Global Pulse compares and contrasts news reports on key issues from around the world. Watch new episodes and follow the issues. http://www.linktv.org/globalpulse/blog en-us Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:19:03 -0800 http://www.linktv.org/mosaic/blog/post/327/palestine-1001-nights b83aac23b9528732c23cc7352950e880 "Hamas is negotiating with Israel:" this is what Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas confidently said to a BBC -Arabic reporter in an exclusive interview. How does he know? Abbas asserted that there are "no secrets in Israel".If things could only be this simple in the Middle East, Mr. Abbas would have known from the get-go that the Oslo Accords were a disaster for the Palestinians, Bush's Road Map for Peace was just another road to nowhere, the Annapolis Peace Conference was dead on arrival, and Obama's promises for "change" do not mean squat when it comes to Israel.The President of the Palestinian Authority added that the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for January will be postponed and that he would not seek a second term as president. Abbas looked frustrated...he looked like a beaten man.Meanwhile, the Israeli government in recent days has been scrambling for yet another distraction to offer the beleaguered Palestinian Authority President: an interim accord that would include a Palestinian state with provisional borders. This way he'll have a quasi-state with temporary borders to show for all the endless negotiations. What a brilliant idea!The reasoning behind this brilliant idea is that it would remove contentious issues that have prevented an agreement in the past, such as the Palestinian refugee issue and Jerusalem, from the negotiating table. No big deal, really!This is starting to sound like another chapter from One Thousand and One Nights.In another development, the Israeli government has recently approved the construction of 900 new housing units in Gilo, a Jewish neighborhood built on lands captured by Israel in 1967. The announcement has caused an uproar in the international community and has drawn sharp criticism and "dismay" from the White House.And yetanother brilliant idea: according to the Jerusalem Post, in an attempt to lure the PA back to the negotiating table, in private discussions, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear he was prepared for a moratorium on new settlement construction, as long as it did not include Jerusalem and did not preclude construction of public buildings needed for normal life in the settlements.Translated, this means construction will continue as usual in E. Jerusalem along with expanding current Israeli settlements.Meanwhile, with all this happening, media reports have been surfacing that a final deal has been reached for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Some Arab media outlets have been reporting that Shalit might be released as early as the Muslim Eid holiday in exchange for 1000 Palestinian prisoners. Should this happen, it will be a major victory for Hamas and another blow to Abbas.Last month Hamas handed Israel a video of Shalit in exchange for 20 female Palestinian prisoners; something that was widely seen as a major victory for the organization by many Palestinians.According to a poll published in Haaretz, 57 per cent of Israelis support the idea of talking with Hamas. The poll was taken in the wake of a statement by former defense minister Shaul Mofaz, who last week unveiled a plan that includes negotiations with Hamas and an interim Palestinian state on 60 percent of the West Bank in a year."If Hamas would be elected and would want to negotiate and accept the Quartet's conditions, from that moment, it is no longer Hamas", said Mr. Mofaz. He also added, "Responsible leadership in Israel would sit with those who changed their agenda".So if Hamas is no longer Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority is no longer an authority, what options do the Palestinians have?To be continued on another night...   **This article was published on the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/palestine-1001-nights_b_365169.html">Huffington Post.</a> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Link Media, Inc. Middle East http://www.linktv.org/about/blog/post/325/war-on-opium-interview-with-the-afghan-director-siddiq-barmak 89f0fd5c927d466d6ec9a21b9ac34ffa Link TV editor Kyung Lee reports from the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea.  Currently the biggest film festival in Asia, PIFF showcases new talents and films from the Asian countries.  This blog offers rare interviews with Asian directors who discuss their filmmaking experiences in their native countries.   The current situation of Afghanistan is hard for outsiders to grasp.  Almost every day we hear the news of heightened insurgency in the country, but little beyond that.  In this extremely uncertain situation, there is a filmmaker who has managed to make films that reflect the reality of Afghanistan. Siddiq Barmak is currently one of only a few filmmakers in Afghanistan who is able to make feature films in his native country.  His first feature film, "Osama", portrays a young girl who is forced to don a disguise as a boy in order to support her mother in the Taliban era.  The film won a Golden Globe Award, and made a great demonstration of Afghanistan's film heritage and its possible future to the world.Siddiq, who was born in Afghanistan and studied film in Moscow, was exiled to Pakistan during the Taliban regime from 1996 to 2002.  