AMMAN -- The hijacking of a giant Saudi supertanker by Somali pirates has sparked international concern about the seriousness of this growing problem, as world powers wrestle with how to counter professional, seafaring buccaneers from a lawless state.
The world financial crisis which began in the United States and then spread much like a California brush fire to the rest of the globe is sparing no region of the world and leaving no industry untouched. From the Americas to Europe to the Middle East and to the Far East, economies are falling down like the proverbial house of cards.
EDITORIAL
A new Chatham House paper warns that if left unchecked, piracy, smuggling and violent jihad would flourish, with implications for the security of shipping routes, the transit of oil through the Suez Canal and the internal security of Yemens neighbors. The paper titled "Yemen: Fear or Failure," the journalist and film-maker Ginny Hill says future instability in the region has the potential of spreading from northern Kenya, through Somalia and the Gulf of Aden, to Saudi Arabia.
OPINION
ISTANBUL / ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan and Turkey stand at a crossroads in their political evolutions. The democratically elected Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Pakistan control both the presidencies and parliaments of their countries, ostensibly making them among the strongest elected governments in each of their respective histories.
The situation of the civilian population in Gaza continues to deteriorate, after Israel imposed tighter sanctions on the people of Gaza, as a result of continuing rocket fire into Israeli towns. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to lift the blockade, saying that "food and other life saving assistance is being denied to hundreds of thousands of people." What is evident is that people should not be made peons in a difficult political situation.
