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US AND RUSSIA DIFFER ON CYBERSPACE TREATY
The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet, reported the New York Times (27/6/09).
The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet, reported the New York Times (27/6/09).
The two sides are expected to address the subject when President Obama visits Russia next week and at the General Assembly of the United Nations in November, according to a senior State Department official. Russia favours an international treaty along the lines of those negotiated for chemical weapons but the US argues that a treaty is unnecessary. REPORT: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/world/28cyber.html?th&emc=th
ASIA
IN REFUGEE AID, PAKISTAN’S WAR HAS NEW FRONT
Islamist charities and the United States are competing for the allegiance of the two million people displaced by the fight against the Taliban in Swat and other parts of Pakistan — and so far, the Islamists are in the lead, the New York Times (1/7/09) reported.
Although the United States is the largest contributor to a United Nations relief effort, Pakistani authorities have refused to allow American officials or planes to deliver the aid in the camps for displaced people. The Pakistanis do not want to be associated with their unpopular ally.
Meanwhile, in the absence of effective aid from the government, hard-line Islamist charities are using the refugee crisis to push their anti-Western agenda and to sour public opinion against the war and America.
REPORT: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/world/asia/02aid.html?emc=eta1
MALALAI JOYA LAUNCHES HER BOOK IN BRISBANE
Malalai Joya, whose brave campaigning on behalf of the people of Afghanistan despite five assassination attempts has won her an international following, was in Brisbane on Thursday to officially launch her book, Raising My Voice, published by Pan Macmillan Australia.
Malalai Joya has been elected to the Afghan Parliament but was banned by fellow parliamentarians after she spoke out against corruption. She has yet to decide whether to stand again at forthcoming elections.
She told the packed Brisbane audience of the dreadful things that can happen to women in Afghanistan; how a young man has been imprisoned for 20 years because he downloaded information about women’s rights; and how some women have sold their babies for only $10 because of poverty.
Passionate in her beliefs, she said both men and women in Afghanistan were in need of help. The people did not support the Taliban or the war lords, she said. There was no free media and no justice. She said the key to emancipation was education – something some in power did not want. She was prepared to risk her life so some people could be brought before the International Criminal Court as a step towards democracy in her country.
During the present conflict, 400 civilians had been killed and phosphorous had been dropped during US bombing, she said. She saw President Obama’s policy as no better than that of President Bush.
In her book, she writes that all foreign troops should withdraw from Afghanistan, including those of the US and NATO. In answer to those who say if the troops withdraw a civil war will break out, she says such a danger existed but: “it is important that other measures be taken along with the withdrawal of troops. In addition to the much needed disarmament of war lords and their militias, the international community must support and empower the democratically minded individuals and parties who are able to fight the influence of extremism and bring real democracy to our country.
“Only by disempowering the warlords and all fundamentalist groups can we really prevent the further Talibanisation of Afghanistan.
“The United Nations must act to ensure that countries like China, Iran, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Russia and others cease their influence and practice of peddling arms and weapons to war lords. Both Russia and China, especially are competing with the United States for control of the energy resources of the whole region … If this type of intervention were curtailed, the chance of of a civil war would be minimised,” she writes.
SEE ALSO Articles in Focus: THE IRRESISTIBLE ILLUSION where Rory Stewart asks: Why Are We in Afghanistan?
US DEPLOYS 4,000 MARINES IN MAJOR AFGHAN OFFENSIVE
With the backing of helicopter gunships, nearly 4,000 US Marines and 650 Afghan soldiers launched a ground campaign in the volatile Helmand River valley, where poppy crops provide the Taliban with a significant source of income. The troops encountered little resistance as Taliban forces had decided to flee instead of maintaining their hold on the area. Pakistan deployed troops along its border with Afghanistan in hopes of sealing it to any fleeing militants. In eastern Afghanistan, an American troop apparently was captured, reported The New York Times, BBC Los Angeles Times and CBC.ca (Canada) (2/7/09).
SEE ALSO Articles in Focus.