The current reemergence of the insurgency is a reminder for him that another dark time may be ahead.  He was at the <a href="http://www.piff.org/intro/default.asp" target="_blank">Pusan International Film Festival</a> this year to present his second feature film "Opium War" which is, according to the director, "an exact reflection of the situation."  I was able to catch the director and asked a few questions on the current state in Afghanistan.     Learn more at about the films <a href="http://www.finecut.co.kr/renew/library/synopsis.asp?num=53" target="_blank">Opium War</a> and <a href="http://www.unitedartists.com/osama/" target="_blank">Osama</a>. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:11:48 -0800 Link Media, Inc. Middle East Asia http://www.linktv.org/worldmusic/blog/post/323/womex-2009-walking-the-trade-fair- bc6dc48b743dc5d013b1abaebd2faed2 Just as you can never see every single showcase at WOMEX, it is almost equally hard to take in every booth at the trade fair. Each one has something special to offer: new music to discover, friends to greet, connections to be made, and (yes) parties to attend, because there are lots of little celebrations going on throughout the day. This is the first time I tried to blog the fair, and I have to admit it is only a small sampling of what was going on. But hopefully it does give some feel for the event. It's lively, it's fun and you never know quite what to expect. I decided to give a "most cool booth" award only AFTER I encountered the winners (Country & Eastern)! I thought they were such interesting folks, and their offerings were heartfelt, diverse and original. I think you'll agree.     A symphony of crickets. Now THAT'S world music! Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Link Media, Inc. Europe http://www.linktv.org/deansbeans/blog/post/324/fair-trade-and-womens-potential f2fc990265c712c49d51a18a32b39f0c Fair Trade is much more than just an economic formula guaranteeing the farmers more money than conventional coffee sales. One of the most exciting aspects of the movement to me is the impact Fair Trade has on women throughout the developing world. Within Fair Trade cooperatives, gender equity is required. That generally means that women have to be represented on the Board of Directors and on other governing bodies, and of course, they can vote and their votes are equal. I am not naïve, however, and I know that in many of the societies where coffee grows women&rsquo;s empowerment is still a goal and is resisted subtly and sometimes overtly by the ruling men. At the same time, I have seen powerful indications of change. Five of the fourteen coops we work with around the world are managed by women. And those women use their power not only to improve the lives, social standing and self-esteem of women in their own coops, but each of them reaches out and mentors women in other coops. An awesome model for all of us.We take voting for granted, and many of us don&rsquo;t even bother to vote in primaries or in general elections. For women (and men) who have never had the opportunity to participate in decisions that effect and control their economic and political lives, voting is a powerful act. I have seen enormous changes in women over the years as they participate and have their voices heard in their communities and on the world stage. One example, Esperanza Castillo from Pangoa Cooperative in Peru. When we first met in 2003, she was a shy and quiet manager of a small coop (about two hundred families). Over the years, Esperanza has developed into an internationally recognized voice for women and Fair Trade. At one event she got a standing ovation when the next speaker (Hilary Clinton) got warm applause. In Ethiopia, Nekempte has gone from an &ldquo;office girl&rdquo; when we first met in 2000, to the number three in command of Oromia Cooperative, which has over 100,000 members!  The point here is not that all of the problems of women&rsquo;s empowerment have been solved by Fair Trade. Rather, the movement opens an oasis of opportunity to women in rural societies where there are not that many other institutional openings. That is the true evolution of change beneath the surface of a cup of Fair Trade coffee. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Link Media, Inc. Sub-Saharan Africa http://www.linktv.org/mosaic/blog/post/322/the-saudiiranian-neo-cold-war 5737c6ec2e0716f3d8a7a5c4e0de0d9a It's been four months since I described Yemen as a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/yemen-a-powder-keg-ready_b_253807.html">powder keg</a> ready to explode. At the time the entire world was riveted to the television, watching the unfolding events of the "Velvet Revolution" in Iran. The Yemeni keg has since exploded. It is currently on the verge of causing a regional conflict.For more than a week now, Saudi Arabia has been carrying out military operations on its remote southern border to punish Houthi rebels from neighboring Yemen who crossed over and attacked one of its patrols. Both Yemen and Saudi Arabia have accused Iran of arming the rebels.Accusations and counter accusations have been flying between the two rival regional powers. On Tuesday, Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned that, "those who pour oil on the fire must know that they will not be spared from the smoke that billows".   