November 2011
Vol 11, No. 11
U.S. DECLINE By Chandra Muzaffar
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ike many other intellectuals in the United States and the West, Professor Joseph Nye is overly concerned with the position of the US as the world’s leading power. He does not want China to overtake his country. While acknowledging “that America will be less dominant than it once was”, Nye is nonetheless convinced that it will remain number 1. It is a conclusion that ignores some of the most crucial aspects of the decline of the US as an imperial power. As with other imperial powers in the past, it is the US’s military adventures which are the primary cause of its decline— a point which Nye sidesteps in his “America in Decline? Think Again.” (NST October 17). It is estimated that the Afghan and Iraq wars have cost the US 4 trillion dollars and escalated its national debt to 14 trillion, making the world’s only military superpower the biggest debtor nation in history. What is more significant, the
US and its allies have to all intents and purposes lost both wars, proving yet again (after the Vietnam debacle of the early seventies) that the most sophisticated military arsenal on earth cannot vanquish ordinary people determined to defend their land and their integrity.
Nye has also downplayed the severity of the economic crisis that has paralysed the US. Corporate, Casino Capitalism which concentrates wealth in the hands of 1% while marginalising 99% of the population, in the words of the Occupy Wall Street movement, is so deeply entrenched that it has killed any hope of fundamental reform. It is
largely because of the powerful vested interests of the 1% that the political system is not able to respond to the aspirations of the 99%. Military adventurism, on the one hand, and the economic and political crises, on the other, have been compounded in recent decades by a weakening of the social fabric as a consequence of the disintegration of the family. While these and other factors have contributed to the decline of the US, it is true that the nation remains strong because of its entrepreneurial dynamism due in part to the huge influx of immigrants, and its scientific output. But even here one has to be a little cautious. As its economy declines, the US will become less attractive to the potential migrant just as it will find it more difficult to finance its cuttingedge scientific research. Besides, other countries are also increasing their scientific output. According to the
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ARTICLES .THE FAST & FURIOUS PLOT
OCCUPY IRAN ....................................................P 2
.US E YES A SIA F ROM S ECRET AUSTRALIAN BASE .............................P 8
.THE SYRIAN VETO ............................P 4
.TRANSGENDERS AND HERMAPHRODITES IN ISLAMIC TEACHINGS .....................P 9
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.T HE D IAMOND I NDUSTRY ’ S D OUBLE STANDARD ON ISRAEL..........................P 5
.HINDUS: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION..P 10
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Royal Society, Britain’s national science academy, China could possibly overtake the US in scientific output by 2013! China’s ascendancy, needless to say, has accelerated US’s decline, underscored by the latter’s massive trade deficit vis-à-vis the former. Other economies, notably South Korea, India, Turkey and Brazil are also becoming important regional and international players. Russia is re-asserting its political influence in its neighbourhood while the US has lost considerable power in its vicinity as nation after nation in Latin America re-affirms its independence in the face of Corporate, Casino Capitalism. With the decline of the US what is emerging is a world with different loci of economic, political and military power, in which the US would be one of a handful of actors. It is unlikely that there will be a single dominant global power in the future. Within such a scenario it is conceivable that regional and international institutions will play a more significant role and international law which hitherto has been hampered by US hegemony will become more meaningful. It is against this backdrop that one should appraise China’s role. China is
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in no position to become a global hegemon. In spite of its phenomenal economic growth, its per capita income is still behind at least a hundred other countries. On the basis of a dollar a day, 150 million Chinese out of a population of 1.3 billion, live below the poverty line. Besides, right through its long history China has never attempted to colonise other nations or peoples. Its singular preoccupation has been with securing its own borders. This is why even when it possessed the strongest fleet on earth in the first half of the fifteenth century, it did not pillage or plunder other lands. It explains why Chinese territory today is what it was since the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC to 24 AD). Even in the current phase of its drive for oil and other resources necessary for its economic development, China seeks access, not control. Hence it has no military bases on foreign soil— unlike the US which has perhaps a thousand bases girding the globe. Indeed, China’s rise as a major economic power in the last three decades has been largely peaceful, again in contrast to the war and violence that accompanied the emergence of every Western colonial power from Portugal and Spain to Britain and the US.
