Microsoft founder says PM’s decision to embrace UN overseas aid target is ‘absolutely fantastic’ Bill Gates, the philanthropist and founder of Microsoft, on Sunday praised David Cameron for his “absolutely fantastic” decision to embrace the UN target of spending 0.7% of GNI (gross national income) on overseas aid by 2013. “The UK government is taking a lead,” Gates said of Britain’s role in convening the London conference of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi). Speaking on a conference call organised by the charity Save the Children, he said that Britain’s lead contrasted with other EU countries. “They have been calling round and encouraging others to give. They’ve got a commitment to increasing aid which is absolutely fantastic.” Gates, who is co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which launched the Decade of Vaccines campaign, said that Britain, Norway, Sweden and Australia are expected to make generous commitments at the conference. But he was less sure about some EU countries. “Germany and France we are not sure how strong they will come in. A group of countries have been thinking how generous can they be for this cause.” Cameron will announce at the conference on Monday that Britain is to step up its commitment to vaccinate 80 million children and save 1.4m lives by 2015. Britain will pledge to vaccinate one child every two seconds for five years and to save one child’s life every two minutes. Britain will also pledge to vaccinate more children against preventable diseases than the population of England. The prime minister defended his decision to increase the aid budget in an article in the Observer amid unease among Tory MPs. “I don’t believe it would be right to ignore the difference we can make, turn inwards solely to our own problems and effectively balance our books while breaking our promises to the world’s poorest,” he wrote. Justin Forsyth, the chief executive of Save the Children, said other countries need to follow Britain’s lead on funding vaccinations. Save the Children is campaigning for world leaders to agree to fund in full vaccines for the world’s poorest children, helping to save 4 million lives. Speaking on the same conference call, Forsyth said: “We need, as Bill said, a few governments other than the UK and Norway to step up to the mark. We are looking for a little bit more from France and Germany. We are looking for some leadership from the EU, from the European Commission, to pledge a considerable amount of money. We are not quite sure yet what the US is going to pledge. So there is still a little bit of a way to go. But it does look like it is lining up – all this pressure and build up.” Forsyth, who worked as Gordon Brown’s director of strategic communications until the election, praised Cameron. “These meetings don’t just happen, it is all the build up to them. It is, firstly, David Cameron deciding to host it with Andrew Mitchell, the secretary of state for international development. That leadership really provides a crunch moment. And Bill has been going round the world urging leaders and governments endlessly to cough up the money and we have been doing our bit as NGOs.” Aid Bill Gates Foreign policy David Cameron Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Bob Schieffer Complains About Washington DC Being Like High School; But It Doesn’t Stop Him From Playing Along
June 12, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Here are the truest words you’ll ever hear on this or any Sunday news show, courtesy of Bob Schieffer at Face the Nation : Washington DC is just like high school. Just think about this: Distractions such as vanity and the mania for gossip and the short attention span that prevents focusing on problems even long enough to try to understand them. Unbridled meanness toward those who are not part of your crowd. The cliquishness that requires group think – if you don’t believe exactly what we believe you can’t be part of our crowd. We’re right, you’re always wrong, and don’t confuse us with facts. An inability to act for fear it will cause a loss of popularity. Oh, and did I miss old-fashioned jealousy and insecurity, which seems to be a factor no matter the issue. For those of us who follow politics and reportage in Washington DC, there is no truer statement. You have the kewl kids and the outsiders, and those kewl kids make sure that the outsiders know that they’ll never be welcome into the inner circles until they conform to the group. That’s why liberal Barbara Boxer stumped for Republican kissyface Joe Lieberman , and the Democrats let him keep his caucus chairmanships despite his campaign support for Republican John McCain . It’s why the Debbie Wasserman Schultz won the DNC Chair despite protecting her Republican colleagues in South Florida from having serious electoral challengers. It’s why John McCain is on every Sunday show and nobody ever cares that Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, Dana Milbank, Mark Halperin, Liz Cheney and Peggy Noonan are rarely correct in their assessments, but you rarely if ever find Rachel Maddow, Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich or Markos Moulitsas, who are correct more often than not. And don’t even get me started on the fact you never see bloggers who have consistently been