michelle
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Post by michelle on Jan 21, 2007 17:38:21 GMT 4
Linked to previous articles. Man it's becoming harder to keep one's eye on the global hot spots; there's just so many!....MSomalia and Ethiopia to be Unified? The Militarization of the Horn of Africa Global Research, January 13, 2007 Editorial Note Ignored by the majority of media sources is the coordinated and synchronized involvement and intervention of both Ethiopian and American military forces and intelligence operations in the Horn of Africa. The timing of the intervention of Ethiopian troops, supported by the Anglo-American alliance, into Somalia was also originally denied by the Ethiopian government who seemingly lied to African and Arab journalists and mainstream media when asked if Ethiopian troops were operating inside Somalia. The crisis in Somalia and East Africa, triggered by U.S. interventionism is intimately related to events in the Middle East in what could become a major regional war against Iran, Syria, and their regional allies. Ethiopia is acting as an agent of Anglo-American policy and objectives in the Horn of Africa. The Somalian Transitional Government is also subservient to Anglo-American edicts and is claiming that it is fighting terrorists, just as the puppet Iraqi government is claiming that the Iraqi Resistance is nothing but a group of terrorists. It also appears marshal law is being imposed over Somalia with the help of Ethiopian troops and covertly by the United States. Additionally, what the mainstream media fails to report about is the U.S.-backed Somali government’s attempts at merging Somalia and Ethiopia with unified borders, a single currency, joint management, a single passport, and a joint military force.
Finally it must be noted that Somalia, like Sudan, is both an African and Muslim country with large oil reserves that have not been tapped into yet. Somalia, also like Sudan, is conflict ridden, and its roots are linked to oil reserves. Global Research presents the following two articles, focussing on the backdoor negotiations taking place at a time of intense fighting and manoeuvres in the Horn of Africa. The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has also been accused of collaborating in the division of Somalia and being a client of the United States and other foreign powers by Somali Parliamentarians and citizens. Global Research, 13 January 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somalia and Ethiopia to be united, says Somali Minister SomaliNet January 2, 2007 Mohamed Abdi Farah Hussein Mohamed Aideed, the Interior Minister of the Transitional Federal Government has said on Tuesday the government wants Somalia and Ethiopia to share a single passport and wipe out the boundary between the countries – citing the unity of European countries as one nation and share one currency. Mr. Aideed who met today with clan and traditional elders in the former presidential palace in the Somalia capital, Mogadishu, said since Somalis and Ethiopians are brothers and both countries share 2000 km long border my government would suggest to use a single passport in the two countries and a unified security force because there is blood relations between both communities in Somalia and Ethiopia. “There are thousands of Somali refugees living in Ethiopian and who hold Ethiopian passports who can travel everywhere in the world,” Mr. Aideed said. Hussein Aideed said 60% the Somali refugees are in Ethiopia and argued that nothing can prevent us from joining hands with Ethiopia since they came to help us from thousands miles away. The Interior Minister asked the elders to welcome the Ethiopian forces helping the government in restoring peace and stability. He said the Ethiopians should be seen as friends and not as enemies. “Ethiopia is the only country which supported Somalia out of the problem,” he said. December 10, 2006, some members of the transitional parliament in Somalia put on view publicly a map which they said secretly stolen from the office of Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi in Baidoa. The map shows all countries in African continent with Ethiopia annexing Somalia. But the premier Gedi denied the allegation as false paper. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somalia Parliament rebuffs Government PlanSomaliNet January 2, 2007 Mohamed Abdi Farah Members of the Transitional Parliament based in Baidoa city southwest of the Somalian capital Mogadishu on Thursday debated about the state of emergency plan put forward by the government that is to be imposed on the country. The lawmakers concluded their session in deadlock. Some demanded amendment of the plan describing it as causing conflict among the people. After a long debate, a technical committee headed by Osman Elmi Boqore was appointed to solve the stand off. Osman Elmi Boqore, the Second Deputy Parliament Speaker was chairing the Parliament session in which the MPs rebuffed some of the agendas presented. They called for the removal of some of the agendas that they said can spark divisions. The Parliament will assemble again on Saturday to implement the martial law plan, which will be imposed on Somalia for three months. Source:www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20070112&articleId=4438
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michelle
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Post by michelle on May 15, 2007 9:11:23 GMT 4
'Blair digging graves to make his legacy'BRIAN PENDREIGH Sun 13 May 2007 SEAN Connery has given his most incendiary ever interview on politics, branding Tony Blair an "a***hole" making his legacy from graves in Iraq and suggesting that First Minister Jack McConnell is frustrating democracy in Scotland. In his first interview since the Holyrood election, Connery also calls on Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander to resign over the voting fiasco, which saw almost 150,000 ballot papers spoiled. The actor reveals he has been giving post-election advice to SNP leader and likely new First Minister Alex Salmond and suggests he has already become a roving ambassador for Scotland. But on the issue of a return to the land of his birth, Connery remains as enigmatic as ever. Speaking from his home in the Bahamas, Connery described the conduct of the election as an "embarrassment". Connery told Scotland on Sunday: "I think [Douglas] Alexander should resign because he was warned. Alexander is not resigning, he's not even apologising." Referring to the decision to hold council and Parliament votes together, he added: "No other place would attempt to do the two on the same day. It's a real, horrendous mistake." Connery said of the outcome, in which the SNP won by 47 seats to Labour's 46: "It was an amazing result considering the Prime Minister and Jack McConnell were up there, and all the tabloids on full blast. They had all the ammunition stacked against them, and they've come through, the SNP. The thing is that they [Labour] pushed for a fear element into it." He added: "Everybody got blinded by the Union issue. It wasn't the Union issue. It was a change of government they wanted. "What I think got the people going behind Alex Salmond and the SNP was that they really conducted an excellent campaign and they have come out with what they are trying to do. And this will determine the future of Scotland, regardless of a referendum [on independence]." McConnell has let it be known that should the SNP fail to form a government he is waiting in the wings to try for another coalition with the Lib Dems. Asked if McConnell was betraying democratic principles by not letting Salmond get on with it, Connery said: "This is it completely. If you were asking the will of the people now, that's exactly what they would want. They would say, 'Let them get in, we're at least on the right track'. If they [Labour] start with a sabotage situation like now they can't blame anybody but themselves." Connery said that if anybody should be a Labour supporter "it should be me, with my background". He added: "The problem is that Labour has been too long in power. They are totally fossilised. For 50 years until the opening of this Parliament we had nothing but a Labour majority in Scotland, regardless of what happened in the rest of the UK." On the issue of independence, Connery remains convinced a referendum can still take place with or without the support of the Lib Dems. He even suggests that three years of minority rule under the SNP might be enough to persuade Scots it is time to go it alone. "When you get to the crossroads in 2010, they [the SNP] might not even need a referendum, it would be so obvious that they want to run alone. The issue is that I do not think the UK is a United Kingdom. I think it is not a democracy, it is not equal, that's the problem." But the star acknowledges that the SNP is facing a new challenge as a result of the imminent change of leadership of the UK Labour party. "That's going to be the major problem," said Connery. "From a not particularly powerful base, Salmond dealing with Gordon Brown, who is out to set a much bigger stall after this a***hole Blair." Connery referred to the massive controversy during the election campaign when Blair criticised Sir George Mathewson, former chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, after he backed Salmond for First Minister. Blair responded during a trip to Scotland by calling Mathewson "self indulgent". Connery said: "How can somebody like a Blair come up and knock somebody like George Mathewson of the Royal Bank, with his success, for being deluded? How dare he say that of somebody from his position who's digging graves to make a legacy? That's the sort of person in Scotland he's knocking. And that can't taste good in the mouth of the Scots." He then took a side swipe at the Lib Dems, saying: "They [the SNP] are obviously not going to be in bed with the Liberal Democrats. I mean they are so non-productive anyway. They are like some kind of hybrid. Now if the Liberal Democrats were really interested in the big picture of Scotland, they would get in and prove that they can work with a party like the SNP." Connery predicted the SNP would win the election last month when he declared that Salmond was "the right man at the right time". He also hinted that he may return to live in his homeland if Scotland voted for independence. Connery told Scotland on Sunday he had followed the election results on the internet throughout the night of May 3 and 4 and had spoken to Salmond since the outcome. Asked what role he might play in the new Scotland, Connery replied: "For me it's to get the [Scottish] voice heard. "Since Winnie Ewing at the beginning it's unequal. Her treatment by the MPs when she got to London was deplorable. And if you ask any businessman or any chief, if he had four divisions like Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, what would he do? He would bring them all up to the best they could be competitively for the benefit of the big picture. Well, that's what it should be, that kind of equality. All this talk about borders with guns and all that is s****, you know, absolute panic s****. We are talking about our people who want an equal deal." Connery agreed he might become a roving, cultural ambassador for Scotland but he also made a plea for fairness towards the SNP, particularly from the media. "The day we got the Parliament opened, I was asked, leaving the building, what did I think? I said it will be turmoil. Until we get a media which is sympathetic to a better and bigger picture of Scotland it won't work. And it's sadly come true. "If we get a fair innings and everybody does work, there's a real genuine opportunity." Connery's relationship with Labour has veered from conciliatory to outright hostile. He lent his support to the devolution referendum in 1997, standing alongside Blair, Donald Dewar and Salmond in urging Scots to vote 'yes'. But there was controversy after Dewar vetoed Connery's knighthood in December 1997. At the time, the veteran actor said he was "deeply disappointed but strangely not angry or greatly surprised". He was eventually made a knight in 2000. Connery has worked alongside McConnell as well, especially during the annual Tartan Week celebrations in New York. However, this relationship was also strained after sources close to the First Minister described him as a "falling star". An SNP spokesman said: "The difference between Alex Salmond and Tony Blair was that while Alex Salmond wanted to celebrate and build on Scottish success, Blair came north and attacked it. As for Sir Sean's points about Douglas Alexander and the causes of the election problems, Alex Salmond has already said that he will commission an independent inquiry into the voting fiasco if elected First Minister." No one was available for comment from Scottish Labour. I'll be in Scotland when weather improves, says Connery BP: It was reported that you are thinking of moving back to Scotland or buying a house - is that right? SC: That very first time I was supposed to have looked at houses is one of these rumours. It's not true. BP: You are not actively looking for somewhere in Scotland just now? SC: No, no. I don't feel the need. Travelling in the world today is a pain in the a***. BP: Do you have any plans to come to Scotland in the near future? Is there anything that will bring you here? SC: Well, I'm working on the Glasgow animation thing I'm doing, and I'm still doing this book on the history with Murray Grigor. In fact I'm doing quite a few things. BP: So when will you next be in Scotland? SC: When the weather improves. BP: There is no political initiative to bring you here in the coming weeks? SC: No, no, I won't figure in their plans, I don't think. They have got enough on their plate. BP: Are you going to do Indiana Jones (left) 4? SC: I'm still talking with them. I've got their script and they're still working on it. BP: Can you tell me anything about the story? I believe it might shoot in the Bahamas? SC: Is it? I don't know. BP: Can you tell me what Henry Jones does? SC: No, I can't. It's all secrecy. You know they're paranoid about it. Related topics Sean Connery news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=652 Tony Blair's leadership news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=926 Scottish National Party news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=324 Scottish Labour Party news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=782 Source: news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=740292007
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Jun 2, 2007 17:35:07 GMT 4
Where Anti-Arab Prejudice and Oil Make the DifferenceBy Roger Howard * Guardian May 29, 2007 In a remote corner of Africa, millions of civilians have been slaughtered in a conflict fueled by an almost genocidal ferocity that has no end in sight. Victims have been targeted because of their ethnicity and entire ethnic groups destroyed - but the outside world has turned its back, doing little to save people from the wrath of the various government and rebel militias. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a depiction of the Sudanese province of Darfur, racked by four years of bitter fighting. But it describes the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has received a fraction of the media attention devoted to Darfur. The UN estimates that 3 million to 4 million Congolese have been killed, compared with the estimated 200,000 civilian deaths in Darfur. A peace deal agreed in December 2002 has never been adhered to, and atrocities have been particularly well documented in the province of Kivu - carried out by paramilitary organisations with strong governmental links. In the last month alone, thousands of civilians have been killed in heavy fighting between rebel and government forces vying for control of an area north of Goma, and the UN reckons that another 50,000 have been made refugees. How curious, then, that so much more attention has been focused on Darfur than Congo. There are no pressure groups of any note that draw attention to the Congolese situation. In the media there is barely a word. The politicians are silent. Yet if ever there were a case for the outside world to intervene on humanitarian grounds alone - "liberal interventionism" - then surely this is it. The key difference between the two situations lies in the racial and ethnic composition of the perceived victims and perpetrators. In Congo, black Africans are killing other black Africans in a way that is difficult for outsiders to identify with. The turmoil there can in that sense be regarded as a narrowly African affair. In Darfur the fighting is portrayed as a war between black Africans, rightly or wrongly regarded as the victims, and "Arabs", widely regarded as the perpetrators of the killings. In practice these neat racial categories are highly indistinct, but it is through such a prism that the conflict is generally viewed.It is not hard to imagine why some in the west have found this perception so alluring, for there are numerous people who want to portray "the Arabs" in these terms. In the United States and elsewhere those who have spearheaded the case for foreign intervention in Darfur are largely the people who regard the Arabs as the root cause of the Israel-Palestine dispute. From this viewpoint, the events in Darfur form just one part of a much wider picture of Arab malice and cruelty. Nor is it any coincidence that the moral frenzy about intervention in Sudan has coincided with the growing military debacle in Iraq - for as allied casualties in Iraq have mounted, so has indignation about the situation in Darfur. It is always easier for a losing side to demonise an enemy than to blame itself for a glaring military defeat, and the Darfur situation therefore offers some people a certain sense of catharsis. Humanitarian concern among policymakers in Washington is ultimately self-interested. The United States is willing to impose new sanctions on the Sudan government if the latter refuses to accept a United Nations peacekeeping force, but it is no coincidence that Sudan, unlike Congo, has oil - lots of it - and strong links with China, a country the US regards as a strategic rival in the struggle for Africa's natural resources; only last week Amnesty International reported that Beijing has illicitly supplied Khartoum with large quantities of arms. Nor has the bloodshed in Congo ever struck the same powerful chord as recent events in Somalia, where a new round of bitter fighting has recently erupted. At the end of last year the US backed an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia to topple an Islamic regime that the White House perceived as a possible sponsor of anti-American "terrorists". The contrasting perceptions of events in Congo and Sudan are ultimately both cause and effect of particular prejudices. Those who argue for liberal intervention, to impose "rights, freedom and democracy", ultimately speak only of their own interests. To view their role in such altruistic terms always leaves them open to well-founded accusations of double standards that damage the international standing of the intervening power and play into the hands of its enemies. By seeing foreign conflicts through the prism of their own prejudices, interventionists also convince themselves that others see the world in the same terms. This allows them to obscure uncomfortable truths, such as the nationalist resentment that their interference can provoke. This was the case with the Washington hawks who once assured us that the Iraqi people would be "dancing on the rooftops" to welcome the US invasion force that would be bringing everyone "freedom". Highly seductive though the rhetoric of liberal interventionism may be, it is always towards hubris and disaster that it leads its willing partners. About the Author: Roger Howard is the author of What's Wrong with Liberal Interventionism Source:www.globalpolicy.org/empire/humanint/2007/0529prejudiceoil.htm
