Qatar Recognizes Libya’s National Transition Council

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:59 AM PDT

Qatar has decided to recognize Libyan National Transition Council as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people, reports the Qatari state news agency QNA. This came in a statement given by an official source at the Foreign Ministry to Qatar News Agency (QNA). “The source confirmed that this recognition stems from the conviction that [...]

Japan: Nuclear Plant’s Contaminated Pools To Be Drained

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:52 AM PDT

Pools of water with significant contamination are slowing down repair work in units 1, 2 and 3 at Fukushima Daiichi. It was in unit 3 that three workers recently suffered higher radiation exposure. The origin of the water remains unknown, but readings by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) have shown very significant radiation dose rates [...]

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Japan: Highly Radioactive Water Found Outside Nuclear Reactor Building

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:49 AM PDT

Operators of Japan’s earthquake-damaged nuclear plant say highly radioactive water has been detected for the first time outside one of the plant’s reactor buildings. The power company’s announcement came hours after Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said water from the plant’s number 2 reactor appears to have been in contact with melted-down fuel rods inside [...]

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MGIMO Meeting Highlights Russian Worries About Circassian Campaign Against Sochi Games – Analysis

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:40 AM PDT

Although a Carnegie Moscow Center seminar three weeks ago concluded the Circassians “do not pose a serious threat to the Olympics in Sochi,” a conference at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s training academy held last week on the very same subject suggests that many in Moscow remain extremely nervous on this score. A majority of participants [...]

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Majority Of Palestinian Voices Still Being Ignored – OpEd

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:37 AM PDT

By Rich Wiles A quick search for ‘Palestine’ on Amazon.com (the world’s biggest book retailer) reveals over 15,000 available entries. There is clearly no shortage of literature on the subject, much as thereis no shortage of discussion or opinion around the world. Many of the books written pre-Nakba were structured within two main catagories. Some [...]

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The Saudi Arabia Succession Puzzle – Analysis

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:33 AM PDT

By P. R. Kumaraswamy Who after? Democracies are often confronted by this question, especially after a strong and powerful leader. This is so when democracies tend to have arrangements for orderly power transfers and even leaders-in-waiting. Succession is a far more serious problem in the Middle East where state security is often co-terminus with regime [...]

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Casey: Wars Have Been Catalyst For Army Change

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:30 AM PDT

By Jim Garamone In a recent speech at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the Army has changed the most of all the services. “There’s no catalyst for change like a war,” said the architect of much of that change, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. [...]

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Israel Deploys Iron Defense Dome

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:23 AM PDT

Israel Defense Forces on Sunday deployed the Iron Dome anti-rocket system aimed at combating the upsurge in rocket fire from Gaza. The military said the system will operate in “preliminary testing stages.” ­The system’s first battery has been put in place on desert terrain near Beersheba, a city in southern Israel, which has experienced two [...]

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Burma: Sports, Supernatural Bypass Censor Board

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:19 AM PDT

By Ahunt Phone Myat More than half of Burma’s journals and magazines will no longer be forced to go via the country’s draconian censor board prior to publication, according to a new ruling that however maintains a tight clamp on political reporting. Nearly 200 of Burma’s 350-odd journals and magazines will be subject to the [...]

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Nepal: Christians To Step Up Hunger Strike

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:16 AM PDT

By Chirendra Satyal A hunger strike in Kathmandu by Christians to force the government into giving them burial plots entered its sixth day today, with the government yet to respond to their demands. Dozens of Christian men and women are continuing to go without food or water on a relay basis and are praying and [...]

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Indonesia: Muslim Leader Warns Of Radicalization

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:14 AM PDT

By Konradus Epa A Muslim leader has warned Catholics in Indonesia about the threat of Islamic radicalization and even imposition of sharia law. Safi’i Anwar, executive director of the International Centre for Islam and Pluralism, told a Catholic forum on March 26 in St. Theresia Church in Jakarta that intolerance is rising. “Indonesia is threatened [...]

