Month: May 2019

Turkish Kurd Leader Ocalan Meets Lawyers for First Time Since 2011

Posted on by SeeEU

The leader of Turkey’s militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, has met his lawyers for the first time in eight years, one of them said on Monday.

“This is the first meeting with the lawyers since 2011. The meeting lasted approximately one hour” on May 2, Rezan Sarica told an Istanbul press conference.

Some 3,000 Kurdish prisoners have been holding hunger strikes since November to protest his isolation, and eight have killed themselves over the issue, according to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party.

Nevroz Uysal, another of Ocalan’s lawyers, read out a message from the imprisoned leader for the hunger strikers to limit their protests.

“We respect the resistance of our friends inside and outside prisons but want them not to carry this to a dimension that will threaten their health or result in death,” Ocalan said, according to Uysal.

Ocalan’s message also addressed the situation in neighboring Syria where a US-backed Kurdish militia — branded as “terrorists” by Ankara — controls some areas in the north.

“We believe that problems in Syria should be resolved by avoiding the culture of conflict,” Ocalan said according to the lawyer.

He said the Syrian Kurds should have constitutional guarantees, while respecting “Syria’s integrity.”

“In this regard, Turkey’s sensitivities should be taken into account,” he added.

Ankara says the Kurdish YPG — a key US ally in the fight against Islamic State jihadists — is a Syrian offshoot of the PKK, and the issue is a major source of friction in Turkish-US ties.

Turkey captured Ocalan, then public number enemy one, in February 1999 and imprisoned him on the heavily fortified island of Imrali off Istanbul where he has been kept for 20 years.

“It is not yet clear if the meetings with lawyers will continue periodically,” added Sarica, who met Ocalan with Uysal.

“Only two lawyers were allowed to meet him although four lawyers applied,” he added.

The PKK is listed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies. The Kurdish insurgency in Turkey has claimed more than 40,000 lives since 1984.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hardened his rhetoric towards Kurdish rebels since the last ceasefire broke down in 2015, reducing the odds of a political solution to the long-running conflict.

Ocalan’s brother, Mehmet, was permitted to visit him in prison in January for the first time since 2016.

The rebel leader was born into a poor peasant family in the village of Omerli in Turkey’s southeast. His official birthdate is April 4, 1949.

He was sentenced to death for treason after his capture by Turkish agents in Kenya, but this was commuted to life imprisonment when Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2002, when it appeared close to securing membership in the European Union.
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US Wary of Chinese, Russian Military Presence in Arctic

Posted on by SeeUS

Aimed at countering China and Russia’s expansion in the Arctic, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday the United States will increase its military presence in the polar region.

“We are hosting military exercises, strengthening our force presence, rebuilding our icebreaker fleet, expanding Coast Guard funding, and creating a new senior military post for Arctic Affairs inside our own military,” said Pompeo after arriving in Rovaniemi, Finland, for a meeting of the Arctic Council.

“The region has become an area of global power and competition,” he said.

The top U.S. diplomat’s warning comes days after a Pentagon report said China could use its civilian research presence in the Arctic to strengthen its military presence.

In Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Geng Shuang pushed back Monday, saying China has been adhering to the path of “peaceful development” and asked the United States to abandon “the outdated concept of Cold War mentality and the zero-sum game.”

With the steady reductions in sea ice in the polar region, new naval passageways and trade opportunities are seen to be opening up.

Last month, Russia announced plans to connect the Northern Sea Route with China’s Maritime “Silk Road,” a move seen as developing a new shipping channel from Asia to northern Europe.

Meanwhile, China’s interest in the Arctic has been on the rise in recent years.

Beijing’s Arctic policy says “China hopes to work with all parties to build a Polar Silk Road through developing the Arctic shipping routes.”

Sounding the alarm on China’s ambition, Pompeo rejected interference by non-Arctic countries in the polar region.

“There are only Arctic States and non-Arctic States. No third category exists,” said Pompeo during his speech in Finland Monday.

Military officials from Russia and China said both countries intended to regularly conduct joint war games, following last September’s massive Vostok (East) 2018 military exercises that spanned extensive regions of Siberia, Russia’s Far East, the Arctic, and the Pacific Oceans. China was invited for the first time to join the drill.

In May of 2013, China became an “observer state” of the Arctic Council with the help of Iceland. Last year, a China-Iceland joint Arctic Research Observatory was established in Karholl, Iceland.

The Arctic houses 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil, 30 percent of its undiscovered gas, and an abundance of resources, including uranium, rare earth minerals, and millions of square miles of untapped fisheries.
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South Africa Political Parties Race to May 8 Poll

Posted on by SeeAF

South Africa’s top three political parties sprinted towards the finish line before Wednesday’s poll, with the leaders of each party giving impassioned pleas to a deeply divided, conflicted electorate of 26.7 million people.

The ruling ANC, the established Democratic Alliance (DA) and upstart Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) parties held their final rallies over the weekend in Johannesburg, the nation’s economic hub.

The long-ruling ANC leads the 48 parties contesting this year. The party has held power since 1994, but has weathered harsh criticism this year for a slew of government corruption scandals. The head of the ANC, President Cyril Ramaphosa, acknowledged that during the party’s final rally.

“We admit that we have made mistakes and we put ourselves before our people and say, Yes, we have made mistakes, but it is only those who are doing nothing who don’t make mistakes,'” he said to a full stadium in Johannesburg.

But analysts, like Ivor Sarakinsky of the University of the Witwatersrand, say the top parties’ biggest enemies may be themselves. “A lot of voters are conflicted,” he told VOA.

“I don’t think there’s a clear choice because the main parties, and even some of the smaller parties, are bringing enormous baggage into this election in terms of their own internal dynamics,” he added. “We focus on the ANC’s baggage and dynamics, but all the parties have their own baggage. The DA and the controversies in terms of internal leadership, the EFF in terms of internal leadership and questions about financial flows into the party. There’s controversy around all of them.”

He says the drama around corruption and internal leadership struggles —  notably within the ANC — have distracted from real issues like the economy and the fact that the nation remains deeply divided, socially and economically, a quarter-century after the end of apartheid.

“It’s about identifying a party that has a manifesto that meets most of your needs, interests and concerns in terms of where the country is going in the future,” he said. “And that’s a tough ask, because the manifestos don’t deal with what many people know are the real issues, and the politics and the emotion and the symbolism and the political tactics has distorted how many parties are marketing themselves. So it’s a tough choice for voters at the moment, in this election.”

Those conflicted or apathetic voters are exactly what the upstart, far-left EFF party is trying to mop up. Party leader Julius Malema, a one-time ANC stalwart, urged voters not to stay on the sidelines.

“Comrades, I want to say to all who are saying they are not going to vote because they don’t see how the vote helps them, you are committing a suicide, because by not voting you are giving the ANC power,” he told supporters at his party’s final rally.

The leading opposition DA is also hot on the ANC’s tail, with leader Mmusi Maimane urging voters not to vote based on appearances or personalities.

“I need your vote!” he told supporters. “My fellow South Africans, this is not a popularity contest. This is not about who looks like what, and whether you like this person. I’m not asking you to marry me.”
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China Prepares for Trade Talks Despite Trump’s New Threat

Posted on by SeeUS

China says its negotiators are preparing to travel to the United States for their next round of trade talks this week, even after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened higher tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese goods after he complained the process is taking too long.

