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Addressing The Plight Of Assam – OpEd

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By Priyanshu Vaidya*

Violence has reared its ugly face again in the Indian state of Assam sparked by the motiveless militant NDFB’s carnage against minority aboriginal Adivasis, followed by retaliatory violence. The plight of Assam can be postulated under the following broad reasons.

First, the state government was found ill-prepared or rather lacked sustained political pressure in tackling the cause of minorities. Earlier members of the legislative assembly of Bodoland People’s Front were arrested for alleged involvement in 2012 atrocities. This time again the same Sonbijit group was behind the murderous assault of non-bodo’s, calling for the need to ‘actually’ democratize the Territorial Councils (BTC).

Secondly, there is an urgent need to boost the size of police machinery for the phased marginalization of CRPF. Forested terrains and porous borders makes the task even more difficult for the security agencies. This calls for a revamping of existing extradition treaties with Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Finally, and the worst of all, the problem of illegal migration has been a companion of Assam throughout its recent history. Invigilation of inhabitants must be dealt with at PRI levels. Due to highly porous and populated borders simply fencing in the region won’t serve to solve the problem. Instead, the problem requires India to impose a larger picture by revamping its ‘Gujral Doctrine’ through unilateral concessions in border provinces that are near Bangladesh, so that people don’t leave as a result of the social crisis on their land. Techniques like easing visa norms (promoting legal crossovers) would decrease illegal crossings and lead to better vigilance.

All in all, the problem in Assam is basically not one propelled by the adherence to power, but instead learning to mutually adjust on a land of around 32 tribes and more than 50 languages.

*Priyanshu Vaidya is a Mechanical Engineer, who is presently a student of Governance and Polity in a Delhi-based institution and has been closely following domestic and international happenings around India.

The post Addressing The Plight Of Assam – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.


Tunisia Prepares For Libya Spillover From Unrest

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By Monia Ghanmi

Tunisia is moving to keep the chaos in Libya from bleeding across the border.

Ansar al-Sharia has set up training camps along the shared frontier, Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou told Al Aan television on Tuesday (December 23rd).

Abou Iyadh (aka Seif Allah Ben Hassine) and other Tunisian members of the terror group live in Libya.

And while the creation last year of a closed military zone at the border reduced the smuggling of weapons, there have still been attempts by terrorists “to carry out operations in Tunisia”, Ben Jeddou said.

Such developments on the ground and increased turmoil near the border prompted Tunisian authorities to be on high alert.

“The Tunisian army has taken all necessary precautions, as per the instructions of the prime minister’s security cell, against any dangers threatening the country, by stepping up sea and aerial surveillance and air sorties in co-ordination with the internal security forces,” Defence Ministry Spokesman Belhassen Oueslati said.

The border region has been especially tense since the Libyan army launched airstrikes against Islamist “Libya Dawn” militias. The battle has been raging over control of the Libyan side of the Ras Jedir crossing.

“If the situation becomes worse, Tunisia will have to close its border,” Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi told the press on December 6th.

“The security measures taken in southern Tunisia are not only aimed at preventing the spillover of the ongoing battles between Libyan sides to Tunisia, but also at preventing Tunisians from crossing the border to go to Syria to take part in combat with armed groups,” he added.

To Mohamed Ben Zekri, a professor of international relations, the neighbour states are inextricably linked.

“Enhancing Tunisia’s security and stability can only be realised when political and security stability is realised in Libya,” Ben Zekri said.

“There can be no talk about stability in the region in view of this turmoil in Libya, where the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous,” he added. Tunisia and other neighbouring countries could be drawn into “confrontations with the terrorist groups that are based in some Libyan cities”, he said.

According to security analyst Mazen Cherif, Tunisia must be prepared to face down the terrorist groups perched across its border.

He expects to see more of the recent bloody confrontations between the Libyan army and Libya Dawn forces.

“This poses a threat to Tunisia,” he said. “The Islamist Libya Dawn forces that are allied with other terrorist organisations, such as Ansar al-Sharia, will try to bring the war closer to the Tunisia border or inside Tunisian soil,” he warned.

But another threat may be even worse, Chief noted.

“The state must also take into consideration what a Tunisian ISIS leader said – that ISIS is based just 60 kilometres from the Tunisian-Libyan border,” he told Magharebia.

The post Tunisia Prepares For Libya Spillover From Unrest appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Syria: 2014 Roundup And 2015 Predictions – Analysis

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By Aron Lund* for Syria Comment

Lots of things happened in 2014, but the single most important development was the rise of the Islamic State as an independent actor in Syria and as a global bogeyman, shifting the terms of Western and Arab Syria debate.

The split between the Islamic State and the rest of the rebels in Syria has changed dynamics within the Syrian opposition and forced other rebels back into the Western/Gulfie fold. It’s also slowly but surely alienating Jabhat al-Nosra from the rebel mainstream. The end result is a somewhat clearer bloc formation but also an overall weakening of the anti-Assad side, particularly the non-jihadi rebels in the north.

Even more, the IS capture of Mosul in June, which threatened to bring down the Iraqi state–already rotting from the inside–has changed the international and regional dynamics. Now we have a US-led international military intervention in both countries, with mission creep in one or more directions being almost inevitable over time.

And with all eyes on the Islamic State, Western media/political debate are increasingly beginning to describe the Syrian war as a counter-terrorism issue and have lost track of the fundamentals in a rather worrying way. This might seem like good news for Bashar, and it is – but so far not good enough to rehabilitate his regime politically or make it strong enough to claw back the parts of Syria that it lost. We’ll see how this develops. (The US is already flying air support for the Syrian Arab Army in Deir al-Zor, but it’s not something we’re supposed to talk about.)

In 2015, there are a few things to watch, including of course the Aleppo situation and the UN freeze, the international aerial campaign and whether it will burst the Islamic State bubble or not, the various international realignments, and the (lack of) efforts to contain Lebanon’s northeastern meltdown. But if I were to point to one single factor that gets nowhere near the attention it deserves and that could suddenly turn Syria upside down, it’s the regime’s fraying base: finances, infrastructure, and perhaps manpower.

The fuel crisis and other internal systemic failures are growing and may at some point become unmanageable. It’s winter now and that’s of course part of the reason, but it seems more profound than that. From the looks of it, Bashar has simply run out of money and the infrastructure has deteriorated too far over four years of war.

In addition, the IS is currently hitting key energy nodes like the Shaer fields and the US bombings in the east are sapping overall fuel supply. Iranian and Russian supplies are what has kept the regime afloat so far, but now their own economies are under terrific strain, due to the plunging oil price and sanctions. International humanitarian aid is not keeping up with rising needs either, and donor fatigue is already a major problem – 2015 will undoubtedly be worse. So, will the pressure ease up or not? If not, how long can this go on without something breaking?

Related to this, there’s an increasing number of reports about the dire manpower situation on the regime side. There are reports of the SAA rounding up young men in regime territory, renewed enforcement of travel bans for military-age males, and rumors of a general mobilization that – even if false – reflect a genuine concern.

Why is this becoming an issue now? One reason is probably that Assad has trouble paying his footsoldiers, or that Iran and others aren’t chipping in in the same way they used to. Another is that Iraqi Shia militias have drifted back across the border to fight the Islamic State in their homeland since June. Another is that Bashar will need more people than he currently has to sustain an increasingly ambitious military posture: he wants to secure gains in Damascus/Homs, hold the fort in Hama and Deraa and the northwest, and also tip the scales in Aleppo.

