Good morning/evening, here is my
World Roundup for
December 10, 2003
Legend:
fr = French language
it = Italian language
ro = Romanian/Moldovan language
es = Spanish language
de = German language
pt = Portuguese language
is = Icelandic language
su = Suomi language (Finnish)
nl = Dutch language
Everything else in English language
Note: That which you can see on your evening news will (usually) not be covered here.
The first order of business is going to have to be a discussion of The Sudan. Those of you who have been following the World Update were informed ahead of time of the overthrow of Shevardndze and the political changes in the Republic of Georgia. Now, I'm telling you to keep your eye on The Sudan.
Brief history: The Sudan is located south of Egypt and west of Ethiopia and also borders the CAR, Chad, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Libya and Uganda. The Sudan gained its independence from the British in 1956 and has been torn apart by civil wars almost continuously since that time. The northern half is ruled by ethnic Arabs who are predominantly Muslim while the southern half is predominantly Christian/other African peoples. The southern half, I might add, has a lot of unpumped oil. For the first time in 20 years, the southern groups (headed by the Sudanese People's Liberation Army or SPLA) are in the northern capital of Khartoum for peace talks. In yesterday's World Update, I reported that it looked like the US was going to pay for peace in the region. But why? And how much? Pay attention!
US State Department Secretary Powell is now "expressing optimism" that a negotiated peace deal can be signed by the end of the year. That's less than three weeks away. After 20 years of fighting Secretary Powell? Seems unlikely.
Powell told a meeting of African officials that "the United States will do everything we can to help the parties achieve that outcome. It is a moment that must not be lost."
Powell met with the Sudanese parties in Kenya in October and said Tuesday he had been in touch again within the last 10 days.
"I am optimistic that it is possible to achieve the comprehensive settlement by the end of the month," he said.
But wait! There's more. In a surprise move, US President George Bush telephoned both the northern President, Omar Al-Beshir, and the SPLA leader, John Garang. George Bush apparently talked to each man for at least 30 minutes. But about what?
The conversation lasted half an hour with each man, according to an administration official speaking on background who, when asked if Bush had promised the two men anything, said: "When a president makes a call like this, of course something is offered."
Interesting, but there's more:
Bush also told the two men that peace in Sudan would make the nation a "beacon of reconciliation," McClellan added.
A White House source confirmed that both Bashir and Garang were told that they would be invited to Washington and the White House upon signing a peace deal.
So let's see here, so far the pot has been sweetened by a visit to the US. What else?
President Bush is believed to be willing to announce that Sudan can be taken off the 'terrorist list' if a settlement is reached.
So now it's a visit to the White House and a big ole invite to rejoin the "civilized" nations of the world. What else? And what does Bush and Company want out of this? They aren't calling the Sudan out of a sudden interest in human rights and dignity are they?
Other rebel groups, although much smaller, are not so happy with all this talk of peace. They are:
"Concern[ed] that the United States may be pushing for a fast and comprehensive peace agreement to give the Bush administration a foreign policy success, given it's resounding failures in Iraq."
I see. So if the Sudan is suddenly very quickly "at peace" after more than 20 years, it'll be a feather in the Bushies caps. But what's it going to cost the US taxpayer?
The US has promised to give post-civil war Sudan hundreds of millions of dollars as negotiators resumed talks yesterday in Naivasha.
A senior US official said his government would spend up to 700 million dollars in three years to rebuild Sudan once peace is restored.
You heard it here first folks. George Bush is going to spend at least 700 million dollars to "rebuild" The Sudan, invite the dictator from the north and the warlord from the south to the White House, take a lot of pictures and pronounce this a "policy success". I have a sneaking suspicion that some of that "rebuilding" will include oil refineries and transportation networks. I wonder what company will do the rebuilding?
And just to add icing to the cake, George Bush sent Franklin Graham, the son of the famous preacher Billy Graham, to meet with President Bashir (a Muslim!) just two hours after the phone call. Outrageous. But you can't accuse those PNAC boys of failing to think ahead.
In other, more realistic news, 10,000 refugees have fled western Sudan because of "killings, rape and the burning and looting of entire villages" into neighboring Chad and it is causing a humanitarian disaster. The UN reports that approximately 4 million human beings just like you and me have become refugees from the Sudan's civil wars.
And the government in the north is mad at Uganda for claiming that the Lord's Resistance Army has bases in the south of the Sudan. See folks, now that the south is their new "friend", they can't have poor old Uganda saying such uncomfortable things, especially when they are true.
