by Dominique de Wit
by Timothy W Coleman
by George Grevet
by Margaret Alston and Aurangzaib Alamgir
Copyright 2012 by International Policy Digest
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International Policy Digest
Volume I Issue XI
by Margaret Alston and
by Dominique de Wit
by Timothy W Coleman
by George Grevet
Damned by Riches: How Afghanistan's Mineral Wealth Undermines NATO Mis ion by Nathan Wiliam Meyer
The G-20 and India: Was India Vindicated? by Dr. Sudhanshu Tripathi
Subtracting from Rio+20: The Continuing Problem by Binoy Kampmark
Rio+20 Summit: Humanity and the Environment by Sudhanshu Tripathi
The Moral Obligation Next Door by Michael W Edghil
The Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian Democracy by Esam Al-Amin
Israel: Set ler Violence Of ers Netanyahu Peace Pivot by Sam Sus man
Syria One - Turkey Zero: For Now by Conn M Halinan
No Solution for Europe without Reaf irming the Lisbon Strategy by Dr. Anis Bajrektarevic
The Eurozone Stil Faces Several Chal enges by Marshal Auerback
Angela Merkel's Nein Problem by George Grevet
June 15th - 30th
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International Policy Digest
Volume I Issue XI
By Margaret Alston and Aurangzaib Alamgir
justification of the subordination of women and discrimination
he mostly Muslim nation of Malaysia has always walked a against them. Yet their ef orts are constrained by religious norms that
fine line betwe n protecting the rights of Malay women and make even basic women's rights appear radical.
acknowledging the role that Islam plays in the daily lives of its
One Malaysian civil society group that has sought to chalenge
citizens. Yet many of the obstacles facing Malaysian society the long-held view that Muslim women should be subservient,
disproportionately af ect women. These include endemic poverty, submis ive and should not have equal rights has be n Sisters-in-Islam
human traf icking, environmental degradation, a rise in the numbers (SIS).
of refuge s, civil unrest, crime and a resurgent Islamic movement.
SIS exists as a group of profes ional women who promote
Nonetheles in this mostly Muslim country of nearly 30 milion women's rights within the framework of Islam. SIS believes that
people, by comparison with other Islamic nations, the fight for Islam does not endorse the oppres ion of women and that Islam has
greater protection of Malaysian women's rights has had some be n misinterpreted in the justification of the cultural practices that
suc es .
make women inferior and subordinate to men.
This balance betwe n a secular and sectarian society has largely
For fundamentalists, SIS has be n criticized that its agendas are
be n the result of Malaysia's former prime minister, Mahathir the product of Western tradition, which is not transferable to Islam.
Mohamad. In contrast to Malaysia's largest neighbor, Indonesia, Mr. And while the group has generaly be n wel received outside of
Mohamad did make significant conces ions to Parti Islam se-Malaysia Malaysia, within Malaysia it is sometimes viewed as being an
(PAS), Malaysia's largest Islamic party, to placate religious apologist organization for some more conservative traditions towards
The emergence of politicized Islam has posed a chalenge to civil
In response to criticisms, Zainah Anwar, the founder of SIS
society groups determined to uphold democracy, human rights, and argues, "I want an Islam that upholds the principles of justice,
women's rights. Women groups in many Muslim countries are at the equality, fre dom and dignity," she said. "There is nothing
frontline in chalenging the religious establishment and their contradictory betwe n wanting these principles to guide and govern
June 15th - 30th
your life and being a good Muslim."
degradation of women's rights.
Not surprisingly, the connection of Malaysian women's rights to
It is hoped that as civil society groups and in particular,
politics, gender identity and Islamization have pushed the progres ive women's rights groups make inroads within Malaysian society they
women's groups to reach an understanding of Malaysian women's may be able to progres women's rights. This wil be highly
rights that is consistent with the universal concept of human rights. dependent on their influence on al levels of government, the
Nonetheles the ne d to justify even basic rights for women suggests activism of civil society groups, and the support of local women's
the struggle many women face in their daily lives. The temptation to organisations.
give in, in order to `fit in', is evident.
Fundamentaly it is also dependent on external transnational
This bodes po rly for women as history demonstrates that rights groups and organisations such as the UN stepping up the
an increase in fundamentalists' hold on power goes hand pres ure for women's rights. Censure by the global community is
in hand with a degradation of women's rights
es ential if women are to be viewed as equal citizens in any society.
