How Libya's oil smugglers are bleeding the country of cash

Armed militia, backed by police and coast guards, are illegally shipping Libya's oil to Europe in league with mafia groups

The oil tanker Captain Khayyam, docked at Tripoli in February 2016: it was stopped by the coastguard, which said its crew was smuggling diesel (AFP)

Francesca Mannocchi-Thursday 9 February 2017

TRIPOLI, Libya - Sabratha lies on the far western coast of Libya. Founded by the Phoenicians and famed for its ancient Roman ruins, in more recent years it has been controlled at various points by Muammar Gaddafi, anti-government rebels and Islamic State.

But now the city is home to militants, a haven for fuel smugglers, who have turned this historic stretch of the North African coastline into a locus for their activities.

'Fuel smuggling is feeding the area, especially now that the cash is in short supply in Libya. The whole economy is a victim of lawlessness and corruption'

- Davide, Italian engineer

“If you wait until nightfall, you can see dozens of men filling the ships with fuel,” says Davide. It’s not his real name: a fiftysomething engineer from northern Italy who worked in western Libya for years, he asks for anonymity amid fears for his own safety.

"I saw dozens of ships, dozens of tankers, leave from the coast of Sabratha under the eyes of the local coast guard,” he says. "The armed militias, who control the area between Zawya and Sabratha, share out the zones of interest with the complicity of the police and the local coast guard.”

One man in Libya Donald Trump can't ignore

The fuel, he explains, is heading for ports across Europe “under the eyes of those who should control the coasts. Everyone knows it.”

He explains that the Hneesh militia and the Dabbashi clan – two of the most powerful groups in western Libya - control fuel smuggling and human trafficking. When they fall out, it is usually resolved by armed conflict.

"The people who should be in charge of monitoring the region are threatened with death,” Davide says.  “So if they see anything [criminal] then they do not report it. Fuel smuggling is feeding the area, especially now that the cash is in short supply in Libya. The whole economy is a victim of lawlessness and corruption."

The power of the smugglers

Libya has more access to crude oil reserves than any other country in Africa. It has always been heavily reliant on fuel exports to power its economy.

In late January it was pumping 715,000 barrels of oil each day: that was its highest level since 2014, although still less than half of the 1.6 million barrels it pumped before the 2011 revolution. But much of that oil, drawn from the ground amid the endemic chaos of Libya, is now syphoned off by smugglers.

A huge blaze at an oil tank in southern Tripoli in July 2014: internal conflict has stalled Libyan oil production (AFP)

This smuggling, according to the Libyan authorities, has cost state coffers more than half a billion dinars - around $360 million. To put that into perspective, in 2016, Libya's budget revenues were estimated at $5.8 billion, with expenditure of $13.7 billion.

According to Libyan police, fuel smugglers use small boats and tankers containing up to 40,000 litres of refined product. The contents of the ships from Sabratha are then shunted to Malta, 160 miles from the Libyan coast, and also Sicily, where the fuel is sold before reaching the rest of Italy.

One day after Sanalla’s accusations, the main source of electricity for Zawiya, a city of around 200,000 people, was shut down. Western Libya lived under a blackout for days

On 27 January, Sadiq al-Sour, the general attorney with the Government of National Accord, announced a major investigation on corruption in the oil sector, looking at the smuggling of refined products from Libya to Italy, Malta, Cyprus and Greece. But the power wielded by the smugglers can be extensive.

On 4 January, Mustafa Sanalla, chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), accused the Petroleum Facility Guards (PFG) - the official body in charge of protecting oil facilities - of corruption and complicity with national and international smugglers.

The Western agenda in Libya has failed

The response was not long in coming. One day after Sanalla’s accusations, the main source of electricity for Zawiya, a city of around 200,000 people, was shut down. Western Libya lived under a blackout for days.

"The area around Zawiya is managed by fuel cartels,” Davide tells Middle East Eye. “I have heard of armed militias organising armed checkpoints, planning the blocking of the roads to ensure the undisturbed passage of fuel tanks to the harbour.

“In Sabratha everyone tells me that the Libyan militias have agreements with Sicilian mafia families, who run the fuel smuggled off the Italian coasts."

Libyans: Europe doesn't want to help

But while the smugglers are getting rich, many in Libya are still suffering. The dinar now amounts to little more than wastepaper. And the poorer the country becomes, the more resentment grows among the wider population.

