UN Atomic Watchdog Rejects Resolution Against Israel

The UN atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), rejected Friday an Arab-backed resolution against Israel. The resolution urging Israel to accede to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was rejected with 51 votes against, 46 votes in favor, and 23 abstentions. Washington had flown in President Obama’s top nuclear advisor, Gary Samore, to try to persuade Arab nations to drop their plans. In 2009 the same resolution was adopted 49-45. A number of states that voted in favor last year, such as Singapore and Thailand, chose to abstain this year. Earlier this week, Israel’s nuclear chief Shaul Horev reiterated Israel’s stance that acceding to the NPT would run against its national interests. (AFP)more

Silver lining to deadlock cloud?

John Narayan Parajuli 
KATHMANDU, SEP 27 -
A day after Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal formally withdrew  from the prime ministerial race, political parleys appear to be a “potential breakthrough.” The discussion between Dahal and Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Monday centred on the package deal that would address the crucial issues of the peace process, constitution and power sharing among major parties.

“Both Prime Minister Nepal and Chairman Dahal agreed to work out a package deal,” said Suro Jung Pandey, Press Assistant to the prime minister. On Sunday, right after the 8th round of failed prime ministerial polls, UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal had said that a credible basis of national consensus was being prepared. Monday’s development appears to be a part of those ongoing consultations.

The discussion between Nepal and Dahal, described as “positive” by some attendees, comes a day after Nepali Congress’ prime ministerial contender and the sole candidate in the field Ram Chandra Poudel put a condition for his withdrawal from the race. He said he wanted the Maoists and other parties to come up with a basis for agenda-based agreement that would lead to detachment of the Maoists from their combatants first. In the dialogue between Dahal and Nepal, there was a “meeting of minds” to expedite the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants. “Dahal told Nepal that the special committee needs to be made proactive to expedite the tasks relating to the integration of the combatants,” Sameer Dahal, an aide to Maoist leader Dahal quoted him as saying. Monday’s discussion comes against the backdrop of a series of agreement reached between the Maoists, the government and the UML since Sept. 13 on extending UNMIN’s term and ending the deadlock on government formation. But  Dahal’s latest overtures are seen by some in the UML as an attempt to kill two birds with one stone.

A senior UML leader said the Maoists’ willingness to make concessions to quickly move

forward on the integration issue is triggered by certain calculations. “They feel that if they can fulfil the preconditions set by other parties for a Maoist-led government, namely the detachment of

arms and armies while a caretaker government is in place, they can claim the next government’s leadership,” he said.more

Economic crisis eclipsed by power politics in Nepal

By R.K. Regmee

The economic crisis that Nepal is facing at the moment neither gets front page coverage nor figures in top talks of politicos. It tends to fade away under the dazzling light of power politics. The political parties’ passion for extending Constituent Assembly tenure beyond May 28 to avert constitutional crisis in the country is something that was discussed widely and seriously in recent times. But another equally important catastrophe – economic crisis – remained rather sidelined and unattended.

Leading politicos of three parties – UCPN- Maoist, Nepali Congress, and CPN UML and small parties appear not concerned with the crisis simmering in Nepali economy. They seldom think of their responsibility towards it. Their general impression is: referring to economic matters here and there in their speeches and mentioning them routinely in manifestoes during election times would be more than sufficient.

It is because of this reason that the three main parties did not care to address the issue in their recent three point formula designed to tackle political deadlock. They chose to ignore the sores of Nepali economy particularly the torture felt by commoners in the market, disturbances in industry, business and investment arena. Had they been sensitive to the miseries at the grass-root level of people and that of producers and suppliers of goods and services in the country, they would have inserted in their agreement, at least, one more point of commitment to people’s living.

 
The crisis

What is the crisis like? One does not have to be a great researcher for answering the query. Official statistics of key areas affecting persons in the street directly indicate it: over 13 percent inflation accompanied by excessively high price of food, famine like situation in far west Nepal particularly in Mugu and Humla areas; balance of payment deficit standing at 22.1 billion rupees and remittance growth rate falling to 9.6 percent from 60.3 percent in a year; government’s inability to spend more than 26.7 percent of budget estimate on capital expenditure.

Several imminent tools with potentiality to boost Nepali economy – the budget for the next fiscal year, the Three Year Plan (2010-2013), Nepal Tourism Year 2011 and a number of hydro –power and infrastructure projects – are already receiving in –advance adverse effects of deadlock among political parties. If political parties’ do not commit themselves to those economic packages, they will not be successful. They might simply fail if the politicos cannot keep their pledge not to politicise business and industry and disturb economic measures through their varied demonstrations, stoppages of sorts, and strikes.

