Summer Book Reading List 2009

This is a long weekend for many of us, and there is no better time to enhance your intellectual curiosity than to take a good book with you on your summer vacations. Independence Day is also a celebration of our freedoms, including freedom of speech and press.

So, here are some books I hope to read in the next two months:

Of course, I have to read a book on food politics.

The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food--Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation's Food Was Seasonal

I'm attending the Harlem Book Fair in a couple of weeks, and what better way to celebrate black literature than a book about a Harlem legend.

Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism 1883-1918

I minored in Cold War and post colonial studies in college, and I always wanted to read a book on Krushchev. Before there was Kim Jong-Il, Krushchev was the resident nut of world politics, threathening America will missiles.

K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America's Most Unlikely Tourist

Any other recommendations? What are you reading?

Cuban Revolution Revisited

As the world revels the first day of 2009, Cubans are having more subtle celebrations upon the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.



This BBC video discusses Castro's involvement in Angola.



So what's been going on in and out of Cuba for the last half century? Check out this video I found on YouTube. (Note that it is about an hour long and it is more biased to the anti-Castro point of view.)

At BU, AFRICOM leader talks security, controversy

By Talia Whyte
Originally published in Bay State Banner

Gen. William E. Ward, commander of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), discussed the newly operational command’s accomplishments and future work at Boston University last Wednesday.

During his keynote speech at the university’s African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC), Ward also addressed concerns raised by opponents who are suspicious of the motives for establishing the military command.

Based at the Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, AFRICOM is a military headquarters devoted solely to American military operations and security engagement with 53 African nations. The command was activated at an Oct. 1 ceremony held at the Pentagon. Prior to AFRICOM becoming fully operational, U.S. security matters in Africa were handled by military commands in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Some have expressed fears that the U.S. government plans to use AFRICOM to extend the war on terror into the African continent, and as part of efforts to suppress growing economic competition from China.

Not so, said Ward.

“AFRICOM is designed to address new military demands on the continent,” Ward said. “The challenges will require more than military expertise.”

Aiding in the response to those challenges will be a number of agencies that will lend a hand to AFRICOM’s work on the continent, including the Departments of Homeland Security and Commerce, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Agency for International Development and several African nongovernmental organizations.

During his APARC speech, Ward stressed that building “partner capacity strategies” and working as a team will be critical in helping the organization to better support both African military personnel and civilians.

“AFRICOM is a listening and learning operation,” he said. “We will learn about the different cultures and change programs as appropriate. Our goal is to add value.”

Unlike other U.S. military commands around the world, AFRICOM will focus on preventing wars rather than fighting them, according to Ward. When asked about the possibility of U.S. military forces becoming involved in curbing the genocide in Darfur, Ward said that AFRICOM’s intent is not to make foreign policy decisions in Africa, as those decisions are made in Washington, but rather to make sure that AFRICOM’s duties “are in line with the United States and with our African partners.”

Just what those activities will be has become a matter of concern for some in the international community.

AFRICOM has come under scrutiny from activists for more than a year over the United States’ alleged attempts to militarize the continent in order to barricade it from extremists. Also, with China’s growing economic interests in Africa, opponents see AFRICOM as a means of protecting American trade interests, especially crude oil. Some recall Africa’s history as a target of European colonizers and a strategic bulwark during the Cold War, and are concerned that AFRICOM represents another form of imperialism being imposed by the West.

Opposition to the command has come from African government leaders in Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, South Africa and Nigeria as well as U.S.-based civil society groups like the TransAfrica Forum and the Institute for Policy Studies. They argue that the U.S. government is not being transparent about its intentions for AFRICOM. Last year, Dr. Wafula Okuma, a research fellow at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa, testified before Congress about the growing resistance and hostility toward AFRICOM on the continent.

