Kucinich criticizes Israel; wants U.N. probe

By Ian Swanson

Posted: 12/29/08 01:48 PM [ET]

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is calling for a United Nations investigation into Israel’s attacks on Gaza, criticizing Israel for a disproportionate response to Hamas rocket attacks. The criticism stands in stark contrast to the statements of other Democrats, who have offered near-unanimous support for Israel amid the latest violence in the Middle East. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other Democrats have blamed Hamas for the violence, which has left more than 300 people in Gaza dead. One person in Israel has been killed by a Hamas rocket. Kucinich likened the Israeli attacks on Gaza to its war with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in 2006. In both cases, he said, civilian populations were attacked and “countless innocents” were killed or injured. “All this was, and is, disproportionate, indiscriminate mass violence in violation of international law,” Kucinich said in a statement. “Israel is not exempt from international law and must be held accountable.” Pelosi and other Democrats have refrained from criticizing Israel’s government, which has responded to the Hamas attacks with a rocket assault on Gaza. “Peace between Israelis and Palestinians cannot result from daily barrages of rocket and mortar fire from Hamas-controlled Gaza,” Pelosi said in a statement posted on the Speaker’s website on Monday. “Hamas and its supporters must understand that Gaza cannot and will not be allowed to be a sanctuary for attacks on Israel. Reid said he “strongly” supported Israel’s right to defend its citizens from the Hamas rocket attacks and to restore its security. He also blamed Hamas for any humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. “Hamas’s failure to stop these attacks only exacerbates the humanitarian situation for the residents of Gaza and undermines efforts to attain peace and security in the region.” In March, the House voted 404-1 for a resolution condemning Hamas and other Palestinian groups for rocket attacks on Israel. It also condemned the use of Palestinians as human shields. Hamas has been criticized repeatedly for shooting rockets into Israel from civilian areas in Gaza, which leads to the deaths of civilians when Israel counterattacks. The only member of Congress to vote against the resolution was Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), a Republican candidate for president in 2008. Four Democrats, Reps. Jim Moran (Va.), Neil Abercrombie (Hawaii), Michael Capuano (Mass.) and Jim McDermott (Wash.), voted present. Kucinich was not present for the vote. Kucinich said the perpetrators of attacks against Israel should be brought to justice, but that Israel “cannot create a war against an entire people in order to attempt to bring to justice the few who are responsible.” Pelosi said the U.S. must continue to do everything it can to promote peace in the region and a negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. She said humanitarian needs of all innocent civilians must be addressed, but added that when Israel is attacked, “the United States must continue to stand strongly with its friend and democratic ally.” Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Israel had a “duty” to defend itself in response to the attacks. “The loss of innocent life is a terrible tragedy, and the blame for that tragedy lies with Hamas.” Similarly, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) laid blame with Hamas. “Hamas is abusing the people of Gaza by using their homes as a base for terror operations,” he said. “The world should no longer tolerate a terrorist government in the Gaza Strip.” President-elect Obama has yet to weigh in on the violence, although top adviser David Axelrod on Sunday noted statements Obama made over the summer that respected Israel’s right to defend itself. Kucinich said in his statement that he had sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon requesting an independent inquiry. He said the attacks on civilians represented collective punishment, which he said was a violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/kucinich-criticizes-israel-wants-u.n.-probe-2008-12-29.html

UN split over homosexuality laws

By Laura Trevelyan BBC News, United Nations

Sixty-six countries at the United Nations have called for homosexuality to be decriminalised.

The countries signed a declaration sponsored by France and the Netherlands demanding an end to legal punishment based on sexual orientation.

Sixty other countries of the UN's 192 member states, including a number of Arab and African states, rejected the non-binding declaration.

They said laws on homosexuality should be left to individual countries.

Gay men, lesbians and transsexuals worldwide face daily violations of their human rights.

Homosexuality is a criminal offence in more than 80 countries, while in at least seven nations, including Saudi Arabia, sex between men can be punished with the death penalty.

Considerable opposition

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the French and Dutch governments are using this to highlight discrimination against homosexuals.

Their statement calls for an end to the execution, arrest and detention of homosexuals and transexuals.

The Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said it was a significant declaration.

Yet there is considerable opposition to this at the UN. Socially conservative countries in the Arab world and in Africa did not want anything to do with it.

Syria spoke on behalf of 60 countries, arguing that domestic laws should be respected, and claiming the declaration could legitimise deplorable acts including paedophilia.

The US was the only major Western nation not to sign the declaration.

Even though the US Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot make homosexuality a crime, diplomats claimed the declaration was not compatible with the division between between state and federal law.

France and the Netherlands hope more countries will sign up to the declaration in the future.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7791063.stm

Romney tells U.N. to Reject Ahmadinejad

Romney tells U.N. to Reject Ahmadinejad

By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

BOSTON (AP) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should not be allowed to address the U.N. General Assembly next week, but instead should be greeted "with an indictment under the Genocide Convention," Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney said Monday.

"The Iranian regime under President Ahmadinejad has spoken openly about wiping Israel off the map, has fueled Hezbollah's terror campaign in the region and around the world and defied the world community in its pursuit of nuclear weapons - capabilities that make these threats even more ominous," Romney said in a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon posted on his campaign Web site, http://www.mittromney.com .

In New York, Romney told reporters: "I think the invitatiom should be withdrawn. I think instead, Ahmadinejad should be indicted under the Genocide Convention."

Romney routinely talks about the threat the United States faced from "radical jihadists," and he has staked out a hard-line position against Iran in particular.

