Sunday Round-Up July 14, 2013

This is the weekly selection from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at NSA Spying and Kerry's efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Sources include Pravda, Mother Jones, Haaretz, and the Calgary Herald.

NSA Spying and Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden, the whistle blower who brought to everyone's attention details of the extent of the NSA surveillance programs, is reported ready to request political asylum from Russia - at least until he can arrange safe passage to one of the Latin American countries that have offered him asylum. He is currently confined to the Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and is prevented from flying to other countries because US allies are denying him access to their airspace. Pravda reported Friday on Snowden's airport meeting with human rights activists. "During the meeting, Snowden thanked all countries that sent him their offers - Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador. Snowden said that he could not fly anywhere from Sheremetyevo, so he could not address...international organizations because...his personal presence would be required....Snowden wants to stay in Russia and the only way to do it is to receive political asylum...'No actions I take or plan are meant to harm the U.S. .. I want the U.S. to succeed,' Snowden said. In a July 12 post in Mother Jones, Kevin Drum writes: "One of the arguments about Edward Snowden that I've occasionally gotten caught up in is: What difference has he made? Has he really told us very much we didn't know before? In a broad sense, you can argue that he hasn't." Much of what Snowden has revealed was either known or at least suspected by the more paranoid among us. But, Drum continues: "It's one thing to know about this stuff in broad strokes. It's quite another to have specific, documented details. That's what Snowden has given us, and it makes a big difference in public debate. A Quinnipiac University poll released this week demonstrates this vividly. Three years ago, only 25 percent of Americans thought the government had gone too far in its anti-terrorism efforts. Policywise, nothing much has changed since then, but in 2013 that number has shot up to 45 percent....This is how change happens. The public gets hit over the head with something, lawmakers are forced to take notice, and maybe, just maybe, Congress holds oversight hearings and decides to change the law."

Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz

reported on July 4: "Palestinian officials said...that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is closing in on an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians to relaunch peace talks for a period of six to nine months....Two Palestinian officials familiar with the negotiations said that Kerry has floated a compromise in which Israel would freeze settlement construction outside of major "blocs" that Israel expects to keep.... 'Kerry is trying to pave the way for relaunching the peace process. He is serious and we encouraged him. He made progress and we hope he can conclude a deal in the coming week,' said one official." A week has passed since then and nothing concrete has happened. 

Michael Gerson, commenting from Tel Aviv in the Calgary Heraldon July 11 quotes

former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and reviews the impediments to an early breakthrough: "The arguments for Israel to define its borders through a two-state settlement remain strong. 'Given the history and heritage of the Jewish people,' Olmert says, 'we can’t occupy forever three or four or five million people without equal rights.' ....An agreement, he argues, would increase Israeli legitimacy, open global markets and make a Jewish state more demographically sustainable. But these arguments seem abstract and long-term ....The majority of Israelis vaguely support a two-state solution, but there is no critical mass of political support for concessions in that cause." Gerson reluctantly concludes: "Majorities of Israelis and Palestinians support a two-state solution. The broad parameters of a deal have been clear since the Clinton administration....The American secretary of state is energetically on the job. But little is likely to change."

Sunday Round-Up - June 23, 2013

Iranian Elections

In what nearly all observers think is a good sign for Iranian relations with the West, Hassan Rouhani won a landslide victory in the Iranian presidential elections "promising better relations abroad and more freedom at home".   Rouhani won the election outright after securing more than 50% of the vote - far ahead of the next candidate, who received just 16% of the vote - and thereby avoiding the need for a run-off.   Al Jazeera reported: "In a statement, reported by the Iranian media on Saturday, the president-elect hailed his election as a victory of moderation over extremism:  'This victory is a victory for wisdom, moderation and maturity... over extremism.' "  The jubilant crowds celebrating in the streets were a marked contrast to the demonstrations following the 2009 presidential election, when results showed the conservative Ahmadinejad had won over the reformist candidate.   According to Al Jazeera's analyst: "The outcome will not soon transform Iran's long tense relations with the West, call into question its disputed pursuit of nuclear power or lessen its support of Syria's president in the civil war there - matters of national security that remain the domain of [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei. But the president runs the economy and wields important influence in decision-making and Rouhani's meteoric rise could offer latitude for a thaw in Iran's foreign relations and more social freedoms at home after eight years of confrontation and repression under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." The pace of change will ultimately be decided by the Ayatollah Khamenei, whom Rouhani visited on Sunday (June 16) after the election. [Reuters]

[Photo: Al Jazeera]

 