“Many think the U.S. is very nervous of Chinese economic penetration into Africa,” Okuma testified. “America’s concern is that the Chinese are trying to control the continent’s natural resources and gain influence over it. The U.S. is also worried that radical Islamism is a dangerous idea that could germinate in poorly and badly governed states of Africa … AFRICOM is being sold as an answer to these threats.”

Some opponents have even suggested that African hostility toward the military command is the reason AFRICOM is based in Germany rather than on the continent.

A coalition of activists staged a protest against AFRICOM in Washington, D.C., on Monday during the conference of the International Peace Operations Association, where opponents believe contractors will discuss opportunities for making money off the Pentagon’s new military venture.

“The principles of imperialism on which AFRICOM stands are unmistakable,” said protest organizer Tsetsi Kgama in a recent e-mail message. “With a history marked by the traumas of slavery and colonialism, Africa deserves a foreign policy that respects self-determination and self-governance. Now is the time to dismantle AFRICOM and to condemn U.S. military presence in Africa.”

Responding to these concerns during last Wednesday’s speech, Ward said that “there is no hidden agenda” behind AFRICOM, reiterating that the command exists solely to assist the United States’ African military partners, and assured attendees that it is not being used to fend off Chinese advances.

As for AFRICOM’s home in Germany, Ward said African resistance is not the top reason for making a location decision and that while Liberia has offered to host the command, the command will be based in Germany for the “foreseeable future.” The Kelley Barracks site is near the United States Europe Command, also known as EURCOM, allowing staff from both commands to work together during the transition.

Ward said he has high hopes for AFRICOM’s prospects.

“We are making a difference,” he said. “We are improving security on the continent.”

Many audience members were still uncertain about AFRICOM’s prospects but were glad to see the general make himself available to address the concerns.

The Rev. Richard Clarke, a Liberian and pastoral resident at Roxbury’s Charles Street A.M.E. Church, said that while some Africans support the AFRICOM venture, the U.S. government will have to prove opponents wrong by working to reverse its negative image on the continent.

“If [AFRICOM] survives, it will have to be truthful in its nature,” Clarke said. “America shouldn’t enforce its views on Africa, but rather work with Africans.”

Libya back in the fold

Libya is back in Western favor.

Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tripoli today to meet with Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, the first visit in more than half a century by a U.S. secretary of state to the North African nation.

Apparently, no one told Rice that she is his new boo.

From CNN:

After their meeting, Gadhafi, who once called Rice "Leeza ... my darling black African woman," was hosting a dinner for Rice.

Last year in an interview with Arabic TV station al Jazeera, Gadhafi suggested that Rice ran the Arab world, with which he has sometimes had stark differences.

"I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders," he said. "I love her very much because she's a black woman of African origin."

Just last week, Italy signed an agreement to pay Libya $5 billion as part of a deal to resolve colonial-era disputes. Libya is the first African country to be compensated by a former colonial country.

From BBC News:

...Berlusconi explained that $200m would be paid annually over the next 25 years through investments in infrastructure projects, the main one being a coastal motorway between the Egyptian and Tunisian borders.

There will also be a colonial-era mine clearing project.

As a goodwill gesture, Italy also returned an ancient statue of Venus, the headless "Venus of Cyrene", which had been taken to Rome in colonial times.

The settlement was a "complete and moral acknowledgement of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era", the Italian prime minister said.

"In this historic document, Italy apologises for its killing, destruction and repression against Libyans during the colonial rule," Col Gaddafi said for his part...

What a difference an image change makes...

China, Russia - Cold War Part 2?

