Politics this week
Aug 21st 2008
From The Economist print edition
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan resigned just before impeachment
proceedings against him were due to begin. In an hour-long television speech
he denied any wrongdoing. Violence continued to wrack the country. Two
suicide-bombers blew themselves up outside Pakistan’s main defence-industry
complex, killing at least 40 people; and a bomb at the emergency gate to a
hospital killed 23. See article
Ten French soldiers in Afghanistan, part of the NATO-led force, were killed in
an ambush near Kabul by Taliban insurgents. President Nicolas Sarkozy flew in
to visit some of the 2,600 French troops in the country and reaffirmed France’s
commitment to the mission. See article
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda, the leader of Nepal’s Maoists, was sworn in as the country’s
prime minister, four months after his party won more seats than any other in elections for a constituent
assembly. See article
The Sri Lankan army said it had overrun an important training complex of the rebel Tamil Tigers in the
north of the country, and was close to the Tigers’ headquarters at Kilinochchi. Tens of thousands of
people displaced by the recent fighting were reported to be converging on the town.
There were large-scale protests in Indian-controlled Kashmir, in both the Muslim-majority Kashmir
valley and the Hindu-dominated region of Jammu. The protests started over the ownership of land
around a Hindu shrine, but have developed into big pro-independence demonstrations. See article
Hua Guofeng, who in 1976 succeeded Mao Zedong as leader of China’s Communist Party, only to be
sidelined as Deng Xiaoping rose to power, died at the age of 87.
Chen Shui-bian, president of Taiwan until May, resigned from his Democratic Progressive Party,
apologising for causing it “irreparable damage”. Embroiled in a money-laundering scandal, Mr Chen is
barred from leaving Taiwan.
At the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal at the games, beating the record of
seven set in 1972 by another American swimmer, Mark Spitz; Jamaican runners won the men’s and
women’s 100-metre races; and Britain chalked up its best medal tally since 1908 by dominating the
cycling events. Liu Xiang, China’s hurdlin
hero, apolo
ised to the nation for an in
ury that caused him to
withdraw from his race. See article
At the sharp end of war
More than a week after a ceasefire agreement was signed, Russian tanks and
troops were still deployed across Georgia. The Russians seemed in no hurry to
pull back, as promised, to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two breakaway
Georgian enclaves. See article
An emergency NATO meeting agreed there could be no “business as usual”
with Russia so long as its troops remain in Georgia. But alliance members were
still divided over how tough to be with the Russians, who dismissed their
statement as “empty words”. See article
Poland and the United States formally signed a deal to put part of America’s
missile-defence system on Polish territory. The deal has been under negotiation for months, but was
speeded up by Russia’s invasion of Georgia. The Russians said that by signing the deal Poland had made
itself a nuclear target. See article
EPA
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