Bombshell! U.S. Headed for ‘Great Collapse’?
Obama administration repeats Carter’s 1970s ‘stagflation’
An economist is predicting the U.S. economic solvency crises of the last two years are just precursors to a great collapse: a Hyperinflationary Great Depression, Jerome Corsi’s Red Alert reports.
Corsi notes that economist John Williams of “Shadow Government Statistics” lists the following as factors contributing to the coming economic crisis:
- The Federal Reserve moving to monetize U.S. Treasury debt with its current policy of Quantitative Easing 2, or QE2, aimed at buying another $600 billion in Treasury debt;
- The U.S. dollar losing its traditional safe-haven status, while losing its reserve status, as the world moves to a new global reserve currency, most likely in the form of International Monetary Fund use of Special Drawing Rights;
- The federal government moving into what is effectively long-term insolvency, with GAAP-based (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices) showing total federal obligations at $76 trillion — more than five-times the level of U.S. GDP by the end of 2010;
[…]
Williams’ Hyperinflation Special Report (2011) warns the United States is about to experience once again the “stagflation” combination of low economic growth plus high inflation and high interest rates that came to characterize the presidency of Jimmy Carter in the late-1970s, but on a scale magnified many times over.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chuck Norris Shares Truth About What’s Happening Along Southern Boundaries
After a decade of playing one on television, a few months ago, my brother, Aaron, and I were blessed to become real Texas Rangers, in the presence of Gov. Rick Perry, fellow Texas Rangers and many others.
Gov. Perry mentioned at that induction, “As the drug cartels have turned up the heat on the other side of that border over the past few years, we have invested significant state resources to secure our border, looking to local police departments, county sheriffs, game wardens and even Texas military forces. However, when it was time to take the fight to the bad guys, there was only one choice to lead our efforts, so we formed our Ranger recon teams. It is reassuring to know that our Rangers are on the job, especially in light of ongoing reports of deteriorating conditions with kidnappings, assassinations and terroristic acts just miles from Texas communities.”
Only weeks later, on Jan. 31, 2011, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asked public officials to stop exaggerating claims of violence on the U.S. side of the border and “be honest with the people we serve.” She added, “Let’s stick with the facts. We need to be up front and clear about what’s really happening along our borders.” And the very same day she told a group at the University of Texas in El Paso that it is inaccurate to say that the border is out of control and overrun with violence, citing statistics from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program.
However, Sylvia Longmire, a former special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and a senior intelligence analyst and border security expert for the California Emergency Management Agency, says Napolitano’s statements don’t have a leg of credibility to stand on. Longmire recently retorted, “There are too many ways in which the data can be broken down and interpreted, and simultaneously not enough ways to define it. While some crime reports contain information about the offenders and victims, many do not, and I say with confidence that most people in either category wouldn’t voluntarily affiliate themselves with a Mexican drug cartel. So how can Secretary Napolitano use FBI crime statistics for support when she says our Southwest border has never been more secure, and subsequently accuse lawmakers of exaggerating the levels of border violence? She can’t, with any credibility anyway.”
[…]
The only ones exaggerating are the feds: under-exaggerating the threat and severity of border violence, and over-exaggerating their success of securing the U.S. southwest border.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Renew License for Vermont Yankee
Vt. Legislature still must approve state permit
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Federal regulators on Monday gave the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant a 20-year license renewal, despite calls for reconsideration following the nuclear disaster in Japan.
Issuance of the license was a foregone conclusion after the NRC voted to approve it on March 10, one day before an earthquake and tsunami triggered the still unfolding crisis at the Fukushima reactors in northeastern Japan, which are of the same design and about the same age as Vermont Yankee.
Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith said officials there and with the plant’s parent company, New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., were pleased to have the license in hand. But he added, “It’s not a cause right now for any celebration in light of world events.”
“I think the NRC has done their job,” Smith added. “This has been a five-year review. There’s been ample opportunity for people to weigh in.”
The license renewal was granted a year to the day before Vermont Yankee’s initial 40-year license was to expire. The plant still must be relicensed by the state, but the Senate last year rejected the idea, leaving its future uncertain.
The renewal was the first granted by the NRC since events in Japan began to unfold 10 days earlier.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had issued a statement Sunday calling for a moratorium on new licenses or license renewals for U.S. reactors in the wake of the Japanese crisis.
“It’s hard to understand how the NRC could move forward for a license extension for Vermont Yankee at exactly the same time as a nuclear reactor of similar design is in partial meltdown in Japan,” Sanders told The Associated Press. “The idea of keeping Vermont Yankee open … until it is 60 years of age defies comprehension.”
Vermont Yankee, which began operations in 1972, is located in Vernon, in Vermont’s southeast corner, within sight of New Hampshire across the Connecticut River and about three miles from the Massachusetts line. It’s a General Electric Mark 1 boiling water reactor, as are the Fukushima reactors.
Entergy bought Vermont Yankee in 2002 from the group of New England utilities that had owned it and boosted its power output from 530 megawatts to 650 megawatts in 2005.
Vermont Yankee announced in January of 2010 that test wells had turned up evidence that radioactive tritium had leaked from underground pipes at the plant into surrounding soil and groundwater. Within days it was revealed that plant executives had misled state lawmakers and regulators — the latter under oath — by saying the plant did not have the type of underground pipes that carried radioactive substances.
Vermont is the only state in the country with a law calling on its Legislature to give the go-ahead before state regulators issue the state permit the plant also needs to operate past March of 2010. A month after the revelations about the tritium leaks, the state Senate voted 26-4 against allowing the plant to renew its state permit. After the Senate killed the measure, it never went to the House.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Meet “The Most Dangerous Islamist on Planet Earth” — He Lives in Pennsylvania
Newly released Wikileaks documents show increased concern among U.S. officials of the Gulen Movement.
The latest documents from Wikileaks shows growing concern among U. S. officials over Fethullah Gulen’s attempts to create a New Islamic World and the “braining washing of students” that takes place at his charter schools within the United States and throughout the Muslim world.
The cable that speaks of the “brain-washing” was written in 2009 by James Jeffrey, the U. S. Ambassador to Turkey.
In the cable, Mr. Jeffrey describes Gülen as a “political phenomena” in Turkey even when he resides “in exile” within a mountain fortress in Pennsylvania. He says the Gülen movement has gained control of Turkey’s government and dictates Turkish policy which has become increasing anti-Israeli and anti-American. It points out that the leaders of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma or AKP) who now govern Turkey, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, appear to serve as Gulen’s puppets.
Other newly released cables state that Gulen’s disciples now direct the country’s 200,000 strong police force — - a force that remains in conflict with the military, which sees the group as an enemy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama a Traitor and War Criminal — Where’s Congress?
On the eighth anniversary of the day President George W. Bush ordered US troops into Iraq in 2003, with the full support of the US Congress and majority support from the UN Security Council, Barack Obama launched a Tomahawk missile assault on the sovereign nation of Libya with no majority support in the UN and without even consulting congress.
Acting alone while congress was away on recess, solely at the command of the United Nations and without constitutional authority, Barack Obama dropped over $70 million worth of Tomahawk missiles on the sovereign nation of Libya in a dictatorial maneuver to force regime change of a foreign land.
He launched a military assault on Libya under what authority? To be certain, Gadhafi is no prize, but what Obama just did is far worse. Acting all alone in a truly imperialistic fashion, Obama violated his Oath of Office, Article I and II of the US Constitution and The War Powers Act all in one mindless kneejerk decision.
Article II — Section II of the US Constitution identifies the US President as the civilian oversight of the US Military and Commander-in-Chief. But it gives the US President no authority to use military might to enforce its political will upon foreign nations.
Article I — Section VIII of the US Constitution rests the power to declare war solely with the US Congress. It requires both the Commander-in-Chief and Congress to commit US troops to combat, without which the act is wholly unconstitutional.
Even the Washington Times managed to get this one right in its editorial — Obama’s Illegal War.
The 1973 War Powers Act was put in place to prevent a US President from doing exactly what Barack Obama just did.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Stakelbeck: Muslim Students Association a Jihad Factory?
My latest story for CBN examines the Muslim Students Association’s ties to terrorism.
The MSA one of the largest Islamic organizations in America, with chapters on hundreds of college campuses. It’s alumni include doctors, lawyers and engineers..
But the MSA has another track record that it doesn’t advertise: several of its former leaders, including Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, have been convicted of or charged with terrorism.
And the group was founded by Muslim Brotherhood operatives—on American soil.
Click the link above to watch my report.
| — Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck | [Return to headlines] |
Where is the Constitution?
President Obama swore an oath to “… preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” He should have sworn to obey it.
Congress, alone, has the power to declare war, and to make all the laws necessary to engage in military conflict. The War Powers Act defines precisely what is required of the president before military action may commence.
Obama launched 118 missiles and dropped 40 bombs on Libya without a thought about Congress or the Constitution.
He was quite concerned, however, about the United Nations. He hardly noticed the attacks on protesters until the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution authorizing the use of force against the Libyan government. Within hours after U.N. approval, the U.S. military was engaged — without the knowledge or approval of Congress.
This event is proof-positive evidence of two staggering realities: Obama refuses to accept the limitations on government, and particularly on his office, imposed by the Constitution, and Obama considers the United Nations to be a higher authority than Congress.
This event should be grounds for severe congressional censure, if not impeachment.
[…]
Obama’s action is not simply endorsement of global governance; it is submission to it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Refuses to Limit Subsidies to Big Farms
European Union agriculture ministers rejected Thursday a proposal to cap subsidies to Europe’s biggest farms but compromised on a fairer share-out of funds between farmers in Eastern and Western Europe.
European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos’ proposal to set a ceiling on aid for Europe’s largest farms was rejected, with a summary “taking note of significant opposition by states” to cap “direct payments to large individual farms.”
Ciolos had told the Agence France-Presse in a previous interview that “it is difficult to explain to outsiders that a few farmers are paid hundreds of thousands, or even millions of euros.”
The meeting Thursday was called to discuss an overhaul of Europe’s generously subsidized farms program, the Common Agricultural Policy, or CAP; 19 of the 27 ministers present agreed to the general outlines of a plan to revamp the scheme, several ministers said.
Noting that debate on how to reform the CAP was continuing, Ciolos, said, “We have a good basis to look at a legislative package.”
Ciolos said Thursday that he believed the proposal would have been viewed positively by European taxpayers.
Hungarian Agriculture Minister Sandor Fazekas, whose country currently holds the rotating European Union presidency, said 90 percent of the CAP reform proposals had been agreed by ministers present.
