MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians queued up in Moscow at the weekend to press -- quite literally -- a reset button on U.S.-Russian relations, a publicity stunt meant to clear the air on the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit. The stunt centered on the symbolic red button U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in March, urging him to press it to reinvigorate relations between their two nations. Lavrov was quick to point out that the Americans had mis-spelled the Russian word on the button's label, giving it the meaning of "overload" instead of "reset." Lavrov lent the button to the state-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, which installed it on Moscow's Pushkin Square to serve as a kind of geopolitical genie. Russians queued for the chance to press it and make a wish for better bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians queued up in Moscow at the weekend to press -- quite literally -- a reset button on U.S.-Russian relations, a publicity stunt meant to clear the air on the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit.
The stunt centered on the symbolic red button U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in March, urging him to press it to reinvigorate relations between their two nations.
Lavrov was quick to point out that the Americans had mis-spelled the Russian word on the button's label, giving it the meaning of "overload" instead of "reset."
Lavrov lent the button to the state-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, which installed it on Moscow's Pushkin Square to serve as a kind of geopolitical genie.
Russians queued for the chance to press it and make a wish for better bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington.
The US and Russia have agreed to work towards cutting deployed nuclear warheads to as few as 1,500 each, according to an agreement signed by Barack Obama on his first trip to Russia as president.Obama and Medvedev signed a framework agreement that aspires to cut warheads to a maximum of 1,675 within seven years of a nuclear arms reduction treaty coming into force. That represents scrapping almost 1,000 warheads on both sides, according to expert estimates of current warhead levels.The pact signed today also calls for the number of strategic delivery systems to be reduced to between 500 and 1,100 on each side. These systems include intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched missiles and heavy bombers.Among a flurry of announcements today, Russia agreed to let the US fly troops and weapons across its airspace to provide an air corridor for its forces in Afghanistan.
The US and Russia have agreed to work towards cutting deployed nuclear warheads to as few as 1,500 each, according to an agreement signed by Barack Obama on his first trip to Russia as president.
Obama and Medvedev signed a framework agreement that aspires to cut warheads to a maximum of 1,675 within seven years of a nuclear arms reduction treaty coming into force. That represents scrapping almost 1,000 warheads on both sides, according to expert estimates of current warhead levels.
The pact signed today also calls for the number of strategic delivery systems to be reduced to between 500 and 1,100 on each side. These systems include intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched missiles and heavy bombers.
Among a flurry of announcements today, Russia agreed to let the US fly troops and weapons across its airspace to provide an air corridor for its forces in Afghanistan.
Alright, Chuck. Don't mention that you are reporting from the city at 3am! I mean, that might have explained the lack of fanfare on Red Square? And it was very curious to me that I'd been watching Russian "state-run" tv off and on all weekend, and it was wall-to-wall coverage of the upcoming summit, including a 4th of July celebration in Moscow, interviews with the American Ambassador to Russia, statements from Medvedev (and Chuck, "Meh-Dvuh-dev"? really?) programmes on US-Russian cooperation in space, interviews with journalists from the EU about Nato & the missile shield, and yeah, the public installation of the "reset" button in Pushkin Square, where Muskovites were having their pics taken with a cardboard cut out of Obama.
Just in case all of this stuff might have been some Potemkin Russia invented by Kremlin-run RT, I checked out Moscow Times, which fancies itself the most independent rag in Russia, and sure enough, they confirm these events.
So, either Chuck got off the plane at the wrong stop, or he's seen too many spy movies, mistaking people asleep at 3am for a city of 8 million being kept in the dark about Obama's visit.
And can someone tell me why the h*** there should be banners announcing Obama has arrived in your county? "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
Several hundred people were arrested after a protest, in the city of Urumqi on Sunday, turned violent. Beijing says Uighurs went on the rampage but one exiled Uighur leader says police fired on students. The protest was reportedly prompted by a deadly fight between Uighurs and Han Chinese in southern China last month. The BBC's Chris Hogg in Shanghai says this is one of the most serious clashes between the authorities and demonstrators in China since Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Several hundred people were arrested after a protest, in the city of Urumqi on Sunday, turned violent.
Beijing says Uighurs went on the rampage but one exiled Uighur leader says police fired on students.
The protest was reportedly prompted by a deadly fight between Uighurs and Han Chinese in southern China last month.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Shanghai says this is one of the most serious clashes between the authorities and demonstrators in China since Tiananmen Square in 1989.
