Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The planning of a Conservative news network in Canada
Impolitical: Harper's lunch in New York with the Fox News biggies
Canadian
Press has some news that paints some important background optics for
Harper and Teneycke as tomorrow's public media announcement by Quebecor
is set to occur. These are the kind of details that make it look
like there is indeed a Conservative intent to set up a network aligned
with Conservative interests:
...
Canadian
Press has some news that paints some important background optics for
Harper and Teneycke as tomorrow's public media announcement by Quebecor
is set to occur. These are the kind of details that make it look
like there is indeed a Conservative intent to set up a network aligned
with Conservative interests:
...
The Thing About Israel
The Thing About Israel « Politics, Re-Spun
Excellent post on the spin around Israeli policy and criticism of that policy.
Excellent post on the spin around Israeli policy and criticism of that policy.
What's happening in Kyrgystan
Q&A: Kyrgyzstan's ethnic violence - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Al Jazeera English
Uzbeks flee Kyrgyzstan violence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fergana_Valley
...
The Soviet and post-Soviet periods [History of the Fergana Valley 1924 to present]
In 1924 the new boundaries separating the Uzbek SSR and Kyrgyz SSR cut off the eastern end of the
Ferghana Valley, as well as the slopes surrounding it. This was
compounded in 1928 when the Tajik ASSR became a fully-fledged republic, and
the area around Khodjend was made a part of it. This blocked the
valley's natural outlet and the routes to Samarkand and Bukhara, but
none of these borders was of any great significance so long as Soviet
rule lasted. The whole region was part of a single economy geared to
cotton production on a massive scale and the over-arching political
structures meant that crossing borders was not a problem. Since 1991
this has changed, for the worse. Uzbekistan regularly closes its borders
with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, causing immense difficulties for trade
and for those who live in the region. Travellers from Khodjend to Dushanbe,
unable to take the route through Uzbekistan, have to cross a high
mountain pass between the two cities instead, along a terrible road.
Similarly communications between Bishkek
and Osh pass
through difficult mountainous country and are endangered by the attitude
of President Islom Karimov of
Uzbekistan. Ethnic tensions also flared at one stage, most notably in
the town of Uzgen, near Osh, where were Uzbek-Kyrgyz riots in 1990.
There has been no further ethnic violence, and things appeared to have
quietened down, although the potential for serious conflict remains
palpable.[6]
However, the valley is a religiously conservative region which was
particularly hard-hit by President Karimov's legislation fighting the
taint of Islam in Uzbekistan, together with his decision to close the
borders with Kyrgyzstan in 2003. This devastated the local economy by
preventing the importation of cheap Chinese consumer goods. The
deposition of Askar Akayev in Kyrgyzstan in April 2005, coupled with the
arrest of a group of prominent local businessmen brought underlying
tensions to a boil in the region around Andijan and Qorasuv
during the May 2005
unrest in Uzbekistan in which hundreds of protestors were killed by
troops.
Violence
in southern Kyrgyzstan started on Thursday, when armed mobs
attacked Uzbek neighborhoods - called mahallas - in the city of Osh.
Hundreds of people were killed, homes were set on fire, tens of
thousands of ethnic Uzbeks fled towards the border with neighboring
Uzbekistan, and supplies of food and
water are running low.
The scale of the violence makes it the worst to hit Kyrgyzstan in
decades - but tensions between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz have long been a
problem in and around Osh.
Uzbeks flee Kyrgyzstan violence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fergana_Valley
...
The Soviet and post-Soviet periods [History of the Fergana Valley 1924 to present]
In 1924 the new boundaries separating the Uzbek SSR and Kyrgyz SSR cut off the eastern end of the
Ferghana Valley, as well as the slopes surrounding it. This was
compounded in 1928 when the Tajik ASSR became a fully-fledged republic, and
the area around Khodjend was made a part of it. This blocked the
valley's natural outlet and the routes to Samarkand and Bukhara, but
none of these borders was of any great significance so long as Soviet
rule lasted. The whole region was part of a single economy geared to
cotton production on a massive scale and the over-arching political
structures meant that crossing borders was not a problem. Since 1991
this has changed, for the worse. Uzbekistan regularly closes its borders
with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, causing immense difficulties for trade
and for those who live in the region. Travellers from Khodjend to Dushanbe,
unable to take the route through Uzbekistan, have to cross a high
mountain pass between the two cities instead, along a terrible road.
