14 March 09
http://www.todayszaman.com/
By HAKAN KALAYCI
As world markets suffer under the weight of the ongoing global financial crisis, the Vatican has put forward a new suggestion, arguing that the principles of Islamic finance may represent a possible cure for ailing markets.
The Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, recently published an article titled “Islamic finance proposals and ideas for the West in crisis,” prepared by Italian economists Loretta Napoleoni and Claudia Segre, in which it was suggested that the basic rules of Islamic finance could relieve suffering markets and particularly international financial systems. Noting that Islam prohibits “riba,” Arabic for the usurious loaning of money, the article argued that “sukuk bonds,” securities that comply with Islamic law, may be an alternative to interest. The article stressed that sukuk bonds are always real investments and never speculative.
The article said that in this atmosphere of crisis banks should take Muslims as an example and that the Islamic finance system may pave the way for the establishment of new rules in the Western world. The Vatican has suggested that the current capitalist system has failed. Pope Benedict XVI recently harshly criticized the capitalist system and the greediness of bank owners in the West. In the meantime, the Vatican itself has been badly affected by the crisis. It had recorded an 18 billion euro budget surplus in 2007, but this number had declined to 6 billion euros by the end of 2008 and is expected to fall further in 2009.
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Friday, 13 March 2009
Turkish military launches air operation on PKK bases in N. IRAQ
Turkey launched an air strike on bases of the terror organization, PKK, in northern Iraq, military said on Friday.
Turkish warplanes bombed Thursday PKK hideouts in the Zap-Avashin region in northern Iraq, army spokesman Brig. Gen. Metin Gurak was quoted by Turkish TV channels as telling at a weekly press briefing.
He said the fighters were careful to select their targets to avoid harming any civilians in the operation.
There were no reports of casualties.
It is the latest of a series of Turkish strikes against terrorist hideouts in northern Iraq, from where the PKK have staged hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets for decades.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/11202098.asp?gid=244
Turkish warplanes bombed Thursday PKK hideouts in the Zap-Avashin region in northern Iraq, army spokesman Brig. Gen. Metin Gurak was quoted by Turkish TV channels as telling at a weekly press briefing.
He said the fighters were careful to select their targets to avoid harming any civilians in the operation.
There were no reports of casualties.
It is the latest of a series of Turkish strikes against terrorist hideouts in northern Iraq, from where the PKK have staged hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets for decades.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/11202098.asp?gid=244
Memo told Blair Aides Saddam Hussein posed no imminent threat
Paul Waugh
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22198.htm
March 12, 2009 "This Is London" -- Intelligence experts explicitly warned Tony Blair's aides that Britain was not in "imminent danger of attack" from Saddam Hussein, a confidential memo revealed today.
The row over claims that the Government "spun" its way into war with Iraq is likely to be reignited after the release of the document by the Cabinet Office.
The memo, released after a long-running Freedom of Information battle, shows Mr Blair's officials knew seven years ago that the threat from Saddam was not immediate.
Despite the warning, the Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction included a claim that Baghdad was ready to launch an attack within "45 minutes".
Lord Hutton cleared the Government in 2004 of the charge that it tried to manipulate intelligence to pave the way for war.
But today Whitehall released a memo from former Cabinet Office defence expert Desmond Bowen, who later won promotion to policy director at the Ministry of Defence, which shows he disagreed Saddam posed an immediate threat.
The September 2002 memo, written to then Joint Intelligence Committee chairman John Scarlett and copied to Alastair Campbell, provides comments on an early draft of the government dossier on Iraq.
Mr Bowen wrote: "The question which we have to have in the back of our mind is 'why now?' I think we have moved away from promoting the idea that we are in imminent danger of attack and therefore intend to act in a pre-emptive self defence."
Another email published today underlines ministers' focus on how to get their message across in the media.
A memo from then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's office stresses the dossier had to be shown on the Sky News video "wall".
The email from Mr Straw's private secretary Mark Sedwill suggests the dossier needed a "very simple table".
Mr Sedwill wrote: "This should be brief enough to get onto the Sky wall ie no more than 5 bullets."
Another email, apparently from an intelligence official, says a part of the dossier on chemical and biological weapons would be "likely to give a misleading impression".
A further email, from unnamed officials, says "there is nothing we can point to that we know for sure is going to the BW [Biological Weapons] programme".
Mr Blair published the WMD dossier in September 2002, which critics believe paved the way for war the following spring.
An inquiry by Lord Butler found blunders in its compilation, with the "45 minutes" claim based on unreliable evidence.
