Word: referendums
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...speech delivered in Shona, he denounced white farmers as "our enemies, not just political enemies, but definite enemies in wanting to reverse our revolution and our independence." Mugabe's remarks, which come amid rising tensions brought on by the land invasions his government initiated after losing a February referendum that would have given him the power to seize white-owned farms without compensation, are likely to inflame an already volatile situation...
...Texas and California became the first states to do away with minority quotas in their university systems - California by referendum, Texas by federal court order. Instead, the states adopted a policy of accepting into the system all students who finish within a certain percentile of their high school graduating class. On Wednesday, in a report to Congress, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission gave this practice an official thumbs-down, calling it an inadequate replacement for affirmative action. But why should we care that a commission with no real legislative powers spoke out against a policy that exists only in three...
...Israeli public's most sensitive nerve. In recent weeks, the official Syrian press--the mouthpiece of the regime--compared the Jewish state to Nazi Germany and denied the Holocaust. To further alienate Israelis, Syria has stepped up support for the terrorist group Hezbollah. Barak has promised his people a referendum should he reach an agreement with his Syrian interlocutors, but these statements, coupled with Syrian-backed violence in Lebanon, harden the Israeli electorate against a peace treaty with Syria and make it increasingly difficult for Barak to sell a future peace to his own people. Syria's reckless statements that...
...past thirty years, the shrewd Syrian leader has defined himself as the Middle East's cold calculator par excellence, and there is no exception here. Assad is well aware of the fact that his actions hinder Barak's ability to muster Israeli public support in a future referendum. The Sphinx of Damascus is up to something...
Even so, Assad's intentions may yet be more Machiavellian. Perhaps Assad is engaging in behavior repugnant to Israelis precisely because it may sabotage a future referendum. For Assad, a scenario in which an Israeli plebiscite rejects a peace agreement signed by the Syrian and Israeli governments is ideal. In such a case, Syria reaps the benefits of peace and avoids the destabilizing effects of normalization with the Jewish state. On the one hand, Assad will claim he has crossed the Rubicon for peace and rightfully deserves full financial and international political support. That Israel chose not to accept...