17 Nov - Foreign Affairs News

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• Un pueblo llamado Tomstone

  

  posted by Banco de Imágenes Gratuitas atfotoFRONTERA - 7 hours ago

  Nota:* Haz click aquí o sobre la imagen para ampliar el tamaño de este wallpaper.* Una vez más, *Stephen Baird* se sale con la suya y presenta a través de * www.FOTOFRONTERA.com*, 5 hermosos *wallpapers gi...


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  El paseo de los pajaritos

  

  posted by Banco de Imágenes Gratuitas atfotoFRONTERA - 7 hours ago

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  Vámonos vaquero...

  

  posted by Banco de Imágenes Gratuitas atfotoFRONTERA - 7 hours ago

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  El mapache de la caverna

  

  posted by Banco de Imágenes Gratuitas atfotoFRONTERA - 7 hours ago

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  Arizona

  

  posted by Banco de Imágenes Gratuitas atfotoFRONTERA - 7 hours ago

  Nota:* Haz click aquí o sobre la imagen para ampliar el tamaño de este wallpaper.* AVISO MUY IMPORTANTE *Mantente alejado de estafas* Estoy acostumbrado a recibir llamadas de mi familia con preguntas sobre...


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  'Canada's Economic Action Plan' signs painted in U.S.

  A member of the B.C. legislature wants to know why the provincial government is paying a Washington state company to make road signs extolling Canadian stimulus spending.
  

  The NDP's Katrine Conroy was so taken aback after seeing the signs in her Kootenay West riding she brought it up during question period in the legislature recently.
  

  "They say 'Canada's Economic Action Plan'. Shouldn't it just be common sense that you'd spend the money bragging about this in B.C.," asked Conroy
  

  
  
  

  
  

  Stop clawback of child benefits, P.E.I. urged

  
  

  The P.E.I. government needs to stop clawing back the National Child Benefit from families on social assistance, the National Council of Welfare says.
  

  'We do feel we reach a great many families through our programs.'— Bob Creed, provincial director of social programs

  The council, an arms-length advisory group for the federal minister of human resources, notes P.E.I. is now in a minority among the provinces in clawing back the federal benefit. On the Island the money counts as income and is deducted from what a family receives from the province.
  

  "That just traps people further into poverty," council chair John Rook told CBC News this week.
  

  
  

  
  

  Harper promotes India trade

  Prime Minister Stephen Harper pitched Canada as a potential sales partner to business leaders in India on Monday, the first day of his whirlwind three-day tour of the South Asian economic powerhouse.
  

  Harper told an audience of Indian business investors at a hotel in Mumbai that the combined GDP of the two countries is on its way to $4 trillion, and yet two-way trade is just $5 billion.
  

  That represents a lot of untapped business potential, he said.
  

  Harper's efforts to strengthen economic ties with India are a recognition of India's rising importance as one of the world's fast-growing economies.
  

  Harper tells members of the Mumbai business community that Canada and India have a lot of room to expand trade with each other. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

  "The South Asian tiger has awoken and the world is standing in awe," he told the business leaders.
  

  Tourism is one area of the Canadian economy Harper is hoping India can give a boost to, and on Monday he said the Canadian Tourism Commission would launch a campaign to attract more Indian travellers to Canada. To promote the campaign, Harper met with Indian Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, whom Harper announced would carry the Olympic relay torch in Toronto on Dec. 17.
  

  On another area of economic interest, Canada's nuclear industry, the prime minister was scheduled to meet with Indian leaders in New Dehli on Tuesday for a round of talks on nuclear co-operation.
  

  The two sides are expected to discuss a proposed civil nuclear agreement that would pave the way for Canada to sell nuclear technology to India. Nuclear trade between the two countries has been stalled since 1974, when India tested its first atomic weapon with the unauthorized help of Canadian nuclear technology.
  

  
  

  ( Canteach - Candu nuclear reactors - What's New )
  

  
  

  
  

  Khadr to face U.S. military commission

  A U.S. military commission will resume hearing the case against Omar Khadr, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday, the same day the Supreme Court of Canada heard a federal government appeal in his case.

  Khadr's civilian lawyer, Barry Coburn, said the U.S. government's decision to proceed with Khadr's case in a military commission was "devastating and shocking" and that he had expected more from the Obama administration.
  

  "We thought that the incoming Obama administration signalled a new day with respect to these cases, a new respect for civil liberties, an abhorrence of torture, a respect for the time-honoured legal procedures and protections that are mandated by the constitution and enforced by the federal courts," he said.
  

  
  

  ( You thought wrong. Obama is no different. )
  

  
  
  

  
  

  Toronto-born Khadr was captured by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15, and has been held at Guantanamo for seven years. The U.S. accuses him of throwing the grenade that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer, a medic with the U.S. army, but leaked documents have called into question the Pentagon's murder case against Khadr.
  