More fundamentally, the militiafication of the regime seems to have advanced to a point where it’s having trouble shifting forces around according to military needs. Even if Assad has tens of thousands of available reserves on paper, many of them are now essentially village guards and sectarian/tribal militias that won’t go voluntarily to fight outside their home areas and that would in many cases be fairly useless if compelled to do so.

To be clear, the regime remains at an advantage in purely military terms and seems to be within reach of a breakthrough in Aleppo – that’s a potential game-changer. And Bashar continues to reap the benefits of fighting an opposition so venal and dysfunctional that no one wants to help it to power anymore – except maybe Erdogan. That remains his trump card. But if Bashar was betting that time is on his side, it’s really not and this must surely affect regime calculations, now that the UN freeze plan, the rise of the Islamic State, and other international dynamics are starting to offer new political horizons.

*Aron Lund, editor of Syria in Crisis

The post Syria: 2014 Roundup And 2015 Predictions – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Philippines: Peace Talks To Begin Again – OpEd

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By Edwin Espejo*

Both the Philippine government and the communist rebel movement said the stalled peace process could resume as early as January next year following a series of backdoor talks that culminated in the visit of special government envoy Hernani Braganza to the Mindanao rebel camp of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Surigao del Sur.

Braganza, a member of President Benigno Aquino’s Liberal Party, visited rebel spokesman Jorge Madlos in Surigao del Sur “to follow up” peace talks with the rebel group.

Also meeting him inside the rebel camp is Fidel Agcaoili, member of the National Democratic Front (NDF) peace negotiating panel.

Braganza’s visit also coincided with the 46th Founding Anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Reports said as many as 5,000 people, most of them rebel supporters and sympathizers, attended the rebel celebration.

Both the CPP and its military wing the NPA are members of the NDF, political umbrella of at least 15 other rebel groups.

Madlos said yesterday’s celebration was also a “public consultation” on the possible resumption of peace talks with the government which was suspended in 2011 following the arrests of key rebel leaders and the refusal of the government to release detained communist cadres.

In March last year, CPP chair Benito Tiamzon and wife Wilma were arrested in Cebu City dampening further hopes to the peace process.

In Utrecht, founding CPP chair Jose Maria Sison said the peace talks could resume after the visit of Pope Francis to the country in January.

Pope Francis will visit the country from January 16 to 19.

Sison said on the agenda of the peace talks are political and socio-economic issues and the possibility of a ceasefire while talks are being held.

The latest statement from Sison, who describes himself as chief political consultant of the NDF, is a major deviation from the early hardline stance of the rebel group against a permanent ceasefire while negotiations are ongoing.

However some veteran reporters covering the communist insurgency said time may not be on the side of a negotiated political settlement between the Philippine government and the NDF which has been waging a Maoist-inspired guerrilla warfare for more than four decades already.

Reuters’ Manny Mogato is asking if a time-bound negotiation as demanded by the government will succeed while Dario Agnote of Kyodo News said the warring forces simply distrust each other.

The Philippine insurgency is Asia’s longest running and still active communist rebel movement.

About the author:
*Edwin grew up in General Santos City in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. He was formerly managing editor of Sunstar General Santos and later Sunstar Business Weekly, both affiliates of the Sunstar Network of Publications (www.sunstar.com.ph). He is now a freelance journalist and contributor to various online publications as well as local and national print media.

The post Philippines: Peace Talks To Begin Again – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

China: Woman Detained After Trying To ‘Bring Gospel’ To President Xi Jinping

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Authorities in China’s capital have detained a Christian believer from the northeast of the country after she tried to put up placards outside government headquarters in the heart of Beijing in a bid to “spread the gospel” to President Xi Jinping and his wife.

Zhou Jinxia, from the port city of Dalian in Liaoning province, was taken away by police shortly after she arrived and held up her placard, which read “God, who loves the world, is calling Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan,” in a reference to Xi’s wife.

Zhou, who has a track record of trying to convert ruling Chinese Communist Party officials, told RFA from inside the police car that she had been stopped as soon as she reached the front gate of the Zhongnanhai government compound, right next to Tiananmen Square.

Officers who detained her then took her to a psychiatric unit for a check-up, but Zhou denied having any form of mental illness.

“In the past, I have also spread the gospel to the mayor and the party secretary of Dalian,” Zhou said. “But they resisted, and refused to meet with me. They were not receptive.”

“So this time, I decided to come to spread the good news to Xi Jinping, because today is Christmas.”

‘Changing corrupt thoughts’

She said it was still unclear what would happen to her.

“The policeman in this vehicle said I would be taken to the police station and maybe released,” Zhou said. “But I’m not particularly worried. I will accept whatever comes.”

Zhou said she became a member of an unofficial Protestant “house church” in Dalian after years of unsuccessful attempts to win compensation for her forced eviction, through China’s “letters and visits” petitions system.

She said she gave up petitioning two years ago to spread the gospel instead, in a bid to change the values of ordinary people and to “change the corrupt thoughts” of individuals.

Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA’s Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

The post China: Woman Detained After Trying To ‘Bring Gospel’ To President Xi Jinping appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Bosnia: European Values Must Come From Within – OpEd

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By Zoran Pajić*

The general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina is long over and the votes counted. So now what?

Although a few new political parties and a few fresh faces made it past the threshold for election on October 12 and are now involved in coalition talks and in bargaining over ministerial positions, there is a strong sense of déjà vu.

One of the three branches of power in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the tripartite Presidency has been formed and announced. But it is irrelevant to breaking the deadlock in this country. Its position and jurisdiction in the political dispensation make it is a toothless collective head of state, one which BiH could easily do without.

The Presidency was conceived in the Dayton Accords as the symbol of a country reunited after war. It was meant to show the Bosnian population and the wider world that its three members – one Croat, one Bosniak and one Serb – could sit at the same table and discuss affairs of state in a civilised manner.

Yet more often than not, instead of upholding the unity and integrity of BiH, Presidency members have displayed discord that has contributed to tensions among the ethnic communities they represent.

Leaving aside the Presidency, the country would not survive without the complex, many-tiered structure of executive power – two entities, ten cantons and so on. It certainly could not function without its Council of Ministers, the name the Dayton Accords gave to the government of BiH. It seems unlikely that the Council of Ministers will be constituted any time soon. Horse-trading over ministerial posts has been going on since the election results were officially confirmed in late October.

It is worth recalling that ahead of the elections, the mood among voters and in the media could be summed up as “We’ve had enough”. It was a call for change, a demand that whichever parties were victorious, they would adopt a new approach to coalition talks. The guiding principles for forming the new government were meant to be founded on political programmes and strategic visions for economic prosperity and political stability.

Thus far in the process, though, there is little that holds out hope of a competent, responsible and reform-driven Council of Ministers.

Nor could BiH function without its legislative structures – parliaments at both state and entity level, plus the local assemblies. For almost two decades now, members of parliament have generally behaved in an arrogant and irresponsible manner, alienating themselves from their constituency. All they cared about was being on their mobiles seeking instructions from their leaders for every word they said. From one parliament to the next, they proved incompetent or unwilling to engage in constructive debate and consistent lawmaking.

Parliamentarians also deserve blame for effectively ceding their powers to the offices of their party leaders. That is where real power lies in Bosnia. In this sense, BiH can be described as a “pre-institutional democracy”. Behind a façade of institutions, true power is placed in the hands of party leaders who are not subject to democratic checks.

Such a travesty of a parliamentary process is not essential to BiH’s continued existence, unless the latest incarnation of parliament displays a will for fundamental change. For now, that seems unlikely.

