The UN propped International Telecommunication Union (ITU) began its World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) on December 3 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, aptly named ‘wicket’. Notably, the panel of 193 national delegates was to include Internet giant Google, which decided to protest the regulation of the Word Wide Web in person. Seven days into the eleven day conference both Facebook and Google Internet services crashed. In the closing moments of the WCIT, the USA, UK, Canada and Australia walked out on proceedings that counted a show-of-hands as a binding constituent resolution.

The day after the Google/FB crash, the NYC Post announced Google’s new holding company in Bermuda, shielding the Online giant from some two billion dollars of global tax deficit. The following day, Google admitted to shutting down its Shopping service in China. Meanwhile, within the conference, voting blocks had formed: India, Japan, Germany, Italy lead Europe in a rally maintaining a deregulated Internet. Almost half of the 193 nations, including Russia, China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia went on to ratify a treaty that boasts strong African, Arabian, Asian and Latin-American membership. Some fifty nations reserved the right to ratify at a later date while some nations simply abstained.

The conference was to mitigate the over one thousand three hundred proposals that critics attest will aid and abet government crack-downs on free speech. Censorship isn’t the only issue; some blocks believe in charging Internet providers for providing free content, while zeroing in and taxing international content to mitigate the specter of confusing multiculturalism in fragile societies.

American developers see these UN tariffs as nothing less than forced economic redistribution of good and services focused on empowering individuals to commune through communication: “Engineers, companies and people that build and use the Web have no vote. The billions of people around the globe that use the Internet, the experts that build and maintain it, should be included,” stated Google Online.

ITU Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Touré readily admits to targeting the world’s mobile-phone population (90% of the world by his account) and converting two-thirds of the Earth – the offline population – to an Internet lifestyle. Obviously, he’s talking about leveraging the current market dominators to accelerate market penetration as a UN policy; the preamble of the WCIT treaty certainly states so much in legalese.

While the doctor claims to be fighting for the rights of the developing world, his agency’s using development to separate the bestowers of this technology from their clients by standing against a free and unregulated multicultural Web. The proposition floated by some Europeans to fund developing-market intrusion by taxing international services underlines this point. Information Society politicians seeking to mass the market of the majority of the Earth’s population as an international politic to promote appeal is a founding philosophy of the Internet to be sure. Now it stands for politicians’ grab to price-fix, promoting foreign lobbies in a vicious circle that rewards volume and seeks to grant the voluminous ingenuity over protestations of leading companies.

Despite a unanimous vote resolving USA Congress opposition to the WCIT philosophy of a government-controlled Web December 5 – two days after the start of the WCIT – the USA must admit that it is only due to government facilitation that its miracle machine is organized by the non-for-profit giant Internet Corporation for Assigned Names And Numbers (ICANN).

While Westerners decry governed regulation of the ultimate portal into multiculturalism, the arguments against subordination to stultifying bureaucrats and against UN regulation of App-oriented browsers have wilt before the principal accusation: cultural Fascism. But corporations must be most fearful of increased global competition and powerful ITU regulations that can standardize international telecommunication equipment, championing a myriad of local entrepreneurs to introduce the Americans to the margin-cutting global realities of that nation-state controlled thing: free-speech.

Americans touting to possess the ultimate machine in free speech stand the most to lose as a brand.

But no-one mentions what UN presence represents more than anything else to free-market governments: a biting hindsight that can sue even the intelligence community for human rights’ violations by promoting free-speech in violation of hate-crime legislation.

Surely, the USA could benefit from an international body of inquisitive souls who would like to know how in the GPS-age could the awkward master-mind of the Aurora massacre manage to kill an Airforce Sergeant among his victims in a Colorado movie-house.

UN restrictions against prosecuting neglect may melt in the face of over-sight reality: an out-manned capitalist economy that no-longer polices itself with integrity but only as some Nation-State that is neither Fascist nor Communist nor watching nor political – simply disturbed.

Perhaps this is why a group of WCIT experts showed up in Stanford a week before the Dubai meeting to take part in the discussion: ‘Sticky WCIT: Is This the End of the Internet?’

WCIT marks the setting of the World Wide Web behind the accessible Web and the State-controlled ubiquity of the Internet. Perhaps all three were once synonymous. Now, like a nation-state of three minds, like a Common Wealth of Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, each community answers for itself to the benefit of the engineered whole.

Perhaps this is why long after the WCIT vote should have been published at the top of engine searches Online, discrepancies rather than harmonies leapt to the fore. ITU spokesperson Sarah Parkes reportedly contended that Google did not attend WCIT as it chose not to participate as an IT member.

So it was a haughty observer?

Google is now listed as the top Congressional lobbyist to 118 Congress members on OpenSecrets.org. So on my Internet search at the end of ITU WCIT, rather than finding a published vote tally, all that was readily available were links to the thirty page agreement and consensus on English outrage. After hours of contradictory reporting, a WCITleaks.org site rose to the helm, linking leading voices of the 4th Estate: the NY Times and Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Vanity Fair.

Follow up news was immediately inconclusive: the English-speaking world had spoken; nothing happened.

The Intellectual Property now isn’t a language – isn’t a code – it’s coding which is only something from nothing according to latest wicket.

Image Courtesy : Itupictures

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Alexander Laszlo is co-founder and President of Syntony Quest and former Director of the Doctoral Program in Management at the Graduate School of Business Administration and Leadership (EGADE- ITESM) located in Mexico. He was recently elected President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). He has also worked at UNESCO and for the U.S. Department of Education. He has been Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and the European University Institute. In addition to being the author of multiple book and journal articles, he is also a 5th Degree Black Belt in Korean Karate. This is part two of an exclusive Toonari Post interview, find the first part here.

TP: How do you believe that virtual education is transforming the world?                               

AL: I believe that universities and educational systems which do not keep up to date with current technology enhanced Interactive systems will be left behind. Education should encourage a dynamic play with creating knowledge and not only memorizing what is already known, because memorizing what we already know is not going to provide solutions to the current challenges faced by humanity. These challenges require a new paradigm, a new way of understanding. It’s not about learning and applying the models of last century; we have seen that these models do not work; we need people to develop their own response to their realities in which they live.

This is the purpose of Giordano Bruno; to create perspective. Take Facebook, for example. People use it but mainly for social pursuits. How can we create an education system that works like Facebook in which students share their learning with others and with a group of friends, and so among them discuss, comment, share extra resources and in this way go into an enriching conversation of shared understand on any particular topic?

So really, it’s like creating an education system based on this type of model, which is today one of the most widely used type of interaction. As I say, education systems that don’t use it will stay stuck in the past.

TP: What is the holistic paradigm?

AL: The idea of the holistic paradigm is not seeing the world in a fragmented way. For example, here in California, where I live, I need to see how to get clean water, the same as anyone anywhere else in the world. One solution would be to use all the water that falls from the mountains for irrigation, or we could also get it from our aquifers.

Now, if we don’t proceed with a perspective that considers the impacts of using water-intensive agricultural practices, then we are acting badly. We need to create a solution that allows the aquifers to be restored and regenerated. That’s the holistic way of understanding the secondary and tertiary impacts, and more so to really understand the interdependence of all living systems as the non-living systems, that also sustain life, as is the case of climatic water cycles.

This is the perspective and sensitivity that we want to foster among students, because once we understand that everything is interconnected, we see that nothing is only a problem from a technical perspective, as this type of thinking usually creates more problems [than] it resolves. So the idea is to create a system of solutions, not just a one-dimensional solution that could be purely technological or economic. Really, a set of solutions involves seeing and understanding dynamic and interactive patterns; once you understand a little bit and have developed sensitivity for seeing how these complex adaptive systems are intertwined with each other, you can start creating a new dialogue with nature, society, future generations, our ancestors and yourself. In this way, we create a flow of abundance without making the mistake of trying to maximize our return on investment, which is a way of addressing a context in only a myopic way.

TP: Recently you have been elected President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). What are your expectations in this new position?

AL: This organization was founded in 1954 and now has had a total of 56 annual conferences. My job as President is to create an international event that represents the emerging direction of systems science, which also includes human science.

I have chosen a theme for this year which is aimed at moving toward a systemic consciousness that heightens and draws upon relational intelligence. So my purpose is to stimulate a more dedicated development of relational intelligence, which must not only be empathetic and compassionate to others, but also embody ways of being interactive and interconnected with all living systems on this planet.

TP: How can you handle so many projects at the same time?

