Sunday, January 14, 2018

America’s Alt-Right surges; Pax Americana erodesTrump without Bannon: A new phase

Bannon and Trump: In politics there are no permanent friends or foes
http://datechguyblog.com/2017/02/06/the-media-found-trumps-button-steve-bannon/

A Washington DC bookshop
https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/fire-and-fury-trump-book.jpg

Kumar David-January 13, 2018, 4:50 pm

"In essence populism believes that society is divided into two homogeneous but antagonistic groups, ordinary people and a corrupt elite. It argues that social change is possible only through a radical pruning of the power of the elite".

Monumental Populist by Ivan Krastev

Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is a homicidal thug but it is also true that the drug problem is out of control. Xi Jinping’s thoughts are famously unoriginal but, no worry, have been enshrined in the Party constitution. Trump is idiosyncratic, psychologically unstable and gaffe prone, but is there an inherent and unintended design to his insanity? These questions are asked because the faithful sustain apparently irrational enthusiasm and continue to resonate with their leader.

Trump’s appeal for those fed-up with the establishment is unsurprising. It is hopelessness and frustration that propelled him to power. To this America, the Democratic Party had, and has, nothing to offer. And it is Steve Bannon, not DJT, who is the authentic voice of angry far right populism. The ways of Bannon and Trump are now parting; this is a crucial watershed on the American right. DJT removed Bannon form the position of White House Chief Strategist under pressure from Chief of Staff John Kelly brought into to discipline a brawling White House mob and appease GOP leaders and the media. Bannon is now on a warpath against the ‘traitors’ surrounding DJT.

Bannon (Virginia Tech, Bachelor in Urban Planning; Harvard Business School, MBA) is from a pro-Kennedy, pro-Union, working class family in Virginia. He is no clown like DJT but a visionary. Here is a sample beyond the reach of Trump’s intellectual prowess:

"This is a populist, nationalist, conservative revolt. It’s a revolt against the elites in this country. It’s a revolt against the globalists among those elites. It’s a revolt against the progressive agenda that is being jammed down the throat of the American people. Hard-working men and women of the world are tired of the global elites. They’re tired of being told what to do. This is a global revolution."

Bannon has not yet denounced Trump as a sell-out who betrayed the base which elected him and aligned himself with the elitist swamp that he promised to drain. DJT is an opportunist dealmaker pure and simple whose lodestar is only DJT himself. Aware of the threat from a shifting base he is straining to sell his proposed tax-cuts as relief for low income earners; in truth it is pure gravy for the rich and for corporations. Trump has declared "Bannon cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!" Bannon, the prophet of Alt-Right neo-populism, may be playing a deeper waiting game. Nothing certain can be said yet.

The widely accepted view of the Republican Party is an oversimplification. Conventional wisdom has it that it is the party of big capital and hidebound conservatives while the ‘base’ is discounted as dumb frogs in the well. This is incorrect; it consists of two constituencies, big capital and the ‘Alt-Right’. The latter is an authentic social force; middlebrow, conservative, provincial, somewhat underprivileged and now includes recently alienated white workers. My thesis is that the social and class character of the GOP are more complex than the prevalent sanguine view.

For decades the ‘base’, did not shine independently and was taken for granted by the leadership till the Tea Party Movement surfaced. Liberals and left despised the ‘base’ and failed to understand its social roots. Why did it lie dormant for so long? Because America lived on borrowed time and money; for most folk, life was good enough. Now existential livelihoods are falling apart and at the same time US global economic influence is in decline and there are setbacks to its military reach. ‘Make America Great Again’ resonates with those who took ‘America is the Greatest’ for granted, but are now disoriented. The ‘base’, like DJT, inhabits a parallel universe of ethereal visions. The leadership in Congress is overawed by a President cum Alt-Right alliance, but the alliance is fraying, so enter Steve Bannon and such like voices.

Fire and Fury

A 336-page book released on 5 January (Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff) received extensive local and international coverage with the UK Times front page casting doubt on DJT’s mental health and Germany’s top conservative paper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, asking "Is Trump still sane?". The book is about infighting in the White House and, inter alia, details Bannon’s moves to rebuild the neo-populist right because DJT has sold out to the "swamp", the Republican upper class. Lawyers for the President demanded that Wolff and publisher desist from publication. The result, unprecedented demand and the release date advanced to Jan. 5 from Jan. 9. It sold out on the first day. Trump spent a day raging about the book and sent out a twitter message "Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind."

Wolff says Bannon, chief executive of the Trump election campaign, called DJT campaign-staff’s meetings with Russians "treasonous" and adds that DJT’s advisors tried to explain the constitution to him but "could not get past the Fourth Amendment". Wolff also claims that daughter Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner discussed, in his presence, plans for the former to run as a future presidential candidate. Some of Wolff’s claims are odd, for example: a) Trump neither wanted nor expected to win. b) The family was alarmed when he won, fearing a cock-up of the presidency. c) Donald Jr. said his father looked as if he had "seen a ghost" when he realized he had won, and d) Melania Trump was in tears of despair. Wolff is a dicey character and how much of what he says to believe is open to question.