All participants in the political debate in BiH have one thing in common – a proclivity to spout misleading rhetoric about European Union membership. The mantra of EU accession as the ultimate cure-all is a smokescreen for politicians’ reluctance to enter into a debate about the real reasons for social and political paralysis and the steady decline in most people’s standard of living. If politicians were banned from soundbites about EU accession, it would soon be apparent how detached they were from reality. The reasons for paralysis would still be there, and it would become obvious that EU membership would do nothing to reform the absurd constitutional and institutional structures of this country

It may be a well-worn fact, but I would again highlight the fact that in order to stop the war at all costs, three peoples were pushed and squeezed into two ethnically-defined entities – the Federation and Republika Srpska. This construct defies any constitutional or functional logic. None of the national communities feels comfortable in a vessel with no one at the helm. Republika Srpska repeatedly states its intention to go its own way and seek independence. The Federation, created out of a huge majority of Bosniaks and a small minority of Croats, is growing more and more inefficient and stuck in its self-serving ways.

All this being the case, there is no serious reason why BiH’s newly-elected politicians should not begin discussing a future built along federal lines. A federal structure is a legitimate option, and could offer the potential to create a functioning democracy. In any case, BiH is already a de facto federation, albeit an asymmetric one as a legacy of the 1992-95 war.

Location of the Republika Srpska (orange) within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Wikipedia Commons.

Location of the Republika Srpska (orange) within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Wikipedia Commons.

The Sarajevo establishment’s stubborn adherence to the illusion that BiH is a unified or unitary state simply prolongs the inevitable implosion of an unsustainable political dispensation.

Republika Srpska’s equally stubborn insistence on secession only heightens the sense of uncertainty and lack of confidence.

What BiH really needs is a consistently-pursued process of Europeanisation at home, not formal EU membership, which in any case would achieve nothing per se. This Europeanisation would help smooth the way towards a consensus on more accountable leadership, vertical systems of government, the rule of law, and a parliamentary system in which every voter know his or her elected member.

That would create a new climate of where public officials were accountable for what they did. And that might serve to encourage the expression of public opinion, something that does exist but is hard to articulate in the present atmosphere of political chaos.

Day by day, Europeanisation would gradually chip away at the low-level corruption that is ubiquitous in BiH, and which means even the most insignificant claim form or application requires favours and inducements if it is to be processed. It is depressing to see a whole generation that has had to grow up thinking about who they know, not what they know. Corruption is most profoundly embedded wherever the relationship is between client and service provider. That includes schools, universities, healthcare, employment offices, recruitment agencies, public administration and more.

Last but not least, Europeanisation should help Bosnians learn the benefits of respecting otherness, including conflicting views, without the need to belittle or offend. It might even teach them that queuing patiently in the bank or post office actually benefits everyone who is waiting, and that pedestrian crossings exist for a reason.

BiH needs to go through the painful and slow process of transforming a collective mentality of victimhood, great expectations, and blaming others for every ill, into a proactive and responsible society. Embracing Europeanisation might be one way of doing that.

*Dr Zoran Pajic is Visiting Professor of War Studies at King’s College London and a trustee of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, where this article was published.

The post Bosnia: European Values Must Come From Within – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Azerbaijan: How Will Baku Handle Oil Price Slide? – Analysis

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“Azerbaijan is not afraid of $60 per barrel,” a headline on the pro-government Azerbaijani news site Trend proclaimed recently. But with Brent crude oil, the benchmark for the oil market, now hovering around $60 a barrel, Baku might well have something to fear.

Baku’s 2015 state budget was calculated based on an oil price of $90 per barrel. About 53.5 percent of the government’s roughly 19.4-billion-manat ($24.7 billion) budget comes from the State Oil Fund, a government-run piggy bank that controls money generated by Azerbaijan’s oil projects, and about some 20 percent from the taxes paid by oil-sector companies, according to analysts.

The government, for now, maintains that the budget can handle lower oil prices. Eventually, officials believe those prices will rise again.

“If we take a look at the past 20 years, we can see that the oil prices have [constantly] changed,” commented Energy Minister Natiq Aliyev to Trend news agency on December 17.

Yet, in an interview with Russia’s Rossiya-24 TV channel earlier in December, President Ilham Aliyev admitted that falling oil prices could have a negative impact on the government’s budgetary plans.

One-third of the 2015 budget is slotted for investment projects; 20 percent of those investments are slated to fund a presidential pet project, the May 2015 European Olympic Games in the capital, Baku, economists estimate.

No sign has emerged that spending for the Games could be slashed, although the president stated that infrastructure projects could be reduced, if need be. He did not elaborate.

Construction projects accounted for 12 percent of Azerbaijan’s 2013 Gross Domestic Product of $73.56 billion; the industry generates the most economic activity outside of the energy sector, noted economist Samir Aliyev, editor-in-chief of the Economic Forum Magazine, an analytical monthly.

If the government halts such projects now, it “will leave lots of people unemployed,” he predicted.

President Aliyev has forecast no economic changes if the price of oil does not fall beneath $60 per barrel. Since that prediction, the price has dipped below that point, but has subsequently moved higher.

Where the price will go in the coming weeks is hard to predict. What is certain is that the Azerbaijani government’s margin for expansive spending is slim.

Economist Aliyev claims that the fall in the price of oil means that the Oil Fund already expects a 2.5-billion-manat deficit (some $3.1 billion) this year.

In comments to EurasiaNet.org, Oil Fund spokesperson Jamala Aliyeva confirmed that “annual transfers and financing of strategic projects … may cause [a] deficit SOFAZ budget for 2015” as world oil prices decline. She did not cite a specific figure, however.

Like Energy Minister Aliyev, she said she does not expect a long-term drop. If need be, Aliyeva continued, the Oil Fund “may use its assets to cover the gap between revenues and expenditures in the short run.”

The Oil Fund is not the only dollar storehouse that could be affected by the slump in oil prices. Economist Aliyev claims the Central Bank’s reserves already have been impacted, too.

The Central Bank’s website, though, shows only a slight dip in reserves (from $15 billion to $14.99 billion) from May through November. The Bank did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Government critics contend that authorities have not done a good job in preparing the country for lean times. “They should have fought corruption, diversified the state budget revenues, encouraged small and medium enterprises,” complained economist Natig Jafarli, executive secretary of the opposition REAL movement. “The government never did that.”

Fellow economist Aliyev estimates that small and medium enterprises account for only 1.7 percent of Azerbaijan’s GDP.

Vahid Ahmedov, a member of parliament’s Economics Committee, says that the government is paying attention to diversification. Azerbaijan’s non-oil economic sectors have grown by “10 to 15 percent over the last two to three years, and we keep working on it,” he claimed.

Ahmedov believes that Azerbaijan’s currency reserves will create a buffer against lower oil prices. “I think the budget can manage it and people will not feel the impact of the decrease in oil prices for the next two years because of the reserves,” said Ahmedov, a non-party MP who tends to align with the government on most issues.

For those who already struggle to make ends meet in Azerbaijan, lower oil prices are a source of unease. Salman Guliyev, 74, who sells candies in one of Baku’s backstreets, worries about what higher prices will mean for his ability to support his disabled wife and himself. He now receives a monthly pension of 150 manats ($191.52). “I wish we had more money to cover our basic expenses,” he said.

As yet, the government has not commented about additional social welfare measures to help disadvantaged Azerbaijanis cope with harder times. But 28-year-old car-service employee Taleh Hasretov is not concerned. Admittedly not a news-junkie, he has only optimism for the year to come.

