Sotiris Bacàlis 's Blog

A direct encounter with the Taliban is seeking the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai in order to launch peace talks,  BBC reports. The purpose of the meeting is to be done before opening the "liaison office" of the Taliban in Qatar, the result of an initiative of the U.S. and Germany, a movement which annoyed  Kabul as it was considered as a bypassing of the Afghan government. 

The British network supports, citing sources from Afghanistan and the western countries, that the Taliban and Karzai meeting will be held in Saudi Arabia. According to the same sources, the Taliban have agreed to meet with Afghan President. "Saudi Arabia has played an important role in the past and they expect a continuation of this support in order to move the peace talks into an
other level ...

17 people at least were killed today in clashes in eastern Yemen, shortly after a leading member of al Qaeda was shot by his brother, said local sources.

The conflict broke out between supporters and opponents of Tariq al-Dahab, who was killed by his half brother Chazam al Dahab in the eastern province Al Bain, the broadcast television network al Arampigia reported, citing local sources.

The Chazam shot Tariq inside a mosque in al Masanech, according to news site Mareb Press. Two companions of Tariq also lost their lives.

Then, members of al Qaeda fired rockets at his house, killing himself and two relatives.

This led to an eruption between the two sides, during which 17 people got killed.

According to al Arampigia, government forces did not intervene to stop the conflict.

The cause of the attack on Tariq is not known, although a source of racial authority said the Chazam was murdered by an order given by the Yemeni authorities.

Tariq was relative of the spiritual leader of al Qaeda al Aoulaki Anwar, who was killed in a U.S.
airstrike last year.

The NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen Buddha said today that the Western alliance will maintain military pressure on Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan alongside efforts to achieve a negotiated end to a decade of  conflicts.

Rasmussen made ​​these statements after Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the Wall Street Journal that the governments of Afghanistan and the U.S. have begun secrettripartite meetings with the Taliban to try to strengthen the US-sponsored efforts to achievecomprehensive peace talks .

"The stronger the military pressure on the Taliban, the greater the chance to realize that they have no chance in military terms, so it is best to go to the negotiating table" he toldreporters during his visit to Greece .

"We will continue the military pressure that will help  for  a political solution" Rasmussenadded.

The NATO Secretary General said that the Afghan government should be "in the driver's seat" for any deal and that all parties must renounce terrorism, respect the Afghan constitution, including clauses on the rights of\ women and other human rights.

"I do not know if it is possible to find a negotiated solution ... If these conditions are met, you should make an effort" he said.

In Kabul, the Afghan Taliban, however, rejected the allegations of President Karzai sayingthat "the Islamic Emirate strongly rejects the statements that we have conversations withreckless administration, and do not plan to talk with the administration of PresidentKarzai" said in a statement Taliban spokesman Zampichoulach.

The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arrived in Islamabad today, as part of the three-day meeting of Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan to fight terrorism and regional security.

Ahmadinejad will have meetings with both Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan andthe Pakistani counterpart, Asif Zardari, on the progress of peace talks with the Taliban, the religious conflicts, the drug dealing and generally  the safety in the region.

Earlier, Zardari  welcomed the Afghan counterpart in the presidential palace , Hamid  Karzai, who arrived in Islamabad, ahead of tomorrow's trilateral meeting.

Karzai seeks to achieve greater support from Pakistan in his efforts to start peace talkswith the Taliban and give an end to the 10 year war against terrorism taking place in Afghanistan.

Furthermore, in an interview in the Wall Street Journal, Hamid Karzai said that the governments of Afghanistan and the U.S. have begun secret tripartite meetings with the Taliban, to try to strengthen their efforts in making comprehensive peace talks.

 From their part, the Afghan Taliban have rejected the allegations of President Karzai saying that "the Islamic Emirate strongly rejects the statements that we have conversations withr  this reckless administration, and do not plan to talk with the administration of PresidentKarzai," according to a statement of representative of the rebels, Zampichoulach Mujahid.

The presidents of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan pledged in May 2009 in Tehran to cooperate against terrorism and drug trafficking. Since then they meet on a regular basis. 

The demolition of Palestinian homes by the Israeli authorities in the West Bank "increased dramatically" last year, forcing at least a thousand people to flee their homes, announced UN’s Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs in the Palestinian territories Mr Maxwell Gaylard yesterday, urging Israel to put an immediate end to this kind of actions. " Israel, as the occupying power, has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well-being," he said in a
statement.

According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 622 houses that belonged to Palestinian families were demolished in 2011 forcing 1,100 people, half among these children, to leave their homes, while tens of thousands are threatened with the same fate.

