The media seems to have left Iraq off the radar of late - probably because of the way politicians have portrayed things in the war-torn country being on the improve. Yes, the American death-count is down but that is the end of the matter. The realities are actually recorded by Dahr Jamail in his Mideast Dispatches:
"Despite all the claims of improvements, 2007 has been the worst year yet in Iraq.
One of the first big moves this year was the launch of a troop "surge" by the U.S. government in mid-February. The goal was to improve security in Baghdad and the western al-Anbar province, the two most violent areas. By June, an additional 28,000 troops had been deployed to Iraq, bringing the total number up to more than 160,000.
By autumn, there were over 175,000 U.S. military personnel in Iraq. This is the highest number of U.S. troops deployed yet, and while the U.S. government continues to talk of withdrawing some, the numbers on the ground appear to contradict these promises.
The Bush administration said the "surge" was also aimed at curbing sectarian killings, and to gain time for political reform for the government of U.S.-backed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
During the surge, the number of Iraqis displaced from their homes quadrupled, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent. By the end of 2007, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that there are over 2.3 million internally displaced persons within Iraq, and over 2.3 million Iraqis who have fled the country.
Iraq has a population around 25 million.
The non-governmental organisation Refugees International describes Iraq's refugee problem as "the world's fastest growing refugee crisis."
Monday, December 31, 2007
Privacy International's 2007 scorecard....
Privacy International's report on the state of privacy around the world is in - and it doesn't make for happy reading especially in relation to some countries where one might have expected, if not hoped, that the right to privacy is cherished. Then again, reflecting on what many countries have embarked on post 9/11 it isn't all that surprising that privacy of the citizen is slipping.
The IHT reports:
"Individual privacy is under threat in the United States and across the European Union as governments introduce sweeping surveillance and information-gathering measures in the name of security and controlling borders, an international rights group has said in a report.
Greece, Romania and Canada had the best privacy records of 47 countries surveyed by Privacy International, which is based in London. Malaysia, Russia and China were ranked worst.
Both Britain and the United States fell into the lowest-performing group of "endemic surveillance societies."
"The general trend is that privacy is being extinguished in country after country," said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International. "Even those countries where we expected ongoing strong privacy protection, like Germany and Canada, are sinking into the mire."
The IHT reports:
"Individual privacy is under threat in the United States and across the European Union as governments introduce sweeping surveillance and information-gathering measures in the name of security and controlling borders, an international rights group has said in a report.
Greece, Romania and Canada had the best privacy records of 47 countries surveyed by Privacy International, which is based in London. Malaysia, Russia and China were ranked worst.
Both Britain and the United States fell into the lowest-performing group of "endemic surveillance societies."
"The general trend is that privacy is being extinguished in country after country," said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International. "Even those countries where we expected ongoing strong privacy protection, like Germany and Canada, are sinking into the mire."
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Robert Fisk: The Facts Behind Bhutto Death
No one knows the Middle East and the general region better than Robert Fisk. After all, not only has he lived there for some 30 years but he has met the main players.
So, the Robert Fisk "take" on the Bhutto assassination, published in The Independent [as reproduced on Information Clearing House] is not the usual media grab put out by the various politicians, but a trye analysis of the facts:
"Weird, isn't it, how swiftly the narrative is laid down for us. Benazir Bhutto, the courageous leader of the Pakistan People's Party, is assassinated in Rawalpindi – attached to the very capital of Islamabad wherein ex-General Pervez Musharraf lives – and we are told by George Bush that her murderers were "extremists" and "terrorists". Well, you can't dispute that.
But the implication of the Bush comment was that Islamists were behind the assassination. It was the Taliban madmen again, the al-Qa'ida spider who struck at this lone and brave woman who had dared to call for democracy in her country.
Of course, given the childish coverage of this appalling tragedy – and however corrupt Ms Bhutto may have been, let us be under no illusions that this brave lady is indeed a true martyr – it's not surprising that the "good-versus-evil" donkey can be trotted out to explain the carnage in Rawalpindi.
Who would have imagined, watching the BBC or CNN on Thursday, that her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, hijacked a Pakistani airliner in 1981 and flew it to Kabul where Murtaza demanded the release of political prisoners in Pakistan. Here, a military officer on the plane was murdered. There were Americans aboard the flight – which is probably why the prisoners were indeed released.
Only a few days ago – in one of the most remarkable (but typically unrecognised) scoops of the year – Tariq Ali published a brilliant dissection of Pakistan (and Bhutto) corruption in the London Review of Books, focusing on Benazir and headlined: "Daughter of the West". In fact, the article was on my desk to photocopy as its subject was being murdered in Rawalpindi."
Read on here.
So, the Robert Fisk "take" on the Bhutto assassination, published in The Independent [as reproduced on Information Clearing House] is not the usual media grab put out by the various politicians, but a trye analysis of the facts:
"Weird, isn't it, how swiftly the narrative is laid down for us. Benazir Bhutto, the courageous leader of the Pakistan People's Party, is assassinated in Rawalpindi – attached to the very capital of Islamabad wherein ex-General Pervez Musharraf lives – and we are told by George Bush that her murderers were "extremists" and "terrorists". Well, you can't dispute that.
But the implication of the Bush comment was that Islamists were behind the assassination. It was the Taliban madmen again, the al-Qa'ida spider who struck at this lone and brave woman who had dared to call for democracy in her country.
Of course, given the childish coverage of this appalling tragedy – and however corrupt Ms Bhutto may have been, let us be under no illusions that this brave lady is indeed a true martyr – it's not surprising that the "good-versus-evil" donkey can be trotted out to explain the carnage in Rawalpindi.
Who would have imagined, watching the BBC or CNN on Thursday, that her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, hijacked a Pakistani airliner in 1981 and flew it to Kabul where Murtaza demanded the release of political prisoners in Pakistan. Here, a military officer on the plane was murdered. There were Americans aboard the flight – which is probably why the prisoners were indeed released.
Only a few days ago – in one of the most remarkable (but typically unrecognised) scoops of the year – Tariq Ali published a brilliant dissection of Pakistan (and Bhutto) corruption in the London Review of Books, focusing on Benazir and headlined: "Daughter of the West". In fact, the article was on my desk to photocopy as its subject was being murdered in Rawalpindi."
Read on here.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Some "interesting" stats
- A few years back Bill Gates, of Microsoft fame, predicted that there would be an end to spam by 2006. The latest data for 2007 suggests that 70% of emails are spam and users spend an average 3 minutes a day deleting it
- Lawrence Summers claims that the standard of living in Europe during the Industrial Revolution rose 50% over the lifetime of people, some 40 years at the time. In 2007 the Asian countries, principally China, will see a 10,000% increase in the standard of living in the space of a lifetime
- The population of the USA will hit 303 million as at 1 January 2008
- 22% of Americans won't be taking a break over the Xmas-New Year period and some 45% say that they will take off only 1 week for vacation during 2008.
- Lawrence Summers claims that the standard of living in Europe during the Industrial Revolution rose 50% over the lifetime of people, some 40 years at the time. In 2007 the Asian countries, principally China, will see a 10,000% increase in the standard of living in the space of a lifetime
- The population of the USA will hit 303 million as at 1 January 2008
- 22% of Americans won't be taking a break over the Xmas-New Year period and some 45% say that they will take off only 1 week for vacation during 2008.
Bhutto: A colleague remembers her from student days
Whilst the world reflects on the death of Benazir Bhutto - and the potential fallout from it - Arianne Huffington, on her The Huffington Post, reflects on the person she came to know when they were both students at Cambridge and Oxford respectively:
"The world is debating the political fallout from Benazir Bhutto's assassination -- from fear of chaos in Pakistan to the impact of her death in Iowa. There is already no shortage of analysis about the national security implications of her death, but I want to write about the young woman I met in England before she became a player on the world stage.
She was at Oxford. I was at Cambridge. And by a strange coincidence I became president of the Cambridge Union and she became president of the Oxford Union. The anomaly of two foreign women heading the two unions meant that we ended up debating each other around England on topics ranging from British politics to broad generalities about the impact of technological advance on mankind."
Read the complete piece here.
"The world is debating the political fallout from Benazir Bhutto's assassination -- from fear of chaos in Pakistan to the impact of her death in Iowa. There is already no shortage of analysis about the national security implications of her death, but I want to write about the young woman I met in England before she became a player on the world stage.
She was at Oxford. I was at Cambridge. And by a strange coincidence I became president of the Cambridge Union and she became president of the Oxford Union. The anomaly of two foreign women heading the two unions meant that we ended up debating each other around England on topics ranging from British politics to broad generalities about the impact of technological advance on mankind."
Read the complete piece here.
The worst Eurpoean airports
Anyone who has travelled will find this piece, from the IHT, about some of Europe's awful airports, resonates in many ways. Travel is supposed to be pleasurable - at least for the casual vacation-traveler. No longer. Read on - and reflect on your own horrible experiences:
"As we sat for an hour waiting to deplane at Leonardo da Vinci Airport from a short-haul flight this year, the pilot got on the public address system. "Sorry," he intoned. "Everybody knows this is one of Europe's worst airports."
At the time it seemed hard to argue: After the 50-minute flight and the wait to get off the plane, we would wait another hour around a carousel before receiving our luggage.
But these days, there is intense competition for the title of "worst airport."
Each year, the World Airport Awards, given by an air travel research and consulting firm called Skytrax, honor the best airports. Only a few in Europe made the top 10 this year: Munich is No. 4, Zurich is No. 6, Amsterdam Schiphol is No. 7 and Madrid Barajas is No. 10. The top three are in Asia, while no U.S. airports made the list.
While passenger numbers have skyrocketed in the past decade, airports have expanded in a makeshift fashion, leaving travelers to hike longer and longer distances. The treks are best suited for marathoners, doable for fit mortals. I am not quite sure how people with children or those who are elderly or have disabilities are expected to handle them."
"As we sat for an hour waiting to deplane at Leonardo da Vinci Airport from a short-haul flight this year, the pilot got on the public address system. "Sorry," he intoned. "Everybody knows this is one of Europe's worst airports."
At the time it seemed hard to argue: After the 50-minute flight and the wait to get off the plane, we would wait another hour around a carousel before receiving our luggage.
But these days, there is intense competition for the title of "worst airport."
Each year, the World Airport Awards, given by an air travel research and consulting firm called Skytrax, honor the best airports. Only a few in Europe made the top 10 this year: Munich is No. 4, Zurich is No. 6, Amsterdam Schiphol is No. 7 and Madrid Barajas is No. 10. The top three are in Asia, while no U.S. airports made the list.
While passenger numbers have skyrocketed in the past decade, airports have expanded in a makeshift fashion, leaving travelers to hike longer and longer distances. The treks are best suited for marathoners, doable for fit mortals. I am not quite sure how people with children or those who are elderly or have disabilities are expected to handle them."
Friday, December 28, 2007
Pakistan: Now what?
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto raises a myriad of questions. It's early days yet - in fact the dastardly act only happened some hours ago - but The Independent seeks to address the questions and issues:
"The killing has dealt a severe blow to the fragile hopes of an orderly transition to democracy in Pakistan and has left the country facing a dangerous future. Despite the repression which followed the imposition of the state of emergency by President Pervez Musharraf, the West had accepted his protestations that "free and fair" elections were back on track. Indeed Mr Musharraf as president, with Ms Bhutto as prime minister, was the ideal combination sought by the US and Britain.
The murder in Rawalpindi, and the anger it has unleashed, has led some political leaders, such as Riaz Malik of the opposition Pakistan Movement for Justice Party (Tehreeke-insaf) to warn of civil war. Even if this is too alarmist, and there is no outbreak of full-scale fighting, there will be unease among the international community at the prospect of upheaval in a nuclear-armed state with militant Islamist groups waiting in the wings."
Read on, here, for a further analysis.
Needless to say Al Quaeda is strongly suspected of being behind the assassination, as Reuters reports:
"Al Qaeda is the chief suspect in the murder of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, standing to gain by preserving its remote stronghold, undermining President Pervez Musharraf and destabilizing the country, U.S. government and private analysts said.
The militant group, which has rebuilt its command structure on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was blamed for a previous attempt on Bhutto and it has denounced her as an instrument of U.S. policy in Pakistan.
Bush administration officials said it was too early to identify a clear suspect in Thursday's assassination.
But one U.S. official said: "There are a number of extremist groups within Pakistan that could have carried out the attack ... Al Qaeda has got to be one of the groups at the top of this list."
"The killing has dealt a severe blow to the fragile hopes of an orderly transition to democracy in Pakistan and has left the country facing a dangerous future. Despite the repression which followed the imposition of the state of emergency by President Pervez Musharraf, the West had accepted his protestations that "free and fair" elections were back on track. Indeed Mr Musharraf as president, with Ms Bhutto as prime minister, was the ideal combination sought by the US and Britain.
The murder in Rawalpindi, and the anger it has unleashed, has led some political leaders, such as Riaz Malik of the opposition Pakistan Movement for Justice Party (Tehreeke-insaf) to warn of civil war. Even if this is too alarmist, and there is no outbreak of full-scale fighting, there will be unease among the international community at the prospect of upheaval in a nuclear-armed state with militant Islamist groups waiting in the wings."
Read on, here, for a further analysis.
Needless to say Al Quaeda is strongly suspected of being behind the assassination, as Reuters reports:
"Al Qaeda is the chief suspect in the murder of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, standing to gain by preserving its remote stronghold, undermining President Pervez Musharraf and destabilizing the country, U.S. government and private analysts said.
The militant group, which has rebuilt its command structure on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was blamed for a previous attempt on Bhutto and it has denounced her as an instrument of U.S. policy in Pakistan.
Bush administration officials said it was too early to identify a clear suspect in Thursday's assassination.
But one U.S. official said: "There are a number of extremist groups within Pakistan that could have carried out the attack ... Al Qaeda has got to be one of the groups at the top of this list."
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Chinese goods transform Asian life
There is a revolution underway in Asia which doesn't attract much notice. Whilst Chinese products might presently be somewhat suspect, or evn "on the nose" in the West, Chinese goods are transforming life in meaningful ways for many Asians. The IHT reports from Laos:
"The pineapple that grows here on the steep hills above the Mekong River is especially sweet, the red and orange chilies unusually spicy, and the spring onions and watercress retain the freshness of the mountain dew.
