The Story of Gaddafi's Only Portrait on American Soil

ForaTv

Photographer Platon recounts Muammar Gaddafi's open defiance of the Obama Administration when he posed for his portrait in front of the General Assembly at the United Nations.

The Story of Gaddafi's Only Portrait on American Soil

North Korea threatens a nuke strike as UN gets tough

 

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North Korea threatens a nuke strike as UN gets tough

The 'usual drill'? Susan Rice comment on NK nuclear test belies severity of development

foxnews

As a nuclear North Korea proves once again that it’s improving its technology and moving close to marrying a small nuclear device with a more powerful rocket, the United States’ initial reaction Tuesday was a big ho-hum.

Asked Tuesday morning whether she expects a strong condemnation from the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said: “We’ll do the usual drill.”

It was a surprising response to an international incident that was largely seen as a threat to the U.S. and one that prompted the U.N. Security Council to call an emergency meeting of world representatives.

“I don’t know how you come up with a more dangerous scenario than this,” Gordon Chang, author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” said on Fox News. “This is a very bad dynamic for us.” 

North Korea said it successfully detonated a miniaturized nuclear device at a northeastern test site Tuesday. South Korean, U.S. and Japanese seismic monitoring agencies said they detected an earthquake in North Korea with a magnitude between 4.9 and 5.2.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the test was conducted safely but with "great explosive power." The test counters the "ferocious" U.S. hostility that undermines the North's peaceful, sovereign right to launch satellites, it argued. Last month, North Korea's National Defense Commission said the U.S. was its prime target for a nuclear test and long-range rocket launches. 

The development, along with the ongoing nuclear advancements in Iran and difficulty in bringing that regime to the negotiating table, pose a daunting challenge to John Kerry as he assumes his new duties as secretary of State. 

Other administration officials had a tougher initial response than Rice. 

President Obama promised international action to bring the rogue communist regime in line. The president also spoke with South Korea's president -- according to the White House, they pledged to work to "seek a range of measures aimed at impeding North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs." 

All 15 members of the United Nations Security Council sharply criticized North Korea’s actions and motives Tuesday and said the test poses “a clear threat to international peace and security.”

The council pointed out that in a resolution it approved unanimously last month stepping up sanctions for North Korea's missile test in December, it promised to take "significant action" in the event of a new nuclear test.

"In line with this commitment and the gravity of this violation, the members of the Security Council will begin work immediately on appropriate measures in a Security Council resolution," the council said in its statement.

Rice, after discussing the "usual drill," said further measures would be discussed and some nations would not only tighten existing measures but add additional sanctions.  She also called the test "highly provocative." 

The timing of North Korea’s actions have been seen as significant. The test came hours before Obama is scheduled to give his State of the Union speech.

While Obama is expected to focus the bulk of his comments on the economy and job creation, Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, said the president would address North Korea’s actions and would make the case that the nuclear program has only further isolated the impoverished nation.

"The president will say that the only way North Korea will rejoin the world community is if they stop these threats and live up to their international obligations," Vietor said.  

Navigating the increasingly tense international waters will be up to Kerry. Rice, who was in the running for the job vacated by Hillary Clinton, withdrew her name for consideration in the wake of criticism over her comments after the Benghazi terror attack.

Kerry, who was approved by Congress to head up the State Department, displayed a familiarity with a broad range of issues during his confirmation hearings but it was unclear how he'd make headway on the nuclear issues with Iran and North Korea. 

North Korea’s detonation also comes four days before the birthday of Kim Jong Un's father, late leader Kim Jong Il, whose memory North Korean propaganda has repeatedly linked to the country's nuclear ambitions. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

The nuclear test is North Korea's first since Kim Jong Un took power of a country long estranged from the West.

Experts say regular tests are needed to perfect North Korea's goal of building nuclear warheads small enough to be placed on long-range missiles. This atomic test is North Korea's third since 2006.

The test will likely be portrayed in North Korea as a strong move to defend the nation against foreign aggression, particularly from the U.S., North Korea's longtime enemy.

North Korea's rocket launches and nuclear tests largely are seen by analysts as threats designed to force the United States to confront the issue of military tensions between the foes 60 years after the end of the Korean War.

Following the announcement of the nuclear test, North Korean state television played a song with lyrics bragging that the country always carries out what it is determined to do. In the background were scenes of a North Korean long-range rocket blasting off and short-range missiles being fired into the sky.

Iran, which is in hot water with the U.N. over its own nuclear program, said Tuesday that they believe that all of the world’s nuclear weapons should be destroyed.

“We think we need to come to a point where no country will have any nuclear weapons,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. He added that all countries should be able to use nuclear technology for “peaceful purposes.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/12/us-initial-response-to-north-korea-nuclear-test-seen-as-blase/#ixzz2KipDoAOU

The 'usual drill'? Susan Rice comment on NK nuclear test belies severity of development

U.N. won't deny explosions at Iran nuke plant

WND/ Reza Kahlili

Responding to WND, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, refused to deny that Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordow has been rocked by several explosions.

WND reported exclusively Jan. 24 that its source said explosions had devastated the Fordow facility and that over 200 people, including North Korean technicians and military personnel, were trapped inside the facility, which is deep under a mountain.