NORTH KOREA FIRES SHORT-RANGE MISSILES
North Korea fired four short-range missiles off its east coast in a widely anticipated test that nevertheless extends a recent series of hostile manoeuvres. Analysts believe this recent test launch, along with continued threats of nuclear development and "merciless" war, are public demonstrations of a private succession drama playing out within North Korea, The Washington Post (2/7/09) reported.
North Korea fired four short-range missiles off its east coast in a widely anticipated test that nevertheless extends a recent series of hostile manoeuvres. Analysts believe this recent test launch, along with continued threats of nuclear development and "merciless" war, are public demonstrations of a private succession drama playing out within North Korea, The Washington Post (2/7/09) reported.
PAKISTAN: 2 MILLION FACE APPALLING CONDITIONS
Pakistan’s central and regional governments must urgently do more to assist the more than two million people who have fled escalating fighting in north-western Pakistan but do not have access to aid distributed in official displacement camps, Amnesty International said on Friday. In particular, the Pakistani Government must ensure that ethnic Pashtuns fleeing the fighting do not face discrimination in receiving assistance.
“As the fighting expands to North and South Waziristan, a displacement crisis that the government had said would last only for weeks looks set to go on for months, with no relief in sight for the millions of displaced people,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director. “To make matters worse, the vast majority of displaced people are living outside the registered camps where aid agencies are distributing shelter, food and water to those in need.”
Nearly 90 per cent of the displaced people do not have access to organised camps and live in extremely overcrowded conditions with host communities or in existing slums and abandoned buildings. Amnesty International has documented numerous instances of three or four families sharing one household, greatly straining the ability of host communities to provide sufficient food and clean water for everyone. The World Health Organisation has warned of a significant risk of communicable diseases with the advent of hot weather and the monsoons.
Amnesty International has documented some two dozen cases from Pakistan where displaced Pashtuns have been told they cannot rent property, access health care or place their children in school without security clearance – something particularly difficult for many people who lost their documentation as they fled. This problem is particularly acute for women and women-led households because in areas of north western Pakistan under Taliban control, many women were barred from receiving national identity documents.
Conditions seem particularly difficult in Sindh province, where some local political groups have fanned fears that the influx of Pashtuns would threaten the local population. According to local aid groups, more then 200,000 displaced people have already reached various cities in Sindh, including Jamshoro, Kotri, and Sukkhar, joining millions of Pashtuns already living in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.
One leader of the Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party, a local group opposing aid to the displaced, told Amnesty International, “We are afraid that once these displaced people will come to Sindh and they will not go back and will become a burden on our economy.”
Pakistan’s central and regional governments must urgently do more to assist the more than two million people who have fled escalating fighting in north-western Pakistan but do not have access to aid distributed in official displacement camps, Amnesty International said on Friday. In particular, the Pakistani Government must ensure that ethnic Pashtuns fleeing the fighting do not face discrimination in receiving assistance.
“As the fighting expands to North and South Waziristan, a displacement crisis that the government had said would last only for weeks looks set to go on for months, with no relief in sight for the millions of displaced people,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director. “To make matters worse, the vast majority of displaced people are living outside the registered camps where aid agencies are distributing shelter, food and water to those in need.”
Nearly 90 per cent of the displaced people do not have access to organised camps and live in extremely overcrowded conditions with host communities or in existing slums and abandoned buildings. Amnesty International has documented numerous instances of three or four families sharing one household, greatly straining the ability of host communities to provide sufficient food and clean water for everyone. The World Health Organisation has warned of a significant risk of communicable diseases with the advent of hot weather and the monsoons.
Amnesty International has documented some two dozen cases from Pakistan where displaced Pashtuns have been told they cannot rent property, access health care or place their children in school without security clearance – something particularly difficult for many people who lost their documentation as they fled. This problem is particularly acute for women and women-led households because in areas of north western Pakistan under Taliban control, many women were barred from receiving national identity documents.
Conditions seem particularly difficult in Sindh province, where some local political groups have fanned fears that the influx of Pashtuns would threaten the local population. According to local aid groups, more then 200,000 displaced people have already reached various cities in Sindh, including Jamshoro, Kotri, and Sukkhar, joining millions of Pashtuns already living in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.
One leader of the Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party, a local group opposing aid to the displaced, told Amnesty International, “We are afraid that once these displaced people will come to Sindh and they will not go back and will become a burden on our economy.”
