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

Indonesia Violates Human Rights In Papua Areas 2008-02-02 01:03:18 The Human Rights Watch blasted Indonesia for threats and intimidation against human rights defenders inPapua and West Papua provinces. It did praise the revocation of laws which made it a crime to express hatred toward the government and also agreed ending the Truth and Reconciliation Commission opened the door for prosecution of those responsible for crimes against the people of Papua. HRW admitted, “some progress was made in addrressing the human rights crimes of the Soeharto era.” Indonesia’s chairman of the National Human Rights Commission(Komnas HAM), Ifdhai Kasim, said the report underlined Jakata’s half-hearted human rights protection. “The fact we still talk about…the military operations in Papua and Aceh or the 1965 coup shows we have been running to a standstill.” Human Rights Watch notes many political activists in Papua and West Papua are still classified as separatists andf face arrest or criminal prosecution for opposing gover ...

President Karzai Steps Into Journalist Case 2008-02-01 17:24:04 The case of Parwiz Kambakhsh continues to create turmoil both in Afghanistan and outraged world opinion. A Balkh Province Court in a closed session had found the 23 year-old reporter guilty “for insulting Islam and misinterpretation of (the)Holy Koran” because he download an article which questioned why if Muslim males could have multiple wives why couldn’t Muslim females have multiple husbands. The provincial court decision was upheld by the Meshranu Jirga which also blasted “domestic and international organizations which are pressuring Afghanistan’s government” to void the decision. After intervention by President Karzai, Parliament’s Upper House rejected this statement and now says the case should be handled by the Supreme Court and that Kambakhsh has a right for representation by an attorney. A demonstration in Kabul organized by the Hambastegi party witnessed hundreds of young men and women who insisted the reporter be freed and urged resp ... President

Democrats Abroad Hold First World Primary 2008-02-01 15:05:48 Democrats Abroad will have the first global primary for Americans in history. Us citizens who are living in various countries around the world will have an opportunity to cast their ballot in a world-wide Democratic primary. Yvette Jarvis of Democrat Abroad Greece says there is unusual interest in the 2008 elections and she has picked up strong sentiment for Barack Obama in Greece. Individuals can vote in person or online and those coming from states which require a personal presence can still go ahead and cast their ballot in this first even global primary election. We are witnessing a new global awareness in which individuals leave a country to work and live elsewhere on the planet, but still maintain feelings about their homeland. In a sense, this is creating a new concept of a world citizen who is involved regardless of where they are physically located. ...

Europe In Or Canada Out Of Afghanistan 2008-02-01 09:04:51 Prime Minister Sephen Harper told President Bush his natin will end its militay mission in Afghanistan unless another NATO country agrees to dispatch more troops to assist in the fighting. Harper’s Conservative govewrnment is under pressure to withdraw Canada’s 2,500 man contingent from Kandahar province after the deaths of 78 of its soldiers. The mssion is set to expire by 2009 without an extension granted by the Canadian Parliament. The refusal of European nations to send more troops to the southern front lines has created a rift within NATO. Troops from Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and the U.S. have borne the brunt of action with some assistance from Denmark, Romania, estonian and the non-NATO Australia. Harper spokesperson, Sandra Buckler said: “He underscored that, unless Canada was able to meet the conditions specificed by the panel of additional combat troops and equipment from NATO allies, Canada’s mission in Afghanistan will not be extended.&rdqu ...

Egypt Seeks Quiet Gaza Border 2008-02-01 08:49:00 Egyptian authorities captured 12 armed Palestinians in the Sinai who were heading for resort areas on the coast in order to kill Israel tourists. The men entered Egypt after fences were blown up at the Ratah crossing where there are now 25,000 Egyptian troops massed to force all Palestinians still remaining on their territory to get back inside Gaza. The Egyptians do not want to militants running around their country disturbing its huge tourist trade by killing people. There was a meeting in Cairo in which Hamas representatives insisted they wanted sole control over border crossings and rejected any recommendation for outside obsevers. However, after they left, senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zaher, told the Egyptians his group was prepared to allow the Palestinian Authority to control border crossings provided Israel had no say in the matter and was even willing to accept EU observers. The Egyptians urged Hamas to negotiate with Israel and promise to end rocket attacks. Hamas is now wi ...