In a statement to Reuters, IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor implied the U.N. agency had inspected the site after the reported explosions and affirmed Tehran’s insistence that the report was false.

But when asked by WND, Tudor would not confirm or deny the incident.

“The agency does not evaluate matters in Iran other than those directly relating to its nuclear verification work, so although we’re aware of these media reports, we are not in a position either to confirm or deny them,” Tudor said in an email to WND.

“That said,” she continued, “I’m sure you are aware that agency inspectors regularly visit Iranian nuclear facilities under the IAEA’s safeguards agreement with that country. (You will find more information on the IAEA’s safeguards mandate and activities in Iran at http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/iaeairan/index.shtml.)

“We understand Iran has denied that there has been an incident at Fordow, and this is consistent with our observations,” Tudor said.

However, in a follow-up inquiry by WND to verify if the IAEA had inspected the site since the report of the explosions, Tudor refused to answer.

“I’m very sorry but I can’t go into any further details on ongoing safeguards work, which is conducted with a high level of confidentiality,” she replied.

Separately, the Institute for Science and International Security has obtained a satellite image of the Fordow site dated Jan. 22, one day after the incident. The photo shows no unusual activity on the surface. However, WND’s original report indicated the regime did not initially make an effort to rescue the workers trapped inside until days ago. No unusual traffic, therefore, would have been visible.

Get the inside story in Reza Kahlili’s “A Time To Betray” and learn how the Islamic regime “bought the bomb” in “Atomic Iran.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian Fars News Agency reports the Revolutionary Guards navy today began a three-day war maneuver in the Persian Gulf. The state-controlled news service ran the headline: “The preparation of the Guards for the most dangerous events.”

At the same time, the Islamic regime’s Intelligence Ministry announced the arrest of what it called an information network connected to the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Further confirmation

WND has received confirmation of the blasts from two additional sources, one in Iran’s Foreign Ministry and another in the intelligence agency of a European country.

Another source in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s office told WND the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, will be replaced because of the leaked news on Fordow and the delay in the talks with the 5-plus-1 powers over Iran’s nuclear development. The 5-plus-1 nations are the permanent Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.

The news became international when the Israeli intelligence agency confirmed it to the Times of London, the Israeli acting defense minister welcomed the news and the leading German daily Die Welt confirmed it through its own sources.

However, the White House has dismissed the report.

Spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Monday, “We have no information to confirm the allegations in the report and we do not believe the report is credible.”

Worries about Iran’s response

An official with a European intelligence agency who cannot be named for security reasons said that both the IAEA and the United States are worried about questioning Iran’s denial.

They are aware of Iran’s lies, the official said, but fear Tehran could stop the cooperation it so far has provided to the IAEA over inspections and derail any future talks with the 5-plus-1.

The official said the regime’s response and its censorship of the details of the news alone verify that some kind of incident took place. He said Iran could lose all negotiating power if it admits the incident happened.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry source, in confirming the explosions, said today the Iranian Air Force is on high alert for war. The regime believes Israel and certain powers have started a plot to destabilize the regime’s nuclear installations and economy.

Internal troubles

Since WND reported the explosions, the Iranian currency, which had already been battered by international sanctions, has lost another 20 percent in value.

A source in the regime’s Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit told WND the situation in Iran is troubling. He reported an explosion at the Guards’ Hamzeh 21 base and the discovery of two bombs at the secret nuclear plant in Najaf Abad. He said Quds Force officers have been ordered to Lebanon to assist Hezbollah in evacuating some of the southern villages in what appears to be planned aggression against Israel.

WND reported Jan. 21 that the regime’s intelligence agency received information of major covert operations planned by Israel and other countries to set back Iran’s nuclear program while avoiding a larger-scale war.

The last meeting between U.N. inspectors and Iranian counterparts was held in Tehran two weeks ago. At the meeting, inspectors failed to get the regime to allow inspection of the Parchin military site where it is believed nuclear component tests were carried out. The inspectors left Tehran Jan. 18, three days before the Fordow explosions.

Last September, Iranian officials said they had thwarted attempted sabotage at the Fordow uranium enrichment plant.

“The enemies intended to repeat a Chernobyl-like disaster through selling (booby-trapped) equipment and blowing up the centrifuges at the Fordow site, but their plot was discovered and foiled by the Iranian scientists’ wisdom and tact,” Abbas-Ali Mansouri, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, told Fars that separate attacks on Iran’s centrifuges – through tiny explosives meant to disable key parts of the machines – were discovered before the blasts could go off on timers.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/u-n-wont-deny-explosions-at-iran-nuke-plant/#aO31Ued27vTCXDiB.99

U.N. won't deny explosions at Iran nuke plant

ONU acepta el mascado de coca en Bolivia

Caracol Radio

La Organización de Naciones Unidas readmitió a Bolivia en la Convención de Viena de 1961 sobre drogas y estupefacientes, y aceptó el pedido boliviano para que se permita el mascado de coca en el país, informó la organización mundial en un comunicado divulgado este viernes en La Paz.

