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Sunday, October 01, 2006
International News for October 2006
10-28-06
All-out war possible in Sri Lanka if talks fail
By Henry Chu
Los Angeles Times
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — In what could be the last, best hope for averting all-out war, the government of this island nation and the rebel Tamil Tigers are due to sit down today for their first face-to-face talks in months over one of Asia’s most intractable conflicts.
Both sides have been stung by heavy losses and international criticism in recent weeks, following a surge in combat that has left hundreds of people dead and thousands more refugees in their own country, forced to flee homes and livelihoods to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
In such a charged atmosphere, no one is predicting that any substantive advances will be made at the negotiating table. But so fierce has been the fighting that getting the two longtime adversaries to meet today and Sunday in Geneva is being trumpeted as achievement enough.
The violence threatens to engulf the whole of this teardrop-shaped island, spilling over from the north and east, where the fighting had, until recently, mostly been confined and where the highly armed, highly motivated rebels want to establish an independent homeland for Sri Lanka’s ethnic-minority Tamils.
Continue reading . . .
Sri Lanka Peace Talks
Nato urged to pay for Afghan deaths
A human rights organisation has called on Nato to compensate the families of civilians it kills in Afghanistan after the alliance admitted “a number” were killed during a bombing raid in the south.
Human Rights Watch said that Nato-led troops were not doing enough to prevent civilian casualties and urged them to set up a programme to pay compensation to victims’ families.
“While Nato forces try to minimise harm to civilians, they obviously are not doing enough,” Sam Zarifi, the group’s Asia research director, said in a statement released in New York on Friday.
“Nato’s tactics are increasingly endangering the civilians they are supposed to be protecting and turning the local population against them”.
Nato’s force in Afghanistan said that about 70 people were killed in raids targeted at Taliban earlier this week but it was still not sure how many of them were civilians.
Continue reading . . .
NATO Urged to Pay for Deaths in Afghanistan
10-27-06
German soldiers ‘all had a bad conscience’
BERLIN, Oct. 27 (UPI)—German troops who didn’t pose with a skull in Afghanistan were considered to be wimps, one soldier told a newspaper.
Answering a question asking whether peer pressure was the cause for the desecration pictures that have shocked Germany, one of the soldiers involved told German mass daily Bild: “I wouldn’t say there was any coercing,” he said. “But it was a bit like this: If you don’t participate, then they would say: C’mon, don’t be such a wuss, what are you doing.”
The desecrated skull which served as a photo accessory for numerous German soldiers was not from a cemetery, but from an area “like a big gravel pit,” were the Afghan people used to dig clay for their bricks, the soldier said. “That unearthed all these bones.”
The Afghans digging for clay had repeatedly “thrown around that stuff,” and as they hadn’t been delicate with the bones, at first, “we didn’t think much of it either.”
“But I think we all had a bad conscience,” he added.
The photos, published Wednesday by Bild and Thursday by a German television station, caused uproar around the world.
The pictures have plunged the German armed forces into what could transpire to be its most serious crisis since its post-World War II existence. They portray several German soldiers playing shocking pranks with a human skull, and were taken near Kabul in the spring of 2003 and 2004, the news outlets said.
Continue reading . . .
German Soldiers in Afghanistan
Iran ‘steps up nuclear programme’
Iran has reportedly taken another step in its uranium enrichment programme, in defiance of international pressure.
It has activated a second set of centrifuges - the machines used to enrich uranium - the semi-official Isna agency has said.
A BBC correspondent says Iran would need tens of thousands of centrifuges to make industrial-scale nuclear fuel.
The UN Security Council is to debate sanctions after Iran failed to meet an August deadline to stop enrichment.
Iran has not convinced the US and other Western states that its enrichment work is only aimed at generating electricity, and not acquiring nuclear weapons.
There is no doubt that the use of the second cascade of centrifuges will be seen as an act of defiance by the international community at what is a sensitive time, the BBC’s Frances Harrison reports from Tehran.
Continue reading . . .
Iran and Nuclear Energy
Afghan villagers mourn deaths
NATO pursuit of Taliban criticized
By Allauddin Khan, Associated Press | October 27, 2006
LAY KUNDI, Afghanistan—Abdul Aye said his brothers, uncles, nieces, and nephews were buried when a NATO airstrike collapsed the thick, dried-mud walls of their village home.