For years, getting this prized produce to market meant carrying a giant basket on a back-breaking, daylong trek down narrow mountain trails that cut through the jungle.
That is now changing, thanks in large part to China.
Villagers ride their cheap Chinese motorcycles, which sell for as little as $440, down a badly rutted dirt road to the markets of Luang Prabang, the charming city of Buddhist temples along the Mekong that draws flocks of foreign tourists. The trip takes just one and half hours.
"No one had a motorcycle before," said Khamphao Janphasid, 43, a teacher in the local school whose extended family now has three of them. "The only motorcycles that used to be available were Japanese and poor people couldn't afford them."
Cheap Chinese products are flooding China's southern neighbors and consumers in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia are laying out the welcome mat.
The products are transforming the lives of some of the poorest people in Asia, whose worldly possessions only a few years ago typically consisted of not much more than a set or two of clothes, cooking utensils and a thatch-roofed house built by hand.
The concerns in the West about the safety of Chinese toys and pet food are largely moot for the people living in the remote villages here, although some residents complain about quality. As the first introduction to global capitalism, Chinese products are met with deep appreciation."
Read the complete piece here.
"The pineapple that grows here on the steep hills above the Mekong River is especially sweet, the red and orange chilies unusually spicy, and the spring onions and watercress retain the freshness of the mountain dew.
For years, getting this prized produce to market meant carrying a giant basket on a back-breaking, daylong trek down narrow mountain trails that cut through the jungle.
That is now changing, thanks in large part to China.
Villagers ride their cheap Chinese motorcycles, which sell for as little as $440, down a badly rutted dirt road to the markets of Luang Prabang, the charming city of Buddhist temples along the Mekong that draws flocks of foreign tourists. The trip takes just one and half hours.
"No one had a motorcycle before," said Khamphao Janphasid, 43, a teacher in the local school whose extended family now has three of them. "The only motorcycles that used to be available were Japanese and poor people couldn't afford them."
Cheap Chinese products are flooding China's southern neighbors and consumers in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia are laying out the welcome mat.
The products are transforming the lives of some of the poorest people in Asia, whose worldly possessions only a few years ago typically consisted of not much more than a set or two of clothes, cooking utensils and a thatch-roofed house built by hand.
The concerns in the West about the safety of Chinese toys and pet food are largely moot for the people living in the remote villages here, although some residents complain about quality. As the first introduction to global capitalism, Chinese products are met with deep appreciation."
Read the complete piece here.
No, cluster bombs are not OK Israel!
Nothing really needs be added by way of comment to this piece by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board on seattlepi.com:
"Surprise, surprise: After a year investigating itself, the Israeli military (OK, its prosecutors) concluded that it was justified in using cluster bomblets -- millions of them -- in its war with Lebanon last year. The reports tell us that, "the matter is now closed." Well, that depends on whom you ask. Entities such as human rights groups and the United Nations beg to differ with the Israeli military.
The United Nations called the use of the devastating bombs in the final three days of the fight, when the end of the conflict was clearly in sight, "shocking and immoral." The bombs, which were dropped in populated areas, farms, etc., have a 30 percent failure rate, meaning that they explode later, and many have been doing so over the past year.
Just last week, a 35-year-old man collecting firewood died instantly when one of the Israeli bombs went off. In fact, more than 30 people have died in a similar fashion since the end of Israel's war with Hezbollah. The Daily Star of Lebanon reports that an additional 200 have been wounded by the bombs, most of which were dropped in the final 72 hours of the war. For these victims, the matter is far from closed.
Earlier this month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a ban on cluster bombs at a conference in Vienna, Austria (which the U.S. declined to attend), where 130 nations gathered to consider a ban.
This isn't a morally ambiguous issue. The use of these bombs, which in effect linger on as landmines and continue killing long after wars are over, is wrong, and Israel was wrong to use them when the end of the war was imminent. Its military might not be able to see that, but the rest of the world can."
"Surprise, surprise: After a year investigating itself, the Israeli military (OK, its prosecutors) concluded that it was justified in using cluster bomblets -- millions of them -- in its war with Lebanon last year. The reports tell us that, "the matter is now closed." Well, that depends on whom you ask. Entities such as human rights groups and the United Nations beg to differ with the Israeli military.
The United Nations called the use of the devastating bombs in the final three days of the fight, when the end of the conflict was clearly in sight, "shocking and immoral." The bombs, which were dropped in populated areas, farms, etc., have a 30 percent failure rate, meaning that they explode later, and many have been doing so over the past year.
Just last week, a 35-year-old man collecting firewood died instantly when one of the Israeli bombs went off. In fact, more than 30 people have died in a similar fashion since the end of Israel's war with Hezbollah. The Daily Star of Lebanon reports that an additional 200 have been wounded by the bombs, most of which were dropped in the final 72 hours of the war. For these victims, the matter is far from closed.
Earlier this month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a ban on cluster bombs at a conference in Vienna, Austria (which the U.S. declined to attend), where 130 nations gathered to consider a ban.
This isn't a morally ambiguous issue. The use of these bombs, which in effect linger on as landmines and continue killing long after wars are over, is wrong, and Israel was wrong to use them when the end of the war was imminent. Its military might not be able to see that, but the rest of the world can."
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Laboratory in schooling how to get along
In an endless strife-torn world perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from a most unusual school in Georgia, USA. The NY Times reports on what be seen as unique experiment:
"Parents at an elementary school here gathered last Thursday afternoon with a holiday mission: to prepare boxes of food for needy families fleeing some of the world’s horrific civil wars.
The community effort to help refugees resembled countless others at this time of year, with an exception. The recipients were not many thousands of miles away. They were students in the school and their families.
More than half the 380 students at this unusual school outside Atlanta are refugees from some 40 countries, many torn by war. The other students come from low-income families in Decatur, and from middle- and upper-middle-class families in the area who want to expose their children to other cultures. Together they form an eclectic community of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims, well-off and poor, of established local families and new arrivals who collectively speak about 50 languages."
Read the rest of the piece here.
"Parents at an elementary school here gathered last Thursday afternoon with a holiday mission: to prepare boxes of food for needy families fleeing some of the world’s horrific civil wars.
The community effort to help refugees resembled countless others at this time of year, with an exception. The recipients were not many thousands of miles away. They were students in the school and their families.
More than half the 380 students at this unusual school outside Atlanta are refugees from some 40 countries, many torn by war. The other students come from low-income families in Decatur, and from middle- and upper-middle-class families in the area who want to expose their children to other cultures. Together they form an eclectic community of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims, well-off and poor, of established local families and new arrivals who collectively speak about 50 languages."
Read the rest of the piece here.
That Tsunami 3 years on....
It is hard to believe that 3 years have passed since the devastating tsunami which hit so many Asian countries- with loss of life and infrastructure smashed.
This "story" from the Sunday Age is a tribute not only to the family involved but how countries affected by the tsunami have had to cope and rebuild shattered lives and property.
"The Boxing Day tsunami didn't rear up on Unawatuna, on Sri Lanka's south coast, as tsunamis do in movies. Rather, it arrived like a fast-running and ever-rising tide, sweeping all before it, accompanied by a roar that muffled the cries of the luckless and the alarmed.
Quickly, it swamped the grounds of the Sea View Hotel to a depth of four or five metres. Cars overturned, buildings collapsed and terrified villagers clambered up coconut trees. Melbourne pediatrician Sian Hughes was readying herself for a day's excursion with her family when she heard her husband, journalist Tony Heselev, shout. Expecting to find another procession celebrating poya, the full moon, she saw instead the ocean surging over the sea wall 50 metres away.
Instinctively, the couple and their three children scrambled to the second floor of their holiday apartment. Desperately, they hoisted Rosie, then 10, through a skylight onto the roof and were pushing Matilda, then six, onto the same perch when the wave stopped, then began to rush back out to sea. In 10 minutes, it was over. Their balcony was crowded with fellow holiday makers from all over the world, some hurt, all bewildered. Their bedroom below was trashed. The hotel grounds looked something like a sandcastle does after a wave washes over it. Still, no one could comprehend what had happened or its scale."
This "story" from the Sunday Age is a tribute not only to the family involved but how countries affected by the tsunami have had to cope and rebuild shattered lives and property.
"The Boxing Day tsunami didn't rear up on Unawatuna, on Sri Lanka's south coast, as tsunamis do in movies. Rather, it arrived like a fast-running and ever-rising tide, sweeping all before it, accompanied by a roar that muffled the cries of the luckless and the alarmed.
Quickly, it swamped the grounds of the Sea View Hotel to a depth of four or five metres. Cars overturned, buildings collapsed and terrified villagers clambered up coconut trees. Melbourne pediatrician Sian Hughes was readying herself for a day's excursion with her family when she heard her husband, journalist Tony Heselev, shout. Expecting to find another procession celebrating poya, the full moon, she saw instead the ocean surging over the sea wall 50 metres away.
Instinctively, the couple and their three children scrambled to the second floor of their holiday apartment. Desperately, they hoisted Rosie, then 10, through a skylight onto the roof and were pushing Matilda, then six, onto the same perch when the wave stopped, then began to rush back out to sea. In 10 minutes, it was over. Their balcony was crowded with fellow holiday makers from all over the world, some hurt, all bewildered. Their bedroom below was trashed. The hotel grounds looked something like a sandcastle does after a wave washes over it. Still, no one could comprehend what had happened or its scale."
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Another loss for Condi & Co.
Whilst Condi Rice in her end-of-year message has pretty much self-congratulated herself for her successes - probably most critical analysts would give her a fail mark - the billions of dollars spent by the US in Pakistan seem to have essentially come to nought.
The NY Times collates the details and concludes:
"After the United States has spent more than $5 billion in a largely failed effort to bolster the Pakistani military effort against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, some American officials now acknowledge that there were too few controls over the money. The strategy to improve the Pakistani military, they said, needs to be completely revamped.
In interviews in Islamabad and Washington, Bush administration and military officials said they believed that much of the American money was not making its way to frontline Pakistani units. Money has been diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India, not Al Qaeda or the Taliban, the officials said, adding that the United States has paid tens of millions of dollars in inflated Pakistani reimbursement claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs."
In fact:
"Lawmakers in Washington voted Thursday to put restrictions on the $300 million in military financing, and withheld $50 million of that money until Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice certifies that Islamabad has been restoring democratic rights since Mr. Musharraf lifted a state of emergency on Dec. 16. The measure had little effect on the far larger Coalition Support Funds reimbursements.
While it was a modest first step, any new conditions in aid could have a major effect on relations between the United States and Pakistan. Pakistan’s military relies on Washington for roughly a quarter of its entire $4 billion budget."
The NY Times collates the details and concludes:
"After the United States has spent more than $5 billion in a largely failed effort to bolster the Pakistani military effort against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, some American officials now acknowledge that there were too few controls over the money. The strategy to improve the Pakistani military, they said, needs to be completely revamped.
In interviews in Islamabad and Washington, Bush administration and military officials said they believed that much of the American money was not making its way to frontline Pakistani units. Money has been diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India, not Al Qaeda or the Taliban, the officials said, adding that the United States has paid tens of millions of dollars in inflated Pakistani reimbursement claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs."
In fact:
"Lawmakers in Washington voted Thursday to put restrictions on the $300 million in military financing, and withheld $50 million of that money until Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice certifies that Islamabad has been restoring democratic rights since Mr. Musharraf lifted a state of emergency on Dec. 16. The measure had little effect on the far larger Coalition Support Funds reimbursements.
While it was a modest first step, any new conditions in aid could have a major effect on relations between the United States and Pakistan. Pakistan’s military relies on Washington for roughly a quarter of its entire $4 billion budget."
White House fingered
George Bush may have only a year to go in office, but 2008 isn't shaping up to be a good one for him. More and more he and his cronies are looking like the shonks that they are. Prepared to rely on advice of incompetents and goaded on by a false view of the world and what is allowed by law, Bush and Co. have sailed on regardless.
The loss of those infamous CIA video tapes is but the latest in a saga of blatant illegal conduct by the White House or the country's various agencies - but with the apparent sanction of the White House.
TimesOn Line reports that Bush might not escape so lightly this time:
"The CIA chief who ordered the destruction of secret videotapes recording the harsh interrogation of two top Al-Qaeda suspects has indicated he may seek immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying before the House intelligence committee.
Jose Rodriguez, former head of the CIA’s clandestine service, is determined not to become the fall guy in the controversy over the CIA’s use of torture, according to intelligence sources."
The loss of those infamous CIA video tapes is but the latest in a saga of blatant illegal conduct by the White House or the country's various agencies - but with the apparent sanction of the White House.
TimesOn Line reports that Bush might not escape so lightly this time:
"The CIA chief who ordered the destruction of secret videotapes recording the harsh interrogation of two top Al-Qaeda suspects has indicated he may seek immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying before the House intelligence committee.
Jose Rodriguez, former head of the CIA’s clandestine service, is determined not to become the fall guy in the controversy over the CIA’s use of torture, according to intelligence sources."
Monday, December 24, 2007
MPS Travelling Out and About......
Mahler's Prodigal Son is off overseas for the next weeks.
Postings will still continue, technology permitting, from here, there and everywhere.......
Postings will still continue, technology permitting, from here, there and everywhere.......
One 2007 Retrospective
It's that time of lists. The worst or best of this or that for the year.
That venerable and oldest magazine in the US,The Nation, reflects on the year about to conclude and features what it says are the top stories it published throughout the year, and what drew the most attention and interest on TheNation.com:
"It was a year of alarming news and amazing reporting and analysis--on the Iraq War, torture and unauthorized surveillance; the rise of private security firms and the burgeoning business of disaster capitalism; the beginning of a crucial campaign season; the growing power of interactive media and a climate crisis that worsens by the day."
The stories may, at least in some instances, have an American perspective, but are worthwhile reading.
That venerable and oldest magazine in the US,The Nation, reflects on the year about to conclude and features what it says are the top stories it published throughout the year, and what drew the most attention and interest on TheNation.com:
"It was a year of alarming news and amazing reporting and analysis--on the Iraq War, torture and unauthorized surveillance; the rise of private security firms and the burgeoning business of disaster capitalism; the beginning of a crucial campaign season; the growing power of interactive media and a climate crisis that worsens by the day."
