company:the washington post

Burma’s Thein Sein says military ‘will always have a special place’ in government - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/burmas-thein-sein-says-military-will-always-have-a-special-place-in-government/2013/05/19/253c300e-c0d4-11e2-8bd8-2788030e6b44_print.html

Thein Sein dismissed as “pure fabrication” the allegation from human rights monitors that the Burmese army condones or even participates in ethnic pogroms against the nation’s Muslim minority. The army “is more disciplined than normal citizens, because they have to abide by military rules,” he said through an interpreter.

...

Hundreds of political prisoners have been released, but hundreds remain, and the feeble judicial system that allowed so many to be locked away is largely unchanged. The military, including many of the same generals who were responsible for systemic abuses, remains a shadowy and unpredictable influence.

The Obama administration has lifted most commercial sanctions on Burma, in part because of lobbying from U.S. businesses that were put at a disadvantage when the European Union did away with all restrictions on Burma except an arms embargo.

Delivering KFC by Tunnel, Not Too Fast but Satisfying

GAZA CITY — The French fries arrive soggy, the chicken having long since lost its crunch. A 12-piece bucket goes for about $27 here — more than twice the $11.50 it costs just across the border in Egypt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/world/middleeast/tunneling-kfc-to-gazans-craving-the-world-outside.html?smid=fb-share&_r=1&

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/05/16/world/GAZA/GAZA-articleLarge.jpg

#Gaza #KFC #livraison_par_tunnel #(not_so)_fast-food #Egypte #frontière #Palestine

cc @reka

Obama speech to address counterterrorism measures - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-speech-to-address-counterterrorism-measures/2013/05/18/32ddac80-bff1-11e2-9b09-1638acc3942e_story.html?hpid=z1

“He will review the state of the threats we face, particularly as the al-Qaeda core has weakened but new dangers have emerged,” the official said. “He will discuss the policy and legal framework under which we take action against terrorist threats, including the use of drones. And he will review our detention policy and efforts to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.”

In his State of the Union address earlier this year, Obama said he would “continue to engage Congress to ensure not only that our targeting, detention and prosecution of terrorists remains consistent with our laws and system of checks and balances, but that our efforts are even more transparent to the American people and to the world.” The speech Thursday is meant to be his first step in fulfilling that pledge.

A fascinating map of the world’s most and least racially tolerant countries
►http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-cou

Depuis plusieurs dizaines d’années, la World Value Survey (menée dans 80 pays) permet de mesurer les opinions dans le monde. Un journaliste du Washington Post s’est intéressé à une question en particulier : « Aimeriez-vous que votre voisin soit d’une race différente de la vôtre ? » En compilant les réponses, il a créé une carte mondiale de la tolérance raciale. Intéressant et pas forcément ce à quoi on s’attendait.

Les pays les plus racialement tolérants : les pays anglo-saxons (UK, US, Canada, Australie...), les pays scandinaves et, c’est moins attendu, les pays d’Amérique Latine.

Les plus racistes : l’Inde (mais pas le Pakistan), la Jordanie, le Bangladesh... et Hong Kong. Ce sont les seuls pays où plus de 40% des habitants (72% dans le cas de Hong Kong) déclarent ne pas vouloir de voisins d’une race différente.

Et en Europe ? C’est, selon l’étude, une zone de tolérance moyenne... dans laquelle les Français apparaissent comme les moins enclins à partager leur palier avec des voisins de races différentes : 23% d’entre nous s’y opposeraient. Plus qu’en Croatie ou en Serbie (s’étant pourtant livrés à des guerres ethniques récentes)... ou en Afrique du Sud.

#racisme #cartographie

A fascinating map of the world’s most and least racially tolerant countries
►http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-cou

Je n’ai aucune idée de ce que ça vaut,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/05/racism-map2.jpg

178 self-immolations in Tunisia reflect despair of jobless Mideast youth, including vendor - The Washington Post
►http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/178-self-immolations-in-tunisia-reflect-despair-of-jobless-mideast-youth-including-vendor/2013/05/11/1e430bc0-ba61-11e2-b568-6917f6ac6d9d_print.html

Adel is one of 178 people in Tunisia who have set themselves on fire since the self-immolation two years ago of another high school dropout-turned-street vendor launched the Arab Spring.

