#Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General

[kyreniacommentator]

Ersin Tatar tells UN Maria Angela Holguín Cuéllar "No Going Back"

President Ersin Tatar has met with Maria Angela Holguín Cuéllar, Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, at the Presidency on Wednesday (May 8th 2024). Continue reading Ersin Tatar tells UN Maria Angela Holguín Cuéllar “No Going Back”

[ultyso]

Sudan updates as of 7/19/2024

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DVS welcomes the discussions of the UN Secretary- General's Envoy, Mr. Ramatane Lamamra, with the RSF delegation regarding opening humanitarian paths to deliver aid to Sudanese civilians. This step is appreciated, but it requires the participation of the SAF and the commitment of the parties to open the paths. It also calls on the UN to put pressure on the parties to end the war in Sudan.

الأمم المتحدة

United Nations

Office of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan مكتب المبعوث الشخصي للأمين العام للأمم المتحدة الى السودان Statement of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, after the conclusion of the Geneva Proximity Talks 19 July 2024, Geneva

In Resolution 2724 (2024), the Security Council mandated me to use my good offices with the parties to the conflict in Sudan, complementing and coordinating regional peace efforts. Security Council Resolution 2736 (2024) reiterated the Council's concern over the situation in Sudan. It urged the parties to de-escalate in and around El Fasher, to allow and facilitate unfettered humanitarian access across the country and ensure the protection of civilians. It further called on the parties to the conflict to seek an immediate cessation of hostilities, leading to a sustainable resolution of the conflict, through dialogue.

Resolution 2736 (2024) also requested the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Sudanese authorities and regional stakeholders, to make further recommendations for the protection of civilians in Sudan, building on the existing mediation and good offices mechanisms.

To contribute to these recommendations, and building on my previous engagements with the parties, I addressed letters to General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, Chairperson of the Sovereign Council and Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, inviting them to nominate senior delegations to discuss the following issues:

1) measures to be undertaken to ensure the distribution of humanitarian assistance to all the Sudanese population in need;

2) options to ensure the protection of civilians across Sudan.

I invited the delegations appointed by both parties to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to participate in discussions in "proximity format", in which I would separately engage the delegation of each party, supported by a United Nations integrated technical team providing relevant expertise. These discussions took place from 11 to 19 July 2024. During this period, my team held a total of around 20 sessions with the parties' delegations, including technical and plenary meetings. We interacted with each of the delegations in the context of their respective mandates.

Throughout these engagements, the delegations expressed their positions on key issues of concern, in light of their responsibilities, allowing us to deepen our mutual understanding. We then explored avenues to address these issues to contribute to alleviating the suffering of the civilian population in Sudan. I am encouraged by the willingness of the parties to engage with me on these critical matters, as well as by the commitments made to respond to some specific requests we presented to them.

The humanitarian situation in Sudan remains catastrophic and is deteriorating every day. Urgent action is needed to ensure that humanitarian assistance safely reaches all those in need and to guarantee the protection of all civilians in Sudan. I count on the parties to promptly translate their willingness to engage with me into tangible progress on the ground. The United Nations will continue to make every effort to support the civilian population throughout the country.

The discussions held in Geneva are an encouraging initial step in a longer and complex process. Although unilateral commitments by the parties do not constitute agreements with the UN, I welcome the commitments announced today by one of the two parties to enhance humanitarian assistance and the protection of civilians. I intend to remain in close contact with the leadership of the two parties, to follow up on the implementation of commitments and to engage them on critical issues. I remain at their disposal for the desirable continuation of this process. I urge both parties to step up their engagement for peace for the sake of the Sudanese people and the future of the country.

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[reasoningdaily]

The Clinton Foundation faces accusations it mishandled funds intended for Haiti earthquake relief, as the Justice Department investigates whether the Clintons gave or promised policy-related favors to foundation donors. (Photo: Current Affairs)

As a result of the recent comments by President Donald Trump — in which he called Haiti and African nations “shithole countries” and said, “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out” — the issue of the Haiti’s plight has resurfaced, but within a different context. The Clinton Foundation has been accused of corruption and misuse of funds, including allegations the foundation committed fraud in Haiti.

As The Hill reported this month, the Justice Department is conducting an investigation in Little Rock, Ark., into whether the Clinton Foundation engaged in “pay to play” politics while Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State under Obama. Specifically, the FBI is investigating whether the Clintons promised or fulfilled any policy-related favors to foundation donors, or if donors gave to the charity for the purposes of receiving access to Clinton or particular outcomes from the government. Trump, whose campaign and supporters adopted the phrase “Lock her up!” has called for investigations into his former political rival. When he was on the campaign trail supporting Trump, now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions accused Hillary Clinton of using her position leading the Obama State Department to extort foreign governments to benefit the Clinton Foundation.

A November 2, 2016, report from the BBC immediately before the election noted that Trump has criticized the Clintons’ work in Haiti. “I was at a Little Haiti the other day in Florida. And I want to tell you, they hate the Clintons because what’s happened in Haiti with the Clinton Foundation is a disgrace,” Trump said in the final presidential debate with Clinton. In the 1980s, Haiti accused former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier of laundering money he stole from Haiti by purchasing an apartment in Trump Tower. Trump sold the Trump Tower apartment to Duvalier through a Panamanian shell corporation in 1983, a practice which hides the finances and identities of buyers.

The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed an estimated 220,000 people. International donors pledged an estimated $13.3 billion in aid to the Caribbean nation in the wake of the devastation. Along with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, former President Bill Clinton, who was UN Special Envoy to Haiti, became co-chairman of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC). From January 2010 through June 2012, $9.04 billion in international funding was raised — $3.04 billion from individuals and companies, and $6.04 billion from bilateral and multilateral donors. Of the $6.04 billion, 9.6 percent, or $580 million went to the Haitian government, while 0.6 percent or $36.2 million went to local Haitian organizations. The lion’s share, 89.8 percent of $5.4 billion went to non-Haitian organizations, including private contractors, international NGOs, and military and civilian agencies of donor countries, including the Pentagon, which charged the State Department hundreds of millions of dollars.

Critics have pointed at the Clinton Foundation, alleging the charity had control over the billions of dollars in aid to Haiti. During the 2016 presidential campaign, the Clintons’ involvement in Haiti translated into mixed feelings in the Haitian-American community about Hillary Clinton, ranging from low enthusiasm to disappointment and anger. As secretary of state, Clinton supported the presidency of Michel Martelly, intruding into Haitian electoral politics by flying to Haiti in 2011 to pressure President René Préval to allow Martelly to participate in a two-person runoff. Martelly won. As president, Martelly selected Special Envoy Bill Clinton’s chief of staff as prime minister, and gave important positions to people with criminal backgrounds, and was known for corruption and violent government repression, and attempting to install his successor. Mrs. Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, became a member of an advisory board of a mining company that owns a gold mine in Haiti and was introduced to the company through the Clinton Global Initiative arm of the Clinton Foundation. All of this fueled speculation that the United States and the Clintons were installing a puppet government and engaging in profiteering and drew the ire of Haitians and Haitian-Americans.

According to right-wing commentator and financial analyst Charles Ortel in an interview with journalist H.A. Goodman in Huffington Post, the hurricane created an opportunity for the Clinton Foundation and its allies to raise considerable resources, but with little accounting of these funds. “The Clintons seem to be ‘merchants around misery’, operating as a kind of ‘Robin Hood in Reverse’ — there are many disasters that they seem to have exploited,” Ortel said. “In brief, the Clinton Foundation solicited massive sums to ‘fight HIV/AIDS’ but did not check carefully enough to ensure that these drugs were supplied in intact form, and neither adulterated nor watered-down,” he added. The Nation also reported the “hurricane-proof” classroom trailers the foundation used in Haiti were structurally unsafe and laced with formaldehyde, a product of the same company sued by Hurricane Katrina victims.

