FROM BANANA REPUBLIC TO THE NON REPUBLIC

Months ago, I got an interesting book called "From Banana Republic To The Non Republic". Its author was the current president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa Delgado.

"From Banana Republic To The No Republic" is a book with a provocative title, which contains realities, ironies, even skepticism. It, among other things, reviews the disposition of Ecuador to the adjustment of its budget to meet the demands of international agencies in relation to its external debt. It also describes the situation experienced in that country from 1970 to the present, and also focuses on issues concerning Latin America. The abuses mentioned in the book are numerous and blatant, and one more time, reconfirms what has been reported in Latin America during the last 30 years.

It is amazing how many former Latin American presidents and bankers walk freely through the streets of Miami and New York. We can mention the case of the former Ecuadorian president, Jamil Mahuad, that when he destroyed the economy of his country in 1999 with other nefarious characters, found in the United States his best shelter. Moreover, Mahuad is a professor of the very prestigious Harvard University.

It is pathetic that a man, who plunged his country, is accepted for lecturing in the most famous university in the world. With what moral quality a person, who betrayed his people, can teach what democracy and leadership is, and the worst is that he has been a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.

The Ecuadorian President emphasizes very clearly the destructive policies of social capital that have occurred in the region, when we talk about labor flexibility in nations that lack the capacity or resources to create jobs and do not even have unemployment subsidies (as happens in the EU), or when looking for the easiest, that is, taken as a variable wage adjustment, thereby affecting the low-income families receiving.

Ecuador is one of the five Latin American countries with lower per capita social investment. The average in Latin America is $ 475 per capita, while in Ecuador it only is $ 93. Many analysts say the big problem in poor countries is the lack of quality in social investment, when the truth is that lack of good leaders that play a major role in alleviating absence of social capital, represents a knockout for various economies, making the task of having quality in social investment very difficult.

On the other hand, Correa denounced the lack of investment in sectors like education and health, where in the 90’s; these items were dropped as a percentage of GDP (Gross domestic product) in order to get cash to pay the external debt.

Ecuador had a clear tendency to reduce social spending and in 2002, approved a Fiscal Transparency Act, which earmarked 70% of new oil resources to buy back public debt, shamelessly devoting only 10% of those resources for social investment.

A reality that until now has not been exceeded, is that Latin American countries have the capacity to save and consequently, of domestic investment, but the absence of solid institutions, market imperfections, and mainly due to lack of collective action, has not managed to get the maximum benefit to those savings, on the contrary, the most common is to send out of country the savings for them to serve others, and generating a terrible flight of capital that funds the richest countries, as was the case of Ecuador, that had more than three thousand million mainly in the United States.

Professor Charles Calomiris of Columbia University and member of the Metzler Commission of U.S. Congress (set up to suggest reforms to the IMF and World Bank) said literally to the press that the IMF granted loans to Ecuador, are better understood as "political pressure the Ecuadorian government at a time when the United States wants to ensure the use of military bases in this country to control drug trafficking. Meanwhile, Robert Reich, former secretary of the Clinton administration, said publicly in 1999 that, "at present, U.S. policy is executed by the International Monetary Fund, with some guidance from the Treasury Department .... Here too, Congress has become irrelevant.”

It is no surprise to see as many Latin American governments agree on an almost divine, the new "political role" that many financial institutions have had on the region in recent years. It is an open secret that many presidents, vice presidents and ministers permit that the most delicate decisions of their countries are taken by international organizations.

In 2003, according to figures from the Inter-American Development Bank, Ecuador just destined to 0, 055% of its GDP for research and development, which represented less than one-tenth the Latin American average. Moreover, spending on research and development was Ecuador was second only to Haiti, which shows why Latin America produces slightly from 1.2 to 1.5 of technological development worldwide. With all this, it is not surprising that Ecuador has one of the worst education systems in Latin America at least, although it should be stressed that in the past 2 years have been quite extensive in the area of education, health and development in that country.

The emphasis of Correa is on the lack of motivated and cohesive societies, as well as strong formal institutions and the enormous need that exists to create value and really helps to developing countries. A sad and cruel reality I could find when I was reading the book and with what Correa concludes his work, is that the major crisis that hit Latin America in the neo-liberalism, was not an economic crisis, but a LEADERSHIP CRISIS.

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LET THE CITIZENS DECIDE

The countries of the European Union are seen as democratic countries. But more than ever the sound for a bigger influence of citizens on government is noticeable. In Italy people hit the streets demanding their prime minister to stop creating laws that make him untouchable for the law, still a majority in parliament approved the laws made by the prime minister. In the Netherlands 84% of the citizens are against a new mission in Afghanistan and as if the voice of citizens doesn’t matter, a majority in parliament agreed with the new mission to Afghanistan. 

The word democracy descends from the two Greek words: δῆμος (dèmos) “People” and κρατέω (krateo ) “to rule”. So a democracy is a country in where the citizens, the people, rule the country. So why aren’t the members of parliament (chosen by the citizens as their representative) listening to the people, as those countries claim to be a democracy. The most absurd aspect of this behavior is that the members of parliament often claim that they are representing the citizens but those citizens don’t have the knowledge to decide what is best for themselves nor their country. Simply said they claim the citizens of their country are a bunch of morons, who can’t make correct decisions and who need to be leaded like little children. 

A more democratic way of ruling a nation can be found in Switzerland. In Switzerland the citizens are given the right to vote on all issues, which normally are only discussed in parliament. This can range from international affairs like contributing to the war in Iraq, to immigration laws and improving infrastructure of Switzerland. An example is the referendum held in 1992 on the Swiss accession to the European Union, it was rejected. Untill now Switzerland is not a member of the European Union.

The form of government used in Switzerland is called direct democracy. With this form of government the citizens get the following instruments:

·         The right to petition -- A small number of collected signatures can force the elected parliament on a particular topic to discuss on a particular topic and vote on it.

·         Binding referendum on people’s initiative --  This is a referendum in which the signature threshold is higher than the right of petition, and where the voters can adopt or reject the citizens proposal, or bill of parliament. The result is binding.

·         Legally binding referendum -- This is the so-called plebiscite, the government or a sufficient number of MPs can propose a proposal to the voters. In Switzerland, a plebiscite is not allowed.

·         Deposition Procedure – Also called called recalls. An authority figure can be deposited when a majority of voters want that.

·         National Assembly -- This is the original form of direct democracy as it emerged in classical Athens: theekklesia, in many communities and two cantons in Switzerland National Assemblies are still held.

·         Online democracy – Parties communicate with their supporter through internet which could lead to a vote.

It’s time to follow the Swiss or not. In many European countries there are parties trying to make the democracy of their county a bit more democratic. Somehow those parties are not winning enough votes to make a change and let alone make their country a direct democracy. Let’s hope that the countries claiming to be a democracy will turn in to a real direct democracy, where it citizens have the power and not some elite. 

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THE CONGRESS DEBATES

Today, Sunday, at 10:00 a.m., I listened to the debates of the delegates to the Sixth Congress of the Party.

There were so many Commissions that, obviously, I could not listened to all those who spoke.

Delegates had gathered into five Commissions to discuss a number of issues. And, of course, I also took advantage of the session breaks to breath with calm and indulge in the intake of some energy-generating produce. Most certainly they must have felt more appetite, given their work and age.

I was amazed to see how well prepared this new generation is, with such high educational level, so different from the generation that began to learn how to read and write precisely in 1961, when the Yankee bombers piloted by the mercenaries attacked our homeland. Most of the delegates to the Party Congress today were small kids back then or had not been born yet.



I did not care as much about what they said as I did about the way they said it. They were so well prepared and their vocabulary was so rich that I could hardly understand them. They discussed every word, even the addition or deletion of a comma in the paragraph under discussion.

Their task is far more difficult than the one taken up by our generation when socialism was proclaimed in Cuba, only 90 miles away from the United States.

Thus, upholding our revolutionary principles is, in my opinion, the main legacy we could pass on to them. There can be no margin for error at this moment in human history. This is a reality that no one should deny.

The Party leadership should be the sum total of the best political talents of our people, capable of confronting the policy of the empire that jeopardizes the human species and generates gangsters such as those in NATO, who have launched in only 29 days, since the beginning of the inglorious “Odyssey Dawn” operation, more than four thousand air raids against an African nation.

