Looking Back In Horror: Isn’t It Time To Ring In The New?
December 31st, 2007 - by: danny
The New Year is Upon Us
Football Gladiators: The Metaphor Of Our Age
The News We Need To Know
On the morning before the big night, as the year we have just lived through makes its timely and expected (and in my case anyway, desired demise) our world gets ready to oust the old and “ring in the new.” In Times Square, there ‘s a new multi-cultured ball with LED lights ready to do the honors. The crowds are beginning to form to play the part we have all watched year after year on TV. They are there to scream in anticipation of the countdown. No Writers Guild members are needed to script this extravaganza….all the parts have long ago been memorized and repeated by rote.
I am not in New York, but in Boston, a town with a permanent sports high these daze. First the Red Sox did it again, and then the Patriots finished a record win of every game this past season, and the Celtics are on fire. So what more do you want right.?
Saturday’s hard fought game turning back the giants (Great names, no? Patriots V Giants, all a testament to how these matches have become for our empire what the Lions versus the Christians were for the Romans. They had coliseums We have TV, do we ever. and this game was on no fewer than a lucky seven channels. That’s a record.
Everyone knows that pretty soon, these games will all be in HD, and on pay per view with the NFL posed to become even richer than it is. (In my little world NFL still stands for National Front For Liberation and the Patriots conjure up memories of the men in Blue who fought against British occupation in these New England states.)
The weekly combat of our gladiators in padded uniforms only mimics the knights of old. In sports as in politics, winning is everything. How many newscasts have we heard expressing fears that the mighty Academy Awards may have to be cancelled because the writers are on strike.
LEANING LIFE’S LESSONS
I am here with my dad. He’s lived through nearly 89 New Year’s Eves and is not approach this one with any great sense of hope, excerpt perhaps, given his condition that he will live to see 90. We are all pulling from him and learning from him as his stories take me back through the years of a world long gone – the world of immigrant families, trade union struggles, Jewish communal organizations and a culture not as materialistic and indifferent as our own.
My dad knows that his generation failed to make the changes they had hoped to bring about, and frankly, I know that mine has as well. We are all stuck in a world moving in the wrong direction on so many fronts.
Carolyn Baker, whose blog speaks truth to power summed the despair up this way:
It’s almost 2008, and in the final hours of 2007, I’m reflecting on the past twelve months and what may lie ahead of us in the coming year. It’s been a dreary year for planet earth-scientists telling us that climate change has passed the point of no return; the almost-daily blasting away of civil liberties in the U.S. with nary a peep from its citizens; endless war that produces little but nauseating carnage in the Middle East and a steady stream of suiciding or physically and emotionally devastated veterans, and of course, a housing bubble burst that has left thousands of families suffocating in debt, bankruptcy, and foreclosure.
Some readers would like me to stop talking about collapse and re-frame the notion into “spiritually correct” terminology that isn’t as scary, daunting, and dismal. Many more of you are telling me that you do want to talk about collapse because even with all the opportunities for rebirth and transformation that it holds, the world we have known, demanded, and relied on to be there for us is crumbling.
Contrast these two stories from just one newspaper, The Washington Post>
WORLD
Pakistan at Standstill as Discord and Unrest Grow
KARACHI, Pakistan, Dec. 29 — Nationwide rioting brought life in Pakistan to a standstill Saturday and forced government officials to consider delaying next month’s elections, as discord spread over the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. (Actually the US wants the elections to go forward–and they will be. However there will be no international probe of the assassination even as Ch 4 in the UK and NBC herem using their footage, put the lie to the Pakistani Government’s the Sun Roof Got her no bullet theory.
IMAGES
WP: If you want to go shallow for an Image of the Year, you can’t do better than Paris Hilton, seen through the window of a Los Angeles sheriff’s car, weeping as she’s being hauled back to prison to complete a probation-violation sentence. What better image to sum up a year of celebrities in distress…
And Meanwhile in Africa.
