Category: Foreign Relations

The Poker Term for this a “Tell”

No Comments

The fact that the Texas Attorney General is threatening to arrest international election monitors if they monitor elections would appear to indicate that he knows that his fellow Republicans are :

The Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott, has threatened to arrest international election monitors invited by liberal groups to observe the conduct of next month’s presidential vote in states accused of attempting to disenfranchise minorities.

Abbott has written to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe warning that its monitors have no right to monitor the vote even though they have observed previous US elections.

“The OSCE’s representatives are not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place. It may be a criminal offence for OSCE’s representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place’s entrance,” he said. “Failure to comply with these requirements could subject the OSCE’s representatives to criminal prosecution for violating state law.”

They are trying to cover up their voter suppression efforts, though I’m sure that they there is a bit of anti-UN whack job paranoia in the mix.

First, No Real Democracy, Then They are Allied with Iran, and Now………

No Comments

Iraq is planning significant purchases of Russian weapons, including the possible purchase of a large number of MiG-29s:

Iraq has signed contracts to buy Russian arms worth $4.2bn (£2.6bn; 3.2bn euros) this year, Russian news agencies report.

Moscow, the main supplier of arms to Iraq under Saddam Hussein, thus becomes the country’s second-biggest arms supplier after the US.

The new contracts were announced after talks between the two countries’ prime ministers near Moscow on Tuesday.

Reports suggest attack helicopters and missiles are included in them.

Iraq has been rebuilding its armed forces since the end of US-led combat operations against insurgents.

Thirty Mi-28 attack helicopters and 42 Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems are said to be among items being sold.

Further discussions are said to be under way for Iraq eventually to buy MiG-29 jets, heavy armoured vehicles and other weaponry.

George W. Bush’s little adventure just keeps on yielding dividends for us, doesn’t it?

From the Department of Well, Duh

No Comments

It’s the truth, and it is something that our political elites refuse to say, which means that it is a good thing to say, but Glenn Greenwald’s observation that the real problem with Iran having the bomb is that it would prevent us attacking them on our whim:

Every now and then, they reveal the real reason: Iranian nuclear weapons would prevent the US from attacking Iran at will, and that is what is intolerable. The latest person to unwittingly reveal the real reason for viewing an Iranian nuclear capacity as unacceptable was GOP Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the US’s most reliable and bloodthirsty warmongers.

 On Monday, Graham spoke in North Augusta, South Carolina, and was asked about the way in which sanctions were harming ordinary Iranians. Ayman Hossam Fadel was present and recorded the exchange. Answering that question, Graham praised President Obama for threatening Iran with war over nuclear weapons, decreed that “the Iranian people should be willing to suffer now for a better future,” and then – invoking the trite neocon script that is hauled out whenever new wars are being justified – analogized Iranian nukes to Hitler in the 1930s. But in the middle of his answer, he explained the real reason Iranian nuclear weapons should be feared:

“They have two goals: one, regime survival. The best way for the regime surviving, in their mind, is having a nuclear weapon, because when you have a nuclear weapon, nobody attacks you.”

Graham added that the second regime goal is “influence”, that “people listen to you” when you have a nuclear weapon. In other words, we cannot let Iran acquire nuclear weapons because if they get them, we can no longer attack them when we want to and can no longer bully them in their own region.

Let me be clear here:  I do not want Iran to have nuclear weapons.  I also don’t want Israel to have nuclear weapons, or India, or Pakistan, or China, or the UK, or France, or Russia, or the United States of America.

The desire for a credible deterrent is a rational response to US hegemony:

Whatever one thinks of Iran, the signal the US has sent to the world is unmistakable: any rational government should acquire nuclear weapons. The Iranians undoubtedly watched the US treatment of two dictators who gave up their quest for nuclear weapons – Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi – and drew the only reasoned lesson: the only way a country can protect itself from US attack, other than full-scale obeisance, is to acquire nuclear weapons.

Assange Formally Granted Asylum by Ecuador

No Comments

This is not an unexpected development.

The British are saying that they are never going to allow his passage out of the country, and are continuing to imply that they will use a law passed in late 1980s to raid the Ecuadorean embassy.

The law in question was passed after someone shot a Bobby from inside the Iranian Lybian embassy, which is clearly a different circumstance from this.

The real issue here is that pretrial process, and extradition, in Sweden is opaque, and Assange has publicly stated that he would be willing to go to Sweden if they gave him guarantees that he would not be transferred to US custody.

