Afghanistan: We kill f**king civilians all the time

Keep an eye out for an online documentary coming soon called the battle for hearts and minds. This is a sneak preview below, only one and a half minutes or so and well worth a glimpse. As Obama tries to resolve his procrastination - to surge or not to surge - over Afghanistan, this documentary is set to give Americans a real uncomfortable close and personal view of events around the cosily coined "battle for hearts and minds." Some notable quotes from the trailer below: "We are experts in the application of violence..... ECHO company is going to change history starting early tomorrow morning .... We kill fucking civilians all the time". This will not only open American eyes to the illusion of their military might (please check out a previous post that interviewed Seymour Hersh, well known American journalist, on this issue) but it will also touch the hearts and minds of Afghans and their neighbours for generations to come!
/PC

Droning on, the Cubicle Warriors

War is peace, the party said, in Orwell’s prescient 1984. My first reaction when I saw Obama had won the Nobel peace prize was one of satisfaction, that this man of relative peace (compared to his predecessor) had been honoured, perhaps too soon, but honoured nonetheless. I was a bit peeved for Morgan Tvangirai, a mighty man if ever there was one, but Obama getting the Nobel call felt kinda good, fluffy, warm.

But, as the New Yorker magazine reflected, Obama would probably have preferred to get the Olympics for Chicago as a present from the Skandies. “At least at the Olympics the judges wait till after the race to give you the gold medal. They don’t force it on you while you’re still waiting for the bus to take you to the stadium. They don’t give it to you in anticipation of possible future feats of glory, like a signing bonus, or an athletic scholarship. They don’t award it as a form of gentle encouragement, like a parent calling “Good job” to a toddler who’s made it to the top rung of the monkey bars. It’s not a plastic, made-in-China “participation” trophy handed out to everyone in the class as part of a program to boost self esteem. It’s not a door prize or a goody bag or a bowl of V.I.P. fruit courtesy of the hotel management. It’s not a gold star. It’s a gold medal.”

Let’s remember that this is a wartime president. And this war is unlike any war that has preceded it. The Obama administration, according to the New Yorker in a different article, has carried out an may unmanned drone strikes in ten months as the Bush administration did in its last three years.

Drones are unmanned planes, effectively missiles, that are being used more and more in the lawless and impenetrable “Tribal Areas” of Pakistan. Last March the US government allowed Pakistani authorities to nominate its own targets.

Now, while Drones are touted as deadly accurate, more so than dropping bombs (or for that matter packing a car full of semtex and just driving right at the target), according to the New America foundation (which has links to the New Yorker magazine) as many as 320 innocents have been killed by these American robots since 2006: http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/revenge_drones

And drones are working. Half of the top 20 most wanted Al Qaeda terrorist suspects have been taken out of service. But surely, the (presumably quite large) families of the 320 innocents are at risk of being radicalized when they see their loved ones vaporized by … well, by whom?

The New Yorker says that the job of piloting these missiles halfway round the world is, wait for it, outsourced. The joysticks are being wiggled by civvies sitting in cubicles in Bartfark Ohio (or maybe not even in the US at all, maybe in the Drone pilots equivalent of a call centre in Chennai, “hello, this is Raj, who can I help you kill today?”).

This makes for interesting dilemmas for the rules of war. Back to the New Yorker: “If the United States can legally kill people from the sky in a country we are not at war with, other countries will argue they can do the same thing.”

The cubicle warriors could be considered by international law to be engaged in warfare, when, viewed from the neighbouring cubicle, they are just jiggling an Xbox.

/JL

Climate Change - a Force for Global Unity?

This week is crucial in the countdown to the Copenhagen Climate Conference as world leaders gather for the UN Climate Summit in New York to hammer out details and nail down final positions. 


And welcome surprises could yet be in store with reports (against the grain) emerging about China and India taking decisive leadership on this crucial issue.

It could yet be that the threats posed by climate change will unite old foes, dissolve the fog of politics and cleanse the senses of the Great Polluters. And, leading the charge (and the change), the mighty multi-tasker himself, Barack Obama, gave a characteristically rousing and impassioned speech at the UN earlier today.


