Politics and Sustainability

Monday, January 15, 2007

The Somalian conflict

Somalia? Most people barely remember the invasion of Somalia by the U.S. late in the Bush administration. They might remember the movie Black Hawk Down. But nothing much has been happening, in the American consciousness, in Somalia ever since. That's because the main stream media hasn't bothered to tell anybody what's been going on there. Other than to vaguely discuss warlords and turmoil.

Late in December 2006 Ethopia declared war on Somalia. Hmm... I thought that Newsweek or Time or that ilk would have a front page story about this, a new War being fought somewhere. But, no, not a peep. Well, probably there was a peep or two buried in the back but at $5 an issue I didn't want to go broke buying magazines just to get a little snippet of a story.

I'm really curious about is the genesis of this war. Especially as it seems Ethopia was told to invade Somalia by either the U.S. or U.N. This posting is drawing on the excellent archive at antiwar.com.

I came to this study thinking it likely the war in Somalia was a ploy by the U.S. to extend further control. Turns out to be yet another round of Christian versus Islamic fighting. What happened is that an Islamic government friendly to al Qaeda took over in Somalia and pushed out the officially recognized government that had been installed by the UN. The Islamic government initiated Sharia law, etc. Ethopia is a Christian nation whose Christian history dates back nearly 2000 years. It's a little confusing but it appears both Ethopia and Eritrea were in some kind of power struggle to establish some control over Somalia. However Ethopia was basically employed by the U.S. to launch the war against Somalia's Islamic government so I suppose it's Ethopia who will come out on top.

November 4, 2006

Somali Islamists deny suicide attack order: The US is alleging the supreme leader of the Islamist movement had authorized suicide attacks in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. The Islamists deny the allegation.

November 16, 2006

UN Report Says 10 Nations Violating Arms Embargo in Somalia: A U.N. report lists a slew of countries with supplying arms to factions in Somalia. Eerily it also describes Iran supplying arms in exchange for access to Uranium mines.

November 19, 2006

UN Discusses Illegal Somali Arms: Both Ethopia and Eritrea have been funneling arms into Somalia to support their preferred factions. This is in violation of a U.N. embargo and in general the shipments are described as illegal. ... Egypt Rejects UN Report It Broke Arms Embargo on Somalia ... Libya Denies Arming Islamists in Somalia ... Syria Denies Arming Somali Islamists ... Uganda Denies Violating UN Arms Embargo on Somalia

November 20, 2006

Islamic Leader Urges 'Greater Somalia': An Ethopian convoy operating inside Somalia was ambushed and many Ethopian soldiers were killed.

November 21, 2006

Somali Puntland to Switch to Sharia: One of the Somali provinces decides to switch over to Islamic (Sharia) law.

November 22, 2006

EU Experts Fear US Move Could Spark Somalia War: The U.S. is pushing for an international peacekeeping force, but many are predicting this could lead to a broad war in the Horn of Africa.

Somali Leaders Seeking Way to Avoid War: Ethopia is leading a bloc of seven African countries known as the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development and insists that the government it helped create is the only legitimate authority. The Council of Islamic Courts has close ties to the 22-nation Arab League. Given that Ethopia is largely a Christian country this is yet another instance of the war between Islamists and Christianists that is raging elsewhere.

November 24, 2006

Ethiopia 'Ready for Islamist War': Islamists, known as The Union of Islamic Courts, are said to have made "rapid gains" over the past year and have repeatedly declared Jihad against Ethiopia. Ethopia, the Somali government, and others, are claiming that The Union of Islamic Courts is linked to al Qaeda, which they deny. A UN report this month accused Ethiopia and Eritrea, among other countries, of breaking an international arms embargo by supplying arms to Somalia.

November 25, 2006

Somalia rivals massing troops: Ethopia has been sending troops into Somalia to support the "Transitional Government". The transitional government was established two years ago with the support of the United Nations to serve as a transitional body to help Somalia emerge from anarchy. But it includes some warlords linked to the violence of the past, and wields no real power outside Baidoa. The United States accuses the Islamic government of harboring al-Qaeda members involved with the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, but the Islamic government denies these allegations.

November 26, 2006

Ethiopia says seeks no permission to defend itself: Ethopia claims it has a right to self defense, and it does not need permission from the U.S. or others against aggression and threats from the Islamists leading Somalia. The Islamists for their part insist the U.S. has given Ethopia permission to conduct a war. Talks between the two sides collapsed in October, with the Islamists saying they would not negotiate unless Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia.

