On September 22, Chinese politician Bo Xilai was sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power. Bo is a popular leader who rose from utter poverty and family misfortune to a seat on the Politburo. His father was imprisoned for 12 years and his mother was killed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960's and 70's. Bo eventually rose to the position of party chief in the megacity of Chongqing (pop. ~29 million). During his tenure, he popularized the state-led "Chongqing economic model" and a "red culture" movement - complete with $15.8 billion spent on public apartment complexes for migrant workers, low-income residents and college graduates. Bo's police chief Wang Lijun oversaw a wide-scale crackdown on organized crime and corruption. Ironically, it was Wang who, while seeking asylum at the US consulate, "implicated Mr Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, in the 2011 murder of a British businessman in Chongqing. Mr Bo’s admiration for Maoism, his ambition and his flamboyant, populist style had long been a worry for party leaders. The incident gave them the chance to take him down." [The Economist, September 28] Dan Steinbock in an excellent September 17 Asian Times Online post summarizes Bo's political rise and fall. Though Bo's "trial of the century" was somewhat sensationalized in the American media, Steinbock writes that the "real story is about rapid economic development, generational change in politics, and the progress of the rule of law in China....Despite all political media hoopla, the Bo Xilai case reflects failures that are typical to rapid economic development, concomitant political shifts and judicial culpability in all countries, including the United States." Comparing Chonqing to 1920's America ("Chicago on the Yangtze"), Steinbock concludes "It took decades for most advanced economies to get their 'degree of government' right in the early 20th century. Today, China is coping with similar challenges."
In his speech to the UN on September 24, President Obama promised to work for Middle East peace - in seeking a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, in peacefully resolving the dispute with Iran over their nuclear capability, and in eliminating Syrian chemical weapons. The biggest policy change in Obama's speech was the thaw in relations with Iran, initiated by the election of moderate Hassan Rouhani as President of Iran several months ago. Western nations suspect Iran is developing nuclear weapons capability. Iran has long denied this, saying that its aim is to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes as is their right as signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Al Jazeera reported on Obama's speech and the movement towards a peaceful resolution of the nuclear dispute. "The United States wants to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue peacefully and is not seeking a regime change, President Barack Obama said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday. Obama said there should be a solid basis to reach an agreement on Iran's nuclear program following recent statements from Iranian leadership, and directed Secretary of State John Kerry to pursue a deal...Obama said Iran's Supreme Leader's recent fatwa against the use of nuclear weapons signals hope for a breakthrough in nuclear talks. He also mentioned the Iranian victims of chemical weapons attacks by Iraqi troops in the final days of the Iran-Iraq war in 1989 – an attack facilitated by the sharing of U.S. intelligence with the Iraqi regime to the detriment of Iranian forces...[and] he acknowledged U.S. involvement in the ouster of the democratically-elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq in 1953..." The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, noting that Prime Minister Netanyahu still appears "not prepared to examine the possibility of renewed diplomatic efforts", advises that it would be "a serious mistake for Israel and the international community to ignore the recent declarations from Tehran and the change underway in the Iranian government."
The Egyptian government continued its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the party of the recently deposed President Mohamed Mursi. As reported on the Euronews website Thursday: Egypt’s high court has issued a ruling on the Muslim Brotherhood outlawing its activities and freezing its assets...Some pro-Mursi activists say all the measures to quash the Brotherhood will have little effect. The movement, founded in 1928, has been banned in Egypt for much of history and has survived all threats to its existence. Euronews correspondent Mohammed Shaikhibrahim reported from Cairo: “The question remains – how can Egypt achieve real national reconciliation after the decision to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from the political scene? It’s been a major political force for decades.”
The UN Security Council voted unanimously to inspect Syrian chemical weapons facilities. The resolution requires destruction of "all its chemical weapons production facilities by November and [the dismantling of] all its poison gases and nerve agents by the middle of next year, under an accelerated timetable drawn up by the world's chemical weapons watchdog [the OPCW]....The plan states that Syria should 'complete as soon as possible, and in any case not later than 1 November 2013, the destruction of chemical weapons production and mixing/filling equipment'....UN secretary general [Ban Ki-moon] said that the resolution banning Syria's chemical weapons could not become 'a licence to kill with conventional weapons'. He called for a new Syria peace conference in mid-November." [The Guardian, Sept.27]
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On September 27, Haaretz reported on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' speech at the UN General Assembly. Stating that the current round of peace negotiations appears to be a "last chance to realize a just peace", Abbas reaffirmed that Palestinians were not interested in interim agreements or transitional arrangements. "Our objective is to achieve a permanent and comprehensive agreement and a peace treaty between the state of Palestine and Israel that resolves all outstanding issues and answers all questions, which allows us to officially declare an end of conflict and claims.” Abbas called for an end to the continued settlement activity that was undermining the negotiations. 'There is an international consensus - among the countries of the world, international and regional organizations and the International Court of Justice - on the illegality and illegitimacy of these settlements," he said....Abbas called on the assembly to envision 'a future in which Israel will gain the recognition of 57 Arab and Muslim countries and where the States of Palestine and Israel will coexist in peace.'Pope Francis' recent interview in the Jesuit publication America received widespread praise from around the world. In it, he calls (again) for a new emphasis on the Church's mission of serving the poor rather than focusing narrowly on certain issues that divide us: "The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently." He wants a Church that serves as a home for all: “This church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people." In a September 28 article, the UK newspaper The Independent declares Pope Francis to be "not so much a reformer as a radical." Among his other actions, the article cites his reform efforts directed at the conservative Roman curia, his widely reported "Who am I to judge?" comment on gays, his visit to "the southern Italian island of Lampedusa in July – to show solidarity with the African refugees whose flimsy boats find it the easiest part of Europe for them to reach", his moves to "rehabilitate liberation theology – the Latin American movement which said the Church should work for the political and economic, as well as the spiritual, liberation of the poor" and his removal of the "the block on the canonisation of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the champion of the poor in El Salvador...martyred under a right-wing military government."
Photos: Bo Xilai, Chongqing Business District, West Bank & Gaza map are from Wikipedia/Wikimedia.
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