In Tripoli, banks are daily besieged by hundreds of customers. They want access to their money. But it’s gone: in Libya, hard cash is the prerogative of the fuel smugglers and human traffickers, not the average Libyan.

'Europeans are no longer welcome. Their presence here has become exploitative. It is thievery'

Nasser is 60 and has seven children: until a few years ago, he sold cars and was wealthy. Now, he only has a few thousand dinars left in the bank.

Every morning Nasser, who does not give his full name for fear of his safety, goes to the bank. Every morning, the cashier at the desk tells Nasser the same thing: no cash.

Nasser is tired. "None of your [European] governments want to help us,” he says. “You stand at the window, watching people dying in the sea. European governments make propaganda with their military operations in the Mediterranean, calling them Sophia or Triton or Frontex.

Russia's secret plan to back Haftar in Libya

“Meanwhile, along our coast there are serious crimes every day and no one tries to find an answer.”

At an EU summit on 3 February, Europe’s leaders committed to spending €200m ($216m) to stem illegal migration and smuggling from the North African coast. It comes after Operation Sophia, intended to disrupt people smuggling, was judged a failure by several governments.

Everyone, Nasser says, benefits – apart from the man in the street. “Nobody tries because everyone is benefiting from our energy resources. European countries have benefited for years from Libyan energy resources.

"Now Europeans are no longer welcome. Their presence here has become exploitative. It is thievery.”

The role of the clans

Today, the coastal road from Tripoli to Sabratha – two of Libya’s largest cities – is closed, amid daily clashes between armed militias. The number of dead and kidnapped ticks ever upwards on a daily basis.

But it is here that ENI, the main Italian energy company, continues to work to full capacity, even during the darkest hours of the civil war.

Members of a Libya Dawn brigade in February 2016 in Sabratha, where smugglers have thrived amid the unrest (AFP)

Many workers from Mellitah Oil and Gas, ENI's Libyan subsidiary, as well as local residents, claim that the Dabbashi tribe has agreements to ensure the security of the energy giants - agreements which are confidential – and very profitable.

But a letter dating from August 2015, passed to MEE from a source within the Libyan security service, says that the "battalion of the martyr Anas Dabbashi has begun working to secure the protection of the compound and be present nearby to the compound gate, as well as the road link from the complex to the western entrance gate of Sabratha."

The letter is signed, the source says, by representatives of Mellitah and the Dabbashi clan. Both Eni and Mellitah Oil and Gas have yet to respond to media enquiries.

It is also alleged that the Dabbashi clan are involved in human trafficking, as well as fuel and weapons smuggling, Libyan intelligence services have told MEE. Last year the mayor of Sabratha publicly accused the Dabbashi clan of having concealed the presence of IS members in the area; also that it ordered the abduction of four Italian workers in 2016.

Confidential sources in the Libyan government say that foreign companies are blackmailed by the armed militias to pay a bribe to continue operating in the area: payment can either be cash or fuel.

The domino effect

Libyan intelligence serves told MEE that the level of corruption has become so pervasive that entire groups of police and coast guards are openly involved in criminal trafficking, especially in the Zawia and Sabratha area.

In Tripoli, Abdrazaq Alshneti, in charge of external relations at the interior ministry’s anti-immigration agency, complains at the lack of support from Western governments.

Now the country is in the chaos. There is no security at all. Western governments will continue to leave us alone while Libya remains so dangerous

- Abdrazaq Alshneti, interior ministry

"It’s a domino effect,” he tells Middle East Eye. “We were left alone. Now the country is in chaos. There is no security at all. Western governments will continue to leave us alone while Libya remains so dangerous.”

Alshneti says that the same militias that are smuggling fuel also play a large part in the human trafficking trade in Tripoli. There, he says, there are at least a dozen illegal detention centres managed directly by armed militias, which need to be curbed if Libya is to progress.

"It is much more than a political problem,” Alshneti says. “In Libya, it will be impossible to think of having a government of national unity until we have an effective national army.”

Federal appeals court maintains suspension of Trump’s immigration order

A federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling suspending President Trump’s controversial immigration order barring refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. on Feb. 9. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

By Matt Zapotosky February 9 at 7:51 PM

A federal appeals court panel has maintained the freeze on President Trump’s controversial immigration order, meaning previously barred refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries can continue entering the United States.

In a unanimous, 29-page opinion, three judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit flatly rejected the government’s argument that the suspension of the order should be lifted immediately for national security reasons and forcefully asserted their ability to serve as a check on the president’s power.

