THE WORLD – Page 221 – IDN-InDepthNews

Africa2013-05-042023-07-10

Sudan Targets Gold to Soften Loss of Oil Money

By Zak Rose* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

DETROIT (IDN) – The gold output of Sudan was 41 tonnes in 2012 – compared with 220 tonnes from the continent’s largest exporter, South Africa – and export levels will likely experience modest growth over the immediate short term. However, owing to recent government promotion and foreign investment from major mineral companies, some official estimates have predicted a spike in Sudan’s gold exports within the next five years.

Government interest in the gold industry stems from a desire to balance against decreasing oil revenues. When South Sudan seceded in 2011, it took roughly 75% of Sudan’s oil wealth with it. And while informal gold mining has long been a part of the Sudanese economy – between 500,000 and 750,000 artisanal gold prospectors are active in Sudan – it has only been since the separation of South Sudan that the government has begun to focus on a capital-intensive expansion of the gold sector.

Middle East2013-05-032023-07-10

‘Don’t Take Arabs’ NPT Membership for Granted’

By Baher Kamal* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

CAIRO (IDN) – Not that nuclear issues are an actual source of concern to Egyptian citizens. They are deeply worried about their present and immediate future now that inter-religious violence is on the rise, triggering a dangerous, growing insecurity amidst an overwhelming popular discontent with President Mohamed Morsi’s regime. Simply put, there is too much frustration and deception here to think of nukes.

Nevertheless, it is also a fact that the governments of Arabs countries in general, and in the Gulf region in particular – following reported U.S. political pressures – have lately been expressing increasing fear of Iran’s nuclear programme and therefore focusing, again, on nukes.

Asia-Pacific2013-05-012023-07-10

Testing Times Again For Democracy in Pakistan

By Shastri Ramachandaran* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

NEW DELHI (IDN) – In a country of coups, where generals take precedence over political parties, democratic transition can be a fraught affair. So it is in Pakistan as it prepares to elect, on May 11, a new 342-member National Assembly and four provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Asia-Pacific2013-04-272023-07-10

‘War Crimes’ Wrangle Ignores Lankan Tamils’ Challenge to India

By Shastri Ramachandran* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

CHENNAI (IDN) – Some five weeks after the foreign policy fiasco on the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) – which earned the Congress-led UPA government the hostility of all sections in Sri Lanka and the Tamil political parties in India – New Delhi seems to have gone back to sleep on the issue.

The March 21 resolution called upon Sri Lanka to conduct an independent investigation into allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law – during the final phase of the 26-year war, which came to an end after Sri Lanka’s army defeated separatist Tamil rebels in 2009.

Europe2013-04-252023-07-10

Europe Bidding Adieu To Justice and Solidarity

By Roberto Savio* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

ROME (IDN | Other News) – For a long time it was a given that while Europe was based on defending a more just society, with social values and solidarity, the United States was based on the glory of individualism and competition, and anything public was considered “socialist”. One of the main accusations of the last electoral campaign in the United States was that Barack Obama had an unspoken design to change the United States into another Europe, beginning with health reform.

Well, it’s time for an update – the defenders of market fundamentalism are now in Europe.

Asia-Pacific2013-04-112023-07-10

North Korea Defying Ally China Too

By Zachary Fillingham* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

TORONTO (IDN) – For those in need of a refresher, here is the Cold War paradigm underpinning China-North Korean relations up until now. Historically speaking, a shared ideology has been at the core of their relationship. The two countries fought a war together in 1950 and have stood shoulder-to-shoulder against encroaching U.S. military power in East Asia throughout the sixty years that followed.

Europe2013-04-062023-07-10

The Story Behind the Cyprus and Euro-Crisis

By Roberto Savio*
IDN-InDepthNews and Other News Analysis

There is more to the Cyprus crisis than has been taken note of by the general public, not the least because of the mainstream media’s failure to provide a contextual analysis of the situation in three-fifths of the island of Cyprus, two-fifths of which are a separate political entity that only Turkey recognises. The lack of transparency and anti-people solution to resolve the Cyprus crisis and crises elsewhere in the 27-nation bloc bode ill for the European Union.

Asia-Pacific2013-04-012023-07-10

Japan Offers Iran Help in Things Nuclear

By Richard Johnson | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

LONDON (IDN) – As western powers debate unabatedly Tehran’s real intentions behind harnessing energy from the atom, Japan is willing to provide Iran technical advice, equipment support and vast experience of abiding by nonproliferation safeguards so that it may practice its right to peacefully use nuclear power, says a Japanese government official serving as research fellow at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).

Africa2013-04-012023-07-10

Guerrilla War Threatens Northern Mali

By Zachary Fillingham* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

TORONTO (IDN | Geopoliticalmonitor.com) – The apparent interventionist success story of a joint French-Malian military force driving Islamists out of northern Mali was suddenly interrupted by a suicide bombing in Timbuktu on March 30.

The bombing was the first volley in what turned out to be an all-out attack on the city by Islamists, and after several hours of intense street fighting, Malian forces had to call in French troops and air support to help them drive the rebels back into the surrounding desert. The day-long battle left three rebels and one Malian soldier dead, but perhaps more importantly, it afforded the Islamists another valuable opportunity to infiltrate into the heart of Timbuktu.

Middle East2013-03-272023-07-10

Sudan Among Africa’s Key Energy Players

By: Patrick Johnson* | IDN-InDepth NewsReport

TORONTO (IDN | Geopoliticalmonitor.com) – South Sudan may have taken most of Sudan’s known energy reserves with it when it voted for independence in 2011, but that doesn’t mean Khartoum has given up on keeping Sudan in the mix of Africa’s key energy players. Eyeing a bounce back, Sudan has been courting energy companies worldwide with the promise of untapped resources in Sudan. And given the relatively raw nature of these unexplored blocks, the strategy could conceivably bear fruit over the medium term.