Two new books Alt-America by psychologist George Hawley and Making Sense of the Alt-Right by David Neiwert explore a world of white resentment. Neiwert scorns the media for failing to see the threat posed by neo-populism and the role of white nationalism in DJT’s victory. Hawley says the Alt-Right is difficult to classify; its core is racist but different from its white supremacist predecessors in that it is "atomised, amorphous and largely anonymous". Far-right activist Hunter Wallace wrote on an Alt-Right website, "liberals share the blinkered world-view that more liberty and equality is the solution to every problem. We see something else. We don’t believe in any of the standard bullshit – nothing is less self-evident to us than the notion that all men are created equal"!

Alt-Right transcends conventional right-left divides and has no interest in conservative tenets such as tradition and liberty. It is not just racist, it is radical; its radicalism is the degree to which it rejects other values. Alt-Right people hold divergent views and combine different elements of left and right thought. Not only free marketers, but some socialists too denounce the ‘political class’, shun middle of the road parties and rely only on mass action; these are elements of neo-populism.

Which brings me to the quote from Ivan Kristev reproduced at the top. Kristev and the authors I have summarised above see neo-populism/Alt-Right in psychological and behavioural terms. Their analyses, though illuminating, lacks depth and scrutiny of systemic roots. Sans a perspective of the life-cycle of capitalism and its stages of growth, prosperity, stasis and catastrophe, analytical rigour is superficial. It’s all about ‘who thought what’ and ‘who felt how’. A materialist social and economic perspective is absent. A bland sociological version, without the hard side, is tinsel.

What are the implications for social developments? DJT may be impeached, or quit, or cling on till the end of his term, but the misery of the neo-pops will not end and the effect of the changes he has wrought in US foreign policy will persist. The return of a sane president will not restore the status quo because, in a paradoxical way, the foreign policy fixes DJT has invoked fit America’s reduced global role and is better aligned to its weakened economic and military standing.

Sea changes in foreign policy

Consider the following roughly in order of importance. Recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, thus dismaying Muslim states, complicating relations with ally Saudi Arabia and invoking a UN General Assembly snub; losing global economic hegemony to China and impotent to prevent Chinese military parity within two decades; losing hegemony to Russia in the Syrian-Iraqi-Turkish theatre; further despoiling relations with Iran; confronting North Korea, shouting "I have a Bigger Button than you" and aggravating the potential for nuclear conflict; upsetting relations with Europe and putting NATO under stress; raising tensions with Pakistan, Venezuela, Mexico and Canada.

Partly this is just Trump, the bull in the China shop, but against a background of declining US wealth and power, those who may have read it are reminded of Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Insane Emperor Caligula appointed his horse as a Senator; DJT’s creature of choice is the pussy. However, it was not balmy emperors but hard facts that threw the Empire into tailspin. There was a fall in agricultural output in the surrounding countryside, Northern Italy was being increasingly settled by Germanic tribes (immigration; sic!) and the Legions were militarily overstretched across the vastness of the Empire. There were other factors as well; the split between Eastern (Constantinople) and Western (Rome) Empires was the most significant political factor.

I don’t want to overdraw parallels, but it is the decline of America’s material prowess, the weakening of its economy compared to Asia, the diminishing role of the dollar and petrodollar – I will discuss this in a future piece – and the erosion of military dominance, that underlie the change. We are passing through interesting times. Internally, America is becoming a different and diminished country, and overall, global balances are being restructured. The old status quo cannot be restored. The foreign policy changes that are being invoked, albeit by a nutter, are consonant with America’s weakened global economic and military capabilities.

African Ambassadors to Convene in Wake of Trump’s ‘Shithole’ Outburst

U.S. diplomats worry the president’s comments will set back relations. Others wonder why it took the “shithole” comment to get Washington to finally notice Africa.

President Donald Trump attends a luncheon with U.S. and African leaders at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 20, 2017 in New York. (Brendan Smialowski /AFP/Getty Images)

BY ROBBIE GRAMER

| JANUARY 12, 2018, 4:22 PM

African ambassadors in Washington are convening a meeting next week to discuss a response to President Donald Trump’s Oval Office outburst, in which he called Haiti, Central American, and African countries a “shithole,” multiple African diplomats told Foreign Policy.

During a meeting with lawmakers late Thursday, Trump railed against immigrants from Central America and Africa, reportedly saying, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”

The comments, first reported by Washington Post and later confirmed by meeting attendee Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), sent diplomatic shockwaves through Washington and incensed African diplomats. (In two separate tweets on Friday, Trump denied using such language regarding Haiti but didn’t clarify how he addressed African countries.)

“I found the comments insulting, irresponsible, and extremely disappointing,” said Arikana Chihombori-Quao, the ambassador of the African Union in Washington, during an interview with FP.

“This just cements the feeling that we don’t matter. That we are consistently and continually taken for granted,” she said. “At what point are we Africans going to rise up and say enough is enough?”

Chihombori-Quao and several other African diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were convening a meeting of African ambassadors in Washington next week to discuss a response to the president’s reported remarks. In New York, AU ambassadors convened their own emergency session late Friday afternoon to sort out a response to the diplomatic affront.

African diplomats and experts warn the comments could undercut U.S. diplomacy in Africa just as it starts to take shape under the Trump administration and as China boosts its investments and influence on the continent. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is also preparing to make his first trip to Africa as early as next month, with tentative plans to visit Angola and Kenya, according to one State Department official, though the trip has yet to be confirmed.