This is not the first time Saudis and Iranians have faced off in the region. The rivalry between the two countries has been playing its course for years, extending from the Persian Gulf (where the name alone is a point of contention, Saudis refer to it as the Arabian Gulf) into Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories. Like the United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been supporting their factions in all these countries, either militarily, financially or both.   Both Tehran and Riyadh used Lebanon as their own battlefront to settle scores to the point of almost tipping the country into another civil war less than two years ago. Iran has been accused of pumping millions of dollars into Gaza and supplying Hamas with arms, while Saudi Arabia has been supporting the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. Many Iraqi Shiites have accused Saudi Arabia with aiding the Sunni insurgency in the country.   Nowadays, even Hajj (Islamic pilgrimage) is not spared from being a subject of contention between the two rivals. The Saudi government has recently issued a warning against pilgrims staging demonstrations during this year's Hajj, which runs from November 25-29. Although Iran was not specifically mentioned in the Saudi statement, Tehran replied it would take "appropriate measures" if Iranian pilgrims were interfered with in any way. The Islamic Republic of Iran has long complained about mistreatment and harassment of its pilgrims to Mecca by Saudi authorities during the Hajj season.   Like the original Cold War, both countries have launched sophisticated disinformation campaigns against one another. A propaganda war has raged between Iranian and Saudi government controlled media. During the Iranian election, Saudi media and its proxies viciously attacked the Iranian regime, highlighting poll irregularities, and the brutality of the Iranian Basij security forces. The Iranian media has constantly questioned, and on many instances mocked, the House of Saud's role as the custodian of the Holy Islamic sites in the Kingdom.   Last week, without warning, two satellite companies, the Egyptian-owned Nilesat and the Saudi-managed Arabsat pulled the plug on Iran's Arabic-speaking news channel, al-Alam, or the World. Nilesat's executive director, Ahmed Anis, announced that the broadcasting was cut due to contract violations; however, media sources throughout the Middle East suggest that al-Alam's support for the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen have angered Saudi officials, who in turn used their influence to take it of the air.   So far, both countries have shied away from direct military contact. Iran and Saudi Arabia, like the US and the USSR of old, have been competing in a series of peripheral surrogate conflicts. Could their relations be strained enough to lead to direct confrontations? Everything seems to be possible these days in the Middle East.   Original article published in the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/the-saudi-iranian-neo-col_b_356699.html">Huffington Post.</a> Watch <a href="/mosaic/mir/MIR20091113/the-saudi-iranian-neo-cold-war">Video</a> Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Link Media, Inc. Middle East http://www.linktv.org/globalpulse/blog/post/321/in-the-shadow-of-a-wall caf1a3dfb505ffed0d024130f58c5cfa In the latest episode of Global Pulse, host Erin Coker looks at global media coverage of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Watch the episode and share your thoughts below! I remember a talk I had with Danuta Pawlowska, the Polish grandmother of a good friend of mine, in her Warsaw apartment several years ago. A member of the Warsaw resistance during the Nazi occupation, Danuta was closely monitored after the communists took over in the mid 1940s.She recalled a long gossip-filled phone conversation with a close friend. Two hours into the conversation, a booming male voice suddenly burst through the receiver. "Would you just shut up already?" the man groaned. "How much more of this must I listen to?!" I had laughed at the time. For a young American with roots in Warsaw, the idea of a government agent listening to a banal chat with a friend was amusing &ndash; something fit for a dime store spy thriller. In Warsaw's meticulously reconstructed <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/89921956@N00/399017619/" target="_blank">Old Town</a>, today's foreign tourists purchase T-shirts and shot glasses; bursts of bad American pop music filter out of the same fashion chain stores that line Paris' Rue de Rennes or Copenhagen's Strøget. The stylish, boisterous students crowding the bars and cafes have no memory of life in pre-1989 Warsaw.  Yet, if you venture outside of the city center, the medieval architecture gives way to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/heartbeeps/471466181/" target="_blank">monotonous tenements</a>, the color of diesel exhaust. Passing by some of these buildings at dusk is an unnerving, somewhat melancholy experience, and I'll admit that I glanced over my shoulder more than once. For Danuta and millions of others, that reality was life.I was also a child when the Berlin Wall came down.  