Democracy ‘not needed’ in Russia
October 16, 2009
More than 40% of respondents said Russia needed “an iron fist” leader
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A growing number of Russians believe their country does not need democracy, a nationwide survey by one of Russia’s leading polling agencies suggests.
The poll by the Levada-Centre showed that 57% of those questioned considered that Russia needed democracy – the lowest number since 2006.
It said 26% believed that democratic governing was not suitable for Russia.
Nearly 95% of respondents said they had little or no influence on what was happening in the country.
‘Rigged’ election
Levada-Centre said 1,600 people across Russia had been questioned in the poll which was released on Friday.
Russian police dispersed a protest rally in Moscow, arresting some activists
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Although the majority of them believe the country needs to be democratic, the results of the survey are an intriguing mix, the BBC’s Richard Galpin in Moscow says.
The majority (60%) also said it would be better for Russia if the president controlled both the courts and the parliament, which can hardly be described as a democratic aspiration, our correspondent says.
The poll also suggested that 43% agreed with the question that the country sometimes needed an “iron fist” leader.
And nearly 25% said the Soviet Union had a better political system that the current Russian model (36%) or that in Western countries (15%).
The poll came as Russian police arrested 10 people in Moscow who were protesting against an alleged fraud in last weekend’s regional and local elections.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party tightened its already overwhelming grip on power after the polls, our correspondent says.
But three parties walked out of parliament earlier this week, protesting against the outcome of the elections. Two later returned, but the Communists are continuing their boycott.
bbc.co.uk
US proposes net neutrality rules
September 21, 2009
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The US has proposed new rules that would require internet firms to respect the principle of “network neutrality”.
The head of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) said that “all web traffic should be treated equally”.
The new rules are intended to prevent firms throttling bandwidth-sapping web traffic such as streaming video.
Networks on both sides of the Atlantic have long argued for a two-tier system, where those that can pay are given priority over those that cannot.
“There are few goals more essential in the communications landscape than preserving and maintaining an open and robust internet,” FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
“It is vital that the internet continue to be an engine of innovation, economic growth, competition and democratic engagement.”
It is the first time that the Chairman has spoken out on the issue since being appointed in June.
‘Extraordinary platform’
He proposed two new rules to guide the FCC’s approach to network neutrality.
The first would prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from discriminating against bandwidth-intensive web-content and applications by slowing or blocking it.
“They cannot block or degrade lawful traffic over their networks, or pick winners by favouring some content or applications over others in the connection to subscribers’ homes,” he said.
“Nor can they disfavor an Internet service just because it competes with a similar service offered by that broadband provider.”
The second would mean that ISPs would have to be more transparent about how they manage network traffic.
The two new rules join four previous guiding principles of the FCC, which state that all consumers must be able to access “lawful” content, applications, and services, and attach non-harmful devices to the network.
“I believe the FCC must be a smart cop on the beat preserving a free and open internet,” Mr Genachowski said.
“This is not about government regulation of the internet,” he added. “It’s about fair rules of the road for companies that control access to the internet.”
President Barack Obama backed the concept of network neutrality in the presidential race. It also has the support of large companies such as Google, eBay and Amazon.
However, telecommunications firms on both sides of the Atlantic argue that carrying high-bandwidth content, such as video, puts an extra burden on their networks and costs them money.
They argue the cost should, in part, be borne by the websites or the consumers.
The new rules will be formally proposed at a meeting in October.
bbc.co.uk
Former President Kim Dae-jung, Nobel winner, dies at 85
August 18, 2009
SEOUL, South Korea – Former President Kim Dae-jung, who spent years as a dissident under South Korea’s military dictatorship and later won the Nobel Peace Prize for seeking reconciliation with communist North Korea, has died. He was 85.
Kim, who had been hospitalized with pneumonia since last month, died shortly after 1:40 p.m. (0440 GMT) on Tuesday, said Park Chang-il, chief of Severance Hospital in Seoul. He said Kim suffered respiratory distress, a pulmonary embolism and multiple organ failure.
The Nobel laureate’s wife, three sons and former aides were at his side, according to lawmaker Park Jie-won, Kim’s former presidential chief of staff.
South Korean leaders, from friends to former foes, had been paying their respects for days at the hospital to a man whose epic career spanned South Korea’s evolution from a brutal military dictatorship to a full-fledged democracy and global economic leader.