But the diplomats also vented frustration at the way in which Africa has suddenly become the big story. Trump’s comments hijacked scarce attention from the litany of other issues facing the continent that often go ignored in Washington: famines in South Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia; South Sudan’s brutal civil war; growing terrorism threats in the Sahel; and the humanitarian crisis sparked by the effective collapse of the Central African Republic, to name a few.

Chihombori-Quao also pointed out that while Africa is too often negatively portrayed in Western media, it has the fastest-growing middle class in the world, five of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies according to World Bank data, and nine female heads of state and government.

“I want to remind the president these shithole countries [are] where his friends go to get rich,” she added, referring to an awkward meeting last year in which Trump told African leaders, “I have so many friends going to your countries trying to get rich.”

The State Department sprang into action in what has become an all-too-familiar scene: Trump flings a rhetorical bombshell, and diplomats are left scrambling to do damage control. “We have great respect for the people of Africa and our commitment to our African partners remains strong,” Steve Goldstein, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, said in an email to FP.

Two State Department officials who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the press vented frustration at how strong relationships with some African countries that took decades to build have suddenly lurched into a temporary crisis mode because of Trump’s remarks.

“Without question, President Trump’s comments will damage U.S.-Africa relations in the short term and long term,” said Melvin Foote, the president of the Washington-based Constituency for Africa. Foote called the comments an “affront for all Americans of African descent in this country.”

But others said the storm would pass. “So many African countries clamor for more security assistance from the U.S., for more engagement from the U.S.,” said Joshua Meservey of the Heritage Foundation. “Those fundamental interests are not going to change because of this comment.”

One African ambassador in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, told FP that he didn’t think the comments would cause long-term damage, in part because U.S.-African relations don’t start and stop in the Oval Office. “He is one man talking about whole countries, but he doesn’t speak for all Americans,” the ambassador said.

Four other African ambassadors in Washington declined to comment.

A State Department official confirmed that the U.S. ambassadors in Botswana and Senegal have been summoned by host governments to address Trump’s comments. “No other ambassadors have been convoked at this time,” the official said.

But even if the storm passes, some feel U.S. officials won’t be able to shake Trump’s racist sentiments, no matter how much diplomatic wrangling they do. When asked if she thought Trump was racist, Chihombori-Quao didn’t directly answer the question.

“When people show you who they are,” she said, “believe them.”

Correction, Jan. 12, 2018: The U.S. ambassadors in Botswana and Senegal were summoned by their host governments after Trump’s comments. A previous version of this article mistakenly said the U.S. ambassadors in Botswana and Tunisia were summoned.

Meet the 24-year-old Trump campaign worker appointed to help lead the government’s drug policy office

Recent college grad and campaign volunteer Taylor Weyenth is now an administrative leader in Trump's drug policy office. (Dalton Bennett/The Washington Post)

By Robert O'Harrow Jr. January 14 at 12:41 PM

In May 2016, Taylor Weyeneth was an undergraduate at St. John’s University in New York, a legal studies student and fraternity member who organized a golf tournament and other events to raise money for veterans and their families.

Less than a year later, at 23, Weyeneth, was a political appointee and rising star at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the White House office responsible for coordinating the federal government’s multibillion dollar anti-drug initiatives and supporting President Trump’s efforts to curb the opioid epidemic. Weyeneth would soon become deputy chief of staff.

His brief biography offers few clues that he would so quickly assume a leading role in the drug policy office, a job recently occupied by a lawyer and a veteran government official. Weyeneth’s only professional experience after college and before becoming an appointee was working on Trump’s presidential campaign.

Weyeneth’s ascent from a low-level post to deputy chief of staff is the result, in large part, of staff turnover and vacancies. The story of his appointment and remarkable rise provides insight into the Trump administration’s political appointments and the troubled state of the drug policy office.

Trump has pledged to marshal federal government talent and resources to address the opioid crisis, but nearly a year after his inauguration, the drug policy office, known as ONDCP, lacks a permanent director. At least seven of his administration’s appointees have departed, office spokesman William Eason said. Among them was the general counsel and acting chief of staff, some of whose duties were assumed by Weyeneth, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post.

This Jan. 3 memo to staffers at ONDCP shows Weyeneth, the deputy chief of staff, was taking on more responsibility after the departure of the office’s acting chief of staff.

“ONDCP leadership recognizes that we have lost a few talented staff members and that the organization would benefit from an infusion of new expert staff,” said the Jan. 3 memo from acting director Richard Baum, a civil servant. “The functions of the Chief of Staff will be picked up by me and the Deputy Chief of Staff.”

Weyeneth, 24, did not respond to requests for an interview.

After being contacted by The Post about Weyeneth’s qualifications, and about inconsistencies on his résumés, an administration official said Weyeneth will return to the position he initially held in the agency, as a White House liaison for ONDCP, a job that typically involves working with outside interest groups. The official, who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, said that Weyeneth has been primarily performing administrative work, rather than making policy decisions, and that he had “assumed additional duties and an additional title following staff openings.”

