CNN Tries to Contain Damage from Spitzer Outing Zakaria’s Consultations for Obama
May 16, 2011 No Comment
Two days after liberal Democratic politician/CNN host Eliot Spitzer told fellow CNN host Fareed Zakaria it “brought a smile to my face” and “makes my heart warm” to learn President Obama “calls you for wisdom and advice about issues around the world,” Zakaria took to CNN’s site for his Sunday show, Fareed Zakaria GPS, to issue a “clarification on my conversations with the President” in which Zakaria, an in unusual late Saturday afternoon posting, declared: “The characterization that I have been ‘advising’ President Obama is inaccurate.” Zakaria maintained that all he’s done is “had a couple of conversations with the President, off-the-record. At no point did President Obama ask me for advice on a specific policy.” Apparently, “conversations” that are “off-the-record” do not constitute “advising.” The next day, on Sunday’s Reliable Sources , Howard Kurtz accepted Zakaria’s explanation and only offered a gentle reprimand for not making the meetings known. Kurtz relayed how Zakaria claimed “that the two meetings he's had with Obama in recent months give him a sense of the President's thinking, and that he used to have the same kinds of meetings with, for example, Condi Rice.” Kurtz decided: “I agree with Fareed's last point, that part of what he's getting at the White House is high-level spin. That's why I think the fact of the meetings should have been disclosed. Zakaria says that's not part of the arrangement, but it should be. Otherwise, people will inevitably have doubts when word leaks out.” Doubts indeed when the host of a CNN show is discussing with the President the very policies that journalist later assesses on his foreign-policy oriented show. [Back in October of 2008, unsurprisingly, Zakaria used his CNN program to endorse Barack Obama: Newsweek /CNN's Fareed Zakaria Announces He's Voting for Obama Not that it's any big surprise given his well-established liberal views and contempt for conservative policies, but in what is an unusually blatant abandonment of basic journalistic pretenses, CNN on Sunday — and Newsweek in this week's issue — provided time and space for Fareed Zakaria to outline why he will be voting for the “steady and reasoned” Barack Obama. Along the way, he denigrated Sarah Palin as “a rabble-rousing ultraconservative.” At the end of his Sunday (October 19) CNN program, Fareed Zakaria: GPS , Zakaria told his viewers of his choice, concluding: John McCain represents the best of America's past, and Barack Obama the hope of the future — the hope of a country that can make big changes and live out one of its greatest promises, of equal opportunities for all Americans, of every caste, creed and color. And America has always been a country that looks forward. So, I will be voting for Barack Obama on election day this year. The revelation of Zakaria’s personal efforts to ensure Obama’s success all started from a paragraph in a Wednesday, May 11 New York Times article praising Obama’s quest to master the Middle East: He [President Obama] has sounded out prominent journalists like Fareed Zakaria of Time magazine and CNN and Thomas L. Friedman, a columnist at The New York Times, regarding their visits to the region. “He is searching for a way to pull back and weave a larger picture,” Mr. Zakaria said. That went little-noticed until Spitzer brought it up on the Thursday, May 12 In the Arena : ELIOT SPITZER: Look, I read something in the paper this week a couple of days ago that actually made me — you know brought a smile to my face. It said the President of the United States calls you for wisdom and advice about issues around the world. So first, when he calls you, what does he say? “Hi, Barack calling for Fareed”? What does he do? ZAKARIA: Mostly it's been face-to-face meetings. SPITZER: Right. ZAKARIA: You know, usually organized by Tom Donilon, the national security adviser. What I'm struck by, though, honestly, Eliot, is how much time he's spending thinking about the issues of the Arab spring particularly the issues of Egypt, how — how to make Egypt go right, what — you know, what is the — what are the mechanisms that the United States has to help the moderates and liberals. It's been a very thoughtful conversation. You know we'll see where it goes. SPITZER: I'm not going to ask you what you have said to the President but it makes my heart warm that the President is calling you for wisdom and advice. After the inevitable notice that got, Zakaria posted this statement on Saturday afternoon : The characterization that I have been “advising” President Obama is inaccurate. Over the last few months I've had a couple of conversations with the President, off-the-record. At no point did President Obama ask me for advice on a specific policy or speech or proposal, nor did I volunteer it. I know that he has had similar meetings with other columnists. Then on Sunday’s Reliable Sources , Kurtz addressed the matter: HOWARD KURTZ: When a journalist has private meetings with the president it invariably raises questions. That's what happened this week when the New York Times reported that President Obama has held such off-the- record sessions with CNN's Fareed Zakaria and Times' columnist Tom Friedman. Zakaria was asked about this on Eliot