Saturday August 28th marked the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a Dream" speech. If Fox News host Glenn Beck is to be believed, it was entirely by accident that he chose this day to hold his "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial. Invited guests included Sarah Palin and a fundamentalist Christian niece of MLK. At the last minute, Rev. Al Sharpton's foundation decided to hold a rally at a Washington D.C. high school, followed by a march to the MLK memorial which is located on the backside of the Lincoln memorial. They called the event "Reclaim the Dream".
Somali pirates are getting a lot of press, but the world's most successful pirates are not working off the east coast of Africa. They are sailing the waters of Southeast Asian countries. In fact, during the first half of 2010 the east coast of Africa accounted for only 29 successful attacks, compared to 39 successful attacks in the waters of ASEAN countries and China. Moreover, attacks by pirates around Indonesia, the Malacca Straights, Malaysia, Philippines, the Singapore Straights, and the South China Sea have a far greater chance of success than attacks occurring near Africa. Just over a year ago, Malcolm Robertson, an Englishman sailing with his wife off the coast of Thailand, was reportedly killed and thrown overboard by pirates.
Nevertheless, Thailand has announced that it will be spending over $8 million to help fight pirates off the coast of Somalia:
A 371-member Thai naval fleet will begin its 98-day-long anti-piracy mission in the waters off Somalia in September, reports said.
Thai government spokesman Supachai Jaisamut said the Cabinet on Monday approved a decision to allocate 270 million baht ($8.4 million) for the purpose. "Thai boats, too, were hijacked many times," he told reporters.
It's tempting to suggest that the Royal Thai Navy should be patroling waters closer to home. But on second thought, what they're planning to do is probably for the best: with the Thai fleet off to Africa, any Rohingya boat refugees will now have a fighting chance of survival.
President Dmitry Medvedev with Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.
A Thai court recently decided that arms dealer Viktor Bout should be extradited to the United States to face charges of aiding terrorists. Bout's incarceration in Bangkok followed a successful US sting operation. According to the Washington Post, Viktor Bout is likely to appeal the Thai court's extradition order to HM the King.
If you've been following the "Ground zero mosque" story, you know that this weekend a group of anti-mosque demonstrators in New York City came close to assaulting a black man wearing a white cap. The mob had (mistakenly, it turned out) assumed the individual was a Muslim (video). The demonstration two blocks from Ground Zero came a full week after Obama appeared to have taken a stand on the mosque controversy, only to backtrack the very next day; after former DNC chair Howard Dean called the mosque "a real affront to people who lost their lives" and urged that the builders of the facility put their plans on hold. While Democrats waffled, right wing demagogue Sarah Palin rallied people to "refudiate" (sic) the "mosque". At this point, as many as 70% of Americans have been persuaded that the absurdly labeled "Ground Zero mosque" should not be built -- absurd because the planned building is not, in fact, a mosque, but a "a sort of Muslim YMCA with a pool and a prayer room." And it's not located at Ground Zero, but two city blocks up.
To be sure, a few lights have shone in the midst of the dim landscape that is America's political and media establishment. For example, after the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) made a strong statement opposing the mosque, journalist Fareed Zakaria returned a $10,000 prize that had been awarded to him by ADL back in 2005.
Another rare shinning exemplar is Congressman Ron Paul. Following is a portion of Ron Paul's statement on the mosque that was posted on his website on August 20:
...The fact that so much attention has been given the mosque debate, raises the question of just why and driven by whom?
In my opinion it has come from the neo-conservatives who demand continual war in the Middle East and Central Asia and are compelled to constantly justify it.
They never miss a chance to use hatred toward Muslims to rally support for the ill conceived preventative wars. A select quote from soldiers from in Afghanistan and Iraq expressing concern over the mosque is pure propaganda and an affront to their bravery and sacrifice.
The claim is that we are in the Middle East to protect our liberties is misleading. To continue this charade, millions of Muslims are indicted and we are obligated to rescue them from their religious and political leaders.And, we’re supposed to believe that abusing our liberties here at home and pursuing unconstitutional wars overseas will solve our problems.
According to IRNA, some 60,000 Pakistani troops are working on flood recovery efforts. But reading the article, you have to wonder how much time soldiers will be spending meeting the actual needs of flood victims:
When asked about reports that banned groups are active in relief activities, the army spokesman said that there are clear orders that banned outfits are not allowed to workand their camps and banners will be removed. But welfare organizations, and groups affiliated with political parties and social groups are allowed to work in floods-hit areas.
Such standing orders could seriously hamper relief efforts, and have the unintended consequence of weakening the moral authority of the government in flood-afflicted regions. In remote regions, religious organizations have often been the only groups providing needed services to victims. According to an earlier New York Times report:
The Islamic charities sprung into action immediately after the floods hit last week, they said, sending a brigade of 4,000 volunteers in Nowshera, in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, to rebuild homes in villages far too dangerous for foreign aid workers to enter...