A separate "dodgy dossier" was published in early 2003. It was discovered to have sections copied off the internet.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22198.htm
March 12, 2009 "This Is London" -- Intelligence experts explicitly warned Tony Blair's aides that Britain was not in "imminent danger of attack" from Saddam Hussein, a confidential memo revealed today.
The row over claims that the Government "spun" its way into war with Iraq is likely to be reignited after the release of the document by the Cabinet Office.
The memo, released after a long-running Freedom of Information battle, shows Mr Blair's officials knew seven years ago that the threat from Saddam was not immediate.
Despite the warning, the Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction included a claim that Baghdad was ready to launch an attack within "45 minutes".
Lord Hutton cleared the Government in 2004 of the charge that it tried to manipulate intelligence to pave the way for war.
But today Whitehall released a memo from former Cabinet Office defence expert Desmond Bowen, who later won promotion to policy director at the Ministry of Defence, which shows he disagreed Saddam posed an immediate threat.
The September 2002 memo, written to then Joint Intelligence Committee chairman John Scarlett and copied to Alastair Campbell, provides comments on an early draft of the government dossier on Iraq.
Mr Bowen wrote: "The question which we have to have in the back of our mind is 'why now?' I think we have moved away from promoting the idea that we are in imminent danger of attack and therefore intend to act in a pre-emptive self defence."
Another email published today underlines ministers' focus on how to get their message across in the media.
A memo from then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's office stresses the dossier had to be shown on the Sky News video "wall".
The email from Mr Straw's private secretary Mark Sedwill suggests the dossier needed a "very simple table".
Mr Sedwill wrote: "This should be brief enough to get onto the Sky wall ie no more than 5 bullets."
Another email, apparently from an intelligence official, says a part of the dossier on chemical and biological weapons would be "likely to give a misleading impression".
A further email, from unnamed officials, says "there is nothing we can point to that we know for sure is going to the BW [Biological Weapons] programme".
Mr Blair published the WMD dossier in September 2002, which critics believe paved the way for war the following spring.
An inquiry by Lord Butler found blunders in its compilation, with the "45 minutes" claim based on unreliable evidence.
A separate "dodgy dossier" was published in early 2003. It was discovered to have sections copied off the internet.
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Talabani leaves Tehran for Iraq
March 12, 2009BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani left Tehran on Thursday, heading for Iraq after his participation in the Economic Cooperation Organization summit as a guest of honor, read a presidential statement.
“The Iraqi ambassador to Iran and a number of Iranian officials saw off the President at the airport,” said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The summit was held on Wednesday (March 11) with the participation of the presidents of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Talabani, the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Khalifa al-Thani; the Syrian vice president, Farouk al-Shara were guests of honor at the summit.
The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an intergovernmental international organization involving ten Asian nations. It provides a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade, and investment opportunities. The common objective is to establish a single market for goods and services, much like the European Union.
SH (S)/SR http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=109676
FREE AL-ZAIDI !
Cartoon by Ben Heine
Al-Zaidi : "This is your farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." SHOCKING NEWS!
Iraqi journalist Muntadher al-Zaidi has been sentenced to three years in prison for throwing his shoes at war criminal bush during a press conference in Baghdad.
If there was any ‘Justice’ it is bush who should be behind bars and who should be put on trial for committing genocide on the Iraqi people.
The brave Muntadher al-Zaidi should be freed immediately!
Shame on the judge who has passed this sentence!
Muntadher al-Zaidi should be congratulated for expressing his contempt at US terrorist and war criminal bush, the evil butcher of over one million Iraqis.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Şam'da Türkmen ve Aşuri Görüşmesi
10 Mart tarihinde ITC Suriye ve Lübnan temsilci yardımcısı Aydın Maruf, Aşuri Demokrat Hareketi siyasi büro üyesi Şimail Nino ve Aşuri Hareketinin Suriye sorumlusu Yunan İşo Kilyana'dan oluşan heyeti, ITC Şam temsilciliğinde karşıladı. Görüşmede Irak ve Türkmenlerin son siyasi durumu, Türkmen ve Aşurilerin arasındaki tarihi ilişkileri ve Irak'ta 31 Ocakta yapılan yerel seçimlerin sonucu değerlendirildi.
Ayrıca görüşmede ITC Şam temsilci yardımcısı Aydın Maruf, Musul ve Talefer bölgelerinde Türkmen seçmenlerine haksızlık yapıldığını söyleyen Maruf, Talefer bir Türkmen şehridir, bu şehirde 92 bin seçmenin isimleri Yüksek Seçim Komiserliğinde resmi kayıtları olmasına rağmen, yaklaşık 50 bin seçmen seçim gününde oy kullanma hakkı bazı gruplar tarafından engellendiğini ve yüksek seçim Komiserliğinde tarafsız davranmadığını ifade etti. Ayrıca görüşmede bir açıklama yapan Aşuri Demokrat Hareketi siyasi büro üyesi Şimail Nino, Musul'un bazı bölgelerinde özellikle Tilkef, Sincar ve Şeyhan'da aşırı bir şekilde seçim hilesi ve ihlaller yapıldığını vurguladı.