For every group that tries to advance women's rights in con-
Damned by Riches: How Afghanistan's
servative societies there is inevitably a group that wil push women Mineral Wealth Undermines NATO Mission
back to their subservient corner. One group, the Obedient Wives
By Nathan Wiliam Meyer
Club, se ks to encourage Muslim women to folow the wishes of
their husbands, which can include prostitution. The argument that
t is like something out of a movie: de p in the archives of a
groups like the Obedient Wives Club makes is that at the root cause
torn country a team of intrepid scientists discovers forgot en
of infidelity and domestic violence is the fact that Muslim women maps leading to buried treasure. Fantastical as it se ms, such a scene
have failed to fuly satisfy their husbands. Significantly it is not the played out in 2004 when American geologists found a cache of
perpetrators who are held ac ountable, but women themselves who charts in the Afghan Geological Survey's library dating from the days
are held to have failed in some way that has invited violence, thereby of Soviet oc upation.
excusing men for their violent behaviour.
Returned to the library after the NATO invasion, these
While the Obedient Wives Club has received a fair amount of Rus ian charts were protected in geologists' homes through the
criticism for its stance on domestic violence and prostitution as being tumultuous 1990s' and for good reason: the data indicated under
a pos ible avenue to save many troubled mar iages, its president, Afghanistan's mountains and dry plains lay vast mineral deposits.
Rohaya Mohamed, argues that her group isn't exclusively for Muslim
Guided by Soviet charts, aerial surveys in 2006 and 2007
women and that women of al faiths can join. Their ultimate goal is covered 70% of the county and produced the most comprehensive
to counsel women about how to be bet er wives and how to make geologic study in Afghan history and estimate the nation's untapped
any fault in a relationship be that of women.
mineral wealth at $1 trilion.
"A man mar ied to a woman who is as good or bet er than a
Today the Afghan government believes this wealth buried in
prostitute in bed has no reason to stray. Rather than alowing him to their rugged provinces could exce d $3 trilion, but as frequently
sin, a woman must do al she can to ensure his desires are met," asked of buried treasure: is it cursed?
suggested Rohaya Mohamed.
Afghanistan's mineral resources are hard to underestimate and
However, Sisters-in-Islam's Ratna Osman notes this extra- cur ent projections border on the hyperbolic. In June, 2010, the
ordinary argument provides justification for men's violent behaviour, Pentagon confirmed reports that Afghanistan's mas ive deposits
"Abusive men often use women's behavior as a sick justification, but could make it a major world producer of iron and copper. The
in the end, their actions are their responsibilty."
lithium deposits in Ghanzi Province may rival Bolivia's for the title
National Public Radio reported in January of this year that the of world's largest. The country's Samti gold deposit is estimated to
Obedient Wives Club has since moderated their positions on a whole hold 20-24 metric tons and ac ording to the US Geological Survey a
host of is ues after receiving significant pushback from Malaysian single milion ton deposit of rare earth elements (REE) in Helmand
Province gives Afghanistan the world's sixth largest REE reserves.
"The group appears to have toned down its rhetoric since last
Al this has caught the at ention of the region's major econo-
year, when media quoted members as saying that wives should satisfy mies. Already Indian corporations have secured rights to most of
the sexual desires of their husbands like prostitutes. Club member Hajigak's 1.8 bilion metric tons of iron.
Hajiera Hartley explains that the group is simply giving its members
Having bought a 30 year lease for $3 bilion, China Metalurg-
the basic information they request about sex and mar iage. `Simple ical Group now operates a copper mine at Mes Aynak on what used
things like, how do people kis . Honestly, the Malays do not know to be an Al Qaeda training camp.
how to kis ,' Hartley says."
Moreover, as China produces 95% of the world's REEs,
In the decades ahead, women's rights in Malaysia wil continue to Afghanistan wil benefit from the global economy's growing ne d for
be a contentious is ue with religious leaders holding significant these metals which are used in everything from fuel additives to jet
influence over governmental policy.
engines, smartphones to cancer treatments. There is lit le doubt this
This bodes poorly for women as history demonstrates that an potential wealth wil transform Afghan lives, but whether it raises
increase in fundamentalists' hold on power goes hand in hand with a generations out of poverty or plunges them into exploitation and
International Policy Digest
Volume I Issue XI
civil war is the immediate question.
