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May 2012
University of California takes aim at human rights activists
By Stephen Zunes: From the Vietnam War to the Central American revolutions to apartheid South Africa to the East Timor occupation to the invasion of Iraq, university campuses have been an important venue for concerned scholars and activists to raise issues regarding human rights, international law and US foreign policy. However, in an effort to stifle this tradition, University of California President Mark Yudof has launched a campaign targeting human rights activists and others challenging the Israeli occupation and colonization of the West Bank and other policies of the right-wing US-backed Israeli government. Read More
Syria, why a Scandinavian general?
By Abdulateef Al-Mulhim: When a country starts sinking in the sand of political and social unrest, it is the people of the country who can save the country. No one else can, even a well-groomed Norwegian Major General. But, why are the Scandinavian politicians and generals always the ones who command peace missions and are they different from other generals? Read More
Pakistan: The Herculean job of defending a corrupt president
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: One need not be a sage to figure out as to what exactly the government of Pakistan is trying to do: it is simply defending the corruption proceeds. What the remote controlled government of Prime Minister Gilani (since Zardari holds the real political power in Pakistan) has decided to do is to rely on the only option left to him: just politicize the issue. Instead of implementing the Supreme Court order the Gilani regime cronies are ridiculing the apex court. Read More
Mali’s struggle: not simply of their own making
Stephen Zunes: Mali serves as yet another reminder of both the power of strategic nonviolent action and the consequences of foreign powers seeking to impose military solutions on complex political problems. In examining the political crises which have gripped Mali in recent months, it is important not to fall into simplistic analyses of dysfunctional or “failed” African states. Indeed, the Malian people have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to mobilize civil society and build stable democratic governance despite a history of enormous poverty, ethnic divisions, and foreign intervention. Read More
International Relations: Methods Concepts and Challenges - Part II
by Syed R. Mahmood: In this twenty first century, the seven billion people on this planet earth have enormous responsibilities and challenges for a peaceful co-existence among nations and civilizations. Today the world is very closely knitted with each other: economically, politically, socially and culturally. These seven billion people are living in a global village, where every nation knows everybody’s business. In this contemporary global society, every citizen of the United States, China, Russia, Brazil, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the people from other parts of the globe are dependent upon each other for their commercial, industrial and security needs. Read More
April 2012
Military intervention in Syria is a bad idea
By Stephen Zunes: Although the impulse to try to end the ongoing repression by the Syrian regime against its own people through foreign military intervention is understandable, it would be a very bad idea. Empirical studies have repeatedly demonstrated that international military interventions in cases of severe repression actually exacerbate violence in the short term and can only reduce violence in the longer term if the intervention is impartial or neutral. Other studies demonstrate that foreign military interventions actually increase the duration of civil wars, making the conflicts longer and bloodier, and the regional consequences more serious, than if there were no intervention. In addition, military intervention would likely trigger a "gloves off" mentality that would dramatically escalate the violence on both sides. Even putting aside the recent historical record, however, virtually anyone familiar with Syrian politics and history can recognize the fallacy of such foreign support for the armed struggle. Read More
Root causes of rising gasoline price at the pump
By Maqsood Ul Haque: Gasoline prices at the pump have been on the rise for decades, for higher profitability margin for the oil corporations. According to Mark Cooper, Director of Research Consumer Federation of America: "Over the past five years the average annual household expenditure for gasoline has increased by $1,000. A major cause of this immense increase in consumer cost is the failure of the federal authorities to prevent the abuse of market power by oil companies, and failure of the administration and congress to enact policies that fix the failures that plague the gasoline market. In the past five years, the increase in the price paid to domestic refining and marketing has cost consumers over $130 billion." Read More
The politics of religious freedom
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: A broad national coalition of more than 60 civil advocacy organizations and individuals have sent a joint letter to Senators Inouye, McConnell and Durbin expressing "deep concern" at the recent controversial appointment of Zuhdi Jasser to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The coalition asked that Jasser's appointment by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) be rescinded because he has been a vocal opponent of religious freedom for American Muslims. Read More
Another fruitless Arab summit
By Abdulateef al-Mulhim: If the Arab leaders held a summit conference annually after the establishment of the Arab League in 1945, then, the Baghdad Arab summit which was held on March 29, 2012, would have been number 67. But, the Baghdad summit, which was held last week is only the 23rd. The question is, what did the Arabs gain from these summits? Read More
International Relations: Methods Concepts and Challenges - Part – 1
By Syed R. Mahmood: The Western Society takes great pride in claiming that Plato and Aristotle are the founders of the Western thought. Most of the Western scholars and thinkers are in agreement that the process of thinking, analyzing, debating and understanding of human affairs are based upon the teachings of these two giant pillars of the Western Civilization. Plato composed over twenty revolutionary dialogues in the form of prose and series of philosophical letters. Plato believed in three level of human nature. Read More
East Timor issue annoys chancellor of Australian National University
By Stephen Zunes: I have rarely ever come face to face – only inches in fact – with such anger. Certainly not at an academic conference. And certainly not from such a prominent figure: chancellor of Australian National University, former attorney-general and foreign minister, former head of the International Crisis Group, and one of the world’s most prominent global thinkers. Yet here I was with Gareth Evans, cursing at me, ripping my badge off, and threatening to punch me in the face. What prompted his outburst was my raising the issue of his support for the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia during its savage repression in the occupied island nation of East Timor. Since the March 17 conference at the University of Melbourne – at which I, like Evans, was a plenary speaker – was about the first anniversary of the Arab revolts, the organizers came to his defense by insisting that I had raised an issue that was off-topic. In reality, it was very relevant. Read More
School of Americas Watch delegation visits volatile El Paso-Juarez
Arthur Kane Scott: School of Americas Watch (http://www.soaw.org/about-us/faq) led by Father Roy Bourgeois recently led a delegation of nine to El Paso – Juarez to investigate the socio-economic and political devastation that Mexican women/men/children are experiencing in the city of Juarez bordering El Paso, Texas. Read More
March 2012
Democracy Imperiled in the Maldives
Stephen Zunes: Well before the launch of the Arab Spring, the people of the Maldives, a Muslim nation located on a tropical archipelago in the Indian Ocean, were engaged in widespread nonviolent resistance against the 30-year reign of the corrupt and autocratic president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. The growing civil insurrection forced the dictator to finally allow for free elections in October 2008, which he lost. This triumph for democracy is now threatened as a result of a coup last month led by allies of the former dictator and hardline Islamists. Read More
Turmoil in Balochistan and the debacle of East Pakistan
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: It is said that history repeats itself. Perhaps it is true in the ongoing strife in Pakistan’s largest province, Balochistan. The current wave of socio-economic and political turmoil in Balochistan resembles with the social and political unrest that had led to the separation of East Pakistan and establishment of Bangladesh in December 1971. Read More
Ethnic cleansing in Balochistan
By Saleem Ahmed: Pakistan is a mismanaged third-world country. Mismanaged third-world countries are intrinsically unjust. Pakistan has been an equally bad experience for all ethnicities living in that country: Punjabi, Sindhi, Saraiki, Pashtun, Hazara, Baloch, Muhajir, and others. If Baloch are unhappy with the government of Pakistan they should first find out who is happy with the government. Read More
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