right, like Digby or our own Amato and Neiwert. We’re not the kewl kids and being on the inside of the closed campus of DC High is more important that being informative, correct, analytical or in touch with reality. That’s why the cute jock can be called “courageous” and “brave” for putting together a report that gets an “F” from the rest of the country . And why lying about a sexual indiscretion (without actual sex) to the media is worse than lying to the same media about weapons of mass destruction or not coming clean to the same media about hundreds of thousands of dollars of income from a conflict of interest . The kewl kids decide what transgressions are acceptable and what are not, and it’s strictly based on your position in the social hierarchy they rule. So a rare moment of honesty comes out from this long time stalwart of the high school upper echelon . And then he flips right back into his role as decider of kewl, and casts out Anthony Weiner. Not only that, he declares that anyone still supporting Weiner (who has, as of this writing, not done anything illegal, not been charged with anything and certainly has not been found guilty of anything other than a serious lapse of judgment and sense) is threatening their standing in the high school hierarchy. Try as I might, I found nothing on Lexis Nexus where Bob Schieffer did anything similar to the Republicans when they gave David Vitter a standing ovation on the floor of Congress ( the same floor from where he had made dates with prostitutes–an illegal activity–several times before ). I guess being consistent isn’t as important as being “in” at DC High.
Continue reading …Bob Schieffer Complains About Washington DC Being Like High School; But It Doesn’t Stop Him From Playing Along
June 12, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Here are the truest words you’ll ever hear on this or any Sunday news show, courtesy of Bob Schieffer at Face the Nation : Washington DC is just like high school. Just think about this: Distractions such as vanity and the mania for gossip and the short attention span that prevents focusing on problems even long enough to try to understand them. Unbridled meanness toward those who are not part of your crowd. The cliquishness that requires group think – if you don’t believe exactly what we believe you can’t be part of our crowd. We’re right, you’re always wrong, and don’t confuse us with facts. An inability to act for fear it will cause a loss of popularity. Oh, and did I miss old-fashioned jealousy and insecurity, which seems to be a factor no matter the issue. For those of us who follow politics and reportage in Washington DC, there is no truer statement. You have the kewl kids and the outsiders, and those kewl kids make sure that the outsiders know that they’ll never be welcome into the inner circles until they conform to the group. That’s why liberal Barbara Boxer stumped for Republican kissyface Joe Lieberman , and the Democrats let him keep his caucus chairmanships despite his campaign support for Republican John McCain . It’s why the Debbie Wasserman Schultz won the DNC Chair despite protecting her Republican colleagues in South Florida from having serious electoral challengers. It’s why John McCain is on every Sunday show and nobody ever cares that Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, Dana Milbank, Mark Halperin, Liz Cheney and Peggy Noonan are rarely correct in their assessments, but you rarely if ever find Rachel Maddow, Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich or Markos Moulitsas, who are correct more often than not. And don’t even get me started on the fact you never see bloggers who have consistently been right, like Digby or our own Amato and Neiwert. We’re not the kewl kids and being on the inside of the closed campus of DC High is more important that being informative, correct, analytical or in touch with reality. That’s why the cute jock can be called “courageous” and “brave” for putting together a report that gets an “F” from the rest of the country . And why lying about a sexual indiscretion (without actual sex) to the media is worse than lying to the same media about weapons of mass destruction or not coming clean to the same media about hundreds of thousands of dollars of income from a conflict of interest . The kewl kids decide what transgressions are acceptable and what are not, and it’s strictly based on your position in the social hierarchy they rule. So a rare moment of honesty comes out from this long time stalwart of the high school upper echelon . And then he flips right back into his role as decider of kewl, and casts out Anthony Weiner. Not only that, he declares that anyone still supporting Weiner (who has, as of this writing, not done anything illegal, not been charged with anything and certainly has not been found guilty of anything other than a serious lapse of judgment and sense) is threatening their standing in the high school hierarchy. Try as I might, I found nothing on Lexis Nexus where Bob Schieffer did anything similar to the Republicans when they gave David Vitter a standing ovation on the floor of Congress ( the same floor from where he had made dates with prostitutes–an illegal activity–several times before ). I guess being consistent isn’t as important as being “in” at DC High.