Twenty-two members of the extended family died, he said, and were among those interred in a mass grave in the village of Mirwisa Mina and mourned yesterday by hundreds at a funeral in Kandahar city.
Aye spoke through his tears, then had to turn away. “Everyone is very angry at the government and the coalition. There was no Taliban,” he said softly. “These tragedies just keep continuing.”
Dozens of villagers were killed in NATO military strikes against suspected Taliban in the militants’ former southern stronghold Tuesday, Afghan officials said. The civilian deaths—estimated by Afghan officials at between 30 and 85, including many women and children—are among the highest in any foreign military action here since the fall of the Taliban and could turn residents against the counterinsurgency campaign.
Continue reading . . .
Afghans Killed by NATO
10-26-06
Dozens of Afghans killed in Nato raids
At least 50 civilians were killed in Nato bombings in southern Afghanistan earlier this week, according to local government officials and witnesses.
Nato admitted that it had received credible reports that several civilians were killed in Panjwai but insisted that 48 Taliban fighters had died during the heavy fighting.
The operation had targeted Taliban who were attacking aid deliveries and reconstruction projects in the area, Major Luke Knittig, an International Security Force (Isaf) spokesman, said. Troops used “precision strikes” against Taliban, he added.
“Very sadly, civilians continue to get caught up in these engagements with tragic results,” Knittig said.
After visiting the wounded in hospital, Naik Mohammad, a tribal elder, said that 60 civilians had died in the incident on Tuesday. Villagers also put the death toll at 60 died while a member of the Kandahar provincial assembly said that 80 had been killed.
Homes destroyed
Witnesses said that 25 homes had been destroyed in nearly five hours of bombing. Continue reading . . .
Afghans Killed by NATO in Raid
10-25-06
N. Korea threatens war if South joins sanctions
Threat has been issued before; Putin warns not to back North into a corner
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea warned South Korea on Wednesday against joining U.S.-led sanctions against Pyongyang and said it would take action after any such move by Seoul.
South Korea’s participation in sanctions would be seen as a serious provocation leading to a “crisis of war” on the Korean peninsula, a North Korean spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.
“South Korea, forced by the United States, has already halted inter-Korea humanitarian projects and is moving to stop cooperation in other areas. The South is even revealing an intention to join U.S.-led military operations aimed at blockade against us,” the spokesman was quoted as saying.
Continue reading . . .
Putin on North Korea
10-24-06
Nathan Gardels: Kim Dae Jung to Bush: Talk To Kim Jong Il
It is just possible that South Koreans who have long pondered the dilemmas involved in coming to terms with North Korea might know what they are talking about, starting with Kim Dae Jung, the one time democratic dissident, president and Nobel Peace Laureate. Here is what he has to say:
PRESIDENT BUSH: TALK TO KIM JONG-IL
Kim Dae Jung is the former president of South Korea. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “sunshine policy” - the effort to reconcile with North Korea peacefully. This exclusive comment for Global Viewpoint is Kim Dae Jung’s first detailed public statement since the North Korean nuclear test this month.
By Kim Dae Jung
SEOUL - North Korea has finally moved ahead with its nuclear test. A huge dark shadow of fear and danger lingers over the Korean Peninsula. We in the South are adamantly opposed to North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons. This act especially goes against the “Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” jointly agreed to by the two Koreas in 1992.
As our due right, we strongly demand that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons program. However, because North Korea seems unlikely to abandon its nuclear weapons easily, we must figure out the appropriate measures to resolve this issue with firm resolve.
There are three options to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. The first option is using military measures to retaliate against North Korea. However, neighboring countries will oppose this, and the resistance from North Korea when faced with such measures could result in catastrophe on the peninsula. It could lead to the peninsula being reduced to ashes and the demise of the 70 million Korean people. Japan also will not remain unaffected. Therefore, we the Korean people are firmly against using military measures as a means to resolve this issue.
Second is using economic sanctions. Economic sanctions, of course, will inflict considerable suffering on North Korea. However, the North Korean people are already accustomed to economic depravation. North Korea could also receive assistance from China and other allies. In the past, North Korea has earned as much as $1 billion a year from exporting missiles. If it adds nuclear weapons to its list of exports, it can make even greater amounts of money. So, there are limits to the effects economic sanctions can bring.
