#HappyBirthdaySZAB - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto!!!! - (January 5, 1928-April 4, 1979)

By M Waqar 

January 5, we celebrate birthday of Z A Bhutto, a leader, politician, revolutionary, who after his execution in Pakistan on April 4, 1979, still lives on in the hearts and minds of millions of Pakistanis, and the party that he founded still possesses the largest permanent voting bank in Pakistan. 

The possibility of the secular, democratic Pakistan that he had in mind, like Pakistan 's founder, Jinnah has earned ZAB the title of Quaid-i-Awam . Z. A. Bhutto has still more charisma than any politician in Pakistan. Mr Bhutto was inducted into office as the President of Pakistan in 1971 and was removed in 1977, both events took place around midnight; one in the wake of a war and the other in the shadow of a civil war. In between he gave the country what even his sympathizers and admirers would concede was a 'strong' government, he mobilized his country's first mass-based political party around a socialist ideology and highly independent foreign policy. Pakistan's modernizer Zulfikar Ali Bhutto left deep footprints in the sands of history.

To his lasting credit remains the 1973 Constitution of the country, the Shimla Accord of 1972 which brought the longest peace between India and Pakistan, the social reforms to build an egalitarian society, the non-aligned foreign policy, the nuclear programme and the building of the social, economic and military infrastructure of the country. He was a thinker, author and orator. He was deliberate, discreet, and competent; honest, upright and keeper of his covenants. He was a friend of the poor, downtrodden and oppressed. Fearless in his beliefs he refused to bow before any man or power other than the Almighty. His courage was such that he preferred to face death for his beliefs and embraced martyrdom. He had profound faith in freedom and the liberation of humanity. Under his government, Pakistan gave overt and covert support to the African nations than under apartheid and minority rule. He rejected fanaticism. He gave pride to the poor.

He gave voice to the voiceless and power to the powerless of the country. He helped them shape their own destiny and the destiny of their country. He was a man of honour who gave honour and raised the honour of his country and his people. 

He was able to do this because the people of the country from Khyber to the shores of the Arabian sea in Karachi loved him and supported him. Bhutto brought back 90,000 prisoners of war, prevented their war crime trials and also restored the territory lost on the battlefield. As leader of the Third World he spoke boldly against racism, colonialism and imperialism. He fearlessly defended the right of nations to independence. When the 1973 Ramazan war broke out, he sent Pakistan's military to defend the borders of the Muslim countries, including the Golan Heights of Syria. ZAB's short life of 50 years was spent in the service of many international, regional and national causes. The most important and the most enduring legacy of the Quaid-i-Awam was raising the consciousness of the people for democracy. He awakened the masses, making them realise they were the legitimate fountainhead of political power. He enlightened the farmer, the industrial worker, the student, the woman and the rest of the common people of their importance and of their right of franchise, which is the definite means of bringing changes for the betterment of the lives of the common people. Z. A. Bhutto's rule brought a transformation of Pakistan's rules of the game, a new populist style of governance, a new governmentality, he favoured a much more active role of the state in relation to society, he reshaped the economic and political landscape of Pakistan. He reached out to masses, aroused their feelings and disciplined their minds. The role of Bhutto family in the uplifting of the poor is unforgettable.

Z A Bhutto is the first person in Pakistan who has given voice to the common people. Z. A. Bhutto remains alive in hearts of millions of Pakistanis. It was a miracle that in less than half a decade a defeated nation had become a significant entity in the comity of nations. Pakistan had friends all around the globe from Africa to the far corner of Asia and from Europe to South America. We were regarded as a nation which had proved itself. Pakistani manpower was exported in the Middle East and the statesmanship of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had started bearing fruit. Under Z A Bhutto's rule, a new vision of Pakistan was born. Within a few years of the defeat in 1971, Pakistan began to see itself not as some beleaguered non-entity in South Asia, as the Indian establishment was prone to see it, but as a strategically located middle-sized power straddling the two worlds of South and West Asia, uniquely poised to take advantage of a host of geopolitical possibilities and enjoying widespread support among the Islamic states. He is one of the few Pakistani leaders that energized the nation and gave it a sense of optimism. Z A Bhutto, saw the future of Pakistan.

Like Jinnah he outwitted Indira Gandhi at Shimla and formed alliances with various world leaders, from Sadaat, to Boumediene to Qaddafi to Faisal. Pakistan survives today because of those alliances that enabled him to build the Nuclear bomb. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto understood the geo-political realities of the region. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto has earned a place in the pantheon of leaders from the Third World who earned everlasting fame in the struggle against colonialism and imperialism. He had the privilege of interacting with many of those leaders who played a great role in the epic struggle for national independence in the 20th century, including Mao Tse Tung, Ahmed Soekarno, Chou-en Lai, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Salvador Allende. During the period between the end of the Second World War and the end of the Cold War, the world was divided into two blocs: The Capitalist West and the Socialist East. All these leaders aspired to aspects of a socialist pattern of economy. Bhutto shared their faith in a leading role for the public sector as an instrument of self-reliance. Bhutto's foundation of the PPP was a setback for the reactionary forces in a country long dominated by the Right. The slogan of "Food, Shelter and Clothing" shifted the focus of Pakistan politics from theological to economic issues. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had the courage of his conviction to decide to lay down his life rather than compromise or seek appeasement.

The last chapter of his life is a glorious example of martyrdom for the cause of resurrection of democracy. At the time of his overthrow, Bhutto was emerging as a spokesman of the World of Islam and the leader of the Third World. The age of Bhutto was an Age of Revolution, he was the architect of the China Policy, Pakistan Steel Mill, Agriculture Reforms. Although his life and career were cruelly terminated, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto will forever shine in history as one of the Great leaders who took part in the liberation of the Third World from the yoke of Imperialism and Neo Colonialism during the Twentieth Century. He could have easily entered into a deal, as others did, at the cost of principles, to save his life and move out. How cruel it strikes to bring down such a sincere leader like Bhutto with rare caliber, competence and integrity, Bhutto never colluded with generals, he confronted them. Mr. Bhutto remains a memorable figure . He commanded the allegiance of millions of people inside Pakistan, across the Muslim world and in the Third World as a hero of the people. His leadership gave pride to his followers, to his Nation and to oppressed people everywhere. He conquered the hearts of a Nation through supreme qualities of leadership, vision, intellectual breadth, charisma, dauntlessness, bravery, boldness and a programme for political redemption of an exploited people, he built the foundations of education and industrialization in the country. He liberated the small farmers and peasants from the repression and cruelty of big landlords and banished the jagirdari and sardari system declaring that all citizens are born equal and must live with equal rights. The Taliban, the terrorist groups and the new war against terror are the direct result of the overthrow of the modernizing government of Z. A. Bhutto and its replacement by a clique of military officers that cynically used the name of religion to promote their own illegal stay in power. Quaid e Awam was murdered but his memory lives on in the monuments he built. It lives on in his ideas. And it lives on in the hearts of all men and women who believe that humanity can only progress when there is tolerance, freedom, dignity and equal opportunity for all. Pakistan survived due to the leadership of a bold and courageous leader, a people's leader, who had the vision to break the shackles of poverty to emancipate his people and lead them into a new decade of glory, strength and achievement. Quaid e Awam built the most modern schools, colleges, universities, professional colleges, vocational training institutes, including Quaid-e-Azam University, Allama Iqbal Open University, Chandka Medical College and many others. He built hospitals to take care of the sick and poor. He opened the way for the middle classes to develop and prosper in the fields of medicine, engineering , law and other specialist studies. He introduced peaceful nuclear energy to help treat cancer setting up the first cancer treating institutes in the four provinces of Pakistan. He built roads in the tribal areas and the Northern areas knowing how poor and oppressed people in the distant areas of Pakistan were. Internationally, using his experience as Foreign Minister, he hosted the Islamic Summit Conference in Lahore. It was at this conference that the Palestinian Liberation Organization was recognized as the authentic voice of the Muslims. He advocated closer relations with the Muslim countries arguing for a common economic bloc with banking and other financial institutions long before regional blocs became identified as the economic way forward. Bhutto pushed politics out of the posh drawing rooms into real Pakistan - into the muddy lanes and villages of the poor. Bhutto's inspiring leadership filled Pakistanis with hope, energy and strength.

There was a sense of purpose and direction in the country in pursuit of peace and prosperity. The economic growth rate increased and money poured in from expatriates who got the universal right to passport. The Muslim countries donated roughly $500 million annually to Pakistan, freeing it of international financial institutions. The people got jobs and opportunities. Women of the country were emancipated entering the police force, Foreign, Civil Service and subordinate judiciary for the first time in the country's history. There is a story that the American President John F. Kennedy was much impressed with the then Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. When they met, Kennedy walked with him in the Rose Garden and said, "Bhutto, if you were an American, you would be in my Cabinet". To which Zulfikar Ali Bhutto smilingly replied, "No, Mr. President. If I were an American, you would be in my cabinet". Z A Bhutto, was highly skilled negotiator and an international statesman, he secured the agreement between USSR and Pakistan, he signed an agreement with China on demarcation of the Sino-Pak boundary. When he became President, Pakistan had innumerable problems, but he was not a man to be cowed down by knotty problems, he was in fact, a dynamo of inexhaustible and boundless creative energy, he was born to solve problems , he had to tackle the problems of shattered country by a methodical system of fixing priorities. Bhutto the adroit politician and statesman tackled the difficult problems of his country one by one with devotion, determination and patriotic zeal and solved them successfully. Since his assumption of power this great man of vision and destiny, equipped with resolute will, extraordinary intelligence and seething patriotic zeal fought successfully against the landlords, capitalists, industrialists, religious fanatics, corrupt bureaucrats, saboteurs, foreign intriguers and spies, he stood like a rock against all odds and achieved national unity, he worked hard for the emancipation of the exploited working class and illiterate masses. His cruel and barbaric murder by military despots caused revulsion across the globe, Z A Bhutto dedicated his life to remove the sorrows from the hearts of the poor and the oppressed, to remove the tears from the children of his poor nation. He lived consciously to make history and to leave a legacy in the form of the development of his nation, his fight was a fight against the policies of IMF, which serve to perpetuate the backwardness of the developing nations.

Bhutto is rightfully credited with saving Pakistan at this dark moment in its history, as French President Giscard d'Estaing said, "he was the man who incarnated Pakistan at a dramatic hour of its history. Tolstoy in the last volume of his War and Peace expressed that history is a movement of ideas in which political leaders play a minor role. Sometimes the movement of ideas is indeed rapid. Yet, at times, the movement of ideas is slower than the melting of the glaciers. The movement of ideas is facilitated in a vibrant political and democratic culture, which gives room for dissent and disagreement. In dictatorial societies, history remains static in a cold freeze. And so it was in Pakistan before Quaid-i-Awam. He was the one who converted that static and decayed dictatorial polity into a vibrant and dynamic democratic society; the cost of which he paid with his own life. He who gave his blood, and the blood of his sons and daughter,

Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, knew that there can be no sacrifice greater than the sacrifice for the people whose respect, honour and dignity is the respect and dignity of the Nation. Quaid e Awam made the people proud of themselves and of their Nation. The 20th century has seen many great leaders, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is one of them. Due to his glorious achievements, Mr. Bhutto rules the hearts of the Pakistani people from his grave. He was not only the leader of Pakistan, he was the leader of an Islamic world, the leader of Third World. He will forever be remembered by his countrymen as Quaid-e-Awam. As his followers say, "Zinda Hai Bhutto, Zinda Hai"--Bhutto lives, he lives. Indeed he does, in the hearts of all those who dream of a better tomorrow.

Long Live Bhuttoism….

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Trump’s Call Leaves Allies Fearful for American Democracy

By Steven Erlanger 

  Many now take the president’s disregard for democratic and ethical norms for granted, but also fear its effect on America’s standing in the world. President Trump’s extraordinary, wheedling telephone call to state officials in Georgia seeking to overturn the election results there has shaken many Europeans — not so much for what it reveals about Mr. Trump himself, but for what it may portend for the health of American democracy.

With just 16 days left in his presidency, Mr. Trump’s capacity to shock the world with his epic self-centeredness and disregard for democratic and ethical norms is vanishing. The president has revealed himself many times before this latest episode, when he badgered and threatened Georgia officials to “find” him the votes needed to flip the state.

But if Mr. Trump has not moved on, the world has. Foreign leaders are looking forward, even as many worry that the Trump effect will last for years, damaging trust in American predictability and reliability. “A lot of people will just roll their eyes and wait for the clock to run down,” said Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House, the British research institution. “But by far the most troubling thing is the number of Republicans who are willing to go along with him, and what it’s doing to the Republican Party, playing out in real time.”

A group of House Republicans has vowed to challenge Joseph R. Biden’s Electoral College win on Wednesday when Congress meets to certify it, and at least a dozen Republican senators are expected to join them, forcing a vote though it is all but certain to fail. With Mr. Trump continuing to have such a hold over the party and winning more than 74 million votes in November, Ms. Vinjamuri said, “It shows us that it will be incredibly difficult to govern the country in the next year or so.”

If so many Americans feel that the election was fraudulent, “it looks like America can’t even secure the most fundamental norms of democracy, the peaceful transfer of power, when losers have to accept that they lost,” she said.

Indeed to distant observers, the corrosive effects of Mr. Trump’s presidency are not isolated to Mr. Trump himself but extend far beyond the president — to the deep coterie of enablers around him, in the White House and his party, and even to an American public where significant numbers themselves believe that their democracy has been compromised and cannot be trusted.

The dangers that entail for foreign allies are manifold and will not be easily dispelled even with a new president. But they are raising special concerns before Mr. Trump exits.Foreign leaders are looking forward, but many worry that the Trump effect will last for years, damaging trust in American predictability and reliability.

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. speaking in Wilmington, Del., last week. Foreign leaders are looking forward, but many worry that the Trump effect will last for years, damaging trust in American predictability and reliability.Credit...Amr Alfiky/The New York Times Patrick Chevallereau, a former French military officer now at RUSI, a defense research institution in London, said that the Trump call “shows that the current president is in a mind-set to do anything — absolutely anything — before Jan. 20. There is zero standard, zero reference, zero ethics.” He added: “Everything else than himself can be destroyed and collapse, including us.”

Thomas Wright, an Irish-born expert on America at the Brookings Institution, said that “People are worried for real that Trump will come back.” The months since the election have shown people “just how bad a second term would have been — the guardrails off, a completely personalized government and giving voice to his authoritarian tendencies,” he said.

“Now the rest of the world understands that Trump could actually make a comeback in 2024, so that is a shadow that he will cast over American politics,” Mr. Wright said.

World leaders “all know that Trump is sort of crazy, but it’s the extremity of his actions, the lengths to which he has gone, that he got 74 million votes and is not retiring but will be a force for the Republicans” that is disconcerting, he added. “People knew what Trump is like, but the importance is the shadow of the future.” Also troubling to many is the letter that the last 10 living secretaries of defense all signed urging the nation — and the military — to accept that the election is over and “the time for questioning the results has passed.”

Jean-Marie Guéhenno, a former French and United Nations diplomat who is president of the International Crisis Group, asked on Twitter: “Should we be reassured on U.S. democracy when 10 former defense secretaries warn against use of the military to dispute election results, or terrified that they believe taking a public stance has become necessary?”

The current acting secretary of defense, Christopher C. Miller, has not cooperated fully with the transition team of Mr. Biden Jr., while Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, whom Mr. Trump recently pardoned, has called for martial law and had a meeting at the White House, and that has clearly caused concern.

“It’s the things we don’t know that are scary,” Ms. Vinjamuri said. “We don’t know who else in the Pentagon is not cooperating, and it’s worrisome that these former secretaries clearly felt they had to issue a warning to people in the Pentagon that they need to uphold their oath to the Constitution.”

François Heisbourg, a French security analyst, jokingly asked, “How many wars can you start in 16 days?” But he, too, was struck by the autocratic tone of the Trump call and the hold Mr. Trump continues to have on so many key members of the Republican Party.

If the Senate runoffs in Georgia produce Republican victories on Tuesday “despite this impeachable phone call,” Mr. Heisbourg said, “the international reaction will be that the Republicans are not going to divorce Trumpism — after all, while Trump lost, they didn’t lose the legislative elections but did better than two years ago. Trump’s ability to get a grip on the party and keep it to the end is what is stunning and what scares people outside,” he said.

For others, Mr. Trump’s behavior is by now taken for granted, but so are its debilitating effects on America’s democracy and its standing in the world.

Laurence Nardon, head of the North America program at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris, said that the Trump call was “more of the same,” so not especially shocking. “American soft power, as a model of democracy, is damaged by Trump’s actions,” she said. “But I think we have understood that his practice of power is an exception, even if his election is not an accident.”

Robin Niblett, director of Chatham House, said that in general, “Europeans are no longer surprised by anything Trump does, but more disbelief that someone like Trump was ever president.”

There is confidence in the American system, Mr. Niblett said. “But what is more worrying is how many significant Republican players believe that it will do them good to play to this gallery, this scorched-earth, fake, disinformation politics, in which you raise doubts in people’s minds about your own democracy and than use those doubts politically.” The big risk, he said, is that even if the American system can turn aside authoritarianism, “there could be a really brutal dynamic that makes it hard for America to be the partner people overseas need and hope for.” After this phone call, Germans are holding their breath about what Mr. Trump might do next, said Jana Puglierin, director of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “News like this confirms everything that Germans have been hearing in the media for the past four years,” she said.

The letter of the former defense secretaries was also an eye-opener in Berlin. “They realized this is serious,” Ms. Puglierin said. “That they see a reason to write such a letter is shocking.”

Sophia Gaston, director of the British Foreign Policy Group, a research institution, said that “President Trump’s desperate efforts to interfere with the election results and subvert America’s democracy are now almost universally regarded in Westminster as a pitiful last howl at the moon.”

More optimistically, she said: “What is clear is that the tremendous impact that Trump’s administration has had on America’s standing in the world is coming to an end. There are high hopes for Biden to restore America’s moral mission, and the focus in Britain is entirely on looking forward, identifying areas of alignment and common interest with the new Biden administration.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/world/europe/brad-raffensperger-trump-call.html

Opinion: Why Congress Should Impeach Trump Again

By Neal K. Katyal and Sam Koppelman

And this time, he should be convicted. The country cannot risk his becoming president again.

The emergence of an audio recording of President Trump pressuring the Georgia secretary of state to overturn the results of the election is a harrowing moment in the history of our democracy. And though the number of his days in office is dwindling, the only appropriate response is to impeach Mr. Trump. Again.

Whether he acknowledges it or not, President Trump is leaving the White House on Jan. 20 — but right now, there is nothing stopping him from running in 2024. That is a terrifying prospect, because the way he has conducted himself over the past two months, wielding the power of the presidency to try to steal another term in office, has threatened one of our republic’s most essential traditions: the peaceful transfer of power.

Fortunately, our founders anticipated we would face a moment like this, which is one reason Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution entrusts Congress with the power not only to remove a president but also to prevent him or her from ever holding elected office again. Mr. Trump’s conduct over the past two months has left our legislators with no choice but to use it. That impeachment inquiry would take time, far more than Mr. Trump has left in office. But it would be well worth it.

Since the election was called in favor of President-elect Joe Biden, Mr. Trump has been relentlessly fomenting doubts about its legitimacy — even as many federal and state courts, including ones whose judges were appointed by Mr. Trump himself, have ruled against his claims. He has reportedly inquired about the idea of enlisting the help of the military to keep him in power.

Most recently, on the phone with Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, he said, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.” He added: “We won this state,” even though he didn’t. In a democracy, you don’t find votes. You count them. Most strikingly, Mr. Trump threatened the Georgia officials with criminal prosecution if they didn’t comply, saying leaving the vote counts intact would be a “big risk.”

This kind of threat may sound familiar, because an eerily similar abuse of power led to Mr. Trump’s impeachment just over a year ago. Senator Susan Collins of Maine explained her vote to acquit him by saying she thought he had learned “a pretty big lesson.” Clearly, Mr. Trump learned a different lesson — that he was above the law. It’s just as William Davie from North Carolina, discussing the position of the presidency at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, predicted: A president who viewed himself to be unimpeachable, he said in 1787, would “spare no efforts or means whatever to get himself re-elected.”

It’s time for Congress, once and for all, to put an end to this.

No one wants to put the country through the turmoil of another impeachment. But we also can’t afford to look the other way — for several reasons.

For one, we must establish a precedent that a president who tries to cheat his way to re-election will be held accountable. Sure, this attempt may not have succeeded, but a failed coup should itself be alarming enough. And who is to say there won’t be a closer election in the future, with a more competent authoritarian candidate — whose party also has control of the House of Representatives? We need to make sure that Congress has ensured that candidates cannot strong-arm their way into re-election.

We also need to set a precedent that a lame duck president can still be held accountable. If an incumbent, say, threatened to nuke Iran unless the Electoral College sided with him, we would want to have a mechanism by which we could remove him from office. In our Constitution, impeachment is that mechanism, but it is worthless if we never use it.

And last, we cannot risk Mr. Trump’s becoming president again — or for that matter, even running again with a chance of winning. This isn’t a point about ideology; it’s a reflection of the fact that our system may not be able to withstand this lawless man returning to the highest office in the land. Emboldened by our failure to hold him accountable for abusing his power in his first term, who knows what he would do in a nonconsecutive second term? The damage to our institutions from his first four years in office will take generations to undo. Our democracy might not be able to handle another four.Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, was able to protect Mr. Trump the last time — no doubt because he was afraid of what a truly rigorous trial might show. But he may no longer be able to do so. For one thing, Mr. Trump will soon lack the power of the presidency to dole out favors and punish his enemies. For another, the Senate composition will be different. Already, Democrats have flipped seats in Arizona and Colorado. Republicans who voted to acquit him, like Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, have shown signs they are finally willing to stand up to him.

And Georgians will go to the polls to decide who will represent them in the Senate. Mr. Trump’s preferred senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, would no doubt try to block an inquiry into his misdeeds. But if these senators lose their seats, a full and robust inquiry in the Senate could be the result, with Chuck Schumer as majority leader.

In 2008, a young member of the Judiciary Committee said, “The business of high crimes and misdemeanors goes to the question of whether or not the person serving as president of the United States put their own interests, their personal interests, ahead of public service.” That congressman’s name was Mike Pence — and he was exactly right.

We need to convict President Trump and make sure he can never call the White House home again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/opinion/trump-georgia-impeach.html

کل بھی بھٹو زندہ تھا،آج بھی بھٹو زندہ ھے

#Pakistan #PPP - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto stands as the tallest icon and pioneer of struggle for democracy and equal rights in the country

 

Former Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto stands as the tallest icon and pioneer of struggle for democracy and equal rights in the country, said Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari paying a glowing tribute.

In his message on the eve of 93rd birthday anniversary of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the PPP Chairman said that Shaheed Bhutto picked up the shattered pieces of Pakistan following Dhakka fall and inspired a politically demoralised population by rejuvenating the dream of the founders of the nation. “Through his political wisdom and sagacity, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto not only had 90,000 Prisoners of War (PoWs) freed and thousands of square kilometers occupied by the enemy vacated, he also laid foundations of nuclear power to safeguard the country from repetition of such debacles in future,” he added.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that no patriotic Pakistani can forget the plans and efforts to strengthen the economy of the country launching macro and micro level industrialisations, education institutions, a unanimous Constitution, lifting up the poor and political empowerment of every segment of the society. “What he did in a half century life for the country is unmatched in the post-Quaid-e-Azam Pakistan for which he was murdered through judiciary by the enemies of the country and its democratic order,” he added. He reiterated that PPP would follow the foot-steps of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and carry forward their struggle till their mission if achieved despite threats, hurdles, victimisations and highhandedness by the remnants of Dictator Zia and their henchmen.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24254/

#HappyBirthdaySZAB #Pakistan #PPP - The vision of Z A Bhutto

By Senator Rehman Malik

This day of April 4 reminds us of the judicial murder of a great charismatic public leader Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1979 – a day that was actually the death of humanity. He ruled the hearts of the people as he gave a voice to poor masses.

History will neither forgive nor forget the murder of a leader who wanted to make us progressive and peaceful, to take us towards national integrity and prosperity by empowering the masses, and by making Pakistan the first Muslim nuclear power in the world. He feared that Pakistan would be exposed to external danger by neighbouring India and therefore announced, “We (Pakistan) will eat grass, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own (nuclear bomb), we have no other choice.”

Bhutto refused to succumb to international pressure to roll back Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Gerald Feuerstein, who was a witness to the meeting between Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Lahore in August 1976, admitted in an interview that Bhutto rejected the warning to roll back or compromise Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a distinguished leader in the history of Pakistan who imparted the lesson of peace and humanity to the rest of the world.

Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto hurt for his people, country and the Muslim Ummah, and he made history by bringing the Ummah on one platform during the Islamic Summit Conference in Lahore in 1974. He was not only a distinguished national leader but also an unparalleled statesman who revived a broken nation after the disaster of the fall of Dhaka by bringing back 90,000 prisoners of war. The public must know that the enemies of Pakistan decided to eliminate him after he refused the rollback of the nuclear programme despite numerous pressures and threats of making him a “horrible example”.

CIA hatched a plan to block communism, using Islam through General Zia-ul-Haq. He preached his own brand of Islam wherein he promoted extremists, terrorists and all kind of criminals under the name of Jehadis. These extremists and criminal elements were brought and nourished by US in Pakistan for launching them in Afghanistan to operate.

I got an invitation for an official function at the Army House once, but it was this black day in the history of Pakistan, as on this day, the Chief Justice of Pakistan upheld the death sentence of Bhutto. He received many greetings and commendations for his judgment. General Zia-ul-Haq, standing next to the Chief Justice was also receiving greetings from his own created politicians and senior colleagues. They were essentially celebrating the death of a charismatic leader who dreamt of Pakistan leading the world. They killed and buried Bhutto mysteriously but hid his brave daughter. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, the first woman Prime Minister of the Muslim world, signified the political rebirth of her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s legacy. She suffered the most in the hands of Zia-ul-Haq and his remnants but eventually she witnessed the crashing of C-130B Hercules aircraft where even remains of the body of Zia-ul-Haq could not be found. The wrath of Allah Almighty also fell on Justice Moulvi Mushtaq who had awarded death sentence to Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as well.

As Director FIA, I took it upon myself to look into old files of the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, where I found some tampered documents. I will soon write a book detailing the conspiracy behind Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s ‘judicial murder’, which was carried out through a premeditated plan. General Zia-ul-Haq’s government changed the documents but the entire world declared it a ‘judicial murder’. I appreciate the honesty of the then Director Law of FIA who had clearly stated the shells of the bullets were replaced, witnesses were tampered, and Masood Mahmood was tutored under duress.

General Zia-ul-Haq tried to eliminate Bhuttoism by killing Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto but he still rules the hearts of the people while Zia-ul-Haq was seen as a disgrace in the world. We know almost all those Muslim leaders who participated in the Second Islamic Summit Conference held from February 22-24, 1974 in Lahore died unnatural deaths. Undoubtedly, the killing of all these Muslim leaders cannot be a coincidence but an operation to punish them and to give a message to the Muslim world.

In my humble capacity, I will soon expose those facts which are buried in files from those who are mum. Us PPP workers and President Asif Ali Zardari, filed a reference to Supreme Court but the then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry did not take it up. I, therefore, appeal to the present Chief Justice to take up this case to vindicate the position of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a distinguished leader in the history of Pakistan who imparted the lesson of peace and humanity to the rest of the world. He gave voice to the poor and oppressed people of Pakistan and empowered them to stand for their rights. I had the honour to work with three Bhuttos, first with Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and thereafter Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto – my leader, mentor and sister – followed by Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari – the only hope for Pakistan’s future. I feel proud to have personal and political association with the Bhutto and Zardari families. Like Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto who carried on Bhutto’s legacy more powerfully and bravely, I find the same bravery, wisdom, vision and far-sightedness in Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Bhutto’s ideology was popular throughout the world and he could have saved his life if had compromised with a dictator, which was an impossible notion for a leader of the people. Today, Pakistan is secure only due to Bhutto’s vision. The future belongs to PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, as he is the only one who truly has the guts to fill Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s boots. Bilawal is the future Prime Minister of Pakistan InshaAllah, and the people can see a Bhutto among themselves once again.

Pakistanis see a ray of hope in Chairman Bilawal Bhutto to pull the nation out of crisis. He is rightly following in the footprints of Z A Bhutto and SMBB and we will soon witness him be successful in his mission.

https://nation.com.pk/04-Apr-2020/the-vision-of-z-a-bhutto

OP-ED: #HappyBirthdaySZAB #Pakistan #PPP - I wish Shaheed Bhutto were alive today

 

Wajid Shamsul Hasan

Had Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto been alive today, poor people of Pakistan would not have been so pathetically treated by Imran Khan government for want of co-vid vaccine, utter lack of proper medicare, running from pillar to post for sustainable oxygen ventilators and pep. It is indeed, an irony that the world scientists are speeding up to outrun each other in producing a viable curative vaccine. It is a matter of pride for the breed of global scientists for having produced vaccines faster than what is known as speed of safe practices.

World has noted with great deal of satisfaction that three world pharmaceutical manufacturers have crossed the goal of attainable success while others have been in the race competing hard. The three that have emerged ahead of others in the Free World are- the Pfizer, the Moderna and the Oxford Astra-Zeneca. They seem to be like the major political parties in the West, their mission is identical in purpose, distinguishable from each other only in the detail. As per the common man, scientists have noted major differences such as the temperature required by the vaccine to be stored safely without adversely effecting vaccines efficacy.

Manufacturers have ensured its cost to be accessible to the reach the pockets of the most poor. According to experts Oxford’s vaccine can be stored at fridge temperature, Moderna requires storage at -20o C; Pfizer at an Arctic -78o C. The comparative cost of the doses is debatable. According to a report estimated cost is $39 for two doses for the Pfizer vaccine, $50 for two doses of Moderna, and a low $3 a dose for the Oxford. The Oxford loaves-and-fishes miracle might be made possible through Covax, a global initiative that hopes to distribute about 2bn doses to 92 low- and middle-income countries at a maximum cost of $3 a dose. On the other hand, what was once an iron curtain, Putin’s Russia has developed its own Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik-V) vaccine. As against oft repeated promises of providing vaccine to its poor people free of cost, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a massive ‘voluntary’ free vaccination programme against COVID-19. It is another thing that the Russians are finding it hard to have volunteers for its massive vaccination programme. It faces much similar opposition from its clergy as we in Pakistan have been facing in the execution of polio immunisation programme.

Despite the fact that the masses appreciated Generic Scheme as a major healthcare reform, it became a sordid victim of the conspiracy by the international pharmaceutical conglomerate and greedy Pakistani bureaucracy

As compared to others our Chinese friends have been pursuing a parallel programme. China has been concentrating on two state-sponsored vaccines – Sinovac and Sinopharm. Although they have not been tested to the nth degree, these Chinese vaccines, like Covid-19 itself, have been exported already to other countries, hopefully with less lethal consequences. In Pakistan Imran Khan’s approach is much more quixotic. On the other hand PDM being a larger mulla created platform is busy what is at best be described as bullshitting distractions. While the PTI government under IK is busy bemoaning financial bankruptcy having no money for its dilapidated medicare – with greater emphasis on Covid-19 prevention rather than its cure. Having established his own ShaukatKhanum Memorial Cancer Hospital IK seems to have accomplished his life longambition,  while leaving rest of healthcare to privatised social distancing, leaving it to the masses to self-restraint while allowing free for all in larger social gatherings such as weddings etc.

For a country with a population of over 220 million with poverty ruling from cradle to grave, whatever funds are allocated to meet the co-vid19 consequences from its empty treasury, PTI government’s measly allocations towards the procurement of a co-vid19 vaccine, ‘initially to cover the most vulnerable 5% of the population’ [i.e. frontline health workers and people above the age of 65 years]. Experts are busy debating to decide from which source the vaccine supplies will be procured – western or eastern, when or at what price. $150 million doesn’t buy much these days—most probably we will send loads of PTI teams with big beggars bowls to beg for donations.

PTI government feels that there would be no harm to seek Saudi bailouts and Chinese donations—after all Muslims in Pakistan from time immemorial when Bedous only knew camel to be the sole mode of transport in their barren country. Although our health authorities are expected to ensure what quantity of vaccine we would be needing and how much would be available with manufacturers, our ability to pay especially for the government with big holes in its pockets. According to rough guess work two vials of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will cost Rs1,000 in Pakistan. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s vials will cost Rs6,000. The Moderna vaccine will cost Rs12,000.’ Charity may begin at home. It is not elastic. It does not extend to pharmaceutical companies.

In the midst of co-vid19 pandemic one is reminded of Pakistan’s great leader martyred Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Jan 5 birthday) on his coming birthday anniversary. Besides many of his achievements including his pursuit of nuclear bomb, one cannot forget his brave attempt at introducing Generic Medicine scheme 1972 opening flood gates of reducing prices of multinational products. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the masses appreciated Generic Scheme as a major healthcare reform, it became a sordid victim of the conspiracy by the international pharmaceutical conglomerate and greedy Pakistani bureaucracy. Generic scheme’s impact was immensely great, it led to drastic reduction in prices. Much like Bhutto paid the price with his life for acquiring nuclear glow for Pakistan, the powerful western pharmaceutical lobby and their local licensees, abetted by the country’s medical profession—contributed huge funding to the Zia-backed PNA movement. We hope and pray that some socially-conscious corporate entity will obtain a licence to manufacture a Covid-19 vaccine locally learning a lesson from our next door neighbour India which has become a major manufacturer of all vaccines.

https://dailytimes.com.pk/709890/i-wish-shaheed-bhutto-were-alive-today/

US Congress passes Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act

It aims to expand scholarships for Pakistani women.

The US Congress has passed a bill named after Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai aimed at expanding the number of scholarships to women in Pakistan.

The scholarships will be awarded under a merit and needs-based programme.

The Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act was passed by the US House of Representatives in March 2020, according to the information posted on the US Congress website.

The US Senate recently adopted the bill by a voice vote. It has now been sent to President Donald Trump to sign it into a law.

The bill requires the USAID to award at least 50 per cent of scholarships to Pakistani women, the Radio Pakistan reported.

These scholarships will be provided across a range of academic disciplines and in accordance with the existing eligibility criteria.

In 2012, a Taliban gunman shot Yousafzai in the head for campaigning for girls’ education but she survived. She became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

The Pakistani Nobel laureate graduated from the University of Oxford in June 2020.

https://www.samaa.tv/education/2021/01/us-congress-passes-malala-yousafzai-scholarship-act/

Speaker Pelosi celebrates diversity of new Congress in FIRST SPEECH following re-election as Speaker

Paul Ryan Warns Electoral Objections Could 'Do Significant Damage to American Democracy'

 BY EMILY CZACHOR 

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan joined the growing collection of Republicans who stand against congressional lawmakers' intent to reject the Electoral College vote count.

Ryan, who served as a Wisconsin congressman and ran for vice president in 2012, rarely shares public remarks as they relate to politics in the aftermath of his congressional term. However, Ryan broke his silence on the upheaval currently dividing GOP lawmakers in a statement obtained by Newsweek on Sunday.

"All our basic rights and freedoms flow from a fidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law. This principle is not only fundamentally American but a central tenet of conservatism," he said. "Under our system, voters determine the president, and this self-governance cannot sustain itself if the whims of Congress replace the will of the people. I urge members to consider the precedent that it would set."

Echoing arguments presented by other Republican critics, Ryan noted that questioning the electoral vote, in a presumed effort to reverse its outcome, risks harming the democratic election process, regardless of whether the dispute is successful.

"It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act than a federal intervention to overturn the results of state-certified elections and disenfranchise millions of Americans," the former House Speaker continued. "The fact that this effort will fail does not mean it will not do significant damage to American democracy."

A group of Republican lawmakers plan to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory on Wednesday, when Congress is scheduled to certify results of the vote. Although there is no evidence to suggest that Biden's win against Donald Trump during the general election was invalid, some of the sitting president's supporters—including a handful of political allies—have backed his unfounded allegations of voter fraud manipulating results to his opponent's benefit.

After receiving a majority of the nation's popular votes during November's presidential contest, Biden earned 306 votes from the Electoral College when representatives formally cast their ballots in mid-December. His tally stood well above the 270-vote threshold necessary to win a presidential election, and exceeded Trump's 232 votes by a substantial margin.

Trump's campaign pursued an extended effort to discount election outcomes in states and counties that supported his Democratic competitor, filing lawsuits that objected to results and ultimately seeking to overturn them. The sitting president has not accepted his loss following the Electoral College vote several weeks ago, and repeatedly publicized unfounded claims about the election as recently as Sunday afternoon.

https://www.newsweek.com/paul-ryan-warns-electoral-objections-could-do-significant-damage-american-democracy-1558599

Donald Trump's gift to America: Realizing we've never been a liberal democracy

By PAUL ROSENBERG

Is Trump a threat to liberal democracy, as elite voices tell us — or a reminder that we've never gotten there?

If every cloud has a silver lining, Donald Trump's destructiveness offers this one: He has forced us to a point of reckoning about America. If we think all this chaos is just about him, we've missed the whole point. On that point, there's wide agreement. Beyond that, however, there's considerable disagreement, if not confusion. The vast majority of elite discourse sees this in terms of a challenge to liberal democracy — a challenge that's been unfolding worldwide over the past decade or so, sometimes characterized as a "third wave of autocratization." 

There's a large body of knowledge and experience behind this point of view (see groups such as Varieties of Democracy for a global perspective, or Bright Lines Watch in the U.S.). But such an idealized view of American democracy has always been challenged by African Americans, for instance: See Frederick Douglass' "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" or Langston Hughes' "Let America Be America Again.") Trump's election, in obvious response to Barack Obama's, has had the effect of pushing the longstanding Black critique of American democracy to the very center of our politics.  

In contrast, University of Wisconsin political scientist Mark Copelovitch has been tweeting his observations of American politics under the rubric of "Today in life under competitive authoritarianism." The term comes from Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way's 2010 book, "Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War" (introduced in an earlier paper here.) They cite "four minimum criteria" that modern democratic regimes meet, which these "hybrid regimes" (including most of the nations in the former Soviet Union) fail to meet on a systematic basis, thereby creating an uneven playing field between government and opposition. The first three of these criteria are that executives and legislatures are chosen through elections that are open, free, and fair; that virtually all adults posses the right to vote; and that political rights and civil liberties — including freedom of the press, freedom of association and freedom to criticize the government without reprisal — are broadly protected. 

By systemically violating these criteria, and possibly a fourth — "elected authorities possess real authority to govern, in that they are not subject to the tutelary authority of military or clerical leaders" — competitive authoritarian regimes seek to maintain the general appearance of being democracy-like in order to claim legitimacy, but without practicing actual, substantive democracy. In a late October pair of tweets, Copelovitch summed up his view:

Arguably, the US has basically not fully met the 1st 2 of Levitsky & Way's democratic criteria since the failure of Reconstruction. Trump-era backsliding is mostly on criterion 3 But the problem now is additive. EC + increases in gerrymandering & malapportionment + Trump.

I actually do think this is what we are starting to realize & why the Court/Senate/statehood reforms have gained traction. The immediate authoritarian threat of Trump since 2017 has shined light on the enduring undemocratic nature of our political institutions.

This framework of "competitive authoritarianism" offers a more realistic description of America's actually existing political system than calling it a backsliding liberal democracy. Our problem is not primarily a flaw in liberal democracy as such, but in the United States' consistent failure to actually embody what it pretends to be.

I asked Copelovitch about his "competitive authoritarianism" tweets, and he responded that the "most proximate reason" for writing them was his state of residence: "I have lived since 2006 in Wisconsin, which has been the canary in the coalmine for all of the developments and risks to American democracy that we've seen since 2016. ... What we're seeing at the national level under Trump is simply the extension of what's happened in Wisconsin, under [former governor] Scott Walker and [State Assembly Speaker] Robin Vos, to the U.S. as a whole." The fullest description of this can be found in Dan Kaufman's book, "The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics." 

But there's also Copelovitch's own background, as he explained by email. 

I come at all of this as a scholar of international political economy (the politics of international trade, money, and finance). For the last decade, I've been studying the causes and consequences of the Great Recession and the Eurozone financial crises and quite a bit of time collaborating with (and reading) comparative politics scholars focused on the rise of far right and populist nationalist parties. I've also spent a lot of time studying the politics of the interwar era, especially in the wake of the economic and financial crises in Weimar Germany (see my recent book), and it should come as no surprise that I, like many, see many similarities between that era and ours.

This approach fits well with Levitsky and Way's concept of "competitive authoritarianism," which they define in contrast with democracy on the one hand and outright authoritarianism on the other: "In competitive authoritarian regimes, formal democratic institutions are widely viewed as the principal means of obtaining and exercising political authority. Incumbents violate those rules so often and to such an extent, however, that the regime fails to meet conventional minimum standards for democracy." 

Modern functioning democracies meet the four criteria named above. While there may be violations of any of the four criteria, "such violations are not broad or systematic enough to seriously impede democratic challenges to incumbent Governments," the authors write. "In other words, they do not fundamentally alter the playing field between government and opposition." But that's precisely what those violations are doing in America today — and have been doing since the demise of Reconstruction in the late 19th century, when it comes to free and fair elections with universal suffrage.

Passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 represented a giant step forward, but significant participation gaps have persisted, among minority groups in particular and low-income people in general, as documented in "Why Americans Don't Vote," which led to the passage of the 1993 "motor voter" law and "Why Americans Still Don't Vote," a sequel of sorts describing the continued obstacles. Since then, moreover, the Republican Party has increasingly shifted from passive obstruction of expanded voting rights to strategies of active voter suppression. 

This fits within the "competitive authoritarian" framework Levitsky and Way describe: 

Rather than openly violating democratic rules (for example, by banning or repressing the opposition and the media), incumbents  are more likely to use bribery, co-optation, and more subtle forms of persecution, such as the use of tax authorities, compliant judiciaries, and other state agencies to "legally" harass, persecute, or extort cooperative behavior from critics.

Both the sweeping gerrymandering described in "Ratf**ked" by former Salon editor David Daley, and the Supreme Court's refusal to remedy the situation, are crucial examples of how this unfolds in America today. The same could be said of the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, striking down the crucial pre-clearance provision of the Voting Rights Act by invalidating the jurisdictional maps. It also applies to voter-suppression strategies such as voter ID laws, which disproportionately affect Democratic voters.

Race, even more than class, stands at the center of most of these voter suppression and disenfranchisement efforts, which descend from America's founding as a Herrenvolk democracy or republic (experts have argued for both). Today's Republicans certainly didn't originate this practice, but they energetically took it over, as described in "The Long Southern Strategy" (Salon author interview here), for example. Other anti-democratic aspects of our political system have more mixed origins: "Ratf**ked," for example, shows how the GOP took traditional gerrymandering to a level never imagined before. 

Copelovitch told me he began tweeting about "life under competitive authoritarianism" as a way of "linking these three things together: the anti-democratic institutional biases of U.S. politics, the unprecedented lawless authoritarianism of Trump and the GOP's active embrace of restricting democracy. I've kept it going largely because the developments have continued throughout the last several years, to the point that I believe there are real, serious concerns about the state of American democracy."

This is an especially important point: Copelovitch sees the awareness of these concerns as a real dividing line "between people arguing that 'the system has worked' over the last two months to prevent Trump's attempts to steal the election, and those of us still warning that the unprecedented authoritarian threat to U.S. democracy persists, despite Biden's victory."

Part of what defines that division is a deeper sense of how the system isn't working. Copelovitch has written earlier tweets referencing Robert Dahl's 1989 book "Democracy and its Critics" and noting that the U.S. basically violates the core criteria of democratic process that Dahl defines, especially relating to voter suppression, gerrymandering and the apportionment of U.S. Senate seats. "When you start to compare the U.S. by these criteria, to other countries' political systems, you quickly notice that we don't stack up well at all," he told me. "If you look at, say Germany or New Zealand, which have mixed-member proportional representation systems, you realize that our electoral institutions have institutionalized minority rule and locked in policies at odds with what large majorities of Americans seem to want on almost every issue." The $2,000 stimulus checks blocked by Mitch McConnell last week are merely the most recent high-profile example. 

"In this sense, U.S. politics isn't really fully democratic," Coplevitch continued. "At the moment, every single branch of the government is currently controlled (or partially controlled) by the representatives or appointees of a party representing a minority of Americans and supporting a wide range of policy positions that are deeply unpopular with the median voter."

It's not that we don't know what to do, at least in theory. But the lessons are drenched in historical irony. "I've long been of the position that the U.S. got constitutional design mostly right in 1949, when we helped oversee the establishment of Germany's mixed-member proportional representation system at the founding of the Federal Republic," Copelovitch said. "New Zealand adopted this system in 1996, and it has been very successful. If one were starting from scratch and looking for the ideal federal system, this is the model we'd look to follow."

That might be politically impossible in the U.S. anytime soon, he admits. but there are other options. Copelovitch cites Lee Drutman's book "Breaking the Two Party Doom Loop," which advocates ranked choice voting, multi-member districts, enlarging the House of Representatives, automatic universal voter registration, statehood for both the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and fixed terms for Supreme Court justices, among other reforms. 

The first bill passed by the Democratic House majority in 2019, H.R. 1, the "For the People Act," was a direct attempt to address this situation — even if it didn't go nearly far enough. Mitch McConnell's response was telling, characterizing the law as "a package of urgent measures to rewrite the rules of American politics for the exclusive benefit of the Democratic Party." Aside from the obvious projection involved, the Senate majority leader came awfully close to acknowledging the inconvenient truth that elite Republican positions are either profoundly unpopular or profoundly impractical. (This same contradiction, to a large extent, enabled the ascendancy of Donald Trump.) It's certainly possible that Republicans could find ways to compete on a more level playing field, but only by abandoning the extremist politics they've increasingly embraced over the past 40 years.

