Vile! - US State department disrespect for death of Cuban leader's wife

Vilma Espín and her husband Raúl Castro standing next to Che Guevara

If there is one thing that the leaked US State Department cables published by WikiLeaks have shown, the World's self-appointed defender of transparency, freedom and 'human rights', the United States government, has proven to be riddled with double standards and hypocrisy in its actions. It will only push for the promotion of its version of human rights when it suits its interests, which tend to be the interests of US big business. When it hates a country, usually a poor place without any resources accessible to US large corporations, then the US State Government is, you could say, un-Christian, to say the least.

Case in point is the unpublicised cable that recently appeared on the WikiLeaks site giving the US 'Special Interests Office' in Havana's view of the death of the Cuban president Raúl Castro's wife Vilma Espin. All I can say is that the unsubstantiated allegations and innuendos are vile and grossly inaccurate. The level of hate and disdain displayed by Michael Parmly, author of the cable, towards the Castro brothers is impalpable.

Parmly's vile comments include doubting that Fidel Castro would care very much about
the loss of Vilma Espin or much else beyond his own personal legacy, insinuating that Raúl Castro and his late wife (who had been comrade-in-arms and partners since their guerilla days in the 1950s) had been 'estranged for the past few years', relishing the thought that the loss of his wife would cause Raúl Castro to 'lose his bearings' and opening the way for leadership instability to precipitate regime change, as well as seeing Espin's death serving as 'a dry run for other much-more-anticipated deaths in the ruling family'. Parmly, a US government official, is clearly stating that he would like to see the Cuban leadership dead - how Christian of him!

The most hypocritical and unsubstantiated belief Parmly states in this cable is that he says 'yes, both Fidel and Raul Castro are mass murderers and cruel leaders, but Raul always has had a parallel reputation as a family man.' What the...? First of all, how are they mass murderers and evil? Where are the mass graves to testify this? Obviously, based on the picture painted by the US State Department cables we have seen so far, the Castro brothers are 'evil' solely because they have tirelessly work against US government actions and business interests. Judging by the nature of this cable, do you blame them? And what's with Parmly dismissing the Castro brothers as 'mass murderers and evil' anyway? The US government should not criticise as that has never stopped it supporting many dictators and leaders who were actually mass murderers and evil. And how would you describe US military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan then? If that isn't mass murder, then what is? If you don't believe me, then check out the classified documents allegedly leaked by the very brave Bradley Manning to WikiLeaks.

Bradley Manning

Talking of which, disturbing reports are coming out that Manning, the US military intelligence analyst who, being a person of moral principle was disgusted at his own government and military's responsibility in the hidden deaths of many innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan, decided to uncover this to the World for the sake of transparency (central to a democracy like the USA) and bring justice to those who perpetrated such crimes, is now facing 52 years in jail for his actions and is reportedly being held in inhumane conditions akin to torture. This is despite not having been formally charged with any 'crime' as yet. Furthermore, friends, family and supporters of Manning, have been facing US government harassment so as to shut them up - a tactic well used in all 'evil' totalitarian systems. What is also disgusting is that opponents to dropping the US military's 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' policy requiring gay US military personnel to keep quiet about their sexuality or else risk discharge, have used Manning, who happens to be gay, as an example that having homosexuals in such military positions threaten national security!

It says a lot about a society which will seek to severely punish and torture someone with a humane conscience but will reward those who kill innocent people in Iraq or Afghanistan. As his supporters' website states: exposing war crimes is not a crime.

Desperate Central Asian Housewives - Episode 2 - Is Mehriban cheating?

Did Mehriban Aliyeva (centre, smiling) and Belarusan president Aleksandr Lukashenko (right) share more than just a box together... erm? By the way, that's Ilham Aliyev, Azeri prez on the left.

If you thought that the story surrounding the 46 year old first lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva, was fascinating, wait till you hear the latest. The Italian tabloid Il Foglio on 03 December, quoting 'anonymous diplomatic sources', alleged that La Aliyeva, who they described as 'too beautiful to be a first lady' has supposedly been making a lot of 'informal meetings' in Minsk, Belarus, suggesting that she is having an affair with that 'Uncle Leo from Seinfeld' lookalike, Belarusan president Aleksandr Lukashenko! Eeewww!