SHAOGUAN, Guangdong, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Xinjiang Uygur workers injured in a toy factory brawl in south China's Guangdong Province condemned the riot in their hometown, where at least 140 people were killed. "The rioters used our injuries as an excuse for their violence," said Atigul Turdi, 24, who was injured when she was running out of the scene of the fight on June 26 in Xuri toy factory in Shaoguan City, Guangdong. "I firmly opposed the violence in the name of taking revenge for us." Two Uygur workers died and 60 Xinjiang Urgur workers were injured in the brawl. Then riot organizers started posting calls on Internet forums for demonstrations in Urumqi, the Xinjiang regional capital. "I believe the government will handle the brawl appropriately," Turdi said. "Why did the rioters destroy our beautiful and peaceful Xinjiang region in such cruel manners?"
SHAOGUAN, Guangdong, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Xinjiang Uygur workers injured in a toy factory brawl in south China's Guangdong Province condemned the riot in their hometown, where at least 140 people were killed.
"The rioters used our injuries as an excuse for their violence," said Atigul Turdi, 24, who was injured when she was running out of the scene of the fight on June 26 in Xuri toy factory in Shaoguan City, Guangdong. "I firmly opposed the violence in the name of taking revenge for us."
Two Uygur workers died and 60 Xinjiang Urgur workers were injured in the brawl. Then riot organizers started posting calls on Internet forums for demonstrations in Urumqi, the Xinjiang regional capital.
"I believe the government will handle the brawl appropriately," Turdi said. "Why did the rioters destroy our beautiful and peaceful Xinjiang region in such cruel manners?"
BEIJING -Trying to work out what on earth happened Sunday night in Urumqi, where the government says that at least 140 people died in a riot, is proving about as hard as getting an interview with President Hu Jintao. The key question is: Who died? Muslim Uighur demonstrators, cut down by the police, as Uighur exile groups claim? Or innocent Han Chinese bystanders, butchered by a mob of Uighurs, as the government-owned media are making out? Getting any Uighurs in Urumqi to talk on Monday was impossible. Their Internet access had been cut off, most of their phones, too, and those whom foreign journalists reached were too terrified of the government to say anything. Xinjiang, an allegedly autonomous region, is the hardest place I have ever worked. The atmosphere of repression is Stalinist. For a week last year I tried to gauge ordinary people's feelings there about the authorities. Not one person I spoke to would give his real name, and most whom I approached wanted nothing to do with me.
BEIJING -Trying to work out what on earth happened Sunday night in Urumqi, where the government says that at least 140 people died in a riot, is proving about as hard as getting an interview with President Hu Jintao.
The key question is: Who died? Muslim Uighur demonstrators, cut down by the police, as Uighur exile groups claim? Or innocent Han Chinese bystanders, butchered by a mob of Uighurs, as the government-owned media are making out?
Getting any Uighurs in Urumqi to talk on Monday was impossible. Their Internet access had been cut off, most of their phones, too, and those whom foreign journalists reached were too terrified of the government to say anything.
Xinjiang, an allegedly autonomous region, is the hardest place I have ever worked. The atmosphere of repression is Stalinist. For a week last year I tried to gauge ordinary people's feelings there about the authorities. Not one person I spoke to would give his real name, and most whom I approached wanted nothing to do with me.
While reports of unrest in Tibet frequently grab headlines around the world, little attention is given to what several human rights groups have dubbed China's "other Tibet". China's frontier to Central Asia, the vast western region of Xinjiang has in recent years seen escalating ethnic tensions and the imposition of a heavy military presence to suppress what Beijing says is a growing terrorist threat.
China's frontier to Central Asia, the vast western region of Xinjiang has in recent years seen escalating ethnic tensions and the imposition of a heavy military presence to suppress what Beijing says is a growing terrorist threat.
From Beijing's point of view, Xinjiang has always been a part of China. But while the region has a history of domination at the hands of the Chinese, Beijing's claim overlooks long gaps where the region merged with Central Asian and Turkic states. To this day, most Uighurs feel more culturally aligned with the Turkic peoples to the west, rather than Beijing to the east.
But while the region has a history of domination at the hands of the Chinese, Beijing's claim overlooks long gaps where the region merged with Central Asian and Turkic states.