AL: I have several clones (laughs). My secret is that I have excellent teams, and this is what I want to bring to both the Giordano Bruno University and the ISSS. In both cases, we want to create a thrivable world of collaborative communities. Alone, I just can’t achieve all these goals, but luckily the people I work with are much competent than me, which ensures the success of all these projects.

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Alexander Laszlo is co-founder and President of Syntony Quest and former Director of the Doctoral Program in Management at the Graduate School of Business Administration and Leadership (EGADE- ITESM) located in Mexico. He was recently elected President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). He has also worked at UNESCO and for the U.S. Department of Education. He has been Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and the European University Institute. In addition to being the author of multiple book and journal articles, he is also a 5^th Degree Black Belt in Korean Karate.

Toonari Post (TP): You are well known for being the co-founder and President of Syntony Quest. Could you explain to us a little bit about this organization?

Alexander Laszlo (AL): Syntony Quest is an educational non-profit organization whose purpose is to serve as a bridge between academia and the business world on topics of sustainability. Many NGOs are focused on working with the problems of people; however, they often lack a more strategic platform from the point of view of theoretical and scientific progress on sustainability issues.

In our organization we conduct interactive research on socio environmental issues with a, participatory approach that is informed by the emerging context. This is the main purpose of Syntony Quest, to be a bridge that fosters self-directed sustainable development in case-specific contexts.

Sustainability means not exceeding the carrying capacity of our planet- trying to maintain a certain balance. But the goal of Syntony Quest is to help create a prosperous world, one that goes beyond mere sustainability to true thrivability, fostering an economy of abundance.

We must create an economy based on nature and not on abstract economic concepts, which are very common in the current economic system.

TP: On the other side, one year ago Giordano Bruno University was opened, where you have the role of Director of Learning and Curriculum Innovation. Tell us, what is the pedagogical model used?

AL: Giordano Bruno University does not seek to impose models that are not relevant to the current context. We are against the subordination of ideas. We want to develop a process of change in the narrative presented by the instructor in which the student has to memorize theory in the most efficient manner possible. Normally, the student has only to learn and repeat the narrative presented by the teacher in order to get the best score, trying to be as faithful to the original narrative as possible.

We want to move beyond this approach, to a second and then to a third point. The second part consists in a change of the teacher’s narrative. The narratives become based in simulations, which allow students to be an actor in a narrative, such as an interactive game like Buckminster Fuller’s World Game or the Model UN experience offered at the high school level for students to simulate a Conference of the United Nations. A simulation like this allows students to experiment, and see how to practice playing different roles.

This second option is good but, what is the intention of Giordano Bruno? It’s not only about the first model that consists of repeating the teacher’s narrative, and it is even beyond the second, which is to live in a designed narrative experience of it, which is still provided by the teacher.

The third model consists of the students creating their own narratives around the learning themes being focused on in the course. This is a process in which students are given the opportunity to live the topics of the course into their own narrative experience, making the course material relevant to their own situation and their own environment in a global context.

TP: Could you tell us a little bit about the instructors and the academic community?

AL: The Giordano Bruno model is very interesting, because the goal is to create an international cultural community of students from many parts of the world based on study groups of 21 students. These groups function as cells in a structure that can have from 10,000 to 300,000 students in a single course. Nevertheless, we are always focused on the groups of 21 students.

This model allows us to significantly reduce the costs while at the same time increasing accessibility, thereby potentially reaching students in any part of the world. Of course, they need to have access to Internet. Once there, they can interact with the other students of their group.

In this process, there is an instructor who designs the course. The course has certain parameters that allow for the use of technology in ways that are rapidly becoming more common in education these days. We want ideas and information to arise through a collegial process among students.

Thus, the learning challenges and the instructions for how to find the resources are designed by the instructor. However, the model for understanding the lesson arises through the cell interaction among students.

We seek to encourage interactions, for students to do two things: the first is to take the lessons and discuss them with their family and community, and the second is to report their results, perspectives and outcomes with their group of 21. All this helps the student to know the global context of the challenges of being an evolutionary change in the world while at the same time learn to be sensitive to the needs of their locality.

The teachers that we have are people of advanced preparation in their chosen field; as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), they design courses of large-scale and scope, which are then managed by a team of facilitators. However, the professor is mainly a designer of the course and responds only to questions that assistants can’t respond to. Primarily, we are looking to help students learn to answer their own questions and solve their own problems.

Read part two here.

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New York, U.S.A. — Ivorian authorities should halt censorship of critical news outlets and investigate an armed assault on the offices of a publishing group, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on August 27.

“We call on President Alassane Ouattara to demonstrate tolerance and a commitment to democratic principles,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita from New York. “As the country weathers a period of great tension, the president can set an important example by allowing the voices of opposition to air their concerns and opinions, as harsh as they may be.”

The state-run National Press Council suspended the daily Le Temps on August 3 for 20 editions in connection with a July 24 article that it said defamed Ouattara, Raphael Lakpé, the council’s chairman, said in an interview on U.N.-sponsored station ONUCI FM. Le Temps, which is loyal to the former leader Laurent Gbagbo, had published an opinion piece on violence between supporters of Ouattara and those of Gbagbo and called the president a “ghoulish vampire,” according to news reports. Opposition groups have accused Ouattara and his allies of targeting supporters of Gbagbo in the past.

Le Temps’ editor-in-chief, Simplice Allard, was also suspended from writing for the paper for one month, news reports said.

On Sunday morning, a group of unidentified armed men attacked the offices of the Cyclone Media Group, in Abidjan, which publishes Le Temps, according to news reports. The men assaulted a security guard, set a room on fire, ransacked the offices, and stole several computers, Agence France-Presse reported. No one was injured in the attack, which caused significant damage to the offices, AFP said. Police have not made any arrests yet, local journalists said, adding that they believe the attack on the media group was in reprisal for Le Temps’ critical coverage of Ouattara’s government.

In another case of official censorship, the National Press Council suspended Bôl’ Kotch, a private satirical newspaper, on August 8 for eight issues, over articles and cartoons critical of Ouattara that appeared in its July 27 edition, the state news agency AIP reported. The council singled out a caricature of an exchange between Ouattara and an army chief that suggested the president was using ethnic groups of traditional hunters to fight pro-Gbagbo supporters in the ongoing unrestin the country, according to news reports.

At least one journalist who has extensively covered the activities of former leader Gbagbo has told CPJ he fears for his life. Alain Tiéffi, photo editor of the state daily Fraternité Matin, said his neighbors had suggested to him that he leave their house in Yopougon, a suburb considered a Gbagbo stronghold. Security forces, in response to armed attacks against government positions, have in recent weeks conducted raids on houses in Yopougon and arrested people suspected of being linked to armed supporters of the ousted leader, according to news reports.

Tiéffi told CPJ that fighters loyal to Ouattara had ransacked his house in May 2011 and pointed a gun at his head. “I am the only journalist in the area I live. My wife, children, and in-laws are all living with me. Right now, I don’t know what to do. I am scared,” Tiéffi told CPJ.

Gérard Gnawa, a spokesman for the police in Abidjan, would not tell CPJ if they were investigating the case.

A group of six pro-opposition dailies have refused to publish their newspapers on August 24 and 25 to protest the attack on the Cyclone Media Group and the threats and assaults Ivorian journalists have faced in recent months, according to news reports. The group said the refusal to publish was to display “the risk of death that hangs over the lives of journalists.”

Image Courtesy of  bbcworldservice

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Supporters held solidarity vigils in support of the imprisoned private Bradley Manning and the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, outside the U.S and Ecuador embassy in London on Monday, 16th July 2012. Organized by Veterans for peace in UK, rally started from Bond Street at 3pm and ended at Knightsbridge in front of Ecuadoran embassy at 4:30pm. From Australia to Germany to USA, these rallies have become sufficiently well organized and have given the Manning and Assange movement some momentum.

The message to the American government was clear and reinforced in blunt precision as protesters gathered outside the U.S embassy in Bond street to observe the silent vigil for Manning.

Former American soldier, 24 year old Bradley Manning appeared in US court in Ft. Meade, Maryland this week. Manning was arrested in Baghdad on 29th May 2010, for providing whistle blowing website Wikileaks with classified secret documents on US government. For the past two years, human rights organizations have been highlighting the plight of Manning in U.S. cells. UN Torture Chief Juan Mendez’s investigating report for UN special rapporteur on torture states that “I believe Bradley Manning was subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the excessive and prolonged isolation he was put in during the eight months he was in Quantico.”