Forgotten wars: US soldier killed in Kosovo 2,500 US soldiers are currently stationed here in this almost totally forgotten war (but the US taxpayer is still paying for it of course).
Forgotten wars: The Sri Lankan "rebel group", the Tamil Tigers, captured 32 fisherman of Indian nationality off the coast of Sri Lanka. India has already invaded this country several times in the past.
Forgotten wars: They've done it before and they'll do it again. Angry ethnic Ijaws in Nigeria are threatening to attack three oil fields "belonging" to Shell Oil and prevent 240,000 barrels of oil per day from being pumped.
Aside the threat to the oil facilities, the youths in the area say they have documents detailing the atrocities Shell has committed including its divide and rule tactics and how Shell has been instigating crises in the area which they will publish.
Meanwhile Shell Oil has responded by calling on the Nigerian government to send more troops to buttress the 3,000 already in the area.
The producing companies such as Shell have been sucked into worsening clashes among the ethnic groups of the Niger delta, whose campaign for a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth is turning into a virtual insurrection against the Nigerian state.
Scores of people have been killed this year, including a dozen soldiers in the huge area of river channels and mangrove swamps on Nigeria's Atlantic seaboard.
I hate to sound like a treehugging wacko, but every gallon you pump finances these wars. 134 million people live in Nigeria.
Forgotten wars: 3 dead and 6 injured in India's Assam province as UFLA militants set off a bomb inside a hardware store.
A woman was gangraped and her 2 year old child left to die near the Indian city of Patna. Warning: this story is very upsetting.
And in a move to "improve security", cell phone users will no longer be able to make anonymous calls after a new law was passed.
"But privacy is out of the question when an issue concerns national security. This decision was taken after it was observed that terrorists were taking undue advantage of this facility," says Satyan Nayar of the Cellular Operators Association of India.
Tensions between Muslims and Christians leave one boy dead and dozens injured in the west African nation of Ghana. About one third of the chocolate you've ever eaten came from Ghana.
The other two thirds came from Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), where mobs of pro-government youth have been throwing rocks and firebrands and are now "ready" to take back the rebel-held northern part of the country, despite President Gbagbo's urgent desire to sign a peace deal with them. These same protesters threw rocks and bottles against the French forces in the country for days and I guess now they're ready to try a little rock throwing against the rebels in the north, who by the way, have guns.
In what could be one of the silliest political moves of his life, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is threatening to take away President Mugabe of Zimbabwe's "knighthood". The dictator of Zimbabe has been called "Sir Mugabe" since 1994. PM Blair thinks that this will "force" him to abdicate his position as total ruler and despot of a mineral rich country. Meanwhile, PM Blair also seems to have forgotten that knighthood is bestowed by the Queen and not the Prime Minister.
Fact is truly stranger than fiction.
Quick! Name two countries which were invaded by the United States, have approximately 28 million people, and still have no democratic government! The easy one is Iraq. The other one is Afghanistan, which will be denied free and fair elections until summer 2004. Or maybe later. It depends.
The UN Special Representative to the war-shattered country, Lakhdar Brahimi, said if security improved to a reasonable level, it would be possible to hold presidential elections "by the end of next summer".
He said if the conditions were not right, the polls, supposed to take place next June, should be delayed.
The other half of the article mentions the quiet little fact that the Taliban are making a comeback. Now isn't that embarassing, the US being in Afghanistan since October 7, 2001 and still no democratic government, elections, capture of Osama bin Laden or Mullah Omar, no control over the borders, warlords fighting each other and oh yeah, the supposedly "evil" Taliban with no technology, no tanks, no helicopters and no GPS handheld units are somehow making a comeback.
About the only thing successful in Afghanistan is the magic trick called "outpouring of millions of US taxpayer dollars with almost nothing to show for it". Did you know that US Special Forces are "President" Karzai's bodyguards? That's because he can't find any Afghanis who can be trusted to not kill him.
Speaking of fake democracies, the battle of words is heating up in Venezuela as opposition leaders are planning huge protests if despot Chavez does not agree to a recall election next year. Using baseball analogies:
Chavez claims the opposition resorted to fraud during the recent drive to collect signatures for a presidential recall vote that would be held next year.
On Sunday, Chavez vowed to personally review every signature -- by some estimates, more than 3 million -- and said he would reject any that he considers fake, even if the National Elections Council decides they are legitimate.
