· May, 2008

Stories about International Relations from May, 2008

Ukraine, Russia: Personae Non Gratae

On May 12, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov was declared persona non grata in Ukraine, following his calls for Russia to take ownership of Sevastopol, a Ukrainian Black Sea naval port. On May 15, Russia denied entry to Vladyslav Kaskiv, one of the leaders of the 2004 protests in Kyiv and member of the Our Ukraine/People's Self-Defense faction in the Ukrainian parliament. LJ user varfolomeev66, a Russian journalist, compares the two cases.

Lebanon: The Doha Agreement

Lebanese political leaders who met in Doha under the patronage of the Emir of Qatar Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani reached an agreement last week. The full text of the agreement was posted by Blogging Beirut among others. As a result of the Doha Agreement the Lebanese parliament convened...

Mozambique: The rice and our independende

  30 May 2008

Elísio Macamo [pt] reacts to the Japanese pledge to help Africa double rice production within 10 years, during the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) held in Yokohama. “After 10 years the rice production in Africa is twice as much. Will the population remain the same? Will our tastes...

  30 May 2008

Cédric Kalonji blogs the arrest of Jean-Pierre Bemba [Fr], Congolese president Joseph Kabila's main rival, in Belgium last weekend. The Central African Republic brought charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Bemba, who will be tried by the International Criminal Court.

Armenia: Bigoted Journalism

Blogian comments on the misrepresentation of the words of a journalist partly of Turkish descent speaking in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, by the local pro-opposition A1 Plus news agency. The blog says that a combination of factors such as anti-Turkish sentiment and sexism might have something to do with what...

Japan and U.S: Jurisdiction Agreement

  29 May 2008

Niphonese wrote a post on the recent exposure of a secret agreement between Japan and U.S government in 1953 that Japan should abandon jurisdiction over crimes of Japan-based US soldiers, except serious cases.

Hungary: Ferenc Szálasi

Hungarian Spectrum writes about Ferenc Szálasi and Hungarian nationalist politics – here and here: “Perhaps no one will be surprised to discover that the man who came up with “Hungarism” wasn’t an ethnic Hungarian. His original name was Szalosján. His fraternal ancestors came from Armenia and settled in Transylvania […]....

Kosovo: “Failure to Get More Recognitions”

Prishtine: Independence and Kanun writes: “[…] out of the other 192 (plus 2) countries in the world, the government of Kosovo should have been able to lobby more than just 41 countries for recognition. I mean, many of these countries would happily recognize Kosovo if for no other reason than...

Bahrain: Sectarian and Xenophobic

“It seems that Bahrain (as in government and MPs) are just not content with being called sectarian but are now adding a new adjective to their resume- xenophobic,” writes Bahraini blogger Yagoob, after MPs called for banning Bangladeshis from working in Bahrain.

Armenia: Historic Football Match

Unzipped says that a football match staged in Armenia between the country's Under-19 football team and one from Turkey was a historic occasion. Although neighbors, Armenia and Turkey have not established diplomatic relations.

Bahrain: Ban on Bangladeshis

Following a tragic incident a few days ago, when a Bahraini was killed after he refused to pay a Bangladeshi mechanic the 500 fils (1.3 USD) extra he was demanding for a job, Bahrain has now stopped issuing work permits to Bangladeshi nationals. A group of MPs are planning to submit a proposal to parliament to expel all Bangladeshi workers, who might be as many as 90,000, from the country because allegedly they commit more ‘shocking and gruesome crimes‘ than any other community.