Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi (Newscom)

U.S. officials tell The Daily Beast they are convinced an ex-MI6 spy—now a senior adviser to BP—helped free the Pan Am 103 bomber. Philip Shenon on the man the Senate wants to question.

Did a former top British spy now on BP’s payroll – a man known as “BP’s Lawrence of Arabia” – win the release of the Lockerbie bomber and preserve BP’s huge oil-drilling business in Libya?

U.S. law-enforcement and congressional officials tell The Daily Beast they are convinced the retired MI6 spy—Sir Mark Allen, now a senior adviser to BP in London—played a key behind-the-scenes role in freeing the Pan Am 103 bomber, Abdel Baset al Megrahi, who was released from a Scottish jail last summer and allowed to return home to Libya.

Through a BP spokesman, Allen, a well-respected spook who specialized in the Arab world in his career at MI6 and who led U.K. government efforts after the 9/11 attacks to persuade Libya to give up its WMD programs and restore ties to the West, denies he made any effort to help Megrahi.

“If we get the chance to call in some of the BP officials to testify about Megrahi, Allen will be on the top of our list for testimony,” a Senate aide said.

But government investigators in the U.S., outraged over the release of the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am 747 over Scotland that left 270 people dead, most of them Americans, are hoping that BP’s newfound infamy in the Gulf of Mexico will allow the U.S. to force BP to disclose what involvement the company—and specifically, Allen—may have had in Megrahi’s release.

“Allen seems to be at the heart of this story,” said a Senate aide whose boss joined with other Senate Democrats this week in calling on the State Department and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to investigate BP’s connection to the bomber’s release.

The Senate Democrats say their outrage over Megrahi’s freedom has only grown in the wake of new reports from Libya that the Lockerbie bomber, released from a Scottish jail because he was supposedly only weeks from dying from terminal prostate cancer, is far from dead—and may in fact survive for several more years.

“If we get the chance to call in some of the BP officials to testify about Megrahi, Allen will be on the top of our list for testimony,” the Senate aide said. “Certainly some of us think subpoenas are in order.”

Allen should be quizzed, the aide said, about the instructions he received at BP from the man who hired him at the company in 2004—then-Chief Executive John Browne, who later stepped down from BP in the wake of a perjury scandal. (In a book, Browne admitted having made mistakes in court papers testifying to details of a gay relationship he had.)

Allen had obvious appeal to BP, given his close ties to Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi and his friendships with other leaders of oil-rich Arab nations—friendships cultivated in part through Allen’s love of falconry, the hobby of choice of many Arab rulers. (Allen’s book, Falconry in Arabia, was published in 1980.)

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) singled out Allen by name this week in calling for an investigation of BP’s involvement in Megrahi’s release, alleging that the energy company may have “gained access to Libyan oil reserves by using a mass murderer as a bargaining chip.”

For one thing, see there is a good South African Restaurant in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and we go there for inspiration and nourishment from time to time. www.madibarestaurant.com/  – info@madibarestaurant.com.
 http://politic365.com/2010/07/19/happy-b…

Based on the above – we write: Two freedom fighters I most admire, writes Noel Anderson, Professor at Brooklyn College, in the struggle for South African democracy are Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela. Law partners and comrades, both men helped to shape the direction of the country, with Mandela leading the struggle from within, while Tambo raised international consciousness and money while exiled abroad. Tambo is no longer with us, but Mandela keeps the best of that struggle alive, becoming the first truly democratically elected President of South Africa after decades of imprisonment, and continuing to serve as a moral symbol for African and world affairs.

Born 92 years ago on July 18th, 1918, into a royal family in the Transkei, Mandela has been at the center of not just South African but global freedom struggles. He was the head of the ANC youth league and became a founding member of Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”) the armed wing of the ANC, before being imprisoned for 27 years.

President Obama, in tribute to Mandela’s work, has called on all to engage in community service. (In effect this past weekend everyone of us was called to put aside 82 minutes of his time and dedicate those 82 minutes to the community.  The United Nations has also recognized his birthday as Nelson Mandela International Day by calling on November 10, 2009 to make the !8th of July The International Mandela Day – and this year – the July 18th 2010, was supposed to be The First International Mandela Day. But it fell on a Sunday and that is a no-no for the UN Free Birds that must keep the weekend in New York for free enjoyment – really – what other reason for spending the time in this hot city? So, the UN moved to celebrate the day, this year, on  Thursday night and Friday Morning – 15th and 16th of 2010.

Strange as it sounds, its important to recognize that “Madiba” (his term of endearment), the 92 year old grandfather, still has a revolutionary spirit and still… very much alive. The press tends to talk about him the past tense, as if he is long gone and only his legacy survives. Yes, health concerns has led him to retreat from a once rigorous travel schedule, and his chronological age puts him in the twilight of his life. But Mandela is  mentally very lucid, weighs in on global politics and still advises in the affairs of his philanthropic foundation. Further, despite the controversial painting of Mandela, depicting him as dead and being used for an autopsy by political leaders, he still speaks with leaders on pressing concerns, and remains loyal to those countries that supported the freedom struggle.  Happy Birthday, Madiba!

{Dr. Noel S. Anderson is Associate Professor of Political Science and Education at the City University of New York – Brooklyn College. His work focuses on urban politics, human development and education and comparative issues in public policy – U.S. and South Africa}.

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The celebration started on Thursday night 6:30 pm with a series of three talks and the screening of the documentary “MANDELA: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation, in the new ECOSOC Chamber in the UN temporary North Lawn building.

No one from the high flyers of the UN was there – their place taken by fill-ins, but luckily Jonathan Demme the director, and Peter Saraf, the co-producer of the film were there – so the aesthetics of their production could be brought up.

For the UN spoke Margaret Novicki and Nicholas Haysom.

Margaret Novicki was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan  as the Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Pretoria, South Africa.  Ms. Novicki, a national of the United States, brings to this post extensive experience in communications, media relations and journalism, much of it acquired in Africa. Prior to Pretoria she worked for the UN in Accra. She chaired the evening. She spoke on behalf  of the UN USG for UNDPI – Mr. Kiyotaka Akasaka.
Why DPI? Why not the Secretary General himself?

Nicholas Haysom, as an attorney of the South African High Court, he litigated in high-profile human rights cases between 1981 and 1993.  He acted as a professional mediator in labour and community conflicts in South Africa between 1985 and 1993, and has advised on civil conflicts in Africa and Asia since 1998. Founding partner and senior lawyer at the human rights law firm of Cheadle Thompson and Haysom Attorneys, and an Associate Professor of Law and Deputy Director at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits University in South Africa until May 1994, when he was appointed Legal Adviser to President Mandela.

Mr. Haysom was closely involved in the constitutional negotiations leading up to the interim and final Constitutions in South Africa.  He served as Chief Legal Adviser throughout Mr. Mandela’s presidency, and continued to work with Mr. Mandela on his private peace initiatives up to 2002.

Since leaving the office of the President upon Nelson Mandela’s retirement in 1999, Mr. Haysom has been involved in the Burundi Peace Talks as the Chairman of the committee negotiating constitutional issues (1999–2002). He continued to serve on the implementation committee of the Burundi Peace Accord after 2002.

Incoming UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Professor Nicholas Haysom of South Africa as Director for Political Affairs in his Executive Office, May 16, 2007. Our friend Matthew Russell Lee complained that he is never seen at the UN – but in a careful reading of the article we find there the concept of preventive diplomacy – we wish had more credence at the UN.  “He said there is a resistance to preventive diplomacy among member states, leading to the blocking of reform and regional offices of the Department of Political Affairs — he ascribed the most strenuous opposition to Latin America — and to resistance to the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and Ed Luck’s appointment as special advisor on the topic.” In short – he actually seems to be well ahead of the UN but not really of the UN – where he finds it difficult to execute policy that is factually set by only the Permant Five of the Veto Power.

What we said above was that both speakers for the UN are somehow South Africa based and not UN based.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xo?li?a?a man?de?la]; born in a Xhosa home in Qunu, Transkei,where his father, the Town Counselor, had 4 wives and the boys lived in a separate home from the parents. Chief Jogintamba saw his potential and sent him to the Clakebury Boarding School. In 1933, at 15, he got involved in the Walter Sisulu led ANC and when he reached 30 years, that is when coincidentally Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd’s contribution to Afrikanerdom was to dress up apartheid and make it appear respectable to his followers, and the Mandela & Tambo law-firm took on the anti-apartheid legal defense.

In 1956 Mandela prepared the Freedom Charter and the people declared – “We Stand by Our Leader.” Then in 1960 happened the Sharpeville masacre and the call changed to: “Freedom in Our Time” and Wolfie Kadesh, a white man, was an activist. In 1962 Mandela went underground and George Bizios, also a white man, was his lawyer. Eventually, Mandela was apprehended and was in jail 1961 – 1988. Gowan Mbeki was imprisoned for 25 years. In August 1989 Botha resigns and De Klerk takes over and leeds the negotiations with Mandela. November 1993 both of them get the Nobel Prize. Friday, 10 Dec 1993 was Mandela’s speech in Oslo. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen…

Fully representative Democratic elections took place on 27 April 1994, and Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist. We saw how he got there from his village roots and we learned about the 27 years he spent as a FREE MAN behind bars – freer in his spirit then his captors that knew that they were the captives in the hands of the true Free World. Yes – those years – post World War II – when the UN was young and small – the World had hope for a future that will be very different from the way history evolved prior to those days. Today we can say that the hope tuned out to be pre-mature and Nelson Mandela who moved with his times forged an image for the World well ahead of his time. But no despair, his personal example moved at Least South Africa to ending its internal conflict even though many other conflicts in the World continue to rage on.

Mandela, son of Africa and Father of the New South Africa, depicted in advertisement as a barefoot young boy in what looks like a general’s coat, armed with a stick, said that his watchwords were TRUTH & FREEDOM.

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From the screening event at the UN I hurried down to the Manhattan Village – to TEATROIATI at 64 East 4th Street (between Bowery and 2nd Av,) where Sabrina Lastman of Uruguay was having a showing of her CANDOMBE JAZZ PROJECT – mixture oral tradition AFRO-URUGUAYAN MUSIC with elements of Jazz. I bring this in here because in many ways it was befitting the Mandela event.

In the Mandela documentary we saw much of the peoples culture of the Indigenous Africans of the original South Africa, and somehow it must have been quite similar to what Africans, probably from the Congo region, brought with them to what are now Uruguay and Argentina. The fact that this music has survived, and in effect has now a revival, are signs of its resilience, but also of the influence Mandela’s achievements had world-wide.

The Candombe Jazz Project is a New York City-based ensemble playing Candombe, the Afro Uruguayan music tradition. CJP presents an exciting concert of original compositions by Sabrina Lastman & Beledo, arrangement of oral tradition songs, & songs by renown Uruguayan songwriters.

Candombe Jazz Project includes:
Sabrina Lastman – voice / compositions
Beledo – guitar / keyboard / compositions
Arturo Prendez – candombe drum / percussions
Special guests: Agrupación Lubola Macú

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“PEACE IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF CONFLICT – IT IS THE CREATION OF AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE ALL CAN FLOURISH,” Mandela said. He also wanted to see the emancipation of women – not just the races. These are things the UN must write on its flag – does it?

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On Friday was the Official Commemorative Ceremony, in the big General Assembly Hall, that started with the usual UN delay at 10:20 am., with many Missions to the UN having one warm body sitting in their row – only South Africa, headed by a Minister, having all six seats, and some more, occupied. This was a Special Plenary, ahead of the regular daily Plenary.

The UN had the event open to outsiders, and that was nice. The problem that there were not many insiders present.

The President of the General Assembly, the former Libyan Foreign Minister Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, who is under a Schengen Travel Ban,  was not there, and that was good. Instead was one of his seconds, but the Press kit just goes ahead selling him to the innocents. We do not even know the name of the nice lady that chaired the meeting she defined as an “INFORMAL Meeting” of the GA.

“IT IS IN OUR HANDS TO CREATE A BETTER WORLD” said Mandela – God bless him and save the GA.

That was followed by a video message from the UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon, who said that Mandela’s greatness came from: “HE FOUGHT HIS OPRESSORS FOR YEARS AND THEN FORGAVE THEM. – HE CONSTANTLY REMINDS US HE IS AN ORDINARY MAN, BUT HE ACHIEVED UNORDINARY THINGS.”

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This was followed by The Minister of International Relations and Commonwealth Relations of South Africa, Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashbane, who said that in October 1994 he helped Free South Africa.

She continued saying that in the next two days – to July 18th, people of the globe will get together to hear the words that inspired us in South Africa. She thanks in the name of President Jacob Zuma for adopting in November 2009 this resolution to have the International Mandela Day started this year. South Africa and the World are fortunate to have had a man as Nelson Mandela. She added that the UN was all the way on “Our” side in our fight against Apartheid. We owe our freedom to the role of this august house. By celebrating Mandela Day we celebrate the best for what the UN was created. UBUNTU – we believ in ourselves for what we are.

Her words were followed by a video, and we saw February 19, 1994 people of all South Africa standing peacefully in line and giving their vote.

The Minister’s presentation was clearly the highlight of the informal ceremonial, that was then followed  {informally?} by one representative from each one of UN’s major group.

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This was a sad succession of obligatory diplomatic bows with some sparks of freshness.

Egypt spoke on behalf of the Non-aligned Movement – the enigma of the UN,

The Republic of Congo on behalf of the African States, spoke of the recent World Cup,

Darussalam on behalf of the Asian States, this is the Brunei Darussalam State, that clearly needs still its own liberation,

Belarus on behalf of the East European States, spoke interestingly of a long walk to Freedom,

Saint Lucia on behalf of the Group of Latin & Caribbean States, who in our opinion was the best speech  we called the Mission and asked for the speech. We attach the full speech to the end of our posting. The Afro-Caribbean Ambassador, surely descendant of slaves, H.E. Donatus Keith St Aimee, in obvious heart felt fashion said that “Few persons whose name resonate with approval on all continents – All our efforts at the UN came to essence in his life.”

Belgium on behalf of the Western European and Other States, but was mis-introduced by the Chair as speaking for the EU as temporary President of the EU. The main point was that “Let us remind ourselves that our work is far from complete – our work is for freedom or all.”

The last speaker was for the host country – the USA. who said that Apartheid was twisted and grotesque in its effort to justify oppression. Mandela overthrew apartheid by force of example.

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STATEMENT BY H. E. DONATUS ST AIMEE.

PERMANENT REPRESENTAIVE OF SAINT LUCIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN STATES (GRULAC).

ON THE OCCASION OF THE OBSERVANCE OF NELSON MANDELA INTERNATIONAL DAY.

FRIDAY JULY 16TH, 2010

Mr. Chairman, I am honored to speak on behalf of Member states comprising the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), as we show our respect and admiration for an icon of the ages.

In the annals of recorded history there are few individuals whose names resonate with esteem and are uttered with deference on all continents and in all societies.  There are few lives that are unequivocally admired or unreservedly revered by all races and ethnicities; and there are few persons who in a more emotional sense, are cherished and held dear by such a large segment of humanity. Like all celebrated and remarkable men or women, this person whom we come to honor today is identified internationally with one single name befitting his role in our global society and that name is – MANDELA.

We are here today to honor Nelson Mandela pursuant to the adoption of Resolution A/64/L.13. We are here today to commemorate a man who in a lifetime of dignity has come to represent the very ideal for which we struggle daily in the United Nations. All our words, all our actions, all our individual and collective efforts aim in their sum total to equal what is represented by the life of Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela became an international symbol because of his struggle against oppression generally and apartheid in South Africa in particular. We know his history:

· From the early nineteen forties he was a leader of one of the most significant non-violent movements in history.
· For 27 years he was imprisoned under brutal conditions even as he heard of the death beyond his prison walls, of his brothers and sisters in the struggle against apartheid. How many times he must have wondered when his time would be coming to also face death at the hands of his captors.
· Finally he was released on 11th February, 1990.
· To understand the magnitude of his suffering and indignity of his incarceration, we must comprehend that he entered prison at the age of 45 and left at age 72.

These facts as we know them only scratch the surface of the beauty that is the life of Nelson Mandela. What was it that resulted in Nelson Mandela receiving more than 250 awards over four decades including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize? It was not his physical incarceration that captured the imagination of people, it was not the brutality of apartheid nor the interest of so many supporters the world over to stop this aberration.

What captured our imagination was that Nelson Mandela’s indomitable spirit, his humanity, his humility and his vast love of his people could not be imprisoned in any way by iron, concrete or barbed wire. He went into prison in 1963 as an unbowed, proud, determined South African fighter and came out in 1990 as an unbowed, proud, determined 20th Century leader and icon.

