Sunday, April 19, 2015
U.N. says Afghanistan's court system fails women
By ALI M. LATIFI
The United Nations says Afghanistan's court system is failing to provide adequate access to women who are victims of violence. In a report released Sunday, “Justice through the eyes of Afghan Women,” the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said more women are turning to non-judicial methods, such as local mediation councils, rather than the traditional court system.
The 35-page report, produced in cooperation with the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, is comprised of a series of interviews with 110 women across 18 of the nation’s provinces between August 2014 and February 2015. The vast majority of those interviewed chose to resolve their disputes through mediation rather than legal means. Though the Elimination of Violence Against Women law, passed by presidential decree in 2009, criminalized 22 acts of violence, the U.N. found several factors that caused women to shun the court system. Along with fears of corruption, including paying bribes to move the process along, women in Afghanistan, as in many other countries, felt they lacked a clear understanding of the legal process to know how the law would be applied to their cases. Also, with increasing economic insecurity and unemployment in the country, women feared alienating or imprisoning the men who are most often the sole breadwinners of their households. Nicholas Haysom, the secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan and the head of the assistance mission, said: “Mediation of violence against women cases require support and monitoring so they are guided by principles of consent, safety, impartiality and inclusivity.” The report found at least six cases in which a woman complainant was not present during mediation. In 11 other cases, the call for mediation was “imposed on the woman” by other parties. Of the 80 cases that were seen through to completion, only five resulted in convictions. Though the U.N. favors referring cases of violence against women to the courts, women’s rights activists said that until the judiciary is rid of corruption and reaches the entire nation, the value of mediation cannot be discounted. Orzala Ashraf Nemat, a women’s rights activist who worked directly on cases of violence against women from 1999 to 2007 in Afghanistan and the refugee camps of Pakistan said that while there is an “assumption that mediation is anti-woman, often it is also a lasting, long-term solution to domestic violence.” Speaking to The Times, Nemat said the majority of the mediations she has been part of saw family members from both sides join together to find mutually agreed upon solutions under the supervision of the legal department of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. For many Afghans, Nemat said, mediation is as much influenced by geography as any other factors. “Afghanistan is still 80% rural. Beyond the boundaries of district centers, people do not have proper access to formal court systems,” she said. Nemat conceded that violations take place in the mediation process, but said that courts have also proven problematic. “In the past, we have had judges telling victims of gang rapes to marry their rapists. Clearly, there has to be a certain level of corruption in the formal systems for people to prefer mediation.” It was these shortcomings, said Nemat, that led her and a collective of other female leaders and rights advocates to help craft the violence against women law. “It came from the shortcomings we were facing in dealing with the Afghan judiciary system … because our laws are vague,” she said.
Afghanistan braces for violence as Islamic State makes presence felt
By Sune Engel Rasmussen
Afghanistan is bracing for an upsurge in violence as spring begins with a new maverick force emerging: militants associating themselves with Islamic State.
Isis claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Saturday, which appears to be the first major attack in Afghanistan by insurgents aligning themselves with the group which has been wreaking havoc across Syria and Iraq.
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the provincial governor, said a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated a vest rigged with explosives in front of the state-run New Kabul Bank, which has been the target of attacks in the past, killing at least 33 people and injuring more than 100.
In a statement, a group calling itself the Province of Khorasan – Islamic State’s name for the region it strives to conquer – named the suicide bomber as Abu Mohammad Khorasani. On social media, Isis supporters shared a photo of the purported suicide bomber, masked and flanked by a Kalashnikov rifle.
The Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, seemingly taking his cue from media reports, named Isis as the perpetrators. Ghani made his comments to local journalists on a trip to the northern province of Badakhshan, where he went to mourn victims of other recent violence.
The surfacing of an Isis-aligned splinter group has caused anxiety among Afghans, though officials disagree about the level of the threat.
During his recent trip to Washington DC, where he also lobbied the US for continued military and financial support, Ghani called Isis “a terrible threat”.
However, former spy chief Amrullah Saleh said in an interview with Radio Free Afghanistan that Isis, known as Daesh throughout the Arab world, would not be able to spread roots in Afghanistan, “because whatever Daesh has been doing in Iraq and Syria, the Taliban have been doing the same in Afghanistan for the past 20 years”.
