Week 64: Iran Offline
Posted on 03. Sep, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet
If you were in Iran this past week and wanted to use the internet, most likely you had some problems. In the run-up to al-Quds day, the Iranian government slowed internet speeds, making sights like Yahoo, Facebook and Goggle virtually inaccessible. Learn about this and other issues in the latest episode of The Week in Review, an ongoing series from Iran comprised largely of footage shot on cell phones and small cameras and smuggled out of the country.
Week 63: Arms and Energy in Iran
Posted on 30. Aug, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet
From initiating the Bushehr nuclear power plant to unveiling a new surface-to-surface missile, Iran has been defiantly flexing its muscles in the face of international sanctions. Meanwhile, the government has continued cracking down on political dissidents and even introduced tougher laws on advertisements about house pets. Learn more about these and other issues in The Week in Review, an ongoing series about Iran’s Green Movement, comprised largely of footage shot on cell phones and small cameras and smuggled out of the country.
The Never-Ending Election
Posted on 24. Aug, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet
It has been more than seven weeks that Nepal is without a prime minister.
For the fifth consecutive time, none of the candidates received enough votes to claim the majority. Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal got only 246 votes in his. Nepali Congress’s Parliamentary Leader Ram Chandra Paudel garnered only 124 votes.
The inability to elect the New Prime Minister has affected the peace process and writing for new constitution. It has also affected the working atmosphere in government offices.
Critics claim that the Maoist Supremo Prachanda’s failure to win the election has affected his image in Public. The next election will be held on September 5, 2010. But it is still not clear whether Nepal will get a new prime minister on that date, with the growing indifference among political parties.
CPN UML and Madhes-based parties who have got winning votes have remained neutral in the voting that took place five times.
–Rajneesh Bhandari
Week 62: Iran’s Shaky Politics
Posted on 20. Aug, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet
In the past week, there have been signs of rifts among Iran’s ruling elite. In particular, Iran’s Supreme Ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Ayatollah Komeini said Iran will not sit down for talks with the US until sanctions are lifted, directly contradicting President Ahmadinejad. Learn more about this and other Green Movement issues in this episode of “The Week in Green.”
http://blip.tv/file/4026909
Week 61: Dollars Out, Rials In
Posted on 16. Aug, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet
With international sanctions mounting and oil sales falling, Iran plans to switch its reserve currencies from dollars and Euros to the Iranian Rial. Iran’s first vice president said the country would no longer trade oil in these “filthy” currencies. Along with a hunger strike, religious persecution and more evidence about 2009′s rigs presidential election, this episode of “The Week in Green” charts Iran’s political unrest.
Indecision in Nepal
Posted on 06. Aug, 2010 by admin in Clickables
There was a hope today that Nepal will get a new prime minister. But Nepal has failed to elect a new one for the fourth time in a month after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned from power. In the fourth round of election held on Friday, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal bagged 213 votes while his opponent Nepali Congress’s Ram Chandra Poudel garnered 122 votes.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) and an alliance of four Madhes-based parties today decided to abstain from voting. While parliamentarians gathered on Friday in the House in New Baneshwore to vote for their candidate, a dozen lawmakers missed the opportunity as they arrived too late. Deputy Prime Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar and a few others reached the House after the doors were already closed and voting started.
Just a few hours ahead of voting, the Communist Party of Nepal ML split up after serious disputes erupted over choosing a candidate. The Indian Government sent former ambassador to Nepal Shyam Sharan to help broker a deal between the three major political parties, but the attempt failed as none of the nominees got a majority.
It has been over a month since the prime minister resigned, and such a power vaccuum is uncommon even for Nepal. People are confused and hoping that the next election – some two weeks away – will bring needed certainty.
- Rajneesh Bhandari
Watch an interview with Rajneesh below:
Week 60: Music Ban in Iran
Posted on 06. Aug, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet
Fasting political prisoners, street protests, a ban on music – these are just some of the stories happening in this week in Iran. This episode of “The Week in Green” examines Iran’s political tensions and the Green Movement’s continuing activities.
Kathmandon’t
Posted on 21. Jul, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet
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
The Defense of the Realm
Posted on 23. Apr, 2010 by admin in Bob Shepherd
Last night’s leaders’ debate made it official; the future of Britain’s nuclear deterrent is the stand out issue of the election. Prime Minister Gordon Brown berated Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg’s proposal to scrap the next generation Trident II nuclear missile system, telling him to ‘get real about the danger that we face,’ from Iran and North Korea. Conservative Leader David Cameron wasn’t as forceful but his message was on par with Brown’s. ‘We are safer having an independent nuclear deterrent in an unsafe and uncertain world,’ he argued.
I agree with the Lib Dems on this issue. Trident II is outdated and the world has moved on. Committing upwards of £80 billion on a weapons system designed for the Cold War at a time when we’re gutting the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy to pay for operations in Afghanistan could very well compromise our defensive capabilities more than it will enhance them. Invoking the specter of rogue states hitting the launch button is scare mongering in my view. Iran and North Korea are no threat to Britain. As I’ve argued before, the hazards we face are much closer to home; specifically internal terrorists such as radical British Muslims hell bent on turning this country into a Caliphate or the Real IRA and its affiliates. Twice in the last ten days dissident republicans have targeted a police station in Co Armagh with car bombs, putting Northern Ireland on its highest security alert in twelve years. Replacing our ballistic missile deterrent on a like-for-like basis won’t curb these types of threats.
Who's got the goods on nuclear deterrence?
Binning Trident II and scaling back to a minimal nuclear deterrent will however force Britain to reassess its role in the world. The question of Britain’s global might is at the heart of this debate and indeed our broader defence and foreign policy strategies. A survey out this week revealed that 88% of defense and security specialists think the UK needs a radical reassessment of the position it wants and is able to play in the world.
‘Little Britain’ has always liked to punch above its weight. Historically, it’s not our nuclear arsenal but our outstanding ground troops, arguably the best in the world that has enabled us to do this. The reputation of our armed forces has taken a beating in recent years with charges that the British army ran away from Basra and parts of Helmund. Any failures though were not the fault of our extremely professional soldiers. As far as I’m concerned, blame lies squarely with military and political leaders who placed our troops in impossible scenarios in insufficient numbers.
Britain can outperform in future provided we deploy our military assets more wisely and allocate our financial resources strategically. The criteria we use to commit our troops to overseas campaigns must change. We cannot jump every time America snaps its fingers. We need to assess whether there is a real threat to our national security and then proceed accordingly.
I think it is criminal we won’t have a strategic defense review until after the election. Right now, it won’t include Trident, but I hope that will change. I also hope a defense review will examine the impact of our military campaigns and broader foreign policies on home grown terrorism. The world is unsafe and it is uncertain. So let’s get real and stop clinging to outdated notions of what it will take to protect our shores.
Bob Shepherd is an ex-SAS soldier and bestselling author of The Circuit. To read more posts by him, please visit www.bobshepherdauthor.com.
And now, the West Bank….
Posted on 20. Jul, 2009 by michelemitchell in Bob Shepherd
On Friday, “NOW” on PBS ran an excerpt of a film the talented Michal Zilberman did. We were delighted to read the responses on the “NOW” message boards, where we found ourselves to be beloved.
What’s our response to the response? Check out our new episode of “Political Graffiti,” where we start with Gaza and finish with the West Bank settlements.
Coffee in Hebron with Wahid