Spitzer's show. ELIOT SPITZER, IN THE ARENA: It said the President of the United States called you for wisdom and advice about issues around the world. So, first, when he calls you, what does he say, “Hi. Barack, calling for Fareed”? What does he do? FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: Mostly it has been face-to-face meetings. You know, it's usually organized by Tom Donilon, the national security adviser. KURTZ: Glenn Beck took a whack at Fareed. And the Web site Mediaite called it a “stunning revelation for a working journalist to admit that he has private discussions on policy with a sitting U.S. President.” Friedman says his policy is not to discuss private meetings. Zakaria told me yesterday that he never gave Obama advice or counsel on any aspect of administration policy, that he is a commentator and Time magazine columnist, not a reporter, that the two meetings he's had with Obama in recent months give him a sense of the president's thinking, and that he used to have the same kinds of meetings with, for example, Condi Rice. I agree with Fareed's last point, that part of what he's getting at the White House is high-level spin. That's why I think the fact of the meetings should have been disclosed. Zakaria says that's not part of the arrangement, but it should be. Otherwise, people will inevitably have doubts when word leaks out.
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As exhibitions of the missing artist’s work open at Somerset House and the Lisson Gallery in London, artists and exhibitors talk about Ai Weiwei’s growing importance in China and the west Jared Schiller
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Chinese authorities allow wife, Lu Qing, to visit artist and activist who had not been seen since arrest at Beijing airport on 3 April Detained artist Ai Weiwei seems to be in good physical health but mentally conflicted and tense, his wife has said after seeing him for the first time in six weeks. Lu Qing said she was taken to see her husband for about 20 minutes on Sunday afternoon, the first contact friends and relatives have had with the 53-year-old Chinese artist and activist since officials stopped him at Beijing airport on 3 April. It is not clear where he is being held and the people who arranged the visit did not show her identification, she added. “I could see redness in his eyes. It was obvious that without freedom to express himself he was not behaving naturally even with me, someone from his family,” Lu told Associated Press. “He seemed conflicted, contained, his face was tense.” The couple sat across the table from each other and their visit was supervised by two people, one “who seemed to be in charge of Ai”, and another who took notes. “We could not talk about the economic charges or other stuff, mainly about the family and health,” Lu said. “We were careful, we knew that the deal could be broken at any moment, so we were careful.” Ai was not handcuffed, was wearing his own clothes rather than a uniform, and retained his beard. He said he had his blood pressure checked several times a day and had received medication he needed for diabetes. He was able to exercise by walking and said he was eating and sleeping well. “The fact that Lu Qing could see him was already a very merciful act by the authorities,” his mother, Gao Ying, said, adding that Ai did not discuss his charge beyond saying he “did not understand it”. She added: “The rumours that we’ve heard about him being tortured have been too much for us to take, but now seeing is believing. His condition is good.” Gao said her son had been particularly concerned about her health. “Of course [Lu] had to tell him that I’m doing well and not that I’m at home crying everyday … He was very moved and tears welled up in his eyes,” she added. Ai’s sister Gao Ge said: “Now that we’ve seen that his health is OK, of course we are a bit less anxious, but that’s not to say we want him to stay where he is … We really want this case to be dealt with as soon as possible and for the government to follow proper procedures in keeping with Chinese law.” Liu Xiaoyuan, a lawyer who has said he is willing to represent the artist if necessary, said Ai was not in a jail or a detention centre, but that neither Lu nor Ai were sure where he was being held. He said police had still not informed Ai’s family of detention and that he suspected the artist was being held under residential surveillance. Joshua Rosenzweig of the Dui Hua foundation, which supports political prisoners, said the law did not spell out whether police should notify family members of the measure because normally it would be carried out at an individual’s home. Residential surveillance orders last around six months. In comparison, police must inform relatives of detention within 24 hours, unless it would impede the investigation, and report to prosecutors on the case within a month. “[Residential surveillance] is supposed to be less punitive but the way it is being carried out – if it is – is really turning things on its head. It is much more advantageous to police. There are very few limits on their ability to interrogate you,” added Rosenzweig. Ai’s case comes amid a broader crackdown on lawyers, dissidents and activists in recent months. His friend Wen Tao, 38, driver and cousin