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

Child Soldiers

A few are missing - Uganda, although not the state use of children, but entities within Uganda use and recruit children to fight in Sudan.





US: Press Allies to End Use of Child Soldiers


Report Lists Repeat Offenders, but Military Aid Continues

June 27, 2011
HRW



(New York) - The United States should suspend military assistance to countries using child soldiers, Human Rights Watch said today.

On June 27, 2011, the US State Department released a list of six governments that use child soldiers in violation of US legislation adopted in 2008: Burma, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Five of the countries - excluding Burma - receive US military assistance.

"The US strategy of just telling countries to stop using child soldiers is not working," said Jo Becker, children's rights advocate at Human Rights Watch. "So long as they keep getting US military assistance, these countries have little incentive to stop recruiting children."

The Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 prohibits governments using child soldiers from receiving US foreign military financing, military training, and several other categories of US military assistance. The six countries identified in the new 2011 Trafficking in Persons report for using child soldiers were all included in the first State Department list in June 2010. In October, President Barack Obama issued national interest waivers to allow Chad, Congo, Sudan, and Yemen to continue to receive military aid despite their use of child soldiers.

Human Rights Watch called on the Obama administration not to issue blanket waivers to countries violating the Child Soldiers Prevention Act unless the governments sign agreements with the United Nations to end their use of child soldiers and take concrete steps to implement these agreements.

The administration contends that the military assistance it provides to Somalia is peacekeeping assistance that is not covered by the law. On June 22, Senators Richard Durbin of Illinois and John Boozman of Arkansas introduced legislation that would amend the Child Soldiers Prevention Act to prohibit peacekeeping operations assistance to governments of countries that recruit and use child soldiers.

In Congo, government forces actively recruit children and have hundreds of children in their ranks. The government has promoted military officers who have been charged - or even convicted - with using child soldiers and has failed to cooperate with the United Nations in finalizing a plan to end its recruitment and use of child soldiers.

In Southern Sudan, which will gain independence from Sudan in July, the Sudan People's Liberation Army has continued to recruit children, according to credible reports received by Human Rights Watch. It has also failed to carry out fully a 2009 agreement to demobilize all children from its ranks.

Yemeni government forces have recruited children as young as 14 and government-affiliated militia have also used children as soldiers.

In Chad, a February 2011 report issued by the UN secretary-general documented ongoing recruitment of children by the Chadian army, including the recruitment of Sudanese refugee children. The government signed an agreement with the UN on June 14 committing itself to end all child recruitment, to release all children from its military and security forces, and to allow UN monitoring of its military installations.

The Chad agreement is a positive step, but progress in other countries has been too slow, Human Rights Watch said.

"Congress was clear in its intent that the US should not be militarily assisting governments that use child soldiers in their forces," Becker said. "Last year the administration gave these governments a pass. It shouldn't do so again."





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
human rights

Al Qaida: Making Moves Again

The Daily Telegraph
October 30, 2010
By Richard Edwards, Duncan Gardham and Gordon Rayner


MI6 tip-off foils al-Qaeda ink cartridge bomb plot



AN INTERNATIONAL terrorist alert over an al-Qaeda parcel bomb plot was triggered yesterday following the discovery of a package containing explosive material at a British airport.


Police load a parcel removed from a UPS container at East Midlands airport on to a helicopter. It contained a suspicious device, inset

The plot — described as a “credible threat” originating in Yemen — was uncovered by MI6 after a tip-off to one of its officers based in the Middle East.

Last night, airports in the United States were on high alert after parcels containing explosive material, and addressed to synagogues in Chicago, were discovered on cargo aircraft at East Midlands airport and in Dubai.

The “sinister” parcel at East Midlands, which was found in a UPS container, comprised what police described as a “manipulated” computer printer cartridge that was covered in white powder and had wires protruding from it.

The device initially tested negative for traces of explosives but it was understood that a further search uncovered a second suspect package containing a “cleverly hidden” device in a printer, which included a mobile phone as one of its components.

There were reports that up to 20 similar suspect packages had been sent from Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, targeting synagogues in the US.