Kenyans on edge for result of tight election
Kenyans waited for the result of their closest-ever presidential election on Sunday, fearing more unrest after a chaotic vote count marred by widespread ethnic violence over accusations of rigging. Several people were killed in tribal disturbances on Saturday across the East African nation, usually seen as an island of relative stability in a volatile region.
And in the background but soon to be in the foreground is the unraveling of our economy. Sometimes you have to seek out analysts in other countries who less constrained to be upbeat” Here’a Richard Stovin-Bradford in South Africa:
THE CREDIT CRISIS
How weird is it when a major global bank warns it will make write-downs of scary proportions, reports € 2-billion of write-downs a few weeks later – and investors’ first reaction is one of relief that things are not as bad as they had feared?
Welcome to the global credit crisis, first triggered by defaulting sub-prime mortgage borrowers in the US. No matter what they do or say, bankers – and central bankers – around the world are struggling to restore confidence to international credit markets.
Except at Deutsche Bank, that is. Global markets chief Anshu Jain predicted the sub-prime mortgage market in the US would weaken and planned accordingly. Although not unscathed, Deutsche was completely up-front about the extent of its exposure and took the fall- out on the chin.
Before reporting its third- quarter results in October, it warned investors to expect a pre- tax profit of 1.2-billion. When it only fell to 1.4-billion, its shares rallied as shareholders rewarded its candour and concluded it was through the worst……
CHINESE CHEQUEBOOKS
If it was not the credit crisis or private equity that was grabbing the headlines in the financial sector this year, it was China’s financial expansion.
A new Great Wall of China – built not of stone but of highly mobile investment cash – was deployed around the world in a string of global banks.
The Chinese government and the nation’s leading financial institutions are on a quest to obtain higher returns than they have been earning on their more than 1200-billion of foreign reserves.
They have been shopping on a grand scale for stakes in the Who’s Who of the global banking sector.
The year ended much as it began. Just before Christmas China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, acquired a 5-billion stake in US investment bank Morgan Stanley – as the bank reported a fourth-quarter loss triggered by a total of 9.4- billion of write-downs in its mortgage-related credit books.
Neatly illustrating the extent – that’s if “extent” is not now treated by investors as a moveable limit – of the problems in its structured credit books, Morgan Stanley’s fourth-quarter write-off added 5.7-billion to the 3-billion of write-offs it had already disclosed when it first drew a line under its write-offs.
Earlier this year China splashed out 3-billion on the listing of US private equity giant Blackstone.
In July, Barclays attracted € 2.2-billion from China Development Bank (CDB) for a 3.1% stake, and € 1.4-billion from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek for a 2.1% stake. CDB sees Barclays as a partner in mineral-rich Africa.
More recently CIC injected 1- billion into troubled Wall Street firm Bear Stearns.
By November, the wall of Chinese cash had stretched to South Africa. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is paying 5.5-billion for a 20% stake in Standard Bank – a reminder of the SA bank’s growing scale in Africa and its reputation on the world’s emerging markets stage.
And meanwhile as our politial pundits build up the suspense on who will win this week’s Iowa Caucuses,–with MSNBC putting John Edwards ahead for the Dems and Romney for the Repubgs—deeper questions have yet to addressed by any of the candidates about plans afoot to manipulate all the voting.
The BlueTide Rising Blog warns of a Republican tactic called “caging.” You better find out more about it if you don’t already know:
To date, the Kansas GOP has identified and caged more voters in the last 11 months than the previous two years!
We’re going to move past the fact that any amount of voter identification would be more than the amount the GOP has done in the last two years, or four for that matter. The practice of caging is what caught our eye.
Caging is a particularly devious and underhanded method of purging likely Democratic voters from the pollbooks. It’s also illegal.
How does it work?
The use of direct mail caging techniques to target voters resulted in the application of the name to the political tactic. With one type of caging, a political party sends registered mail to addresses of registered voters. If the mail is returned as undeliverable – because, for example, the voter refuses to sign for it, the voter isn’t present for delivery, or the voter is homeless – the party uses that fact to challenge the registration, arguing that because the voter could not be reached at the address, the registration is fraudulent. A political party challenges the validity of a voter’s registration; for the voter’s ballot to be counted, the voter must prove that their registration is valid.
