Rome, Italy — “Horror and indignation.” This was the initial reaction of Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi on hearing of the killing of the US Ambassador in Libya, Chris Stevens, and his three colleagues during an attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi. “I wish to offer my heartfelt condolences to the USA”, said Terzi during his mission to Malta. The Minister added that Italy “condemns most firmly this terrible attack which must be investigated in full as soon as possible.

My thoughts go out to the families of the victims of a dreadful act that has struck the people engaged in a front line role in restoring hope and support to a people who wish to build their own future of freedom and democracy.”

Terzi sent a message to the American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing his “dismay and deep sadness” over the death of Chris Stevens and his colleagues in this “cowardly attack.” In his own name and that of the Italian Government, he offered his heartfelt condolences.

“In recent months”, commented Terzi, “we have all appreciated the notable professional and human qualities of Ambassador Stevens, with whom we established a close and fruitful collaboration right from the start of the Libyan crisis. With his sensitivity and his deep knowledge of Libya and the Maghreb, Ambassador Stevens made a highly important contribution to the success of the rebellion against the Gaddafi regime and the new Libya’s democratic stabilisation process.

“Italy’s firm intention is to insist with the authorities in Tripoli,” added Terzi. “We also wish to offer, if necessary, every possible help to ensure that all the facts are brought to light and that those responsible for this brutal crime against the US mission in Benghazi are brought to justice.”

Image Courtesy of  Italian Embassy

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Xi Jinping, the presumed heir to the current General Secretary and President Hu Jintao, has been away from the public eye for ten days now, producing various rumors about his whereabouts. It is an urgent matter for China because Beijing is expected to hold its 18th party convention for transfer of power in a month.

Xi canceled meetings with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on September 5 and another meeting with the Danish Prime Minister on September 10, without notice. Yet the Chinese government has not explained why this happened and it is an unprecedented matter for China, which puts a lot of stress on the protocol.

Xi attended a speech held at the Central Party School on September 1, and that was the last time Xi was seen in public. Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reported that Xi might have health problems or might even be resigned because of pressure from the other party members.

Meanwhile, some foreign media, including the New York Times, reported that health issues may in fact be the case, but that they are not believed to be critical or in any position to cause problems for the transfer of power to Xi. However, the Chinese government has not said anything so far regarding this matter, making people more curious about what is happening in China.

Foreign media has suggested several scenarios of what could have happened to Xi. They range from recovering from an injury while playing soccer or swimming, to involvement in a car accident at the hand of supporters of Bo Xilai, Xi’s competitor, or having suffered a heart attack. Among these possibilities, many have emphasized the first one.

On September 13, Hong Kong’s Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy (ICHRD) said in a press release that Xi had surgery last month because of liver cancer at the People’s Liberation Army 301 Hospital in Beijing, and is currently recovering but otherwise has no problem with his health. However, there is no way of confirming this because the Chinese government is continuing its silence about Xi.

Xi Jinping, born on June 1, 1953, is a high-ranking politician of the People’s Republic of China. He studied at Tsinghua University, one of the most prestigious schools in China, and started his early career serving mostly in the Fujian province. He currently serves as the country’s Vice President. He is supported by both right wings and left wings and considered as China’s future leader.

Image Courtesy of   Antonio Villaraigosa

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Washington, U.S.A. – The U.S. ambassador in Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other employees of the diplomatic mission of the United States have died after being attacked on Tuesday, in the city of Benghazi as reported on Wednesday the Interior Ministry from Libya.

Hillary Rodham Clinton made an statement condemning the violent act:

It is with profound sadness that I share the news of the death of four American personnel in Benghazi, Libya yesterday. Among them were United States Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and Foreign Service Information Management Officer, Sean Smith. We are still making next of kin notifications for the other two individuals. Our hearts go out to all their families and colleagues.

A 21 year veteran of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Stevens died last night from injuries he sustained in the attack on our office in Benghazi.

I had the privilege of swearing in Chris for his post in Libya only a few months ago. He spoke eloquently about his passion for service, for diplomacy and for the Libyan people. This assignment was only the latest in his more than two decades of dedication to advancing closer ties with the people of the Middle East and North Africa which began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. As the conflict in Libya unfolded, Chris was one of the first Americans on the ground in Benghazi. He risked his own life to lend the Libyan people a helping hand to build the foundation for a new, free nation. He spent every day since helping to finish the work that he started. Chris was committed to advancing America’s values and interests, even when that meant putting himself in danger.

Sean Smith was a husband and a father of two, who joined the Department ten years ago. Like Chris, Sean was one of our best. Prior to arriving in Benghazi, he served in Baghdad, Pretoria, Montreal, and most recently The Hague.

All the Americans we lost in yesterday’s attacks made the ultimate sacrifice. We condemn this vicious and violent attack that took their lives, which they had committed to helping the Libyan people reach for a better future.

Image Courtesy of   Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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Washington, U.S.A. — The U.S. State Department has announced the launch this Thursday in Washington of the Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue, one of less than two dozen such agreements in existence, and the only one in North Africa. The Strategic Dialogue, years in the making, is the result of focused, comprehensive leadership and cooperation by King Mohammed VI with three US Administrations to strengthen Morocco-U.S. relations and implement the two countries’ shared vision for the Middle East and North Africa.

In April 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signaled the creation of the Strategic Dialogue, recognition of more than a decade of peaceful reforms and stability under the leadership of King Mohammed VI. At that time Secretary Clinton announced, “We also look forward with great optimism to further deepening our strong and strategic partnership in working with Morocco on so many issues.” With the signing by the two countries on Thursday, September 13, the Strategic Dialogue officially begins and builds on bilateral advances already achieved, including the Morocco-US Free Trade Agreement, the Millennium Challenge Compact, and Morocco’s designation as a major non-NATO ally.

The Strategic Dialogue is a formal institutionalized framework that establishes an ongoing collaboration on issues of importance between both countries concerning global and regional issues as well as bilateral interests.  It will not be affected by changes in administration, leadership or personnel. It will allow the US to coordinate its foreign policy interests and values more closely with Morocco. This milestone comes as the Arab Spring uprisings demonstrate an even greater need for a strong, reliable, and influential US ally in the region.

