Completely Unnecessary

Sometimes I didn’t spend so much time reading the news. It’d be easier to be annoyed by rising food costs at the Vic Market, if I hadn’t read this story in the Guardian today:

Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family’s reach

Even the cost of mud cakes is rising beyond what people can afford.

This is a good article that actually goes into some depth on a crisis, something often lacking in such reporting. Haiti’s land is stripped of nutrients from slash and burn farming (numerous people have documented the stark visual contrasts between Haiti and the DR, which share an island).

Haiti’s gotten from all sides for years:

The woes were compounded by a decision in the 1980s to lift tariffs, when international prices were lower, and flood the country with cheap imported rice and vegetables. Consumers gained and the IMF applauded but domestic farmers went bankrupt and the Artibonite valley, the country’s breadbasket, atrophied.

And now food prices are higher, so…

I haven’t read Aids and Accusation - Paul Farmer’s ethnography about AIDS in Haiti - in years, but I remember a particularly disturbing story that I’m almost certain came from it. The United States, concerned about ‘Africanized’ pig flu in Haiti, which never really came to fruition, talked Haiti into killing all of its pigs, which would be replaced with US pig stock.

Except that the pigs we sent down there were Iowa hogs, which didn’t have a chance of surviving in the hot, sunny Haitian climate (North American pigs get sunburned easily). So they all died, and when Haiti complained we were like, “Well, you should have taken better care of them.” So, they just had no more pigs. (These two sites have some background, but I can’t vouch for them - or my retelling of the story for that matter.)

Anyway, the Guardian article is definitely worth a read, but it is a sobering one.

Vaguely Related

• Why I’m going to be an orca
• Zimbabwe: Mugabe Retaliates in Plain Sight

What’s it’s going to take in Zimbabwe? South Africa (ANC) is finally calling for the release of election results, and Ban Ki-moon is ‘deeply concerned’ (which, by the way, NYT is calling ’strong talk’), but will any MDC (opposition) voters be around to see them?

A 15-year-old girl was abducted and beaten because Zanu-PF (Mugabe’s party) supporters suspected that her mother had voted for the MDC. When her mother went to look for her, she, too, was beaten.

[Attacked voters] are from diverse parts of rural Zimbabwe and they are a fraction of the many hundreds of people the opposition says have been assaulted as gangs of armed Zanu-PF supporters under military leadership move through the countryside, using polling station returns to identify villages where support for the opposition was strong.
…
“They said it was to teach us how to vote,” said Linus, 58. “They said: ‘It’s your own fault, voting for the opposition. That’s why we are doing all these things to you. When we have the run-off, you will know how to vote’.”

Plain sight. It really doesn’t get more audacious than this.

Few people have been killed in the beatings. It would appear that Zanu-PF has learned that deaths attract attention.

I doubt it’ll take long to move to larger-scale killings though - we’re not paying attention to terrible beatings, so why not?

Links:
Mugabe’s men take their revenge [the Age - from the Guardian]
Strong Talk About Zimbabwe at the U.N. [NYT]
South Africa Shifts on Zimbabwe, Calls For Result [Reuters]

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• Zimbabwe Election Redux
• Mugabe Possibly Defeated in Zimbabwe Election

I’ve just written to my similarly Cuba-phillic friend, ‘Something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.’

Obviously a bizarre and ridiculous statement, but Castro is larger than life. He hasn’t seemed larger than life - he just is. It’s going to seem strange without him at the helm - for better or for worse (please no McDonalds on the Malecon, please).

Interesting writing going on at the NYT - seemingly of two minds over Castro’s performance as leader. And words I expect we’ll be hearing verbatim upon his passing; they read as though they were taken from his obit.

Which isn’t surprising since I think just about everyone expected him to die in office.

Strange days.

Update: The Votemaster makes an interesting point: what will this do to Florida? Rasmussen’s most recent polls have McCain beating both Dems in Florida. Will this make Cuban-Americans more or less likely to throw their support behind the Republicans?