Borhan Osman, an analyst with Afghanistan Analysts Network who has tracked the emergence of Isis inAfghanistan, said the group might benefit from frictions within the Taliban.
“[Isis] has not built a solid, actual political presence in Afghanistan so far,” Osman said, “but if the Taliban quasi-monopoly is broken, that will help [it] to build networks and their brand.”
With or without Isis, this year’s fighting season threatens to be the most deadly since the US-led invasion in 2001.
At least 23 Afghan soldiers were killed last week when Taliban militants overran their military posts in Jurm district. The Taliban answered Ghani’s promises to “defend our soil” with defiance.
“If they try to do an operation, we are ready to defend ourselves,” Zabiullah Mujahed, a spokesman for the group told the Guardian.
Even a supposedly safe haven like the northern city of Mazar-I Sharif has suffered a rare bout of violence. On 9 April, four gunmen stormed the provincial prosecutor’s office in the city, taking hostages and leaving at least 10 people dead.
Casualties have risen drastically since foreign troops began drawing down from a peak of nearly 150,000 troops in 2011.
With more than 10,000 civilian casualties, last year was the bloodiest on record for ordinary Afghans. In a new report, the UN documents an 8% increase in civilian casualties from ground engagements in the first three months of 2015, compared to the same period last year.
The research shows that, as foreign troops have largely receded from the battlefield and limited aerial support to the Afghan security forces, fighting has drawn closer to residential areas. As a result, the proportion of women and children among casualties is at an all-time high.
“The continuing use of suicide attacks in densely populated areas, that are certain to kill and maim large numbers of Afghan civilians, may amount to a war crime,” Nicholas Haysom, the UN’s head of mission in Afghanistan, said in a statement on Saturday.
The Taliban traditionally launches an offensive in the spring, when snow recedes from the mountains. As they advance, the fighting uproots thousands of civilians.
“People are being displaced in much higher numbers than last year,” said Pia Jensen, programme manager for emergency response with People in Need, an NGO. “Militants come down and attempt to recruit people. They grab young guys and force families to feed them, or to give one of their sons to the fight.”
She said residents are being pressured by an influx of militants from Pakistan, where a long-standing military campaign in North Waziristan has pushed over 300,000 people across the border. More than 50,000 undocumented Afghans have also left Pakistan since December after harassment from authorities, according to the International Organisation for Migration. There are likely a substantial number of potential insurgents among the displaced, said Jensen.
Pakistan - The Chinese Solution
The importance of the PCEC is self evident; during the next 7 years energy projects worth $35-37 billion are scheduled to be completed, many of them utilising renewable sources such as solar power and wind. These coupled with indigenously developed power projects hold the ability to end Pakistan’s crippling energy crisis – or at least bring it down to a less damaging level. The infrastructural projects, especially around the port of Gawadar, would open numerous trade opportunities. Easier movement of goods, access to new markets and an influx of new products are bound to impact the economy positively. The next decade could see Pakistan move towards an industry driven development phase, one that is sorely needed to push Pakistan out of its economic mediocrity. Yet the ‘Chinese Solution’ is not a magic fix, it requires momentous effort from the Pakistani authorities, to realize the potential.
The first concern is the transparency of the developmental process. The government, especially PML-N is infamous for awarding construction contract based on nepotism, and inevitably they run the risk of being substandard. The second is the diligence and speed with which these projects are completed, our “Iron Brother” is making an investment out of which they hope to receive a substantial return; any dithering on Pakistan’s part would prompt them to seek new clients. Thirdly, this development envisions a stable working environment, terrorism and militancy needs to be controlled across the board and indiscriminately; otherwise neither the construction, neither the prospective investment will materialize. This is a challenge that the state needs to contend with. The state –the government and the establishment – needs jettison obsolete and self-serving polices and display full transparency and accountability. Perhaps most significantly however, PCEC will remain nothing more than a pipe dream if policy continuation by successive governments is not enshrined in the Constitution. Economic priorities especially to the tune of $50 billion dollars of investment, must not change with every general election.
