The United Nations has once again blocked Taiwan’s quest for membership. A key UN committee rejected a proposal from Taiwan’s allies to put its bid on the agenda of the general assembly, which met in New York in mid-September. This is the 15th consecutive year that Taiwan’s quest for membership of the United Nations has …
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Category:2 Geopolitics
US waking up to the reality of Palestine …?
It is surprising to hear US Secretary of State publicly announcing that Palestine must be recognised if peace talks are to make progress. Surprising partly because it is the same person that provided much of the authority for invading Iraq and partly because it is against the wishes of the Israeli propaganda machine which has …
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Torture isn’t justified
That’s my conclusion after reading an essay on torture by The Economist. The analysis indicates that generally torture is not effective or justified, though the argument that it might save lives is that of the devil’s advocate and does not stand up to ethical scrutiny. Its justification can only ever be self-serving and therefore unbalanced.
US executive tends to secularism
Religion can be a useful guide to morality, but history has shown that it should be separate from politics. This is more so today than ever before because there is such diversity of belief and there is no majority view, even on a nominal basis, let alone a practising one. The current US president has …
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US-Iran tension increasing
Tension over Iran’s nuclear programme is building. While Iran is obviously behaving badly, they have not been given the kind of out required to encourage more conciliatory behaviour. The US continues to pressure a halt to the nuclear programme but has not responded to Iran’s request for an equal policy (which is not actually written …
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Time to compost Belgium …?
Though Brussels is the centre of Europe it seems that Belgium is coming to the realisation that its nationhood is of no use any more because of bickering between Walloon and Flemish politicians. The Economist points out that Belgians themselves are asking whether or not it is better to split the country down the middle …
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Turn Iran from a threat into an opportunity
Jean-Pierre Lehmann eloquently describes the opportunity to include Iran in globalisation which would benefit the world, rather than consuming resources needlessly. The benefits include participation of the nation with the fifth largest oil reserves, access to a great world civilisation and a balance to fundamentalist culture. We support his suggestions following: Stop treating Iran as …
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Self-inflicted terror in America
While we have come around to the notion that peace is an appropriate minimum standard of behaviour for developed countries it has never been an easy argument to make in our world today. The difficulty of fighting minds with armaments George Friedman, eminent strategic analyst, offers a sobering perspective on the fall-out from the American …
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The data on performance in Iraq is not good
As various reports on progress in Iraq are discussed by the US administration The Economist offered a briefing on Strategy in Iraq. You may browse Waiting for the general (and a miracle) America agonises over the pitfalls of staying in Iraq – and of leaving. This table sums up the dire situation, and, yet again, …
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