“The future CAP must remain a strong common policy as far as the EU budget is concerned, that it must be given financial resources proportional to its aims,” the meeting’s summary stated.
Some EU member states, notably Britain, regularly urge substantial cuts in the CAP budget, which currently accounts for 40 percent of the total EU budget, or almost 60 billion euros.
The toughest talks Thursday, however, touched on how to find a new balance between subsidies to older EU states and newer eastern members who joined after 2004.
“The need for a fairer distribution of direct subsidies was recognized by reducing stage by stage the link to historical references,” the summary said.
It was the first time that Germany, which would be the big loser in a subsidy redistribution, had agreed to discuss historical references.
Poland, which absorbed 2.03 billion euros in CAP subsidies in 2009, for its part agreed to drop demands for a fixed rate of subsidies instead.
French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said negotiations on a new share-out would likely be “very tough.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Return to Nuclear Power Put on Hold, Minister Says
Brussels, 21 March (AKI) — Italy will put on hold its plan to build nuclear power plants casting doubt on one of the key platforms for prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s domestic energy policy.
“It will be a responsible pause for reflection like in other European countries,” Italian industry minister Paolo Romani said on Monday in Brussels, following an extraordinary meeting of European Union ministers.
Berlusconi’s had sought to decrease dependency on oil and coal to generate electricity by returning to nuclear power.
His government aimed for nuclear energy to produce 25 percent of its electricity with 25 percent coming renewables, and 50 percent from fossil fuels by 2020.
The 11 March 8.9 magnitude earthquake damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan, causing explosions and fires and raising the possibility of meltdowns of its several of its reactors.
Italians voted to mothball its nuclear power plants following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. In a referendum voters called for a temporary moratorium.
Italy is a highly seismic zone. A 2008 earthquake struck the central city of L’Aquila, killing about 300 people.
EU energy ministers on Monday failed to agree on the timing and method for conducting so-called stress tests on European nuclear power plants to determine their safety.
Following the Fukushima Daiichi accident Germany called a moratorium on expanding its nuclear power system.
Romani said the EU mandated stress tests will be completed sometime this year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Mills Trial Resumes, PM Absent
Claque of supporters defend ‘great premier’
(ANSA) — Milan, March 21 — A trial into allegations Premier Silvio Berlusconi bribed British tax lawyer David Mills for favourable testimony resumed in Milan on Monday with a noisy claque of the premier’s supporters there but the PM himself not in attendance because of the Libya crisis.
Berlusconi’s lawyers, who announced at the last hearing 10 days ago that the premier meant to come to court on Monday to defend himself, read out a letter saying he had a cabinet meeting on Libya and proceedings should go on without him.
The premier has denied wrongdoing and claims he is the victim of allegedly left-leaning prosecutors in a justice system he recently unveiled plans to reform so aggrieved ex-defendants can sue magistrates.
At a break in prosecutors’ illustration of a money trail that allegedly linked Berlusconi to a $600,000 payment to Mills, the lawyers left the courtroom to be acclaimed by about 20 boisterous supporters of the premier sporting rosettes in the royal blue of the PM’s People of Freedom (PdL) party.
A pro-Berlusconi stand has been outside the courthouse for the last few days.
The group told reporters they had got together on Friday after hearing Berlusconi was to make his first appearance at the witness stand after the trial, stalled since April by a judicial shield, was reactivated by a ruling from the Constitutional in January.
Two ladies, one in a fur coat and the other wearing a leopard-skin scarf, said they did not belong to any political party but were “free citizens” who wanted to support “our great premier, because we’re tired of this hubbub against Berlusconi, always only against him”.
The women were asked questions about the most high-profile of the premier’s four trials, for allegedly paying for sex with a minor called Ruby, which is set to start on April 6.
“It’s a big lie,” they said, decrying the media attention the case has received before the trial.
“Did they need to broadcast the affair to the whole world before the trial? And if it isn’t true, they’ve destroyed his reputation”.
One insisted: “There were never any sexual relations with the minor and the Arcore (villa) parties were just ordinary dinners”. A man, who described himself as “rightwing, always have been”, said “I would have reported the prosecutors because it’s not right to waste all that money following Berlusconi when there are so many crooks out there”. Another lady, referring to the 32 adult women implicated in the case, said “I’d take a stick to all of those girls”.
“Everyone is entitled to do what they want in their own home,” she added. On March 11, at the first hearing in the Mills trial after the 11-month break, Berlusconi vowed to devote Mondays to all his four trials, to “explain things to the Italian people”.
The judge in the Mills case has scheduled further hearings for Mondays, as requested by the defence: on May 9, 16, and 23; June 20 and 27; and July 4, 11 and 18.
The big gap between the March 21 and May 9 hearings is due to the need for both sides to prepare questions for a string of witnesses to be heard in video calls from Switzerland and the UK, the presiding magistrate said.
Berlusconi’s lead lawyer, Niccolo’ Ghedini, has said the prosecutors appeared to be in a “great hurry” and the defence team would oppose attempts to “force” proceedings.
However, he said Berlusconi did not want the trial to be timed out, so he could be cleared in court rather than benefit from the statute of limitations.
Asked if he thought a sentence was possible before the start of next year, when the statute elapses, Ghedini on March 11 said “it’s technically possible”.
MILLS OFFENCE TIMED OUT.
While the Berlusconi trial has been stalled for various reasons, Mills has exhausted the appeals process in Italy’s three-tier justice system, seeing a verdict that he took a bribe confirmed but benefitting from the statute of limitations.
Last February, at the supreme Court of Cassation, Mills was not acquitted but the crime was timed out under Italy’s ten-year statute.
Previously, in October 2009, a Milan appeals court verdict confirmed a lower court’s jail term of four and a half years for the lawyer for taking a $600,000 payment for committing perjury.
In an explanation of its verdict issued in April, the Cassation Court illustrated how Mills did receive a bribe to hush up evidence in two previous trials.
It said the money had gone through an account held by former Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore, a friend of the premier’s, but that Berlusconi was the “source”, upholding the October 27 appeals court ruling.
It said that verdict had “a rational structure,” based on a key piece of evidence in which Mills, the architect of Fininvest’s offshore structure, wrote to his accountant in 2004: “I saved Mr B. from a great deal of trouble…I told no lies but I turned some very tricky corners”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Harrassed Gay Couple Takes Mayor to Court
UTRECHT, 22/03/11 — A gay couple from Utrecht is holding the municipality, the police and central government liable for the financial and emotional damage they suffered as a result of intimidation and violence of Moroccan youths.
The couple have made official police reports to the Utrecht police eight times in the past years. On no single occasion was a suspect arrested. Meanwhile, the two men have moved to another municipality.
The men are holding the municipality, the police and the State liable. They want to force a damages settlement from the three bodies via civil proceedings. In separate proceedings, they also want to compel judges to force the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) to prosecute the perpetrators.
Between the summer of 2009 and 2010, the men were continually intimidated. Windows of their house were broken and their car was damaged. Because police there said they could not take action against this, the men eventually found themselves forced to sell their home at way below its estimated value.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Feminism Lays Claim to Its Own Revolution
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MARCH 21 — “Islamic feminism has begun its revolution” is the headline under which El Mundo has today reported on activists belonging to the Muslim Women’s Union of Spain, which is demanding a presence on the Iberian Islamic Commission (IIC), the highest representative body of the Muslim community. “In the twenty-first century there is not even a single woman on the IIC in charge of negotiating with the Spanish government,” the newspaper was told Professor Ndeye Andujar, vice chairman of the Catalan Islamic board and one of the 10 most influential Muslims in Europe. “There is not even a single woman in the leadership posts of the UCIDE and the FEERI, the two largest Muslim federations,” said Isabel Romero, director of the Halal Institute and feminist activist. “This stagnation,” she added, “creates an environment fostering the most rigorous and extremist version of Islam, which is very much a minority.” The same that, according to Isabel Romero, leads to women being denied access in some Spanish mosques and a strict separation between the sexes in many others. It has been calculated that there are 600,000 Muslims in the Iberian peninsula, most of whom second-generation immigrants or those who have converted to Islam. “If we preserve a patriarchal form of Islam, integration will not be achieved within this society,” noted Abdennur Pardo, chairman of the Catalan Islamic Board and director of the International Congress of Islamic Feminism of Barcelona, whose first edition was held in 2005. Gender-based violence, for example, is a “taboo” issue for the Islamic Commission of Spain, despite the fact that it is a bona fide social emergency within the country, says Laure Rodriguez Quiroga, chairwoman of the Muslim Women’s Union, among the main promoters of feminism in Spain, member of the Executive Council of the Euro-Mediterranean Studies Institute of Madrid’s Complutense University. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Disabled Man, 64, Who Died Confronting Yobs Was a Victim of ‘Systematic’ Police Failure to Protect Him
Family made 88 complaints but police did not link them
Police who failed to protect a man with learning difficulties who died while confronting a gang of yobs were today criticised for ‘systematic failure’
David Askew, 64, had suffered years of abuse and on the day he died of heart failure had tried to stop yobs breaking down his garden gate.
A police watchdog investigation found that Mr Askew’s family made 88 separate complaints alleging harassment, but that each one was looked at separately.
None of the incidents was logged as a hate crime, so his case wasn’t treated as a priority, and Mr Askew was treated as ‘part of the problem’.
CCTV installed at Mr Askew’s home in Hattersley, Greater Manchester, was inadequate and the images of too poor quality to be used in court, the Independent Police Complaints Commission found.
The report found the abuse against Mr Askew had escalated in the years before he died last March.
IPCC Commissioner Naseem Malik described the measures to protect Mr Askew and his family as ‘sticking plaster solutions’.
He said: ‘The Askew family had experienced years of torment at the hands of local youths who targeted David in particular.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: America’s Descent Into Strategic Dementia
The US’s new war against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is the latest sign of its steady regional decline. In media interviews over the weekend, US military chief Adm. Michael Mullen was hard-pressed to explain either the goal of the military strikes in Libya or their strategic rationale.
Mullen’s difficulty explaining the purpose of this new war was indicative of the increasing irrationality of US foreign policy…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Diana West: Making the World Safe for Jihad
“Making the world safe for sharia” is the perversion of the Wilsonian ideal that bedevils our time. It came about in air-conditioned tents and conference rooms where Americans worked with Iraqis and Afghans to write their new constitutions, both of which enshrine sharia as the highest law in those respective lands. I don’t think these Americans had (have) any idea of what this meant, not really. For these deeply irresponsible, see-no-Islam policy-makers, then, making the world safe for sharia was an unforseen and even still unseen by-product of nation-building in the Islamic world, as noted many times in this space. I wouldn’t be surprised if these same officials and consultants are still scratching their heads over why it is that the introduction of ballot boxes into these outposts of the umma didn’t automatically and instantly extend the Enlightenment for all — if they think about it at all.
