Category Articles

In category Articles on  March 17, 2007 

MaximsNews Network
By Mehri Madarshahi

The “Melody for Dialogue among Civilizations“,www.melodydialogue.org, Association has produced major inter-cultural concerts around the world beginning in 2005 with “Mozart, but not only…” for the opening ceremony of the sixtieth anniversary of UNESCO.

A glimpse of this extraordinary concert can be viewed on YouTube, See: http://youtube.com/watch?v=UUiIsi-4Mfk.

So far, the Association has brought together some 420 musicians from 70 countries – dialoguing with music from Mozart, Schubert,  Monti and others.

The Association is scheduled to present a major concert to New York’s Avery Fisher Hall in December 2007.

The programme consists of an unprecedented “musical dialogue” between some 40 renown traditional musicians from 35 countries, and St ...

In category Articles on  March 17, 2006 

MaximsNews Network
By Mehri Madarshahi

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first democratically-elected female President in Africa, was inaugurated to the office in Monrovia on 16 January 2006.  

This day coincided poignantly with the commemoration of the assassination of the beacon of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King.

President Johnson-Sirleaf is a 67-year-old Harvard-educated economist and a seasoned politician with a stature she has honed since her days as finance minister under William Tolbert’s government.

After running afoul of military ruler Master-Sgt. Samuel Doe, she was forced into exile in late 1970s...

In category Articles on  July 27, 2005 

MaximsNews Network
By Mehri Madarshahi

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Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai has contributed a new interpretation to the notion of peace, challenging prevailing wisdom and traditional approaches. The 2004 Nobel Peace Committee took up this challenge by recognizing the innate links between peace, democracy, prosperity and sustainable development as advocated by Wangari. Soon after, it wasn’t only the Nobel Committee, but the world at large that professed acceptance of the need for a balanced ecological system of the planet as an essential precondition and conduit for peace and prosperity.

It all started with the simple planting of a tree some thirty years ago! To date, Wangari is the proud mother of some thirty million trees in Kenya – thirty million trees that have provided f...

In category Articles on  July 6, 2005 

MaximsNews Network
By Mehri Madarshahi

I met with President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria during his recent visit to Paris.

This coincided with the gathering of Finance Ministers of the G-8 countries in London to prepare the proposal for a debt relief scheme in favor of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), especially in Africa.

President Obasanjo who is also the Chairman of African Union and Chairs the Implementation Committee of NEPAD, welcomed the news as an important step which could go a long way towards helping the beneficiaries to achieve a sustainable external debtposition.

Nevertheless, he expressed regret that Nigeria as the most populous and a poor African country appeared not to be included among the group of countries benefiting from the initiative.

He referred to...

In category Articles on  June 30, 2005 

MaximsNews Network
By Mehri Madarshahi

The recent Presidential election in Iran represents a classical form of smoke screen with respect to the application of universally accepted principles and standards of democracy. 

If democracy -as presently practiced by those who never enjoyed it and applauded by those who prescribed it means merely casting votes, well then the latest Iranian poll may well be considered an example of a democratic election. 

Give and take, depending on the estimates, some 28 million individuals went to the polling stations, approximately 55% of all eligible Iranian voters.

Is the result a sham?  

Maybe, but probably according to some sources familiar with Iran, it was a useful sham...

In category Articles on  January 1, 2004 

UNDIPLOMATIC TIMES
Mrs. Owen-Jones, Shirin Ehbadi and UNESCO
By Mehri Madarshahi
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Calling her “a woman of heart and action” and a friend of UNESCO with a proven record of work defending the rights of under-privileged children, UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura on 23 March appointed Italian-born Cristina Owen-Jones Goodwill Ambassador for the fight against HIV/ AIDS. A familiar face around UNESCO in recent years because of her advocacy of children’s rights, Ms Owen-Jones is also well known in the world of Parisian haute monde as the wife of Lindsay Owen-Jones, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the cosmetics company L’Oréal .

Since 2002 Cristina has worked with UNESCO’s Programme for the Education of Children in Need...

In category Articles on  January 1, 2004 

UNDIPLOMATIC TIMES
Russian Tycoon Abramian Pushes Dialogue of Civilizations as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador
By Mehri Madarshahi
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In July 2003, UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura, seeking to engage the initiative and drive of the private sector to the Dialogue among Civilizations, designated Ara Abramian, one of Russia’s new generation of multimillionaire businessmen as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Of Armenian origin, born into a well-to-do family in the small village of Malishka (literally, “my little darling”), Mr. Abramian brings a unique mix of experiences and skills to his new role.

Growing up in a home with five siblings and with both parents busy medical doctors, he learned early to compete and work hard to achieve success...

In category Articles on  January 1, 2003 

UNDIPLOMATIC TIMES
US Back to UNESCO Amidst Big Changes
By Mehri Madarshahi
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