The office hired Weyeneth in March “after seeing his passion and commitment on the issue of opioids and drug addiction,” the official said. The official and Weyeneth’s mother both said Weyeneth was moved by the death of a relative several years ago from a heroin overdose.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy was started by Congress in 1988 with passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. Part of the White House executive office, the ONDCP director, often referred to as the “drug czar,” is supposed to be the president’s main adviser on issues relating to illicit drugs, including manufacturing, smuggling and addiction.

In addition to its responsibilities for coordinating drug programs at other federal agencies, ONDCP is supposed to produce the National Drug Control Strategy, an annual blueprint for drug policy. The office also administers grants to law enforcement and drug-free community programs.

For the budget year that began in October, the White House budget plan called for $18.4 million in spending for 65 employees at ONDCP, excluding people detailed from the military and other areas of government, and program spending of $350 million.

Last year, the Office of Management and Budget proposed cuts that would have effectively eliminated the ONDCP for the fiscal year that began in October. The White House abandoned the plan after objections from a bipartisan group of senators.

The office hired Weyeneth in March “after seeing his passion and commitment on the issue of opioids and drug addiction,” the official said. The official and Weyeneth’s mother both said Weyeneth was moved by the death of a relative several years ago from a heroin overdose.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy was started by Congress in 1988 with passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. Part of the White House executive office, the ONDCP director, often referred to as the “drug czar,” is supposed to be the president’s main adviser on issues relating to illicit drugs, including manufacturing, smuggling and addiction.

In addition to its responsibilities for coordinating drug programs at other federal agencies, ONDCP is supposed to produce the National Drug Control Strategy, an annual blueprint for drug policy. The office also administers grants to law enforcement and drug-free community programs.

For the budget year that began in October, the White House budget plan called for $18.4 million in spending for 65 employees at ONDCP, excluding people detailed from the military and other areas of government, and program spending of $350 million.

Last year, the Office of Management and Budget proposed cuts that would have effectively eliminated the ONDCP for the fiscal year that began in October. The White House abandoned the plan after objections from a bipartisan group of senators.

In October, Trump’s nominee to lead the office, Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), withdrew from consideration after a joint investigation by The Post and 60 Minutes found he had sponsored legislation favoring opioid makers and curbing the ability of the Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate abuses.

Current and former ONDCP officials who have served under Democratic and Republican presidents said in interviews that the turmoil, including the elevation of Weyeneth, hinders efforts to rally the government at a time when the nation is going through the worst opioid crisis in its history.
“It sends a terrible message,” said Gil Kerlikowske, a former Seattle police chief who ran the office during the Obama administration and is a former commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. “It’s a message that we’re not taking this drug issue seriously.”

John Walters, the office’s director in the administration of George W. Bush, declined through a spokeswoman to comment.

The circumstances of Weyeneth’s appointment and rapid rise at ONDCP have not been reported previously.

Two résumés he submitted to the government were obtained through open records requests by Democratic-leaning organizations American Bridge 21st Century and American Oversight, which shared them in response to inquiries. The White House released a third résumé to The Post.

When he was in high school, Weyeneth was “Director of Production” for Nature’s Chemistry, a family firm in Skaneateles, N.Y., that specialized in processing chia seeds and other health products. One résumé said he served in that job from 2008 to 2013, and two others indicate he stopped working there in September 2011.

In the summer and fall of 2011, the firm was secretly processing illegal steroids from China as part of a conspiracy involving people from Virginia, California and elsewhere in the United States and one person in China, federal court records show. Weyeneth’s stepfather, Matthew Greacen, pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge last year and received two years probation and a fine.

Weyeneth was not charged in the investigation, known as Operation Grasshopper. His mother, Kim Weyeneth, said in an interview that neither she nor her son knew about the steroid production and that he provided information to help the federal prosecutors.

“We didn’t know anything that was going on,” Kim Weyeneth said, adding that she and Taylor were excluded by Greacen from a part of the facility where the steroids were kept. “It’s a very humongous plant.”

Kim Weyeneth said that she and Taylor were becoming estranged from Greacen and that she is now seeking a divorce.

Greacen’s attorney, Robert Austin, said he relayed interview requests from The Post, but Greacen did not respond. In court last year, Greacen said he did not understand the gravity of the scheme at the time but had come to appreciate that it was wrong, according to a court transcript.

The actor Alec Baldwin, a cousin of Greacen’s, wrote a letter to a judge asking for leniency. Baldwin said in an interview that Greacen helped raise Taylor Weyeneth. He said he was surprised Weyeneth went into politics because, as far as he could tell from family gatherings, there wasn’t “a single molecule of political DNA” in the household.

In these excerpts from two of Taylor Weyeneth’s résumés, he refers to a master’s degree from Fordham University. A university spokesman said Weyeneth has not finished his coursework.

Weyeneth attended St. John’s University in Queens, according to his résumés. He joined a fraternity, worked part time in various jobs and volunteered at the Passionist Monastery in Queens. He enrolled in a master’s program at Fordham University in the Bronx.

All three résumés say “MA Political Science” at Fordham’s Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy. The first résumé he submitted to the government provides no dates for his graduate studies, and the other two say he did his course work from 2016 to June 2017.

