Those in India who have fought Dow Chemical are finding themselves vindicated as a cable released from WikiLeaks and covered by The Hindu on the political maneuvering capabilities of Dow Chemical Company surfaces. The cable illuminates a corporation hampered by its connection to Union Carbide, a company it acquired about a decade ago that was responsible for one of the worst industrial disasters in world history in Bhopal.
The cable sent out on October 15, 2008, from the US Consulate in Mumbai reports on Maharashta Chief Minister (CM) Vilasrao Deshmukh’s decision to halt construction of a Dow Chemical Research and Development facility until a commission can further review Dow’s plans. The decision is made in an attempt to diffuse growing protests coming from Indians, particularly Warkari villagers, who are concerned about the facility’s construction in Pune.
Deshmukh travels to London to make the announcement that construction will be halted for at least thirty days. He announces the formation of a committee to be headed by a former High Court judge who can look into the Warkaris’ contentions. The committee is tasked with producing a report on what Maharashtra state officials should do next in regards to the Dow facility.
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Continuing his customary practice of promises unfulfilled, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad delivered a speech today that was expected days ago and delivered none of the hoped for concessions to protesters. The speech is here, English transcript is here.
Reports online are that after the speech a peaceful protest in Latakia was fired upon. A general commanded that the protesters be shot at. The army would not leave the civilians, they dragged away the bodies of the killed. I saw with my own eyes the bullet shells, I took and kept two in my bag as evidence. They said the security forces shot with automatic weapons. They said the bullets and weapons were Kalashnikovs. Very graphic video reportedly of today's violence has been posted here. An Al Jazeera report from Syria paints a chilling prelude scene before their reporter was turned away. The reporter found a colonel looking down a long range rifle scope at a checkpoint set up with a view of the future protest scene, while everyone was still listening to Assad's speech and the street was empty.
A list is being maintained of people imprisoned, missing and killed since the protests began. This very valuable work shows the name, date, occasionally picture, age, location, circumstance and source for each incident. The total number on the list is now at 275.
After Assad's speech, Syrian state TV showed footage of Assad in Damascus, the site of yesterday's hugely supportive rallies for him, only this time his army of security appeared breached by a rush from the crowd before the TV cut away. Report from News Tsar below.
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Current time and date in Manama, Bahrain:
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WEDNESDAY, March 30
Aftenposten: FARYAB: A VIEW FROM MAIMANA
"Governor Shafaq, local Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) leaders, PRT Maimana military and civilian representatives all regard insurgency as the principal challenge facing Faryab province. They express their strongest concerns about Ghormach district, but see the entire "Pashtun belt," stretching northeast along the Turkmenistan border as a haven for anti-government fighters both the ideologically-motivated warriors and the "$10 a day" combatants simply seeking a paycheck. The weak performance of the Afghan Border Police (ABP) and the absence of Turkmenistan forces close to the border facilitate insurgent activity in this corridor. The Governor and the Afghan National Police (ANP) Chief favor the establishment of militias to enhance the counterinsurgency effort. From a governance and development perspective, Faryab presents a fragmented picture: a "Lone Ranger" Governor, a self-styled reformer with little confidence in other government officials; a newly-elected Provincial Council unsure of its role; and line ministry officials with differing approaches to incorporating popular wishes into the province's development plans."
Aftenposten: LIBYAN REACTION TO AQ-LIFG MERGER
La Jornada: Las armas más letales llegan al narco mexicano desde Centroamérica: EU (The Mexican drug cartels's most lethal weapons come from Central America: United States)
"Según el gobierno de Estados Unidos, las armas más letales y poderosas compradas ilegalmente por el crimen organizado en México, entre ellas equipo tipo militar de grueso calibre, no entran por la línea divisoria entre ambos países, sino provienen de los arsenales de los ejércitos de Centroamérica y son contrabandeadas por la frontera sur, a través de los cruces mal protegidos y peor vigilados por las autoridades mexicanas locales y federales. (According to the U.S. government, the most lethal weapons bought illegally by organized crime in Mexico, including team-caliber military-style, are not from the border line between the the US and Mexico, but from the arsenals of armies in Central America and are smuggled through the south border, poorly protected and poorly monitored by local and federal Mexican authorities.)"