“I know that the government has saved a lot of money, and even if oil prices go down, we will not face serious problems,” he said.

The post Azerbaijan: How Will Baku Handle Oil Price Slide? – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa Says Committed To Safeguard Country For Unborn Future Generation

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Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said he is committed to safeguard the country for even the unborn future generation.

Rajapaksa claimed that some factions are trying to cut the free education, according to the Sri Lanka government website. “I will never allow anyone to destroy the country’s free education system,” Rajapaksa, said, while additionally  promising to ensure freedom and development under the current regime.

According to Rajapaksa, the opposition candidate is trying to mislead the general public while fielding a policy manifesto without any planning.

In that regard, Rajapaksa said that it is a crime to cheat the people. He also noted that the presidential election is not a village council election, but a crucial event that decides the future of the country’s younger generation.

Rajapaksa made the comments Dec. 25 at a rally of the UPFA at Samanala Grounds in Galle.

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Palestinian Problems – OpEd

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Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) seems to be riding high. Over the past few months he has witnessed declarations of support for a Palestinian state in the parliaments of country after country: Ireland, Britain, Spain, France, Sweden – and most recently the EU parliament.

In addition the PA seems determined to force a vote in the UN Security Council, on a draft resolution submitted by Jordan, requiring Israel to have withdrawn to the pre-1967 lines and a Palestinian state to have been established by the end of 2017. The Security Council consists of fifteen members – five permanent, with the power of veto, and ten non-permanent.  The PA requires nine votes for their resolution to be adopted, but this could occur only if it is not vetoed by one or more of the five permanent members.

One of the permanent members, France, is preparing its own alternative resolution, and another – the US – is not in favor of by-passing a negotiated settlement.  The wording of the resolution very carefully attempts to by-pass US objections by simply affirming “the urgent need to attain” a two-state solution, and by including “mutually agreed, limited, equivalent land swaps” plus a third-party security presence. Nevertheless, the chances of the PA draft resolution being adopted are uncertain, but even if it fails the mere act of bringing it before the Security Council will be surely be hailed by the PA as a diplomatic coup.

So is Abbas riding the crest of a wave? Appearances can be deceptive. Two major problems face the PA. First, Palestine is a house divided against itself, with the PA the weaker party; and secondly, because of it, Abbas dare not currently resubmit himself or the PA to the democratic process, for the current polls indicate political defeat. In short, he lacks democratic legitimacy. He would be vehemently and vociferously challenged from within the Palestinian camp If he plunged wholeheartedly into the peace process. To evade the possibility of a humiliating deposition, or – with the fate of Egypt’s late President Anwar Sadat in mind – worse, he would much prefer to see some sort of solution forced on Israel by the weight of world opinion.

Open hostility between Hamas, the de facto rulers of the Gaza strip, and the PA has long been evident. In May 2014, as Abbas was announcing his new “government of national unity”, including so-called technocrats from Hamas, Israeli security forces uncovered an elaborate and well-funded Hamas plot aimed at overthrowing the PA in the West Bank. In August Shin Bet arrested 93 Hamas activists accused of setting up terror cells in 46 Palestinian towns and villages. The intention was to carry out mass attacks on Israeli targets and, under cover of this “third intifada”, to seize rule in Ramallah from Abbas and the PA. The operation would have been led by the “Mohammed Deif of the West Bank” – in other words, Hamas operations officer Saleh al-Arouri, who currently operates out of Turkey.

The inherent incompatibility between the aims of Hamas and Fatah was apparent immediately after the end of the conflict in Gaza. It became clear, even before the Egypt-sponsored talks between Israel and the Palestinians had started, that while Hamas was seeking to restore its status in Gaza – and show some positive achievements from the conflict – Fatah was intent on re-establishing a strong foothold for the PA in the strip.

These tensions, far from being resolved, have been exacerbated since Hamas nominally handed over to the PA responsibility for Gaza reconstruction. This astute move means that Hamas is able to wash its hands of responsibility for the still unreconstructed state of Gaza. At the October Cairo conference, donors pledged $5.4 billion to help rebuild Gaza, but barely 2% of the money has been transferred. Transfer of the donations depends on the reconciliation government actually functioning in Gaza, for the donors want to be sure that the money reaches a leadership it can trust. Open hostility between Hamas and Fatah means that that the reconciliation government is virtually toothless in Gaza.

Abbas’s problems do not end with the PA’s stand-off with Hamas, for Fatah itself is split between his supporters and those of his main political opponent, Mohammed Dahlan – a native of Gaza, who was ousted from the PA by Abbas, and against whom a court in Ramallah is preparing an indictment on charges of corruption. Last week the PA decided to remove dozens of Fatah members affiliated with Dahlan’s faction from the Palestinian security forces in Gaza. As news of the firings spread, anti-Abbas slogans appeared in Gaza and, with the approval of Hamas, Dahlan supporters demonstrated against Abbas in the center of Gaza.

Nor is Dahlan his only bête noir. There is also jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, convicted in 2004 on five counts of murder for the deaths of four Israelis and a Greek monk, as well as attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, and membership of a terrorist organisation. From his prison cell Barghouti took issue with the text of the PA draft resolution to the UN Security Council, accused the PA leadership of making unjustified concessions on Palestinian rights, and called on the PA leadership to undertake an immediate and comprehensive revision.

He criticized the PA’s readiness to conduct land swaps with Israel, claiming Israel would exploit the concept to legalize settlements. He opposed the document’s wording on Jerusalem. The PA text says that the city should be the capital of two states; Barghouti stressed that any resolution should emphasize that east Jerusalem should be the capital of a Palestinian state. Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, and the continued blockade of the Gaza Strip were other issues he believed should be included in a revised text.

Tayseer Khaled, a member of the PLO Executive Committee and a leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, also criticized the draft resolution and called on the PA leadership to withdraw it from the Security Council.

In the light of all this internal Palestinian opposition, it is not perhaps surprising that rumours are making the round to the effect that the PA have recently sent the US secret messages indicating that they would not object to a veto.

In short, in presenting his draft resolution to the Security Council Abbas may appear to the world in general to have pulled off a diplomatic masterstroke. From the propaganda point of view, a US veto would be irrelevant, or even positively advantageous. Within the hopelessly divided Palestinian camp, however, it has already caused even more friction, animosity and disunity than already existed, and can only generate more.

The post Palestinian Problems – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

Sri Lanka: JHU Fingerprints All Over Constitutional Proposal – OpEd

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By Dr Kumar David

Mr Sirisens’ Election Manifesto released in mid-December caused consternation and disappointment among those who had trusted his pledge to rescind the autocratic executive presidency and replace it with a democratic parliamentary system. Now he offers “an essentially Executive” presidency wrapped in a honeyed sentence about an alliance with “Parliament through Cabinet”. Nothing new in that, he has simply reneged on his pledge. Sirisena is refusing to bow to pressure to amend his position, hence, as for ending authoritarian structures that have done so much damage this election has degenerated into farce. Jettisoning hopelessly failed Mr Rajapkse for untested Sirisena under a similar constitutional system may only do some little good for a few months.

There are two points of view in the Opposition. The minority, like this writer, hold that the central task is to dismantle authoritarianism structures, without which power abuse and corruption could not have gone to such extremes. We would of course welcome the defeat of Mr Rajpakse as an added bonus. On the other side are the empiricists, the superficial majority, who see all evil in the subjective failings of the Rajapakse clan and regime, and seek to replace them with other persons. They are not opposed to abolishing the presidential system, but personalities are what matter to them. Superficial, born to be chagrined every six years, they will weep the same lament again soon.