Trump’s comments about the new tarifs on Twitter on Sunday sent Asian stocks and U.S. futures tumbling Monday and added uncertainty over the figure of U.S.-China trade negotiations. Despite the market drop, China’s official media stayed silent on Trump’s comments all morning.

Hours later, Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that China is “trying to get more information” about Trump’s comments about new tariffs but stressed that Beijing’s negotiating team is still preparing to travel to the U.S. for talks this week.

“The tweet is a big wrench in China’s foreign trade policy,” Nick Marro, Analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU) told VOA. “There were a lot of expectations that at least the groundwork for a deal will be finalized this week,” he said, explaining why Beijing should be upset by the new threat.

Tweet with teeth

In his tweet issued on Sunday, Trump said he would increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent on Friday. This would mark a reversal of a decision Washington took last February to keep it at 10 percent in the midst of trade talks.

“The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!,” Trump said expressing dissatisfaction about the pace of trade negotiations and what he considers Chinese attempt to renegotiate some aspects of the proposed deal.

President Trump also said that his policy of hiking taxes on Chinese goods had paid dividends. “These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results,” he said.

He went further saying another $325 billion of Chinese goods which “remain untaxed” will be taxed at 25 percent. He did not specify a timeline for making this change.

Unaffected stance

In its response Monday, Chinese foreign ministry expressed hope there is no change in the situation and the two countries will continue to strive for an end to the trade war.

“What is of vital importance is that we still hope the United States can work hard with China to meet each other half way, and strive to reach a mutually beneficial, win-win agreement on the basis of mutual respect,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng said.

What the ministry did not clarify is whether China would send the same envoy, Vice Premier Liu He, as head of the official delegation as originally planned.

Echoing China’s confidence that trade talks would not be disrupted by Trump’s tweet, Shanghai based expert Shen Dingli said, “China and the U.S. have big and overlapping stakes in bilateral trade. They will overcome any difficulties for a successful outcome of the trade talks.”

The tweet has also made it difficult for Chinese President Xi to make a proposed China-U.S. deal acceptable to his domestic audience. Xi does not want to be seen as being bulled into accepting a deal by the U.S., Nick Marro said. “It has shattered the potential optics around the deal. The tweet makes the deal look like China has no choice but to listen to the U.S.”

Dingli sees nothing odd about Trump’s use of tweet as a foreign policy instrument although this aspect has been widely criticized in some circles.

“America does not have a propaganda department like the Chinese government. Therefore, Trump has invented something that is good for him,” Dingli said. “A competent propaganda department has made China powerful. My President does not need to use his own account in WeChat [Chinese social media app] to communicate,” he said.

Washington and Beijing have engaged in reciprocal tariff hikes over the last year while negotiators have engaged in lengthy trade talks, alternating negotiations between the two capitals.

Despite an initial goal of finishing by March 1, the two countries have continued to debate several issues, but have yet to complete a deal. Both sides, representing the world’s two biggest economies, have said progress is being made.

The two countries have been trying to resolve disputes over intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers. It is not clear whether the tariffs both countries have imposed will remain in place if an agreement is reached.
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US Officials Mum on What Prompted Bolton’s ‘Unmistakable Message to Iran’

Posted on by SeeUS

Anjana Pasricha in New Delhi contributed to this report.

WHITE HOUSE — U.S. officials were keeping mum Monday on what signals from Iran were responsible for an unusual statement issued the previous evening by National Security Advisor John Bolton.

A “number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” linked to Iran prompted the United States to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group and bomber task force to the Middle East, said Bolton in his statement.

The dispatch is intended to “send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force,” added Bolton.

Both the National Security Council and Defense Department declined, when contacted by VOA, to provide any additional details.

In addition to the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the strike group included fighter jets, helicopters, destroyers and more than 6,000 sailors when it left its U.S. port in (the state of) Virginia in early April.

The Nimitz-class carrier was in the Adriatic Sea as of May 1 when Albania’s president, Ilir Meta, visited the 333-meter-long vessel.

The deployment of the strike group had been planned “for some time now,” the chief of naval operations, Admiral John Richardson confirmed on Monday.

Speaking at a maritime exposition in the state of Maryland, Richardson, in response to a question at a seminar, characterized Bolton’s statement as a “great demonstration” of the navy’s capability to fluidly react to changing security situations.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking to reporters traveling with him to Europe, declined to comment about what prompted the U.S. decision, but confirmed it had been under consideration for a while and that the administration has “good reason” to want to clearly communicate to Iran how it would respond to Iranian actions.

Bolton’s statement said the United States “is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.”

New America Foundation Fellow Ned Price says recent actions to sanction the IRGC and end sanctions waivers for some of the country’s biggest oil buyers make it seem like the Trump administration “seems intent on driving the Iranians into a corner.”

“The concern with Bolton’s threat — coming in the midst of a series of escalations from the Trump administration — underscores the concern that the administration is trying to goad the Iranians into an unwise and ill-considered reaction,” Price, a former spokesman for the Obama-era National Security Council, tells VOA.

The Trump administration has been working to apply what it calls a “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran to try to get the country to change its behavior, including its sponsorship of terror groups and what the White House alleges is a ballistic missile program that threatens the United States.

In response to last month’s U.S. designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group, Iran responded by declaring the United States a state sponsor of terrorism and its forces in the Middle East as terror groups.

Daniel DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities, a research group that advocates that America maintain a strong, dynamic military but wants it to try to avoid being deployed in overseas wars. DePetris says that while Iran is meddlesome, the threats it poses can best be addressed with deterrence and diplomacy.

“Maximum pressure will fail to change the regime’s behavior, but it will ratchet up tensions between the U.S. and Iran, possibly inciting a crisis or war, something Trump promised to avoid during his campaign,” DePetris tells VOA. “This is more evidence of a troublesome disconnect between the president and the people who ostensibly work under him. The Iranians are meddlesome actors, but they’re far from a threat to the U.S., the world’s only superpower.”

The vice president of the Heritage Foundation’s Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy praises the U.S. move.

“The U.S. is a global power with global interests and responsibilities,” James Jay Carafano tells VOA. “It’s a powerful statement to demonstrate the U.S. is not distracted by a host of challenges-in Venezuela, by provocations from North Korea, and yet, the U.S. has the resolve and capacity to show it can stand strong in the Middle East, as well.”

Bolton’s statement is raising concern in other countries.

India, whose economy is largely fueled by imported crude — much of it from Middle East countries such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia — is worried about the security of sea lanes through which its energy supplies flow.

“If you have a situation where Iran and America are actually entering into a confrontationist mode, then that will not only impact the two countries but the larger region,” says security analyst Harsh Pant at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

“The question of what happens to the larger region, what happens to the sea lanes of communication, I think that is going to be a challenge if this results in something bigger… India will wait and watch and see how far it goes.”

India, which has friendly relations with Iran and a growing strategic partnership with the United States, is also under pressure to slash oil imports from Iran.

Except for saying that there will be additional supplies from other oil-producing countries, New Delhi has not stated clearly whether it plans to bring down its imports from Iran to zero as the United States wants.

There has been no immediate reaction from Iran to Bolton’s statement.

One week ago, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Bolton and others, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of “designing confrontation,” but added that he did not “think military confrontation will happen.”