“What has not changed [over the last two years] is our commitment to our partnership and friendship, which goes back to 1777 when Morocco became the very first country to recognize our new nation,” said Secretary Clinton during a visit to Rabat in February. “And the United States and Morocco have been allies and partners ever since. We collaborate on everything from trade and economic development to joint military exercises and counter terrorism efforts.”

Image Courtesy of Xiquet ([1]) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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Denver, U.S.A. — “Mitt Romney is the architect of Obamacare,” said Jefferson George, president of the conservative tax-exempt group American Right To Life Action. “Romney has already implemented what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton only dream of: homosexual marriage, tax-funded abortion on demand by health care reform with the individual mandate, robbing religious freedom from pro-life hospitals. The list is long. If anyone believed the ‘lesser of two evils’ con, they’d have to vote for Obama.”

“Strategists say that independents decide elections,” said Darrell Birkey, the ARTL research director overseeing the new RepublicansAgainstRomney.com website. “So the only way for pro-lifers to get candidates who won’t kill unborn children is to become independent enough to oppose liberal, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual politicians like Mitt Romney.”

Agreeing with ARTL is the longtime vice president of the nation’s first “right to life” group, Colorado Right To Life. “The Republicans Against Romney site documents that the excuses the campaign makes for Mitt’s anti-child, anti-free-market, anti-family actions are nothing but lies,” said Leslie Hanks. “Sadly, conservative talk show hosts lap it up and repeat the lies. This website even offers a$100 reward for corrections to errors of fact.”

According to the site, Romneycare is fundamentally a liberal, socialist program with its individual mandate that saps the federal treasury. Romney’s top consultants aided the development of Obamacare and put Planned Parenthood on the “health” committee that, from day one, offered $50 tax-subsidized abortion on demand. And still today Romney plans to nominate justices “like John Roberts,” who upheld Obamacare.

RepublicansAgainstRomney.com documents that Mitt Romney claimed to be pro-choice in 1994, pro-life in 2001, pro-choice in 2002, pro-life in 2004, pro-choice in 2005, pro-life in 2006 and then funded abortion in 2006. In 2012, he’s back to supporting abortion for “health reasons,” the loophole opened by the Supreme Court’s Doe v. Bolton opinion that allows all abortions, as in Colorado for example, throughout all nine months.

“And ironically,” adds Birkey, “the ’legitimate’ rape issue is Romney policy, not a Todd Akin policy. The congressman advocates protecting every child, but it’s Romney’s rape exception that requires determining whether or not there was a rape.”

Image Courtesy of   Gage Skidmore

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Washington, U.S.A. – On Tuesday, July 24, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in cooperation with the Council on Foreign Relations and CNN, will present a symposium exploring the challenges of preventing genocide in the 21st Century. The symposium will be webcast live at act.ushmm.org/endgenocide.

“Sixty seven years after the Holocaust, after which the world vowed ‘Never Again,’ it is unacceptable that genocide persists,” said Museum Chairman Tom Bernstein. “We have learned much from the past about the causes of genocide, and now it is time to also look over the horizon at emerging trends that will impact how these atrocities unfold in years to come. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum hopes this symposium and our ongoing efforts will make a substantial contribution to understanding and preventing genocide and other mass atrocities in the future.”

The symposium will feature a keynote address by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and remarks from Christopher Kojm,  chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which is conducting its first-ever estimate on risks of mass atrocities. Symposium participants will include senior leaders from government, think tanks, business, academia, philanthropy, and the genocide prevention field, as well as the next generation of young leaders.

Two panels moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Washington Post Pulitzer Prize winner Dana Priest will focus on how economic, political, technological, demographic and other trends will affect the risk of mass killing, and on innovative strategies for preventing genocide. Panelists include futurist Peter Schwartz, Holocaust historian Timothy Snyder, military strategist Sarah Sewall, business entrepreneur Strive Masiyiwa, CNN Beirut correspondent Arwa Damon, and diplomat Richard Williamson.

“The Council on Foreign Relations is pleased to cooperate on this important initiative to assess recent efforts to prevent mass atrocities and consider new, innovative responses to preventing future threats of this kind,” said CFR President Richard N. Haass.

The Museum will also unveil the results of a large-scale public opinion poll that will provide new insight into Americans’ knowledge of and attitudes towards genocide and prevention, including their perspectives on whether and how the U.S. should engage in recent situations such as Syria and Sudan.

The symposium and poll have been made possible in part by a generous in-kind pro bono contribution from Burson-Marsteller, Penn Schoen Berland, and with support from Palantir Technologies.

Image Courtesy of  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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Washington, U.S.A. — A new Christian Solidarity International (CSI) report released recently calls on Egypt’s Islamist government and the international community – especially the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – to investigate and take strong measures to prevent the disappearance, forced marriage and forced conversion to Islam of Coptic Christian women and girls.

The report, entitled “Tell My Mother I Miss Her,” confirms that Coptic women and girls are deceptively lured or abducted into forced marriages with Muslim men and then to conversions to Islam, which frequently take place under duress and physical abuse.

The report’s co-authors, Michele Clark, adjunct professor at George Washington University, and Coptic human rights activist Nadia Ghaly, undertook research in Egypt in November 2011 in the midst of the uprising that resulted in the political ascent of the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical Islamist forces. According to Clark and Ghaly, the disappearance of Coptic women and girls has “escalated” since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

“Tell My Mother I Miss Her” was released in connection with the Congressional Helsinki Commission hearing on violence against Coptic women in Egypt, chaired by Congressman Chris Smith. Speaking as a witness before the hearing, Professor Clark stated, “Coptic women in Egypt are disappearing from their homes, their schools and their jobs.  These cases are not allegations.”

The hearing also featured testimony from an Egyptian Christian woman who received asylum in the United States after narrowly escaping abduction in Alexandria in January 2011. She was rescued by a doorman who saw her and her infant daughter being dragged into a taxi by a man shouting that she was “an enemy of Islam.”

“I’m here today, so I can tell you what happened to me,” she said. “I wonder about the others that weren’t saved. What happened to them?”

