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Showing posts with label wrong side of history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wrong side of history. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Toward U.S. global Tiananmen?

 Tiananmen Square
June 3-4 incident
Government Crackdown on protesters
100s dead
1,000s wounded
Beijing, China
June 5, 1989 
“America must take a different direction,” says U.S. Representative Dennis John  Kucinich, a consistent voice of nonviolence
Editing by 
Carolyn Bennett

This is some of Kucinich's advice on the “us versus them” U.S. foreign policy and the callously malicious assassination justice and global drone warfare.

U.S. foreign relations violence

“I think we need to move this country away from militarism and away from war as an instrument of policy,”  Kucinich says.

“If [service] means anything, it should mean a new direction for America away from war and toward giving our young people a real future where they can use all their talents and ability serving in many different capacities.” 

Alter this course
Kucinich
 Sheehan 
et al.

The global war on terror “has been a pretext for aggressive war.” America must take a “different direction:
  • Rejecting war as an instrument of policy
  • Reconnecting with the nations of the world, so that we can address the real issues that affect security all over the globe and affect our security at home:
  • Getting rid of all nuclear weapons
  • Participating in the chemical and biological weapons conventions, the landmine treaty
  • Joining the International Criminal Court
  • Signing the Kyoto climate change treaty
“The world is waiting for an American president who reaches out in a hand of friendship; who understands this is a complex world, but doesn’t see the world in terms of enemies.

“The minute we have dichotomous thinking, ‘us versus them,’ we lose the opportunity to be able to connect with people.”

Consider far-reaching consequences of U.S. drone war

“These attacks undermine the morals, values and the strategic goals of the United States. The fact that they are conducted with complete impunity and with no accountability threatens to set a dangerous precedent that could unravel the very laws and international standards the U.S. helped to create. 

“Even the most ardent supporter of the current President should consider the precedent created by granting the President the power to circumvent the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Fifth Amendment (Constitution of the United States) breach:

Drone attack
North Waziristan, Pakistan
Afghanistan border
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; 


nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; 


nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has opposed the use of combat drones against suspected terrorists abroad since the first known attack in 2004.

In February 2006, he asked the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency to suspend the use of Predator drones citing the “high toll in innocent civilian life.”

In the 111th Congress, Kucinich sponsored a bill to prohibit the extrajudicial killing of U.S. citizens abroad in response to revelations that the Administration included U.S. citizens on its targeted killing list.

Wisconsin Network for
Peace and Justice
 
The Congressman currently is leading a growing number of Members of Congress in demanding “the President’s legal justifications for drone strikes.”

American for nonviolence

Dennis John Kucinich (b. October 8, 1946) has been a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Ohio’s 10th congressional district since 1997. He was a candidate for the U.S. presidency in 2004 and 2008; and before entering Congress, Kucinich was Cleveland, Ohio’s 53rd mayor (1977-1979).

In the U.S. Congress, Dennis Kucinich sits on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. In a Congressional career in which he has stood for bringing articles of impeachment against former U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard (Dick) Cheney; and against the 2003 invasion of Iraq and consistently for nonviolence, for diplomacy, for peace, Kucinich will end his congressional career in January 2013, following a redistricting by Ohio’s Republican-controlled state legislature that abolished the congressional district in which he serves.
Hon. Dennis J. Kucinich 

 Ralph Nader praises Kucinich as a “genuine progressive.”


Sources and notes

“Dennis Kucinich on Homeland Security,”
Democratic Representative (OH-10), On the Issues,
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Dennis_Kucinich_Homeland_Security.htm
Source: 2007 Iowa Brown & Black Presidential Forum Dec 1, 2007
Source: 2007 South Carolina Democratic primary debate, on MSNBC Apr 26, 2007

“Kucinich Leads Congress in Demanding Accountability and Transparency for Drone Strikes
 Drone Killings a Stain upon Our Nation,” Washington, May 31, 2012,
http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=297742

Ralph Nader praised Kucinich as “a genuine progressive”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Kucinich_presidential_campaign,_2004