Azerbaijani officials have said 'eeew' to this allegation too... well... let's just say they're not happy. They did go on to suggest that "some forces which are not interested in the growing prestige of our country and the international authority of Azerbaijan’s first lady" had obviously planted the story. It always has to be a conspiracy.

While this has been dismissed in Azerbaijan as utter rubbish, it does have the possibility of swaying Italian-Azerbaijani relations. A decline in the otherwise strong relations between the USA and Azerbaijan occured when earlier this year the Washington Post published a story alleging that a multi-million-dollar property in Dubai was owned by the Azerbaijani's president and Mehriban's 13-year-old son, Heydar. How come the US ambassador didn't pick up on this tidbit up when bitching in his cables?

There will definitely be more. Stay tuned for more episodes of Desperate Central Asian Housewives...

Guardian on Kosovo - an opinion

A friend of mine just asked me about my opinion and thoughts on this piece about the 1999 Nato action in Kosovo that appeared in the Guardian today. This is what I had to say:

I don't have any problem with the article. I actually find it very good. I have never liked how instead of supporting peaceful and genuinely democratic movements like Ibrahim Rugova's Gandhi-inspired Kosovo independence movement, the West chose to support a violent band of criminals (the KLA) who terrorised Kosovo's population (regardless of ethnicity) and were no different from Serb paramilitaries such as Arkan's Tigers. For all the paramilitaries in the Balkans, the nationalist ideals they ostensibly defended were just a powerful tool to easily sway their kinfolk into believing they were actually doing 'good', which in turn coerced the population to participate or ignore the actual crimes they were committing. The ensuing chaos ensured an environment in which such criminal activity could flourish. The fact that Arkan and the KLA, mortal ethnic foes according to the nationalist diatribe of the time, worked together proves this (they divvied up who controlled what parts of Kosovo in the petrol smuggling trade). The 2001 conflict in Macedonia was not a fight for Albanian rights but a cigarette-smuggling turf war between Macedonian and Albanian criminal groups.

I'm particularly glad that this point was made in the article:
But if the west had wanted to act morally in the Balkans and to protect the people in Kosovo there were solutions other than war with the Serbs, and options other than backing the KLA – the most violent group in Kosovan politics. They could have backed genuine multi-party negotiations, or offered to lift sanctions on Belgrade if a peaceful solution to the problem of Kosovo could be found.

Yes, the point could have been made of Milošević's past genocide-inducing actions in Bosnia and that Serb para-militaries were operating in Kosovo, but the bottom line is that the West should not have backed one criminal group and painted them as 'good' in order to fight against another bunch of criminals.

More Desperate Dictator Housewives - Tunisia's Leila Ben Ali

Tunisia's president Zine Ben Ali and his wife Leila. Guess who wears the pants?

If one thing can be said about the cables appearing via WikiLeaks and selected media, the officials at US Embassies are a bunch of gossipy queens who love reporting on the intriguing developments of the Dynasty-esque lifestyles of dictators and their families. And I don't blame them! Why follow the comparatively dull proceedings on Wisteria Lane when you have the likes of Azerbaijan's Mehriban Aliyeva and Uzbekistan's Gulnara Karimova providing more than enough (shocking) entertainment.

Central Asia, though, does not have a monopoly on such shenanigans. WikiLeaks have published cables from the embassy in Tunisia giving details on the corruption orchestrated by the 74 year old Zine Ben Ali and his family. Tunisia follows the set pattern when it comes to corrupt dictatorships - dictator runs country like a mafia fiefdom, is massively rich despite the general population being extremely poor, has family members and spoilt kids in control of the economy and in positions of power (and act above the law with immunity), lots of kickbacks and pay-offs, and then there's the obligatory glamorous but despised wife. This character would like to see herself as an Evita Peron though her public more see her as Lady MacBeth. In Tunisia's case, it's Leila Ben Ali (née Trabelsi). As the cable details, the 53 year old and her family are involved in many shady deals and practices, much to the ire of the Tunisian public. Along with the numerous allegations of Trabelsi corruption are "often barbs about their lack of education, low social status, and conspicuous consumption". The cable is fascinating gossip - have a read of what no longer can be read in Tunisia here, now that the government there blocked the sale (along with access to its website) of the Lebanese newspaper publishing these cables.

