All cultures are not equal #2

07/09/2012  TheWashington Post

Searching for the child bride: Story behind the story

By Sudarsan Raghavan

When I arrived in Maradi, a sleepy town in southern Niger, I knew immediately that it would be difficult to find victims of forced child marriages. This region has one of the highest rates of such unions in the world, but efforts by the government to curb them had driven the centuries-old practice underground. Parents had become reluctant to publicize child marriages, fearing they could face a jail sentence.

When I spoke with the head government child protection officer in Maradi, she informed me that she had heard of only one recent case: a 12-year-old girl who jumped inside a well and severely injured herself after learning that her parents was going to marry her to a much older man.

The family lived in a village about a two-hour drive away. But when we reached there, the girl said she was 17, and her parents and tribal elders claimed she jumped into the well because she was mentally ill. It was a dead end. So we drove back to Maradi.

But I knew that the practice was so widespread, that if I spoke with enough people, knocked on enough doors, I would find cases. I enlisted the help of local agencies working with abused children, the child protection officer of the United Nations Children’s Fund, and visited the regional hospital. Over the next four days, we managed to find the girls who are portrayed in today’s story.

Balki Souley is one of the 25,000 girls under the age of 18 who are married every day worldwide. According to the Thomson Reuters service TrustLaw, the top 10 worst countries for child marriage, by percentage of women 20-24 years old who are married before they reach 18, are:

1. Niger, 75 percent

2. Chad, 72 percent

3. Mali, 71 percent

4. Bangladesh, 66 percent

5. Guinea, 63 percent

6. Central African Republic, 61 percent

7. Mozambique, 52 percent

8. Nepal, 51 percent

9. Malawi, 50 percent

10. Ethi­o­pia, 49 percent

All cultures are not created equal.

Niger leads world in childhood marriage

Nearly three-quarters of Nigerian girls are married by age 18. Of the 10 countries with the highest rates of childhood marriage, eight are in Africa. Niger, with a population of more than 17 million, is one of the world's fastest growing nations. Read related article.

Sources: Population Reference Bureau; United Nations World Population Prospects, 2011. The Washington Post.Published on July 9, 2012, 8:32 p.m.

While the World Withers

While the world teeters uncomfortably on a precipice - on one side a near all out genocide in various countries, and on the other tyrants controlling their people like cannibals control their lunch before preparation.

Mali has turned into a very unstable area.  A coup on March 22 has further exacerbated the problems.  In the north, rebels (read this as Islamic extremists - Tuareg) are advancing on government forces, and at this time Timbuktu has fallen to the rebels.  It seems the government forces are ill equipped and unable to stop the advance of the Islamic forces from the north headed by a former general as well as many soldiers from the Libyan military.

In Syria, apparently peace initiatives have been accepted by Assad.  The US has taken the firm step of declaring that Assad must go.  Hillary Clinton stated on April 1, that "the world will not waiver, Assad must go."   The US government has recognized the Syrian National Council, as representing all Syrians.  It also urged Syrian soldiers to disobey any orders to kill or injure civilians.

Assad cannot go so easily.  There is a great deal more at stake than simply Assad.  Iran is involved, al qaida is involved, the Baath party, the Assad family comes from a tribe that would not only lose power but would be punished by whatever came next.  There is still much bloodshed to follow.  Much.

And our Secretary of State says nothing when she opens her mouth except rubbish.  Those people who have been oppressed and arrested and those killed - the retribution without a stable government would be similar to what existed in Iraq (although not as extreme as between Shia and Sunni).

The winner for this will be al qaida (and I lump loosely all fundamental extremist Islamic groups into this label) and or hizbollah.  If hizbollah wins, Iran wins.  If al qaida wins - everyone loses.  The other option is for Assad to hold on to limited power and an elected parliament take actual power.  This option would forestall total bloodshed and Syria turning into an al qaida outpost or Iranian province.

In the Sudan, the juvenile attempt by the UN to create peace where none can exist.  Sudan had been in the grips of a genocide by the northern Islamic forces seeking to destroy and eliminate all non-muslim peoples.  It was, according to the UN, about water - which is not true.  Think OIL and you would be closer.  They had an election and separated.  There is the North (capital at Khartoum) controlled by Islamic forces, and the South (capital at Juba), controlled by Christian and animist forces.  According to those deluded enough to believe - everyone would get along famously after the division, but alas war continues and potential for a return to the genocide of the 90s and early part of the 21st century is near.

Yemen is another area that has not stabilized - kidnappings and assassinations are common.  Al qaida is responsible for both and in once case, a military base was attacked near a town called Zinijibar where 180 soldiers were killed and 70 abducted.    According to the UN, 3 million or so people are in need of aid.  This has the potential to turn into something much worse.

In Tunis, Islamic forces (again, al qaida as the label I use - Islamic extremist / fundamentalist groups) are pressuring the government through Islamic elected representatives to implement Islamic law and move toward a more centrally directed Islamic state.

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood (al qaida by my labeling) has ... gasp ... broken a promise (which was never a promise anyway ... to not seek control / power by involvement in presidential elections.  Gasp ... who actually believed them when they initially lied.  They lied when it suited them, when the forces aligned against Mubarek and now that all of his power and those fingers on the buttons in Egypt are out of the way, the Islamists will seize control spreading al qaida throughout North Africa. and down the Eastern coast.

The rift between Islamists and secular parties in Egypt deepened. Five parties accused the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist al-Nour party of dominating the 100-member panel tasked with drafting a new constitution. Boycotting the panel they promised to establish a parallel body to produce their own document.

Friction between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces also increased, with the Brotherhood threatening to topple the current government and warning of a second revolution if the military fails to relinquish power.   The military held power to ensure control over the rising Islamic tide and to pacify European and Western concerns over Islamic influence.  If the military gave up control and the Muslim Brotherhood seized control, the assassination of President Sadat will be complete.  The peace between Israel and Egypt would end and the world would be left with an Islamic power in Egypt that has never held power in Egypt in over 11 centuries.

In Afghanistan, the calm has slowly returned after 17 people were murdered by a US soldier.  According to figures available, more than 15 NATO forces have been murdered by Afghan soldiers turning their guns on them.  The US paid off the victims and their families.  No one paid off the NATO soldiers murdered by Taliban/al qaida instructed/supported/directed Afghan soldiers.

In Ethiopia and Eritrea, problems mounted.  While it seems like it is a world away from the US and our lives here, this unstable area could turn into a conflagration we will be forced to intervene in as the problem is not limited to the two African countries.   Ethiopian troops attacked military bases in Eritrea, claiming they were being used to train insurgents operating in the Afar region. Eritrea accused Ethiopia  of trying to divert attention from the dispute over their common border, and called on the UN to take action against Ethiopia.

