January snow in Bucharest
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Korea, U.S. Talk on Iran Sanctions
SEOUL—South Korea said it will continue bilateral discussions with the U.S. to find an acceptable compromise on sanctions against Iran's crude-oil exports, as the resource-poor country attempts to safeguard its energy security without alienating its key ally and trade partner.
A delegation of U.S. officials led by Robert Einhorn, special adviser on non-proliferation and arms control, met with South Korean officials throughout Tuesday to solicit Seoul's cooperation on U.S.-led efforts to curtail Iran's oil revenues to pressure Tehran into giving up its nuclear program.
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The U.S.'s special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, Robert Einhorn, answers reporters' questions after meeting South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Jae-Shin in Seoul.
The U.S. delegation stressed the importance of resolving the standoff over Iran's nuclear program through global cooperation, the Korean government said in a statement. The U.S. seeks a gradual reduction of Iranian oil imports, to avoid disrupting the global crude-oil market or hurting its allies.
In response, Korean officials expressed their desire to go along with the multilateral effort but stressed the importance of minimizing the impact of the sanctions on the Korean economy, which is almost wholly dependent on overseas producers for its energy needs.
"The two sides agreed to continue efforts to reach an amicable solution that takes into account the interests of our country and companies while achieving the target sought by the U.S.," a Korean foreign ministry spokesman said. The two countries will hold additional talks over the matter but didn't specify any dates.
South Korea sources nearly 10% of its crude oil from Iran, and it would be difficult for the country to find alternative supplies quickly. The government has said it will look to secure alternative supplies to Iranian crude from Iraq and Kuwait.
Washington can choose to grant Seoul either an "exception" or a "waiver" to its sanctions. To be an exception, South Korea would have 180 days from the date the U.S. law took effect to reduce Iranian crude imports, while for a waiver it would have to act within a 120-day period in a way that would reinforce U.S. security.
Seoul is more likely to opt to be considered as an exception, people familiar with the matter say, a path that would require it to reduce Iranian crude imports significantly by end-June.
Write to Se Young Lee at vincent.lee@dowjones.com
sanctions against Iran, Robert Einhorn, South Korea, South Korean officials, energy security, SEOUL—South Korea online, Iran, Seoul, Seoul, Korean officials, crude oil, special adviser, Korean government, arms control
Chicago in B+W
Chicago in B+W
Don't you just love when you go back to a color photo and find that it looks 100x better in B+W? Chicago's skyline is one of my favorite subjects. This image is one that I keep coming back to as it was a fun day and a great spot.
Canon 7d and 15-85
Postwork done in Nik Silverfx Pro
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Sunday, January 15, 2012
Reformist Cleric Named to Enforce Saudi Morals
RIYADH—Saudi Arabia's king replaced the hard-line chief of the country's morality police with a more liberal cleric who has encouraged greater women's rights, a change welcomed by activists as a sign that the monarchy would continue to pursue cautious social reforms in the face of political upheaval in the Middle East.
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud on Friday appointed Sheik Abdulatif al-Sheikh to oversee the religious police, who roam the kingdom's shopping malls and streets enforcing a rigorous version of Islamic law among the 27 million residents of Saudi Arabia.
Sheik Sheikh opposed child marriage in his role as senior member of the Council of Senior Scholars, one of the two highest religious authorities in the kingdom. He also defended Saudi women's rights under Islam to work and to mix with men in public places, as long as they are dressed properly, in a 2010 interview with a London-based newspaper.
The king decreed, without explanation, that Sheik Sheikh would succeed Sheik Abdulaziz al-Humain as the head of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which enforces compliance to the ultra-puritan Wahhabi form of Islam.
Rights activists said they hoped the religious police under Sheik Sheikh would enforce a more lenient interpretation of Islamic law.
"The king has been trying to show a more tolerant version of Islam and al-Sheikh could finally make that happen," said a Riyadh-based human-rights activist. "Even though we weren't given a reason for replacing al-Humain, we know that it is because he disappointed the people and didn't carry out the reforms the king and the Saudis want," the activist said.
The move also allayed concerns among some more liberal Saudis about the king's naming last year of a conservative crown prince.
King Abdullah, who is believed to be 87 and underwent three back operations in less than a year, named his half-brother, Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, as crown prince in October, raising the prospect of Prince Nayef's ascension to the throne of the world's top oil-exporting country.
Some more liberal Saudis who say Crown Prince Nayef, as interior minister since 1975, has blocked social and political change and overseen crackdowns on political dissidents. He has been quoted as saying he saw no need for Saudi women to drive or vote. Many Saudis have watched for the government to take a more conservative turn with his appointment.
Many Saudis favor stringent enforcement of Islamic law and social code, leading even pro-reform Saudi officials to move cautiously.
The choice of a more liberal chief of religious police "could be an indicator that Prince Nayef is more moderate" than perceived, said Eman Fahad al Nafjan, a university professor and leading blogger on women's issues in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
Although the ruling al Saud family and senior religious authorities have maintained a close alliance, they have sometimes clashed over the government's attempts to limit the role of religion in education, to give women greater freedoms, and to standardize the country's Islamic legal system.
After the spread of popular Arab revolutions across the Mideast last year, the clergy stood behind the ruling family by issuing fatwas barring political protests, and the government appeared to back off efforts to promote social changes. Authorities arrested some women who broke the no-driving rule in a popular campaign last year.
Some activists argue that reforms by King Abdullah, who in September gave women the right to participate in local elections and to become members of the country's top advisory body, seem to be limited and may take years to be effective.
Sheik Humain, after his appointment by King Abdullah in 2009 with a mandate to reform the religious police, has been criticized by some Saudis for trying to knock back government initiatives to liberalize Saudi society.
Sheik Humain's dismissal came a week after a government deadline for Saudi stores to comply with a decree by King Abdullah ordering that only women can work in stores that deal with women's goods, such as lingerie. In recent days, religious police have harassed women who took such jobs, according to local media reports.
Such stores have been run by men, as restrictions on women and men interacting in public have largely limited women to working in health, education and a few office jobs.
Sheik Sheikh, in the 2010 interview, he argued that ikhtilat, the mixing of males men and females, isn't proscribed by Islamic law and that women can do all jobs in Saudi society.
Women working as clerks in stores dealing with women's goods wasn't only "permissible, but desirable," Sheik Sheikh told the newspaper.
Write to Summer Said at summer.said@dowjones.com and Ellen Knickmeyer at ellen.knickmeyer@dowjones.com
Sheik Sheikh, Sheik Sheikh, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, King Abdullah, Sheik Abdulatif al-Sheikh, religious police, religious police, religious authorities, Sheik Abdulaziz al-Humain, women's rights, Prince Nayef, Saudi women, Islamic law, Islamic law, RIYADH—Saudi Arabia
Friday, January 13, 2012
The Arc at Cabo San Lucas (El Arco)
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