The stories may, at least in some instances, have an American perspective, but are worthwhile reading.
Israel at it again - breaking an agreement
It's an all-too familiar story. Israel says one thing and its actions are totally the opposite. Not for the first time, Israel agreed at the Annapolis meeting last month to halt any building or expansion of settlements. So what do the Israelis do? As BBC News reports, the Israelis have just authorised some 700 new units to be built in occupied East Jerusalem:
"Israel plans to build 740 new homes in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, a minister said, despite its commitment to freeze all settlement activity.
Rafi Eitan, minister for Jerusalem affairs, said Israel had never promised to stop building within Jerusalem and had a duty to house its citizens.
It is budgeting to build 500 new homes in Har Homa and 240 in Maaleh Adumim.
A Palestinian spokesman condemned the plans, accusing Israel of seeking to destroy renewed peace talks.
The two sides agreed at a peace conference in Annapolis in the US in late November to revive the 2003 peace plan known as the roadmap.
According to the plan, Israel must halt all settlement activity and the Palestinians must rein in militants.
But soon after the conference, Israel announced a tender for 300 homes in Har Homa."
"Israel plans to build 740 new homes in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, a minister said, despite its commitment to freeze all settlement activity.
Rafi Eitan, minister for Jerusalem affairs, said Israel had never promised to stop building within Jerusalem and had a duty to house its citizens.
It is budgeting to build 500 new homes in Har Homa and 240 in Maaleh Adumim.
A Palestinian spokesman condemned the plans, accusing Israel of seeking to destroy renewed peace talks.
The two sides agreed at a peace conference in Annapolis in the US in late November to revive the 2003 peace plan known as the roadmap.
According to the plan, Israel must halt all settlement activity and the Palestinians must rein in militants.
But soon after the conference, Israel announced a tender for 300 homes in Har Homa."
A dangerously vast FBI biometric database
It may be 23 years past 1984, but this report from the Washington Post [reproduced on Information Clearing House] about the FBI being in the process of establishing a vast biometric database is truly frightening. With a track-record for integrity which is poor to say the least, why should the world trust the US or its agency? Just bear in mind that the Americans, as a starting point, collate and retain significant details about all foreigners, even mere tourists, entering the USA.
"The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad.
Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law.
"Bigger. Faster. Better. That's the bottom line," said Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which operates the database from its headquarters in the Appalachian foothills.
The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions about the ability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny. It is drawing criticism from those who worry that people's bodies will become de facto national identification cards. Critics say that such government initiatives should not proceed without proof that the technology really can pick a criminal out of a crowd.
The use of biometric data is increasing throughout the government. For the past two years, the Defense Department has been storing in a database images of fingerprints, irises and faces of more than 1.5 million Iraqi and Afghan detainees, Iraqi citizens and foreigners who need access to U.S. military bases. The Pentagon also collects DNA samples from some Iraqi detainees, which are stored separately."
"The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad.
Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law.
"Bigger. Faster. Better. That's the bottom line," said Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which operates the database from its headquarters in the Appalachian foothills.
The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions about the ability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny. It is drawing criticism from those who worry that people's bodies will become de facto national identification cards. Critics say that such government initiatives should not proceed without proof that the technology really can pick a criminal out of a crowd.
The use of biometric data is increasing throughout the government. For the past two years, the Defense Department has been storing in a database images of fingerprints, irises and faces of more than 1.5 million Iraqi and Afghan detainees, Iraqi citizens and foreigners who need access to U.S. military bases. The Pentagon also collects DNA samples from some Iraqi detainees, which are stored separately."
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Michael Ratner on Missing CIA Tapes, Torture and the Supreme Court
Hardly a week goes by without the Bush administration being mired in some sort of controversy - and most likely some breach of the law. Think Guantanamo, renditioning, water-boarding, missing CIA tapes, illegal wire-taps, etc. etc. Talk about shades of the Nixon White House and Watergate!
Matt Renner on truthout.com:
"I sat down with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), to talk about his work on behalf of prisoners in the so-called War on Terror. His organization, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, has been fighting for the rights of Guantanamo Bay prisoners who were captured and detained since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Recent revelations of waterboarding by the CIA and the destruction of interrogation tapes have pushed the debate over torture back into the national spotlight. CCR lawyers, along with others, have been collecting testimony from prisoners at Guantanamo about their mistreatment and torture. Ratner believes that the Bush administration has been fighting to keep prisoners accused of terrorism-related activity out of court in order to prevent further evidence and testimony of torture from becoming public.
Ratner's organization was directly affected by the destruction of the CIA interrogation tapes that apparently showed the use of torture against terrorism suspect Abu Zubaydah. A judge ordered the CIA to preserve any documents that could serve as evidence of torture in a case being brought by CCR on behalf of Majid Khan. A former resident of Baltimore, Maryland, Kahn was held and interrogated at secret detention facilities and at Guantanamo. The destroyed tapes could be relevant to the case, according to Ratner, because they may have shown that confessions or evidence against prisoners at Guantanamo was obtained through torture.
A recent ruling in the Kahn case will force the Bush administration to respond publicly to allegations that Kahn was tortured while in US custody. The redacted and highly disturbing account of Kahn's experience can be read here. The Bush administration's response is due by December 20.
CCR has been at the forefront of litigation seeking to define the status of prisoners at Guantanamo and at secret military prisons across the world. CCR has played an integral role in the three Guantanamo cases that have been heard before the Supreme Court, including the recent Boumediene v. Bush, argued on December 5. In the Boumediene case, the Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether Guantanamo prisoners have habeas corpus rights. A ruling in the case is expected by mid-2008.
This decision could be a defining moment for CCR, which was the first organization to challenge Bush administration policies on the treatment and detention of prisoners captured in the days after September 11, 2001."
Matt Renner on truthout.com:
"I sat down with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), to talk about his work on behalf of prisoners in the so-called War on Terror. His organization, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, has been fighting for the rights of Guantanamo Bay prisoners who were captured and detained since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Recent revelations of waterboarding by the CIA and the destruction of interrogation tapes have pushed the debate over torture back into the national spotlight. CCR lawyers, along with others, have been collecting testimony from prisoners at Guantanamo about their mistreatment and torture. Ratner believes that the Bush administration has been fighting to keep prisoners accused of terrorism-related activity out of court in order to prevent further evidence and testimony of torture from becoming public.
Ratner's organization was directly affected by the destruction of the CIA interrogation tapes that apparently showed the use of torture against terrorism suspect Abu Zubaydah. A judge ordered the CIA to preserve any documents that could serve as evidence of torture in a case being brought by CCR on behalf of Majid Khan. A former resident of Baltimore, Maryland, Kahn was held and interrogated at secret detention facilities and at Guantanamo. The destroyed tapes could be relevant to the case, according to Ratner, because they may have shown that confessions or evidence against prisoners at Guantanamo was obtained through torture.
A recent ruling in the Kahn case will force the Bush administration to respond publicly to allegations that Kahn was tortured while in US custody. The redacted and highly disturbing account of Kahn's experience can be read here. The Bush administration's response is due by December 20.
CCR has been at the forefront of litigation seeking to define the status of prisoners at Guantanamo and at secret military prisons across the world. CCR has played an integral role in the three Guantanamo cases that have been heard before the Supreme Court, including the recent Boumediene v. Bush, argued on December 5. In the Boumediene case, the Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether Guantanamo prisoners have habeas corpus rights. A ruling in the case is expected by mid-2008.
This decision could be a defining moment for CCR, which was the first organization to challenge Bush administration policies on the treatment and detention of prisoners captured in the days after September 11, 2001."
A dream on life-support?
The US economy is looking rather sick. And as we approach 2008 the prognosis for the world's economies isn't all that positive.
Never mind, it looks like Wall Street is just doing fine, as Bob Herbert, writing his regular op-ed piece in the NY Times records:
"Christmastime is bonus time on Wall Street, and the Gucci set has been blessed with another record harvest.
Forget the turbulence in the financial markets and the subprime debacle. Forget the dark clouds of a possible recession. Bloomberg News tells us that the top securities firms are handing out nearly $38 billion in seasonal bonuses, the highest total ever.
But there’s a reason to temper the celebration, if only out of respect for an old friend who’s not doing too well. Even as the Wall Streeters are high-fiving and ordering up record shipments of Champagne and caviar, the American dream is on life-support."
BUT......and it's a big but, things aren't that rosy in the big land of the free and the brave. Digging beneath the surface of all that money swishing around in certain circles, citing surveys undertaken in the US, Herbert concludes:
"Instead of celebrating bonuses this Christmas season, too many American workers are looking with dread toward 2008, worried about their rising levels of debt, or whether they will be able to hang on to a job with few or no benefits or how to tell their kids that they won’t be able to help with the cost of college."
It must be of concern, both in America, and elsewhere, that the rich grow richer and the "other half" - in reality the majority of the population - isn't even going forward but slipping behind. Read the Herbert piece, here, and ponder the outlook for 2008.
Never mind, it looks like Wall Street is just doing fine, as Bob Herbert, writing his regular op-ed piece in the NY Times records:
"Christmastime is bonus time on Wall Street, and the Gucci set has been blessed with another record harvest.
Forget the turbulence in the financial markets and the subprime debacle. Forget the dark clouds of a possible recession. Bloomberg News tells us that the top securities firms are handing out nearly $38 billion in seasonal bonuses, the highest total ever.
But there’s a reason to temper the celebration, if only out of respect for an old friend who’s not doing too well. Even as the Wall Streeters are high-fiving and ordering up record shipments of Champagne and caviar, the American dream is on life-support."
BUT......and it's a big but, things aren't that rosy in the big land of the free and the brave. Digging beneath the surface of all that money swishing around in certain circles, citing surveys undertaken in the US, Herbert concludes:
"Instead of celebrating bonuses this Christmas season, too many American workers are looking with dread toward 2008, worried about their rising levels of debt, or whether they will be able to hang on to a job with few or no benefits or how to tell their kids that they won’t be able to help with the cost of college."
It must be of concern, both in America, and elsewhere, that the rich grow richer and the "other half" - in reality the majority of the population - isn't even going forward but slipping behind. Read the Herbert piece, here, and ponder the outlook for 2008.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Guilt by association rejected
The now infamous situation and case of Dr Haneef stands as clear condemnation of former PM Howard and his Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews. Their behaviour in all of this can only be described in one word - disgraceful! And this from men trained in the law.
Hadley Thomas, writing in The Australian, justly won the Walkely Award this year for his clear expose of the way the whole Haneef case was conducted by the Commonwealth Government.
With the Full Federal Court yesterday ruling that the decision of the original judge was correct, Thomas today reflects on the Haneef case and its implications in a piece "Let us reject guilt by association":
"The concept of guilt by association, adopted with great relish by the Howard government and its immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, in the Haneef case, is again exposed for what it is: deeply flawed, unjust and un-Australian.
As a result of the unanimous judgment by the Full Bench of the Federal Court yesterday, four out of four experienced and distinguished judges have concluded that Mr Andrews went overboard when he used the Migration Act to cancel the visa of Mohamed Haneef.
The judges set out in 50 pages what many people would regard as plain common sense - the trashing of an otherwise blameless individual's rights and freedoms by lumping them with the alleged misdeeds of distant relatives living on the other side of the world is repugnant. We now know it is also unlawful."
Hadley Thomas, writing in The Australian, justly won the Walkely Award this year for his clear expose of the way the whole Haneef case was conducted by the Commonwealth Government.
With the Full Federal Court yesterday ruling that the decision of the original judge was correct, Thomas today reflects on the Haneef case and its implications in a piece "Let us reject guilt by association":
"The concept of guilt by association, adopted with great relish by the Howard government and its immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, in the Haneef case, is again exposed for what it is: deeply flawed, unjust and un-Australian.
As a result of the unanimous judgment by the Full Bench of the Federal Court yesterday, four out of four experienced and distinguished judges have concluded that Mr Andrews went overboard when he used the Migration Act to cancel the visa of Mohamed Haneef.
The judges set out in 50 pages what many people would regard as plain common sense - the trashing of an otherwise blameless individual's rights and freedoms by lumping them with the alleged misdeeds of distant relatives living on the other side of the world is repugnant. We now know it is also unlawful."
A Theatre of the Absurd
"I should point out that the 'absurd' in the title of this article is used in the theatrical sense and does not extend to the legal aspects of the case where I was a juror. The judge's conduct was exemplary. The learned counsel on both sides acted with decorum. I was incredibly impressed with both the knowledge and communication skills of the expert witnesses and the police presented their evidence with a surprising degree of competence. The jury considered its verdict with due diligence and came to the only logical conclusion as to the guilt of the accused.
Why then such a provocative title? Because as a juror in a long criminal trial I felt a strong sense of disconnect between the legal process and the way the courts are administered, including the presentation of computer based evidence and the treatment of jurors. I should emphasise again that this is a juror's perspective, given in ignorance of the law. By trade I am an art historian."
So begins a most interesting insight and reflection by art historian Joanna Mendelssohn on her "service" as a juror in a six-week criminal trial. Read the full piece from ABC.net.au, here.
Why then such a provocative title? Because as a juror in a long criminal trial I felt a strong sense of disconnect between the legal process and the way the courts are administered, including the presentation of computer based evidence and the treatment of jurors. I should emphasise again that this is a juror's perspective, given in ignorance of the law. By trade I am an art historian."
So begins a most interesting insight and reflection by art historian Joanna Mendelssohn on her "service" as a juror in a six-week criminal trial. Read the full piece from ABC.net.au, here.
Europe grows - and borders evaporate
The rest of the world may not be all that interested, but as Spiegel OnLineInternational reports, the map and face of Europe has just changed in a fairly momentous way:
"The number of European countries doing away with border checks expanded by nine early on Friday morning. Most of those joined were behind the Iron Curtain just 20 years ago.
Europe just got bigger. At one minute after midnight local time on early Friday morning, border controls vanished for nine more European Union members, many of them former members of the Soviet Bloc. Fireworks, cheers, music and speeches throughout the morning welcomed the expansion, which means that travelers can move from the far corners of Estonia all the way to the Atlantic coast in Portugal without once encountering a border guard.
"This is an especially beautiful moment," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a Friday morning ceremony at the German border with Poland and the Czech Republic. "It is a source of great pleasure that coming generations will experience open borders as the European normalcy."