Civil war and unrest after the first round of presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau.  The current Prime Minister took the lead with 49 per cent of votes. His opponents denounced fraud in the vote, and vow to boycott the run-off, scheduled for 18 April.  There have been assassinations and kidnappings and just hours after polling closed, the former head of their spy police was assassinated.  Shortly thereafter, the ex-army Chief of Staff asked for refuge in the EU compound in Bissau. 

In China, the ever tolerant regime has arrested six people and shut 16 websites after rumours were spread that military vehicles were on the streets of Beijing.  Doubtful those six people will ever see daylight again and probably many more arrests will follow.  This is what the world could expect from a China in control.

Russia is another explosion waiting to happen.  Obama promising to give to Russia codes for the missile defense system that protects Eastern European countries.  Those eastern European countries are now realizing the Obama administration is tossing them under the Russian bear and they do not like it at all.  Our relations with several countries have already been damaged.  The Polish government has started started leaking details about CIA prisons to embarrass the Obama administration, and the Ukraine has turned from the West and is now trying to make friends with Russia.  It seems that Obama is turning over the Eastern European nations to Russia just as we did in 1945.   Those countries are not happy and they will demonstrate their displeasure with increased disdain for the US. 

This disdain will further embolden Obama - his mantra that we (the US) are not special will further complete this world view - no one will care what we think or say about anything, thereby weakening US foreign policy and world respect for the US.

It is amazing what damage he has done in his 3.5 years.  Doubled the debt, weakened alliances, destroyed several alliances, and divided the US even more.  More jobs have gone abroad, our economy is bankrupt and he plows ahead with programs that will ensure we remain bankrupt.  Meanwhile Islamic forces move across the North of Africa and through the Middle East, toppling governments and installing extremist Islamic regimes.  The Arab Spring that liberals made such a deal about, the spread of freedom and such across North Africa and into the Middle East was actually the Spring of Islamic resurgence, not freedom.  Anyone who believed otherwise was not fully aware of the details and the events on the ground.












obama

Mali Coup: Me Wonders Why?

AP Interview: Mali coup head dismisses countercoup

By MARTIN VOGL, Associated Press

March 24, 2012

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's U.S.-trained coup leader said Saturday he is in control of the country, has no fears of a countercoup and wants peace talks with the rebels whose northern rebellion was the trigger that led him to oust a democratically elected president.

Capt. Amadou Sanogo, who appeared exhausted, his voice hoarse, stressed the importance of unity for the West African nation in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press at Kati garrison outside Bamako, the capital. What started there Wednesday as a mutiny of low-ranking officers and rank-and-file soldiers turned into a full-blown coup d'etat.

"Tuareg people in the north, Arab people, are our brothers. ... I want all of them to come to the same table right after this interview, my door is open, we should talk about this process," Sanogo said.

Sanogo's ouster Wednesday of President Ahmed Toumani Toure just five weeks before he was to step down after presidential elections threatens the cause of democracy in a region prone to coups and jeopardizes Mali's standing at the heart of the Western-backed fight against Africa's thriving wing of al-Qaida.

The European Union, the World Bank and the African Development Bank all have suspended aid because of the coup, and the African Union has suspended the country's membership. The United States is considering suspending all but humanitarian aid.

"Right now I'm in control of all the country," Sanogo, 39, said confidently.

But rebels seeking to create a separate state in northern Mali for the nomadic Tuareg people have taken advantage of the power vacuum to advance to the gates of the strategic northern town of Kidal. Soldiers are deserting by the dozens while others are retreating without a fight amid disarray in the army command, a senior rebel commander told the AP on Thursday. The rebels are led by battle-hardened colonels who fought in the army of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi before returning home heavily armed.

Mali's land borders and airspace remained closed Saturday, trapping thousands of visitors including three African foreign ministers who were there for a meeting. The country has been under a curfew since the coup.

Sanogo would not say where Toure is, or even if he knows his whereabouts.

"As a soldier, I have my secrets," is all he would say.

Pushed about whether Toure is protected by any soldiers, he said "Not even one."

He was contradicted by one officer who told the AP that a handful of the red-bereted parachutists who made up the presidential guard remain with the toppled leader. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The African Union also said Thursday that it has information that Toure is safe, under the protection of Red Berets at a location not far from Bamako.

Sanogo, however, claimed the Red Berets were with him, and at least three soldiers in his office at Kati garrison sported red berets.

The putschists have also arrested at least three Cabinet ministers, but the whereabouts of Defense Minister Gen. Sadio Gassama are unknown.

Sanogo says he acted Wednesday to avert a national security crisis because the government was not providing the arms and ammunition needed to fight the rebels, who have killed scores of soldiers.

On Friday, state radio and TV went dead for about an hour and troops set up barricades around its downtown headquarters, raising speculation that a countercoup was in progress. Rumors coursed that Sanogo was wounded, even dead.

But the television station flickered back to life, and later showed Sanogo in a room of soldiers wearing different uniforms and berets, which the coup leader said indicated they were members of the police, the paramilitary gendarmerie and the Red Berets. It was a show of unity meant to dispel reports of a divided army.

When asked about a countercoup, Sanogo calmly responded: "To be honest, I don't fear."

The Africa Command of the U.S. Defense Department confirmed that Sanogo received basic officer training in the United States as well as participating in several other training programs there.

State TV and radio on Saturday repeated warnings for soldiers to stop the pillaging that began Friday, when soldiers were stealing everything from people's cars to bananas being sold by vendors on street corners.

State TV and radio were also broadcasting a communique urging gas stations to reopen. They had closed because soldiers had been ordering their vehicles refilled without payment.

Saturday morning, major stores and the city's downtown market remain shuttered. People fearful of more trouble rushed around small grocery stores and roadside vendors to stock up on food supplies. Cars returned to the streets as the looting subsided.

Sanogo played down any chaos.

"People are starting with their daily life, the market is open, transportation has been going on now. I believe I am getting closer to what I promised to my people," he said.

But he has offered no clear agenda.

"I'm scared to say it but it must be said: We can never put our confidence in a young soldier with a gun," said Kalifa Keita, 30, who was buying goods from a street vendor in downtown Bamako. "The problem is that these things take time to resolve, and that makes me afraid."

This week's coup represents a major setback for the nation of 15.4 million at the bottom of the Sahara desert. Although Toure initially took power in a 1991 coup, he became known as the "Soldier of Democracy" because he handed power to civilians, and retreated from public life. Years later he re-emerged to win the 2002 election and was re-elected in 2007.

A dozen candidates were running in the April 29 vote, which is now in jeopardy.

 











mali

Chinese Conquest

Conservation groups have said the spike in poaching and illegal ivory trade in Africa was a direct consequence of China's investment drive into the continent and as the demand for ivory, used in jewelry and ornaments, grows in Asia.







china

Obama and Libya: Now he is sending in US forces

Yesterday it was the revelation that the US was arming the opposition to Kaddafi.  Today, US forces are on the ground in Libya.  Whether it is 3 or 30 - US forces are on the ground in Libya, involved in an internal issue unrelated to our national interests or security.  And the authorization for this is?   The dictator of this sandbox has wmd nor does he want them.  He did not pay a hit team to try to assassinate a former president, he did not use biological weapons on his people ... he was a dictator - a common variety, of which most of the Middle East has an oversupply. 

