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2009: The year of living fecklessly
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A pro-reform protester holds a poster of dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri at his funeral on Monday. (Associated Press)
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Friday, December 25, 2009
On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not just reject President Obama's latest feckless floating nuclear deadline. He spat on it, declaring that Iran "will continue resisting" until the United States has gotten rid of its 8,000 nuclear warheads.
So ends 2009, the year of "engagement," of the extended hand, of the gratuitous apology — and of spinning centrifuges, two-stage rockets and a secret enrichment facility that brought Iran materially closer to becoming a nuclear power.
We lost a year. But it was not just any year. It was a year of spectacularly squandered opportunity. In Iran, it was a year of revolution, beginning with a contested election and culminating this week in huge demonstrations mourning the death of the dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri — and demanding no longer a recount of the stolen election but the overthrow of the clerical dictatorship.
Obama responded by distancing himself from this new birth of freedom. First, scandalous silence. Then, a few grudging words. Then relentless engagement with the murderous regime. With offer after offer, gesture after gesture — to not Iran, but the "Islamic Republic of Iran," as Obama ever so respectfully called these clerical fascists — the United States conferred legitimacy on a regime desperate to regain it.
Why is this so important? Because revolutions succeed at that singular moment, that imperceptible historical inflection, when the people, and particularly those in power, realize that the regime has lost the mandate of heaven. With this weakening dictatorship desperate for affirmation, why is the United States repeatedly offering just such affirmation?
Apart from ostracizing and delegitimizing these gangsters, we should be encouraging and reinforcing the demonstrators. This is no trivial matter. When pursued, beaten, arrested and imprisoned, dissidents can easily succumb to feelings of despair and isolation. Natan Sharansky testifies to the electric effect Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire speech had on lifting spirits in the gulag. The news was spread cell to cell in code tapped on the walls. They knew they weren't alone, that America was committed to their cause.
Yet so aloof has Obama been that on Hate America Day (Nov. 4, the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran), pro-American counter-demonstrators chanted, "Obama, Obama, you are either with us or with them," i.e., their oppressors.
Such cool indifference is more than a betrayal of our values. It's a strategic blunder of the first order.
Forget about human rights. Assume you care only about the nuclear issue. How to defuse it? Negotiations are going nowhere, and whatever U.N. sanctions we might get will be weak, partial, grudging and late. The only real hope is regime change. The revered and widely supported Montazeri had actually issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons.
And even if a successor government were to act otherwise, the nuclear threat would be highly attenuated because it's not the weapon but the regime that creates the danger. (Think India or Britain, for example.) Any proliferation is troubling, but a nonaggressive pro-Western Tehran would completely change the strategic equation and make the threat minimal and manageable.
What should we do? Pressure from without — cutting off gasoline supplies, for example — to complement and reinforce pressure from within. The pressure should be aimed not at changing the current regime's nuclear policy — that will never happen — but at helping change the regime itself.
Give the kind of covert support to assist dissident communication and circumvent censorship that, for example, we gave Solidarity in Poland during the 1980s. (In those days that meant broadcasting equipment and copying machines.) But of equal importance is robust rhetorical and diplomatic support from the very highest level: full-throated denunciation of the regime's savagery and persecution. In detail — highlighting cases, the way Western leaders adopted the causes of Sharansky and Andrei Sakharov during the rise of the dissident movement that helped bring down the Soviet empire.
Will this revolution succeed? The odds are long but the reward immense. Its ripple effects would extend from Afghanistan to Iraq (in both conflicts, Iran actively supports insurgents who have long been killing Americans and their allies) to Lebanon and Gaza where Iran's proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, are arming for war.
One way or the other, Iran will dominate 2010. Either there will be an Israeli attack or Iran will arrive at — or cross — the nuclear threshold. Unless revolution intervenes. Which is why to fail to do everything in our power to support this popular revolt is unforgivable.
Meat Production and Climate Change
World View takes a look at the impact meat production can have on climate change.
Source:
Cable Network News, “Meat Production and Climate Change“, accessed December 21, 2009
Former Colonial Power France Warns of Guinea Civil War
Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara and his chief rival Aboubacar Toumba Diakite, head of the presidential guard, who is blamed for his injuries. His health condition is reported to be very serious in Morocco.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
France warns of Guinea civil war
Guinea could face a civil war if the country’s military leader returns home, France’s foreign minister has said.
Bernard Kouchner told French MPs that Moussa Dadis Camara should remain in Morocco where he is in hospital after an assassination attempt.
