Just Foreign Policy News, April 6, 2012
SyHersh: US backing MEK terrorists in Iran; Bahrain hungerstriker near death
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I) Actions and Featured Articles
Amnesty International: Bahrain: Release leading rights activist at risk of death from hungerstrike
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/bahrain-release-leading-rights-activist-risk-death-hungerstrike-2012-03-29
"Zionist BDS" -- Kosher for Passover
Peter Beinart's call for American Jews to support "Zionist BDS"
calls the question: how can you say you support a two-state solution to
the Israel-Palestine conflict if you oppose the pressure on the Israeli
government's West Bank colonization project necessary to bring a
two-state solution about?
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/8358-zionist-bds-kosher-for-passover
"No Contact" Is the Keystone XL of Iran Policy
Ending the "no contact" policy -- like the Keystone XL permit -- is
totally under the control of the administration. Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton can reverse this anti-diplomacy policy right now. They
don't need a hechsher from Joe Lieberman or Lindsay Graham.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/8335-no-contact-is-the-keystone-xl-of-iran-policy
Bureau of Investigative Journalism: Arab spring brings steep rise in US attacks in Yemen
Covert US strikes against alleged militants in Yemen have risen
steeply during the Arab spring, and are currently at the same level as
the CIA's controversial drone campaign in Pakistan, a new study by the
Bureau reveals.
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/03/29/arab-spring-saw-steep-rise-in-us-attacks-on-yemen-militants/
Video: Saar Skali – Talking about the Israeli Occupation – "The Big Brother" Reality show in Israel
On a top-rated prime-time reality TV show in Israel, Saar Skali says
that Israel has to stop coveting Palestinian land if it is to avoid
catastrophe.
http://eranvered.com/blog/?tag=video-saar-szekely-talking-about-the-occupation
Jerusalem Post: Barak reveals Israel's conditions for Iran-West talks
A noteworthy absence from Barak's list: a demand that Iran cease the
enrichment of uranium. Thus, self-described "pro-Israel" voices who
demand Iran cease enriching uranium are now exposed as "aktar maliki min
il malik" - more royalist than the King.
http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=264839
MJ Rosenberg: Why Peter Beinart's Book Is Driving the "Pro-Israel" Establishment Crazy
The "pro-Israel" establishment is so invested in the dark past that it will not tolerate the image of a bright future.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/peter-beinarts-book-israel_b_1388264.html
Drone Summit: Killing and Spying by Remote Control
April 28-29, 2012 - Washington, DC
The peace group CODEPINK and the legal advocacy organizations Reprieve
and the Center for Constitutional Rights are hosting the first
international drone summit.
https://codepink.salsalabs.com/o/424/donate_page/dronesummit
II)
Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) Twenty-six leading Iranian-American, Jewish-American,
Muslim-American, arms control, human rights, pro-democracy, pro-peace,
and faith organizations called for any legislation advanced by Congress
to support a diplomatic resolution to the standoff with Iran and make
clear there is no authorization for military force, NIAC reports.
In a letter to Congress, the organizations support H.R.4173, the Prevent
Iran from Acquiring Nuclear Weapons and Stop War Through Diplomacy Act
[the Barbara Lee bill - JFP], and to oppose S.Res.380 and H.Res.568,
which would hinder US diplomatic efforts by replacing the established
U.S. "redline" of a nuclear-armed Iran with the undefined "nuclear
weapons capability" [the Lieberman/Graham bill - JFP.]
2) In 2005, the Joint Special Operations Command conducted training for
the MEK in Nevada, even though the MEK was on the State Department's
list of foreign terrorist organizations, Seymour Hersh reports in the
New Yorker. A former senior U.S. intelligence official told Hersh that
the U.S. had assisted Israel and the MEK in assassinating Iranian
scientists, contrary to U.S. denials.
3) If Hersh's report is true, it means the U.S. Government actively
trained a group that the U.S. Government itself legally categorizes as a
"foreign terrorist organization," a clear felony under U.S. law, writes
Glenn Greenwald in Salon. "Whoever knowingly provides material support
or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or
conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not
more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results,
shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life," U.S. law says.
