B.J. Vorster

B.J. Vorster

Balthazar Johannes (John) Vorster was South African prime minister from 1966 to 1978. He is perhaps best known for having legislated into power some of apartheid’s most discriminatory and racial policies. Born on December 13, 1915, in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape, John Vorster was the 13th child of a wealthy sheep farmer.

After receiving his primary and secondary education in the Eastern Cape, he went on to receive his bachelor of law degree from Stellenbosch University and set up a law practice in Port Elizabeth in the late 1930s. With the onset of World War II, he ardently opposed South Africa’s involvement in support of the Allies by becoming a member of the pro-Nazi Ossewa-Brandwag. His support of the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler landed Vorster in jail during much of World War II.

However, this did little to deter his radical ideology, and he maintained that the dictatorial regime in Germany at the time was a more productive and suitable model for South African governance than the parliamentary system already in place. When Vorster was released from jail in 1944, his right-wing political and social views led him to join the growing South African National Party.


Vorster worked his way up the ranks of the party cadre, and in 1953 he was elected to parliament in Cape Town as a National Party representative. After one session in parliament he was appointed deputy minister of education in 1958; he rigidly enforced apartheid’s Bantu education policies.

Under Prime Minister Verwoerd he became minister of justice in 1961. During this time, the government sent South African Defense Force soldiers to support Ian Smith’s white regime in Rhodesia, with the popular support of most of white South Africa.

Vorster succeeded Prime Minister Verwoerd unopposed after Verwoerd was assassinated in 1966. His brief and uneventful time as a cabinet minister under Verwoerd meant that he knew little about the workings of departments other than his own.

He knew little about the African population and the inner workings of the huge departments that governed their lives. However, during the year he came to succeed Verwoerd, Vorster combined the Justice portfolio with that of Police and Prisons, strengthening the power of the department and the South African Police Service.

Although Vorster continued with the basic tenets of separate development policies, he alienated extremist factions of the National Party early in his prime ministership by pursuing diplomatic relations with African countries and by agreeing to let black African diplomats live in white areas. However, Vorster’s tenure as prime minister was marked mainly by an increase in racial discrimination and violence in all of South Africa, including an increase in detention without trial.

Although Vorster’s government is mainly known for streamlining and harshly enforcing apartheid’s policies, his foreign policy initiatives are generally viewed as moderate and conciliatory.

He began by unofficially supporting Rhodesia, which at the time was struggling to gain independence from British rule under prime minister Ian Smith. Although publicly he espoused the white public opinion in South Africa, he did not wish to alienate potential political allies such as the United States by extending diplomatic recognition to Rhodesia.

He exerted his pressure as a hegemon in the region by persuading Smith to negotiate with Mozambique during the regional civil war that was ongoing in southern Africa. Vorster began cutting off vital supplies to Smith and even went so far as to refuse calls made by the Rhodesian prime minister. International pressure continued to squeeze South Africa for the remainder of apartheid.

Vorster, in an attempt to regain South African public approval, invaded Angola in the 1970s in order to protect South-West Africa (present-day Namibia) against rebel attempts by Angola to invade the country for diamonds. Continuing his conciliatory initiatives in September 1974, Vorster announced in Cape Town his famous Détente with Africa policy. Despite regional efforts in Angola at the time, Vorster promised cooperation with the leaders of neighboring black African nations.

The negotiations over Rhodesia and attempts to make peace with black Africa were predicated on the hopes that such maneuvers would postpone Vorster’s day of reckoning in South Africa. His hope was that emerging Zimbabwean and Mozambican states would feel indebted to South Africa for its role in liberating these countries.

The 1970s were a turbulent time for Vorster. He harshly suppressed the Soweto uprising in 1976, which would draw more international pressure in the form of economic and social sanctions. He granted independence to the Transkei in 1976 and Bophuthatswana in 1977 in accordance with apartheid’s separate development policies, although economic development within them would stagnate.

He maintained the view that Africans could exercise political rights only in their homelands regardless of where they actually lived. On September 12, 1977, Steve Biko, the Black Consciousness leader, died in horrifying circumstances while in police custody. Vorster’s response was personally to ban 18 organizations. This step helped him to an overwhelming victory in the general election of November 1977.

However, Vorster did take the first, unconscious steps toward a more equal South Africa. Vorster’s minister of sport and recreation, Dr. Piet Koornhof, managed to secure some limited desegregation of sport by invoking the fiction of multinationalism: Each national group had to play sport separately, but they might play against each other in multinational events.

Similarly higher-class hotels and restaurants might acquire multinational status and thereby admit people of all races. An elaborate system of permits for mixed gatherings, events, and venues was initiated. Vorster saw many apartheid policies as unnecessary and began the slow process of weeding them out.

In the late 1970s Vorster was implicated in what became known as Muldergate (so named after Dr. Connie Mulder, the information cabinet minister at the center of the scandal). Although Vorster was certainly a victim of the scandal, in a sense the scandal arose from circumstances that he himself had perpetrated.

Vorster was implicated in the use of a slush fund to buy the loyalty of The Citizen, the only major English-language newspaper favorable to the National Party. The official investigation concluded that Vorster, in conjunction with the head of the South African Police Services, General H. J. van den Bergh, had not only conspired to manipulate The Citizen but also to buy the U.S.-based Washington Star.

It was discovered that in 1973 Vorster had agreed to Mulder’s plan to shift about 64 million rands from the defense budget for a series of propaganda campaigns. In what became a National Party embarrassment, a commission of inquiry finally concluded in 1979 that Vorster had been aware of the fund and had tolerated it. After the scandal, Vorster retired from the position of prime minister in 1978. Vorster died in Cape Town in 1983.

Domestic Terrorism

Domestic Terrorism

Since the mid-1990s domestic terrorism has been strongly associated with conspiracy theories. While acts of domestic terrorism withdraw maintain no necessary human relationship to conspiracy theories, the 2 withdraw maintain been linked inwards 2 major ways. First, conspiracy theories withdraw maintain been defined equally causes for, or leading to, domestic terrorism.

In this thinking, particular conspiracy beliefs Pb to acts of domestic terrorism. Second, a issue of conspiracy theories withdraw maintain arisen nigh acts of domestic terrorism. In other words, conspiracy theories render explanations for what is behind terrorism. Because of both of these aspects, at that topographic point is a rigid link betwixt domestic terrorism in addition to conspiracy theories.