Earlier, the European Union toughened its sanctions against Guinea.
It froze the assets of members of the military government and banned European companies from exporting equipment that could be used for state repression.
The number of Guineans covered by a travel ban imposed in October, when the EU also brought in an arms embargo, has also nearly doubled.
The move followed a leaked UN report on Monday which said that Capt Camara should be charged with crimes against humanity over the killing of more than 150 opposition protesters at a stadium in September.
It said the coup leader bears “direct criminal responsibility” for the killings.
‘Getting better’
Earlier this month Capt Camara, who came to power a year ago after the death of long-time leader Lansana Conte, was shot and wounded by one of his own soldiers on 3 December.
He was flown to Morocco for treatment and has not yet returned to Guinea - fuelling rumours that he was seriously injured.
“I hope that Mr Dadis Camara stays in his bed in Morocco and does not return home as his return would be capable of triggering a civil war that we really don’t need,” Mr Kouchner told the French parliament.
But a senior Guinean diplomat told the AFP news agency that the junta hoped Capt Camara would be back soon.
“He is doing better and intends to return to Conakry as quickly as possible,” said Mamadouba Diabate, Guinea’s ambassador to Morocco.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8428025.stm
Published: 2009/12/23 11:39:32 GMT
Guinea’s erratic military ruler
Moussa Dadis Camara, Guinea’s somewhat eccentric military leader, was a virtually unknown army captain when he seized power in December 2008.
But he captured the imagination of a country desperately seeking change after the death of long-time leader Lansana Conte, who had also taken charge in a coup in 1984.
His popularity grew as he promised genuine democracy in the country, including a safe transition period and then presidential elections in which he would not stand.
He galvanised support from politicians, civil society groups and voters. Although both the West African regional body Ecowas and the African Union initially suspended Guinea, they have been generally supportive of his leadership and efforts to bring democracy.
In the first few months of his leadership, Capt Camara sought to further boost his popularity through a very public crackdown on the Guinean drug-trafficking industry.
Members of a trafficking ring were arrested and then quizzed on live television by the military leader himself.
Among those who admitted to drugs trafficking was the former president’s son, Ousmane Conte.
Capt Camara’s outlandish approach seemed a breath of fresh air after years of failed political promises.
He even made troops from the elite presidential guard beg on their knees for forgiveness on national TV for roughing up a general in July.
But his increasingly erratic leadership style and unpredictable behaviour has come in for criticism.
On several occasions, he has ordered politicians, civil society leaders and members of the public to shut up or even leave meetings, and is reported to have humiliated several foreign ambassadors.
UN peacekeeper
The BBC’s Alhassan Sillah in Conakry says the military leader has often spoken of his humble beginnings.
He was born in 1964 in the village of Koure in the far south-east of Guinea, a forest area near the border with Liberia and Ivory Coast.
He moved to the capital, Conakry, without his family in order to further his studies, and claims to have sold kola nuts in the street to make ends meet.
He studied law and economics at the Gamal Abdel Nasser University of Conakry before joining the military in 1990. His military career was unremarkable, and included serving as United Nations peacekeeper in Sierra Leone in 2001-2002.
He never rose beyond the rank of captain, a position he gained following a mutiny he helped organise in February 2007.
He was also a leading player in a mutiny in May 2008, when rioting soldiers forced the government to pay overdue wages.
Captain Camara was also head of the Guinean army’s fuel supplies unit, a position he used to gain a reputation for generosity with fellow military men.
Charade?
Yet he was little known outside military circles before December 2008, when six hours after Mr Conte’s death, he appeared on state television, announcing a military coup d’etat. Several days later, he declared himself president.
Following the coup, he said he had not come to power by chance, listing a patriotic spirit and generosity among his leadership qualities.
His popularity has now dwindled, as he appears to be reneging on his promises of a transition to democracy and has shown signs of wanting to hold onto power.
He has recently indicated he might stand for president in the 2010 polls.
Captain Camara is known to be very close to the Conte family, and has several times spoken publicly of Conte’s contribution to the country.
Despite the public dressing down of the former leader’s son, no drug charges have been brought against him.
And it has led some critics to dismiss the television interrogations - and his promises of wanting democracy for Guinea - as a charade.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8280880.stm
Published: 2009/09/29 13:43:35 GMT
Nigerian Bar Association Warns of Crisis Surrounding Illness ofPresident Yar’Adua
Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua may seek the assistance of the United States in resolving the internal conflicts in the north and south of this West African nation. Hundreds were killed in the north during disturbances in July 2009.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
YarâAdua: Okocha warns over constitutional crisis â¦says Aondoakaa misleading Nigerians
Nigerian Vanguard
National News Dec 25, 2009
By Ise-Oluwa Ige
ABUJAâFormer President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Chief O C J Okocha, SAN, yesterday warned that the nation might be heading towards a grave constitutional crisis and total collapse if the health problem of President Umaru Musa YarâAdua is not properly handled by relevant authourities.