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L E A D A R T I C L E Of course, all this does not guarantee that China will not seek political dominance or economic control in the future. As its needs multiply and its strength grows, its role may also change. It is best therefore to adopt a realistic attitude towards China. To be realistic is not to be hysterical— hysterical about whether China will one day become a hegemonic power threatening the rest of the world. What all of us should really be concerned about is how the US will handle its own decline. Will it become more belligerent as it loses its grip? Will it make desperate moves to perpetuate its dominance? For an imperial power in decline can sometimes be more dangerous than when it is at its pinnacle. It is preparing the US citizen and the world for the decline of the US and the West in general — which is an epochal moment in world history—that should be the focus of the US intellectual. 19 October, 2011
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) and Professor of Global Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
OCCUPY IRAN
By Pepe Escobar No one ever lost money betting on the dull predictability of the US government. Just as Occupy Wall Street is firing imaginations all across the spectrum - piercing the noxious revolving door between government and casino capitalism - Washington brought us all down to earth, sensationally advertising an Iranian cum Mexican cartel terror plot straight out of The Fast and the Furious movie
franchise. The potential victim: Adel alJubeir, the ambassador in the US of that lovely counter-revolutionary Mecca, Saudi Arabia. FBI Director Robert Mueller insisted the Iran-masterminded terror plot “reads like the pages of a Hollywood script”. It does. And quite a sloppy script at that. Fast and Furious duo Paul Walker/Vin Diesel wouldn’t be
caught dead near it. The good guys in this Washington production are the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). In the words of Attorney General Eric Holder, they uncovered “a deadly plot directed by factions of the Iranian government to assassinate a foreign Ambassador on US soil with explosives”. Holder added that the bombing of the continued next page
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Saudi embassy in Washington was also part of the plan. Subsequent spinning amplified that to planned bombings of the Israeli embassy in Washington, as well as the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Buenos Aires.
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accountable for its actions.” Yet he stopped short of stating the plot was approved by the highest levels of the Iranian government. So what next? War? Hold your horses; Washington should first think about asking the Chinese if they’re willing to foot the bill (the answer will be no).
The Justice Department has peddled quite a murky story - Operation Red Coalition (no, you can’t make that stuff up) - centred on one Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old holding both Iranian and US passports and an Iranbased co-conspirator, Gholam Shakuri, an alleged member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s (IRGC) Quds Force. Arbabsiar allegedly had a series of encounters in Mexico with a DEA mole posing as a Mexican drug cartel heavy weight. The Iranian-American seems to have been convinced that the mole was a member of the hardcore Zetas Mexican cartel, and reportedly bragged he was being “directed by highranking members of the Iranian government”, including a cousin who was “a member of the Iranian army but did not wear a uniform”. On top of it, he told the DEA mole that his Iranian government buddies could come up with “tons of opium” for the Mexican cartel (an Afghan connection, perhaps). Then they discussed a “number of violent missions” complete with Arbabsiar bragging about bombing a packed Washington restaurant used by the Saudi ambassador. Holder characterised the whole thing as a $1.5m “murder-for-hire” plan. Arbabsiar was arrested only a few days ago, on September 29, at JFK airport in New York. He allegedly confessed, according to the Justice Department. Shakuri for his part is still at large. Holder was adamant: “The United States is committed to hold Iran
Predictably, the proverbial torrent of US “officials” came out with guns blazing, spinning everything in sight. An alarmed Pentagon will be increasing surveillance over the Quds Force and “Iran’s actions” in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. Former US ambassadors stated that, “it’s an attack on the United States to attack this ambassador”. Washington is about to impose even more sanctions against Iran; and Washington is urgently taking the matter to the UN Security Council. What next? An R2P (“responsibility to protect”) resolution ordering NATO to protect every House of Saud minion across the world by bombing Iran into regime change? Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a spokesman for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at least introduced a little bit of common sense. “I think the US government is busy fabricating a new scenario and history has shown both the US government and the CIA have a lot of experience in fabricating these scenarios ... I think their goal is to reach the American public. They want to take the public’s mind off the serious domestic problems they’re facing these days and scare them with fabricated
A R T I C L E S problems outside the country.” Iran has not even established yet that these two characters are actually Iranian citizens. The Iranian government - which prides itself on a logical approach to diplomacy - would have to have been inoculated with a terminal Stuxnet-style foolishness virus to behave in such a counterproductive manner, by targeting a high-profile foreign policy adviser to King Abdullah on American soil. The official Iranian news agency IRNA described the plot as “America’s new propaganda scenario” against Iran. As for the Washington mantra that “Iran has been insinuating itself into many of the struggles in the Middle East”, that’s undiluted Saudi propaganda. In fact it’s the House of Saud who’s been conducting the fierce counterrevolution that has smashed any possibility of an Arab Spring in the Persian Gulf - from the invasion and repression of Bahrain to the rash preemption of protests inside Saudi Arabia’s Shia-dominated eastern provinces. The whole thing smells like a flimsy pretext for a casus belli. The timing of the announcement couldn’t be more suspicious. White House national security advisor Thomas E. Donilon briefed King Abdullah of the plot no less than two weeks ago, in a three-hour meeting in Riyadh. Meanwhile the US government has been carrying not plots, but targeted assassinations of US citizens, as in the Anwar al-Awlaki case. So why now? Holder is caught in yet another scandal - on whether he told lies regarding Operation Fast and Furious (no, you can’t make this stuff up), a federal gun sting through which scores of US weapons ended up in the hands of - here they come again Mexican drug cartels. continued next page
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So how to bury Fast and Furious, the economic abyss, the 10 years of war in Afghanistan, the increasing allure of Occupy Wall Street - not to mention the Saudi role in smashing the spirit of the Arab Spring? By uncovering a good
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ol’ al-Qaeda style plot on US soil, on top of it conducted by “evil” Iran. AlQaeda and Tehran sharing top billing; not even Cheney and Rumsfeld in their heyday could come up with something like this. Long live GWOT (the global war on terror). And long live the neo-
A R T I C L E S con spirit; remember, real men go to Tehran - and the road starts now. 12 October, 2011 Pepe Escobar is the roving correspondent for Asia Times. His latest book is named Obama Does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009). Source: Asia Times
THE SYRIAN VETO By Chandra Muzaffar China and Russia did the right thing in casting their veto against the draft resolution on Syria sponsored by a number of Western states in the UN Security Council.
