Author: Micheal Webb

Brussels/Dushanbe (10/8- 75) Once more Tajikistan comes on the radar screen. Who will be the next president of Tajikistan? How is the ban on the hijab helping the deradicalization of Tajik society? What is the role of the Chinese and Russian influence? And how is the relationship with the European Union coming along? Every year we face a plethora of Tajik issues, for example corruption and drug usage involving officials, now the ban on face veils, or the newest version a ban on black clothes. The desecration of the grave of one of leaders and the promotions of killer squad…

Fossil-fuel billionaire Kelcy Warren is about to land a knockout punch on Greenpeace. The pipeline magnate’s company, Energy Transfer, is behind a lawsuit that Greenpeace says could bankrupt the environmental group’s U.S. affiliate. A courtroom victory, which some Greenpeace officials fear is likely, would be a coda in the nearly decadelong battle between the two sides over one of Warren’s signature projects: the Dakota Access Pipeline. In 2016, Greenpeace, Native American tribal groups and thousands of other activists camped in a remote corner of North Dakota to block the project. The monthslong protests impeded the oil pipeline’s completion and became…

Budapest (5/7 – 11.11) Former European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker defended U.S. President Joe Biden after his disastrous debate performance last week and warned of his rival Donald Trump’s “incomplete mind and flawed reasoning,” in an interview with Brussels Playbook. Juncker, who was Commission president from 2014 to 2019 during much of Trump’s presidency, said he had yet to watch last week’s debate, which triggered calls for Biden to step aside and make room for someone else to run as the Democratic presidential candidate. Still, Juncker insisted that “one can be of a certain age … and do a good job.” But Juncker…

After more than a century, a Native American tribe in northern Washington can finally fish for coho salmon in the same rivers as its ancestors, the Seattle Times reported — and it’s all thanks to the removal of two ecosystem-disrupting dams. The removal of the dams comes after years of hard-fought environmental advocacy by members of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe to restore the tribe’s historic lands. As detailed by the Times, since 1911, two dams blocked nearly 90 miles of river and tributary habitat on the Elwha River in Olympic National Park. The dams obstructed more than 90% of the river’s natural flow, depleting…

Shares in Donald Trump’s media company soared as the firm made its formal debut on the stock market. Shares surged past $70 in early trade, giving the firm a market value of more than $9bn. They ended the day at about $58, still up more than 16%. The long-awaited moment will inject more than $200m into Trump Media & Technology Group and hands the former president a stake worth more than $4bn. Analysts say that is far more than the firm’s performance warrants. Trump Media’s Truth Social, a Twitter-like service, brought in just $3.3m in revenue in the first nine…

Tokyo 2020 Olympian Samantha Dirks isn’t afraid of a challenge. The 30-year-old picked up athletics at age 18 – pushing herself to learn the sport as fast as possible, an endeavour that took her all the way to the global stage. “Being uncomfortable is my favourite thing,” Dirks told LA2028.com. “It was cool learning track and field as quickly as I could at age 18. Kids usually start when they’re younger, but I did a crash course and fell in love with it.” She advanced quickly, too, competing for Belize at the 2017 World Championships in the 400m and four years later at the Tokyo…

Berlin (06/11 – 58) UN Special Rapporteur of Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, has once again called on the authorities of Tajikistan to release imprisoned Tajik journalists and bloggers. Mary Lawlor posted on her social media account, formerly Twitter, that during a meeting with Tajikistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Jonibek Hikmat, in New York on October 24, she reiterated her call for the Tajik authorities to release the convicted human rights defenders and journalists, including Daler Imomali, Abdullo Gurbati, and Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva. Last year, in Tajikistan, eight journalists and bloggers were sentenced to various prison terms, ranging from 7…

Frankfurt (22/09 – 58.33) Since May 2022, the Tajikistani authorities have stepped up their ongoing crackdown on Pamiris, an ethnic, linguistic and religious minority originating from the Pamir mountains in Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast of Tajikistan. They have arbitrarily detained hundreds of Pamiris, including civil society activists and human rights defenders, and imprisoned over 200 of them after convictions in unfair trials, in a campaign aimed at stripping the local communities of their leadership and dismantling their civil society. The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Pamiri civil society activists, journalists and human rights defenders who have been detained solely…

TAMPA, Fla. – On Sept. 14, U.S. Central Command and the Egyptian Armed Forces, along with troops from 32 other nations, concluded Exercise BRIGHT STAR 2023, at Mohamed Naguib Military Base, Egypt. Approximately 8,400 troops with over 140 aircraft, 17 naval vessels, and 250 vehicles from across the globe gathered at five training locations in Egypt to participate in the largest and oldest middle eastern exercise. Established initially to build the strategic security relationship between Egypt and the United States, it has expanded to the current scope and plays a leading role in regional security. BRIGHT STAR 2023 focused on promoting…

In the collective daydreams of Central Asian presidents, there is no end to the possibilities for regional integration. The ideas came thick and fast at the latest semi-formal get-together of Central Asian leaders, held this year in the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe. In his speech at the fifth heads of state consultative meeting on September 14, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev focused his thoughts on how to promote more trade. “The business communities of our countries should be the main drivers for increasing trade turnover. And so, creating a propitious environment for them must be a priority,” he told his colleagues,…