Author: Horace Hines

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…

Women’s clothes are high on the government’s agenda once again in Tajikistan, where authorities and Islamic leaders are working on new guidelines on what women should wear to work and during their leisure time. The new dress code — the second of its kind in six years — is expected to be made public in the coming days, and a special event is reportedly being planned for the capital, Dushanbe, in August to showcase compliant clothes. Sulaimon Davlatzoda, the head of the state Committee for Religious Affairs and the Regulation of Traditions, told a press briefing in the capital this week that…

Washington/Vienna/Berlin (10/8 – 45.45)After a tip-off by U.S. intelligence officials and only a few hours left Austrian police made swift arrests. The plot seems too bizarre not to be true. Abul Baraa, aka Ahmad Armih, the German based hate-preacher in Berlin radicalized via Tik-tok or Istagram a 19-year Beran A. to swear the oath of alliance to the Islamic State. U.S. officials have confirmed their role in identifying a suspected terrorist plot planned for a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna this weekend. During a Friday briefing, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said the U.S. provided information to Austrian authorities, who have made several…

Rome (9/07 – 66.7) Fortune-telling is now a criminal act in the Central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, amidst the teetering economies. The Economist Intelligence Unit, for instance, says “the risk of sovereign default” in Kyrgyzstan is high, while adding that “poverty, unemployment, austerity, power shortages and political oppression are possible sources of destabilization in 2024-25” in Tajikistan. Despite the two countries’ myriad economic challenges, lawmakers and law-enforcers in both Central Asian states are making time to crack down on sorcery and fortune-telling. In Tajikistan, authorities literally went on a witch hunt, resulting in the arrest of more than 50 alleged practitioners…

The European Union announced on Friday that it will begin accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova to join the 27-member political and economic bloc starting next week. All 27 members agreed to the Ukraine and Moldova joining the European Union. Negotiations will begin for both countries on Tuesday in Luxembourg, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union said on X. The move comes at a critical time for both nations with Ukraine in the middle of an invasion by Russia and Moldova facing a Russian-led insurgence by a breakaway state. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the European Union for its “robust political…

London (20/5 – 20)One academic was asked about the internet eating their young. This triggered a heated debate about the use of the internet the freedom in presents, the dangers of unfettered go for it all to the public, the rise of the left, the response by the right, and AI, or Artificial Intelligence. The seriousness of the debate can be seen at the UK sponsored conference on AI at Bletchley Park. Following this was the adaptation of the European law on Artificial Intelligence. 28 countries at the summit, including the United States, China, and the European Union, have issued…

Berlin/London/Brussels (29/2 – 33.33). Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t really want a conflict with NATO because in that scenario Russia would quickly lose, the head of the UK’s armed forces said on Tuesday. Speaking at an event in London, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said that “the inescapable fact is that any Russian assault or incursion against NATO would prompt an overwhelming response.” He said that “the biggest reason that Putin doesn’t want a conflict with NATO is because Russia will lose. And lose quickly.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked new security concerns across Europe, prompting countries to spend more on defense…

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has deployed two of its vessels in the South China Sea after monitoring an “alarming” increase in the number of Chinese maritime militia vessels at a reef within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The number of Chinese boats believed to be manned by militia personnel has increased to more than 135 from 111 in November, scattered within the Whitsun Reef, which Manila calls the Julian Felipe Reef, the PCG said in a statement. “The PCG maintains its unwavering commitment to safeguarding maritime security, safety and the marine environment in the course of protecting the…

A series of murders over the weekend have propelled the United States to a grisly new record: the most recorded mass shootings in a year. Two attacks on Sunday occurring within a couple of hours of each other in Texas and Washington state were the year’s 37th and 38th mass shootings. Authorities believe a murder-suicide was responsible for the death of five family members in Vancouver, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, just across the border in Washington, while in Dallas a 21-year-old with a previous aggravated assault charge shot five people in a house, including a toddler. It is the highest number of…

Vivian Silver, a Canadian Israeli peace activist whose family said they believed was taken hostage from her home in southern Israel when Hamas-led militants carried out a surprise assault on Oct. 7, was killed in the initial attacks, her family confirms. Silver’s son, Yonatan Zeigen, confirmed his mother’s death, telling CBC News on Monday that the 74-year-old’s remains had been found earlier at Kibbutz Be’eri, where she resided, but were only identified now, more than five weeks after the attacks. At least 120 other men, women and children were killed in the community of about 1,100 people located just kilometres from the Israel-Gaza border.…