Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Eurasia Review: News & Analysis

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• Nepal Maoists Removed From US Terror List
• Syria: The Formation Of Alawite Militias In Kassab Region
• China Strives To Maintain Military Tie With Burma – OpEd
• Dumb And Dumber: Obama’s “Smart Power” Foreign Policy – OpEd
• Chile: Thermoelectric Project Canceled
• Environmentalists And Indigenous People Against Carbon Offset Trading
• Freeing The Doctor – OpEd
• Parliament Proposes Statue To Tony Blair: A Suggestion – OpEd
• NAM: Iran’s Strategic Diplomatic Victory – Analysis
• Who Is Chopping Down Russia’s Crosses?
• Breaking Kosovo’s Northern Deadlock – Analysis
• German Public Figures Call For Church Unity
• The Real Importance Of Bill Clinton’s Wonderfully Long Speech – OpEd
• Politics Of Drone Attacks – OpEd
• Repsol Makes Significant Gas Find In Peru
• Ultras And Egyptian Security Forces Gear Up For Renewed Confrontation – Analysis
• Kalam Confident About India’s Growth
• European Central Bank To Buy Troubled Governments’ Bonds
• Patrick Buchanan: A Godless Party Expels The Creator – OpEd
• Inside The CIA Dossier On Iraq – OpEd
• Egypt: Details On First Draft Of New Constitution Emerge – Analysis
• NATO Ready To Take “All Necessary Steps” To Protect Turkey
• Turkey – Iran: From Constructive Competition To Spy Wars – OpEd
• Turkey: Boat Tragedy Off Coast Leaves 61 Refugees Dead
• Colombia: Magistrate’s Resignation Loss For Justice
• Lufthansa Cancels 1,200 Flights Ahead Of Nationwide Strike
• Democrat’s Shameful “Cave” On Jerusalem – OpEd
• PA PM Fayyad ‘Ready To Resign’
• Dutch PM: Greece Should Not Get More Financial Help
• Island Hopping – Analysis

Nepal Maoists Removed From US Terror List Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:56 PM PDT The United States has removed the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) from its list of terrorist organizations, the State Department said on its website on Thursday. “The Department has determined that the CPN(M) is no longer engaged in terrorist activity that threatens the security of U.S. nationals or U.S. foreign policy,” the press release says. [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Syria: The Formation Of Alawite Militias In Kassab Region Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:53 PM PDT By Mohammad D. There are important new developments in Lattakia and its surrounding recently.  The violence that started a few months back in the East and North of the city itself has not subsided.  Yesterday a rumor spread that the FSA had shelled al-Qurdaha, something its leaders have been wishing to do from day one.  [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

China Strives To Maintain Military Tie With Burma – OpEd Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:51 PM PDT By Zin Linn Vice-Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services) received Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Ma Xiaotian at Zeyathiri Beikman in Nay-Pyi-Taw on 5 September 2012, The New Light of Myanmar said. Present on the occasion accompanied by Vice-Senior General Min Aung Hlaing were Deputy [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Dumb And Dumber: Obama’s “Smart Power” Foreign Policy – OpEd Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:47 PM PDT By John Feffer Barack Obama is a smart guy. So why has he spent the last four years executing such a dumb foreign policy? True, his reliance on “smart power” — a euphemism for giving the Pentagon a stake in all things global — has been a smart move politically at home. It has largely [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Chile: Thermoelectric Project Canceled Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:42 PM PDT Chile’s Supreme Court ordered a halt to the project for the thermoelectric Castilla power plant in the country’s northern Atacama region, rejecting the environmental impact studies separately approved for the plant and a port connected to the project. The ruling, made public Aug. 28, is not appealable. It stated that “if the projects for the [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Environmentalists And Indigenous People Against Carbon Offset Trading Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:40 PM PDT By Edgardo Ayala Central American environmentalists and indigenous people are intensifying efforts to prevent governments in the region from participating in a program promoted by the World Bank that seeks to include these countries in the carbon credits market, claiming it will have deleterious effects on the environment and the people. Social organizations have sent [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Freeing The Doctor – OpEd Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:36 PM PDT The case for liberating physicians from the dictates of third-party payers Of all the people in the healthcare system, none is more central than the physician. As I explain in my book Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, fundamental reform that lowers costs, raises quality, and improves access to care is almost inconceivable without physicians leading [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Parliament Proposes Statue To Tony Blair: A Suggestion – OpEd Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:33 PM PDT By Felicity Arbuthnot ‘At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.’  — Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895. In the week when Archbishop Desmond Tutu has [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