According to Manning’s Defense Lawyer David Coombs ‘aiding the enemy’ charge is stricter against US soldiers than it would be against terrorists. According to Coombs: “It defies all logic to think that a terrorist would fare better in an American court for aiding the enemy than a US soldier would.”

The peaceful protesters made their way across to Knightsbridge to the Ecuadorian Embassy, encouraging others to join in.

Born in Queensland, Australia, Assange has been at the centre of media firestorm for past several months now. Since last year, London has become a central hub for Assange campaigns and this movement has grown into an unstoppable force. Assange faces threat of extradition to the U.S. on the charges of espionage for publishing 250,000 classified diplomatic documents. After losing an appeal for asylum in UK Supreme Court, Assange has sought political asylum in an Ecuadoran embassy in London. Other problems also persist for Assange, Swedish authorities want him in Swedish court over sexual molestation and rape charges.

In an interview with Sydney Morning Herald the head of the US Senate’s intelligence oversight committee, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein said, “I believe that Julian Assange has knowingly obtained and disseminated classified information which could cause injury to the United States … He has caused serious harm to US national security and should be prosecuted accordingly.”

Former SAS soldier Ben Griffin spoke exclusively to The Toonari Post about 16th July rally outside the Ecuadoran embassy.

Toonari Post (TP): What is the political and social message of today’s rally?

Ben Griffin (BG): So today, private Bradley Manning who is accused of leaking, and the information to wikileaks that reveals war crimes committed by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, today he is facing a pre motion hearing in the United States and every time that Manning has been taken before the court, we have held a silent vigil outside the U.S. embassy and in the meantime Julliane Assange has sought the asylum in the Ecuadoran embassy and we have been holding a daily vigil outside this embassy in support of the Ecuadorian people in the hope that they will grant him asylum and so today we combined the two things to have our silent vigil outside the embassy and a protest down here to also support Julliane Assange.

TP: Please tell us more about Veteran for Peace’s role in the mobilization process and the composition of today’s protest?

BG: well what we have here is a group of people who are all concerned about Bradley Manning and Julliane Assange and we have all come from different organizations. There are many other organizations represented here and it just so happens that on this specific occasion I have taken the lead through veterans for peace in organizing this but as i say we have Italian friends of Bradley manning, we have got the London Catholic worker, and we have got UK friends of wikileaks, so there is lots of other organization, so it just happens that veterans for peace just took the lead on this occasion, but it is a multi organization event.

TP: What message of support do you have for supporters and activists of Manning and Assange across the world?

BG: Right, I mean it is important that, even in the case of Manning its important, even though, he is being held in the United States, and we all can do small things in our country to get the awareness of his issue out in the public domain. So whether you are in London, in Australia, in Russia, in Africa, we can all go out on the streets, in solidarity for Manning on the days he’s in court in America. And as far as Assange is concerned, we could do similar things, we may not be able to go out on streets, there may not be something happening in your areas, but you can either go on internet, and spread information on internet, and so what we are looking for is people to do what they can, you may not be able to go out on streets, but you can do something on the internet.

TP: What is the current update on Assange?

BG: So Julianne Assange is still in the Ecuador embassy. He is still putting his application forward for asylum. He faces very serious threats to his life in the United States, there are numerous American politicians who are calling for his assassination, and execution, this process could take a long time and here is no rush and the Assange has got to put his case forward and Ecuadoran government has to decide whether it’s a case for asylum or not. In the meantime, we all will continue to come here and support Assange and Ecuadoran people.

Toonari post would like to thank Ben Griffin and Steve from Veterans for Peace for their cooperation.

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Rome, Italy - “It is cause for great satisfaction that the date for the election of the National Assembly of the new Libya has been set for 7 July,” said Minister Giulio Terzi, according to whom “despite the many difficulties that any transition carries with it, by holding free elections, Libya is about to take a fundamental step toward building a democratic State fully integrated into the International community.

Recalling the “primary importance in this phase of the role of the United Nations Support Mission”, Terzi underscored that “the new government named by the Assembly will have the task of relaying the foundations of a Libyan State apparatus, based first and foremost on respect for human rights and, at the same time, of offering new opportunities for economic and social advancement to all the components of the Libyan society.”

“Italy is watching with confidence,” Terzi concluded, “as Libya follows the path to adopting a new constitution and will continue to steadfastly support the construction of a new, prosperous, free and democratic Libya, in the conviction that that nation’s progress and the gradual reduction of distance from the European Union are elements essential to regional stability.”

Minister Terzi is the Foreign Minister of Italy and has been working closely with many leaders of the Arab nation, including those in Libya. He received the diplomats from Syria and members of the Arab League in May to discuss the revolutions of Arab Spring and the future of the Arab world.

Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata has been Italy’s Foreign Minister since November of 2011. Prior to his position as the Minister of Foreign Affairs he was the Permanent Representative of Italy at the United Nations in New York and was also the head of the Italy delegation in the Security Council of the United Nations.

Image Courtsey of the  Italian Embassy

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New York, U.S.A. – The Secretary-General issued his annual report on children and armed conflict to the Security Council which gives an overview of the situation of girls and boys in conflict zones and measures taken for their protection. The report includes a list of parties who recruit and use children, kill and maim, commit sexual violence or attack schools and hospitals; the so-called “list of shame.”

“2011 shows a mixed picture. While new crises erupted with a heavy toll on children such as in Syria, and also in Libya, violations against girls and boys have come to an end in other parts of the world,” the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy said.

Encouraging is the delisting of parties to conflict in Nepal and Sri Lanka after their successful completion of Security Council-mandated action plans to end the recruitment and use of children. In 2011, five more parties in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Chad and South Sudan entered into similar agreements with the United Nations.

In 2011, releases of children associated with armed forces and armed groups have taken place in Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, DRC, Myanmar, South Sudan and Sudan.

“The progress is continuous but the list of parties to conflict who harm girls and boys will always be too long,” SRSG Coomaraswamy said. Fifty-two parties including four new parties in Sudan, Yemen and Syria were listed.

For the first time ever, the Secretary-General listed parties responsible for attacks on schools and hospitals in addition to those who recruit, kill and maim, or commit sexual violence. The listing is the result of Security Council resolution 1998 adopted last year.

On the list are armed groups in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Iraq as well as the Syrian Government forces who regularly shell, burn, loot and raid schools, as well as assault or threat teachers, students, and medical personnel.

“In conflict, schools and hospitals must be zones of peace respected by all parties,” SRSG Coomaraswamy emphasized.

Of serious concern is also the growing list of persistent perpetrators of grave violations against children which has doubled since last year. Thirty-two parties to conflict have been listed by the Secretary-General for at least five years and are therefore considered persistent perpetrators.

“We must put more pressure on these parties through sanctions, other Security Council action, and closer collaboration with national and international courts,” SRSG Coomaraswamy said.

Action plans are another means to engage persistent perpetrators to end grave violations against children. Yet the dialogue with armed groups is often challenged by security constraints which hampers the United Nation’s independent access to these armed groups for dialogue.

Emerging situations

New crises have caused enormous suffering for children and continue in 2012. In Syria, children were victims of killing and maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, by the Syrian Armed Forces, the intelligence forces, and the Shabbiha militia.

Children between 8 and 13 were forcibly taken from their homes and used by soldiers as human shields, placing them in front of the windows of buses carrying military personnel into the raid on villages. Schools have been regularly raided, used as military bases and detention centres. In detention, girls and boys were beaten, blindfolded, subjected to stress positions and to electrical shocks, as well as whipped with heavy electrical cables.

“The world is keeping a detailed account of the violence committed against civilians in Syria and I am confident that these crimes will not go unpunished,” SRSG Coomaraswamy said.

Another worrisome trend is the increasing use of girls and boys as suicide bombers and “victim” bombers. “Victim” bombers are those who do not know that they are carrying explosives and are detonated from distance. In 2011 alone, at least 11 children in Afghanistan and another 11 girls and boys in Pakistan were killed while conducting suicide attacks, some as young as eight years old.

“The world should unite against this inhuman and perverse practice of child suicide bombers,” the Special Representative said.

Image Courtesy of   Herald Post

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Toronto, Canada – Adding a bold voice to recent debate over the role, cost, and reach of Canada’s military, a new book Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in an Age of Anxiety by Ian McKay and Jamie Swift, provides a critical perspective on both Canada’s growing effort to portray itself as a militaristic Warrior Nation and its exploitation of history in achieving this end.