  Rights breached, court rules

  In a 2-1 judgment in August, the Federal Appeal Court agreed with a Federal Court judge's ruling that Khadr's rights under Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — the rights to life, liberty and security of person — had been breached when Canadian officials interviewed him at the prison in Guantanamo in 2003 and shared the resulting information with U.S. authorities.
  

  
  

  
  

  Street named for WW II spy hero

  
  

  
  

  Sir William Samuel Stephenson's covert operations during the Second World War have been cited as a decisive factor in the Allied victory.(Intrepid Society)A Winnipeg street has been renamed for a local man who became a legendary Second World War spy known as Intrepid — an inspiration for the fictional spook James Bond.
  

  Water Avenue, which links Main Street to the Provencher Bridge, was officially renamed William Stephenson Way on Sunday.
  

  "Finally, there is some tangible recognition for him in a noteworthy place in Winnipeg," said Kristin Stefansson, a distant cousin of Stephenson.
  

  "The fact it's going to be by the Human Rights Museum is another thing that I think is really important, because he did end up helping with causes of freedom around the world."
  

  The renaming ceremony was held Sunday afternoon at the intersection of Water and Main. Deputy mayor Justin Swandel, who officiated the event, was joined by Stefansson as well as representatives from the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the U.S. 
  

  
  

  army and Winnipeg's Intrepid Society.
  

  
  

  
  

  As a Canadian soldier, airman and spymaster, Stephenson became the senior representative of British intelligence for the Western Hemisphere during the Second World War.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  The telegraphic address of his office was INTREPID, which was later popularized as his code name.
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  His organization's activities ranged from censoring transatlantic mail, breaking letter codes (which exposed at least one German spy in the United States), forging diplomatic documents, obtaining military codes, protecting against sabotage of Allied factories and training Allied agents, according to the Intrepid Society, a group dedicated to honouring and sustaining Stephenson's memory.
  

  EU turns down Palestinian recognition plan

  Elena Milashina

  The danger in being a journalist in Russia today

  
  

  
  

  Elena Milashina is a leading investigative journalist at Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia's few remaining independent, outspoken newspapers.
  

  
  

  
  

  A small, Moscow-based paper, Novaya Gazeta is famous for its alarming number of murdered journalists.
  

  
  

  Over nine years, five people have been killed, among them the internationally recognized Anna Politkovskaya. She was gunned down in 2006 in the elevator in her apartment building while investigating atrocities committed in Chechnya by Russian forces.
  

  More recently, in July of this year, another colleague, Natalya Estemirova, was abducted from her home in Grozny, Chechnya, and murdered.
  

  She, too, was collecting information on extrajudicial executions and torture by pro-Russian forces in Chechnya.
  

  Milashina, 32, has now taken up the work of Politkovskaya and Estemirova, venturing into the dangerous topic of Chechnya, Russia's separatist-minded republic.
  

  She first joined the newspaper at 19 in 1996 during the heady days of press freedom under the late Boris Yeltsin.
  

  Milashina was in Toronto last week where she was being honoured by Human Rights Watch as one of four recipients of the Alison Des Forges award for extraordinary activism.
  

  While here, she spoke with CBC producer Jennifer Clibbon.
  

  
  

  
  

  Right now we can't even criticize freedom of the press in Russia because we don't have it.
  

  Most people in Russia get their information from television and it is totally controlled by the government.
  

  This year, over the past ten months, six human rights activists, journalists and opposition politicians were murdered. They were all critics of the Russian government [and killed] for being brave enough to talk openly.
  

  The Canadian and U.S. government can help us by opening their eyes to what's happening in Russia. Human rights abuses have increased this year. Many people have been killed and nobody is punished.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  If you are brave enough to talk or write openly, you will be a target.
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Afghanistan announces corruption crackdown

  President Hamid Karzai has appointed many people to the panel who were involved in the recent election that has been accused of wide-spread corruption, including ballot box stuffing.
  

  “So it really is something of an open question to see how uncorrupt a corruption panel could be when there are some of the people who are part of the government that is now considered to be corrupt,” CBC's James Murray said, reporting from Kandahar.
  

  The announcement comes as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned on Sunday that Afghanistan won't get any more civilian aid from the United States unless it does more to tackle corruption and goes after those suspected of looting aid in the past.
  

  
  

  ( 'Civilian Aid'. Apparently weapons supply will be unaffected. Human suffering will not be alleviated. You'd think that was regarded as counterproductive !  )
  

  
  
  

  Colonel Anguswrote:Posted 2009/11/17
  at 12:59 AM ETFactNotFallacy2 wrote:Posted 2009/11/17 at 12:22 AM ET
  
  
  Cracking down on crime and corruption in a country of war lords and an economy with a huge opium and cannibis base has to be the pipe dream of the century.
  
