Semantics

VOA

A senior U.S. diplomat says "ethnic cleansing" is underway in Kenya's Rift Valley in the aftermath of last month's disputed presidential election, but she says the violence does not rise to the level of genocide.

What exactly is the difference between 'ethnic cleansing' and 'genocide'? And, if there is a difference, what is the purpose of a 'senior U.S. diplomat' pointing out the difference in this particular case? Will it determine the appropriate response from the U.S.?
One is entitled to demand, that the origins of the violence be properly addressed, as well as the responsibilities of the democratically elected (?) government of Kenya, those of the political opposition and of the international community. But what am I complaining about?! As we can see above, serious talks are taking place while, to quote a phrase, the people suffer.

Suharto dies: we should cry?

DemocracyNow!
DemocracyNow! 12/11/1997
Allan Nairn


It turns out the uplifting feeling I experienced when the anti-(Irak)war, fluent-chinese-speaking, environmentally-friendly Kevin Rudd was elected in Australia may have been quite naive.

What a pity President Carter wasn't as aware, in the late Seventies, of the 'situation' in East Timor as he is today of the 'situation' the Palestinians are in. Does that mean, I wonder, that a president today ought to have more information than three decades ago? In that case, there is hope. Or does it mean, that a president has less information than the rest of us? In that case, we're f***ed.

U.S. 'disability claims' from Iraq and Afghanistan reaches 245,034

The Pentagon officially reported 72,043 battlefield casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan through Jan. 5, 2008. In addition, VA hospitals and clinics have treated 263,909 unplanned patients from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. On top of that, VA reported 245,034 disability claims from veterans of the two wars. Those are some of the disturbing new statistics released by the group Veterans for Common Sense which gathered that data through use of the Freedom of Information Act (typical of the rest of its secrecy, the Bush Administration doesn't just release this information to the public as a matter of course).

For obvious reasons the spotlight is usually placed on figures that report the number of tragic deaths from the two conflicts. However as the above data shows, the number of non fatal casualties is staggering, 245,034 disability claims! The sheer volume of families affected by this conflict both in Iraq, Afghanistan and the U.S. is beyond belief.

Terror in Gaza

Haaretz

The Israeli human rights organizations Adalah and Gisha yesterday petitioned the High Court of Justice for an urgent interim injunction to prevent Israel from continuing to restrict the industrial diesel oil supply to the Gaza Strip. They said the shortage deriving from Israel's deliberate cuts in recent weeks culminated in the dramatic closure of the border crossings on Friday. The power cuts caused a shortage of drinking water and damage to the hospitals' function already on January 5, when Gaza's electric power's production was cut by 30 percent. But the High Court of Justice dismissed their request.

Bypassing the blockage of nations

From the BBC

Solving the world's environmental ills may mean re-thinking the role of nations and national governments

'And before anyone hits the comments form at the bottom of the page to say this is just the sort of leftist, neo-socialist, anti-libertarian, collectivist rubbish they would expect from a BBC environment correspondent, I want to emphasise that I am certainly not advocating some kind of global government'...

Here

Bush calls for contiguous, sovereign and independent Palestinian state

US President George W Bush has said Israel must end its occupation of some Arab land to enable the creation of a viable Palestinian state.

He also urged a solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees that would involve paying them compensation. It is thought to be Mr Bush's strongest public statement pressing Israel to give up land it seized in the 1967 war.



He was speaking in Jerusalem following two days of separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He has been trying to encourage the two sides into peace talks, and says he wants a peace deal signed by the time he leaves office in January 2009.

Mr Bush said in a statement: "It is vital that each side understands that satisfying the other's fundamental objectives is key to a successful agreement."

He said this would require:

A secure recognised and defensible borders for Israel

A viable, contiguous, sovereign and independent Palestinian state

He added: "Agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people."

Article from the BBC

The saying 'give a million monkeys a million typewriters and a thousand years and they'll give you Shakespeare' comes to mind. Well it appears that if you give George Bush enough time eventually he will say something sensible! It is a rare, yet notable occasion when this site gives praise to this current U.S. President but this is one such occasion. Will his words bring forth change... almost certainly not, but we will see...