The duty of this new generation of revolutionary men and women is becoming an example of modest leaders, studious and tireless fighters for socialism. In the barbaric era of consumer societies, to overcome the capitalist production system that fosters and promotes selfish interests among human beings is, no doubt, a difficult challenge.

The new generation is called upon to rectify and change, without hesitation, everything that needs to be rectified or changed and continue proving that socialism is also the art of the impossible: to build and carry on with the Revolution of the people, by the people and for the people and defend it, during half a century, from the mightiest power that has ever existed.

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 17, 2011
8:33 p.m.


Source: http://www.cubadebate.cu/

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COLUMN: ISN’T THE USA ONE BIG HYPOCRITE?

Isn’t the USA a big hypocrite? This is the country that wants to portray itself as the leader of the world being an example to others countries when it comes to human right and democracy. But doesn’t everybody outside the USA, knows that is just one big joke. Americans just want to be dictators forcing the world to be their puppet in order to protect nothing more than their own interests?

Now the USA is losing its power on the world, more and more becomes clear about a country claiming to protect democracy and human rights, we see the true United States. It is a country that doesn’t really care about human rights and democracy when the person in dispute is seen as a danger to the country.

Today, while reading the paper my eyes were drawn to an article about Bradly Manning, a military who is supposed to leak documents to the whistle-blower site Wikileaks. 

More than 250 American jurists have complained about the ‘degrading and inhuman treatment’ of Manning. And the academics went even a step further by saying that the conditions in where Manning was detained are comparable with ‘torture’. But this is not the only case in where the United States shows us his true colour.

We still remember the stories of Guantanamo bay, where torture was normal and where people were hold without any legal reason. Also we can mention the case of Irak, where children’s lives were taken away because they could be terrorists, without mentioning how making pictures with dead people, was seen as a fun activity for soldiers as memoriam of their time in the army.

And this is the country that is showing others what’s wrong with their policies, surrounding human rights and their democracy? Shouldn’t we just all just turn our back to the USA? Its economy is failing, its policies are failing, does anything even work there?

The more disturbing news about these kinds of events come into the news the more I start to feel repulsion for the country.  How can we, Europe, support a country that has these kinds of events happening in its territory? And who asks us to bring democracy into other countries in the Middle East?

Maybe the day has come to take a real distance from the USA and listen to the opinions from other countries from all over the world. To cooperate with countries we used to see as liars but who now seem to have spoken the truth way before we opened our eyes to see the real United States. And start doing what we learned in university: An analysis contains all sides of the story and is not a imposed unilateral view.ight to conquer and spread their ways to the inferior people of the world.

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THE BRUTAL AND TURBULENT NORTH

I was reading abundant materials and books to make good my promise of continuing writing on the Reflection of April 14 about the Battle of Girón when I had a look at the recent news that came yesterday, which were also as abundant as they are everyday. You could pile up mountains of news on any given week ranging from the earthquake in Japan to the electoral victory of Ollanta Humala over Keiko, the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, ex President of Perú.

Perú is a major exporter of silver, copper, zinc, tin and other minerals. It has huge reserves of uranium that powerful transnationals are hoping to exploit. Enriched uranium can be used to produce the most terrible weapons ever known by humankind as well as the fuel of electronuclear power stations which, despite every warning by the ecologists, was being manufactured at an increasing pace in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Of course, it would not be fair to blame Perú of all this. Peruvians did not invent colonialism, capitalism or imperialism. Neither can we blame the people of the United States, who are also victims of the system that has begotten the craziest politicians ever known in the planet.

On April 8 last, the masters of the world published their traditional annual report about “human rights violations”, which led to a thorough analysis on the website ‘Rebelión’ by the Cuban Manuel E. Yepe, based on a response given by the Council of State of China. The document lists up several facts that show the disastrous situations of such rights in the United States.

“…the United States is the country that attacks human rights the most both inside its own territory and in the entire world. Is one of the nations that offers less guarantees to the life, property and personal security of its inhabitants.

“Every year one out of every five people is a victim of a crime in the United States. No other nation on Earth has a rate that is higher. According to official figures, persons above the age of 12 have suffered from 4.3 million violent actions.

“Crime has surged in an alarming way in the four most important cities of the country (Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York). Notorious increases as compared to the previous year have also been reported in other big cities (Saint Louis and Detroit).

“The Supreme Court has ruled that the possession of firearms for self-defense purposes is a constitutional right that can not be ignored by state governments. Ninety million persons -out of the 300 million inhabitants in the country- have 200 million firearms.

“A total of 12 000 homicides caused by firearms were recorded in the country, while 47 per cent of robberies were equally perpetrated with the use of firearms.

“Under the “terrorist activities” section of the Patriot Act, torture and extreme violence to obtain confessions from suspicious persons are common practices. Unjust sentences are evidenced in the 266 persons -17 of them are already on death row- who have been acquitted thanks to the DNA tests.

“Washington advocates for freedom in the Internet to turn the network of networks into an important diplomatic tool of pressure and hegemony, but imposes strict restrictions in cyberspace within its own territory and tries to put up a legal siege to deal with the challenges posed by Wikileaks and its leaks.



“With a high unemployment rate, the number of US citizens living in poverty sets new records. One out of every eight citizens resorted to the coupons program last year.

“The number of families welcomed in homeless shelters increased by 7 per cent. Those families had to stay longer in those shelters. Violent crimes against these homeless families are increasing nonstop.

“Racial discrimination is permeating every aspect of the social life. Minority groups are discriminated against at their work places; they receive a humiliating treatment and are not taken into account for promotions, benefits or any labor selection process. One third of blacks suffered discrimination at their work place although only 16 per cent dared to submit a complaint.

“Unemployment rate among whites is 16.2 per cent, among Hispanics and Asians is 22 per cent and among blacks is 33 per cent. Afro-Americans and Latin account for 41 per cent of the inmate population. The rate of Afro-Americans serving life sentences is 11 times higher that that of whites.

“Ninety per cent of women have suffered some type of sexual discrimination at their work place. Twenty million women are victims of rape. Almost 60 000 female inmates have suffered some kind of sexual assault or violence.

One fifth of female university students are sexually assaulted and 60 per cent of rapes at the university campus occur at the ladies dorms.

“Nine out of every 10 homosexual, bisexual or transsexual students are harassed at schools.

“The report devotes one chapter to remind us of the human rights violations that the US government is responsible for outside its borders. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, led by the United States, have produced sky-rocketing figures of victims among the civil population in these countries.

“The US anti-terrorist actions have included serious scandals of abuses against prisoners, indefinite detentions without any indictment or trial in detention centers like that in Guantánamo and elsewhere in the world, which were created to interrogate the so called “high value detainees”, where the worst tortures are applied.

“The Chinese document also reminds us that the United States has violated the Cuban people’s right to exist and develop in disregard of the world’s opinion, expressed by the United Nations General Assembly during 19 consecutive years regarding the “necessity to put an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba”.

“The United States has failed to ratify several international human rights conventions such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“The data contained in the report by the Chinese government show that the nefarious performance of the United States in this field disqualifies it as “judge of human rights in the world”. Its ‘human rights diplomacy’ is sheer double standards hypocrisy to the service of its strategic imperialist interests. The Chinese government advises the government of the United States to take concrete measures to improve its own human rights situation examine and rectify its activities in that field and stop its hegemonic actions whereby it uses human rights to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.”

In our view, the important thing about this analysis is that such denunciation is contained in a document issued by the Chinese government, a country of 1 341 million inhabitants, whose monetary reserves amount to two trillion dollars. Without China’s commercial cooperation the empire would sink. I though it was important for our people to know the accurate data contained in the document issued by the Chinese Council of State.

Had Cuba said, it would not be so important. We have been denouncing those hypocrites for more than 50 years.

Martí had said in 1895, 116 years ago: “…the road that is to be closed, and is being closed with our blood, annexing our American nations to be brutal and turbulent North that despises us…”

“I have lived inside the monster and I know its entrails.”

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 23, 2011
7:32 p.m.


Source: http://www.cubadebate.cu/

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AND SHE IS?