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Kucinich

His Congressional Biography: KUCINICH, Dennis, a Representative from Ohio; born in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, October 8, 1946; graduated from St. John Cantius, Cleveland, Ohio, 1964; B.A., Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 1973; M.A., Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 1973; member of the Cleveland, Ohio, city council, 1969-1973, 1983; clerk of courts, Cleveland, Ohio, 1975; mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, 1977-1979; member of the Ohio state senate, 1995-1996; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Fifth Congress and to the seven succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1997-present); unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. http://kucinich.house.gov/

Images

Behind the News online

Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
Josh Brolier of WNPJ member group Voices for Creative Nonviolence writes ...
wnpj.org

http://truthaholics.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/a-good-friday-meditation-the-drone-and-the-cross/

http://alifeconnected.wordpress.com/

Tiananmen Square (Britannica)

Image: A Chinese man temporarily blocking a line of tanks on June 5, 1989, the day after demonstrators were forcibly cleared from Beijing's Tiananmen Square

June 4 incident: A series of protests and demonstrations in China in the spring of 1989 that culminated on the night of June 3–4 with a government crackdown on the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Tiananmen Square incident: “From the outset of the incident, the Chinese government’s official stance was to downplay its significance, labeling the protesters ‘counterrevolutionaries’ and minimizing the extent of the military's actions on June 3–4. The government’s count of those killed was 241 (including soldiers), with some 7,000 wounded; most other estimates have put the death toll much higher. In the years since the incident, the government generally has attempted to suppress references to it. Public commemoration of the incident is officially banned. However, the residents of Hong Kong have held an annual vigil on the anniversary of the crackdown, even after Hong Kong reverted to Chinese administration. (Britannica)
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Friday, November 4, 2011

U.S. enters Thanksgiving month — shopping while shedding blood

Compiled and edited, re-reporting, comment by Carolyn Bennett
Fatally flawed people in power, their politics, policies, consequences

The United States at perpetual WAR against the world’s peoples, their countries, their cultures, structures and traditions —

1.     Afghanistan
2.     Bahrain
3.     Cuba
4.     Djibouti
5.     Eritrea
6.     Ethiopia
7.     Haiti
8.     Honduras
9.     Iran
10.  Iraq
11.  Japan (Okinawa)
12.  Kenya
13.  Libya
14.  Mexico
15.  Nigeria
16.  North Korea
17.  Pakistan
18.  Palestine
19.  Russia
20.  Saudi Arabia
21.  Somalia
22.  South Korea
  1. Syria

24.  Uganda [dominoes The Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa)]
25.  Yemen
26.   

U.S. against Iraq 2003
WAR … By arming and bankrolling to create domestic and regional pressure, conflict • bullying direct/indirect threat/intimidation • assassination with impunity • direct aggression • displacement/destabilization • economic/financial sanctions • failing nations • failure to negotiate with words or in nonviolent diplomacy • provocation/incitement to protracted violence • occupation • unlawful search and detention • torture…

“Over the past half-century the U.S. has been directly or indirectly involved in military interventions in tens of countries,” Press TV today quotes statements by Tehran’s Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami.

Referencing calls rising from members of the U.S. Congress to assassinate Iranian officials, the cleric said, “Washington, who claims to be the flag bearer of the war against terrorism and has used this as a pretext to attack and occupy Iraq and Afghanistan, is now implicitly issuing assassination orders.”

The world will not forget the U.S. history of committing crimes against humanity, the nuclear bombing of Japan, Ayatollah Khatami said.  “‘Siding with the Zionist regime [of Israel] against Palestinians, giving the green light for atrocities to be committed in Bahrain are all among the U.S. crimes against humanity.’”


As U.S. bloodletting continued and Libya continued breaking down in the wake of the U.S. North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s destruction there, Phyllis Bennis spoke with Democracy Now this week about protracted U.S. and NATO violence in Africa.

ARAB SPRING morphed into WESTERN INVASION

“Bringing in the U.S. and NATO forces into Libya, Bennis said, “transformed what had begun in the context of the Arab Spring popping up all over the region and turned that into a Western invasion — a Western assault on another North African, Middle Eastern, Arab country.

NATO emerged as the air force of the self-appointed leadership of the uprising (the National Transitional Council or NTC). Militias who fought Qaddafi now deem the NTC an illegitimate creation to which they owe no accounting. What U.S. NATO belligerence leaves to Libyans is more brokenness and more violence:  “a country glutted with weapons” but no clear leadership structure or accountability, and feeling a deepening dependency on their invader, “U.S./NATO military presence and military action.”

