April 2007

What War?
Posted: Monday, April 30, 2007

¤ Wolfowitz refuses to resign
Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank, has repeated his refusal to step down, while the US president has spoken out to back him.
Wolfowitz, a former deputy defence secretary, said the charges over his handling of a pay rise for his girlfriend was a "smear campaign". He said he would not resign over "unfair charges".

¤ Incompetence at the Top
Every American who voted Republican shares responsibility for the great evil America has brought to the Middle East.
The evil that America brought to Iraq transcends the tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed and maimed in the conflict. The evil goes beyond the destruction of ancient historical artifacts and the civilian infrastructure of a secular state and the decimation of the lives, careers, and families of millions of Iraqis.

¤ Did Pfizer Illegally Market Its New HIV/AIDS Drug?
¤ Who Will Stop the U.S. Shadow Army in Iraq?
¤ U.S. death toll passes 100 for April

¤ A Media Scandal A Day Keeps The Ratings In Play
New York, New York: When I grew up one of the most popular TV shows was "What's My Line?," a quiz with stars guessing what contestants did for a living. It was fun, upbeat and positive.
Today, on TV news channels, the theme has shifted to "What's My Scandal?" with a predictable focus on wrongdoing in high places. It's tendentious, moralistic and negative.

¤ American Journalism: An Obituary
Watching Bill Moyers' special on his return to PBS, Buying the War, I was struck by the stark contrast between the yeoman work of then Knight-Ridder (now McClatchy) reporters Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel, and everybody else in what used to be called the journalism profession.
It does no disservice to Landay and Strobel to say that there was nothing particularly astounding about the work they did in exposing the Bush/Cheney administration's lies and deceptions in the two-year campaign to put the country at war against Iraq. As they explain to Moyers, they did what any real reporter was supposed to do, going to to sources they'd developed in the military and intelligence community in Washington, talking on and off the record with sources willing to tell the truth about what was going on, digging up and actually critically reading documents like the UN inspectors' reports on Iraq WMD inspections, and finally confronting the lying officials for comment.

¤ Tell the Truth
¤ The Iraq war is over
¤ Italy rocked by satanic, drug-induced sexual abuse in kindergarten
¤ Bush Has Destroyed Iraq and America

¤ Sorry They've Been So Mean To You, George
"If you can't say something positive about someone, don't say anything."
This was drummed into me by my Irish grandmother and, as was the case with most of her admonishments, it has stood me in good stead. On occasion, though, it has been a real bother-as when I felt called to comment on George Tenet's apologia, In the Center of the Storm, coming soon to a bookstore near you.
On the verge of despair, I ran into an old classmate of Tenet's from PS 94 in Little Neck, Queens. Help at last. He told me that George was more handsome than his twin brother Billy, and that his outgoing nature and consummate political skill got him elected president of the student body.
Positive enough, Grandma? Now let me add this.

¤ What War?
¤ Willful Blindness, "Doublethink," and the Mogadishu Massacre
¤ Who Have Become The Israeli Government
¤ Another case for the US to leave ...
¤ Shattered Lives
¤ Blackwater mercenaries, West Point graduates & other
¤ The Honeymoon's Over for Bush and the Saudis
¤ Heroin is "Good for Your Health"
¤ Corporate Media Ignores Durbin's Admission Iraq Invasion was Predicated on Lies
¤ CIA Prisons Still in Operation Investigating Reports
¤ "Dumb, Stupid Animals to be Used" The US War Against Its Troops
¤ Suicide car bomb in Iraq kills 60
¤ Blueprint for Dictatorship

US Democrats Raise Prospect of Bush's Impeachment Over Iraq
Posted: Monday, April 30, 2007

A top US congressional Democrat has raised the possibility of George W. Bush's impeachment in a bid to force the president to accept a compromise that would place conditions on continued US military involvement in Iraq.Representative John Murtha, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Defense and is close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, made the comment Sunday in response to repeated threats by the president to veto legislation that calls for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by the end of next March.
Full Article : commondreams.org

Inside the struggle for Iran
Posted: Monday, April 30, 2007

A grand coalition of anti-government forces is planning a second Iranian revolution via the ballot box to deny President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad another term in office and break the grip of what they call the "militia state" on public life and personal freedom.

Encouraged by recent successes in local elections, opposition factions, democracy activists, and pro-reform clerics say they will bring together progressive parties loyal to former president Mohammad Khatami with so-called pragmatic conservatives led by Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Full Article : guardian.co.uk

America prepares to talk with Iran after 28 years
Posted: Monday, April 30, 2007

Condoleezza Rice held out the prospect yesterday of direct talks with her Iranian counterpart this week in what would be America's most significant contact with the Islamic republic since ties were severed almost 30 years ago.

The US Secretary of State was speaking shortly after Iran said that Manouchehr Mottaki, its Foreign Minister, would on Thursday attend talks in Egypt on the future of Iraq.

"I will not rule out that we may encounter one another," Dr Rice said in a series of interviews with Sunday talk shows. "This isn't an opportunity to talk about US-Iran issues. This is really an opportunity for all of Iraq's neighbours to talk about how to stabilise Iraq."
Full Article : timesonline.co.uk

Pulling the Trigger on Iran
Posted: Saturday, April 28, 2007

¤ Inside Africa's Guantánamo

¤ Iraq suicide blast kills dozens
At least 60 people have been killed and and 170 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack near a Shia shrine in the central Iraqi city of Karbala.
Saturday's blast occurred at a checkpoint not far from the shrine which is located in a busy area close to shops and restaurants in Karbala, which is 100km southwest of Baghdad, Iraq's capital.
"Many of the wounded are women and children," said Salim Kadhim, a spokesman for the Karbala health department.

¤ What Drugs Had Cho Taken?

¤ Afghanistan and Iraq are the Same War
Four years ago the U.S. and Britain unleashed war on Iraq, a nearly defenseless Third World country barely half the size of Saskatchewan.
For twelve years prior to the invasion and occupation Iraq had endured almost weekly U.S. and British bombing raids and the toughest sanctions in history, the "primary victims" of which, according to the UN Secretary General, were "women and children, the poor and the infirm." According to UNICEF, half a million children died from sanctions related starvation and disease.

¤ The War on Hip Hop
No sooner had talk radio's Don Imus been fired by CBS for his slur against the Rutgers women's basketball team than the media's focus turned to a favorite scapegoat: hip-hop music. And leading the way were not only the usual assortment right-wingers, but a succession of Black establishment figures.

¤ Lying as Art Form
"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." So said Vice-president Dick Cheney on March 16, 2003 as U.S. soldiers marched toward Baghdad at the start of America's Iraqi disaster. Nearly six months later, on Meet the Press, Mr. Cheney, not generally compared to Pollyanna, seemed to adopt her type of viewpoint:
"Well, I think we have (been greeted as liberators) by most Iraqis. I think the majority of Iraqis are thankful for the fact that the United States is there, that we came and we took down the Saddam Hussein government. And I think if you go in vast areas of the country, the Shia in the south, which are about 60 percent of the population, 20-plus percent in the north, in the Kurdish areas, and in some of the Sunni areas, you'll find that, for the most part, a majority of Iraqis support what we did."

¤ Tracking Torture
¤ Quit Your Day Job, George
¤ Time for a Combative Mobilization of the People

¤ Screening Films in Bolivia: Where the Movie Villains are American
On my first trip to Germany, shortly after college, I learned the power of media conditioning. I had grown up watching World War Two movies on television, filled with villainous Nazis. "You vill tell us vat ve vant to know. Ve haf our vays to make you talk " Surrounded by German speakers, whom I had only ever heard as menacing movie stereotypes, I felt my heart rate gallop.
Now I live in Bolivia, where the most treacherous movie villains in local films are Americans. Hollywood movies show here too, but in Bolivian productions Americans are violent and diabolical.

¤ The White House Scales Back Talk of Iraq Progress
¤ Saturday: 123 Iraqis Killed, 113 Wounded
¤ Pulling the Trigger on Iran
¤ Bush Has Gone AWOL

¤ Conquering Poverty with Politicos or Pop Stars?
So this week, America’s most watched pop culture phenomenon tried to make confronting poverty sexy. American Idol made a valiant effort to use the influence of America’s highest rated program and a cast of entertainment stars to turn water cooler discussions from Sanjaya’s hairdo to poverty in America and “giving what you can” to charity. The show may have just touched the surface but such effort by a high powered media enterprise is mildly impressive.
Not surprisingly, the program and its corporate sponsors glazed over what its viewers could collectively do to force political solutions making our government recognize its moral responsibility to those struggling economically among us. The show did perpetuate the neo-liberal idea that economic justice is a humanitarian action to be left to the sphere of charity; you give “what you can.” Low income peoples’ health and opportunities depends on what donors are willing to contribute, their basic human rights are of little consequence.

¤ Instability, Chaos, Violence Born of Unstable, Irresponsible, and Dangerous Leaders
The news from Darfur (as well as in this country from Virginia Tech) demonstrates how much damage can be inflicted on a country by dangerously unstable people. Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, has permitted a situation to flourish in Darfur that, according to United Nations reports, has resulted in the deaths of more than 200,000 people and the displacement of more than 2,000,000 since the conflict began in 2003. President Bashir has repeatedly assured the international community that he will permit U.N. peacekeepers into the country only to change his mind and permit the suffering to continue. On April 16 he let it be known that he would immediately allow U.N. attack helicopters and 3,000 international peacekeepers into Darfur to protect civilians. The final stage of the U.N. plan if permitted to be fully implemented will result in the creation of a 21,000 person joint African Union-United Nations force that would replace the extant African Union force now in place.

¤ Intention to Heal: In The Aftermath of The Blacksburg Killings
Twenty-three year old Seung Cho was born in Korea, but lived in this country since the age of 8. In his graduating year at Virginia Tech, he lived in a dorm with 5 other suite mates, not one of who knew anything about him. His roommate said, “Sometimes I would come back and find him sitting in a chair, staring into space.” A fellow student said, “I went to high school with him and it became a joke for us, if we gave him ten bucks, could we get him to speak?” Another student in his suite said, ” He didn’t say very much. I just thought he didn’t speak English very well.”
Over the past week of coverage, no fellow student has stepped forward to say s/he knew him personally or that he was a friend. Why? I ask myself if early in his life, Seung Cho’s isolation was caused by racism or a mindset provoked by a racist incident. I ask that about my own experience of isolation in America.

¤ Car bomb kills 57 near Iraqi Shi'ite shrine
¤ 28 dead in Charsaddah bomb blast

¤ Why They Fight
Watching Paul Wolfowitz, exposed in a sex and corruption scandal involving fellow World Banker and private squeeze, Shaha Ali Riza, grappling for several weeks now to save his super-cushy job at the World Bank has brought to mind the infamous quote Ron Suskind teased from a neocon senior aid to George W. Bush, "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."
Regarding reality, Wolfowitz, it seems, has had to call in re-write (and not for the first time).

¤ Background On The U.S. Sponsored War In Somalia
The fighting began in December when US-backed Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia. Four months ago today, Islamic fighters abandoned the capital, marking the official fall of the Islamic Courts Union, which had controlled Mogadishu for six months last year.

¤ Tales Of Terror - Somalia Report
¤ Israel's lab in Palestine
¤ The Apathetic American

British military sanctions Afghan poppy cultivation
Posted: Friday, April 27, 2007

Angry Afghan officials have reprimanded British diplomats over a campaign by UK troops in Helmand telling farmers that growing poppy was understandable and acceptable.

A radio message broadcast across the province assured local farmers that the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would not interfere with poppy fields currently being harvested.

"Respected people of Helmand. The soldiers of ISAF and the Afghan national army do not destroy poppy fields," it said. "They know that many people of Afghanistan have no choice but to grow poppy. ISAF and the Afghan national army do not want to stop people from earning their livelihoods."
Full Article : guardian.co.uk

Baghdad residents find little security
Posted: Friday, April 27, 2007

¤ Pat Tillman family, Jessica Lynch blow open Bush administration war deceit
The searing congressional testimonies from the family of Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch may sound the long overdue death knell for mainstream American public support for the Bush administration and its criminal war.
Tuesday, one unwilling and outraged war poster child and the agonized family members of the other stood before Congress, looked the Bush administration in the eye, and said, "Enough."
Kevin Tillman, who served with his brother, accused the Bush administration of intentional deceit.

¤ 18 dead in Chechnya helicopter crash
¤ Bush vows to resist calls for withdrawal

¤ Cold-Blooded Senator
We usually hear little about shooting deaths unless enough people die in the same place at the same time. Every day 32 Americans are killed by gun violence. It is the act of terror most likely to be inflicted upon us all. Ironically, 32 was the number of fatalities inflicted by a gunman at Virginia Tech University.
Just as they did eight years ago at Columbine High School, the media descended upon Blacksburg, Virginia. They spoke to students about their dead classmates, about desperate efforts to save lives, and the horror of the bloodshed they witnessed. They spoke lovingly of their friends who died and painstakingly enumerated their special qualities.

¤ Put Bush's 'puppy dog' terror theory to sleep
¤ Baghdad residents find little security

¤ The puppet who cleared the way for Iraq's destruction
Among those relishing the exposure of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz's manoeuvres on behalf of his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, in recent weeks was almost certainly the former US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld was driven from public life thanks to the catastrophe of Iraq, and for the moment at least lurks in obscurity. Wolfowitz, his deputy until 2005, contributed in almost equal measure to the debacle, yet managed to slide from the Pentagon into the presidency of a leading international institution with every chance to redeem himself. Blame for torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, bungling over troop levels, chaos in Iraq's reconstruction, and the general meltdown in Pentagon management has all too often been laid at Rumsfeld's door alone. However, Wolfowitz was an energetic enabler of these outrages and many other notorious initiatives.

¤ Tenet: "Slam Dunk" Comment Misused
¤ Four oil firms cede control to Venezuela's Chávez

¤ U.S. Media Have Lost The Will To Dig Deep
In an email uncovered and released by the House Judiciary Committee last month, Tim Griffin, once Karl Rove's right-hand man, gloated that "no [U.S.] national press picked up" a BBC Television story reporting that the Rove team had developed an elaborate scheme to challenge the votes of thousands of African Americans in the 2004 election.
Griffin wasn't exactly right. The Los Angeles Times did run a follow-up article a few days later in which it reported the findings. But he was essentially right. Most of the major U.S. newspapers and the vast majority of television news programs ignored the story even though it came at a critical moment just weeks before the election.
According to Griffin (who has since been dispatched to Arkansas to replace one of the U.S. attorneys fired by the Justice Department), the mainstream media rejected the story because it was wrong.

¤ 9/11 Was Bad, But …
¤ Slavery in Guantanamo

¤ Fisk Takes Western Officials - and Reporters - to Task
In wide-ranging remarks during a lecture at the American University of Beirut on Thursday, veteran British journalist Robert Fisk sharply criticized US policy in Iraq, analyzed shortcomings in Western journalism on the Middle East and reflected on the state of politics in the region, saying he was "distressed" by what he called the people's hesitancy to question rulers.The lecture, entitled "After the Collapse: Disengagement in the Middle East," ran for about 45 minutes and was followed by more than 20 minutes of questions. A live telecast of the remarks was broadcast in a second room to accommodate an overflow crowd.

¤ Big Media's Assault on Democracy
¤ Afghan forces recapture district
¤ Virginia Tech

¤ Bush boogies on the White House lawn
George Bush has finally given a response to the age-old question: can the president really dance?
After a 30-second boogie on the White House lawn, the answer is: it depends what you mean by dancing.
A besuited Mr Bush was making an appearance for Malaria awareness day in the Rose Garden on Wednesday when the Kankouran West African dance company brought in for the occasion invited him to join in.

¤ Serving British soldier exposes horror of war in 'crazy' Basra
A British soldier has broken ranks within days of returning from Iraq to speak publicly of the horror of his tour of duty there, painting a picture of troops under siege, "sitting ducks" to an increasingly sophisticated insurgency.
"Basra is lost, they are in control now. It's a full-scale riot and the Government are just trying to save face," said Private Paul Barton.
The 27-year-old, who returned from his second tour of Iraq this week along with other members of 1st Battalion, the Staffordshire Regiment, insisted that he remains loyal to the Army despite such public dissent. He said he had already volunteered to go to Afghanistan later this year.

¤ Depleted Uranium - Poisoning U.S. Troops And The Planet
¤ Theater of Death

¤ The Great Wall of Segregation...
…Which is the wall the current Iraqi government is building (with the support and guidance of the Americans). It's a wall that is intended to separate and isolate what is now considered the largest 'Sunni' area in Baghdad- let no one say the Americans are not building anything. According to plans the Iraqi puppets and Americans cooked up, it will 'protect' A'adhamiya, a residential/mercantile area that the current Iraqi government and their death squads couldn't empty of Sunnis.
The wall, of course, will protect no one. I sometimes wonder if this is how the concentration camps began in Europe. The Nazi government probably said, "Oh look- we're just going to protect the Jews with this little wall here- it will be difficult for people to get into their special area to hurt them!" And yet, it will also be difficult to get out.

Oil Companies Give Venezuela Control
Posted: Friday, April 27, 2007

Thursday, Apr 26, 2007

Four major oil companies on Wednesday agreed to cede control of Venezuela's last remaining privately run oil projects to President Hugo Chavez's government, but Conoco Phillips resisted, prompting warnings that its fields could be taken over outright.

Markets have waited to see if the companies, which pump and process heavy oil in the Orinoco River basin, would remain as minority partners after Chavez decreed last month that their fields be nationalized on May 1. The four projects are considered Venezuela's most lucrative.
Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com

When In Doubt, Build A Wall
Posted: Thursday, April 26, 2007

¤ Ethiopian troops shell Mogadishu
¤ Campus killer fired 170 rounds in nine minutes

¤ Israeli Democracy
The time will have to come for Israel to declare its hand: is it "a state of the Jewish people throughout the world" as it defines itself, or a state of all its citizens, both Jewish and non-Jewish? So far Israel has managed to convince the Western world that it is the only democracy in the region, but neglects to add that this democracy works only for its Jewish citizens. This is the conundrum: Israel has been unable to reconcile what it says it is, with want it wants to be democratic and exclusively Jewish.

¤ Paul Wolfowitz and Haiti
¤ This Occupation Shall Remain Nameless
¤ The Rights of Children in the United States

¤ Cho and Cheney
There is a look on the face of someone trying to understand the recent mass killing by Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech. Blank eyes, a furrowed brow, a slowly shaking head. The brain hits a wall of comprehensibility. The part of the mind that imagines what happens in other minds reaches its limit; a rational person simply cannot identify with what Cho did.
There was something familiar in that look. I realized it was the same look I have seen over and over in the past four years on the faces of those I talk to in other countries about what Bush has done in Iraq. "Why?" they ask me, as if my nationality might shed some light. "Is he mentally ill?" I have no simple answers. They shake their heads. I remember the eyes of a woman in Argentina tearing up at the senseless tragedy.

¤ A Media Role in Selling the War? No Question.
Perhaps the truth shall eventually set you free, but first it might make you very, very depressed. Tonight's edition of "Bill Moyers Journal" on PBS is one of the most gripping and important pieces of broadcast journalism so far this year, but it's as disheartening as it is compelling.
It's always depressing to learn that you've been had, but incalculably more so when the deception has resulted in thousands of Americans dying in the Iraq war effort.
In this 90-minute report, called "Buying the War," Moyers and producer Kathleen Hughes use alarming evidence and an array of respected journalists to make the case that, in the rage that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the media abandoned their role as watchdog and became a lapdog instead.

¤ Bush Blames the Troops
Blame it on the military but make it look like you're supporting the troops. That's been the convenient gambit of failed emperors throughout history as they witnessed their empires decline. Not surprisingly then, it's become the standard rhetorical trick employed by President Bush in shirking responsibility for the Iraq debacle of his making.
Ignoring the fact that we have a system of civilian control over the military, which is why he, the elected president, is designated the commander in chief, Bush hides behind the fiction that the officers in the field are calling the shots when in fact he has put them in an unwinnable situation and refuses to even consider a timetable for getting them out.

¤ When In Doubt, Build A Wall
I wasn't surprised to learn about the Bush Administration's now-uncertain plans to build a wall between Sunnis and Shiites in Baghdad. After all, walls seem to be one of his favorite, all-purpose solutions. From the increased security around the presidential palace in Washington to the anti-immigrant electrified fortress at the border with Mexico, this president has proven himself a builder and a divider.He builds walls around information, too. Consider the secret detention centers and extraordinary renditions, the PATRIOT Act and secret tribunals, the stonewalling anytime Cheney or Rove are asked to account for their actions, the attempts to re-classify mounds of government documents and keep everything they do secret.

¤ U.S. Frees International Terrorist
¤ The Real Tragedy of Waco
¤ Why Mental Illness is not to blame for the Virginia Tech Massacre
¤ Putin says foreigners meddling in Russia
¤ Suicide bomb kills 10 at Iraq checkpoint

¤ The Lies of the Times
The New York Times has finally deigned to bestow prominent notice on the Bush Administration's third on-going "regime change" operation, its blood-soaked proxy war in Somalia. But it should come as no surprise that today's front page piece by Jeffrey Gettleman (People Who Feed Off Anarchy in Somalia Are Quick to Fuel It) is riddled with the same kind of slavish spin, artful omissions and outright lies that the paper produced in those glorious Judy Miller days of yore before the invasion of Iraq. One can only hope that Gettleman submits an invoice to the White House, to get his rightful due for this remarkable piece of government propaganda. For the story is permeated with the Bushist ethos: blame the victims, bury the truth, and smear all those who oppose the Leader's will.

¤ 'al Qaeda': A Figment Of The Fear- And War-Mongering Propagandists Imagination.
Yesterday the Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his band of fearmongering lunatics warned Australians gathering at Gallipoli for ANZAC Day to be aware of a 'terrorist threat'. In the UK Guardian today it is reported that the 'head of Scotland Yard's counterterrorism command said yesterday that al-Qaida had survived the six-year long "war on terror" launched by President George Bush and Tony Blair, and its central leadership had retained the ability to order devastating attacks on Britain.' As well as Gallipoli that is. And in Iraq, where it seems the Iraqi franchise of 'al Qaeda' has claimed responsibility for the deaths yesterday of nine US troops.

So good is the 'al Qaeda' franchise business that even the Israelis have tried to set up an 'al Qaeda' shop in Palestine. Unfortunately the locals soon discovered that the business wasn't genuine (apparently Mossad hadn't paid bin Laden the franchise fee) so the business was quickly shut down.

¤ Bin Laden overseeing Iraq, Afghanistan ops: Taliban
¤ Rosie Tells ABC To Screw Its 9/11 Censorship

¤ UN Criticises Iraq for Concealing Casualty Figures
Americans rushed to unite in horror and mourning in response to the mass killings in Blacksburg in a way we haven't seen since, perhaps, the attacks of 9/11. Where I live, in Washington, D.C., residents are already sporting their Virginia Tech ribbons and sweatshirts, the way so many Americans once donned those “I [heart] New York” caps and T-shirts. While media coverage has been 24/7 and fast-paced, if not downright hysterical — as is now the norm on all such American-gothic occasions from OJ's car chase on — the framing and contextualizing of the massacre/suicide at Virginia Tech has been narrow indeed.

¤ The Cho in the White House
Americans rushed to unite in horror and mourning in response to the mass killings in Blacksburg in a way we haven't seen since, perhaps, the attacks of 9/11. Where I live, in Washington, D.C., residents are already sporting their Virginia Tech ribbons and sweatshirts, the way so many Americans once donned those “I [heart] New York” caps and T-shirts. While media coverage has been 24/7 and fast-paced, if not downright hysterical — as is now the norm on all such American-gothic occasions from OJ's car chase on — the framing and contextualizing of the massacre/suicide at Virginia Tech has been narrow indeed.

¤ Giuliani Plays the Islamic Terror Card
Maybe Rudy Giuliani could be forgiven for trying out various stump speeches on his Republican audiences now that his campaign for President is up and running. But the message he is delivering as he tours New Hampshire needs to be rejected, indeed repudiated, because as Barak Obama noted Giuliani's stump speech reached a new low in American political discourse. Reports just in from New Hampshire (4.24.07) suggest that Giuliani thinks the issue he has been pushing may be pure electoral gold: the fear which he believes American voters have of Islamic Terrorism.

¤ Holocaust Redux
Such is the state of human affairs, whether in the present age or in those that came before, that not a decade passes without humanity resurrecting, in some corner of the globe, in some forsaken nation, the devastation unleashed by human wickedness. Whether mass murder, genocide, ethnic cleansing, endemic rape, pillage, scorched earth and yes, even Holocaust, human wickedness prevails upon the human condition, leaving us impotent beasts in its wake, unable to control or suppress its malevolent tentacles, seemingly powerless to alter or halt its predictable and disastrous momentum.

¤ Somalia burns - but does anyone care?
¤ The Great Wall of Segregation...
¤ Why Walls 'Don't Work' in Baghdad
¤ Suicide bombing kills Iraqi troops
¤ Laura Bush on Iraq: 'No one suffers more than their president and I do'

Venezuelan Opposition Marches in Support of RCTV
Posted: Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Thousands of people marched in Caracas on Saturday in support of the private television channel RCTV, whose broadcast license the Chavez government has refused to renew. Chávez affirmed on Sunday that he would not give in to national or international pressure to renew the license and would never change his decision.

Starting in the morning hours on Saturday, opposition protesters, political organizations, politicians, journalists, RCTV actors and workers marched through the center of Caracas with signs and Venezuelan flags. The marchers protested in support of "freedom of expression," and against what they call the "closing" of RCTV.

