Author: Babomsar

Berlin (25/7 – 16.67) The table is set for the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast to remain a geopolitical hotspot. Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), eastern Tajikistan, is the home to the Pamir Mountains, also called “the roof of the world”, whose sharp mountain ranges and deep valleys resemble a lunar landscape. A far-flung frontier, situated in a troubled neighborhood, next to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, GBAO is a geopolitical treasure tethered to exterior interests: the authoritarian central Tajik government in Dushanbe, Chinese economic and military interests, and Russia, which historically frames the Pamirs as a part of its…

Colombo (25/7 – 30.77) In his book “Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Massacre: Lessons for the International Community,” terrorism expert Dr. Rohan Gunaratna emphasizes the importance of de-radicalizing Islamic ideology to effectively combat Islamic terrorism. He identifies Wahhabism or Salafism as the root of Islamic terrorism, rapidly spreading worldwide through modern communication tools. Gunaratna warns that merely arresting perpetrators after attacks is insufficient; the focus should be on preventing radicalization in the first place. The Easter Sunday bombings in April 2019, which claimed over 200 lives, were fuelled by extremist ideologies inspired by events in the Middle East and Islamic extremists…

The Israeli army acknowledged Friday it “failed” to prevent an attack by settlers on a Palestinian town in the West Bank, during which one villager was killed in unclear circumstances. Revenge attacks on Turmus Ayya and other villages followed the killing of four Israelis by Palestinian gunmen in a terrorist attack on Tuesday. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops had tried to prevent Israelis from attacking Turmus Ayya but they were stretched too thin. “We didn’t have, in the first wave, enough forces in the area they chose,” he told journalists on Friday. “We failed this time,” Hagari added. Turmus…

Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani voiced optimism over the developments in Lebanon and the region, after attending a dinner banquet hosted by Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. Thanking Bukhari for his “dear invitation,” Amani said in a tweet that he is optimistic over the current efforts and developments. “We hope the atmosphere of accord and rapprochement will soon engulf the relations among all the countries of the region in order to achieve the welfare and prosperity of our nation and peoples,” Amani added. More than 50 foreign ambassadors attended the annual dinner at the Phoenicia Hotel, entitled “Sustainable…

The President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso, will visit Kazakhstan from 7 to 9 June 2003 for meetings with senior government officials, multilateral financial institutions and foreign investors. During her three-day programme, the EBRD President will meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and hold bilateral meetings with the leadership of the ADB, the IMF and the World Bank. The EBRD President will co-chair a plenary session of the Foreign Investor’s Council, which marks the 25th anniversary of its activity in 2023. She will also address Astana International Forum and the Global Businesswoman Council. In the context of these engagements Odile Renaud-Basso will touch…

Uzbekistan delegation led by First Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Ulugbek Agzamov is participating in the 68th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Europe in Sofia, UzA reported. Within the framework of the meeting, Sofia hosts elections to several competent bodies of the organization. Following the results of the polls, Uzbekistan was recognized as the winner in three nominations. In particular, the international organization granted Uzbekistan the authority to preside over the upcoming 25th-anniversary session of the UNWTO General Assembly in Samarkand. Delegating these official powers, the UNWTO leadership and members highlighted the preparatory work by Uzbekistan to hold…

Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova with the Order of Alexander Nevsky, TASS reported. The decree was published yesterday in the official legal portal. The distinction is awarded “for a great contribution to the implementation of the foreign policy course of the Russian Federation and many years of conscientious diplomatic service”. Sergei Butin, director of the General Secretariat of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was also awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky. Mitrofanova has been working in the diplomatic field since 2001, and since 2021 she has been the ambassador of Russia to Bulgaria. During this time, she got involved in scandals several times,…

Lebanon expects to host 2.2 million tourists and earn about $9 billion in much-needed tourism revenue this year as it grapples with ongoing political deadlock and its worst economic crisis since independence. This is slightly up from the 1.7 million visitors the Arab country hosted in 2022, when it received a similar $9 billion in cash flow from tourism, Walid Nassar, Lebanon’s Minister of Tourism, told reporters on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. Of the 2.2 million expected visitors, 75 per cent are expected to be Lebanese that live abroad who will return home for the holidays and the…

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Friday planted an olive tree at the southern Lebanese borders, near Israel, expressing: “We are here to highlight our support for the resistance against the occupation.” The location where the Iranian official planted the tree is the neighbourhood of Maroun Al-Ras, adjacent to the occupation state of Israel, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported. Abdollahian hailed the martyrs of the Islamic Resistance, stating: “The Zionist entity is living its worst time and it is suffering from accumulated political and social crises.” Meanwhile, he stressed: “The Islamic Republic of Iran has been and is still a close friend of Lebanon…

A 7-month-old baby in serious condition underwent a liver transplant in Astana. The father of the child became the donor. The Kazakhstan Khalkyna Foundation provided charitable assistance in attracting specialists from Japan and Nepal to perform liver transplantation for a child. The operation was performed on the basis of the CF “University Medical Center”. Transplantation was hampered not only by the very small weight and age of the baby – 7 months and 8 kg, but also by the fact that his condition was extremely serious, there was a respiratory disorder and other complications. “My son was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the…