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), who chaired the hearing, called the forced disappearances “an outrageous crime,” and called the U.S. State Department’s failure to respond to repeated requests from the Commission to investigate the disappearances “appalling.”

“Unless the Copts and Coptic women and girls are protected,” he said, “Egypt will not be strong, Egyptwill not be stable, and Egypt will not be a successful democracy.”

Dr. John Eibner, the CEO of CSI-USA, called on the U.S. State Department and non-governmental organizations that specialize in women’s rights, human trafficking and religious liberty to conduct further research into this crime, commenting that, “Denial and obfuscation will neither help victimized Christian women, nor challenge the religious bigotry and sexism that impedes the development of democracy inEgypt.”

The new report can be accessed online at: http://csi-usa.org/TellMyMotherIMissHer.pdf. It should be read in conjunction with the 2009 report, which is available at http://www.csi-int.org/pdfs/csi_coptic_report.pdf.

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In the last months, the diplomatic relation between Russian and the United States has become tense and unstable, mainly because Russia and China vetoed the U.N. intervention on Syria. This really angered the United States, but Vladimir Putin’s recent election to the Russian presidency has not helped to solve the problem and calm things down.

Russia is the U.S.’ 20th largest trading partner in goods. The goods trade between the two countries is reported as $42.9 billion USD in total. U.S. exports to Russia were $8.3 billion dollars. U.S. goods imports from Russia totaled $34.6 billion last year. Compared to China, Russia is a small economic partner to the United States, but a very important one in other areas.

In the 19th century, Russia sold Alaska to the United States. Russia also supported the U.S. during the civil war. In fact, the 19th  century was a golden period for U.S.-Russian diplomatic relations. But the  20th century told us a completely different story. It witnessed the worst  case scenario in the diplomatic relations between the two countries: the Cold War, which was a mainly political conflict between the Soviet Union, a union of countries in which Russia was the biggest, and the United States. Even though the Cold War was going on, the U.S. and Soviet astronauts went to space together in the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission.

The Soviet Union didn’t last forever, ending in 1991. After this, relations between the two countries got better, but, like with every country, there are a lot of aspects in which both governments do not agree. This is completely normal considering both countries come from two totally different backgrounds.

Vladimir Putin returned to the Russian presidency in March, which will definitely affect the good relations that President Obama had with his precursor, Dmitri Medvedev, who was in power from 2008 to 2012. Medvedev even declared once that “these were perhaps the best three years of relations between Russia and the United States over the last decade.”

But now Putin, a former K.G.B officer, is back on the game. The man became President for the first time in 2000 and remained so until 2008 when he gave power to his chosen one, Medvedev. Yet, most analysts agree he never stopped ruling.

The first problems between the U.S. and Russia have already reappeared, and the Syria issue has been the trigger. The State Secretary Hillary Clinton accused Putin in June of shipping attack helicopters to Syria that President al-Assad could use to continue with his massacre of civilians. The Russian government responded that they only have sent weapons that can be used for self-defense.

But the problematic relations between both countries really started in February, when Russia and China vetoed the United Nations’ action on Syria. This action caused fury on the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The U.S. ambassador Susan Rice told CNN that “those that have blocked potentially the last effort to resolve this peacefully … will have any future blood spill on their hands.”

But President Obama made an announcement in June to try to calm things down. After a meeting with President Putin, he expressed the tensions can be solved although they have disagreements. Concerning the Syria issue he declared that President Putin agreed that a political process should be created in Syria in order to avoid a civil war.

Image Courtesy of  World Economic Forum

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Washington, U.S.A. - As the first anniversary of bin Laden’s death approaches, Robert Weiner, a former Clinton White House spokesman and former communications director for the House Government Operations Committee, and Senior Analyst at Robert Weiner Associates Richard Mann, prove wrong the statements by Mitt Romney, Carl Rove, and other critics that “any president” would have given the order that launched the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year.

They contrast Bush’s 2001 outsourcing a raid on Bin Laden’s 2001 Tora Bora location to the Afghanis who failed — on purpose or through ineptness — to Obama’s U.S. solo action in Abbottabad, Pakistan that succeeded when Obama did not reveal or leak the strategy.

Weiner and Mann document their claim with information from a 2009 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report, “Tora Bora Revisited: How we Failed to Get Bin Laden.”

Weiner and Mann say, “When placed in a similar situation with parallel choices, George W. Bush, Obama’s predecessor, failed to succeed because he made the opposite decision. In December 2001, Bush had the chance to capture Bin Laden in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, was faced with the choice of doing it ourselves or involving a foreign government, and asked the Afghanis to do it. Whether by ineptness or intent, the Afghani troops allowed bin Laden to escape.”

Weiner and Mann show how Obama’s approach was totally different: “When Obama was questioned as why he did not inform the Pakistanis in advance about Abbottabad, he said, ‘I didn’t tell most people here in the White House. I didn’t tell my own family. It was that important for us to maintain operational security.’

When asked during the 2006 presidential campaign debates what he would do with ‘actionable intelligence’, he said he would have the United States ‘act unilaterally’ rather than in consort with foreign intelligence if necessary to capture bin Laden. That’s precisely what he did, as the President restated at a White House news conference.”

Weiner and Mann cite the 2009 Senate Foreign Relations Committee report: “The Committee says its review ‘removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora.” The Committee Chair expressed the “hope that we can learn from the mistakes of the past.” “Obama did,” say Weiner and Mann.

“Obama recognized that bin Laden’s compound could not exist without local and likely some kind of government cooperation.

“During the years after the Tora Bora debacle, the Bush administration went even further in the opposite direction from Obama’s later actions. Bush closed the CIA’s unit on bin Laden. In contrast, Obama reprioritized the search for bin Laden. Bush said, ‘I truly am not that concerned about him. I am deeply concerned about Iraq. I really don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with you.’ Likewise, Governor Romney said he ‘would not move heaven and earth’ to get bin Laden.

“The notion recently raised by Carl Rove, Condoleezza Rice, and Dick Cheney that Bush deserves a share of the credit for Obama’s bin Laden operation is ridiculous and should be recognized as sour grapes.