"No to the closing of RCTV," said the actor Gustavo Rodríguez to the concentration of marchers in front of the RCTV building.
Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com

Zimbabwe: Nigerian Poll Exposes West, Again
Posted: Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Herald

PRESIDENTIAL and legislative elections in Nigeria have come and gone, but what they left is widespread disappointment and more questions than answers.

Central to the inquest is whether it is possible to speak of Zimbabwe and Nigeria's elections in the same breath?

While we were not on the ground in Nigeria, reports of the loss of over 200 lives in poll-related violence, last-minute ballot printing, theft of ballot boxes at gunpoint and the failure to deliver them to some stations leave us with no doubt that the poll lacked credibility.

Even the outgoing president Olusegun Obasanjo, whose party ostensibly "won" the election expressed disappointment with the process, though he was surprisingly amenable to the outcome. But what surprises us even more is that while all observer missions have condemned the Nigerian process as a disgrace, the response from Western groups and governments has been quite muted when compared to the disgust from Nigerian and other developing world observer missions.

We, however, must emphasise from the outset, that we do not believe that Western countries have any right to bless or condemn any election on the continent, particularly when they do not disguise their contempt for African observers whom they do not even invite to their own countries.

But we would have thought the West, that always masquerades as a custodian of democracy, would join progressive observers in agitating for a rerun.

The same goes for Obasanjo who was quick to join the Western bandwagon in condemning Zimbabwe's 2002 presidential poll which can never be compared, by any stretch of the imagination, to the sham that occurred across Nigeria last week.

This is not to say we do not know why US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair seem to have lost their voices where Nigeria is concerned.

They have been benefiting a lot from Obasanjo's penchant to export crude oil, and import refined petroleum products.

Obasanjo also served them well in their fight with Harare when he went against African Caribbean and Pacific voices in the Commonwealth that had recommended the lifting of Zimbabwe's suspension from the councils of the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth's gripes, we were made to believe, were over the way the 2002 elections had gone in Zimbabwe, which is also the EU's justification for its illegal sanctions.

Today, we ask the same observers to hold the Zimbabwean process and the Nigerian poll to scrutiny, and tell the world whether they have the right to question the legitimacy of our own process. We ask, as a wronged people, betrayed both by Obasanjo and his peers what the recompense will be on Nigeria where 200 lives were lost and a key opponent only allowed to contest just a few hours before the election?

Today, Obasanjo who had hoped to leave the scene under the halo of plaudits, exits amid a cloud of shame, hoist by his own petard.

Let the Nigerian experience be a lesson to all, it is not necessarily the credibility of a process that the West is interested in, but the malleability of the regime that determines the Western response.

This is why we agree with President Mugabe that the only voices that matter are those of our brothers from the developing world, we advise Abuja to listen to their concerns.

As for the Westerners, they can go hang.

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Zimbabwe: 'President can do without honorary degrees'
Posted: Wednesday, April 25, 2007

News Editor
The Herald

BRITISH and American universities intending to withdraw honorary degrees conferred on President Mugabe are free to do so because he did not solicit for the honour in the first place, a Government official said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman and Information and Publicity Secretary Cde George Charamba said Cde Mugabe has seven degrees which he read for and the honorary ones were an unsolicited honour he can do without.

Cde Charamba's statement follows reports on anti-Government online news services claiming that two American and one British universities were considering petitions to strip President Mugabe of honorary degrees conferred on him.

The website &nquote; newzimbabwe.com &nquote; quoted officials as saying Edinburgh University in Scotland, the University of Massachusetts and the Michigan State University were carrying out the review because of alleged human rights violations in Zimbabwe.

But Cde Charamba said the President does not suffer from a crisis of academic achievement and will not lose sleep over the threat by the universities.

"President Mugabe has read for seven degrees. He has honorary degrees from Africa, Asia, former Eastern Europe, Europe and America.

"Honorary degrees are exactly that, an unsolicited honour from the giver.

"The President did not accost anyone to confer the honour.

"If anything, those Western universities improved their international profile by associating themselves with the President," Cde Charamba said.

He added: "It is not like the President suffers a crisis of achievement. He has seven solid degrees which are more than enough to earn him a living and recognition. He does not lose sleep over the threats."

The reports said Scottish MP Nigel Griffiths was to personally present Edinburgh University chiefs with a "dossier" spelling out why the Zimbabwean President should be stripped of his honorary degree.

Griffiths last week tabled a parliamentary motion calling for the award to be revoked, and has now asked for an early meeting with principal Tim O'Shea to discuss the subject.

Edinburgh conferred Cde Mugabe the honorary degree in 1984.

The reports said Michigan State University, which gave Cde Mugabe honorary degrees in 1984 and 1990, has also received similar petitions.

Terry Denbow, a Michigan State spokesman, said: "There have been discussions, but I know of no formal process for rescinding the degree."

Bill Wright, a spokesman for UMass president Jack Wilson, said university officials and trustees were "just in the discussion phase" about what to do with Cde Mugabe's degree.

If they decide they want to withdraw the honour, it is not likely to happen anytime soon.

While the university has a detailed procedure for awarding the degrees, there is no process for taking one back.

But Michael Thelwell, a professor in the UMass Afro-American studies department, and others cautioned against revoking the degree just to appease President Mugabe's critics.

"The task of intellectuals is to seek the truth, not to be swayed by pressures of the moment," said Bill Strickland, a UMass politics professor.

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

'Little girl Rambo' decries US propaganda
Posted: Tuesday, April 24, 2007

¤ Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps
Last autumn, there was a military coup in Thailand. The leaders of the coup took a number of steps, rather systematically, as if they had a shopping list. In a sense, they did. Within a matter of days, democracy had been closed down: the coup leaders declared martial law, sent armed soldiers into residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued restrictions on the press, tightened some limits on travel, and took certain activists into custody. They were not figuring these things out as they went along. If you look at history, you can see that there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps.

¤ How Imus' Media Collaborators Almost Rescued Their Chief

¤ The War Goes Ever On
President Bush's latest delusion--the surge--has not increased security. The surge has been accompanied by new records of daily Iraqi civilian casualties, such as the 312 Iraqis killed and 305 wounded on April 18. Recently, US commanding general David Petraeus said that Iraqis would just have to learn to live with daily bombing attacks. Petraeus promises Iraqis decades of violence when he says, "Iraq is going to have to learn--as did Northern Ireland--to live with some degree of sensational attacks."

¤ Tragedy and Irony After Virginia Tech
¤ Sunnis Protest Baghdad's "Prison Wall"
¤ Ahmadinejad offers to hold direct talks with U.S. President Bush
¤ Real Crimes Of Wolfowitz Ignored
¤ Yeltsin poisoned by Putin?
¤ Labour slumps to lowest poll rating since 1983
¤ Virginia Tech: Is the Scene of the Crime the Cause of the Crime?
¤ Nine US soldiers killed in Iraq suicide blast

¤ 'Little girl Rambo' decries US propaganda
The former US private Jessica Lynch today condemned what she said were Pentagon efforts to turn her into a "little girl Rambo", and accused military chiefs of using "elaborate tales" to try to make her into a hero of the Iraq war.
Speaking at a congressional hearing on the use of misleading information, an emotional Ms Lynch described how she suffered horrific injuries when her vehicle was hit by a rocket near the Iraqi town of Nasiriya in March 2003, killing several of her companions.

¤ MSM Gets an "F" at VT
The news media demolished their right to be accorded unswerving, unquestioning, and eternal faith in their veracity when the botched the WMD’s and the run-up to the Iraq War. Their performance in the wake of Pat Tillman’s death, did nothing to resort their believability. Recent reports indicate that there was a cover up after the Haditha incident, and they fumbled the subsequent coverage.

¤ Ranger: Told to conceal Tillman truth

¤ Clashes claim 37 lives in Mogadishu

¤ The Iraqi Crisis That Has No Name
Since the shock-and-awe invasion of Iraq began in March 2003, that country’s explosive unraveling has never left the news or long been off the front page. Yet the fallout beyond its borders from the destruction, disintegration, and ethnic mayhem in Iraq has almost avoided notice. And yet with — according to United Nations estimates — approximately 50,000 Iraqis fleeing their country each month (and untold numbers of others being displaced internally), Iraq is producing one of the — if not the — most severe refugee crisis on the planet, a crisis without a name and without significant attention.

¤ Fighting cripples Somali capital

¤ Mr. Bush, Tear Down That Wall
Meanwhile, back in Baghdad, we’re building a wall. Actually, quite a few walls.While we were absorbed with the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech-and before that the Don Imus affair and the Alberto Gonzales tragicomedy-the war in Iraq was pushed below the fold. While we weren’t looking, the U.S. military started building high walls in parts of the Iraqi capital to separate Sunnis from Shiites. Basically, we’re turning Baghdad into Belfast.

¤ 74 dead in attack on Chinese-run oil field in Ethiopia
¤ Israelis with Ahmed Chalabi are building the walls in Iraq
¤ Video: The Battle of Baghdad

Luis Posada Carriles, A Terrorist Walks
Posted: Monday, April 23, 2007

WITH A MISGUIDED decision upholding bail for Cuban-born terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has done more than free a frail old man facing unremarkable immigration charges. It has exposed Washington to legitimate charges of hypocrisy in the war on terror.

By allowing Posada to go free before his May 11 trial, the court has released a known flight risk who previously escaped from a Venezuelan prison, a man who has boasted of helping set off deadly bombs in Havana hotels 10 years ago and the alleged mastermind of a 1976 bombing of a Cuban airplane that killed 73 people. Posada's employees confessed to the attack, and declassified FBI and CIA documents have shown that he attended planning sessions.

In other words, Posada is the Zacarias Moussaoui of Havana and Caracas. Moussaoui is serving a life sentence without parole in a federal prison in Colorado for conspiracy in the 9/11 attacks; Posada is free to live in Miami.
Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com

Ex-Russian president Yeltsin dies
Posted: Monday, April 23, 2007

The former Russian president Boris Yeltsin has died aged 76, the Kremlin said today.

Mr Yeltsin - who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union - became the first popularly elected president in Russian history in June 1991.

His period in office was characterised by the introduction - sometimes tumultuous - of free market reforms into the former command economy.

By the time he left power, Mr Yeltsin had become deeply unpopular because of his economic "shock therapy", which brought with it the rise of the oligarchs, deep corruption and a huge drop in living standards.
Full Article : guardian.co.uk

Axis of Cowards: Bush, Congress and the Media
Posted: Monday, April 23, 2007

¤ Ex-Russian president Yeltsin dies
¤ Axis of Cowards: Bush, Congress and the Media
¤ Democrats Take Cover from Impeachment
¤ Lack of Basic Health Insurance Kills 18,000 Americans Every Year
¤ Earth Day, Incorporated

¤ Suicide bombings around Iraq kill 46
suicide car bomb struck a restaurant in Iraq on Monday, killing at least 19 people and wounding 35, police said. The attack occurred on a highway near Ramadi, a city that is 70 miles west of Baghdad, a policeman said on condition of anonymity out of concern for his own safety. Three suicide bombers launched attacks in different parts of Iraq on Monday, killing at least 27 people and wounding nearly 60 on Monday, police and politicians said.

¤ Venezuela’s Chavez: US Harboring ‘Terrorist’ Jet Bomber
President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused US President George W. Bush of harboring the convicted bomber of a Cuban airliner. “I accuse the president of the United States of protecting an international terrorist,” Chavez said. “They have freed the father of all terrorists: the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles,” Chavez said.

¤ Hip-Hop Is Not The Problem
¤ Government looses Kismayo, fighting continues in Mogadishu

¤ UN Official Says Humanitarian Crisis in Palestine
"For the Palestinians, the situation is grave. In Gaza there are an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians and approximately 80 per cent of the population lives below the official poverty line at US $2.05 per day per capita. The Palestinian Gross Domestic Product collapsed by 23 per cent in the last year. One million, or 70 per cent of these people, are registered as refugees and 1.05 million people depend on international assistance."

¤ Here We Go Loop de Loo: Spinning Through the News Cycle
¤ Tomgram: Dahr Jamail, Into the Iraqi Diaspora

¤ We build walls, not nations
No British soccer players, Czech supermodels or Chinese infotainment moguls have been lining up to get a piece of the new exclusive gated territory in the global market - courtesy of Pentagon real-estate developers and lavishly promoted as The Great Wall of Adhamiyah. But then, who wants to live behind a 5-kilometer-long, 3.7-meter-high concrete wall, being erected in haste by the 407th Brigade support battalion of the famed 82nd Airborne Division, currently based in sprawling Camp Taji, north of Baghdad.

¤ IRAQ: U.S. Blamed for 'Bloody Wednesday'
Iraqis blame the U.S. occupation for the failure of two parallel security plans drawn up by U.S. forces and Iraqi troops that failed dramatically with the bombings last week that killed more than 300 people in Baghdad.

Under the security plans additional troops were brought to Baghdad and most city streets closed. But car bombings, operations by death squads and attacks on U.S. troops continue.

The attacks Wednesday last week took a high casualty among Kurdish workers known to work in that area. Kurds in the north have stayed relatively free of the violence and the sectarian Shia-Sunni killings in the rest of the country. Kurds had supported the U.S.-led invasion four years back.

¤ What the separation-walls mean
¤ USA: Cornering the Market on Morality
¤ Mass Murderers
¤ International conference highlights plight of Iraqi refugees

Zimbabwe Independent Opposition, Not For Real
Posted: Sunday, April 22, 2007

¤ Zimbabwe Independent Opposition, Not For Real
The pro-western groups that oppose Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe have found themselves in a bit of a bind. Those groups in Zimbabwe were the first to appeal to the international community to get involved and take sides in Zimbabwe's internal politics, now they are offended when some of us 'outsiders' formulate our own opinions from evaluating the history and information being presented.

¤ Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Bush
George W. Bush likes to present the "war on terror" as a clear-cut moral crusade in which evildoers who kill innocent civilians must be brought harshly to justice, along with the leaders of countries that harbor terrorists. There are no grays, only blacks and whites.

But evenhanded justice is not the true core principle of the Bush Doctrine. The real consistency is hypocrisy: violence which Bush favors – no matter how wanton the slaughter of innocents – is justifiable, while violence that goes against Bush's interests – even an insurgency against a foreign military occupation – must be punished without remorse as "terrorism."

In other words, if Bush hates the perpetrators, they are locked up indefinitely without charge and, at his discretion, can be subjected to "alternative interrogation techniques," what most of the world considers torture. The rule of law is out the window. Wild West hangin' justice is in. Even the ancient fair trial right of habeas corpus is discarded.

¤ 51 killed as Somalia fighting rages
¤ Week's toll may hit 1,000 as bombs pound Somali capital

¤ The 'Paths of Death' Lead to Washington
They are events with no apparent connection: the growing and ceaseless carnage unfolding in Iraq which yesterday claiming over 200 victims; the uncontrollable violence tied to drug trafficking that rocks Mexico and that culminates in deadly shootings like that which took place yesterday at Tijuana General Hospital; and the recurrence of deadly shootings at schools and universities in the United States, like the events of this past Monday at Virginia Technical University. But those realities of destruction and death do share a common denominator: they are all the result of the decisions and strategies of the government next door [the United States].

¤ Bush's Terror War in Somalia Rages On
As sure as night follows day, when George W. Bush backs a "regime change" invasion of a country, you will see headlines like this: "Corpses Rotting in the Streets." We see it every day in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we are seeing it again in Somalia – the third nation-breaking operation launched under the rubric of Bush's "War on Terror."

¤ When Evil Met Stupid
The question is asked all the time, by people of all political stripes. Is some person evil or just incompetent? Is some horrible situation caused by evil or incompetence? We want the simplest answer, but in this world, simple isn't always correct. In too many situations today, we have collisions of Evil and Stupid, and they always conspire to make the world worse.
Let's take a look at a quick ten, shall we?

¤ UN Official Says Humanitarian Crisis in Palestine
"For the Palestinians, the situation is grave. In Gaza there are an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians and approximately 80 per cent of the population lives below the official poverty line at US $2.05 per day per capita. The Palestinian Gross Domestic Product collapsed by 23 per cent in the last year. One million, or 70 per cent of these people, are registered as refugees and 1.05 million people depend on international assistance."

¤ Microsoft admits Vista failure
¤ Iraq PM calls halt to Baghdad wall

¤ After Tillman death, Army clamped down
Within hours of Pat Tillman's death, the Army went into information-lockdown mode, cutting off phone and Internet connections at a base in Afghanistan, posting guards on a wounded platoon mate, and ordering a sergeant to burn Tillman's uniform. New investigative documents reviewed by The Associated Press describe how the military sealed off information about Tillman's death from all but a small ring of soldiers. Officers quietly passed their suspicion of friendly fire up the chain to the highest ranks of the military, but the truth did not reach Tillman's family for five weeks.

¤ Iran, US take their fight to Afghanistan
Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, is not beyond making gaffes. When the clever editors of the Chicago Tribune recently prompted him to discuss his former commander-in-chief Bill Clinton's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuality among US servicemen, Pace responded that homosexuality was as "immoral" as adultery.

¤ Blair Set To Quit On May 9
¤ Sunni-Shiite Wall Construction Halted
¤ Millions face famine as crop disease rages
¤ France faces left-right Elysée showdown

Latest US solution to Iraq's civil war: a three-mile wall
Posted: Saturday, April 21, 2007

The US military is building a three-mile concrete wall in the centre of Baghdad along the most murderous faultline between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

The wall, which recognises the reality of the hardening sectarian divide in Baghdad, is a central part of George Bush's final push to pacify the capital. Work began on April 10 under cover of darkness and is due for completion by the end of the month.

The highly symbolic wall has evoked comparisons to the barriers dividing Protestants and Catholics in Belfast and Israelis and Palestinians along the length of the West Bank.

Captain Scott McLearn, who is based at Camp Victory, the US base on the outskirts of Baghdad, said Shias "are coming in and hitting Sunnis, and Sunnis are retaliating across the street".
Full Article : guardian.co.uk

Mugabe 'an outstanding leader', says Zambian vice-president
Posted: Saturday, April 21, 2007

¤ Zimbabwe: Mugabe 'an outstanding leader', says Zambian vice-president
Zimbabwe's embattled President Robert Mugabe won a show of support from neighbouring Zambia with its vice-president calling him one of the world's great leaders, state media in Harare reported Friday.

In comments carried by the Herald newspaper, Rupiah Banda said Mugabe had shown courage by embarking on his controversial land reform programme in the face of Western criticism and any problems in Zimbabwe should be resolved among Africans.

"We are proud to stand in front of the world and say this is our brother and that any problems here or in Zambia can be solved by ourselves within the context of our continent and our organisation," Banda said after meeting with Mugabe on Thursday.

¤ Zimbabwe: Anglican Bishops Support Mugabe
THE Anglican Church Province of Central Africa has added its voice to the growing condemnation of the illegal Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe and called for their scrapping, urging Britain to honour its obligations to fund land reforms in the country.

In their Pastoral letter issued at the end of their Episcopal Synod in Harare last week, the 14 bishops and one canon, among them the head of the Province of Central Africa, the Most Rev Bernard Amos Malango, acknowledged that the economic situation in Zimbabwe stemmed from illegal sanctions.

"We, the bishops, are concerned and pained at the distressing occurrences that have been taking place in Zimbabwe; the deteriorating economy has rendered the ordinary Zimba-bwean unable to make ends meet.

¤ Bank investigates contracts linked to Wolfowitz
¤ Two dead in Nasa hostage drama

¤ I long for the days of "We now resume normal broadcasting"
As I was growing up and yes I am a boomer, we only had the six and eleven o’clock news as well as the print medium to keep us informed. I feel that those of us who grew up in that time almost wish we could go back in time. Why do I say that? When cable news came into our lives it created a 24/7 news cycle in which every nuance of a major story could be stretched at length. In essence became voyeurs to human tragedy. Have we become voyeurs to this human tragedy through the Virginia Tech massacre and now with the Houston tragedy? It is not only those tragedies I speak of but anyone tragedy that the media feels will draw us in.

¤ A Killer Cocktail
¤ The Heart of Whiteness

¤ How Iraq was Looted
When President Bush announced "Mission Accomplished," and the end of the war in May 2003, he also said we would help the citizens of Iraq rebuild their country. "Now that the dictator's gone," he stated, "we and our coalition partners are helping Iraqis to lay the foundations of a free economy."
Apparently he was referring to the Coalition Provisional Authority that took up residence in Saddam's luxurious palace in May 2003, with the newly appointed King, Paul Bremer. The CPA was granted the authority to award reconstruction contracts in Iraq and it used that authority to implement what will go down in the history books as the most blatant war profiteering scheme of all time.

¤ Deputy Mayor dies as more fighting continues

¤ The Big Picture
President Bush is pretty much universally abhorred by libertarians, and his popularity among the general public has fallen greatly. This is as it should be. With all the focus on Bush, though, I think the more important lesson he teaches is being neglected.

Libertarians are quite rightly hostile to the idea that massive state power is fine as long as it's in the "right" hands. The widespread acceptance of that idea by the general public serves to make statism largely invulnerable to attack; all of the state's numerous evils can be blamed on specific malign individuals, without ever considering the possibility that state power itself is the root of the problem.

¤ Dubya vs. Seung-Hui Cho: Who's The Greater Menace?
Officials in West Virginia are taking heavy flak for their failure to act on early warnings that South Korean Seung-Hui Cho, who massacred 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech, was a seriously disturbed menace to his community
How then to judge the United States Congress which continues to ignore overwhelming evidence that George W. Bush is an infinitely greater threat to his countrymen; indeed to the entire globe.
Wait, you say, how can you compare the august President of the United States with a dangerously deranged 23 year old South Korean?

¤ Yet another Fallujah leader assassinated
¤ Collateral Damage is Murder
¤ French vote set for close finish
¤ The occupation disparate solution: A wall

¤ Thousands without food and supplies due to failing distribution system
Thousands of Iraqis are going without food and basic supplies as the country’s food distribution infrastructure crumbles, according to a new report.

The country’s Public Distribution System (PDS), set up in 1995 as part of the UN’s Oil-for-Food programme, has been hit by insecurity, poor management, corruption and a lack of political will.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe 'an outstanding leader'
Posted: Saturday, April 21, 2007

Zimbabwe: Mugabe 'an outstanding leader', says Zambian vice-president

angolapress-angop.ao

HARARE, 04/21 - Zimbabwe's embattled President Robert Mugabe won a show of support from neighbouring Zambia with its vice-president calling him one of the world's great leaders, state media in Harare reported Friday.

In comments carried by the Herald newspaper, Rupiah Banda said Mugabe had shown courage by embarking on his controversial land reform programme in the face of Western criticism and any problems in Zimbabwe should be resolved among Africans.

"We are proud to stand in front of the world and say this is our brother and that any problems here or in Zambia can be solved by ourselves within the context of our continent and our organisation," Banda said after meeting with Mugabe on Thursday.

"Zimbabwe is a sovereign state which should be respected by all and that within its sovereignty, its people decide who is their leader and as far as we are concerned, right here (pointing at Mugabe), we have one of the most outstanding leaders in the world and in Africa."

Banda's words of praise are in contrast to recent comments from Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa who has compared the situation in Zimbabwe to the sinking of the Titanic.

Banda is seen as close to Zambia's founding president Kenneth Kaunda who recently warned against the "demonisation" of his old ally Mugabe.

South African President Thabo Mbeki was recently tasked by regional heads of state to help resolve the divisions between Mugabe government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change after recent attacks on MDC leaders.

Zimbabwe is currently in the throes of an economic meltdown which has seen inflation surge towards the 2,000 percent mark.

Western critics have traced the decline of the economy to the launch of the land reform programme in 2000 which saw thousands of white-owned farms seized by the state.

http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=526167

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Zimbabwe: Anglican Bishops Support Mugabe
Posted: Saturday, April 21, 2007

By Caesar Zvayi
The Herald (Harare)

THE Anglican Church Province of Central Africa has added its voice to the growing condemnation of the illegal Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe and called for their scrapping, urging Britain to honour its obligations to fund land reforms in the country.

In their Pastoral letter issued at the end of their Episcopal Synod in Harare last week, the 14 bishops and one canon, among them the head of the Province of Central Africa, the Most Rev Bernard Amos Malango, acknowledged that the economic situation in Zimbabwe stemmed from illegal sanctions.

"We, the bishops, are concerned and pained at the distressing occurrences that have been taking place in Zimbabwe; the deteriorating economy has rendered the ordinary Zimba-bwean unable to make ends meet.

"This, we note, has been exacerbated by the economic sanctions imposed by the Western countries, these so-called targeted sanctions (presumably) aimed at the leadership of the country have affected the poor Zimbabweans who have borne the brunt of the sanctions ...

"We, therefore, call upon the Western countries to lift the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, we further call upon the British government to honour its obligation of paying compensation to the white farmers."

The Anglican Bishop's pastoral letter exposes the patently political nature of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop's Conference that released its own letter ahead of the Easter holidays, accusing President Mugabe and the Government of corrupt governance and human rights abuses.

The Catholic Bishops, led by the head of the Bulawayo Diocese -- Archbishop Pius Ncube -- and two of his colleagues from South Africa, Archbishop Buti Tlagale and Bishop Kevin Dowling, held an opposition rally on April 12 under the auspices of the Save Zimbabwe Convention and pledged to facilitate illegal regime change in the country.

Turning to the recent orgies of violence, the Anglican Bishops urged the Government to provide a framework for peace by creating an environment conducive for dialogue.

"As bishops, we denounce all forms of violence perpetrated by whatever source as a means of resolving conflict as this is a degradation of those created in the image of God."

