The Impudent Observer - Global Liberal Issues Analyzes issues of liberal concern and gives readers a digest of what is reported in over forty newspapers throughout the world to engage them in critical thinking issues. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 59 8752

Articles from The Impudent Observer - Global Liberal Issues

Iran Demotes Hizbullah Leader In Anger Over War With Israel 2007-12-13 10:27:26 The pan-Arab newspaper, Asharq Alawsa, reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei has personally replaced the leader of Hizbullah from his position of power due to the initiation of the summer war with Israel. Hizbullah leader, Nassan Narallah was demoted and some of his responsibilities will be assumed by his deputy, Sheikh Na’im Kassen because the Iran leader was furious that Nasrallah created a conflict with Israel that led to an invasion and serious fighting. At the same time, Hizbullah issued a strong denial of having anything to do with the assassination of General Francois al-Hajj who was supposed to become head of Lebanon’s armed forces once General Michel Suleman moves on to the position of president of the nation. It is still unclear as to the reasons for Nasrallah’s demotion but apparently his Iranian bosses did not agree with the strategy of confronting Israel and having a war. American war hawks in the Bush administration will now have to com ...

Treaty Of Lisbon-New European Union Agreement 2007-12-13 10:08:29 In an historic setting, members of the European Union signed the Treaty of Lisbon which reform’s the blocs institutions and provides for stronger central leadership. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates told leaders of the EU, “This was the European project that m any generations dreamed of and other before us championed with a vision of the future.” President Sarkozy of France welcomed the treaty as finally allowing the EU move forward after years of controversy and delay. It is a treaty that ensures an enlarged European bloc now exists that stretches from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, from the Atlantic ocean to the Black Sea. The current system of rotating presidents will be replaced in 2009 with a long-term president of the European Council allows for creation of a foreign policy leader. The European Union has been steadily and slowly evolving from a confederation of nations into a possible federal system which would allow for centralized leadership while re ...

Benazir Bhutto Will Contest Election, Despite Possible Rigging 2007-12-13 08:27:37 Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto expects her Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) to pick up additional seats in the January election, but will have to become part of a coalition in order to govern. She said a coalition with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is possible, but she would not form any alliance with clerics or any political group that is affiliated with President Musharraf. “No one will accept a Q victory,” she said, referring to Musharraf’s wing of the Pakistan Muslim League. Bhutto emphasized the president lacks support in the nation and people are forced to attend his rallies. Bhutto believes the only way Musharraf’s party can gain large numbers of seats in parliament is through manipulation of the voting process. She urged the United States to send observers to the election. One of here supporters, Supreme Court Bar Association President Altazaz Ahsan, announced he would not run for a seat in parliament because the entire process has been rigge ...

China Action Plan To Halt Human Trafficking 2007-12-13 08:11:20 Last summer China was rocked by exposure of a massive human trafficking scandal in Shanxi Province where it was discovered that thousands of men, women, children and mentally handicapped people were being forced to work making bricks. Over 1,300 were finally rescued from the brutal conditions under which they worked. The Chinese government announced yesterday a new coordinated effort to halt such conditions from ever occurring again. Over twenty ministries will coordinate their efforts to halt any human trafficking in China. The Chinese government estimates about 2,000-3,000 people are caught up on human trafficking, but the International Labor Organization places the figures as closer to 20,000-30,000 each year. Several hundred women have been found to be sold to brothels in Thailand which is a major center of sexual exploitation. China has a migrant population of over 140,000,000 people which certainly opens the door to human trafficking since many confront extreme conditions of pove ...

Turkish Headscarf Debate Goes On 2007-12-13 01:06:10 The controversy over being allowed to wear a headscarf in college began in the 1960s when Hatice Babacan was expelled from Ankara University because she insisted on wearing the veil. The controversy became mor intense in the 1980s when political Islam began to become more prominent in Turkish political life. Several center-right governments like that of Turgut Ozal, tried to allow legalize wearing of the headscarf in universities only to be over-ruled by the Constitutional Court which regarded itself as a bastion protecting secular rights. To date, the ban on headscarfs in universities is not based on a piece of legislation, but on a Constitutional Court decision. Secularists have made the headscarf an issue that is central to their beliefs that Turkey must remain a secular nation and not allow religious authorities to determine the daily lives of citizens. In 1998, the military drove out Prime Minister Necmeddin Erbakan because of his supposed Islamic views. Since then, the Higher edu ...

