Film reveals Paris crackdown of 1961 Algeria protest

By Andrew Hammond | Reuters
Saturday 17/12/2011

DUBAI (Reuters) - When Yasmina Adi got access to archives documenting the 1961 repression of Algerian protesters in Paris, she was shocked to uncover a trove of material relating to gaps in the story of one of the most contested events in recent French history.

As Algeria's battle for independence spilled into France, Paris police chief Maurice Papon ordered police to crack down on thousands of Algerian protesters who defied a curfew on October 17 1961. Dozens of bodies were later pulled from the River Seine.

Papon, who died in 2007, was the only French Nazi official to be convicted for his role in the deportation of Jews during World War Two. France has acknowledged the deaths of 40 people in the 1961 incident, but Adi says her research suggests it was much worse.

"This period remains a blank page. France doesn't recognize October 17 in school history books, it is not mentioned. Nothing you saw is in textbooks," Adi, who is of Algerian origin, said after "Here We Drown Algerians - October 17, 1961" aired at the Dubai International Film Festival this week.

"The people you saw are getting old, so this is an attempt to maintain the historical memory."

The documentary is narrated through the testimony of Algerians dragged off the streets by police and uses archive footage showing haunting images of thousands held in detention centers, transported in buses and sitting in planes during deportation.

A media campaign branded the protesters as Muslim terrorists, Adi's film says.

Some, such as Hadda Khalfi, one of the main interviewees who explains how her husband disappeared never to return, have never received an apology or compensation from the state.

"I managed to (access) the archives of the police department and state archives, which even some historians have not got permission to see. Then I asked myself what security bodies were there, and I found they all had their own archives," Adi said.

"It was the same for the filmed material... sometimes I noticed there were two people taking photos, so I said I have to go find them," she added.

"So I pieced together each part, when they put the Algerians on buses, when they detained them at the police department, the unseen photos from the Palais du Sport, the expulsions, the women's protest. At a certain point I said to myself 'wow'."

The true number of those who died may never be known.

"It's difficult to establish a figure. Some say 100, some say 200, some say 400, it's complicated. The police prefecture has a list of dead but these lists are not trustworthy," Adi said. "We could say around more than 1,500 were expelled."

GRAFFITI

Adi took the title for the film from graffiti daubed on a bridge over the Seine on October 28 1961 and caught on camera before the authorities could remove it. The words and the image she says dropped out of France's collective consciousness for decades.

She says France's unwillingness to offer more public recognition of what happened in those days contrasts with France's championing of Arab Spring causes such as Libya, which was taken up by President Nicolas Sarkozy and Bernard Henri-Levy, a prominent public intellectual in France.

"Sarkozy has said a few weeks ago why should Turkey be in Europe? If you Turks want to be in Europe you have to recognize the Armenian genocide. Before giving lessons to others, France ought to look at itself in history," she said.

"As citizens we should not allow ourselves to be manipulated by methods, images, language, because they cross time and governments take up the same methods and language."

France has had a complex relationship with Algeria since it was forced to give up a colony it ruled for 132 years in 1962 after a bitter war. Sarkozy has refused to apologize for Algerian dead.

France considered Algeria an integral part of the French state and more than 1 million French fled the country in the months before Algeria finally became independent.

Adi said she was surprised to see large audiences of young French people attending the screenings of her film in France when it was released in October.

"There were few Algerians but many French at the screenings, because many young people in particular are rediscovering the past and realizing it's not an Algerian problem but a Franco-Algerian problem," she said.

(Writing by Andrew Hammond, editing by Paul Casciato)

Turkey slams France over genocide bill

December 17, 2011 — ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's prime minister on Saturday sharply criticized France for a bill that would make it a crime to deny the World War I-era mass killing of Armenians was genocide.

Saying France should investigate what he said was its own "dirty and bloody history" in Algeria and Rwanda, Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted Turkey would respond "through all kinds of diplomatic means." Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks as their Empire collapsed, an event many international experts regard as genocide and that France recognized as such in 2001. Turkish leaders reject the term, arguing that the toll is inflated, that there were deaths on both sides and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

On Dec. 22, the lower house of French Parliament will debate a proposal that would make denying that the massacre was genocide punishable by up to a year in prison and €45,000 ($58,500) in fines, putting it on par with Holocaust denial, which was banned in the country in 1990.

Erdogan lashed out at France during a joint news conference with Mustafa Abdul-Jalil — the chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council — saying there were reports that France was responsible for the deaths of 45,000 people in Algeria in 1945 and for the massacre of up to 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994.

"No historian, no politician can see genocide in our history," Erdogan said. "Those who do want to see genocide should turn around and look at their own dirty and bloody history." "The French National Assembly should shed light on Algeria, it should shed light on Rwanda," he said, in his first news conference since recovering from surgery three weeks ago.

France had troops in Rwanda, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused the country of doing little to stop the country's genocide. There was no immediate reaction from France. Ties between the two countries are already strained by French President Nicolas Sarkozy's opposition to Turkey's bid to join the European Union.

Erdogan's criticism comes a day after an official said the Turkish leader had written to Sarkozy warning of grave consequences if the Armenian genocide bill is adopted. A Turkish diplomat said Turkey would withdraw its ambassador to France is the law is passed.

"I hope that the (French Parliament) steps back from the error of misrepresenting history and of punishing those who deny the historic lies," Erdogan said. "Turkey will stand against this intentional, malicious, unjust and illegal attempt through all kinds of diplomatic means."

Erdogan called the proposed bill a "populist" act, suggesting it was aimed at winning the votes of Armenian-French in elections in France next year. A Turkish parliamentary delegation is scheduled to travel to France on Sunday to lobby French legislators against the bill.

Turkey has long argued that parliaments should not be left the task of deciding whether the killings constituted genocide, insisting on the creation of a joint independent committee of historians to look into the events that started in 1915.

Several countries have recognized the killings as genocide, including Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Russia, Canada, Lebanon, Belgium, Greece, Italy, the Vatican, Switzerland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania and Cyprus.

In 2007, a Swiss court convicted a Turkish politician under its anti-racism law and fined him for denying that the killings of Armenians was genocide. The case caused diplomatic tensions between Switzerland and Turkey.

UZBEKISTAN: Authorities try to stop children attending meetings for worship

8 December 2011

By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service

The authorities in Uzbekistan's city of Angren have warned local religious communities not to be involved in unspecified "proselytism" and "missionary activity", as well as not to allow children and young people to take part in meetings for worship, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Saidibrahim Saynazirov, Deputy Head of the Administration, made these demands at a meeting of representatives of a variety of religious communities. He also demanded that the communities provide him with lists of their members. Many at the meeting do not want to do this, as one put it to Forum 18, for fear of pressure by the authorities against individual members. When asked what legal basis he had for his demand for membership lists, Saynazirov told the meeting "it's not in the law but we recommend that you do it". He adamantly denied to Forum 18 that he had demanded that communities provide lists of their members. "I did not demand such lists," he insisted. But he admitted that he "only asked" for them. However, the city's Catholic community hope that they will at last be allowed to be legally registered.

The authorities in Angren, a city 110 km. (70 miles) east of Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent, have warned local religious communities not to be involved in unspecified "proselytism" and "missionary activity", as well as not to allow children and young people to take part in meetings for worship. On 2 November Saidibrahim Saynazirov, Deputy Head of the Administration, addressed representatives of the Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Presbyterian, Seventh-day Adventist and Baptist churches, at a meeting he called, Forum 18 News Service has learned. The only communities present were those with registration somewhere in the country, which the state allows to exist. All unregistered religious activity is a criminal offense, in defiance of the international human rights agreements Uzbekistan is a party to.

Also present at the meeting were the chairpersons of local mahalla (residential district) committees. Mahalla committees, in theory locally-elected but in practice state-appointed, are a key part of Uzbekistan's structures of control and oppression. They are for example used as part of the state apparatus to restrict the numbers of Muslims allowed to make the haj pilgrimage to Mecca, as part of the total control the state has over all aspects of officially-permitted Islam.

Saynazirov of the local administration also demanded that religious communities give the authorities a list of all their members, as well as copies of their state registration documents, a source from Angren who asked to remain unnamed for fear of State reprisals told Forum 18 on 30 November.

Two weeks before the meeting, Saynazirov and local police raided the local Baptist church's Sunday morning meeting for worship. Two schoolgirls present were later called t a police station and pressured to write statements against the Church's Pastor Vyacheslav Gavrilov, and to stop attending the Church (see F18News 5 December 2011 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1643). As of 7 December no charges have been brought against Gavrilov.

Threats

Saynazirov claimed to the meeting that on his initiative the authorities closed a mosque which was attended by school pupils for Friday prayers, and the Imam of the Mosque was fined. He did not identify the mosque or imam, or when these human rights violations took place.

Asked by Forum 18 on 7 December which mosque's imam was fined and why, Saynazirov derisively said "I don't understand Imam-Shimam". He then said that he did not wish to talk more to Forum 18. "Please, come to my office or send your representative, and we will discuss the rest of your questions here." He then put the phone down.

Dmitry Tikhonov, an independent human rights defender in Angren told Forum 18 on 8 December that he had not heard of any recent closures of mosques. "Ten unregistered small Muslim communities were closed down by the city authorities in 2010, just before the new year", he told Forum 18 on 8 December.