...

In Tunis, Issam briefly took over Adel’s stand, but has since returned to construction. He finds life unbearably lonely without his father and brother. He says getting married is out of the question as long as he has to support his mother and brothers.

He remembers how he and Adel talked after Bouazizi’s self-immolation.

They agreed it was “just inconceivable” that either of them would do such a thing.

How the Syrian Electronic Army Hacked The Onion- http://theonion.github.io/blog/2013/05/08/how-the-syrian-electronic-army-hacked-the-onion

Pentagon deploys small number of troops to war-torn Mali - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-deploys-small-number-of-troops-to-war-torn-mali/2013/04/30/2b02c928-b1a0-11e2-bc39-65b0a67147df_story.html

The Pentagon has deployed a small number of troops to Mali to support allied forces fighting there, despite repeated pledges by the Obama administration not to put “boots on the ground” in the war-torn African country.

Un rappel de ce que valent les « promesses répétées » d’un politicien étasunien.

#Mali

Obama preparing to send lethal arms to Syrian opposition, officials say - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-preparing-to-send-lethal-arms-to-syrian-opposition-officials-say/2013/04/30/3084d0d4-b1a6-11e2-bbf2-a6f9e9d79e19_print.html

Disputes among those countries, particularly between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, over which rebel military faction to back has led to rising U.S. concern that sophisticated weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, are being sent directly to Islamist extremist groups. The administration is not prepared to send missiles itself, but believes it can gain more control over others’ supplies if it puts what an official called “more skin in the game” by sending its own lethal equipment.

...

U.S. hopes have waned that the political opposition would coalesce around a political program and substantive actions on the ground that could persuade the population that it is capable of governing and weaning fence-sitters away from supporting Assad.

At the same time, rebel fighters with the U.S.-backed Syrian Free Army led by Gen. Salim Idriss are seen as increasingly cohesive. Idriss, one of the few leaders who is acceptable to both the opposition and its range of international backers, impressed Kerry and other foreign ministers who attended a meeting with the opposition in Istanbul last weekend and pledged he would keep weapons out of the hands of extremists.

I could justify fighting in Afghanistan — until the Boston bombing - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-could-justify-fighting-in-afghanistan--until-the-boston-bombing/2013/04/26/e483321c-ad26-11e2-b6fd-ba6f5f26d70e_story.html

This past week, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly told investigators that he and his brother set off bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in part because of their opposition to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a Marine who fought in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2010, the news made me wonder: Had my war brought the horrors of battle home?

...

I deployed to Afghanistan believing my presence in that country would help stop attacks such as Boston’s from happening. But instead, my war has spilled over, striking the city where my 22-year-old brother goes to school and where my mom, until recently, felt perfectly safe eating lunch outdoors.

The Tsarnaev brothers aren’t the first alleged terrorists to cite U.S. military intervention in other countries as a reason for targeting civilians, and they won’t be the last. Despite our best efforts and valor, I wonder, have America’s wars made the homeland less safe? Sure, we’ve killed and captured thousands of radicals who wanted to harm Americans. But in doing so, have we created more?

Churchill avait confié à Jabotinsky qu’il était un admirateur du génocide des « Indiens rouges d’Amérique » et de celui des Aborigènes d’Australie, en même temps qu’un fervent partisan du sionisme, au nom de la « supériorité raciale »

Zionism’s Colonial Roots
http://nationalinterest.org/print/article/zionisms-colonial-roots-8377

In a frankly comical interview with the Daily Telegraph two years ago, [netanyahu] complained about the British today, who look at Israel through their “colonial prism” and thus “see us as neo-colonialists.” But “we are not Brits in India!” he exclaims. Still, Netanyahu retains one great British hero: he has a portrait of Winston Churchill in his room, and posed beside it for the Telegraph photographer. It evidently did not occur to the interviewer to ask Netanyahu whether he was under the impression that Churchill condemned colonialism, or was ashamed of the Raj.

It is quite true that Churchill was a romantic supporter of Zionism, and in 1937 he met Jabotinsky. Their cordial discussions influenced what Churchill said and wrote about Palestine immediately afterward. Churchill had already stated in very plain terms that he saw nothing wrong in the Jewish settlers’ supplanting the Arabs, along the lines of an earlier pattern. “I do not admit,” he said,

that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race, or, at any rate, a more worldly-wise race, to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.