A weak central government, rampant cor uption, de p
"I wish we had discovered water." The words of former Saudi oil
ethnic divisions coupled with immense mineral wealth and
minister Sheikh Ahmad Yamani of er a sober reminded that, like so
the ready sup ly of weapons are some of the similarities
many resource-rich countries, Afghanistan's potential wealth could
which indicate that the DRC's present could easily be
detrimentaly and ir evocably change this fragile state. Landlocked,
underdeveloped, undereducated, ethnicaly fractious, insanely rich
and sur ounded by powerful neighbors Afghanistan is a prime oil revenue held in a single private bank ac ount in the British Virgin
candidate for the resource curse, that paradox wherein resource-rich Islands.
countries at best suf er poor development and economic growth and
Recently the International Monetary Fund reported $32 bilion
at worst are torn apart by brutal governments and civil war.
of public funds disappeared from 2007-2010, close to one third of
Considering Afghanistan's social infrastructure, ethnic tensions, national revenues. Angola is a grim example of what may be
and rampant cor uption it se ms inevitable that they wil fal victim Afghanistan's future, but certainly not the darkest.
to the resource curse as they have already taken their first steps down
September 11th, 2001: In the United States 2,977 people were
that precipitous path. China's bribe-tainted acquirement of the kiled in an Al Qaeda at ack, in Afghanistan the perpetrators che red,
Aynak copper mine is expected to bring in $1 bilion in annual and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) it was just another
government revenues and ac ording Craif Stef ensen, Afghanistan day of genocidal slaughter. The Second Congo War is not wel
country director for Asian Development Bank, the Hajigak iron ore known but from 1998-2003 it directly involved eight African nations
deposit is estimated to bring in up to $3 bilion in government and some 25 armed groups, earning the distinction of the world's
revenues for centuries.
bloodiest conflict since WW2. Mineral wealth like Afghanistan's was
Should Afghanistan develop its mining potential these are just one of the conflict's chief motivators which resulted in 5.4 milion
two of the many pipelines that wil gush money into the war and postwar deaths.
government's cof ers, and with such wealth come very real risks.
Today this mineral wealth defines Congolese lives as the world's
With natural resources guarante ing a secure national income, manufacturers demands more cas iterite, wolframite, coltan, and gold
governments are no longer reliant on their citizen's tax money or to produce more laptops, smartphones, and hybrid vehicles. With
public approval and this frequently leads to cor uption, such immediate wealth, lines of law and order blur until lit le
misappropriation, and embez lement with devastating social distinguishes kleptocratic government forces from brutal rebel
miltias. Both fight to control the lucrative mines. Both ilegaly tax,
A typical case of such governmental abuse is Angola, the world's extort, and force local adults and children to work the mines in shifts
7th largest oil producer and 5th largest diamond producer, where lasting as long as 48 hours. Both rebel miltias and the Congolese
77.4% of its population lives in poverty and roughly half of the National Army use rape and violence to ensure the flow of minerals.
country's 18 milion people survive on les than $1.25 per day.
While exact numbers are impos ible to come by it is estimated
However, the Confederation of African Footbal estimates the that just cas iterite, refined as tin and used to solder circuit boards,
Angolan government spent $1 bilion to host 2010's African Cup of earns rebel groups $85 milion a year and these revenues can buy
Nations soc er tournament and this is not atypical of oil wealth arms and prolong conflicts indefinitely, especialy when an AK-47
appropriation. More government money is wasted on projects such costs a modest $50 in the DRC.
as the recent building of 24 new hospitals without physicians to staf
A weak central government, rampant cor uption, de p ethnic
them or buying 3,000 new buses with only 1,500 available drivers.
divisions coupled with immense mineral wealth and the ready supply
However inept these expenditures they cannot compare to the of weapons are some of the similarities which indicate that the
outright theft which has turned Angola into an unabashed DRC's present could easily be Afghanistan's future.
kleptocrasy. From 1996-2001 over $1 bilion a year went mis ing and
After al, ac ording to the World Bank the going price for an
in 2002 NGO Global Witnes found $1.1 bilion of Angolan AK-47 in Kabul is only $150 and with an average mechanical lifespan
of up to 40 years it is a cost ef ective weapon for prolonged resource
While Afghanistan's fate is far from preordained, it is dif icult
to overstate how precarious its situation is. Their mineral resources
could generate immense wealth and bring generations out of poverty,
but the arc of history is bending towards a darker future. Two years
before the total withdrawal of American combat forces rival political
factions such as the non-Pashtun National Front for Afghanistan
(NFA) hope to restructure the government as a parliamentary
democracy to break the Pashtun majority's hold on power. President
Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, hopes for a political reconcilation with the
ethnic-Pashtun Taliban to shore-up his powerbase but cannot af ord
to alienate the anti-Taliban NFA.