President YarâAdua was flown out of Nigeria on 23 November, 2009 to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia where he has since been receiving medical attention for acute pericarditis (inflammation of the heartâs lining).
He jetted out of the country without informing both the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives about his inability to discharge the functions of his office and has spent more than one month outside the country.
During his absence, a number of state duties having to do with release of monies for the running of government machineries which the 1999 constitution directly empowers him to do are suffering while in less than one week from today, the nationâs Chief Justice, Justice Kutigi would bow out of the bench with no one to swear in his successor, Justice Katsina Iyorger Alu.
Challenges Aondoakaa
The ex-NBA Chief who sounded the warning of imminent constitutional crisis and perhaps total collapse of the Nigerian state if necessary steps are not taken yesterday also descended on the Federation Attorney-General, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, for allegedly misleading the entire world to the effect that President YarâAdua is empowered by the 1999 constitution to govern the country from anywhere in the world. He challenged Aondoakaa to point to the section of the 1999 constitution which so indicated.
Hear him: âThe 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is our current constitution does not make any such position.
âAnd I will invite the Attorney-General of the Federation to point to the section of the constitution which expressly or by necessary implication indicates that the president can exercise the duties and functions of his office from anywhere in the world outside Nigeria and in such a situation that we have in our hands when he has been out of the country for over 28 days.
âI donât know what law or what section of the constitution the Attorney-General is referring to and I will like him to point out to Nigerians, recognizing that he is the Attorney-General of the Federation and not Attorney-General for President YarâAdua or Attorney-General for PDP.
âHe should point to the section of the constitution that so indicates. âIn all my humble searches throughout the constitution, I have not seen such section,â he said.
Sympathises with YarâAdua
He said though he sympathized with President YarâAdua over his ill-health and wished him quick recovery, he nonetheless stated that state matter is not a matter of sentiment âbecause what needs to be done must be done.â
He urged the members of the National Assembly to seek legal advice on whether the absence of President YarâAdua from his duty post for more than 30 days when he is not on leave and when he had not handed over to his vice is not an impeachable offence.
He said if impeaching President YarâAdua would make Nigeria move forward, he said it would be a right step in the right direction.
Mary J. Blige: I Was Just Stopping Brawl Between My Husband and Brother
Mary J. Blige announced that she will soon have her very own fragrance at the Fragrance Foundation FIFI Awards held in the Downtown Armory.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Mary J. Blige: I was just stopping brawl between my husband, Kendu Isaacs, and my brother
BY George Rush
DAILY NEWS GOSSIP COLUMNIST
Thursday, December 24th 2009, 7:31 PM
Mary J. Blige wants to damp down the drama over that fight at her record release party Tuesday night.
Contrary to claims that the hip-hop diva punched her husband, Kendu Isaacs, at a Chelsea club, Blige tells the Daily News she was simply trying to stop a brawl between Isaacs and her brother.
“Mary was not fighting with her husband,” said Blige spokeswoman Karynne Tencer. “Her husband and her brother got into an altercation that turned into a fight. Mary went to break up the fight.”
Tencer didn’t immediately know the name of Blige’s brother or the reason for the row.
Club security helped the Grammy Award winner pull the men apart, who also disputed reports that Isaacs’ lip was bleeding.
“Nobody was bleeding,” Tencer said.
Blige also denied she angrily compared Isaacs with notorious R&B star Chris Brown, who belted girlfriend Rihanna in February.
“She never mentioned Chris Brown,” Tencer said. “Mary and Kendu went home together.”
Blige had hoped the public wouldn’t hear about the ugly scene at M2 Ultralounge, where she was celebrating her new album, “Stronger with Each Tear.”
But after sources claimed she had smacked Isaacs because he was supposedly flirting with a waitress, Blige decided to set the record straight, Tencer said.
The publicist said the couple is celebrating Christmas with their three children on the East Coast.
“They’re as happy as can be,” Tencer said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/12/24/2009-12-24_mary_j_blige_i_was_just_stopping_brawl_between_my_husband_kendu_isaacs_and_my_br.html#ixzz0afRvlCHd
Don’t pull a Chris Brown stunt, Mary J. Blige warns hubby after smacking him
BY George Rush
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, December 24th 2009, 4:00 AM
Mary J. Blige gave her husband a stern warning not to retaliate after striking him for checking out a waitress, witness say.