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Iranian TV: Pentagon Video, Audio Fake

Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of fabricating video and audio released by the Pentagon showing Iranian boats confronting U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.



The video from Sunday's incident shows small Iranian boats swarming around U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz. In the recording, a man speaking in heavily accented English threatened, "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes.''

"The footage released by the U.S. Navy was compiled using file pictures and the audio has been fabricated,'' an official in Iran's Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying by the state-run English-language channel Press TV.

State TV did not give the name of the Revolutionary Guard official and did not offer more details about how the official knew the footage was ``fabricated.''

Source

The video footage can be seen Here

I have seen more provocative acts of naval aggression the last time I went to the Seaside. Take away the audio and you are left with two men in a small boat. It would not surprise me if the audio was faked, but assuming that it's genuine then it seems we are left with what looks like a juvenile prank.

Why U.S. strategy on Iran is crumbling

'Everywhere you turn, it is the policy of Iran to foment instability and chaos," Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Gulf dignitaries in Bahrain last month. But in reality, everywhere you turn, from Qatar to Saudi Arabia to Egypt, you now see Iranian leaders shattering longstanding taboos by meeting cordially with their Arab counterparts.

The Gulf has moved away from American arguments for isolating Iran. American policymakers need to do the same.

Continue reading at the Source.

Common sense at last? Or simply a lack of any reasonable cause?

Unicef report: 'Little respite for Iraq’s children'

' An estimated two million children in Iraq continue to face threats including poor nutrition, disease and interrupted education'.





'Iraqi children were frequently caught in the crossfire of conflict throughout 2007. Insecurity and displacement continues to cause hardship for many in the most insecure parts of the country and further eroded access to quality essential services country-wide. Iraq remains volatile; however conditions begin to allow for more a concerted effort to deliver assistance'.

“Iraqi children are paying far too high a price,” said Roger Wright, UNICEF’s Special Representative for Iraq. “While we have been providing as much assistance as possible, a new window of opportunity is opening, which should enable us to reach the most vulnerable with expanded, consistent support. We must act now.”

Available information from different sources shows that:

Children in remote and hard-to-reach areas were frequently cut off from health outreach services.

Only 20 per cent outside Baghdad had working sewerage in their community, and access to safe water remains a serious issue.

An average 25,000 children per month were displaced by violence or intimidation, their families seeking shelter in other parts of Iraq.

By the end of the year, approximately 75,000 children had resorted to living in camps or temporary shelters (25 per cent of those newly-displaced since the Samarra shrine bombing in February 2006).

Hundreds of children lost their lives or were injured by violence and many more had their main family wage-earner kidnapped or killed.

Approximately 1,350 children were detained by military and police authorities, many for alleged security violations.

Only 28 per cent of Iraq’s 17 year olds sat their final exams in summer, and only 40 per cent of those sitting exams achieved a passing grade (in south and central Iraq).

Many of 220,000 displaced children of primary school age had their education interrupted, adding to the estimated 760,000 children (17 per cent) already out of primary school in 2006'.

Source

Television is not the truth!

'A movie made many years ago that perfectly describes the situation today about television and the main stream media. It resonates louder and sounds more accurate today than it did when the movie was made'.

24,000 civilian Iraqi deaths in 2007 - report

US-LED coalition and paramilitary forces in Iraq were responsible for some 24,000 violent civilian deaths in 2007, according to an independent group monitoring casualties in the war-ravaged country.




The Iraq Body Count (IBC) whose figures are tallied from media reports, morgue and hospital data, non-governmental and other sources, said in a report that there were between 22,586 and 24,159 violent civilian deaths in Iraq during the past year.

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007

'Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world that is published by Reporters Without Borders for the sixth year running'.


'There were slightly fewer press freedom violations in the United States (48th) and blogger Josh Wolf was freed after 224 days in prison. But the detention of Al-Jazeera’s Sudanese cameraman, Sami Al-Haj, since 13 June 2002 at the military base of Guantanamo and the murder of Chauncey Bailey in Oakland in August mean the United States is still unable to join the lead group'.

Check out the position of your country on the list here.

This report has been out for quite a while now, but I was unable to post it at the time of release. I feel that it is important to keep up with these yearly reports as we did in back in 2006 and 2005.