Fordham University spokesman Bob Howe told The Post that “a student named Taylor Weyeneth is enrolled in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Fordham, in a Master’s program for electoral and campaign management. He has not completed his degree yet.”

In the first résumé, Weyeneth said he volunteered for more than 275 hours at the monastery between 2012 and 2016. The second résumé he submitted to the government said it was more than 150 hours. The résumé provided by the White House does not mention volunteer work at the monastery.

Two monastery rectors, one current and one former, contacted by The Post did not dispute that Weyeneth volunteered there but said they had no memory of him and no paperwork related to his volunteer work.

The administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity acknowledged that the first résumé contained errors. He said in later résumés Weyeneth included dates referring to a master’s degree as projections of when he expected to receive it.

After graduating from St. John’s in May 2016, Weyeneth worked in a number of jobs for Trump’s presidential campaign, including coordinating voter services, and arranging travel and temporary housing for senior campaign officials. He also worked directly with Rich Dearborn, then director of Trump’s transition team, on “special projects,” according to one of his résumés.

A spokesman said Dearborn was not available for comment.

On Jan. 23, 2017, Weyeneth joined the administration as an assistant at the Treasury Department. He was a “General Schedule 11” employee, according to data maintained by ProPublica. In the Washington area, a federal worker at that level last year generally earned between $66,510 and $86,459, according to government data.

He moved to ONDCP in March, his résumés show, and was named deputy chief of staff in July, according to his LinkedIn page.

Under the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, the office has attracted some prominent law enforcement, public health and military experts. Some recent deputy chiefs of staff had years of experience working in government or public policy before being appointed.

Among them was Regina LaBelle, a lawyer who served as deputy chief of staff, senior policy adviser and chief of staff at ONDCP during the Obama administration. She had previously served a multiyear stint as legal counsel to the Seattle mayor and taught public policy and legislative ethics at Seattle University.

LaBelle said the office must run well because nowhere else in government do law enforcement and public health officials come together to develop ways to confront drug-related problems. With the opioid crisis, the office should be vital, she said.

“It requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and that kind of approach can only be coordinated through the Office of National Drug Control Policy,” she said.

Torture again and again.

2018-01-13

Looking for a good cause for 2018? Something you can do while sitting in your armchair. Something that needs to be done if we are to live in a “clean” planet. Campaigning against torture is what it is. It can be done by e-mail, s-mail, phone, text and petition signing. In the past, water dripping on a stone has worked and can be made to work again.

“Torture works. OK, folks? Believe me, it works…..And waterboarding is your minor form, but we should go much stronger than waterboarding”, said Donald Trump while campaigning to be president.

Torture is a world-wide disease. All of us need to campaign against it. The insiders like Fallon need the help of the outsiders- us

At the moment, as far as I know, the US is not torturing anyone. President Barack Obama put a stop to the practice of it by the administration of President George W. Bush. Even Trump says that since the Secretary of Defence, General James Mattis, is against re-introducing it, it probably will not happen. But one day Mattis can be sacked and someone more pliant installed in his place.

The UN Convention Against Torture was passed by a huge majority in 1984. 156 countries approved it. But, according to Amnesty International, 141 countries out of 193 still practice torture and other forms of ill-treatment.

Ancient Rome tortured the early Christians. The Church, repelled by what had happened then, for more than a thousand years used its influence to ensure that torture was abolished in Europe. Tragically, as a tool of the Inquisition parts of the Church brought it back.

Mark Fallon writes that, “waterboarding, sleep deprivation, dog leashes, sexual humiliation all send us tumbling into the filth where our sworn enemies live, and it legitimizes their struggle in the eyes of their followers even as it delegitimizes us in the eyes of the world

In 1640 England abolished torture. (Nevertheless, the Labour government of Tony Blair at the time of the Iraq War did send those it wanted vigorously interrogated to countries which sanction torture). In Prussia torture was abolished in 1740, in France in 1789 and in Russia in 1847. (The Soviet Union, until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, used it a lot.) In the US in 1789 Congress passed the eighth amendment to the constitution which forbad “cruel and unusual punishment”.

Four years ago the US Senate Intelligence Committee published its (summary of) report on America’s use of torture since 9/11, 2001. The report showed in its 6000 pages that the use of torture, over the seven years of its practice, did not gain valuable intelligence and that information could have been better unearthed by sophisticated traditional methods of interrogation.

In a new revealing, important and sometimes mind-blowing, book, “Unjustifiable Means”, Mark Fallon writes that, “waterboarding, sleep deprivation, dog leashes, sexual humiliation all send us tumbling into the filth where our sworn enemies live, and it legitimizes their struggle in the eyes of their followers even as it delegitimizes us in the eyes of the world.

Fallon was commander of the task force that investigated the lethal October 2000 attack on the USS Cole as it was being refuelled at the docks in Yemen. For 27 years he worked for the Navy Criminal Investigative Service

Fallon was commander of the task force that investigated the lethal October 2000 attack on the USS Cole as it was being refuelled at the docks in Yemen. For 27 years he worked for the Navy Criminal Investigative Service. In that role he was a regular visitor to Guantanamo Bay where he fought hard but unsuccessfully the local top brass and their superiors in Washington not to treat detainees inhumanely.