  Cracking down on crime and corruption in a country of lobbyists and international banking CEOs with a huge paper wealth base easily manipulated has to be the pipe dream of the millennium
  tell it like it iswrote:Posted 2009/11/17
  at 12:29 AM ET
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  It costs one million dollars to keep one US soldier in Afghanistan per year. If the Bushites get their way there will be one hundred thousand soldiers there shortly. Do the math and then pull your hair out.
  

  
  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  Joya to the World . . . .

  
  Since my friend was singing in the pre-show choir for Malalai Joya's Vancouver book tour kick-off, I walked up the hill to her performance this evening.
  
  I had previously heard Ms. Joya on a PBS program in the US, but to hear her story live in person was very moving. It is something I would recommend to anyone that has the opportunity to attend one of her appearances on this tour.
  
  Be advised that neither bush, harper nor obama are positively portrayed. The woman knows where the real element of change for her country lies: Within it's people.
  
  In answer to a question from an Afghani-Canadian woman in the crowd: 
  

  "What will happen to Afghanistan if all the foreign troops leave?"

  was:
  

  "The Afghani people will work it out. Slowly, they will begin to see that democracy and equal rights for all people, genders, religions is the thing to do. It won't be easy. It won't be fast. But it will happen. Having foreign troops there only more firmly entrenches the Taliban and the war lords in power. Make them leave, and the situation will slowly begin to change."

  
  I'm thinking the military/industrial/congressional complex would not like her answer.
  
  The Lady Alison has the details of the tour . . . .
  

  
  

  How the US funds the Taliban

  From Aram Roston at The Nation :
  

  "Welcome to the wartime contracting bazaar in Afghanistan. It is a virtual carnival of improbable characters and shady connections, with former CIA officials and ex-military officers joining hands with former Taliban and mujahedeen to collect US government funds in the name of the war effort."

  An example : NCL Holdings, a licensed security company in Afghanistan, has been awarded hundreds of millions of dollars - a 600% increase for the proposed new "surge" - to handle the bulk of US trucking in Afghanistan. Its chief principal is Hamed Warduk, the American son of Afghanistan's current defense minister, who graduated as valedictorian from Georgetown University in 1997, earned a Rhodes scholarship, and interned at the American Enterprise Institute, where "he forged alliances with some of the premier figures in American conservative foreign policy circles, such as the late Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick".
  
  Watan Risk, another security company run by Karzai's family relatives - convicted heroin traffickers, controls the road to Kandahar because of its principal's alliance with a local warlord who really controls the route, extorting $1500 per truck for passage to Kandahar.
  NCL pays Watan Risk $500,000 a month for protection.
  
  Roston :
  

  "The security firms don't really protect convoys of American military goods here, because they simply can't; they need the Taliban's cooperation.
  

  "Most escorting is done by the Taliban," an Afghan private security official told me. "Now the government is so weak," he added, "everyone is paying the Taliban."
  

  To underline the point: NCL, operating on a $360 million contract from the US military, and owned by the Afghan defense minister's son, is paying millions per year from those funds to a company owned by President Karzai's cousins, for protection."
  

  
  Afghanistan - the "good war".
  Would the Taliban collapse entirely if not financially supported by the US government?
  Is all that is necessary for the collapse of the Taliban is for the troops to leave?

  ( Nope. The Pashtun are the largest ethnic group in the area and have formed its only stable civilizing government.)

  
  

  When the Mexican toilet flushes . . .

  FABIUS MAXIMUS is an American who has an eponymous blog which is "a discussion about geopolitics, broadly defined, from an American's perspective". Over the years, I have found a sage perspective.

  Anyway, Fabius has a page on the current debacle that is Mexico, leading with the comment, "Mexico continues to fall apart in slow-mo. There seems to be little we can do to help, so our government pretends all is fine — rather than take defensive measures." Fabius is not given to hyperbole, so, just how bad is it?
  

  He cites an article in THE ATLANTIC, by Philip Caputo, titled "The Fall of Mexico":
  

  In the almost three years since President Felipe Calderón launched a war on drug cartels, border towns in Mexico have turned into halls of mirrors where no one knows who is on which side or what chance remark could get you murdered. Some 14,000 people have been killed in that time—the worst carnage since the Mexican Revolution—and part of the country is effectively under martial law. Is this evidence of a creeping coup by the military? A war between drug cartels? Between the president and his opposition? Or just collateral damage from the (U.S.-supported) war on drugs? Nobody knows: Mexico is where facts, like people, simply disappear. The stakes for the U.S. are high, especially as the prospect of a failed state on our southern border begins to seem all too real.
  

