Political Vuvuzela

Iraq for Sale highlights the corrupting role that corporations, predominantly American, have played in the war in Iraq. How corporations like CACI, TITA, and the infamous Halliburton (which has now pulled out of Iraq) have used to war to grossly enrich them selves with total disregard for the government (the US) that they are supposedly supporting.

The one of the original reasons why the US government started using ‘contractors’ instead of getting the army to do every thing is that it was thought that private contractors would do a better job then any government could do; as the contractors would be motivated by profit and competition to do the jobs more efficiently and to a higher quality then people on a government payroll would aspire to do.

This is not to say that using contractors or using the ‘profit motive’ is in its self a bad thing, this model has been shown to work in many other places in the rest of the world. It seems to me that the reason why it is failing so miserably in Iraq is that it has been implemented so corruptly, incompetently, and with so little accountability that it has allowed these large corporates to exploit the situation for all they can get out of it.

I am not, however, saying that corporates in them selves are a bad thing. It’s just that their objectives are not that of normal individual citizens. A corporation’s goal is, in the vast majority of cases, to maximise profit. A corporation maximises profit in that same why that a good knife cuts well. This is why it is so important that such entities are accountable for their actions or else they will abuse them. There are also some jobs which no for profit entity should be doing, like interrogation.

The reason why society, I would argue, tolerates corporations is because they are, in most cases, very effective at providing a particular service to society when they are held accountable.

One thing is for sure though, in the next few years we will most properly hear a lot more about the corrupting role that the major contractors have played in Iraq. This is just one more of the incalculable number of despicable events and circumstances that have characterised the whole tragic sordid affair that is the War in Iraq.

Iraq for Sale web site: http://iraqforsale.org/

This clip done by US satirist Stephen Colbert gives a very different and, if you like this kind of humour (which I do), humours view of Tony Blair's Legacy in office and his involvment in the War in Iraq.

In this article by the Mail & Guardian (I seem to find a lot of interesting stuff on that newspaper) the legal implications of the case are discussed along with the warning that any one posting a link to the website in question would be considered to be adding and abetting in defamation.

Tell-all sex blog targets SA celebrities: M&G

Thanks to another blogger, Richard Catto, and another linking blog to his I believe have found the article in question. You can read some comments on the entry here in English which will give all of you out there who cant speak Afrikaans some insight into what the allegations are.

Apparently Simon Grindrod, the ID leader that Patricia De Lille is trying to protect, was accused of soliciting sex from a male prostitute. The male prostitute is the anonymous blogger in question.

Relevant blogs:
*Richard Catto's Blog
*Stream of Gold

Patricia De Lille, leader of the Independent Democrats (ID) and anti-apartheid activist, in a twist of irony has publicly threatened to press criminal charges against a South African blogger for making negative comments about one of her party members, Simon Grindrod. Apparently the ID has gotten the South African police service to investigate the matter and find the anonymous blogger. De Lille has also stated that she might ask the South African NIA [National Intelligence Agency] to investigate the matter.

You can read the Mail & Guardian article about it here.

The ID has refused to reveal the web-address of the blogger in questions as they say this will spread slander about the party. The problem with doing this is that it will make it hard for the average person with access to the net to check these allegations and see for them selves if they are slanderous lies. For all we know, this anonymous blogger could in fact be just telling an uncomfortable truth about Mr Grindrod (although that is unlikely).

Doing fascist things like threatening people with jail time and sending the secret service after them for exercising their right to freedom of speech only shows the ID up as a bunch of hypocrites. Claiming to be believers in human rights and liberal values, such as freedom of speech, whilst threatening people who practice this right within the boundaries of the South African constitution (ie, some thing that is not hate speech about an ethnic or religious group) does not make the ID look consistent or coherent. If the ID is so concerned about people undermining their moral image then perhaps they should look at them selves.

This just goes to show how thin skinned South African politicians are to criticism. In most ‘free’ countries, such as the US, people are free to say and accuse people of being stupid. Some times it is necessary to remain anonymous so as to avoid reprisals, some times violent ones which is what happens in Zimbabwe and even some times in South Africa. Most of the time though it just detracts from the credibility of the accusations by the anonymous person/s. So politicians, like De Lille, should be grown up enough to take them and fob them off.

The fact that the ID wants pursue criminal charges against this blogger with out letting any one see for them selves the supposedly slanderous accusations by the blogger does lead one to suspect that perhaps there might be some truth to what the blogger is saying. That this is just a desperate attempt to silence this accusation; but then again, that is only speculation.