Taking examples from the Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, and Canada’s UN peacekeeping missions in Africa, Ian McKay and Jamie Swift consider how Canada’s valorization of military history has thrown totemic Canadian ideals of peace, tolerance, and reasoned public debate into question. Replacing these ideals, the authors assert, is a shift in Canadian political culture toward authoritarian leadership and permanent political polarization.

“It’s all about how wars are remembered, not whether we remember them,” co-author Jamie Swift observed. “Warrior Nation describes the way that government attempts to manipulate and indeed mould public opinion to suit its own agenda.”

Historian and co-author Ian McKay added that “many regimes around the world have used the technique of mobilizing fear and drawing us back to cults of blood and death, but very few of those regimes were ever called democracies.”

In pages of exhaustive research, Warrior Nation sheds light on the key players and narratives essential to understanding both Canada’s past and its current direction. Swashbuckling marauder William Stairs, the Royal Military College graduate who helped make the Congo safe for European pillage.

Vimy Ridge veteran and Second World War general Tommy Burns, leader of the UN’s first big peacekeeping operation, a soldier who would come to call imperialism “the monster of the age.” Governor General John Buchan, a concentration camp developer and race theorist who is exalted in the Harper government’s new citizenship guide.

Ian McKay is a professor of history at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.  His previous books include Rebels, Reds, Radicals: Rethinking Canada’s Left History, For a Working-Class Culture in Canada, and the award-winning Reasoning Otherwise: Leftists and the People’s Enlightenment in Canada, 1890-1920.

Jamie Swift is a winner of the Michener Fellowship for Public Service Journalism. He has authored numerous books, from biography and history to corporate muckraking. His most recent title is Persistent Poverty: Voices from the Margins, co-authored with Brice Balmer and Mira Dineen.

Image Courtesy of   meunierd / Shutterstock.com

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The whole world was watching as North Korea launched their missile last Friday. Despite several warnings of the possible repercussions from the International Community, Pyongyang decided to go ahead with the launch.

After a minute of flight, the missile broke into pieces, making it yet another failure in North Korea’s long record of rocket launches. In the past, Pyongyang has been quick to release a joyous account of the test, testifying to its success. But this time at the reins of Kim Jong-un, North Korea has released a statement confirming the launch had been unsuccessful. The State claims the purpose was to drive a satellite into orbit, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s first national leader.

“The Earth observation satellite failed to enter its preset orbit. Scientists, technicians and experts are now looking into the cause of the failure,” state television said.

As the statement was released, tens of thousands of people celebrated the unveiling of two new statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jon-il in Central Pyongyang. North Korea has also announced that Kim Jong-un is a new member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, the nation’s top decision-making body.

The new title is a valid recognition of Kim Jon-un’s leadership. Kim Jon-un follows in the footsteps of his ancestors: Kim Il-sung is known as the “Eternal President of the Republic” and Kim Jon-il was given the title of “eternal general secretary” of the Worker’s Party.

Even though North Korea said that is was merely a satellite launch, most speculated that it was a missile test.

The UN Security Council condemned the launch for being a violation of two Security Council resolutions. Susan Rice, the United State’s UN ambassador, added: “Every time they go down a path such as this, their isolation intensifies, the needs of their people increase and they become more and more out of the bounds of the international community. That will be the case if they do so.”

North Korea’s neighbors, Japan and South Korea were quick to react to the launch and the White House released a statement regarding the situation.

“Despite the failure of its attempted missile launch, North Korea’s provocative action threatens regional security, violates international law and contravenes its own recent commitments.” Moreover, “North Korea is only further isolating itself by engaging in provocative acts, and is wasting its money on weapons and propaganda displays while the North Korean people go hungry.” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

All we can do is wait and hope that North Korea chooses its people’s welfare over weapons.

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At an international conference by the French Committee for a Democratic Iran (CFID) held in Paris on March 24, 2012 speakers from the United States and Europe stressed the need for a firm policy towards the Iranian regime.

Attracting thousands of Iranian dignitaries, the meeting also called for the protection of the rights of Ashraf and Liberty residents and the removal of the terrorism label on the main Iranian opposition movement, the People’s Mujahidin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) by the U.S. State Department.

Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian resistance, offered her condolences to the French people, the Jewish society and the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks in Toulouse. She blamed this tragedy on fundamentalism under the guise of Islam, whose roots are found in Tehran and Qom. “Warnings had been issued about this phenomenon as far back as 25 years ago and these crimes had nothing to do with Islam,” Rajavi stressed.

She said the only means of defeating the fundamentalism and terrorism that hides behind Islam is an alternative based on a democratic and tolerant Islam, and that the PMOI represents this democratic alternative which is the anti-thesis to extremism – an Islam with the message of mercy, freedom, equality, brotherhood, love and co-existence between all religions and all of humanity.

Rajavi declared that with global solidarity, it would be possible to make this the year that sees the defeat of the religious fascism ruling Iran. She added that the only solution to prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb or unprecedented conflict and crisis triggered by the mullahs is regime change by the Iranian people and the Iranian resistance.

“In order to escape their demise, the mullahs have reverted to war with the Iranian people, the people of the region and the international community. At the centre of these measures is their effort to annihilate the organized resistance which holds the key for change in Iran. Attacking Ashraf is done within this context,” Rajavi commented.

“The policy of the United States and the European Union, bowing to the demands of the regime over Ashraf and the continuation of unjustified designation of the Mujahidin (MEK) has worked in favour of the Tehran’s mullahs,” she emphasized.

Referring to the transfer of 1200 Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty, Rajavi said: “This transfer unfortunately has turned to a forcible displacement combined with a lot of harassments and pressures. Despite the repeated calls of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the residents do not have freedom of movement. They are also deprived of meeting their family members and lawyers. Most importantly, the unjustified presence of armed forces within the Camp’s private limits has created constant insecurity for the residents.”

She also warned that the presence of armed forces inside the camp strongly adds to the risk of a humanitarian catastrophe. In these circumstances, the UN is expected to return to its real responsibility of defending the victim and the oppressed, or at least to stay neutral between the Iraqi government and Ashraf residents.

In his remarks, Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York and US Presidential Candidate (2008): “Let me go there (Camp Liberty). Let me see it with my own eyes. In other words, let’s see if my country that I love, the United States of America, is living up to the promise that it made to the people of Ashraf to protect them and to treat them decently or it’s breaking that promise.

And if you don’t want to send me, you can send Judge Mukasey or Tom Ridge or Patrick Kennedy or four or five of us and then you can put us before Congress and put us under oath and I assure you, we’ll tell the truth about it and we’ll get this resolved. Are we being misled or is the State Department breaking its promise to the people of Ashraf? Let’s get an answer to it once and for all.”

The former Mayor of New York added: “And right now, the enemy of stopping a nuclear Iran is appeasement. That’s the false notion that made Iran more determined to become nuclear. Let’s stop the appeasement. Let’s stop trying to negotiate. Let’s stop writing letters to the ayatollah. And let’s stand up, united as Americans in saying we are for regime change in Iran and we will take any step necessary to stop Iran from becoming nuclear.”

Tom Ridge began by stating his readiness to join Mayor Giuliani on his trip to Camp Liberty. He went on: “We will continue to stand with the MEK, with the freedom-loving people of Ashraf and Liberty. I want to stand on the right side of history and I do not worry about anything else.”

Ridge described the scenes of attacks on Ashraf, and strongly criticized the US government for trampling on the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions. He said: “How can my country ignore those vicious attacks? One wonders when last time those responsible for Ashraf looked at those documents.”

He told the UN: “You have not done your job United Nations, and it is about time you did it.”

And he urged the US government: “If you want to send a message to Iran and Maliki about how serious we are, I’ll give you one simple idea: delist the MEK.” Michael Mukasey said: “This conference should be broadcast to the State Department. Then they would see that Rajavi opened this conference by extending her condolences to the Jewish community in Toulouse.”

The former U.S. Attorney General ridiculed the ‘unnamed sources’ at the State Department, saying: “Why anonymous? What are they afraid of? They fear, but we have no fear. We do not hide our names.”

And he told Iranians in audience: “Right prevails in my country and I hope it will not be long before right will prevail in your country.”
Patrick Kennedy strongly criticized the UN and said: “We want action, no more words.” He expressed solidarity with the residents of Camp Liberty, adding: “All of our thoughts are with people in Camp Liberty who are being treated as prisoners and not refugees.”

Philippe Douste-Blazy, Special Adviser and Deputy to the UN Secretary General and French Foreign Minister from 2005 to 2007, also voiced his support for the goals of the conference via a video message.