Last month, MDC factions embarked on orgies of violence disguised as a "defiance campaign," through which they sought to depose the Government in the streets. When their attempts were thwarted, they launched terrorist activities that saw them assault police officers, burn private and public property and carry out 11 reported petrol bombings on police stations and private property.

The statement by the Anglican Bishops was in line with the theme of the 27th Independence Anniversary Celebrations, "Uniting Against Sanctions," and the resolution on Zimbabwe at the extra-ordinary summit of Sadc heads of state and government at the end of March in Tanzania.

At the summit, Sadc leaders reaffirmed their support and solidarity for the people and Government of Zimbabwe, called for the lifting of the illegal sanctions, recognised the legitimacy of the electoral system and urged Britain to honour its obligations to fund land reforms in Zimbabwe.

They also pledged a rescue package to mitigate the effects of the sanctions and tasked South African president Thabo Mbeki to facilitate dialogue between the Government and the opposition.

Apart from Archbishop Malango, other bishops who signed the Pastoral Letter dated April 12 2007 were Right Revs: Christopher J. Boyle (Northern Malawi), Albert Chama (Northern Zambia), Elson Jakazi (Manicaland), Derek Kamukwamba (Central Zambia), Nolbert Kunonga (Harare), William Muchombo (Eastern Zambia), Ishmael Mukuwanda (Central Zimbabwe), Robert Mumbi (Luapula) Trevor Mwamba (Botswana), David Njovu (Lusaka), Wilson Sitshebo (Matabeleland), Godfrey Tawonezvi (Masvingo), James Tengatenga (Southern Malawi), and Rev. Canon Michael Mkoko, Vicar General of the Diocese of Lake Malawi.

The Anglican Bishop's pastoral letter left egg on the face of the head of the church, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Willams who, last month, tried to pressure his bishops, among them Dr Kunonga, to join the bandwagon of condemning the Government for alleged human rights excesses.

Dr Williams went to the extent of holding a one-on-one meeting with Bishop Kunonga on the sidelines of the Anglican Conference on Tackling Poverty held in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he urged him to drop his "soft stance" towards the Government.

In the wake of the meeting, Dr Williams was criticised by church members who said Bishop Kunonga, who is well-known for his progressive sentiment, should not be pressured into telling falsehoods about his country.

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Is the US Already at War With Iran?
Posted: Friday, April 20, 2007

¤ We need to kill him
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has to be killed. Really be killed, I mean, physically. He should be eliminated, put to death, assassinated, and all those words that serve to say the same thing. Former Mossad Director Meir Amit said this explicitly in a recent interview with the "Kfar Chabad" weekly. It is indeed a very impolite way to express our disgust with the Iranian archenemy. Government officials, including ones who have retired already, usually merely hint at such matters - that is, if they choose to talk about them at all.

¤ Vermont Senate: Impeach Bush
¤ Trump: Bush is the Worst President in the History of the United States.
¤ US bombs Iraqi mosque
¤ Bush muses on marriage, chicken-plucking
¤ Officials: Gunman Barricaded In JSC Building
¤ Heavy fighting continues

¤ Bowing Down to Our Own Violence
Several days after the mass killings at Virginia Tech, grisly stories about the tragedy still dominate front pages and cable television. News of carnage on a vastly larger scale — the war in Iraq — ebbs and flows. The overall coverage of lethal violence, at home and far away, reflects the chronic evasions of the American media establishment. In the world of U.S. mainline journalism, the boilerplate legitimacy of official American violence overseas is a routine assumption. “The first task of the occupation remains the first task of
government: to establish a monopoly on violence,” George Will wrote three years ago in the Washington Post. But now, his latest Newsweek column laments: “Vietnam produced an antiwar movement in America; Iraq has produced an antiwar America.”

¤ CBC defends choice not to air Cho video
¤ New US Postal Rates Undermine Small Publications
¤ Google's first-quarter profit skyrockets by nearly 70%
¤ Spain and Iraq, Four Years On
¤ Desperation in Gitmo's Camp 6

¤ The Bloodiest 12 Months of the War
There is an Iraq surge, but it is a surge in deaths. The year up to March 2007 has been the worst 12 months for civilian fatalities since the invasion was launched. Almost 50 per cent of all violent civilian deaths since the March 2003 invasion occurred in the period between March 2006 to March 2007 according to figures compiled by Iraq Body Count .
''All these deaths have been documented and verified by IBC,'' Hamit Dardagan, principal researcher of the UK based organisation said. 'We believe the figures are higher as not all deaths can be verified.''

¤ Drought threatens crop catastrophe, Australian prime minister says
¤ US builds Baghdad wall to keep Sunnis and Shias apart
¤ Sunnis, Shiites unite to oppose divisive wall
¤ Iraq may hold twice as much oil
¤ Al-Malaki Sheds Light On Bombings

¤ Va. gunman's family feels hopeless
The family of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho told The Associated Press on Friday that they feel "hopeless, helpless and lost," and "never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence." "He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare," said a statement issued by Cho's sister, Sun-Kyung Cho, on the family's behalf.

¤ Mission Accomplished in Iraq by Bremer and CPA
"With one swipe of the pen, Bremer granted himself the authority to run the government ministries, appoint Iraqi officials and award contracts for reconstruction. Next he fired 500,000 Iraqis, most of them soldiers, but pink slips also went out to many doctors, nurses, teachers and other public employees as well."

¤ Is the US Already at War With Iran?
Until the recent tragic massacre on the campus of Virginia Tech, the media’s previous obsession was covering what was undoubtedly the most important story since the paternity test results were revealed for Anna Nicole Smith’s baby: Don Imus, the favored "shock jock" of the Washington political establishment, is something of a bigot. Of course, this isn’t news to anyone who has paid passing attention to the man over the past few years, but it did provide national news outlets with a much-needed excuse to avoid reporting on all of those depressing stories from Iraq, which are just too much of a distraction from the truly important work that remains to be done in this country – like electing the next American Idol.

By giving Don Imus more coverage than any single human being deserves, news outlets were able to shelve stories that had started to grow a little stale – like that one about the United States government supporting terrorist attacks in the Middle East. Oh wait, you didn’t hear that one?

¤ U.S. Census: One in Five Lives on Less than $7 per day

¤ A hierarchy of death
Thirty-two die in American university shooting. Result? Huge media coverage in the US and Britain. In Iraq, almost 200 die, arguably the worst day of carnage in that beleaguered country since the coalition invasion. Result? Coverage so restrained as to be, in many cases, totally negligible. Could you even find it in the Times this morning? Why?
General reasons first. The media operate what amounts to a hierarchy of death. Here are the criteria: foreign deaths always rank below domestic deaths. Similarly, on the basis that all news is local, deaths at home provide human interest stories that people want to know about, while the deaths of foreigners are merely statistics.

Sure, the victims and their families are human beings, too, but if they are thousands of miles away they cannot - in the eyes of the media's editorial controllers - generate the same sympathy and interest as deaths near at hand.

Zimbabwe Independence Day
Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007

¤ Zimbabwe Independence Day - An African Statement
Yesterday the people of Zimbabwe celebrated their nation's 27th year of independence and the US and other European powers are not pleased. They hoped that the White minority settlers in Zimbabwe could have continued controlling the vast amounts of land that were taken during colonial rule.

Despite the increasing pressure from the US and other European powers, the majority in Zimbabwe remain strongly aligned to the ruling ZANU-PF party and their president, Robert Mugabe. It was hoped that economic hardship fueled by sanctions and the ongoing campaign by Western countries to demonize President Robert Mugabe could have been enough to turn the majority of people in rural areas against Mugabe. So far that has failed.

¤ The Hobbesian Hell of Iraq
What are we to make of the bizarre contrast between our national grief over the terrible slaughter of students and faculty at Virginia Tech and our muted reaction to the continuing bloodbath in and around Baghdad? One mass killing in the 209 years since Virginia Tech was founded is not exactly a trend. It is a terrible thing but not likely to be repeated anytime soon.

We cannot say the same about events in Baghdad and Iraq. Just today four separate car bombs in and around Baghdad teft at least 180 Iraqis--mostly Shia--dead. On Tuesday, at least 85 bodies turned up and there were more bombings. Monday was not much better--thirty corpses and at least twenty killed in bombings. Sixty nine plus on Sunday. And the beat goes on.

¤ Wolfowitz's World Bank deputy tells him to quit

¤ In Baghdad, carnage continues
US efforts to subdue the insurgency in Baghdad suffered a setback yesterday when the Iraqi capital endured one of its most wretched days in four years of slaughter, with nearly 200 people killed and more than 200 injured in a volley of afternoon bomb attacks.
Some of the capital's poorest and most densely populated areas once again confronted scenes of carnage and devastation as at least five large explosions detonated within a terrifying few hours. In the worst attack, a car bomb at a market in a Shia district killed at least 140 people, some of them labourers rebuilding the marketplace from a previous attack in February.

¤ A Day of Bombs and Blood
¤ Somalia Fighting Kills at Least 12

¤ Police 'sorry' killer's videos were broadcast
US police said tonight they were "sorry" hate-filled videos recorded by campus killer Cho Seung-Hui have been broadcast. Virginia Police Superintendent Steve Flaherty said he was disappointed US channel NBC chose to show the disturbing footage. He said officers studied the ranting speeches recorded by the 23-year-old South Korean murderer but they "simply confirmed what we already knew". Although NBC News delayed broadcasting clips for several hours while FBI officers examined the footage, it has since been criticised for airing them

¤ Wednesday: 312 Iraqis, 1 GI Killed; 302 Iraqis Wounded
¤ Unplugged McCain sings 'bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran'
¤ John McCain Just Doesn't Get It - II
¤ Former Mossad chief not against taking out Ahmadinejad
¤ The Endless War
¤ Tangled in Table Talk

¤ Heck of a Job, Wolfie
At least they can't blame Paul Wolfowitz on the Jews anymore. That's the good news in the scandal; his lover and neocon political soul mate, Shaha Ali Riza, the World Bank official who received a lucrative transfer to the State Department at Wolfowitz's direction, is an Arab Muslim. She is one in a group of Arab exiles, the most prominent being Ahmed Chalabi, who clearly had as much of a role as the oft-mentioned Israel lobby in driving the U.S. to war. Throw in the Christian right's fierce support for the invasion and responsibility for this debacle is now proved to be quite ecumenical.

¤ Meeting the Resistance in Iraq

¤ Wolfowitz's Quid Pro Quo
Of the top five outside international appointments made by embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz during his nearly two-year tenure, three were senior political appointees of right-wing governments that provided strong backing for U.S. policy in Iraq.

The latest appointment came just last month, when former Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher was named senior vice president for external affairs. Muasher served as King Abdullah II's ambassador in Washington in the run-up to the Iraq War in 2002 and reportedly played a key role in ensuring Amman's cooperation in the March 2003 invasion. During and after the invasion, when Muasher served first as foreign minister and then as deputy prime minister, he was considered among Washington's staunchest supporters in an increasingly hostile Arab world.

¤ Imus Is Out, But Whitey Execs Get the Last Laugh
¤ Mauritania swears in first President
¤ Iran denies US claims on weapons in Afghanistan
¤ 'I Wish The Iraq War Never Existed,' It Was 'Osama Bin Laden's Idea'
¤ Va. Tech shooter was laughed at
¤ Backlash leads to pullback on Cho video
¤ Bomber gets by Baghdad security; 12 dead
¤ The Deeper Darkness Behind the Wolfowitz Scandal

¤ Deadly clashes erupt in Mogadishu
Fighting has erupted again the Somali capital Mogadishu, leaving at least 10 civilians dead and 15 more injured, Al Jazeera says. Heavy shelling could be heard around the city on Thursday as Ethiopian troops clashed with Somali groups opposed to the country’s interim government, agencies report. Witnesses told the AFP news agency that eight people were killed when a mortar landed in a bus station in the south of the city.

¤ Bringing Down the House of Lies
It's a bit of a mixed feeling to realize that millions and millions of people who didn't get this distinction two, four or six years ago now understand that the "political' issues we now face aren't about right and left, they're about right and wrong. On one hand, what took you so long? On the other, thank God and welcome aboard.

¤ Trouble is brewing for the US in Iraqi Kurdistan
¤ The Assault on a Pregnant Woman

¤ Our dead, their dead
As tragic as the Virginia Tech shootings are, let's face it: 32 dead is a slow day in U.S.-occupied Iraq.

"Those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate," President Bush said. "They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." He would know.

In America, we have the luxury of mourning our dead for days or even years (see 9/11). If Iraqis tried to "pull together" and "come to grips" with every massacre of innocents . . . well, you get the idea.

Zimbabwe Independence Day - An African Statement
Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007

By Ayinde
rastafaritimes@yahoo.com
April 19, 2007

Yesterday the people of Zimbabwe celebrated their nation's 27th year of independence and the US and other European powers are not pleased. They hoped that the White minority settlers in Zimbabwe could have continued controlling the vast amount of land that was taken during colonial rule.

Despite the increasing pressure from the US and other European powers, the majority in Zimbabwe remain strongly aligned to the ruling ZANU-PF party and their president, Robert Mugabe. It was hoped that economic hardship fueled by sanctions and the ongoing campaign by Western countries to demonize President Robert Mugabe could have been enough to turn the majority of people in rural areas against Mugabe. So far that has failed.

The life expectancy of an average Zimbabwean, as reported by the White House Deputy Press Secretary, Dana Perino, is 36 years old and the White Western powers are doing all they can to increase the pressure on the ordinary people through sanctions and rhetoric that is designed to scare away investors and financers from Zimbabwe. In other words, if the common folks in Zimbabwe do not force their government from power, allow Whites to control the most and best agricultural land, and accept western neocolonial polices, then they deserve to suffer and die.

Many in the African-American community join Africans in the international community in supporting those in Zimbabwe who bravely speak out against sanctions, for Britain to honour the agreement to finance the land redistribution exercise and for Zimbabwe to move further way from neocolonial policies.

Zimbabwe should also be calling for compensation from colonial powers for the theft of land, the hardship that Africans endured, and the wealth that the West derived from the unjust and illegal acquisition of land in Zimbabwe.

Many Zimbabweans understood that maintaining political freedom and reducing poverty required a new direction. They understood that the government was right to move away from the IMF and World Bank policies. They also understood that the government was right to fast track the process of reclaiming lands from White settlers and returning them to the indigenous African population.

We in the African community support Zimbabwe's efforts to develop true independence, free from the dictates of western powers and poverty.

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Zimbabwe: Celebrating victory over British forces
Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007

The Herald
April 19, 2007

FULL text of the prepared speech by President Mugabe on the occasion of the 27th Independence Anniversary celebrations held at Rufaro Stadium in Harare, and various provincial centres.

TODAY, the 18th of April 2007 marks the 27th Anniversary of our hard-won Independence and freedom from the shackles of British colonialist and imperialist domination. We celebrate not only our 27th year of sovereignty and self-determination but also our success, our collective success, in repulsing the unending attempts by our erstwhile colonisers and other detractors to disturb our peace, stability and tranquillity. Congratulations Zimbabwe, Congratulations Comrades and Friends, on our refusal to be re-colonised! Let the sound of our Celebrations reach the ears of Britain and her allies, and let them know that we shall never, never, never be a colony again.

This 27th Anniversary demonstrates the victorious spirit of the unity of our people, the unity of a people who know how this country came into being, a people prepared to stand in defence of their country's achievements and future direction. It is this spirit of oneness, the unyielding singleness of purpose which, during the Liberation Struggle, cheered and lifted our gallant patriots to the heights of supreme sacrifice in the name of freedom and sovereignty. These heroes and heroines of the struggle would turn in their graves if today we were to bequeath anything less than full, uncompromised Independence and sovereignty to the future generations of the country. Thus today is a day when we also celebrate our continuing electoral successes and victories over British-sponsored negative forces, however organised.

I wish to applaud the resilience of our people, who have resisted the brazen attempts of our detractors, openly working in cahoots with their shameless local puppets, to reverse the gains of our Independence through their "regime change" agenda. We have observed how of late, this conspiracy has attempted to transform into a militant criminal strain, characterised by the puerile attempts of misguided opposition elements to create a state of anarchy through an orgy of violence. As Government, our message remains clear that we will not hesitate to deal firmly with those elements who are bent on fomenting anarchy.

On the broader socio-economic arena, the economy has continued to be buffeted by seemingly unending waves of price hikes largely prompted by both unbridled greed among some of our businesspersons and by the strategy of our saboteurs. These spates of increases in prices of basic commodities have largely been without justification. The price escalations have eroded the incomes of our people, thereby stirring disquiet across all sectors of the economy. Because price instability adversely affects ordinary consumers and business entities alike, it is imperative that all stakeholders should work together to stem the existing inflationary spiral. We cannot drift along while this vice continues to undermine our economy.

It is on this premise that Government, in conjunction with other social partners, is actively involved in negotiations for the eventual establishment of a Social Contract. Within this framework, Government, business, labour and other key stakeholders are expected to agree on establishing binding protocols that will form the basis of sustainable confidence building and help the planned turnaround of the economy. I would like to commend the unity of purpose so far exhibited by the social partners who are "putting Zimbabwe first".

On another front, Government is also expediting the setting up of the National Incomes and Pricing Commission, which will provide the framework for appropriate pricing of goods and services using well-tested scientific pricing models.

It is hoped that the Incomes and Pricing Commission will be fully operational during this second quarter of 2007. But above all these attempts, is the need for greater production of those commodities in scarce supply in order to more than satisfy demand for them. This is indeed the function of more investment capital, domestic and foreign, hence our Look East policy.

Government continues to accord high priority to poverty reduction and the attainment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. In light of this, funds have been allocated to the Rural Capital Development Fund for water and sanitation facilities in various rural districts of the country.

Regrettably, this thrust has once again suffered some setbacks following the drought that affected the Southern African region. However, Government is determined to ensure that none of our people in the affected areas will starve.

Faced by the various challenges that characterise our economy, Government has evolved decisive measures to deal with them through the National Economic Development Priority Programme. The Programme's major objectives are the reduction of inflation, stabilisation of the local currency, ensuring food security, increasing output and productivity, generation of foreign earnings, removal of price distortions and effective policy co-ordination and implementation.

Following the successful implementation of the Land Reform Programme, Government is now focused on raising productivity through the rehabilitation and development of irrigation facilities and provision of inputs such as seed, fertilizer, chemicals and tillage.

In addition to this, Government would like to see agricultural mechanisation assume a very pivotal role as a springboard to greater levels of production. Hence the creation of the new ministry of Agricultural Engineering and Mechanisation.

Measures are being taken in the context of the National Economic Development Priority Programme, to capacitate the local manufacturing industries through injection of foreign currency by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe so they can produce some of the agricultural equipment we need.

It is my hope that the 2007/2008 agricultural season will see a much better state of our national preparedness.

In order to further boost agricultural production, the development of new crop varieties able to cope with the emerging climatic conditions will continue in earnest. Since Independence, 54 crop varieties have been developed and are now grown widely by our farmers. Furthermore, the Agricultural Extension Worker Programme has, since 2005, successfully trained over 200 graduands, thus significantly reducing the vacancy rate for field extension workers.

Following the launch of the 99-year lease agreements last year, a total of 475 farmers have so far qualified for the leases. The provision of leases as security of tenure, and as collateral in accessing financial borrowings, should in turn improve productivity on the farms.

The Nation's fight to reduce inflation has necessitated measures that address structural and supply constraints to economic production.

Government is currently working on a package of assistance to boost capacity utilisation for certain selected strategic companies critical in the overall economic turnaround programme's contribution to job creation and foreign currency generation.

In the mining sector, the country continues to lose much-needed foreign currency through rampant leakage and smuggling of some of our high value minerals, notably gold and diamonds.

The focus of Government this year will therefore be on ensuring that these nefarious activities are stamped out. In this sector, Government will soon introduce a Bill governing the ownership structures of mining organisations to enhance empowerment and national control.

In our continued general efforts to accelerate the involvement of indigenous Zimbabweans in the economy as a whole, my Government is finalising the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill, which will provide legal underpinning to the Indigenisation and Empowerment Policy.

As part of the process of empowering our emerging entrepreneurs, Government has continued to provide concessionary funding facilities for the micro, small and medium enterprises sector.

A total of $39,5 billion has so far been availed through Sedco for on-lending to the enterprises this financial year. This included funds earmarked for projects by the youths. A total of $200 million was provided under the NEDPP for the funding of 51 projects at various Growth Points throughout the country.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's $16 billion SMEs facility introduced in 2006 has so far benefited 1 222 projects, while Sedco's Loan Booth Scheme has assisted in addressing the financial requirements of the informal sector, which is mainly operated by women and the youth without collateral security.

In order to empower our youths, the Zimbabwe Youth Employment Network was developed and approved by Cabinet in May 2006. This has given birth to the Youth Development Fund and Loan Guarantee Scheme as specific windows for providing financial support to youth driven enterprises.

The Infrastructure Development Bank, through the Youth Development Fund, has successfully provided funds to 32 youth enterprises, creating 522 jobs in the process.

The empowerment of women economically remains top priority for Government. To date, a significant number of women is now effectively involved in critical sectors of the economy.

Government is also soon to introduce gender budgeting as an essential instrument for guaranteeing mainstream of women within Government policies and programmes.

External business trips have been organised for women to visit countries like China, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Botswana, South Africa, among others. Government has set aside $5 billion from the RBZ facility for women projects, from which a total of 511 women have already benefited.

Tourism remains one of the key growth nodes in our economic turnaround programme, and with that objective in mind Government has over the past year channelled funds towards the development of the Gonarezhou National Park, which is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park shared by South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

2006 was however, a bad year for our environmental conservation, as veld fires destroyed vast tracts of plantations as well as natural forests and grasslands. Government, through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism responded with the launch last year, of the Fire Management and Protection Strategy, which should go a long way in minimising the outbreak and damage caused by uncontrolled fires. Political and civic leaders are also urged to educate our people on the need to preserve our flora and fauna for posterity.

To enhance national fuel requirements, Government continues to work on bio-diesel and ethanol projects, which, it is hoped, will reach a mature stage in the near future.

To alleviate the current power shortages in the country, Government has embarked on various initiatives, which include the renewal of existing Power Purchase Agreements with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Mozambique. Furthermore, Zesa and NamPower of Namibia negotiated and signed a Loan Financing Agreement and Power Purchase Agreement involving the refurbishment of Hwange Power Station. This should go a long way towards improving the performance of Hwange Power Station in supplying power to the national grid.

In the area of transport, Government continues to seek more finance for the development of our national road structure and the enhancement of our national airline (Air Zimbabwe) through the acquisition of more aircraft and the intensification of training programmes for more engineers, pilots and other technical experts.

The worrisome issue of the brain drain in technical skills to neighbouring countries and abroad is fast turning the country into a training ground for other countries with little or no benefit accruing to the nation.

It is for this reason that Government has now created a Skills Retention Fund to attract, retain and support personnel in critical skills shortage areas of the national economy. These recruits will have improved conditions of service.

Government has also embarked on a Cadetship Scheme with a view to recruiting a cadre exhibiting loyalty, patriotism and commitment to serving the public.

Furthermore, Government has taken a deliberate decision to enhance the provision of non-pecuniary incentives in the public service. To this end, a new Public Servants Housing Programme for Public Servants has been established and in the spirit of public and private sector partnership, a Public Servants Housing Development Company has been formed to raise funds for the construction of such houses. In addition, Government is also providing bus services at reasonable fares to transport civil servants to and from work.

Whilst the country is experiencing a downward trend in the prevalence of HIV and Aids from 23,4 percent in 2005 to 18 percent in 2007, the situation is still worrying. We should all steer clear of this dreaded scourge, especially through abstinence from premarital sex and faithfulness to one's spouse. The rollout of the anti-retroviral treatment programme is continuing despite the attendant challenge of scarce foreign currency.

In the realm of international relations, we continue to give priority to efforts to promote investment, trade and tourism for economic turnaround under the auspices of the NEDPP.

We have therefore redoubled our efforts to forge strong and mutually beneficial economic ties with both our traditional friendly and new co-operation partners. In that context, we held very successful Joint Commissions with Zambia, China, Iran and Namibia. The Joint Commissions with China and Iran gave fresh impetus to our "Look East Policy" while those with Zambia and Namibia further strengthened our co-operation with these two regional partners.

The advent of unilateral and military adventurism by the powerful few poses the greatest threat to international peace and security.

Accordingly, Zimbabwe will continue to push for the upholding of multi-lateralism and peaceful settlement of disputes as the best guarantee to international stability and security for all nations, big or small.

To improve the efficiency of the international system, Zimbabwe has remained steadfast in its support for calls for reform of the United Nations, especially its Security Council, to make it more democratic.

I wish to express Zimbabwe's gratitude to those countries in the international community and especially to Sadc for remaining unwavering and understanding in their support and solidarity with Zimbabwe.

Let me at this point thank our security forces for continuing to be the vanguard of our revolution and national integrity.

Indeed, they have continued to play a critical role in buttressing our economic turnaround efforts. The ZRP in particular, have greatly assisted in stamping out crime in the country and criminal and impudent behaviour in the mining sector though Operation Chikorokoza Chapera/Isitsheketsha Sesiphelile where anarchy had become the order of the day. In the face of extreme provocation they have curbed and inhibited the criminal tendencies of the opposition parties.

As part of their civic activities, members of the Security Forces continue to spearhead the implementation of operation Maguta/Inala, which seeks to boost the country's food security in joint efforts with A1, communal and resettled farmers to open up vast tracts of land for grain production.

The exercise has seen significant contributions by operation Maguta/Inala to the food security of the country. Finally, I would like to urge all of us to remain resolute in our commitment to the values that define and preserve our nationhood.

Let the spirit of unity and peace continue to prevail in us all, and to bring unison and symphony in our quest for a prosperous Zimbabwe. Let this be your day. Please enjoy the 27th anniversary of our Independence, for Zimbabwe will never be a colony again! Makorokoto, Amhlophe, Congratulations!

I thank you.

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

EU supports Sadc's position on Zimbabwe - envoy
Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007

By Caesar Zvayi
The Herald
April 19, 2007

THE European Union supports the position adopted by Sadc at the extraordinary summit held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, last month, and wishes its success, EU head of delegation Mr Xavier Marchal has said.

Mr Marchal — speaking on the sidelines of Zimbabwe's 27th Independence celebrations at Rufaro Stadium yesterday — underscored the importance of independence and sovereignty for any nation and urged Zimbabweans to value their hard-won freedom.

"Our wish is that Zimbabwe solves its difficulties as soon as possible, and for that Zimbabweans need to work with Zimbabweans and that is the spirit of the Sadc initiative, and the Sadc initiative is at the frontline now. What we can only do is to wish its success, and to support it, and we do support it."

Mr Marchal could, however, not be drawn into saying what exactly the EU would do with regard to the sanctions it imposed after the 2002 presidential elections, saying unity and co-operation among Zimbabweans was vital for the success of the Sadc initiative.

His sentiments were echoed by Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Sten Rylander and the Deputy Head of Mission at the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Ms Leoni Cuelenaere, who also congratulated Zimbabweans on 27 years of independence.

Said Mr Rylander: "I want Zimbabwe to come together as a nation; national interest, national reconciliation is what I want more than anything else, and with the region and the decision by Dar es Salaam, I think there is time for that. That's my wish. Come together, don't fight."

Ms Cuelenaere said the Netherlands supported Sadc's decision to help Zimbabwe as it tallied with the wishes of her own country.

"We support, of course, that Sadc wishes the best for Zimbabwe like we do, and that they are standing ready to help because that's basically what is needed," she said.

She said contrary to perceptions, her country valued the independence and sovereignty of Zimbabweans.

In their communiqué released at the end of a one-day extraordinary summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, at the end of March, Sadc leaders reaffirmed their faith in the legitimacy of President Mugabe and Zimbabwe's electoral system, condemned the illegal Western sanctions, urged Britain to honour obligations to fund land reforms and pledged a rescue package to mitigate the effects of sanctions.

The summit also tasked South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC.

The EU's support for Sadc's position on Zimbabwe flies in the face of US and British moves to fight the regional bloc by ratcheting up pressure on Zimbabwe through intensified sanctions.

MDC factions have since disagreed on the initiative with the Professor Arthur Mutambara clique endorsing it while the Morgan Tsvangirai-led camp cried foul and, as usual, unleashed a torrent of abuse on Sadc leaders in line with London and Washington's thinking.

And in an open show of their disdain for Zimbabwe's right to self-determination, the British and US ambassadors, along with their lackeys in both MDC factions, were conspicuous by their absence at the celebrations that were graced by 33 ambassadors and representatives from four continents.

Apart from the EU head of delegation and the Holy See, the ambassadors who attended yesterday's celebrations were from Algeria, Botswana, Brazil, China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, Tanzania, and Thailand.

Nine ambassadors — among them Palestinian, DRC, Tanzanian, Ethiopian, Kenyan, Algerian and Indian diplomats — who spoke to The Herald reaffirmed their countries' solidarity with Zimbabwe, and expressed hope that the country would overcome its challenges in the short-term.

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Diplomatic rift as Russia says: give us Berezovsky
Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007

Relations between London and Moscow threatened to plummet to a post-cold war low yesterday amid renewed Russian demands for action against Boris Berezovsky over the tycoon's claim that he is plotting to overthrow Vladimir Putin.

The Russian ambassador to the UK warned that bilateral relations would inevitably suffer if prompt action was not taken against the Britain-based multi-millionaire, who told the Guardian that he was fomenting a revolution to topple Mr Putin by force.
Full Article : guardian.co.uk

Violence rages on in Iraq
Posted: Wednesday, April 18, 2007

¤ Zimbabwe Not Excluded From EU-Africa Summit
Zimbabwe will not be excluded from the Europe Union (EU) - Africa Summit to be held in Lisbon despite the EU's sanctions on the troubled state.

South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Friday that Zimbabwe, as one of the 53 member states of the African Union (AU), will be part of the summit to be held in December.

¤ Baghdad blasts kill 160
At least 160 people have been killed in four major bomb blasts around Baghdad today - the bloodiest violence since a US troop "surge" and crackdown on insurgents began in February.
The deadliest attack happened at the Sadriyah market, in central Baghdad, where at least 118 people died, according to Iraqi police, Reuters said.

Police said a total of 139 people were injured in the blast, which was thought to have been caused by a bomb left on a bus.

Construction workers helping to rebuild the predominantly Shia market area following an attack shortly before the February crackdown, when a suicide truck bomber killed 135 people, were among the victims.

¤ Violence rages on in Iraq: 17 bodies found buried in Ramadi, 25 dumped in Baghdad
Police in Ramadi uncovered 17 decomposing corpses buried beneath two schoolyards in a district that until recently was under the control of al-Qaida fighters. At least 85 people were killed or found dead across the country Tuesday.

The adult bodies were discovered in the Anbar provincial capital after students and teachers returned to the schools a week ago and noticed an increasingly putrid odor and stray dogs digging in the area, police Maj. Laith al-Dulaimi said.

He said one body had not yet been recovered from a separate burial site behind one of the schools because authorities feared it was booby-trapped with a bomb.

¤ Blacksburg times 35
Consider the Blacksburg massacre in the context of what happens every day in Iraq. The United Nations reports about 100 civilians a day were shot, blown up, tortured to death or otherwise murdered in Iraqi civil war violence in 2006. A Johns Hopkins study estimates the true toll in civilian killings may be three or four times higher.

But let's use the more conservative estimate for purposes of comparison. One way of making that comparison would be to say that Iraq is currently enduring something equivalent to three Blacksburg massacres every single day of the year. But this comparison doesn't take into account that the population of Iraq is about one-twelfth the size of the United States.

¤ A Momentary Glimpse into Daily Life in Iraq
At the memorial ceremony for those slain at Virginia Tech, President Bush said today he did not know what the victims had done to deserve their fate. How this nation wept as one when thirty innocent Americans perished and twenty more were wounded! There is almost nothing else on the television news but this tragedy --- not even news from the ongoing slaughter from the war in Iraq.

¤ 4 bombings in Baghdad kill at least 183
¤ Time to Do the Math in Iraq
¤ Heck of a Job, Wolfie
¤ Hounded by Insurgents, Abandoned by Us
¤ Protection, Disarmament and Massacre
¤ Race in America and the Whacking of Don Imus

¤ A brutal truth: Massacre is just part of everyday life in America
It is as if we are on autopilot. The ghastly tragedy swamps the news to the exclusion of all else. There are the heartbreaking stories of a university shattered and of the dozens of victims, their mostly young lives cut short so senselessly. We listen to the grief-stricken remarks of the President, and follow the breathless investigation of the perpetrator's background, his history of mental illness. We share the anguished second guessing about whether his murderous rampage could have been prevented. Yet everything is playing to a script we know by heart.

Virginia Tech, of course, is the worst incident of its kind in US history - and at one level, you would gain the impression from American television that Cho Seung-Hui has literally stopped the world.

¤ paparazzi pictures make Berlusconi sweat
¤ The New Know-Nothings

¤ McCain Digs a Deeper Hole
John McCain is an indomitable patriot who will forever be remembered for his stoic endurance of captivity and torture as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. But lately, he has gone to great lengths to prove that it's possible to be both a hero and a fool.

He got more attention than he wanted for saying his visit to a Baghdad market was proof the administration's "surge" strategy is working -- downplaying the fact that he needed an escort of 100 American soldiers, plus attack helicopters, just to survive the trip. Afterward, he admitted misspeaking. But the episode was hardly the first evidence that when it comes to Iraq, McCain has an unerring instinct for being wrong.

¤ Words to Die For
¤ Somalia: Heavy fighting begins

¤ Amnesty exec: U.S. is abuser of rights
Human rights around the world are under siege as never before, the executive director of Amnesty International USA told a Madison audience Tuesday.
What makes this attack so serious and damaging, said Larry Cox, is that it is not just coming from governments that have always demonstrated contempt for human rights. It is coming from a country that has long been held up as the champion of human rights.

¤ Colombia volcano erupts, thousands flee

¤ They Wouldn't Really Attack Iran, Would They?
Remember the old neoconservative half-joke that “sacking Baghdad is fine but real men go to Teheran?” We are moving into the time when many Washington watchers have thought it possible and even likely that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would order an attack on Iran.
They wouldn't really do it, would they?

Zimbabwe Not Excluded From EU-Africa Summit
Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2007

By Oupa Segalwe
BuaNews (Tshwane), Pretoria
April 15, 2007

Zimbabwe will not be excluded from the Europe Union (EU) - Africa Summit to be held in Lisbon despite the EU's sanctions on the troubled state.

South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Friday that Zimbabwe, as one of the 53 member states of the African Union (AU), will be part of the summit to be held in December.

She was responding to journalists following her meeting with Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado, in which they discussed bilateral political and economic issues.

"If Europe is meeting us (AU) at that level, it cannot dismember us. It's not about insisting that, one attends, that the other does not.

"We want to co-operate with the EU as it is known.

"We can't say we want to co-operate with the EU, but not quite with Portugal. That will not be the EU, it will be something else, Dr Dlamini-Zuma said.

In February, the EU renewed its sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government for another year due to the economic and human rights situation in that country.

The sanctions, which were first implemented three years ago, include a ban on Mr Mugabe and other government officials from traveling to EU countries.

The summit, which was supposed to have taken place in 2003 was indefinitely postponed due to opposition from some EU nations who did not want Mr Mugabe to attend the event as a result of the situation in his country.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma said the significance of the summit should not be reduced by differences between the EU and one country.

Dr Amado said the issue of sanctions on Zimbabwe should be separated from the summit.

"The issue of sanctions is one issue; the summit is one other issue ... we need to structure for the future a strategic partnership with the African Union to promote the interest of both continents.

"We should not compound strategic partnerships... because there is a problem with different countries, this is not compatible with what we have at stake," Dr Amado said.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa was looking forward to the summit, which will take place in a period when Portugal would have assumed duties as the President of the EU.

"Europe and Africa are two neighbouring continents that have historic obligation to continue to work together. So, the summit will assist in working out a road map for our future cooperation," she said.

Other than discussing conditions and important points of the agenda for the summit, the meeting also touched:

- The South Africa - European strategic partnership;

- United Nations Reform and South Africa's tenure as non-permanent member of the UN Security Council; and

- Conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction in Africa.

Iraq Has Two Virginia Techs Every Day
Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2007

¤ U.S. Agenda Against the Nation Exposed
HOW do people feel knowing that Western powers have been paying people to criticise the Zimbabwe Government? They should feel duped; especially if they actually believed most of the anti-Mugabe news that has been pushed by the Western media ever since the land reclamation exercise that forced some whites to stop occupying large tracts of land that were to be distributed to blacks.

The US did state their intentions in 2002 following an election that saw Mugabe victorious at the polls.

¤ German army instructor dismissed over racism
¤ Zimbabwe: West using NGOs to foment political instability

¤ Iraq Has Two Virginia Techs Every Day
I keep hearing from US politicians and the US mass media that the "situation is improving" in Iraq. The profound sorrow and alarm produced in the American public by the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech should give us a baseline for what the Iraqis are actually living through. They have two Virginia Tech-style attacks every single day. Virginia Tech will be gone from the headlines and the air waves by next week this time in the US, though the families of the victims will grieve for a lifetime. But next Tuesday I will come out here and report to you that 64 Iraqis have been killed in political violence. And those will mainly be the ones killed by bombs and mortars. They are only 13% of the total; most Iraqis killed violently, perhaps 500 a day throughout the country if you count criminal and tribal violence, are just shot down. Shot down, like the college students and professors at Blacksburg. We Americans can so easily, with a shudder, imagine the college student trying to barricade himself behind a door against the armed madman without. But can we put ourselves in the place of Iraqi students?

¤ Virginia massacre gunman named
A 23-year-old South Korean student carried out at least 30 of the 32 Virginia Tech university murders, US authorities said today.
The gunman was identified as 23-year-old Cho Seung-hui, an undergraduate student in his senior year as an English major at the university, in south-west Virginia state.

Yesterday's massacre was the worst mass shooting in US history.

¤ Al-Sadr followers quit cabinet over US presence
¤ U.S. troop deaths climbing in Iraq
¤ Bloodbath in Blacksburg
¤ Japanese mayor shot dead

¤ One Word Describes These Bush Cronies: Unbelievable
Today’s topic is credibility — specifically, recent claims by certain high-ranking present, former and perhaps soon-to-be-former Bush administration officials. The aim is to answer a simple question: Should we believe these three Bush loyalists if they tell us that rain falls down instead of up, or should we look out the window to make sure?

The present official is political czar Karl Rove, long regarded by friend and foe alike as some kind of cutting-edge genius, who seems to have the darnedest time figuring out this newfangled e-mail stuff.

¤ Einstein was right, probe shows

¤ Lies made by French intelligence
French intelligence services warned their bloody US counterparts, eight months before the attacks of September 11, 2001, that Al-Qaeda was planning to hijack a US-bound plane, a french media report said on Monday.

The information that Osama bin Laden's group, working with Taliban and Chechens, had been plotting the move was passed on to Bill Murray, head of the Central Intelligence Agency's Paris bureau, a Le Monde daily said

¤ Iraq Money Trail to Bush Cronies Must End
¤ Death by Semantics
¤ Reflections on the VA Tech Massacre

¤ Collateral Damage: A Military Euphemism for Murder
Inherent in modern war-making practice is the conviction that there is a significant moral difference between killing innocent civilians in an attack such as that on the World Trade Center or on a bus filled with college students and killing noncombatants during a military response to such an attack. This conviction is clearly demonstrated in a myriad of Israeli reprisals against Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and in the US war in Vietnam, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. It is reflected, as well, in the language used to describe the innocent deaths, the value laden term “terrorism” in the case of the former, and the morally neutral term “collateral damage” in the latter.War, even as a response to terrorism is rule governed.

¤ After All, It's President George W. Bush: So "Attention Must Be Paid!"

German army instructor dismissed over racism
Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2007

The German defence ministry today said it had dismissed an instructor who told a soldier to imagine he was firing a machine gun on three black men in the Bronx.

"The Bundeswehr has dismissed him," a spokesman told Reuters. The spokesman said the non-commissioned officer, whose name is being withheld, had been stripped of his rank and pay.

The defence ministry is still investigating a second soldier who filmed the training scenes, but it was unclear how long this investigation would take. Yesterday, it condemned the scenes depicted in the video footage as unacceptable.

German television channels aired the grainy 90-second video clip over the weekend.
Full Article : guardian.co.uk

Zimbabwe: West using NGOs to foment political instability
Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2007

By Bulawayo Bureau
The Herald
April 17, 2007

WESTERN countries are using non-governmental organisations to foment political instability and to pursue a regime change agenda in Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF national chairman Cde John Nkomo has said.

Addressing delegates at the Insiza Zanu-PF inter-party District Co-ordinating Committees last Friday, Cde Nkomo said NGOs were receiving money from Britain and the United States of America to create disturbances in the country. "They are creating an unAfrican culture, giving money to people to remove their leaders. They are fronts for regime change who have no real purpose nor reason to be in the country," he said.

Cde Nkomo, who is the Speaker of the House of Assembly, accused the United States of trying to remove the Government but said such efforts would fail as Zanu-PF was a revolutionary party that worked for the people.

"Such efforts by America will fail as the party is growing stronger because it was born out of a struggle and a (people’s) desire to be free," he said.

"We will work hard to protect our sovereignty and we will not allow anyone to take it from us."

Cde Nkomo urged party members to stick to the ideals of the struggle for independence as this was the only way they could promote the growth of the party and the country.

He said although foreigners were welcome to invest in the country, they should not try to foster their ideals on the people of Zimbabwe.

"Whites and foreigners are welcome in the country but we will not accept any abuse from them any more," Cde Nkomo said.

He said the land reform was a just conclusion to the struggle against colonialism and that it was a form of empowerment to previously landless Zimbabweans.

"When they were partitioning Africa in Berlin (Germany in 1884), no one spoke about human rights, but now that we are getting back our land, we are now evil people," he said.

"When our colonisers came here they designated land into commercial farms and tribal trust lands, now we have also designated it and giving it to the people, that is why they are now making noise."

He said land and minerals were the wealth of the country and every Zimbabwean was supposed to benefit from these resources.

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Horror and Disbelief' at Virginia Tech
Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2007

By John M. Broder

BLACKSBURG, Va., April 16 — Thirty-two people were killed, along with a gunman, and at least 15 injured in two shooting attacks at Virginia Polytechnic Institute on Monday during three hours of horror and chaos on this sprawling campus.

The police and witnesses said some victims were executed with handguns while other students were hurt jumping from upper-story windows of the classroom building where most of the killings occurred. After the second round of killings, the gunman killed himself, the police said.

It was the deadliest shooting rampage in American history and came nearly eight years to the day after 13 people died at Columbine High School in Colorado at the hands of two disaffected students who then killed themselves.
Full Article : nytimes.com

A lovers' tiff in the dormitory...
then the university killer began his rampage

Parents Demand Firing of Virginia Tech President,
Police Chief Over Poor Handling of Mass Shooting

Gunman Kills 32 at Virginia Tech In Deadliest Shooting in U.S. History

Torture, Secrecy, and the Bush Administration
Posted: Monday, April 16, 2007

¤ Gunman, 32 Others Killed in Va. Shooting
A gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm and then, two hours later, shot up a classroom across campus Monday, killing 32 people in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history. The gunman committed suicide, bringing the death toll to 33.
Students complained that there were no public-address announcements or other warnings on campus after the first burst of gunfire. They said the first word they received from the university was an e-mail more than two hours into the rampage—around the time the gunman struck again.

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said authorities believed that the shooting at the dorm was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus.

¤ 'Everyone Started Panicking and Jumping Out the Window'
¤ Student describes shooting spree
¤ Bush Comments on Virginia Tech Shootings
¤ Statement by Virginia Tech's President

¤ Massive rally in Pakistan
About 100,000 people rallied in Pakistan's largest city Sunday vying for moderate Islam. The mass protest in Karachi was organized by the Mutahida Qami Movement, or MQM, a party based in the southern port city that strongly supports hypocritical leader Pervez Musharraf.

The Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the capital Islamabad announced last week the setting up of a court to deliver justice based on Sharia, or Islamic law. Students from an Islamic school attached to the mosque have started an anti-vice campaign in Islamabad, threatening proprietors of music shops and brothels in the Pakistani capital.

¤ Police beat demonstrators in Russia

¤ Dear Dubya, I Found You a War Czar!
Dude! Long time no speak. Guess you’ve been kind of busy listening in on 300 million Americans’ telephone calls and reading all their electronic messages and practicing your whistle blowing for the White House Easter wing-ding.

There’s been talk that The Surge seems to be the stupidest idea you’ve had since you decided to run for President.

Some pointy-heads in England have just issued a report stating that you and Tony’s Iraq invasion has "spawned new terror in the region," and that "treating Iraq as part of the war on terror... created a combat training zone for jihadists."

¤ Torture, Secrecy, and the Bush Administration
I want to give a bit of pre-constitutional history, and share with you the story of John Lilburne, an Englishman born in the early 1600s because his story—the story of an agitator who directly challenged the English legal system—has a great deal to tell us about the issues we're facing today. Lilburne's story explains why these matters—torture and secrecy—were not issues to the Founding Fathers, and it helps us understand the true nature of a government which, like the current administration, thrives in that matrix of torture and secrecy.

¤ The nightmare Bush dreads most
Public opinion polls are valuable chips to play for those engaged in a debate of national or international consequence. In the end, however, they are abstract numbers. It is popular demonstrations which give them substance, color, and - above all - wide media exposure, and make them truly meaningful. This is particularly true when such marches are peaceful and disciplined in a war-ravaged country like Iraq.

¤ Images of injured Iraqi released
¤ Benn criticises 'war on terror' idea

¤ UK abandons 'war on terror' phrase
The British government has stopped using the phrase "war on terror", a Cabinet minister announced in a speech delivered in New York.

¤ Income Redistribution in Disguise
Critics of the recent U.S. wars of choice have long argued that they are all about oil. "No Blood for Oil" has been a rallying cry for most of the opponents of the war.

It can be demonstrated, however, that there is another (less obvious but perhaps more critical) factor behind the recent rise of U.S. military aggressions abroad: war profiteering by the Pentagon contractors. Frequently invoking dubious "threats to our national security and/or interests," these beneficiaries of war dividends, the military-industrial complex and related businesses whose interests are vested in the Pentagon's appropriation of public money, have successfully used war and military spending to justify their lion's share of tax dollars and to disguise their strategy of redistributing national income in their favor.

¤ Blood on Our Hands
¤ Zimbabwe and the Politics of Demons and Angels

¤ Wolfowitz refuses to resign

¤ US Soldiers Killed Three Iraqi Police Officers By Mistake

¤ Iraq bombing victims turn on government
Two months into the U.S.-led Baghdad Security Plan, at least 289 people were killed and injured across Iraq on Saturday, including 36 dead in a car bomb attack in the holy Shiite city of Karbala. The carnage of a crowd teeming with women and children set off an angry mob of hundreds against the governor and police.

The morning bombing outside a bus station and marketplace ripped through vendor stands near a Shiite shrine where the grandson of the prophet Mohammed is buried.

¤ Afghanistan fight will only get tougher

¤ Chavez defies US with energy summit

Massacre at Virginia Tech: 33 Confirmed Dead
Posted: Monday, April 16, 2007

Massacre at Virginia Tech: 33 Confirmed Dead
At least 33 people are dead in what may be the biggest mass shooting in modern American history.

'Everyone Started Panicking and Jumping Out the Window'

Student describes shooting spree
Nikolas Macko was in class at Virginia Tech when a gunman entered the building and started shooting. He described the experience to the BBC News website.

Bush Comments on Virginia Tech Shootings

Think of blacks and shoot, German soldier told
Posted: Sunday, April 15, 2007

Video of army instructor issuing racist order latest in string of incidents
Full Article : msnbc.msn.com

Imus and White privilege: Don't Blame Rap Music
Posted: Sunday, April 15, 2007

¤ Imus and White privilege: Don't Blame Rap Music
We are witnessing an attempt to portray Don Imus as a victim of a Black conspiracy and hypocrisy. Apparently many commentators want to make Africans complicit in Don Imus' racist, sexist and homophobic conduct.

Don Imus is a racist and not much different from most other Whites.

Just because Whites have been hearing some Rap and Hip Hop artists using the terms 'ho' and 'nigga', making statements about their 'ghetto' disposition when relating to each other, this does not mean that Whites should use such terms to or about Africans, including in jest. I never met one White person who was unclear about this. But because Imus, a White icon, crossed the line and had to pay (temporarily, as Whites are already supporting him), Whites are suddenly pretending that they do not understand the difference. Whites should know that because of racism, Africans have been experimenting with different ways to create enclaves for themselves. Rap was born out of this.

¤ The War is Already Nuclear, But We Don't Know It

¤ Making Love, Money and War
The flak that the World Bank's President Paul Wolfowtiz is getting currently really misses his main crimes: The invasion and occupation of Iraq and for waging the endless war of state terror. As Rumsfeld's second-in-command Mr. Wolfowitz bears direct personal and official responsibility for the illegal war of aggression on Iraq and for posing threats to international peace.

The crime of war of aggression is the one of the most serious violation of international law.

¤ We shall build a better Sarrafiya bridge ....
An eyewitness report (April 12, 2007, in Arabic) by a 35 years old lady who heard airplanes hovering overhead at 7:10 a.m. on Thursday April 12, 2007 and went to the roof of her home to investigate. She saw a couple of airplanes circling over the Tigris and she then saw one of them fire two missiles. When the smoke cleared, she saw that two sections of the bridge had fallen in the river.
From the extent of the damage, it is incredulous that a single 'truck' laden with explosives could fell two sections of the iron bridge. It must be part of the 'reconstruction effort of a liberated Iraq'.

¤ Erasing History
Who is erasing Iraq's history? A visitor only has to be in the country minute's before someone informs them: 'We are the cradle of civilisation' and launches in to the pride and passion of historical jewels and archeological wonders stetching back seemingly beyond time. They are not Sunni, Shia, Christian, Turkoman, Yazidi jewels, they are Mesapotamia's and have been proudly nurtured since the mists of time.

¤ Bush has "near dictatorial power"
¤ The Final Act of Submission
¤ Suicide car bomber kills dozens near Shia shrine
¤ No 10 'knew about hostage deal'
¤ Welcome to the Boys’ Club

¤ Need For ‘Czar’ Shows Chaos of War
While the nation has been fixated on the fiasco of Don Imus, a virulently self-obsessed radio/TV shock jock who should have been fired long ago for trying to pose as an adult, a much more serious breach of intelligence has occurred:The Bush White House has been in desperate search of a “war czar.”

Four years — and counting — into a war that was begun for reasons that have never been explained, with thousands killed, tens of thousands maimed for life and U.S. credibility in shreds, the Bush White House admits that it needs a high-profile overseer to plot the future course of the war in Iraq — what The Washington Post has dubbed a “war czar.”