“We lost a great political leader,” President Lee Myung-bak said in a statement. “His accomplishments and aspirations to achieve democratization and inter-Korean reconciliation will long be remembered by the people.”
Kim built a reputation as a passionate champion of human rights and democracy who fought against South Korea’s military dictatorships and survived several suspected assassination attempts, including a 1973 abduction in Tokyo hotel by South Korean agents.
Once president, he was the architect of the “Sunshine Policy” — a novel approach to relations with North Korea that sought to bring the two wartime rivals closer as a way to encourage reconciliation.
His efforts led to an unprecedented thaw in relations with the North and culminated in a historic North-South summit — the first on the divided peninsula — in Pyongyang with leader Kim Jong Il in 2000.
His successor, the late President Roh Moo-hyun — who committed suicide three months ago amid a broadening corruption probe focused on the Roh family — maintained the Sunshine Policy. But Kim Dae-jung saw his work unravel when Lee, a conservative, took office in 2008, and conditioned aid to the North on the regime’s commitment to nuclear disarmament.
In response, North Korea cut nearly all ties with the South, suspended several joint projects born of warming ties and threatened to restart its nuclear programs. But Kim continued to advocate engagement with Pyongyang.
“The South and North have never been free from mutual fear and animosity over the past half-century — not even for a single day,” he told reporters in January. “When we cooperate, both Koreas will enjoy peace and economic prosperity.”
On Monday, North Korea announced it would restart some of the joint projects, including the reunions of families divided for decades by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Several dates are given for his birth, but Kim was born into a farming family in South Jeolla province in Korea’s southwest when the country was still under Japanese colonial rule.
Kim went into business after World War II ended Japanese rule, but as South Korea’s fledgling government veered toward authoritarianism after the peninsula’s war, he resolved to go into politics.
After three losing bids, he was elected to the National Assembly in 1961. Days later, Maj. Gen. Park Chung-hee staged a military coup and dissolved parliament.
Kim ran for the presidency a decade later, nearly defeating Park. The close call prompted Park to tinker with the Constitution to guarantee his rule in the future.
Just weeks after the presidential election, Kim was in a traffic accident he believed was an attempt on his life. For the rest of his life, he walked with a limp and sometimes used a cane.
In another apparent assassination attempt in 1973, suspected South Korean agents broke into his Tokyo hotel room and dragged him to a ship where he claimed they planned to dump him at sea. But the U.S. intervened, sending an American military helicopter flying low over the ship, and the would-be assassins abandoned their plan.
Upon his return to Seoul, Kim was put under house arrest by the Park government and then imprisoned. His release came only after Park’s assassination by own his spy chief in late 1979.
Kim was pardoned a few months later. But the drama did not end there.
Weeks after Park’s death, military leader Chun Doo-hwan seized power. Five months later, tens of thousands in the southern city of Gwangju took to the streets to protest the junta’s rule.
Tanks rolled in to suppress the uprising; the official toll was 200 dead but activists say the real count was far higher.
Accusing Kim of fomenting the uprising in his political stronghold, a military tribunal sentenced the opposition leader to death. Washington intervened again, and the sentence was commuted to life and later reduced to 20 years in prison.
A few months later, his sentence was suspended and he left for exile in the U.S., remaining there until 1985.
After two more unsuccessful runs for the presidency, Kim was elected to the nation’s top office in 1997 at the age of 72. He served from 1998 to 2003.
The defining moment of the Kim Dae-jung’s presidency was his historic meeting with North Korea’s Kim in Pyongyang in 2000.
The summit eased decades of tensions and ushered in a new era of unprecedented reconciliation. Families divided for decades held tearful reunions, and South Koreans began touring North Korea’s famed scenic spots.
His efforts won him the Nobel Peace Prize, and he remains South Korea’s only Nobel laureate.
“In my life, I’ve lived with the conviction that justice wins,” he said in accepting the honor. “Justice may fail in one’s lifetime, but it will eventually win in the course of history.”
But critics accused him of propping up the communist regime with aid, reportedly up to $1.3 billion.
And his legacy was tarnished by revelations that his administration made secret payments to North Korea before the 2000 summit. Kim defended the payments as a way to secure peace with the North.
Kim is survived by his wife and three sons: Kim Hong-up, Kim Hong-il and Kim Hong-gul. His first wife, Cha Yong-ae, died in 1960.
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Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Jean H. Lee contributed to this report.
yahoo news
Arctic Sea Maltese-flagged ship disappeared
August 14, 2009
Speculation rife over missing ship
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By Penny Spiller
BBC News |
It is a mystery that could grace the pages of a thriller novel.