To this day, most Uighurs feel more culturally aligned with the Turkic peoples to the west, rather than Beijing to the east.
Demonstrators hurled rocks Monday at the Chinese embassy in The Hague and about 60 people were detained in a protest that followed deadly unrest in China's Xinjiang region, police said. Rocks and cobble stones were hurled at the embassy building and several windows were broken. Police spokeswoman Chantal Marges said "about 60 people" were held for failing to follow police orders.
Rocks and cobble stones were hurled at the embassy building and several windows were broken.
Police spokeswoman Chantal Marges said "about 60 people" were held for failing to follow police orders.
Rival protesters took to the streets again on Tuesday, defying Chinese government efforts to lock down this regional capital of 2.3 million people and other cities across its western desert region after bloody clashes between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese. <...> Police fired tear gas on Tuesday at Han Chinese protesters armed with clubs, lead pipes, shovels and hoes, news reports said. Earlier, in an attempt to contain China's worst ethnic violence in decades, the authorities imposed curfews, cut off cellphone and Internet services and sent armed police officers into neighborhoods. <...> Despite the authorities efforts to bring the situation under control, hundreds of Uighur protesters defied the police, crashing a state-run tour of the riot scene for foreign and Chinese journalists. A wailing crowd of women, joined later by scores of Uighur men, marched down a wide avenue Tuesday with raised fists and tearfully demanded that the police release Uighur men who they said had been seized from their homes after Sunday's violence. Some women waved the identification cards of men who had been detained. As journalists watched, the demonstrators smashed the windshield of a police car and several police officers drew their pistols before the entire crowd was encircled by officers and paramilitary troops in riot gear. "A lot of ordinary people were taken away by the police," a protester named Qimanguli, a 13-year-old girl clad in a white T-shirt and a black headscarf, said, crying. She said her 19-year-old brother had been detained on Monday, long after the riots had ended. <...> Internet social platforms and chat programs appeared to have unified Uighurs in anger over the way Chinese officials had handled the earlier brawl, which took place in late June thousands of miles away in Shaoguan, Guangdong Province. There, Han workers rampaged through a Uighur dormitory, killing at least two Uighurs and injuring many others, according to the state news agency, Xinhua. Police officers later arrested a resentful former factory worker who had ignited the fight by spreading a rumor that six Uighur men had raped two Han women at the site, Xinhua reported. ...
Police fired tear gas on Tuesday at Han Chinese protesters armed with clubs, lead pipes, shovels and hoes, news reports said. Earlier, in an attempt to contain China's worst ethnic violence in decades, the authorities imposed curfews, cut off cellphone and Internet services and sent armed police officers into neighborhoods. <...>
Despite the authorities efforts to bring the situation under control, hundreds of Uighur protesters defied the police, crashing a state-run tour of the riot scene for foreign and Chinese journalists.
A wailing crowd of women, joined later by scores of Uighur men, marched down a wide avenue Tuesday with raised fists and tearfully demanded that the police release Uighur men who they said had been seized from their homes after Sunday's violence. Some women waved the identification cards of men who had been detained.
As journalists watched, the demonstrators smashed the windshield of a police car and several police officers drew their pistols before the entire crowd was encircled by officers and paramilitary troops in riot gear.
"A lot of ordinary people were taken away by the police," a protester named Qimanguli, a 13-year-old girl clad in a white T-shirt and a black headscarf, said, crying. She said her 19-year-old brother had been detained on Monday, long after the riots had ended. <...>
Internet social platforms and chat programs appeared to have unified Uighurs in anger over the way Chinese officials had handled the earlier brawl, which took place in late June thousands of miles away in Shaoguan, Guangdong Province. There, Han workers rampaged through a Uighur dormitory, killing at least two Uighurs and injuring many others, according to the state news agency, Xinhua. Police officers later arrested a resentful former factory worker who had ignited the fight by spreading a rumor that six Uighur men had raped two Han women at the site, Xinhua reported. ...
ROME, Jul 6 (IPS) - Many civil society organisations are staying on in Sardinia island in support of a region severely affected by the economic crisis, after the G8 leaders summit was moved from there to the city of L'Aquila.Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi decided to move the G8 meeting to L'Aquila, north-east of Rome, after a major earthquake almost destroyed the city and surroundings in April, killing 300 people. The government explained the decision as "an act of solidarity, and attention to the region's population." But 17 national, international and regional NGOs that had begun work with the people of Sardinia decided they would not walk out on the region. "We had started to work with the local communities on our joint proposals to the G8 when the decision was taken," says Raffaella Bolini of the human rights organisation Arci. "And we decided to maintain our activities there, particularly in the mining areas of Sulcis Iglesiente and Maedio Campidano."