NSA Surveillance, Snowden and Hong Kong

The US has charged 29 year old whistle-blower Edward Snowden with espionage. Kind of ironic, isn't it?   They are charging the person who blew the cover on the NSA's warrantless surveillance with spying.   Snowden meanwhile remains in Hong Kong.   Thursday's South China Morning Post reported on the commentary in China's "party newspapers."  Reporting on an article in the Global Times, it noted the Times commentary "that Hong Kong should follow public opinion in handling the case, not worry about Sino-US relations and 'be more spontaneous'."   Public opinion in Hong Kong is strongly supportive of Snowden.  The People's Daily said "the Prism scandal was America's trouble in the first place", but some US politicians were trying to "create a new link between China and the scandal with their own imagination" by hinting that Snowden was a Chinese spy. It said such a link was 'nonsense' and Beijing should ask the 'big mouths' to shut up. "Pouring dirty water on China shows how American politicians are embarrassed and anxious," it said. Both articles indicate that China is determined to separate the Snowden case from overall Sino-American relationship.

[Photo from South China Morning Post A banner supporting Edward Snowden, a former contractor at the National Security Agency, is seen at Central district. Photo: David Wong]

 

UPDATE - 9AM EDT, 6/23/13

Edward Snowden is reported as having left Hong Kong today.  Hong Kong officials had rejected the US request for extradition "since the documents provided by the U.S. government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law."  Hong Kong had requested more information from the US and said that "there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

Palestinian Diaspora Forgotten?

Thursday was World Refugee Day. Press TV reported on the plight of the victims of what they termed the world's largest and longest standing refugee crisis:  "Following World Refugee Day, The Palestinian Liberation Organisation called upon the international community to hold Israel accountable for one of the largest refugee crises, since Israel displaced Palestinians from their homeland in 1948.   Palestinian refugees constitute the largest and longest standing refugee crisis in the world with up to 6 million 1st and 2nd generation Palestinian refugees scattered around the world unable to return to Palestine." Palestinian refugees have the right of return per UN resolution 194 which resolves "that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date. It further states that compensation should be paid if they do not wish to return." In the on again/off again push towards a two-state solution and the attempts to resuscitate the long-moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process, many Palestinians feel that international law is being ignored as all parties "continue to insist that refugees should wait indefinitely to return home."   The Syrian Civil War has added significantly to the plight of the refugees.  530,000 Palestinians are registered with the UN as refugees in that country.  The United Nations News Centre reported on June 17: "Warning that the centrifugal force of the Syria crisis continues to imperil the region, a senior United Nations agency official today said that more than half of the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria have become 'theatres of war,' where killings and kidnappings have become the norm.  According to the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Filippo Grandi, seven out of 12 of the agency’s camps are now virtually inaccessible." 

[Photo: UNRWA]

Brazil 2014 World Cup Protests

Brazil has won five World Cups - more than any other nation. It is the fifth most populous country and, depending on what list you use, has between the sixth and ninth largest economy. Still its social inequity has been as legendary as its Rio de Janeiro slums. Things have been improving somewhat for Brazil's poor especially since the election of "pink revolution" hero Lula (Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva) as President in 2002 and his succession by Dilma Rousseff.  Pulsamerica opined in a January article: "Though Brazil remains a country of stark contrasts, its strides against poverty and inequality cannot be underestimated. It can be argued that until recently the focus in Brazil has always been on reducing poverty rather than combating income and social inequality overall, however, an emphasis on distribution, creating more job opportunities, investing in structural education systems and addressing discrimination are being implemented to ensure more equality in the future." But the movement towards more social equality is far from complete. (See, for example, Harper's Magazine's June 2013 article "Promised Land" by Glenn Cheney about the efforts of Sister Leonora Brunetto for agrarian land redistribution.) Just how far from complete the march towards equality is was demonstrated this past week as protests erupted against the money being spent on 2014 World Cup preparations (~18 bln USD) . As reported Friday in the Daily Mail: "More than a million Brazilians took to the streets of at least 80 Brazilian towns and cities in demonstrations that saw violent clashes and renewed calls for an end to government corruption and demands for better public services. Riot police battled protesters in at least five cities, with some of the most intense clashes in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 300,000 demonstrators swarmed into the city's central area." At least one person has been killed in the rioting.  President Rousseff , who was "a former Marxist rebel who fought against Brazil's 1964-1985 military regime and was imprisoned for three years and tortured by the junta, pointedly referred to earlier sacrifices made to free the nation from dictatorship. 'My generation fought a lot so that the voice of the streets could be heard,' Rousseff said. 'Many were persecuted, tortured and many died for this. The voice of the street must be heard and respected and it can't be confused with the noise and truculence of some troublemakers.' " The protests continued Saturday.

[Photo from Daily Mail website (copyright Marco Isensee/Demotix: "Revolution: A football shirt-clad protester waves the Brazilian flag through clouds of smoke and teargas during violent clashes between protesters and police in Rio de Janeiro"]