As Mandela himself put in words:

“I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom… I cannot sell my birthright, nor am I am prepared to sell the birthright of the people to be free…”

Mandela turned down freedom at an earlier date because he insisted that it had to be unconditional and as President from 1994 to 1999, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation in order to harness all the resources of South Africa to lift the economic conditions of his people. His spirit of forgiveness, his turning of the other cheek has ensured that South Africa joined as an equal partner in the nations of this world, so that within the past month we have all had the great joy of watching South Africa host the World Cup in splendid and successful fashion.

How important it is that the Member States of the United Nations saw it fitting to adopt a Resolution to commemorate Nelson Mandela International Day, an annual event which the world would observe, now for the first time on the occasion of his 92nd Birthday, and for years to come.

We the Member States of GRULAC, have experienced in similar forms many of the travails experienced by South Africa and personified in the life of Nelson Mandela. Our region has had its own icons, and we remember their considerable contributions to the development of our nations when we pause here to honor the life of Mandela.  For this reason his life, his response to adversity, his humanity, resonates not just in our minds for the success of his mission but in our hearts for the beacon he has become for all peoples suffering repression.

What this man said was merely a punctuation for what he did, and what he did is being recognized today in this august forum so that present and future generations need not wonder as to the path to success in nation building, but merely need to follow the footsteps of this great man.

He truly is an ordinary man who has behaved in an extraordinary way!

As Libya Ejects UN Refugee Agency, Libyan PGA Treki Does Nothing, Withholds UNHCR Letter.

UNITED NATIONS, June 10 — As Libya moves to expel the UN’s refugee agency, Inner City Press has asked the office of UN General Assembly President Ali Treki, former foreign minister and senior adviser to the country’s longtime leader, if Treki is doing anything to avoid a cut of in assistance to refugees and involuntary migrants in Libya.

Rather than describe any efforts, his spokesman said that Treki “is not representing the Government of Libya. He is in his capacity as President of the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly.” But UNHCR is a organ of the General Assembly. Shouldn’t Treki try something?

Many in the UN system feel that Treki should try. Others say that Treki gets along so badly with Libya’s Mission to the UN that his intervention might be counterproductive.

Ali Treki at UN, action on Libya expulsion of UNHCR not shown

On June 8 Inner City Press asked Treki’s spokesman Jean Victor Nkolo:

Inner City Press: On this question of Libya expelling the UN refugee agency, I just wonder if the President, given that he was Foreign Minister of Libya and a special or senior adviser to Muammar Gaddafi, does he see any role for himself in trying to ensure that the country for which he served in both those functions doesn’t expel the UN system in this way?

Spokesperson: Well, the President, in this whole matter, is not representing the Government of Libya. He is in his capacity as President of the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly. I can confirm that the Office of the President of the General Assembly received a letter from the Head of UNHCR, Mr. [António] Guterres on this subject. But I really cannot say more at this stage.

Inner City Press: As PGA, but do you think, in particular, as a former Libyan senior diplomat with an ability to somehow solve this important issue?

Spokesperson: Well, that’s a conclusion that you may be drawing, but…

Inner City Press: Can you release the letter?

Spokesperson: For the time being, the President has not even seen the letter yet. He is resting; he is in Turkey. I think we’ll have to get there when he has seen the letter and we ask him if he has a statement or an opinion to make. He received the letter in his capacity as President of the General Assembly. As you know, UNHCR is a subsidiary body that reports to the General Assembly, and it is in the capacity of Dr. Treki as President of the GA that this letter was received.

Inner City Press: [inaudible] ask him to take some action with regard to his former senior advisee, Muammar Gaddafi?

Spokesperson: You will understand that I cannot comment on the content of the letter for the time being.

Two days later, still nothing has been said, or done.

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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
11 June, 2010 =========================================================================

FORMER SWISS LEADER ELECTED AS NEXT PRESIDENT OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY

A former leader of Switzerland who was instrumental in his country joining the United Nations eight years ago was today chosen by the world body’s 192 Member States to serve as the next President of the General Assembly.

Joseph Deiss, 64, who was elected this morning by acclamation, will succeed Ali Treki when he takes over the presidency in mid-September as the General Assembly’s 65th session begins.

Accepting the post “with great hope and solid conviction,” Mr. Deiss told the Assembly that the world has entered an era of increasing interdependence.

“Everything is moving faster and coming closer,” he said. “New global challenges have also emerged – climate change, economic and financial crises, terrorism and global crime, extremism of all kinds – in addition to the perennial problems of war and poverty. They all require collective and urgent responses. More than ever before, we need to act together to be effective.”

The President-elect later called on Member States today to return to the goals set out in the UN Charter and guide their work by the principles of peace, friendship and cooperation.

“I was struck by the importance that we give in the Charter to the idea of friendship that goes much further than just defending the interests of our countries,” he told journalists at a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York.

Mr. Deiss’ first major event as President will be the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summit in September, where world leaders will be asked to accelerate progress to reach the anti-poverty goals by their target date of 2015.

As a former economics professor, the President-elect said he would focus the Assembly’s agenda in 2010-11 on global governance in general and economic governance, as well as Security Council reform, climate change and biodiversity, and food security.

Earlier today, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro spoke on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in conveying congratulations to Mr. Deiss.

“The President-elect brings great experience to the job – as a scholar, as a parliamentarian, and as a government minister,” she said. “He knows the immense value of the United Nations, having led Switzerland’s accession campaign to the Organization.”

Despite having a UN office in Geneva, Switzerland did not sign on as a UN Member State until 2002 for fear that membership would tarnish its long-standing neutrality.

While serving as Swiss foreign minister between 1999 and 2002, Mr. Deiss worked to allay such concerns as headed of the accession bid. In 2004 he served as president of the Swiss Confederation for a year.

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The Swiss and Gaddafi had some hand wrestling in the past but the UN DPI announcement ,with diplomacy, does not touch upon any of that.

UNelections Monitor, Issue # 141 – General Assembly Expected to Elect Joseph Deiss as President on June 11

New York, May 27, 2010 – The UN General Assembly will meet on Friday, June 11, to elect the President of its 65^th Session. Joseph Deiss of Switzerland is expected to be elected. Deiss was chosen as the candidate of the Group of Western European and Other States (WEOG) in December 2009.

Deiss has served as the Federal Councillor for Switzerland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, during which time he led the accession of Switzerland to the UN.

The post of GA President rotates between the five UN regional groups. The region whose turn it is identifies a nominee, putting forward just one name to the General Assembly. The GA, then, elects the person, typically by acclamation (i.e. without a vote).

This is the second time in a row that WEOG’s selection of a candidate for GA President has been competitive. In 2009, two members of WEOG put forward candidates – in addition to Switzerland’s nomination of Mr. Deiss, Belgium nominated Mr. Louis Michel, its former foreign minister.

The GA’s 65^th Session will run from September 14, 2010 until September 13, 2011.

Mr. Deiss will succeed Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya, elected last year after endorsement by the Group of African States.

This will be the first time for a national of Switzerland to hold the Presidency.

About Joseph Deiss

Deiss has served on the Swiss Federal Council in several key positions. He was the Federal Councillor for the Department of Foreign Affairs (Minister of Foreign Affairs) from 1999-2002.

(The Federal Council of Switzerland is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the government of Switzerland and serves as the collective head of state. The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs serves as Switzerland’s ministry of foreign affairs.)

While at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Deiss “led the successful campaign on Switzerland’s accession to the United Nations,” said the government’s press release. The country joined the UN in late 2002.

From 2003-2006 Deiss headed the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, and he was named President of the Swiss Confederation in 2004.

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Selection Process

The GA elects its President (PGA) on an annual basis.

Regional Rotation

The GA’s Rules of Procedure stipulate that the body elects its President with “regard…for equitable geographical rotation of [the] office among the regions.” Accordingly, the selection process follows regional rotation, in the following order:

• Eastern Europe
• Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC)
• Africa
• Western Europe and Others (WEOG)
• Asia

As a matter of practice (but not formal rule), the President may not be a national of any of the Permanent Five members of the Security Council.

With Africa having selected the current PGA, it was WEOG’s turn to select a President.

Nomination

The election of the GA President is typically non-competitive, as most regions operate on a “first come, first served” basis.

WEOG is an exception to that rule, however. After one country announces interest in a post, others may still come forward. This practice means that the Group may have a competitive process to select its nominee. The last time WEOG held the post was during the GA’s 60^th Session (2005-2006). Canada, Liechtenstein, and Sweden all nominated candidates, with Jan Eliasson of Sweden being elected.

An unwritten agreement says that that GA Presidents from WEOG will alternate between EU members and the others. Of WEOG’s 28 members, 16 are members of the European Union. The others include the U.S. and Canada, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, and several smaller European countries.

As the previous WEOG President was from Sweden, an EU member, some considered it the turn of a non-EU member this year.

Belgium, a European Union member, announced its interest in the position in early 2007 but did not name a nominee. Then on September 17, 2009, Switzerland announced Deiss’ candidacy. The next day, former Belgian foreign minister Louis Michel told a reporter that he was the candidate for his country, thus giving WEOG two candidates between whom to choose a nominee.

WEOG’s agreement to nominate Deiss was reached after a round of informal straw polling during the month of December 2009. The Group then met in a closed meeting for a group straw poll December 14, during which Deiss secured more votes than Michel.

The results were confirmed by Switzerland’s delegation as well as the spokesperson for the GA president.

Election

The election of the President of the General Assembly is governed by the GA’s rules of procedure (Rule 30, as amended by Assembly resolution 56/509 of 8 July 2002 and 58/126 of 19 December 2003).

It is an election by a simple majority of Member States. Whereas there is traditionally only one name presented to the GA for election, however, the decision is taken by acclamation (an announcement followed by clapping) rather than a vote.

When a regional group does not select a single nominee before the GA election (as occurred in the Asian Group in 1991), the GA takes a vote to elect its next President.

Transition

Following GA Resolutions from 2002 and 2003, adopted as part of “revitalizing” the GA, the election must take place at least three months ahead of the start of Session over which the candidate will preside. This timing allows for informal overlap between the outgoing and incoming Presidents.

Treki will hand over the Presidency to his successor on September 14, 2010.

Role of President

The General Assembly’s official four-month agenda is presided over by the President, who also oversees any remaining issues to be dealt with in the remainder of the session. The powers of the President are set out in the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly (Rules 35-37).

The President does not vote on General Assembly decisions but has control over all other aspects of the discussions including time limitations for speakers, closure of the list of speakers, suspension and adjournment of debate, and ruling on points of order. In addition to these formal duties the President also has an informal facilitative role to play by consulting bilaterally with delegations to assess differences in position, propose solutions, and build consensus for proposals.

No formal criteria for the President exist in the Charter or the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure.

Compensation for the President of the General Assembly is determined by the home Member State, which pays the person a salary. This salary is in addition to the privileges granted to all persons acting in the service of the UN or its member states (per Convention of the Privileges and Immunities of the UN (A/Res/22A (1)) of 13 February 1946).

Coming Up

The expected nominations for the next five years are as follows:

• 66^th GA – Asian States (2011-2012)
• 67^th GA – Eastern Europe (2012-2013)
• 68^th GA – Latin American and Caribbean States (2013-2014)
• 69^th GA – African States (2014-2015)
• 70^th GA – Western European and Other States (2015-2016)

UN Watch in the News.

UN elects rights violators to Human Rights Council.

Edith M. Lederer
The Associated Press
May 13, 2009

Seven countries accused of human rights violations, including Libya, Angola and Malaysia, won seats on the U.N. Human Rights Council in an uncontested election Thursday.

The U.N. General Assembly approved all 14 candidates for the 14 seats on the 47-member council by wide margins despite campaigns by human rights groups to deny countries with poor rights records the minimum number of votes needed.

All 14 countries easily topped the 97 votes required from the 192-member world body. Libya, which currently holds the presidency of the General Assembly, received the lowest number of votes — 155 — while Angola got 170 and Malaysia 179.

In addition to these three countries, human rights groups criticized the poor rights records of Thailand, Uganda, Mauritania and Qatar which also won seats.

The seven other countries that won seats were Maldives, Ecuador, Guatemala, Spain, Switzerland, Moldova and Poland.

Iran withdrew from the race on April 23 after facing strong global opposition for severe human rights abuses including the government’s crackdown on opposition supporters.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said it was “notable … that Iran’s bid fell short.”

Human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations also successfully opposed the election of Iran and Venezuela in 2006, Belarus in 2007, Sri Lanka in 2008, and Azerbaijan in 2009.

The 14 countries elected Thursday will serve three-year terms starting June 19 on the Geneva-based council, which was created in March 2006 to replace the U.N.’s widely discredited and highly politicized Human Rights Commission.
The council, however, has also been widely criticized for failing to change many of the commission’s practices, including putting much more emphasis on Israel than on any other country.

The United States voted against the council’s creation during the Bush administration but reversed its position and won a seat last year after President Barack Obama took office.

Rice cited “some progress” since the U.S. has been on the council, noting its approval of a “milestone” resolution on freedom of expression, its investigation of last year’s massacre and rapes in Guinea, and adoption of stronger resolutions condemning rights violations in Congo, Myanmar, Somalia and Sudan.

“We remain committed to strengthening and reforming this council,” Rice told reporters. “We hope that the new council’s composition for the most part will provide us with partners — not all but most — with whom we can work constructively.”

The NGO Coalition for an Effective Human Rights Council said the failure of U.N. regional groups to put forward competitive slates deprived the General Assembly of the opportunity to elect the most qualified countries.

“Those who want the council to improve have to commit themselves to competitive elections and be willing to compete themselves for a seat,” said Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, a coalition member.

“Without competitive elections,” she told AP, “we’ll continue to see states that don’t meet the qualifications set by the General Assembly getting seats like Libya, Angola and Malaysia.”

Under the resolution that established the council, members are expected to “uphold the highest standards” of human rights and “fully cooperate” with it.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of Geneva-based UN Watch, which heads a coalition of 37 human rights organizations that campaigned for the U.S. and European Union to defeat Libya’s candidacy, said that “by electing serial human rights violators, the U.N. violates its own criteria as well as common sense.”

“Choosing Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to judge others on human rights is a joke,” Neuer said in a statement. “He’ll use the position not to promote human rights but to shield his record of abuse, and those of his allies.”

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International Scandal: Reactions Mount to
Libya’s Election to UN Human Rights Council

Global Media Cite UN Watch Campaign Against Qaddafi

The shock of Libya’s election to the UN Human Rights Council last Thursday continues to reverberate around the globe.

In Europe, the France 24 news channel reported today that the UN’s elevation of the Qaddafi regime “has been met with outrage the world over and is echoed on the web.” Berlin’s Morgen Post, Germany’s second most-read daily newspaper, called it a “success for Muammar Qaddafi,” and reported that “human rights groups are appalled.” Switzerland’s 20 Minuten, the country’s most widely read daily, noted that Libya continues to hold Swiss hostage Max Göldi, and that some consider the UN council “a cartel of perpetrators” that makes sure nothing that could potentially harm their power is even discussed much less decided.”

In America, the Associated Press headlined their story, “UN elects rights violators to Human Rights Council.” The New York Daily News criticized the fact that “America failed to raise a voice in condemnation.” The New York Daily Sun commented that “There was little the American ambassador here, Susan Rice, could do today to stop the General Assembly from voting Libya and other known rights abusers for a seat on the Human Rights Council, but instead of expressing outrage, she chose to praise the United Nations’s least praiseworthy body.”  See stories below.

All of these articles cited UN Watch’s leadership of the international Stop Qaddafi campaign.

“…The organization UN Watch has not hidden its anger over the result of the vote. This NGO had been campaigning for a long time, trying to mobilize heads of state to stop the election of Libya, a country with little respect for human rights…” - ”Thai web users bear witness to the violence that has rocked Bangkok,” France 24, May 17, 2010.

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“…Eine Gruppe von 37 Menschenrechtsgruppen hatte Libyen und Gaddafi schwere Vergehen vorgeworfen und schwere Schäden für das UN-Gremium gesehen. ‘Bei der Wahl eines Landes, das ständig die Menschenrechte verletzt, verletzen die Vereinten Nationen ihre eigenen Werte, ihre eigene Logik und ihre eigene Moral,’ sagte UN-Watch-Chef Hillel Neuer. – “Gaddafi zieht in UN-Menschenrechtsrat ein,” Berliner Morgenpost, May 16, 2010.