Speaking to CBS News, Zarif accused the U.S. administration of “putting things in place for accidents to happen. And there has to be extreme vigilance, so that people who are planning this type of accident would not have their way.”

 

 

 
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US Military Trains Cameroon Troops on Medical Evacuations

Posted on by SeeAF

The U.S. military is training Cameroon’s military on first aid techniques and medical evacuation in order to reduce battlefield deaths.  Cameroon estimates that one-fourth of all soldiers killed fighting separatists and Boko Haram terrorists could have been saved with better care.

Twenty-nine-year-old soldier Poumje Amidou has been getting treatment for fractures since last October at the military hospital in Yaounde.

Amidou said he barely escaped death when separatist fighters attacked his base, leaving one of his colleagues dead and two others wounded.

He said what he remembers is that he bled profusely and had serious wounds on his left leg, stomach and right arm.

Amidou’s life was saved when a Cameroon military helicopter rushed him to the hospital.

But others were not so lucky.

In recent years, about 117 soldiers have died from wounds that would not have been fatal had they received the correct first aid, according to Cameroon’s military.

That’s about one-fourth of all Cameroonian military deaths in the battles against English-speaking separatists and the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram.

Better care for the wounded

U.S. military advisers are working to prevent future deaths by training soldiers to provide better care for the wounded.

Major Mommearts, who did not give his first name, is one of the U.S. trainers.

He said the course on MEDEVAC – medical evacuation – includes evacuating casualties by air, known as CASEVAC.

“We talked about the different levels of CASEVAC, so you have your own legs, you can move the patient yourself, you have different pack bones that they can use. Make sure they are not bleeding while they are being transported.”

In February, the U.S. announced it was cutting some security assistance to Cameroon following allegations that Cameroon’s military was committing human rights violations.

The U.S. says despite the reduction in military aid, relations between the two countries are good.

The director of Cameroon’s military health, Colonel Abeng Mbozoo, said those ties are shown by the U.S. medical training.

He said the training is an indication that military cooperation between the U.S. and Cameroon is excellent.  That is the reason the U.S. military has come to train their Cameroonian peers, said, Mbozoo, to save lives and prevent deaths in different battle grounds.  

Thirty Cameroonian military staff received the U.S. training this week and will pass on the knowledge to their colleagues.
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Africa 54

Posted on by SeeAF

We are live. Join us and let us know from what part of the world you are watching us.
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White House: US Carrier Deployment ‘Unmistakable Message to Iran’

Posted on by SeeEA

Steve Herman contributed to this report.

The United States is sending an aircraft carrier strike group and bomber task force to the Middle East in response to what National Security Adviser John Bolton said are “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” linked to Iran.

In a statement late Sunday, Bolton said the moves are being made to “send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.

He added that the United states “is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.”

The Trump administration did not give details about any particular threats and directed further questions about the deployment to the Department of Defense.

In addition to the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, the strike group included fighter jets, helicopters, destroyers and more than 6,000 sailors when it left its U.S. port in early April.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking to reporters traveling with him to Europe, declined to comment about what prompted the U.S. decision, but said it had been under consideration for a while and that the administration has “good reason” to want to clearly communicate to Iran how it would respond to Iranian actions.

Iranian officials did not immediately give public reaction to Bolton’s announcement.

One week ago, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Bolton and others, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of “designing confrontation.”

“I don’t think military confrontation will happen,” Zarif told CBS News. “I think people have more prudence that allowing a military confrontation to happen. But, I think the U.S. administration is putting things in place for accidents to happen. And there has to be extreme vigilance, so that people who are planning this type of accident would not have their way.”

Ned Price, a fellow at the New America Foundation and a former spokesman for the Obama-era National Security Council, said recent actions to sanction the IRGC and end sanctions waivers for some of the country’s biggest oil buyers make it seem like the Trump administration “seems intent on driving the Iranians into a corner.”

“The concern with Bolton’s threat — coming in the midst of a series of escalations from the Trump administration — underscores the concern that the administration is trying to goad the Iranians into an unwise and ill-considered reaction,” Price told VOA.

The Trump administration has been working to apply what it calls a “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran in order to try to get the country to change its behaviors, including Iran’s sponsorship of terror groups and what the White House alleges is a ballistic missile program that threatens the United States. 

In response to last month’s U.S. designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group, Iran responded by declaring the United States a state sponsor of terrorism and its forces in the Middle East as terror groups.

Daniel DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities, a think tank that advocates American maintain a strong, dynamic military but wants it to try to avoid being deployed in overseas wars, said that while Iran is meddlesome, the threats it poses can best be addressed with deterrence and diplomacy.

“Maximum pressure will fail to change the regime’s behavior, but it will ratchet up tensions between the U.S. and Iran, possibly inciting a crisis or war, something Trump promised to avoid during his campaign,” DePetris said. “This is more evidence of a troublesome disconnect between the president and the people who ostensibly work under him. The Iranians are meddlesome actors, but they’re far from a threat to the U.S., the world’s only superpower.”

James Jay Carafano, vice president of the Heritage Foundation’s institute for national security and foreign policy, praised the U.S. move.

“The U.S. is a global power with global interests and responsibilities,” he said. “It’s a powerful statement to demonstrate the U.S. is not distracted by a host of challenges-in Venezuela, by provocations from North Korea, and yet, the U.S. has the resolve and capacity to show it can stand strong in the Middle East as well.”
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Possible Cease-fire Between Israel, Palestinian Militants

Posted on by SeeEA

Palestinian officials say a cease-fire with Israel has been agreed to by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The agreement, reached with the help of Egyptian mediation, was to take effect at 01:30 UTC. So far the cease-fire seems to be holding.

An exchange of rocket fire and airstrikes has killed four Israeli civilians and at least 20 Palestinians since Friday. These are the first Israeli civilian deaths from cross-border fighting since 2014.

President Donald Trump says the United States supports Israel 100% as it defends its citizens from Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza.

“To the Gazan people — these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery. End the violence and work toward peace — it can happen,” Trump tweeted Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to keep up “massive strikes” against Hamas targets in Gaza in the deadliest fighting along the border in five years.

Palestinian deaths include a 14-month-old baby and her aunt killed by what Hamas calls an Israeli strike. Israeli intelligence says a misfired Palestinian rocket killed them. Neither claim could be verified.

 

Palestinian militants have shot more than 600 rockets and other missiles into Israel since Friday. Israel says the smaller military group Islamic Jihad fired the rockets, but it holds Hamas, which controls Gaza, responsible.  

The Israeli military says Palestinian militants have shot nearly 700 rockets from Gaza since Friday, and that Israeli forces have carried out strikes targeting 350 sites used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Israel says the smaller military group Islamic Jihad fired the rockets, but it holds Hamas, which controls Gaza, responsible.

An Israeli airstrike also killed a Hamas commander, who Israel says was responsible for funneling money from Iran to the militants.

The current fighting was apparently sparked when an Islamic Jihad sniper wounded two Israeli soldiers Friday.

The Palestinians accuse Israel of failing to implement an Egyptian-brokered agreement to ease its blockade of Gaza in exchange for a halt in rocket attacks.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh issued a statement late Sunday saying his militant group is “not interested in a new war” and says he is ready “to return to the state of calm” if Israel “immediately starts implementing understandings about a dignified life.”

