Author: Namvar

As Victoria Nuland steps down, she gets real about a world on fire. Victoria Nuland has long been known as a relentless, even pugnacious, U.S. diplomat, with a strong belief in American power. The approach sometimes got her in trouble, but it rarely held her back. Nuland recently left the State Department after serving at its highest levels, first as the Biden administration’s undersecretary of State for political affairs, and, for several months, acting deputy secretary of State. She previously was a career diplomat who held an array of roles under presidents both Republican and Democratic; her first posting more than…

Researchers have tracked more activity by an influence campaign linked to Russia that spreads disinformation and propaganda in the U.S., Germany and Ukraine through a vast network of social media accounts and fake websites. The campaign, attributed to the Russia-linked influence operation network called Doppelgänger, has been active since at least May 2022. The U.S. tech company Meta previously referred to Doppelgänger as the “largest” and “most aggressively persistent” malign network sponsored by Russia. Researchers from Recorded Future’s Insikt Group are currently tracking over 2,000 inauthentic social media accounts associated with Dopplegänger, but say the actual number could be even higher. The Record is…

Punishing hot weather affects not only a person’s health or work productivity but also affects couples’ fertility and birth outcomes, a project by the National University of Singapore (NUS) found. Rising temperatures could further reduce Singapore’s resident total fertility rate, which dipped below 1 – a record low – in 2023. The rate refers to the average number of babies each woman would have during her reproductive years. Researchers from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine studied sperm samples from 818 men that were already stored at the National University Hospital’s (NUH) andrology section. The scientists then traced the men’s…

The parliaments of Iran and Tajikistan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Monday to expand cooperation between the two legislative bodies. The signing ceremony, reported by the Iranian Students’ News Agency, took place in Tehran, with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and National Assembly of Tajikistan Chairman Rustam Emomali leading the initiative. The agreement was further endorsed during a meeting between Emomali and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who emphasized the importance of this collaboration as a support for the political and economic partnerships between the two nations. President Raisi also highlighted the role of bilateral cooperation in combating…

By adopting a new program, the government of Tajikistan intends to return hundreds of women and children of ISIS fighters brought from Iraq and Syria to a normal life. The deadline for its implementation has been set until 2027. Most likely, the returnees will remain under surveillance until then. “Eliminating the extremist ideology of some women and children” is one of the main points of the program. It also includes medical and psychological assistance and help to find a job. “Unfortunately, for some of the women, due to the strong emotional ties they have with their deceased husbands or other women still left…

Brussel, Frankfurt (16/11 – 23) A levying of embargoes and export bans, the imposition of sanctions, erection of fearsome “license” (= restriction) protocol: there’s nothing new about this back-and-forth in world trade, in the eternal jousting for advantage among markets and nations. The clever Chinese imagined they had the world tea market all locked up until an earnest Scottish botanist carrying the telling name of “Robert Fortune” snuck into the Middle Kingdom to observe their agriculture, steal tea plants, and pick up tricks of tea processing. The Chinese global tea monopoly was busted wide open. The fortunate Mr. Fortune was…

The United States provided financial assistance to 13 public organizations in Tajikistan to fight extremism and terrorism, prevent domestic violence, and provide training to young journalists. This was reported by the US Commission for the Development of Democracy on November 8. Manuel Micaller, the US ambassador to Tajikistan, said at a ceremony on November 8 that the aid is aimed at the development of democracy. “Since 2000, the program of the US Commission for the Development of Democracy in Tajikistan has allocated more than 475 grants in the amount of eight million dollars. “Hundreds of people receive direct training and assistance…

A new report of the State Department, published on December 1, says that in 2022, Iran will remain the leading country in global terrorism and has financed several terrorist incidents in Africa, Asia, Europe and America. The “Report on Terrorism” says that in the Middle East, Iran still supports Hezbollah, a group that Washington designated as a terrorist group in 1997. Iran also supplies weapons to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups such as Islamic Jihad and the General Headquarters of the People’s Liberation Front of Palestine, according to the State Department report. The report says, “these groups are responsible for…

Toronto, Frankfurt (2/11 – 42) World media are jumping all over the conflagration in Gaza following the 7 October attack, killing 1400 Israelis and kidnapping several hundred others – followed by an all-too-predictable retaliatory response from Israel, with indiscriminate bombardment and gunfire into Gaza. The number dead and injured in the Palestinian zone will likely never be known but it is currently estimated at over 5,000 – many of whom are women and children caught in the crossfire. Is Hamas sorry about those who voted for them and support their cause being machine-gunned or trapped by crumbling concrete in a…

London (15/11 – 67) The streets in Colombo, Sri Lanka, erupted into celebration on July 13, 2022 after weeks of peaceful protests forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country. Rajapaksa, long implicated in war crimes when he was defense secretary, had presided over an economic catastrophe amid allegations of widespread corruption and impunity. But a year later, despite some superficial changes, there is no sustained improvement in the country’s economic situation that impinges many people’s human rights. The acute shortage of fuel that was the most visible feature of the economic crisis has eased. But more than six million people – nearly 30…