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“…Die 47 Mitglieder werden aus kontinentalen Gruppen gewählt. Afrika und Asien sind mit je 13 Sitzen vertreten. Lateinamerika und die Karibikstaaten verfügen über acht, Osteuropa über sechs Sitze und Westeuropa sowie die restlichen Staaten über sieben. Die Nichtregierungsorganisation UN Watch untersucht die Aktivitäten und Beschlüsse der UNO, insbesondere des Menschenrechtsrats…’” - Daniel Huber, ”Warum der zweifelhafte rat blind ist,” 20 Minuten, May 15, 2010.

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“‘…Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva based NGO, UN Watch, headed a diverse global coalition of 37 human rights groups that fought to defeat Libya’s candidacy, with appeals urging the US and the EU to lead an opposition campaign. Unfortunately, that campaign fell on deaf ears. Following Libya’s election, Neuer said: ‘By electing serial human rights violators, the U.N. violates its own criteria as well as common sense. Choosing Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to judge others on human rights is a joke… he’ll use the position not to promote human rights but to shield his record of abuse, and those of his allies’…” - Arsen Ostrovsky, “Libya elected to UN Human Rights body,” Frum Forum, May 14, 2010.

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“…Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch, dismissed the results, saying, ‘What we have this year is a farce. We have elections without competition. That makes no sense. We have countries like Libya that have atrocious human rights records…’” -  Antoine Blua, “Rights Groups Dismayed Over Libya’s Election To UN Human Rights Council,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 14, 2010.

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With hardly a whisper of protest by the United States, the UN General Assembly yesterday bestowed a seat in the world body’s Human Rights Council to Moammar Khadafy’s Libya.

Which is worse? That the vote was a landslide for Libyan membership? Or that America failed to raise a voice in condemnation? We’ll pick silence by the U.S. because it showed a disturbingly tolerant attitude by the globe’s primary hope for moral leadership.

The assembly gave 155 of 188 ballots to a country where speaking your mind can be a capital offense, while also electing other tyrannies – Angola, Qatar, Mauritania and Malaysia – by even larger margins.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice lamely sighed that the Human Rights Council “remains flawed,” and she declined to say whether she had voted against Libya.

Before the vote, she predicted that “a small number of countries whose human rights record is problematic … are likely to be elected.”

Libya isn’t “problematic.” It’s a horror. Now it joins such kindred spirits as China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia on the 47-member council, which spends most of its energy ranting about Israel as it averts its eyes from real human rights horrors – human trafficking, genocide, genital mutilation – that occur anywhere else.

According to UN Watch, a nongovernmental monitor, the council now has a 60% majority of member countries that are not free or democratic. Which is all the more reason the U.S. should have spoken out rather than continue down President Obama’s futile path of obsequiously trying to reform the council from within.
dfds

- ”Unspeakable silence: U.S. stands by as Libya wins seat on UN rights council,” NY Daily News, May 14, 2010.

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“…La Libia di Muammar Gheddafi e la Thailandia, insanguinata da rivolte e repressioni, sono state elette oggi, assieme ad altri dodici Paesi, al Consiglio dei diritti umani delle Nazioni Unite, suscitando le veementi critiche di organizzazioni non governative come UN Watch e Freedom House. Secondo Hillel Neuer, responsabile dell’organizzazione UN Watch, ‘scegliere il dittatore libico Muammar Gheddafi per giudicare altri sui diritti umani è una barzelletta…’” -  “Diritti Umani: Libia-Thailandia elette consiglio ONU Ginevra; ONG furenti, Gheddafi e’ Barzelletta. Iran in commissione donne,” ANSA, May 13, 2010.

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“…Immediatamente i rappresentanti delle organizzazioni non governative come Un Watch e Freedom House sono insorte contro la decisione ridicolizzandola: ‘Scegliere il dittatore Muammar Gheddafi per guidicare altri sui diritti umani è una barzelletta dichiara Hillel Neuer direttore di Un Watch . Le elezioni senza competizione non hanno senso…’” -  Giampaolo Pioli, “Gheddafi beffa tutti: garante dei diritti umani; Il Rais conquista un’ambita poltrona all’Onu,” ANSA, May 13, 2010.

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“According to a press release from UN Watch, a Geneva based non-governmental organization, ‘to date, the council has adopted 40 censure resolutions, of which 33 have targeted Israel… Out of nine emergency sessions that criticized countries, six were against Israel’...“ – UN Watch quoted in Ben Evansky, “Libya wins seat on UN Human Rights Council,” Fox News, May 13, 2010.

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“…A coalition of 30 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) based in Geneva had called on the US and the European Union to block Libya, which received 115 votes. Those NGOs criticized other countries including Thailand and Malaysia for failing to respect human rights, but Thailand received 182 votes and Malaysia 179 votes. ‘To see Libyan dictator Col Moammar Qaddafi judge others on human rights will turn the UN council into a joke,’ said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch in Geneva…’” - ”Libya, Thailand among newly elected Human Rights Council members,” Deutsche Presse Agentur, May 13, 2010.

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U.S. envoy praises U.N. council on human rights as Libya is seated

Benny Avni
May 13, 2010

There was little the American ambassador here, Susan Rice, could do today to stop the General Assembly from voting Libya and other known rights abusers for a seat on the Human Rights Council, but instead of expressing outrage, she chose to praise the United Nations’s least praiseworthy body.

Ms. Rice couldn’t even bring herself to condemn Libya’s specific human rights record or even tell reporters how America voted in the General Assembly, where 155 of the 192 members deemed the Colonel Gadhafi tyranny fit to sit in judgment of other countries’ human rights record.

The game, it turns out, was rigged, 14 countries having run for 14 available seats on the 47-member Geneva-based rights body. They were all pre-selected by regional groups, some of which include a plurality of countries that care little about human rights violations within their own borders. For countries that do, there was little recourse other than voting against the most flagrant violators and publicizing their opposition.

“As you know, having covered this institution for a while, the United States doesn’t reveal for whom we vote,” Ms. Rice told a reporter who asked about how she had voted on Libya and other rights violators like Mauritania, Angola, Qatar, Thailand, and Malaysia, who secured their new council seats. “I’m not going to sit here and name names,” Ms. Rice said.

Libya received the fewest number of votes in today’s secret ballot, and diplomats say most Western countries likely withheld support. Is Ms. Rice acting the tactful diplomat, assuming that criticizing Libya now would prevent unnecessary Geneva clashes later? Is she trying to maintain the careful balance that Washington has tried to strike of late in its relations with Tripoli?

Either way, Ms. Rice oddly declined to oppose publicly Libya’s council seat. An American diplomat told me that keeping a secret U.N. ballot secret was a long tradition that both Republican and Democrat administrations hold dear.

But in 2003, in a similar circumstance, America openly and publicly fought against Libya’s chairmanship of the Commission on Human Rights. It was that public American fight against Mr. Gadhafi that led enough U.N. members to recognize how ill-suited the Commission was for dealing with human rights. It also hastened the demise of that futile body.

Locked in several other struggles with the Bush Administration, Secretary General Annan, in office at the time, proposed forming a new rights body, and the Human Rights Council was born in 2006.

The American envoy at the time, Ambassador Bolton, warned that the new body was no real improvement and predicted that it will soon prove even worse than its predecessor. The Bush administration voted against the Council’s establishment, declined to run for a seat, and withheld funding from it.

As soon as President Obama acceded, Ms. Rice lobbied for a change of course. America soon joined and cheered the Human Rights Council even as the Council resumed its Israel-bashing, including the establishment of the Goldstone Commission to assure Israel’s condemnation for alleged war crimes in Gaza. Geneva also maintained its failure to address seriously flagrant violations anywhere else, including in Sudan, North Korea, Sri Lanka or Burma or to air the stifling of rights in places like China, Egypt, Cuba or Saudi Arabia.

America “joined the Human Rights Council a year ago because we feel very firmly that the promotion and protection of human rights internationally is a core value of the United States and a fundamental cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy,” Ms. Rice told reporters.

She acknowledged that the council “has not lived up to its potential, and remains flawed,” but also insisted that “it is preferable to work from within to shape and reform a body with the importance and potential of the Human Rights Council, rather than to stay on the sidelines and reject it.”

Rights organizations like U.N. Watch and Freedom House warn that the election of members like Libya dilutes the power of those who care about human rights. In today’s council, democracies hold only 40% of the seats — down from 49% last year.

So even as in New York Ms. Rice says that she’s making inroads in her struggle against Human Rights Council proposed resolutions like a ban on “defamation of religion,” there’s now a better chance that in Geneva such a resolution — which clearly violates America’s First Amendment — will sail through.

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Above just says that there is nothing new under the UN moon. In effect, today, Monday, May 17, 2010, I peeped into the room where the discussion on the Non-Proliferation-Treaty was going on, and heard with my own ears how the delegate from Iran was waxing that the way the text is warded it does not guarantee that terrorists will not get hold of nuclear material. Iran wants much more stringent language. With my eyes I saw how the chair, in very nice and diplomatic language, thanked Iran for its intervention smilingly. Only at the UN reality has no base to stand on!

UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
6 May, 2010 =========================================================================

IN SOLEMN SESSION UN MARKS 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF END OF SECOND WORLD WAR

The United Nations today marked the 65th anniversary of the end of the Second World War by paying homage to the “extraordinary bravery” of those who waged the “epic struggle for freedom and liberation” and vowing to banish the prospect of a repeat of such a scourge.

“It is fitting, today, that we commemorate the war’s end at a moment when nations are gathered to advance the cause of peace,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a commemorative special session of the General Assembly, citing the five-yearly review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) currently under way.

“The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is also a document of hope, a vision for a nuclear-weapon-free world,” he said. “Thank you for helping us to remember the past, so that we may better shape our future.”

Mr. Ban, who last month praised the agreement by Russia and the United States to reduce their nuclear arsenals, told reporters afterwards that progress was being made along the road to a nuclear weapons-free future. “I am confident that we will continue to do so, if only because we must,” he said.

In his address to the Assembly, he recited a litany of major battles, horrors and terrible costs of the war. “The names and places resonate, despite the passing of many years – Stalingrad and Kursk, Auschwitz and Dachau (death camps), D-Day and the final battle for Berlin,” he said.

“Its cost was beyond calculation, beyond comprehension ¬– 40 million civilians dead, 20 million soldiers, nearly half of those in the Soviet Union alone. Those were years of unspeakable atrocities, of lost faith and lost humanity. Those years saw extraordinary bravery, as well. World War II was one of the most epic struggles for freedom and liberation in history. And in the end, idealism had its triumph, too.”

He stressed that the end of the war coincided with the San Francisco conference that established the UN “an organization founded on that most human of hopes, an end to the ‘scourge of war’.”

Acting Assembly President Abdalmahmoud Mohamad, Ambassador of Sudan, said the commemoration was a wake-up call to intensify efforts to settle all disputes by peaceful means.

“As we celebrate the end of one of the deadliest conflicts in human history, we also reflect on the immeasurable human cost of war,” he added. “Collectively, and with the needed political will, we can reinforce international peace and security around the globe, and ensure a better future for the coming generations…

“The international community has strived to achieve progress towards reconciliation, cooperation and the promotion of democratic values, human rights and fundamental freedoms. We must renew this commitment. We must continue our path towards a world that reigns with peace, security and prosperity for all. Today’s meeting is an excellent opportunity to renew our resolve to achieve this goal.”

Although the Second World War continued in Asia until August 1945 beyond May’s end of fighting in Europe, the General Assembly unanimously resolved in March to hold a special solemn meeting in the second week of May “in commemoration of all victims of the war.”

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Also today:

UN Watch Fights Libyan Bid for Seat on UN Human Rights Council.

E-Campaign to Stop Qaddafi: Click Here to Take Action

New York, May 6, 2010 — Pro-democracy group UN Watch launched a worldwide campaign to block Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi from winning a seat in next week’s elections to the UN Human Rights Council, with a mass email petition, a YouTube video appeal, and the presentation this week of Libyan victim testimony at a special briefing for diplomats and reporters at UN Headquarters, co-organized by UN Watch and Freedom House.

The two human rights groups also presented a new report rating the qualifications of Libya and the other 13 country candidates.

The event was attended by journalists from Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, CBS News, Radio Free Europe, and other major media organizations, and has already led to a dedicated editorial in today’s New York Daily News. See below.

“Freedom House and UN Watch urge all UN General Assembly members not to write in the name of Libya or other unqualified states when filling out the four African slots on their secret ballot,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch. “They should instead write in the names of African countries with far greater qualifications.”

According to the report, of the 14 candidates announced to date, only 5 are considered to be “qualified” to serve on the Council, including Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Guatemala and Maldives. Additionally, 4 candidates are identified as having “questionable” records, including Moldova, Ecuador, Uganda and Thailand. To view a PDF copy of the report, click here.

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The following editorial in today’s New York Daily News is based on the media briefing organized by UN Watch and Freedom House, including UN Watch’s presentation of how the UNHRC has turned a blind eye this year to well-documented killings and other mass abuses in Iran, China and Sri Lanka.

May 6th 2010

How dare the UN let Libya sit in judgment on human rights?

By James Kirchick

Last May, Fathi Eljahmi returned to his native Libya in a body bag, shipped home in the cargo hold of a commercial jetliner.

The 58-year-old political dissident had been tortured and imprisoned by the regime of Moammar Khadafy, the pockmarked military leader who has ruled the country for more than 40 years. Arrested in 2002 for the crime of advocating democracy, Eljahmi was placed in solitary confinement and denied medical treatment. Briefly released in 2004 after personal intervention from then-Sen. Joe Biden, he was imprisoned two weeks later after meeting with a small delegation from the U.S. Embassy. Libyan officials eventually let Eljahmi receive medical treatment in Jordan, but by then it was too late.

Contrast Eljahmi’s funereal repatriation with that of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer imprisoned for his role in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people when it exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. Last August, Megrahi was released by the Scottish government on “compassion grounds” after a dubious doctor’s report found that he had terminal prostate cancer. He returned to Libya on Khadafy’s private jet and was met at the airport by cheering crowds waving Libyan flags.

Seven months later, Megrahi is living in a luxurious villa, his once-terminal health status suddenly no longer dire.

This sickening comparison tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the men running the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, as the country is officially called. I can’t claim credit for conjuring it up; it was Eljahmi’s younger brother Mohammed, a software designer living in Boston, who called the attention of a small audience to it Tuesday at the United Nations, [organized by UN Watch and Freedom House]. He was there to protest the imminent decision by the world body to award a coveted seat on the organization’s Human Rights Council to – you guessed it – Libya. Next week, the General Assembly will vote to fill 14 of the 47 seats on the council as part of an annual rotation; joining Libya as candidates are fellow human rights abusers Angola, Malaysia, Mauritania and Qatar.

Widely hailed after surrendering its nuclear weapons program in the spring of 2003 – a decision that probably had something to do with the forcible disarmament of a nearby dictatorship just months earlier – Libya remains one of the world’s most illiberal regimes.

“At a time when the ranks of African democracies are growing, it sends a terrible message to the world that a notorious human rights abuser such as Libya appears uncontested on the ballot,” says Thomas Melia, deputy executive director of Freedom House. His organization gave Libya the worst possible score of 7 on its annual survey, “Freedom in the World,” making it one of the nine most repressive countries on Earth. Political organizing is banned. There are no independent media. The government operates the country’s sole Internet server.

To ask that Libya and other dictatorships be barred from serving on a body ostensibly committed to the promotion of human rights is not to insist upon some impossible, mythical paradigm for the United Nations. To do so merely holds the organization to its own standards. According to the 2006 resolution founding the Human Rights Council, member states must “take into account the candidates’ contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made hereto.” By allowing a country that routinely jails political dissidents and that has no free press onto the body charged with discouraging such abuses, the UN renders its lofty principles meaningless.

The farce now playing out in Turtle Bay is indicative of the larger problem with the Human Rights Council. The body was intended to be an improvement upon its predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, which was scrapped after Western countries accused it of being a propaganda tool of the world’s worst human rights abusers; case in point, Libya was appointed head of the body in 2003.

But it appears that the changes have been in name only. The council, not unlike the commission, has completely ignored any and all abuses in China, the world’s most populous country and an authoritarian dictatorship. Nor has it condemned the regime in Cuba, which has increased its repression in spite of overtures from Washington. Too busy heaping scorn on the United States and Israel, the Human Rights Council hasn’t bothered to as much as appoint a special rapporteur to monitor the postelection crackdown in Iran.