 

Israeli analyst Neri Zibler told I24 News that Netanyahu does not want a war with Hamas either.

 

“The greater good is to avoid needless wars. A war that you get into, you do not know how you will get out of it. A war that you go into and will most likely reach a conclusion and bring us back to the exact point we are in at the moment,” he said.

A 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2014 killed more than 2,200 Palestinians and left entire neighborhoods in ruins.

The latest fighting comes on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and as Israel gets ready for Independence Day celebrations later this week.

Israel also hosts the eagerly awaited annual Eurovision song contest in Tel Aviv later this month.
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Biden Surge Fueled by Electability Advantage. Will It Last?

Posted on by SeeUS

Twenty of his rivals have lined up to run for president, believing the race for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination was wide open. But one week after launching his campaign, former Vice President Joe Biden is threatening to prove them wrong.

 

His liabilities may be glaring, but the 76-year-old lifelong politician has quickly emerged as the front-runner in the crowded contest by dominating the debate that matters most to many voters: electability.

 

Biden’s chief opponents privately concede that, for now at least, he has successfully cast himself as the candidate who can take down President Donald Trump. He may be out of step with the heart of the party on key issues, but Biden opens the race backed by a broad coalition of voters attracted to his personality, his governing experience and his working-class background — all elements that help convince voters he is better positioned than any other Democrat to deny Trump a second term.

One after another, voters who filled a community center in South Carolina’s capital to see Biden this weekend described him as a safe, comforting and competent counterpoint to the turbulent Trump presidency.

 

“With him you feel whole, and the country would be whole again,” said 62-year-old Barbara Pearson, who is African American and has long worked for county government. “I think he meets this moment.”

 

“I like Biden,” said 21-year-old University of South Carolina senior Justin Walker, who is white. “We know him. We know where he’s been. We don’t know that about the others.”

 

Biden’s strong start, evidenced by strong fundraising and polling, has caught the attention of his opponents. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have already begun to turn on Biden, at least subtly, highlighting his reliance on rich donors and his record on trade, foreign policy and health care that is out of step with the party’s more liberal wing.

 

“Obviously the vice president has had a very good first week,” Sanders’ chief strategist Jeff Weaver said. “This is an incredibly long campaign. And I think as voters see the contrasts between the candidates on both a policy level and an electability level, you’re going to see wild swings in these numbers.”

 

In the midst of his inaugural national tour as a 2020 presidential contender, Biden is largely ignoring his Democratic opponents and focusing on Trump.

 

“Another four years of Trump,” Biden told South Carolina voters, would “fundamentally change the character of this nation.”

 

“Above all else, we must defeat Donald Trump,” he declared.

 

So far, at least, the message appears to be resonating.

John Anzalone, a veteran Democratic pollster who has advised Biden, highlighted the breadth of his early support, which touches on virtually every key Democratic voting bloc.

 

“People don’t understand the foundation of his support,” he said. “He leads with every demographic.”

 

Polls by CNN and Quinnipiac University over the last week show Biden with significant advantages among whites and nonwhites, those over and under 50 years old, non-college graduates and college graduates, those who make more and those who make less than $50,000 each year, and both moderate and liberal Democrats.

 

Biden’s fast start comes amid vocal concerns from energized liberal activists, who believe he’s not aligned with the Democratic base.

 

He has refused to endorse “Medicare for All,” a national program that would guarantee health insurance for every American, preferring to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s health care law, and allow people to select a “public option” featuring Medicare-style coverage. He has also refused to back away from his support for trade deals, none more significant than the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has become unpopular among liberals and conservatives alike.

 

Rival campaigns suggest Biden’s record on trade could undermine his popularity with working-class voters in key states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Should his perceived strength in the Midwest fade, his electability argument could fade as well.

 

Biden’s skeptics in both parties believe that above all, his performance while campaigning will determine whether he maintains his early strength. Few have confidence it will last.

 

Biden has a well-known propensity for verbal gaffes. And being closer to 80 than 70, he shows his age at times. He rambled through parts of his Saturday address, losing his train of thought and the audience more than once.

 

In just the last week, he has been mocked for downplaying the threat from China. He also muddled his initial effort to apologize to Anita Hill, whom he forced through aggressive questioning from an all-male Senate panel after she accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment nearly three decades ago.

 

“I think he’s the front-runner, but it would be a mistake to think that is going to last,” said Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a South Carolina Democratic state representative and president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.

 

For one thing, she said, the African American vote will be fractured in 2020 given the presence of several candidates of color. At the Columbia rally on Saturday, many voters cited California Sen. Kamala Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, as a top choice behind Biden.

 

While skeptical of his staying power, Cobb-Hunter acknowledged Biden’s early advantage on the electability argument.

 

“What he does have going for him is a real solid belief he can take out Trump,” she said. “Biden so far has that aura.”

 

A big part of the aura comes from stronger-than-expected fundraising.

 

In the weeks before his announcement, Biden’s team aggressively fretted about his ability to raise money. So when he bested his rivals by raising $6.3 million in his first 24 hours as a candidate, the political class was impressed.

 

Supporters say it was a textbook example of managing expectations, belied by the fact that aides were building a professional campaign with a deep fundraising network drawing on his connection to Obama.

 

“The way he launched his campaign was exactly the way you would have historically launched: Managing expectations and then blowing them out of the water,” said Rufus Gifford, Obama’s former finance director.

 

Yet his supporters, like his rivals, are acutely aware that the campaign has barely begun.

 

“Joe Biden is currently the front-runner. Obviously, if you are in that position you become more of a target,” said Biden donor Jon Cooper of New York. “We all realize that the hard work is ahead of us.”
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Bernie Sanders Calls for Breaking Up Big Agriculture Monopolies

Posted on by SeeUS

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday proposed a sweeping agriculture and rural investment plan to break up big agriculture monopolies and shift farm subsidies toward small family farmers.

 

“I think a farmer that produces the food we eat may be almost as important as some crook on Wall Street who destroys the economy,” Sanders said during a campaign event in Osage, a town of fewer than 4,000 people. “Those of us who come from rural America have nothing to be ashamed about, and the time is long overdue for us to stand up and fight for our way of life.”

 

Sanders’ plan expands on themes that have been central to his presidential campaign in Iowa since the start, including his emphasis on rural America and pledge to take on and break up big corporations.

 

During his Sunday speech, Sanders outlined the dire circumstances confronting rural America — population decline, school and hospital closures and rising addiction and suicide rates in many rural counties nationwide — as the impetus for his policy.

 

His plan includes a number of antitrust proposals, including breaking up existing agriculture monopolies and placing a moratorium on future mergers by big agriculture companies. He would also ban “vertically integrated” agribusinesses — companies that control multiple levels of production and processing of a product.

One of his competitors in the Democratic race, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, included several of those antitrust planks in the agriculture policy she released in March. But Sanders’ policy is more expansive than just targeting major agriculture corporations — he’s also proposing greater government involvement in setting price controls and managing supply and demand of agriculture commodities.

 

His plan calls for a shift from the current farm subsidy system toward a “parity system,” which means “setting price floors and matching supply with demand so farmers are guaranteed the cost of production and family living expenses.” Critics of the farm bill have argued that the current government subsidy system favors large family farms and corporate farms over small family farms, and Sanders’ policy aims to make that distribution more equal.

