WESTERN EUROPE
French companies are being urged to do all they can to prevent stress in the workplace after a spate of suicides. In Briton at least 30 people were arrested when a group demonstrating against Islamic fundamentalism clashed with anti-racism protesters last week. While in Geneva, Switzerland a physicist working at the world's largest atom smasher has been arrested on suspicion of links to al-Qaida. In the meanwhile the Belgian government has announced the arrival of a former Guantanamo detainee. The United States plans to close down the Guantanamo facility, and is seeking new homes for inmates who have been cleared for release but are not able to go to their own country for fear of ill-treatment.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
Greece’s new Prime Minister George Papandreou’s party PASOK won a convincing victory in the October 4th snap general elections that ousted the former ruling party the New Democracy (ND) conservatives. Also Greece took the top spot among its Balkan peers in the UN Development Programme's (UNDP) 2009 Human Development Report, achieving an index of 0.942 ranking 25th on the list, which rates 182 countries.
SOUTHEAST EUROPE
Last week the European Parliament (EP) Foreign Affairs Committee supported a proposal by the European Commission to scrap visa requirements for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, while also asking that Bosnia Herzegovina and Albania be included in the visa liberalization process, though neither has met EU-determined benchmarks yet. EP members also want to initiate visa liberalization dialogue with Kosovo. In the meanwhile US Ambassador to Kosovo Christopher Dell confirmed that his country will help monitor the November 15th municipal elections. At the same time, Dell said Kosovo must overcome the need for international monitoring, a crucial test of democracy. Croatia finally resumed its EU accession process, blocked by Slovenia since the end of 2008, through negotiations at the intergovernmental conference.
EU presidency holder Sweden and the United States are making efforts to overcome the stubborn political stalemate in Bosnia Herzegovina (BiH). In the meanwhile a referendum last week showed that more than two-thirds of Irish voters backed the Lisbon Treaty, which streamlines the running of the 27-nation EU bloc. Also the Serbian President Boris Tadic has voiced his country's interest to apply for EU membership soon. Albania's hopes to obtain the status of EU candidate country suffered a setback last week with Germany’s request to remove the topic from EU parliament’s agenda.
The Romania President Traian Basescu has announced his intention to seek another term in the November 22nd elections. While in Hungry the main opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (UDMR) filed a vote of no-confidence against the cabinet last week. In the meanwhile Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov voiced expectations on Tuesday (October 6th) that the process of resolving the long-standing name dispute with Greece will receive a new impetus, given the new government in Athens.
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE INCLUDING RUSSIA AND BALTIC STATES
Irish voters' approval of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty keeps alive the EU's hopes of implementing reforms which it considers vital to increasing its global influence. Poland and the Czech Republic, the last two EU nations are left to ratify the document.
Vice President Joe Biden will visit Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic this month amid fresh concerns over the U.S. commitment to Eastern Europe's defense.
The Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman confirmed that the Slovakian government has offered to sell tanks and other military vehicles to Indonesia
Canadian Citizenship and Immigration figures show that Hungary is a top refugee source country. While diplomatic meetings were held between the Nabucco pipeline project member states, the pipeline linking Europe to gas resources in Central Asia and the Middle East. These members included Hungary, Turkey, Austria, Bulgaria and Romania.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed his country’s ‘surprise’ at a statement of U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow, who had urged Russia to take into consideration interests of safety of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. He said it was Russia’s initiative to confirm “guarantees of security to Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which voluntarily gave up on nuclear weapons in the early 1990s.
The United States denied on Friday that it planned to station U.S. radar systems in Ukraine. Washington had added the former Soviet country to a list of possible early warning sites as it moves to refashion a European missile defense system.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Tuesday that his country is ready to hold talks and cooperate with Russia. He added that the military attacks Georgia launched last August against Tskhinvali, capital of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, were legitimate. An international fact-finding mission, backed by the European Union, released a report last week accusing Georgia of violating international laws by using force against Russian peacekeeping troops in South Ossetia.
Russia welcomes the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s willingness to return to the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue.
According to the European Commission's latest estimates, the budget deficits of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia are all expected to violate the EU's Stability and Growth pact, by exceeding 3 per cent of their country's gross domestic product.
Kazakhstan is committed to joining the World Trade Organization as part of a free-trade zone with Russia and Belarus. All three former Soviet republics have been negotiating to join the WTO since the 1990s without success.
Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai has confirmed that Hungary will accept one Palestinian detainee from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
The European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing legislation in Lithuania against homosexuality, hence sending a clear message against homophobia.
