9 posts tagged “politics”

The domestic media has run numerous articles and interviews with the country's top leaders, who promised Hanoi would do its utmost to "serve the interests of the international community, both globally and regionally".

The BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi says Ms Rice's visit was never expected to end in a deal - but it has underscored the sense of growing impatience that the political deadlock in Kenya still persists two months after disputed elections.

Democrats had said funding must be tied to a pullout timetableThe US Senate has authorised more spending for the Iraq war, without tying the bill to a timetable for troop withdrawal - a key Democratic demand. In a 90-3 vote, it approved a further $189bn (£94bn) for the campaigns in Iraq and also in Afghanistan. Democrats, who have a 51-49 majority in the Senate, accepted the measure after failing to impose the timetable demand. The bill had passed in the House of Representatives. President Bush is now expected to sign it into law. The bill covers the budget year ending in September 2008. In total, it authorises $696bn (£345bn) in military spending, including the $189bn for Iraq and Afghanistan. While it does not send money to the Pentagon, it is seen as a crucial policy measure as it guides companion spending legislation and dictates the acquisition and usage of weapons programmes. The approval of the bill reflected the failure - yet again - by the Democrats to overcome Republican objections in the Senate, which required 60 votes. Republicans expressed their satisfaction with the Senate vote. "I was pleased to see... no policy changes to the Petraeus plan," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He was referring to the US chief commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, whose plan for a troop "surge" in Baghdad has been credited with reducing violence. President George W Bush has asked Congress for extra emergency funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned that if the money was not approved, funds would run out by February. The bill also expands the size of the US armed forces and sets conditions on Washington's plans to build a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with:DeliciousDiggredditFacebookStumbleUponWhat are these?

"Many residents are very upset that people are coming into the country illegally and then demanding rights, demanding that people speak their language, and at the same time, impacting their community," says Prince William's top elected official, Corey Stewart, Chairman of the Board of County Supervisors.

An American military spokesman said the weapons found - including anti-aircraft guns, surface-to-surface missiles and roadside bomb-making components - are not the type of weapons pro-US Iraqi militias like those of the awakening councils usually have.

Page 1 of 2THE ROVING EYEDouble-crossing in KurdistanBy Pepe Escobar The George W Bush administration would not flinch to betray its allies in Iraqi Kurdistan if that entailed a US "win" in the Iraq quagmire. And it would not flinch to leave its Turkish North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies in the wilderness as well - if that entailed further destabilization of Iran. Way beyond the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) vs Turkey skirmish, one of these two double-crossing scenarios will inevitably take place. Washington simply cannot have its kebab and eat it too. The Bush administration's double standards are as glaring as meteor impacts. When, in the summer of 2006, Israel used the capture of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah to unleash a pre-programmed devastating war on Lebanon, destroying great swathes of the country, the Bush administration immediately gave the Israelis the green light. When 12 Turkish soldiers are killed and eight captured by PKK guerrillas based in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Bush administration urges Ankara to take it easy. The "war on terror" is definitely not an equal-opportunity business. That has prompted Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek to mischievously remark, regarding Turkey, "It's as if an intruder has gatecrashed the closed circle of 'we', the domain of those who hold the de facto monopoly on military humanitarianism." The US and Israeli establishment regards Hezbollah as a group of evil super-terrorists. But the PKK consists of just "minor" terrorists, and very useful ones at that, since the US Central Intelligence Agency is covertly financing and arming the PJAK (Party for Free Life in Kurdistan), the Iranian arm of the PKK, whose mission is to "liberate" parts of northwest Iran. Not accidentally, the new PKK overdrive coincides with US - and also Israeli - covert support for the PJAK. Israel has not only invested a lot in scores of business ventures in Iraqi Kurdistan, it has also extensively trained Kurdish peshmerga special commando...

Khaled al-Masri says he has been traumatised by his experiencesThe US Supreme Court has thrown out an appeal by a Lebanese-born German citizen who accuses the CIA of kidnapping and torturing him. Khaled al-Masri had been appealing against the decision of lower courts not to hear his case against the CIA on national security grounds. Mr Masri says he was abducted in Macedonia in 2003 and flown to Afghanistan for interrogation. His case has highlighted the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" programme. The Supreme Court's decision "terminated" Mr Masri's lawsuit and was issued without comment, The Associated Press news agency notes. Correspondents say the decision will be seen as an endorsement of the Bush administration's argument that state secrets would be revealed if the case were allowed to proceed. 'Traumatised' In his lawsuit, Mr Masri was seeking damages of $75,000 (£37,000). The 44-year-old alleges he was tortured during five months in detention, four months of which were spent in a prison in Kabul, Afghanistan, nicknamed the "salt pit". On his flight to Afghanistan, he says, he was stripped, beaten, shackled, made to wear "diapers", drugged and chained to the floor of the plane. By his account, he was finally released in Albania after the Americans realised they had got the wrong man. He told the BBC in February he had been "traumatised" by his experiences. Last month, Germany reportedly dropped a request to the US to extradite 13 suspected CIA agents accused of abducting him. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with:DeliciousDiggredditFacebookStumbleUponWhat are these?