The Libyans did not attack us, did not send killers in planes, did not fund terrorism, did not provide aid and comfort to terrorists who had attacked the US ... Kaddafi did NOTHING.    He wasn't even the worst member of OPEC.  Now we are pulled into something we must either push through and ensure Kaddafi is gone or it blowsback on us, and Europe, in a very unflattering manner.






Libya rebels glad and wary of U.S. support, defection


By Alexander Dziadosz and Angus MacSwan
Reuters
March 31, 2011

NEAR BREGA/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Rebels massed for a counter-attack against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in eastern Libya on Thursday, both encouraged by and wary of news of covert U.S. support and his foreign minister's defection.

"We are beginning to see the Gaddafi regime crumble," rebel spokesman Mustafa Gheriani said in the eastern town of Benghazi, while stopping short of welcoming fugitive foreign minister Moussa Koussa, a former spy chief, into the rebel fold.

Analysts agreed the defection of Koussa, who flew to London on Wednesday, was a blow to Gaddafi whose forces have gained ground in recent days. It did not, however, reduce the risk of greater government violence.

Despite almost two weeks of Western air strikes, Gaddafi's troops have used superior arms and tactics to push back rebels trying to edge westward along the coast from their eastern stronghold of Benghazi toward the capital Tripoli.

News that U.S. officials told Reuters that President Barack Obama had authorized covert operations in Libya raised the prospect of wider support for the rebels.

Experts assume special forces are on the ground "spotting" targets for air strikes. Public confirmation from Washington may indicate a willingness for greater involvement.

The rebels, whose main call is for weapons -- not authorized yet by Washington because of a U.N. arms embargo which NATO says it is enforcing -- said they knew nothing about Western troops in Libya and that too big a foreign role could be damaging.

"It would undermine our credibility," Gheriani said.

U.N. RESOLUTION

Obama's order is likely to further alarm countries already concerned that air strikes on infrastructure and ground troops by the United States, Britain and France go beyond a U.N. resolution with the expressed aim only of protecting civilians.

"I can't speak to any CIA activities but I will tell you that the president has been quite clear that in terms of the United States military there will be no boots on the ground," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

The top Vatican official in the Libyan capital cited witnesses on Thursday saying at least 40 civilians had been killed in Western air strikes on Tripoli.

NATO said it was investigating but had no confirmation of the report. Libya's state news agency, citing military sources, said Western air strikes had hit a civilian area in the capital overnight, but did not mention casualties.

Rebels said Gaddafi loyalists had killed 38 civilians over the past two days alone in Misrata, the only town in western Libya still under rebel control. "Massacres are taking place in Misrata," a rebel spokesman called Sami said by telephone.

Britain said it was focusing air strikes around Misrata, which has been under siege from government forces for weeks. Rebels say snipers and tank fire have killed dozens of people.

About 1,000 people are believed to have been killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of Gaddafi since the uprising against his 41-year-old rule began on February 17, the British government said.

The rag-tag forces fighting Gaddafi say they desperately need more arms and ammunition to supplement supplies grabbed from government depots. The United States, France and Britain have raised the possibility, but say no decision has been taken.

NATO, which took over formal command of the air campaign on Thursday, said it would enforce a U.N. arms embargo on all sides: "We are there to protect the Libyan people, not to arm the people," NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Stockholm.

More Western military help may strengthen the rebels on the battlefield but at the price of a propaganda boost for Gaddafi, quick to portray his foes as lackeys of the West.

Rebels driven back by a hail of rocket fire to a spot outside the eastern oil town of Brega, where there were clashes at dawn, were keen to stress they would fight on with or without Western help, despite their military setback this week.

"God willing there will be more air strikes today, but we will advance no matter what," said Muneim Mustafa, a fighter with an AK-47 rifle slung over his shoulder.

DEFECTION

They were also wary of any attempt by Koussa to negotiate immunity, saying Gaddafi and his entourage must be held accountable: "We want to see them brought to justice," senior rebel national council official Abdel Hameed Ghoga told Reuters.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Koussa was not being offered immunity but encouraged others around Gaddafi to follow suit. "Gaddafi must be asking himself who will be the next to abandon him," he told a news conference.

That question was answered soon afterwards when former Libyan foreign minister Ali Abdussalam Treki -- appointed by Gaddafi to replace his U.N. ambassador, who defected in February -- refused to take up the job.

Treki condemned the "spilling of blood," his nephew said in a statement send to Reuters.

While British officials hope Koussa will provide military and diplomatic intelligence, Scottish officials and campaigners want him to shed light on the 1988 Pan Am airliner bombing over Lockerbie in Scotland, which killed 259 people, mostly Americans, on the plane and 11 on the ground.

Pamela Dix, whose brother was among those killed said if Libya was responsible for Lockerbie then Koussa was too, adding: "he should not be a free man in this country.

Analysts agree Koussa's defection is significant but note Gaddafi's inner circle consists of family members who may resort to more violence to stay in power.

A government spokesman said Gaddafi and all his sons would stay "until the end."

Libya's top oil official said on Thursday he remained in Tripoli and the country was continuing to produce some oil, although output was much reduced. Shipping industry sources say oil shipments from Libya are at a standstill.

Gates said Gaddafi's removal was "not part of the military mission" by coalition forces and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Western military action would not oust him.

"It is not through actions of war that we can make Gaddafi leave, but rather through strong international pressure to encourage defections by people close to him," Frattini said.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
libya

China: rare minerals are all mine

Now where might China have gotten these minerals from?





Lack of 'Rare Earth' Minerals Could Cause Major Problems


Ira Mellman September 27, 2010
VOA


Although they deny it, many around the world are saying that the Chinese have curtailed or halted the supply of what are called "rare earth materials" to Japan, in apparent retaliation for Japan's refusal to issue an apology in its dispute with China over a detained fishing boat captain. No matter the reason, the reduction in the supply of these materials could cause major problems not only in Japan, but around the world.

China mines 93 percent of these rare earth materials, which sell for several hundred dollars a pound. Most of the sales are to Japan. Japan then uses these materials to produce products ranging from making glass for solar panels to the motors used by hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius.

“These are things that some folks in the industry refer to as 'technology metals'," said Jeff Green, a Washington lobbyist trying to coax Congress to make it more affordable for US companies to get back into the mining of these rare earth materials. "These are things that make magnets stronger, make electronics smaller and things move faster, so they are really the next generation of high performance metals. Without these, things like your iPhone wouldn’t be as small as it is and wind turbines wouldn’t produce the power that they do.”

At one time, it was the United States that lead the world in the production of these rare earth materials. But the mines have closed.