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La Jornada: Armamento importado por Sedena "se desvía" hacia grupos criminales (Weapons seized by Sedena "deviates" to criminal groups)
El País: Clinton y Moratinos sugirieron que Juan Carlos I llamara a Mohamed VI para resolver el 'caso Haidar' (Moratinos suggested that Clinton and Juan Carlos I called Mohamed VI to solve the 'case Haidar')
"En diciembre de 2009, con una opinión pública conmocionada por la huelga de hambre en la que se había embarcado la activista saharaui Aminetu Haidar, arreciaban las peticiones de que el Rey Juan Carlos mediara en la crisis que había comenzado cuando la autoridades marroquíes impidieron a la líder saharui aterrizar en El Aaiún, le requisaron el pasaporte y la confinaron en el aeropuerto de Lanzarote. (In December 2009, with a public shocked by the hunger strike in which the Sahrawi activist Haidar had embarked, the requests grew for King Juan Carlos to mediate in the crisis that began when the Moroccan authorities prevented the Sahrawi leader landed at Laayoune, seized her passport and confined her at the airport of Lanzarote.)"
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El País: La exministra de Salud argentina comunicó a la Embajada de EE UU las carencias de la atención médica (Argentina's former Minister of Health informed the U.S. Embassy about gaps in health care)
The Telegraph: Charles Taylor may have $400 million out of reach
"Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, could have as much as $400 million hidden away out of reach of prosecutors, according to leaked US diplomatic cables."
Aftenposten: ADDITIONAL DETAILS ON SYG,S MOSCOW TRIP ALLEGE PUTIN SPARRED ON MISSILE
"A usually reliable source on January 5 conveyed additional details to us about NATO SYG Anders Fogh Rasmussen,s December 17 interactions in Moscow with President Medvedev and PM Putin that were not reflected in the SYG,s report on the visit (reftel). Based on information from someone present at the Moscow meetings, the source reported that while Russian President Medvedev was polite, neither he nor PM Putin had expressed any real interest in cooperating with NATO. Putin allegedly told Rasmussen that NATO no longer has a purpose and it was in Russias interest that NATO no longer exist. 2. (S) The source claimed that in the SYG meeting with the PM, Putin had not let Rasmussen sit down before challenging him with the allegation that NATO planned to put missiles in Bulgaria, and demanding further information. This reporter threw the SYG off balance, although the source did not indicate how he responded."
Aftenposten: NATO SYG DROPS BOMBSHELL IN ABU DHABI RELATING TO MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS AND ALLIANCE POLICY
Next: A culture of vengeance
"Following clashes between Tiv and Jukun ethnic groups in Benue State in October 2001, President Olusegun Obasanjo took the customary step during our all too frequent periods of violent civic unrest and ordered in the army to maintain the peace.
But on Friday October 12 of that year, the bodies of 19 soldiers were found in the village of Zaki-Biam, victims of a local militia. In response, the Army deployed even more troops and subsequently exacted its revenge, with the result that more than 200 villagers, militiamen and innocents alike, were massacred. Local and international observers condemned the barbarous killings, though the military appeared unmoved."
(Image Credit: Dali Rău)
Next: Police admit no justice for Bola Ige
"Police spectacularly bungled the investigation into the brutal murder of Bola Ige, then the attorney general, from the very beginning, and have, to all appearances, given up trying to apprehend the killers. In the days immediately following the murder, the assistant inspector general directly in charge of the investigation confessed to American authorities that the police had already made a mess of their work, and compounded initial errors with even graver ones. The result is that the investigation has hit a dead end, and the police appear to have given up the search."
(Image Credit: Dali Rău)
Next: Ojo Maduekwe, an opportunist, says American official
"A former minister of foreign affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, is an opportunist who is willing to serve any administration in power irrespective of how it gets to office, according to a leaked United States diplomatic cable made available to NEXT.
In the October 19, 2007 cable to Washington, Lisa Piascik, the Charge d'Affairs of the US embassy in Nigeria, analysed the different contending groups pulling and pushing for the soul of the ruling People's Democratic Party."
Next: NIGERIA'S PDP - WHEN IS A PARTY NOT A PARTY?
"Obasanjo network:
-- David Mark (former Minister of Communications under Obasanjo, current Senate President)
-- Patricia Etteh (former hairdresser, romantic interest of Obasanjo, current Speaker of the House of Representatives)
-- Aliko Dangote (owner of the Dangote Group with substantial business interests in food processing, cement and freight, prominent funder of Obasanjo's 2003 re-election campaign)
-- Chris Uba (godfather of Anambra State, criminal ties)
..."