That was then.
Something else is happening with the new war in Libya (can I be writing those words?). Just as time has marched on, so, too, have events. Barack Hussein Obama, without even perfunctory consultation with Congress, has committed US forces to military action against Libya at the behest of the UN and the Arab League (the latter has already changed its mind). But it is not sharia we are unwittingly making Libya safe for, as fatuous enablers of the democratic process in Islam; this time, we — US, British and French forces — are making the world safe for jihad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Constitutional Referendum Passes Amid Reports of Voting Irregularities
by Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) — Over 18 million Egyptians cast their ballots on March 19 in a referendum on a controversial package of constitutional amendments to nine articles from the previous Constitution. According to the Election Commission, 77 percent of the voters (14 million) voted in favor of the referendum, 22.8 voted against. There were reports of election rigging by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), the Salafists and former members of the Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP).
“This result came as a shock to those who wanted the amendments defeated,” said Coptic activist Wagih Yacoub. “The youth movement, figures such as Presidential candidates Amr Moussa, the outgoing Arab League chief and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, liberals and Copts opposed the referendum, while the army, the NDP and the Islamic movements supported it..”
The amendments changed the rules for the qualifications for the office of the president, the period of the presidency, as well as the office of the vice-president. The rules for the judicial supervision of elections, State of emergency and terrorism were also amended. But opposition figures said this would still make the president “another Pharaoh,” and open the way for a quick election by September, which would benefit the MB and NDP, who are established political parties which can quickly mobilize resources and field candidates.
Manar Mohsen, who was a poll monitor for the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, said that Islamic groups claimed that voting yes is a “religious duty” and were telling voters they should vote yes to keep Article Two of the constitution, which states that Sharia is the principal source of Egyptian law.
“They also told voters to approve the amendments if they wanted to keep Coptic Christians out of government,” Mohsen said.
Dr. Naguib Gobraeel, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organizations, said the “The situation is a tragedy.” He said his organization received 39 complaints of voting irregularities by mid-morning on referendum day, and called on people to report rigging incidents to him so that he would present it to the office of the Attorney General on Monday. This video appears to show a polling station official marking empty ballots with “yes.”
Dr. Gobraeel said that he himself was subjected to such an incident in Shubra district of Cairo, where he went to cast his vote. “After I filled the ballot, the official there asked me to put it in a certain box, I refused and threw it inside the box I chose. As I was about to leave I saw that the official was opening the box and had my balloting ticket in his hand.. The team of activists who accompanied me quickly went and caught him. The supervising judge intervened only because the team took photos of that official caught red-handed.”
EUHRO is an approved NGO and had over 200 election monitors at polling stations. EUHRO reports in many polling stations ballots did not have the required official stamp; illiterate voters were taken advantage of by being directed to cross yes when they wanted to vote no. Many stations had a section for Copts and another for Muslims for no obvious reason. In areas of heavy Coptic presence, the polling stations opened late or the number of stations was reduced so that not all Copts would be able to vote before closing time. The Copts in Abu Heness, numbering 20,000, had only three voting stations. Also a Muslim election judge mocked the Copts by saying “Your church told you to vote no.”
Mr. Hany elGezeiry, of the Million Center NGO, said in some areas of Cairo polling stations were excellent. However, in poor areas, people’s poverty was taken advantage of to influence their votes. The NDP bought votes while the Muslim Brotherhood gave those who voted yes one kilo of fresh meat. He said in the city of Zagazig, 47 miles north-northeast of Cairo, food and money were paid by Islamist if they voters voted yes.
Activist Sarwat Milad said Copts participated in the Referendum to achieve equality of citizenship while the Muslim Brotherhood participated to take over Power. “The MB did not start the January 25 Revolution but wants to steal its fruits. They joined forces with the NDP against the people of the Tahrir Revolution.”
The TV program Inside Egypt Today reported that mosques claimed that Christians want to make Egypt a Christian country and want the removal of the 2nd Article.of the Constitution.
Bishop Kirollos of Nag Hammadi said ballot boxes in a school in Bahgourah, a town affiliated to the Bishopric of Nag Hammadi, were opened. A staff member of the school discovered many no ballots which had been torn. The staff member collected the ballots and brought them to the Bishop as proof of rigging of the referendum.
The Bishop also said that polling station of the village of Shusha in Abu Tisht had been closed all day yesterday and did not open until six o’clock in the evening, which prevented many of the Copts from voting. He said, that mosque speakers were warning people not to vote no.
In some areas voters managed to force Imams to remove their religious propaganda for the yes vote (video). The leftist Tagammu party in Qena filed a report with prosecution accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to influence voters as they entered the polling station in Qos to vote yes and of inciting Muslims against the Copts by claiming that Copts will vote no because they want to change the second article of the constitution.
ElYoum7 daily reported that thousands of protesters are presently congregating in Tahrir Square. The protesters are refusing to recognize the results of the referendum, and are expressing anger by holding slogans, casting doubt on the integrity of the referendum.
Some political entities have called for a protest against the constitutional amendments to be staged in Tahrir Square on Friday, March 25.
| — Hat tip: Mary Abdelmassih | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Looks to Increase Gas Price for Israel
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 21 — Egypt is currently involved in intense negotiations to modify natural gas export contracts signed with several countries, and Israel in particular, reports Assahraq Al Awsat, citing sources in the Egyptian energy sector.
The talks are aiming to obtain better revenue than what is provided in their previously-signed contracts, according to experts in the sector. Modifying the agreements under the current circumstances is possible, according to exports, given international and regional precedents in this field. Widespread popular refusal to export Egyptian gas to Israel, according to Abdullah Ghurab, the new Egyptian Oil Minister, is considered to be one of the foundations for these negotiations. Egypt began exporting natural gas to Israel in July of 2008, amounting to no more than 4% of Egypt’s production, which totals 6.3 cubic metres per day. Since supplies were cut off on February 5 when a gas pipeline that passes through the northern Sinai Peninsula was sabotaged, Egypt has partially resumed exports to Israel. It is possible to change the price, according to Ibraheem Zahran, an export in the sector who cited two examples: one regarding Russia, which increased its prices after threatening to cut off exports to several European countries, and Algeria, which managed to double its prices.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Vote Rigging and Religious Manipulation Allows ‘Yes’ To Win in Constitutional Referendum
About 77 per cent of voters say yes to changes. The outcome has disappointed many of those who took part in the revolution. They were hoping for a more radical transformation of the constitution. Sharia remains the principal source for Egyptian law. Speaking to AsiaNews, source slams manipulation by Muslim Brotherhood.
Cairo (AsiaNews) — Egyptians by a margin of 77 per cent voted in favour of changes to the constitution of 1951. However, Sharia will remain the principal source of Egyptian law. The result is a major disappointment for many of the young people who took part in the Jasmine Revolution who had hope to give the country a fresh new look based on equal rights for all its citizens irrespective of religious creed.
Sources told AsiaNews that the referendum was marred by fraud and manipulation by Muslim extremists. “This vote was oriented along confession lines. The Muslim Brotherhood said that those who voted ‘Yes’ were for Islam and against Christians who wanted to remove Sharia as the source of law,” a source said.
Eyewitnesses also said that they saw vote rigging and vote buying. In the poorest neighbourhoods, extremists handed out bags of flower, meat and oil to ‘Yes’ voters.
EUHRO, an election monitoring NGO, also reported cases of discrimination against members of the Coptic community. In many polling stations, Christian and Muslim voters were required to cast their ballots in separate boxes. In some predominantly Coptic areas, voting was delayed and many voters were unable to vote. In Abu Hennes (Upper Egypt), a mostly Coptic area, there were only three polling stations for 20,000 voters.
With constitutional reforms now approved, early parliamentary and presidential elections can take place in September.
“The young people who took part in the uprising are not organised or able to face an election campaign,” the source said. “They do not have a recognisable leader or a programme. The Muslim Brotherhood and Mubarak’s National Democratic Party are the only organised parties and could benefit to win.”
However, predicting the future is impossible according to the source. How people will react must yet to be seen. “The high turnout at the referendum and the more than 20 per cent who want radical changes to the constitution represent a small step for the country towards democracy.”
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Eight Italian Seamen on Vessel Seized by Armed Men
Relatives’ anguish at lack of information
NAPLES — An Italian-registered vessel was seized yesterday morning in Tripoli harbour. The incident involves the Asso 22, a supply tug belonging to Augusta Offshore SpA, which is owned by Naples-based shipping entrepreneur Mario Mattioli. The company’s tugs are working at the Mellitah oil rig, 120 kilometres from Tripoli and 30 from the Tunisian border. Asso 22 arrived in Tripoli on Friday at the request of the client, a Libyan company in partnership with Italy’s ENI, to whom Augusta has leased its vessels. The tug sailed again early yesterday afternoon. On board were the eleven crew members, who were forced to act under orders from the armed men who a few hours earlier had seized the vessel and broken off all radio communications. Their destination is unknown but Asso 22’s the north-easterly route would have taken it to the oil rig at Mellitah. This is where it would probably have gone — although the intentions of the Libyans who seized it are not known — had not the constant presence of a helicopter from the Italian navy’s Comandante Borsini patrol vessel persuaded the hijackers to turn back and head first for Tripoli, and then Tunis.
The Asso 22’s crew comprises eight Italians, two Indians and a Ukrainian. The Italians are Salvatore Boscarino, Giorgio Coppa, Nino Arena and Graziano Scala, all from Pozzallo, Sicily, Giuseppe Iapino from Ischia, two men from Sorrento and one from Lazio. The names of the last three have not been released. Relatives last heard from the men three days ago. “We were expecting at least a phone call from the foreign ministry”, said Mr Coppa’s partner, Chiara Fugura, “but instead we’re getting our news from the TV and internet”.
The seizure of the Asso 22 is hard to interpret, even for the Italian authorities. Italy’s foreign minister, Franco Frattini, admitted that “we do not know the intentions” of the Libyans who boarded the vessel. Defence minister Ignazio La Russa said that Italy was ready to “intervene using any means whatsoever to evacuate the crew”.
