Obama, Karzai endorse 'Taliban office,' agree to speed military transition

foxnews

Foxnews

President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday endorsed the opening of a "Taliban office" in a third-party country to "facilitate" reconciliation talks -- just one plank of the post-war plan the two leaders discussed during Karzai's visit to Washington. 

The two also agreed to speed up slightly the schedule for moving Afghanistan's security forces into the lead across the country, with U.S. troops shifting fully to a support role by spring rather than summer. 

The capabilities of the Afghan army are "exceeding initial expectations," the two said in a joint statement released after their private White House meeting and working lunch and in advance of a joint news conference. 

"The transition is well underway," Obama said at a joint press conference Friday. He stressed that the U.S. is still on course to bring the war "to a responsible end" by the end of 2014, handing full responsibility for security over to the Afghans by that point. 

Until then, Obama said U.S. troops will still be fighting but will, by spring, put the Afghans in the lead. 

"The nature of our work will be different, we will be in a training, assisting advising role," Obama said, adding U.S. troops will still be in "harm's way." 

While the two sides work out the specifics of the U.S. troop drawdown -- and how many troops, if any, might remain after 2014 -- Obama and Karzai also formally endorsed the opening of a "Taliban office" in Qatar. 

Obama said the purpose would be to facilitate talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. 

Obama nevertheless said that the Taliban have been driven out of their strongholds in most major cities. 

In their statement, the leaders said they discussed the possibility of a continued U.S. troop presence beyond December 2014, when the U.S. and allied combat mission is to end. But they did not settle on any specifics. Obama, asked by a reporter about what that footprint might look like, said he was still gathering recommendations from the Pentagon. 

The U.S. now has 66,000 troops in Afghanistan. 

U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have proposed keeping 6,000 to 15,000 U.S. troops after 2014 to continuing pursuing terrorists and training Afghan security forces. But the White House, which tends to favor lower troop levels than the generals do, says Obama would be open to pulling all U.S. forces out of Afghanistan at the end of 2014. 

"We wouldn't rule out any option," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said earlier this week. "We're not guided by the goal of a certain number of U.S. troops in the country. We're guided by the objectives that the president set -- disrupt, dismantle, defeat al-Qaida." 

Friday's meeting was the first between Obama and Karzai since November's U.S. presidential election. Heading into his second term, Obama is shaking up his national security team, including key players who deal with Karzai and the war. 

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta are both expected to leave their posts within weeks. The president nominated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as the nation's top diplomat and former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., to lead the Pentagon. 

Both Kerry and Hagel are likely to favor a more rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces. 

After Karzai met Thursday with Clinton and Panetta, the Pentagon chief offered an upbeat assessment of the war's progress. 

"After a long and difficult path, we finally are, I believe, at the last chapter of establishing an Afghanistan, a sovereign Afghanistan, that can govern and secure itself for the future," Panetta said. 

The U.S.-led NATO coalition is aiming to turn all combat missions over to Afghan forces by the end of this year. The 66,000 U.S. forces still there are already turning over territory or handing off many combat missions to the Afghans. 

Still, the war's endgame is punctuated with uncertainty, beginning with doubts about whether the Afghan government can build legitimacy by credibly serving its population. Also in question is whether Afghan security forces will be capable of holding off the Taliban after international forces leave. 

Panetta told a news conference that he and Karzai had laid the groundwork for the Afghan leader's White House meeting. 

"We made very good progress on, you know, the kind of equipment that we would try to make available to them," to enable the Afghans to not only secure their borders but also prevent a Taliban takeover, Panetta said. 

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the same news conference that U.S. and Afghan officials are developing a common assessment of threats Afghanistan is likely to face in the future. Conclusions from that study will help determine the full range of Afghanistan's military requirements, he said. 

Karzai was greeted at the Pentagon by a ceremonial honor guard, and at a photo-taking session in Panetta's office, the Afghan leader said he could assure the American people that his country "will not ever again be threatened by terrorists from across our borders" -- an allusion to the al-Qaida leaders hiding in Pakistan. It was from Afghanistan that Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida operatives plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/11/obama-and-afghan-president-karzai-to-meet-to-discuss-ending-war/?test=latestnews#ixzz2HhHF8Yvn

Winter storm in Newfoundland

New WOLA Colombia report: "Consolidating 'Consolidation'"

Just the Facts

By Adam Isacson
 Colombia's government is negotiating peace with the country's largest and oldest guerrilla group, the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia). If the talks succeed—a strong possibility—Colombia faces a big question: what will be different in the vast territories where the guerrillas have been in control, or operated freely, for decades?

In these areas, violence, drug trafficking, and warlordism have long been the norm, and the government’s presence has been virtually nonexistent. If the government does not establish itself in these jungles, mountains, plains, coasts, and borderlands, the FARC's negotiated end will make little difference; illegality and violence will continue to fill the vacuum. Colombia must follow a successful negotiation with getting the government into the country's ungoverned zones. And not just military occupiers: a real, civilian state whose members provide basic services, operate without impunity, and thus enjoy the population's support.

Will Colombia be able to fill the vacuum and end the cycle of violence? As WOLA’s new report Consolidating “Consolidation” describes, the record of the National Territorial Consolidation Plan—a five-year-old program with that very goal—should worry us that it might not.

Backed by at least half a billion dollars in U.S. assistance, this ambitious program seeks to bring the government into several areas of the country with histories of illegal armed groups, violence, drug trafficking, and statelessness. (It is often called the “La Macarena” program, after the southern Colombian zone where the most advanced pilot project has taken place.) Today, while “Consolidation” has brought security improvements and more soldiers and police to a few territories, the governance vacuum remains far from filled.

In the Consolidation zones, armed groups remain very active, especially outside of town centers. Soldiers are by far the most commonly seen government representatives, and the civilian parts of the government—such as health services, education, agriculture, road-builders, land-titlers, judges, and prosecutors—are lagging very far behind.

In Consolidating “Consolidation,” WOLA sought to identify the reasons why the Consolidation program's military-to-civilian transfer has stalled. Senior Associate for Regional Security Policy Adam Isacson found that while the U.S. and Colombian governments underestimated the difficulty of achieving security and the cost of “state-building,” much of the blame lies with civilian government agencies themselves, most of which have been very reluctant to set up a presence in Consolidation zones.