"Bolivia reaccederá a la Convención Unica de la ONU sobre Estupefacientes, con una excepción que permitirá el masticado de coca", informó la Oficina del Centro de Informaciones de Naciones Unidas en La Paz. 

en el 2009 cuando solicitaba en Viena a la ONU retirar la planta de la lista de estupefacientes prohibidos por los convenios internacionales. complacido mr. morales

ONU acepta el mascado de coca en Bolivia

ONU reconoce politica agraria de narcoguerrilla colombiana

'merecido' homenaje de la onu al denonado, sistematico y lucrativo esfuerzo desplegado durante decadas por las narcoguerrillas colombianas farc y ep en su politica de desarrollo agrario integral sustentado en el cultivo de la coca, y la fabricacion y comercializacion a escala planetaria de la cocaina.

Olga Virginia González Reyes funcionaria de la ONU en Colombia, entrega al jefe de la delegación guerrillera Iván Márqueza de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) los resultados del foro sobre Política de Desarrollo Agrario Integral celebrado en Bogotá.

----------------------------
Funcionarios de las Naciones Unidas en Colombia y de la Universidad Nacional de ese país entregaron este miércoles a las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) los resultados del foro sobre Política de Desarrollo Agrario Integral celebrado en Bogotá en diciembre pasado, durante un encuentro en La Habana

Mas en el Granma >>

ONU reconoce politica agraria de narcoguerrilla colombiana

U.N. official: Alleged nuclear testing site was probably sanitized by Iran

By Joby Warric, 

The United Nations’ chief nuclear official urged Iran on Thursday to allow inspection of a military base where Iranian scientists are suspected of conducting secret nuclear-weapons research, although he acknowledged that any traces of illicit activity have probably been removed.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said the nuclear watchdog would try again next week to visit the Parchin military base, a sprawling complex where Iran is tho

Iran has repeatedly refused to let IAEA inspectors visit the base, on the outskirts of Tehran. Instead, in the months since the agency requested access, satellite photos have revealed what appears to be extensive cleanup work around the building where tests are alleged to have occurred.

“We are concerned that our capacity to verify would have been severely undermined,” Amano told a gathering of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. He noted Iran’s “extensive” cleanup effort at the site, which has included demolishing buildings and stripping away topsoil.

“We cannot say for sure that we would be able find something,” Amano said.

The IAEA chief made the remarks six days before a scheduled visit to Iran by IAEA inspectors to try to resolve a standoff over the country’s refusal to clear up suspicions about research projects conducted by Iranian scientists nearly a decade ago. The experiments, described in documents obtained by Western spy agencies, appear to show Iranian scientists seeking to master specific technologies used in making nuclear weapons. Iran claims the documents are forgeries and insists that the country’s nuclear program is peaceful.

In his remarks, Amano noted a “sense of urgency” in the effort to clear up questions about Iran’s nuclear past. The Obama administration said last month that Iran must fully cooperate with the IAEA’s investigation by March or face the prospect of being brought before the U.N. Security Council for further action, possibly including new sanctions.

The nuclear agency chief also acknowledged that computer hackers have made several attempts to break into the IAEA’s sensitive files in recent months. Agency officials recently disclosed an intrusion by a group that swiped data from IAEA computer networks and posted some of it on a Web site.

Amano said he could not confirm reports that the hackers were Iranians. “The group . . . has an Iranian name, but that doesn’t mean that the origin was Iranian,” he said.

U.N. official: Alleged nuclear testing site was probably sanitized by Iran

US slams Israel's plan to expand settlements

Marko Djurica / Reuters

A masked Palestinian protester uses a sling to throw a stone at Israeli security officers 
(unseen) during clashes at a protest against Jewish settlements, in the West Bank village of 
Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah on Nov. 30.

By NBC News wire services

The White House  and the State Department said on Friday a new Israeli settlement expansion plan was "counterproductive" and could make it harder to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

"We reiterate our longstanding opposition to settlements and East Jerusalem construction and announcements," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated this position, adding: "We're going to be evenhanded in our concern about any actions that are provocative, any actions that make it harder to get these two parties back to the table."

Israel plans to build thousands of new homes for its settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, an Israeli official said earlier, defying a U.N. vote that implicitly recognized Palestinian statehood there.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative government had authorized the construction of 3,000 housing units and ordered "preliminary zoning and planning work for thousands" more.

Palestinians had a major symbolic victory when the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to recognize them, but the U.S. argued the new status could set back Palestinians in the path to peace. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

"We believe these actions are counterproductive and make it harder to resume direct negotiations or achieve of a two state solution," Vietor said. "Direct negotiations remain our goal and we encourage all parties to take steps to make that easier to achieve."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is meeting senior Israeli and Palestinian officials Friday to try to plot a path forward.

Clinton is seeing Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. She is also talking to Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, a key mediator.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says only "face-to-face" Israeli-Palestinian negotiations can lead to progress on a two-state solution.

Israeli media, including Haaretz newspaper, said the government sought to emphasize its rejection of Thursday's upgrade by the U.N. General Assembly of the Palestinians to "non-member observer state" from "entity."

Israel and the United States had opposed the resolution, which shored up the Palestinians' claim on all of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, saying territorial sovereignty should be addressed in direct peace talks with the Jewish state.