What the mainstream media and Bush administration is not telling you about the Russia/Georgia conflict:

From The Nation:

...Certainly Russia should be condemned for escalating the fighting beyond what was necessary to defend South Ossetians and Russian peacekeepers. But the US media have failed to provide the full backdrop. For one, the role of Saakashvili--who has sought to provoke Moscow over a range of issues in recent years--has been whitewashed. Georgia's president has often seemed more intent on currying favor with the Bush Administration, which has strongly supported Georgia's bid for NATO membership, than on looking after the interests of his people. The United States has also sent hundreds of military advisers to Georgia and welcomed Georgian troops in its "coalition of the willing" in Iraq. The irony is that the Bush Administration, which violated Iraq's sovereignty, now feigns outrage over Russia's actions. And for all the flowery talk of promoting Georgia's democracy, the Bush Administration has in the past year downplayed Saakashvili's violent crackdown on Georgian protesters, as well as his rigged election, declaration of martial law, attacks on opposition media and jailing of opponents...

...The West cannot simply claim the precedence of one principle (self-determination in Kosovo, for example) and then assert that of the other (national sovereignty in Georgia) without exposing its own hypocrisy and motivations based on power politics...

Could this conflict be the end of the Obama campaign and give rise to John McCain's so-called military astuteness, as many are opining now? Who knows? Neither one is giving a clear answer to what they are going to do about this issue if elected.

But the Beijing Olympics should also raise eyebrows in the White House and beyond too. Check out Naomi Klein drop knowledge about "McCommunism."

It's 2008, not 1961

Did you know that U.S. foreign policy is backwards? Okay, I think that might be a dump question considering the people currently running the White House. No, but serious, the way America deals with providing aid overseas today is mostly based on how on the world dealt with problems under the pressures of the Cold War.

From the Center for Global Development:

The world is becoming increasingly interconnected as opportunities and challenges here in the U.S. and abroad tie us to the rest of the world in ways we are only beginning to understand.

American foreign assistance programs have proved to be an influential aspect of our engagement with the world in the past, but our foreign assistance policy was written in 1961. A lot has changed since then.

We need a new foreign assistance policy for the 21st century. The 2008 presidential elections are our chance to make that happen.

The Foreign Assistance Act was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to provide goodwill to countries in need of aid, while indirectly discouraging them from taking up with the Soviets. While there were some updates to the act in 2004 to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, there are many other enormous problems the current FA Act can not address in its current state.

CGD is running a petition drive, asking concerned Americans to encourage whoever moves into the White House in January to revisit the Act.

The New World Digital Information Order

The world has spoken, and they want more access to fair and balanced information and ideas.

From IPS:

According to a major new survey of more than 18,000 adults in 20 countries released on the eve of International Press Freedom Day May 3, an average of 56 percent said they believe that media "should have the right to publish news and ideas without government control".

At same time, an average of 36 percent of respondents -- concentrated mostly in Russia, several Arab states, China, and Indonesia -- believe "the government should have the right to prevent the media from publishing things that it thinks will be politically destabilising".

And while strong majorities in every country agree with the notion that their compatriots should have the right to read publications from other countries, including those that might be considered enemies, significant minorities in India, South Korea, Egypt, and the Palestinian Territories disagree.

Many news outlets, most notably Al-Jazeera, has taken steps in recent years to present alternative information that would otherwise be left out of mainstream, Western media, especially with its coverage of the so-called War on Terror. Now, the network is making strides to present an English-language offshout to America.

But it is cyberspace and the actions of ordinary citizens who are changing the way we get our news. The recent tragedy in China presented why social media will change the world. China is one of the most secretive, repressive countries in the world. Usually the world didn’t know about the tragedies that happened within its borders until long after when nothing could be done about it. But, this all changed when the Chinese government couldn’t suppress information because of the unprecedented number of earthquake victims using text messaging and blogging to get relief and find loved ones.

The news media is paying attention to this development. While many journalists are slow to getting into the social media revolution, there are many in the media who are embracing the change, including the Society for Professional Journalists, who is offering training for bloggers on ethical journalism, as well as nontraditional media like YouTube and Global Voices.

The world has come a long way since the MacBride Report.

Jimmy Carter: The Consummate Diplomat?