 

Such a major change in agriculture policy would require congressional action and would likely face fierce opposition from the farm lobby — but Sanders pledged to fight for farmers against corporate interests.

 

“In rural America, we are seeing giant agribusiness conglomerates extract as much wealth out of small communities as they possibly can while family farmers are going bankrupt and in many ways are being treated like modern-day indentured servants,” Sanders said.

 

Sanders would also classify food supply security as a national security issue and increase scrutiny over foreign ownership of American farmland. And he suggests re-establishing a “national grain and feed reserve” in case of a natural disaster or severe weather event — a proposal inspired in part by the recent flooding on Iowa’s eastern and western borders, which swamped acres of cropland and wiped out farmers’ stores.

Sanders also wants to change patent law to protect small farmers from lawsuits brought by corporate farms, strengthen organic standards and bolster programs aimed at supporting minority farmers. He includes in his proposal planks focused on rural economic and infrastructure development and on incentivizing the agriculture industry to help combat climate change by shifting to more sustainable farming practices.

 

Sanders’ agriculture proposal includes planks that specifically tailor some of his broader policy priorities to rural America. He has proposed increasing funding for public education and establishing a universal childcare system, and his agriculture plan seeks an increase in funding for rural education and a universal childcare system that provides access for rural Americans to daycare.
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Buttigieg, Husband Attend Jimmy Carter’s Sunday School Class

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Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, joined the large crowd at former President Jimmy Carter’s Sunday school class in rural South Georgia.

 

At Carter’s invitation Buttigieg stood and read from the Bible as part of the lesson at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.

 

“You know him?” Carter had said earlier in reference to Buttigieg, drawing a laugh from the crowd.

 

Carter told the audience that two other Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, had previously attended his classes.

 

The South Bend, Indiana, mayor later tweeted: “I was humbled to meet with President Carter in Plains, Georgia today. He is a true public servant and America is blessed for his continuing leadership.” The Buttigieg campaign said in a statement that he had lunch with Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, and “enjoyed a conversation about topics ranging from faith to the rigors of the campaign trail.”

Scores of people arrived before dawn for a chance to hear Carter, 94, speak.

 

Entering when most people already were seated, Buttigieg’s unannounced visit elicited a murmur from the crowd.

 

“Who’s that?” asked a man seated in the back of the room.

 

“Mayor Pete, the guy running for president,” a woman answered.

 

Carter said he knew Buttigieg from working on a Habitat for Humanity project in Indiana where the mayor volunteered.

 

Many in the class greeted Buttigieg and took photos with him before Carter arrived in the sanctuary and took a seat in the front to teach.
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China, Climate, Russia to Dominate Pompeo Europe Tour

Posted on by SeeEU

The Trump administration is energizing its campaign to counter China’s growing global influence as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to Europe this week on a four-nation trip that will also highlight disputes with Russia over Venezuela and elsewhere as well as deep U.S. isolation on the cause and impact of climate change.

 

With China seeking a greater presence throughout the continent, U.S. officials said Pompeo will renew warnings over the use of advanced Chinese telecommunications technology as well as blunt Beijing’s aspirations to play a significant role in the Arctic, a region that is rapidly opening up to development and commerce as temperatures warm and sea ice melts. He departs on Sunday just hours after President Donald Trump threatened to boost tariffs on Chinese imports amid the slow pace of trade negotiations.

 

Despite an apparent internal administration disconnect over Russia’s role in the crisis in Venezuela, Pompeo plans to make Moscow’s support for embattled President Nicolas Maduro a major theme of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday in Finland, where they will both attend a meeting of the Arctic Council.

“I’ll certainly bring up Venezuela,” Pompeo said Sunday. “It will be one of many topics that Foreign Minister Lavrov and I speak about. Whether there is a particular deal that can be reached, only time will tell.”

The Arctic Council meeting itself is likely to be dominated by concerns about the Trump administration’s climate policies that many believe are focused solely on exploiting its resources and pushing back on Russia and China for strategic and security reasons at the expense of the region’s delicate environment.

Huawei Expansion

 

At his next stops in Germany and Britain, officials said Pompeo would sound the alarm over Chinese tech giant Huawei’s efforts to expand into Europe, reiterating U.S. concerns that China’s government could use the firm to get access to private personal and commercial data and compromise NATO and allied intelligence operations.

 

In Berlin in meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, the officials said he would again highlight opposition to Germany’s support for the Russian-backed NordStream 2 gas pipeline that Washington believes will increase Europe’s energy dependence on Russia.

In London, where British Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt are struggling to grapple with an impasse over Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, Pompeo plans to deliver a speech extolling the virtues of the “special relationship” between the U.S. and the U.K. Officials said he would also be laying the groundwork for Trump’s state visit to Britain this summer and renewing America’s interest in sealing a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement once Brexit has been completed.

Involvement in Venezuela

 

Pompeo will see Lavrov in Rovaniemi, Finland on Monday, following a week in which he and Trump national security adviser John Bolton ramped up criticism of Russia and Cuba for propping up Maduro in the face of a U.S.-backed challenge to his leadership from opposition leader Juan Guaido.

 

But the meeting also comes just three days after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a lengthy telephone call about the state of relations following the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trump has rejected any suggestion that his campaign colluded with Russia or tried to obstruct the investigation. But he also dialed back on Pompeo and Bolton’s Venezuela complaints, saying Putin didn’t want to get involved in Venezuela.

Pompeo disputed the apparent discrepancy in interviews with three morning television talk shows on Sunday, saying that both Cuba and Russia both need to leave Venezuela.

“No, no difference. No difference. The President has said … that the Russians must leave Venezuela,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “We want everyone out, so that the Venezuelan people can get the democracy they deserve. That includes Mr. Maduro leaving.”

 

Other than Venezuela, U.S. officials said Pompeo would also raise with Lavrov Russia’s intervention in Syria and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, subjects of perennial discussion with Moscow.

Climate and the Arctic Council

On the Arctic, officials said Pompeo would stress the administration’s insistence on using the forum to promote U.S. economic growth despite risks to the region. Trump announced his intention to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate accord in one of his first foreign policy decisions as president and Pompeo acknowledged to ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that American negotiators had fought to remove references to the Paris agreement from the Arctic Council’s final communique that is to be released on Tuesday.

 

Officials said Pompeo would laud U.S. reductions in greenhouse gas emissions despite leaving the Paris agreement, although critics argue those reductions are the result of policies enacted before Trump took office and could be reversed. At the same time, officials said Pompeo would reject Chinese attempts to play any kind of decision-making role in the Arctic Council, a group that includes as full members only the eight nations that border the region. Chinese officials have recently begun referring to their country as a “near Arctic” state, a term that has alarmed Americans and others.

 

Arctic policy will also be a focus of Pompeo’s final stop of the trip, Greenland, where he will meet U.S.-funded scientists and others engaged in studying the impact of climate change in the region.
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Government’s Candidate Wins North Macedonia Runoff

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Stevo Pendarovski, the presidential candidate backed by North Macedonia’s center-left government, won the presidency Sunday in a runoff election with a conservative rival.

 

State election commission chief Oliver Derkorski announced late Sunday that with nearly 99 percent of the votes counted, Pendarovski, the candidate of the ruling Social Democratic Union, had won with 51.8% of the votes. Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, the candidate favored by the conservative opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, got 44.5%.