The judges wrote that any suggestion that they couldn’t “runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy.”

The judges did not declare outright that the ban was meant to disfavor Muslims — essentially saying it was too early for them to render a judgment on that question. But their ruling is undeniably a blow to the government and means the ban will remain off for the foreseeable future.

Trump reacted angrily on Twitter, posting just minutes after the ruling, “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!” The Justice Department, which was defending the administration’s position, said in a statement it was “reviewing the decision and considering its options.”

President Trump said on Feb. 9 that he looked forward to seeing the judges "in court" after a federal appeals court upheld the suspension of his controversial immigration order. (Editor's note: Audio only.) (The Washington Post)

President Trump said on Feb. 9 that he looked forward to seeing the judges "in court" after a federal appeals court upheld the suspension of his controversial immigration order. (Editor's note: Audio only.) (The Washington Post)

[Read the 9th Circuit’s opinion on the travel ban]

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who had sued over the ban, said, “Bottom line, this is a complete victory for the state of Washington,” and declared the judges’ ruling “effectively granted everything we sought.”

The Justice Department could now ask the Supreme Court — which often defers to the president on matters of immigration and national security — to intervene. The Supreme Court, though, remains one justice short, and many see it as ideologically split 4-4. A tie would keep in place whatever the appeals court decides. The Justice Department could also ask the full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to consider the question.

The appeals court opinion was written by Judge Michelle Taryn Friedland, who was appointed by President Barack Obama; Judge Richard Clifton, who was appointed by President George W. Bush; and judge William C. Canby Jr., who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter. It was detailed, but it does not represent a final judgment on Trump’s immigration ban.

U.S. District Judge James L. Robart had last Friday granted the states of Washington and Minnesota only a temporary restraining order on the ban, and the parties are set to file briefs through next Saturday on the East Coast arguing for a more permanent, preliminary injunction. The appeals court judges noted their ruling was a “preliminary one,” and they were deciding only whether the government had “made a strong showing of its likely success” in getting the restraining order thrown out.

The ruling, though, is critically important — as Trump’s ban on refugees lasts only 120 days, and his ban on those from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen lasts only 90 days. The judges also said that while the states of Washington and Minnesota had made serious allegations — and the impact of the order was “immediate and widespread” — the government had not pointed to any substantive evidence to support its need for the ban.

“The Government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the Order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States,” the judges wrote. “Rather than present evidence to explain the need for the Executive Order, the Government has taken the position that we must not review its decision at all.”

How Trump’s travel ban broke from the normal executive order process

[Travelers from Iran board flights to the United States following stay, attorney says]

The states have alleged that the executive order harms their businesses and universities, preventing some students and faculty from traveling abroad for fear of being stranded and diminishing the sales tax revenue they receive.

Legislators and others who had opposed the ban hailed the judges’ ruling and urged Trump to back down.

“President Trump ought to see the handwriting on the wall that his executive order is unconstitutional,” said U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “He should abandon this proposal, roll up his sleeves and come up with a real, bipartisan plan to keep us safe.”

Sen Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said, “If the President were serious about bringing our country together and keeping us safe, he would rescind this arbitrary and discriminatory order and recall what makes our country great.”

Federal immigration law undeniably gives the president broad authority to bar people from coming into the U.S., stating that if the president finds “the entry of any aliens” would be “detrimental” to the country’s interests, he can impose restrictions. But lawsuits across the country have alleged that Trump’s particular order ran afoul of the Constitution in that it intentionally discriminated against Muslims.

At a hearing Tuesday, Justice Department lawyer August Flentje vigorously disputed that the measure was intended to target Muslims. In their ruling, the judges did not reveal their opinion on that question, though they noted Washington and Minnesota had “offered evidence of numerous statements by the President about his intent to implement a ‘Muslim ban’ as well as evidence they claim suggests that the Executive Order was intended to be that ban.”

Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani recently said publicly: “So when [Trump] first announced it, he said, ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up. He said: ‘Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.’ ” On the campaign trail, Trump himself called for a “complete and total shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S.

The appeals court judges had questioned both sides skeptically at Tuesday’s hearing, seeming 

particularly interested in what evidence Trump relied upon in implementing his order, and what limits the Justice Department saw on the president’s authority to set immigration policy. While Flentje urged them to restore the measure completely, he also at one point offered a fallback position. The judges, he suggested, could limit Robart’s order so that it only applied to foreigners previously admitted to the country who were abroad now or those who wished to travel and return to the United States in the future.

