Politics: Canada: 3 empty seats in Ontario Legislature up for special election, what if the Libs lose them all?

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Ontario political observer, Toronto Star's Rob Ferguson details the prospects and issues in "3 GTA by-elections on Feb. 8" (Jan 11,2k7).

NDP vows to turn votes into referendum on MPPs' pay raise

New Democrats are hoping to turn three GTA by-elections Feb. 8 into a referendum on the controversial 25-per-cent pay hike for MPPs that Premier Dalton McGuinty pushed through the Legislature just before Christmas.

McGuinty set the date for votes in Burlington, Markham and York South-Weston hours before heading off on a two-week trade mission to India and Pakistan yesterday.

New Democrat Peter Kormos (Niagara Centre) said many people remain angry about the pay raise, which was supported by the Conservatives and which boosts the base salary for MPPs to almost $111,000 annually. He contrasted it to the government's 25-cent increase in the minimum wage, to $8 hourly, starting Feb. 1.

"I think it's going to be a significant factor," Kormos said at Queen's Park.

All three parties have been lining up candidates in anticipation of the by-elections that Kormos said will be a "test run" for the Oct. 4 provincial vote.

"This is an opportunity for people in these communities ... to tell the Liberals that what they did was unfair, unreasonable and certainly inappropriate in a context when low-income families are struggling harder than ever," Kormos added.

The ridings have been vacant since last fall but McGuinty was reluctant to call the votes to avoid conflicting with November's municipal elections and the holiday season.

While the Liberals are touting a record of education improvements, including higher test scores and smaller class sizes, as well as an improvement in medical waiting times, a senior party insider acknowledged the pay raise could make things tougher on the campaign trail.

"That will be part of the challenge," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "By-elections are always a challenge for governments."

Ontario > Greater Toronto Area

The Liberals were stung in their last by-election race, losing former education minister Gerard Kennedy's riding of Parkdale-High Park to New Democrat Cheri DiNovo, who has introduced a private member's bill to push the minimum wage to $10 an hour.

The Liberals have held two of the ridings, with York South-Weston long considered a stronghold. It was represented until last September by former economic development minister Joe Cordiano, who left politics to spend more time with his family. Markham was held by Liberal Tony Wong, who left for a seat on Markham council.

The Conservatives would like to win back Markham, held until 2003 by former cabinet minister David Tsubouchi.

"We've got some ground to make up," said Conservative Leader John Tory, who also wants to keep the riding of Burlington in the party fold. Former cabinet minister Cam Jackson, elected Burlington's mayor two months ago, won it by fewer than 2,000 votes in 2003.

Tory, who campaigned with two of his candidates yesterday, said voters have not been raising the pay-hike issue.

"They're talking about broken Liberal promises, taxes, crime and gridlock."

In York South-Weston OMNI television news anchor Laura Albanese is running for the Liberals. She was handed the nomination after the riding association ruled against letting another candidate to run against her. Real estate lawyer Pina Martino is running for the Tories.

In Markham, business Alex Yuan is running for the Conservatives and businessman Michael Chan for the Liberals.

In Burlington, former Halton Region chair Joyce Savoline is running for the Conservatives, and veteran city councillor Joan Lougheed for the Liberals.

The NDP has not yet picked candidates for the ridings but will hold nomination meetings tomorrow in Burlington and Saturday in York South-Weston.

Current standings in the Legislature are 68 Liberals, 23 Conservatives and 9 New Democrats, with three [GTA] seats vacant.

I think John Tory's provincial Conservatives promise to be a vast improvement over both the oversize-majority of the provincial Libs, and the conceptual smog of the NDP, to say nothing of its devotion to spending without means.--Politicarp

More Info:

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

Ontario New Democratic Party

Ontario Liberal Party

Canada: Communications: Conservative government wants to revamp state and free-enterprise communications across the continent

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Toronto's Globe & Mail carries an important article by Simon Tuck, entitled "Conservatives set to mould altered CRTC (Jan14,2k7). That's the Canadian Radio Tevelvision Commission which, among other things regulates the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), an English language service, and the French language service Radio Canada. These are the principle means of ideological transmission of the left-Liberal/NDP
worldview in which opinon-making marinates itself in statist Canada. These are also the chief enemies of free-enterprise broadcasting, which has besetting problems of its own in Canada. But the needed inner reformation of f-e broadcasters does not offset the even more drastic necessity of reforminfg the CRTC, CBC, RC, and certain practices of pay-for cable TV carriers like Rogers (which owns the cable TV district I live in, thankyou, CRTC).

The Harper government will attempt to fill as many as seven seats on the 13-member Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission — including the chair — in the next year, and industry officials say the Conservatives are likely to reshape the regulator with appointees who take a more market-oriented view.

Some government and industry officials are suggesting that the Conservatives will also use the openings to add different types of people to the commission — perhaps a consumer advocate or small-business owner — instead of filling it with more veterans of the telecommunications and broadcast sectors.

Some Conservatives, including Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, believe the commission is too close to the two sectors it regulates, and that previous commissioners have been appointed largely because of their experience in at least one of those industries.

“Harper won't call central casting for this,” said one industry official who follows the CRTC closely.

Seats on the commission are considered plum posts because they can pay more than $135,000 a year for up to five years and don't attract great scrutiny.

In filling the vacancies, the government will consider traits such as gender, race, ethnicity, language and region, similar to constructing a mini-cabinet. In the past, six of the seats have been reserved for each of the country's main regions, with about half of the commission coming from each of the two sectors.

But that could all change.

The chair's job came open at the start of the year and the Prime Minister's Office has already rejected the two leading candidates — Fernand Bélisle, a former CRTC vice-chairman of broadcasting, and George Addy, a former Telus Corp. executive who was once head of the federal competition watchdog — because, it is widely believed, each was considered too much of an insider who would be unlikely to lead an overhaul.

Sources say the government is also looking for outsider candidates to fill the two existing commissioner vacancies, but a government official said finding non-insiders who have adequate expertise isn't easy.

North America > Canada

The Conservatives would also like to use the CRTC appointments to change the commission's view of its role, particularly toward the broadcast sector. Mr. Bernier was able to force the commission last year to take a more market-oriented approach toward the telecom sector, but changing the regulator's role in thorny broadcast issues such as Canadian content would be much more politically dangerous. With a minority government, overhauling broadcast legislation is considered highly unlikely.

Many in the broadcast and telecom industries, meanwhile, are concerned that the government will weaken the CRTC by appointing people who simply lack the background to do a good job.

“It's supposed to be a body with specialized expertise,” a broadcast executive said.

Established in 1968 to regulate broadcasters, the CRTC is widely credited with helping foster the domestic television and radio industries, as well as the artists and others who create content.

David McKendry, a consultant who once sat on the CRTC, said the commissioners' role shouldn't be taken lightly. “I think it's very important — we're talking about Canadian culture.”

With seven of the commission's 13 seats either already vacant or scheduled to become so by the middle of November, the expected change in direction comes at an important time. The commission is poised to weigh such tough issues as foreign ownership of a major broadcaster. Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. agreed last week to be sold to CanWest Global Communications Corp. and U.S.-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for a proposed $2.3-billion.

The CRTC is also trying to rebound from one of its most difficult periods and prove that it's still relevant in the digital age. Key industry voices and many analysts have said in recent months that the commission is having difficulty adapting to a world where technology has left national borders more porous. The commission has also had to contend with the introduction of Internet-based telephones, satellite radio, and the emergence of foreign-based broadcasters such as Rai and Al-Jazeera.

A spokesman for Heritage Minister Bev Oda wouldn't comment Friday on the CRTC vacancies.

I've been waiting for Bev Oda to make her move, waiting ever since she was appointed to the Ministery, a ministry whose very name exposes just how much CBC/RC is a statist enterprise. But even more, it's obvious that placing the entirety of the programs and fields under CRTC admin, the entire mixed-bag dumped idiotically into the single category of "Heritage" -- obviously all that is ideologically motivated.

What the very name tells us , first of all, is that there is in Canada actually no general Communications Ministry, a telltale fact that illuminates both the technically retrograde mindsets of the CRTC political appointees -- these all being drawn from the ranks former CBC/RC employees and their supporting bureaucracy -- and a blockage point thru-out the previous federal governments in regard to the development of a ministry effectively grappling with the implications of the rapid advance in all sorts of means of communications via the airwaves and satellites, mobile phones and traditional phones. Traditional phones?--don't get me started. I live in the miserable demi-world where your own name can be put on a commercial list for annoyance calls to y0u, against your will, courtesy of Bell Canada and a business practice approved by the CRTC--unless you double-pay your own way out!