On Thursday he visited  the village of Anata, close to Jerusalem, where seven Palestinian houses were demolished. There, the UN officials got informed  that diggers and soldiers had arrived at the night of January 23 and 52 citizens - 29 of which  were children - were expelled from homes.

The UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next week in an effort to promote the resumption of peace talks.

A few days ago, a three-week long round of meetings that took place in Amman, Jordan, between Saeb Erekat and Isaac Molkho, the Palestinia and Israeli negotiators, ended without leading to a resumption in negotiations or any other steps forward for the political process. The UN hopes to turn the tables to a positive way with the help of the EU and the Arab League.

We just hope that this time the efforts for peace will succeed unlike all the previous ones. For both sides and for the sake of their people.

Israel congratulated the Egyptian efforts for "freedom, democracy and economic development" on the occasion of the inaugural meeting of the new People's Assembly of Egypt.

"At the inaugural meeting of the Egyptian parliament, Israel congratulates the Egyptian people for their efforts for freedom, democracy and economic development," says the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Afairs in a statement.

"We are confident that Egypt will remain committed  to the stability of peace in our region" he said. Israel, which used to boast for a long period that they are the only democracy in the region, reacted nervously to the overthrow of the Arab authoritarian regimes in 2011, and most of all to the fall of the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, declaring the need to safeguard the peace agreement of 1979 between the two countries .

The Islamist parties which are currently holding the three quarters in the new People's Assembly of Egypt,,
assured that they will respect the peace agreement with Israel even though they suggested a review of it.

With Middle East becoming a hurt locker since the beginning of the Arab Spring, we for sure cannot predict the future but we can keep our fingers crossed that the countries will overlook the possible cultural, religious or historical issues they have with each other and see the bigger picture. A picture which requires
the stability, the development and peace in the region. 

The situation in Syria is getting worse day by day. The Vice President of the Syrian Red Crescent was killed yesterday. According to reports, he was shot by a sniper in a city in the north of the country. It sounds like the attack came from the forces backing Bashir al Assad, the Syrian dictator. Yesterday's assassination complicates the situation in the country even more, if that was any possible.

At the same time, the Arab observers of the League who arrived in the country a month ago to proceed the peace negotiations exited from Syria accusing the president Bashar al-Assad for the killings of thousands of protesters in the recent months.

The  Arab League  through their chairman, Nabil Elarampi and  the Prime Minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Giasim, asked the cooperation and the  assistance of the UN to handle together the problem of Syria  in a letter they sent to their Secretary-General mr Ban Ki-moon, presenting to him a solution for resolving the crisis. It is said that this solution will soon take the form of a new resolution that will be submitted for approval to the Security Council.

Since it's weekend I would like to wish a happy weekend to all the Masterpeacer's out there with a song sang by two of my most favourite artists, the one-half of Eurythmic's, Dave Stewart and Greece's superstar Anna Vissi, with the hope that all of you will always take a leap of faith to reach your goals. 

"A leap of faith, you won't know, close your eyes
Just let go, give it up, don't look back, 
Don't turn around it's a long way down
After all no easy way, it's gonna take
A leap of faith"

A big winning for the internet world was achieved yesterday as the two controversial bills SOPA -  PIPA got withdrawn.

The two senators who were responsible for their introduction, Lamar Smith and Harry Reid,  announced that they are going to suspend the deliberations and the vote at the American House.

The blackout of the previous Wednesday which was supported by more than 75,000 pages around the world, was mainly responsible for internet’s victory.

The first attempt for  shutting-up internet’s freedom of speech and controlling its democratic culture failed. We are waiting for the next one since we sense that this was just the beginning of a long road. The struggle continues…

The Australian Government has endorsed the proposals which were suggested by a large group of Australian citizens for  the inclusion in the constitution of special provisions which are going to officially recognize the Aborigines as the country’s original inhabitants and through them any racist attacks towards the indigenous population are going to be criminalized. This decision will put an end to the racial discrimination the Aborigines face in Australia for ages .

The massive written exposure advocates the integration of specific articles in the Constitution, which would invalidate previous racist provisions, will "promote" the natives of Australia and Torre Strait Islanders and protect their language and culture.

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard, announced that the government is going to put the proposed changes in a referendum, probably simultaneously with the next national elections. She believes that this way  the public will have the chance to exchange opinions on this subject.

"To ensure that all the political parties will support this change is extremely difficult"  the prime minister admitted, but the government deems it necessary for the general understanding of the Australian history and for  the future, peaceful coexistence of all the Australians.

Nevertheless, this is going to be a huge historical change for Australia, a country that despite being known
for its democratic and liberal way of living, still takes baby steps on this matter, while the Aborigine population issue still remains a “taboo subject”.

The positive thing is that the first important step has just been taken.