Jim Hollander / EPA file

A bulldozer sits at a construction site in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Pizgat Ze'ev, which many consider a sprawling Jewish settlement, on Nov. 8. Israel plans to build 3,000 new housing units for Jewish settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

More >>

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US slams Israel's plan to expand settlements

UN Sends Monitors To Prevent Voter Suppression In U.S. Election

By Alexander Bolton | 10/20/12 | TheHill.com

United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups, a concern raised by civil rights groups during a meeting this week. The intervention has drawn criticism from a prominent conservative-leaning group combating election fraud.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a United Nations partner on democratization and human rights projects, will deploy 44 observers around the county on Election Day to monitor an array of activities, including potential disputes at polling places.

Liberal-leaning civil rights groups met with representatives from the OSCE this week to raise their fears about what they say are systematic efforts to suppress minority voters likely to vote for President Obama.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP and the ACLU, among other groups, warned this month in a letter to Daan Everts, a senior official with OSCE, of “a coordinated political effort to disenfranchise millions of Americans — particularly traditionally disenfranchised groups like minorities.”

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/un-affiliated-monitors-us-polling-stations/2012/10/20/united-nations-affiliated-election-monitors-be-placed-polling-stations-around-us?cmpid=NL_FiredUpFoxNation#ixzz2A9Hlt4CY

UN Sends Monitors To Prevent Voter Suppression In U.S. Election

Cuba - Vigilantes y vigilados: Tortura y Gobiernos

Casa de Sara Marta Fonseca

http://ireport.cnn.com/ Por Andrés Pascual
Hace un tiempo, Bill Richardson estuvo en Cuba y preguntó: ¿Hay terroristas aquí? la cúpula tiránica y dictatorial, “ambia” del millonario heredero de madre mexicana (heredó por el padre por supuesto: apellido, nacionalidad y fortuna) le respondió que ¿Cómo así manito?
Y el gobernador regresó a exigirle a su gobierno que quitaran al castrismo de la lista de patrocinadores del terrorismo…
Otra vez llegó sin invitación, que no necesita y pidió ver a Gross, preso por trabajar para la CÍA (pensé que no volverían a usar este nombre, sin embargo, lo actualizaron por su utilidad promocional) la DSE se encargó de hacerle ver que no era correcto (políticamente en Estados Unidos) y lo dejaron con las ganas, además de llorar un poco en un sillón del Hotel Nacional ante 4 periodistas extranjeros que no lo respetaban, no fue capaz de decir algo de brillo, representativo de una figura americana de la alta política.
Richardson es indigno, es un hijo de puta y la tiranía castrista lo sabe, por eso tratan a quienes son así a patadas por el culo, porque, más incondicionales que los propios elementos ladrones y asesinos que la componen, saben lo útiles que le son a este tipo de reptiles que, bajo ningún concepto, los abandonarán nunca.
En la ONU, la Comisión de Derechos Humanos es ciega ante el castrismo, porque está compuesta por los mismos países que, fuera del Hotel de 5 Estrellas inquilino de la ciudad de Nueva York, son los mismos antiamericanos de siempre, cuya función es proteger al aliado histórico e icónico del Caribe en el odio visceral contra Estados Unidos.
Claudio Grossman, chileno, es un elemento de esos que preside un gajo de la Comisión, resulta que en un informe rendido al organismo, China, Rusia, Estados Unidos, Irán y un par más, cuentan como practicantes de torturas, pero no aparece el nombre de los Castro por ningún lugar.
Tal vez para que nadie les reclame ante la tragedia cubana, asentaron la investigación, incompleta y deshonesta, en “medio para sacar información”.
Es decir, que los Castro no torturan porque no tienen nada que investigar. Bueno, tienen una pequeña parte de razón, porque, en el caso de los disidentes u opositores no hay que averiguar, son un libro abierto, a fin de cuentas, hablan por radio y escriben en la internet, o sea, se sabe todo sobre ellos.
¿Quién tiene la culpa de que se obvie la aplicación de la tortura contra el pueblo cubano?
Ni más ni menos que los patrocinadores de la disidencia u oposición “pacífica” fuera de Cuba, porque, en oficinas de investigaciones del MININT, parece que no los torturan. Más los propios opositores, que no tratan de averiguar cuántos están presos por intentos de sabotajes y otros delitos “violentos” contra la Seguridad del Estado, los cuales, desde que la tiranía descubrió el “filón” que representa como pared entre el crimen y el “humanismo”, cambiaron las causas que denominaban aquellos por “daños a la economía”, “difamación”… luego, como que son de total índole común, la propaganda enemiga quedó solo para la disidencia y no contra el que haga, con carácter independiente, oposición violenta por cuenta propia, sólo o en grupos pequeños en pueblos del interior, incluso en las capitales de provincias.
El protagonismo, esa forma de representarlo todo, de apoderarse de toda la importancia para no correr el riesgo de perder el titular, el dinero y la protección de los Castro si los vinculan con los “malos que quieren sangre”, es lo que se interpone como velo entre la verdad y lo que se dice en cuanto a la tortura “buscando información”: esa gente sigue torturando hoy tanto como hace 30 o más años, porque todavía les siguen inutilizando motores, maquinarias…y nadie de por allá, por cobardes, por deshonestos o por ambas cosas, se digna en averiguar cuántos pudiera haber y quiénes serían, mientras prefieren enviar que “un carro de la Policía mató el perro de una anciana” en Placetas o en la carretera El Lucero.
El último grito con una “premonición” lo dio Yoani Sánchez, multi-premiada en varios festivales por su actuación, cuando dijo: “están al empezar a torturar”, es decir, ratificó la política de Grossman y de la tiranía y Montaner no acaba de escribir sobre el particular.
Como que la “gallina de los huevos de oro” del bloguismo internacional no tiene ni idea de qué es sufrir, pues su multi-premiada inteligencia tampoco alcanza a entender (a lo mejor es una cláusula de contrato), que cada familia asolada por una turba es torturada de varias formas también.
Que cada mujer, que cada niño, que cada anciano, incluso que cada hombre a la espera del asalto premeditado a la casa particular por estos progromistas entrenados por discípulos de la SS hitleriana, según se supo ayer, son torturados sicológica y físicamente.
Para este elemento es muy difícil sacrificar la posición que han alcanzado con ayuda de la tiranía y de grupos tan indignos como la dictadura, tanto por el luchador abierto y activo como por la patria en esencia.
En Cuba se tortura, a mí no tiene que decírmelo la escritora de nuevas crónicas sobre La Habana y sus barrios.
Yoani dio un viajecito a Oriente, justificado con su trabajo de “corresponsalía de guerra rara” por el juicio a Carromero, para ampliar su cuartilla sindicalizada por relaciones personales de sus padrinos en España con El País, cuyo objetivo parece que era lograr su detención y traslado “custodiada” a la capital y responder al salario con una buena descripción de hechos, que fueron personales y sin males mayores, a no ser porque le solicitaron "un strip-tease” de factura policial.
Como no conoce de la misa la mitad, dijo que se lo pidieron y se negó, cuando se sabe que, en serio, esa gente no pide, arranca.
A Yoani y a los disidentes “informadores” tienen que entrenarlos para sus papeles, porque, como van, le están haciendo un daño tremendo a Cuba y a luchadores que, acaso, merezcan tanto o más defensa que ellos.
Por eso, con seguridad, los Castro escapan al escrutinio de algunos consortes como Claudio Grossman.

