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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Jan-2011
25-Jan-11 News -- Suicide bomber kills 35 people in Moscow airport

Web Log - January, 2011

25-Jan-11 News -- Suicide bomber kills 35 people in Moscow airport

Tempers are flaring over the 'Palestine Papers'

Suicide bomber kills 35 people in Moscow airport

It seems like only yesterday that I was writing about the surging xenophobia between ethnic Russians and people from the North Caucasus (Russia's southern provinces). Actually, it was four days ago. See "20-Jan-11 News -- Top Russian Orthodox priest warns women about rape by men from Caucasus."

Terrorists from al-Qaeda linked militants from the North Caucausus are suspected in Monday's suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo international airport, according to the BBC. 35 people were killed, and more than 100 were injured.

Last March, two female suicide bombers from Dagestan, in the North Caucasus, killed 40 people and injured more than 80 by exploding their bombs in the Moscow subway station during rush hour.

That the perpetrator of Monday's airport bombing was someone from the North Caucasus is not certain. Global Post quotes Russian news sources as saying that the perpetrator, who was decapitated, was a man of Arab appearance, aged between 30 and 35. If this turns out to be verified, it would put a very different political slant on the suicide bombing.

Bangladesh stock market to reopen on Tuesday with NEW! IMPROVED! circuit breaker

As we described last week, the Dhaka (Bangladesh) Stock Exchange (DSE) index fell sharply on Wednesday, and closed on Thursday after only five minutes. See "21-Jan-11 News -- Bangladesh stock market crashes 9% in 5 minutes."

The market was closed on Friday and Monday, and will reopen on Tuesday, according to the Dhaka Financial Express.

As we reported last week, the DSE circuit breaker failed miserably. It was supposed to stop trading as soon as the market fell 225 points, but it crashed through that limit within five minutes, forcing an immediate halt to trading.

Generally speaking, a circuit breaker does little to stop a full-scale panic. In fact, it may be counter-productive, in that it will force investors who want to sell to do so as quickly as possible, to beat the trading halt.

For that reason, the circuit breaker will be eliminated on Tuesday.

However, a modified form of a different type of circuit breaker will be left in place, according to the Daily Star (Dhaka). There will be a circuit breaker on each individual stock, halting trading on just that stock if its price falls 10%.

According to the Financial Express article, "Investors [are keeping] fingers crossed." I think it's more likely that they're keeping their fingers on the "Sell" key of their computers.

Tempers are flaring over the 'Palestine Papers'

Yesterday we reported on the massive leak to Al-Jazeera of ten years worth of previously secret Palestinian Authority documents on the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Listening to the commentary on Al-Jazeera English on Monday, it's clear that a lot of people are truly furious:

Many Palestinians are furious at al-Jazeera for releasing these secret documents, taking words and phrases out of context and sensationalizing them. Palestinian demonstrators tried to break into the al-Jazeera offices in Jerusalem.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, was particularly furious. He pointed out that he'd supported al-Jazeera many times in the past by appearing on the news channel, and they had plenty of opportunity to allow him to clarify the out of context passages.

Many Palestinians are furious at the Palestinian Authority for seeming to give away chunks of east Jerusalem to the Israelis, as well as the right of return to their homelands of the refugees in refugee camps in Lebanon.

Israel was criticized by almost everyone on al-Jazeera, with expressions more of disgust than of anger. Several analysts expressed frustration that Israel was never willing to concede even a single thing, though as I pointed out yesterday, that's simply false, the biggest example being Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. Not one single commentator that I heard mentioned the withdrawal from Gaza.

America was portrayed as being completely one-sided in favor of Israel in the negotiations. Several commentators said that President Obama was worse than President Bush, because he reneged on previous commitments made by the Bush Administration in conjunction with the 2003 "Roadmap to Mideast Peace."

There was an extremely emotional issue raised over land swaps. This is the proposal that's been openly discussed for years that Israel would be able to annex part of Jerusalem and the West Bank, in exchange for giving up some Israeli terroritory to the new Palestinian state. However, a particularly bitter discussion centered on the fact that the land that Israel would give up would be villages occupied by Palestinian citizens of Israel, and if the land swaps were completed, then Israel would almost be a purely Jewish state, forcing loyal Palestinian citizens to leave.

Hamas is saying that the Palestine Papers prove their point that the Palestinian Authority does not represent the Palestinian people.

The Israelis and the Americans are essentially keeping their mouths shut, at least for the time being.

Al-Jazeera plans to release the third and final batch of Palestine Papers on Tuesday. Apparently it will include documents that indicate that Israel had informed the Palestinian Authority of its plans to invade Gaza two years ago.

[Correction: There will be additional releases after Tuesday.]

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 25-Jan-11 News -- Suicide bomber kills 35 people in Moscow airport thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (25-Jan-2011) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Jan-2011 25-Jan-11 News -- Suicide bomber kills 35 people in Moscow airport

Suicide bomber kills 35 people in Moscow airport

Bangladesh stock market to reopen on Tuesday with NEW! IMPROVED! circuit breaker

Tempers are flaring over the 'Palestine Papers'

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Jan-2011
25-Jan-11 News -- Suicide bomber kills 35 people in Moscow airport