Week In Review, August 19

Due to technical and health issues, this one is a day behind. Late, but still here, The Week In Review

Sanctioned Murder Honor Killings and Child Soldiers

These are, and will continue to be, a regular topic. Until they love their children more than they hate us, there will be no peace with the Middle East.

While I was working, and writing this past week, authorities in NJ charged a Pakistani muslim, Kashif Parvaiz, with having his wife murdered. He claims that his now dead wife had spoke badly about the family. So, for honor, he had her killed. What rot! He murdered his wife because he was angry and offended that a woman should use her freedom of speech in America to voice her complaints.

It has continued and will continue even likely increase in America.

Child Soldiers

I am going to also include Theft of Aid in this portion as this week it turns out to all pertain to Somalia. Yes, there are child soldiers being used in Sudan. That is coming up as Sudan is a heap of its own. We have sent trillions of dollars to aid agencies, through development, other donations, as well as direct government payments from the US to Somalia. This has been going on since before the fall of the Siadd Barre regime. We are paying to have aid sent into an area where the government steals it for its own use. Stolen aid is sold openly in the market place. Aid is extorted from refugees who then watch their children get recruited into al-Shabaab.

While we are squeezing dimes to but our own food and gas to take care of our needs, our government wants to raise our taxes higher in order to send more money to states like Somalia; to pay for more child soldiers. How do Somalis thank the generosity of Americans? Do you recall two weeks ago when three Somalis tried to get a fake bomb onto an airplane? I do.

UNPotence, the Impotence of the Aged

Human Rights Watch wrote "far from condemning repression, Ban sometimes went out of his way to portray oppressive governments in a positive light". China, Burma, Sri Lanka have benefited from Mr Ban's lax hand. UN Peacekeepers have been involved in rape, torture, and extortion themselves.

With the most powerful voting bloc in the UN being Islamic, what else is going on that the power base in the UN would want us to not see?

Attacks on Churches

• Egypt: Muslims angered by the installation of a church bell—under Sharia, churches must not offend Muslims by ringing bells—went on a violent spree, attacking among others a 5-month pregnant Christian woman and others who were “beaten with iron rods and pipes.”
• Indonesia: Christians were forced out of a church building and hounded even as they tried to worship at the side of the road.
• Nigeria: Two churches were bombed simultaneously; at least three Christians died, several were injured.
• Pakistan: Under accusations of “blasphemy,” and with the help of a local politician, Muslims attempted to annex a Christian hospital established in 1922 by missionaries.
• Tanzania: Muslims burned down two churches to cries of “away with the church—we do not want infidels to spoil our community,” and vows not to befriend “infidels.”

Sexual Abuse of Christian Women and Misogyny:

• Egypt: Muslims “severely sexually harassed” a Christian woman in front of her husband at a bus terminal; when her husband tried to defend her honor, he was violently beaten.  Soon afterwards, thousands of Muslims in the region began looting and torching Christian property, screaming “Allahu Akbar!” and “cursing the cross.”  Also, a Muslim ring using sexual coercion to convert Christian girls was exposed.
• Pakistan: Newlyweds run for their lives, because the man is Christian, the woman Muslim.  Under Sharia, the leader of the household, the man, must be Muslim.  Says a Pakistani Muslim scholar: “I condemn this marriage, I call it illegal, these two could be killed for what they did.”

Apostasy and Proselytizing

• Iran: A Christian pastor faces the death penalty for “convert(ing) to Christianity” and “encourag(ing) other Muslims to convert to Christianity.” Even if he is found innocent of apostasy, the charge of evangelizing Muslims will still carry a severe penalty.
• Saudi Arabia: A captured Christian pastor is set to be deported to Muslim Eritrea, where he faces the death penalty.

General Killing of Christians

• Ivory Coast: Muslims crucify two Christian brothers on “the example of Christ” and in accordance to Koran 5:33: “The pair were badly beaten and tortured before being crudely nailed to cross-shaped planks by their hands and feet with steel spikes.”

Foreign Aid

Yet, again, we continue to raise taxes on Americans in order to send that money to our enemies, like China.

"We started looking at the contracts and it was rather amazing that the No. 1 recipient of these taxpayer dollars were Chinese-state owned corporations," said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, referring to $320 million dollars worth of U.S. government contracts let to China. "I think we can take a good hard look where we're giving foreign aid."

The U.S. provided $47 million in "development aid" to China in 2010, even though the nation is already a military and economic giant and the world's only other true superpower.