Japanese Women Key To Demographic Crunch 2008-02-01 08:29:58 During a EU-Japan journalist conference held in Kyoto by the Delegation of European Commission to Japan, dozens of journalists explored ways to dealing with Japan’s demographic issues which are leading the nation towards a future in which by 2050 there will only be 50 million people in the nation instead of its current 127 million. European speakers noted the EU has been much more successful in utilizing women than Japan. Its employment rate goals for women is that at least 70% should be in the workforce by 2010 and that Finland, Denmark and France which have higher birth rates than other EU nations have achieved a “work-life balance” by increasing flelxibility in the way workers take time off and by improving child-care services. Despite the presence of highly educated women in Japan they continual encountering work prejudice and their advancement is blocked by male prejudice. Another factor is refusal on the part of Japanese men to assist in child rearing or house ...

Iraqi Women Social Time Bomb! 2008-02-01 08:12:19 Violelnce in iraq is leaving in its wake a new social issue– the increasing number of Iraq women who have become widows in a nation torn apart by death and destruction. Samir al-Moussawi, an Iraqi female member of Parliament, is continually receiving letters from women who plead for assistance in a world that has abandoned them. The number of women left without breadwinners is mounting, and only a fraction of them receive any financial support from the government. According to Moussawi, the letters ask, “what shall the widow do, what is right?” She fears militants exploit these vulnerable women just as yesterday when two females blew themselves up and killed a 100 people. No one has an exact figure as to the number of women who are widows after the 1980-1988 war with Iran, the Gulf War and the present conflict but Moussawi estimates the number of widows and divorced women is close to one million out of total of 8.5 women aged between 15 to 30. Narmeen Othman, Iraq&rs ...

Pervez Kambaksh Death Sentence Approved 2008-02-01 07:54:23 Last week, we reported the incredible story of Pervez Kambaksh, a 23 year-old journalist, who was condemned to death by an Afghan court for downloading a story dealing with women rights. The story has been picked up by newspapers throughout the world which are fighting to save his life. Yesterday, Afghan’s Senate passed a resolution approving the death sentence. Thousands of people have sent pleas to President Karzai urging, not only that he deny the sentence, but that he release the young man. Great Britain’s The Independent has already obtained 13,000 signatures on a petition in support of the Afghan journalist. In Kabul, hundreds of people marched through the streets in defense of freedom of speech, but, the Afghan Senate apparently believes the fight for freedom entails suppressing stories one does not like. Mr. Kambaksh was tried and convicted by a religious court in a secret session. Early reports suggested Mr. Kambaksh and his brother had upset local warlords due to ...

Number Of Suicides Continues Rise In The Army 2008-02-01 01:17:46 The United States Army has been attempting over the past few years to address issues that lead members of the military to kill themselves, but the latest figures indicate success is far from an accomplished goal. As many as 121 soldiers commtted suicide in 2007 wich is an increase of 20% over the figures for 2006. The number who have tried to commit sicide or injured themselves for some other reason jumped six-fold in the last several years– from 350 in 2002 to about 2,100 incidents last year. These incidents come despite a host of efforts to improvemental health care that arises from being deployed and redeployed over an extended period of time. According to Col. Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general, “We have been perturbed by the rise despite all of our efforts.” Statistically, the rate of suicide per 100,000 men has risen from a low of 9.1% in 2001 to a high of 17.5% in 2006. Most probably long extended separation from spouse, childre ...

Refugees Assaulted in South Africa 2008-02-01 01:09:50 The South African government has stood on the sidelines and calmly observed the brutalization of thousands of people in Zimbabwe by the cruel dictatorial rule of President Mugabe. Hundreds of thousands have fled a nation in which inflation has hit 2,500% and still is rising while over half the population lacks jobs or food. Thousands have come to South Africa as a refuge from the horror of Zimbabwe, but the South African government has not been that receptive to their presence. A police raid in Johannesburg led to the arrest of 1,500 Zimbabwean refugees. Bishop Paul Verryn condemned the raid and the insensitive behavior of police who battered down doors and caused extensive damage to church facilities. Verryn noted: “I saw them assault people as they ook them away in vans…One of them(police and emigration officials) “said I am a disgrce to the church for allowing these people to come in.” Reporters for the Mail & Guardian encountered some refugees who suf ...

