Thursday, August 20, 2009

Weekly Telescopic Report #79


War on Terror

Fulfilling his campaign promises is Obama’s target, one of which is the closure of the Gitmo prison in Cuba. Obama administration is now planning of bringing the remaining inmates to the USA for trial possibly in the Midwestern states.
The Portuguese government has accepted to welcome two Gitmo inmates of Syrian origin in Portugal. Portugal became the first European country to say it was ready to accept Guantanamo detainees in order to help the new US administration close the prison.

Kosovo

Bishop of Raska and Prizren Artemije in Kosovo have urged Kosovo Serbs not to participate in the forthcoming November 15th local elections as it is a ploy to make Serbs recognise the creation and sovereignty of Kosovo.

Remnant of the 90s war remains unclean as Serbian authority wants disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army to be tried for Serb’s organ trafficking. The Council of Europe has commenced its investigation into the case. On separate development Serbs in both Serbia and Serb republic of Bosnia marked the 14th anniversary of Operation Storm, when Croatian army offensively killed hundreds of Serb civilians. Similar anniversary was witnessed in Croatia where many believe Serbian army occupied around one-third of Croatia's territory in 1995 and causing huge atrocities.

Bosnia Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric headed for Kosovo for a three day visit upon which he will be meeting with counterpart Naim Trnava and Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu. His visit has angered Bosnia Serb republic because Ceric will only be visiting Islamic community in the Republic of Kosovo

Venezuela-Colombia

The brawl between Colombia and Venezuela has worsened as the latter sever diplomatic relations and stopped trade with Bogota. . Venezuela perceives a threat in US-Colombia military relation, denouncing such relations, though Colombia claims it is geared at fighting drugs Former Colombia president and two Senators were able to mellow down the tempo of the tension, which made Venezuela send back its diplomat to Colombia.
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Obama Health Plan
Obama’s health care programme is now facing both congressional and mass disapproval. Many democrats that have supported the programme were faced with demonstrations that threaten to turn violent at their congressional districts.

Other Issues

Indian students in Australia (Australia is included in the Americas & Europe zone in our study) have recently not found the Aussies welcoming as they would have wanted because Indian students were randomly attacked, attacks likely to be racial. Meanwhile Australia PM and Foreign minister have both reassured Indian government that things will be redressed as a review is ongoing for fence-mending between Australia and India in view of the latest development.

Turkey was part of five countries (Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Austria) that signed the Nabucco-energy deal, which will run natural gas from Central Asia all through Europe. The deal obviously was part of the EU’s plan to bypass and reduce Russian energy’s monopoly. Russia has equally inked another deal (South Stream gas pipeline) with Turkey as counter effort to EU’s plan.

Sonia Sotomayor was finally confirmed and sworn in as a U.S. Superior Court judge after the senate confirmed her suitability. The debates surrounding her eligibility and whether or not her ethnicity might affect her neutrality demonstrate the racial and ethnic prejudice that still exists in the U.S.

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Business and Politics in the Muslim World (BPM)refers to the project entitled, "Globalized Business and Politics: A View from the Muslim World.' This project has been undertaken and developed by the Gilani Research Foundation as a free resource and social discussion tool.

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