Sudan no longer terroristic, but still terrifying

Clinton and Obama are now in the 45 day process to remove Sudan from the list of Sponsors of terrorism. This is still a genocidal state, mind you. South Sudan has oil, bit deal. North Sudan has buddied up with Iranian president Mahnood Ahmedinijad, who slaughtered his people in 2009. By coming off that list, North Sudan is going to be able to purchase some “restricted” technologies and items. What do you want to bet these will go straight to Iran? These items are just as likely to be used against the South Sudanese people. The people of Darfur will regret this decision of Obama.

Thank Obama

The Middle East has long been annoyed that the West exists. The status quo of “Buy our oil and we will be kind to your face” has changed. No longer does the East see the West in that light. They see the West as the next errant servant who needs to step into line behind the East. I say they always have, but until now, had not the gall or courage to say it. Why do they have the courage to say it now? Because they see Obama as powerless, impotent, and completely ineffective and, as our leader, this is also how they see America and all Americans. Make no mistake, the East and the West are diametrically opposed. We are each other's antithesis.

UNPotence

I am reposting this older one due to the UNGA this week and the UN's 70th birthday. I posted a quick comment with Politico at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64026.html 

Now 70 years old the United Nations is showing the signs of aging. Hearing, sight, and memory are all fading for this organization. Its leadership becoming weaker as time goes on and formation of cancerous voting blocs within now hold sway.

Human Rights Watch wrote "far from condemning repression, Ban sometimes went out of his way to portray oppressive governments in a positive light". China, Burma, Sri Lanka have benefited from Mr Ban's lax hand.

The UN is midwife to the world's newest country, South Sudan. Why should anyone worry about the fledgling state of South Sudan? Since 2003 the UN has been trying to broker peace in Sudan and South Sudan. They have been impotent against the marauding janjaweed, an Arabic term that means devils on horseback. The border between Eritrea and Ethiopia is still not settled after the UN stood on it for nearly a decade.

Leadership of the UN seems to match the age of the organization, unable to do anything but condemn what it sees from its front window and remaining silent, or blindly unaware, of the crimes going on in its alley ways and back yard. The UN Police have proven to be an easily corruptible force in the Balkans. One by one, I saw and heard about, these police selected by the UN go into hotels and dance halls. One by one, these police would get pictures of themselves having sex with underage prostitutes and other victims of human trafficking. One by one, they turned mute and blind to the crimes around them.

UN Peacekeepers have been involved in rape, torture, and extortion themselves. How can such criminality exist in one organization unless the leadership is willfully looking away?

With the most powerful voting bloc in the UN being Islamic, what else is going on that the power base in the UN would want us to not see? Creeping Sharia has listed some eye opening incidents, in summary;

Categorized by theme, the rest of July’s batch of Muslim persecution of Christians includes (but is not limited to) the following:
Attacks on Churches

• Egypt: Muslims angered by the installation of a church bell—under Sharia, churches must not offend Muslims by ringing bells—went on a violent spree, attacking among others a 5-month pregnant Christian woman and others who were “beaten with iron rods and pipes.”
• Indonesia: Christians were forced out of a church building and hounded even as they tried to worship at the side of the road.
• Nigeria: Two churches were bombed simultaneously; at least three Christians died, several were injured.
• Pakistan: Under accusations of “blasphemy,” and with the help of a local politician, Muslims attempted to annex a Christian hospital established in 1922 by missionaries.
• Tanzania: Muslims burned down two churches to cries of “away with the church—we do not want infidels to spoil our community,” and vows not to befriend “infidels.”

Sexual Abuse of Christian Women and Misogyny:

• Egypt: Muslims “severely sexually harassed” a Christian woman in front of her husband at a bus terminal; when her husband tried to defend her honor, he was violently beaten.  Soon afterwards, thousands of Muslims in the region began looting and torching Christian property, screaming “Allahu Akbar!” and “cursing the cross.”  Also, a Muslim ring using sexual coercion to convert Christian girls was exposed.
• Pakistan: Newlyweds run for their lives, because the man is Christian, the woman Muslim.  Under Sharia, the leader of the household, the man, must be Muslim.  Says a Pakistani Muslim scholar: “I condemn this marriage, I call it illegal, these two could be killed for what they did.”

Apostasy and Proselytizing

• Iran: A Christian pastor faces the death penalty for “convert(ing) to Christianity” and “encourag(ing) other Muslims to convert to Christianity.” Even if he is found innocent of apostasy, the charge of evangelizing Muslims will still carry a severe penalty.
• Saudi Arabia: A captured Christian pastor is set to be deported to Muslim Eritrea, where he faces the death penalty.

General Killing of Christians

• Ivory Coast: Muslims crucify two Christian brothers on “the example of Christ” and in accordance to Koran 5:33: “The pair were badly beaten and tortured before being crudely nailed to cross-shaped planks by their hands and feet with steel spikes.”

Another young Christian woman in Pakistan has been abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry her kidnapper. Despite a formal complaint, police did not intervene because the author of the crime is a “respectable businessman”. Local Muslim religious authorities also claim that the woman’s conversion was lega

The local Muslim religious leaders, Maulana Hafeez Aziz for example, praised perpetrators of these crimes against humanity as a 'pious Muslims' and 'true followers of Muhammed' having 'fulfilled Sharia', who had done an act that 'only a true Muslim could do'. Such conversions to Islam' are 'celebrated'.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/14/united-nations-leadership-ban-ki-moon

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/12/this-month-in-muslim-persecution-of-christians-july/

www.jihadwatch.org

Peacekeepers Attacked In Darfur

Darur ... this is where the arab muslim group known as janjaweed are oeprating, too. Janjaweed is an arabic term that means "devils on horseback" and their goal, as stated, is to ethnically cleanse the region of black Africans and repopulate it with Arabs.

Security Council condemns attack on UN peacekeepers in Darfur

  UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" the attack on the UN and African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) peacekeepers that occurred on Friday.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attack on UNAMID peacekeepers in Darfur on Aug. 5, which resulted in the death of a Sierra Leonean soldier and left another seriously wounded," said the statement that was read out by Hardeep Singh Puri, permanent representative of India to the UN and the president of the Security Council for the month of August.

In the statement, the Council said that "UNAMID is working with the Sudanese police to find the perpetrators, encouraged the government of Sudan to ensure that they are swiftly brought to justice, and stress that there must be an end to impunity for those who attack peacekeepers."

"The members of the Security Council reiterated their full support for UNAMID and called on all parties in Darfur to cooperate fully with the mission," said the statement.

A vehicle carrying UNAMID peacekeepers came under attack from unidentified gunmen in Duma village, located 37 kilometers northeast of the South Darfur capital, Nyala on Friday.

UNAMID is in charge of protecting civilians in the restive Darfur region of Sudan, which has experienced fighting since 2003 between the Sudanese government and members of rebel groups.

From Tiananmen to Syria

Bashar al-Assad is now entering his fifth month of sending armed security apparatus into the streets of Syrian cities. The apparatus are reported to include snipers, armed police, army personnel, and tanks. It appears that more than 250 armored vehicles and tanks have been deployed to quell, quiet, stamp out the people who are simply asking to be treated as humans. Humans that, as we hold, have certain inalienable rights, and are demanding to be treated better than what they have been getting.

The oil capital of Syria, Deir al-Zor, was laid siege to by columns of tanks from four directions. In Prijedor, Bosnia when tanks surrounded the city this was called genocide. In 1989 in Tiananmen Square, when the Chinese army (tanks included) opened fire and killed up to 800. In these events even the United Nations body of impotence spoke out (nearly immediately) against atrocities that they termed genocidal. The Main Stream Media outlets in America covered the tanks rolling over students in Tiananmen Square.  What now?

The Arab League called for Kaddafi to step down. Then they called for UN sanctions. Then, they called for the UN and the US to do something. The UN insisted that military action, or something, be under taken. It all reminded me of that scene in Space Balls when Dark Helmet picked up the microphone to the intercom and desperately shrieked “Do something!”

Even though the Arab League, which in my opinion is one of the largest collections of villains outside of the UN, has not yet called for international intervention, they have discussed the situation. They seem to feel that al-Assad is a more important power broker than Kaddafi.  Syria has produced more oil than Libya. Al-Ass ad is seen as more of a power broker. This means that there are more oil revenues coming into the AL, OIC, and OPEC from Syria then Libya. The lives and well being of the people do not matter as much as the oil money. For now, the Injustice League will ask that America stay out of the issue. Didn’t Ahmedinijad warn the US to stay out of its affairs while machine gunning its own people in the streets two years ago? Yes, I thought so.

