Elsewhere Today 438

Aljazeera:
Syria 'fires on Israeli jets'

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 06, 2007
15:10 MECCA TIME, 12:10 GMT

Syrian air defences have opened fire on Israeli aircraft after they violated the country's airspace in a "flagrant and agressive act," a Syrian military spokesman has said.

The Israeli jets "dropped ammunition" over deserted areas of northern Syria early on Thursday, a spokesman told the official Syrian Arab News Agency (Sana).

Israeli radio, quoting unidentified military sources, said Israel did not carry out an air attack on Syria.

"This event never happened," Israeli radio said, quoting an unidentified military spokesman.

Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said: "All that Israel has said is that it did not carry out a military attack against Syria."

She said: "This has been a summer of heightening tensions between Israel and Syria, certainly in terms of rhetoric and talk ... this flurry of allegations and denials won't have helped."

Intrusion claim

A Syrian army spokesman told the official Sana news agency: "Enemy Israeli planes penetrated Syrian air space from the Mediterranean Sea heading towards the northeast, breaking the sound barrier."

He said: "Our air defences forced them to leave ... without causing human or material loss."

"We warn the Israeli enemy government against this flagrant aggressive act, and retain the right to respond in an appropriate way," he said.

"Air defence units confronted them and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage."

But asked by Al Jazeera if the Israeli jets had attacked targets in Syria, Buthayaa Shaaban, a Syrian government minister, would only confirm that the Israelis "intervened in our airspace".

She said: "The Israeli aeroplanes went into our airspace at night on our northern borders and this is not really surprising. What are they going to do with about $30m of armaments except attack neighbouring countries?"

She said that Syria was still looking into the "ammunition" that the Israeli jets are alleged to have dropped.

Long hostilities

At the beginning of last summer's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israeli aircraft flew over the palace of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, in what analysts called a warning to Damascus.

In June of the same year, Israeli jets also flew over al-Assad's summer home in the coastal city of Latakia, after Syrian-backed Palestinian fighters in Gaza captured a young Israeli soldier.

Syria and Israel remain technically at a state of war.

Peace talks broke down in 2000 over the fate of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CD0753AB-0C9A-4818-9172-8AA5086F54DF.htm

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AllAfrica:
Good Neighbourliness a Long Way Off – Analyst

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks NEWS
5 September 2007
Kinshasa

The recent meeting between senior Rwandan and Congolese officials saw some agreement on strategies to minimise tension between the two countries, but did not achieve a breakthrough to firmly deal with the rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an analyst said.

"The two governments more or less repeated what they had said in previous encounters, but it is some way from specifying what they expect from each other to achieve a lasting return to peace," Philippe Biyoya, professor of political science and law at the Protestant University of Kinshasa, capital of the DRC, said.

According to Biyoya, Rwanda should make clear to the DRC government that it wants support and no overtures to the Interahamwe or the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR).

On the other hand, DRC should be consistent in its position on the Tutsi commander believed to be supported by Rwanda. General Laurent Nkunda has renewed his campaign against the DRC army, causing thousands to flee his stronghold in the eastern DRC. Nkunda argues that he is protecting Tutsis in the Kivu area from the FDLR Hutu extremists.

Rwanda's foreign minister Charles Murigande met his DRC counterpart Mbusa Nyamwisi in Kinshasa on 3 September during a three-day visit. They discussed the consolidation of relations, the presence of ex-FAR (Armed Forces of Rwanda, involved in the 1994 genocide) fighters in the DRC and Nkunda.

"The ex FAR-Interahamwe constitute a problem, firstly for the Congolese, as they kill, rape and steal every day, but they are also a permanent menace for Rwanda," Nyamwisi told reporters. "These meetings will allow us to find a response for the people and the government. We must prevent an escalation, because an escalation is possible."

Murigande noted: "The ex FAR-Interahamwe, alias FDLR, are the root cause of much of the insecurity and instability in the region [and] remain militarily and politically very active in DRC and continue to constitute a serious threat to all of us. Their campaign has created fertile ground for the emergence of complicating factors like the General Nkunda phenomenon."

Working towards disarmament

The two ministers effectively announced their willingness to revitalise programmes to pacify and normalise relations between the two countries. In particular, "the two parties said they would put everything to work to disarm and return the ex-FAR and Interahamwe to Rwanda", according to the joint communiqué released at the close of the session.

They also reiterated their commitments to the principles of the Great Lakes Peace, Stability and Development pact. They referred to Article Five of the treaty, which states that "the parties will refrain from sending or supporting armed opposition or rebel groups engaged in armed conflicts or implicated in acts of violence or subversion against the government of another state".

We are convinced that the Nkunda problem is above all a Congolese problem which has to be resolved by Congo, but has consequences for Rwanda

The communiqué also set out the establishment of a tripartite commission (DRC, Rwanda, UN High Commissioner for Refugees) to organise the repatriation of Congolese refugees in Rwanda.

The two ministers said the re-opening of the common border would depend on security developments in eastern DRC.

"We are convinced that the Nkunda problem is above all a Congolese problem which has to be resolved by Congo, but has consequences for Rwanda," said Nyamwisi. "Most of our discussions were around this issue and ... reducing the spectre of destabilisation there [in eastern DRC]."

Murigande led a mission of four senior officials, the first such delegation since 1998. DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting rebels in DRC, while Rwanda says Congo harbours Interahamwe forces guilty of acts of genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]

Copyright © 2007 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. All rights reserved.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200709050810.html

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AlterNet: The Missing Class:
Portraits of the Near Poor in America

By Katherine S. Newman and Victor Tan Chen, Beacon Press
Posted on September 6, 2007

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America.

While the uninsured are most at risk, researchers estimate that about a fifth of insured individuals are underinsured and face limits on coverage or substantial financial costs if faced with an illness. - Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, 2002

THE HALL FAMILY

Gloria Hall is angry. She is angry at the board of her co-op, who refused to get her a parking space in the building even though her car mirrors have been smashed twice and there are plenty of unused spaces in the lot. Gloria will even get up and agitate about it at the co-op meetings, so much so that her neighbors routinely boo her off the floor.

She's upset at her bank, which charged her huge fees for bounced checks and never told her about them, until she noticed her savings account was a few hundred dollars short. In a fit of fury she closed her account - and then found herself struggling to open a new one, having lost the citizenship papers a new account required.

Come to think of it, Gloria is angry at America. She came here as a teenager from Panama, just one more descendant of slaves hoping for an opportunity up north, but soon enough she had her fill of the word "nigger," the rude stares, and the constant harping about how people from other countries were lazy and degenerate and uncultured - when she knew for a fact that wealthy, powerful America couldn't even care for its own.

She is truly furious with her ex-husband, the father of her three children. When she first met him he was a responsible black man, a supervisor at the factory where she worked, who eventually got hired by a construction company. But after the two were married, Samuel went "off the deep end." He started drinking; he drank so much that he would collapse and get robbed as he stumbled back home. He got hooked on drugs and began hanging out in crack houses.

Samuel went to live with his sister in Jersey and supposedly cleaned up his act, but when he came back to Brooklyn nothing had changed. He became a deadbeat dad, too busy drinking to attend when Mallory, their eldest son, graduated from junior high. Samuel barely noticed when Mallory went off to a boarding school in Massachusetts at the age of thirteen, and he seemed too busy to care when Mallory graduated and joined the army.

