Archive for May, 2010
05 9th, 2010
Hard on the heels of disenfranchisement complaints by thousands of British voters locked out of polling stations, comes this view of election monitors from the developing world. The British voting system is less secure than their own and possibly the most vulnerable to corruption in the world. “I was shocked by the lack of checks,” commented Lisa Hanna, a Jamaican member of parliament.
As corroboration – no-one checked my identity when I cast my vote. I was only asked my name and address.
05 8th, 2010
One way to celebrate a hung parliament election is to head to the Albert Hall to listen to American Pie sung by Don McClean. His thoughts on the election: “I only hope who that whoever wins has held a real job.”
05 7th, 2010
R. James Woolsey, former CIA director, has given a warning in the International Herald Tribune on President Obama’s quest fo nuclear disarmament:-
From a standpoint of a Syria, Iran or North Korea, the fact that the United States is holding out a dream of zero nuclear weapons and foreswearing modernization even as they progress toward their own weapons makes the US look more like a weak horse.
For these reasons, I’m afraid that enemies of the US, some of whom have relations to terrorist groups, will be more, not less, inclined to move toward obtaining nuclear weapons.
05 7th, 2010
The BBC reports that inquiry will be held after hundreds of voters were turned away from polling stations and police called to deal with queues as the voting deadline passed. The Electoral Commission announced a “thorough review”. Voters said they were “fuming” and “very unhappy”.
05 5th, 2010
At least $300m (£200m) is paid in bribes at checkpoints in Ivory Coast each year, a business leader tells BBC Online. Chamber of Commerce President Jean-Louis Billon said he blamed “mafias” operating within both the army and the former rebel New Forces, who still control northern Ivory Coast, for the extortion racket.
The Ivory Coast collapsed into civil war in 2002. Its people used to enjoy the highest living standards in West Africa.
05 4th, 2010
In is weekly column, Harlan Ullman of the Atlantic Council writes about a new specter that is haunting the world with great vengeance.
“Today’s specter is bad governance,” he writes. “Bad governance tops the list of the real and potential disasters facing virtually all states. Unless or until this failing can be addressed, resolving other issues will be difficult if not impossible.”
05 4th, 2010
James Lindsay and Ray Takeyh writing in Foreign Affairs outline brilliantly the long term options facing Western democracies should Iran develop a nuclear weapon. “Containment would be neither a perfect nor a foolproof policy,” they write.
