Kenyans Party It Up For Obama Inauguration

Bulls and goats have been slaughtered for the feast. Beer has been stockpiled. Movie screens and projectors were erected.

Across Kenya, neighbors engulfed in political violence only a year ago came together Tuesday to celebrate the U.S. presidential inauguration of Kenya’s favorite son, Barack Obama. Among the revelers will be Dr. Joseph Osoo, who was shopping at a Nairobi market for goat meat for his inauguration party. Osoo, who runs a clinic in one of Kenya’s biggest slums, recalled that at this time last year, he was stitching up machete wounds inflicted by rival party members in rioting that followed Kenya’s disputed election.

“Our election in Kenya really had problems with ethnicity,” he said. “America has shown that this doesn’t have to be that big problem. … Democracy can work.”

The celebrations have helped bring together Kenyans from different ethnic groups who were drawn into the country’s political violence last year. The struggling country of 38 million is proud to boast the birthplace of Obama’s father and it is hard to exaggerate the enthusiasm Kenyans feel for America’s new president.

Role model
The election of a black American president stands as a powerful symbol of unity on this continent, where many countries are still riven between competing ethnic groups and the older generations still remember the injustices of colonialism.

Teachers mention Obama as a role model to their students, advertisers plaster his face across everything from phones to beer and foreigners who sing songs about him at the ubiquitous police roadblocks can be let off without paying a bribe.  For many, the inauguration was a chance to make a little extra cash. One in five Kenyans struggle to get by on less than a dollar a day and many hope to cash in on the country’s Obama connection.

There are plans for a museum in his family’s home village and tour companies are already hawking Obama-themed holidays. Denis Mwangi, a 21-year-old business student, said he had sold 50 Obama T-shirts on Monday, more than he usually sells in a weekend.

“Obama is a great inspiration for all of us,” he said. “Obama should inspire people to be better and stop judging people according to their ethnicity.”

Nairobi’s famous Carnivore restaurant, where tourists dine on alligator and giraffe, said it had ordered an extra 240 crates of beer for partygoers watching the inauguration.  Bulls and goats were slaughtered in Kogelo village in western Kenya, where many of Obama’s Kenyan family live. Around 3,000 people congregated at a local primary school to celebrate. Women dressed in colorful printed cloths performed traditional dances to the rhythms of cowhide drums.

In the nearest city, Kisumu, a local Obama look-a-like drove through the town in a honking convoy of cars, motorbikes and bicycles before he arrived at a local sports stadium, where he planned to deliver one of Obama’s speeches.  But the celebrations have not been without controversy. Kenyan papers reported a team of ministers has flown to America to watch the ceremonies. However, the ministers had no invitation to the ceremonies, and would be watching the festivities from their hotel room televisions.

Anti-corruption campaigner Mwalimu Mati said Kenyans should not just be celebrating, but looking carefully at their own leaders.

“In Kenya, the biggest problem is a failure of leadership. People are getting poorer by the day,” he said. “Obama is an icon of hope, but he should also be a standard.”

Source: msnbc

Poland US Signed Missile Defence Base Deal Upsets Russia

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart have signed a deal to build a missile defence base in Poland.

The agreement prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former Soviet satellite.
Rice dismissed comments from Russian leaders, who say Warsaw’s hosting of 10 US interceptor missiles just 186km from Russia’s westernmost frontier opens the country up to attack.

Such comments “border on the bizarre, frankly,” Rice said, speaking to reporters in Warsaw.

“When you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988,” she said. “It’s 2008 and the United States has a… firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland’s territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it’s probably not wise to throw these threats around.”

The deal has strained relations between Moscow and the West, ties already troubled by Russia’s invasion of its former Soviet neighbour, US ally Georgia, earlier this month.

“The Russians are losing their credibility,” said Rice.

Rice and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski signed the deal yesterday morning.

“It is an agreement which will help us to respond to the threats of the 21st century,” she said afterwards.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said the agreement came after tough but friendly negotiations.

“We have achieved our main goals, which means that our country and the United States will be more secure,” he said.

After Warsaw and Washington announced agreement on the deal last week, top Russian general Anatoly Nogovitsyn warned that Poland is risking attack, and possibly a nuclear one, by deploying the missile defence system, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported. Poles have been shaken by the threats, but Nato secretary general Jaap de Hoop dismissed them on Tuesday as “pathetic rhetoric”.

“It is unhelpful and it leads nowhere,” he said at a Nato meeting in Brussels, Belgium.

Many Poles consider the agreement a form of protection at a time when Russia’s invasion of Georgia has generated alarm throughout Eastern Europe. Poland is a member of the European Union and Nato, and the deal is expected to deepen its military partnership with Washington. Polish president Lech Kaczynski also expressed “great satisfaction” at the outcome of the long months of negotiations.