The third option, which I would like to propose, is to resolve the issue through dialogue between the United States and North Korea. North Korea has declared that it would give up its nuclear weapons if the United States agrees to direct dialogue and guarantees the security and unbridled economic activities of North Korea. North Korea has even said that it would receive the direct inspection from the United States. North Korea is saying, “Why would we need nuclear weapons if our security is assured? We will fully cooperate in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
Of course, some say that we cannot trust North Korea. But I believe it is necessary to give North Korea a chance. If North Korea keeps its promise, then that would obviously be best. But if it does not keep its promise, the remaining countries in the six-party talks, along with other countries in the world, can put comprehensive countermeasures against North Korea. We dearly hope that the United States makes a bold decision to change its present position and pursue dialogue with North Korea.
South Korea is the country most seriously affected by the North Korean nuclear issue. Therefore, we are dearly committed to preventing this crisis from unraveling into catastrophe and wish to resolve this issue peacefully. The United States should fully respect the opinion of South Korea, a close ally, when dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue. The dearest wish of the Korean people is to induce North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program peacefully through dialogue.
I told President Bush in 2002, when I was president of the Republic of Korea, that dialogue, when necessary for a country’s national interest, can be pursued even with the evil. President Eisenhower had dialogue with North Korea in 1953 during the Korean War and reached an armistice agreement, enabling peace to take root on the Korean Peninsula over the past 50 years. President Nixon went to China, which had previously been condemned for committing war crimes for its massive engagement in the Korean War, and had dialogue with Mao Zedong. He played a decisive role in laying the groundwork for China to pursue reform and open up.
President Reagan denounced the Soviet Union as the “evil empire” but still engaged in dialogue with its leaders. Pressure and containment have never succeeded in changing communism in the course of history. Even Cuba, a small island on the coast of the United States, could not be changed through 50 years of containment.
However, there is not one case where encouragement toward openness and reform has not worked. The Soviet Union, the Eastern bloc, China have changed. The United States even went to war with Vietnam, but now has good relations with Vietnam through dialogue. The United States must learn through the successes and failures that history teaches us. I hope that President Bush can make the right decision.
Kim Says: Bush Please Talk with Kim
China denies reports of North Korean apology
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Tuesday October 24, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Kim Jong-il has reserved the right to escalate the nuclear crisis, China said today, refuting earlier reports that the North Korean leader apologised for this month’s atomic weapons test.
The denial dashes hopes for an early resumption of negotiations, which were raised last week when a senior Chinese envoy, Tang Jiaxuan, returned from Pyongyang with an upbeat message for the visiting US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.
Although no details were revealed of Mr Tang’s talks with the North Korean leader, media reports in South Korea and Japan quoted Mr Kim as expressing regret for the difficulties the test had caused China.
Article continues . . .
China Denies North Korean Apology
10-22-06
Sudan orders top U.N. envoy to leave
Government wants Pronk out after his comments regarding Darfur
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Sudan on Sunday ordered the top U.N. envoy, Jan Pronk, to leave the country within three days following comments he made that the army’s morale was low after suffering two major defeats in the violent Darfur region.
“He has until mid-noon on Wednesday to leave,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadig.
“The reason is the latest statements issued by Mr. Pronk on his Web site regarding severe criticism of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the fact that he said the government of Sudan is not implementing the Darfur peace agreement,” al-Sadig added.
Continue reading . . .
U.N. Told to Leave Sudan
N Korea may be ready for compromise
Seoul: North Korea may be ready for compromise it was reported on Sunday, as the top US diplomat left Moscow after a mission to increase pressure on the communist state.
A South Korean news agency said that the North’s leader Kim Jong-il has promised not to stage a second nuclear test unless it faces US “harassment”.
Diplomatic sources say Kim gave the assurances during a meeting in Pyongyang last week with a high-level Chinese delegation led by State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan.
A source said, “Kim said during a meeting with Tang that North Korea would not conduct an additional nuclear test unless the US harasses the North.”
Continue reading . . .
North Korean Compromise?