The CRTC package is the dirty little secret behind the "Heritage" concept as the left-Libs handed it down in their dynastic self-replacements (replacements arranged not least of all by scams and scandals). But a misnomered "Heritage Ministry" is what we've got. If we are to retain a statist broadcast system, then, at least let it be devoted to the many heritages of Canada, a history and ethnomosaic broadcasting system perhaps still maintained at federal state expense.

But many other initiatives toward a genuine pluralism of the governing and the regulation of communications according to the principle of public-legal justce for all (worldviews) is an urgent requirement of our day in Canada.

--Politicarp

More Info:

CRTC
Wikipedia article on CRTC

Daily Darfur: If we can trust Sudan's govt, which has broken all its promises in the past, then here's a good thing!

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eNewsChannels carries a report by Christopher Simmons
"Cease-Fire Agreement Offers a Moment of Opportunity for Political Settlement in Worsening Darfur Crisis (Jan13,2k7)

On Save Darfur Coalition trip, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson Gets Commitment for Cease-Fire and Improved Humanitarian Aid and Media Access to Darfur

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Save Darfur Coalition (www.SaveDarfur.org) welcomes the agreement reached today (Jan. 10) by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir that his government and rebel groups will cease hostilities for a period of 60 days while they work towards a lasting peace.

The cease-fire was one of several issues agreed to in talks between Governor Richardson and President al-Bashir in Khartoum on Wednesday. Governor Richardson traveled to Sudan at the invitation of the Save Darfur Coalition, and was accompanied by Save Darfur Senior International Coordinator Ambassador (ret.) Lawrence Rossin, Refugees International Executive Director Kenneth Bacon, and Public and International Law and Policy Group senior attorney Amjad Atallah.

Save Darfur “There was positive movement on a number of issues, most notably the agreement to a cease-fire between the government and rebel groups that will immediately save lives. The agreement also creates an improved environment for a political settlement, based on the Darfur Peace Agreement, to move forward. There has been a deteriorating situation on the ground in recent weeks, clearly demonstrating an urgent need for increased international diplomacy and action,” said Ambassador Rossin.

The Save Darfur Coalition said the cease-fire agreement, which also included a number of concessions to improve humanitarian aid and media access to Darfur, must be accompanied by a new round of diplomacy involving Sudan, rebel leaders, the African Union, United Nations and other countries. “We must work to ensure that President al-Bashir and rebel leaders keep the commitments they have agreed to, and that the international community does not miss this important opportunity to press for a permanent, peaceful solution to the tragedy in Darfur,” said David Rubenstein, Executive Director, Save Darfur Coalition.

The Save Darfur Coalition will continue to press Khartoum as well, in part through active engagement in the agreed-upon “ongoing dialogue” with the Sudanese Government aimed at ending the violence in Darfur and achieving a political solution to the crises.

The two parties issued the following statement
at the conclusion of their talks:

Joint Press Statement on the conclusion of the visit
by Governor Bill Richardson to the Sudan
7th - 10th January 2006

H.E Bill Richardson Governor of New Mexico accompanied by a delegation sponsored by and including members of the Save Darfur Coalition, the leading United States-based Darfur peace advocacy organization, conducted a visit to Sudan to discuss ways to secure peace in the Darfur region of Sudan and the protection of all civilians and other non-combatants. The Governor and the delegation visited EI Fasher and Nayala in Darfur, for meetings with internally displaced persons in Darfur, rebel groups that are signatories to the (DPA) as well as those which are not as of yet, international agencies, the United Nations, and humanitarian aid as well as the Wali of North Darfur and the Deputy Wali of Southern Darfur States and held meetings in Khartoum with H.E President Omer Hassan Al Bashir,Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mr. Ali Ahmed Karti and a number of high ranking Sudanese officials.

Both sides agreed that ending the conflict in Darfur is Sudan’s and the international communities highest priority. Peace, they agreed, can only come through a political settlement that is joined in by and addresses the needs of all parties, on the basis of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) of 5 May 2006 reiterating their support for preserving Sudan’s territorial integrity and the importance of respect for Sudan’s sovereignty.

Both sides agreed that there was a compelling need for a comprehensive cease-fire to launch a political process based on the DPA that would lead to a durable end to the conflict as soon as possible. Both agreed to a 60-day cessation of hostilities by all parties within the framework of the DPA, accompanied by a start in African Union/United Nations diplomatic efforts, within the framework of the DPA, to begin narrowing the gaps between the non-signatories, including government approval of a field commanders’ conference attended by the African Union and United Nations. This would be followed at the appropriate moment by an African Union/United Nations - sponsored peace summit, again in the framework of the DPA, no later than 15 March 2007. Simultaneously, both agreed that the UN needed to expedite as quickly as possible the provision of UN personnel agreed in Addis Ababa and further specified in Abuja in November 2006. President Bashir re-affirmed his commitment to continue to facilitate the deployment of UN personnel and equipment consistent with his agreement with the Secretary General of the UN on Phases II and III, including the eventual conclusions of the Tripartite Committee as stipulated in the DPA.

The two sides noted that Governor Richardson had secured a commitment from commanders of the Justice and Equality Movement and of the Non-Signatory Front to participate in a process including a 60-day cease fire agreement within the framework of the DPA. Governor Richardson and Save Darfur Coalition expressed their grave concern to all parties with whom they met about continuing and increasing attacks on civilians and other non-combatants.

They reiterated that gender-based violence and such crimes must be condemned and prosecuted regardless of which party or organization was responsible, noting that Governor Richardson and the Save Darfur Coalition emphasized the need in all their meetings for implementing mechanisms to ensure that “zero tolerance” policies towards gender-based violence be applied in practice, quickly and robustly. Governor Richardson noted with appreciation President Bashir’s commitment to welcome a significant contribution of female members to the AU/UN hybrid operations. Both sides expressed their grave concern at allegations of gender -based violence by United Nations personnel in South Sudan.

Governor Richardson and the delegation also met with the Under-Secretary of Justice, the Rapporteur of the Advisory Council for Human Rights and Dr. Attigatt who presented a briefing on Sudanese Government efforts to institutionalize protections for women. The Governor and the delegation accepted the offer to work with the Ministry to analyze and extend existing efforts to support Sudanese women against all gender-based violence.

President Bashir and Governor Richardson also agreed that more light needs to be shed on the full situation in Darfur. President Bashir agreed to allow and facilitate travel by journalists from all over the world to Darfur.

The two sides underscored the need to disarm all armed groups, including the Janjaweed, pursuant to the provision of the DPA, and further agreed not to have the National military aircraft painted in white markings normally reserved for international organizations.

President Bashir agreed that government forces would attempt to improve security conditions in all areas of Darfur with special emphasis on El Geneina, and would provide protection to food and other humanitarian convoys. They also agreed that humanitarian aid agencies have greatly assisted the Government and people of Sudan by providing much needed emergency and development aid in Darfur and other parts of Sudan. President Bashir agreed to expedite procedures for entry visas for all humanitarian aid workers as well as goods. He also agreed to terminate the requirement of exit visas for humanitarian aid workers. President Bashir noted with satisfaction the strong statements by the Save Darfur Coalition to rebel commanders condemning attacks by their members on humanitarian aid operations and agreed to initiate an ongoing dialogue with the Save Darfur Coalition aimed at ending the violence in Darfur and on achieving a political solution to the crises.

The two sides agreed to apprise African Union Special Envoy Salim Ahmed Salim and United Nations Special Envoy Jan Eliasson of these developments, so that the African Union and United Nations will facilitate the commanders meeting and launch the political discussion and to maintain regular communication assessing progress on these important initiatives to identify areas of difficulty on which further engagement may be necessary to ensure rapid progress and durable outcomes.

Both sides agreed that an improvement of relations is in the mutual interest of both countries.

###

About Ambassador (ret.) Lawrence Rossin — Amb. (ret.) Lawrence Rossin, Senior International Coordinator at the Save Darfur Coalition, is responsible for designing and leading implementation of the Coalition’s outreach to foreign governments and non-governmental organizations to advocate on behalf of the people of Darfur. Rossin joined the Coalition after serving as Assistant Secretary General and Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, and as part of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo. He has also served in a number of diplomatic positions in the U.S. Department of State.

About Kenneth Bacon — Kenneth Bacon has served as the president of Refugees International since 2001. An expert in international affairs and security issues, Mr. Bacon has concentrated on expanding Refugees International’s capacity to promote more effective ways for the international community to meet the needs of refugees and displaced people. From 1994-2001, he was Assistant Secretary, Public Affairs, at the U.S. Department of Defense and served as Pentagon spokesman. From 1969 — 1994, he was a reporter, editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal based in Washington, DC. Bacon is also the co-chairman of the Partnership for Effective Peacekeeping.