He recalls how once he was in London to brief senior European and NATO authorities on “lessons learned” from his investigation of the Cole attack. He argued that “I had seen time and again that building rapport with detainees yielded far better actionable intelligence than the strong arm approach, and prevented more attacks in the future”. (He explains the techniques and application of a non-violent approach to interrogation in some detail. Readers of his book should make a point to remember these for the occasions when they get involved in argument on the issue.)

The FBI, he states, did a first class job with non-violent interrogations to reveal who was behind the Cole attack. One detainee accused of being part of the attack cell identified other Al Qaeda members and safe houses. It was “an intelligence-collection bonanza”.

But later Bush effectively took the 9/11 investigation out of the hands of the FBI and placed it with the less scrupulous Department of Defence whose head was Donald Rumsfeld. He had no qualms about authorising the use of torture. The CIA too was full speed ahead for the use of torture.

Guantanamo Bay, we now know, housed only a handful of detainees who actually possessed knowledge that the US needed to know. Too many were badly tortured. War crimes and crimes against humanity were committed. They have not been investigated and their practitioners punished. The International Criminal Court should announce an investigation, even though it knows any charges it makes will be vetoed by the US in the UN Security Council. The Court should publicise what it knows and stand by it.

Torture is a world-wide disease. All of us need to campaign against it. The insiders like Fallon need the help of the outsiders- us.

Ramaphosa vows to fight corruption in South Africa's ruling party

ANC leader and South Africa’s deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa called for an end to division. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters

Sat 13 Jan 2018 16.03 GMT

Cyril Ramaphosa, tipped to be South Africa’s next president replacing scandal-prone Jacob Zuma, uses first major public speech to call for unity

Cyril Ramaphosa, the new leader of South Africa’s ruling party, has vowed to crack down on the corruption that has weakened the African National Congress.

“Billions of rands have been illegally diverted to individuals,” Ramaphosa said in a speech celebrating the party’s 106th anniversary.

It was his first major public address since he was elected to lead Africa’s oldest liberation party in December, replacing scandal-prone president Jacob Zuma, who was booed upon his arrival at the event, as leader. Ramaphosa is likely to be elected the next president in 2019.

Public frustration over corruption allegations against Zuma deeply split the ANC in recent months, and Ramaphosa has been pressured by opposition parties and some ANC members to recall Zuma as president.

Ramaphosa, South Africa’s current deputy president, is instead stressing the need for unity. He said the ANC had become deeply divided through factionalism, patronage, corruption and competition for resources. “At the centre of our efforts this year is unity,” he added.

This week, on the eve of a high-level ANC meeting that had threatened to discuss his fate, Zuma acknowledged the pressure, announcing he was appointing an inquiry commission to look into the corruption allegations. “This matter cannot wait any longer,” he said.

On Saturday Ramaphosa thanked Zuma for the decision. “Corruption in state-owned enterprises and other public institutions has undermined our government’s programs to address poverty and unemployment,” he said. “We are going to confront corruption and state capture in all its forms.”

The ANC has been in power since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, but voters have grown disillusioned with the party of Nelson Mandela under Zuma’s tenure. South Africa’s economy briefly dipped into recession last year and unemployment hovers close to 30%.

In 2016 municipal elections, the ANC lost control of the commercial hub of Johannesburg and the administrative capital, Pretoria, for the first time. Observers have warned that if support continues to dwindle, the party faces the possibility of losing its national majority in 2019 and having to govern as part of a coalition.

Ramaphosa pledged to address the country’s lingering inequality through a programme of “radical socio-economic transformation,” including free higher education for poor and working-class students, a national minimum wage and land expropriation without compensation.

“We aim to restore our focus on building an economy in which all South Africans can flourish, an economy which benefits the people as a whole rather than a privileged few,” he said.

Myanmar, Bangladesh meet amid doubts about Rohingya repatriation plan

Hamid Hussain, a 71-year-old Rohingya refugee cuts firewood after an interview with Reuters at Kutupalong camp, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh January 13, 2018. Picture taken January 13, 2018.REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Krishna N. Das, Serajul Quadir, Simon Lewis-JANUARY 14, 2018

DHAKA/YANGON (Reuters) - Hamid Hussain, a 71-year-old Rohingya Muslim farmer, first fled Myanmar for Bangladesh in 1992. He went home the next year under a repatriation deal between the two neighbours, only to repeat the journey last September when violence flared once more.

Officials from Myanmar and Bangladesh meet on Monday to discuss how to implement another deal, signed on Nov. 23, on the return of more than 650,000 Rohingya who have escaped an army crackdown since late August. Hussain is one of many who say they fear this settlement may be no more permanent than the last.

“Bangladesh authorities had assured us that Myanmar would give us back our rights, that we would be able to live peacefully,” said Hussain, who now lives in a makeshift refugee camp in southeast Bangladesh.

“We went back but nothing changed. I will go back again only if our rights and safety are guaranteed - forever.”

MYANMAR SETS UP CAMPS

Bangladesh officials said they would begin the process this month by sharing with Myanmar authorities a list of 100,000 Rohingya, picked at random from among registered refugees.

Haque said Myanmar officials would vet the names against their records of residents before the August exodus, and those approved would then be asked if they wanted to go back.

Refugees without documents would be asked to identify streets, villages and other landmarks near their former homes as proof of their right to return, said Haque.