That alone compels serious DOJ and Congressional investigations into
these claims, Greenwald writes.
4) Eight former U.S. officials planned to appear at a Washington event
in support of the MEK, in the midst of a federal investigation into
speaking fees paid for appearances at previous conferences, Talking
Points Memo reports. Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former FBI
Director Louis Freeh, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Harvard Law
Professor Alan Dershowitz, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, former
Marine Corps Commandant James Conway, and former U.S. Ambassador to
Morocco Marc Ginsberg were named in the flyer.
5) Canada's plan to buy 65 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin grew
less certain on Tuesday after a scathing report by the country's auditor
general which said the Canadian military had underestimated the cost,
the New York Times reports. [Similar concerns dog the F-35 in Washington
- JFP.]
Iran
6) Former Mossad head Meir Dagan says Israel should trust President
Obama when he says that he will not let Iran build a nuclear weapon, the
Jerusalem Post reports. Dagan said a strike on Iran could only destroy
infrastructure, not nuclear know-how. He repeated his view that an
attack would lead Israel into a regional war.
UAE
7) The UAE ordered the closing of the U.S. - funded National
Democratic Institute, detained two of its employees and barred one of
them from leaving the country, the New York Times reports. The U.S.
response has been muted compared to the furor over the crackdown on
U.S.-funded groups in Egypt, the NYT notes.
Bahrain
8) Bahraini security forces fired tear gas and water cannons at
thousands of protesters marching Friday in support of a jailed human
rights activist whose nearly two-month hunger strike has become a
powerful rallying point, AP reports. Bahrain's most senior Shiite
cleric, Sheik Isa Qassim, who predicted the unrest could "get out of
control" if Abdulhadi al-Khawaja dies in custody. Al-Khawaja holds
Danish citizenship, and officials in Copenhagen have urged Bahraini
authorities to allow him to travel to Denmark for medical treatment.
Colombia
9) The AFL-CIO urged President Obama to maintain pressure on the
Colombian government to end rampant violence against union workers, the
Huffington Post reports. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka noted that the
Colombian government has prosecuted less than 10 percent of the cases
of 3,000 trade unionists who have been murdered in Colombia since 1989,
emphasizing, "None of the 29 labor activists killed in 2011 had their
cases resolved by a successful prosecution." But Obama may nonetheless
declare that Colombia has met its obligations under the US-Colombia
Labor Action Plan, allowing key aspects of the US-Colombia trade
agreement will go into effect.
Cuba
10) Just after the Pope left Cuba last week, the Catholic Church
hosted a talk by Miami millionaire Carlos Saladrigas, who said in a
public forum that socialism wasn't working anymore in Cuba, the
Washington Post reports. The meeting was clearly a sign that there is
cautious but visible change on the island, the Post says. Although
Saladrigas said Cuba's state-run economy needed to be opened to free
enterprise, the investor also blamed the U.S. government and anti-Castro
Cuban exiles and their politicians in South Florida for perpetuating a
standoff that has hurt Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits.
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Broad Coalition Calls for Congress to Support Diplomacy, Oppose War of Choice
NIAC, Thursday, April 5, 2012
http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8097&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1
Washington, DC - With rising concerns of war with Iran, twenty-six
leading Iranian-American, Jewish-American, Muslim-American, arms
control, human rights, pro-democracy, pro-peace, and faith organizations
called for any legislation advanced by Congress to support a diplomatic
resolution to the standoff and make absolutely clear there is no
authorization for military force against Iran.
In a letter led by NIAC to Congressional leadership, the organizations
call for Congress to advance H.R.4173, the Prevent Iran from Acquiring
Nuclear Weapons and Stop War Through Diplomacy Act, and to oppose
S.Res.380 and H.Res.568:
[...]
Dear Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader Pelosi, Minority Leader McConnell:
We are deeply concerned by the increasing prospects of a disastrous war
between the United States and Iran. At a time of dangerously escalating
tensions, we urge in the strongest possible terms that any legislation
advanced by Congress support a diplomatic resolution to the standoff and
make absolutely clear that there is no Congressional authorization for
military force against Iran.
Ultimately, America's interests with Iran will only be successfully
achieved through a diplomatic solution. We strongly encourage you to
advance legislation in support of this goal, such as H.R.4173, the
Prevent Iran from Acquiring Nuclear Weapons and Stop War Through
Diplomacy Act. This legislation would advance diplomacy by lifting the
"no contact policy" that bars U.S. diplomats from speaking with their
Iranian counterparts. It would also establish a special envoy to lead
direct talks with Iran, and would clarify that there is no authorization
for war with Iran.
Similarly, we urge you to oppose S.Res.380 and H.Res.568, which greatly
hinder the Administration's current diplomatic efforts by contradicting
the long established U.S. "redline" of a nuclear-armed Iran, accepted
and supported by our nation's military leaders and intelligence
community. By introducing the undefined term "nuclear weapons
capability," Congress would needlessly open the door to war based on a
threshold that experts say could apply to numerous countries ranging
from Brazil to Japan. This is a dangerous and irresponsible standard
upon which to base the decision for military force and, if adopted as
U.S. policy, would make a war of choice far more likely while
obstructing a diplomatic, inspections-based solution.
Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently declared that a war of
choice with Iran would be a "catastrophe." Military and civilian
leaders have unanimously echoed this assessment and warned that a
military attack would make a nuclear-armed Iran more likely. Economists
have warned that war with Iran would impose tremendous burdens on the
fragile global economy, dramatically spike gas prices, and cost an
untold number of jobs here at home. Members of Iranian civil society
have warned that war, and even the threat of war, would be devastating
for human rights and the pro-democracy movement in Iran. The American
people expect all diplomatic and peaceful options to be exhausted before
any military action against Iran is considered. Our brave servicemen
and women deserve nothing less. And all Americans deserve a Congress
that will ensure that the United States will never initiate an
unauthorized war of choice and will instead utilize every diplomatic
means at its disposal to peacefully resolve the standoff with Iran.
Signed,
National Iranian American Council
3P Human Security
American Friends Service Committee
Americans for Peace Now
Center for Interfaith Engagement at Eastern Mennonite University
Center for International Policy
Council for a Livable World
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ
Holy Name Province Franciscan JPIC Office
Just Foreign Policy
Lancaster Interchurch Peace Witness
Muslim Public Affairs Council
New Internationalism Project of the Institute for Policy Studies
Peace Action
Peace Action West
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Progressive Democrats of America
Project On Middle East Democracy
Student Peace Alliance
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
Win Without War
Women's Action for New Directions
[...]
2) Our Men In Iran?
Seymour M. Hersh, New Yorker, April 6, 2012
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/04/mek.html
From the air, the terrain of the Department of Energy's Nevada National
Security Site, with its arid high plains and remote mountain peaks, has
the look of northwest Iran. The site, some sixty-five miles northwest of
Las Vegas, was once used for nuclear testing, and now includes a
counterintelligence training facility and a private airport capable of
handling Boeing 737 aircraft. It's a restricted area, and
inhospitable-in certain sections, the curious are warned that the site's
security personnel are authorized to use deadly force, if necessary,
against intruders.
It was here that the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) conducted
training, beginning in 2005, for members of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, a
dissident Iranian opposition group known in the West as the M.E.K. The
M.E.K. had its beginnings as a Marxist-Islamist student-led group and,
in the nineteen-seventies, it was linked to the assassination of six
American citizens. It was initially part of the broad-based revolution
that led to the 1979 overthrow of the Shah of Iran. But, within a few
years, the group was waging a bloody internal war with the ruling
clerics, and, in 1997, it was listed as a foreign terrorist organization
by the State Department. In 2002, the M.E.K. earned some international
credibility by publicly revealing-accurately-that Iran had begun
enriching uranium at a secret underground location. Mohamed ElBaradei,
who at the time was the director general of the International Atomic
Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear monitoring agency, told me
later that he had been informed that the information was supplied by the
Mossad. The M.E.K.'s ties with Western intelligence deepened after the
fall of the Iraqi regime in 2003, and JSOC began operating inside Iran
in an effort to substantiate the Bush Administration's fears that Iran
was building the bomb at one or more secret underground locations. Funds
were covertly passed to a number of dissident organizations, for
intelligence collection and, ultimately, for anti-regime terrorist
activities. Directly, or indirectly, the M.E.K. ended up with resources
like arms and intelligence. Some American-supported covert operations
continue in Iran today, according to past and present intelligence
officials and military consultants.
Despite the growing ties, and a much-intensified lobbying effort
organized by its advocates, M.E.K. has remained on the State
Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations-which meant that
secrecy was essential in the Nevada training. "We did train them here,
and washed them through the Energy Department because the D.O.E. owns
all this land in southern Nevada," a former senior American intelligence
official told me. "We were deploying them over long distances in the
desert and mountains, and building their capacity in
communications-coördinating commo is a big deal." (A spokesman for
J.S.O.C. said that "U.S. Special Operations Forces were neither aware of
nor involved in the training of M.E.K. members.")
The training ended sometime before President Obama took office, the former official said.
[...]
Massoud Khodabandeh, an I.T. expert now living in England who consults
for the Iraqi government, was an official with the M.E.K. before
defecting in 1996. In a telephone interview, he acknowledged that he is
an avowed enemy of the M.E.K., and has advocated against the group.
Khodabandeh said that he had been with the group since before the fall
of the Shah and, as a computer expert, was deeply involved in
intelligence activities as well as providing security for the M.E.K.
leadership. For the past decade, he and his English wife have run a
support program for other defectors. Khodabandeh told me that he had
heard from more recent defectors about the training in Nevada. He was
told that the communications training in Nevada involved more than
teaching how to keep in contact during attacks-it also involved
communication intercepts. The United States, he said, at one point found
a way to penetrate some major Iranian communications systems. At the
time, he said, the U.S. provided M.E.K. operatives with the ability to
intercept telephone calls and text messages inside Iran-which M.E.K.
operatives translated and shared with American signals intelligence
experts. He does not know whether this activity is ongoing.
Five Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated since 2007.
M.E.K. spokesmen have denied any involvement in the killings, but early
last month NBC News quoted two senior Obama Administration officials as
confirming that the attacks were carried out by M.E.K. units that were
financed and trained by Mossad, the Israeli secret service. NBC further
quoted the Administration officials as denying any American involvement
in the M.E.K. activities. The former senior intelligence official I
spoke with seconded the NBC report that the Israelis were working with
the M.E.K., adding that the operations benefitted from American
intelligence. He said that the targets were not "Einsteins"; "The goal
is to affect Iranian psychology and morale," he said, and to "demoralize
the whole system-nuclear delivery vehicles, nuclear enrichment
facilities, power plants." Attacks have also been carried out on
pipelines. He added that the operations are "primarily being done by
M.E.K. through liaison with the Israelis, but the United States is now
providing the intelligence." An adviser to the special-operations
community told me that the links between the United States and M.E.K.
activities inside Iran had been long-standing. "Everything being done
inside Iran now is being done with surrogates," he said.
The sources I spoke to were unable to say whether the people trained in
Nevada were now involved in operations in Iran or elsewhere. But they
pointed to the general benefit of American support. "The M.E.K. was a
total joke," the senior Pentagon consultant said, "and now it's a real
network inside Iran. How did the M.E.K. get so much more efficient?" he
asked rhetorically. "Part of it is the training in Nevada. Part of it is
logistical support in Kurdistan, and part of it is inside Iran. M.E.K.
now has a capacity for efficient operations that it never had before."
[...]