A cargo ship carrying timber worth $1.8m (£1m) from Finland to Algeria is apparently briefly hijacked off the coast of Sweden before continuing its journey through the English Channel – and then disappears.
Nothing has been heard from the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea since its last recorded sighting on 30 July, and officials appear to have no idea where it could be.
If this event had occurred in the seas off east Africa, the finger would immediately have been pointed at Somalia’s notorious pirates.
But the Arctic Sea disappeared while rounding the west coast of France, in what are considered to be the pirate-free shipping lanes of Europe.
And as a maritime hunt gets under way to find the 3,988-tonne vessel, speculation is rife over what might have led to the Arctic Sea’s disappearance.
Was the ship carrying something other than timber, “something much more expensive and dangerous”, as one expert put it?
Or is its disappearance down to some commercial dispute or even a quarrel between rival Russian mafia gangs, as other observers have suggested?
Pre-trip repairs
However, all the experts appear to agree that the ship could not have sunk, as floating wood or oil would have been seen by now. They also say this was no typical hijacking.
The Arctic Sea, carrying 15 Russian crew, left Finland on 23 July bound for the Algerian port of Bejaia.
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 It seems some third party didn’t want this transit to be fulfilled so they made this situation highly sophisticated and very complicated  Mikhail Voitenko
Editor of Russia’s Sovfracht maritime bulletin |
A day later, in the Baltic Sea, the ship was boarded by masked men who claimed to be Swedish anti-drugs police. They tied up the crew and searched the vessel, reportedly leaving about 12 hours later.
These events were reported to the Swedish police in a round-about way.
A police spokeswoman told the BBC that the ship’s crew first alerted their shipping company to what had happened. The firm then informed Russian embassy officials in Finland, who contacted their counterparts in Sweden who informed the Swedish authorities.
The police spokeswoman would not comment on any alleged drug link to the ship, saying only that no line of inquiry could be ruled out.
But, while the true facts about what happened remain for now unknown, speculation about a Russian dispute that got out of hand is plausible, says David Osler who writes on maritime safety for Lloyds List.
“It doesn’t look like it’s a Somali-style hijack for ransom because there hasn’t been a ransom demand,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.
“It doesn’t look like it’s the sort of theft of a high-value ship or high-value cargo… so the longer it goes on, the more it looks like some sort of dispute between Russian interests.”
Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Russia’s Sovfracht maritime bulletin, goes one further to suggest “the vessel was loaded secretly with something we don’t know anything about”.
He ruled out drugs or “illegal criminal cargo”, adding: “I think it is something much more expensive and dangerous.
“It seems some third party didn’t want this transit to be fulfilled so they made this situation highly sophisticated and very complicated,” he told the Russia Today news channel.
He pointed out that the unknown cargo could have been loaded in Russia’s Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad, between Poland and Lithuania, where the ship underwent repairs before picking up its cargo in Finland.
The ship is operated by Helsinki-based Solchart Management, which is believed to be linked to the Russian firm Solchart Arkhangelsk. It is registered in Malta, under the name of a Russian company.
Calls to the head of Solchart in Finland, Viktor Matveyev, went unanswered, but there is no suggestion that either the firm or the crew knew or were involved in any illegal activity.
‘Pretty much anywhere’
For now, there remain a lot of questions and few real answers.
Malta’s maritime authority is leading the hunt for the ship. It said on Wednesday the ship had not tried to enter Gibraltar waters and so could be heading out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Russia has drafted in all its vessels in the Atlantic to help with the search.
Arctic Sea is equipped with an automatic tracking system, but this appears to have been either switched off or stopped working since its last signal on 30 July.
And where might the ship be now?
“It could be pretty much anywhere,” says David Osler. “It’s not a very fast ship so it can’t have quite got as far as the Far East. But it could be near West Africa or South America.”
Apollo 11 40th Anniversary: Celebrating the ‘Giant Leap’
July 20, 2009
Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong working at an equipment storage area on the lunar module. This is one of the few photos that show Armstrong during the moonwalk. Click image to enlarge. Photo credit: NASA
Smoke and flames signal the opening of a historic journey as the Saturn V clears the launch pad. Click image to enlarge. Photo credit: NASA
Buzz Aldrin climbs down the Eagle’s ladder to the surface. Click image to enlarge. Photo credit: NASA
Crater 308 stands out in sharp relief in this photo from lunar orbit. Click image to enlarge. Photo credit: NASA
July 1969. It’s a little over eight years since the flights of Gagarin and Shepard, followed quickly by President Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon before the decade is out.