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
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Post by michelle on Jun 29, 2007 16:59:39 GMT 4
Secret trials for terrorists, says US judgeHere's a head's up for Canadian and US Muslims. I say we'll be hearing more about Judge Richard Posner. I wonder who he's been wining and dining with? Because he certainly has the lingo down in order to obtain a seat on the US Supreme Court under the Bush Administration......MichelleSecret trials for terrorists, says US judgeDavid Nason, Chicago 29jun07 A TOP-RANKING US judge has stunned a conference of Australian judges and barristers in Chicago by advocating secret trials for terrorists, more surveillance of Muslim populations across North America and an end to counter-terrorism efforts being "hog-tied" by the US constitution.Judge Richard Posner, a supposedly liberal-leaning jurist regarded by many as a future US Supreme Court candidate, said traditional concepts of criminal justice were inadequate to deal with the terrorist threat and the US had "over-invested" in them. His proposed "big brother" solutions flabbergasted delegates at the Australian Bar Association's biennial conference, where David Hicks's lawyer, Major Michael Mori, is to be awarded honorary life membership. "We have to fight terrorism with our strengths, and our strengths evolve around technology, including the technology of surveillance," said Justice Posner, a prolific legal scholar who sits on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. "Are there terrorist plots that are at a formative stage among the large US Muslim community of two to three million people? In the 600,000 Canadian Muslim population, are there people planning attacks on the US? "What we have to do is discover the extent of the terrorist threat to the US. There is a danger, and it demands a rethinking of some of our conventional views on the limits of national security measures. "We should think of surveillance as preventative, not punitive. We should think of controls that have nothing to do with warrants or traditional criminal justice to prevent abuses." Judge Posner said the US temper and culture could not sustain repeated terrorist attacks. Melbourne QC Tim Tobin said it was a shock to hear such hard and isolationist positions coming from a judge known as a liberal thinker. While he was disturbed by the judge's proposed crackdown on US and Canadian Muslims, he suspected the sentiment would be welcomed by the Howard Government. Judge Posner raised the prospect of secret trials as a "tailored regime" to prosecute terrorists in cases where there was a concern about classified information going public. Queensland SC Glenn Martin said he had been "jolted" by the address: "I hope we never have secret trials in Australia." Judge Posner said the US was "a law-saturated society where even non-lawyers tend to think of problems in terms of legal categories". "Criminal justice and war are the two responses we have to terrorism. Each comes with its own legal institutions and doctrines and regimes but the struggle against international terrorism doesn't fit either very well." He said it was "quite misplaced" to suggest national security measures in force or contemplated in the US could endanger liberty and undermine the political system. This was because governments could no longer conceal what they did: "We have a very aggressive media and a huge and complex government where many people in the government are quite willing to talk to the press." Source: theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,21986986,00.html
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michelle
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Post by michelle on Oct 14, 2007 16:49:59 GMT 4
Bush condemns House vote on Armenian genocideBy Patrick Martin 12 October 2007 The Bush administration and the Turkish government have denounced the action of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which adopted a resolution Wednesday branding the massacres of Armenians in Turkey from 1915 to 1923 as genocide and calling on the US government to officially recognize this as an historical fact. The resolution was adopted by a 27-21 vote that cut across party lines—19 Democrats and 8 Republicans voted for the measure, while 13 Republicans and 8 Democrats voted against. The resolution could come to a vote in the House of Representatives as early as Friday, and passage there seems assured, since there are 226 co-sponsors, more than a majority of the House. The resolution is non-binding and thus has no legal effect on US government policy. It is also less likely to pass the Senate, where only 32 of 100 senators have agreed to co-sponsor the bill, far fewer than the 60 votes required to overcome a filibuster and force a vote. Despite the purely symbolic character of the resolution, however, the Bush administration is waging a ferocious campaign to defeat it. Bush made an appearance in the White House Rose Garden just before the House committee vote, telling the press, “This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror.” These sentiments were echoed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who each issued statements warning that the House action would worsen US relations with Turkey. Gates pointed out that 70 percent of all air cargo sent to Iraq passes through Turkey, as well as 30 percent of fuel and nearly all armored vehicles. He said that US officials in occupied Iraq “believe clearly that access to airfields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would be very much put at risk if this resolution passes and the Turks react as strongly as we believe they will.” The Turkish government cut off military cooperation with France last year after the French parliament adopted legislation to make denial of the Armenian genocide a criminal offense, on a par with denial of the Nazi Holocaust. The US foreign policy establishment was mobilized on a bipartisan basis to oppose the bill, with all eight living former secretaries of state signing a joint statement to that effect. This includes Democrats Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher as well as Republicans Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, George Shultz, Lawrence Eagleburger, James Baker and Colin Powell. Passage of the resolution by the House committee touched off a storm of protest in Turkey, with tens of thousands participating in nationalist demonstrations denouncing the proposed US congressional action. Turkey withdrew its ambassador, Nabi Sensoy, who had attended the House committee meeting at the head of a delegation of Turkish legislators. The government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement declaring, “It is not possible to accept such an accusation of a crime which was never committed by the Turkish nation.” It criticized the House committee, both for allegedly rewriting history and for interfering in “a matter which specifically concerns the common history of Turks and Armenians.” Officials in Ankara said that if the full House of Representatives adopted the resolution, Turkey might reconsider its support for US military operations in Iraq, including shipments of supplies and the stationing of US warplanes at the Incirlik air base. The Turkish foreign ministry issued a statement calling the resolution “an irresponsible move, which comes at a greatly sensitive time.” This was a reference to the growing tensions along the Iraq-Turkish border in the wake of a series of clashes between Turkish troops and Kurdish guerrillas loyal to the separatist PKK (Kurdish Workers Party). Kurdish fighters killed 13 Turkish soldiers Sunday in Sirnak province, the worst cross-border incident since the US overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and the Turkish army has mobilized tanks and troops in a position to invade northern Iraq. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) decided Tuesday to seek parliamentary authorization for such an invasion, although it has not yet decided to give the order. The Bush administration is concerned, not only about a potential clash between Turkish and Kurdish forces within US-occupied Iraq, but about a broader destabilizing effect throughout the Middle East and the Caucasus. This region is the most explosive in the world, with ongoing conflicts between Russians and Chechens, Russia and Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey and Kurdish rebels, Israel and Syria, and between Iran and the US occupation forces in Iraq—to say nothing of the ongoing bloodbath in Iraq itself. Eastern Turkey, site of both the Armenian genocide 92 years ago and the Kurdish guerrilla warfare today, is also transected by the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, a critical element in the US strategy to obtain access to the vast oil and gas resources of the Caspian Sea. The pipeline, built under US auspices as an alternative to the Russian pipeline system, begins in the Azerbaijan capital and passes through Georgia and eastern Turkey to the port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea. It is, of course, the height of hypocrisy for the US House of Representatives to pronounce against a 92-year-old genocide while continuing to fund an imperialist war of aggression which has taken as many lives as the anti-Armenian pogroms during and after World War I. According to a recent survey by the British polling organization ORB, some 1.2 million Iraqis have died violently since the US invasion in March 2003. Historians have estimated the death toll in the Armenian massacres as between 500,000 and 1.5 million. There is little argument that what took place in eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923 constituted the first case of genocide in the twentieth century, an event that both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin studied and drew lessons from. Hitler is said to have remarked, as he ordered the beginning of mass extermination of Jews in occupied Poland, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” Stalin emulated the methods of the Turkish regime in his mass deportations of Chechens, Volga Germans and other ethnic groups deemed potentially disloyal in World War II. In the wake of Turkey’s defeat in 1915 by Russian armies on the Caucasus front, one of the early campaigns of World War I, the Turkish government ordered the mass expulsion of the entire Armenian population from its ancestral homeland which overlapped the Russo-Turkish border. The Armenians, largely Christian, were considered a pro-Russian fifth column and blamed for the Turkish military setbacks. The massacres were touched off by the arrest and killing of hundreds of Armenian nationalists and intellectuals in a government crackdown on April 24, 1915. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians subsequently died, some killed by Turkish troops or lynched in pogroms, more dying of starvation, exposure or heat under conditions of forced marches from the mountains down into the Mesopotamian desert (what is now Syria and western Iraq). Press accounts in the last few days have distorted what took place beginning in 1915, describing it as an atrocity carried out by the Ottoman Empire, although it was actually ordered by the Young Turks. These military officers seized power in 1908, reducing the Ottoman sultan to figurehead status, and advocated a program of aggressive Turkish nationalism. They were the political mentors of Kemal Ataturk, founder of the secular Turkish republic in 1923, and there is a direct line of continuity to the Kemalist military establishment in contemporary Turkey. This political continuity is at the root of the ongoing denial of the Armenian genocide, a central tenet of Turkish bourgeois nationalism, embraced particularly by the military brass and the fascist “Grey Wolves.” Acknowledging the Armenian genocide is still a criminal offense in Turkey, for which the Nobel prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk was put on trial in Istanbul in 2005. In January of this year, Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot to death by a young Turkish fascist in Istanbul for writing about the mass murders. The US congressional resolution is not motivated by any principled concern with these tragic historical events, however. In part, there is the desire to curry favor with the Armenian-American lobby, influential in California, home to most Armenian-Americans. All ten members of the Foreign Affairs Committee from California, Democrats and Republicans, voted for the resolution. There is another more sinister factor, expressed in the comments of Congressman Brad Sherman of California, a Democrat and major sponsor of the bill. Citing the possibility of US-backed military intervention in the Darfur region of the Sudan, Sherman said, “If we hope to stop future genocides we need to admit to those horrific acts of the past.” He dismissed the significance of the Turkish reaction, saying, “We will get a few angry words out of Ankara for a few days, and then it’s over.” Another Democrat gave voice to the anti-Muslim bigotry that lies just below the surface in such discussions, declaring, in response to warnings of the possible impact on US military operations, “I feel like I have a Turkish sword over my head.” The prize for cynicism and hypocrisy must go to Senator Hillary Clinton, who is a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the Armenian genocide resolution, although President Bill Clinton blocked the last such measure in the House of Representatives in 2000. Her husband prevailed on then Speaker Dennis Hastert to shelve a scheduled vote on the grounds that provoking an anti-American reaction in Turkey would cause considerable damage to US foreign policy interests. Source: www.wsws.org/articles/2007/oct2007/arme-o12.shtml
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michelle
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Post by michelle on Oct 18, 2007 6:31:35 GMT 4
October 17th, 2007The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is asking all people around the world to STAND UP and SPEAK OUT against poverty on Wednesday, Oct. 17.IPS: Last year GCAP and the UN Millennium Campaign set a Guinness World Record for the largest single coordinated mobilisation in history, when 23.5 million people in more than 100 countries stood up against poverty on Oct. 17. Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika joined the demonstrations; in Jaipur, India, 38,000 cricket fans stood up; and in the Philippines thousands of people marched against poverty, among many other events. Do you expect to break the record this year? Sylvia Borren: The amazing record of 23.5 million people around the world standing up against poverty can still excite me -- but how sad that there was virtually no publicity about it. That will be very different this year I expect. I find I can't predict the numbers, but this time there are different forms chosen to demand justice. There are stand-up actions, speak out and sing out performances, and football games 'blowing the whistle on poverty'. It is within the movement that we will have to face and solve all the tensions that any unequal power relationships hold: male/female, north/south, differences in class, race, age, faith, education, special abilities, sexual orientation... there is no difference that we do not have within GCAP. The clue is to work together in practical ways, to communicate and find solutions. We find we can get beyond stereotyping and ideological posturing. That is not always easy, but my experience within GCAP is that we can do it.CLIP From:Q&A: 'We Do Not Want to Halve Poverty: Eradicate It' Interview with Sylvia Borren, Executive Director of Oxfam-Novibwww.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39567RIGHTS: Poverty and Capital Punishment Go Hand In HandBy Petar Hadji-Ristic BERLIN, Oct 17 (IPS) - In rich and poor countries alike poverty and the death penalty are almost always inextricably bound together, according to a worldwide survey of experts and human rights activists carried out by journalists as part of the IPS Death Penalty Abolition Project. "In its 40 years of fighting against the death penalty, Amnesty International (AI) has constantly witnessed the relationship between poverty and the death penalty," Piers Bannister, coordinator of the rights organisation's death penalty team, told IPS. Social standing, wealth or race were the overriding factors in deciding who received the death penalty -- not the severity of the crime. Penal Reform International (PRI), an organisation with a long history of campaigning for death penalty abolition and the rights of prisoners, echoed these views. "Imprisonment and poverty are closely linked," Mel James, PRI policy director said, adding that many countries lacked the technical resources to investigate serious crimes adequately and to "ensure that the innocent are not wrongly accused." In China, the world's most populous country, the number of executions is a state secret, according to Antoaneta Bezlova, IPS correspondent in Beijing. Based on public reports, China imposed the most death sentences in 2006. AI estimates that at least 1,010 people were executed in China in 2006. A revealing glimpse into the "underclass" on death row is seen in Huan Jinting's unique stories of 22 petty criminals on death row, Bezlova reports. "Under Chinese law they pay a very high price for the mistakes they make," Huan writes in his book Letters from Death Row. In China more than 60 types of crime -- including many non-violent offences -- are punishable by a death sentence. Pakistan, with some 7,000 people on death row, is home to a third of the estimated world total. "Many of Pakistan's death row inmates are innocent or had unfair trials," Mirza Tahir Hussain, a former death row inmate released after an international campaign last year, told IPS correspondent Zofeen Ebrahim. "Most of the convicts finally sent to the gallows are from poor families... The more affluent and influential use coercion to force the victims' family into a compromise and get off the hook," Hussain told Ebrahim. Even in Japan, one of the world's richest nations, the relationship between poverty and death sentences can be seen in the high number of the 100 or so on death row who cannot afford their own defence and needed court-appointed lawyers, according to IPS correspondent Matsuko Murakami. "Most of the death row prisoners have no choice but to have such court-appointed defence counsels," Akiko Takada, a leading member of Forum 90, an anti-death penalty rights organisation, told Murakami. In Malaysia, it is estimated that nearly 90 percent of the 300 people on death row are poor, according to Charles Hector, a human rights lawyer interviewed by IPS correspondent Baradan Kuppusamy. In the U.S., 95 percent of the 3,350 people currently on death row are poor, Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama, told IPS's Adrianne Appel. "We have a serious issue in the U.S. Our criminal justice system is very sensitive to wealth. Our system treats you better if you are rich and guilty, than if you are poor and innocent," Stevenson said. In Arab and Muslim countries the death penalty is also linked to poverty, writes Abderrahim El Ouali, IPS correspondent in the region. Since 2003, " all suicide bombers who were arrested by the police and later sentenced to death have been from poor areas and living in difficult conditions," Mostafa Hannaoui, a member of Morocco's Progress and Socialism Party told El Ouali. Tahar Boumedra, PRI's Middle East and North Africa regional director, told IPS that the Islamic 'diyat' -- under which the accused can pay money to the family of the victim in exchange for freedom -- could be used to discriminate against the poor in capital punishment cases. "This practice is common in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries with a criminal justice system based on Islamic law," Boumedra told IPS. "Those who cannot pay the 'diyat' have the death sentence applied against them." In Saudi Arabia, a nation that imposes one of the highest numbers of executions in the region, Bannister reports that poor migrant workers from Asia and Africa are most likely to receive a death sentence today. "Unfamiliar with the legal system, often not understanding the language in which they are questioned and put on trial, such workers are particularly vulnerable to capital punishment. Shockingly, almost half of all the executions in Saudi Arabia are foreign nationals," Bannister said. In sub-Saharan Africa, Marie-Dominique Parent of PRI reports that few countries in the region provide adequately financed legal aid schemes offering "quality defence" for the poor. It was completely "illusory" to think that the poor, especially those in far-flung villages, were being afforded fair trials. In Malawi, for example, any meaningful state legal aid was "impossible", Parent told IPS. From Africa's most populous state, Nigeria, IPS correspondent Toye Olori reports that human rights activists agree that almost all the estimated 600 people on death row are poor and without adequate legal assistance. Olawale Fapohunda, a leading human rights lawyer working for an independent organisation providing free legal aid, told Fapohunda that Nigeria's death row inmates wanting to appeal were essentially "without legal representation" because of the absence of a fully financed state legal aid scheme. Rights groups consider the link between poverty and the denial of competent legal defence one of the most compelling reasons for the abolition of the death penalty. "It is the right of everyone to stand equal before the legal systems of the world," Bannister said. "Otherwise, there remains the ever-present reality that someone is put to death not for the crime they were convicted of... but because they were poor..." (END/2007) Source: www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39683MIDEAST: Palestinians Prepare to Stand Up for What MattersBy Ramsey Ben-Achour RAMALLAH, Oct 15 (IPS) - While the international community concentrates on final status negotiations between the Palestinian government and Israel, the Palestinian people plan to stand up Oct. 17 to show the world what really matters to them. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are expected to take part in demonstrations highlighting poverty and inequality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Palestinians in the territories number three to four million. Oct. 17 has been picked as the United Nations-recognised International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The demonstration will be part of the larger Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), a banding together of international NGOs, social movements, trade unions, women's organisations and other civil society actors in an attempt to draw attention to global poverty. This call to end poverty is especially relevant in the Occupied Palestinian Territories – 46 percent of all Palestinians do not have enough food to meet their basic needs, according to the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA). In Ramallah, the de facto capital of the OPT, a large procession will take to the streets through the city centre. Peaceful demonstrations have also been planned in small villages, towns and large population centres throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, along with a number of his ministers, is expected to address the crowds in Ramallah. Later in the evening, a myriad of cultural events will be held at the Palestinian Cultural Palace. These events will include traditional dancing, singing, and performances by Palestinian youths. In Nablus, 500 students from al-Najah University, the largest in the northern OPT, will assert their right to education by holding a rally on campus. "We will give speeches, show pictures, and discuss the issues that really matter to us. We want to educate ourselves freely and without restriction. Education is a right that everyone must have," Mohammad Khareis, a resident of Nablus and organising member of the student rally told IPS. In Gaza, a conference will be held on the right to work and to social protection. The conference will conclude with the submission to the United Nations of a petition highlighting the specific troubles that citizens of the Gaza strip face daily. While the majority of activities will take place on Oct. 17, some events will last a week or more. One of these will be the provision of free medical services over a period of two weeks. Funded in part by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), this will include free medical consultations, medical examinations in mobile and stationary clinics, and a move to raise awareness on general health issues. Ahmad Ayesh, member of the Palestine Medical Relief Society (PMRS) and one of those helping to coordinate the medical services, says Palestinians face huge difficulties in accessing medical care. "The illegal wall that Israel is building has cut off many villagers from their agricultural land. They are very poor, and cannot afford to go to the doctor, and because of the checkpoints they can't reach the medical centres very easily either," he told IPS. "We hope to touch the people who suffer the most," he said. In Tulkarem, 45 km from Ramallah, textile workers plan meetings on issues such as job security and the ability to obtain work permits in Israel. And across both the West Bank and the Gaza strip, schoolchildren will assemble on playgrounds to stand up against poverty. Candlelight vigils will be held in solidarity with people across the globe. "Our voice will be combined with voices from around the world, united in achieving our goals," Khareis said. (END/2007) Source: www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39653DEVELOPMENT-PAKISTAN: Monster Banner Against Poverty Coming UpBy Aoun Abbas OKARA, Oct 10 (IPS) - When Shareefan Bibi, who works as a labourer at a brick kiln in this town 70 km from Lahore city, heard of the monster banner against poverty being put together she wanted to sign on it. "I lost a day’s wages by coming here to participate in the campaign to get the government to fulfill its promises -- I am poor and literate, but I always stick to my word so why can’t the ‘sarkar’ (government) which is so rich and powerful keep its promises?’’ she asked. The irony is that Bibi came to know about the promises, in the shape of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that the government made in 2000, just two weeks ago -- when Gulzar Missih, coordinator of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF), a partner of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) in Pakistan, approached this 50-year-old labourer for her time and attention. In the end, no fewer than 3,000 people, most of them labourers, turned up to sign on the banner at Okara on Oct. 5, not wanting to miss a rare chance to remind the government that it was remiss. Nadir Abbas Nadir from Kalashah Kaku, a town some 20 km from Lahore, is among the signatories. "Poverty is the prime issue of our country and I was really surprised to know that some seven years back our government actually made a promise to take solid steps to eradicate poverty. But the fact is that our government has not even dared to inform the nation about this step and we are thankful to GCAP for this reminder. I really feel proud to become part of the signature campaign against poverty,’’ he said. ''I was hoping that at least 500 people would come and was pleasantly surprised that so many people responded,’’ said Gulam Fatima, general secretary of the BLLF. ‘’It shows that people especially the poor are now getting information about the MDGs and government’s promises. Now it is up to government to respect their voices and work to achieve the MDGs over the next 7-8 years.’’ Among those who attended the meeting were young people eager to make their voices heard. Muhammad Ali, a student of class 10, said he had come to register his protest ‘’in a democratic way’’ about the government’s negligence. Ali was particularly enthusiastic about the monster banner being patched together from small lengths of cloth bearing the signatures, expected to grow to a massive 10 km in length by the time it is ready to be unfurled in Bahawalpur, a poverty-ridden area close to the Indian desert state of Rajasthan on Oct. 17, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. GCAP and the UNMC (U.N. Millennium Campaign) have asked people around the world to ‘stand up and speak out’ on that day in support of the MDGs, a set of eight goals agreed to by the governments of 189 countries in 2000 to reduce poverty and to improve health and education. This year, a clear attempt is being made to make the campaign political. In Pakistan there have been calls to get political parties to include the MDGs in their manifestos for the upcoming elections and also declare whether they had plans to make Pakistan a welfare state. Those who have issued calls to political parties to make the MDGs a part of their agendas include I.A. Rehman, director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and Abid Hassan Minto, president of the National Workers Party Mahar Safdar Ali, coordinator of the Insan Foundation that has been appointed as the focal organisation for the campaign, told IPS that a coalition of 35 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), political parties and labour organisations of Pakistan has been formed under the slogan of ‘Bus Bahut Ho Chuka’ (Enough is Enough). "Last year around 1,000 organisations and 2.3 million people from Pakistan participated in a similar campaign. This year we hope more people will participate in the ‘stand up and speak out’. We will display a record-breaking 10 km long banner with over 1.5 million signatures in Bahawalpur city on Oct. 17,’’ Ali said. Ali was confident of reaching his target. ‘’People from every group of the society are signing on this banner and 135 organisations around the country are helping us gather signatures from different areas of country.’’ According to Ali, more than 200 women are now busy in Lahore city sewing together the small banners into a patchwork that will form the mammoth banner. The demands of the signatories include: - poverty eradication to be dealt with on a priority basis; - ensuring provision of the modern technical education without discrimination to decrease unemployment; - promotion of pollution-free industries at local and national level; - real steps taken to control price hike, keeping in view the capacity of the poor masses; - promotion of agricultural industry to ensure the provision of jobs to the masses; - immediate resolution of the problems of the landless farmers; - ban on child labour and bonded labour and - stop taking foreign loans in the name of development of the masses without their consent and permission and insure accountability. Ali said the prime objective of this year is to tell government that half of the 15 years given for the achievement of the MDGs have gone with little done so far. On the other hand, people are to question increase in the budget allocation for defence and non-developmental projects instead of looking to the needs of the impoverished masses, struggling for survival. ‘’Earlier, a vast majority of people and even government officials in Pakistan were unaware about MDGs, although this is changing as a result of the stand up campaigns.Two years back no government official was ready to discuss MDGs but now even the president and prime minister are talking about achieving them,’’ Ali said. (END/2007) Source: www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39583DEVELOPMENT: The Missing Piece of the Poverty PuzzleBy Anita Petry UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16 (IPS) - Women are seen as the key for ending global poverty and the issue of gender equality is receiving special attention at events marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Wednesday.One of the largest is the International Women's Tribunals on Poverty, which will highlight the feminisation of poverty. There will be four major tribunals this week presenting testimony on the worsening conditions of women worldwide, and discussing strategies to tackle the root causes at the political and economic level. They will take place at the United Nations in New York, in Cairo, Egypt, Lima, Peru, and in Delhi, India. "We know already that the concept of Women's Tribunals has been very successful and we are expecting the biggest ever alliance of women's groups and NGOs in India to join together on Oct. 17 in Delhi to discuss responses to poverty that the government can deliver on this year, especially for women," said Ciara O'Sullivan of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, a three-year-old movement that claims nearly 2,000 member organisations and millions of supporters worldwide. "Three hundred women from 20 states are attending this unprecedented moment," she told IPS. The fact that so many women live in poverty means they are critical -- but often ignored -- players in reversing poverty itself. While figures from the World Bank estimate that 1.1 billion people live in "extreme poverty", surviving on less than a dollar a day, women represent a disproportionate 70 percent of the world's poor. The U.N. Population Fund notes that worldwide, women on average earn slightly more than 50 percent of what men are earning, while women and girls are often the last to eat, and women's health problems are considered less important than other family priorities. The huge numbers of women affected means that empowering women is critical to the effort to halve extreme poverty by 2015, one of the so-called Millennium Development Goals set by world leaders meeting at the United Nations in 2000. They also include gender equality and reducing child deaths by two-thirds and maternal deaths by three-quarters, although these goals are lagging in nearly every country. This week's events are organised by many different institutions, but one of the biggest campaigns is "Stand Up and Speak Out", supported by GCAP and the Millennium Campaign. The Stand Up and Speak Out campaign, now in its third year, consists of a global call to action against poverty and inequality, and for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and Women's Funding Network recently established a partnership to draw international attention to women during the Stand Up Campaign by launching a call for greater investment in women by governments and donor institutions. UNIFEM notes that among the factors that place women at risk of poverty are their unequal access to resources and capabilities, such as education, skills, land and property, the discrimination they face in the labour market and their lack of political voice. In all countries, women do most of the unpaid household and care work -- yet this work is not counted as contributing to national economies. The partnership is a unique initiative because it also focuses on the mobilisation of a vast online community to support the message that, in the fight against poverty, gender equality is an essential target. "The Economist [magazine] estimates that over the past decade, women's work worldwide has done even more to fuel the global economy than has the stunning growth of China," said Joanne Sandler, UNIFEM's acting executive director. "We know what is possible when women are recognised as agents of change," she said. "To realise this vision we must remove obstacles such as discriminatory ownership and inheritance laws to help women embark on asset building." "Women are indeed the missing piece of the poverty puzzle," agreed Christine Grumm, president and CEO of the Women's Funding Network, a U.S.-based group that mobilises private donors and foundations to support a range of initiatives for women and girls, including programmes to help women start businesses, leave violent homes, gain access to health care, raise their self-esteem, and advocate for fair public policies. While the network has raised more than 400 million dollars over the last 15 years, it notes that just seven percent of all philanthropic dollars overall are earmarked for programmes for women and girls. "Our network's experience in the area of economic empowerment has convinced us that policy supporting women's economic empowerment -- from education to job training to child care to financial literacy to microfinance and beyond -- holds the potential for vast change, and fast change. Our cooperative outreach with UNIFEM will call on policy makers to recognise the untapped potential of women in eradicating extreme poverty," Grumm said. More than 720 different events are to take place in over 100 countries in the 24-hour period from 9 p.m. GMT on Oct. 16 to 9 p.m. GMT on Oct. 17, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. These events will range from major rallies and concerts to gatherings in school assemblies, town halls, and refugee camps. The international gatherings are intended to help the poorer, marginalised people of the world get actively involved with existing campaigns, become aware of the work that is being done and become actual agents of change. According to GCAP, last year, 23.5 million people were part of the campaign and literally "stood up" against poverty in a 24-hour period, setting a new Guinness World Record. This year, GCAP and the United Nations Millennium Campaign hopes to break that record, although it is unclear what the lasting impact would be. A wide variety of organisations, institutions and community groups are expected to call on political leaders to deliver more and better aid to the poorest nations, implement fairer trade conditions, cancel debt, and ensure gender equality. (END/2007) Source: www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39670More Stories At:www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/poverty/index.aspThe eight MDGs are: 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 2. Achieve universal primary education 3. Promote gender equality and empower women 4. Reduce child mortality 5. Improve maternal health 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases 7. Ensure environmental sustainability 8. Develop a global partnership for development(http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/)
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
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Post by michelle on Oct 19, 2007 7:27:28 GMT 4