June 15th - 30th
For their part, the Taliban show lit le interest in President more than a milion smal arms and many of these in the hands of
Karzai as they at empt to cut him out of ongoing peace negotiations the Afghan Local Police (ALP), US-backed miltias ostensibly formed
with the US government and believe the NFA's policies are a drive to to fight the Taliban.
partition the country under the mask of devolved federalism. A dark
A recent Human Rights Watch report documents that in
but not unrealistic pos ibilty is Karzai would se k a peace deal at the addition to land grabs and ilegal taxation these miltias have
expense of the NFA, the non-Pashtuns revolt against the ter orized civilans with abduction, rape, torture, and murder.
Karzai/Taliban bloc, and in due course the Taliban turn on both Cur ently some 19,000 strong, the ALP is expected to grow to
Karzai and the NFA. The nation's half milion soldiers and police 30,000 by the time the NATO mis ion ends in 2014.
would split down ethnic lines and the country spiral out of control
Already the resource curse can be observed in Khost Province
into civil war. Afghanistan's mineral wealth is widely distributed where chromite is ilegaly excavated in smal artisanal mines and
throughout the country and artisanal smal-scale mines could turn smuggled acros the porous Pakistani border costing Kabul $7.3
the country into a lawles conflict zone for generations.
milion a year in lost revenues, enriching organized crime, and arming
While the present does not equal the future, it is unlikely insurgentgroups.Thoughthecountrydoesnothavetodescendinto
Afghanistan wil escape the resource curse
generational civil war underwrit en by a milion mine holes, the
evidence suggests that with the NATO withdrawal in sight it may be
In this volatile situation the man most capable to either pul his timetopreparefortheworst.
country back from the ledge or throw it headlong into the abys is
Whether the country colectively prospers from its wealth or
Hamid Karzai and his record as president leaves lit le optimism unravelsbeforetheworld'seyesintobloodychaoswil dependmore
Afghanistan wil escape the resource curse.
on Karzai's cor upt government and major mineral buyers (India,
Ac ording to Transparency International, Afghanistan is the 4th Iran, China) than those nations who tried to plant western ideals in
most cor upt country in the world. This is cor oborated by UN thegraveyardof empires.
findings that Afghan familes pay $160 in bribes to police, judges, and
government of icials per year a high price in a country where the per The G20 and India: Was India Vindicated?
capita GNI is $410. In 2009 bribes made up almost 25% of
By Dr. Sudhanshu Tripathi
Afghanistan's $2.5 bilion GDP, making bribery and the drug trade
the country's leading sources of income. And cor uption is by no
ndia made its presence felt at the G-20 Summit by deliberat-
means confined to the local level.
he core is ues of the Eurozone crisis and also pledging to help
Prominent of icials and Karzai's own brother were implicated in relieve the financial burdens felt by several EU states.
the Kabul Bank scandal that cost the national government and
The seventh G-20 Summit at Los Cabos, Mexico is ued a
western donors $900 milion. NATO investigators uncovered strong mes age from non-European members to Europe to end the
evidence in 2009 that Afghan soldiers routinely died from infections bickering so that Eurozone's finances can be supervised by the EU,
and lack of treatment because they could not af ord to bribe doctors the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund
The culture of bribery has embedded itself in Afghanistan's
India's PM, Manmohan Singh, a noted economist, stated that a
newly discovered mineral wealth as the minister of mines ac epted a crisis in the European banking system can choke trade and economic
roughly $30 milion bribe for awarding the Aynak copper deposits to growth not just in the Eurozone but throughout the world.
the China Metalurgical Group. Penalties are not an is ue as President
Singh emphasised the ne d to provide liquidity to European
Karzai's government has not yet prosecuted a single high-level banks without neglecting is ues of solvency. The situation is so grave
cor uption case.
that the IMF has be n trapped by a major resource crunch. Noting
Perhaps the words of Anthony H. Cordesman, defense expert the seriousnes of this situation, he has pledged to contribute $10
for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, say it best: "If bilion to the IMF's $430-bilion firewal.
you find people who aren't cor upt it is largely because they haven't
He told the participating leaders at the G20 whose countries
had the opportunity."
ac ount for 80 percent of the global GDP, to send "a strong signal to
While the present does not equal the future, it is unlikely the markets that the Eurozone countries wil make every ef ort to
Afghanistan wil escape the resource curse. Its national government protect the banking systems and the global community wil back a
is thoroughly cor upt, holds lit le sway outside the capital, and credible Eurozone ef ort and response."
though Karzai has said he wil retire in 2014 Afghans widely believe
He vehemently opposed separating growth from austerity
he wil remain in power unof icialy or extra-constitutionaly. because it hampers the proces of recovery.