 It appears now that there are fears of a bloodbath. Tanks have been deployed, snipers are shooting people, and reports indicate that more than 2,000 people are dead. At what point does this outrageous reign of murder become a bloodbath?
At what point does it become clear that al-Assad defending himself and his actions as defending the people is insanity? When do our leaders to either crap or get off the pot? Rest easy, peace loving Americans! Our Fierceless Leader is, at this very moment, coming up with an unenforceable and forceless plan that will accomplish nothing while more people die.
You see, Obama is going to issue a Presidential Directive to establish an Atrocities Prevention Board that will be an early-warning system, of sorts, that will alert the world to coming genocides. What will this board have in its arsenal to prevent such atrocities? Other than denying leaders of countries already committing genocide against its their own citizens a Visa, we can only guess.

Bibliographed Articles for this writing

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/8687347/Syria-unrest-Bashar-al-Assad-moves-to-crush-dissent-as-tanks-lay-waste-to-eastern-protest-city.html

http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/08-Aug-2011/50-dead-as-Assad-defends-crackdown

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/editorial/ci_18637854

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/politics/04policy.html

UN human rights experts urge Syria to end use of violence against civilians

The UN is urging them?! Why isn't the UN leading the charge to cut off funding? Why aren't we, the US, leading the charge to cut off funding?

5 August 2011 – As the crackdown by the Syrian Government against its own people continues unabated, a group of United Nations human rights experts today renewed their call for an immediate end to the violence used by the authorities against ongoing protests.
“The Government of Syria cannot be allowed to violate with impunity its obligation to uphold international law nor attack the very citizens it has sworn to protect without consequences,” the experts stressed in a news release.
“We unequivocally call on the Government of Syria to immediately cease the violent crackdown, stop the killings and pursue dialogue through peaceful processes,” they added.
The call by the experts, who all report in an independent and unpaid capacity to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, comes two days after the Security Council condemned the widespread violation of human rights in Syria and the use of force against civilians by the security forces.
The country has been rocked by deadly civil unrest since mid-March, with the Government cracking down on protesters demanding greater civil liberties. Similar protests have erupted across North Africa and the Middle East since the start of this year, having already toppled regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, and leading to ongoing conflict in Libya.
Media reports say that Syrian security forces opened fire today on protesters who poured into the streets by the tens of thousands as the regime continued its assault on the besieged city of Hama, where around 100 people are reported to have been killed in recent days.
The experts said they continued to receive reports of the systematic use of excessive force resulting in killings and injuries; allegations of torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention of protestors; targeting of human rights defenders; and unjustified limitations on freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression.
The Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, stressed that freedom of peaceful assembly is core to any democratic society.
“It is of utmost importance that the Government finally addresses the legitimate concerns of peaceful protestors, instead of silencing their voices with brute force,” said Mr. Kiai.
The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, added that the indiscriminate use of heavy artillery against demonstrators cannot be justified.
“No State is allowed to use its military force against an unarmed civilian population regardless of the situation prevailing on the ground,” he stated. “The killings that result are clearly arbitrary executions and punishable under international law.”
Also speaking out today were the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Méndez; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue; and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya.
The Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Jeremy Sarkin, and the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, El Hadji Malick Sow, also joined the call on Syria to end its violent crackdown.

State Terror Sponsor to Head OPEC

Wiki-Leaks strengthens the reasonable fears and concerns that I have with Iran, that we should all have. After reading the below comments, I have to ask if Obama is afraid to act or believes that appeasement truly is the best way to go through a hostage situation. I sau hostage situation because, if the oil and nuke situation coming does not force action or complete surrender, then those options will have to be discussed when Iran does have nuclear arms AND is the president of OPEC.

• Saudi King Abdullah repeatedly urged the United States to destroy the Iranian program. “He told you [Americans] to “cut off the head of the snake,” the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir said, according to a report on Abdullah's meeting with the U.S. general David Petraeus in April 2008. Abdullah told a US diplomat: "The bottom line is that they (the Iranians) cannot be trusted."
• Officials from Jordan also called for the Iranian program to be stopped by any means necessary while leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Egypt referred to Iran as “evil,” and an “existential threat.”
• Iran has obtained advanced missiles from North Korea that could let it strike at Western European capitals and Moscow.
• Crown Prince bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi (UAE) said in one cable: “Any culture that is patient and focused enough to spend years working on a single carpet is capable of waiting years and even decades to achieve even greater goals.” His greatest worry, he said, “is not how much we know about Iran, but how much we don’t.”
• Kuwait's military intelligence chief told Petraeus Iran was supporting Shi’ite groups in the Gulf and extremists in Yemen.
• The United States failed to stop Syria from supplying arms to Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, who have amassed tens of thousands of rockets aimed at Israel. One week after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad promised a top State Department official that he would not send new arms to Hezbollah, the United States had information that Syria was providing increasingly sophisticated weapons to the group.
• Iran smuggled weapons to Hezbollah in ambulances and medical vehicles in violation of international conventions. Hamas also used such vehicles for military and arms-smuggling operations.
• Iran withheld from the International Atomic Energy Agency the original design documents for a secret nuclear reactor.