Definitions

The damage “terrorism” in addition to “terrorist” withdraw maintain been used to depict a broad make of tearing actions against societies in addition to governments. One of the major definitional difficulties associated with domestic terrorism, regardless of the connector to conspiracy theories, is coming upward with a clear in addition to rigorous pregnant that is consensual. There is no clear understanding on what domestic terrorism is.


For example, an armed in addition to tearing political arrangement tin lav live classified equally a terrorist grouping or equally liberty fighters, depending on the political perspective of the classifier. Also, at that topographic point are differing opinions whether the notion of domestic terrorism applies alone to actions carried out yesteryear ordinary individuals, or to actions carried out yesteryear the nation in addition to its agents.

In addition, at that topographic point are also at to the lowest degree 2 ways of defining “domestic.” It could hateful a tearing political human activeness that takes identify within the national borders of the United States, the most famous instance beingness the 11 September 2001 devastation of the World Trade Center.

Even though the alleged terrorist network responsible for the human activeness was international inwards nature, the fact that it happened on U.S. soil makes it an human activeness of domestic terrorism. The other definition of “domestic” requires that the perpetrators themselves live citizens of the acre nether attack.

The most famous instance hither is the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building, carried out yesteryear Timothy McVeigh, a U.S. citizen. With all of these differences it is no wonder that Richard E. Rubinstein, manager of the Center for Conflict Analysis in addition to Resolution, 1 time argued that a “definition of terrorism is hopeless ... terrorism is only violence that yous don’t like.”

The the States Department of Justice defines domestic terrorism equally “the unlawful utilization of strength or violence, committed yesteryear a group(s) of 2 or to a greater extent than individuals, against persons or holding to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or whatever segment thereof, inwards furtherance of political or social objectives.” This definition has been modified to accent the target of domestic terrorism, namely, civilians or noncombatants.

History

While domestic terrorism may appear to live a twentieth-century (if non 1990s) phenomenon, history provides numerous acts that could tally the definition. The discussion “terror” tin lav at to the lowest degree live traced dorsum to the Reign of Terror conducted after the French Revolution inwards 1789, inwards which thousands were executed inwards club to forbid in addition to intimidate counterrevolutionary forces.

In U.S. history, the Boston Tea Party has been viewed equally a terrorist act, insofar equally it was a populace display of violence in addition to devastation to attain political in addition to social ends (antiBritish taxation). The American Revolution itself, inwards this view, depended on domestic terrorism against British colonizers to accomplish its goals.

H5N1 diverseness of rebellions arose inwards the outset 100 years of the the States that could live characterized equally terrorist. The Whiskey Rebellion taxation revolt, suppressed yesteryear federal troops inwards 1794, was a instance where military machine forces brutally responded to a tearing uprising. During the mid-1800s, religious fundamentalism became violent, peculiarly inwards the instance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons).

Mormon insurrections were frequent inwards the Midwest in addition to inwards Utah, equally the beliefs in addition to practices of the church building (especially polygamy) clashed with dominant Christian beliefs in addition to local laws. Rebellious Mormons ambushed in addition to slaughtered over 100 California-bound migrants, which provoked a military machine answer yesteryear President James Buchanan. Mormon protestors employed guerrilla tactics against the federal troops.

During the Civil War, wartime tactics that easily autumn nether the category of “domestic terrorism” were employed yesteryear both sides. After the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan was formed inwards club to enact vigilante judge in addition to protect white southerners. Their tactics, including the burning of crosses, holding destruction, obstructing blacks from voting, beatings, in addition to lynchings were all designed to intimidate citizens (as good equally authorities officials) through terror.

In the belatedly nineteenth century in addition to early on twentieth century, labor struggles oft included elements of terror. From anarchist assassinations in addition to bombings to the company-hired strikebreaking Pinkertons, violence in addition to intimidation were tactics employed to farther political in addition to social ends.

During the belatedly 1960s in addition to early on 1970s, extreme protestation took on a novel character. The moving ridge of demonstrations in addition to riots sometimes turned violent, oft with provocation yesteryear constabulary forces (as, for example, during the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention). At Kent State University inwards 1970, iv demonstrators were shot dead yesteryear National Guard troops.

The Vietnam War menstruation also saw the rising of antiestablishment in addition to antiracist organizations that at times resorted to violence to farther their goals. Premier alongside them was the Weather Underground Organization (formerly the Weathermen), who were blamed for a serial of bombings (including the U.S. Capitol building), banking concern robberies, in addition to shootings during this era.

Their endeavour to instigate a socialist revolution through tearing provocation also included the jailbreak of Timothy Leary. Also active during this fourth dimension was the Symbionese Liberation Army, whose claim to fame was the kidnapping in addition to recruitment (or brainwashing, depending on your perspective) of Patty Hearst, granddaughter of paper magnate William Randolph Hearst.

Contemporary Domestic Terrorism

The in conclusion xx years of the twentieth century saw an explosion inwards the issue of domestic terrorist groups, equally good equally the interests that motivate them. The U.S. Department of Justice classifies domestic terrorist groups into half dozen categories:

1. violent Puerto Rican independence groups, 
2. anti-Castro Cubans, 
3. left wing, 
4. right wing, 
5. Jewish extremist, and 
6. special interest.

Among the in conclusion category’s members are antiabortion extremists, responsible for physical in addition to psychological intimidation of abortion providers in addition to patients, including the bombing of clinics in addition to the murders of abortion providers. Groups similar Operation Rescue, the Army of God, in addition to the American Coalition for Life Activists withdraw maintain been implicated in, or defendant of endorsing, a issue of these crimes.

Ecoterrorism, done inwards the shout out of environmental preservation, has also come upward nether recent scrutiny. Animal rights organizations that utilization harassment in addition to intimidation autumn nether this category (e.g., the Animal Liberation Front, which targets institutions that conduct unethical inquiry on animals, equally good equally those that turn a profit from this mistreatment). In addition, to a greater extent than full general environmental activists similar globe First! in addition to the globe Liberation Front withdraw maintain been dubbed domestic terrorists (the latter yesteryear the FBI inwards 2001).