Recognizing that America is, or is becoming, a competitive authoritarian regime is undoubtedly painful and unsettling. But that's the critical first step in becoming the liberal democracy this nation has always pretended to be. As with addiction or mental illness, you can't fix a problem until you finally admit you have one. 

https://www.salon.com/2021/01/02/donald-trumps-gift-to-america-realizing-weve-never-been-a-liberal-democracy/

Biden adviser: Trump recording 'irrefutable proof' of Trump's 'assault on American democracy'

BY JUSTINE COLEMAN

A senior adviser for President-elect Joe Biden said Sunday that the recording of President Trump’s conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) "captures the whole, disgraceful story" of the president’s "assault on American democracy."

The Washington Post on Sunday released audio from an hour-long Saturday phone call in which Trump repeatedly asks Raffensperger to "find" more than 11,000 ballots and hand the president a win against President-elect Joe Biden in the state.

"We now have irrefutable proof of a president pressuring and threatening an official of his own party to get him to rescind a state's lawful, certified vote count and fabricate another in its place,” Biden senior adviser Bob Bauer said in a statement. “It captures the whole, disgraceful story about Donald Trump's assault on American democracy."

The phone call represents the first tangible proof that Trump himself has attempted to pressure a state official to change the results of the 2020 election. During Trump’s call with the Georgia secretary of state, the president told Raffensperger that, “the people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated.”

"All I want to do is this," Trump added. "I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

The president, who has declined to concede to Biden, had previously requested Georgia officials to initiate a special legislative session with the goal of overturning Biden’s election win. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) declined, prompting Trump to publicly condemn him and call for his resignation.

Raffensperger, Kemp and other Republican Georgia officials have maintained that Biden won the state and that claims that widespread election fraud affected the election are unfounded.

Biden has widely been recognized as the president-elect since Nov. 7, and the Electoral College made that victory official last month. But Trump’s legal team, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, launched several efforts to contest the votes, including unsuccessful lawsuits in battleground states.

Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia since 1992. The president-elect has condemned Trump's efforts to alter the election results, saying last month that his win represented the "clearest demonstration of the will of the American people."

Dozens of Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate are expected to challenge the Electoral College results on Wednesday in the hopes that Congress will back the objections and send the matter to the mostly Republican state legislatures.

But the effort will almost certainly prove fruitless. Congress is unlikely to back these objections as Democrats control the House and several Republican party leaders in the Senate are against the move.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/532445-biden-adviser-trump-recording-irrefutable-proof-of-trumps-assault-on

#TrumpTapes #TrumpTreason - Full Audio: Trump’s Jan. 2 call with Ga. secretary of state

#Pelosi #Congress #USHouse Nancy Pelosi voted House Speaker by the 117th Congress

Video Report - #Facebook Who's right: Facebook or Apple?

Video Report - Politics wrap: Trump threatens GA secretary of state, Senate runoffs too close to call

Carl Bernstein Says Latest Trump Tapes Are ‘Far Worse’ Than Watergate

By Josephine Harvey

Audio of the president trying to persuade a Georgia official to change election results is “the ultimate smoking gun tape,” the Watergate journalist said.

The leaked tapes of Donald Trump trying to pressure Georgia’s secretary of state to overturn the president’s election defeat are “far worse” than what occurred in the Watergate scandal, journalist Carl Bernstein said Sunday.

Bernstein, whose reporting of the 1972 political scandal led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, said the bombshell tapes of Trump were evidence of an attempted coup.

“It’s not déjà vu. This was something far worse than occurred in Watergate,” Bernstein told CNN. “We have both a criminal president of the United States in Donald Trump and a subversive president of the United States at the same time in this one person.”

In audio recordings published by The Washington Post Sunday, Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” exactly enough votes to overturn his loss in that state to President-elect Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election. Trump repeatedly insisted he had won. At one point, Trump seemed to threaten legal consequences if Raffensperger did not investigate his baseless claims.

“This is the ultimate smoking gun tape,” Bernstein said. “It is the tape with the evidence of what this president is willing to do to undermine the electoral system and illegally, improperly and immorally try to instigate a coup.”

In any other presidency, this tape would be evidence enough to result in impeachment, a conviction in the Senate and a call by members of Congress ― Republicans included ― for the president’s immediate resignation, Bernstein said.

“We’re not going to hear that,” Bernstein added. “We might from a few Republicans, but that’s what’s really called for here. And the one thing we should recall from Watergate was that the heroes of Watergate were Republicans who would not tolerate Richard Nixon’s conduct.” 

Trump Pressured Georgia Official to ‘Find’ Enough Votes to Overturn Election

By Michael D. Shear

The president vaguely warned of a “criminal offense” as he pressured Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a call, according to audio excerpts.

President Trump demanded that Georgia’s Republican secretary of state “find” him enough votes to overturn the presidential election, and vaguely threatened him with “a criminal offense,” during an hourlong telephone conversation with him on Saturday, according to audio excerpts from the conversation.

Mr. Trump, who has spent almost nine weeks making false conspiracy claims about his loss to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., told Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, that Mr. Raffensperger should recalculate the vote count so Mr. Trump would win the state’s 16 electoral votes.

“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Mr. Trump said on the call, a recording of which was obtained by The Washington Post, which published excerpts from the audio on its website Sunday. “Because we won the state.”

Mr. Raffensperger rejected the president’s efforts to get him to reverse the election results, which are set to be certified by Congress during a session on Wednesday. Some of Mr. Trump’s allies in the House and the Senate have said they will object to the results of the elections in several states, including Georgia.

But Mr. Raffensperger told Mr. Trump that he stood by the results.

“Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong,” he said, according to the audio recording.

During the call, the president offered several false conspiracy theories, including debunked charges that ballots in Fulton County were shredded and that voting machines operated by Dominion Voting Systems were tampered with and replaced. Ryan Germany, the legal counsel in Mr. Raffensperger’s office, can be heard telling the president that such charges are untrue.

“You should want to have an accurate election. And you’re a Republican,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Raffensperger, who replied that “we believe that we do have an accurate election.”

Mr. Trump responded: “No, no, no, you don’t, you don’t have, you don’t have, not even close. You guys, you’re off by hundreds of thousands of votes.”

Then the president suggested that Mr. Raffensperger could be prosecuted criminally.

“You know what they did and you’re not reporting it,” the president said. “You know, that’s a criminal — that’s a criminal offense. And you know, you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That’s a big risk.”

The president confirmed the call in a tweet Sunday morning, claiming that Mr. Raffensperger “was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state ‘voters’, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!”

In a response on Twitter, Mr. Raffensperger wrote: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/03/us/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-georgia.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage