Posts Tagged ‘Barack Obama’
Oklahoma Tornado Live
oklahoma-tornado
7: 15 a.m.: Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin told “Good Morning America,” “It’s a very sad day in Oklahoma. A lot of hearts have been broken.”
6:43 a.m.: President Obama will deliver a televised statement regarding the Oklahoma tornado at 10 a.m. ET.
6:28 a.m.: Pope Francis tweeted, “I am close to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado, especially those who lost young children. Join me in praying for them.”
5:33 a.m.: McClain County Animal Response Team spokesperson Dr. Patty Mannas told ABC News affiliate KOCO-TV that at least 50 pets have been pulled from the rubble in Moore, Okla.
“We’ve already reunited a few animals and animals with microchips have a very, very high percentage of being reunited with their families,” she said.
Oklahoma Tornado
Sources:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/05/live-updates-tornado-damage-in-oklahoma-day-2/
http://weather.aol.com/2013/05/20/live-blog-tornado-touches-down-south-of-oklahoma-city/
Are Hunger Strikes Successful Guantanamo Bay
One hundred prisoners of Guantanamo Bay are on hunger strike demanding e closure of the prison.
The hunger strike was on in February.
Now the prisoners are on hunger strike since Wednesday.
The prison authorities are force feeding the prisoners who are ill.
The hunger strike has opened two debates in the US, one whether the Doctors can forcefeed thos on strike. and whether the Government should give in to their demands and close the facility(an US euphemism for Jail).
The prison inmates get publicity and political mileage out of their strike.
For Washington it is a question of bowing down to terrorists or suspected terrorists.
The dilemma for the administration is obvious in the light of protests against Guantanamo throughout the World.
But the recent Boston Bombings does not give room for letting the suspects go away from detention camp(s).
It is difficult to identify a culprit especially a hardened Terrorist from a Normal man.
So despite ferreting out the information about the prisoners,their statements that they are not guilty, the authorities are wary of releasing them.
Because they are unsure of their innocence.
On the other hand the inhuman detention at the Prison has to be dispensed with.
Politically it is difficult for a President to go either way.
Morally it is has to closed down but the released suspect being kept under watch till they breathe their last.
May sound impractical but there it is.
And that’s how I think the issue will pan out.
Now to the question of the present Hunger strike being successful.
I doubt that it will.
Hunger strikes by themselves do not acquire force, either political or moral.
It depends on who does it.
In India it did not work with Anna Hazare , the self-styled Messiah against corruption .
Nor did it with a host of others and never it would.
For hunger strike as a tool requires a spiritual power(that is Will for those who do not believe in God) and a commitment to what they believe in.
And the Cause they fight for.
In Guantanamo case, the issue to close down is morally Right , but the unproven crime is not.
Only Mahatma Gandhi , the naked fakir of India could use hunger strikes to powerful use and it has contributed to the Freedom Struggle and eventually Freedom for India from the British.
Not every one who goes on strike is a Gandhi!
( I can hear some one saying ‘Karunanidhi!)
Bob Strong/Reuters A prisoner in a communal cellblock at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The number of hunger strikers there is a matter of dispute.
Story:
On Tuesday President Obama renewed his effort to close Guantánamo Bay prison, where 100 inmates have been staging a hunger strike, some since February. (This week Slate is publishing the memoir of a prisoner who was tortured at Guantánamo and is still being held despite a judge’s order that he be released.) In 2004, Explainer described the physiological response to fasting and answered the question of how long someone can survive without food…
“
From British-run prisons in Ireland todetention facilities in Israel, the hunger strike has long been a political weapon wielded by the imprisoned or the powerless. With their protest, the 100 men refusing food at Guantanamo Bay — 23 of whom are being fed via nasogastric tube — have pushed the largely forgotten issue of their indefinite detention back on Washington’s agenda.
The strike has not only energized rights activists who have long campaigned for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, but also compelled the Obama administration to grapple with an issue that had been effectively abandoned. The president said Tuesday that he will renew efforts to shut the detention center — a challenge that, if anything, is more politically demanding than it was on his second full day in office, Jan. 22, 2009, when he signed an executive order to close it.
The protest also has reopened a debate about whether it is ethical for medical personnel at Guantanamo Bay to force-feed detainees.
The hunger strike began in early February over allegations that the guard force improperly handled Korans during searches — an accusation that the military strenuously denies. But the number of hunger strikes has since skyrocketed, and the protest has taken on broader meaning for detainees seeking to demonstrate againstthe Obama administration’s failure to make good on its promise to close Guantanamo Bay.
Additional Input from Slate.com.
Related articles
Shadow World Of Arms 2 Communist Countries End User Certificates.
In the last post we have seen the basic information on International Arms Business and the reasons for the Arms Industry to thrive.
