Georgian Forces Targeted Civilians

The evidence keeps on piling up that the Georgian forces committed atrocities in South Ossetia. If only the mainstream media had scrutinised the situation more thoroughly instead of just believing whatever the Georgian dictator said:

President Mikhail Saakashvili has denied that Georgia's armed forces committed war crimes during their attack on South Ossetia in August.

Evidence obtained by the BBC in the breakaway region suggests Georgia used indiscriminate force, and may have targeted civilians.

Witnesses said tanks had fired on an apartment block, and civilians were shot at as they fled the fighting.

The upcoming protests will certainly be interesting.

Fascist Government Upset at Being Called Fascist

The Italian government has lashed out at an influential Catholic magazine which suggested fascism might be resurfacing within the government.

An editorial in the Famiglia Cristiana weekly is critical of government policy towards the Roma community. [BBC]

Might be? Still, I guess the Catholic church is in a better place to judge than most.

The Good Dictator Faces Impeachment?

Could the former Pakistani dictator (now President) Pervez Musharraf, be on his way out? It's about time that the West's favourite military dictator (and boy, does he have some tough competition) got what was coming to him. Question is, which way will the army swing?

Pakistan's ruling coalition parties say they will begin impeachment proceedings against President Pervez Musharraf.

Party leaders Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif made the announcement after three days of talks. They would need a two-thirds majority to impeach.

Mr Musharraf took power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

He gave up control of the army last year and his allies were defeated in February's elections but he retains the power to dissolve parliament.

Mr Musharraf has previously said he would resign rather than face impeachment proceedings but he has made no comment yet on the latest move.

The BBC's Mark Dummett in Islamabad says an impeachment would take Pakistani politics into new territory, since no Pakistani leader has faced it before.

Pakistan Geared for Part II of the 'Good Dictatorship'

Who would have thunk it? One of America's best friends guilty of rigging an election. The following is taken from Human Rights Watch:

In an audio recording obtained by Human Rights Watch, Pakistan’s Attorney General Malik Qayyum stated that upcoming parliamentary elections will be “massively rigged,” Human Rights Watch said today.

In the recording, Qayyum appears to be advising an unidentified person on what political party the person should approach to become a candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election, now scheduled for February 18, 2008.

Human Rights Watch said that the recording was made during a phone interview with a member of the media on November 21, 2007. Qayyum, while still on the phone interview, took a call on another telephone and his side of that conversation was recorded. The recording was made the day after Pakistan’s Election Commission announced the schedule for polls. The election was originally planned for January 8 but was postponed after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, returned to Pakistan on November 25. An English translation of the recording, which is in Urdu and Punjabi, follows:

“Leave Nawaz Sharif (PAUSE).... I think Nawaz Sharif will not take part in the election (PAUSE).... If he does take part, he will be in trouble. If Benazir takes part she too will be in trouble (PAUSE).... They will massively rig to get their own people to win. If you can get a ticket from these guys, take it (PAUSE).... If Nawaz Sharif does not return himself, then Nawaz Sharif has some advantage. If he comes himself, even if after the elections rather than before (PAUSE)…. Yes….”

Repeated attempts by Human Rights Watch to contact Qayyum by phone were unsuccessful.

Fears of rigging have been a major issue in the current election campaign. Human Rights Watch said that since the official election period commenced in November 2007, there have been numerous allegations of irregularities, including arrests and harassment of opposition candidates and party members. There are also allegations that state resources, administration and state machinery are being used to the advantage of candidates backed by President Pervez Musharraf. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that the Election Commission, which is monitoring the polls, was not acting impartially.

You can hear the audio clip here.

Who would think that a man who overthrew a democratic government, would then load the dice so heavily in his favour with barely a murmour from the US? Only a fool would suggest that Musharraf will lose out in the election tomorrow. He has already won.

Watch Out, Pesky Religious Extremists About....

Yes, once more a bunch of religious zealots are threatening the democratic process. Once more these extremists are seeking to gain power. Once more, fanatics are aiming to destabilise a democratically elected government to suit their own ends. However, this time it's not Islam but the Catholic Church who are at it (via Bloomberg):

It isn't just People's Party leader Mariano Rajoy who's running against Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Spain's Catholic bishops, angered by the prime minister's decisions to legalize gay marriage and speed divorce procedures, are targeting his re-election effort with messages urging their flock to use the March 9 election to overturn what they call "seriously unjust" policies.

While the Spanish clergy has released moral-guidance notes in most elections since Spain became a democracy in 1978, it has never before so pointedly targeted a candidate.

