Global pressure can end years of nuclear brinkmanship. THE standoff over Iran’s nuclear program is close to spiralling out of control. Israel, which sees Iran as the worst threat to its existence, has canvassed the attitudes of US military and intelligence leaders to a military strike. Israel is reportedly ready to attack Iran as early as April. On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda urged visiting Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak not to take such ”extremely dangerous” action. That is an understatement; a military strike carries huge risks. For the past decade, the US and its allies have paid a terribly high price for attacking Iraq…
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Riot police in Senegal have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, after the country’s opposition defied a government ban to go ahead with a demonstration calling for President Abdoulaye Wade to stand down. Wade is running for a third term in office in next week’s presidential election. Police used grenade launchers to throw volleys of tear gas down a main boulevard during Friday’s demonstration in Dakar, at one point hitting a mosque full of worshippers. Small groups of young demonstrators attempted to defy them, with about a dozen holding their arms up in an ‘X’, the symbol used by the opposition to show the bound hands of Senegal’s 12 million people, and braving a police cordon….
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Ankara: NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the Western alliance had no intention of intervening in Syria even in the event of a UN mandate to protect civilians, and urged Middle East countries to find a way to end the spiralling violence. Rasmussen said on Friday he also rejected the possibility of providing logistical support for proposed “humanitarian corridors” to ferry relief to towns and cities bearing the brunt of President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. “We have no intention…
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Iran’s nuclear ambitions could plunge the world into “a new Cold War” with the Middle East, Foreign Secretary William Hague warned today. He predicted a nuclear arms race among rival Middle Eastern states that would carry the dangers without the safety mechanisms of the old rivalry between the West and the USSR. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he…
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Eurozone finance ministers are due to meet to decide whether Greece has done enough to merit a huge bailout loan. Athens needs the 130bn euros (£110bn; $170bn) in order to avoid bankruptcy in…
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About 1,000 protesters gathered in front of the Greek Parliament in central Athens yesterday afternoon while riot police waited to see if there would be a fresh confrontation. But in general, Greeks are resigned to the new package of austerity measures that will cut jobs in public service and slash pensions and the minimum wage. Hopes are high that the eurozone ministers meeting today will agree to the €130bn (£108bn) bailout after Athens detailed the new budget cuts. The Greek Prime Minister, Lucas Papademos, headed to Brussels yesterday to take part in the negotiations. While most Greeks are critical of the reforms on which the troika of the EU, International Monetary Fund and European…
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The United States and Britain have urged Israel against any military action against Iran and its nuclear programme, after Iranian warships passed through the Suez Canal to dock at the Syrian port of Tartous, ratchetting up tensions in the region. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US joints chiefs of staff committee, and William Hague, the British foreign minister, both said that an Israeli attack on Iran would destablise the entire region, and urged Israel to give international sanctions against Tehran more time to work. In comments on Sunday, Dempsey said an Israeli attack would be “not prudent”, and Hague said it would not be “a wise thing”. In an interview…
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It is shameful that Russia and China are blocking any meaningful efforts by the UN Security Council to pressure the Syrian government to stop the wholesale killing of its own people and allow a transition to democracy. Russia is simply protecting its crude national interests, including arms supplies to President Bashar…
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Senegal’s opposition called for fresh protests Monday in the capital Dakar after a week of urban clashes which have left two dead. “We call for a protest at 3:00 pm (1500GMT) at Independence Square,” said Alioune Tine, coordinator of the June 23 Movement (M23) of opposition and civil society against President Abdoulaye Wade’s third term bid in February 26 polls. Tension is running high in the usually peaceful country, six days ahead of presidential polls in which 85-year-old Wade is seeking a controversial third term in office which the opposition says is unconstitutional. Two daily newspapers headlined that the country was “bloody and on fire” after riots erupted around Senegal on Sunday….
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