 RFE/RL Headlines 19.06.2009 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Khamenei Defends Iran Election In his first nationwide address following days of opposition protests, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ruled out any vote-rigging in the country's disputed presidential election. More  EU Summit Largely Keeps Domestic Focus EU leaders focused almost exclusively on domestic challenges during their two-day summit. Opting for continuity in a time of crisis, Jose Manuel Barroso was picked for a second term as president of the European Commission, while Ireland received legal guarantees in the hope it will ratify the EU's constitutional Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum in October. More  Pakistan's New Offensive Could Be Drawn-Out Affair Pakistan has launched what it calls a "decisive offensive" against Baitullah Mehsud, a key Taliban whom authorities blame for much of the country's militant violence. More More Voicemail To Radio Farda Voicemail messages left for Radio Farda on June 19. More  Listeners React To Khamenei's Speech RFE/RL's Radio Farda listeners, most of whom wished to remain anonymous, give their voice-mail reactions to Khamenei's speech today: More  Citizen Reports Of Ballot Box Irregularities Emails to RFE/RL's Radio Farda today: More Iranian Supreme Leader delivered an eagerly awaited address at Friday Prayers at Tehran University on June 19. In it, he signaled a hard line against public protests and strong backing for the country's "legitimate" president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad. RFE/RL senior correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari offers her analysis. More Reports from outside Iran's capital from RFE/RL's Radio Farda. More  Belarus, Turkmen Presidents Discuss Investment Projects Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov held talks in Ashgabat on June 18, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reports. More  Armenian Amnesty Would Not Apply To All Jailed Activists A bill proposed by President Serzh Sarkisian granting amnesty to opposition activists imprisoned after postelection unrest in Yerevan in March 2008 is not applicable to people who have been sentenced to more than three years in prison. More  Georgian Army 'Defector' Shown On Russian TV The interrogation of a Georgian Army officer who reportedly defected to Russia, was shown on Russian television on June 18, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Reward Offered For Ingush Murder Suspects Ingushetian authorities have announced that a 1 million ruble ($32,000) reward is being offered for information that leads to the arrest of the three men suspected in last week's killing of Aza Gazgireyeva, the deputy chairwoman of Ingushetia's Supreme Court, and former Deputy Prime Minister Bashir Aushev, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More The Week In Facebook Inspired by The Atlantic's mock "World Leaders" Facebook group, RFE/RL presents a Facebook-style summary of last week's events. More  Russia's Hyperactive Ideologist Deputy Kremlin Chief of Staff Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin's chief ideologist, says Russia's "sovereign democracy" has matured, is stable, and needs to develop. He also called on United Russia to cooperate with other parties. United Russia, however, says it has other ideas. More  Ingushetia Still Plagued By Violence Five Years Later On the night of June 21, 2004, hundreds of armed Chechen rebels stormed the southern Russian city of Nazran, leaving a trail of destruction and death in their wake. The raid alarmed the Kremlin, which had boasted of bringing stability to the North Caucasus after a decade of war with Chechen separatists. Five years later, Moscow has done little to contain militancy from spreading through the region. More  Basij Fight Against A 'Velvet Revolution' The Iranian supreme leader's order for street protests to stop gives a green light to security forces to quash any further rallies. At the forefront are the armed ideological wings of the Islamic Revolution -- the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia, both of which warned even before the presidential election that they would not tolerate a "Velvet Revolution" in Iran. More  Will Musavi Back Down? Iran's supreme leader appears to have thrown down the gauntlet, calling for an end to mass street demonstrations. All eyes are now on Mir Hossein Musavi and his supporters to see what happens next. More  UN: Don't Forget Refugees Amid Economic Crisis On the eve of World Refugee Day on June 20, the UN's refugee agency is asking for donor countries not to neglect refugees and displaced people because of the difficulties caused by the global economic crisis. More  'What Is A Fundamentalist-Reformer Anyway?' "The fear that all of this will be gone by next week and confusion about the fact that I may lose my job, go to jail, and then get prosecuted while still trying to figure out what is going on sends a shiver down my spine." More  The Perils Of 'Independence' It's not just Georgian rule the Abkhaz have a problem with. It's any outside influence. Nearly a year after Abkhazia used Moscow's backing to declare its independence from Tbilisi, Russian troops, cash, and clout are pouring into the territory -- and many Abkhaz are wondering whether they have simply exchanged one master for another. More  Dilemmas In The Midst Of A 'Coup' In the recent election, former and current IRGC leaders who have benefited enormously during Ahmadinejad's rule, together with the supreme leader, foresaw the possible return of a reformist agenda and undertook brazen measures to "nip it in the bud." More  Five Years Later, Repercussions Still Reverberate The multiple attacks on the Interior Ministry headquarters and other police buildings in Nazran, the capital of Ingushetia, five years ago constituted a significant milestone in the evolution of the Chechen resistance into a pan-Caucasus Islamic movement uniting young Muslims alienated by official corruption and arbitrary police brutality. More  Universal Values Make A Comeback Less than a week after a pro-Kremlin think tank declared that democracy had exhausted itself worldwide, Iranians took to the streets -- in the name of democracy. Why are Russian citizens, unlike Iranians, willing to play by the rules their leaders establish for them? More  In The Balkans, The Headlines Preceded The War The phones were ringing off the hook with angry Croats accusing Sarajevo state television of being "anti-Croatian television." The phones were ringing off the hook with angry Croats accusing Sarajevo state television of being "anti-Croatian television." More |