Get involved - your voice counts

The surprising thing is that many are just waking up to the fact that climate change is very much about people (and not just polar bears). People around the world are suffering the impacts of climate change right now.  Vulnerable communities, rich and poor, need to be assisted so they can protect themselves and better adapt to the known and unavoidable impacts down the road. 

(By way of anecdote - we ran out of room on our website last week so inundated were we with stories of flood disasters spanning the globe from Nepal, India, Turkey, Burkina Faso and Sudan among others. All of them unprecedented, affecting millions of people and causing countless millions worth of dollars in damages that will take years to rehabilitate. Nor does this under-estimated figure include the sizable development investments that have been lost and that will now have to be rebuilt from scratch - if the money can be raised, again).

One of the best Climate Change movements out there at the moment - in HDEO's humble opinion - is called Tck Tck Tck. (HDEO is a proud partner). It is an unprecedented global alliance of non-government organizations (including Oxfam, Greenpeace, WWF and many many others), trade unions, faith groups and people like you—all calling for an ambitious, fair and binding climate change agreement. 

There is little doubt that the Copenhagen conference next December is a defining moment in our contemporary history. In the face of such adversity the only option is to join forces, put our differences aside, and do something other than point the finger or drown in denial. It is a time to unite in solidarity. Time to act at the individual level. 

As John F. Kenney once said: “Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man.” 

And .... THIS just in from Google! And this from the Guardians of all that's good.
/PC

Here's to you Mrs. Robinson

HDEO is still lost in the wilds of Andalucia. Access to internet is rare and to international media rarer still. Word did get through however about a prestigious honour bestowed on one of our great human rights advocates, former Irish President, Mary Robinson.

In a lavish White House ceremony this evening, Mary was awarded the Medal of Freedom - one of the highest civilian honours in the US - by President Barack Obama. She was one of 16 people being honored, including Senator Edward Kennedy and physicist Stephen Hawking.

In a statement from Dublin, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said the award was a fitting tribute to Mrs Robinson. "Throughout her career, in particular in her role as President of Ireland and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and more recently through her work as founder of the Ethical Globalisation Initiative, Mary Robinson has been an outstanding advocate and champion for human rights and fairness for all. Irish people everywhere are very proud of her being honoured by this award and her many achievements during a distinguished career of advocacy," he added

Mrs. Robinson was Ireland's first female President and served from 1990 until 1997 and she also worked as a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for five years until 2002 where she earned a no-nonsense reputation often taking to task the core members of the UN Security Council itself.

Well done Mary - keep fighting the good fight.

p.s. HDEO will be back in full post-holiday swing from 24th of August.

/PC

A conversation with Seymour Hersh

In a HDOE special report, eminent journalist Seymour Hersh talks about Obama’s mistakes, America’s moral responsibilities and the wonders of Al Jazeera.

As a lifelong media junkie I have always had some journalist pin up idols that I have avidly consumed, tracked and studied. Robert Kaplan and Mark Bowden (both, by coincidence contributors to the Atlantic magazine, my favourite by far) rank among the best investigative journalists of the times in my opinion. But Seymour (aka Sy) Hersh is the journalist that sits atop that exclusive group of reporters who can lay claim to original writing, meticulous research and fact-checking, illuminating analysis, dancing prose and, maybe most important of all, a scribe whose writing actually means something, stands the tests of time and becomes a catalyst for deep-seated change.

Hersh’s Pulitzer winning writing has always been a mirror to society (usually American society, but not only). It always challenges our comfort zones, presumptions and prejudices. For 45 years Sy has been banging out his master pieces. His style is quiet unique in modern-day journalism. He can spend the best part of a year methodically researching a story before publishing articles the likes of which expose the My Lai massacres during the Vietnam war, the abuses of Abu Ghraib or the real reasons behind Israel’s bombing of Syria in September 2007. 

He has always been a living hack hero of mine. And it’s not often you get to meet your heroes, which is what happened to me on the 12^th of May in Dubai where I encountered Sy at the Arab Media Forum. Here are a few notes that I jotted down during and after, scrawled out here more or less verbatim.