But we found something even more serious: the entire Consolidation model is losing momentum quickly and may have begun to deteriorate. Based on dozens of interviews and a very close read of available evidence, Consolidating “Consolidation” portrays a program lacking interest and backing at high levels of government. What was once a showcase program stagnated during a year and a half-long “rethinking,” followed by several months of infighting that culminated in the sudden exit of the program's director. Meanwhile, in places like Afghanistan, the United States is edging away from similar missions, which it calls “Stability Operations,” that sought to provide basic services to citizens in ungoverned areas. Instead, U.S. forces are relying more on Special Forces operations and drone strikes.

Programs continue in Consolidation zones in Colombia, thanks in great part to US$227 million in USAID contracts awarded since 2010. But Consolidation, which once promised to bring a functioning government to areas that never had one, may be on its way to becoming a politically driven handout program attached to an open-ended military occupation.

If Consolidation fades away, the report warns, it is not clear what will replace it in Colombia's neglected territories. As Colombia faces the possibility of peace in zones of historic guerrilla control, it is crucial that a plan be in place to prevent a re-emergence of violence. If the peace talks succeed, for a brief period Colombia will have a window of opportunity to bring the government to areas that have long generated violence, bringing their citizens into national civic and economic life for the first time.

The National Territorial Consolidation Plan could offer a way to do this, but only if it returns to its initial vision of a phased, coordinated entry of civilian government. If this scheme, or something like it, is to succeed, it will require political will from the highest levels to ensure that the civilians take over as quickly as security conditions allow. And it will require a renewed—but far more civilian-centered—commitment from the United States.

Maduro to return to Cuba

foxnews

CARACAS, Venezuela –  Venezuela's vice president says he will travel to Cuba to visit ailing President Hugo Chavez and his family.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced his trip on television, saying he will be leaving on Friday. He said he will also meet with Chavez's medical team.

Sobre el "feminismo" kubiche

unarosaunlibro.blogspot.com

Leer en observatoriocriticodesdecuba >>

Noriega: Chavez could be clinically dead

Hobbit Humans Come to Life With New Fossils

A reconstruction of a Hobbit face.

Susan Hayes, University of Wollongong

discovery

By Jennifer Viegas 

New bones attributed to Homo floresiensis -- aka the "Hobbit Human" -- along with other recent findings, are helping to reveal what members of this species looked like, how they behaved, and their origins.

The latest findings, described in a Journal of Human Evolution paper, are wrist bones unearthed on the Indonesian island of Flores. Since they are nearly identical to other such bones for the Hobbit found at the site, they refute claims that H. floresiensis never existed.

"The tiny people from Flores were not simply diseased modern humans," Caley Orr, lead author of the paper, told Discovery News.

"The new species of human stood approximately 3' 6" tall, giving it its nickname 'The Hobbit,'" continued Orr, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Anatomy at Midwestern University.

He said that they were "similar to modern humans in many respects." For example, he explained that they walked on two legs, had small canine teeth, and lived what appears to have been an iconic "cave man'" lifestyle.

"Stone tools and evidence of fire use were found in the cave, along with the remains of butchered animals, such as Stegodon (an extinct elephant relative), indicating that meat was a part of diet," Orr said.

He and his colleagues, however, also point out the differences between the Hobbit individuals and modern humans.

The Hobbits had arms that were longer than their legs, giving them a slightly more ape-like structure. Their skulls had no bony chins, so their faces had more of an oval shape. Their forehead was sloping. The inferred brain size was tiny, putting them in the IQ range of chimpanzees.

"Remarkably, the feet were also long relative to the legs, as fantasy fans might expect of a Hobbit," he added.

The Hobbit's wrist looked like that of early human relatives, such as Australopithecus, but the key ancestral candidate now is Homo erectus, "Upright Man."

It is possible that a population of H. erectus became stranded on the Indonesian island and dwarfed there over time. Orr said that "sometimes happens to larger animals that adapt to small island environments."

A problem, however, is that H. erectus is somewhat more modern looking than the Hobbit, so researchers are still seeking more clues.

Another question concerns whether or not the Hobbits ever mated with modern humans. There is evidence that happened to Neanderthals, which have left traces of their genome in modern human DNA. So far, however, conditions have not been right to extract DNA from H. floresiensis bones.

Nonetheless, the Hobbit -- which went extinct relatively recently during the Pleistocene -- is now better known due to the new discoveries.

"These fossils provide further, clear evidence that H. floresiensis is in no way a pathological modern human, or that its primitive morphology is related simply to its small body size," said Tracy Kivell, a paleoanthropologist from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "Instead, it is clearly its own, unique and very intriguing species."

Kivell added, "What is particularly interesting is that H. floresiensis is associated with such a long, well-documented history of stone tools. (Its primitive hand and wrist were) still apparently capable of making and using stone tools, suggesting that H. floresiensis solved the morphological and manipulative demands of tool-making and tool-use in a different way than Neanderthals and ourselves."

Orr and his team continue to study the Hobbit humans, with at least one other paper about the interesting species in the works.

Elderly Canadian flash mob sings “Can you feel the love tonight?” [at Tim Horton's Canada]

“I’m gonna start killing people” if Obama issues exec order

Read on Americablog >>

PAUL KRUGMAN: The Deficit Is Basically Solved [seriously...?]

are these guys playing around?

----------------------- 

Walter Hickey 

Many people think that fixing the deficit is a painful process that involves deep cuts to crucial programs. Some think the process is too hard, and it's not worth trying yet. 

That's not correct, according to a chart from from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' Richard Kogan showing just how far the United States has come in the past two years. 

We've talked before about how the painless and most effective solution to the deficit is additional growth in GDP.  As the recovery progresses and GDP rises, the government will get more revenue from increased productivity. We've also pointed out that — fundamentally — we don't have a spending problem.

CBPP

Paul Krugman made the point that the chart shows how far we've come on the deficit and how easy it will be to solve moving forward. 

Richard Kogan points out that the debt to GDP is very important indicator, and can't rise forever. "If it did," he says, "that would shrink the amount of national saving available for private investment, ultimately impairing productivity growth and, in turn, living standards."

In short, seeing what we're seeing is a good thing. 

The chart shows the stabilization of the debt to GDP ratio of the United States.