Next: KADUNA GOVERNOR BULLISH ABOUT PRESIDENTIAL PROSPECTS
Next: Ibori offers to set up fund with stolen billions
"In a desperate bid to save himself from arrest and prosecution, former Delta State governor, James Ibori, offered to surrender a huge chunk of his stolen billions to a trust fund that could finance development projects, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable made available to NEXT.
The September 24, 2009 dispatch reported that Mr. Ibori, shortly before escaping to the United Arab Emirates after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission closed in on him, approached the United States embassy in Abuja for a deal that would have him give up between 20 and 50 percent of his loot in return for promises by foreign governments not to prosecute him. The former governor, the cable said, approached the embassy through a U.S. businessman and reputed lobbyist in the Washington, DC area, who estimated Mr. Ibori's stolen wealth to be about $3billion (N450 billion)."
Next: Etteh is Obasanjo's romantic interest, say American officials
"That former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the previous and first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, have had more than a passing relationship has been popular street gossip in Nigeria for a long time.
But the Americans took the matter beyond chatter. In an October 19, 2007 cable to Washington, Lisa Piascik, the Charge d'Affairs of the US embassy in Nigeria, stated that both politicians were sweethearts."
Next: The Ugly Truth
"Less than a month to the commencement of the next general elections, politicians appear to be scheming again to rig the polls. Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told a beleaguered audience in Abuja that some high profile Nigerians were involved in double registration.
“We even caught some high profile double registrants, and we will start with them in the area of prosecution,” Mr. Jega said."
Next: 'Jonathan voted four times in 2007'
"He was only a candidate for vice president then but in 2007, Goodluck Jonathan took matters into his own hands — literally. According to US diplomatic cables leaked to the whistleblower site Wikileaks, and which were made exclusively available to us, Mr. Jonathan helped himself gain the vice presidency four years ago by voting illegally four times. The astonishing accusation against Mr. Jonathan, now a president seeking validation at the polls next month, came from Edo governor Adams Oshiomhole, in a December 2008 briefing with US diplomats."
(Image Credit: Dali Rău)
There are many online reports again that say Syrian president Bashar al-Assad will address the country tomorrow, and that he will make an announcement "that will please the Syrian people". In the meantime, he has accepted the resignation of the Syrian government, the latest in a series of reforms this week which do not include the protesters' demands of an end to the 48 year old emergency law, a drastic reduction of domestic security powers, freedom for all political prisoners and a disclosure of the fate of tens of thousands of protesters who disappeared in the 1980's. The Syrian government do not possess much power, most still resides with Assad, his family, and the vicious and powerful security forces. The resigning premier has been appointed by Assad as caretaker prime minister and a new government is expected to be appointed by Assad within 24 hours.
Daraa and Lattakia are still having huge protests against the government, while in Damascus Al Jazeera is showing large crowds (variously described in the same article and embedded video as thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and "perhaps even millions") waving flags and posters in support of Assad. As reported by France24, schoolchildren and government workers were given time off to attend the pro Assad rally. Russia Today has a good video which shows first the huge pro-Assad rally in Damascus which all the major news media not yet evicted from the country were brought to watch, and second the very different and violent protests happening in other regions.
UPDATE: Soldier sentenced for murder: "I lost my moral compass."
UPDATE 2: Rolling Stone, "The Kill Team"
Updates on the turn
“We apologize for the distress these photos cause”
On Sunday, the German weekly Der Spiegel published three photos -- from a reported trove of 4,000 videos and photos -- taken by members of a US army unit operating in Kandahar province last year. Two of the photos show soldiers in the unit lifting the body of an Afghan civilian by the hair and posing thus for the camera; the third shows two Afghans apparently or possibly killed while handcuffed together back to back. The photographs are not yet available onsite at Der Spiegel; David Dayen at firedoglake links to them here, here, and here.
As the Washington Post reported Sunday night, the identities of Gul Mudin, an unarmed Afghan civilian killed by the 5th Stryker Brigade unit, and the two soldiers photographed treating his body as a trophy have been known for some time. Twelve soldiers from the unit are currently being prosecuted in the deaths of three unarmed Afghan civilians last year; two are charged with murder and could face life imprisonment or the death penalty if convicted. The Post follows up with the best analysis so far of the impact these photos might have on those cases.