Never mind that the course of “czars” has never run smoothly in this country, or any other. (Drug czar? Anti-terrorism czar? Education czar? Russian czar?)

¤ The Growing Toll of Iraqi Civilian Deaths
“The suffering that Iraqi men, women and children are enduring today is unbearable and unacceptable,” the director of operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Pierre Kraehenbuehl, stated Wednesday on releasing a ICRC report on the situation in Iraq after four years of the US-led war. Entitled “Civilians Without Protection - The Ever-Worsening Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq,” Mr. Kraehenbuehl added that the humanitarian situation is “affecting in one way or another, directly or indirectly, all Iraqis today.”

Studies of this nature have been systematically rejected by the Bush and Blair administrations. When, in October 2006, a team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimated that 655,000 more people had died in Iraq since the beginning of the war than would have died if the invasion had not taken place, the British foreign secretary, Margaret Becket, stated that the figures, published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, were inaccurate. President Bush stated that the Lancet study was not a credible report.

¤ Unaware of DOD plans to extend tour
¤ Suffering From Chronic Shock-Jock Syndrome
¤ Blood on Our Hands
¤ Baghdad bombings kill 18; Copters crash
¤ German army did not fire man in video
¤ Imus and the HeeHaw Racists
¤ A Long History of Bias Against Women Athletes
¤ Iraq? Ho, Ho, Ho
¤ Security plan draws harsh critiques after bombing
¤ Protest march in Russia
¤ Saturday: 168 Iraqis Killed, 180 Injured, 26 Kidnapped
¤ "Sorry We Shot Your Kid, But Here's $500"
¤ A War to Spread Terror

¤ US won't release 5 Iranian diplomats held in Iraq
In a move likely to irritate Tehran, the U.S. has decided not to release five Iranians captured in Iraq, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

The Washington Post said that after intense internal debate, the Bush administration had decided to keep the Iranians in custody and make them go through a periodic six-month review process used for the other 250 foreign detainees held in Iraq.

World Bank Staff Seek Wolfowitz's Ouster
Posted: Saturday, April 14, 2007

by Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON - The World Bank's Staff Association, which represents 10,000 employees, asked Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to step down Thursday amid charges that he gave his girlfriend, a Bank employee, improper pay raises and attempted to cover it up.The association made the call during an informal press conference inside the Bank at which dozens of employees showed up, the first time anyone inside the Washington-headquartered institution has demanded his ouster.
Full Article : commondreams.org

The Battle over Zimbabwe's Future
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007

¤ The Battle over Zimbabwe's Future
Amid heightened tension, an all pervading crisis is afflicting Zimbabwe. The economy is close to collapse, the standard of living has plummeted, and the political scene is marred by recent violence. To hear Western leaders tell it, it is Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe who has brought this state of affairs upon his nation through economic mismanagement and repression, and what would have been an otherwise prosperous country is instead on the edge of ruin. The U.S. and Great Britain trade barbs with Zimbabwe, and relations are perhaps at their lowest point, with pressure mounting in the U.S. and Great Britain for harsher measures.

¤ Berezovsky: 'I am plotting a new Russian revolution'
The Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has told the Guardian he is plotting the violent overthrow of President Putin from his base in Britain after forging close contacts with members of Russia's ruling elite.

In comments which appear calculated to enrage the Kremlin, and which will further inflame relations between London and Moscow, the multimillionaire claimed he was already bankrolling people close to the president who are conspiring to mount a palace coup.

¤ MDC greatest betrayer of people, revolution
Thank God the United States has finally admitted its sponsorship of the MDC, a fact that has been hammered over and over by the Government and various progressive people.

Nelson Chamisa and Morgan Tsvangirai can continue denying the obvious the same way they have refused to accept electoral defeats.

All those who think the MDC is Zimbabwean need only revisit Tony Blair's confessions in the House of Commons three years ago where he said he works closely with the MDC in his quest to effect illegal regime change in Zimbabwe.

¤ Black activists speak on Zimbabwe crisis
community forum in Harlem on April 5 on the current and ongoing crisis that the Robert Mugabe-led government in Zimbabwe faces from U.S.-British imperialist threats.

The majority Black, well-attended meeting included well-known activists such as Elombe Brath of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition and New York City Councilperson Charles Barron. Barron had publicly welcomed President Mugabe to New York's City Hall in 2005 when he came to the city for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, but the majority of the City Council boycotted the event.

¤ A bloody message from Iraq: nowhere is safe...
¤ Drug giants accused of ignoring fake medicines that kill millions

¤ China overtakes U.S. in exports
China surpassed the United States as the world's second-largest exporter in the middle of last year, according to figures released Thursday by the World Trade Organization, and the Asian country is pulling further and further ahead.
Export growth from China boomed 27 percent last year, outpacing all other major trading nations, the WTO said in releasing its first batch of global trade statistics for 2006.

¤ Protest Grows over Blackwater U.S.A Training Camp

¤ The Shattering of Mosul
"If you went into the streets on your own you would be dead in 15 minutes," says Khasro Goran, the deputy governor of Mosul, the second largest Iraqi city. An able, confident man he speaks from experience having survived more assassination attempts than almost any political leader in Iraq.

The one hour car journey to Mr Goran's office from the Kurdish capital Arbil underlines the dangers. He has sent his own guards, many of them his relatives, to pick me up from my hotel. They travel in slightly battered civilian cars, chosen to blend in with the rest of the traffic, wear civilian jackets and T shirts and keep their weapons concealed.

¤ US may use Iraqi bombings to increase its military presence in the region

¤ The Failed Chávez Coup, Five Years On
There is perhaps only one event more revealing than a coup, and that's a failed coup. If a coup reveals ruptures and fractures within a society, the effort to reverse a coup reveals where exactly the real power in that society lies. The mobilization of the Venezuelan masses in opposition to the coup of April 11th 2002 represents the best evidence to date that the sovereign people of Venezuela have the will and capacity to defend their vision of a new society.

¤ Memo to Imus
¤ Iran May be the Greatest Crisis of Modern Times
¤ Lawyers, opposition stage protest
¤ Man jumps from Empire State Building
¤ Canada offers forum for lecturer barred from U.S.

¤ The Baghdad Gulag
There are three overlapping wars in Iraq: the Sunni Arab guerrilla struggle against the US; strands of Sunni Arab guerrillas against assorted Shi'ite militias/death squads; and al-Qaeda in Iraq against the puppet, US-backed Iraqi government in the Green Zone. Make it four wars: the Sunni Arab guerrilla war against the government inside the Green Zone. Better yet, make it five wars: the Sadrists, from Sadr City to Kufa and Najaf, against the Americans.
All strands of these five overlapping wars will never allow the United States - or Anglo-American Big Oil - to control Iraq's oil wealth. Even if the new oil law is ratified by Parliament before June, implementation will be a certified nightmare, and security for billions of dollars of necessary investment non-existent.

Strands of these five overlapping wars also will never accept the long-term imposition of vast US military bases under a Status of Forces Agreement negotiated with dodgy politicians who spend more time in London than in Baghdad.

¤ Chavez: Troops to Escort Oil Takeovers
President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that soldiers will accompany government officials when they take over oil projects in the Orinoco River basin next month.

Chavez has decreed that Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, will take a minimum 60 percent stake in four heavy-oil projects in the Orinoco River region and invited the six private companies operating there to stay on as minority partners.

``On May 1 we are going to take control of the oil fields,'' Chavez said. ``I'm sure no transnational company is going to draw a shotgun, but we will go with the armed forces and the people.''

¤ Wolfowitz pay scandal laid bare
¤ Questions for Time magazine
¤ Israel torturing Palestinian child prisoners

'Fat' gene found by scientists
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007

A gene that contributes to obesity has been identified for the first time, promising to explain why some people easily put on weight while others with similar lifestyles stay slim.

People who inherit one version of the gene rather than another are 70 per cent more likely to be obese, British scientists have discovered. One in six people has the most vulnerable genetic make-up and weighs an average 3kg more than those with the lowest risk. They also have 15 per cent more body fat.
Full Article : timesonline.co.uk

Berezovsky: 'I am plotting a new Russian revolution'
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007

London exile Berezovsky says force necessary to bring down President Putin

Ian Cobain, Matthew Taylor and Luke Harding in Moscow
Friday April 13, 2007
The Guardian UK

The Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has told the Guardian he is plotting the violent overthrow of President Putin from his base in Britain after forging close contacts with members of Russia's ruling elite.

In comments which appear calculated to enrage the Kremlin, and which will further inflame relations between London and Moscow, the multimillionaire claimed he was already bankrolling people close to the president who are conspiring to mount a palace coup.

"We need to use force to change this regime," he said. "It isn't possible to change this regime through democratic means. There can be no change without force, pressure." Asked if he was effectively fomenting a revolution, he said: "You are absolutely correct."

Although Mr Berezovsky, with an estimated fortune of £850m, may have the means to finance such a plot, and although he enjoyed enormous political influence in Russia before being forced into exile, he said he could not provide details to back up his claims because the information was too sensitive.

Last night the Kremlin denounced Mr Berezovsky's comments as a criminal offence which it believed should undermine his refugee status in the UK.
Full Article : guardian.co.uk

The prospect of all-female conception
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Independent UK
Published: 13 April 2007

Women might soon be able to produce sperm in a development that could allow lesbian couples to have their own biological daughters, according to a pioneering study published today.

Scientists are seeking ethical permission to produce synthetic sperm cells from a woman's bone marrow tissue after showing that it possible to produce rudimentary sperm cells from male bone-marrow tissue.

The researchers said they had already produced early sperm cells from bone-marrow tissue taken from men. They believe the findings show that it may be possible to restore fertility to men who cannot naturally produce their own sperm.
Full Article : independent.co.uk

Zimbabwe: MDC greatest betrayer of people, revolution
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007

EDITOR -- Thank God the United States has finally admitted its sponsorship of the MDC, a fact that has been hammered over and over by the Government and various progressive people.

Nelson Chamisa and Morgan Tsvangirai can continue denying the obvious the same way they have refused to accept electoral defeats.

All those who think the MDC is Zimbabwean need only revisit Tony Blair's confessions in the House of Commons three years ago where he said he works closely with the MDC in his quest to effect illegal regime change in Zimbabwe.

MDC acolytes can continue with their inane denials but that does not change their stooge status. Their lackey image has been confirmed even by those who are not in Government, among them Jonathan Moyo who recently said: "...there is an urgent need (for us in opposition) to be strategic, realistic, open-minded and all inclusive guided by principles and not principals."

In asking opposition leaders to be guided by principles not principals, Moyo was obviously referring to the MDC's Western parentage.

I do not know what it is going to take for Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara to accept the reality that every sane Zimbabwean is aware that they are mere puppets on Western strings.

The MDC remains the greatest betrayer of the people, and our revolution.

Cad Mash

Harare

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Black activists speak on Zimbabwe crisis
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007

By Monica Moorehead
www.workers.org
Harlem, N.Y.
April 13, 2007

The Brooklyn-based December 12 International Secretariat held an emergency community forum in Harlem on April 5 on the current and ongoing crisis that the Robert Mugabe-led government in Zimbabwe faces from U.S.-British imperialist threats.

The majority Black, well-attended meeting included well-known activists such as Elombe Brath of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition and New York City Councilperson Charles Barron. Barron had publicly welcomed President Mugabe to New York's City Hall in 2005 when he came to the city for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, but the majority of the City Council boycotted the event.

The April 5 meeting was held at Mount Olivet Church, the same venue where President Mugabe spoke to thousands of people in 2005.

Omowale Clay from D12, who chaired the forum, spoke about a March 11 prayer rally held in Zimbabwe and organized by the Movement for Democratic Change, an anti-Mugabe opposition group that has the full backing of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush. A struggle ensued which reportedly resulted in one MDC member dying and 30 Zimbabwean police being injured.

Following this incident, a debate took place at a session in late March of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, between a representative of Britain and a representative from Zimbabwe. A portion of this debate was shown at the Harlem meeting. The British representative raised the March 11 incident and called for imposing more economic sanctions on Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwean representative defended his country's right to sovereignty and stated that sanctions are being used to strangle the already fragile Zimbabwean economy and to isolate the country from the rest of the African continent.

Following this film clip, the rest of the Harlem meeting was devoted to opening up the floor to hear questions and comments from the audience. D12 leaders Viola Plummer, Coltrane Chimurenga and Roger Wareham, along with Clay, fielded the questions. All four of these leaders have traveled to Zimbabwe on a number of occasions, including before the last election when Mugabe won another term in office.

A number of important issues raised by these leaders point to the real reasons why the U.S. and British governments want a "regime change" in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is the only country in Africa where the land, stolen by white colonialists beginning in the late 1880s, has been returned to the Indigenous population in a systematic way.

During the height of anti-colonial struggle in Southern Africa decades ago, Zimbabwe was the first country to hold a caucus of the national liberation movements on the continent. Both China and North Korea have friendly relations with Zimbabwe in the areas of trade and economic development. President Hugo Chávez from Venezuela has pledged to President Mugabe to provide oil to Zimbabwe.

D12 explained that one consequence of the Western-imposed economic sanctions is that Zimbabwe is denied technologically advanced equipment to develop its land to grow enough food for the population, especially during long periods of drought that chronically plague regions in Africa. These sanctions have helped to deepen hunger in Zimbabwe.

As a follow-up to the meeting, D12 Movement and Patrice Lumumba Coalition called for a march and rally in Harlem beginning at 1 p.m. on April 14 to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the liberation of Zimbabwe. The main theme of this protest will be "Mugabe is right! Zimbabwe will never be a colony again!"

The march will begin at the Harlem State Office Building at 125th St. and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. Endorsers of this activity include Africans Helping Africans, the All African Peoples' Socialist Party, Black Men's Movement, Nation of Islam, African Liberation Support Committee, CEMOTAP and International Action Center.

Articles copyright 1995-2007 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Reprinted from:
www.workers.org/2007/world/zimbabwe-0419/

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

CBS Fires Don Imus Over Racial Slur
Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2007

Dismissal Caps Week Of Uproar Over Radio Host's Comments About Rutgers Women's Basketball Team
Full Article : cbsnews.com

Myth of Tal Afar, beacon of American 'success'
Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2007

¤ Tsvangirai - Asset in Imperial Agenda
MANY people probably wonder why the West does not just reveal the real agenda behind its imperialist wars of aggression and the alleged fight for "freedom and democracy" in the Middle East, China, Cuba and Zimbabwe.

When Britain was a superpower in the 19th century it called its colonial intrigues, invasions and occupations of parts of the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia, the "Great Game".

It was a game it played with the lives of Aboriginal people of Australia, the African "natives" of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa and many other states; a game played with the lives of Afghans, Iraqis and many of the people in the former Ottoman Empire today.

¤ Divide and rule - America's plan for Baghdad
Faced with an ever-more ruthless insurgency in Baghdad - despite President George Bush's "surge" in troops - US forces in the city are now planning a massive and highly controversial counter-insurgency operation that will seal off vast areas of the city, enclosing whole neighbourhoods with barricades and allowing only Iraqis with newly issued ID cards to enter.

The campaign of "gated communities" - whose genesis was in the Vietnam War - will involve up to 30 of the city's 89 official districts and will be the most ambitious counter-insurgency programme yet mounted by the US in Iraq.

¤ Iraq situation 'ever worsening'

¤ Iran envoy repeats US abuse claim
The second secretary at Iran's Baghdad embassy gave a detailed account of beatings and interrogations, including being whipped on his feet with cables.

¤ Probe finds that Marines accused of killing Afghan civilians used excessive force

¤ Algeria Attack and the al-Qaeda Penetration of Africa
It is sincerely mysterious "al-Qaeda" has a knack of showing up in places targeted by the neocons. For instance, Africa, in particular Somalia and, more recently, Algeria. "Terrorist bomb attacks in Algeria yesterday show al-Qaeda and its allies pose a 'very real threat' in North Africa, the U.S. State Department said," reports Bloomberg. "Al-Qaeda is a 'current and persistent' threat in the region, department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington yesterday…. Islamic militants are becoming more active in North Africa, particularly in the Maghreb region of Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria where they have joined forces with al-Qaeda."

¤ An April Fool ?
¤ US raid on mosque leads to massacre in Baghdad

¤ Myth of Tal Afar, beacon of American 'success'
Pity the city that becomes a symbol of US success in Iraq. Last year,Tal Afar in the north-east of the country was being lauded in Washington as the one place where the US had brought peace. Perhaps the same prescription might work elsewhere in Iraq.

Embedded American journalists scurried to this poor and depressing Turkoman city between Mosul and the Syrian border to report on the good news. President Bush even singled it out for optimistic comment in March 2006. "Tal Afar shows that, when Iraqis can count on a basic level of safety and security, they can live together peacefully," he said. "The people of Tal Afar have shown why spreading liberty and democracy is at the heart of our strategy to defeat the terrorists."

¤ Turning A Blind Eye to Egypt Gives U.S. a Black Eye In Region
¤ Bombing at Iraqi Parliament Kills 8
¤ Why ‘Nappy' Is Offensive
¤ Bomb Hits Parliament
¤ Squeezing Palestinians into an Impossible Mission
¤ The Awful Truth About Hillary, Barack and John
¤ Bush Family War Profiteering
¤ Big Profits from Big Brother
¤ Symbolism Over Politics
¤ Castro angry at US release of suspect
¤ Red Cross details 'unbearable suffering' of Iraqi civilians
¤ CBS anchor embarrassed by plagiarism
¤ USA admits it interferes into Russia's internal affairs

Iraqis Finally Unite Against the U.S.
Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2007

by Robert Scheer

You have to hand it to Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., for having the chutzpah to cite the fiercely anti-American rally that dominated the anniversary of Iraq's fourth year of U.S. occupation as evidence that the troop "surge" is working. As opposed to Lieberman, who continues to act as Bush's overeager lap dog, his masters in the White House knew better than to celebrate at this depressing moment.

After a weekend in which 10 U.S. soldiers were killed--four more were killed on Monday, bringing the total to 45 already in April--and the citizens of once bustling Baghdad cowered in their homes under a U.S.-imposed round-the-clock curfew, President Bush had the good sense for once to say not a word about the glorious "liberation" of Iraq. Instead, as Dana Milbank noted in The Washington Post, the president never mentioned Iraq in a 24-minute speech he gave on the happier subject of illegal immigration, nor did any of his top aides touch on the topic. The White House website ignored Iraq entirely under the heading "LATEST NEWS," instead featuring Clifford the Big Red Dog's romp at the South Lawn's annual Easter egg hunt.
Full Article : commondreams.org

Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai - Asset in Imperial Agenda
Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2007

By Reason Wafawarova
April 12, 2007

MANY people probably wonder why the West does not just reveal the real agenda behind its imperialist wars of aggression and the alleged fight for "freedom and democracy" in the Middle East, China, Cuba and Zimbabwe.

When Britain was a superpower in the 19th century it called its colonial intrigues, invasions and occupations of parts of the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia, the "Great Game".

It was a game it played with the lives of Aboriginal people of Australia, the African "natives" of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa and many other states; a game played with the lives of Afghans, Iraqis and many of the people in the former Ottoman Empire today.

It reads as an entertaining game in European history books where one gets an impression of a captivating competition for the rulers of the 19th century superpowers as they vied for control of African, Asian and Middle Eastern resources.

Today the same Western powers, led by the Americans, have abandoned the virtue of honesty and hide behind the mask of advocating "freedom, democracy and human rights," along with worn-out rhetoric of the so-called "war on terror."

History has never recorded any of the known imperialist powers as having embarked on any genuine humanitarian mission, let alone a moral one, all Western crusades have been contestable as guises for imperial gain from the colonial era, World War I and II, the formation of Israel, the invasion of Panama and Grenada, the 1991 Gulf War, the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the 2006 onslaught on Lebanon, the current meaningless provocations on Iran as well as the economic and political onslaught on Zimbabwe.

It is from this background that the recent admissions by the US government that it is sponsoring rebellion and anarchy in Zimbabwe under the guise of promoting human rights, democracy and freedom should be viewed.

One wonders if the Bush administration is attempting to posture as a pacifist regime, when it is sworn to violence. Most, clearly it is not, otherwise the deaths of 700 000 Iraqis and 3 000 US soldiers in Iraq would have given them more cause for concern than the sweeping away of Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC anarchists from the streets of Harare in Zimbabwe.

Not only has the US failed to show this concern, but it even went ahead and publicly declared its resolve to escalate the violence in Iraq by sending in more troops and giving additional funding to Shia militias who have accounted for most of the civilian deaths in Iraq.

In the eyes of the US, a snivelling lackey like Morgan Tsvangirai is a cause for more concern than a million lives lost in Iraq as "collateral" damage in the imperial agenda of stealing and controlling the oil resource.

Of course, Tsvangirai is an asset in the imperial agenda since he happens to be a willing poodle hailing from a country made up of land that is agriculturally fertile at the top and minerally rich beneath.

What Christopher Dell and Andrew Pocock have been assigned to do in Zimbabwe is the old "Great Game" and their failure would get them painted as modern mission men failing to live up to the exploits of 19th century task man; from an imperialist point of view.

This writer will briefly outline the history of imperial interventions in Afghanistan just to show how the Imperial Empire operates.

In the 19th century there was "entertaining" competition for control of the "Crossroads of Asia" between Great Britain and Russia.

In the Great Game, Britain scored first in 1836 when it invaded Afghanistan and installed a king loyal to its interests, just like the same British are trying to do in Zimbabwe with the help of the Americans.

Most of the Afghans outside Kabul loathed this king the way the rural people of Zimbabwe loath Tsvangirai, and the Afghans mobilised themselves and revolted against this poodle king as well as triumphantly driving out the British in 1842.

Not deterred, the British struck back in 1878 and re-invaded Afghanistan for the control of its resources and again they were booted out a few years later.

As the saying goes, the imperialist British stuck to their guns and tried it yet again in 1919. It was third time defeat in a row for the British as they once again fell to a determined Afghan leader who had resolved to follow the Moscow type of mordenisation after being inspired by the 1917 Russian revolution.

In 1973, Afghanistan had a palace coup and many Western type economic policies were introduced. In 1978 a clique of Stalinist politicians and army officers seized power and once again Russia took its turn to spin the imperial wheel as it claimed it was coming in at the invitation of fellow comrades.

The British responded by teaming up with the US and they armed a rebellious movement harboured in Pakistan and that war took ten years before it halted.

It cost Afghanistan 1,3 million lives and hundreds of thousands were displaced into neighbouring countries. Like the British before them the Russians also finally suffered defeat.

That brings us to the present "war on terror" which has been premised on the "noble" aims of ridding Afghanistan of terrorists; according to George W. Bush, Afghanistan is "teeming with terrorists and Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and many shadowy wicked people are lurking in every cave."

The other noble aim of the war on terror is to liberate Afghan women from the Taliban, themselves a creation of the US against the Russians.

Now it is an era for the US to play the Great Game in this most strategic territory to establish its control over potential oil and gas pipelines as well as to encircle its rivals Iran and China.

These two goals are what is of importance to the US and not some suffering "women of colour" or any other humanitarian gospel the US may choose to preach to the world.

Clearly, the US has not been that much of a great player in the game at hand and five years after plunging itself in the field of play, there is no sign of victory in sight and clearly no sign of a quick fix solution to the quagmire, just like their "A Team" is having a hell of a nightmare in Iraq.

The US mission is not humanitarian in Afghanistan, or Zimbabwe.

For Afghanistan, its five years after the invasion and 20 000 Afghans have been killed, no visible female freedom has been put in place, average life expectancy is a mere 44 years and the country ranks 173rd out 178 on the UN Human Development Index.

As for democracy, the puppet regime of Hamid Karzai is reportedly peppered with corrupt politicians, warlords, drug barons and even former Taliban. The regime's authority is limited to Kabul just like Iraq's Nouri al Maliki's regime is limited to the Green Zone in Baghdad.

This is "authority" only enforceable with the help of US firepower and one hopes Tsvangirai and his MDC are not hell bent on bringing such heresy to Zimbabwe.

The writer is a post-graduate student in International Relations at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia and can be contacted at wafawarova@yahoo.co.uk

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

US-British War on Terror Backfires: Think Tank
Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The US-led and British-backed war on terror is only fuelling more violence by focusing on military solutions rather than on root causes, a think tank warned Wednesday. "The 'war on terror' is failing and actually increasing the likelihood of more terrorist attacks," the Oxford Research Group said in its study, titled "Beyond Terror: The Truth About The Real Threats To Our World."

It said Britain and the United States have used military might to try to "keep the lid on" problems rather than trying to uproot the causes of terrorism.
Full Article : commondreams.org

Blair blames spate of murders on black culture
Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Tony Blair yesterday claimed the spate of knife and gun murders in London was not being caused by poverty, but a distinctive black culture. His remarks angered community leaders, who accused him of ignorance and failing to provide support for black-led efforts to tackle the problem.

One accused him of misunderstanding the advice he had been given on the issue at a Downing Street summit.

Black community leaders reacted after Mr Blair said the recent violence should not be treated as part of a general crime wave, but as specific to black youth. He said people had to drop their political correctness and recognise that the violence would not be stopped "by pretending it is not young black kids doing it".
Full Article : guardian.co.uk

'Surging' Toward Failure in Iraq
Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2007

¤ Zimbabwe: Britons, treat us with respect
¤ Zimbabwe Watch

¤ Russia threatening new cold war over missile defence
Russia is preparing its own military response to the US's controversial plans to build a new missile defence system in eastern Europe, according to Kremlin officials, in a move likely to increase fears of a cold war-style arms race.
The Kremlin is considering active counter-measures in response to Washington's decision to base interceptor missiles and radar installations in Poland and the Czech Republic, a move Russia says will change "the world's strategic stability".