Cuba - Vigilantes y vigilados: Tortura y Gobiernos

UN: Iran accelerates uranium program despite West’s nuke fear

nbcnews.com/

Iran has doubled the number of uranium enrichment machines it has in an underground bunker, a U.N. report said Thursday, showing Tehran has continued to defy Western pressure to stop its atomic work and the threat of Israeli attack.

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in its quarterly report on Iran that the number of centrifuges at its Fordow site -- buried deep underground to withstand any such hit -- had more than doubled to 2,140 from 1,064 in May. The new machines were not yet operating, it said.  More >>

UN: Iran accelerates uranium program despite West’s nuke fear

Jesus’ Birthplace in Danger: Will UNESCO Choose PA Hype over Expert Findings?

Israel: Daily Alert/

Jesus' birthplace in the Church of the Nativity/ pixnpens.blogspot.com

The upcoming meeting of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee is liable to find that the “Birthplace of Jesus: the Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage route in Bethlehem” is under urgent danger and worthy of special UN protection. The PLO, which became a member of UNESCO in October 2011, claims there is an “emergency situation” that needs to be addressed by “an emergency measure.” Yet the PLO’s submission has been completely rejected by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) – a Paris-based entity that advises the World Heritage Committee.
After a comprehensive investigation, ICOMOS reported: “[T]he Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage route in Bethlehem, Palestine, should not be inscribed on the World Heritage List on an emergency basis….Contrary to the Palestinian submission now before the UNESCO committee, the Church of the Nativity was neither ‘severely damaged,’ nor ‘under imminent threat.’”
The expert evaluation is public and known. Yet does anyone expect the 21-nation UNESCO committee to rule based on objective findings? (UN Watch)

Jesus’ Birthplace in Danger: Will UNESCO Choose PA Hype over Expert Findings?

Cuba cuestionada por el Comité contra la Tortura (CAT) de la ONU

AFP/

El Comité de la ONU que vigila el cumplimiento de la Convención contra la Tortura y otros Tratos o Penas Crueles, Inhumanas o Degradantes, pidió cuentas a Cuba por 2400 detenciones en 2012, en la primera jornada de la comparecencia de Cuba ante este órgano el martes en Ginebra.

«Tenemos denuncias de 2400 detenciones en 2012, de las cuales 420 se produjeron el pasado mes de marzo. Serían detenciones de corta duración y queremos que Cuba aclare todos los casos», precisó Nora Sveaass, una de los diez expertos independientes de diferentes nacionalidades que componen este Comité, quien evocó el tema durante la audiencia.

Sveaass pidio también a Cuba que aclare la muerte del disidente cubano Wilman Vilar Mendoza, condenado a 4 años de cárcel, quien sucumbió el 21 de enero de 2012 tras 50 días de huelga de hambre en la ciudad de Santiago de Cuba.

El experto español Fernando Mariño Menendez, que comparte con Sveaass la relatoria del Comité en la comparecencia de Cuba, quiso saber también las causas de la muerte del opositor Juan Soto García el 7 de mayo de 2011, si sufrió violencia fisica y si existe una investigación oficial.