This is about Obama, and people close to him, desperately wanting to get their hands on him so that they can make an example of him. (Even if there is not a successful prosecution, there will be torture, even if he does not get sent to Gitmo, look at what they did to Bradley Manning in pretrial detention.)

Rather unsurprisingly, all the news that’s fit to print, i.e. the NY Times reported this as a hit piece against Assange.

No Rule of Law for You!

No Comments

Well, we now have reports that
Ecuador intends to grant Julian Assange asylum, but it appears that the British are threatening to storm the embassy:

Ecuador has accused the UK of making a “threat” to enter its embassy in London to arrest Wikileaks’ Julian Assange.

Mr Assange took refuge at the embassy in June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over assault and rape claims, which he denies.

Ecuador foreign minister Ricardo Patino also said a decision on the 41-year-old’s bid for political asylum had been made and would be announced later.

The Foreign Office said it could revoke the embassy’s diplomatic status.

………

At a news conference in Quito on Wednesday, Mr Patino said a letter from the UK government was delivered through a British embassy official.

“Today we received from the United Kingdom an express threat, in writing, that they might storm our Embassy in London if we don’t hand over Julian Assange,” he said.

“Ecuador rejects in the most emphatic terms the explicit threat of the British official communication.”

He said such a threat was “improper of a democratic, civilised and rule abiding country”.

“If the measure announced in the British official communication is enacted, it will be interpreted by Ecuador as an unacceptable, unfriendly and hostile act and as an attempt against our sovereignty. It would force us to respond,” he said.

“We are not a British colony”.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the UK remained “determined” to fulfill its obligation to extradite Mr Assange.

If you are old enough to remember the Iranian hostage crisis, it wasn’t the Iranian government that took the American embassy in Tehran, it was a bunch of kids with no “official” ties to the government.

Even Ayatollah Khomeini understood that the consequences of flaunting the sanctity required a fig leaf.

The British are not doing this for the Swedes. They are doing this because the US government, with the certain knowledge of, and likely active participation of Barack Obama personally, has demanded this.

Seriously, Obama’s war on whistle blowers makes Richard Nixon look like the Sunlight Foundation.

If Putin Wants Us to Stay in Afghanistan………

No Comments

The “Graveyard of Empires”, it’s a pretty good indication that our continuing involvement is not in our benefit:

NATO forces should stay in Afghanistan until their job is done, Russia President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, suggesting they should stay beyond a planned withdrawal of most combat troops in 2014.

“It is regrettable that many participants in this operation are thinking about how to pull out of there,” Putin said at a meeting with paratroopers in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk. “They took up this burden and should carry it to the end.”

He isn’t suggesting this because he cares about the Afghan people, and he isn’t suggesting this because it’s in the interest of the US or its NATO allies.

He’s doing this because it places stress on the US military and NATO, and as such it serves to ameliorate the threat that he perceives from them.

Say what you will about Putin, but our best interests is ths last thing that he has on his mind,

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

No Comments

Thanks Angela, things have gotten so bad in EU that Europeans engaging in sham marriages to get permanent residency visa in Brazil:

For Rafael and Mariana, their days are now dominated by final arrangements for their upcoming marriage. He wants to bring his clothes over to her place. Before he does it, she wants to rearrange her apartment to open more space. At first sight, they do not necessarily seem to be a good fit for each other. But when asked, their friends swear they are deeply in love.

Anxious, Rafael hopes to be married in two months at most. The ceremony will be simple, only civil. After signing all the documents, there will be a kiss: a good-bye kiss. He will move back home and wait until he finds the right person to be at his side —a guy, probably.

Mariana*, 36, is a Brazilian housemaid. Rafael*, 31, is a Spanish university student waiting for a permanent visa to stay in Brazil. Their union will be one more in the growing numbers of fake marriages that foreigners use to be able to gain residency here.

“I’m a bit afraid, but I know three Germans in Rio and an American in São Paulo who did the same,” he says. “I could look for a job in Germany, where I was before I lost my job. But Europe is getting worse and worse, while the situation here is just the opposite.”

It really is the goal of the austerians to make their societies 3rd world nations, and it appears that they are succeeding.

We Are Not Looking at the Collapse of the Euro Zone

No Comments

We are looking at a collapse of the whole European.