Saynazirov also claimed that he was responsible for Angren's then permitted Pentecostal Church being banned for unauthorized religious activity. The Church's Pastor, Askhad Mustafin, had previously been twice prosecuted for leading the Church.

Human rights defender Tikhonov suggested that the examples of the mosque closure and the church ban was to scare the communities, to "make them cooperate" with the authorities.

Can children and young people attend meetings for worship?

Various religious communities at the meeting told Forum 18 that Saynazirov demanded that children and young people be stopped from attending. In other contexts, he has apparently demanded that this happen even if the required written parental consent has been obtained. During the 16 October raid on Angren's permitted Baptist Church, Furkat Boltayev, Deputy Chief of the town's police Criminal Investigation and Struggle against Terrorism Division, confiscated written consent letters of parents allowing their children and young people to attend the Church.

Saynazirov was told at the meeting by some that they will not stop children and young people from attending meetings for worship, "especially if they are coming with their parents or with their written consent". "Why should we stop teaching our children our faith," some asked.

Asked by Forum 18 whether children and young people can attend Christian meetings for worship, Saynazirov stated that "children can attend with their parents outside the school hours". He would not respond on whether children and young people can attend mosques.

In other parts of Uzbekistan, the authorities have bullied and harassed school pupils who attend places of worship including mosques and Christian churches.

Stop "proselytism" and "missionary activity"

Saynazirov also told the meeting that those present must stop "proselytism" and "missionary activity". Some present at the meeting told Forum 18 that it appears he meant any activity that could be described as sharing their faith with others. Saynazirov himself refused to comment on what exactly he meant. "I do not understand what exactly you mean by proselytism", was the only comment he would make on this to Forum 18.

The Code of Administrative Offenses' Article 240 Part 2 ("Attracting believers of one confession to another (proselytism) and other missionary activity") imposes punishment for this "offense" of either fines of between 50 and 100 times the minimum monthly salary, or administrative arrest for up to 15 days. However, there is no legal definition of what exactly "proselytism" or "missionary activity" is, leaving much room for arbitrary official interpretations.

Membership lists

Saynazirov also demanded that the communities provide him with lists of their members. Many at the meeting did not want to do this, as one put it to Forum 18, "for fear that the authorities will watch them individually and persecute them" - as in the very recent case of the two schoolgirls present when Angren's Baptist Church was raided.

Followers of all faiths are subject to National Security Service (NSS) secret police surveillance, which can often be highly intrusive including microphones bugging meetings and open filming of those who attend meetings for worship. The NSS also tries to recruit informers inside religious communities.

When asked what legal basis he had for his demand for membership lists, Saynazirov told the meeting "it's not in the law but we recommend that you do it".

Saynazirov adamantly denied to Forum 18 that he had demanded that communities provide lists of their members. "I did not demand such lists," he insisted, "who am I to demand the names of their members." But he admitted to Forum 18 that he "only asked" for them.

He went on to maintain that he "did not demand anything". He claimed to Forum 18 that he "only asked them for copies of registration documents, which we do annually". Asked why he wanted every year to receive copies of documents the authorities already have, Saynazirov said that he could not comment on this.

Will Angren's Catholics be legally registered?

Bishop Jerzy Maculewicz, Catholic Apostolic Administrator of Uzbekistan, told Forum 18 on 8 December that one priest present was asked to prepare all the necessary documents for the registration of the community in Angren. Currently, Catholics have to travel to Tashkent to attend Mass.

"We have 40 community members in Angren, and the community there has existed for five years", Bishop Maculewicz said. "We cannot celebrate masses in Angren, as we are not registered there".

To gain state registration, communities must first have 100 adult Uzbek citizens willing both to be identified as founders and to supply their personal details to the authorities. Then, religious organizations must submit two letters of guarantee: one from the district hokimat (administration), confirming that the organization to be registered has a building which corresponds to public health and fire safety requirements; and one from the mahalla committee, stating that other mahalla residents do not object to the organization. Public health, fire safety and similar requirements are sometimes used to provide excuses to harass religious organizations.

Gaining state registration – or permission to exist - is a serious problem for Muslims, Protestant and Catholic Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses and people of other faiths. Even those who want state registration face systematic obstruction, as this is often used as a weapon against people who want to exercise the right to freedom of religion or belief. Catholics in Angren have been trying to gain state registration for a number of years.

The necessary documents for registration were submitted to the authorities in Angren after the 2 November meeting, Bishop Maculewicz told Forum 18. "Now we are hoping that we can soon get registered".

No patriarchal visit for the Orthodox

A rescheduled visit by Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill to mark the 140th anniversary of the Church in Uzbekistan has still not taken place. It is thought that the authorities have blocked the visit because the Moscow Patriarchate in July changed its structures in Central Asia and appointed a new bishop to Tashkent without gaining the approval of Uzbekistan.

Russian Orthodox believers from Tashkent told Forum 18 on 7 December that, although Orthodox hierarchs and priests from elsewhere in Central Asia attended the ceremonies, "unfortunately neither Patriarch Kirill nor any priests from Moscow could attend".

Uzbek TV encourages intolerance of freedom of religion or belief

In the latest instance of state TV encouraging intolerance of people exercising freedom of religion or belief, Yoshlar TV channel aired a 40 minute program entitled "Jehovah Witnesses: The art of converting into zombies" on 21 November.

Claiming that Jehovah's Witnesses were conducting "illegal meetings and gatherings at some homes", the TV program cited two instances where it claimed that Jehovah's Witnesses had been prosecuted for their activities.

The documentary accused Jehovah's Witnesses of using lies in their teachings, and called on people to be vigilant. "Threats to our peaceful life are coming from people among us. (..) It is our human duty to be vigilant about people who want to damage our centuries-old national traditions and values, as well as our beliefs passed on to us by our grandparents", it concluded.

Uzbekistan's state-run TV often broadcasts programs encouraging intolerance of those exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief. For example, one entitled "In the clutches of ignorance" was shown before live coverage of the Euro 2008 football championship, to attract the largest possible audience. That film made some members of religious minorities "afraid to go out on the street where they live".

Source: Forum 18.
Link: http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1645.

Anonymous declares cyber war on Congress over indefinite detention act

16 December, 2011

Hacktivists are continuing their mission to take on politicians causing the collapse of constitutional rights in America, with operatives from the online collective Anonymous keeping up a campaign against the signers of controversial legislation.

As RT reported on Thursday, members of Anonymous began a campaign this week to expose information on the lawmakers who voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, a bill that will allow for the indefinite detention of American citizens, the reinstating of torture methods and the creation of the United States as a battlefield. Despite the implications of the act, the Senate allowed for the bill to leave Capitol Hill on Thursday, leaving only the inking of President Barack Obama’s name as the final step for ratification.

President Obama had earlier insisted on vetoing the bill, but the White House retracted that statement in the days before it cleared Congress. Before the final draft left the Senate yesterday, Sen. Carl Levin asked that a statement from the administration be added to the record in which the president’s press secretary, Jay Carney, said that the president will not be advised to strike down the bill.

On Thursday, Anonymous hacktivists launched a campaign against Senator Robert Portman, a Republican from Ohio. Not only did Portland vote in favor of NDAA FY2012, he received $272,853 from special interest groups that also backed the bill.

“Robert J. Portman, we plan to make an example of you,” an Anonymous operative posted to the Internet on Thursday. Along with the warning was personal information pertaining to the senator, including his home address and phone number.

On Friday, Anonymous says that this is just the beginning of the campaign against those that are creating the collapse of the US Constitution. With NDAA FY2012 almost guaranteed to be approved by Obama any moment, a second piece of legislation, the Stop Online Piracy Act, is close to clearing a Congressional committee. Should that bill be brought before the president and signed into law as well, Internet access and content across America and the world will become largely censored.

“We've been watching you systematically destroy the rights of your own people, one law at a time. No longer shall we stand by and watch you enslave our fellow citizens,” writes an Anonymous operative in an open letter to Congress posted Friday. “You have continued down this path of treason by creating acts such as the National Defense Authorization Act, Stop Online Piracy Act, Protect IP Act, and more. You've tried to conceal the true purpose of these bills, and pass them without the consent of the American people.”

As a result of the recent legislation which has managed to make its way through Congress, Anonymous operatives write on Friday, “We are now here to undo your sordid life's work in its entirety. No longer will your transgressions go unnoticed. No longer will you enslave the people. The world will know of your violations against the rights of the citizens you were elected to represent.”

In the memo from the hacktivists, they include a copy of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the US Constitution that have been crushed in-part by the latest congressional meetings. “Every time you violate these amendments we will ensure the people are aware of your actions,” says Anonymous. “You may have previously succeeded in concealing your actions, but that time has come to an end. You were elected by us, and you can be removed by us.”

Anonymous members are using the trending topic #OpAccountable on Twitter to spread the campaign against the congressman involved in the legislation. On Friday, one hacktivist tweeted that the topic is even being used by known members of the Tea Party movement.

“Goes to show this year’s outrage is far stretching," adds the operative.

Source: Russia Today.
Link: http://rt.com/usa/news/anonymous-congress-ndaa-sopa-013/.

