Robert Parsons

September 21, 2005

Ukraine: Former Prime Minister Offers President Olive Branch

Yushchenko and Tymoshenko in better times (file photo) The former prime minister of Ukraine, Yuliya Tymoshenko -- who was sacked along with her government by President Viktor Yushchenko two weeks ago -- says she is willing to form a new government in the interests of national stability. Tymoshenko and Yushchenko were the twin leaders of the Orange Revolution and close allies until they fell out earlier this month. Tymoshenko's gesture comes as Yushchenko faces a government crisis after parliament yesterday (20 September) rejected his candidate to replace Tymoshenko as prime minister.

September 20, 2005

Uzbekistan: Rights Groups Urge Andijon Investigation

The Andijon violence in May Two leading human rights organizations have criticized the government of Uzbekistan, accusing it covering up the killing of hundreds of civilians in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijon last May. As the trial began on 20 September in Uzbekistan of 15 people accused by the authorities of involvement in the Andijon events, London-based Amnesty International and New York-based Human Rights Watch called on the United States and the European Union to increase pressure for an international investigation into what really happened.

September 16, 2005

Russia: New State Channel Goes Global In English

Under President Putin, national television has come under complete government control Russia has begun test broadcasts of a new 24-hour English-language satellite TV news channel, aimed at presenting a more positive image of Russia throughout the world. The channel, which is called Russia Today, is to broadcast to North America, Europe, and Asia. It has a staff of over 300, a budget of $30 million and broadcasts with a distinctly British accent.

September 15, 2005

Iraq: Al-Qaeda Claims Responsibility For Bombing Offensive

Mus'ab al-Zarqawi (file photo) A wave of car bombings continues in Iraq, where at least 23 Iraqis died in explosions today. Those attacks follow a devastating rash of suicide car bombings and shootings in Iraq yesterday that killed around 150 people and wounded several hundred more. Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the carnage, saying the attacks were intended to avenge the recent offensive by Iraqi and U.S. forces against insurgents in the northern city of Tal Afar. And, in a separate development, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, purportedly declared war against Shi'a throughout Iraq in an audiotape released on the Internet.

September 14, 2005

Ukraine: Yushchenko Accuses Former Prime Minister Of Misuse of Power

Viktor Yushchenko (file photo) Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has hit back at Yuliya Tymoshenko, his former ally and fellow figurehead of the Orange Revolution, accusing her of abusing her position. He said his decision to dismiss Tymoshenko, along with her cabinet, was a "matter of honor." She has countered that Yushchenko fears her popularity and says she will now stand against him in next March's parliamentary elections.

September 08, 2005

U.S.: Congress Agrees To Bipartisan Katrina Inquiry

The leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have agreed to set up a joint congressional committee to investigate the response at all levels to Hurricane Katrina. Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton has suggested the inquiry operate along the lines of the bipartisan commission that examined the 11 September 2001 attacks. U.S. President George W. Bush had earlier proposed that he lead his own review, an idea that was mocked by critics, who say he should take much of the blame for the post-Katrina chaos. According to poll results published yesterday, 42 percent of Americans rate Bush's handling of the crisis as "bad" or "terrible." The president, meanwhile, is seeking $50 billion in emergency aid from Congress.

September 05, 2005

Russia: Putin Replaces Navy Chief

The failed rescue of the 'Kursk' helped sink Kuroedov's career Russian President Vladimir Putin has relieved of duty Fleet Admiral Vladimir Kuroedov, who has led the Russian Navy since 1997. Putin did not say why he had made his decision to replace Admiral Kuroedov, but the Russian Navy is undergoing an acute crisis and many hold him at least partly responsible for its decline. Kuroedov was criticized for his handling of the "Kursk" submarine tragedy in 2000, Russia's worst peacetime military disaster. And just a month ago he was under fire again, when seven Russian sailors trapped in a crippled mini-submarine were only saved with help from abroad.

September 02, 2005

UK: In Video, Ringleader Of London Bombings Blames British Foreign Policy

Mohammed Sidique Khan, the man believed to be the ringleader of the 7 July suicide bomb attacks in London, which killed 52 people, appeared in a video broadcast yesterday by the Arabic-language television station Al-Jazeera. In a chilling message, Khan described himself as a soldier and warned that British civilians were legitimate targets because of the policies of their government, including its support for the war in Iraq. The station also broadcast another video in which the second in command of the Al-Qaeda terror network, Ayman al-Zawahiri, described the London attacks as a slap to the face of British arrogance. The videos lend support to the theory that Al-Qaeda masterminded the attacks.

September 02, 2005

World: Muslims In The West -- Young People Struggling To Cope With Social Exclusion, Deprivation, Discrimination (Part 2)

Muslims leaders after the London bombing Britain is still struggling to come to terms with this summer's bombings in London, which killed more than 50 people. The attacks were perpetrated by Muslim extremists. But three out of the four suicide bombers were born in Britain. That fact has focused renewed attention on Britain's 1.5-million strong Muslim community -- from the contented, to the disaffected, to the radical. In a three-part series, RFE/RL profiles members from each of these segments of the population. In Part 2, RFE/RL spoke to disaffected young Muslims in London about their lives, and to those who are trying to help them cope.