If it is in fact a kidnapping, the first thing Italian intelligence officers want to establish is the identity of the abductors. They are probably militiamen loyal to Gheddafi but proof is lacking. What is certain, because it comes from Augusta Offshore SpA, is that while the Asso 22 was moored in Tripoli, it was visited several times by Libyans claiming to be harbour authority officials. The first visit was on Friday night, when the men forced the crew to explain how the vessel’s instruments worked, the specifications of its equipment, and its navigation performance. The visitors returned on Saturday afternoon to take photographs of the bridge and engine room, and then again on Saturday evening, when they demanded to be made familiar with the Asso 22’s equipment and commands. The final communication came yesterday at 7 am, announcing that Libyans, some of them soldiers, and two dinghies were on board. Since then, there has been no further contact.
Fulvio Bufi
21 marzo 2011(c) all rights reserved — unauthorized reproduction forbidden
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
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Frattini: Italy to Take Back Bases Unless NATO in Command
(AGI) Brussels — Minister Franco Frattini has said Italy will take back its bases if NATO does not assume command of operations in Libya. “Should there be a variety of commands, we would have to study a system in which Italy would assume responsibility for command over its own bases,” he said after a meeting of the Foreign Affair Council .
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Libya: Italy Says NATO Should Take Over Odyssey Dawn
Brussels, 21 March (AKI) — Italy on Monday said the military operation against Libya should be taken over by Nato.
Italy is allowing seven of its military bases to be used for operations against Muammar Gaddafi. The burden of carrying out missions in Operation Odyssey Dawn have so far been shouldered by the US, the UK, Italy and France.
“We believe it’s time to move from a coalition of the willing towards a bit more coordinated approach under Nato, because Nato has the capacity, the experience to lead a well-coordinated action,” Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini (photo) said in Brussels on Monday prior to talks with his European Union counterparts.
Frattini’s comments echo those of British Defence Minister Liam Fox who has called for Nato control of the operation.
Nato members Turkey and Germany oppose the alliance’s involvement in the operation.
Odyssey Dawn began on Saturday after the United Nations Security Council approved a measure to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya and to take necessary measures to protect Libya’s civilian population from attack.
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Libya: Arab World Divided Between Support for the Libyan Rebels and Mistrust of the West
The Coalition of the Willing “needs the support of Arab countries, in which Gaddafi has little sympathy. Open support for intervention by the Gulf Cooperation Council. Moussa seems at least partially modify the criticism yesterday. Iran and its allies against, but Hezbollah is in trouble, as the Libyan dictator has been accused of having done away with the “father” of the movement.
Beirut (AsiaNews) — Oil prices rocketed today amid fear that the international attack against Libya could damage oil facilities in the country, while the Arab world is divided between support for the insurgents in Benghazi and distrust of the West.
This morning, the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, speaking after a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, held in Cairo, said that the Arab states and the UN are “united” in the aim of protecting Libyan civilians.
The claim seems to at least partly change what Moussa had said yesterday, when he argued that “what is happening in Libya”, ie the international attack, “is different from what we wanted in the imposition of the no-fly zone: what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of other civilians. “ Only yesterday, the same Moussa announced the convening of an urgent meeting of the Arab League.
The support of the Arab world is crucial to the coalition, as it will demonstrate that the attack is to defend those who seek freedom and not to hit out at Arab countries.
Arab League support for the no-fly zone, military support of Qatar and the support of the Emirates was essential to this goal, which opened the way for the UN resolution. “We are with the coalition — the Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdulrahman al-Attiyah said yesterday — for the safety and security, according to the UN resolution.”
In favour, again, is the fact that in general Gaddafi is not loved in the Arab world. In particular, he is accused of expelling hundreds Palestinians in 1990, nor should it be forgotten that in 2003 Saudi Arabia accused him of having supported a plot designed to kill King Abdullah.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood have so far remained silent, even if their leader have criticized the Western attack. Iran and its allies, primarily Hezbollah, remain firmly opposed to any Western intervention. But while Iran urges the Libyans to distrust Western powers, whose “sole aim is to win a neo-colonial control over a country rich in oil,” the Lebanese Party of God finds itself between a rock and a hard place, since it had thrown its weight behind the Libyan rebels from the outset and has always accused Gaddafi of being responsible for the “disappearance” in 1990 of Musa al-Sadr, “father” of the movement. The Hezbollah leader, Hasan Nasrallah, yesterday accused “many Arab and Muslim leaders of not taking on their responsibility, paving the way for Western intervention” that “opens the possibility for foreign intervention in any Arab country and brings us back to the days of the occupation, colonization and division. “ (PD)
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Libya: EU Sources: Arab League Concerned About Raids
(ANSA) BRUSSELS, MARCH 21 — The Arab League has confirmed its concerns about the “way the no-fly zone has been imposed so far, particularly by the French forces”. This was reported by diplomatic sources in Brussels, who specified that they have been in contact with Arab League representatives in Cairo.
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Libya: U.S.-Led Airstrikes to Help Al-Qaida?
Terror group, Islamic parties form main opposition in Libya
Arab leaders fear U.S. and international airstrikes against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s forces will aid the main Islamist opposition in the country, some of which consist of al-Qaida.
“Doesn’t the Obama administration understand Gadhafi is the one Arab leader who is fighting back against the Islamist revolt threatening his regime?” asked a member of the now deposed regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
A top official in the Palestinian Authority, speaking from Ramallah, told WND it is widely understood in the Arab world that the military strikes against Gadhafi’s positions will aid the Libyan rebels, whose leadership largely comprise Islamist groups that seek to create a Muslim caliphate.
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Mugabe Raps West’s ‘Callous’ Bombardment of Libya
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Monday rapped attacks by the United States, Britain and France on Libya and accused the West of twisting the meaning of a UN resolution imposing a no-fly zone.
“The West has been (acting) in the same hypocritical way as before,” Mugabe told journalists.
“They interpreted (the UN Security Council resolution) to mean permission under it to bombard any places of their own choice in Libya, including civilian places even.
“Now it is the West which is bombarding Libya and doing it callously and they don’t care who dies.”
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, said African and Arab countries were mistaken in endorsing the resolution on Libya.
Three African countries — Gabon, Nigeria and South Africa, all non-permanent members of the UN Security Council — voted for the resolution to impose a no-fly-zone in Libya. The Arab League also announced its support for the measure.
“There is no reneging on the resolution anymore, it’s there, it’s a mistake we made,” Mugabe said.
“We don’t agree with the form of government that was in Libya, but Libya was nevertheless a member of the African Union and we looked forward to it transforming its own system in its own way.”
Western forces on Saturday launched air strikes aimed at crippling Libya’s air defences and preventing Colonel Moamer Kadhafi’s army from attacking civilians in a month-old uprising against his rule.
The US military said the operation had been successful in imposing a no-fly zone over the country.
Mugabe accused Western nations of taking advantage of the unrest in Libya to gain access to the country’s oil wealth.
“Now the West is taking advantage of the fact that it has been given that support to let itself in a position in which tomorrow it would be masters of resources of Libya, especially the oil,” he said.
“And it is this oil, oil, oil which is the undoing of the Libyan people and we have supported it.”
Mugabe was speaking after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who is in Zimbabwe on a two-day visit.
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Norway Suspends Air Support Over Libyan Skies
(AGI) Oslo — Norway’s govt has clarified that it will suspend Libya operations until a clear chain of command is established.
Norway has operated over Libyan skies with 6 jet fighters.
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Pro-Gaddafi Demonstrators Try to Attack Ban Ki-Moon
(AGI) Cairo — Around 50 pro-Gaddafi demonstrators surrounded Ban Ki-moon in Cairo, who retreated into the Arab League offices. The demonstrators gathered outside the head office of the Arab League during the meeting between Ban Ki-moon and Amr Mussa to chant slogans against the UN secretary general, the secretary of the Arab League, the USA, UK, and France. Ban turned back and left the office via another exit.
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Tunisia: Unemployed-Workers Clash in Sfax, Army Arrives
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, MARCH 18 — The army intervened in Sfax yesterday to break up a series of clashes between groups of unemployed youths and workers whose access they were preventing to the industrial phosphoric acid and fertiliser company (SIAP) plant. To put an end to the trouble, soldiers fired a number of shots in the air.
The press agency TAP says that 40 SIAP employees were injured and taken to a hospital in the city, with four of them still undergoing treatment. Workers were able to leave the factory, where production has been suspended, under army escort.
Protesters also threw Molotov cocktails, which caused a blaze in the home of the plant’s caretaker.
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Frank Gaffney: UN Intervention Into Libya an Ominous Precedent for Israel
There are many reasons to be worried about the bridge-leap the Obama Administration has just undertaken in its war with Muammar Gaddafi. How it will all end is just one of them.
Particularly concerning is the prospect that what we might call the Gaddafi Precedent will be used in the not-to-distant future to justify and threaten the use of U.S. military forces against an American ally: Israel.
Here’s how such a seemingly impossible scenario might eventuate:
It begins with the Palestinian Authority seeking a UN Security Council resolution that would recognize its unilateral declaration of statehood. Three top female officials in the Obama administration reprise roles they played in the Council’s recent action on Libya: U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, a vehement critic of Israel, urges that the United States support (or at least not veto) the Palestinians’ gambit. She is supported by the senior director for multilateral affairs at the National Security Council, Samantha Power, who in the past argued for landing a “mammoth force” of American troops to protect the Palestinians from Israel. Ditto Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose unalloyed sympathy for the Palestinian cause dates back at least to her days as First Lady.
This resolution enjoys the support of the other four veto-wielding Security Council members — Russia, China, Britain and France — as well as the all of the other non-permanent members except India, which joins the United States in abstaining. As a result, it is adopted with overwhelming support from what is known as the “international community.”
With a stroke of the UN’s collective pen, substantial numbers of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli citizens find themselves on the wrong side of internationally recognized borders. The Palestinian Authority (PA) insists on its longstanding position: The sovereign territory of Palestine must be rid of all Jews…
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Arab Uprisings: Khamenei: Iran Supports Them All
(AGI) Tehran — Iran supports all “the uprisings in the region”, independently of whether they are promoted by Shiites or Sunnis. The statement was made in a live TV broadcast by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Spiritual Leader of the Islamic Revolution and, as such, Tehran’s topmost Institutional Authority.