El embajador de Cuba en Ginebra, Rodolfo Reyes, indicó al final del debate de este martes que el miércoles, en la segunda jornada reservada por el Comité a Cuba, se presentarían las respuestas a todos los casos.

Mas Aqui >> , Aqui >>  y para el kubishe isleno que no sabe que pasa, el Granma le obsequia    Respeto a la dignidad y al mejoramiento humano >>

Cuba cuestionada por el Comité contra la Tortura (CAT) de la ONU

Obama quietly seeking to cede U.S. oceans to U.N. law

stevenjohnhibbs.wordpress.com

WND/ By Aaron Klein

President Obama’s ambitious plan for stepped up government regulation of the oceans includes an unreported effort to cede U.S. oceans to United Nations-based international law, WND has learned.

The plan was previously a pet project of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, whose ocean-zoning scheme was partnered with a globalist group that also aimed to hand over U.S. oceans to U.N. governance.

Obama’s plan is still in draft form. It calls for an executive order to be issued for a National Ocean Policy that will determine how the ecosystem is managed while giving the federal government more regulatory authority over any businesses that utilize the ocean.

The executive order is to be based on the recommendations of Obama’s Interagency Ocean Policy Taskforce, created in 2010 also by executive order.

The agency is tasked with recommending specific actions for a presidential plan to achieve the vision of “an America whose stewardship ensures that the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes are healthy and resilient, safe and productive, and understood and treasured so as to promote the well-being, prosperity, and security of present and future generations.”

The Taskforce’s final recommendations, based in part on the supposed effects of “global warming, were released in a 78-page paper reviewed by WND.

The entire third section of the report recommends that the U.S. join the U.N.’s Law of the Sea Convention.

The convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world’s oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment and the management of marine natural resources.

States the report:

The Task Force strongly and unanimously supports United States accession to the Convention on the Law of the Sea and ratification of its 1994 Implementing Agreement. The Law of the Sea Convention is the bedrock legal instrument governing activities on, over and under the world’s oceans.
United States accession to the Convention will further our national security, environmental, economic, and diplomatic interests.

The report lists key reasons for compliance with the law, including:

• The Convention has garnered the unequivocal support of our national security leadership under both Republican and Democratic administrations, because, among other things, it codifies essential navigational rights and freedoms upon which our Armed Forces rely.

• The Convention sets forth the rights and responsibilities of nations to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment and to protect and preserve resources off their shores.

• By becoming a party to the Convention, U.S. legal rights to our extended continental shelf can be put on the strongest legal foundation.

• As a party to the Law of the Sea Convention, the United States would have the ability to participate formally and more effectively in the interpretation and development of the Convention.

• Joining the Law of the Sea Convention would reaffirm and enhance United States leadership in global ocean affairs.

While the White House claims its ocean plans are not meant to zone the seas, a major conclusion of the Taskforce was to “establish a framework for effective coastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP) that establishes a comprehensive, integrated, ecosystem-based approach to address conservation, economic activity, user conflict, and sustainable use of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources.”

Panetta’s ocean scheme

Much of the Taskforce’s recommendations were previously called for by a group headed by Panetta until his appointment as CIA director in 2009. Panetta became defense secretary in July 2011.

Until his CIA appointment in 2009, Panetta co-chaired the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, which is the partner of Citizens for Global Solutions in a push to ratify U.S. laws and regulations governing the seas.

The oceans initiative bills itself as a bipartisan, collaborative group that aims to “accelerate the pace of change that results in meaningful ocean policy reform.”

Among its main recommendations is that the U.S. should put its oceans up for regulation to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Other recommendations of Panetta’s Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, which mirror Obama’s taskforce recommendations, include:

• The administration and Congress should establish a national ocean policy. The administration and Congress should support regional, ecosystem-based approaches to the management of ocean, coastal and Great Lakes.

• Congress should strengthen and reauthorize the Coastal Zone Management Act.

• Congress should strengthen the Clean Water Act.

The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative Leadership Council includes John Podesta, president and CEO of the Soros-funded Center for American Progress, which is reportedly highly influential in advising the White House on policy.

Podesta served as co-chairman of Obama’s presidential transition team.

Panetta’s oceans initiative is a key partner of Citizens for Global Solutions, or CGS, which, according to its literature, envisions a “future in which nations work together to abolish war, protect our rights and freedoms and solve the problems facing humanity that no nation can solve alone.”

CGS states it works to “build the political will in the United States” to achieve this global vision.

The organization currently works on issues that fall into five general areas: U.S. global engagement; global health and environment; peace and security; international law and justice; and international institutions.

CGS is a member organization and supporter of the World Federalist Movement, which openly seeks a one-world government. The World Federalist Movement considers the CGS to be its U.S. branch.

The movement brings together organizations and individuals that support the establishment of a global federal system of strengthened and democratized global institutions with plenary constitutional power accountable to the citizens of the world and a division of international authority among separate global agencies.

The movement’s headquarters are located near the U.N. building in New York City. A second office is near the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

The locations are significant, since the movement heavily promotes the U.N. and is the coordinator of various international projects, such as the Coalition for the International Criminal Court and the Responsibility to Protect military doctrine. That doctrine formed the basis of Obama’s justification last year to launch NATO airstrikes in Libya.