Officials at one aid center associated with Jamaat-ud-Dawa said that the police tried to dismantle their operation on Tuesday morning as they prepared a breakfast for about 25 flood victims, using an ordinance that prohibited public gatherings without a permit.
The victims protested and pleaded with the police not to shut down a humanitarian service that the government was not providing....
To the extent the government of Pakistan, whether through the army or other means, provides assistance to distressed persons, local populations would obviously have no need to turn to the hard-line Islamic orders for help. Until such time as government-approved organizations are actually capable of delivering sufficient aid to victims, does a government -- any government, anytime, anywhere -- have any business stipulating who may or may not come to the assistance of people in dire straights?
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This Medicins sans frontiersvideo provides an overview of the kinds of problems that urgently need to be addressed in Pakistan. For example, ensuring access to clean drinking water and the prevention epidemics such as cholera.
The government's shambling response to floods that have affected a third of the country has some analysts saying that President Asif Ali Zardari could be forced from office, possibly by the military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half its 63-year history.
It's clear to some observers that the full impact of the flood on the political system won't be felt in the coming days, but in the coming months. More from a blogger about this at THERE LIVE.
As the extent of human suffering has becomes more apparent, the tepid response of the world community to the disaster is conspicuous. Comparable recent disasters in Haiti and Indonesia had raised ten times as much aid money by this point. Both the State Department and the British prime minister are making an effort to solicit donations for the Pakistan floods directly from citizens. That's all well and good up to a point. Maybe the public will respond. But I hope leaders aren't passing around the collection plate because these politicians see no domestic political support for unilaterally making large donations to relief efforts on behalf of taxpayers conditioned by the media to view Pakistan in the worst possible light. I hope Western leaders are not counting on public donations. That would be short-sighted, to say the least.
The above map, dated Aug. 3, is from US Central Command, which is posting updates about the mobilization of the US military in response to the floods. The map indicates that nearly one-third of Pakistan has been impacted by the disaster. According to their post dated Aug. 13:
U.S. choppers picked up at least 2,700 flood victims in the Swat Valley over the past week, and delivered bags of flour and biscuits. We’re sending additional helicopters, too: 19 new heavy-lift helicopters — 12 CH-46E Sea Knights, four CH-53E Super Stallions and three MH-53E Sea Dragons — are aboard the USS Peleliu [shown in photo], part of a Marine expeditionary unit that has been positioned off the Pakistani coast to aid the effort. The new choppers will relieve four Chinooks and two Black Hawks, based in Afghanistan, that were sent here along with 90 troops on an emergency basis last week.
It sounds to me as if that "marine expeditionary unit" amounts to only one ship and some choppers. You would think with all the US military assets in the region, they could be doing much more.
Medicins Sans Frontiers has about 1,000 workers on the ground in Pakistan providing emergency medical care and support to flood victims. You can donate online.
On 12 August Reporters Without Borders/ Reporters sans frontiers (RSF) issued an Open Letter to WikiLeaks that strongly admonishes WikiLeaks for having released documents that are alleged by the US military to have included the names of Afghan informants. The letter is signed by both the Secretary General of RSF and its Washington DC representative. WikiLeaks has yet to issue a formal response to this letter.
Is the anger justified? Or might it be misdirected?
According to the WSJ, "Worries about a shortage [of wheat] already have sent grain prices soaring, threatening a potentially damaging bout of food inflation.... The high stakes in coming weeks show how thin the margin for error is in the global food supply. The appetites of many nations are growing, and they rely on international trade to sate it."
What happens next depends on two countries: 1) Russia, which is battling raging forest fires caused by a record heat wave, and has temporarily banned wheat exports. And 2) the US, which supplies almost a third of the world's wheat. American farmers have only weeks to decide whether to seed extra fields. The farmer who plants extra wheat stands to lose money if predictions of a shortage in Russia turn out to be false.
JOTMAN.COM contributor Sanjuro, having surveyed various Russian language media sources, updates us on the fire situation in Russia:
There are some improvements. More forest fires have been out out (especially around Moscow), but peat moors are still mostly burning - they are notoriously hard to fight, some peats can burn for months and even years. There's still smog over Moscow, at least until Wednesday, people are trying to refrain from activities. There's great public outrage over Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov who until before yesterday was refusing to return to town, claiming there was "nothing extraordinary". Luzhkov is a very significant figure in the Pantheon of the Russian corruption - the unsinkable mayor of the capital city, his wife Yelena Baturina is one of the richest women in the world (her company Inteco gets most lucrative construction contracts in and around Moscow).
The situation in the provinces is still difficult. Scores of volunteers helping fireghters, with inadequate equipment and little results. Private individuals, like blogger Igor Cherski that I mentioned, seem to be doing more than the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Russian analogue of FEMA, even more corrupt and useless. People donate money, buy equipment and supplies and bring them to fire sites to volunteers using their own vehicles - and many begin to realize they probably don't need a government so inefficient.People donate stuff to survivors using online networks - this is the first large scale grassroot activity that covers a great part of Russia.