Jeff Green says the problem was, and still is the cost of these mining operations. He says the cost of starting such a mining operation now is about half a billion dollars.

Green says there is another reason there is no movement in new mine startups. "The problem in this market is that the Chinese are so dominant that anyone who invests that type of money in the market faces the problem of what the industry saw in the nineties, and that was where a flood of the materials would be dumped on the market, driving the price down, which would upset the economics of those outside of China trying to invest in the system." So, says Green, it’s really the manipulation of this market by the Chinese that makes this a particularly difficult business to get into.

In Beijing, the government controlled China Daily newspaper reports there are 40 percent cuts in export quotas of the rare earth materials for the second half of this year from last. It quotes a rare earth material expert there as saying the reduced quotas have nothing to do with China's dispute with Japan.

The report says due to the need to keep more of the materials for its own use, the export supply has basically been exhausted, meaning China can't export any not only to Japan but to Europe or the United States either.

Lobbyist Jeff Green says the reduction or elimination of the supply of rare earth material would have a major effect, not only on Japan but on the United States as well.

“Certain defense systems may not have material available. For example, guided missiles, radar, all kinds of defense systems. Really it’s difficult to name a system that doesn’t have some kind of rare earths. We’re very concerned about the supply material to support the building and construction of those systems."

Green adds "It also could have grave economic impacts. If you look at the United States trying to go to a renewable energy standard of 20 percent by 2030, there currently isn’t the rare earth material available to build those wind turbines to help build that economy. So, unless the U.S. comes online, we really can’t ever get to a renewable energy standard set forth by the administration.”

Last week, a US House committee agreed and approved a bill that would, among other things, provide loan guarantees for US companies wishing to start up rare earth material mining. Committee Chairman Bart Gordon said it was essential for the United States to start providing its own rare earth materials.During the Committee's markup hearing, Representative Gordon (D-TN) said “I believe it would be foolish to stake our national defense and our economic security on China’s good will, or hope that it will choose to compete in a fair and open global marketplace for rare earth. The stakes are simply too high.”

The US Defense Department is compiling a report on the national security impact of US dependence on the Chinese provided materials and this week, a Senate committee will probe the issue as well.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
china

Ivory Coast: Brink of Genocide

Ivory Coast on brink of 'genocide,' says envoy



December 30, 2010

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Political unrest following Ivory Coast's disputed presidential election has brought the West African country to the "brink of genocide," its new ambassador to the United Nations said.



World leaders have stepped up pressure on Laurent Gbagbo to quit in favor of Alassane Ouattara, widely recognized as having won the vote.



Youssoufou Bamba, appointed as ambassador to the United Nations by Ouattara, described him as the rightful ruler of Ivory Coast.



"He has been elected in a free, fair, transparent, democratic election. The result has been proclaimed by the independent electoral commission, certified by the U.N.," Bamba told a news conference on Wednesday.



"To me the debate is over, now you are talking about how and when Mr. Gbagbo will leave office," Bamba said.



He said there had been a "massive violation of human rights," with more than 170 people killed during street demonstrations in Ivory Coast.



"Thus, one of the messages I try to get across during the conversations I have conducted so far, is to tell we are on the brink of genocide. Something should be done," Bamba told journalists.



Bamba said he planned to meet every member of the United Nations Security Council.



"I intend to meet all the 15 members. I will meet all of them to explain to them the gravity of the situation ... We expect the United Nations to be credible and the United Nations to prevent violation and to prevent the election to be stolen from the people," Bamba said.



The November 28 election was meant to reunite Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa growing nation, after a 2002-03 civil war. But a dispute over the results has provoked lethal street clashes and threatens to restart open conflict.



The U.N. General Assembly last week recognized Ouattara as Ivory Coast's legitimate president by unanimously deciding that the list of diplomats he submitted to the world body be recognized as the sole official representatives of Ivory Coast at the United Nations.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Africa

Human Slavery: Not my fault you don't understand

Ah, she is a victim.  After all, slavery existed in Europe and Africa, Asia, and the Middle East LONG before it ever began in the Americas.  It's not our fault.  We were just trying to help them out, not enslave them.



Immigrants' lawyers using culture as crime defense


Samantha Henry, Associated Press
Wed Dec 8, 2010


.NEWARK, N.J. – The lawyer for an African woman charged with smuggling young girls from Togo to New Jersey said her trial was about cultural norms that failed to translate in America. Twelve American jurors saw it as a clear-cut example of human trafficking, and she was sentenced to 27 years in prison.



Both sides focused on the cultural nuances of the case; the defense arguing the woman was a benevolent mother figure who helped young girls escape a life of poverty; the prosecution accusing her of using the threat of African voodoo curses to keep the girls subjugated.

The case highlighted a legal strategy that experts say immigrants' defense lawyers are using increasingly in the U.S.: the argument that a defendant's actions reflect his cultural upbringing, rather than criminal intent.

"We derive meaning from action, and that meaning is very culturally laden," said Susan Bryant, a law professor at the City University of New York who provides cross-cultural training to lawyers and judges. "If you look out the window and you see someone with an umbrella, you may assume it's raining. In China, it could just as easily mean the sun is out."

Bryant said demand for cross-cultural training among legal professionals has steadily increased over the past decade.

Bukie Adetula represented the Togolese immigrant, Akouavi Kpade Afolabi, who was convicted of human trafficking and visa fraud charges at her 2009 federal trial in Newark. Prosecutors alleged Afolabi brought at least 20 girls between the ages of 10 and 19 from West African nations on fraudulent visas to New Jersey, effectively enslaving them and forcing them to work in African hair braiding salons for no pay.

Adetula argued that what prosecutors called clear-cut signs of modern slavery were considered protective measures in African culture: restricting telephone access, holding the girls' passports, and forbidding them from going out of the house unaccompanied.

"America is supposed to be a country made up of so many different cultures, so, yes, make the laws, and enforce the laws," Adetula said. "Do not make different sets of laws for different people, but look to the interpretations of acts, before you say: 'Oh, it's an offensive act, it's against the law, it amounts to human slavery."

Adetula, a Nigerian native who has been practicing law in New Jersey for more than two decades, is one of many lawyers — often immigrants themselves — who bridge the divide between their clients' cultural or religious backgrounds and the American legal system.

Raymond Wong, a lawyer in New York City's Chinatown neighborhood who has a large Asian immigrant client base, said his challenge is often twofold: explaining a client's cultural customs to Americans, while persuading foreign-born clients who prefer resolving disputes through negotiation to use the U.S. court system.

"There's a serious a lack of legal professionals in China, so all the problems are resolved by friends, relatives, people that you know," Wong said. "To them, going to court is a scary thing, getting arrested by cops is a scary thing, confrontation with authorities is a scary thing."