"I would lay the bat down at home plate and say 'There's no game,'" Chavez said. "They must convince me, signature by signature ... for there to be a game."
Opposition leaders claim at least 3.6 million people signed the presidential recall petition -- well above the 2.4 million needed to trigger a vote.
They plan to turn in the signatures by next week. The elections council would then have 30 days to verify the petitions and decide whether to authorize a vote.
It would take President Chavez over 34 straight days to read all 3 million signatures if he worked 24 hours a day and only spent 1 second on comparing each signature.
Police put the beat down on students demonstrating against the government in Haiti. The students were demanding the resignation of Jean-Bertrande Aristide, the puppet president installed by force when US soldiers landed on the island in 1994. Bon soir!
Meanwhile 361 human beings from Haiti were turned away at sea by the US Coast Guard and forcibly repatriated in the miserably poor and wretched Caribbean country.
Click on the link for an interesting insight into the US-supported, oil rich dictatorship of Saudi Arabia.
Looking for some good free market uranium? You're in luck because The Ukraine has some for sale!
The kindly oil rich nation of Norway is now paying for commercials that run on Kosovo TV. The advertisements all say "Don't come to Norway because you're not welcome!".
Tragedy: Scores of people have fallen ill in Italy after drinking bottled mineral water(it). For a picture of a fun-loving Italian police officer (carabiniero) investigating the case, click here.
Some good news from the oil rich African nation of Angola as the ruling political party, the MPLA, have agreed to ratify the new constitution and approve general elections next year.
It looks like big trouble for Prime Minister Jacques Chirac of France as a new poll reveals 2/3rds would not vote for him in the next election(fr). Chirac was elected to a second five year term in 2002.
It looks like a political witch-hunt is going on in the country of Zambia as the democratically-elected former President, Frederick Chiluba, is going to be on trial starting December 16 on charges of theft from state funds.
Dressed in a beige suit, the former president occasionally read from a small blue Bible as four witnesses -- a judge, two former civil servants and a civil engineer -- testified against him. About 200 people filled the courtroom, while others leaned in the windows to follow the case.
Chiluba, a former bus [driver], rose to the presidency in 1991, defeating Zambia's founding leader Kenneth Kaunda, who had been in power for 26 years following independence from Britain.
After a peaceful transition, Zambia was heralded as a model of democracy in Africa. At first, Chiluba expanded civil and political rights. Despite repeated promises to step down when his second term ended, Chiluba flirted with changing the constitution to allow a third run. The move angered many Zambians and he was forced to retire.
The shadowy US envoy Richard "Dick" Miles met with the US-financed and US-supported state minister of Georgia, Zurab Zhvania in a closed-door session. The session ended and Mr. Zhvania was smiling a really big smile.
Mr.Miles told journalists that with Zhvani he spoke about the details of the financial aid, which the United States' government will assist Georgia to conduct presidential elections and implement various programs.
As reported in an earler World Update, the US is giving the three people ruling Georgia at the moment approximately 5 million (of US taxpayer money) dollars in what I like to call "walking around money". Another 2 million of US taxpayer money will pay to finance Saakashvili's election.
Georgia meanwhile is angry with Russia because it has made a new visa arrangement with the breakaway Georgian republic of Adjaria. To get to the other two breakway republics, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, you already need a Russian visa and trying to bring a Georgian visa will do you no good.
It looks like George Bush's friends in the government in Australia are paying up because the country has just agreed to to join the lunatic "missile defense program". I honestly have no idea who on earth who would want to shoot missiles into Australia.
More evidence of superpower bullying as the United States has rejected a plan put forth by North Korea to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for some energy assistance from the US. Gee, I guess because Clinton did something similar, Bush cannot agree to it. The North Koreans, despite all their nuclear bluster, seem desperate to try to get some help for their impoverished country without losing face.
More superpower bullying as the US is now fingerprinting every citizen in Russia who is applying for a visa, even just for tourism purposes.
U.S. Embassy officials started taking fingerprints of Russians hoping to visit the United States on Tuesday, in a security measure that might exacerbate an already tense issue in U.S.-Russian relations and raises the specter of a tit-for-tat response.
This cute little Siberian tiger cub was born on October 7 in the Nuremburg Zoo in Germany.
For the all the latest, including an in-depth research piece into the missing "dirty bomb" missiles in Moldova, check out the old blog.
Pax!