The “clarity” thingie September 18, 2006
Posted by Delilah in : General, US, World, human rights , add a commentVia Salon:
Quote of the Day
National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley on why U.S. interrogation teams need Congress to “clarify” the Geneva Conventions’ prohibition against “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment”: “I’m saying that nobody knows what humiliating treatment is. What does it mean?”
What an extraordinary statement.
AP details the atrocities September 17, 2006
Posted by Delilah in : General, World, US Congress, human rights , add a comment
Looks like the AP has had enough: one of their photographers has been held for 5 months for no apparent reason. They are very pissed off and taking aim. The language in this report is as accurate as it gets and puts the situation in its proper context. About time.
What is unclear about “cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment”? September 15, 2006
Posted by Delilah in : General, World, US Congress , add a comment
That folks are even having to discuss torture as if it were a reasonable topic for the US of all places has been nauseating enough. That Republican Senators are having to spell it out for everyone shows the kind of morals to which some policymakers - and the media that enable them - have descended. Say the Senators - according to WaPo:
[…] the United States should not try to limit its obligations under the Geneva Conventions. Instead, they want CIA officers to abide by the common understanding of the treaty’s meaning, including a ban on ‘outrages upon personal dignity.’
Action against World Bank excessive intrusion September 14, 2006
Posted by Delilah in : General, Washington Consensus, World , add a commentCountries borrowing from the World Bank have long been frustrated by the level of intrusion from the Bank in forcing policy choices and development approaches down people’s throats. The poorer the country, the stronger and more pervasive the domination.
This is particularly true in some sub-Saharan African countries - where the Bank literally runs all aspects of the government, from the geographic distribution of health clinics to the design of school curricula and the amount of school fees. Without exception, African professionals dealing with the Bank, be they in government, civil society or the private sector - feel disrespected and diminished by such treatment - not to mention the frustration and despair at ever implementing their own vision for their own respective countries. With the increased - and effective - competition from the likes of the Gates and Clinton foundations tackling the biggest and most urgent issues, the Bank can only feel threatened.
So far, such complaints - inside and outside the Bank - have typically been met with attempts at insitutional reform (Jim Wolfenshon is to be credited for trying, at least) coupled with arrogant dismissal from the ranks. As countries stuck with Bank loans grow more confident in themselves and their own technical capacities increase, their professionals inside and outside government have learned to voice their frustrations and resist Bank impositions. However, as long as big contributors implicitly condoned the status quo by not exerting their own influence on the subject, nothing much was likely to change at all.
This new action by the UK is an interesting step in that regard. Holding up the UK contribution is definitely a good way to focus the minds.
To be continued.