About Amjad Atallah — Amjad Atallah is founder and President of Strategic Assessments, a not-for-profit organization committed to providing legal and policy assistance to parties involved in negotiations in conflict and post-conflict situations, as well as a Senior Attorney with the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG). Prior to founding Strategic Assessments, Mr. Atallah advised the Palestinian negotiating team, and later Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas’ office, in peace negotiations with Israel on the issues of international borders, security, and constitutional issues. He was also responsible for liaising with US government officials in Washington, D.C. on these issues. Mr. Atallah is also co-founder and a member of the Board of Directors of Women for Women International (www.womenforwomen.org).

About David Rubenstein — David Rubenstein, Executive Director of the Save Darfur Coalition, helped organize the Coalition in 2004 and has worked since then to raise awareness about the crisis and to advocate for the protection for the people of Darfur. Rubenstein has met with world leaders, noted global advocates, refugees, and hundreds of allied organizations to discuss the crisis and how to spur the world community to action. He recently returned with from refugee camps in the eastern regions of Chad directly affected by the crisis in Darfur.

About the Save Darfur Coalition — The Save Darfur Coalition raises public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and mobilizes a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of people throughout the Darfur region. It is an alliance of more than 175 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. The Coalition’s member organizations represent 130 million people of all ages, races, religions and political affiliations united together to help the people of Darfur. For more information on the Coalition, please visit www.SaveDarfur.org.

Technorati Tags: Save Darfur Coalition, David Rubenstein, Amjad Atallah, Darfur cease fire


Christopher Laird Simmons has been a creative artist, marketing specialist, working journalist and PR pro for more than 20 years (he started as a teenager). He founded Neotrope (formerly Mindset) in 1983, and has written widely for numerous national magazines, and is frequently interviewed by same. He is a member of the PRSA and ASCAP and resides in Torrance, California.

War: Somalia: Restored govt declares State of Emergency for 3 months, AlQaeda rebels regrouping for guerrilla war

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Reuters reporter Hassan Yare" in a dispatch today, "Somali parliament declares state of emergency" (Jan13,2k7) describes the complex situation faced by government there in the wake of the invasion by its Ethiopian ally, an invasion that displaced the rule of the AlQaeda-backed Union of Islamc Courts. Toward the end of that move, the USA also entered the scene in an airstrike against the AlQaeda leadership covertly behind the UIC.

Somalia's parliament declared on Saturday a three-month state of emergency amid fears of a return to clan violence after weeks of war ousted Islamists.

The terminology used here is correct but does not mention that this particular variety of Islamism (or, Islamicism) is Islamofascist in the sense that it is covertly directed or influenced by Al Qaeda (yes, the same folks directing the Taliban in Afghanistan and a major stream in the Iraqi civil war. A caution: not all Islamist parties and governments are fascist, a democratic Islamic party governs Turkey, for instance.

However, in the case of Iraq's Al Qaeda, such Sunni deviants have carried forward a program of murder against Shi'ites that eventually provoked the Shia militias there, and triggered the present civil war.

Update:

U.S. raid may have hit top Somali militant: Pentagon (Jan17,2k7)

In Somolia, however, where the population is 95% Muslim, and Sunni, the AlQaedist stream of Sunnis will now be attacking other Sunnis.

Members of parliament in the government's interim seat of Baidoa -- its home until Ethiopian and Somali troops defeated Islamists who controlled much of the south, voted 154 to two to ratify Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's plan to restore order.

The government, which is seeking to install itself in the capital Mogadishu, faces a huge challenge to bring peace and security to the Horn of Africa nation, which has been without effective central rule since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.

The present government is of more recent vintage, according to the US State Departments webpage on Somalia: "Somalia has had no functioning national government since the collapse of the regime of Maj. Gen. Mohamed Siad Barre in January 1991. The present political situation in much of Somalia is marked by inter-clan fighting and the lack of security, with some areas of relative peace and stability. On October 10, 2004, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected Transitional Federal President of Somalia for a five-year period. A Prime Minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi was approved by the Transitional Federal Assembly on December 24, 2004. A cabinet, known as the Council of Ministers, also exists. [The legislative structure is] parliamentary (Transitional Federal Assembly, established in August 2004. Shariff Hassan Sheikh Adan was elected Speaker of the Assembly in September 2004.)

A three-month state of emergency has been passed [into law]. If the need arises for the government to extend the period then the president will have to ask parliament for approval," second deputy speaker Osman Elmi Boqore told parliament.

The law prohibits demonstrations and bans possession of weapons. "The president has powers to announce a decree on how the state of emergency can be implemented," a parliamentary statement said.

Africa > Somalia

President Abdullahi Yusuf called on clan elders and warlords to hand over militia for a new national army. The warlords had already agreed to merge their forces into such a force.

"You have to hand them over to the government and we will train them as government security officers, such as police and military," he said. "As we can see the guerrilla war that the Islamists talked about is starting."

An earlier report by Mohamed Olad Hassan of Associated Press via San Diago's Union-Tribune, "Somali warlords agree to disarm as government troops capture last Islamic[ist holdout in the south"
(Jan12,27)

MOGADISHU, Somalia – As Somalia's warlords were signing a deal to lay down their weapons, six militiamen were gunned down just yards away in a dispute over a parking spot.

Their bodies were propped up against a bullet-scarred wall opposite the presidential palace on Friday – a stark reminder of the challenges facing the government as it tries to restore order and establish real authority in this fractious, heavily armed country.

The government was only able to enter Mogadishu two weeks ago after Ethiopian troops routed an Islamic movement that had controlled most of southern Somalia for the past six months. Now it must deal with clan divisions that have spoiled the last 13 attempts to form an effective government since the last one collapsed in 1991.

There are believed to be around 20,000 militiamen in Somalia and the country is awash with guns. Other obstacles include remnants of the Islamic movement – some are believed to be hiding in Mogadishu – and resentment among some Somalis of Ethiopia's intervention in the war.

I take exception to AP's terminology here. There are many "Islamic movements," many of which are not Islamist, or "Islamicist. There are many Islamic movements in Somalia, only those that try to impose an AlQaeda/Taliban kind authoritarian political Wahabbist Sunni regime, opposed to democracy (which of course, would have its own general Islamic characteristics due to the demographics of the country) should be indicated.

Hours after the signing, Defense Minister Col. Barre “Hirale” Aden Shire said Ethiopian-backed government forces had captured the last remaining stronghold of the Islamic movement after five days of fighting in the southern town of Ras Kamboni. He said Ethiopian and Somali forces chased fleeing Islamic fighters into nearby forests and the fighting would continue.

Ras Kamboni is in a rugged coastal area a few miles from the Kenyan border. It is not far from the site of a U.S. airstrike Monday targeting suspected al-Qaeda militants – the first U.S. offensive in Somalia since 18 American soldiers were killed here in 1993.

This tragic event was immortalized in the famous movie Black Hawk Down.

The agreement reached Friday between President Abdullahi Yusuf and the clan warlords aimed to establish enough security in the capital so that international peacekeepers can deploy and protect the government until it can establish an effective police force and army.

“The warlords and the government have agreed to collaborate for the restoration of peace in Somalia,” said government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari. “The agreement means they have to disarm their militia and their men have to join the national army.”

One of Somalia's most powerful warlords, Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, told Associated Press after the meeting that the clans were “fed up” with guns and ready to cooperate.

But another warlord issued a warning to the government.

“If the government is ready to reconcile its people and chooses the right leadership, I hope there is no need to revolt against it,” said Muse Sudi Yalahow, whose fighters control northern Mogadishu. “If they fail and lose the confidence of the people, I think they would be called new warlords.”

Friday's fighting in the capital began when clan gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade and briefly exchanged gunfire with government troops. The battle, which one militiaman said was sparked by a dispute over where to park an armored car, left at least six dead and 10 wounded.

Since Tuesday, there have been several attacks against government forces and their Ethiopian allies, and five people have been killed, witnesses said. In addition, assailants threw a grenade into a Mogadishu hotel late Thursday, killing a government soldier, said lawmaker Jini Boqor. The hotel is used by Somalia's police chief.

The United States, United Nations and the African Union all want to deploy peacekeepers to stop Somalia from returning to clan-based violence and anarchy. But so far no African governments have responded to the call for an 8,000-strong peacekeeping force for the country, although Uganda has indicated it is willing to send 1,500 peacekeepers as part of a wider mission.

Late Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the international community to redouble efforts to stabilize Somalia and reiterated his concern that U.S. attacks were harming civilians and could have “unintended consequences.”

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said in a statement on a government Web site Friday that U.S. involvement in Somalia is creating turmoil in the Horn of African region and would “incur dangerous consequences.” Eritrea and Ethiopia are bitter rivals.

Ethiopian and U.S. forces are pursuing three top al-Qaeda suspects believed to be in Somalia. The U.S. has repeatedly accused the Somali Islamist movement of harboring the suspects, wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Recent air attacks against the fleeing Islamic movement have killed 70 nomadic herdsmen in the last four days, British charity Oxfam said Friday, citing its local Somali partner organizations. It said the deaths occurred near Afmadow, about 220 miles southwest of Mogadishu.