Sy claimed that he came to the Arab media forum out of gratitude for the ‘empirical evidence’ they have presented during the Bush-Cheney adminstration. “Evidence that clearly showed us the brutal truth about the worst government in our history. We (the American media) failed in our mission. The press did not challenge Bush-Cheney but instead became cheerleaders after 9/11 for their WMD lies and blindly hooted for a war we were never going to win . The US press has lost so much credibility with the American people, and after the blind dance with Bush-Cheney, we are now doing the same with Obama just because he isn’t Bush!”

Obama’s deeds do not match his words

“Obama’s words are wonderful. I love them, who couldn’t? But his deeds are very unsatisfactory and he is making a hypocritical and terrible mistake in Afghanistan. He is perpetuating the Bush-Cheney mentality that force works. He is continuing with the arrogance of empire by telling the Afghans and Pakistani’s “we know what’s best for you”. Afghanistan is a war that cannot be won yet Obama has agreed to a surge of 17’000 troops. This will in essence be 17’000 more dead civilians, 17’000 more Taliban and God knows how many more body bags filled with young American men. Obama has jumped feet first into the trap that airpower and military strength are all that is needed to defeat the Taliban. It is very upsetting to watch our President going down a one-way road to Hell.”

Al Jazeera’s leading light

“Al Jazeera has had an enormous impact and has broken the west’s monopoly on how the world views conflicts in the Middle East and beyond. Their coverage of Gaza was nothing short of remarkable. While most American people are still denied the right to view Al Jazeera many networks were forced to carry their reports and images simply because they were so insightful. Gaza also proved, if needed, the objectivity and professionalism of Al Jazeera – a media organization that Bush-Cheney planned to bomb into oblivion at one time simply because its coverage exposed their lies about how the consequences of war on civilians in Iraq. 

Al Jazeera still knocks out great reporting from Gaza but the world doesn’t seem to care. Why don’t more media write about Gaza? Why don’t more media write about what is not happening in Gaza (movement of goods and people, employment, education, health) – where people are being daily denied their basic rights. And why do the media not write about the collaboration of Egypt in all this? Why is that story not confronted? When is Israel going to realize that all it takes is to provide people with what they need to live their lives in dignity? Obama should realize this fact in Afghanistan instead of stacking up the military might.” (Head down Eyes Opener in Chief, during a recent visit to Al Jazeera hq in Doha).

What is this New America?

“The truth about Afghanistan raises questions about what the new Obamamerica will be. In America there is no discussion on what is our moral obligation to the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan whose societies we have bombed and whose loved ones we have killed and tortured. All we talk about is “bringing the troops home” but nothing about what we are leaving behind or what responsibilities we have to right the wrongs of our violence on innocent civilians. I often try to picture an Iraqi child who was around three or four years of age when Rumsfeld arrived with his shock and awe. That boy is about ten today. What is his world view? What sort of a man will he grow into?”

Hersh concludes with unveiled counsel to Obama: “In America today there is still a collective fear based on ignorance about the Middle East – fear is dominant. George Bush helped my career enormously. I just hope Obama doesn’t!”

/PC

Rescue the railroad towns

Yesterday, Friday 06th of March, I took the early morning Amtrak express (known as the Acelas) out of Penn Station in New York. My destination was Washington DC, some 3hrs away. 24hrs later I am back on the Acelas, New York-bound and taking in the ‘scenery’ for a second time. This train ride is a real eye-opener. It provides a close-up view of what we can call Amtrak America; scenes from the railroad. The first impressions I had yesterday were quiet negative to say the least so I am double-checking them right now. What you witness in Amtrak America is not pleasing to the eye. In fact it is mind-numbingly dull and decrepit. Great hulking steel structures lay dilapidated and rusted, neglected monuments to former glory.