Here's a follow-up to the previous post....very encouraging....Way to go Humans of Earth!...MichelleDEVELOPMENT: Millions Stood Up, Will World Leaders Follow? By Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18 (IPS) - Millions of people across the world took part in meetings and rallies calling for economic and social justice for the marginalised and downtrodden in a way that perhaps the world had never witnessed before. "I am happy to announce that 39 million people have participated in this event," U.N. communications chief Kiyotaka Akasaka told reporters at the end of the global campaign called "Stand Up and Speak Out." This year's worldwide events coincided with the 20th International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Wednesday, which saw more than 6,000 rallies in 110 countries, setting a new Guinness World Record on participation in mass actions.From workers to peasants to students, those who joined the global campaign against poverty urged governments to fulfill their commitments on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The MDGs include a 50 percent reduction in poverty and hunger; universal primary education; reduction of child mortality by two-thirds; cutbacks in maternal mortality by three-quarters; the promotion of gender equality; and the reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS, and other diseases. "Every day 50,000 people die needlessly as a result of extreme poverty," said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a statement, noting that the gap between rich and poor is getting wider. Like demonstrators across the world, Ban also took the world leaders to task for their slow moves towards achieving the MDGs. "(Their) record is mixed," he said. "Many countries are still off track." U.N. experts on development say that worldwide, almost one billion people are still living on less than a dollar a day, some 72 million children are not in school, and every day 27,000 children die of poverty. In Ban's view, poverty can be eradicated only if governments of both developed and developing countries live up to their promises. In a statement, he reiterated that poor countries must spend more on health and education while urging the rich ones to be more generous with regard to their financial assistance. In sharing Ban's views on global poverty, the U.N. General Assembly president Srgjian Kerim noted that more than anywhere in the world, it was the sub-Saharan governments in Africa who are falling behind in achieving the MDGs. Kerim said the midpoint for MDGs demands the world community must recommit its efforts. He said he would use the current General Assembly session to "build consensus" for urgent actions to achieve the MDGs. Last year, some 23.5 million people symbolically "stood up" against poverty, with 3.6 million in Africa, 19 million in Asia, 55,000 in Latin America, 520,000 in the Middle East and 900,000 in Europe. In a bid to dramatise the urgency of addressing extreme poverty, this year the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) and the U.N. Millennium Campaign worked with large numbers of national and local partners, from schools and universities to local community groups and women's groups, choirs and sporting clubs to faith groups, trade unions and corporations. The events planned were meant to be entertaining and engaging, while making a strong impression on national, regional politicians and governments, as well as state and global institutions. Millions of people also joined the campaign in cyberspace, posting blogs, videos and pictures on various online communities such as Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo. In Italy, Microsoft created a dedicated micro-site for the action, and in many poor countries -- in Africa in particular -- mobile phone technology enabled groups to pre-register their activities online using WAP phones and to view videos of "Stand Ups" in other countries. In Rwanda, youth groups organised a "Stand Up" soccer tournament with 20 primary schools. A youth network in Ghana appointed "Stand Up" ambassadors to lead events all over the country, including an MDGs youth delegation. In Bangladesh, an umbrella of youth movements mobilised 10,000 young people to block a busy crossroads with a human chain, and in India, a local NGO planned a march of 20,000 Dalits, focusing on land rights and the achievement of the MDGs for Dalits in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Similar events also took place all over Europe, and North and South America. In Germany, the Euro 2008 Qualifier soccer game against the Czech Republic saw fans starting the match with a massive "Stand Up" moment. In The Hague, the national anti-poverty campaign displayed 200 life-size "Avatars" representing members of the public from across The Netherlands. In London, trade union representatives, students and the U.N. deputy secretary-general, Asha-Rose Migiro, used a white band -- a symbol of the global anti-poverty campaign -- to call for renewed commitments on more and better aid, debt cancellation, trade justice, gender equality and public accountability. Religious leaders in many parts of the world also joined the action. During the campaign, activists highlighted the link between gender inequalities and poverty because women constitute the majority of the world's poor owing to unequal access to resources and opportunities, discriminatory laws and unequal distribution of household resources. "By standing up last year, millions around the world demonstrated their frustration with the lack of real progress in poverty eradication," said Salil Chetty of the United Nations Millennium Campaign before the event. "This year, millions more are joining this growing global movement of people who refuse to stay silent in the face of poverty or broken promises to end it." (END/2007) Source: www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39712
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Nov 21, 2007 8:15:22 GMT 4
Buy Nothing Day: Friday, November 23rd (from midnight, 11/22, until midnight 11/23) PLEASE FORWARD TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, TODAY! This is an International Movementurl for this post is: tinyurl.com/2zkqt6Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. In 2007, Buy Nothing Day falls on November 23rd in North America and November 24th internationally.. It was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by the Canadian Adbusters magazine. The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September of 1992 "as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption". In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, which is one of the top 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside of North America, Buy Nothing Day is celebrated on the following Saturday. Despite controversies, Adbusters managed to advertise Buy Nothing Day on CNN, but many other major television networks declined to air their ads. Soon, campaigns started appearing in United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations. While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day, Adbusters states that it "isn't just about changing your habits for one day" but "about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste".[/color] [/b] Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Nothing_DayMUCH more through adbusters.org/home/--------------------------------------------------------------------------------CHRISTMAS SHOPPING UPDATE NOVEMBER 24, 2007 GO TO: tinyurl.com/yv8ktc The Shopocalypse is upon us … Who will be $aved? STOP the SHOPOCALYPSE!Sho•po•ca•lypse [shah PAW kuh lips] n. The end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt!
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Nov 27, 2007 16:05:32 GMT 4
You know, the words and actions of various individuals set up as our inglorious leaders are becoming too comical for me not to laugh at. I think we should all chip in, buy all world leaders boxing gloves, and let them duke it out in the ring, just like the bunch of 'Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots' that they are. People! Behold Our Leaders!........Michelle------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do I have to mention what's funny about this?.....MAhmadinejad offers to be an observer at US presidential electionRobert Tait in Tehran Tuesday November 27, 2007 The Guardian He denounces it as the "Great Satan" and frequently dismisses its power, but the overtures of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the US seem to grow ever more extravagant. Having failed to win a response with an 18-page letter to President George Bush or to a request to visit the site of the September 11 2001 attack on New York, Ahmadinejad has offered himself as an observer in next year's presidential election. The proposal came in a speech to volunteers with the Basij, a pro-regime militia. He said he was prompted by a belief that Americans would vote against the current administration in a truly free poll. However, the terms of Ahmadinejad's offer appeared to betray some confusion about the potential candidates. "If the White House officials allow us to be present as an observer in their presidential election we will see whether people in their country are going to vote for them again or not," he said. The US constitution prevents Bush from seeking a third consecutive term, while no member of his administration is expected to be in the running in next November's poll. Bush and international human rights groups voiced doubts about the legitimacy of Iran's 2005 presidential election, which brought Ahmadinejad to power. More than 1,000 potential candidates were disqualified by the guardian council, a powerful body of clerics and judges. Some domestic critics pointed out yesterday that Ahmadinejad's idea clashed with his government's opposition to allowing independent observers at Iranian elections. The interior ministry, controlled by one of the president's most hard-line allies, has rejected pressure for party representatives to be allowed to oversee proceedings at polling stations for next March's parliamentary poll. The election is expected to provide a major test of Ahmadinejad's popularity. Leading regime figures, including two former presidents, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, have warned against possible attempts to rig it through mass candidate disqualifications and other measures. Source: www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/story/0,,2217495,00.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stellar bit of wording by Putin....MPutin accuses U.S. of meddling in Russia vote By Oleg Shchedrov Mon Nov 26, 11:33 AM ET ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin accused Washington on Monday of plotting to undermine December parliamentary elections seen widely as a demonstration of his enduring power in Russia. Putin, drawing on resurgent nationalist sentiment ahead of Sunday's poll, also said Russia must maintain its defences to discourage others from "poking their snotty noses" in its affairs. Europe, however, joined the United States in voicing concern over a weekend police crackdown on protests by an opposition that says it has been banished from the airwaves and from the streets by an overbearing Kremlin. Putin, who must step down as president early next year, said he saw Washington's hand in a decision by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's ODIHR monitoring arm to abandon plans to observe the poll. "We have information that, once again, this was done on the recommendation of the U.S. State Department," Putin said at a meeting with activists of his United Russia party. "Their aim is to deprive the elections of legitimacy, that is absolutely clear," he said in his home city of St Petersburg. ODIHR has said Russian obstruction left it with no choice but to cancel the monitoring mission. A poll published on Monday by Russia's FOM pollster predicted United Russia would win 60.1 percent in the vote this weekend, a dip of two percent from the previous week. The poll put nearest rivals the Communist Party at 7.5 percent. A high vote would underline Putin's popularity and help him retain authority in some form after yielding the presidency. Two weekend rallies by an anti-Putin coalition protesting that the vote would be unfair were broken up by police using truncheons. Former chess champion Garry Kasparov, one of the coalition's leaders, was one of dozens of people arrested. Kasparov is serving five days in detention for organizing an illegal protest. A Moscow court on Monday rejected an appeal lodged by his lawyer against the sentence, one of Kasparov's aides told Reuters from the courtroom. OPPOSITION PROTESTS In Brussels, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he was concerned by the "heavy-handed action" by Russian police. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Russia's government should explain its actions. Kremlin officials say the protesters do not have popular support and are dangerous radicals trying to destabilize Russia with help from foreign governments. Kasparov's coalition barely registers any support in opinion polls. Putin is running in the election as No. 1 on United Russia's slate of candidates. The 55-year-old Russian leader has said he will hand over power to a successor in line with a constitutional ban on a head of state serving more than two consecutive terms as president. Putin, seen by many as bringing Russia much-needed stability, has said he will endorse one of his lieutenants as a successor. But he has refused to say which one. Some observers speculate that Putin might step down early and run in the presidential vote, exploiting a legal loophole to get around the three-term ban. Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, officially named March 2 next year as the date of the presidential vote, shifting the guessing game over what will happen when Putin's term ends into its decisive phase. After the date has been published in the official gazette on Wednesday, would-be candidates will have 25 days to apply to run in the presidential election. (Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Conor Sweeney and Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow and Brussels and Paris bureaux) (Writing by Christian Lowe)Source: news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071126/ts_nm/russia_vote_dc_7------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ! What's with this? By the way, people who are jumpin' on the Gore for President bandwagon, I say: "Hell no...Gore's part of the same draconian political establishment we've been burdened with forever!" I've got a post to put up on Gore, soon. When I finish it I'll post the link here....M * UPDATE: here's the post: Al Gore and the Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy tinyurl.com/2mceul * Bush welcomes Gore to Oval Office By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 47 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Talk about an inconvenient truth. Al Gore finally won his place in the Oval Office on Monday — right next to George W. Bush. Forever linked by the closest and craziest presidential race in history, the two men were reunited by, of all things, White House tradition. Gore was among the 2007 Nobel Prize winners who were invited in for a photo and some chatter with the president; Gore got the recognition for his work on global warming. The two men stood next to other, sharing uncomfortable grins for photographers and reporters, who were quickly ushered in and out. "Familiar faces," the former vice president said of the media. Bush, still smiling, added nothing. The two also had a 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office, part of Bush's effort to show some outreach to his longtime rival. Bush aides said it was private and would not comment on it. Gore, trailed by the press as he left the White House very publicly on foot, allowed that he and Bush spent the whole time talking about global warming. "He was very gracious in setting up the meeting and it was a very good and substantive conversation," Gore said. "And that's all I want to say about it." Gore's presence added unlikely buzz to a photo op that normally would have been buried by Bush's Mideast peace forays. It is not like these two cross paths much. They have not met privately since then-President-elect Bush paid a visit — short, and not that sweet — to Gore's residence in December 2000. That was back when the acrimony was fresh, in a country still in disbelief over an election that seemed never-ending. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court certified Bush's 537-vote victory margin over Gore in Florida to settle the outcome. Since then, Gore has not shied away from criticizing Bush; his latest book, "The Assault on Reason," is a relentless attack against the administration. And the White House's response when Gore won the Nobel Prize was less than giddy. Never mind all that. "I know that this president does not harbor any resentments," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "Never has." Indeed, the White House tried to make clear that Bush was hosting Gore not out of obligation, but genuine interest. Bush personally invited Gore. The White House changed its original date to accommodate Gore. And then there was the private Bush-Gore meeting, too. When it was over, the scene took a bit of turn for the weird. Gore said he didn't want to comment. But with the media waiting for him, Gore and his wife, Tipper, walked out along Pennsylvania Avenue and up 17th Street, toward his nearby office — even though the White House is adept at helping people slip away unnoticed if they want. The media horde followed the Gores for several minutes. When a veteran reporter asked Gore if he missed all the attention, he adeptly turned the question around. "When you leave this beat," he said, "I'm gonna ask you." Source: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071127/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_gore
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Jan 6, 2008 14:44:42 GMT 4