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was also present, as was Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Barroso held up a border-crossing sign and referred to it as an archaeological relic. Border checks in airports will remain in place until March, however.
The ceremony was just one of many across Eastern Europe as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Malta all joined the so-called Schengen zone, as the open-border area is known. The Schengen Agreement is named for the village in Luxembourg where it was first signed in 1985.
There are now 24 countries -- including two non-EU states, Norway and Iceland -- populated by 400 million people in the border-free travel zone. Switzerland is set to join in 2008, with Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria likewise in line."
"The number of European countries doing away with border checks expanded by nine early on Friday morning. Most of those joined were behind the Iron Curtain just 20 years ago.
Europe just got bigger. At one minute after midnight local time on early Friday morning, border controls vanished for nine more European Union members, many of them former members of the Soviet Bloc. Fireworks, cheers, music and speeches throughout the morning welcomed the expansion, which means that travelers can move from the far corners of Estonia all the way to the Atlantic coast in Portugal without once encountering a border guard.
"This is an especially beautiful moment," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a Friday morning ceremony at the German border with Poland and the Czech Republic. "It is a source of great pleasure that coming generations will experience open borders as the European normalcy."
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was also present, as was Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Barroso held up a border-crossing sign and referred to it as an archaeological relic. Border checks in airports will remain in place until March, however.
The ceremony was just one of many across Eastern Europe as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Malta all joined the so-called Schengen zone, as the open-border area is known. The Schengen Agreement is named for the village in Luxembourg where it was first signed in 1985.
There are now 24 countries -- including two non-EU states, Norway and Iceland -- populated by 400 million people in the border-free travel zone. Switzerland is set to join in 2008, with Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria likewise in line."
US media ignores humanitarian stories
Anyone who has visited the USA will know that TV news is, in the main, a total wasteland. Forget about any news of substance let alone international news. Parochialism is the name of the game. The print media isn't all that much better. The NY Times, said to be the "heavy" newspaper in America doesn't "do" much better in the reporting of things international.
This report from Agence France Presse [reproduced on CommonDreams] confirms what is, and what isn't, reported in the US:
"While US headlines in 2007 were dominated by celebrity gossip, next year’s US presidential election and Iraq, humanitarian stories went largely unreported, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The aid organization, also known as Doctors Without Borders, identified violence, forced displacement and disease in the Central African Republic, Somalia and Sri Lanka among the top 10 underreported stories of 2007.
The list, released on Thursday, also highlighted what it described as the forgotten crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Chechnya.
“Certainly, many members of the press go to great lengths to report on what is taking place in conflict zones around the world,” said Nicolas de Torrente, the aid organization’s executive director in the United States.
“But millions of people trapped in war, forced from their homes and lacking the most basic medical care do not receive attention commensurate with their plight,” he said in the report.
The group began producing its top 10 list in 1998 in response to the poor US media coverage of a devastating famine in southern Sudan.
In its 10th list, it said the ongoing toll of tuberculosis and childhood malnutrition continued to be largely ignored by the media.
The organization said eight of the countries and issues highlighted on its list accounted for just 18 minutes of coverage on the top three US television networks’ nightly newscasts from January until November."
This report from Agence France Presse [reproduced on CommonDreams] confirms what is, and what isn't, reported in the US:
"While US headlines in 2007 were dominated by celebrity gossip, next year’s US presidential election and Iraq, humanitarian stories went largely unreported, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The aid organization, also known as Doctors Without Borders, identified violence, forced displacement and disease in the Central African Republic, Somalia and Sri Lanka among the top 10 underreported stories of 2007.
The list, released on Thursday, also highlighted what it described as the forgotten crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Chechnya.
“Certainly, many members of the press go to great lengths to report on what is taking place in conflict zones around the world,” said Nicolas de Torrente, the aid organization’s executive director in the United States.
“But millions of people trapped in war, forced from their homes and lacking the most basic medical care do not receive attention commensurate with their plight,” he said in the report.
The group began producing its top 10 list in 1998 in response to the poor US media coverage of a devastating famine in southern Sudan.
In its 10th list, it said the ongoing toll of tuberculosis and childhood malnutrition continued to be largely ignored by the media.
The organization said eight of the countries and issues highlighted on its list accounted for just 18 minutes of coverage on the top three US television networks’ nightly newscasts from January until November."
Friday, December 21, 2007
PM Rudd's Kristallnacht
Crikey makes more than some valid points about the new PM and his "response" to a proposal to build an Islamic school in Campbelltown - and the opposition it has engendered, mostly bigoted and racist.
"Two NSW MPS joined hundreds of angry residents at protests against the construction of a Jewish school in Camden in Sydney’s southwest. “The Jews have already taken over Sydney,” one protester explained. “We don’t want them coming here and doing the same thing.”
Had the paragraph above appeared in our daily papers, do you suppose Kevin Rudd would have added his voice to those denouncing the school?
Ah, but when it’s an Islamic institution, all bets are off.
Last month, Rudd visited Campbelltown and declared he opposed the application for the Camden Islamic school on "planning grounds".
"We are concerned about the adequacy of local infrastructure to support such a large school," he explained.
More recently, Liberal MP Charlie Lynn explained his opposition to the school as purely and simply motivated by environmental and planning concerns.
Of course, Lynn delivered his remarks before a crowd containing representatives of the Australia First Party, the Australian Protectionist Party and the Anglo-Australian National Community Council, noted environmentalists all. And many demonstrators showed their concern about traffic, infrastructure and heritage values by dressing in what police euphemistically described as "Australia gear" – just as earlier a concerned town planner had daubed the site with pigs’ heads adorned with a flag.
One protester explained the issue to the ABC as follows: “Like, ay, if we go down to Lakemba, Bankstown and shit like that, you walk through there, mate, they despise ya, they don't want to talk to ya. Half of us would get f***en knifed or robbed. I guarantee ya, mate. If they want to come down here and try take over, the same thing is going to happen in f***en them, mate.”
Yep, it's all about infrastructure.
Fred Nile spoke at the rally beside Lynn, quoting a passage from the Koran to show that Muslims and their schools threatened Carols by Candlelight celebrations. “I believe the Bible's the word of God but Muslims have greater belief in the Koran than Christians have in the Bible," he said, thus neatly explaining away the bloodthirsty bits in his own holy texts (“Spare them not,” says the Good Lord in I Samuel 15:2-3, “but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass”).
Nile might be unhinged but at least he’s honest. He knows a pogrom when he sees one – and he’s with the pogromists.
But what about Rudd? Before incarnating as PM07, Kevin Rudd liked to quote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the anti-Nazi theologian. Here’s the thing about Bonhoeffer – when it came to Kristallnacht, he didn’t mutter about Jewish shops breaching planning regulations."
"Two NSW MPS joined hundreds of angry residents at protests against the construction of a Jewish school in Camden in Sydney’s southwest. “The Jews have already taken over Sydney,” one protester explained. “We don’t want them coming here and doing the same thing.”
Had the paragraph above appeared in our daily papers, do you suppose Kevin Rudd would have added his voice to those denouncing the school?
Ah, but when it’s an Islamic institution, all bets are off.
Last month, Rudd visited Campbelltown and declared he opposed the application for the Camden Islamic school on "planning grounds".
"We are concerned about the adequacy of local infrastructure to support such a large school," he explained.
More recently, Liberal MP Charlie Lynn explained his opposition to the school as purely and simply motivated by environmental and planning concerns.
Of course, Lynn delivered his remarks before a crowd containing representatives of the Australia First Party, the Australian Protectionist Party and the Anglo-Australian National Community Council, noted environmentalists all. And many demonstrators showed their concern about traffic, infrastructure and heritage values by dressing in what police euphemistically described as "Australia gear" – just as earlier a concerned town planner had daubed the site with pigs’ heads adorned with a flag.
One protester explained the issue to the ABC as follows: “Like, ay, if we go down to Lakemba, Bankstown and shit like that, you walk through there, mate, they despise ya, they don't want to talk to ya. Half of us would get f***en knifed or robbed. I guarantee ya, mate. If they want to come down here and try take over, the same thing is going to happen in f***en them, mate.”
Yep, it's all about infrastructure.
Fred Nile spoke at the rally beside Lynn, quoting a passage from the Koran to show that Muslims and their schools threatened Carols by Candlelight celebrations. “I believe the Bible's the word of God but Muslims have greater belief in the Koran than Christians have in the Bible," he said, thus neatly explaining away the bloodthirsty bits in his own holy texts (“Spare them not,” says the Good Lord in I Samuel 15:2-3, “but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass”).
Nile might be unhinged but at least he’s honest. He knows a pogrom when he sees one – and he’s with the pogromists.
But what about Rudd? Before incarnating as PM07, Kevin Rudd liked to quote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the anti-Nazi theologian. Here’s the thing about Bonhoeffer – when it came to Kristallnacht, he didn’t mutter about Jewish shops breaching planning regulations."
Israel's supporters should push for talks with Iran
Daniel Levy, a senior fellow at the New America and Century Foundations, was an adviser in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office under Ehud Barak, a negotiator on the Oslo Accords under Yitzhak Rabin and was the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva peace initiative.
Writing an op-ed piece on JTA News, "Israel's supporters should push for talks with Iran" says:
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vile statements about the Holocaust and Israel should not be ignored or taken lightly. But the pre-NIE strategy of using coercive diplomacy and military threats was deeply flawed, dangerous and failed to deliver concrete results. It has not stopped Tehran’s pursuit of uranium enrichment, enhanced regional security or tempered Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric.
Now it’s time for Israel and its friends to take the initiative and promote direct, unconditional and comprehensive U.S.-led engagement with Iran.
Three considerations drive this approach: practical, political, and strategic.
On the practical level, the double-pronged tactic of international sanctions and the threat of military action has become even less viable."
Yes, Dick Cheney and Co. sabre-rattling will do nothing for anyone, least of for the people in the Middle East, or anywhere, for that matter.
Writing an op-ed piece on JTA News, "Israel's supporters should push for talks with Iran" says:
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vile statements about the Holocaust and Israel should not be ignored or taken lightly. But the pre-NIE strategy of using coercive diplomacy and military threats was deeply flawed, dangerous and failed to deliver concrete results. It has not stopped Tehran’s pursuit of uranium enrichment, enhanced regional security or tempered Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric.
Now it’s time for Israel and its friends to take the initiative and promote direct, unconditional and comprehensive U.S.-led engagement with Iran.
Three considerations drive this approach: practical, political, and strategic.
On the practical level, the double-pronged tactic of international sanctions and the threat of military action has become even less viable."
Yes, Dick Cheney and Co. sabre-rattling will do nothing for anyone, least of for the people in the Middle East, or anywhere, for that matter.
An added cost of climate change
A report on the ABC this morning notes that major insurers are facing steep payouts due to unusually heavy rains and hailstorms - ergo great damage wrought on property. Climate change is blamed for the weather conditions.
The result? Higher premiums for policy-holders. Just another dimension, probably generally overlooked, to climate change....and a cost to the community.
The result? Higher premiums for policy-holders. Just another dimension, probably generally overlooked, to climate change....and a cost to the community.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
How we got it wrong!!!
Yesterday the Federal Director of the Federal Liberal Party addressed the National Press Club and laid out the reasons being put forward by his Party why the Coalition lost the election on 24 November last.
Crikey, today, comments and puts it bluntly:
"Three moments in Conservative politics yesterday.
1. Liberal Party Federal Director Brian Loughnane faces the National Press Club and maintains the head up the a-se of the dog in the sand line that things were great, we just got a bit inward looking and didn't sell our message.
2. Brendan Nelson, Federal Leader of the Liberal Party apparently, abandons the central tenet of ideological faith that has propelled his party through the preceding three years: WorkChoices. They used to call it the industrial relations reform that was the bedrock of the country's solid economic performance. Now it's dead meat. People didn't like it apparently, so best we don't believe in it anymore.
and the clincher:
3. A year and a change of government after Terence Cole's report, ASIC brings civil actions against six former executives of the AWB, the body you will recall that under the nose of at least the Foreign Minister bribed Saddam Hussein, just before the Howard Government decided that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and should therefore be invaded forthwith.
At which point, and for the edification of Brian Loughnane at least, we should mention children overboard, Tampa, the politicisation of the public service and the board of every available qango, the subtle incitement of queasy xenophobia and a general intolerance of the Other, the denial of climate change, the perversion of national pride to political ends, the introduction of WorkChoices out of opportunism rather than coherent necessity (never mind on a mandate), the replacement of ministerial responsibility with plausible denial, lickspittle foreign policy, rampant acquisitive federalism, profligate porkbarrelling and the abandonment of any principal that stood between the Howard Government and the merest whiff of a critical vote.
In the end they stood for nothing but themselves. Sorry Brian, but there it is. Analyse that."
Crikey, today, comments and puts it bluntly:
"Three moments in Conservative politics yesterday.
1. Liberal Party Federal Director Brian Loughnane faces the National Press Club and maintains the head up the a-se of the dog in the sand line that things were great, we just got a bit inward looking and didn't sell our message.
2. Brendan Nelson, Federal Leader of the Liberal Party apparently, abandons the central tenet of ideological faith that has propelled his party through the preceding three years: WorkChoices. They used to call it the industrial relations reform that was the bedrock of the country's solid economic performance. Now it's dead meat. People didn't like it apparently, so best we don't believe in it anymore.
and the clincher:
3. A year and a change of government after Terence Cole's report, ASIC brings civil actions against six former executives of the AWB, the body you will recall that under the nose of at least the Foreign Minister bribed Saddam Hussein, just before the Howard Government decided that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and should therefore be invaded forthwith.
At which point, and for the edification of Brian Loughnane at least, we should mention children overboard, Tampa, the politicisation of the public service and the board of every available qango, the subtle incitement of queasy xenophobia and a general intolerance of the Other, the denial of climate change, the perversion of national pride to political ends, the introduction of WorkChoices out of opportunism rather than coherent necessity (never mind on a mandate), the replacement of ministerial responsibility with plausible denial, lickspittle foreign policy, rampant acquisitive federalism, profligate porkbarrelling and the abandonment of any principal that stood between the Howard Government and the merest whiff of a critical vote.
In the end they stood for nothing but themselves. Sorry Brian, but there it is. Analyse that."
