Uskowi on Iran - اسکویی در باره ایران: elections

Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Hong Kong Protests Spread

Opposing Plans to Create Committee to Screen Out Candidates for City Leadership

Thousands have taken to the streets in Hong Kong, with clashes between pro-democracy protesters and the authorities escalating. The police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowds that have besieged the city government headquarters since Friday. The protesters oppose the planned electoral changes introduced by Beijing, which would set up a committee dominated by functionaries loyal to the Chinese government to screen out candidates for the post the city’s chief executive. Pro-democracy groups call the proposal a mockery of the election.

The South China Morning Post reported today that the authorities were struggling to cope with sheer number of protesters, with some of the city’s busiest thoroughfares paralyzed. The Occupy Central, the most prominent groups fighting against the planned electoral changes, said additional protesters are pushing their way to join the main protest site at Tamar Park. The police have arrested nearly 100 protesters since Friday.

Occupy organizer Benny Tai Yiu-ting told the Morning Post “no one would be able to stop the campaign now… It would only end when the current chief executive steps down and the Beijing government retracts it decision.” (South China Morning Post, 28 September)

Photo credit: Protesters rally against planned electoral changes in Hong Kong; 28 September 2014 (Top photo: The South China Morning Post; Bottom photo: Getty Images)

Beijing Coverage of Hong Kong today:
China News reports: "Hong Kong people enjoy green space and sunshine."

Photo credit: China News/Twitter/ianbremmer, 28 September 2014

Friday, January 24, 2014

FM Zarif's position on Syria at Davos

According to Associated Press:

Iran's foreign minister called Friday for foreign fighters to leave Syria so that its people can decide their future themselves.

Speaking on a panel discussion about the Middle East at the World Economic Forum, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran also wants to see an end to foreign support for opponents of President Bashar Assad's government and recognition by all sides that there can be no military solution to the conflict. He said Tehran hoped for a negotiated settlement.

Syria claimed from the start that its current conflict has been a fight against armed groups involving foreign fighters. For a considerable time this was a matter of dispute but no more. The foreign fighter, Al-Qaeda affiliated threat has now spread like spilled milk, from Iraq to Syria and now Syria to Iraq, where Iraqi Army and security forces are now engaging ISIL fighters in Anbar province. Akwardly, United States policy finds itself supporting Iraq's fight while working against Syria's fight, in the two Middle Eastern countrys' conflict with the same enemy.

A line of disagreement between Iran/Russia and the United States lies on the issue of including President Assad running in elections that are said to take place in 2014. The Iran/Russia position states that the Syrian electorate should be allowed the opportunity to vote for Assad and his government in a free and fair election, while the American and Western allied position maintains Assad must be excluded. It's this Iran position that prompted the American demand that the UN retract its invitation to Iran for attendance at the Geneva II talks.