The damaging contradiction

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of November (before nomination date), whose first and principal point I quote, was the basis on which millions backed Sirisena as a Common Candidate. Notice the explicit pledge to “abolish” and the explicit reference to a “Parliamentary system”. There is no ambiguity unless Sirisena’s handlers attempt the dodge of hanging on the word “present” to imply that they intended all along to replace one EP by another EP! If they try this dodge what further deceptions are we in line for down the road?

 “1. The present executive presidential system will be abolished within a hundred days and replaced by a Parliamentary form accountable to the people. Under the Parliamentary system, the President will symbolize national unity and have duties and powers appropriate to the position”.

Now look at the Manifesto released after nominations closed (very significant as it was by then too late to replace the candidate); it reneges on this pledge. I quote:

“The new Constitutional structure would be essentially an Executive allied with the Parliament through the Cabinet instead of the present autocratic Executive Presidential System. Under it the President would be equal with all other citizen before the law. I guarantee that in the proposed Constitutional Amendment I will not touch any Constitutional Article that could be changed only with the approval at a Referendum. I also ensure that I will not undertake any amendment that is detrimental to the stability, security and sovereignty of the country. My amendments will be only those that facilitate the stability, security and sovereignty of the country”.

The system will be “essentially Executive” we are told. It will be “allied to Parliament through the Cabinet” we are told; what a cryptic choice of words! Allied but not answerable! Is the current president not similarly “allied”? If the government loses a vote of confidence the President carries on unchecked – the donkey of a Prime Minister gets kicked out. The President is insulated; “essentially” an Executive demigod. And what will be the powers of the Prime Minister? What the separation of powers between Cabinet/Government and President/State Power? This formulation is a ploy to hoodwink the public and retain the Executive Presidential system with no more than cosmetic retouches. When it comes to drafting and enacting these words make room for anything.

Why all this mumbo-jumbo if he was/is genuine about abolishing executive autocracy? Many, this writer included, have supported Sirisena’s candidature in numerous ways. We said let us put up “even a broomstick” to win, abolish the Executive Presidential system. Never did we say put forward a broomstick to carry on with a redecorated Executive Presidency. Mr Sirisena has reneged; he has betrayed. Political intellectuals who supported him are asking for absolutely nothing more than what he himself promised and led people to believe he would do! Why not a simple ‘abolish EP’ correction Sirisena? It’s that simple to renew public confidence. No, Mr Sirisena cannot, as he has fallen under the spell of JHU handlers; that’s why he is unable to change.

A JHU-hijacked Constitutional Proposal

What Sirisena offers reeks of JHU ideology. Observe that the objective is to ensure in every future act “stability, security and sovereignty”, not democracy or power to the people. Superficially it seems innocuous, but this rhetoric is known JHU-speak for saying devolution to Tamil areas, reduction of military interference in civilian affairs, and giving the Northern Provincial Council breathing space, are out of the question. Democratisation is the elephant missing in this terminology.

The JHU has taken over from Ranil-UNP and the CBK-Cluster as Sirisena’s principal handler. Many Tamils and Muslims may still vote for him but not because they have the slightest confidence in this JHU inspired creed. Lanka is fed up with the corruption and abuses of the regime and the minorities remember what they suffered under Mahinda and Gotabhaya (Defence Secretary and President’s brother) Rajapakse. Tamils will not switch sides and vote for Rajapakse but there will be a large number of abstentions. The poor TNA is in a trap; it wants to back Sirisena but cannot find one single line in the Manifesto why it could tell the Tamils to overlook the JHU inspired formula. It can only say: ‘To reduce corruption and abuse in general, and to avenge past wrongs, reject the incumbent’. With an “essentially Executive” system, how long will these benefits last?

If Sirisena wishes to avoid shooting himself in the foot with minority voters he would be wise to drop JHU inspired formulations under which: “I will not undertake any amendment that is detrimental to the stability, security and sovereignty of the country. Amendments will be only to facilitate the stability, security and sovereignty of the country”. He makes it impossible to devolve power to Tamil areas because who will choose what “facilitates stability, security and sovereignty”? Unless you are visiting from the planet Mars you know that this is familiar jargon for dressing up chauvinism. For Ceylon Tamils this constitutional proposal is a step back from even the present where there are no formally stated obstacles to devolution.

Opinion polls show Sirisena falling short among Sinhala-Buddhists (70% of the population) but winning if support in the minorities remains strong. But he and his arrogant JHU handlers take Tamils (12% Ceylon Tamils and 5% Upcountry Tamils), Muslims (8%) and even Sinhala Catholics (5%) for granted, without offering them any place in the national space. This is the reason why the Tamil version of the Manifesto has not even been published up to now; what do they have to say to these communities – nothing! Tamil and Muslim leaders will be making a great mistake if they allow Sirisena’s handlers to get away with this hubris. They must demand changes in the Manifesto (of course they will be ignored) irrespective of what voting advice they eventually give their communities.

What to do now?

This is the most serious question, especially for those keen to see the back of the incumbent regime. Before we Lankans bow our heads like pussy acts and put up with any old garbage that a putative Sirisena government may dish out, we must declare: “What you have done is wrong, change it! Affirm that you will abolish the executive presidency!” It is being backboneless, not standing up and not demanding accountability that allowed the current regime to run havoc without a mummer of protest. If the public, and especially those of us who support change, behave like docile pussy cats and yes-men, why should a new regime not ride rough shod over the people again?

This brings me to the key strategy to adopt. The people of Lanka must stand on their feet and mobilize independently of either of these candidates. Yes, in the end we may vote for Sirisena, but I recall an incident when Lenin moved a Central Committee resolution somewhat like this: “The Party calls on the people to vote for scoundrel-X against scoundrel-Y, for such and such reasons”. I do not advocate we apply such colourful language to our protagonist, but I am sure you get my point.

Some radical-democratic and left sections and the JVP have taken the right stand; they have remained independent but on the inside-track of a swelling mass movement. The angry masses are on a ‘Vote down Rajapakse’ swell; this is the inside-track from which they can go further. Defeating Rajapakse is not for the purpose of fostering illusions about others, it is a step in strengthening a confident and independent mass movement which will hold any government to account and exert influence when needed.

The JVP, radical-democrats and the left must form an Alliance on the inside-track of the common opposition but still retain independence. It is only those who are committed to, and work hard within the inside-track, that people will listen to. Only they will have the credibility to win people’s confidence. Conditions for this Alliance have suddenly improved; if Sirisena wins, more opportunities will open up. Even if Rajapakse wins, he is now a frightened and weakened autocrat, openings for mass activity will be favourable. Either way the Alliance has to be formed now before the elections, otherwise the next regime, whichever one, will have time to run out of control.

Nomenclature: Mahinda Rajapakse in the President of Sri Lanka and leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Maithripala Sirisena, the challenger fielded by a joint opposition in the 8 January 2015 Presidential Election, was Secretary of the SLFP till November. Ranil Wickremasinghe is leader of the United National Party (UNP) the largest party in the opposition. CBK (Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumartatunga, a prominent SLFP figure, engineered Sirisena’a defection from Rajapakse. The Tamil National alliance (TNA) has an electoral base of about 12%; the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is a Marxist party (about 5% base); the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) a Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist party (about 3-5% base).

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Iran, Russia Consider Facilitation Of Ruble-Rial Exchange

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By Fatih Karimov

Iran and Russia discussed facilitation of ruble-rial exchange as a means to boost bilateral trade in 2015.