Moral of the story, don’t say bad things about Patricia De Lille or the ID or she just might send the Gestapo after you.

Relevant Articles:
De Lille sets cat among pigeons in blogosphere: Mail & Guardian.
South African Blogger Responses to De Lille’s threat: amatomu.

This multimedia story by the New York Times is about the land invasions and communalisation policy of the Chavez government in Venezuela which started in 2002/2003. It try’s to give the viewer some insight into the reasons why this relatively drastic, Zimbabwe style, “land reform” program is taking place as well as what the consequences of it so far have been.

Much like the land invasions in Zimbabwe these land reforms, while certainly less corrupt, better thought through and more egalitarian then the Zimbabwe’s land reforms, have landed up having the perverse result of seriously undermining Venezuela’s agricultural sector, cutting agricultural output, and making the country even more reliant on food imports. Most of these food imports, ironically, are coming from the US.

In this article by the BBC it is made clear how damaging and, again ironically, self defeating land reform as been for Venezuela’s efforts to be self sustaining.

Unlike Zimbabwe Venezuela has plenty of oil money to buy food imports from the US and Brazil. It is however apparent that the communalisation of agriculture is unsustainable and that it is only a matter of time before the inherent inefficiencies in the system simply land up impoverishing the poor, and the country at large, even further in the long run.

As easy as most people think farming is the fact at the end of the day is that farming is a business like any other. A peasant farm worker might know how to do all the day to day operations of growing a crop and brining it to market but it is highly unlikely that s/he will know or be able to manage a work force and be properly incentivized to maximise the efficiency needed to make the enterprise of growing crops for the masses economical and thereby generate wealth for both him self and the country as a whole.

Taking away the property rights of land owners and making it communal land also has the negative effect of making it almost impossible to use that land as leverage to get a loan to buy and upgrade these farms which is why the new settlers need so much government support. This reliance on government hand outs also has the effect of reducing the incentives for the land invaders to make the community a success.

Communal farming in every single modern society has failed with out exception. From the USSR to Cuba to Communist China (which has largely abandoned communal farming years ago) communal farming has failed and shown not to work with any degree of efficiency and landed up making food production unnecessarily expensive and ironically making life harder for the poor in the long run.

Articales
Land Wars: Video, New York Times
Venezuela land reform gets going: BBC

Zimbabwe police chase away 12 tourists out of a guest house close to Victoria Falls. This at a time when Zimbabwe is trying to rebuild its tourism industry and one of Mugabe's cronies has been elected to head the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

Read the story here:
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_2113419,00.html

This multimedia story by the New York Times details activities of a Jihadist group in Jordan. It gives some insight into what motivates the Jihadists fighting in Iraq, how they go about doing it, and how it is changing.

What is most interesting is how their view of who their greatest enemy is seems to be changing from the United States to Shiites and the Iranians. This indicates that they view the US as less of a threat, which indicates a perceived reduction of US power by this group. It also indicates that Iranian influence is increasing in the region and that the Shiite community in Iraq is viewed as a proxy of Iranian power.

Either way it leads me to conclude that the Middle East is going to remain a tumultuous region long after the US has left it.

Page URL:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2007/05/03/world/20070504_BOMBER_FEATURE.html

Today the Mugabe government of Zimbabwe was elected to head the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development which is the United Nations inter-governmental organisation on the environment. African countries nominated the Zimbabwean representative, Francis Nheme, to head the organisation and lobbied for him in spite of and because of EU objections that a crony of Robert Mugabe be appointed to head this organisation.

To quote a Mail & Guardian article on the story, this is a commission that has been established to “advance long-term energy solutions that can contribute to economic and social development while protecting the environment.” Nheme’s appointment not only will cause morale and credibility problems for the African nations that supported him. It will also cause very real practical problems that will, for the time being, make this commission a lame duck.

First the practical problems Nheme’s appointment causes: Because Zimbabwe is so detested by the EU and the US they will try to get him off the commission ASAP and/or be less enthusiastic about following any recommendations and policies the commission comes up with (I don’t blame them). The other problem, as the BBC pointed out, is that because Nheme is a member of Mugabe’s inner circle he will not be able to travel to any functions in EU countries which will hinder the functioning of the commission.