Make way for the rise of Asia
On the very day that a Chinese corporation has invested a cool $5 billion into capitalist icon, Morgan Stanley - effectively "saving" the merchant bank - Newsweek looks at the upcoming year and how the US will need to stand back as Asia gains prominence:
"There's a curious paradox in America's relations with the rest of the planet these days. The United States has done more than any other country to make the world a better place. Asia especially has benefited: when Europe dominated the globe, Asia was subjugated, but when the United States took charge after World War II, Asia was liberated. The U.S.-inspired rules-based global order that has emerged since has enabled Asian economies to thrive. American universities have trained hundreds of thousands of Asian policymakers, who have in turn used U.S. best practices to transform their societies. Given this historical backdrop, the United States should be reaping a global harvest of good will.
Instead, the country's reputation today stands at a record low, and U.S.-trained elites in Asia are among the country's fiercest critics. They find Washington's current incompetence stunning and are puzzled by its complacency. The U.S. intelligentsia seems to believe that global anti-Americanism will pass when George W. Bush leaves the scene. In fact, the problem is far more serious. The world has changed and the United States has not. The nation's relative power is declining: according to the World Bank, for example, the U.S. share of world GNI dropped from 31 percent in 2001 to 28 percent in 2006.
To make matters worse, Washington's foreign policy has become incompetent. Take the Iraq War, one of the most disastrous American adventures in history. U.S. elites behave as if the war was the fault of Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld alone. Yet the reality is Congress authorized the conflict, and few American voices opposed it. Warnings, including those from the U.N. Security Council and numerous friendly governments, were roundly ignored."
"There's a curious paradox in America's relations with the rest of the planet these days. The United States has done more than any other country to make the world a better place. Asia especially has benefited: when Europe dominated the globe, Asia was subjugated, but when the United States took charge after World War II, Asia was liberated. The U.S.-inspired rules-based global order that has emerged since has enabled Asian economies to thrive. American universities have trained hundreds of thousands of Asian policymakers, who have in turn used U.S. best practices to transform their societies. Given this historical backdrop, the United States should be reaping a global harvest of good will.
Instead, the country's reputation today stands at a record low, and U.S.-trained elites in Asia are among the country's fiercest critics. They find Washington's current incompetence stunning and are puzzled by its complacency. The U.S. intelligentsia seems to believe that global anti-Americanism will pass when George W. Bush leaves the scene. In fact, the problem is far more serious. The world has changed and the United States has not. The nation's relative power is declining: according to the World Bank, for example, the U.S. share of world GNI dropped from 31 percent in 2001 to 28 percent in 2006.
To make matters worse, Washington's foreign policy has become incompetent. Take the Iraq War, one of the most disastrous American adventures in history. U.S. elites behave as if the war was the fault of Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld alone. Yet the reality is Congress authorized the conflict, and few American voices opposed it. Warnings, including those from the U.N. Security Council and numerous friendly governments, were roundly ignored."
Happy Birthday BBC World Service
19 December marked the BBC's World Service's 75th birthday. Quite an achievement for the basically venerable broadcaster.
"This year the BBC World Service celebrates 75 years of broadcasting. In this audio archive, each of those years is looked at in a special one-minute-long programme, based on our vast radio archive. Presented by Helen Boaden, the BBC's Director of News, the series looks at how mass communications have changed the world, and how the world has changed the media. The series begins in 1932, with the rather downbeat words of the BBC's founder, Lord Reith: "as to programmes - don't expect too much in the early days... The programmes will neither be very interesting nor very good." It covers innovations in broadcasting and charts changing styles in reporting."
Go here, BBC WORLDSERVICE.com to access the program.
"This year the BBC World Service celebrates 75 years of broadcasting. In this audio archive, each of those years is looked at in a special one-minute-long programme, based on our vast radio archive. Presented by Helen Boaden, the BBC's Director of News, the series looks at how mass communications have changed the world, and how the world has changed the media. The series begins in 1932, with the rather downbeat words of the BBC's founder, Lord Reith: "as to programmes - don't expect too much in the early days... The programmes will neither be very interesting nor very good." It covers innovations in broadcasting and charts changing styles in reporting."
Go here, BBC WORLDSERVICE.com to access the program.
Focus on Israel
Some interesting reports in relation to Israel:
BBC News reports:
"An Israeli human rights group says the overwhelming majority of Israeli troops suspected of criminal offences against Palestinians are never indicted.
The small number of investigations and even fewer indictments showed Israel's army was ignoring its duty to protect Palestinian civilians, Yesh Din says.
It said soldiers felt they had immunity from investigation and prosecution, which inevitably led to more offences."
And:
"Between 2000 and 2007, it says, 239 investigations into the killing and wounding of non-combatant Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces had led to just 16 convictions."
Meanwhile, whilst Israel says one thing and does the total opposite with respect to seeking some sort of peace with Palestinians, the NY Times reports:
"Officials in the Israeli prime minister’s office reacted coolly on Wednesday to an indirect approach by the Hamas leader in Gaza offering talks for a truce.
The offer was relayed through an Israeli reporter, Sleman al-Shafhe, of Israel’s Channel 2 television station. On the main news broadcast on Tuesday night, Mr. Shafhe said Ismail Haniya, the leader of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, had called him earlier in the day and sought to convey a message to the Israelis.
According to Mr. Shafhe, Mr. Haniya said he had the will and the ability to stop the rocket fire directed at Israel from Gaza, on condition that Israel stopped the killing of Palestinians there and lifted the economic blockade of the strip.
On Wednesday, Mr. Shafhe said in an interview that Mr. Haniya had said that he would have “no problem” negotiating with the Israeli government on these issues, with an eye toward reaching a mutual truce."
And back to BBC News:
"Israel says it is examining plans for a new settlement in East Jerusalem, after facing heavy criticism for expanding an existing Jewish settlement there.
Housing minister Zeev Boim said it was a preliminary look at possible housing development in the Atarot area.
He played down its significance, saying such checks were done year round on areas with building potential.
Palestinians say the Har Homa expansion announced this month threatened to derail re-launched peace negotiations.
"This is a preliminary examination of an initial construction plan. Such feasibility checks are done all year round on all areas with building potential in Jerusalem," Mr Boim said in a statement.
"The ministry has to offer a solution to the housing problem in Jerusalem."
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said such plans would destroy the peace process and must be stopped."
"We consider these steps as threatening the beginning of the final negotiations between the two sides."
BBC News reports:
"An Israeli human rights group says the overwhelming majority of Israeli troops suspected of criminal offences against Palestinians are never indicted.
The small number of investigations and even fewer indictments showed Israel's army was ignoring its duty to protect Palestinian civilians, Yesh Din says.
It said soldiers felt they had immunity from investigation and prosecution, which inevitably led to more offences."
And:
"Between 2000 and 2007, it says, 239 investigations into the killing and wounding of non-combatant Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces had led to just 16 convictions."
Meanwhile, whilst Israel says one thing and does the total opposite with respect to seeking some sort of peace with Palestinians, the NY Times reports:
"Officials in the Israeli prime minister’s office reacted coolly on Wednesday to an indirect approach by the Hamas leader in Gaza offering talks for a truce.
The offer was relayed through an Israeli reporter, Sleman al-Shafhe, of Israel’s Channel 2 television station. On the main news broadcast on Tuesday night, Mr. Shafhe said Ismail Haniya, the leader of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, had called him earlier in the day and sought to convey a message to the Israelis.
According to Mr. Shafhe, Mr. Haniya said he had the will and the ability to stop the rocket fire directed at Israel from Gaza, on condition that Israel stopped the killing of Palestinians there and lifted the economic blockade of the strip.
On Wednesday, Mr. Shafhe said in an interview that Mr. Haniya had said that he would have “no problem” negotiating with the Israeli government on these issues, with an eye toward reaching a mutual truce."
And back to BBC News:
"Israel says it is examining plans for a new settlement in East Jerusalem, after facing heavy criticism for expanding an existing Jewish settlement there.
Housing minister Zeev Boim said it was a preliminary look at possible housing development in the Atarot area.
He played down its significance, saying such checks were done year round on areas with building potential.
Palestinians say the Har Homa expansion announced this month threatened to derail re-launched peace negotiations.
"This is a preliminary examination of an initial construction plan. Such feasibility checks are done all year round on all areas with building potential in Jerusalem," Mr Boim said in a statement.
"The ministry has to offer a solution to the housing problem in Jerusalem."
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said such plans would destroy the peace process and must be stopped."
"We consider these steps as threatening the beginning of the final negotiations between the two sides."
Ignoring the real, hard news and facts
That the US is in the grip of the sub-prime credit problem and that there is even talk of the possibility of a recession in the country, is in the news daily. The ripples of the greed of bankers and their associates is sweeping around the world. Stock markets are down, severely etc. etc.
Scott Horton , writing in Harper's Magazine, "Obligations Ignored" says that the dross in the daily media has basically ignored reporting this critical piece of information:
"For the 11th year in a row, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was prevented from expressing an opinion on the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government--other than the Statement of Social Insurance--because of serious material weaknesses affecting financial systems, fundamental recordkeeping, and financial reporting."
If that wasn't bad enough, as Horton records from the relevant report:
“Until the problems outlined in our audit report are adequately addressed, they will continue to have adverse implications for the federal government and American taxpayers,” Walker said in a letter to the President and Congress. “The federal government’s fiscal exposures totaled approximately $53 trillion as of September 30, 2007, up more than $2 trillion from September 30, 2006, and an increase of more than $32 trillion from about $20 trillion as of September 30, 2000,” Walker said. “This translates into a current burden of about $175,000 per American or approximately $455,000 per American household.”
Horton comments:
"With the arrival of George W. Bush, all proper stewardship of the economy has been thrown to the winds in favor of a quick joy ride for a team of power-crazy leaders. The cost of this presidency, put in dollars and cents through today, is $32 trillion dollars. That’s a 150% increase in exposure since the reins of office were handed to George W. Bush."
Have people like Fox News or the WSJ reported on all of this? Nah! - as supporters of the Bush administration the topic has been kept under the radar. Just watch out for much more financial troubles in the US, and perforce, around the world
Scott Horton , writing in Harper's Magazine, "Obligations Ignored" says that the dross in the daily media has basically ignored reporting this critical piece of information:
"For the 11th year in a row, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was prevented from expressing an opinion on the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government--other than the Statement of Social Insurance--because of serious material weaknesses affecting financial systems, fundamental recordkeeping, and financial reporting."
If that wasn't bad enough, as Horton records from the relevant report:
“Until the problems outlined in our audit report are adequately addressed, they will continue to have adverse implications for the federal government and American taxpayers,” Walker said in a letter to the President and Congress. “The federal government’s fiscal exposures totaled approximately $53 trillion as of September 30, 2007, up more than $2 trillion from September 30, 2006, and an increase of more than $32 trillion from about $20 trillion as of September 30, 2000,” Walker said. “This translates into a current burden of about $175,000 per American or approximately $455,000 per American household.”
Horton comments:
"With the arrival of George W. Bush, all proper stewardship of the economy has been thrown to the winds in favor of a quick joy ride for a team of power-crazy leaders. The cost of this presidency, put in dollars and cents through today, is $32 trillion dollars. That’s a 150% increase in exposure since the reins of office were handed to George W. Bush."
Have people like Fox News or the WSJ reported on all of this? Nah! - as supporters of the Bush administration the topic has been kept under the radar. Just watch out for much more financial troubles in the US, and perforce, around the world
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
"Dead" in Baghdad
Readers of MPS, and other blogs, will have become aware of Iraqi blogger, Ali Safeya Al-Moussawi who contributed to the blog "Alive in Baghdad". Ali was a critical "player" in bringing to the world the realities, and the facts, in relation to Iraq.
As Global Voices explains:
"It is with great sadness that I report the death of an Iraqi blogger. Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi was a contributor to the video blog, Alive in Baghdad. He was killed while at home, during a raid by the Iraqi National Guard in his street. Ali took 31 bullets between the chest and head and died immediately. Ali was not the only victim of that raid. Hussain, his neighbour, was found dead. Hussain's brother and nephew have disappeared too.
Ali is survived by his mother and sister. Alive in Baghdad are collecting donations to help the family with the funeral costs."
The complete "report" can be read here. Contrast the honesty of what Ali "reported" to the world - which the media didn't, given that its reporters were either embedded with the military or afraid to go out in to the field, preferring to stay in the safety of downtown Baghdad hotels - with the fanciful reporting of how things are in Iraq by the Murdoch press:
"By any measure, the US-led surge has been little short of a triumph. The number of American military fatalities has been reduced sharply, as has the carnage of Iraqi civilians; Baghdad as a city is functioning again; oil output is above where it stood in March 2003 but at a far stronger price a barrel; and, the acid test, many of those who fled to Syria and Jordan are returning home.
The cheering must be accompanied by caveats, of course. Security certainly has improved, but it remains fragile."
Oh yeah!!!!
As Global Voices explains:
"It is with great sadness that I report the death of an Iraqi blogger. Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi was a contributor to the video blog, Alive in Baghdad. He was killed while at home, during a raid by the Iraqi National Guard in his street. Ali took 31 bullets between the chest and head and died immediately. Ali was not the only victim of that raid. Hussain, his neighbour, was found dead. Hussain's brother and nephew have disappeared too.
Ali is survived by his mother and sister. Alive in Baghdad are collecting donations to help the family with the funeral costs."
The complete "report" can be read here. Contrast the honesty of what Ali "reported" to the world - which the media didn't, given that its reporters were either embedded with the military or afraid to go out in to the field, preferring to stay in the safety of downtown Baghdad hotels - with the fanciful reporting of how things are in Iraq by the Murdoch press:
"By any measure, the US-led surge has been little short of a triumph. The number of American military fatalities has been reduced sharply, as has the carnage of Iraqi civilians; Baghdad as a city is functioning again; oil output is above where it stood in March 2003 but at a far stronger price a barrel; and, the acid test, many of those who fled to Syria and Jordan are returning home.
The cheering must be accompanied by caveats, of course. Security certainly has improved, but it remains fragile."
Oh yeah!!!!
Your newspaper...
The Seattle Times reports on a view of newspapers following a survey by the Pew Research organisation:
"Journalism in the United States has a serious identity crisis. It's not the first time this has occurred, but it might just be the last.
