Word: civilizations
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Whatever the final outcome of the cases, the deaths of Litvinenko and Politkovskaya have chilled Russia's already frosty civil society, and revived memories most Russians would prefer to forget. Back in the bad old days of Soviet rule, fear was prevalent. People who spoke up against Kremlin authoritarianism knew what to expect: harassment, isolation, imprisonment and worse. Most people dared to grumble only in the relative safety of their own kitchens, but a hardy few - advocates of freedom such as Andrei Sakharov and Natan Sharansky - made their dissent public...
Partitioning Iraq is a recipe for disaster. The civil war in Iraq could expand to engulf the whole region. No current or future government in Turkey would condone the emergence of a separate Kurdish entity in northern Iraq, as that would inflame the separatist tendencies of Turkey's Kurdish population. Arguments in favor of partitioning Iraq are neoimperialist and do nothing beneficial for the region...
Whether or not anyone in the Kremlin had targeted Litvinenko, his death, coming just weeks after the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in her Moscow apartment block, has sent a subzero chill over Russia's already frosty civil society. Human-rights campaigners and other Putin critics see the killing as the latest blow to democracy and free speech, part of a steady erosion of civil liberties. Russian democracy was chaotically vibrant just a decade ago, after the collapse of communism in 1991. But these days it is looking fragile. New legislation annuls independent candidates for the Duma (parliament...
Without an army to keep the peace, a quick withdrawal would doom the country to chaos at best, and several years of violent civil war at worst. The balance of power inside Iraq is such that a withdrawal in the short term would strengthen the Administration's other nemesis in the region, Iran, at a time when Tehran is ignoring the world's objections and is suspected of steaming ahead with plans to build a nuclear bomb. "If the U.S. withdraws, Iran takes over," says Medhi al-Hafedh, one of Iraq's most respected politicians. "The Americans have...
...Iraq descends into a full-scale civil war, the face of the country is changing forever. Sectarian violence is forcing people from their homes, cleansing mixed neighborhoods and carving the country into ethnic enclaves. Since February, sectarian violence has forced more than 418,000 people to move, according to the most recent estimates by the International Organization for Migration. The real figures are probably much higher, since many go unregistered by the government or aid agencies as they find refuge with relatives, drift into makeshift camps or settle into homes previously occupied by members of another sect...