Afghanistan's population has de p ethnic and tribal divides which
In a pointed mes age to Germany, he said that, "Austerity in
continualy threaten national unity and could easily devolve into civil the debt -ridden members of the Eurozone can work only if surplus
members are wiling to expand to of set contraction elsewhere in the
Additionaly, the Taliban remains a threat to fragile national cur ency area."
governments in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
Caling the relationship betwe n the two as contentious, he
Ac ording to a UN Security Council report the country is awash in pointed out that "synchronised austerity" acros many countries is
International Policy Digest
Volume I Issue XI
not the right medicine when growth is weak. Both are neces ary.
The European Union and other NGOs have decried this event
Singh further emphasized this with his comment that liquidity must as a gigantic waste of time as the draft declaration of the summit has
be provided along with an ef ective "adjustment programme".
ignored so many of their is ues and concerns.
This reflects the general discontent in the rest of the world with
the way Eurozone leaders are at acking the sovereign debt crisis.
Promising and providing mas ive funds without a structural
adjustment of the economies in the crisis-af ected countries is not
going to solve the problem. Most, if not al of the bailout money, has
be n used to rescue banks in the troubled countries.
The 14-page G-20 Summit Declaration strongly emphased the
ne d for growth because austerity alone wil not solve the debt
problem of the Eurozone. Earlier, Germany and Britain insisted on
austerity measures to set the Eurozone in order.
For the first time, the declaration also included in its preamble
the is ue of infrastructure in developing countries which India has
be n striving to ac omplish during the last thre summits. Further,
the Declaration also caled for ending of the mechanical credit rating
system and advocated for transparency and competition.
Further, the agre ment for IMF quota-reform must be ac eler-
ated which wil please developing countries. Singh said that quotas
had to reflect economic weights in a simple and transparent manner
and that GDP be compared on a Purchasing Power Parity basis. He
insisted that Europe ne ded to move towards a banking union to
help strengthen financial stabilty, and that lending rules would not be
discriminatory to poor and developing countries.
Thus, the Indian proposal on almost al important is ues found
favour at the Summit.
June 15th - 30th
By Dominique de Wit
solutions to pres ing social and environmental problems that have
he largest United Nations' conference to date took place in become ever more urgent.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from June 20th to the 22nd to discus the
While the industrialized world has become an avid supporter of
world's path toward sustainable development. The conference was a the gre n economy, emerging economies in some Latin American
folow up to the historic 1992 United Nations Conference on countries are more skeptical of this magical formula.
Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Earth
Reconcilng the divide that has grown around the concept of
Summit that was held shortly after the dis olution of the Soviet gre n economy wil likely prove to be one of the substantial
Union, at a time that the world was radiant with hope for reform and chalenges mounted at the conference and implemented beyond. It is
cooperation within the international community.
not easy for the international community to come to a consensus on
At the 1992 Earth Summit, the principal concept implemented what concrete goals and targets ne d to be set that wil incorporate
was that of "sustainable development," a global policy initiative the natural and resource constraints facing the planet.
designed to restructure economic growth, advance social equity, and Geopolitical Factors
ensure environmental protections for cur ent generations, as wel as
Concerning at endance at the Rio+20 conference, more than
for those to come.
130 heads of state were in at endance, among them the top leaders
Unfortunately, the last twenty years have not demonstrated the of China, Rus ia, India, Japan and Mexico.5 Unfortunately, this list
desired implementation of sustainable development among states. did not include the president of the United States, Barack Obama
Sustainabilty is ues, such as climate change, biodiversity los , ac es
chancelor of Germany, Angela Merkel or prime minister of the
to basic neces ities, and poverty remain existent.
United Kingdom, David Cameron.
The Rio+20 conference presented an opportunity to reas es the
The disappointing lack of commitment from these major
commitments made two decades ago and formulate alternative leaders strengthened the sur ounding criticisms that the conference