 

The two politicians had each received about 42% in the first round of voting April 21, which had three candidates.

 

Even before the official announcement, Social Democrat supporters had gathered at the party’s headquarters in downtown Skopje, the country’s capital, to celebrate as favorable results trickled in.

 

“This is a victory for all who are convinced that we have to continue forward together and I promise I’ll serve all the people equally,” Pendarovski said from the Social Democrats’ headquarters. He also thanked the people for their “wise choice.”

 

“Our path is paved with success. … We all will continue to move forward toward our common goal of progress and … toward NATO and the European Union,” said Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

Siljanovska accepted her defeat but took a rosy view.

 

“The figures say defeat, but I’ve never felt more fulfilled .,” she said. “I believed I could help Macedonia to gain democracy. … I know that the other candidate has won, but I know that I did not lose the battle.”

 

The election was seen as a test of the government’s pro-West policies. Pendarovski backed the government deal with Greece that renamed the country in exchange for NATO membership, while Siljankovska criticized it.

 

A key question in the runoff had been whether voter turnout would reach the 40% threshold needed for the election to be valid. The head of the election commission said the final turnout figure was 46.4% of registered voters, in what he had earlier termed a “peaceful and dignified” election.

 

Election observers reported a small number of minor infractions, such as voters photographing ballots with cellphones and disturbances outside some polling stations.

 

Naum Stoilkovski, a VMRO-DPMNE spokesman, complained about police “putting pressure” on party observers.

 

North Macedonia’s previous constitutional name was the Republic of Macedonia. The name change took effect in February as part of an agreement to end a decades-long dispute with Greece, which blocked the former Yugoslav republic’s path to membership in NATO and the European Union over rights to the Macedonia name.

 

Both Pendarovski, 55, and Siljanovska, 63, are law professors. Siljanovska said as she cast her ballot Sunday that she would respect the new constitutional name in a professional capacity “but will not use it personally” and planned to do her “best to show that the Prespa agreement (with Greece) has severe (legal) problems.”

 

Although the presidency is mostly ceremonial, with some powers to veto legislation, the outcome of the vote could trigger an early parliamentary election. Prime Minister Zaev, who staked his reputation on negotiating the name deal, said he would call one if Pendarovski were not elected.

 

Outgoing President Gjorge Ivanov, a conservative, is serving his second and final five-year term, which ends on May 12. Ivanov opposed the agreement with Greece.
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Macron’s Party Falls Behind Le Pen’s Far Right in EU Election Poll

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The party of far-right leader Marine Le Pen will top the upcoming European Parliament elections with 22 percent of the vote, just ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s REM party, an Ipsos poll released on Sunday.

It was the first time Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) – formerly the National Front – overtook Macron’s REM in an Ipsos survey ahead of the EU election this year, although other, daily polls have shown the RN in pole position before.

EU elections will be held on May 26 in France.

The poll of 1,500 people was conducted on May 2-3, after Macron announced a series of proposals, including tax cuts worth 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion), in a bid to appease the “yellow vests” anti-government protest movement.

Macron’s REM party would obtain 21.5 percent of the vote, the Ipsos poll for France Television and Radio France showed. On April 18-22, 23 percent of the people polled said they would vote for REM, against 22 percent for RN.

Macron is facing the biggest challenge of his presidency yet in the “yellow vest” protests, which started nearly six months ago over the high cost of living but spread into a broader movement against the former investment banker’s pro-business reform drive.

Dissatisfaction over slow economic growth, security threats posed by Islamist militants and a backlash against migration across open EU borders have boosted support for nationalists in many member states.

The RN and other eurosceptic anti-immigration parties in other EU states are planning to join forces after the EU parliamentary election.

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Libya’s Haftar Orders Troops to Fight Harder During Ramadan

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Eastern Libyan forces commander Khalifa Haftar urged his troops trying to take Tripoli to battle harder and teach their enemies a lesson, because the holy Muslim month of Ramadan that begins in Libya on Monday was a month of holy war.

His comments came just hours after the United Nations called for a week-long humanitarian truce following a month of fighting for the capital that has displaced 50,000 people.

Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) force, which is allied to a parallel government in the east, has not been able to breach the southern defenses of the Tripoli, which is held by the internationally recognized government.

On an audiotape released by his force’s spokesman, Haftar said Ramadan had not been a reason to halt previous battles when he seized the eastern cities of Benghazi and Derna as he expanded his power and the country collapsed into chaos after the toppling of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

“Officers and soldiers in our armed forces and the auxiliary forces, I salute you in this glorious days and urge you with your strength and determination to teach the enemy a greater and bigger lesson than the previous ones, as we’ve always known you to do, till we uproot it from our beloved land,” Haftar said.

In a statement earlier, the U.N. Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) appealed for a truce starting on Monday morning at 0400 local time to coincide with the beginning of Ramadan.

“UNSMIL calls on all parties to deliver of humanitarian aid to those in need and to ensure the freedom of movement for civilians during this truce,” UNSMIL said in a statement.

Artillery shelling could be heard on Sunday coming from southern outskirts of the capital, where the LNA has been tying to breach defenses by Tripoli forces.

The LNA of Haftar – a former Gadhafi general – seized the sparsely populated but oil-rich south of the country earlier this year before turning on Tripoli last month.

The renewed conflict threatens to disrupt oil supplies, boost migration across the Mediterranean to Europe and scupper U.N. plans for an election to end rivalries between parallel administrations in east and west.
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Mozambique Leader Endorsed as Candidate for President

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Mozambique’s ruling party on Sunday endorsed President Filipe Nyusi as its candidate for presidential elections in October, after a three-day meeting of its top officials in Maputo.

“The Frelimo Central Committee is taking a positive view of the government’s five-year program, which has resulted in several achievements such as expanding the drinking water network, education and transportation,” said Edson Macuacua, a party spokesman.

“The government comes to the end of its tenure with victories,” he added.

Nyusi, after being chosen party candidate, said: “the victory of Frelimo is an imperative of the victory of the people”.

General elections are scheduled for October 15. Nyusi’s main challenger is Ossufo Momade from the main opposition Renamo party.

 

 

 
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Protest Leader: Sudan Mediators Propose 2 Transition Councils

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Sudanese mediators facilitating talks between the army rulers and protest leaders have proposed the country have two transition councils, with one led by generals overseeing security, a protest leader said Sunday.

The mediators’ apparent proposal comes as talks over forming an overall governing council remain deadlocked, with the existing military council and protest leaders offering differing visions, after president Omar al-Bashir was deposed last month.

“There is a proposal [from the mediators] to have two councils, one led by civilians and the other by the military,” said Omar al-Digeir, a senior opposition leader and member of the umbrella protest group the Alliance for Freedom and Change.

“The [new] military council [which will also include civilian representatives] will be looking at issues concerning the security aspects of the country,” he told AFP.

The “exact job description” of both the councils has yet to be decided, he said. “No final decision has been taken yet.”

Thousands of protesters remain encamped outside the army headquarters in Khartoum, demanding the current 10-member army council that took power after the ouster of Bashir be replaced by a civilian administration.

The current army council has so far resisted handing over power to civilians.

It was still unclear whether both the sides would agree to the idea of having two councils, or if they would stick to the earlier proposal of one joint civilian-military ruling body.