  14,000 people killed in 3 years? Wow. Here there be dragons. As well, the Fabius page has links to other articles about this festering problem. As Pete De Lorenzo says at Autoextremist, "a heaping, steaming bowl of Not Good".
  

  Others concur. William S. Lind is what you could call a "paleoconservative", which seems somewhat whacko to my milquetoast weltanschauung, but, Willie is something of an avant-garde theorist, when it comes to things military. His take is that La Familia, one of the Mexican drug outfits, is different from the rest, in that it is the acquiring the shape of a "4GW" entity. That's 4th Generation Warfare. He is a major contributor to Defense and the National Interest, and what he has to say is worthy of attention:
  

  An article in the October 23 Washington Times points to what I think may be the next important evolution in Fourth Generation war. The piece concerns Mexico’s third-largest drug gang, La Familia. La Familia is best known for beheading people it does not like. But according to the article, its real claim to fame may be as a pioneer in seizing the mantle of legitimacy previously worn by the state.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  Canada helps train African peacekeepers

  Canada's deep commitment to peacekeeping is highlighted in a $15-million program, now in its third year, to train African peacekeepers.
  

  Since the dramatic failure of the U.S.-led peacekeeping mission in Somalia in the early 1990s, where many peacekeepers were killed, Western militaries have shied away from the continent, handing over peacekeeping duties instead to their less experienced African counterparts. That has produced mixed results at best in places like Darfur and Somalia.
  

  So Canada set up a program to send eight of its military officers, all peacekeeping veterans, to the Peace Support training facility outside the Kenyan capital Nairobi to put their African counterparts, from across the continent, through three-week training courses in peacekeeping basics.
  

  The drills are set in a mythical country called Carana, a place that closely resembles Sudan's troubled Darfur region, which is a likely destination for most of the course graduates.
  

  "A number of students we have in our program have either been in Darfur, or are going to Darfur, and if they have been in Darfur before, after they have done this training, they are moving them up to headquarters positions in Darfur," Lt.-Col. Sheldon Steinke told CBC News in an interview.
  

  Students at the facility appreciate Canada's vast history and experience in peacekeeping.
  

  "What I got from the course is a lot of knowledge because it was given by very experienced Canadian officers," said Maj. Anthony Mutuku of the Kenyan army.
  

  The course also impressed Maj. Stephen Lesuda of the Kenyan air force. "It taught me a lot of things that I didn't know before. In fact I wish I had been on this course before I'd been on the UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea," he said.
  

  More than 350 African officers have graduated so far from the program that many say is crucial to the future security of the continent.
  

  
  

  (  You'd think Canada would be content to concentrate on what it can accomplish....where it can actually do so.  )
  

  
  
  

  Newsbloggers
  

  
  

  
  

  Learning how

  CITY JOURNAL is a thoughtful magazine that covers issues of concern. Sol Stern has a worthy article, titled "E. D. Hirsch’s Curriculum for Democracy". So, who is E. D. Hirsch, and why should you care?
  
  E. D. Hirsch is an American educator who is concerned about the decline in acadenic performance of most American students. Simply, he believes that a content-rich pedagogy makes better citizens and smarter kids.
  
  This has what might be called the politically-correct pedagogical elite rather upset. But, testing scores seem to indicate that Hirsch is right, and they are wrong, If you have kids in school, this article is worth the read.
  
  The “Massachusetts miracle,” in which Bay State students’ soaring test scores broke records, was the direct consequence of the state legislature’s passage of the 1993 Education Reform Act, which established knowledge-based standards for all grades and a rigorous testing system linked to the new standards. And those standards, Massachusetts reformers have acknowledged, are Hirsch’s legacy.
  
  Though UVA’s admissions standards were as competitive as the Ivies’, the reading and writing skills of many incoming students were poor, sure to handicap them in their future academic work. In trying to figure out how to close this “literacy gap,” Hirsch conducted an experiment on reading comprehension, using two groups of college students. Members of the first group possessed broad background knowledge in subjects like history, geography, civics, the arts, and basic science; members of the second, often from disadvantaged homes, lacked such knowledge. The knowledgeable students, it turned out, could far more easily comprehend and analyze difficult college-level texts (both fiction and nonfiction) than their poorly informed brethren could. Hirsch had discovered “a way to measure the variations in reading skill attributable to variations in the relevant background knowledge of audiences.”
  
  “Cultural literacy constitutes the only sure avenue of opportunity for disadvantaged children,” Hirsch writes, and “the only reliable way of combating the social determinism that now condemns them to remain in the same social and educational condition as their parents. That children from poor and illiterate homes tend to remain poor and illiterate is an unacceptable failure of our schools, one which has occurred not because our teachers are inept but chiefly because they are compelled to teach a fragmented curriculum based on faulty educational theories.”