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Bahrain: Subversive Foreign Plot Falls Through, Emir
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, MARCH 21 — The foreign plot which had been under planning for years to disrupt the order and stability of the Gulf region has fallen through, claimed Bahrain’s emir Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa in veiled accusations against Iran as part of a meeting with the commanders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries joint forces, the Peninsular Shield, which intervened last week to put down protests by demonstrators in the small oil-rich emirate. Quoted by Gulf Daily News, Al Khalifa said that the plot could have spread to the five other countries in the bloc — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman — but stressed that “these subversive plans have no chance of being implemented, neither in Bahrain nor in any other GCC country.” Despite the fact that Iran was never explicitly mentioned, relations between the two countries have fallen to all-time lows over the past few weeks. Bahrain is particularly vulnerable to influence from Shiite Iran as it is the only country in the bloc of six Sunni oil-rich monarchies to govern a population with a 70% Shiite majority which claims it suffers discrimination at the hands of the Sunni minority. Over the past few days Manama and Tehran have recalled their respective ambassadors to home and yesterday Bahrain submitted a petition of protest against Iran for heavy-handed interference in the internal affairs of the emir within the UN. A similar petition has also been sent to the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
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King of Bahrain Denounces “Foreign Conspiracy” And Expels Iranian Diplomats
The Sunni monarch, who rules over a majority of Shiites, thanks troops of neighbouring countries for help in suppressing revolt. In Yemen, the President dismisses the government. The Yemeni army chief officially announces support for democracy protests.
Manama (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has reported a foreign conspiracy against his rule, a foiled plot, and he thanked the troops from neighbouring countries in Bahrain for helping to stop the protests, which have lasted for weeks. “ An external plot has been fomented for 20 to 30 years until the ground was ripe for subversive designs … I here announce the failure of the fomented plot,” reported the state agency, citing the sovereign. He added that if the plot had succeeded, it could have spread to neighbouring states.
The population of Bahrain has a Shiite majority, led by a Sunni group who hold power. Iran, which backs the Shia in Iraq and Lebanon has protested to the UN for the violent repression of the past week in Bahrain. (See AsiaNews 03/16/2011: Bahrain clamps down on revolt. At least two die in Pearl square). Bahrain yesterday expelled the Iranian charge d’affaires, the Iranian ambassador was expelled a few days earlier. In response, Tehran has expelled the diplomat from Bahrain. Bahrain has complained that Iranian television Al Alam, as well as the channel of Hezbollah in Lebanon, have broadcast messages of incitement to rebellion and insulted the country.
In Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh dismissed the government, perhaps the first step towards forming a national unity government after the violent clashes on Friday that killed at least 52 people. Immediately after the fighting a state of emergency was proclaimed for a period of 30 days. In protest against the repression, some ministers have given their resignations, followed by two ambassadors. Today one of the leading Yemeni army officers, General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, announced he has switched to the side of rebels seeking the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Announcing that “we support and protect young people protesting in University Square in Sanaa” said the general, who commands the first armoured division. This is the first official of that rank to defect since the protest movement against the regime began last January which has so far caused dozens of deaths. After the announcement around a massive deployment of tanks was reported around the presidential palace.
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Syria: Thousands at Daraa Victim Funerals, Troops Deployed
(AGI) Damasco -Thousands have attended the funerals for the anti-government protesters killed by security forces in Daraa.
Eyewitnesses reported on the event. The crowds are chanting for “freedom”. Other witnesses have said that soldiers have taken up positions around the city. Five persons were killed at the beginning of the protests in Daraa, in southern Syria. The French government condemned the violence and called for the release of arrested demonstrators.
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Syria: Protests Spreading in South and North of Damascus
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MARCH 21 -Protests against the regime in Syria have spread to more locations in the south and a suburb north of Damascus, while the situation in Daraa, stage in the past days of violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces, remains tense. The news is reported by television network al Arabiya. A reporter of the pan-Arab network specified that demonstrations against the regime were staged today by an unspecified number of people in Jassem, south of the capital.
Meanwhile negotiations are in progress in Daraa, 120 south of Damascus, between the central authorities and residents in an attempt to ease tensions in the city. Other press sources say that demonstrations against the Ba’ath regime, which has been in charge for around half a century, are in progress in Duma as well, where several students were arrested ten days ago in a local school for writing forbidden slogans on the walls.
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Syria: Protests Continue for Third Day
Protests against Syria’s 48 years of emergency law entered its third day Sunday. Authorities sought to appease the movement by promising to free schoolchildren who had been arrested for scrawling anti-regime graffiti.
REUTERS — Thousands of Syrians demanded an end to 48 years of emergency law on Sunday, a third consecutive day of protests emerging as the biggest challenge to Syria’s rulers since unrest swept the Arab world this year.
Syrian security forces killed a protester named Raed al-Kerad, residents said, the fifth civilian killed by them since protests erupted in the southern city of Deraa on Friday as demonstrators called for freedoms and the release of political prisoners.
A huge billow of smoke rose from main downtown area where key government buildings are located, but heavy gunfire heard earlier across the city, which is near the border with Jordan, subsided by late afternoon, witnesses said.
“No. No to emergency law. We are a people infatuated with freedom,” marchers chanted as a government delegation arrived in Deraa to offer their condolences for victims killed by security forces in demonstrations there this week.
Security forces also fired tear gas at the protesters. At least 40 people were taken to be treated for gas inhalation at the main Omari mosque in the old city, residents said.
“The mosque is now a field hospital. The security forces know they cannot enter the old city without spilling more blood,” one resident said.
Syria has been ruled under emergency law since the Baath Party, which is headed by president Bashar al-Assad, took power in a 1963 coup and banned all opposition.
Security forces opened fire on Friday on civilians taking part in a peaceful protest in Deraa to demand political freedoms, an end to corruption, and the release of 15 schoolchildren whose arrests for scrawling protest graffiti had helped fuel the demonstrations. Four people were killed.
An official statement said “infiltrators” claiming to be high ranking officers had been visiting security stations and asking security forces to fire at any suspicious gathering.
Citizens should report anyone suspected of trying to fool the security apparatus “into using violence and live ammunition against any suspicious gathering”, the statement said.
The government sought to calm popular discontent in Deraa by promising that the children, who had written slogans on walls inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, would be released immediately.
On Saturday, thousands of mourners called for “revolution” at the funeral of two of the protesters. Officials later met Deraa notables who presented them with a list of demands, most importantly the release of political prisoners.
The list demands the dismantling of the secret police headquarters in Deraa, the dismissal of the governor, a public trial for those responsible for the killings and the scrapping of regulations requiring permission from the secret police to sell and buy property.
Arrests
Non-violent protests have challenged the Baath Party’s authority this month, following the uprisings that toppled the autocratic leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, with the largest protests in Deraa drawing thousands of people.
A silent protest in Damascus by 150 people this week demanded the release of thousands of political prisoners. At least one activist from Deraa, Diana al-Jawabra, took part in the protest. She was arrested on charges of weakening national morale, along with 32 other protesters, a lawyer said.
Jawabra, who is from a prominent family, was campaigning for the release of the 15 schoolchildren from her home city. Another prominent woman from Deraa, physician Aisha Aba Zeid, was arrested three weeks ago for airing a political opinion on the internet.
Residents say the arrest of the two women deepened feelings of repression and helped fuel the protests in Deraa, a conservative tribal region on the border with Jordan.
Secret police made a slew of arrests in Deraa this month after graffiti appeared on school walls and on grain silos with phrases such as “the people want the overthrow of the regime” — the same slogan that became the rallying cry of the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions.
The authorities responded by increasing secret police patrols and asking staff at schools and public departments to man their premises around the clock and by requiring IDs and registration for buyers of paint and spray cans.
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Turkey: 7 Held Over Slaying of Christians at Bible Publisher
A Turkish court has ordered five active duty Turkish officers and two civilians jailed in a probe into the 2007 killing of three Christians, including a German national.
The officers were jailed Monday pending trial but it is not yet clear what charges they are facing. Five civilians were previously arrested and charged with murder of the Christians at a Bible-publishing house in the central Anatolian city of Malatya.
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Yemen: Dozens of Officers Publically Announce Defection
(ANSAmed) — SANA’A, MARCH 21 — Dozens of officers from all ranks in Yemen’s army in addition to numerous soldiers are publically announcing their defection and their decision to join the protest against the regime in Al Tagheer Square at Sana’a University, where a permanent sit-in is taking place, report journalists on-site. These public defections come after a similar announcement by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, commander of the Yemen army in the northwest region. “We announce that we support and protect the young people who are protesting at Sana’a University’s square,” said the general, also speaking on behalf of his subordinate officers. According to military sources, sixty officers in the army have defected and have joined the rebels in the southeast part of the country. The head of the most powerful tribal federation in Yemen, which includes President Ali Abdallah Sale’s tribe, announced his support for Yemen’s “revolution,” calling for the president to step down. “I announce my support for the revolution in the name of all of the members of my tribe,” said Sheikh Sadek al-Ahmar, the head of the powerful Hashed tribal confederation. Al-Ahmar invited President Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years, to step down to “avoid bloodshed and to choose an honourable exit from power”.
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Arkhangelsk: Orthodox Church Against Sects, Including Yoga
Local authorities write to eparchy to invite them to keep “destructive cults” such as Jehovah’s Witnesses away from schools. But yoga also presents problem for religious leaders, a practice that relies on “recruitment” in public spaces.
Moscow (AsiaNews) — The authorities in Arkhangelsk have written to the local Russian Orthodox Church leaders to underscore the need for vigilance over the activities of “new religious movements” in schools. In his letter, the head of the City Department of Education cites in particular the Jehovah’s Witnesses as a sect to be kept away from educational institutions. But for the Eparchy there is another danger looming over the community; yoga classes. They are regarded as a religion, which practices proselytizing through lessons held in public spaces.
As reported by the Sova Information Centre, on 9 March, the Education Department sent a letter to the Eparch Danijl of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogorsky- north of Moscow — stating that the city authorities are committed to “fighting the spread of religious associations in schools. “ The project “Prevention of destructive cults” has been launched in the area involving social workers, educators and psychologists. There are also ongoing workshops on specific topics such as “Prevention of dependence on destructive cults” and “concepts and essence of totalitarian and destructive cults.”
In Russia sects or destructive cults in often means many of the religious bodies that can not be classified among traditional faiths and denominations or in most cases, are not acceptable to the political and Orthodox authorities. Throughout the country, focus is centred on the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are subjected to persecution, even in the courts. Arkhangelsk authorities also point the finger against the Witnesses and invite the Eparchy and educational leaders to keep them away from school areas. The letter also calls for schools to keep programs strictly along Orthodox lines both in content and standards of tuition as well as in optional courses.
In its reply, the Eparchy’s information centre accepted the authorities invitation. Not only are Jehovah’s Witnesses a concern, but also “yoga teachers” who enter public schools from “often without being noticed”. The religious leaders refer to yoga classes held in public spaces. Like the museum in the city of Arkhangelsk, which hosts conferences on “Tantric yoga,” one of the oldest forms of yoga. What the local church does not like is that the teachers say that yoga can be practiced by believers of every religion and that at the end of the public demonstration often advertise paid courses that are held in one of the city schools, such as No. 11 or the House of Art for children in Solombala. The director of school No. 11 rebuts that the classes are perfectly legitimate adding that those responsible for the courses rent the institute space, but for religious authorities yoga is in effect a “religious practice” and teachers, by promoting their courses, are only “recruiting” members. The Church asks for the support of political power in stemming the phenomenon and to erect a “barrier against these unscrupulous people.” “They have to understand that time for “omnivorous religions” is over” concludes the letter. (N.A.)
