A New York Jew in China - What Do Chinese People Think of Jews? from Forverts on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Thursday, January 20, 2011
A New York Jew in China - What Do Chinese People Think of Jews?
This very interesting 10-minute video is in Yiddish, with English subtitles:
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Turkey and China throw lifeline to Iran
From FT (UK)July 25 2010, by Roula Khalaf and Delphine Strauss in Ankara:
Turkey could emerge as a new safety net for Iranian business as the government insists that it will abide by UN sanctions but not the more sweeping restrictions imposed on Tehran by the US and the European Union. Mehmet Simsek, the finance minister, told the Financial Times that Turkey would not shy away from promoting closer trade links with Iran.
...the International Energy Agency confirmed that a state-owned Turkish refiner, Tupras, had stepped in to supply Iran after several international companies stopped selling the country refined petroleum.
Meanwhile Turkey’s foreign economic relations board said the country’s ports, notably Mersin and Trabzon, would try to handle some of the trade with Iran that has been going through Dubai. The Gulf emirate is steadily restricting its economic ties with Tehran.
Samet Inanir, a strategy counsellor at the economic relations board, said Istanbul could also offer an alternative to Dubai for Iranian investors in real estate. He noted that more than 120 Iranian companies based in Dubai had recently applied to their country’s embassy for information about doing business in Turkey.
...Ankara was one of only two UN Security Council members to oppose Resolution 1929 which tightened sanctions on Iran last month.
... Chinese companies have also been supplying Iran with petroleum...
Turkey could emerge as a new safety net for Iranian business as the government insists that it will abide by UN sanctions but not the more sweeping restrictions imposed on Tehran by the US and the European Union. Mehmet Simsek, the finance minister, told the Financial Times that Turkey would not shy away from promoting closer trade links with Iran.
...the International Energy Agency confirmed that a state-owned Turkish refiner, Tupras, had stepped in to supply Iran after several international companies stopped selling the country refined petroleum.
Meanwhile Turkey’s foreign economic relations board said the country’s ports, notably Mersin and Trabzon, would try to handle some of the trade with Iran that has been going through Dubai. The Gulf emirate is steadily restricting its economic ties with Tehran.
Samet Inanir, a strategy counsellor at the economic relations board, said Istanbul could also offer an alternative to Dubai for Iranian investors in real estate. He noted that more than 120 Iranian companies based in Dubai had recently applied to their country’s embassy for information about doing business in Turkey.
...Ankara was one of only two UN Security Council members to oppose Resolution 1929 which tightened sanctions on Iran last month.
... Chinese companies have also been supplying Iran with petroleum...
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Lessons of success from societies' oppressed minorities
From The Age, March 9, 2010, by Tim Colebatch, economics editor:
...In Indonesia, ...maybe 3 per cent of the population, the Chinese were estimated to control 75 per cent of Indonesian business. Yet they were deprived of full citizenship, banned from speaking Chinese languages, practising Chinese religions or holding public office, had their schools closed and lived in fear for the future.
It was a situation familiar to many European Jews throughout history. They too were a small minority. They came to acquire extraordinary economic power, yet usually they had no civic rights. They were banned from public office and many occupations, and were vulnerable to the hostility of rulers or mobs driven by hate - culminating in Hitler orchestrating the murder of more than 80 per cent of all the Jews in central and eastern Europe.
But how did such a small minority in Europe - and now, in Australia and the United States - acquire such a central role in the economy, the arts and the professions? ...
...Jerry Muller, himself Jewish and a professor at the Catholic University of America in Washington, has published a book of four essays, Capitalism and the Jews, that sets out to explain why Jews have enjoyed such exceptional success in modern capitalist societies such as ours.
Most of the reasons, as he sees it, are the same reasons that the Chinese now dominate commerce in Indonesia and South-East Asia, or the Indians in Fiji, or the Greeks and Armenians in the old Turkish empire. But some are uniquely Jewish.
...by and large, Jews usually lived in towns, whereas the vast majority of people around them were farmers. With notable exceptions, Jews made their living from commerce and trades, not agriculture. That is crucial to what followed.
Muller begins the story in the high Middle Ages, with the Catholic Church agonising over biblical injunctions against usury: then taken to mean money-lending in general, not the modern meaning of lending at excessive interest rates. The compromise adopted was that Christians should not take part in this evil - but since it was a necessary evil the Jews could do it.
So the role of providing finance - the future engine of capitalist development - was passed to the despised minority of traders and tradesmen. This, too, is crucial to the story.
Muller is too polite to say it, but his argument clearly implies that the rest of us are disadvantaged because we are descended from a long line of farmers who had their brains dulled by working the land as their parents had done before them. By contrast, Jewish children for centuries grew up in the towns learning to live by their wits, and mastering skills of commerce and finance.
A study of the German corporate elite of 100 years ago found that 32 to 40 per cent of them were Jewish. In Hungary, 54 per cent of commercial establishments were Jewish-owned. It was a similar story throughout Europe and, in a lesser degree, in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Muller sums up his argument in a nutshell: ''As the development of modern capitalism created new economic opportunities in Europe and its colonial offshoots, Jews were disproportionately successful in seizing them. That is because the Jews of Europe were well positioned by their premodern history. ''Their experience, and the cultural propensities it engendered, predisposed them towards commerce and finance, and towards the free professions.''
The most important cultural propensity was to education. In Prussia in the late 19th century, Muller recounts, Jewish children were 10 times more likely to go to university than other German children. ''By the early 20th century, in the … larger cities of central and eastern Europe, such as Vienna, Warsaw, Prague or Budapest, Jewish lawyers, engineers, pharmacists and architects at times comprised the majority of practitioners, in cities where Jews generally made up 5 to 10 per cent of the population.''
A second propensity was a willingness to invest in new ideas. A classic example is the film industry, which quickly became dominated by Jews.
And a third was the propensity for hard work.
These are the same traits that explain the success of the overseas Chinese in Indonesia, and of Chinese students in Australia. If there is a moral here, it is that most of the factors that created Jewish exceptionalism are not exclusive to Jews.
Even those of us whose forebears spent too much time driving ploughs in the rain through wet European soils can make it - if we study hard, take risks and work hard to make them come off.
...In Indonesia, ...maybe 3 per cent of the population, the Chinese were estimated to control 75 per cent of Indonesian business. Yet they were deprived of full citizenship, banned from speaking Chinese languages, practising Chinese religions or holding public office, had their schools closed and lived in fear for the future.
It was a situation familiar to many European Jews throughout history. They too were a small minority. They came to acquire extraordinary economic power, yet usually they had no civic rights. They were banned from public office and many occupations, and were vulnerable to the hostility of rulers or mobs driven by hate - culminating in Hitler orchestrating the murder of more than 80 per cent of all the Jews in central and eastern Europe.
But how did such a small minority in Europe - and now, in Australia and the United States - acquire such a central role in the economy, the arts and the professions? ...
...Jerry Muller, himself Jewish and a professor at the Catholic University of America in Washington, has published a book of four essays, Capitalism and the Jews, that sets out to explain why Jews have enjoyed such exceptional success in modern capitalist societies such as ours.
Most of the reasons, as he sees it, are the same reasons that the Chinese now dominate commerce in Indonesia and South-East Asia, or the Indians in Fiji, or the Greeks and Armenians in the old Turkish empire. But some are uniquely Jewish.
...by and large, Jews usually lived in towns, whereas the vast majority of people around them were farmers. With notable exceptions, Jews made their living from commerce and trades, not agriculture. That is crucial to what followed.
Muller begins the story in the high Middle Ages, with the Catholic Church agonising over biblical injunctions against usury: then taken to mean money-lending in general, not the modern meaning of lending at excessive interest rates. The compromise adopted was that Christians should not take part in this evil - but since it was a necessary evil the Jews could do it.
So the role of providing finance - the future engine of capitalist development - was passed to the despised minority of traders and tradesmen. This, too, is crucial to the story.
Muller is too polite to say it, but his argument clearly implies that the rest of us are disadvantaged because we are descended from a long line of farmers who had their brains dulled by working the land as their parents had done before them. By contrast, Jewish children for centuries grew up in the towns learning to live by their wits, and mastering skills of commerce and finance.
A study of the German corporate elite of 100 years ago found that 32 to 40 per cent of them were Jewish. In Hungary, 54 per cent of commercial establishments were Jewish-owned. It was a similar story throughout Europe and, in a lesser degree, in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Muller sums up his argument in a nutshell: ''As the development of modern capitalism created new economic opportunities in Europe and its colonial offshoots, Jews were disproportionately successful in seizing them. That is because the Jews of Europe were well positioned by their premodern history. ''Their experience, and the cultural propensities it engendered, predisposed them towards commerce and finance, and towards the free professions.''
The most important cultural propensity was to education. In Prussia in the late 19th century, Muller recounts, Jewish children were 10 times more likely to go to university than other German children. ''By the early 20th century, in the … larger cities of central and eastern Europe, such as Vienna, Warsaw, Prague or Budapest, Jewish lawyers, engineers, pharmacists and architects at times comprised the majority of practitioners, in cities where Jews generally made up 5 to 10 per cent of the population.''
A second propensity was a willingness to invest in new ideas. A classic example is the film industry, which quickly became dominated by Jews.