November 28, 2006

Letters that sparked US Somalia alert fake-Islamists: On November 2 the U.S. revealed two letters written by Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who appears on U.S. and U.N. terrorism lists. The letters ordered many assassinations of leaders in Somalia and Kenya, an uprising by ethnic groups in Kenya and Ethiopia and for militia fighters of the Islamists' feared Shabab arm to mass on the Kenya-Somali border. The Islamist government denies the letters and claims these "false" letters are being used to prop up the onrush to war.

November 29, 2006

Ethiopian Troops Clash With Somali Islamists: Fighting occurs between Ethopian troops and the Islamist forces in Bandiradley, a strategic town near semi-autonomous Puntland. The Puntland has strong ties with Ethopia.

December 2, 2006

US Seeks UN Backing for Somalia Force: The U.S. is proposing a regional peace-keeping force to "prop up" the shaky interim government. They'd also have to lift some of the embargo against arms shipments into Somalia, even though that embargo has been widely ignored to legal send military aid to Somalia the embargo restrictions would have to be eased.

December 3, 2006

Islamists Seize Key Somali Township: The Islamists seized another town about 270 km west of Mogadishu, expanding their area of control.

December 4, 2006

Ethiopians Meet Somali Islamists: The Ethopian government has met with the Islamists to discuss matters, presumably to try diplomacy rather than war.

December 13, 2006

Islamic Militants Surround Somali Govt's Last Town: Something like a final showdown with Islamists bringing in more fighters every day. Ethopian and Somali fighters wear the same uniforms making it hard to tell whether the troops in Baidoa, the "last town" held by the officially recognized government, are actually Ethopian or Somali.

December 14, 2006

Ethiopia Plays Down Somali Threat: The Islamists have demanded that Ethopian forces have seven days to leave Somalia or to face a battle. The Ethopians aren't worried.

December 15, 2006

UN: Looming Somalia War Menaces Whole Region: The UN is warning that the rising tensions are leading to a war that threatens to be pretty broad across the neighboring countries. The officially recognized government is described as being little more than a name, since that government really only controls a small part of Somalia, namely Baidoa and surrounding land. The Islamists are the real power in Somalia.

December 16, 2006

Somali Leader: Peace 'No Longer Possible': The leader of the officially recognized government has declared "We are no longer under the illusion that peace is possible with the [Islamists]". For their part the Islamists say they will not attack the officially recognized government, but instead the Ethopians. "Our country has been invaded by Ethiopia ... we should have thrown them out a long time ago."

US Insists al-Qaeda in Control of Mogadishu: The U.S. is insisting the Islamists are infiltrated with al Qaeda operatives who are in position to be in control of Somalia. So of course under the U.S. theory of the world, it is not permissible to give al Qaeda control over any country, so therefore a war must be launched to get them out.

December 23, 2006

Ethiopia Edges Closer to Somalia Invasion: The growing conflict between Ethiopia and Somali Islamists escalated further yesterday as Ethiopian tanks rolled towards the front line and the Islamists announced that ground troops would begin attacks today. Ethiopia, which has always rejected claims that it has combat troops operating in Somalia, last night hinted that it would be prepared to launch an official invasion. In a statement released by its Foreign Ministry, Ethiopia claimed it "has been patient so far". But, the statement warned, "there is a limit to this". Fighting in Somalia continued for a fourth consecutive day with each side hammering the other with heavy artillery and rockets. Two fronts have opened up near the town of Baidoa in central Somalia, where the weak transitional government is based.

Ethiopia Warns Somali Islamists

December 24, 2006

Ethiopian PM: Country at War With Somalia Islamists: Ethiopian fighter jets bombed Mogadishu International Airport in the middle of Somalia’s capital on Monday, witnesses said, in the first direct attack on the headquarters of an Islamic movement attempting to wrest power from the internationally recognized government...Ethiopia’s prime minister announced Sunday night that his country was “forced to enter a war” with Somalia’s Council of Islamic Courts after the group declared holy war on Ethiopia.

January 17, 2006

Parliament sacks Somali speaker: The speaker of the Parliament over his role before the war to try and broker peace. He suggested opening negotiations with the Islamists and had held meetings on his own. Due to this he fell out of favor with the Prime Minister of the officially recognized government, and now that the officially recognized government has won the war he is out of power.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

So begins the war against Iran...?