Here are some of the latest developments in Kenya. Please keep this situation in mind during your meditations in the coming three weeks to help ensure that peace prevails there and across all of our world....MichelleKenyans focus fury on food crisis in slums - Election violence replaced by more misery (6 January 2008) news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Kenyans-focus-fury-on-food.3644588.jpELEVEN days ago, residents of Kenya's biggest slum joined long, snaking queues to cast their ballots in the east African country's presidential polls.After an explosion of violence following opposition claims the outcome was rigged, those unfortunate enough to live in Kibera are now queuing for food."Is this what you call aid - we don't want your dirty water?" one man in an angry crowd shouted at police sitting on an armoured car mounted with water cannon.Security forces were back in Kibera - one of Africa's biggest shanty towns, with an estimated 800,000 residents - on the lookout for ethnic clashes that have convulsed Nairobi's tribally polarised slums.But now the focus is on food. Thousands of people gathered as two local Red Cross vehicles arrived to deliver aid - but then left without off-loading, overwhelmed by the numbers."We have come to get our food but now they are refusing us," said a furious David Majengo, pointing at the Red Cross staff as they departed. "All we have eaten for days is tear gas."Resident Shelef Ndar, shouted: "We are hungry and angry; we will soon begin to eat dogs."The anger in Kibera was yesterday being reflected across the country, with many Kenyans and outside observers still in disbelief as to how one of Africa's most stable and relatively prosperous countries has lurched towards a humanitarian crisis in less than a week.A UN official in Nairobi estimated that up to 500,000 Kenyans, mainly in the rural western areas, were in urgent need of food aid. The International Committee of the Red Cross issued an urgent appeal for more than £7m of aid. CLIP Kenyan opposition leader: No unity gov't (January 6, 2008) news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080106/ap_on_re_af/kenya_elections;_ylt=Ao_aJWvhWAyYhgS64HjW1ius0NUENAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga on Sunday rejected an offer to form a unity government from his foe, saying he wanted mediation following an electoral dispute that has sparked deadly ethnic violence. Odinga told a news conference that President Mwai Kibaki, re-elected by a narrow margin in a vote count that international observers said was deeply flawed, "cannot offer us anything because he did not win the election.""There cannot be peace without justice," Odinga said. "We want a mediator. We want a properly negotiated settlement, not a coalition government."He welcomed the expected arrival next week of Ghana's President John Kufuor, current chairman of the African Union, to mediate.Kibaki offered to form a government of national unity on Saturday during talks with the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer. CLIP In Kenya, a Spiral of Killingswww.truthout.org/docs_2006/010408T.shtmlRobyn Dixon, The Los Angeles Times: "There always has been an undercurrent of tribal tension in Kenya, but the East African country has avoided the kind of wholesale violence that has plagued nearby countries such as Rwanda. The dispute over the election, however, has left about 300 dead from Kisumu in the west to Mombasa on the Indian Ocean." Full Coverage: Kenyanews.yahoo.com/fc/World/Kenya;_ylt=Asof5K866KYZkxjfjz3me0gV6w8FTerrified Kenyans flee ethnic violenceBy TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer Jan 5, 2008 CHEPTIRET, Kenya - Thousands of refugees fled western Kenya Saturday on buses escorted by armed soldiers, streaming down roads strewn with downed power lines, burnt out vehicles and the corpses of others killed when they tried to escape an explosion of postelection ethnic violence. Behind them, thousands more huddled at church compounds and a police station in the city of Eldoret as wailing relatives tried to identify hacked, burned and strangled family members in a mortuary so full of bodies they lay piled wall-to-wall across bloody floors. At Cheptiret, 12 miles south of Eldoret, bus after packed bus mostly full of people from President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe drove slowly past soldiers loyal to the president who stood guard at a roadblock controlled hours earlier by a machete-wielding mob. Wide-eyed passengers pointed out the windows, hands covering their mouths, as they gawked at two bodies laying in the dirt along the roadside beside the charred hulk of a white minibus. The two slain men had been pelted with stones by Kalenjin mobs several days earlier and then set ablaze, said one man in Cheptiret, Bernard Kimutai, an ethnic Kalenjin who said he was a human rights worker. "They failed to identify themselves properly, and then tried to run," he said, alluding to his belief they were Kikuyu. The struggle between Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga over who won a bitterly contested Dec. 27 presidential vote has ignited some of the worst ethnic unrest in Kenya's history, destroying its image as a stable democracy and a top tourist destination boasting some of the best wildlife viewing on earth. Unrest has left hundreds dead and displaced at least 250,000 people across Kenya. Kibaki was declared winner of the poll by a mere 200,000 votes, but the head of the electoral commission and the country's attorney general have questioned the results, saying the tally must be independently reviewed. Kenya hosts a mosaic of more than 40 tribes, and tensions between them have rarely boiled into open, widespread conflict. But the prosperity and power of the influential Kikuyu minority has spawned a simmering resentment among some for years. Ken Wafulah, director of Eldoret's independent Center for Human Rights and Democracy, estimated up to 5,000 people left Eldoret for the capital, Nairobi, on Saturday in five different convoys that included long trails of private cars. Those who could not afford to move stayed behind, some displaced within their own town, sleeping in the open around churches in which they sought refuge. The worst atrocity of the crisis occurred at a Protestant church on the outskirts of Eldoret last week. A mob set fire to the church where hundreds of people had taken refuge. Many were burned alive. Those caught trying to escape the flames were hunted down and hacked with machetes. Dozens of Kikuyus were killed there. Philip Cheptinga, a doctor at the Eldoret's Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital - the country's second largest - said most victims had been killed with machetes known as "pangas," shot with bows and arrows, or burned. CLIP From: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080105/ap_on_re_af/kenya_scene_1;_ylt=AlQRld1yZMz0MYGgrLxAHIFOs6YBKenya's humanitarian crisis grows4 January 2008 At least 180,000 people have been displaced by unrest as the humanitarian crisis grows after last week's disputed election in Kenya, say UN officials. Some have been housed in makeshift camps while others have sought refuge in police stations or churches, fleeing violence that has claimed 350 lives. In badly-affected western Kenya nearly all the refugees are hungry, and several children have died of exposure. A top UN official in Nairobi says about 500,000 Kenyans need urgent help. The latest developments came as anti-government protests fizzled out and the president said he might accept opposition demands for a fresh election, but only if ordered by a court. The UN World Food Programme said it was struggling to get food to 100,000 hungry people forced to flee their homes in the Rift Valley area. We are profoundly alarmed by the reports of incitement to racial hatred and the growing frictions between the different ethnic groups in Kenya The BBC's Karen Allen in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, where at least 30 people were burned to death in a church this week, says 30,000 local people have been displaced. Some 10,000 people there are seeking refuge in the compound of the cathedral of the Catholic Church, which is now spearheading local relief efforts. A statement by a group of independent UN rights experts on Friday said: "We are profoundly alarmed by the reports of incitement to racial hatred and the growing frictions between the different ethnic groups in Kenya." The officially-declared results of the 27 December presidential poll - giving victory to incumbent President Mwai Kibaki over opposition rival Raila Odinga - unleashed a wave of violence. Protesters furious at alleged electoral fraud went on the rampage, killing scores of people and torching churches, businesses and homes. CLIP From: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7172103.stmDate: 03 Jan 2008 From: "Paul Hilder - Avaaz.org" (avaaz@avaaz.org) Subject: Save Kenya Election fraud in Kenya could trigger civil war, even genocide - send a message to your foreign minister to withhold recognition of a new president until the vote is independently reviewed: Send a message now! www.avaaz.org/en/kenya_free_and_fair/5.php/?cl=49340627Last week, Kenya held a national election tainted with vote-tampering. It ended in a claim of victory for incumbent President Mwai Kibaki over the challenger Raila Odinga who had led the polls -- now Kenya's future hangs in the balance. Violence has broken out across the country, with roving gangs of machete-wielding youth terrorizing the population. Suddenly, this hopeful country could be sliding toward genocide. We must not sit back and watch this nightmarish scenario unfold -- but we need to act fast. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has flown into Nairobi, joining the African Union in an effort to broker a power-sharing agreement and review the election results. But if talks are to succeed, foreign governments must avoid prematurely recognizing a fraudulently elected government and locking in their power. That's where we come in. Please send a note to your foreign minister today, asking them to withhold recognition of any Kenyan government until agreement is brokered and the election results are independently reviewed - you can do so using our simple online tool at the link below (and when you're done, please forward this email to friends and family): www.avaaz.org/en/kenya_free_and_fair/5.php/?cl=49340627It's too early to tell how far the situation in Kenya could deteriorate -- and we just can't afford to wait and find out. Please send a note to your foreign minister today. With hope, Paul, Ricken, Ben, Galit, Milena, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team Here are some links to more background -The election commissioner admits he was pressured into declaring Kibaki's victory, and does not know who truly won:allafrica.com/stories/200801030055.htmlKenya's attorney-general also just called for an independent review of the election results:news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7169720.stmReuters on mediation efforts by Tutu and the African Union:africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL02368842.html
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Jan 18, 2008 17:14:34 GMT 4
I like this article, Rejecting the System; it has something in it for ALL of us. People in the West can learn a few things they've forgotten about life from people in less developed countries. Those in countries with developing economies and rising standards of living can learn from mistakes of Western societies before they become caught up with progress and all its seductions. Tell me, just when did the word progress become synonymous with destruction?
You know, we are in for hard times ahead; it is inevitable. Those in controlling situations of economies and distributions will play the hoarding game to the end, looking for the highest bidders. Of course, those who have done well for themselves have empowered the controllers through their choices. How many who have made it to a reasonably high level of financial ease and comfort have chosen to live simply? How many moved to communities populated with those of similar economic levels..."I can't live in this neighborhood any more!"
I tell my son that when I was young, it was OK to be say....a garbage man or any kind of laborer; all jobs were honored as decent work. Growing up in my time, Mr. Jones, the garbage collector, lived next to me; as did Doctor Denton. Our towns and communities were populated by all kinds of people from different walks of life; unless you were filthy rich...they distanced themselves from everyone else.
So what happened to you? When did you begin to emulate the rich? Those two or three figures you earn, don't make you one of the wealthy elite. Your earnings have, however, caused arrogance and disdain for those less fortunate no matter how much you deny it. If not, why have you separated yourself in community?
Look around at the world you've created and ask yourself, "Am I happy?" Are my kids constantly bored even though they have everything they could want...do they really have all that they want, while you spend time at the office, and what ever it is you do after you drop them off to their activities, where some other person spends time with them? When you do spend time outdoors, is it artificially and chemically creating a backyard capable of keeping up with the Jones or maybe making Bob Jones jealous? How about on the golf course? [plenty of pesticides, herbicides there!]
When it all falls apart, The Holy Mall Way of Life, and your money's no good, what kind of world will you want to create? Or better yet, when it all falls apart, will you even have a choice in the type of life you wish to create?
Happy Days, Folks, MichelleOn Rejecting "The System"By Emily Spence 09/01/08 "ICH" -- - - In the natural world, a mother bear, during a particularly harsh winter in which it is hard to capture prey, will often eat one of her cubs. It will nearly always be the runt unless the larger one is sickly. If she is still hungry and unable to locate food from other species later that same winter, she will consume the remaining one. Thereby she will guarantee her survival as the alternative would be all three bears dying -- the helpless cubs unable to live on their own and herself. However, she, by using her offspring for nourishment, will help ensure that she can carry on to produce further offspring in, hopefully, more auspicious circumstances. By such a manner, her species manages to endure. All considered, life in the natural world, although often brutal, is neither moral, nor immoral. No animal sits around in a circle of his peers debating the relative rightness or wrongness of the act of eating one's own progeny, nor the ones of other species. At the same time, humans, in certain groups, can also forego ethical underpinnings in their actions. For example, the Nazis, in a calculated fashion, rounded up children and adults from supposedly undesirably ethnic groups for systematic slaughter. So did European invaders with indigenous people in the Americas. So did Pol Pot in Southeast Asia and so did ancient Romans. There is nothing new in this regard. This sort of behavior has been occurring for times immemorial amongst humankind. So has cannibalism when life gets tough...As the author Peter Goodchild shared with me, "I sometimes think about a book called The Siege of Leningrad. The healthy people walking the streets were the butchers. But the meat they had to offer wasn't beef, and it wasn't pork, and it wasn't lamb. You figure out the rest." Then, too, humans periodically face the types of decisions as did the pioneers at Donner Pass [1] -- a walk in the park in some ways compared to the Leningrad events in that there was no deliberate murder involved. As such, much of the difference between the two events hinges on intention and deliberate proactive choices rather than a passive stance to simply make do as had the survivors at Donner Pass. Meanwhile, the aggression inherent in deliberate slaughter of one's own kind reminds about how well "laws of the jungle" still are extant amongst people unless we are well taught that life, itself, has value beyond self-serving sorts.Meanwhile, not all people, who are at risk for starvation, resort to dire unconscionable actions. Oddly, we sometimes even see quite the opposite type of behavior wherein underfed people consciously try to share whatever little they have with others. Perhaps surprisingly, such demonstrations are not rare. As Garda Ghista, the editor of World Prout Assembly, suggests, "One day I had gone with my auto rickshaw driver to the slums, to take photos of the very poorest people, the poorest of the poor who had nothing -- no home, no anything. It was to raise funds for a service project, a children's home, and I needed the photos for the flyer. So we would stop, for example, on a bridge where, on a ten by twenty foot piece of land along the bridge, some cloths were stretched across two poles, and people were living under them. There was no running water in sight. There was no anything. but, when I stepped out of the rickshaw and took out my camera, all these homeless, water-less, nearly foodless, nearly clothes-less people started moving towards me, with utter joy on their faces. "I simply could not take the picture. I needed photos of miserable looking people in desperate poverty. They just didn't look miserable. None of them did. It happened time and again, as when my rickshaw drove past the rock quarries where women with axes hammer at granite rock for ten to twelve hours a day, backbreaking labor - but again, when they saw me and the camera, they moved slowly toward me smiling. "There is an NGO called Transparency International which rates corruption levels in countries. Bangladesh was coming out number one every year. (I haven't checked recently.) At the same time, an institute in Great Britain assessed "happiness" levels of populations, and determined that the people of Bangladesh were the happiest in the world. "We Westerners do not understand all the love that exists in people there - whole families sleeping in one room. It is not a hardship for them. It is the only way to be. It is about staying close and intimate. To them, the way we stick each baby in a separate room is something primitive and backward. "Here so many Americans forgot how to talk - maybe due to watching so much TV. Even the TV programs and movies have such low levels of conversation. In contrast, go to India or Middle Eastern countries and speaking in poetry is something natural to the people. It is, also, loved and respected. "When I worked in a college in the Middle East, the students (local Bedu) would sometimes come to my desk to make a phone call. Who would they phone? Again and again, it would be their mothers. "We, here in the US, can hardly imagine the closeness of the families and the other more extended groups found in third world countries. When my Bedu friends took me to the desert, we used to sit on the ground, and the father would immediately go and milk the camel and bring me a huge bowl of fresh camel's milk. Simultaneously, the mother (of my student) would cut up fruit and put it in my mouth. "Does it happen here in the US? ...and in India, when I visited a family there and at dinner said that I am full, then that mother took the spoon and began feeding me spoon by spoon, putting the spoon in my mouth, ignoring my protestations. Will it happen here? So who is more civilized and who is more happy? I never saw such love, hospitality and happiness as I saw in the Middle East and South Asia. For this very reason, what the American Empire has done to my friends there is painful beyond measure." My response to this is that, when people need each other to survive, they tend to act more kindly to everyone else, including outsiders. Indeed, they are especially generous towards those who serve their interests as does a teacher for their son. Conversely, they tend to develop a state of anomy, callousness, apathy, contempt and disregard in relation to the welfare of others when it is not in one's own interest to support them. This second state, one of almost complete alienation and independence rather than interdependence, has been shown time and again in various situations. One of the most notorious episodes involved the murder of Kitty Genovese in NYC [2]. In addition, the Kitty Genovese incident would seem to indicate that the more people that exist concentrated together, the less likely that individual worth has much merit. Congestion studies amongst many species bear this out as does, in general, crime rates in crowded VS uncrowded regions when variables such as socioeconomic class are factored into the mix [3]. The implications relative to urban settings and overpopulation, in general, are clear. As Larry Winn states, "Imagine a group of humans, indeterminate in number, confined in a place of fixed dimensions, wanting for nothing. They have plenty to eat, plenty of water, plenty of places to live, and only the dimmest sort of apprehension of a larger world. They might even think of "the outside" as a kind of malicious fiction perpetrated by malcontents. It's a circumstance not unlike the one "sustainable development" is supposed to create for us. Also, not unlike the universes of John Calhoun's rats. [4]" He goes on to conclude in the same article, "...the rats in Calhoun's experiments developed social pathologies similar to the behavior of humans trapped in cities. Among the males, behavioral disturbances included sexual deviation and cannibalism. Even the most normal males in the group occasionally went berserk, attacking less dominant males, juveniles and females. Failures of reproductive function in the females - the rat equivalence of neglect, abuse and endangerment - were so severe that the colonies would have died out eventually, had