Catherine Ashton is the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union. The name of her position is just as complex as the European Union itself.

The High Representative speaks for the EU on the flied of foreign policy and that’s exactly what wasn't happening during the revolution in Egypt. EU want to represent itself as a real union, where there is one shared opinion about situations occurring in the world.  But everybody know that this isn’t the case and its not going to change very soon.

With Egypt, the members of the EU all came with their own opinions, it was a shameful display of how disunited the EU really is. Where the prime minister of Italy said he thought Mubarak is a wise man, who deserves to finish his term. His colleagues Prime Minister David Cameron, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy declared in a joint statement that Mubarak needed to avoid violence against citizens at all costs and give the demonstrators the right to demonstrate. 

But where/what Ashton?

We only know that she wanted to visit Mubarak for a meeting but as far as we can believe the media she wasn’t welcome. As we Europeans don’t know who Ashton is, why should the Egyptians know? They rather speak to someone who is well known, at least you know your words are heard then.

Can we blame Ashton?

After the revolution in Egypt, there was a lot of critic on her and her actions during the revolution but isn’t that a big hypocritical. Before Ashton is allowed to speak as the representative of EU, she needs to discus and find agreement between the 27 members of the union. As I noted above they all have their own opinions and are more than willing to share them with the world without the thought that it could be a better idea to represent one European statement. So Ashton has to speak with 27 member, let them all agree on the statement and that so fast possible. It’s just an impossible mission.

Is Ashton useful ?

It’s time for the European Union to decide what they really want. Do we want one statement or are we all going to keep giving statement individually. Without making this choice the European Union will not be able to have one voice and the position of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union is useless.

But as many Europeans say: ‘Isn’t the whole European family thought not one big myth.’ Let hope the European Union learns from its mistakes and finally show some guts by taking the decision to or have a Minister of Foreign Affairs or not. Nothing more, nothing less!

Photo Source: http://www.euinside.eu/files/image/countries-like-bulgaria-need-strong-european-leadership/catherine_ashton.jpg

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SLAVERY BACK IN EUROPE

While the tourist are laying on the beautiful beaches of the Costa del Sol, the European journalists are showing us a totally different image of it. Just a few kilometres behind the beautiful beaches and tourists resort, you will find a world of plastic. 

On the picture above you can see how the plastic greenhouses, even visible from space, fill the landscape of in this case Campo Dalias. These greenhouses supply vegetables to mainly Great Brittan, Germany and The Netherlands. Now all these greenhouses could have a negative effect on the climate or be disastrous for the cultural heritage but that is not the most repulsive fact of this all.

In the greenhouses work illegal immigrants from mainly Africa. Due to the fact they are illegal, they don’t have any rights at all and the Spanish farmer are abusing that fact. The immigrants are living in inhuman conditions and are underpaid, besides all of that they don’t have any rights at all to change it.

Many of the immigrants came to Europe for a better future but ended up worse than in their homeland. Many of them work for just a couple Euros a day, if they find any work at all. 

The huge number of immigrants live between the plastic greenhouses, in sheds made of pieces of wood and plastic, sleeping in a bed shared by five immigrants.

For many people the question, why nothing get done to change it, must rise now. There are rules by the Spanish government which forbid to use illegal immigrants as workers in the greenhouses, the fines can go up to thousands of euros but somehow the farmers still use a huge number of illegal workers in their greenhouses, so we can conclude that the rule doesn’t seem to have any effect at all .

According to farmers they can’t pay those fines and therefore they don’t use illegal workers but the proof given by various media tell otherwise. And if the media shows us that the situation in the greenhouses and surroundings are critical, why doesn’t the Spanish police does. Maybe the Spanish police tolerates the situation in order to protect the farmers and eventually the Spanish economy, which is already extremely damaged by the economical crisis and can’t have any other failures in the markets.

But not only the farmers tolerates the problem, also their clients, mainly supermarkets, tolerate it in order to keep low prices. But by doing that they deceive their clients. An example is the Supermarket Lidle, a German supermarket located in whole Europe, which tells on their site that it wants to improve fair trade and support manufacturers  in improving their working and living conditions.

But how is it possible that they buy from suppliers who abuse illegal immigrants en let them live in inhuman conditions? Some informants claim it’s a consequence of the Western consumers, who want good products for little money but ignore the fact that good products, where there are good conditions for the workers, cost a lot of money, which in the end needs to be paid by the consumers is impossible.

So should we just accept the fact that if we don’t want to pay much money for our product, that illegal immigrants are used as modern slaves. Is it really our fault or are the supermarkets hunting huge profits to blame. Blaming the consumer could just be another strategy to clean their own image. One supermarket chain in The Netherlands alone had in 2009 a profit of 27.9 billion euro, so whether the consumer is the one who isn’t paying enough seems like a joke.

It’s time for the European parliament to step up and say it’s enough with exploiting illegal immigrants. They need to not only punish the farmers but also the companies who but their products and offer a lower price then acceptable. The supermarkets chains make billions of profit, while only a couple thousand kilometers away people are living in inhuman condition and are abused day after day. It’s a shame that everybody is accepting the ridiculous behavior currently happening in the European Union.

Watch the report The Guardian made on this topic here

Source:  Picture 2  Picture 3

The Guardian
KRO Reporter

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THE BEST AND MOST INTELLIGENT

Yesterday, because of a lack of time and space, I did not write one word about Barack Obama’s speech on the Libyan war that he gave on Monday, March 28. I had a copy of the official version that the US administration had provided to the press. I underlined some of his statements. I went through it again and concluded that it was not worth wasting too much paper on.

I recalled what Carter had told me about the US forestry industry when he visited Cuba in 2002, since he owns a family-run tree farm in Georgia. During his recent visit I asked him about his farm and once again he explained how he plants 3 pine trees per every 2 meters, equaling 1,700 trees per hectare that are harvested 25 years later.

Many years ago, I read in a Sunday issue of The New York Times that this publication used the equivalent of 40 hectares of forest to produce its printed edition. So, this explains my concern about saving paper.

Of course, Obama is an expert articulator of words and phrases. He could make a living out of writing children’s short stories. I am familiar with his style because, long before he took office, I read and underlined his book entitled Dreams from My Father, which was the first thing I read of his. I did so with respect and recognized that the author knew how to select the precise words and correct phrases to win over the readers’ sympathies.

I confess that I did not like the way he used suspense, concealing his political ideas until the end. I made a special effort not to jump to the last chapter to read his opinions on various issues that, in my opinion, were crucial at this stage of human history. I was sure that the severe economic crisis, the colossal military expenditures, and the young blood that was shed during the times of his republican predecessor would help him defeat his electoral adversary, despite the enormous racial prejudices of US society. He was aware about the risk of being physically eliminated.

For obvious reasons of traditional politicking, prior to the elections, he went after the votes of the Miami-based anti-Cuban factions, most of them led by reactionary people who had supported Batista. These people turned the United States into a banana republic, where electoral fraud decided no less than Bush W’s electoral victory in 2000, throwing a future Nobel laureate into the garbage: Al Gore, vice-president under Clinton and a presidential candidate.

A basic sense of justice would have led President Obama to rectify the outcome of the infamous trial that led to the inhumane, cruel and particularly unfair imprisonment of five Cuban patriots.

His Union Addresses; his speeches in Brazil, Chile and El Salvador; and his address on NATO´s war on Libya forced me to underline the aforementioned speech more than his own autobiography.

What are the worst parts of his statement and how can one explain the approximately 2,500 words in the official version?

From a domestic standpoint, the speech’s complete lack of realism places its happy author in the hands of his worst adversaries, those who want to humiliate him and take revenge for his November 2008 electoral victory. The beating they gave him in late 2010 is still not enough for them.

From an external standpoint, the world gained more awareness of what the UN Security Council, NATO and Yankee Imperialism really represents to many nations.



To be as brief as I have promised, I’ll tell you that Obama began his speech by saying that he has played his role in “stopping the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and going after al Qaeda all across the globe.”

He immediately added that: “For generations, the United States of America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security and as an advocate for human freedom.”

This is something that —as our readers know— Cubans, Latin Americans, Vietnamese and many others, can bear witness to.