Western Countries which manufacture and Export Arms a were listed.
List of Arms Manufacturers.
German Arms Industry
The list is not exhaustive;for a List follow the Link.
Link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modern_armament_manufacturers
The Communist Countries have their own Industries.
Now most of the countries have ceased to be Communists.
Leading the pack is China and Russia.
It is followed by Czechoslovakia(recall SEMTEX), Bulgaria , Yugoslavia.
Apart from this you have Iran ,Iraq, Australia etc.
Then you also have other Nations like Australia,India,Pakistan,Indonesia.
While in the days of Communism, the Arms were sold only for profits by the West, the Communists sold them for Influence over the Country to which they were selling.
If it is a Government to Government transaction there is no problem at all.
The Importing Country places on an order on the Exporting Country/a Manufacturer in that Country.
The order is scrutinized by the Defense and Foreign Department of the Exporting Country and if found in order , then the order is through.
But nothing is perfect in the world.
We have Separatists like Batista, LTTE (till recently) and a host of local out fits who wage wars against States.
The Exporters are lured by the money and they sell.
And though there are no communist Regimes now, save China, USSR, North Korea and a few others.
They sell still for ideology.
Then we do have individuals, Loosely linked terrorists and Terrorist out fits.
The want to buy.
The Arms manufacturing countries lured by the money and taking into account their Geo political calculations sell Arms to these people.
They can not sell these direct .
To fill in the void came Arms Dealers.
1.Licensed Arms dealers.
They have a License from the Government and once the order is cleared by the Government they complete the sale.
Companies also appoint Arms Dealers.
2.Arms Dealers.
They do not stock nor do they have a Licence.
They liaise with the importer, Exporter /Company and see the deal through and get a cut from both sides at times.
3.Black Market Dealers.
These people have no Licence, nor hold stocks.
The buyer wants to be anonymous and the Seller looks elsewhere.
But if the supplier is feisty these dealers oblige for a higher cut.
How do they do it?
End User certificate?
I will be dealing on this in a separate post.
Related articles
- Shadow World Of Arms 1 Major Suppliers Reasons (ramanan50.wordpress.com)
Different Cases of Operational Confluence
Between Producers and Traffickers
As mentioned above, it is worth pointing out some cases in which, it can
be presumed, that arms manufacturers and traffickers are operating jointly, or
the manufacturers are acting directly as traffickers, supplying different
equipment to countries in conflict or to illegal groups.
1. The NORINCO Case
On 18 March 1996, at a local harbour, customs service agents from the
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms office of the San Francisco District Attorney’s
Office, seized a delivery of about 2,000 AK-47 type weapons, sent from China,
presumably destined for mafia groups in Los Angeles.
Under those circumstances, eight United States and several Chinese
citizens were arrested. Two Chinese citizens were probably representatives
from two of China’s State arms manufacturing companies: “North Industries
Corp.” (NORINCO) and “Polytechnology”, which belong to the Popular Army.
Those companies which are the largest Chinese arms exporters, had been
under surveillance by American investigators, because in the past, they had
been involved in the illegal introduction of their products to the local market.
It should be remembered that China had been the most important foreign
supplier of rifles and handguns to the United States until May 1994, when the96 Curbing Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms and Sensitive Technologies
Clinton Administration issued a decree banning Chinese weapons imports.
Between 1991 and 1993, “NORINCO”, “Polytechnology” and “Jinganco”,
which belongs to the State Police, sold about two million handguns on the
United States market.
“Poly Group”, which is a direct branch of the Chinese Army’s
Department of General Affairs, recorded a spectacular trade boom during the
1980s, under the rule of He Ping (Deng Xiao Ping’s son-in-law) and Wang Jun
(son of the former Vice-President Wang Zhen).
2. Eastern European Producers
After the collapse of communism, the Eastern countries’ armaments industry has been trying to overcome the crisis caused by the loss of traditional
markets
Terrorism Kidnap, Detain Torture US Rendtion Had 54 Countries
In what is euphemistically called ‘rendition’ is nothing but total disregard for Intentional Law and an authoritarianism to kidnap,intern,torture of those suspected of terrorist Links.
The US was not alone.
The Countries who were crying foul on Guantanamo were secretly in cahoots with the US!
Read On.
US Rendition Flights shown by Google Earth..
As many as 54 countries have been complicit in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition operations in which terrorism suspects were held in secret prisons overseas or turned over to foreign governments for interrogation, a human rights organisation has said in a report.
The report, released on Tuesday, claims that foreign governments in Europe, Asia and Africa have been secretly involved in global kidnap, detention and torture of at least 136 people on behalf of the United States after September 11, 2001 attacks.