Over the past few decades, the news organizations that many of us read or watch have lost enormous credibility among the U.S. public. This is due to high-profile mistakes such as taking a pass on the Bush administration's claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq — a journalistic debacle for which The New York Times and The Washington Post publicly apologized — and for everyday errors of emphasizing entertainment that masquerades as news. Enough Britney, Paris and O.J. already.
That's not only our view. The Pew Research Center has tracked perceptions of the press among U.S. adults for more than two decades, asking the same questions over time. Some trends speak volumes:
• In 1985, when asked whether news organizations "get the facts straight" or are "often inaccurate," 55 percent chose the former option and 34 percent the latter. This past July, when Pew asked this question, the responses were almost exactly reversed: 39 percent said news media get facts straight and 53 percent said they often don't.
• In 1985, when asked whether news organizations were "moral" or "immoral" in their practices, 54 percent indicated the former, 13 percent the latter, and 33 percent said neither or that they weren't sure. This past July, 46 percent said news media were moral while nearly a third, 32 percent, said immoral.
• In 1985, when asked whether news organizations "are pretty independent" or are "often influenced by powerful people and organizations," 37 percent chose the former option and 53 percent the latter. That wasn't good for the press then. It's even worse now: In July, 69 percent said news media are often influenced by powerful actors and institutions.
• Finally, in 1985, when asked whether news organizations "protect democracy" or "hurt democracy," 54 percent chose the former option and 23 percent the latter. In July, only 44 percent said news media protect democracy, while more than a third, 36 percent, said news media hurt democracy."
It is hard to believe that much the same position of readers about their newspapers exists in most Western countries.
"Journalism in the United States has a serious identity crisis. It's not the first time this has occurred, but it might just be the last.
Over the past few decades, the news organizations that many of us read or watch have lost enormous credibility among the U.S. public. This is due to high-profile mistakes such as taking a pass on the Bush administration's claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq — a journalistic debacle for which The New York Times and The Washington Post publicly apologized — and for everyday errors of emphasizing entertainment that masquerades as news. Enough Britney, Paris and O.J. already.
That's not only our view. The Pew Research Center has tracked perceptions of the press among U.S. adults for more than two decades, asking the same questions over time. Some trends speak volumes:
• In 1985, when asked whether news organizations "get the facts straight" or are "often inaccurate," 55 percent chose the former option and 34 percent the latter. This past July, when Pew asked this question, the responses were almost exactly reversed: 39 percent said news media get facts straight and 53 percent said they often don't.
• In 1985, when asked whether news organizations were "moral" or "immoral" in their practices, 54 percent indicated the former, 13 percent the latter, and 33 percent said neither or that they weren't sure. This past July, 46 percent said news media were moral while nearly a third, 32 percent, said immoral.
• In 1985, when asked whether news organizations "are pretty independent" or are "often influenced by powerful people and organizations," 37 percent chose the former option and 53 percent the latter. That wasn't good for the press then. It's even worse now: In July, 69 percent said news media are often influenced by powerful actors and institutions.
• Finally, in 1985, when asked whether news organizations "protect democracy" or "hurt democracy," 54 percent chose the former option and 23 percent the latter. In July, only 44 percent said news media protect democracy, while more than a third, 36 percent, said news media hurt democracy."
It is hard to believe that much the same position of readers about their newspapers exists in most Western countries.
Basra: Positives or Negatives?
The British pulled out of Basra, Iraq, the other day - declaring that, in effect, their mission there has been accomplished. That has basically how the media has reported it too.
But wait. The Guardian reports the situation in Basra from an Iraqi perspective on things:
"The full scale of the chaos left behind by British forces in Basra was revealed yesterday as the city's police chief described a province in the grip of well-armed militias strong enough to overpower security forces and brutal enough to behead women considered not sufficiently Islamic.
As British forces finally handed over security in Basra province, marking the end of 4½ years of control in southern Iraq, Major General Jalil Khalaf, the new police commander, said the occupation had left him with a situation close to mayhem. "They left me militia, they left me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world," he said in an interview for Guardian Films and ITV.
Khalaf painted a very different picture from that of British officials who, while acknowledging problems in southern Iraq, said yesterday's handover at Basra airbase was timely and appropriate."
Read The Guardian piece here - and view a graphic video as well.
But wait. The Guardian reports the situation in Basra from an Iraqi perspective on things:
"The full scale of the chaos left behind by British forces in Basra was revealed yesterday as the city's police chief described a province in the grip of well-armed militias strong enough to overpower security forces and brutal enough to behead women considered not sufficiently Islamic.
As British forces finally handed over security in Basra province, marking the end of 4½ years of control in southern Iraq, Major General Jalil Khalaf, the new police commander, said the occupation had left him with a situation close to mayhem. "They left me militia, they left me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world," he said in an interview for Guardian Films and ITV.
Khalaf painted a very different picture from that of British officials who, while acknowledging problems in southern Iraq, said yesterday's handover at Basra airbase was timely and appropriate."
Read The Guardian piece here - and view a graphic video as well.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Two perspectives on aid to Palestinians
Whilst the media is trumpeting that the one day conference in Paris led to a number of countries pledging some US$7.4 billion in aid to the Palestinians, it is interesting to reflect on the fact that the Israelis are largely to blame for the plight in which the Palestinians find themselves.
That aside, how one is to view the outcome of the conference and the aid offered up, depends on who and what you read.
The IHT reports it thus:
"The donors' meeting is a high-profile effort to build on the peace talks with Israel last month to which the Bush administration played host in Annapolis, Maryland. Those talks were the first serious negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in years, and the two sides pledged to seek a final peace agreement by the end of 2008.
It was the largest Palestinian donor meeting since 1996, and the latest in a string of aid-raising events for the Palestinians over the years. The Palestinians are one of the highest aid-dependent populations in the world; government salaries account for 27 percent of the Palestinian Authority's gross domestic product, according to a new World Bank report.
Despite the new aid pledges, the Palestinian Authority's economy will continue to contract unless Israel eases its blockage of the Gaza Strip and removes key internal checkpoints to allow Palestinians to move freely in the West Bank, the World Bank cautioned in its report.
The World Bank estimated that without such measures, the Palestinian gross domestic product would probably contract by 2 percent annually over the next five years. If Israel does ease the restrictions, and if the Palestinians put promised reforms in place, the economy could grow 5 percent a year, the report added."
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera views things this way:
"On the face of it, the one-day international donor meeting in Paris was a fantastic success.
Billions of dollars were promised in aid to the Palestinian Authority to salvage its ailing economy, and all the while political rhetoric flew about in support of Palestinian statehood.
But financial pledges, even if and when they are delivered to the Palestinians, are meaningless in the long term without the exertion of international political pressure to end the 40-year old Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip."
And:
"Yet in the absence of a clearly defined political plan, financial aid will amount to no more than a sticking plaster that cannot stop a profusely bleeding wound.
In Paris there was neither a show of an international political will to address the occupation itself nor any serious pressure placed on Israel to lift restrictions on the movement of people and goods.
Warnings by the World Bank that an Israeli reversal of movement restriction policies and closure of borders is a pre-requisite for the recovery of the Palestinian economy, went unheeded.
The donors' conference, as the American-sponsored Annapolis meeting a few weeks ago, was instead driven by Israeli and US security priorities, namely backing, if not, encouraging a Palestinian Authority confrontation against Hamas rather than addressing the reality of the Israeli occupation."
That aside, how one is to view the outcome of the conference and the aid offered up, depends on who and what you read.
The IHT reports it thus:
"The donors' meeting is a high-profile effort to build on the peace talks with Israel last month to which the Bush administration played host in Annapolis, Maryland. Those talks were the first serious negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in years, and the two sides pledged to seek a final peace agreement by the end of 2008.
It was the largest Palestinian donor meeting since 1996, and the latest in a string of aid-raising events for the Palestinians over the years. The Palestinians are one of the highest aid-dependent populations in the world; government salaries account for 27 percent of the Palestinian Authority's gross domestic product, according to a new World Bank report.
Despite the new aid pledges, the Palestinian Authority's economy will continue to contract unless Israel eases its blockage of the Gaza Strip and removes key internal checkpoints to allow Palestinians to move freely in the West Bank, the World Bank cautioned in its report.
The World Bank estimated that without such measures, the Palestinian gross domestic product would probably contract by 2 percent annually over the next five years. If Israel does ease the restrictions, and if the Palestinians put promised reforms in place, the economy could grow 5 percent a year, the report added."
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera views things this way:
"On the face of it, the one-day international donor meeting in Paris was a fantastic success.
Billions of dollars were promised in aid to the Palestinian Authority to salvage its ailing economy, and all the while political rhetoric flew about in support of Palestinian statehood.
But financial pledges, even if and when they are delivered to the Palestinians, are meaningless in the long term without the exertion of international political pressure to end the 40-year old Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip."
And:
"Yet in the absence of a clearly defined political plan, financial aid will amount to no more than a sticking plaster that cannot stop a profusely bleeding wound.
In Paris there was neither a show of an international political will to address the occupation itself nor any serious pressure placed on Israel to lift restrictions on the movement of people and goods.
Warnings by the World Bank that an Israeli reversal of movement restriction policies and closure of borders is a pre-requisite for the recovery of the Palestinian economy, went unheeded.
The donors' conference, as the American-sponsored Annapolis meeting a few weeks ago, was instead driven by Israeli and US security priorities, namely backing, if not, encouraging a Palestinian Authority confrontation against Hamas rather than addressing the reality of the Israeli occupation."
The Joys [*!#*] of visiting the US of A
The story needs no comment:
"Iceland's government has asked the U.S. ambassador to explain the treatment of an Icelandic tourist who says she was held in shackles before being deported from the United States.The woman, Erla Osk Arnardottir Lillendahl, 33, was arrested Sunday when she arrived at JFK airport in New York because she had overstayed a U.S. visa more than 10 years earlier.Lillendahl, 33, had planned to shop and sightsee with friends, but endured instead what she has claimed was the most humiliating experience of her life."
Read how Erica saw events unfold here - as published by Crikey.
Anyone keen to visit the "welcoming" US of A?
"Iceland's government has asked the U.S. ambassador to explain the treatment of an Icelandic tourist who says she was held in shackles before being deported from the United States.The woman, Erla Osk Arnardottir Lillendahl, 33, was arrested Sunday when she arrived at JFK airport in New York because she had overstayed a U.S. visa more than 10 years earlier.Lillendahl, 33, had planned to shop and sightsee with friends, but endured instead what she has claimed was the most humiliating experience of her life."
Read how Erica saw events unfold here - as published by Crikey.
Anyone keen to visit the "welcoming" US of A?
Who is calling the shots?
Scott Ritter gained "fame" as one of the high-profile UN weapons inspectors in Iraq before the Coalition of the Willing attacked the country.
Writing in Antiwar.com "US Must Reevaluate Its Relationship With Israel" [reproduced on Information Clearing House] he says:
"As a weapons inspector I made numerous visits to Israel for the purpose of coordinating with the Israeli intelligence community on matters pertaining to Iraqi WMD. I was greatly impressed not only with the professionalism of the Israeli intelligence services, but also with the Israeli people and society. During my time in Israel, I was witness to numerous horrific events, including several terrorist bombings and the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The resilience of the people of Israel in absorbing these blows yet continuing to live life to its fullest was remarkable, and worthy of admiration."
More importantly, though, he raises the thorny question and issue many fear to out of an apprehension that they will immediately be labelled anti-Zionist or anti-Israeli or even anti-semitic:
"The insidious manner in which the current Israeli government has manipulated the domestic political machinery of the United States to produce support for its policies constitutes nothing less than direct interference in the governance of a sovereign state. The degree to which the current Israeli government has succeeded in this regard can be tracked not only by the words and actions of the administration of President George W. Bush and the American Congress, but also by the extent to which a pro-Israel lexicon has taken hold within the mainstream media of the United States. Witness the pro-Israel bias displayed when discussing the situation in southern Lebanon, the air strike in Syria, or the Iranian situation, and the retarding of any effort toward a responsible discussion of anything dealing with Israel becomes apparent.
One would expect such efforts to shape the domestic public opinion of a state deemed hostile, but when the target of these Israeli actions is its ostensible best friend, one must begin to question whether or not the friendship is a one-way street. And if this is indeed the case, then perhaps it is time for the United States to reconsider its decades-old policy of strategic partnership with Israel.
It must be understood that the government of Ehud Olmert is acting in a post-9/11 environment, with considerable facilitators in the administration of President Bush, including the vice president. These two factors combine to create a cycle of enablement that allows a purely Israeli point of view to dominate American policy. If the Israeli point of view were built on logic, compassion, and the rule of law, then this tilt would not constitute a problem. But the Israeli point of view is increasingly constructed on a foundation of intolerance and irresponsible unilateralism that divorces the country from global norms. In this day and age of nuclear nonproliferation, the undeclared nuclear arsenal of Israel stands as perhaps the most egregious example of how an Israel-only standard destabilizes the Middle East. It is the Israeli nuclear weapons program, including its strategic delivery systems, that is the core of instability for this very volatile region."
Writing in Antiwar.com "US Must Reevaluate Its Relationship With Israel" [reproduced on Information Clearing House] he says:
"As a weapons inspector I made numerous visits to Israel for the purpose of coordinating with the Israeli intelligence community on matters pertaining to Iraqi WMD. I was greatly impressed not only with the professionalism of the Israeli intelligence services, but also with the Israeli people and society. During my time in Israel, I was witness to numerous horrific events, including several terrorist bombings and the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The resilience of the people of Israel in absorbing these blows yet continuing to live life to its fullest was remarkable, and worthy of admiration."
More importantly, though, he raises the thorny question and issue many fear to out of an apprehension that they will immediately be labelled anti-Zionist or anti-Israeli or even anti-semitic:
"The insidious manner in which the current Israeli government has manipulated the domestic political machinery of the United States to produce support for its policies constitutes nothing less than direct interference in the governance of a sovereign state. The degree to which the current Israeli government has succeeded in this regard can be tracked not only by the words and actions of the administration of President George W. Bush and the American Congress, but also by the extent to which a pro-Israel lexicon has taken hold within the mainstream media of the United States. Witness the pro-Israel bias displayed when discussing the situation in southern Lebanon, the air strike in Syria, or the Iranian situation, and the retarding of any effort toward a responsible discussion of anything dealing with Israel becomes apparent.
