Two thoughts after reading this:

The Chinese government has defied international anger at its crackdown on Tibetan independence protests, accusing the Dalai Lama and his “splittist clique” of being out to destroy the Olympics and damage China’s international reputation.

a) You’ll never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator. ‘Hey, you in the decadent West. The Dalai Lama wants to ruin your running and jumping about, the bastard,’ says China.

b) What international reputation? We know they’re bastards but we’re addicted to cheap tat. They could build a Death Star in high orbit if they like, we’re not going to rock the boat. It’s why we’re not seeing wider outrage. If it was Cuba doing this, people would be going ballistic.

The Daily Mash:

IF Britain wants to pay more than £15 for a DVD player then it may as well just go ahead and boycott the Beijing Olympics, the prime minister said last night.

Oh, what a heady whirl it is to be European Commissioner for Trade for Peter Mandelson! Bono, Bill, Gordon and Miliband major. Mwah, mwah. Peter could have danced all night. And still have begged for more. His favourite restaurant? L’Idiot du Village.

If he was honest, I bet Peter wishes he’d been born into the court of Louis XIV. The intrigue, the romance, the unbelievable balls. Then he could have worn a real powdered wig, a dab of rouge and one of those little beauty spots on his cheek. Instead of the metaphorical versions.

A good one this one:

Russia’s foreign ministry said Wednesday it would temporarily close regional offices of the British Council cultural organization, marking a further deterioration in bilateral relations.

…

“I think it’s a very sad fact that there are two countries in which the council is not allowed to operate. That is Burma and Iran,” British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said, using the former name for Myanmar.

“I just hope the announcement today from Russia does not signal they are taking steps down that road. That is unwholesome company in which to be.”

Except the British Council has got offices in Rangoon and Tehran.

Young Miliband really must try harder with his propaganda. It’s not as if the material isn’t out there.

(Via Private Eye)

Total insist that their presence in Burma has helped to make the place more liberal, because they’ve engaged in “constructive engagement” with the regime. That’s how to deal with murderers: never mind stopping them, constructively engage with them by helping them out. If only Maxine Carr had thought of this. She could have said, “Instead of whining from the outside about Ian Huntley I decided to constructively engage with him,” and by now she’d be in the House of Lords.

read the rest

Just look at them. Most of us can’t even be bothered to summon the energy to change the channel if there’s something crap on the telly. These people are walking and walking and walking, not even knowing if they’ll be coming back.

It remains to be seen just how we can help with what’s happening in Myanmar right now. Who knows? The protesters may yet prevail. It’s a question of hoping that the junta don’t on this occasion give into their baser instincts and kill more people that they already have. It’s also to be hoped that something comes out of the discussions at the UN for a change.

In the mean time, there’s the small matter of a petition (via Rachel). If anybody has anything else we can do, I’d love to hear about it.

Jamie Kenny’s keeping tabs on some of the best blogging that’s emerging. Read the bit about Buddhist psychological warfare. Just amazing.

UPDATE: An excellent post from Davide.

UPDATE UPDATED: Just had an email which might be of interest to anyone based in Brighton:

In support of the peaceful protest by monks and nuns in Burma.

* This Sunday (30th Sept), and the following two Sundays *

Organised by Stephen H. and supported by the Free Burma Coalition.

All info: Stephen on 01273 746351 / 07816 865355 / henntsp@yahoo.com:

This is to inform you of three peaceful Dharma Yatras (silent walks) taking place on Sunday 30th September, Sunday 7th October and Sunday 14th October in support of the monks and nuns who are peacefully demonstrating in Burma. The walk will leave the Palace Pier at 12 noon and end at the Peace Statue (Hove lawns) each day. Please assemble at the pier entrance between 11.30am – 12 noon. Members of the Free Burma Coalition will attend the walk.

For a brief explanation of what Dharma Yatra are see.

For an example of how Buddhists use Dharma Yatra see.

Unfortunately, the last time the monks led peaceful demonstrations in Burma, in 1988, hundreds were shot and thousands of innocent men women and children were murdered. Since then tens of thousands have been systemically tortured.

Various Buddhist groups and organisations are supporting this peaceful Dharma Yatra.

