Michael Young
The Daily Star
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The tribunal’s first prosecutor, Detlev Mehlis, told me that then–Secretary-General Kofi Annan practically ordered him not to pursue the investigation aggressively, because he “did not want another trouble spot” in the Middle East. The man who succeeded Mehlis, Serge Brammertz, evidently heeded that dictum and simply “wasted time and resources.” The current prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare, is no better. Under his tenure, the investigation didn’t merely stall, it actually went backward. He has now declared the key “suspect and witness,” Mohammed Siddiq, “no longer of interest to the case” and has unfrozen the assets of Syrian intelligence officials, effectively conceding that there is no evidence against them.
“The Lebanon tribunal is not yet dead, but it seems very nearly there.” The “charade” has gone on long enough. “Bellemare has to provide real answers soon, or else it’s time to close his stumbling operation down.”
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Malaysia: Hiding something or just incompetent?feature It is “painful to watch” how Malaysia has embarrassed itself before the world with its bungled response to the missing plane.
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Tunisia: The only bloom of the Arab Spring
feature After years of “stormy discussions and intellectual tug-of-war,” Tunisia has emerged as a secular democracy.
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Australia: It takes two to reconcile
feature To move beyond Australia’s colonialist past, we Aborigines must forgive.
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Israel: Ariel Sharon’s ambiguous legacy
feature Ariel Sharon played a key role at every major crossroads Israel faced in his adult life.
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South Africa: Trying to live up to Mandela
feature That South Africa was prepared for the death of Nelson Mandela is one of his greatest legacies.
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China: Staking a claim to the air and the sea
feature China has declared an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea that includes a set of islands claimed by Japan.
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China: Is our aid to the Philippines too meager?
feature China donated $100,000 to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan, but later increased the amount to $1.6 million.
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Philippines: A calamitous response to calamity
feature “Where is the food, where is the water? Where are the military collecting the dead?”