One would expect such efforts to shape the domestic public opinion of a state deemed hostile, but when the target of these Israeli actions is its ostensible best friend, one must begin to question whether or not the friendship is a one-way street. And if this is indeed the case, then perhaps it is time for the United States to reconsider its decades-old policy of strategic partnership with Israel.
It must be understood that the government of Ehud Olmert is acting in a post-9/11 environment, with considerable facilitators in the administration of President Bush, including the vice president. These two factors combine to create a cycle of enablement that allows a purely Israeli point of view to dominate American policy. If the Israeli point of view were built on logic, compassion, and the rule of law, then this tilt would not constitute a problem. But the Israeli point of view is increasingly constructed on a foundation of intolerance and irresponsible unilateralism that divorces the country from global norms. In this day and age of nuclear nonproliferation, the undeclared nuclear arsenal of Israel stands as perhaps the most egregious example of how an Israel-only standard destabilizes the Middle East. It is the Israeli nuclear weapons program, including its strategic delivery systems, that is the core of instability for this very volatile region."
Not a List you should want to be on
Capital punishment is abhorrent and banned in many countries. Its critics call the practice barbaric. The United Nations General Assembly is voting to outlaw it. Yet, a closer look at the death penalty—and the countries that still use it—reveals that it’s far too early to pronounce a death sentence against capital punishment just yet.
FP [Foreign Policy] lists - in a piece "The List: The World’s Top Executioners" - and details, the main "offenders" still engaged in capital punishment. Not a list one would have thought one would want to be on.......
Read the FP piece here.
FP [Foreign Policy] lists - in a piece "The List: The World’s Top Executioners" - and details, the main "offenders" still engaged in capital punishment. Not a list one would have thought one would want to be on.......
Read the FP piece here.
Food for thought
The fact that climate change, and all that entails, is having dire consequences for the globe, is hard enough to come to grips with.
There is another, in many ways just as serious, crisis brewing. It's simply the lack of the ready availability of food for the peoples of the world. A dire warning of a looming crisis is reported on by IHT in a piece "Global food supply is dwindling rapidly, UN agency warns":
"In an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned Monday.
The changes created "a very serious risk that fewer people will be able to get food," particularly in the developing world, said Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
The agency's food price index rose by more than 40 percent this year, compared with 9 percent the year before - a rate that was already unacceptable, he said. New figures show that the total cost of foodstuffs imported by the neediest countries rose 25 percent, to $107 million, in the last year.
At the same time, reserves of cereals are severely depleted, FAO records show. World wheat stores declined 11 percent this year, to the lowest level since 1980. That corresponds to 12 weeks of the world's total consumption - much less than the average of 18 weeks consumption in storage during the period 2000-2005. There are only 8 weeks of corn left, down from 11 weeks in the earlier period."
There is another, in many ways just as serious, crisis brewing. It's simply the lack of the ready availability of food for the peoples of the world. A dire warning of a looming crisis is reported on by IHT in a piece "Global food supply is dwindling rapidly, UN agency warns":
"In an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned Monday.
The changes created "a very serious risk that fewer people will be able to get food," particularly in the developing world, said Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
The agency's food price index rose by more than 40 percent this year, compared with 9 percent the year before - a rate that was already unacceptable, he said. New figures show that the total cost of foodstuffs imported by the neediest countries rose 25 percent, to $107 million, in the last year.
At the same time, reserves of cereals are severely depleted, FAO records show. World wheat stores declined 11 percent this year, to the lowest level since 1980. That corresponds to 12 weeks of the world's total consumption - much less than the average of 18 weeks consumption in storage during the period 2000-2005. There are only 8 weeks of corn left, down from 11 weeks in the earlier period."
Monday, December 17, 2007
The View from the Back of the Plane
The cover article in the Nov. 25 issue of the NY Times of the Travel section, “Class Conflict,” by Michelle Higgins, the Practical Traveler columnist, prompted an unusually large response from readers, including 298 comments posted on our Web site.
The editors have collected the responses and now published a selection of them in this latest piece in the Travel section of the NY Times. What readers [aka flyers] have said will resonate with anyone who has sat at the back of the plane......
The editors have collected the responses and now published a selection of them in this latest piece in the Travel section of the NY Times. What readers [aka flyers] have said will resonate with anyone who has sat at the back of the plane......
A well-deserved Award
It might not be the Nobel Prize, but the award of the 2007 The Nation/ Puffin Award to Michael Ratner [who you ask? - read on] ought to be welcomed by all those who value the concept of justice and decency.
As noted by the Puffin Foundation and The Nation Institute:
"Attorney, author and Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) President Michael Ratner is the recipient of the 2007 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. One of the country's foremost defenders of human rights and civil liberties, Ratner has led the fight to demand due process for Guantánamo detainees, adequate safeguards against intrusive government surveillance, and an end to torture and extraordinary rendition. Ratner will receive the annual prize on December 10 at The Nation Institute Annual Dinner Gala in New York City, the same week CCR returns to the Supreme Court representing Guantánamo detainees held indefinitely without charges.
Under Michael Ratner’s leadership, the Center for Constitutional Rights has repeatedly challenged the Bush administration on the constitutionality of indefinite detention and restrictions on domestic civil liberties. On December 5, Mr. Ratner and co-counsel will return to the Supreme Court with the combined cases of Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush. These cases are the first to directly challenge the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and its stripping of habeas corpus jurisdiction from federal courts.
“Michael Ratner has pushed the courts and the legislature to defend the rights of citizens and non-citizens alike by protecting the rule of law,” said Perry Rosenstein, President of the Puffin Foundation, Ltd., the co-sponsor of the Creative Citizenship award. “The Puffin/Nation Prize is about more than a job well done. This award recognizes an individual whose lifelong commitment to social change has led to a true expansion of the rights and privileges we all enjoy. Mr. Ratner’s work certainly deserves this distinction.”
As noted by the Puffin Foundation and The Nation Institute:
"Attorney, author and Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) President Michael Ratner is the recipient of the 2007 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. One of the country's foremost defenders of human rights and civil liberties, Ratner has led the fight to demand due process for Guantánamo detainees, adequate safeguards against intrusive government surveillance, and an end to torture and extraordinary rendition. Ratner will receive the annual prize on December 10 at The Nation Institute Annual Dinner Gala in New York City, the same week CCR returns to the Supreme Court representing Guantánamo detainees held indefinitely without charges.
Under Michael Ratner’s leadership, the Center for Constitutional Rights has repeatedly challenged the Bush administration on the constitutionality of indefinite detention and restrictions on domestic civil liberties. On December 5, Mr. Ratner and co-counsel will return to the Supreme Court with the combined cases of Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush. These cases are the first to directly challenge the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and its stripping of habeas corpus jurisdiction from federal courts.
“Michael Ratner has pushed the courts and the legislature to defend the rights of citizens and non-citizens alike by protecting the rule of law,” said Perry Rosenstein, President of the Puffin Foundation, Ltd., the co-sponsor of the Creative Citizenship award. “The Puffin/Nation Prize is about more than a job well done. This award recognizes an individual whose lifelong commitment to social change has led to a true expansion of the rights and privileges we all enjoy. Mr. Ratner’s work certainly deserves this distinction.”
David Hicks "resurfaces"
David Hicks, once in the news almost daily, has been off the radar - until now, when he is to be released from his imprisonment in Adelaide.
It would appear that Hicks' actions and liberties are to be severely curtailed if the Australian Federal has its way. That that is rather ludicrous is almost an oxymoron. It is a topic taken up by Tracee Hutchison in a piece "Hasn't Hicks suffered enough?" in The Age:
"I don't know why I thought the saga of David Hicks' incarceration might finally be resolved with his release on December 29 from Adelaide's Yatala Prison."
And:
"But when it came to the first real test of where this Government stands on the much-touted Howard bogyman — the war on terror — it caved to the Australian Federal Police's Howardesque mentality that David Hicks is a living, breathing local personification of the terrorist threat, a man who apparently needs to be constantly monitored for fear he will get involved with undesirables planning unmentionables of unfathomable proportions. Really? Hasn't he been through enough?"
And further:
"But the federal police application for a control order isn't really the surprise, nor is the realisation that many Australians will probably think a control order on Hicks is a perfectly reasonably imposition. Neither of those things shocks me.
It is the willingness of the Government to readily comply with the police force's continued demonising of Hicks — which is what this control order will do — that is the real surprise.
Does anyone in the police or the Federal Government really think Hicks is going to get involved with a terror plot after spending six years in jailed hell? The man won't be able to buy a carton of milk without causing a neighbourhood sensation at the local shops. It's ludicrous.
Hicks still hopes to study zoology or ecology. In the short term, he will need to earn a living around a control order and a curfew, not to mention a reputation that precedes him for all the wrong reasons.
I hope that, one day, we get to hear the real story of David Hicks — in his own unencumbered words — and can fully appreciate the circumstances that tipped the scales so comprehensively against him."
It would appear that Hicks' actions and liberties are to be severely curtailed if the Australian Federal has its way. That that is rather ludicrous is almost an oxymoron. It is a topic taken up by Tracee Hutchison in a piece "Hasn't Hicks suffered enough?" in The Age:
"I don't know why I thought the saga of David Hicks' incarceration might finally be resolved with his release on December 29 from Adelaide's Yatala Prison."
And:
"But when it came to the first real test of where this Government stands on the much-touted Howard bogyman — the war on terror — it caved to the Australian Federal Police's Howardesque mentality that David Hicks is a living, breathing local personification of the terrorist threat, a man who apparently needs to be constantly monitored for fear he will get involved with undesirables planning unmentionables of unfathomable proportions. Really? Hasn't he been through enough?"
And further:
"But the federal police application for a control order isn't really the surprise, nor is the realisation that many Australians will probably think a control order on Hicks is a perfectly reasonably imposition. Neither of those things shocks me.
It is the willingness of the Government to readily comply with the police force's continued demonising of Hicks — which is what this control order will do — that is the real surprise.
Does anyone in the police or the Federal Government really think Hicks is going to get involved with a terror plot after spending six years in jailed hell? The man won't be able to buy a carton of milk without causing a neighbourhood sensation at the local shops. It's ludicrous.
Hicks still hopes to study zoology or ecology. In the short term, he will need to earn a living around a control order and a curfew, not to mention a reputation that precedes him for all the wrong reasons.
I hope that, one day, we get to hear the real story of David Hicks — in his own unencumbered words — and can fully appreciate the circumstances that tipped the scales so comprehensively against him."
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Q & A on the UN Bali Climate Change Conference
The Observer's Anushka Asthana has a pithy and helpful Q & A on the just concluded UN Climate Change Conference in Bali:
"What was the point of the Bali conference?
It was a chance for policymakers from more than 180 countries to hammer out an international agreement on what cuts in greenhouse emissions were required, which countries needed to make them and what the deadline should be. It aimed to create a 'roadmap' for a future climate change deal - a successor to the Kyoto protocol.
What was the Kyoto protocol?
After two and a half years of negotiations, the Kyoto protocol on climate change was adopted on 11 December 1997. Although most countries signed up to it, some chose not to, most notably the US, despite the fact that it is one of the world's largest emitters of carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, the Kyoto treaty came into force in February 2005 and required each developed country to reduce emissions by an agreed level between 2008 and 2012.
Was the Bali conference successful?
A 'roadmap' was agreed, laying down the path for two years of negotiations. The final destination will be Copenhagen at the end of 2009 (via Poznan in Poland the year before), where a climate treaty will be drawn up. The deal promised to give poor countries more money to help cope with the harmful effects of global warming and agreed to a review of how rich countries could spread green technology. Delegates accepted the principle that poorer countries should be rewarded for protecting forests and supported the idea of businesses being able to trade in carbon allowances.
What was missing?
Countries committed themselves to talking about climate change and to pursuing a post-Kyoto agreement, but did not set in place any commitments. Although a fund was agreed for poor countries, no figure was mentioned. The EU fought for a clause committing developed countries to reduce emissions by 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 but it was blocked by the US, Japan and others. Bali was a small step in the right direction, but to prevent the destruction predicted by scientists, much more must be done."
Meanwhile, over at Time, it dissects who won and who lost in Bali. BBC News reports on the outcome of the conference here.
"What was the point of the Bali conference?
It was a chance for policymakers from more than 180 countries to hammer out an international agreement on what cuts in greenhouse emissions were required, which countries needed to make them and what the deadline should be. It aimed to create a 'roadmap' for a future climate change deal - a successor to the Kyoto protocol.
What was the Kyoto protocol?
After two and a half years of negotiations, the Kyoto protocol on climate change was adopted on 11 December 1997. Although most countries signed up to it, some chose not to, most notably the US, despite the fact that it is one of the world's largest emitters of carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, the Kyoto treaty came into force in February 2005 and required each developed country to reduce emissions by an agreed level between 2008 and 2012.
Was the Bali conference successful?
A 'roadmap' was agreed, laying down the path for two years of negotiations. The final destination will be Copenhagen at the end of 2009 (via Poznan in Poland the year before), where a climate treaty will be drawn up. The deal promised to give poor countries more money to help cope with the harmful effects of global warming and agreed to a review of how rich countries could spread green technology. Delegates accepted the principle that poorer countries should be rewarded for protecting forests and supported the idea of businesses being able to trade in carbon allowances.
What was missing?
Countries committed themselves to talking about climate change and to pursuing a post-Kyoto agreement, but did not set in place any commitments. Although a fund was agreed for poor countries, no figure was mentioned. The EU fought for a clause committing developed countries to reduce emissions by 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 but it was blocked by the US, Japan and others. Bali was a small step in the right direction, but to prevent the destruction predicted by scientists, much more must be done."
Meanwhile, over at Time, it dissects who won and who lost in Bali. BBC News reports on the outcome of the conference here.
Salon: Inside the CIA's "black sites"
Be appalled and disgusted by the actions of the CIA and the country, the US of A - trying to influence other countries to do "things" according to due process, democracy, humanity and justice - which allows it to happen. Salon reports:
"The CIA held Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah in several different cells when he was incarcerated in its network of secret prisons known as "black sites." But the small cells were all pretty similar, maybe 7 feet wide and 10 feet long. He was sometimes naked, and sometimes handcuffed for weeks at a time. In one cell his ankle was chained to a bolt in the floor. There was a small toilet. In another cell there was just a bucket. Video cameras recorded his every move. The lights always stayed on -- there was no day or night. A speaker blasted him with continuous white noise, or rap music, 24 hours a day.