“By engaging in torture and other abuses associated with secret detention and extraordinary rendition, the US government violated domestic and international law, thereby diminishing its moral standing and eroding support for its counterterrorism efforts worldwide as these abuses came to light,” the report said.
The report by the Open Society Justice Initiative said its information was based on “credible public sources” and “reputable human rights organisations”.
The CIA declined comment on the report.
The governments accused of helping the CIA programmes included some staunch US allies such as Australia, Israel, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Finland and Ireland, and some not usually viewed as US-friendly such as Iran and Syria.
The report said Tehran had transferred 15 individuals to Afghanistan, which transferred them to the US government.
Amrit Singh, author of the report, described the involvement of foreign governments as “a continuum” which included the hosting of secret CIA prisons, providing intelligence and capture and detention of prisoners.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from New York, Singh said there was “a wide variety of complicity” from all involved.
‘Globalising Torture’
“Responsibility for these violations does not end with the United States. Secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations, designed to be conducted outside the United States under cover of secrecy, could not have been implemented without the active participation of foreign governments. These governments too must be held accountable.”
While Barack Obama, US president, after taking office in 2009 ordered the closing of secret CIA detention facilities, the
executive order “did not repudiate extraordinary rendition,” the report said.
The New York-based rights group has called for the United States to end the controversial programme, close all secret prisons and investigate human rights violations that resulted from the practice.
The 256 page report, “Globalising Torture”, comes ahead of the confirmation hearing of John Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Wednesday.
In reference to a December 2005 statement by Brennan that rendition was “absolutely vital” to countering terrorism, Singh said he “has some serious questions to answer”. Singh went on to say she hopes the report will compel the Senate “to ask what he meant by that statement”.
Internationally, OSJI wants other governments to end their involvement in the practice and take steps to ensure that counter-terrorism efforts do not violate human rights.
The US Justice department has built a Legal case for felicitating the attack on persons.organisations out side the US by US forces.
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S…(open channel)
February Black History Month US,Are Blacks Accepted?
February is celebrated as Black History Month in The US to recall and recount the contributions of the Blacks to the development of the nation.
Black History Month, US
As coincidence would have it I posted an article on ‘Slave Vaults in The Us, yesterday(or early morning to-day , for I post ,at times, at 12 or 1 am).
The US is a Nation consisting of all Races, Ethnic Groups Cultures, an amalgam of Humanity driven by the desire to succeed.
Though the US has done well in terms of integration,the discrimination towards the Blacks,Hispanics remain, at least at the mental/emotional level.
These Communities somehow for no reason I can fathom,seem to have a high range of Crime rate vis-a-vis the other Communities.
( Is my information correct on this? I write this based on information gleaned from the US people )
Is it because they resent the success of the Caucasian in terms of Economic growth?
Or is it because these communities, specially the Blacks feel that there is still the remnants of racism and discrimination against them, despite having Non Caucasian President.?
Or is it because they feel that they are being patronized to look good to remain ’good’ in the eyes of the World?
Have the Blacks been accepted whole heartedly by the US< especially by the ” White?”
Story:
The United States is now headed by its first president of African descent. Moreover, blacks are widely represented in government, literature, film, athletics and other arenas. Given this, is it still necessary to set aside a month for the express purpose of celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans? Harvard University ProfessorHenry Louis Gates and writer Raina Kelley have both argued in Newsweek that Black History Month deserves to be celebrated, as it not only connects blacks to the struggles endured by forebears but also addresses the progress still to come in the black community.
Black History Month
Kelley noted that she understands why people, even African Americans, question the need for Black History Month, but stresses that the month can remain significant by highlighting the challenges facing black America at present.
“Rather than wasting time bemoaning the existence of Black History Month, why don’t we use it to proselytize for the issues that need to be more fully covered and understood the other 337 days of the year-such as failing inner-city public schools, institutionalized poverty, health-care disparities, and job discrimination?” Kelley asks. “Black History Month is a measure of how fully or accurately our story is being told and a reminder of the work yet to be done.”
When President Barack Obama proclaimed February 2010 African American History Month, he echoed some of the sentiments expressed by Kelley and Gates about why such a month should be acknowledged.
http://racerelations.about.com/od/historyofracerelations/a/IsBlackHistoryMonthRelevant.htm?nl=1
How Black History Month came to be?
“Without the efforts of a black historian named Carter G. Woodson, Black History Month may have never come to fruition. Ivy League-educated Woodson created Negro History Week to spotlight the achievements of African Americans. In the early 1900s, history books largely ignored the ways blacks had contributed to American culture. Negro History Week, which morphed into Black History Month in 1976, provided a means to tell the world about the number of accomplishments African Americans have made in the face of persistent oppression—from slavery to Jim Crow to discrimination in the workplace._About.com)