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Centre-right Justice and Development party secures 49.9% of all votes, giving it 325 seats in parliament Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become the most successful prime minister in the history of Turkey’s multiparty system after a landslide victory at the country’s general election. His centre-right Justice and Development party (AKP), in power since 2002, won 49.9% of all votes, giving it 325 seats in parliament. The result falls short of the two-thirds majority needed to rewrite Turkey’s 1982 military constitution without having to consult parliament. The Republican People’s party (CHP), came second with 25.9%. The only other party to gain seats in parliament, the Nationalist Movement party (MHP), took 13%, seemingly unaffected by a sex tape scandal that caused the resignation of 10 senior party members. Thirty-six independent candidates, most of whom are backed by the Kurdish BDP, were also voted in, among whom was Kurdish campaigner Leyla Zana from Diyarbakir. Turnout was 84.79%. “Erdogan wants to implement a presidential system,” Gencer Ozcan, professor for international relations at Bilgi University told the Guardian. “This is the main goal of a new constitution. This is the first time that the prime minister handpicked all AKP candidates, assuring absolute loyalty within his own party.” But the election result requires wider parliamentary consensus on a new constitution. This comes as good news to government critics who, concerned about Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian stance, accused him of wanting to “Putinise” the country in an effort to remain in charge beyond 2015, when he would be barred from serving as prime minister again. Speaking at a victory rally in the capital, Ankara, Erdogan adopted a conciliatory tone: “Today workers, pensioners, farmers have won. People in the villages have won. Today 74 million people have won. Today the western world, Tripoli, Gaza have won. The Middle East, the Balkans, Europe have won. Peace, justice and stability have won.” Of the planned new constitution, he said: “We will go to the opposition. We will consult with the media and academics to find a consensus. We will not close our doors regarding the constitution, only because we haven’t reached 330 seats.” However, after a vexed election campaign, several political commentators expressed scepticism about Erdogan’s promise of compromise. The AKP will face a rocky third term. Analysts predict a dangerously overheating economy, and Turkey’s “zero-problem” foreign policy is being challenged by regional uprisings such as that in neighbouring Syria, long an ally of AKP-ruled Turkey. Journalist Oral Çalislar told the Guardian: “Prime minister Erdogan has already indicated that after the elections, the honeymoon with Syria will be over. Turkey will take a much harder stance, and side with the EU to solve the Syrian problem.” The handling of Turkey’s large Kurdish minority will also be a key issue. At a ballot station in the predominantly Kurdish area of Dolapdere, Süleyman Demir expressed his dissatisfaction with the AKP. “We don’t expect anything from the government any more”, he said. “Erdogan has made his view on Kurdish rights only too clear over the past weeks.” During the election campaign Erdogan adopted a harsher and more nationalistic tone which, critics say, has alienated many Kurds. “There is no comparison any more to the Erdogan of 2002 and 2005. He has turned his stance by 180 degrees,” said 34-year-old Demir. He, like many Kurds, voted for one of the independent candidates backed by the Kurdish BDP. “We don’t want any canals, bridges or airports,” he said in reference to Erdogan’s regeneration schemes. “We don’t need any ‘crazy projects’. All we want is peace, and an end to the bloodshed in the south-east.” Turkey Middle East Europe guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz accused Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus of hypocrisy Sunday after he called for the resignation of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), while remaining silent on the sex scandals of Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV). “What Reince is saying doesn’t pass the straight-face test, from a chair of a party who none of its leaders called for Sen. Vitter, who actually broke the law, to resign, who is still serving office,” Wasserman Schultz told NBC’s David Gregory. “[Vitter] hired prostitutes and evaded the truth. Chairman Priebus was chairman when Sen. Ensign was also embroiled in unethical, unacceptable, and probably illegal conduct, and he did not call for Sen. Ensign to resign.” “Sen. Ensign resigned,” Priebus insisted. “But you never called for his resignation, so it’s a double standard,” Wasserman Schultz charged. “So, you only call for Democrats’ resignation, but not for Republicans’, okay.” For her part, the Democratic chairwoman called on Weiner to resign after he admitted sending lewd pictures to several women and lying about it.