Obama quietly seeking to cede U.S. oceans to U.N. law

Report: Syria accepts Kofi Annan’s plan to end violence

By msnbc.com staff and news services

Updated at 7:01 a.m. ET: Syria has accepted a United Nations peace proposal calling for a ceasefire, international envoy Kofi Annan said on Tuesday amid reports Assad's troops have enterted Lebanon and clashed with rebels hiding there.

On a two-day visit to Beijing, Annan told Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that he faced a long and difficult task in his mission to end fighting in Syria, but global cooperation with China and other countries was the only way to do it.

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"I indicated that I had received a response from the Syrian government and will be making it public today, which is positive, and we hope to work with them to translate it into action," Annan told reporters in Beijing after meeting Wen.   More >>

Report: Syria accepts Kofi Annan’s plan to end violence

From UN Immunity to License to Defraud: $18 million in Manhattan parking tickets

By Claudia Rosett/

One of the most pernicious features of the United Nations is its diplomatic immunity. This is what lets the UN and its floating world of assemblies, agencies, diplomats and international staff get away with everything from running up $18 million in Manhattan parking tickets, to indulging in corruption, waste and abuse that carries no real penalty, even when outed in the press, or exposed in congressional hearings. When private companies embezzle millions, it’s a reasonable bet — at least in the U.S. — that someone will face charges, and maybe do jail time. When more than half a dozen major UN agencies involved in the UN’s Oil-for-Food program in Iraq stuffed their own administrative coffers with hundreds of millions of dollars meant to buy relief supplies such as medicine and baby milk, no one faced prosecution. The worst they got was an official tut-tut, and instructions for the agencies — including, for instance, UNICEF, the World Food Program and the UN Development Program — to cough up a small portion of the money.

True, diplomatic immunity has a time-honored place in important matters of actual diplomacy  (though at the UN, even that devolves quickly to such outrages as the annual visits of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Manhattan). But a great many of the more reasonable-sounding aspects of the UN have been over-run over the years by the astounding spread and sprawl of its globe-girdling bureaucracy. What began as a talking shop for diplomats in 1945 is by now a neo-colonial global empire, with its own envoys, outposts, and amorphous initiatives, moving money, personnel and equipment across borders, spending well over $30 billion per year of other people’s money — and draped in immunity. No big surprise that the UN is a chronic incubator of waste, fraud and abuse, which periodically erupts into scandal when details seep out. Yet pathetically little actually gets done about it, and very rarely is anyone punished.

All this makes UN-style immunity a highly attractive commodity. It’s a de facto license to fiddle and defraud, if you can get it.  More >>

From UN Immunity to License to Defraud: $18 million in Manhattan parking tickets

Russia, China reject UN move to rebuke Syrian president

By NBC, msnbc.com and news services

Updated at 12 p.m. ET: Amid fresh bloodshed in the Syrian city of Homs, the U.N. Security Council on Saturday failed to pass a resolution calling on the Syrian president to step down.

Russia and China vetoed the resolution endorsing an Arab League call for Bashar Assad to leave power. The other 13 council members, including the U.S., France and Britain, voted in favor of the resolution.

The vote took place as Syrian forces pummeled the city of Homs with mortar and artillery fire that activists say killed more than 200 people in one of the bloodiest episodes of the uprising against Assad's regime. The U.N. says more than 5,400 people have been killed over almost 11 months in a Syrian government crackdown on civilian protests.

NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

Spurred by the latest violence, Western nations pressed for the U.N. vote.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it had not been possible to work constructively with Russia ahead of the vote. "I thought that there might be some ways to bridge, even at this last moment, a few of the concerns that the Russians had. I offered to work in a constructive manner to do so. That has not been possible,'' she told reporters at a security conference in Munich.

Syria has been a key Russian ally since Soviet times and Moscow has opposed any U.N. call that could be interpreted as advocating military intervention or regime change.

NBC's Mike Viqueira reports.

Earlier, President Barack Obama issued a statement calling the latest attack on Homs "an unspeakable assault" by Assad's regime on citizens.

"Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now. He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately," Obama said.

"The Syrian regime's policy of maintaining power by terrorizing its people only indicates its inherent weakness and inevitable collapse," Obama said. "Assad has no right to lead Syria, and has lost all legitimacy with his people and the internationalcommunity."

The violence in Homs sparked protests in several cities outside Syria.

British police used batons and riot shields to try to hold back protesters trying to storm the Syrian Embassy in London. "We want to close the embassy!" demonstrators shouted.

Police brought in sandbags and riot gear to regain control of the surging crowd, which lobbed objects at the embassy, situated near Buckingham Palace.

In all, anti-Assad demonstrators stormed at least five embassies in Europe and the Middle East.