And a third was the propensity for hard work.
These are the same traits that explain the success of the overseas Chinese in Indonesia, and of Chinese students in Australia. If there is a moral here, it is that most of the factors that created Jewish exceptionalism are not exclusive to Jews.
Even those of us whose forebears spent too much time driving ploughs in the rain through wet European soils can make it - if we study hard, take risks and work hard to make them come off.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
IAEA report confirms ‘military intentions’ of Iran
From JPost, 21/02/2010, by HAVIV RETTIG GUR AND AP:
... an International Atomic Energy Agency report released on Thursday that says Iran may be developing a nuclear warhead.
...Noting that the report is the first during the term of new IAEA chief Yukiya Amano of Japan, Israel said it “establishes that the agency has a lot of trustworthy information about the past and present activities that testify to the military tendencies of the Iranian program.”
Among these activities were the recently declared decisions to enrich uranium to 20 percent and the continued construction of the Qom nuclear facility, kept secret until it was discovered by Western intelligence agencies and made public in recent months.
The UN nuclear agency report suggested for the first time that Teheran had either resumed such work or had never stopped when US intelligence thought it did.
Thursday’s report appeared to put the UN nuclear monitor on the side of Germany, France, Britain and Israel.
...The confidential IAEA report said Iran’s resistance to agency efforts to probe for signs of a nuclear cover-up “give rise to concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.”
...The language of the report appeared to be more directly critical of Iran’s refusal to cooperate with the IAEA than most of those compiled by Amano’s predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei of Egypt.
It strongly suggested that intelligence supplied by the US, Israel and other IAEA member states on Iran’s attempts to use the cover of a civilian nuclear program to move toward a weapons program was compelling...
...Meanwhile on Friday, Russia’s foreign minister said he was “very alarmed” over Iran’s failure to prove its nuclear program is peaceful, suggesting Moscow may be closer to acceding to Western demands for new UN sanctions against Teheran.
“We are very alarmed, and we cannot accept that Iran is refusing to cooperate” with the IAEA, Lavrov said on Ekho Moskvy radio. He added that he did not understand the need for Iran to conduct its nuclear program in secret, withholding information from the IAEA...
...Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the IAEA report “underscores that Iran continues to flout its international obligations” and indicates that Teheran is pursuing “a nuclear weapons program with the purpose of evasion.”
The United States has circulated elements for a possible new UN sanctions resolution to other veto-wielding UN Security Council members – Russia, China, Britain and France – and Germany. The six countries have been trying, to no avail, to get Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program and return to negotiations on its nuclear program.
...“We now have no other choice, given this report, than to seek, together with our partners, the adoption of new measures by the UN Security Council over the next few weeks,” the [French Foreign Ministry] said in a statement.
The United States and its Western allies have been pushing for a fourth round of UN sanctions. But China, which relies on Iran’s energy exports, is skeptical of any new sanctions.
... an International Atomic Energy Agency report released on Thursday that says Iran may be developing a nuclear warhead.
...Noting that the report is the first during the term of new IAEA chief Yukiya Amano of Japan, Israel said it “establishes that the agency has a lot of trustworthy information about the past and present activities that testify to the military tendencies of the Iranian program.”
Among these activities were the recently declared decisions to enrich uranium to 20 percent and the continued construction of the Qom nuclear facility, kept secret until it was discovered by Western intelligence agencies and made public in recent months.
The UN nuclear agency report suggested for the first time that Teheran had either resumed such work or had never stopped when US intelligence thought it did.
Thursday’s report appeared to put the UN nuclear monitor on the side of Germany, France, Britain and Israel.
...The confidential IAEA report said Iran’s resistance to agency efforts to probe for signs of a nuclear cover-up “give rise to concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.”
...The language of the report appeared to be more directly critical of Iran’s refusal to cooperate with the IAEA than most of those compiled by Amano’s predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei of Egypt.
It strongly suggested that intelligence supplied by the US, Israel and other IAEA member states on Iran’s attempts to use the cover of a civilian nuclear program to move toward a weapons program was compelling...
...Meanwhile on Friday, Russia’s foreign minister said he was “very alarmed” over Iran’s failure to prove its nuclear program is peaceful, suggesting Moscow may be closer to acceding to Western demands for new UN sanctions against Teheran.
“We are very alarmed, and we cannot accept that Iran is refusing to cooperate” with the IAEA, Lavrov said on Ekho Moskvy radio. He added that he did not understand the need for Iran to conduct its nuclear program in secret, withholding information from the IAEA...
...Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the IAEA report “underscores that Iran continues to flout its international obligations” and indicates that Teheran is pursuing “a nuclear weapons program with the purpose of evasion.”
The United States has circulated elements for a possible new UN sanctions resolution to other veto-wielding UN Security Council members – Russia, China, Britain and France – and Germany. The six countries have been trying, to no avail, to get Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program and return to negotiations on its nuclear program.
...“We now have no other choice, given this report, than to seek, together with our partners, the adoption of new measures by the UN Security Council over the next few weeks,” the [French Foreign Ministry] said in a statement.
The United States and its Western allies have been pushing for a fourth round of UN sanctions. But China, which relies on Iran’s energy exports, is skeptical of any new sanctions.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
(Finally) Sanctions on Iran Are Coming
From Fox News, February 9, 2010:
President Obama said Tuesday the deadline for sanctions against Iran is fast approaching and that the United States and its allies have extended a hand that has been rejected.
...The issue of sanctions against Iran has been in the works since 2009 with President Obama even laying out an end-of-the-year deadline with his French and British counterparts, but Iran continues to block international observers ....
“Despite their posturing that their nuclear power is only for civilian use, they in fact continue to pursue a course that would lead to weaponization,” Obama said. “And that is not acceptable to the international community, not just to the United States.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates who was in Paris for meetings, said he hopes resolution can be reached with Iran before military action is needed. "Everybody's interest is in seeing this issue resolved without a resort to conflict," Gates said. "...my hope is we will ...be able to keep this in economic and diplomatic channels."
These diplomatic channels also include China, a nation which in the past has cooperated with the United States on the issue of Iran, but has recently disappeared from negotiations. Experts warn the lack of Chinese participation could not only jeopardize talks on Iran, but also have a global effect. “Are we going to have China as a responsible partner or is China going to be cheating and undermining?,” says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies....
President Obama said he remains optimistic the Chinese will work with the U.S., but seemed more hopeful Russia would also help on the nuclear issue...
....“...what we are going to be working on over the next several weeks is developing a significant regime of sanctions that will indicate to [Iran]how isolated they are from the international community as a whole,” Obama said.
President Obama said Tuesday the deadline for sanctions against Iran is fast approaching and that the United States and its allies have extended a hand that has been rejected.
...The issue of sanctions against Iran has been in the works since 2009 with President Obama even laying out an end-of-the-year deadline with his French and British counterparts, but Iran continues to block international observers ....
“Despite their posturing that their nuclear power is only for civilian use, they in fact continue to pursue a course that would lead to weaponization,” Obama said. “And that is not acceptable to the international community, not just to the United States.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates who was in Paris for meetings, said he hopes resolution can be reached with Iran before military action is needed. "Everybody's interest is in seeing this issue resolved without a resort to conflict," Gates said. "...my hope is we will ...be able to keep this in economic and diplomatic channels."
These diplomatic channels also include China, a nation which in the past has cooperated with the United States on the issue of Iran, but has recently disappeared from negotiations. Experts warn the lack of Chinese participation could not only jeopardize talks on Iran, but also have a global effect. “Are we going to have China as a responsible partner or is China going to be cheating and undermining?,” says Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies....
President Obama said he remains optimistic the Chinese will work with the U.S., but seemed more hopeful Russia would also help on the nuclear issue...
....“...what we are going to be working on over the next several weeks is developing a significant regime of sanctions that will indicate to [Iran]how isolated they are from the international community as a whole,” Obama said.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
China dismisses Iran sanctions now
From THE JERUSALEM POST, Jan. 5, 2010, by Associated Press:
China does not plan to hold debates on more sanctions on Iran's nuclear program during its Security Council presidency this month, despite US demands for tougher sanctions, the Chinese ambassador to the UN said on Tuesday.
Ambassador Zhang Yesui told reporters Tuesday "this is not the right time or moment for sanctions" and that diplomats need "more time and patience" to try to bridge differences.
He said his January agenda will focus on Afghanistan, Somalia, Nepal, Ivory Coast, Kosovo, Sudan and the Middle East.
The Obama administration and its international partners had imposed an end-of-2009 deadline for Teheran to accept a UN-drafted deal to swap most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. Iran dismissed the deadline.
Iran said Tuesday it welcomed US comments and that there was no hard-and-fast deadline for starting nuclear dialogue.
China does not plan to hold debates on more sanctions on Iran's nuclear program during its Security Council presidency this month, despite US demands for tougher sanctions, the Chinese ambassador to the UN said on Tuesday.
Ambassador Zhang Yesui told reporters Tuesday "this is not the right time or moment for sanctions" and that diplomats need "more time and patience" to try to bridge differences.
He said his January agenda will focus on Afghanistan, Somalia, Nepal, Ivory Coast, Kosovo, Sudan and the Middle East.