I remember <a href="http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall/" target="_blank">the now-iconic images</a> of jubilant Berliners  rushing the wall with pickaxes, but I was too young to grasp the larger significance of the event and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/6528859/The-Berlin-Wall-fell-and-a-new-Europe-rose.html " target="_blank">what it meant to Germany, Europe and the world</a>.I would like to say that I left Poland with a greater understanding of what day-to-day life must have been like for Europeans, such as Danuta, who had lived under the Soviet regime. Like Warsaw's younger generation, however, that second-hand knowledge can only resonate so much.  The generation gap in Poland has resulted in a new type of barrier, between those who remember and those who came of age in a different time. In the flood of anniversary coverage this week, the most telling, perhaps, is a BBC special report.  Amidst the frenzy of anniversary festivities, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/world/2009/walls_around_the_world/default.stm " target="_blank">Walls Around the World</a> is a sobering reminder of the barriers, from North Korea to Botswana, that have yet to topple. I think of Danuta and of the magnitude of what she witnessed. I wonder which other walls will come down over the course of my lifetime.     Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:35:50 -0800 Link Media, Inc. Europe http://www.linktv.org/about/blog/post/320/celebrate-veterans-day-with-explores-latest-film-fish-out-of-water 320722549d1751cf3f247855f937b982 In recognition of Veterans Day, <a href="http://explore.org" target="_blank">explore </a>has released a new short called "Fish Out of Water", a documentary about the effects of war on the thousands of U.S. soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. To help these selfless heroes cope with the trauma they've suffered -- often in the form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, or loss of limbs and other physical injuries -- <a href="http://www.svasp.org/" target="_blank">Sun Valley Adaptive Sports</a> in Idaho hosts stunning and peace-filled nature trips through their "Wounded Warrior Veterans Program", where vets can meditate through fishing and convene with their natural surroundings. This moving film illustrates how the body may heal its injuries over time, but often the mind takes much longer to recover.Take a moment to watch this film - it is a beautiful tribute to those serving our country so selflessly.   Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Link Media, Inc. http://www.linktv.org/about/blog/post/319/link-tv-and-corporate-social-responsibility 8d3bba7425e7c98c50f52ca1b52d3735 Link TV appreciates you, our discerning viewers, as being active intellectually, culturally, and in your community. We know you care who our friends are and how we stay credible. Link <a href="/About-CSR-Sponsorship">has launched a new initiative</a> to work with corporate sponsors which are actively supporting philanthropic efforts, whereby we will tell the story of these projects on our website.Staying committed to our values, Link TV vets its corporate partners for their Corporate Social Responsibility achievements  -  Socially responsible companies honor the people and planet that help them make a profit.  We seek to work with companies that have demonstrable projects impacting their employees, community and the environment in a positive way.<a href="/deansbeans">Dean's Beans</a> is our first corporate sponsor - one which is both profitable and doing "good" for the global community in which it conducts its business.Which companies do you admire and why? Does it really matter to consumers if the business is socially responsible? <a href="/realconversations/7">Discuss on Real Conversations</a> with Dean's Beans Founder and CEO, Dean Cycon. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:20:30 -0800 Link Media, Inc. http://www.linktv.org/deansbeans/blog/post/313/kenya--struggling-towards-sustainability-part-2 158f3069a435b314a80bdcb024f8e422 <a href="/DeansBeans//blog/post/312/kenya-struggling-towards-sustainability-part-1">(Read Part 1 of Dean's trip to Kenya)</a>   Later in the week was the launch of a new NGO, Fair Trade Organization of Kenya (FTOK).  Forty farmers representing ten thousand farm families came together for the celebration and a full-day workshop on fair trade and organics, presented by John and I, along with FTOK founder Sophie Mukua and President, Samwel Okwenda.  There were also representatives of Thika Mills (mills are traditionally the last bad guy in the farmer rip-off equation), which is now certified to process fair trade coffees (hmm, we&rsquo;ll see), and Robert Thuo of the African Wildlife Foundation, which is saving elephants and helping farmers with a grant from USAID and Starbucks (it is great work, but I had to ask, wouldn&rsquo;t it be betmter if Starbucks simply paid the farmers more for their coffee? Then they could put up their own fences and feed their families directly-what a concept!).   The farmer coops in attendance introduced themselves, and talked about the low price of coffee they receive and the terrible effects of the drought. They talked about how difficult it was to find direct buyers; even though they were allowed to do so by law, they didn&rsquo;t know how.  John gave a wonderfully detailed description of the organic farming system.  Most of these farmers were raised on government information that was hopelessly out of date and more appropriate for large plantations, not small holdings of two acres or so.  