Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS B.RAMAN President Barack Obama, Gen.David Petraeus, the US Commander in Afghanistan, and other American leaders have rightly condemned the proposed burning of the Holy Koran by Pastor Terry Jones, who leads a congregation of about 50 followers in the city of Gainesville, Florida, on 9/11 coinciding with the [...]
RIGHTS-CHILE: No Dialogue in Mapuche Conflict
September 9, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS Daniela Estrada SANTIAGO, Sep 8 (IPS) – The Chilean government is pushing through legal reforms in an attempt to bring to an end a nearly two month hunger strike by 34 Mapuche indigenous prisoners. But it is failing to address two critical aspects of the conflict: the lack [...]
ENERGY: Is Fracking Even Worse Than Drilling?
August 27, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By William Fisher NEW YORK, Aug 26, 2010 (IPS) – With cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico barely underway, energy companies are already assuming a crouching stance in anticipation of a no-holds-barred attack by environmentalists on what the industry says is the next major breakthrough in natural resource [...]
MEXICO: Environmentalist Peasants Seek Justice
August 27, 2010 By
Global Analyst Online – Global News Blog / IPS By Emilio Godoy MEXICO CITY, Aug 27, 2010 (IPS) – Peasant activists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera hope to find, at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the justice that eluded them in their home country of Mexico, to which they hope to return to rejoin [...]
Groups Praise U.S. Rights Report as Good First Step
August 27, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By William Fisher NEW YORK, Aug 27, 2010 (IPS) – In the first ever U.N.-mandated self-assessment of the United States’ human rights record, the Barack Obama administration has reaffirmed its commitment to closing the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay and to fixing the country’s "broken immigration system". But [...]
HAITI: Scraping by on Mud Cookies
August 27, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Wadner Pierre Credit:Wadner Pierre/IPS PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 27, 2010 (IPS) – At six in the morning in Cite Soleil, the poorest zone of Haiti’s capital city, the sun is already up. It’s the start of another workday for Lurene Jeanti, making cookies from mud, butter and salt. She’s [...]
Obama Resists Pressure for Red Line on Iran’s Nuclear Capability
August 27, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Gareth Porter* WASHINGTON, Aug 26, 2010 (IPS) – President Barack Obama’s refusal in a White House briefing earlier this month to announce a "red line" in regard to the Iran nuclear programme represented another in a series of rebuffs of pressure from Defence Secretary Robert Gates for [...]
VENEZUELA: Opposition Hopes to Make a Comeback
August 27, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Humberto Márquez CARACAS, Aug 26, 2010 (IPS) – The campaign for Venezuela’s Sept. 26 legislative elections is officially on, and the opposition, which boycotted the last vote five years ago, is back in the running, hoping to win enough seats to act as a counterweight to President [...]
CORRUPTION-PERU: Gov’t Tries to Track Down Millions from Convicted Officials
August 27, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Ángel Páez LIMA, Aug 26, 2010 (IPS) – The Peruvian government will try to track down funds hidden away by former officials of the Alberto Fujimori regime (1990-2000) and others sentenced for corruption. The aim is to recover 323 million dollars — the total amount that the [...]
MEXICO: Threats Against Journalists: "You’re Vulnerable, and It’s Hard to Accept"
August 20, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Daniela Pastrana MEXICO CITY, Aug 20, 2010 (IPS) – "The threats change your whole life," said Jade Ramírez, a journalist who has been living for months with that burden, which also hangs over a growing group of her colleagues in Mexico. "You adopt safety procedures that you [...]
