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Leading
News
Dr Aziz contradicts Dr
Akbar’s fear of famine
National budget to be adopted through ordinance: Finance
Adviser
UNB, Chittagong
Finance Advisor Dr Mirza
Azizul Islam contradicted the view of former Advisor of
the caretaker government Dr Akbar Ali Khan that famine is
prevailing in the country at present for high prices of
essentials.
"How can famine exist in a country where import process
and inflow of remittance are normal?" he posed the
question, while initiating from here on Saturday a
long-drawn consultation on the upcoming new national
budget.
Dr Akbar, presently chairman of the Regulatory Reforms
Commission, on Friday observed that the country was now
passing through a "silent famine" following intolerable
price hike of essentials and many other socioeconomic
crises.
Dr Aziz observed that there is no relation between budget
and price hike.
The Finance and Planning Advisor of the caretaker
government said the national budget would be adopted
through an ordinance as there is no parliament in the
country at present.
This is for a second consecutive time that budget is going
to be announced and adopted sans parliament, as the
general election stalled amid a political crisis in
January 2007 is yet to be held.
" The budget will be presented with priority to human
development, poverty alleviation, agriculture and
communications sectors," he said in the first formal
pre-budget meet with business community, public
representatives, government officials and importers at the
circuit-house auditorium.
The Finance Advisor said the government started from this
port city the process of holding pre-budget discussion in
all divisional headquarters for eliciting opinions of
cross-sections of people before announcing the new budget
for 2008-09 fiscal.
He told his audience that there was no opportunity to
discuss budget outside parliament during the period of
political governments but the Caretaker Government took
initiative to take opinion from all on budget.
The Finance Advisor said, "The aim of the present
government is to eradicate poverty, create employment
opportunity and reduce dependence on external support. So
the government is giving importance to raising revenue
earnings."
He said it is only through increasing the number of
taxpayers that revenue income could be increased.
He also emphasized reducing dependence on external support
for making the country self-reliant.
In this context, the Finance and Planning Advisor said the
government would not take any decision on advice of donors
like the World Bank and the IMF that would run counter to
the country’s interest.
Mirza Aziz said the planned deep-sea port would not hamper
the activities of Chittagong seaport as the decision of
constructing deep-sea port was taken on the basis of
expert opinion.
Regarding the development projects of Chittagong he said
this is a wrong idea that the projects are not being
implemented due to government policy. If the projects were
approved, then there would be no problem in
implementation.
Present among others were finance secretary Dr Md Tareq,
planning secretary Zafar Ahmed Chowdhury, NBR chairman
Abdul Majid, port chairman Md Faruq and acting city mayor
Manjurul Alam.
Local Experts object to Foreign Gas Exploration
Staff Correspondent
Experts on Saturday asked
the government to cancel the offshore gas exploration
bidding alleging that such process would hamper the
country’s interest and create a scope for International
oil companies to capture Bangladesh gas and oil sector.
"If the government does not change its decision,
Bangladesh will have no control over it’s natural
resources as foreign companies will be given the
responsibility for all activities including investigation,
exploration and distribution of 20 blocks in the deep sea
and seven in offshore areas," experts said at a press
conference held at Engineer Institute of Bangladesh
yesterday. Protesting the government’s move to lease out
27 blocks in the deep sea and offshore areas to foreign
companies for exploring oil and gas, they said if the
blocks are leased out to the foreign companies, national
security and sovereignty will be threatened.
A month ago, the government invited International Oil
Companies to bid for acreage for exploration of mineral
fuel in the Bay of Bengal. Responding to the invitation,
some foreign companies already have applied for getting
the work. Foreign oil companies, singly or in association
with other foreign companies, can bid for one or more
blocks. "Ignoring local experts and people’s opinion, the
PSC has been prepared in a bid to sell out the country’s
natural resources to the foreigners. The PSC which has
been made by the government, is anti-sate as there is a
provision for exporting the gas and oil. But it should be
remembered that each drop of oil and gas will have to be
used for Bangladesh citizens," they said.
Recalling the bitter experience from past foreign oil
companies, they said on the basis of such contracts
foreign companies are still obtaining the lion’s share of
our gas. Irresponsible activities of foreign companies
resulted in frequent fire incidents in Magursora and
Tegratila.
Right now, the government has to buy one unit gas at the
cost only Tk 7 from BAPEX. But as per new PSC, the
government will have to pay $ 4.7 to foreign companies for
each unit of gas, they regretted questioning, "Why are our
governments more attentive to the interest of foreign
companies than that of the people of the country?"
As there is a warning that after 2011 the country will
face serious gas crisis, exploration of gas from new
sources is necessary. But during making of any contracts,
the government should ensure that any portion of explored
gas will not be exported and 100 per cent of it will be
used for generation of electricity and local industrial
activities, experts pointed out.
Replying to a query, they said, as Bangladesh is not self
reliant in technologies, it can at best obtain
technological services from foreign companies. But it does
not mean that those foreign companies will be made
co-sharer of our oil and gas. Although we have been
demanding since 2005 that the government should open some
subjects in BUET and other engineering universities to
create local experts who will be able to explore oil and
gas, the governments have not taken any step in this
regard, they alleged.
They spoke on the need for demarcation of sea territory of
Bangladesh with neighbouring countries like India and
Myanmar which are demanding many blocks of our sea. If the
sea area is not fixed, those countries may demand any oil
and gas of the sea.
Micro-credit
Unable to Solve Poverty
Staff Correspondent
The
much-talked-about micro-credit programme has failed to
reduce poverty in the country.This was observed by
speakers at a seminar on the "Monga Mitigation Initiative
by the Government and the NGOs" organised jointly by
Social Development Foundation (SDF) and Policy Research
Centre in the city on Saturday.
The widely introduced micro-credit programme has not
proved fruitful and effective in reducing poverty. From
the very beginning, the entrepreneurs claimed that the
introduction of micro-credit programme will free the
country from poverty through ensuring economic
emancipation of the poor. Even after the introduction of
micro-credit in Bangladesh about two decades ago, more
than 5 crore people are still under the extreme poverty
line. It indicates that micro-credit programme has really
failed to improve the financial conditions of millions of
poor and ultra-poor people of the country.
Speakers at the seminar opined that the poor people
receives micro-credit loan from the NGOs in the hope of
improving their financial condition through
self-employment but they hardly get out of the
poverty-circle as their dependence on such loans increases
day by day to earn their livelihood. The poor do not have
any option but to take new loans to refund the previous
ones as they are compelled to pay much more money
including high rates of interest on the loans.
Urging the NGOs, engaged in micro-credit business in the
country, to adopt authentic and realistic means to
effectively mitigate poverty, they said adding the NGOs
should launch programmes to raise awareness among the poor
to enable them to take initiatives to improve their
financial conditions by dint of their own merit, not to
increase their dependence on micro-credit.
About the Monga in the northwestern region of the country,
they said Monga is a seasonal scarcity of employment and
reduction of income among the hard-core poor families who
live hand to mouth between the Amon cultivation period and
harvest time. From September to December every year, Monga
occurs in the country’s northwestern parts but the NGOs
have virtually failed to improve the lives of the people
in the Monga-prone districts though they are making profit
of billions of Taka annually through investing a huge
amount of money in their micro-credit business.