We talked about interplanting and what crops farmers used in different countries to fix nitrogen into the soil, create soil stability and have more food for their families and the local markets.  We described natural pesticides and took a break for me to plant a muthega tree at the coop of Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Matthai.  The tree is used as a natural pesticide and it made a big impression on the farmers.  I spent about two hours describing why they don&rsquo;t get decent money for their crop, how prices are determined in New York, not in the field, and how to protect themselves from thieves coming into the &ldquo;second window&rdquo;. We had to change shillings into dollars, pounds into kilograms, and coffee cherries into green beans (about seven to one in Kenya), which made for a head pounding, exciting translation of information for farmers who had never had access to this before.  After several intense hours of questioning, we called it quits, applauding each other heartily.  Elias Matenge, head of the Thiriku Cooperative came up to me and patted my shoulder forcefully. &ldquo;This has been revolutionary!&rdquo; he beamed. &ldquo;This was the best workshop I have ever attended!&rdquo; shouted Nelson Mwaniki from Rianjagi. We all walked outside the meeting hall in a good mood.  Then the most unbelievable thing happened.It started to rain.   <a href="/DeansBeans//blog/post/312/kenya-struggling-towards-sustainability-part-1">(Read Part 1 of Dean's trip to Kenya)</a>   Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Link Media, Inc. Sub-Saharan Africa North America http://www.linktv.org/mosaic/blog/post/318/dont-ask-me-about-hasan 432aca3a1e345e339f35a30c8f65edce Seven messages and counting on my voice mail from different Bay Area reporters, all wanting to know the Muslim community's reaction about the recent heinous killings of Nidal Malik Hasan. All wanting to know what had driven a 39-year-old Muslim to go on a killing rampage, murdering 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas. "He had it all," someone said, "he's an educated man, he's a doctor." Why did he do it? Apparently, I fit the profile of someone who has these answers: I am a Muslim Palestinian American, and I must know what one out of the 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe is thinking at any given time."Hey, Jamal...sorry to disturb you so early. But you know the Hasan story is  big, and I was wondering if you're willing to come for an interview and talk about how it feels being a Maahzlem (Muslim) and all," a television producer says to me on my cell, while I was driving to work."How did you feel being a Christian, with Timothy McVeigh and Adolf Hitler being Christians?" I fired back.Silence... I probably should not have said that, but there it is.I'm sick and tired of these kinds of questions from media outlets whenever some kooky Muslim decides to commit a random act of violence...or in this case when a GI psychiatrist goes psycho. At the same time, I'm also sick and tired of self-appointed Muslim experts and spokespersons who jump at every miserable opportunity like this one to try to explain Islam."Islam is a religion of peace," they say.No, it's not. Not anymore than Christianity is a religion of love. They're just religions, and what you do with them is all up to the believer. More people have died in the name of religion than in any other catastrophe or plague.Here is what I know about Hasan:He was a disgruntled GI who wanted to leave the military for whatever reason: his conscience, his religion, or for personal reasons. He could have left peacefully. He could have quit and paid the price without hurting others, just like Muhammad Ali, who refused the draft to serve in Vietnam but did not feel the need to go on a killing rampage. Instead, he was stripped of his heavyweight title and was sentenced to five years in prison.Hasan is a coward...not only for committing this heinous act, but for counting on being killed or taking the gun on himself, leaving behind his family and the entire Muslim community to account for his despicable actions.   Original article published in the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/dont-ask-me-about-hasan_b_348695.html">Huffington Post</a>.   Hasan: A Muslim Gone Jihadi, OR A GI Psychiatrist Gone Psycho? Poll on the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/6/801505/-Dont-Ask-Me-About-Hasan">Daily Kos</a>. Watch this Al Jazeera report on the shooting:   Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Link Media, Inc. Middle East North America http://www.linktv.org/worldmusic/blog/post/315/from-womex-2009-a-real-hang ad13a2a07ca4b7642959dc0c4c740ab6 The World Music Expo, or WOMEX, is simply put, a great convention. Besides getting to hear some amazing acts from just about everywhere, it's also a very convivial gathering. And although there are numerous great musicians booked into the formal venues, sometimes the freshest experiences come from spontaneous performances at the stands in the trade fair.   So to kick off my WOMEX blog series, here's one such occurrence. To set the scene: it was almost time for the trade fair to close. There I was, talking to someone in my booth, and suddenly I realized that a young man had sat down on the floor and started playing an instrument that looked like a cross between a steel drum and a flying saucer. I grabbed my Flip camera and caught the moment.     