they been permitted to continue." At the same time, one could only barely suppose that such happenings as Kitty Genovese's type or as Larry Winn's description would have a high rate of prevalent to transpire in a small remote villages wherein personal relations are more all inclusive, intimate, relevant and indispensable for maintenance of optimal social welfare. With less people in a community, there tends to exist stronger intact ties across the board --even with strangers, who are merely passing through the environs.In addition, I predict that, with material affluence on the increase in Bangladesh and elsewhere due to globalization of industries, many people there will become more like much of the US population -- self-absorbed, largely indifferent to the welfare of the poor, insular, impressed by wealth and signs of wealth (as exhibited by Hollywood starlets and major sports figures), driven to get as much for themselves and their families at the exclusion of others as could be possible, etc. This is largely because cultural values are predicated on whatever serves to maximally support life in a particular set of circumstances. In other words, people will more readily commune with each other and share if these sorts of behaviors foster their own well-being. If taking as much for oneself with disregard for others does it, then this model, instead, will be the one habitually learned and supported by the public at large. (Just as "necessity is the mother of invention," it is also the mother of behavioral patterns developing one way VS. another.) As such, people tend to work together to get water, feed each other, and provide for other material needs in these societies wherein it is necessary for many people to work together as a precondition to fulfill common aims (without which doing they would all die). Opposed to this are the conditions wherein success is primarily and almost exclusively tied to personal fiscal gain rather than mutual philanthropy. With this alternative in place, there is little loyalty to companions, employees, nor employers. Instead, the overriding concern is simply advancement of one's own profit and this aim, alone. Hoarding behaviors will, then, be on the rise, too. At the same time, the gap between the haves and have-nots will, also, enlarge. All the while, people will be seen not as having much merit in and of themselves as they will largely be viewed as expendable commodities -- as means to an end to add to one's own financial and other assets.This being the case, the number of millionaires in the world swelled to 8.7 million. Meanwhile, is there any mystery about whatever most of them are trying to do rather than spread their wealth in service to humanity or improvement of the natural environment? No. Instead of promoting widespread benefits, they are, for the most part, striving to become billionaires (called "kleptocrats" in a related Wikipedia citation below as they are thievishly parasitic on the body politic). Indeed, many are wildly successful in achieving this objective. 'The number of billionaires around the world rose by 102 to a record 793... and their combined wealth grew 18 percent to $2.6 trillion, according to "Forbes" magazine's 2006 rankings of the world's richest people [5].' In addition, their group has been expanding steadily. All the while they, also, command vast stores of resources (obtained through their purchasing power), manipulate their governments (through lobbies and other means) and control others (via military might and other kinds) to keep everything solidly behind their acts of racking in ever more dollars and possessions, including huge tracts of land and factories, for themselves. The flip side to this situation is that US jobs are disappearing overseas to second and third world countries in which the populations are paid measly salaries of ~ a dollar a day for their hard work. Moreover, these laborers will get fired if they dare to complain about their income, work conditions, or other aspects of their jobs. Furthermore, they are, for the most part, easily replaced as there often exists the condition of large unemployment in their locations. Therefore, they'd better, meekly and gratefully, do as they're told by management. Meanwhile, the goods that they produce are sold to eager consumers in first world countries, consumers whose own economies are crumbling due to a growing deficit of work at reasonable wages. For example, one in five Americans now lives on less than seven dollars a day according to fairly recent US census figures [6]. All the same, it is primarily the near poor, who give the most to charities -- not the middle and upper classes. It is because they are almost poverty struck and know the degree that being so can be horrendously grim to the point of being even life threatening.All of the above in consideration, it might be easy to conclude that capitalism, itself, is antithetical to altruism and benevolent regard for life as its economic program is based on buying low (i.e., raw products, human labor, etc.) and selling high to get ahead FOR ONESELF. As such, there is no mutual regard or tender support for others as this way to go forward is, essentially, carried out by progressively taking greater advantage of others, including other species that are used to make products. At the same time, these predatory conditions are especially evident in countries, like the US, governed by plutocratic corpocracies. One needn't even look at cities, like New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina or Detroit in relation to GM plant closings, to see the damage done by such malevolent business and government structures. Any public school in a ghetto, a crowded homeless shelter, hoards of street people in every major urban environment (80,000 in LA alone of whom ~ 1/2 are mentally ill), overwrought food banks strung out across the land, the rate of home foreclosures, the depreciation of the country's currency and myriad other indicators can amply serve in and by themselves as proof. So what are we to do in the face of such daunting circumstances? Is the best way to proceed in such a rapacious backdrop to simply claw one's own way to the top of the economic ladder, scratch out the competition and forget about everyone else left behind? Should we just shrug our shoulders and passively go along with the damaging industrial and governmental plans that are in place because that is all that we know? Certainly not! In terms of the way to proceed given the conditions that we have in our societies and our personal lives in connection to the social order, I often go back to a comment that E. O. Wilson made to me when I asked him, around fifteen years ago, about the most important action that we could undertake to stymie environmental collapse. His reply was simple. It was that we must educate as many others as possible to the truths regarding the happenings. This, in his opinion at the time, would ultimately provide the best assurance of improvements across the board. In addition, his viewpoint would seem to apply to other areas of concern besides environmental ones. At the same time, I realize that I, individually and in group efforts, must always resist corrupt authority and any wrongful control (i.e., arising from my dependence on repugnant transnational corporations like Exxon, Monsanto, Bayer and so many others) as best as possible. Yes, many of us are cogs in the wheel (a reference to Mordechai Vanunu’s “I’M YOUR SPY” at vanunu.org) as we are well integrated into and play a role in destructive systems on which we are reliant for our livelihoods, life maintaining goods and services, etc. So, we keep the status quo (including their affiliated big corporations and political arrangements) as is on an ongoing basis.However, we can, as Peter Goodchild writes in his essays and many others suggest, get out of it all as much as possible, wean ourselves from some damaging behaviors and develop better methods of self-sufficiency. In other words, we can minimize our involvement with whatever it is that we abhor. We can also always make a point to deliberately stand up for whatever is right when given a reasonable opportunity to do so. There are plenty of ways available through volunteer activities, letter writing campaigns and other forms of protest. Nonetheless, I realize that I. F. Stone’s comment (located below) is probably dead-on correct for a wide array of goals that many people would want to support towards creating a constructive future. Yet, in the end, it all boils down to a matter of conscience. As such, one has to do whatever one does simply because it does seem right and because there is no better alternative even when the outcomes AREN’T likely to be the sorts that one would ideally wish to have transpire. Then again, getting overly concerned about results in endeavors can take one’s attention away from any hard struggle towards betterment, itself. So, one deliberately has to maintain focus on the beneficial action, whatever it comprises, regardless of any other factors.So, yes, we’re “stuck” in some ways because we need oil, drugs, food (of which the majority is GM), clothing (often made by poorly paid laborers), etc. This being the case, though, does not excuse us one iota, I would think, from doing whatever we can, even if small and seemingly inconsequential, to improve the way that we go about our lives. Even if imperfect at it, we owe it to ourselves and each other to strive to create a better world as best as we can given our underlying circumstances. Then, who knows? Maybe at a certain point, we can, as Stone implies, reach a point in the far ahead times where some benefit has accrued on account of our seminal action. Maybe we can be one of the snowflakes that provides the weight to reach that final tipping point: The NAA Voice, www.naaweb.org/TheNAAVoice/TheNAAVoice121406.htm. “The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing - for the sheer fun and joy of it - to go right ahead and fight, knowing you’re going to lose. You mustn’t feel like a martyr. You’ve got to enjoy it.” -I. F. Stone [1] For details, please refer to: Donner Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party). [2] To learn more about this incident, please see: Kitty Genovese@Everything2.com (everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=132928), Bystander effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect), Kitty Genovese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese), Thirty-Eight Saw Murder (www.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/scraig/ gansberg.h) and A Picture History of Kew Gardens, NY - Kitty Genovese - The ... (www.oldkewgardens.com/ss-nytimes-3.html). [3] An overview of this topic is supplied at: The Real Picture of Land-Use Density and Crime: A GIS Applic... (http://gis.esri.com/library/userconf/proc00/professional/papers/PAP508/p508.htm). [4] A description of John Calhoun's findings, along with their implications, is located at: Universe 25 (www.suite101.com/article.cfm/frontier_theory/100). [5] Data on wealth can be found at: FOXNews.com - Number of Billionaires Up to Record 793 - Busi... (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187400,00.html), Number of billionaires grows, Gates stays on top - Mar. 9, 2... (http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/09/news/newsmakers/billionaires_forbes/index.htm), Billionaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billionaire), Number of Billionaires (http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/MichelleLee.shtml) and Number of Millionaires in the World Swells to 8.7 Million | ... (mostlywater.org/node/7492). [6] Related information can be found at: Thomas Paine's Corner: American Dream Now a Nightmare for Mi... (civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2007/04/american-d) and Some Statistics on Poverty in America ( www.soundvision.com/Info/poor/statistics.asp ). Source: www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19032.htmurl for this post: tinyurl.com/34c56l
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michelle
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Post by michelle on Jan 28, 2008 5:19:40 GMT 4
Here are some of the latest developments in Kenya. Again, please keep this situation in mind during your meditations in the coming three weeks to help ensure that peace prevails there.....Michelle
"WE ARE ALL CONNECTED - Everything we do, think and feel has an effect upon the whole We are energetic beings. As physics has proven, "energy flows where your focus goes". Each thought that you have, changes the molecular structure of every other human being. We are receiving in manifested form, all of that which lies within our own consciousness - personally and globally. Together we create an energy field of light, and light is reflective. The catalyst of emotion comes from the heart, the seat of emotion. To the degree that there is greed, judgment and hatred, is to the degree that the world will manifest all that represents the fundamental fear which masks as greed, judgment and hatred. To the degree that there is love, is to the degree that the world will manifest compassion, healing, unity, and peace. Let us choose wisely, for the future of our planet, of humanity and the quality of our lives and the lives of our children." - Rev. Marcy Roban -- Taken from www.oneworldmovement.org/how_create_peace.htmKenya violence casts gloom over Annan mediation (Jan 26)news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080126/ts_nm/kenya_crisis_dc_122NAIROBI (Reuters) - Ethnic violence in Kenya's Rift Valley is undermining attempts by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to mediate a crisis that has killed more than 700. On Saturday, Annan said turmoil over President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election had evolved into something worse, denouncing "gross and systematic" human rights abuses after visiting the Rift Valley and calling for an investigation.Nakuru, a previously calm tourist town, has been rocked by three days of pitched tribal battles."Let us not kid ourselves and think that this is an electoral problem. It's much broader and much deeper," he said. "We have to tackle the fundamental issues that underlie what we are witnessing today. If we do not do that, three, five years from now we may be back at this."The turmoil unleashed by the December 27 polls has shattered the east African nation's image of stability, horrified world powers and jeopardized the region's most promising economy.But many Kenyans say leaders on both sides of the political divide show few signs of addressing deep seated tribal rivalries over land, business and power -- many of them born more than 45 years ago under British colonial rule. CLIP 81 killed in Kenya as Annan slams 'systematic' rights abuses (Jan 26)news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080126/wl_africa_afp/kenyavoteunrest_080126225900NAIROBI (AFP) - Kofi Annan said Saturday he had witnessed "gross and systematic human rights abuses" on a visit to western Kenya, where some 81 people were killed in the flashpoint Rift Valley province. (...) Around 800 people have been killed and some 260,000 others displaced across the country since the disputed poll on December 27 touched off a wave of deadly rioting and ethnic killings. Gunshots rang out from Nakuru's southern slums Saturday, and police fired bullets into the air and tear gas to disperse hundreds of machete-wielding youths who had erected barriers along highways into the town. Mobs of Kikuyus, the ethnic group of Kibaki, gathered in Nakuru on Friday to avenge attacks by other tribes, including the Kalenjin and the Luo group of Odinga, provoking authorities to impose an overnight curfew. "Some houses are being burnt and fresh violence (has erupted) in some sections of Nakuru," said Anthony Mwangi, spokesman for the Kenya Red Cross. The general hospital said 162 victims of violence had been treated since the start of the clashes on Thursday. (...) Annan also called for a national compensation fund to be set up for victims of post-election violence, a statement from the president's office said later after the ex-UN chief met with Kibaki."Mr. Annan appealed to politicians from all parties to visit the affected areas and camps of the displaced persons in order to see for themselves the damage which can be caused by reckless statements," it added.International mediators have so far failed to make headway in the crisis, which has shattered the stable image and economy of the east African nation.Annan on Thursday orchestrated a symbolic first meeting between Kibaki and Odinga, who shook hands, called for peace and hinted at a willingness to talk. The gesture, hailed internationally, was later undermined by further squabbling, with both sides maintaining their hardline positions. 'Tribal war' spreads in Kenya (January 27, 2008)www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kenya27jan27,1,3922152.story?track=rss NAIROBI, KENYA -- Tit-for-tat ethnic clashes have killed more than two dozen people during the last two days, and angry youths Saturday continued to terrorize parts of central Kenya, defying calls from political leaders to maintain the peace.The country's latest postelection trouble spot is Nakuru, about 90 miles northwest of Nairobi, where gangs from rival tribes have burned hundreds of homes, stoned motorists and hacked dozens of people with machetes. The local morgue was overrun with burned, mutilated bodies. Local news media put the death toll as high as 41. "It's a tribal war," said David Kuria, 42, a Nakuru soda vendor and father of four. "We've had tribal clashes before, but I've never seen anything like this. Shops are closed. Children are scared. People won't go outside."The government dispatched army units to quell the violence and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew.The clashes in Nakuru, which previously had escaped much of the violence, were some of the deadliest in this East African nation since the turmoil that followed a disputed Dec. 27 presidential poll. UNICEF: Kenya child rapes on rise (Jan 25)news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080125/ap_on_re_af/un_kenya_child_rapes_1;_ylt=AthMAyJCBXZenj0l_WtPXvBOs6YBGENEVA - Kenya has seen a rise in child rapes since last month's disputed presidential election sparked violence and forced thousands into makeshift camps, the United Nations children's fund said Friday. Overcrowding and lack of security in the camps is making women and girls vulnerable to opportunistic sexual assault, UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau told reporters."Cases of rape are increasing" and will eventually show up in the country's HIV statistics as victims are not getting treatment within the recommended 72 hours to prevent infection, Taveau said.Many of the estimated 255,000 people forced from their homes since the Dec. 27 vote have gathered close to schools and police stations in the hope that these will offer a measure of protection.Preliminary reports collected by three U.N. agencies in Kenya indicate that girls and women in the informal camps are forced to "trade sex for biscuits, protection, transportation, or are raped while trying to get to a latrine during the night," UNICEF said.One Kenyan non-governmental organization, the Mombasa-based Gender Violence Recovery Center, has reported that cases of sexual violence have doubled since the elections, according to UNICEF, which is seeking $3 million to help protect the children.Concrete figures were difficult to come by because many attacks go unreported, Taveau said."Most of the time the women or the young girls will not mention it because they fear retaliation," she said.