Voters targeted by caging are often the most vulnerable: soldiers deployed overseas, those who are unfamiliar with their rights under the law, and those who cannot spare the time, effort, and expense of proving that their registration is valid. On the day of the election, when the voter arrives at the poll and requests a ballot, an operative of the party challenges the validity of their registration. Ultimately, caging works by dissuading a voter from casting a ballot, or by ensuring that they cast a provisional ballot, which is less likely to be counted.
Slate.com has the best comprehensive write-up on how the Republican Party employs caging techniques to suppress the votes of the poor, the deployed, and college students. (You know, likely Democratic voters.)
Did we mention it’s illegal? And that Kris Kobach is proud to be doing it?
Meanwhile out in the world, here is what is NOT making news in the US of A:
Is This The Beginning Of The End In Iraq?
By Patrick Cockburn
Some of the so-called “Concerned Citizens” militiamen now on the US payroll are former al-Qa’ida fighters, though the US is still holding hundreds of men in Guantanamo, accusing them of being associates of al-Qa’ida.
Bin Laden Issues Warning on Iraq, Israel
By Salah Nasrawi
Osama bin Laden warned Iraq’s Sunni Arabs against fighting al-Qaida and promised to expand the terror group’s holy war to Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening “blood for blood, destruction for destruction.”
They Don’t Blame al-Qa’ida. They Blame Musharraf
By Robert Fisk
Weird, isn’t it, how swiftly the narrative is laid down for us. Benazir Bhutto, the courageous leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, is assassinated in Rawalpindi – attached to the very capital of Islamabad wherein ex-General Pervez Musharraf lives – and we are told by George Bush that her murderers were “extremists” and “terrorists”. Well, you can’t dispute that.
Anglo-American Ambitions Behind the Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the Destabilization of Pakistan
By Larry Chin
The Pakistani election, if it takes place at all, is a simpler two-way choice: pro-US Musharraf or pro-US Sharif.
Oh, yes, before we go: Bill Maher’s Dickheads of the Year
OUR FUTURE–IN YOUR HANDS, PART
And so it goes, the news not in the news and hence the need for Mediachannel to be around in the year ahead to dissect the distortions and help us search for the truth. Media Tenor will be running the show but I hope to stick around —if you want me to – to eep doing what I am doing for another year, the 8th if you can believe it?
So Old Lang Syne and all that. The Happiest of News Years. And stay with us as we try to offer the counter-narrative which remains so important in the year ahead.
Just make sure, that when the ball drops, it doesn’t drop on you.
Onward.
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The Day After: The World Reacts To The Murder of Mrs. Bhutto–AFT UPDATE
December 28th, 2007 - by: danny
A day later, shock and fear still seem to rule in Pakistan in the aftermath of the killing of Benezir Bhutto. We do know, confirmed again today in the Washinhgton Post that the US government brokered her return. Were there any discussions of security arrangements? We don’t know. Could this predictable killing have been prevented?
UPDATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON: MORE THEORIES
OSAMA DID IT: The Pakistan Government says it has evidence,including a telephone intercept, that proves that Al Qaeda killed Bhutto, or at least claimed too.
SHE DID IT HERSELF: There were also suggestions that she died because she put her head through her car’s sunroof, or alternately hit her head on the sunroof
Bill Bowles sends along this report from London challenging the view that she was a great Democratic force:
Who Killed Benazir Bhutto? By Murtaza Shibli
Friday Morning News: —AP reported: “Bhutto buried as Pakistan unrest spreads
Hundreds of thousands of mourners, weeping and chanting for justice, thronged the mausoleum of Pakistan’s most famous political dynasty in a raw outpouring of grief for Benazir Bhutto. The government blamed al-Qaida and the Taliban for the assassination of the opposition leader, who was buried alongside her father.
Furious supporters, many of them blaming President Pervez Musharraf’s government for the shooting and bombing attack on the former prime minister, rampaged through several cities in violence that left at least 23 dead less than two weeks before crucial elections.