“People who lost everything as a result of the fighting are now being treated as second-class citizens in their own country,” Sam Zarifi said. “The central and local governments must ensure that all internally displaced Pakistanis, regardless of ethnic group or background, are treated in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and have adequate food, water, shelter, and healthcare.”
DETAILS: Jessica Baird on 02 8396 7622/ 04013 028 191
MIDDLE EAST
IRAQ CELEBRATES AS US TROOPS WITHDRAW FROM CITIES
The Iraqi Government launched fireworks to celebrate the official pullout of US forces from Baghdad and other urban areas, while nationalists proclaimed their readiness to undertake security responsibilities. "We think they are ready," said US Ambassador Christopher Hill, although he acknowledged there were lingering concerns regarding the nation's continued inability to reconcile its Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish populations, reported The Toronto Star/The Associated Press (29/6/09) and The New York Times (30/6/09).
Saddam Hussein admitted to the FBI in the days before his execution that he wanted the world to believe Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction to not be perceived as "weak" by Iran, according to recently release declassified interviews, reported the Boston.com/The Washington Post (2/7/09).
ISRAELIS BOARD AID SHIP
Israeli forces boarded a ship trying to carry aid and pro-Palestinian activists to the Gaza Strip in defiance of Israel's blockade of the territory, the BBC reported (30/6/09). The 20 passengers include former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Nobel Prize winner Mairead Maguire. The activists also include some Britons, campaigners said.
Ms McKinney described it as "an outrageous violation of international law", as the boat was on a humanitarian mission and was not in Israeli waters. The Israeli military said the boat was trying to enter Gaza illegally.
AMNESTY ACCUSES ISRAEL OVER GAZA
Amnesty International has accused Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas of committing war crimes during the conflict in Gaza in January that killed more than 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, the Sydney Morning Herald reported (3/7/09).
In a 117-page report Amnesty charges Israeli forces with killing hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians and of wanton destruction of thousands of homes. It found no evidence of Palestinian militants using human shields but accused the Israel Defence Forces of launching attacks from buildings in which Palestinian civilians were sheltering. Amnesty also accused Israel of failing properly to investigate its actions during the conflict.
QUARTET CALL FOR GAZA AND KICK-STARTING RECOVERY
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined the other members of the diplomatic Middle East Quartet is calling on Israel and the Palestinians to fulfil their agreed obligations in the search for peace, adding that it is important to work hard towards meaningful progress, the BBC reported (26/6/09).
“It is important for the Quartet members that all the parties concerned show meaningful signs of progress in the coming few months,” Mr Ban told reporters in Trieste, Italy, following the meeting of the group, which comprises the UN, European Union, Russia and the US. The Quartet discussed moving towards Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and supporting the Palestinian Authority and economic growth. They also conferred on the situation in Gaza; comprehensive peace between Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon; as well as an international conference slated to be held in Moscow some time this year.
In a joint communiqué (http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/middle_east/quartet-26jun2009.htm) issued at the end of the meeting, the Quartet called on Israel and the Palestinians to implement their obligations under the Middle East Road Map, which embodies the two-state solution, and affirmed that unilateral actions taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognised by the international community. Also the group agreed that the current situation in Gaza is “unsustainable and not in the interests of any of those concerned.”
Members called for the unimpeded provision of humanitarian aid, including food, fuel and medical treatment into the area, which recently endured a devastating Israeli offensive with the stated goal of ending rocket fire into its southern territory.
Mr Ban, in his comments to the press, stated that the UN has a good proposal to kick-start early recovery and reconstruction in Gaza and has made quite significant progress in the West Bank. The UN is urging the Israeli authorities to stop settlements, including natural growth, and open crossings, he said. Following the Quartet meeting, Mr Ban attended a closed meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) Foreign Ministers on Afghanistan and was to meet with the Quartet’s Arab partners. REPORT: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8121393.stm
GOLAN HEIGHTS COULD BE PEACE PARK, SAYS US
A day after the US President, Barack Obama, decided to return an envoy to Damascus, US officials have floated a plan for peace between Israel and Syria that would turn the occupied Golan Heights into a demilitarised nature reserve, reported the Sydney Morning Herald (26/6/09).
Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War after Syria used the strategic high ground to attack Israel.
The territory has remained in Israeli hands since, largely for security reasons, but the area is now home to about 40,000 Jewish settlers and has become an important agricultural zone.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the US plan would see the Golan Heights and a strip of the Jordan Valley transformed into a "peace park" that would be open to visitors during the day.
The demilitarised area would be under international supervision, led by US officers, while the pull-out and dismantlement of Israeli settlements on the Golan would be carried out over several years, in parallel with a normalisation of ties between Syria and Israel.
A number of US State Department officials have visited Damascus in recent months, including the US Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, to prepare the ground for the proposal.
REPORT: http://www.smh.com.au/world/golan-heights-could-be-peace-park-says-us-20090625-cy7x.html
QUASHED PROTESTS ‘MORPH INTO REFORM MOVEMENT’
Although the Iranian regime effectively has squashed street protests through violence and the threat of increased brutality, it has not quieted the civic unrest animating Iranian figurehead Mir Hossein Mousavi and his followers. Analysts believe the political crisis diverted by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad amounts to a moral victory for the newly unified and motivated reform movement. Iranian authorities briefly suspended the opposition newspaper of presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi after it published a letter criticizing the Iranian government's handling of the crisis. TIME and Los Angeles Times (1/7/09).
ISRAEL: BRIEF PAUSE IN SETTLEMENT EXPANSION?
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak wais expected to announce a temporary and restricted freeze in settlement expansion in a conciliatory gesture to the White House - an effort that will not stop any construction underway nor prevent developers from planning more construction to follow the brief reprieve. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated all settlement must stop, reported The Guardian (London) (30/6/09).
AFRICA
KENYAN TROOPS MASS ON SOMALIA BORDER
Kenyan troops massed along the border with Somalia appear ready to join Ethiopian troops to intervene in fighting between the shaky government and Islamist rebels. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga urged East African nations to send troops, while militants in Somalia threatened retaliation to nations that took the advice:The Christian Science Monitor (26/6/09).
EX-CONGOLESE MILITIA BOYS TELL HOW THEY RAPED WITHOUT REGRET
Remy Bienda, 29, spent most of his teenage years and his 20s as a member of a militia in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he and his comrades ransacked villages and raped with impunity, the Sydney Morning Herald reported (27/6/09). He says he now regards his deeds as "evil" but shows little sign of contrition as he recounts his past. "Rape was a way we used to get payment from the work we were doing at the time. It was a way of rewarding ourselves … We didn't think about the women."
CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA
MEXICO’S RELIGIOUS FIGURES DRAWN INTO DRUG WARS
Religious figures who speak out against Mexico's drug-related violence find themselves targets in the country's bloody drug war after the death of a priest and two seminary students in June. While some Mexican priests are accused of accepting drug cartel money, hundreds of outspoken clerics face direct threats and intimidation from drug cartels, reported AlertNet.org/Reuters (1/7/09).
OBAMA CONDEMNS HONDURAS COUP
The recent military coup in Honduras was condemned by US President Barack Obama as an illegal ouster of a legitimate sitting leader. The Obama administration said in recent days it worked to head off a crisis between Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the military over his efforts to lift limits on presidential terms there, reported The New York Times (29/6/09).
The Organisation of American States is preparing to send its secretary general to the Honduran capital as efforts to negotiate a compromise to end the country's post-military coup political turmoil gain speed. Proposals reportedly under discussion include a plan to offer amnesty to coup participants in exchange for guarantees ousted President Manuel Zelaya will abandon any effort to seek another stint in office or extend his current term, reported The New York Times (1/7/09).
IN A COUP IN HONDURAS, GHOSTS OF PAST US POLICIES
The crisis in Honduras, where the U.S. has a history of backing rival political factions, is pitting President Obama against the legacy of American foreign policy.
REPORT: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/world/americas/30honduras.html?th&emc=th
The crisis in Honduras, where the U.S. has a history of backing rival political factions, is pitting President Obama against the legacy of American foreign policy.
REPORT: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/world/americas/30honduras.html?th&emc=th