reasons explain why Israel and the US, backed by Europe, are seeking to eliminate a vital intra-regional link which stands in the way of their hegemonic agenda.
The resolution was the thin end of the wedge which would have eventually led to military intervention by NATO aimed at regime change in Syria. It would have been a repeat of sorts of the recent Libyan episode. At this juncture, we should remind ourselves that in the last 10 years Western military intervention has brought down regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. The China-Russia veto was in that sense a rejection of regime change with the connivance and collusion of foreign elements. It reaffirmed the right of people everywhere to determine their own destiny, without outside interference. Why are the centres of power in the West so determined to get rid of Bashar Assad in Damascus? The Bashar government has given a great deal of support to the Palestinian cause. Syria has been a sanctuary for Hamas leaders. The government has forged a strong bond with Hizbollah, the leading political and military actor in Lebanon which has successfully defended the sovereignty of the nation against Israeli invasion and assault on more than one occasion. Most of all, Bashar is a staunch ally of Iran and it is Iran that is the only real challenge to both Israeli and US power in West Asia. All these
For Israel and the US, ousting Bashar has become even more imperative for two additional reasons. The Arab uprising which is empowering the masses is giving the jitters to the Israeli elite who fear that it may no longer be able to perpetuate Israeli interests through unpopular treaties with feudal monarchs and autocratic presidents. At the same time, the US is also losing its grip over the region partly because of its ignominious withdrawal from Iraq and its imminent defeat in Afghanistan, compounded by its own economic decline. Both countries are therefore going all out to create an environment in West Asia which would protect and enhance Israel’s position before the political landscape changes drastically to their disadvantage. It is because regime change in Damascus on behalf of Israel is the real motive that the West’s Security Council resolution was so one-sided. It
focussed on the violence committed by the Bashar regime but made no mention of the violence perpetrated by some of his adversaries. That Bashar is faced with a well organised armed insurgency in certain cities is an irrefutable fact. It is an insurgency that is supported by funds and arms supplied by groups and individuals in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Turkey. The insurgency has the explicit endorsement of the centres of power in the West. It is a measure of the strength of the insurgency that more than a third of the people killed in the Syrian uprising since March 2011 are security personnel. It is against this backdrop that one should view the tragic murder of the 21 year-old son of the Grand Mufti of Syria. The murder was intended as a message to the father, Dr. Sheikh Badruddin Hasnoun. The protesters, especially some of the Islamic insurgents, were incensed by his efforts to end the violence and to promote dialogue. The Grand Mufti, a passionate advocate of intercommunity dialogue and harmony, has been traversing the land urging his people to seek peaceful change and not to allow Syria to be a victim of the conspiracy being hatched by various forces. According to reports, this had provoked some religious personalities in Saudi Arabia to issue a fatwa( a legal opinion) calling for the assassination of Dr.Badruddin. While bigoted, extremist elements continued next page
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continued from page 4 inclined towards violence are part of the movement to overthrow Bashar, it is undeniably true that there are also thousands of peaceful protesters who genuinely desire democratic reforms. Their demands for a participatory political system that respects nonviolent dissent and allows for peaceful change should be heeded by the Bashar government.
President Bashar Assad has promised to implement the changes that the people want. He has initiated a National Dialogue for this purpose. He has also announced a slew of new laws covering citizenship, the media, political parties, elections and the
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legislature which hopefully will give birth to a just, democratic Syria. A factfinding mission from Russia and a delegation comprising representatives from some of the other countries on the Security Council have studied the situation in Syria and have concluded that some changes have been implemented.
Security Council members who abstained from supporting or opposing the resolution, namely, Lebanon, India, Brazil and South Africa, now have some leverage over Bashar and should use it to persuade him to expedite reforms and to cease shooting peaceful protesters immediately.
Much more needs to be done. The armed insurgency may impede the pace of reform but Bashar should press ahead regardless. His security forces should also exercise maximum restraint when confronted by peaceful protesters.
Taking a cue from the Syria resolution, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in particular should become more assertive and organised in global politics. They will not only be able to check Western hegemony but also set the stage for a more equitable and balanced international order.
