Palestinians shot dead by Israeli troops near Nablus | World news | guardian.co.uk

Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank today amid a new descent into violence.

The two, who Palestinians claimed were detained while ploughing a field of olive trees near Nablus, were shot several times. Palestinian officials said both were 17. The Israeli military said they had tried to stab a soldier.

The deaths bring to five the number of people killed in the region in the past week.

As the violence placed further strain on US efforts to get peace talks under way, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said he would be meeting Barack Obama in the US on Tuesday.

Netanyahu's visit comes at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and the US over a controversial Jewish housing project in east Jerusalem. The project embarrassed Washington because it was announced while the vice-president, Joe Biden, was in Jerusalem to kickstart Israeli-Palestinian talks.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

Tea party protesters scream 'nigger' at black congressman | McClatchy

WASHINGTON -- Demonstrators outside the U.S. Capitol, angry over the proposed health care bill, shouted "nigger" Saturday at U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and civil rights icon who was nearly beaten to death during an Alabama march in the 1960s.

Protesters also shouted obscenities at other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, spat on at least one black lawmaker and confronted an openly gay congressman with taunts.

Capitol Police escorted the members of Congress into the Capitol after the confrontation. At least one demonstrator was reported arrested.

"They were shouting, sort of harassing," Lewis said. "But, it's okay, I've faced this before. It reminded me of the 60s. It was a lot of downright hate and anger and people being downright mean."

[...]

Protesters also used a slur as they confronted Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., an openly gay member of Congress.

Frank told the Boston Globe that the incident happened as he was walking from the Longworth office building to the Rayburn office building, both a short distance from the Capitol. Frank said the crowd consisted of a couple of hundred of people and that they referred to him as 'homo.' A writer for The Huffington Post said the protesters called Frank a "faggot."

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

U.S. Turns a Blind Eye to Opium in Afghan Town - NYTimes.com

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The effort to win over Afghans on former Taliban turf in Marja has put American and NATO commanders in the unusual position of arguing against opium eradication, pitting them against some Afghan officials who are pushing to destroy the harvest.

From Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal on down, the military's position is clear: "U.S. forces no longer eradicate," as one NATO official put it. Opium is the main livelihood of 60 to 70 percent of the farmers in Marja, which was seized from Taliban rebels in a major offensive last month. American Marines occupying the area are under orders to leave the farmers' fields alone.

"Marja is a special case right now," said Cmdr. Jeffrey Eggers, a member of the general's Strategic Advisory Group, his top advisory body. "We don't trample the livelihood of those we're trying to win over."

United Nations drug officials agree with the Americans, though they acknowledge the conundrum. Pictures of NATO and other allied soldiers "walking next to the opium fields won't go well with domestic audiences, but the approach of postponing eradicating in this particular case is a sensible one," said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, who is in charge of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime here.

Afghan officials, however, are divided. Though some support the American position, others, citing a constitutional ban on opium cultivation, want to plow the fields under before the harvest, which has already begun in parts of Helmand Province.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

Iraqi President Calls for Recount - NYTimes.com

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraq's president on Sunday called for a recount in this month's parliamentary elections, which have turned into a tight race between the prime minister and a secular rival amid accusations of fraud. A new count could further extend political wrangling in the contentious race.

The demand from President Jalal Talabani came a day after Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared to back the idea by calling on the election commission overseeing the counting to quickly respond to requests from political blocs for a recount.

The demands are the latest twist to an election that will determine who will govern the country as U.S. troops go home. Counting since the March 7 vote has been slow and plagued with confusion and disarray, fueling claims of fraud, though international observers have said the vote and count have been fair.

It remained unclear what the demands from Talabani and al-Maliki, which come before the first count has been finished, would produce.

The electoral commission -- an independent body appointed by parliament -- swiftly dismissed the calls and urged political parties to be patient and lodge their complaints through the appropriate channels.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

German military cooperation with African countries yields mixed results | World | Deutsche Welle | 21.03.2010

Many African soldiers have been trained by the German Armed Forces, but the military training assistance program is under scrutiny. In recent years, German-trained soldiers staged a coup and shot at civilians in Guinea.  

Over the last decade, Germany's military cooperation with African countries has been organized and implemented by the Foreign and Defense Ministries. In fact, the military training assistance program has trained defense personnel from 28 African countries and over 1,200 experts. 

Defence Spokesman Thomas Silberhorn  of the Christian Social Union says the military training strenghtens bilateral relations.  

"The military training assistance aims at strengthening relationships with other countries and thereby also teach democratic ideals. That is a good thing. It is military training, but from the basis of what we have in Germany," he told Deutsche Welle.

[...]

But military cooperation does not always yield the desired results. The example of Guinea in West Africa shows that the ideals of democracy and rule of law are not always successfully transmitted. In September 2009, German-trained paratroopers gained notoriety when they shot at peaceful demonstrators.

And in December 2008, Moussa Dadis Camara overthrew the government in what is sometimes called the "German Coup." His trademark was a red beret with a bronze eagle - the symbol for German paratroopers. Camara's rule only lasted until December 3, 2009, when there was an assassination attempt on his life. He was then replaced by his Vice President, Sekouba Konate (a French-trained paratrooper).