  
  

  ( And it's institutional practice in a country which raves how democratic it is...while income inequality expands exponentially. We are supposed to believe this to be a coincidence. That's one word for it....that starts with 'C'.  )

  
  

  'Lympic loudspeakers and wars coming home

  This morning's bullshit (emphasis mine):
  
  
  

  Vancouver police have a new crowd control device capable of emitting painfully loud blasts of sound, just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics, CBC News has learned. The Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) can use sound as a weapon, emitting tones that cross the human threshold of pain and are potentially damaging to hearing. But it is also designed as a communications device that's clearly audible up to 1,000 metres away.
  

  Const. Lindsay Houghton said the device was first tested this summer as a public address system during the Celebration of Light fireworks events in Vancouver.
  

  Houghton said police don't plan to use the device for anything more than communication. "The primary function we're using the device for is its ability to communicate with very large groups with respect to crowd control, evacuations, tactical situations where we may need the loudspeaker portion of it," he said.
  

  ...
  

  The device, labelled as non-lethal, was designed for the American military and was first used publicly in North America in September as police in Pittsburgh tried to control anti-G20 demonstrators. The device, which weighs about 40 kilograms, can be mounted on top of a vehicle. It is reported to be capable of emitting a blast of directional sound measuring an estimated 150 decibels at one metre away and an estimated 90 decibels at 300 metres.
  

  Sound above the range of 120 to 140 decibels is considered painful and damaging to human hearing. The device has reportedly been used in ship defence systems to repel would-be pirates, by the U.S. military to drive away insurgents in Iraq and by Japanese whaling ships to drive away protesters. But police in Vancouver have no plans to use the sonic weapon feature of the device, said Houghton."We have no plans to look at that portion of the device. It was looked at solely for its effectiveness at delivering a message to a large number of people," said Houghton.
  

  
  
  
  It should go without saying that if the cops had simply wanted a new public address system, they'd have bought one that wasn't weaponised. And the ethics behind testing an undeclared weaponised loudspeaker at a public event are questionable at the very minimum. My conspiratorial guess is the fireworks show gave the police an live crowd event where they could test the deployment and operation of the device in a relative safe "walk through" scenario where they could plausibly hide their intent. Described another way, unknown to the public, the police levelled a weapon against them, but kept the safety on. I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't have consented to being a police guinea pig.
  
  

  SFU criminologist David MacAlister, whose research focuses on police powers and civil liberties, said the public should be concerned about the police bringing in new tactics just months before the 2010 Winter Olympic Games,
  
  Protesters have threatened to hold large public demonstrations and possibly attempt to disrupt the Games.
  
  "We want to be concerned whenever we're putting a new weapon in the hands of the police and they're basically telling us 'trust us, we're not going to use it,'" said MacAlister.

  
  Yes, Dr. MacAllister, watch these people like hawks. Owelympic protestors and members of the public: be sure to wear ear defenders, gas masks and hockey pads when nearing five ring circus venues without tickets.
  
  Quebec recently showed us the police infiltrating and attemping to provoke violence amid peaceful demonstrators before their boots gave them away (something they've probably done for a while, but they were caught with their pants down this time). We are to trust that police agents provacateurs will not be infiltrating Olympic protests so the police can then justify using force against them? Are we to trust the police won't try engineer an incident to justify flicking the safety off on their new boom box?
  
  There's some big picture questions that come to mind over this. We're seeing Canadian police acquire a weapon designed for and used by the occupying military against hostile groups of civilians in wartime counterinsurgency operations. There is now a direct relationship between COIN in Iraq and Afghanistan and policing in Canada, the United States and other countries. Extending the relationship between overseas wars and domestic policing, one might also view the incredulous police resistance to inquiries stemming from the use of new weapons as representative of a de facto police view of the public and civilian institutions as the enemy and something to be controlled and resisted, least of all trusted.
  
  This I think, is part of the larger trend of increasing weaponisation and 'tactical' focus (read militarisation) of domestic policing. Police are acquiring weapons for every occassion and type of incident, from firearms, to tasers, to pepper spray, and batons, to water cannon and CS gas for larger groups, and now new sonic devices to damage your hearing. It is not hard to see that the more specialised the weapons become, the more occassions they can be deployed, and the more reliant on weapons their users become. The end result of this techno-fetishism is a dehumanisation of the policing process and a focus entirely on the tactical control element of a given scenario and an utter ignorance of context. Violence more often becomes a question of relative degree versus one of actual necessity for resolving an issue, to the point now where police will incite the scenario that allows them to deploy violence for control. Are we moving to a situation where the only tools police understand and use involve the application of a weapon system?
  