[Trump decries ‘disgraceful’ opposition as appeals court weighs immigration order]

They declined to do even that, saying, as written, the president’s executive order could apply even to green card holders — which it once seemed to do, though the White House counsel later issued guidance saying it did not. The judges said the Justice Department had “offered no authority establishing that the White House counsel is empowered to issue an amended order superseding the Executive Order,” and “in light of the Government’s shifting interpretations of the Executive Order,” they were not convinced that guidance would hold.

Trump and his supporters have pressed the case that the short-term stoppage on refugees and immigrants from the seven countries is necessary for national security reasons, and they have leveled blunt criticism at the courts. Trump went so far as to suggest on Twitter that if an attack were to happen, the judiciary were to blame. On Wednesday, he denounced arguments about his order as “disgraceful” and said “a bad high school student” would understand the broad authority the law gives him to impose immigration restrictions.

A day earlier, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told Congress he thought judges might be considering the issue from an “academic” perspective instead of the national security lens through which he views the world.

[Trump lashes out at ‘so-called judge’ who temporarily blocked entry ban]

“Of course, in their courtrooms, they’re protected by people like me,” Kelly said.

Federal courts in New York, California and elsewhere already had blocked aspects of the ban from being implemented, although one federal judge in Massachusetts declared that he did not think that challengers had demonstrated that they had a high likelihood of success. The case before the 9th Circuit, though, was much broader than the others, because it stemmed from a federal judge’s outright halting of the ban.

Abby Phillip and John Wagner contributed to this report.

Marco Rubio introduces Senate bill attacking BDS movement

Anti-BDS bills are designed to suppress Palestine rights activism in the US. (Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr)

Nora Barrows-Friedman-9 February 2017

New legislation seeking to chill speech critical of Israel has been introduced in the US Senate.

And Wyoming joins an expanding list of states where politicians are introducing measures intending to repress the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign which aims to pressure Israel to end its violations of Palestinian rights.

Florida Republican and former presidential hopeful Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia have introduced a bill to combat “economic warfare” against Israel and protect “shared national security interests” by impugning the BDS movement.

The bill, S. 170 – dubbed “The Combatting BDS Act of 2017” – would increase “protections for state and local governments in the United States that decide to divest from, prohibit investment in, and restrict contracting with companies knowingly engaged in commerce-related or investment-related BDS activity targeting Israel,” Rubio’s office states.

Rubio likens the bill to legislation passed in several states requiring state bodies, including pension funds, to divest from companies that do business with Iran and Sudan – countries that the US has deemed its enemies.

Rubio says the bill is also meant to counterbalance the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which reaffirmed that Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, are illegal.

Rubio calls the UN resolution a “deplorable one-sided measure that harms Israel and effectively encourages the BDS movement’s campaigns to commercially and financially target and discriminate against the Jewish state.”

His legislation aims to protect state and local governments that enact such blacklists from having their measures invalidated by any conflicting federal law.

However, “the Rubio bill doesn’t solve the fundamental problem with these anti-BDS laws, which is that they violate the First Amendment,” Rahul Saksena, a staff attorney with Palestine Legal, told The Electronic Intifada.

The federal government cannot permit state and local governments to trample free speech rights, he said.

The bill is similar to the “boycotting the boycotters” blacklist New York governor Andrew Cuomo created by executive order last year.

Legal groups called Cuomo’s blacklist unconstitutional and a revival of “a dark tactic of the McCarthy era.”

Wyoming resolution slams BDS

In Wyoming’s state legislature, a non-binding resolution was introduced by a Democratic lawmaker on behalf of a rabbi who claims that the BDS movement is “a thinly veiled form of discrimination against Jews,” according to the Casper Star-Tribune.

The resolution calls on state agencies to “note” a company’s participation in BDS campaigns when considering it for bids on contracts.

Rep. James Byrd claims that his resolution demonstrates “opposition to discrimination against Jews and other minorities” in the state, according to the Star-Tribune. Byrd insists that it “wasn’t meant to take a stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the newspaper reports.

Shifting Afghan frontlines make aid work harder, more dangerous

FILE PHOTO: Afghan men attend a funeral ceremony of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) employee, who was killed yesterday by gunmen in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan February 9, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

By Josh Smith | KABUL- Fri Feb 10, 2017

When a convoy of Red Cross workers drove into remote northern Afghanistan on Wednesday with supplies for victims of snow storms, they were entering a region that had recently seen dangerous and unpredictable changes.

