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posted by zaina19 on July, 2007 as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 7/21/2007 3:55 AM Saturday 21st July 2007 From Russia with no love British ministers were braced for a tit-for-tat response by Russia after expelling four Russian diplomats from London in protest at the refusal of President Vladimir Putin to allow the extradition of the chief suspect wanted for the murder of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. The row plunged Britain into one of its worst diplomatic crises with Russia since the end of the Cold War and threatens to disrupt British business with Russia, worth billions of pounds. They were the first expulsions since 1996, when four Russian diplomats were ordered out of Britain in a spying row, but there was no suggestion that any of the Russian diplomats expelled now were involved in the Litvinenko case or in spying. British ministers sought to avoid worsening the diplomatic fall-out, which comes at a time when activists backed by the Russian authorities have been harassing the British ambassador in Moscow and the British Council. The ... >> full
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An inability to tolerate Islam contradicts western values
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Prev Discussion Next Discussion Send Replies to My Inbox Reply Recommend Message 1 of 1 in Discussion From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 7/21/2007 4:42 AM An inability to tolerate Islam contradicts western values Free speech is now the rallying cry of escalating tensions, but we can also use it to expose double standards on both sides Karen Armstrong Saturday July 21, 2007 The Guardian In the 17th century, when some Iranian mullahs were trying to limit freedom of expression, Mulla Sadra, the great mystical philosopher of Isfahan, insisted that all Muslims were perfectly capable of thinking for themselves and that any religiosity based on intellectual repression and inquisitorial coercion was "polluted". Mulla Sadra exerted a profound influence on generations of Iranians, but it is ironic that his most famous disciple was probably Ayatollah Khomeini, author of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. This type of contradiction is becoming increasingly frequent in our polarised world, as I discovered last month, when I arrived in Kuala Lumpur to find that the ... >> full
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Getting the facts straight about the old-new Russia.
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 7/21/2007 1:35 PM 'For the Sake of One Man' Getting the facts straight about the old-new Russia. BY BRET STEPHENS Tuesday, July 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT In the six or seven years in which they interacted on a regular basis, Vladimir Putin's police state and journalist Fatima Tlisova had a mostly one-way relationship. Ms. Tlisova's food was poisoned (causing a nearly fatal case of kidney failure), her ribs were broken by assailants unknown, her teenage son was detained by drunken policemen for the crime of not being an ethnic Russian, and agents of the Federal Security Services (FSB) forced her into a car, took her to a forest outside the city of Nalchik and extinguished cigarettes on every finger of her right hand, "so that you can write better," as one of her tormentors informed her. Last year, the 41-year-old journalist decided she'd had enough. Along with her colleague Yuri Bagrov, she applied for, and was granted, asylum in the United States. Ms. Tlisova ... >> full
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Russia: 'Foreign Affairs' Editor Says Lavrov's Article Withdrawal A 'Surprise'
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 7/22/2007 1:23 AM Saturday, July 21, 2007 Russia: 'Foreign Affairs' Editor Says Lavrov's Article Withdrawal A 'Surprise' Media -- Lavrov's piece never made the pages of "Foreign Affairs" (official site) July 21, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has withdrawn an article he wrote for the U.S. journal "Foreign Affairs," accusing the editors of changing his text. It appears Lavrov's article was meant to be a response to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who wrote a piece -- published in May -- entitled "Containing Russia." But in a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov said his article was subjected to "censorship." "Foreign Affairs" Editor James Hoge told RFE/RL correspondent Heather Maher that the decision by Lavrov was "a complete surprise" and that the magazine, which is considered one of the world's most influential journals on international affairs and foreign policy, went out of its way to accommodate Lavrov. RFE/RL: "Foreign Affairs" has been in print since 1922, and publishes articles by prominent ... >> full
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Russia: Expert Says Extradition Of Russians Common
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 7/22/2007 2:28 AM Thursday, July 19, 2007 Russia: Expert Says Extradition Of Russians Common Czech Republic -- Gannushkina, Svetlana, head of the Russian NGO Svetlana Gannushkina says Russia has extradited a number of its citizens (file photo) (RFE/RL) July 19, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Russia has refused to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the chief suspect in the killing of former Russian security-service officer Aleksandr Litvinenko. It is a refusal that Britain has condemned as "unacceptable." London has said it is reviewing its relationship with Russia. RFE/RL's Russian Service spoke to Svetlana Gannushkina, the chairwoman of Russia's Civic Assistance human-rights group, about Russia's extradition policy. The Russian Constitution prevents the extradition of Russian citizens, but Gannushkina says that hasn't stopped Russia from doing it in the past: "Our citizens have already been extradited on several occasions, although quite often Russia, perhaps to justify its actions, revoked their Russian citizenship post factum or expressed doubts that they even had" Russian citizenship, Gannushkina says. Central Asian Suspects "As far as I know, the first time ... >> full
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