Too little to show for all that hope? (Photo by Jotman shows Obama at the G20)
Regardless of what some of his brainwashed opponents on the right say, the election of Barack Obama did not mark the beginning of any revolution -- socialist or otherwise. Although Obama has taken the rough edges off the George W. Bush view of the world, the policies are not markedly different. On issue after issue, the country's trajectory has scarcely budged an inch. Offshore drilling? Obama supported it -- at least until the spill (more on that bellow). Escalate the war in Afghanistan? Obama did that. Close Guantanamo? Obama dithers about where to locate the replica. Reform education? Obama merely recycled NCLB. Stem the country's declining infrastructure? Eight billion for rail won't cut it. Curtail the influence of corporate lobbyists? Not a chance. And then there's the economy.
Barack Obama, Hamid Karzai & Asif Ali Zardari after trilateral meeting 5-6-09 1.jpg President Barack Obama (center) with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, and Vice President Joe Biden. White House photo by Pete Souza.
President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan is still in Europe, so far having chosen not to return to Pakistan on account of massive flooding. A NY Times story describes how the response of Pakistan's government to the floods has led to widespread public outrage (which I also noted in a previous post). The Times story also confirms what should not come as a surprise: namely, that Islamic groups are filling the vacuum.
Given that some militant Islamic groups will undoubtedly gain support by taking the lead on relief, it may seem important that the West -- particularly the United States -- be seen to come to the aid of the victims. The other day I was tempted to write that humanitarian assistance would show Pakistanis that the West valued their lives beyond their country's strategic importance in some kind of Great Game. I suspect various Western foreign policy experts are busy scribbling memos something to this effect.
Kalsoom of Changing Pakistan blog reports on the massive flooding in a region of Pakistan that had previously been the site of violent conflict between the army and the Pakistani Taliban:
The inundations have inflicted maximum damage on the provincial capital, Peshawar, and the valley of Swat, an area trying to return to normal life after the devastation that resulted from an anti-Taliban operation last year. Reporting about Nowshehra, a chief region of the beautiful Swat valley, an Express Tribune writer tells that flash floods have washed away more than 10,000 homes in Nowshera Kalan and more than 5,000 people have migrated to the village and its surrounding areas.
According to the latest reports, some 1.5 million people are among the affected by the worst flood in the last 80 years ... a huge populace stays aloof from all aid and rescue, stuck in water-locked areas. The worst is the lack of medical facilities available to the affected. The health conditions are fast deteriorating due to the virulent outbreak of a number of diseases including cholera and gastroenteritis.
The World Food Program observes that food stocks have been wiped out. WFP is now trying to deliver food to as many of the nearly three million people impacted by the disaster as possible.
Few observers fail to note public outrage against perceived inaction or indifference of the Pakistani president. For example, the website of PKKH (a pro-China Islamic political group) describes the "growing public backlash against the civilian government and President Asif Ali Zardari over failures to provide food, water and sanitation to all survivors, as well as the refusal of over 150 parliamentarians to donate their salary to the cause." Anger at the Pakistani government is also reflected in comments at the Guardian website. Will the disaster -- which has impacted a strife-ridden area of the country -- further undermine Pakistan's political stability, or might this tragedy lead to reconciliation (as happened in Ache Indonesia after the tsunami)?
Having surveyed Russian language media sources, JOTMAN.COM contributor Sanjuro reports on the fires sweeping across Russia:
It's quite amazing that mainstream media in the west are failing to provide good stories with the Russia fire situation. It looks like half of the country, most of its populated part, is on fire. Some pics and videos are quite apocalyptic in nature. Authorities are proving next to useless - even a The Russian Navy's materiel base was reportedly seriously damaged, and as of yesterday there were reports of a fire approaching a nuclear research center in Sarov (former secret town Arzamas-16). The current situation is both a result of the past years' cutback of firefighting services in rural areas, and an illustration, along with man-made disasters of the recent past, just how badly the Russian infrastructure has deteriorated. It's not quite Pakistan as yet. The most badly affected areas are the areas surrounding the cities of Ryazan and Voronezh, both major cities. But it's pretty bad everywhere. Some maps:
The daily-updated map of the burning areas is seen on the GoogleEarth: (looks scary, that was on Jul31 could have changed since - but if it's true, then forestry has pretty much been decimated in Western Russia for the next fifteen years.
If you have GoogleEarth installed, you can view this map.
PM Vladimir Putin is busy shuttling from one fire scene to another, "fixing" things. Seems genuinely concerned, but may also be trying to convert into cheap political capital. Medvedev has so far seemed distanced, but now is getting sucked into this as well.
Despite more resources thrown into this, the fires are likely to continue until the autumn.
Perhaps the best sources of news on the fires have been the eyewitness reports of bloggers. Sanjuro takes us through some of the best he came across over at THERE LIVE.COM.