  More from Alison and Dr. Dawg.

  ( Side note : the British bobby was 'armed' with a truncheon for a good many years. Escalating equipment levels was not seen as conductive to maintaining civil order.  Weapons are perceived as a threat, you see... It's a bit like the joke about locks keeping honest people out. Armed police are only 'safer' from law-abiding people.  Those tend to be the ones who think the police are maintaining public safety.

  Otherwise...somebody needs to start pulling funding...and replacing those in charge.  )

  
  

  Martian Landscapes

  THE BOSTON GLOBE has a picture section on their web site, and this week, it's about Martian landscapes. These are not the dreary rover pictures of rubble-strewn plains, but an exciting variety of views. The Boston.com has links to the respective science labs responsible.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Joyce Mulama: Challenges in promoting children's health in Kenya

  At age seven, Johnson Mungai (left), from Chokaa village, in Ruai, a peri-urban settlement on the outskirts of Nairobi, already knows that children are getting a raw deal where their health is concerned.
  
  From the periodic shortage of drugs in public health facilities and to the lack of clean water that continues to subject many children to diarrhea, Mungai is aware that with the current status, prospects of achieving universal child health are nil.

  Public Health and Sanitation Minister Beth Mugo says that close to 30,000 Kenyans, mainly children below five years, die annually due to diarrhoea related diseases. “Paediatric death toll due to diarrhoea exceeds that of HIV and Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, yet it's preventable through observation of simple hygiene practices."

  
  

  MIDEAST: Gazans Brace for Cold, Bleak and Miserable Winter

  "With winter rains and cold weather now imminent, the people of Gaza are even more desperately in need of construction materials such as cement, roofing tiles and glass to build and repair homes destroyed and damaged during the Israeli military offensive of 2008/2009,"

  Damage caused to Gaza’s water, sanitation and electricity systems, exacerbated by Israel’s crippling blockade which forbids the import of most essential spare parts and fuel, has further limited the ability of aid agencies to supply essential services.
  
  The lack of concrete water storage tanks means that fresh water can only enter water pipes when there is electricity to power water pumps. Backup generators - which rely on fuel - are needed to ensure power cuts do not lead to water shortages and pollution of water. 

  "I’m not sure how we will cope with winter as heating and electricity are a big problem and the children are always getting sick. I think the phosphorous bombs that were dropped nearby may have affected them.
  
  "Apart from the health issues we still live in fear on a daily basis as Israel continues to bomb these areas,"

