Putin: Syria chemical attack is ‘rebels’ provocation in hope of intervention’
By RT.com The alleged chemical weapons use in Syria is a provocation carried out by the rebels to attract a foreign-led strike, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the G20 summit. There was no 50/50 split of opinion on the notion of a military strike against the Syrian President Bashar Assad, Mr. Putin stressed refuting earlier assumptions. Only Turkey, Canada, Saudi Arabia...
Report: Syrian rebels plan chemical attack on Israel from Assad-controlled territories
By RT.com * Farrakhan delivers warning against Syria military strike, sends letter to congressional leaders on errant U.S. policy A chemical attack may be launched on Israel by Syrian rebels from government-controlled territories as a "major provocation", a number of sources have told RT. The news comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov proposed that Syria puts its chemical weapons arsenal under...
Syria: As talk of war increases, UN focusing on chemical weapons claim
UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) - “For now, our focus is on our chemical weapons investigation in Syria and on the diplomatic process. We continue to push for a negotiated solution to the crisis,” stated the Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in an email message to The Final Call on August 26. He was responding to a question concerning whether...
Egypt’s crisis and violence grows
(FinalCall.com) - In Cairo on August 14, the worst was realized as Egypt's security forces, backed by bulldozers, and using tear gas and live ammunition, moved in on two huge pro-Mohamed Morsi protest camps, launching into a long-threatened forced removal. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of the mostly peaceful demonstrators dead and thousands more wounded. The shooting and unrest continued...
CARICOM at 40: Reparations calls, and questions about regional unity
By Saeed Shabazz-Staff Writer- UNITED NATIONS - When a two-day, closed-door meeting between delegates representing the 15-nation Caribbean Community and representatives of the UN ended, what wasn't discussed appeared more important than what was discussed. CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque in his opening remarks told the gathering during the recent Conference of CARICOM heads of government: “Our leaders discussed a framework...
Political musical chairs, money, America and Egypts crisis
(FinalCall.com) - In a diplomatic move that displayed how fluid the developing situation in Egypt is, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns recently made the first senior level visit by a U.S. official since President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown by a widely disputed military coup. Though Burns said he came with no “American solutions, nor did I come...
Report gives graphic details of Guantanamo forcefeeding
WASHINGTON (IPS) - “Bleeding,” “vomiting,” “a quarter or even a third” of bodyweight lost, “torture.” These are characteristic descriptions from testimony by hunger strikers at the detention center at U.S. Occupied Guantanamo Bay Cuba of their experience being force-fed at the hands of U.S. officials, published in a recent report. The report, produced by Reprieve, a U.K.-based legal...
Afro-Mexican activists vow to continue protest, hunger strike over murder of Malcolm X grandson
(FinalCall.com) - In the early morning hours of July 14 The Final Call received a “communicado” from Mexico City-based Citizens for the Defense of Naturalized Afro-Mexicans saying protests demanding justice after the killing of the grandson of Malcolm X would go on despite a police raid that ended a hunger strike. Dr. Wilner Metelus, president of the group, called for...
N. Korean diplomat: UN command on peninsula is U.S. front and needs to be dismantled now
By Saeed Shabazz -Staff Writer- UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) - The last time Ambassador Sin Son-ho of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) held a press conference at the UN was 2010, after South Korea accused Pyongyang of sinking one of its naval ships. So when he appeared June 21 before the UN press corps, the house was packed with scribes, television...
Is President Obama dangerous for Africa?
(FinalCall.com) - President Obama's trip to Africa maybe more wolf in sheep's clothing. His trip is scheduled to include West, South and East Africa, and the nations of Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. The trip may be too little too late. “To some in Africa,” as noted by Isaac Mpho Mogotsi in Politicsweb. co.za, “U.S. President Barack Obama represents...