Some wept, others chanted “Benazir is alive,” as the plain wood coffin was placed beside the grave of her father in the vast, white marble mausoleum in southern Sindh province near the Bhuttos’ ancestral home.
Obituary: Benazir Bhutto, 54, Weathered Political Storms
John F. Burns, of The New York Times, offers an obituary for Benazir Bhutto. Rory McCarthy, of The Guardian UK, gives a broad list of suspects in the killing. Laura Rozen, of Mother Jones, interviews a former US intelligence official on the Bhutto assassination.
Here are some other views and responses from a variety of sources. I am not at Dissector Central and have limited connectivity, but here are some comments of interest.
Jayne Stahl on OpEdNews: WE ARE COMPLICIT!
Whether one thought of Bhutto as a Western shill, or a populist folk hero, her barbaric murder can only send shocks up and down the spine of even the most Machiavellian as it is an egregiously politically expedient move, especially in light of Pakistani elections which are less than two weeks away.
Not coincidentally, President Pervez Musharraf’s only other rival, Nawaz Sharif’s return to Islamabad quickly interrupted, in September, by money laundering charges. Musharraf has figured out the most effective way to end a state of emergency—kill off one’s opponents, or drive them back into exile.
Ultimately, it is you and I, the American taxpayer, who have Benazir Bhutto’s blood on our hands as we have been financing that thug Musharraf whose handiwork is all over this assassination. Among the many insidious legacies of this administration will be the instability, and carnage that will result from a foreign policy that reeks of greed, irreverence for human life. and plodding irrelevance.
It’s time to give marching orders to the same thugs who have held Washington, D.C. in a state of emergency since 9/11, send Pervez Musharraf packing, and Mr. Bush with him. In mid-August, I wrote an eerily timely blog which is reposted below, “Who’s Packing in Pakistan,” where the $11 billion of U.S. aid, which this administration euphemistically calls “wasted,” has largely ended up.
Not only does Congress need to investigate the wanton, and criminal destruction of interrogation videotapes, back in 2005, in defiance of a court order, but now, more than ever, there needs to be a thorough, independent examination into where $11 billion of our money went, and who, here in the States, is also profiting from this dictator who boasts of being in bed with the Taliban, and whose fingerprints are all over this morning’s attack on former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto
Who killed Benazir Bhutto? The main suspects:
The main suspects in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination are the Pakistani and foreign Islamist militants who saw her as a heretic and an American stooge and had repeatedly threatened to kill her.
Barbara Crossette writes in the Nation and on Alternet:
Nineteen years ago at the end of December, Benazir Bhutto, fresh from her first, exhilarating election victory and newly sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, met Rajiv Gandhi, the youthful prime minister of India, for talks in Islamabad. She was 35, he was 44. There was obvious good will, almost intimacy, between them. The air was full of promise and hope that these two modernizing scions of dominant political families would turn decades of war and hostility between their nations into a new era of peace.
Three and a half years later, Gandhi was assassinated. There had been no breakthrough with Pakistan to bolster his legacy. Now Bhutto is dead, at another moment of renewed anticipation. An age of hope is over.
The Al Jazeera English wrap-up of responses
Supporters and rivals alike of Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader, have condemned the gun and bomb attack that claimed her life at an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi.
Bhutto, who became the first female prime minister of a Muslim nation when she was first elected the prime minister in 1988, died from her wounds in hospital in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
She became the prime minister for a second time in 1993.
Rehman Malik, an official with Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, announced Bhutto’s death to supporters: “She has been martyred.”
Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a suicide attack. What is next for Pakistan?
Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani opposition leader, vowed to continue Bhutto’s work after the assassination and said he shared the grief of “the entire nation”.
Speaking outside the hospital where Bhutto died he said: “I assure you that I will fight your war from now on,” he told Bhutto’s supporters. “I share your sorrow and grief along with the entire nation.”
“Benazir Bhutto was also my sister, and I will be with you to take the revenge for her death,” he said.
Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, appealed on state television for the nation to remain peaceful “so that the evil designs of terrorists can be defeated”.