Gloria divorced him. Wounded by this turn of events, Samuel found his way into a treatment program, recovered fully, and - wonder of wonders - found a well-paying, white-collar job. Gloria's wrath did not die; he was still a good-for-nothing man who had time for a girlfriend and Saturday overtime at the firm but couldn't manage to pick up the two younger kids for the weekend - his court-mandated weekend - and couldn't be bothered to pay his full share of child support. Yet he had the nerve to tell their sons that Gloria was greedy for asking.

She is fed up, too, with those sons of hers, thirteen-year-old Stephen and nine-year-old Terrell, who expect the world of her - to play catch even though she's sick, to take them to the movies even though she's tired, to pay for a school trip to Spain even though she can barely save a dollar, to make them into men even though she doesn't know how - and yet expect nothing from their father. Is she the only one who notices? He's the one who shuts them up in their rooms with Game Boys while he goes off to his weekend shift at work. He was the one who kept promising to take Terrell fishing but never did. He was the one who said he'd accompany Stephen to a play but decided at the last minute he wasn't "properly dressed" and bailed. She is angry that they are not angry.

And then eighteen-year-old Mallory goes off to the military and signs an insurance policy that will give the money 50-50 to his father and mother - 50-50! - when she was the one who raised him, was there for him when his own dad was off giving a bad name to fatherhood everywhere.

But what makes Gloria angriest of all - what sinks her into long bouts of depression and suicidal thinking, pushes her onto the very edge of her sanity - is that she is dying.

She has been diagnosed with thymoma, a rare cancer of the thymus. It started in that small vestigial gland behind her breastbone, then spread to her bloodstream, and then into her diaphragm, requiring the removal of part of her lungs. Gloria went through chemotherapy. The cancer went into remission - only to come back several years later. A few years ago, things reached a point where she felt the need to approach her ex-husband about her health. She needed to make sure he would take care of Terrell and Stephen if she died. Her expectations of

Samuel were so low that she wanted him to either commit himself to the arrangement or relinquish his rights as a father so that her own family could take custody when the time came.

After hesitating, Samuel told her he'd take care of the boys. Gloria was not convinced.

Perhaps fate wouldn't seem so spiteful, or her life so awry, if it had not been so good before. Once, she was a unionized city employee. She wasn't rich, but she was far from poor. Her days of pressing and labeling pants on a factory assembly line seemed to be behind her. In fact, when they were married, Samuel wasn't so sure he liked having a wife who made more money than he did. It was one of the reasons for their breakup. In spite of Samuel's objections, Gloria insisted on making her own living. "I don't like to depend on people to take care of me," she says.

So it upsets her to think of how little freedom she has left. Now she must make do on a fixed income from SSI and her ex-husband's alimony. The total comes to about $1,200 a month. Her body, meanwhile, is breaking down. Gloria was always on the heavy side, but now she can barely walk. Her dusky skin is puffy, her rounded face drawn; her eyes register the ache in her body as she moves, carefully, as if measuring each step. Walking two blocks down the street leaves her gasping for breath. Her older sister, Amelia, who is retired and suffers from breast cancer, once had to accompany Gloria to the supermarket. Amelia left her there to shop, but then came back because she feared Gloria wouldn't be able to make it home. "And I was in the same spot where she left me," Gloria says. "So she just took the bags. And I said, 'Oh, man, I can't believe this is happening to me.' ... I should be the one that's helping her."

At night Gloria cloisters herself in her room and puts on some gospel music. Her stern mask falls away, and her eyes, habitually slit with pain, relax. Gospel does that. "Why you playing the same song over and over?" her son Stephen asks, exasperated. Gloria just ignores him. She feels good when the music is playing. She feels like herself again. She remembers how much she loves her children, how much she wants to be there for them in the years to come.

The frustration dissipates. But following behind, always, is regret. If she does not have that fury to propel her forward, onward, then her memories pull her back - to bad decisions, to failed relationships, to lost friends. The children - where did she go wrong with them? Why are they so unruly and argumentative? "Was it my fault?" she asks herself. "Did I do this right? Did I do that right? Could I have done it better?"

But it's no use. "Sometimes I just think that no matter what I do, it's not enough. It's just not enough."

Much attention has been paid - justifiably so - to the plight of uninsured Americans, who numbered more than forty-six million in 2006, a disproportionate number of them poor or near poor. Recent studies have also examined the predicament of working families saddled with responsibilities for caring for sick children and elderly parents. But what happens when the working caregiver becomes the sick patient? The story of Gloria Hall is the story of many Missing Class Americans who find their lives, in public health expert Jody Heymann's apt phrase, "predictably unpredictable." They may be fortunate enough to have health insurance and decent-paying jobs, but once illness strikes their households, uncertainty and anxiety set in. There is, in the forefront, the frightening prospect of impending death or physical disability. But there is also the psychological trauma of greatly diminished abilities and the fear of no longer being able to provide for loved ones - fear that can express itself in depression, anger, or both, as Gloria Hall has discovered.

Gloria had health insurance from her job as an officer in the city's health department police, where she worked the night shift out of one of their Brooklyn facilities. The job was a good one - public sector, with plenty of benefits and a decent pension if she stayed long enough.

With that reliable paycheck, Gloria rose beyond her family's humble beginnings in Panama and said a final good-bye to her days as a low-wage worker in New York. But the job's health coverage, she soon learned, was less than adequate. For one thing, her cancer remained undetected for years because her doctors didn't listen to her and her HMO refused at first to pay for a test.

Gloria had started complaining to her doctor in 1989. "I feel like something is growing in my chest," she told him. One X-ray showed an abnormality. "Maybe you didn't hold your breath," the hospital staff told her. This state of affairs went on, with Gloria insisting there was something wrong and the physicians doubting her. Finally, a physician's assistant told her, "Either you're crazy or something is really physically [wrong with you]. I'm going to set you up for this test." The results of the CAT scan did not look good. Gloria needed an MRI, they said. Yet Gloria's insurer wouldn't pay for it.

Finally, after some wrangling, the MRI was done, and in 1993 Gloria was diagnosed with thymoma. Chemotherapy treatments sent the cancer into remission but damaged her heart.

The next round of problems cropped up when Gloria's doctor told her that her chances would improve if she could see doctors who specialized in this unusual form of cancer and recommended she visit Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, a world-class cancer treatment and research center in Manhattan. Her HMO refused to pay for it. "The only time they approve [it] is like when somebody's dying already," Gloria says. "When it's too late, that's when they'll approve." Gloria dropped her HMO and got on Medicaid, the government's health insurance for the poor. Sloan-Kettering accepted Medicaid.

Like many working Americans faced with life-altering illnesses, Gloria was learning the limits of the nation's health-care system. Yes, she was insured, but only weakly so. Unlike many Americans, Gloria was a member of a union. Even so, she lacked the generous health benefits enjoyed by the nation's wealthier workers, who can command such largesse. Her health insurance didn't want to pay for expensive diagnostic tests. It didn't want to pay for a state-of-the-art treatment center. Fortunately for Gloria, she was quickly descending into the ranks of the poor and publicly insured. Once she was too sick to work, she began to live on monthly SSI payments of $768 and child support of $500. The low income meant that Gloria now qualified for Medicaid.