Russia and China and four other
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THE DIAMOND INDUSTRY’S DOUBLE STANDARD
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By Seán Clinton All too aware of how bad association with war crimes is for business, the diamond industry has taken pains to evade questions about its connections with Israel’s human rights abuses — and so far has escaped scrutiny from watchdog organizations. Representatives for 75 countries affiliated to the United Nations-based Kimberley Process Certification Scheme meeting in Kinshasa this week failed to reach agreement on the export of blood-stained diamonds from Zimbabwe. The elephant in the room was Israel’s burgeoning diamond exports which evade the human rights strictures imposed on Zimbabwe’s diamond exports. A “letter of the month” that I authored and which was published in the April edition of Retail Jeweller magazine exposes these double standards in the Kimberley Process regulations that facilitate the trade in blood-stained diamonds from Israel and Zimbabwe (Letters, Retail Jeweller Magazine, April 2011).
The letter caused “consternation” to some in the diamond industry and resulted in the withdrawal of the magazine from a major jewellery trade fair in Switzerland (“Gems editor sorry for ‘blood diamond’ boycott letter,” The Jewish Chronicle, 7 April 2011). The letter drew the wrath of vested interests and leaders of the Israeli diamond industry. Their response via the Letters page in the May edition of the magazine demonstrated the sensitivity of the global diamond industry to any exposure of the links between Israeli diamonds and Israeli war crimes. Three letters, signed by six prominent members of the global diamond industry, representing eight different organizations, all repeated the same mantra about the delegitimization of Israel. The writers ignored the key issue — that Israel’s cut and polished diamond exports evade the human rights strictures applying to exports of rough diamonds.
While the diamond industry continues to promote a soft-focus image of diamonds as objects of desire, the public, increasingly concerned about the ethical credentials of the goods they purchase, are no longer prepared to accept at face value claims that diamonds processed in Israeli are conflict-free. ISRAEL’S DIAMOND TRADE FUNDS WAR CRIMES Israeli Diamond Industry Chairman Moti Ganz said recently: “Americans still buy diamonds to symbolize love and commitment” (“IDI plans its largest participation at JCK Las Vegas,” Diamond World, 17 May 2011). For the people in Gaza, on the receiving end of Israel’s diamond-funded white phosphorous and flechette nail bombs, diamonds are more likely to symbolize murder, mayhem and blood-soaked terror than love and commitment. Israeli political economist Shir Hever, in evidence to the Russell Tribunal on Palestine stated in November 2010: continued next page
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“Overall the Israeli diamond industry contributes about $1 billion annually to the Israeli military and security industries … every time somebody buys a diamond that was exported from Israel some of that money ends up in the Israeli military so the financial connection is quite clear” (“Day 2, Part 1 of London Session, Russell Tribunal on Palestine,” 21 November 2010). The introduction of the Kimberley Process (KP) regulations in 2003 was supposed to prevent the trade in diamonds that fund human rights violations. However, the Kimberly Process regulations’ narrow definition of a conflict or blood diamond excludes cut and polished diamonds. This anomaly facilitates the situation whereby jewelers can label cut and polished diamonds that are generating revenue used to fund the Israeli military which stands accused of war crimes, as conflict-free. As a result, de facto blood diamonds from Israel contaminate the global market. The absence of a legal definition of a conflict-free diamond facilitates this deception. A public petition by a group of international Palestine solidarity activists, Global Palestine Solidarity (GPS), to the members of the Kimberley Process seeks an urgent review of the definition of a conflict diamond to include cut and polished diamonds that fund human rights violations (“Stop Israel’s Blood Diamond Trade,” accessed 1 June 2011). CENSORSHIP BY ONLINE RETAILERS To maintain the charade, a number of the world’s leading diamond retailers have resorted to censorship to avoid answering questions about the provenance of their so-called conflictfree diamonds. Blue Nile, a Seattle-based, NASDAQ-
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listed company, is the world’s leading online diamond retailer. The company claims their diamonds “are warranted to be conflict-free.” Over the past six months, however, subscribers to the Blue Nile Facebook page have on numerous occasions asked how the company can justify the claim that diamonds crafted in Israel are conflictfree as they generate revenue used to fund the Israeli military, which stands accused of war crimes.
