[DAWN] THE global community appears oblivious to the situation in the Central African Republic from where 20pc of the population has reportedly fled to neighbouring countries following widespread killings, rapes and looting. UN officials have warned that without international intervention, the situation can degenerate into genocide. Observers claim that the 1,600-strong French force and some African troops are unable to control the anarchy as frenzied mobs indulge in what the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... called "hundreds of killings, acts of rape and sexual slavery, destruction of property, pillaging, torture, forced displacement" and use of child soldiers. Entire villages have been burnt down and fields abandoned, raising fears of an acute food crisis. A Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... official said children were being slaughtered in front of their parents. Nearly a million people, mostly Moslem, have fled to Chad and Cameroon.
The situation in the potentially rich African country has been volatile since Michel Djotodia, a Moslem, captured power in the predominantly Christian state by overthrowing president François Bozize in March last year, thus triggering communal violence. Under pressure from regional countries, Mr Djotodia resigned last month and went into exile, but his militia has continued to exist and is involved in battles with Christian partisans and other groups. Even though all communities have suffered, foreign NGOs say now it is primarily the Moslems who are bearing the brunt of mob fury. There is no doubt the 10-month rule by Moslem rebels, called Seleka, was characterised by great atrocities committed on other communities by the militia for perceived wrongs during Mr Bozize's rule. Today, as Seleka soldiers withdraw from an area, Christian gunnies move in and wreak vengeance on the Moslem community. While the ICC prosecutor has begun exploring the possibilities of determining war crimes, it is unfortunate that the OIC has taken no notice of the situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
"hundreds of killings, acts of rape and sexual slavery, destruction of property, pillaging, torture, forced displacement"
How do we know that Islam is Religion of Peace? Because we never hear of Muslims doing things like this!
#2
The 'Central African Disaster' enjoys the like minded company of the 'disasters' of both North Africa and the South. Ethnologists and multiculturalists ignore or deny the causes even as the skulls of the inhabitants are piled higher and higher. Generational memory perishes and sound-bites betray us. One must read the history of the region, heed the travel warning, and pursue alternate routes.
I have yet to meet the he or she who placed the Lap in Lapland or the Fijian in Fiji, but it would appear to have been done for good reason. Civilizations or cultures in competition, whatever. Call me racist and narrow minded if you will, but first prove me wrong.
#4
I have yet to meet the he or she who placed the Lap in Lapland or the Fijian in Fiji, but it would appear to have been done for good reason. Civilizations or cultures in competition, whatever. Call me racist and narrow minded if you will, but first prove me wrong.
#6
We have more-organized, less ineffectual international (and secular) hand-wringers.
Amen! Without secular hand-wringers, collective anxt and guilt, the cult of victimization cannot survive. No victimization provides no requirement for the political enterprise of intervention. Some things simply cannot be picked up.... by the clean end. Better we leave it to a higher authority and quietly move on.
#7
Besoeker: I'd be more inclined to blame this on local people if I didn't suspect it was outsiders that started the war. Someone thought it was a good idea for Mr Djotodia to gain a lot of cheap weapons and payroll money to overthrow the elected government and start this war, and I don't think it was a bunch of dirt-poor people in the Central African Republic. I suspect it was someone outside. Someone with a flowchart saying "and if he stays in power, we can get the contract, and if he doesn't, we can take advantage of the chaos to remove the country's sovereignity and then we'll be able to get the contracts..."
Africa is more of a colony today than it ever was under Cecil Rhodes.
#8
Spot on TFSM! These folks were skewering one another thousands of years before the first European arrived. Rhodes and others like him simply taught them to read which automated the skewering.
#9
UN Should just declare eminent domain on the rain forests, remove the governments and pay everyone in the area a stipend as UN employees as long as they don't kill each other. UN gets a chance for graft, locals stop killing and starving, rest of the world is milked by a more creative scheme than usual and can claim its all for the environment.
In the end it owuld be cheaper than all the aid or the military adventures requried to set things right.
#10
Always with the bickering and the stealing and the rape and the genocide and whatnot. What they need is a Central African Umpire. Better yet, a whole crew.