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Tom MacMaster’s wife has confirmed in an email to the Guardian that he is the real identity behind the Gay Girl in Damascus blog The mysterious identity of a young Arab lesbian blogger who was apparently kidnapped last week in Syria has been revealed conclusively to be a hoax. The blogs were written by not by a gay girl in Damascus, but a middle-aged American man based in Scotland. Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old Middle East activist studying for a masters at Edinburgh University, posted an update declaring that, rather than a 35-year-old feminist and lesbian called Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, he was “the sole author of all posts on this blog”. “I never expected this level of attention,” he wrote in a posting allegedly emanating from “Istanbul, Turkey”. “The events [in the Middle East] are being shaped by the people living them on a daily basis. I have only tried to illuminate them for a western audience.” The admission – confirmed in an email to the Guardian from MacMaster’s wife – apparently ends a mystery that has convulsed parts of the internet for almost a week. But it provoked a furious response from those who had supported the blogger’s campaign, with some in the Syrian gay community saying he had risked their safety and seriously harmed their cause. The blog “A Gay Girl in Damascus”, was launched in February, purportedly to explain “what it’s like to be a lesbian here”, and gathered a growing following as Syria’s popular uprising gained momentum in recent months. Amina described participating in street protests, carrying out furtive lesbian romances and eventually being forced into hiding after security forces came to her home to arrest her. Then, on 6 June, a post appeared in the name of Amina’s cousin “Rania O Ismail”, who said the blogger had been snatched by armed men on a Damascus street. The news sparked internet campaigns to release her, until activists in Syria and beyond began voicing doubts. It emerged that no one, even a woman in Canada who believed she was having a relationship with Amina, had ever spoken to her, and other key details could not be corroborated. In recent days an army of bloggers, journalists and others uncovered snippets of evidence that pointed increasingly to MacMaster and his wife, Britta Froelicher, who is studying at the University of St Andrews for a PhD in Syrian economic development. IP addresses of emails sent by Amina to the lesbian blog LezGetReal.com and others were traced to servers at Edinburgh University. A now-defunct Yahoo discussion group supposedly jointly run by “Amina Arraf” was listed under an address in Stone Mountain, Georgia, that public records show is a home owned by MacMaster and Froelicher. Many private emails sent by the blog’s author contained photographs identical to pictures taken by Froelicher and posted on her page on the Picasa photo-sharing website. Included on the site are many images from a trip to Syria in 2008. The pictures had been removed from public view last night. With the evidence increasingly compelling, MacMaster, who apparently moved to Edinburgh with his wife late last year, decided to come clean. “While the narrative voice may have been fictional, the facts on this blog are true and not misleading as to the situation on the ground,” the update read. “This experience has, sadly, only confirmed my feelings regarding the often superficial coverage of the Middle East and the pervasiveness of new forms of liberal Orientalism. “However, I have been deeply touched by the reactions of readers.” Despite MacMaster’s assertion “I do not believe that I have harmed anyone”, activists were furious. Sami Hamwi, the pseudonym for the Damascus editor of GayMiddleEast.com, wrote: “To Mr MacMaster, I say shame on you!!! There are bloggers in Syria who are trying as hard as they can to report news and stories from the country. We have to deal with too many difficulties than you can imagine. What you have done has harmed many, put us all in danger, and made us worry about our LGBT activism. Add to that, that it might have caused doubts about the authenticity of our