Iran's biggest group of clerics has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election to be illegitimate and condemned the subsequent crackdown.
"It's a clerical mutiny," said one Iranian analyst. "This is the first time ever you have all these big clerics openly challenging the leader's decision." Another, in Tehran, said: "We are seeing the birth of a new political front."
Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Mousavi-Tabrizi --no relations to Mir-Hossien Mousavi--, who heads the Association of Researchers and Tutors of the Qom Seminary, said today that establishing a party by Mousavi would be a worthy step, ILNA news agency reported. "Having (political) parties in any country is a prelude to establishing and strengthening democracy," said the cleric. "If people such as Mousavi want to set up strong political parties, this will be a good and worthy step, and must be welcomed, for naturally these parties will operate within the framework of the law," Mousavi-Tabrizi elaborated. Another political grouping that backed Mousavi in his presidential bid is the Islamic Revolution's Mujahedin Organization (IRMO) which is based in Iran. Mohammad Salamati, the IRMO General Secretary, also called on Mousavi to set up a political party, saying that Mousavi "has many supporters whose organization requires a party."
"Having (political) parties in any country is a prelude to establishing and strengthening democracy," said the cleric.
"If people such as Mousavi want to set up strong political parties, this will be a good and worthy step, and must be welcomed, for naturally these parties will operate within the framework of the law," Mousavi-Tabrizi elaborated.
Another political grouping that backed Mousavi in his presidential bid is the Islamic Revolution's Mujahedin Organization (IRMO) which is based in Iran. Mohammad Salamati, the IRMO General Secretary, also called on Mousavi to set up a political party, saying that Mousavi "has many supporters whose organization requires a party."
The head of Mossad, Israel's overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran's nuclear sites. Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad's director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility. The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.
Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad's director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility.
The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.
There's a lot of downside and very little up. Even if you take the view that the Saudis believe that having the Israelis deal with Shi'ite infidel rivals is a good thing. I'm just not convinced that's how it'll play and would be a risky strategy for little gain. keep to the Fen Causeway
Particularly when I'll bet you not one of the big, oil-dependent countries has yet to draw up plans on seizing the fields.
But then in that case the royals are probably all left either fleeing the country or beheaded. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
AMY GOODMAN: A week after a military coup in Honduras, soldiers and riot police blocked the airport runway Sunday evening preventing ousted President Manuel Zelaya from returning to the country. Heavily armed Honduran soldiers also used tear gas and machine guns to disperse an unarmed crowd of over tens of thousands of people who had come from all over the country, despite military blockades, to wait at the airport and welcome back their ousted President. At least two people were reportedly killed and more wounded. After several failed attempts to touch down at Tegucigalpa airport, Zelaya's plane eventually flew to Nicaragua, where he met President Daniel Ortega. He was accompanied by the President of the UN General Assembly Miguel D'Escoto Brockman on the plane. Zelaya then went on to El Salvador where he is due to meet the presidents of Argentina, Ecuador and Paraguay and the head of the Organization of American States.... ANDRES CONTERIS: The media overwhelmingly in this country is controlled by an oligarchy that is very supportive of this coup. And so they are only trying to get out the story about some of the demonstrations that have been in favor of Roberto Micheletti taking power a week ago yesterday. However, the press who is trying to give a balanced approach and to give voice to those who are in the streets yesterday and the recent days, in addition to yesterday. They are finding--they're facing incredible repression. There was a journalist on Friday murdered after leaving Radio America in San Juan Pueblo in the rural area in the north. Then there are two journalists who are in hiding. One is the head of channel 36 and the other is the director of Radio Global. Other journalists who have decided to continue their programming are facing death threats. And fear and intimidation tactics.... AMY GOODMAN: Also a bomb on July 4th, Saturday exploded at Channel 11 in Tegucigalpa? ANDRES CONTERIS: That happened at 9:30 PM at night. It was the first bomb that had been placed in the institution that actually went off. The material damage was severe, there was no one else hurt. Channel 11 has not been known as a channel that would give the side that is countered to this regime that is in power now, but they were attempting to do some small efforts to give a balanced approach. Even in doing that, that is what caused them to be a target of this bombing. Other channels closed, I said channel 36, also channel 45. In terms of radio, Radio Global in Tegucigalpa is the station that is most been under attack. I mentioned a man who jumped three stories, the director is in hiding. Other journalists are under life threats. One of the radios stations in the countryside, Radio Progresso, this was shut down. ...