In Background material for the second Gulf "War" and Is Syria (or Iran) next? and Next: Iran? and Er... What's this about threatening Syria? I long ago noted that the launch of the Iraq invasion was exactly in line with the strategy outlined by the Project for a New American Century way back in the mid 1990's. All through the invasion of Iraq the administration has been demonizing both Syria and Iran, making not-so-idle threats, etc. The pattern of the administration in the past has, before launching a war, to demonize the designated target so that by the time you're ready to launch the war your populace already has a dim view of the target.

This: US to target anti-Iraq activity: "US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned that the US will take action against countries destabilising Iraq." ..and.. War With Syria and Iran = Peace With Iraq?

Paired with: U.S. forces raid Iranian office in Iraq ..and.. Iranians detained in raid on consulate in Iraq ..and.. U.S.-Led Forces Detain 6 Iranian Workers

Well, that makes for a dangerous combination. Attacking a consulate? Don't consulates get diplomatic immunity? In any case this warning shot of smacking at Iranian presence in Iraq, while on the same day raising the threats against Iran even further, just strikes me as being the opening salvo to a full attack or war against Iran.

Don’t Get Too Excited about the President’s Warning to Iran and Syria has Andrew McCarthy saying don't worry, "he"'s not saying we're getting ready to attack Iran for real. It's only about shoring up the territorial integrity of Iraq.

Hmmmph... Maybe so, but this administration has proved over and over that their statements have hidden agenda's drawn from the NeoCon plan proposed during the 1990's. The essence of the plan was to reestablish western supremacy over the Middle East and to do so by "installing" moderate democracies beginning with Iraq. Phase two was to be an invasion of either Iran or Syria. The supposed plan was that the effect of moderate democracies in the middle of the Middle East would influence neighboring countries away from radical Islamic thinking.

But we've seen so far in Iraq that it's done the opposite. That our very presence there has led the people to rise up against the intruders, namely us, filling the ranks of the forces that are fighting against the West. The war we launched to squash this movement towards radical Islam has turned into the biggest recruiting tool for those radical Islamic forces.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Blood borders

Blood borders offers an interesting take on the conflicts in the Middle East. Essentially we're seeing regional ethnic conflicts between ancient tribal areas .. for example Kurdistan is the home of the Kurdish peoples and spreads between Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and whatever the country is to the north. The Kurds in Iraq have managed to create for themselves an semi-autonomous region and at the same time the Turkish government has been squashing their Kurdish minority.

The borders in the Middle East, and in Africa, were drawn by outsiders during the Colonial times. In the case of the Middle East the borders were created following World War I when the Ottoman Empire crumbled to dust. The outsiders didn't have in mind the interests of the locals, but instead their interests was the most effective control of the region from the outside.

But the conflicts going on are trying to unravel the artificial borders, and let ethnic groups who clearly occupy given areas to have their own homelands. Except that there is this system of existing national borders which are being maintained.

A few years ago I had a map showing a similar situation in Europe. The European countries were made by gluing together formerly independent principalities or kingdoms or whatnot. The ETA separatist movement is sponsored by Basques who want their own homeland. There are dozens of other movements around Europe having the same idea, that old cultures in specific areas of Europe are being eclipsed by national identities they probably see as occupiers of their lands. That's the thinking which led to the Balkan Wars following the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

Eery big brother sign seen in London

This was posted on signs-of-the-times.org and is eerily like it's directly lifted from this little book by George Orwell.

The poster links to the Transport For London web site and uses their logo.

Friday, January 5, 2007

Re: The government is reading your mail

The government is reading your mail concerns a signing statement perpetrated by Pres Bush along with the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. I haven't read the act but it's apparently a general, across the board, enactment of changes that cover a broad range of issues. At issue is one section of the President's Statement on H.R. 6407, the "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act". A section which deals with the opening of first class mail.

Back in May 2005 the administration attempted to Expand the "PATRIOT" act and beef up the governments powers to snoop on first class mail. First class mail is the regular stamped envelope mail that we used to use to send letters to one another (before E-Mail).

There is a long-standing power the government has to record "mail covers". The mail cover is the outside of the envelope, things like names and addresses, etc. The government has long had the power to record this information, effectively to take a picture of every piece of mail going through the post office. And if you ponder it for a moment, clearly that much information can be of use to investigators to establish links between individuals.

The signing statement includes this paragraph:

The executive branch shall construe subsection 404(c) of title 39, as enacted by subsection 1010(e) of the Act, which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection, in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances, such as to protect human life and safety against hazardous materials, and the need for physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence collection.