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  RIGHTS: U.S., Somalia Still Opt Out of Children's Treaty When the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) commemorates the 20th anniversary of its landmark international treaty protecting the rights of children next week, there will be two countries skipping the celebrations: the United States and Somalia. RIGHTS: State of India’s Children: An Unsettling Reality 6,000 children die in India every day—a shocking 3,000 due to malnutrition—which Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh recently described as a "national shame". India also hosts a third of the world’s child brides, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund report, released in October, ‘Progress for Children: A Report Card on Child Protection'.  India’s infant mortality rate—an abysmal 53 per 1,000 births—trails far behind its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of 30. MDGs are eight international development goals to be achieved by 2015. In addition, 53 percent of Indian kids face sexual abuse. Of the 13 percent of all children engaged in labor in south Asia, India hosts more than half while 33 percent of Indian children consume alcohol and narcotics each day and half a million get hooked to these potentially dangerous substances every year. "The pathetic state of children’s health in India is reflective of a total failure of its democracy, public institutions and civil society," opines Praveen Nair, chairperson of Salaam Balak Trust, a pan-India non-governmental organisation for underprivileged children. Nair tells IPS that enforcing children's rights is a prerequisite to creating an environment where children can be nurtured to realise their optimal potential. AUSTRALIA/SRI LANKA: Untangling the Knotty Issue of Human Smuggling Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith’s trip to Sri Lanka on Nov. 9, along with top immigration officials, was clearly born out of concerns to seek out ways to stem the rising wave of human trafficking originating from Sri Lanka and ending in Australia—or more to the point, stop people trying to get to Australian territory illegally. "People smuggling remains a high-priority transnational issue for source, transit and destination countries in our region. It presents a threat to the integrity of border security processes and procedures," the two ministers said in a joint statement at the conclusion of the Smith visit. "We note that people smugglers and people smuggling syndicates work without regard for human safety or national legal frameworks." ( No flies on him. )  CLIMATE CHANGE: Africa Told 'Stop Playing the Victim'  U.S.: Army Sends Infant to Protective Services, Mom to Afghanistan  AGRICULTURE-ARGENTINA: Desperately Dry  SRI LANKA: Hopes High for Fresh Leadership as Election Looms  FILM: Challenging 500 Years of Globalisation  UGANDA: Helping Hand For Homophobia From U.S. Christians  WEST AFRICA: Helping Pirates to Plunder the Oceans  CLIMATE CHANGE: Signs and Portents of a Hostile New World  ECONOMY-US: "Green" Jobs Should Be Black and Brown Too  INDIA/CHINA: Dalai Lama’s Border State Visit: Purely Spiritual? JAPAN: Obama Visit Hailed, But Left Crucial Questions Unanswered ( Obama Nation : The Phrase That Summarizes His Presidency ) U.S.: Increasingly Isolated in Key Regions More than a year after his election, President Barack Obama appears to be dashing hopes both in the Arab world and in Latin America that he would bring major changes in U.S. policy toward their respective regions. His administration's decision to back down from its initial demand that Israel freeze all settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is widely seen as capitulation to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and its right-wing allies in the so-called "Israel Lobby" here. Similarly, the State Department's abrupt reversal on its longstanding demand that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya be restored to office as a condition for U.S. recognition of elections scheduled for Nov. 29 is seen as a surrender to the de facto government headed by Roberto Micheletti and hard-line anti-Castro forces in Congress. The administration's readiness to abandon previously held positions in both cases has resulted in disillusionment among key regional allies – Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the Arab world; and most importantly Brazil in Latin America. It has also reinforced the growing impression – among Obama's right-wing critics and left-leaning supporters alike – that the president is unwilling to spend his still-hefty, albeit diminishing, political capital on key foreign policy initiatives and principles.  Analysis by Jim Lobe* CHINA: Simmering Issues Boiling Up in Run-up to Obama Visit By Antoaneta Bezlova His victory speech is a smash hit on Internet sites; his image vies for popularity with those of communist China’s founding father Mao Zedong, and his book is a runway bestseller in this country’s big cities. But as China prepares to welcome him as the first black president of the United States, keen anticipation is mixed with unease. Hosting a U.S. president from the democratic camp—and one that has already stirred sentiments with his trade protectionist measures—worries China’s officialdom. But dissidents and rights activists are equally apprehensive, because since his election, Barack Obama has shunned direct condemnation of China’s rights record and kept silent over evidence of persistent violations of freedom. On the whole, experts here believe that Obama’s weeklong Asia trip, which will take him to Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea, is about reclaiming leadership in the region. But many read this mission also as an attempt to keep China’s rise in check. "The truth is that Washington expects China to help it fight the current economic crisis and ultimately maintain the existing global order dominated by the U.S. Should China refuse to do that, then we will be seen as ‘irresponsible’ and cast as the force that undermines that order," said Yuan Shan, researcher on politics and public management at Wuhan university. When the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg recently described the future of U.S.-China relations in terms of "strategic reassurance," analysts here saw shades of caution and mistrust. Just as the U.S. and its allies must make clear that they "are prepared to welcome China's ‘arrival’ ... as a prosperous and successful power," said Steinberg, "China must reassure the rest of the world that its development and growing global role will not come at the expense of security and well- being of others." "Reassurance is a two-way street," argued Fu Mengzi, researcher with the Beijing-based think tank, Institute of Contemporary International Relations. "The new concept is based on the aspirations of both countries to build mutual trust," Fu wrote in the English-language newspaper ‘China Daily’, "but its creation demonstrates exactly the lack of such trust". SIERRA LEONE: Claims Presidency Interferes with Judiciary  Since the end of the 11-year civil war in 2002, the British Department for International Development (DFID) has been pouring huge amounts of money into helping reform the judiciary which, like many state institutions, had virtually collapsed. Judges and magistrates were provided with luxurious vehicles, the law courts were given a facelift, judicial