3) Report: U.S. trained terror group
Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Friday, Apr 6, 2012
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/06/report_us_trained_terror_group/singleton/
When the U.S. wants to fund, train, arm or otherwise align itself with a
Terrorist group or state sponsor of Terror - as it often does - it at
least usually has the tact to first remove them from its formal
terrorist list (as the U.S. did when it wanted to support Saddam in 1982
and work with Libya in 2006), or it just keeps them off the list
altogether despite what former Council on Foreign Relations writer
Lionel Beehner described as "mounds of evidence that [they] at one time
or another abetted terrorists" (as it has done with close U.S. allies in
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, along with the El Salvadoran death squads
and Nicaraguan contras armed and funded in the 1980s by the Reagan
administration). But according to a new, multi-sourced report from The
New Yorker's Seymour Hersh, the U.S. did not even bother going through
those motions when, during the Bush years, it trained the Iranian
dissident group Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) at a secretive Department of
Energy site in Nevada:
[...]
So let's review what we have here. If this report is true, it means the
U.S. Government actively trained a group that the U.S. Government itself
legally categorizes as a "foreign terrorist organization," a clear
felony under U.S. law:
"Whoever knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign
terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be
fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both,
and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any
term of years or for life."
That alone compels serious DOJ and Congressional investigations into
these claims. Worse, this reportedly happened at the very same time that
the U.S. aggressively prosecuted and imprisoned numerous Muslims for
providing material support for groups on that list even though many of
those prosecuted provided support that was far, far less than what the
U.S. Government itself was providing to MEK. Meanwhile, right at this
moment, America's closest ally - Israel - is clearly a state sponsor of
this designated Terrorist organization, providing training, funding and
arms to it, and the U.S. may very well be as well (independent of all
else, given that Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. aid, the U.S.,
at the very least, is financing a state sponsor of Terror).
At the same time, a glittering bipartisan cast of former Washington
officials is receiving large payments from this designated Terrorist
group, meeting with its leaders, and then advocating on its behalf -
again, providing far more material support than many powerless,
marginalized Muslims who have been and continue to be prosecuted under
this law. All of this appears to be clearly criminal regardless of
whether MEK belongs on the list - once a group is placed by the State
Department on the list, whether justifiably or not, it is a felony to
provide material support to it - but MEK appears to be doing exactly
that which is typically considered Terrorism: assassinating civilian
scientists (and severely wounding their wives) with bombs and causing
other civilian-killing explosions on Iranian soil in order to induce
fear.
[...]
4) Former Officials To Appear At D.C. Event On Behalf Of 'Terrorist' Group
Ryan J. Reilly, Talking Points Memo, April 6, 2012,
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/04/eight_former_us_officials_will.php
Eight former U.S. officials will appear at a Washington, D.C. event on
Friday in support of an Iranian opposition group labeled a terrorist
organization by the United States, all in the midst of a federal
investigation into speaking fees paid for appearances at previous
conferences.
An unknown number of former officials who have spoken at events in
support of the People's Muhajedin Organization of Iran, or MEK, have
been subpoenaed by the Treasury Department. Former Attorney General
Michael Mukasey and former FBI Director Louis Freeh have hired former
Clinton Solicitor General Seth P. Waxman in response to the probe.
Friday's event, held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., will
feature Mukasey, Freeh, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Harvard Law
Professor Alan Dershowitz, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, former
Marine Corps Commandant James Conway, Former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco
Marc Ginsberg and former U.S. Ambassador Stuart Holliday. Mitchell
Reiss, former State Department Policy Planning Director, will moderate.
[...]
5) Canada's Plan to Buy F-35 Jets Is in Doubt as Auditor General Cites 'Significant Problems'
Ian Austen, New York Times, April 3, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/business/canada-hesitates-on-plan-for-f-35-jets.html
Ottawa - Canada's plan to buy 65 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin
grew less certain on Tuesday after a scathing report by the country's
auditor general.
While large military contracts are often politically contentious in
Canada, the Conservative government's decision in 2010 to join the
United States in selecting the F-35 as the country's next fighter
aircraft has been particularly controversial.