In the 1990s, domestic terrorism achieved a prominence that it never had before. On 26 Feb 1993, the World Trade Center was rocked yesteryear a bomb inwards its subway garage. The explosion, caused yesteryear a homemade fertilizer bomb, killed half dozen people in addition to injured to a greater extent than than a thousand. On 4 March 1994, the jury found Mohammad Salameh, Ahmad M. Ajaj, Mahmud Abouhalima, in addition to Nidel Ayyad guilty on thirty-eight counts related to the bombing.

This lawsuit was an human activeness of domestic terrorism only according to the definition that emphasizes the identify of the lawsuit (on U.S. soil). The Arab identities in addition to unusual citizenship of the convicted perpetrators would brand this an human activeness of international terrorism nether other definitions.

Similarly, the eleven September 2001 terrorist onset on the World Trade Center in addition to the Pentagon, in addition to the downing of the plane over Pennsylvania, tin lav live seen inwards this light. The ongoing investigation into 9/11 is primarily focused on an international terrorist network, peculiarly Al-Qaeda in addition to Osama Bin Laden.

Conspiracy theories withdraw maintain abounded with these WTC attacks. One proposed motivation for the attacks is the alleged conspiratorial tendencies of the Arab mentality. Daniel Pipes’s run on Arab paranoia stresses how conspiracy theories are a role of daily life inwards the Middle East. The antisemitic in addition to anti-Western nature of these theories, according to some analysts, leads to extremist behavior.

H5N1 issue of other conspiracy theories quest to other sources. In the 1993 attack, the fact that an FBI informant had provided much of the damning testify against the defendant has led to the belief that the FBI agent was a provocateur; that is, someone who incited in addition to provided the materials for the bombing.

In the 2001 attack, numerous theories abounded that the terror was a outcome of

1. an within project inwards the U.S. authorities designed to provoke a global state of war in addition to domestic martial law; or 
2. a Mossad (the Israeli cloak-and-dagger service) conspiracy to incite anti-Arab sentiment around earth in addition to evoke back upward for Israel’s policies. 

Some theories combined the 2 narratives, contention that the purpose of the terrorist acts was to usher inwards a New World Order in addition to mayhap the concluding Armageddon.

Oklahoma City in addition to the Militias

H5N1 issue of domestic terrorist acts occurred inwards the 1990s, including the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bombing in addition to the continued bombings of the Unabomber (which led to the arrest of Ted Kaczinski). Along with these came the increasing threat of chemic in addition to biological terrorism, which erupted inwards Nippon with the 1996 Sarin gas attacks yesteryear the Aum Shinrikyo cult, in addition to spilled over into the twenty-first century with the post-9/11 anthrax mailings.

But the lawsuit that dramatically propelled domestic terrorism in addition to conspiracy theories into the populace arena was the 1995 bombing of the Federal Building inwards Oklahoma City. In add-on to the scale of the devastation (169 dead, including 19 children), what was important nigh this lawsuit was the fact that it was done yesteryear U.S. citizens against other U.S. citizens.

Timothy J. McVeigh, a white Desert Storm veteran, was arrested in addition to later executed for the crime. During his trial, the prosecution stressed that a major motivation for the bombing was McVeigh’s conspiracy beliefs. Most significantly, McVeigh believed inwards a authorities conspiracy in addition to cover-up inwards the 1993 devastation of the Branch Davidian chemical compound inwards Waco, Texas.

The David Koresh–led religious arrangement had lost eighty-seven members inwards a fiery terminate to a monthslong siege, when federal law-enforcement agents stormed the residence with tanks in addition to CS gas. The appointment of the assault, 19 Apr 1993, was 2 years to the twenty-four hours earlier the Oklahoma City bombing.

Timothy McVeigh, an avid consumer of Waco conspiracy theories, became the exemplar for the unsafe results these beliefs could produce. His alleged brief sense with the militia motility propelled these armed groups into national prominence. While militias were never legally linked to the Oklahoma City bombing, much media scrutiny was placed on them, in addition to the Patriot network inwards general.

This loose collection of disgruntled citizens included taxation resisters, constitutionalists, white supremacists, Christian Identity members, rightto-bear-arms activists, in addition to full general antigovernment protestors. Conspiracy theories were oft associated with the Patriot movement, peculiarly theories that proposed that a New World Order was imminent.

The picture of the conspiracy-obsessed militia fellow member anchored the link betwixt conspiracy beliefs in addition to tearing domestic terrorism. This association was spread yesteryear official authorities spokespeople, private watchdog organizations (such equally the Anti-Defamation League in addition to the Center on Hate in addition to Extremism), think-tank experts, scholars, in addition to fifty-fifty Hollywood films (like the 1999 celluloid Arlington Road).

At the same time, at that topographic point were enough of conspiracy theories nigh the Oklahoma City bombing itself. Steven Jones, McVeigh’s lawyer, published a book-length trouble organisation human relationship that claimed McVeigh was a pes soldier inwards a larger network of domestic in addition to international terrorists. David Hoffman, inwards his mass The Oklahoma City Bombing in addition to the Politics of Terror (1998), provides the most thorough instance of these theories.

Hoffman meticulously arranges the loose ends developed yesteryear other conspiracy theorists (including the two-blast theory, that at that topographic point was to a greater extent than than 1 explosion recorded); the lack of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, in addition to Firearms (ATF) agents inwards the edifice during the bombing; the ATF informant Carol Howe’s testimony; the eyewitness accounts of McVeigh accomplices; in addition to numerous other details) into a broad trouble organisation human relationship of why the bombing occurred.

Along with Adam Parfrey, Hoffman makes the declaration that terrorism, to live effective, requires a claim of responsibility. No 1 claimed responsibleness for the bombing, in addition to many militia groups condemned the act.

Like many Patriot members, Hoffman charges that the Murrah Building bombing was planned in addition to executed yesteryear authorities insiders, inwards coordination with unusual agents, inwards club to plow pop back upward away from antigovernment groups in addition to towards authorities institutions. According to this theory McVeigh was a patsy, similar to Lee Harvey Oswald inwards the Kennedy assassination. The bombing was pseudoterrorism, a pretext for the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act in addition to the widespread curtailing of civil liberties.