In response, the company censored their Facebook page, blocking scores of people and their 90,000 Facebook fans from posting new threads or pictures on their wall. Following sustained questioning from people in Ireland over a four-week period prior to 5 November 2010, Blue Nile imposed a blanket ban on all Irish IP address users. This is not the only example of Blue Nile attempting to evade the issue of Israel’s blood diamonds. In February 2011, Blue Nile filed its annual report with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the file is accessible via the Blue Nile website, accessed 21 June 2011). Blue Nile’s annual report is supposed to be a full disclosure of all the information necessary for investors to make an informed decision about the risks to the company’s future trading performance. While this legally-binding statement of the company’s trading performance
A R T I C L E S lists 16 pages of possible risk factors to the business, it fails to mention that the company is selling diamonds crafted in Israel that are the target of an international campaign that seeks to have them classified as conflict or blood diamonds. Nor does it state that the company took evasive action on its Facebook page to prevent people questioning the provenance of their socalled conflict-free diamonds. RETAILERS ATTEMPTING TO EVADE ACCOUNTABILITY Meanwhile, other diamond retailers have also tried to avoid scrutiny for involvement in Israel’s diamond trade. Over the past six months, Brilliant Earth, another leading online diamond retailer, which promotes their diamonds as “ethically sourced” and “conflictfree,” has also blocked scores of people who posted questions on their Facebook wall asking if any of their so-called conflict-free diamonds are crafted in Israel. And in April, forty members of the Independent Jewelers Organization (IJO), an 800-member American association of “jewelers with the highest ethical standards,” went on a diamond-buying trip to Israel (“IJO makes pilot diamond buying trip to Israel,” Israeli Diamond industry website, 1 May 2011). When subscribers to their Facebook page queried how they justify buying diamonds in a country that stands accused of war crimes, the administrators censored the page and deleted all references to their trip to Israel. These are just some examples of the difficulties faced by jewelers who sell diamonds crafted in Israel claiming they are conflict-free diamonds. Jewelers want to promote their ethical practices, but if they sell diamonds crafted in Israel they are helping to fund a military regime that stands accused of war continued next page
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crimes. The contamination of the global diamond market with Israeli diamonds gives Palestine solidarity activists enormous leverage with the diamond industry at local, national and international levels. ISRAEL BIGGEST EXPORT Diamonds are Israel’s number one export commodity, accounting for between one quarter and one third of Israeli exports. In 2008, diamond exports were valued at $19.4 billion with a net value of approximately $10 billion — far exceeding even the gross value of electronic or pharmaceutical exports. The diamond industry in Israel adds 5 percent to the GDP and is a significant source of the revenue needed to sustain Israel’s occupations, siege on Gazaand illegal settlements. Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and the brutal subjugation of the Palestinian people places a heavy burden on Israeli government finances. According to US government statistics, Israel’s military expenditures consume more than 7 percent of the GDP, or approximately $16 billion per year. (CIA World Factbook - Israel). While American military aid of $3 billion per year is significant, the bulk of the money needed to sustain the many facets of Israeli hegemony has to be extracted from the economy in taxes of one form or another. However, American consumers contribute more than the value of Washington’s aid package to the Israeli economy through the purchase of Israeli diamonds. According to the Israeli diamond industry website, approximately 50 percent of all diamonds bought in the US come from Israel (“The Israeli diamond industry - A leading center of the diamond world”).
The US is Israel’s most important diamond export market, accounting for roughly 40 percent of exports. In 2010 the net value of Israeli diamond exports to America was $5.8 billion (“IDI plans its largest participation at JCKLas Vegas,” Diamond World website, 17 May 2011).
committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. The $1 billion revenue generated by the Israeli diamond industry helped fund the attack on Gaza — a clear justification for labeling Israeli diamonds “blood diamonds.” Non-governmental organizations with observer status in the Kimberley Process (such as Global Witness and others) have a responsibility to ensure their support is not misused by the diamond industry.
Israel’s economy, to a large extent isolated from its natural markets in neighboring Arab states, is heavily reliant on the export of goods and services to Europe, the US and Asia. Israeli planners have long recognized the need for high-value, exportorientated industries that would draw in the foreign currency necessary to sustain the Zionist project in Palestine. ZIMBABWE VS. ISRAEL Israel’s overdependence on a luxury fashion commodity leaves it exposed and vulnerable to a consumer-lead rejection of Israeli diamonds. The demise of the Israeli diamond industry could have a significant impact on other sectors of the economy, on the Israeli stock market and on Israel’s ability to attract foreign direct investment.
Despite Israel’s well-documented human rights abuses, none of the NGOs have raised the issue of Israel’s continuing membership of the Kimberly Process scheme. Instead, their attention is mainly focused on diamond exports from Zimbabwe, where government forces are reported to have killed more than 200 persons in the violent takeover of the Marange diamond fields in 2008 (“Zimbabwe: End Repression in Marange Diamond Fields,” Human Rights Watch, 26 June 2009). In 2008, Israel’s diamond exports were worth more than 1,200 times that of Zimbabwe’s diamond exports. NGOs cannot remain credible defenders of human rights if they continue to ignore Israel’s diamond-funded occupations, diamond-funded war crimes, diamondfunded siege, diamond-funded colonization and the diamond-funded ethnic cleansing of Palestine. 23 June, 2011 Seán Clinton is a Palestine solidarity activist
The diamond industry is well aware how easily a brand image that has taken decades to establish can be ruined in a fraction of that time by any unsavory association. In the wake of Israel’s pre-election assault on the besieged residents of Gaza in the winter of 2008-09, a UN Human Rights Council investigation found evidence that Israel
from Ireland. Source: The Electronic Intifada
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US EYES ASIA FROM SECRET AUSTRALIAN BASE By Amy Coopes Deep in the silence of Australia’s Outback desert an imposing American spy post set up at the height of the Cold War is now turning its attention to Asia’s growing armies and arsenals. Officially designated United States territory and manned by agents from some of America’s most sensitive intelligence agencies, the Pine Gap satellite station has been involved in some of the biggest conflicts in modern times.