After her cancer was diagnosed, Gloria became a regular visitor to the Brooklyn Hospital Center, what she calls her "home away from home," a nonprofit teaching hospital a short distance from her apartment in Fort Greene. She liked her doctor, an Indian man who was a pulmonary specialist. When the doctor learned Gloria didn't have a prescription drug plan, he handed her several dozen samples of heart medication - a costly drug - so she wouldn't go without it. Gloria's other interactions at the hospital, however, left a lot to be desired. Emergency-room doctors had no bedside manners. (It didn't help that many of them had never heard of thymoma, a rare cancer seen mainly in populations from tropical areas; one doctor confessed she didn't even know how to spell it.) The nurses, with some exceptions, tried her patience. It pained Gloria to hear elderly patients crying out in pain, only to be ignored. "Unbelievable," Gloria says. "My sister went there once, and she called and called. Nobody paid any attention. She had to [urinate] on herself." Meanwhile, the hospital technicians, many of them Russian immigrants, were hurried and brusque. Do they dislike black people? she wondered.

What Gloria encountered at Brooklyn Hospital Center will fail to shock anyone familiar with the grim frontlines of America's health-care system, where chronically understaffed hospitals struggle to serve low income communities. Patients often receive halfhearted bedside attention from physicians and other hospital staff, even when they are - like Gloria - insured. The treatment they are given telegraphs a message: You think you deserve better? Guess what? You don't. True, the care at Brooklyn Hospital Center was better than nothing - it sure beat waiting in the emergency room for hours for someone to treat her - but sometimes, after hours of being shuttled from one surly hospital worker to another, Gloria felt like she was being treated in a destitute Latin American country again, rather than in the world's richest nation.

© 2007 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/56543/

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Asia Times:
The Pakistani road to German terror

By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Sep 7, 2007

KARACHI - Once again, fingers are being pointed at Pakistan over terror suspects being trained in the country. Men linked to the July 7, 2005, attacks on the London transport system, and others in separate incidents, have been said to have ties to Pakistan, and on Wednesday German prosecutors stated that three men they had arrested on suspicion of planning "massive" attacks in the country had trained at camps in Pakistan.

Two of the men are German nationals who have converted to Islam, while the third is Turkish. German officials said they belonged to a cell of the Sunni Islamic Jihad Union, an al-Qaeda-linked group that is believed to be an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which was active in Afghanistan. Its leader, Tahir Yuldashev, is based in Pakistan.

It is entirely possible that the men trained in Pakistan, in which case their teacher would have been al-Qaeda commander Abu Hanifah, who has a base in the town of Mir Ali in the North Waziristan tribal area.

"Abu Hanifah was commanding 27 Turks when last he was seen in Mir Ali, and if the people who were arrested in Germany are genuinely part of al-Qaeda and confessed to be trained in Pakistan, they could only be trained at Abu Hanifah's camp," a contact in North Waziristan told Asia Times Online.

The control of all foreign fighters in North Waziristan and South Waziristan from different regions of the world is generally in the hands of Arabs, the most astute and trained commanders. For example, Abu Nasir commands Chinese, Uighurs and Pakistanis; Abu Akash looks after Uzbeks and Tajiks, while Abu Hanifah takes care of Turks, Kurds and Bosnians.

Abu Hanifah was among the al-Qaeda commanders expelled from Mir Ali by the Pakistani Taliban early this year in a conflict between the local tribals and foreign fighters, whose authority the Taliban resented. Several hundred Uzbeks were massacred in the unrest. Abu Hanifah, along with Abu Akash and Abu Nasir, took refuge in the isolated and inhospitable Shawal, a no-man's land that spans the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The three men arrested in Germany had amassed about 700 kilograms of hydrogen peroxide, the same chemical used by the suicide bombers in the 2005 London attacks that killed 56 people.
Hydrogen peroxide (3% hydrogen peroxide by weight; 97% water) can easily be bought and is commonly used to bleach hair and disinfect wounds. Greater concentrations can be used as explosives.

Al-Qaeda is known to train people in explosives that contain ingredients that are easily available in the market and whose purchases don't draw attention to the buyers.

Contacts Asia Times Online spoke to who are familiar with al-Qaeda believe that if the German plot is genuine, only the United States and its strategic installations would have been the targets.

"Countries like Germany and to some extent France have not really been on al-Qaeda's radar, and if there were any strategy, it would be to only damage American interests," a contact based in North Waziristan said.

German authorities, who had been tracking the three men since December, said they had planned to target facilities visited by Americans, such as nightclubs, pubs and airports, as well as the Ramstein US air base near Frankfurt.

According to the authorities, the suspects had military-style detonators and enough material to make bombs more powerful than those that killed 191 people in Madrid in 2004 and 56 in London two years ago.

Al-Qaeda back in favor
It is precisely because of camps in Pakistan such as the one run by Abu Hanifah that the US and European countries want Islamabad to take more decisive action against them. So frustrated has the US become that it has threatened to launch its own attacks, or send in North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops from across the border in Afghanistan.

The attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, made al-Qaeda highly popular in the mountain vastness of the Waziristans, and when the Taliban retreated from Afghanistan in the face of the US invasion in late 2001, al-Qaeda, which had had bases in Afghanistan, was welcomed.

Thousands of young Waziris and Mehsud tribal youths happily accepted the command of al-Qaeda leaders in organizations such as Jundullah. They were respected as superheroes, and the young militants anticipated more al-Qaeda-led attacks against the US that would eventually destroy its might. Out of this wreckage, the belief went, an Islamic caliphate would be revived in Pakistan and Afghanistan and Muslim armies would eventually march to liberate Palestine.

However, nothing like that happened and indigenous Islamic resistance groups in Iraq and Afghanistan emerged as more successful, and the al-Qaeda heroes in Pakistan lost a lot of their appeal, leading to infighting with the Pakistani Taliban and their expulsion from the Waziristans this year.

Abu Hanifah and other al-Qaeda commanders worked hard on restoring their image and regaining respect, which they managed to do within a few months, and they began to operate again in the Waziristans.

If the suspects arrested in Germany are indeed products of Abu Hanifah's "school", his standing and al-Qaeda's will rise even further in the eyes of local militants, and the pressure on the US and it allies in the region to do something about it will grow even stronger.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.

Copyright 2007 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/II07Df03.html

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Guardian:
Israel accused of air raid on Syria

Staff and agencies
Thursday September 6, 2007

Syrian air defences opened fire on Israeli aircraft that violated Syrian airspace overnight, a Syrian military spokesman said today.

The Israeli planes broke the sound barrier and "dropped ammunition" over deserted areas of northern Syria, the official Syrian Arab news agency quoted the official as saying.

"We warn the Israeli enemy government against this flagrant aggressive act, and retain the right to respond in an appropriate way," the spokesman said.

Syria said the Israeli aircraft entered its territory through the northern border, coming from the Mediterranean and then heading east. "Air defence units confronted them and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage," the spokesman said.

Witnesses said they heard five planes or more above the Tal al-Abiad area on Syria's border with Turkey, around 100 miles north of the Syrian city of Rakka. They said the planes then headed south.

Israel's military did not comment other than saying it was looking into the report. Israel acknowledges flying over Lebanon routinely but it is unclear how often it flies over Syria.

Israel has long warned Syria to stop supporting militant Palestinian groups and the Lebanese movement Hizbullah.

Syria last fired at Israeli aircraft in June 2006 when they buzzed the summer residence of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.

