To the West he is public enemy number one: snatching land from his neighbours, interfering in foreign elections and unveiling weapons that he says render Washington`s missile defence system s obsolete.
But despite or because of his reputation abroad, Vladimir Putin is still widely popular in Russia and is all but guaranteed to win a presidential election this week with a landslide.
In part this is because over almost two decades in power he has cracked down on dissent and consolidated Kremlin control over the media.
The president`s most vocal opponent is also barred from appearing on the ballot on March 18 owing to a criminal conviction.
For millions of Russians, however, Putin is the man who brought stability after the political and economic chaos of the 1990s, as well as restoring Moscow`s standing on the world stage following the humiliating collapse of the Soviet Union.
How Is The Border Between Europe And Asia Defined?
Transcontinental countries, mountains, and rivers are part of the physical border between Asia and Europe. However, political factors also play a part in its definition.
Boundaries between continents are somewhat a matter of geographical convention. The number of continents that the Earth is considered to have can range between six or seven, although the count can go as low as four when Afro-Eurasia and Americas are combined as continents. There are only three overland boundaries in existence. These boundaries include the ones between Asia and Europe, between Africa and Asia, and between North and South America.
TALENT is one of the most essential factors for growth and competitiveness,` writes Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in the Global Gender Gap Report 2017. `To build future economies that are both dynamic and inclusive, we must ensure that everyone has equal opportunity. When women and girls are not integrated as both beneficiary and shaper the global community loses out on skills, ideas and perspectives that are critical for addressing global challenges and harnessing new opportunities.
Pakistan is ranked 143rd on the WEF index, and remains the lowest-ranked country in South Asia and the second to last overall. The index measures gender gaps in four areas economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment to rank the 144 countries.
The index shows Pakistan still has a lot to do to integrate women and girls as both beneficiary and shaper of the economy. But it has recently made a major step towards closing the gender gap in the corporate boardrooms to make them more inclusive and diverse.
THE shocking rape-murder of little Zainab earlier this year was preceded by the exposure of a massive child pornography ring in the same district in 2015. We reacted with similar horror then, but the culprits have yet to be punished. Such crimes take place in all countries, people might say. But incident rates vary vastly depending to a large extent on which country has enacted good laws.
Laws in Pakistan are drafted in English, the standards of which have steadily deteriorated. We get by mostly with the use of cut, copy and paste functions. Draf ting is an art that requires excellent command of the language and adherence to certain principles of legalese. In legislation, not even a punctuation mark can be changed unless through amendment once it has been passed by parliament.
Politics and the White House: from Clinton to Trump
Two decades ago this week US president Bill Clinton declared that he “did not have sexual relations with that woman.”
As it turned out, he did – and he was impeached for lying about his trysts with Monica Lewinsky.
Today, another US president is accused of sexual impropriety – specifically of paying off a porn star one month before the November 2016 election to keep their adulterous liaison quiet.
Such a bombshell allegation would be the kiss of death to most political careers. But Trump is no normal politician and in his tumultuous administration, “it’s not even the biggest story of the week,” wrote Aaron Blake in The Washington Post.
Political analysts are scratching their heads to explain why – when it comes to Trump – such a revelation barely elicits a collective shrug.
From my school going age, I have always been listening that “Majority is Authority”. Most of the times, when we were deciding a menu for the treat or a destination for a trip, we followed this rule as it was ambiguous for me in those times. When I entered into the age of maturity, this rule exposed its actual ambiguity. Following the sea of crowd having false and immoral ideologies may cost us a big trouble. As Allah has mentioned in Surah I-anam verse 112; “And if you obey most of those upon the earth, they will mislead you from the way of Allah. They follow not except assumptions, and they are not but falsifying.” So before following any set of rules adopted by majority we should consider first that whether its implication will be productive or beneficial in a given set of conditions. Public opinion when not supported by good reasons is not a safe guide to follow.
As per the latest report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Narcotics in November, poppy and opium production in Afghanistan has increased by a record high 63% in 2017. The report finds political instability, lack of government control and insecurity, as well as corruption as main drivers of illegal cultivation. In the last year of Taliban governance, the production was reduced to merely 221 tons, which has now reached 9,000 tons in 2017; an increase of 87% from its 2016 level i.e. 4,800 tons.
The key findings of the report reveal the total area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was estimated at 328,000 hectares in 2017, a 63% increase or 127,000 hectares more compared to the previous year. This level of opium poppy cultivation is a new record high and exceeds the formerly highest value recorded in 2014 (224,000 hectares) by 104,000 hectares or 46%.
Strong increases were observed in almost all major poppy cultivating provinces. In Helmand province alone, cultivation increased by 63,700 hectares (+79%) which accounted for about half of the total national increase. Strong increases were observed also in Balkh (+10,000 hectares or almost five times more than in 2016), Kandahar (+7,500 hectares or +37%), Nimroz (+6,200 hectares or +116%), and Uruzgan (+6,000 hectares or +39%).