Oh, one of the two threat situations comes about today. Today the world will find out if Rastam Ghasemi,a general in the IRGC, is confirmed as the president of OPEC.

North Korea Disarming The World

Meanwhile, the UN wants to have Kim Jung-il as the head of disarmament.

Joint Statement of NGOs Against North Korea’s
Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament

The undersigned coalition of human rights and non-governmental organizations strongly protest North Korea’s presidency of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), for the reasons described below.  We call on all CD Member States to register their protest, as Canada has already done.  We also call on North Korea to hand over its presidency to a more suitable country.

1.   North Korea is a Gross Violator of Disarmament Principles and Flouts UN Security Council Decisions

The North Korean regime has no credibility on disarmament. Few if any countries pose a greater nuclear threat to the world than North Korea. The rogue regime, led by the unstable dictator Kim Jong-il, possesses an estimated dozen nuclear weapons combined with a record of hostile actions and threats to its neighbors and the world at large.  Moreover, as reported by a UN panel last year, North Korea has defied UN sanctions and used front companies to export nuclear and missile technology to the repressive regimes in Iran, Syria and Burma.

Just last week, the IAEA found that North Korea’s nuclear program remains a matter of “serious concern,” noting reports about the construction of a new uranium enrichment facility and a light water reactor.

Even for a short period, the symbolism of an international outlaw heading “the undisputed home of international arms control efforts”—as the CD was recently described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon—is terribly wrong. 

We further note: 

• On July 15, 2006, ten days after North Korea test launched a series of missiles, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1695 requiring all UN member states to “prevent the transfer of missile and missile-related items, materials, goods and technology to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s missile or weapons of mass destruction programs, as well as procurement of such items and technology from that country.” The resolution further cited North Korea for having “endangered civil aviation and shipping through its failure to provide adequate advance notice.”

• On October 7, 2006, three years after it withdrew from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test. In response, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1718, finding North Korea’s actions to constitute “a clear threat to international peace and security,” barring a range of military goods from entering or leaving North Korea, and imposing an asset freeze and travel ban on persons related to the nuclear-weapon program.

• In April 2009, North Korea violated this resolution with another rocket launch. The President of the Security Council issued a statement condemning North Korea, and demanded that it cease conducting further launches.

• In May 2009, North Korea conducted another nuclear test, detonating a bomb comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1874, finding that North Korea’s clear threat to international peace and security “continues to exist,” and sharpening the import-export ban of weapons to North Korea by calling on all states to inspect, seize and dispose of military items and deny fuel or supplies to vessels carrying them.

• Two months ago, U.S. Navy warships intercepted a North Korean vessel carrying missiles to Burma and turned it around.

North Korea has allowed millions of its own people to literally starve to death in order to pursue its illicit nuclear-weapons arsenal. North Korea is currently facing another famine. Yet history shows that aid may not even help. An estimated two million people were killed by famine in the 1990s, while Kim Jong-il and his regime kept foreign aid for themselves. 

2.  North Korea is a Gross Violator of Human Rights

As one of the world’s worst violators of human rights, North Korea should not be granted the symbolic legitimacy of chairing a world body dedicated to peace.

The United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council have repeatedly condemned North Korea for its massive violations of human rights. Resolution 65/225 (2010), the UNGA’s most recent condemnation of North Korea, found, inter alia, the following gross violations: 

• Systematic, widespread and grave violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights;
• Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including inhuman conditions of detention, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention;
• The absence of due process and the rule of law,  including fair trial guarantees and an independent judiciary;
• The imposition of the death penalty for political and religious reasons;
• Collective punishments;
• The existence of a large number of prison camps and the extensive use of forced labour;
• All-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, the right to privacy and equal access to information, by such means as the persecution of individuals exercising their freedom of opinion and expression, and their families, and on the right of everyone to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives, of his or her country;
• The violations of economic, social and cultural rights, which have led to severe malnutrition, widespread health problems and other hardship for the population in North Korea, in particular for persons in exposed groups such as women, children and the elderly;
• Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, in particular the trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution or forced marriage and the subjection of women to human smuggling, forced abortions, gender-based discrimination, including in the economic sphere, and gender-based violence; and
• Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children, in particular the continued lack of access to basic economic, social and cultural rights for many children. 