Yours in Dhamma,

Stephen

The email also came with links to some YouTube movies:

Channel 4’s Despatches: Burma’s Secret War

BBC News: Oppressive government in Burma

UPDATE: I like this.

(Via Jamie)

From the classifieds:

Pouting, brooding, ever-so-slightly insecure 50-something would-be strongman, WLTM similarly minded for domination, tussles, skirmishes and possible hot-cold relationship. Can provide own baby oil. Let Vlad impale you. PO BOX putey-cutey.

It’s how I want to go.

He better have a good alibi:

A goat that gained international notoriety last year after getting married to a Sudanese man who indecently assaulted her has died after accidentally choking on a plastic bag.

The black and white goat called Rose swallowed the plastic bag while scavenging for scraps on the streets of Juba, a town in southern Sudan, it was reported today.

‘Accidentally’ choked. Yeah, right. I hope the police are checking Rose’s will to see who the beneficiary is. What the hell was the husband doing while his wife was out on the streets? Feet up with a beer, no doubt. Or blogging.

And what about the children?

Following the marriage Rose had a male kid…

No! Was it Randy Pan, the Goatboy? Alas not…

…but “not a human one”, Mr Rhodes [editor of the Juba Post] said.

I love the fact Mr Rhodes thought clarification was necessary. And who gets custody? Will the husband be able to take the child in or will it be too painful to be reminded of his late wife every day?

Update: The BBC have a book of condolence.

Update updated: It’s in no way an excuse but we’ve all been there:

The man involved confessed to the villagers that he was drunk when he mounted Rose and was not in his senses.

It’s true what they say: Men are from Mars and goats are from Venus.

Doctors used to say that people who die in an alcoholic coma inflict a severe insult to the brain, and this seems to have been the cumulative effect of his rule in Russia on the Russian people. They loved our Levis and yearned for our freedom, or so the story goes, so we endorsed for them a drunken clown whose lucid moments were devoted to the enrichment of his cronies. Sometimes he would defend parliament, at other times shell it with tanks. Why? Don’t remember, it’s all kind of woozy. Anyway, the man was a sport.

read the rest

The Prime Minister’s announcement this week that he wants a proper job after he leaves Number 10 was met with some approval. ‘It’s about bloody time,’ was the sane person’s response. ‘Whatever I do afterwards, it has to have real purpose to it,’ said Tony of his retirement plans. If he’d only said that all those years ago when he gave up being a lawyer to become a politician, we might not be in the mess we are now.

Meanwhile the Blair Premiership continued on its meandering, meaningless way, like an elderly, senile and incontinent tomcat looking for somewhere to pass away with a scrap of dignity. The Middle East was Tony’s destination to sprinkle the seasonal magic fairy dust of peace on earth and goodwill to all.

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Eight Men in One Room can change the world: the economic structure of it, anyway. But they won’t. These eight men didn’t get where they are by helping the world’s poor, but by pandering to lobbyists and agribusiness, and sending pork home from every international shindig. Ordinary people like us aren’t constrained. Given the choice between some very expensive awareness-raising plus a police baton charge or two, and 6,500 childhoods, I know which one I take. Every time.

read the rest…

Everyone has an opinion about Venezuela. Even me, though I’m not sure what it is yet. This poll, carried out by this company ahead of December’s scheduled elections, suggests Venezuelans themselves are pretty sure…

read the rest

Spending ranged from $18 per person in Africa, $45 in Asia, $112 in Central and Eastern Europe to $248 in the Middle East, $530 in Western Europe, and $1435 per person in the United States, SIPRI said.

read the rest

I haven’t written much about Venezuela and Chavez of late. If anything, things have been a bit quiet - a period of detente, you might say - between Chavez and the US administration. Republican attack dog Senator Norm Coleman - a man who’s been calling for Kofi Annan’s head of late - even paid Chavez a cordial visit in the last month.

But I wanted to mention this:

The Guardian: Let them read Quixote

The Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has printed one million copies of Don Quixote to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of Cervantes’ novel. This week they are being handed out free in public squares for the improvement of his citizens, while at the same time our politicians are also on the streets distributing material of infinitely less literary merit. So, for making this wonderful novel freely available to Venezuelans, hats off to Hugo, whose devotees incidentally are known as chavistas, but not for the reasons that link them to Wayne or Colleen.