Similarly communications between Bishkek
and Osh pass
through difficult mountainous country and are endangered by the attitude
of President Islom Karimov of
Uzbekistan. Ethnic tensions also flared at one stage, most notably in
the town of Uzgen, near Osh, where were Uzbek-Kyrgyz riots in 1990.
There has been no further ethnic violence, and things appeared to have
quietened down, although the potential for serious conflict remains
palpable.[6]
However, the valley is a religiously conservative region which was
particularly hard-hit by President Karimov's legislation fighting the
taint of Islam in Uzbekistan, together with his decision to close the
borders with Kyrgyzstan in 2003. This devastated the local economy by
preventing the importation of cheap Chinese consumer goods. The
deposition of Askar Akayev in Kyrgyzstan in April 2005, coupled with the
arrest of a group of prominent local businessmen brought underlying
tensions to a boil in the region around Andijan and Qorasuv
during the May 2005
unrest in Uzbekistan in which hundreds of protestors were killed by
troops.
Hobbit movie news
David Yates to Take on The Hobbit? - CraveOnline.com
David Yates, the director of several of the most recent Harry
Potter films, is said to be in the running to take over
direction on The Hobbit, says a report by /Film.
...
David Yates, the director of several of the most recent Harry
Potter films, is said to be in the running to take over
direction on The Hobbit, says a report by /Film.
...
Thor movie interview video
First Video From Thor - CraveOnline.com
Some of the first images from the set of the set of Thor
have debuted online, courtesy of a 4-minute clip that ran on Entertainment
Tonight, featuring interviews with Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman
and Kenneth Branagh.
The Marvel adaptation is shooting now just outside Santa Fe, NM where
the character of Thor meets Portman's Jane Foster (and where Clark
Gregg's Agent Coulson was headed at the end of Iron Man 2).
Some of the first images from the set of the set of Thor
have debuted online, courtesy of a 4-minute clip that ran on Entertainment
Tonight, featuring interviews with Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman
and Kenneth Branagh.
The Marvel adaptation is shooting now just outside Santa Fe, NM where
the character of Thor meets Portman's Jane Foster (and where Clark
Gregg's Agent Coulson was headed at the end of Iron Man 2).
Jack Layton - Ready to govern
Accidental Deliberations: Ready to govern
... the NDP is the most dynamic party in Canada. In three elections under
Jack Layton, the party has increased its popular vote and seat count in
the Commons. The Tories have flatlined; the Grits have slid; even the
Bloc has slipped.
And the NDP is dead serious about coalitions.
Layton has on his desk a thick binder of successful and failed
coalitions worldwide, including the local example of the Peterson-Rae
coalition that governed Ontario well in 1985-87.
Layton drew on
those examples in his failed bid to win over the Grits in a coalition
that would have toppled the Tories two years ago. His eminence gris,
Brian Topp, wrote a book about it. Read it if you have any doubts the
current NDP caucus is ready to co-govern this country.
...
... the NDP is the most dynamic party in Canada. In three elections under
Jack Layton, the party has increased its popular vote and seat count in
the Commons. The Tories have flatlined; the Grits have slid; even the
Bloc has slipped.
And the NDP is dead serious about coalitions.
Layton has on his desk a thick binder of successful and failed
coalitions worldwide, including the local example of the Peterson-Rae
coalition that governed Ontario well in 1985-87.
Layton drew on
those examples in his failed bid to win over the Grits in a coalition
that would have toppled the Tories two years ago. His eminence gris,
Brian Topp, wrote a book about it. Read it if you have any doubts the
current NDP caucus is ready to co-govern this country.
...
Mineral riches found in Afghanistan
US finds vast Afghan mineral riches - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Al Jazeera English
Another reason America will continue to wage war in Afghanistan.
...
A report in the New York Times said previously unknown reserves of lithium, iron, gold, niobium, cobalt and other minerals could transform the impoverished country into one of the world's most lucrative mining centres.
"There is stunning potential here," General David Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, told the paper in an article published on Monday.
"There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."
The New York Times was reporting the final results of a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and a Pentagon task force, initiated in 2006.
...
Another reason America will continue to wage war in Afghanistan.
...
A report in the New York Times said previously unknown reserves of lithium, iron, gold, niobium, cobalt and other minerals could transform the impoverished country into one of the world's most lucrative mining centres.
"There is stunning potential here," General David Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, told the paper in an article published on Monday.
"There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."
The New York Times was reporting the final results of a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and a Pentagon task force, initiated in 2006.
...
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