10-21-06
Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis
TEHRAN, Oct. 21 (Xinhua)—Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Saturday invited the European countries to discuss why Tehran was still keeping on with the uranium enrichment work when faced international sanction threats.
“We see no logic to suspend the enrichment, as it is a legal action for Iran under membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” Mottaki told reporters in a press conference after a meeting with his visiting Belarusian counterpart Sergei Martynov. “But however, we are ready to talk about the reasons for enrichment work,” he added.
“I think dialogue is the best method to reach an understanding, we recommend the West to return to talks and avoid testing a path they have already tested,” Mottaki told reporters, without elaborating what path he referred.
But he is very likely to suggest the recent European Union’s statement concerning possible sanctions on Tehran.
EU foreign ministers issued a statement on Oct. 17, saying that if Iran does not comply with UN Security Council’s requirements, the EU would “work for the adoption of measures under Article 41 of the UN Charter,” which stipulates economic and diplomatic sanctions.
“The time for language of force is over. The West has tested threats in our region. We invite them to sincerely return to talks,” Mottaki said, responding to EU’s discussion of possible sanctions against Tehran.
Iran’s top officials have criticized EU’s statement, saying it would destroy the opportunity to resolve Iran’s nuclear issue peacefully and worsen the crisis in Mideast. Continue reading . . .
Iran and Sanctions
10-20-06
Report: White Bread Increases Cancer Risk
Joanna Wypior - All Headline News Staff
London, England (AHN) - New research reveals that eating white bread may increase your risk of cancer. Those who eat more than five slices a day are at the most risk of kidney cancer compared to those who have one and a half slices.
According to researchers, the cause is refined cereals that trigger a surge in blood sugar and insulin levels, which is thought to fuel cancer cell growth.
Lead researcher Dr Francesca Bravi, from the Institute of Pharmacological Research in Milan, Italy, says her study suggests that a diet with fewer cereals and more vegetables may help reduce the risk of renal cell carcinoma.
“On the basis of the study we can also suggest reducing the consumption of refined cereals and increase that of whole grain ones,” she says.
It is advised by health experts that people should cut down on the amount of white bread they eat or opt for wholemeal varieties instead.
Avoid White Bread
Nation-Destroying
in the Balkans
Doug Bandow
PRIZREN, Kosovo - Life in a monastery is normally a challenge. But life in the Monastery of the Holy Archangels is a particular challenge.
The original building was destroyed in the 16th century by the invading Turks. The Orthodox Church eventually built a small church, residence, and workshop amid the ancient ruins. In 2004, a mob from the nearby city of Prizren descended upon the complex.
Although the monastery was nominally guarded by German members of the international Kosovo Force (KFOR), most of them packed up when the crowd arrived, taking the monks with them. This pusillanimous behavior was repeated throughout Kosovo that day. Reported Rachel Denber of Human Rights Watch: “In too many cases, NATO peacekeepers locked the gates to their bases, and watched as Serb homes burned.”
Kosovo is an unpleasant bit of unfinished business the West would prefer to forget.
Like other conflicts throughout the Balkans, the problem goes back centuries. Serbian identity is rooted in both Kosovo’s military history, particularly the 1389 defeat by the Turks in the Battle of the Blackbirds, and spiritual significance, represented by ancient churches and monasteries.
War has come often to the Balkans, topped by decades of communist rule. During the 1980s the territory (in Yugoslavia) enjoyed substantial self-rule and resulted in ethnic Albanian mistreatment of Serbs. Two decades ago Slobodan Milosevic used Serb nationalism, highlighted by a speech in Kosovo, to grab power. Then Albanians suffered, leading to an increasingly bitter guerrilla war.
There was much to criticize in Belgrade’s conduct, but the Kosovo Liberation Army was no different than the usual guerrilla force. Indeed, a U.S. diplomat labeled the KLA a “terrorist” organization.
Although the conflict was ugly, over the years most European states had combated one or another secessionist movement. Moreover, in global terms, Kosovo was minor, a tiny horror compared to, for instance, Sierra Leone, in which an estimated quarter of a million people died. But the media always gives greater attention to the killing of white Europeans than to the killing of people of color elsewhere.