Furthermore, the carnage Libyans experienced is but a piece of the pattern of U.S. NATO malevolence across this continent.

COLD WAR NATO rises with AFRICOM

“It is an example, potentially, of the look of NATO expanding its own self-defined mandate”  — from a creation of the Cold War initially designed to defend its own members, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to now rise with the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) on a continent that “provides more oil to the United States than the entire Middle East.”

Pretext to invade and occupy — KILLER ‘HUMANITARIANS’

Bennis cites the Western-fueled conflict within and between African nations suffering severely not only from internal conflict but also from natural disasters and nonexistent or sorely inadequate infrastructures. People are dying needlessly from lack of running water and proper sanitation, exposure to the elements and starvation or severe undernourishment and Western nations are bombing them and arming other nations to bomb them.
Sub-Saharan Africa

U.S.-allied “Kenyan troops claiming to be going after the [al-Shabab, an Islamist youth movement] militia,” she reports, “[are] moving massively into Somalia … bombing a refugee camp, leaving a number of people dead and dozens injured.” These troops were “going after the refugees, and internally displaced Somalis were fleeing the violence.”

In this manufactured chaos, governments of Kenya and Somalia are “asking [as are Libya and Syria for deepening dependency] the U.S. and Europe with NATO to engage militarily.” However, Bennis says, more NATO engagement, “bringing in outside forces, bringing in more military forces, more combatants with guns leads inevitably to more — not fewer — civilian casualties. The prospect of further escalating the war in Somalia by bringing in NATO is a very bad example.”

War with AFRICA

SOMALIA [U.S. allied against]

Horn of Africa
Somalia is the sixth country where the United States has used remote-controlled drone aircraft to launch deadly missile strikes.


Horn of Africa - Somalia
Today in Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu, at least 11 Somali soldiers died in fighting between al-Shabab and transitional government troops.

Yesterday, at least 41 people died and 33 people suffered wounds “in a U.S. assassination drone attack near Somalia’s border with Kenya.” Thursday 28 people died and dozens suffered injuries when a U.S. assassination drone strike hit a town in Somalia’s southern Jubbada Hoose region.

Wednesday in Somalia’s central region of Galguduud, the U.S. remote-controlled assassination drones launched aerial attacks on Qeydar and Marodile villages situated between Guriceel and Balanbale districts.

The country’s elders reported at least 38 people died and more than 74 people were injured in the strikes. The same day, 20 people were left dead and 60 were wounded after a U.S. assassination drone launched a strike on the outskirts of Kismayo, a strategically important port city on Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast located some 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

On October 28, United States officials admitted flying unmanned aerial vehicles from Ethiopia.

Over the past two days, at least 127 people have died in separate U.S. assassination drone strikes in Somalia and Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan’s northwestern region of North Waziristan on Thursday, at least three people died in a non-UN-sanctioned U.S. assassination drone attack. The attack took place in Darpa Khel village, which is located about four kilometers (two miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in the district of North Waziristan. Local security officials said a drone fired two missiles on a compound in the attack.

NIGERIA [U.S. occupied]

In a world of vast inequalities amidst oil wealth and corporate taking, pirates raid ships. Attacks happening in or near Nigeria are characterized as “threatening to an emerging trade hub, which is an increasingly important source of oil, metals, and agricultural products like cocoa for world markets.”

Reported this week is an incident that allegedly happened on October 30. An official of the International Maritime Bureau told the press an oil tanker with a 25-member crew was captured off the coast of Nigeria. Another Nigerian oil tanker, whereabouts known, was attacked off the Niger Delta region on Wednesday.
  
War with ASIA

PAKISTAN [U.S. allied against]

Drone strikes are one of the major reasons behind growing anti-U.S. sentiments in Pakistan.

Independent organizations have compiled figures showing that, since 2004, more than 2000 people — most of them civilians — have died in the U.S. assassination drone attacks.

Activists have held an exhibition in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, “to bring to light the truth of U.S. assassination drone strikes.” On display at the exhibition organized in collaboration with the British charity organization Reprieve are close to a dozen exploded and twisted U.S. missiles, accompanied by photographs of their victims.