Uncertainty over them means Nepal will not be able to do things essential for maintaining 5.5 percent annual growth, increasing income by 3.3 percent and augmenting employment by 3.6 percent in near future as planned by the second Interim Plan due to begin in a month or so.more

Hasina seeks policymaking role in UN

Prime Minister of Bangladesh  Sheikh Hasina has urged UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to involve Bangladesh in the policymaking and responsible duties of the United Nations as the country is capable of carrying out such trust.
She made the plea during a meeting with the UN secretary general Monday afternoon at the UN building here.
Hasina praised the leadership of Ban Ki-moon for making the UN a functional institution to look after the world and the mankind.
She said in many areas of the Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh has made remarkable achievements although the country got an award for reducing the child mortality rate.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad said the prime minister informed the UN secretary general that the present government in Bangladesh is committed to its people to reach the targets for all MDGs.
Hasina also said Bangladesh could have made good progress if the democratic process of the country had not been halted several times by autocratic governments.
She said after assuming the office her government has fixed the target to free the country from poverty, illiteracy and corruption, and also make it a middle-income country by 2021.
The prime minister said the main enemy of the sub-continent is poverty and her government has been working tirelessly to get rid of this menace. “We’re working hard to improve the fate of the country and its people.”
She said her government has allocated Tk 700 crore from its own fund and prepared 134 projects to face the adverse impacts of the climate change.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon thanked the prime minister for attending the UN General Assembly session and highly appreciated her strong commitment towards democracy, strong leadership and social uplift.
“You are the strongest champion among the champions,” he told the prime minister for her achievements in different sectors, including the MDGs.
Ban Ki-moon also appreciated Bangladesh’s capability of disaster management and praised Bangladesh for its contribution in the UN Peacekeeping Missions.
Currently, Bangladesh is the highest contributor of troops in the UN Peacekeeping Missions.more

Taliban warn Bangladesh over Afghan deployment

The Taliban of Afghanistan on Monday called on Bangladesh to refuse a request of the USA to send combat troops to Afghanistan to ensure security and stability in the war-ravaged country.
US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke made the plea recently before Foreign Minister Dipu Moni at a meeting in New York.
Dipu Moni assured the US envoy of further talks on the issue, reports BBC Bangla Service.
The USA monitoring service SITE intelligence group published a report with the headline “Afghan Taliban reacts to US requesting troops from Bangladesh” in this regard on September 27.
Bangladesh is a major contributor to the United Nations peacekeeping missions across the world. It has no troops in Afghanistan.more

18th Amend helps strengthen parliamentary system:pak CJ

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry Tuesday observed that 18th Amendment helped strengthen democracy, parliamentary system and raised powers of Prime Minister, Geo News reported.

But he also observed that it retained many constitutional provisions, which were given by a dictator.

A 17-member larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by the chief justice heard a number of identical petitions, challenging certain provisions of 18th Amendment with particular reference to the formation of the Judicial Commission and the Parliamentary Committee for appointment of judges to superior courts.
He remarked: “The judges are deep like sea and cool like ice”. “You should appreciate that through power of judicial review, courts are able to protect the rights of the downtrodden,” he added.

He said with Article 175A the first casualty would be of the president, second of the chief justice and the third would be of the prime minister as “they will not have any role in the appointment of judges”.

Justice Khalilur Ramday said: “We talk of different mechanism evolved in various societies, but do not analyse situation in our own country”. He said there was need to see ground realities of Pakistan. He said there was the need to pay attention to the situation developed in the country over the past three months.more

New London play looks at roots of Afghan conflict

LONDON: A new play uses the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the Cold War “Great Game” it triggered, to look at why the West is mired in seemingly endless conflict there today.
Blood and Gifts”, by U.S. playwright J.T. Rogers, has opened at London’s National Theatre and won strong early reviews for its dramatic analysis of what has gone wrong in Afghanistan.

Rogers, who wrote Rwandan drama “The Overwhelming” which appeared at the same theatre in 2006, said he opted for a behind-the-scenes look at the 1980s conflict, rather than a recreation of the fighting.

“It is more about safehouses, embassies and CIA headquarters in Washington DC,” Rogers told Reuters in an interview just before the play opened.more

Nato Succumbs to pak pressure

ISLAMABAD: Nato reversed its position on aerial strikes by its helicopter gunships inside Pakistan on Monday after Islamabad warned the US-led forces in Afghanistan of counter-measure
s. International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), which had earlier defended the aerial engagement as an action ‘under the right of self-defence’, later in the evening, according to military sources, informed Pakistani commanders that they were trying to establish that their helicopters during the operation did not cross into Pakistani territory.
The strongly-worded protest communicated by Pakistan to Nato headquarters in Brussels reminded the military alliance that its mandate for operations in Afghanistan ended at Afghan border and there were no hot pursuit rules agreed with Pakistan.

Describing the cross-border air raids as ‘violation of its sovereignty and the UN mandate for coalition operations in Afghanistan’, the protest statement issued by the Foreign Office said: “In the absence of immediate corrective measures, Pakistan will be constrained to consider response options.”more

Iranian President to UN: 9/11 Was a U.S. Conspiracy; U.S. Walks Out

Colum Lynch
In his speech to the UN on Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad challenged the U.S. assertion that Islamic terrorists carried out the 9/11 attacks, and suggested that elements within the U.S. government may have orchestrated the attacks to justify military aggression on behalf of Israel. The remarks triggered an immediate walkout by the U.S. delegation and its allies, who accused the Iranian leader of engaging in an anti-Semitic rant. “Rather than representing the aspirations and goodwill of the Iranian people, Mr. Ahmadinejad has yet again chosen to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable,” said Mark Kornblau, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the UN.
    Ahmadinejad claimed a theory held by the majority of Americans is “that some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grip on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime.”more

Obama to UN: “The Slaughter of Innocent Israelis Is Not Resistance – It’s Injustice”

President Obama told the UN General Assembly on Thursday: “Israel’s settlement moratorium has made a difference on the ground and improved the atmosphere for talks. And our position on this issue is well known. We believe that the moratorium should be extended. We also believe that talks should press on until completed.” Read more

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