Wednesday, 23 May, 2007
- 23 May 07, 04:52 PM
From , Newsnight presenter.
The Congo
We have a powerful film from Fergal Keane about the failure of the UN in the Congo. The peacekeeping mission has been powerless to act while a warlord has committed gross human rights abuses and forced tens of thousands of Congolese to leave their homes. We track down the warlord and speak to the UN about their inability to intervene.
Energy
We now have the latest energy white paper. This one argues the case for nuclear power. Does the government really intend to "consult" over the next five months or has it already made up its mind? Michael Crick is on the case, and I'll speaking to the Minister in charge.
McJobs
The fast food chain McDonalds has struggled hard to change its image. No longer as secretive as it once was, McDonalds UK has launched a campaign to change the Oxford English Dictionary definition of the word "McJob".
"An unstimulating low-paid job with few prospects, especially one created by the expansion of the service sector".
Newsnight has been granted access to McDonalds to talk to staff about how they view their work - and what they think of the "McJob" label, and I've been talking to the company boss in the UK, Steve Easterbrook. You can see the full length interview here, and join the "McJob" debate here.
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The UN can do nothing without serious backing from the US. The US is morally corrupt nation, with policies driven by money and greed. There are no major oil fields in Congo. There are no interests for Cheney and co.
The amazing thing is that a fair number of americans and britons are gullible enough to think that the US stands for good. It would be laughable if so many lives hadn't been runied by lust for wealth; it's shameful.
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Only today, there has been serious allegations implicating blue helmets in the traffic of gold and arms in Ituri Eastern region of the D R Congo.https://www.monuc.org/主播大秀.aspx?lang=en
Few months back there were serious allegations and proofs implicating blue helmets in sex offences.
The world bank has made the D R Congo one of the poorer country in the world whilst its president could afford to get fruitful pay-raises for his mistress!
These facts are the true results of the governments ellected in so called democratic countries.
Absolutely shameful
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I don't get the feeling that the UN is willing to do anything to help. Wasn't it the Pakistani UN forces (not the "corrupt" US ones) that were supposed to be selling arms to local militias somewhere in the world?
In the olden days, there was something called imperialism. The balance was never got right with regard to freedoms for the locals and the imperialists stealing natural resources. Someone always complained.
But this is an exceedingly complex situation. Maybe the old Private Eye solution ("string 'em up, it's the only language they understand") would be more efficacious than for a powerless UN force to allow empathetic journos to talk to warlords. Because these warlords, will be murdering, pillaging and raping, just as they were before Fergal Keane turned up, as soon as the cameras vanish. Why are the media so na茂ve?
Which average and fair-minded Newsnight viewer can remember all the Tutsi-Hutu, Rwanda-Congo twists and turns? What we get is pictures of atrocities on our screens every day, while the UN does nothing but appoint spokespersons. And the media churns out story after story. It was the same in Darfur.
The UN is a Leviathan with feet of clay.
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Nuclear:...With every plane plant sub ship vehicle transport and installation of generator they must have debated and considered many alternative drive and electrification options..every factory every tunnel system...every home or office...
You would think the various institutions providers and authorities would have explored every option...
Nuclear power suggests appallingly intense inescapable unrecoverable risks to property and body....
But most imagine a continuance of life that denies such horrible possibilities with escapist consideration...maybe the human biosystems are simply not bred for the job of appropriate humanist risk assessment...outside of the ranges of known engineering tolerance..and expectations of survival motivation scene supremacy and situational control...however worried...we expect to live and so might not explore all inevitabilities...
They should call it something else and...locate it underground in old coal mines and set different more qualified aims than the public has so far been encouraged to understand...
The attitude of the government to risk is that is does not matter if people die get sick or lose their qualities of life..everyone and their complaints are economically trivialised and parliament pretends all is safe and ok...
Chernobyl was built without bills with a communism of investment cherishment and look what happened to that..the culture of status checks and rationality was lost to liberal experimentation and lack of conscientiousness...at least that was the historic point made!!!
We live in a far too liberal economically trivialising society..people do not know their education... to pay for the actual practical knowledge of nuclear reagent generation would cost a fortune and those companies must be sustained...but do Midas monsters care enough??
Meanwhile the gauging drilling and mining of the planet of millions of tonnes a day must be having a weight displacement effect...
Flooding water will be good for planet positioning and defence..for deeper harbours and sailing...but a systems model of mountain reservoirs dams and Material Presence Timing might need to be considered...to reassure those concerned...
Atomic Reagent Generators not Nuclear power
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Perhaps the question that should really be asked is whether we ,collectively, in Western society are content to tolerate wanton abuse by dubious military means as normal? Of course this is in a part of Africa which has little resources that our self made economies cherish so much.