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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani called for the formation of a commission of inquiry, consisting of a group of prominent former US politicians and law enforcement officials, to visit Camp Liberty, Iraq, where some 400 Iranian dissidents are living, after they were relocated from Camp Ashraf, their home of 25 years.

“I would suggest that we ask …the House of Representatives to pass a resolution that would appoint a commission…that would immediately go to Iraq and examine Camp Liberty, and report back within…two or three days what they see,” Giuliani said. “Is Camp Liberty really a suitable place? Should it be a relocation center? Is it really a prison, or a concentration camp?”

“This is a scandal.  This is a fraud; a fraud not involving money, but a fraud involving threats to human life. What we need immediately is a commission of inquiry to determine how this fraud was perpetrated. Who certified, who approved that hell hole, that garbage dump?  Who said that it met United Nation’s standards?

Somebody is responsible for perpetrating that fraud and for getting 400 innocent people to risk their lives and their health to be exposed to that kind of trash and that kind of hazard to their health.  We have to get to the bottom of this,” Harvard Law Professor, Alan Dershowitz emphasized.

At issue is the fate of 400 Iranian dissidents, members of the main Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (“MEK”) who are currently housed at Camp Liberty. These individuals, like some 3,000 other Iranian dissidents, had been based at Camp Ashraf. Despite the United Nations certification that the infrastructure and facilities at Camp Liberty meets “international standards,” the camp lacks even the most basic conditions, providing only intermittent electricity and insufficient supplies of running water.

The Iraqi government does not allow international monitors or visitors to Camp Liberty. Concerns about those in Camp Liberty are heightened by the fact that Camp Ashraf has twice been attacked by Iraqi military forces, resulting in 47 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries, since the Iraqi government took control of the camp from the US military in 2009.

Giuliani told the conference, that the US should be prepared to accept the dissidents living at Camp Ashraf and at Camp Liberty. He joined other panelists, former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Transnational Threats on the National Intelligence Council, Glenn Carle, to call for the U.S. State Department to remove the MEK from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Other speakers at the conference included former Chicago Mayor, Richard Daley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Philip Lader and former Policy Advisor at the Treasury Department’s office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Avi Jorisch.

“In 2012, there is no reason, no justification, under any of the guidelines under the law that this group deserves to be treated as a terrorist organization,” Ridge said. “From October 8 ^th of 2001 until the day I walked out as Secretary of Homeland Security, I used to get a threat matrix every day.  I must tell you, I don’t recall ever seeing a reference to the MEK as an organization or a terrorist who allegedly belonged to MEK threatening the United States (or) its citizens. They do not belong on the list. They’re not a terrorist organization. Take them off the list.”

Governor Dean added, “The United States of America has the ultimate responsibility for the safety of the people in Ashraf, and each one of the people in Ashraf has that in writing, signed by the Senior Commander of the United States Armed Forces,” Dean said. “This is not simply a battle to save the lives of 3,400 unarmed civilians who find themselves stuck in an increasingly less democratic Iraq. This is a battle about what kind of country the United States is.”

Regarding the correct policy to counter the threats posed by the Iranian regime, Mr. Carle emphasized, “Tactically, the field intelligence work I did for over two decades argues in favor of de-listing the MEK from its now outdated and wrong designation as a terrorist organization.  Strategically, it argues working in favor with the MEK as a means of pressuring a regime which is a destabilizing influence in the entire region.”

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The humanitarian situation in South Kordofan that has garnered international concern, and which some have now exploited to push an agenda of intervention, prompted the formation of a joint assessment team composed of UN agencies (UNICEF, WFP, WHO, FAO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGOs. Their report just concluded that the humanitarian situation in the region is at “Normal levels” and that food security is “good” and stable for the conflict-affected population of 53,220.

The survey covered a sample of 53 villages in the region and found the levels of malnutrition among children under the age of five to be at 4.4 percent, a figure that is far below 15 percent which constitutes the United Nation’s rate of emergency. These sobering findings emphatically refute and contravene the claims of imminent catastrophe claimed by scaremongers.

These encouraging statistics are a function of the humanitarian interventions dispensed by the Government and partners aimed precisely at mitigating the impact of the conflict on the population. The assessment further notes the need for coordination between the humanitarian actors and recommends an extension of the period of food assistance in order to avoid shortages while concurrently generating programs for supplementary and therapeutic diet.

It also calls for creating quick impact projects in host communities to support farmers, pastoralists and traders. While the government and partners continue to provide assistance, there ultimately remains a security threat posed by the rebels who continue to launch attacks against civilians and deliberately destroy their livelihoods. Still, this stresses the need on all stakeholders and the peace-loving to pressure the rebels to abandon this destruction and pursue peace.

Sudan continues to call on South Sudan to recognize its negative role in this crisis and cease its support to the rebels. And in order for the U.S. and those pushing for an intervention to play a constructive role, they must look at the facts on the ground not the exaggerated allegations.

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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.

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The United Nations International PPP Center of Excellence in Ukraine will soon open in Ukraine to facilitate state-business cooperation, reports the State Agency for Investment and National Projects of Ukraine. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe will help create the center that will contribute to providing a better environment for investors in the country.

The Public Private Partnership Center (P3C) will be created as part of the investment reform currently underway in Ukraine. The government of the country seeks to improve the efficiency of its dialogue with the private sector with the help of the P3C. On July 1, 2010, Ukraine adopted the law on public-private partnership, which provides for the delegation of public-private cooperation managing duties to a special body within the structure of the state executive branch.

The objective of UN’s Center of Excellence is to assist governments in implementing best practice in public-private partnership policy, according to UNECE report by Tony Bonnici of February 8, 2011. The Center’s headquarters in Geneva coordinate activities of units in various countries.

A number of governments confirmed their intention to host components of the Center: Germany, Greece (department for cooperation in the field of seaports), India (roads), Malaysia (sustainability), The Philippines (health), Saudi Arabia (water and waste water), South Korea (power), and Turkey (airports).

The agreement to create the Center emerged when a Ukrainian official Ihor Zhovkva, the Director of Department for National Projects at State Agency for Investment and National Projects of Ukraine, visited PPP Days 2012, jointly hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the World Bank Institute, and the Asian Development Bank, on February 21-24, 2012, in Geneva.

Ukraine is currently working on its investment attractiveness with the World Investment Report 2011 (issued by the UN trade and development body) listing Ukraine’s FDI flow rate at 23 percent of gross fixed capital formation. Notably, the average rate of FDI flow for the CIS is 15,1 percent, while the global rate constitutes 9,1 percent.

In December 2011, the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine Jorge Zukoski named agriculture, fuel and energy complex, financial services, and production of consumer goods as the most appealing sectors of Ukrainian national economy for foreign investments in 2012.

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Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told the international agricultural community it had fallen short of delivering the help small farmers in developing countries need, when they need it. In a speech delivered at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Gates asked the UN bodies responsible for fighting hunger and poverty to unite around a common global target for sustainable productivity growth to guide and measure their efforts.

“If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture,” said Gates. “Investments in agriculture are the best weapons against hunger and poverty, and they have made life better for billions of people. The international agriculture community needs to be more innovative, coordinated, and focused to help poor farmers grow more. If we can do that, we can dramatically reduce suffering and build self-sufficiency.”

Gates told IFAD, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that the approach being used today to fight against poverty and hunger is outdated and inefficient. He urged these food agencies to commit to a concrete, measurable target for increasing agricultural productivity and to support a system of public score cards to maximize transparency for themselves, donors, and the countries they support.

“The goal is to move from examples of success to sustainable productivity increases to hundreds of millions of people moving out of poverty,” said Gates. “If we hope to meet that goal, it must be a goal we share. We must be coordinated in our pursuit of it. We must embrace more innovative ways of working toward it. And we must be willing to be measured on our results.”

The number of hungry people in the world has reached the 1 billion mark, and global food prices that were beginning to fall last July—signaling some relief—are starting to creep up again. According to estimates, small farmers in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa can double or almost triple their yields, respectively, in the next 20 years. This sustainable productivity increase will translate into 400 million people lifting themselves out of poverty.

“History has shown us what’s possible when people can grow enough food. If we want to transform the lives of people in Africa, we need to focus our efforts on raising agricultural productivity, creating markets and making agriculture a business not a development activity,” said Akin Adesina, Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Gates also announced nearly $200 million in grants, bringing to more than $2 billion the foundation’s commitment to smallholder farmers since the agriculture program began in 2006. The foundation takes a comprehensive approach to supporting small farmers so progress against hunger and poverty is sustainable for the economy and the environment.