La guerre en Irak, 10 ans après - Acrimed | Action Critique Médias
http://www.acrimed.org/article4054.html

Depuis le 15 avril 2013 et quatre jours durant, les attentats de Boston et la traque de leurs auteurs ont focalisé l’attention médiatique et phagocyté le reste de l’actualité… Dans le même temps, des attentats ou des combats décimaient des civils en Syrie ou en Irak, qui étaient à peine évoqués dans la presse écrite et ignorés par les radios et les télés. Cette asymétrie dans le traitement des victimes de violence armée démontre l’invraisemblable ethnocentrisme qui régit la production de l’information et paraît tout particulièrement évidente en ce qui concerne l’Irak. Le silence médiatique qui prévaut sur la guerre civile larvée qui sévit dans ce pays, où les affrontements interconfessionnels et les attentats causent la perte de centaines de civils est d’autant plus écrasant qu’il s’accompagne d’une absence totale de bilan d’une invasion prétendument libératrice, déclenchée il y a dix ans.

À l’occasion de ce triste anniversaire, le site américain d’observation des médias, FAIR [1], retrace les premiers jours de l’invasion en relevant toutes les prises de positions des journalistes et autres experts médiatiques ainsi que l’engagement des télévisions et radios américaines dans la propagande belliciste. Nous vous proposons cette traduction en français de l’article original [2]. (Acrimed)

Eugene Robinson: Guns and terrorism, a double-barreled standard - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-guns-and-terrorism-a-double-barreled-standard/2013/04/22/7247571c-ab84-11e2-b6fd-ba6f5f26d70e_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/01/18/Editorial-Opinion/Graphics/toles01202013.jpg

China signs free trade agreement with Iceland as it looks for foothold in the Arctic - The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/iceland-set-to-become-first-european-country-to-sign-free-trade-agreement-with-china/2013/04/15/6282da48-a5b4-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html

Intéressant... Et à suivre, les relations Chine-Islande sont loin d’être une anecdote.

BEIJING — China and Iceland signed a free trade agreement Monday, offering hope to the small North Atlantic country for its recession-battered economy and giving Beijing a leg up in its drive for expanded influence in the Arctic.

The China-Iceland free trade pact will lower tariffs on a range of goods and is expected to boost seafood and other exports from the remote Nordic state to the world’s second-largest economy. It comes at the start of a five-day visit to China by Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir that highlights her country’s attempts to diversify an economy that was badly mauled by the bursting of a massive financial bubble in 2008.

NYT Uses News Story to Express Dislike of Danish Welfare State | Beat the Press
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/nyt-uses-news-story-to-express-dislike-of-danish-welfare-state

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/world/europe/danes-rethink-a-welfare-state-ample-to-a-fault.html?pagewanted=1&ref=world&

The NYT appears to be following the pattern of journalism practiced by the Washington Post in openly editorializing in its news section. Today the news section features a diatribe against the Danish welfare state that is headlined, “Danes Rethink a Welfare State Ample to a Fault.” There’s not much ambiguity in that one. The piece then proceeds to present a state of statistics that are grossly misleading and excluding other data points that are highly relevant.

Injured Saudi is a witness, not a suspect, in Boston bombing - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/injured-saudi-is-a-witness-not-a-suspect-in-boston-bombing/2013/04/16/791de708-a6ad-11e2-b029-8fb7e977ef71_story.html

U.S. law enforcement officials said Tuesday that a Saudi national injured in the Boston Marathon bombing is regarded as a witness, not a suspect.

The Saudi, who is recuperating at a Boston hospital, is in his 20s and is in the United States on a Saudi scholarship to study at a university in the Boston area.