International reaction
George Bush, the US president, said: “The US strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are are trying to undermine Pakistan’s democracy.”
“We stand with the people of Pakistan in that struggle against the forces of terror and extremism. We urge them to honour Benazir Bhutto’s memory by continuing with a democratic process.”
Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary general, said: “I strongly condemn this heinous crime and call for the perpetrators to be brought to justice as soon as possible.”
Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, said:”I was deeply shocked and horrified to hear of the heinous assassination. In her death, the subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked for democracy and reconciliation in her country.”
“In targeting Benazir Bhutto extremist groups have in their sights all those committed to democratic processes in Pakistan. They cannot and must not succeed”
David Miliband,
British foreign secretary
“I am deeply shocked by news of the latest attack in Rawalpindi which has claimed the life of Benazir Bhutto and killed at least 15 other people … All those committed to a stable future for Pakistan will condemn without qualification all violence perpetrated against innocent people.
“In targeting Benazir Bhutto extremist groups have in their sights all those committed to democratic processes in Pakistan. They cannot and must not succeed.”
Qin Gang, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, said China was “shocked at the killing of Pakistan’s opposition leader Benazir Bhutto” and that strongly condemns the terrorist attack,” Xinhua news agency said.
Romano Prodi, the Italian prime minister, said : “I express my sadness and that of the whole [Italian] government following the tragic death of Benazir Bhutto, a woman who wanted to fight her battle until the end with just one weapon – that of dialogue and political discussion.”
The Vatican called the assassination “terrible and tragic.”
“This attack shows how extremely difficult it is to pacify a nation so wrought by violence,” Father Frederico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman said. “We share the sadness of the Pakistani population.”
Analysts’ comment
Ameen Jan, a London-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera: “Removing Benazir Bhutto from the political scene, there would be many beneficiaries of that … Having said that it would be difficult to imagine that the perpetrators behind such a violent attack, leading to her death, would be one of the political parties.”
“There are a whole set of actors outside of the mainstream political parties which are the various extremist groups, and it would seem more than likely that there would be some elements within those groups that would have an interest in destabilising the political system,” he said.
“It’s a great shock for the nation and its a great set back to the democratic forces and to politics in Pakistan”
General Talat Masood,
military analyst
General Talat Masood, a military analyst in Islamabad, speaking to Al Jazeera, said: “It’s a great shock for the nation and its a great set back to the democratic forces and to politics in Pakistan. Her party [the PPP] was one of those that was spearheading the political process … and this party was very leader-centric. They really adored and loved her despite all her weaknesses … neither the militants nor those in power ever like a person of her calibre.”
“You could see the crowds she was drawing and the likelihood of her party doing extremely well, that was there. But it also shows that when the US intervenes it always has a negative fallout on countries.”
Jennifer Harbison, head of the Asia Desk at Control Risks in London, said: “I think this is anticipated. It is well within what we expected might happen … It does cast a shadow over the election and it raises some concerns over how the government might deal with any popular reaction to this.”
Khaled Rahmen, director general of the Institute of Policy Studies in Islamabad, told Al Jazeera: “It’s a very sad incident … and such a big incident would definitely impact the elections. There are apprehensions that this might result in some kind of postponement. If that happens … its going to create more instability.”
Max King, London-based investment strategist with Investec Asset Management, said: “This is an absolute disaster for Pakistan. Pakistan is clearly turning into one of the failed states in Asia.”
We will continue our coverage. I had hope to literally bury my head in the sand during this break but that was not to be.
Comments welcome. Share your feelings and fears. I also am hoping you will strengthen your support for Mediachannel.org for the year ahead.
On, into the abyss:
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ASSASSINATION TIME (AGAIN):BENAZIR BHUTTO MURDERED IN PAKISTAN
December 27th, 2007 - by: danny
THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS: WHO KILLED BENAZIR BHUTTO AND WHAT WILL THE IMPACT OF HER ASSASSINATION BE?
Thursday December 27 2:34 PM EST: The murder of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan was a horrific event. The assassins had tried before and have now succeeded. Here we have one more dark day in the history of our world…breaking news, often presented with little context or background. As they say, “details are still coming in…
Benazir’s father has been hung after a military coup years ago and now his daughter, herself an ousted Prime Minister, has had her life snuffed out.
Having met her when we were at Harvard together in the late seventies I took a special interest in following her career, and know I am personally affected as I write of this vicious death by a shooter and suicide bomber.
There are demonstrations and rioting underway in several Pakistani cities.
She had expressed concerns about security as she left her home.l Baba Awan, her neighbor and lawyer traveled with her to her last rally. He told the BBC that she was alarmed that security was not provided. She was critical of the government for not providing communications systems and said that officers assigned to her had been withdrawn at various times.
When her motorcade was attacked after her return to the country in October, she asked for technical experts from overseas, from the FBI and Scotland Yard, to investigate. They were not provided.
Now the State Department is calling for a full and open investigation. Already the “crime scene” was hosed down as viewers of the BBC saw. (Earlier attacks on Musharaff were fully investigated very differently, her supporters contend.)
We don’t know yet who did it or why. In the conservative think tanks of Wshington, the blame falls predictably on unnamed political extremists
Yet among Bhutto’s supporters, the assumption was that Musharaff’s backers were involved somehow. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the crowd denounced “Musharaff’s dogs.” She herself earlier identified forces within the shadowy underworld of Pakistan’s ISI for “collusion” in that attack while at the same time lashing out at extremists.
This intelligence agency has worked closely with western intelligence agencies and the US and was credited with helping the CIA backed effort to eject the Russians from neighboring Afghanistan.
The ISI is also credited with helping to organize the Taliban and, was supporting the Taliban when the CIA and Northern Alliance ousted them. US war planes airlifted Pakistani advisors out of Afghanistan in the early days of the US military intervention.
Pakistan has been dominated by its military with US backing for decades. The “democracy” that President Bush and Britain’s Gordon Brown has never really been allowed to flourish. The elections that she was taking part of is likely to be cancelled. Already, one of her opponents, Nashaf Sharif, has said he will not take part in the elections.
There are several crises underway in Pakistan’s. Musharraf’s US backed leadership has been questioned and resisted. Hundreds of people have been “disappeared” by Pakistan’s security forces and have no hope in courts which have been dominated by interests supporting Musharaff. He has since blamed “terrorists” for the killing. He appealed for restraint. But mass rioting seems to have been the response.
There is much more to this story than has been reported so far….
THIS JUST IN: AL-QUEDA CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY
THE NEWS PAKISTANIS ARE READING
Here are some of the reports caried by DAWN, Pakistan’s English Language newspaper:
Pakistan’s Sharif says to boycott January election ISLAMABAD, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday his party would boycott a Jan. 8 general election because of the assassination of another opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto. “The PML (N) is boycotting the election after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,” Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad. “Free elections are not possible in the presence of Musharraf,” he said. “Musharraf is the root cause of all problems.” Old rivals Bhutto, also a former prime minister, and Sharif had recently cooperated in their opposition to Musharraf. (Posted @ 00:04 PST)
Commonwealth says Bhutto death “dark day for Pakistan” LONDON, Dec 27 (Reuters) – The Commonwealth, which suspended Pakistan over last month’s emergency rule declaration, said the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday was a “dark day” for Pakistan. “This is a heinous and cowardly act of violence and an utterly senseless tragedy,” Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said in a statement. “This is a dark day for Pakistan and the Commonwealth.” (Posted @ 23:56 PST)
Bhutto’s coffin leaves hospital to airport RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Dec 27 (AFP) – The body of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was taken from hospital Thursday night in preparation for a flight to her hometown of Larkana, an AFP reporter on the scene said. (Posted @ 23:54 PST)
Bangladesh condemns Bhutto killing as ‘unpardonable crime’ DHAKA, Dec 27 (AFP) – Bangladesh Thursday condemned the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto as an “unpardonable crime” and a “barbaric act.” “It is an unpardonable crime. It has shocked the world,” Fakhruddin Ahmed, head of the country’s military-backed emergency government, said in a statement. (Posted @ 23:50 PST)
Putin condemns ‘barbarous’ Bhutto assassination MOSCOW, Dec 27 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the assassination Thursday of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto as a “barbarous act of terrorism”. (Posted @ 23:44 PST)
Fazal condoles Benazir’s death LAHORE, Dec 27 (APP): Chief of Jamiatul Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan and Secretary General MMA, Maulana Fazalur Rehman in his reaction over the death of Benazir Bhuttoo said “it is a great tragedy and will have impact on the politics of the country for long time to come.” (Posted @ 23:42 PST)
AFGHAN REACTION
December 27, 2007–(RFE/RL)–The death of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in an apparent suicide attack outside the capital, Islamabad, has shaken the country’s political landscape and underscored the threat that politically motivated violence poses in Pakistan and the region.
The 54-year-old Bhutto returned from eight years of exile in October following a deal to drop corruption charges stemming from a previous stint as prime minister, and had announced her candidacy for Pakistan’s upcoming parliamentary elections.
The attack, after an outdoor rally in Rawalpindi, killed at least 16 other people and left her popular Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in disarray ahead of the January voting.
But Bhutto’s absence will also be felt outside Pakistan’s borders, given South and Central Asia’s political history and the threat that extremists pose to stability.
RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Ayaz Khan says the charismatic Bhutto “was not only a liberal Pakistani politician but also a symbol of liberal politics in a region that’s been increasingly haunted by extremism, terrorism, and fundamentalism.”
He also says Bhutto’s tough stance against militants echoed a prevalent view in Kabul that regards terrorist threats in both Pakistan and Afghanistan as inextricably linked.
Ayaz Khan notes that “just hours before her death she met with [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai to reiterate her support for the fight against extremism and terrorism that has afflicted the region and, more recently, the Pakistani government, the Pakistani street, and the Pakistani people.”
The first of Bhutto’s two terms as prime minister (1988-90 and 1993-96) came at a time when Pakistani intelligence was actively backing Islamic fundamentalists fighting to end the Soviet army’s occupation of Afghanistan. Some of those fighters went on to form the Taliban movement that eventually provided an Afghan safe haven for Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
Since her return to Pakistan nearly three months ago, the Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent says, Bhutto had “vowed to rid the country of the extremists responsible for the violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” a position that made her a potentially valuable ally from Kabul’s point of view.
Karzai Condemns ‘Immense Brutality’
Her potential for helping to overcome tensions between Islamabad and Kabul was widely recognized. President Karzai had met with Bhutto just hours before she was killed. Karzai told a hastily arranged press briefing in Kabul after news of the killing that the perpetrators were “enemies” of Pakistan and of peace. “We in Afghanistan condemn this act of cowardice and immense brutality in the strongest possible terms,” Radio Free Afghanistan quoted Karzai as saying.
Correspondent Ayaz Khan says Bhutto’s shared view of the common terrorist threat — along with her public statements of “wholehearted support for the internationally backed peace process in Afghanistan and what NATO and international forces had done” — made her a possible uniter in dealings between Islamabad and Kabul, a position that he says ultimately “made her a prime target for terrorists.”
Speaking to Radio Free Afghanistan hours after the assassination, Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said Bhutto “was so hopeful of winning the coming election, [and] of establishing a friendly relationship based on brotherhood with the Afghan nation and fighting against the common threat of terrorism.”
Bhutto had received numerous death threats from Islamic militants. On the night of her return to Pakistan, as she paraded through the southern city of Karachi on October 18, a suicide bomber struck near her vehicle, killing 139 people. Bhutto was unhurt, but the dead included at least 50 of her security guards, who had formed a human chain around her vehicle to protect her.
At a news conference the following day, Bhutto said she would continue campaigning. She accused the authorities of failing to provide adequate security.
AN EARLIER REPORT
‘US forces to train troops’
WASHINGTON, Dec 26: The United States is sending its Special Forces to Pakistan early next year to train Pakistani troops and support the country’s efforts to fight terrorists, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday….