The moral and credibility problems are more serious. It tells the rest of the world that Africa is more concerned with poking the US and EU in the eye then serious development. It also shows how little real respect the ruling elites of African countries have for human rights and how little interest they have in improving the lives of the average African. It shows that African ruling elites would much rather protect and promote the Mugabe government then produce an effective UN commission that will better the lives of those respective African countries citizens.

As Benjamin Chang from the US Mission to the UN said in a Washington Post article: "Zimbabwe is hardly a model of good governance or sustainable development or even responsible leadership."

Zimbabwe's Ambassador to the UN, Boniface Chidyausiku said that the reason for all this criticism was because of Britain’s criticism of Zimbabwe’s land reform program in 2000. This tried old excuse is a complete lie and it is only said to miss lead people. It is being criticised because the Mugabe government has overseen the fastest economic meltdown of any country not at war in history and they are trying their hardest to turn Zimbabwe into Africa’s North Korea as fast as possible; in other words, a giant Stalinist gulag. By doing such things as starving (quite often to death) entire communities and ethnic groups into submission and torturing anyone who says anything negative about Mugabe.

Articles and links related to this post:
* Fury at Zimbabwe UN role: Mail & Guardian
* Zim to head key UN commission: Mail & Guardian.
* Zimbabwe to chair major UN body: BCC
* Zimbabwe to Head Key U.N. Commission: Washington Post
* Zimbabwe to Ration Electricity for Homes to Four Hours a Day: New York Times
* UN Division for Sustainable Development website

South Africa’s National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi (who is also the current head of INTERPOL!), is embroiled in yet another crime allegation. The Scorpions (they are like South Africa’s FBI, who Selebi has more then once tried to shut down, I wonder why) have been investigating him for some time now and is finely beginning to close the net. You can read the article here.

In this case they are investigating him for his role in the murder of mining magnet Brett Kebble in 2006 as well as Selebi’s relationship and admitted friendship with known mafia king pin Glenn Agliotti. This is not the first time Selebi has been involved in criminal activity. In this article Selebi’s ‘misfortune’ with stolen car’s, most of which have been stolen in the UK, is highlighted. As well a Selebi’s involment with and protection of this car stealing racket run by a Rehan Syed who is an associate of Selebi’s friend Imran Ismail.

The fact the Jackie Selebi is still the National Police Commissioner of South Africa and not locked up in jail is truly shameful and highlights how low solving the country’s rampant crime problem ranks on the ANC’s to do list. Also, the fact that Commissioner Selebi is still the current head of INTERPOL is just as shocking!

I strongly recommend that you read both articles about this below.
* Scorpions net closes on Selebi
* The stolen cars

In this article by the Mail & Guardian Helen Zilla, the leader of the opposition, clearly points out how the ANC has failed to deliver social goods to South Africans and in an effort to cover their tracks has turned to radicalising politics in the country. The ANC has used this racial smoke screen to both cover up their huge failures and to install ANC lackeys and cronies into all key positions of government and as much of civil society as possible. Including the judiciary, the police force, NGOs, the Reserve Bank, broadcasters and constitutionally independent organisations that are supposed to monitor government and the economy.

This sort of stuff also happened in Zimbabwe not to long ago.

South Africa needs to move away from race based politics and towards ideologically based politics, like the kind you will find in any healthy democracy if the country is to ever truly succeed in the long run.

Article:
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=308167&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/

Last week, whilst at an event on development in Afghanistan (the event its self was being held in Johannesburg, South Africa), I had the honour of meeting Rory Stewart. He was there as one of the key note speakers and he gave an absolutely excellent speech about the West’s responsibilities and what it needs to do if it ever wants to stand a chance of ever “winning the war” there. I deeply regret that I was not able to record the speech to post here.

In it he pointed out how the West’s ‘mission’ in Afghanistan, which is ostensibly nation building, lack’s any clarity of vision, unison, planning, drive, or agreement on what ‘nation building’ actually means. Their goals going into the country all those years ago were too ambitious to the point of being unachievable. Making the West set its self up for failure.

One example of this lack of planning is the garbage collection in Kabul. Most of Kabul’s streets are knee deep in the uncollected rubbish of the city’s three million inhabitants, built up over 10 years now. The reason for this is that the West has not decided on who should be responsible for refuse removal in the city. They don’t know if it should be NATO’s job, or the American’s, or the UN’s, or if the Karzi government should do it. The West does not even know if the Afghan Government of Hamid Karzai has the capability to do a task as simple as removing trash off the streets.