Reflecting the anger against the Clintons among the Haitian-American community, on January 12, the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti (Komokoda) held a protest outside the Clinton Foundation headquarters in New York City. Speaking at the protest was Dahoud Andre, president of Komokoda and a radio host.

The organization says it continues to protest the Clintons because “there is still no justice despite the billions they have stolen through Bill Clinton’s position (as) UN Special Envoy to Haiti in March of 2009 in the aftermath of 4 major storms which devastated parts of our country; through the post 2010 earthquake Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission; through foreign governments and corporations funneling hundreds of millions (most of them undisclosed) for favors from then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Clinton Foundation under the guise of helping Haiti; and through the Clinton-Bush Fund,” Komokoda said in a press statement. In light of the announcement by the Justice Department, the group says it remains vigilant and demands a serious investigation, and that any crimes are fully prosecuted and punished. “It is itself a crime that this Justice Department prosecuted and got a conviction against Corrine Brown, Florida’s first African-American Congressperson since Reconstruction for corruption related to $800,000 from her ‘One Door for Education’ charity and yet it took them this long to even start an investigation of the Clintons,” the statement added.

Komokoda’s claims of the Justice Department’s tardiness in looking at the Clintons notwithstanding, Bill and Hillary Clinton have together and separately weathered multiple federal and congressional investigations ranging from Whitewater in the 1990s through the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers as secretary of state that wrapped up in 2016 during her campaign for president. The latest probe, a renewal of an investigation that began under the Obama administration, has found the Clintons prepared to respond.

The Clinton Foundation told Atlanta Black Star that it raised $30 million for the Haiti earthquake relief efforts, and did not have control over the bulk of the $9 billion raised for Haiti. “Overall, we’d point out that many of the claims about the Clinton Foundation and Haiti have been found to be flat-out false,” the Clinton Foundation press office said in a statement. “All funding collected by the Clinton Foundation for Haiti was distributed in full to aid groups on the ground, and we have documented which groups received this funding and what it was for. The Clinton Foundation did not take a penny in overhead for our work.”

The foundation also pointed to various refuted claims, including Trump’s assertion that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did favors for Clinton Foundation donors, and that “Hillary Clinton set aside environmental and labor rules to help a South Korean company with a record of violating workers’ rights set up what amounts to a sweatshop in Haiti.” Politifact depicted his claim as “mostly false.” BBC reported that the foundation and the State Department arranged with the Haitian government for a $300 million, 600-acre factory to produce clothing for retail giants such as Target, Walmart and Old Navy. Several hundred farmers were evicted to clear the land, and the South Korean textile company Sae-A Trading Co. later donated between $50,000 and $100,000 to the foundation. While Clinton said the facility would produce 100,000 jobs, only 8,000 were created.

The Washington Post rebutted another allegation, that Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation raised hundreds of millions of dollars for a hospital that was never built. Further, Jonathan Katz, who was the Associated Press correspondent in Port-au-Prince during the earthquake, wrote a piece in Slate stating that “neither I nor anyone else has found the coveted evidence of either Clinton making off with vast sums of money from Haiti or the relief effort.” Katz offers the historical backdrop of U.S. intervention in Haiti and elsewhere, and the failed earthquake recovery in Haiti, which led to spiraling inflation and spikes in violence. “No two individuals, including Haiti’s own leaders, enjoyed more power and influence than the Clintons in the morass of the failed reconstruction following the deadly Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake, when a troubled country managed to go from catastrophe to worse,” he said, arguing that there is no proof the goal was to financially benefit the Clintons.

Katz did find fault with Hillary Clinton for pursuing “badly flawed” vision of prosperity for Haiti focused on “foreign investment in tourism, construction, and low-wage garment factories” which would mean low wages and little money flowing in the local economy, rather than the stated goal of reliving Haitians from poverty and preventing future refugee crises. That model, he argued, has been pursued by the U.S. since the 1960s. “The system isn’t designed for them; it’s for us. The low wages that the U.S. embassy helped suppress are the reason we can enjoy a steady stream of $9 Mossimo camisoles and $12.99 six-packs of Hanes T-shirts. Even U.S. military uniform parts get made in Haitian sweatshops,” Katz added.

Snopes has debunked two conspiracy theories that have circulated in conservative circles and among misinformation news sites, specifically that former Haitian official Klaus Oberwein died of a suspicious suicide days before he was scheduled to testify against the Clinton Foundation or Hillary Clinton, and that a “U.S. surgeon who exposed ‘Clinton Foundation corruption in Haiti’ was found dead in his home under suspicious circumstances.” And Bill Clinton denied any claims that the Clinton Foundation used money designated for Haiti for personal means.

While there is disagreement over the role of the Clinton Foundation in Haiti, it is certain that billions of dollars were raised for Haiti.

The American Red Cross raised $500 million for Haiti, spent one-quarter of the funds on internal expenses and only built six houses. The people of Haiti, the first Black republic, have suffered and continue to suffer. Everyone has failed Haiti.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Sadly, not enough of the world has paid attention to the plight of Gazans at the hands of Hamas. Now in a series of video testimonies the world can hear the voices of actual Gazans speaking out.

By: Yoseph Haddad

Published: Feb 5, 2023

It has been more than 15 years since the US and EU-designated terror group Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, throwing Palestinians with whom they disagreed from rooftops in the process.

Some in the West know already that Hamas and its leaders are Islamist terrorists that seek to destroy everything the West and Israel stand for: democratic values, freedom of speech and the press, and of course, LGBTQ and women’s rights. Sadly, not enough of the world has paid attention to the plight of Gazans at the hands of Hamas.

Now, in an unprecedented series of video testimonies called “Whispered in Gaza,” the entire world can hear the voices of actual Gazans speaking out about what life is like under the terrorist dictatorship in Gaza.

[ Hamas’ oppressive rule over women doesn’t allow Gaza’s girls or women to sing or dance in public (Credit: Center for Peace Communications) ]

As an Arab Israeli myself, who fought against Hamas in Gaza, it’s no surprise to me to hear these devastating testimonies of what I know Gazans experience under Hamas every day. Yet for years, many outside of Israel have not understood the barbarity and cruelty that Palestinians in Gaza face – not at the hands of Israel, but at the hands of their own tyrannical leaders: Hamas.

It’s hard to ignore the truth when Gazans themselves are speaking out, uncensored. In these clips, you can hear Palestinians sharing for the first time how Hamas steals money from civilians and private businesses, how they crush and imprison any person or group that calls for policy changes, and how, just as in the Islamic Republic of Iran, women are not allowed to sing, dance, or even hold hands with men in public.

The United Nations and its envoys, rapporteurs and investigators rarely comment (if ever) on how Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields in their fight against the Israel Defense Forces, but now that Palestinian civilians are sharing the horrors of living under Hamas, will the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres actually say something? Will the Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, condemn Hamas, or does her anti-Israel obsession make her blind to the suffering of Gazans under the Islamist terror group?

How about the foreign ministries of the UK, France, Germany, and other European countries? Will they take the time to hear the voices of the people of Gaza and listen to the hardships they endure living under Hamas?

The videos expose who Israel is fighting against – not the Palestinian people, but rather a terrorist group that is not just terrorizing Israeli civilians with rockets, but also terrorizing their own people through their daily oppression of women, prohibiting freedom of speech and the right to protest, and infesting Gaza with corruption and exploitation. Hamas controls the people of Gaza, depriving them of basic rights and freedoms.