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Conservative Islam Spreads in Chechnya
Headscarf-wearing female students attend classes at the Grozny State Oil Institute in the capital of the Russian Caucasus region of Chechnya, on Monday. AFP photo.
The 28-year-old girl refuses to give her name for fear of reprisals, but her anxiety speaks volumes for the rapid growth of conservative Islam in the conflict-torn Russian region of Chechnya.
“I wear the veil so I’m left in peace on the street. Women who do not wear the veil and a long dress risk being refused entry into university,” she said in a hushed voice in the Chechen capital, Grozny.
Chechnya may seem an unlikely venue for conservative Islam to pervade everyday life, given it was in this Russian region that the Kremlin fought two wars against militant separatists after the collapse of the Soviet Union and is still fighting Islamic militants in the mountains.
But while also bringing relative stability to his tiny fiefdom in the Caucasus, Chechnya’s Kremlin-appointed leader Ramzan Kadyrov, 34, has been quietly allowed to de-secularize his Muslim-majority homeland.
Mosques have sprouted up as Grozny rebuilds from the devastation of war while Kadyrov has lost no opportunity to make a public show of his faith, including making highly publicized pilgrimages to Mecca.
But Kadyrov has also moved to draw up special Islamic rules for the region of 1.2 million, which some observers say are a flagrant violation of human rights and Russian law.
Kadyrov in January issued a controversial decree telling public servants how to dress in an Islamically acceptable way at work.
“Men should wear a suit and a tie and on Friday [the Muslim holy day], traditional Muslim dress. For women, their heads should be covered with a headscarf, a dress that goes below the knee and sleeves that cover three-quarters of the arm,” it said.
“Now you can perfectly well talk about the Arabization of Chechnya,” said one university professor who asked not to be named.
Boris Strakhun, an expert in constitutional law, told AFP in Moscow that Kadyrov’s directive amounted to a “violation of the Russian constitution.”
But the federal authorities in Moscow have yet to sound any concern, raising fears that Kadyrov is being allowed to go too far in exchange for stabilizing Chechnya.
Kadyrov, whose father, former Chechnya leader Akhmad, was slain in a bomb blast in Grozny in 2004, has long been a hate figure for rights activists, accused of using a private militia to kidnap and torture at will.
Chechen women who spoke to an AFP correspondent in Grozny repeatedly said they had been verbally abused and even at times physically attacked for failing to wear the Islamic veil.
Akhmad Kadyrov was also the Muslim mufti — or chief cleric in Chechnya — and ironically locals recall that he had banned the wearing of the Islamic veil in public places.
But since Ramzan Kadyrov was named head of Chechnya in 2007, “the situation has changed a lot,” said a university professor, pointing to the sacking two years ago of the head of his faculty.
“He was replaced by a man whose first remark was: ‘But the female students and the women in this faculty don’t wear headscarves?’“
Officials from Chechnya’s organization of moral and spiritual education, an organization linked to the authorities, visit schools and universities every week to give courses on Islamic morality and the Koran.
Officially, the courses have the aim of making sure young people do not fall out of mainstream society and join the Islamic rebellion that for years has rocked the North Caucasus region.
Russian security forces are still fighting an Islamist-fuelled insurgency in the Caucasus mountains, especially in nearby Ingushetia and Dagestan, that claims dozens of lives each month.
Human Rights Watch has raised the alarm over the “Islamization” of Chechnya, saying the authorities were “enforcing a compulsory Islamic dress code for women and condoning violent attacks on women deemed to dress immodestly.”
“The Kremlin should publicly and unambiguously make clear, in particular to the Chechen authorities, that Chechen women, like all Russians, are free to dress as they choose,” said the group’s Russia researcher Tatyana Lokshina.
The group said unknown men, mostly dressed like local law enforcement officials, have shot dozens of women in Grozny with paintball guns for wearing clothes deemed to be revealing and for failing to cover their hair.
The men also distributed leaflets stating that the paintball shootings were a preventive measure aimed at making women wear headscarves, it said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Shocking Photos of US Troops Abusing Corpses
(AGI)Berlin- More trouble for the US army after the publication of photos depicting soldiers jeering at civilians killed for fun. The pictures appeared in Der Spiegel just as the murder trial against the five soldiers, all from a base south of Seattle, is due to begin. The magazine reports that the Americans ‘killed Afghan civilians for fun, humiliating their victims with horrific pictures’.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Government’s Crime, Corruption Creates More Terrorists: British Think-Tank
The sidelining of justice by the Afghan government and its international backers is fueling the insurgency in Afghanistan and presents a serious strategic risk, claims a new report from a British international security think-tank.
The report which was published just ahead of President Barack Obama’s statement on the review of the US war strategy in Afghanistan, argues that any strategy to create long-term stability in Afghanistan must place justice at its core.
No Shortcut to Stability: Justice, Politics and Insurgency in Afghanistan documents how illegal land grabs, the “political marginalizing of tribal and factional rivals and arbitrary detention” have motivated Afghans to join or support the Taliban. Other factors — money, drugs and foreign interference — also drive the insurgency but case studies of Helmand, Kandahar and Badghis provinces demonstrate the central role of injustice in the growth of the insurgency.
The report shows how justice issues are also implicated in the insurgency’s spread outside its southern Pashtun base.
Carter and Clark found that the Afghan government continues to disregard accountability — passing an amnesty law for war criminals, issuing presidential pardons for well-connected drug smugglers, criminals and Taliban commanders and undermining key anti-corruption bodies and electoral monitoring bodies. The international response is almost invariably weak. Talks with the Taliban at the table, putting justice at the heart of policy is more crucial than ever.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Explosive Books to Set Up an Islamic State in Indonesia
Radical groups carry out attacks against civil society figures and government officials. Would-be victims are deemed pawns in the hands of the Americans and the Israelis. The goal is to set up a state governed by Sharia. Like Pakistan, Indonesia is becoming a hostage to extremists.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Radical Muslim groups are thought to be behind mail bombs recently delivered to prominent figures and security officials, including Christians, in various places in Indonesia. Human rights activists and ordinary Indonesians are sounding the alarm, warning the country is slowing turning into a Pakistan-style ‘Islamised’ state in which extremist movements sow terror to gain power.
Although the authorities have not made any public statement on the matter, many believe that extremist groups are behind a recent spate of attacks involving books containing explosive sent by mail. Inspector Ansyaas Mbai, head of the anti-terror department, blames radical Islamic movements, like Jemaah Islamiyah, the Islamic State of Indonesia and the Mujahedeen Kompak.
The recent bombings were carried out by “old players within the old terror network”, based on their modus operandi and the evidence collected at the sites where attacks occurred, which are “closely related to their (political) ideology,” he said.
The anti-terrorism expert noted that Muslim extremists used similar methods in the past, during sectarian clashes between Christians and Muslims in Poso (central Sulawesi) in 2006.
“The only different thing is the packaging. Now, they use books as bomb cover; in the past torches were commonly used. When the torchlight was set on, the bomb went off,” Mbaai explained.
Targets are another major difference. They include Indonesians seen as close to or puppets in the hands of the Americans and the Israelis.
Targets are labelled “common enemies”, people opposed to the introduction of Sharia, Islamic law, or to the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesia.
The fear is that some Indonesians now favour a Pakistani-styled Islamist shift in which government leaders, officials and security forces become the hostage (if not the target) of terrorist groups.
Last week, terrorists targeted the former chief of police and current anti-drug boss, General Gories Mere, a Catholic. Another would-be victim was former West Java police chief Is Sukandar.
Indonesia’s first radical Muslim group appeared in 1959, a secessionist-oriented group called Darul Islam, whose military wing, the Tentara Islam Indonesia, launched a guerrilla campaign against the government of then President Sukarno. Their goal was the creation of an Islamic state.
In the subsequent decades, attacks were carried out, including the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed more than 200 people.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Uzbekistan Expels Human Rights Watch
HRW reports a “deepening” human rights crisis in the country. Violence and arrests of opponents and human rights defenders are systemic. Torture is routine in prisons. The West is more interested in Uzbek gas than in human rights.
Tashkent (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The Uzbek government has expelled the staff of Human Rights Watch (HRW), an organisation dedicated to reporting human rights violations. According to HRW, the decision was a sign of a “deepening human rights crisis” in the country.
“With the expulsion of Human Rights Watch, the Uzbek government sends a clear message that it isn’t willing to tolerate critical scrutiny of its human rights record,” Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said in a statement. Thus, it will be harder to report on abuses and those daring enough to report on them will be even more isolated.
The Uzbek government gave no reason for the expulsion, though HRW said in a statement that the decision came after years of harassment, refusal to issue visas and accreditation, actions that prevented its members to do their work.
The group had been present in the country for 15 years, and had slammed the government’s systematic violations of human rights, arrests of dissidents, opponents and journalists, mistreated and tortured in prison, whilst abuses were never investigated.
HRW accused the authorities of routine beatings with truncheons, electric shock, hanging by wrists and ankles, rape and sexual humiliation, asphyxiation with plastic bags and gas masks, and threats of physical harm to relatives.
Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said on Tuesday that the EU had repeatedly urged top Uzbek officials to reconsider their decision not to grant Human Rights Watch accreditation and register the organisation’s office.
HRW’s position started to deteriorate after it reported and documented events related to the Andijan massacre in May 2005, when Uzbek troops fired on peaceful protesters, killing hundreds. The United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on Uzbekistan, which rejected calls for a United Nations commission of inquiry, backed in this by Russia and China.
Even today, the exact number of those who died in Andijan is unknown, far higher than the 187 admitted by the government, which also claims that protesters were violent, something eyewitnesses deny.
The country has vast gas reserves and Western nations have recently renewed ties with the Central Asia nation despite its lack of progress on human rights and failure to implement democratic reforms.
In addition, Uzbekistan is strategically important for NATO to resupply its forces in neighbouring Afghanistan and has started to sell electrical power in great quantities to its neighbour.
“Tashkent has apparently calculated that brutalising the population and stonewalling international reporting are cost-free,” Roth said.
“The EU and the US need to prove this cynical calculus wrong and make sure human rights abuses will be noticed and carry clear consequences.”