It turns out that the Hang was invented in Switzerland in 2000. So it's just a baby in the world of instruments. And that also means there's plenty of room for the instrument -- and ways of playing it -- to grow. Rafael has a group called The Art of Fusion, (their CD is called "Rhizomism") and I've put his contact info at the end of the vid. Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Link Media, Inc. Europe http://www.linktv.org/mosaic/blog/post/316/were-gods-chosen-people 3fe94a002317b5f9259f82690aeea4cd Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on Israel to halt what he called "provocative" actions after another Palestinian family in East Jerusalem was evicted from their home, the latest in a series of similar incidents.   Jewish settlers have forced their way into a house in east Jerusalem, using hired guards to evict an elderly Palestinian woman and throwing out other residents' belongings. The settlers displayed what they said was a court order granting them ownership of the single-story building. Human rights groups said the takeover was part of a push by Jewish settlers to expand their presence in the traditionally Arab sector.   Shortly after the Six Day War in 1967, Israeli settlers forcefully took over several homes in Hebron and other areas in the West Bank; on many occasions under the watchful eyes of Israeli soldiers. In 1994, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Goldstein">Baruch Goldstein</a>, a doctor who had emigrated from the U.S., machine-gunned 29 Palestinians to death as they prayed in Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan. In 2005, I worked on the documentary <a href="/programs/occupied">Occupied Minds</a> and witnessed first hand the plight of a Palestinian family living in fear under the continuous harassment of the zealot settlers who were determined to drive them away from their ancestral home. This week, Israeli police filed terrorism charges against <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125515.html">Jack Teitel</a>, a 37-year-old Florida-born West Bank settler, which include the murders of two Palestinians and attacks wounding three other people over the past 12 years.The first attack of which Teitel is accused was the murder of Samir Billbisi, a Palestinian taxi driver who was found shot dead in his cab in East Jerusalem in June 1997. Two months later, allege the police, Teitel shot dead Isaa Mousa'af Mahamada, 57, a Bedouin shepherd near the Carmel settlement in the south Hebron hills. Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman, described Teitel as a "Jewish terrorist", adding: "He was deeply involved in terrorism in all different levels."  Below is a video report which aired on Al Arabiya TV detailing the eviction of Um Nabil, who lost her home to Israeli settlers. In the video one of the settlers sends a message to the entire world, "You know, we are God's chosen people," he says. Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:57:09 -0800 Link Media, Inc. Middle East http://www.linktv.org/globalpulse/blog/post/314/war-and-fallout-what-is-behind-the-pakistan-violence 758874998f5bd0c393da094e1967a72b In the latest Global Pulse episode, <a href="/video/4552/pakistan-at-war">Pakistan at War</a>, <a href="/globalpulse/erin">host Erin Coker</a> asks who is to blame for the violence in Pakistan. Watch the episode and share your thoughts below!Wednesday's market bombing in Peshawar capped off a particularly deadly month in Pakistan amidst a shored up military campaign in the country's western region of Waziristan.  More than 100 people died in Wednesday's attack, many of them women and children. Global media largely attribute the <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33322113/" target="_blank">recent bloodshed</a> to the Pakistani Taliban's attempt to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/world/asia/29pstan.html" target="_blank">destabilize the government in retaliation</a> for recent military efforts to drive extremists from the country's volatile North-West Frontier Province. However, militant violence in Pakistan has been on the rise long before the government launched its new offensive. According to the terrorism database, <a href="http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/pakistan/index.htm" target="_blank">South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP)</a>, terrorist violence killed 2,155 civilians in 2008, compared to 140 in 2003. Similarly, nearly 1800 civilians have been killed in the first 10 months of 2009, exceeding the total number of civilian deaths from 2003 to 2006, according to the SATP. Some international and media experts note that the <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/218930" target="_blank">Pakistani Taliban has absorbed Punjabi militants</a> and other separatist groups, resulting in a new and dangerous band of extremists. These militants are further bolstered by al-Qaeda members who have taken refuge in the country's tribal areas near the Afghan border. This new incarnation of militants, <a href="http://www.cfr.org/publication/15422/" target="_blank">notes the Council on Foreign Relations' Jayshree Bajoria</a>, is "more violent and less conducive to political solutions than their predecessors." <a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/20/how_to_help_pakistan_win_this_fight?print=yes&hidecomments=yes&page=full" target="_blank">In a Foreign Policy editorial</a>, the Washington, DC-based Atlantic Council attributes Pakistan's inability to contain the growing extremist threat to a lack of modern military might and calls on the U.S. to furnish Pakistan with adequate weaponry to defeat the Taliban. Failure to do so, argues Shuja Nawaz, will result in continued terror strikes on the public.  