Pakistan - Human rights report card
For the most part, the HRCP’s State of Human Rights in 2014 does not make for very optimistic reading. The report highlights the fact that where human rights and fundamental freedoms in Pakistan are concerned, 2014 saw much of the same violence and exploitation that this country has known for far too long.
As the document notes, the last year began with “...faith-based assaults on religious minorities. ...” and came to a harrowing end with the APS Peshawar massacre.
And as the statistics show, vulnerable groups such as religious and sectarian minorities, women, children and the poor had to struggle to survive in a stifling atmosphere dominated by violence and intimidation, with the state largely failing to protect the citizens’ fundamental rights.
Terrorism remained Pakistan’s foremost security concern in 2014, taking a bloody toll, with over 1,700 deaths in terrorist attacks. Violence against women also remained high, with hundreds of girls and women raped and subjected to ‘honour’ killings.
Far too many cases of custodial killings were reported, as were incidents of torture in custody, while sectarian and targeted killings continued to bedevil the country.
Yet in such an atmosphere of gloom there were a few bright spots. These included the fact that the provinces were active in the lawmaking sphere while the number of missing persons in Balochistan was down, but only slightly. Also welcome was the broad national consensus to tackle militancy that developed in the aftermath of the Peshawar tragedy.
But the shape this consensus took — the formation of military courts, the resumption of capital punishment — points to a preference for short-term, populist solutions rather than a desire to address the systemic, societal problems that feed militancy and terrorism.
Moreover, such solutions have given the state, especially the security establishment, sweeping powers that stray perilously close to trampling on basic rights.
Perhaps the root cause of Pakistan’s dismal human rights situation is the state’s lack of ability to implement existing laws, as well as the failure of the criminal justice system.
The report says that by the end of 2014, there were nearly two million cases pending in the country’s courts. This lack of accountability and justice delivery says much about the state’s desire to protect the people’s rights and bring the usurpers of those rights to justice.
The HRCP document rightly says that the “gap between laws and implementation” is a key reason behind the growth of crime, especially targeting minorities and vulnerable segments of society.
There seems to be complacency prevalent in all sections of the state and society. Yet the protection of fundamental rights is not the job of civil society or activists alone; it should be a matter of concern for every Pakistani.
Unless the state delivers on its responsibilities and the citizens actively remind the rulers of their duties, the weak and the vulnerable will continue to be exploited in Pakistan.
Co-Chairman PPP Asif Ali Zardari to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow
Co-Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party President Asif Ali Zardari will call on the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Islamabad tomorrow.
Vice President PPPP Sherry Rehman will accompany him during the meeting.
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Pakistan - PPP Human Rights Cell’s statement on Cyber Crime Bill
https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com
The PPP Human Rights Cell Central Coordinator and Member National Assembly Dr Nafisa Shah has expressed concern on the passing of the Cyber Crimes Bill in the National Assembly Standing Committee without input and feedback of the stakeholders, the consumers, the software and IT industry in the country.
“The strong reaction of the civil society, the social media and the IT industry who have termed this Bill a ‘draconian law’ indicates that the government has proposed a law that might further curb rights and freedoms and may give arbitrary and sweeping powers to the government to block internet content at whim, and to victimize and muzzle criticism in the social media” said the PPP HR Cell Coordinator.
“The Peoples Party and other political parties in the opposition have also not been involved in the consultation on implications of this law on the freedom of expression. The party fears that this law will provide space for censorship” she added.
“This government is particularly famous for its secrecy, its antidemocratic, anti consultative approach to both law and governance. It has unfortunately an abysmal track record in law making and most of the laws, from POPA, to 21st constitutional amendment, has only restricted fundamental rights.
“We urge therefore that this law is brought into the public sphere for a wider consultation where the controversial parts of this law are amended, and the law is thoroughly reviewed and revised before it is tabled on the floor of the National Assembly.”
The PPP Human Rights Cell Central Coordinator and Member National Assembly Dr Nafisa Shah has expressed concern on the passing of the Cyber Crimes Bill in the National Assembly Standing Committee without input and feedback of the stakeholders, the consumers, the software and IT industry in the country.
