Featured

Joseph Kony: Wanted for War Crimes, Betting on a Settlement

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It was Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni who triggered the indictment of Joseph Kony and other former leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army by the International Criminal Court in 2003. Now Museveni wants the court to drop the charges, to the consternation of the international community. Rather than jeopardize the ongoing peace talks with Kony and his officers, who face 33 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Museveni offered the men a blanket amnesty, which may or may not be legal. The LRA has said it will not sign a comprehensive peace agreement until the charges are dropped. Accountability is the question, although the people of the Acholi tribe in northern Uganda, who were most affected by the violence, have a different answer.

Featured

Iraqi Fatalities on the Rise Amid Checkpoints, Eye Scans

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American checkpoints and database ID programs seek to stem the tide of insurgent attacks ripping through Iraqi society. But the bolstered security programs come at a human cost. U.S. soldiers have killed or wounded 429 Iraqi civilians at checkpoints since June 2006, according to statistics obtained exclusively by McClatchy News Service. The number has risen each month even as more U.S. troops pour into Iraq. They continue on average to rise each month as well, in spite of claims that the numbers are actually in decline.

Culture

Mexican Drug Sting Bites Back

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A drug bust that netted $205 million gave Mexican President Felipe Calderon bragging rights back in March, but has since turned into a PR nightmare. Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese immigrant and Mexican national, was accused of importing tons of methamphetamine ingredients, but turned the tables by claiming that the money was actually illegal campaign cash, and that Calderon’s operatives threatened to kill him if he didn’t hide it during last year’s election. Noticias de Oaxaca reports that his alleged ties to Calderon’s ruling National Action Party and the Mexican military have put all concerned on the defensive, and that the $205 million is now considered emblematic of government collusion with drug barons. While Mexico’s opposition parties have called for an investigation, Ye Gon is a free man in New York City, having fled the country after being tipped off, allegedly by complicit police officers, about an impending raid on his home. The DEA, meanwhile, won’t arrest or extradite him, saying they don’t have the proper “paperwork.”

Culture

Asia’s Plague of Cars

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In spite of Asia’s renown for producing the most advanced, gas-efficient cars on the planet, the growing popularity of car travel in China, Japan, Vietnam and their neighbors has led to serious air pollution and heath effects. Pollution kills 750,000 people in China every year, according to previously unreleased World Bank statistics, the Telegraph reports. At least 500,000 of those mortalities are due to outdoor air pollution, a fact the Chinese government sought to keep secret, fearing “social instability” were it known. Cars are a major culprit, and the situation has grown so dire that Xu Zongheng, mayor of Shenzhen, recently started asking its ten million residents not to buy any more cars. In Japan, a group of 522 asthma sufferers won a settlement in a landmark suit against the government and seven carmakers.

Culture

It’s Not Easy Being Green

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If some aspects of “green” marketing and technology sometimes sound too good to be true, that’s because they are. Kansas rushed E10, an ethanol/gasoline blend, into gas stations after its ozone levels violated the Clean Air Act. But officials are having second thoughts after learning about how much ethanol contributes to ozone and other smog-forming emissions, according to the Kansas City Star. They are even looking for a way to cut back on sales of ethanol during peak ozone pollution days. Critics of the practice of carbon offsets found fault with Al Gore’s Live Earth concerts, which were claimed to be “carbon neutral” due to investments in renewable energy.

Culture

Azerbaijan and Armenia: War Without End

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The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan that killed 30,000 people and created one million refugees supposedly ended 13 years ago with a ceasefire in 1994 — but the countries are still at war over Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory in Azerbaijan controlled by ethnic Armenian forces. Ordinary citizens are now caught in the middle. Azeri farmers living along the borders of the war zone dodge bullets as they attempt to sow vegetables and graze cattle; their irrigation water is blocked by Armenian forces and a lake that used to feed into six local villages has dried up. Traveling across the war zone to visit the nearest town six kilometers away requires a special pass, American and European efforts to resolve the issue diplomatically have failed, and the president of Azerbaijan is threatening a new war if the Armenians do not give up the occupied territory. The government of Azerbaijan also refuses to recognize the results of an upcoming presidential election in Nagorno- Karabakh because they do not consider it a separate state.

Culture

Big Boom in Baghdad Home Shares

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Sunnis in the south of Baghdad, and Shias in the north, have been forced out of their homes as their neighborhoods came under control of militants of another sect. Rather than flee the country, however, their solution has been to swap homes with a Sunni or Shia family in the same situation. These home swaps are “booming,” according to a real estate agent who claims to have arranged 211 such deals so far. The practice is not without its risks, however; sometimes the houses of uprooted families are “claimed” by the visiting family who, with help from local militants, decide it’s theirs to keep. Source:
“Iraq: Sunni, Shia families swap homes in bid to remain safe”
IRIN (U.N.), July 5, 2007

Democracy

Schwarzenegger: on the Wings of Charity

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Government watchdogs are concerned that a shadowy nonprofit that finances Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lavish international trips may also allow special interests to donate big bucks to the governor in return for political favors — and all without any public accountability. The Los Angeles Times reports that a 501c(3) charity, the California State Protocol Foundation, spent $1.3 million in 2006 alone to pay for the governor’s private jets and luxurious hotel suites when Schwarzenegger travels abroad, even though he is personally wealthy. The group is closely connected with the California Chamber of Commerce, and pays all the bills the governor submits without itemization. The foundation won’t reveal who its donors are, but a spokesman suggested the charity was actually sparing taxpayers from having to foot the governor’s travel bill. Watchdogs say the public ought to pay for such official trips, since it would keep Schwarzenegger from spending so much money.

Culture

The Two Burials of Kamal Jalil Uthman

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U.S. military officials took credit for killing a top al Qaeda leader — twice. After a recent announcement that Kamal Jalil Uthman, the leader of al Qaeda terrorists in Mosul and a “very dangerous terrorist,” was killed in a raid last month, a reporter from the Examiner noticed that the military had already taken credit for killing Uthman last year. Questioned by a reporter, a military spokesman admitted officials “probably could do a better job” on labeling previous killings. A few hours later, a second spokesman called to say Iraqi officials had captured, not killed, Uthman last year and released him this spring for unknown reasons, after which he was killed by U.S. forces. Source:
“Iraqis set free terrorist, U.S. forces kill him”
The Examiner, July 6, 2007

Culture

Al Qaeda Spreads

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Even as Al Qaeda sympathizers in the United Kingdom make headlines, the terrorist group has seen affiliates taking root in other countries. In Algeria, officers arrested 13 minors, some as young as 12, and dismantled a terrorist training camp near Algiers in early June. The young soldiers were members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, an outlawed group that calls itself the “North African branch” of Al Qaeda. The Salafist Group has also come to Spain, where officials arrested two suspected members last week and alleged they were recruiting fighters to be trained in camps as far away as Mali, Niger and Mauritania. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in Algeria in April, saying its goal was to end the Spanish occupation of the municipalities of Ceuta and Melilla.