Should Khadafy’s Libya proceed to earn a place on the Human Rights Council next week, as is increasingly likely, we will once again be left with the sad spectacle of the fox guarding the international henhouse. It speaks volumes about the integrity of the “international community” that it would choose a terrorist-celebrating murderer to sit in judgment of the world’s democracies.

“Everyone at the State Department kept telling me that Libya has changed,” Mohammed Eljahmi said in 2006, while his brother was languishing in a Libyan jail cell. “Libya has not changed.” Four years later, Libya still hasn’t changed. And neither, apparently, has the United Nations.

Kirchick is a writer at large with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and a contributing editor to The New Republic.

ALJAZEERA English reports from Sirta, Libya: “Arab leaders have expressed their total rejection of Israel’s settlement policy in occupied East Jerusalem at the end of a two-day regional summit in Libya. Regional leaders issued the statement on Sunday after the final session of an Arab League summit in the northern city of Sirte.”

But also says:  “Arab leaders failed to reach consensus on whether the Palestinians should resume stalled talks with Israel. Leaders rejected pressure from Syria and Libya on the Palestinians to abandon talks with Israel and resume armed resistance.”

And includes pieces from Riza Khan reporting: Please see it on:
 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middle…

Further – it includes also:

‘One-state solution’ Moussa, who said a day earlier that continued Israeli settlement building would end efforts to revive the stalled peace process, reiterated the warning on Sunday. “Within the next few weeks we have to decide what to do: whether to continue with the negotiations or to completely shift course,” he said. “If we find out that Israel is not leaving an opportunity to build two states, we are investigating the possibility of supporting a one-state solution. FROM THE BLOGS Back to sixties … Gaddafi style Gaddafi’s unpredictable summit “But such a decision will … come after serious investigation and study.” The leaders plan to hold an extraordinary meeting in September to discuss issues it was unable to resolve during the just concluded summit. Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Sirte, said Moussa’s statements indicated a call for a new regional reality to counter years of rhetoric. “He’s stating very specifically that in the past there has been lots of rhetoric, lots of talk, but it has not actually confronted what is the reality,” he said. “The reality is – as Arab states see it – continued support for Israel, by the United States in particular, despite the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people. ‘Unresolved’ problems Our correspondent said: “Year after year these summits are held and yet the reality on the ground is that the situation is not resolved. “Amr Moussa is acknowledging this, probably publicly for the first time – saying, ‘Yes there is an element of truth behind this, we have been talking for too long’.” Our correspondent said the leaders also discussed exploring closer relations between the Arab League and Iran, possibly through a forum that would include Turkey. Leaders at the summit also discussed Iraq and the state of security in the country following its recent elections. Al Jazeera’s Anita McNaught, reporting from Baghdad, said the summit leaders pointed out that Iraq’s security is crucial to the region’s stability. “This election is at a crucial stage,” she said. “If Iraq gets it right, the implications for Iraq’s neighbors are very positive. If things dissolve into rancor and violence, the effect will be massive.”

———————– As we said these last few days, reading and listening to ALJAZEERA might turn into a positive learning experience of what is being said on the other side of the curtain. ========================= This is corroborated by the Jerusalem Post – what nice comparisons when trying to understand the Middle East. http://www.jpost.com/Middle East/Article.aspx?id=172004 JPost.com Middle East Photo by: AP Familiar disingenuity at a uniquely Gaddafi-esque summit. By KSENIA SVETLOVA 28/03/2010 23:31 Analysis: As usual, the Arab-Israeli conflict demonstrated yet again its necessity – what would the distinguished leaders discuss in its absence? Upon landing at Libya’s tiny Sirte international airport, Arab leaders must have quickly figured out that the Arab League’s 22nd summit was going to be a little different to the other annual gatherings held in various Arab cities over the years – in superficial terms that is, not in terms of context and focus. The host, Muammar Gaddafi, who presided over the League’s summit for the first time, insisted on a traditional Arab atmosphere and arranged for authentic entertainment for his guests – camel and horse riding. Pita bread and dry dates were served in Beduin tents, so beloved by the “Brother Leader,” as Gaddafi is often called by his compatriots. The choice of Sirte, Gaddafi’s birthplace, wasn’t a trivial one, as this modest city, although well-located between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, is hardly suitable for large conventions such as the Arab summit, attended by heads of states and hundreds of politicians, diplomats and reporters. By choosing it, Gaddafi was honoring himself and his tribe. Al-Jazeera reported on problematic hotel arrangements and dissatisfaction among the Arab delegations with the venue. Gaddafi opened the session with a joke, as he usually does, teasing the emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifah al-Thani, for being overweight. The guests, who by now are used to Gaddafi’s odd sense of humor, smiled politely. Besides the lack of five-star service in the hotel, Arab leaders were in unanimous agreement on another issue: Israel. Israel, of course, should be condemned strongly and vehemently, and its violations in east Jerusalem were completely intolerable, stressed the speakers, who called to “rethink” the their backing of indirect negotiations between Israel and Palestinians. The emir of Qatar, who hosted the last Arab summit, in Doha, wondered if  “condemnations are enough for Jerusalem and al-Aksa? Are we and our peoples convinced that all we can do is to condemn and denounce? Do we really have to wait for the Quartet regarding Jerusalem and al-Aksa? Can anyone believe that we are incapable of lifting the siege on Gaza?” Gaddafi added that Arabs were “waiting for actions, not words and speeches.” Amr Moussa, the League’s staunchly anti-Israeli secretary-general, asked the participants to “look for another solution if peace talks fail.” Joining the Arab chorus was Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who labeled Israeli construction in east Jerusalem “madness.” (Erdogan, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accepted invitations to attend the summit). As usual, the Arab-Israeli conflict was in the limelight, demonstrating yet again its necessity for Arab summits – what would the distinguished presidents and kings discuss in its absence? The need to introduce reforms in Arab societies to meet the challenges of modernity? The bleak future of Iraq torn by sectarian struggle? The necessity of having a united Arab position on Iran’s push for hegemony in the Persian Gulf? The terrifying prospect of a nuclear Iran? True, this time Moussa managed to touch on the Iranian issue in his speech, calling for Arab-Iranian dialogue, but this proposal wasn’t met with much enthusiasm. Instead, the Arab leaders kept focusing on the necessary plan of action to rescue Al-Aksa and to stop the “Judaization” of Jerusalem. The first (and probably the last) step in this plan involves raising $500 million to aid the Palestinians in east Jerusalem. The Arab League hasn’t fulfilled many of its previous financial commitments to the Palestinians, while Gaddafi himself owes the League a sizable amount of cash – he hasn’t paid his country’s membership fees in years. The deep gap between the brotherly Arab nations continued to yawn during each and every session, not allowing the participants to even reach a common position on Palestinians. Gaddafi was visibly surprised by strong Syrian pressure to introduce a new initiative calling to support “the Palestinian resistance.” At one point the Libyans announced that if the final statement included any reference to this initiative, Tripoli would add a special clause outlining its reservations. And the Palestinians as usual found themselves caught in between, stressing that they were “ready to fulfill any decision of the Arabs.” It was no surprise then that 92 percent of participants in an Al-Jazeera online poll said they did not expect any important decisions from the Arab summit to protect Jerusalem or the Palestinians. Shortly before the summit began, Gaddafi loudly declared that he’d like to revive the spirit of the historic Khartoum summit in 1967, famous for its “3 No’s” resolution: No to recognition of Israel, no to talks with Israel, no to peace with Israel. While not going as far as nixing the prospects of proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the Libyan leader succeeded in presiding over an Arab League summit with the spirit of negativism of ’67’s Khartoum meeting. The unwritten resolution of the summit in Sirte might state: “No to discussing important issues, no to overcoming the gaps and the splits in the Arab world, and no to reforms and new ideas.

Press Conference at the UN

World Water Day

Monday, 22 March, 2010
12:30 p.m.
Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium

H.E. President of the UN General Assembly , H.E. Prime Minister of Tajikistan

H.E. Jan Eliasson
Chair of WaterAid Sweden, Former President of the UN General Assembly,
Former Foreign Minister of Sweden

With almost 884 million people lacking access to safe drinking water, and over 2.6 billion people, or almost 39 per cent of the world’s population, living without improved sanitation facilities, the issue of water is critical for tackling today’s challenges related to health, food security, and sustainable development.

To promote the International Decade for Action, “Water for Life 2005 – 2015”, the United Nations General Assembly is holding a special high-level interactive dialogue on water and its implications for the Millennium Development Goals, climate change, disasters, peace and security.

This high-level dialogue provides an important input to the preparatory process for the Summit on the Millennium Development Goals to be held on 20-22 September 2010, and feeds into the High-Level International Conference on water to be hosted by Tajikistan in June 2010.

General Assembly President Ali Treki, General Assembly President Ali Treki, Prime Minister Oqilov, and WaterAid Sweden Chair Jan Eliasson will brief the press on the significance of water-related issues and highlight the urgent need for action to fulfill international commitments on water by 2015.

————————-

The problem with the above press conference, which is part of the daily UN Spokesperson’s Briefing to the Press, is that the UN General Assembly President is Ali Treki, the Foreign Minister of Libya who was declared practically non-person by the Schengen countries, so he is unwelcome to Europe {a President of the UNGA – mind you – no less}, and Oqil Ghaybulloyevich Oqilov, Prime Minister of Tajikistan, just recently host to Ahmedi-Nejad of Iran,  and whose country is turning  into a pro-Iranian satellite. The fact that the UN water conference will be held in Tajikistan must have to do something with the push for legitimization by some of the world’s less palatable regimes.

That leaves the Honorable Jan Eliason, a friend from the days he served at the UN, and a friend of humanity, the only person worthwhile on that UN panel. We say this with full knowledge that water and climate change are indeed main problems for Libya and Tajikistan, but we just do not believe that the other two speakers on that dais have shown politically real interest in this topic.

We are curious what journalists will show up and how far can questioning be allowed by the UN,  and by the UN General Assembly,  Spokesmen.

————————-

Monday 04 January 2010
President Ahmadinejad lays wreath at Ismail Samani’s statue

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad laid wreath at the statue of Ismail Samani a former king here on Monday.
President Ahmadinejad arrived in Dushanbe Monday morning for a two-day stay in Tajikistan.

After welcome ceremony held by Tajikistan’s Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov, Ahmadinejad started talks with his Tajik counterpart Imomali Rakhmon.

During the talks, the two presidents signed three memoranda of understanding, two documents on cooperation and a statement on expansion of bilateral relations.

Later in the day, Ahmadinejad is planned to deliver speech to a group of resident Iranians at Ibn Sina Hospital, built by Iran’s private sector in the country. He is also due to inaugurate an Iranology center in the Tajikistan’s medical university.

——

Saturday 09 January 2010
President Ahmadinejad ends Central Asian tour

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left Turkmenistan for Iran Wednesday afternoon at the end of his two-nation tour to the Central Asia region.

The Iranian president was officially seen off by his Turkmen counterpart Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

He was in Turkmenistan to attend the inaugural ceremony of the first phase of Iran-Turkmenistan’s second gas pipeline project.

The 182-km pipeline was inaugurated by the Iranian and Turkmen presidents earlier on Wednesday.

President Ahmadinejad was in the region on a three-day visit which had brought him earlier to Tajikistan.

He discussed major bilateral, regional and international developments with senior Tajik and Turkmen officials.

A number of agreements were also signed by Iranian officials and their Tajik and Turkmen counterparts for promotion of bilateral cooperation between Tehran and the two Central Asian capitals.

—–

Saturday 09 January 2010
President Ahmadinejad returns home

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad concluded his two-nation tour to the Central Asian region and arrived in Tehran on Wednesday afternoon.

Upon his arrival, the Iranian president was welcomed by Supreme Leader’s Advisor for International Affairs Ali Akbar Velayati, 1st Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi as well as a number of high ranking officials and ministers.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, President Ahmadinejad described his visits to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as very fruitful and promising.

He discussed major bilateral, regional and international developments with senior Tajik and Turkmen officials.

A number of agreements were also signed by Iranian officials and their Tajik and Turkmen counterparts for promotion of bilateral cooperation between Tehran and the two Central Asian capital cities.

—–

Saturday 09 January 2010
President:
World’s fate to be decided in Middle East.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Thursday that world’s destiny will be decided in the Middle East.

“Iran and Syria should in a joint mission establish new world order based on monotheism, justice and humanity,” President Ahmadinejad told Syrian parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Abrash.

He said the world is on verge of big developments and the tyrannical systems are fading.

“Iran and Syria shoulder a crucial role in present juncture and their cooperation should further expand,” he added.

The 30-year resistance of Iran and Syria is almost close to the victory stage, said the President, adding, “Resistance of nations, including Iran and Syria, has thwarted all the conspiracies of the imperialistic system in the political, economic, military and ideological domains.”

The President went on to say that construction of the wall of separation in the occupied lands and of the steel war in Gaza all show the Zionist regime’s vulnerability. “The US government too will have to end up its interventions in the region and get its forces out of there.”

Al-Abrash said in return that expansion of relations and cooperation among Muslim states, including Iran and Syria, has nullified enemy conspiracies.
He said that Iran and Syria will as before move in the front of perseverance and campaign against global arrogance.

————————————

For more information and the full programme of the day, please see: www.un.org

Jonathan Rich, WaterAid, Tel.: +1 347 262 9115, Email:  jonathan at jcrcommunications.com

————————————-

Let the clean water flow

The kernel of the future – the projected five world leaders – are in trouble. With the US and China in a tiff because of Taiwan (arm sales by US manufacturers) and Tibet (a visit with the Dalai Lama), now South Africa, one of the three IBSAs that met with the G2 in Copenhagen, shows sings of 21st century immaturity. You just cannot go on living by Zulu rules if you want to lead your people out of poverty. Tiger Woods learned that very very fast that the limelight of world media will do you in, and even oil rich monarchs do not father now 20 children anymore. The stories about Zuma’s ascent in South Africa were plenty and his people we know told us so when it was rumored that he is in line to take over his country’s helm. It seems that Mandela’s South Africa deserves better – so does the 15 States group of Southern Africa { http://www.sadc.int }, and black Sub-Sahara Africa at large. We said before, South Africa is the third IBSA not alone, but as the symbol of all that immense Sub-Sahara black chunk of resources rich land and its one billion people that have the potential of evolving into next great consumers market to drive their own economy and the world economy. To this mass of people, the South African President must be an example and our prejudice that we knowingly attempt to show by this posting, calls for an exemplary leader for South Africa – someone fit to try on Mandela’s shoes.

This week the African Union rejected the attempt of Libya’s rambling Gaddafi to hold on to the chairmanship of Africa for another year, and voted instead to give the position to Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika. We attach the story about that event at the end of this posting, as we focus on the further ramblings by a Libyan-sponsored group of African traditional leaders from an unnamed French speaking African country, who crowned Qaddafi “King of Kings.” Africa seems to react indeed with understanding to the fact that the world is changing into a 7 to 10 countries structure and that Africa wants one of its own, and that means not Qaddafi, to be part of this structure – a modern man rather then a traditional chieftain – neither do they think anymore that the position of leader in Addis Ababa belongs to a Mediterranean North African settler. They want a black leader – but hiding under a Zulu mantle, and invoking rules of the desert, simply  can not do anymore.

——————–
South Africa’s President Sows (Another) Sex Scandal.

Theunis Bates
 http://abbaymedia.com/News/?p=3699
By JASON McLURE

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, delivered a rambling rebuke of fellow African heads of state Sunday after they chose to replace him as chairman of the African Union and failed to endorse his push for the creation of a United States of Africa.

“I do not believe we can achieve something concrete in the coming future,” said Colonel Qaddafi, before introducing President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi as his successor at the African Union’s annual summit meeting, held in Addis Ababa. “The political elite of our continent lacks political awareness and political determination. The world is changing into 7 or 10 countries, and we are not even aware of it.”

South Africa, Ethiopia and Nigeria were among the countries opposing Colonel Qaddafi’s attempts to form a continental government, which many view as impractical given the political and economic disparities in Africa.

Colonel Qaddafi argued that individual African states are too weak to negotiate with major powers like the European Union, the United States and China. His efforts to become the first African leader to win another one-year term as chairman of the African Union were thwarted by a push for Mr. Mutharika, 75, by the 15-member Southern African Development Community.

The Libyan leader also complained that such summit meetings were boring, that his colleagues were too long-winded and that he often was not informed of African Union decisions.

Colonel Qaddafi did not leave the lectern before giving the microphone to an unnamed representative of a Libyan-sponsored group of African traditional leaders who had crowned him “King of Kings” in a ceremony in 2008.