As late as 2011, the U.S. was bound for an unmitigated increase in debt to GDP ratio. Thanks to two bills, the deficit is close to coming under control:

• The Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), which came from the debt ceiling negotiations and mandates $1.2 trillion in cuts.
• The American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA), which was signed two weeks ago to avert the fiscal cliff and raised taxes on high earners. 

The red line on the bottom — which would stabilize the debt to GDP ratio — is what would come of an additional $1.4 trillion in government savings. Such savings could come in the form of either cuts or revenue raises, or a combination of both.

That's all it would take to permanently stabilize the debt to GDP ratio. Yes, the debt will continue to rise, but as long as it's rising at a slower, stable rate compared to GDP, the U.S. will be in an exceptional position moving forward. 

Krugman and Kogan's points are the same: The U.S. has come a very, very long way recently. In the past two years, the federal government has successfully cut the deficit, and is all things considered very close to stabilizing the debt. 

Here's the full CBPP article.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/krugman-the-chart-that-proves-the-debt-problem-is-mostly-solved-2013-1#ixzz2HgWj8p8i

Jon Stewart On 'Mint The Coin'

The idea of minting a trillion-dollar platinum coin to work around the debt ceiling has gained some credible support in what has been just more than a week since its renewed take-off.

Rep. Jerry Nadler supports the idea. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote his first print column today advocating the possibility if Republican members of Congress vote against raising the debt ceiling. Even the White House didn't flatly rule it out.

But don't count Daily Show host Jon Stewart among its supporters. He jabbed at the idea in a segment in his show on Thursday, comparing it to newly nominated Treasury Secretary Jack Lew's signature.

"I'm not an economist," Stewart said. "But if we're going to just make [stuff] up, I say go big or go home. How about a $20 trillion coin?" Or, he suggested, maybe a $1 "quillion" coin.

"We don’t need some trillion-dollar coin gimmick," Stewart said. "We need a way to get the world to take the U.S. dollar seriously again."

Then he presented Lew's signature. At least he thought the trillion-dollar coin wasn't as ridiculous as that.

"Hey, Lew, here’s a tip: stop signing all your checks on the tea cup ride at Disney World," Stewart said.

Here's the full clip, courtesy of Comedy Central:http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart/full-episodes/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart---january-10-2013/#clip841462

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-trillion-dollar-platinum-coin-mint-jack-lew-signature-2013-1#ixzz2HgVEPNjy

World War I photos found inside antique camera

By Claudine Zap | The Lookout

World War I soldiers with bomb (Courtesy of Anton Orlov)

A collector of vintage photography equipment got an extra bonus when he picked up a French camera at an antique store: never-before-seen images circa World War I France.

Anton Orlov details the story of the lucky find on his blog the Photo Palace, where all of the eight photos from the Jumelle Belllieni stereoscopic camera can be seen.

Orlov writes in his blog that he came across the images completely by accident, as he was cleaning the recently purchased camera. He opened up the film chamber and found the negatives on a stack of glass plates.

He writes, “While viewing the images in their negative form it was difficult to say for sure what was on each of them, but after scanning them it became clear that they dated back to the First World War and were taken somewhere in France. Adding, “I absolutely love finding images that likely have never been seen by anyone in the world.”

World War I soldiers on horseback with airplane remains (Courtesy of Anton Orlov)

The photography enthusiast tells Yahoo News by email, “I was very surprised when I found them. “ He noted that while he had found “plenty of undeveloped” film in old cameras before, he explained, “those are indeed ruined when exposed to light, and even if I try developing them it would be a very slim chance of getting anything usable from them.”

The black-and-white photos were taken in France, and document some of the destruction of the countryside. The images seem to be perfectly preserved, except for a couple that are marred by streaks of light.

Two of the photos seen here show the remains of the war: Two soldiers stand next to a big bomb. Another shows two men on horseback surveying the remains of a crashed airplane.

The remaining photos on Orlov’s website include train tracks that have been destroyed, an aerial view of a town showing the wear of the war. And a house that has been bombarded and fallen into a river.

O'Reilly: Are we seeing President Obama's big power grab?

Santeros cubanos ruegan por la recuperación de Chávez

Sandy Hook Massacre Timeline

TheAlexJonesChannel

What Are Mass Murder Pills?

TheAlexJonesChannel

De interpretaciones y constituciones

eichikawa

bdigital.uncu.edu.ar

Una simple anécdota. Solo para mostrar que aunque uno está dispuesto a reconocer que los hechos son posibles de versionar en las más plurales interpretaciones, es algo que no deja de sorprender. Un acontecimiento que pudo haber quedado como la ejemplificación absoluta de la maldad, como fue el atentado terrorista del 11 de septiembre de 2001, ya se ha relativizado a esta altura con interpretaciones y causalidades polivalentes. En el referente cubano, es perceptible que Fidel Castro no cuajó culturalmente como el símbolo nacional de la maldad; e incluso, en el sentido opuesto, la declaración por el Cardenal Ortega Alamino de la Caridad del Cobre como una “devoción nacional” es más una formalidad, un deseo, que una realidad efectiva. Así que la cultura cubana además de carecer de un “concepto” claro de lo que es el bien y el mal, no tiene siquiera su “representación”.

Las interpretaciones son ejercicios de relativa actualidad en la dinámica política latinoamericana. Las constitucionales son una variedad de las “interpretación de textos”; y si bien no son escritos poéticos, tampoco son matemáticos o sagrados y están plagados de contenido metafórico. En el mundo global actual, donde hay tantos poderes que corren paralelamente a los poderes estatales, condales, municipales, etc., la subordinación al texto constitucional es una liturgia que tiene que ver más con la cortesía política que con la vida misma. No existimos, no podemos existir constitucionalmente. La constitución es un documento procedimental que se usa más para ordenar el debate que para definirlo. Lo constitucional es un lenguaje y hay quien ha dicho –con razón- que hasta una superstición. Es un código de intercambio que en determinados momentos permite argumentar ante un árbitro. Ahora bien, como es el caso de Venezuela, cuando ese árbitro constituyente participa en el debate constitucional el resultado es obvio.