The Obama administration and its international partners had imposed an end-of-2009 deadline for Teheran to accept a UN-drafted deal to swap most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. Iran dismissed the deadline.
Iran said Tuesday it welcomed US comments and that there was no hard-and-fast deadline for starting nuclear dialogue.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Growing international pressure on Iran
From THE JERUSALEM POST, Nov. 28, 2009, by HILARY LEILA KRIEGER and HAVIV RETTIG GUR:
The US and Israel expressed satisfaction over the weekend with what officials from both countries termed "a growing momentum" of international pressure on Iran to halt activities that would enable it to construct nuclear weapons.
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday passed a resolution censuring Iran 25-3, demanding that Teheran immediately freeze construction of its newly revealed nuclear facility and heed Security Council resolutions to stop uranium enrichment.
...[Israel's] Foreign Ministry urged world powers to make certain the demands on Iran "did not stop with just rhetoric," according to ministry spokesman Yossi Levy.
"There are two elements that will decide if international pressure is successful," Levy said. "One is an unbending schedule [for diplomatic talks], and two, a price tag for every Iranian violation. When these are in place, the diplomatic process will have a momentum that will ensure the sanctions on the Iranian regime are painful and effective."
....The 25 members of the 35-nation board that backed the resolution included the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, marking a rare measure of unity from the six world powers on Iran.
...In Teheran, a conservative Iranian legislator warned Saturday that his country may pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty after the UN resolution censure - a move that could seriously undermine world attempts to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons...
The US and Israel expressed satisfaction over the weekend with what officials from both countries termed "a growing momentum" of international pressure on Iran to halt activities that would enable it to construct nuclear weapons.
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday passed a resolution censuring Iran 25-3, demanding that Teheran immediately freeze construction of its newly revealed nuclear facility and heed Security Council resolutions to stop uranium enrichment.
...[Israel's] Foreign Ministry urged world powers to make certain the demands on Iran "did not stop with just rhetoric," according to ministry spokesman Yossi Levy.
"There are two elements that will decide if international pressure is successful," Levy said. "One is an unbending schedule [for diplomatic talks], and two, a price tag for every Iranian violation. When these are in place, the diplomatic process will have a momentum that will ensure the sanctions on the Iranian regime are painful and effective."
....The 25 members of the 35-nation board that backed the resolution included the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, marking a rare measure of unity from the six world powers on Iran.
...In Teheran, a conservative Iranian legislator warned Saturday that his country may pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty after the UN resolution censure - a move that could seriously undermine world attempts to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons...
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Stopping Iran is more urgent now
From The Washington Post, Saturday, September 26, 2009:
.... Iran has been illegally hiding another nuclear plant ...hidden in tunnels under a mountain near the city of Qom ...officials say that when it is operational, it could deliver the material for a bomb in a year...
The public announcement, which U.S. officials said they had been planning since July, also offers the Obama administration an opportunity to energize what has looked like a lagging campaign to focus international pressure on Tehran. Gathered for the Group of 20 summit, President Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown took turns Friday underlining the seriousness of Iran's latest violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and warning of harsh consequences if the Islamic regime did not soon take steps to comply with the Security Council resolutions it has defied for years.
Whether the regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be moved by the warnings is another matter. The two leaders give every indication of believing their own rhetoric, which declares that the United States and its allies are incapable of stopping the nuclear program or of mounting serious sanctions. Nor does Mr. Ahmadinejad show any intention of negotiating seriously with the group of five permanent Security Council members and Germany at the upcoming talks in Geneva.
The coup that Ayatollah Khamenei and Mr. Ahmadinejad launched against moderates [moderate!? ..compared to what? - SL] within the regime this summer is aimed at perpetuating Iran's belligerent policies toward the West. It follows that outside powers will have little chance of stopping the nuclear program through peaceful means unless the two leaders lose power in the ongoing domestic conflict. Strong sanctions could help the Iranian opposition if average citizens blame the regime for shortages, rising prices or other economic disruptions. But Mr. Ahmadinejad probably reckons that he can use them to rally the country behind him.
That will be harder if the steps have the backing of Russia and China as well as the West -- which is why the Obama administration is focusing diplomacy on those governments. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hinted at support for sanctions this week, but it's not clear that Moscow's real ruler, Vladimir Putin, agrees. China continues to oppose sanctions in public while quietly striking deals to supply Iran with the gasoline that would be one of the best targets for an embargo.
The United States must make clear to those governments that it will not settle for inaction against a regime that is brazenly defying international treaties and U.N. Security Council resolutions.
.... If it had not been discovered, the Qom plant could have given Iran the means for a bomb by 2011 without the world knowing about it. And if there is one clandestine facility, most likely there are others.
.... Iran has been illegally hiding another nuclear plant ...hidden in tunnels under a mountain near the city of Qom ...officials say that when it is operational, it could deliver the material for a bomb in a year...
The public announcement, which U.S. officials said they had been planning since July, also offers the Obama administration an opportunity to energize what has looked like a lagging campaign to focus international pressure on Tehran. Gathered for the Group of 20 summit, President Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown took turns Friday underlining the seriousness of Iran's latest violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and warning of harsh consequences if the Islamic regime did not soon take steps to comply with the Security Council resolutions it has defied for years.
Whether the regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be moved by the warnings is another matter. The two leaders give every indication of believing their own rhetoric, which declares that the United States and its allies are incapable of stopping the nuclear program or of mounting serious sanctions. Nor does Mr. Ahmadinejad show any intention of negotiating seriously with the group of five permanent Security Council members and Germany at the upcoming talks in Geneva.
The coup that Ayatollah Khamenei and Mr. Ahmadinejad launched against moderates [moderate!? ..compared to what? - SL] within the regime this summer is aimed at perpetuating Iran's belligerent policies toward the West. It follows that outside powers will have little chance of stopping the nuclear program through peaceful means unless the two leaders lose power in the ongoing domestic conflict. Strong sanctions could help the Iranian opposition if average citizens blame the regime for shortages, rising prices or other economic disruptions. But Mr. Ahmadinejad probably reckons that he can use them to rally the country behind him.
That will be harder if the steps have the backing of Russia and China as well as the West -- which is why the Obama administration is focusing diplomacy on those governments. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hinted at support for sanctions this week, but it's not clear that Moscow's real ruler, Vladimir Putin, agrees. China continues to oppose sanctions in public while quietly striking deals to supply Iran with the gasoline that would be one of the best targets for an embargo.
The United States must make clear to those governments that it will not settle for inaction against a regime that is brazenly defying international treaties and U.N. Security Council resolutions.
.... If it had not been discovered, the Qom plant could have given Iran the means for a bomb by 2011 without the world knowing about it. And if there is one clandestine facility, most likely there are others.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Iran’s offer of nuclear talks hinders Security Council talks on sanctions
From The Times September 3, 2009, by Roger Boyes in Berlin:
Western diplomats struggled yesterday to secure an agreement on imposing tougher sanctions on Iran in an attempt to end its nuclear programme.
The meeting of the five United Nations permanent Security Council members and Germany was complicated by a last-minute offer of talks from Saeed Jalili, the top nuclear negotiator in Iran.
Because no details of the offer were available, the delegates assumed that Mr Jalili planned to use his proposal to slow the progress of moves to impose sanctions. Russia and China used the prospect of a peace offering from Tehran, however vague, as an argument against punitive measures.
One of the diplomats said: “The point is to duck, dive, tease and confuse until they are more or less resistant to the kind of sanctions that we have been considering.”
One plan, currently before the US Congress, is to ban exports of refined petroleum products and tighten control over Iran’s activities in the financial and insurance markets. A ban on petrol would hit Iran since it imports about 40 per cent of its needs. Petrol shortages have, in the past, led to domestic protests.
But China is already helping Iran to build new oil refineries in the hope of doubling domestic capacity by 2012. By that time Iran will be immune to threats of cutting off petrol imports. It also intends to remove subsidies on domestic petrol, making it more expensive and throttling consumption.
China thus has no commercial interest in sharpening the sanctions weapon. The Russians too are sceptical. Before the permanent members’ session, Moscow talked down the prospect of swift progress.
“I believe nothing new should be expected as the six nations differ over which way they should follow to tackle Iran’s nuclear programme,” said Vladimir Sazhin, of the Russian Institute of Oriental Studies.
Moscow’s view is that Iran is softening its position somewhat and the Security Council five should wait and see how the power structures change in the light of the June 12 presidential election and subsequent unrest.
“Iran has allowed access to the previously classified nuclear facilities in Natanz,” Mr Sazhin said.
France and Germany called this week for harder-edged sanctions. Their concern is that if the West is not seen to be pushing Iran harder, Israel may consider a military strike. Critics of President Obama, such as John Bolton, the former US envoy to the United Nations, argue that sanctions are doomed to fail even if they could be linked directly to stopping Iranian nuclear plans.
“Adopting tougher economic sanctions is simply another detour away from hard decisions on whether to accept a nuclear Iran or support using force to prevent it,” he wrote in The Wall Street Journal this week.
Western diplomats struggled yesterday to secure an agreement on imposing tougher sanctions on Iran in an attempt to end its nuclear programme.
The meeting of the five United Nations permanent Security Council members and Germany was complicated by a last-minute offer of talks from Saeed Jalili, the top nuclear negotiator in Iran.