Ramadan Begins

On The First Day of Ramadan I beat people in the town square!

While the UN dallies and Obama dithers, the violence against the people of Syria by their own dictator escalates. This is how Obama handled Iran in 2009.

The Syrian crackdown in Hama elicited appalled condemnations on Monday from the European Union and President Obama, who called the violence there “horrifying.”
Tanks in Tahrir Square, really? I suppose that this is nothing new. We have come to expect this sort of thing from “peaceful” leadership changes, despotic regimes, and the like. Where is the horror and disgust, the outrage that we, the United States, showed for nearly the same thing at Tiananmen Square? The lack of emotion, outrage, and action is appalling! The current administration has bowed to the leaders that are committing
While the previous seven years of unstable relations with the Syrian leadership have given the United States cause to stand off, the administration has not made a clear statement about its policies of engagement in the Middle East. For instance, in Iran during the crackdowns against the people in Tehran Obama held back. Obama called for “mutual respect” between the leadership of our two countries. He wanted to have the face of respect from a country that was beating, shooting, and raping its own citizens for complaining about harsh treatment. The State Department wanted lawmakers to believe that Obama found Syria’s relationship with Iran troubling. Still, the Obama Administration gives Syria legitimacy, in spite of apparent troubling close relations with Iran, a nation with which Obama seems to approach warmly. Did he really think no one would be watching?
After months of elected officials urging Obama to do something, like recall political officials, urge the UN to talk about sanctions, throw a shoe at Syria, anything. Obama acts, not against Syrian President Assad, but an asset freeze and a ban on business dealings with the U.S. – on three senior Syrian regime officials – Assad’s brother, Mahir; the president’s cousin, Atif Najib; and his intelligence chief Ali Mamluk .
How many more have to die before Syria meets the same quick, stalwart, decisive actions (16 months of dithering) end that Osama had? What has to happen to elevate the situation high enough for Obama to take control and give operations to NATO? Oh, yes, there is a closed door session going on at the UN building. Obama has to wait for the international peace organization (whose membership includes Syria) to figure out if they are going to write a strongly worded condemnation.


But, hey, don't take my word for it. Check it out on You Tube!!

UNSC Membership Overview, Lebanon

On December 23, 2010, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance will enter into force. Lebanon has not ratified this Convention which the country signed in 2007, adopted in 2006 by the United Nations General Assembly.  The US State Department report on Lebanon indicates that there was one case of enforced disappearance, rather a politically motivated disappearance. The report makes no mention of the list of 640 victims of Syrian enforced disappearances in Lebanon. An official joint Syrian-Lebanese committee established in May 2005 to investigate such.

The law does not specifically prohibit torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, and there were reports government officials employed such practices. That is an understatement! The prisons are overcrowded, poorly managed, rarely maintained.

Now, to say that there is some angst in Lebanon towards Syrians is putting it lightly. Look again at the statement above. That list was made about 2005. How many Syrians have risked their lives by fleeing violence in Syria to go to Lebanon this year? Seriously, these guys. This country, gets to vote on US led resolutions at the UNSC?

UNSC Membership Overview, Brazil

Brazil

It is clear, from the US State Department and a multitude of news reports and human rights agencies, that Brazil can be quite brutal in the arena of human rights and following their own constitutional laws.

Slavery still is practiced in Brazil. Slavery and labor situations like depression era company towns still exist in remote areas in Brazil like the Amazon. Indentured Servitude, abandoned long before the British Colonies became the United States of America, is still practiced here. A recruiter known as a "gato," or cat, plumbs the slums and other poor areas of the vast country and gets people to agree to jobs in distant places. Once separated from home and family, workers are vulnerable to all sorts of abuses, such as being told they owe money for transportation, food, housing and other services. "This is known as debt bondage, which also fits official definitions of slavery,"

Darker-skinned citizens, particularly Afro-Brazilians, frequently encountered discrimination.