August 12, 2005

Russia/Poland: Assaults Add New Sour Note To Rivalry

Two attacks have taken place just outside the Polish Embassy in Moscow Three Russian teenagers mugged in a Polish park, two Polish diplomatic personnel and a journalist beaten up and hospitalized in Moscow -- politically motivated assaults or random criminal acts? Whatever the case, they are at the center of a sharp deterioration in Russian-Polish relations. Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed outrage at the assault on the Russian children, and Poland has hinted that it sees the attack on its nationals as something other than the work of hooligans.

August 11, 2005

Pakistan: Islamabad Test-Fires Cruise Missile, Igniting Fears Of New Arms Race

Pakistan says it has test-fired its first cruise missile capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons. Cruise missiles fly close to the ground and are able to slip beneath most antimissile systems. There are fears that the test could undermine Pakistan's relations with India, which have been on an upturn in recent months. Pakistan gave no advance warning of the launch, despite agreeing with India just a few days ago to give advance warning of future ballistic-missile tests.

August 10, 2005

Pakistan: Musharraf Tells Britain To Get Its Own House In Order

Students studying at a madrasah in Islamabad The president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, has hit back at critics who claim the 7 July London bombers drew their ideological inspiration from extremists and religious schools, or madrasahs, in Pakistan. At least two of the bombers had visited Pakistan in the months before the attacks. In the aftermath of the deadly attacks, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on Pakistan to crack down on extremist madrasahs. But Musharraf said that Britain would be best to put its own house in order before criticizing others. He also said he is surprised that Britain has not done more to crack down on its own radical Islamic clerics.

August 08, 2005

Russia: Is Economic Confidence Returning After The Yukos Scandal?

The Russian stock market has soared this month against a background of growing foreign investment and hopes that the government may have put the Yukos affair behind it. International confidence was badly dented by the breakup of the oil company and the arrest and imprisonment of its high-profile chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovskii, both of which were widely perceived to have been politically motivated. The fall of Yukos, once regarded as the best and most transparently run company in Russia, appeared to signal a further weakening of property rights in Russia. Paradoxically, though, while foreign investment is growing, figures released this month by the Russian government show domestic confidence in the economy is falling. Capital flight from Russia is mounting fast.

July 29, 2005

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Wife Of Ex-Bosnian Serb Leader Urges Him To Surrender

Ljiljana Karadzic in a 1998 photo The wife of one of the most hunted men in Europe, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, has called on him to surrender to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Hague. Speaking on Bosnian Serb TV, Ljiljana Karadzic said she was making the appeal for the sake of their family. Karadzic, who is wanted on charges of genocide, has been on the run for 10 years.

July 27, 2005

U.K.: British Police Arrest Four Suspects In London Bombings

Shepherds Bush following the 21 July attempted bombings British police investigating the failed bomb attacks in London of 21 July arrested four men at two different addresses in England's second-largest city of Birmingham today. A police spokesman said that one of the four had been shot with a Taser stun gun and that a suspicious package had been found. There were unconfirmed reports that one of those detained could have been involved in last week's bomb attacks.

July 22, 2005

U.K.: London Subway Shooting Comes As Terrorist Manhunt Continues

British security services are exploring possible links between the 7 and 21 July bombings Plainclothes British policemen have shot dead what eyewitnesses are describing as a young Asian man during an incident in a London underground station. The officers reportedly pursued the man onto a train, according to eyewitnesses, before forcing him to the ground and shooting him, amid unconfirmed reports he was a suspected suicide bomber. The incident comes as an intensive manhunt is under way in Britain after four more bombs were found in three London underground stations and a bus on Thursday.

July 21, 2005

U.K.: Britain Searches For Response To London Bombings

Muslims praying in central London after the 7 July bombings As Britain recovers from the shock of the London bombings of 7 July, the government has announced it is broadening its powers to prevent the entry into the country of people it thinks may incite trouble. At the same time, a group of senior Muslim leaders has set up a taskforce to take the pulse of the Islamic community in Britain. Many community leaders, however, believe its members are too cut off from ordinary Muslims to understand their problems.

July 18, 2005

U.K.: Britain Mulls New Measures In War On Terror

A Muslim girl holds a poster showing one of the London bombings British Prime Minister Tony Blair is meeting representatives of the Muslim community in Britain today and the leaders of the opposition parties to discuss the details of proposed new antiterrorism legislation. The government plans to hold a series of consultative meetings this week on a bill that will make it illegal to prepare, train, and incite acts of terror. The move comes against a background of the continuing investigation into the London bombings on 7 July.

July 15, 2005

Chechnya: Senior Commander Tells RFE/RL, 'No Alternative To Armed Struggle'

Senior Chechen field commander Doku Umarov told RFE/RL that he can see no alternative to armed struggle with Russia. Umarov, who is also vice president of the rebel forces fighting against Russia, spoke to RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Andrei Babitskii at a mountain camp in Chechnya. He insisted too that despite losses among the Chechen leadership, there was a constant supply of younger men ready to take their place.

July 11, 2005

U.K.: Hunt Goes On For Clues In London Bombings

Security is beefed up in London today The search goes on in London for those responsible for the 7 July bombings. Forensic experts are still sifting meticulously through the debris left by the explosions -- a painstaking, time-consuming task at a moment when time may be of the essence. The prevailing view among security experts and the police is that the attacks, which killed at least 52 people, were not the work of suicide bombers and that those who did it are still there and may be planning new attacks.