Gay Rights Challenged In Chile Education Dispute 2007-12-13 01:03:17 Chile’s Movement for Homosexual Integration and Freedom(MOVILH) criticized their nation’s Ministry of Education’s handling of the case of Sandra Pavez, a lesbian religion teacher who was denied teacher re-certification by the catholic Church. She lost her teaching credential after Church officials learned Pavez was a lesbian even though she had been teaching religion for 21 years at a public elementary school. A 1983 Ministry of Education decree requires all religion teachers to possess an aptitude certificate issued by a religious authority. The San Miguel Appeals Court ruled against Pavez’s claim that the Church’s refusal violated her constitutional rights. At a meeting held between MOVILH and Church authorities, the Minister of Education failed to appear and together with the lackluster support given Pavez by government officials, it is apparent they do with to challenge the Catholic Church on such issues. MOVILH notes that recently the Ministry of Edu ...

Winnie Madikzela Mandela Offers Compromise Solution 2007-12-12 17:04:00 Controversial African National Congress veteran, Winnie Madikizela Mandela suggested a compromise solution to resolve the current impasse between President Mbeki and Deputy President Jacob Zuma who are vying for leadership of the ANC. She decried the extensive name-calling and growing bitterness between the two men which she believed would be destructive of the African National Congress as an institution. Her compromise proposal included: 1. Both men would retain their present positions of leadership of the ANC, 2. Jacob Zuma would receive ANC support in his bid for the presidency of South Africa. 3. “A solution would be found for the legal difficulties that confront the deputy president.” 4. A gender equity solution would be found to ensure equal rights for women in leadership. 5. Leadership of ANC would contain a diversity of viewpoints. Ms. Mandela’s solution has several key points such as seeking equal rights for women, but one can not readily dismiss “ ...

Religious Wars Continue Between Romney And Huckabee 2007-12-12 12:13:26 At as time when war rages in Iraq and Afghanistan, bridges collapse in America, 45 million people lack medical insurance, 74% of students graduate from high school, the main issues of the election according to Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney is the place of Jesus Christ. In an article that will appear this Sunday in The New York Times, Huckabee is reported to ask: “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?” An angry Mitt Romney decried the attack by Huckabee on the Mormon religion and claimed, “I think attacking someone’s religion is really going too far.” Huckabee responded by stating the quote was taken out of context and he really was trying to get Romney to speak honestly about the Mormon religion. There is something very sad about this exchange between two men who believe they are qualified to become the president of the United States. Neither man will confront real issues, neither man will present an informed program on deali ...

Sergeant Accused Of Shooting Wounded Unarmed Insurgent 2007-12-12 11:56:28 An army sergeant kicked and shot an Iraqi insurgent as the man lay bleeding from nearly two dozen gunshot wounds and then told his fellow soldiers to say the man was armed and posed a threat. Sgt. Leonardo Trevino is charged with premeditated murder, attempted murder, and obstruction of justice for the June incident in Muqdadyah, Iraq. Richard Stevens, attorney for Tevino, claims his client is wrongfully accused, He claims Trevino and other soldiers were upset at losing several friends who were among 10 troops killed in roadside bombings and a helicopter crash on Memorial Day. That night in June, Trevino led a squad of men to an area where there were insurgents, they killed one and followed a trail of blood to another who lay unarmed and wounded. Trevino kicked the man in the head and shot him in the abdomen. He then turned to his fellow soldiers and said: “I don’t want this coming back to you guys…The story is, the guy had a pistol. That’s that.” At ...

Mystery Unfolds-Medvedev Asks Putin To Be Prime Minister 2007-12-12 11:37:46 Dimitry Medvedev, who was anointed by President Putin to be his choice as the next president of Russia announced he was asking Vladmir Putin to serve in his cabinet as the prime minister. “I am calling on Putin to agree to become the head of the Russian government after the election of the new president.” Medvedev emphasized that Russia was fast becoming a prosperous nation and the world was giving it new respect due to the leadership of Putin. “We are not being lectured like schoolchildren” anymore. Many western observers believe Medvedev is the best choice in terms of future hope that he can move Russia into a more democratic government stance. He does trace his roots back to St. Petersburg which was the home base of Putin, but Medvedev does not have any connections to the old KGB group that surrounds Putin. Medvedev is not going to immediately transform Russia into a vibrant democracy, but he at least offers hope the Russian government will be more receptive ...