This theory nigh the Oklahoma City bombing draws on longer standing theories nigh terrorism inwards general—namely the “strategy of tension.” The “strategy of tension,” it is argued, is a counterinsurgency tactic that involves staging violence inwards club to blame it on one’s enemy. The 1933 Reichstag fire, allegedly started yesteryear Nazi forces, was blamed on Communist groups to plow pop High German back upward to the Nazi regime.

Operation Gladio, which took identify primarily inwards Italy inwards the 1970s, involved authorities infiltration in addition to provocation of leftist groups to commit acts of terror. Some conspiracy theories fence that many of the pretexts for the twentieth century’s wars (the sinking of the Lusitania in addition to the USS Maine, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, in addition to Pearl Harbor) were deliberately engineered to garner pop back upward for going to war.

Democratic-Republican Societies

Democratic-Republican Societies

Democratic-Republican Societies were pop associations that existed inwards the U.S. from or then 1793 to 1799. The impetus behind these short-lived societies was a stated want to guard against the regime conspiring against the people.

In 1792, Philip Freneau, an early on Republican paper editor, summarized that defensive together with mistrusting persuasion inwards his National Gazette when he spoke of the take away for such societies “for the exercise of watching over the rights of the people, together with giving an early on alert inwards illustration of governmental encroachments thereupon.”

Such groups he considered “absolutely necessary inwards every country, where the people want to save an uncorrupted legislation” (National Gazette, 25 July 1792). The Charleston Society stated their founding regulation clearly: they had solely “one full general purpose, that of watching narrowly world characters” to guard against encroachments on the rights together with liberties gained during the American Revolution.


The Democratic Society of the City of New York declared inwards its 1794 constitution “THAT all legitimate ability resides inwards the People” (Foner, 151). Societies, of which in that place were most fifty, were formed inwards rural together with urban settings, inwards all exactly ii states. Especially active together with of import groups were formed inwards Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, together with South Carolina.

Members, of which in that place were thousands, were varied inwards their social condition together with occupations, together with were drawn from many ranks of society, counting inwards their numbers artisans together with farmers, exactly too doctors together with lawyers, together with other professionals. Members were too various inwards price of their religious together with political affiliations, fifty-fifty including some Federalists.

As U.S. political civilization became increasingly polarized inwards the mid-1790s, Democratic-Republican Societies were at the ticker of struggle most the nature of the early on American Republic. Members toasted the French Revolution at their meetings, waxed enthusiastically inwards paper articles published inwards the expanding press, together with warmly greeted Citizen Edmund Charles Genet, the French ambassador, when he visited the U.S. inwards 1793.

The societies too tended to survive mistrusting of the minute Federalist management of President George Washington, which they idea aimed to expand the powers of the national government, particularly the executive branch, together with to encroach upon the liberties of the mutual man.

Many Federalists came to believe that the societies themselves were conspiring to overthrow the government, a theory that was ofttimes broadcast inwards newspapers of the twenty-four hr catamenia similar John Fenno’s Gazette of the U.S. or from pulpits similar that of David Osgood of Medford, Massachusetts. Parallels were drawn betwixt the Democratic-Republican Societies together with the Jacobin Clubs of the French Revolution.

Charges against the Democratic Societies became to a greater extent than pronounced together with were leveled amongst to a greater extent than conviction later the outbreak of the Whiskey Rebellion inwards western Pennsylvania inwards 1794. Historians are non yet agreed on the exact role of the societies together with their members inwards that insurrection. There was a aeroplane of overlap betwixt lodge membership together with the Whiskey Rebels, exactly a lack of venture prove agency the precise connections may never survive known amongst certainty.

To many at the time, however, a lack of venture prove did non seem to matter. Washington idea that blame for the insurrection lay squarely on the shoulders of the societies. The rebellion, he wrote, was “the origin formidable fruit of the Democratic Societies” (Allen, 593). In a famous statement, Washington spoke of for sure “self-created Societies” which had “spread themselves over this country, select been laboring incessantly to sow the seeds of distrust, jealousy, together with of course of didactics discontent; thereby hoping to termination some revolution inwards the government”.

Democratic-Republican Societies increasingly came nether criticism every bit beingness hotbeds of conspiracy, a view summarized past times a critic inwards the Kentucky Gazette when he described the Democratic Society of Kentucky every bit a “horrible sink of treason,—that recollect synagogue of anarchy,—that odious conclave of tumult,—that frightful cathedral of discord,—that poisonous garden of conspiracy,—that hellish schoolhouse of rebellion together with opposition to all regular together with well-balanced authority” (31 August 1793). By 1796 membership inwards most Democratic-Republican Societies was waning together with past times 1800 they had all exactly disappeared, although their spirit lived on, inwards part, through the Republican Party they helped convey to power.

U Nu

U Nu

U Nu was the prime minister of Burma (now the Union of Myanmar) from 1948 to 1958 and from 1960 to 1962 and was an important leader earlier in the struggle for independence from Britain.

U Nu was born in a period during which the British colonization of Burma was coming under increasing pressure from nationalist Burmese and opposition in Britain. U Nu graduated from the University of Rangoon and worked for several years as a schoolteacher. In 1934 he returned to the university to study law and became involved with nationalist politics.

He became leader of the student union and was subsequently expelled from the university, along with Aung San. The subsequent student strike was one of the earliest confrontations between the Burmese and the British, which intensified in the following years.

U Nu joined the We-Burmans Association (Dobama Asi-ayone), which had been formed in the wake of the 1932 anti-Indian riots and was a center for nationalism. The association was dominated at first by the Rangoon University student union, but under U Nu and others it expanded its activities.

It was influenced by a combination of Marxism, democratic socialism, and Irish nationalism. The leaders, including U Nu, took the forename Thakin, or master, to demonstrate that they were not subservient to the British. The forename "U" is an honorific.

When World War II broke out in Asia, British authorities arrested U Nu and others, and they were imprisoned until Burma was invaded and occupied by the Japanese. The Japanese established a puppet government under Ba Maw, and U Nu served in his cabinet for a period. In the years between the end of the war and independence, U Nu assumed the leading position in the nationalist movement following Aung San’s assassination in 1947.

