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China astir
Democracy may not mean majority rule
International
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By James Nix. A currently proposed, the EU Commission would, for the first time in more than two decades, have no dedicated environment Commissioner. Instead environment is rolled in with fisheries and maritime to make up one of what are essentially 20 sub-Commissioner roles – under Commissioner Karmenu Vella. Its role will centre on deregulation. […]
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By Frank Armstrong. There are two possible solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: one realistic the other miraculous. The realistic solution conjures divine intervention; the miraculous, a voluntary agreement between the parties. The latest round of conflict is, mercifully, largely over. On August 26th, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) accepted a ceasefire agreement […]
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By Kieran Fitzpatrick. The Aarhus Convention aims to protect the environment and proclaims the public to be the best guardian of the environment. There are three strands to the convention: 1) Access to information; 2)Public participation; and 3) Access to justice to review environment-related decisions or to enforce environmental law. Ireland was the last […]
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Stasis in the Southern heat
Ken Phelan On a typically fine July afternoon in California, three buses pull into the small, parched border town of Murrieta, but don’t outstay their welcome. Awaiting their arrival is a group of protesters, ventilating placards and pent-up vitriol in the heat. “USA, USA”, they chant, “Go back home!”. Inside the buses, approximately 140 […]
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Frank Armstrong Iraq came shuddering back into the news this summer after the spectacular conquest by ISIS (The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, now preferring the term ‘The Islamic State’) of Mosul, the country’s second city. This was closely followed by the fall of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s birthplace, and threats to a petrified […]
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Getting married in China
Garreth Byrne Confucius (d. 479 BC) was an ethical teacher who laid down guiding principles for intending mandarin rulers in a feudal society. He stressed the importance of observing traditional rites to elicit harmonious responses from the Will of Heaven. A central part of his teaching was the duties of husbands towards wives and […]