Excerpt: "The failure by the U.S. Senate to convict Bill Clinton after his impeachment by the House was the first signal that the rule of law might not matter any more. These days, the law seems to be whatever Barack Obama and Eric Holder want it to be."
..There isn't a day that I don't mourn for our grandchildren..
#1
This is a really good article, well worth reading the whole thing. As to the title question (and the subtitle question), I'm afraid the answer is very likely "yes": we're well on our way toward becoming just another banana republic, complete with arbitrary rule by presidential decree, the widespread use of government agencies to harass the ruler's political opposition, and unequal treatment of people under the law in accordance with their political loyalties.
As far as I can see, the average person no longer has much respect for or knowledge of) the founding principles of our constitutional republic-- he just wants lots of free shit from de gummint.
We're screwed.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/12/2014 8:02 Comments ||
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#2
Remember it was all done with 'guilt'. The perps have no real sense of guilt. However, they employed it to destroy 70 percent in the name of the 20 percent. All in the pursuit of power, never solving any of the real problems they sold the guilt on to the masses.
#3
I read this a.m. in our local newspaper that there is a movement within the States to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. The article stated that the movement is heading towards a convention of states. Once 34 states have passed a resolution calling for a convention, Congress is required to call a convention. 38 states must then ratify any changes to the Constitution for them to take effect. It is a movement to shift the power back to the States and to rein in reckless out-of-control spending in Washington.
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#7
To quote the immortal Yogi Berra, it ain't over 'till it's over.
The author noted there was a long slide to the dark ages, and no one agrees on the pivotal moment. Who says the pivotal moment is the point of no return? Who says there is a point of no return?
However, I have no doubt we are on the downward slope. Whether it is steep and slippery is another question.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/12/2014 13:27 Comments ||
Top||
#9
We started down the slippery slope with Social Security way back in the 1930s. If anybody had any sense back then they would have recognized it for what it was. We took another couple of steps under Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s with Affirmative Action and Medicare. Still nobody saw that government was taking more and more control over our lives. I think one of history's great ironies is that LBJ fought communism in Vietnam while he was helping to institute it here in the US. ObamaCare is yet another step down the slope and it seems to be getting steeper. My own opinion is you'll know it's too late when amnesty turns Texas from red to blue. They already got California. When they get Texas you can kiss your freedom goodbye.
#10
I know things look bad but they looked bad in the late 70s (with the Arabs buying everything and our economy heading down) and they looked bad in the early 90s (with Japan taking over and our economy heading down).
Yes we it does seem far worse, and we've got far hotter partisanship these days, but...
During the Cold War the Soviets over-extended themselves durign the era of Carter incompetance and so Reagan was able to outspend them and end them. Currently I believe the far left is overextended due to the Republican incompetance. All we need is the right person to come along.
#12
Back in the 70's, 80's, and 90's we didn't have such an enormous moocher class to support and who will never vote for anyone the media says will take away their freebies.
And now their very health[care]. You can bet that whoever the Republicans nominate the media's theme will be "*Republican-Nominee-name-here* is going to take away your, your parents, and your children's healthcare and they could die.". Last elections 'War on Women' was only a precursor.
They don't have to directly threaten peoples food/shelter/plasmaTv/Drugs/Health - they just have to imply that the other guy is going to steal their 'right' to these items.
[DAWN] MUZAFFARGARH and Khuzdar, separated as they are by more than 600 kilometres, do not immediately appear to have much in common. And yet both cities made headlines recently for grave violations of the law: Muzaffargarh for the alleged gang rape of a 40-year-old widow and Khuzdar for being home to secret mass graves.
The Supreme Court's prompt suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... notice of the two incidents is, of course, laudable. However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... it is more important to understand, and address, the systemic factors that, despite the complex web of courts spread throughout the country, allow citizens of these and other areas to remain so blatantly beyond the limits of the law of Pakistain and to continue to seek recourse to panchayats and jirgas for the resolution of their disputes.