“The strong reaction of the civil society, the social media and the IT industry who have termed this Bill a ‘draconian law’ indicates that the government has proposed a law that might further curb rights and freedoms and may give arbitrary and sweeping powers to the government to block internet content at whim, and to victimize and muzzle criticism in the social media” said the PPP HR Cell Coordinator.
“The Peoples Party and other political parties in the opposition have also not been involved in the consultation on implications of this law on the freedom of expression. The party fears that this law will provide space for censorship” she added.
“This government is particularly famous for its secrecy, its antidemocratic, anti consultative approach to both law and governance. It has unfortunately an abysmal track record in law making and most of the laws, from POPA, to 21st constitutional amendment, has only restricted fundamental rights.
“We urge therefore that this law is brought into the public sphere for a wider consultation where the controversial parts of this law are amended, and the law is thoroughly reviewed and revised before it is tabled on the floor of the National Assembly.”
Challenge to India as Russia to invest $2 Billion to Build Energy Pipeline in Pakistan
by Rajeev Sharma
In the fast-changing geopolitics in its neighbourhood, India needs to watch Russia from the Pakistani prism and Pakistan from the Russian prism.
This should sum up the state of affairs in the newly emerging India-Pakistan-Russia triangle where the United States and China are the crucial X factors.
The latest example of Russia-Pakistan bonhomie is the news emanating from Islamabad that Russia has agreed to invest $2 billion in Pakistan to build an 1100-km-long energy pipeline from Karachi to Lahore to transport liquefied natural gas.
Pakistan Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was quoted by Pakistani daily Express Tribune as saying thus on 18 April: "Pakistan and Russia have finalized an LNG pipeline deal in a recent meeting in Moscow and the two countries will sign a government-to-government basis deal next month."
More details are as follows. In return for the Russian investment, Russian companies will be awarded the contract to build the pipeline. Russia has offered to sell gas to Pakistan and will start its first LNG exports to Pakistan in 2016. The Russia-Pakistan contract will be awarded without any formal bidding process, which clearly means that it is a G2G or government-to-government understanding implying how closely Moscow and Islamabad are now working.
Pakistan is a potential lucrative market for gas exports for Russia which is the second largest natural gas exporter in the world.
Significantly, the move also means that Pakistan is willing to dare the United States-led Western community which has announced crippling sanctions on Russia for Moscow’s perceived sins of omission and commission over the Ukraine episode.
Naturally Pakistan cannot embark on this roadmap without the approval of China. This means that an interesting Russia-Pakistan-China synergy is emerging in the regional and global matrix. And all this is obviously at the expense of India.
Of late, a strategic shift is noticeable in Pakistan-Russia relations which this writer discussed in some detail here http://www.firstpost.com/world/will-the-pakistan-russia-military-exercise-make-new-delhi-moscow-ties-sour-2199754.html
The Pakistan-Russia bonhomie had started way back in the tenure of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani dictator who saw merit in courting Russia. During General Musharraf’s tenure, a Pakistan-Russia tango was considered a fool’s dream considering very strong and vibrant Russia-India ties.
But the geopolitical equations have changed drastically now. Pakistan-Russia proximity is not a diplomatic improbability anymore.
One major sign of Russia-Pakistan rapprochement came in 2012 when the then Pakistan Army chief General Kayani visited Russia. This was followed by a groundbreaking visit by Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu to Pakistan on 20 November, 2014, the first visit by a Russian defence minister to Pakistan in 45 years.
Afghanistan was the central theme of Shoigu’sdiscussions withhis Pakistani counterpart Khawaja Muhammad Asif . Russia and Pakistan signed an unprecedented defence agreement after talks between Shoigu and Asif.
Russia is in search of newer friends and markets in the wake of the Western sanctions. Anyone ready to stymie the West and embrace Russia at this point of time is welcome for Moscow. Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world to do this.
That’s why and how it is the best time for Pakistan and Russia to script a never-before story of bonhomie which could not materialize all these past decades.