It’s a classic Chavez gambit - like most of them - that will make is his supporter say, “that’s ace,” and his detractors say “what a prick”.

BBC News: Prince’s Mugabe handshake gaffe

Prince Charles has made a diplomatic gaffe on the eve of his wedding, by shaking hands with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at the Pope’s funeral.

In fairness to Chas, it was an easy mistake to make. Like Jack “it was quite dark” Straw, he probably thought he was shaking hands with Thabo Mbeki or Kofi Annan. Or Linford Christie.

Sammy Davis Jnr?

This exchange during a debate in the Commons yesterday about lifting the EU arms ebargo with China is worth noting:

Mr. Mark Simmonds (Boston and Skegness) (Con): There is a strong and growing alliance against lifting the EU embargo. All the informed regional players—the United States, Japan, Australia, Russia and South Korea—are, for regional security reasons, all against lifting the ban.

In the context of China’s anti-secession legislation, which talks about using non-peaceful means against Taiwan, is it not time that the UK Government stopped vacillating and that the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary took a principled stance on this issue?

Mr. Rammell: I seem to recall that the arms embargo was put in place in response to the events in Tiananmen square and that the first Government to visit Beijing after that event was the previous Conservative Government.

Let me deal with the hon. Gentleman’s specific concerns. As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, he recognises that the political environment has become more difficult in the light of the passing of the anti-secession law in China on 14 March. Nevertheless, China is a major strategic partner in the international community and the hon. Gentleman needs to reflect on whether it is right to put China in the same basket as Burma and Zimbabwe. We do not believe that it is, and we are protected by the EU code of conduct. There are questions and concerns across the EU and we must deal with them effectively. As I said, that process will take as long as it takes.

That’s Bill Rammell, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

…the hon. Gentleman needs to reflect on whether it is right to put China in the same basket as Burma and Zimbabwe. We do not believe that it is…

I beg to differ. As do Amnesty International. In their report, The death penalty worldwide: developments in 2004, Amnesty say:

Based on public reports available, Amnesty International estimated that at least 3,400 people were executed in China in 2004, but the true figures were believed to be much higher.

Those executed included a minor. One case involved a pregnant woman charged with heroin smuggling who had her pregnancy forcefully terminated - Chinese law prohibits the execution of pregnant women - so she could be executed if found guilty.

Neither Burma nor Zimbabwe feature in the report.

It’s a useful mental exercise this - you could spend all day and learn a lot. Visit Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International and decide for yourself “whether it is right to put China in the same basket as Burma and Zimbabwe” or not.

Again, it’s the evil of banality and other such cliches. To be honest, I’ve almost stopped raising my eyebrows at the innate ability of these managerial types to paper over the crimes and abuses of those they want to do business with. I imagine most people never did, which is a shitty state of affairs in itself.

There’s been some concern expressed by the Bush Administration of late about some of Venezuala’s overseas purchases. To wit: they’re a bit on the naughty side:

Indianapolis Star: Venezuela’s AK-47 deal concerns Rumsfeld

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday criticized Venezuela’s reported efforts to purchase 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Russia, suggesting that Venezuela’s possession of so many weapons would threaten the hemisphere.

“I can’t understand why Venezuela needs 100,000 AK-47s. I personally hope it doesn’t happen. I can’t imagine if it did happen it would be good for the hemisphere,” the defense secretary said.

Scoop: Having it both Ways – US On Arms Sale to Venezuela

On March 29, Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez announced that a $1.7 billion (€1.3 billion) sale of vessels and airplanes is currently being negotiated. This deal, which will involve coast guard boats, frigates and aircraft, had officials in Washington muttering under their breath.

Chaves has also signed a deal to buy ten Russian military helicopters for $120m.

Which is why page 210-211 of the Foreign Office’s fourth quarterly Strategic Export Controls Report for 2004, released yesterday, should make for interesting reading at the Pentagon.