Consequently, he headed the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League and became the first prime minister of independent Burma in 1948. Winning two subsequent elections, he remained in office for a decade, with only a brief hiatus in 1956–57.

His time as prime minister was marked by numerous communist insurgencies and independence struggles by ethnic minority peoples, and a decline in the value of rice exports. His government proved unable to improve the lot of the people. He resigned in 1958, and the government was taken over by General Ne Win as a result of widespread social disorder.

U Nu returned to power in a brief return to democracy from 1960 to 1962, but the subsequent military coup returned the country to the repressive regime that remained in power into the 21st century.

U Nu was imprisoned by Ne Win and not released until 1969. He made several subsequent attempts to return to power, the first when he attempted to organize resistance to the military government in 1969. He was then forced into exile in India, although he returned to Rangoon to become a Buddhist monk in 1980.

He had throughout his life been a devoted Buddhist and had introduced several laws to support the religion. In 1988 it briefly appeared that democracy would return to Burma, but U Nu’s attempt to seize power was crushed and he was put under house arrest. He was freed in 1992 and died in Rangoon three years later.

Ukraine

Ukraine

Since 1991, Ukraine has been an independent state, the sovereignty of which is now recognized by all the countries of the world. Ukraine is one of the biggest European states (603,700 square kilometers). Ukraine has common borders with seven countries (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Russia, and Byelorussia), and the Black and Azov Seas are on its southern border.

Ukraine consists of 24 regions (oblast) and the Crimea Autonomous Republic. The capital of Ukraine is Kiev. A Pan-Ukrainian population census in 2001 found the total number of inhabitants at 48,416,000. The majority are city inhabitants, and 32 percent live in the countryside.

Over 100 ethnicities and nationalities are represented in contemporary Ukraine. Among them are Ukrainians, Russians, Belorussians, Moldavians, Crimean Tatars, and Bulgarians. Most of the population of Ukraine belongs to the Orthodox Christian Church.


Striving for national and state independence was a key issue in Ukraine in the 20th century. This aspiration, partly realized during the hard days of 1917–20, remained potent political motivation for Ukrainians living all over the world. The democracy brought by Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika inspired ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union to activate national liberation movements.

Revision of the Ukrainian nation historical past, promoted by representatives of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group of human rights activists; a rise in national identity supported and developed by artists, poets, writers, and scientists; and the people’s movement known as "meeting democracy" had created the necessary background for historical action. On July 16, 1990, the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine, first among the republics of the former Soviet Union, adopted a declaration of state sovereignty of Ukraine.

Ukraine map

The next step was a coup that took place in the Soviet Union on August 19–21, 1994, and that resulted in the pronouncement of the Act of State Independence of Ukraine by Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Soon afterward the first elections were held for president of independent Ukraine (Leonid Kravchuk won and was president from 1991 to 1994), combined with an all Ukrainian referendum for endorsement of the independence of Ukraine.

Since that time a series of measures aimed at the organization of bodies and institutions necessary for an independent Ukraine have been undertaken. Some acts were compromises with the Russian Federation; because of the deep economic integration of both countries, it was hard to become separated at once.

Issues included the state border between Ukraine and Russia in the Azov Sea; the presence of the Russian navy in Sevastopol in Crimea and the status of that city; and the persoalan of the frontier with Romania around Zmeinyi Island. Some others still remain only partially solved.

On December 7–8, 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Belorussia signed a document denouncing the union treaty of 1922, according to which the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had been organized. A treaty establishing a Commonwealth of Independent States was signed instead. Since that time, Ukraine has been free to conduct its internal policy.

During 1991–94 a series of democratic reforms were instituted in Ukraine, among which the most important were beginning a constitutional process, the improvement of the multiparty system, the formulation of basic principles of foreign policy and international cooperation, the formulation of a military doctrine, introduction of economic reforms, the elaboration of an ethnic policy, and the creation of relationships with the different churches represented in Ukraine.

The presidential and parliamentary elections of 1994 opened a new phase in the political development of Ukraine. The keystone of the political history of Ukraine at that time was the adoption of a new constitution (June 28, 1996), a long and hard process that repeatedly caused political and parliamentary criss.

It was the beginning of parliamentary and presidential opposition, which led to growing tension during Kuchma’s presidency in relation to the composition of parliament factions and their representation.

The presidential elections of 2004 and the following Orange Revolution opened a new masa in the political history of Ukraine, characterized by general democratization and liberalization of the political process.

Ukrainians dissatisfied with officially announced results of the runoff election between presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich and leader of the opposition Viktor Yuschenko demonstrated in the principal square of Kiev—the Maidan (Square) of Independence—and for several weeks people from various cities, towns, and villages in Ukraine marched for democracy, for their political rights, and for the possibility to make their political choices freely.

Orange Revolution

Orange Revolution

Representatives of different political parties and movements united their efforts in this process, and the Orange Revolution ended in a victory for democracy in Ukraine. A coalition government, with the participation of all "orange" parties and movements, was formed, with Julia Timoshenko as the first woman prime minister in the history of Ukraine.

In local administrations, thousands of former functionaries of different levels have been replaced by "orange" democrats. New priorities in foreign policy, a tendency toward integration with the European Union (EU) and cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and reorientation of trade relationships have been elaborated.

Nevertheless, as early as the beginning of September 2005, Julia Timoshenko’s government was dismissed, and it became clear that there were serious discrepancies among Orange Revolution leaders and representatives of different orange parties.

Political reform that implies the transition of Ukraine from presidential to parliamentary republic was adopted by the parliament and became a point of serious discussion among "orange" revolutionaries, social democrats, representatives of the Party of Regions, and communists. The ideals of democracy and freedom still remain the essence of the Viktor Yuschenko presidency, as was shown by the first free parliamentary election in March 2006.

Viktor Yuschenko

Shortly after its independence, Ukraine faced problems during the transitional period of economic development from planned socialism to free-market forms. The destruction of traditional Soviet resources, marketing, and energetic and macroeconomic networks, along with the extreme difficulty of creating new ones in the European community, and the urgent need for modernization of basic equipment and production techniques, negatively influenced the general state and the prospects of further development of the economy of Ukraine. A so-called shadow economy sprang up and grew rapidly with substantial support from the highest administration of Ukraine, which appeared to be corrupt.