These twisted configurations were once workhorses in freight yards and docklands; corrugated warehouses gleaming with grain; car lots loaded with corvettes and mustangs. Rusted steel, charred beams and rotting rubbish are now the predominant features of this urban landscape. Then there’s the housing. OK, railroad neighbourhoods may not be top end but for three hours between DC and NY all you see is low income box houses that would have demolition orders slapped on them anywhere else in the world. Boarded up, broken down and beat up but still being lived in. Trundling through Baltimore for instance you are confronted with stark rows of bunched-up box houses that haven’t seen a lick of paint or a minimum of maintenance since they were hurriedly banged together in the fifties (with the cheapest of materials no doubt). Their smashed windows are mostly blocked out from the outside world with sheets of graffitied plywood (or maybe blocked out from the prying eyes of Amtrakkers). These neighbourhoods just scream out for “Change”.


Stimulation across the nation

The economy and the new Administration’s so-called stimulus package is the talk of the day in the US today, and nowhere more so than in the political engine of northwest DC. Although my time was short in DC it was intensive with meetings and discussions long into the evening and I got a clear and certain feeling that Obama-mystique is fading fast as the scary reality of the financial crisis checks in. The economy and the new administration’s stimulus package are the only story in town. This morning’s headline in the venerable Washington Post does not aim to reasssure: “Job losses could drown Stimulus” it declares. Does this mean that the much-heralded stimulus package is already doomed before it starts?

Obama’s stimulus package (on which large chunks of his burgeoning reputation depend) is around U$787 billion dollars and the main stated objective is to “save or create” about 3.5 million jobs. But here’s the thing, the US has already bled nearly 4.5m jobs since the recession began. And few are escaping recession’s blunt axe.

Everyone I met yesterday spoke about recent lay offs close to home. One group was going through a massive 30% cut of its workforce – a thousand people laid off. Another felt grateful that “only” sixty-four people were laid off last week. Two of my dinner companions had just been laid off from jobs they had plied successfully for more than ten years. Inside the Post’s pages you read mostly economic gloom and doom.

Encouraging headlines are not in evidence. It seems there is little room right now for words such as ‘Hope’ and ‘Change’. In their place you are served up stories such as: Job losses threaten to overwhelm US Crisis Response; US Jobs outlook darkens; Sinking stock options; Markets reach 12 year low; Career fairs filled with anxiety; Harsh week for stocks; Recession snags plan for wild horse reservation; and even, in the sports pages, a story about the bankruptcy of Magna, owner of America’s most famous racetracks. So it seems there is no escape even for the apparently recession-proof world of gambling.

No more secrets

In the editorial pages, there is a white-knuckled swipe at Swiss banking secrecy that urges Obama’s team to up the pressure and break the banking system that is believed to be aiding and abetting US tax dodgers. The Post estimates that these tax evaders number more than 54’000 US citizens and are suspected to be secretly hoarding as much as U$8 billion in Swiss bank accounts. In fact, this figure is considered the absolute minimum. The truth could be much much higher. Americans, and the normally gentile Washington Post, are in no mood for time-worn polemics about ‘banking tradition’ and it is likely just a matter of time before the Swiss are forced to relent and repent. A friend of mine, who works as a senior wealth manger in a major Swiss-based bank, reckons that funds benefitting from secrecy could amount to 30% of the Swiss economy. I find this hard to believe but he is convinced and he knows the business better than most. Even if he is less than half wrong, and such funds account for say 10% of the Swiss economy, then the stability for which neutral Switzerland is famed will be massively, irreparably dented. Few economies could survive such a blow without widespread pain and hurt.

Meanwhile, the Acelas trundles closer to New York. We are crossing a body of slime water on a rickety rust-bucket of a bridge near Philly. The Amtrak vista has not improved. This is just a tiny slice of America I know but it is the portion that lies between what are arguably the two most important cities, DC and NY. From where I sit you would need a truckload of stimulus packages to fix and clean the mess scattered around the railroad towns of the east coast. Pretty it ain’t though the graffiti does seem to be improving as we approach New York.$