Its futuristic domes were originally built as a weapon in America’s spy war with Russia, officially starting operations in 1970, but Rosenberg says it is now targeting the US-led “war on terror” and Asia’s military boom.
The latter half of his time at the mysterious station known to locals as the “Space Base” was dominated by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an intense focus on Al-Qaeda following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
“There’s a large segment of the world that are weapons-producing countries who have programmes that the United States and Australia are interested in, and obviously a lot of Asia encompasses that area,” Rosenberg told AFP.
Rosenberg recalls that day as his most sombre in the job, with analysts scouring the region for clues on what was going to happen next, knowing instantly that Al-Qaeda was responsible and fearing they would strike again. “While these attacks were happening we of course were thinking how many other simultaneous or nearsimultaneous actions are going to happen?” he said.
But its role in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans, and in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, had been little recognised until one of its most senior spies broke ranks recently to pen a tell-all account. Intelligence analyst David Rosenberg spent 18 years at the base, 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) south of Alice Springs, working with top-secret clearance for the National Security Agency (NSA), home to America’s code-cracking elite. Formally known as the “Joint Defence Space Research Facility”, Pine Gap is one of Washington’s biggest intelligence collection posts, intercepting weapons and communications signals via a series of satellites orbiting Earth. Australia has had joint leadership at the post and access to all intercepted material since 1980, but the base’s history is not without controversy. Former prime minister Gough Whitlam was sensationally sacked by the British monarchy — allegedly at American urging — not long after he threatened to close Pine Gap in 1975, although other domestic political issues were also involved in his removal.
“We didn’t know how many other attacks had been planned that day.”
The career spy is under a lifetime secrecy agreement with the NSA, meaning he cannot reveal classified information and is limited in what he can say about his time at Pine Gap, but said North Korea and China were among its targets. “I think any country that has a large military, is a large weapons producer, is always going to be a focus for the intelligence community and China of course is growing and it’s growing rapidly,” he said. “There are developments there that we are looking at.” India and Pakistan were also “very much of a concern”, he added, with a surprise nuclear test by New Delhi in 1998 catching Pine Gap’s analysts “blind”.
It was also a huge wake-up call to the fragmented spy community, he added, who soon realised all the signs had been there of an impending attack but they had failed to piece them together to perhaps prevent 9/11. Delays also allowed Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders to escape into hiding, a “significant intelligence failure” which left agents with a 10-year hunt Rosenberg was not around to see completed — one of his few regrets. It was “certainly possible” that Pine Gap was involved in the US mission which ultimately saw Bin Laden killed in Pakistan in May, he added. He sees “cyber-warfare” such as stateendorsed hacking and increasingly portable technology allowing, for example, the remote detonation of a bomb with a mobile phone, as the next big front for the intelligence community. Rosenberg’s book offers a rare insight into the mysterious world of military continued next page
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espionage, discussing widespread doubts amongst spies about the sincedebunked claims of weapons of mass destruction that presaged the invasion of Iraq. It was screened 16 times before publication by four intelligence agencies — three American and one Australian — and has been altered or blacked out in sections through an arduous censorship process which
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saw him, at one point, taken into a vault in Canberra for interrogation. Defence officials were also due to seize and destroy his computer hard-drive to ensure classified elements of the original manuscript were wiped out. But the self-confessed “Mission: Impossible” fan said he had no regrets about telling his story. “Imagine being in a job where secrecy
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Amy Coopes is a journalist and AFP correspondent. Source:AFP
ISLAMIC TEACHING
By Mohammad Hashim Kamali The untimely death of Ashraf Hafiz Abdul Aziz at 26 and the difficulties he faced put many in a reflective mood as to what could have been done better to address his suffering when he was alive. By refusing to grant Ashraf his plea to change and register his name as Aleesha Farhana, the courts may have adhered to the letter of the law but it is questionable whether they were compassionate enough. If one were to learn a lesson, it would be to find better answers through suitable legislation and grant of flexibility in the adjudication of intensely humanitarian cases such as Ashraf’s. The Birth and Deaths Registration Act 1957 only allows amendment in personal identity if an error had been made in the first place. The gender reassignment surgery Ashraf had two years ago apparently did not warrant such an amendment. There are an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 transgenders in the country, most of whom are grappling with stigma and prejudice. They get little comfort from the authorities, and even religious leaders tend to lecture them on how they should reform themselves. They have low self-esteem and often get involved in the vice trade. Ashraf’s case evidently invoked voices