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
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Post by michelle on Feb 27, 2008 5:44:31 GMT 4
Canada-U.S. pact allows cross-border military activityDeal allows either country to send troops across the other's border to deal with an emergency David Pugliese Canwest News Service Saturday, February 23, 2008 Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal.Neither the Canadian government nor the Canadian Forces announced the new agreement, which was signed Feb. 14 in Texas.The U.S. military's Northern Command, however, publicized the agreement with a statement outlining how its top officer, Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation in a civil emergency. The new agreement has been greeted with suspicion by the left wing in Canada and the right wing in the U.S. The left-leaning Council of Canadians, which is campaigning against what it calls the increasing integration of the U.S. and Canadian militaries, is raising concerns about the deal. "It's kind of a trend when it comes to issues of Canada-U.S. relations and contentious issues like military integration. We see that this government is reluctant to disclose information to Canadians that is readily available on American and Mexican websites," said Stuart Trew, a researcher with the Council of Canadians. Trew said there is potential for the agreement to militarize civilian responses to emergency incidents. He noted that work is also underway for the two nations to put in place a joint plan to protect common infrastructure such as roadways and oil pipelines."Are we going to see [U.S.] troops on our soil for minor potential threats to a pipeline or a road?" he asked. Trew also noted the U.S. military does not allow its soldiers to operate under foreign command so there are questions about who controls American forces if they are requested for service in Canada. "We don't know the answers because the government doesn't want to even announce the plan," he said. But Canada Command spokesman Commander David Scanlon said it will be up to civilian authorities in both countries whether military assistance is requested or even used. He said the agreement is "benign" and simply sets the stage for military-to-military co-operation if the governments approve. "But there's no agreement to allow troops to come in," he said. "It facilitates planning and co-ordination between the two militaries. The 'allow' piece is entirely up to the two governments." If U.S. forces were to come into Canada they would be under tactical control of the Canadian Forces but still under the command of the U.S. military, Scanlon added. News of the deal, and the allegation it was kept secret in Canada, is already making the rounds on left-wing blogs and Internet sites as an example of the dangers of the growing integration between the two militaries. On right-wing blogs in the U.S. it is being used as evidence of a plan for a "North American union" where foreign troops, not bound by U.S. laws, could be used by the American federal government to override local authorities. "Co-operative militaries on Home Soil!" notes one website. "The next time your town has a 'national emergency,' don't be surprised if Canadian soldiers respond." Scanlon said there was no intent to keep the agreement secret on the Canadian side of the border. He noted it will be reported on in the Canadian Forces newspaper next week and that publication will be put on the Internet. Scanlon said the actual agreement hasn't been released to the public as that requires approval from both nations. © The Vancouver Sun 2008 Source:www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ba99826e-f9b7-42a4-9b0a-f82134b92e7e
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
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Post by michelle on Mar 16, 2008 7:07:53 GMT 4
Special Peace Vigil For Tibet Part 1 of 2
You are invited to dedicate a part of your meditations over the coming 2 weeks to assist in fostering a positive, peaceful outcome to the current unrest in Tibet, so that both the international community and all people involved in Tibet and China in this crisis seek and implement non-violent, constructive means to reach out to the higher ground of an open-hearted dialogue so as to bring about a peaceful, long-term resolution to the long-simmering conflict resulting from 49 years of occupation of Tibet by Chinese armed forces. Both Chinese and Tibetan people have a unique opportunity to show the world how to co-create of better future for all human beings through loving compassion, respectful care for the other's concerns, as well as forgiveness and Love, and we can all assist them to get through this situation with flying colors and thus set the stage for even more Light-filled choices in the coming weeks, months and years as we approach the critical threshold jump-point into a new unprecedented era of global Peace, Love and Harmony on Earth and beyond.
It is in all of us to be wise...------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tibet protests continue after day of violenceBy David Eimer in Beijing and Natalie Paris 15/03/2008 Chinese authorities have given Tibetan demonstrators until Monday to surrender after at least ten people were killed in the largest and most violent protests against Chinese rule in Tibet for 20 years. As Tibetan protestors continued to attack businesses and shops owned by members of the ethnic Han group in the heart of Lhasa, the Chinese army attempted to shut down the city. "The plot of the separatists will fail," the head of Tibet's government warned as sympathy protests broke out around the world and the region's main exile group, based in the north Indian town of Dharmsala, claimed there had been 30 confirmed deaths and over 100 unconfirmed deaths. Despite reports that Beijing was holding back from cracking down harshly on the protests for fear of damaging China's image just weeks before the Olympic Torch arrives in Tibet for its controversial passage through the region, there were unconfirmed reports that hundreds of student protestors had been arrested. As smoke from burning buildings rose above the ancient city, eyewitnesses reported that soldiers from the PLA, the Chinese armed forces, had replaced police on the streets and formed a cordon around the Barkhor area, the old quarter of Lhasa, to prevent people from entering and leaving. But groups of a few dozen protestors were darting in and out of the hundreds of alleys that run through the area, setting fire to Chinese-owned shops, businesses and cars. "Pretty much everything that can be destroyed has been destroyed," an eyewitness told The Sunday Telegraph. With monasteries surrounded by army and police, most of the protestors were ordinary Tibetans venting their anger at the Han Chinese, the country's ethnic majority group but a minority in Tibet. Tibetan-owned shops and businesses were untouched by the violence. The protests, which have been going on since Monday, turned violent on Friday afternoon when scores of people clashed with police outside the Ramoche Monsastery in downtown Lhasa after two monks were allegedly beaten by police. Stones, bricks and, according to Chinese reports, knives were used against the police. Unconfirmed reports said two policemen had died. Rumours that a group of monks had been shot outside the Jokhang Temple, the spiritual heart of Tibet, further fuelled the demonstrators' anger. A virtual curfew was in place in downtown Lhasa. "We've been told to stay inside," a Tibetan hotel worker told The Sunday Telegraph. The airport was closed and tourists were being turned back. Mobile phone coverage was being disrupted, while internet access to foreign newspaper coverage of the protests and all Tibet-related websites were blocked. Thousands of troops were reported to be on their way to Tibet and to the neighbouring provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu, which are home to three million Tibetans. The protests have been timed to coincide with the 49th anniversary of the Chinese invasion of Tibet on March 10, 1950, as well as the annual meeting of the National People's Congress. There were unconfirmed reports that low-level Tibetan officials, unhappy at the re-election of Tibet's long-standing representative to the Congress, had joined the protests. The Chinese authorities set a surrender deadline of Monday midnight for protestors to turn themselves in. Rewards and protection were being offered to potential informants. In India, dozens of protesters, many of them Buddhist monks, launched a new march to Tibet today, days after more than 100 Tibetan exiles were arrested by authorities during a similar rally. A group of 50 exiles were arrested in New Delhi after trying to storm the Chinese embassy in the Indian capital for the second day running. Meanwhile, pro-Tibet protesters in Australia clashed with police outside the Chinese consulate in Sydney. China's Xinhua news agency issued an unverified report that said ten "innocent civilians" burnt to death in fires but that no foreigners were harmed. World leaders turned the spotlight on Beijing, where President Hu Jintao has been re-elected to a second five-year term and will immediately be faced with the challenge of restoring order in a way that does not further tarnish the country's reputation in the lead-up to the Olympic Games. Britain, the US and the EU all appealed for restraint, while the Dalai Lama, speaking from his seat of exile in Dharmsala, described the clashes as a "manifestation of the deep-rooted resentment of the Tibetan people". "I therefore appeal to the Chinese leadership to stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people," he said. Source: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/15/wtibet615.xml------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dozens killed in Tibetan protestsAmelia Hill and agencies Saturday March 15 2008 Chinese riot police in Xiahe, where hundreds of Tibetans demonstrated on Friday. Photo: Andy Wong/AP Police have fired teargas to disperse Buddhist monks and others staging a second day of protests in sympathy with anti-Chinese demonstrations in Lhasa that has left at least 30 dead. Unconfirmed reports say the figure is closer to 130. Several hundred monks marched out of the historic Labrang monastery and into the town of Xiahe this morning, gathering other Tibetans with them as they went. Teargas was fired after the crowd, described as the largest demonstrations in Tibet for 20 years, attacked government buildings and smashed windows in the county police headquarters. A London-based Tibetan activist group, the Free Tibet Campaign, citing unidentified sources in Xiahe, said 20 people were arrested. Tibetans exiled in the UK will hold a vigil tonight in protest at the increasing violence in their homeland. Campaigners have called on British ministers to speak out over human rights conditions in Tibet, contrasting their attitude now with that of last year when violence erupted in Burma. The protests began on Monday to coincide with the 49th anniversary of the 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. They were initially led by Buddhist monks but have since escalated to include large numbers of ordinary Tibetans and have spread beyond Lhasa. The protesters are complaining of heavy-handed rule from Beijing and a massive influx of Chinese migrants to the region. Tibet's Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, has called the protests a "manifestation of the deep-rooted resentment of the Tibetan people". The authorities in Tibet have given demonstrators until tomorrow to end their protest and turn themselves in. At 7pm tonight, around 100 Tibetans living in Britain are due to hold a prayer vigil in London. Among those attending the event will be former political prisoners now living in exile. Ngawang Sangdrol, a Buddhist nun, was sentenced to 23 years in prison for her beliefs. In 2001 she was released after 11 years confinement. Now living in the US, she is in Britain to attend a reunion of political prisoners. "I am very worried about the situation. I was in prison for 11 years and I know how the Chinese government treat people," she said. "We have no human rights there, governments around the world should speak out. It is about people's lives, not business. People are fighting for freedom and the truth." Matt Whitticase, spokesman for the Free Tibet Campaign in the UK, said: "The situation really has worsened. There are very serious ongoing clashes between security forces and Tibetans. "The British government must now pull its head out of the sand. The government must make very strong representations to China. Up to now the government's silence has only emboldened China to act with impunity." Whitticase contrasted the government's position towards the situation in Tibet with that towards Burma. "Gordon Brown posed as a massive champion of human rights last year over Burma. While human rights with Burmese monks were quite rightly defended, it seems not so imperative when it comes to Tibet," he said. Speaking yesterday in Brussels, Brown said: "We are very concerned about what is happening in Tibet. We have asked for more information about what is going on and we will keep this matter under review." The foreign secretary, David Miliband, added: "I think there are probably two important messages to go out. One is the need for restraint on all sides, but secondly that substantive dialogue is the only way forward. We obviously see that there are real strains there but they need to be addressed in a way that balances restraint and dialogue." Source: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/15/tibet.china3------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Background - Q&A: Tibet and ChinaAllegra Stratton - guardian.co.uk, Friday March 14 2008 Who runs Tibet?Tibet declared itself independent of China at the beginning of the 20th century and it wasn't until 1950 that China reasserted itself by invading eastern Tibet. A year later, the two countries signed the "Seventeen Point Agreement" guaranteeing Tibetan autonomy and freedom to practice Buddhism, but agreeing to the establishment of Chinese civil and military headquarters in the capital, Lhasa. Tibetans wrestled with this and in 1959 a full scale rebellion resulted in thousands killed and the Dalai Lama exiled to India. It is the anniversary of this rebellion that the current protests against China are marking. Despite the Chinese government establishing the Tibetan Autonomous Region in 1965, over the years, Tibetan monks felt China wasn't fulfilling its side of the Seventeen Point Agreement and there were repeated revolts. The most serious of these was in 1988, after which China imposed martial law. Though Tibet is called an "autonomous" region, Tibetans see the Chinese to be in control. What historical claim does China have on Tibet?Though it wasn't till 1950 that Chairman Mao's troops actually invaded, China regards Tibet to have been a part of its land since the Mongol dynasty extended into the Himalayan region some 700 years ago. This was formalised in the 18th and 19th centuries when Tibet was made a protectorate of China. Tibet achieved autonomy of sorts when it unilaterally declared independence in 1913. How has China run Tibet?After the invasion of the late 1950s there was large scale relocation of Han Chinese to Tibet and the rolling out of the 60s and 70s Chinese Cultural Revolution to Tibet saw monasteries and cultural artifacts destroyed. Though the Chinese government allowed "Open Door" reforms in the mid 80s with the aim of boosting investment, Tibetan monks still felt the Chinese stranglehold was too strong. In the last two years, a railway link has been opened up between Lhasa and the Chinese city of Golmud, which Tibetans fear will simply result in increased numbers of Han Chinese arriving. What role does the Dalai Lama play in Tibet?The Dalai Lama was made head of state at the age of 15 in the year China invaded the east of Tibet. Within a year, he was negotiating the "Seventeen Point Agreement" and at the age of 19 he was in Beijing unsuccessfully negotiating with Chairman Mao for a relaxing of Chinese involvement in the territory. Final bloody rebellion against the Chinese in 1959 left thousands dead and the Dalai Lama exiled to Dharamsala in India. From Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama continued to work for genuine self rule in Tibet, receiving the Nobel peace prize for his efforts in 1989. Though his negotiations faltered in 1993, they were resumed in 2002. For his part, the Dalai Lama has said that he has given up the idea of actual independence for the territory but instead hopes for Tibet to be given cultural autonomy, leaving the central government in Beijing in charge. Source: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/14/tibet.china2------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Olympic year gives nationalists chance to intensify campaignJonathan Watts in Beijing Saturday March 15 2008 For President Hu Jintao the violent clashes that rocked Lhasa yesterday must bring on a feeling of deja vu. The last time Tibet's capital experienced such turmoil, in 1989, Hu was general secretary of the Tibetan communist party - the most powerful politician in the region. Then, as now, security forces and Tibetan protesters clashed outside the Jokhang, the holiest Tibetan temple, rioters burned police cars outside the Potala palace and troops surrounded monasteries. But it is the differences that may be more relevant in understanding why the protests are taking place today and how Hu might respond. In 1989 the eyes of the world were distracted. It was a year of protest in which the Berlin Wall fell and the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred. The clashes in Tibet were a small part of what seemed - in the west - a bigger, global story. Today the eyes of the world are on China. The Olympic games are focusing attention on a country whose economic and diplomatic power have made it more important than ever before. For the Communist party, the games are an opportunity to show its success in lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty. For critics, it is a chance to bring human rights abuses, authoritarian rule and unfair treatment of minorities into the international spotlight. Tibet is torn, more than anywhere else, by the country's development, which has brought Hu's concept of "scientific development" into one of the most spiritually rich, but materially backward places on Earth. Beijing has pumped tens of billions of yuan into the region, building Tibet's first railway, and other big infrastructure projects, which have helped the region's economy grow by 13.8% last year, faster than most other areas of China. But Tibetan nationalists feel they are losing their identity. The benefits of investment, they say, go mostly to Han Chinese settlers rather than the indigenous population. For them, the railway to Beijing has accelerated the influx of outsiders. The anger was all too apparent yesterday in the attacks on Han Chinese. Several witnesses reported mobs beating any Chinese they found. At least one Han-owned shop was burned and the windows of many buildings smashed. It is unclear whether the violence was premeditated, but the timing, coordination and boldness of the initial demonstrations suggested they were more clearly planned than in 1989. The first protests in Lhasa and other Tibetan communities around the world occurred on the anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule which forced Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to flee into exile in India. "This is a date pregnant with significance for Tibetans," said Matt Whitticase of the Free Tibet Campaign. "Given that the protests started on that date in this particular year, you have to assume that Tibetans picked it to mark the start of protests up to the Olympics." So who is behind the latest trouble? China has no doubt, blaming the "Dalai clique" for attempting to destabilise the region. The Dalai Lama's spokesman said allegations that he was behind the protests were baseless. But he has so far done nothing to stop the demonstrations, which are growing more intense. The 72-year-old certainly has the means to stir up protest. After nearly 50 years in exile, he is still venerated in Tibet. Although any sign of support for the Dalai Lama is illegal, locals ask tourists for pictures and some Tibetan temples in Yunnan, Sichuan and Qinghai display his photograph. His authority was evident last year when Tibetans staged mass "fur-burning" demonstrations after he spoke out against the slaughter of endangered animals for their pelts. China responded by ordering newscasters on local TV to wear fur. Although his mantra is one of compassion and peace, the Dalai Lama is surrounded by frustration. Five years of talks between his envoys and those of Beijing have made no tangible progress. China says he is a "splittist" with a secret agenda of independence. Many Tibetan supporters feel the talks are aimed at stringing the Dalai Lama along until he dies, after which Beijing can replace him with a lama of their choosing as they have already done with the Panchen Lama - the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism. In the past year, there has been a noticeable escalation of verbal hostilities. Beijing has stepped up its rhetoric, accusing the Dalai Lama of being a feudal, superstitious figure. He has responded with plans for a referendum among Tibetans to choose his reincarnation - a dramatic change from the usually esoteric process of selection. Earlier this year, he appeared to go a step further in a television interview, where he said peaceful protest was "worthwhile" in advance of the Olympics. Although aides later said his words were taken out of context, the events of the past week suggest many Tibetans feel otherwise. BackstoryTibet began to flourish as an independent kingdom in the 7th century. From the 13th to the 18th centuries it was under Mongol influence but the Chinese claimed suzerainty in 1720 until they were expelled in 1912. The 1913 Shimla agreement between the British, Tibetans and Chinese was never ratified by the latter who still claimed all of Tibet. China installed the Chinese-born Dalai Lama in 1939. In 1950, China invaded Tibet which became a "national autonomous region" of China under the Dalai Lama's rule. A revolt in 1959 was crushed by the Chinese and the Dalai Lama fled to India. Luc TorresSource: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/15/tibet.chinaContinued....