Inflation, accompanied by a decrease in purchasing power, indicated that the standard of living of Ukrainians decreased to a crucial level, creating a need for the state administration to finance a series of social programs. Pension reform, changes in support for families with low income, support for veterans of World War II, and many other social actions were undertaken.

Broad-scale raising of salaries, stipends, and pensions began in 2004 under the government headed by Viktor Yanukovich on the eve of presidential elections. The new president of Ukraine, Viktor Yuschenko, and his ministries consequently instituted a series of social programs aimed at improving the standard of living.

A series of economic reforms, including the introduction of new currency, privatization in agriculture and industry, promotion of national producers and national product exportation, searches for new investments and new sources of power supply abroad, and cooperation with the World Bank, gradually contributed to a general slow growth of the Ukrainian economy after 2000.

The creation of a new macroeconomic network, tending toward integration with the European Union (EU) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), is the principal strategic goal proclaimed by President Yuschenko.

The organization of an independent state of Ukraine led to a new animo in the development of the ideology and culture of the country, connected with the formation of the ideas of national unity and ethnic and national self-identification.

The process of national memory revival, studies of the cultural and historical past of the Ukrainian nation, rediscovering cultural heritage, the revival of the folk culture of national minorities, and the establishment of fruitful connections with the Ukrainian diaspora are key aspects of the cultural development of Ukraine in the new millenium.

One of the sharpest debates in the context of cultural development is the discussion of an official language of Ukraine. It was demonstrated in the presidential election of 2004 and the parliamentary election of 2006 that a strong Russian-speaking opposition still exists in Ukraine.

The activation of religious life in independent Ukraine after the dismantling of a totalitarian ideology brought a series of conflicts, first of all among representatives of different branches of Orthodox Christianity. As stated by the constitution of Ukraine, the nonobligatory character of any religion creates the background necessary for religious pluralism and freedom of people’s consciousness.

Turkey

Turkey flag

Present-day Turkey lies in southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia and shares borders with Greece, Bulgaria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. It is made up of 780,580 square kilometers. It contains the Bosporus Strait, which connects, the Black and Marmara seas, and is one of the busiest shipping lanes, in the world. Turkey also has coastline on the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.

Turkey has 81 provinces, and Ankara is the capital city. Turkey’s population is almost 70 million, of which a majority are Turkish, with a significant minority of Kurds, as well as Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Circassians, Assyrians, Arabs, and Laz communities. Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim.

Turkey is a republican parliamentary democracy with a civil law system derived from several European legal systems such as the Swiss Code. The legislative branch is the unicameral Grand National Assembly, which contains 550 popularly elected seats.


Turkey’s economy is a mix of industrial, agricultural, and commercial. The private sector is expanding, but the state still controls most basic industries and the banking, transport, and communication sectors. The main export industries are textile and clothing production, with automotive and electronic export production close behind.

The main agricultural products include tobacco, cotton, grains, olives, sugar beets, pulses, citrus products, and livestock. In the 1990s Turkey’s economy suffered severe fluctuations, which culminated in financial disaster in February 2001. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides heavy backing, but the economy faces high debt and deficits.

Ismet Inönü took over as president upon the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1938, and the Republican People’s Party (RPP) held the majority until 1950. Inönü managed to stay out of World War II until 1945, when Turkey declared war on Germany as a symbolic gesture in order to qualify as a founder of the newly forming United Nations. Under the Truman Doctrine, Turkey, due to its close proximity to the Soviet Union, qualified for massive financial aid.

Despite these achievements, the economy was weak, and the RPP and Inönü grew increasingly unpopular. Turkey had by then formed a multiparty system, and in 1950 the Democratic Party (Demokrati Partisi, or DP) received the majority in the elections, forcing the RPP to relinquish its 27-year majority.

Turkey map

Celal Bayar became president, and Adnan Menderes became prime minister. The economic boom of the early 1950s strengthened Menderes and the DP’s position. By 1952 Turkey had become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), largely due to the fact that Turkey had immediately volunteered troops for the Korean War. Turkey’s entry into NATO ensured protection along its borders and allowed NATO a closer position against the USSR.

After the 1954 elections the DP became more authoritarian. Conflict was exacerbated when a Greek citizen placed a bomb at the Turkish consulate in Thessalonica. The island of Cyprus, under British control and with an 80 percent Greek majority, also became a point of conflict. These two issues culminated in riots in 1955 that targeted Greek homes, shops, and businesses and wrought havoc throughout Istanbul.

Many Turkish citizens of Greek origin fled Turkey after these riots. During this period, Greek nationalists of the EOKA movement on Cyprus also began a struggle against the British forces. Turkey strongly opposed British suggestions that the Greeks might be allowed to annex Cyprus. Ultimately Cyprus became an independent nation.

Turkey prime minister in 1950s, Adnan Menderes

The DP lacked the support of the military, which had been vital to the RPP. This led to the DP’s downfall in 1960. Because of training, aid, and financial support gained as a result of joining NATO, the Turkish military was a strong and powerful mechanism within Turkey. Menderes grew increasingly unpopular with the military.

In 1960, the military overthrew the Menderes government. The coup was popular among students, who had been repressed by the DP. A new constitution was drawn up that justified military intervention if the ruling government acted unconstitutionally. The military was also given a role in government.

In January 1961 political activity was allowed once again, and 11 parties registered for the elections to be held at the end of 1961. One of the parties, the Justice Party (Adalet Partisi, or JP) appeared to be a phoenix of the old, outlawed DP. Menderes and two of his cabinet members were tried by a military tribunal and executed in September 1961. Elections were held in October 1961.

Süleyman Demirel

The Justice and Republican People’s Parties formed a shaky coalition. In 1965 the JP, led by Süleyman Demirel, won a major victory in elections. Under Demirel, Turkey saw significant economic growth. The JP espoused Islamist and traditional beliefs that ran directly counter to communist and leftist thought. The left grew increasingly popular among the student population and industrial proletariat.

The right also emerged as a strong force in the 1960s, setting the stage for the crisis of the 1970s. The formation of two strong, Islamic-leaning parties, the National Action Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi) and the National Order Party (Millî Nizam Partisi), seriously threatened the JP’s hold on the government in 1969.