US/CANADA
Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors from the public; a move intended to end a legal fight after a lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act. While in Canada starkly contrasting data showed jobs markets topping expectations in September after a dismal August trade performance, testing the Bank of Canada's resolve to hold rates unchanged through mid-2010. The UN telecommunications agency chief warned last week that a "new arms race" was taking shape in cyberspace where government websites were at the risk of cyber attacks.
LATIN AMERICA
Argentina's Senate overwhelmingly approved a law that will transform the nation's media landscape bringing an end to the dictatorship-era rules that enabled a few companies to dominate Argentine media. Opponents however criticize provision of too much government control in the amended laws. While in Honduras signs of progress have emerged from two days of talks in an attempt to resolve the bitter divide over the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya.
Cuba’s Fidel Castro is among those in favor of the Norwegian Nobel Committee's controversial choice of U.S. President Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace prize. While saying that the choice was a "positive step," he qualified that it was more a repudiation of Obama's predecessors than recognition of anything concrete Obama has done.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government says it is reaffirming an agreement with Britain to work together to prevent drug trafficking. A memorandum was signed to that effect last week.
A delegation of some diplomats, from 10 different countries of Latin and North America are converging to Honduras for dialogue to restore the authorities of an elected president. Negotiations on Zelays’s return continue.
Brazilian Space Agency and the Belgian Space Center of Liege signed an agreement of cooperation in space technologies. Also the Brazilian president has won the 2003 Gates Award for Global Health from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for his efforts to combat HIV in the region.
US is building a system of fencing, lighting, sensors, cameras and radars for security purposes and to stop illegal cross border activities on US-Mexico border.
The president of Mexico is being awarded with the Bravo Business awards for his stand against organized crime, mobilizing military troops to end violence and reforming the criminal justice system. On the environment front Mexico has set a goal to generate 25 %of its electricity through renewable power sources by 2012. Also the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has included Mexico and Cuba as the only two Latin American nations on the List of Honor of countries planting the largest amount of trees.
French companies are being urged to do all they can to prevent stress in the workplace after a spate of suicides. In Briton at least 30 people were arrested when a group demonstrating against Islamic fundamentalism clashed with anti-racism protesters last week. While in Geneva, Switzerland a physicist working at the world's largest atom smasher has been arrested on suspicion of links to al-Qaida. In the meanwhile the Belgian government has announced the arrival of a former Guantanamo detainee. The United States plans to close down the Guantanamo facility, and is seeking new homes for inmates who have been cleared for release but are not able to go to their own country for fear of ill-treatment.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
Greece’s new Prime Minister George Papandreou’s party PASOK won a convincing victory in the October 4th snap general elections that ousted the former ruling party the New Democracy (ND) conservatives. Also Greece took the top spot among its Balkan peers in the UN Development Programme's (UNDP) 2009 Human Development Report, achieving an index of 0.942 ranking 25th on the list, which rates 182 countries.
SOUTHEAST EUROPE
Last week the European Parliament (EP) Foreign Affairs Committee supported a proposal by the European Commission to scrap visa requirements for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, while also asking that Bosnia Herzegovina and Albania be included in the visa liberalization process, though neither has met EU-determined benchmarks yet. EP members also want to initiate visa liberalization dialogue with Kosovo. In the meanwhile US Ambassador to Kosovo Christopher Dell confirmed that his country will help monitor the November 15th municipal elections. At the same time, Dell said Kosovo must overcome the need for international monitoring, a crucial test of democracy. Croatia finally resumed its EU accession process, blocked by Slovenia since the end of 2008, through negotiations at the intergovernmental conference.
EU presidency holder Sweden and the United States are making efforts to overcome the stubborn political stalemate in Bosnia Herzegovina (BiH). In the meanwhile a referendum last week showed that more than two-thirds of Irish voters backed the Lisbon Treaty, which streamlines the running of the 27-nation EU bloc. Also the Serbian President Boris Tadic has voiced his country's interest to apply for EU membership soon. Albania's hopes to obtain the status of EU candidate country suffered a setback last week with Germany’s request to remove the topic from EU parliament’s agenda.
The Romania President Traian Basescu has announced his intention to seek another term in the November 22nd elections. While in Hungry the main opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (UDMR) filed a vote of no-confidence against the cabinet last week. In the meanwhile Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov voiced expectations on Tuesday (October 6th) that the process of resolving the long-standing name dispute with Greece will receive a new impetus, given the new government in Athens.
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE INCLUDING RUSSIA AND BALTIC STATES
Irish voters' approval of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty keeps alive the EU's hopes of implementing reforms which it considers vital to increasing its global influence. Poland and the Czech Republic, the last two EU nations are left to ratify the document.
Vice President Joe Biden will visit Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic this month amid fresh concerns over the U.S. commitment to Eastern Europe's defense.
The Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman confirmed that the Slovakian government has offered to sell tanks and other military vehicles to Indonesia
Canadian Citizenship and Immigration figures show that Hungary is a top refugee source country. While diplomatic meetings were held between the Nabucco pipeline project member states, the pipeline linking Europe to gas resources in Central Asia and the Middle East. These members included Hungary, Turkey, Austria, Bulgaria and Romania.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed his country’s ‘surprise’ at a statement of U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow, who had urged Russia to take into consideration interests of safety of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. He said it was Russia’s initiative to confirm “guarantees of security to Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which voluntarily gave up on nuclear weapons in the early 1990s.
The United States denied on Friday that it planned to station U.S. radar systems in Ukraine. Washington had added the former Soviet country to a list of possible early warning sites as it moves to refashion a European missile defense system.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Tuesday that his country is ready to hold talks and cooperate with Russia. He added that the military attacks Georgia launched last August against Tskhinvali, capital of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, were legitimate. An international fact-finding mission, backed by the European Union, released a report last week accusing Georgia of violating international laws by using force against Russian peacekeeping troops in South Ossetia.
Russia welcomes the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s willingness to return to the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue.
According to the European Commission's latest estimates, the budget deficits of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia are all expected to violate the EU's Stability and Growth pact, by exceeding 3 per cent of their country's gross domestic product.
Kazakhstan is committed to joining the World Trade Organization as part of a free-trade zone with Russia and Belarus. All three former Soviet republics have been negotiating to join the WTO since the 1990s without success.
Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai has confirmed that Hungary will accept one Palestinian detainee from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
The European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing legislation in Lithuania against homosexuality, hence sending a clear message against homophobia.
US/CANADA
Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors from the public; a move intended to end a legal fight after a lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act. While in Canada starkly contrasting data showed jobs markets topping expectations in September after a dismal August trade performance, testing the Bank of Canada's resolve to hold rates unchanged through mid-2010. The UN telecommunications agency chief warned last week that a "new arms race" was taking shape in cyberspace where government websites were at the risk of cyber attacks.
LATIN AMERICA
Argentina's Senate overwhelmingly approved a law that will transform the nation's media landscape bringing an end to the dictatorship-era rules that enabled a few companies to dominate Argentine media. Opponents however criticize provision of too much government control in the amended laws. While in Honduras signs of progress have emerged from two days of talks in an attempt to resolve the bitter divide over the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya.
Cuba’s Fidel Castro is among those in favor of the Norwegian Nobel Committee's controversial choice of U.S. President Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace prize. While saying that the choice was a "positive step," he qualified that it was more a repudiation of Obama's predecessors than recognition of anything concrete Obama has done.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government says it is reaffirming an agreement with Britain to work together to prevent drug trafficking. A memorandum was signed to that effect last week.
A delegation of some diplomats, from 10 different countries of Latin and North America are converging to Honduras for dialogue to restore the authorities of an elected president. Negotiations on Zelays’s return continue.
Brazilian Space Agency and the Belgian Space Center of Liege signed an agreement of cooperation in space technologies. Also the Brazilian president has won the 2003 Gates Award for Global Health from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for his efforts to combat HIV in the region.
US is building a system of fencing, lighting, sensors, cameras and radars for security purposes and to stop illegal cross border activities on US-Mexico border.
The president of Mexico is being awarded with the Bravo Business awards for his stand against organized crime, mobilizing military troops to end violence and reforming the criminal justice system. On the environment front Mexico has set a goal to generate 25 %of its electricity through renewable power sources by 2012. Also the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has included Mexico and Cuba as the only two Latin American nations on the List of Honor of countries planting the largest amount of trees.
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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.' The blog development project has been undertaken and jointly developed by the Gilani Research Foundation and BPM as a free resource and social discussion tool.
Business and Politics in the Muslim World (BPM)refers to the project entitled, "Globalized Business and Politics: A View from the Muslim World.' The blog development project has been undertaken and jointly developed by the Gilani Research Foundation and BPM as a free resource and social discussion tool.
No doubt military dictatorships have been a very crucial issue from Caribbeans to the South American countries. A recent Honduras coup is also an example among those. But a new trend can be found that now people as well as some countries of Latin America as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico are taking stand against military dictatorships. Even somewhere ex dictators faced a strict court trials which is a great change.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the analysis in this blog is very logical.
I would agree with your point Sir, Military Coups in Latin America are certainly considered a thing of the past. However the example of the Hounduran Coup that you have quoted is a more unique case I believe, more inclined towards a preemptive coup constitutionally ordered by the parliment of the country against the authoritarian aspirations of an elected leader. a short piece on this blog outlines these points... you can review it if you please at... http://bpm-americas.blogspot.com/2009/09/zone-3-americas-microscopic-analysis_29.html
ReplyDelete