After this solemn declaration of faith, Obama invested a lot of time to speaking about Qaddafi, about his horrors and the reasons for which the United States and their closest allies: “—United Kingdom, France, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey— all of whom have fought by our sides for decades […] have chosen to meet their responsibilities to defend the Libyan people.”

Further on he added: “…NATO, has taken command of the enforcement of the arms embargo and the no-fly zone.”

He confirmed the objectives of this decision “Because of this transition to a broader, NATO-based coalition, the risk and cost of this operation —to our military and to American taxpayers— will be reduced significantly.”

“So for those who doubted our capacity to carry out this operation, I want to be clear: The United States of America has done what we said we would do.”

He then went back to obsessing on Qaddafi and to the contradictions that assail his mind: “Qaddafi has not yet stepped down from power, and until he does, Libya will remain dangerous.”

“It’s true that America cannot use our military wherever repression occurs. And given the costs and risks of intervention, we must always measure our interests against the need for action.”

“The task that I assigned our forces —to protect the Libyan people […] — carries with it a UN mandate and international support.”

He returned to his obsessions over and over again: “If we tried to overthrow Qaddafi by force, our coalition would splinter. We would […] have to put US troops on the ground to accomplish that mission, or risk killing many civilians from the air.”

“…we are hopeful about Iraq’s future. But regime change there took eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi lives, and nearly a trillion dollars.”

A few days after the NATO bombings began, a few reports started to appear about a US fighter-bomber that had been shot down. A source later confirmed the reports. Upon seeing a falling parachutist, some of the country folk did what people traditionally do in Latin America: they went to go see, and if someone needed it, they would provide help. No one can know what they were thinking. They were most definitely Muslims working the earth who would not be in favor of the bombings. A helicopter, which suddenly arrived on the scene to rescue the pilot, opened fire against the rural farmers, seriously injuring one of them. It was a miracle that they didn’t kill them all. As the world knows, Arabs are traditionally hospitable towards their enemies, they invite them to stay in their own houses and turn their back to not see which way they take. Even a coward or a traitor could never represent the spirit of a social class.

The strange theory, that he included in his speech, could only occur to Obama, as shown in the following passage:

“There will be times, though, when our safety is not directly threatened, but our interests and our values are. [...] And in these circumstances, we know that the United States, as the world’s most powerful nation, will often be called upon to help.”

“In such cases, we should not be afraid to act -– but the burden of action should not be America’s alone. As we have in Libya, our task is instead to mobilize the international community for collective action.”

“That’s the kind of leadership we’ve shown in Libya. Of course, even when we act as part of a coalition, the risks of any military action will be high. Those risks were realized when one of our planes malfunctioned over Libya. Yet when one of our airmen parachuted to the ground, in a country whose leader has so often demonized the United States –- in a region that has such a difficult history with our country –- this American did not find enemies. Instead, he was met by people who embraced him. One young Libyan who came to his aid said, “We are your friends. We are so grateful to those men who are protecting the skies.”

“This voice is just one of many in a region where a new generation is refusing to be denied their rights and opportunities any longer.”

“Yes, this change will make the world more complicated for a time. Progress will be uneven, and change will come differently to different countries. There are places, like Egypt, where this change will inspire us and raise our hopes.”

Everyone knows that Mubarak was an ally of the U.S., and when Obama visited the University of Cairo, in June 2009, he could not ignore the tens of billions of dollars stolen by him in Egypt.

He continued with the emotional story:

“…we welcome the fact that history is on the move in the Middle East and North Africa, and that young people are leading the way. Because wherever people long to be free, they will find a friend in the United States. Ultimately, it is that faith — those ideals — that are the true measure of American leadership.”

“…our strength abroad is anchored in our strength here at home. That must always be our North Star — the ability of our people to reach their potential, to make wise choices with our resources, to enlarge the prosperity that serves as a wellspring for our power, and to live the values that we hold so dear.”

“And let us look to the future with confidence and hope not only for our own country, but for all those yearning for freedom around the world.”

The spectacular story reminded me of the Tea Party, Senator Bob Menendez and the illustrious Ileana Ros, the fierce wolf that defied the law to keep the Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez kidnapped. She is now nothing less than Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of the United States.

Gaddafi never tires of repeating that Al-Qaeda is making the war on him and sends fighters against the government of Libya, because he supported Bush’s war on terror.

That organization once had excellent relations with the American intelligence services in the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan, and has plenty of experience on the working methods of the CIA.

What if the allegations of Gaddafi were true? How would Obama explain to the American people that part of those ground combat weapons fell into the hands of the men of Bin Laden?

Would it not have been better and and more intelligent to have struggled to promote peace and not war in Libya?

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 31, 2011
7:58 p.m.


Source: http://www.cubadebate.cu/

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MY SHOES ARE TOO TIGHT

While the damaged reactors spew radioactive smoke over Japan and monstrous-looking planes and nuclear submarines launch deadly charges tele-directed onto Libya, a North African Third World country with barely six million inhabitants, Barack Obama was spinning a tale for the Chileans that sounded like one I used to hear when I was 4 years old: “My shoes are too tight, my socks are too warm; and I carry in my heart the little kiss you gave me”.

Some of his audience was taken aback in that Cultural Centre in Santiago de Chile.

When the president looked anxiously over his audience after mentioning perfidious Cuba, expecting an explosion of applause, there was icy silence. Behind him, oh, yes! felicitous coincidence! among all the other Latin American flags, there precisely was Cuba’s.

If he were to turn for a second, over his right shoulder he would have seen, like a shadow, the symbol of the Revolution on the rebel Island that his mighty country wanted to destroy, but could not.

Anybody would be, without a doubt, extraordinarily optimistic if they were expecting the peoples of Our America to applaud the 50th anniversary of the mercenary Bay of Pigs invasion, 50 years of cruel economic blockade of a sister country, 50 years of threats and terrorist attacks that cost thousands of lives, 50 years of plans to assassinate the leaders of the historic process.

I heard myself being mentioned in his words.

In truth, I gave my services to the Revolution for a long time, but I never eluded risks nor violated constitutional, ideological or ethical principles; I regret not having better health so that I could carry on serving the Revolution.

I resigned, without hesitation, all my state and political positions, including that of First Secretary of the Party, when I became ill and I never tried to exercise them after the Proclamation of July 31, 2006, even when I partially recovered my health more than a year later, although everyone continued to affectionately address me in that manner.

But I am and shall continue to be as I promised: a soldier of ideas, as long as I can think or breathe.

When they asked Obama about the coup against heroic President Salvador Allende, promoted as many others by the United States, and about the mysterious death of Eduardo Frei Montalva, murdered by agents of DINA, a creation of the American government, he lost his composure and began to stammer.

The commentary on Chilean television at the end of his speech was, without a doubt, accurate when it stated that Obama had nothing to offer the Hemisphere.

As for me, I don’t want to give the impression that I felt any hatred for his person, much less for the people of the United States; I acknowledge the contributions many of its sons and daughters have made to culture and science.

Obama now has before him a trip to El Salvador tomorrow, on Tuesday. There he is going to have to be quite inventive because, in that sister nation in Central America, the weapons and training received from the governments of his country spilt much blood.

I wish him bon voyage and a bit more good sense.

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 21, 2011
9:32 p.m.


Source: http://www.cubadebate.cu/

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PARTNERSHIP OF EQUALS

Saturday evening, the 19th, after a sumptuous banquet, NATO leaders ordered the attack on Libya.

Of course, nothing could occur without the United States claiming its irrefutable role as supreme leader. From its command post of that institution in Europe, a senior official declared that “Odyssey Dawn” was about to begin.

World public opinion was deeply touched by the tragedy in Japan. The number of victims of the earthquake, the tsunami and the nuclear accident has kept on growing. By now there are thousands of dead, missing and radiation contaminated. Resistance to the use of nuclear energy will also grow considerably.

The world is suffering, at the same time, the consequences of climatic changes; shortages and prices of foods, military spending and the squandering of natural and human resources are increasing. War was the timeliest event that could happen at this time.



Obama’s trip through Latin America moved into the background, people were hardly paying any attention to it. In Brazil, the contradictory interests between the United States and this sister nation have become evident.