Among the items the FCO granted companies permission to export to Venezuela under Open individual Export Licences last year were:

components for naval electronic warfare equipment, components for naval mines, components for torpedoes, components for submarines, components for aircraft carriers, components for combat aircraft, components for combat helicopters, components for heavy machine guns, components for surface to air missile launching equipment, components for guided missile decoying equipment, components for weapon control systems, components for naval light guns, components for anti-ship missiles, components for surface to air missiles, components for anti-submarine rocket launching equipment, components for depth charges, components for heavy machine guns

What are Donald and Condie going to say when they see that little lot? Here’s another taste of what Rice has had to say about Hugo Chavez, this time speaking to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in October 2004:

We haven’t yet gotten to the discussions of political liberalization in Libya, but in international politics it’s always important to say, “Is the trend positive or is the trend negative.” Here I think the trend is probably positive.

In Venezuela, I can’t make that argument. I think President Hugo Chavez is a real problem. I think he will continue to find ways to subvert democracy in his own country. He will continue to find ways to make his neighbors miserable. He will continue his contacts with Fidel Castro, maybe giving Castro one last fling to try to affect the politics of Latin America, which is not a good thing. He’s involved in ways in Colombia with the FARC (Marxist rebels) that are unhelpful.

The key there is to mobilize the region to both watch him and be vigilant about him and to pressure him when he makes moves in one direction or another. We can’t do it alone. This is a region where if we try to do it alone, we actually probably strengthen him. But the OAS (Organization of American States) can do a lot. We’re hopeful that the recognition that he’s not following a democratic course will help mobilize the OAS to do that. They have done it before — with Peru they did it. Watching his activities and making it costly at least politically for Chavez to carry out anti-democratic activities either at home or in the region is really about where we are.

This Chavez guy sounds pretty dangerous. And he’s sitting on a sea of oil. He’s clearly planning for acts of external agression. The argument that he might by shoring up his defences in the face of US sabre-rattling is ludicrous*. Why are we selling him weapons components?

The Foreign Office’s Strategic Export Controls Report for 2004(PDF, 685KB) as a whole makes for gripping reading - some of you won’t be surprised to hear that we sell all kinds of unpleasant items to all kinds of unpleasant people.

Consider this the first in an occasional series.

*I’m being sarcastic.

BBC News: Annan urges sweeping UN reforms

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged governments to endorse “bold and far-reaching” reforms of the body.

In his report (PDF, 1MB, 62 pages), Annan outlines a number of measures, the two that caught my eye being enlarging Security Council from 15 to 24 members and the replacement of the Commission on Human Rights with a “Human Rights Council”.

Taking Security Council enlargement first, Annan supports “the position set out in the report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change (A/59/565) concerning the reforms of the Security Council, namely:”

(a) They should, in honouring Article 23 of the Charter, increase the involvement in decision-making of those who contribute most to the United Nations financially, militarily and diplomatically, specifically in terms of contributions to United Nations assessed budgets, participation in mandated peace operations, contributions to voluntary activities of the United Nations in the areas of security and development, and diplomatic activities in support of United Nations objectives and mandates. Among developed countries, achieving or making substantial progress towards the internationally agreed level of 0.7 per cent of GNP for ODA should be considered an important criterion of contribution;

(b) They should bring into the decision-making process countries more representative of the broader membership, especially of the developing world;

(c) They should not impair the effectiveness of the Security Council;

(d) They should increase the democratic and accountable nature of the body.

Two achieve this he suggests two possible solutions:

Model A provides for six new permanent seats, with no veto being created, and three new two-year term non-permanent seats, divided among the major regional areas.

and

Model B provides for no new permanent seats but creates a new category of eight four-year renewable-term seats and one new two-year non-permanent (and non-renewable) seat , divided amonng the major regional areas.

It’s quite clear that while Annan’s models makes the Security Council “representative of the broader membership”, by not seizing the nettle of the issue of the current permanent members’ vetoes, they do not “increase the democratic and accountable nature of the body”.

As George Monbiot says in his book, Age of Consent, while acknowledging the historical reasons for the vetoes…

…the problem with the way the Security Council has been established is that those who possess power cannot be held to account by those who do not… The Security Council is, by definition, tyrannical… The truth is that the threat of veto informs every decision the Security Council does or does not make. Other member states know perfectly well, for example, that there is no point in oreparing a resolution which the United States will reject.