Last night, President Barack Obama said: “Initial examination of these packages has determined that they do apparently contain explosive material.”

He said the authorities were investigating a “credible terrorist threat” against America.

But while Mr Obama praised the actions of intelligence agents, there were question marks over the response of British police, who missed the explosives during their initial search, carried out by officers from Leicestershire.

It was only after explosives were found in the device discovered in Dubai that the second search uncovered explosives and specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.

The confusion meant that it was not until 4pm that David Cameron was briefed, more than 12 hours after the initial find and more than 18 hours after Mr Obama had been informed about the threat.

Sources in the US said that the devices had tested positive for PETN, the same explosive as that used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the al-Qaeda terrorist caught trying to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear on a flight to Detroit last Christmas.

Significantly, Abdulmutallab said he had been trained in Yemen, and US officials said the Yemeni-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) would be at the top of the list of suspects if any terrorism links were confirmed.

John Brennan, Mr Obama’s national security adviser, said the devices were “intended to do harm” but would not speculate on “how much damage they could do”.

Mr Obama ordered a security clampdown across the US after the discovery of the parcel at East Midlands airport. Aircraft were grounded in Philadelphia and New York to be searched for possible devices, but no others were found.

Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, pinpointed Yemen as a security concern in his first public speech on Thursday. There is particular concern over Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda leader and US national who is based there and uses the internet to broadcast propaganda and terrorist instruction in fluent English.

MI6 is understood to have triggered the security operation after receiving information from a source in Saudi Arabia.

Following the tip-off, Leicestershire police found the package at East Midlands airport at about 3.30am.

US intelligence officials warned last month that terrorists wanted to send chemical and biological materials through the post as part of an attack against the country. It was not until after midnight, that Theresa May, the Home Secretary, confirmed that the package at East Midlands airport did contain explosive material. She said it was not yet clear whether it was a “viable explosive device” but there was nothing to suggest that any location in Britain was being targeted.

She said earlier: “The package originated in Yemen and was addressed to a US destination. We are considering what steps need to be put in place regarding security of freight originating from Yemen. There are currently no direct flights from Yemen to the UK.”

The terrorism alert prompted a frantic search in the US for packages sent from Yemen via UPS and FedEx. Using the tracking numbers of all packages sent in a consignment from Sana’a, which had been split as it made its way to the US, authorities began checking all other possible suspect packages.

Two UPS jets in Philadelphia that had flown in from Germany and France were moved away from terminal buildings. No explosives were found.

The East Midlands plane, which had been allowed to fly on to Newark, New Jersey, was also rechecked before being given the allclear. In Brooklyn, New York, police examined a package from a UPS lorry, but found nothing suspicious.

A spokesman for the Jewish Federation of Chicago said it was alerted early yesterday and had advised local synagogues to take security precautions.

There was a dispute over airline security earlier this week when senior figures in the industry said Britain should stop “kowtowing” to excessive US security demands.

The latest developments will only increase security measures, especially surrounding cargo planes. The threat level in Britain was raised from substantial to “severe” in March partly as a result of an increased threat from Yemen.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
al qaida

Child Brides: Yemeni, 50% by 18.

Child bride's nightmare after divorce

By Paula Newton
CNN
August 27, 2009

SANA'A, Yemen (CNN) -- It is midday and girls are flooding out of school, but Nujood Ali is not among them.

We find her at the family's two-room house in an impoverished suburb of the city where Nujood is angry, combative and yelling. Tension surrounds the home like a noose.

After much arguing with family members, Nujood finally grabs her veil and agrees to sit down with CNN. Her presence is grudging, although CNN had got permission in advance to see how the girl who rocked a nation by demanding a divorce was shaping up.

Nujood is very different from the girl we first met nearly two years ago. Then, there was no doubt the 10-year-old was every inch a child. She was the very portrait of innocence: A shy smile, a playful nature and a whimsical giggle.

That picture was very much at odds with the brutal story of abuse she endured as a child bride who fought for a divorce and is now still fighting.

Nujood says she remains relieved and gratified that her act of defiance -- which led to appearances at awards shows and on TV -- had paid off.