Israeli officials said at the time that it was a message to Syria to stop its support for Hamas after the Palestinian militant group abducted an Israeli soldier in a raid into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,2163765,00.html

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Internazionale:
Il giorno del vaffanculo

A luglio sono andato in cassazione con dei ragazzi per depositare tre proposte di legge

Beppe Grillo
Internazionale 709, 6 settembre 2007

Il costituzionalista che ha scritto in legalese il testo della legge "Parlamento pulito" mi ha spiegato che in Italia le proposte di legge di iniziativa popolare, dalla nascita della Repubblica a oggi, si contano sulle dita di una mano. Riuscire a raccogliere le 50mila firme necessarie è un percorso a ostacoli.

La proposta va prima depositata in cassazione che, se autorizza l'iter di raccolta, pubblica il testo sulla Gazzetta ufficiale. A tutti i banchetti di raccolta deve essere presente un pubblico ufficiale che identifica chi firma. Le firme devono poi essere convalidate dal comune di residenza dei firmatari. Vanno quindi trasmesse alla cassazione, che le verifica una per una e valuta eventuali eccezioni costituzionali. Se tutto va bene la proposta arriva finalmente alle camere, e il parlamento, essendo sovrano, la boccia senza pietà.

Anche se servono più firme, in Italia è più semplice proporre un referendum, che però può essere solo abrogativo. I cittadini possono dire solo no, il sì è riservato ai politici. Devo fare a questo punto un passo indietro e spiegare cos'è "Parlamento pulito" e perché l'8 settembre 2007 ci sarà il Vaffanculo day, o V-day, in tutte le piazze d'Italia e in molte del mondo, e perché si chiama così.

In Italia non esiste una vera democrazia rappresentativa e i partiti gestiscono lo stato come se fosse "Cosa loro", talvolta in accordo con "Cosa nostra". I partiti si sono messi d'accordo nel 2005 – il centrosinistra, è vero, ha protestato, ma solo per dovere d'ufficio – per togliere agli italiani anche la possibilità di votare il loro candidato.

Nelle elezioni del 2006 i parlamentari sono stati scelti direttamente dalle segreterie dei partiti e quelli ci dobbiamo tenere. Una dozzina di persone ha nominato deputati e senatori per tutti. Dalla monarchia costituzionale alla partitocrazia incostituzionale. Nessuno ha chiesto che fosse azzerato il risultato del referendum sulla legge elettorale e i partiti hanno interpretato questo come un silenzio-assenso e cambiando le carte in tavola. Una volta si chiamava colpo di stato, da noi è acqua fresca.

I partiti, dipinti a suo tempo come cancro della democrazia da Enrico Berlinguer, sono andati oltre. Visto che potevano scegliere hanno scelto il meglio: persone condannate per reati prescritti, persone con dimostrate frequentazioni mafiose e condannati in via definitiva.

Questi ultimi sono ben 23 dopo l'abbandono, molto sofferto, di Previti, corruttore di giudici per conto terzi ed evasore fiscale motu proprio. Elencare le condanne di questi signori è come leggere il codice penale. C'è di tutto: tangenti, corruzione, estorsione, abuso edilizio e falsa testimonianza. E molti dei "diversamente onesti" (definizione di Marco Travaglio) sono lì da una vita.

Penso per esempio a Cirino Pomicino e ad Alfredo Vito, entrambi premiati per le condanne ricevute e le loro molte legislature con un posto nella Commissione antimafia. Forse si è pensato che la loro esperienza a disposizione dei magistrati può aiutare a sconfiggere la criminalità organizzata. State ancora leggendo? Siete ancora lì? O state vomitando e siete pronti per scappare all'estero?

Lo scorso luglio sono andato a Roma in cassazione con un gruppo di ragazzi per depositare tre proposte di legge: nessun parlamentare può essere eletto se condannato penalmente in via definitiva, in primo o in secondo grado; nessun parlamentare può essere eletto per più di due legislature, e contano anche quelle passate; i parlamentari devono essere eletti con un voto di preferenza diretto.

Quindi ho chiesto aiuto per la raccolta delle firme ai Meet up di Beppe Grillo, gruppi organizzati sul territorio collegati con il blog beppegrillo.it che spesso condividono le mie battaglie. Sono gruppi spontanei, 40mila persone sparse in tutte le città italiane e nel mondo. Ho scelto un giorno simbolico per svegliare questo paese dal coma in cui è sprofondato tra calciatori, tette, veline e denaro a prestito. L'8 settembre mi è sembrato il migliore.

È la data in cui l'Italia si è eclissata, il re sciaboletta e la sua corte in fuga a Pescara e l'esercito abbandonato a se stesso. Nazisti al centronord, bombardamenti e truppe coloniali francesi al sud. Dalla fine della guerra siamo stati sempre occupati politicamente e militarmente dagli americani. La sovranità nazionale è pura finzione.

La "V" l'ho presa in prestito da una parola nazionale, recentemente depenalizzata come insulto, il sempre classico vaffanculo, e da V per vendetta, il fumetto di Alan Moore e David Lloyd. Quindi V-day o Vaffanculo day. In questo giorno si raccoglieranno le firme, io sarò a Bologna in piazza Maggiore, ma in altre 180 città italiane e 20 straniere ci saranno eventi di libertà e di informazione.

Mentre scrivo 185mila persone hanno aderito alla giornata. Nessun giornale (tranne Rolling Stone) o canale tv ne ha parlato, se non di sfuggita come si citerebbe una curiosità o un pettegolezzo. Ho indetto una conferenza stampa a Firenze, con 500 invitati: hanno aderito in sei e l'ho annullata.

Un buon segno. Da tempo dico che i direttori di giornali e tv sono marionette del potere, anello di congiunzione tra i partiti e i gruppi economici. Un megafono sempre meno credibile e sovvenzionato dallo stato, da noi, dalle nostre tasse. Il prossimo V-day sarà per loro.

Internazionale viale Regina Margherita, 294 - 00198 Roma
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http://www.internazionale.it/beppegrillo/articolo.php?id=16899

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Jeune Afrique: La rébellion accuse
le gouvernement de soutenir une faction dissidente

BURUNDI - 5 septembre 2007 - par AFP

La rébellion burundaise des Forces nationales de libération (FLN) a accusé mercredi le gouvernement de soutenir une faction dissidente issue de ses rangs qu'elle a affrontée mardi à Bujumbura lors de combats qui ont fait au moins 21 morts.

"C'est le gouvernement qui a violé l'accord (de cessez-le-feu), car il appuie, donne des armes, des minutions et des vivres aux insurgés et nous considérons que c'est un acte de guerre contre le Palipehutu-FNL", a déclaré à l'AFP le porte-parole des FLN Pasteur Habimana, joint par téléphone à Dar es-Salaam (Tanzanie).

Le Parti de libération du peuple hutu (Palipehutu) est l'aile politique des FNL.

Les FNL et le gouvernement burundais ont conclu un accord de cessez-le-feu le 7 septembre 2006, mais son application piétine, même si les accrochages ont été très peu nombreux depuis un an.

Mardi, le ministre de la Défense burundais avait accusé les FNL de "violation grave" du cessez-le-feu et averti que l'armée ne tolèrerait pas de nouveaux combats entre factions rebelles.

"Les FNL sont descendus à Bujumbura pour restaurer l'ordre et montrer que tous les vrais FNL sont derrière leur président Agathon Rwasa", a justifié Pasteur Habimana.

Les affrontements entre les deux factions rebelles ont fait 21 morts mardi matin dans un quartier nord-ouest de Bujumbura, épargnée depuis bientôt deux ans par les violences.