The representative, bearing a golden scepter and trailed by an aide fanning him with a large feather, spent much of his address praising Colonel Qaddafi.

“You have the African people with you,” said the man, who spoke in French and did not identify himself. “This is what is important, not politicking. It is politicians who have destroyed us.”

On November 1, 2005, SIXTY YEARS SINCE THE END OF WORLD WAR II, THE LIBERATION OF THE AUSCHWITZ EXTERMINATION CAMP BY THE SOVIET ARMY, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UN, finally, the UN that in major part came about because of the fact that the world realized that walking in the ashes caused by anti-Semitism and other isms, is not the will of the human race; the UN was created to learn from that experience – but did it? It took 60 years, the creation of the State of Israel, the travails of Zionism is Racism abomination, and one strong Ambassador of humanity to the organization – US Professor/ Senator/Ambassador Moynihan, to start to beat the anti-Semitic UN steel into compliance.

—————

UN Designates International Holocaust day
November 1, 2005, release:

The UN General Assembly has decided by acclaim to designate January 27 as international Holocaust Day.

This is the first time ever that a resolution introduced by Israel has been adopted by the UN General Assembly. Some not inconsiderable distance has been traveled from the infamous “Zionism is Racism” resolution to this resolution. At least, the world can be united in condemning genocide, even if “Zionists” propose the initiative. The vision of Austria and Germany co-sponsoring and approving of such a resolution is certainly heartening to the surviving victims of Nazi persecution, to the Jews, gypsies and others whose families died in the Holocaust and to the state of Israel.

Unfortunately, it is not at all certain how some countries will mark this day. Some of the rhetoric of the UN discussion is ominous: Several Muslim and Arab governments expressed “reservations.” Some countries believe that the Holocaust, in which a state turned against noncombatant civilians, was the same as bombing the cities of enemy countries at war. In many of the countries that approved of this resolution and even among those whose representatives spoke kind words about humanitarianism, Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are best sellers. Some of those countries have been accessories after the fact to genocide, or committed it themselves. In those countries, every day is Holocaust day. From the remarks of the Ukrainian representative, you would not know that the Jews of the Ukraine were rounded up by Ukrainian SS, or that the gas chambers at Auschwitz were run by a Ukrainian nicknamed “Ivan the terrible.”

What public activities will mark Holocaust day in Iran, where President Ahmedinejad has called for a world without Zionism and America? In Syria, a book about the Blood Libel (the accusation that Jews kill Christian children in order to use their blood for baking Matzot) was written by the former minister of Defense. Syria also made notable contributions to the history of racial persecution in its treatment of the Kurds. Will Syria mark this day in sympathy with the victims, or will they celebrate it by showing, perhaps, a screening of Lenni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will? Will this day become an occasion for so-called “anti-Zionists” to trot out Holocaust denial and accusations that Israel is committing a Holocaust against the Palestinians, or that the Zionists collaborated with the Nazis?

Will the world again stand aside at the next genocide, as it did in Rwanda, and as it did for a very long time in Darfur, and as it continues to do in Tibet? In the discussion, each state was quick to accuse others of genocide, but unwilling to accept responsibility for crimes of their own states and governments. The Venezuelans spoke about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Chinese alluded to Japanese crimes. The Ukrainians alluded to Soviet crimes. The discussion would have more meaning if the Americans had spoken about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Chinese had spoken about their activities in Tibet, the Japanese had spoken the rape of Mongolia and the Turks had spoken of the Armenian genocide.

The implementation of the resolution will be of more consequence than the paper or the words themselves,  and the reality of the actions of states will be more important than either.

The proliferation of vile Web sites and articles about the “Holocaust Myth,” claiming the Holocaust never happened and is yet another Jewish plot, points up the urgent need for this day of remembrance.

Alert readers of what was said that say will note some bitter ironies in the remarks of representatives of some states, whose people and governments were active collaborators or passive accessories in the crime of the Holocaust.

The date – January 27 – was picked as that was the date the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination machine was closed by the Soviet army. http://www.zionism-israel.com/news/holocaust_day.htm

The first commemoration was held at the UN in 2006 and this year we have thus the fifth such event – or actually a series of events, that traditionally start on the Saturday before the actual date with a ceremony at the Park East Synagogue located on Manhattan’s East Side – Midtown.

The list of this year’s events at the UN, as provided to parties outside the UN – and published on our website is:
 http://www.sustainabilitank.info/2010/01…

But besides the UN itself, the fact that the UN has thrown the light upon the Holocaust atrocities, and the world’s need to remember these atrocities by having an International day of Remembrance, it is now that even in unexpected places in the civilized world, we find events being organized for the purpose of remembering and of learning from that experience. We thought thus to mention here one such event in a place we hardly expected to find it – the main Carnival city of the North-East of Brazil – Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.
 http://www.sustainabilitank.info/2010/01…

We will be reporting on this year’s week-long series in several postings that will involve also other related events – for now we will put up the clear Jewish angle to the comemoration – as it reflected in the Park East Sybagogue events and in the political official presentation at the UN main event of January 27, 2010

REMARKS AT PARK EAST SYNAGOGUE IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUST

by H.E. Srgjan Kerim President of the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Park East Synagogue
New York, 26 January 2008

Rabbi Schneier,
Excellencies,
Members of Park East Synagogue,
Dear Friends,

I am very grateful to Rabbi Schneier for inviting me to the Park East
Synagogue – a historic architectural treasure in the heart of
Manhattan.

I am sure that you are all very proud of Rabbi Schneier for his
commitment and spiritual leadership that has brought this synagogue
international recognition.

It was only five years ago that I had my first opportunity to attend
and participate in a Jewish ceremony, here at the Park East Synagogue.
The experience inspired me to write a poem entitled ‘Temple’. I would
like to share a short extract with you today. I hope you will
appreciate it;

Nowhere in the world is it possible
To find such a grandiose temple
That would keep for ages
The layers of human sin
And all our shame.

I’ve always believed
There’s nothing greater in a temple
Than the final sounds melting
In the concluding Amin
Until I heard the word
Of a great friend of mine
Who walked in the steps of Moses
And is called a Rabbin.

Park East Beit Knesset,

I wish there would not have been such an occasion for me to address
you today. However, as we all know the Holocaust happened. It is
definitely one of the darkest pages in the history of mankind.

Unfortunately, we are still facing some lonely, desperate attempts to
blur the horrifying dimensions of the Holocaust.

We gather here today to remember and pay homage to those who lost
their lives in the Holocaust; the atrocities that they were subjected
to can never be forgotten.
The perpetrators of the Holocaust fed man’s ego with delusions of
supremacy and tried to erase the bonds that all human beings share.

The liberation of the Nazi concentration camps over 60 years ago
revealed one of the most evil crimes against humanity. The
consequences still reverberate in the present.

Elie Wiesel – Nobel Laureate, a Holocaust survivor and champion of
moral responsibility – has best put this into perspective:

“Let us remember, let us remember the heroes of Warsaw, the martyrs of
Treblinka, the children of Auschwitz. They fought alone, they suffered
alone, they lived alone, but they did not die alone, for something in
all of us died with them.”

We must also remember to pay tribute to those who survived and bravely
carried on with their lives – and in doing so inspired others. I would
like to salute the strength and perseverance of all Holocaust
survivors and their families.

I know that some of you are with us today.

Not only have you survived, but you have rebuilt communities all over
the world, become stronger, and enabled future generations to thrive.
You just have to look around at all the people gathered here today to
recognize this fact.

The recognition of this day of Holocaust remembrance by the
international community heralded a change of tide at the United
Nations; and, a step forward in the collective memory and conscience
of our world.

Dear Friends,
Remembrance of the Holocaust is more than the recognition of a tragic
past – or the darker side of human nature.

Remembering is an ethical act; it has ethical value in itself.

Remembrance is also a means through which we can understand ourselves:
an engine for change that should enable us to create and sustain a
better, more just future.

I am reminded of my father and his family. During the Second World War
he bravely helped to save and protect the family of Isac Sion – his
school friend – amidst the terror of occupation.

At the age of twenty my father and Isac subsequently joined the
National Liberation Movement of Macedonia to fight for freedom,
against the Nazi dictatorship, alongside the Allies.

Isac Sion subsequently went on to become Vice-governor of the Central
Bank of the Former Yugoslavia and following this was appointed as
Yugoslavia’s trade representative to the United Kingdom.

My father and many others like him served the Jewish people in their
hour of need. Their actions epitomize the practical meaning of
something profound that the famous Irish politician and philosopher
Edmund Burke once said, and I quote;

“All that is needed for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

When I had my first opportunity, in some small way, to redress the
atrocities committed during the Holocaust – as foreign Minister of
Macedonia – in 2000, I appointed Elie Wiesel as our first Special
Envoy and Goodwill Ambassador. He then became the United Nations
Messenger of Peace for Human Rights and the Holocaust.

And, in honour of the Jewish community, my country will soon complete
the construction of a Holocaust Memorial Centre. This is a symbolic
gesture to bring back the memory of the victims from Treblinka to
Skopje.

Looking back at the turbulent history of the Balkan region there are
some bitter lessons that we must learn: war begins when the perception
of the pain of others ends. We can also turn this around to say that
when the perception of the pain of others begins there is no room for
war.

We must remember that every religion and culture must be tolerant of
the legitimate right for others to assert their difference in freedom.

Furthermore, intolerance of other religions or cultures is often a
sign of the degree of intolerance within a particular religion or
culture.

Dear Friends and members of Park East Beit Knesset,

The United Nations was founded on the ashes of the Holocaust, when the
world was in need of hope for a better future.
It was created to embody that hope as a promise to humanity. However,
most disturbingly, since the Holocaust there have been genocides and
serious crimes against humanity in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Yugoslavia.

That these atrocities occurred is not necessarily the failure of the
United Nations as an organization; but rather, represents the lack of
collective will of its Member States to take the decision to act or
intervene.

Even while we gather here, there are places – like Darfur – where
people suffer from the very crimes, which, time and time again, we
have vowed would never again happen.

For the dignity of all humanity, we must strengthen our ability – our
collective resolve – to prevent such atrocities, whenever and wherever
they might occur.

Indeed, terrorism, violence, rape, murder, poverty and discrimination
on the grounds of race or religion continue to be part of the everyday
lives of many people. This fact alone should jar us with indignation.

Despite the tragic failures of the international community to prevent
crimes against humanity since the founding of the United Nations,
there is hope – failure is not an option.

In 2005, the General Assembly passed a resolution that included the
‘Responsibility to Protect’. In doing so, all nations signaled their
commitment to take action – to hold themselves accountable – to
recognize that with sovereign rights come responsibilities to their
peoples.

In fact all of us here today can add our voice, with the United
Nations, to ensure that this new paradigm within international
relations comes to life.

Rabbi Schneier offers us an example of what we can do. He has been a
great advocate for human rights, and the promotion of religious and
ethnic tolerance. He has worked tirelessly to strengthen ties with
communities from different faiths and backgrounds through his good
works and publications.

In 2003 we jointly organized the first ever South East European
regional conference on ‘Dialogue among Civilizations’, at Lake Ohrid
in Macedonia.

In this spirit, and as we have just celebrated the life of the great
Martin Luther King Jr., I think it is fitting that I should recount
something he once said. It captures the same call to action that needs
to be instilled in the world today if we are to prevent a repeat of
the Holocaust;

“injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere….. Whatever
affects one directly, affects all directly.”

Dear Friends,

On the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of
the victims of the Holocaust, as well as of the 60th Anniversary of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, let us embrace our
diversity, and honor our interdependence, as the only path to peace
and justice.

Together, it is our common challenge to eliminate all distorted
notions that deepen barriers and widen divides: for they all originate
in the discriminatory practices of the mind.

We can achieve this by promoting intercultural dialogue and
cooperation for peace as a means to replace misunderstanding with
mutual respect and acceptance.

But we must also move from words to action, from principled intentions
to deeds that promote human security, human rights, the responsibility
to protect and sustainable development. For herein lies the hope of a
new culture of international relations with the United Nations as its
centerpiece.

Members of Park East Beit Knesset,
And, all those gathered here today,

Let me wish all of you and the wider community peace, health and prosperity.

Let all our thoughts honour the victims of the Holocaust, and let us
spare no effort to ensure that we never again witness such evil. We
may not be able to change the past, but we must have the courage and
vision to change the future.

In order to do so, it is not enough to reiterate solemn gestures; we
must do everything possible to transform our attitudes to have full
regard for the dignity of all individuals, communities and nations.

Thank you. Shalom.

————–

But that was the last President of the UN General Assembly to be welcome

to speak before a Jewish Audience – in those 5 years. Before him were: Mr. Jan Eliasson of Sweden #60,

and Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of  Bahrain #61.

Now it is UNGA’s 64th session: On 10 June 2009, Ali Abdussalam Treki

of Libya was elected by acclamation at a plenary meeting of the

192-member body of the United Nations General Assembly.

Treki assumed office as president of the 64th session on 15 September 2009,
succeeding General Assembly president, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of
Nicaragua who was 63rd President of the UNGA. Both these gentlemen
have made anti-Israeli statements and were also mentioned in this
context as plain anti-Semites, thus making it impossible to listen to
their linguistic expressions when it comes to the commemoration of the
liberation of Auschwitz. Thus, these last two years, the presentations
at the UN, it was Vice Presidents of the UNGA that spoke in their
place, and the UN General Assembly as such was not represented at the
Saturday pre-commemoration service at the Park East Synagogue.

But in 2009, The Park East Congregation had the honor to host the UN
Secretary General.

—————-
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
24 January 2009

Remarks at Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Park East Synagogue:

Thank you very much, Rabbi [Arthur] Schneier, for that kind introduction.

I especially appreciate you for calling me a mensch. With apologies to
those of you who do not speak Yiddish, I have to say: thank goodness
he didn’t call me meshugenah.

To all, I wish you Shabat Shalom.

Excellencies, distinguished Ambassadors to the United Nations,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today we mark the International Day of Commemoration honoring victims
of the Holocaust. This is a most important and solemn occasion.

As you know, my friend, the late Tom Lantos, died shortly after last
year’s observance. Some of you may have met him when he came to this
Synagogue. He was dear to me, as he was to you. He made an
extraordinary journey from a Nazi labor camp to the halls of Congress.
He became a leading champion of truth and justice. Like those of you
who also lived through the Holocaust, he was never defeated by the
unspeakable horrors that he survived.

I can only imagine what he endured. Yet I, too, have witnessed man’s
inhumanity to man. I have seen it as Secretary-General, traveling in
places torn by war. And I saw it as a six-year old boy fleeing to the
mountains to escape fighting in my own country.

The UN helped South Korea to recover. Like Tom Lantos, like many of
you, I came to believe in the transformative power of the United
Nations.

Today, the UN is on the cusp of a great transition. Never have global
challenges been so large. Climate change, terrorism, the global
financial crisis – these troubles transcend borders. They affect all
countries, rich and poor. They will be overcome only when all
countries come together in response. That’s why we have a United
Nations.

Yes, the UN has its imperfections. It’s not perfect. Because of this,
from day one since I took office, I have pushed to change it. I have
insisted on a new culture of transparency and accountability. I have
worked to make the UN more efficient, effective, modern. In short, we
have tried to make it a better instrument to serve mankind.

We are here to mark the Holocaust. Like you, the United Nations is
determined to tell its timeless lessons.

Precisely two years ago, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution
condemning, without reservation, any denial of the Holocaust. I quote:
“Ignoring the historical fact of those terrible events increases the
risk they will be repeated.”

With you, I stand in saying: never again. Never. When I paid tribute
to Holocaust victims at Yad Vashem, I wrote in the book there, “Never
again. Never.”

Memory speaks. That is why it must be preserved and passed to future
generations.

Our Holocaust Outreach Program sponsors exhibits, workshops and panel
discussions. The aim: to confront deniers, or those who would minimize
the importance of the Holocaust.

When President Ahmadinejad of Iran declared that Israel should
“disappear,” or be “wiped off the map,” I strongly condemned his
remarks – twice.

We at the United Nations stand for human rights.

We stand for democracy and the rule of law. By working for economic
and social development, we build the foundations for peace.

We have a new instrument in our hands. It is called the Responsibility
to Protect – the idea that every nation has a legal obligation to
protect its people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and
crimes against humanity. Where nations fall short, the international
community has the right to take collective action.

Yes, it is difficult in practice. But I assure you. This is a major
advance in safeguarding mankind from crimes against humanity.

My friends,

Today is not simply a time for remembering. The Holocaust has lessons
for us, here and now. Let us heed them.