Some background on madame Leila. Apparently, as internet gossip goes (who needs priest wives anymore), she was previously a simply salon owner but she was also Zine Ben Ali's mistress (then prime minister). The ambitious minx made sure she became pregnant to her married lover, lied to him and told him she was having a boy (very cunning!). Unhappy with his first wife (who bore him a daughter) and eager for a son, Bel Ali divorced and brought Leila into his new career as president, installing himself after dethroning former president and founder of Tunisia, the dictator Bourguiba, in a 1987 medical coup in which the senior president was declared senile - which was true and constitutional permissible. Leila gave birth to a girl, but Ben Ali was president now and divorcing while head of state was not acceptable (though Bourguiba did, but he dropped a French woman in order to marry a Tunisian woman like any proud Arab nationalist). Leila made the most of her new status and soon enough her whole family was benefitting handsomely from privatization schemes in the 1990s. Securing “loans” from banks, the Trabelsis established their own hotel chain, airline and travel agency (The Karthago Group). It is also rumoured that when Ben Ali’s brother passed away, the Trabelsi’s inherited his drug trade.

Madame Leila looking very Sarah Palin

The details of the Ben Alis' and Tarbelsis' lavish lifestyle are given in this cable. As reported in the Guardian the picture painted of the Tunisian president's son-in-law, Mohamed Sakher El Materi, provides "a striking illustration of the great wealth and excess fuelling resentment of the presidential family." Much like Uzbekistan's Gulnara Karimova, he has achieved so much in his life. How many 28 year olds do you know own a shipping cruise line, concessions for Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche and Renault, a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm, and real estate companies? Jeez, he's done well. Details are also given of an elaborate dinner to woo McDonalds to the north African Mediterranean state with "ice cream and frozen yoghurt brought in by private plane from St Tropez", and of the family's pet tiger named Pasha, who lives in a cage and consumes four chickens a day. This "reminded the US envoy of Uday Hussein's lion cage in Baghdad". Hmmm... interesting that.

Nesrine and Mohamed Sakhner El Materi

But wait, the plot thickens. There's a new person in Tunisia Lane - Yasser Arafat's widow, Suha Arafat. Oh, she's a piece! Coming from a rich Palestinian Christian family (her father was an Oxford-educated banker), she married PLO leader Yasser Arafat, 44 years her senior, in 1990. However, they rarely spent much time together as Suha much prefered living in Paris. She did give birth to a daughter with the Palestinian leader - Zahwa in 1995. Despite most Palestinians living in abject poverty, Suha was notorious for her extravagant lifestyle and expensive shopping excursions, funded from the alleged US$100,000 a month stipend she was receiving from the Palestinian Authority coffers, which in turn was financed from generous aid packages provided by Western countries.

Yasser, Zahwa and Suha Arafat

With the French prosecutors starting to investigate the large sums of money being transferred to her account and the death of her husband in 2004, Suha and daughter quickly made their way to Tunis, where they were greeted with open arms by the Ben Alis and later given Tunisian citizenship in 2006. This is where the soap opera really takes off. As the US cable explains, Suha had a long association with Tunisia and even held a Tunisian diplomatic passport, but still embassy officials were puzzled as to why she would go for citizenship. The only reason they could see for this was "that Tunisian law forbids foreigners to own agricultural land", which the US ambassador Robert Godec cattily (but correctly) added that La Arafat "is not known to be an aspiring farmer". The most likely reason why is that La Arafat was setting up a company to build an international school in the country and Tunisian laws (when applied) only allow for citizens to have majority shares in such undertakings.

Lurking behind all this was the rumour that not only had Suha been in a relationship with her best friend Leila Ben Ali's brother, Belhassen, they had secretly married. Oooh! Check out the stud muffin....