The majority (60%) of cultivation took place in the south of the country. The Western region accounted for 17% of total cultivation, the northern region for 13% and the eastern region for 7%. The remaining regions (north-eastern and central) together accounted for 3%. Helmand remained the country’s major opium poppy cultivating province, followed by Kandahar, Badghis, Faryab, Uruzgan, Nangarhar, Farah, Balkh, Nimroz and Badakhshan. Opium poppy cultivation expanded to new regions and intensified where there was cultivation before.
In 2017, the number of poppy-free provinces in Afghanistan decreased from 13 to 10. The number of provinces affected by opium poppy cultivation increased from 21 to 24. Ghazni, Samangan and Nuristan provinces lost their poppy-free status. Ghazni had been poppy-free for more than two decades (since 1995), Samangan and Nuristan for almost 10 years (since 2007).
The US blames Taliban for sponsoring the poppy crop. However, the latest UN report contradicts the allegation. As per the report, poppy cultivation has expanded to northern Afghan areas of Balkh, Jowzjan, Baghlan, and Sari Pul provinces. These provinces were entirely free of poppy a few years ago and are known to be out of Taliban control.
Financing the black and clandestine operations through secret means requires huge funds. Apart from the known official funding, organizations like the CIA and Blackwater, etc, do adopt hidden sources of income as well. War-torn countries like Afghanistan provide ideal environment for such illegal activities.
US soldiers and contractors do not require visa restrictions for Afghanistan, nor do the laws of the land apply to them. Hence nothing stops them from violating Afghan state laws as well as from supporting and sponsoring illegal money generation activities like poppy production and drug patronage.
Also, a high numbers of Afghan defence forces personnel are also habitual poppy users and hence have low morale and poor physical health. This all happens in Afghanistan under the very watchful eyes of the elite superpower of the world. One can only wish that the US feels for the victims of their game plan on poppy. The US should have sympathies for her own people as well as for the people around the world. Along with domestic control of the menace, the US should also take practical steps to control the menace in Afghanistan.
Courtesy: Daily The News (17th Jan 2018)
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From the inauguration of US President Donald Trump to the exodus of Rohingyas from Myanmar, here are 12 events that marked 2017.
A year of Trump
On January 20 Republican billionaire Donald Trump, 70, is inaugurated as US president, vowing: “America first.” Suspicions of collusion between his election campaign and Russia dog the start of his term. Trump progressively unpicks the achievements of his Democrat predecessor, Barack Obama. He pulls out of international agreements on climate, free trade, immigration and UNESCO. On December 6, in another break with the previous administration, Trump creates shockwaves when he recognises Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move largely rejected in a UN vote.
On December 20 he seals his first major reform, signing long-awaited tax cuts into law.
“As you go forward, you can be confident that your greatest ally and friend, the United States of America, stands with you, shoulder-to-shoulder, now and forever. Because a united Europe remains the hope of the many and a necessity for us all.” With those unequivocal words, President Obama concluded his “Address to the People of Europe” delivered in Berlin, April 25, 2016; a few months later, the 44th President addressed once again —and for the last time as a President— a gesture of friendship and consideration to his European partners, as he chose the Old Continent for his farewell foreign tour, visiting Germany and Greece. The relations between the Obama Administration and its European counterparts, although consistently cordial, had nevertheless not always been as warm as they were in 2016; in particular, as he stepped into the Oval Office, some policies of the former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs, such as the “Russian Reset” and the “Pivot to Asia,” indeed made the European leaders fear an American disinterest in the century-old American-European alliance. Yet, those tensions and worries were to be short-lived, as President Obama demonstrated on many occasions that he was willing to work in close cooperation with the European heads of states and the EU leadership on decisive issues like, to name but a few, the financial crisis of 2008-2009, the Iran nuclear deal, and the fight against global warning, culminating in the Paris Agreement. What is more, President Obama had consistently expressed, throughout both of his terms, his support for a strong and integrated European Union, to the point of getting occasionally involved in the EU internal affairs. He notably visited London a couple of months before the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, and strongly warned the British people against a potential Brexit. “The European Union doesn’t moderate British influence; it magnifies it,” he declared, before stressing as a conclusion of his speech the exceptional ties which have bound and still bind the Atlantic partners, stating “together, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have turned centuries of war in Europe into decades of peace, and worked as one to make this world a safer, better place.” Yet, it seems that the transition from the Obama to the Trump Administration will trigger— and actually has already triggered— a radical shift in US-EU relations.
Saudi Arabia being the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and as the birthplace of Islam is the most important country of the Islamic world, and the world community is keenly watching the decisions being taken by the 31-year old Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS), who has been given sweeping powers by his octogenarian father – King Salman.
The decisions taken recently by the budding leader will change the outlook of the ultraconservative kingdom and can lead to an unpredictable situation. It is difficult to believe that the society will digest all decisions, and at the same time it is not easy to foretell what kind of reaction they will trigger.
Under the policy decisions announced in the near past, women will be allowed to drive after a few months. Similarly, women will also have permission after some months to attend sports events at stadiums in the kingdom’s three major cities: Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam. Public cinemas would also be allowed in the kingdom for the first time in over 35 years, and that the first ones would likely to open in March 2018.
Cinemas were banned in the early 1980s under pressure from the Saudi society.