blogs, stories, and us. “Your apology is not accepted, since I have myself started to investigate Amina’s arrest. I could have put myself in a grave danger inquiring about a fictitious figure. Really … Shame on you!!!” “What a waste of time when we are trying so hard to get news out of Syria,” another Damascus activist told the Guardian. Twitter supporters and bloggers, too, reacted furiously. There was no immediate reaction from Sandra Bagaria, the French Canadian woman who exchanged around 1,000 emails with Amina and believed herself to be in a romantic relationship with the blogger. Jelena Lecic, the London woman whose pictures were appropriated by the blogger and passed off as Amina, including in direct email correspondence with the Guardian, was not immediately available for comment. Katherine Marsh, the pseudonym of a journalist who until recently was reporting for the Guardian from Syria, interviewed Amina by email in May after being put in touch with her by a trusted Syrian contact who also believed the blogger to be real. Marsh said last night that many steps had been taken to try to verify Amina’s identity, including repeated requests to meet, at some personal risk to the journalist, and talk on Skype. Amina agreed to meet, but later emailed to say she had seen security forces and had therefore not come to the meeting. She then emailed details of her supposed hiding place, lending credence to her story. Despite the explanations offered in the blog post, the question many were asking last night was why. In response to an email from the Guardian, Froelicher said she and her husband “would be giving the first interview to a journalist of [their] choice in 12-24 hours”. In a message to another journalist, she said: “We are on vacation in Turkey and just really want to have a nice time and not deal with all this craziness at the moment.” Syria Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Blogging Esther Addley guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …(Segment starts at 4:50.) Hmm. Maybe the Sunday news shows don’t want facts? This morning, This Week ran a John Donvan segment on women in politics, saying that women politicians don’t get involved in sex scandals. One of the pictures they ran? South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley . (I rest my case.) Then the show books outright loonies like Peggy Noonan as credible guests. This was a discussion about how the economy is affecting the presidential election: AMANPOUR: So I want to bring up the very amusing picture on the front of The Economist this week. Let’s just bring it up. You’ve got a picture of sort of squabbling Republicans, in terms of their vying for — for the nomination, and also you’ve got Obama standing there, saying, “And yet, I could still lose.” What is going on in the White House right now, Jake, in terms of concern about this very matter, that there’s no clear sort of giant to take him on, and yet, policy and the economics might do that? TAPPER: I think there’s an understanding that there will be a giant, and whether it’s Mitt Romney or — George and I have talked about this — probably more likely Tim Pawlenty, because Romney really alienates a lot of the Tea Party conservatives, and Pawlenty — there’s a real opening for him there, assuming Palin doesn’t run. Pawlenty, a giant? Giant what? The man’s a shameless shill and a buffoon. But I digress. I think there’s an understanding that there will be a formidable Republican opponent. The way they say it is President Obama, you know, he got every break he could possibly get in 2008 and still 47 percent of the country voted against him. They do not expect that 47 percent opposition to go down. They think it will go up. This could be a 1- or 2-point race, and a lot of it hinges on the economy. And right now, the president does not have a strong economic message. You saw the highest disapproval number for him when it comes to the economy, 59 percent of his presidency. That is a disastrous number, and it could really spell trouble for his re-election. WILL: In the first quarter, housing values in this country went down 4 percent. Another 10 percent decline on housing values will mean