With Mass attendance at its lowest level ever, the nation's Catholic leaders "feel they are under attack by secular forces, and are defending themselves like a wounded beast by lashing back," said Sebastian Balfour, professor of Spanish studies at the London School of Economics. "This shows the extent of the politicization of the church."

In December, the first church-organized protest in 30 years drew 1 million supporters in Madrid; Pope Benedict XVI spoke via video link. The capital's archbishop accused the premier of taking a "step backward for human rights."

Of course, the Catholic church are still bitter that Franco's Catholic obsessed tyranny came to an end and the people had a right to determine the direction of their country for the first time in forty years. Oh how they yearn for the days of the sercet police and 100% church attendence. How they wish another Franco would crush those pesky atheists and secularists. The right's favourite religion, still infatuated with dictatorship and tyranny.

Total - We're The Good Guys.....Honest Guv'

Apologies if this is already common knowledge, but I have been catching up on the news this last week after a hectic few days. Whilst popping into my local, friendly Total garage today, I came across a leaflet outlining its justification for remaining in Burma. The leaflet was predictably full of false sentiment and one passage in particular caught my eye:

'Our presence in Burma brings responsibility, but a decision to leave the country would entail similar responsibilities. If TOTAL left Burma, we would be replaced immediately by other operators who may not apply the same social or ethical standards. There would be no real impact on the State's revenues or on the political debate, but there would certainly be a negative impact on the Burmese people. As long as we believe our operations on the Yadana project contribute to the welfare of the people of Burma, TOTAL is committed to staying and demonstrating that our presence is more beneficial than our absence.'

Yes, all those other oil companies are nasty wicked people, we are good and kind and pure. Mmmmmmm.

The leaflet also draws attention to their website: http://burma.total.com. The website itself is a perfect example of corporate propaganda. Some of it needs to be seen to be believed. The image of Total as an altruistic, benevolent organisation is, frankly, absurd in the extreme. They are in business to make profit, all other considerations are secondary, least of all human rights.

Musharraf - The Dictator Reveals Himself (Much to the Embarrassment of the West)

Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule last night, plunging the nuclear power into crisis and triggering condemnation from leaders around the world.

The action to reassert his flagging authority was, he said, a response to Islamic militancy and to the 'paralysis of government by judicial interference'. He said that his country's sovereignty was at stake.

Judges and lawyers were arrested, troops poured on to city streets and television and radio stations were taken off the air. Musharraf also suspended the constitution and fired the chief justice, Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, who spearheaded a powerful mass movement against him earlier this year.

Last night police arrested opposition politicians and senior lawyers including the chief justice's lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, and Imran Khan. 'Musharraf is acting like a spoiled child, holding the whole country hostage. These are the last days of Pervez Musharraf,' said Ahsan as he was escorted from his home into a police van. Ahsan, who leads the Supreme Court Bar Association, said that lawyers would launch a series of nationwide protests tomorrow.

Soldiers entered the Supreme Court in the late afternoon where Chaudhry and six other judges said Musharraf's declaration that he would rule under a provisional constitutional order was illegal. Chaudhry was reportedly under house arrest last night.

It is funny to see the establishment finally recognise what many have been saying for a long time. Pervez Musharraf is nothing more than a military dictator. The west was keen to ignore this as long as he played along with their game. However, in the light of the recent uprisings in Burma, his imposition of emergency rule and a brutal assault on the judiciary has meant that the west has no option other than to criticise him. If it were not for this assault, it is fairly likely that Musharraf would have been tolerated. After all, this is not the first time he has closed down independent television stations (that went by with barely a mutter). Now that world politicians are so publicly outraged, one question remains. Why did you tolerate a dictator for so long?

Vatican Beatifies Allies of General Franco

In a deliberate move by the Vatican to undermine the upcoming 'law of historical memory', 498 members of the Catholic clergy killed during the Spanish civil war were beatified yesterday. Supporters of the beatification claim it was a long-awaited recognition for the "martyrs" of religious persecution. According to one bishop,

'The beatification is beyond controversy or partisan use. They were men and women who were peaceful and persecuted and suffered death for the simple fact that they were Catholic.'

Only, it was not simply because they were Catholic at all.