UNDP
USG meets CEC
Staff Correspondent
The Chief Election Commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on
Saturday said the schedule for the stalled parliamentary
election would be announced after publishing the draft
voter list in June. CEC was talking to reporters after a
meeting with UN Under-Secretary-General Kemal Dervis at
the EC Secretariat yesterday. The CEC said, "The schedule
for the general election might be announced in June after
the publication of the voter list and we hope that the EC
would be able to publish the voter list with photographs
in June as per the road map." Replying to a questioner,
Shamsul Huda said, "We will be able to speak about the
timeline of holding local government elections only after
we get the law in our hand."
Meanwhile, earlier a seven member UNDP delegation led by
the Under Secretary General Kemal Dervis met the Chief
Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda and discussed about
the ongoing activities of the election commission.
Emerging from the meeting, Kemal Dervis said, "I think the
National Election will be held as per the announced
roadmap and it seems to me there is no reason for not
holding the election as per the roadmap."
Asked about their discussion with the EC, he said, "We
discussed the ongoing election process and I am very much
satisfied with the EC activities and we shared our
experiences, it is very important to work together." About
the ongoing voter lists, Dervis said, "Voter list is very
important for holding a free, fair and credible election
and I hope the ongoing voter list is much more correct
compared to that of previous one." He said, "During the
discussion, we emphasized on parliamentary election and
the CEC informed me that EC held dialogue with the
political parties. I have also shared my experience of
other countries with the EC."
Govt.
Conspiring not to send Hasina to USA: Dhaka City AL
Staff Correspondent
Dhaka City Awami League (AL) on Saturday said the
Government is hatching conspiracy in a bid to delay
sending detained AL President Sheikh Hasina abroad
through setting up medical board under the government
supervision. "We are very much concerned about the
government activities. Instead of giving support to
Sheikh Hasina’s personal physicians, the government in a
planned way is barring them for her treatment and formed
a medical board under its supervision. It is very clear
to us the government does not want to send Hasina to USA
for her ear treatment" Dhaka City Awami League Acting
General Secretary Kamrul Islam told reporters after the
executive council meeting held at party’s central office
at Bangabandhu Avenue yesterday. Emerging from the
meeting, he said by changing doctor’s panel for Hasina’s
treatment the government is now engaged in a deep rooted
conspiracy for politicising her treatment process.
"Confusion has been created among the people whether
Hasian is being slow poisoned as the government is
saying nothing about her latest health condition through
regular press briefing. People from all walks of life
have the right to know the latest condition of former
Prime Minister and the chief of a major political party
like Awami League," Kamrul Islam added. He said the
executive council meeting demanded of the government for
immediate release of Sheikh Hasina and taking of
effective steps for sending her to USA for treatment.
Row
in BNP continues
Staff
Correspondent
BNP Chairperson’s adviser Brig General Hannan Shah (Retd)
on Saturday in a statement said there is no
misunderstanding between him and BNP Secretary General
Khandaker Delwar Hossain. "Our party’s respected Secretary
General Khandaker Delwar Hossain is now under treatment in
USA. Taking the opportunity, various circles are engaged
in misguiding the people through spreading propaganda. I
am calling upon the party leaders, activists as well as
the countrymen to be alert about the issue," he said.
"Soon after my release from the jail, I had a long
discussion with the party’s Secretary General. There is no
misunderstanding between me and Delwar. As he suddenly
fell sick and went to USA for treatment, various circles
started misguiding people through fabricated and motivated
news," in his statement Hannan Shah said adding BNP is
united and soon after the return of Secretary General from
abroad we will begin talks for strengthening the party
activities.
Meanwhile, Joint Secretary General Goyeshwar at a press
conference said as Khandaker Delwar Hossain is now under
treatment abroad, he is being inconsistent. "Delwar did
not communicate with Hannan Shah. But he is maintaining
communication with a section of party leaders. After
recovering from his illness, when he will return home, he
will talk rightly," replying to a query Goyeshwar said. It
may be pointed out that Delwar Hossain in a statement on
Friday said there is no reason to believe Hannan Shah.
Back Page
40,000 say ‘No!’
to corruption in Ctg
Bdnews24, Chittagong
Forty thousand people took a
stand against corruption in Chittagong city on Saturday in
a huge anticorruption rally inaugurated by ACC chairman
Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury.
People from all levels of society and all age groups,
including students, professionals and the elderly,
participated in the colourful parade with a vow to say
"No" to corruption.
Though traffic came to a standstill as the 5-km long
procession made its way from Jamiatul Falah mosque through
the city, hundreds of passers-by and observers cheered on
the huge parade and expressed their solidarity with the
rally's cause.
Anticorruption Commission chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury
in a brief speech at the start of the rally said: "We have
gathered here today to raise our voices against
corruption." "People of Chittagong, you must continue to
be vocal against corruption in future too." The ACC
chairman said Saturday's rally was organised to resist
corruption and create awareness against corruption
throughout the country.
He urged the nation's youth to take a strong position
against corruption, being the future of the country and
the ones who will eventually govern the nation.
The ACC's Chittagong city unit of the committee to resist
corruption organised the procession.
Among the speakers at the launch of the parade were
executive director of Transparency International
Bangladesh Dr Iftekharuzzaman, director of the ACC's
Chittagong office Zulfikar Ali Majumder and businesswoman
Monwara Hakim Ali.
Members of different organisations and educational
institutions with banners and festoons gathered at the
Jamiatul Falah mosque grounds from morning to participate
in the procession.
Chittagong city corporation officials, business leaders,
members of Chittagong Education Board, teachers and
students of government and non-government schools,
colleges and madrasas, members of more than 50 NGOs and of
socio-cultural organisations, and noted personalities
participated in the procession alongside other members of
the public.
Biman signs deal for eight Boeing aircraft
Bdnews24, Dhaka
Biman Bangladesh Airlines
has signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase
of eight Boeing airliners.
The deal was signed at the Biman head office on Saturday
for eight Boeing planes to be purchased at a cost of $1.26
billion. Of the aircraft four are of the new
Boeing-777-300 ER series and the other four Being-787-8
models.
Biman managing director MA Momen and director general
(aircraft contracts) of the US Boeing Company Glen A Green
signed the MOU on Saturday.
The present deal marks the first time that Biman are
buying aircraft directly from the manufacturing company.
The chief adviser's special assistant for civil aviation
and tourism Mahbub Jamil and US charge d'Affaires Geeta
Pasi were present at the signing.
Mahbub Jamil told reporters: "This is a revolutionary
decision of the government. The signing of the MOU has
paved the way for buying another four aircrafts in the
future."
US charge d'Affaires Geeta Pasi also termed the signing
the MOU as a memorable event, saying there was a demand
for aviation services in Bangladesh.
Mahbub said, as per the MOU, four Boeing-777-300 ER
airliners would be added to the Biman Bangladesh fleet in
July, August, October and December of 2013.
The remaining four planes would be added in July, August,
October and November of 2017, he said.
Mahbub told reporters that the government is considering
some form of policy to ensure that no corruption takes
places in procuring aircrafts in future.
Consumer Rights Act a Must: Speakers
Staff Correspondent
Due to absence
of Consumers Rights Acts, people are being deprived of
their rights, said speakers at a roundtable on the
occasion World Consumer Rights Day 2008 held at CIRDAP
auditorium in the city on Saturday. They urged the
government to enact Consumers Rights Acts in a bid to
protect the consumer rights. "Otherwise sufferings of the
common people would not be mitigated in future as sellers
are indiscriminately charging high price for essentials.