Zhang Jinsong, also known as Xiao Pang, 43, accountant Hu Mingfen, 55, and colleague Liu Zhenggang, 49, all remain missing. Officials have said Ai is under investigation for suspected economic crimes. Last week, the vice-foreign minister, Fu Ying, said it was “very condescending for the Europeans to come in to tell China that some people are beyond the law” . But relatives believe his detention is retaliation for his social and political activism. Gao Ying told CBS recently: “I think in reality, he was taken because he was protecting the rights of ordinary citizens and speaking for them … I think … he offended people in power and they hate him, so now they are looking for an opportunity to take him down.” Ai Weiwei China Human rights Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Jury finds two youths guilty of murder and three of manslaughter over killing of Sofyen Belamouadden, 15, at tube station Five teenagers have been found guilty of chasing down and killing a schoolboy at Victoria underground station in an attack organised on Facebook. A jury on Monday found two of the teenagers guilty of murdering 15-year-old Sofyen Belamouadden; three other teenagers were found guilty of manslaughter. The killing took place in front of hundreds of rush-hour commuters, and was caught on CCTV cameras in the station in London. Footage, which was produced during the teenagers’ trial at the Old Bailey, showed the group of youths surrounding Sofyen as he lay on the floor of the ticket hall on 25 March last year. In 15 seconds the teenagers, who were allegedly part of a larger group of 20 youths, punched, stabbed and kicked him to death before fleeing the station and then boarding a C10 bus. The killing was the result of “simmering tensions” between pupils at a sixth form college in west London and teenagers from other schools. Sofyen, of west London, was stabbed nine times to the body, with wounds to his heart, a lung and major blood vessels, in what Mark Heywood QC prosecuting told the jury was a “combined, comprehensive and lethal attack”. One member of the gang, Samuel Roberts, 18, told the court he joined in the violence simply because “everyone else was doing it”. Obi Nwokeh, 18, and a 17-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted of murder by unanimous jury verdicts. Roberts, of Camberwell, Adonis Akra, 18, of Stockwell, and another 17-year-old, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, were cleared of the charge but convicted of manslaughter. Enoch Amoah, 18, of Camberwell, was cleared of both charges but convicted of violent disorder. All six defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. A number of other youths are due to face separate trials over the killing. Crime London Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk
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Prime minister says challenges of ageing population and need to save £20bn in NHS spending over next four years mean status quo not an option David Cameron has warned that the NHS will face a funding crisis unless major reforms are introduced at the end of the government’s “listening exercise”. In a speech to NHS staff at Ealing Hospital in London, the prime minister attempted to reassure the medical profession by professing his love for the NHS. But he said the twin challenges of an ageing population and the need to save £20bn in NHS spending over the next four years, identified by the previous government, meant the status quo was not an option. Cameron, who said the government would respond to the findings of Steve Field’s “listening exercise” by the end of next month, outlined some of the key changes to the health and social care bill, including: • New GP-led consortia, which will replace primary care trusts, will have a wider membership. Hospital doctors will be more closely involved. • Competition will not be introduced to the NHS “for its own sake”. • There will be no cherry-picking of NHS services by private companies. • The NHS will look reasonably similar after the changes, and will not become a “space age institution”. Cameron wanted to use the speech to show that changes will be introduced to the social care bill and also to reassure Conservative MPs – who raised concerns at a meeting of the 1922 committee last week – that he is not being forced to change tack under pressure from the Liberal Democrats. The prime minister told that meeting he, and not the Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, had decided to pause the bill. Cameron also commended Field, who was present for the speech, for his independence of thought after he raised concerns about the original health reforms. Field praised the prime minister for sanctioning a “real listening exercise”. NHS Health GPs Doctors David Cameron Conservatives Nick Clegg Liberal Democrats Liberal-Conservative coalition Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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Chief prosecutor requests arrest warrants for Libyan leader, his son Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and his brother-in-law and intelligence chief, Abdullah Senussi have been named as war crimes suspects by the chief prosecutor for the international criminal court in The Hague. Presenting his request for arrest warrants to the ICC, the chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said the three operated as an “inner circle”, orchestrating the killing of peaceful protesters, with Saif al-Islam operating as a “de facto prime minister”. He said dissidents were targeted at home and in public places, with live ammunition as well as “heavy weaponry”. Moreno-Ocampo also said that Muammar Gaddafi led the campaign “with the goal of preserving his absolute authority”, and added that he had “direct evidence of orders issued by Muammar Gaddafi himself”. Moreno-Ocampo’s request for an arrest warrant against Saif Gaddafi will come as a shock to his prominent and wealthy circle of friends in Britain as well as the government officials – in Britain, Europe and the US – who saw him as a westernised moderniser with whom they could perhaps make peace. Moreno-Ocampo even came under pressure from western governments not to include Saif al-Islam in his initial list of suspects as it would shut off a possible avenue to a truce in a conflict which Nato states are increasingly anxious to bring to a rapid conclusion, according to sources familiar with the manoeuvring of the past few weeks. In his presentation to the ICC judges in The Hague on Monday, Moreno-Ocampo appears to have shrugged off those pressures. If the ICC issues the arrest warrants, it will deepen the embarrassment of the London School of Economics, where Saif studied and which accepted a £1.5m donation from a foundation Saif controlled to fund a north African research porgramme. Of that total, £300,000 was actually spent before the programme was suspended. Saif’s western image as a sophisticated reformer was badly dented when he appeared on television after the outbreak of pro-democracy protests in Libya, vowing that the regime would fight “to the last bullet”. However, in his application for an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity, Moreno-Ocampo argues not only that Saif al-Islam incited violence, but presents evidence that he also played a central role in orchestrating the killing of unarmed and peaceful demonstrators. In laying out his case, Moreno-Ocampo said he would target “those who bear the highest responsibility”. He added that: “It is indeed a characteristic of the situation in Libya that massive crimes are reportedly committed upon instruction of a few persons who control the organisations that execute the orders.” The prosecutors believe that although Saif al-Islam had no formal position in Libya’s fearsome secret police and elite presidential units responsible for much of the bloodshed – his reputation was more of a urbane playboy – he assumed a leading role at the height of the crisis to defend the regime against the threat of the Arab spring movement that had already toppled dictators to the west and east of Libya, in Tunisia and Egypt. Some of Moreno-Ocampo’s strongest evidence is believed to have come from inside the regime itself. The prosecutor even issued a statement on Sunday boasting of the co-operation from Tripoli, in an apparent effort to stir paranoia inside the regime over who is informing on whom. “During the last week, the office of the prosecutor received several calls from high-level officials in Gaddafi’s regime willing to provide information,” the statement read. A panel of ICC judges will now consider the prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants. If those warrants are issued, it will be up to national governments to enforce them. Moreno-Ocampo said on Monday he thought Libyans would do the job themselves. The ICC has no police force of its own. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Luis Moreno-Ocampo Middle East Africa International criminal court Julian Borger guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …WaPo Overlooks Boehner Speech, Highlights Students Asking the Speaker ‘Where’s the Compassion?’
May 16, 2011 No Comment
When a liberal Democrat is Speaker of the House, everything they say is newsworthy, but when a conservative Republican is Speaker, the most newsworthy people are angry protesters of the Speaker. This came true on Sunday, when The Washington Post story on Speaker John Boehner's commencement address at Catholic University of America in D.C. by Katherine Shaver was all about the protesters, and Boehner's remarks didn't come up until paragraph nine. It began: Katy Jamison strode toward her graduation from Catholic University on Saturday wearing the requisite black robe and mortar board — plus a neon green message to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). “Where’s the compassion, Mr. Boehner?” said the 8-by-10-inch sign pinned to her chest. Surprise, surprise. The Washington Post went looking for the more-compassionate-than-thou Masters-in-Social-Work student that starts petitions against the CUA Starbucks not serving Fair Trade coffee on every day at all times . Nobody asks whether the money spent on overpriced coffee could be better spent on the poor. Katy Jamison is on a roll : “As social work students, we spend our days in the field working to empower our clients who have experienced injustice,” says social work student Katy Jamison. “How can we then purchase coffee on CUA's campus that perpetuates that same injustice through unfair wages, forced or child labor in coffee fields around the world?