The Catholic church played a massive role in the repression of the poor during pre-war Spain. One hundred years before the war, the Bishop of Osma had established the Society of the Exterminating Angel. Founded in 1821, it was established to ensure the extermination of all Liberals in Spain. The Archbishop of Valencia ordered the hanging of a deist schoolmaster in 1827, for heresy. The victim, Cayetano Ripoll was tried and convicted without hearing his defence or being allowed to give evidence. He was initially sentenced to be burnt to death, but this was subsequently changed to hanging. After his death, his body was pulled apart and burned. The church in Spain was very much linked to the wealthy classes in Spanish society and this was reflected in Claudio Moyano's dictum that 'the poor should be respectful and humble with the rich'. It was during this period in the 19th century, that the poor began to lose faith with the Catholic church, indeed they began to loathe it.

It is, perhaps, little wonder that the people rose up against the church at the first opportunity. After all, it has been behind many sickening examples of violence and oppression. The church had become immensely powerful within Spain and had given up all pretence of aiding the weak and the poor. It is hard to blame those who fought back against years of repression by members of the church who played an active role in keeping the poor in their place. But these are facts easily ignored by the Catholic church.

Not only was the church a malevolent factor before the civil war, it remained one during and after. The Catholic church gave a great deal of support to Franco and his nationalists. Throughout his 40 year reign, Franco stuck by Catholic ideals and received the full support of the church. The fact that thousands of opponents of Franco were executed in the immediate post-war period and beyond, hardly seemed to bother the Catholic church. They certainly never condemned it. It was nothing more than a tiny blemish on an otherwise exemplary Catholic regime. And that is where the nature of this beatification comes into play.

The Spanish government, by finally recognising the families of Republican victims of Franco, have the church worried. The Vatican has yet to apologise for its role in the civil war and beyond, and is unlikely to ever acknowledge its mistake in supporting a fascist regime. This action by the Vatican is no more than a pre-emptive strike to get in their first before the socialist government of Spain (who are not as subservient to the church as their predecessors) finally condemns the Franco regime, the executions carried out under the direction of Franco and the summary postwar trials of people accused of opposing his regime. It is mischief making of the highest order. The Catholic church would do well to remember its role in the civil war and makes its apologies, rather than shifting the blame on to the Republicans and washing their hands of the whole affair. No side was blameless of the atrocities committed and certainly not the Catholic church.

Three Thousand People Detained by Military Junta in Burma As Media Go Elsewhere.....

Reports are suggesting that the figure for detainees in Burma is way above the original estimate given by Amnesty International. According to the Herald Sun:

State media also gave a sharply higher figure for the number of people who were detained in connection with the protests, saying 2927 had been locked up around the country and 468 remained behind bars.

Earlier state media had indicated about 2100 people had been arrested.

The newspaper said security forces were continuing to make arrests, despite a statement last week by the UN Security Council demanding the release of all political prisoners.

"Some are still (being) called in for questioning, and those who should be released will be released,'' the paper said.

That this has happened with barely a murmur is totally unacceptable. Real pressure needs to be put on the Burmese dictatorship to ensure that these people are released without charge immediately. As the Burmese uprising drops from the national consciousness, people will continue to suffer at the hands of this despicable regime. That there are no cameras recording the abuses does not mean that it is not still happening.

Andrew Roberts - A Despicable Stain On The Reputation of A Worthy Discipline

On the subject of mad as a box of frogs right-wingers, here's the latest delight from Andrew 'if only it was 1930s Germany' Roberts in today's special piece in The Observer on democracy:

Are dictators ever good?

Very, very rarely, but occasionally. They can be useful in civil wars or near-insurrection, such as in Spain in the Thirties and Chile in the Seventies, to prevent takeovers by Marxist-inspired movements that would deny democracy in the future, since both Generals Franco and Pinochet eventually handed over to a democratic system in a way that until the late 1980s Communists never did. Dictators almost always carry on in office well after the initial need for them has gone, however, and their record on human rights is generally terrible. Presently, President Musharraf of Pakistan is the personification of a 'good' dictator, protecting his country from Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, but he needs to spot the right moment to leave, and the right person to whom to hand over power.

Yes, good old Franco and Pinochet.....they were quite benevolent really, weren't they? As for Musharraf, nice to see Roberts adopting my preferred terminology for him (although the irony appears to be missing), I'm sure those that have been victim to the MQM might think differently though (not to mention his assault on Geo TV).

Not to be outdone, professional shit blogger (Guido Fawkes) adds his weight to the proceedings:

Are women more democratic?

Not in our house.

Andrew Roberts, Melanie Phillips and Guido Fawkes in one day?? Hand me the pills.