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Turkey, Georgia Explore New Strategy

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:11 AM PDT

By Alakbar Raufoglu In an unprecedented step, Turkey is drafting a strategy that will include passport-less travel with Georgia, an administrative official informed SETimes. “This is going to be an outstanding change for our region,” Turkish-Georgian Friendship Group Chairman Celal Elbay said. “Like in the EU, our citizens will be able to travel to each [...]

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Supporting, Fighting Tyrants: Logic Of ‘Stability’ – OpEd

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 02:20 AM PDT

By Mats Svensson The year is 1974. It is my second Sunday in Brazzaville. I am for the first time invited home to a family in the district of Poto Poto. The house is made of sun-dried clay. The door is painted in green and red. The houses are lying tightly against each other. Red [...]

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Japan: Toyota Partially Resumes Production

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 02:17 AM PDT

Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest automaker, on Monday resumed car production of the Prius and two other hybrid models in Japan, two weeks after the auto giant halted all domestic output as a result of parts shortages stemming from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. Toyota restarted car assembly of the [...]

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Iraq’s West Qurna I Field Reaches Oil Production Milestone

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 02:14 AM PDT

ExxonMobil Iraq Limited, together with the South Oil Company of Iraq and co-venturers Shell West Qurna B.V. and Oil Exploration Company of Iraq, announced a major production milestone in the redevelopment of the West Qurna I oil field in Southern Iraq. Initial field production of 244,000 barrels per day has now increased to 285,000 barrels [...]

Ukraine: Eni Signs MoU For Upstream Cooperation

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 02:12 AM PDT

The Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mykola Zlochevskiy of Ukraine and Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni signed in Kiev a Memorandum of Understanding defining the framework for possible cooperation initiatives in exploration and production of hydrocarbons in Ukraine. The parties agreed to collaborate on the study of initiatives in conventional and unconventional oil and gas [...]

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Egypt Referendum Power Show For Muslim Brotherhood – OpEd

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 02:07 AM PDT

By Mohyeddin Sajedi The recent referendum in Egypt on amending certain constitutional provisions was not merely a domestic event for the country, but it had regional and international ramifications for the African nation as well. Nevertheless, given the volatile situation in the Middle East and developing events in other Arab countries, Egypt’s referendum is not [...]

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Libya: AFRICOM’s Combat Christening – Analysis

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 02:03 AM PDT

The current intervention underway in Libya is the inaugural combat mission for the US military’s AFRICOM. While the Command’s professed primary objective has been to strengthen security cooperation with African countries, many in sub-Saharan Africa see a more ominous agenda at work. By John CK Daly for ISN Insights After World War II, the US [...]

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Japan Government Says Radiation Reading Error ‘Unacceptable’

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 02:00 AM PDT

(RFE/RL) — Japan’s government has denounced as “absolutely unacceptable” a radiation-level reading error by the operator of the earthquake- and tsunami-hit Fukushima atomic plant. Top government spokesman Yukio Edano put forward the criticism today — one day after the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said water at the site had reached 10 million [...]

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Trans-Pacific Partnership: Now It Gets Difficult – Analysis

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 01:57 AM PDT

A meeting of officials from nine countries in Singapore next week will decide whether the Trans-Pacific Partnership will fly or flounder. Much depends on whether pre-talks rhetoric can be translated into reality. By Deborah K Elms TRADE OFFICIALS from across nine countries will be meeting next week in Singapore, starting 28 March 2011, for the [...]

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ohali: Trivialisation Of An Important Initiative – OpEd

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 01:53 AM PDT

I have been a strong and consistent critic of the manner in which the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has been handling India-Pakistan relations. Nobody has written more strongly on his agreement with then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at Havana in September 2006 for a joint counter-terrorism machinery than I. Nobody has written more strongly [...]

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Piracy In The South China Sea: Lessons From Gulf Of Aden – Analysis

Posted: 28 Mar 2011 01:50 AM PDT

There has been a marked increase in the total number of piracy incidents against ships in Asia in 2010 compared to previous years. In terms of location, the South China Sea stood out. Can the counter-piracy actions in the Gulf of Aden be applied to the South China Sea? By Joshua Ho THE ANNUAL report [...]

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Reprinted with permission from EURASIA REVIEW