Iceland recognizes state of Palestine

Thursday 15/12/2011

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) -- Iceland on Thursday became the first west European country to formally recognize a Palestinian state, three months after the Palestinians began to seek full membership of the United Nations with peace talks with Israel frozen indefinitely.

"(This) will surely have positive influence on other states to follow the same steps," Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told a news conference in Reykjavik.

"Iceland didn't only talk the talk, we walked the walk," Icelandic Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson said. "We stood by our word, we have supported the Palestinian cause and today will not be the end of that, we will continue to do so."

East European countries that were once part of the old Soviet bloc, as well as Cyprus -- all of them now European Union members -- previously recognized Palestine.

Israel and the United States have opposed any recognition of a Palestinian state not based on the outcome of negotiations. Washington's major west European allies echo this position, but Iceland is outside the EU.

In late September, President Mahmoud Abbas asked the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. The UN at present classifies Palestine only as an observer "entity".

Iceland led the way in recognizing the independence of the three Baltic states after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Middle East peace talks have been suspended for more than a year. Abbas refuses to negotiate while Israel goes on expanding settlements on occupied West Bank land and in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after a 1967 war in a move not recognized internationally.

Malki said he wanted negotiations to restart.

"We have committed ourselves to the process of negotiations and we continue to commit ourselves to the process of negotiations with the Israelis," he said. But the peace process was "going nowhere at the moment".

Israel has said it is open to resuming negotiations without preconditions, but Palestinian leaders insist they cannot enter talks while Israel continues building settlements on lands Palestinians need for a viable independent state.

"Actually we are only seeing setbacks. The current Israeli government is not interested in peace and the international community is not doing what is needed," Malki said.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445338.

Qalqiliya teacher unpaid for 'political reasons'

Saturday 17/12/2011

QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- A schoolteacher in the West Bank says she has been working for nearly four years without a salary after the PA ministry of finance suspended payments for alleged political reasons.

Hadiyya Daoud said she first discovered her salary had not been paid to her bank in 2008, four years after she qualified with the ministry of education and took her post at a school in Qalqiliya.

The ministry of education referred her to the finance ministry, "who told me my salary was suspended, but I was not fired," Daoud told Ma'an in a recent interview.

Daoud says she was informed the withdrawal of her salary was due to her alleged affiliation to Hamas, which she denies.

She told the government she is not affiliated to any political party and has abided by all PA rules, but her salary has not been reinstated, Daoud added.

The school principal said Hadiyya is doing the best job she can despite not receiving her salary for nearly four years.

Teachers' union member Bassam Naim said dozens of civil servants have been fired or moved from their job for political reasons, but Daoud's case is unique insofar as her salary was suspended without her being fired.

The union is following up with her case, he said.

Daoud appealed to President Mahmoud Abbas and Ramallah Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to help her receive the wages she is owed.

Her salary "is the only source of income for me, my mother and sisters," Daoud said.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445617.

Arab spring has given hope to the suppressed

December 17, 2011

Sacrifices made by tens of thousands for freedom and dignity will not go in vain.

On this day last year, a poor Tunisian street vendor, outraged by the humiliation he suffered at the hands of a municipal policewoman who decided to confiscate his cart, set himself on fire. His surprising act, unprecedented in the Arab world, led to the greatest Arab revolt since the Great Revolution of 1916 when Arabs revolted against Ottoman rule. Mohammad Bu Azizi surely didn't mean to start a revolution. He was simply protesting the apparent corruption and cruelty of the system. According to witnesses, he was slapped on the face by the policewoman and when he complained to the mayor, his compliant was arrogantly shrugged off.

Certainly, Bu Azizi didn't plan to send millions of Arabs on to the streets and overthrow decades-long oppressive regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen and inspire millions of others to rise in pursuit of freedom, justice and better living standards across the region. The Arab genie will never go back into the bottle.

The reaction of the Arab people to the spontaneous act of self-immolation of a poor Tunisian young man might have surprised some. But many had long known the prevailing condition in the Arab world could not have continued.

The region, save some exceptions, lagged behind almost all other parts of the world, in development, democracy and rule of law. Not only is unemployment rife and official corruption a way of life in most of those countries, but also most importantly the populations always felt they didn't have any say in the way they live. Presidents hold sham elections and rule with iron fist using state resources to enrich and empower their families and inner circle. Few were actually surprised by the abhorrent stories of corruption told after the fall of Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali, Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi's regimes.

The Arab Spring states are rich in natural and human resources. But they have suffered from chronic misuse of the wealth, and nepotism, which left tens of millions on the cruel margins of poverty and humiliated almost every day by the long arm of the Mukhabarat (intelligence services). The people have had enough.

Today, the region is on the threshold of a new era. For the first time in centuries, the people feel empowered to decide the future of their children. But all this epic sacrifice can be easily eroded. Emotions are high and can be exploited by different kinds of power-hungry forces, such as the Islamist parties in those countries, which in almost all the Arab Spring states jumped on the revolution bandwagon when it was apparent the regimes were on the descent. Many of those parties were allies of those corrupt regimes. Today, many in the region fear that the current revolutions are just bringing other oppressive regimes to power.

But the majority of us believe that the sacrifice of tens of thousands who spilled their blood in the name of freedom and dignity will not go in vain. The region will definitely not look back.

Source: Gulf News.
Link: http://gulfnews.com/opinions/editorials/arab-spring-has-given-hope-to-the-suppressed-1.952257.

Jordan's Islamists call for 'salvation gov't'

By Taylor Luck

THE JORDANIAN ISLAMIST movement has called for the formation of an emergency government to carry out “urgent reforms”, as the Muslim Brotherhood reiterated its demands for wider constitutional amendments.

Following a meeting of its executive branch late Wednesday, the Islamic Action Front (IMF), the Muslim Brotherhood’s political branch, called for a “national salvation government” to overcome political, economic and social “crises” currently facing the Kingdom.

Islamists urged Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh to head a government representing the interests of various political and social forces in the Kingdom to reduce the role of security services in public life, push through constitutional reform and draft a new elections law.

According to IAF politburo chief Zaki Bani Rsheid, the salvation government should be entrusted with “paving the way” for elections and wider political reforms which the movement claims have been “stalled” for nearly 11 months.

Islamist leaders claim that a recent spike in social violence and ongoing weekly protests are “warning signs” that the Kingdom cannot afford further delays in implementing political and economic reforms.

“If the government does not take immediate measures to alleviate the situation, we believe Jordan is entering a dangerous phase,” warned Hamzah Mansour, IAF secretary general.

“This is why we push for a national salvation government to restore the public’s trust in the political process.”

The demand marks the closest the movement has come to criticizing the government of Awn Khasawneh, who reached out to the Muslim Brotherhood during the formation of his Cabinet in late October.

The statement comes amidst ongoing negotiations between Islamists and decision makers over its participation in the political process - widely viewed by officials and observers alike as key to the legitimacy of any upcoming elections.

Islamists have pinned their participation to a series of demands, including wider constitutional reforms guaranteeing an elected government, protecting the Lower House against dissolution, an elections law relying on proportional representation and the dissolution of the State Security Court.

According to the movement, the demand for a salvation government does not represent a break from its reform demands or criticism of the Khasawneh government, but rather a policy demand stemming from a growing “concern” for the domestic situation in Jordan.

“We are noticing that from the economy to the social sphere, the situation in Jordan is getting tenser day after day,” Bani Rsheid told The Jordan Times.

“We don’t want slogans or rhetoric, we want immediate action.”

In its statement, the movement also staked its position on the latest domestic and international issues, weighing in on issues ranging from the protection of Islamic sites in Jerusalem to the demands of disgruntled municipal employees in Jneid.

The movement expressed concerns over the minister of finance’s previously announced intentions to raise water, electricity and fuel tariffs, warning against measures that will affect average citizens which it claims are already facing the negative impact of a struggling economy.

“We need officials to find ways to raise funds other than raising the prices of basic goods that affect all citizens,” Mansour said.

The Islamist movement also welcomed the statements of His Majesty King Abdullah and Khasawneh earlier this month stressing that “no one is above the law”, urging for the Anti-Corruption Commission to refer all corruption cases to court in “transparency and justice”.

In its statement, the IAF condemned the attack on the home of MP Hamad Hajaya and the manner in which security services treated protesters who closed the Desert Highway in the Qatraneh area to demand the reclamation of wajihat - state-owned lands allocated for various tribes during the Ottoman era for grazing and habitation purposes.

The Islamist movement also called on the government to take action against Syrian embassy cadre in Amman who they claimed “broke the law and diplomatic norms” earlier this week by using physical force against Syrian nationals whom Damascus claimed stormed its embassy.

16 December 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=44377.

Jordan, Georgia to boost cooperation in crisis management

By Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - Minister of Interior Mohammad Al Raoud and his Georgian counterpart Ivane Merabishvili on Thursday signed an agreement that paves the way for boosting joint cooperation in civil defense crisis management.

Al Raoud said Amman and Tblisi are parties to several agreements that have contributed to enhancing bilateral ties and boosting cooperation, adding that the newly signed agreement will add a new brick to the wall of Jordan’s and Georgia’s “strong and distinguished relations”.