Nevertheless, Washington decided to intervene, attempting to impose a settlement on Yugoslavia that would have effectively stripped Belgrade not only of effective control over Kosovo, but also of much of the government’s authority throughout the rest of the country (mandating free access to NATO forces in all of Yugoslavia). Milosevic unsurprisingly said no, so in March 1999 the Clinton administration decided on war. The world’s most powerful alliance launched an unprovoked, aggressive attack against one of Europe’s smallest and poorest nations – which had not assaulted or even threatened either the U.S. or any of its allies. After 78 days of bombing, Yugoslavia conceded Kosovo, allowing the U.S. and its allies, joined by Russia in a last-minute military charge into Pristina, to occupy Kosovo.
Continue reading . . .
Kosovo Forgotten
10-19-06
Turkish broadcasting watchdog recommends boycott of French media programs
ISTANBUL, Turkey Turkey’s state broadcasting watchdog recommended Wednesday that television stations not broadcast French media programs, the latest backlash against a French law that would criminalize denial that the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey was genocide.
Members of the broadcasting group said they had decided by an unanimous vote that their recommendation would stay in place until France took the law completely off its agenda.
French films, TV series and music account for about 10 percent of the content on Turkish radio and television, according to figures provided by the broadcasting watchdog. It was not immediately able to say how much Turkish broadcasters pay annually for French content.
Saban Sevinc, a member of the watchdog’s board, said French films were third in popularity in Turkey behind American and Turkish films.
“France is trying to raise its voice in the world film sector. (We) hope this decision will make some noise, even if it’s small, in the French film industry and art world and make them ask ‘What have we done?’”
The genocide denial bill was approved by lawmakers in France’s lower house last week, but still needs approval from the French Senate and President Jacques Chirac to become law. Continue reading . . .
Turkey Recommends Boycott of French
10-18-06
Olmert Discusses Nuclear Iran with Moscow
Written by The Media Line Staff
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will raise concerns about Iran’s nuclear program during a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Defense Minister Sergai Ivanov in Moscow on Wednesday.
Israel is chiefly concerned about Iran building a nuclear military capacity, an allegation that Tehran denies. Olmert will also urge Russia to stop selling to Syria missiles which are then transferred to Hizbullah.
Olmert believes Putin shares concerns that Tehran’s acquiring nuclear weapons will pose a threat to the region, he told Israeli journalists.
Tehran is giving Russia $800 million for its help in building a nuclear facility in Bushehr, in southern Iran.
American and European officials have said that Russia will be able to continue its work on Bushehr even if the United Nations Security Council imposes sanctions on Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.
The goal of excluding Bushehr from a sanctions resolution drafted by France, the United Kingdom and Germany is to dissuade Russia from blocking U.N. action against Iran.
Olmert and Putin
10-17-06
N. Korea: Sanctions are war declaration
By JAE-SOON CHANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SEOUL, South Korea—North Korea said Tuesday it considered U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing the country for its nuclear test “a declaration of war,” as Japan and South Korea reported the communist nation might be preparing a second explosion.
The North broke two days of silence about the U.N. resolution adopted after its Oct. 9 nuclear test with a statement on the official state news agency, as China warned Pyongyang against stoking tensions.
“The resolution cannot be construed otherwise than a declaration of a war” against the North, the statement said. North Korea is known officially as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The chief U.S. nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said the North’s response was “not very helpful.”
“I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding about what the international community feels about its actions,” Hill said in Seoul after a meeting with his South Korean and Russian counterparts.
Hill said he could not confirm South Korean and Japanese reports that the North may be preparing another nuclear explosion, but said a second test would force the international community “to respond very clearly.”
North Korea “is under the impression that once they make more nuclear tests that somehow we will respect them more,” Hill told reporters after a meeting with U.S. and Russian counterparts. “The fact of the matter is that nuclear tests make us respect them less.”
In its statement, North Korea said it would not be intimidated. Continue reading . . .
Sanctions are an Act of War
10-15-06
China fears consequences of North Korea collapse
BEIJING (Reuters) - A huge flow of refugees, a stronger U.S. presence in the region and economic pressures that could impact the stability of its government—those are the worst fears for China in the event its neighbor, North Korea, collapsed.
The conclusion China has come to as it weighs its response to North Korea’s announcement last week that it conducted a nuclear test is that while nuclear is bad, collapse is worse.