US Foces Depart From Iraq Town-AlQaeda Enters 2008-02-01 01:09:05 General Petraeus has boasted of reduction in deaths of American soldiers as a result of the surge. There is even some speculation this success might result in withdrawal of some American forces from Iraq. But, according to the Iraq newspaper, Azzaman, the departure of US troops from the strategic town of Tuz Khormato led to the immediate entrry of al-Qaeda units which stepped into the vacuum created by not having Americans to fight. Iraq members of parliament are concerned that as US troops leave it may simply be too great an attraction to militants who would step in to run towns that had been cleared of their presence. One parliamentary group issued a statement about their concerns: “The tragic and horrific events in Tuz Khormato only a few days following the withdrawal of the multi-national forces(US military) is a clear indicator of how ill prepared and weak the army and security forces are.” President Bush is attempting to claim credit for success in Iraq due to reducti ...

CIA Lied To Danish Government About Rendition Flights 2008-02-01 01:03:00 A Danish TV documentary aired on Wednesday night has created a storm of protest from Danish government officials and the general public. “The CIA’s Danish Connection” alleges flights operated by the American Central Intelligence Agency used Greenland airports as key refueling points when transporting terrorism suspects without seeking permission from the Danish government. According to the program, at least one of the flights was piloted by an individual who was connected to the kidnappig of a German citizen. The German, Khaled al-Masri, has charged he was kidnapped in 2004 by CIA agents and held for five months in a US operated prison in Afghanistan. The CIA has left the Danish government holding the proverbial bag. Danish officials have repeatedly told members of parliament that no American flights involved in the rendition of alleged terrorists ever passed through Danish territory. After viewing the documentary, Foreign Minister Per Stig Mailer commented: “T ...

Muslim Women In Algeria Gain Power 2008-02-01 01:02:18 Algeria is a Muslim nation, but its policies toward the rights of women differs sharply from that of other nations in the Arab world. In Algeria, women drive trains, hold positions as judges and make up a majority of students in college. Since the end of the deadly civil war beween radical Islamists and he government, Algeria has been in a state of flux. There are more girls enrolled in high school than boys, and almsot 61% of university graduates are women. Journalist Zeinab Ben Zita, noted, “education is many women’s only window on the outside world.” Algeria is a fairly young nation and its couontry is also young with half the population under the age of 25. There is extensive unemployment among young men. But, women appear to be more eager to learn,more flexible and make better use of opportunities. Women now constitute about one-third of the work force. Over half of univeristy staff, 60% of hospital employees, 30% of judges and over 55% of journalists are women. ...

Norwegian Prof-Bush Worst US President! 2008-01-31 17:00:03 Professor Ole O Moen, a Norwegian expert on US politics, ranked George Bush as the second worst American president. “His adminsitration stands for adangerous blend of arrogance and ignorance.” He argues Bush lacks the ability to listen to, let alone work, with other world leaders. Moen listed a litany of what he considered to be Bush errors going from Iraq to Kyoto to fiscal mismanagement of the budget, and tax policies which widen the gap between rich and poor. Professor Moen ranked Democrat James Buchanan as the next worst president given his role in helping cause the Civil War. He considers Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt as the two most outstanding presidents. Professor Moen is probably one of those “foreign intellectuals” who think they know more than the combined brilliance of Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Rove. OK, so George Bush made a minor mistake about some WMD, but why do these foreign critics continue blaming the poor man for thinking something was t ... President

American Piano In World’s Orchestra? 2008-01-31 12:46:49 Trudy Rubin, writing in the Philadephia Inquirer, described changes at the Davos World Economic Forum that suggest America’s economic dominance has come to an abrupt conclusion. Its high-tech bubble has burst, deficits are common, the housing market has collapsed and US banks continually need injections of money from all parts of the world. Bush militlary policies have absorbed trillions of dollars away from productive use in the nation and squandered the money by having resources expended– and wasted– in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The unipolar American moment is deemed over,” says Rubin, “in part a casualty of the Bush administration’s political and economic policies, in large part the result of global economic changes that are shifting wealth eslewhere.” At the meeting, Klaus Schwab suggested onstage to Condoleezza Rice, that America was a piano and the world the orchestra. Schwab asked if the piano and the orchestra could play together in ...