As there is no law to protecting consumer rights, people
are always being cheated and the adulterated foods are
also being sold openly under the very nose of the
authorities concerned," they said. The people have been
demanding for formulation of Consumer Rights Acts since
long but the government is yet to take any steps in this
regard.
Many local and foreign food and beverage manufacturing
companies are marketing their adulterated goods posing a
serious threat to public health. For this reason, most of
the children and school students are becoming ill
alarmingly, they added.
Editorial
An
Increase in Fuel and CNG Prices
The
Emergency Government has decided to increase the price of CNG,
effective this month and of other fuels effective after the
cultivation of this seasons crops; that's not going to boost
our economy but it certainly is going to boost the on going
inflation. One supposes that this price increase of fuels was
inevitable given the government's increased spending on food
imports and its subsidy to fuel, to agriculture - all of which
might have exhausted the government's revenues. The impact of
this increase of fuel and CNG prices will be severe and
multi-faceted.
Almost immediately commodity prices, particularly of food,
will take another disproportionate jump upwards on the plea
that transportation costs have increased since all our
transportations run on diesel or to a small extent on CNG.
Right now high food prices are the bane of common people and
the Government is entirely unable to do anything about
controlling those prices. Another increase in food prices will
certainly bring ruination to all people of middle class and
below and that is putting it mildly; it might well result in
situation of semi-starvation for the majority of the people of
this Country. Along with the increase in food prices and
transportation costs, costs of all essential goods and
services are going to increase too such as costs of medicines
and medi-care, education, housing and house-rents, travel etc.
Export costs are going to increase as well since mills and
factories have to transport in raw materials from ports and
transport out finished products to ports and that's going to
make our exports less competitive and even non-competitive as
far as prices are concerned - this is particularly applicable
to garments and pharmaceuticals which work on very narrow cost
margins. Exports will decline and so will our foreign currency
which these exports bring in. Less foreign currency means we
will have less money to import food, fuel, fertilizers and
other essential commodities, meaning less things to go round
for more people. Thus we will be caught in a vicious circle of
inflation and economic decline giving rise to serious social
and political unrests and conflicts already simmering just
below the surface.
One feels, is constrained to feel that this Emergency
Government is somehow an accountant's government, a banker's
government at the best since it is interested in balancing the
account books rather than understanding and dealing with a
national economy which is already severely buffeted by its
internal and external troubles and is on the verge of
disintegration. No doubt the Government is running short of
revenues, who isn't in this Country but instead of passing it
on to an already beleaguered population, it ought to look at
other sources of revenue increases such as drastically
reducing expenditures on all non-productive sectors such as
Military forces and bureaucracy, such as heavily taxing the
very rich, the super rich and big-business, such as reducing
system-losses from public sector enterprises, such as stopping
imports of luxuries, such as stopping bribery and corruption
which have increase manifolds since the Emergency was
declared, such as stopping subsidies on housing, transports,
medi-care to government officials and advisers. It is futile
to expect this accountant's government to understand the
adversities which the people of this Nation are being forced
to go through mainly because of the numerous ill-conceived
measures which this ill-conceived government has imposed upon
all of us. We don't want an increase in fuel prices and we
don't want this Government either.
Pollution of the Buriganga
Environmentalists
expressed grave concern over the pollution of the Buriganga
river and contamination of its water. They urged the
government to take immediate steps to save the river from
pollution and its water from contamination. Speaking at a
seminar in the city on Friday they also called for taking
stern action against those who are occupying illegally the
lands on the banks of the river. The environmentalists also
requested the government to make it compulsory for the
industrialists to set up Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) in
the industries in the areas adjacent to the Buriganga river to
protect the river as well as the capital city from pollution.
The observations made by the environmentalists on the state of
the Buriganga and the suggestions put forward by them for
protecting it from pollution and contamination are based on
reality and so deserve serious consideration of the
government. It is an open secret that land grabbers have been
occupying lands on the bank of the Buriganga and constructing
buildings for residential houses and business establishments
there leading the river to rapid shrinkage. Besides, the water
of the river is being contaminated continuously as garbage and
industrial waste are poured into it. In fact, the water of
Buringanga river has already become unusable due to
contamination.
Against this backdrop, the government should take the issue in
right earnest and go for appropriate steps against the land
grabbers and polluters to save the Buriganga from pollution,
contamination and virtual extinction. Immediate government
measures are needed in this respect for greater public
interest.
Analysis
National Election 2008:
Redefining Leadership and Politics in Bangladesh
Leadership is a "package of gifts" to someone's
talents and thus is not any event during a (political)
process.
Mohammad Gani
Bill Clinton is the first Black President and Barack Obama to
be the second" said famous author Toni Morrison in her
endorsement of the Democratic presidential candidate 2008. "In
addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare
authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do
with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see
in other candidates," Morrison wrote. "That something is a
creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals
wisdom". "Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit
it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace - that
access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but NOT
wisdom" She said.
The entire world is now waiting to see the most exciting
chapter in American politics and the fate of the son of a
black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas.
Nevertheless, an Obama has successfully blended political
savvy and personal charm in US politics that could likely take
him opening the door of the White house.
So, what is the leadership all about? I remember of a native
e-mailer from Bangladesh sincerely requesting me to "come to
Bangladesh, join its politics, run for the office and do
something good for this poor nation". I wrote a "thank you
letter" to him clearly mentioning, "Honored but sorry to
decline. Sadly, I have been living with a powerful "Woman
President" at home for last 27 years (exactly like in
Bangladesh)!"
DEFINITION: As I understand, Leadership is a "package of
gifts" to someone's talents and thus is not any event during a
(political) process. A true leader cares so much about higher
purposes, higher principles and higher goals those he is
willing to make; the most important sacrifices for the sake of
what he is aspiring to accomplish. He cares so passionately
reaching his goals that he enthusiastically sacrifices his
personal peace of mind, comfort and security in order for him
to succeed. It means that he has no choice left anymore
because he is convinced that from now on, it is up only to
him. He realizes that he is the one without a second. A true
leader firmly believes that there is no other and there never
could have been one. What is so interesting about authentic
leadership is; his very insight that once he arrives, there is
no longer any point of return and thus has become the only one
with the destiny itself. For our beloved and beautiful
motherland Bangladesh these are simply edifying classroom
lectures or could be at best, our politician's powerful "Paltan
Speech"; nothing more or nothing less. The field reality and
actual behaviors of our leaders in Bangladesh simply do not
fit with any standard norms of civilized democracy.
EVENTS: I am still sitting ON the fence between Awami League
and BNP for many years; more often hate (or am jealous of!)
most of our "political celebrity" in Bangladesh, not because
they are "so beautiful" but because they only have ugly and
the most corrupted minds, have recondite ambitions for only
grabbing power by all means (or through free and fair
election, whatever!) to secure their sinecures, cozening this
poor nation's remaining public wealth and then defiantly
denying any wrong doing. These sordid tales of deceits and
betrayals of our contentious national leaders could be huge in
volumes!
More than Taka 50,000 Crores (Fifty thousand Crores taka)
evaporated like gas from Titas Gas Transmission and
Distribution Company alone during both Awami League and
BNP-Razakar Administrations; and no one in their Governments
knew anything about all these massive corruptions! Dogmatic
Awami League (and BNP) intellectuals worldwide and/or genius
Dhaka University professors, a self proclaimed, aggressive
patriotic infantry division is always mysteriously reticent
about these corruptions and on all corruptions! This stolen
wealth could have been almost 50% of our national budget each
year during these 2 "Democratic" administrations. Again, it
does not include truck loads of undocumented public money went
deep into unknown pockets or went for our leader's "self
development schemes" in Forest Department, Roads and Highway
(R&H), Secretariats of all Ministries, Customs, PDB, PDB, DESA,
WASA, WDB……and so many more.