“China will have to compromise in terms of tolerating a nuclear power on its doorstep—its primary aim is to retain regime stability in North Korea,” said Alexander Neill, head of the Asia Programme at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies.
China condemned North Korea, its old Communist ally, after the nuclear test, but since then pushed for softer language in a U.N. resolution imposing sanctions, fearful of pushing the impoverished and isolated North into collapse.
“The potential flood of refugees from North Korea is one of the biggest concerns of the Chinese government,” said Wang Qinghong, a fellow of the Pacific Forum CSIS, a Hawaii-based think-tank.
Hardest hit would be China’s northeastern provinces, its old industrial base still transitioning out of decades of state planning.
“The local governments already have a big burden there to take care of laid-off workers,” said Wang.
International aid organisations would no doubt be lining up to help.
But for a Chinese leadership that sees assistance as interference and fears movements like the “color revolutions” that toppled dictatorships in post-Soviet Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, a heavy aid presence could seem more like an added challenge than a help. Continued…
Chinese Fears
10-13-06
UK army chief says troops should leave Iraq
By Deborah Haynes and Peter Graff
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s army chief said the presence of British troops in Iraq was exacerbating security problems on the ground and they should be withdrawn soon.
In bluntly worded comments to the Daily Mail newspaper, Chief of the General Staff General Richard Dannatt criticized post-war planning for Iraq and said the presence hurt British security globally.
The remarks could have political fallout on both sides of the Atlantic. The war has hurt the popularity of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and is a major issue for U.S. President George W. Bush’s allies in congressional elections next month.
Although in later interviews Dannatt denied any split with Blair, he may have added to the storm by warning that overstretching the British army in Iraq could “break it”.
Continue reading . . .
U.K. Should Leave Iraq
10-13-06
Busy fondling their self-esteem
As the news reveals a study that puts civilian deaths in Iraq at 655,000, John Pilger recalls the words of a song by the great Chilean balladeer, Victor Jara, to describe those who see themselves as rational and liberal are, in fact, complicit in an unrecognised crime.
By John Pilger
10/12/06 “Information Clearing House”—-- The great Chilean balladeer Victor Jara, who was tortured to death by the regime of General Pinochet 33 years ago, wrote a song that mocks those who see themselves as rational and liberal, yet so often retreat into the arms of authority, no matter its dishonesty and brutality to others. He sang:
Come on over here
where the sun is nice and warm.
Yes, you, who have the habit
of jumping from one side to the other…
[Over there] you’re nothing at all,
Neither fish nor fowl,
You’re too busy fondling…
Your own self-esteem.
The past few weeks have seen a fiesta of these rational, liberal people who dominate British mainstream politics. For them, the most basic forms of morality and shame, the kind you learn as a child, have no place in public life. On 27 September, the Guardian published a front-page photograph of Tony Blair, a prima facie war criminal, his arms outstretched, his grin fixed. Beside this was a headline, “Charm and eloquence. But a missed chance”. Beneath this, Polly Toynbee wrote: “There were some damp eyes dabbed with hankies and men blowing noses. ‘Don’t go,’ someone said.”
Consider such vomit against the facts of Blair’s actual crime – the unprovoked invasion of a defenceless country, justified by lies now voluminously documented, and causing the violent deaths of tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children. The word “crime” is verboten among those about whom Victor Jara sang. To spell out the truth would illuminate the collusion of an entire political class.
Continue reading . . .
War Crimes
10-12-06
The Times
655,000 Iraqis have died in war, says Lancet
By James Hider and Michael Evans
THE invasion of Iraq has cost the lives of 655,000 Iraqis, most of them killed as a direct result of violence, according to a disputed new study.
The figure — 13 times higher than the gloomiest of previous estimates —was compiled by random sampling of households across Iraq. It concluded that 601,000 people had died in the country’s unrelenting violence, and the rest from medical conditions and diseases whose treatment has been neglected as a result of the disruption caused by the conflict.
The study was carried out by American and Iraqi epidemiologists and was published in The Lancet, which issued a disputed estimate of the Iraq death toll at 100,000 after the US-British invasion of April 2003. But experts said that the soaring casualty rates among the native population matched those of other conflicts such as the Vietnam War. President Bush dismissed the figure yesterday as not credible. “The methodology is pretty well discredited,” he said.
