Docudharma Times Tuesday August 19

Bill O’Reilly Proof Positive That

Evolution Is A Complete

Failure

Eastern Europe gets jittery over Russia

Poland, Ukraine, Moldova and the Czech Republic are among those worried that they could be next after the invasion of Georgia.

By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 19, 2008

WARSAW — Signing a missile-defense deal with its good friend the United States has earned Poland nothing less than the threat of nuclear attack from Russia — a threat that might not sound so empty these days, given Moscow’s bloody battle with Georgia.

That conflict has plunged Europe into crisis, sending waves of jitters through Poland and other eastern nations, once-occupied parts of a Soviet empire that some fear Russia may want to reconstruct. Moscow’s actions have also succeeded in driving deeper the wedge between Europe’s East and West.

As Oil Giants Lose Influence, Supply Drops  



By JAD MOUAWAD

Published: August 18, 2008

Oil production has begun falling at all of the major Western oil companies, and they are finding it harder than ever to find new prospects even though they are awash in profits and eager to expand.

Part of the reason is political. From the Caspian Sea to South America, Western oil companies are being squeezed out of resource-rich provinces. They are being forced to renegotiate contracts on less-favorable terms and are fighting losing battles with assertive state-owned oil companies.

And much of their production is in mature regions that are declining, like the North Sea.

USA

Some Nonprofits Push for Increased Federal Involvement



By Philip Rucker

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, August 19, 2008; Page A01  

In the world of philanthropy, where independence from government has long been sacred, a revolution is underway. Social entrepreneurs are clamoring for a realignment of the way the federal government and nonprofit groups work together to maximize the impact of American generosity.

With the presidential campaign in full swing, nonprofit leaders are organizing what some call an unprecedented effort to boost the presence of philanthropy and community service in a new administration. They are calling for a White House office or an agency similar to the Small Business Administration to match nonprofit programs with government priorities, help successful community-based initiatives grow and organize a corps of service volunteers.

Hispanic fertility drives U.S. population growth

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By Kat Glass | McClatchy Newspapers  

WASHINGTON – If it weren’t for Hispanic births, the U.S. could be confronting long-term population declines similar to those in Germany, Japan and other industrialized countries.

Hispanics are the only ethnic group now producing more than two children per family, according to a Census Bureau report released Monday. That’s the number necessary to replace the mother and father and keep the population stable.

“The Hispanic population is growing; whites and Asians are not replacing themselves,” said Jane Dye, the Census Bureau demographer who wrote the study.

Europe

Russia takes more ground in Georgia despite pullback vow



By Tom Lasseter and Shashank Bengali | McClatchy Newspapers  

IGOETI, Georgia – Despite assurances that it would withdraw troops from Georgia starting Monday, the Russian military operated with impunity as its forces moved convoys in and out of the city of Gori and plowed through a police roadblock in this town some 25 miles northwest of Tbilisi, the capital.

In Washington, senior defense officials cited “troubling” intelligence that Russia had set up short-range ballistic missile launchers in South Ossetia. The SS-21 missiles have a range of 40 to 70 miles, meaning they can reach the capital from practically any part of South Ossetia, which Russian forces now occupy.

Italy: Silvio Berlusconi under fire as Pope appears to back warning about fascism

· Ministers defensive after sermon condemns racism

· Magazine criticises attacks on Roma and immigrants

John Hooper in Rome

The Guardian,

Tuesday August 19 2008

Silvio Berlusconi’s government was engaged yesterday in a vigorous damage-limitation exercise after Pope Benedict appeared to lend his moral authority to speculation that Italy was in danger of returning to fascism under the tycoon’s hardline rightwing leadership.

In his usual Sunday address, the Catholic pontiff expressed concern at “recent examples of racism” and reminded Catholics that it was their duty to steer others in society away from “racism, intolerance and exclusion [of others]”.

On any other day his remarks might have been seen as no more than a restatement of Catholic doctrine. But they came in the midst of a furious dispute over an editorial published by Italy’s best-selling Catholic weekly, Famiglia Cristiana.

Asia

Musharraf: the legacy of the enigmatic general who became president



By Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich

Tuesday, 19 August 2008

Pervez Musharraf was the ultimate political enigma, a military dictator who promised genuine democracy, a strongman who launched a coup in what he said was a bid to end corruption. He locked up thousands of political opponents and dissidents yet oversaw an increase in the freedom of the media and he busily rigged elections before losing power by holding a free and fair ballot. Now after almost nine years of rule, Mr Musharraf has gone. For Pakistan and the world, what legacy does he leave?