This "anemic symptom" of our obdurate national leaders is very
complex and their offenses involving political irresponsibly
are huge and repugnant those have totally ruined nation's
spirits, all hopes and dreams imputed during our legacy of
freedoms; a freedom this nation achieved with 9 months
struggle and sacrifices. Though there is no quick fixing
prescription out there to bring about any change overnight,
nation could still minimize it to a reasonable civilized
democratic standard if, only if our politicians abandon their
authoritarian personality and obstinate "State of Denials" and
then come up with firm commitments and ebullience of "CHANGE".
Though eccentric Awami League leadership initially welcomed
this Care Taker Government, took pride and credits for their "Lagatar
Movements" against BNP-Razakar Government for successfully
aborting a massive fraud election, now they fully understand
and come up with a deep throat conclusion that it was in fact
a serious mistake. BNP-Razakar Government would have been much
better, accessible and at least would not have put Hasina and
her surrogates in jail. So, that was the end of it and from
now on, they shall "play democracy game" with this nation,
pretend exchanging "friendly fire" with each other but jointly
and safely loot the nation's wealth with no fear of going to
the jail anymore! Thus, the 2 major political camps shall keep
aside their see-saw rivalry and fight their "common enemy" to
put a squeeze on this military backed Care Taker Government to
"protect" democracy, freedom and human rights!
IDEA of SOLUTIONS: A national slogan "CHANGE" in our
leadership as well as in politics is long overdue. Recently,
US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Donald Camp mentioned
of the Care Taker Government making some important reforms and
the reforms are being institutionalized, visibly a supporting
sentiment to all these actions.
As our aberrant leaders/politicians are not voluntarily coming
up with any change/reform, Care Taker Government along with
its own commitment of conducting a "free and fair election" as
promised, could impose mandatory reforms (CHANGE) in all
political parties before any national election could actually
be scheduled. The fundamentals of democracy e.g.
"Accountability and Transparency" must start from inside the
political parties themselves to practice on including the
structure of political parties, leadership determination
process, precise mission statement, term limits, its
management system, decision making procedures, financial
transparency and other issues. Tougher election regulations,
astringent to the politicians/parties could also be imposed
upon beforehand while the Party leaders must exhort the nation
introducing their own pre-election and post election
commitments, precise plans of actions against corruptions,
bribery, extortion…..with the attachments of consequences for
failure in nationally televised broadcast. They can't just
keep all their corruptions/misdeeds hidden behind the "RAZAKAR
BILL BOARD" for ever and get away clean with it. All
candidates including their immediate family members must give
out wealth statement before running for the office. Besides,
election commissioner needs to conduct criminal background
check, loan default records (if any) and family history.
Leaders must deliver their own justification as to why the
nation shall trust them again and shall affirm that they shall
be unfeigned in delegating public duties as per provisions
mandated by the Constitution and they truly mean it. They
shall, this time go to the Parliament and not to the street
when the election is over. Public awareness campaign messages
by nonpolitical agencies/NGOs could also educate the
citizens/voters in choosing "better" candidates.
FINALLY, it is widely feared that this poor nation could
continue through even bleaker days ahead than those past 36
years with no hope of any real CHANGE and over the time, the
denouements of discontents could be a spontaneous BIG BANG
that could swiftly wipe out any legitimate "representative
Governments" and be replaced by an emerging mass
representatives totalitarian Government; but more
"illegitimate and brutal" than this ephemeral Care Taker
Government. Nightmares shall still be haunting this nation but
let us keep our hopes and dream alive for a propitious moment
of a "someday", someone like Obama if already born in
Bangladesh, shall grow up with the tenacity of taking over the
nation's arduous leadership toward a brighter future journey.
(Mohammad Gani is an engineer and a freelance columnist
residing in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Address: 318
Franklin Street; Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Phone: (617)
547-2482 (Home).Email: mgani69@gmail.com)
After
Babel
The myth of language, as both chaos and wealth, is
inscribed in the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel of
ancient Mesopotamia, in which the Tower collapses beneath
human ambition, or divine jealousy, or both, from whence all
human languages come.
Leonard Schwartz
OLYMPIA,
Washington-The Middle East conflict has shaped a significant
part of my writing over the past six years. This is so even
though as a poet I see myself as lost in the forest of
language: even though it is the voice of the poem that is
heard in one's texts, not the voice of the poet; even though I
think one should never guide the content or stick to the path
of a pre-designated subject matter; even though one writes in
the dark. Yet so often in the adventure of writing, when I am
truly lost, where I find myself is at the proposition: "and
behold, the Palestinians became the Jews of the second half of
the twentieth century, and the foreseeable 21st." By which I
mean: it was we, the Jews, who lived by language alone,
without land, for 2,000 years. Now it is the Palestinians who
are synonymous with such life. I am saying something very
obvious.
Saying is never really obvious. My 2007 book Language As
Responsibility assumed the necessity of an address to the
other. Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas suggested that the
very presence of language implies the existence of an other,
and therefore each utterance we make carries weight in the
world: utterances that stand as if face to face, where the
human face proves the existence of the other. From this
premise, Language As Responsibility combined three forms of
address to the other: conversation, proposition, and poem. The
first section was an interview with the Israeli poet and peace
activist, Aharon Shabtai, the second an essay on Arabic and
Israeli writing in translation, the third section one of my
poems. In the poem I misquote the great Russian poet Marina
Tsvetaeva. Early in the last century she wrote, famously, "all
poets are Jews." She meant that as poets we are exiled to
language, like the Jews were, and that the work of salvage can
only be done by way of words, or with whatever words haven't
been wasted entirely. I changed it to "All poets are
Palestinians." This is true for Jewish poets above all. We
must permit ourselves such provocations, remain open to being
provoked, and insist on saying paradoxical things.
We speak in a language that is never obvious. For my 2005 book
Ear and Ethos I wrote a series of poems for which I decided
the constraint would be to only use English words derived from
Arabic. The way to dissipate toxic notions like "the clash of
civilizations" is not with ball-pen screeds or by assuming the
moral high ground, but by demonstrating the falsity of those
notions. In English we cannot name a piece of fruit without
borrowing from Arabic. Languages are intertwined. There is no
clash of civilizations.
The myth of language, as both chaos and wealth, is inscribed
in the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel of ancient
Mesopotamia, in which the Tower collapses beneath human
ambition, or divine jealousy, or both, from whence all human
languages come. My prose poem, "The New Babel," grappled with
my first-hand experience of September 11th, 2001 as those
towers fell in NYC, and the range of thoughts, perceptions,
confusions, and feelings so stirred in the months that
followed. This was a day many deemed a culmination of the
so-called clash of civilizations. (It felt like a little
Hiroshima, and like being in a bombed out village in
Afghanistan several weeks later).
We speak with one another, thanks to language, or by embracing
Babel. On my radio program, Cross Cultural Poetics, I speak by
phone with poets, translators, and writers from all over the
world. Did you know that in America we publish less literature
in translation by far than any other industrialized democracy?