Last December he put the estimated death toll at 30,000, although the US military has made a point of not keeping records of Iraqi casualties.
Continue reading . . .
665,000 Iraqis Dead?
10-12-06
LTTE equaliser may pave way for talks
PK Balachandran
Colombo, October 12, 2006
The blunting of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces’ offensive in the Muhamalai sector on Wednesday is seen here as an equaliser scored by the LTTE in the war game being played in North East Sri Lanka since April 25.
By stopping the Sri Lankan army’s ambitious bid to take Elephant Pass and then Pooneryn, and inflicting heavy casualties in the process, the LTTE has avenged the defeats it suffered in the Muhamalai-Kayts sector in Jaffna, and in Maavil Aaru, Mutur East and Sampur in Trincomalee district in the East.
Political observers say that the reverse suffered by the government forces on Wednesday, might make the atmosphere conducive for the resumption of peace talks, scheduled to be held in Switzerland on October 28 and 29.
Continue reading . . .
Sri Lanka
10-9-06
N.Korea may face more sanctions after nuclear test
By Bill Tarrant
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - North Korea may face more sanctions after raising the nuclear ante in Asia with an atomic test, although an outbreak of war appears unlikely now, officials and analysts said on Monday.
While North Korea’s announcement had a general muted impact on global markets, the reaction from governments around the world was loud and clear.
The White House called it a “provocative act, in defiance of the will of the international community”.
The United States had not taken any military action in response and was not at this point moving military assets to the region, White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
But U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, is going to ask the Security Council to meet in an emergency session, he said.
Japan, which many analysts saw as most directly threatened by any North Korean nuclear test, said it would seek U.N. Security Council talks and would also weigh its own harsh measures.
“At the United Nations, we shall work to make ways to implement action for a tough resolution,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a news conference after talks with South Korean President Roh-Moo-hyun.
China, the closest thing North Korea has to an ally, denounced the test as “brazen”, in an unusually swift and blunt reaction from the foreign ministry.
Continue reading . . .
Reactions to North Korea Test
10-7-06
Why ten cent ‘pirate’ downloads are causing discord in world trade
By Tony Halpin
Row over a music site stands in the way of Russian membership of a global trade body
A RUSSIAN music download website stands in the way of the country’s long-cherished ambition of joining the body that governs world trade, it emerged yesterday.
The United States has singled out the site, allofmp3.com, as an obstacle to its support for Russian membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Susan Schwab, the US Trade Representative, wants Russian authorities to close the site, which America regards as one of the world’s largest online repositories of pirated music.
But MediaServices, the Moscow company running the service, insisted yesterday that it complied with Russian law on copyright protection and actually helped to prevent piracy. It accused US officials of seeking to protect American online music providers from Russian competition. Continue reading . . .
Ten-cent downloads
10-6-06
Jack Straw: Muslim women ‘should discard veils completely’
Cabinet Minister Jack Straw today waded further into the row over his call for Muslim women to remove their veils by saying he would like the garments to be discarded altogether.
The former Foreign Secretary sparked controversy when he revealed that he asks female visitors to his constituency surgery to uncover their faces, to improve “community relations”.
But asked on the BBC if he would rather the veils be discarded completely, Mr Straw said: “Yes. It needs to be made clear I am not talking about being prescriptive but with all the caveats, yes, I would rather.”
Last night, Muslim leaders in the Commons Leader’s Blackburn constituency said many Muslim women would find his comments, originally made in his local newspaper, “offensive and disturbing” and Respect MP George Galloway demanded his resignation. Continue reading . . .
Jack Straw and Veils
10-4-06
China urges calm after N.Korea triggers alarm
By Jack Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) - China, the closest North Korea has to an ally, on Wednesday called for restraint after the reclusive state said it planned a nuclear test in a move the United States said would threaten world peace.
“We hope that North Korea will exercise necessary calm and restraint over the nuclear test issue,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a short statement on Wednesday on the ministry’s Web site (http://www.fmprc.gov.cn).
Liu urged a negotiated settlement, saying countries should “not take actions that escalate tensions”.
The United States, France and Japan have all pressed for the issue to be dealt with at the United Nations.