The history of these two cities is, perhaps, a good starting point for this inquiry. According to some accounts, the town of Muzaffargarh in southern Punjab was founded in the 18th century by the then governor of Multan, Nawab Muzaffar Khan. It was taken over by the British in 1848, and soon designated as the district headquarters.
Khuzdar, on the other hand, was part of the kingdom of Kalat in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... . Kalat had entered into a treaty with the British in 1903, in terms of which it was allowed to retain its independence albeit under the supervision of a British-appointed political agent. In 1947, however, Kalat gave up its independence and acceded to Pakistain. Soon afterwards the Pak government designated Khuzdar as the headquarters of the newly created Kalat division.
Muzaffargarh's and Khuzdar's pre-eminence in their respective districts and divisions, suggests that the cities enjoyed considerably greater prosperity and development than their neighbouring towns. Their history, however, suggests, that whilst the social life of these cities was organised according to the traditions and norms of their particular cultural heritage, their system of governance was organised along British lines which, in all likelihood, were not entirely compatible with the pre-existing cultural norms.
This is likely to have resulted in a certain tension in these societies, which was not only natural but also expected. What is not immediately clear, however, is why this tension persisted beyond 1947, even after the two cities were fully integrated into the mainstream legal system of their own country.
The problem perhaps is that the mainstream Pak legal system is itself a legacy of the Raj. The British had introduced their legal system in India primarily for the benefit of the East India Company. It was only after the 1857 War of Independence, when India had been formally designated as a British colony, that the British legal system was made applicable to Indians as well as the British resident in the country.
The British tried to pre-empt potential festivities between their system and Indian social norms, by either adapting legal rules to the Indian context or, in case of personal disputes, by allowing matters to be decided according to special religious laws. This rationale for any flexibility displayed towards Indians under the British legal system disappeared after the creation of Pakistain. Given Pakistain's majority Moslem population, it was deemed entirely appropriate to establish a single legal system headed by the Supreme Court, to order the affairs of the people.
The only problem in this arrangement was, however, that this legal system, based as it was on the British system, was in fact alien --in form, substance and even language -- to a large proportion of the Pak people. The tragedy for Pakistain perhaps is, that despite its aspirations to being a representative state, it did not make a meaningful attempt to determine whether or not such a system was even understood let alone accepted by its citizens.
The impact of Pakistain's failure to address this potential incompatibility between its formal laws and social norms may be best explained by reference to an article published in 2003 by Berkowitz (University of Pittsburgh), Pistor (Columbia) and Richard (also Pittsburgh). According to them, laws made in a certain country and imposed in another via colonisation (as they were in the subcontinent) are likely to be aligned with the norms and customs of their country of origin and, therefore, incompatible with the social and political norms of the adopting country.
This incompatibility prevents the population in the new country from fully understanding these laws. Consequently, ordinary people remain shy of invoking them, the enforcers of the law lack confidence in their authority and the governments fail to allocate adequate resources for their development.
Is it any surprise, therefore, that our mainstream legal system has failed to take root in the country and that people continue to resort to panchayats, jirgas and tribal customs for the resolution of their disputes? Perhaps not. However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... the idea behind highlighting this inherent incompatibility is not to drive ourselves to despair but to indicate the need to make appropriate adjustments in our formal legal system so that even the most ordinary have no hesitation in seeking recourse to it.
Perhaps if the Supreme Court is truly sincere in its efforts to bring justice to the common man, it should bolster the administration of justice at all tiers of the country's legal system; do away with complex procedures and inordinate delays; adopt the flexibility and accessibility of panchayats and jirgas and support small-town judges so that they are able to withstand pressure from the local elites. Anything short of that is simply not enough.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
From the headline I thought this was about the White House.
[DAWN] EVEN in the best-case scenario of government-Taliban talks succeeding, would the Taliban fighter give up violence to go back to his old calling of madressah teacher, mosque imam, truck driver or small-time criminal? Now that negotiators are flying in to talk to him and every word by his front man is being analysed and he finds himself in a position to demand to speak to the prime minister or chief of army staff directly, the stature of his organization has been raised to that of a national level one.
