International Press Review
22
May
2011
Press review: Obama and the Middle East
This week's press review is dedicated to president Obama's second speach adressing the Middle East and North Africa, held at the State Department in Washington DC on May 19th, 2011. The previous adress was made in Cairo on June 4th, 2009, and was aimed at addressing the (perceived) "gap" which had been parting the United States of America and the Arab world. In this adress, president Obama sent clear messages to many governments leaders in the region; but also and maybe for the first time in history, a president of United States directly addressed the Arab people.
20
April
2011
Press review: The Portuguese debt crisis
6% interest rates for a year; 9% for 10 years… No highly indebted and economically stagnating country could have made it. Add to this a profoundly divided political landscape on the measures to be taken to tackle the crisis – and incapable to agree on whether or not to involve the IMF in the rescue plan.
Unable to refinance its debt on the markets, Portugal finally saw in to ask for an emergency help from Europe and the International Monetary Fund. The European Stability Fund has unlocked 90 billion Euros to help out the Portuguese economy. Who will nevertheless have to go through a drastic austerity cure.
Portugal’s case is nevertheless not comparable to the Greek waste. Agreed, Portugal’s deficit is abysmal (8.6% of GDP). And Portuguese debt has just been lowered by international rating agencies, just one notch above “junk”.
What we are seeing here is not a debt crisis per se. Rather, we are seeing the consequences of markets loosing trust. Portuguese fundamentals are just as shaky as those of its neighbors. France, Spain, Italy and Great Britain are struggling with unbearable levels of debt. An example that its Western counterparts should urgently think about.Â
28
March
2011
Revue de presse: intervention en Lybie et la résolution 1973
Contenu pas encore disponible
Depuis le 15 février, touchée à son tour par le mouvement de contestation dans le monde arabe, la Libye se soulève contre Mouammar Kadhafi. Face à l'opposition grandissante dans les villes, le Colonel Kadhafi choisit d’utiliser les armes pour mater les protestations. Le mouvement d'opposition se transforme alors en véritable insurrection contre le régime, notamment mais pas seulement dans l'Est libyen, dont la 2ème plus grande ville du pays, Benghazi. Les territoires rebelles s'organisent et un Conseil National de Transition est créé le 27 février. Mais du 10 au 17 mars l’Armée loyaliste gagne rapidement du terrain face à une opposition sporadique, inexpérimentée et totalement sous-équipée.
La résolution 1973 de l'ONU a été votée jeudi 17 mars au Conseil de Sécurité avec 10 voix pour et 5 abstentions.
23
March
2011
Press review: a historic Royal speech on March 9th
This week' press review is dedicated to a purely Moroccan topic, a direct consequence of a broader regional and international movement. King Muhammad the VIth has delivered on March 9th a speech which marks a shift in the institutional organization of the Kingdom of Morocco, a clear step away from the way it has been run in the past.
03
July
2010
Afghanistan: The New El Dorado?
On June 14, 2010, the New York Times announced the discovery in Afghanistan of billions of dollars in natural resources. This announcement comes after numerous geological studies, started under the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, were completed by the American government. According to an internal Pentagon memo, thanks to these mineral deposits of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and lithium, Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of Lithium” (a key material in the production of batteries and electronics). Jalil Jumriany, an advisor to the Afghan Minister of Mines, claims that “the minerals will become the backbone of the Afghan economy.”
03
July
2010
What conclusions can be drawn from the UN’s 2010 report on the Millennium Development Goals?
The UN’s Millennium Goals ought to be reached by 2015. However, the 2010 UN report draws a much darker picture of their current achievement status. According to the report, the most encouraging results have been made in fighting poverty and providing education and water. However, little progress has been made in fighting famine or ensuring gender equality and women empowerment. “Le Monde” states that only Objective 1 of the MDGs, which seeks to half the proportion of people living with less than a dollar a day between 1990 and 2015, will be completed. Nevertheless, this progress is not geographically equal: Asia appears to have reached the target, but Sub-Saharan Africa is far from this same success.
18
June
2010
Attack targeting opponents of constitutional reform in Kenya
On June 13, 2010, an attack hit an election rally led by opponents of constitutional reform in Kenya. The latest sources confirm that five people were killed and 130 were injured. This attack occurred less than two months before the upcoming August 4th constitutional referendum. The rally was organized by the Church, which opposes the draft’s support of abortion and the maintenance of Shari’a law in Islamic courts in matters of private law.
18
June
2010
New sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear program
On June 9, 2010, for the fourth time in less than five years, the UN Security Council passed sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. These sanctions were immediately denounced and rejected by the Iranian president, Mr. Ahmadinejad. The new sanctions were passed by twelve of the fifteen Security Council members. Lebanon abstained, and Turkey and Brazil, who signed a uranium exchange agreement with Iran at the end of May 2010, voted against it. In an article in the International Herald Tribune, Celso Amorim, the Foreign Minister of Brazil, explained Brazil’s stance on the issue.