We, Israeli civilians, and yes, Arab Israelis as well, see this as a direct threat to us. The terrorism and extremism that Hamas and its allies spread throughout the Arab world harms us as Arabs too. When rockets are fired from Gaza, they do not discriminate between Arabs and Jews. In fact, in nearly every round of fighting between Israel and Hamas, Arab Israelis were murdered by Hamas in terror attacks or rocket attacks. Hamas terrorism harms both Israeli Jews and Arabs, and the ideology of Hamas is indoctrinating future generations of Palestinians in Gaza with an irrational, dangerous hatred and lust for violence.

Sadly, many Palestinians are trapped under the brutal rule of Hamas, which is why these testimonies are so powerful and important globally.

In Israel, women are free, hundreds of thousands of people protest peacefully every week against the government, LGBTQ community members are respected and valued, and media outlets are free to criticize or support government policies. 

But these personal stories from Gaza show that in Gaza it’s the polar opposite. Palestinians are being subjugated by Hamas day and night, and they’re saying this in their own words.

Now the only question that remains is, will anyone in the free world actually listen? Or do Palestinian lives only matter when Israel can be blamed?

--

Whispered in Gaza - YouTube

Voices from Gaza - Instagram

==

This series is what prompted the Islamic Fatwa Council to, one month later, issue a fatwa against Hamas and designate them a terrorist organization, holding them responsible for human rights violations in Gaza.

[ausetkmt]

As Vélina Élysée Charlier ventured on to the streets of her conflict-stricken city last week, she encountered scenes that will haunt her for many years to come.

Armed civilians dragging bodies through the streets. Smouldering corpses. Young men with machetes chasing suspected gangsters they planned to kill.

“I’ve seen enough dead people for many lifetimes,” said the Haitian human rights activist. “Since Monday, if you get killed, you get burned. It’s kill, burn, kill, burn … It’s nothing I would want anyone else to witness. It stays with you … It’s hell, you know?”

The nightmarish events unfolding in Haiti’s coastal capital, Port-au-Prince, began before dawn on Monday when members of one of its notorious gangs reportedly tried to seize control of the city’s Turgeau area.

“What they didn’t count on was the population striking back,” said Charlier, who works in the neighbourhood.

Over the coming hours, civilians brandishing knives, rocks and handguns rose up against the heavily armed criminals who control more than 80% of Haiti’s capital and whose activities have led the United Nations to compare the situation there to a war.

As the sun rose, the bloodshed spread. In the Canapé-Vert neighbourhood, 13 suspected gangsters were beaten, stoned to death and burned after their minibus was stopped by police. In Turgeau another six men were reportedly set on fire.

The violence continued on Tuesday as Canapé-Vert’s residents formed self-defence brigades and took to their barricaded streets with rocks and knives.

“We are planning to fight and keep our neighbourhood clean of these savages,” one vigilante, a 37-year-old called Jeff Ezequiel, told the Associated Press.

On Wednesday, as groups sprang up in other communities, another lynching was reported: this time, eight suspected criminalsin the community of Debussy.

“We’re already dead, so we might as well die fighting,” Charlier remembered one person in Turgeau telling her.

The lynchings have sparked a strange and disturbing mix of horror, fear and optimism in Haitian communities fed up with being terrorised by the gangs.

“Seeing the population fighting back – even though there are lots of human rights violations, even though justice by the people is never the way to go because it just spirals into a cycle of violence that never stops – gives you ... the sense that people are as mad as you are,” said Charlier. “What’s happening is giving hope to the population that they can fight back.”

“It is obscene,” the author and activist Monique Clesca said of the lynchings. “But that’s what these bandits have pushed us to.”

“It’s more than frustration ... [Rage] is the only word,” Clesca added, blaming the surge of mob justice on years of elite political corruption and connivance with organised crime.

Daniel Foote, the outspoken former US special envoy to the Caribbean country, said he was also unsurprised at the violence, given the police’s failure to bring the gangs to heel.

“At some point I thought they were going to start to take matters into their own hands because they’ve got no choice. They’ve got nothing else,” Foote said.

“The Haitians, like anybody, can only take so much. The gangs have stolen their lives from them,” Foote added, as a spokesperson for Haiti’s embattled and enfeebled national police force implored citizens to stop. “Do not take justice into your own hands,” Garry Desrosiers told reporters on Wednesday.

That plea looks likely to fall on deaf ears, given the scale of the security catastrophe facing one the Caribbean’s largest cities, which was levelled by an earthquake in 2010 and has been struggling to find its feet ever since.

As people in Port-au-Prince fought to reclaim their communities, the UN secretary general’s special envoy to Haiti offered a chilling overview of the country’s “rapidly deteriorating security situation” and the parallel humanitarian crisis that have left almost half of Haiti’s 11 million citizens going hungry.

María Isabel Salvador told the UN security council that March had seen Haiti’s highest number of reports of murders, rapes, kidnappings and lynchings since 2005. Children had been shot in classrooms and snatched at school gates. Snipers had indiscriminately targeted civilians. Women had been terrorised by “multiple-perpetrator” rape.

“Faced with these increasingly violent armed gangs vying for control of neighbourhoods of the capital, with limited or no police presence, some residents have begun to take matters into their own hands,” the Ecuadorian diplomat reported. “These dynamics lead unfailinglyto the breakdown of social fabric with unpredictable consequences for the entire region.”

The human rights activist Rosy Auguste Ducéna called the lynchings a “worrisome” development. Her group had been unable to calculate the exact death toll. But some suspect dozens, perhaps scores, have been killed in recent days.

Ducéna blamed the government of the prime minister, Ariel Henry – who took power after the 2021 assassination of the then president, Jovenel Moïse – for the uprising as it had failed to dismantle and prosecute gang members and surrendered many areas to their rule. “There is a certain complicity between [the gangs] and the state authorities,” Ducéna said, adding that “permanent calm” would only come if authorities stopped protecting criminal groups.

Clesca said it was hard to know where the nascent anti-gang insurrection would lead. “They are small [incidents], but they are significant. Will they multiply? What will happen? I think we have to watch and we have to be very sensitive to that,” she said, predicting the coming weeks would see “more people, cities and towns rising up and saying: ‘We are not taking this. Enough is enough.’”

Foote also wondered whether the rebellion might signal a new phase in Haiti’s political, humanitarian and security crises, “because this is the first time that people have really taken matters into their own hands, which is how the Haitians won independence [in 1804] and have kept their independence a number of times since then”.

The dire outlook has prompted calls for an international intervention – a call repeated by Salvador at the UN. “The Haitian people cannot wait. We need to act now,” she said, calling for the urgent deployment of “an international specialised force” to fight gangs.

Foote said he was “100% ideologically opposed” to another foreign intervention, given the miserable track record of previous efforts including the 2004-2017 UN stabilisation mission, whose peacekeepers brought cholera to Haiti and were accused of sexual abuse and exploitation.

“But I believe that they’re going to need an intervention. It’s just that bad, to be honest with you,” Foote said. “It’s not Haiti any more; it’s a prison … People stay in their houses and only leave if they absolutely have to … It is dangerous as fuck.”

Charlier rejected calls for a foreign intervention. “I recognise the police cannot deal with this alone,” the activist said, but nor did she want thousands of heavily armed foreign troops to return “to put a Band-Aid on a cancer”.

After navigating six vigilante roadblocks to reach work on Thursday morning, Charlier voiced despair at how the bloodshed would affect Haitian children. “Kids are going to school witnessing dead burning bodies on the side of the road … I cannot even think about the collective trauma we are going to have to deal with in a couple of years,” she said, comparing parts of her city to a war zone.