That in America, 1% of the poetry published is poetry is
translation, while in France 60% is in translation? How can we
hear the words of the other if the other isn't permitted a
hearing? If the other isn't permitted words by virtue of our
own inertia in meeting those words half-way? Conflict can be
mediated by culture, but only if culture is willing to engage
in the cutting-edge conflicts of its own day and age. Our
culture is primed, the poets and translators are hard at work.
It is the greater part of the publishing world, having given
itself over to commodity and corporate culture, that fails us
the most. The Middle East conflict challenges us to overcome
the terrible limitations on our own capacity to imagine
something other.
(Leonard Schwartz is professor of Literary Arts at
Evergreen State College. Source: Common Ground News Service,
13 March 2008.Copyright permission is granted for publication)
Race
Emerges as Substantial Issue in the Campaign of Democrats
Peter Wallsten
Barack
Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton insisted this week that the
Democratic nominating contest should turn on issues such as
health care and energy. But despite their stated hopes, a
different subject keeps pushing itself into the campaign: The
role of race. In the latest sign of a racial rift, two
prominent black pastors warned Wednesday that if Hillary is
the nominee, black voters could become so discouraged by the
campaign that they might stay home in November. This is a
virtual race war, politically," said the Rev. Eugene Rivers of
the Azusa Christian Community, a Pentecostal church in Boston.
Rivers, one of the country's leading Pentecostal ministers,
said black voters were especially offended by Hillary's
suggestion this week that Obama could join her on the ticket
as her running mate. "Blacks aren't going to sit back while
the winning candidate is told to sit at the back of the bus,"
he said, adding that the Democratic Party and Hillary risk
handing the election to the presumptive Republican nominee,
John McCain.
Bishop Charles Blake of Los Angeles, who as leader of the 6
million-member Church of God in Christ presides over one of
the nation's largest Christian denominations, said that black
voters could come to feel so disheartened that "their whole
motivation for participating in the political process in this
election would be greatly reduced."
The pastors' comments came during a week in which racial
issues have retaken a central role. Obama's 24-point victory
Tuesday in the Mississippi primary highlighted the party's
racial rift, with Obama, who is black, winning 90 percent of
black voters and Hillary, who is white, winning 70 percent of
white voters.
On Wednesday, a high-profile Hillary supporter, former
Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro,
stepped down from the campaign after making comments against
Obama that some considered racially divisive.
"We ought to keep this on the issues," she said Tuesday to The
Associated Press. "There are differences between us. There are
differences between our approaches on health care, on energy,
on our experience, on our results that we've produced for
people." Obama said Wednesday that discussions of race and
gender were counterproductive.
"I don't think identity politics has served the Democratic
Party well," he said. "I think it's been an enormous
distraction - I think that when we are in these conversations
it means that people are not recognizing their common concerns
around health care, their common interests in getting decent
jobs, their common interests in making sure that we're not
loading up the national debt for the next generation to pay."
But the candidates acknowledged that a campaign pitting the
would-be first female president against the would-be first
black president was destined to touch delicate nerves in a
party built in part on coalitions of blacks and women. Obama
complained Wednesday that at times Hillary has invoked race in
subtle ways.
"I do think that the Hillary campaign has talked more during
the course of the last few months about what groups are
supporting her and what groups are supporting me, and trying
to make the case that the reason she should be the nominee is
there are a set of voters that Obama might not get," he said.
"That seems to track certain racial demographics. And I
disagree with that." The finger-pointing has gone both ways.
Hillary in January cited an Obama campaign document to show
that her rival was encouraging the media to focus on race -
forcing Obama to blame the strategy on "overzealous" staffers.
And some members of the Congressional Black Caucus who are
backing Hillary - and who are under pressure to switch their
loyalties - have complained that Obama supporters are
targeting them because of their race.
Source: www.arabnews.com
Viewpoints
The 3am
Call
If anyone tries to make a nuclear explosion in
an American city it will be some terrorist group using a so
called dirty bomb, explosive materials wrapped with nuclear
waste.
Jonathan Power
So
what if the phone rings in the new American president's bed
room at 3am! It can only be because the radar has picked up a
flock of geese. The chances of Russia attacking the U.S. with
its missiles is as close to zero as one can get without
falling off the graph paper. Ditto China, Israel, Pakistan,
India and North Korea. As for the putative Iranian bomb, at
best within 10 years it could reach Europe in some primitive
rocket but by then the White House will have changed ownership
again.
Mrs. Hillary Clinton's jibe, suggesting that Barack Obama
wouldn't have the experience to deal with a night time
emergency, is so wide of the mark and so anachronistic that it
should be relegated to the basement of the Imperial War
Museum. If anyone tries to make a nuclear explosion in an
American city it will be some terrorist group using a so
called dirty bomb, explosive materials wrapped with nuclear
waste. For full effect it will be exploded in daylight whilst
people are on the streets. It will kill at most far less than
those who perished at the World Trade Center on 9/11.
Before the Clinton-Obama campaign gets stuck in the dirt
(although let us be clear it is at present of a single origin)
let's get some facts clear. Who will be in the bedroom at 3am
in Mrs. Clinton's scenario? Assuming the marital relationship
is still working we can assume it will be husband Bill.
Knowing what we do about Bill's character can we assume he
will remain silent at this crucial moment? And can we assume
that in the five minutes presidents are supposed to have when
warning of a missile attack has been given that in that
tension filled bedroom there will be unanimity? Will that be
the best atmosphere to make a cool and level headed decision?
It is just the kind of crisis that could be the catalyst for
bringing to the surface all the hidden and buried resentments
the one has for the other. Wouldn't it be better to have the
cool headed Obama as president? He is more likely say to those
on the other end of the phone: "Wait a moment. I believe we
have been there before. No one is to do anything, launch
anything, until we have the full facts."
A good friend of Zbigniew Brezinski told me a story that is
half funny and half frightening from the time when he was
President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor. The phone
did ring in the middle of the night when he was asleep in bed
with his wife beside him. He was told that the Pentagon
warning system had reported that a single rocket had been
launched from the Soviet Union and was on its way to
Washington. Brzezinski told them to check it out and call him
back in a minute. The call came. This time he was told that it
wasn't a single rocket, it was at least twenty. Brzezinski,
aware he had to wake the president well before the 5 minutes
was up, again told them to re-check the information. A minute
later the Pentagon called and told him it was a false alarm.
It was geese or atmospheric interference. The friend asked
Brzezinski if he woke his wife in the middle of all this?
Brzezinski replied with an ironic smile, "If we were all going
to die in the next few minutes it was better to let her sleep
through it!"
Mikhail Gorbachev, when he was president of the Soviet Union,
had a very sensible way of looking at his responsibilities. In
an interview conducted by Jonathan Schell of the Nation
magazine he said: "I recall that when I was trained in the use
of the nuclear button I would be told of an attack from one
direction, and then, while I am thinking over what to do about
that, new information comes in- that another nuclear offensive
is coming from another direction. And I am supposed to make
decisions!" Gorbachev laughed. "Nevertheless, I never actually
pushed the button. Even during training, even though the
briefcase was always there with my codes, I never touched the
button."
And when Schell pressed him, "Would you have given the order
to use nuclear weapons in retaliation for a nuclear attack?",
he replied, "Well, let me tell you right off that this did not
concern me, not because I lacked the will or the power, but
because I was quite sure that the people in the White House
were not idiots."
Mrs. Clinton, please think about what Mr. Gorbachev said. It
couldn't be clearer.