Mas >>

El Valdés de Venezuela

Desde runrun.es

Jorge Castañeda 

Ya sabemos que Hugo Chávez no será juramentado hoy 10 de enero como presidente de Venezuela; ya que por un lado sus médicos han dicho que no está en condiciones de hacerlo, y por el otro lado el Tribunal Supremo de ese país resolvió que no es necesario el juramento formal ante la Asamblea Nacional, Chávez era y sigue siendo Presidente, y el juramento puede hacerse posteriormente ante el mismo tribunal. Cada quien puede pensar lo que quiera, pero así es. También sabemos que por lo pronto Chávez no va a renunciar, provocando la celebración de nuevas elecciones en el transcurso de los siguientes 30 días. Y sabemos que si bien su estado de salud es muy grave, sólo sería inminente su fallecimiento por decisión de la familia. Todo lo demás son suposiciones, es decir, lo más divertido.

Una posible explicación de la extrañísima paradoja recién surgida en Caracas consiste en un fenómeno casi psicoanalítico. Me explico: los chavistas, es decir, Nicolás Maduro y Diosdado Cabello, apoyados por el segundo nivel de gobierno y del poder, se sienten seguros de arrasar en una elección convocada después del deceso de Chávez o su inhabilitación voluntaria para ejercer la Presidencia. La oposición, encabezada todavía por Henrique Capriles, parece pensar lo mismo: iría al matadero electoral de celebrarse comicios nuevos. Por tanto, la oposición está actuando lógica aunque no muy valientemente al no presionar para que se convoquen elecciones; pero la postura chavista se antoja contradictoria: si van a ganar y saben que Chávez ya no se recupera, ¿por qué al mal (buen) paso no darle prisa? Pues, como dirían Freud y Lacan, porque matar al padre es un asunto muy complicado. Chávez, para ellos y para sus partidarios, no es un simple Presidente, un simple comandante, un simple mandatario, sino junto con Bolívar, una figura paterna con todas las implicaciones de la misma. Y si los clásicos del psicoanálisis hablaban de matar al padre en un sentido afectivo o analítico, en este caso se trata de algo mucho más literal: una decisión política de desconectar a alguien que muy probablemente está en una situación de vida asistida. No sé si sea la mejor manera de tomar estas decisiones, ni si por este camino se avance en la solución de los inmensos retos económicos, sociales y de violencia que enfrenta Venezuela. Pero no descarto que éste sea el sentimiento del núcleo duro chavista y de la familia cercana.

La segunda especulación vuelve ociosa o secundaria la primera. Me extraña, debo confesarlo, que a los soberanistas mexicanos a ultranza no les resulte incómodo que las principales decisiones sobre la Presidencia de un país, sus procedimientos jurídicos, ejecutivos, y hasta legislativos, se tomen en otro país, donde agoniza en secreto un Presidente, adonde acuden a reuniones de trabajo varias veces al día el vicepresidente, presidente de la Asamblea, ministro de Información, procuradora general de la República, gobernadores, militares, etcétera, en pocas palabras, toda la nomenclatura, pero no sólo ellos: también los padres, los hermanos y las hijas del jefe de Estado. No quisiera ni imaginar qué pasaría si algo por el estilo sucediera entre México y otro país, que por lo menos tendría la ventaja de ser más grande, más rico y más moderno. Ser protectorado de una potencia no es muy sano que digamos. Serlo de una isla empobrecida y envejecida con menos de la mitad de habitantes que el país propio, resulta aberrante. Algún día alguien tendrá que explicar cómo el rumbo futuro de una Venezuela repleta de reservas petroleras, con casi 30 millones de habitantes y una sociedad civil vibrante y organizada, se resolvió bajo las órdenes de un señor de nombre Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, de 80 años de edad, durante años jefe de la represión de La Habana, que llegó a México en 1955 y partió a Cuba en el Granma acompañando a Fidel y Raúl Castro y al Che Guevara: hace más de medio siglo. Una cosa es Juan Valdez en Colombia; otra muy distinta Ramiro Valdés en Venezuela.

Hugo Chavez’s Disastrous Legacy

frontpagemag

By Ruth King

A phony revolution may nonetheless be a durable one. If the Venezuelans who go to the polls give Chávez what he wants, they are likely to discover a paradox: They can bring about dictatorship through democracy, but not the reverse.”

Steve Chapman, November 2007 

It appears that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez will soon slip the mortal coil. Latin America’s history is replete with dictators who promise hope and change and reform, get elected and systematically abuse their power. Peron of Argentina, Pinochet of Chile, Stroessner of Paraguay, Gabriel Garcia Moreno of Ecuador, and Anastasio Somoza Garcia of Nicaragua were corrupt, authoritarian, and brutal with dissidents but their ambitions were contained within their borders.

Fidel Castro is an exception whose armies were proxies for his Soviet sponsors as far afield as Africa and who provoked one of the major confrontations of the Cold War in 1962 by conspiring with the Soviets to place nuclear missiles ninety miles from our shores.

Hugo Chavez avers that his role models are Fidel Castro and his terrorist henchman Che Guevara and views himself as a “socialist revolutionary.” In 2009 he declared himself the leader of “The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas,” whose other charter members are Bolivia’s President Evo Morales and Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa. As for capitalism, he can be quite blunt: In 2005 he stated on his weekly radio show: “I have said it already, I am convinced that the way to build a new and better world is not capitalism. Capitalism leads us straight to hell.”

Venezuela and Ecuador control huge oil reserves and are on again/off again the only non-Muslem members of OPEC and enthusiastic proponents of energy blackmail and price manipulations. The clown Evo Morales loves hawking cocaine and boasting that Che Guevara the hero of the Bolivarian stooges died in Bolivia. He could be dismissed were it not for the fact that Bolivia has the world’s largest lithium and tin deposits. All three enjoy goading America with effusive praise for Iran’s mullahs, the Kims of North Korea, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and assorted terrorist clones of Al Qaeda.

In spite of an abundance of vital energy resources, Chavez will leave a devastated economy plagued by shortages of all staples including food, a state-controlled media, a judiciary stacked with his cronies, a total absence of civil liberties, and one of the highest violent crime rates in the hemisphere. Venezuela’s citizens, who vested so much hope in the change that he promised, are in a living hell where homes and property have been expropriated and “redistributions” have reduced productivity and incentive. A bottle of water costs more than a gallon of gasoline, but cars are run-down hulks. Dissidence and any parody of his government are punishable by jail.