The money will fund agricultural development projects that are already producing great results for farmers, with a goal to help millions of small farmers lift themselves out of poverty. This re-investment will be in projects that have already:

• Supported the release of 34 new varieties of drought-tolerant maize
• Delivered vaccines to tens of millions of livestock
• Trained more than 10,000 agro-dealers to equip and train farmers

New foundation grants will go to support:

• Breaking down gender barriers so women farmers can increase productivity
• Controlling contamination that affects 25 percent of world food crops
• Creating an innovative system to monitor the effects of agricultural productivity on the population and environment

“When Melinda and I started our foundation more than a decade ago, we initially focused on inequities in global health. But as we spent more time learning about the diseases of poverty, we realized that many of the poorest people in the world were small farmers.  The conclusion was obvious. They could lift their families up by growing more food,” explained Gates.

The Thirty-Fifth Session of IFAD’s Governing Council, entitled “Sustainable smallholder agriculture: Feeding the World, protecting the planet,” provided a forum for governments and the agricultural development community to discuss ways to grow 70 percent more food by 2050 to feed a growing, more urbanized population.

“IFAD works in remote areas where few development partners have ventured, helping poor farmers raise not only their yields but their incomes,” said IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze. “Development fails when imposed from above. IFAD’s ground-up approach helps farmers build strong organizations that give them more power in the marketplace and a greater voice in the decisions that affect their lives so that they can earn more, eat better, and educate their children.”

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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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In meeting with members of the UN Security Council, Haiti’s Minister of the Interior, Thierry Mayard-Paul, reiterated the top concerns of his office which are focused on implementing President Martelly’s vision for decentralization as a key to job creation throughout Haiti.

Outlining the steps the Martelly administration is taking to build a strong platform for constitutional rights and democratic governance in Haiti, the Minister stressed that his highest priority is to ensure the safe and stable climate required for foreign investments that will drive job creation.  “In order to carry out the vision of the President to create jobs through sustainable economic development and to empower local communities throughout Haiti via decentralization, we must consolidate democratic governance,” he said.

With safety and national security a top concern, the Minister pointed out that over the course of the last year, Haiti has meticulously studied the issue of the prolonged stay of MINUSTAH in the country.  Viewing the subject within the context of safety, election results, and other factors, he said the 2011 elections provided an exceedingly large mandate for the Martelly administration for the next five years, a reference to Martelly’s commanding 2 to 1 victory over his opponent.

“As a result, we are convinced that Haiti must assume the tasks of public safety and national security.  This is a long-term task that in our view begins and ends with civilian control over any security force to ensure ongoing disaster preparedness and to heighten the effectiveness of disaster mitigation efforts.”

To that end, President Martelly has established a Commission to study, in detail, the rehabilitation of Haiti’s armed forces in detail.  This Commission will provide recommendations once it has compiled its findings.

Mayard-Paul stated that the members of the Commission are not only conducting their own assessment regarding reinstatement of the armed forces, but are also consulting recognized international experts.  “We have also been speaking with heads of state and other elected officials and policy makers about this issue,” he said.

To that end, the Minister of the Interior has been visiting other Latin American and Caribbean countries to review Best Practices for Public and National Safety that have worked in the region.  “When the Commission presents its final report, we believe we will have a long-term roadmap that will enable us to achieve democratic sovereignty,” he remarked.

Other topics discussed with the visiting UN team included resolving border issues and accelerating the process of reconstruction.  The Minister expressed his appreciation for the UN peacekeeping force saying, “I’d like to thank the MINUSTAH, on behalf of the Haitian people and our government in particular, for their many years of collaboration with Haiti.”

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A distinguished international law jurist from Latin America has issued a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, asking for a review of Chevron’s “egregious misuse” of an investor treaty to evade its $18 billion liability in Ecuador for creating one of the world’s worst oil-related disasters in the Amazon rainforest, according to a letter released to thousands of arbitration specialists around the globe.

Jose Daniel Amado, a leading law scholar in Peru and a specialist in international arbitration, told the Secretary General that Chevron’s latest attempt to deny the legal claims of the rainforest communities to be decided by an arbitration panel that meets in secret “stands in direct violation of international law” and would “quash” the fundamental human rights of the 30,000 citizens who initially brought suit against Chevron in the United States in 1993.

Chevron shifted that lawsuit to Ecuador in 2002 after praising the country’s judicial system and promising to abide by any judgment there, subject only to narrow enforcement defenses that did not include international arbitration. ”Chevron has constructed what appears to be a calculated plan to manipulate a commercial investment dispute system to evade the outcome of a private litigation,” wrote Amado, who has served as a consultant to the Ecuadorian plaintiffs.

Amado asked the Secretary General to conduct a review of the matter “to ensure that the BIT arbitration system is not used by Chevron to undo international law protections guaranteeing access to justice.”

In January, after a nine-year legal proceeding, a three-judge panel of the Ecuador appellate court confirmed an $18 billion award against Chevron for the deliberate dumping of billions of gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways that local inhabitants relied on for drinking water.  The Ecuador trial court found evidence that Chevron’s contamination decimated indigenous groups and caused an outbreak of cancer and other oil-related diseases.

The trial in Ecuador produced 220,000 pages of evidence and more than 64,000 chemical sampling results from independent laboratories which proved that dozens of Chevron oil production facilities suffer from extensive levels of life-threatening heavy metals and toxins, according to the findings of the Ecuador court.

On January 4, the day after the Ecuador appellate court decision, Chevron petitioned a private arbitration panel convened under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty (“BIT”) to order Ecuador’s executive branch to interfere in its independent judiciary and block the ability of the Ecuadorian citizens to enforce their judgment in countries around the world.  Chevron had stripped its assets from Ecuador to avoid paying the judgment.

Lawyers for the Ecuadorians say the arbitration panel does not have such authority, and that in any event Ecuador’s government is obligated to ignore its orders given its own binding legal obligations under the Ecuador Constitution and various international treaties protecting the human rights of its citizens.

The arbitration panel prohibits the Ecuadorians from appearing before it and takes no steps to inform them (or the public) of the status of its proceedings or when or where it is meeting.  Nor does it release its decisions in a system that clearly lacks due process of law, said Aaron Page, who represents the Ecuadorians and who has represented governments in the arbitral proceedings.

Some commentators have like ecuadorians end the secret arbitration panel to a “kangaroo court” rife with conflicts of interest and imbued with a pro-business culture.

The arbitrators are private sector lawyers who generally rule in favor of investors and against sovereign governments — a fact which in recent years has led several countries to withdraw or threaten to withdraw in recent years from the arbitral system, said Page. ”Chevron’s radical request for relief in this case potentially undermines the credibility of the entire investor arbitral regime,” Page said.

In the letter to Ban Ki-moon, Amado noted that a recent “interim” order by the arbitration panel asking Ecuador’s government to freeze the environmental case “makes a travesty of the bilateral commercial treaty system” and represents an “illegal expansion of arbitral powers with wide-ranging implications for well-settled principles of international law, including fundamental human rights and state sovereignty.”

“Such a result is simply untenable under international law — BIT arbitral panels cannot be called on by investors to set aside countries’ constitutional systems and sovereignty, which are essential components of modern democracies,” he added.

Concern over Chevron’s latest stratagem, Amado pointed out, is shared by a U.S. federal appellate court which ruled last year that the longstanding legal claims of the Ecuadorians “cannot be settled” through the BIT arbitration given that they are not a party to those proceedings.

“The international legal community was shocked by this [interim] Order, which Chevron interpreted to force the Ecuadorian executive branch affirmatively to interfere in a judicial process and limit Ecuador’s sovereignty vis-a-vis a case that has been in the courts for 18 years,” he said.

The Amado letter was emailed to 7,000 arbitrators around the world by the Peruvian Arbitration Institute, which said it considered the letter to “of high interest” to the international arbitration community.

Amado is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the founding partner of Miranda & Amado, one of Peru’s leading law firms.  He has published numerous articles on international law topics, has lectured in various countries, and has represented both private investors and governments before BIT arbitration panels.

Amado is also a member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Peru and is President of the Energy Legal Committee of Peru’s National Mining, Oil and Energy Society.

The three arbitrators hearing the Chevron claims — all private lawyers who represent investors before other arbitration panels in the same treaty system — stand to personally reap millions of dollars in fees if they grant jurisdiction over the case, which in itself is a hotly contested issue given that Chevron left Ecuador five years before the U.S.-Ecuador BIT took effect in 1997, Page said.