We cannot forget that Rio de Janeiro competed with Chicago to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

Obama wanted to win over the South American giant. He spoke of the “extraordinary rise of Brazil” that has impressed the international scene and he praised its economy as one of the economies with the fastest growth rate in the world, but he showed not even the least commitment in supporting Brazil as a permanent member of the privileged Security Council.

The Brazilian president did not hesitate in expressing her disagreement with the protectionist measures the US is applying on Brazil with the tariffs and subsidies that have constituted a mighty obstacle for the economy of that country.

Argentine writer Atilio Boron states that “ […] what interests [Obama] most as administrator of the empire is advancing control of Amazonia. The main requisite of this plan is to slow down, since it is something he cannot stop, the growing political and economic coordination and integration that is happening in the region: this had been very important in sinking ALCA in 2005 and frustrating the secessionist conspiracy and coups in Bolivia in 2008 and Ecuador in 2010. He also has to try to sow the seeds of discord between the most radical governments in the region (Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador) and the “progressive” governments, mainly Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay…”

“For the boldest US strategists, the Amazon river basin, just as the Antarctic, is a free-access area where national sovereignties are not recognized…”

Tomorrow Obama moves over to Chile. His arrival is preceded by an interview he gave to the newspaper El Mercurio that was printed today, on Sunday, in which he confesses that the “Debate in the Americas”, as he calls it, is based on a “partnership of equals” with Latin America that practically leaves us breathless as we recall the Alliance for Progress that preceded the mercenary Bay of Pigs expedition.

Obama literally confesses that the US vision for the hemisphere […] is based on the concept of a partnership of equals that he has pursued ever since becoming President of the United States.

Obama stated that he shall also focus on specific areas where they can work together, such as economic growth, energy, security and human rights’…

That vision, he emphasized, has the aim of ‘improving common security, expanding economic opportunities, ensuring a clean energy future and supporting the democratic values we share’.

…promoting a safe, stable and prosperous Hemisphere where the United States and their partners share responsibilities on key regional and global issues…

As we can see, everything is marvellously beautiful, worthy of being buried just like Reagan’s secrets, to be published within 200 years.

The problem is, as informed by the DPA Agency, according to a survey carried out by the newspaper La Tercera, “…in 2006, 43 percent of the Chilean population was rejecting nuclear plants”.

“Two years later the rejection rate rose to 52 percent and in 2010 is reached 74 percent.” Today, after what happened in Japan it has reached “…86 percent of Chileans…”

We only have to ask Obama one question. Taking into account that one of his illustrious predecessors, Richard Nixon promoted the coup and the heroic death of Salvador Allende, the torture and murder of thousands of persons, would Mr. Obama be asking forgiveness of the Chilean people?

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 20, 2011
8:14 p.m.


Source: http://www.cubadebate.cu/

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THE DISASTERS THREATENING THE WORLD

If the speed of light would not exist; if the star closest to our sun would not be four light years from the Earth, the only inhabited planet in our system; if ETs really existed; the imaginary visitors to the planet would continue their voyage without understanding all that our humankind is suffering.

Just a few centuries ago in the millennial history of Man, nobody knew what was happening on the other side of the globe. Today, we can find out what’s happening right away and sometimes they are hugely transcendental events that affect all the peoples of the world.

Without more preamble, I shall limit myself to the most important news during the last two days.

“TeleSUR, March13, 2011: Volcano eruption in Japan triggers new alarm

“The Japanese Meteorological Agency informs that the volcano Shimoedake, located on the island of Kyushu to the south-east of Japan, spewed ash and stones this Sunday to a height of four thousand metres, after two week of relative calm and two days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that lashed the country.”

“…it became active last January for the first time in 52 years…”

“According to a BBC report, buildings in a radius of 4 kilometres were damaged and hundreds of persons fled from the vicinity, panic-stricken.”

“The […] seismic movement with a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter Scale, according to the Meteorological Agency of Japan, has already had repercussions on other volcanoes…”

“Japan crushed by the quake, tsunami and explosions at nuclear plants

“SENDAI, Japan, Mar.14, 2011 (AFP) – A double explosion on Monday in Reactor No. 3 at the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant fed the rumour of an atomic disaster in Japan, a country already overwhelmed by a quake and a tsunami that may have left more than 10,000 dead.

“Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), operator of Fukushima 1 (250 km to the north-east of Tokyo), also admitted the possibility that the fuel of Reactor 2 had entered into fusion because of damage to the cooling circuit. The government, for its part, minimized the possibility that an important explosion should be produced in that reactor.

“Rescue teams found approximately 2,000 corpses on the coast of Miyagi Prefecture (north-east), while millions of Japanese were attempting to survive without water, electricity, fuel or sufficient food and hundreds of thousands were forced to take shelter at emergency centres because of the tsunami that destroyed their homes.”

Aid workers from around the world arrived in the archipelago to collaborate with more than 100,000 soldiers that are trying to give aid in a country that continues to be shaken by earthquake after-shocks and lives in permanent fear of false alarms about new tsunamis.”

“Fear of a nuclear disaster was being added to the agony caused by the devastation. The quake, the tsunami and the explosions at the plants place the country into its “most serious crisis (…) since the end of WW II”, stated Prime Minister Naoto Kan.”

“An explosion had occurred on Saturday in Reactor No. 1, taking the life of one technician and injuring eleven.

“Fusion is produced on account of the reheating of the bars of fuel that start to melt just like candles.”

“Authorities declared a state of emergency at a second nuclear plant, the Onagawa Plant in the north-east…”

“Another nuclear plant, Tokai, suffered damages to its cooling system…”

“An 8.9-magnitude earthquake, and the following tsunami with a height of 10 metres, ripped through the north-eastern coast of the Japanese archipelago on Friday.”

“More than 10,000 persons may have lost their lives in the coastal prefecture of Miyagi (north-eastern Japan)…”

“At least 5.6 million homes are still without electrical power…”

“DATA- What’s happening in the Japanese nuclear reactors?

“March 14 (Reuters) – A second explosion shook the Japanese nuclear plant damaged by an earthquake, where authorities are working desperately to prevent nuclear fusion in the reactors.”

“The nucleus of a reactor consists of a series of tubes or metal zircon bars that contain pellets of uranium fuel stored in what the engineers call the fuel equipment.”

“Back-up refrigeration had problems several times during the last three days in Reactors 1, 2 and 3 at the Fukushima plant.”

“However, natural degradation of radioactive materials in the reactor’s nucleus continues to produce heat, called residual heat, falling to a quarter of its original level during the first hour and then disappearing more slowly.”

“Usually that heat is eliminated by refrigeration pumps that, in the Fukushima Plant, lost its emergency energy supply due to the earthquake, tsunami or both.”

“It was that hydrogen gas that caused the two explosions in the Fukushima Plant, in Unit 1 on Saturday and in Reactor 3 on Monday, according to experts and officials.”

“If a steel dome should break inside a reactor, the radiation levels will rise. But at this point now the heat is not enough to destroy them, experts say.”

“The risk is still there that the nucleus could melt and that could make removal of the fuel really difficult, or even impossible; that’s what happened on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979.”


“EFE March 14th: “US moves its vessels further from the Japanese coast after detecting radioactivity in 17 soldiers”

“The Pentagon informed today that 17 soldiers who are participating in assistance work in Japan registered “low levels” of radioactivity and it ordered its Seventh Fleet vessels based in the Japanese city of Yokosuka to be temporarily repositioned.”

“The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was 160 kilometres to the north-east of the plant at the time of the escape after the tsunami following the quake with a magnitude of nine points on the Richter Scale that shook Japan.”

“Fighting to cool down Fukushima Reactors 2 and 3 and number of dead grows”

“International News, Mar 14 (EFE).- Those in charge of Reactor 2 at the Fukushima Plant in Japan are trying to cool it down, after it may have suffered partial fusion as a result of over-heating; they are also cooling down Reactor 3 where there was an explosion that did not cause any radioactivity to escape.”

“While authorities struggle to control the nuclear risk, the number of dead increases as a result of the earthquake that has caused the worst tragedy in Japan since WW II.”

“The tremor could be felt powerfully in Tokyo, the largest city in the world with more than 30 million inhabitants, where the mood is one of sadness and citizens are using alternate transportation such as bicycles in the face of fuel shortages.”

