Docudharma Times Tuesday June 24

Republicans Love Fear Because?

They Are Afraid Of The Dark

And Those Scary Monsters Under The Bed

Zimbabwe: more beatings, more abductions as the world watches

· UN security council says free and fair election impossible

· Opposition leader Tsvangirai seeks shelter in embassy

· Armed police take families away from opposition’s HQ

Chris McGreal in Harare and Julian Borger, diplomatic editor

The Guardian,

Tuesday June 24, 2008

The UN security council last night warned Robert Mugabe that a free and fair election in Zimbabwe was “impossible”, after the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai quit the presidential race and sought refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare amid escalating violence.

As Mugabe’s forces kept up their assault on the opposition, raiding the opposition Movement for Democratic Change’s HQ and hauling away scores of people sheltering from abductions, beatings and worse, the security council unanimously adopted a statement condemning the government’s “campaign of violence” that had “denied its political opponents the right to campaign freely”.

It was the security council’s first formal action on the crisis. South Africa, Mugabe’s strongest regional backer, had hitherto blocked UN involvement in the crisis, but it agreed to the statement, a move described as significant by British diplomats.

Al-Qaeda’s Growing Online Offensive

CAIRO Second of two articles

By Craig Whitlock

Washington Post Foreign Service

Tuesday, June 24, 2008; Page A01

Early this year, a religious radical calling himself Abu Hamza had a question for the deputy leader of al-Qaeda regarding the Egyptian secret police. “Are they committing unbelief?” he tapped on his keyboard. “And is it permissible to kill them?”

A few weeks later, an answer came from a man with a $25 million bounty on his head, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Killing the police is justified, Zawahiri replied, because they are “infidels, each and every one of them.”

USA

McCain gambling on offshore drilling

He thinks the nation’s high gas prices will trump concerns about protecting the environment, especially in key Midwest states.

By Cathleen Decker and Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

June 24, 2008  

SANTA BARBARA — For decades it has been a bipartisan political staple — the jaunt to the beaches of Santa Barbara to profess opposition to oil drilling at the spot where a massive 1969 spill despoiled sea life and ocean waters, launching the modern environmental movement.

With visits here and elsewhere, Republicans Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger used their environmental credentials to win the governor’s office. George Bush the elder announced his support for a delay in oil drilling leases en route to victory in November 1988, when he became the last Republican to win the state in a presidential contest.  

American Envoy Is Linked to Arms Deal Cover-Up

By ERIC SCHMITT

Published: June 24, 2008

WASHINGTON – An American ambassador helped cover up the illegal Chinese origins of ammunition that a Pentagon contractor bought to supply Afghan security forces, according to testimony gathered by Congressional investigators.

A military attaché has told the investigators that the United States ambassador to Albania endorsed a plan by the Albanian defense minister to hide several boxes of Chinese ammunition from a visiting reporter. The ammunition was being repackaged to disguise its origins and shipped from Albania to Afghanistan by a Miami Beach arms-dealing company.

Europe

Vatican halts John Paul II’s ‘saint factory’

By Peter Popham in Rome

Tuesday, 24 June 2008

Pope John Paul II’s “saint factory”, responsible for the creation of more saints during his pontificate than in the previous 17 papal reigns put together, may be grinding to a halt.

Archbishop Michele di Ruberto, secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Vatican office that processes claims to sainthood, told La Stampa newspaper that Pope Benedict wants the congregation to pay “maximum attention” in its evaluation of documents supporting a candidate’s claim, with “scrupulous observation” of ecclesiastical norms. The Pope himself reads every file page by page, according to the archbishop, and until he is personally satisfied with the miracles accredited to a candidate, no progress is possible.

Russian art evicted as money moves in with ‘land grab’

From The Times

June 24, 2008

Tony Halpin in Moscow



In a former aristocratic mansion on a leafy side street within walking distance of the Kremlin, the Roerich Museum occupies an enviable location in the centre of Moscow.

Too enviable, it seems. Museum staff say that they are fighting for survival in the face of an attempt by the State to grab their property and other buildings belonging to cultural organisations.

Their prime locations have made them targets for takeovers by government officials eyeing Moscow’s booming property market, where soaring city centre prices now rank behind only London and New York.

Asia

Japan threatens to resume commercial whaling

From The Times

June 24, 2008

Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent

Japan has threatened to resume commercial whaling after a suspension of more than 20 years, in a gesture of defiance towards conservationists and antiwhaling governments.