The exhibits reportedly show the kind of sophisticated heavy weaponry used by the U.S. in its drone attacks in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), located on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Reprieve founder Clive Stafford Smith told the press “‘The exhibition shows that when the CIA says there have been no innocent victims of drone missiles in the last 15 months, that is simply not true. What we have are parts of missiles that actually killed children … That is very solid, concrete proof that the CIA is not telling the truth.”

Hey, Hey LBJObama, how many kids did you kill today?


PAKISTAN
Pirates in Africa,  Retaliation explosives in Pakistan

Militants frequently target trucks carrying supplies for US-led foreign soldiers in Afghanistan.

Wednesday, Taliban-linked militants in Pakistan attacked a NATO supply convoy carrying supplies for U.S.-led foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan. Officials told Press TV that gunmen riding on motorcycles opened fire at a NATO container at Bypass area of Chaman in southwestern Balochistan province. In the attack, the NATO container sustained damage and the driver was injured.

Pro-Taliban militants claiming responsibility for attacks often say the assaults are in retaliation for non-UN-sanctioned airstrikes by U.S. assassination drones on Pakistan’s tribal regions.

AFGHANISTAN [U.S. allied against, occupied]

Violence remains rampant throughout Afghanistan despite [or because of] nearly 150,000 U.S.-led foreign troops invading and occupying their land. The monthly average of security incidents recorded for the year through the end of August has climbed nearly 40 percent, says a September 28 UN report. The report says civilian casualties — already at record levels in the first six months of this year— rose five percent between June and August 2011, compared with the identical period in 2010.

Yesterday in Western Afghanistan, a bomb attack hit a NATO logistics base in the city of Herat near Herat airport. Seven people died, three others were wounded.

SOUTHEAST ASIA
Cambodia [U.S. occupied]

A court in Cambodia has sentenced New York City physician James D’Agostino (age 56) to four years in prison. He was found guilty of sexual abuse of a 15-year-old boy. D’Agostino had travelled to Cambodia two years ago to volunteer at a children’s hospital. The incident happened in February.

Today judges at Phnom Penh Municipal Court ordered the man, a U.S. doctor, who had previously worked as a pediatric emergency doctor in New York, to be deported after serving his jail term.

ASIA CENTRAL
U.S.-allied INDIA
KASHMIR

Protesters have taken to the streets and are being arrested in Indian-administered Kashmir amid allegations accusing New Delhi’s forces of torturing minors while in custody.

Hundreds of youngsters remain in detention after being rounded up in almost daily street protests against the Indian rule over the disputed valley of Kashmir. Police in the Muslim-majority region have recently launched a campaign to crack down on the minors participating in the rallies.

ASIA MIDDLE EAST

IRAQ [U.S. occupied]

As attacks targeting army and police rise in Iraq, its prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, blames foreign countries for fueling trouble. Maliki says some nations are “‘spending money and [making] efforts’ to destabilize Iraq.

“The Iraqis do not want to build an aggressive country that will replace others,’” he said. “They want a country that will help in achieving local and regional stability.”

The prime minister has apparently accused foreign countries before of meddling in his country. Leaked U.S. State Department cables apparently have shown that the prime minister has long criticized foreigners, particularly U.S-ally Saudi Arabia, for conspiring against Baghdad.

YEMEN [U.S. allied with entrenched regime]

Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis continue to hold anti-government demonstrations demanding an end to the rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh whom they accuse of nepotism and corruption. Hundreds of protesters have died and many more have been injured in government crackdowns.

A day after nineteen people were killed by regime loyalists and despite deadly crackdowns, Yemenis today held massive anti-regime demonstrations in the capital, Sana’a, and the southern city of Taizz. “The Yemenis’ voice is one,” they chanted. “We will bring corrupt Saleh to justice.” Friday’s slogan was “Remaining Peaceful is Our Choice.”

PALESTINE [U.S. allied against]
Occupied Territories


Israel has again used force against a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters, killing nine Turkish activists and injuring dozens of others.

Today, according to a Press TV correspondent on board one of the ships, “the two vessels were shadowed by Israeli warplanes and naval vessels in international waters as they approached the besieged Gaza Strip.

Saoirse 
“Eight Israeli warships made radio contact with the ships, calling on them to change course towards Egypt or to turn around. Israeli marines boarded the vessels about 50 nautical miles from Gaza after pro-Palestinian activists refused to turn back. There were no reports of violence.