“The country’s Meteorological Agency has warned the Japanese about a week of after-shocks and of a 70 percent possibility of a 7-point earthquake in Japan by this Wednesday.”

“Germany cancels plans for nuclear extension for three months”

“Berlin, Mar 14 (dpa)”

“The accident recorded this weekend at the Japanese Fukushima Plant as a result of the earthquake and later tsunami that devastated the Asian country on Friday ‘has completely changed the global situation’, Merkel stated.”

“‘Accidents in Japan show that what we thought impossible is possible and the risks we thought were improbable are not so improbable’, she went on to specify…”

“AFP. Yemen: Three demonstrators dead, among them a 12-year-old boy”

03/12/11

“SANAH (AFP) – Three demonstrators died, among them a 12-year-old boy and hundreds were injured on Saturday in Yemen where the protesters accused the police of having used toxic gases to disperse them.”

“A demonstrator died and approximately 300 were injured or intoxicated by the gases…”

“According to the UN, 37 demonstrators and at least six police died since the unrest began in Yemen.”

“ABU DHABI, March 14 (Reuters)”

“The price increase for crude and the recent and sudden reduction of the existence of cereals in the world could indicate a supply crisis, FAO Director Jacques Diouf told Reuters…”.

“‘The high prices are worrying and we have a huge decrease in their existence’…”.

“LONDON (AP) — British-based defense contractor BAE Systems PLC bribed Saudi officials in return for lucrative arms deals in Saudi Arabia, according to a newly released secret U.S. diplomatic cable.”

“…BAE, Europe’s largest defense contractor, paid more than 70 million pounds ($113 million) to a Saudi prince.”

“EFE. Ashton does not dismiss the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya

“In Cairo today, Catherine Ashton, in charge of EU Foreign Policy, does not dismiss the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya after meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amro Musa.”

“TRIPOLI, 14 (ANSA) – The forces of Muammar Kadafi today attacked Ajdabiya, in eastern Libya, and Zuwarah in the north-east, while the opposition National Council assured it would recover positions and said that it has international commitment to establish a no-fly zone.”

“The Council assured today that it obtained the commitment of the United States, Great Britain and France to set up a no-fly zone.”

“General Abd al Fattah Yunis, member of the rebel military council, assured that they would recover positions on the coast and in the country’s Eastern region…”

“‘We shall recover those cities and you will soon hear that our army advances towards Sidra and Tripoli’.”

“100 THOUSAND VOLUNTEERS HAVE JOINED GADDAFI FORCES

“TRIPOLI, 14 (ANSA) – Some 100 thousand volunteers have joined Libyan armed forces since the start of combat between troops backing Muammar Gaddafi and the rebel groups, government sources stated today.”

“Bahrain: opposition denounces “occupation” after the arrival of Saudi soldiers.



“MANAMA, March 14, 2011 (AFP)”

“‘The people of Bahrain is facing a real danger: that of a war against the citizens of Bahrain with no declaration of war’, seven opposition members emphasized, including Wefaq chiita, in a report.

“‘We consider the entry of any soldier, any military vehicle, into the land, air or sea space of the Kingdom of Bahrain to be a flagrant occupation of the unarmed people of Bahrain and a violation of international treaties and agreements’, the opposition added.”

“MORE PROTESTS YEMEN, BAHRAIN AND MOROCCO

“MANAMA and ADEN, 13 (ANSA) – Protest demonstrations continue today in Yemen, where three people died, and in Bahrain and Morocco, against the governments of those countries, local sources informed today.”

“…in Saudi Arabia, dozens of persons met today in the vicinity of the Ministry of the Interior headquarters in Riyadh to demand the liberation of a group of activists being held by police.”

“MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Tens of thousands of Bahraini protesters encircled one of the royal family’s palaces Saturday, shouting calls for political freedom and the king’s ouster a day after a similar march triggered a violent response from security forces.”

“Protests in Bahrain modeled on the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.”

“Bahrain holds particular importance to Washington as the host of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet…”

“United Arab Emirates to send troops to Bahrain

“DUBAI, March 14 2011 (AFP) – The United Arab Emirates announced on Monday they are going to send troops to Bahrain to contribute to “preserve order and stability” in that neighbouring country where the Saudis have already arrived with the same military purpose.”

“MANAMA, March 14 2011 (AFP) – The opposition in Bahrain stated on Monday that ‘any foreign military presence’ shall be considered to be ‘an occupation’, in their reaction to the arrival of Saudi troops in the Kingdom.”

“More than a thousand Saudi soldiers, part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) common forces, arrived in Bahrain, swept by a wave of demonstrations, according to statements to AFP by a Saudi in charge.”

“MEXICO (AFP) – The so-called US ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ that presumably allowed the deliberate entry into Mexico of almost 2,000 weapons, placed relations between the two countries into a delicate position, according to experts, and caused the unanimous irritation of Mexican legislators.”

“‘If the US acted without including any Mexican authority, we are dealing with totally unacceptable interference and a clear show of non-confidence’ by Washington in the Mexican police, former Ambassador to the US Jorge Montaño commented to AFP.”

“Mexico is facing unprecedented spiralling violence that has left almost 35,000 dead since December of 2006 in confrontations between drug traffickers and anti-drug police, as well as around a hundred victims caught in the cross-fire.”

“The Mexican senate described ‘Fast and Furious’ as an ‘aggressive and unilateral’ operation and an ‘insult to the sovereignty’ of Mexico.”

“IPS March 14 15:04”

“Tonight we were informed that Reactor No. 2 at the Fukushima 1 Plant was melting after emergency cooling systems failed, and this aggravated fears of radioactive contamination. On Saturday and this Monday there were explosions in Reactors 1 and 3.”

“Reactor No. 2 is functioning with a fuel known as Oxide Mix (MOX fuel) that contains plutonium, a particularly harmful substance for health.”

“ROME, 14 (ANSA) – There is a total of 442 active nuclear reactors in the world, concentrated in 29 countries and constructed by no more than ten companies.

“Europe, […] where governments today began to review their policy in the sector, has 148 active reactors in 16 countries.

“To those […] already active, we can add 65 that are under construction…”

“The world record for the number of functioning nuclear reactors is held by the United States with 104, followed by France with 58, Japan with 54…”

Last minute news just heard in Cuba informs that there was a third explosion at Fukushima:

“EFE March 15 20:13: There is fear of radioactive leaks due to the nuclear fusion of a reactor at Fukushima

“Tokyo, March 15 (EFE).- The company operating the Fukushima Nuclear Plant (north-eastern Japan) today acknowledged that it fears radioactive leaks due to a possible fusion in the nucleus of Reactor No. 2 which this morning suffered an explosion.

“Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) admitted that radiation may have been released after the structure enclosing Reactor No. 2 was damaged while radioactive levels in the area registered 8.217 microsieverts per hour, as opposed to the allowed 500.”

We can observe the complex situation prevailing in the Arab world where a revolutionary wave has been unleashed by its peoples.

The Saudi King supports the NATO war in Libya; while in Bahrain, NATO supports the Saudi invasion. The blood of the Arab peoples will be spilt to benefit the great trans-nationals of the United States while oil prices reach unpredictable heights as wars are unleashed in the areas producing the most oil and nuclear disasters in Japan multiply the resistance of peoples to the proliferation of nuclear plants.

Wastage and the capitalist consumer societies in their neo-liberal and imperialist phase are taking the world into a blind alley, where climatic change and the growing cost of foods lead billions of people towards more acute poverty levels.

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 14, 2011
9:35 p.m.


Source: http://www.cubadebate.cu/

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TWO EARTHQUAKES

A strong 8.9 on the scale earthquake shook Japan today. The most worrying is that early news reports were talking about thousands dead and missing, figures really unheard of in a developed country where all constructions are quake-proof. They were even talking about a nuclear reactor that was out of control. Hours later, it was informed that four nuclear plants close to the most affected area were under control. There was also information about a tsunami 10 metres high that had the entire Pacific area on tidal wave alert.

The earthquake originated at a depth of 24.4 kilometres and 100 kilometres from the coast. Had it happened at a lesser depth and distance, the consequences would have been more serious.

