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Latin American Tensions, Ambassadors Expelled
What with Iraq’s “success” so fragile that it might shatter, Afghanistan becoming even more deadly than Iraq ever was, Pakistan threatening retaliation for cross-border raids, Russia baring its teeth over the Caucusus conflict started by John McCain’s pal - with all those, you know the last thing America wants is a disturbance down South America way.
Unfortunately, that’s what’s happening. Bolivia is swiftly slipping into violent chaos and the Bolivian leader, Evo Morales, has blamed it all in American provocateurs. He has expelled the US ambassador to Bolivia and, in solidarity, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has sent the ambassador to his country packing too. Washington has responded by throwing out envoys from Bolivia and Venezuela and freezing the assets of three aides to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US regretted the actions of Venezuela and Bolivia.
“This reflects the weakness and desperation of these leaders as they face internal challenges, and an inability to communicate effectively internationally in order to build international support,” he said.
Bolivian and Venezuelan allegations - including that the US supports continuing anti-government protests in Bolivia - were false “and the leaders of those countries know it”, Mr McCormack added.
Meanwhile, Honduras has refused the credentials of a new US ambassador, postponing his appointment.
…Freezing the assets of the three Venezuelan aides, the US Treasury accused them of “materially assisting the narcotics trafficking” of rebels in Colombia.
Analysts say the trio - Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, Henry de Jesus Rangel Silva and Ramon Rodriguez Chacin - are members of Mr Chavez’s inner circle.
Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega may yet tell the US ambassador there to take a hike too - he’s saying he backs he Bolivian leader.
Perhaps Ortega is remembering when the current US Director of national Intelligence, John Negroponte, was working in Honduras on CIA covert operations in support of the contras. Those covert operations involved several other figures who are part of, or close to, the Bush administration. It’s OK to be paranoid when you have evidence they really are out to get you.
Now, just to make matters worse, the feud with Russia is getting all tangled up with the diplomatic feud in Latin America, as Russian forces get ready for joint military exercises with Venezuela. If there ever was or could have been a unipolar world, neoconservative foreign policy has ensured that it isn’t to be. With much of America’s military tied down in protracted occupations, fought to exhaustion by ragtag militias, other nations aren’t as cowed as the used to be. What with Iraq’s “success” so fragile that it might shatter, Afghanistan becoming even more deadly than Iraq ever was, Pakistan threat... more -
Sides agree to divide Jerusalem?
Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to negotiate on the issue of Jerusalem, as well as parts of the Dead Sea, US Consul-General Jacob Walles said in an interview published by the Palestinian daily, Al-Ayyam on Thursday.
According to the interview, which was cited by Israel Radio, the consul-general said that negotiations would be based on the 1967 borders, with changes to those borders being possible should both sides agree.
Walles told the paper that the other core issues, including that of the refugees, were also expected to be discussed.
In response to the report, the US State Department issued a statement asserting that the US government had not taken a position on the borders of a future Palestinian state.
"While the discussions between the parties are confidential, we can state that the parties have not in any way prejudiced long held views on borders," the statement said.
"A senior US official who participated in the discussions denies that the Israeli side, led by chief negotiator, Foreign Minister [Tzipi] Livni, has been willing to negotiate concerning Jerusalem," it continued.
Also responding to the report, opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu said Walles' comments proved the ineptitude of the current government.
"The government lost all moral validity and legitimacy a long time ago," he said. "The time has come to hold elections."
Continued.... Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to negotiate on the issue of Jerusalem, as well as parts of the Dead Sea, US Consul-General Ja... more -
Secretary Rice: 'not enough African Americans in the State Department'
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday there are too few black Americans in the State Department.
"I have lamented that I can go into a meeting at the Department of State -- and as a matter fact I can go into a whole day of meetings at the Department of State -- and actually rarely see somebody who looks like me. And that is just not acceptable," Rice said.
She was delivering the keynote speech at the annual Conference of the White House Initiative on National Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
"Like so many African-Americans who were fortunate enough to have the benefits of education and all the access that I have had, my story starts with parents and aunts and uncles, and indeed in my case a grandparent, who got their start at historically black colleges," Rice said.
She praised partnerships between federal government departments and agencies and black colleges.
Last year, such colleges received $5 million in scholarships and grants from the State Department for language training, study abroad and exchange programs.
"It's good for the students, but it is good for America, too," she said. "Because when I go around the world, I want to see black Americans involved in the promotion and development of our foreign policy. I want to see a Foreign Service that looks as if black Americans are part of this great country." WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday there are too few black Americans in the State Department. ... more -
Legal, born in the U.S. residents denied citizenship!!