“Honestly, I don’t know [how I feel]. I just hope this is going to end very soon because I’m mentally drained and I’m exhausted,” Charlier said before concluding with a grim prophecy.

“What we are seeing in Haiti will end in blood and in ashes,” she warned. “In people being killed and in houses being burned.”

[drsonnet]

Ahmici 16. April 1993

BLOOD-TEARS-DEATH mark this day.

REMEMBRANCE-HOPE-WILL TO LIVE characterize the days that follow!

This book delves deep into the abyss of war,

portraying the tragedy and perfidy from the perspective of a child.

Praise „It is a great piece of work and an important voice from this tragic history, which sadly was published in times when hundreds of similar are happening again, and again so close….“

Anna W., Poland

„I don’t think I’ve ever read a more compelling, griping and timely story. The fact that it is based on real events makes it all that more heart-breaking…My words just don’t fully capture my emotions regarding this book, but I appreciate you sharing the story…“

Lorraine Mixon-Page, MA, Associate Director of Human Resources, University of Missouri, School of Medicine, USA

„Rarely does one find the skills of a criminal analyst, combined with the compassion and grace of an unwitting poet, woven into one text.“

Dina Greenberg, author of the novel „Nermina’s chance“ (Atmosphere press), USA

"The experiences are almost unbearable for the writer as well as for the reader, and yet one must read this book, even and especially now, when, apart from the Ukraine war, new conflicts are brewing again in the Balkans as well."

It is this combination of the individual story of the 13-year-old boy with the work of the ICTY that makes the book so unique and thus so worth reading."

Prof. Dr. Thomas Feltes M.A., Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Polizei-Newsletter.de/Germany

"You have really succeeded in writing a contemporary document that is deeply touching. Many in Austria seem to be sinking into "civilization oblivion". Therefore it is all the more necessary to be reminded that it is not a matter of course to live in peace."

Irmgard R., Austria

„The tragedy of a small Bosnian village at the 20th century. A shocking example of how ethnically different groups that have lived together and accepted each others’ religion, customs and habits for many generations were sucked into a human abyss. Thomas Obruča looked at the world with his lines in the work Ahmići - soundly, honestly and clearly.

A psychological masterpiece of historical significance."

Dr. Thomas Müller, criminal psychologist and former head of the Criminal Psychological Service of the Federal Ministry of the Interior/ Vienna

"This single fate in a child's narrative shows the utter madness of "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia and Herzegovina much more vividly and mercilessly than many comprehensive reports of international investigative bodies.

Not an easy read, but necessary to learn the lessons of this dark chapter of history and hopefully to prevent future genocides."

Manfred Nowak , University Professor for Human Rights in Vienna and Secretary General of the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice*

*At the time of the Yugoslav war, he was UN envoy to investigate the fate of nearly 30,000 disappeared persons in the former Yugoslavia, and after the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995, he served as one of eight international judges at the highest court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.

[head-post]

Turkish Cypriot leader underscored need for equal international status for resuming talks with south

President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Ersin Tatar stated on Monday that “to restart negotiations, our sovereign equality and equal international status must ‘certainly’ be recognised.”

Tatar hosted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s Personal Envoy to Cyprus, María Angela Holgu��n Cuéllar, who arrived in TRNC on Sunday. Cuéllar was accompanied during the hour-long meeting by Colin Stewart, Chief of Mission of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.

She expressed her delight to come to the island of Cyprus for the second time and aimed to reflect on the Cyprus issue by meeting with political parties, non-governmental organisations and representatives of different sides of society.

The TRNC president revealed that he told Cuéllar about the expulsion of Turkish Cypriots from the “Republic of Cyprus,” a partner from 1960 to 1963.

Read more HERE

[josefavomjaaga]

Helfert, Joachim Murat, Chapter 3, Part 2

(We left Murat claiming to British visitors that he, despite wanting Napoleon to drive the Bourbons out of France, was still totally in the Alies' camp.)

In spite of these assurances, everyone now knew very well what to expect from his side. Moreover, the facts were in stark contradiction with his words. All kinds of armaments were brought to completion with restless haste, throughout the kingdom the press of sailors was ordered to man the vessels; the royal guards, all troops were ordered to be ready to march; his aides-de-camp were constantly on the move in this or that direction. A year earlier Joachim had already begun to give the civil militia a better establishment, this was now continued most assiduously. The capital also received a military guardia di sicurezza, six battalions on foot and an escadron; property and the intelligentsia formed the elements drawn to their service: the wealthy privateers, merchants and tradesmen, professors, civil servants of all grades; a special medal of merit with the motto: "Onore e fedeltà" was created to stimulate their zeal. Ever since the world peace had been concluded, and with explicit reference to this change, Joachim had also tried to create a Sicilian regiment, Neapolitans who had followed Ferdinand IV to the island, but for whom there was now, as Murat thought, no longer any reason to stay abroad; but the influx was very small, the intended regiment never came into being. Among the officers' corps, a very dangerous increase consisted of many Lombards and Romagnoles who had formerly served in the army of the Kingdom of Italy and who, according to the custom of such fugitives from the country, had their mouths full of lofty words, pushed for an immediate upsurge in arms, which would be met with the most brilliant successes: old comrades would flock to them from all parts of Italy, hundreds, thousands of them armed and uniformed, gladly joining the King's army.

These military precautions went hand in hand with some personnel changes in the upper circles of government. The Minister of Finance, Mosbourg, a Frenchman by birth, asked for and received his dismissal - he had made his penny dry and did not want to expose it again to all the storms and rigours of the weather; he became Secretary of State in place of Prince Pignatelli-Cerchiara, who took over the vice-presidency of the Council of State from Cianciulli. The portfolio of finances was given to Baron Nolli, who had to begin his office with the most hateful measures: the merchant class was hit with a compulsory loan of 2 million francs; all the coffers, not excluding those of the hospitals and charitable foundations, were emptied to the last penny. Maghella was once again put in charge of the police; General Manhès became the governor of the capital, two personalities whose very names were disgusting to the people.

The author here in a footnote quotes Mier from a letter of 12 March: "Ces deux individus jouissent de la plus mauvaise réputation et sont détestés comme étrangers".

Under these circumstances, Mier's position in Naples became a very unpleasant one, and he urgently begged Prince Metternich "not to forget him". In the face of Joachim's assertion and that of his organs, in particular the government newspaper, maintaining that the King was in full harmony with Austria, that his policy was also that of Austria, Mier took every opportunity to loudly contradict this: "Austria is rather resolutely opposed to having the peace of Italy disturbed; the King, by pursuing his warlike desires and a delusion of greatness, will drag himself and his own to ruin". He sent a confidential letter to the queen, imploring her to do everything in her power to prevent her husband from making a hasty decision. He had discussions with Gallo, to whom he gave his unreserved opinion and drew his attention to the fact that the first step taken by a Neapolitan soldier across the demarcation line agreed on 28 April at Bologna would have the immediate consequence of breaking the Austrian alliance.

As early as the 12th of March it was said that the King would leave for the army, Mosbourg and Zurlo with him, Gallo and Macdonald to follow, and the Duke of Carignano to conduct foreign affairs in the meantime. The Princess of Wales, on hearing this decision, had offered to precede the King to Ancona; but he had sent her his regrets through the Duke of Roccaromana that he would not be able to receive her there, whereupon she angrily departed that very morning for Civita Vecchia, and from thence to Genoa. But the king's departure did not come to pass for the time being. Once again, doubts had intervened: repeated and strong hints from the Austrian envoy, requests and ideas from the queen, insistent advice from serious men who were in Joachim's confidence [footnote see below, as somewhat longer]. For a moment it had seemed as if everything was to be reversed, regiments that were about to march had been ordered to halt, others had even said that they would be recalled from the Marches.