Le 29 août, le président burundais Pierre Nkurunziza a annoncé la tenue d'un sommet régional "très bientôt pour accélérer la mise en application de l'accord de cessez-le-feu", à l'issue d'une rencontre avec le médiateur sud-africain Charles N'qakula.

Selon des sources diplomatiques, ce sommet devait avoir lieu "autour du 8 septembre en Tanzanie" en présence du président Nkurunziza et du leader des FNL.

"Nous ignorons tout sur ce sommet pour l'instantL Le médiateur ne nous a pas consultés (...) c'est un mauvais médiateur qui s'est allié au gouvernement contre les FNL", a accusé Pasteur Habimana.

Le Burundi tente de sortir de près de 14 ans de guerre civile, qui a fait au moins 300.000 morts. Les FNL sont le seul des sept groupes rebelles les plus actifs pendant le conflit à ne pas avoir signé d'accord global de paix.

http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_
depeche.asp?art_cle=AFP30947larbeetnedi0#

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La Repubblica: Soyinka, Berger, McCann
orazione civile per Mantova

Riflessioni sulla politica, la democrazia e i diritti umani nei libri
di tre grandi autori ospiti in questi giorni al Festival della letteratura

di DARIO OLIVERO

IN DIREZIONE OSTINATA E CONTRARIA

Un'autobiografia pubblica, civile, coraggiosa. Un grido al mondo che riporta le idee più nobili di quello che chiamiamo Occidente lanciato però con la forza selvaggia dell'Africa. Wole Soyinka, premio Nobel per la letteratura, nigeriano, studi a Londra, esiliato politico, orfano di tanti amici, abbattuti o morti soli sotto il regime di uno degli ennesimi colpi di stato.

Soyinka il ribelle, che rifiutò la leva militare britannica, che patì il carcere per motivi di opinione, che rinunciò alla sua Africa per continuare a difenderla da lontano, che litigò a muso duro con l'allora segretario generale dell'Onu Kofi Annan rivendicando per il suo paese libere elezioni e rilascio dei detenuti politici. Soyinka il risvegliato che fu vaccinato dal colonialismo contro ogni ingiustizia, compresa quella dei suoi concittadini verso i più deboli lasciandogli una continua aspirazione alla democrazia.

Soyinka il poeta, il drammaturgo, il polemista. Soyinka il mistico, l'animista, l'africano che percorre il continente alla ricerca degli antichi dei delle montagne e dei fiumi e che dal dio inquieto del viaggio si sente posseduto. Soyinka il guitto, che ama il vino e la festa, che a volte nasconde l'allegria dietro la solitudine politica e altre volte la tristezza dietro le risate di un banchetto con gli amici. La sua storia, la sua vita, le sue battaglie, le sue sconfitte e la sua a volte inspiegabile fiducia nel futuro sono raccolte nel libro Sul far del giorno (tr. it. A. Di Maio e V. Bastia, Frassinelli, 18,50 euro).

Venerdì 7 settembre alle 19,15
Chiostro di San Barnaba
Soyinka Poetry Reading

Domenica 9 alle 18
Piazza Castello
Soyinka con Peter Florence

UNA STORIA SBAGLIATA

Basterebbe leggere quella manciata di pensieri dedicati a Pier Paolo Pasolini per avere la conferma che John Berger è una grande anima. Uno di quelli che riesce a vedere la luce dove gli altri non vedono che notte. Una luce ancora più abbagliante perché affidata soltanto alla fiducia nella volontà dell'uomo. Ma in Abbi cara ogni cosa. Scritti politici 2001-2007 (tr. it. M. Nadotti, Fusi Orari, 10 euro) c'è molto altro. I sette livelli di disperazione, per esempio. Uno per ogni giorno della settimana. Un ottimo motivo per non risvegliarsi in questo mondo specie se abiti in certe parti di questo mondo: che in questa giungla di leggi non ci sono diritti, che niente migliora, l'umiliazione di non riuscire a cambiare quasi nulla, vedere chi resiste ridotto in polvere dalle bombe, il peso degli uccisi che spegne l'innocenza per sempre.

Parla di posti precisi Berger, parla di Medio Oriente, parla delle sue esperienze dirette e della sua vicinanza ad Arafat e alla causa palestinese ma l'atto d'accusa ha un respiro più ampio quando dice che qualsiasi strategia elaborata da leader politici incapaci di immaginare una simile disperazione (tutte le disperazioni) non può che fallire e reclutare sempre nuovi nemici. Oppure che di questi tempi le richieste di giustizia vengono da così tante parti che l'infinito sembra essere finalmente dalla parte dei poveri.

Oggi giovedì alle 18,45
Palazzo Ducale
John Berger con Maria Nadotti, "La tenda rossa di Bologna" con letture di Giuseppe Cederna

Venerdì 7 alle 15,30
Chiostro del Museo diocesano
John Berger con Maria Nadotti, "Avere caro questo mutilato mondo"

A FORZA DI ESSERE VENTO

Un libro sui Rom è rarissimo. Un libro che li racconti da dentro, che faccia un po' di repulisti del ciarpame ideologico che li circonda e si accatasta accanto a quello reale delle discariche dove spesso devono vivere. Colum McCann ha passato mesi nei loro campi, ha parlato, fumato, bevuto e cantato insieme a loro. Ha ascoltato storie che nessuno racconta. Le violenze inflitte loro dai gadze (i non Rom), le donne rom rese sterili a loro insaputa in un genocidio silenzioso, gli incendi e la distruzione delle loro cose, i vecchi e nuovi pogrom. Ha raccolto i loro modi di dire, proverbi, descrizioni del mondo, regole. E ha scritto un romanzo che probabilmente, finora, è il suo capolavoro: Zoli, Storia di una zingara (tr. it. M. Pavani, Rizzoli, 18 euro), liberamente tratto dalla vita della poetessa rom Papuska. Una ragazzina che perde i genitori sotto la furia nazista, impara a leggere e scrivere, diventa una poetessa e cantante, crede che il comunismo, come le ha insegnato il nonno, possa dare una speranza anche al popolo che è "fatto per avere sulla testa il cielo, non un soffitto", e per questo ripudiata dalla sua gente.

Oggi alle 16
Palazzo D'Arco
Colum McCann con Santino Spinelli

Oggi alle 21,15
Piazza San Leonardo
Chiara Valerio, Thorsten Palzhoff e Colum McCann con Chicca Gagliardo

(6 settembre 2007)

http://www.repubblica.it/2007/09/sezioni/spettacoli_e_cultura/libri-110/libri-110/libri-110.html

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Página/12:
El primer juicio sobre la ESMA

EMPIEZA EL 18 DE OCTUBRE EL PROCESO CONTRA FEBRES

Es un prefecto que fue miembro del grupo de tareas y encargado del ajuar de los recién nacidos que iban a ser apropiados. Lo juzgarán sólo por cuatro casos de secuestros y torturas.

Por Victoria Ginzberg
Jueves, 06 de Septiembre de 2007

Los miembros del grupo de tareas de la Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada (ESMA) se reconocían como animales. Alfredo Astiz se hacía llamar “El Cuervo”, Jorge Acosta, “El Tigre”, Jorge Perrén, “El Puma”. A Héctor Febres, en cambio, le decían “Selva”. “Porque era todos los animales juntos”, recordó Carlos Gregorio Lordkipanidse, un ex detenido que lo padeció en ese centro clandestino. Febres, que era el encargado del ajuar de los recién nacidos que luego eran apropiados, será el primer represor de la ESMA sometido a un juicio oral después de la anulación de las leyes de Punto Final y Obediencia Debida. El proceso comenzará el 18 de octubre.

