Politics
Politics
Fair Observer's analysis of political issues, events and trends and their national, regional and international consequences.
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360° Analysis / AKP / Ayşenur Arslan / Erdoğan / Politics / Turkey / Arts & Culture / Middle EastBy Murat OnurTurkey’s poor press freedom record contradicts its main strategic goal to establish the country as a regional power and the leader of the Muslim world, contests Murat Onur. The state of press freedom in Turkey has recently been in the spotlight, particularly after Reporters Without Borders declared the country as “the world’s biggest prison for journalists” last December. While concerns about press freedom in Turkey are not new, a series of recent reports reveal a rather disturbing declining trend in the country's press freedom. In the last two years, a number of advocacy groups and international organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ...
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360° Analysis / Israel / Miko Peled / Palestine / Politics / Middle EastBy Miko PeledMiko Peled, a peace activist and the son of an Israeli general, discusses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Miko Peled is a peace activist who dares to say in public what many choose to deny. Miko was born in Jerusalem in 1961 into a well-known Zionist family. His grandfather, Dr. Avraham Katsnelson was a Zionist leader and signer on Israel's Declaration of Independence. His father, Matti Peled was a young officer in the war of 1948 and a general in the war of 1967 when Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights, and Sinai. The political became personal for Miko , when on September 4, 1997, his niece Smadar, 13, was killed in a suicide attack in Jerusalem. He was driven...
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360° Analysis / Hugo Chavez / Politics / Putin / Russia / Europe / BRIC / AmericasFollowing the death of Hugo Chavez, what is next for Venezuela’s relationship with Russia? Signaling an eagerness to maintain cozy ties with Venezuela, President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called for even stronger relations and praised the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as “a close friend of Russia.” But analysts warned that Russia’s energy and arms contracts with the Latin American country might be up in the air, and, adding a whiff of conspiracy, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov hinted that Chavez’s death had been caused by his enemies, presumably the U.S. Chavez died Wednesday at a Caracas hospital of complications from cancer. Vice President...
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With a prospect of a hung parliament following recent elections and Italy’s major public and political figures out of the picture, will a new movement gain momentum? By mid-1920s, an Italian anarchist group, Gli Arditi d’Italia (Italy’s Daring Ones), counted some 50,000 members and sympathisers, and its most prominent member was called Errico Malatesta. Fascism ranted and raved across the country and the Pope manifested his understood support for the rising dux, in the face of personal sympathy and powerlessness. Revolution for this ardent group of resistance was an act of will, a leap forward beyond the socio-economic calculus, and the rationalities of the professions of...
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360° Analysis / China / Diaoyu / Diaoyu Protection Societies / Fire-control radar / Japan / military / Nationalism / Noda Yoshihiko / Pinnacled Pavilions / Politics / Senkaku / Sino-Japanese / Xi Jinping / BRIC / Global Security / AsiaBy Wilson ChewOfficial belligerence conceals the varied sources of militant Chinese nationalism over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands The Japanese name for the Diaoyu Islands is Senkaku, or "Pinnacled Pavilions," which sounds far more fitting for a sitcom setting than for an international flashpoint. Yet flashpoints they are – a cluster of uninhabited islets and rocks jutting from the East China Sea, over which China and Japan are once again drifting towards war. This latest round of confrontations, which began in 2012 and has since become a steady stream of saber rattling on both sides, poses potentially disastrous consequences for the region. With Chinese and Japanese military assets...
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Is a free press a crucial restraint on power, or is it an irresponsible power in its own right? Professor Julian Petley discusses the UK’s Fourth Estate. ‘Democracies require an unlovable press. They need journalists who get in the face of power’. So says Michael Schudson, one of America’s foremost media scholars, in a recent collection of essays, and most journalists would wholeheartedly agree. Such sentiments were much in evidence in the pre-emptive nuclear strike mounted by the press in the run-up to the publication in November 2012 of Lord Justice Leveson’s report into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press. The Freedom to Dig Dirt For...
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360° Analysis / Arab Spring / Egypt / Islamism / Libya / Politics / Tunisia / Middle EastRajai Masri explains the complex reality of the Arab world amidst the potential for real change. One is coming to the conclusion that the “objective circumstances,”Al-Zorouf Al-Mawdouieh, are not ripe. The lack of political maturity among Arabs cannot lead to a constructive and orderly transformation or a change in the socio-political structure of the Arab world, at this particular juncture in history. The Arabs’ bid for change, under the rubric of the Arab Spring, is spiraling out of control, becoming chaotic, enduring, and is ultimately prone to hijacking by the better organized Islamic factions under a theocratic dictatorship. Now the Arab Spring, once seen as the...
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360° Analysis / Arab Spring / constitution / Egypt / Mohammed Morsi / Muslim Brotherhood / National Salvation Front / Politics / Middle East / AfricaThe Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is being heavily criticized. However, the complicated situation in Egypt urges the observer to take a closer look. Stephan Roll scrutinizes the five most important points of criticism. First: Morsi Placed Himself Above the Law Last November, Mohammed Morsi placed himself above the law via a decree, and thereby stopped a foreseeable interference by the judiciary into the process of drafting the constitution. This procedure has been sharply criticized by the Egyptian opposition as well as foreign countries. The president was accused of having violated the basic principles of democracy by rescinding the separation of powers. However, this...
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360° Analysis / Politics / United States / Europe / Arts & Culture / Middle East / Americas / Africa / AsiaBy Hannah StormEach week, at least two journalists die doing their job somewhere in the world. Hannah Storm, of the International News Safety Institute, discusses the dangers of the profession. In the first 20 days of this year, at least 10 journalists and media workers were killed doing their jobs. These 10 people weren’t household names, famous journalists whose deaths – like those of Marie Colvin and Tim Hetherington – generated column inches and inspired a collective call for better safety standards for media around the world. And yet, every one of these 10 deaths tells the story of a life unjustly cut short as one person tried to shine a light into the darkest corners of...