Because no details of the offer were available, the delegates assumed that Mr Jalili planned to use his proposal to slow the progress of moves to impose sanctions. Russia and China used the prospect of a peace offering from Tehran, however vague, as an argument against punitive measures.
One of the diplomats said: “The point is to duck, dive, tease and confuse until they are more or less resistant to the kind of sanctions that we have been considering.”
One plan, currently before the US Congress, is to ban exports of refined petroleum products and tighten control over Iran’s activities in the financial and insurance markets. A ban on petrol would hit Iran since it imports about 40 per cent of its needs. Petrol shortages have, in the past, led to domestic protests.
But China is already helping Iran to build new oil refineries in the hope of doubling domestic capacity by 2012. By that time Iran will be immune to threats of cutting off petrol imports. It also intends to remove subsidies on domestic petrol, making it more expensive and throttling consumption.
China thus has no commercial interest in sharpening the sanctions weapon. The Russians too are sceptical. Before the permanent members’ session, Moscow talked down the prospect of swift progress.
“I believe nothing new should be expected as the six nations differ over which way they should follow to tackle Iran’s nuclear programme,” said Vladimir Sazhin, of the Russian Institute of Oriental Studies.
Moscow’s view is that Iran is softening its position somewhat and the Security Council five should wait and see how the power structures change in the light of the June 12 presidential election and subsequent unrest.
“Iran has allowed access to the previously classified nuclear facilities in Natanz,” Mr Sazhin said.
France and Germany called this week for harder-edged sanctions. Their concern is that if the West is not seen to be pushing Iran harder, Israel may consider a military strike. Critics of President Obama, such as John Bolton, the former US envoy to the United Nations, argue that sanctions are doomed to fail even if they could be linked directly to stopping Iranian nuclear plans.
“Adopting tougher economic sanctions is simply another detour away from hard decisions on whether to accept a nuclear Iran or support using force to prevent it,” he wrote in The Wall Street Journal this week.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Israeli pavilion at World Expo 2010
An artist's rendering of the planned Israeli pavilion at World Expo 2010 Shanghai, China, from YouTube, June 4 2009:
Friday, August 07, 2009
Israel pushing for sanctions on Iran
From Ynet News, 7 Aug 2009, by Roni Sofer:
Jerusalem refuses to wait for Security Council resolution, launches diplomatic campaign aimed at pressuring series of leading countries to act against Islamic republic....
Time is running out, and Israel has decided not to depend on the United Nations in terms of sanctions on Iran . The Foreign Ministry has launched extensive diplomatic activities aimed at pressuring a series of the world's leading countries to impose sanctions on Iran, even if the Security Council fails to make such a decision.
Israel is trying to get the United States, Australia, Canada and some leading European countries to tighten the economic blockade and sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic. The goal is to undermine the stability of the Iranian regime, which is weaker than perceived by the world so far, in order to force it to choose between preserving its regime and halting its nuclear program.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have been holding discussions recently on "the day after" the talks between the Obama administration and the Ahmadinejad regime fail. This is scheduled to happen next month, according to a timetable set by the Americans.
...the foreign minister said there was a possibility that China – and perhaps Russia as well – would prevent the UN Security Council from imposing severe sanctions on Iran.
...If Obama's dialogue with Iran fails, and China and Russia thwart tough Security Council sanctions, Lieberman believes Israel must aim to have a separate blockade imposed by each Western country, ...[including] the European Union countries and the organization in Brussels, Canada, Australia and of course the US, which would lead the entire move.
..."Only tough sanctions, which will not allow the Iranian regime to continue ignoring the world, will make it possible to stop the nuclear plan," the foreign minister said.
...such effective action is the only way to really threaten Ahmadinejad's regime, which is weak as it is, ahead of the possibility of forceful action.
Israel believes that an effective blockade could lead to one of two outcomes: Causing Ahmadinejad to halt the nuclearization process – in order not to lose power in Tehran, or replacing the Ayatollah regime by the Iranian people, who are aware of the atmosphere in the free world, as seen following the recent presidential elections.
In addition, Israel hopes, such a situation will also harm Iran's satellite organizations – Hamas and Hezbollah.
Jerusalem refuses to wait for Security Council resolution, launches diplomatic campaign aimed at pressuring series of leading countries to act against Islamic republic....
Time is running out, and Israel has decided not to depend on the United Nations in terms of sanctions on Iran . The Foreign Ministry has launched extensive diplomatic activities aimed at pressuring a series of the world's leading countries to impose sanctions on Iran, even if the Security Council fails to make such a decision.
Israel is trying to get the United States, Australia, Canada and some leading European countries to tighten the economic blockade and sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic. The goal is to undermine the stability of the Iranian regime, which is weaker than perceived by the world so far, in order to force it to choose between preserving its regime and halting its nuclear program.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have been holding discussions recently on "the day after" the talks between the Obama administration and the Ahmadinejad regime fail. This is scheduled to happen next month, according to a timetable set by the Americans.
...the foreign minister said there was a possibility that China – and perhaps Russia as well – would prevent the UN Security Council from imposing severe sanctions on Iran.
...If Obama's dialogue with Iran fails, and China and Russia thwart tough Security Council sanctions, Lieberman believes Israel must aim to have a separate blockade imposed by each Western country, ...[including] the European Union countries and the organization in Brussels, Canada, Australia and of course the US, which would lead the entire move.
..."Only tough sanctions, which will not allow the Iranian regime to continue ignoring the world, will make it possible to stop the nuclear plan," the foreign minister said.
...such effective action is the only way to really threaten Ahmadinejad's regime, which is weak as it is, ahead of the possibility of forceful action.
Israel believes that an effective blockade could lead to one of two outcomes: Causing Ahmadinejad to halt the nuclearization process – in order not to lose power in Tehran, or replacing the Ayatollah regime by the Iranian people, who are aware of the atmosphere in the free world, as seen following the recent presidential elections.
In addition, Israel hopes, such a situation will also harm Iran's satellite organizations – Hamas and Hezbollah.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Clinton: US Prepared for New Sanctions if Outreach to Iran Fails
From VOA News, 22 April 2009, by David Gollust, State Department [my emphasis added - SL]:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the United States is laying groundwork for new sanctions against Iran if outreach to Tehran on its nuclear program fails to produce results. Clinton says the Obama administration's call for dialogue provides more leverage in efforts to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment.
Clinton told Congress the administration's conciliatory policy toward Iran is not open-ended, and that if efforts to persuade that country to halt enrichment and return to negotiations on its nuclear program fail, Tehran would face tighter sanctions.
The Secretary raised the prospect of additional sanctions at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing under questioning from committee chairman Howard Berman, who said he is concerned Iran might see a more friendly U.S. approach as merely a green light to pursue nuclear weapons...
...Clinton told Berman the Obama administration has no illusions about its engagement with Iran and is operating on two tracks, offering dialogue but also preparing for additional punitive action if the outreach is spurned or inconclusive.
"Yes we are more than willing to reach out to the Iranians to discuss a range of issues assuming they are willing to reach back," said Hillary Clinton. "....But we are also laying the groundwork for the kind of very tough, I think you said, crippling sanctions that might be necessary in the event our offers are either rejected or the process is inconclusive or unsuccessful."
The Secretary said the administration's effort to engage Iran - on the nuclear issue and other topics - will strengthen its position in a drive for additional international sanctions if that proves necessary.
...Efforts by the previous administration for more sanctions were blocked last year amid resistance from Russia and China...
Hear the Gollust report: Download (MP3) or Listen (MP3)
Video: Clinton on a Nuclear Iran: Download (WM) or Watch (WM)
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the United States is laying groundwork for new sanctions against Iran if outreach to Tehran on its nuclear program fails to produce results. Clinton says the Obama administration's call for dialogue provides more leverage in efforts to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment.
Clinton told Congress the administration's conciliatory policy toward Iran is not open-ended, and that if efforts to persuade that country to halt enrichment and return to negotiations on its nuclear program fail, Tehran would face tighter sanctions.
The Secretary raised the prospect of additional sanctions at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing under questioning from committee chairman Howard Berman, who said he is concerned Iran might see a more friendly U.S. approach as merely a green light to pursue nuclear weapons...
...Clinton told Berman the Obama administration has no illusions about its engagement with Iran and is operating on two tracks, offering dialogue but also preparing for additional punitive action if the outreach is spurned or inconclusive.
"Yes we are more than willing to reach out to the Iranians to discuss a range of issues assuming they are willing to reach back," said Hillary Clinton. "....But we are also laying the groundwork for the kind of very tough, I think you said, crippling sanctions that might be necessary in the event our offers are either rejected or the process is inconclusive or unsuccessful."
The Secretary said the administration's effort to engage Iran - on the nuclear issue and other topics - will strengthen its position in a drive for additional international sanctions if that proves necessary.
...Efforts by the previous administration for more sanctions were blocked last year amid resistance from Russia and China...
Hear the Gollust report: Download (MP3) or Listen (MP3)
Video: Clinton on a Nuclear Iran: Download (WM) or Watch (WM)
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Clock ticks for Iran ...