Será el primer juicio oral sobre la ESMA. Pero no habrá un marino en el banquillo. Febres, un integrante de la Prefectura Naval, deberá responder por cuatro casos de secuestros y torturas.

Está previsto que se escuchen cerca de 60 testimonios y que las audiencias se extiendan durante algo más de un mes, antes de que lleguen los alegatos y la sentencia. La mayoría de los testigos propuestos por las partes y por la fiscal Mirna Goransky son sobrevivientes de la ESMA. También será convocado el coronel Horacio Ballester, del Centro de Militares por la Democracia (Cemida), y se incluirán declaraciones ya dadas por represores, como Adolfo Donda o Juan Carlos Rolón.

El proceso lo llevará adelante el Tribunal Oral Federal 5, que reúne todos los expedientes vinculados con la ESMA y el Primer Cuerpo de Ejército y que condenó el año pasado al represor Julio Simón, alias El Turco Julián. El de Febres, por el momento, es el único juicio que los jueces Guillermo Gordo, Ricardo Farías y Daniel Obligado (que se incorporó al cuerpo hace una semana) realicen este año.

El prefecto será juzgado por los secuestros de Carlos Alberto García, Alfredo Julio Margari, Josefa Prada de Olivieri y Carlos Gregorio Lordkipanidse. “Tengo bronca, porque la primera vez que declaré contra él fue hace veinte años, en febrero de 1987, y recién ahora se hace el juicio. La causa se desguazó y vamos a tener que volver a testimoniar miles de veces. Es una infamia que lo juzguen por tan pocos casos cuando era un vitalicio de ese lugar, era un torturador y también operativo del aparato secuestrador”, dijo a Página/12 Lordkipanidse. “Acá soy el que da máquina”, fue lo primero que él le escuchó decir a Febres cuando llegó a la ESMA, el 18 de noviembre de 1978, después de haber sido secuestrado junto a su mujer. Margari fue detenido ilegalmente un año antes, el 17 de noviembre de 1977, y García el 21 de octubre del mismo año. A Prada de Oliveri la llevaron a la ESMA junto a su esposo el 21 de diciembre de 1977. Estaba embarazada de cuatro meses. Los cuatro recuperaron la libertad.

Elea Peliche, abogada de la Asociación de Ex Detenidos Desaparecidos, se mostró decepcionada porque el juicio abarca muy pocos delitos y se quejó porque el tribunal dejó afuera de este proceso el caso de Raimundo Villaflor, quien murió en la ESMA a causa de las torturas.

“Nos hubiera gustado un juicio que reuniera más hechos y más imputados. Pero teniendo en cuenta que hace cuatro años que se anularon las leyes de Punto Final y Obediencia Debida, es imperioso que comiencen los juicios, ya que la parte central de esta causa sigue obstruida por el accionar de la Cámara de Casación”, señaló, por su parte, Rodolfo Yanzón, abogado de la Fundación Liga Argentina por los Derechos Humanos y otro de los querellantes.

Al anularse las leyes de impunidad, la causa ESMA volvió a la situación en la que había quedado en 1987. Diez marinos, entre ellos Astiz y Acosta, estaban en condiciones de ser juzgados. Pero el represor Enrique Scheller, que también era de la partida, presentó un recurso ante la Cámara de Casación que paralizó el proceso. Parte de ese tribunal, que fue luego acusado por “cajonear” los expedientes sobre los crímenes de la dictadura, fue recusado por los sobrevivientes. Durante ese trámite, el juez Alfredo Bisordi llamó “delincuente terrorista” a una de las víctimas. Después de que Casación fuera cuestionado en el Consejo de la Magistratura, el caso de Scheller volvió a la vida. Pero fue entonces el represor quien impugnó la participación de los jueces que habían sido acusados y rechazó que se nombraran conjueces. Este es el estado actual de aquel caso. Por lo tanto, será Febres el primer representante de la ESMA en ser juzgado.

© 2000-2007 www.pagina12.com.ar|Todos los Derechos Reservados

http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-90922-2007-09-06.html

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Página/12: “Lamentamos con dolor
el silencio de la Iglesia durante la dictadura”

Desde el Obispado de Neuquén se distribuyó un pronunciamiento autocrítico de la actitud de la jerarquía eclesiástica durante la represión.

Por Elio Brat
Jueves, 06 de Septiembre de 2007

“Con dolor no podemos dejar de reconocer que, si bien no toda la jerarquía fue sorda ante el sufrimiento de tantos hermanos, no toda la Iglesia asumió esta actitud imprescindible para ser coherentes con lo que creemos y predicamos”, señala textualmente una cartilla pastoral que se conoció ayer desde el obispado de Neuquén y que se distribuyó en todas las parroquias de la provincia. El documento fue elaborado por el equipo de la Pastoral Social de la Iglesia neuquina, coordinado por el párroco de Centenario, Rubén Omar Capitanio, quien el lunes próximo declarará como testigo en el juicio que se está llevando en La Plata contra el sacerdote y ex capellán de la Policía Bonaerense Cristian Federico von Wernich.

La crítica de los católicos neuquinos por la actuación evangélica que le cupo a la Iglesia argentina en los siete años de la última dictadura militar está resumida en el siguiente párrafo: “Demasiado silencio, falta de participación pública en las demandas de los familiares de los desaparecidos, hacer oídos sordos al reclamo de justicia, demasiada debilidad para llamar al mal provocaron que apareciéramos como cercanos a los dictadores de la muerte, mientras debíamos ser apóstoles de la vida”.

Si bien el documento no tiene la firma de Marcelo Melani –quien como obispo encabeza la diócesis neuquina–, el escrito cuenta con el respaldo de la institución. “A pesar de que trascendió públicamente ayer, el mismo fue distribuido hace un mes, desde los primeros días de agosto, en todas las parroquias de nuestra diócesis”, confirmó a Página/12 Capitanio, quien agregó que “este documento fue consensuado con todos los sacerdotes de nuestra iglesia y con el propio obispo Melani. Porque es importante que ante un hecho tan dolorosamente trascendente como el juicio a un miembro de la Iglesia (Cristian von Wernich) y su conducta en esos años terribles, no podemos dejarlo pasar sin reflexionar y debatir con nuestra gente sobre todo lo que realmente pasó”.

Capitanio confirmó a este diario que hoy viajará a La Plata para testificar el lunes ante el tribunal bonaerense que está enjuiciando a su par eclesiástico, el ex capellán de la policía Cristian von Wernich, quien fuera compañero suyo en el seminario de La Plata donde estudiaron para ser sacerdotes.

“Yo he cuestionado y sigo cuestionando el papel de la Iglesia institución, sobre todo en la jerarquía, porque no estuvimos a la altura de los acontecimientos, es decir, del lado de los crucificados”, siguió diciendo Capitanio, quien no dejó de expresar que “el caso Von Wernich es especial y más que simbólico. Porque Von Wernich se pone del lado de los crucificadores y, en ese sentido, comete una blasfemia diciendo quelo hacía en nombre de Dios. No sé de qué Dios hablaba, ya que no existe ningún Dios que sea partidario de la muerte”.