Differences emerged between the two sides initially over the composition of the joint council — the generals demanded a majority of military figures, while protest leaders insisted the body be civilian led.

Digeir said the mediators — a group of businessmen, journalists and other prominent figures from Sudanese society — have proposed an overall package that includes not just the proposed two councils, but also how an executive and legislative body would work in a post-Bashir era.

A senior leader from the protest movement expressed his opposition to the proposal of having two councils.

“We are completely against this idea. We only want a symbolic sovereign council with military representation,” said Siddig Youssef, head of the Sudan Communist Party, which is part of the umbrella protest group.

“We want a parliamentary system with the authority in the hands of parliament and the cabinet,” he told AFP.

“The military should be confined only to a body tasked with matters related to security and defense.”

Protesters initially gathered outside the military complex on April 6, demanding that the army oust Bashir.

But since April 11 — the day the army removed the president — they have maintained their sit-in, to keep up the pressure for a civilian administration.
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In time for Ramadan, Iraqi TV Drama Returns after 7 Years

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Every evening at the Muntada al-Masrah theater on Baghdad’s Rashid street, the cast and crew of the first TV drama filmed in Iraq in seven years take their places among the rooms and courtyard of this 19th-century building and shoot new scenes of their highly-anticipated series.

The arts are coming to life again in Baghdad, bringing with it a touch of hope and comfort as the country works to rebuild after 16 years of war.

And after two decades abroad, two of Iraq’s leading actors have returned to take part in “The Hotel,” the twenty-episode drama set to air during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

“The Iraqi people are parched for drama,” said Hassan Hosni, a drama star of the 1990s, who returned from Saudi Arabia to direct “The Hotel,” a show about the seedy underbelly of Baghdad and its entanglement with human trafficking.

It is the first Ramadan drama to be produced in Iraq since 2012, according to the cast and crew, and it heralds a return of an essential TV genre to the country.

Across the Muslim world and throughout the month of Ramadan, when the faithful fast from dawn until sunset and stay up late to digest their evening meals, viewers are treated to TV dramas that touch on romance, war, tyranny and other issues of the day.

For years, Iraqis have been watching dramas from other nations, such as “Bab al-Hara,” the blockbuster Syrian series set during the 1930s independence movement from France.

With “The Hotel,” Iraqis will have a home-grown series to watch for the first time in years, amid the longest stretch of stability Baghdad has experienced since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

“We were all waiting for this moment – writers, directors and actors – with total impatience,” said Hosni.

“I felt it in the streets, when we were scouting for locations,” said Hosni. Locals, shocked to see him back in their city, approached the star to ask about the series.

“The joy was clear in their eyes, expressions and words,” he said.

Once the capital of the Islamic world, Baghdad is a city that proudly displays its affection for drama and poetry, boasting monuments that show scenes from Arabian Nights and avenues named after renowned poets such as the boastful Mutanabbi of the 10th century and his bibulous predecessor, Abu Nawas.

It has held on to this pride through the contemporary era, even as the coups and wars of the 20th century, the tyranny of Saddam Hussein and the grip of U.N. sanctions drove writers, actors and producers out of the country.

Mahmoud Abu Al-Abbas, the star of “The Hotel” and a famous thespian in his own right, went into exile in 1997 after he performed a solo play that spoke about harassment by the country’s notorious security services. In Saddam Hussein’s era, it crossed a red line.

“I was interrogated for two days and then advised by the minister of culture to leave Iraq immediately,” he said.

The 2003 U.S. invasion dealt another blow to the arts. The ensuing war tore Baghdad apart, as car bombs tore through the city daily, and fighting turned Rashid Street, once a center of culture and heritage, into a valley of fear and destruction.

A sputtering revival earlier this decade came to a halt, first as money for the arts dried up, then as insecurity gripped the country again with the 2014 Islamic State group insurgency.

After Iraq declared victory over IS in December 2017, the atmosphere inside the capital began to change. The blast walls that protected against car bombs were lifted, and locals started staying out late again, patronizing cafes, malls, galleries, and theaters, where performances change from week to week.

Abu Al-Abbas stayed in the United Arab Emirates for 20 years. But he kept acting, writing and directing plays, and he wrote more than a dozen books on his craft.

In 2017, he returned to his hometown of Basra, the commercial capital of southern Iraq and the hub for its oil, where he founded a theater troupe of young, under-employed local men and taught them a play they went on to perform in other southern cities.

But it wasn’t until screenwriter Hamid al-Maliki called with the script for “The Hotel” that he agreed to return to the screen.

“Violent drama takes a period of contemplation on the part of the writer so that he can give us a `dose’ of work that can treat our situation,” said Abu al-Abbas.

Al-Maliki accepted that “The Hotel’s” transgressive material – including prostitution, human trafficking and the organ trade – would shock viewers, but said it was the responsibility of TV drama to start a conversation.

“It’s a current matter for Iraq,” he said. “It’s a message to the youth to beware of the trap of human trafficking, and it’s a message to the Iraqi state to care for the innocent and the poor who are the victims of the trade.”

And al-Maliki said it was vital for the arts to confront the ideologies that have fueled extremism.

“Culture alone is what will be victorious over Daesh thinking,” he said, using the Arabic term for the Islamic State group.

“Culture is life, and Daesh is death. So we must face death with life. We must face Daesh with culture,” he continued.

Hosni, the star-turned-director, left Iraq in 1996, looking to escape the pressure of the U.N. sanctions levied against Iraq after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait earlier in the decade.

But he never felt far from Iraq, as he continued to work with other diaspora Iraqis in drama in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

“It was a separation in body, but not in mind or soul,” he said.

He was finally coaxed back by al-Maliki this year.

The return of the TV drama, Hosni said, is reassuring.

“It’s a time for the Iraqi family to sit together at home, with their relatives and neighbors.”
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South Africa’s President Vows More Jobs at Election Rally

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Campaigning for South Africa’s upcoming elections reached a climax Sunday with mass rallies by the ruling party and one of its most potent challengers, ahead of national elections for president and parliament Wednesday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s African National Congress, the party of Nelson Mandela which has been in power since apartheid ended 25 years ago, is expected to win the elections but is dogged by allegations of corruption and lackluster economic performance. The ANC’s margin of victory is expected to decline from the 62 percent of the vote it received in the previous elections in 2014.

 

Addressing the ANC’s final rally Sunday, Ramaphosa promised more jobs, economic growth and a drive against corruption at the rally.

 

“Our young people want jobs and they want them now,” said Ramaphosa, who promised to reduce the country’s unemployment rate of 27 percent. “We know what needs to be done to increase jobs, to grow the economy.”

 

He pledged to raise 1.4 trillion rand ($100 billion) to invest in the country’s economy to create jobs.

 

Ramaphosa was speaking to thousands of ANC supporters wearing the party’s yellow, black and green colors at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park rugby stadium, which was nearly full its 62,000 capacity.

 

Ramaphosa came to power last year after previous president Jacob Zuma, also of the ANC, was forced to resign amid widespread scandals.

 

“We’ve taken decisive steps to fight corruption across the country,” said Ramaphosa. “The era of impunity is over. We are now in an era of accountability.”

 

However, the view that the ANC tolerates corruption is expected to hurt the party in the polls.