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

Al Jazeera English - Americas - Venezuela announces power penalties

Venezuela has said it will cut the power for a 24-hour period to 80 firms that have failed to meet electricity usage reduction targets.

Caracas announced the measures on Sunday as part of a nationwide drive to save energy amid rationing to cope with electricity shortages.

The 80 firms did not reduce their power consumption by the required 20 per cent and will have their electricity cut on Monday, the state utility said.

Those companies include hotels, restaurants, car dealerships, gyms and a yacht club, as well as Sony de Venezuela SA, the local arm of the Japanese firm Sony Corp.

Hugo Chavez, the president, had ordered the firms to reduce their consumption by presidential decree.

The decree was made after a severe drought in the country depleted hydroelectric electricity production which provides for more than 66 per cent of the country's power.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

Immigration reform rally draws tens of thousands to Washington - latimes.com

Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington Tens of thousands of people began assembling in Washington on Sunday to march for immigration reform, a politically charged issue that has been pushed to a back burner by the intense focus on healthcare.

In a tactic that reflects the current economy, march organizers have tried to cast the immigration debate as part of economic recovery.

"What's important today is that jobs and immigration go hand in hand," Marc Morial of the National Urban League said on Sunday in a television interview. "When you've got millions of undocumented workers working off the books, that affects the economy for everyone."

Organizers are hoping to draw tens of thousands of people to the National Mall then march to RFK Stadium. Organizers say they have attracted hundreds of groups from almost every state for what they call a "March for America."

There are more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, and efforts to fix the current immigration system have failed in recent years. Liberals have sought a path for citizenship for undocumented workers, while conservatives have been just as adamant in opposing what they have called plans for amnesty. Both sides support efforts to secure the border with Mexico, but they differ on what tactics to use.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

Greens take 21% of the vote in Tasmania

TASMANIA'S Liberals have left open the possibility of a deal with the Greens, who wield the balance of power, as the state's future government remains in doubt.

Labor and Liberal powerbrokers yesterday paused to take stock ahead of a likely 10-10-5 split in the House of Assembly following the state election.

This is probably as much as anything a result of the continued construction of a wood chipping mill against the majority opinion, with strong support from both state and federal Labour.  It seems that the Labour party has become corrupt in the last few years, with even Peter Garrett (midnight oil, Bruce's favourite) supporting this destructive and unnecessary mill.

S. 3081

Three years after Obama eloquently opposed the Military Commissions Act, the now-president signed a Military Commissions Act of his own, as part of the 2010 Defense Authorization Bill. The law, which sought to overhaul the discredited Bush-era military commissions for "alien enemy combatants," introduced what is apparently turning out to be an important new term to the counterterror lexicon: Unprivileged Enemy Belligerent, defined as "an individual who: 1) has engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners; or 2) has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners."...

In Obama's defense bill, the word "alien" preceded the term "unprivileged belligerents," in defining who can be held before a military commission. For McCain and Lieberman's purposes, omitting the word "alien" apparently means the label can apply to U.S. citizens, while, politically, the word "unpriviliged" provides a useful connotation: terror suspects will not be coddled like common criminals!

Read more...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

LA Times: House passes healthcare overhaul

Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington
Delivering a hard-fought victory in President Obama's yearlong pursuit of a national healthcare overhaul, a divided House narrowly approved legislation Sunday night that could reshape the way Americans deal with wellness and illness.

House Democratic leaders proved they could hold the majority caucus together, passing the Senate version of the healthcare legislation, 219-212, after weeks of arm-twisting and politicking. Thirty-four Democrats opposed the bill, as did all Republicans.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

Distilled goodness from Juan Cole: Maliki calls for Recount, warns of renewed bloodshed
Is Iraq slipping into Semi-Authoritarianism? (March 22, 2010)

The holding of elections in Iraq gave rise to a spate of articles on how may George W. Bush really did change the Middle East and maybe Iraq is turning out all right after all. These arguments derive not from analysis but from a desire to bolster the Republican Party and its ideology (which combines militarism abroad with Marie Antoinette-style lack of empathy with the woes of the common person domestically.)

...

So some authoritarian regimes are moving to put up democratic facades and so becoming semi-authoritarian. And the few regimes that seemed earlier to make a place for more democratic governance--Israel, post-2001 Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, post-2003 Iraq-- seem to be moving toward semi-authoritarianism and slipping back from democracy.

Ironically, the most genuine steps toward democratization have taken place in Turkey and in Pakistan. But Bush and the neoconservatives had backed the Turkish and Pakistani militaries, so this heroic story of the little people attaining their rights was never celebrated by the US mass media. Democracies are unpredictable and hard to control (as Bush found out when US allies like France and Turkey declined to line up behind the invasion of Iraq), and so Turkey and Pakistan are disturbing the world status quo. That is the real reason for which some Obama administration officials have talked about Pakistan as the most dangerous country in the world. They did not speak that way when Gen. Pervez Musharraf was in control of the country. You have to wonder how committed most Washington elites really are to democratization, and have to wonder whether semi-authoritarianism in Middle Eastern allies might not be perceived as holding benefits for the US.

Personally I tend not to take seriously claims of electoral fraud by the incumbents (in this case both Iraq's PM Maliki and President Talabani), but we shall see...

The brainless should not be in banking -- Willem Buiter