Long under Taliban control, the corner of Jowzjan province had been infiltrated over the past year by rival Islamist militants claiming allegiance to Islamic State, according to local police officials.

It was those militants who police suspect attacked the convoy, killing six Afghan aid workers. Two more are missing.

The killings were an example of a growing problem for non-governmental organisations: as insurgent groups gain ground from government forces and fight among themselves, Afghan territory changes hands more quickly, leaving NGOs scrambling to keep up.

"It makes us fear for the future of our operations, because all of the serious aid organisations operate without armed guards, and we can be easy targets in this changing environment," said Dejan Panic, programme director for Emergency, an Italian healthcare charity.

He added that his group was reviewing its movements after the Red Cross attack.

The International NGO Safety Organisation said old battle lines between NATO and Taliban fighters were being replaced "by multiple overlapping conflicts both between and within Afghan groups."

The result is heightened confusion, suspicion and threats, aid groups say, even those that have worked in Afghanistan for decades and are well versed in negotiating with all sides of the conflict.

UNPREDICTABLE FACTIONS

More than 40 percent of the country is contested or under insurgent control, according to U.S. military estimates, as Afghan forces struggle to contain a stubborn Taliban.

In the past year, militant groups have also fractured and Islamic State has established a foothold.

"There is no doubt that our operations are increasingly affected by increased insecurity," said Khalid Fahim, a programme director for the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, which runs several aid projects.

International and local aid agencies, which run most of Afghanistan's humanitarian and social programmes and many schools and hospitals, have been forced to take snap decisions on whether or not to continue providing aid.

In Kunduz province in the north, for example, Fahim said the Swedish Committee was able to reopen facilities that had to be temporarily closed during heavy fighting.

In Wardak, on the other hand, threats from local Taliban commanders forced the organisation to close schools in two districts.

For Emergency, operations calmed down in some districts of Helmand province after the Taliban solidified control, ending months of fighting.

Abdul Fatah, an ambulance driver for an NGO-operated hospital in Ghazni province, said he was recently stopped by Taliban fighters, detained overnight and threatened with death if he evacuated wounded government police and soldiers.

Now he says he is caught between two sides.

"I'm trying to avoid taking military personnel to hospitals any more, but if there is a need, I have to. If I don't, the government forces will cause problems for me."

The United Nations attributed nearly 80 percent of incidents targeting healthcare workers in 2016 to anti-government groups like the Taliban.

But the group's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Taliban welcomed humanitarian aid and had a committee to oversee requests to work in their territory.

When the Red Cross workers were attacked in Jowzjan, Mujahid promised that the Taliban would help find the perpetrators.

As the Taliban movement has fractured, however, NGOs say fighters do not always follow orders.

"The practices on the ground often conflict with what leaders say at the high levels," Fahim said of both insurgent and government forces.

GOVERNMENT SUSPICIONS

The Swedish Committee and Emergency said they did not interact officially with insurgents, but built relationships with local elders who acted as conduits to the militants.

"What facilitates access is acceptance and impartiality," Fahim said. "We are there for the people of Afghanistan. If people want us, then they facilitate the access."

That channel is not necessarily open to Islamic State, which, while much smaller than the Taliban in Afghanistan, has become increasingly deadly in recent months.

Christine Monaghan, a research officer for advocacy NGO Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, said this week's attack indicated that Islamic State, also known as ISIS, was spreading across Afghanistan.

"In areas where ISIS has tried to expand its influence, residents are often caught between the Taliban, government forces, and ISIS in a back-and-forth," Monaghan said.

If NGOs continue to operate in expanding areas controlled or contested by the Taliban or other groups, aid organizations say they face suspicion and pressure from the government.

In one incident last year, Afghan intelligence agents seized an NGO's convoy carrying medical supplies to rural districts in Kunduz province, according to the United Nations.

The trucks were only released after health ministry officials intervened.

Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said security forces were obliged to search and question anyone coming or going from frontline areas.

"This is our right and it is the culture all over the world," he said.

(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

Brawls break out in South African parliament after denunciation of Zuma

Opposition members scuffle with guards after president is condemned as a ‘scoundrel’ and ‘rotten to the core’

Scuffles break out in South African parliament – video

Associated Press in Johannesburg-Thursday 9 February 2017

The South African parliament descended into chaos on Thursday, with opposition politicians denouncing President Jacob Zuma as a “scoundrel” and “rotten to the core” because of corruption allegations and then brawling with guards who dragged them out of the chamber.