Former US president Jimmy Carter got slammed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today following his controversial meeting with militant group Hamas yesterday. Following a meeting with Iraqi officials, Rice said that Carter’s meeting might give the wrong impression as the US pursues peace in the Middle East.

From MSNBC:

"I just don't want there to be any confusion," Rice said. "The United States is not going to deal with Hamas and we had certainly told President Carter that we did not think meeting with Hamas was going to help" further a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Apparently there is confusion over whether or not the State Department gave Carter clearance to go to Tel Aviv for the meeting. The US is one of Israel’s strongest supporters; however, many observers feel that its support is so blind that it is interfering with having transparent and fair policies in the region. Because of its perceived blind support for Israel, it is believed that most US politicians reject having any balanced conversations with the Palestianians and allies about their grievances. Because of this, in the United States one is considered to be anti-Semitic is they question US/Israeli policy.

Carter's book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, was quickly chastised following its publication for alleged anti-Israeli sentiment. While he stated in his book that Arabs and Israelis were entitled to equal rights, he also criticised Israel's current policies in the Palestinian territories constitute "a system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land, but completely separated from each other, with Israelis totally dominant and suppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights."

Nonetheless, Jimmy Carter has always been one of those people who would go against the grain to do what he thinks is the right thing to do. When he was President during the late 1970s, Carter made many controversial decisions while in office that left both good and bad effects on the international stage. During his presidential tenure, he brokered a peace deal with Israel and Egypt in 1979, which still stands today. However, the Carter administration is best remembered for Iran hostage crisis, which many believed led to him not being reelected.

However, many would agree that Carter has been a better ex-president with his initiatives through the Carter Center to discuss human rights and public policy. He notably spoke out against President Bush on the onset of the Iraq War.

While it is questionable what Carter's legacy is going be, shouldn't he be praised for taking a stand, which is more than I can say for other people? Maybe the current presidential candidates should take notes.

Chinese Attempts to Smuggle Swag into Zimbabwe, Angola

In case you needed another reason to despise the Chinese government and its cronies in ZANU-PF...

From BBC News:

China may recall Zimbabwe weapons

The ship carrying weapons to Zimbabwe may return to China after being prevented from unloading in South Africa, a Chinese official has said.

Zambia's president has called on other African countries not to let the ship enter their waters, in case the arms escalate post-election tensions.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the weapons were ordered last year and were "perfectly normal".

But she said the ship's owners were considering bringing the ship back.

Ms Jiang said this was because it was proving impossible for Zimbabwe to receive the arms but this has not been confirmed by the Chinese shipping company.

The Chinese vessel was said to be bound for Angola but the US is reported to be pressuring port authorities there and in Namibia not to allow them to dock.

Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa said: "I hope this will be the case with all the countries because we don't want a situation which will escalate the [tension] in Zimbabwe more than what it is."

The International Transport Workers Federation says it has asked its members across Africa not to help unload the An Yue Jiang, which is reportedly carrying three million rounds of ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and 2,500 mortar rounds.

The opposition says the weapons could be used to "wage war" on its supporters ahead of a possible run-off in the presidential vote.

This is strongly denied by the government, which has accused the opposition of exaggerating claims of recent political violence.

'Not authorised'

The ship, which had been anchored off the port of Durban for four days, was forced to move on Friday after a South African court refused to allow the weapons on board to be transported across the country to landlocked Zimbabwe.


Despite reports the ship was heading for Angola, an ally of Zimbabwe's government, the director of the Institute of Angolan Ports said the vessel had not asked for permission to dock in Angola.

"This ship has not sought request to enter Angolan territorial waters and it's not authorised to enter Angolan ports," Filomeno Mendonca told local radio.

But the agent handling the ship said its next port of call would be the Angolan capital, Luanda, AFP news agency reports.

A South African military spokesman said the ship was no longer in South African waters.

Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said it was their right to defend themselves and buy weapons from any legitimate source.