“Our two countries signed a trade and economic cooperation agreement in 2010 and earlier this year the two sides signed a joint cooperation agreement in the health, tourism, trade, science and technology, culture, investment, education and youth sectors,” he added.

“The Civil Defense Department (CDD) in the Kingdom has advanced experience in crisis and disaster management. The government recently established the Regional Civil Protection Center in cooperation with the International Civil Defense Organization (ICDO),” the minister said, noting that the center is tasked with providing a databank of civil protection related news and exchanging technical data and experience among ICDO members.

Merabishvili said Georgia has been subject to frequent natural and manmade disasters and aspires to benefit from the Kingdom’s experience in crisis management and civil protection services.

“Jordan’s has acquired an advanced reputation in this field for its regional and international efforts in assisting countries subject to different kinds of disasters. We hope that the agreement will facilitate more cooperation and stronger ties between our two countries,” he added.

Merabishvili said his ministry will work with the Georgian ministry of foreign affairs to seek an agreement with its Jordanian counterpart to cancel visa requirements for citizens of both countries, in order to increase the flow of tourists between Jordan and Georgia and give their citizens the opportunity to learn more about each other’s cultures.

16 December 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=44376.

Jordan set to end reliance on Egyptian gas

By Taylor Luck

JORDAN IS SET to move away from Egyptian gas due to the growing unreliability of the country’s main energy source, officials say.

In a statement earlier this week, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Qutaiba Abu Qura announced that the ministry is intensifying efforts to secure alternatives to Egyptian gas, on which Jordan relies for 80 per cent of its electricity generation needs, adding that the resource will not factor in the Kingdom’s future energy plans.

The minister’s statement, issued during a meeting of the Lower House Finance Committee, came amidst reports in the Egyptian press that Amman has gone back on its decision to ratify a new natural gas agreement, which was approved by the Cabinet in August and has been pending Cairo’s approval.

Officials denied that Jordan has formally withdrawn its support for the amended agreement, under which Egypt is expected to triple gas prices.

“We have had no developments, either towards ending or signing the new agreement,” Farouq Hiyari, the energy ministry’s secretary general, told The Jordan Times.

Despite the denials, according to a ministry source, frustration over the unreliability of gas supplies and a lack of communication from the Egyptian side has led Jordanian officials to “give up” on an arrangement that at its peak supplied the Kingdom with some 300 million cubic feet per day.

The Egyptian ministry of petrol declined to comment.

Cairo has yet to resume pumping since a Sinai explosion cut supplies on November 28, marking the ninth attack on supply line since the beginning of the year and the third in less than a month.

The most recent attacks came amidst assurances by Egyptian authorities that an increased military presence in the Sinai Peninsula combined with the arrest of several jihadists allegedly behind the spate of attacks would lead to the security of the pipeline.

According to sources at E-Gas, one of the two firms that oversee the 400-kilometre Arab Gas Pipeline - which also supplies Israel - repairs have faced “unexpected” delays leading to the prolonged disruption, which has forced the Kingdom’s power plants onto their fuel reserves at a cost of some JD3 million per day.

Economists say the series of attacks have had a direct impact on Jordan, with the series of disruptions pushing the national energy bill to record levels - over JD4 billion - and expected to widen the National Electric Power Company’s budget deficit to JD1.4 billion by the end of the year.

“For months NEPCO has covered the difference in price between natural gas and heavy oil, but this burden has become unsustainable,” NEPCO General Manager Ghaleb Maabreh recently told The Jordan Times.

According to officials, a ministerial team is to travel to Cairo “soon” to review the issue of gas supplies with their Egyptian counterparts before Jordan formally moves to end its decade-long reliance on Egyptian gas.

Meanwhile, Hiyari said talks are intensifying with Iraq and several Arab Gulf states over the potential of importing natural and liquid gas over the next decade as Jordan attempts to develop domestic energy sources including oil shale and nuclear power.

Despite the renewed efforts to secure additional energy sources, officials say it will take up to two years from the signing of any agreement before Jordan can benefit from a new energy market due to infrastructure requirements.

Should Jordan decide to end its decade-long reliance on Egyptian gas supplies, Hiyari said the government will resort to the international energy market to maintain electricity generation in parallel with its drive to secure additional energy sources.

“We will have no problem meeting the needs of electricity plants needs with oil and diesel during this period,” Hiyari said.

Energy officials privately conceded that the move will impact electricity tariffs as heavy fuel oil and diesel are much costlier than Egyptian gas imports, which Jordan previously received at prices of less than half the international market rate.

Sources claim the government has previously hesitated to formally end the country’s gas deal with Egypt for fear of raising electricity tariffs at a time of popular unrest over a struggling economy and a stalled political reform drive.

“Officials have finally come to the decision they can no longer wait around for the Egyptian situation to improve,” said an energy official who was not authorized to speak to the press.

“They have come to the terms that Jordan can no longer rely on subsidized energy.”

While an added economic burden for citizens, industry observers say the move away from Egyptian gas will serve as a boost to Jordanian oil shale, which experts say is cost competitive with unsubsidized natural gas, and renewable energy, which advocates claim has long been neglected in favor of subsidized fossil fuels.

Despite the recent boost in investments in the alternative energy sector, Jordan will not see the production of electricity from oil shale before 2016, while the first large-scale renewable energy project, a 90-megawatt wind farm south of Shobak, is not expected to come online before 2014.

Observers say uncertainty over Egyptian gas has elevated energy from a policy concern to an issue of national security for Jordan, which currently imports 98 per cent of its energy needs at a cost of 23 per cent of the gross domestic product.

16 December 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=44360.

Tunisia hosts olive tree festival

2011-12-16

Tunisia's 31st International Olive Tree Festival opens Saturday (December 17th) in Kala El Kebira, TAP reported. The Sousse town will host concerts, shows, cooking seminars and other events during the five-day festival.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/12/16/newsbrief-06.

Libya, Italy revive Friendship Treaty

2011-12-16

Libya and Italy agreed Thursday (December 15th) to revive their 2008 Friendship, Partnership and Co-Operation Treaty, BBC reported. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti made the announcement after meeting in Rome with Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil.

Italy would continue to unfreeze Libyan assets, Monti said. Some 600 million euros in assets have been released thus far.

Before the Libya-Italy accord was suspended last February with the start of the anti-Kadhafi revolt, Italy had been a close ally and economic partner. More than 180 Italian businesses have taken advantage of the favorable terms for trade links, including Finmeccanica, Impreglio and ENI, which became the biggest foreign energy producer in Libya.

The 2008 Italy-Libya Friendship Treaty included construction of a 1,700-kilometre coastal motorway in Libya. The deal also allows Italy to send back immigrants reaching its shores from Libya.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/12/16/newsbrief-03.

Mauritanian Islamists seek greater political role

Mauritanian journalists explain why Islamists in their country have lagged behind their Maghreb counterparts in terms of political gains.

By Jemal Oumar for Magharebia in Nouakchott – 16/12/11

The success of Islamist movements in Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt gave a boost to Mauritania's Tawassoul party but it also poses a challenge, some observers say.

"The Mauritanian Islamist current considers itself an extension of the Islamic currents that are now leading the political landscape in Maghreb revolutionary countries, such as Tunisia and Morocco, given that they share the same ideas, trends and methods that seek to Islamize society according to a moderate approach that conforms to modern democracy like the Turkish pattern," said journalist Zine Abedine.

The challenge, however, is that Mauritanian Islamists are "still unable to attract citizens in the same way as Ennahda Movement in Tunisia and the Justice and Development Party (PJD) in Morocco", Abedine said.

To cultivate his party's relations with Maghreb counterparts, Tawassoul leader Jamil Mansour on December 1st visited PJD chief Abdelilah Benkirane in Rabat, Mauritania's Al-Akhbar reported.

Journalist and moderate Islamist activist Ahmed Ould Wadia argued that "the Islamist movement today is assuming a prominent place in the Mauritanian political landscape and is prepared to play a role in political life".

"If there had been an Arab Spring in Mauritania, the moderate Islamist movement would have taken its share of victory," he said. "There is no doubt that Mauritania will join the other Maghreb contexts because the extent of these revolutions is the extent of injustice, despotism and unilateral rule."

Ould Wadia argued that moderate Islamist parties across the region are "governed by a strategic belief in democracy and the possibility of reconciling Islam with modernity and intellectual common ground".

To succeed, Mauritanian Islamists need to "launch a realistic field program that talks to different Mauritanian categories", according to Mohamed Salem Ould Dah, director of the African-Arab Center for Information and Development.

"It also needs some sort of reconciliation with the other political factions in the country," he added. "And I further believe that it needs to supply the scene with leaders who would be like symbols for it in the current stage because there is a shortage in leaders and a lack of their presence in tangible social work."

Islamists' standings in Morocco and Tunisia are different due to their accumulated experiences that date back to dozens of years, Ould Dah explained. "The societies of those countries have lived through a stage of spiritual and moral vacuum that made those peoples interact with parties with an Islamic reference on which they would attach their hopes to present solutions for their cultural and social problems," he said.

"Meanwhile, the Mauritanian society has a religious background by nature and has some sort of religious culture," Ould Dah added. "This is perhaps why the Islamic movement in Mauritania has been unable to present anything new unlike their counterparts in the Arab world."