WESLACO, Texas -- In the archives of local institutions, Juan Aranda's life is firmly rooted in this small south Texas town.
His birth certificate says he was delivered unto Weslaco 38 years ago, and church records say he was baptized here soon after. School files list him as a student in the local district from kindergarten through high school, and voter rolls show he votes for president here.
But to the U.S. State Department, all that black and white looks a lot like gray. It recently refused to issue Mr. Aranda a passport; the government isn't sure he's an American.
"I never imagined my U.S. citizenship would be questioned," says the manager at a water company. "I've lived here since the day I was born."
The problem is that Mr. Aranda was delivered by a midwife at a private home. Parteras, Spanish for midwives, have been part of life in Hidalgo and Cameron counties along the border with Mexico from the time of the Texas Republic and before. But in the early 1990s, dozens of midwives were convicted of forging U.S. birth certificates for about 15,000 children born in Mexico as far back as the 1960s.
As a result, the U.S. government no longer trusts that anyone in this region delivered by a midwife is an American citizen. In those cases, the government demands additional proof -- a demand that has applicants scouring school warehouses and church offices to document their pasts.
That has caused a panic in south Texas, where locals need a valid passport more than ever. A new law that goes into effect next year requires Americans to use a passport, rather than just a birth certificate or driver's license, to visit Mexico and Canada. The situation threatens to isolate thousands of people in the Rio Grande Valley who regularly travel back and forth to Mexico for work or family reasons.
"Usually a state-issued birth certificate is sufficient to establish U.S. nationality," says Michael Kirby, a senior official for consular affairs at the State Department. But, given the fraud committed by some south Texas midwives, "we want to be careful that we issue passports to everybody who is eligible and not to anyone who isn't," he says, acknowledging that thousands of passport applicants could be affected. WESLACO, Texas -- In the archives of local institutions, Juan Aranda's life is firmly rooted in this small south Texas town. ... more -
The 10 Worst Corporations of 2007
Neither Honest Nor Trustworthy: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2007
by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
The U.S. public holds Big Business in shockingly low regard.
A November 2007 Harris poll found that less than 15 percent of the population believes each of the following industries to be "generally honest and trustworthy:" tobacco companies (3 percent); oil companies (3 percent); managed care companies such as HMOs (5 percent); health insurance companies (7 percent); telephone companies (10 percent); life insurance companies (10 percent); online retailers (10 percent); pharmaceutical and drug companies (11 percent); car manufacturers (11 percent); airlines (11 percent); packaged food companies (12 percent); electric and gas utilities (15 percent). Only 32 percent of adults said they trusted the best-rated industry about which Harris surveyed, supermarkets.
With the 10 Worst Corporations of 2007, we aim to show - again - that Big Business is out of control and to connect comparable abuses to the failure of government overseers, regulators and enforcers.
Presented alphabetically, here are the 10 Worst Corporations of 2007:
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2007/112007/mokhi... Neither Honest Nor Trustworthy: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2007 by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman ... more -
Blackwater's private CIA
This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world after the company's shooters gunned down seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square. But by early 2008, Blackwater had largely receded from the headlines save for the occasional blip on the media radar sparked by Congressman Henry Waxman's ongoing investigations into its activities. Its forces remained deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and business continued to pour in. In the two weeks directly following Nisour Square, Blackwater signed more than $144 million in contracts with the State Department for "protective services" in Iraq and Afghanistan alone and, over the following weeks and months, won millions more in contracts with other federal entities like the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world af... more
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State Department Snubs Iraqi Whistleblower
You'd think that an Iraqi anti-corruption crusader who testified before Congress about his travails would find no great difficulty in obtaining asylum in the United States. You'd think the U.S. would be grateful for the news that $18 billion worth of corruption had virtually "stopped" reconstruction in Iraq. But not so much.
Former State Department officials told Congress earlier this week that, though Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, the former head of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, was able to get access into the U.S., he is not allowed to work and is living hand to mouth. Why has he fallen through the cracks? You'd think that an Iraqi anti-corruption crusader who testified before Congress about his travails would find no great difficult... more -
Rice: I’m ‘offended’ by diplomats who don’t want to serve in Iraq
Today, the AP reports that U.S. foreign service officers may face compulsory duty in Iraq because of a lack of volunteers:
[T]he State Department is warning diplomats they may be forced to serve in Iraq next year and will soon identify prime candidates for upcoming vacancies in Baghdad and outlying provinces.
A cable sent to all foreign service officers says the department is facing a looming crisis to fill about 300 jobs that will come open in 2009 in Iraq and that it may not get enough qualified volunteers. If it doesn’t, the department will begin selecting diplomats for compulsory duty.