My job can sometimes be terribly painful. I see unbelievable hardship,
the worst human suffering. You are familiar with the grim catalogue of
names and places: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur,
Somalia and, of course, the Middle East.

I am just back from the region. I went to push for a cease-fire. More,
I went in search of a lasting peace.

The recurring violence between Palestinians and Israelis is a mark of
collective political failure – by both sides and by the international
community.

I saw first-hand what most people saw on television. I met a child and
his parents in Sderot, southern Israel, traumatized by falling
rockets. Never for one moment have I forgotten that a million people
in southern Israel live in a daily state of terror and fear.

In Gaza, I saw the most appalling devastation. I saw the UN compound,
still burning.

I said to all I met, on both sides: This must stop.

I left the region more determined than ever to work toward a world
where two States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace and
security. War can never be an answer. We need to strengthen the forces
of peaceful coexistence and dialogue.

No one sees this more clearly than your own Rabbi Schneier. He has
devoted his life to overcoming hatred and intolerance.

You all know him as the founder and president of the Appeal for
Conscience Foundation. What you may not know, and what I am very
grateful to him for, is his pioneering work for the UN’s Alliance of
Civilizations.

He knows first-hand that no one man or nation has all the answers. He
knows the sacred value of tolerance. He has survived the greatest
trials that life can hurl at a man or a woman and emerged not only
with his humanity and spirit intact but stronger. He survived the
Holocaust. Like others among you, he never lost sight of man’s
essential humanity, our capacity for good, our inherent dignity.

So, let us be frank. We must recognize the limits of power and
goodwill. We here know that we can never entirely rid the world of its
tyrants and its intolerance. We cannot turn all extremists to the path
of reason and light. We can only stand against them and raise our
voices in the name of our common humanity.

Tom Lantos was fond of saying that even the littlest actions, the
smallest of our daily deeds, can do much to leave this earth better,
less evil, less selfish, less monstrous than we found it. And he
stressed that doing these things, even in a modest way, gives you the
energy to keep moving forward. On this day of days, that seems to me
to be good advice.

As we remember the victims of the Holocaust, let us reaffirm our faith
in the dignity of humankind and our extraordinary resilience – our
moral strength – even amid history’s darkest chapters.

Thank you very much.

—————–

On January 23, 2010, before a full house at Park East Synagogue, the
main speaker for Saturday Pre-Commemoration of the International
Holocaust Remembrance Day was  Ambassador Susan Rice of the USA, and
at the actual ceremony at the UN General Assembly Hall was German
Ambassador to the UN H.E. Peter Wittig.

The remarks were:
 http://usun.state.gov/briefing/statement…

 http://www.newyorkun.diplo.de/Vertretung…

At the Park East Service this year, a further Honored Guest was Rabbi Ricardo Di Segni, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, who has been visited at his Synagogue by the Pope, also as part of this year’s Holocaust Remembrance.

Also present were Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting of Austria, Ambassador Peter Wittig of Germany, Ambassador Gerard Araud of France, Ambassador Anastassis Mitsialis of Greece, Ambassador Marta Horvathne Fekzi of Hungary, H.E. Most Reverend Celestino Migliore the Permanent Representative of the Vatican, Ambassador Yukio Takasu of Japan, Ambassador Cesare Maria Ragaglini of Italy, Ambassador Mohamed Loulichki of Morocco, Ambassador Jim McLay of New Zealand, Ambassador Andrzey Towpik of Poland, Ambassador Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo of Spain, Ambassador Rayko S. Raytchev of Bulgaria, Ambassador Kim Won-soo, from the UN Secretary General’s Office, and about further twenty top Diplomatic Representatives. But I must remark that from all the Islamic and African Countries only Morocco was present – and from the newly emerging States only Brazil and China were present.

www.SustainabiliTank.info has backed this concept from its start. We
also believe that joint activities at this scale could help bring
about peace on the circumference of the Mediterranean, and show how
intelligent interdependency based on reliably renewable sustainable
resources could help people live friendlier to each other. This was
not the case when the relationship is based on selling and buying
depletable oil that only fuels corruption in the home of the seller.

————

Solar Maghreb

Developing large scale North African solar markets

Algiers, Algeria:  11—12, May 2010

The conference will be simultaneously translated in English and French

Introduction:

This event will bring together key players from the region – with particular focus on Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania – with global industry experts.  This event forms part of the Solar Global Series which is now in its 3rd year and has been attended by over 1200 high calibre delegates to date.

The Maghreb region contains vast solar energy resources and the exploitation of these will be a critical factor in helping accelerate the region’s economic development. The Maghreb countries have realized that tremendous opportunities exist and are beginning to diversify their energy markets away from an over reliance on oil and gas.

The recent announcement of the DESERTEC Industrial Initiative to develop a reliable, sustainable and climate friendly energy supply from the deserts in the Middle East and North Africa highlights the potential of the region.  Solar in North Africa can become both a clean domestic energy source and also a new clean energy export product.

With high solar generation potential Algeria is a key driver for the region in the development of solar markets.  The Energy Minister, Dr. Chakib Khelil has bolstered the sector with the introduction of a solar thermal plant feed in tariff and signed a series of MoUs and bilateral agreements aimed at expanding the country’s solar energy production and export capabilities.  In Morocco, the Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra has launched a $9 bn scheme to produce 38% of their electricity needs from solar by 2020.  In Libya a newly designated authority, REAOL has been tasked with developing the Libyan sustainable energy strategy.  In Tunisia international companies are carrying out feasibility studies for large scale CSP plants and the Ministry of Industry has set a target of 500,000sqm of panels installed by 2010.

Despite all these developments the region still faces many challenges in order to fully realize extensive domestic solar industries and the necessary infrastructure for clean electricity exports. Attend Solar Maghreb 10 to understand the many issues and network with the key players as the region develops its renewable energy strategies and develops profitable partnerships with leading innovators from the international solar market place.

Confirmed speakers include:

Silvia Pariente-David, Senior Energy Specialist, World Bank, Tunisia

Dr. Pedro Banda, Director General,
ISFOC, Spain

Dr Mahieddine Emziane, Faculty Member,
Masdar Institute of Science and Technology,
Abu Dhabi, UAE

Prof. Ibrahim Mohamed Saleh,
Electrical Engineering Department, Al-Fateh University, Libya

Key reasons to attend:

• Gain an in depth understanding of the potential scale of the solar market in this region
• Understand the policy support and stage of development in each country
• Identify investment opportunities in the region
• Participate in a series of interactive panel discussions and help shape this fast moving market
• Benefit from first class networking opportunities though our online networking tool prior to, during and after the event

Who will you meet?

Agenda outline:

Day One – 11 May 2010:

Solar Energy for Sustainable Economic Development

Keynote Session – Building the Solar Energy Future in the Maghreb Region

The keynote session will review how solar markets are developing across the world, how the market can develop in the region and what forms of solar – thermal, PV and at what scale – residential, industrial and utility will evolve.   Key visionaries will also share their views and thoughts on how solar energy will produce sustainable development and act as a key driver for economic development.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Regulation and Government Support
This session will review what governments are currently doing to stimulate the development of solar markets in the region and what they are planning moving forward.  It will also discuss key learning’s from other markets and look at the role of feed in tariffs and other incentives.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Solar Finance, Investment & Economics
This session will look at the challenges of raising finance in the current economic conditions and what new forms of financing are emerging.  Different finance models are required for large scale solar projects and these will also be reviewed.  The speakers will also look at the economics surrounding solar power, looking at the true costs of solar and the levelised costs of solar energy.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Panel Discussion – Solar & Hydrocarbons Panel
- How can leading regional oil and gas companies harness solar?
- How can hybrid solar and gas power stations be developed?

Solar Business Models

Solar technologies work from small scale residential through to larger scale industrial units and utility scale projects. This session will review which innovative business models and applications are suitable for the Maghreb region.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Close of day one & networking drinks

Day Two – 12 May 2010:

Solar Energy Technologies & Innovation

Technology & Innovation – CSP, Silicon PV, Thin Film PV & CPV

In this session a series of key speakers will provide the latest updates on their rapidly developing technologies and innovation paths.  What have they learnt from previous implementations and what needs to be applied to the development of the solar market in this region.  Matching the correct technology with each project, a combination of solutions will apply across the region.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Large Scale Project Case Studies
This session will showcase a series of practical and real life deployments from early adopters in the region as well as showcasing some key learning’s from previous deployments in other regions.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Developing Solar Supply Chains and Domestic Solar Industries
This session will discuss how a domestic solar industry could be developed.  It will review the key success factors for developing solar manufacturing plants and also the prospects for the local supply of components.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Key Solar Building Blocks
The final session will review the additional building blocks that are needed to drive the market forward in the region such as testing and applicability issues for different solar technologies, the role of local research and development resources and how local expertise can be developed.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Close of conference

Speaking opportunities:

If you are interested in speaking at this event please submit a speaking proposal (presentation title, 4-5 bullet points and brief synopsis) to Rebecca Jackson
Email:
rebecca.jackson@greenpowerconferences.com

Sponsorship & exhibition opportunities:

Sponsor Solar Maghreb and benefit from:

• 1st class lead generation: meet companies actively working in the solar industry
• Enhanced brand profile: pre-event promotional campaign plus extensive on site branding
• Excellent publicity: gain an incredible amount of presence from on site promotion
• A cost effective marketing solution: our development team will be happy to customize a package and develop a cost effective marketing channel to generate new sales leads

Sponsorship options offering varying levels of branding and exposure are available to suit budgets and marketing aims.

Contact
William Todd for further details:
Office: +9714 813 5211 l Fax: +44 207 900 1853
E-mail:

william.t@greenpowerconferences.com

Partners:

Official Offset Partner:

---

Green Power Conferences consistently work in strategic partnership with industry leading organisations and trade publications. Our international and targeted marketing campaigns ensure excellent marketing exposure for our partners.

If you would like to partner with us, please contact Ryan Winchester ,

ryan.winchester@greenpowerconferences.com

Venue:

TBC

From the latest news coming from Washington – “Under the new airport
rules, all citizens of Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen must receive a pat
down and an extra check of their carry-on bags before boarding a plane
bound for the United States, officials said. Citizens of Cuba, Iran,
Sudan and Syria — nations considered ‘state sponsors of terrorism’ —
face the same requirement.”

That means Cuba and thirteen Muslim states: Afghanistan, Algeria,
Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

These news caused a lot of comments, but we think the wrong comments.

We assume obviously that Washington is ready finally to address the
terrorism issue. Airplane terrorism, as we learned on 9/11, is not
about transport of weapons but about terrorists – to be specific since
9/11 – we speak here about Islamic terrorists. If you want to catch
terrorists you must look for terrorists. Looking for baby formula is
not the answer – but looking for those passengers whose profiles are
suspicious might be a better bet. Sure, obviously, not all Muslims are
terrorists, and profiling is terrible – even illegal, but if you want
to catch terrorists you start with the profile that most fits Islamic
terrorists, and you bet – they are Muslims of any color. Even though
they may be traveling with documents issued by non-Islamic States,
i.e. the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, France, Switzerland, or even the
US.

So, it is not easy to define exactly what papers are carried by the
terrorists, but you can have some guidelines to increase your chance
of catching them. looking for a profile of an Asian or African Muslim.
Then, learn from the Israelis how to talk to them – you may even find
out that they are so convinced that their cause is the right one, that
they will lower their guard and just plainly disclose that what you
see is all they got.

There may be a Jamaican convert to Islam who preached terrorism in the UK
and resides now in Kenya – a case in point. Kenya does want him either and
he will be sent back to Jamaica a second time. yes, this is a problem if you
are American and Jamaica does not cooperate – but he is a Muslim and no
Anti-Defamation league is enrtitled to tell you Mr. President that he should
not be stripped and searched if he wants to travel via the US to Jamaica.
This is simple.

But what about Cuba? Fidel Castro is more atheist then Catholic, surely
no Muslim. Whatever went on in the past is history to me and I do not believe
prologue to Mr. Castro. So why mix him and his country up with 13 Islamic
States involved in Islamic Terrorism? That is unless someone in the US longs
to see him give cover to such terrorists in the future so they get new reasons
to be after him? If the Jamaica case has anything to teach us – it is that the
US is better off reinsuring its rear parts from anger caused by mistreatment
and friendship is not achieved by mulling over past grief. Specially, as several
hundred former sugar baron families living in Florida should not be allowed to
hold hostage the US when it comes to real US interests.

Mr. President, I watched Bolivia and Venezuela leaders speak in Copenhagen,
they fumed and brimmed with words – no stones or missiles. Their ALBA is,
I think, the natural ally of a US that manages to disengage from the Islamic
world of oil. So, it is the US self interest that calls for you, Mr. President, to
invite Fidel Castro to Washington for a tete-a-tete and start on a way that
eventually will give the US the wall of safety it needs when addressing the 21st
Century centers of terror – the Islamists’ terror cancer that will continue to ooze
as long as we use oil.

Please start by taking him of that list!

The thirteen on that list include the obvious Iran – Syria – Lebanon
trio of the Shii’a Islam, it includes the Afghanistan/Pakistan US
theater of operations and Iraq, as well as the other US theater Saudi
Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan that misses Egypt and the Gaza strip. A
fourth historic region includes Libya and Algeria, then with Nigeria,
these are newer sources of oil for the US, and as such clear potential
sources of unhappy Islamists who complain about the changes in their
countries as fueled by oil money. In very few countries terrorism
against the US was actually started by rulers decree. Libya, Iran,
Syria, Sudan, Somalia may be the exceptions, but Saudi Arabia and
Yemen may have seen rulers who deflected anger against themselves into
anger against foreigners. In the majority of cases the terrorist is a
person of convictions and the situation could have been avoided had
the US and the rest of the Western World, tried to be less squanderous
with the oil we got addicted to.

Having said the above – let us get now to the point – MR PRESIDENT -
PLEASE – TAKE CUBA OFF THAT LIST BECAUSE THEY DO NOT BELONG ON THAT
LIST IN 2010.

* * * *

Please look – I am posting here four reference – links to news
articles of today’s New York Times.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/us/05t…

New Air Security Checks From 14 Nations to U.S. Draw Criticism
 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/world/…

In Yemen, U.S. Faces Leader Who Puts Family First
 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/world/…

Behind Afghan Bombing, an Agent With Many Loyalties
 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/world/…

Kenya Seeks to Deport Muslim Cleric to Jamaica

————————

THE UPDATE:

We have received a comment on this post and it presents a very valid point supposedly made at the UN General Assembly by the Foreign Minister of Cuba: “I mean if they were going to include us, then they should have at least thrown in North Korea.”

Even if the e-mail we received from ajay -   akazif at gmail.com  as presented by www. eggplantpost.com in http://eggplantpost.com/2010/01/05/cuba-… were a made up story, the argument holds water nevertheless. DID THE US INCLUDE CUBA ON THAT LIST BECAUSE IT WANTED TO AVOID BEING SEEN AS GOING AFTER A RAG-TAG OF ISLANIC COUNTRIES? Now, we believe that US security should be spoken here – not again US appeasement-for-oil please!

ON THIS DAY – On Dec. 21, 1988, a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people; now, 21 years later, remembering what addiction to oil can do to us, the New York Times starts to discern a path to a better future for the planet.

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL OF December 21, 2009
Copenhagen, and Beyond.

The global climate negotiations in Copenhagen produced neither a grand success nor the complete meltdown that seemed almost certain as late as Friday afternoon. Despite two years of advance work, the meeting failed to convert a rare gathering of world leaders into an ambitious, legally binding action plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It produced instead a softer interim accord that, at least in principle, would curb greenhouses gases, provide ways to verify countries’ emissions, save rain forests, shield vulnerable nations from the impacts of climate change, and share the costs.

The hard work has only begun, in Washington and elsewhere. But Copenhagen’s achievements are not trivial, given the complexity of the issue and the differences among rich and poor countries. President Obama deserves much of the credit. He arrived as the talks were collapsing, spent 13 hours in nonstop negotiations and played hardball with the Chinese. With time running out — and with the help of China, India, Brazil and South Africa — he forged an agreement that all but a handful of the 193 nations on hand accepted.

Mr. Obama aside, there were two keys to the deal. One was a dramatic offer of $100 billion in aid from the industrialized nations to poorer countries to help them move to less-polluting sources of energy and to deal with drought and other consequences of warming. The offer had an instant soothing effect on many poorer nations that had been threatening to walk out all week.