So.. the President is now asserting a new power, a power to open mail. The justifications are for hazardous materials inspection or to protect human life, noble causes no doubt, but also include "foreign intelligence collection". This is the administration who is already illegally wiretapping U.S. citizens and who knows what other illegal spying they're doing.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

18 Secret Armies Of The CIA

18 Secret Armies Of The CIA is an interesting rundown of 18 different CIA-backed armies.

The sliming of Barak Obama (Pt. 2)

It's time for another dip into The sliming of Barak Obama. This is a series of articles tracking efforts to slander and slime Sen. Barak Obama.

A couple days ago CNN showed a picture of Osama bin Laden with the caption saying "Where's Obama". This occurred on Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room, which coincidentally is the same program on which other slimings occurred.

CNN apology over Obama name slip at least CNN has issued an apology.

Malice in the Middle: Barack Hussein Obama and the history of bad middle names in politics explains how it's unfortunate, image wise, that Sen. Obama has a middle name of Hussein and a last name that sounds much like U.S. Enemy #1's name. I say this is silly, that people should pay better attention.

Dennis Miller’s Insensitive Message For Obama: Being Vice President Worse Than Racial Disenfranchisement is from News Hounds, the project started by Robert Greenwald, the director of OutFoxed the documentary revealing how Fox News is largely a mouthpiece for the Republican Party. Apparently this Dennis Miller fellow is infamous for slanderous opinion pieces, and this one lays it on really thick slamming both Obama and Sen. Clinton.

Bill O'Reilly Uses Mike Tyson To Smear Barack Obama And the News Hounds also report on Bill O'Reilly joining in the smearing. Mike Tyson was arrested with some drugs, and was let free without even having to post bail. That was then used by Bill O'Reilly as pretext for launching into attacking Sen Obama.

Fox News Battering Obama Over Book's Admissions And the News Hounds are yet again discussing another slander piece on Fox News. During this bit of video someone calls Obama a dope addict. Fox News Alert: George W. Bush Admits Cocaine Habit Covers the same video clip with a different angle. Coverage on FoxNews Obama Admissions on Drug Use Could Signal New Era in Politics. And as a result currently this particular story is making the rounds.

Could Candor About Drug Use Hurt Obama? isn't a slanderous attack, but instead an insightful analysis of the political weight that Sen. Obama is carrying. Clearly the politically active Americans tend to be heavily anti-Drug because there's several decades of anti-Drug propagandizing and hype in this countries recent history. And any admission of Drug use tends to be a kiss of death, affirmed by Pres. Clinton's admission regarding Marijuana. Supposedly he tried it, but did not inhale, and didn't like it. Hmm... I don't know anybody who can believe that story, and in any case drug usage is extremely common among youth in America. The quotes from Sen. Obama's book sound very honest, said truthfully, and accurately portrays the youth culture of any time during the past 40 years. I applaud his honesty.

CNN Puts Obama In Split-Screen With Bin Laden and Hussein shows screen captures of from CNN showing Sen. Obama on the same screen as Osama bin Laden and Iraqi former Pres Saddam Hussein. The question CNN is asking us, what's in a name and I'm wondering why are they making a big deal of the name?

CNN’s Obama Infomercial This is also not a slanderous attack, but it's a strange article nonetheless. Most of the article is a history of racism and civil rights in America, pointing out that it was the Democratic Party who, in 1872, founded the Ku Klux Klan, and the Democratic Party that was very racist through most of its history. He also points out the Texas Republican Party was founded by Black people. Hmm, very interesting, and ought to be worth researching the history of this issue a little more deeply. But what's strange is he describes CNN as running an "infomercial" for Obama, fawning all over him, etc .. is he watching the same CNN the rest of us are watching? If CNN is throwing its hat into the Obama ring, then why is Wolf Blitzer multiple times sliming Obama?

White Guilt, Obamania, And The Reality Of Race is an interesting blog entry examining how Black is Obama. Does that matter? In any case the piece discusses how his upbringing is completely divorced from the typical African-American experience. He is described as a wigger, a word I did not know but which the Wikipedia defines as "a white person who emulates mannerisms, slangs and fashions stereotypically associated with urban African Americans". Obama's parentage is half-white, his father was a Kenyan, not an African-American, so he wasn't exposed to the lineage of Slavery, and he was raised in Indonesia and an area of Hawaii that's extremely culturally diverse. Clearly Obama has little real connection with the culture that, say, Jesse Jackson comes from.

Clinton-Obama Differences Clear In Senate Votes is a refreshing analysis of the issues and policy stances taken by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The typical political article just looks at polling data, political strategies, and the current one-up-man-ship. This article discusses the voting history of these two Presidential race front runners.