 

On the other side of Johannesburg, in in Soweto, the city’s largest black township, thousands gathered for a competing rally by the Economic Freedom Fighters, a populist, leftist party. Firebrand leader Julius Malema, who split from the ANC, is set to address the rally, despite the death of his grandmother Saturday. Malema has campaigned on vows to expropriate white-owned land without compensation and to nationalize the country’s mines.
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UN Races to Process Rotting Yemeni Grain After Reaching Hodeidah Store

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The United Nations regained access to donated grain stored in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah on Sunday, and began the task of salvaging food that could stave off starvation for millions of citizens before it rots.

Hodeidah, which has become the focus of a four-year war between Saudi-backed government forces and the Iran-aligned Houthis, is the entry point for most of Yemen’s humanitarian aid and commercial imports.

But World Food Program (WFP) grain stores there have been cut off for eight months, putting 51,000 tonnes of wheat at risk of rotting. The stores came under the control of government forces after fierce battles last year but a major frontline is only a few blocks away.

The war has killed tens of thousands and put Yemen on the brink of famine.

A WFP technical team arrived in the eastern outskirts of Hodeidah on Sunday to begin cleaning and servicing equipment in preparation for milling grain, a WFP spokesman told Reuters.

Sources familiar with the matter said the WFP-led team traveled from the government-held southern port city of Aden along the western coast, avoiding Houthi-controlled areas after the group denied them access from the north, which it controls.

Houthi officials did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Houthis and the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi agreed in December to a U.N.-sponsored truce and troop withdrawal from Hodeidah. That deal has largely held but violence has escalated in some other parts of the country.

WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said its priority was to begin cleaning and servicing milling machinery and fumigating the wheat.

The U.N. expects that process to take several weeks before starting to mill it into flour and distributing it to the Yemeni communities most in need.

An assessment carried out in February, when the U.N. was briefly granted access to the mills for the first time since September, concluded that around 70 percent of the wheat may be salvageable.

 

But the flour yield will be lower than normal as weevil infestation has caused hollow grains, the U.N. said, based on that assessment.

Talks aimed at securing a mutual military withdrawal from Hodeidah have stalled despite U.N. efforts.

Yemeni government officials accuse the Houthis of violating the peace deal while the Houthis say they need guarantees the government will not take advantage of it to redeploy its forces.

Under the proposed withdrawal, a government retreat would free up access to the Red Sea Mills and humanitarian corridors would also be reopened. The warring sides would still need to agree on which road could be used to transport supplies from the site to recipients.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are leading the military coalition backing Hadi’s government.

 
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Pope Travels to Balkan States with Tiny Catholic Minorities

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Pope Francis will spend three days in the former communist states of Bulgaria and North Macedonia, his fourth trip abroad this year. Both countries have tiny Catholic minorities and most of the population considers themselves Orthodox. The pope is likely to use this opportunity to help cement the Vatican’s relations with the Orthodox community in Eastern Europe.

In a message to the Bulgarian people ahead of his Sunday arrival, the pope said his trip to Bulgaria would be a pilgrimage focused on faith, unity and peace. Bulgaria, he added, is home to witnesses of faith since the times when Saints Cyril and Methodius spread the word of the Gospel.

This will be the second time a pope has visited Bulgaria. Pope John Paul II traveled to the country in 2002. No pope has ever visited North Macedonia. Bulgaria has a population of about 7 million people, with Catholics amounting to 1%, while Macedonia has a population of around 2 million, with Catholics amounting to less than 1%.

​Inspired by Saints John XXIII, Mother Teresa

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said the trip to these Eastern European countries was inspired by Saints John XXIII and Mother Theresa. He said the pope feels he is retracing the steps of these two figures and wants to underscore the good deeds accomplished by John XXIII in Bulgaria when he was nuncio there for 10 years, from 1925 to 1935 and those by Mother Theresa who was born in Skopje in North Macedonia.

Mother Theresa was made a saint by Pope Francis in 2016. She was born in Skopje in 1910 when it was still part of the Ottoman Empire. She became known as “the saint of the gutters” for her work with the poorest of the poor in the slums of the Indian city of Calcutta. Pope Francis will be visiting her memorial and meet poor people helped by the order of nuns she founded, the Missionaries of Charity.

Poverty as well as migration will also be themes of this visit by the pope. Francis will visit a refugee camp in Sofia, which was opened more than five years ago as migrants began flowing into Europe. Today it houses about 300 people, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan.
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Gaza, Israel Trade Fire; Netanyahu Vows ‘Massive Strikes’

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he ordered the military to continue “massive strikes” against militants in Gaza as a surge in cross-border hostilities ran into a third day.

A rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli civilian Sunday and two Palestinian gunmen were killed in an Israeli strike, with no sign of any impending cease-fire in the most serious border flare-up since November.

Israel’s military said more than 450 rockets, many of them intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile system, have been fired at southern Israeli cities and villages since Friday, and it had attacked some 220 targets belonging to Gaza militant groups.

Police said one of the rockets hit a house in the city of Ashkelon, killing a 58-year-old man, who was struck in the chest by shrapnel. That marked the first Israeli civilian fatality in a rocket strike from Gaza since a 2014 war between Israel and militants in the Hamas-run enclave.

“This morning I instructed the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to continue with massive strikes against terrorists in the Gaza Strip and I also instructed that forces around the Gaza Strip be stepped up with tank, artillery and infantry forces,” Netanyahu, who doubles as Israeli defense minister, said in a statement.

Egyptian and U.N. mediators, credited with brokering cease-fires in previous rounds of violence, were working to prevent further hostilities.

Violence began Friday

The latest round of violence began Friday when a Palestinian Islamic Jihad sniper fired at Israeli troops, wounding two soldiers, according to the Israeli military.

Israel retaliated with an airstrike that killed two militants from the armed Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Two other Palestinians protesting near the frontier were killed by Israeli forces the same day, Palestinian officials said.

​Rockets on Saturday

Since Saturday, Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants fired more than 400 rockets at Israeli villages and cities, the military said, and Israel hit back with tank shelling and airstrikes at some 200 targets in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad said in a statement that the rocket barrages were a response to Friday’s events and that Israel has been delaying the implementation of previous understandings brokered by Cairo.

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus said Saturday that Israel was prepared to intensify attacks. He added that Islamic Jihad was trying to destabilize the border and blamed Hamas for failing to rein it in.

In a joint statement Saturday, Hamas and Islamic Jihad said: “Our response will be broader and more painful if the enemy pursues its aggression.”

Ramadan, Independence Day

The escalation comes just ahead of both the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Israel’s Independence Day holiday.

Israel is to host the 2019 Eurovision song contest finals in less than two weeks in Tel Aviv, toward which long-range rockets were launched in mid-March.

Although aerial exchanges are frequent, Israel and Hamas have managed to avert all-out war for the past five years.
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Volunteers Become Temporary Caretakers of Hells Canyon Ranch

Posted on by SeeUS

Spending a month at a historic ranch as its host and caretaker is not a dream vacation description, it’s a volunteer program offered by the U.S. Forest Service. The Hells River Volunteering Program allows anyone to spend a month at one of the most picturesque places in the country. The requirements are applying, stocking up on food and being ready to live without a cell phone. Lesia Bakalets traveled to Hells Canyon to talk with volunteers living at the ranch. Anna Rice narrates her story.
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