The other was China’s willingness to submit to a verification system under which all countries would agree to report on their actions and — assuming details could be worked out — open their books to inspection. Transparency is a huge issue in Congress, and Mr. Obama made clear in his opening remarks on Friday that he would not agree to a deal unless China gave ground.

An enormous amount of work lies ahead, both for the president and for the other signatories to what is now being called the Copenhagen Accord. In order to deliver on his promises to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and provide a chunk of that $100 billion in aid, Mr. Obama must persuade the Senate to approve a cap-and-trade bill — a huge task.

Meanwhile, there can be no letup by the rest of the world’s negotiators, no matter how tired and beat up they may be. These talks have been so chaotic and contentious that some people believe the United Nations machinery has outlived its usefulness, and real progress will henceforth be made in smaller gatherings of the big players.

There may be some truth to this, but at the moment it is hard to see how many of the arrangements agreed to in principle at Copenhagen — the verification system, for instance — can be made to work without detailed agreements. There must also be some mechanism that holds all countries responsible for doing everything they can to tackle climate change. As it is, the pledges now on the table, from both rich and poor countries, are nowhere near enough to keep atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide from rising above dangerous levels.

But for the moment it is worth savoring the steps forward. China is now a player in the effort to combat climate change in a way it has never been, putting measurable emissions reductions targets on the table and accepting verification. And the United States is very much back in the game too. After eight years of playing the spoiler, it is now a leader with a president who seems to embrace the role.

NEW YORK TIMES RECENT FURTHER ARTICLES ABOUT THE UN FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Mixed Bag for Obama on Climate Change Deal Amid the Recession

By JOHN HARWOOD

A victory for President Obama in Copenhagen will not necessarily help his popularity at home.

December 21, 2009

MORE ON THE UNFCCC AND: FOREIGN AID, GLOBAL WARMING, UNITED STATES ECONOMY, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, PELOSI, NANCY, OBAMA, BARACK, KERRY, JOHN

An Air of Frustration for Europe at Climate Talks

By JAMES KANTER

Caught off guard by the Copenhagen accord, European leaders felt pressure to back it even though they thought it did not go far enough and had a process in which they had little influence.

December 21, 2009

MORE ON THE UNFCCC AND: GLOBAL WARMING, COPENHAGEN (DENMARK),EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Copenhagen’s One Real Accomplishment: Getting Some Money Flowing

By JAMES KANTER

The accord in Copenhagen was “a big step forward” after previous talks offered no financial support mechanisms, Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary general, said.

December 21, 2009

MORE ON THE UNFCCC AND: GLOBAL WARMING, ENERGY AND POWER,COPENHAGEN (DENMARK)

Compromising on 2 Issues, Obama Gets Partial Wins

By PETER BAKER

From Copenhagen to Capitol Hill, the president determined the outer limits of what he could accomplish on climate change and health care and decided that was enough, for now.

December 20, 2009

MORE ON THE UNFCCC AND: GLOBAL WARMING, HEALTH INSURANCE AND MANAGED CARE, REFORM AND REORGANIZATION, OBAMA, BARACK

A Grudging Accord in Climate Talks

By ANDREW C. REVKIN and JOHN M. BRODER

After delays, theatrics and deal-making, climate talks ended with an agreement to “take note” of a pact shaped by five nations.

December 20, 2009

MORE ON THE UNFCCC AND: GLOBAL WARMING, TREATIES

• Science and Politics of Climate Change
• Who’s at the Climate Talks, and What Do They Seek?
• Climate Change Conversations

U.N. Climate Talks ‘Take Note’ of Accord Backed by U.S.

By ANDREW C. REVKIN and JOHN M. BRODER

The agreement left open the question of whether the accord would gain the full support of the countries involved in the talks on limiting the risks of climate change.

December 20, 2009

MORE ON THE UNFCCC AND: COPENHAGEN (DENMARK)

• Science and Politics of Climate Change
• Who’s at the Climate Talks, and What Do They Seek?
• Climate Change Conversations

———————————————————————————————————-

Off to the Races

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

A competitive Earth Race led by America can be a more self-sustaining way to reduce carbon emissions than a festival of nonbinding commitments at a U.N. conference.

December 20, 2009

MORE ON THE UNFCCC AND: GLOBAL WARMING, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, UNITED STATES, UNITED NATIONS

———————————————————————————————————

Updated Dec. 18, 2009

Representatives of 192 nations gathered in Copenhagen to seek a consensus on an international strategy for fighting global warming, in a series of meetings between Dec. 7 and Dec. 18, 2009.

Leaders concluded a climate change deal the Obama administration called “meaningful” but which fell short of even the modest expectations for the summit. The maneuvering that characterized the final week of the talks was a sign of their seriousness; never before have global leaders come so close to a significant agreement to reduce the greenhouse gases linked to warming the planet.

President Obama injected himself into a multilayered negotiation that was far more chaotic and contentious than anticipated – frozen by longstanding divisions between rich and poor nations and a legacy of mistrust of the United States, which has long refused to accept any binding limits on its greenhouse gas emissions.

The accord drops what had been the expected goal of concluding a binding international treaty by the end of 2010, which leaves the implementation of its provisions uncertain. It is likely to undergo many months, perhaps years, of additional negotiation before it emerges in any internationally enforceable form.

Read More…

Libya’s Mercurial Leader Keeps U.N. Guessing.
by Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 20 (IPS) – Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, who will be making his maiden appearance before the United Nations this week, has been described as a gadfly with a penchant for stirring up controversies. Even before he addresses a daylong summit meeting of the Security Council on Sep. 24, chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama, the garrulous Arab leader has been politely advised to stick to the day’s agenda and a time frame of five minutes for his speech. The subject of the meeting: nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.

“So, it would be out of order and inappropriate for any head of state to address topics unrelated to that,” says U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice. But will the mercurial Qaddafi, who recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of a bloodless military coup that catapulted him to power after the ouster of the strongly pro-U.S. King Idris, defy U.N. protocol?

“Assuming Qaddafi does raise the matter of Israel’s nuclear arsenal – which despite all the hysteria about Iran is the only one that actually exists in the Middle East – it will be interesting to see how the United States and the European Union (EU) states react,” Mouin Rabbani, contributing editor to the Washington-based Middle East Report, told IPS.

One assumes they will find a way to smite it off the agenda on procedural grounds, he added.

Rabbani said it was somewhat difficult to comment in advance on Qaddafi: “He’s typically characterised as ‘mercurial’, and that is putting it rather mildly.”

Essentially, anything he might do, as well as its polar opposite (or for that matter anything and its polar opposite), would conform to his pattern of conduct, said Rabbani, a highly-respected Middle East political analyst.

At a press conference in early September, Rice told reporters: “As president of the Council, we are mindful of the very tight time frame that is available for this session.”

“We want to be respectful of the heads of state in attendance. And we have asked, and we expect, and have been assured, by most delegations, that their heads of state will keep their remarks to five minutes or less,” she said.

Rice said she “expect[s] no less” from the Libyan leader, “should he come”.

The Security Council summit is expected to be attended by heads of state from 15 members states, including the five permanent members of the Council, namely the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia.

The 10 non-permanent members in the Security Council, whose heads of state have been invited to participate, include Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Libya, Vietnam, Austria, Mexico, Japan, Turkey and Uganda.

A similar session of the Security Council – on the maintenance of international peace and security – was held in January 1992 presided over by then British Prime Minister John Major.

But next week’s session will be only the fifth occasion in U.N. history for a meeting of the Security Council at the summit level.

It will also be the first time a U.S. president will chair such a meeting.

Until recently, Libya was one of the countries designated by the U.S. State Department as a “terrorist state” – along with Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, North Korea and Cuba.

Qaddafi incurred the wrath of the United States for his military and financial support to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the Irish Republican Army (RA), the Moro National Liberation Front in the Philippines, Bader-Meinhoff in former West Germany, the Red Army in Japann and the Dhofar rebels in Oman.

However, he has now severed links with virtually all of these organisations and is playing the role of an elder statesman in Africa and the Middle East. But his past keeps shadowing him.

Qaddafi’s decision to give up his nuclear weapons programmes back in December 2003 and his initiative to renounce terrorism gave him international legitimacy in the eyes of the Western world.

In January 2004, the United States helped airlift out of Libya components of the nuclear weapons programme that the country abandoned.

After the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which claimed 270 lives, and in which Libya was implicated, Qaddafi agreed to pay some 2.7 billion dollars in compensation to families of the victims.

The only person convicted in that bombing was Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence agent, who was released recently on compassionate grounds, triggering outrage in the Western world.

But there have been reports that he was released on condition he dropped his appeal for a re-trial, which could have implicated others or the real architects of the bombing.

Rice said “it goes without saying that virtually every American has been offended by the reception accorded to Mr. Megrahi in Libya upon his return from the U.K.”

“This is a very raw and sensitive subject for all Americans, having lost 270 of our compatriots in a terrorist act,” she said.

“And how President Qaddafi chooses to comport himself, when he attends the General Assembly and the Security Council in New York, has the potential either to further aggravate those feelings and emotions or not,” Rice added. “So we are certainly hoping that this will be an opportunity for a constructive General Assembly session and a constructive meeting of the Security Council.”

Rabbani told IPS it was somewhat ironic that Qaddafi will address the world body as a Security Council member on the pretext of addressing the issue of nuclear non-proliferation.

Libya’s own nuclear programme was – much like that of Iraq at the time – essentially non-existent, and largely invented in the aftermath of the 2003 Anglo-U.S. invasion of Iraq to demonstrate that the war produced genuine disarmament benefits.

For U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, it helped divert attention from the spurious pretexts invoked to invade and occupy Iraq in violation of the UN Charter, he noted.

“And for Qaddafi, it formed his entry ticket into what is termed ‘the civilised world’ – a grotesque colonial term suggesting the Libyan leader was well on his way to achieving the status of an honorary white,” Rabbani said.

The above notwithstanding, he added, “I suspect Qaddafi may well use his U.N. platform to once again argue that Libya – and more specifically former Libyan intelligence operative Megrahi – is innocent of involvement in the Lockerbie attack.”

And while on the subject of nuclear proliferation, he will probably make some pointed references to Israel’s U.S. and European-endorsed nuclear arsenal, in addition to some provocative remarks about Iran’s nuclear programme.

In this context it is a real pity that Megrahi withdrew the appeal to his conviction on the eve of his release from prison, said Rabbani.

Given that withdrawing the appeal was not a requirement for release on compassionate grounds, it seems indubitable that a political deal was struck in this regard.

“That’s about all one can say with any confidence about Qaddafi’s UN statement,” he said,

“But will he also invite Americans to restore the U.S. to its rightful owner, with African-Americans returning to the African continent and the rest embracing Islam and spending the rest of their days memorising the Green Book (which contains his political philosophy?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him…”

I am now in Austria and the KRONNEN ZEITUNG just wrote: “GADAFI-MANN PRÄDIDIER GENERALVERSAMLUNG – DIE UNO SCHMÜKT SICH NUN MIT LIBYSCHER NARRENKAPPE.” That means that the UN did put on a Libyan fool’s cap.

Gadafi will speak right after Obama – but the City did not allow the set up of a Libyan tent for Gadafi – thank you Mayor Bloomberg – you showed there is still some sense on the UN’s periphery.

The Austrian paper also knows to tell that Gadafi’s Libya is diverting much oil-money to Austria. The Libya government investment arm called LIB, that accounts for over € 45 Billion bought 10%, to be increased to 15%, of Wienerberger AG – the largest brick manufacturer. They also invest heavily in Italy their former colonial power in such institutions as Unit Credit, FIAT, Soccer Club Juventus, Turin, Finemechanica.

Libya having made up with Scotland and the UK, and Bulgaria, at this time is boiling the Swiss waters.

———————-

Now the official UN release:

NEW GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT OPENS SESSION WITH CALL FOR UN REFORM.

The General Assembly opened its 64th annual session today with its new President, Ali Treki of Libya, calling for reform of the United Nations with an expanded Security Council representing full geographic diversity and an Assembly that has the ability to implement its resolutions.

Currently only resolutions of the 15-member Council, and not those of the 192-member Assembly, are legally binding.

“The General Assembly, which represents the entire world, has been hampered by the obstacles in its path,” Dr. Treki said in his opening speech. “It has been unable to implement or enforce its resolutions. The General Assembly must be reformed to regain its international legitimacy by ensuring that its voice is heard and respected and its resolutions implemented.”

Turning to the Security Council, he noted that Africa comprises 53 States, none of which is a permanent member – a position held only by China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and United States. Such is the case, too, of Latin America and the Forum of Small States, which account for over half of the world’s inhabitants.

“It is vital to reform the Security Council and to revitalize the General Assembly so that they can comprehensively fulfil their roles,” he declared.

Turning to world affairs, Dr. Treki called for dialogue and mutual understanding to resolve problems, not embargos and blockades which he called fruitless and serving to exacerbate antagonism and rebellion. He also noted that the gap between rich and poor has been growing steadily wider. “In an unequal world, we cannot hope for peace and security to prevail,” he said.

Condemning terrorism, he urged that close attention be paid to its roots, causes and contributing factors. “This is true of terrorism carried out by individuals, groups and States; State terrorism is the harshest form of terrorism,” he added.

Discussing the Middle East, he said “the Palestinian people’s aspirations towards independence and its right to return to its land in accordance with United Nations resolutions are two fundamental conditions for the swift realization of peace and security in that sensitive part of the world.”

Without mentioning Israel by name, he added: “There must be an end to settlement activities, which have been condemned by the entire international community. The removal of illegal and illegitimate settlements would help to achieve security and a just peace in accordance with the resolutions with which we must comply.”

Dr. Treki also called for progress at the Climate Change summit convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon next Tuesday to produce recommendations for the conference on the issue to be held in Copenhagen in December

And he urged additional efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that aim to slash a host of social ills by 2015, and steps towards non-proliferation and the elimination of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

——————–

YES; WE THINK THAT THE UN AND THE SECURITY COUNCIL SHOULD BE REFORMED – BUT AS LONG AS THE UN BODY CHOOSES TO PUT ON A LIBYAN HEAD JUST BEST FORGET ABOUT REFORM. PEOPLE GO, AND WILL GO, TO THE UN HOLDING THEIR NOSES WITH THEIR HANDS. SO MUCH FOR NEXT WEEK’S SHOW AS WELL.

HOLLYWOOD BACKS UN CAMPAIGN IN PUSH FOR WORLD LEADERS TO SIGN CLIMATE CHANGE PACT

A major Hollywood actor and director take starring roles in a United Nations public service announcement campaign launched today, aimed at compelling world leaders to “seal the deal” on a greenhouse gas emissions treaty at a climate change conference later this year.

Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff, co-writer of the apocalyptic science-fiction blockbuster film – “The Day After Tomorrow” – which depicts catastrophic effects of global warming, the series of videos urge viewers to sign the online Climate Petition .

The announcements were shot in six locations across four continents and feature Don Cheadle, the star of Hotel Rwanda, a film based on the true story of a man who saved hundreds of lives during the 1994 genocide in the African country.

“The series is aimed at promoting public awareness and catalyzing action at the highest and humblest level to boost the prospects for a wide-ranging and transformative agreement at a crucial UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark in less than 80 days,” said UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner.

The conference in December brings together world leaders in a bid to agree an ambitious and far-reaching successor pact to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty setting greenhouse gas emission limits.

Also included in the announcements is world class violinist and UN Messenger of Peace Midori Goto, who said she was happy to lend her voice to those concerned about climate change.

Ms. Goto spotlighted the newly-appointed Prime Minister of Japan’ commitment to make substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

“We can act together to bring meaningful changes to our lives and to our environment,” she said. “Let’s sign the climate petition and let our voices be heard.”

Other videos in the series – released at the start of Global Climate Week, 21 to 25 September – are presented by President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives; Nobel Laureate for Peace Wangari Maathai; Animal Planet presenter and environmentalist Phillipe Cousteau; and wildlife film maker Saba Douglas-Hamilton.

* * *

VOTING FOR NEXT CHIEF OF UNESCO MOVES INTO THIRD ROUND

A third round of voting will be held tomorrow to try to select the next Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) after none of the nine candidates for the post were able to obtain a majority of ballots in the first two rounds.

The third round is scheduled to start about 3:30 p.m. tomorrow in Paris, where UNESCO’s Executive Board is conducting its latest session, the agency said on its website.

Earlier this week the 58-member Executive Board interviewed all nine candidates and then discussed those interviews in a private meeting. Voting is by secret ballot and a winner is chosen by a simple majority of the board. The first round was held yesterday and the second round was conducted this evening, but neither round produced a winner.