En el mismo documento autocrítico de la Iglesia neuquina se recuerda “la actitud de compromiso en esa hora negra de la patria” de obispos como Jaime Francisco de Nevares –quien fundó y por más de 30 años marcó a fuego desde su conducción al obispado de Neuquén– y al emérito de Viedma Miguel Esteban Hesayne. También se rescatan las figuras y el comportamiento en esos años del obispo de Quilmes Jorge Novak y de quien encabezó la diócesis de La Rioja Enrique Angelelli, asesinado el 4 de agosto de 1976, cuando se disponía a denunciar públicamente a los autores materiales de dos de sus curas en Chamical: el padre Gabriel Longueville y Fray Carlos de Dios Murias.

© 2000-2007 www.pagina12.com.ar|Todos los Derechos Reservados

http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-90919-2007-09-06.html

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Página/12:
Anticipaciones

Por Juan Gelman
Jueves, 06 de Septiembre de 2007

Los “halcones-gallina” no se duermen. Ari Fleischer, ex vocero de la Casa Blanca, está invirtiendo 15 millones de dólares en la compra de espacios televisivos para proyectar spots de 30 segundos protagonizados por militares y civiles norteamericanos que padecen la guerra de Irak en carne propia, pero insisten en que debe continuar. Se pueden ver en el sitio //freedomswatch.org/video.aspx. y escuchar al veterano John Kriesel, al que una bomba artesanal de la resistencia le voló las dos piernas en una carretera cuando estaba por finalizar su segunda permanencia en el país árabe: “No es el momento de retirarse –dice–. No es el momento de hacer política”. En este caso “hacer política” significaría desconocer la opinión de la mayoría de los estadounidenses. El 60 por ciento estima que el número de bajas norteamericanas es inaceptable y el 42 por ciento –contra el 23– que las tropas deberían retirarse ya o escalonadamente (//home.bussi neswire.com, 21-8-07).

La introducción a estos “comerciales” –así se los define– señala que “ha llegado la hora de que los norteamericanos luchen contra los grupos anti-victoria que están socavando la guerra contra el terror”. En efecto, todos los entrevistados repiten, como Bush, que la única solución del conflicto es la victoria. Pero, ¿quiénes serían los que no quieren “ganar”? Tal vez Adrienne King, lingüista que se desempeñó cuatro años en el servicio de inteligencia del ejército, pasó a la reserva y fue luego enviada al país árabe: “El Congreso debe ponerse de pie y sacarnos de Irak –declaró–, quitarles ese peso a nuestros soldados”. O tal vez las madres y los familiares de efectivos caídos a los que se condecoró post-mortem con la Gold Star: demandan “traer a casa de Irak a nuestros hijos e hijas e impedir que otras familias experimenten el dolor que sentimos por nuestras pérdidas”.

Es que no en todos han calado las mentiras de la Casa Blanca para justificar la guerra: las armas de destrucción masiva que nunca se encontraron, o el presunto vínculo Saddam Hussein/Al Qaida. Diez días después de los atentados, un informe de la CIA –depositado en los escritorios de W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice y otros altos funcionarios del gobierno– indicaba que no había colaboración alguna entre Irak y Al Qaida (MSNBC, 22-11-05). Bush se negó a entregar el informe al Comité de inteligencia del Senado hasta mediados del 2004, cuando la ocupación de Irak y el derrocamiento de Hussein eran hechos cumplidos, pero no cesó de insistir en la existencia de un vínculo inexistente. Ya lo decía Goebbels: “Miente, miente, siempre algo quedará”.

Los neoconservadores han lanzado esta nueva campaña mediática un par de semanas antes de que el general David Petraus, comandante en jefe de las tropas ocupantes, y Ryan Crocker, embajador norteamericano en Bagdad, presentaran al Congreso un informe sobre los resultados del reciente envío de 28.000 efectivos más que ha elevado su número a un nivel nunca alcanzado anteriormente. Se descuenta que, con matices, dicho informe celebrará los logros de ese aumento –estrategia elegida por Bush para alcanzar la victoria que anunció hace más de cuatro años–, aunque en una reciente evaluación unánime de los 16 servicios de inteligencia estadounidenses se señala que los progresos son pocos y que no ha disminuido el nivel de violencia imperante en Irak. La Casa Blanca no quiere soluciones políticas. Y luego, los yacimientos de petróleo son merecedores de control militar.

Los altos jefes militares están divididos acerca del curso de la guerra, no pocos desaprueban la estrategia de Bush y no falta el neoconservador que los considera un casi “grupo anti-victoria”. El Pentágono no dará una opinión única sobre la estrategia de Bush, hecho inusual –especialmente con el país en guerra– en un ministerio que no acostumbra a airear públicamente sus diferencias internas (McClatchy Newspapers, 30-8-07). Varios comandantes elevarán evaluaciones individuales directamente a Bush al mismo tiempo que el general Petraus y el embajador Crocker presentarán las suyas ante el Congreso: es evidente que estos militares –algunos, como el general de Marines Pater Pace, jefe saliente del Estado Mayor Conjunto, han propuesto reducir el número de efectivos, en vez de aumentarlo– desean dejar en claro que cualquier futura decisión de Bush no es la que ellos tomarían. El mandatario norteamericano enrostra a sus críticos que están socavando la moral de las tropas; sus críticos quieren retirarlas para que no pierdan la vida. La lógica de W. es bien curiosa.

© 2000-2007 www.pagina12.com.ar|Todos los Derechos Reservados

http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/contratapa/13-90902-2007-09-06.html

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The Independent:
Lebanon cries victory, but is it too soon?

Robert Fisk
Published: 06 September 2007

The victory of the Lebanese army at the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp – the killing of up to 100 al-Qa'ida-type insurgents at the cost of 163 Lebanese soldiers and 42 civilians – is being greeted in the country with "trumpetings" and "hootings" worthy of the country's greatest poet, Khalil Gibran.

For three days now, the newspapers have devoted their front pages to photographs of Lebanese troops astride their ageing US-made personnel carriers, giving "V" signs, firing in the air and succumbing to the traditional warriors' reward of rice and rose-water.

Chaker Absi, leader of Fatah al-Islam, who vowed to fight to the death for "Palestine", lies in a Tripoli mortuary, identified by wife and daughter.

But Gibran, whose Garden of the Prophet was published in 1934, warned that we should "Pity the nation that... boasts not except among its ruins... whose art is the art of patching and mimicking..." And, after 106 days of fighting, the ruins of Nahr el-Bared are a sea of Dresden-like walls and collapsed slums, of booby-traps and unexploded bombs.

The Lebanese government has promised to rebuild the whole fandango. The Palestinians are the brothers of the Lebanese, they say – and what other Arab government would be so generous after the carnage of the past four months? But everyone is asking where the next battle will begin.

The Lebanese army has lost – since April of this year – just five men fewer than the total 163 British dead in Iraq since the invasion of 2003; it is an impressive, dramatic, solemn toll of dead and will only emphasise the army's unique role in the political life of this sorely broken country.

With the parliamentary majority and its largely Shia Muslim opposition still unable to agree on a presidential candidate, the nation faces the prospect of the emergence of two governments and two potential presidents – one of whom, former general Michel Aoun, was the messianic "prime minister" of Lebanon last time the country had two civil war administrations. General Michel Sulieman, the leader of the Lebanese army, comes out of it all with a much enhanced reputation; he has friends in Damascus, friends in Washington, friends even in Lebanon and may yet be the latest "saviour" to protect a statelet created so blithely by the French mandate authorities after the First World War.