It is only seven months since NASA’s made a bold decision to send Apollo 8 all the way to the moon on the first manned flight of the massive Saturn V rocket.
Now, on the morning of July 16, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins sit atop another Saturn V at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The three-stage 363-foot rocket will use its 7.5 million pounds of thrust to propel them into space and into history.
At 9:32 a.m. EDT, the engines fire and Apollo 11 clears the tower. About 12 minutes later, the crew is in Earth orbit. (› Play Audio)
After one and a half orbits, Apollo 11 gets a “go” for what mission controllers call “Translunar Injection” — in other words, it’s time to head for the moon. Three days later the crew is in lunar orbit. A day after that, Armstrong and Aldrin climb into the lunar module Eagle and begin the descent, while Collins orbits in the command module Columbia. (› View Flash Feature)
Collins later writes that Eagle is “the weirdest looking contraption I have ever seen in the sky,” but it will prove its worth.
When it comes time to set Eagle down in the Sea of Tranquility, Armstrong improvises, manually piloting the ship past an area littered with boulders. During the final seconds of descent, Eagle’s computer is sounding alarms.
It turns out to be a simple case of the computer trying to do too many things at once, but as Aldrin will later point out, “unfortunately it came up when we did not want to be trying to solve these particular problems.”
When the lunar module lands at 4:18 p.m EDT, only 30 seconds of fuel remain. Armstrong radios “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” Mission control erupts in celebration as the tension breaks, and a controller tells the crew “You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we’re breathing again.” (› Play Audio)
Armstrong will later confirm that landing was his biggest concern, saying “the unknowns were rampant,” and “there were just a thousand things to worry about.”
At 10:56 p.m. EDT Armstrong is ready to plant the first human foot on another world. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbs down the ladder and proclaims: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” (› Play Audio)
Aldrin joins him shortly, and offers a simple but powerful description of the lunar surface: “magnificent desolation.” They explore the surface for two and a half hours, collecting samples and taking photographs.
They leave behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plaque on one of Eagle’s legs. It reads, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”
Armstrong and Aldrin blast off and dock with Collins in Columbia. Collins later says that “for the first time,” he “really felt that we were going to carry this thing off.”
The crew splashes down off Hawaii on July 24. Kennedy’s challenge has been met. Men from Earth have walked on the moon and returned safely home.
In an interview years later, Armstrong praises the “hundreds of thousands” of people behind the project. “Every guy that’s setting up the tests, cranking the torque wrench, and so on, is saying, man or woman, ‘If anything goes wrong here, it’s not going to be my fault.’” (› Read 2001 Interview, 172 Kb PDF)
In a post-flight press conference, Armstrong calls the flight “a beginning of a new age,” while Collins talks about future journeys to Mars.
Over the next three and a half years, 10 astronauts will follow in their footsteps. Gene Cernan, commander of the last Apollo mission leaves the lunar surface with these words: “We leave as we came and, god willing, as we shall return, with peace, and hope for all mankind.”
The bootprints of Apollo are waiting for company.
www.nasa.gov/nasa.com
Ultra-orthodox Jews visit Hamas
July 18, 2009
Four members of a group of ultra-orthodox Jews opposed to the existence of Israel have visited Hamas in Gaza.
The men, clad in the traditional ultra-orthodox garb of black hats and coats and with long side-curls in their hair, met Hamas leader Ismail Haniya.
The Neturei Karta believe that a Jewish state can only be established by the Messiah and thus denounce Israel as heretic and embrace its enemies.
Mr Haniya welcomed them, saying Hamas rejects Zionist ideology, not Jews.
“We feel your suffering, we cry your cry,” the Associated Press quoted Rabbi Yisroel Weiss as saying.
“It is your land, it is occupied, illegitimately and unjustly by people who stole it, kidnapped the name of Judaism and our identity.”
The representatives entered Gaza, which is under a strict Israeli embargo, with a convoy of activists who travelled through Egypt.
‘Heroes’
Neturei Karta, Aramaic for “Guardians of the City” was founded some 70 years ago in Jerusalem.
Estimates of the group’s size range from a few hundred to a few thousand – some in Israel, others in the UK and US.
Members have praised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying Israel should be erased from the pages of history – sometimes translated as “wiped off the map”.