The guards wore black masks and black clothes. They would not utter a word as they extracted Bashmilah from his cell for interrogation -- one of his few interactions with other human beings during his entire 19 months of imprisonment. Nobody told him where he was, or if he would ever be freed.
It was enough to drive anyone crazy. Bashmilah finally tried to slash his wrists with a small piece of metal, smearing the words "I am innocent" in blood on the walls of his cell. But the CIA patched him up.
So Bashmilah stopped eating. But after his weight dropped to 90 pounds, he was dragged into an interrogation room, where they rammed a tube down his nose and into his stomach. Liquid was pumped in. The CIA would not let him die.
On several occasions, when Bashmilah's state of mind deteriorated dangerously, the CIA also did something else: They placed him in the care of mental health professionals. Bashmilah believes these were trained psychologists or psychiatrists. "What they were trying to do was to give me a sort of uplifting and to assure me," Bashmilah said in a telephone interview, through an interpreter, speaking from his home country of Yemen. "One of the things they told me to do was to allow myself to cry, and to breathe."
Last June, Salon reported on the CIA's use of psychologists to aid with the interrogation of terrorist suspects. But the role of mental health professionals working at CIA black sites is a previously unknown twist in the chilling, Kafkaesque story of the agency's secret overseas prisons.
Little about the conditions of Bashmilah's incarceration has been made public until now. His detailed descriptions in an interview with Salon, and in newly filed court documents, provide the first in-depth, first-person account of captivity inside a CIA black site. Human rights advocates and lawyers have painstakingly pieced together his case, using Bashmilah's descriptions of his cells and his captors, and documents from the governments of Jordan and Yemen and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to verify his testimony. Flight records detailing the movement of CIA aircraft also confirm Bashmilah's account, tracing his path from the Middle East to Afghanistan and back again while in U.S. custody."
Read the complete piece here.
"The CIA held Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah in several different cells when he was incarcerated in its network of secret prisons known as "black sites." But the small cells were all pretty similar, maybe 7 feet wide and 10 feet long. He was sometimes naked, and sometimes handcuffed for weeks at a time. In one cell his ankle was chained to a bolt in the floor. There was a small toilet. In another cell there was just a bucket. Video cameras recorded his every move. The lights always stayed on -- there was no day or night. A speaker blasted him with continuous white noise, or rap music, 24 hours a day.
The guards wore black masks and black clothes. They would not utter a word as they extracted Bashmilah from his cell for interrogation -- one of his few interactions with other human beings during his entire 19 months of imprisonment. Nobody told him where he was, or if he would ever be freed.
It was enough to drive anyone crazy. Bashmilah finally tried to slash his wrists with a small piece of metal, smearing the words "I am innocent" in blood on the walls of his cell. But the CIA patched him up.
So Bashmilah stopped eating. But after his weight dropped to 90 pounds, he was dragged into an interrogation room, where they rammed a tube down his nose and into his stomach. Liquid was pumped in. The CIA would not let him die.
On several occasions, when Bashmilah's state of mind deteriorated dangerously, the CIA also did something else: They placed him in the care of mental health professionals. Bashmilah believes these were trained psychologists or psychiatrists. "What they were trying to do was to give me a sort of uplifting and to assure me," Bashmilah said in a telephone interview, through an interpreter, speaking from his home country of Yemen. "One of the things they told me to do was to allow myself to cry, and to breathe."
Last June, Salon reported on the CIA's use of psychologists to aid with the interrogation of terrorist suspects. But the role of mental health professionals working at CIA black sites is a previously unknown twist in the chilling, Kafkaesque story of the agency's secret overseas prisons.
Little about the conditions of Bashmilah's incarceration has been made public until now. His detailed descriptions in an interview with Salon, and in newly filed court documents, provide the first in-depth, first-person account of captivity inside a CIA black site. Human rights advocates and lawyers have painstakingly pieced together his case, using Bashmilah's descriptions of his cells and his captors, and documents from the governments of Jordan and Yemen and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to verify his testimony. Flight records detailing the movement of CIA aircraft also confirm Bashmilah's account, tracing his path from the Middle East to Afghanistan and back again while in U.S. custody."
Read the complete piece here.
A welcome mat for tyrants?
Visits of political tyrants, or those whose actions are repulsive to any norms of humanity, decency or justice - think, Robert Mugabe, Gadhafi and the same ilk - to foreign countries raises a vexed question. Should the West receive these people even if they are, in there own way, somehow or other "elected" representatives of their country?
The issue was highlighted the other day with the visit of Moammar Gadhafi of Libya to Paris. In reading this piece from truth.dig remember that the Gadhafi's visit was "sweetened" by his signing agreements to purchase more than $14 billion in French products, from the Airbus to a nuclear reactor (for water desalination) to advanced jet fighters.
"France is seething over the official visit of Moammar Gadhafi to Paris—a landmark affair, considering that President Nicolas Sarkozy’s invitation was the first such offer from a Western leader since Gadhafi’s notorious rupture with the West in the 1980s.
Unfortunately, the arrival of the Libyan tyrant happened to coincide with World Human Rights Day. But the predictable political uproar in Paris raises as many questions about the hypocrisy of those who criticize Sarkozy for playing host to Gadhafi as it does about the morality of the event itself. In fact, the issue resonates far beyond the borders of France.
Not only was Gadhafi received formally—if coolly—at the Elysees Palace, but the onetime international pariah, whose secret services blew a couple of packed airliners out of the skies, was invited to address the French National Assembly—an event that the majority of assembly deputies boycotted. He was even allowed to pitch his heated Bedouin tent in the garden of the mansion where foreign dignitaries are traditionally put up."
The issue was highlighted the other day with the visit of Moammar Gadhafi of Libya to Paris. In reading this piece from truth.dig remember that the Gadhafi's visit was "sweetened" by his signing agreements to purchase more than $14 billion in French products, from the Airbus to a nuclear reactor (for water desalination) to advanced jet fighters.
"France is seething over the official visit of Moammar Gadhafi to Paris—a landmark affair, considering that President Nicolas Sarkozy’s invitation was the first such offer from a Western leader since Gadhafi’s notorious rupture with the West in the 1980s.
Unfortunately, the arrival of the Libyan tyrant happened to coincide with World Human Rights Day. But the predictable political uproar in Paris raises as many questions about the hypocrisy of those who criticize Sarkozy for playing host to Gadhafi as it does about the morality of the event itself. In fact, the issue resonates far beyond the borders of France.
Not only was Gadhafi received formally—if coolly—at the Elysees Palace, but the onetime international pariah, whose secret services blew a couple of packed airliners out of the skies, was invited to address the French National Assembly—an event that the majority of assembly deputies boycotted. He was even allowed to pitch his heated Bedouin tent in the garden of the mansion where foreign dignitaries are traditionally put up."
Gaza: Three Perspectives
Three reports serve to highlight the position in which Gaza finds itself, Israel's actions and own "issues" caused by its unlawful behaviour and how Gazan people see their own situation both for themselves and in relation to the Israelis and the Palestinians in the West Bank.
The Washington Post reports:
"The batteries are the size of a button on a man's shirt, small silvery dots that power hearing aids for several hundred Palestinian students taught by the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children in Gaza City.
Now the batteries, marketed by Radio Shack, are all but used up. The few that are left are losing power, turning voices into unintelligible echoes in the ears of Hala Abu Saif's 20 first-grade students.
The Israeli government is increasingly restricting the import into the Gaza Strip of batteries, anesthesia drugs, antibiotics, tobacco, coffee, gasoline, diesel fuel and other basic items, including chocolate and compressed air to make soft drinks.
This punishing seal has reduced Gaza, a territory of almost 1.5 million people, to beggar status, unable to maintain an effective public health system, administer public schools or preserve the traditional pleasures of everyday life by the sea.
"Essentially, it's the ordinary people, caught up in the conflict, paying the price for this political failure," said John Ging, director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, which serves the majority refugee population. "The humanitarian situation is atrocious, and it is easy to understand why -- 1.2 million Gazans now relying on U.N. food aid, 80,000 people who have lost jobs and the dignity of work. And the list goes on."
On the other hand, a demonstration of some 200,ooo people in Gaza, as reported by Steven Erlanger, the NY Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief:
"About 200,000 Gazans rallied in support of Hamas on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of its founding.
It was a significant show of force from Hamas, which took over Gaza six months ago in a rapid rout of Fatah forces. The rally was intended to display popular “samoud,” or steadfastness, in the face of the diplomatic and economic isolation of Gaza, which Israel has declared a “hostile entity.” It was easily as large as one a month ago for its rival, the Fatah faction, on the anniversary of the death of Yasir Arafat, and estimates ranged up to 250,000 people.
Central Gaza City was filled with green flags and political slogans, and a large banner reading, “We will not recognize Israel,” adorned the back of the stage.
There were fiery speeches from Hamas notables, filled with the rhetoric of defiance toward Israel and the United States, coupled with calls for renewed national unity with the West Bank, run by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, his Fatah faction and an appointed prime minister, Salam Fayyad.
The Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, whose government was fired by Mr. Abbas, said: “Your message today is that the movement will not surrender in front of such an embargo. We will not break. The root of the movement is like a good tree in good soil.” He said that the suffering of Gaza’s 1.5 million people from that isolation “will not achieve its goal, which is our collapse.”
Significantly:
"The crowd featured many who are poor and devout, with many veiled women and masked men. Layali al-Kher, 27, said there was little money in her family, because restrictions on cement and raw materials have led to the closing of factories and a halt to construction. “But this siege was not imposed by Hamas but on them, so why should we criticize them?” she asked. “They’ve put Hamas in a bottle and they are trying to suffocate it. But they have achieved a lot: the streets are safe, the traffic is controlled. They have adapted quickly and have a strong will.”
And finally, what Israel has wrought, as the Washington Post also reports:
"Far from the Gaza Strip, in a bright room with a view of Jerusalem visible above the green cedar spires outside her window, Maria Aman lives with her father and brother.
It is a comfortable place, if crowded. Stuffed animals donated by Israelis and Palestinians line the walls, and a laptop given to her by Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest bank, sits on Maria's small desk in a corner.
The 6-year-old girl with curly dark hair and a wide smile navigates the Internet with her chin, moving a small joystick to and fro across the screen. She operates her wheelchair in the same way.
In 2006, as a taxi carrying her family in downtown Gaza City passed a car carrying a leader of the armed Islamic Jihad organization, two Israeli missiles fired from a helicopter far above slammed into both vehicles. Her spine was virtually severed. Her mother, older brother, grandmother and uncle were killed."
The Washington Post reports:
"The batteries are the size of a button on a man's shirt, small silvery dots that power hearing aids for several hundred Palestinian students taught by the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children in Gaza City.
Now the batteries, marketed by Radio Shack, are all but used up. The few that are left are losing power, turning voices into unintelligible echoes in the ears of Hala Abu Saif's 20 first-grade students.
The Israeli government is increasingly restricting the import into the Gaza Strip of batteries, anesthesia drugs, antibiotics, tobacco, coffee, gasoline, diesel fuel and other basic items, including chocolate and compressed air to make soft drinks.
This punishing seal has reduced Gaza, a territory of almost 1.5 million people, to beggar status, unable to maintain an effective public health system, administer public schools or preserve the traditional pleasures of everyday life by the sea.
"Essentially, it's the ordinary people, caught up in the conflict, paying the price for this political failure," said John Ging, director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, which serves the majority refugee population. "The humanitarian situation is atrocious, and it is easy to understand why -- 1.2 million Gazans now relying on U.N. food aid, 80,000 people who have lost jobs and the dignity of work. And the list goes on."
On the other hand, a demonstration of some 200,ooo people in Gaza, as reported by Steven Erlanger, the NY Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief:
"About 200,000 Gazans rallied in support of Hamas on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of its founding.
It was a significant show of force from Hamas, which took over Gaza six months ago in a rapid rout of Fatah forces. The rally was intended to display popular “samoud,” or steadfastness, in the face of the diplomatic and economic isolation of Gaza, which Israel has declared a “hostile entity.” It was easily as large as one a month ago for its rival, the Fatah faction, on the anniversary of the death of Yasir Arafat, and estimates ranged up to 250,000 people.
Central Gaza City was filled with green flags and political slogans, and a large banner reading, “We will not recognize Israel,” adorned the back of the stage.
There were fiery speeches from Hamas notables, filled with the rhetoric of defiance toward Israel and the United States, coupled with calls for renewed national unity with the West Bank, run by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, his Fatah faction and an appointed prime minister, Salam Fayyad.
The Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, whose government was fired by Mr. Abbas, said: “Your message today is that the movement will not surrender in front of such an embargo. We will not break. The root of the movement is like a good tree in good soil.” He said that the suffering of Gaza’s 1.5 million people from that isolation “will not achieve its goal, which is our collapse.”
Significantly:
"The crowd featured many who are poor and devout, with many veiled women and masked men. Layali al-Kher, 27, said there was little money in her family, because restrictions on cement and raw materials have led to the closing of factories and a halt to construction. “But this siege was not imposed by Hamas but on them, so why should we criticize them?” she asked. “They’ve put Hamas in a bottle and they are trying to suffocate it. But they have achieved a lot: the streets are safe, the traffic is controlled. They have adapted quickly and have a strong will.”
And finally, what Israel has wrought, as the Washington Post also reports:
"Far from the Gaza Strip, in a bright room with a view of Jerusalem visible above the green cedar spires outside her window, Maria Aman lives with her father and brother.
It is a comfortable place, if crowded. Stuffed animals donated by Israelis and Palestinians line the walls, and a laptop given to her by Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest bank, sits on Maria's small desk in a corner.
The 6-year-old girl with curly dark hair and a wide smile navigates the Internet with her chin, moving a small joystick to and fro across the screen. She operates her wheelchair in the same way.
In 2006, as a taxi carrying her family in downtown Gaza City passed a car carrying a leader of the armed Islamic Jihad organization, two Israeli missiles fired from a helicopter far above slammed into both vehicles. Her spine was virtually severed. Her mother, older brother, grandmother and uncle were killed."
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