However, <a href="http://www.riazhaq.com/2009/10/pakistans-intelligence-failures-amidst.html" target="_blank">Pakistani blogger Riaz Haq</a> blames the violence not on a lack of American weapons, but on government intelligence failures. "The best way to stop the increasing carnage on the streets of Pakistan...is to stop the attacks well before they occur," writes Haq. "Unfortunately, however, the intelligence agencies which are supposed to frustrate the blood-thirsty attackers appear totally ineffective, even paralyzed."    While the exact cause of the surge in violence may be up for debate, the toll it is taking on Pakistani civilians is undeniable. The renewed clashes between government forces and the Taliban in North-West Frontier Province have resulted in a <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125603231303996151.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop" target="_blank">second wave of refugees fleeing the fighting</a>, adding strain to <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/worldview/090612/full-frame-swat-valley-refugee-camps" target="_blank">already-crowded camps</a>. According to the U.N., <a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/MYAI-7X68P6/$File/full_report.pdf" target="_blank">fighting in South Waziristan has forced an estimated 139,400 people from their homes</a> [PDF link] and could displace thousands more.The latest bombing in Peshawar has also disrupted the lives of Pakistan's urban residents. "The people want to go back to their mundane routines," writes Murtava Razvi in a Dawn editorial. "Youngsters want to go out to the parks, to the beach, to bowl, to eat out. Women want to go shopping unescorted, and men want to go about their daily chores without worrying about families left at home. This isn&rsquo;t happening anymore."   Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:08:31 -0700 Link Media, Inc. South Asia http://www.linktv.org/deansbeans/blog/post/312/kenya--struggling-towards-sustainability-part-1 950a4152c2b4aa3ad78bdd6b366cc179 Those of you who have read my book, Javatrekker, will remember how I got clobbered in Kenya trying to create fair and transparent trade a few years ago.  There was so much corruption and so little information or options for the farmers that It looked like fair trade and organics would never take root there.  Yet the coffee farmers of Kenya are a tenacious bunch. In spite of a year-long drought, election violence and market disruptions, they have continued to organize and seek help towards bringing more money and resources to their families.  They haven&rsquo;t quit, so how could I?   I arrived in Embu with John Njoroge, the head of the Kenya Institute of Organic Farming, whom we had funded last year to come to the USA and receive certification as an international organic inspector.  Building organic capacity in Kenya is a key part of our strategy, so that farmers won&rsquo;t have to rely on European and American inspectors to create and monitor their systems (very expensive and pretty darn colonial!).  The year- long drought in the area meant that every step raised a cloud of dust, and the crops were withered and sickly. I was greeted by the head of the Rianjagi Cooperative, Albert Mwaniki, who told me that he never forgot that I had said &ldquo;if trade was not fair, then it was immoral&rdquo;, and he was eager to continue the quest for fairness for the farmers. We immediately began laying out the program for Rianjagi to become the first organic certified coffee cooperative in Kenya, a three-year process that would demand a lot of work on the farmers&rsquo; part. We needed to set up an Internal Control System to document and monitor farm practices, set up training programs in water and soil conservation, build demonstration plots for natural pesticides and new practices, file with an international body for recognition and more. KIOF, Dean&rsquo;s Beans and Rianjagi would sign a Memorandum of Agreement on who would be responsible for what, and most significantly, who would pay for all of this (guess who?). Just beyond the door of the coop office, women and men sang softly while they turned the coffee beans on their raised drying beds, bringing the moisture down to the required 12 percent before hulling, grading and bagging the beans for export. We worked late into the night designing the program, celebrating with a great dinner of everything grown on the farm of Molly Njeru, the Vice Chair of Rianjagi and a dedicated organic farmer.We also talked about the big change in Kenya.  Before, farmers were forced to sell their coffee to the big processor, KPCU, which was theoretically owned by the coops, but was controlled by the government. At last the law had been changed to allow the farmers to find their own buyers and market their coffee directly. This was known as the &ldquo;second window&rdquo;. They thanked me for the small role I played in that change, as my whistle blowing on corruption inside KPCU pushed the changes along, they said. Well, I don&rsquo;t know about that, but at least one minister and many KPCU board members were dismissed as a result. Some satisfaction for the incredible rip-off we experienced trying to buy Rianjagi coffee before. We also talked about fair trade coming to Kenya.  