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
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Post by michelle on Mar 16, 2008 7:08:59 GMT 4
...continued from previous post: Special Peace Vigil For Tibet Part 2 of 2Whatever China does, Tibet will still demand its freedom
Beijing can be benevolent or brutal, but it will find that national identity lies at the heart of Tibetan demands for self-determinationEd Douglas The Observer, Sunday March 16 2008 last updated at 00:04 on March 16 2008 Putting the Olympic flame on the summit of Mount Everest must have seemed a great idea to the planning committee of the Beijing Olympics. What better expression of China's inexorable rise to superpower status could there be? Everest was the crowning glory for the Queen in 1953. So it would be for China's political elite. Now the game is up. On Friday, a friend who organises expeditions to Everest called me on his way to Katmandu for the start of the climbing season. He had just heard that the Nepalese authorities, at China's request, had decided to stop climbers going on the mountain until after those carrying the Olympic flame had been and gone. It was, on China's part, an act of frantic paranoia. Beijing had only just banned foreign climbers from China's side of the mountain, fearing pro-Tibet demonstrations. Now Beijing was bullying Nepal, distracted by a chaotic election campaign, to do China's bidding. China recently offered Nepal £100m for two new hydroelectric dams and increasingly calls the tune in Katmandu, so there wasn't much argument. With people dying in Lhasa and Tibetan exiles agitating in India and Nepal, what happens to a bunch of Western tourists may not seem so important. True, people living around Everest will lose a lot of money, but that's no big deal in the scheme of things. It's what this says about China's position in Tibet which is so revealing. In a matter of days, the self-assurance of a regime that promised to light a beacon to the world on the summit of Everest has been utterly undermined. For the last 60 years of Chinese occupation and colonialism, the Tibetan people have been starved, murdered, tortured, imprisoned and marginalised in their own land. But even now, after decades of effort to subjugate Tibet, the Chinese authorities couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't be humiliated in Tibet's most remote, and easily controlled, location - the slopes of the peak Tibetans call Chomolungma. Rather than have Western climbers unfurling banners to demand a free Tibet during a live broadcast beamed around the world, they have preferred the embarrassment of closing the peak to outsiders, as they did until 1980, four years after Mao's death. It's an admission of failure. It must be galling for Beijing. Following violence in the late 1980s and another period of dreadful human-rights abuses, the Communist party had embarked on a policy of colossal capital investment in Tibet to develop its sclerotic economy. If old-school oppression didn't work, why not try consumerism? Leaving aside the inequalities between Tibetans and migrant Han Chinese, there's no question that the Chinese have done a huge amount to improve the economic conditions of the indigenous population. Drive along the highway between Lhasa and Shigatse, seat of the disputed Panchen Lama, number two in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy, and you can see bright new houses being built to replace the smoky hovels many Tibetans used to occupy. True, part of this resettlement programme is aimed at settling nomadic herders whose mobility threatens China's grip. China recalls how nomads in eastern Tibet put up strong resistance following the invasion in 1950. But it would be a gross caricature to deny China's attempts to bring economic development to a disadvantaged region. China says it has rehoused 10 per cent of Tibet's population in 2006, building 279,000 new homes. Now that's progress. The high-tech, high-altitude railway, opened in 2006 and tying China more firmly to its Tibetan fiefdom, has brought a wave of new investment along with more migration. When I first visited Lhasa in 1993, people still defecated in the street. Now it is a modern and much bigger city, albeit a largely Chinese one. Tibet campaigners often argue that this combination of investment and migration will swamp Tibetan's ancient culture and snuff out resistance to China's annexation. If that was the plan, it seems to have failed. Beijing predictably blamed the Dalai Lama and his 'splittist clique' for masterminding the riots that gripped Lhasa last week. But reports filtering out from the Jokhang temple area, the holiest of holies for Tibetan Buddhists, suggest the anger on the streets is real and instinctive. It is the resentment Tibetans feel at the inequality they face in their day-to-day lives. Life might have got better for some Tibetans, but they see Han Chinese migrants doing a whole lot better and at their expense. The new railway might bring more money to Lhasa, but it is also carrying back Tibet's vast mineral deposits and timber to feed China's galloping economic growth. It's inevitable, given his huge profile and the popularity of his cause, that many Westerners see the Dalai Lama and Tibet as synonymous. The Dalai Lama remains a source of hope for many Tibetans, but beneath the charm and exoticism of his story, Tibet's agonies should be familiar ground to any student of colonialism. It is that inequality, and the despair it brings, that feeds Tibet's resistance. But Beijing is fixated by a personal and bitter campaign against a man regarded as an icon around the world. Rather than allow the possibility that he has influence inside Tibet, and affection outside it, China courts ridicule by peddling transparently false statements about him. An example. In November, the Dalai Lama used his prerogative as a reincarnate lama to suggest his rebirth wouldn't take place within Tibet. He has said this before, but the statement launched a typically petulant response from Beijing, suggesting the Dalai Lama's statement 'violated [the] religious rituals and historical conventions of Tibetan Buddhism'. Given the wholesale destruction of monasteries in the 1950s and 1960s, and renewed efforts in the 1990s to crack down on religious freedoms, and the strict controls placed on monks within Tibet, the idea that atheist Beijing should offer advice on the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism was understandably laughed off by the Dalai Lama's office. China must hope, and friends of Tibet must fear, that when the Dalai Lama dies, much of the momentum towards Tibet's eventual freedom will die with him. Don't count on it. Tibet will still be a country that is ethnically and culturally very different from China. It's not a question of preserving Tibet's ancient culture; that hangs on in remote villages, but it's mostly gone in Lhasa. It would have changed anyway. Mobile phones and the internet would have undermined Tibet's oppressively religious polity, already being reformed by the current Dalai Lama, just as they are doing to China's version of communism. It's a question of identity. The fact remains that Tibetans feel Tibetan. No amount of economic development will change that. It's also true that China is implacable in its determination to stay put. Only a settlement that allows Tibetans genuine freedoms and economic equality will bring lasting peace. And that means meaningful agreements with the Dalai Lama. Only then will Tibetans begin to trust the Chinese. Right now, China is stoking a future of ethnic conflict that will take generations and huge resources to solve. That conflict is deeply damaging to China's image abroad as a progressive and modern country. The real question is what does China have to fear from a more independent Tibet? It is the risk of difference, of heterogeneity that frightens China - a fear of multiculturalism. Source:www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/mar/16/tibet.china------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Also recommended...Beijing sends in tanks as Tibet erupts (March 16 2008) www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/16/tibet.chinaProtesters claim more than 100 killed as violence spreads amidst mounting international protests Tibetan Exiles Go On Hunger Strikewww.truthout.org/docs_2006/031308S.shtmlThe Associated Press: "More than 100 Tibetan exiles began a hunger strike Thursday after police in northern India dragged them away from a six-month march to their homeland to protest China's hosting of the Olympic Games." In pictures: Tibet protestswww.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2008/mar/14/1?picture=332974845Eyewitness account of Lhasa violence (March 14, 2008)www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/14/tibet.china4A western tourist in Tibet describes the moment violence erupted in Lhasa Exile Group Says 30 Killed in Tibetwww.truthout.org/docs_2006/031508A.shtmlAudra Ang, writing for The Associated Press, reports: "China ordered tourists out of Tibet's capital Saturday while troops on foot and in armored vehicles patrolled the streets and confined government workers to their offices, a day after riots that a Tibetan exile group said left at least 30 protesters dead." Tibet govt-in-exile says 30 dead in unrest (March 15, 2008)news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080315/ts_afp/chinaunresttibetrights_13BEIJING (AFP) - Tibet's exiled government said Saturday that about 30 people had been killed during unrest in Lhasa, as Chinese troops locked down the city amid fierce international scrutiny ahead of the Olympics. (...) Tibet has taken on greater importance in the run-up to the Olympics in August, which the country's leaders hope will be a chance to show off China's rapid transformation into a modern economic power to the rest of the world. Tibetan rights groups have vowed to pile intense pressure on Beijing over its rule of the region ahead of the Games, and any perceived rights abuses now would prove unwelcome news for the Chinese leadership. The protests are the biggest since 1989, when Chinese President Hu Jintao -- who was on Saturday given a second five-year term -- was the Communist Party chief of Tibet. Hollywood star Richard Gere, one of many Western celebrities who have been vocal in their support for the Tibetan cause, called for a boycott of the Olympics if the Chinese leadership mishandled the situation. "It would be unconscionable if we continued as if things are hunky dory and everyone's happy," he told BBC radio. CLIP IOC: Don't boycott Olympics over Tibet (March 15, 2008) news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080315/ap_on_sp_ol/ioc_tibet_4BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge poured cold water Saturday on calls for a boycott of the Summer Games in Beijing over China's crackdown in Tibet, saying it would only hurt athletes. "We believe that the boycott doesn't solve anything," Rogge told reporters on this Caribbean island. "On the contrary, it is penalizing innocent athletes and it is stopping the organization from something that definitely is worthwhile organizing." Demonstrations against Chinese rule in Tibet on Friday - the most violent riots there in nearly two decades - left at least 30 protesters dead, according to a Tibetan exile group. China ordered tourists out of Tibet's capital and troops patrolled the streets on Saturday. On a six-day tour of the Caribbean, Rogge expressed condolences for the victims and said he hopes calm will be restored immediately. He declined to say whether the committee would change its stance if violence continues or more people are killed. "The International Olympic Committee has consistently resisted calls for a boycott of the Olympic games," Rogge said. He declined to comment further on Tibet during a brief news conference. IOC Vice President Thomas Bach said the committee will speak with China about human rights and condemned the crackdown, saying "every use of violence is a step backwards."But "a boycott would be the wrong way because that will cut lines of communication," he added.The committee issued a statement calling for an end to the violence. "The IOC shares the world's desire for a peaceful resolution to the tensions of past days in the Tibetan region of China," it said. "We hope that calm can return to the region as quickly as possible." Torch still going to Tibet, organizers say (March 15, 2008) news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080315/sp_nm/olympics_tibet_dc_1BEIJING (Reuters) - Current unrest in Tibet will not affect plans to take the Olympic torch in a few weeks time through the remote mountainous region on its way to Beijing, a spokesman for the Games organizers said on Saturday. Full coverage on Tibetwww.guardian.co.uk/world/tibetNews media articles on Tibetnews.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=Tibet&c=
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