60 percent of the population are nomadic, and 85% of the land is desert.

The United States has said it only conducted one airstrike and no civilians were killed. The Ethiopian military has used attack helicopters against militants in Somalia.

The U.N. food agency said it has started distributing food to 18,000 Somalis, many of whom were women and children and had fled fighting in the south. The agency said ongoing military activity meant they could not get food to another 190,000 people who were desperately in need.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, sinking the Horn of Africa nation of 7 million people into chaos.

The war, at least the general instablity, is not over. And it is part of an AlQaeda offensive on at least three fronts: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia.

--Politicarp

Further Research:

Bush battles for posterity in Somalia (Scotsman, Jan14,2k7)
USA attack on Al Quaeda in Somalia (Sunday Herald, Scotland, Jan14,2k7)

Technics: Car Batteries: GM enters automakers "heated race for a new kind of battery"

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Christian Science Monitor's Mark Clayton tells us about the "New race for automakers: build a better battery" (Jan12,2k7).

Can you imagine this scenario: An American automaker leapfrogs its Japanese competitors with a gasoline-electric hybrid that gets 150 miles to the gallon and can travel 40 miles on battery power alone?

Update Jan13,2k7:
CNet photo of Chevrolet Volt (Jan12,2k7)

General Motors set out that possibility when it unveiled on Sunday the Chevy Volt, a concept car with a much larger electric motor than today's Toyota Prius.

If it's ever built, the car could push the venerable manufacturer to the forefront of next-generation car technology. But to win that contest, GM will have to win another: the auto industry's increasingly heated race for a new kind of battery.

The benefits are potentially huge. A more robust hybrid car could reduce America's reliance on oil and trim its greenhouse-gas emissions while giving a major boost to carmakers that find the winning technology.

"What you're seeing with GM is that they're going for broke on batteries," says Tom Gage, president of AC Propulsion, a San Dimas, Calif., company that retrofits hybrid cars. "There is a very real race going on here, but not just with General Motors and Toyota. All the car companies understand battery technology is key to electrifying the automobile."

This week, the Big Three automakers asked the federal government to fund a $500 million five-year battery-development program. To support their proposal, GM, Ford, and Daimler-Chrysler submitted to the White House a study indicating that the US was lagging Japan in battery development, according to press reports.

Experts say the contest amounts to a search for a technology that can power a car for 40 miles, discharge most of its power, and be recharged thousands of times without major deterioration. The technology should be reliable enough to carry warranties of 150,000 miles and 10 years. The search ranges from lithium-ion batteries, used in cellphones and laptop computers, to experimental systems that aren't batteries at all, such as capacitors.

The biggest and most visible contestants in the battery race are GM and Toyota. Besides unveiling the Volt concept car, GM plans to introduce a new version of its Saturn hybrid SUV. Both would be plug-in models, which means that, in contrast to the Prius, they would use much larger battery packs and come with a plug for recharging when the car wasn't in use. Two days before it showed off the Volt, GM announced two major battery partnerships that pit existing technologies against one another in search of a winner.

At the same time, Toyota is busy developing its own battery partnerships and systems for its plug-in program.

The battery race began in earnest in the early 1990s with GM's all electric EV1. It used lead-acid batteries, but later switched to lighter and more powerful nickel-metal hydride batteries, also used by Toyota's Prius, which arrived in the late 1990s.

But plug-in hybrid cars use larger electric motors (and smaller gas engines) than today's hybrids. That's why the search is intensifying for a new power source, such as lithium-ion batteries, which offer about twice the power and half the weight of today's nickel-metal hydride batteries.

World Economy > Auto Batteries

"You can see where lithium-ion can be scaled," says David Cole, chairman of the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. "The science is there. Yes, it requires engineering. [But] it's not like climbing Mt. Everest."

The companies involved in GM's two battery partnerships - Johnson Controls and partner Saft Advanced Power Solutions as well as Cobasys and its partner A123Systems - will soon submit rival lithium-ion batteries to GM for engineering tests. Toyota, too, is reportedly focused on lithium-ion technology.

Critics say it's not ready for prime time.

"The battery issue is a big problem," says Walter McManus, director of the automotive analysis division of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. "The technology is not here yet. It's not a matter of simply commercializing something that already exists. It's more serious than that."

For one thing, the engineering hurdles are big, these experts say.

"Saying battery technology is ready today for plug-ins is like saying we can have the technology for a moon colony - we just need to do a little engineering," says Ann Marie Sastry, a battery expert and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan. "System integration is a big thing and there are still scientific challenges. It's not just a matter of putting parts together."

Another challenge is costs. With their bigger batteries, plug-ins will be more pricey initially than today's hybrids.

"It's real expensive right now," says Davide Andrea, vice president for engineering at Hybrids Plus, one of several upstart companies that convert Toyota Prius and other hybrids into plug-ins using lithium-ion batteries. Despite the $32,000 price tag to convert a car, Mr. Andrea says his Boulder, Colo., company has several orders. "Right now only pioneers are doing it - government and individuals who believe strongly in making a difference," he says. "But as the cost comes down that will change."

Officials at A123Systems of Watertown, Mass., which makes the batteries Andrea is using and GM is testing, say costs will drop rapidly once they begin producing thousands of units.

Another question mark: safety. Sony last year recalled 9.3 million lithium-ion batteries in laptop computers because several overheated, causing a fire hazard.

Lithium-ion batteries for cars, subject to far greater pressures and hazards, use different technology, manufacturers say.

"We have a completely different approach that doesn't have that thermal instability," says David Vieau, president of A123 Systems. "Ours are safe."

GM officials have not set a date for the Volt. "We see real potential in using electricity as fuel and as a real competitive advantage for us, if we can develop this technology and get it to the market quickly," says Nicholas Zielinksi, GM's chief engineer for advanced system integration on the Volt."We've proved battery cells that give us what we need in energy storage and power capacity. The real challenge is tying the cells together to monitor them and seeing how they perform."

We need to have governments seize on this development, as in the case of Canada's Province of Ontario, to make the new batery-technology mandatory for autos manufactured in this key jurisdiction. More than that, we need prompt enactment of a growing freeze on the manufacture and operation of pollution cars and their batteries.

--Politicarp

More Info:

GM goes electric with new concept car [Reuters, Jan7,2k7]
Chevrolet News, a list with several articles on the Volt

Tags: New mostly-electric car's battery

• economics
• technics
• autoindustry
• GM
• batteryhybrid
• VoltChevy

Economics: Oil: Iraq may sign deal for Western companies to develop oil extraction massively despite war

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In a rabid display of rhetorical prejudgment, The Independent, London, UK, carries an article by Danny Fortson, Andrew Murray-Watson and Tim Webb, " Future of Iraq: The spoils of war--How the West will make a killing on Iraqi oil riches" (Jan7,2k7).

Iraq's massive oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, are about to be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies under a controversial law which is expected to come before the Iraqi parliament within days.

The US government has been involved in drawing up the law, a draft of which has been seen by The Independent on Sunday. It would give big oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and allow the first large-scale operation of foreign oil interests in the country since the industry was nationalised in 1972.

The huge potential prizes for Western firms will give ammunition to critics who say the Iraq war was fought for oil. They point to statements such as one from Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said in 1999, while he was still chief executive of the oil services company Halliburton, that the world would need an additional 50 million barrels of oil a day by 2010. "So where is the oil going to come from?... The Middle East, with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies," he said.

Oil industry executives and analysts say the law, which would permit Western companies to pocket up to three-quarters of profits in the early years, is the only way to get Iraq's oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise. But it will operate through "production-sharing agreements" (or PSAs) which are highly unusual in the Middle East, where the oil industry in Saudi Arabia and Iran, the world's two largest producers, is state controlled.

Opponents say Iraq, where oil accounts for 95 per cent of the economy, is being forced to surrender an unacceptable degree of sovereignty.

MidEast > Iraq

Proposing the parliamentary motion for war in 2003, Tony Blair denied the "false claim" that "we want to seize" Iraq's oil revenues. He said the money should be put into a trust fund, run by the UN, for the Iraqis, but the idea came to nothing. The same year Colin Powell, then Secretary of State, said: "It cost a great deal of money to prosecute this war. But the oil of the Iraqi people belongs to the Iraqi people; it is their wealth, it will be used for their benefit. So we did not do it for oil."

Supporters say the provision allowing oil companies to take up to 75 per cent of the profits will last until they have recouped initial drilling costs. After that, they would collect about 20 per cent of all profits, according to industry sources in Iraq. But that is twice the industry average for such deals.

