 RFE/RL Headlines 14.07.2009 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Obama Calls For Facts On Mass Killing Of Taliban U.S. President Barack Obama says he is collecting facts about the killing of up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners in late 2001 by fighters of a U.S.-backed warlord in northern Afghanistan -- General Abdul Rashid Dostum. More  British Government On Defensive Over War Effort As British casualties in the Afghan conflict rise steeply, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government is being subjected to scathing criticism from the opposition for its alleged lack of strategy and its failure to properly equip the British troops. It's not clear whether British public opinion will sustain these casualty levels for long. More Six Suspected Of Planning Bombings Arrested In Kabul Afghan security officials have arrested six people in Kabul who they say were planning to launch terrorist attacks in key regions of the capital, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reports. More  'Our Sohrab Is Not Dead, Velayat Is Dead' Reports from Tehran say that last night in the Abadana neighborhood where 19-year-old Sohrab Arabi (who was shot dead in the postelection unrest) lived, people lit candles in front of his house and chanted "Allah Akbar" in his honor. Many were chanting "Our Sohrab is not dead, Velayat [the rule of the supreme leader] is dead." More  Montazeri Casts Doubt On 'Repressive' Leader Iranian philosopher, cleric, and activist Mohsen Kadivar has blogged the responses to what he describes as five "fundamental questions" about the legitimacy of Iran's current government. He posed those questions in the form of a dialogue with his former teacher, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a long-time thorn in the side of the Iranian authorities and a symbol for many of internal opposition to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. More In this clip posted to youtube on the one-month anniversary of the disputed election, some of those Iranians chanting "God is great!" from their rooftops and windows in Tehran are using loudspeakers or megaphones. More A fake Iran banknote with a portrait of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old music student who was gunned down during opposition protests in Tehran on June 20 and has become an iconic image of Iran's postelection violence. More Here's One Way To Clear A Sidewalk Imagine you're a police chief in the Azerbaijani capital and you're holding a pair of activist bloggers on pretty dubious charges of hooliganism. Further imagine that supporters of the detainees are gathered outside your police station for word of what awaits the two, potentially drawing attention to the case. What to do? More  Raining On Nabucco's Parade Turkey and four EU member states signed a deal on Nabucco today. But, writing last week, Steve LeVine is not exactly optimistic: More  Will Moscow Throw Away A Unique Opportunity In Daghestan? For years, political observers and NGOs both in Russia and abroad have argued that the indiscriminate violence with which Daghestan's18,000-strong police force targets suspected Islamic militants has only served to drive increasing numbers of young men to join the resistance ranks. More  Cossacks Seek To Take Over Most Of North Caucasus The leaders of the Terek Cossacks recently reached agreement on drafting a formal request to the Russian State Duma to revive the 19th-century Terek Oblast. Doing so would require amending the current territorial-administrative structure of the Russian Federation to abolish five existing national republics: Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Daghestan, and part of Stavropol Krai. More The Armenian National Congress (HAK) headed by former President Levon Ter-Petrossian issued a statement on July 13 registering concern that the revised Madrid Principles that form the basis for continuing talks on resolving the Karabakh conflict entail concessions on the part of Armenia of a magnitude that is tantamount to "treason." More  Georgian Opposition Marks Time, Waits For Biden Visit The opposition had hoped 10,000 people would turn out on July 9 to demonstrate their continued commitment to bringing about regime change. But in recent weeks the opposition has suffered a series of setbacks that have compromised individual leaders, perhaps irrevocably. More  'Everything Depends On Us Now' Blogger Arash57 says that Iran's reformists must show that they are finished accepting the government's abuse. More  Friday Prayers As A 'No' To Khamenei "I'm Happy" blogger Shangoolam thinks critics of the current establishment should turn out in high numbers for this week's Friday Prayers. More  'Each Of Us Can Make A Difference' Economistbalatarin insists that each and every person can make a difference. More  A Kyrgyz Circus Troupe's Life On The Road Life on the road isn't easy for the Eshimbekovs, a family of Kyrgyz circus performers. Work is scarce, their performances are physically demanding, and traveling means being apart from loved ones back home. But they take great pride in their craft, and in being part of the long tradition of Kyrgyz horsemanship. More  No Worries In Georgia? Mikheil Saakashvili has often raised the specter of a second Russian invasion. But in a sudden about-face, the Georgian leader now says he has no worries about a new war. The change of tone comes just a week after U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to Moscow. Did the U.S. offer Georgia a guarantee of support in case of a fresh invasion? More  U.S. Begins To Empty Detention Centers All Iraqis in U.S. custody are slated for release or transfer to Iraqi custody before U.S. forces withdraw from the country by the end of 2011. This year's target was originally 1,500 releases a month, but it's not being met. More  Death Of Prominent Tajik Highlights Regional Instability The mysterious death of one of Tajikistan's best-known public figures is focusing attention on what many consider to be the deteriorating security situation in southeastern Central Asia. More  Teen Victim Of Unrest Buried In Tehran Official reports say about 20 people have been killed in the unrest that has presented the Iranian political establishment with its biggest crisis in decades. One of them, a 19-year-old who disappeared from alongside his mother nearly a month ago, has now been buried in Tehran. More  Bigger 'G' Grouping Looks Set To Supplant G8 Members of the G8 group of leading industrialized nations have agreed to limit rising world temperatures, and promised $20 billion to help farmers in poor countries. But perhaps the most remarkable thing to emerge from last week's summit in Italy was the signal the group's days might be numbered. More  Searching For A Young Afghan Survivor Nine-year-old Zahra was orphaned when coalition forces bombed her village in a remote area of western Afghanistan last year. After the sound of her voice touched listeners of Radio Free Afghanistan, correspondent Sharafuodin Stanakzai decided to go seek out the young girl once again to learn what had happened to her. More  The West Rediscovers Russian Folk Art Russian folk art has never been much collected in Western Europe. But now, there are signs it is drawing greater interest, including in the Western antique market and the art world, as viewers and buyers are drawn to the craftsmanship of Russian folk art and the mix of eastern and western styles. More  Competing Visions Of The 'Reset Button' It's fair to say most observers of the recent U.S.-Russia summit concluded it was a net positive for both sides. Both countries acknowledged the deterioration in relations over the past few years must be ended and that a new approach needs to be embraced. But this means very different things to Moscow and Washington. More  Nagorno-Karabakh Must Be At Table Nagorno-Karabakh is a separate state with its own democratic traditions, and, in the long run, any serious progress towards resolving the conflict cannot take place unless its representatives return to the negotiating table and agree to share the responsibility for implementing the hoped-for peace agreement, says Robert Avetisyan. More  UN Envoy On Afghanistan's Critical Election It is critical to ensure a level playing field that can provide the basis for a credible and inclusive election process and a result acceptable to the Afghan people. Nobody's interests can be served by an election result that is disputed and harms the legitimacy of a future government. More  Russian Policies Pose Threat To Tatar Language A decade ago, Moscow embarked on a policy of eliminating the cultural identity of non-Russians and abolishing the political rights of the national republics. Soon thereafter, a State Duma deputy predicted that after Moscow declared victory over the Chechens, Tatarstan and the Tatars would be next. More  Mahmud Ahmadinejad Is The Product Of Fraud Even if one accepts that Mahmud Ahmadinejad received 24 million votes and won reelection as Iran's president, Radio Farda's Mohammad Reza Kazemi argues, his statements and policies provide grounds to dismiss his reelection as based on deceit and untruth. 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