“Obama’s team had as key players Vice President Joe Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former Senate Armed Services Committee member, and their emphasis on using intelligence and special operations over a large military footprint ultimately proved successful. Despite 100,000 troops and another 100,000 contractors, the Taliban actually grew stronger.

It was the surgical raid by a small team that defeated the man behind the 9/11 attacks. “It is time to ask the Republicans and other critics if they have any real alternative that would have succeeded as Obama did in taking down Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki, or Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi or for that matter, on domestic policy, where Obama reversed the Bush bleeding of 750,000 jobs per month, rescued the auto industry and the nation’s financial institutions, and put the country back to 26 straight months of increased jobs and GDP.”

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During a recent investigation carried out for BBC World Service and Radio 4, Natalia Antelava gathered direct evidence of what seems to be a state-run secret program of forced sterilization in Uzbekistan. Uzbek women victims of sterilization and doctors gave their own account to the BBC journalist, uncovering the details of this absurd secret policy pursued by the ex-Soviet state.

Bakhor, a 32-year-old Uzbek woman, said that for some months after she gave birth to her second baby she “kept bleeding heavy black lumps, and the pain was unbearable.” She understood something was wrong, but she could not imagine what it was. Then, when she was able to afford an ultrasound check, the shocking news was unveiled. She had had a hysterectomy during the cesarean section. The doctor explained to her, “You don’t have a uterus anymore” and added “What do you need more children for? You already have two.”

The same thing happened to Adolat. She always dreamed of having four children, but after her second daughter she realized she could not get pregnant. When she consulted a doctor, she found out she had been sterilized during the cesarean section when giving birth to her daughter.

“I was shocked. I cried and asked: ‘But why? How could they do this?’ The doctor said, ‘That’s the law in Uzbekistan,’” she said. Nigora, 24, is another victim. She had an emergency cesarean section, and the day after, her baby died. She was also told she was sterilized, and now she will not be able to have children.

These are just some of the hundreds of stories of the victims who have been surgically sterilized without their knowledge or consent under the Uzbek regime’s abominable policy. It is very likely that the majority of these stories will remain obscure and that most of the victims are still unaware of what happened to them, especially those in the rural areas.

The first reports of forced sterilization cases in Uzbekistan emerged in 2005, when the pathologist Gulbakhor Turaeva gathered evidence of around 200 uterus removals. This practice became a state policy only in 2009, although it seems to have originated in the late ’90s. Instead of promoting contraceptive methods, the government adopted forced sterilization and reproductive organs removal as a means of birth control and to curb fertility.

President Islam Karimov introduced the surgical contraception policy under presidential decree PP-1096 called “On additional measures to protect the health of the mother and child, the formation of a healthy generation.” The Ministry of Health argues that the sterilization program is intended to control the country’s growing population and, also, that it is carried out only on a voluntary basis, with the consent of both parents and after specialist consultation. The government strongly denies allegations of forced mass sterilization and says it has “nothing to do with reality.”

Nevertheless, doctors and medical professionals who were interviewed stated the opposite. They said that over the last few years, the number of cesarean sections has dramatically increased in relation to the practice of sterilization. Cesarean birth “makes it very easy to perform sterilization and tie the fallopian tubes,” said an Uzbek surgeon at a hospital near Tashkent.

There is an official directive not to let the birth rate rise above a certain figure, and doctors have a quota for the women to sterilize each month. There is a plan for each district health department, and doctors are ordered to persuade women and convince them about sterilization procedures.

“On paper, sterilizations should be voluntary, but women don’t really get a choice,” stated a doctor. “It’s very easy to manipulate a woman, especially if she is poor. You can say that her health will suffer if she has more children. You can tell her that sterilization is best for her. Or you can just do the operation.”

The doctors who fail to reach their quota risk reprisal and fines, so because of this, they often opt for sterilization during cesarean sections. Under the pressure of a dictatorial government, doctors become party to an abhorrent crime of which women are the victims, being unconsciously mutilated and slaughtered like animals.

While the world keeps a deafening silence, and Western countries pretend not to care for lurking interests and economic ties, you can take action, and sign the petition of Avaaz  to call U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to publicly condemn Uzbekistan’s forced sterilization and human rights violation. It is time to break the silence.

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In Africa, homosexuality is frequently treated as a taboo subject, and outspoken opposition to it is a political vote winner. However, according to Richard Dowden, director at the Royal African Society, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that homosexuality was accepted in many societies throughout Africa in pre-colonial times. In his article, ‘Getting Gay Rights Wrong in Africa,’ Dowden wonders if the missionaries in Africa were to blame.

“So, is it the fault of the missionaries? But, the missionaries also preached against theft and corruption, against sex before marriage, against marrying several wives, or covetousness. Why do so many Africans get outraged and censorious about homosexuality, something that isn’t even one of the Ten Commandments, while tolerating so many sins that are?” ponders Dowden in his article.

Homosexuality on the African continent is frowned upon, and those suspected of being gay face dire consequences. Thirty-eight African countries criminalize same-sex conduct, and LGBT people run the risk of lengthy prison sentences for expressing their sexuality. Sudan, Mauritania, and northern Nigeria even impose the death penalty. Despite variations in enforcement, what many African countries have in common is the criminalization of private acts between consenting adults whose sexuality and gender identity are considered “abnormal.”

Like many other nations, new legislation in Liberia calls for punishing homosexuality with longer jail time. Anti-LGBT rhetoric is escalating outside of the Liberian government with a group calling itself the Movement Against Gays in Liberia, or MOGAL, distributing a hit list of people who support gay rights, stating that these people “should not be given space to get a gulp of air.”

Gay rights debate in Liberia began getting this sort of unprecedented attention in the newspapers and radio stations after the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, announced in December 2011 that America’s foreign aid budget would promote the protection of gay rights. This, according to Tamasin Ford—a freelance reporter for the BBC and Britain’s newspaper, The Guardian, based in Monrovia —prompted speculation that funds would be tied to countries’ rights records and prompting two new laws.