Defense attorney Tony Serra gained national prominence for his use of cultural defenses in two separate California cases in the 1990s where American Indians were accused of fatally shooting law enforcement officers. Serra's cultural defense tactics included using expert witnesses on American Indian culture to argue the alleged perpetrators were victims of longstanding anti-Indian racial prejudice, historical tragedies, and a deeply rooted fear of authorities. Serra's defense in the 1990 retrial of Patrick "Hooty" Croy, a Siskiyou County Indian accused of killing a Yreka, Calif., policeman, proved persuasive enough for a San Francisco jury to free Croy after 11 years on San Quentin's death row.

Prosecutors at the time derided the strategy — as critics of "culture defenses" do today — arguing that historical accounts are irrelevant to modern-day criminal cases, and a person's cultural background is no excuse for lawbreaking.

"We don't want to water down our rule of law," said Kent Scheidegger, the legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, who argues that cultural defenses, in most cases, shouldn't be considered mitigating factors.

"There are some cultures where fathers kill their daughters because they get involved with a man," Scheidegger said. "That would not be exonerating at all in my view — that's a crime and it should be punished as a crime — and punished the same as anyone else who commits that crime."

Lawyers like Adetula emphasize that factoring in someone's cultural upbringing can help juries and judges determine the degree of an offense or the severity of punishment; they say it is not meant to excuse criminal acts.

"There are aspects of American culture that may not be acceptable in other parts of the world also, and we hear stories of Americans hiking in other countries and they get arrested, or taking pictures at places where it's offensive in other countries, and getting arrested," Adetula said. "It's not a one-sided thing."





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
slavery

Egypt: Gift of the Nile. Sudan - Irony.

Imagine differing to a colonial era treaty, by a country opposed to anything Western and engaged in behavior contrary to Western principles, suddenly shaking a 1929 document about as authority.  Ironic.





Nile River row: Could it turn violent?


Jul 7, 2010 08:59 EDT
Reuters


The giggles started when the seventh journalist in a row said that his question was for Egypt’s water and irrigation minister, Mohamed Nasreddin Allam.

The non-Egyptian media gave him a bit of a hammering at last week’s talks in Addis Ababa for the nine countries that the Nile passes through.

Allam bared his teeth when a Kenyan journalist accused him of hiding behind “colonial-era treaties” giving his country the brunt of the river’s vital waters whether that hurt the poorer upstream countries or not.

“You obviously don’t know enough about this subject to be asking questions about it,” he snapped before later apologising to her with a kiss on the cheek.

Five of the nine Nile countries — Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya — last month signed a deal to share the water that is a crucial resource for all of them. But Egypt and Sudan, who are entitled to most of the water and can veto upstream dams under a 1929 British-brokered agreement, refused.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi have not signed yet either and analysts are divided on whether they will or not. Six Nile countries must sign the agreement for it to have any power but Egypt says even that wouldn’t change its mind. The five signatories — some of the world’s poorest countries — have left the agreement open for debating and possible signing for up to a year.

Tensions were clearly still running high after two days of negotiations in Addis and despite grinning around the table and constantly referring to each other as “my brother”, the ministers always seemed in danger of breaking into bickering.

When the Sudanese water minister said his country was freezing cooperation with the Nile Basin Initiative — the name given to the ten-year effort to agree on how to manage the river — Ethiopia’s water minister loudly protested to the media that his Sudanese colleague had not revealed that during their private meetings.

Highlighting the seriousness of the issue, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul Naga, arrived in Addis Ababaon Wednesday to again meet Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

It’s no surprise that the spat is getting a lot of press in both Ethiopia and Egypt.

“Egypt is a gift of the Nile,” people like to say in a country that worshipped the river as a God in ancient times. “If Egypt is a gift of the Nile, then the Nile is a gift of Ethiopia,” Ethiopians shoot back with growing confidence.

And they have a point. More than 85 percent of the waters originate in Ethiopia, which relies on foreign aid for survival and sees hydropower dams as a potential cash cow and central to its plans to become one of Africa’s only power exporters.

But Egypt is not for turning. Almost totally dependent on the Nile for its agricultural output (a third of its economy) and already worried about climate change, it is determined to hold onto its 55.5 billion cubic metres of water a year, a seemingly unfair share of the Nile’s total flow of 84 billion cubic metres.

The Egyptians point out that they don’t benefit from rains like the upstream countries. Everybody, it seems, has valid points. Nobody is budging. Now some regional analysts are even saying the row could turn into the world’s first major water war and similar thoughts are being expressed in cafes from Cairo all the way upriver to Dar es Salaam.

So what next? The nine countries are due to meet again in Nairobi sometime between September and November. But where is the way forward? Who will blink first? And who really should? Could this bickering turn violent?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
water

Culture: We are all the same, don't judge.

The virtues of other cultures.  Naturally every culture is equal.



Albino girl, 11, killed and beheaded in Swaziland ’for witchcraft’




An 11-year-old albino girl from Swaziland was shot dead in front of her friends and then beheaded in what police believe was a ritual murder.


By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg
The Telegraph
20 Aug 2010

The child had been washing clothes and bathing at a river with friends and was returning home when she was grabbed by a man wearing a balaclava.












Swaziland


As her friends looked on, the man shot her in the back before dragging her away. Her headless body was found upriver a short time later.

[There are evil men everywhere, so don't pick on Swaziland.]

The murder is the latest in a series of albino killings in Sub-Saharan Africa, where sufferers of the rare skin pigmentation condition are concentrated.


Earlier this year, another 11-year-old albino child was killed close to the same spot in Swaziland and her hand was removed.

Police believe both children may have been targeted because of a belief by witch doctors that the blood and body parts of albinos - who lack pigment in their eyes, hair and skin - can bring good luck and fortune when used in potions.

Their value for black magic practitioners sees them often fall prey to human traffickers, one of whom was jailed for 17 years in Tanzania this week for abducting and attempting to sell a live albino man.

The girl murdered in Swaziland was named locally as Banele Nxumalo. A man identified as her father, Luke Nxumalo, told The Times of Swaziland that his late uncle had also been an albino.

“What happened to my child is very painful. I wonder why albinos are targeted because they are just humans like us and a gift from God,” he said.

Yes, I am sorry but you are guilty of spying for Norway (I wonder whether there is big money in spying for Norway, and if there is, what is it Norway is spying on.  I am quite sure Congo is warm, Norway is cold.  Norway has reindeer and snow, Congo is war.  Norway has ice and cold.  Norway is warm.  Norway has 12 men in their army, Congo is warm and everyone has a machete or weapon.)  And now you must pay us 300 million and then we will shoot you.  Oh, and you don't have to pay the entire 300 million, your employer - Norway - can pay the rest.

Sounds like extortion.



DR Congo overturns death sentences for Norwegians


22 April 2010 13:27 UK
BBC


A court in Democratic Republic of Congo has overturned the death sentences passed on two Norwegians convicted of murdering their driver.

Former soldiers Joshua French, who holds joint British-Norwegian nationality, and Tjostolv Moland were also found guilty of spying for Norway. The men had been sentenced to death by firing squad.