From a Reuters Analysis, 2/4/09, by Louis Charbonneau:
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States will push for new U.N. sanctions against Iran later this year if President Barack Obama's effort to improve relations fails to stop Tehran from pursuing its nuclear program.
But plans for a fourth round of international sanctions will remain on hold at least until after Iran's presidential elections in June, diplomats said.
There are hopes in Washington and other Western capitals that a moderate will win the Iranian election and seize upon President Barack Obama's recent offer of new diplomatic engagement with the Islamic Republic.
...More important than the outcome of the Iranian election, analysts say, is the question of how long Israel will be willing to wait to see if the U.S. approach is working before taking a decision on whether to attack Iran's nuclear sites.
Mark Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. State Department official and nonproliferation expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said Iran will not have much time after its elections to change gears on the nuclear front.
"Israel is not going to wait forever," he said. "I couldn't give you a prediction of months, but I don't think that Iran has all that much time. They have an opportunity now and they should seize it."
MONTHS, NOT YEARS
...Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several of his military aides told Atlantic magazine this week that the Jewish state would not wait too long. One Israeli military aide was quoted as saying Israel's time lines are now drawn in months, "not years."
Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osiraq in 1981 and has suggested it was prepared to do the same in Iran.
Obama's shift from his predecessor's policy of isolating Tehran has backing from Britain, France and Germany. These countries are helping to spearhead efforts to persuade Iran to freeze its enrichment program in compliance with five Security Council resolutions.
Russia and China have also welcomed the overture.
...Work on a new U.N. sanctions resolution would likely commence later this year if Iran continues enriching uranium, the analysts and diplomats said, but the focus at the moment will be on engagement, not punishment.
"He's (Obama) not going to be comfortable right off the box threatening," said Henry Sokolski, head of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. "They've branded themselves as the engagers and they'll stick to the brand for now."
Iran's progress in developing it's nuclear capability is also likely to provide a limit to Western patience.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog reports that Iran is making progress in purifying uranium using difficult centrifuge technology. According to one Western diplomat, that trend is "unsettling" and "cannot continue indefinitely."
The prospect that Russia and China, both of which have vetoes in the Security Council, will support new sanctions also hovers over the Iranian issue. Moscow and Beijing reluctantly backed three rounds of U.N. sanctions but watered them down.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States will push for new U.N. sanctions against Iran later this year if President Barack Obama's effort to improve relations fails to stop Tehran from pursuing its nuclear program.
But plans for a fourth round of international sanctions will remain on hold at least until after Iran's presidential elections in June, diplomats said.
There are hopes in Washington and other Western capitals that a moderate will win the Iranian election and seize upon President Barack Obama's recent offer of new diplomatic engagement with the Islamic Republic.
...More important than the outcome of the Iranian election, analysts say, is the question of how long Israel will be willing to wait to see if the U.S. approach is working before taking a decision on whether to attack Iran's nuclear sites.
Mark Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. State Department official and nonproliferation expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said Iran will not have much time after its elections to change gears on the nuclear front.
"Israel is not going to wait forever," he said. "I couldn't give you a prediction of months, but I don't think that Iran has all that much time. They have an opportunity now and they should seize it."
MONTHS, NOT YEARS
...Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several of his military aides told Atlantic magazine this week that the Jewish state would not wait too long. One Israeli military aide was quoted as saying Israel's time lines are now drawn in months, "not years."
Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osiraq in 1981 and has suggested it was prepared to do the same in Iran.
Obama's shift from his predecessor's policy of isolating Tehran has backing from Britain, France and Germany. These countries are helping to spearhead efforts to persuade Iran to freeze its enrichment program in compliance with five Security Council resolutions.
Russia and China have also welcomed the overture.
...Work on a new U.N. sanctions resolution would likely commence later this year if Iran continues enriching uranium, the analysts and diplomats said, but the focus at the moment will be on engagement, not punishment.
"He's (Obama) not going to be comfortable right off the box threatening," said Henry Sokolski, head of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. "They've branded themselves as the engagers and they'll stick to the brand for now."
Iran's progress in developing it's nuclear capability is also likely to provide a limit to Western patience.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog reports that Iran is making progress in purifying uranium using difficult centrifuge technology. According to one Western diplomat, that trend is "unsettling" and "cannot continue indefinitely."
The prospect that Russia and China, both of which have vetoes in the Security Council, will support new sanctions also hovers over the Iranian issue. Moscow and Beijing reluctantly backed three rounds of U.N. sanctions but watered them down.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
U.N. Delegates Laud Chinese Death Penalty and Internet Censorship
From a UN Watch email briefing, 13/2/09:
"U.N. rights council becoming Mutual Praise Society," says UN Watch 125-page report, featured in Reuters, Associated Press, South China Morning Post, Canadian Press, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Ottawa Citizen, United Arab Emirates' The National...
GENEVA, February 12, 2009 — Delegates to a U.N. meeting this week on China's human rights record praised Beijing for practicing the death penalty, imposing internet censorship, and for being a "moral and ethical country."
While Western countries challenged China, many others congratulated it. Egypt lauded China's "endeavor to protect human rights and socio-economic development" and said "we understand the need of China to keep the death penalty." Iran congratulated China's "efforts to promote human rights" and, citing "the negative impact of the internet," encouraged China to tighten censorship to prohibit "defamation of religion." Cuba praised China for being an "exceptional country," and urged it to enforce "stict compliance with law. . . to prevent people disguised as human rights activists from trying to destroy the state."
China's review came under the U.N. Human Rights Council's flagship review mechanism, known as Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
According to a new 124-page study by the Geneva-based UN Watch, a human rights monitoring group, only 8 of the 47 member states of the Council, including Canada, France and Britain, took a constructive approach to scrutinizing each other’s human rights records since UPR began last year.
Entitled “Mutual Praise Society,” the report found that the peer review sessions of the Council are being misused by countries to praise allies and criticize enemies instead of highlighting genuine cases of abuse.
UN Watch rated the performance of 32 other countries—including Russia, Iran, China and Cuba—as detrimental to destructive. The report evaluated 300 speeches made by 55 countries, including several that participate in the council as non-voting observers.
Major newswires and newspapers around the world -- from the Persian Gulf to Hong Kong to Canada -- quoted UN Watch's report. Click here to see the worldwide media coverage.
While the U.N. promised to reform itself with a procedure that would hold all countries to account on an objective and equal basis, and help human rights victims worldwide, instead the council has turned into a mutual praise society, giving a free pass to the world’s worst abusers.
In the current session alone, we saw Libya praise Cuba for "promoting freedom of thought and expression," when Havana continues to keep human rights defenders and journalists behind bars, and Chinese praise for Saudi Arabia's record on women’s rights, when they can neither vote nor drive a car.
But it’s not just repressive regimes protecting each other. Many democracies, too, are failing to review countries seriously, with some—like India, South Africa and Uruguay—undermining the process by congratulating countries for practices that deserve condemnation.
Click here to see the report’s key findings and recommendations.
Click here to download a pdf version of the full 125-page report.
"U.N. rights council becoming Mutual Praise Society," says UN Watch 125-page report, featured in Reuters, Associated Press, South China Morning Post, Canadian Press, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Ottawa Citizen, United Arab Emirates' The National...
GENEVA, February 12, 2009 — Delegates to a U.N. meeting this week on China's human rights record praised Beijing for practicing the death penalty, imposing internet censorship, and for being a "moral and ethical country."
While Western countries challenged China, many others congratulated it. Egypt lauded China's "endeavor to protect human rights and socio-economic development" and said "we understand the need of China to keep the death penalty." Iran congratulated China's "efforts to promote human rights" and, citing "the negative impact of the internet," encouraged China to tighten censorship to prohibit "defamation of religion." Cuba praised China for being an "exceptional country," and urged it to enforce "stict compliance with law. . . to prevent people disguised as human rights activists from trying to destroy the state."
China's review came under the U.N. Human Rights Council's flagship review mechanism, known as Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
According to a new 124-page study by the Geneva-based UN Watch, a human rights monitoring group, only 8 of the 47 member states of the Council, including Canada, France and Britain, took a constructive approach to scrutinizing each other’s human rights records since UPR began last year.
Entitled “Mutual Praise Society,” the report found that the peer review sessions of the Council are being misused by countries to praise allies and criticize enemies instead of highlighting genuine cases of abuse.
UN Watch rated the performance of 32 other countries—including Russia, Iran, China and Cuba—as detrimental to destructive. The report evaluated 300 speeches made by 55 countries, including several that participate in the council as non-voting observers.
Major newswires and newspapers around the world -- from the Persian Gulf to Hong Kong to Canada -- quoted UN Watch's report. Click here to see the worldwide media coverage.
While the U.N. promised to reform itself with a procedure that would hold all countries to account on an objective and equal basis, and help human rights victims worldwide, instead the council has turned into a mutual praise society, giving a free pass to the world’s worst abusers.
In the current session alone, we saw Libya praise Cuba for "promoting freedom of thought and expression," when Havana continues to keep human rights defenders and journalists behind bars, and Chinese praise for Saudi Arabia's record on women’s rights, when they can neither vote nor drive a car.
But it’s not just repressive regimes protecting each other. Many democracies, too, are failing to review countries seriously, with some—like India, South Africa and Uruguay—undermining the process by congratulating countries for practices that deserve condemnation.