/PC

Transatlantically Yours - a New York memory

I am writing this at 30’000 miles up in the sky -- flying transatlantic from Geneva to New York -- and will post it as soon as I touch down (this did not happen as hoped. Wifi is difficult to access in NY unless you pay for it!). Despite being someone who basically feels much closer to Boston than Berlin I don’t often get to the United States in my line of work. And, as a young student and wanderer my compass more often than not veered eastward. The last time I set foot in the US was in 2004 when I attended the wonderful institution of Harvard for a month or so to complete an advanced diploma in international law (the precise name of the course was: Contemporary Challenges to the Laws of War – a controversial subject close to my heart and one that we will touch on another day). Both Harvard and Boston were a fantastic experience and one full of weird and wonderful happenings. Here is a taste for your delectation:

On my first morning in Boston I went looking for the down-homiest deli I could find to have a typical American breakfast experience. I chose one, a mile or so from the centre of Cambridge, run by two brothers which boasted the best burgers in Boston. It looked suitably lived-up for me so in I went. The place was quiet apart from the two brothers squabbling like an old married couple. I sat myself at the counter, ordered eggs over easy, and was soon joined by a friendly middle aged blonde who sat up on the stool next to me. Turns out she was Katie Couric (I had not heard of her at the time) and was waiting on some guy who she was planning to interview for her NBC show “Today”. The guy in question arrived soon after and sits up on the other side of me (thinking probably that I was hanging with Katie) points at my t-shirt (suitably Irish-themed for my Boston experience), shoves out his paw for a handshake and says “hey, I’m Irish too”. To cut to the chase the guy in question was Ben Affleck. I was a bit taken aback as I had literally just gotten out of bed and had been only a few waking hours in the great town of Boston and now found myself breakfasting with Ben and Katie. As it turned out, Ben (and his buddy Matt Damon) lived just up the road from the Deli (can’t remember its name) and he was in town to speak at the Democratic Convention (which was to nominate the great flip flopper to run against George W.).

Now, speaking of the Democratic Convention – this was the same one when a little known but rising political star by the name of Barack Obama was slotted in as a keynote speak. As a political junkie I was keen to get into the Convention and eventually managed to wangle my way onto the fringes thanks to a tale and pint-swapping session with a rowdy bunch of Boston-Irish democrats in a local watering hole. It happened to be the evening when the Great Unknown senatorial candidate spoke and inspired. Looking back, it seems his aura or reputation or both had preceeded him because there was palpable anticipation in the air. His speech was indeed powerful and memorable along the lines of the ‘change’ theme that he has since made his own (the photo accompanying this blog was taken on my phone at a recent climate conference in Poznan Poland). I remember being impressed with his youthful appearance (among a throng of crusty silver-haired types), inspirational oratory style and in particular a confidence that charmed rather than chastised. Within an hour I was back in the watering hole with my Boston-Irish minders where the topic of the day was the smoking ban in Boston’s pubs.

My last time in New York itself was less impressive in terms of meeting the likes of Ben, Katie and Barack, but very memorable as one of life’s crossroads. I actually last left NY in January 1995 to return to Ireland to take up an offer from Geneva to join the International Red Cross for a six-month assignment in Azerbaijan as an Information officer. I remember the journey back very well. Sitting in the back of an Aer Lingus plane with my good friend John ‘Hoppy’ Flanagan, the two of us puffing endlessly on cigerettes, drinking whiskies, and playing cards. The wonderful Irish air hostesses couldn’t give us enough miniatures of the pure drop. I distinctly remember one of them sitting down with us to smoke a fag and play a hand of poker. How times have changed! They’ve turned planes around and had people arrested on arrival for less these days. Coming into land in Shannon I remember a fleeting realization that Ireland was actually a rock in the middle of the Atlantic. In retrospect, this realization has done wonders for my tolerance of Ireland’s God-awful weather. Shur what else can we expect sitting unprotected out in the cold unforgiving Atlantic? Anyway, off to Azerbaijan I went for six months, fully convinced that I would soon be back to NY to pursue a career in journalism and TV. But, I stayed 18 months in Azerbaijan, and then another 18 months as I became inextricably attached to the former Soviet republics and then …… Basically, it has taken me nearly fifteen years to return to NY. And I do so with the humanitarian bug firmly stuck in the system.

(Posted from Starbucks – on ‘paid-for’ wifi – on the corner of Lexington Ave. and East 40^th Street).

/PC