But Beijing wants it resolved through six-country talks set up to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
North Korea has snubbed Those talks—involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States—for almost a year.
It has refused to return until the United States ends a crackdown on North Korean offshore bank accounts, which Washington says is aimed at ending suspected illicit activities and has nothing to do with the six-party process.
Continue reading . . .
China Urges Calm over North Korea
10-3-06
Profile: Ban Ki-moon
The case for South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to become the next UN Secretary General is founded, his supporters say, on his skills as a consummate mediator and a world-class administrator.
The world’s top powers seem to agree, casting aside concerns he may be too low-profile and too uncharismatic to lead in difficult times.
In his own words, Mr Ban sees himself as a “harmoniser, balancer, mediator”.
During the long selection process, he has talked much of reforming the UN - how the organisation must promise less and deliver more.
But there has been little on specifics - which commentators say may have been a deliberate move not to tread on toes as his candidacy progressed.
They say it is a strategy honed through his tough, high-wire act of negotiations with North Korea over its development of nuclear weapons.
And it is a strategy that has apparently succeeded - the man who seemed to be many people’s second choice winning, by consensus, a post that the current Secretary General Kofi Annan has called the “world’s most impossible job”. Continue reading . . .
Ban Ki-Moon
10-3-06
North Korea says will conduct nuclear test
An increasingly isolated North Korea said on Tuesday it would conduct its first-ever nuclear test, blaming a U.S. “threat of nuclear war and sanctions” for forcing its hand. The statement by North Korea’s foreign ministry, carried on the official KCNA news agency, was condemned by neighbouring Japan as “unacceptable” and caused South Korea to increase its security alert.
Britain said it would view any nuclear test as a highly provocative act.
The announcement confirms weeks of rumours the communist state was planning a test and came amid increasingly sour relations with the outside world after it test-fired missiles in July.
“The U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel the DPRK (North Korea) to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering nuclear deterrent, as a corresponding measure for defence,” the statement said.
But it added that North Korea would never use nuclear weapons first and would “do its utmost to realise the denuclearisation of the peninsula and give impetus to the world-wide nuclear disarmament and the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons.”
Continue reading . . .
North Korea Nuclear Test
10-2-06
Brazil’s Election Goes to Runoff
Brazilians will have to wait to Oct. 29 to meet their new president
Guilherme Lopes Neves (dazideia)
Sure of his win in the first round election for the presidency of Brazil, incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (elected in 2002) from the Worker’s Party (PT) must have been surprised by the final result of Sunday’s election.
In Brazil, a candidate needs 50 percent plus one vote to be confirmed as the winner of a poll for president, mayor, or state governor. Lula, running for reelection, got almost 48.65 percent, and will now face a runoff with his strongest opponent, Geraldo Alckmin, from the Brazilian Social Democracy Part (PSDB), who got about 41.58 percent.
Two days before the Oct. 1 polls, Lula made a risky decision to not be present at the final debate between candidates. Continue reading . . .
Brazilian Election
10-1-06
Israel completes withdrawal from Lebanon
By Dan Williams
ZARIT, Israel (Reuters) - Israel’s army pulled out of south Lebanon early on Sunday to complete a handover to the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers under a ceasefire deal that ended a war with Hizbollah guerrillas.
Returning soldiers padlocked the border gate at Zarit, close to where Iranian-supported Hizbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers on July 12 before the conflict with U.S. ally Israel erupted sending shockwaves across the Middle East.
Israel sent 10,000 troops into south Lebanon before a truce took hold on August 14. A few dozen remained by the weekend and Israel wanted them out before Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, which starts at dusk on Sunday. Continue reading . . .
Israel Withdraws from Lebanon
10-1-06
‘Whatever Is Necessary’
Turkey’s foreign minister speaks out on terrorism, Iraq and the prospect of a negotiated end to Iran’s nuclear program.
By Lally Weymouth
Newsweek
Oct. 9, 2006 issue - Turkey’s foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, was in New York last week and spoke bluntly with NEWSWEEK’s Lally Weymouth about how the Turkish government sees the situation in Iraq. He warned that if the Iraqi Kurds did not curb the PKK terrorist group, Turkey may take matters into its own hands.
Continue reading . . .
Turkey Minister: Iraq
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