Click here to see the report’s key findings and recommendations.
Click here to download a pdf version of the full 125-page report.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Barak Urges U.S. to Focus on Iran Nuclear Threat
From Bloomberg.com, Nov. 20, by Gwen Ackerman and Calev Ben-David:
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the U.S. and Europe should put aside differences with China and Russia over human-rights and missile-defense issues to focus on working together to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
"The triad of nuclear proliferation, radical Muslim terror, and rogue states, epitomized in the Iran case, can be defeated only through a paradigm shift in international relationships,'' Barak said in an interview at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv late yesterday.
Barak said criticism of Russia's actions in Chechnya and China's human-rights record are hurting efforts to put up a united front against Iran. He also said that U.S. plans to deploy a missile-defense system in eastern Europe -- which the Americans say is aimed at countering Iran and which Moscow perceives as a threat -- also aren't helpful. "The other issues are not as urgent,'' he said.
..."The time for sanctions is still there, but it is short,'' said Barak, 66, who heads Israel's Labor Party and is the country's former prime minister. "The way I see to make it effective is to cut through the psychological obstacles about cooperating with Russia and China and open a new discourse.''
...Gerald Steinberg, chairman of Bar Ilan University's political science department in Ramat Gan, said Barak's comment tying the lack of progress on confronting Iran to the West's disagreements with China and Russia is noteworthy.
"...This is aligning Israeli policy, or at least Barak's policy, with the recognition that Barack Obama is coming into office.''
U.S. President-elect Obama, who will take office on Jan. 20, said during his campaign that he would seek more cooperation from Russia and China to make the sanctions against Iran effective. Barak said he has expressed his views about Iran to Obama and President George W. Bush....
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the U.S. and Europe should put aside differences with China and Russia over human-rights and missile-defense issues to focus on working together to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
"The triad of nuclear proliferation, radical Muslim terror, and rogue states, epitomized in the Iran case, can be defeated only through a paradigm shift in international relationships,'' Barak said in an interview at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv late yesterday.
Barak said criticism of Russia's actions in Chechnya and China's human-rights record are hurting efforts to put up a united front against Iran. He also said that U.S. plans to deploy a missile-defense system in eastern Europe -- which the Americans say is aimed at countering Iran and which Moscow perceives as a threat -- also aren't helpful. "The other issues are not as urgent,'' he said.
..."The time for sanctions is still there, but it is short,'' said Barak, 66, who heads Israel's Labor Party and is the country's former prime minister. "The way I see to make it effective is to cut through the psychological obstacles about cooperating with Russia and China and open a new discourse.''
...Gerald Steinberg, chairman of Bar Ilan University's political science department in Ramat Gan, said Barak's comment tying the lack of progress on confronting Iran to the West's disagreements with China and Russia is noteworthy.
"...This is aligning Israeli policy, or at least Barak's policy, with the recognition that Barack Obama is coming into office.''
U.S. President-elect Obama, who will take office on Jan. 20, said during his campaign that he would seek more cooperation from Russia and China to make the sanctions against Iran effective. Barak said he has expressed his views about Iran to Obama and President George W. Bush....
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Talks yield no new sanctions against Iran's nuclear program
From The LA Times, November 15, 2008 by Borzou Daragahi:
...World powers this week failed to come up with a unified strategy to press Iran on halting controversial elements of its nuclear program, as a report emerged suggesting the country had made progress in advancing a little-examined feature of its atomic infrastructure.
....Moscow's Interfax news agency quoted Russian diplomat Sergei Ryabkov, who attended the meeting, as saying the parties had struck no deal on sanctions. "The Western countries are for the sanctions," he was quoted as saying. "China, like Russia, did not back it."
Meanwhile, a report released this week says Iran has made significant progress at another facility: a heavy-water research reactor being built near the city of Arak, which could eventually produce plutonium that might be used in a nuclear weapon.
According to satellite images published by the Institute for Science and International Security, construction at the Arak plant progressed significantly between February and October."It's slipped everyone's notice," said David Albright, a former arms inspector and president of the Washington-based institute. "If you look at the satellite image, it's really making progress. In a year and a half, it's gone from building frames to largely finished."...
... hopes of imposing another set of U.N. Security Council sanctions before the end of President Bush's term are fading.
Russia and China, which hold veto power on the Security Council, have resisted new sanctions. Unlike Washington, Moscow and Beijing have close political and business ties with Iran and feel no domestic pressure to act against the Islamic Republic.
Amid the diplomatic maneuvering, Tehran continues to edge forward in nuclear and missile skills.
Some Israeli officials have voiced alarm about Iran's test-firing this week of a solid-fuel, two-stage rocket with a range of 1,200 miles. Tel Aviv is about 650 miles from Iran."This is a whole new missile," Uzi Rubin, an Israeli missile expert, told Jane's, the British-based defense and military publication."It demonstrates a significant leap in Iran's missile capabilities," Rubin said.
IAEA inspectors predict the heavy-water reactor near Arak won't be completed until 2011. Such plants produce relatively large quantities of weapons-grade plutonium that can be extracted from spent uranium fuel through a type of reprocessing plant that Iran neither has nor says it wants.
But in its Nov. 13 report ... the Institute for Science and International Security cites evidence gathered by IAEA inspectors that suggests Iran could be planning such a facility, which is relatively easy to build. ...the Arak plant could potentially produce about 20 pounds of plutonium a year, enough for two nuclear weapons. Physicists say it is easier to design and build a nuclear weapon using plutonium than one using enriched uranium.
...World powers this week failed to come up with a unified strategy to press Iran on halting controversial elements of its nuclear program, as a report emerged suggesting the country had made progress in advancing a little-examined feature of its atomic infrastructure.
....Moscow's Interfax news agency quoted Russian diplomat Sergei Ryabkov, who attended the meeting, as saying the parties had struck no deal on sanctions. "The Western countries are for the sanctions," he was quoted as saying. "China, like Russia, did not back it."
Meanwhile, a report released this week says Iran has made significant progress at another facility: a heavy-water research reactor being built near the city of Arak, which could eventually produce plutonium that might be used in a nuclear weapon.
According to satellite images published by the Institute for Science and International Security, construction at the Arak plant progressed significantly between February and October."It's slipped everyone's notice," said David Albright, a former arms inspector and president of the Washington-based institute. "If you look at the satellite image, it's really making progress. In a year and a half, it's gone from building frames to largely finished."...
... hopes of imposing another set of U.N. Security Council sanctions before the end of President Bush's term are fading.
Russia and China, which hold veto power on the Security Council, have resisted new sanctions. Unlike Washington, Moscow and Beijing have close political and business ties with Iran and feel no domestic pressure to act against the Islamic Republic.
Amid the diplomatic maneuvering, Tehran continues to edge forward in nuclear and missile skills.
Some Israeli officials have voiced alarm about Iran's test-firing this week of a solid-fuel, two-stage rocket with a range of 1,200 miles. Tel Aviv is about 650 miles from Iran."This is a whole new missile," Uzi Rubin, an Israeli missile expert, told Jane's, the British-based defense and military publication."It demonstrates a significant leap in Iran's missile capabilities," Rubin said.
IAEA inspectors predict the heavy-water reactor near Arak won't be completed until 2011. Such plants produce relatively large quantities of weapons-grade plutonium that can be extracted from spent uranium fuel through a type of reprocessing plant that Iran neither has nor says it wants.
But in its Nov. 13 report ... the Institute for Science and International Security cites evidence gathered by IAEA inspectors that suggests Iran could be planning such a facility, which is relatively easy to build. ...the Arak plant could potentially produce about 20 pounds of plutonium a year, enough for two nuclear weapons. Physicists say it is easier to design and build a nuclear weapon using plutonium than one using enriched uranium.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Israeli Terror Victims Sue Bank of China for Millions
From Epoch Times, Aug 21, 2008, by by Gilad Slonim & Dalia Harpaz:
Israeli victims of terror demand millions from the Bank of China claiming it knowingly funded Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists responsible for their losses.
A lawsuit representing a hundred victims of terror in Israel and their families was filed in Los Angeles on August 21 against the Bank of China for knowingly funding Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist activities. The plaintiffs are demanding a compensation of hundreds of millions of dollars.
...According to the charges, the Bank of China transferred regularly, over a period of time, amounts of about US$100,000 to the private bank account of a senior Hamas official located China. The latter used the money to buy merchandise which he shipped to Gaza. In Gaza, this merchandise was resold by senior Hamas officials and the profit was used to fund terrorist activities.
According to the plaintiffs and their attorney Nitzana, the Israeli government notified the Bank of China of the use Hamas was making of the money and demanded the bank of China to stop the transfers. Darshan-Leitner claims to have evidence proving this.
The victims' families also approached the Bank of China in January, sending information by direct correspondence as well as through the director of the bank's New York branch. After the Bank of China repeatedly failed to reply to their messages, the families turned to a US court.
The plaintiffs claim that since the Bank of China has a branch in the U.S., U.S. courts have power of attorney to handle the case under a U.S. law that forbids funding terrorist activities.