There was a shift in the earth’s axis. It was the third phenomenon of great intensity occurring in less than two years: Haiti, Chile and Japan. Man cannot be blamed for such tragedies. Every country, surely, will do everything it can to help the hard-working people who were the first to suffer an unnecessary and inhuman nuclear attack.

According to Spain’s Official College of Geologists, the energy released by the earthquake is equivalent to 200 million tons of dynamite.

The most recent information, from AFP, states that the Japanese electric Company, Tokyo Electric Power, informed that according to government instructions, they had released some of the vapour containing radioactive substances…

“We are following the situation. Until the present there is no problem…”

“They also indicated that there were breakdowns related to the cooling of three reactors in a second nearby plant, Fukushima 2.

“The government ordered the evacuation of surrounding areas for a radius of 10 km in the case of the first plant and 3 km in the case of the second one.”

Another earthquake, a political one and potentially more serious, is the one taking place around Libya, and it affects every country, one way or the other.

The drama that country is living through is in full swing and its outcome is still uncertain.

A great hubbub broke out yesterday in the US Senate when James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, stated before the Armed Services Committee that he didn’t believe Gaddafi had any intention of leaving; because of evidence at their disposal, it seems that he is “in this for the long haul”.

He added that Gaddafi has two brigades that “are very loyal”.

He pointed out that the air attacks carried out by the army loyal to Gaddafi “mainly” caused damages on buildings and infrastructure rather than civilian casualties.

Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, Director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, at the same hearing before the Senate, said that it seemed Gaddafi had staying power unless some other dynamic changes at this time.

“The opportunity the rebels had at the start of the popular uprising has ‘begun to change’, he assured.

I have no doubt whatsoever that Gaddafi and the Libyan leaders committed an error in trusting Bush and NATO, as it can be inferred from what I wrote in my Reflection on the 9th.

Nor do I doubt the intentions of the United States and NATO to intervene militarily in Libya and abort the revolutionary wave shaking the Arab world.

Countries that are opposing NATO intervention and defending the idea of a political solution without foreign intervention harbour the conviction that the Libyan patriots shall defend their Homeland until their dying breath.

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 11, 2011
10:12 p.m.


Source: http://www.cubadebate.cu/

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THE SUPERWOMEN OF IRAN

Let me introduce you to One Million Signature Campaign. This initiative is taken by Women's Rights in Iran activists to improve the situation of women in Iran, has captured attention of people all over the world. Their their perseverance and bravery seems to have no limit and can simply be called extraordinary.

The aim of the campaign is to collect one million signatures in support to change the laws that discriminate the women of Iran. It started straight after the peaceful protest on the 12^th of 2006 in Haft-e Tir Square in Tehran, but officially launched in august 2006 at the seminar called The Impact of Laws on Women’s Lives.

                      
                     

With this campaign the organizers try to demonstrate the decision makers that the desire to change the law isn’t support by only a small part of society but by away bigger amount of citizens of Iran.

Besides collecting one million signature the organizers want to achieve the following points:

• Promotion of Collaboration and Cooperation for Social Change
• Identification of Women’s Needs and Priorities
• Amplifying Women’s Voices
• Increasing Knowledge, Promoting Democratic Action
• Paying our Dues
• The Power of Numbers
• Power in Plurality

  

For a brief explanation on the points above, click here.

The campaign that seeks equal right marriage and inheritance, an end to polygamy, and stricter punishments for honour killings and other forms of violence, celebrated its 4 years anniversary last year on the 27^th of August. It will not stop collecting signatures until the number of one million is achieved, despite many members are arrested, threatened to be so. 

I could write an article of a million words but it would still not do justice to the campaign. Therefore I attached an article of one of the members of the campaign. 
 

Is Change Possible?

By: Raheleh Asgarizadeh
Monday 18 February 2008
Translated by: Sussan Tahmasebi

Note: This article was written by Raheleh Asgarizadeh, about her experience of engaging in face-to-face discussions and collecting signatures in support of the Campaign’s petition, which asks the Iranian Parliament to reform laws which are discriminatory against women. Raheleh was arrested along with Nasim Khosravi while collecting signatures in support of this same petition, on Thursday February 14, 2007, in Park Daneshjoo, following a street theater performance, as part of the International Fajr Festival, on the subject of women’s rights. Raheleh and Nasim are currently being held in Evin’s Public Ward 3, in relation to their peaceful activities in support of women’s rights.

Tired from a long day at work, I was standing on the bus, when a young woman’s voice caught my attention. She was speaking to a little girl and was trying to convince the girl to give her a kiss. "You seem to love children so…." the girl’s mother said.

The young woman let out a heavy sigh. "I have a girl, who is about the same age as your daughter. It’s been 2 years since I’ve seen her." Everyone was starring at her in disbelief, as she continued: "I got an uncontested and mutually agreed upon divorce from my husband, but he took my two year old daughter and left the country, taking her to a place where I would never be able to see her again…"

— "You didn’t want custody…," I asked.

— "Yes, but I didn’t have anyone who could help me, no connections…," she replied.

I took one of the legal pamphlets out of my purse and asked if she had heard of the One Million Signatures Campaign. She took the booklet and said that she had not heard of the Campaign. A middle aged woman, wearing a chador, asked if she could have a booklet, to take home and read, as well. Pleased with the request, I gave her one. The women on the bus slowly started to talk, and even the ones who had remained silent at first, began to tell the tales of their domestic problems and pains.

"I have a relative who is very rich, but he is unwilling to even buy clothes for his wife and children. Lately, it seems that he has taken on a temporary wife (Sigheh) who has 2 children of her own. He is more than willing to spend money on this new wife. The first wife, despite repeated pleas and attempts at ending her husband’s relationship with this new woman, has finally come to realize that her husband has no intention of ending his temporary marriage to his second wife. So the first wife has just resigned herself to her fate and no longer objects….," explained a middle aged woman on the bus.

"It is stories like this that give women a bad name. If you could only understand how terribly they view a divorced woman. It is horrific…poverty and moral corruption, have destroyed the lives of many," explained a young woman on the bus.

"After years of disagreements and fighting because of her husband’s cheating, one of my relatives recently got a divorce, but what a divorce. After years of building a life together, she has gotten a divorce, but she has been awarded no money or financial support. No money, no resources, and 3 young children, she has been left alone in this big city," explained another woman.

The first young woman turned to me and asked: "if I sign this petition, do you think that someday we will be able to change things? I want to collect signatures in support of the petition as well. I have endured and experienced the pain that exists in our society, and I believe that this will turn out to be a positive development in my life. I miss my child so much…

The woman in the chador took the petition and signed it. "I wish that god gives you much success. You are doing something very important." She then turns her sympathetic gaze onto the young woman who is bewitched by the little girl on the bus…

Source: http://www.we-change.org/english/ 

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THE FRENCH POLITICAL SPOIL: FLORENCE CASSEZ

The Mexican and French media were very attentive to the case of Florence Cassez. In March 2009, French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, officially visited Mexico.

Pressures to Sarkozy to take the beautiful Florence back to France, were tremendous. He requested that Cassez could be transferred to a French prison, something she may be entitled to under the 1983 Strasbourg Convention on the transfer of sentenced people, signed by both France and Mexico.


Who is Florence Cassez?

Florence Cassez is a 36-year-old French woman convicted in Mexico of belonging to the kidnapping gang "The Zodiacs". She is currently serving a 60-year sentence. In April 2006, Florence Cassez was sentenced to 96 years in jail, but after a legal dispute the sentence was reduced to 60 years.

Florence was a sociable teenager. She continued until high school to first class, and then chose different direction to join: a year of commercial training before entering the workforce.

She had many friends, some of whom still remember her perfectly. Cassez also took some dance lessons. Later she took art classes at the Ecole des Beaux Arts.




A journey starts

In 2003, Cassez was responsible for a large store of a regional teaching French. She always waited up, did more and did better. Florence Cassez's brother, an entrepreneur in Mexico for 6 years, offered her coming work with him. She accepted the idea and went to Mexico. Cassez learned the Spanish language in 6 months. Months later, she met Israel Vallarta, a Mexican man, who became his boyfriend.

She spent several months with him before returning to France. In 2005 Cassez was in France but Vallarta called her and as her new job did not satisfy her, she took the decision to come back Mexico to live with his boyfriend in his ranch. After some months, Cassez found a job in a hotel. She had already decided to rent an apartment to live alone.