Gordon Brown–Talk With Taliban! 2007-12-12 09:13:17 As the bloodiest year in Afghanistan comes to a close since the US led invasion of 2001, the British government is preparing new approaches to dealing with the situation confronting its forces. Since the beginning of the year over 6,000 people have been killed including 40 British soldiers. Th Cabinet approved a three prong approach to Afghanistan based on improving security, economic development and engaging in discussions with Taliban leaders. A high level source in the British government who accompanied Brown on his recent trip to Afghanistan, reported the prime minister said, “We need to ask who are we fighting? Do we need to fight them? Can we be talking to them?” Several key British officials believe it is a mistake to regard the Taliban as a unified body. The “Taliban” is in reality a conglomeration of religious leaders, tribal chieftains, disgruntled farmers and some foreign fighters. Gordon Brown is proposing a more complex and sophisticated approach t ...

President Sarkozy Worried About Israel-Iran Tensions 2007-12-12 08:40:49 President Sarkozy of France in an article published today in Le Nouvel Observateur, expressed his concerns over the tension between Iran and Israel which might eventually lead to war. He regards the conflict between Israel and Iran as more dangerous than the possibility of an American air strike on Iran. “The problem for us is,” he said, “not so much the risk that the Americans could launch a military intervention, but that the Israelis consider their security is truly threatened.” Despite the recent US intelligence report which concluded that Iran is not engaged in trying to develop nuclear weapons, many Israeli government leaders and members of the military do not believe those conclusions and are convinced that Iran is pursuing a policy of making nuclear weapons. In his interview, Sarkozy emphasized, “everyone agrees that what the Iranians are doing has no civilian explanation. The only debate is whether they will have military capability in one year ... President

China Expects Baby Boom This Decade 2007-12-12 08:20:55 Chinese officials expect their nation is on the brink of a significant baby boom in the coming decade. In 1973, the Chinese government introduced family planning laws which restricted families from having more than one child. However, in 1984, the law was changed to allow rural people whose first child was a girl to have another child. The population is currently 1.3 billion and without family planning restrictions might well now have become 1.7 billion. The children of the 1980s are now getting ready to have their own families and all indications are that many urban families want a second child if the first is female. The importance of having a male child is deeply rooted within Chinese civilization. Those studying demography in China are also aware there currently is a migrant population wandering around China which constitutes about 140 million people, and it is difficult making this group be subject to government controls over how many children are born. A population explosion in ...

“I Am Not A Trouble Creator” Says Musharraf 2007-12-12 01:21:00 President Musharraf made clear his determination to cooperate with any political party that gains victory in January elections for a new parliament. “I will try to work with anyone who comes to power after the elections,” he told his nation. The two main opponents of Musharraf, Awaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto have called off their planned boycott of the elections and will campaign vigorously in order to ensure that Musharrf does not gain control over the legislature. They feared a boycott would automatically ensure Musharraf’s political allies would completely control the government. In a surprising note, a poll by the International Public Opinion poll revealed that President Musharraf had made a dramatic rise in his popularity over the past month. Unfortunately, for President Musharraf, it turns out there is no such organization as the International Public Opinion poll, it was a fraud and was quickly discovered. His ratings most probably remain very low in the estimat ...

British Forces Turn Over Basra Control To Iraq Government 2007-12-12 01:09:58 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a trip to Basra in Iraq to formalize handing over control of the city and area to Iraqi forces. He commented, “not that violence has ended, but we are able to move to provincial Iraqi control.” Brown contacted Prime Minister Maliki who was pleased that within two weeks, Iraqi forces would be in control of the area. However, Basra’s chief of police, Jalil Khalaf, was still uncertain if his forces could manage ensuring security for the area. British troops are in the process of completely evacuating the area and allowing Iraq police and soldiers to handle security. In a sense, it is good news that Iraq feels confident it can handle security issues, but, the bad news is what happens when British troops are complete withdrawn? Will there be new outbreaks of violence? Have Sunni and Shiites been able to agree on issues in order to ensure that both groups feel comfortable with the Shiite government in control? There are as many ques ...