R. Doak Bishop, an American from the firm King & Spalding who is Chevron’s lead lawyer in the Ecuador matter, has served as an arbitrator in numerous cases convened under the BIT process while he simultaneously represents private clients in the same system.  Ecuador’s American lawyers are only putting up a nominal defense, essentially leaving the Ecuador plaintiffs without representation before the panel, said Karen Hinton, the U.S. spokesperson for the plaintiffs.

In any event, it is clear that any “award” from the panel will lack legitimacy in countries that observe the rule of law and will not be an obstacle to enforcement of the Ecuador judgment, said Amado.

“This is a far-fetched strategy by Chevron that has little chance of working,” said Amado.  “But it is our duty as international lawyers to prevent it from causing collateral damage to the international legal order that protects the human rights of all peoples worldwide.”

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

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Ukraine assumes chairmanship at the Central European Initiative for the period of 2012. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, highlighted the importance of active participation of Ukraine in the work of this regional organization given the country’s strategic goal to integrate with the EU.

Ukraine replaces Serbia that presided over the CEI in 2011. In August of 2011, the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, assigned the Prime Minister to prepare for the CEI presidency. On November 11, 2011, the Secretary General of the CEI, Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter, visited Kyiv in preparations for the presidency of Ukraine.

The representatives of both parties agreed on the importance of deepening of cooperation between the macro regions within the CEI, including the following: the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Adriatic-Ionic, and the Danube.

Such cooperation would serve the goals of the international organization that aims to promote political, social-economic, scientific, and cultural cooperation, as well as strengthen safety and secure stability of the region. Moreover, during the meeting in Kyiv, the sides expressed full support to the core CEI missions to promote regional cooperation for European integration.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, noted that Ukraine considered the European Strategy for the Danube Region an important initiative that could enhance regional cooperation in the Danube area. He also emphasized that cooperation with the EU remained one of the main priorities of the Initiative.

On December 9, 2011, the CEI was granted the UN observer status.  The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mykola Azarov, claimed to be eager to explore the opportunities this new status gives the CEI and its member states. Prime Minister Azarov suggested holding a meeting of member states’ finance ministers at the beginning of 2012. The aim of the meeting would be to jointly elaborate on a way to overcome the financial crisis.

Formed in 1989, the CEI is a forum for regional cooperation in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe. Ukraine has been cooperating with the CEI since 1992. By 1994, Ukraine became an associate member and, already in 1996, acquired full membership in the organization. 2012 is the year when Ukraine assumes the chairmanship at the CEI for the first time.

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

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Poland has been America’s historically staunch ally and fellow fighter for freedom, but despite the close ties between the two countries, the Polish are often denied entry to visit relatives in America. Citizens of every member of the EU can travel freely to the USA without a Visa except Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland. And Poland has paid her dues.

After World War II, and despite being a devout ally, the West conceded to the Soviets, and Poland was incorporated into the eastern bloc to be under the Kremlin yoke for the next five decades. Upon the demise of the USSR, Poland immediately became an ardent American supporter, restoring strong diplomatic relations that continue unheeded to this day.

Polish patriots seeking liberation from occupying forces of the 18th century contributed greatly to the American Revolution. “Father of the American Cavalry,” Casimir Pulaski, was given a national holiday for his prowess and saving the life of George Washington. A good friend of Thomas Jefferson, expat Taddeusz Kosciusko engineered fortifications to defend against the British. He would later leave his will toward black emancipation and education. Countless towns, bridges, parks, monuments, mountains and even a submarine have been dedicated to such Polish-American heroes of valor.

Continuing to align themselves with the West, and in effort to prove themselves militarily with NATO, Poland has greatly contributed toward America’s War on Terrorism. Poland deployed the fourth-most troops in the second Iraqi war, and currently has over 2,500 soldiers engaged in Afghanistan.

Controversially, Poland has hosted black CIA interrogation/torture sites against suspected members of Al-Qaeda. A complaint was filed by The European Court of Human Rights for failing to investigate the CIA prison. A criminal case was launched in 2008 and is still ongoing for crimes against humanity. Additionally, NATO-Poland has harassed Russia by approving American SM-3 missile bases to be built near the border with Belarus.

Even as a member of the UN, NATO and Schengen committee, Polish people must enter a costly, time consuming application process to visit America. With a sizable Polish Diaspora, many family members are denied the right to visit relative émigrés.

Poland is the only European country that avoided recent economic depression, and even rated a positive GDP growth in 2010. The majority of Polish visitors are not looking to overstay their Visas during a boom time in their home country. An enormous Polish diaspora (Polonia) exists outside her European borders. America harbors an estimated ten million citizens of Polish descent. Chicago alone has over 180,000 Polish-speaking residents.

In April of 2011, the Polish American Congress raised the issue enough to garner attention from Senator Mark Kirk who sponsored bill S. 497 and Congressman Mike Quigly wrote up the corresponding H.R. 959 to modify existing immigration restriction rates to include Poland on the Visa Waiver Program. Currently, the visa refusal rate is the standard for a nation to qualify for the VWP.

The bill seeks to replace the standard, using overstay rates as the deciding factor. Quigly testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement Dec. 7. “This is an issue of fairness and equity for a longstanding friend and partner, Poland,” said Rep. Quigley. “Expansion of the Visa Waiver Program will improve our international diplomatic relationships, create jobs, stimulate the economy and strengthen national security. It’s time to expand outdated travel standards to include our proven allies.” VWP travelers spent more than 51 billion dollars in the U.S. That spending generated 512,000 jobs, 13 billion dollars in payroll and 7.8 billion dollars in taxes for the American economy.

Obama promised to sign both bills if they pass through their respective committees. “I am going to make this a priority,” Obama said, sitting alongside Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski. “I want to solve this issue before very long. My expectation is, is that this problem will be solved during my presidency. I am well aware that this is a source of irritation between two great friends and allies, and we should resolve it.”

The USA raised the standards of visitation in the post 9-11 world, and, with more than ten-percent of Poles being denied entry for suspicion they may overstay their Visa, they become disqualified from the VWP.

Grzegorz Kostrzewa-Zorbas, a former member of the Polish foreign affairs ministry, said, “Poland feels discriminated against,” Kostrzewa-Zorbas said, “differentiated from other allies of the United States around the world.”

“Will al-Qaeda penetrate America disguised as Polish peasants? Will the job market be flooded by unqualified, culturally alien workers from Poland? Of course not,” Kostrzewa-Zorbas said.

Contact members of your state’s Committee of the Judiciary to support the bill or become co-sponsor if they are not in the committee the bill was referred to, or sign the VISA Waiver Petition.

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Israel has been having its fair share of domestic and international problems recently. Tel-Aviv has become the latest staging ground for large-scale demonstrations which protesters rallying against economic stagnation and dwindling opportunities for Israelis.

The social protest movement boasted an estimated 500,000 people who marched down Rothschild Boulevard where a massive tent has been put up to initially demonstrate against rising housing prices. The protests have been fueled by dissatisfaction with the direction of the Israeli economy – a historically state-run enterprise that has been increasingly privatized in recent years.

The latest rally in Tel-Aviv on September fell short of its advertised goal of one million people. Protests in other cities added to the numbers with tens of thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets around the country, according to local reports.

Israeli Arabs, a large number of whom live below the poverty level, have joined the demonstrations, lending credence to the assertion that the whole of the Israeli population is represented and not just the elites or upper/middle classes. A row with Turkey has also threatened to boil over after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to apologize for last year’s military action aboard the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara.

A recently released UN report has established that Israeli commandos used unreasonable force during the raid of the ship. Netanyahu regretted the loss of life but refused to apologize, saying that Israel would unconditionally defend its soldiers “in every forum.” In response, Turkey expelled its Israeli ambassador, froze all military agreements and pacts with Israel and threatened legal action against the country.

Relations between Israel’s right-wing coalition lead by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a champion of the Palestinian cause, have never been robust but seems likely to become even icier in the future.

The Palestinian Authority is also gearing up for an imminent bid for final status – effectively statehood – as the United Nations Generally Assembly reconvenes. Although the Obama administration has promised to exercise the United State’s veto power if the measure were to come before the Security Council, the bid comes at a bad time for Israel internationally.

It threatens to highlight the state’s decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories, as well as alleged human rights violations there. These economic, social, and international travails are making the way forward seem even hazier for Israel.

In the past year, both the botched raid on the aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip and the government’s defiant refusal to halt further construction of settlements in occupied territory, have skewed the image of Israel to the world — especially in conjunction with a recent ceasefire-violating missile strike in Gaza. Israel seems to have alienated itself from its allies and the international community at large.