From the Russian point of view, India is a changed girlfriend who is having dalliances with the US-led Western community. The multi-billion dollar Indian defence contracts have dried up for the Russian companies. To add insult to injury, the US has already displaced Russia as the single biggest defence exporter.
Simultaneously, the diplomatic-strategic graph of Pakistan for Russia has risen sharply. The American/NATO troops have started withdrawing from Afghanistan and only a small inconsequential number of these troops will remain in Afghanistan by 2016 end.
This would mean a concurrent increase in Pakistan’s profile in Afghanistan and Russia would like to tap this source for tackling an Afghanistan in Pakistani grip the way China has done for years. From this perspective, Pakistan is far more important for Russia though Russia and Pakistan do not share border.
Salvaging ties with a trusted and tested strategic partner like Russia should be a high priority for Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.
Modi will have an opportunity to do this when he visits Russia in July this year to participate in the BRICS summit. Needless to say, Pakistan will be an elephant in the room when PM Modi holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It will perhaps be the first-ever Indo-Russian summit when the two old friends will be talking under the lengthening shadow of Pakistan.
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Saturday, April 18, 2015
27 killed as Yemen bombing intensifies, civilians voice terror and despair
364 civilians have been killed in the Saudi-led airstrikes as the poorest country in the Middle East runs out of fuel and water.
Intense bombing by a Saudi-led coalition hit Yemen again on Saturday, three weeks into an air war against Houthi rebels, as Al-Qaeda seized more ground in the chaos amid UN calls for peace.
At least 27 people were killed in the central city of Taiz in clashes between loyalist forces and rebels, as well as Saudi-led coalition air raids, medical sources said.
Residents said the city, a hub of mass anti-government protests in 2011, was rocked by explosions and gunfire overnight as the coalition-backed forces of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi battled Houthi rebels.
Nineteen rebels, four soldiers of a mechanised army unit loyal to the president and four other pro-Hadi fighters were killed, a medical source told AFP.
Following heavy overnight airstrikes in the north, coalition aircraft also hit the presidential palace in Taiz, the witnesses said.
To the east of the capital Sanaa, columns of smoke rose over an arms depot targeted by warplanes, witnesses said.
The facility belonged to the elite Republican Guard, which remains loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Renegade troops loyal to Saleh are allied with the Houthis, whose sweeping advance forced President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh last month.
The United Nations says hundreds of people have died and thousands of families have fled their homes in the war, which has also killed six Saudi security personnel in border skirmishes.
Saudi-led strikes have allegedly led to the death of 40 refugees at an IDP camp, 33 employees at a dairy factory, nine family members in a village, and three children at a school.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate ceasefire on Friday and began the hunt for a new peace envoy to the country, where Al-Qaeda is expanding its territory.
Yemen "is in flames," he said on Thursday, calling for an "immediate ceasefire in Yemen by all parties".
His remarks followed the resignation of his envoy Jamal Benomar, who had lost the confidence of Saudi Arabia and its allies. They accused him of being duped by the rebels.
The Moroccan diplomat had been instrumental in negotiating a deal that eased Saleh from office in February 2012 after a year of protests against his three-decades rule.
Fighting damages hospital
Unidentified militia fired on a hospital in southern Yemen that pro-Houthi soldiers had surrounded, in violation of the laws of war, New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.
Yemeni army forces fighting on behalf of the Houthis surrounded the hospital, in the southern city of Lahej, shutting off the hospital lights, deploying snipers, and stationing a tank at the hospital entrance. Opposing gunmen then carried out attacks beginning on Monday that repeatedly struck the hospital and put medical personnel at grave risk.
The incident is the latest indication that the Houthis are turning to guerilla tactics, analysts say, making them harder to target while increasing the risk of civilians being caught up in the bombing campaign.
As of 14 April, the fighting in Yemen, including airstrikes by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, had killed at least 364 civilians, including at least 84 children, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
While Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Washington offered an upbeat assessment this week of the air campaign in Yemen, calling it “very, very successful,” civilians living under bombardment for more than three weeks expressed terror and despair in messages posted online.