(Jonathan Power is an internationally renowned freelance
columnist. Copyright Jonathan Power.Dateline London; March
12th 2008.E-mail: JonatPower@aol.com or phone: +46 706 510879)
Is it a currency war?
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak wanted to demonstrate to
the Israeli public that he was “doing something” about the
regular launching of rockets from Gaza.
Zeenia Satti
THE
UN Security Council's March 3 sanctions against Iran not
only present a diplomatic victory for President Bush but
also a major success for Washington in the first phase of
its currency war with Tehran. The war began with the
commencement of Iran's oil bourse in mid-February. Widely
known as the Kish bourse, it is intended to bypass
London's IPE and New York's Nymex, both of which are
effectively controlled by Washington.
The Kish bourse is intended to eventually sell crude oil
to the international market in euros. By opening its own
oil bourse, Iran became the first Opec insider to attempt
the further weakening of an already ailing greenback. If
joined by other Opec and Caspian producers, it could serve
a death blow to the American economy.
The dollar's predominance as the world's hegemonic
currency has its genesis in the 1972/73 US-Saudi agreement
to price oil exclusively in dollars in return for US
protection to the House of Saud against external
aggression or domestic overthrow. This arrangement led to
Opec transacting oil exclusively in dollars ever since.
The ever-increasing use of oil in the world at a rising
price led to an ever-rising demand for the dollar as the
world's reserved currency, enabling America to export a
cheaply produced good with handsome dividends. Given the
relative decline of American industrial output over time,
the dollar's hegemony has become vital for its
economy.Once it was established, the Opec kingdoms never
challenged the dollar's hegemony. They put a high value on
US protection which guarantees their political survival
and their territorial integrity. The kingdoms' borders are
arbitrarily drawn to meet twentieth-century
politico-economic needs rather than delineate ethnic
patterns. The parameters of Washington's protection
include maintaining the regional status quo plus
monitoring the kingdoms' domestic fronts for rebellion.
Because this deal ensures mutual survival, its tenacity
remained impervious to secondary political causes.
Paradoxically, the maintenance of the status quo has been
disrupted by the US itself. In 2000, Saddam Hussein
demanded that Iraqi oil sale in the UN-administered Oil
For Food programme be transacted in euros. The UN conceded
and Saddam further declared his intention to open Iraq's
own oil bourse. Washington saw this development as
dangerous and sacked Saddam by invading Iraq in
2003.Thereafter, Iraq's oil sales reverted to the dollar.
However, 'peak oil' concerns led to Washington's
occupation of Iraq. With continued occupation, the show of
armed commitment to the greenback became counterproductive
and led to the beginning of the petering out of the
kingdoms' commitment to the dollar. Instead of guarantor,
Washington now appears as a threat to the status quo.
Anti-US sentiment in Arab societies frightens the monarchs
into believing that if Washington invades more Middle
Eastern countries, this sentiment would deepen and
eventually target their households.
Hence a rising notion within the royal families that if
stripped of its dollar hegemony, the US could be deprived
of unlimited credit for waging further wars in the Middle
East. In the third Opec summit meeting in Riyadh in
November 2007, the issue of the dollar's depreciation,
though not incorporated in the final declaration, was
assigned to the kingdoms' respective finance ministers to
study.
Given the de facto taboo on this subject, this is a
significant development that may have prompted Bush to
make a journey to the Saudi kingdom later in January 2008.
Though Iraq, Iran and Petrocaribe's (Venezuela's) switch
from the dollar is due to political vengeance, it makes
economic sense. If a bourse trades oil in euros, other
countries can build up their reserves of an ascendant euro
instead of having to replenish the rapidly depreciating
dollar. However, two interrelated developments threaten
Iran's oil bourse. One is Ahmadinejad's rise to power and
his belligerence towards Israel, a UN member state; the
other is Washington's corresponding success in building up
an international consensus against Iran.
The industrial group reorganised the sanctions regime in
1996 at the behest of the US under the Wassenaar
Arrangement. Functioning parallel to other treaties
monitoring proliferation, Wassenaar shifted the target of
technology-transfer curbs from Communism to individual
states who "exhibit dangerous behaviour". At the time of
signing, Washington tried to designate the Middle East as
a "destabilising region". Other members refused as they
did not want regional bias inducted into the Wassenaar
regime. Their concession confines to granting Washington
endorsement for its designation of Iran, Iraq, Libya and
North Korea as "rogue states".
Given the shift in the sanctions target, Iran under
Khatami realised that the most serious danger it faced was
American ability to deny it access to arms, technology and
the hard currency necessary to procure technology.
Consequently, Khatami launched a conciliatory policy from
1997-2005 called the "Dialogue of Civilisations", the
success of which greatly complicated Washington's
manoeuvres against Iran.
In an interview with CNN in January 1998, Khatami
apologised to the Americans for the hurt caused by the
siege of their embassy during the 1979 revolution. This
softened public opinion about Iran and led to a series of
athletic exchanges between Iran and the US. Khatami's
gains in the Middle East multiplied with Tehran's hosting
of the 1997 OIC summit, increased ministerial exchanges in
the Gulf, and a handshake with the Israeli prime minister
at the Pope's funeral in 2005. The US was forced by its
European allies to repeal the imposition of secondary
sanctions over European investment in Iran's energy
sector.
Moscow abandoned the Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement between
Russia and the US that limits the sale of Russian
conventional arms to Iran. In 2004, Iran reached an
agreement with Britain, France and Germany on nuclear
cooperation for peaceful purposes. Khatami's principles
remained firm. Alongside appeasement, Khatami test-fired
Tehran's first indigenous missile that reaches Tel Aviv,
inaugurated Iran's own indigenous arsenal and announced
the plan to open Iran's oil bourse. Bereft of its
anti-Iran clout, Washington remained largely ineffective
in opposing these developments.
Ahmadinejad's "dangerous behaviour" nullified Khatami's
gains. Since Dec 23, 2006, Ahmadinejad has failed to
comply with successive UNSC resolutions against Iran.
Correspondingly, Washington has succeeded in gaining
multilateral cooperation in successively tougher sanctions
against Iran that are "targeted financial measures" aimed
at incapacitating key sectors of Iran's economy. These
include the amputation of Iran from the global and the
Gulf's financial infrastructure and enforcing the
withdrawal of foreign investment in the development of
Iran's oil and gas sector.
UNSCR 1803 of March 3 will severely hamper the functioning
of the Kish bourse. However, should the bourse
malfunction, it will be deemed to have been due to
sanctions instead of market forces. This means the Kish
bourse's malfunction will not deter plausible moves in
this direction by other oil producers.
Source: www.dawn.com
Replacing delusions with historic breakthroughs
Rami G. Khouri
Out of crisis comes
opportunity, which describes the current brief lull in the war
between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movements in
Gaza.
Rather than just trying to calm things down, this is the
moment to push hard diplomatically towards more serious
negotiations, on the basis of a new, more credible, balance of
power.
The Israeli government and the two main Palestinian Islamist
resistance groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have all indicated
their willingness to engage in Egyptian-led indirect talks to
bring about a lull in the fighting. Whether this is called a
"ceasefire", a "truce" or - as Khaled Al Batsh, an Islamic
Jihad leader in Gaza called it - "a calm atmosphere" that
Egypt requested as a prelude to a wider deal, is mere
word-craft. The more significant political meaning of what is
going on today is that parties that have declared their
diehard determination to destroy each other are quietly
negotiating implicit coexistence.