Fidel Castro Resigns as Cuba’s President [NYT]

Vaguely Related

• Zimbabwe: Mugabe Retaliates in Plain Sight
• Two States… of Emergency

I’ve been watching too many disaster/alien movies (Transformers, War of the Worlds, Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow) tonight and its 2am, so this is brief:

The NYT is reporting that Musharraf is refusing to give an end date to the state of emergency, and it appears it will go through the elections. Complicating matters is, of course, our noble leader:

Speaking one day after President George W. Bush said Musharraf was the best president for Pakistan, the general said the emergency decree was justified by the need to fight terrorism, and would “ensure absolutely fair and transparent elections.”

Bush said Saturday that he supported Musharraf because “we share a common goal” in the fight against Al Qaeda, an endorsement the general appeared to use to his advantage Sunday as he justified his extrajudicial measures.

“I cannot give a date,” Musharraf said when asked directly about the lifting of the emergency decree, under which several thousand civilians have been jailed, the Constitution suspended and the Supreme Court scrapped. “We are in a difficult situation, therefore I cannot give a date.”

“The emergency reinforces the war on terror,” he said.

The NYT article mentions the other major factor, but this AP story in the Tribune covers it better. Military courts are going to be used to try civilians.

It would allow military courts to try people accused of treason, sedition, or “giving statements conducive to public mischief.”

I know it’s just that I’ve watched four movies today in which the military has to order people around and authoritarian measures are used… but Bush de facto supporting these measures? This is all starting to sound a little too New World Order to me.

Vaguely Related

• Two States… of Emergency
• Zimbabwe: Mugabe Retaliates in Plain Sight

Georgia’s Saakashvili has declared elections - though reviews seem mixed. He’s claiming:

“My chair is worth nothing to me; we care about countries, not chairs,” he said. “Demand and you will receive. You demanded early elections. Here they are: early elections. Come and decide who you want to vote for.

“I do not want to be the president of a country that limits mass media and that declares emergency rule,” he added. “I can only rule the country if I have a renewed mandate from the people.”

That sounds genuinely good, but the opposition is claiming that there are concerns, such as how the elections will be conducted and if all those who wish to run will be allowed to do so. Some are arguing that he’s only declaring elections because he knows he can win with the short time frame.

But things are looking positively sunny in Georgia compared to Pakistan, where Musharraf pledged parliamentary elections “before Feb 15″. Whenever that might be. Oh wait, Dana Perino knows:

Ms. Bhutto described the general’s comments as “vague.” But the White House press secretary, Dana M. Perino, welcomed them, saying it was important for the Pakistani people to hear the “clarification” about the election date.

That is more clear. Thanks, Dana.

As an upstanding democracy, Pakistan’s checks and balances have remained in place:

[Musharraf] made clear that he was counting on a newly formed Supreme Court, filled with appointees loyal to him, to confirm his re-election as president. That election had been under challenge in the Supreme Court, until the court was dismissed last Saturday under the emergency decree.

The judges, who had indicated they might rule against him, remain under house arrest.

Also rounded up were 500 members of Bhutto’s opposition party in advance of a planned rally today (Friday).

I was just saying to Sara that I presume this is what October 2008 will look like in the US… but without the protests.

Update: Bhutto’s now under house arrest. Yes, things going well. And the US is making a strong stand.

For now, Bush administration officials are unanimous in saying that American financial support for Pakistan will continue regardless of whether General Musharraf reverses course.

Links:
Beleaguered Georgian President Sets Elections [NYT]
Musharraf Pledges Elections by Feb. 15 [NYT]

Vaguely Related

• Today’s State of Emergency: Georgia
• Musharraf Tightens Control Over Pakistan

Another one of Bush’s model democracies is not playing so well with others, namely its own people.

Like Musharraf a few days ago, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili today (7 Nov) declared a state of emergency.

Riot police tear gassed apparently peaceful protesters outside Parliament, and special ops shut down the opposition television station.

Clips from RussiaToday are available on YouTube, and the reporter in this clip says that the police dispersed only to be replaced with riot police, who fired tear gas into the crowd, hit protesters, and used some sort of deafening/noisemaking device against those assembled:

Sam Machkovech over at Slog also posted two clips, which show the news channel being shut down. The first is translated, but Machkovech is right to recommend watching the second, untranslated clip. While you might not speak the language, the terror in the presenter’s voice (he takes over for the two at the beginning) is palpable.

(more…)

Vaguely Related

• Two States… of Emergency
• Musharraf Tightens Control Over Pakistan