Poland and the US spent a year and a half negotiating, and talks recently had snagged on Poland’s demands that the US bolster Polish security with Patriot missiles, in exchange for hosting the missile defence base. Washington agreed to do so last week, as Poland invoked the Georgia conflict to strengthen its case. The missiles are meant to protect Poland from short-range missiles from neighbours — such as Russia.

The US already has reached an agreement with the government in Prague to place the second component of the missile defence shield — a radar tracking system — in the Czech Republic, Poland’s southwestern neighbour and another former communist country. Approval is still needed by the Czech and Polish parliaments.

No date has been set for the Polish parliament to consider the agreement, but it should face no difficulties in Warsaw, where it enjoys the support of the largest opposition party as well as the government.

Source – Irish examiner

Oil Speculators To Be Probe By British MPs [Oil $146/Barrel]

  

Source – Wikipedia

Concern over the possible role of speculators in driving record crude oil prices has prompted the House of Commons’ Treasury select committee to hold its first hearing into regulation of London’s oil markets, John McFall, the committee’s chairman, said on Thursday.

The development is a sign that the intense political pressure to address – or, at least, be seen to address – the causes of high oil prices are emerging in Britain after initially appearing in the US. In recent weeks, Congress has held multiple hearings on the issue. 

The US House of Representatives last week passed by a big margin legislation requiring the US futures and commodities watchdog, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to “utilise all its authority, including emergency powers, to take steps to curb excessive speculation in the energy futures markets”.

Mr McFall, a Labour MP for West Dumbartonshire, said that the two US presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, as well as independent senator Joseph Lieberman, all had expressed concern about the role of speculation in oil markets.

He said he planned to hold a hearing into the issue – set for July 15.

Mr McFall told a meeting of the UK’s parliamentary liaison committee: “There is a real problem here. We really need to some action because it’s reported there is $260bn of speculative money in the oil futures market.”

FULL STORY

• Investors Bet On Oil $300 This Year

It Has Always Been About Oil

We somewhat had given up searching for commentary on the news surrounding Western oil companies worming their way back into Iraq to exploit its oil fields again after being kicked out by Saddam Hussein. For those still brainwashed by the usual rhetoric out of Washington, the below article was taken from Barbados Underground posted by Green Monkey from Toronto Sun a previous online edition we had use in the past and forgot all about!

These wars are about oil, not democracy

By ERIC MARGOLIS
Toronto Sun

PARIS — The ugly truth behind the Iraq and Afghanistan wars finally has emerged.

Four major western oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and Total are about to sign U.S.-brokered no-bid contracts to begin exploiting Iraq’s oil fields. Saddam Hussein had kicked these firms out three decades ago when he nationalized Iraq’s oil industry. The U.S.-installed Baghdad regime is welcoming them back.

Iraq is getting back the same oil companies that used to exploit it when it was a British colony.

As former fed chairman Alan Greenspan recently admitted, the Iraq war was all about oil. The invasion was about SUV’s, not democracy.

Afghanistan just signed a major deal to launch a long-planned, 1,680-km pipeline project expected to cost $8 billion. If completed, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) will export gas and later oil from the Caspian basin to Pakistan’s coast where tankers will transport it to the West.

The Caspian basin located under the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakkstan, holds an estimated 300 trillion cubic feet of gas and 100-200 billion barrels of oil. Securing the world’s last remaining known energy El Dorado is a strategic priority for the western powers.

But there are only two practical ways to get gas and oil out of land-locked Central Asia to the sea: Through Iran, or through Afghanistan to Pakistan. Iran is taboo for Washington. That leaves Pakistan, but to get there, the planned pipeline must cross western Afghanistan, including the cities of Herat and Kandahar.

SNIP

Washington disguised its energy geopolitics by claiming the Afghan occupation was to fight “Islamic terrorism,” liberate women, build schools and promote democracy. Ironically, the Soviets made exactly the same claims when they occupied Afghanistan from 1979-1989. The Iraq cover story was weapons of mass destruction and democracy.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2008/06/22/5953041-sun.php

• UPDATED – US Can Strike Any Country From Within Under New Agreement

• US Can Strike Any Country From Within Iraq Under New Agreement
• UN Any Attack On Iran Will Spark Fireball In Region

Bush ‘May Convert To Catholicism’

First it was Tony Blair. Now President Bush may follow suit. The rumours are flying left, right and centre that President Bush may convert to Roman Catholicism from his Methodist roots.

The Independent  states that Bush was given the royal tour around the Vatican grounds by the pope instead of the usual greeting in the papal library. Also noted is the fact that President  Bush brother Jeb converted to Catholicism on marrying his wife Columba, a Mexican.

I wonder what the atheists have to say about that one.