Cost increases and delays in the F-35 program have caused headaches for
both governments, and Canadian critics argue that the aircraft costs too
much and is too sophisticated for the needs of the country's air force.
Michael Ferguson, the auditor general, said on Tuesday that his staff
had concluded that the F-35 was selected without a "fair competition"
and that the Canadian military had underestimated the cost of the
aircraft and overstated industrial spinoffs for Canadian manufacturers.
He added that the government had not made sufficient provisions to
handle increased costs.
[...].
[The huge cost of the F-35 program has also been a major controversy in
Washington; this news will buttress the Washington controversy - JFP.]
Iran
6) 'Israel should trust Obama to stop Iran nukes'
Full exclusive interview: Dagan says nuclear knowledge can't be eliminated, Iran regime will choose survival over atomic weapon.
Ilan Evyatar, Jerusalem Post, 04/05/2012 18:00
http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=265017
Israel should trust US President Barack Obama when he says that he will
not let Iran build a nuclear weapon, former Mossad head Meir Dagan told
The Jerusalem Post this week.
"If the US president says that he is not going to allow Iran to reach
nuclear capability, if we are not going to trust him, then who are we
going to trust?" Dagan said.
He told the Post that Israel was making a mistake by portraying the
issue of Tehran's nuclear ambitions as one of Israel against Iran, and
should leave the question to the international community.
[...]
Dagan, who stepped down as head of the Mossad just over a year ago and
now heads oil, gas and uranium exploration company Gulliver Energy, said
that a strike on Iran would not be able to halt the Islamic Republic's
drive for nuclear weapons, as such a move could only destroy
infrastructure, not nuclear know-how.
"Knowledge on the nuclear issue is something that you are not able to
prevent, because knowledge is something that remains in the brains of
people," he said. "You are not capable, really, of eliminating knowledge
from people."
He repeated his view that an attack would lead Israel into a regional
war conducted mostly through Tehran's proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic
Jihad and perhaps even Syria.
Given that a regional war is the likely outcome of attacking Iran and
that it would only be able to delay the project, not to stop it, the
question arises whether an attack is the best solution to the issue,
Dagan said.
"I believe that such a solution should be a tool available to the
political level, but I'm not sure it should be the first option. It
should be the last option," he said.
He added that he believed the Iranian regime to be a rational regime and
said that in his estimate, Tehran would back down from its nuclear
weapons ambition if faced with choosing between the program and its own
survival.
"If they were to face a situation where they would have to judge the
survival of the regime versus the [nuclear] project, I believe they
would choose the survival of the regime," Dagan said.
[...]
UAE
7) Emirates Detain Pair From U.S.-Backed Group
Steven Lee Myers, New York Times, April 5, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/world/middleeast/uae-detains-national-democratic-institute-workers.html
Washington - The United Arab Emirates detained two employees of an
American-financed pro-democracy organization and barred one of them from
leaving the country on Thursday, worsening a diplomatic confrontation
with the United States that has embarrassed and puzzled administration
officials.
The United Arab Emirates, one of the closest American allies in the
Persian Gulf, last week ordered the closing of the organization, the
National Democratic Institute, and then detained its two employees as
they prepared to leave the country late Wednesday, administration
officials and others briefed on the detentions said.
The institute's local director, Patricia Davis, an American, was
ultimately allowed to leave. Her deputy, Slobodan Milic, a Serb, was
released on Thursday after being detained overnight and questioned, but
was not allowed to leave the country, they said. The detentions appeared
to be part of a broader crackdown on nongovernmental organizations in
the country, which also shut down a German advocacy group, the Konrad
Adenauer Foundation, which has close ties to the government of
Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In a statement to the state-run news agency on Thursday, the assistant
foreign minister for legal affairs of the Emirates, Abdul Rahim
al-Awadhi, said that the authorities ordered the closings because the
organizations violated regulations governing their work in the country.