Neither side is comfortable with the continuing warfare, even
though they can both withstand it and persevere in their
attacks. Nor is either side willing now to explicitly accept a
formal agreement with the other, though they both benefit from
an end to the mutual attacks. It should be the highest
priority of all concerned external parties - the Americans,
Arabs, Europeans, Russians and the UN - to exert heroic,
unrelenting efforts in the coming week to push both sides to
an agreement that achieves three things: 1) cements the
long-term ceasefire and makes it an open-ended truce; 2)
exchanges Israeli and Palestinian prisoners; 3) reopens closed
border points to allow the Palestinian Gazans to live a normal
life and restart their economy.
A fourth urgent goal that should be handled in parallel is an
Arab-mediated attempt to revive the unity government between
Fateh and Hamas in Palestine, based this time on a clearer
agreement for a national internal security force.
The importance of a negotiated long-term truce between Hamas-Islamic
Jihad and Israel cannot be overstated. It would represent a
historic breakthrough that could open the way for future
negotiations to a permanent resolution of the conflict. It
would allow both populations to live a reasonably normal life,
free from fear of missile, bomb and rocket attacks from the
other. This would spur economic growth, which in turn would
provide a powerful base for more urgent peace negotiations -
as Northern Ireland taught us.
Political leaderships on both sides would enjoy enhanced
credibility, at home and in the eyes of the enemy with whom
they must negotiate a full peace one day.
Most significantly, a truce would mark a historic and
permanent shift in the negotiating balance between
Palestinians and Israelis.
By entering into a truce, Israel would have acknowledged the
impact of the Palestinian Islamic resistance movements, and
signalled that it is prepared to engage diplomatically with
them.
Israel should not hesitate to do this out of an exaggerated
sense of honour or political pride, or on the assumption that
it is giving an inch and will soon have to concede a mile.
For, the Palestinians would be making the same concession in
return: tacit recognition of and negotiations with the state
of Israel, whose legitimacy they had always rejected. When
both sides give, they both gain.
A Hamas-Fateh national unity government is inevitable. If it
happens in the wake of a new Hamas-Islamic Jihad-Israel truce,
such a unity government would be in a stronger negotiating
position with Israel.
The lesson we learn from this? Inflict enough pain on your
enemy, and you open the door to a negotiated agreement to stop
the mutual pain. It's not pretty, but this is how history and
nationalism work. This is also how lasting peace can be
negotiated by parties of equal credibility.
The current "peace process", to the contrary, is an
embarrassing sham that takes insincerity and self-deception to
the level of collective hallucination: the Palestinian
leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas meaninglessly suspends
and resumes peace talks and pleads shamelessly and
unsuccessfully for American lifeboats.
Israel continues to expand its colonial settlements in
occupied East Jerusalem. The American government that named
itself at Annapolis the arbiter of compliance with the
"roadmap" peacemaking requirements meekly calls continued
Israeli colonisation "not helpful" to the peace process; and
the Arabs, Europeans, Russians and UN seem blissfully
oblivious to their potential to play a constructive role in
this saga.
The current Israel-Hamas-Islamic Jihad indirect contacts offer
a rare opportunity to build a new, more credible diplomatic
structure based on two formidable warring parties who respect
each other because they have proved themselves able to kill
and terrorise each other. They have an incentive to negotiate
meaningfully, rather than to smoke delusional diplomatic drugs
as Israel, Abbas and the Americans are doing.
Source:
www.jordantimes.com
International
Dalai Lama urges
China to end use of force in Tibet
AFP, Beijing
The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled Buddhist spiritual leader,
said Friday he was deeply concerned over China's apparent
crackdown in Tibet and urged Beijing to "stop using force"
there.
The statement from the Nobel peace laureate came after
Tibet's capital Lhasa erupted in violence Friday as
security forces used gunfire to quell the biggest protests
against Chinese rule in two decades, witnesses and rights
groups said.
"I am deeply concerned over the situation that has been
developing in Tibet following peaceful protests in many
parts of Tibet, including Lhasa, in recent days," the
72-year-old Dalai Lama said.
"These protests are a manifestation of the deep-rooted
resentment of the Tibetan people under the present
governance," he said in a statement released in
Dharamshala, the seat of his government-in-exile in
northern India.
"I therefore appeal to the Chinese leadership to stop
using force and address the long-simmering resentment of
the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan
people," he said.
"As I have always said, unity and stability under brute
force is at best a temporary solution," said the
72-year-old Dalai Lama.
"It is unrealistic to expect unity and stability under
such a rule and would therefore not be conducive to
finding a peaceful and lasting solution."
An aide to the Dalai Lama, Tenzing Takla, told AFP he was
suffering from flu and had cancelled all appointments for
the next week, adding that the illness was "not serious".
Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the
government-in-exile which held an emergency meeting in
Dharamshala to discuss the situation, also expressed "deep
concern" about the events in Tibet.
"We ask the international community and the People's
Republic of China to carefully handle the situation," he
told AFP.
Tibetans staged a candlelight procession late Friday in
Dharamshala to show solidarity with Buddhist monks who led
the protests in Lhasa.
On Monday on the 49th anniversary of his escape to India
after an abortive uprising in Lhasa, the Dalai Lama
attacked China's human rights record, accusing Beijing of
"unimaginable and gross violations" in his homeland.
His angry comments this week came in stark contrast to
what his critics say has been a "soft" approach to China
in recent years.
Six rounds of talks with China since 2002 have yielded few
results. But the Dalai Lama said he would not abandon his
call for cultural autonomy and a "middle way" of
co-existing in Tibet rather than outright independence.
The unrest in Tibet followed three days of protests by
hundreds of monks in Lhasa, India and elsewhere around the
world marking the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising
against Chinese rule. On Thursday, Indian police arrested
100 Tibetan exiles in India attempting to stage a protest
walk to their homeland. An Indian court ordered them to be
kept in detention for two weeks.
Conservatives ahead as Iran counts vote
AFP, Tehran
Conservatives were Saturday expected to win Iran's
legislative election, but with reformists set to retain a
foothold in parliament despite the mass vetoing of their
candidates before the vote.
As first results were announced, the authorities hailed a
"glorious" participation of over 65 percent in Friday's
poll, far higher than the lacklustre figure in the
previous election in 2004.
According to an AFP tally based on final interior ministry
results, reformists had won eight seats out of the 40
announced so far and conservatives 16, with the rest going
to independent candidates.
Results from smaller towns and cities were to be announced
Saturday but those from Tehran-which will deliver 30 MPs
to the 290-seat parliament-would not be announced for
several days, officials said.
The main reformist coalition could only field 102
candidates for the 260 seats outside Tehran due to the
pre-vote disqualifications but was still expecting to win
44 of these seats, its spokesman Abdollah Nasseri told AFP.
If confirmed, this would mean that reformists have managed
to keep a respectable minority in parliament, where they
currently have around 40 MPs.
The semi-official Fars news agency projected that
conservatives were set to reap 70 percent of the seats
while English-language state television channel Press-TV
said they had won 65 seats out of 89 decided so far.
The authorities had called for a huge turnout to send a
message of national unity to Iran's enemies amid continued
tensions with the West over its nuclear drive.
"Fortunately and contrary to our expectations, the
participation has been overwhelming," Interior Minister
Mostafa Pour Mohammadi said. "There has been a good
increase on the participation in the last parliamentary
elections."