There were now three registered fair trade coops, although no certified organic ones.  Were the fair trade coops making better money? Nobody knew, and there are still enough Byzantine regulations and channels of commerce outside of the farmers&rsquo; control that I don&rsquo;t think anyone will know for a while. The next day we celebrated the inauguration of a new computer system that would allow complete transparency and accountability for the farmers. They could go on the computer and see exactly what they brought in, what it sold for, how much was added to their accounts and who the buyers were.  This was funded by Solidaridad, a Netherlands NGO along with Utz Kapeh, a self-certifying system for large European coffee importers. The claim to fame of the Utz system is transparency, but it doesn&rsquo;t guarantee the farmers any more money. One of the board members commented sardonically that it was a good system, but they can&rsquo;t eat computer paper.  The new Minister for Cooperative Development was there (the old one got canned after my debacle, although he is now the head of exports! It seems politicians know a lot about sustainability).  I gave a short speech about how impressed I was with the changes since my last visit, and how much more we had to go to insure fair treatment for Kenyan coffee farmers...   <a href="/DeansBeans//blog/post/313/kenya-struggling-towards-sustainability-part-2">Read Part 2 of Dean's Kenya trip.</a> Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0700 Link Media, Inc. Sub-Saharan Africa North America http://www.linktv.org/mosaic/blog/post/311/taliban-if-you-cant-beat-them-buy-them 9dfcd5e558dfa04aaf37f137a1d9d3e5 The story the<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/asia/28intel.html"> New York Times</a> published this week on Hamid Karzai's drug-dealing brother Ahmed Wali and his ties to the CIA is very revealing, considering it comes just few days before Afghanistan's run-off election; however, it is not the real news. It has been rumored for years that Wali has been involved in opium trafficking and has been receiving payments from the CIA. The big story is the United States' government plan to buy out the Taliban -- officially, so to speak.   On Wednesday, President Obama signed a $680 billion defense appropriations bill, which is supposed to cover military operations in the 2010 fiscal year. The bill includes a Taliban reintegration provision under the Commander's Emergency Response Program. Don't you love the terminologies used by government bureaucrats? Call it buyout, bribes, protection money, but please don't call it integration.The idea, according to Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is to separate local Taliban from their leaders, replicating a program    used to neutralize the insurgency against Americans in Iraq. If you can't beat them, buy them!Afghanistan though, is not Iraq. Unlike al-Sahwa in Iraq (the Sunni Awakening), when Iraqi tribe members took up arms against al-Qaeda and foreign insurgents, the Taliban are an integral part of Afghanistan, and they are not foreign fighters. They are the brothers, cousins and neighbors of ordinary Afghans. The US government might be able to temporarily buy out some Taliban members from attacking its troops but it will not be able to buy loyalties.Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on President Obama to authorize the sending of more troops to Afghanistan. According to a recent Associated Press report:"There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security  forces and police. It adds up to a 12-to-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn't led to anything close to victory."The Taliban rebels are estimated to number no more than 25,000 according to the same report. Yet, we have witnessed their devastating attacks in Kabul and other areas. The number of American deaths in Afghanistan has reached a <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan">record</a> for the third time in four months. Some military experts say that an increase in US troops is no guarantee to reduce US fatalities and that it might only work in a negative way. The US army is not equipped to fight guerrilla warfare.The new US strategies to be implemented in Afghanistan are nothing new; they are basically a redux of Iraqi ones. Their success rates are both short term, with the surge in Iraq only working temporarily, as the recent attacks in the country show. Paying for protection can only work against foreign insurgents and will only work as long as you keep paying.In the meantime, on the news, I keep watching those who are gung-ho for sending more troops to Afghanistan insist that the U.S. has learned from the Soviets' mistakes. No one asks if it has learned anything from its mistakes in Iraq.   Original article published in the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/taliban-if-you-cant-beat_b_338320.html">Huffington Post</a>.Watch <a href="/mosaic/mir/MIR20091029/taliban-if-you-cant-beat-them-buy-them">Video</a> Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0700 Link Media, Inc. Middle East Asia http://www.linktv.org/rss/linktv_rss.gif http://www.linktv.org/globalpulse/blog