In a meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei, the two sides announced facilitating ruble-rial exchange and opening a joint account for boosting the trade in 2015, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Dec. 27.

The two countries will sign a visa issuance facilitation agreement, a joint investment agreement, and an insurance cooperation agreement in the next year.

Head of Iran World Trade Center Mohammad Reza Sabzalipour told Trend on December 1 that Tehran should take the opportunity to boost bilateral trade with Moscow in the short term.

Iran can benefit from the western sanctions imposed on Russia, he added.

“Moscow has voluntarily banned importing certain items from the western countries,” he said, adding that the country needs to find new providers.

Asadollah Asgaroladi, head of the Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce, said September 30 that Russia and Iran plan to replace the US dollar with their national currencies for the settlement of bilateral trade transactions.

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Cuba In The American Imagination – OpEd

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On December 17, 2014, the Obama administration announced changes in relations with Cuba which broke with over fifty years of foreign policy decisions. The United States will open an embassy in Havana for the first time since 1961. All of the Cuban Five political prisoners are now free. While Congress must approve a complete end of the trade embargo, some trade restrictions have already been loosened.

Of course, Yankee imperialism gave with one hand, and took with the other. The day after the Cuba announcement, president Obama signed legislation imposing sanctions against the Venezuelan government. Instead of asking why the United States would help Cuba but punish its biggest benefactor, Americans are celebrating what they hope is a return to Cuba’s status as a de facto American colony.

Anyone who depended on the inane exultations from the corporate media and so-called leftists would think that Cuba ceased to exist from January 1, 1959 until now. They speak as if it has remained in a state of suspended animation, not waking up until the United States woke it with a kiss, as if in a fairy tale. While Americans think that Cubans exist as relics like cars from the 1950s, that nation has succeeded in achieving a number of accomplishments which Americans refuse to acknowledge. Of course that is easy to do if revolutionary Cuba isn’t thought of as a real nation, which is as much as the average American mind can fathom.

Cuban soldiers hastened the end of South Africa’s apartheid system. The victory at Cuito Cuanavale in Angola proved that the South African army was not invincible. While the United States sent troops to build only one paltry hospital during the most recent Ebola epidemic, Cuba sent over 400 doctors to treat patients in the affected areas. Cubans have an excellent health care system which compares quite well to the private and astronomically expensive system in the United States.

Cuba is a nation with its own interests and a history of fighting first against Spanish colonialism and then United States control. Yet in the popular mind Cuba is still a mafia outpost from the 1950s where Americans went to soak up sun and sin. The corporate media helps with ludicrous wishful thinking about expropriated property being returned fifty years after the fact.

Even supposedly serious thinkers succumbed and revealed more about their own fantasies than any insight about Cuba. Liberal pundit David Corn could only think of his stereotypes in a startling missive posted on twitter. “Cuba’s a swell place to visit. Beaches, rum, baseball, music. It’ll be great for more USers to visit-& that could counter repression there.” If there were a prize awarded for truly stupid twitter posts, Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin should win with these words, “Obama spoke with Raul Castro yesterday. The ice is melting. Mojitos for all!”

It is difficult to know where to begin in analyzing such nonsense. It isn’t clear what Corn means by repression, but surely the presence of Americans having fun has never made people safe anywhere in the world. As for Benjamin, anyone whose response to a foreign policy decision includes references to a cocktail should be ignored now and forever.

The foolishly excited liberals are outdone by people who revel in vulgarity but who expose a lot by doing so. Blogger Matt Forney opined, “What Russia was to Generation X, Cuba will be for the Millennials: a land where the white man is God.”

That is the crux of the matter. Cuba’s history and its politics mean nothing to the right or to liberals who may espouse somewhat higher motives. Cuba is a dream for white people who want a place where they can be well, white. They can fantasize about having a good time while their government controls a largely brown skinned and subservient group.

The lovers of empire may have celebrated too soon however. While even a partial end to the embargo will benefit Cubans, their government made it clear they will not return to subservience. President Raul Castro stated in no uncertain terms that Cuba will remain socialist and will not extradite Assata Shakur or anyone else granted asylum by the government.

Obama said himself, “The whole point of normalizing relations is that it gives us a greater opportunity to have influence with that government.” None of the cognoscenti dared ask what those words meant. Imperialism is on the march as never before. United States and Saudi Arabian machinations have succeeded in lowering oil prices and crippling Russia, Venezuela and Iran. Sanctions and market manipulations can succeed where sending troops cannot.

No one can argue against the end of a 16 year-long ordeal for the Cuban Five, but there are no benevolent motives behind the Obama administration’s actions. The United States did not suddenly give up its plan for unipolar domination. Indeed we must assume that these latest moves are part of the larger plan to bring every nation to heel.

Cuba is a nation which has suffered and struggled to be free from domination. It doesn’t matter if it is a psychological after thought for Americans. They may try to pretend that the last fifty years never happened but there is no turning back. People in the United States may have selective amnesia, but surely Cubans do not.

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US Launches Blimp To Defend Washington D.C. Air Space

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The U.S. Army has lofted a blimp equipped with a new cruise-missile and drone-fighting radar system high above rural Maryland. The system, made by Raytheon Company and known as JLENS, consists of two helium-filled aerostats, or tethered blimps, that float 10,000 feet above the ground and carry powerful radars.

“JLENS is strategically emplaced to help defend Washington D.C. and a Texas-sized portion of the East Coast from cruise missiles, drones and hostile aircraft,” said Dave Gulla, vice president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems’ Global Integrated Sensors business. “JLENS can detect potential threats at extremely long ranges, giving North American Aerospace Defense Command more time to make decisions and more space to react appropriately.”

As part of the deployment, Raytheon engineers raised one of the football-field sized aerostats thousands of feet in the air and conducted a series of tests to ensure it was operating as designed. The company will continue to test and integrate the radar for several more days, then turn the first JLENS balloon over to Soldiers of the U.S. Army’s A Battery, 3rd Air Defense Artillery.

The second aerostat is scheduled to go aloft in early 2015. Following a series of additional tests, it will also be turned over to the military, who will conduct an operational exercise with JLENS.

During the exercise, information from JLENS will be used by NORAD, the U.S.-Canadian organization charged with aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning for North America. The 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, which is responsible for defending the airspace over the National Capital Region, will also use information from JLENS.

Another JLENS system is in strategic reserve, ready to be deployed anywhere in the world at the request of combatant commanders, should they require comprehensive cruise missile defense capability, said Raytheon.

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UN’s Ban Ki-Moon Condemns Sudan Decision To Expel UN Officials

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned Sudan’s decision to expel two senior UN officials from the embattled nation.

Ordered to leave the country are UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Ali Al-Za’tari, and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Country Director Yvonne Helle.

In a statement released by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban said the sanctioning of UN personnel sent to Sudan to carry out their duties in accordance with the UN Charter is unacceptable.

Sudan

Sudan

The Secretary-General called on the Government of Sudan to reverse its decision immediately and urged it to cooperate fully with all UN entities currently present in the country.

Sudan’s decision to expel UN personnel comes amid a worsening security climate and dire humanitarian crisis in the Sudanese region, with ramped-up hostilities between Government forces and armed movements.

Briefing the UN Security Council on the situation earlier this month, Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), had urged Council Members to rethink their approach to the crisis in Darfur and fully pursue those individuals deemed responsible for atrocities.