In the two new bills, one would amend the penal code to make a person guilty of second degree felony if he or she “seduces, encourages, promotes another person of the same gender to engage in sexual activities, or purposefully engages in acts that arouse or tend to arouse another person of the same gender to have sexual intercourse.” The second bill put forward by Jewel Howard Taylor, a senator in Liberia, would make gay marriage a first degree crime punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

Over the years, gay people have been attacked and activists for gay rights killed. In 2010, at least four gay men were attacked in Uganda after a newspaper ran a front-page story listing 100 ‘top’ homosexuals with a heading that read ‘Hang Them’, and a gay activist was killed in 2011.

Image Courtesy of    jerekeys

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If until recently, the problematic situation in Syria was thought to be a temporary instability, then today, it can be said that there is a possibility of civil war in the Arab country. The protests against the president, Bashar al-Assad, and his regime grew into a continued and strenuous struggle that evoked the public opinion. How long this will last is unknown.

It is too late for the Syrians to peacefully extinguish the bloody conflagration. The victims of the uprising are increasing all the time, and by now, they exceed 7,600 people.  This includes both civilians and military men. Whether Syria will have the success of Egypt is one of the most asked questions, concerning society all around the world, because the national issue that started almost a year ago, has gradually turned into a universal one.

The correspondent for London’s ‘The Sunday Times’, Marie Colvin, and the French photographer, Remi Ochlic, were cruelly killed in the city of Homs during a siege. Until now, people have not been thinking about the jeopardy and the consequences of this uprising, but the tragic death of the two journalists in Syria proved that the situation in the Arab world is going off the rails.

On February 24, in Tunisia, a meeting was held by the “Friends of Syria”. During the meeting, around 60 countries insisted on stopping the outrage in troubled Syria. The world leaders unanimously decided that more serious measures against the Assad’s regime need to be taken. They are considering issuing an ultimatum to the Assad government. Their main goal is to send aid in order to help the civilians of the revolutionary country.

Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State, appealed to all nations to put bans on the import of oil from Syrians as well as on traveling to and from the Arab country. According to Clinton, it is the high cost that the Syrian officials have to pay for not taking into account the opinion of the international community. She also added that the U.S. will allot $10 million in aid to the Syrian citizens.

Only the leaders of China and Russia still support the Syrian president. They were against the UN resolutions of ending the Assad’s regime, stating that the these declarations will cause more violence in the Arab country. Some diplomats connected the actions of China and Russia to their previous union during the Cold War, but one is sure, with their attitude towards the UN resolutions and the current affairs in Western Asia, they incurred the sharp tongue of the U.S. Secretary of State.

Hilary Clinton described their veto regarding the resolutions as “despicable”. “It is just despicable, and I ask, ‘Whose side are they on?’ They are clearly not on the side of the Syrian people,” she said during the meeting in Tunisia.When the Arab Spring will come is still not apparent, but it is an incontrovertible fact that the uprising has transformed into a universal issue that has strained relations between world leaders.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/96884693@N00/

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A humanitarian tragedy unfolds as the Iraqi military and police harass and threaten 397 Iranian dissidents relocated to Camp Hurriya, a former American military base. They are the first of 3,400 residents of Camp Ashraf. How Iraq, UN, EU, and the United States act is a litmus test for whether the rest of the residents of Camp Ashraf relocate.

Professor Raymond Tanter, former member of the National Security Council staff in the Reagan-Bush White House and President of the Iran Policy Committee, stated, “The UN shares with Washington responsibility to protect Iranian dissidents from being harmed by Iraqi authorities. At the UN World Summit, September 2005, over 150 countries adopted ’responsibility to protect’ populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.”

Professor Tanter said, “The United High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) formally recognized on 13 September 2011, and reiterated on 1 February 2012 residents of Ashraf as ‘asylum seekers,’ with rights and protections based on international humanitarian standards. According UNHCR, “International law requires that asylum-seekers must be able to benefit from basic protection of their security and well being. This includes protection against any expulsion or return to the frontiers of territories where their lives or freedom would be threatened.”

Professor Tanter added, “But the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) works at cross purposes with UNHCR. While UNHCR stands ready to conduct Refugee Status Determination to resettle the dissidents in other countries, UNAMI colludes with Iraqi authorities, providing a pretext for Baghdad to harm them, contrary to international humanitarian standards.”

UNHCR emphasizes protecting Iranian dissidents stating, “Any relocation outside Camp New Iraq [Ashraf] [should] proceed on a voluntary basis, with freedom of movement the most desirable state at the site of relocation.” But according to reports, Iranian dissidents are barred from taking their personal belongings, even items like wheelchairs, microwave ovens, and satellite dishes for Internet access.

Contrary to UNHCR, the dissidents have no freedom of movement. Journalists are kept away, and neither lawyers nor families can observe or visit Camp Hurriya; in disregard of dissidents’ rights, UNAMI paid no attention to Iraqi harassment, intimidation, and insult to them upon arrival to Hurriya.

Washington is also accountable for failure to provide effective diplomatic pressure on Iraq to ensure safe relocation, often called the “American plan” because it stems from a Christmas Day statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “We are encouraged by the Iraqi government’s willingness to commit to this plan, and expect it to fulfill all its responsibilities, especially [to] provide for the safety and security of Ashraf’s residents.”

Because of the Clinton statement, the dissidents accepted the relocation plan, which is now being violated by Iraqi authorities. A subsequent announcement by the Department of State “commends the decision by the Ashraf residents to begin to relocate to Hurriya, where the United Nations will begin a process aimed at facilitating their eventual departure from Iraq,” a commendation that enhances U.S. stake in the plan and responsibility to protect the dissidents.

By praising the former residents of Ashraf for the first time, the pronouncement also implicitly commends their leadership in Paris for its constructive role in averting human tragedy.

The Way Forward
In a statement of 7 February this year, 23 former senior officials of the U.S. Government expressed concern about relocation, “We are very troubled by the official position of the Iraqi Government that the residents of Ashraf will have no freedom of movement while in Camp Liberty.”

First, the IPC concurs with a recommendation of our former colleagues in the U.S. Government for American Embassy Baghdad to obtain assurances for security of dissidents now relocated in Camp Hurriya and as incentive for the 3,000 who remain in Camp Ashraf to relocate: “We believe an operational protocol must be developed through dialogue among all relevant parties, including the representatives of Camp Ashraf and the Iraqi Government.”