Then new favourable news arrived of Napoleon's advance in France - from the evening of 10 March, when he entered Lyon, which might have been reported in Naples on the 15th - and now there was no more rest and no more peace for Joachim. He hastily summoned the Council of State, which was attended by the Queen, all the ministers, and the top generals, not to hear the opinion of those present, but to win them over to his own, which he did with all the grandiloquent exuberance of a Gascogner: 8,000 of his own troops, 14 battalions of provincial militia, civic militia without number; in addition, appeals from all parts of the peninsula, here a letter speaking of 12 regiments in readiness, of 12,000 shotguns in stock, there a letter with the promise of four fully equipped regiments, another promising the whole mass of the disbanded Italian army. The majority of those assembled listened to these reckless reports in incredulous distrust; with regret they saw the King's self-deception, and urgently advised against a hasty step: "one should rather await the answers from Vienna and London, the last success of Napoleon's enterprise, the resolutions of the Congress of Vienna on this unexpected change of affairs". Joachim suspended the meeting without passing a resolution that he did not like, sent Count Beaufremont to France with the declaration that the Emperor could count on his services, and let the Roman Court know through Cardinal Fesch that he regarded Napoleon's cause as his own and soon intended to prove to the world that it had never been alien to him.

On the evening of March 15, the Austrian envoy had a conversation with the Duca di Gallo, the contents of which left no further doubt. Joachim's minister complained about the obvious cooling in Austrian sympathies; about the neglect of his monarch's interests on the part of the Viennese Cabinet; about the small amount of effort the Cabinet had made to obtain the king's recognition from the other powers; about the humiliating way in which the king's ministers and other trusted individuals sent there by him were treated in Vienna. "The Congress will come to an end," Gallo concluded, "and Austria will not have fulfilled the promise she made to us. From this we can conclude no other than that she will abandon us in an extreme case, from which it further follows that the King must seek assistance where it is offered and resort to those means which he can hope will help him to his goal...". The next day, Mier appeared before the queen, who, as she complained to him, had been brought completely down by her sorrow, as well as by the continual quarrelling and disputes. "The King thinks," she said, "that Napoleon's successes will help to keep him on the throne. You know my opinion on this point. I will not cease to advise him that if the Vienna Cabinet should decide to oppose Napoleon, there is nothing left for him but to join Austria and follow her system and policy. You see, I am sacrificing my personal feelings and the agony of seeing my family persecuted, covered with shame and reproaches, to the duties of a mother, to the duties of a Queen of Naples. Emperor Francis has remained our loyal ally until this moment, and I am convinced that he will continue to do so in the future, if we know how to deserve it. This is his duty: but his own best interests also require him to do so".

[Footnote] Among them, in the first row, Pietro Colletta who, on March 11, "in his capacity as Councillor of State", sent a letter to the King urging him against any daring enterprise. The unification of Italy was a dream, "un filone di uomini caldi si abbandonerà a questa idea lusinghiera, ma la massa degl' italiani o la spregerà o la riguarderà con indifferenza o si armerà contro di essa". Twenty-five years of war and revolution had created a deep need for peace; the fine phrases used to flatter the passions of the people had lost their power. And how much preparation was needed to bring the war power up to the proper level! "L'armata di V. M. potrebbe esser battuta prima che aiutata!" The King should keep calm, so that time would pass which would only benefit the existence of his dynasty ... F. Palermo who published the letter in Arch. stor. ital. 1856 III p. 62-65, declares himself unable to state whether the letter really reached the king's hand or not.

Okay, this seems huge to me. I had no idea how much Joachim had suffered from being branded a traitor and how much it had weighed on his conscience. "[...] he regarded Napoleon's cause as his own and soon intended to prove to the world that it had never been alien to him." I guess the need to prove to both himself and to the world that he was not a dishonourable being played a huge role in his disastrous decision. (This actually reminds me of a dissertation on Austrian general Mack - the one from the campaign of 1805 - that claimed that similar mental stress led to the latter's irrational behaviour during the time auf Ulm.)

"Onore e fedeltà" may actually be a direct reference to Eugène's (at the time often quoted) proclamation to the people in the Kingdom of Italy, dated February 1, 1814, which publically announced Murat's defection and declared the Neapolitans an enemy to Napoleon's cause. ("Français! Italiens! j'ai confiance en vous; comptez aussi sur moi! Vous y trouverez toujours votre avantage et votre gloire. Soldats! ma devise est Honneur et Fidelité! Qu'elle soit aussi la vôtre; avec elle et l'aide de Dieu nous triompherons enfin de nos ennemis.") Murat basically claims that phrase - that had been directed against him - back.

Naturally I'm also interested in those "fugitives" from Lombardy who had come to Naples and may have presented a highly misleading picture of people's attitude in Northern Italy at the time. In truth, the different political factions there seem to have agreed pretty soon in their dislike of their new Austrian masters (I believe it is in August 1814, only four months after taking over, that Bellegarde has to send military to the Scala of Milan because riots were about to break out) but that does not necessarily mean they were friendly towards the Neapolitans - who by most were considered as foreigners just as much as the French had been. Also, the Austrians seem to have taken immediate measures to remove all rebellious elements from the country; I believe it is Méneval who mentions how all the Lombardian officers suspicious of still being too attached to the old regime, were transferred to Hungary and, on their way there during the Congress in Vienna, stopped by one by one to see their old viceroy. And to probably reproach him for not having marched on Milan in April when the riots broke out.

[humanrightsupdates]

Afghanistan: UN Should Ensure Women’s Full Role in Talks

(New York) – Women should have full participation in the talks between Afghan government officials, opposition political leaders, and the Taliban under United Nations auspices, Human Rights Watch said today. Human rights advocates in Afghanistan have raised concerns that women and victims’ organizations will be sidelined in the talks, tentatively scheduled for April 16, 2021, in Istanbul. Senior UN officials – notably Secretary-General António Guterres, Deputy Secretary‑General Amina Mohammed, the secretary-general’s personal envoy on Afghanistan, Jean Arnault, and the special representative for the secretary-general on Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons – should make a public commitment to fully include women in the main talks, and not only in “parallel” side events devoted to civil society groups. “As the Afghanistan conference host, the United Nations needs to ensure that women are full participants in the core talks,” said Heather Barr, interim women’s rights co-director at Human Rights Watch. “UN officials should make clear that women should not be relegated to side discussions but need a central role in determining Afghanistan’s future.”  The Istanbul talks, tentatively scheduled to begin on April 16, 2021, are to discuss proposed peace plans that include a possible interim government. Leading Afghan political figures, including former president Hamid Karzai and other heads of political factions, are likely to attend along with government officials from the High Council on National Reconciliation. The United States government has promoted these talks in an effort to accelerate negotiations before a US troop withdrawal. -- Human Rights Watch

[kyreniacommentator]

Fahri Zihni is back with more Advice in the Cyprus Mail

Readers Mail…. From Fahri Zihni…. Dear Chris…. I am writing to update you on the list of articles that I have written for the Cyprus Mail. This contains two very recent articles in addition to those you have shared by publishing their links click here. The first link is about my suggestion that the new UN Envoy ought to take this unique opportunity to persuade Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides to…

[jordanianroyals]

2 September 2020: King Abdullah II, accompanied by Crown Prince Hussein, chaired a new round of Aqaba Process meetings.

The meetings, held via teleconference, covered security challenges emerging in light of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and ways to address them, in addition to means of unifying and integrating efforts among all stakeholders to counter the threats of terrorism and extremism.

King Abdullah stressed the importance of maintaining international coordination in this regard, especially in light of the global implications of COVID-19.