ICC Judges had already concluded that certain individuals in Sudan must be brought to the Court to answer charges, including Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, for whom a warrant of arrest had been issued, Ms. Bensouda stressed as she briefed the Council on 12 December 2014.

However, until the Council applied “a dramatic shift” to its approach to arresting Darfur suspects, it would be increasingly difficult for her and the ICC to continue doing their work.

“Given this Council’s lack of foresight on what should happen in Darfur, I am left with no choice but to hibernate investigative activities in Darfur as I shift resources to other urgent cases, especially those in which trial is approaching. It should thus be clear to this Council that unless there is a change of attitude and approach to Darfur in the near future, there shall continue to be little or nothing to report to you for the foreseeable future.”

The ICC Prosecutor added, not only was the situation in Darfur deteriorating, but the brutality with which crimes are being committed there has become “more pronounced.” In particular, she warned that women and girls were continuing to bear the “brunt of sustained attacks.”

According to UN estimates, the number of people displaced by conflict has increased to more than 430,000 since the beginning of the year, with close to 300,000 remaining displaced in addition to the more than two million long-term internally displaced persons, or IDPs.

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Globetrotters’ Robert ‘Showboat’ Hall Dies

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Robert “Showboat” Hall – one of the most revered showmen in the history of the Harlem Globetrotters – passed away on Dec. 24 in his hometown of Detroit.

Hall played his first season as a Globetrotter in 1949 and succeeded Reece “Goose” Tatum as the team’s top showman in 1955. Hall played in over 5,000 games in nearly 90 different countries during his outstanding career, teaming with the likes of Tatum, Wilt Chamberlain, Connie Hawkins and Marques Haynes.

The former Miller High School star filled the dual role of player and coach beginning in 1968, holding that role until he retired in 1974. A 6-2 pivot man, Hall learned his basketball trade at Detroit’s famed Brewster Center, a training ground of many top-notch Motor City athletes.

“The Globetrotters family has lost one of its most esteemed members,” said Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider. “Bob Hall’s dedication to the team, to his craft and to bringing joy to families around the world is matched by few people in the history of the organization.”

Hall was part of the Globetrotter squad that traveled to the heart of the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War in 1959 and bridged a cultural gap many thought would stand forever. The historic tour was chronicled in the ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 Shorts documentary “From Harlem With Love.”

Hall was honored by the Globetrotters with the team’s “Legends” Ring – presented to those who have made a contribution outside of basketball and played a role in the development of the Globetrotters brand – during a special halftime ceremony at the Palace of Auburn Hills near Detroit on Feb. 1, 1998.

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Increasing Importance Of Education For Global Citizenship – Analysis

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By Jaya Ramachandran

When United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Global Education First Initiative in September 2012, “fostering global citizenship” was one of his three priorities, along with “putting every child in school” and “improving the quality of learning”.

Ban said: “Education is much more than an entry to the job market. It has the power to shape a sustainable future and better world. Education policies should promote peace, mutual respect and environmental care.”

Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon

As the international community moves toward adopting the post-2015 development agenda, popularly known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the need for education for global citizenship is becoming increasingly important.

Because none of the goals impacting the Earth and its inhabitants can be achieved without people and governments around the world transcending narrow national interests and acting in the interest of the planet.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012 in Brazil gave the mandate that the SDGs should be coherent with and integrated into the UN development agenda for universal good beyond 2015.

The Open Working Group established by the Rio outcome document has meanwhile agreed on 17 goals and 169 targets, which aim at poverty eradication, changing unsustainable and encouraging sustainable patterns of consumption and production and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development.

These are the overarching objectives of and essential requirements for sustainable development as explained in Ban’s “synthesis report”, The Road to Dignity by 2030, released on December 4, 2014.

Ban proposes an integrated set of six essential elements that taken together will aim to facilitate the deliberations of Member States ahead of the special UN Summit on sustainable development from September 25 to 27 and enable them to arrive at the concise and aspirational agenda mandated by the Rio Conference.

The six essential elements are: (1) to end poverty and fight inequalities; (2) to ensure healthy lives, knowledge, and the inclusion of women and children; (3) to grow a strong, inclusive, and transformative economy; (4) to protect our ecosystems for all societies and our children; (5) to promote safe and peaceful societies, and strong institutions; and (6) to catalyse global solidarity for sustainable development.

ESD and EGC

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and, by implication, Education for Global Citizenship (EGC), is a critical component in the proposed post-2015 sustainable development agenda.

The proposed Goal 4 (the post-2015 education goal) seeks to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all”. While proposed Goal 12 aims to “ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”; and Goal 13 states the need to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”.

ESD (and EGC) is included in the three proposed targets to help achieve these goals:

  • First, “by 2030 ensure all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development”.
  • A second ESD-related target proposes to “ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature” by 2030.
  • And finally a third target suggests to “improve education, awareness raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning” in order to help combat climate change.

This analysis, posted on the website of the World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, affirms the three key elements that Soka Gakkai International (SGI) president Daisaku Ikeda suggested as the basis of an educational program for global citizenship.

Already back in in June 1996, in a lecture at the Teachers College, Columbia University, Ikeda spelt out the following as essential elements of global citizenship:

  • The wisdom to perceive the interconnectedness of all life and living
  • The courage not to fear or deny difference; but to respect and strive to understand people of different cultures, and to grow from encounters with them
  • The compassion to maintain an imaginative empathy that reaches beyond one’s immediate surroundings and extends to those suffering in distant places.

Education for global citizenship, he said in his Peace Proposals 2014, should include:

  • Deepen understanding of the challenges facing humankind, enable people to explore their causes and instill the shared hope and confidence that such problems, being of human origin, are amenable to human solutions;
  • Identify the early signs of impending global problems in local phenomena, develop sensitivity to such signs and empower people to take concerted action; and
  • Foster empathetic imagination and a keen awareness that actions that profit one’s own country might have a negative impact on or be perceived as a threat by other countries, elevating this to a shared pledge not to seek one’s happiness and prosperity at the expense of others.

The Aichi-Nagoya conference in November 2014 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, launched the Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), focussing on action on the ground.

The GAP and further outcomes of the World Conference will inform the deliberations of the World Education Forum to be held from May 19 to 22, 2015 in Incheon, South Korea, which will aim to reach agreement on a new education agenda post-2015 and to adopt a global framework for action for the years to come.

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Samsung Starts Production Of First 8-Gigabit LPDDR4 Mobile DRAM

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Samsung Electronics has started mass producing the industry’s first 8 gigabit low power double data rate 4 mobile DRAM based on the company’s 20-nanometer process technology. LPDDR memories are the most widely used “working memory” for mobile devices worldwide.

“By initiating production of the 20nm 8Gb LPDDR4, which is even faster than the DRAM for PCs and servers and consumes much less energy, we are contributing to the timely launch of UHD, large-screen flagship mobile devices,” said Joo Sun Choi, Executive Vice President of Memory Sales and Marketing at Samsung Electronics. “As this major advancement in mobile memory demonstrates, we will continue to closely collaborate with global mobile device manufacturers to optimize DRAM solutions, making them suitable for next-generation mobile OS environments.”

The new 20nm 8Gb LPDDR4 offers twice the performance and density compared to 4Gb LPDDR3 which was based on 20nm-class process technology.

According to Samsung, the new 8Gb LPDDR4 chip allows a 4 gigabyte (GB) LPDDR4 package to be created.

Due to an I/O data rate of up to 3,200 megabits per second (Mbps), which is two times faster than a typical DDR3 DRAM used in PCs, the new 8Gb LPDDR4 can support UHD video recording and playback and continuous shooting of high-resolution images with over 20 megapixels.