US Airlines Facing Bankruptcy – The Implications For Caribbean Tourism!!!

Many international airlines are heading into difficult times as the price of oil keeps skyrocketing with no reprieve in sight. It does not look like we will ever return to the days of $40, $60 or $70 a barrel on earth.

A study out of Washington show that several large and small US airlines will default on their obligations to creditors which ultimately can lead to bankruptcy. The airlines are in deep debt. Many persons have lost their jobs just to keep the airlines afloat. This is worrisome news for us in the Caribbean. The region depends on tourism to pays its bills. Already airlines have cut back flights. A new $15 fee is charge to US passengers for their first checked bag on domestic flights and maybe just a matter of time before that applies to international flights as well.

How many times have we heard that the region needs to diversify in other areas? Now every one is scrambling to come up with ideas. I say it is a sad case of a little to late. The family that decides to go to the Olympics Games in China other than the usual Caribbean vacation or rather stay home is showing prudent in their hard earned dollars. Already car rental agencies and some hotels have reported sluggish bookings here.

There is talk of a private sector regional airline back by World Bank finances and whilst that may have its merits I don’t believe in putting all ones eggs in a basket.

By the end of 2008 into 2009 if oil prices continue its current trend US commerical aviation will be heading towards a catastrophe according to the study.

Right now it is in full blown crisis.

Further reading – US Airline Industry Headed Toward “Catastrophe’ At Current Oil Prices

Boy 13, Dies After 2 Days Tie To Tree

Whilst Bajan parents continue to debate the merits of corporate punishment which is just one form of discipline, there are those parents who do go to the extreme to punish their child or children for various behaviours that they themselves have difficulties withor the child have reach a point where it absolutely have no respect for authority in or outside the home.

Whatever the situation it does not excuse a parent or parents to tie a child to a tree as a form of punishment. That is simply child abuse. Some people would not even tied their dog to a tree.

North Carolina parents Brice and Sandra McMillan parent tied their 13 year old son to a tree not once but twice.  He was found dead by his stepmother. The couple have since been charged with murder. His crime? Disobedience.

Furhter reading – Boy,13, Dies After Parents Tie Him To Tree As Punishment

Chavez To Next US President: Let’s Work Together

Hugo Chavez wants to work together with the next US president, the Venezuelan president said Saturday, adding that Venezuela and the United States should cooperate to resolve problems including world hunger, energy shortages and climate change.

But Chavez also warned that George W. Bush “will be much more dangerous during the last months that he has left” in the White House, and accused the outgoing US president of attempting to orchestrate his assassination or spur a military rebellion in Venezuela.

“Whoever is the next president of the United States, I’d like start preparing the way to start working together,” said Venezuela’s socialist leader.

By cooperating, both countries could “help save the world from the food crisis, energy crisis and climate crisis,” he added.

Further Reading – Chavez: Venezuela Wants To Cooperate With Next US President

UPDATED – US Can Strike Any Country From Within Iraq Under New Agreement

The US is holding hostage some $50bn (£25bn) of Iraq’s money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the US occupation indefinitely.

 The accord threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November.

US Can Strike Any Country From Within Iraq Under New Agreement

A proposed Iraqi-American security agreement will include permanent American bases in the country, and the right for the United States to strike, from within Iraqi territory, any country it considers a threat to its national security, Gulf News has learned.

Senior Iraqi military sources have told Gulf News that the long-term controversial agreement is likely to include three major items.

Under the agreement, Iraqi security institutions such as Defence, Interior and National Security ministries, as well as armament contracts, will be under American supervision for ten years.

The agreement is also likely to give American forces permanent military bases in the country, as well as the right to move against any country considered to be a threat against world stability or acting against Iraqi or American interests.

US Navy Patrols In Venezuela Waters Rattles Chavez

A few days ago after after violating Venezuela air space, the Pentagon has announced that it will reactivated the Navy’s fourth fleet to patrol Venezuela waters.

That’s right folks. The US navy is gearing up their patrols in the area. Of course Chavez will have something to say about that.

“They don’t scare us in the least. If a North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] exists, why can’t a SATO exist, a South Atlantic Treaty Organization?”

Venezuela Questions US Diplomat

The Venezuelan government is to summon the United States ambassador to explain the violation of its airspace by an American military plane.

Foreign minister Nicolas Maduro said the plane was detected near the Caribbean island of La Orchila on Saturday.

The Pentagon has acknowledged that a US Navy maritime surveillance jet DID did stray into Venezuelan airspace after experiencing what it called “intermittent navigational problems”.

The State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US respects Venezuelan sovereignty.

But Mr Maduro said the ambassador will still be called in. His colleague, defence minister General Gustavo Rangel Briceno, says he thinks the flyover was deliberate.

