In a recent interview, Brazilian diplomat Ricardo Seitenfus accused the United Nations organization of "transforming the Haitians into prisoners on their own island." Within a matter of hours, Seitenfus was called back to Brazil and summarily fired from his post as Special Representative of the Organization of American States in Haiti.
Fidel Castro has written about the issues involved in the Seitenfus dismissal.
Fidel Castro on Escambray website
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Monday, December 20, 2010
Exposing War Crimes Is Not A Crime
Bradley Manning, Private First Class, US Army, is accused of leaking military secrets to the public. Manning is in the brig at USMC Base Quantico for allegedly disclosing a classified video depicting US troops shooting civilians from an Apache helicopter in Iraq in July 2007.
The video collateral murder was released by WikiLeaks on April 5, 2010.
Manning faces 52 years in prison. No charges have been filed against the soldiers in the video.
Free Bradley Manning
The video collateral murder was released by WikiLeaks on April 5, 2010.
Manning faces 52 years in prison. No charges have been filed against the soldiers in the video.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Deceit and Mendacity of Canada's Defence Minister
Peter MacKay, Canada's Minister of National Defence, has once again practiced deceit and mendacity with the Canadian people.
MacKay revealed on Sunday, 7 November 2010, that Canada would keep troops in Kabul as part of a plan to extend the country's mission in Afghanistan and convert it into a non-combat role after 2011.
MacKay said the government was contemplating transitioning from a combat role to a non-combat training role, but he did not offer exact numbers about troops to be involved.
Speculation is that up to 750 trainers and at least 200 support staff would work outside the combat zone at a training academy or large training facility for Afghan soldiers and police officers.
Canada's combat mission, which involves up to 3,000 troops, is due to expire in July 2011 in accordance with a motion passed in Parliament. But allies, including the United States, have pressured Canada to remain.
There has been intense pressure from other allied nations, in NATO in particular, to see Canada extend its combat mission.
NATO has said it will leave Afghanistan in 2014 and hand over all security to Afghan forces.
This statement of policy contradicts what MacKay claimed in April 2010.
As reported by Ethan Baron, Canwest News Service, Saturday 10 April 2010:
SPERWAN GHAR, Afghanistan -- Canada will continue to train the Afghan police force after the military mission in the war-torn country officially ends next year, says the federal defence minister.
Peter MacKay said Saturday that despite U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s urging that Canada keep soldiers in Afghanistan past 2011, the military mission will end.
“We will work within the parameters of the parliamentary motion, which states very clearly that the military mission will come to an end in 2011,” Mr. MacKay said from Kandahar while visiting Afghanistan with Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose.
Note in the statement attributed to MacKay in April that the parliamentary motion refers to military mission, not combat mission. MacKay is attempting to deceive Canadians about what Parliament has approved so that he can sneak through support for the continuing imperialist aggression by the US war criminal regime and its NATO flunkies.
MacKay revealed on Sunday, 7 November 2010, that Canada would keep troops in Kabul as part of a plan to extend the country's mission in Afghanistan and convert it into a non-combat role after 2011.
MacKay said the government was contemplating transitioning from a combat role to a non-combat training role, but he did not offer exact numbers about troops to be involved.
Speculation is that up to 750 trainers and at least 200 support staff would work outside the combat zone at a training academy or large training facility for Afghan soldiers and police officers.
Canada's combat mission, which involves up to 3,000 troops, is due to expire in July 2011 in accordance with a motion passed in Parliament. But allies, including the United States, have pressured Canada to remain.
There has been intense pressure from other allied nations, in NATO in particular, to see Canada extend its combat mission.
NATO has said it will leave Afghanistan in 2014 and hand over all security to Afghan forces.
This statement of policy contradicts what MacKay claimed in April 2010.
As reported by Ethan Baron, Canwest News Service, Saturday 10 April 2010:
SPERWAN GHAR, Afghanistan -- Canada will continue to train the Afghan police force after the military mission in the war-torn country officially ends next year, says the federal defence minister.
Peter MacKay said Saturday that despite U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s urging that Canada keep soldiers in Afghanistan past 2011, the military mission will end.
“We will work within the parameters of the parliamentary motion, which states very clearly that the military mission will come to an end in 2011,” Mr. MacKay said from Kandahar while visiting Afghanistan with Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose.
