Rene Wadlow, Author at Toward Freedom

Sri Lanka: Efforts to Overcome a New Cycle of Violence

Rene Wadlow January 17, 2008 Rene Wadlow

Sri Lankan Special Task Force

On January 8, 2008, the Sri Lankan Minister for Nation Building, DM Dassanayake was killed when his convoy was hit by a powerful roadside bomb blast, allegedly planted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) near the capital, Colombo. The killing follows the murder of LTTE's Political wing chief S.P. Tamilselvam and the Intelligence wing chief "Colonel" Charles by the Sri Lankan security forces. On New Year's Day, a Tamil Parliamentarian Thiagarajah Maleswaran was assassinated inside a Hindu temple in Colombo. These deaths bring Sri Lanka's escalating conflict into sharp focus.

Death in Pakistan Politics

Rene Wadlow January 3, 2008 Rene Wadlow

Benazir Bhutto

The continued mastery of death in Pakistan politics was evident in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007 after her electoral campaign speech at Liaquat Square. The square is named after the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, who was assassinated in 1953. Liaquat Square is close to the Rawalpindi jail where Benazir's father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged in 1979. The jailhouse has now been torn down least it become a pilgrimage goal for devoted members of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) which Zulfikar Bhutto headed.

A Gaza Development Corporation

Rene Wadlow December 18, 2007 Rene Wadlow

Destruction in Palestine

On December 17, 2007, eighty seven states, the United Nations Secretariat, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund met in Paris for a one-day international funding conference for the Palestinian Authority. $7.4 billion was pledged over a three-year period - $3.44 billion for 2008. The conference, planned well in advance, comes shortly after the Annapolis meeting whose aim was to restart serious Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that would lead to the creation of a sustainable Palestinian state by the end of President Bush's term in 2008. Financing an economic recovery and development program for Palestine is an obvious need for the creation of a state. However, it is often easier to raise funds than to spend them in ways that promote the desired ends.

Post Annapolis: A Road Ahead?

Rene Wadlow December 3, 2007 Rene Wadlow

There was a high level of scepticism - not to say cynicism - concerning the outcome of the November 27th conference on Israel-Palestine in Annapolis. There were a few photo-ops but no memorable photos that I have seen. All the chief actors in this play had different motivations and different interests to advance. If the aim of the meeting were really a settlement of the key final status issues between Israel and Palestine and the creation of a Palestinian state, a trip to Washington and a car ride to Annapolis would have been unnecessary.

Pakistan: It Could Get Very Messy

Rene Wadlow November 20, 2007 Rene Wadlow

Musharraf

A November 11, 2007 report in the Washington Post stated that the United States has developed contingency plans to safeguard Pakistani nuclear weapons if they risk falling into the wrong hands. The newspaper quotes an unnamed former US official as saying "If an attempt were made by the US to seize the weapons to prevent their loss, it could be very messy." Even without US Special Forces tramping around Pakistan looking for nuclear weapons and long-range delivery systems, the situation can get very messy.

Citizen Diplomacy of Women: The New Cycle Begins

Rene Wadlow November 7, 2007 Rene Wadlow

On 31 October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted unanimously Resolution 1325 (2000) urging "Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts." Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security was the first time that the UN Security Council acknowledged that women play a key role in promoting sustainable peace and stressed the participation of women in peace processes from the prevention of conflict, to negotiations, to post-war reconstruction and reconciliation.