Prisons are overcrowded and unhealthy, and prison rape is not uncommon. There are over 400,000 inmates in the system. Beatings, torture and killings by prison guards occur throughout the system. Children are abused in the juvenile justice system.  According to the Ministry of Justice, 13,489 teenagers are in detention.

Prison conditions throughout the country often range from poor to extremely harsh and life threatening. Abuse by prison guards, poor medical care, and severe overcrowding occurred at many facilities. Prison officials often resorted to brutal treatment of prisoners, including torture.

Torture in Brazil is widespread and systematic according to the ex-UN Special Rapporteur. Occurrence of police torture accompanies murder or effecting intimidation and extortion. Torture has also been widely reported in detention centers and mental institutions. Although the constitution prohibits torture and provides severe legal penalties for its use, torture by police and prison guards remained a serious and widespread problem. The government's National Human Rights Secretariat (SEDH) acknowledged that torture existed in the country and related the problem to societal tolerance and the fear of retaliation.

Federal, state, and military police often enjoyed impunity in cases of torture, as in other cases of abuse. During the year an additional state (for a total of 13 of 26) adopted the National Plan for the Prevention and Control of Torture, which includes the installation of cameras in prisons and penitentiaries, taping of interrogations, and reversal of the presumption of innocence for those accused of torture.

State Department -- unlawful killings by state police (military and civil) were widespread, particularly in the populous states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

In many cases police officers employed indiscriminate lethal force during apprehensions. In some cases civilian deaths followed severe harassment or torture by law enforcement officials.

Credible reports indicated the continuing involvement of state police officials in revenge killings and the intimidation and killing of witnesses involved in testifying against police officials.

UNSC Membership Overview, Germany

Germany has ratified most international human rights treaties. Reports from independent organizations such as Amnesty International certify a high level of compliance with human rights, while still pointing out several issues, in particular police brutality and mistreatment of refugees.

Police brutality appears to be wide spread. The court system offers little to no protection or recompense to the victims. At peaceful protests police have been videotaped attacking people who are already incapacitated.  This would include kicking people in the head after they are already on the ground and dragging people into custody by the hair.

The State Department has a kind view of Germany, stating that there is little in the way of human rights violations there. However, the UNHCR disagrees with Madame Clinton. Germany is a source, transit, and destination country for women, children, and men subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Approximately 85 percent of identified victims of sex trafficking originated in Europe, including 25 percent from within Germany, 20 percent from Romania, and 19 percent from Bulgaria. Non-European victims originated in Nigeria, other parts of Africa, Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. The majority of identified sex trafficking victims have been exploited in bars, brothels, and apartments – approximately 45 percent of identified sex trafficking victims reported that they had agreed initially to engage in prostitution. Victims of forced labor have been identified in hotels, domestic service, construction sites, meat processing plants, and restaurants. Members of ethnic minorities, such as Roma, as well as foreign unaccompanied minors who arrived in Germany, were particularly vulnerable to human trafficking.

UNSC Overview, continues

Yesterday, I posted several items that are of concern in regards to human rights and security enforcement in a few of the UNSC member states. Those states reviewed were China, Frnace, Russia, and Colombia. The only real shock I had in that was the pervasiveness of abuse by police. The fact that China and Russia routinely put citizens through forced disappearance, while disturbing, is not a shock to learn. I believe that these two countries regimes will never change the way they conduct business internally. Colombia is simply one of the most violent places. Should these three countries be in positions that have them writing and voting on security resolutions, I think not. I have some misgivings on them enforcing the resolutions and acts, but that role would seem much more appropriate for the apparatchik of these countries.

Today, let's look at the US and the UK to round out the Permanent Membership of the UNSC. Bosnia, Nigeria, and Portugal will be the temporary members at which to look today.

UNSC OVerview Portugal

A 2011 report from the State Department indicates that there is a strong respect for human life and dignity there. There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings and no reports of politically motivated disappearances.

The worst thing that can be said of this country is that it is a haven for pedophiles. UK Mail Online writes about how children at an unnamed but very famous orphanage cringe at the sound of Ferrari’s arriving. They are sorted by deaf mutes first, screened and checked for STDs, then carted off in vans to the homes of wealthy pedophiles. Once there, the children may be drugged, given alcohol, or other harsh treatments prior to being sexually abused. The young Madeleine McCann disappeared, to never be found, in this country.

In September 2010 the BBC reported seven defendants faced a total of more than 800 charges relating to an alleged sex ring abusing children from the Casa Pia, a state-run network of homes and schools looking after more than 4,000 needy children.

