International issues

The final pull-out of US troops from Iraq marks the end or perhaps just one stage of the end, of the biggest military disaster since Vietnam. Every US-UK goal behind the invasion has been lost, in some cases humiliatingly.

Nairobi – South Sudan -the world’s newest country– now faces the danger of a wide-spreading “inter-ethnic” war after increasing armed clashes between two major tribes that took around one thousand lives so far.

Rome – Damaged crops combined with conflict and insecurity are threatening to leave some 2.5 million people in South Sudan – the world’s newest country – in critical conditions unless food assistance is provided immediately, the UN warns.

New York – The UN General Assembly approved a budget of $5.15 billion for all its activities, including mostly humanitarian aid and peace missions, over the period of 2012-2013. Meanwhile, nuclear powers spend more than 90 billion dollars a year on atomic weapons. The U.S. alone spends over 50 billion dollars annually on this weapon of mass destruction.

New York – Two years have elapsed since the devastating earthquake destroyed a whole country—Haiti, killing over 200,000 people. Still, three quarters of the population earn less than two dollars a day, 70 per cent do not have stable jobs, more than half of children do not go to school, and the great majority –70 to 80 per cent– had no access to electricity.

Reporters Without Borders expresses its deepest sympathy to the family
and colleagues of the journalist Abdisalan Sheikh Hassan, shot dead
yesterday by a man in military uniform in the Hamar Jajab district of
Mogadishu.

World without Wars and Violence has been observing the dramatic events taking place in Syria in recent months with profound concern. It is clear that the non-violent popular protests in Tunisia and Egypt were not taken as models in the case of Libya.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the violence used by police and soldiers to disperse yesterday’s demonstration by journalists – mostly women – outside the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa to demand justice for the 24 journalists killed since 2003, 17 of them since the June 2009 coup d’état. The latest journalist to be murdered, last week, was a woman.

Cairo – ”You proved that you are right, that we were wrong. You are catalysts for reforms. Recognise your capabilities for changing the world”, said Qatar’s first lady Sheikha Moza in Doha to 400 “leaders of tomorrow” from 100 countries.

23 Reasons Why We Should be Careful About Uncritically Accepting Western Views of the Syrian Insurrection.

As insurrection in Syria lurches towards civil war, the brakes need to be put on the propaganda pouring through the Western mainstream media and accepted uncritically by many who should know better.