China - Silk Road plan 'may take decades'
By Angela Meng
Challenges include terrorism and uncertainty over China's economic growth, says scholar
The threat of terrorist groups and uncertainty over China's future economic growth are some of the challenges facing the nation's New Silk Road initiatives, says a scholar at a Chinese government think tank.
Many factors inside China and beyond had to be considered before the US$40-billion Silk Road infrastructure fund can "break the connectivity bottleneck" in Asia, according to Shi Ze, a senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies. The concepts of the New Silk Road Economic Belt, which runs from China across Central Asia and Russia to Europe, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, through the Malacca Strait to India, the Middle East and East Africa were put forward by President Xi Jinping during overseas visits in 2013.
Xi delivered a keynote address last month focusing on China's vision for the initiatives, aimed at improving infrastructure and boosting trade ties in Asia and beyond. Investment will be funded through the Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a new international lending institution proposed by China.
Shi said Islamic militants were active in countries in Central Asia such as Turkmenistan and this posed a threat to future investment.
"The road ahead is paved with difficulties. The terrorist organisation Islamic State poses a great threat to the New Silk Road," he said.
President Xi said during his meeting with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov last year that the two countries should jointly fight terrorism, separatism and extremism.
The London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence said in a report that an estimated 360 Turkmen fighters had joined Islamic State since 2012.
"Several nations in Central Asia, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, are led by men over the age of 70 so it's not clear who will take over if the older leaders are unable to do so anymore," Shi said.
"This puts many of China's investments in the area at risk."
Shi also questioned if China would have the financial clout to invest heavily in overseas infrastructure projects amid a slowing economy. The country's gross domestic product grew at its slowest rate for six years in the first three months of this year.
"In an ever-changing economy, can China keep a steady growth rate? That's a big question," he said.
Shi said there was also the risk that the United States would not support, or would even oppose, the New Silk Road initiatives to ensure its own influence remained high in Asia.
The United States introduced its own New Silk Road initiative in 2011 to help Afghanistan integrate into the region. The initiative focuses on building a regional energy market, improving trade, transport, customs and border procedures, and business ties.
"Throughout history, China has very rarely come up with large-scale forms of co-operation such as this, so there's some uncertainty," said Shi.
"Through my travels, people have asked, what is the model of co-operation? Do we establish an organisation? What are the set rules?
"There are many challenges and risks, but we shouldn't expect to solve them in a year or two. Maybe it'll take a decade, maybe it'll take a generation."
Did Russia lose Cuba to the Americans?
After the historic meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro in Panama, Russian experts are preoccupied with the question of the Kremlin losing its historic ally in Latin America.
U.S. President Barack Obama, right, smiles as he looks over towards Cuban President Raul Castro, left, during their historic meeting, at the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama, on April 11, 2015. Photo: AP
The last week's historic meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama put an end to more than half a century of enmity between the two countries. Back in Russia, many are wondering if the Kremlin could be deprived of an old and time-tested friend and ally.
From the very early 1960s onwards relations between Moscow and Havana were described as “unbreakable and fraternal,” and Cuba itself was referred to as the “Island of Freedom.” The then young Soviet singer (now State Duma MP) Joseph Kobzon, sporting a bona fide Cuban beard, camouflage jacket and replica Kalashnikov, marched briskly back and forth across the stage singing the tellingly titled “Cuba, My Love.”
Today, in the words of well-known columnist Andrei Kolesnikov, Cuba is drifting out of Moscow’s orbit.
“The restoration of diplomatic relations, Cuba’s removal from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, and the sudden bond between the two leaders, who could be father and son (Obama was born a year before the Cuban Missile Crisis), herald the Island of Freedom’s return to the pre-Marxist era,” writes Kolesnikov in the popular online publicationGazeta.ru. “Russia let Cuba — its ‘historic’ outpost and pirate Soviet base in the Caribbean Sea — slip clean through its fingers.”
But let’s take a closer look. Did Moscow really let Cuba “slip through its fingers”? And if so, let’s try to answer another question: Could Russia have clung on to its ally?
Relations between Russia (previously, the Soviet Union) and Cuba have never followed the accepted norms of political and economic interplay between two sovereign states. From the very outset of Castro’s “barracks socialism,” the relationship was always one of donor and recipient.