“The mini aid flotilla called Freedom Waves to Gaza left the Turkish port city of Fethiye on Wednesday and was scheduled to reach the Gaza Strip today. The Canadian ship, Tahrir (Freedom), and the Irish ship, Saoirse (Freedom) are carrying 27 activists, including journalists and the crew, along with $30,000 worth of medicine. Activists on the Freedom Waves to Gaza are from Canada, Ireland, Egypt, United States, and Australia. They have said their international humanitarian mission is ‘to challenge Israel’s ongoing criminal blockade of the territory.’”

PALESTINIANS IMPRISONED by U.S.-allied Israel

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Detainees has reported nearly 200 Palestinian inmates have died in Israeli confinement, either under torture or due to medical negligence. Currently, the estimate of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons is 6,530.

Today, human rights groups are charging Israeli doctors with neglect in documenting cases of torture and mistreatment of Palestinians detained in Israel.

In a 61-page report compiled by the Public Committee against Torture in Israel and Physicians for Human Rights, scheduled for release later this month, are cases of 100 detainees held by Israel since 2007.

This report is said to present evidence that many doctors allowed “‘… security service interrogators to use torture; approve the use of forbidden interrogation methods and the ill-treatment of helpless detainees; and conceal information, thereby allowing total immunity for the tortures.’”

JORDAN [U.S. allied with entrenched regime]

Since January, Jordanians have been holding street protests demanding the election of a prime minister by popular vote and an end to corruption. There were no calls for the king’s removal. King Abdullah II, since the start of the protests, has fired two prime ministers reportedly in an attempt to avoid more protests. Awn al-Khasawneh, a judge at [UN] International Court of Justice, is Jordan’s third premier this year.

Today, hundreds of Jordanians demonstrated in the capital, Amman [with similar protests in Karak, Maan and Tafileh] urging the new government to carry out promised reforms and to fight corruption.

“No Reform with the Security Fist” was Jordanian demonstrators’ slogan on the streets of Amman following the Friday Prayers to press Prime Minister Awn al-Khasawneh to give political reforms top priority. There were no calls for the king’s removal.

BAHRAIN [U.S. allied with entrenched regime]

Since mid February, Bahrain has been the scene of protests against the Saudi- and U.S.-backed Al Khalifa dynasty. In mid-March, at the request from Manama, the Bahraini capital, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed military equipment and troops to quash the anti-regime protests in Bahrain. Scores of anti-government protesters have been killed and hundreds jailed and tortured by forces loyal to Bahrain’s ruling regime.

Today, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces fired tear gas and used armored vehicles in an attempt to disperse hundreds of anti-regime protesters marching in Manama. Protest organizers had called for a huge turnout and a massive funeral procession for Friday morning following the announced death of 70-year-old Ali al-Dayhee, killed by regime forces.



Sources and notes

“Liberal Democracy nearing end: Iran,” November 4, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208390.html

“As NATO Ends Libyan Bombing Campaign, Is the U.S. Seeking Greater Military Control of Africa?” November 1, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/1/as_nato_ends_libyan_bombing_campaign

PHYLLIS BENNIS
Phyllis Bennis specializes in U.S. foreign policy issues, particularly involving the Middle East and United Nations. She worked as a journalist at the UN for ten years and currently serves as a special adviser to several top-level UN officials on Middle East and UN democratization issues.

Works by Bennis include: Understanding the U.S.-Iran crisis (2008); Ending the Iraq War: A Primer (2008); Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer (2007); Challenging Empire: People, Governments and the UN Defy U.S. Power (2005); Before And After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11th Crisis (2002); Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer (2003); Calling the Shots. How Washington Dominates Today’s UN (2000); Altered States. A Reader in the New World Orde r (1993); Beyond the Storm. A Gulf Crisis Reader (1991); From Stones to Statehood: The Palestinian Uprising (1990)

She is a fellow at the Transnational Institute (a worldwide fellowship of scholar activists) and at the Institute for Policy Studies (Washington D.C.). At the latter, Bennis is director the New Internationalism Project.
http://www.tni.org/sites/www.tni.org/files/bio_long/Nick%20Buxton/phyllis%20long%20bio_0.pdf; http://www.tni.org/bio/phyllis-bennis