The two men lost an appeal at a military tribunal on 3 December 2009.

They and the Norwegian state had also been ordered to pay $500m (£300m) in damages.

But a military judge said the court had not followed the correct procedures and ordered a new trial, reports the AP news agency.

Last year, Norway's foreign minister said he had been assured that the death sentences would not be carried out.

The rulings drew immediate international protests amid claims of miscarriages of justice.

Moland and French have been held since May 2009 when their Congolese driver was found shot dead.

Both men denied murdering Abedi Kasongo, 47, maintaining that he was shot and killed when their car was ambushed by gunmen on the road near the city of Kisangani.





 
 
 
 
 
Congo

Congo and Death

The Unnumbered Dead



Jan 21, 2010 08:20 EST
Reuters


The simple answer to the question of how many people died in Congo’s civil war is “too many”.

Trying to get a realistic figure is fraught with difficulties and a new report suggests that a widely used estimate of 5.4 million dead – potentially making Congo the deadliest conflict since World War Two – is hugely inaccurate and that the loss of life may be less than half that.

The aid group that came up with the original estimate unsurprisingly says the new report is wrong.

The problem is the way estimates are reached.

One way is to do a body count, but that is next to impossible in a country like the Democratic Republic of Congo. Very few of the victims are shot, blown up or otherwise die as a result of violence. Most succumb to disease or malnutrition. But then who died as a result of the war and who would have died anyway in a country where survival is normally so tough?

That is where the other methodology comes in. It is based on using the difference between the rate at which people were dying before the war and the mortality rate once it has started. It should indicate the number of those who have died as both a direct and indirect result of the war. This sort of calculation led to the figure of 5.4 million dead in Congo.

The problem is that if you get the wrong mortality rates, even by a small margin, the estimate can be way off. That is what the Human Security Report Project says happened with the Congo figures. The International Rescue Committee stands by its estimate.

Basing estimates on mortality rates can also have odd consequences – for instance mortality rates for those being helped by aid agencies can fall to below pre-war levels in places where living conditions were already very poor – meaning that not only could the death toll fall over time but in a sense more people might be alive as a result of a war.

The Congo figures have been nowhere near as controversial as calculations for Iraq or Darfur, but once figures are repeated often enough they tend to become established and treated almost as fact.

The United Nations estimate for the Darfur death toll of 300,000 is another example of how figures can enter common usage. It originally came from John Holmes, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, in April 2008.

“A study in 2006 suggested that 200,000 had lost their lives from the combined effects of the conflict. That figure must be much higher now, perhaps half as much again,” Holmes said, although he later described it as a “reasonable extrapolation”.

But because mortality rates were used in the 2006 study, the figure didn’t have to be much higher. It might even have been lower in some areas because of the immense efforts of humanitarian workers in reducing mortality rates for the millions of displaced.

While potentially wrong, such figures could have a use in drawing the eyes of the world to tragedies and finding the resources needed to end them. The question is whether, when challenged, they undermine the credibility of those who produce them? Then again, does it matter if they are wrong? Are those who challenge them at risk of harming efforts to save lives?

 
 
 
 
Congo

From the Mouth of Someone Who Knows

Freed French al Qaeda hostage tells of Mali ordeal


Fri Feb 26, 2010
VILLACOUBLAY AIR BASE, France (Reuters) - French aid worker Pierre Camatte, who returned to France on Thursday after being freed from captivity by North African al Qaeda militants, said his captors tried repeatedly to convert him to Islam.

Camatte, who looked gaunt and tired on his arrival, was seized in November and held in the desert of Mali by men calling themselves al Qaeda "mujahedeen", or fighters.

"They often came to see me to try and convert me," he told reporters on the tarmac after landing at an air base near Paris. "They want to Islamise the whole world in their own way."

Dressed in a white shirt and brown jacket that were too big for him after three months in captivity, Camatte said most of his kidnappers were under the age of 20.

"It was a jail without bars, it was simply a roof," he said. His captors would intimidate him by aiming rifles at him or miming throat-slitting, he said.

Camatte was released in an apparent prisoner swap that has angered neighbours Algeria and Mauritania. Al Qaeda threatened to kill him unless four Islamist prisoners were released by February 22. All four were freed last week.

"It's not as if freeing four Salafi Islamists will change anything, given that in the meantime they probably recruited 40 more," the former hostage said.

He learned of his imminent release only minutes before Mali's security forces arrived in the desert in a 4x4 jeep to pick him up, he said.

And they knew where to show up how?

On Wednesday night in Mali's capital of Bamako, during a press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Camatte had described how his captors would immerse themselves in the Koran for long periods of time.

"It's frightening, it's a kind of conditioning," he said.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
al qaida

Tanzania

Other cultures (of course, a few hundred people does not a culture make, nor is it an entire village plus a few hundred people a culture make ...)

 
 
 
 
I heard my albino daughter being hacked to death for her legs
 
By DAVID LOWE

13 Nov 2009
The Sun



WAKING with a start, Mary Mathias watched in horror as a stranger burst through the darkness and thrust a machete to her husband's throat.

Pleading for him to be left unharmed, the mum-of-seven's thoughts quickly turned to their three vulnerable albino daughters sleeping in the room next door.

The sickening thuds from the other side of the wall made her blood run cold.

In recent years a wave of albino killings has swept Tanzania, fuelled by witch doctors who make potions from the body parts of people with the condition.

After the gang had fled, Mary's worst fears were confirmed - she found her beloved daughter Eunice, 14, lying dead in a pool of blood with both legs hacked off.


Mary says: "I was woken by a noise in the middle of the night.

"Two men ran into our room and held a machete to my husband's throat.

"They told him they'd kill him if he looked at them and made me lie still without a sound.

"A terrible noise was coming from the children's room.

"Eventually I got up and walked next door. I saw my daughter's legs were gone.

"I realised she was dead and I couldn't stop crying."

In less than a year, 50 albinos across Tanzania have been murdered for their body parts, shattering the country's image as one of the most liberal and stable in Africa.

Convictions have been few and far between, but earlier this month campaigners celebrated four men being sentenced to death for the murder of 50-year-old albino, Lyaku Willy.

It was the first time sick body part traders had been brought to justice.


As authorities step up their fight against the racket, even family members have been discovered striking deals for body parts belonging to their own children.

Shockingly, cops investigating Eunice's death earlier this year believe it falls into this category.

Sobbing, Mary says: "My husband was arrested. He was charged with our daughter's murder and remains in custody to this day."

Unsurprisingly, Mary's other albino daughters are severely traumatised by their sister's killing, and live in fear that they'll be next.

Shida, 13, says: "People avoid us and tell us to keep away.

"They laugh and spit at us.

"I heard the sound of a machete chopping my sister.

"They said they'd kill me if I looked at them.

"The last thing I heard my sister say was 'God help me. I am dying'.
 
"I want to get away from here before we get ambushed by the albino killers.


