none of the candidates agreed to fulfill [our] demands.”

In the two different rounds of election organized in the evening, Prachanda scored 242 votes, Nepali Congress’ candidate Ram Chandra Paudel managed 124 votes. Khanal withdrew from the voting process after being unable to secure two-thirds support.

The next election between Prachanda and Paudel will take place on Friday. “I am confident that I will win the election in the second round,” Paudel said. The lights were still on in Constituent Assembly Hall as he exited, but the rest of Kathmandu flickered and went dark.

–Rajneesh Bhandari

Tea With That, Congressman?

Posted on 20. Jul, 2010 by admin in Economy, Uncategorized

The line has been drawn. House Republicans have to make a choice: either join Michele Bachmann’s Tea Party Caucus or risk voters’ wrath in November. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly. The Tea Party movement is growing bigger everyday. It even has a presence in Brooklyn. Yes, that Brooklyn, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1.

We recently caught up with John Kenneth Press, president of the Brooklyn Tea Party. It was very informative. Everything you want to know about the Tea Party, Press has the goods: Sarah Palin, Arizona’s immigration laws, Obama’s attitudes to Islam, Kurt Cobain… Well, you gotta see it to believe it. For now, check out this teaser. The full interview will appear next week on our series “Open Mic.”
http://www.vimeo.com/13493209

Shamsi Ali: The Hip Imam

Posted on 19. Jul, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized, War on Terror

Since the 9/11 attacks, many in America and worldwide have come to see Islam as synonymous with terrorism. But Shamsi Ali, head imam at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, preaches the peaceful side of the religion. In the first episode of our new political program “Open Mic,” Film@11 Correspondent Connor Kiesel sits down with Imam Ali to hear his views on terrorism, democracy and hip hop music.
http://www.vimeo.com/13462131