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have assiduously avoided harsh criticism of Chavez. In 2009 both endorsed Chavez’s support for the deposed Honduran dictator Zelaya, ousted by the citizens for his abuse of power and efforts to reverse civil rights and the constitution. Although Chavez did voice support for Obama during the recent election, he has vented his anti-American spleen by mocking Hillary Clinton as a “blonde Condoleeza Rice” who thinks she “owns South America.” Furthermore, he has praised Wikileaks and Julian Assange for their “bravery” in confronting the United States, “a failed state.” He continually praises Ahmadinejad who has made several visits to Venezuela, staunchly defended Muammar Gaddafi and as late as October 12, 2012 he extolled the praises of Bashar Assad and accused the US of fomenting unrest in the Middle East, particularly in Syria.: “This is a crisis that has been planned and provoked … Syria is a sovereign nation. This crisis has a single cause: the world has entered into a new era of imperialism. It’s madness. The US government has been among the most irresponsible. I hope Obama rethinks this.”

Notwithstanding his outrageous abuse and oppression, he maintains a cult in the West. In a list compiled by the magazine New Statesman in 2006, he was voted eleventh in the list of “Heroes of our time” and in 2006 he was Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year.”

Although he is reviled by much of the civilized world, he has a large coterie of Hollywood celebrity fans: Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Courtney Love, Kevin Spacey, Harry Belafonte and the “esteemed historian” Oliver Stone. This is pretty much the same crowd that idolizes Che Guevara.

Who is Hugo Chavez?

Hugo Rafael Chavez was born in 1954 in a town named Sabaneta to Hugo and Elena Frias, schoolteachers. His father was black of African descent and his mother white of Spanish descent. At an early age he was sent to live with his paternal grandmother Rosa Chavez, who ushered him through his elementary education.

After completing high school he enrolled in the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences, graduated with a degree in Arts and Science and the rather unimpressive rank of sub-lieutenant. After a brief period in Caracas University he returned to the active military where he served for 17 years with many posts and staff positions including teaching at the Academy of Military Sciences. His academic records and transcripts, including enrollment forms from university, are unavailable — lost, it seems.

He was a fairly gifted athlete who excelled in baseball, but was more well known for long speeches denouncing endemic fraud and corruption in government. He established a leftist, quasi-Marxist, crackpot Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement known as MBR.

In 1992 Chavez and his revolutionary cohorts, planned a military coup d’etat to oust then-President Carlos Perez, admittedly a thief and tyrant. It was a tactical failure which resulted in his arrest and jail sentence of two years.

In 1994 he was officially pardoned and emerged from jail defiant and determined to resume his political ambitions. He named his party the “Fifth Republic Movement” and four years later, after years on the stump and on soapboxes, he began the quest for national election.

The voters’ distrust of the government made his promises of reform, fundamental change, a renewed economy and an end to corruption, tyranny and bribery appealing to a desperate population.

Although he was far behind in the polls in early 1998, by December of that year he won 56% of the vote and became Venezuela’s President. While there were some credible accusations of voter intimidation and fraud, no recount took place. A widely hailed assembly drafted a constitution which stipulated term limits, a right to recall legislators, including the president, who were guilty of malfeasance with a petition from at least 20% of the population, established a merit based judiciary, and a group of “public defenders” to monitor government abuses.

Within half a year he dismissed all judges and public defenders and replaced them with his cronies. Term limits and all restraints, as well as the right to petition, were abolished. He embarked on a system of redistribution which implemented absolute government control on communications, media, industry, energy, utilities, and construction materials.

In 2002 an attempted coup against him was put down within 48 hours and in 2004 a petition against him signed by millions of citizens was dismissed by his highest court.

His “Bolivarian Circles,” a group of community organizers, routinely extort taxes and bribes for spurious neighborhood projects, mass mobilization of voters, and so-called “basic projects” which include spying on citizens.

In 2006 Jimmy Carter certified his re-election in spite of major irregularities, fraud, coercion, and intimidation which targeted all dissidents, particularly the “Tascon List” of all those who had petitioned for his ouster in 2004.

To keep up his love affair with Iran, Chavez indulges in hysterical anti-Israel rants which stop just short of calling for genocide. To prove his fealty to the Mullahs, he torments the Jewish community with vandalism, threats and vicious attacks. Ahmadinejad calls his pal “a champion and leader in the international struggle against imperialism.”

In October 2012 his campaign manifesto, as printed in campaign flyers, had not changed very much and listed his “five great historic objectives”:

One: “Defend, expand and consolidate national independence.”

Two: “Continue building Bolivarian socialism of the 21st century as an alternative to destructive and savage capitalism.”

Three: “Make Venezuela an economic, social and political power within the growing power of Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Four: “Develop a new international geopolitics forming a multicentric and pluripolar world to achieve equilibrium in the universe and guarantee planetary peace.”

Five: “Preserve life on the planet and save the human species.”

He won and it is not likely he will make it to his inauguration.

Who will replace him and can Venezuela be saved? It’s anyone’s guess. Only one thing is sure. The leftist media will extol him and maybe his Hollywood pals will make a movie “The Bolivarian Diaries.”

US: Waiting for post-Chavez Venezuela

security

By Jill Dougherty

They don't get much more anti-American than Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

For many Americans, the Latin American president is embodied by his 2006 lashing out at then-U.S. President George W. Bush.

"Yesterday the devil came here and it still smells of sulfur today."

For the United States, the socialist Chavez has been a diplomatic troublemaker ever since he took office for the first time in 1999.

But that doesn't mean the United States has given up on Venezuela. Especially with Chavez - who is undergoing cancer treatment in a Cuban hospital and battling complications - being too sick to attend his own inauguration for a new six-year term.

Asked Thursday to comment about Chavez, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that the United States has "put forward some ideas about how this relationship could be improved on a step-by-step basis."

"Our sense is that at the moment they are very much preoccupied with internal affairs," she said. "So we are standing by and when they are ready to talk to us about improving things, we're ready for those conversations."

For 14 years, Chavez made it his mission to lambaste the United States for meddling in his country and the region. But Washington does want a better relationship with Venezuela, the fourth biggest supplier of oil to the U.S., providing 10% of oil imports into the U.S.

There are several things, Security Clearance has learned, that the Obama administration wants to work with Venezuela on, including counter-narcotics efforts, fighting terrorism, energy and the rule of law.

