Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
Uzbek authorities claim 30 killed, while others say as many as 500 Dozens of questions surround the recent events in Uzbekistan, from who was behind the violent 13 May protest in Andijon, to why security forces opened fire, to how many people were killed. Those questions may take more time to answer fully. But one certainty is that the violence poses one of the toughest challenges yet to Uzbekistan's authoritarian ruler, Islam Karimov. [For more on these events, see RFE/RL's dedicated webpage: Unrest in Uzbekistan --> /specials/uzbek_unrest/ ]
Iran's Hassan Rohani (file photo) The stakes are rising in the world's two nuclear-arms crises. North Korea says it is using a nuclear reactor to produce weapons-grade material and plans to expand its atomic arsenal. And Iran says it may resume some suspended activities Washington says could be used to produce bomb-making material in the future. RFE/RL looks at the latest challenges to hopes of limiting global nuclear proliferation and how the international community is responding.
U.S. troops are engaged in one of their largest offensives against insurgents since last year's incursion into Al-Fallujah as they attack rebel strongholds in west-central Iraq. The campaign is producing some surprises, including signs that the rebel fighters are better trained and equipped than in previous engagements. That raises new questions about how much progress Washington and Baghdad are making in the now two-year-old effort to quell the insurgency.
Kurdish peshmergas in Iraq number in the tens of thousands (file photo) Iraqi insurgents have carried out one of their deadliest attacks to date in the heart of Kurdish-administered northern Iraq. The bomb attack yesterday killed some 60 people the day after Iraq swore in a new government that gives the Kurds their most prominent role ever in national politics. So is the insurgent attack a direct challenge to the Kurds' resurgence and how will the Kurds respond?
Iraqi oil wells Much of the focus on Iraq these days concerns efforts to form a new government. But day-to-day life is ruled more by economic and security problems than political issues. Billions of dollars have been pledged or allocated for projects to revitalize Iraq's economy, but relatively little has so far been spent.
IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei (left) and Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi. (file photo) The United States says Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says it is not. But the task of inspecting Iran's nuclear sites falls to the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The heart of that international inspection effort is a laboratory complex near Vienna, Austria. That's where the IAEA examines samples of materials taken from Iranian facilities to determine whether Tehran is engaged in a purely peaceful pursuit of nuclear technology. RFE/RL recently visited the facility to learn more about how the IAEA monitors Iran's nuclear activities.
When Iraq was ruled by Saddam Hussein and was under United Nations sanctions, malnutrition in children was a major concern. To help offset the danger, the UN instituted the oil-for-food program to deliver supplementary food to Iraqi families under a ration system. Now, two years after the toppling of Saddam and the lifting of sanctions, one might expect the threat of malnutrition to have disappeared. But UN surveys show it still exists.
One of Washington's stated priorities in Iraq is the handover of responsibility for security in that country to the new Iraqi army. Recently, U.S. forces took a major step in that direction by turning over the job of patrolling some of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods to Iraqi soldiers. The transfer is intended to test the new army's abilities and reduce the presence of U.S. forces on the capital's streets. But while the Iraqi army is becoming more visible in Baghdad, it remains a fledgling force. RFE/RL looks at the progress of the Iraqi army to date and some of the challenges it faces.
There are signs that the difficult process of forming a new Iraqi government may finally be nearing an end. The two biggest blocs in Iraq's new National Assembly – the Shi’a and the Kurds – are signaling they now agree on the candidates for most top positions, and have only a few remaining issues to resolve.
Will current Prime minister Iyad Allawi continue as a caretaker for the forseeable future? So far, about the only thing that Iraq's political parties have been able to agree on is that the newly elected National Assembly should convene by 16 March. But even that decision did not come easily. The new legislature's first meeting has already been put off twice. Yet it is still uncertain whether the parties will be able to come to the first assembly meeting with an accord on who will fill senior posts in the new government.
Public opinion against Italian participation in Iraq continues to grow Italy is burying secret service agent Nicola Calipari today. Calipari was killed on 4 March by fire from U.S. forces as he escorted Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad airport immediately after she was freed by militant captors. The fatal shooting has shocked the Italian public, in part because it spoiled what appeared to be a happy ending to Sgrena’s one-month captivity.
Iraqi Kurds with Kurdish flag (file photo) Iraqi Kurds are stepping up pressure for the country to become a federation in the wake of their strong showing in the January elections. The Kurds now are the second largest bloc in Iraq's National Assembly and have emerged as the swing-vote that both contenders for prime minister are courting.
Iraqi Kurds with Kurdish flag (file photo) Iraqi Kurds have won a majority of seats on the provincial council for the northern region that includes the tense, ethnically diverse city of Kirkuk. The oil-rich area is home to Kurds, to Turkomans, and to several hundred thousand Arabs settled in the north of Iraq by Saddam Hussein. In the runup to the local vote, the rival ethnic groups fought bitterly over whether displaced Kurds returning to Kirkuk would be allowed to cast their ballots, and all sides threatened boycotts to press their points. Now, as the dust settles, can Kirkuk's different groups put their disputes behind them?
Al-Sistani's Shi'ite bloc has emerged with a strong hand (file photo) A largely Shi'ite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, has won the most seats in the country's new National Assembly. But its victory in the 30 January elections appears to have left it with only a slim majority, meaning it now must find allies to form a viable ruling coalition. The challenge sets the stage for some lively political jockeying ahead.
Vote counting is still going on for Iraq's 30 January election. Election officials in Iraq say they have all but finished counting the ballots from Iraq’s 30 January vote for a National Assemby. But the Independent Election Commission says the announcement of the final results could still be a few days away.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (file photo) Condoleezza Rice is getting a warm reception on her first European tour as U.S. secretary of state. Rice is signaling that Washington wants to put an end to trans-Atlantic feuding over divisive issues like Iraq and develop new initiatives in partnership with the European Union. But as European leaders welcome her overtures, and many observers react positively to her personal charm, finding new common ground is far from assured. The centerpiece of her message is that Europe and the United States should make the pursuit of "global freedom" their top joint priority in the 21st century. Until now, many Europeans have accused the United States of using just that argument to justify pursuing a unilateral foreign policy. Are things about to change?
Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is closely linked to the United Iraqi Alliance The vote counting is far from over in Iraq more than a week after the elections for the National Assembly. But with many results in from Shi’a-populated areas of southern Iraq, it increasingly appears that one of the strongest groupings to emerge from the vote will be the United Iraqi Alliance, endorsed by pre-eminent Shi’a cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Some top Shi’a clerics are now making it clear they want to see the Shi’a religious parties that make up much of the alliance use their position to assure that Islamic law gets a prominent place in the new Iraqi constitution.
Kurdish flag (file photo) The main Kurdish political coalition competing for seats in the National Assembly has nominated Jalal Talabani as its choice to be Iraq's next interim president or prime minister. The move comes as Iraqi Kurds prepare to press demands for a future federal Iraq in which the Kurdish-administered region of northern Iraq retains its considerable powers of autonomy.
Voter turnout may have been smaller than originally believed (file photo) Iraq’s official election results could still be a week away as ballot counting continues. But fears are increasing that representation in Sunni areas -- where insurgents have been most active -- could be too low to assure the community is adequately represented in the National Assembly. Iraqi leaders are now scrambling to assure the Sunnis they will have a place in the new order.
Women preparing to vote yesterday in Al-Najaf Prague, 31 January 2005 -- As the world welcomes the success of the Iraq election, many details of the voting remain unclear, including just how many voters actually participated.
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