The raucous scenes unfolded on national television as opposition legislators tried to stop Zuma from addressing the chamber, repeatedly insulting the president and declaring him unfit for office. In the surrounding streets of Cape Town, police and hundreds of members of the military patrolled to guard against protesters who want Zuma to quit.

Security teams were eventually called into the chamber to remove red-clad members of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), some of whom scuffled with guards.

 Photograph: Sumaya Hisham/AFP/Getty Images

Lawmakers from the Democratic Alliance, the country’s biggest opposition group, then walked out in protest. Some members of the ruling African National Congress party heckled them as they left.

“Out! Out!” they shouted.

“Finally,” said a laughing Zuma, who then started an annual address on the economy and other national matters.

 Julius Malema, dressed in red, under guard after leaving parliament. Photograph: Schalk van Zuydam/AP

A politically weakened figure, the president has faced calls to resign even from factions of the ruling party. Some ANC members blame Zuma’s scandals for the party’s poor performance in local elections in August, in which it lost control of several key metropolitan areas.

Critics condemned an announcement by Zuma’s office that 441 members of the military would assist police in maintaining order during the speech and the opening of parliament. The military has previously been deployed for the event, but the security operation was among the largest in recent years.

While at least one group of protesters scuffled with police who blocked their path, the streets were mostly calm before the speech, in contrast to the events later in parliament.

The EFF leader, Julius Malema, said Zuma was “rotten to the core”. Other opposition legislators described the president as a “scoundrel” and a “constitutional delinquent”.

 South African police riot squad clash with ANC supporters. Photograph: STR/EPA

The hours leading up to Zuma’s speech featured the pomp associated with the annual opening of parliament, when dignitaries walk on a red carpet and pose for cameras.

Zuma has been under scrutiny for an allegedly improper relationship with the Guptas, a business family who have been accused of meddling in top government appointments. The president has denied wrongdoing, so have the Guptas.

Zuma, who took office in 2009, also reimbursed the state 7.8m rand (£465,000) in a scandal over upgrades to his private home.

Resurgent Tamil Youth In Tamil Nadu

By S. Sivathasan –February 8, 2017

S. Sivathasan

Youth of Tamil Nadu in ferment in March 2013, was in revolt in January 2017. It achieved a victory unprecedented in the State of Tamil Nadu and momentous at the Centre in Delhi. Within days, legislation was passed in Chennai, approved by the Governor and endorsed by the President, all at the instance of the youth. This historic act legalized jallikattu. Above all it acknowledged youth power as a reality behind political movement.

New Party in the Offing

Two million youth united to a single purpose, came to the fore and established their credentials. They spoke for the community of young, 20 million strong. The latter has thrown up on Saturday 4th of February 2017, a coherent group of resurgent youth into the realm of leadership. Quite appropriately it has named itself ‘Tamil Nadu Party of Youth’. In perfect consonance, a ‘Raging Bull’ is the chosen logo. Selection of logo denotes sentiment following jallikattu triumph. Party name is a revolutionary departure from the tentacles of ‘Dravidian Maayai’ which had befuddled Tamils and had taken their aspirations astray.

Dravida Maayai (Hallucination)

Periyar founded the Dravidian Party in 1944. It had traction with the masses. Every offshoot since then wanting to partake of its fund of goodwill included ‘Dravida’ in its name. Dravida Munnetra Kalakam (DMK), Anna DMK, Marumalarchi DMK and Desiya Mutpoakku Dravida Kalakam or DMDK followed by Amma DMK in the offing. Thus 6 in a row wanted a share of the Dravida pork barrel or political clout. Was there concern for the Tamil people? For no less than 80 years, the word Dravida was opium to the opiate, never failing to have its paralytic effect on the Tamils.

Young Tamils

Veering from this word of people’s hate, ‘Tamil Nadu Party of Youth’ having fullest confidence in itself and enormous trust in the people, has opted to fight in its own turf. These Young Tamils have a parallel with the ‘Young Turks’ targeting resurgence in Turkey a century ago. What is awaited now is a churning process in Tamil Nadu. Those who are perched up above with no legitimacy will be pulled down and trampled under foot. People in their mass will confer authority to youth to ascend to the top, to clean up the swamp and to regenerate the land.