"I don't understand all this hullabaloo about a lone ship," he told reporters.

The country has yet to publish the results of its 29 March presidential election, which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says was won outright by its candidate Morgan Tsvangirai.

'Torture camps'

Meanwhile, the southern African regional body, SADC, rejected Mr Tsvangirai's calls for South Africa's Thabo Mbeki to be replaced as the chief mediator for Zimbabwe.

"We have complete faith in President [Thabo] Mbeki," AFP quoted Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam as saying.

Mr Tsvangirai wants President Mwanawasa to take over, with some opposition supporters saying Mr Mbeki was close to Mr Mugabe.


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A Chinese arms ship heads for the African coast on its mission to deliver weapons to Zimbabwe

A recount in 23 out of 210 parliamentary seats, which had been due to end on Monday, has been delayed for an unknown period.

The MDC rejected the recount as illegal and insisted it beat President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party outright in presidential and parliamentary polls.

The leader of the governing African National Congress in South Africa - Jacob Zuma - has again criticised the delays in publishing the election results - further distancing himself from Mr Mbeki.

"It's not acceptable. It's not helping the Zimbabwean people who have gone out to ... elect the kind of party and presidential candidate they want, exercising their constitutional right," he told Reuters news agency.

He called on African leaders to take action to solve the political deadlock that has set in since last month's disputed election.

Violence

Post-election violence has displaced 3,000 people, injured 500 and left 10 dead, according to MDC secretary general Tendai Biti.

Human rights groups say they have found camps where people are being tortured for having voted "the wrong way".

But Mr Chinamasa denied that anyone had died in political violence.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said that of the 10 people reported dead, only four names had been supplied and "of these three no basis whatsoever while the fourth is still under investigation and will be concluded soon", he was reported as saying by the state-owned Herald newspaper.

Zimbabwe's church leaders are also calling for intervention to prevent the violence reaching genocidal proportions.

"If nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide similar to that experienced in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and other hot spots in Africa and elsewhere," leaders of the main denominations said in a joint statement.

"We appeal to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union and the United Nations to work towards arresting the deteriorating political and security situation in Zimbabwe," a statement said.

BTW, lets not forget that the US government used to provide weapons and "freedom fighters" (CIA) to help out Cold War "friends" on the continent back in the day.

This only begs the question: Is America jealous that China is becoming the new imperialist pimps in the world?

Obits: Shomron and Bravo

Two names from the past died in the last couple of days...


From CNN

Former Israeli military chief Dan Shomron, the paratrooper who commanded the famed 1976 hostage rescue at Entebbe airport in Uganda, died Tuesday from the effects of a stroke. He was 70. Promoted to brigadier general in 1974, he was put in command of Israel's paratroopers and infantry. It was in that post that he oversaw the daring Entebbe mission in 1976. His commandos landed at the Ugandan airport under cover of darkness and freed more than 100 airline passengers who had been held hostage by Palestinian and German hijackers for a week.

From the Jamaica Gleaner

MARION Bravo, regarded as one the pioneering women of Jamaica's trade union movement has died at the age of 96.

"She was a jovial, hard-working and loyal person," said former BITU senior vice-president and current minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Senator Dwight Nelson.

"She was the epitome of the ideal support staff for trade unionists; she was well respected and she contributed immensely to the trade union movement," Nelson added.
BITU general secretary, George Fyffe, recalled Bravo as "a warm and kind" staff member "who was devoted to the trade union movement".

Bravo along with Gladys Longbridge (Lady Bustamante) and Edith Nelson were once regarded as the most powerful women in the BITU, all serving the union for more than 50 years, mainly in charge of financial and secretarial affairs.

Longbridge later married the union's founder, the late national hero Sir Alexander Bustamante, while Nelson rose to become the general secretary prior to her retirement.

Bravo will be buried on Saturday, March 1, following a thanksgiving service at the Holy Cross Church, Half-Way-Tree Road.