Russia, China reject UN move to rebuke Syrian president

Taliban Ask UN to Investigate Iraq War

Military.com/

Afghanistan's rebels Taliban have asked the United Nations to question the US officials who were "involved in the invasion of Iraq and killing of Iraqis," the movement said Tuesday. The insurgents sent a statement urging that those "who played a role in the invasion of Iraq (be brought) to justice."
Full Story >>

Taliban Ask UN to Investigate Iraq War

Draft Resolution for UN General Assembly Situation of human rights in the Republic of Cuba

Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter

A draft UNGA resolution proposed by dissidents and human rights activists, as adopted in the Declaration of Dissidents for Universal Human Rights, at the We Have A Dream: Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution, United Nations, New York City, 22 September 2011. http://www.ngosummit.org

Dissidents gathered in New York to sign and read Declaration

Draft Resolution for the United Nations General Assembly

Situation of human rights in the Republic of Cuba

The General Assembly, Guided by the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and recalling the International Covenants on Human Rights and other relevant human rights instruments,

Reaffirming that all Member States have an obligation to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms and the duty to fulfill the obligations they have undertaken under the various international instruments in this field,

Deeply regretting the elimination in 2007 by the Human Rights Council of the mandate of the Personal Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Cuba,

Recalling the Government of Cuba’s refusal to recognize the Personal Representative’s mandate and cooperate with her investigation,

Recalling further the refusal by the Government of Cuba to adopt the Personal Representative’s recommendations, particularly with regard to establishing a standing independent body with the function of receiving complaints from persons claiming that their fundamental rights have been violated and halting the prosecution of citizens who are exercising the rights guaranteed under articles 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

Deeply regretting that despite issuing a clear invitation in January 2009, the Government of Cuba did not allow the previous UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, or the current Rapporteur, Juan Méndez, to visit the country to objectively assess the situation of torture and ill-treatment in Cuba,

Recalling its resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, particularly paragraph 8, which states that the General Assembly may suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of a member of the Council that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights,

1. Decides to suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of the Government of Cuba;

2. Expresses grave concern at the ongoing, gross and systematic violations of human rights by the Government of Cuba;

3. Requests that the Human Rights Council reinstate the position of a permanent investigator into the situation of human rights in Cuba, a mandate that was terminated by the Council, without justification, in 2007;

4. Calls upon the Government of Cuba to follow through on its invitation to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit Cuba to assess the situation of torture and ill-treatment;

5. Also calls upon the Government of Cuba to guarantee its citizens’ right to freedom of expression and strongly urges the Government of Cuba to end state control over all media in Cuba;

6. Expresses concern at the harassment, intimidation, and detention of Cubans exercising their right to freedom of expression, particularly dissidents, human rights defenders, and independent journalists like blogger Luis Felipe Rojas of Holguin, who has been subjected to repeated incarceration, interrogations, and threats by the authorities for writing without the Government of Cuba's sanction;

7. Calls upon the Government of Cuba to release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience with immediate effect;

8. Expresses grave concern at the death on 23 February 2010, of political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo following an 83-day hunger strike in protest against repeated beatings by guards, and expresses further concern at the widespread use of arbitrary detention to prevent participation in memorial services for Orlando Zapata Tamayo;

9. Deploring the increased use of violence against non-violent human rights activists in Cuba by agents of the Government of Cuba, and condemns the death of human rights defender Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia on 8 May 2011, three days after a brutal beating by Cuban state security agents in Santa Clara, and the violent arrest, involving the extensive use of tear gas, of 11 non-violent human rights defenders in Palma Soriano on 28 August 2010;

10. Expresses grave concern at the arbitrary arrest and physical assault by security forces and government supporters of members of Ladies in White, a group of female relatives of former prisoners of conscience and current political prisoners, and their supporters;

11. Strongly urges the Government of Cuba to abolish the prevalent practice of arbitrary detention and to guarantee its citizens’ right to freedom of association and assembly, a right frequently violated through use of arbitrary detention, as in the case of Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, José Cano Fuentes and other members of the Eastern Democratic Alliance, who were arrested by state security officials in Guantánamo and held in detention to prevent them from taking part in the Alliance’s anniversary celebrations, and in the case of the detention of Néstor
Rodríguez Lobaina and three other members of the organization Youth for Democracy, who were protesting the arrest of two other members of the organization;

12. Calls upon the Government of Cuba to reform the judicial system in order to ensure the independence of the judiciary and guarantee the right to a fair trial of every individual brought before the courts, and urges the Government to ensure the implementation of reforms that eliminate torture, guarantee proper treatment of detainees, and abolish detention without charge or trial;

13. Expresses grave concern at the routine use of extended solitary confinement, beatings, visit restrictions, and the denial of medical care against political prisoners who refuse to cooperate with the authorities, and urges an immediate end to such practices;

14. Calls upon the Government of Cuba to guarantee its citizens’ right to freedom of movement both inside and outside the country, particularly in light of the use of Decree 217 to restrict access to Havana in order to keep dissidents away from the city, and the legal requirement to obtain official permission prior to traveling abroad, which has been used, inter alia, to forbid independent journalist and dissident Guillermo Fariñas from traveling to Strasbourg in December 2010 to receive the 2010 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, and to forbid internationally acclaimed blogger Yoani Sanchez, at least 17 times over the past four years, from leaving Cuba to accept awards and participate in conferences.

Draft Resolution for UN General Assembly Situation of human rights in the Republic of Cuba

Best in UN history: Chavez singing, Khruschev banging shoe

Best in UN history: Chavez singing, Khruschev banging shoe