Irak Türkmen Cephesi
Suriye ve Lübnan Temsilciliği
http://bizturkmeniz.com/tr/index.htm
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Alan Greenspan vs. Naomi Klein on the Iraq War
Illustration by John Blackford. By Peter van Agtmael/Polaris (desert), Konstantin Inozemtsev/Alamy (money).
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go back to Iraq and ask you about, well, a piece by Jim Steele and Don Barlett that came out in Vanity Fair, where they’re talking about the billions lost in Iraq. And they begin their piece by saying, “Between April 2003 and June 2004, [$12 billion] in US currency—much of it belonging to the Iraqi people—was shipped from the Federal Reserve to Baghdad, where it was dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Some of the cash went to pay for projects and keep ministries afloat, but, incredibly, at least $9 billion has gone missing, unaccounted for, in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed.”
ALAN GREENSPAN: Well, let me say that what we were involved in was essentially endeavoring to create a viable currency for the central bank of Iraq. And what we did do was—I think very successfully—create what is a viable financial system, even under the circumstances that currently exist. There was, as far as I can judge, a huge drain of the resources into areas which nobody to this day can understand or follow. It had nothing to do with the central bank. In our relationships with them, we were merely acting as an intermediary to assist them in creating a system, which they now have, which is working reasonably well, despite all of the problems that are going on. The issue which you are referring to had nothing to do with the Federal Reserve in any of our relationships with the central bank.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, they are talking about, in one day, for example, the East Rutherford operation center of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 100 Orchard Street in East Rutherford, a tractor-trailer truck pulling up, and though accustomed to receiving and shipping large quantities of cash, the vault had never before processed a single order of this magnitude: $2.4 billion in $100 bills. But ultimately, again, $9 billion of $12 billion gone missing in Iraq.
ALAN GREENSPAN: I am not familiar with any such evidence. And it was certainly not brought to my attention. I, frankly, find it very unlikely that those orders of magnitude were involved in any of the numbers that we were dealing with. You have to make certain that—there’s been a lot of confusion about losses, and people have used the dinar, the basic currency unit of Iraq, and assumed they were American dollars. And, of course, that gives you a highly distorted view. There’s been, I’ve seen, several reports fairly recently in which that sort of mistake was being made. But what I can tell you is that no such numbers of any order of magnitude of the type you are discussing came to the attention of the Federal Reserve.
AMY GOODMAN: This is based on that award-winning article in Vanity Fair, or the team who have won—
ALAN GREENSPAN: Let me put it this way, award-winning doesn’t necessarily—
AMY GOODMAN: Well, no, no. I mean Don Barlett and Jim Steele, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists. I’m sure you know their work. But Naomi Klein?
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, I would just add that it’s quite surprising, actually, that Mr. Greenspan is unaware of this scandal around Iraq’s missing billions, because Paul Bremer had to testify before Congress and was asked directly about those missing billions. It’s been the subject of very high-level investigations. There is a huge paper trail around it. So this is hardly a secret, and it’s hardly just a matter that’s confined to Vanity Fair.
Please see:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/iraq_billions200710
Iraqi Women suffering "silent emergency" survey finds
Nawal al-Samaraie (right), Iraq's former minister for women’s affairs
Photo: UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office/Flickr
Photo: UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office/Flickr
BAGHDAD, 8 March 2009 (IRIN) - Marking International Women’s Day on 8 March a new survey has painted a grim picture for Iraqi women who it says are suffering a “silent emergency” as they endure insecurity, poverty and a lack of basic services.
Entitled “In Her Own Words: Iraqi women talk about their greatest concerns and challenges”, the survey was conducted in 2008 by aid agency Oxfam International in cooperation with the Iraqi women’s NGO al-Amal. It surveyed 1,700 women from five provinces: Baghdad, Ninevah, Basra, Kirkuk and Najaf.
The survey found that continuing insecurity has devastated women’s physical wellbeing and greatly restricted their day-to-day lives. About 60 percent of respondents said security was their number one concern, despite an improvement in security since mid-2007. Some 55 percent said that they were directly or indirectly victims of violence since the US-led invasion in 2003 that toppled the government of former president Saddam Hussein.
Fifty-five percent also said that they were displaced at least once since 2003. A third said they had received no humanitarian assistance over the past five years while 76 percent of those who were widows said they had received no governmental support. “Incomes have disappeared, poverty has deepened, (and) the Iraqi government has not been providing sufficient financial assistance to vulnerable groups, such as widows, and at-risk women are in need of humanitarian aid,” the 19-page survey said in one part.