¤ Gunmen in Bangladesh Kill Prosecutor

¤ 23 Dead, 160 Hurt in 2 Algiers Bombings
Bombs heavily damaged the prime minister's office and a police station Wednesday, killing at least 23 people and wounding about 160, the country's official news agency said. Al-Jazeera television said it received a claim of responsibility from al-Qaida in the Maghreb for both bombings.

The broadcaster said on Al-Jazeera it received a telephone call from a spokesman for the terrorist organization's wing in North Africa on Wednesday.

¤ Feeding the American Dream Into That Grinder

¤ An Orwellian PR stunt
Last week, Sen. John McCain staged a truly Orwellian publicity stunt in a Baghdad market. In a desperate attempt to give some sliver of credence to claims that the dreaded "liberal media" are failing to report on all the wonderful things happening in Iraq, McCain took a brief walk outside the American-maintained fortress that is Baghdad's green zone.
Afterward, McCain declared his walk through the Shurja market was a sign that security had improved significantly in the Iraqi capital, and the administration's current troop escalation is working. What he didn't mention was that, during his short stroll, he was accompanied by dozens of heavily armed U.S. troops and several armored vehicles, while a couple of attack helicopters hovered overhead.

¤ 'Surging' Toward Failure in Iraq
The Washington pundits and the press are all atwitter wondering how successful George W. Bush’s Iraq “surge” strategy will be and how fast the Democrats will crumble in a showdown with the steely-eyed President over his demand for $100 billion more for the war with no strings attached.

¤ Hegemony Lite

¤ Forgotten children of Baghdad
Four years on since the US invasion, many of the people who continue to suffer the most in Iraq are the country's children.

Many have lost their families to the violence and are forced to live on the streets in the midst of a war, surviving by living in dumps and eating whatever scraps they can find.

Poverty in Iraq has reached new levels in the last four years. Many children have little or no access to basic necessities, like clean water, health care or education.

¤ High Stakes: Chávez Plays the Oil Card
With President Hugo Chávez setting a May 1 deadline for an ambitious plan to wrest control of several major oil projects from American and European companies, a showdown is looming here over access to some of the most coveted energy resources outside the Middle East.
Moving beyond empty threats to cut off all oil exports to the United States, officials have recently stepped up the pressure on the oil companies operating here, warning that they might sell American refineries meant to process Venezuelan crude oil even as they seek new outlets in China and elsewhere around the world.

¤ The Myth of Tal Afar
Pity the city that becomes a symbol of US success in Iraq. Last year, Tal Afar in the north-east of the country was being lauded in Washington as the one place where the US had brought peace. Perhaps the same prescription might work elsewhere in Iraq.

Embedded American journalists scurried to this poor and depressing Turkoman city between Mosul and the Syrian border to report on the good news. President Bush even singled it out for optimistic comment in March 2006. "Tal Afar shows that, when Iraqis can count on a basic level of safety and security, they can live together peacefully," he said. "The people of Tal Afar have shown why spreading liberty and democracy is at the heart of our strategy to defeat the terrorists."

¤ Monsanto's GM corn MON863 shows kidney, liver toxicity in animal studies
A variety of genetically modified corn that was approved for human consumption in 2006 caused signs of liver and kidney toxicity as well as hormonal changes in rats in a study performed by researchers from the independent Committee for Independent Research and Genetic Engineering at the University of Caen in France.

¤ Eye on Iraq: The worst mistake
After four years of war, 3,200 American deaths, 23,000 U.S. troops wounded and possibly in excess of 100,000 Iraqis killed, U.S. policymakers are now making what may prove to be their worst mistake yet: They may be on a new collision course with Moqtada al-Sadr.
U.S. forces backed by Iraqi troops were reported Saturday in fierce clashes with Sadr's Shiite Mahdi Army militia in a bid to wrest control from it of the southern Iraqi town of Diwaniyah.

There is a considerable amount of tactical justification for U.S. forces to clash with Sadr's forces now, especially in Diwaniyah. With a U.S. air strike against Iran's nuclear facilities widely expected in the region, U.S. forces may want to suppress, cripple or intimidate Sadr's militia -- the most pro-Iranian and anti-American of all the Shiite paramilitary groupings in Iraq -- as a preemptive measure.

¤ US Forced to Import Bullets from Israel
US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan - an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed - that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.

A government report says that US forces are now using 1.8 billion rounds of small-arms ammunition a year. The total has more than doubled in five years, largely as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as changes in military doctrine.

¤ More than 1,000 killed in attack on Mogadishu
¤ Electronic voting machines dumped

¤ Iran shows pictures of 'tortured' diplomat
Iran has shown footage of the wounds of an Iranian diplomat released after two months in captivity in Iraq, saying the pictures show he was tortured by US forces.

"The United States, whose officials make claims about human rights, drilled holes into the legs of Jalal Sharafi and there were signs of damage to his nose and neck," state television said.

Television showed footage of Mr Sharafi in hospital, his feet badly bruised and body covered by sensors, as he was visited by the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Iran, Peter Stocker.

¤ Iran offers 'proof' of CIA torture
¤ Iraqis Finally Unite - Against the U.S.
¤ Imus in the Toilet
¤ Does White America Love Imus?

¤ Red Cross warns of 'ever-worsening' crisis for Iraqi civilians
The Iraqi people face an "ever-worsening crisis," the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday in a report highlighting the growing suffering of civilians four years after the US-led invasion.
"The suffering that Iraqi men, women and children are enduring today is unbearable and unacceptable. Their lives and dignity are continuously under threat," said the ICRC's director of operations, Pierre Kraehenbuehl.

¤ Outrage at India menstrual form

Zimbabwe: Britons, treat us with respect
Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The Herald

EDITOR -- To say I was shocked is an understatement, for I was utterly disgusted by the Western media's reaction to the article by David Samuriwo, "Dare's anti-Zimbabwe media campaign misguided," (The Herald April 3 2007), as they alleged that death threats had been issued on the British junior official.

Any sane reader would have understood Samuriwo's advice to Dare.

My own understanding was that he was merely warning her to stop behaving like an opposition activist lest she be caught in the crossfire when the full wrath of the law descends on the riotous lot in the streets.

The question is: How many times have British establishment newspapers made clear threats against the Government and President Mugabe yet Harare never summoned Andrew Pocock to explain himself?

How many times has the British parliament debated Zimbabwe and every time from positions of ignorance, yet their Ambassador here was never harassed?

Indeed, recently a whole British minister lied about the President's daughter, yet Pocock was never asked to explain.

What baffles me is that an article by an external correspondent, was attributed to President Mugabe, as if he authored the opinion piece himself.

How petty can we get all in a quest for political mileage? Please MaBhiritish (Britons) treat us with respect, we are not as daft as you think.

Tinei Zata

Harare

Trash Talk Radio
Posted: Tuesday, April 10, 2007

by Gwen Ifill

Let's say a word about the girls. The young women with the musical names. Kia and Epiphanny and Matee and Essence. Katie and Dee Dee and Rashidat and Myia and Brittany and Heather.

The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University had an improbable season, dropping four of their first seven games, yet ending up in the N.C.A.A. women's basketball championship game. None of them were seniors. Five were freshmen.

In the end, they were stopped only by Tennessee's Lady Vols, who clinched their seventh national championship by ending Rutgers' Cinderella run last week, 59-46. That's the kind of story we love, right? A bunch of teenagers from Newark, Cincinnati, Brooklyn and, yes, Ogden, Utah, defying expectations. It's what explodes so many March Madness office pools.

But not, apparently, for the girls. For all their grit, hard work and courage, the Rutgers girls got branded "nappy-headed ho's" -- a shockingly concise sexual and racial insult, tossed out in a volley of male camaraderie by a group of amused, middle-aged white men. The "joke" -- as delivered and later recanted -- by the radio and television personality Don Imus failed one big test: it was not funny.
Full Article : commondreams.org

Huge Protest in Iraq Demands U.S. Withdraw
Posted: Tuesday, April 10, 2007

BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands of protesters loyal to Moktada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric, took to the streets of the holy city of Najaf on Monday in an extraordinarily disciplined rally to demand an end to the American military presence in Iraq, burning American flags and chanting "Death to America!"

Residents said that the angry, boisterous demonstration was the largest in Najaf, the heart of Shiite religious power, since the American-led invasion in 2003. It took place on the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, and it was an obvious effort by Mr. Sadr to show the extent of his influence here in Iraq, even though he did not appear at the rally. Mr. Sadr went underground after the American military began a new security push in Baghdad on Feb. 14, and his whereabouts are unknown.
Full Article : commondreams.org

Zimbabwe: MDC - A party without strategy
Posted: Tuesday, April 10, 2007

EDITOR -- It is now almost two weeks since Sadc boldly condemned the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe, in addition to calling on Britain to honour its obligations to fund land reforms in this country.

Since that historic communiqué, every day I have been waiting to hear the so-called politicians in the MDC call on the West to lift the embargo and Britain to honour its colonial obligations.

But all I have heard is silence.

Isn't the message now clear to those who support this quisling party that Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara are not concerned about improving the socio-economic situation but are, in fact, intent on worsening it?

MDC is a party without strategy, and whose every member in Parliament owes that good fortune to chance and not merit.

It follows that the party's existence hinges on opportunism and the hope that chance will propel it to power on the back of protest votes. The same goes for Lovemore Madhuku and his NCA.

Imagine what would happen to him if we were to have a new constitution.

Where would he be since he owes his claim to fame to fighting for a new constitution?

Chabvondoka

Harare

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

US Interference Backlash
Posted: Tuesday, April 10, 2007

¤ Zimbabwe: US Interference Backlash
How do people feel knowing that Western powers have been paying people to criticize the Zimbabwe government?

They should feel duped; especially if they actually believed most of the anti-Mugabe news that has been pushed by the Western media ever since the land reclamation exercise that forced some Whites to stop occupying large tracts of land that were to be distributed to Blacks.

The US did state their intentions in 2002 following an election that saw Mugabe victorious at the polls. In August 2002, Chris McGreal writing for the Guardian UK stated...

¤ Zimbabwe Watch

¤ How to Get Out of Iraq

¤ Power to the Pelosi
President George Bush charges that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's trip this week to Syria was undermining U.S. foreign policy. He's absolutely correct. If ever there was an administration whose foreign policy needed undermining, it's the Bush/Cheney duo. Speaker Pelosi, the third ranking government official, and a remarkably capable lady, is doing all Americans a service.

The republic's founding fathers were deeply worried a future president might run amok or make himself an absolute ruler. The primary constitutional architecture of the U.S. government is designed to thwart such dangers through a brilliant system of checks and balances.

¤ Address Root Causes of Terror, Expert Advises
¤ Huge turnout for anti-US rally
¤ Imus: 'I Said a Bad Thing'
¤ Who owns Britain?
¤ Iraqis rally, call for U.S. forces to leave
¤ Iraq Mercenaries
¤ War, Lies and WMDs
¤ Protests mark Iraq anniversary
¤ Quake lifts Solomons island out of the sea
¤ BBC reporter may have staged kidnapping
¤ Shiites call for U.S. to leave Iraq
¤ Racial slur gets Imus 2-week suspension
¤ Israel Does Not Want Peace
¤ Behind Boston's Recent "Crime Wave"
¤ The Media's Ideological View of Pelosi's Trip
¤ Step It Up 2007
¤ The Bloody Results of America's Bizarre Love Affair With Guns

¤ Sweet Little Lies
Four years into a war fought to eliminate a nonexistent threat, we all have renewed appreciation for the power of the Big Lie: people tend to believe false official claims about big issues, because they can't picture their leaders being dishonest about such things.

But there's another political lesson I don't think has sunk in: the power of the Little Lie — the small accusation invented out of thin air, followed by another, and another, and another. Little Lies aren't meant to have staying power. Instead, they create a sort of background hum, a sense that the person facing all these accusations must have done something wrong.

For a long time, basically from 9/11 until the last remnants of President Bush's credibility drowned in New Orleans, the Bush administration was able to go big on its deceptions. Most people found it inconceivable that an American president would, for example, assert without evidence that Saddam and Al Qaeda were allies. Mr. Bush won the 2004 election because a quorum of voters still couldn't believe he would grossly mislead them on matters of national security.

¤ No More Imus
¤ Hell for US soldiers and pleasure for oil corporations

¤ US accused of using neutron bombs
The former commander of Iraq's Republican Guard has accused the US of using non-conventional weapons in its war against the Middle East country.

Saifeddin Fulayh Hassan Taha al-Rawi told Al Jazeera that US forces used neutron and phosphorus bombs during their assault on Baghdad airport before the April 9 capture of the Iraqi capital.

¤ Bush "Terror War" Gives Taliban Big Boost
George W. Bush's "War on Terror" marked a new milestone this week, as a poll in Afghanistan's key Helmland region showed that the dread and draconian Taliban are now more popular than the American-led foreign occupation of the country – more than five years after the Islamic extremist group was ousted from power by a group of warlords, drug barons, oilmen and, er, Islamic extremist groups when the Bush gang took sides in the nation's long-running, hydra-headed civil war.

¤ Iran to generate nuclear power on schedule
Flashback ¤ The photographs tell the story...
Flashback ¤ Staged Cheering "throngs" in Baghdad

Quake lifts Solomons island out of the sea
Posted: Monday, April 9, 2007

The seismic jolt that unleashed the deadly Solomons tsunami this week lifted an entire island metres out of the sea, destroying some of the world's most pristine coral reefs.

In an instant, the grinding of the Earth's tectonic plates in the 8.0 magnitude earthquake Monday forced the island of Ranongga up three metres (10 foot).

Submerged reefs that once attracted scuba divers from around the globe lie exposed and dying after the quake raised the mountainous landmass, which is 32-kilometres (20-miles) long and 8-kilometres (5-miles) wide.
Full Article : yahoo.com

US let Ethiopia buy secret N Korean arms
Posted: Monday, April 9, 2007

NEW YORK: Washington allowed Ethiopia to secretly buy weapons from North Korea in an apparent breach of UN sanctions aimed at punishing Pyongyang for its atomic test, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

The purchase went through in January -three months after the UN text was adopted -as Ethiopia was supporting Somali government troops in a battle against Islamist militias, the paper said, quoting unnamed senior US officials.

The officials said they learned that Ethiopia was planning to get a shipment of "military cargo from North Korea" after the UN resolution was passed in mid-October.

One of the officials was quoted as saying the Ethiopian government appealed to the administration of US President George W Bush by saying: "Look, we know we need to transition to different customers, but we just can't do that overnight."

Then, following "a brief debate in Washington, the decision was made not to block the arms deal and to press Ethiopia not to make future purchases," the paper said.
Full Article : dailytimes.com.pk

Anger as hostages sell stories to highest bidders
Posted: Sunday, April 8, 2007

The 15 British military hostages released by Iran were accused last night of cashing in on the ordeal by selling their stories in a string of lucrative media deals.

The sailors, who spent 13 days in captivity and at times feared for their lives, have been given permission by the Ministry of Defence to give exclusive interviews. The MoD justified lifting the ban on military personnel selling their stories while in service because of the 'exceptional circumstances' involved.
Full Article : guardian.co.uk

The US Government Sponsors Terrorism in Zimbabwe
Posted: Saturday, April 7, 2007

¤ The US Government Sponsors Terrorism in Zimbabwe
The US government is sponsoring critics of the Zimbabwe government and is funding activities aimed at "discrediting" positions taken by the Zimbabwe government under President Mugabe. (US reveals its efforts to topple Mugabe regime) No one should believe that these activities are only of a nonviolent nature. The US is definitely funding Terrorism in Zimbabwe.

The US bureaucracy is so convoluted that the government doesn't even know what is there. So much of their dirty work has a paper trail and willingness to go through that mess would provide much proof to what they have been doing all along. Under the dubious banner of "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy" The U.S. Record 2003-2004, 2004 - 2005, 2005 - 2006 and the latest report for 2006, released on April 5th 2007, are just a sampling of the records showing the length of time the US government has been funding opposition activities in Zimbabwe.

¤ South Africa's Mbeki defends Zimbabwe's controversial land reform

¤ Cuba and Venezuela turn against ethanol

¤ U.S. air strike hits volatile Iraqi city

¤ Pelosi and Syria

¤ More Mainstream Media Obfuscation

¤ The True Story of Free Speech in America

¤ Bush and Cheney Still Lie with Abandon

¤ 40 killed, 70 injured in Pakistan sectarian fighting

¤ BBC: British Bullshit Corporation

¤ Israel launches deadly raid in Gaza

¤ Osama in the Green Room
Lately, the CIA, Pentagon intelligence, Mossad, MI6, Spain’s CNI, German intelligence—call it the Spook Monolith—have busied themselves with video productions. In the past day or so, "a videotape showing what [al-Qaeda] says is an attack by militants on a US military camp in Afghanistan" (entitled "Hell for the Americans in the Land of Kharasan") has appeared, according to the Australian, followed by "a videotape purportedly from Al Qaeda that threatens attacks against Spanish troops serving in Afghanistan," Expatica reports, and finally a possible guest appearance by the dead CIA asset, none other than Osama bin Laden.

¤ Misery of Palestinian children

¤ Exchange of letters with Iraq Body Count

¤ It took the spilled blood of nearly a 1,000,000 Iraqis for them to realize?
"Most Americans have little or no confidence in the information they receive from the military or the media about the situation in Iraq, according to a poll released Thursday.
The survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 52 percent have little or no faith in the military's portrayal of the four-year war, compared with 60 percent who feel the same way about the press reports of the conflict.
The figures are a far cry from the overwhelming confidence Americans had in the military and the media at the outset of the war in March 2003.

US reveals its efforts to topple Mugabe regime
Posted: Friday, April 6, 2007

· State department tells of regime change strategy
· Washington funded opposition activities

Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Friday April 6, 2007
The Guardian UK

The US admitted openly for the first time yesterday that it was actively working to undermine Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.

Although officially Washington does not support regime change, a US state department report published yesterday acknowledged that it was supporting opposition politicians in the country and others critical of Mr Mugabe.

The state department also admitted sponsoring events aimed at "discrediting" statements made by Mr Mugabe's government.

The report will be seized on by Mr Mugabe, who has repeatedly claimed that the US and Britain are seeking regime change.

The comments are contained in the state department's fifth annual Supporting Human Rights and Democracy report. It sets out in detail actions the US government is taking worldwide to promote human rights.

The report has had a troubled history. Three years ago publication had to be hastily delayed when details emerged about US human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

The US, compared with the UK, was initially slow to criticise Mr Mugabe, but has since adopted an increasingly critical stance, most recently at the Human Rights Council in Geneva last month.

In an unusual piece of candour, the state department report says: "To encourage greater public debate on restoring good governance in [Zimbabwe], the United States sponsored public events that presented economic and social analyses discrediting the government's excuses for its failed policies.

"To further strengthen pro-democracy elements, the US government continued to support the efforts of the political opposition, the media and civil society to create and defend democratic space and to support persons who criticised the government."

While the US and British governments still insist their aim in Zimbabwe is not regime change, they have been encouraging the main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangarai, who was beaten up last month.

The report says that while Zimbabwe is nominally democratic, the government of Mr Mugabe is "now authoritarian".

At a press conference to launch the document, the assistant secretary of state, Barry Lowenkren, said the US goal was not necessarily regime change but to create a level playing field for all parties. He added that where there was a country with record levels of inflation, denial of basic human rights and other abuses, the US had a duty to speak out so that people in Zimbabwe knew they had support.

Asked whether US efforts to promote human rights worldwide were being undermined by the hundreds of of people being held at Guantánamo, Mr Lowenkren insisted the issue was not raised by non-governmental groups at conferences he attended and participants were more interested in what the US could do to help them in their own countries.

He also denied the report was softer on authoritarian governments allied to the US, such as Belarus, than to Zimbabwe.

Mr Lowenkren said $66m was being spent on promotion of democracy and human rights in Iran, about half of which was devoted to broadcasts from outside the country and the rest spent on support for non-governmental exchanges, cultural exchanges such as the visit by the US wrestling team and a Persian internet service.

The report is critical of Russia, noting the killing of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

It says: "Political pressure on the judiciary, corruption and selectivity in enforcement of the law, continuing media restrictions and self-censorship, and government pressure on opposition political parties eroded the public accountability of government leaders.

"Security forces were involved in additional significant human rights problems."

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

Reprinted from:
www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2051629,00.html

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

The US Government Exposed
Posted: Friday, April 6, 2007

¤ The US Government Exposed
The ongoing attempts at demonizing Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe by the U.S. and U.K. mainstream media were getting more and more ridiculous, and suddenly, most likely inadvertently, the U.S. makes the admission of what some, including President Mugabe, have been saying all along: the U.S. is supporting the opposition in Zimbabwe in their quest for regime change.

¤ Zimbabwe: Workers now aware of ZCTU's irrelevance

¤ Where truth should not get in the way of 'good copy'
THE British government and Western media campaign against Zimbabwe is notable for its rabid bias; what is said or written has no concern for the truth or balance, that is getting the other side's point of view. It has a single-minded pre-occupation with demonising Zimbabwe and propping up the opposition, especially Morgan Tsvangirai, well above his station.

All this is at variance with the age-old notion of British fair play, if ever it existed. When I was studying journalism in London, my tutor was at pains to emphasise that there were always two sides to a story and the views of both sides ought to be reported.

¤ US reveals its efforts to topple Mugabe regime
The US admitted openly for the first time yesterday that it was actively working to undermine Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.
Although officially Washington does not support regime change, a US state department report published yesterday acknowledged that it was supporting opposition politicians in the country and others critical of Mr Mugabe.

The state department also admitted sponsoring events aimed at "discrediting" statements made by Mr Mugabe's government.

¤ Who will bite first, the U.S. or Iran?
¤ What If Iran Had Invaded Mexico?
¤ War Is Terrorism
¤ The Press is paying patsy with terrorist propaganda
¤ Let's Hear it for the War on Terror: Somalia

¤ Between Good and Evil
The main British editorials happen to agree that Ahmadinejad has scored points in this latest naval round. I find their take on it all rather disappointing. With over 650,000 innocents dead as a direct result of the invasion of Iraq and a war against Iran looming on the horizon, it is about time British columnists stopped telling us about tactical gains and losses. Instead they should once and for all be endorsing a humanist and ethical discourse that is grounded on genuine responsibility.

The battle between Ahmadinejad and Blair is not a political or diplomatic one, it is not about points. It is actually a clash between civilizations, but more than that, it seems to be a fight between humanism and cold pragmatism. As it emerges, in this battle, it is Ahmadinejad rather than Blair who reminds us where goodness rests. Seemingly, a man who has been repeatedly presented to us by our deluded Western media as a' radical', 'fundamentalist' and 'Islamofascist' has proved beyond doubt that he is actually the one who knows what forgiveness and grace are all about. It was Ahmadinejad who has pardoned the enemy, it was Ahmadinejad that evoked some prospects of a peaceful future.

¤ Somalia: More clashes expected
¤ Spin, spin, spin - UK tries to undo Iran's PR win
¤ Saddam's pre-war ties to al-Qaeda discounted
¤ Cheney reasserts Saddam link to al-Qaida
¤ Suicide chlorine bomb kills 27 in Iraq
¤ Ahmadenijad the Great vs. Blair the Ingrate
¤ Bring On The Iraq Micromanagers

Zimbabwe: Workers now aware of ZCTU's irrelevance
Posted: Friday, April 6, 2007

The Herald

EDITOR — Let me take this opportunity to congratulate all the progressive workers of Zimbabwe for ignoring ill-conceived calls for a stayaway called this week by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

The long-suffering workers have long realised that one can not solve anything by staying away from work.

They also now know that the labour body long deviated from its mandate of representing and articulating workers’ interests in pursuit of a political agenda.

Instead of concentrating all their energies towards deliberations in the Tripartite Negotiating Forum to come up with a social contract beneficial to workers, Government and business, ZCTU leaders have half-heartedly applied themselves to the initiative.

It is hard to comprehend why the labour body calls for a stayaway in protest over the same issues the TNF is trying to address.

What is now clear to everyone is that the opposition-inclined ZCTU does not want a successful social contract as it will scupper the MDC's hopes of getting into power on the back of public discontent over prevailing economic hardships.

Wellington Chibebe and Lovemore Matombo have not been of any value to the ordinary worker in Zimbabwe, though they may have been of value to the MDC.

The ZCTU leadership, like their colleagues in the MDC, has failed to read the mood of Zimbabweans and continue to call for mass actions, stayaways, and the like that no longer appeal to the public. If these opposition activists masquerading as trade unionists want to be remembered in history as having contributed something meaningful to the welfare of workers, they must go back to the TNF and vigorously pursue a social contract.

Having said that, Government on its part needs to act quickly to address the deteriorating economic conditions that have reduced workers to near destitute status. Urgent steps need to be taken to remove the economic distortions that the West and its opposition lackeys hope to exploit in their quest for illegal regime change.

Kennedy Chiwa

Harare

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Zimbabwe: Where truth should not get in the way of 'good copy'
Posted: Friday, April 6, 2007

By Peter Mavunga
The Herald

THE British government and Western media campaign against Zimbabwe is notable for its rabid bias; what is said or written has no concern for the truth or balance, that is getting the other side's point of view. It has a single-minded pre-occupation with demonising Zimbabwe and propping up the opposition, especially Morgan Tsvangirai, well above his station.

All this is at variance with the age-old notion of British fair play, if ever it existed. When I was studying journalism in London, my tutor was at pains to emphasise that there were always two sides to a story and the views of both sides ought to be reported.

