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Spain attempts peace with ETA
Editor’s summary Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero received endorsement from his country’s parliament to open peace talks with ETA, which has killed more than 800 people over the years in its quest for independence of the Basque region. Experts are doubtful that the effort will succeed, but others are hopeful that just the…
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Political reform in Egypt
Editor’s summary President Bush takes the position that the development of democracy in the Middle East is a key element in a strategy to fight terrorism. Sounds good, but the question is “How?” Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif on May 18 deflected the U.S. administration’s push for Egypt to move faster on political reform, focusing…
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Darfur peace talks
Editor’s summary U.N. special envoy to Sudan Lakhdar Brahimi called May 18 for a speedy return to the negotiating table to achieve a peaceful settlement to the Darfur crisis. Brahimi made the call following a meeting with Sudanese President Omar Bashir on preparations to resume peace talks on Darfur by the end of May and…
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Formula for peace between Israel and Palestine
Editor’s summary The Free Muslims Coalition has written a position paper that, while saying it is not against the two-state solution currently sought by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, puts forward a “one nation, two-state” solution that it says has a better chance of succeeding. According to this proposal, the relationship between Israel and…
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East Asian relations
Editor’s summary There seems to be no end to the cycle of perceived affront – demand for apology – eventual apology – yet another perceived affront that has been going on between Japan and its neighbors for decades now. We pick up the drama with a meeting between Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and China’s…
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U.S.-Muslim relations
Editor’s summary The Council on Foreign Relations has published a report titled, “A New Beginning: Strategies for a More Fruitful Dialogue with the Muslim World.” In the executive summary, authors Craig Charney and Nicole Yakatan write, “Although many Muslims are angry at what they perceive America does, the right efforts to communicate can produce significant…
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Korean Peninsula
As far as the world knows, the only thing to come out of talks between North and South Korea in May was that North Korea is receiving 200,000 tons of fertilizer from South Korea, transported by truck and ship. The nuclear issue was either not discussed in the May bilateral talks, or the discussion did…
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Reform/renewal of the U.N.
In the wake of a number of scandals involving the United Nations, some in the United States are calling for Washington to withhold part or all of the dues it pays to the U.N. as its share of the world body’s budget. The chief of staff of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, speaking before a…
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Luis Posada Carriles
Editor’s summary Caracas wants the United States to extradite Posada to Venezuela, where he is wanted for allegedly masterminding the bombing of a Cuban aircraft as it took off from Venezuela. Seventy-three people were killed in the incident. Declassifed U.S. documents show that Posada, 77, was a CIA informant in the 1960s and 70s. A…
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Nobel laureates meet for peace
Editor’s summary Peace and security — and the fight against terrorism — were the underlying themes of the Petra Nobel Laureates conference, hosted by Jordan’s King Abdullah II and attended by several Israelis, including Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, according to a report from the scene by UPI International Editor Claude Salhani. Addressing the Israeli-Palestinian dispute,…
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