But Washington is taking a go-slow approach. After all, even when Chavez is gone, his left-wing ideology, "Chavismo," will live on at least for a while. And his supporters, the "Chavistas," hold all the major levers of power in the country.

"He controls the courts and the media and other institutions," said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue and adjunct professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. "There are a lot of Venezuelans who view him very sympathetically, see him as the savior of the country even though the conditions are very, very bad in the country."

The U.S. has been talking with Venezuelan officials as well as officials from other Latin American countries during the past few weeks and that has fueled speculation that Washington is trying to engineer a transition to a leader more friendly to the United States. Memories run deep of a coup in 2002 that removed Chavez from office for 48 hours. He blamed the U.S. for trying to overthrow him but Washington has always denied any involvement.

The State Department insists it's strictly hands-off.

Washington wants a "democratic ... transparent" transition, Nuland said, adding that "it's going to be for Venezuelans to decide how that happens."

Shifter said the U.S. is watching from afar.

"I don't think there is any evidence the United States is up to anything," he said. "I think it would be counter-productive. The Obama administration has been very restrained in its position toward Venezuela and has been very careful, I think, to just let the situation play out."

Chavez is friendly with Iran, North Korea, Belarus and Syria but, in spite of that, commercial ties between the U.S. and Venezuela are strong.

"The U.S. is Venezuela's most important trading partner, with U.S. goods accounting for about 24% of imports and approximately 42% of Venezuelan exports going to the United States," according to the State Department.

Venezuela has played a game of musical chairs with ambassadors.

More than four years ago, Chavez ordered the expulsion of the U.S. ambassador. In return, the U.S. kicked out the Venezuelan ambassador.

A year later, both ambassadors returned to their posts, but in 2010, the Venezuelan government refused to accept the credentials of the new U.S. ambassador. Washington took the same action against the Venezuelan ambassador.

Even if relations improve, don't look for the U.S. to send its ambassador back anytime soon. Chavez, by some reports, is nearing death, but "Chavismo" is still alive and well in his Venezuela.

Carriers dropping Tampa-Cuba charter flights

TAMPA Tampa International Airport is losing one of its three Cuba charter carriers and two of its five weekly flights to the island nation next month.

The changes, which come less than a year and a half after direct flights began from Tampa to Cuba, could eventually mean higher air fares for those flights.

XAEL Charters Inc. will discontinue its Tampa-Havana flight Feb. 14 and plans to relocate to Cuba from Fort Lauderdale sometime this year. In addition, ABC Charters will end its flights from Tampa to Holguin, Cuba, on Feb. 28.

Island Travel & Tours Ltd., the only one of the charter carriers based in Tampa, will maintain its Wednesday and Sunday flights between Tampa and Havana. Miami-based ABC Charters will maintain its Saturday flight between Tampa and Havana.

“Given that this is first time in more than 50 years for air service between Cuba and Tampa, it is natural to see some adjustments as the market evolves,” Tampa International spokeswoman Janet Zink said.

Fewer flights could mean those remaining will be more full, helping the charter operators improve their ratio of costs to revenue.

Keep reading >>

Aviacion de combate sobrevuela Caracas durante alocucion de enviado cubano

deliberado plano cerrado de la transmision que no permite apreciar la cantidad de chavistas que participaron en el acto, convocado con clara vocacion de monopolizacion 'unitaria' del poder politico ante el vacio dejado por chavez y de radicalizacion interna. por si las dudas, los pases intimidatorios de la aviacion de combate, en los momentos en que intervenia diaz-canel el enviado de subcastro [subrayado por la locutora en off], es un claro mensaje de quien tiene el real control del poder militar -y politico- del pais. por las dudas, observese el rostro floreciente de diosdado cabello.

miel de abeja con limon para las cuerdas vocales del bisono diaz-canel, que cada vez que tiene que intervenir en algun mitin politico se le "va" la voz. anadir aguardiente de cana para levantarle la testosterona de uno de estos cuadritos kubiches acostumbrados a la tranquilidad de los actos ceremoniosos y formalizados y no a estos de barricada.

El yin-yang de Xi Jinping

elpais/ Georgina Higueras

Desde tiempos ancestrales, el pensamiento chino se ha desarrollado en torno al principio de dos fuerzas, yin y yang, opuestas y complementarias, que representan la interacción dinámica y de cuyo equilibrio depende la armonía. Los nuevos dirigentes del gobernante Partido Comunista Chino (PCCh), encabezados por su secretario general, Xi Jinping, han iniciado la andadura dando carrete a ambas fuerzas en su búsqueda de lo que llaman la “sociedad armoniosa”.

La espita del yin (negativo) la abrió la semana pasada el Departamento de Propaganda de Guangdong —la provincia más rica de China, con 100 millones de habitantes y la más liberal del país, en parte porque siempre fue la más abierta y en parte por su proximidad a la excolonia británica de Hong Kong que desde 1997 es región administrativa especial de China—. De la manera más burda y sin tener en cuenta las ansias de libertad de expresión de una sociedad cada día más conectada y en la que las redes sociales juegan un activo papel, los censores de ese departamento cambiaron una carta a los lectores del influyente Semanario del Sur (Nanfang Zhoumo), en la que se pedía que el nuevo año trajese un “Gobierno constitucional”, por una sarta de alabanzas al PCCh. Como era de esperar, los periodistas del semanario —que sabían lo que se jugaban cuando escribieron su carta y asumieron el riesgo— se sintieron humillados y se declararon en huelga.

La fuerza del yin no les tomó en consideración y continuó expandiéndose por los órganos centrales del PCCh que, en consonancia, actuaron de forma represora contra los huelguistas, los manifestantes y los internautas que acudieron en su apoyo. “No importa si esta gente está contenta o no... los medios de comunicación libre con los que sueñan son imposibles”, editorializaba el lunes, con una total falta de sensibilidad, Tiempos Globales —periódico ligado al órgano de difusión del PCCh, Diario del Pueblo—.