From what has been written about Zimbabwe over the past four weeks, though, you might be excused to think that Tsvangirai, the "blameless" leader of one faction of the MDC, was the head of state while the President of the Republic has a monopoly of doing wrong.

The disturbances that occurred in Highfield at the beginning of last month caused injuries on both sides, yet the way the story was reported tells a different story. The newspapers here have a selective memory.

The pictures that accompany this week's London Letter depict the violence of the MDC. It is, therefore, not surprising that they never appeared anywhere in the British media. These real people, police officers serving the people of Zimbabwe, do not exist in the psyche of the British media.

British journalists saw only Tsvangirai as the victim of the "violence" of Zimbabwe's State apparatus.

In their newspapers they splashed Tsvangirai in a hospital bed with head injuries but giving long telephone interviews to journalists abroad. They did not see anything else. The violence by the opposition never features in the vocabulary of the media here neither is it given any consideration by those who serve in the government led by Tony Blair.

Presumably they will say I am being unfair to them because British journalists are banned from reporting from Zimbabwe and, therefore, cannot be expected to report what they do not see. The question is; why were they banned in the first place?

Was it something to do with their amnesia and selective memory when it came to reporting Zimbabwe? More to the point, how are they able to report so much about Tsvangirai then?

A few years ago there was media frenzy in the UK when The Guardian featured a front page story asserting that a female MDC supporter had been decapitated by a bunch of Zanu-PF youths in Magunje, Karoi. The story was a complete fabrication but as it fitted neatly into the agenda of the British Press, it received widespread coverage.

A serious political party aspiring to convince the electorate that it is fit to govern should think about its integrity and avoid using people's tragedies to achieve its political ends.

But it is an indictment of British journalism that such falsehoods, initiated by the old Daily News, should be replicated the world over without checking.

What is also interesting is that the papers here never bothered to correct their mistakes. When it became common knowledge that they had wrongly attributed the death of the Zimbabwean woman to Zanu-PF youths, they never retracted the rubbish they had been spreading.

It is done in other circumstances but when the lies are in respect of Zimbabwe no correction is necessary lest it weakens the campaign of discrediting the Government of Zimbabwe. Truth should never get in the way of running a good copy. Running the Government of Zimbabwe down, is the overarching objective.

The papers here also change their tune faster than a chameleon changes colour. In the build up to the flopped two-day stayaway this week, the papers were reporting confidently that this would be the largest demonstration Zimbabwe had ever seen

With "80 percent unemployment", so the story went, "the people of Zimbabwe, angry with the Mugabe regime were going to demonstrate because they have nothing to lose."

Their tune has changed now that the numbers, by the papers' own accounts, turned out to be lower than they had anticipated. They now say the people did not want to lose a day's wage and that many preferred to go to work where they get their only meal of the day!

I did not realise that companies in Zimbabwe are so generous that they now give their employees not just wages but lunch as well!

According to the British Press, everything bad happens in Zimbabwe.

Another feature of the media campaign here is that it is persistent and unrelenting. They have tried very hard to foster discord within the ranks of the ruling Zanu-PF party. It was said Vice President Amai Joice Mujuru had resigned not because she wanted the top job for herself but her husband is calling all the shots.

Yes, we were told he was behind all this. Then the news was that the former army commander had been arrested. Then it was said in the British papers that both the Politburo and Central Committee were divided. From this spin, they concluded that, for the President, the end was nigh.

They were, however, forced to report, albeit grudgingly, that the President had been endorsed as the sole candidate to fight the next presidential election, it was like an anti-climax for them though it never dampened their spirits. The Times, for instance, was this weekend regurgitating the same old story of disunity as if it was reporting it anew.

Clearly, President Mugabe had a good conference in Tanzania and one British journalist was forced to concede that he returned home "with a spring in his step."

The media hype had proved to be no more than the usual British froth and bubble. They had anticipated that the President would be told in no uncertain terms that his time was up. They expected the Sadc heads of state and government to tell him he should not seek re-election.

It was said President Mbeki of South Africa was going to use his muscle to bring President Mugabe down. But the meeting came and went, leaving Sadc even more united. Sadc rightly did not think it was its duty to dictate what should happen in Zimbabwe, which they have always said is a matter for Zimbabweans.

That was tangible proof of emerging African unity and the more progressive people I speak to in this country do accept that President Mugabe and his team's principled stance on the land question is to be admired.

The present British government hates that principled stance with a vengeance and that hatred dates back to 1998 just before the CHOGM held in Scotland. The economy of Zimbabwe has been in difficulties since then and the British use all the tricks in the book to put the blame on President Mugabe.

Are they right to blame the President? That is the subject of my next instalment.

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Zimbabwe: Sadc decision a slap in the face for MDC
Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2007

The Herald

EDITOR - The MDC factions and their shameless sponsors were shocked by the outcome of the extraordinary summit of Sadc heads of state and government held in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, at the end of last month.

While the West thought Sadc leaders were going to pressure President Mugabe to announce his retirement, the President told his colleagues the truth about the situation in the country and they expressed their unreserved solidarity with the Government and people of this great country.

When opposition leaders were arrested, security agents were merely reacting to provocation by MDC hooligans, what Morgan Tsvangirai called his supporters were thugs paid to cause mayhem in the country.

The MDC hoodlums, who continue bombing civilian and State infrastructure, are risking their lives for transient stipends not the so-called values Tsvangirai pontificates about.

The Sadc's support was, indeed, welcome.

Now the MDC knows our neighbours do not back terrorism or puppet politics. They will never support people who cannot think for themselves, but only wait to be agitated into barbaric acts by Westerners only for filthy lucre.

To MDC supporters, I say don't be like fish that is enticed to death by a very tiny worm on a fishing hook. Zimbabwe is your country, do not be tricked into destroying your motherland for the selfish interests of the British and Americans.

The Anglo-Saxons will not allow you to settle in their countries if you destroy your own. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Sixpence Manyengavana

Highlands

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Zimbabwe: West fails to apologise for Slavery
Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2007

By Sifelani Tsiko
herald.co.zw
April 05, 2007

EVENTS to mark the 200th anniversary of the day the British parliament passed a law banning the slave trade were held around the world with Africans at home and abroad bemoaning the absence of an explicit apology from the former slave-trading nations.

There was no commitment by British prime minister Tony Blair and churches, which profited from this inhuman and cruel trade to specific reparations aimed at compensating those who suffered from the trade.

A commemorative service was held at Westminster Abbey to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, Blair and religious leaders were among 2 000 people who attended the service.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, described slavery as an offence to human dignity and freedom and "the greatest cause of grief to God's spirit".

His church profited immensely from this cruel trade in humans.

"We, who are the heirs of the slave-owning and slave-trading nations of the past, have to face the fact that our historic prosperity was built in large part on this atrocity," he said.

"Those who are the heirs of the communities ravaged by the slave trade know very well that much of their present suffering and struggling is the result of centuries of abuse."

But the Queen, Blair or the Church of England made no apology.

Instead, the commemorative service was at best held to glorify William Wilberforce who was a prime mover of the abolition of slave trade motion which led to the enactment of an Act on March 25 1807.

The Slave Trade Act of March 1807 never stopped slavery but prohibited British ships from transporting slaves.

African scholars say Wilberforce was not the only person who helped end slavery.

It is worth noting that Britain did not abolish slavery in its territories until 1833.

Blacks like Olaudah Equiano, a former slave and thousands others who signed petitions, marched and lobbied against the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, were critical in the anti-slave trade movement.

It was sad that the role of these people was downplayed and restricted to the fringes of this movement at the commemorative service.

For the better part of the commemorations, Blair and the Queen only seized the event to glorify one of their own. They laid flowers on the memorial to William Wilberforce — who Europeans in their history text books say led the abolition movement — and then, of course to the Innocent Victims' Memorial, in honour of all those affected by slavery.

Lady (Kate) Davson, the great great great granddaughter of William Wilberforce was also used strengthen the belief that the British cared and saved black people from this evil human trade system.

She read a speech made by her ancestor to the House of Commons.

Africans at home and abroad wanted Blair and the Queen to go a step further — make an official apology.

Linda Ali, of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel said Blair who had expressed "deep sorrow and regret" at Britain's role in the slave trade must go a step further.

"I don't see what is so very difficult about apologising for what is such a great crime against humanity," said Ms Ali.

Even Lady Davson said she too thought Mr Blair should apologise.

"Slavery is one of the largest pieces of our wounded history, our worldwide wounded history, and ... [has] to be confronted in order to get peace in our world."

The British premier did not speak at the service.

"It is hard to believe that what would now be a crime against humanity was legal at the time," Blair said in an opinion piece on Britain's role in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade before the commemorations.

"Personally, I believe the bi-centenary offers us a chance not just to say how profoundly shameful the slave trade was — how we condemn its existence utterly and praise those who fought for its abolition — but also to express our deep sorrow that it ever happened, that it ever could have happened and to rejoice at the different and better times we live in today," Blair said.

Even though Blair admitted that Britain is richer in every way — in business, politics, sport, the arts and science because of the part played by the African and Caribbean communities — he remained adamant and never apologised.

Instead, he used the colourful language of racial equality and "the richness of our diversity" approach to tactically avoid the crucial apology which Africans at home and abroad so wanted.

But the African spirit remained unbowed despite the refusal by Blair to make an official apology.

According to media reports, people across the Caribbean bowed their heads for a moment of silence to mark the end of the Trans-Atlantic slave routes, which shaped the region's history.

In Jamaica, islanders held symbolic funeral rites in Kingston Harbour for African slaves who died during the perilous ocean crossing.

In the Dominica, the cries of African slaves being led to cell blocks pierced the air, as their lives were re-enacted.

Participants walked in chains to Roseau's Baraccoon building, where slaves were held before being auctioned off to plantation owners in the former French and British colony, and which now houses the City Council.

Media reports in Guyana say a tribute was held in the compound of parliament buildings where slaves were beaten and sometimes hanged.

"We unite as a region and as a people, in a collective moment of reflection, as we remember one of the greatest tragedies in the history of humanity, which denied over 25 million Africans, for over 400 years, the basic human right of freedom, the right to self-actualisation and for so many, denial of even their basic right to life," said Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and chairman of the Caribbean Community.

Dr John Sentamu, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England told the media that Britain was a country which once bought and sold slaves "as it did crops like onions or maize," and now had to make a formal apology.

"A nation of this quality should have the sense of saying we are very sorry and we have to put the record straight," he said.

At the anti-racism conference that was held three years ago in Durban, South Africa, participants agreed that the depredation of the systems of slavery and colonialism had a degrading and debilitating impact on those who are black.

The African delegations in Durban noted with concern the lack of an explicit apology from the former slave-trading nations or any commitment to specific reparations aimed at compensating those who suffered from the trade.

However, despite the criticism, the debates in Durban broke new ground in the decade-long campaign by African countries and representatives of the African Diaspora to gain international recognition for the injustices perpetrated against them in the era of the slave trade.

The issue was not just one of righting a historical wrong, they argued, but also of addressing the lasting legacy of poverty and discrimination suffered over centuries by Africa and its descendants.

In the early 1990s, the Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union officially embraced the idea of making claims for atonement, including specific reparations, for slavery and colonialism.

While there was general agreement on having the slave trade declared a crime against humanity, not everyone felt that an explicit apology or financial reparations were worth pursuing at the conference.

Others felt demanding money trivialised the impact of slavery.

Not "every apology must be followed by monetary compensation ... We must not forget that monetary compensation, as it is being proposed, may further hurt the dignity of Africa," Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo said in the build up to Durban conference.

In this renewed debate on slavery Africans must remain conscious of the historical injustices of the slave trade which critics say undeniably contributed to poverty, underdevelopment, marginalisation, social exclusion, economic disparities, instability and insecurity on the continent.

They must also begrudgingly accept that even though Britain and other countries that benefited from slavery have refused make official apologies, the most important thing is to ensure that this shameful and uncomfortable chapter of history is not forgotten.

Africans need a genuine apology not for monetary gain, but to help restore the dignity and humanity of those who suffered and still bear the scars of slavery.

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

The U.S. Admits Sponsoring Opposition in Zimbabwe
Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2007

¤ The U.S. acknowledges sponsorship of public events in Zimbabwe aimes to undermine the President
The U.S. State Department acknowledged that sponsorship of public events in Zimbabwe had an aim to undermine the government of President Robert Mugabe.

In it annual report on supporting democracy worldwide, the department said its strategy for Zimbabwe also included steps to "support persons who criticized the government."

Although nominally a republic, the government under Mugabe is "now authoritarian, the report said. Many humanitarian groups who no longer operate in Zimbabwe agree that "fundamental political and economic changes" are a prerequisite to reengagement in Zimbabwe, it added.

¤ The U.S. Admits Sponsoring Opposition in Zimbabwe
¤ Dialogue is the only solution for Zimbabwe crisis
¤ US reveals its efforts to topple Mugabe regime

¤ US and Britain Funding Right Wing Terrorists For Regime Change
The US and Britain are already at war with Iran, have been at war with Iran for a number of years now and are funding anti-Iranian terrorist groups inside Iran in preparation for the fallout that will occur after overt military action is commenced.

Not my words, the words of high ranking CIA officials, Defense department officials, former UN officials and retired US air force Colonels.

¤ Iran strikes blow in propaganda war
Iran's blame game with Britain over the capture of 15 sailors appears to have been defused after the Iranian president announced they were to be released, but the claim game is just beginning.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country's decision to free the soldiers after 13 days was a gift to the British people.

In the process, his country was able to deflect attention from its nuclear programme and prove it could cause trouble in the Middle East if it wanted to.

¤ Freedom: Sailors due home from Iran today
¤ A De Facto Hostage Exchange
¤ SADC decision a slap in the face for MDC
¤ West fails to apologise for Slavery
¤ Mass grave burial in Somalia
¤ Syria: We Helped in Iran-Britain Dispute
¤ Rosie Attacks Now at Miller Time Level
¤ America's Broken-Down Army
¤ 'We Gathered Intelligence'
¤ New Amnesty International Report Condemns Conditions In Guantánamo
¤ Blair denies Iran 'deal'
¤ Iran takes the wind out of US sails
¤ Iran attack this Friday? Not Likely
¤ Guantanamo conditions 'worsening'
¤ Playing US Politics with Iraqi Blood for Oil
¤ What We Can Learn From Britain About Iran
¤ Russia says no grounds for US military strike on Iran

The U.S. Admits Sponsoring Opposition in Zimbabwe
Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2007

The U.S. acknowledges sponsorship of public events in Zimbabwe aimes to undermine the President
The U.S. State Department acknowledged that sponsorship of public events in Zimbabwe had an aim to undermine the government of President Robert Mugabe. In it annual report on supporting democracy worldwide, the department said its strategy for Zimbabwe also included steps to "support persons who criticized the government."

Supporting Human Rights and Democracy:
The U.S. Record 2005 - 2006

On-The-Record Briefing on the Release of the Annual Report, "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record - 2006"

Abstract:

QUESTION: Yeah, can I go to -- I just want to go to Zimbabwe for a second. In this it says that the United States sponsored public events in Zimbabwe that presented economic and social analyses, discrediting the government's excuses for its failed policies. It also says that the United States continued to support the efforts of political opposition, the media, civil society, to create and defend democratic space and to support -- the last bit -- to support persons who criticize the government.

Now, granted, I've just given a cursory reading to the Zimbabwe and other -- the reports on other countries with which the United States has full diplomatic relations. The ones I looked at were Belarus, Syria, Vietnam and Eritrea. There may be more. Cuba, obviously, without full diplomatic relations, doesn't count.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON: Sure.

QUESTION: My question is this: It doesn't appear that this kind of -- that these kind of things, i.e., discrediting the government's excuses for failed policies and support -- overt support for people who are critical of the government, happened, at least is being reported for these other countries. And my question is this: President Mugabe has often talked about how he thinks the West, the United States and Britain in particular, are trying to -- are trying for regime change in Zimbabwe, and this is exactly what this appears to look like, what you've acknowledged doing through your programs in Zimbabwe. And I'm just wondering, is it the United States -- does the United States believe that it's its responsibility to discredit the government's excuses -- the government and to openly support people who criticize the government? And if it is, which is what you're saying, why is Mugabe wrong when he says that you're trying for regime change?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON: Well, first of all, I would say that your analysis of the report is a bit cursory because the fact of the matter is, whether it's Eritrea -- we've spoken out about the problems in Eritrea and the deteriorating human rights situation in Eritrea -- we are very clear, very public in terms of what was happening in Belarus. So it is not a matter of the West or the United States or several countries deciding to single out Mugabe and what's happening in Zimbabwe.

What I would like for the Zimbabwean people is something very, very simple: Give them a level playing field -- let them compete openly, let them compete fairly, let them compete transparently, let them compete freely -- so President Mugabe could stand there and say these are my policies and let the people of Zimbabwe decide on whether or not those are the policies that they want.

When you have a country which is now at 1600 percent inflation and rising, when you have in which economic policy consists of, "I hereby declare inflation illegal," when you have a country where when two people want to get together and have a discussion that's called a civil -- that's called a meeting and they had to have prior approval for, when you have a country in which individuals are protesting peacefully and they're clubbed, one almost to death, then I think it's the responsibility not only of the United States, but all countries, including southern Africa, including the African Union and including those international organizations, to stand up and ask how much longer are we going to sit passively by and allow this to continue? This gets back to my previous point which is people in Zimbabwe need to know that there are people outside Zimbabwe that care about their future.

QUESTION: Right. But the other countries that you -- okay, let's talk about Eritrea and Belarus -- does not say that the United States sponsored events at which the government was -- that attempted to discredit the government and does not say that they supported people -- overtly supported people who criticize the government. That may be because there aren't any opposition figures around in Belarus that you can support or in Eritrea. And if that's the case, which I assume it is, doesn't the fact that there are people to support in Zimbabwe show that there is some kind of -- that the situation may be not as bad as what you're saying? And believe me, I'm not trying to defend Mugabe, I just find it very interesting that this report says that the U.S. is openly sponsoring events at which it tries to discredit the government.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON: I'm a little puzzled by your question. I think the implication is that things are better in Zimbabwe than in Eritrea --

QUESTION: No --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON: -- or in Belarus.

QUESTION: No, no, no. There's no implication. It's just that there appear to be people in Zimbabwe who you can support, who you -- people who criticize the government who can be supported. I would suggest -- I think that in Eritrea there isn't anyone out there that you can in Eritrea who can --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON: Yeah. Many of their organizations have been thrown out and many of them have been repressed. It's the same thing in Belarus. But the fact of the matter is just like there's not one size that fits all in terms of how do you advance democracy, there's not one size fits all in terms of saying these are all bad.

QUESTION: Well, okay.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON: The issue that the way that we treat these countries and my conversations with the Secretary is, "tell me where the trajectory is." The trajectory in Belarus has been bad for a while. And when I say we, we and our European allies have been trying our best to try to maintain that sliver of civil society and that sliver of openness within Belarus. I don't think anybody can debate that the situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating significantly and rapidly.

QUESTION: Well, is it the -- are these things mentioned in here part of a U.S. policy to try and encourage or promote regime change in Zimbabwe?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON: U.S. policy in Zimbabwe is to promote a level playing field and support fundamental human rights. Let the people decide the future of Zimbabwe. The future of Zimbabwe is not going to be decided in any program that I run or anybody else in the United States runs.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) Al Jazeera. Mr. Lowenkron, there's a wide consensus among the international community and human rights organization that Guantanamo Bay detention center exists in defiance of the international law and human rights standards. Even Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised some concerns. And as you may know, Al Jazeera cameraman Sami Haj has been detained there for over five years now with no charges. So my question is, first, do you think that the whole issue of Guantanamo Bay undermines your efforts highlighted in this report to support human rights abroad? And from your own perspective, do you think that the detention of Sami Haj for so long with no charges violates his human rights?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON: Let me say in the context of Guantanamo because I do address this. And if you take a look at the preface to this year's annual human rights report which we rolled out last month, we acknowledged at the outset that there are questions around the globe about our own human rights record. When I have talked about the promotion of democracy and the protection of human rights, what I've said is when people have said you think that democracy is the perfect system for all of these and my answer has always been, the strength of democracy, it's not that it is infallible but that it is that it is accountable. And then I highlight the issue of the press, I highlight the issue of the Congress and legislation. I highlight the issue of the courts, the independence of the courts. These are the essential elements that make democracy what it is. These are called self-corrective mechanisms.

I can tell you that in all of my travels and all the people that I've talked to and the people that we've tried to help, the issue of Guantanamo, the issue of the American standing in the world does not come up. The issue always comes up in the context of what can you do to help us, in terms of this crisis, what can you do in the context of Darfur, for example. What can you do in the context of Burma.

On the other issues related to Guantanamo, I would ask you to refer your questions to our legal counselor, John Bellinger as well as to the Defense Department.

QUESTION: Yeah, but I have a follow-up on the question.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON: Which is?

QUESTION: But do you think that your efforts to promote human rights will be better off if you closed Guantanamo or it doesn't matter actually?

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Dialogue is the only solution for Zimbabwe crisis
Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2007

By David Masango, buanews.gov.za
The South African Government Communication and Information System

Pretoria - South Africa's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs has reiterated the country's stance of constructive dialogue between the parties concerned, as the only solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Mr Pahad acknowledged progress already being made to get the government, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and other relevant parties to engage in talks.

President Thabo Mbeki has been mandated by Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders to facilitate dialogue between the government and opposition in Zimbabwe.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the SADC Double Troika and an Extraordinary SADC Summit in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in late March.

A meeting was convened Wednesday, between a South African delegation and the two secretary-generals of the MDC who are in the country.

"The two secretary-generals will produce a discussion document on the MDC's position, on the basis President Mbeki will engage the Zimbabwean government on the recommendations from the MDC.

"President Mbeki will have to work out his own roadmap on how he wishes to fulfill his mandate to create the climate conducive for the two parties to meet to deal with the issues raised by the factions of the MDC," Deputy Minister Pahad said.

Mr Mbeki would also report back to the SADC Troika on the progress.

In addition to Mr Mbeki's efforts, the SADC leaders mandated the executive secretary to undertake a study of the situation in Zimbabwe and propose measures on how the region could assist the country with its economic recovery.

They also encouraged diplomatic contacts that would assist with the resolution of the conflict.

"The summit reiterated the appeal to Britain to honour its compensation obligations with regards to land reform made at the Lancaster House and called for the lifting of all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe," said Mr Pahad.

The deputy minister noted the meeting of the ruling Zanu-PF Central Committee last week, which he said took important decisions.

These include that:

* President Robert Mugabe will be its presidential candidate for the 2008 presidential elections;
* Parliamentary elections will be held concurrently with the presidential election and that there is no need for a constitutional amendment as the current constitution allows the President is to bring parliamentary elections forward; and that
* The Presidential term will be reduced from six to five years and this will necessitate a constitutional amendment.

Mr Pahad explained that following decisions by the Zanu-PF Central Committee, the SADC and the international community had to intensify efforts to ensure that the necessary climate and conditions were created to ensure free and fair elections.

"To ensure that the necessary climate is created, all Zimbabweans must act with restraint and within the rule of law.

"Decisive action must be taken against those that are carrying out sabotage activities and Zimbabweans must continue to respect the independence and integrity of the justice system," he emphasised.

The deputy minister stressed that South Africa would not support any regime change in Zimbabwe as a means of resolving the political and economic crisis there. - BuaNews

Reprinted from:
www.buanews.gov.za/view.php?id="07040510451001&coll=buanew07

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Iran's release of sailors: A humiliating episode for Britain
Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2007

Iran's release of the 15 British naval personnel captured in the Gulf is the dénouement of a humiliating episode for the Blair government and for British imperialism.

Since they were captured by Iranian naval forces in the Shatt al Arab waterway, the sailors and marines have come to epitomise the gap between Britain's pretensions as a world power and its actual capabilities.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's response to the incident, with repeated declarations that he was seeking a diplomatic solution, is not an indication of a new pacifist turn by one of the architects of the Iraq war. It was forced upon him by his reliance on the United States, both politically and militarily.
Full Article : wsws.org

Iran strikes blow in propaganda war
Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2007

Iran's blame game with Britain over the capture of 15 sailors appears to have been defused after the Iranian president announced they were to be released, but the claim game is just beginning.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country's decision to free the soldiers after 13 days was a gift to the British people.

In the process, his country was able to deflect attention from its nuclear programme and prove it could cause trouble in the Middle East if it wanted to.
Full Article : english.aljazeera.net

USA vs Iran's Captives

Freedom: Sailors due home from Iran today
Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2007

Wearing broad smiles and shiny suits, the 15 sailors and Marines seized by Iran lined up for a farewell propaganda parade yesterday.

Moments earlier, hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had dramatically freed them as an Easter "gift" to Britain.

The slick, stage-managed performance provided the final flourish to a spectacular PR coup for Tehran which left Britain humiliated in the eyes of many.
Full Article : dailymail.co.uk

Syria: We Helped in Iran-Britain Dispute

Syria played a key role in resolving the standoff over the 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran, two government officials said Wednesday
Full Article : breitbart.com

Mass grave burial in Somalia
Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2007

Mogadishu - Dozens of bodies were buried in a mass grave in Somalia's capital on Wednesday after the worst fighting in 15 years killed hundreds of people and sent tens of thousands fleeing the battle-scarred city for safety.