Similarly, last fall, the State Department came under intense criticism for its plan to make approximately 48 diplomats to take forced assignments to Iraq. It eventually dropped the plan when the spots were filled with volunteers.
The State Department’s “looming crisis” stands in stark contrast to statements made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a House Armed Services Committee hearing today, during which she took umbrage at the suggestion that foreign service officers don’t want to serve in Iraq. She said that comments by diplomats who protested the forced assignments last fall were “offen[sive]” and “cast a very bad light on the foreign service.” Watch it: Today, the AP reports that U.S. foreign service officers may face compulsory duty in Iraq because of a lack of volunteers: ... more -
Japan appoints its first ambassador of cartoons... or cartoon ambassador.
I wonder what meetings will be like with doraemon. I thought it should be Anpanman...
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What they’re saying: the international community on the U.S.
The Chinese Government released a scathing report today, pushing back on U.S. criticisms of the country’s human rights record which were revealed in the State Department’s annual survey of human rights. The BBC has the story.
The Chinese report cites rising violent crime in the US as posing a serious threat to the lives, liberty and personal security of its people.
The foreign ministry said the US should stop posing as a rights watchdog and concentrate on its own problems.
“Stop exercising double standards on human rights issues and wrongly meddling in the internal affairs of other countries,” said ministry spokesman Qin Gang.
My favorite was from Dr Shaista Shameem, chair of Fiji's Human Rights Commission who said,
"No one wants the USA to be the guardian of human rights for the rest of the world - it's like asking Dracula to guard the blood bank"...surely she means Cheney... The Chinese Government released a scathing report today, pushing back on U.S. criticisms of the country’s human rights record which we... more -
Blackwater wishes you a happy mercenary Holiday
Santa's coat is red, and I think I know why...
"A Christmas wish that Christ's great love,
His grace and goodness too,
May fill your heart and bless you now
and all the whole year through
May the Lord Jesus truly bless you during this wonderful season
as you rejoice with family and friends"
-Blackwater Worldwide"
Merry Blackwater Christmas everyone. Santa's coat is red, and I think I know why... "A Christmas wish that Christ's great love, ... more -
Who Remembers Tony Blair? Ex-PM's Website Tells of Tony's Work
Ex British Prime Minister Tony Blair is busy making himself useful in Palestine according to tonyblairoffice.org. His website keeps us informed of his work since much of the media doesn't. No mention of his being involved at Annapolis. Ex British Prime Minister Tony Blair is busy making himself useful in Palestine according to tonyblairoffice.org. His website keeps us... more
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Federal Appeals Court Denies Wiretapping Challenge
Much of the evidence in the case can not be submitted due to "Sate Secret" nature of the files. Many see this as a key win for the Bush administration and its wire taping program. Many civil rights organizations have claimed that the battle is far from over. Much of the evidence in the case can not be submitted due to "Sate Secret" nature of the files. Many see this as a key win f... more
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This Leaves Me Speechless
Squeezing lemons to their last drops...
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Condi?s Party Starter
At the age of twenty-five, Henry Kissinger was a war-delayed sophomore at Harvard, Madeleine Albright had just begun her Ph.D., James Baker was in law school, and Condoleezza Rice was a graduate student at the University of Denver. One of Rice?s recent hires, however, seems to be in a big hurry to get on with the diplomacy. A year ago, Jared Cohen, who was born in 1981, joined the State Department?s Policy Planning Staff as its youngest member. At the age of twenty-five, Henry Kissinger was a war-delayed sophomore at Harvard, Madeleine Albright had just begun her Ph.D., James ... more
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State Department Security Chief resigns
Neck deep in the scandals surrounding Iraq contractors, Richard Griffin is resigning. No timetable given, and it's unknown if Condoleezza Rice will accept the terms. Neck deep in the scandals surrounding Iraq contractors, Richard Griffin is resigning. No timetable given, and it's unknown if Con... more
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Contract Security Firm in Trouble in Iraq
When a State Department motorcade came under attack Sunday (some reports say small arms fire, others say an explosion was detonated), members of the contract security firm Blackwater opened fire. But Iraqi officials are saying they fired indiscriminately into the civilian crowd, killing 8 or 9 (the number differs in different accounts). The Iraqi Interior Ministry said it is revoking Blackwater's license to operate throughout the entire country, but it is unclear if this is permanent or temporary.The incident is under investigation by both US and Iraqi military and judicial officials. When a State Department motorcade came under attack Sunday (some reports say small arms fire, others say an explosion was detonated), ... more
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