 RFE/RL Headlines 18.05.2009 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Iran May Prove Divisive Issue As Obama, Netanyahu Meet When Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu meets with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House, there will be public handshakes and smiles. But in private, the two leaders will have to face their differences on how to achieve peace in the Middle East. More  Myanmar's Suu Kyi Goes On Trial The trial of Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has begun in the country's main city, Yangon, amid tight security, on charges that could send her to jail for up to five years. More Belarusian Communist Party To Change Name The Communist Party of Belarus says it will change its name. More  Armenian Opposition Leader Attacks Government Opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian stepped up his criticism of Armenian attempts of rapprochement with Turkey at a rally on May 15. More  Crimean Tatars Mark Deportation Anniversary At least 15,000 Crimean Tatars gathered in central Simferopol to mark the 65th anniversary of their deportation and to demand linguistic and political rights. More  Four Rebels Reported Killed In Ingushetia Ingushetia's police and federal troops say they killed four rebels during a special operation that began on May 17. More  Russian Opposition Leader Faces Smuggling Charges The leader of the United Civic Front's branch in St. Petersburg has been officially charged with smuggling. More  Brother Of Alleged Georgian Mutiny Mastermind Beaten In Detention Georgia's human rights ombudsman, Sozar Subari, told journalists in Tbilisi on May 13 that five men detained in connection with the insurrection, including Nugzar Otanadze, have been beaten or tortured while in detention. More Russia's Theatrical Threat To Cut Europe's Gas This Russian theater troupe is quite happy to cut off the gas, if "Europe" misbehaves. More  Eurovision's Nationalism Eurovision has never been a friendly competition; it's always been beset by rivalries and petty nationalism (arguably, this is about the only thing that actually makes the competition interesting.) More Inspired by The Atlantic's mock "World Leaders" Facebook group, RFE/RL presents a Facebook-style summary of last week's events. More  No More 'Mr. Nice Guy' Since his appointment as Chechen Republic head two years ago, Ramzan Kadyrov has employed a combination of blandishments and threats in an attempt to stem the steady outflow of young people to join the ranks of the armed Islamic resistance. But in recent days Kadyrov has toughened his position, warning that for those who "head for the forest, there is no way back." More  Georgian Opposition Skeptical About Amending Constitution Following the inconclusive May 11 talks between Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and four prominent opposition leaders, the opposition has modified its tactics, lifting its blockade of traffic in front of the office of the Georgian Public Broadcaster on a major Tbilisi thoroughfare. At the same time, it holds fast to its previous demands that Saakashvili should resign. More Businessman and former parliament deputy Beslan Butba, who is reputed to be one of Abkhazia's wealthiest men, has said he may run as a candidate in the presidential election due this fall. More  Congress Win Likely To Boost Regional Stability India is looking forward to the prospect of a stable central government after the governing Congress-led bloc scored an impressive victory in national elections that will enable it to return to power with a robust mandate. But as the country celebrates, its new government will face the arduous task of boosting stability in a region engulfed in crisis and conflict. More  Red Lines And Reset Buttons Three former U.S. and EU diplomats recently called on Washington to lead efforts to prevent a "new tragedy" in Georgia. Citing Moscow's military buildup and its resentment over "unfinished business" from August, they argue that the West must step in to prevent a fresh escalation of violence. Co-author Denis Corboy talked with RFE/RL about the warning. More  Pressing Hard "Rhetoric versus reality" is how some diplomats describe the choice facing the EU as it weighs its relationship with Russia. And whether it's a lame-duck EU Presidency or passivity toward Moscow, the Russian side appears intent on exploiting the EU's distress. EU foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels to plan their response. More  Iranian Reformist Paper Shut Down After One Day Six years after it was shut down, Iran’s reformist “Yas No” newspaper reappeared on newsstands. Its writers and editors hoped the opposition publication would give a boost to reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Musavi in the upcoming election. Few expected that it would survive just one day before being banned again. More  Afghan Dentist Tries To Heal National Wounds Anarkali Honaryar once dreamed of flying an airplane, but instead devoted her career to protecting the rights of Afghan women and religious minorities so that they, too, can pursue their dreams. For her contributions to human rights and democracy, the 25-year-old dentist and rights campaigner has been named Person of the Year by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan. More  EU Warns Bosnia Its Accession Chances Are At Stake The European Union's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has told the visiting foreign minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sven Alkalaj, that the divided country must consolidate its central authorities or risk damaging its chances of one day joining the bloc. He also sought to stamp out criticism that its leadership in Bosnia is either weak or lacking altogether. More  Letter From Washington: The Invisible Scars Of War The military establishment in Washington is still trying to come to terms with what happened on May 11 at a U.S. Army base in Iraq called Camp Liberty. That’s where a U.S. Army sergeant walked into a clinic for troops suffering from stress-related disorders and shot five people dead. More  Identifying The Correct Recovery Paradigm The potential swine-flu pandemic has emphasized once again the vulnerability of the global economy to unexpected events, not all of which are as obviously based in past economic policy as the U.S. housing-finance disaster. The government panic and misguided activity of the last six months have, however, made one thing abundantly clear: the world urgently needs a better-designed paradigm for stimulating recovery. More |