Another example was of an old man Rory landed up talking to who stated how bewildered he was with the numerous NGOs and foreign government types that kept on coming to him and his village demanding different things form their community before they bring in development. The Germans and Danes demand that they educate their women and daughters, the British demand that they stop growing Opium poppies [which is the only cash crop they can grow], and the Americans demand that they unconditionally help them hunt down Taliban members. And here you have an illiterate, poverty stricken old man who has lived through one of the most brutal civil wars in human history in one of the most remote rural areas on Earth trying to make sense of what it is exactly that these people want from him.

It can’t be one thing, because all of the different groups are demanding different things from him. It can’t be all of them, because the Americans only care about fighting Taliban and not educating women and even if this old farmer could find some thing else to grow in stead of Opium poppies the local war lord would force him to grow it anyway. And all of this is not helped by the fact that if any development work gets done in this village will make the place a target for the Taliban insurgents.

In short the West needs to get their act together in Afghanistan and make up its mind about what its goals should be whilst making sure that these goals are achievable and that they have a clearly defined and thought out plan for achieving these goals; a plan that takes into account the numerous nuances and dynamics that make up Afghan culture.

Rory Stewart is a Scottish writer and NGO director. He served as both a soldier and in the British Foreign office. From 2000 to 2002 he walked across Pakistan, Iran, India and Nepal and Afghanistan. He walked across most of Afghanistan alone just three weeks after the Taliban had lost power. From 2003 to 2004 Rory was the Coalition Deputy Governor of Maysan province and Senior Advisor in Dhi Qar province in southern Iraq.

He now lives in Kabul where he runs an NGO which has a school for traditional masonry, tile-work, wood-work, and plasterwork in Kabul called the Turquoise Mountain Foundation.

He wrote a book about his walk across Afghanistan called The Places in Between (2004). Which I have just finished reading and would recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about this fascinating and tumultuous country.

Truthiness: a satirical term coined by satirist Stephen Colbert on the "The Colbert Report," it roughly means what ever you want the truth to be. What you feel the truth to be as apposed to what actually is the truth supported by facts. I wish people would use this term more often, especially when describing the blatant fallacies and wishful thinking that politicians from around the world do all the time. Such as when Gorge Bush claims to be winning the war in Iraq or when the South African government tries to make every one believe that elections in Zimbabwe and Nigeria are free and fair.

To see the first use of the word "Truthiness" and an, entertaining, explanation of the word on The Colbert Report click here.

I know this is a some what heavy topic for my first post on this blog but I feel this is such an important thing that I have to mention it today.

Last week I was in Johannesburg where I got a chance to catch up on stuff going on in Zim. Things really are going from bad to worse. We all know, at least most of us that choose to be informed about the goings ons in Zim, that the Mugabe government has been torturing opposition supporters and journalists for some time now. They have even killed one journalist and dumped his body in a garbage dump. His crime; leaking film of Morgan Tswangirai after being beaten up by Mugabe’s brutal police force.

Last week I learnt that the Mugabe government has started torturing opposition Ministers of Parliament now and most of them so scared that they are sleeping in their cars out in the bush. I was also told of a story of a lady who runs a group of 8 or 9 ambulances from the police stations in Harare, where the government is torturing people (such as opposition party members, journalists, and anyone the government does not like) and takes them to hospital. She says it’s so bad that they can’t cope, there are just too many people being tortured. The ambulances are now running 24/7 with out a break.

A month ago the Mail and Guardian (a South African newspaper owned by a Zimbabwean) ran a story, written by a former member of the Zimbabwean National Youth Service, about the human rights violations (ie, torture) that he was forced to perform and watch. The Central Intelligence Organisation and the ruling party of Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF, have been putting together torture squads using members of the National Youth Service.

What follows is a harrowing and grizzly tale about the gross human rights violations in Zimbabwe. Although the man who wrote this testimonial is no longer involved in any human rights violations, as I stated previously, the number of human rights violations, mainly in the form of torture, is increasing greatly in Zimbabwe.

And to think that no body knows about this in the out side world is very sad. Even worse, to think that some people out there still defend the Mugabe government as a liberation hero and African icon is sickening!

Further articles on this subject:
* 'I was in a Zimbabwe death squad': Mail and Gardian; 05 April 2007
* Zimbabwe police assault lawyers: BBC NEWS; 8 May 2007