The country is under the iron fist rule of President Islam Karimov (pictured) since 1989, when it was still part of the Soviet Union.
Uzbek activist Mutabar Tajibayeva said that HRW was expelled after Karimov visited Brussels, where he met EU and NATO leaders, a sign that Europe was prepared to re-establish normal ties.
Ms Tajibayeva documented the violence and abuses committed during the Andijan crackdown and for this, she was arrested in October 2005 and sentenced to eight years in prison. After she was released in June 2008, she went into exile. In 2009, she received the Women of Courage International Award from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nuclear Plant Staff Evacuated as Smoke Rises From Japanese Reactor
Smoke was this morning seen rising from the Number 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
Staff were evacuated from the area around the power plant and all work has been suspended after officials said the smoke was coming from an area where a core of spent nuclear fuel was being stored.
A joint task force set up between the government and the Tokyo Electric Company, which owns the site, was still trying to find a cause for the smoke.
There were no reports of any explosions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Work Continues to Restore External Power to Fukushima Nuclear Plant
The painstaking task of restoring external power to the crippled reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant continued on Monday, despite high radiation levels that are hindering some parts of the emergency operation.
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), said the No. 2 reactor was connected to an external electricity cable at 3:46 p.m. Sunday.
The No. 5 reactor switched over to an external power source on Monday and efforts are continuing to connect electrical cables to the No. 3 to No. 6 reactors. The No. 5 and No. 6 reactors have been using emergency generators since Saturday.
An approximately 1.5-kilometer-long electrical cable was connected from power transmission lines to the distribution board within the turbine building of the No. 2 reactor on Saturday.
TEPCO officials were checking for equipment malfunctions, electrical leaks, and problems with wiring before switching on the power to the central control room of the No. 2 reactor. If that control room gets external power, lights and instruments that monitor the reactor might be available to the teams struggling to stabilize the plant.
A TEPCO official said: “If we can use the control panel in the central control room, we would be able to analyze the condition of the equipment and determine where abnormalities were occurring.”
Cables have been laid to the No. 5 and 6 reactors and external power was connected to the No. 5 reactor on Monday afternoon.
TEPCO officials said Sunday that the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors had reached the cold shutdown stage, meaning that the temperature of the reactor cores had fallen below 100 degrees. Both reactors had been stopped for routine inspections when the Great East Japan Earthquake hit on March 11.
Emergency generators were connected to the two reactors from Saturday, restoring vital cooling functions.
Work was also continuing on Monday to connect a different power transmission line to the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors. That part of the operation is being hindered by high radiation levels near the two reactors.
Although radiation levels within the Fukushima plant increased sharply on March 16, when white smoke was observed spewing from the No. 3 reactor, levels have not risen dramatically since then.
TEPCO officials announced Monday that levels of iodine-131 of six times the official limit had been measured. Cesium was also detected.
On Sunday night, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said iodine and cesium had been detected in airborne dust within the immediate area of the Fukushima plant.
Iodine and cesium are produced during nuclear fission and their presence is evidence that fuel rods in the reactor cores or spent fuel rods kept in storage pools have been damaged.
Defense Ministry officials said the Self-Defense Forces began spraying water on the No. 4 reactor from around 6:30 a.m. Monday. Twelve SDF fire trucks and one loaned from the U.S. military were used for the operation. TEPCO workers operated the U.S. military fire truck.
A total of about 90 tons of water was sprayed. On Sunday, two water spraying operations dumped about 160 tons of water on the No. 4 reactor.
On Saturday, Sunday and Monday, the Tokyo Fire Department hosed the No. 3 reactor using trucks that can spray water from 22-meter articulated arms at a rate of about 3 tons a minute. The firefighters pumped seawater through about 800 meters of hose to the plant.
The operation began Saturday afternoon and continued for about 13 hours until 3:40 a.m. Sunday. A total of about 2,430 tons of water was sprayed. It resumed on Sunday night and continued into Monday.
The storage pool for spent fuel rods in the No. 3 reactor has a capacity of about 1,000 tons. Even if it was empty at the start of the operation, it is believed that enough water was pumped onto the reactor to fill that pool.
The SDF sent helicopters over the Fukushima plant facility on Saturday and Sunday to measure temperatures.
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said Sunday night: “The water temperatures in the storage pools for spent fuel rods had all fallen below 100 degrees. Although the temperature above the No. 3 reactor containment vessel was 128 degrees, that was within the range expected by experts above the reactor core.”
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Australia: Iranian Refugee Wants Compensation for Stress
AN Iranian refugee who was detained after arriving in Australia has launched legal action for pain and suffering.
Siavash Mossavian, 32, spent four years and five months in detention before being released in April 2005, the Herald Sun reported.
He was granted a temporary protection visa and, later, citizenship.
But he alleges the Government breached its duty to him during his time in detention, resulting in physical, psychological and psychiatric harm.
In documents filed in the Victorian Supreme Court, lawyers for Mr Mossavian say these injuries include post-traumatic stress disorder, a major depressive disorder, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, and pain and suffering.
He wants damages and interest.
Mr Mossavian spent time at the Curtin, Port Hedland and Baxter detention centres after arriving in Australia in 2000.
Australasian Correctional Services and GSL operated the centres, according to court documents.
Mr Mossavian claims that the Commonwealth breached its duties because:
IT was reasonably foreseeable that the way in which the centres were operated exposed him to the risk of injury or harm.
FAILURE to devise, implement and monitor systems and policies in place at the detention centres would have an adverse impact on his health.
FAILURE to provide adequate medical facilities and treatment would expose him to the risk of injury.
Mr Mossavian declined to comment yesterday.
Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said people who suffered a total disability as a result of crime were not adequately compensated, and it was ridiculous that someone should seek damages over their time in a detention centre.
“It’s a great cheek. We have a habit of pandering to these people,” he said.
“We welcome them, do the best we can by them, and they throw dirt in our faces.”
David Manne, executive director of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, said it was impossible to comment on the specifics of the case, but there was a wealth of evidence that indefinite and prolonged detention of asylum-seekers could cause enormous stress and damage.
“It has caused severe physical and psychological trauma to people. That’s well documented,” he said.
“Under the laws of this land, everyone has the right to seek compensation for harm they believe has been done by the government or any other person.
“Everyone should be on equal footing before the law in Australia.”
An Immigration and Citizenship Department spokesman said the Commonwealth had not received a writ and could not comment.
The writ is yet to be served.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Migrants Bribe Way to Residency: Hearing
The government may have granted working visas to immigrants on the basis of false English-language credentials, a West Australian corruption hearing has heard.
The state’s Corruption and Crime Commission has heard the falsification of English competency test results was systemic, with some applicants paying between $1500 and $10,000 for their scores to be changed.
The CCC is examining whether any employee at Curtin University of Technology was bribed to falsify records to allow some visa applicants to get around the accredited International English Language Testing System.
The test is used by the Department of Immigration to determine whether applicants for permanent residency and work or student visas are competent in English.
Applicants’ IELTS scores are part of the eligibility criteria for visas.
Counsel assisting the CCC Peter Quinlan showed documents relating to Rikenkumar Jentilal Vaishnani, who had his average score of six, the minimum pass mark, changed to seven.
Mr Quinlan said Mr Vaishnani allegedly had paid $11,000 to an intermediary for the marks to be changed.
Furthermore, he said there was evidence that someone had used an innocent employee’s password and user name to enter the falsified scores.
‘‘Such falsification has not been confined to an isolated case or cases but has been systemic and involved potentially dozens of individual test-takers and other persons,’’ Mr Quinlan said.
Assistant secretary of the Department of Immigration’s labour market branch Peter Speldewinde told the hearing any defrauding of the IELTS would have a ‘‘profound impact’’ on the integrity of the program.
Mr Speldewinde said as the demand for skilled migration visas was greater than the supply, any applicant who gained a visa fraudulently had possibly taken the spot of someone more qualified.
‘‘If someone has defrauded the system, essentially they’re stealing a visa from someone who has met the requirements,’’ Mr Speldewinde said.
‘‘If we are giving visas to people who do not meet these requirements, we are indeed undermining the credibility of the program.’’
Mr Speldewinde said the department has discovered that several people who had engaged in alleged bribery and been granted permanent residency were now applying for citizenship.
A departmental spokeswoman said visas could be refused or cancelled if they were found to have been granted fraudulently.
But revoking citizenship was much more complex and could only be done upon a conviction for migration fraud, she said.
The CCC’s investigation will also determine whether the Curtin English Language Centre had policies in place to detect misconduct and examine whether the IELTS had been compromised at testing centres operated by any other public authorities.
In his opening remarks, Acting Commissioner Mark Herron said the evidence already gathered by the CCC showed the alleged misconduct was deliberate.
‘‘The conduct to be investigated appears at this stage … to have been deliberate, serious and sustained, and to demonstrate at least a clear disregard of applicable policies and procedures with serious consequences,’’ Mr Herron told the hearing.
‘‘On the face of it, the conduct is not likely to have been merely mistaken or inadvertent.’’
The week-long hearing continues.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Afghan Who Hanged Himself Was ‘Under Pressure to Go Back’
One of his fellow detainees told Ms Curr via Facebook that: “Scherger is mournful tonight. Moaning and wailing; voice is raised to the sky”.
Another told Ms Curr he was “really scared”. “Sometimes I feel like my heart will stop, and my breath is tight,” she said the man told her.”
There are 294 people held at the temporary detention centre, which began housing asylum-seekers last October.
At the beginning of this month, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen announced the former air force base would be used as detention accommodation for another year. The facility was due to close in the middle of this year.
Former refugee Hassan Varasi, spokesman for the Hazara Foundation of South Australia, said one of Hussain’s fellow detainees had contacted him about the man’s suicide.
“This Afghan man’s application was recently rejected and (he) was under constant pressure from (the) immigration department to go back to Afghanistan,” Mr Varasi, who was detained in Villawood detention centre in the early 2000s, said. “He has decided to kill himself by hanging with a bed sheet in his room.
“This person, he was not going to go back to Afghanistan alive.”
Mr Varasi said about 22 Afghan Hazara men at Scherger had had their applications rejected in recent months.
He said he was worried more detainees would attempt to harm themselves.
“My concern is that there’s many other people in the same circumstance,” Mr Varasi said.
“Many of them are concerned if they go back to Afghanistan they will be killed.”
Hassan Ghulam, spokesman for the Australian Hazara Council, said he would appeal to Mr Bowen to allow a Hazara delegation to visit the detainees at Scherger.
“We have warned Immigration many times that these people are suffering from all sorts of trauma,” Mr Ghulam said.