of compassion in the media and elsewhere, although the media coverage on him seemed more interested in the colour and make-up of his clothes rather than his emotional trauma and pain. Islam is cognizant of the predicament of transgender individuals, and even though the fiqh tradition provides a certain amount of detail, it is the general guidelines of the Quran and Hadith that need to be looked at first. Islam identifies itself as din al-fitrah, a religion that manifests harmony with human nature, which implies that Islam seeks to respond positively to the legitimate needs of people. Our natural need and reason, informed by the available guidelines in Islam and scientific evidence, should guide us in our quest to provide fair responses to issues. Justice is a cardinal principle of Islam, yet it is to be tempered with fairness (ihsan) as in the Quranic verse, “God commands justice and fairness” (al-Nahl, 16:90). God’s affirmation that “We have bestowed dignity on the children of Adam” (17:70) is unqualified and absolute in that human dignity is divinely ordained and inheres in all individuals
by virtue of their humanity. This should be duly reflected in our social and family relations, business transactions, laws and governance. All of this is to be further moderated by the principle that “God makes no soul responsible for what is beyond its capacity” (2:233). Prophet Muhammad also said that “people are God’s children and the most beloved of them to God is the most compassionate of them to His children”. There is acknowledgement in the Quran also of “men who have no wiles with women”, side by side with minors and elderly persons with whom women can behave more freely within the home environment (24:31 and 24:60). The fiqh discourse on transgenders draws a certain distinction between two categories of persons, namely the khuntha and the mukhannath. The former is a male person who resembles a female in speech, movement and appearance due to an inherent condition that is beyond his ability to control, and there is, therefore, no sin, shame or blame attached to it. Juristic discourse concerning the khuntha is almost entirely focused on their rights in continued next page
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respect of privacy, clothing, burial ceremonies, inheritance rights and others. This is a language not of denial but affirmation that such persons do exist among us and that society should allow space for them to lead a life of dignity. The mukhannath is, on the other hand, a person who conceals his masculinity and much of his feminine behaviour is deemed to be of his own making. There is blame attached to this and the case is treated differently to that of the khuntha. To differentiate one from the other may admittedly not be self-evident, in which case scientific evidence plays a crucial role, although the fiqh tradition, too, has moved beyond simplistic categories to discern shades of differences between them. Fiqh and science both confirm that sexual orientation is latent within each individual, emerging in complex interactions between one’s biological
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make-up and early childhood. Current research is pushing slowly but steadily towards the conclusion that sexual orientation is largely inherent. Khuntha is further divided into two types: easy to discern (khuntha ghayr mushkil), as opposed to khuntha mushkil, whose condition is difficult to determine. The former is a person who exhibits both masculine and feminine traits, but one of these is predominant. This is basically a man with feminine tendencies, or a woman with masculine tendencies, and it is possible to determine the application of fiqh rules pertaining to their rights. The khunsa mushkil, or transgender in the full sense, is a person who may have both male and female sexual organs, or has neither but whose urinary tract ends with an aperture. If the former, an attempt is made to determine the manner of urination. If this proves reliable, and natural inclinations, whether towards men or
A R T I C L E S women, also fail to provide a clue, the case is treated as one of indeterminable hermaphrodite. Jurists and schools of law have differed as to details in the application of fiqh rules pertaining, for example, to inheritance, by taking an average of two separate distributions for a male and a female respectively, or the lower of the two, depending on which school of fiqh one follows, to be assigned to the hermaphrodite. Some of these questions can now be better determined perhaps in light of advances in science, in which case the rules of ijtihad would suggest recourse to scientific evidence, general guidelines of the Quran and Hadith, as well as the enlightened aspirations and insights of our society and our quest to finding more refined answers. 11 August 2011 Prof. Mohammad Hashim Kamali is founding chairman and CEO of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS), Malaysia.
HINDUS : HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION Below is a Survey of Human Rights, 2010 by the Hindu American Foundation, summarized by Vera Joschko This summary is generated out of the Seventh Annual Hindu Human Rights Report assembled by the Hindu American Foundation (HAF). It highlights the human rights conditions in different countries and accentuates the discrimination of Hindus. Hinduism is one of the oldest surviving religions with its origins tracing back to at least the third millennium BCE. Hindus are pluralistic in their beliefs and accept the myriad means of worship and prayer. Furthermore Hindus, numbering nearly one billion, constitute the third largest religious group in the world. While focusing in this summary on Hindus outside India one cannot ignore the plight of Hindus in India itself as consequence of the caste system which continues to
discriminate and oppress the ‘Dalits’ and other low castes – this is a fact which recently HAF noted in its updated edition of the report (http:// www.hafsite.org/media/pr/not-castcaste-big-picture-and-executivesummary.) Nevertheless there is evidence that some of the twenty million Hindus living outside India have been subjected on occasions to discrimination, violence, forced conversions, socio-political ostracization, disenfranchisement and the demolition of places of worship. In some countries, fundamentalists from other religions advance a discriminatory and non inclusive agenda, and promote hatred of religious and ethnic minorities in league with politicians and other government officials.
