New Hope for Children in Ongoing Central African Republic Conflict

Amid reports that more than 700 women and children were freed from Boko Haram in recent weeks, the United Nations has more good news from a forgotten conflict in nearby Central African Republic (CAR). Eight opposing militias there have signed a deal to release all children affiliated with the groups.

The deal, signed Tuesday during an ongoing weeklong reconciliation conference in the capital city of Bangui, offers amnesty and medical treatment to the some 10,000 children who were conscripted against their will to fight for the groups or kept hostage as sex slaves and menial laborers.

The evil of two lessers

Britain faces some major challenges. The recovery is unbalanced, and productivity growth has been weak. Poor infrastructure, patchy skills and constrained housing supply are holding back the economy. The Union itself is in danger, with the rise of the Scottish National Party. And relations with the EU and the US are at a low point. Yet neither the Conservative party nor Labour has a compelling strategy for tackling Britain’s problems.

There are only two possible governments after Britain’s general election on Thursday: a minority government led by the Conservatives or one led by Labour. Neither main party will command a majority at Westminster, even in coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Both have ruled out going into coalition with the Scottish National Party (SNP), which will be the third largest parliamentary force following the election.

Israeli soldiers cast doubt on legality of Gaza military tactics

Testimonies provided by more than 60 Israeli soldiers who fought in last summer’s war in Gaza have raised serious questions over whether Israel’s tactics breached its obligations under international law to distinguish and protect civilians.


Israeli soldier testimony: ‘Most of our shooting was random... we didn’t think about civilian casualties’ – video

The claims – collected by the human rights group Breaking the Silence – are contained in dozens of interviews with Israeli combatants, as well as with soldiers who served in command centres and attack rooms, a quarter of them officers up to the rank of major.

Ευρώπη-Φρούριο: Πίσω από την μεταναστευτική κρίση της ηπείρου

106 άνθρωποι από την υποσαχάρια Αφρική πάνω σε φουσκωτό σκάφος περιμένουν να διασωθούν από την ΜΚΟ Migrant Offshore Aid Station, περί τα 25 μίλια έξω από την ακτή της Λιβύης, στις 4 Οκτωβρίου 2014. DARRIN ZAMMIT LUPI/REUTERS

Πριν από δύο εβδομάδες, 1.200 άνθρωποι έχασαν την ζωή τους ενώ βρίσκονταν καθ'οδόν προς την Ευρώπη. Επρόκειτο κυρίως για μετανάστες που προσπαθούσαν να ξεφύγουν από τον πόλεμο και την φτώχεια στην Βόρεια Αφρική, οι οποίοι πνίγηκαν όταν τα σκάφη τους βυθίστηκαν στην Μεσόγειο. Ο αριθμός των νεκρών αποκάλυψε την μεταναστευτική πολιτική της Ευρώπης. Προτίθεται η ήπειρος να προσπαθήσει να σιγουρέψει την ασφαλή άφιξη των προσφύγων από την Συρία, την Ερυθραία και άλλες χώρες που πλήττονται από συγκρούσεις; Ή θα συνεχίσει να εθελοτυφλεί, την ώρα που ο αριθμός των νεκρών αυξάνεται στην Μεσόγειο;

China, Pursuing Strategic Interests, Builds Presence in Antarctica

Few places seem out of reach for China’s leader, Xi Jinping, who has traveled from European capitals to obscure Pacific and Caribbean islands in pursuit of his nation’s strategic interests.

A Chinese team returned from Antarctica last month. China has chosen a site for a fifth research station on the continent. CreditChinafotopress/Getty Images

So perhaps it was not surprising when he turned up last fall in this city on the edge of the Southern Ocean to put down a long-distance marker in another faraway region, Antarctica, 2,000 miles south of this Australian port.

Σπάνε οι Κουμπαράδες στα Πετρελαιοπαραγωγά Κράτη

Τη μεθυστική περίοδο της έκρηξης των τιμών των εμπορευμάτων, οι πλούσιες σε πετρέλαιο χώρες συσσώρευσαν εκατοντάδες δισεκατομμύρια δολάρια από την πώληση φυσικού αερίου και αργού πετρελαίου στο εξωτερικό. Τα συναλλαγματικά διαθέσιμα των μεγαλύτερων πετρελαιοπαραγωγών κρατών «εκτοξεύτηκαν» στα 2,5 τρισ. δολάρια στα μέσα του 2014. Οι χώρες αυτές –η Αλγερία, η Ανγκόλα, το Καζακστάν, η Νιγηρία, η Ρωσία, η Σαουδική Αραβία και άλλες– επένδυσαν σε αμερικανικούς τίτλους χρέους και άλλα χρεόγραφα. Πήραν επίσης «τρόπαια» όπως τα κεντρικά γραφεία της Time Warner στο Μανχάταν, την ποδοσφαιρική ομάδα Παρί Σεν Ζερμέν και πολυτελείς κατοικίες στο Λονδίνο, δίνοντας σημαντική ώθηση στις τιμές τέτοιου είδους παγίων.

An Israeli Lobby in China?

Image Credit: REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Earlier this year, StandWithUs (SWU), a pro-Israeli American advocacy group that coordinates its activities closely with the Israeli government, finally unveiled an SWU-China division for its organization in an event that marked a joint celebration of the Chinese New Year and Jewish Tu B’Shvat in Jerusalem (involving, interestingly enough, talks by three Israel Defense Force soldiers from China’s Kaifeng Jewish community).

Does Turkey Prefer A European Or Eurasian Energy Union?

The sixth meeting of the World Forum on Energy Regulation is scheduled to be held on May 25–28, in Istanbul, and is being organized by the office of the prime minister of the Turkish Republic. The competitive and dynamically expanding nature of the energy sector in Eurasia has been boosting Turkey’s regional importance as it prepares to take on the role of a strategically important transit and energy hub country (Hurriyet Daily News, January 28).

December 2014 saw the reemergence of competition between rival pipeline projects in Eurasia—similar to the earlier competition between the Nabucco natural gas pipeline, proposed by a consortium of European companies, and Russia’s South Stream. Currently, Russia’s new proposed pipeline project—Turkish Stream—is challenging the Azerbaijani-initiated Southern Gas Corridor, which will carry Caspian-basin gas to Europe via the South Caucasus, Turkey and then across Southeastern Europe.

The Starving Children of Helmand Province

The malnutrition ward at Bost Hospital in Lashkar Gah is normally packed with wide-eyed, withered babies and skeletal toddlers with swollen stomachs. But at the moment, only half of the beds are full.

In Kazakhstan, fears of becoming the next Ukraine

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev greets supporters during a rally at a sports center in Astana in April 2011. (Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images)

A volatile mix now building in Kazakhstan contains the same ingredients that ignited in Ukraine: a Russian minority that says it fears being under siege, rising anti-Russian nationalist sentiment and pressure on the Russian language.