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/12/16/feature-03.

Algeria, Mauritania back Arab Maghreb Union

Improved relations between Algeria and Mauritania are just the latest sign of revitalized plans for a Maghreb union.

By Fidet Mansour in Algiers and Jemal Oumar in Nouakchott for Magharebia – 16/12/11

Algeria and Mauritania vowed to step up co-operation on a number of fronts, from trade and security to the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), following a four-day visit to Algiers by Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

In a joint statement issued December 13th with his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Ould Abdel Aziz pledged to reinforce "the concept of economic integration between Maghreb countries through the activation of Arab Maghreb Union structures and bodies".

The statement also expressed the two countries' satisfaction with the level of security co-operation between them, other Sahel countries and international partners concerned with combating terrorism and transnational organized crime. The two leaders also described their security collaboration as "very positive and conclusive" in the fight against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and other regional threats.

To this end, they reiterated their "firm resolve to step up their efforts to strengthen security and stability in the Sahel region", adding that they had a "deep conviction" that the fight terrorism and organized crime would be helped by stronger international co-operation.

The presidential remarks came the same day as Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci told state-owned Russia Today that "the Arab Spring should encourage us to co-operate with all countries in the region, Morocco included".

"Our relationship with Morocco generally rises above the situation currently being experienced by the region," the chief Algerian diplomat said. "Our relationship with Morocco is the very foundation of our horizontal and strategic policies, even though the problems of the past few years have slowed down co-operation between our countries."

Meanwhile, Algeria and Mauritania signed agreements on December 11th covering the abolition of double taxation by the two countries and joint commitments on occupational health and professional insurance involving the National Institute for the Prevention of Professional Risks in Algiers and the National Bureau for Occupational Health in Mauritania.

The two countries hailed the progress made through bilateral co-operation, and invited public and private enterprises, along with economic players in the two countries, "to breathe new life into economic and trading relations, and to guarantee a favorable climate for partnership and investment projects, particularly in the fields of energy and mining, infrastructure, agriculture and fishing".

Mauritanian political analyst Dr Hussain Ould Medou said the call for a Maghreb Union was no longer a local demand. He cited recent statements by former European Commission President Romani Prodi urging the UMA's revival and support for a free trade zone.

For his part, Mohamed Salem Ould Dah, director of the Arab-African Center for Information and Development, said the visit by Ould Abdel Aziz was "part of an Algerian strategic vision through which it aims to re-arrange bilateral relations between Maghreb countries".

"We can read Ould Abdel Aziz's visit to Algiers in this framework as part of efforts to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries, especially as they are linked by security relations to combat terrorism," Ould Dah added.

Journalist Sidi Mohammed Ould al-Khalifa cited stepped up economic ties between the two neighbors, including plans for a road between Algiers and Nouakchott. Ould al-Khalifa also noted security agreements that "boost the strategic convergence between the two countries in the counter-terrorism field by depending on their own capabilities".

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/12/16/feature-01.

Minsk gets Russian missile system

MINSK, Belarus, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Russia delivered two anti-aircraft missile systems to Belarus and full deliveries of the remaining 12 are expected Christmas Eve, officials said in Minsk.

Belorussian defense officials said Minsk took delivery of two of the 12 Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missile systems expected from Russia, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.

"The first two units arrived yesterday," Belorussian Defense Minister Yury Zhadobin was quoted as saying. The rest of the delivery was expected on or before Dec. 24, he added.

The short-range surface-to-air system will be deployed, he added, near the western border with Poland.

Moscow and Washington last week locked horns over U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the aim of the system is to deter threats from Iran.

Moscow, after its favorite to win an election in one of Georgia's breakaway republics, said its war there in 2008 deterred NATO's eastward expansion.

Moscow in August 2010 deployed its S-300 missile shield to Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia to protect the airspace from "intruders."

The Russian government said last week it might skip next year's NATO summit unless it secures agreements over European missile defense.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/12/16/Minsk-gets-Russian-missile-system/UPI-26381324060217/.

Palestine Muslim Brotherhood founder dead at 91

Friday 16/12/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Sheikh Asaad Hasniyeh, one of the founders of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, died in Gaza on Friday. He was 91.

Hasniyeh was considered one of the leading members of the Brotherhood in the coastal strip, and established the Islamic society in Gaza City.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445468.

Russia's Mars probe will crash to Earth in January

December 16, 2011 — MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian spacecraft bound for a moon of Mars and stuck in Earth's orbit will come crashing back next month, but its toxic fuel and radioactive material on board will pose no danger of contamination, the Russian space agency said Friday.

Between 20 and 30 fragments of the probe with a total weight of up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) will survive the fiery plunge and shower the Earth's surface, Roscosmos warned in a statement. The agency said the unmanned Phobos-Ground spacecraft will plummet to Earth between Jan. 6 and Jan. 19, and the rough area of where the fragments could fall could only be calculated a few days ahead of its plunge.

As of now, it said only that the probe's fragments could rain down anywhere along a broad swath between 51.4 degrees north to 51.4 degrees south, which would include most of land surface. While the agency had lost contact with the probe following its launch on Nov. 9, this was the first time acknowledged that the $170-million craft has been lost and will come crashing down.

Since its November launch the engineers in Russia and at the European Space Agency have attempted unsuccessfully to propel it away from Earths orbit and toward its target. Phobos-Ground weighs 13.2 metric tons (14.6 tons), which includes 11 metric tons (12 tons) of highly toxic fuel. Experts had warned that if the fuel has frozen, some could survive entry into Earth and pose a serious threat if it falls over populated areas.

But Roscosmos said it is sure that all fuel will burn on re-entry some 100 kilometers (330,000 feet) above the ground and pose no danger. It said that 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of Cobalt-57, a radioactive metal contained in one of the craft's instruments, will not pose a threat of radioactive contamination.

The Phobos-Ground was Russia's first interplanetary mission since a botched 1996 robotic mission to Mars, which failed when the probe crashed shortly after the launch due to an engine failure. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, and the latest spacecraft aimed to take ground samples on Phobos.

It was one of the most challenging unmanned interplanetary mission ever. Scientists had hoped that studies of Phobos' surface could help solve the mystery of its origin and shed more light on the genesis of the solar system. Some believe the crater-dented moon is an asteroid captured by Mars' gravity, while others think it's a piece of debris from when Mars collided with another celestial object.

The failed mission was the latest in a series of recent Russian launch failures that have raised concerns about the condition of the country's space industries. Officials have blamed the failures on obsolete equipment and an aging workforce.

Italian govt wins confidence vote on austerity

December 16, 2011 — ROME (AP) — The Italian government easily won a confidence vote Friday on its austerity measures, but new threats emerged against efforts to cut Italy's massive debt and a one-day strike caused chaos for commuters.

Premier Mario Monti had called the vote in Parliament's lower house to speed passage of the €30 billion ($39 billion) in extra taxes and pension reforms that he says are vital to save the eurozone's third-largest economy from financial disaster. About €10 billion ($13 billion) of those savings are going to be reinvested into measures that produce growth.

The package was approved 495-88. Had it been defeated, Monti and his government of technocrats would have been forced to resign exactly a month after the economist was sworn in with the task of keeping Italy from being the next victim of Europe's debt crisis.

The Senate is expected to vote on the measures in the coming days. Prosecutors in the southern region of Calabria, meanwhile, said they were investigating 10 envelopes with bullets inside that were found a day earlier in a post office in the town of Lamezia Terme. The envelopes were addressed to, among others, Monti, his labor minister, former Premier Silvio Berlusconi and other political or media figures, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

"We'll be investigating to understand the seriousness of these threats and where they come from," Prosecutor Vincenzo Antonio Lombardo was quoted Friday as saying by ANSA in Lamezia Terme. Reports said the envelopes contained fliers threatening those named if the austerity package wasn't changed.

In recent days, two letter bombs were sent to Italian tax collection offices, and one of the devices exploded, injuring an official. An anarchist group that claimed those letters also took responsibility for a letter bomb sent to Deutsche Bank in Germany.

As lawmakers voted Friday, a nationwide transportation strike upended travel plans for many. Another strike, by public sector employees not in transportation, is set for Monday, reflecting deep anger over budget cuts and pension reform.

Unions are incensed over pension reforms that will make Italians work a longer time and until an older age before being eligible for generous pension checks. In response, Monti's government softened the reforms slightly, leaving him vulnerable to claims by financial experts that the package focused too much on new taxes and not enough on structural reforms.

The wide majority of votes in favor of the austerity package was expected, but that reflected more fear about ousting Monti's government rather than happiness over the new taxes and cutbacks. Lawmakers on both the left and right have criticized the pension reforms as too harsh. Many of former premier Silvio Berlusconi's loyalists, who make up Parliament's largest party, denounced Monti's decision to revive a home property tax that Berlusconi had eliminated. To appease possible dissenters, the government agreed to give deductions on the tax to Italians with large families.

"Italy is particularly at risk in this crisis," center-left leader Livia Turco told The Associated Press, claiming her Democratic Left party had lobbied to make the package "fairer." ''We have tried to protect the weaker segments of the population."

