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NEWNATIONS BULLETIN 1ST JUNE 2011
June Country Reports include: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Taiwan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Croatia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.
Pakistan, Afghanistan ….and all that!
In the wake of bin Laden’s death this month’s Overview leads with reports on Pakistan, Aghanistan and India, the theatre where the drama is intense and the outcome of global importance. We remind readers of the wise words of Richard Holbrooke, who until the time of his death was working towards an equitable solution and an honourable peace.
‘The Arab Spring’ is somewhat deadlocked. In our reports on Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and also as it affects Iran, it can be seen to have reached very different stages. Libya and Syria are still in the throes of violent conflict. This issue of Saudi Arabia is concentrated on their neighbour and client Yemen, where violence is now commonplace and their story very complex. Iraq is surprisingly thus far untouched by the local al Qaida at the death of Osama bin Laden. The key importance there this month is the Iraqi Prime Minister saying that the US forces cannot stay on beyond this year!
With the post-bin Laden situation in Afghanistan, it can be seen that suddenly both America’s foreign wars could soon be coming to a close.
We comment on Netanyahu’s visit to the US which appears to have advanced the prospects of a Palestinian state not at all! The illegal settlements housing half a million Israeli settlers on Palestinian land, have complicated matters enormously, but Netanyahu whose trademark is aggression, is hardly the man to make a lasting equitable treaty with the Palestinians, no matter that the Quartet of major powers, after more than half a century, wants it done.
Turkey in the middle east is a looming giant there, but a force for stability and in 'Arab Spring' terms, a potential arbitrator. It is not anti-Israel as history shows, but is very much anti-the current Netanyahu government, who have wilfully alienated them.
Russia: The big question is still unresolved: Will it be Putin or Medvedev that will stand for President in the upcoming election? Political uncertainty is disturbing investors. We look at the breakdown of the BP-Rosneft mega-deal, not good news for BP nor Russia, given the unanswered questions about Foreign Direct Investment by international business, significantly low at this time. Also a look at the criminal law and Mikhail Khordokovsky’s new term of imprisonment.
Ukraine: President Yanukovich walks a virtual tightrope seeking to be close to Russia and get closer to the EU.
‘Gordon Gekko was Right’: where we examine the anomaly that one of the worst financial failures in history, universally blamed on greed and reckless behaviour, has resulted in no prosecutions, unsurprising perhaps since the FBI were called off investigating after the first week! We contrast with the Savings and Loans scandal of the late eighties where justice was seen to be done.
Bangladesh: Disappointing that the admirable Nobel Prizewinner, Mohammad Yunus, inventor and prover of the concept of micro-finance, has been forced out of the Grameen Bank which he founded, on a technicality, by the Bagladeshi government. The reputation for corruption of successive governments of this impoverished South Asian nation always leads to suspicion as to their real motives – and this is no exception.
Taiwan: we take a look at the upcoming elections and the impressive economic performance.
Philippines: President Aquino has the mandate to root out centuries-old corruption in this country which lags sadly behind its neighbours of ASEAN in this respect. We look at how he is doing.
In the Balkans we report on Bosnia and Croatia, each with their problems, Bosnia still having no central government! The Bosnian Serbs are only interested in a secessionist agenda and link all politics to ethnic identity. The Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks in the other territory of the federated nation are also intensely dysfunctional.
Neighbouring Croatia is frustrated that its EU application remains ‘on hold’- it still has more to do to qualify.
Central Asia in this June issue includes full reports on: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. All of these nations are to some extent affected by the war in Afghanistan and the menace of militant Islam. In addition the post- Soviet borders that they inherited on the break-up of the USSR have been the cause of a lot of ethnic strife, both within and between these neighbouring countries.
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