"U.S. courts consider the rules of evidence without employing any political favoritism," Attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner told The Epoch Times. "So if we succeed in proving our claims—and I am fairly certain that we will—the bank will be ordered to pay the plaintiffs millions of dollars in compensation. Moreover, this will open a door for others who have been victims of terrorist activity which originated in Gaza during the relevant time period, and they, too, will be able to demand compensation from the Bank of China," said Leitner.At the time of publication, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not available to comment.
Israeli victims of terror demand millions from the Bank of China claiming it knowingly funded Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists responsible for their losses.
A lawsuit representing a hundred victims of terror in Israel and their families was filed in Los Angeles on August 21 against the Bank of China for knowingly funding Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist activities. The plaintiffs are demanding a compensation of hundreds of millions of dollars.
...According to the charges, the Bank of China transferred regularly, over a period of time, amounts of about US$100,000 to the private bank account of a senior Hamas official located China. The latter used the money to buy merchandise which he shipped to Gaza. In Gaza, this merchandise was resold by senior Hamas officials and the profit was used to fund terrorist activities.
According to the plaintiffs and their attorney Nitzana, the Israeli government notified the Bank of China of the use Hamas was making of the money and demanded the bank of China to stop the transfers. Darshan-Leitner claims to have evidence proving this.
The victims' families also approached the Bank of China in January, sending information by direct correspondence as well as through the director of the bank's New York branch. After the Bank of China repeatedly failed to reply to their messages, the families turned to a US court.
The plaintiffs claim that since the Bank of China has a branch in the U.S., U.S. courts have power of attorney to handle the case under a U.S. law that forbids funding terrorist activities.
"U.S. courts consider the rules of evidence without employing any political favoritism," Attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner told The Epoch Times. "So if we succeed in proving our claims—and I am fairly certain that we will—the bank will be ordered to pay the plaintiffs millions of dollars in compensation. Moreover, this will open a door for others who have been victims of terrorist activity which originated in Gaza during the relevant time period, and they, too, will be able to demand compensation from the Bank of China," said Leitner.At the time of publication, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not available to comment.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Sanhedrin Finds Chinese Regime Liable for Falun Gong Deaths
From "A True Chinese Rennaissance" (Blog):
NEW YORK—In an unprecedented decision, a special Israeli rabbinical council ruled last week that the Chinese regime has been responsible for the killing of Falun Gong practitioners.
"On the basis of the accumulation of the various testimonies and indirect evidence, the International Court of the Nascent Sanhedrin, came to the conclusion that there were unnumbered cases of killing of innocent Falun Gong practitioners [by agents of the Chinese government], perhaps also out of consideration of material benefits derived from organ harvesting," said the court in a decision dated July 15, 2008.
"If the human rights issues are not addressed before the Olympic Games begin, we consider participation in them by athletes and by spectators and political leaders to be an indirect danger to world peace," it further stated.
The ruling was issued in response to a request filed by Israeli Falun Gong practitioners in July 2007. The Sanhedrin, an ancient council of sages re-established by several rabbis in Israel in 2004 as a source of Jewish jurisprudence, comprises 71 scholars of Jewish law and is headed by Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz. Its International Court, a subcommittee addressing international issues, put out the present opinion as a form of religious guidance and on the basis of Jewish law.
The court issued the decision after examining testimony and evidence brought before it by human rights experts, including the U.S.-based Human Rights Law Foundation (HRLF) and David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific and coauthor of an independent investigation entitled "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China." Also appearing before the council were several Chinese victims of rights abuses, including the widow of a man tortured to death in Chinese custody after being abducted for practicing Falun Gong.
"As a Jewish child growing up in the wake of the Holocaust, I made a vow to myself at the very young age of 13, that if it ever happened again, I would do all I could to put a stop to it," says attorney Terri Marsh. "Now as a human rights lawyer and legal participant in this case, I thank the Sanhedrin for finding the courage and wisdom to expose and condemn the crimes perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party against members of the Falun Gong faith in China."
Political Pressure and Olympic Implications
According to the rabbinical body, the Chinese government refused to appear before it, but did submit written and digital materials to refute the complaints. It also reportedly applied political pressure on the court to drop the case, but as a body independent of the Israeli government, the council did not heed the request.
To ensure the fairness of the proceedings without the Chinese government’s formal participation, the court followed a tradition of Jewish jurisprudence and acted “not only as an objective Judge but at the same time as attorney for the side which is absent,” thereby subjecting witnesses to cross-examination.
Having found the Chinese government responsible for the deaths of Falun Gong adherents, the court demanded that the Chinese government "assure the minimum of liberties as indicated by the seven Noahide commandments," that it implement a Chinese law passed in May 2007 meant to end organ harvesting without consent, and that it allow a coalition of international organizations to enter China and freely investigate the Chinese government's compliance with the above mentioned commandments, considered to be the "Human Rights Charter according to the Torah."
Lastly, it stated that "if the human rights issues are not settled before the opening of the Olympics, participation in these Games may be understood to indicate indifference to human rights violations in China, and support for suppression," rendering such participation "an indirect danger to world peace."
Follow this link to the full translation from Hebrew of the Sanhedrin's decision.
NEW YORK—In an unprecedented decision, a special Israeli rabbinical council ruled last week that the Chinese regime has been responsible for the killing of Falun Gong practitioners.
"On the basis of the accumulation of the various testimonies and indirect evidence, the International Court of the Nascent Sanhedrin, came to the conclusion that there were unnumbered cases of killing of innocent Falun Gong practitioners [by agents of the Chinese government], perhaps also out of consideration of material benefits derived from organ harvesting," said the court in a decision dated July 15, 2008.
"If the human rights issues are not addressed before the Olympic Games begin, we consider participation in them by athletes and by spectators and political leaders to be an indirect danger to world peace," it further stated.
The ruling was issued in response to a request filed by Israeli Falun Gong practitioners in July 2007. The Sanhedrin, an ancient council of sages re-established by several rabbis in Israel in 2004 as a source of Jewish jurisprudence, comprises 71 scholars of Jewish law and is headed by Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz. Its International Court, a subcommittee addressing international issues, put out the present opinion as a form of religious guidance and on the basis of Jewish law.
The court issued the decision after examining testimony and evidence brought before it by human rights experts, including the U.S.-based Human Rights Law Foundation (HRLF) and David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific and coauthor of an independent investigation entitled "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China." Also appearing before the council were several Chinese victims of rights abuses, including the widow of a man tortured to death in Chinese custody after being abducted for practicing Falun Gong.
"As a Jewish child growing up in the wake of the Holocaust, I made a vow to myself at the very young age of 13, that if it ever happened again, I would do all I could to put a stop to it," says attorney Terri Marsh. "Now as a human rights lawyer and legal participant in this case, I thank the Sanhedrin for finding the courage and wisdom to expose and condemn the crimes perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party against members of the Falun Gong faith in China."
Political Pressure and Olympic Implications
According to the rabbinical body, the Chinese government refused to appear before it, but did submit written and digital materials to refute the complaints. It also reportedly applied political pressure on the court to drop the case, but as a body independent of the Israeli government, the council did not heed the request.
To ensure the fairness of the proceedings without the Chinese government’s formal participation, the court followed a tradition of Jewish jurisprudence and acted “not only as an objective Judge but at the same time as attorney for the side which is absent,” thereby subjecting witnesses to cross-examination.
Having found the Chinese government responsible for the deaths of Falun Gong adherents, the court demanded that the Chinese government "assure the minimum of liberties as indicated by the seven Noahide commandments," that it implement a Chinese law passed in May 2007 meant to end organ harvesting without consent, and that it allow a coalition of international organizations to enter China and freely investigate the Chinese government's compliance with the above mentioned commandments, considered to be the "Human Rights Charter according to the Torah."
Lastly, it stated that "if the human rights issues are not settled before the opening of the Olympics, participation in these Games may be understood to indicate indifference to human rights violations in China, and support for suppression," rendering such participation "an indirect danger to world peace."
Follow this link to the full translation from Hebrew of the Sanhedrin's decision.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Changing the Rules of the Games
From a New York Times MAGAZINE PREVIEW, by ILAN GREENBERG* (The article will appear in this Sunday's Times Magazine published March 30, 2008):
...[There are] four staff members of Dream for Darfur ...
...Jill Savitt, Dream for Darfur's executive director..., a peripatetic, hyperarticulate 40-year-old human rights activist, is the mind behind a long string of organizations conducting campaigns to pressure China to change its policies by threatening to tarnish this summer's Olympic Games.
...Savitt told me proudly, "is looking at the entire world calling its cherished games the 'Genocide Olympics.' " Nonetheless, shaping world opinion is a tall order, especially with a staff of four; and the Olympics is not as easy a target as it might appear....
..."People say there are a lot of problems in the world, so why single out Darfur and why target China?" Ruth Messinger, the former Manhattan borough president who is now head of the American Jewish World Service, told me recently in her Manhattan office. "But this is the first genocide, since the word was coined, where it was defined as genocide by the American government while it has been happening," she added, referring to Colin Powell's statement in 2004 that the Darfur killings were indeed a genocide and a Congressional resolution making the same designation. Messinger is one among perhaps three dozen professional political operatives and freelance agitators who have collaborated closely behind the scenes with the Dream for Darfur team, participating in strategy sessions and connecting Savitt with larger political networks. "Darfur is singular," Messinger told me. "China is the reason Darfur is happening. And it is happening now...."