Did you ever think I will collapse?

For far too long from the fifties, Tamil Nadu was mesmerized with words – rhythmic cadence in platform oratory and alliterative prose in political literature. They fired the youth and enchanted elders. Such times are past. Those who now strut about have neither wit nor words nor the power of speech. Thought about the land and its people is lost to the last shred.

Social Contract

To the people who alone matter, with sovereignty residing in them, those on top have turned out to be no more than the scum. What moves them is the lure of filthy lucre. Corruption which grew year after year now grows by the day. The quantum traded is in tens and hundreds of millions. Half a century has recorded devious diversions in Rs. trillions into unlawful hands. Since 1967, two parties shared power in alternate terms. Time is now to end this alternation of cheat and chicanery. To terminate this social contract.

Very conscious of negative voting, they hit upon subsidies miscalled welfare. When that was found wanting, freebies were conjured up. DMK came up with 100% free electricity for agriculture. Yet votes dwindled and free Television sets covering over 80% of households were distributed. Wasteful expenditure on TV exceeded Rs. 30 billion. At the 2011 elections DMK was wiped out.

With this lesson learnt, AIADMK chose carpet coverage with numberless freebies. Fans, mixies, grinders, gold for weddings, sarees, verties, bicycles, free lunches, free breakfast, free food in temples, Mayor directed to open 1000 idly shops in Chennai and an endless list to make people listless if not indolent. With such incredible waste money went down the drain, but to discharge flood waters no drainage was built. Chennai got drowned in December 2015 and yet no beginning is made. Tamil Nadu became anemic but the lady CM got deified.

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GOP Lawmaker Says Macedonia ‘Is Not a Country,’ Macedonia Goes Ballistic

BY ROBBIE GRAMER-FEBRUARY 9, 2017

It’s not your run-of-the-mill diplomatic snafu. The Macedonian government is furious at Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) for saying Macedonia is not a country, when it is in fact a country.

“This is gonna make everybody mad at me but, uh, what the heck. Macedonia is not a country. I’m sorry, it’s not a country,” Rohrabacher said in an interview with Albanian television station Vizion Plus aired Tuesday. Rohrabacher chairs the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats.

He went on to clarify that Kosovars and Albanians living in Macedonia “should be a part of Kosovo” and the rest of Macedonia “should be part of Bulgaria or any other country to which they are related.”

His comments came up during a conversation on how to resolve lingering border disputes and ethnic tensions in the Western Balkans.

When asked if Trump would back his claims, Rohrabacher said he “had influence” on policymakers and would hold committee hearings “in the coming months.”

The small Balkan country sharply rebuked the Congressman, saying in a statement his comments “generated immense anxiety” and “inflame nationalist rhetoric in the neighboring regions, taking us back into the past.” Macedonia gained independence in 1991 during Yugoslavia’s breakup, which precipitated almost a decade of bloody and ethnic-based wars.

“We believe that the U.S. State Department will adequately remove any doubt about the stated positions and will affirm its policy towards Macedonia and the Balkans,” the statement added.
“Regarding U.S. policy, we recognize and support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Macedonia,” a State Department spokesperson told Foreign Policy, though the spokesperson declined to comment specifically on Rohrabacher’s remarks. The Congressman’s office also declined to comment.
Rohrabacher’s controversial Macedonia comments come a week after he sent a letter to the Serbian president urging Serbia and Kosovo to redraw their borders to end an ongoing sovereignty dispute between the two countries, which also drew criticism from Balkan leaders.

Though it’s been independent for over two decades, Macedonia is still locked in a political dispute with Greece over its formal name that has slowed its chances of joining Euro-Atlantic institutions including NATO and the European Union. It’s settled on the provisional if unwieldy “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.”

Other senior Republican lawmakers have rebuked Rohrabacher, once called “Putin’s favorite 
Congressman” for his foreign policy stances. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called Rohrabacher a “lunatic fringe” after he said allegations of Russia’s human rights abuses were “baloney” in December.
But Rohrabacher’s views may gain more traction during President Donald Trump’s decidedly more Russian-friendly administration; he claimed after the election to be on the shortlist for secretary of state.
And as history shows, gratuitously inflaming ethnic and nationalist tensions in the Balkans is one of the best ways to stir up some of those “emerging threats” for Rohrbacher’s panel to look into.

Update: This article was updated with the State Department’s comments and Congressman Rohrbacher’s decline to comment.

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