Relationship with the West

He was the man the West could do business with. He was a vital ally in the “war on terror” and – in the words of George Bush – a “strong defender of freedom”.

Afghan officials clamp down on the press

Government agencies are intimidating and arresting journalists. The crackdown marks the decline of a hard-won, post-Taliban-era achievement: press freedom.

 By Anand Gopal  | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the August 19, 2008 edition

Kabul, Afghanistan – Naseer Fayaz, one of Afghanistan’s most famous television presenters, is used to fans and other well-wishers coming by the office. The host of a popular weekly program, “The Truth,” his exposés of government malfeasance have won him awards as well as a devoted following. But after a recent episode of the show that was especially critical of the government, Mr. Fayaz received unexpected visitors: members of the Afghan secret police.

“They questioned me and the next day arrested me,” he says. “I was kept in a cell for two days. They kept telling me I should quit working in the media.”

After protests from numerous Afghan media groups and global organizations, such as Amnesty International, Fayaz was released. But media groups say that the incident is the latest in a trend of increasing intimidation of Afghan journalists by the government.

Middle East

Jihadis shift attention to war in Afghanistan

Afghan and NATO officials are seeing a rise in numbers of foreign fighters in Afghanistan at the same time US officials say attacks by Al Qaeda in Iraq have sharply dropped.  

By Caryle Murphy  | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor  

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia –  In the wake of setbacks suffered by Al Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan is becoming the preferred destination for Muslims, particularly from Arab nations, seeking to wage jihad against the West.

“You can predict that Afghanistan is reemerging as a battlefield,” says Nicole Stracke, a security and terrorism researcher at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.

At the same time, jihadi websites affiliated with Al Qaeda have been giving renewed emphasis to the war in Afghanistan, especially in recruitment advertisements, after years of highlighting the battle against US forces in Iraq, says Brian Glyn Williams, associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

Report: Israeli unmanned vehicle to evacuate hurt>



Associated Press

JERUSALEM – An army magazine says Israel is working on an unmanned vehicle that would evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield. The soldiers’ weekly Bamahaneh reports that development is in the early stages and deployment is years away.

The vehicle would ferry wounded soldiers back to field hospitals for treatment and could be guided from afar, possibly using GPS satellite technology.

Africa

The costs of marital rape in Southern Africa



 By guest author Nada Ali, Human Rights Watch

For years now, women’s groups in Southern Africa have campaigned tirelessly to ensure that the Southern African Development Community adopt the Protocol on Gender and Development. Yesterday, the SADC finally took that historic step. Member states will be obliged to amend their laws to ensure equal rights for women across a wide range of issues, from provisions that require member states to enshrine equality in their constitutions, to firm commitments to reduce maternal mortality by 75 per cent. But while that’s a cause for celebration, the Protocol still does not refer explicitly to domestic violence, and it still doesn’t oblige states to introduce legal provisions that criminalise marital rape.

Women’s groups face huge hurdles to make that happen.

While a few SADC countries already have provisions in their legal frameworks to that effect, in a number of other Southern African countries, women’s groups are being told, again and again, by policy makers and traditional leaders, that it would be difficult to convince the “ordinary man on the street” that having sex with his “lawfully wedded” wife can ever be rape, and a crime.

Sudan’s president attends Africa summit in Turkey



  The Associated Press

Published: August 19, 2008

ISTANBUL, Turkey: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was attending a summit of African leaders in Turkey on Tuesday in his first visit abroad since an international court indicted him on genocide charges last month.

Al-Bashir was among heads of state attending the Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit, aimed at expanding diplomatic and trade ties with the African continent. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was not expected to attend.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on Monday asked his African counterparts to support Turkey’s candidacy for a temporary seat on the U.N. Security Council.

“We assure you that we will do our best to be the voice of Africa along with African nations on the Security Council,” Babacan said.

Latin America

Creel killings: Massacre of family escalates Mexican drug wars



Jo Tuckman in Mexico City

The Guardian,

Tuesday August 19 2008  

The sleepy atmosphere of the tourist mountain town of Creel in northern Mexico was blown apart this weekend when a heavily armed gang attacked 14 locals as they chatted on a street. All but one died.

Witnesses told police that the assassins got out of three vehicles on Saturday evening and began walking towards their targets while firing. About 10 minutes later they drove off. A search for the killers by soldiers and police continued yesterday but with little likelihood of success.

The motive for the assault is not clear but the firepower involved suggests a link to the intensifying drug wars in which trafficking cartels are fighting each other and the authorities, and only a tiny proportion of the hitmen involved are arrested.