Serious questions about politics in Sudan and North Africa
Seccession or Destabilization? President Obama's recently released Sudan strategy that tries to be all things to all people gives America and her interest groups needed instant gratification, but fails in addressing instability that a divided Sudan would engender and the possible destabilization of an entire region. Is this the process towards peace that Obama is trying to use to justify...
Africom: President Obama’s Bush inheritance, challenge
(FinalCall.com) - Among the many things the Obama administration has inherited from Bush II is an unwieldy colonialist-lite intervention mechanism, masquerading protectionist-likeand called Africom. The fact that the Noble Peace Prize winner known for his candor and willingness to discuss complex issues has rarely, if ever, mentioned this behemoth is telling. According to the four part series “Africom or...
UK opens UFO files
LONDON (AP) - The deputy commander of a U.S. Air Force base in England was baffled by what he'd seen: bright, pulsing lights in the night sky. Britain's defense ministry couldn't explain it either, but concluded that the unidentified flying object posed no threat. The National Archives on Aug. 17 released the government's complete file on the “Rendlesham Forest Incident”...
Honduras coup made in Washington?
Honduran delegation seeks support for ousted president NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - A delegation of citizens from the Central American nation Honduras recently gathered on the steps of city hall to ask for U.S. support of efforts to restore their democratically elected president to power. President Manuel Zeleya was removed by military coup on June 28 and sent into exile, while interim...
Inching toward a global arms treaty?
/GIN UNITED NATIONS (IPS/GIN) - The United Nations concluded an open-ended working group for an international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in mid-July, part of a lengthy and politically contentious process to nail down a basic framework for curbing deadly illegal weapons sales. “An open-ended working group in the UN is where all states can come to a meeting, it's...
Ex-lawmaker: We were arrested for trying to give crayons to children
- WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - At last, former six-term Congress member and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney arrived in the Gaza Strip carrying humanitarian aid July 15. Ms. McKinney's delegation is part of the group Viva Palestina, which conducted another aid mission from Europe earlier this year. This time the group entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Ironically,...
Remittances to poor countries fall
JIM.LOBE WASHINGTON (IPS/GIN) - The amount of money immigrants from poor countries send to their families back home is expected to decline between seven and 10 percent in 2009 compared to 2008 levels, according to a new report released here by the World Bank. Poor countries in Europe and Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean will...
U.S. slams door on greater UN role in economic crisis
UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) - The United Nations General Assembly convened a major conference on the global financial crisis in late June meetings at its New York City headquarters. Hopes that the UN could play a greater role in alleviating the crisis were dashed as the U.S. and Western nations rebuffed the world body's attempt to have a hand in reforming...
Former Bagram airbase detainees tell of torture
NEW YORK (IPS/GIN) - An investigation by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has uncovered allegations that former detainees at the U.S. Bagram airbase in Afghanistan were beaten, deprived of sleep and threatened with dogs. The BBC's findings are based on interviews with 27 former detainees who were held at Bagram between 2002 and 2006. None of these men were...
International media and Obama’s message to the Muslim world
(FinalCall.com) - Pre- and post-reaction to President Obama's speech delivered in Cairo to the Muslim world was overwhelmingly favorable and seemed to take on new meaning as time progressed. According to the British daily, The Guardian, though the president didn't reveal any new policy programs June 4, the speech will go down in history for its tone–the vocabulary–he used...