I think we are all to blame. After all what kind of place would tolerate the selfish greedy excuse for a televison programme, the Apprentice, on the air, never mind make it one of the most watched prime time shows.
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Africa as a whole is Morally corrupt on every level - so let the African Congress sort out Africa. Why is there not a mass exodus of Africans from the West to sort out their home lands?
If the West gets involved the results will all be the fault of the nasty Western Nations, again, they wanted us out, we are out, so stay out.
As for the UN troops in the Congo, where are they from?
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Does Lord Carlyle think we are all stupid, or does he assume only Labourites watch?
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I sometimes think news is about highlighting and uncovering the satan behind the mask. So today the topics were the british justice system, the UN, african warlords, nuclear power and a burger restaurant. Satan IS a busy chap these days?
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The UN'threat that it would discipline anyone trying to compromise its troops in DRC is a self-covering gesture.
The only issue I can see in it is that it wanted this reality to be kept under the carpet.
From the viewpoint of what should be believed about UN's troops, this is really what happened because that is not the only incidence in which UN's troops are implicated but there was also a case of defilement by UN's troops in South Sudan, which took a first page of South Sudan' s daily paper known as JUBA POST back in december of 2006 and janaury of 2007.
If for any reason, this particular report is unfounded, then it is not the first time that UN's troops are accused of such unethical behaviors.
UN as an organisation should take a look at itself instead of rushing with a threat of discipline to the media.
The purpose of a report was to alert the top leadership of UN for the good of its credibility but not to compromise its troops.
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Congratulation to the 主播大秀 for this useful and powerful film from eastern Congo.
I hope the world has seen what every single Congolese people in the DRC, in the UK and all over the world already knows.
The DRC and Congolese people are suffering because of the friendship between dictatorial Mobutu's regime and of dictatorial Habyarimana's regime.
Congolese people did not support the Rwanda's regime. They did not agree to give refuge to Habyarimana's people at the request of France. It was Mobutu and his people.
Now I think that the death of 4 million people and the suffering of many more are enough for UK and the International community to do something to stop all this nasty things. Enough is enough.
And one of the things to do is to arrest General Nkunda. In 2002, he was in Kisangani when around three hundred people were killed. Some of them were lucky enough to escape.
The UN should stop turning a blind eye on Nkunda's killing. The arrest warant against another war lord, JP Bemba is a good thing, but the arrest of Nkunda who already has one will be a beter one. A warant against Joseph Kabila will be a good news aswell.
So Congratulation to the 主播大秀 for talking about the Congolese Genocide.
Samuel
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 主播大秀 AND FERGAL KEANE!
I have in the past written so many complaints to the 主播大秀 for not doing enough to uncover the real problem between Hutu and Tutsi.
It is clear your broadcasting on Laurent Nkunda shows a greater understanding and goodwill on the 主播大秀 to lead in this conflict that has spread to DRC.
I call upon the 主播大秀 to uncover the following:
1. Rwanda invaded Zaire in 1996 citing security threats posed by Hutus and militia who were very close to its border (Refugee camps).
2. Rwanda invaded DRC in 1998 for different reasons all together.
3. Rwanda tried again a third time, and Sweden and UK threatened to cut aid and this plan was shelved.
4. As the latter became increasingly difficult (no longer endorsed by Washington and London), why does the 主播大秀 not see Gen Laurent Nkunda, who after all fought with RPF from 01/10/1990 to 1994, as an easy solution for Rwanda to stay in DRC by proxy?
Also, someone like Fergal Keane, a worldly respected journalist, will surely recall that Rwanda repatriated by force Hutus who sought asylum in Burundi in 2005.
He will also know whereas Tutsi (Banyamulenge) in DRC take weapons, they are only a tiny proportion of DRC's tribal make up. DRC has more than 430 tribes! Why them?
If they can invade Rwanda and take control of Rwanda, at least it makes a bit sense: they are 15%. But why in DRC?
Whilst I regret the genocide of Tutsi of 1994, Laurent Nkunda's situation makes it easy to believe Abdul Ruzibiza's testimony "RPF knew shooting down the presidential plane would lead to widespread reprisals on Tutsis inside Rwanda, and they nevertheless went for it just because they wanted power".
I dread to imagine the same happening in DRC's North-Kivu province!
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Si:
Why not make your concerns known to an authority which was setup to deal with problems in Africa?
ie. The African Congress. It is their continent, let them deal with it!
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Si:
Why not make your concerns known to an authority which was setup to deal with problems in Africa?
ie. The African Congress. It is their continent, let them deal with it!
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Dear Maurice,
I wish the International Community operated in a such simplistic way!
As a UK tax payer and Television License payer, you will agree I can put those concerns as much to the 主播大秀 as to the gvt.