However, as in all soap operas, things aren't what they seem to be. The Tunisian government quietly revoked Suha Arafat's Tunisian citizenship less than a year after awarding it. As this cable testifies, the possible reasons for this are numerous. There had been a major falling out between best friends Suha and Leila, partly to do with the repercussions of the new international school they founded (and Suha had invested 2.5 million euros in). In true greedy, power-mad style, La Ben Ali closed a rival, prestigious private school so as to force Tunisia's elite to send their little darlings to the new school started by her first ladies club. This resulted in a major backlash by the students' parents. Suha Arafat apparently told her best friend that she had crossed the line by doing this, to which a furious La Ben Ali retaliated by ordering her (now former) best friend's citizenship be taken away from her. Arafat at the time was on a visit to her brother in Malta who happens to be the Palestinian ambassador there.

In another twist to the story, the word has it that it wasn't Leila Ben Ali who ordered the rival school to close but Suha Arafat herself! And Leila was so, so, so mad about this that she took it out on that bitch Suha, who responded with a 'talk to the hand'. Then other 'theories' (i.e. gossip circulating around Tunis - you know, what the hairdresser had heard but promised to not tell anyone) that Suha Arafat had called Qaddafi and said 'gimme money', to which Qaddafi then called Ben Ali and told him off for not looking after Suha. Then there's the rumour that Suha ran off with loads of the Ben Ali's assets (which they had stolen anyway, but that's beside the point). Finally, this whole citizenship revoking saga could all be revenge for Suha having broken the heart of Leila's brother Belhassen. Wow, Krystle and Alexis on Dynasty have nothing on this!!!

With Suha stuck in Malta with her ambassador brother after being betrayed by her best friend Leila, what's a gal supposed to do? Of course, blab all the insider info of the Ben Alis to the US embassy. Don't tell anyone but Suha said that: the Tunisian president remained weakened by his battle with cancer; he simply does what his wife asks him to do; Leila Ben Ali and her family are stealing everything of value in the country; madame Ben Ali believes that she will succeed her husband as President of Tunisia and she dropped the American curriculum that had been planned for the international school because she fundamentally wants nothing to do with Americans, among other tidbits. The claws were out!

That's where the story is so far. Suha and her daughter remain in Malta, in a house apparently funded by Qaddafi, and has been very quiet. Perhaps she may make a surprise reappearance in a later episode of Desperate Dictator Housewives?

I don't know why the US State Department have been embarrassed by these cables when you have ambassadors like Godec making points in their cables like in this case that " Suha Arafat has an ax to grind with the Ben Ali clan, so her allegations must be taken with a big grain of salt." The US State Department is reporting it as it is. What is embarrassing is that the US government continues to support these countries, in contradiction to the principles it allegedly stands for and promotes. As these cables allude, much to the frustration of the ambassadors involved, the US government though sees the only alternative type of government ever cultivating in these types of client states are mini-Irans. So it's the lesser of two evils, so to speak. Fair enough. Please, could you just be honest that that is the case then. Otherwise don't go taking the moral high road of 'promoting democracy and freedom of expression' if these principles are not actively promoted in those client states that need them.

Kosovo leader head of 'mafia-like' group - Council of Europe report claims

Why can I hear many in the Balkans, including Albanians, saying 'told you so'. The shit will be hitting the proverbial fan once this article by the Guardian makes itself known in the Balkans. With attention focused on the disputed country/province (depending who you talk to) after last weekend's not-so-transparent elections, a Council of Europe (CofE) report into crime in Kosovo has confirmed allegations that members of the Kosovo Liberation Army kidnapped and killed Serbs, whose kidneys were then later sold.

The CofE report, tabled by human rights investigator Dick Marty, will not be news for people in the Balkans. They have known about these 'revelations' now for years. However, in a true display of the ever-persistent colonial, patronising and superiority complex attitude of the West towards the 'uncivilised' Balkans, now they are being taken seriously. One of the main (not-new) points highlighted was that former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and current Kosovo president Hashim Thaçi's links with organised crime date back more than a decade, when those loyal to his Drenica Group became the dominant faction within the KLA.

Marty has pointed out Western double standards towards human rights in Kosovo. Since 1998 the West has been purposely blind in its support for the KLA and, consequently, for the Kosovo government led by Thaçi. The West has chose to ignore suspected war crimes by the KLA, "placing a premium instead on achieving some degree of short-term stability". He concludes that during the Kosovo war and for almost a year after, Thaçi's forces meted out revenge against Serbs, Roma and ethnic-Albanians accused of "collaborating" with the enemy.