Greg Muttitt, a researcher for Platform, a human rights and environmental group which monitors the oil industry, said Iraq was being asked to pay an enormous price over the next 30 years for its present instability. "They would lose out massively," he said, "because they don't have the capacity at the moment to strike a good deal."

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Barham Salih, who chairs the country's oil committee, is expected to unveil the legislation as early as today. "It is a redrawing of the whole Iraqi oil industry [to] a modern standard," said Khaled Salih, spokesman for the Kurdish Regional Government, a party to the negotiations. The Iraqi government hopes to have the law on the books by March.

Several major oil companies are said to have sent teams into the country in recent months to lobby for deals ahead of the law, though the big names are considered unlikely to invest until the violence in Iraq abates.

World Economy > Oil

James Paul, executive director at the Global Policy Forum, the international government watchdog, said: "It is not an exaggeration to say that the overwhelming majority of the population would be opposed to this. To do it anyway, with minimal discussion within the [Iraqi] parliament is really just pouring more oil on the fire."

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman and a former chief economist at Shell, said it was crucial that any deal would guarantee funds for rebuilding Iraq. "It is absolutely vital that the revenue from the oil industry goes into Iraqi development and is seen to do so," he said. "Although it does make sense to collaborate with foreign investors, it is very important the terms are seen to be fair."

I really don't want to wade thru the tendentious presumptions of this political tract, which gives no credit to the Iraqis concerned for their country's own development even in the midst of war, nor to the oil corporations which begin work in the midst of a sectarian war in Iraq at present and for some time to come. It took The Independent 3 reporters to get the wholesale bias built into this story; the article has to be deconstructed to wring the real news value out of it. It's not out of the question that a huge industrial megaproject enters the realm of scam scam, but to prejudge all this in advance even of a signing is over the top and down into the dustbin where bad jouralism belongs.

--Politicarp

Further Research:

Irish greed for Iraqi oil [Nation, Jan2k4]
Iran oil exports could dwindle

Politics: Nukes: Israel has plan and is training airforce squadrons to nuke Iranian nukes

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The Times (London, UK) via Fox News Channel, "Israel Planning Nuke Raid on Iran Uranium Enrichment Sites" (Jan6,2k7):

Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.

The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb.

Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open “tunnels” into the targets. “Mini-nukes” would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.

“As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,” said one of the sources.

The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years.

Israeli military commanders believe conventional strikes may no longer be enough to annihilate increasingly well-defended enrichment facilities. Several have been built beneath at least 70ft of concrete and rock.

However, the nuclear-tipped bunker-busters would be used only if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the United States declined to intervene, senior sources said.

Israeli and American officials have met several times to consider military action. Military analysts said the disclosure of the plans could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, cajole America into action or soften up world opinion in advance of an Israeli attack.

Some analysts warned that Iranian retaliation for such a strike could range from disruption of oil supplies to the West to terrorist attacks against Jewish targets around the world.

Israel has identified three prime targets south of Tehran which are believed to be involved in Iran’s nuclear programme:

MidEast > Israel vs Iran

—Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment

—A uranium conversion facility near Isfahan where, according to a statement by an Iranian vice-president last week, 250 tons of gas for the enrichment process have been stored in tunnels

—A heavy water reactor at Arak, which may in future produce enough plutonium for a bomb Israeli officials believe that destroying all three sites would delay Iran’s nuclear programme indefinitely and prevent them from having to live in fear of a “second Holocaust”.

The Israeli government has warned repeatedly that it will never allow nuclear weapons to be made in Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has declared that “Israel must be wiped off the map”.

Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, has described military action against Iran as a “last resort”, leading Israeli officials to conclude that it will be left to them to strike.

Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000-mile round trip to the Iranian targets. Three possible routes have been mapped out, including one over Turkey.

Air force squadrons based at Hatzerim in the Negev desert and Tel Nof, south of Tel Aviv, have trained to use Israel’s tactical nuclear weapons on the mission. The preparations have been overseen by Major General Eliezer Shkedi, commander of the Israeli air force.

Sources close to the Pentagon said the United States was highly unlikely to give approval for tactical nuclear weapons to be used. One source said Israel would have to seek approval “after the event”, as it did when it crippled Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak with airstrikes in 1981.

Scientists have calculated that although contamination from the bunker-busters could be limited, tons of radioactive uranium compounds would be released.

The Israelis believe that Iran’s retaliation would be constrained by fear of a second strike if it were to launch its Shehab-3 ballistic missiles at Israel.

However, American experts warned of repercussions, including widespread protests that could destabilise parts of the Islamic world friendly to the West.

Colonel Sam Gardiner, a Pentagon adviser, said Iran could try to close the Strait of Hormuz, the route for 20 percent of the world’s oil.

Some sources in Washington said they doubted if Israel would have the nerve to attack Iran. However, Dr Ephraim Sneh, the deputy Israeli defence minister, said last month: “The time is approaching when Israel and the international community will have to decide whether to take military action against Iran.”

To think the mullocracy has brawt the people of Iran to such a sad state that any country has to defend itself in order to avoid annihilation.

Update:

Israel denies reports of plan, training for air attack on Iran

--Politicarp

Further Research:

Israel plans for nuclear strike [Reuters]

Tags: Israel plans to nuke Iran's nukes

• politics
• politicsIsrael
• militaryIsrael
• Israeldefense
• IsraelvsIran
• Israelnukes

Politics: Canada: Prime Minister reshuffles his cabinet and gets a bonus member for his caucus

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United Press International in a theadbare and poorly written report carries word of Prime Minister Harper's reshuffle of his Canadian govt cabinet (Jan4,2k7).

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper reshuffled his Cabinet Thursday in moves designed to prepare the Conservative Party for an expected election.

The highest profile move took Rona Ambrose from Environment minister to minister for Intergovernmental Affairs, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported. Ambrose has been under heavy criticism for failing to sell her party's Clean Air Bill.

John Baird, president of the Treasury Board, replaced Ambrose at the Ministry for the Environment.

While Harper made extensive changes, no one was pushed out of the 27-member Cabinet and the ministers in charge of the four most important departments -- Finance, Foreign Affairs, Public Safety and Defense -- remained in place.

The picked up more seats than the Liberals in last year's election but failed to win a parliamentary majority or to form a majority coalition with the Bloc Quebecois or the New Democrats.

The Liberal Party, which was forced into an election when its alliance with the New Democrats fell apart, has had a recent comeback in popularity and is even with the Conservatives in recent polls.

But even the latter has changed more recently, with the Liberal Leadership Convention and the election there of Stephane Dion as the party's leader after a year in disarray giving the Libs a bounce but the slow steady slide in poll numbers has made the Conserves again the party with the most public support, of all the parties in the Federal parliament.

It was a tactical strength for Harper to wait until after Dion was in plaqce, and until after the tone of the Lib attack under Dion was settled, before making cabinet reshuffle of his own. So, in theory with a Lib leader in place and new elements in the Conserve govt's cabinet, things are set for an election.

Meanwhile, Harper's Liberal advisor (Canada's Pakistan/India relations), Wajid Khan has been order to drop the post or be dismissed from the Lib caucus. Allan Woods reported in Toronto Star (Jan5,2k7). Khan crossed the floor of parliament to join the Conservs as a backbencher.

The internicine statistics regarding the House of Commons now have shifted so that the Prime Minister only needs the NDP's vote to pass legislation--as has already been the case with Federal Accountability Act and the proposed Clean Air Act.

--Politicarp

Daily Darfur Jan5,2k7

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BBC UN & African Union in "new peace drive for darfur" (Jan5,2k7).

Economics: Philanthropics: American pledges to charity exceed all US records, says FT's Rebecca Knight, Boston

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The excellent Financial Times features an accounting report by Rebbeca Knight in Boston, "Charity pledges smash all US records" (Jan1,2k7). The piece is interestingly one-dimensional, but the demographical/sociological "implications" as to the societal-sphere-specific distribution of the sum total of the targets and of the sources of record-h+ pledges of dollar-gifts across the country, remains. The story-teller in most each of us begins to engage in "wondering-whether," a proces that inherently arises thru imagination in many of us (but not all, there are different styles of learning with different paces) when contemplating the pertinent facts.

Warren Buffett’s historic $31bn (€23.5bn) donation to the Gates Foundation made 2006 a banner year for US charitable giving, smashing previous records by a huge margin.

According to figures from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the top 15 charitable gifts and pledges in the US weighed in at $35bn. By contrast, the largest 15 gifts of 2005 and 2004 totalled $2bn and $4.4bn respectively, according to the Chronicle, which has compiled an annual list of the largest announced gifts and pledges by individuals since 1997.

Mr Buffett accounted for the overwhelming bulk of that sum with his $31bn pledge to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Mr Buffett’s gift – which will help the foundation pursue its goal of curing the world’s 20 leading fatal diseases – is the biggest charitable donation in history.