Merely expanding the membership without addressing the fundamental undemocratic principle of the permanent members is not reform in the sense most of us would understand.

Those of us with a cynical bent can all too well imagine how this proposal is being taken in the White House. After all, newly-nominated US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, once said:

“If I were redoing the Security Council, I’d have one permanent member: the United States.”

That said, it’s difficult to see that real power is being devolved in either of Annan’s proposals for reform. There’s no real threat posed to vested interests and the status quo.

On the issue of the replacement of the Commission on Human Rights with a “Human Rights Council”, however, Annan pulls fewer punches. It’s almost as if this is a subject closer to his heart or realises he has more chance of pushing through real reform. He doesn’t name names but he certainly addresses the failings that have dogged the current Commission:

The Commission’s capacity to perform its tasks has been increasingly undermined by its declining credibility and professionalism. In particular, States have sought membership of the Commission not to strengthen human rights but to protect themselves against criticism or to criticize others. As a result, a credibility deficit has developed, which casts a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole.

The present Commission reached its nadir in 2003 when Libya was elected the body’s chairman. As Human Rights Watch said of Libya:

Over the past three decades, Libya’s human rights record has been appalling. It has included the abduction, forced disappearance or assassination of political opponents; torture and mistreatment of detainees; and long-term detention without charge or trial or after grossly unfair trials. Today hundreds of people remain arbitrarily detained, some for over a decade, and there are serious concerns about treatment in detention and the fairness of procedures in several on-going high profile trials before the Peoples’ Courts. Libya has been a closed country for United Nations and non-governmental human rights investigators.

Sudan also manages to get itself re-elected to the Commission last year despite the crisis in Darfur. Libya got the nomination for chairman through horsetrading among the others African nations on the body, a practice that is rife in the wider membership where deals are made to so that countries on the Commission can avoid censure.

The 59th annual session of the Commission was regarded as particularly tawdry. A detailed account of proceedings is available at Reporters sans frontières but here are some of the highlights.

- Paragons of virtue Algeria, China, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, Zimbabwe and Sudan helped water down a motion to condemn Cuba’s treatment of dissidents.

- A block of Muslim countries on the Commission banded together to push through a resolution condemning religious intolerance. Islam was the only religion cited.

- 17 members - Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Burkina Faso, China, Cuba, Gabon, Libya, Malaysia, Uganda, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo and Vietnam - abstained from a vote on “the interdependence between democracy and human rights”.

- The “non-action” motion, a procedural contortion that means there need be no vote on a motion and debates truncated, became prevalent. China was the trick’s most notorious exponent, but in 2003 South Africa also presented one to rescue Zimbabwe from censure.

- The Pakistani delegates threatened to table a hundred amendments in order to filibuster a draft resolution on rights for homosexuals. This after a non-action motion to kill the resolution had been narrowly rejected.

No wonder then, that the then UN High Commissioner, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was prompted to ask of the Commission: “What has happened with its role of protecting and promoting human right?”

In response, Kofi Annan’s proposal for replacing the Commission lacks detail, merely stating:

Member States should agree to replace the Commission on Human Rights with a smaller standing Human Rights Council. Member States would need to decide if they want the Human Rights Council to be a principal organ of the United Nations or a subsidiary body of the General Assembly, but in either case its members would be elected directly by the General Assembly by a two-thirds majority of members present and voting. The creation of the Council would accord human rights a more authoritative position, corresponding to the primacy of human rights in the Charter of the United Nations. Member States should determine the composition of the Council and the term of office of its members. Those elected to the Council should undertake to abide by the highest human rights standards.

The key phrase being “members would be elected directly by the General Assembly by a two-thirds majority of members present and voting” which should go along way to thwarting the block voting which has seen egregious human rights violators voted onto the current 53-member Commission.

Of course, these are just proposals from Annan which have to be discussed, debated and ultimately voted upon by the UN’s members. No doubt vested interests, collusion and horsetrading will play a part shold any of the proposals get off the page and onto the floor of the Assembly.

Annan himself is also seen as something of a damaged figure in the wake of a number of scandals. Calls for him to step down, admittedly largely from the Republican right in the US, are growing. it seems his drive for reforms may be his final pitch at a lasting legacy.