They have also attended a Holocaust denial conference in Tehran and held a prayer vigil for the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as he lay on his death bed.
Mr Haniya described the men as “heroes”, according to Palestinian media reports.
“Our problem is with the occupation, that stems from the Zionist ideology and its desire to disperse all the Palestinians,” he said.
“Those religious figures that express their objection to the siege, the aggression and the crimes – we can’t help but respect them and for their beliefs and their culture.”
Israel and most Western countries regard Hamas as a terrorist group and refuse to deal directly with it.
The movement is sworn to the destruction of Israel in its charter and backs attacks on Israeli civilians, although has offered a long-term ceasefire in exchange for a Palestinian state on the full territory of the West Bank and Gaza.
bbc.co.uk
Iran ,day of mourning
June 17, 2009
Footage which appears to show plain-clothes pro-government militia attacking a university dormitory
Supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi are planning a new demonstration in Tehran in protest at what they see as a fraudulent presidential poll in Iran.
The planned rally comes after overnight raids on university dormitories in several Iranian cities and as two pro-reform figures were arrested.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has sought to calm tensions and called for an end to rioting.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected last week with almost two-thirds of votes.
Protests have grown since his re-election was confirmed on Saturday, with huge demonstrations in Tehran and clashes between protesters and security forces. Eight people have been killed.
The latest opposition demonstration is expected to wind its way though central Tehran in mid-afternoon local time, reports the BBC’s Jon Leyne from the city.
A similar march on Tuesday is thought to have passed off peacefully, although few details have emerged.
Heavy restrictions have been placed on the BBC and other foreign news organisations. Reporters are not allowed to cover unauthorised gatherings or move around freely in Tehran – but there are no controls over what they can write or say.
Ayatollah intervention
Opposition supporters are planning their latest Tehran rally in a city which remains tense and on alert.
Two pro-reform figures, newspaper editor Saeed Laylaz and Hamid Reza Jalaipour, an activist and journalist, were arrested on Wednesday morning, reports said.
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POLITICAL DISPUTES
 Jon Leyne
Reporting from Tehran It’s quite clear that there are enormous disputes going on behind the scenes. But the people who run this country are not stupid. There are some quite smart people, even loyalists to Mr Ahmadinejad, and they must realise how much deeper they are digging themselves into this mess every day. But at the moment, quite inexplicably, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei seems to be quite in thrall to Mr Ahmadinejad. It’s almost as if he’s taking his orders from him. He usually stays above the fray and interestingly he’s still not been seen in public since the election. |
Mr Laylaz is political and economic analyst who is often critical of Mr Ahmadinejad and who has often been interviewed by foreign media.
About 100 reformist figures were arrested on Sunday as opposition grew to the election results. Many have since been released.
Overnight, members of Iran’s Basij volunteer militia reportedly raided university dormitories in several Iranian cities.
The Basij stormed compounds, ransacking dormitories and beating up some students. Several arrests were made, our correspondent says, and the dean of the university in the city of Shiraz has resigned.
Students have been active among Iran’s opposition and there have been several reports of security forces moving in on university premises since protests began over the weekend.
In the most high-profile incident, 120 lecturers at Tehran university resigned after a raid on that institution.
The overnight raids came after another direct intervention in the crisis by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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 Nobody should take any action that would create tension, and all have to explicitly say they are against tension and riots Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iran’s Supreme Leader  |
Ayatollah Khamenei has not appeared in public since the election results, but now seems to be deeply involved in the search for a solution to the stand-off.
Meeting representatives of the four election candidates, he urged all parties not to agitate their supporters and stir up an already tense situation. He also repeated his offer of a partial vote recount, a proposal already rejected by the main opposition.
“In the elections, voters had different tendencies, but they equally believe in the ruling system and support the Islamic Republic,” the Associated Press reported him as saying.
“Nobody should take any action that would create tension, and all have to explicitly say they are against tension and riots.”
Obama ‘concern’
Witnesses said Tuesday’s demonstrators walked in near silence towards state TV headquarters – apparently anxious not to be depicted as hooligans by authorities.
Thousands of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s supporters staged a counter-rally in Vali Asr Square in central Tehran – some bussed in from the provinces, observers say.
As night fell, residents took to the roof-tops of their houses to shout protest messages across the city, a scene not witnessed since the final days of the Shah, our correspondent says.