Just do please remember:
1. Children soldiers use weapons made-to-fit their age (height/strength);
2. Weapons are exchanged directly against gold, diamonds etc....
3. Rebels of Yesterday are in power today; and people in power today are the rebels of tomorrow; and they all take loans to conduct war (weapons, medicine, training)
Therefore, just in a simplistic way, I hope you will appreciate why the EU, London, Washington, etc... are as to contribute to peace in war-torn areas as the African Union and Africans themselves.
You are right though, the onus is on Africans. To succeed, they will however have to learn NEVER to let go the alikes of Mark Thatcher and Simon Mann!
Dear Maurice, there is a quote from Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, that I cherish: (just allow me to paraphrase him as cannot remember the exact words) "insecurity abroad may mean no security at home".
And by bringing every global citizen to think and work tough and hard to help solve these enfeebling and intractable crises, the 主播大秀 are doing a fantastic job.
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Maurice and some of the 主播大秀's audience may need to appreciate the role & responsibility of weapon manufacturers and dealers in the mucky conflicts such as DRC's.
Fact 1: Even in UK, most deprived areas have higher crime rates: Criminals prey on vulnerable and poor human beings.
So, so long as 54% of the Rwandan population live below $1 a day, and adult illiteracy 64.9%, weapon dealers will fuel the unrest. There are no similar statistics in North Kivu province, but I suspect such statistics may not be very different.
Fact 2: It is true the alikes of Laurent Nkunda are to be targeted, and it is also true that the ultimate responsibility of killings, rapes and other appalling crimes lay with the end users (Laurent Nkunda himself and his soldiers), but let's not forget even in UK, to combat drugs, the dealers are targeted more than the end drug users.
Fact 3: Hon Jack Straw started a good initiative to draft a binding International treaty on conventional weapons; and this would hopefully target weapons manufacturers and dealers. BUT for this to work and benefit Africa there needs to be steady investments in education.
Perhaps not many people do appreciate the role of education in Northern Ireland success. In addition to every thing else, what did Hon Tony Blair do that is different from his predecessors? "Education-Education-Education"!
Also, had it not been for a surge and steady India's education investments, probably this country might have gone to war against Pakistan on a number of occasions.
So, an international treaty on Conventional weapons and education could surely be the real life savers for million of Africans currently trapped into misery of war, rebellions and fears thereof.
I am absolutely certain even the religious people will accept that translating their holy books for societies with higher illiteracy rates is a self-defeating endeavour:
No basic conventional-contrast this to adult literacy classes-education means lack or inaccurate understanding of the Deity. i.e. Promoting condom use shouldn't be a faith issue in a multi-faith society that is literate; also, peace campaigns shouldn't be hard to run in societies where one can drop a leaflet through someone's door and expect the recipient to read and "understand the message"!
So, what can the global citizens do for DRC and North Kivu? Simply push for Laurent Nkunda and his men to be arrested and stand trial?
No. More than that.
A so pessimistic picture there but, having said that, I have landed on a very useful education investment initiative in Rwanda: May be more of such is Africa's hope?
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I am utterly ashamed at the actions of these Pakistani soldiers. They are meant to be protecting the people of Congo not grabbing their precious natural resources! As a Pakistani myself, I can only apologise to the people of Congo for the shameless actions of these men. They don't deserve to be humans if this is their attitude!
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Following the Obama vs Clinton,the democrats have displayed what the US foreign policies look like.A mess, how can we trust people who are bent on running the world based upon manufactured lies of the sort we are been fed.In the middle east nobody believes america will ever change its attitude towards providing peace.Africa has been relegated to use and abuse and in D R Congo until oil will be discovered then things will probably change.
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Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton split delegates in four states Tuesday while Republican John McCain claimed his party's nomination for president.
Clinton picked up at least 115 delegates in Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont and Texas, while Obama picked up at least 88. Nearly 170 delegates were still to be awarded, including 154 in Texas.
Obama had a total of 1,477 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates, according to the Associated Press count. He picked up three superdelegate endorsements Tuesday,
Clinton had 1,391 delegates. It will take 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.
Yet,this race has turned into the silly season in politics,and the Clitons have been behaving more less like a bunch of cheerleaders.The all world was glued to silver screen and CNN in turn has brought the circus to town, we all have discover that Bonnie and clyde( the Clintons )have managed to poison this historical moment,1st by creating an issue over Nafta, and in dividing voters in Texas,now African American are backing Obama, and the neighbours from Mexico Hilary, yet we have all forgotten about 11 million illegal from Mexico, who soon will be allowed to find away to the American dream.Clearly politician are all the same,Putin ,hilary ,Bush and even Mugabe....stay tuned for more cats fight in the campaign trail
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