For a detailed account of events and conditions in various countries I have decided to give a short description of Trinidad and Tobago. Historically Trinidad and Tobago had an indigenous population with a tradition which was not exposed to the world religions. The emergence of Hinduism in this society is therefore a unique development. For an overview of the ‘situation in different hotspots’ I also singled out Afghanistan and Australia. In Afghanistan one can find out how three different existing legal frameworks (International Human Rights, Islamic principles and traditional Afghan law in action) compete with one another and how religion is exploited by the ‘so called continued next page
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government’ for the implementation of political issues. With Australia a good example is given for a ‘racial overtone’ affecting Asians (in this case: Hindus) which is linked to an ongoing and pervasive xenophobia. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO The democratic republic of Trinidad and Tobago, which is described as a “plural society” and which constitution legally guarantees the right to equality of treatment and freedom of religious belief, is headed by the first female Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who is of Indian and Hindu descent and took office in May 2010. Citizens of Indian descent (approximately 40.3% of the islands’ population), who had been marginalized now look forward to their rightful place in this multi ethnic and multi-religious society after nearly six decades of discrimination. Hindus are still frequently subjected to discrimination, hate speech, acts of violence and faced a multitude of human rights issues, including physical attacks and temple desecration. Furthermore IndoTrinidadians have been systematically denied government benefits and employment in public sector jobs. Hindu institutions and festivals are subject to acts of violence and are denied equal access to public funds. Discrimination against Hindus is also present in the educational system. In many primary and secondary schools and colleges, Hindu children are prevented from practicing their religion and debarred from wearing Hindu clothing and other symbols. Over and above Hindus fear a systematized attempt of denial in the media. For instance, photographs in tourism brochures depict Trinidad and Tobago as a nation whose population is predominantly of African descent. The Trinidadian government has repeatedly violated the signed UN Covenants by failing to protect its Hindu and Indian citizens and discriminating against them on ethnic and religious grounds, even though
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Trinidad’s Constitution provides for “equality before the law” and freedom of religion. Indians and Hindus have, however, faced systematic discrimination and harassment. With the change in government in 2010 and an Indian/Hindu heading the new government, it is expected that pressure will ease on the IndoCaribbean population. However, it is incumbent upon the government to pay attention to enforcing civil and criminal laws and to protect all citizens. Trinidadian leaders should discourage racial and religious stereotypes, recognize Hindus and Indians as equal partners in the rule and governance of the nation and distance themselves from hatred against Hindus and Hinduism. H0TSPOTS FOR TROUBLE: AFGHANISTAN The unclear situation in Afghanistan is characterized by foreign occupation and also by three different competing laws (the International Human Rights principles, Sharia law (Islamic principles) and the traditional Afghan law in action). For this reason social tensions are rising and make a deep impact on the everyday life of people which is marked by instability and insecurity. And even though Afghanistan is one of the oldest Hindu centres of the world and Afghanistan’s constitution grants equal rights to all to practise their religious ceremonies, Hindus still face many problems. For example in February 2001, during the Taliban’s reign, Hindus were forced to wear a distinguishing yellow stripe on their arm, similar to the Jews during Hitler’s reign. Furthermore Hindus are not allowed to be in charge of a governmental body or office or even to cremate dead bodies, Hindu-owned land and property has been seized and/ or occupied. Finally, Afghanistan is only one example of religious bigotry and Islamic fundamentalism but it is doubtful that the Hindu minority will survive any longer in Afghanistan. This is ironic because to this day, Indian movies and music are popular in the country. Also, India is the sixth largest
A R T I C L E S foreign aid donor to Afghanistan and Indian companies are rebuilding roads and schools in Afghanistan despite the constant security threats. It is obvious that Afghanistan’s lawlessness has exacerbated the plight of the Hindus. AUSTRALIA The Australian government and society has to concern itself with an ongoing xenophobia which affects people from the Asian region. In January 2010, there were about 70,000 Indian students studying in the country and make up 18% of Australia’s total overseas student population, the second-largest group of students after the Chinese. One can hypothesize that the majority of Indian students in Australia are Hindus. The Victoria Police Commission reported that there were many cases of robbery and assault against Indians – some with fatal consequences. Another report submitted in early 2010 to the Indian Parliament by the Overseas Indian Ministry said that many of the attacks that the Indian Consulate was aware of had “racial overtones”. Given the fact that international students contribute $13 billion to the Australian economy every year, and Australia stood to lose nearly $70 million because of the attacks against and flight of Indian students, the Indian government and the Australian government sought to repair the damage with ministers traveling to and from to learn the facts and establish goodwill. Over and above the ongoing public debate pertaining to the Aborigines and the issue of asylum seekers and resettlement programs there is an unsettled and alarmingly xenophobia concerning Indians and Hindus in Australia. This is a challenge which also demands urgent attention through bilateral cooperation. 4 August, 2011 Vera Joschko was an intern with JUST from June to August 2011. She is currently a postgraduate student in Germany.
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