But Ghassan Tueni, the doyen of Lebanese editors whose son was murdered last year – by the Syrians, his supporters remain convinced – warned in an epoch-making editorial two weeks ago that Lebanon should not be ruled by generals. He is right, of course; but Middle East nations have a habit of turning to their army commanders for salvation. Military regimes also tend to be supported by Washington, which was among the first to offer weapons – old and for the most part obsolete – to the Lebanese army in its latest battle.

The Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, has praised his army and claimed its victory at Nahr el-Bared was "the country's biggest victory against terrorism."

Many Lebanese, however, believe the most recent act of terrorism was Israel's 34-day bombardment of Lebanon last year which cost well over 1,000 civilian lives and followed the capture of two Israeli soldiers on the border by Hizbollah and the subsequent killing of seven others on 12 July. And the same country which supplied the Israelis with weapons to destroy so much of Lebanon then – the United States – has been providing weapons for the Lebanese army to attack Fatah el-Islam.

The latter's survivors warned a week ago that some of their number had escaped from Nahr el-Bared and there were "black days" ahead for Siniora's government. For the moment, Syria and her friends in Lebanon who want to destroy the Siniora cabimet have been heaping praise on the Lebanese army. But we shall see in the near future if those "black days" turn out to be real.

http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2934350.ece

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ZNet | Europe
A rich man's world

by Jeremy Seabrook
The Guardian; September 06, 2007

The most puzzling aspect of the official response to social evils in rich societies is its superficiality. "Remedies" proposed for under-age drinking are a characteristic expression of this: raise the drinking age, make drinking more expensive, prevent the sale of cheap drink in supermarkets and petrol stations. Similarly, in reaction to knife crime, gun crime and to teenagers terrorising the streets (a war on terror at home might be a useful initiative), government ministers say: "parents must take responsibility" or "stringent laws are already in place" to deal with these things. David Cameron, with rival vacuity, speaks of "making families and communities feel safe."

There is, of course, a good reason for the silence over a more searching analysis of what is wrong with "our" society. For all social ills are supposed to be remedied by economic success. And the economy has "performed" extremely well for the past 15 years. It is inconceivable that consistent growth, continuous expansion, and an uninterrupted rise in disposable income are compatible with the levels of violence, addiction, fear and social ill-being that we see all around us.

The government is bound to deny any connection with the health of the economy and the sickness of society. That these may be intimately linked, not only at times of insufficiency and misery, but at times of prodigious wealth-creation and excess, is the taboo which prevents a more rigorous examination of that most lasting of relationships, the one between economy and society.

This is why the Thatcher legacy, largely unmolested by her New Labour successors, has been so malignant. The proponents of economic liberalisation speak as though deregulation brought with it no social or moral consequences. Deregulation, they claim, is a good in itself. Removing obstacles to growth and expansion must deliver the desired outcomes of affluence, contentment and social peace. Government intervention, red tape, rules and directives that inhibit enterprise are equated with a denial of freedom. These stern defenders of the real world actually live in a hermetic world of fantasy, in which "pure" economics of a kind unknown on the planet will magically waft whole populations into a realm of peace and plenty.

John Redwood's even more maniacal vision of an ultra-competitive Britain is part of this effort by true liberals to unfetter the creativity of the people by turning us all into entrepreneurs in a world of universal business. This utopia is as bizarre and unreachable as anything ever devised by the vain dreamings of the left; but while the illusions of the left have long been discredited, the experiments of the social alchemists of the right are regarded with benign indulgence. Their most exaggerated thinking of the unthinkable is destined to become the orthodoxy of tomorrow.

When confronted by gun and knife culture, the excesses of substance abuse, addictions, social and family breakdown, extreme individualism and the exorbitant rewards that co-exist with extreme poverty, a collusive consensus exists to shield these phenomena from their cause.

The economy now has to be treated with a veneration long lost to mere religion. It is anthropomorphised, the object of a tender concern of which people have ceased to be recipients: is it sick or healthy, does it need an injection or a shot in the arm, is it suffering or slowing down? It is as capricious as a prima donna, volatile and unpredictable, subject to bouts of brooding and uncertainty. It is also a semi-sacred phenomenon, which must be read for signs and portents. It must be propitiated and sustained, treated with an awe and respect which humanity forfeited long ago.

Indeed, humanity has become something of an intrusion into the majestic workings of the global economy. We are all abject postulants before its ability to deliver the goods, to yield dividends, to perform miracles and lay golden eggs. This is why "human nature" is so important to the idealists of the infinitely perfectible economy. The only flaw in an infallible universe is a faulty, unregenerate, indeed, fallen humanity. In this way, the holy mysteries of the economy are at one with the Christianity of which the economy is the deformed and wayward offspring.

This is why all the cruelty and violence in the world are to be laid at the door of "human nature"; unregenerate, incorrigible; while the economic system reaches ever greater heights of perfection. Human nature is the vast toxic dump on which all the evils of the world are blamed, now that the perfections of universal growth and development have been achieved. Thus are good and evil are reconfigured in a world of plenty. In our miserable daily account of life, humanity appears as wankers, weirdos, paedophiles, rapists, muggers, robbers, alcoholics, junkies, loonies, vandals, yobs, louts, crooks, nutters, thugs and crazies - a vast litany of disgrace walks the earth, even as the hymns of praise to commodities fill the air.

It is clear that setting the economy free has enslaved the people; not in the old ways, not as in the early period the industrial era, when laissez-faire led to misery, want, hunger and exploitation, but in ways unimagined in the grim environment of the 19th century. That material deprivation was part and parcel of capitalism has been taken for granted; that excess may set up a different order of social pathologies seems rarely to have occurred to the ideologues of perpetual growth and expansion, which now includes, it seems, all politicians.

But this is at the root of the unquiet disturbances of the age. Deregulation in a world of insufficiency brought unparalleled misery and loss. Deregulation in a time of unequalled wealth brings other ills: a system that delivers the goods also delivers some formidable evils, which take a toll of humanity scarcely less than it did to the starvelings of early industrialism.

For with the dismantling of the old industrial landscapes and the export of the pollutants and poisons of industry to the distant places of the world, the old disciplines that tethered human beings to the productive machinery have been, of course, relaxed. No longer schooled to the relentless rhythms of loom and lathe, of machine and mechanism, the iron rules of control have been swept away.

The society of abundance requires a different kind of sensibility from that which served the old machinery of production: the deregulation of human wants, needs, demand and desire have been a necessary accompaniment of the profound economic changes we have experienced. Economic "success" in this context takes on another complexion. The removal of industrial disciplines also does away with restraint, self-control, limits on what we may and may not have in this world. It also uncovers some distinctly undesirable desires - instant rage and jealousy, an inability to tolerate being thwarted, a morbid desire for the unattainable.

Government legislation such closing down outlets where the young may obtain alcohol, or making the possession of guns illegal, is as vain as destroying the coca crop in Colombia or tearing up poppies in Helmand province, for this will do nothing touch the emptiness within, the unanswered need, the loss of meaning and belonging, the absence of purpose; above all a generation of whom nothing more is asked except that they get themselves "trained" to serve the economy.

The economy does not exist in a separate sphere from society, morality, the wellbeing of the spirit and heart. But it has been allowed to encroach upon areas of human experience that should be shielded form its violent incursions. Only when we are prepared to acknowledge that, and to act upon our knowledge, will lives cease to be forfeited to its savage hunger for human sacrifice.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=74&ItemID=13711