But even without Mr Buffett’s largesse, it was an exceptional year for philanthropy with a record number of gifts of more than $100m. This year there were 14 gifts of $100m or more. In 1998 – the year that came closest to that number – there were 12, and last year, 10 donations of that size were made. “It’s not just the Bill Gates and the Warren Buffetts of the world who are giving; it’s a lot of different people,” said Stacy Palmer, Chronicle editor.

Morals, moralities, mores, manners

People who made money in real estate and financial services dominate this year’s list. The second and third largest gifts were by donors who profited from the sale of Golden West Financial Corporation to the Wachovia Corporation.

Herbert and Marion Sandler, co-chief executive officers of Golden West Financial Corporation, gave $1.3bn to their family foundation, which supports basic science research at the University of San Francisco. Bernard Osher, co-founder of Golden West Financial Corporation, gave $723.2m to his eponymous foundation that awards scholarships and grants to students in California’s San Francisco and Alameda Counties and the State of Maine.

Fourth on the list was Jim Joseph, a California real estate developer, who left a $500m bequest to his foundation that provides educational programmes for Jewish youth; and fifth was David Rockefeller, retired chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, who gave $225m to the foundation he and his brothers formed.

Nine of the biggest gifts this year went to foundations.

Four of the largest went to universities. Philip Knight, chairman of Nike, pledged $105m to his alma mater, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, for a new management centre campus and Ronald Stanton, chairman of Transammonia, pledged $100m to Yeshiva University in New York.

FT.com/FinancialTimes Copyright

Among the several other key dimensions are those suggested by the following categorics: ethics economics philanthropics philanthropyaccounting accounting charity dollargifts foundations capitalization fund-raisers institutionsphilanthropy USAphilanthropy ....

Update:

theodp writes "Justice Eta, a Nigerian infant, has an ink spot on his tiny thumb to show he was immunized against polio and measles thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But Justice still faces respiratory trouble, which locals call 'the cough' and blame on fumes and soot spewing from 300-foot flames at a nearby oil plant owned by Itallian energy giant Eni, whose investors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Part one of an L.A. Times investigation reports that the world's largest philanthropy pours money into investments that are hurting many of the people its grants aim to help. With the exception of tobacco companies, MuBy way of update Jan5,2k7, the follpowing info comes from Roger Friedman's 411 email newsletter on the entertainment industry and its stars:

Oprah's Charities Now Worth More Than $200 Million / AP Oprah Winfrey opens Leadership Academy in South Africa.
With all the talk about the opening of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa this week, it’s kind of amazing to realize what her charities are now worth. It’s an astounding amount of money, with some interesting trivia, too.

According to GuideStar.org and federal tax filings, Winfrey runs three different charities: The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network and The Oprah Winfrey Operating Foundation.

The Angel Network, of course, is heavily promoted on Winfrey’s show for fans to help raise money for worthy causes.

In 2005, the Angel Network distributed more than $4 million to 40 organizations with a lot of emphasis on Africa, Winfrey’s chief interest.

They also sent $2 million to disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami. The Angel Network claimed $15 million in net assets in 2004-2005.

Oprah’s Operating Foundation, with $19 million in assets, is set up just for the recently opened Leadership Academy in South Africa.

But the real meat and potatoes of Oprah’s giving comes from her personal foundation. According to its most recent filing, the Oprah Winfrey Foundation has total assets of a whopping $172 million. Just last year, Winfrey parked some $36 million of her own money in the Foundation, which in turn distributed $8 million to numerous educational, arts and medical groups.

Some of them, like something called the U.S. Dream Academy, depends on Winfrey almost entirely for their funding (she gave them $1 million last year).

Winfrey gives a lot to African causes and groups, but also gives millions domestically. Jackson (Miss.) State University is one of her largest recipients, as is Morehouse College.

And while most of Winfrey’s interests are to help African Americans, she has a soft spot for rich white kids, too.

Winfrey, according to her filing, is in the middle of doling out a $1 million contribution to the ultra-WASPy, very, very exclusive Miss Porter’s, the famed finishing school in Farmington, Conn. She sent her nieces there in the early '90s, and has remained a steadfast supporter.

The large donation seems a little unusual given that it would seem, from the school’s quarterly online newsletter “Salamagundy,” that the racial makeup of the academy hasn’t changed much since the days when Jackie Kennedy or George Bush 41’s mother, Dorothy, were students.

Other graduates of Miss Porter’s include Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and billionaire heiresses like Dina Merrill and the late Barbara Hutton. The school has an $80 million endowment.

Likewise, Winfrey is in the middle of giving a similar chunk of change to the very prestigious and exclusive Lake Forest Academy, on the tony north shore of Chicago.

The alumni section of Lake Forest’s Web site shows 99 percent Caucasians, with an occasional black student thrown in. Winfrey must have a plan for these two schools. It should be great when it’s revealed.

In a story posted on Johannesburg’s Business Day, though, writer Cara Bouwer reported on Wednesday that Winfrey actually modeled her Leadership School on Miss Porter’s. The difference, Bouwer observed, was that tuition for Miss Porter’s is $38,000. The Leadership Academy’s annual per student bill is $32,000 rand, or $4,500, all paid by Winfrey.

And no matter the Lake Forest or Miss Porter’s donations, the rest of the Oprah Winfrey Foundation is so solid that I’m surprised she hasn’t been knighted, or given the President Medal of Freedom.

When you compare her charitable activity to Donald Trump, of which I wrote about last week ($750,000 a year), or to the empty promises of “charity singles” that come from Michael Jackson, Winfrey’s work is unparalleled and unprecedented. She’s put about $5 million into a Boys and Girls club in her Mississippi hometown, for example, and last year another $500,000 went to the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation.

And for all our sakes, let’s hope Winfrey lives a long time. According to an amendment in her 2004 filing, Oprah is the sole member of the Foundation and is the only who has grant approval for those millions and millions of dollars.

But enjoy it while you can, charities, because a new line reads: “After the death of Oprah G. Winfrey, the Foundation shall have no members.”

Personal charity has always had personal tics and twists.

--Owlb

Further Research:

CharityWatch by the American Institute for Philanthropy

American Philanthropic Values and the Future of Philanthropy [Ford Foundation]

Gates Foundation under cloud [Slashdot, Jan7,2k7]

UN: Ban: New secretary general puts Darfur geoncide by Sudan govt h+ on his list of priorities

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CBC reports that the UN's new General Secretary (CEO, "Ban Ki-moon [,] places 'own nuance' on death penalty policy" (Jan3,2k7):

Darfur ... 'high' on new UN Secretary General Ban's agenda.

Ban told reporters the ongoing conflict in Darfur was "very high on my agenda."

Fighting in the troubled region has killed more than 200,000 people in the past few years and shows little signs of abating.

The former South Korean foreign minister also said he would meet Wednesday with the UN special envoy on Darfur, Jan Eliasson of Sweden, to discuss the situation, and would attend an African Union summit later this month in Ethiopia.

"By engaging myself in the diplomatic process, I hope that we will be able to resolve peacefully as soon as possible on these serious issues," Ban said.

The UN Security Council has proposed sending 20,000 troops to Darfur, but the Sudanese government has only agreed to allow a much smaller African Union force on its territory.

Sudanese forces bombed two rebel locations in Darfur the AU said Sunday, days after the head of the African Union's peacekeeping force visited the area and urged the rebels to join a ceasefire agreement.

Africa > UN/Darfur

Takes over from AnnanBan was sworn in Monday as the UN's eighth secretary general, succeeding Ghana's Kofi Annan, who held the chief post since 1997 and stepped down at the end of December.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ban. Not James Band," the 62-year-old diplomat announced to applause. "I am not code-named 007, but I will take my office in '07."

Ban has acknowledged the UN is going through hard times in the wake of violence raging in Iraq, unresolved fighting between Israelis and Palestinians, and efforts to stop Iran and North Korea from possibly developing nuclear warheads.

His arrival is expected to usher in some changes in response to criticism lodged against the organization.

"Unfortunately, there has been much criticism over the United Nations' inability and inefficiencies during the last many years," he said. "[The] UN needs to restore confidence."

With files from the Associated Press

Ban has his challenges. May the Secretary General be granted God's grace in his responses to the great challenges of import to world law and international public justice. We know the UN is no panacea for the world's ills, but apparently it can have a very valuable role to play under Ban's administration.