Source – BBC Caribbean

Forty Years On, Bank Beer Finally Makes It To The US Mainland

It was long in coming but we finally made it. Fantastic.

Read full article here

Daily Mail Reports – Dick Cheney And Condoleezza Rice ‘Authorised Waterboarding Torture Of Al Qaeda Prisoners

The story is as follows.

The White House was directly implicated for the first time last night in the decision to torture Al Qaeda prisoners.

Sources say that Vice President Dick Cheney and a handful of other top politicians met in secret and agreed to the mistreatment of prisoners, according to ABC TV News and the Associated Press.

As part of the decision-making process, they were given demonstrations of the techniques used.

And as a direct result, the CIA was given the go-ahead to punch suspected terrorists, deprive them of sleep, and practise waterboarding – simulated drowning.

According to the sources, Mr Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, then Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Attorney General John Ashcroft met in the White House following the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

They agreed to authorise what they call “enhanced interrogation techniques” as the Bush administration has defined “torture” only as actions which are designed to cause serious injury or death.

However, experts have said that waterboarding is so horrific that even the most hardened terrorists have not been able to stand it for more than a minute without begging to talk.

While there have long been suspicions that the White House was involved in the decision, the actions have until now been blamed on the CIA and unnamed officials at the Pentagon.

Voters in the US has been so disgusted at the use of torture that there will now be great pressure to prosecute the White House leadership – especially Mr Cheney, who is generally seen as the most hardline of the alleged offenders.

President George Bush does not seem to have been present at the meetings and great precautions appear to have been taken to keep him out of the decision-making process.

But there was speculation last night that Mr Cheney – who is very close to the president – would almost certainly have told him in secret. It is claimed that the decision could not have been made without his implicit consent.

According to ABC there were literally dozens of White House meetings to discuss the treatment of suspected terrorists.

According to the sources, Mr Ashcroft – the nation’s chief legal officer at the time – ruled that the interrogation techniques were legal. However, he said he was worried by the White House meetings to discuss them.

He argued that senior presidential advisers should not be involved in the grim details.

At one meeting he apparently said: “Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly.”

Mr Bush has said repeatedly that the United States does not condone the use of torture.

However, the techniques used to extract information from prisoners are undeniably controversial.

Waterboarding was pioneered in the Dutch East Indies in the 16th century. Prisoners are strapped to a board and turned upside down as water is streamed over a cloth wrapped around or inserted into their mouths.

The effect is akin to gagging or choking, and the process rapidly induces the most extreme panic in those subjected to it.

Supporters of the technique say it does no long-term damage to the human body; opponents claim it damages the lungs and brain while wrists and ankles can fracture as the victim struggles to break free.

CIA sources also claim that the practice has saved lives because vital information about terror plots has been discovered.

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou claims waterboarding has been used on three Al Qaeda suspects including Abu Zubaida, accused of training jihadist terrorists, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind 9/11.

Although Mr Kiriakou left the agency three years ago, and relies on hearsay from his former colleagues, he claims that both men “broke” in a few minutes – far longer than the 14 seconds CIA men averaged when they researched the technique by using it on themselves.

A former intelligence official said that those who attended the dozens of White House meetings agreed that “there’d need to be a legal opinion on the legality of these tactics” before using them on Al Qaeda detainees.

He described Mr Cheney and the top national security officials as deeply immersed in developing the CIA’s interrogation programme during months of discussions.

At times, CIA officers would demonstrate some of the tactics, or at least detail how they worked, to make sure the small group of “principals” fully understood what the detainees would undergo.

The White House meetings were also attended by George Tenet, then the director of the CIA.

Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy severely criticised what he described as “yet another astonishing disclosure about the Bush administration and its use of torture”.

“Who would have thought that in the United States of America in the 21st century, the top officials of the executive branch would routinely gather in the White House to approve torture?” he said.

“Long after President Bush has left office, our country will continue to pay the price for his administration’s renegade repudiation of the rule of law and fundamental human rights.”

The American Civil Liberties Union called on Congress to investigate.

“With each new revelation, it is beginning to look like the torture operation was managed and directed out of the White House,” ACLU legislative director Caroline Fredrickson said. “This is what we suspected all along.”

The White House and all of those allegedly involved refused to comment last night.

To ABC News Team

Dear ABC ‘Talk Back’ News Team,

Thank you for your interest in Bajan Global Report and to share our thoughts “on Raul Castro’s lifting of some restrictions on Cuban citizens— including whether it has change your view on the communist island and what the future may hold for U.S.-Cuban relations.”

Unfortunately we will have to decline the offer. Being very busy people that we are, we just do not have the time to do any video segments on Cuba or any relating to such as this blog alone demands our fullest attention.

If you find any original article[s] here however, feel free to use with credit to ‘Bajan Global Report’.

Thanks for your understanding.

Bajan Global Report.