...Savitt says that the sponsors are starting to take notice. Even executives at Coca-Cola have privately expressed anxiety about their association with the Games....
...in mid-February ...Steven Spielberg resigned as a creative consultant for the opening ceremonies. The actress Mia Farrow, who has visited the greater Darfur region eight times and says that she may move permanently to that part of Africa when her youngest child, now 14, gets a little older, had originally identified Spielberg as a target. Farrow communicates daily with Savitt and works on nearly every aspect of the campaign. She popularized the Genocide Olympics slogan in an opinion column - written with her son Ronan Farrow, a 19-year-old Yale law student - in The Wall Street Journal a year ago. Farrow had decided that for the director of "Schindler's List" to have a role in China's Olympics was unacceptable; she called him a "key collaborator." She and Savitt relentlessly criticized Spielberg....then Spielberg changed his mind, saying his "conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual."
....Many of the corporate sponsors were also refusing in February to meet with Farrow...Dream for Darfur is ...giving a report card to corporate sponsors rating their actions on Darfur. Those who earn lower than a C will be the focus of demonstrations at their offices beginning next month. And a "Turn Off/Tune In" campaign will ask viewers of the Olympics to turn off the ads of flunking sponsors and to watch Farrow's broadcast from refugee camps.
"From start to finish, what we want China to fear is death by a thousand cuts," Savitt says. "China thought it would only face a ham-fisted boycott. It is getting something more sophisticated, more insidious."...
....Last spring, Humanity United wrote Dream for Darfur a check for $500,000. The financing followed publication of Farrow's "Genocide Olympics" article ...
...Late last month, Savitt arranged a meeting with M+R Strategic Services, a national consultancy specializing in high-tech campaigning that happens to have its New York offices in the same building as Dream for Darfur. ...
....Dream for Darfur was now viewing the corporate sponsorship part of the campaign as more crucial than before. A significant point of leverage that could tip the balance: Olympic broadcasters and corporate sponsors account for 87 percent of Olympic revenue. Microsoft, which is poised to become an even bigger player in China if its acquisition of Yahoo goes through, responded in a written statement that the company is "shocked and horrified by the violence and human rights violations in Darfur." The company further "commend[ed] Dream for Darfur and other organizations for their leadership in casting a spotlight on this atrocity and the need for immediate international resolution. Microsoft will continue to support these organizations in their mission through technology assistance and other resources."
Sponsors of the torch relay that began last week, which include Coca-Cola and Lenovo, are especially vulnerable. The relay will traverse Tibet, where in mid-March police cracked down on protesters, including monks, leading to at least 16 deaths [probably hundreds - SL]. Indeed, the Tibetan conflict is threatening to supercede Darfur as the driver of the Olympic campaign. ....
..... The city-to-city torch procession that is a lead-up to the Games is also a potential powder keg. Groups representing aggrieved minorities in China, like the Falun Gong religious sect and the ethnic Uighurs in China's western Xinjiang Province, hint at planned "street actions" almost certain to spark an angry police response. The torch-carrying route from Greece leads to the summit of Mount Everest to Beijing - and right through Tibet.
..... "The most climactic part of our campaign will be during the Games themselves," says Tenzin Dorjee, the deputy director of a group called Students for a Free Tibet, which claims 650 student chapters around the world. Dorjee, who works out of New York, is planning a massive march from Dharamsala, India, home to the Dalai Lama and a large exiled Tibetan population, to the Chinese border. The group also plans to surreptitiously hang Free Tibet banners on highly trafficked Chinese landmarks, as it did last year on the Great Wall. "We plan to do more of the same: high-profile direct actions in prominent places," Dorjee says. "China will either have to let these protests happen or crack down. And when it cracks down, it shows its true colors. It gets unmasked. That's our plan."
Savitt maintains that "it's actually great there are more voices in the chorus - it puts exponentially more pressure on China to do something." ....
*Ilan Greenberg, an adjunct fellow with the Asia Society, reported on Central Asia for The Times until last year. His last article for the magazine was about Mikhail Saakashvili, the president of Georgia.
...[There are] four staff members of Dream for Darfur ...
...Jill Savitt, Dream for Darfur's executive director..., a peripatetic, hyperarticulate 40-year-old human rights activist, is the mind behind a long string of organizations conducting campaigns to pressure China to change its policies by threatening to tarnish this summer's Olympic Games.
...Savitt told me proudly, "is looking at the entire world calling its cherished games the 'Genocide Olympics.' " Nonetheless, shaping world opinion is a tall order, especially with a staff of four; and the Olympics is not as easy a target as it might appear....
..."People say there are a lot of problems in the world, so why single out Darfur and why target China?" Ruth Messinger, the former Manhattan borough president who is now head of the American Jewish World Service, told me recently in her Manhattan office. "But this is the first genocide, since the word was coined, where it was defined as genocide by the American government while it has been happening," she added, referring to Colin Powell's statement in 2004 that the Darfur killings were indeed a genocide and a Congressional resolution making the same designation. Messinger is one among perhaps three dozen professional political operatives and freelance agitators who have collaborated closely behind the scenes with the Dream for Darfur team, participating in strategy sessions and connecting Savitt with larger political networks. "Darfur is singular," Messinger told me. "China is the reason Darfur is happening. And it is happening now...."
...Savitt says that the sponsors are starting to take notice. Even executives at Coca-Cola have privately expressed anxiety about their association with the Games....
...in mid-February ...Steven Spielberg resigned as a creative consultant for the opening ceremonies. The actress Mia Farrow, who has visited the greater Darfur region eight times and says that she may move permanently to that part of Africa when her youngest child, now 14, gets a little older, had originally identified Spielberg as a target. Farrow communicates daily with Savitt and works on nearly every aspect of the campaign. She popularized the Genocide Olympics slogan in an opinion column - written with her son Ronan Farrow, a 19-year-old Yale law student - in The Wall Street Journal a year ago. Farrow had decided that for the director of "Schindler's List" to have a role in China's Olympics was unacceptable; she called him a "key collaborator." She and Savitt relentlessly criticized Spielberg....then Spielberg changed his mind, saying his "conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual."
....Many of the corporate sponsors were also refusing in February to meet with Farrow...Dream for Darfur is ...giving a report card to corporate sponsors rating their actions on Darfur. Those who earn lower than a C will be the focus of demonstrations at their offices beginning next month. And a "Turn Off/Tune In" campaign will ask viewers of the Olympics to turn off the ads of flunking sponsors and to watch Farrow's broadcast from refugee camps.
"From start to finish, what we want China to fear is death by a thousand cuts," Savitt says. "China thought it would only face a ham-fisted boycott. It is getting something more sophisticated, more insidious."...
....Last spring, Humanity United wrote Dream for Darfur a check for $500,000. The financing followed publication of Farrow's "Genocide Olympics" article ...
...Late last month, Savitt arranged a meeting with M+R Strategic Services, a national consultancy specializing in high-tech campaigning that happens to have its New York offices in the same building as Dream for Darfur. ...
....Dream for Darfur was now viewing the corporate sponsorship part of the campaign as more crucial than before. A significant point of leverage that could tip the balance: Olympic broadcasters and corporate sponsors account for 87 percent of Olympic revenue. Microsoft, which is poised to become an even bigger player in China if its acquisition of Yahoo goes through, responded in a written statement that the company is "shocked and horrified by the violence and human rights violations in Darfur." The company further "commend[ed] Dream for Darfur and other organizations for their leadership in casting a spotlight on this atrocity and the need for immediate international resolution. Microsoft will continue to support these organizations in their mission through technology assistance and other resources."
Sponsors of the torch relay that began last week, which include Coca-Cola and Lenovo, are especially vulnerable. The relay will traverse Tibet, where in mid-March police cracked down on protesters, including monks, leading to at least 16 deaths [probably hundreds - SL]. Indeed, the Tibetan conflict is threatening to supercede Darfur as the driver of the Olympic campaign. ....
..... The city-to-city torch procession that is a lead-up to the Games is also a potential powder keg. Groups representing aggrieved minorities in China, like the Falun Gong religious sect and the ethnic Uighurs in China's western Xinjiang Province, hint at planned "street actions" almost certain to spark an angry police response. The torch-carrying route from Greece leads to the summit of Mount Everest to Beijing - and right through Tibet.
..... "The most climactic part of our campaign will be during the Games themselves," says Tenzin Dorjee, the deputy director of a group called Students for a Free Tibet, which claims 650 student chapters around the world. Dorjee, who works out of New York, is planning a massive march from Dharamsala, India, home to the Dalai Lama and a large exiled Tibetan population, to the Chinese border. The group also plans to surreptitiously hang Free Tibet banners on highly trafficked Chinese landmarks, as it did last year on the Great Wall. "We plan to do more of the same: high-profile direct actions in prominent places," Dorjee says. "China will either have to let these protests happen or crack down. And when it cracks down, it shows its true colors. It gets unmasked. That's our plan."
Savitt maintains that "it's actually great there are more voices in the chorus - it puts exponentially more pressure on China to do something." ....
*Ilan Greenberg, an adjunct fellow with the Asia Society, reported on Central Asia for The Times until last year. His last article for the magazine was about Mikhail Saakashvili, the president of Georgia.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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