NAM: Iran’s Strategic Diplomatic Victory – Analysis Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:28 PM PDT Iran chaired, hosted and led the recently rejuvenated Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting in Teheran, attended by delegates from 120 countries, including 31 heads of state and 29 foreign secretaries of state. Even the United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, notorious mouthpiece of Washington, felt obligated to address, a forum attended by two-thirds of the member [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Who Is Chopping Down Russia’s Crosses? Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:24 PM PDT By Claire Bigg for RFE/RL Topuchaya’s 220 inhabitants never thought their tiny Siberian village would one day make headlines. Yet this week, news that a Russian Orthodox cross had been vandalized in this far-flung village in the mountainous Altai region spread through Russian media like wildfire. The incident, in which the free-standing wooden cross was [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Breaking Kosovo’s Northern Deadlock – Analysis Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:21 PM PDT A temporary and dynamic model that keeps the north within Kosovo whilst providing northern Serbs a solid degree of self-governance is what both Belgrade and Pristina should strive for, with the international community being prepared to lead a process of drafting and imposing such an agreement. By Shpetim Gashi The century-old conflict between Serbs and [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

German Public Figures Call For Church Unity Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:19 PM PDT By Ruby Russell Public figures from the fields of politics, sport, culture and entertainment in Germany presented a statement in Berlin on 5 September making an urgent call for unity between the Catholic and Protestant churches. “Today, the church schism is neither wanted nor justified politically,” the statement entitled “Ecumenism Now — one God, one [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

The Real Importance Of Bill Clinton’s Wonderfully Long Speech – OpEd Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:17 PM PDT Bill Clinton’s speech last night at the Democratic National Convention was very long but it was masterful — not only in laying out the case for Barack Obama and against Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, but in giving the American public what they most want and need in this election season: details, facts, and logic. [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Politics Of Drone Attacks – OpEd Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:12 PM PDT By Nasir Naveed An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. Its flight is either controlled autonomously by computers in the vehicle, or under the remote control of a navigator, or pilot on the ground or in another vehicle. The United States government has [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Repsol Makes Significant Gas Find In Peru Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:08 PM PDT Repsol has made a new gas discovery in block 57 in Peru. The well, known as Sagari, was successful in two different formations, known as Nia Superior and Nia Inferior. Preliminary estimations indicate the field may hold between 1 and 2 trillion cubic feet of gas resources. Repsol is the operator of the block with [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Ultras And Egyptian Security Forces Gear Up For Renewed Confrontation – Analysis Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:01 PM PDT With the lifting of a seven-month ban on professional soccer, militant Egyptian fans and security forces are gearing up for a new round of street battles during the country’s Super Cup final on Sunday, the first domestic match since February. At stake in the escalating conflict are core issues that prompted the militants or ultras [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Kalam Confident About India’s Growth Posted: 06 Sep 2012 10:59 PM PDT Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has said that India’s youth are the biggest resource of the country who could propel growth. He was speaking after receiving the Chavara Samskruthi Puraskar 2012 in Kochi from Cardinal George Alencherry at the Sacred Heart College. Kalam said that the economic slowdown in the West will not impede India [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