They included Carlos Cruz, a former TV presenter; Jorge Ritto, a retired ambassador; and a former deputy director of the Casa Pia itself.

Carlos Silvino, a 54-year-old former Casa Pia driver, was the hub of the ring, and faced more than 600 charges relating to the abuse of children or procuring them for others.

Five other male defendants each faced between six and 48 abuse charges. One was also accused of pimping.

But a 68-year-old woman, Gertrudes Nunes, was acquitted of charges relating to the use of her house in Elvas, near the Spanish border, by the abusers.

The abuse at Casa Pia is said to have started in the mid-1970s, but was not discovered until 2002. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11171283)

I suppose that, with all that safety and beauty of the country, a few thousand children sexually and systematically abused is alright with the State Department under Hillary Clinton.

UNSC Overview Bosnia & Herzegovina

Srebrenica is the first thing that comes to mind. Due to its internal war, as seen with Colombia, human rights violations abound. It is estimate that there are up to 10,000 cases of human rights violations that are yet untried. There were Serb run prison camps in which Bosniaks, Bosnian citizens who identified as muslims, had been raped, murdered, and mutilated. At the end of the war one could travel around and find muslims who were missing the pinky and ring finger from their right hand. This mutilation left the survivors with a permanent Serb Victory Salute.

While in Bosnia I saw also that the Bosniaks were not innocent of crimes against humanity. In Bugojno all the Croat men and boys were rounded up by the Bosniaks and taken to the soccer stadium. After being held there, these inmates were executed. Old men right down to and including baby boys were murdered.

Bosnian Croats are not innocent, either. The Croatians in Bosnia decimated the town of Duvno and later renamed it as Tomislavgrad. A town in Bosnia named for the first crowned king of Croatia, a neighboring country.

Progress in identifying the whereabouts of victims of enforced disappearance during the 1992-1995 war remained slow and is obstructed by the lack of cooperation between the authorities of FBiH and the RS.

Perhaps, still repairing and healing from the wounds that were sustained during the war and certainly those from the iron fisted reign of Tito, putting Bosnia & Herzegovina on the UNSC was premature. Premature, if not downright misguided, is the kindest way I can put an assessment of this country being on the Council. A single country bearing two names, comprised of two opposing states (The Serb Republic and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina), comprised of three divided religions is not a solid candidate for sitting on the council to decide security resolutions.

UNSC Overview Nigeria

A country with over 120 languages spoken, three main ethnic groups, and a religious schism between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north has seen thousands of people killed in ethnic clashes over the past few years. Al Jazeera, in 2009, reported on the group Boko Haram (loosely translates to all non-islamic teaching is evil) killing police and hundreds of civilians in the north. In the goal of establishing sharia law throughout the country, Boko Haram is known for widespread killings, rape, burning villages, and more. The government of Nigeria is unable to stop the group or to protect the people who live in areas that are under threat from Boko Haram.

The Nigerian government, where it does operate, is corrupt. 102-page report, "‘Everyone's in on the Game': Corruption and Human Rights Abuses by the Nigeria Police Force," documents the myriad forms of police corruption in Nigeria. It also shows how institutionalized extortion -- a profound lack of political will to reform the force -- and impunity combine to make police corruption a deeply embedded problem.

The US State Department report from 2008 states national police, army, and other security forces committed extrajudicial killings and used lethal and excessive force to apprehend criminals and to disperse demonstrators during the year … On February 25, police killed approximately 50 persons, burned nearly 100 homes, and destroyed more than 150 market stalls in Ogaminana, just outside Okene, Adavi local government area, Kogi State. Credible reports indicate the police attacked the village in reprisal for the reported killing of a colleague by local youths the previous day. There was no formal investigation of the incident … In March 2007 the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture visited the country at the government's invitation to assess reports of official abuse. On the basis of discussions with detainees, visits to prisons and police stations, and forensic medical evidence collected over a one-week period, the rapporteur reported that torture was endemic in law enforcement operations, including police custody, and was often used to extract alleged confessions. According to his report, methods of torture included flogging with whips; beating with batons and machetes; shooting in the foot; threatening a suspect with death and then shooting him with powder cartridges; suspension from the ceiling; and denying food, water, and medical treatment.

Even after the UN had written and published the scathing report of very recent and, to this day, ongoing blatant violations of human rights, absolute and utter disregard for human rights, and a completely corrupt system that is incapable of maintaining its own internal security, Nigeria was voted to sit on the UNSC.