This inquiry was commissioned after the former chief prosecutor for war crimes at The Hague, Carla Del Ponte, said she had been prevented from investigating senior KLA officials. Del Ponte's claim has grounds in that only four Albanians have faced the War Crimes Tribunal, one of which was former KLA commander-turn-politician (or crime boss to others) Ramush Haradinaj, who was first acquitted but now is facing the dock again after the 'revelation' that his thugs intimidated witnesses.

No matter what the West says, an overwhelming majority of people in ex-Yugoslavia see the Tribunal as a politically-motivated show trial with no legitimacy, whereby a disproportionate number of Serbs have been tried, of the two Macedonians tried the 'clearly innocent' nobody gets 12 years while the 'guilty-as-hell' former Interior Minister is acquitted of all crimes, while so few Albanians have been tried. Then the West has the audacity to criticise Balkan countries for their less-than-transparent judicial systems!

What this report will signal is that all the suspicions many in the Balkans have had that the West were taking sides in the Balkan conflicts, despite the West's denials, are true. It has mainly been nationalist political groupings who have been the most vocal advocates of these former conspiracy theories now exposed as fact. The unwitting consequence of this is that it will increase the credibility of other political theories and tales of Western intrigue that many in the Balkans believe and propagate. However, they are not to blame. The West should not have supported criminals who are callous enough to fan the popular nationalist notion of 'regaining greater Albania' to disguise their organised crime and maintain the power structures which allow such illegal activities to thrive. The point is that this current system of governance in Kosovo is how Serbia under Milošević operated. The West rightfully was quick to at least vilify Milošević and Serbia; however when it comes to Kosovo now, they not only have looked the other away but have fully supported and protected its leaders and the corrupt system they have created!

I'll be keeping a close watch to see what the political fallout will be from this report. I hope that Kosovo's long-suffering population will finally be able to rid themselves of these corrupt criminals so that they can finally have leaders who will look past personal interest and deliver a decent standard of living for all of Kosovo's population and beyond.

Oprah, check out the 'real' Australia

Apparently the whole world knows, even those people without TVs in Africa, that Oprah Winfrey is in Australia at the moment. Well, sorry to pop the bubble - they don't. Australia is in a big Oprah fest at the moment, something I have already written about. The culmination of this love-in and supposed huge tourism ad for Australia has been two shows recorded in front of the temporarily renamed 'Oprah House' in Sydney. Thousands lined to be ushered in to the foreyard of Sydney's iconic building to sit on plastic cushions, which were described as 'horrid' (hmmm... sorry they couldn't provide you with the comfy sofa you have at home), with the hope of seeing their idol. Why do they like her? Because she's 'noice'. Of course, it has nothing to do with the anticipation that they will be receiving 'gifts' from Oprah (i.e. giveaway promos from a sponsor) such as a car. I would like to see what the numbers would be like for the Oprah audience if this element to her shows was eliminated.

While all tourism clichés have been pulled out the bag to promote Australia to the 'world' audience (well, just the USA and Canada), there has been one aspect of Australia that has been curiously missing - the Third-World living conditions that many of Australia's original inhabitants live in. This has been something picked up by activists in the Aboriginal community of Australia. So they decided to make a little film for Oprah so that she can become a little more familiar with the 'real' Australia. Watch and learn! These images are shocking.

I truly hope that Oprah does watch this film and make a point to highlight that all is not dinky-di and as friendly and Bindi Urwin-smiley as the whole farce has been portrayed. However, seeing that Tourism Australia (i.e. the Australian government, funded by taxpayers) and not Oprah has been the money behind this whole 'Australian Adventure' ad, I get the feeling that this video will be conveniently lost among the 'noice' things that Oprah does from the bottom of her heart - like giving money for laptops in a suburb of Sydney. The one million dollars in computers could have gone to Aboriginal communities instead, but then again, they don't have proper electricity, running water or housing, let alone internet and phone connections, so what's the use for them to have laptops? Nah, better give them to some First-World suburb instead. Noice!

It's happened - 'Our Julian'

Now that was much quicker than what I expected. The cover of the latest edition of the Spectator Australia - says a lot. So my post a week ago is no longer applicable. He's now 'Our Julian'!