Second, the UN might inform dissidents of rights as asylum seekers. The IPC is dismayed to learn that Iranian dissidents in Camp Hurriya have no minimum assurances from either the UN or Washington about their security or rights under international human rights law.

Third, the Secretary General needs to bring operational practices of UNAMI in accord with humanitarian standards of asylum seeker status provided by UNHCR. If the Iraqi police were outside Camp Hurriya and UNAMI monitors inside, UNHCR humanitarian standards are more likely to be followed.

Without such steps, a calamity is likely, spilled blood of the Iranian asylum seekers will be on the hands of those with responsibility to protect, and appropriate legal action against accountable parties is likely in international and national tribunals.

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With his near-win in Iowa and his recent rise in the polls, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is facing new scrutiny about his views on intelligent design and evolution. Reporters and others have expressed particular interest in the so-called “Santorum Amendment” authored by Senator Santorum, which was adopted in revised form in the Conference Report of the landmark No Child Left Behind Act.

The Santorum Amendment won overwhelming bipartisan support in the United States Senate. In fact, Sen. Ted Kennedy enthusiastically endorsed the Amendment on the Senate floor. Others voting in favor of the Amendment included Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Sam Brownback.

The Santorum Amendment did not mandate teaching intelligent design, nor did it encourage teaching creationism or religion in the classroom. Instead, it encouraged open discussion and inquiry by teachers and students of the evidence both for and against controversial scientific theories such as Darwin’s theory of evolution.

The approach advocated in the Santorum Amendment is favored by the vast majority of Americans, no matter what their race, gender, or political party. According to a nationwide Zogby poll in 2009, 80 percent of likely voters “agree that teachers and students should have the academic freedom to discuss both the strengths and weaknesses of evolution as a scientific theory.”

“Allowing discussions of all the scientific evidence about evolution in the classroom is good for students and good for science. It’s the mainstream approach supported by most Americans,” says Dr. John West, Associate Director of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture. “Those who are trying to put a gag order on teachers and students to insulate Darwin’s theory from critical inquiry are the real extremists.”

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/

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As the Republican primaries near, Zoosk, a romantic social network, recently surveyed more than 4,000 U.S. singles to gather their thoughts on the presidential candidates.  Questions ranged from which candidate has the best hairdo, to which contending couple would make for the best double date, and to who has the best sense of humor.  The survey findings resulted in the following:

Singles say the Obamas would be their first choice couple for a double date.

• 38% of singles say they would choose a double date with the Obamas over any of the other presidential candidate couples.
• 16% of singles would choose to enjoy an evening out with the Bachmanns for a double date.
• 9% of singles would pick the Pauls.  The Gingrichs, Perrys, and Romneys each received 8% of singles’ vote for double date companions.

Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney have the “best hairdos” among the Republican candidates.

• 35% of singles give Michele Bachmann their vote for best hairstyle. She is followed by Mitt Romney (21%) and Rick Perry (15%).
• Rick Santorum received the fewest votes for his “do,” nabbing just 4% of the vote.

Republican men prefer Newt Gingrich, while Republican women prefer Mitt Romney for the GOP nominee. When asked, “If you were to vote today, who would receive your vote?”…

• Republican men gravitated towards Newt Gingrich with 33% of men saying the former Speaker of the House is their top choice compared to 18% of men who would choose Romney.
• Republican women have a slight preference for Mitt Romney with the former Governor of Massachusetts gathering 25% of the Republican female votes compared to 24% of women who would chose Gingrich.

Who is the “sexiest” candidate?

• Clearly, Michele Bachmann gets the sexiest female candidate vote, but 41% of single women say President Obama is the sexiest candidate among the 2012 contenders.

Singles vote President Barack Obama as having the “best sense of humor” among the candidates.

• 30% of singles say President Obama has the best sense of humor among all the presidential candidates.
• 15% of singles prefer Newt Gingrich’s humor.
• Tied for third place with 12% each of the “best sense of humor” vote are Rick Perry and Ron Paul.

Singles wish Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were on the ballot.

• When asked who they wish were on the ballot in 2012, 57% of singles who identify themselves as Democrats and 30% of singles who identify themselves as Independents say Hillary Clinton.
• 30% of single Republicans say they wish Donald Trump were running for president in 2012.

More singles than ever plan to vote in the 2012 presidential election.

• Compared to 64% of Americans who voted in the 2008 presidential election, singles are a politically active group. An equal percentage of single men and women (87%) say they plan to vote next year.

The data for this report was conducted online in December 2011 and fielded 4,218 responses from singles in the U.S. who use Zoosk.  Respondents were equally divided among political parties with 30% being Democrat, 34% being Republican, and 36% being Independent.

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In a speech at the Sullivan Honors Awards, President Obiang discussed the promotion of African integration by leading Equatorial Guinea toward a better future by facing its challenges and achieving the country’s desired self-improvement and progress. President Obiang has led the efforts of the African community while promoting the continent and carrying out the development of Equatorial Guinea.

“Equatorial Guinea, as a unified country, knows that in order to achieve self-improvement and progress, we have to face problems and challenges, with the support of friendly countries and the international community,” said President Obiang.

President Obiang received the Beacon for Africa award at the 2011 Sullivan Honors event on December 15, in recognition of his leadership of the African Union and his exemplary contributions to improving the lives of Africa’s most vulnerable citizens. The Sullivan Honors event is one of Washington’s greatest cultural highlights of the year.

Hope Masters, president of the Administrative Council of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, praised President Obiang for his exemplary leadership and contributions to rebuilding Equatorial Guinea.

“This was a great opportunity to discuss continued development in the region and ways to collectively expand our role as part of  the international community,” said President Obiang. “I believe Africa has a positive future ahead of us as long as we continue to work together.”