Critique de “To save everything, click here” - The Washington Post
►http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/book-review-to-save-everything-click-here-by-evgeny-morozov/2013/04/12/0e82400a-9ac9-11e2-9a79-eb5280c81c63_story_1.html

Tim Wu répond à Morozov et critique sa conclusion : promouvoir une délibération constante sur chaque décision pour faire un monde meilleur est-il autre chose qu’un vieux fantasme d’intellectuel ? Tags : internetactu2net internetactu fing

Syrie. Perception américaine des affrontements entre « extrémistes » et « modérés » en Syrie rapportée par le Washington Post. Accent mis sur le Front al-Nusra (déjà inscrit sur la liste des organisations terroristes par les Etats Unis) et sur al-Qaïda. Constat (pour le déplorer ?) que les « modérés » ne reçoivent pas autant d’armes que les « extrémistes ». Regret chez certains que le Président Obama continue de croire à une transition politique négociée avec le régime d’Assad.

A muddled plan for the clear danger in Syria By Editorial Board,
Apr 13, 2013 08:50 PM EDT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-muddled-plan-for-the-clear-danger-in-syria/2013/04/13/bf0e4c2e-a38a-11e2-82bc-511538ae90a4_story.html

“The Washington Post Published: April 13

SENIOR OBAMA administration officials offered a stark and even frightening picture of developments in Syria in testimony to Congress on Thursday. March, they said, was the deadliest month yet for that country’s civil war, with more than 6,000 people killed; almost one-quarter of Syria’s 22 million people have been driven from their homes. “What started out as a peaceful demand for dignity and freedom,” said Acting Assistant Secretary of State A. Elizabeth Jones, “has become one of the most devastating conflicts of the 21st century.”

Worse, the intelligence community’s assessment is that the war will not end even if the regime of Bashar al-Assad falls. “The most likely scenario,” said Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., is that for “at least a year, a year and a half, there would be continued inter-sectoral competition and fighting.” It will matter greatly who wins, since, as Robert S. Ford, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, put it, “there is a real competition under way now between extremists and moderates.”

(…) Mr. Ford said that the administration was still banking on “a negotiated political transition,” in which Mr. Assad voluntarily steps down. But as Mr. Clapper said, the intelligence community foresees the “most likely scenario” as a messy fight among factions, not a brokered handover. (…) Mr. Ford said that “we need to weigh in on behalf of those who promote freedom and tolerance.” Yet Ms. Jones reiterated that the administration was opposed to providing “lethal support” to any Syrian forces — notwithstanding the weapons and fighters that Mr. Ford said were being supplied by Iran or the growing military capability of al-Qaeda described by Mr. Clapper. Translation: It’s vital that Syria’s moderate forces win, but we won’t counter the military support the extremists are getting.
Senators from both parties expressed exasperation with this non-policy, but not as much exasperation as President Obama’s stubborn passivity deserves. (…)"

Tens of thousands rally in Washington for immigrant rights - World Socialist Web Site

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/12/migr-a12.html

Tens of thousands rally in Washington for immigrant rights
By Bill Van Auken
12 April 2013

Tens of thousands of immigrant workers and their supporters marched in Washington, DC on Wednesday to demand legislation legalizing the status of some 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States and offering them full citizenship.

Significant demonstrations also took place in Atlanta, Los Angeles and several other cities amid reports that the so-called Gang of Eight Democratic and Republican US senators is preparing to unveil an immigration package by early next week.

#migrations #asile #états-unis

Les chiffres invraisemblables sur la destruction programmée de l’Irak (De Wereld Morgen) — Dirk Adriaensens, Marc Vandepitte
http://www.legrandsoir.info/les-chiffres-invraisemblables-sur-la-destruction-programmee-de-l-irak.

L’invasion de l’Irak, il y a dix ans, a provoqué la plus grave crise humanitaire dans le monde. Comme on l’avait annoncé, le pays a été systématiquement détruit. La brutale réalité dépasse tout ce qu’il est possible d’imaginer. Ce qui suit ne s’adresse pas aux lecteurs sensibles.

Secrecy for Sale: Inside the Global Offshore Money Maze
http://www.icij.org/offshore

Offshore Global Impact Exposed
Dozens of journalists sifted through millions of leaked records and thousands of names to produce ICIJ’s investigation into offshore secrecy.

To analyze the documents, ICIJ collaborated with reporters from The Guardian and the BBC in the U.K., Le Monde in France, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Norddeutscher Rundfunk in Germany, The Washington Post, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and 31 other media partners around the world.