The story was supposed to end with the divorce and an innocent but determined girl allowed to fully embrace the childhood she fought so hard to keep.

Instead, there has been no fairytale ending for Nujood.

There was, though, a stunning transformation. Nujood went from being a victim and child bride to a portrait of courage and triumph. Her inspirational story was told and re-told around the world, but at home all was not well.

In the fall of 2008 Nujood was recognized as Glamour Magazine's Woman of the Year, alongside some of the world's most impressive women. She even attended the ceremony in New York and was applauded by women from Hillary Clinton to Nicole Kidman.

There is a tell-all book which is to be published in more than 20 languages, and the author says Nujood will receive a good portion of the royalties.

Nujood's strength was celebrated by complete strangers. But what did all the fame do for the one person it was meant to transform?

"There is no change at all since going on television. I hoped there was someone to help us, but we didn't find anyone to help us. It hasn't changed a thing. They said they were going to help me and no one has helped me. I wish I had never spoken to the media," Nujood says bitterly.

There was never going to be a fortune. Generous people have donated thousands so Nujood could go to a private school, but she refuses to attend, according to Shada Nasser, the human rights lawyer who took on the child's divorce case.

"I know Nujood was absent from the school. I spoke with her father and her family. And I ask them to control her and ask her to go every day to school. But they said, 'You know we don't have the money for the transportation. Don't have the money for the food,' " says Nasser.

She believes Nujood is being victimized by her own family because they believe Nujood's fame should bring them fortune.

Nujood's parents say they've received nothing, and in the meantime Nujood stews wondering out loud how everything turned out this way.

"I was happy I got divorced but I'm sad about the way it turned out after I went on television," she said adding that she feels like an outcast even among her family and friends.

Nujood was pulled out of school in early 2008 and married off by her own parents to a man she says was old and ugly. And yet, as a wife, Nujood was spared nothing.

"I didn't want to sleep with him but he forced me to, he hit me, insulted me" said Nujood. She said being married and living as a wife at such a young age was sheer torture.

Nujood described how she was beaten and raped and how, after just a few weeks of marriage, she turned to her family to try to escape the arrangement. But her parents told her they could not protect her, that she belonged to her husband now and had to accept her fate.

CNN tried to obtain comment from Nujood's husband and his family but they declined.

Nujood's parents, like many others in Yemen, struck a social bargain. More than half of all young Yemeni girls are married off before the age of 18, many times to older men, some with more than one wife.

It means the girls are no longer a financial or moral burden to their parents. But Nujood's parents say they did not expect Nujood's new husband to demand sex from his child bride.

To escape, Nujood hailed a taxi -- for the first time in her life -- to get across town to the central courthouse where she sat on a bench and demanded to see a judge.

After several hours, a judge finally went to see her. "And he asked me, 'what do you want' and I said 'I want a divorce' and he said 'you're married?' And I said 'yes.'" says Nujood.

Nujood's father and husband were arrested until the divorce hearing, and Nujood was put in the care of Nasser.

Indeed, it seems the judge had heard enough of the abuse to agree with Nujood that she should get her divorce.

But based on the principles of Shariah law, her husband was compensated, not prosecuted. Nujood was ordered to pay him more than $200 -- a huge amount in a country where the United Nations Development Programme says 15.7 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

Khadije Al Salame is working to help Nujood get her life back. Now a Yemeni diplomat, 30 years ago she too was a child bride. But when she left her husband, she did not have to endure the publicity that now haunts Nujood.

She said: "It's good to talk about Nujood and to have her story come out, but the problem is it's too much pressure on her.

"She doesn't understand what's going on. She's a little girl and we have to understand as a media people that we should leave her alone now. If we really love Nujood then we should just let her go to school and continue with her life, because education is the most important thing for her."

To get her divorce, Nujood showed a character and strength not easily expressed by women in Yemen, let alone a 10-year-old child bride. But she will need to muster all that strength and more if she's to finally reclaim her life.

Nujood told us she thought the divorce would be the end of her struggle and she's still angry that it turned out to be just the beginning.

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

The subtext, not mentioned, is worth considering!









Islam