If he were to sign a peace agreement and go home, he'll not even be given a chair by the constable in his village. Why would he want to give up all that money, which enables him to buy fancy SUVs, guns and rocket launchers?
Yes, when the pressure increases, he's on the run, remittances get delayed and there are casualties in his ranks. But as soon as he has time to replenish his supplies and re-establish contacts with his financiers, his trigger finger starts to feel itchy.
This scenario has repeated itself half a dozen times since we started to negotiate in 2004. Will it be different this time? Despite this we go into appeasement mode simply to postpone an all-out war.
But is the only answer an operation in North Wazoo? This single-solution strategy is not understandable, since the government is doing precious little in any other field. While we are waiting for the mighty counterterrorism strategy to be implemented, everything seems to be on hold and the government continues to be in a reactive mode. If it can't agree on a grand strategy it can at least announce an action plan which encompasses obvious things that need to be done so that society and the government machinery know what they have to do in this war against extremism.
For instance, they could start with doing the following.
Adopt a zero tolerance approach after each blast. Constitute dedicated teams with not more than four to five cases per team to see the case through to trial and conviction. Currently, law enforcement is losing track of cases. These special teams of provincial police should be monitored by the interior minister personally, and periodically by the prime minister to show that he is leading the war from the front and also to ensure accountability for the law enforcement agencies.
The tribal area administration needs to be rebuilt post haste. The prime minister should apply himself to this important facet of the war. Extremists have demolished the administrative structure to give them the liberty of action. Unless the government's writ is re-established, bully boyz will retain the initiative.
Currently, district police in most provinces consider extremism the responsibility of the federal government and let bully boyz be, as long as they are not active in their district. This must stop. The regular police have to be held accountable to ensure the use of the preventive powers given to them under the anti-terrorism laws.
Taking up seriously matters with so-called 'friendly' countries that are believed by many to finance bully boys, is essential. The hypocrisy of feting and giving a special welcome to leaders of countries, where our leaders have potential for possible refuge, but which are seen as financing bully boys, must stop. Getting funds from these rich countries may be a good reason to respect their leaders, but if there is no country, what use are these funds going to be, except to enrich our leaders and provide them an exile option.
The potential of squeezing the finances of bully boyz is underestimated. One never hears of prosecution of banks, hundi agents, etc. Fundraising by banned parties needs to be confronted.
In the long run, job creation schemes need to be started in KP, south and central Punjab, parts of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... ; areas known to be bastions of bully boys. Countries which profess to be friendly and want to help in this war should be asked to help in schemes of job creation.
Political affiliation with parties which are known to indulge in terrorism, including against other sects, should severed.
Madressahs must be brought into the mainstream. Unless the state can control and regulate what is taught here, we can never become a nation. Intelligence penetration and watch, followed by action is required.
Without an effective judge and witness protection programme, how can the existing rickety criminal justice system even begin to function?
These are just a few of the basic actions that need to be started immediately and highlighted, without waiting for talks or the birth of a security plan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Passing anti-gun legislation appears to be nearly impossible. An EPA environmental or Homeland Security regulatory ban of lead and steel ammunition manufacturing and sales...... not so impossible.
Who needs a congress when you have a 'pen and a phone' anyway.
#2
This seems like a question for which the answer wouldn't matter much. Why should we care? But, sometimes things turn out to be more important than we can imagine. The U.S. has the best-armed civilian population in the world, with an estimated 270 million total guns. Thats an average of 89 firearms for every 100 residents far ahead of Yemen, which comes in second with about 55 firearms for every 100 people, or Switzerland, which is third with 46 guns for every 100 people. (The statistics come from There are estimates, however. According to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey the leading source of international public information about firearms. Very often statistics often reflect biases and agendas. Personally, if someone called me inquiring about whether or not I owned firearms or how many, I would decline to answer as I don't think it is any of their business.)
#5
The police do not go home to barracks and compounds (yet). It's why the police were of limited use in Iraq and Afghanistan. They and their families must live among the population. Whether the ME, Central Asia, Thailand, or even Mexico, you read here in the Rant of cops being shot. It has an effect.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
International Criminal Court
Wazoo