Supreme Court Fights Back Against Musharraf

Pakistan's supreme court has overturned Musharraf's suspension of the chief justice. According to The Guardian:

Lawyers and civil society activists whooped with joy at the verdict in favour of Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry - the first time in Pakistan's 60-year history that a civilian has challenged a military leader in court and won. "This is a defining moment for our country - the first time we have true liberty," said Naseer Ullah Khan, a black-suited lawyer on the courthouse steps, where men embraced, shouted, and chanted, "Go, Musharraf, go".

I suspect he won't go without a fight. The pressure is certainly mounting on Musharraf. Just a couple of days ago, The Guardian reported:

A chill has descended over "Mush and Bush", as the Pakistan press dubbed the US-Pakistan axis. And the storming of the Red Mosque 11 days ago - an ostentatious strike against Islamists, killing its leading rebel cleric alongside an unknown number of hostages and students - is unlikely to put him back in favour: this was a seminary Musharraf had let grow since 2002, despite its vociferous endorsement of suicide bombings and the Taliban. While Washington and London continue publicly to characterise Musharraf as the west's best hope of stopping Pakistan's descent into Islamic extremism, in reality they have concluded that it is the general who is easing the path of the jihadis. And he must be stopped.

Gone are the days when he would be warmly described as "one of my best friends" by Bush. So close was the relationship, that the US increased arms exports by 45,000%. Of course, this wouldn't be the first time that a right-wing US administration has armed a dictator. And, as with the previous beneficiary, US troops could soon by operating within his borders. The US has recently been debating military strikes within Pakistan against al-Qaeda. With such mounting pressures, how much longer will it be before Musharraf acts like any other beast that is cornered and lash out at those around him? These are very dangerous times in Pakistan. Faced with two enemies within, and an enemy without, chaos is just around the corner. One must hope that Musharraf can be removed by his own people and democracy, free of foreign interference, can be restored.

Physician Heal Thyself

-around 60% of torture victims report seeing a health professional involved in monitoring their interrogation, setting up how harsh the interrogation can be, and so forth. -

You can read all of this, listen to this, or watch this at Democracy Now!

-After 9/11, the Pentagon began using so-called behavioral science consultants, or "biscuit" teams to help interrogators obtain information from prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. These medical teams reportedly advised the military on how to "break" detainees to make them more cooperative.
Dr. Steven Miles, author of "Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity, and the War on Terror." He is a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School and a faculty member of its Center for Bioethics. He is also a practicing physician.

"the medical system is entirely integrated into the abuse, that there was a structure, there was an actual policy mechanism that can be seen for the delayed release of torture-related homicides, that there was an entire structure for culling patients medical records for information on their vulnerabilities, incorporating that into harsh, incursive interrogation plans, monitoring those plans, designing those plans with psychological insights to exploit the particular characteristics of Islamic men, and then monitoring the disintegration of these men, and feeding that back into the torture plans.

looks very much like, oh, for example, the way physicians were complicit in torturing Argentina or Paraguay or Chile. Basically they hid torture. They delayed the release or concealed death certificates pertaining to deaths by torture. They helped design and monitor harsh interrogations, and they neglected basic medical needs as they failed to record injuries from torture and failed to report that torture up the chain of command or to places that could stop it.he was not a prisoner. He was actually a U.S. employee, and somebody else said that he was getting ready to attack our unit. And, in fact, around 85% of the prisoners in Iraq and 60% in Guantanamo are innocent of any insurgency or al-Qaeda activity by the Military Intelligence's own estimate. In this case, we picked up one of our own employees. So Schlesinger said -- well, the guy blurted out a bunch of names after they fired a gun next to his head, and Schlesinger said, “This is a great example of a ticking time bomb case.” But the problem was --

the guy gave out names of people who were innocent, just because he was scared. We alienated him as an informant, and none of these names panned out. But here's the follow-up to the story: what they did then was they let this lieutenant colonel off very lightly and they allowed him discharge with a pension, okay? And about a hundred congressmen gave him dinners across the United States.

this government’s definition of what’s a legal interrogation is infinitely elastic and so that this is not a profound barrier to psychologists, and it doesn't surprise me that the military will shift over to working with psychologists. In fact, they screen the docs before they go down to Guantanamo to make sure they have no moral objections to force-feeding and then they take the docs who don't have an objection to force-feeding, and those are the docs who get to go to Guantanamo."-

At this moment psychiatrists and their professional body have taken a stand and are generally not involved in the torture regime. However American psychologists have failed to show much backbone, their association passed a bullshit resolution which sounded good but actually allowed them to cooperate with the Bush crime family. Learn more at psychoanalyst Stephen Soldz's blog http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/blog/

Mugabe Opponent Beaten At Airport

Not content with having one opponent beaten, Mugabe has now set upon having another opposition MP beaten. Nelson Chamisa was beaten at Harare airport, on his way to fly to Brussels. From The Guardian:

Mr Chamisa, 28, spoke to the Guardian from hospital where he was awaiting surgery late yesterday. Doctors said he may lose an eye from the assault, which took place in front of frightened travellers.

