Greater China
Xi Jinping's imperfect inner circle
By Willy Lam
Barely three months after assuming the posts of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary and Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman, Xi Jinping has done well in buttressing his authority within the party's upper echelons. Xi's remarkable consolidation comes in spite of the fact that he is not associated with any comparably powerful clique within the party apparatus - unlike predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, who are heads of the Shanghai Faction and the Communist Youth League (CYL) Faction, respectively.
Apart from being the premier arbiter of party affairs, Xi has secured control over foreign and national security policies by virtue of becoming the chair of the Foreign Affairs Leading Small Group. Equally significant, the 59-year-old supremo has seized hold of
the country's "political-legal" (zhengfa) machinery, which oversees the police, state intelligence, the procuratorate and the courts.
The murder of opposition politician Chokri Belaïd was also an assault on Tunisia's emerging democracy. It has exposed the chasm between Islamists and secularists, and threatens to plunge the nation at the forefront of the Arab Revolution into chaos.
February 20, 2013 - 4:39PM
Xi Jinping's imperfect inner circle
By Willy Lam
Barely three months after assuming the posts of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary and Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman, Xi Jinping has done well in buttressing his authority within the party's upper echelons. Xi's remarkable consolidation comes in spite of the fact that he is not associated with any comparably powerful clique within the party apparatus - unlike predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, who are heads of the Shanghai Faction and the Communist Youth League (CYL) Faction, respectively.
Apart from being the premier arbiter of party affairs, Xi has secured control over foreign and national security policies by virtue of becoming the chair of the Foreign Affairs Leading Small Group. Equally significant, the 59-year-old supremo has seized hold of
the country's "political-legal" (zhengfa) machinery, which oversees the police, state intelligence, the procuratorate and the courts.
ISRAEL
Israel’s Netanyahu announces coalition deal with Tzipi Livni
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has announced a coalition deal with former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in his first move in forming a new government. Livni will also lead renewed diplomacy talks with Palestinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke alongside Tzipi Livni Tuesday night saying his union with the former foreign minister and her HaTnuah party was intended to provide his emerging government with a "wide and stable government that unites the people."
The centrist HaTnuah party, founded and led by Livni, is the first party to join Netanyahu's new coalition after his election on January 22. The party campaigned for renewed peace talks with the Palestinians that have been deadlocked since 2010.
Arab Spring at Risk: Belaïd Assassination Exposes Deep Rifts in Tunisia
By Christoph Scheuermann
The murder of opposition politician Chokri Belaïd was also an assault on Tunisia's emerging democracy. It has exposed the chasm between Islamists and secularists, and threatens to plunge the nation at the forefront of the Arab Revolution into chaos.
Since her husband was murdered, Basma Khalfaoui's living room has become a waiting room of the revolution. Sobbing women fall into each other's arms, and friends bring flowers and wait on white plastic chairs to offer their condolences. A new person walks into the room every few minutes. Two weeks ago, politician Chokri Belaïd was shot dead only a few meters away, in the parking lot outside the building, and it now seems as if half the country were seeking comfort from his widow.
Ships collide in Antarctic whaling protest
February 20, 2013 - 4:39PM
Andrew Darby
Hobart correspondent for Fairfax Media
Dramatic images have been sent from the Antarctic of the Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru colliding with other ships - including its own fuel-laden tanker.
The 8030-tonne Nisshin Maru can be seen amid pack ice grazing the stern of the 5741-tonne Sun Laurel near Australia's Davis station, in images sent by the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd.
As a result, the framework for launching the tanker's lifeboat has been damaged, preventing its release in an emergency.
The collision on Wednesday came as the Nisshin Maru attempted to reach the Sun Laurel for refuelling, also hitting the anti-whaling group's long range ship Bob Barker in the stern and disabling it.
Zimbabwe police raid election monitors
Zimbabwe police raided the offices of a leading election monitoring group.
It is the latest of what activists fear is a deliberate move by authorities to harass them ahead of a referendum on the constitution.
Police forcibly entered the offices of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) by breaking part of the perimeter wall and confiscated documents, a human rights lawyer said.
No arrests were made.
"They had a search warrant to search for subversive material, documents, gadgets, recordings and to look for illegal immigrants," Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights spokesman Kumbirai Mafunda told AFP.
Police have in recent weeks targeted non-governmental organisations as the country readies for a crucial constitutional referendum on March 16.
Forget feathers and beads: At Basel's carnival Fasnacht, it's all about politics
The Swiss city of Basel is hosting its annual carnival, Fasnacht, this week. But while as colorful as those in Rio and New Orleans, Fasnacht's floats and lanterns have a decidedly political bent
By Meritxell Mir, Contributor / February 19, 2013
New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Venice: All play host to the annual glittering, colorful, and wild extravaganza known as Carnival. But in Basel, Switzerland, the world’s only Protestant masque, celebrations take on a new twist – they get downright political.
On Monday, the three-day fest known as Fasnacht in the German-speaking world kicked off at 4 a.m. with floats, costumes, and lanterns mocking everything fromRussian President Vladimir Putin, to stolen banking data and the eurocrisis.
The Basler Bebbi Basel (BBB), a male-only Fasnacht group, walked through Basel’s lantern-lit streets with a display designed to show solidarity with Pussy Riot – the Russian female punk group whose members were jailed after performing at the altar of an Orthodox church in Moscow in February 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment