Two items on the Mexican War against Drug Traffickers in the last day made the news:
Daring reporter (and CompHyp friend) Adam Housley has a report on FOXNews about how the "narco's" are back to mule-packing across the border in Southern California. (They never really stopped, but these days their driving a 20 ton semi-trailer in with a full load is not really an option... so back to basics). The trick this time seems to be an attempt to use U.S. nationals as the mules, to avoid close inspection.
And then, right across the border from that report, the Mexican government scores a big win by bagging 58 suspects at a banquet, including Ángel Jácome Gamboa, who is wanted for the murder of 12 police officers in addition to charges of narco-trafficking. The raid was a Mexican Army-led Operation.
Bravo!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Heck of a good day in Honduras
...for the United States Drug Enforcement Agency and the forces of justice, that is.
...maybe not so fun if one is a narco-trafficker.
Seized at sea: More than three Tons of Cocaine taken on a Honduran-flagged ship.
Downed on land: Another Ton of Cocaine in an airplane crash in Northern Honduras.
Both the ship and plane were en-route north from ...Venezuela.
...maybe not so fun if one is a narco-trafficker.
Seized at sea: More than three Tons of Cocaine taken on a Honduran-flagged ship.
Downed on land: Another Ton of Cocaine in an airplane crash in Northern Honduras.
Both the ship and plane were en-route north from ...Venezuela.
The Test; UNSC Iran Sanctions Committee -- part 1
This author has called the Japanese role as Chairman of the UNSC Iran Sanctions Committee "a test", and it is in fact testing time for all parties now:
What makes this a particular challenge is that the UNSC Presidency itself is not exactly in sympathetic hands right now... Libya has it for the month.
Iran and Syria have until next week to explain to a United Nations sanctions committee how they were involved with a ship detained off Cyprus in January found to be loaded with explosives believed to be bound for Gaza.
What makes this a particular challenge is that the UNSC Presidency itself is not exactly in sympathetic hands right now... Libya has it for the month.
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Weekly N&C for March 9th, 2009
**This is an abbreviated posting as of Tuesday morning. Obligations elsewhere simply do not allow time for a proper job on this. My regrets. LDG**
Sudan goes from bad to worse
The situation in Sudan, specifically regarding the civil war in the Darfur region, may well not be killing as many people this week as in the past, but in the larger scheme of things events have just "killed" any reasonable hope of ending the killing.
The general sequence of events went like this:
The situation on the ground in Darfur has been under fairly steady moderation with UN Peacekeepers (of limited ability) deployed nearby, large numbers of aid agencies attempting to deliver relief, and some amount of media attention to the harm already done; enough that when the rebels (various) or government (incl. paramilitaries) lob bombs or bullets around, someone at least gets the story out. *Not* a good situation, but maybe one on the way in the direction of better...
The International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down a warrant for the arrest of Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, President of Sudan, on March 3rd. Here is the press release from the ICC.
The ICC has no power to compel the arrest of anyone, anywhere. It can only ask that the individual be brought to their custody.
The al-Bashir regime responded with the banning and confiscation of assets of 13 international aid organizations and 3 local providers, on the claim that those groups assisted the ICC in formulating the indictment leading to the warrant.
As of Sunday, March 8th, al-Bashir was putting on his fourth day of displays of utter contempt for the warrant, this time by appearing at a mass rally of "supporters" in El Fasher, capital of north Darfur. He even brought along some of the diplomatic corps from Khartoum to witness the show. The thing is, he really does have a lot of supporters... most of them Islamist thugs in the same mold as O. H. A. al-Bashir, but don't rule out all the anti-colonialist remnants from ~30 years ago or the opportunist Arab nationalist or two in the pack. It seems to be pretty easy to motivate that crew with claims of the ICC being a "white-man's court", which rather makes moot any discussion of intercultural judicial norms like proscribing genocide or such.
As of late Monday, the 9th, the U.S. Embassy in Sudan has gone public with (as several other nation's Embassies have quietly) notice that the al-Bashir regime isn't guaranteeing the safety of any foreign presence and given the limitation on what diplomats can do announced a withdrawal of non-essential personnel. More, Embassies are advising their nationals to have a plan to get out of Sudan by their own means as the Embassy may shut down without warning.
Thanks for the helpful safety tip there, fellows.
Moreover, thank you especially to Dr. Susan Rice, AFRICA EXPERT and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (and her staff), for having pushed for an ICC role in the Darfur conflict resolution for years now...
{sarcasm}
Congratulations on having excommunicated Henry (IV or V; Holy Roman Emperor), Your Holiness. Damn shame you lack the means or mechanism to have done anything more than made him and his supporters really, really angry. Sure hope you don't mind all the dead Italians.
***
End Notes:
All notes embedded as links in the text.
Sudan goes from bad to worse
The situation in Sudan, specifically regarding the civil war in the Darfur region, may well not be killing as many people this week as in the past, but in the larger scheme of things events have just "killed" any reasonable hope of ending the killing.
The general sequence of events went like this:
The situation on the ground in Darfur has been under fairly steady moderation with UN Peacekeepers (of limited ability) deployed nearby, large numbers of aid agencies attempting to deliver relief, and some amount of media attention to the harm already done; enough that when the rebels (various) or government (incl. paramilitaries) lob bombs or bullets around, someone at least gets the story out. *Not* a good situation, but maybe one on the way in the direction of better...
The International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down a warrant for the arrest of Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, President of Sudan, on March 3rd. Here is the press release from the ICC.
The ICC has no power to compel the arrest of anyone, anywhere. It can only ask that the individual be brought to their custody.
The al-Bashir regime responded with the banning and confiscation of assets of 13 international aid organizations and 3 local providers, on the claim that those groups assisted the ICC in formulating the indictment leading to the warrant.
As of Sunday, March 8th, al-Bashir was putting on his fourth day of displays of utter contempt for the warrant, this time by appearing at a mass rally of "supporters" in El Fasher, capital of north Darfur. He even brought along some of the diplomatic corps from Khartoum to witness the show. The thing is, he really does have a lot of supporters... most of them Islamist thugs in the same mold as O. H. A. al-Bashir, but don't rule out all the anti-colonialist remnants from ~30 years ago or the opportunist Arab nationalist or two in the pack. It seems to be pretty easy to motivate that crew with claims of the ICC being a "white-man's court", which rather makes moot any discussion of intercultural judicial norms like proscribing genocide or such.
As of late Monday, the 9th, the U.S. Embassy in Sudan has gone public with (as several other nation's Embassies have quietly) notice that the al-Bashir regime isn't guaranteeing the safety of any foreign presence and given the limitation on what diplomats can do announced a withdrawal of non-essential personnel. More, Embassies are advising their nationals to have a plan to get out of Sudan by their own means as the Embassy may shut down without warning.
Thanks for the helpful safety tip there, fellows.
Moreover, thank you especially to Dr. Susan Rice, AFRICA EXPERT and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (and her staff), for having pushed for an ICC role in the Darfur conflict resolution for years now...
{sarcasm}
Congratulations on having excommunicated Henry (IV or V; Holy Roman Emperor), Your Holiness. Damn shame you lack the means or mechanism to have done anything more than made him and his supporters really, really angry. Sure hope you don't mind all the dead Italians.
***
End Notes:
All notes embedded as links in the text.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Sunday Evening Push
There will likely be no other new discussion threads today, mostly to allow me time to work on the Weekly piece.
Lots of things left to do with the existing discussion threads, and I'll be around to comment on them too. Rather than posting an "Open" thread this weekend, this thread is left open to comments to fill any needs for that sort of thing. It will take a pretty compelling event to require a stand-alone Open Thread anytime soon, I believe. So enjoy here as you choose and the usual rules still apply; play nice.
This is looking to be a busy week, but stay around for various items as they come in:
.Japan has its very own political "donation" scandal going, and this might derail I. Ozawa and the Democratic Party of Japan from their plans to finally win a general election.
..Hugo Chavez has been on a property-expropriation binge this last week. What is going to get seized this week, and how much will arepas cost then. hm?
...Presidential Election time in El Salvador. ARENA vs. FMLN for the big prize this go-round. Polls on the 15th.
....North Korean home rocketry experiments.
Should be, if not else, another exciting time.
As always, thank you for coming here!
Lots of things left to do with the existing discussion threads, and I'll be around to comment on them too. Rather than posting an "Open" thread this weekend, this thread is left open to comments to fill any needs for that sort of thing. It will take a pretty compelling event to require a stand-alone Open Thread anytime soon, I believe. So enjoy here as you choose and the usual rules still apply; play nice.
This is looking to be a busy week, but stay around for various items as they come in:
.Japan has its very own political "donation" scandal going, and this might derail I. Ozawa and the Democratic Party of Japan from their plans to finally win a general election.
..Hugo Chavez has been on a property-expropriation binge this last week. What is going to get seized this week, and how much will arepas cost then. hm?
...Presidential Election time in El Salvador. ARENA vs. FMLN for the big prize this go-round. Polls on the 15th.
....North Korean home rocketry experiments.
Should be, if not else, another exciting time.
As always, thank you for coming here!
Real IRA takes a cheap shot; gets lucky
Twelve years of trying: bombs; infiltrations; the occasional political murder attempt -- not a success... until now.
In the Northern Ireland of today, a land in the main at peace, two British Army Engineers were killed, two others of their fellows wounded, as were two civilians in a "guns-only" attack run by the Real IRA (one of the remaining "dissident" Provo groups still under arms). It wasn't against deployed forces: it was from a commandeered taxi driven close to a basing area.
The young soldiers killed and wounded were receiving a pizza delivery at the gate of the base at the time of the attack.
Update: more details here.
***
Side Notes:
The statement from Sir Hugh Orde regarding a request for SRR assets to be deployed is likely not of direct relevance to this attack. The knowledge that attack-risk was rising may have influenced his decision to ask for such support, however.
The SRR is the modern-day incarnation of JCU (NI), 14 Int Co. Royal Army that was of great service to the Kingdom during the 'Troubles. It is now a part of United Kingdom Special Forces.
In the Northern Ireland of today, a land in the main at peace, two British Army Engineers were killed, two others of their fellows wounded, as were two civilians in a "guns-only" attack run by the Real IRA (one of the remaining "dissident" Provo groups still under arms). It wasn't against deployed forces: it was from a commandeered taxi driven close to a basing area.
The young soldiers killed and wounded were receiving a pizza delivery at the gate of the base at the time of the attack.
Update: more details here.
***
Side Notes:
The statement from Sir Hugh Orde regarding a request for SRR assets to be deployed is likely not of direct relevance to this attack. The knowledge that attack-risk was rising may have influenced his decision to ask for such support, however.
The SRR is the modern-day incarnation of JCU (NI), 14 Int Co. Royal Army that was of great service to the Kingdom during the 'Troubles. It is now a part of United Kingdom Special Forces.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Equal Opportunity Offender
The Iranian theocracy continues to spread *that special feeling* throughout the world, this time drawing the open ire and a break in diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Morocco.
The latest insult is a rather complex one, involving the Sunni definition of royal legitimacy, an Iranian territorial claim to the nation of Bahrain, and a proscription against Shiite proselytism in Morocco...
...but there is a history behind this. Some of us have never forgotten (or forgiven) the Iranian regime's role in propping up the Polisario insurgency in Western Sahara.
The latest insult is a rather complex one, involving the Sunni definition of royal legitimacy, an Iranian territorial claim to the nation of Bahrain, and a proscription against Shiite proselytism in Morocco...
...but there is a history behind this. Some of us have never forgotten (or forgiven) the Iranian regime's role in propping up the Polisario insurgency in Western Sahara.
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