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Final nine victims declared dead after DNA testing could not be used to identify them Nine final victims of New Zealand’s devastating earthquake have been declared dead, ending an agonising wait for families of people whose remains have not been found. Even DNA testing proved unable to identify nine of the 181 people killed in Christchurch on 22 February, so the government set up a special coroner’s inquest to examine other evidence. On Monday the chief coroner, Neil MacLean, made his official finding of death for nine people whose mobile phones, bank accounts and passports have not been used and whose remains could not be located. He concluded they died from traumatic injuries as a result of the quake. MacLean said their families deserved closure. The nine were six women and three men. Four were Chinese and one Filipino. Others were born in Peru and Russia. Witnesses reported seeing all nine in the Canterbury Television building before the earthquake, but no one had seen any of them since. A total of 115 lives were lost when the CTV building collapsed. The magnitude 6.3 quake is one of New Zealand’s worst disasters. Some 10,000 houses and nearly 1,000 commercial buildings in the city centre will have to be demolished and some parts of suburban Christchurch will most likely have to be abandoned altogether. The quake is New Zealand’s most expensive natural disaster, costing an estimated $15bn (£9.3bn). Police earlier identified 172 victims and told the inquest they had names for a further nine people but any remains of them that were recovered were too incomplete to be identified forensically. Fingerprints, dental remains, pathological examinations and DNA analysis were among the methods unable to identify the nine, Detective Inspector Paul Kench said. “To say that this is an extraordinary type of inquiry is an understatement,” MacLean told the hearing. The six women MacLean ruled dead were: Jinyan Leng, 30, Xiujuan Xu, 47, Didi Zhang, 23, and Xiaoli Zhou, 26, of China; Rhea Mae Sumalpong, 25, of the Philippines; and Elsa Torres De Frood, 53, a Peru-born New Zealand resident. The men were: Matthew Lyle Beaumont, 31, and Shawn Lucas, 40, of Christchurch; and Valeri Volnov, 41, a Russian-born New Zealand resident. New Zealand Natural disasters and extreme weather guardian.co.uk
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Irish police criticised after arrest of London bomber Marian Price and other republicans ahead of Queen’s visit Irish republican supporters of Old Bailey bomber Marian Price said her arrest and those of others is an assault on free speech. The Republican Network for Unity (RNU) denounced the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s decision to prosecute Price on charges of encouraging terrorism as “de facto internment”. Martin Óg Meehan, the RNU’s spokesman, the prosecution showed that Britain wanted to suppress free speech. Meanwhile, there is growing anger over Irish president Mary McAleese’s decision to invite a loyalist paramilitary leader to a ceremony linked to the Queen’s visit to Ireland. Ulster Defence Association chief, Jackie McDonald, is among a number of loyalists invited to Dublin where they will attend a ceremony in honour of Irishmen killed in the first and second world wars while serving in the British armed forces. But the son of a woman killed in a loyalist bomb said that instead McDonald and other loyalists should be visiting graveyards in Northern Ireland where their victims are buried. Peggy Whyte was 52 years old when she was killed in a bomb, thought to have been left by the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force, at the front of her home in University Street, Belfast in April 1984. Her son, Jude Whyte, said: “It would be far more important in terms of peace and reconciliation that they perhaps visited the graveyards and looked at the damage their organisation did,” he said. “Their casualties and victims were unarmed civilians who were no harm to anybody. Try to understand the damage that the civilian population suffered here. “You broke a lot of hearts and you maimed and murdered a lot of people. It is time to say sorry to them.” However, Reverend Mervyn Gibson, who sits on the Loyalist Commission, defended loyalists who had made “a significant contribution towards peace”. “There are victims on all sides and apologies wanted on both sides,” he said. Ireland Northern Ireland Human rights The Queen UK security and terrorism Monarchy Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
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Saturday’s The Early Show on CBS gave attention to a number of liberal faculty members at Catholic University who, in a letter , questioned House Speaker John Boehner’s Catholic credentials on helping the poor ahead of the Ohio Republican’s speech at the university’s commencement. CBS’s Betty Nguyen noted that “not everyone” at the university
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