If the Euro goes titsup in Greece, UK Prime Minister David Cameron intends to ban Greek immigrants if the country leaves the Euro:

David Cameron is prepared to override Britain’s historic obligations under EU treaties and impose stringent border controls that would block Greek citizens from entering the United Kingdom, if Greece is forced out of the single currency.

The prime minister told MPs that ministers have examined legal powers that would allow Britain to deprive Greek citizens of their right to free movement across the EU, if the eurozone crisis leads to “stresses and strains”.

In an appearance before senior MPs on the cross-party House of Commons liaison committee, the prime minister confirmed that ministers have drawn up contingency plans for “all sorts of different eventualities”.

Angela Merkel is not just threatening the Euro, she is putting the whole European Experiment is at risk.

Happy Independence Day!

No Comments

The European Parliament has resoundingly rejected ACTA, the draconian Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, 39 to 478:

Six months ago, the situation looked very dark. It was all but certain that ACTA would pass unnoticed in silence. The forces fighting for citizens’ rights tried to have it referred to the European Court of Justice, in order to test its legality and to buy some time. Then, something happened.

A monster by the name of SOPA appeared in the United States. Thousands of websites went dark on January 18, and millions of voices cried out, leaving Congress shellshocked over the fact that citizens can get that level of pissed off at corporate special interests. SOPA was killed.

In the wake of this, as citizens had realized that they didn’t need to take that kind of corporate abuse lying down and asking for more, the community floodlights centered on ACTA. The activism carried over beautifully to defeat this monster. Early February, there were rallies all over Europe, leaving the European Parliament equally shellshocked.

………

In theory, ACTA could still come into force between the United States and a number of smaller states. Ten states have been negotiating it, and six of those need to ratify it to have it come into force. In theory, this could become a treaty between the United States, Morocco, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, and Switzerland. (But wait, the Mexican Senate has already rejected ACTA. As has Australia and Switzerland in practice. Oh well… a treaty between the United States and Morocco, then, in the unlikely event that the United States will actually and formally ratify it. You can see where this is going.)

As described before on TorrentFreak, without the support of the European Union, ACTA is dead. Doesn’t exist.

Note however that this is not an end, but merely one battle:

Many of the bad things in ACTA will return under other names. For the lobbyists, this is a nine-to-five job of jabbing against the legislation until it gives way. Just another day at work. We need to remain vigilant against special interests who will return again, again, and again, until we make sure that the legislative road for them is completely blocked. We must remain watchful.


This is Not Star Trek. In Startrek, the Evil Spock has a goatee. In our world the evil James O’Keefe is clean shaven.

People who understand IP and the net have been raging against the overreach against since the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (AKA the Mickey Mouse Protection Act), and it appears that it’s finally beginning to find some sort of currency.

H/t Jamie O’Keefe (the good one)

The Worm Has Turned

No Comments

Germany is clearly the largest power in the Euro Zone, but without a sycophant like Sarkozy in France, the 2nd largest power in Europe, it turns out that she actually can’t decree what will happen:

European leaders have moved to halt the crisis engulfing Spain and Italy by agreeing a radical bailout package for the single currency’s teetering banks.

Amid deep divisions over the debt and currency crisis, and under immense pressure to come up with credible moves, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, softened her hard line on fiscal discipline and debt repayment to hand Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, a summit triumph.

Leaders agreed to set up a supervisory system for eurozone banks that will form the first step towards full banking union, scrapped the requirement that governments get preferential status over private investors in the event of a default and eased the stiff terms for future bailouts.

When she has the governments of France, Spain, and Italy unite to oppose her, she had to blink.

I don’t expect her to do anything that she is not absolutely forced to do, but she is not an immovable object, and now the others in Europe realize this.

Merkel Blinks

No Comments

Thank God:

Under intense pressure at the G20 summit in Mexico to take more decisive action to contain the European sovereign debt crisis, eurozone leaders were reported last night to be preparing to allow the Continent’s bailout funds to intervene directly in the capital markets to ease the pressure on Spain and Italy.

G20 sources suggested that Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, was preparing to allow eurozone institutions to begin buying bonds issued by member state’s governments. The purpose of the intervention would be to bring down sovereign bond yields of weaker eurozone states, which have been pushed up to unsustainable levels by wary investors in recent months. Spanish 10-year yields this week hit their highest levels in the history of the single currency at 7.28 per cent.