that one-third of all the Americans with mortgages will be underwater, that is, they will owe more on their homes than their homes are worth. That is terrifying to people. You add that to the jobs numbers and Goliath, as The Economist calls the president, Goliath is very vulnerable. AMANPOUR: Well, let’s talk about Pawlenty quickly, and then we’ll get to what you wanted to say, but he made a speech today on the economy. Let’s just put up a little bit of what he said. I want to get your reaction to that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAWLENTY: Let’s start as a nation with a big, positive goal. Let’s grow the economy by 5 percent, instead of the anemic 2 percent currently envisioned. Such a national economic growth target will set our sights on a positive future. It’ll inspire the actions needed to reach it. (END VIDEO CLIP) AMANPOUR: So I know you’re considering Pawlenty as a real viable candidate. Do you think, though, that’s a bit fanciful? I mean, a lot of economists have said that 5 percent today is — I mean, it’s great, it would be great, but not really possible. WILL: A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, and that certainly does. Steady 5 percent growth probably won’t happen. Also, his pledge to get federal spending down to 18 percent of GDP is very hard to do with an aging population and a welfare state that exists to transfer wealth to the elderly. That said, he’s avoiding the austerity trap. He’s avoiding the green eyeshade, root canal kind of politics that Ronald Reagan avoided. Reagan said we’re going to get out of this mess with growth. At this point, by the way, in the Reagan recovery, after ’81-’82, the economy was growing at 7 percent. Once again, George Will’s rose-colored glasses mist over as he gazes back lovingly at the revered Age of Reagan. He’s lying, of course. In the Reagan recovery, economic growth tapped out at 4.9%. And he doesn’t mention that unemployment was at a high of 10.8% in December 1982, brought down to 7.2% by that hated deficit spending. That Keynesian stimulus helped Reagan win reelection by a landslide. Too bad that unlike Reagan, Obama faces obstructionist Republicans in Congress who only care about winning, and not about the country, and thus refuse any further stimulus. BRAZILE: Well, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to 5 percent. One would hope that we could get back to 5 percent. We haven’t seen 5 percent steady growth since John F. Kennedy. And the only countries now with — producing 5 percent, 6 percent are the BRICs, Brazil, India and China. So the goal right now — the president must get Congress to focus on raising the debt ceiling, going forward with some kind of budget solution so that we can stop having these endless conversations on deficit, deficit, deficit. The biggest deficit we face in this country today is a jobs deficit. And there’s no evidence that the Republican practice of cutting the budget will in somehow create a new round of employment for — for growth to really occur in this country. NOONAN: I think there’s something powerful in the fact that Pawlenty — other candidates are saying, “Cut, we’ll get growth. Lower taxes, we’ll get growth.” In an interesting sort of way, he’s saying growth is the thing. And once we know that, then there are a number of things we’ve got to do, like cut — limit regulation, et cetera. So he’s just sort of turning the picture a little bit. Whenever I hear Nooners babble, I think of Chance the gardener in “Being There.” I do think for any Republican right now what is the emerging theme is — of Obama, he was handed a lot of bad stuff by history, two wars, recession, the big crash, the Great Recession, but he made it worse. (CROSSTALK) NOONAN: That’s what’s coming. Oh, my goodness. If you look at… BRAZILE: Fifteen months of consecutive job growth? Fifteen months. So we had a bad month, 55,000 jobs or less created. A month where we had the disaster in Japan, we had natural disasters, and of course we saw energy prices rise. The one thing that the Republicans have been doing since day one is downplaying the success that we’ve seen with some of the economic stimulus that the Democrats put in place.