President Obiang joined leaders from around the world to honor African individuals who are leading and serving the international community. The honorees have selflessly dedicated themselves to humanitarian efforts on the African continent. Together they showed their appreciation for the honorees at the Leon H. Sullivan Honors event at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

“A commitment to ensuring that the dignity of the people they serve has been maintained is critical in determining who will be named a Sullivan Honoree. The ability to ignite that spark of hope, to provide to those less fortunate, while improving their quality of life, has been a common characteristic embodied by each of our honorees. I commend our past honorees and am confident that our new honorees will uphold their passion for championing Africans,” said Ambassador Andrew Young, former US Ambassador to the United Nations.

The Sullivan Honors has been conferred upon individuals who have demonstrated unique leadership in enhancing the lives of the underprivileged, the vulnerable, and the destitute in Africa. Previous Sullivan Honorees include former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, General Colin Powell, current President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, current President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, current President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A full list of previous Sullivan Honorees can be found on the Sullivan Foundation’s website, www.thesullivanfoundation.org.

Equatorial Guinea’s government has adopted special programs for the promotion and protection of human rights with the help of the International Red Cross, which has verified the performance of state institutions by selecting and implementing programs that improve the level of social indicators.

“The positive effects of these programs have resulted in an increased school ratio, life expectancy, malaria reductions, as well as the progressive increase of technical and professional staff,” said President Obiang. “Our country recently went through a constitutional change that strengthened the powers of the state institutions, promoted the alteration in power and regulated the strict separation of powers, as well as transparency and equity in public affairs.”

This reform was approved and voted by the majority of the population.

In addition to President Obiang, numerous heads of state from Africa attended this year’s 2011 Sullivan Honors event, showing unity and cooperation among one another. They included President John A. Kufuor, former President of Ghana; President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria; Prime Minister Guillaume Soro of Cote D’Ivoire; and President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/equatorial_guinea/

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The Eye on Earth Summit, held in Abu Dhabi from December 12-15, brings together the world’s foremost thinkers about environmental information to reflect on how we can ensure that decision-makers everywhere make wiser decisions. Dozens of speakers with the caliber of President Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, UAE President H.E. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the Conservation International boss, Russell Mittermeier, are helping delegates formulate concrete recommendations for the next Earth Summit to be held in Rio in June 2012.

Access to environmental knowledge is critical: wise decision-making depends on it. As the COP-17 climate conference in Durban, South Africa, recently showed, it is becoming urgent to address the world’s ability to prepare for coming changes to our planet. Environmental information is becoming increasingly precious.

However, much of this information is unavailable, even when it already exists. It may be absent, inaccessible, or simply hidden. Much of it is held in incompatible standards, ‘protected’ by bureaucratic complexity, restrained by lack of open access, or kept in the dark through ignorance of its existence.

Emerging economies in particular are at risk of losing valuable assets because of decisions taken without full knowledge. Yet making more environmental information available to them and others need not be expensive or especially complicated. What is needed, above all, is collaboration, information, and understanding of the problems caused by unavailable data.

Water scarcity, food security, and climate change are policy issues that require solutions that extend beyond political boundaries.

This VNR contains short, impactful statements by the following distinguished speakers:

- H.E. Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General, Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi

- Jack Dangermond, CEO & President, Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri)

- John E. Scanlon, Secretary General, Conservational on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

- President Bill Clinton

- Sha Zukang, UN Undersecretary General and Secretary General of the Rio +20 Summit

- Dr. Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

- Hernando de Soto, President, Institute for Liberty & Democracy

- Dr. Jane Goodall, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute

- Chief Almir Surui, Amazon Indigenous Leader

- Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director, European Environmental Agency

Dave Newman / Shutterstock.com

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The U.S. is going to send its top ambassador back to Damascus, Syria, a senior Obama administration official said. They came to this decision after recalling him on October 22 because of burgeoning violence. Ambassador Robert Ford returned on Tuesday, said the official, who wanted to remain anonymous because of the sensitive situation.

The administration agreed that the Syrian ambassador was needed for advancing the goals of U.S. policy and as a witness to the violence that is occurring there. In response to this, Syria recalled Ford. The Syrian ambassador was supposed to return in late November, but he delayed his trip due to security reasons.

Ford will meet with opposition figures when he arrives to Syria, US officials said. The presence of Ford in the country was meant to be a symbol by President Obama. He wanted to engage Damascus, which had previously had no U.S. ambassador after the Bush administration cut off ties when Syria allegedly played a role in the assassination of a political candidate in Lebanon in 2005.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, held a meeting with the opposing Syrian figures while Ford returned to Damascus. In Geneva, Clinton talked to seven Syrian pro-reform activists and said she would like to hear their plans on how to establish a democratic government if they succeed in overthrowing President Assad and his regime.

Her words were almost an endorsement and an apparent sign that the United States wants to work with the people that may take on leadership roles. “Obviously, a democratic transition is more than removing the Assad regime. It means setting Syria on the path of the rule of law,” Clinton said to the activists, who are exiles that live in Europe and are a part of the Syrian National Council. The council is one of seven groups for Assad foes.

“He will continue the work he was doing previously; namely, delivering the United States’ message to the people of Syria; providing reliable reporting on the situation on the ground; and engaging with the full spectrum of Syrian society on how to end the bloodshed and achieve a peaceful political transition,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner stated.

He believes that one of the most effective ways to show the United States supports Syria’s people is to send Ford back. In the past, Ford incensed the Syrian regime when he paid a visit to protest centers outside of Damascus and supported the anti-government uprising. These incidences have increased tensions between Damascus and Washington, and Damascus has accused the U.S. of trying to incite violence in Syria.

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As of this morning, the U.S. received official statement from Libya’s prime minister confirming Muammar Gaddafi’s death. Yesterday afternoon, precisely two months after rebel forces drove him from power, Gaddafi was captured in the coastal city of Sirte, his hometown.

A battle for control of Gaddafi’s last strongholds began around 8 a.m. local time, and ended a half-hour later with revolutionaries carrying the body of a man who resembled Gaddafi. At the time, the cell phone photo taken of the scene did not make it clear whether the dictator was still alive or not. The dictator’s remaining supporters attempted to flee Sirte in the confusion, resulting in the deaths of approximately 20 men at the hands of rebel forces.