The LPDDR4 mobile memory chip’s operating voltage was reduced to 1.1V from that of LPDDR3 memory chips, which makes the new Samsung chip the lowest power memory solution available for large-screen smartphones and tablets, and high-performance network systems. For example, in case of a 2GB package, an 8Gb LPDDR4-based 2GB package can save up to 40 percent of power compared to a 4Gb LPDDR3-based 2GB package, due to low operating voltages and faster processing.

By adopting new proprietary low-voltage swing-terminated logic (LVSTL) for its I/O signaling, Samsung has also further reduced the new LPDDR4 chip’s power consumption while enabling high-frequency operations at low voltages for optimal power efficiency.

Samsung said it expects to rapidly increase the production volume of its 20nm DRAM line-ups, including the new 8Gb LPDDR4 mobile DRAM and the recently introduced 8Gb DDR4 DRAM for servers, in order to better meet customer needs, while accelerating the growth rate of the high density DRAM market.

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Iran: Mousavi Responds To Public Attacks

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With a rising number of accusations against the opposition leaders being spread in the media, MirHosein Mousavi has responded, calling those attacks “slander and insults”.

The Kaleme website reports that he has repeatedly demanded the right to be put on trial where he could “tell the truth” but the authorities have refused.

“I and (Zahra) Rahnavard have on several occasions since our house arrest expressed our readiness through the guards and officials to appear in an official and open court,” he said.

Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard have been under house arrest since February 2011 for questioning the legitimacy of the 2009 presidential election and triggering widespread street protests across the country.

Mousavi and his fellow candidate in 2009, Mehdi Karroubi, who is also under house arrest, have been labeled as sedition leaders by the establishment, even though no official charges have been laid against them.

Mousavi has been quoted as saying that those who “steal from the poor and have created such vast corruption schemes are the seditious ones.”

In recent years, several corruption schemes involving government figures have been exposed, many of them linked to the administration of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose re-election victory was challenged by Mousavi and Karroubi with allegations of vote fraud.

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‘Dubious’ Websites Incite Saudis To Join Terrorists

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Terrorists are increasingly resorting to the Internet to lure young men to their organizations, sources told local media on Saturday.

They said terrorists do not only offend their home country, but often leave their families behind with little or no ways to sustain themselves.

In some cases, youth choose to escape to places of unrest, breaking the Kingdom’s laws, which prevents participation in terrorist organizations in conflict zones, such as Iraq and Syria.

The Kingdom has responded to the growing problem by issuing a royal decree that prohibits attempts to mobilize young men from joining the terror groups in conflict zones.

Authorities, monitoring the social media, have found that terror organizations often receive inquiries about religious and social issues.

Abdulmunim Al-Mashooh, an official at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, reiterated that the Kingdom does not support any website promoting terror.

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CIA Torture Report: Will South Africa Own Up? – OpEd

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By Iqbal Jassat*

During the era of Nelson Mandela’s first cabinet in post-apartheid South Africa, a controversial report on so-called Muslim terrorism marked “top secret” emerged. While the government at the time denied any knowledge of its existence and sought to distance itself from it, the malicious intent of whoever may have commissioned it was quite evident.

Dated 15 August 1996, it carried the hallmarks of an intelligence report with serious allegations against a number of Muslim organizations. It set the stage for a pattern of demonization that’s been repeated over the last two decades and in each instance, without any credible evidence. In fact notwithstanding the damning implications it has for South Africa’s Muslim population, a number of journalists and academics have displayed little regard for facts whenever they regurgitate disputed information.

What does the pattern consist of? It usually starts with Pagad and runs a thread through Qibla, and like a spider’s web spawns more threads to link groups such as al-Aqsa Foundation to the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, or the Islamic Unity Convention [IUC] to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. And each time Muslim individuals are alleged to be implicated in terror activities, Islamophobes jump up in excitement screaming “I told you so”!

A common denominator that serves as a barometer reveals Israel’s security is paramount and must be protected at all cost, even at the cost of violating constitutional rights in South Africa. Not surprising at all for it is conclusively proven that a well-funded and highly resourced Islamophobia industry originates and is sustained in Israel. The entire farce following the event of 9/11 which resulted in illegal wars in Muslim lands was orchestrated by a bunch of thugs in America known as neocons closely allied to and operating on behalf of Israel.

On December 9th, much to the dismay of neocons, the Israeli lobby and a range of governments, a 500 page Executive summary of a 6000 page Senate Intelligence Committee Report on CIA Torture was released. Professor Richard Falk describes it as “grizzly” adding that the most disturbing feature about the treatment of terrorist suspects is the absence of remorse on the part of those associated with the policies relied upon during the Bush administration in the period of hysteria following 9/11.

Torture is a central component of the report and although euphemized as “enhanced interrogation techniques”, underlines the extent of illegality associated with the brutality of the “War on Terror” [WOT]. In addition to previously known practices and terms such as “rendition”, “water boarding” and “black sites”, added to the repertoire of “terrorists” is the shocking practice of “rectal rehydration”.

South Africa is known to have opposed America’s military interventions and by all public accounts remained “outside” the WOT loop except for a minor detail in the report citing it as one of the countries that participated in illegal renditions. This reference confirms a long held view by us in the Media Review Network that collusion between South Africa’s rogue apartheid-era spooks and foreign intelligence such as Mossad and the CIA remained on track. How else would it explain the role of Viktor Bout, dubbed the “Merchant of Death”, whose aviation empire was claimed to be “seeped in blood, built from the ashes of the Soviet empire on the covert shipment of arms to conflict zones around the globe”, per Chiara Carter as reported in the Sunday Tribune of March 2008.

“Bout is a larger than life figure on the African stage where he has for close on two decades been a well- known figure in Africa’s hotspots. At one stage he lived in Sandhurst, Johannesburg. His airlines were regular visitors to South African airports, notably the more porous Lanseria and Polokwane airports”.

What’s the “Merchant of Death” got to do with whether SA has anything to account for regarding WOT?

“An airline linked to Bout’s business empire made news when it was revealed that it had arrived in the dead of night at the Waterkloof military base and whisked away Khalid Rashid, the Pakistani whose controversial ‘deportation’ resembling a rendition, rocked the South African government”.

That Bout a wanted fugitive and red-flagged by Interpol was able to live in Johannesburg, freely fly in and out of the country and have access to Waterkloof from where Rashid’s rendition occurred does point to high level government collusion.

In addition to the unanswered questions pertaining to Rashid, the equally bizarre rendition of Saud Memon whose “crime” appeared to be donations to Al-Akhtar and Al-Rashid trusts, both arbitrarily listed as “terror” organizations, and as a suspect in the Daniel Pearl murder, remain vague.

Reports at the time of Memon’s death during May 2007, claimed that the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] arrested him in South Africa on March 7, 2003, imprisoned him at Guantanamo Bay for more than two years and then handed him over to Pakistani authorities.

Saud Memon’s name appears on page 460 of the Senate Intelligence Torture Report and one can safely deduce that his arrest, incarceration and torture had led to his untimely death. As is the case of hundreds of detainees held against their will without due process and subject to horrendous torture, these two known cases of rendition from South African soil requires a no-holds barred probe and full accountability.

For South Africa to own up and come clean on its shameful role in assisting America’s immoral WOT is a matter we will continue to agitate for.

* Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member Media Review Network, Johannesburg, South Africa. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com.

The post CIA Torture Report: Will South Africa Own Up? – OpEd appeared first on Eurasia Review.

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