ANDRES CONTERIS: The media overwhelmingly in this country is controlled by an oligarchy that is very supportive of this coup. And so they are only trying to get out the story about some of the demonstrations that have been in favor of Roberto Micheletti taking power a week ago yesterday. However, the press who is trying to give a balanced approach and to give voice to those who are in the streets yesterday and the recent days, in addition to yesterday. They are finding--they're facing incredible repression. There was a journalist on Friday murdered after leaving Radio America in San Juan Pueblo in the rural area in the north. Then there are two journalists who are in hiding. One is the head of channel 36 and the other is the director of Radio Global. Other journalists who have decided to continue their programming are facing death threats. And fear and intimidation tactics....
AMY GOODMAN: Also a bomb on July 4th, Saturday exploded at Channel 11 in Tegucigalpa?
ANDRES CONTERIS: That happened at 9:30 PM at night. It was the first bomb that had been placed in the institution that actually went off. The material damage was severe, there was no one else hurt. Channel 11 has not been known as a channel that would give the side that is countered to this regime that is in power now, but they were attempting to do some small efforts to give a balanced approach. Even in doing that, that is what caused them to be a target of this bombing. Other channels closed, I said channel 36, also channel 45. In terms of radio, Radio Global in Tegucigalpa is the station that is most been under attack. I mentioned a man who jumped three stories, the director is in hiding. Other journalists are under life threats. One of the radios stations in the countryside, Radio Progresso, this was shut down. ...
caption: When protesters began trespassing the barbed-wire fence, the army responded by shooting tear gas and live rounds. One person was killed on the scene, dozens were injured, and overnight, at least three other people died in local hospitals. caption: Once again, so that the people of Honduras will remain united: the blood of a martyr is the seed for many Hondurans who will stand up and remain firm against such de facto government - this government of delinquents. We are only following Article 3rd of our Constitution: 'Nobody should obey a Government which has reached power by means of usurpation.'" -Cesar Omar Silva, television journalist for State-owned Channel 8.
caption: Once again, so that the people of Honduras will remain united: the blood of a martyr is the seed for many Hondurans who will stand up and remain firm against such de facto government - this government of delinquents. We are only following Article 3rd of our Constitution: 'Nobody should obey a Government which has reached power by means of usurpation.'" -Cesar Omar Silva, television journalist for State-owned Channel 8.
Since the thwarted landing, some media has begun to push negotiated solutions that do not recognize Zelaya's presidency. This represents backsliding from the global consensus. Proposals such as pushing up the elections while leaving the coup government in place, shouldn't even be circulating at this point. Canada's jarring proposal at the July 4 OAS meeting to review the circumstances of the coup also represents a step backward, since the OAS Secretary General has been doing precisely that for several days. Both a "senior administration official" and the Canadian representative of the OAS expressed views that Zelaya should not return to his country now. Although the Canadian ambassador to the OAS voiced concern for the Honduran president's safety, their comments also hint at a dangerous willingness to allow the coup to survive for at least a while longer. Diplomatic efforts must move forward from the current position by stepping up pressures on the Honduran coup. The next step is economic sanctions. And on that one, the world's largest economy, Honduras' major trade partner and source of foreign income, the United States holds the cards. Zelaya explicitly recognized this. After turning back, he stated, "Starting tomorrow, the United States, which has tremendous power, should take action." "Specifically, the strongest government in economic matters, in aspects of the sphere of the dollar, for us is the United States. If they decide to live with the coup, then democracy in the Americas is over... In this sense, I ask the powers that have economic and commercial influence to apply measures when legitimate institutions of society side with barbarity and terror to commit abuses as in Honduras."
Diplomatic efforts must move forward from the current position by stepping up pressures on the Honduran coup. The next step is economic sanctions. And on that one, the world's largest economy, Honduras' major trade partner and source of foreign income, the United States holds the cards.
Zelaya explicitly recognized this. After turning back, he stated, "Starting tomorrow, the United States, which has tremendous power, should take action."