The meetings also covered His Majesty’s call for re-globalisation to achieve better international integration and increase positive interdependence, in order to invest in skills, resources, and capacity-building across borders, for the benefit of all peoples. (Source: Petra)

This round of meetings—attended by His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, His Majesty’s chief adviser for religious and cultural affairs and personal envoy—saw the participation of the presidents of Nigeria, the Philippines, Kenya, and Bulgaria; and the prime ministers of Canada, Bulgaria, and Albania; in addition to UN and Interpol secretaries general and NATO’s deputy secretary general.

Senior political, military, and defence officials from Asia, Europe, Africa, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, in addition to the executive director of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism and other international partners were also in attendance.

The Aqaba Process initiative, launched by His Majesty in 2015, aims to enhance security and military coordination and cooperation, as well as the exchange of expertise and information, among various regional and international stakeholders, to counter terrorism within a holistic approach.

Due to global interest in its themes, the Aqaba Process initiative’s meetings have also been held outside Jordan, in Albania, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the United States, the United Nations, and Singapore.

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Adviser to His Majesty for Policies Bisher Khasawneh, and General Intelligence Department Director Maj. Gen. Ahmad Husni attended the meetings.

[ellestra]

First battles

I loved this episode. The battle lines are drawn as shit goes down and we’re not even half-way through the season. It was awesome.

We finally meet Naomi’s baby daddy and I feel about him same as Drummer does. Part of me wishes they didn’t let him talk his way out of it but it was never going to end here. And I get the appeal of his fundamentalism.

But I do wonder about what Marco says and Bobbie used to do. Why Martians destroy their ships? With all the exrasolar worlds shouldn’t they at least refurbish them into colony ones? But at least now we know what OPA wants with those nav systems.

I get that no one is going to fight about Belter refugee settlers especially when Murtry has proof they were planning to attack him and his people. When he knows that they attacked him. But his brand of justice is one that creates terrorist and revenge cycles. Even Israel crew scientist who survived the attack thinks his a dick.

However, attacking Roci crew is a bad idea. They are here on official UN buisness. Holden is personal envoy of Secretary General and was give oversight on this mission. That’s, of course, no shield when they are months away from anyone who can help them but it’s still not smart to attack them. No wonder stopped Amos’s beating. He’s a smart psychopath so he knows which people he can push around and which can get him in trouble. But he went after Naomi because he doesn’t see the difference between revenge and justice. It was nice to see Holden take over but I’m afraid it won’t last. The people with guns follow Murtry and UN is far, far from here.

As Avasarala knows. I got her frustration with the lack of information but between alien machines and Murtry Holden really is to busy to file reports. She should remember how it is when the shit goes down. She’d be better of worrying about Bobbie.

Bobbie who keeps trying to do the right thing and keeps being punished for it. She sure could use some advice from her more politically savvy friend. For now the only way is to become a criminal but may it can make her unravel the whole OPA plot.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

U.S. senators push for sanctions on Turkey, Erdogan confirms visit (Foreign Policy) In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday, senators from both parties urged the administration to place sanctions on Turkey if it is violating the cease-fire agreement in northeastern Syria. The lawmakers cited reports that Turkish and Turkish-backed forces are moving beyond the so-called safe zone and attacking Syrian Kurds. Meanwhile, Turkish officials confirmed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington next week, after reports that he might call off the visit.

Rising violence in Mexico (Washington Post) President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Wednesday rejected U.S. suggestions he adopt more aggressive security policies after a massacre of fundamentalist Mormons in northern Mexico, saying that approach has been a “disaster” in the past. The barbaric killings Monday in the northern state Sonora of the nine members of the extended LeBaron family--dual U.S.-Mexican citizens--has raised pressure on López Obrador’s leftist government, which has pledged to use social programs to address the root causes of violence. President Trump, however, suggested a more aggressive approach on Tuesday, tweeting that “this is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!” Other American politicians have also expressed alarm at the violence surging south of the border. But Mexican authorities noted pointedly on Wednesday that the bullets used in the attack were .223 caliber, produced by Remington, a U.S. firm. Those bullets are typically used in M-16 and AR-15 assault rifles. Mexico’s public security secretary said 70 percent of all the weapons tied to a crime in Mexico were smuggled from the United States.

UN votes overwhelmingly to condemn US embargo on Cuba (AP) The U.N. General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to condemn the American economic embargo of Cuba for the 28th year, rejecting U.S. concerns about human rights on the Caribbean island.

Top Brazil Court Ends Early Prison Rule in Decision That Could Free Lula (Reuters) Brazil’s Supreme Court decided on Thursday to end the mandatory imprisonment of convicted criminals after they lose their first appeal, a politically charged ruling that may lead to the release of former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Protests in Chile spread into wealthy Santiago neigborhoods (AFP) Demonstrations in Chile against the government of President Sebastian Pinera spread into Santiago’s wealthiest neighborhoods Wednesday, tainting previously untouched enclaves with violence amid the country’s deadly protests. Hundreds of demonstrators marched towards the Costanera Center, South America’s largest shopping mall and a complex that includes the region’s tallest building--a symbol of the economic expansion that has made Chile one the region’s most stable countries. Riot police stopped the demonstrators. The demonstrations then spilled into the wealthy Providencia neighborhood, the hub of Chile’s financial sector, where protesters lit fires, battled with police, looted a pharmacy and at least two banks, and damaged government buildings.

Europeans look to China as global partner, shun US (AP) When France’s president wants to carry European concerns to the world stage to find solutions for climate change, trade tensions or Iran’s nuclear ambitions, he no longer calls Washington. He flies to Beijing. President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China this week suggests that the United States risks being sidelined on the global stage under President Donald Trump. One moment spoke volumes: Chinese President Xi Jinping sampling French wines, which Trump’s administration recently slapped with heavy new tariffs. Macron portrayed himself as an envoy for the whole European Union, conveying the message that the bloc has largely given up on Trump, who doesn’t hide his disdain for multilateralism.

Torrential Rain in England Strands Shoppers, Floods Streets (AP) Torrential rain has drenched parts of north and central England, forcing some to evacuate their homes and stranding a small group of people in a shopping center overnight.

German Airline Lufthansa’s Crews on Strike for 2nd Day (AP) Germany’s flagship airline, Lufthansa, has canceled hundreds of flights as a strike by cabin crews enters its second day.

Iraqi Protesters Step Up Their Tactics (Foreign Policy) Mass protests are still escalating in Iraq, with demonstrators blocking three main bridges in Baghdad this week as they continue to push back against the political elite. As Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi fails to quell the unrest, the protesters are adjusting their tactics, calling for civil disobedience and strikes. More than 260 people have been killed since the protests began last month, and one person was killed by security forces on Wednesday. The protests are the largest in Iraq since Saddam Hussein fell in 2003, and the demonstrators are demanding the removal of the factions and political elites that came to power in the years afterward, who are seen as corrupt and subservient to other powers--such as the United States and Iran.

Ex-Lebanese PM questioned over how $11 billion was spent (Reuters) Former Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora was questioned by a state prosecutor on Thursday over how $11 billion in state funds was spent while he was in power.

Head of U.N. Palestinian agency quits amid crisis (Foreign Policy) Pierre Krähenbühl, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) resigned on Wednesday after two probes into his management. The agency has come under fire in recent years from the leaders of Israel and the United States, which cut $360 million in funding to UNRWA last year. Now the agency is operating in the red, and an ethics report’s findings could mean that it loses more funding.