In the US, President Barack Obama sought on Tuesday to stay neutral in the debate over Iran’s election results, insisting he did not want to “meddle” in the affairs of the Islamic Republic, although he expressed “concern” at scenes of violence.
However, in a TV interview he also cautioned that there might not be much difference between the policies of President Ahmadinejad and rival Mir Hossein Mousavi.
bbc.co.uk
Mousavi seeks to overturn Iran election result
June 14, 2009
By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi demanded on Sunday that Iran’s presidential election be annulled and urged more protests, while tens of thousands of people hailed the victory of the hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mousavi’s supporters again took to the streets after violence on Saturday, clashing with police in protests that have underscored political rifts exposed by Friday’s disputed vote.
In a statement on his website, Mousavi said he had formally asked the Guardian Council, a legislative body, to cancel the election result.
“I urge you, Iranian nation, to continue your nationwide protests in a peaceful and legal way,” he added.
Mousavi’s supporters handed out leaflets calling for a rally in Tehran on Monday afternoon. After dusk some took to the rooftops across the city calling out “Allah Akbar” (God is great), an echo of tactics by protesters in the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The unrest that has rocked Tehran and other cities since results were declared on Saturday is the sharpest expression of discontent against the Islamic Republic’s leadership for years.
The election result has disconcerted Western powers trying to induce the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter to curb its nuclear program. U.S. President Barack Obama had urged Iran’s leadership “to unclench its fist” for a new start in ties.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden cast doubt on the election result but said Washington was reserving its position for now.
“It sure looks like the way they’re suppressing speech, the way they’re suppressing crowds, the way in which people are being treated, that there’s some real doubt,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked if Ahmadinejad had won the vote.
SEA OF FLAGS
Ahmadinejad appeared amid a sea of red, white and green Iranian flags waved by partisans thronging Tehran’s Vali-e Asr square, some perched on rooftops or cars, to applaud the victory he achieved with a surprising 63 percent of the vote.
“Some … say the vote is disrupted, there has been a fraud. Where are the irregularities in the election?” he said in a speech that the crowd punctuated with roars of approval.
“Some people want democracy only for their own sake. Some want elections, freedom, a sound election. They recognize it only as long as the result favors them,” he declared.
Tarverdi Chegine, a 35-year-old government employee, told Reuters: “We have a very brave president. I love him.”
He said anti-Ahmadinejad protesters were not true Iranians. “They belong to the West. They belong to Bush. We are anti-Bush.”
reuters.com
Russia ready for nuclear-free world, Putin says
June 10, 2009
reuters picture
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he was in favor of a world free of nuclear weapons if other countries were willing to pursue the same goal.
Speaking at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Putin said: “Why do we need nuclear weapons? If other nuclear states are ready for (a nuclear-weapons-free world), we are too.”
U.S. President Barack Obama set out his vision for ridding the world of nuclear arms in April, declaring the United States was ready to lead steps by all states with atomic weapons to reduce their arsenals.
Obama is due in Russia next month for talks with President Dmitry Medvedev on a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires on December 5.
Before his visit, the two sides are trying to narrow their differences. Moscow has said it wants to link the nuclear talks to U.S. plans, which it strongly opposes, to deploy an anti-missile shield in central Europe.
Steinmeier, speaking before meetings with Medvedev, Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, urged Russia to work constructively with Obama to reduce nuclear arms stockpiles.
“We need all sides to be constructive, Russia needs to be constructive,” said Steinmeier, the Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor in Germany’s September 27 election.
Steinmeier called on Russia to work toward easing tension with Georgia. The two countries fought a five-day war last year after Georgia attempted to retake its breakaway, pro-Russian region of South Ossetia.
Tension has remained high since Russia crushed the Georgian military and, over the objections of the United States and Europe, recognized South Ossetia and a second breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent countries.
(Reporting by Hans-Edzard Busemann; editing by Andrew Dobbie)
Abbas Kiarostami, the renowned Iranian film maker, was not allowed in England to oversee his work.
June 8, 2009
Mozart’s opera, Cosi fan tutte, is being performed by the English National Opera in London in the absence of its director.
Abbas Kiarostami, the renowned Iranian film maker, was not allowed into the country to oversee his work. Kiarostami was supposed to come to London for Cosi’s rehearsals and premiere.
But he gave up trying to apply for a visa, because he said he had to go through such a Kafkaesque process.
The British ambassador in Tehran tried to intervene, but it was all too late as the BBC’s Maryam Erfan reports.