Hamid Hussain, a 71-year-old Rohingya refugee poses for photo after an interview with Reuters at Kutupalong camp, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh January 13, 2018. Picture taken January 13, 2018.REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

A Myanmar agency set up to oversee repatriation said in a statement on Thursday that two temporary “repatriation and assessment camps” and one other site to accommodate returnees had been set up.
Myint Kyaing, permanent secretary at Myanmar’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, told Reuters earlier this month Myanmar would be ready to begin processing least 150 people a day through each of the two camps by Jan. 23.

As well as checking their credentials as residents of Myanmar, he said, authorities would check returnees against lists of suspected “terrorists”.

Myint Kyaing declined to comment on how long the repatriation would take but conceded the process after the 1992 agreement had taken more than 10 years.

United Nations agencies working in the camps clustered around Cox’s Bazar, in southeastern Bangladesh, have voiced scepticism about the resettlement plans.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration said their offers to help with the process have not been taken up by the two countries.

“Further measures are needed to ensure safe, voluntary and sustainable repatriation of refugees to their places of origin and to address the underlying root causes of the crisis,” said Caroline Gluck, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Cox’s Bazar.

The UNHCR says refugees it has surveyed want guarantees that international agencies will be involved in overseeing the process and more information about the security situation in their home areas.

WHO WILL GO? WHO WILL PAY?

While many Rohingya say they want to go back to Myanmar, most of the more than a dozen who spoke to Reuters said they were scared to do so now.

“I am not going back. No one’s going back,” said Hafizulla, a 37-year-old Rohingya man. “We are scared to go back without any U.N. intervention. They can accuse us later, they can arrest us. They may accuse us of helping the militants.”

The military offensive the refugees fled, which was prompted by Rohingya insurgent attacks on police and army posts, has been described by the United States and U.N. as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar rejects that, saying troops did not target civilians.

“You can have all the agreements in the world, and set up all the reception centres and everything, but it won’t make a difference unless the conditions in Myanmar are such that people feel confident that they can go back and live in peace, and have equal rights,” said a Western diplomat in Dhaka.

The second Bangladesh official, Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner Mohammed Abul Kalam, said the “Rohingyas’ reluctance to go back” was an issue that needed to be addressed.

He said the repatriation process would cost “millions of dollars” but funding details had not yet been agreed and were not expected to be discussed at Monday’s meeting.

Japan, one of Myanmar’s biggest aid donors, said on Friday it was giving an emergency grant of around $3 million to help with the return of the Rohingya.

7.1 magnitude earthquake in southern Peru leaves 1 dead, 20 injured

Marco Aquino Reuters-January 14, 2018 8:28 am

WATCH ABOVE: A strong magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the coast of southern Peru on Sunday morning, leaving one dead and several dozen injured while causing homes and roads to collapse.

A strong earthquake struck the coast of southern Peru on Sunday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, leaving one dead and around 20 injured and causing homes and roads to collapse.

The 7.1 magnitude quake hit at 4:18 a.m. local time (0918 GMT) at a depth of around 10 km (6 miles), the USGS said. Peru‘s government Geophysical Institute said the earthquake was of magnitude 6.7 with its epicenter in Lomas, in the southern region of Arequipa.

WATCH: 7.1 magnitude earthquake in southern Peru leaves 1 dead, several dozen injured

Arequipa Governor Yamila Osorio said on Twitter that one 55-year old man died in the town of Yauca after being crushed by rock, while 20 people were injured in the town of Chala.

Several municipalities were without electricity, and many roads and adobe houses had collapsed, Osorio said. Many residents of Lomas were evacuated after feeling an aftershock, she said.

Earthquakes are common in Peru, but many homes are built with precarious materials that cannot withstand them.

In 2007 an earthquake killed hundreds in the region of Ica.
WATCH:A strong earthquake struck the coast of southern Peru on Sunday morning.

Peruvian maritime authorities said the quake did not produce a tsunami on the Peruvian coast.

Peru is the world’s No. 2 copper producer, although many of the mines in the south are located far inland from the coastal region where the quake struck. A representative of Southern Copper Corp said there were no reports of damage at its Cuajone and Toquepala mines in the regions of Moguegua and Tacna.

Jesus Revilla, a union leader at the Cerro Verde copper mine in Arequipa, said there were no reports that operations had been affected.

The quake was also felt in northern Chile, Peru‘s southern neighbor. Chile’s National Emergency offices said there were no reports of injuries, damage to infrastructure, or interruption of basic services. Chile’s navy said the quake did not meet the conditions that would produce a tsunami off its coast.
WATCH: Global News coverage of earthquake Iraq-Iran border: Nov. 2017

Breast cancer survival 'unaffected by faulty gene'

By Katie SilverHealth -12 January 2018

Young breast cancer patients with faulty BRCA genes have the same survival chances as those without, a study has found.

The researchers, who looked at almost 3,000 women, also found outcomes were the same whatever kind of treatment women had - including mastectomies.

Experts say it means women can take time to decide if the radical surgery is right for them.

The study did not look at preventative mastectomies.

These are offered to women with faulty genes to cut their risk of developing cancer.

Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes increase a woman's risk of breast cancer by four-to-eightfold and can explain why some families have lots of relatives diagnosed with breast cancer.

The study, published in The Lancet Oncology, found 12% of 2,733 women aged 18 to 40 treated for breast cancer at 127 hospitals across the UK between 2000 and 2008 had a BRCA mutation.

The women's medical records were tracked for up to 10 years.

During this time, 651 of the women died from breast cancer, and those with the BRCA mutation were equally likely to have survived at the two-, five- and 10-year mark as those without the genetic mutation.

This was not affected by the women's body mass index or ethnicity.

About a third of those with the BRCA mutation had a double mastectomy to remove both breasts after being diagnosed with cancer. This surgery did not appear to improve their chances of survival at the 10-year mark.

But the researchers said surgery may still be beneficial for these patients to reduce their risk of a new cancer developing in the longer term.

What is the BRCA gene?

It has been dubbed the 'Angelina Jolie gene', after the actress revealed she underwent preventative surgery on learning she had an up to 87% chance of developing breast cancer.

Everyone has the BRCA genes, but when a fault occurs in one of them it can result in DNA damage and lead to cells becoming cancerous.

Around 1 in 800 women in the general population are thought to carry the mutation and 5% of women with breast cancer in the UK will have a faulty form of the BRCA gene.

The faulty genes are also linked to an increased risk of ovarian and prostate cancers, as well as breast cancer.

Angelina Jolie had a preventative mastectomy, before she developed cancer. These types of surgery were not examined in this study.

REUTERS-Image captionAngelina Jolie had a double mastectomy, and her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.

The study's author, Professor Diana Eccles, of the University of Southampton, said: "Women diagnosed with early breast cancer who carry a BRCA mutation are often offered double mastectomies soon after their diagnosis or chemotherapy treatment.

"However, our findings suggest that this surgery does not have to be immediately undertaken along with the other treatment."

'More time to decide'

Fiona MacNeill, of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, who was not involved in the research, said: "This study can reassure young women with breast cancer, particularly those with triple negative cancer or who are BRCA carriers, that breast conservation with radiotherapy is a safe option in the first decade after diagnosis and double mastectomy is not essential or mandatory at initial treatment.

She added: "In view of this, younger women with breast cancer can take time to discuss whether radical breast surgery is the right choice for them as part of a longer-term risk reducing strategy."

Katherine Woods, from charity Breast Cancer Now said the findings "could enable many patients to make even more informed choices regarding their treatment".

"In particular, being able to give some women with triple negative breast cancer the choice to delay a risk-reducing mastectomy would allow them to take back control of a major part of their treatment and offer them more time to recover from their initial therapy."

She said she was now keen to understand how women fared more than 10 years after their diagnosis.

The authors note the findings do not apply to older women.

Saturday, January 13, 2018

DEATH OF TEENAGER IN CUSTODY: INDEPENDENT BODY MUST PROBE CUSTODIAL DEATHS – HRCSL

13/01/2018

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) proposes to establish an independent body to investigate cases of deaths in custody including killings, immediately following such incidents before the cases reach the HRCSL.

The proposal comes in the wake of the death of a teenage suspect in Police custody, which reportedly took place on Thursday, 11 January at the Pettah Police Station and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has transferred the Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of the Station, out of the Western Province.

Approval of the Election Commission and the National Police Commission had been obtained prior to the transfer. Police Media Spokesman, Superintendent of Police and Attorney-at-Law, Ruwan Gunasekera said, the IGP had also directed a Deputy Inspector General of Police attached to Police Headquarters, to investigate the incident of the alleged suicide of the teenage suspect nabbed for cannabis possession, inside a Police cell at the Pettah Police Station.

HRCSL Chief Dr. Deepika Udagama said such an independent body should be composed of an ombudsman or some such person and should most importantly not come under the Police Department or at the very least not involve Police officers on……active duty, owing to the perception that the Police are investigating itself in such cases. Public perception of objectivity in such matters is of paramount importance, she added.

The HRCSL on 11 January itself commenced an investigation into the incident, even prior to receiving a complaint in this regard.

The Commission has since recorded statements from the relevant Police officers and the deceased’s cellmates, and is presently awaiting the Judicial Medical Officer’s report. It is too early at this juncture to state as to whether the said death resulted from an assault or was suicide.

Four such cases had been recorded for the year 2017 and Dr. Udagama noted that subsequent to a case in Pussellawa, the Commission had recommended that closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) be installed in Police cells and for such to be visible at all times to the on duty OIC.

The Commission during its inquiry at the Pettah Police Station found that no CCTV cameras were found at the said station but acknowledged that the station was housed in an old building.

“If a person is in State custody, it is the custodian who is responsible for the welfare, security and protection of the individual. Media and civil society too have a role to play in this regard.

Decades long issues pertaining to the juvenile justice system really need to be improved on. Child Friendly Courts are required and children must be dealt with, according to their maturity and evolving capacity.

There also needs to be a focus on the economic, social and cultural rights. On the other hand, even though there are efforts to compensate those affected by the Uma Oya project, we must be ashamed for allowing such to happen. And, elsewhere people in the North and the East continue to struggle and there are resettlement related issues too,” she explained.

BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody and Leon Berenger/Ceylon Today.