Day: April 24, 2010
ICH 23 April, 2010: Bolivian President Evo Morales on President Obama: “I Can't Believe a Black President Can Hold So Much Vengeance Against an Indian President”
Coup in Kyrgyzstan, Drugs from Afghanistan, and the US By Anatoly ALIFEROV
19 April, 2010 — Strategic Culture Foundation
While the Kyrgyz interim government was searching for the bank accounts of ousted President K. Bakiev, and Belorussian President A. Lukashenko invited him to settle down in Belarus, Moscow bloggers published a sensational finding: they unearthed evidence that the coup in Kyrgyzstan was backed by the US and that the whole intrigue revolves around the transit of drugs from Afghanistan.
On April 18, Oriental Review, an English-language blog based in Russia, published a text titled «Kyrgyzstan Destined To Become Another Narco-State?». It points to the facts that drug crops in Afghanistan surged since the dispatch of the US and NATO forces to the country and that the neighboring Kyrgyzstan became the key transit hub on the route – known as the Great Heroin Way – via which drugs from Afghanistan are delivered to Europe and Asia.
PAMBAZUKA Africa News #478 23 April, 2010: LINKS & RESOURCES
The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa
Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839
CONTENTS: 1. Action alerts, 2. Zimbabwe update, 3. African Union Monitor, 4. Women & gender, 5. Human rights, 6. Refugees & forced
migration, 7. Social movements, 8. Africa labour news, 9. Emerging powers news, 10. Elections & governance, 11. Development, 12. Health &
HIV/AIDS, 13. LGBTI, 14. Environment, 15. Land & land rights, 16. Media & freedom of expression, 17. Conflict & emergencies, 18. Internet & technology, 19. eNewsletters & mailing lists, 20. Fundraising & useful resources, 21. Courses, seminars, & workshops, 22. Jobs
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Highlights from this issue
ACTION ALERTS: Secret draft of Canada-EU free trade agreement
ZIMBABWE UPDATE: Mugabe welcomes Ahmadinejad
WOMEN & GENDER: New law to benefit Kenya women, lawyers say
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Niger Delta amnesty at risk of unraveling
HUMAN RIGHTS: Press all sides to end Somalia abuses
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Tanzania deports illegal Somalis
EMERGING POWERS NEWS: Emerging powers news roundup
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: Social movements for system change
AFRICA LABOUR NEWS: NUM to oppose SA Eskom privatization
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Anger at Egypt MPs’ call for force
HEALTH & HIV/AIDS: Africa should unite for drug development
DEVELOPMENT: Agriculture key to Africa’s stability
LGBTI: Uganda softens stand
ENVIRONMENT: Swazi activist wins green prize
LAND & LAND RIGHTS: Grabbing Africa
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Cameroonian editor dies in prison
INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY: New Broadband network for Africa approved
ENEWSLETTERS & MAILING LISTS: AfricaFocus Bulletin: Zimbabwe: Sanctions and solidarity
JOBS: Vacancies and Christian Aid
PLUS: Fundraising & useful resources, publications, courses, seminars and workshops
*Pambazuka News now has a Del.icio.us page, where you can view the various websites that we visit to keep our fingers on the pulse of Africa! Visit del.icio.us/pambazuka_news
Earth Day in Israel: Apartheid Showing Through the Greenwash By Stephanie Westbrook
24 April, 2010
On April 22, as part of the global Earth Day celebrations, homes, offices and public buildings in 14 Israeli cities turned out the lights for one hour in an effort to “increase awareness of the vital need to reduce energy consumption.” The Earth Day celebrations included scenes of green fields, wind generators and rainbows projected on the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, the Green Globes Award ceremony recognizing “outstanding contributions to promote the environment” and a concert in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv powered by generators running on vegetable oil as well as volunteers on 48 bikes pedaling away to produce electricity.
The irony was not lost on the 1.5 million residents of Gaza who have been living with daily power outages lasting hours on end for nearly three years due to the Israeli siege on the coastal territory. The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) reports that over 100 million liters of fuel were allowed into Gaza in 2009, however as Gisha points out, that amounts to only 57% of the need. As summer approaches bringing peak demands, spare parts and tools for turbine repair are in dire need. There are currently over 50 truckloads of electrical equipment awaiting approval by the Israeli authorities for entry to Gaza.