Demirel’s JP government started to fall apart in 1971. On March 12, 1971, the army forced the Demirel government from office.

Free elections were held in 1973, with a victory by Bülent Ecevit’s RPP. However, because they failed to capture the majority vote, they were forced into coalition governments. This continued throughout the 1970s as rightist and leftist violence escalated. Kurdish separatism also flared up in the 1970s. Kurdish nationalist Abdullah Öcalan formed the left-leaning Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in 1978.

The sectarian violence escalated, and the military stepped in. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, Islamic groups in Turkey were suspected of receiving aid from Iran. The religious demonstrations in Konya in September 1980 provided an excuse for direct military intervention.

The Purge

Kenan Evren : president of turkey 1980-1989

The military suspended all political parties and groups and instituted martial law and curfews. General Kenan Evren was declared acting head of state. The National Security Council (NSC) arrested 122,000 people during 1980–81 in order to stop the violence. Academics and politicians were purged from the system. A new constitution was enacted in 1982. Kenan Evren was then elected president, and the military began to restructure the political system.

Elections were held in 1983, with the Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi) gaining the majority under Turgut Özal. The old parties then reincarnated and changed their names in order to enter the 1984 elections. After Kenan Evren’s term ended in 1989, Turgut Özal became president. Turgut Özal’s presidency, although fraught with corruption and scandal, was also marked by impressive modernization.

Turgut Özal : President of Turkey 1989-1993

The 1990s were also marked by the rise of the PKK. After the 1980 coup the Kurdish language was forbidden, as was the term Kurdish as a separate identity. Abdullah Öcalan had fled to Damascus after the 1980 coup. Turkey until 1991 refused to acknowledge the presence of Kurds in the country and referred to them as "mountain Turks". The government forbade their language, songs, customs, and names.

Öcalan’s followers carried out their missions with an almost religious zeal. Talabani of the Kurdish PUK faction based in Iran helped Öcalan get financial support from Kurds living throughout the Middle East, which brought the PKK beyond the sphere of Turkey. The PKK also received support from Kurds living in Europe.

The PKK used guerrilla warfare to launch attacks within Turkey. The Turkish army responded brutally to the terrorist attacks. Villages thought to be harboring PKK terrorists were destroyed, and thousands were arrested, detained, and tortured. Many innocent people were killed and their homes destroyed.

After the U.S. defeat of Iraq in 1991, Turkey feared the creation of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq that would be used as a base for Kurdish attacks on Turkey. Subsequently, President Özal officially recognized the existence of Kurds in Turkey and implemented a bill that would allow the Kurdish language to be used in everyday conversations but not in business, government, or any other official agency.

Despite this, the PKK stepped up their campaigns against the Turkish government, committing more atrocities, which further enraged the Turkish public. Öcalan was captured in Nairobi, Kenya, by Turkish commandos in 1999. He was sentenced to death and imprisoned on an island in the Marmara Sea, where he remained for years.

Tansu çiller : first female prime minister of Turkey 1993-1996

In 1993 the True Path Party came into power, and Tansu çiller became the first female prime minister of Turkey. Necmettin Erbakan was the leader of Refah, which was supported by the young, professional middle class and students. Erbakan did not engage in a radical Islamic changeover.

He personally championed reforms to change the working hours during bulan pahala and loosen control of the Directorate of Religious Affairs to make it harder for the government to monitor Islam. Erbakan also proposed lifting the ban against wearing headscarves in universities and government institutions. The Erbakan/çiller coalition also made significant overtures to Libya and Iran, and at the same time condemned Israel.

With the advent of new freedoms under Erbakan, many other Islamic leaders eagerly expressed their long-silent opinions. Refah wanted to abolish the Swiss legal code instituted by Atatürk, and secularists feared a return to sharia, or Islamic law.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan : Prime minister of Turkey 2003-2014,
Present days president of Turkey

Erbakan and çiller both left government, and in 1998 the Constitutional Court formally disbanded Refah and forced its members out of Parliament. Bülent Ecevit emerged as the new president, in large part because of his handling of Öcalan and the Kurdish conflict. In 1999 a huge earthquake struck Izmit, near Istanbul, killing between 15,000 and 40,000 people.

The government was extremely slow to respond, and the public was enraged by the lack of support from both the government and the military. Memories of the earthquake played a role the emergence of the Justice and Development Party (JDP, or Ak Partisi). In the 2002 elections the JDP, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won a majority in the Grand National Assembly.

Although the JDP espoused a moderate Islamic line, it was careful to respect the secular state. Erdogan also instituted reforms to help pull Turkey out of its financial troubles. Erdogan and the JDP also scored a major victory with the October 2005 decision by the European Union (EU) to start Turkey’s EU membership bid.

Present days Istanbul, Turkey

Council On Unusual Relations

Council on Foreign Relations

Founded at the closed of World War I, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an influential organization devoted to the report of unusual policy. Ever since 1952, when Emmanuel Josephson’s John Birch Society (JBS) inwards particular—have viewed the CFR equally a conspiratorial cabal amongst designs on global power.

Although the autumn of the Iron Curtain necessitated alteration to the theory of a CFR-Communist conspiracy, the JBS silent argues that the Council is genuinely a grouping of “establishment Insiders” intent on creating a socialist “One World Government.”

CFR members are good positioned for this coup, equally they tin live on found inwards the highest positions of the authorities (Henry Kissinger, George Bush, together with Bill Clinton); finance (the Rockefellers together with innumerable New York bankers); the legal Blue Planet (Supreme Court Justices O’Connor, Ginsburg, together with Breyer); together with the media (editors of the New York Times together with network tidings anchors); non to cite inwards other clandestine cabals such equally the Trilateral Commission together with the Bohemian Grove group.


According to the conspiracy theorists, contemporary political developments such equally the liberalization of global merchandise (e.g., NAFTA, GATT) together with the ascension of the United Nations are the outset steps toward the CFR’s ultimate goals: the halt of national sovereignty together with the enslavement of the entire Blue Planet nether the banner of their centralized, all-powerful “world government.” In this “New World Order,” U.S. armed forces forces volition live on employed equally oppressive agents of the global supergovernment—UN “peace-keeping” missions are simply the tip of this iceberg.