officials were trained and the prisons system overhauled. But there is still much to be desired. Sierra Leone’s 1991 constitution clearly affirms the independence of the three arms of government – the judiciary, legislature and the executive (presidency) – but the judiciary has often been accused of allowing some of its activities to be interfered with by the executive, eroding neutrality. A long-awaited ruling is expected on a matter brought before the Supreme Court by the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), demanding a repeal of the criminal and seditious libel laws of the 1965 Public Order Act. The law criminalises libel, and has seen many journalists sent to jail or have their publications proscribed. Arguments in the matter were concluded in March 2009, and a ruling was expected within 90 days, according to the country’s constitution. But when the Supreme Court reneged on giving a verdict, the SLAJ imposed a news blackout on the judiciary and other arms of the government, such as the police and the ministry of information, which the media association saw as accomplices in thwarting its goal. Apparently embarrassed by this stand-off, the president’s office wrote a letter to the SLAJ informing the association the ruling would be given in mid-September, when the judiciary resumed sittings following months of recess. RIGHTS: Iraqi Minorities Dying Over Turf War By Chryso D'Angelo Iraqi minority groups are caught up in a power struggle between the country's Arab-dominated central government and the Kurdish-controlled regional government over the oil-rich Nineveh province - and they are paying with their lives, according Human Rights Watch. PAKISTAN: Military Vs Militancy Does Not Equal Peace  By Zofeen Ebrahim Noted peace activist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy called the government authorities "irresponsible" for creating paranoia among the people. "They constantly accuse external powers for the present spate of terrorism." ( Um. NATO black ops, maybe ? al Qaeda ? ) "poorly planned military operations have aggravated both the conflict’s impacts on daily life and the public alienation that fuels militancy." ( Afghanistan will be different, right ? No ? ) POLITICS: Corruption in Afghanistan Cuts Both Ways Unfortunately for both Afghans and Americans, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Barack Obama, his counterpart in Washington, missed a chance to reset the critical relationship between their two countries and move the dialogue in an honest direction. Hours after Karzai was declared the winner in the long-drawn presidential elections, Obama made a congratulatory call and also a request that the Afghan president move boldly to fight the corruption and drug trade that is holding Afghanistan back, fueling the insurgency and leaving the U.S. and its European allies with a weakened partner. Specifically, the Obama Administration and European capitals are looking for Karzai to establish an anti-corruption commission. They also want Karzai to remove a number of high profile individuals from positions of power. One of these is Karzai’s vice presidential running mate, Mohamad Qasim Fahim, a suspected drug trafficker. Another is General Rashid Dostum who has been accused by various independent human rights organizations in the killings of thousands of Taliban prisoners. Even Karzai’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who has come under western criticism for his suspected role in Afghanistan's drug trade. Expectations AheadTwo and-a-half months after Afghans cast their ballots, the country finally has a president. Hamid Karzai will continue to lead Afghanistan for the next five years. Since the campaign began last summer, the economy has suffered tremendously, with foreign investment in Afghanistan falling off a cliff and an already sluggish local investment scene becoming even more moribund. Politically, the campaign, election and fractious post-election period, led to infighting among government elites and pitted provincial governors who may have supported different candidates against one another. The Afghan parliament also became fractured as opposing loyalist used legislative issues as proxy wars. Most Afghans welcome the chance to put this drawn-out election process behind them. "Declaring a winner (on Nov. 2) has ended our worries and concerns about who will lead the government," says Rohullah Noori, a Kabul resident. "But now we have many expectations of this government, especially with regard to security." Mohammad Nazir, who also lives in Kabul, says that though his candidate didn't win, he is glad that winner has been declared so the nation may move forward. "I participated in the first round of elections (Aug. 20)," Nazir says, "and I cast my ballot for my candidate. Though he didn't win, I obeyed Afghan law and would have participated in a runoff. Since Hamid Karzai was declared the winner I continue to follow the law and warmly welcome this decision." Roubina Safdari, a high school teacher, has high expectations for Karzai's new government. She wants an increase in women's rights, having had enough of the prejudice that has plagued Afghan society for far too long. By Hashim Qiam/Killid At a press conference after the Obama call, Karzai said that instead of removing individuals from positions of power, a review and change of Afghan law is in order – maintaining status quo. Indeed, there's a lot that's wrong in Afghanistan and in the way its president has lead the country since 2002. But the United States, its NATO allies and respective donor agencies have also contributed significantly to the corruption and human rights abuses here. To now condemn Karzai for having individuals such as his brother and Dostum in positions of power, when the U.S. and its partners empowered these people in their fight against al Qaida and the Taliban is highly disingenuous. Why should Karzai - let alone the Afghan people - take Obama's request for an anti-corruption commission seriously when the United States and its partners have mismanaged and wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on over priced, ill-planned reconstruction projects? And speaking of commissions, the coalition has yet to establish an official commission to review their near trillion dollar war, to say nothing of mismanaged, corruption riddled development projects since that war began. In the few days since the confirmation of his second term, President Karzai has also missed an opportunity to foster an honest and fresh direction for his people and their global partners, many of whom it must be noted, are sacrificing their lives on Afghan soil everyday.

  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  Demand for illegal ivory soars in booming China

  Twenty years after a worldwide ban, there's a new black-market trade in elephant tusks from Africa

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Stephenson was also a radio pioneer who helped develop a way of transmitting photographs around the world. But it was his espionage work that garnered the most fame. Some suggest his covert operations in the Second World War were a decisive factor in the Allied victory.
  

  Author Ian Fleming has credited Stephenson as being an inspiration for James Bond.
  

  In an interview with the Times newspaper in 1962, Fleming said: "James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing is … William Stephenson."