Note in the statement attributed to MacKay in April that the parliamentary motion refers to military mission, not combat mission. MacKay is attempting to deceive Canadians about what Parliament has approved so that he can sneak through support for the continuing imperialist aggression by the US war criminal regime and its NATO flunkies.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Russia Reneges on Iran S-300 Deal
The Guardian newspaper reports that Russia has decided not to supply the S-300 air defense system to Iran.
General Nikolai Makarov, the armed forces chief of staff, told Russian media today that delivery of the S-300 high-precision weapons system would violate the UN sanctions imposed on Iran because of concerns about its nuclear programme.
"A decision was taken not to supply S-300s to Iran," Makarov was quoted as saying by the state-run RIA. "They definitely fall under sanctions. There has been an instruction from the leadership to stop the shipment, and we are obeying it."
US State Department has already conceded that the UN sanctions resolution does not prohibit the S-300 sale to Iran.
RIA Novosti reported in June that Russia's Foreign Ministry said the sale of the S-300 would proceed.
Since both the US and Russia know that the S-300 is not included in the sanctions regime--and each knows that the other knows--there must be some secret agreement operative in the cancellation of the S-300 deal.
Potential responses by Iran should perhaps include certain inconveniences for Russia in its Caspian dealings
General Nikolai Makarov, the armed forces chief of staff, told Russian media today that delivery of the S-300 high-precision weapons system would violate the UN sanctions imposed on Iran because of concerns about its nuclear programme.
"A decision was taken not to supply S-300s to Iran," Makarov was quoted as saying by the state-run RIA. "They definitely fall under sanctions. There has been an instruction from the leadership to stop the shipment, and we are obeying it."
US State Department has already conceded that the UN sanctions resolution does not prohibit the S-300 sale to Iran.
RIA Novosti reported in June that Russia's Foreign Ministry said the sale of the S-300 would proceed.
Since both the US and Russia know that the S-300 is not included in the sanctions regime--and each knows that the other knows--there must be some secret agreement operative in the cancellation of the S-300 deal.
Potential responses by Iran should perhaps include certain inconveniences for Russia in its Caspian dealings
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Taking Advantage of Pakistan Disaster
Pakistan was due to receive a $1.3 billion tranche from an IMF loan of $11.3 billion as part of an aid package following the massive flooding of that country.
However, the IMF delayed release of the funds after Pakistan failed to meet various IMF performance targets. The disastrous flooding conditions have so damanged the country that the credit rating agency Moody’s Investor Service changed its outlook for Pakistan’s five biggest banks from stable to negative, due to concerns that the banks will be vulnerable because of nonperforming loans.
Pakistani officials hoped the IMF could be convinced to relax its criteria for extending the sixth tranche of the 2008 loan, considering the scale of damage inflicted on the country. But when they met with IMF leaders in Washington for ten days at the end of August and the beginning of September they were curtly rebuffed.
According to an account published in the September 8 issue of Dawn, IMF authorities took “a very strong position” during the talks, affirming “that the IMF executive board would not be interested in considering Pakistan’s request for more funds unless it made tangible progress” on implementing the IMF-dictated economic restructuring program.
The World Bank, which like the IMF is a US-dominated organization, added to the pressure. Speaking on 1 September 2010, following a meeting with Finance Minister Shaikh, World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick emphasized the need for Islamabad to implement pro-market reforms before all else. “We need,” said Zoellick, “to respond strongly to the crisis at hand, but we need to do it without losing sight of important economic reforms.”
Zoellick then went on to threaten the Pakistani government and the people of Pakistan, declaring “the response of donors to the floods will also depend on the government’s ability to deliver in this area.”
A disaster of the magnitude of the Pakistan flooding is too good an opportunity for exploiters to squander. Relief for the flooded millions of Pakistan constitutes for the imperialist financial institutions a bludgeon which they can wield brutally in order to impose the market reforms that will facilitate profit-making by domestic and especially international capital.
The reforms that the IMF and World Bank are demanding include:
•The transformation of a General Sales Tax into a 15 percent Value Added Tax or VAT.
The new tax will shift the burden of taxation from business to working people.
•The complete elimination of energy price subsidies.
Previously the government had committed to increase the cost of electricity by at least 25 percent in three phrases over 6 months beginning this October 1. (The World Bank and Asian Development Back estimated earlier this year that a 49 percent increase would be required to meet the government’s pledge to end all electricity subsidies.)