To live on fair, at that spot are a non bad many “charges” that members of the CFR would non assist to dispute, but the Council’s outlook on the New World Order is radically dissimilar from that of the JBS because of the historical context out of which the whole thought developed.

When the CFR was founded inwards 1919, Woodrow Wilson’s bespeak for a utopian international community constituted the starting betoken for many CFR members’ views on U.S. unusual policy. If World War I was to live on the “war to halt all wars,” it was essential to arrive at a novel international community that could repose the tensions betwixt nationstates earlier serious conflicts erupted.

What was needed, argued the Wilsonians, was less jingoistic nationalism together with to a greater extent than international cooperation; a displace toward creating “One World” from the divided, fractured Blue Planet of 1919 (and, indeed, since this was prior to the rabid anticommunism of the mutual coldness war, or then members thought inwards price of a “socialist” Blue Planet order, which was to locomote immensely unpopular 3 decades on).

Of course, for a multifariousness of reasons, lack of amount U.S. participation beingness one, the League of Nations never fulfilled this role, together with within a decade Europe was speedily descending into or then other era of bloodshed. The Council’s investigations into the causes of World War II exclusively reinforced the Wilsonian ideals of many members. The sectionalization of the world’s non bad powers combined amongst rampant nationalism had produced the preconditions for fascism, genocide, together with the almost amount devastation of Europe.

Council on Foreign Relations

Supporters of the CFR today would debate that the Council’s advocacy for a New World Order must live on understood inwards this context, together with that the displace toward international cooperation nether the aegis of the United Nations heralds an era of increasing peace together with prosperity rather than an Orwellian nightmare.

“Mainstream” critics together with historians of the CFR similar Robert Schulzinger (who genuinely suggests that much of the Council’s locomote is cliché-ridden together with ineffectual) debate that the Council’s ideas simply mirror the transformations brought on past times globalization, together with that to read the similarity betwixt the CFR’s ideas together with global developments equally involving a causal link is simply a mistake.

Thus, equally far equally the New World Order goes, it seems equally though ane man’s secular utopia is or then other man’s apocalypse; the sectionalization betwixt the 2 perspectives is completely unbridgeable, together with the apocalyptic side of the split is inevitably dismissed past times mainstream civilization equally “extreme.”

The accuse of elitism, however—the claim that the CFR is a network of “insiders” that shape an allpowerful East Coast “establishment”—is less easily dispelled, since the CFR is quite self-consciously elitist. The CFR argues that international relations should live on studied past times serious, dispassionate minds costless from the taint of impurities such equally nationalism.

At the outset of the mutual coldness war, for instance, George Kennan published his forthwith infamous “X” article inwards the CFR’s journal, Foreign Affairs, together with raised then much world hysteria surrounding the Soviet menace that the Council began to fearfulness that the number of U.S-Soviet relations would live on hijacked past times demagogues (and, inwards stance of what loomed on the horizon inwards McCarthyism, perchance this fearfulness was non misplaced). If the CFR is “secretive,” debate its proponents, it is because sometimes heightened world consciousness genuinely plant against the proper ends of international politics.

Even mainstream academics, however—people who would themselves no uncertainty live on designated “insiders” past times the JBS—might good debate that spell the CFR’s tillage of its status equally an elite organization may non accurately live on termed conspiratorial, it is non at all clear that it represents a positive evolution inwards U.S. political culture.

Togo

Togo is a small, narrow republic in western Africa. Slightly fewer than 22,000 square miles, with a north south distance of about 340 miles, Togo is situated between Ghana and Benin. The capital and largest city of Lomé is located on the western side of the 56 kilometer coastline on the Gulf of Guinea.

In spite o its small size, Togo’s population is diverse. There are 37 ethnic groups among its nearly 6 million people, who practice traditional religions, Christianity, and Islam. French is the official language although the African languages Ewe and Kabiyé are also taught.

Togo has one of Africa’s highest rates of population growth and highest rates of deforestation. Over two thirds of the population are engaged in agriculture and lives in areas with limited safe drinking water. In addition to other serious health problems, either HIV or AIDS results in about 10,000 deaths per year.

The slave trade was carried on in Togo during and after the 1600s. Germany made the territory the protectorate of Togoland in 1884 and during the next decade determined the permanent boundaries through agreements with France and Britain. The port city of Lomé was built by the Germans for shipment of goods from the interior.

In 1914 Germany surrendered Togoland to British and French troops. After World War I, France received Togoland in exchange for interior land granted to the British. After World War II, the United Nations gave Britain and France joint control of the territory.

In 1956 British Togo became part of the Gold Coast, which later became Ghana, while French Togo moved for independence. Under the leadership of Sylvanus Olympio, the National Union Party gained control of French Togo and refused an overture to unite with Ghana.

The United Nations granted membership to the new country in 1960. Three years later, Premier Olympio was assassinated in a military coup that installed Nicolas Grunitzky as president. A new constitution was drafted and approved by the nation.

When the army staged a second coup in 1967, the new government, headed by Étienne Eyadéma, dismissed the legislature and threw out the constitution. Eyadéma and his party, Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT, or Togolese People’s Assembly), created a new constitution.

In the elections that followed, Eyadéma was almost unanimously reelected president. On the 13th anniversary of his takeover of the government, Eyadéma announced the Third Togolese Republic. Unrest continued to plague Togo, and in 1986 France sent troops to help quell another attempted coup. Eyadéma was reelected to another seven-year term the same year.

Map of Togo

Eyadéma agreed in 1991 to work with a transitional government until general elections could be held. A national referendum in 1992 approved a new constitution. Among the provisions of the constitution were the establishment of multiparty elections and term limits for officials. In the 1993 election Eyadéma was still able to emerge as the victor for another term.

The elections resulted in a new legislature, which demanded concessions. In 1994 he appointed Edem Kodjo prime minister of a new coalition government. Nevertheless Eyadéma was reelected in 1998 and in 2003, after the legislature removed the term limits from the constitution.

When President Eyadéma died in February 2005, he was succeeded by his son Faure Gnassingbe. The succession, supported by the military but not by the constitution, was challenged by popular protest and a threat of sanctions from regional leaders. Gnassingbe easily won the elections he held in April 2005.