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On Wednesday evening in Europe (12:31 p.m. Eastern Time), in what it was already describing as “the world's deadliest known outbreak of E. coli,” the Associated Press reported that “No cause for the outbreak has yet been found,” while farmers on the continent were petitioning the EU for hundreds of million of dollars in compensation. By midday European time (6:27 a.m. ET) on Friday, June 10, it was known (“Sprouts are cause of E. coli outbreak”) that the contaminated food had come from Germany, when investigators “linked separate clusters of patients who had fallen sick to 26 restaurants and cafeterias that had received produce from the organic farm.” It is not my intention to get involved in a debate on farming techniques. But it seems obvious that if the outbreak came from an “organic” farming enterprise, follow-up stories should continue to mention
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Rebels launch attack on strategic town of Zawiya as Russian envoy says ‘clock is ticking’ for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s increasingly stretched army is struggling to crush a surprise rebel offensive in Zawiya, a strategic town just 30 miles west of Tripoli, while fighting has also been reported in the largest town in the Libyan Sahara. At least 13 rebel fighters and civilians were killed in Zawiya on Saturday after the attack on government forces. Guma el-Gamaty, a London-based opposition spokesman, said on Sunday several hundred rebels remained “well-protected and entrenched” in the western part of the town and also controlled a section of the coastal highway to Tunisia that serves as the main supply route for Tripoli. Loyalists forces were still in charge of the town centre and have large numbers of snipers there, he said by phone from London. The government acknowledged that fighting had occurred in Zawiya, which has a major oil refinery, but said the clashes were minor and loyalist forces remained in complete control. It was not possible to verify the conflicting information since foreign journalists in Tripoli are not permitted to leave the capital. Zawiya first rebelled against the Libyan regime in March, but the uprising was crushed when the army sent in tanks and bulldozers, even razing the town’s mosque . If sustained, the town’s second rebellion will be of major significance, because it will mean that Gaddafi’s forces are engaged in fighting in all three directions outside the capital, including Misrata, 130 miles to the east and a string of towns in the Nafusa mountains, about 60 miles to the south. “The strategy is to push on Tripoli from all three sides, inspiring people there and putting great pressure on the army,” said el-Gamaty, the UK coordinator for the rebel’s National Transitional Council (NTC). A businessman in Tripoli, who requested anonymity for his own safety, said the strain on the regime appeared to be showing, with security tightening sharply in Tripoli in recent days. Vehicles entering suburbs known to be restive at night were being checked by up to six times at a single roadblock by police officers, the businessman said. Gaddafi remains in hiding in the city with his family, and appears not to be responding to international diplomatic efforts offering him a safe exit from power. Following a visit to Benghazi, the headquarters of the NTC in eastern Libya, Russia’s special envoy to Africa, Mikhail Margelov told Russian television that the “clock was ticking” for Gaddafi, but said there were precedents for a solution where the Libyan leader might be able “to live happily as a private individual in his own country and nobody touches him”. Besides Zawiya, the NTC also reported skirmishes in parts of Sahba, a garrison town around 500 miles south of Tripoli that is considered a Gaddafi stronghold. Anti-government protests have reportedly been ongoing there for several days. Regarded as the gateway to the Sahara, Sabha is also a key junction for routes to Algeria, Niger and Chad that could be used by senior regime officials looking to escape the country, according to rebels. They remain hopeful that Nato’s aerial operation targeting Gaddafi’s military arsenal might wear it down to the extent that rebel fighters may soon be able to push through government defences on the various fronts. If and when that happens, the main thrust on Tripoli is likely to come from the rebels in Misrata, Libya’s third biggest city, perhaps reinforced by a larger opposition force currently holding its position hundreds of miles east near the town of Brega, which is still in government hands. Misrata’s fighters are battle-hardened after defending their city for nearly four months, and commanders claim that increasingly numbers of government troops are deserting. But they are aware of the shortcomings of their all-infantry force against the heavy weapons of loyalist forces. In an artillery barrage on Friday, the rebels lost 31 men, and suffered 120 injuries. Rebels say the 32nd Brigade, an elite force reportedly controlled by Gaddafi’s son, Khamis, is garrisoning Zlitan, the town blocking any advance from Misrata on Tripoli. Meanwhile, in the Nafusa mountain range to the south of Tripoli, government forces are continuing their attacks on the mainly Berber communities who have taken control of numerous small towns near the road that runs towards Tunisia. In the rebel-controlled town of Zintan, five people were killed during rocket attacks on Sunday, according to a rebel spokesman. More than 20 people were injured. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rebels launch attack on strategic town of Zawiya as Russian envoy says ‘clock is ticking’ for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s increasingly stretched army is struggling to crush a surprise rebel offensive in Zawiya, a strategic town just 30 miles west of Tripoli, while fighting has also been reported in the largest town in the Libyan Sahara. At least 13 rebel fighters and civilians were killed in Zawiya on Saturday after the attack on government forces. Guma el-Gamaty, a London-based opposition spokesman, said on Sunday several hundred rebels remained “well-protected and entrenched” in the western part of the town and also controlled a section of the coastal highway to Tunisia that serves as the main supply route for Tripoli. Loyalists forces were still in charge of the town centre and have large numbers of snipers there, he said by phone from London. The government acknowledged that fighting had occurred in Zawiya, which has a major oil refinery, but said the clashes were minor and loyalist forces remained in complete control. It was not possible to verify the conflicting information since foreign journalists in Tripoli are not permitted to leave the capital. Zawiya first rebelled against the Libyan regime in March, but the uprising was crushed when the army sent in tanks and bulldozers, even razing the town’s mosque . If sustained, the town’s second rebellion will be of major significance, because it will mean that Gaddafi’s forces are engaged in fighting in all three directions outside the capital, including Misrata, 130 miles to the east and a string of towns in the Nafusa mountains, about 60 miles to the south. “The strategy is to push on Tripoli from all three sides, inspiring people there and putting great pressure on the army,” said el-Gamaty, the UK coordinator for the rebel’s National Transitional Council (NTC). A businessman in Tripoli, who requested anonymity for his own safety, said the strain on the regime appeared to be showing, with security tightening sharply in Tripoli in recent days. Vehicles entering suburbs known to be restive at night were being checked by up to six times at a single roadblock by police officers, the businessman said. Gaddafi remains in hiding in the city with his family, and appears not to be responding to international diplomatic efforts offering him a safe exit from power. Following a visit to Benghazi, the headquarters of the NTC in eastern Libya, Russia’s special envoy to Africa, Mikhail Margelov told Russian television that the “clock was ticking” for Gaddafi, but said there were precedents for a solution where the Libyan leader might be able “to live happily as a private individual in his own country and nobody touches him”. Besides Zawiya, the NTC also reported skirmishes in parts of Sahba, a garrison town around 500 miles south of Tripoli that is considered a Gaddafi stronghold. Anti-government protests have reportedly been ongoing there for several days. Regarded as the gateway to the Sahara, Sabha is also a key junction for routes to Algeria, Niger and Chad that could be used by senior regime officials looking to escape the country, according to rebels. They remain hopeful that Nato’s aerial operation targeting Gaddafi’s military arsenal might wear it down to the extent that rebel fighters may soon be able to push through government defences on the various fronts. If and when that happens, the main thrust on Tripoli is likely to come from the rebels in Misrata, Libya’s third biggest city, perhaps reinforced by a larger opposition force currently holding its position hundreds of miles east near the town of Brega, which is still in government hands. Misrata’s fighters are battle-hardened after defending their city for nearly four months, and commanders claim that increasingly numbers of government troops are deserting. But they are aware of the shortcomings of their all-infantry force against the heavy weapons of loyalist forces. In an artillery barrage on Friday, the rebels lost 31 men, and suffered 120 injuries. Rebels say the 32nd Brigade, an elite force reportedly controlled by Gaddafi’s son, Khamis, is garrisoning Zlitan, the town blocking any advance from Misrata on Tripoli. Meanwhile, in the Nafusa mountain range to the south of Tripoli, government forces are continuing their attacks on the mainly Berber communities who have taken control of numerous small towns near the road that runs towards Tunisia. In the rebel-controlled town of Zintan, five people were killed during rocket attacks on Sunday, according to a rebel spokesman. More than 20 people were injured. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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