Those voting against the austerity package included lawmakers from the Northern League, the regional party that was Berlusconi's crucial ally in his two decades in power. The League was particularly irked by the pension reform.

"We believe this government is not serving the interests of the whole country, and above all, the citizens of the north," said Northern League lawmaker Claudio D'Amico. The pension system only until a few years ago allowed workers as young as 50 to retire with pensions as much as 80 percent of their last paychecks.

__ AP reporter Trisha Thomas contributed to this report.

Women Aim to Protect Their Rights in a Young State

By Amanda Wilson

WASHINGTON, Dec 15, 2011 (IPS) - As South Sudan maps out its economic future at the South Sudan International Engagement Conference (IEC) this week in Washington, women from the new country called on donors to invest in projects that ensure women benefit equally from development plans.

Pointing out that women played a critical role in the referendum that made South Sudan an independent country in July - 52 percent of voters in that referendum were female – South Sudanese women pushed for measures that would help secure a strong female presence in sectors including government, agriculture and the economy.

The IEC, organized by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), brought together government leaders from South Sudan with a group of rich states, foreign aid groups and private investors to develop a South Sudan Development Plan, a blueprint for the young state's social, economic and political policies.

Groups included the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank, the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union, the Corporate Council on Africa and InterAction. Officials from the United Kingdom, Norway and Turkey were also present.

The conference, which concludes today, is taking place amid continuing violence in the still-contested border states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile.

North Sudan charges that the Sudan People's Liberation Army is supplying rebels in the two states with weapons while international human rights groups claim that the North is indiscriminately bombing civilian populations in the two states and denying humanitarian relief agencies access to the region.

As the IEC continued in Washington, South Sudanese women delegates urged those present to acknowledge the role women play in peace building and their right to a seat at the table in planning the country's future.

The women recommended ensuring that 25 percent of all investments in agriculture and commercial livestock go to women, thereby "increasing their food productivity, their entrepreneurship, and access to markets." The large majority of farmers in South Sudan are small women farmers, and war has left South Sudan with a large number of female-headed households.

"We want aid to target women specifically," said Sarah James, a women's rights activist and chairperson for the South Sudan Women General Association. "We can't assume that it will reach them."

James, speaking to a large crowd of investors and foreign development aid donors gathered on the first day of the conference, urged them to consider women as equal partners in sustainable peace and development in the country.

The Institute for Inclusive Security, together with U.N. Women, hosted a gender symposium preceding the IEC where the women sketched out their recommendations. The symposium marked an effort to facilitate South Sudanese women's access to decision-making about the future of the new country.

The effort is significant because according to the Institute, post conflict recovery and private sector development in other countries where wars have ended have "most often returned power and economic opportunities to male elites".

The women's recommendations include a plan to double women's literacy from 12 percent to 25 percent as well as earmarks to ensure half of the oil revenues allocated to communities through community development funds go to women's health, economic and physical security.

Also proposed was a plan for a women's bank with start-up capital of 10 million dollars to provide women with accessible, low interest loans for their own business ventures.

"People are bringing home the experiences they got in other countries during their displacement," said Mary Kojo, who herself was displaced for a time in Khartoum. She currently works with the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare and has worked to build women's small-scale businesses.

Women are well-qualified to work in every sector of South Sudan's development, she pointed out. "We have the capacity. It's only that we are not being given the opportunity," Kojo told IPS. "That's why we are here – we want our voice wherever men have a voice."

The list of South Sudanese women's priorities includes basic services, better schools and better hospitals. With one out of seven pregnant women dying due to pregnancy-related causes in South Sudan, according to the U.N., the room for improvement is significant.

Women delegates also said small loans for South Sudanese women could help increase female farmers' participation at food and vegetable markets, a sector where women from the neighboring countries of Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda currently dominate because of their access to start-up capital, the women told IPS.

The women also urged the government to continue to implement the 25 percent quota currently in place for women at all levels of government.

This conference is the first of its kind, known in the aid world as a "donor conference", to include women from civil society in all sessions, including planning sessions for the management of oil revenues, social service delivery, governance and environment.

Anne Marie Goetz, chief of the peace and security program at U.N. Women, said including women in development planning makes sense, not only from a rights standpoint, but also economically. The agricultural sector is just one example.

"Investing in women's agricultural production is a way of ensuring rural market development and community stability because women invest in their communities," Goetz said. She said statistics show that women invest 90 percent of their income on family well-being compared to the 40 percent that men invest.

"If women aren't at conferences, then there's no pressure for quotas, there is no pressure for women's land rights... there is no pressure for justice for war crimes," Goetz said.

But why did it take so long to include women? Goetz said it is because the international community has itself been slow to acknowledge that women have specific priorities and perspectives that are inadequately reflected by governments.

Goetz told IPS, "There is now a growing recognition that you cannot build good governance and sound economic foundations without involving half the population."

Source: Inter-Press Service.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106231.

40,000 govt employees to receive salaries in Gaza

Thursday 15/12/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The finance ministry in Gaza will pay salaries on Thursday to its 40,000 employees for the months of October and November, the deputy minister Ismail Mahfouz said.

The salaries are for employees whose monthly income is less than 1,500 shekels. The rest of the salaries will be paid by the end of the week, he announced.

The government's current budget is 77 million shekels per month.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445215.

Official: 6 fruit, vegetable trucks leave Gaza for export

Thursday 15/12/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- One truckload of tomatoes and bell peppers, and five trucks carrying strawberries, crossed out of the Gaza Strip for export abroad on Thursday, crossings officials said.

Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said that Israel opened the sole functioning Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza to allow the small convoy through, as part of an agreement to with the Dutch government to permit limited exports from the blockaded strip.

The Israeli legal rights organization Gisha says the winter export deal allows just 1 percent of the 400 export trucks a day Israel agreed to permit under a 2005 deal with the Palestinian Authority.

Israel tightened a land and sea blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas took control of the coastal strip, restricting the movement of goods and the 1.7 million residents out of the 360 square kilometer territory.

Limited imports into Gaza were straitjacketed by the closure of three terminals equipped for fuel and goods transfers since 2008, and a ban on local construction materials.

Exports from Gaza producers are blocked by Israeli authorities, bar the irregular Dutch-sponsored vegetable and fruit convoys.

"Since all exports from Gaza to Europe via Israel undergo comprehensive security checks and meet all required standards, it is hard to imagine any security rationale behind the ban," Gisha says.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445130.

Bodyguard of Palestinian commander 'killed in Lebanon'

Thursday 15/12/2011

BEIRUT (Ma'an) -- The bodyguard of a top Palestinian commander was shot dead on Wednesday in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon, a local official told Lebanese media.

"At around 10:00 p.m., a masked gunman shot and killed Ashraf Qadiri at his shop here in the Ain al-Hilweh camp," Munir Maqdah, in charge of security at the camp near Saida, told Now Lebanon.

Qadiri was a bodyguard for Mohammed Abdel Hamid Issa, alias "Al-Lino," the head of Palestinian party Fatah's police force in Ain al-Hilweh, according to the Beirut-based news site.

The shooting was the second such incident targeting one of Issa's bodyguards, Now said.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445206.

Gaza official: 6 women, 55 children set for release

Thursday 15/12/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Six women and 55 children are among the detainees due to be released in days in a prisoner exchange deal with Israel, a Gaza prisoners' official said on Thursday.

Riyad al-Ashqar, media director in Gaza's Ministry of Prisoners, said of the 550 expected to be freed this week, 506 are from the West Bank, 40 are from Gaza, and two are from Jerusalem.

Two Jordanian nationals, Saleh Aref and Wael Hurani, will also be freed, he said.

The six women to be released is just a portion of the 11 females detainees currently imprisoned by Israel, al-Ashqar said. Fifty-five under-18s are due for release, out of 164 Palestinian children in Israeli jails, according to recent figures from the UN agency UNICEF.

Israel released 477 prisoners on Oct. 18 -- including 27 women -- and agreed to free an additional 550 detainees within two months in a captive exchange deal with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Wednesday that the remaining prisoners would be freed on Sunday if the Supreme Court rejected any petitions against the release.

A partial list of those slated for release was published by the Palestinian Prisoners society on Wednesday.

Al-Ashqar said 113 of the to-be released prisoners were detained in 2011 and 109 in 2010, and the longest sentence amongst the group is 18 years.

The detainees official said 4,500 Palestinians remain imprisoned by Israel and called on Palestinian factions to intensify their efforts for the release of all detainees.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445311.

Israel forms special ops command

Thursday 15/12/2011

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel said on Thursday it was unifying its special forces under one command, a move experts say could help Israel strike countries like Iran, whose nuclear program the country deems a threat to its existence.

"The primary task of the Corps will be to extend joint IDF (Israeli army) operations into the strategic depth," said a statement from the military, announcing the formation of the "Depth Corps."

Citing interviews with senior Israeli officers, American journal Defense News said the Corps commandos would be able to operate "far from Israel's borders" in the "third circle" -- a term that generally applies to the Gulf and the Horn of Africa.

Israeli media predicted that the Depth Corps might operate inside Iran, which a UN nuclear watchdog report last month said appeared to be working on designing a nuclear weapon.

That finding has ratcheted up tension between Iran and Western powers and Israel. Diplomatic sources said on Wednesday Iran could soon begin sensitive atomic activities in an underground facility deep inside a mountain.