European Central Bank To Buy Troubled Governments’ Bonds Posted: 06 Sep 2012 10:57 PM PDT By Caroline Arbour The European Central Bank has agreed to buy government bonds from debt-ridden Eurozone countries that request help, as part of an effort to relieve pressure from soaring borrowing costs. The much-awaited announcement in Frankfurt Thursday may benefit cash-strapped Italy and Spain, if they agree to the conditions. European Central Bank President Mario [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Patrick Buchanan: A Godless Party Expels The Creator – OpEd Posted: 06 Sep 2012 10:55 PM PDT The authors of the Democratic platform have inadvertently revealed to the world the sea change that has taken place in that party we once knew. For the first time — and in the longest Democratic platform in history, 26,000 words — there was not a single mention of God, the Creator, whom Thomas Jefferson himself, [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Inside The CIA Dossier On Iraq – OpEd Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:54 PM PDT Last week, Bishop Desmond Tutu was to sit beside former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair at the cringingly named Discovery Invest Leadership Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. Tutu, one of the main moral voices in the anti-Apartheid struggle, decided to withdraw. He could not stand to sit next to Blair, or to Tony’s mate, George [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Egypt: Details On First Draft Of New Constitution Emerge – Analysis Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:51 PM PDT By Burc Kostem According to Egyptian sources, details of the draft Egypt Constitution are slowly emerging with some controversial articles on the agenda. After a long debate over the nature of its political make up, the Constituent Assembly tasked with writing Egypt’s new constitution is near to finishing a first draft. Commentators expect this first [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

NATO Ready To Take “All Necessary Steps” To Protect Turkey Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:49 PM PDT By Pelin Yavuz NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was interviewed regarding the NATO mission in Afghanistan at the beginning of this week. In his speech, he stated that NATO forces will not withdraw before 2014 and NATO will not forgo its strategy in the region despite casualties. The Secretary General also touched upon the [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Turkey – Iran: From Constructive Competition To Spy Wars – OpEd Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:44 PM PDT By Prof. Ihsan Bal Historical literature is rich with accounts of rivalry between Turkey and Iran. According to some specialist historians, this rivalry has seldom led to bloodstained battles; some even argue that there have been no battles at all between the two sides for the last four centuries. It may seem unnecessary to worry [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Turkey: Boat Tragedy Off Coast Leaves 61 Refugees Dead Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:42 PM PDT At least 61 people, including women and children, are reported to have drowned when a fishing boat carrying up to a hundred illegal migrants sank off the coast of western Turkey. So far 46 people have been rescued, local media reports. “The total death toll is 61, including 12 men, 18 women, 28 children and [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Colombia: Magistrate’s Resignation Loss For Justice Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:40 PM PDT The announced resignation of the auxiliary Supreme Court magistrate Iván Velásquez represents a major loss for Colombia’s justice system, Human Rights Watch said today. Velásquez’s resignation, effective September 30, 2012, followed the sudden decision by the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court to remove him as coordinator of investigations into ties between right-wing paramilitary groups [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Lufthansa Cancels 1,200 Flights Ahead Of Nationwide Strike Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:38 PM PDT A planned nationwide strike by the union representing most of Lufthansa’s flight attendants has forced the airline to cancel some 1,200 flights going into the weekend. Trans-Atlantic flights have likewise been affected. Chances that a last-minute compromise will avert the strike are considered slim, Spiegel said. Most passengers traveling Friday, September 7 on the German [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Democrat’s Shameful “Cave” On Jerusalem – OpEd Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:36 PM PDT In 2008, when Barack Obama was running for president, the Democratic Party thought it prudent to match the Republican Party’s pandering to pro-Israelism by announcing that Jerusalem was, is and would be the eternal and undivided capital of Israel.  It didn’t seem to matter then that U.S. policy for decades has not recognized that city [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

PA PM Fayyad ‘Ready To Resign’ Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:33 PM PDT Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Thursday announced he would resign if that was the will of the people, amid growing protests across the West Bank over the rising cost of living. Palestinians have taken to the streets for three days in mass demonstrations against price rises and unemployment, and protesters in cities across [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Dutch PM: Greece Should Not Get More Financial Help Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:31 PM PDT (EurActiv) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the liberal party leader who is battling for re-election next week, says Greece should not get more financial aid from Europe. During a televised election debate on 4 September, the leader of the VVD stressed that Greece had already been given support twice and received loans of €240 [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.

Island Hopping – Analysis Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:28 PM PDT By C. Raja Mohan Even before General Liang Guanglie completed the first ever visit by a Chinese defence minister to Sri Lanka last week, the President of Maldives, Mohamed Waheed, was catching a flight to China. Together, these two events help underline the current intensive Chinese engagement with Sri Lanka and Maldives and the extraordinary [...] To continue reading this article, click on the headline.