CUBA’S ECONOMIC MODEL WAS UTTERLY PARASITIC
Moreover, Havana was not accountable to Moscow for its actions. For instance, in 1975 it dispatched an expeditionary force to Angola without informing the Soviet Politburo in advance, only putting Big Brother in the picture post factum.
Eloquent testimony to the lack of any balance in the relationship was Cuba’s decision to re-export Soviet oil at the height of perestroika. Back then the Cuban economy consumed 11 million metric tons of oil per year. Over the period 1987-1989 the Soviet Union delivered an annual amount of 13 million metric tons to the island. The remaining two million Cuba sold on the world market, which represented the country’s main earner in foreign currency. Peru and other Latin American countries were supplied with Russian tractors and civil aircraft that had been delivered gratis to Havana.
The collapse of the Soviet Union put an end to the subsidies, immediately opening up a rift in the “unbreakable” friendship. In 1992, enraged by such “historic injustice,” Fidel Castro, who had never accepted Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost, fulminated against the policies of the new Russian government. In several public speeches in Havana, the exalted Cuban leader described Russian cars as “basura” (garbage).
And when the Cuban economy finally picked up after the lean years of the so-called “special period,” thanks mainly to tourism and the emergence of a new sponsor in the shape of Venezuela, the Cuban authorities made it clear that further economic cooperation with Moscow was not a priority.
Deliveries of spare parts for outdated Soviet-made vehicles? Yes, please. Low-interest loans for the purchase of agricultural products? Absolutely. But in return there was no special place for Russia in Cuba’s strategically important sectors, such as the nickel industry and tourism.
FOR TWO DECADES, SOVIET EXPERTS EXPLORED FOR OIL OFF THE CUBAN COAST, FINDING A FEW JUICY ITEMS ALONG THE WAY, BUT WERE THEN SUDDENLY TAKEN OFF THE CASE AND ALL THEIR DISCOVERIES WERE HANDED OVER TO THE MEXICANS
Russia-Cuba friendship: Game over?
What will happen to the “unbreakable” friendship when the United States lifts its 50-year economic embargo on Cuba and hundreds of U.S. companies beat a path to the door of the new El Dorado? Russian Latin American experts cannot agree.
“Russia’s interests in Cuba are varied. They are at once economic and — given the worsening relations between Russia and the United States — political,” says Boris Shmelev, head of the Center for Political Studies, Institute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). “In light of the fact that there is no imminent way out of the impasse, Cuba’s significance for Russia is increasing.”
As the “reset” in relations with the United States has fizzled out over the past few years, Moscow has been trying to incline Cuba to resume military and political ties. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and even President Vladimir Putin have all paid visits to Havana.
IN 2008 MOSCOW FAILED TO PERSUADE HAVANA TO RECOGNIZE THE BREAKAWAY REPUBLICS OF ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA
Starting 2006, when power effectively shifted from Fidel Castro to his younger brother Raul (formally it happened five years later), the Cuban leadership has adopted a highly pragmatic approach.
In this regard, the view of Vladimir Sudarev, deputy director of the RAS Institute of Latin America, appears more balanced, positing that, “If the trade embargo on Cuba is completely lifted and U.S. companies start arriving, Russia will have to operate in a tough competitive environment and risk losing its already established contacts.”
Will Russia really lose Cuba?
But does all this mean that Russia will in fact lose Cuba? It goes without saying that the Cubans are more interested in replacing outdated Russian imports with Western technology. However, the whole of Cuba’s existing transport and other infrastructure is a carbon copy of the Soviet Union’s. And it will take years to disassemble.
Therefore, trade and economic ties between Moscow and Havana may actually thrive, especially given the fact that thousands of Cubans have studied at Soviet and Russian universities and speak Russian.
The only thing that Russian strategists must part with irrevocably is the idea of using Cuba as a “Russian aircraft carrier in America’s backyard.” Havana is so keen to establish good relations with Washington that any talk of strengthening military cooperation with Uncle Sam in the crosshairs is idle chatter.