#corruption #blanchiment #fraude #paradis_fiscaux

U.S., Jordan stepping up training of Syrian opposition - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-jordan-stepping-up-training-of-syrian-opposition/2013/04/02/e51831d2-9ba1-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_print.html

Des zones tampons sont envisagés dans le Sud de la Syrie, dont le type de protection reste à préciser, et qui doivent protéger Israël avant tout.

“The last thing anyone wants to see is al-Qaeda gaining a foothold in southern Syria next to Israel. That is a doomsday scenario,” said a U.S. diplomat in Jordan who was not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.

David Ignatius: Sorting out the rebel forces in Syria - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-sorting-out-the-rebel-forces-in-syria/2013/04/02/aaaa0110-9bd3-11e2-9a79-eb5280c81c63_story.html

The Free Syrian Army has developed a rough “order of battle” that describes these rebel groups, their ideology and sources of funding. This report was shared last week with the State Department.

...

... rebel sources say there are several [ islamist ] major factions.

The biggest umbrella group is called the Jabhat al-Tahrir al-Souriya al-Islamiya. It has about 37,000 fighters, drawn from four main subgroups based in different parts of the country. These Saudi-backed groups are not hard-core Islamists but are more militant than the political coalition headed by Sheik Moaz al-Khatib, who last week claimed Syria’s seat in the Arab League.

The second-largest rebel coalition is more extreme and is dominated by hard-core Salafist Muslims. Its official name — Jabhat al-Islamiya al-Tahrir al-Souriya — is almost identical to that of the Saudi-backed group. Rebel sources count 11 different brigades from around the country that have merged to form this second coalition. Financing comes from wealthy Saudi, Kuwaiti and other Gulf Arab individuals. Rebel sources estimate about 13,000 Salafist fighters are gathered under this second umbrella.

A third rebel group, known as Ahfad al-Rasoul, is funded by Qatar. It has perhaps 15,000 fighters.

The most dangerous group in the mix is the Jabhat al-Nusra, which is an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq. By one rebel estimate, it has grown to include perhaps 6,000 fighters. But this group, perhaps fearing that it will be targeted by Western counterterrorism forces, is said to be keeping its head down — and perhaps commingling with the Salafist umbrella group.

Idriss and his Free Syrian Army command about 50,000 more fighters, rebel sources say.

CIA director faces a quandary over clandestine service appointment - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-director-faces-a-quandary-over-clandestine-service-appointment/2013/03/26/5d93cb10-9645-11e2-9e23-09dce87f75a1_print.html

Via http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/document-friday-%E2%80%9Cthe-heat-from-destroying-the-torture-v

Non content de ne pas tenir ses engagements concernant Guantanamo, Obama promeut une tortionnaire en chef qui avait de surcroît fait fi des injonctions du Congrès (1)

As John Brennan moved into the CIA director’s office this month, another high-level transition was taking place down the hall.

A week earlier, a woman had been placed in charge of the CIA’s clandestine service for the first time in the agency’s history. She is a veteran officer with broad support inside the agency. But she also helped run the CIA’s detention and interrogation program after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and signed off on the 2005 decision to destroy videotapes of prisoners being subjected to treatment critics have called torture.

(1) Voir : La Maison Blanche et la CIA ont dissimulé à la Commission du 11 septembre les vidéos relatives à la torture lors d’interrogatoires
http://www.wsws.org/francais/News/2008/jan08/comp-j04.shtml

In Syria, America’s fractured hopes - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-syria-americas-fractured-hopes/2013/03/25/fd7a0684-9588-11e2-b6f0-a5150a247b6a_story.html

(...) l’Arabie saoudite et le Qatar mènent une bataille d’influence vieille de plusieurs décennies, en utilisant leurs contacts dans l’opposition syrienne comme substituts. Les deux riches pays du Golfe utilisent leurs médias - Al-Arabiya pour l’Arabie Saoudite et Al-Jazira au Qatar - pour promouvoir leurs agendas différents. C’est une rivalité ruineuse, qui rappelle la manière dont les régimes arabes avaient parrainé les querelles des seigneurs de guerre au Liban.

La plus grande surprise, c’est combien les États-Unis ont été peu disposés à- ou en mesure de- influencer les manœuvres politiques syriennes ces derniers mois. (...)