An impending move was hinted at by the Chancellor George Osborne last night. “We will see what the eurozone announce in the next couple of weeks, but there is no doubt that they realise that individual measures in individual countries are by themselves not enough,” he said.

Whoever knocked some sense into Merkel’s head should be commended.

Wrong Again, Matthew Saroff Edition.

No Comments

The Greek Democrats have formed a governing coalition including the 3rd place PASOK party:

A conservative-led government took power in Greece on Wednesday promising to negotiate softer terms on its harsh international bailout, help the people regain their dignity and steer the country through its biggest crisis for four decades.

The swearing-in of Antonis Samaras as prime minister after elections last Sunday ended weeks of uncertainty that rattled financial markets and threatened to push near-bankrupt Greece out of the euro zone.

Samaras, a Harvard-educated economist from a prominent Greek family, will head an alliance of his New Democracy party and Socialist PASOK rivals – the same discredited establishment parties which have dominated politics since 1974.

I said that it would not happen, and it did.  Oh, well.

BTW, the outgoing PASOK leader, George Papandreu, went to Harvard too (and Amherst, and the London School of Economics).

You know, I think that the value of a Harvard education might be overrated.

Gee, We’re Caught Lying About Syria

No Comments

It turns out that the allegation that Russians were selling attack helos to Syria made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were false.

Syria has owned the copters in question for years:

When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accused Russia on Tuesday of shipping attack helicopters to Syria that would “escalate the conflict quite dramatically,” it was the Obama administration’s sharpest criticism yet of Russia’s support for the Syrian government.

What Mrs. Clinton did not say, however, was whether the aircraft were new shipments or, as administration officials say is more likely, helicopters that Syria had sent to Russia a few months ago for routine repairs and refurbishing, and which were now about to be returned.

“She put a little spin on it to put the Russians in a difficult position,” said one senior Defense Department official.

This is called lying like a rug.

We are going to bomb Syria.  This is exactly the same sort of crap what we saw with build up Iraq, Libya, etc.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

Jeebus

No Comments

Some of the provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership have been leaked, and this is absolutely awful:

  • limit how U.S. federal and state officials could regulate foreign firms operating within U.S. boundaries, with requirements to provide them greater rights than domestic firms;
  • extend the incentives for U.S. firms to offshore investment and jobs to lower-wage countries;
  • establish a two-track legal system that gives foreign firms new rights to skirt U.S. courts and laws, directly sue the U.S. government before foreign tribunals and demand compensation for financial, health, environmental, land use and other laws they claim undermine their TPP privileges; and
  • allow foreign firms to demand compensation for the costs of complying with U.S. financial or environmental regulations that apply equally to domestic and foreign firms.

Just in case you are wondering, there are proposal to make the agreement more people friendly, and less corporation friendly, but it appears that the Obama administration is opposing this at every level.

Note that this is not atypical of US foreign policy, though it it is in direct contravention of of what he promised during the 2008 campaign.

I guess that Austan Goolsbee was told the truth when he was said to representatives of the Canadian government that Obama’s populist statements regarding free trade agreements were lies.

Yes, We Are at War With Pakistan

No Comments

At the NATO summit in Chicago, Obama refused to talk with Pakistani President Zardary:

The rift between the US and Pakistan deepened on Monday as the Nato summit in Chicago broke up without a deal on Afghanistan supply routes.

Barack Obama, at a press conference to wind up the summit, made no attempt to conceal his exasperation, issuing a pointed warning to Pakistan it was in its wider interest to work with the US to avoid being “consumed” by extremists.

Seldom in recent years have the tensions between Washington and Islamabad been on public show to the extent as at the Chicago, overshadowing the two-day Nato summit.

The main point of friction is Pakistan’s closure of Nato supply routes to Afghanistan in protest over drone attacks and a US air strike in November that killed two dozen Pakistani troops.

Obama refused to make time during the two-day summit to see the Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari for a face-to-face bilateral meeting. In a press conference, Obama made a point of stressing that the only exchange he had with his Pakistani counterpart was short. “Very brief, as we were walking into the summit,” Obama said.

The US president said he “did not want to paper over the cracks” and that there has been tension between the US-led international force in Afghanistan and Pakistan over the last few months.

I’m not sure if this is a ramping up of tension, or a recognition by Obama that the military is running the show.

But the fact is that we are effectively at war with a significant portion of the Pakistani state security apparatus, which is actively destabilizing Afghanistan because they see Karzai as being to favorably disposed toward India.