Mary J. Blige gave her husband a stern warning not to retaliate after striking him for checking out a waitress, witness say.
Hip-Hop diva Mary J. Blige smacked her husband for checking out a waitress at her CD release party this week and warned him, “You ain’t going Chris Brown on me,” witnesses said.
The “No More Drama” songstress lashed out at hubby Kendu Isaacs at the Tuesday night party at the M2 Ultralounge in Chelsea, witnesses said.
One partygoer told the Daily News that the 38-year-old Grammy winner flew into a jealous rage because Isaacs was paying too much attention to a waitress at the club.
“Mary hauled off and smacked him,” the source said.
Blige then warned Isaacs not to even think about retaliating. “She said, ‘You ain’t going to go Chris Brown on me, are you?’” according to a source.
Brown beat up ex-girlfriend Rihanna in June after she caught him reading a text from an old flame. The now-infamous incident led to Brown pleading guilty to felony assault charges.
Blige, who is promoting her new album “Stronger With Each Tear,” denied Wednesday night that the incident with her husband took place.
“They’re as happy as can be,” spokeswoman Karynne Tencer said. “They’re spending the holidays together with their three children. Everything’s great.”
A friend of Blige suggested that some “haters” at the club may have “misunderstood a joke Mary and Kendu were sharing.”
grush@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/12/24/2009-12-24_dont_pull_a_chris_brown_stunt_blige_warns_hubby.html#ixzz0afTQF1Cv
African Union Worries Over Sudan Distrust Between North and South
Officials from Abyei have agreed to an international ruling related to the status of the oil-producing area of the central African nation of Sudan, the continent’s largest gepgraphic nation-state.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Friday, December 25, 2009
African Union worries over Sudan distrust
Nigerian Guardian
THE African Union yesterday expressed concern at the lack of trust between Sudan’s north and south over the implementation of their peace agreement, agency reports indicated
The Agence France Presse (AFP) reported that the AU’s Peace and Security Council said in a statement following a mission to Sudan last month that the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended two decades of north-south civil war needed to be “re-energised”.
The council “expresses concern at the continuing lack of confidence between the National Congress Party (north) and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (south) regarding the implementation of the CPA,” the statement said.
The statement said concern was heightened by “the challenges faced by the Sudan in both the implementation of the CPA and the upcoming elections in April 2010, as well as the preparations for the referendum.”
The 2005 internationally-brokered peace deal provides for a referendum to be held in 2011 in which semi-autonomous southern Sudan will decide whether or not to become fully independent.
The AU Peace and Security Council said it was establishing a committee to help address the most pressing challenges.
Tensions have been running high between north and south, still divided by the religious, ethnic and ideological differences over which the 1983-2005 civil war was fought.
Scores Killed in Iraq Bombings
The dead body of a man is carried away from the blast scene after being killed by a massive bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Thursday, December 24, 2009
20:33 Mecca time, 17:33 GMT
Scores killed in Iraq blasts
A twin bomb attack occured near a bus stop in Hilla
Three bomb blasts in Iraq have killed more than 30 people and injured 75 others.
Officials said that a double explosion struck near a bus station in Babil province on Thursday, killing 14 policemen and a provincal councillor.
The first bomb, in a car, was said to have exploded at about 2pm (1100GMT) in Hilla, the provincial capital about 95km south of the capital Baghdad.
Another blast came about 15 minutes later when police arrived.
The authorities said that the attacks targeted Shia pilgrims who gathered near the bus station to mark Ashura, a commemoration of the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein.
In northeastern Shia area of Sadr City in Baghdad, a bomb planted near a funeral tent killed eight people and wounded another 33.
Ahmed Rushdi, a journalist in Baghdad, told Al Jazeera: “The balsts happened nearly at the same time.
“They were not by the hand of al-Qaeda - they were not suicide bombers, but mostly car bombs and bombs beside cars.”
Also on Thursday, a bomb blast also killed two people and injured four others in the Shia sacred city of Karbala, about 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, police said.
On Wednesday, six people were killed and another 43 people were injured in Baghdad in three explosions targeting Shias.
Thousands of Shias are expected to converge on the central city of Karbala for the December 27 Ashura holiday to mourn the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, killed by armies of the caliph Yazid in 680 A.D..