Iran, which denies seeking the bomb, has lost several nuclear scientists and military brass to assassinations, suspected defections and explosions, feeding speculation that Israel and Western allies are already waging sabotage campaigns.

Elite ground, air and naval units would all retain their unique capabilities, Defense News reported, but the new structure would encourage them to more closely collaborate in mission planning.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445367.

Officials plan water plant to end crisis

Thursday 15/12/2011

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Water Authority is working to establish a major desalination plant by the Dead Sea, its chief has revealed.

The plan is designed to help ease the water crisis in the West Bank and Gaza by providing an extra 100 million cubic meters of water, Shaddad al-Attili said.

However it will stand or fall on the approval of a joint Israeli-Palestinian committee, he told Ma'an after attending a water conference in Israel organized by Friends of the Earth Middle East.

The water agency is hamstrung by the requirement set in the Oslo Accords that all projects go through the Joint Water Committee, in which Israel can veto any plans, he said.

Water is one of the six final status issues outlined in the 1993 accords to be resolved in a peace treaty with Israel, alongside borders, refugees, settlements, Jerusalem and security.

The Israeli-Palestinian JWC differs from other such committees in that it does not address shared water resources, but just the division of Palestinian resources in the West Bank.

Water crisis

Al-Attili said Palestine's share of water has not changed in the near 20 years since the accords established the committee, despite high population growth.

"Israel is controlling 93 percent of the water in the region while Palestinians have only seven percent," he said.

Al-Attili said that by the year 2000, Palestine should be using 200 million cubic meters of water per year, but 2010 water authority data shows Palestinians can access only 96 million cubic meters.

"We pay for drinking water. Water in Gaza is undrinkable because it’s salty and contaminated," he said.

"When Gazans take showers they are soaked with salt and children's skin has turned to blue due to chemicals," Al-Attili added, without elaborating on the condition.

Control of resources

Al-Attili said Israel's expansion of settlements, which monopolize the West Bank's water supply, and Israel's vetoes on Palestinian water projects contribute to the water crisis.

Israel's military control over 60 percent of the West Bank, which prevents Palestinians from accessing rivers, springs and wells, exacerbates the problem, Al-Attili said.

Meanwhile, Israel has drilled deeper into West Bank aquifers than the shallow wells drilled by Palestinians before Israel's occupation, draining much of the Palestinians' water supply.

Al-Attili said the PA had a workable solution to the water crisis, in line with international law, under which Israel could build its own desalination plants to compensate for water supplies returned to Palestinians.

The authority is also working on plans to transfer water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, which would replenish the Dead Sea as well as providing water for desalination.

He urged Israeli officials to discuss a solution to the crisis, based on the two-state model, adding that a Palestinian state could not be established without a solution to the division of water resources.

"We are looking for a solution to the conflict. No one wants this conflict," Al-Attili said.

"Having a clean water is a basic right, but this right is taken from us. Can Israel accept that its neighbors have no water?"

Source: Newstro.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445277.

Dengue fever outbreak in western Indonesia kills 27

MUARATEBO, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- An ongoing outbreak of dengue fever in western Indonesia has killed at least 27 people in the past two months, officials said on Thursday. Hundreds more have been affected.

Health officials on Thursday confirmed that two more people have died of dengue fever at the Sultan Thaha Saefuddin general hospital in the Tebo district of Jambi province, which is located on the east coast of central Sumatra.

Jambi administration spokesman Subhi told the Antara news agency that in the last two months, the dengue fever endemic has caused at least 27 deaths. The total number of cases has meanwhile increased to around 800, an increase from 700 at the start of December.

Hendra, the Sultan Thaha Saefuddin hospital spokesperson, said the two latest victims had faced complications because they were late in treating the disease. He said eleven others are still being treated at the hospital for the virus, but it is unclear how many people have been hospitalized in other regional hospitals.

Dengue spreads more often after the rainy season when stagnant water on the streets usually activate the breed of mosquitoes, which transmit and cause the dengue fever. Indonesia's rainy season normally begins in the month of November and lasts until March.

Pakistan has also faced a severe outbreak of dengue fever this year, killing at least 340 people and infecting more than 32,000 people. The outbreak, which was centered in Punjab's provincial capital of Lahore, did not follow the typical epidemic cycle as it initially continued to affect people at a constant rate.

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Source: Newstro.
Link: http://newstro.com/article/dengue-fever-outbreak-in-western-indonesia-kills-27.html.

Indonesian police 'kill fourteen' Papuan separatists during raid

JAKARTA (BNO NEWS) -- The separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM) on Thursday claimed fourteen of its members have allegedly been killed during a recent police raid in the district of Paniai in Indonesia's restive Papua region, the Jakarta Globe reported.

Leo Yeimo, spokesman for the Paniai chapter of the outlawed rebel group, said the fourteen members were killed on Tuesday when police forces raided one of its sites in the town of Eduda. He said the bodies of those killed have been evacuated from the group's former headquarters, which has since been transformed into a police station.

"We were constantly attacked by Indonesian security forces from the land as well as from helicopter. They even fired randomly at our headquarters, so many people fell victim," he told the newspaper. Leo said the group's leader, John Magay Yogi, escaped the raid unharmed.

"We are still being pursued [on Thursday]," the spokesman said, adding that guerrillas will launch an attack against Indonesian security forces if they 'continue to harass civilians.' "Helicopters are constantly looking for our hideouts. We know the terrain better so we will fight until the last drop of blood we have, we will never surrender."

Meanwhile, Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said he could not confirm the claims made by Leo, but acknowledged an operation was taking place. "We don't know if there were casualties on the [OPM] side. What is clear is that they were attacked because they attacked us first," he said. 



Wachyono said the police confiscated two assault rifles and 53 rounds of ammunition as well as dozens of sharp weapons and bows from the OPM base during the raid. Officers also seized separatist paraphernalia, including an outlawed Morning Star Flag, a symbol of Papuan independence. 


Police have intensified their crackdown on the OPM after a recent series of suspected guerrilla attacks in the province left five officers dead. According to people living in Eduda, more police officers and military soldiers have been deployed to the area, displacing a number of civilian residents.

Violence has been escalating in Papua since the Third Papuan People's Congress was held in mid-October in Abepura, Jayapura. Six people were found dead following the gathering of pro-independence activists, which was dispersed by Indonesian security forces who fired warning shots and tear gas.

Violence has plagued Papua since 1969 when Indonesia took over control of the region from the Dutch, ignoring Papuan demands for political sovereignty. Jakarta granted the region special autonomy in 2001, but this failed to quell widespread separatist sentiments.

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Source: Newstro.
Link: http://newstro.com/article/indonesian-police-kill-fourteen-papuan-separatists-during-raid.html.

EU welcomes Russia, Montenegro and Samoa to World Trade Organization

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- The European Union (EU) on Thursday welcomed the expected endorsement for the accession of Montenegro, Russia and Samoa to the World Trade Organization (WTO). It brings the total number of WTO member states to 157.

The 8th WTO Ministerial Conference, which is currently taking place in Geneva until Sunday, will endorse the accession of Russia on Saturday and of Montenegro and Samoa on Sunday. With the three new members, the WTO will have a total number of 157 members.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said the addition of the three WTO member states will improve the conditions for doing business with these countries and strengthens the multilateral trading system as a whole. "The EU has strongly supported the accession of these countries to the WTO," he said.

Russia is the biggest economy in the world which is still outside the WTO, and its accession is considered significant from both a multilateral and bilateral perspective. The announcement follows 18 years of negotiations, the longest WTO accession process to date.

Its accession to the WTO is especially important for the EU, and it is expected to provide a boost to further develop economic relationships as the EU is Russia's biggest trading partner with a 45.8 percent share of its overall trade in 2010. Russia is the EU's third largest trading partner after the United States and China with an 8.6 percent share of EU trade in 2010.

Russia's membership to the WTO is likely to take place before the end of August 2012, once Russia ratifies the negotiated results.

Meanwhile, the EU also welcomed the accession of Montenegro to the WTO, which is additionally a candidate country for EU membership. The accession process started in 2004 and it represents an important step in the integration process with the EU. Montenegro will have until March 31, 2012, to ratify the accession package.

A candidate country to the WTO since 1998, Samoa is the second least-developed country whose accession is approved this year, following Vanuatu in October. The EU said it supported Samoa along its accession path, accompanying the country in its internal reform process and taking a flexible approach.

Meanwhile, the EU and the Lao People's Democratic Republic will also sign a bilateral protocol this week which will represent a significant step closer to the accession of Laos to the WTO, which may take place next year after bilateral negotiations conclude this week. The country applied in 1997 and is the only ASEAN member not yet Member of the WTO.

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Source: Newstro.
Link: http://newstro.com/article/eu-welcomes-russia-montenegro-and-samoa-to-world-trade-organization.html.

Obama to fill Gitmo with Americans as NDAA law passes

Thursday, December 15, 2011
Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) The right to due process in America is coming to a sudden end as traitorous members of Congress have now passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which gives the U.S. military the power to arrest, detain, interrogate, torture and murder U.S. citizens inside the United States, with no due process.