Sumido en su propia oscuridad, el yin ha revelado su falta de capacidad para valorar las demandas y las necesidades de una sociedad compleja, que integran 1.350 millones de personas y que en 2012, por primera vez en su historia, pasó de tener una mayoría rural a una mayoría urbana. El yin parece no asimilar que la brutal mejora en el nivel de vida que han experimentado sobre todo los urbanistas en las tres últimas décadas ha generado una clase media, que como todas las clases medias del mundo actual, está globalizada, viaja, conoce otras realidades y quiere participar, de una manera u otra, en el desarrollo de su propia realidad. De momento, esta clase media china no contesta el liderazgo único del PCCh, pero le exige libertad de información y de expresión con la que poder dejar en evidencia y luchar contra los desmanes que cometen muchos funcionarios y autoridades locales que se cobijan bajo el paraguas de secretismo e impunidad del PCCh.

Pero frente al yin, se ha abierto la puerta al yang (el principio positivo). El Gobierno ha anunciado que se está elaborando un plan para la reforma de los campos de reeducación por el trabajo, uno de los castigos más odiados por los chinos y una de las demandas más enraizadas en la sociedad, que considera estos centros de internamiento injustos y foráneos, ya que se crearon tras la fundación de la República Popular en 1949 y bajo la influencia del régimen de terror impuesto por Josif Stalin en la desaparecida Unión Soviética. Nacieron para reeducar a los contrarrevolucionarios, pero se convirtieron en las mazmorras de las comisarías policiales, donde agentes soberbios e incultos enviaban a cualquiera que contestaba su autoridad o lo que interpretaban como la autoridad del Gobierno y el Estado.

El fin de los campos de reeducación es una de las mayores reivindicaciones de las organizaciones de derechos humanos tanto chinas como extranjeras y se convirtió en objetivo prioritario tras el caso Tang Hui. Esta mujer de Hunan (una provincia del centro de China) fue sentenciada a 18 meses en un campo de reeducación por desatar en 2011 una campaña para exigir a los tribunales y a las autoridades del Gobierno local que impusieran penas más severas a los siete responsables del secuestro, la violación y la prostitución forzosa de su hija de 11 años. Tang fue liberada después de una semana de internamiento por las protestas de académicos, medios de comunicación y millones de ciudadanos en las redes sociales.

Uno de los primeros compromisos asumidos por Xi Jinping tras ascender en noviembre pasado a la Secretaría General del PCCh fue hacer de China un país gobernado por el imperio de la ley. El cierre de los laogai, donde los represaliados pueden ser internados sin juicio hasta cuatro años, es primordial para emprender la reforma de la justicia en China y acabar con una de las mayores frustraciones de sus ciudadanos, que se sienten indefensos ante la injusticia de su sistema judicial. De llevarse a cabo, la fuerza del yang sería arrolladora y frenaría de forma considerable el descontento de la sociedad.

Todo apunta a que Xi Jinping, que en marzo se convertirá en jefe del Estado, permanecerá al frente del destino de China durante la próxima década, pero para hacerlo sin sobresaltos no tendrá más remedio que escuchar las voces de sus ciudadanos. La libertad de expresión y el imperio de la ley son las dos principales demandas de la población y no le servirá contraponerlas como el yin y el yang, si pretende establecer una “sociedad armoniosa”, sino que de habrá de hacer de ambas sus caballos de batalla.

Lo más curioso de lo sucedido estos días en Cantón es que la carta que ha sido censurada por el celo del Departamento de Propaganda pedía precisamente un “Gobierno constitucional”, es decir, la reforma que el Ministerio de Justicia comienza a pergeñar, ya que según los expertos legales, los campos de reeducación violan la Constitución china.

NRA ’disappointed’ with gun task force; recs coming by Tuesday

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read >>

Maduro: "Juramos absoluta lealtad a los valores de la patria y a Chávez "

remake del discurso de fidel en el entierro de las victimas de la explosion del barco la coubre. totalitarismo y chivatismo en su variante post chavista.

Canada’s War Witch [Rebelle] nominated for Oscar for best foreign-language film

Clothing line makes you 'invisible' to drones

RTAmerica

Friedrich Kittler: The Modern World

egsvideo

Friedrich Kittler, German historian and theorist, lecturing on the history of writing. In this lecture he talks about manuscript culture vs printed culture rising out of Gutenberg's innovation, the copyleft culture of the Gutenberg technologies, how the scientific revolution really started with these texts that were printed after the discovery of woodcuts copper plates and paper mills, how the printing press facilitated the transmission of technical knowledge, how the Jesuits entered the Chinese empire of Peking; typecutters, fonts and cryptography, and Leon Battista Alberti, the development of capital letters, the development of common mathematical symbols by Johannes Widmann (the +/- sign), Raphael Bombolli and Gerolamo Cardano (equations), Simon Stevin and the Dutch zero, and François Viète, the harmony of the fifth in tuning systems, how innovations in common mathematical notation and intercultural participation made possible musical innovations, how the end of notation in Latin was the beginning of open-source knowledge, algebraic notation, the need for symbols, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and binary arithmetic, 18th century mathematicians and algorithms, Jacques du Vaucanson's digesting duck, Leonard Euler and mechanical sytheses of voices, the 18th century German school system, changes in paper production in material media history, Canadian lumber, semaphores as optical system of signs, optical telegraphy speeding up military communications, invention of the typewriter by Remington, Etienne-Jules Marey's chronophotography, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville's first sound recording of Au Claire de la Lune, the effect of these changes on literature of the 19th century, Sir Flinders Petrie, Alan Turing's Turing machine, cryptography, Pearl Harbor, closing remarks on the need to learn program languages to see the limits of language, Assembler programming language, Q&A.
Public open lecture for the students and faculty of the European Graduate School (EGS), Media and Communication Studies department program Saas-Fee Switzerland, Europe. Friedrich Kittler. 2011.

Friedrich Adolf Kittler (1943 -2011) was a post-Structuralist philosopher, as well as historian and theorist of media communications and technology. Kittler studied German Studies, Romance Languages and Philosophy at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg/Breisgau. In 1976, he earned his Ph.D. with a dissertation on Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. His work was heavily influenced by both Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan. Kittler became a Professor of German at Freiburg in the early eighties. During the decade he held positions as a visiting lecturer and professor at the University of California, in Berkeley and Santa Barbara, and later at the University of Stanford and the University of Basel. In 1984, he completed his Habilitation at the University of Freiburg/Breisgau, and from 1986-1990 headed the DFG's Literature and Media Analysis project in Kassel. Kittler was a Membre associé of the Collège international de philosophie, Paris from 1983-1986. In 1987, Kittler was appointed Professor of Modern German Studies, at Ruhr University and began working as Professor of German at the University of Bochum.