The threat came with a demand for progress at the International Whaling Commission talks in Chile this week. The unexpectedly blunt ultimatum follows a winter whaling season of high maritime drama and bitter diplomatic rows.

In light of Japan’s threat, some fear that the commission may be in danger of total collapse unless it can rebuild its function as a constructive forum for debate on the whaling issue.

Taleban’s ‘$100m opium takings’

By Kate Clark

BBC News, Afghanistan  

The Taleban made an estimated $100m (£50m) in 2007 from Afghan farmers growing poppy for the opium trade, the United Nations says.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the money was raised by a 10% tax on farmers in Taleban-controlled areas.

The UN estimates last year’s poppy harvest was worth $1bn (£500m).

Mr Costa said the Taleban made even more money from other activities related to the opium trade.

Middle East

Iraqi passions turn to soccer – for 90 minutes

On Sunday, Iraqis focused on their country’s struggle on a soccer field in Dubai instead of the war on the streets.

By Sam Dagher

from the June 24, 2008 edition

Iraqis stopped paying attention to war for a little while Sunday. Instead, they turned to the country’s other preoccupation – soccer.

And here in Amara, where the government mounted a major offensive against Shiite militants last week, men and boys clamored for views of the televisions at riverfront cafes. And as the sun was fading, they began cheering on their countrymen who were fighting to advance in Asian 2010 World Cup qualifying.

Even Iraqi soldiers from Baghdad and other provinces took a break from chasing Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militiamen or looking for weapon caches.

In the end, Qatar advanced and won 1-0. But for at least 90 minutes it wasn’t war that drove Iraqi passions, it was the battle over a ball on a Dubai soccer field.

Before the game, people started taking front-row seats. Songs cheering the national blared from giant speakers.

Iran warns EU sanctions could hurt nuclear diplomacy

By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Tuesday that new sanctions imposed on it by the European Union could hurt diplomatic efforts to resolve a long-running row over Tehran’s disputed nuclear ambitions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini condemned the latest sanctions, agreed by the 27-nation bloc on Monday, as “illegal” and suggested they would only serve to strengthen Iran’s determination to pursue nuclear technology.

Africa

Nigeria: Bonga Attack – FG Orders Heightened Security for Oil Faci



Vanguard (Lagos)

24 June 2008

Posted to the web 24 June 20008

Hector Igbikiowubo

Lagos

THE Federal Government has ordered heightened security for oil facilities in the Niger- Delta following an early morning attack, Thursday, on the Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel which resulted in the shut-in of 225,000 barrels per day, about 14 per cent of Nigeria’s installed crude oil production capacity.

President Umaru Yar’Adua ordered the armed forces to boost security in the southern Niger-Delta region following the attack which eyewitnesses claimed, lasted for four hours.

In a statement released Friday, President Yar’Adua said his government would take “all necessary actions” against those who attacked the Royal Dutch Shell oil installation on Thursday

National day of mourning postponed in SAfrica

JOHANNESBURG (AFP)

A national day of mourning scheduled for Tuesday in South Africa in honour of those killed in a recent wave of xenophobic violence has been postponed, a government statement said.

“The planned National Day of Healing scheduled for Tuesday, June 24, has been postponed”, said the statement by government spokesman Themba Maseko.

He told AFP that the postponement was “to enable more planning to be done and to ensure that more people participate in events of the day,” adding that the government would set a new date soon.

Latin America

Tackling Ecuador’s refugee buildup

Hosting the most refugees in Latin America, the state is trying to speed up its asylum process.

By Irene Caselli  | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the June 24, 2008 edition

Lago Agrio, Ecuador –  Less than a month ago, Rosalba Agredo González was given only a few minutes to leave her house in Colombia. She was woken up in the middle of the night by armed men who threatened her and took away her neighbor.

“They told me they wouldn’t do anything to me because of my children. Otherwise they would have killed me,” she says.

Agredo now lives with her elderly father and her three children in Lago Agrio, a small city in northern Ecuador, 15 miles from the Colombian border. They’ve made their temporary home alongside one wall of a small wooden house, with only a tin roof, concrete floor, and plastic sheets for walls. She doesn’t have a job but sometimes prepares a local pastry at a neighbor’s house which her eldest son sells on the street.