President Obama, who had previously said he would oppose the bill (because he claimed he already had the power to kill Americans outside the law), now says he will support it and presumably sign it. The White House even issued a statement, which is one of the most astonishing and Big Brother-ish examples of doublespeak yet observed coming out of the Obama administration:

"We have concluded that the language does not challenge or constrain the President's ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists, and protect the American people, and the President's senior advisers will not recommend a veto..."

Of course, by "protect the American people" what they really mean is that they will shred the Peoples' protections under the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

"It's something so radical that it would have been considered crazy had it been pushed by the Bush administration," said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch. "It establishes precisely the kind of system that the United States has consistently urged other countries not to adopt. At a time when the United States is urging Egypt, for example, to scrap its emergency law and military courts, this is not consistent."

Obama's Christmas gift to Americans: Complete nullification of the Bill of Rights
Under the NDAA:

• You may be arrested and indefinitely detained merely for being "suspected" of any involvement whatsoever with "terrorism" -- a term that can be twisted to mean almost anything, including protesting against animal testing laboratories or chaining yourself to a tree as an environmental protester.

• You no longer have a right to legal representation.

• You can be held for life without ever being charged for any crime.

• You no longer have a right to a trial by a jury of your peers.

• You can be murdered by the government -- legally! -- without ever being charged with a crime.

• The government does not have to present ANY evidence against you to take all these actions. The government merely has to assert that you are "suspected" of being involved in "terrorism." Such suspicion, of course, could be dreamed up against anyone! Political opponents, Free Speech proponents, protesters, dissenters... anyone at all...

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/034414_NDAA_military_detention_Bill_of_Rights.html.

California regulators frame Organic Pastures and force raw milk shut down over fabricated E. Coli scare

Friday, December 16, 2011
Ethan A. Huff

(NaturalNews) It has been nearly a month since the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) swooped in like vultures on Organic Pastures Dairy in Fresno, Calif., and demanded that the farm recall and stop selling all of its raw milk products immediately and indefinitely. Five children in four nearby counties had developed E. Coli, and officials automatically blamed it on the farm's raw milk without so much as a shred of evidence proving this to be true. Nearly a month later, the state's own tests have now determined that Organic Pastures raw milk was not the culprit.

USA Today reported back on November 20, 2011, that the five children were all infected with the O157:H7 strain of E. Coli, which is believed to be contracted through food that has been contaminated with tainted fecal matter. Since all of the children's families had allegedly purchased Organic Pastures raw milk at some point, authorities automatically blamed those products for the outbreak, and immediately ordered a full recall and quarantine of every product the company produces.

This unsubstantiated, knee-jerk reaction on behalf of the State of California is hardly surprising, as both it and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been on a crusade to destroy raw milk for decades. But what might be surprising to some is how easily these government agencies were able to target Organic Pastures without first providing a single, credible piece of evidence linking the dairy's milk to the outbreak.

Organic Pastures employs a rigorous food safety protocol called "RAMP" (Risk Analysis & Management Program) that "voluntarily goes far beyond what is required by the CA DHS (California Department of Health Services), USDA (US Department of Agriculture), FDA or CDFA to assure that [their] raw milk is delicious and very safe." If you review the document outlining the dairy's step-by-step safety process for yourself, you will see that it is near-impossible for Organic Pastures dairy products to become tainted with E. Coli, let alone make it out the door to customers if it somehow ever does.

But none of this matters to state regulators, which arbitrarily and immediately shut down Organic Pastures dairy before even testing the milk and verifying whether or not it was tainted. So for nearly a month now, Organic Pastures has had to sit and wait for these tests, which should have been conducted before any type of recall or quarantine, to be conducted -- and all results, of course, have turned up negative for E. Coli.

Government assault against Organic Pastures an act of domestic terrorism
The government's reactionary approach to "food safety" issues involving raw milk are neither scientific nor rational. One would think that, in order to declare a food product unsafe, it might be a good idea to test it first. But when raw milk is involved, regulators always assume the worst, which typically results in a bout of hysterical and overbearing tyranny against the parties involved.

What the CDFA has done to Organic Pastures is nothing short of domestic terrorism. There was never any evidence that Organic Pastures milk products were in any way unsafe or tainted, and yet authorities appear to be doing everything in their power to keep the company from resuming production, which could eventually put it out of business.

"This is yet another example of the government engaging in outrageous acts of economic terrorism against farmers and food producers," commented Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, on the matter...

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/034422_Organic_Pastures_California_Ecoli.html.

Surging Ron Paul Stumps in New Hampshire

Written by Jack Kenny
Wednesday, 14 December 2011

With a Public Policy Polling survey showing him just one point behind frontrunner Newt Gingrich in Iowa and a Rasmussen poll placing him just four points behind Gingrich for second place in Iowa, Ron Paul arrived at a campaign stop in Manchester, New Hampshire., Wednesday afternoon with plenty to be cheerful about.

“The campaign is going well,” he told a gathering of about 60 people at the Glass and Gear company. “I wish the country were going just as well.” The campaign, he said, appears to be “peaking at just the right time, just a few weeks before the [primary] election. A lot of decisions are being made in the next few weeks.”

With the Iowa caucuses coming on January 3 and the New Hampshire primary seven days later, candidates have only a short time to make their cases to voters. But with Congress scheduled to adjourn at the end of this week, Rep. Paul (R-Texas) will have more time out of Washington to spend in both Iowa and New Hampshire next week and in New Hampshire from January 3 until primary day January 10.

In New Hampshire, Mitt Romney still holds a double-digit lead lead over Gingrich and also possibly home-field advantage, having been Governor of neighboring Massachusetts from 2002-2006. Romney also has a summer home in the New Hampshire town of Wolfeboro on Lake Winnipesaukee. The Rasmussen poll has Romney at 33 percent and Gingrich at 22 percent of likely voters in New Hampshire's Republican primary. But Paul — at 18 percent — is closing on Gingrich in a primary that political experts have all but conceded to Romney. That makes a second-place finish all the more important, since the “expectations game” has always been a part of “spinning” the New Hampshire primary. A second-place finish by Paul would wildly exceed the expectations of a political and media establishment — whose ignoring of him through the early stages of the campaign prompted TV satirist Jon Stewart to wonder on his Comedy Central Daily Show why Paul was being treated “like the thirteenth floor in a hotel.” Paul seemed pleased but not surprised by his showing in the latest polls.

"The momentum is building up and a lot of the candidates so far would come and go,” he told reporters after meeting voters in Amherst, New Hampshire, Tuesday morning. “They would shoot to the top and drop back rapidly. Ours has been very steady growth — then in this last week or two there has been a sudden extra growth.'' Indeed, after Michele Bachmann defeated Paul by only 152 votes in the Ames Iowa straw poll in August and Texas Governor Rick Perry had just entered the race, TV journalists were nearly unanimous in announcing a “top tier” of candidates consisting of Romney, Perry, and Bachmann. Lately Bachmann has all but disappeared in the media coverage and Perry, with his stumbling and often incoherent performances in interviews and debates, appears also to have fallen out of contention.

And in Iowa, it is Romney who is sinking quickly. The Public Policy Polling survey shows Romney at just 16 percent, trailing both Gingrich with 22 percent and Paul at 21 percent, putting Paul in a statistical dead heat with the former Georgia congressman and speaker of the U.S. House.

At the Manchester stop, Paul delivered his message of limited federal government and a non-interventionist foreign policy to a mixed audience of Paul supporters and Independent voters. He named the federal departments of Education and Energy among those he would seek to eliminate and said his plan to cut one trillion dollars from the federal government in the first year of his administration would merely cut the federal budget back to where it was in 2006.

“I don't think too many people in '06 thought our government was too small,” he observed wryly.

Asked what he would do to help the middle class, Paul said the government-inflated housing bubble near the end of the last decade and the bailouts of giant financial corporations have forced middle-class taxpayers to subsidize the wealthy, thus widening the gap between the middle class and the very rich. He also blamed the Federal Reserve, which he proposes to abolish, for printing more money, thereby devaluing the dollars of poor and middle-class workers.

When a woman asked about the difficulty of getting medical insurance for her son because of his preexisting heart condition, Paul said the budget cuts he is proposing would not cut Social Security, Medicare, or child health programs. He maintained, however, that the federal role in healthcare has raised the costs for everyone. A retired obstetrician, Paul said in the mid-1960s he worked at a Catholic hospital for $3 an hour “and nobody was turned away.” A Shriners hospital in Galveston, Texas treats patients for free, he said.

Kevin Hallenbeck, who runs a private-sector training program for sales people, is an undecided voter who spoke with the candidate for a few minutes before his speech. He is not committed to any candidate, he said, but is favorably impressed with Paul. Hallenbeck, who had heard that Paul is an “isolationist,” said he told the candidate, “I don't believe we should disengage from the entire world.” He later said he was impressed by Paul's “thoughtful response.”

“He basically said it's not our responsibility to tell other people how to live their lives and spend their money. And the other thing he said is that we can't afford it.” He likes what he heard from Paul, Hallenbeck said.

“What I hear are core values coming though. I don't hear a stump speech,” he said. “I like that.”

Source: The New American.
Link: http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/10196-surging-ron-paul-stumps-in-new-hampshire.