Mikhail Levit / Shutterstock.com

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The United States Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks reveals United Nations peacekeepers engaging in sexual misconduct with underage girls in Ivory Coast. Written in January 2010, the cable highlights the inappropriate actions of Beninese peacekeepers located in the poverty ridden western town of Toulepleu.

According to the cable, parents encouraged their daughters to sleep with the peacekeepers so they would provide for them. In 2009, Save The Children U.K., an aid organization, conducted a poll of 10 girls in Toulepleu.

“Eight of the 10 said they had ongoing sexual relationships with Beninese soldiers in exchange for food or lodging,” the diplomat wrote in the cable, citing information shared with the embassy by a protection officer. Hamadoun Toure, U.N. mission spokesman, said the UN is concerned about the allegations and are taking the matter seriously.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy. We are here to protect the population, not engage in such things,” Toure said. The mission released an official statement on Thursday night concerning the misconduct. It stated said that authorities have formed a campaign with the soldiers to deal with what appears to be an ongoing problem. He said UN officials have traveled to the west on a “fact-finding mission.”

After receiving the reports two weeks ago, the Ivory Coast mission informed UN Headquarters, the Ivorian government and the home countries of the accused soldiers, according to the statement. The UN declined to mention the soldiers’ countries, citing confidentiality. Toure said any guilty soldiers would face repatriation and punishment from the judicial system in their own countries.

Earlier last week, UN spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux confirmed that 16 Beninese peacekeepers, 10 of which were commanders, engaged in sexual misconduct. According to the Associated Press, Bonnardeaux said that authorities “failed to maintain an environment that prevents sexual exploitation and abuse.” 

Bonnardeaux added that 42 allegations of sexual abuse by UN staff in Ivory Coast have been reported since 2007. Sixteen of these cases involved minors. According to UN records, no new incidents have been reported this year. “If these allegations are founded, it would be the responsibility of the countries from which these peacekeepers come to take appropriate action against those involved,” the UN said in a statement.

Sexual misconduct by UN troops has been reported in a number of countries including Congo, Cambodia and Haiti. New abuse allegations against UN peacemakers in Haiti came to light on Friday. 

According to an Al Jazeera article written Saturday, peacekeepers in Haiti face allegations of sexual abuse. The UN is investigating accusations that Uruguayan soldiers serving with the world body’s peacekeeping force in Haiti sexually assaulted an 18-year old man. Footage of the incident was captured by a mobile phone and was circulated throughout the country.

“We’re aware of this alleged incident. As soon as it was brought to our attention we immediately launched an internal investigation,” said Eliana Nabaa, spokeswoman for the UN’s Haiti peacekeeping mission, said on Friday. Nabaa echoed a message very similar to Toure’s remarks on the abuse in the Ivory Coast. 

“We have a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and abuse and we take it extremely seriously. If the allegations are proved, the soldiers must be brought to justice,” Nabaa said. A Haitian magistrate told the Agence France-Presse on Friday that he had turned the case over to prosecutors after viewing the evidence.

The alleged victim and his parents gave depositions in a courthouse in Port Salut, the southern seaside town where the attack is said to have occurred. The Haitian magistrate added that he was also investigating allegations of sexual relations between Uruguayan peacekeepers and young Haitian females who had become pregnant.

Bonnardeaux said the troops involved in the alleged incident in Haiti have been confined to their barracks while the investigation is conducted.

homeros / Shutterstock.com

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Barack Obama has been challenged this week. John Boehner, leader of the House of Representatives, wrote to the dear leader claiming that under the 1973 War Powers Act, his decision to authorize US military action in Libya without consulting congress was illegal under US law. The White House swiftly replied, stating that military action in Libya was not sufficiently serious that it necessitated congressional approval.

There is much to say merely on this footnote of the story. We might well debate the separation of powers, or the rights of the commander-in-chief, deep into the night. However, there is a much more important point to make, and one that Boehner’s challenge conveniently prompts. The war in Libya is undoubtedly illegal, regardless of US law.

Let’s begin with a little recent history. On March 18^th 2011, President Obama delivered a speech announcing a NATO military operation in Libya, and the imposition of a no-fly zone. The media was almost unilaterally supportive, as it has remained ever since. Later that same day, Mark Mardell (BBC North America correspondent) sycophantically praised this new “Obama doctrine”, which entailed “acting within limits, leading only as a first among equals”.

“Barack Obama has been morbidly belligerent from the very first day he took power.”

To argue that Mardell’s assessment proved to be mistaken would be to miss the point, because even the limited measures announced on March 18^th were transparently illegal (UN Security Council resolution 1973 authorized an internationally organized no-fly zone, not a NATO imposed one), and there was absolutely nothing ‘new’ about this facet of Obama foreign policy. Barack Obama has been morbidly belligerent from the very first day he took power. Within 12 hours of stepping into the elliptic office, he opted to order unmanned drone strikes in Pakistan – a precedent he has continued. George Bush authorized drone attacks in Pakistan a total of 45 times in his whole second term; just within Obama’s first year, he sent 53. The drone attacks themselves constitute a serious war crime, having killed at least 1,500 civilians and a mere handful of supposed ‘militants’. Obama has been carrying out an illegal bombing campaign in Yemen for the past two years, and still maintains the war in Afghanistan.

The White House response to Boehner openly claimed that the Libyan operation was not a war, but a mission to remove Muammar Gaddafi from power. Sickeningly, this script has become familiar to the point of tediousness. The US, UK or NATO announce ‘an intervention’, or a ‘humanitarian campaign’. The campaign, it is said, will be completely different from all previous wars. Strikes will be ‘targeted’, ‘collateral damage’ will be negligible, and of course just as the British government said in 1914, it will be so swift that it’ll all be over in a couple of months. Then the mission changes. A campaign that was authorized by UNSC resolution 1973 only to protect civilians in Benghazi by stopping Gaddafi’s airforce becomes a NATO “mission to remove Muammar Gaddafi from power”. According to any interpretation of Just War theory, this alone flagrantly disregards international law. Furthermore, the repeated air strikes on Gaddafi’s compound (and home) have made it absolutely clear that NATO are attempting to kill him. Whatever one thinks of the ‘intervention’ in Libya, we must accept that it is yet another illegal war.

Where does it go from here? On June 15^th UK armed forces chief General Sir David Richards spoke to relieve fears that Britain would be unable to maintain its part in the war: “We can sustain this operation as long as we choose to” he confirmed, “I am absolutely clear on that”. His statement will no doubt come as a salve to British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who has stated that the UK is in Libya “for the long haul”.

This is revealing in itself. Regardless of what happens, or of what the current Libyan leadership does, NATO has confirmed that it will be there “for the long haul”. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi announced on the 16^th of June that his father Muammar was willing to hold elections in Libya (monitored by the international community). NATO, I’m sure, will ignore this statement. The goal was never the promotion of democracy in Libya, or the protection of civilians, nor was it – I suspect – even “regime change”. The goal is simply ‘to be’ in Libya. Another oil rich Arab nation; another illegal war.

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While uprisings continue in the Middle East against dictator governments there is another form of civil violence taking place in the African nation of the Ivory Coast.

The current president Laurent Gbagbo is widely reported by international agencies including the UN as having lost the most recent election campaign to opposition leader Alassane Ouattara. Despite this Gbagbo declared himself the winner of the last election and since then the Ivory Coast has been rocked by civil violence and unrest as pro-Gbagbo military and pro-Ouattara rebel forces battle each other across the nation.

The UN and French military forces have become increasingly involved in the campaign, firing missiles on Gbabo’s presidential palace and a nearby military camp. The UN claims the attack came as a result of the military using heavy weaponry against civilians.

The country’s state television station in Abidjan has been the site of conquests and losses for both sides, but appears to now be in the hands of Gbagbo supporters as it is now releasing stories condemning the UN and the French and calling on supporters to continue their loyal fight.

The city of Abidjan is in almost total lock-down with residents hiding in their houses to escape the increasing violence.

Australia’s Save the Children Foundation has said it fears that up to 500,000 children have been forced to flee heavy fighting across the Ivory Coast.

Save the Children’s Director of Emergencies, Mike Penrose said, “Children are being exposed to violence – they have been hearing gunshots for days, explosions as well.  It’s an extremely stressful and frightening situation for them.

There isn’t enough food, there isn’t any water.  Families have been extremely weakened for lack of food to eat.  People cannot wash themselves.”

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