In 1993, he received the media arts prize for theory from the ZKM Karlsruhe (Zentrums für Kunst und Medientechnologie); from 1995 to 1997, he headed a Federal Research Group on Theory and History of Media. Kittler was also a member of the Hermann von Helmholtz Centre for Culture and the Bild Schrift Zahl research group.

In 1996, Friedrich Kittler was recognized as a Distinguished Scholar by Yale University, and in 1997 as Distinguished Visiting Professor by Columbia University.

Fox on Castro's reforms

Evangelical pastor withdraws from Obama inaugural

nbcchicago.com

(AP) The evangelical pastor chosen to give the benediction at President Barack Obama’s inauguration withdrew from the ceremony Thursday after remarks he made two decades ago condemning the gay rights movement surfaced.

The Rev. Louie Giglio of Passion City Church in Atlanta said in a statement he withdrew because it was likely that the “prayer I would offer will be dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration.”

Addie Whisenant, a spokeswoman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, said the committee had chosen Giglio because of his work to end human trafficking.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/inaugural-pastor-withdraws-over-anti-gay-remarks/#E9Cmp9WgozpxLG8l.99

Is Ted Cruz Eligible to Run for President?

breitbart

legalinsurrection.com

Tony Lee

In a testament to Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s (R) star power, Politico recently questioned whether Cruz would ever be eligible to run for president.

It is a question many have asked after Cruz started to gain momentum in his Texas Republican Senate primary against Texas Lieutenant Gov. David Dewhurst. 

Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother (who was born in Delaware and had lived in the country for at least ten consecutive years) and a father who was born in Cuba. 

There is no legal precedent for Cruz’s case, which is why people on the right, left, and in legal circles have been curious about whether Cruz would be in fact eligible to run for president. 

The U.S. Constitution states that only a “natural born Citizen” can be eligible to run for president. 

As Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman told the publication, “The question ultimately is, What do we mean by a natural born citizen?”

“The problem is, no one knows what a natural born citizen is,” agreed University of California, Davis law professor Gabriel Chin, who argued in 2008 that Sen. John McCain was not eligible to be president.

Advisers to Cruz told the publication that “because his mother had U.S. citizenship at the time of his birth, it transferred to him on foreign soil.”

“Ted is a U.S. citizen by birth, having been born in Calgary to an American-born mother,” a Cruz spokesperson told the publication. 

Temple University law professor Peter Spiro told the publication Cruz would have a “very strong argument” that he qualifies under the definition. 

Hagel To Al Jazeera: America 'World's Bully'

Holder in 1995: 'Brainwash' people against guns

(BREITBART) Breitbart.com has uncovered video from 1995 of then-U.S. Attorney Eric Holder announcing a public campaign to ”really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way.”

Holder was addressing the Woman’s National Democratic Club. In his remarks, broadcast by CSPAN 2, he explained that he intended to use anti-smoking campaigns as his model to “change the hearts and minds of people in Washington, DC” about guns.

“What we need to do is change the way in which people think about guns, especially young people, and make it something that’s not cool, that it’s not acceptable, it’s not hip to carry a gun anymore, in the way in which we changed our attitudes about cigarettes.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/holder-in-1995-brainwash-people-against-guns/#Vvh226kb8u5mlPM3.99

Fatah and Hamas have agreed to implement a reconciliation pact

Euronews 

Palestinian leaders have agreed to implement a long-delayed reconciliation pact after talks in Cairo.

The leader of the secular Fatah faction, Mahmoud Abbas met his counterpart from the Islamist Hamas group Khaled Meshaal for face to face for the first time in more than a year.

The two fell-out in a bloody conflict in 2007 when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip.

They reached a reconciliation pact in May 2011 but have until now have failed to agree on how to put it into practice.

After the late night talks Azam al-Ahmed from Fatah's Central Committee told euronews: "We are going to start negotiations aimed at forming an independent national unity government under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas."

Hamas spokesman Ezat al-Rashq said: "The question of elections will be the subject of an agreement among all parties. The question of the status of the PLO and the role of the electoral commission must also be discussed."

Israel's military assault on Gaza in November and the UN's historic decision to upgrade Palestinians' status have brought both sides together.

Our correspondent Mohammed Sheikhibrahim was the only reporter allowed at the talks in the presidential palace. He said: "A new stage of negotiations reunited all the Palestinian parties aiming for a reconciliation agreement that the Palestinian people have been waiting for after years of divisions."

11 killer whales free after being 'locked' in ice, mayor says

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read >>

A python ... on the plane's wing (VIDEO)

"I Heart Castro" Trips

capitolhillcubans

Below are two articles from Castro's state media today.

They are about two "people-to-people" trips.

The first is organized by the Castro regime's repressive entities and the second essentially trains anti-U.S. policy activists.

Can someone explain how these "people-to-people" trips benefit the Cuban people or "promote their independence from the Cuban authorities" (as the Obama Administration's policy claims)?

First,

U.S. Visitors Express Admiration for Cuban Revolution

Guests from the U.S. state of California visiting the city of Camagüey expressed Tuesday their admiration for the Cuban Revolution and their support to the cause of the Cuban Five who have been serving severe and unjust sentences in U.S. jails for 14 years.

The U.S. visitors expressed so during a meeting with neighbours of the 8th block-based Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR), belonging to the 24th zone of this city. The Provincial Office of this grass-root organization in Camagüey and the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP) organized the gathering.  

Second,

Visiting U.S. University Students Know More in Cuba about the Cuban Five

Relatives of the five Cuban heroes that are captive in the U.S. for fighting terrorism spoke on Monday at Havana’s Friendship Center with university students from that northern nation interested in getting further information about the case.

Students and professors from the Diablo Valley College (DVC) of the state of California, listened to the details offered with respect to the legal process by Magali Llort and Elizabeth Palmeiro, mother and wife of Fernando Gonzalez and Ramon Labañino, respectively, two of these five patriots unfairly condemned.

Elizabeth Palmeiro requested participants in the meeting to join the campaign in favor of the return of The Five to the island, and urged President Barack Obama to review the case in his capacity as a lawyer, which will allow him to see the arbitrary acts committed in the process.