Headline news for 14-11-2010
- Published in News & Comment
- |
Titles:
- Kerry to Turkey: Make up with Israel to resume Mideast role
- Tajikistan calls students home from Egypt in bid to prevent radicalization
- Bush faults Pakistan
- Obama: US supports India as global power
- China says G20 should monitor US Fed
- Obama: America is not at war with Islam
News Details:
Kerry to Turkey: Make up with Israel to resume Mideast role
U.S. Sen. John Kerry said Turkey must take steps to improve frayed relations with Israel if it is to play a role in brokering regional peace. Kerry (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee and a proxy for the Obama administration in the region, was touring Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Israel this week. "Turkey will have to decide and Israel will have to decide what is satisfactory," Kerry was quoted by the Financial Times as saying in Ankara. "Turkey can play a crucial role in helping the U.S. and others to reduce tensions in the Middle East." Turkey downgraded relations with Israel in the wake of the 2009 Gaza war, and particularly after Israel's deadly raid in May on a Turkish aid flotilla aiming to breach Israel's Gaza blockade. Turkey previously had brokered Israel-Syria exploratory peace talks, and now it is seeking a role in mediating nuclear talks between Iran and the West.
Tajikistan calls students home from Egypt in bid to prevent radicalization
Tajikistan has forcefully repatriated more than 100 students from Egypt in a bid to stop them being drawn into radical Islam. The students, who had been studying illegally at Cairo's Al-Azhar University, the world's highest seat of Islamic learning, were rounded up by Egyptian authorities on Monday at the request of the Tajik government. "On Monday ... Tajik Airlines returned about 134 young Tajiks to the country from Egypt, where they were studying," said a spokesman for the Tajik Ministry of Religious Affairs. Tajikistan is pushing for the return of almost all of the 1,000 Tajiks presently studying at Al Azhar, all but a handful of whom are there without government permission.
Bush faults Pakistan
Former US president George W. Bush has written in a new memoir that he became convinced Pakistan would not act against extremist militants and all but admitted he ordered drone strikes on its soil. In his book "Decision Points" published Tuesday, Bush said he had "complex" relations with Pakistan and its former military leader Pervez Musharraf, who pledged to support the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bush acknowledged that Pakistan "paid a high price for taking on extremists" and said its forces were successful for several years in targeting al Qaeda militants crossing the porous border with Afghanistan. But Bush said: "Some in the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, retained close ties to Taliban officials. Others wanted an insurance policy in case America abandoned Afghanistan and India tried to gain influence there," Bush wrote. Bush said he grew frustrated by late in his presidency. He recalled a meeting with US Special Forces returning from Afghanistan in which one troop pleaded with him, "We need permission to go kick some ass inside Pakistan." Bush said he could not reveal details of his decision but noted that the Predator, an unmanned predator drone, "was capable of conducting video surveillance and firing laser-guided bombs.""I authorized the intelligence community to turn up the pressure on the extremists. Many of the details of our actions remain classified. But soon after I gave the order, the press started reporting more Predator strikes," he wrote.
US supports India as global power: Obama
US President Barack Obama Monday said he sees India as USA's equal partner not just for mutual but global benefit and called for an end to barriers such as trade protectionism that can stifle this alliance."I stand before you today because I am convinced that the interests of the United States - and the interests we share with India - are best advanced in partnership, '"Obama told a joint sitting of Indian parliament. "United States not only welcomes India as a global power. We fervently support it. The United States remains - and will continue to remain - one of the most open economies in the world. And by opening markets and reducing barriers to foreign investment, India can realize its full economic potential as well," he said. Obama, only the second US president to address the joint sitting of Indian parliament after Bill Clinton, also asked New Delhi to join Washington in ensuring global financial stability at G20 and give the current round of trade talks a major push forward. While stating that their partnership can launch a second green revolution in India and open a large market of 1.17 billion people for US firms, he said the two countries can also work together to fight global hunger, poverty and disease.
China says G20 should monitor US Fed
China's state media has issued a new broadside at the US Federal Reserve's move to prime the US economy, suggesting the Group of 20 should monitor policy shifts by the US central bank. The Xinhua news agency said in a commentary the Fed was "risking the global recovery by following its own track for economic revival" by spending an extra $US600 billion ($A593.65 billion) buying Treasury bonds to stimulate the US economy. "There is an urgent need for the G20 ... to set up a new mechanism that effectively monitors the issuer of the international reserve currency, especially when it is not able to carry out responsible currency policies," Xinhua said. "It is necessary for the issuer of the international reserve currency to report to and communicate with the G20 group before it makes major policy shifts." The commentary was the latest in a barrage of criticism from Chinese officials and state-run media of US policies, especially the Fed's so-called "quantitative easing". China and other emerging economies worry that much of the new US money will flood their financial markets, with players seeking higher non-dollar returns. The Xinhua commentary also called for deeper reforms in global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, and greater representation for developing countries - a position long held by Beijing.
Obama: America is not at war with Islam
US President Barack Obama assured Muslims that America is not at war with Islam. He was speaking in Jakarta on a visit to the world's largest Muslim nation. Mr. Obama said, "But we also know that relations between the United States and Muslim communities have frayed over many years. As president, I have made it a priority to begin to repair these relations." He said more work needed to be done to address "the issues that have caused tensions for many years" but appealed for unity to defeat "violent extremists". "I have made it clear that America is not, and never will be, at war with Islam," he said."Instead, all of us must work together to defeat al-Qaeda and its affiliates, who have no claim to be leaders of any religion - certainly not a great, world religion like Islam. But those who want to build must not cede ground to terrorists who seek to destroy. This is not a task for America alone."
