International

President of South Korea from 1998 to 2003, and the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. He has been called the “Nelson Mandela of Asia” for his long-standing opposition to authoritarian rule. When he was President of South Korea, he risked the so called “Sunshine Policy” with North Korea’s Kim Jon-il in 2000, in an attempt to bring peace to the Korean peninsula.

United States citizen, John William Yettaw, was released and deported by the government Sunday and left the country along with Democrat Senator of the United States Jim Webb who concluded his three-day visit to Myanmar. Yettaw´s visit was the excuse for Aung San Suu Kyi 18 month extension house arrest that does not allow Ms Suu Kyi to run for next year’s elections.

The Canadian Punk-Rock group Simple Plan gave a performance at the 1000 Islands Music Fest in Gananoque (Canada) on August 14, 2009.
The group is concerned by teenagers’ problems.
Pressenza met two of their members: Jeff Stinco, guitarist and Chuck Comeau, drummer.
Jeff said he was touched and is inspired by the famous speech of Martin Luther King, “I had a dream”.

The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton brought her African visit to a close in Liberia, a country which achieved independence from the USA, in support of the only African woman President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The trip has placed Africa in the spotlight and served to lend support to the International Court of Justice of The Hague, which the USA has still not recognized.

Right in Nagoya international airport, in line to check in for my flight back to Sao Paulo, I hear a strange noise. Meow, meow.… There was a cat, somewhere close by. I tried to find it but could not. It was coming from a couple who spoke Portuguese. They had lots of luggage. The passengers behind them also had lots of luggage.

The self-appointed Inter Action Council, IAC, chaired by German ex-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt had its 27th Annual Meeting in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia 10-13 May, with 20 other former prime ministers and presidents, many right wing social democrats, attending. They issued a Final Communiqué with a Present State of the World. My comments follow.

Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its foundation with a concert tour of Europe, during which it will visit some of Europe’s leading festivals and concert halls. This orchestra “represents an alternative model, based on the idea of equality, cooperation and justice for all, to the current situation in the Middle East”.

Thirteen years after the opening for signature, the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty has finally come into force with the twenty-eighth ratification by Burundi on 15 July 2009.
This milestone follows efforts by the Institute for Security Studies and the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, with the support of several other organizations.

(IPS) – When U.S. President Obama presides over a meeting of world leaders in the Security Council on Sep. 24, he will provide a high profile political platform for two of the most sensitive
issues at the UN: nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament. Obama is expected to make his maiden appearance at the U.N. when he addresses the global summit on climate change.

After 14 years of political confinement the non-violent activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sentenced to another 18 months for an alleged violation of her house arrest, has chosen the freedom of coherence. She stated that she does not feel deprived of liberty since “in an authoritarian state, only the prisoner of conscience is truly free”.