Under U.S./NATO hegemony

1.     Afghanistan
2.     Bahrain
3.     Cuba
4.     Djibouti
5.     Eritrea
6.     Ethiopia
7.     Haiti
8.     Honduras
9.     Iran
10.  Iraq
11.  Japan (Okinawa)
12.  Kenya
13.  Libya
14.  Mexico
15.  Nigeria
16.  North Korea
17.  Pakistan
18.  Palestine
19.  Russia
20.  Saudi Arabia
21.  Somalia
22.  South Korea
  1. Syria

24.  Uganda [dominoes The Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa)]
25.  Yemen
26.   

AFRICA
ASIA
Djibouti
Afghanistan
Eritrea
Bahrain
Ethiopia
Iran
Kenya
Iraq
Libya
Japan (Okinawa) 
Nigeria
North Korea
Somalia
Pakistan
Uganda [dominoes South Sudan, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa)]
Palestine

Saudi Arabia
AMERICAs
South Korea
Cuba
Syria
Haiti
Yemen
Honduras


EUROPE/ASIA



Russian Federation




Russia [Russian Federation] notes

Russia stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia.
It extends across the whole of northern Asia and the eastern third of Europe, spanning 11 time zones and incorporating a great range of environments and landforms, from deserts to semiarid steppes to deep forests and Arctic tundra. Russia contains Europe’s longest river, the Volga, and its largest lake, Ladoga. Russia also is home to the world’s deepest lake, Baikal, and the country recorded the world’s lowest temperature outside the North and South poles.
North and east—Russia is bounded to the north and east by the Arctic and Pacific oceans, and it has small frontages in the northwest on the Baltic Sea at St. Petersburg and at the detached Russian oblast (region) of Kaliningrad (a part of what was once East Prussia annexed in 1945), which also abuts Poland and Lithuania.

South—To the south Russia borders North Korea, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

Southwest, west—To the southwest and west it borders Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as Finland and Norway.
Northern Hemisphere, Europe, Asia—Extending nearly halfway around the Northern Hemisphere and covering much of eastern and northeastern Europe and all of northern Asia,

Russia has a maximum east-west extent of some 5,600 miles (9,000 km) and a north-south width of 1,500 to 2,500 miles (2,500 to 4,000 km). By far the world’s largest country, Russia covers nearly twice the territory of Canada, the second largest.

Once the preeminent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.; commonly known as the Soviet Union), Russia became an independent country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.

Kazakhstan [also spelled Kazakstan; officially Republic of Kazakhstan], a country of Central Asia

Kazakhstan is bounded on the northwest and north by Russia, on the east by China, and on the south by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and the Aral Sea

The Caspian Sea bounds Kazakhstan to the southwest. Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia and the ninth largest in the world. Between its most distant points, Kazakhstan measures about 1,820 miles (2,930 kilometers) east to west and 960 miles north to south. While Kazakhstan was not considered by authorities in the former Soviet Union to be a part of Central Asia, it does have physical and cultural geographic characteristics similar to those of the other Central Asian countries. The capital is Astana (formerly Tselinograd) in the north-central part of the country.

Formerly a constituent (union) republic of the U.S.S.R., Kazakhstan declared independence on December 16, 1991.

CENTRAL AFRICA notes

CONGO
Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central African Republic

Republic of the Congo — a country situated astride the Equator in west-central Africa, officially known as the Republic of the Congo. This country is often called Congo (Brazzaville), with its capital added parenthetically to distinguish it from neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (often referred to by its acronym the DRC or called Congo (Kinshasa).

Congo as a whole is sparsely inhabited, with more than half of its population living in the cities. The most populous city is the capital, Brazzaville, which is located in the southeastern corner of the country and is a major inland port on the Congo River.

Democratic Republic of the Congo— often referred to by its acronym the DRC or called Congo (Kinshasa), with the capital added parenthetically, to distinguish it from the other Congo republic (the Republic of the Congo, often referred to as Congo (Brazzaville).

Located in central Africa, the third largest country on the continent (only the Sudan and Algeria are larger), the DRC has a 25-mile (40-km) coastline on the Atlantic Ocean but is otherwise landlocked.  Located on the Congo River about 320 miles (515 km) from its mouth, the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, is the largest city in central Africa and serves as the country’s official administrative, economic, and cultural center.

Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960. From 1971 to 1997, the country was officially the Republic of Zaire, a change made by then ruler Gen. Mobutu Sese Seko to give the country what he thought was a more authentic African name.

Democratic Republic of the Congo Update 2009

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)’s North and South Kivu, internecine fighting in the first half of 2009 had left 800,000 civilians displaced by. The UN estimated that the number of internal refugees had reached two million. By 2009, the use of rape as a war tactic against women, children, and men by all armed forces had doubled or tripled in nine eastern conflict zones. As part of an African tour in August, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the DRC, urged the government to do more to protect civilians and to bring military offenders to justice, and announced a $17 million plan to help achieve these efforts.

Despite vast mineral wealth, mining production severely declined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) because of “mismanagement, corruption, endemic civil unrest, the global recession, and a lack of new investment.”

Central African Republic — The Central African Republic, roughly the size of France, is bordered by Chad to the north, The Sudan to the north and east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa) and the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) to the south, and Cameroon to the west. The capital, Bangui, is situated on the southern boundary, formed by the Ubangi River, a tributary of the Congo River.

The area that is now the Central African Republic has been settled for at least 8,000 years its earliest inhabitants the probable ancestors of today’s Aka (Pygmy) peoples, who live in the western and southern forested regions of the country.

The slave state of Dar al-Kuti occupied the northern reaches until the various regions of the Central African Republic were brought under French colonial rule late in the 19th century.
Colonial administrators favored some ethnic groups over others, resulting in political rivalries that persisted after independence in 1960. Following periods of civil strife and dictatorial government, including the infamous regime of the self-styled Emperor Bokassa I (who renamed the country the Central African Empire), the country embarked on a course of democracy that, at the end of the 20th century, was threatened by interethnic civil war in neighboring countries as well as by attempted coups d'état.

BY DIRECT ACTION — WAR

AFRICA
“U.S. terror drones kill 41 more in Somalia,” November 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208225.html

“U.S. drone raids kill over 120 in 2 days,” November 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208198.html

“In 11 Somali soldiers killed,” November 4, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/section/3510205.html

“‘Oil tanker hijacked off Nigeria coast.’” November 4, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208279.html

ASIA

PAKISTAN
“Pakistan holds exhibit of drone attacks.” November 1, 2011,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/207812.html

“U.S. terror drone kills 3 in Pakistan” — at least three people died in a U.S. assassination drone campaign in northwest Pakistan, November 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208176.html

“NATO supply truck attacked in Pakistan, November 3, 2011,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208130.html


Press TV caption
NATO under attack Pakistan
NATO's supply line has come under repeated attacks by militants opposing the US-led terror drone strikes inside Pakistan's tribal belt.

AFGHANISTAN
“Bomb hits Afghan NATO logistics base,” November 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208152.html

SOUTHEAST ASIA
“U.S. doctor jailed for abusing Cambodian boy,” November 4, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208385.html

Note on Cambodia: a country on the Indochinese mainland of Southeast Asia. Largely a land of plains and great rivers, Cambodia lies amid important overland and river trade routes linking China to India and Southeast Asia.

About one-third the size of France and somewhat larger than the U.S. state of Missouri, Cambodia is bordered to the west and northwest by Thailand, to the northeast by Laos, to the east and southeast by Vietnam, and to the southwest by the Gulf of Thailand.

Indochina comprises three states of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia formerly associated with France, first within its empire and later within the French Union. The term Indochina refers to the intermingling of Indian and Chinese influences in the culture of the region.

ASIA CENTRAL

“Police arrest more minors in Kashmir,” November 4, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208417.html

ASIA MIDDLE EAST

“Foreigners stir trouble in Iraq: Maliki,” November 4, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208404.html

“Yemenis hold huge anti-regime rallies,” November 4, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208376.html

“Israel intercepts Gaza-bound aid flotilla,” November 4, 2011,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208336.html

CAPTION PRESS TV

Greek coastguards stand in front of Canadian boat ‘Tahrir’ after forcing the Gaza-bound ship to return to the port of Agios Nikolaos, July 4, 2011.

“‘Israeli doctors complicit in torture,’” November 4, 2011,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208305.html

“Jordanians press new PM over reforms,” November 4, 2011,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208429.html

“Police clash with Bahraini protesters,” November 4, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208329.html



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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire
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