MORE DETAIL–COULD ESCALATION OF WAR BE A BACKDROP TO THE ASSASSINATION?
US to expand presence in Pakistan
OUR MONITORING DESK
EARLY next year, US special forces are expected to vastly expand their presence
in Pakistan, as part of an effort to train and support indigenous
counter-insurgency forces and clandestine counter-terrorism units, according to
American defence officials involved with the planning, reports Washington
Post.
These Pakistan-centric operations will mark a shift for the US military and for
US-Pakistan relations. In the aftermath of Sept 11, the US used Pakistani bases
to stage movements into Afghanistan. Yet once the US deposed the Taliban
government and established its main operating base at Bagram, north of Kabul,
US forces left Pakistan almost entirely. Since then, Pakistan has restricted US
involvement in cross-border military operations as well as paramilitary
operations on its soil.
But the Pentagon has been frustrated by the inability of Pakistani forces to
control the borders or the frontier area. And Pakistan’s political instability
has heightened US concern about extremists there.
According to Pentagon sources, reaching a different agreement with Pakistan
became a priority for the new head of the US Special Operations Command, Adm
Eric T Olson.
Olson visited Pakistan in August, November and again this month, meeting with
President Pervez Musharraf, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Tariq
Majid and Lt Gen Muhammad Masood Aslam, commander of the military and
paramilitary troops in northwest Pakistan. Olson also visited the headquarters
of the Frontier Corps, a separate paramilitary force recruited from Pakistan’s
border tribes.
Now, a new agreement, reported when it was still being negotiated last month,
has been finalised. And the first US personnel could be on the ground in
Pakistan by early in the new year, according to Pentagon sources.
US Central Command Commander Adm William Fallon alluded to the agreement and
spoke approvingly of Pakistan’s recent counter-terrorism efforts in a recent
interview.
“What we’ve seen in the last several months is more of a willingness to use
their regular army units,” along the Afghan border, Fallon said. “And this is
where, I think, we can help a lot from the US in providing the kind of
training, assistance and mentoring based on our experience with insurgencies
recently and with the terrorist problem in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think we
share a lot with them, and we’ll look forward to doing
WASHINGTON POST: Could Bhutto’s Death Help Giuliani?
The assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was only
minutes old and details remained sketchy when former New York City Mayor Rudy
Giuliani’s presidential campaign issued a condemnation of terrorism writ large.
“Her death is a reminder that terrorism anywhere — whether in New York, London,
Tel-Aviv or Rawalpindi — is an enemy of freedom,” said Giuliani. ” We must
redouble our efforts to win the Terrorists’ War on Us.”
That it was the first statement that arrived in The Fix email inbox is not
surprising as his campaign strategy is closely linked to many voters’ belief
that the world is a dangerous place and that Giuliani is the candidate best
equipped to deal with threats to this country.
Bhutto’s assassination could well work to Giuliani’s benefit because it may
enable him to thrust himself back into the daily political conversation after
steadily losing ground in the presidential campaign for weeks, while Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) has come on strong. With his decision to all but skip Iowa and
play only at the margins in the New Hampshire primary, Giuliani has watched as
the campaign in its final stages has largely passed him by.
But, with the Bhutto’s death and the broader implications of the fight against
terrorism worldwide likely to dominate the coverage for the next day or two (at
a minimum), Giuliani immediately becomes relevant again
ONE FOOTNOTE ON CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
As I reported on the day Before XMAS, contrary to the upbeat reports on TV,the Christmas shopping season was a dud. Heavily discounted items sold as did luxury goods but overall it was “disappointing” to retailers…..This is is not a good omen for the economy.
Your comments welcome. Stay tuned for more Mediachannel coverage on all these issues
Written while nominally on vacation.
Comments to: Dissector@mediachannel.org
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About Danny Schechter
Danny Schechter is an Emmy award winning journalist, television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes, blogs and speaks about media issues.
His latest film is PLUNDER The Crime Of Our Time.
Mr. Schechter is NOT the Godfather of Soul.
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