•Full autonomy for the country’s central bank and the cessation of loans from the State Bank of Pakistan to the government
However, the IMF delayed release of the funds after Pakistan failed to meet various IMF performance targets. The disastrous flooding conditions have so damanged the country that the credit rating agency Moody’s Investor Service changed its outlook for Pakistan’s five biggest banks from stable to negative, due to concerns that the banks will be vulnerable because of nonperforming loans.
Pakistani officials hoped the IMF could be convinced to relax its criteria for extending the sixth tranche of the 2008 loan, considering the scale of damage inflicted on the country. But when they met with IMF leaders in Washington for ten days at the end of August and the beginning of September they were curtly rebuffed.
According to an account published in the September 8 issue of Dawn, IMF authorities took “a very strong position” during the talks, affirming “that the IMF executive board would not be interested in considering Pakistan’s request for more funds unless it made tangible progress” on implementing the IMF-dictated economic restructuring program.
The World Bank, which like the IMF is a US-dominated organization, added to the pressure. Speaking on 1 September 2010, following a meeting with Finance Minister Shaikh, World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick emphasized the need for Islamabad to implement pro-market reforms before all else. “We need,” said Zoellick, “to respond strongly to the crisis at hand, but we need to do it without losing sight of important economic reforms.”
Zoellick then went on to threaten the Pakistani government and the people of Pakistan, declaring “the response of donors to the floods will also depend on the government’s ability to deliver in this area.”
A disaster of the magnitude of the Pakistan flooding is too good an opportunity for exploiters to squander. Relief for the flooded millions of Pakistan constitutes for the imperialist financial institutions a bludgeon which they can wield brutally in order to impose the market reforms that will facilitate profit-making by domestic and especially international capital.
The reforms that the IMF and World Bank are demanding include:
•The transformation of a General Sales Tax into a 15 percent Value Added Tax or VAT.
The new tax will shift the burden of taxation from business to working people.
•The complete elimination of energy price subsidies.
Previously the government had committed to increase the cost of electricity by at least 25 percent in three phrases over 6 months beginning this October 1. (The World Bank and Asian Development Back estimated earlier this year that a 49 percent increase would be required to meet the government’s pledge to end all electricity subsidies.)
•Full autonomy for the country’s central bank and the cessation of loans from the State Bank of Pakistan to the government
Monday, August 9, 2010
World Ignores US and EU Sanctions Against Iran
In the LA Times, Paul Richter reports on the rush by Russia, China and Turkey to trade with Iran after the US and EU decided to punish themselves with sanctions extended beyond those imposed by the UN.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-sanctions-20100809,0,6722759.story
Meanwhile, the Iranian Oil Ministry reports that Iraq has consented to the transit of Iran's natural gas across Iraqi territory to Syria and the Mediterranean regions.
The agreement was made after a recent meeting between ranking Iranian and Iraqi officials over the transfer of Iran's natural gas to Iraq's power plants, ISNA reported Iran's Deputy Oil Minister and Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Javad Owji as saying on Sunday.
The Iranian official also said that the plan for natural gas delivery would take at least three years, requiring the construction of a major pipeline capable of transporting around 60 million cubic meters of gas per day.
The Deputy Managing Director of NIGC, Mostafa Kashkouli, has recently said that Iran is negotiating to pump its gas to Iraq via two pipelines that cross the border at Dehloran and Khorramshar.
Iran possesses the world's second largest gas reserves after Russia, which compose almost 16 percent of the world's total. The country is eager to expand its consumer base for energy resources.
The natural gas transfer will counter US imperialistic moves to control the resources of Central Asia.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-sanctions-20100809,0,6722759.story
Meanwhile, the Iranian Oil Ministry reports that Iraq has consented to the transit of Iran's natural gas across Iraqi territory to Syria and the Mediterranean regions.
The agreement was made after a recent meeting between ranking Iranian and Iraqi officials over the transfer of Iran's natural gas to Iraq's power plants, ISNA reported Iran's Deputy Oil Minister and Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Javad Owji as saying on Sunday.
The Iranian official also said that the plan for natural gas delivery would take at least three years, requiring the construction of a major pipeline capable of transporting around 60 million cubic meters of gas per day.
The Deputy Managing Director of NIGC, Mostafa Kashkouli, has recently said that Iran is negotiating to pump its gas to Iraq via two pipelines that cross the border at Dehloran and Khorramshar.
Iran possesses the world's second largest gas reserves after Russia, which compose almost 16 percent of the world's total. The country is eager to expand its consumer base for energy resources.
The natural gas transfer will counter US imperialistic moves to control the resources of Central Asia.
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