"Just as I was about to enter the door of the departure area, eight men jumped me and began hitting me with iron bars. I just fell to the ground," said Mr Chamisa. "Nobody is safe in Zimbabwe. There is no security, no rule of law. I am praying for my country."

Pearson Mangofa, an opposition MP who drove Mr Chamisa to the airport, said his assailants shoved away passengers who tried to help him. The men grabbed Mr Chamisa's passport, bags and laptop computer before speeding off in two cars, one without a licence plate.

Seven of them wore suits while one wore an army vest. Mr Mangofa said the attack bore the hallmarks of Zimbabwe's domestic spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation.

Thankfully, there are signs of change. Morgan Tsvangirai claimed that:

"Things are bad, but I think that this crisis has reached a tipping point and we could see the beginning of the end of this dictatorship."

Let's hope so. For the sake of those suffering under state repression.

The 'Good' Dictator

Whilst one dictator is continuing to stick two fingers up to the West with little in the way of punishment (so much for the Blair doctrine), another dictator that has cosied up to the West is facing a major backlash. And yet, as Mugabe is rightly reviled for his disgusting abuses of human rights, the threat to Musharraf poses a serious problem to Bush and Blair. As far as they are concerned, Musharraf is a 'good' dictator that must be supported at all costs to act as a buffer to Islamic militancy (a similar policy to that employed in South America during the Cold War). Much as the West's support of the Shah in Iran has had lasting effects, so could our support of Musharraf have long term effects in Pakistan.

Just last week, Musharraf suspended a top judge of the Supreme Court for 'abuse of office'. What this abuse was has not yet been disclosed, but many suspect that this is an attempt by Musharraf to purge the judiciary of independent voices, particularly with an election due towards the end of this year. This, in turn, has led to massive demonstrations against Musharraf by lawyers and opposition leaders who support the continued independence of the judiciary. The police acted in the manner befitting of a dictatorial state by firing tear gas and arresting numerous demonstrators, including an opposition party leader and a former national president. In Lahore, hundreds of protesters were joined by the former president Rafiq Tarar, who was subsequently arrested and removed from the scene in a police vehicle. In total, over 200 people were arrested in Lahore and more were rounded up in raids in Islamabad and neighboring Rawalpindi.

Not content with an attack on the independence of the judiciary, Musharraf has also launched an attack on the media. On Thursday, the Pakistani government banned a leading prime-time television program because of 'negative coverage' of the President. According to CNN, Kamran Khan, host of "The Kamran Kahn Show" on Geo TV (the most popular channel in Pakistan), was banned from doing his show due to its coverage of the dispute. The attack on the media continued after the demonstrations across Pakistan. After broadcasting footage of police firing rubber bullets into the crowds, Geo TV's offices were raided by the police. According to Geo's bureau chief, Hamid Mir:

"Police have attacked our office, they are breaking windows. They are beating our staff. They have used tear gas shells. Even our female staff have been hurt. They are damaging our building."

So, let's make this clear. Violent attacks on the opposition? Check. Purging the judiciary? Check. Shutting down the media? Check. And that's not to mention the fact that the judge in question, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, has already been roughed up once by the very security services that were sent to 'protect' him. Of course, you would expect the West to be quick to condemn these actions, right? This is how State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack responded:

"...President Musharraf is acting in the best interest of Pakistan and the Pakistani people."

Whoa, easy on the criticism there Sean.

The problem for the West is that Pakistan is a 'vital ally' in the 'War on Terror'. So vital, that Bush threatened to bomb them 'back to the Middle Ages' (such a charmer) if they didn't get onboard. Musharraf is now seen as a pro-Western dictator in the region and is subsequently under some very serious pressure. There is a very real danger of his regime collapsing and a 'vital ally' will be lost. Furthermore, the fact that he is being propped up by the US and UK governments only serves to inflame a region already hostile to the West. The collapse of Musharraf's dictatorship would be yet another nail in the coffin for the foreign policy of the Western powers in the 21st century.