In January, he called for economic sanctions against the Central Asian nation "at least as severe" as those imposed on South Africa during its apartheid era, aiming to isolate the country and convince it to give up its pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

Last September, while still serving as governor of Massachusetts, Romney ordered all state agencies to refuse any assistance if requested when the former president of Iran visited Massachusetts. Romney said Mohammed Khatami oversaw torture and the murder of dissidents, as well as Iran's secret nuclear program, while in office from 1997 to 2005.

"State taxpayers should not be providing special treatment to an individual who supports violent jihad and the destruction of Israel," Romney said at the time.

Opponents of the current Iranian regime including Nobel Prize Winner Elie Wiesel and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz have previously called for Iran's explusion from the United Nations.

(Original AP story click here)

Rich 'can pay poor to cut carbon'

By Roger Harrabin
Environment analyst, BBC News

Rich nations should be absolved from the need to cut emissions if they pay developing countries to do it on their behalf, a senior UN official has said.

The controversial suggestion from Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has angered environmental groups.

They say climate change will not be solved unless rich and poor nations both cut emissions together.

But Mr de Boer said the challenge was so great that action was needed now.

Carbon credits

The UN's binding global climate agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, currently requires industrialised nations to reduce the majority of emissions themselves.

But Mr de Boer said this was illogical, adding that the scale of the problem facing the world meant that countries should be allowed to invest in emission cuts wherever in the world it was cheapest.

"We have been reducing emissions and making energy use more efficient in industrialised countries for a long time," he told BBC News.

This proposal simply won't deliver the cuts we need in time Mike Childs, Friends of the Earth

"So it is quite expensive in these nations to reduce emissions any more.

"But in developing nations, less has been done to reduce emissions and less has been done to address energy efficiency," Mr de Boer observed.

"So it actually becomes economically quite attractive for a company, for example in the UK, that has a target to achieve this goal by reducing emissions in China."

He said rich nations should be able to buy their way out of 100% of their responsibilities - though he doubted that any country would want to do so.

Green groups said the proposal was against the spirit of the UN, which agreed that wealthy countries - who were responsible for climate change - should do most to cure it.

Mike Childs from Friends of the Earth said: "This proposal simply won't deliver the cuts we need in time. The scientists are telling us that we need to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) by 50-80% by 2050.

"Unless rich countries start to wean themselves off fossil fuels right away this won't happen."

Doug Parr of Greenpeace was equally critical of Mr de Boer's suggestion.

"The current trading system is not delivering emissions reductions as it is," he said. "Expanding it like this to give rich countries a completely free hand will simply not work."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6957328.stm


Alright, all in favor of the proposal say aye... Ok, all opposed say, "Are you a f**king idiot?" and, "Can we get someone who is not a completely brain dead jerk-off to be the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change?"

UN resolution on bigger Iraq role

By Matthew Wells
BBC News, New York
The US and the UK have circulated a new draft resolution to United Nations Security Council members giving the UN a more heavyweight role in Iraq.

If adopted, the UN would take a larger role in its political process.

The existing UN mission in Iraq has had a low-key presence ever since a truck bomb devastated its headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003.

Diplomats say a vote on any resolution by 10 August, when the existing mandate for the UN's mission in Iraq expires.

American and British diplomats are keen to find a way to involve the UN more in Iraq's political future.

This draft resolution would extend and widen the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, giving it a much more powerful advisory role.

It calls for a beefed-up mission that would work directly with the Iraqi government to promote reconciliation and help improve sectarian relations within the Iraqi parliament.

The draft resolution calls for more UN involvement in helping refugees to return and managing humanitarian aid and helping the entire national reconstruction effort.

It also points out the importance of armed protection by mainly US forces for any enhanced UN team on the ground.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6927106.stm


Before I say, "Thank God!", I would like to see exactly what this resolution says.

U.N. triples Darfur peacekeepers

(for original site of article click here)
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The U.N. Security Council has more than tripled an existing African Union-led force for the Sudanese province of Darfur by authorizing a 26,000-member peacekeeping mission.

The council's unanimous vote on Tuesday establishes a "hybrid" force of U.N. and AU troops and police, under AU command. Some countries have offered to contribute troops to the mission, said the U.N.'s peacekeeping agency, but it offered no specifics.

The current AU force of about 7,000 has been unable to stop the violence, and Sudan only agreed to allow a bigger peacekeeping force after massive international pressure.

Fighting between government-backed militias and rebel groups in Darfur has killed more than 200,000 people and driven about 2 million from their homes in the last four years. Fighting has continued unabated despite the signing of an AU-brokered peace agreement in May 2006.

Under the U.N. Security Council resolution, commanders will be allowed to use force to defend their troops and protect civilians and aid workers.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the vote and urged member states to contribute troops and police to the effort.

"We must dedicate ourselves fully to deploying a mission which will make a clear and positive difference in the lives of the people of Darfur," Ban said. "They have a right to expect nothing less."

He also called on the Sudanese government and rebel leaders to offer their "unequivocal and continuous support" for the mission, which U.N. peacekeeping officials hope to have up and running within 60 days.

Aid agencies accuse the Sudanese government of impeding humanitarian aid to the people of Darfur, with the government-allied janjaweed militia attacking aid workers, looting food convoys and stealing vehicles.

The Bush administration has called the conflict "genocide," and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the conflict "the greatest humanitarian disaster the world faces today."

This is quite disgusting

Pakistani UN peacekeeping troops have traded in gold and sold weapons to Congolese militia groups they were meant to disarm, the BBC has learnt.

These militia groups were guilty of some of the worst human rights abuses during the Democratic Republic of Congo's long civil war.

The trading went on in 2005. A UN investigative team sent to gather evidence was obstructed and threatened.

The team's report was buried by the UN itself to "avoid political fallout"... (click below for more)

Read the Article here on the BBC website