Iran's former top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani,
standing for conservatives in the holy city of Qom, was
elected to parliament in a landslide victory with 76
percent of the vote, Fars said.
"Our list nationwide has been welcomed by the people and
this is a sign of the trust people have in the service of
the principalists," spokesman for the main conservative
coalition, Shahabeddin Sadr, told AFP.
Malaysian PM soldiers on despite calls to resign
AFP, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia's
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said he will continue as prime
minister despite calls to quit, but promised change in his
administration after its humiliating election performance.
Abdullah has been under pressure to resign since his
Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition took a beating in March 8
polls, conceding four states and a third of parliamentary
seats in unprecedented losses.
"People are unhappy over what has transpired over the last
four years since I took over," said Abdullah in an
interview broadcast on national television late Friday.
"I accept in good faith the decision of the people," he
said, but added that the coalition had nevertheless
attained a "strong majority". "It is still the trust, the
mandate given to me. I will not shy away from my
responsibilities," he said.
Abdullah's address came hours after the son of former
premier Mahathir Mohamad revived calls for his
resignation, in the first open sign of revolt from the
United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which heads
the coalition.
"I feel that Abdullah has to take responsibility for our
losses and that the honourable thing to do is to
withdraw," said Mukhriz Mahathir, who is a member of
UMNO's powerful youth wing, who wrote to the premier
calling for him to quit. Mahathir has also pushed for
Abdullah to step down, accusing him of "destroying" the
ruling coalition and UMNO, and saying he regretted
selecting him for the top job when he stood down in 2003.
The three-party opposition alliance seized four states
along the west coast-Kedah, the island state of Penang,
Perak and Selangor. The Islamic party PAS already heads
northern Kelantan state.
The unexpected gains have seen PAS, the ethnic-Chinese
based Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the multi-racial
Keadilan experience teething problems as they try to form
workable coalitions to rule.
An UMNO-led protest was held Friday against the new DAP
state government in Penang, which has announced the
dismantling of race-based policies favouring Muslim Malays
who dominate Malaysia's population.
Sri Lanka bombs rebel, 29 killed in fighting: ministry
AFP, Colombo
Sri Lankan government jets
bombed a Tamil Tiger training base as fighting across the
northern region claimed at least another 29 lives, the
defence ministry said Saturday.
Air force planes conducted bombing raids against a Tiger
rebel base in Mullaittivu in the northeast early Saturday,
leaving the training facility in ruins, the ministry said.
"The enemy target had been under constant surveillance and
latest air reconnaissance information has revealed
intensified terrorist activity in the area," the statement
said.
Security forces also destroyed five rebel bunkers and
killed at least 29 Tigers during confrontations in
Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna and Weli Oya on Friday, the
ministry said, putting government losses at seven soldiers
injured.
There was no immediate comment from the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have been fighting for a
separate state for minority Tamils since 1972.
The latest defence ministry figures place the number of
rebels said to have been killed by security forces since
the start of the year to 2,095, against the loss of 123
government soldiers.
Casualty figures cannot be independently verified and both
sides release wildly conflicting reports. The government
also prevents reporters and rights groups from going to
frontline areas. Sri Lanka pulled out of a six-year-old
truce with the LTTE in January, saying it had the upper
hand to crush the rebels militarily.
Racism, sexism charges poison White House race
AFP, Washington
With Hillary Clinton running to be the first woman in the
Oval Office and Barack Obama bidding to be the first black
president, charges of racism or sexism were inevitably
never far from the surface.
But some are becoming concerned that the level of debate
in the battle between the two Democratic candidates is
sinking to new lows and detracting from the party's main
aim of ousting the Republicans from the White House.
Last week, Obama's campaign was up in arms accusing
Clinton's aide Geraldine Ferraro of trying to write off
the Illinois senator's success as due merely to his race.
"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this
position," said Ferraro, a trailblazing politician who was
the party's and the country's first female vice
presidential nominee in 1984, in an interview with a
California newspaper.
"And if he was a woman-of any color-he would not be in
this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he
is," Ferraro added.
She resigned from Clinton's campaign finance committee a
day later, accusing the Obama campaign of playing the
politically-charged racism card, in a country still
plagued by racial divisions.
"The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won't
let that happen," she wrote to the former first lady.
Clinton publicly rejected Ferraro's comments about Obama,
but her campaign, in turn, recalled certain comments by
her rival's supporters which could be construed as sexist.
In February, Air Force General Merrill McPeak came out in
support of Obama, saying one of the reasons the Illinois
senator had won his backing was because he didn't "go on
television and have crying fits."
It was a deliberate swipe at Clinton, who in January had
appeared to choke back tears at a New Hampshire campaign
rally.
Others have taken sides with Ferraro, pointing out that
Obama has won several nominating contests in the country's
deep South thanks to the African-American vote. In
Mississippi for example he cruised to victory, taking 91
percent of the black vote, but winning over only 30
percent of white voters.
On the other hand, some have noted that Obama's mixed race
origins-his father was from Kenya and his white mother
from Kansas-are an essential part of his allure for voters
who want a break with the politics of the past.
So far Obama has tried "to run a race-neutral campaign,"
argued academic Ron Walter, which has enabled the young
senator to win in such states as Iowa where the
African-American population is neglible.
Yet Friday saw Obama moving swiftly to try and quell an
uproar over racially charged remarks by his long-time
preacher, who said the September 11 attacks were brought
on by American "terrorism."
Reverend Jeremiah Wright also urged African-Americans to
sing "God Damn America" to protest their treatment.
In a blog post on the Huffington Post website, Obama
decried the "inflammatory and appalling remarks (Wright)
made about our country, our politics, and my political
opponents."
US military reports 2,688 sex assault claims last
year
AFP, Washington
The US military recorded 2,688 cases of sexual assault
involving its staff last year, 60 percent of which were
allegations of rape, a Department of Defense report said
Friday.
The majority of the cases -- 72 percent-involved military
victims, the report covering the period from October 2006
to September 2007 said.
Investigations resulted in 181 courts martial, while 201
cases resulted in non-judicial punishment and 218 cases
led to administrative action or discharges.
Some 1,040 completed probes resulted in no action, either
due to insufficient evidence or because those responsible
were civilians, foreigners or unidentified.
A total of 112 reports of sexual assault were reported
among forces serving in Iraq, and 19 cases among those
serving in Afghanistan.
Among complaints by military staff, where the alleged
victim agreed to an outside criminal investigation, 868
(57 percent) reported rape, 91 forcible sodomy-defined as
anal or oral sex-and 551 indecent assault.
Of the 705 cases where victims asked to remain anonymous
and for no further action to be taken, 489 (69 percent)
involved rape, 39 alleged forcible sodomy and 125 indecent
assault.
The report also recorded allegations by civilians against
members of the military. Of a total of 574 cases reported
last year, 391 involved rape, 33 forcible sodomy and 150
indecent assault.
Direct comparisons cannot be made with last year's figures
because the department has since changed the reporting
period from the calendar year to the fiscal year. However,
the report notes the figures have remained broadly stable.
"The Department of Defense remains committed to
eliminating sexual assault from military service," it
said, citing a "robust" prevention and response policy,
improved reporting procedures, better training and
increased care provision.
A Department of Defense survey also released Friday
revealed that 34 percent of women on active duty and six
percent of men have experienced sexual harrassment, while
6.8 percent of women and 1.8 percent of men experienced
unwanted sexual contact.
Human Rights Watch urges |