Authorities say 2 inside Twitter spied for Saudis (NYT) The Justice Department accused two men of using their access to Twitter’s internal systems to obtain information on American citizens and Saudi dissidents. The men--one American, the other a Saudi citizen--were charged with acting as agents of a foreign power inside the U.S. Both men left Twitter in 2015. The case raised questions about the security of American technology companies. It also underscored the broad effort that Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and his advisers have conducted to silence critics both inside the kingdom and abroad.

90 Minutes a Day, Until 10 p.m.: China Sets Rules for Young Gamers (NYT) Officials say the regulations are meant to curb video game addiction, which they blame for a rise in nearsightedness and poor academic performance.

North Korean name-calling (Reuters) North Korea on Thursday called Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe an “idiot and villain” who should not even dream of setting foot in Pyongyang, in a media commentary laden with insults in response to his criticism of a North Korean weapons test. North Korea tested what it called “super-large multiple rocket launchers” on Oct. 31, but Japan said they were likely ballistic missiles that violated U.N. sanctions.

Attack on Canadian company in Burkina Faso (Foreign Policy) On Wednesday, armed men shot and killed 37 people in a Canadian mining company’s convoy as it traveled to a gold mine in eastern Burkina Faso. The Montreal-based firm, Semafo, said the five company buses had military escorts. Government officials said another 60 people were injured. Burkina Faso was once regarded as an oasis of stability, but violence has escalated recently.

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Pyongyang, DPRK: The people greet their People's Army on the 70th anniversary of Socialist Korea, September 9, 2018.

Military Parade, Public Procession Mark 70th Birthday of DPRK

Pyongyang, September 10 (KCNA) -- A military parade and a public procession of Pyongyang citizens for celebrating the 70th birthday of the DPRK took place with splendor in Kim Il Sung Square Sunday.

Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, who is the Supreme Leader of the party, the state and the army, arrived at the square.

The Supreme Leader reviewed the honour guard of the KPA services after receiving a salute from its chief.

He appeared in the tribune of the square.

Thunderous cheers of hurrah rent heaven and earth and fireworks of celebration were let off.

He extended congratulations to all the service personnel and people on the 70th founding anniversary of the DPRK, warmly waving in return for the cheers of the participants in the parade and the procession.

Taking the tribune and special seats around it were Kim Yong Nam, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK and president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, Choe Ryong Hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK, vice-chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and vice-chairman of the CC of the WPK, Pak Pong Ju, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the CC of the WPK, vice-chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and premier of the Cabinet, and other officials of the Party and government and leading personnel of the KPA.

Present at the tribune on invitation were Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, president of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Salvador Antonio Valdes Mesa, first vice-president of the Council of State and first vice-president of the Council of Ministers of Cuba, Helal Al-Helal, deputy regional secretary of the Syria's Baath Arab Socialist Party and Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko, chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council.

Taking the special seats were heads of a congratulatory group of Koreans in Japan, a delegation of the General Association of Koreans in China and a delegation of the International United Confederation of Koreans, heads of foreign party, state and government delegations, special envoys and personages.

Delegates to the celebrations for the 70th founding anniversary of the DPRK, officials of the Party, military and government organs, the Cabinet, ministries and national institutions, service personnel of the KPA and the Korean People's Internal Security Forces, officials of institutions, factories and enterprises in Pyongyang, persons of merit, members of overseas Koreans' congratulatory groups and delegations, individual overseas compatriots , the chief of the Pyongyang Mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front, members of foreign delegations, the diplomatic envoys, representatives of international organizations and members of military attache corps here, and foreign guests took the reserved seats.

The guard of honor of all the services and the combined military band of the KPA began the opening ceremony.

The chief of the General Staff of the KPA inspected the parade units. Kim Jong Un received a report from the chief of the KPA General Staff that the military parade for celebrating the 70th birthday of the DPRK would begin. Amid the solemn playing of immortal revolutionary hymns "Song of General Kim Il Sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong Il", a salute of 21 guns was let off.

Kim Yong Nam, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK and president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, made a speech.

Kim said that the 70-year long history of the DPRK is the one of gigantic change and great victory in which it, once a backward country, has towered as a powerful socialist country with an invincible might.

Under the leadership of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il the DPRK developed into the dignified country of people which embodied the Juche-oriented socialist state building idea and fortress independent in politics, self-supporting in the economy and self-reliant in national defence and strong foundation for building a powerful country was laid and this is the most brilliant victory in opening the destiny of our nation, he said.

He called upon all the people to strive for the eternal prosperity of the country and the accomplishment of the socialist cause, firmly united around Kim Jong Un.

When the cars with the flags bearing the portraits of smiling President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il entered the square, escorted by generals and officers of the KPA, the honour guard of the KPA services and all the paraders paid the noblest tribute to the great leaders.

The military parade started off with three columns leading the way. The first column was of the officers of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, the second of the cadets of the Central Security Officers Training Centre and the third of the 38th Guard Unit, the last two representing the service personnel who had defended the country in the post-liberation days for building a new Korea.

They were followed by other units of the service personnel in the days of the Fatherland Liberation War, all holding their colours at the head of the columns--the Seoul Kim Chaek Guards 4th Infantry Division, the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Guards 105th Tank Division, the Guards 2nd Torpedo Flotilla and the Guards 56th Pursuit Plane Group.

Also marching past were the columns of the 1st Base of the Navy Command, the air force units, the military police unit of Panmunjom, an artillery unit under the 4th Corps, the Guards 1st Hero Brigade and the unit which had been seconded to the construction of the West Sea Barrage.

Next came the columns of the Hainan Dao Front Unit, a unit of pilots and workers in the munitions industry.

Striding behind them were the columns of the frontline army corps, Navy units, and Air and Anti-Aircraft Force units, Strategic Force units, Special Operation forces, Worker-Peasant Red Guards and Young Red Guards.

Kim Jong Un waved back to the paraders shouting "hurrah!" on their march. Planes appeared in the sky, flying in the formation depicting the number "70" symbolic of the seven decades of the DPRK.

The columns of mechanized units passed the square in tune with the song "Let's Support Our Supreme Commander with Arms."

The parade was wound up with the military band portraying the letters Sung Ri (Victory) and the planes spraying three-colour smoke just above the square. Then, the public procession of the Pyongyang citizens began.

The column in the shape of the national flag went past the square amid the playing of the songs "The Glorious Motherland" and "Ode to the Motherland," while the civilian participants on the square depicted the letters "Celebration September 9".

There was a burst of loud cheers and excited waving when the column appeared of those holding flags with the statues of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il in the middle.

It was followed by other columns of meritorious persons, families of service personnel, agricultural workers, sportspeople, Children's Union members, workers, scientists and teachers, each holding slogan-boards and other decorations.

And then, amid the playing of the songs "We Will Follow Our Party Forever" and "We'll Travel One Road Forever", the columns of those holding the flags of the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK passed the square, demonstrating their resolve to follow the road of revolution to the end.

When the procession ended, thunderous cheers were raised and fireworks set off.

Kim Jong Un came out to the balcony of the platform and waved back to the cheering crowd.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

World Leaders at UPF Conference this Past Weekend Memorialized both Shinzo Abe and Sun Myung Moon; FFWPU Worldwide Memorializes Moon

Last Friday at UPF’s “Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference,” a five-day international summit at the Jamsil Lotte Hotel in Seoul, Shinzo Abe was commemorated, which included a video message from Donald Trump, who claimed that Abe was a good friend of his and a great person, and expressed his gratitude for Hak Ja Han. 

▲ Mike Pompeo speaking in-person

▲ Trump’s video message in memory of Shinzo Abe

▲ Participants were invited to put flowers on the stage

A picture of Abe was shown on a screen with his quote, "Peace is not given by someone. It should be won." 