"We just want normal lives like anyone else."

Albinos have inherited altered genes, which means they don't produce the usual amounts of the pigment, melanin.

In the UK, one in 17,000 people is born with the condition, while in Tanzania the figure is among the highest in the world at one in 1,400.

Although sufferers there have always faced discrimination, recent rumours of their magical properties have left them fighting for their lives.

Demand for albino body parts comes from various quarters including miners looking for help tracing gold and gems and fishermen who believe tying the milky white limbs to their nets will increase the catch.

Figures of £2,500 for an arm or leg are not uncommon.

Mary says: "My first albino child, Semeni, was born in 1991.

"People laughed at me and made fun of the baby.

"The villagers were afraid she was going to bring bad luck on them all, but a child is a gift from God.


"The reason Eunice is underground is nothing more than evil men seeking wealth.

"I hope Eunice's soul has gone to heaven.

"We have no protection and no help from the village.

"Every relative I have has deserted me because they disapprove of my albino children.

"When I walk with them people look down on us.

"It makes me angry - they are human beings, not dogs.

"My kids live in great fear.

"Every evening I prepare their food but they cannot eat.
 
"They say, 'The night has come. Tonight we are going to die.'"


Eunice's butchered body was laid to rest in a secret, unmarked grave.

The local council also took the precaution of encasing her coffin in concrete to deter ghoulish robbers.

As she stands over her daughter's burial place, Mary can't help but cry.

She says: "Eunice was a good child. It feels terrible to be standing at her grave side.

"I would like it to be lovely like the other pretty graves.

"It's sad to see her like that, encased in grey concrete."

The albino murders which began in Tanzania have now spread to neighbouring Congo and Burundi, where at least 12 victims have been butchered and their body parts stolen.

Because of the genetic defect that affects skin pigmentation, albinos suffer abnormally high rates of skin cancer and have ultra-sensitive eyes.

This leaves them even more vulnerable to attack and makes reading and writing extremely difficult.

Shida says: "I find it hard to open my eyes during the day.

"Outside I feel like I'm on fire.

"The sun burns my arms all over.

"I'd love to go to school and get an education. I wish I could read, but I can't."


[To read the rest, click on the title link above]













cultures

Liberia or the US

To be honest, I understand - no one likes anything thrown in their face every time they turn around. However, to be fair - our country, and the future is worth a little more than any one being annoyed that they get something thrown in their faces over and over.

We were told, regularly are told how we should bend to the will of the world - you know, bend over, and hug our neighbors, let them kick us in the face and walk all over us, because we are after all, no better than they are.

We all know what happens to women in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and the subjugation and oppression of women in Egypt and any number of other countries. We know how the minority homosexual community is treated - in nearly every Arab or Muslim state they are executed. We know how India treats the dalits. We know how China treats baby girls. We know how several Asian countries treat foreigners and dogs. We know how the Japanese have their own version of dalits in Japan, regularly discriminated against.

We know all this. We know how the Muslims in Sudan are trying hard to exterminate anyone who is not Muslim. We know this.

Yet some very simple, naive, and irresponsible people persist in the view that the US must oblige itself to all countries, bow down and beg forgiveness for eight years of Bush (even though Obama has actually doen more to damage relations than the US ever did under Bush).

We must all get along, that is true - we must work together when possible, but when not possible, we must move on our own. We must recognize that American culture and Western Civilization has provided the greatest opportunity for the freeing of man's mind and soul than any culture, civilization in the history of mankind.




Oldest boy in assault of girl to be tried as adult

by Amanda Lee Myers - Jul. 23, 2009
Associated Press

Prosecutors filed sexual assault charges against four boys ages 9 to 14, officials said Thursday, alleging they brutally attacked an 8-year-old girl after luring her to a shed with chewing gum.

Police said the girl's parents criticized her after the violence, blaming her for bringing shame on the family. All five children are refugees from the West African nation of Liberia.

The boys held the girl down while they took turns assaulting her, police said.

“She was brutally sexually assaulted for a period of about 10 to 15 minutes,” police Sgt. Andy Hill said, calling it one of the worst cases the department has investigated.

The 14-year-old boy was charged Wednesday as an adult with two counts of sexual assault and kidnapping, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said. He's being held without bond.

The other boys — ages 9, 10, and 13 — were charged as juveniles with sexual assault. The 10- and 13-year-old boys also were charged with kidnapping, the office said Thursday.

Authorities said the victim was in the care of Child Protective Services after her parents blamed her for the rapes and bringing shame to the family.

“The father told the case worker and an officer in her presence that he didn't want her back. He said Take her, I don't want her,'” Hill said.

Hill cited the family's background as the reason the family shunned the girl.

In many parts of Africa, women often are blamed for being raped for “enticing” men or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Girls who are raped often are shunned by their families.

In recent years, Liberia has made efforts to combat rape under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has sought to dispel the stigma associated with sexual assault by publicly acknowledging that she was herself the victim of attempted rape during the country's civil war.

Phoenix investigators said the boys lured the girl to an empty shed July 16 under the pretense of offering her chewing gum.

Officers responding to an emergency call reporting hysterical screams found the girl partially clothed and the boys running from the scene.

The boys were being held in a juvenile corrections facility.

“This is a deeply disturbing case that has gripped our community,” Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said in a news release Thursday. “Our office will seek justice for the young victim in this heartrending situation.”

The girl's healing process will be particularly difficult, said Paul Penzone of Childhelp, which aids young victims of crime.

“These four boys used what was a ploy to entice her to a place where they could take advantage of her almost like a pack of wolves,” he said.

“And what's so disturbing beyond the initial crime is the fact that a child needs to have somewhere to feel safe, and you would think that would be in a home with her own family,” not in state custody, Penzone said.


There are no words for this little girl, who one day ran to her father and laughed with him, talked to him about growing up, and now - has no family. Worse, she will be utterly destroyed by the state child system which chews up children and spit out alcoholics and drug addicts. Yet we are told that we should respect their culture and place it on an equal pedestal to our own.

Please.

Are you an inbred retard.











culture

Bush: Millions Saved in Africa

President’s Emergency AIDS Plan Saved 1.2 Million in Africa


By Marilyn Chase


April 6 (Bloomberg) -- The largest U.S. foreign aid program fighting the AIDS epidemic has cut the disease’s death toll by 1.2 million from 2004 to 2007 in a dozen hard-hit African countries, researchers said.


The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, started by President George W. Bush in 2003, lowered the AIDS death rate on average by 10.5 percent a year in those countries, said study author Eran Bendavid of Stanford University in a study published online today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The program’s benefits didn’t extend to preventing new infections or lowering overall prevalence of the AIDS virus.


The largest single U.S. foreign aid program for health in history, the PEPFAR program has invested most of its $18.8 billion to date in treatment for people already infected by the AIDS virus. The relief plan devoted a smaller share to prevention programs that often focused on sexual abstinence.