Queensland Police and the coroner are investigating the man’s death.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Christmas Island Asylum Centre at Risk: Former Manager
THE former manager of the Christmas Island detention centre wrote to his boss at Serco five months before last week’s riots, urging the company to hire more staff to tackle security and safety failures at the overcrowded facility.
The staffing proposal document written last October by then centre manager, Ray Wiley, urged Serco, which operates all the detention centres, to hire more personnel and “provide proactive intervention rather than reactive damage control”.
The document, obtained by The Australian, details chronic overcrowding at Christmas Island’s main detention centre, including 144 detainees housed in classrooms, 92 in storerooms, 30 in a visiting area and 240 in tents.
In his letter, Mr Wiley, who has since left Serco, claims the detention centre was “typically 15 staff short per day” and says “even if all posts were filled, we would struggle”.
“This in itself does not enable confidence in being able to manage the centre in a controlled and ordered manner, affording a safe environment for staff, clients and visitors to the centre,” he says.
After violent rioting last Thursday night in which parts of the centre were burned to the ground, the Immigration Department asked the Australian Federal Police to take over control of the facility from Serco, which has a $370 million a year contract to run Australia’s detention centres.
Julia Gillard warned yesterday that the asylum-seekers involved in the riots would not go unpunished, saying they should face criminal charges.
After taking charge of security at the problem-plagued centre, the AFP has switched on the electric fences and yesterday patrolled the compound with a tactical police dog to move detainees to their assigned areas.
Some detainees have been refusing to move to the main compounds from the burnt-out remains of the Aqua and Lilac compounds at the edge of the centre.
There are fears up to 20 escaped detainees are camping out in the jungle, eating robber crabs, and yesterday AFP operational commander Chris Lines acknowledged that an official head-count had not been completed. “What I can report is that it was another calm night at the centre, the third calm night in succession,” Deputy Superintendent Lines said.
Serco was reportedly fined more than $4m for contract breaches earlier this year. Rosters obtained by The Australian this month show that on some night shifts since November, there have been fewer than 10 guards in compounds holding about 1600 men…
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 15 Thousand So Far, Risk of Libya Emergency
(AGI) Rome — 14,918 immigrants have landed in Italy since the first of January, “almost all irregular.” This is according to Minister for the Interior, Robert Maroni, speaking at a press conference at Palazzo Chigi with Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa and Justice Minister, Angelino Alfano. Maroni announced that he is to go to Tunisia tomorrow, and said that the government “is concerned” about the situation in Libya, there is a “risk of emergency” over the mass departures from Libya bound for Italy. Maroni added “for the first time 200 Libyans have landed in Italy, not at Lampedusa, but at Catania.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘European Response on Migrants Lacking’
Maroni to press EU on three fronts
(ANSA) — Rome, March 16 — The European Union’s response to a migrant wave from North Africa has been disappointing, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Wednesday, adding that over 11,000 Tunisian migrants had arrived since the start of 2011.
“We have asked for intervention from the European Union but it has so far been unsatisfactory,” Maroni told the House, saying that Italy wanted the EU to share the burden of receiving migrants, sifting asylum requests and repatriation. This system, he said, “must be developed by the EU and the burden cannot be left on border countries alone”. Second, Italy wanted the EU’s border agency Frontex to be boosted, saying that at present it only coordinated action while leaving up to individual states and in particular Italy “the many burdens and few honours of controlling the Mediterranean”.
Third, he said, Italy wanted “an extraordinary contribution of 100 million euros to go towards the huge expenses we are facing”.
Maroni said he would reiterate these three requests to European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom in Brussels Thursday.
Since the start of the unrest in North Africa, Maroni said, 11,200 migrants had arrived in Italy, all from Tunisia, and “I fear we are just at the start”.
He recalled that, thanks to an accord with Libya, total arrivals in 2010 were just 4,000.
“Tunisia is the most significant front but there are also Libya and Egypt.
“We are working on these three fronts with (Foreign) Minister (Franco) Frattini to stop these clandestine flows.
So far negotiations with Tunisia had not brought any appreciable results, but talks were continuing and Maroni said he was “confident that shortly we will reach a solution”.
Italy last month offered to help Tunisia patrol its coasts but was rebuffed.
The immigrant centre on the island of Lampedusa, closer to Africa than to Sicily, is again overflowing and the pace at which migrants are being redistributed to other southern Italian sites has slowed.
The United Nations refuge agency UNHCR on Wednesday said the situation on Lampedusa was becoming critical and urged the government to move migrants out faster.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Reaches Out to EU to Share Migrant ‘Burden’
Rome, 21 March (AKI) — Italy reached out to other countries in Europe to house some of the immigrants who have been reaching its shores since more than two months of anti-government protests in Northern Africa prompted thousands of people to travel trip by boat to Southern Europe.
“We ask all the countries of the European Union to take their fair share of the burden,” said Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni on Monday during a Rome press conference.
Maroni said thousands of people have reached southern Italy since Tunisia’s authoritarian government was toppled by a month of street protests. Two boats carrying around 117 men who said they were Libyans were intercepted in eastern Sicily early Monday. If their nationalities are confirmed, it may signal the first significant number of Libyans to reach Italy since demonstrations in their country turned to civil war.
Maroni, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, said that 15,000 primarily Tunisians have arrived on the southern island of Lampedusa since the beginning of the year. That compares with 25 Tunisians during all last year, he said.
“That shows that if the controls don’t work, you see what happens,” he said. “It is not fair that only these countries have to deal with it when we’re talking about tens of thousands of people.”
Prime minister Silvio’s Berlusconi’s government will present a resolution to parliament authorizing it negotiate with other members of the European Union over the immigration issue, Maroni said. Earlier this year, Italy appealed to the EU for 100 million euros in funds to held manage what it called an “immigrant wave of biblical proportions.”
In the meanwhile, Lampedusa, located 113 kilometres from Tunisia and 205 kilometres south of Sicily, is struggling to host around 5,000 Tunisian migrants, about the population of the island’s residents.
Maroni said his government compensate Lampedusa residents for the damage to their economy. The island survives mostly on fishing and tourism.
Angry residents on Sunday temporarily prevented the unloading of a boat that carried supplies for a migrant tent city.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya’s Secret Weapon? Unleashing Mass Immigration
The tiny Italian island of Lampedusa is on Europe’s front line after Western strikes against Libya begin. Gaddafi could set off a massive migrant influx from his coastline toward Lampedusa, or try to fire missiles at the island like he did in 1986
More than his Scud missiles, Europe has reason to fear that the Muammar Gaddafi could send dozens of ships packed with would-be immigrants toward Europe in the wake of Western air strikes on Libya. The front line of such retaliation would be Lampedusa, the Italian island just 180 miles north of the Libyan coast that has been struggling with the ebbs and flows of immigration from North Africa for the past decade. Currrently, there are already 3,800 immigrants on the small island of 6,000 residents, after a recent wave of small boats arriving from Tunisia that followed unrest there. The fragile balance that is somehow still holding in place would be sure to snap if boats began to embark from the Libyan coast as well — and the consequences of mass influx are hard to predict. Nobody in Lampedusa spotted the French fighter jets go by on their way to bomb Libyan military forces. And residents were relieved by the reassurances of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his defense minister, who said that Gaddafi’s missiles could not reach the island. Memories are still vivid of Gaddafi’s attempt on April 15, 1986 to strike Lampedusa in retaliation for the American bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi, and the death of his daughter. Libya fired two Scuds at the U.S. Coast Guard navigation station that was then located on the Italian island, but the missiles overshot their target, landing in the sea and causing no damage. Now, instead, authorities agree that the urgent problem — a ticking bomb, some say — is how to deal with the thousands of migrants who hang out in the island’s streets, often outnumbering residents. Giuseppe Caruso, the island’s special commissioner in charge of dealing with the immigrant emergency, is demanding that a Navy ship be used to house some of the migrants. This would allow authorities to relieve some of the burden from the island’s overcrowded immigrant center.
The center is currently housing 2,600 people, far beyond its capacity of 800, making the living conditions unsustainable and raising fears of health risks. The San Marco ship, currently docked in the port of Augusta, north on the main island of Sicily, is expected to arrive in Lampedusa as early as Monday to take in some 700 people. Immigrant centers in other parts of Italy will take in more migrants as space becomes available. Authorities are also looking to build a tent camp with a capacity of 500 people, and are awaiting supplies, including disposable toilets, to arrive by ship. While this is only a stopgap measure, it’s still better than leaving the migrants by the maritime station where about 1,000 of the latest arrivals have been camping out. Italy’s President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, has weighed in, saying he felt close to Lampedusa’s people for the difficulties they are facing, urging other Italian regions to show solidarity and share a burden that the island cannot possibly sustain on its own. These words have encouraged the island’s mayor. “We are hopeful that within the next 24 to 48 hours the situation can improve,” said Dino De Rubeis, adding that he had received reassurances that by Tuesday the government would answer his requests for help. The mayor urged residents to remain calm, after dozens of them staged a protest at the port over the weekend that prevented several immigrant boats from docking for several hours. What eventually reassured the residents was not the authorities’ words, but news that the Navy ship was on its way, a sign that things might be moving. With summer approaching, the island has much at stake with the events shaking other parts of the world…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Plot to Destroy the US Military
In two generations we have gone from General Patton telling his troops to grease their tanks with the enemy’s guts to an extensive purge of Navy command officers over a series of raunchy video skits. Slowly but surely we are turning the greatest armed forces into the world, into the most politically correct disarmed forces the world has ever seen.
The USS Enterprise crackdown, like the firing of General McChrystal and the push to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, completely ignore military realities for political objectives. A political military is also a useless military. Stalin’s purges of the Russian Army’s commanders left the Soviet Union completely unprepared for the Nazi attack. And the US military is being shaped along the same lines into a political military overseen by men whose chief credential is that they share the same politics as the politicians whom they serve.
A congressional report now says that the US military has too many white males at the top. Women are being kept out of the highest ranks because they lack combat experience. The report calls on the military leadership to “better reflect the racial, ethnic and gender mix of American society”. Which is code for affirmative action. If we didn’t have enough incompetents at the top, we can look forward to an affirmative action military in which the generals will be there because of the color of their skin or their gender, not because they’re the best at what they do.
The mandate that every civic institution has to reflect the multicultural politics of the liberal elites reflects their determination to impose their vision on the country by hijacking its institutions. And every institution touched by their vision has become functionally useless, incapable of performing even their simplest tasks, but always needing more money. America’s great cities have become sinkholes. The Postal Service is on the verge of extinction. And now it’s the military’s turn.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
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