--Politicarp

Further Research:

Darfur: Ban Ki-Moon to meet African Union envoy this week
Ban Ki-moon to meet UN, AU envoys on Darfur

Tags: Darfur hI on UN priorities list

• politics
• politicsUN
• UNsecretarygeneral
• BanKiMoon
• Darfurfamine
• Darfurgenocide
• Sudangovt

Communist China: Military: Mainland fears Taiwan integration into the U.S.-Japanese anti-missile defense system

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What's Communist China afraid of? For one thing, Hu Jintao's regime is afraid of North Korea's new nuke missiles. Yes, this corroborates the geostrategic analysis of refWrite
More than that, as Washington Post's Edward Cody details in "China Offers Glimpse of Rationale Behind Its Military Policies"
(Dec30,2k6), now Beijing is frothing at Taipei's new possibliities of defence against mainland nukes and other bombloads from China. Taipei may be on the edge of joining in an alliance with Japan and the USA to counter both North Korea's and Communist China's
nukes:

BEIJING, Dec. 29 -- China warned Friday that the military landscape in northeast Asia is getting "more complicated and serious" because of North Korea's nuclear weapons program and tighter defense cooperation between Japan and the United States.

The Chinese views on regional security, articulated in a government white paper on national defense, provided a rare glimpse into the strategic assessments that underlie decisions and priorities of the secretive Chinese military and the Communist Party's policymaking Central Military Commission.

In part, the paper was designed as a response to repeated complaints from the Bush administration that China has not explained the rationale behind its long-term military improvement program. China's announced military budget has risen about 10 percent a year recently, reaching $35.4 billion in 2006, and Pentagon specialists estimate that also counting equipment expenditures would more than double it.

Along with Taiwan's pursuit of independence, the government pointed out as particular security challenges North Korea's missile tests last summer and its maiden nuclear test in October, which undermined Chinese-led diplomatic efforts to create a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. The most recent round of nuclear negotiations took place last week and ended in stalemate, creating doubts about the utility of continuing the three-year-old six-nation talks.

Asia > Chinese military masterplan

In listing Chinese concerns, the white paper also cited a U.S.-Japanese effort to build a regional missile defense shield based on U.S. ships equipped with the Aegis radar system and a U.S.-Japanese missile now being developed. The joint defense system, portrayed as protection against a North Korean attack, has been criticized by Chinese officials and commentators because it also could blunt China's missile threat in the event of U.S.-Chinese hostilities over Taiwan.

Chinese officials have expressed concern that Taiwan could eventually be integrated into the U.S.-Japanese system, providing a counterweight to China's increasing missile threat against the self-ruled island. That fear was not explicitly conveyed in the white paper, but Japan's growing willingness to assert itself militarily was cited as a strategic concern for military planners in Beijing.

"America and Japan are strengthening their military alliance in pursuit of operational integration, and Japan seeks to modify its peace constitution and exercise collective self-defense," the paper said. "North Korea launched missiles and had a nuclear test. The situation in the Korean Peninsula and northeast Asia is getting more and more complicated and serious."

The paper said China's military improvements are part of the country's overall modernization and economic expansion. The effort will continue apace, it added, seeking to "lay a solid foundation" by 2010, make "major progress" by 2020 and "reach the strategic goal of building informationized armed forces and being capable of winning informationized wars by the mid-21st century."

Moving from infantry to high-tech naval and aerial warfare has been a major goal of China's military modernization. It has entailed the shedding of thousands of untrained foot soldiers and a concerted effort to replace them with trained technicians able to function in the world of computerized weaponry.

The white paper said, for instance, that the army's relative strength in the Chinese military has dropped by 1.5 percent, while that of the navy, air force and Second Artillery Force -- China's missile and nuclear corps -- rose by 3.8 percent. Overall military strength has fallen by 1.7 million troops since 1985 and is estimated to stand at 2.3 million, still the world's largest force.

The People's Liberation Army "has made new progress toward the goal of being proper in size, optimal in structure, streamlined in organization, swift and flexible in command and powerful in fighting capacity," the paper boasted.

But it provided no details on the new ships, warplanes, missiles, submarines and computer systems that, according to U.S. officials, have increased China's lethal power in the region and made any confrontation over Taiwan a riskier proposition for the United States than it would have been a decade ago.

As it has before, the government warned that any step by Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian to move toward formal independence by changing the territory's constitution would be a "grave threat" to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, suggesting it could trigger military intervention. President Hu Jintao, who as head of the Central Military Commission is commander in chief of the armed forces, has told visitors he has no plans to attack Taiwan but would have to act if the island took a decisive step toward formal independence.

It's another lapse into denial amounting to official psychosis that the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand have not recognized Taiwan as an independent democratic country. This will not cause a war with China, but the gross uproar of recognition will be full of threats. If Taiwan and Japan, and with them South Korea, become defensible by means of a counter-missile nuclear shield, then they should be defended--in principle by all democratic nations of good will. This will not diminish China at all. China's biggest problem militarily is North Korea, and the shipping lanes for oil from the MidEast which are infested with pirates.

--Politicarp

Further Research:

Theft of US technology boostss China's weaponry [WaTi Jun25,2k5)
China's armed forces begin to shed cloak of mystery [China Daily, Dec30,2k6]

Iran: Quarantined: Major geostrategic diplomatic shift in USA measures to enforce UN's "isolation of Iran" resolution

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“West Tries a New Tack to Block Iran’s Nuclear Agenda“ by By Helene Cooper and Steven R. Weisman, NYT (Jan2,2k7):

The United States and its allies in Europe, in a tacit acknowledgment that sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council in late December are too weak to force Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, have embarked on a new strategy to increase the financial and psychological pressure.

UN "too weak to force Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions..."

The plan is to use the language of the resolution to help persuade foreign governments and financial institutions to cut ties with Iranian businesses, individuals in its nuclear and missile programs and, by extension, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Stuart Levey, under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

The Guard and its military wing are identified as a power base for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Under his administration, American officials said, the Guard has moved increasingly into commercial operations, earning profits and extending its influence in Iran in areas involving big government contracts — including building airports and other infrastructure, oil production and the providing of cellphones.

Bush administration officials, who asked not to be identified because they were discussing diplomatic plans, said envoys would soon head abroad to press officials of foreign governments and banks to interpret the Security Council resolution equally aggressively.

"Governments and banks" > "interpret the UN Security Council resolution equally aggressively"

The new strategy builds on the [USA] Treasury Department’s efforts over the past few months to get Western banks to scale back business with Iran or risk running afoul of American laws. In 2006, the European banks Credit Suisse First Boston and UBS said they would not do any new business with Iran.

No new biz with Iran.

It is hard to assess how deeply the financial actions may cut, since the most willing parties to the effort — the United States and Europe — have few business dealings with Iran. The United States does have laws that give it considerable leeway to impose financial restrictions on banks and companies doing business in Iran, while European law does not.

That said, Britain is also backing the new push, as is France, although to a lesser extent. Germany, with far more business interests in Iran, is not quite as eager. Japan is not a member of the Security Council, and the country is heavily dependent on the Persian Gulf for oil. But Japanese government officials have recently indicated their willingness to limit some of their business dealings with Iran.

MidEast > Iran

Last month, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation announced that it would not issue any new loans for Iranian projects until Iran resolved the nuclear impasse with the West. In addition, Japan has reduced its stake in an initial $2 billion deal to develop Iran’s largest onshore oil field at Azadegan to 10 percent from the originally agreed 75 percent, citing concern about Iran’s nuclear program.

While United States officials have discussed what they are trying to do with their Russian and Chinese counterparts, the belief is that they have gone about as far as they are willing to go with the Security Council resolution that passed Dec. 23. Russia fought to keep certain entities off the list and to keep the list as narrow as possible.

The UN SC resolution names names of individuals, and specifies penalties.

Mr. Levey noted that the resolution cited three people as off limits to outside commercial transactions, and, in another section, prohibited transactions with agencies “owned or controlled” by them. The three, he said, are Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps; Gen. Hosein Salimi, who is in charge of the air force branch of the corps; and Ahmad Vahid Dastjerdi, who runs the Aerospace Industries Organization.

Thus, an effort to bar future foreign commercial or government involvement, including bank transactions, affecting missile programs and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is authorized by the resolution, Mr. Levey said.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard leaders sanctioned

“This resolution will be a big step forward in getting governments and financial institutions to pay more attention to Iran’s use of deceptive financial practices to facilitate its dangerous conduct and to stop doing business with the I.R.G.C.,” Mr. Levey said, referring to the Revolutionary Guard.

The resolution says that “all states” will “take the necessary measures” to bar “financial assistance” and “financial resources or services” related to nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The resolution’s appendix cites several government and private groups and 12 people as involved in those programs; interrupting foreign involvement with those groups and individuals is also part of the new campaign.

But American officials have no figures on the value of international business done with those cited in the resolution.

Undermine the self-assurance of Iranian officials

The United States and European officials said they had also begun trying maneuvers aimed at undermining the self-assurance of Iranian officials, especially those who travel abroad.

This is a cold, cold war of Europe, UK, USA, presumably Canada, Australia?, New Zealand? versusIran.

A war us going on, a war of diplomacy using financial weapons to grind nuclearization to a halt in Iran.