“Treatment has worked,” said Bendavid, a fellow in infectious diseases and health policy, in an interview. The challenge now is to make prevention “a serious component of the program in the next five years,” he added.


The epidemic has left 33 million people sickened by AIDS or infected with the virus, HIV or human immunodeficiency virus. Congress reauthorized the AIDS relief program in July 2008, boosting funding to $48 billion through 2013, broadening its disease targets to include tuberculosis and malaria and removing the focus on sexual abstinence. Plans are under way to expand recipients from the original list of 15 countries.











Bush

Blood Diamonds / Blood Gold

DiCaprio brought the issue to the screen - blood diamonds, secured by genocide or crimes against humanity and the tribes of Africa.

How about Blood Gold - we all have gold jewelry.

National Geographic, January 2009, page 51: 25% of all gold produced world wide - from the same sorts of mines and sites as the blood diamonds.

While you criticize the diamond wearer, and attack US policies for not acting (and we should) ... you wear gold.


Have a nice day.






gold

Bush and Africa

Unpopular at home, Bush basks in African praise

Sun Feb 17, 2008

By Barry Moody

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Unpopular at home and in much of the world during the last year of his presidency, George W. Bush is basking in rare adulation on his African tour.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete poured praise on Bush in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, the second day of his five-nation African tour, each compliment applauded warmly by members of the east African country's cabinet.

Although around 2,000 Muslim demonstrators protested against Bush on the eve of his visit, many thousands more cheering, waving people lined his road from the airport on Saturday.

Banners across the route, decorated with Bush's image against a backdrop of Tanzania's Mt. Kilimanjaro, read: "We cherish democracy. Karibu (welcome) to President and Mrs Bush."
Others read: "Thank you for helping fight malaria and HIV." Dancers at the airport and at Kikwete's state house to greet Bush on Sunday, wore skirts and shirts decorated with his face.

Back home, Bush is suffering some of the lowest approval ratings in his seven-year tenure and has been buffeted by criticism of his handling of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the ailing economy.

Not surprisingly he is enjoying the different reception in Africa.

Beaming repeatedly during a press conference with Kikwete, he made a point of referring to his welcome on the streets, which he described as "very moving".

Bush opened his remarks by saying "Vipi Mambo!" before turning to U.S. journalists and adding: "For the uneducated, that's Swahili for 'Howdy Y'all'" --a typical Texas greeting.

Kikwete told Bush: "The outpouring of warmth and affection from the people of Tanzania that you have witnessed since your arrival is a genuine reflection of what we feel towards you and towards the American people."

A FRIEND OF AFRICA

In a reference to Bush's domestic problems, Kikwete added: "Different people may have different views about you and your administration and your legacy.

"But we in Tanzania, if we are to speak for ourselves and for Africa, we know for sure that you, Mr. President, and your administration have been good friends of our country and have been good friends of Africa."

Although many Africans, especially Muslims, share negative perceptions of Bush's foreign policy with other parts of the world, there is widespread recognition of his successful humanitarian and health initiatives on the continent.

Bush has spent more money on aid to Africa than his predecessor, Bill Clinton, and is popular for his personal programs to fight AIDS and malaria and to help hospitals and schools.

Bush has stressed new-style partnerships with Africa based on trade and investment and not purely on aid handouts.

His Millennium Challenge Corp. rewards countries that continue to satisfy criteria for democratic governance, anti-corruption and free-market economic policies.

Bush signed the largest such deal, for $698 million, with Kikwete on Sunday.

Because of the U.S. anti-malaria program, 5 percent of patients tested positive for the disease on the offshore islands of Zanzibar in 2007 compared to 40 percent three years earlier, the Tanzanian leader said.

Bush's legacy in Africa would be saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of mothers and children who would otherwise have died from malaria or AIDS and enabling millions of people to get an education, he said.

"I know you leave office in about 12 months' time. Rest assured that you will be remembered for many generations to come for the good things you've done for Tanzania and the good things you have done for Africa," Kikwete said.

*********************

Amazing how facts get in the way of politics.









haters



liberals

Africa: Liberal Abandonment of Hope - Unless There is a Movie Involved

Why has the left never made a big deal of any other mineral?

Why did they make films about Blood Diamonds, but nothing was said about any other mineral?

Why is DiCaprio not exhorting the world's masses to cut down on the use of laptops to save Africa. Why is Hollywood not cutting back on so many items of wealth and spending to save Africans?

It puts it entirely in perspective. It shows us what these people really think about those less fortunate, and places it in glaring context. Unfortunately liberals come out looking like the hypocrites they are.

So you say - well, Conservatives are not doing anything more ... so they are hypocrites also. Well, not quite. According to liberal tautology, Conservatives don't care about the poor - you cannot not care and be a hypocrite. Consequently, I do not spend time dealing with what Republicans would or would not do - liberals have long held power - since 2006 at the most recent, while many elements of government were and remained liberal bastions long before that date. Conservatives have held power, but in limited form, and never as overwhelming as have liberals.

It is therefore legitimate to point out what liberals do not do, rather than what Republicans do not do.



Columns of men, bent double under 110-pound sacks of tin ore, emerged from the colonel’s mine shaft. It had been carved hundreds of feet into the mountain with Iron Age tools powered by human sweat, muscle and bone. Porters carry the ore nearly 30 miles on their backs, a two-day trek through a mud-slicked maze to the nearest road and a world hungry for the laptops and other electronics that tin helps create, each man a link in a long global chain.

On paper, the exploration rights to this mine belong to a consortium of British and South African investors who say they will turn this perilous and exploitative operation into a safe, modern beacon of prosperity for Congo. But in practice, the consortium’s workers cannot even set foot on the mountain. Like a mafia, Colonel Matumo and his men extort, tax and appropriate at will, draining this vast operation, worth as much as $80 million a year.


Why Hollywood or the liberal elite world wide do not care is easy - diamonds stare at you, diamonds are a symbol of wealth ... tin and laptops are everywhere. They are as prolific as sand, and for the liberal world elite to actually say something about tin ... is not very attractive. Films do not revolve around tin, unless they play bit parts - the Tin man from Wizard of Oz; Tin Men starring the most liberal of Hollywood's elite - Richard Dreyfuss; Tin Cup starring Kevin Costner; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - starring whoever it is and a cat I suppose on a roof made of tin. No one cares much about tin, but if you open your eyes and deconstruct our world, you may find tin plays an important role ... in everything, including the laptop Obama wants on his desk!

For liberals, the issue is - they do not think very deeply. Everything is emotional and superficial - what they sense and see, feel and touch, and diamonds are the best of possible devils to do combat against. Tin is so not liberal, like the thousands of workers who suffer daily digging the mineral up to allow our civilization to prosper.

Go forth, and pretend all is well - spend your time heckling Bush or screaming about equal rights in marriage. It gives you something to feel. Forget those who are in dire need - that requires you to act, and you, the liberal base, do not care about them.








Africa