The nine candidates are comprised of five men and four women. They include Lithuania’s Ambassador to UNESCO, Ina Marciulionyte; Bulgarian former foreign minister Irina Gueorguieva Bokova; Ivonne Juez de A. Baki of Ecuador; and European Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner (Austria).

The other candidates are: Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosny; Tanzania’s Sospeter Mwijarubi Muhongo; Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Vladimirovich Yakovenko; Algeria’s Mohammed Bedjaoui; and Assistant Director-General of UNESCO’s Africa department, Nouréini Tidjani-Serpos of Benin. The person chosen by the board will serve a four-year term. The term of Koïchiro Matsuura, the current Director-General, ends this November. Having served two terms, he is not eligible for another stint.

————————————————-

FUNDING SHORTAGE MAY FORCE UN AGENCY TO REDUCE FOOD AID TO KENYANS

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today that a shortage of donations will soon force it to reduce monthly rations to millions of Kenyans in need of urgent assistance due to a combination of drought and high food prices.

“The funding shortfall is so severe that we will have to start reducing the size of rations early next month – the hardship people are facing is going from bad to worse,” WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a statement.

WFP is currently distributing 2.6 million drought-affected Kenyans with food aid and hopes to increase that number by 1.2 million.

In parts of central Kenya, 50 per cent of shallow wells, boreholes and other water sources have dried up, and people walk up to 30 kilometres in search of water, according to the agency.

“Drought has left farmers with empty fields and the carcasses of dead cattle litter the land in some of the worst affected areas,” said Ms. Sheeran.

“Malnutrition rates are rising beyond emergency levels. And staple food prices – 100 per cent above normal – are beyond the reach of the hungriest people who are trying to feed their families.”

The agency said it has only received 8 per cent – $24 million – of the $301 million needed to feed 3.8 million people over the next six months.

* * *

MORE MUST BE DONE TO REFORM GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM TO FIGHT CRISIS, SAYS UN EXPERT

Investing in agriculture alone will not solve the food crisis, a United Nations independent expert said today, calling for stepped-up political will to address structural flaws in global food production, which is at the crux of the current emergency.

“The right to food is not the right to be fed,” Olivier De Schutter told reporters today in Geneva after briefing the Human Rights Council. “It is the right to access the means to produce food or to obtain an income that enables the purchase of adequate food.”

World leaders pledged $20 billion in agriculture in poor countries in July at the meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) industrialized countries in L’Aquila, Italy, but he called for a more ambitious policy.

“For one billion hungry people to escape poverty, the initiative announced at L’Aquila can only be a first step,” said Mr. De Schutter, who serves as the Special Rapporteur on the right to food. “It cannot be the last.”

Increased investment in agriculture is only a slice of the solution, he noted, calling for action to stabilize international food markets, which could face further disruption due to climate change.

Small farmers, he said, need access to land, credit, storage sites and support for cooperatives, among others, with measures necessary to alleviate hunger and malnutrition and boost the resilience of the most vulnerable people.

“As in the case of the financial system, it is the responsibility of policy-makers to take the decisions needed to ensure real change,” the expert stressed. “Political will is needed to tackle structural flaws in the global food system.”

Earlier this week, the head of the UN World Food Programme issued an urgent plea to ensure that those hardest hit by the financial crisis – considered by many to have started one year ago this week – are not forgotten.

There are more hungry people in the world and less food aid than ever before, while the flow of food aid is at its lowest in two decades, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a statement.

“For the world’s most vulnerable, the perfect storm is hitting with a vengeance,” she said.

* * *

NO END IN SIGHT TO ECONOMIC CRISIS FOR HARD-HIT DEVELOPING WORLD – UN REPORT

The global economic crisis continues to push millions of the world’s most vulnerable people into poverty, hunger and early death, a new United Nations report warns, stressing that “green shoots” of recovery are not being felt by the poor in the developing world.

Estimates suggest that the worldwide recession has pushed 100 million more people below the poverty line and 61 million people have been added to the number of jobless over the last two years, according to the report.

“The ‘near poor’ are becoming the ‘new poor,’” Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told reporters in New York at the launch of the Voices of the Vulnerable: the Economic Crisis from the Ground Up report.

“Workers in both the formal and informal sectors are being badly hit, particularly in manufacturing, commerce and construction,” said Ms. Migiro, before quoting one construction worker who said that the “monster” economic crisis is “devouring the poor.”

She added that migrants are finding their situation increasingly precarious, with forecasts predicting that remittances to developing countries will be reduced by over seven per cent this year.

“Youth unemployment is dramatically increasing,” Ms. Migiro stressed. “The number of unemployed youth has increased by as many as 18.2 million over the last year.”

In addition, the report – part of a new UN initiative to monitor and draw attention to emerging crises – notes that an increase of 100 million people suffer from hunger and infant mortality rates are set to rise by an additional 200,000 to 400,000 deaths each year from now to 2015, if the crisis persists.

“Many of the poor and vulnerable are running out of coping strategies,” said Ms. Migiro. “They are being exhausted by crisis after crisis,” including the global food and fuel price hike crises that struck last year, on top of local floods, droughts and conflicts.

The crises may have long-term consequences, with tens of millions of children suffering from cognitive and physical injury caused by malnutrition as a result of the food and economic crises.

Ms. Migiro warned that the spread of the H1N1 influenza pandemic to countries already devastated by the economic crisis, or the onset of new natural disasters, are among the last straws that may “break the back of overstretched populations and governments.”

The report is part of larger UN initiative called the Global Impact and Vulnerability Alert System (GIVAS), developed to provide early, real-time data to the international community on how external shocks, such as the economic crisis, are affecting the welfare of the vulnerable and poor.

The Secretary-General is slated to present the report to the annual high-level debate at the General Assembly in New York next week, which takes place ahead of the summit in Pittsburgh, United States, for the Group of 20 (G20) leading economic nations.

Both forums will address the impact of the ongoing economic crisis, with the report underscoring the need to protect not only the poor and vulnerable but also the increasing number of middle class families slipping into poverty.

* * *

BAN PRESSES G20 LEADERS TO MAINTAIN COMMITMENT TO HELP WORLD’S MOST VULNERABLE

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has written to the leaders of the so-called Group of 20 (G20) industrialized nations to cement their commitment to help the world’s most vulnerable who are bearing the brunt of the global economic turmoil.

In his letter to the leaders ahead of their gathering next week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States, Mr. Ban exhorted them to deliver on the $1.1 trillion pledge – especially the $50 million earmarked for the poorest nations – made in London earlier this year

He also called on them to honour their official development assistance (ODA) commitments made in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005, of $155 billion by next year, with over one-third of that allotted for Africa.

Action must be accelerated to achieve the eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), said the letter. While strides have been made in areas where global investments have been scaled up, including AIDS and tuberculosis, progress is lagging in education, maternal health, smallholder agriculture and basic infrastructure.

The Secretary-General also urged progress on the fight against climate change through the setting up of a fair financing mechanism to provide $250 billion annually by 2020, in addition to ODA.

Investment in green technologies is vital in pulling the world out of the economic crisis, he stressed, as is governance to manage this new finance stream which must be directed to adaptation and mitigations at the national level.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, the Secretary-General said that despite talk of recovery from the international financial crisis which has marked its first anniversary, “we are still not out of the deep woods – and this crisis is layered upon the food crisis and the pandemic crisis.”

With over 100 million people expected to drop below the poverty line this year, he emphasized that we “simply must amplify the voices of the vulnerable and ensure that the world follows up on its pledges.”

In Pittsburgh, Mr. Ban will update the G20 leaders on the UN’s new Global Impact and Vulnerability System (GIVAS), which will deliver real-time data on the impacts of the economic turmoil on the world’s poor.

“To make the right policy responses, we must know, in real time, what is happening on the ground,” he said.

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UPCOMING MEETINGS CAN RALLY SUPPORT FOR UN-BACKED NUCLEAR TREATY, SAYS OFFICIAL

A set of meetings to be held next week at United Nations Headquarters could have a significant impact on efforts to bring the treaty banning nuclear testing worldwide into force, a senior official leading those efforts said today.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) has been signed by 181 countries and ratified by 149. However, it needs to be ratified by nine others – China, Egypt, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States – before it can enter into force.

Tibor Tóth, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the CTBT Organization (CTBTO), highlighted the conference to promote the treaty and its entry into force, which will take place on 24 and 25 September in New York.

In addition, US President Barack Obama is scheduled to chair a meeting of the Security Council on 24 September focusing on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, including the CTBT.

Mr. Tóth welcomed what he described as a “stronger interest” by the US on these matters. “I see an attention which is underpinning the preparations for the ratification discussion in the [US] Senate.”

He also noted that the National Academy of Sciences was requested to prepare a study which will provide the necessary information to the Senate and to those who will have to review the ratification.

There is also movement from other quarters, he added, including an indication by Indonesia that it will ratify the treaty. All in all, he said he is “very much optimistic” about the political momentum that has been building over the past two and a half years.

“The climate is much better now,” said Mr. Tóth. “We have sunny political weather.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also highlighted the “crucial window of opportunity” currently available regarding nuclear disarmament.

“More leaders are speaking out. The wind is at our back,” he said yesterday at his monthly news conference. “With a strong push by the right leaders, we can bring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty into force.”

* * *

NEW GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT CALLS FOR STRENGTHENING OF 192-MEMBER BODY

The new General Assembly President, Ali Treki of Libya, today reiterated his call for the revitalization of the 192-member body, saying its decisions should be respected. At present only the decisions of the 15-member Security Council are binding.

“The majority of countries are in favour asserting the authority of the General Assembly, which represents the world as a whole,” he told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York.

Dr. Treki made a similar call for UN reform when he opened the Assembly’s 64th session on Tuesday, and he reiterated today the need to enlarge the Security Council to give it greater world representation.

Asked about his priorities, Dr. Treki cited a long list, beginning with the strengthening of international peace and security, disarmament, human rights, the environment, and climate change.

He also included combating extreme poverty; infectious diseases such as AIDS; achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which aim to slash a host of social ills by 2015; the economic, financial, food and energy crises; and the question of Palestine.

In addition, Dr. Treki called for greater investment in Africa, which he described as “a very rich continent. It doesn’t need really money, men and help but it needs investment.”

* * *

from The Times of London, August 24, 2009.

Gordon Brown believes the early release of the the Lockerbie bomber is too sensitive to comment on, Downing Street said today.

The Prime Minister is under growing pressure to say whether he agreed with the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, amid accusations that he is ducking a subject of national importance while offering his views on the Ashes.

Defending the Prime Minister’s silence, Mr Brown’s spokesman said: “Clearly, the Prime Minister recognises this was a very difficult decision and was clearly an extremely sensitive one and there will be very strong feelings from the families of those people who were victims of this terrorist attack.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6807889.ece

==============

Ahmadinejad Nominee Is Wanted in ’94 Bombing
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Iran’s defense minister nominee is wanted in the bombing of
a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, confronting Iran with
another challenge to its reputation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/world/middleeast/22iran.html?th&emc=th

………………

New Questions in Lockerbie Bomber’s Release
By JOHN F. BURNS
Questions intensified in Britain as to whether lucrative
Libyan oil contracts were as much a factor as compassion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/world/europe/22lockerbie.html?th&emc=th

===========

And From The SanFrancisco Sentinel:

IRANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER NOMINEE AHMAD VAHIDI WANTED IN ARGENTINE JEWISH CENTER
BOMBING – 85 DEAD, 200 WOUNDED [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102678762925&s=1352&e=001XDcn8XF13paAYRAi58_aIfDRofW90X8RZEOwm4ofjr12F-Z7oAbnpvOZPENUMWLxLcUmL2q0MQtE5xbzMY_oXqkWo4ZvopyKWPu2ppeA1LmbLp3zolU838T1iiPzUYKcQuqqTL0ZSkBabP7GxUBAbA==]

U.S. BLASTS LIBYA HERO WELCOME FOR LOCKERBIE BOMBER [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102678762925&s=1352&e=001XDcn8XF13pZgGUwyLy_VHH93w_Y3jGwKsPI_W2gJtczQcrYRCjXpb3pXj0wv-b1TnCZwJiWmBuzxyxf3T-gXFHvz2Fx7ILonhu-7y0qUhYWozQ83A7z2kay-R7Mc4zeVCQw2Sy7zCcEgqw_q-dRtdQ==]

CLOWN MUAMMAR GADDAFI NEEDS THE WEST MORE THAN THE WEST NEEDS HIM [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102678762925&s=1352&e=001XDcn8XF13pZ-O40VKaHpztQrxYXtmU9YRvL7pXKkQslq8vSLxckyxVL_-K5kUnMz6l5DUPPKq1nxx42UwZG6a634j3h-dj63OrSKPpJk-sJvkT0vR8LsXKQtH_rHJpGaQKZMeY9T-cSSlb3NtoNwKg==]

If President Obama wanted to show Africa that he appreciates those states that made democracy a way of governing, he had just two choices before him – these were Ghana and Botswana.

His clear intent was to go to Sub-Sahara, or black Africa, as this is the area from which people were brought to America as slaves, but these people contributed immensely to the powerhouse America has   become – so, stopping for 21 hours in Accra, with his wife, children and mother in law – descendants of slaves – he also spoke to America – see that is part of our roots – no less then Europe!

His previous trip to the African continent was to Cairo – but that was clearly a trip to the Arab world – Egypt and Saharan Africa are part of that world and not part of black Africa, even though in L’Aquila he had to shake the hand of Libya’s Muamar Gaddafi whom the States of all Africa appointed as the head of the African Union. Clearly that meeting had nothing to do with democracy nor with roots of America – even though it had one moment of grace – Libya, for whatever reasons, like South Africa and Brazil, are states that could have developed nuclear arms, but withdrew from doing so.

The stopover in Accra was, we think so, the only one positive event of this week-long Presidential trip overseas. This was a redeeming grace for the week and highlighted the statement that the President will in the future look forward to a decrease in large Summits that are too big to produce any good. From our point of view in effect counterproductive and just an increase of unjustifiable CO2 emissions.

We wonder even if the increase in the figure of an additional $5 Billion earmarked for Africa by the donors of the OECD could not have have been achieved in phone calls or by e-mails to Canada and the EU.

————-

Obama Wins More Food Aid but Presses African Nations on Corruption

Jason Reed/Reuters
President Obama and the first lady greeted President John Atta Mills of Ghana and his wife, Ernestina Naadu Mills, left, in the capital, Accra, on Friday.

EUROPE »
Obama Wins More Food Aid but Presses African Nations on Corruption
 Group of 8 powers meeting in L’Aquila, Italy, for larger donations to the aid effort, citing his own family’s experiences in Kenya. As a result, the initiative grew from $15 billion over three years, which was pledged coming into the summit meeting, to $20 billion.

At a news conference afterward, Mr. Obama said that when his father came to the United States, his home country of Kenya had an economy as large as that of South Korea per capita. Today, he noted, Kenya remains impoverished and politically unstable, while South Korea has become an economic powerhouse.

“There had been some talk about the legacies of colonialism and other policies by wealthier nations,” he said, “and without in any way diminishing that history, the point I made was that the South Korean government, working with the private sector and civil society, was able to create a set of institutions that provided transparency and accountability and efficiency that allowed for extraordinary economic progress, and that there was no reason why African countries could not do the same.”

He also criticized the culture of corruption in some African countries, saying that those who wanted to start a business or get a job there “still have to pay a bribe.” While wealthy nations must help, he said, poorer countries “have an obligation” to reform themselves.

Mr. Obama said his thinking had been affected in part by conversations with his relatives who still lived in Kenya. “They themselves are not going hungry, but live in villages where hunger is real,” he said. “And so this is something that I understand in very personal terms.”

Other American presidents have called on African countries to take more responsibility for their countries’ problems and have pressed them to fight corruption, but none with Mr. Obama’s background. Just one generation removed from Africa himself, he occupies a powerful place in the African consciousness.

- QUOTATION OF THE DAY -

“No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the port authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.”
- PRESIDENT OBAMA,     on the need for reform in Africa.

————————————–

Obama Delivers Call for Change to a Rapt Africa
By PETER BAKER

Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
President Obama addressed the Ghanaian Parliament at the Accra International Conference Center on Saturday.
President Obama traveled in Africa as a potent symbol of a new era but also as a messenger with a theme of responsibility.

Text of Obama’s Speech in Ghana

Obama in Africa: Welcome Back, Son. Now Don’t Forget Us.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/07/11/world/AP-AF-Obama-Text.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/weekinreview/12gettleman.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/world/africa/12prexy.html?em

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