It also found that a quarter of the women surveyed had no daily access to potable water while half cited difficulties in getting access to quality healthcare in 2008 compared to 2006 and 2007. Forty percent of those interviewed who were mothers said their children were not going to school. Nearly 36 percent said they were the head of household, primarily for violence-related reasons. “Countless mothers, wives, widows and daughters of Iraq remain caught in the grip of a silent emergency,” the report stated. “They are in urgent need of protection and – along with their families – are in desperate need of regular access to affordable and quality basic services, and urgently require enhanced humanitarian and financial assistance.”
Report recommendations
In light of the report, Hanaa Adward, head of Baghdad-based al-Amal, called on the government to adopt an immediate and effective strategy for women to save “the country’s future generations”. “The Iraqi woman is still suffering from an acute and harsh situation and daily circumstances and marginalization in her own society,” Adward told IRIN. “She is missing the minimum basics of life, whether she lives in the city or the countryside.”
She suggested that the strategy include finding jobs for unemployed young women and for widows so that they can be productive and active elements of society.
Most importantly, Adward said, would be the establishment of a higher women’s commission with sufficient state financial support to identify and resolve women-related problems. “We are determined to push for this strategy with all decision-makers in the government,” she said. “If the government wants a healthy society, then it must start with women.”
On 3 February, Nawal al-Samaraie resigned as minister of women’s affairs, protesting a lack of resources to implement her plans to help improve women’s lives. Al-Samaraie accused the government of ignoring what she called an “army” of uneducated women, widows, victims of domestic violence and female internally displaced persons who were in dire need of assistance.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accepted her resignation but the post is still vacant. sm/ar/ed
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83361
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83361
Sunday, 8 March 2009
On American crimes and the International Criminal Court
Khalil BendibTo read the article please click on:
http://bodyontheline.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/on-american-crimes-the-international-criminal-court/
Excerpts:
....
....
The U.S. is all over the place, with both covert and overt military programs. France, England, Canada, Belgium, Libya, Israel and China are all involved. All these conflicts are intertwined, and the targeted populations have allegiances and alliances that are dictated by the pre-colonial boundaries and trade that existed prior to the demarcation of colonial interests that occurred at the Berlin Conference of 1885 under the imperial doctrine of divide and conquer.
....
There are claims in the Arab community that Israel provides military training to Darfur rebels from bases in Eritrea, but insiders in Eritrea dispute this. However, Israel has a deep history of intelligence and military relations with both Eritrea and Ethiopia, and Israel reportedly has a naval and air base on Eritrea’s Dahlak and Fatma islands, from which German-made Dolphin-class submarines patrol the Red Sea with long-range nuclear cruise missiles. Eritrea reportedly serves as Israel’s outpost for spying on enemies Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Sudan.
…..
Africa Research Bulletin in 1998 reported that Israel had military bases in Eritrea on the Dahlak islands and in the Mahal Agar Mountains near Sudan. They also reported a communications listening station and that Mossad, the Israeli secret service, "is operating a string of previously top secret outposts in the Horn of Africa" used to monitor hostile states and service Israeli submarines operating in the area. Israel has strengthened ties with the regime in Chad, from which more weapons and troops penetrate Darfur. The refugee camps have become increasingly militarized. There are reports that Israeli and U.S. military and intelligence operate from within refugee camps in Darfur. Israel is all over the Sahara, from Burkina Faso to Ethiopia and Uganda. Israel’s clandestine actions are partly funded by Israeli-American diamond magnates involved in Angola, Sierra Leone, C.A.R. and Congo, especially Dan Gertler (G.W. Bush’s unofficial Ambassador to Congo), Beny Steinmetz, Nir Livnat, Lev Leviev and Maurice Tempelsman.
…..
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum furthered the establishment narrative about Darfur in keeping with the genocide theme; no one ever examines the interests behind the Holocaust Memorial Museum (e.g. Bob Dole), it is merely some apolitical institution with the championing of supposed "universal" human rights of all people everywhere as its raison d’etre. The new political and propaganda doctrine that uses "genocide" as a political tool is morally ambiguous, it attacks the crimes of some and passes over the crimes of others. It uses as its universal principle the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its complementary covenants and proclamations. On the one hand, however, this involves genocide inflation, and on the other hand genocide denial. But the USA—with good Christian and Jewish foot soldiers—is always the final arbitrator: global cop, judge, jury, executioner, surgeon and savior all in one.
…..
http://bodyontheline.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/on-american-crimes-the-international-criminal-court/
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