He did not elaborate or identify the organizations involved. "Some
foreign institutions that were operating in the U.A.E. have violated the
terms of the license," Mr. Awadhi said. "Some have been operating
without a license."
It was the first public explanation of the closings, which occurred on
the eve of a highly trumpeted security summit meeting between Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and leaders of the six Arab nations of
the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes the Emirates.
[...]
Mrs. Clinton, traveling in neighboring Saudi Arabia on Saturday,
expressed regret over the closings and said she raised the matter with
the Emirates' foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan.
The American response since then has been muted compared with the furor
[over] the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican
Institute, Freedom House and other groups operating in [Egypt.]
After the United States threatened to cut off $1.3 billion in military
assistance to Egypt under a new law, an Egyptian court ultimately
allowed American and foreign employees of the groups to leave the
country after paying nearly $5 million in bail. At the time, leaders of
the groups expressed concern that Egypt's crackdown on the groups -
which promote democracy and basic political rights in line with stated
American policy - could have reverberations through the region at a time
of popular protests and political upheaval.
Last month, Mrs. Clinton waived new Congressional restrictions on
military assistance to Egypt, even though the criminal case against the
organizations continues, with the next court date set for next week for
defendants still in Egypt. It remains unclear whether Egypt will summon
the six Americans who paid the bail and left the country when the
proceedings resume.
[...]
Bahrain
8) Police Descend on Bahrain Rally for Hunger Striker
Associated Press, April 6, 2012 at 10:53 AM ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/04/06/world/middleeast/ap-ml-bahrain.html
Manama, Bahrain - Bahraini security forces fired tear gas and water
cannons at thousands of protesters marching Friday in support of a
jailed human rights activist whose nearly two-month hunger strike has
become a powerful rallying point for the tiny nation's Shiite-led
uprising against the Sunni monarchy.
"Freedom or martyrdom," cried marchers who carried portraits of
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, whose declining health has brought appeals for
international intervention from groups such as Amnesty International.
Al-Khawaja and seven other opposition leaders were sentenced to life in
prison in June after bring convicted of anti-state crimes. Bahrain's
Shiite majority began an uprising nearly 14 month ago against the
political controls of the Sunni monarchy, which remains backed by its
Western allies and holds strategic ties such as hosting the U.S. Navy's
5th Fleet.
[...]
The rallies followed a strongly worded sermon by Bahrain's most senior
Shiite cleric, Sheik Isa Qassim, who predicted the unrest could "get out
of control" if al-Khawaja dies in custody.
Al-Khawaja holds Danish citizenship, and officials in Copenhagen have
urged Bahraini authorities to allow him to travel to Denmark for medical
treatment.
[...]
Colombia
9) Obama Urged To Pressure Colombia On Workers' Rights Following Murders
Zach Carter, Huffington Post, 04/ 5/2012 4:12 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/05/obama-colombia-workers-unions_n_1405950.html
Washington -- On Wednesday, the leaders of the largest coalition of
American labor unions sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him
to maintain pressure on the Colombian government to end the rampant
violence against union workers in the South American nation.
Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the signing of a Labor Action
Plan between the two nations, an accord which helped Obama garner votes
from congressional Democrats and that enabled the passage of a
free-trade agreement with Colombia last fall. The AFL-CIO has long been
critical of the trade pact, which originally was negotiated by former
President George W. Bush, on the grounds that the Colombian government
does not have the capacity to enforce protections for workers.
"It is premature to declare the Labor Action Plan a success," wrote
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in the Wednesday letter, obtained by
HuffPost. "Now is not the time to relieve the pressure on Colombia to
uphold the commitments it made in the Labor Action Plan."
Trumka detailed a host of labor disputes in Colombia, and noted that the
Colombian government has prosecuted less than 10 percent of the cases
of 3,000 trade unionists who have been murdered in Colombia since 1989,
emphasizing, "None of the 29 labor activists killed in 2011 had their
cases resolved by a successful prosecution."
[...]