More than 25,000 security personnel have been assigned to protect pilgrims during the celebrations.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Niger Vows to Arrest Dissidents
To date, numerous protests in Niger have met with little reaction from President Mamadou Tandja’s administration.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Niger vows to arrest dissidents
Niger has reactivated arrest warrants against three exiled opposition leaders - including a former president.
The move jeopardises talks aimed at ending a crisis sparked when President Mamadou Tandja changed the constitution so he could stand for a third term.
Opposition delegates were taking part in talks because the government agreed to suspend the arrest warrants.
This week regional group Ecowas, mediating the talks, said it no longer recognised Mr Tandja’s authority.
And on Wednesday the US suspended aid and announced it was imposing travel bans on senior officials.
Had he honoured his term limits, Mr Tandja would have stepped down as president on Tuesday.
No deal in sight
Minster of Justice Garba Lompo announced the arrest warrants would be activated for former President Mahamane Ousmane, former Prime Minister Hama Amadou and Mahamadou Issoufou, the leader of the main opposition party.
“From this day onwards all those people having warrants against them will be arrested if they come to Niger,” said Mr Lompo.
The BBC’s Idy Baraou, in Niamey, says few people expect the crisis talks to go any further.
He says the opposition wants to get rid of Mr Tandja at all costs, and now the government has struck back there seems to be no compromise on the horizon.
Opposition groups have described the president’s move to stay in power in the uranium-rich nation as a coup.
But his supporters say he should remain as he has brought financial stability to one of the world’s poorest nations.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8429739.stm
Published: 2009/12/24 12:48:12 GMT
Obama Administration Curbs African Participation in Trade Program
Niger demonstration in support of President Tadja. US President Obama has withdrew eligibility of the Niger government to participate in a trade program geared towards Africa. He has also cited Madagascar and Guinea.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
US curbs African trade benefits
US President Barack Obama has stopped Madagascar, Guinea and Niger from receiving trade benefits for a year.
He said they had failed to make “continual progress” in meeting US requirements for a programme designed to create jobs in Africa.
Mr Obama said that each of the countries “has experienced an undemocratic transfer of power” meaning they did not satisfy the criteria.
However, Mauritania was re-instated to the programme.
The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act was set up in 2000 to offer “tangible benefits” for African countries trying to adapt their economies to a free market.
In order to take part, countries much show they are working towards, among other things, introducing the rule of law and political pluralism, the elimination of barriers to US trade and investment and efforts to combat corruption.
In Niger, President Mamadou Tandja refused to give up office at the end of his term, while both Guinea and Madagascar have both seen military-backed coups.
A coup took place in Mauritania last year, but an election was held this year that, although it returned the coup leader Gen Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz to power, was deemed by observers to be transparent.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/8429670.stm
Published: 2009/12/24 10:53:38 GMT
United Nations Security Council Action Shameful, Says Eritrea
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
UN action shameful, says Eritrea
Eritrea has labelled UN sanctions imposed on Wednesday as shameful, and denied allegations that it arms Islamist militants in Somalia.
Eritrea’s UK ambassador Tesfamichael Gerahtu told the BBC that the sanctions were illegal and would only worsen the problems in the Horn of Africa.
The Security Council imposed an arms embargo, travel bans and asset freezes on top Eritrean officials.
Somalia’s beleaguered UN-backed government welcomed the sanctions.
Islamist insurgents have asserted control over most of the country, leaving the government with authority in only small parts of the capital, Mogadishu.
US accusations
But Mr Tesfamichael said the accusations made by the country’s critics were inconsistent.
“Originally it was said we had soldiers and then later came military support and now all of a sudden after certain discussions and opposition they started to talk about political, military and logistical support,” he told the BBC’s World Today programme.
“Now we are 100% sure that we have never, never, never supplied military equipment or otherwise to the extremists in Somalia.”
Eritrea’s neighbouring countries and regional blocs including the African Union had been lobbying for sanctions for most of the year.
The resolution demands that the country stops “arming, training and equipping armed groups and their members, including al-Shabab, that aim to destabilise the region”.
As a result of the Security Council vote, Eritrea becomes the first new country to be subjected to UN sanctions since they were imposed on Iran in 2006.
The US said it had sought talks with Eritrea for months, but the country had failed to act on its promises.
The UN has frequently expressed concern about the flow of arms in to Somalia, where hard-line Islamists of al-Shabab and Hizbul-Islam are battling with government forces for control of the capital Mogadishu.
Somalia has been subject to a UN arms embargo for many years, but weapons are still freely available in the Mogadishu weapons market.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8429568.stm
Published: 2009/12/24 09:58:56 GMT
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