It is news, however, that the unit would have collected such a store of photographic evidence of their activities -- the Post, following suppressed military court evidence in the US, refers to "several hundred," but the Guardian, citing Der Spiegel, refers to 4,000.
The most telling news of all, however, is the official reaction of the US military to the publication of these three photographs.
Romanian Insider: New round of Wikileaks cables on Romania: energy sector, political corruption
"Several confidential documents concerning Romania have recently appeared on Wikileaks and have made headlines in the Romanian media. According to a Wikileaks cable quoted by news website Hotnews.ro, EU advisor Onno Simmons “warned that some sources have said that there is an <
La Jornada: Bajo la mesa, Washigton culpa a México del tráfico de armas (Under the table, Washington blames Mexico for the traffic of weapons)
"El escándalo por el plan Rápido y furioso revela el diálogo de sordos que existe entre ambos gobiernos. (The "Fast and Furious" scandal reveals the deaf dialogue between both governments.)"
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Aftenposten: FALUN GONG CRACKDOWN, DAY THREE
Der Spiegel: Die verkaufte Demokratie (The sold democracy)
"Indiens Regierung - eine Vetternwirtschaft, die sich aufs Schmieren versteht und politische Mehrheiten einfach kauft: So beschreiben Medienberichten zufolge US-Botschaftsdepeschen den indischen Staat. Premier Singh soll tatenlos zugeschaut haben. Die Beschuldigten weisen das zurück. (India's government - a partisanship that knows how to facilitate its ways and simply buy political majorities: so media reports describe the indian state, according to U.S. embassy dispatches. Premier Singh said to have watched passively. The defendants reject it.)"
The Libyan foreign intervention will pass from the US led force to NATO command, led by Canadian General Charles Bouchard, with the transition completing "within 48 hours".
The anti-Gaddafi forces are once more moving west at a rapid pace, currently claiming to control Sirte, the home of Muammar Gaddafi. Shamsi Abdul Molah, a spokesman for the opposition's National Council, told Al Jazeera that opposition forces had moved into the city at approximately 11.30pm Sunday night. Now AFP is reporting nine powerful explosions heard in Sirte.
Al Jazeera has reported that anti Gaddafi forces are now in control of Bin Jawad, Ras Lanuf, Uqayla, Brega and Ajdabiya, and they say Gaddafi forces are retreating and surrendering each town without a fight. Anti-Gaddafi forces expect a major battle in Tripoli, where Muammar Gaddafi was reported to be Sunday night, since they did not meet with one in Sirte. Fighting broke out again in Misurata, which has been heavily attacked from the air by French and British forces. Air strikes were also reported on Tripoli, Tarhunah, Sabha and Sirte.
The London demonstrations yesterday, where a reported 500,000 people took to the streets to protest the austerity cuts, will not change government strategy according to Liberal democrat minister Vince Cable. "No government - coalition, Labour or any other - would change its fundamental economic policy simply in response to a demonstration of that kind," he said.
Police arrested 201 people and charged 149 according to the BBC. Police reported that 145 of the arrests were in connection with the group UK Uncut, which occupied luxury grocery store Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly in protest over alleged tax avoidance by the business's part owners. BBC is reporting 84 injuries, including at least 31 police, with 11 officers requiring hospital treatment.
President Bashar al-Assad deployed the army in Latakia today. Until now secret police and special forces have been primarily responsible for quelling the protests this week and killing a large number of protesters, at least 61 according to Human Rights Watch. Exact numbers have been difficult to obtain because of the news blackout imposed in the country, but SANA is reporting 12 killed yesterday in Latakia. Unofficial reports are much higher, but the international news media is being prevented from reporting.
Reuters is reporting two television journalists missing in Syria since Saturday, after "On Friday, Syrian authorities withdrew the accreditation of Reuters text correspondent Khaled Yacoub Oweis, saying he had filed "unprofessional and false" coverage of events in Syria." Al Jazeera had their Sana'a bureau raided on March 22 after an earlier expulsion of two Al-Jazeera correspondents and six other international journalists.
Relative calm is being reported today despite a sit in at the Omari Mosque in Deraa where at least six people were killed on the 23rd. Government officials announced Assad was to make a televised address today, but he has not appeared.
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