Trumka outlines a handful of problems in the letter, including the local
government of Jamundi, Colombia, which chose to fire 43 municipal
workers who began an effort to unionize. One of the activists for the
new union, Miguel Mallana, "was gunned down in the street on March 25,"
Trumka wrote.
Obama will visit Cartagena, Colombia, April 14-15 for the Summit of the
Americas, an international conference of political leaders hosted by the
Organization of American States. If Obama declares that Colombia has
met its obligations under the Labor Action Plan, key aspects of the free
trade agreement will go into effect.
Cuba
10) Former hard-line exiles return to Cuba to talk
William Booth, Washington Post, Friday, April 6, 8:53 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/former-hard-line-exiles-return-to-cuba-to-talk/2012/04/06/gIQAUzzYzS_story.html
Havana - The setting was historic. The looming 18th-century Seminary of
San Carlos in Old Havana. The attendance remarkable. A hall packed with
professors, dissidents, clergy, bloggers, leftists, diplomats. The
subject matter once unthinkable.
Just after Pope Benedict XVI left Cuba last week, the Catholic Church
hosted a talk by Miami millionaire Carlos Saladrigas, who politely but
directly said here in a public forum that socialism - the bedrock of the
revolution - wasn't working anymore on the communist-run island.
"To be honest," Saladrigas said later, "who could have thought such a meeting possible? Not me. Never."
But the meeting was clearly a sign that there is cautious but visible change on the island.
Saladrigas, a Cuban exile entrepreneur and former hard-liner who has
flourished in Miami, said that "big changes in the next few years" were
inevitable, and he advised young Cubans to stay put. Although Saladrigas
said that Cuba's state-run economy needed to be opened to free
enterprise, the 63-year-old investor also blamed the U.S. government and
the anti-Castro Cuban exiles and their politicians in South Florida for
perpetuating a standoff that has hurt Cubans on both sides of the
Florida Straits.
"Change is not easy, I know this personally," he said.
"This was an event of tremendous importance, the first time that a
prominent Cuban from aboard could express these thoughts in a large
forum," said Oscar Espinosa Chepe, an independent Cuban economist who
attended the meeting. He remarked that Saladrigas and the dozen people
who stood at the microphone criticized both the Cuban and U.S.
governments - and even offered a few solutions - in voices respectful
and calm.
There were tough questions, too, directed at Saladrigas. Participants
asked how the Miami exiles could really help Cuba while still supporting
the 50-year-old embargo. The questioners wanted to know how U.S.-style
capitalism could replace Cuban socialism, without turning workers into
wage slaves and leaving the most vulnerable at the mercy of the markets.
In the past three years, President Raul Castro has begun to open the
Cuban economy to its citizens. The government now allows small
businesses - like car washers, shoe cobblers, pizza makers - to operate,
even hire employees, though it restricts the size and ambition of the
enterprise.
The streets these days are filled with legal bazaars (and some
blackmarketeering) as fledging entrepreneurs dip their toes into the
capitalist stream. Some neighborhoods in Havana look like a perpetual
garage sale.
[...]
When Pope John Paul II came to Cuba in 1998, it was Saladrigas who
organized mass demonstrations - and backroom arm-twisting - that led the
Catholic Church in Miami to cancel plans to charter a cruise ship to
bring South Florida pilgrims to the island to greet the pope.
Saladrigas now says he was wrong, and he vowed not to make the same
mistake twice. In the past year, with sponsorship from the Church, the
Cuban government has awarded Saladrigas four visas to visit the island.
(In the years proceeding, he was turned down eight times).
Last week the Catholic church in Miami brought 800 pilgrims in five
planes to Cuba to celebrate Mass with the pope, led by the Archbishop
Thomas Wenski.
The exile community in Miami has more confidence in the Catholic Church
in Cuba to act as a force for positive change, Wenski said, to help
negotiate a "soft landing" as Cuba makes the inevitable transition to
post-Castro realities.
"Of course, not everyone wants a soft landing. Some people want chaos
and bloodshed and civil war," Wenski said, "but those people are in the
minority now."
[...]
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