U.S. military suffers major defeat in Korengal Valley, forced to retreat By James Circello
21 April, 2010 — URUK Net
U.S. soldiers, Afghans dying so that Pentagon can avoid appearance of defeat
The U.S. military has retreated from a base in the remote Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, after spending over four years trying to hold the ground. The U.S. forces even negotiated the terms of their defeat, paying the resistance fighters and leaving them the base fully intact with buildings, fuel, generators and military equipment, in order to be allowed a peaceful retreat out of the valley.
The corporate media and, for the most part, the Pentagon brass have framed the forced retreat from the “Valley of Death” as a “shift” in strategy. This so-called shift has been eye-opening for the soldiers and marines who have lost friends and shed blood in the mountains of Afghanistan, while forced to defend an outpost which U.S. military commanders have argued is “a remote backwater of limited strategic value.”
Strategic culture foundation online magazine latest publications 18-24 April, 2010
24 April, 2010 — Strategic Culture Foundation
2010-04-18
Rafe MAIR (Canada)
Thoughts on Communism and Capitalism
“Although Communism may be dead in fact if not name, the conditions that spawned and nurtured it are very much with us today. Large corporations have replaced the noblemen, the dwindling middle class is no buffer between the haves and the have-nots, and the rich get richer. Not much different than 1917… Change, unpredictable change, is coming to your home and sooner than you think!…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2940
2010-04-19
Anatoly ALIFEROV
Coup in Kyrgyzstan, Drugs from Afghanistan, and the US
“While the Kyrgyz interim government was searching for the bank accounts of ousted President K. Bakiev, and Belorussian President A. Lukashenko invited him to settle down in Belarus, Moscow bloggers published a sensational finding: they unearthed evidence that the coup in Kyrgyzstan was backed by the US and that the whole intrigue revolves around the transit of drugs from Afghanistan…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2942
2010-04-20
Najmuddin A. SHAIKH (Pakistan)
Afghanistan after the Obama Visit
“President Obama had cancelled an invitation to President Karzai to visit Washington. American media reports maintained that in retaliation Karzai invited President Ahmadinejad to Kabul and stood by his side while, in a scathing speech in Kabul Ahmadinejad berated the United States and attributed Afghanistan’s problems to the presence of foreign forces. The American media suggested that the visit Karzai undertook to China immediately thereafter was also designed to win himself some other external support… These reports appear to be much exaggerated…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2945
2010-04-22
Roman TOMBERG
Hu Jintao’s Western Tour: From Washington to Brazil (I)
“In mid-April Hu Jintao, like the characters of Chinese classic Journey to the West monk Xuanzang, Monkey King S?n Wùk?ng, “Pigsy” Zhu Bajie, and General in Heaven Sh? Wùjìng, who went to look for Bhuddist Sutras, headed for a long journey. The purpose of Hu Jintao’s tour was to defend China’s interests face-to-face with the US President integrally representing the global North and to secure deeper cooperation with Russia, India, Brazil, and South Africa, the countries leading the parade of the developing world…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2947
2010-04-21
David KERANS (USA)
The Great Recession, Human Capital, and Political Peril in the US
“The Great Recession has delivered quite a blow to the consciousness of the US and the rest of the Western world over the last year and a half, and one hesitates to predict when its aftershocks may subside… income inequality in the US has ballooned to levels unparalleled in the developed world… As of the end of 2009 about 24 percent of mortgage holders still owed more money on their home than the home was currently worth… this recession has not supplied any psychological relief to the have-nots by punishing the wealthy enough to reverse income inequality…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2948
2010-04-21
Rafe MAIR (Canada)
When What Couldn’t Happen… Happened!
“December 24, 2013. President Obama announced that earlier that day the 7th US airborne had landed in Northern Alberta, Canada, near the “tar sands” and had sent small contingents of troops into Edmonton and Victoria, the capitals of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia respectively. Mr. Obama, in a terse note to the Canadian ambassador said “no great nation, least of all the United States of America, can tolerate any country cutting off its oil supply. Once our imports from Canada are increased we will withdraw our forces leaving only a “token” presence…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2952
2010-04-23
Sergei GAVRILOV
Anatoliy MANIN
START III and the Strategic Stability Problem
“The Nuclear Security Summit which convened recently in Washington produced little more than general declarations. In contrast, START III (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) signed by Russia and the US on April 8, 2010, and the extensive Protocol detailing its provisions deserve to be called a breakthrough in the sphere of limitation of both offensive and defensive strategic arms…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2962
The New Dark Age 