The article continues rather systematically and links these additional significant factors to the isolation of Iran

* four Iranian Revolutionary Guards were apphrehended in Iraq > Iranian subversive activities in Iraq

* Iran's business slump means it exports huge amounts of oil, but can't refine any for itself, so that it has to buy-back from foreign oil refiners at significant expense for Iranian accounts.

...international business was already emerging as a problem for Iran, which has vast oil fields but relatively little refining capacity. It imports 43 percent of its gasoline, according to the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington-based nonprofit group that follows energy issues.

Now, Iran can't borrow the capitalization it needs for its own oil projects, stalled in using oil profits to replenish and develop the national energy industry.

But, this latter fact makes Iran's desire for nuclear energy quite understandable in its own r+t, even aside from the country's overarching military-diplomatic nuclear ambitions.

--Politicarp

Further Research:

Iran will press ahead with nuclear work: president
Iran lays down challenge to Arab leaders

Calendar: 2007: Happy New Year!

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happy new year!

2007

--from refWrite staff

Photo: refEPix: Ecuadorian crucifix

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Peruvian crucific. Meditating Christ, handfinished by unknown Peruvian ceramic-sculptor artisan (c.1986).

Photo: refEpix: Lady in red along Gerrard Street toward Jones Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Lady in red (Dec27,2k6) copyr+t refEpix [4refWrite series]. A lady in red punctuates
the sidewalk space along Gerrard Street, on her walk in the cold toward Jones Avenue,
Toronto. -- Anaximaximumphotographics

Politics: Religion: Stoning the Devil / Saddam on the Hajj pilgrimage in Mina, Saudia Arabia

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Associated Press via Jerusalem Post, "Hajj pilgrims symbolicly stone the devil, Saddam" (Dec30,2k6)

Mina, Saudi Arabia--Huge crowds of Muslims hurled pebbles at stone walls representing the devil in a purging ritual of the hajj pilgrimage Saturday, as Saudi Arabia criticized Iraq for executing Saddam Hussein during the holy rites.

News of Saddam's hanging before dawn quickly reached pilgrims, many of them notified by relatives at home by mobile phone or text message.

A group of Iraqi Shiites passed around the news with joy as they walked to the three stone walls that they pelt with stones in a symbolic rejection of Satan.

"Today we were stoning the devil, but we were also stoning Saddam," said Sayed Hassan Moussawi, an Iraqi Shiite cleric. "Everyone here is so happy. He killed so many men, women and children and he tormented Iraq's Shiites."

At the same time, the Iranian hajjis are politicizing the pilgrimage to their own ends.

--Politicarp

Further Research:

Iran seeks to use the haj for political gain [Yaakov BenZvi, Jerusalem Post]

Arab hajjis enraged by Saddam hanging [CNN]

Tags: Stoning Saddam

• politics
• politicsIslam
• devilstoning
• Saddam
• Hajj
• Saudiland

Juridics: Iraq: Saddam Hussein (1937-2006) has been executed by hanging, after a year-long trial

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The news has been spreading thru-out the world, but it has yet to produce signs of its impact in Iraq itself as the country awakes for the day. Many political questions already swirl in speculation.

-- Politicarp

More Info:

Saddam: the end
Dictator Who Ruled Iraq With Violence Is Hanged for Crimes Against Humanity

Politics: Northern Ireland: Can Sinn Fein acccept NI's largely-protestant police force?

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BBC's news out of Northern Ireland tells us "Sinn Fein backs police conference--Policing has been a dividing issue between the DUP and Sinn Fein" (Dec29,2k6). The DUP is the Democratic Unionist Party, a party whose parliamentarians are in good part evangelical Christians led by Rev Dr Ian Paisley. Sinn Fein is the Irish Republican party that draws Catholic voters, and for a long time served as the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, a terrorist group. Protestant counter-terrorists have been disowned by DUP. Now the crucial issue is whether Sinn Fein can fully accept the Northern Ireland police, largely composed of Protestants.

The Sinn Fein leadership has voted for a special party conference in January on the issue of whether to support policing in Northern Ireland.

Speaking after talks in Dublin, party president Gerry Adams said the meeting would be held if the two governments [UK and Republic of Ireland] and the DUP gave a positive response.

The move was welcomed by Downing Street and the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern [head of the Republic's govt and leading party].

Sinn Fein support for policing would be viewed as removing one of the main obstacles to restoring devolution.

More than two-thirds of [Sinn Fein's] executive voted in favour of the meeting.

The party has historically opposed recognising the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and its predecessor the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), because of what it sees as a Protestant bias within the service.

'Potential' recognised

The DUP - the largest party in Northern Ireland - has previously refused to speak to Sinn Fein until it recognises and accepts the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Speaking after the Sinn Fein vote on Friday evening, DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said it would be "churlish not to acknowledge the potential" of the steps taken by the republicans.

But he warned that unionists would have to study Sinn Fein's words and actions carefully. ...

Speaking after the six-hour meeting of the executive, Mr Adams said the debate was "frank, comradely and robust".

"I put a motion to the party leadership and the party leadership endorsed that by more than the two thirds majority," he said.

Europe > UK > Northern Ireland

Mr Adams said he would now be engaged in efforts to deal with concerns among republicans over the proposals.

"I am totally wedded to the idea of every single person who wants to be part of this debate, being part of the debate, because it's about the future, it's about the type of Ireland we want to see."

Sinn Fein said the motion put forward would include a commitment to "actively encourage everyone in the community to co-operate fully with the police services in tackling crime in all areas and actively supporting all the criminal justice institutions".

BBC Ireland correspondent Denis Murray said the key for the DUP would be "delivery".

'Important step'

Mr Ahern welcomed the Sinn Fein executive's "landmark and timely decision".

"Sinn Fein has today taken an important step on the road to support for policing in Northern Ireland," he said.

A Downing Street spokesman said there was now, for the first time, "the real prospect of all parties and all sections of the community in Northern Ireland supporting the rule of law in Northern Ireland".

"This statement is significant because of the unequivocal support that Sinn Fein says it will offer - if this motion is passed at the ard fheis - to not just the police but also to those in communities who report crimes to the police," the spokesman added.

Alex Attwood, Social Democratic Labour Party spokesman, said: "Sinn Fein now appear to be backing out of the wrong position they've adopted on policing over the last number of years...

"Everybody including the DUP should now consider acting quickly and positively to the situation that's developing."

Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said Sinn Fein had "lost the battle on policing".

Alliance Party leader David Ford said: "Some of us have been waiting for this since 1998. It's long overdue but nonetheless welcome."

The British and Irish governments have named 7 March as the date for fresh assembly elections, with a new executive expected to be up and running by 26 March.

Talks aimed at restoring the assembly and its executive have been taking place since the St Andrews Agreement negotiations in November.

Our prayers are with the people and leaders of the political forces of Norther Ireland.

--Politicarp

War: Horn of Africa: Somalia govt backed by invading Ethiopian troops drives Sharia Islamists from Mogadishu

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For those of us who have been following the emergence of the Islamic Courts to bring Sharia Law to Somalia, their displacement of the warlords, then their takeover of the civic order so as to displace the tenuous hold of the shakey democraqcy of the transitional government of the counrty, the blast of war, another layer added onto the preceding miseries, has been seen with the arrival of Ethopia to the defense of the Somalia transitional govt.

Ethiopia has internal reasons for thinking it had to help the non-warloard, non-Sharia forces of Somalia's would-be democratic govt. The most salient reason for Ethiopia's intevention is the fact that historically-Christian Ethiopia, after a vicious takeover by totalitarian Communists who were ousted in bloddy turmoil, now is demographic realities of a 50-50 split between the more-or-less Christian half of its populatoin and the rising number of Muslims. Were Sharia forces in alliance with Taliban-like radcial Wahabbists to seize Somaliland, then their ethnic cousins and fellow Muslims in Ethiopia itself mite try to secede in those regions of Ethiopia where Somalis predominate.

Africa > Somalia & Ethiopia

Reuters reporter Guled Mohamed tells us "Ethiopia-backed troops march into Mogadishu," the Somali capital (Dec28,2k6). The text of his article tells us further that the troops, in the first instance, are those of the legally constituted and internationally recognixed Somali Transitional Government, which at least technically the Ethiopians are only "supporting."

Nearby Eritrea is said to support the Somalia Islamic Courts Council. But the deeper background seems to be Al Quaeda, as indicated by the public support given the SICC govt by Al Quaeda in Iraq.

--Politicarp

More Info:

Islamist fighters abandon posts as troops move in
Ethiopia Pledges Troop Withdrawal From Somalia Within Weeks

Tags: Ethiopia takes Mogadishu

• war
• politics
• politicsSomalia
• Somalia
• Ethiopia
• Eritrea
• ShariaCourts
• Mogadishu
• TransGovtSomalia