Speakers and presenters at the conference included Mike Pence, former Vice-President of the United States (2017-2021); Stephen Harper, Canadian Prime Minister (2006-2015); Newt Gingrich, US House Speaker (1995-1999); Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State (2018-2021); Dan Burton, US Congressman (1983-2013); and Brigi Rafini, Executive General, Community of Sahel-Saharan States and Prime Minister (2011-2021), Niger, Walter Sharp, Commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command and US Forces Korea (2008-2011); Harry Harris, US Ambassador to Korea (2018-2021); and Joseph DeTrani, Special Envoy, Six-Party Talks with DPRK (2003-2006), Imboni Prophet Radebe, founder of The Revelation Spiritual Home in South Africa, Pastor Paula White-Cain, Senior Pastor, City of Destiny Church in the US; Jan Figel, European Union Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion (2016-2019); and Massimo Introvigne, Managing Director, Center for Studies on New Religions, Italy, Sheikh Mansour Diouf, Head of the Murid Brotherhood, Senegal; Ibrahim Natatou, Minister of Education, Niger; Hamza Said Hamza, Minister of Youth and Sports, Somalia; Adi Koila Nailitikau, First Lady (2009-2015), Fiji; Mwaba Tony, Minister of Higher Education, DR Congo; Neziha Labidi, Minister of Women, Family and Children (2016-2020), Tunisia; Dr. Sok Siphana, Chairman, Asian Vision Institute, Cambodia;  Jim Rogers, Chairman of Beeland Interests, Inc.; Bishop Don Meares, Senior Pastor, Evangel Cathedral, USA; Callista Mutharika, First Lady (2010-2012), Malawi; Dr. Song Yong-cheon, Chair, Sunhak Foundation; Dr. Hwang Sun-jo, President, Sun Moon University; and Dr. Yun Young Ho, Director General, FFWPU International.

As part of the Summit, on Sunday, August 14, participants went to the HJ Global Arts Center in Seorak, outside of Seoul, for a memorial program hosted by Hak Ja Han honoring her late husband Sun Myung Moon.

Leaders from all over the world sent messages, including Kim Jong Un, the Supreme Leader of the DPRK (North Korea): "Rev. Moon worked for the sake of world peace… and his achievements and legacy will be remembered for eons... We would like to wish prosperity and success to the International Family Federation and UPF." Kim sent flowers to the event.

Mike Pompeo, former CIA Director and US State Secretary, spoke in-person for ten minutes, hailing Moon and his accomplishments. Earlier that week, Pompeo spoke at the UPF event on religious liberty, likely due to the events in Japan.

“Rev. Moon and his peace work impacted millions,” said Cambodian Assemblyman Suos Yara, who delivered a message from Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia.

Moon’s 10 year death (”ascension”) anniversary was observed this past weekend all over the world.

▲ Unification Church gathering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

▲ Unification Church gathering Brazil

▲ Unification Church gathering in Thailand

▲ Unification Church in Malaysia

▲ Unification Church in Tanzania

Ten years since Moon has been dead, and the organizations he left behind, and the sects that have since formed, are continuing on his legacy of exploiting and abusing people for the sake of building personal wealth for a few elite church families as well as for the promotion of imperialist interests.

Hak Ja Han, Founder of Universal Peace Federation (UPF) declared she is “Female Jesus”

FFWPU President of IAPP Prosecuted for Money Laundering and Drug Smuggling in US Court; may be connected to UC / FFWPU Leadership

Leni Robredo is a progressive Moonie-supporter?

Abe’s “ties” with the Unification Church were politically motivated

The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

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biden: Unleashing sanctions on Russia, Biden says any nation that supports Putin will be stained by association - Times of India

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden, in coordination with European allies, on Thursday unleashed what he described as a "devastating package of sanctions and other economic measures" to hold Russia to account for its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions include the freezing of assets of four major Russian banks, including VTB, which Biden said held more than $ 250 billion in the US. "Putin is the aggressor...he chose the war...and now he has to face consequences," Biden said in a White House speech, announcing a raft of sanctions and punitive economic measures after convening a meeting of his national security council and G7 leaders earlier in the day. Biden also had a word of advice to nations that supported Russia. The United States would make Putin a "pariah" and any country that supports him will be stained by their association. Russia-Ukraine live updates Accusing Putin of "naked aggression" against Ukraine in pursuit of his dreams of a Russian Empire, Biden said the Russian leader had chosen a war without cause and he would eventually lose because of mass civil disobedience and strategic ends. The United States, he said, will stand by Ukraine and defend it short of putting boots on the ground. "America stand up to bullies and for freedom. This is who we are," Biden said. He also announced deployment of more US troops which were on standby to Germany, Washington and its western allies ramped up the sanctions and strengthened their defense of NATO frontline after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Thursday brought Europe to its gravest crisis since World War Two. Faced with an invasion under a nuclear cover, Biden rallied NATO allies, G7 partners, and domestic opinion to tighten the screws on Putin after Moscow shrugged off the first round of sanctions to proceed with the long forecast invasion -- which Russia called "special military action" -- of Ukraine. In remarks ahead of the invasion, Putin implicitly invoked a nuclear response if the US and its allies intervened. "Whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to the consequences you have never seen in history." Putin said in a television address, adding, “All relevant decisions have been taken. I hope you hear me.” In New York, the United Nations also came down on Russia, its Secretary General Antonio Gutteres describing the invasion as the “saddest moment in my tenure," while appealing to Putin, "in the name of humanity, please bring your forces back to Russia." Putin's announcement of "special military action" in Ukraine came even as the UN was discussing Moscow's earlier moves into in the Donbas region. In one of the most vivid moments in geo-political television history, Ukraine's ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya, directly addressed his Russian counterpart Vasily Nebenzya, who was presiding over the session, calling him to relinquish his chair, and phone Putin and Lavrov (Russia's foreign minister) to "ask them to stop the aggression on my people." "There is no purgatory for war criminals, ambassador...they go straight to hell," he told the Russian chair. Envoys from US and UK were later seen comforting an emotional Ukrainian envoy. Earlier, President Biden accused Putin of choosing a "premeditated war" that he predicted will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. "Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable," Biden said in a late night address. In the morning, Biden convened an in-person meeting of his National Security Council in the White House situation room, followed by a virtual meeting of G7 leaders to consider the western response to Putin's move that surprisingly has some support among rightwingers in the Trump camp who argue that the US has no stakes in a fight that is primarily European, and that Washington should focus on its southern borders and its internal problems. Trump in fact called Putin "smart" "savvy" and a "genius" for his move into Ukraine while claiming with typical bombast that this would have never happened on his watch. Trump critics agree it wouldn't have, only because he would have gift-wrapped Ukraine and handed it over to Putin. Others went further back to even Barack Obama to explain Washington's timid response, which some attributed to the attrition Washington suffered in Afghanistan and Iraq. The alternative narrative is that successive US Presidents allowed Atlantic militarists in the US establishment to push NATO to Russia's doorstep, leaving Putin feeling cornered. Trump's British surrogate Nigel Farage in fact tweeted that Putin's Ukraine invasion was "a consequence of EU and NATO expansion, which came to a head in 2014. It made no sense to poke the Russian bear with a stick." Before ramping up sanctions, the US and its allies got a shellacking for choosing the path of incremental measures following initial Russian incursion into Ukraine, hoping to ward off a full-scale invasion. Some experts said that was akin to "bringing a pea-shooter to a gun-fight" and argued that it simply emboldened Putin to go all in. US officials defended the approach. “We're not cowboys applying arbitrary and capricious sanctions to the rest of the world.” Daleep Singh, President Biden's pointman on sanctions said, explaining that the US was following a set of guiding principles with regards to sanctions, which he promised would eventually hurt Moscow. Source link Read the full article