Updates continue to trickled in, shedding light on some of the confusion that still surrounds Gadddafi’s death. Some sources claim the Libyan dictator of 42 years was captured and injured as he tried to flee a convoy that was attacked by NATO. The Washington Post reports:

“We’ve had no confirmation whether Gaddafi was in there or not,” said a NATO official who spoke to The Post’s Michael Birnbaum on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly. Over the past couple weeks in Sirte, the official said, “there was a sense that given the fight they were putting up, which was concerted, that they were protecting something important.” His last words were, “Don’t shoot.”

Oddly enough, Hillary Clinton pledged 11 million dollars in aid just this week on an unannounced trip to Libya. The Obama administration has met with criticism for it’s decision to back the Libyan rebels, although the United States’ financial involvement has been far more limited than in similar conflicts across the Middle East.

Although many hoped to see him put on trial for crimes against humanity, Muammar Gaddafi’s death has still been cause for celebration in Libya today. Crowds surged around the corpse, chanting anti-Gaddafi slogans, and fired weapons into the air. Rebels burned the flag of the dictatorship, then stepped on it. With the old regime ousted, Libyans may finally be free to create a new government. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov was quoted saying,

“I hope that the end of the former Libyan leader will herald the end of the suffering of the Libyan people and the beginning of a new era in which Libyan citizens are able to live without fear and humiliation in a united and prosperous country.”

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Obama announced this past week that the Department of Homeland Security will review roughly 300,000 immigration cases to see if these individuals are qualified for citizenship.

Controversy over these changes brings up the topic of what the leading GOP presidential candidates of 2012, Bachmann, Romney, and Perry think about this matter. Immigration reform and border control are vital issues for these candidates. They face losing valuable support from Hispanic voters in fundamental swing states such as New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, and Florida if they do not have a plan that can accommodate them.

Rick Perry, governor of Texas, is no stranger to immigration, living right along the Mexican border. He has already provided in-state tuition to illegal immigrants to offer them the opportunity to gain citizenship through education.

He also supports citizenship through military participation. His primary focus, although dealing with many illegal immigrants already, is to secure the border first and secondly work on immigration reform.

Perry demonstrated his views on Immigration earlier this week in South Carolina, as he discussed the problems the federal government has in handling immigration. His explanation for this was that in Texas alone, he has spent 400 million dollars on border patrol, which is the responsibility of the government and not the state.

His campaign has also focused the issue of border patrol around protecting American citizens against violence spreading north of Mexico, and how securing the borders are the most important way to secure America’s defence. Perry has focused on the importance of border patrol to not only discontinue illegal immigrants but also to prevent gun and drug trafficking as well.

Romney, a candidate who also ran in the 2008 election advocated a different approach to illegal immigration. He took the stance of adopting biometrically-enabled identification cards, so illegal immigrants could be identified and prohibited to work. He also frowned upon McCain’s policy to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants in 2008, stating, “illegal immigration has got to end and any form of citizenship amnesty is troublesome.”

In his campaign in 2012, Romney will focus more on the responsibility of employers who were hiring illegal immigrants. He thinks that punishment directed at the employers of illegal immigrants, would improve job creation being taken away from citizens. When it comes down to the issue of how to handle immigrants who are in America illegally, Romney believes that they are not qualified for citizenship.

Bachmann, another leading GOP presidential candidate, advocates the full and speedy citizenship of immigrants that have entered the United States legally, but is intolerant on those who have come to America illegally.

She refers back to the bill passed in 1986, in which congress granted amnesty to over three million immigrants that entered the country illegally. The government has not made major changes since then and Bachmann proposes that congress should enforce the laws put in place, as well as stricter border patrol.

Bachmann, in 2008, dealt with the death of four children that were killed by an illegal immigrant in Minnesota, her hometown, and it will be fascinating to see how this impacts her position on illegal immigrants with criminal records.

The main focus surrounding Bachmann’s campaign ultimately welcomes legal immigrants, but she follows the laws of the land in making sure that immigrants that have come to the United States illegally are not rewarded or given a free pass.

This difficult and complex issue effecting millions throughout America will play a critical part in gaining support. It will be interesting to see how this taxing issue plays out within the next year throughout each candidates campaign and if policies will be modified to achieve the Hispanic vote in swing states.

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The Obama Campaign may be fighting back against the Tea Party Republicans who have hijacked any sort of meaningful dialogue. An Obama adviser went on the offensive on a television appearance while the President had a heated exchange with a tea party activist.

Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs went on MSNBC on Tuesday. Gibbs, who now serves as a re-election advisor for the president, criticized Republicans, saying that they must decide whether they’re going to “swear allegiance to the tea party” or work with Democrats to create jobs.

He advised Congress to “pay attention to creating jobs again.” He also suggested that some Republicans “do not want to see this economy get better” because they know continuing misery will likely improve their election prospects.

Gibbs says Obama favors a number of moves to help businesses step up hiring. He says “the president is not focused on keeping his job, most of all. He’s focused on creating jobs for the American people.” He reported that Congress likely will be asked to continue payroll tax relief.

Looking ahead to 2012, Gibbs said, “We’re not running against George W. Bush.” He added, “But many of the policies that got us into the mess that we’re trying to dig out of now, are the same policies that the frontrunners for the Republican nomination seek to go back to.”

Meanwhile in Iowa, the tea party confronted Obama about vice president Joe Biden’s remarks earlier in the month comparing the tea party to terrorists. “He said we were acting like terrorists,” Iowa Tea Party activist Ryan Rhodes said, confronting the president after the Decorah town hall as Obama worked a rope line of audience members. “What we stand for is limited government and a balanced budget,” Rhodes continued.

“First of all, in fairness to this gentleman who raised a question, I absolutely agree that everybody needs to try to tone down the rhetoric. Now, in fairness, since I’ve been called a socialist who wasn’t born in this country, who is destroying America and taking away its freedoms because I passed a health care bill, I’m all for lowering the rhetoric.”

Obama later countered that Biden was making the point that almost failing to raise the debt ceiling was irresponsible. “He wasn’t objecting to the balanced budget amendment, he was objecting to us almost defaulting,” Obama said. As Rhodes persisted, and Obama continued to shake hands, the president added, “It doesn’t sound like you are interested in listening.”

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