Mexican-French Cooperation

Mexico bilateral cooperation, France stands out in the aircraft industry, agribusiness and infrastructure. Both countries have a long tradition of cooperation.

The French multinational food, DANONE, owner of the world-famous water brand, Evian, plans to build a mega farm with capacity for more than 10.000 cows, working in conjunction with small producers. In the aerospace sector, cooperation is based on the transfer of skills and technology.

Mexico hosts 300 French companies that employ about 80 thousand people, making France one of the largest foreign investors in Mexico, behind only the United States and the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, France has in Mexico its second investment destination in Latin America, after Brazil. Mexico is the main Latin American investor in France.

Mexico is not the United States

The refusal of a country to extradite suspects or criminals to another could affect international relations a lot. It is coomon that the country to which extradition is refused will incriminate the other country of refusing extradition for political reasons, even if those reasons are not justified.

In 1997 special attention had the case of Ira Einhorn, in which some US commentators pressured the ex french President Jacques Chirac not to intervene in legal cases, to permit extradition when the case was held up due to differences between French and American human rights law.

Ira Einhorn, better known as "The Unicorn Killer", is a convicted murderer, and former American activist of the 1960s and 1970s. He is now serving a life sentence for the 1977 murder of Holly Maddux.

In 1997, Einhorn was located and arrested in Champagne-Mouton, France where he had been living under the name "Eugene Mallon". His extradition to the United States, however, was much more complicated than many policymakers believed have been putting in evidence the different interpretations that had France and the U.S. about the "right to a fair trial." The agreements with both countries, they may refuse extradition if it considers that the accused can't get a fair trial.

Finally, American pressure was much stronger than the French government's position and on July 20, 2001, Einhorn was extradited to the United States.

I wonder... if Florence Cassez had been arrested in the United States, France was pressing so severely?

A great controversy

Is it authentic and worthy the French government's position to what happened to one of its citizens, Florence Cassez? If you have to wait for a response from the country in which you were born, obviously France should and must demand that Florence Cassez's human rights are respected.

The low popularity of President Sarkozy and President Calderon has created a climate of hostility and doubts about the statements and actions of both leaders.

The controversy started when the Mexican television presented a report that recreated the events of how Florence Cassez and his accomplices were arrested. Cassez was actually captured on December 8, 2005 and not on December 9, 2005 as believed. The authorities stated that this was done with the aim of recreating the facts as Cassez was arrested.

Perhaps many of us have in our minds the idea that a kidnapper to give her no compassion, because she had no compassion for their victims, and that must be tough against the hijackers and more in Mexico where its citizens live in constant tension because of the criminal organizations that exist.


Foreign Affairs Secretariat

Press Release 047
Foreign Affairs Secretariat
Mexico City

The Foreign Affairs Secretariat confirmed that French National Florence Cassez may not be transferred to fulfill her sentence in France under the Strasbourg Convention.

Yesterday, spokesman for the French government François Baroin asked Mexico to, “Respect the international agreements it had signed, particularly those concerning the transfer to their country of origin of persons condemned abroad.”

The Secretariat of Foreign Affairs said that the Strasbourg Agreement on the Transfer of Condemned Persons establishes clearly and unequivocally that consent is required from the sentencing state and the executing state in order to implement these provisions. In other words, permitting the transfer is a decision that must be taken by the country where the party to be transferred resides.

With regard to the Florence Cassez case and in response to a letter from President Nicolás Sarkozy, President Felipe Calderón declared, on 6 February 2009, that only after a condemnatory sentence had been established, “Would it be possible to explore the applicability of the Agreement on the Transfer of Condemned Persons adopted in Strasburg, France on 21 March 1983.”

Contrary to what anonymous sources have declared, at no time did the Mexican head of state pledge to carry out the transfer requested.

As the text of the letter shows, the commitment was restricted to “exploring the applicability” of the Strasburg Agreement.

In order to examine this possibility, in March 2009, Presidents Calderón and Sarkozy established a bi-national commission of jurists to conduct a detailed examination of the Strasbourg Convention.

In June 2009, after the bi-national commission had met for three months, the Mexican government concluded that there was an absence of conditions allowing it to consent to Florence Cassez's transfer to France.

President Felipe Calderón confirmed this decision in a letter to President Nicolás Sarkozy dated 22 July 2009, stating that, “The differences between the legal systems of Mexico and France prevent my government from allowing Ms. Cassez to be transferred to France to complete the sentence passed by Mexican courts.

In the same letter, President Calderón added that: “This decision, which is fully based on the Strasbourg Agreement, includes prior consent from the state where the person to be transferred resides among its requirements.”

It is therefore incorrect to say that a statement was issued that Florence Cassez would be transferred in the event that her sentence was definitive.

The Mexican government’s position is based on the following considerations:

1. There are substantial differences between the Mexican and French legal systems preventing Florence Cassez from fulfilling the sentence passed by the Mexican courts entirely in France.
2. France’s statements regarding its interpretation of the Strasbourg Convention constitute an impediment to guaranteeing that Florence Cassez will be able to fulfill the whole of her sentence in French territory.
3. These declarations state that, in the event that Florence Cassez was transferred to her country of origin, her sentence would be subject to the decisions of the French legal authorities regarding the modalities of their execution, including its suspension or reduction.
4. For Mexico, fulfilling the full 60 year sentence is an essential condition, since in the case of serious crimes such as abduction; the law does not contemplate early release or the reduction of sentences.

The Mexican government fulfils its international obligations unquestionably and in good faith. In this case, it has done so by exploring the possibility of applying the Strasbourg Convention in the case of Florence Cassez, as it pledged to do.

A detailed review of this case lead to an irrefutable conclusion: agreeing to her transfer would mean authorizing another state to permit the unjustified reduction or even elimination of the sentence warranted by the crimes committed by Florence Cassez in Mexico.

In Mexico, the crime of abduction is punished by the maximum sentence. It is a severe legal order that expresses Mexican society's condemnation of this crime and its determination to eliminate it.

This is the punishment given to anyone in Mexico sentenced for this serious crime, whether Mexican or foreign.

Contrary to what anonymous sources have declared, at no time did the Mexican head of state pledge to carry out the transfer requested.

The former cultural counselor of the French Embassy in Washington and Rome, Patrick Talbot, refused to receive the Legion of Honor by the French government's decision to devote the year of Mexico in France to Florence Cassez.

He is also former director of the prestigious Arles photo, this year planned to hold a photo exhibition in Mexico. Talbot sent a letter to Sarkozy where criticizes in harsh terms his decision.

Talbo said that it is unfair to mix culture, justice, diplomacy and politics.

Sarkozy, also received strong criticism in parliament of his country, both from the left and right, for deteriorating relations with Mexico, following the case Cassez. The conservative lawmaker, Chantal Brunel, said in her speech that being French abroad does not mean to be innocent, referring to Cassez. The lawmaker Francois Bayrou, branded as brutal the foreign policy of Sarkozy.


What to expect?

Sarkozy's decision to dedicate Cassez the Year of Mexico in France has damaged bilateral relations a lot. He did it just days after the ex French Foreign Minister, Michele Alliot Marie, called the decision of the Mexican federal court "unjust" and "deplorable". That was the main reason that made Mexico cancels "The Year of Mexico in France", which consists in diverse events, films, and conferences.

In 2012, it will be Mexico's turn to assume the presidency of the G-20. France would present the Cassez's case next year. Maybe the case reaches the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and it will make that many doubts are cleared.

If Cassez's lawyers have the evidences that prove their client's innocence, then they have to show justice those evidences.

Sarkozy has to know that he is not defending Joan of Arc. Evidences show that Cassez effectively was a member of a dangerous gang. Both, victims and their accomplices have openly declared that she participated in some kidnappings. So, Sarkozy should be more cautious in his declarations against Mexico. Nationality does not play in this case.

We hope that soon that impasse, which must be treated as something purely legal, is resolved and that prevail mainly the relationship of friendship and brotherhood that both nations have had for a long time.

Source 1: http://sre.gob.mx/english/
Source 2: http://liberezflorencecassez.com/

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