"Specifically, the strongest government in economic matters, in aspects of the sphere of the dollar, for us is the United States. If they decide to live with the coup, then democracy in the Americas is over... In this sense, I ask the powers that have economic and commercial influence to apply measures when legitimate institutions of society side with barbarity and terror to commit abuses as in Honduras."
a disconnect between the administration and the power centers.
Yep, the admin's public diplomatic position is conspicuously ambiguous in light of current and historical US institutional interests. I would not assume however a rhetorical null pointer signifies indifference to desired outcome among admin officers. Over the weekend maracatu quoted Lowenthal:
Honduras may prove to be a tough test
for US militarized, intelligence assets. At that moment something Chomsky had said galvanized in my mind a hypothesis, relating popular participation (referenda) to popular pacification (suppression), to determine operating rules for remote control.
(2 July 2009) Right now in Iraq, something interesting is happening. Obama is pressing the Iraqi government not to permit the referendum that's required by the Status of Forces Agreement. That's an agreement that was forced down the throats of the Bush administration, which had to formally renounce its primary war aims in the face of massive Iraqi resistance. Washington's current objection to the referendum was explained two days ago by New York Times correspondent Alissa Rubin: Obama fears that the Iraqi population might reject the provision that delays US troop withdrawal to 2012....
Furthermore, 2 July 2009
Uribe is poised to do it again. While he has acted coy and evasive when asked whether he wants to extend his presidency... The referendum would ask Colombians to vote on yet another constitutional amendment to allow presidents to run for a third term. Given Uribe's overwhelming approval rating, such a measure could turn out well for him.... Obama greeted Uribe warmly at the White House this week, praising him for his "diligence and courage" and speaking optimistically about the passage of a free trade agreement -- a measure presidential-candidate Obama opposed on human rights grounds.... "I commended President Uribe on the progress that has been made in human rights in Colombia and dealing with the killings of labor leaders there," Obama said on Monday. In reality, a report by the International Trade Union Confederation this month shows that "Colombia remains the world's deadliest country for labor organizers, with 49 killed last year, up from 39 in 2007 but down from 78 in 2006," according to the Associated Press.
Obama greeted Uribe warmly at the White House this week, praising him for his "diligence and courage" and speaking optimistically about the passage of a free trade agreement -- a measure presidential-candidate Obama opposed on human rights grounds....
"I commended President Uribe on the progress that has been made in human rights in Colombia and dealing with the killings of labor leaders there," Obama said on Monday. In reality, a report by the International Trade Union Confederation this month shows that "Colombia remains the world's deadliest country for labor organizers, with 49 killed last year, up from 39 in 2007 but down from 78 in 2006," according to the Associated Press.
Technocrats live for tests, the apparent legitimacy of tests. Certainly process über results. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
In the latest strike action, nearly 70,000 construction workers will down tools on Wednesday over wages, which could halt work on stadiums for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Unions at state broadcaster SABC will also strike this week, raising the possibility of a nationwide television blackout for the first time since television arrived in South Africa three decades ago. Gold miners and the mineworkers' union NUM, which has vowed to strike if pay demands are not met, meet on Tuesday for a key meeting on wage talks while unions in the platinum, chemical, paper and petroleum sectors have also warned of strikes.... "The news is clearly worrying. There is some struggle within the ANC (alliance) to change policy direction, for payback of what the left sees as its dues for getting Zuma to power," said Peter Attard Montalto, emerging markets economist at Nomura in London. COSATU nearly blocked the listing of mobile phone group Vodacom in May and has called for bigger interest rate cuts from the central bank -- all indications that the grouping plans to play a bigger role on the political stage.
Unions at state broadcaster SABC will also strike this week, raising the possibility of a nationwide television blackout for the first time since television arrived in South Africa three decades ago.
Gold miners and the mineworkers' union NUM, which has vowed to strike if pay demands are not met, meet on Tuesday for a key meeting on wage talks while unions in the platinum, chemical, paper and petroleum sectors have also warned of strikes....
"The news is clearly worrying. There is some struggle within the ANC (alliance) to change policy direction, for payback of what the left sees as its dues for getting Zuma to power," said Peter Attard Montalto, emerging markets economist at Nomura in London.
COSATU nearly blocked the listing of mobile phone group Vodacom in May and has called for bigger interest rate cuts from the central bank -- all indications that the grouping plans to play a bigger role on the political stage.
