Syria conflict: West criticises Assad election plan

The announcement was made in parliament, as Lyse Doucet reports from Damascus

The US has dismissed a Syrian plan to hold a presidential election on 3 June as a "parody of democracy".

Seriously, What Did You Expect Russia to Do?

• BY Edward Lozansky

Any nation's foreign policy, including those of the most liberal and democratic states, rests on the frankly cynical what's-good-for-us-is-supremely-just principle, and those who don't like it can jolly well lump it. Taken a bit further, this philosophy can be extended to include the biblical wisdom of "he that is not with us is against us." 

Πούτιν στις υπηρεσίες ασφαλείας: Προσοχή στις ΜΚΟ!

Στη συνεδρίαση των τμημάτων  των μυστικών υπηρεσιών, ο πρόεδρος  Βλαντίμιρ Πούτιν, τόνισε, σήμερα,  ότι η Ομοσπονδιακή Υπηρεσία Ασφαλείας της Ρωσικής Ομοσπονδίας, δεν πρέπει να χαλαρώσει μετά τους Χειμερινούς Ολυμπιακούς Αγώνες στο Σότσι, αλλά πρέπει να βρίσκεται σε εγρήγορση, ώστε να μην αφήσουν τη Δύση να χρησιμοποιήσει τοπικές ομάδες για καταστροφικούς σκοπούς, όπως έπραξε στην περίπτωση της Ουκρανίας.

Interest Rate Blues: Emerging Nations Demand Western Support

Federal Reserve Board Chairwoman Janet Yellen: Has the US badly handicapped emerging economies with its stricter monetary policies?

At the G-20 finance ministers' meeting in Sydney, emerging economies will push for joint action to halt rising interest rates. But the industrialized nations want nothing to do with it and are instead arguing that each country should solve its own problems. 

Brzezinski: EU-US trade pact can halt West's decline

BRATISLAVA - US academic and former statesman, Zbigniew Brzezinski, has said Western democracies should create a trans-Atlantic trade bloc to counterbalance Chinese power.

The 85-year-old, who was a US national security advisor at the height of the Cold War, spoke at the Globsec conference in Bratislava on Thursday (18 April) to an audience of central European VIPs.

Pope Prays for Freedom in China and Peace in Syria

Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

Pope Benedict XVI blessed the crowd during his "Urbi et Orbi" address fin St. Peter's Square in Vatican.

By RACHEL DONADIO

Speaking from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI called on Tuesday for religious freedom in China and peace for the “defenseless” in Syria in his annual Christmas Day message.

“May peace spring up for the people of Syria, deeply wounded and divided by a conflict which does not spare even the defenseless and reaps innocent victims,” Benedict said. “I appeal for an end to the bloodshed, easier access for the relief of refugees and the displaced, and dialogue in the pursuit of a political solution to the conflict.”

“The fundamental weakness of Western civilisation"

From Print Edition

“The fundamental weakness of Western civilisation,” wrote Wilfred Smith in 1956 “is its inability to recognise that it shares the planet not with inferiors but with equals. Unless the West learns to treat others with fundamental respect, it will have failed to come to terms with the twentieth century”.

Chairman House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Dana Rohrabacher introduced ‘the Pakistan Terrorism Accountability Act 2012’ in Congress. It asked the US government to provide $50 million to the family of each American citizen killed ‘as a result of actions of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency or support provided by the ISI to other organisations or individuals, including the Haqqani Network’. This amount, the bill suggests, should be deducted from Washington’s hand-outs to Pakistan.