As a fragile three-day cease-fire held in the coastal capital, Mogadishu, residents cleared the dusty alleyways and back streets of the unclaimed dead killed during four days of heavy fighting, and loaded them onto trucks for burial at the city's largest cemetery.
Full Article : news24.com

The Bush administration's greed for oil in Africa
Posted: Wednesday, April 4, 2007

¤ Bond / Gowans debate on Zimbabwe
¤ Iran releases British sailors
¤ US strategy on Iran may have backfired
¤ U.S. interrogating at Africa's secret prisons

¤ The Bush administration's greed for oil in Africa
The Bush administration's new military initiatives in Africa are widely seen as being motivated primarily by the greed for oil.

AS part of its efforts to prevent the precipitous decline of Empire, the administration of President George W. Bush announced in early February the decision to create a United States military command for Africa, "Africom". Bush said that Africom would be a fully functional unit by the end of 2008. He said that the Africa command "will enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa". The announcement comes after the American-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in December.

¤ Imperial Sunset? Threats to US Hegemony
¤ Bush, Iran & Selective Outrage
¤ Secret American Prisons In Ethiopia
¤ The Martin Luther King You Don't See on TV
¤ Is Hugo Chavez a Threat to Stability? No.
¤ What Venezuela's Revolution Is About
¤ Sri Lanka claims Tigers' HQ destroyed
¤ Iran's Pre-Emptive Strike
¤ Rosie O'Donnell and the Status of Thinking in America
¤ Mexican 'Ice' Replaces Home-Cooked Meth in U.S.
¤ "Have You No Sense of Decency?"
¤ None of the Democratic Contenders Has Called for the Closure of the Guantanamo Prison
¤ Drug Companies Want Women of Childbearing Years
¤ Pfizer's $35 Million Fine
¤ Bush Lied Today
¤ US Empire and the Middle East: Zionism, Puppet Regimes and Political Allies
¤ The legacy of Fallujah
¤ Americans imprison nine-year-old boy as hostage.

Imperial Sunset? Threats to US Hegemony
Posted: Wednesday, April 4, 2007

IN February this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed a security conference in Munich that had 250 of the world's top leaders and officials in attendance, including such luminaries as the German Chancellor and the U.S. Secretary of State. He said some very rude words about the United States, denouncing its unilateralism and unipolar pretensions, its trampling of international law, its stoking of the arms race, its aggressions across the globe. These, Putin said, were factors that encouraged others to seek their own weapons of mass destruction and even commit terrorist acts.
Full Article : globalresearch.ca

Bush, Iran and Selective Outrage
Posted: Wednesday, April 4, 2007

One of the least endearing features of Washington's political/media hierarchy is its propensity for selective outrage, like what is now coming from George W. Bush about the "inexcusable behavior" of the Iranian government in holding 15 British sailors whom Bush has labeled "hostages."
Full Article : consortiumnews.com

Iran To Free UK Captives
Posted: Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Iran is to free the 15 UK sailors and marines taken captive in the Shatt al Arab waterway as a "gift" to Britain.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the group would be released promptly and handed over to the British embassy in Tehran.

He said he had pardoned the sailors as a gift to the British people and to mark the birthday of Islam's Prophet Mohammed and Easter.
Full Article : news.sky.com

The Bush administration's greed for oil in Africa
Posted: Wednesday, April 4, 2007

African foray

The Bush administration's new military initiatives in Africa are widely seen as being motivated primarily by the greed for oil.

AS part of its efforts to prevent the precipitous decline of Empire, the administration of President George W. Bush announced in early February the decision to create a United States military command for Africa, "Africom". Bush said that Africom would be a fully functional unit by the end of 2008. He said that the Africa command "will enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa". The announcement comes after the American-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in December.

The invasion toppled the government led by the Islamic Courts Union and left a trail of chaos and bitterness in a country that was on the verge of being united and at peace. There are credible reports of U.S. troops participating in special operations inside Somalia after a gap of more than a decade. The Americans provided the Ethiopian army with satellite pictures of Somali militia positions, and American planes bombed parts of southern Somalia. Seventy civilians were killed and more than a hundred wounded. More than 1,500 American troops have been based in nearby Djibouti since 2002. They played a key role in the planning and execution of the invasion of Somalia. Last year, the Bush administration announced that it was going to expand its Camp Lemonier military base in Djibouti from its present 88 acres to more than 600 acres (one acre is 0.4 hectares). Djibouti is the smallest country in the strategic Horn of Africa.
Full Article : hinduonnet.com

Grassroots Lieutenants of Imperialism?
Posted: Tuesday, April 3, 2007

¤ Grassroots Lieutenants of Imperialism?
Here's how it worked: The West ordered the formal political opposition to unite under a single banner, and to select a name that emphasized the word "democracy," to invest the united party with moral gravitas. In Serbia, the anti-Milosevic opposition became known as the Democratic Opposition of Serbia. (In Zimbabwe, the opposition, following the same game plan, calls itself the Movement for Democratic Change.) The opposition's anointing itself as the champion of democracy serves the additional function of calling the government's commitment to democracy into question. If the opposition is "the democratic opposition" then what must the government be? The answer, of course, is undemocratic.

The plan called for the opposition to accuse the government of electoral fraud to justify a transition from electoral to insurrectionary politics. The accusations built and built as the day of the vote approached, until, by sheer repetition, they were accepted as a matter of indisputable truth. The failure of the opposition candidate, Kostunica, to win the election on the first ballot, provided the pretext for people to take to the streets to force the government to step down. Otpor was central to organizing the planned "spontaneous" demonstrations.

¤ George Galloway: Resist the war drive against Iran
The capture by Iranian forces of 15 British sailors in the Gulf brought shrill, bellicose headlines last weekend and calls for retribution.

The anti-war movement has done a superb job in winning a clear majority against the war and occupation in Iraq.

But no one should believe that because the case against the "war on terror" is so overwhelming then no British government can garner support for another military misadventure.

The capture of the British sailors has all the hallmarks of the kind of incident that has been used in the past as a reason either for war or for escalating confrontation.

¤ The botched US raid that led to the hostage crisis
A failed American attempt to abduct two senior Iranian security officers on an official visit to northern Iraq was the starting pistol for a crisis that 10 weeks later led to Iranians seizing 15 British sailors and Marines.

Early on the morning of 11 January, helicopter-born US forces launched a surprise raid on a long-established Iranian liaison office in the city of Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. They captured five relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuses of being intelligence agents and still holds.

In reality the US attack had a far more ambitious objective, The Independent has learned. The aim of the raid, launched without informing the Kurdish authorities, was to seize two men at the very heart of the Iranian security establishment.

¤ Clashes in Somalia kill 381 in 4 days
¤ Children killed in Iraq bombing
¤ How Will Our Grandchildren See Us?
¤ Torture of Terror Suspect Surprises No One
¤ 300 Seen as a Tool To Work Up Anti-Iran Sentiment
¤ Enemies Of Free Speech Launch 'Stop Rosie' Website
¤ Truck bomb kills Iraqi schoolchildren
¤ ABC News pushing Bogus Iran nuke story
¤ How Bogus Letter Became a Case for War
¤ Washington's Covert War inside Iran
¤ U.S. strategy on Iran may have backfired
¤ The Myth of War Prosperity
¤ Channel 4 attacked for Iraqi abuse drama
¤ Iran might release British marines
¤ Solomon Islands tsunami leaves 28 dead
¤ The Iraqi Resistance Defeated the Occupation in Iraq
¤ Kaunda's analysis on Zimbabwe accurate
¤ Jenin Massacres, 5th Anniversary

Kaunda's analysis on Zimbabwe accurate
Posted: Tuesday, April 3, 2007

herald.co.zw

EDITOR -- I was filled with unbridled joy and emotion when I read about former Zambian president Dr Kenneth Kaunda's support for Zimbabwe (The Herald March 23 2007), which was echoed by other Zambian politicians -- Fredrick Chiluba and the maverick Michael Sata.

I was overjoyed because Dr Kaunda is one of Africa's illustrious sons; I was emotional because he reminded me of departed heroes like Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Chris Hani, Agostinho Neto, Amilcar Cabral, Samora Machel, Steve Biko, Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba. They, just like President Mugabe, had one thing in common, the quest for the total emancipation of Africa.

Indeed, Dr Kaunda is an authority on the liberation of Zimbabwe.

It was refreshing to hear him speak on the emotive issue of land. The onus is on us Zimbabweans not to surrender our national heritage.

All Zimbabweans must understand that the current socio-economic and political situation did not stem from bad governance, No! It came because we decided to get our land back from the descendants of settlers who had stolen it from our forebears.

It is evident Westerners, behind the onslaught on Zimbabwe, are engaged in a spirited project to re-orient African politics to suit their interests. They are doing this by coming up with puppet political parties in the mould of the MDC that believe Westerners were ordained to lord it over the whole world.

I wonder how a sane Zimbabwean would fail to see that the trend of economic challenges we faced since the start of the land reform programme are a result of systematic external manipulation?

I salute you Dr Kaunda for your accurate analysis of the challenges facing our beloved Zimbabwe.

Chunkie Charira.

Harare.

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Former Governor Escapes from Venezuelan Prison
Posted: Tuesday, April 3, 2007

The ex-Governor of Venezuela's Yaracuy state, Eduardo Lapi, escaped from prison in the early morning hours on Sunday. The former opposition governor was being held on charges of corruption since May of last year.

Government authorities said a full investigation is being carried out and that measures have been taken to prevent him from fleeing the country. Authorities also denounced the lack of control and supervision in the prison system and stated that measures are being taken to improve it.

Secretary of Citizen Security Oscar Baquero confirmed yesterday the escape of Eduardo Lapi, imprisoned in San Felipe, Yaracuy, for almost a year. Baquero stated that a nationwide search has been activated in order to recapture the ex-governor.

Lapi, governor of Yaracuy from 1996 to 2004, was accused of corruption and misuse of state funds last year, after it was discovered that he had deposited large sums of money in accounts in Panamá.

"Where did those funds come from? Of course they were public funds," said the Minister of the Interior Pedro Carreño.
Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com

Iran outlines conditions for release of UK sailors
Posted: Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Iran's most senior diplomat, Ali Larijani, called for a "delegation" to rule on whether a British naval patrol entered Iranian waters last month before his government would release the 15 marines and sailors it is holding captive.

Laying out what appeared to be a vague road map for the freeing of the British personnel, Mr Larijani said that, if it was found they had crossed into Iranian territory, there should be an apology and they would then be released.
Full Article : guardian.co.uk

The botched US raid that led to the hostage crisis
Posted: Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Exclusive Report: How a bid to kidnap Iranian security officials sparked a diplomatic crisis

By Patrick Cockburn
Published: 03 April 2007

A failed American attempt to abduct two senior Iranian security officers on an official visit to northern Iraq was the starting pistol for a crisis that 10 weeks later led to Iranians seizing 15 British sailors and Marines.

Early on the morning of 11 January, helicopter-born US forces launched a surprise raid on a long-established Iranian liaison office in the city of Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. They captured five relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuses of being intelligence agents and still holds.

In reality the US attack had a far more ambitious objective, The Independent has learned. The aim of the raid, launched without informing the Kurdish authorities, was to seize two men at the very heart of the Iranian security establishment.

Better understanding of the seriousness of the US action in Arbil - and the angry Iranian response to it - should have led Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence to realise that Iran was likely to retaliate against American or British forces such as highly vulnerable Navy search parties in the Gulf. The two senior Iranian officers the US sought to capture were Mohammed Jafari, the powerful deputy head of the Iranian National Security Council, and General Minojahar Frouzanda, the chief of intelligence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, according to Kurdish officials.
Full Article : independent.co.uk

MDC, it is either the African way or the highway
Posted: Monday, April 2, 2007

¤ MDC, it is either the African way or the highway

THE resolutions, on Zimbabwe, at the just-ended Extraordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government did not only expose Western propaganda, but also sent a clear message to MDC and any would-be lapdog politicians that it's either the African way or the highway to foreign-backed oblivion.

The resolution calling for the scrapping of the ruinous sanctions behind economic decline in Zimbabwe is a test for MDC's sincerity in its claim to be standing for the interests of ordinary Zimbabweans.

MDC faction leader Morgan Tsvangirai publicly called for the same sanctions and the official MDC line is that the sanctions are "targeted", but the party's sponsors have since dropped the pretence with Washington recently pledging stiffer economic sanctions.

Now MDC has to choose between rallying behind Sadc's call to condemn the sanctions and endorsing the region's planned rescue package or continue the shameful support for the illegal sanctions along with its masters in London and Washington.

¤ Iraqi bomb kills 15, wounds nearly 200
¤ Playing the Iranian Game
¤ A Bogus Hostage Crisis
¤ The War on Iran
¤ Get Out - Now
¤ Another Inconvenient Truth
¤ When Myths Take Priority Over Facts
¤ The Sum of Our Fears
¤ Iraqi Oil Belongs To The Iraqi People
¤ How I know Blair faked Iran map
¤ The Fake Fight Over the Iraq War
¤ .S. is Biggest World Threat for Germans
¤ Things That Go Bump in the Night: The President and His Perverts
¤ West Has Bloodied Hands
¤ wtc7 collapsed
¤ 10 more die Waziristan tribe declares war on foreigners
¤ Partners in Crime
¤ Venezuela will not fold its arms before US attack on Iran
¤ Index on Afghanistan: March 2007
¤ Tsunami Strikes Solomon Islands

Zimbabwe: The Resistance to Colonialism
Posted: Monday, April 2, 2007

By K. Elford
April 02, 2007

We White people hardly ever realize our offense when discounting information being presented to us from a Black point of view. There are informed alternatives to the White-owned mainstream media, outlets that provide alternative views for important consideration.

There is excessive attention from the Western media on the Zimbabwe land reclamation program. Many Whites, White journalists, politicians, White landowners and former White landowners are voicing opposition to this exercise. Unfortunately Whites have the loudest voice with the least to say. That voice comes from a biased, emotionally charged and uninformed point of view based on White mainstream media propaganda. Whites just don't want to see the land reclamation issue differently than how the West is presenting it.

Land illegally obtained by Whites and the efforts to reclaim it by the rightful owners is an ongoing, significant point of contention between the minority White occupiers and the landless indigenous Black majority in Africa.

The ownership of land in any nation is the lifeblood of the sovereign people. Whose hands the land is in and how it is managed controls the welfare of the community.

Whites were enticed to Zimbabwe in search of gold by the White established British South Africa Company (BSAC); a company granted to Cecil Rhodes by England's Queen Victoria. Unsuccessful in their search, instead of the riches of gold promised, they were "given" large tracts of land by the BSAC. One of the problems with this land handout is the British and BSAC had no real authority to give any land to anyone.

Before Whites showed up in Africa, culturally there was a different concept towards land "ownership". Whites will tell tales of treaties and agreements made with local Africans (people who had no authority to make agreements), but I find those tales hard to believe since Whites were "negotiating the treaties". Besides the language barriers, the concepts of owning land individually would be foreign to many indigenous Africans so there is no way these treaties were anything but a White concocted and enacted affair. Closer to the truth is that the landgrab initiated by Whites brought the White settlers into conflict with the indigenous African populations.

Africans rebelled and wars were fought in attempts to rectify the White settler infestation and the environmental disasters being brought on by their presence. In response to African rebellions the BSAC officially "sanctioned" the use of force to enact their "new" land policy concocting a "racial solution" to the land issue.

What was the solution White settlers initiated? The 1899 Order in Council, "the Council shall assign to the natives land sufficient for their occupation, whether as tribes or portions of tribes, and suitable for agriculture and pastoral requirement" (Palmer, 1977). In other words, Black Africans were "resettled" onto reserves, while Whites allowed themselves new land occupancy with prospective settlers continuing to get lands grants. Is any of this sounding familiar?

Within a few years nearly half of the indigenous population were living on reserves and had lost nearly 16 million hectares of land to the White settlers. Not long after their arrival Whites had 2500 farms occupying approximately 15 million hectares.

White landgrabs in Africa were the beginning of the colonization of indigenous Africans. Do Whites have the same imagery of colonialism as those who Whites forced their institution of colonialism on? Very unlikely. In the U.S. Whites think of a colony, the fairytale Thanksgiving stories of White settlers taking care of the Native Americans and for the British it would be tales of conquest of what they feel are a lesser-type of human being under the guise of advancing "civilization" while increasing their material wealth.

Colonization in Zimbabwe was a minority of Whites illegally occupying the land, imposing a British structured control of resources, labor and government displacing the indigenous Black population by subjugation. The British colonizers became dominant using brutal force against Black Africans during their efforts to replace the established indigenous cultural structure.

The result has been the minority White colonizers accumulating wealth while the majority indigenous Black population, no longer in control of their land and resources, has been left in extreme poverty.

The occupation of land by Whites has had a direct impact on Africa's economy preventing the ability of the local indigenous population from competing fairly. Unless Black Africans gain access to land ownership they remain poor, while the White minority continues to profit. This unfair advantage in favor of Whites is what perpetuates the cycle of poverty: a middle class from within the indigenous peoples is not allowed to expand; the nation has the minority Whites accumulating the most wealth; a few Blacks are being promoted, often by chance or circumstance; and the majority Black population remains in poverty. As long as these few Whites hold the most and the best land, there is no way to break this poverty cycle.

Does the average citizen in the West have any idea why their governments are so interested in the land reclamation program in Zimbabwe? Whites tend to believe the propagandized vision of a benevolent government that "gives" assistance to the downtrodden. What is missing from that vision is that Western governments give nothing and through colonization (also known as imperialism) is the reason many are downtrodden.

If Western governments were really interested in the well-being of developing countries, why do Western governments knowingly support opposition organizations that have stated they will use violence to meet their goals? In which Western country can someone threaten to use violence to bring down a government and be free? In the U.S. and UK? No. But when the U.S. and Britain are campaigning and plotting a foreign government takeover, they will condone and defend opposition parties using violence while castigating the local democratically elected government for reacting exactly as the U.S. and European governments would to quell any violence being used against them.

The current White instigated and maintained war in Iraq is about land and resources.

It has become common knowledge including admissions from the U.S. elite that the information used to rally the citizenry of the U.S. behind the U.S. led War against Iraq was "faulty". What is the cost of this faulty information? Besides the loss of 655,000 people and counting, the Iraq nation has lost its identity and its land is being destroyed while being occupied by the White invaders. Does anyone really think that when this war ends the U.S. has any intention of giving back the land and other resources they are taking? Would the U.S. remove all traces of its presence and restore an Iraqi identity? This has not happened as yet anywhere else that the U.S. has invaded, so it would be prudent to suggest that will not be the case.

As horrifying as the Iraq War is, there is sufficient documentation of at least 56 instances of major U.S. aggressions abroad since World War II.

The majority of Whites overwhelmingly and blindly consider any alternative media, along with different perspectives (any source of information other than the mainstream media) as "conspiracy theories" or unpatriotic America-bashing.

The hypocrisy of this type of thinking is that the average U.S. citizen debunks as a "conspiracy theory" any information when it points out that the U.S. government is corrupt, but will easily accept other governments as being guilty of "conspiracies", especially if they perceive them as threats against them in the U.S. Imperialist empires do depend on individual paranoia to keep the charade of legitimacy going.

And so the U.S. and European imperialist aggressions against foreign governments go on using brute force by the most inhumane displays of aggression unabated with the mainstream press aiding every step of the way. The antagonistic Western governments keep propping up puppet governments and funding oppositions to take down resistant governments the world over and hardly a word is spoken. White people refuse to believe that Western governments are directly responsible for any wrongdoings. Could Whites ever fathom that Western, White governments are behind every major conflict in the world?

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Zimbabwe: MDC, it is either the African way or the highway
Posted: Monday, April 2, 2007

Region shames MDC

By Reason Wafawarova
herald.co.zw
Aprol 02, 2007

THE resolutions, on Zimbabwe, at the just-ended Extraordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government did not only expose Western propaganda, but also sent a clear message to MDC and any would-be lapdog politicians that it's either the African way or the highway to foreign-backed oblivion.

The resolution calling for the scrapping of the ruinous sanctions behind economic decline in Zimbabwe is a test for MDC's sincerity in its claim to be standing for the interests of ordinary Zimbabweans.

MDC faction leader Morgan Tsvangirai publicly called for the same sanctions and the official MDC line is that the sanctions are "targeted", but the party's sponsors have since dropped the pretence with Washington recently pledging stiffer economic sanctions.

Now MDC has to choose between rallying behind Sadc's call to condemn the sanctions and endorsing the region's planned rescue package or continue the shameful support for the illegal sanctions along with its masters in London and Washington.

The former route will cost MDC as it comes with loss of both regional and domestic support while the latter will cost the opposition donor funds as well as their only known political weapon, foreign-sponsored campaigns to create anarchy and despondency in Zimbabwe.

The two MDCs are likely to register their disappointment with the Sadc position and dutifully front Western anger and frustrations.

While this may portray MDC as a resolute pliant party in the eyes of the West, it can only help further isolate it from the African cause and interest.

Sadc basically sees Tsvangirai the same way it sees Jean-Pierre Bemba, the way it saw Afonso Dhlakama and Jonas Savimbi, subversive individuals that needed to be tamed and reformed into acceptable Africans.

The clear message from Sadc is that MDC has to abandon its externally-induced political positions and start approaching its differences with Zanu-PF from the position of a loyal, homegrown political party.

The sanctions really put Tsvangirai and his cohorts between a rock and a hard place.

The resolution calling on Britain to honour its obligations to compensate white commercial farmers compounds MDC's woes.

The quisling party has to wait for London's response before pronouncing itself on the issue.

Open support for the British position can only further expose MDC as a sellout political party.

Tendai Biti's overused rhetoric in articulating Western-oriented policies will have to be at its tired best to come up with a face-saving position.

The proposal that Sadc should find ways of countering the effects of sanctions was probably the worst news Tsvangirai has ever received since 1999, family bereavements included.

On this he can either choose to fight Sadc and the people, or join Sadc and the Government in fighting his masters.

Panyanga dzaMushore chaipo (a real Catch-22 situation).

MDC factions will have to tell their masters that they need to be more African to remain relevant lest they go the way of Bishop Abel Muzorewa's UANC and Ndabaningi Sithole's Ndonga, the way to oblivion.

The decision to have South African President Thabo Mbeki mediate between MDC and Zanu-PF was not good news to Tsvangirai, his colleagues and their desperate masters in London and Washington.

This is the same Mbeki who ignored Tsvangirai's mad calls to cut off of power supplies to Zimbabwe.

This is the Mbeki who has repeatedly refused to condemn President Mugabe, much to the chagrin of Bush and Blair.

This is the Mbeki whose quiet diplomacy has irked the entire bloodthirsty Western political set up. This is the Mbeki whose government and ANC declared all elections in Zimbabwe free, fair and democratic.

For Tsvangirai, this is the Mbeki he called "a dishonest broker".'

Tsvangirai, Pius Ncube, Lovemore Madhuku and all other money-sniffing opposition supporters must really be extremely sad fellows today.

In one fell swoop; Sadc dealt a death blow to puppet politics in the region.

If it can't endorse Sadc's position, MDC may as well go and seek solidarity from Iraq's Nouri al Maliki, Israel's Ehud Olmert and Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai.

Africa is saying no to puppet politics and treachery and MDC has two options to deal with the situation, either to shape up or ship out.

What Sadc has done gives the world an opportunity to scrutinise the Western media and choose who to believe between Zimbabwe's neighbours or its distant detractors and enemies.

Of all five known styles of conflict management; that is dominating, obliging, compromising, integrating and avoiding; MDC seems to be having only one viable option and that is to oblige with the dictates of the African interest in general and Zimbabwe's national interest in particular.

They have no one to dominate, no room for compromises since they are a British outfit, nothing to integrate since their objective is unAfrican and they can no longer avoid engagement lest they be dismissed for what they are, puppet anarchists and counter-revolutionary Trojan horses.

For MDC, it is either the African way or the highway; there are no two ways about it.

Reason Wafawarova is a post-graduate student in International Relations at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

Reprinted from:
www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=17075&cat=10

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Tenth petrol bomb attack in Zimbabwe
Posted: Monday, April 2, 2007

Unknown attackers in Zimbabwe threw petrol bombs at a store belonging to a businessman with links to the ruling ZANU-PF party, reports said Monday.

The attack on Gumbas Wholesalers in downtown Harare on Saturday night damaged office equipment worth 150 million Zimbabwe dollars (600,000 US dollars), state radio said.

"I am surprised by such action because Gumbas Wholesale offers reasonable prices and valuable service to people in spite of the political divide," former ZANU-PF MP Christopher Chigumba, the owner of the store, was quoted as telling the official Herald newspaper.

It was the tenth petrol bomb attack in three weeks of mounting political tensions.
Full Article : monstersandcritics.com

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

Calling Out Idiot America
Posted: Monday, April 2, 2007

by Scott Ritter

The ongoing hand-wringing in Congress by the newly empowered Democrats over what to do about the war in Iraq speaks volumes about the level of concern (or lack thereof) these “representatives of the people” have toward the men and women who honor us all by serving in the armed forces of the United States of America. The inability to reach consensus concerning the level of funding required or how to exercise effective oversight of the war, both constitutionally mandated responsibilities, is more a reflection of congressional cowardice and impotence than a byproduct of any heartfelt introspection over troop welfare and national security.

The issues that prompt the congressional collective to behave in such an egregious manner have more to do with a reflexive tendency to avoid any controversy that might disrupt the status quo ante regarding representative-constituent relations (i.e., re-election) than with any intellectual debate about doing the right thing. This sickening trend is bipartisan in nature, but of particular shame to the Democrats, who obtained their majority from an electorate that expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of the war in Iraq through their votes, demanding that something be done.
Full Article : commondreams.org

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