What’s more, Moscow’s hopes that the 2016 U.S. elections could see Republican hardliners return to power, condemning Cuba to another blockade, are illusory. Indeed, Raul Castro himself has stated that he will vacate the captain’s bridge, whether or not he remains healthy.
If the absence of any ideological component is a precondition for the successful continuation of Russian-Cuban ties, then, however paradoxical it may seem, the emotional element will linger for many years to come. After all, many Cubans, even those who emigrated from the island to the United States, have an undisguised soft spot for Russia.
“When, after studying at flight school in Krasnodar, I returned to Cuba in the late 1980s, the suffocating atmosphere on the island shocked me — the contrast was so striking,” says pilot Orestes Lorenzo, who fled to Miami in 1993. “Gorbachev's perestroika completely changed my view of life and incentivized me to flee the island of captivity.”
“What’s happening on the island now reminds me of perestroika in the Soviet Union,” says Juan Juan Almeida, son of famous Cuban comandante and close Castro ally Juan Almeida Bosque. “I only hope that Cubans learn from [Russia’s] negative experience and can overcome the barbaric stage of wild capitalism.”
Well then, if Cuban exiles in the Sunshine State are nostalgic about Russia, it seems that Soviet ideologists were right about one thing - the friendship really is strong and unbreakable.
Millions Of Yemenis Face Food Insecurity Amidst Escalating Conflict
More than $8 million needed to support farmers during crucial cropping season.
Amidst escalating conflict at a crucial time in the country’s cropping season, almost 11 million people in Yemen are severely food insecure and millions more are at risk of not meeting their basic food needs, FAO said last Wednesday.
According to the organization’s latest assessment, increasing conflict in nearly all major towns across the country is disrupting markets and trade, driving up local food prices and hampering agricultural production, including land preparation and planting for the 2015 maize and sorghum harvests.
10.6 million Yemenis are now severely food insecure, of which 4.8 million are facing “emergency” conditions, suffering from severe lack of food access, very high and increasing malnutrition, and irreversible destruction of livelihoods.
Around 850,000 children are acutely malnourished.
More than half of Yemen’s population – some 16 million out of a total of 26 million— is in need of some form of humanitarian aid and has no access to safe water.
The latest escalation of conflicts is expected to further increase food insecurity in the poverty-stricken country. Paradoxically, some 2.5 million food producers, including farmers, pastoralists, fishermen and agricultural wage labourers, are among those identified as food insecure.
“We are entering a crucial period for crop production in Yemen and now, more than ever, agriculture cannot be an afterthought if we want to prevent more people from becoming food insecure amidst this crisis,” said FAO Representative for Yemen, Salah Hajj Hassan.
Governorates in the far Northwest and South are most severely affected by food insecurity.
Market disruption
In some areas, like the western port city of Hodeidah, food prices have doubled and fuel prices have quadrupled. Further increases are expected as a result of fuel shortages and the impact of civil unrest on imports and transportation networks across Yemen. While agriculture provides the livelihood of nearly two-thirds of Yemenis, the country also relies heavily on imports of staple crops.
At the same time, service infrastructure has collapsed and government safety net programs have been suspended, handing an extra blow to millions of poor households.
Critical work in Yemen
In a very challenging field environment, FAO and partners have since 2014 been working to support local farmers and internally displaced people to strengthen their livelihoods by distributing crop production packages, home gardening kits and fisheries inputs. They have also provided vaccinated poultry and goats for backyard livestock production.
Additional animal vaccination drives and plant health campaigns have helped farmers protect their agricultural assets, such as livestock and trees, from disease and locust threats.
Since 2014, more than 90,000 people (13,450 families) have benefited from these FAO programs. Security conditions permitting, the Organization aims to reach nearly 235,000 people through its 2014-15 response plan for Yemen, but more funding is needed. Currently, only $4 million of the required $12 million have been made available for the livelihood programs.
“Even before fighting intensified this spring, Yemenis were in dire need of support to build up their agricultural production,” said Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, FAO Assistant Director-General for North Africa and the Near East. “The deteriorating situation means we need to double down on our efforts to ensure that as many farmers as possible are able to plant this growing season and strengthen their ability to withstand future shocks.”
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