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Qatar’s Balancing Act (from National Post)

Fascinating article on Qatar – thank you, John Mueller, who sends me these great news articles.

From the National Post

Qatar’s balancing act

Fadi Al-Assaad, Reuters Files
Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, has steadily built a reputation for mediation and seeks to be regarded as an “honest broker” in the Middle East.
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Peter Goodspeed, National Post · Feb. 25, 2012 | Last Updated: Feb. 25, 2012 5:16 AM ET
The tiny country of Qatar used the slogan “Expect the Amazing” when it successfully bid to host soccer’s 2022 World Cup.

It’s a phrase that could summarize the reign of Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who in just 17 years has turned a small Arabian peninsula of salt and sand flats, once one of the poorest countries in the Persian Gulf, into the world’s richest country and possibly the Middle East’s most influential state.

A former British protectorate, which was noted for its declining pearl fishery when it became independent in 1971, Qatar was once described by the Lonely Planet Travel Guide as “possibly the most boring place on Earth.”

Now, according to the World Bank, its 250,000 citizens and 1.5 million foreign workers have the highest per capita income in the world (US$84,000, twice that of the United States) and an economy that outstripped China by growing 15.8% last year.

Since 2006, Qatar has been the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas and the kingdom is transforming its new wealth into worldwide influence.

Qatar recently led the Arab League’s expulsion of Syria and, on Friday, called for the creation of an Arab military force to open humanitarian corridors to protect civilians in Syria.

Last month, it allowed Afghanistan’s Taliban to open an office in Doha to facilitate peace talks with the U.S.

And in the spring, it was the first Arab country to recognize the rebel government in Libya.

The emirate sent six Mirage fighters to Crete to help NATO enforce a no fly zone over Libya.

It also supplied rebels with the fuel, weapons, cash and the training they needed to overthrow dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Qatari special forces provided basic infantry training in the Nafusa Mountains, west of Tripoli and some helped lead the final assault on Col. Gaddafi’s compound in the capital.

They were so proud of their achievement, they hung a Qatari flag from the wreckage of his palace.

“The Qataris have really adopted a kind of adventurous foreign policy in the last couple of years and shown a willingness to send special forces to these kind of areas of conflict,” said Andrew McGregor, senior editor of the Global Terrorism Monitor for the Jamestown Foundation.

“They’ve used their considerable wealth to supply arms and whatever else is needed.

“I would be keeping a close eye on what they are doing [in Syria]. They are rapidly emerging as a real power in the Arab League, despite their size. They are very influential and very wealthy, and they have shown a willingness to be engaged.”

The Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, sometimes referred to disparagingly as the “Arab World’s Henry Kissinger,” has steadily built a reputation for mediation and seeks to be regarded as an “honest broker” in the Middle East.

“Since the mid-1990s, Qatar has pursued an activist foreign policy, using its affluence, unthreatening military position and skills as a mediator to interject itself in conflicts around the Middle East and beyond,” said David Roberts, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute’s Doha Centre.

In recent years, Sheikh Hamad has carefully inserted himself in conflicts in Libya, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan.

In 2008, an agreement negotiated in Doha averted another civil war in Lebanon by establishing a power sharing agreement between the country’s different factions. Around the same time, Qatar helped negotiate a short-lived ceasefire in Yemen, mediated a border dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea, and hosted peace talks between Sudan and rebel groups in Darfur.

A regional actor with international reach, Sheikh Hamad has pursued a foreign policy that is ripe with conflicts and contradictions.

Qatar maintains good relations with Iran, while still offering the U.S. its biggest and most important air base in the Middle East at al-Udeid, a few kilometres outside Doha.

Unlike most Arab states, Qatar has generally had good relations with Israel and allowed the Israelis to maintain a commercial office in Doha until the 2009 Gaza invasion.

At the same time, it has warm relations with Israel’s enemies Hamas and Hezbollah, and provides safe haven to hardline Islamists from all over the Arab world.

Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Syria fled to Qatar in the 1960s and 1970s, even though the kingdom’s rulers frown on organized political Islam and ban all political parties.

Qatar “has a reputation for ‘omni-balancing’ between seemingly incompatible policies,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Gulf expert at the London School of Economics.

“Qatar’s rise, seemingly from nowhere, is rooted in deeper political, economic and security shifts and, in turn, is reconfiguring the balance of regional power.”

Those changes highlight Sheikh Hamad’s own rise to power and his reign in Qatar, where his family has ruled since the 19th century.

Raised by a maternal uncle’s family, after his mother died young, the Emir attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, west of London, graduating in 1971, the year Qatar won its independence and when its first natural gas field was discovered.

He was made a lieutenant colonel in Qatar’s army and, after his father deposed an uncle to become emir in 1972, he rapidly rose to become commander-in-chief of its armed forces.

As crown prince, Sheikh Hamad was gradually given the power to run the country day-to-day, while his father cultivated a taste for extravagance and spent most of his time on the French Riviera.

Sheikh Hamad oversaw development of Qatar’s oil and gas industry and carefully planned an economy that provides Qataris with free education, health care, housing and utilities – and no taxes.

But when his father returned home briefly in 1995 and arbitrarily demoted another son from his position as prime minister, Crown Prince Sheikh Hamad staged a bloodless coup. He informed his father by telephone while he was holidaying in Switzerland.

The old emir returned to the Gulf the following year, publicly disowning his son and trying to drum up support for a countercoup, but Sheik Hamad snuffed out the plot by freezing billions of dollars in his father’s overseas bank accounts.

Then, just 44 and the youngest ruler in the Gulf, he set about to reform and redefine Qatar.

Surrounding himself with young, Western-educated advisors, he drew up a longterm plan to develop a post-oil knowledge-based economy.

He has allocated 40% of Qatar’s budget between now and 2016 to massive infrastructure projects, including an $11billion international airport, a $5.5-billion deep-water seaport and a $1-billion transport corridor in Doha, as well as $20billion in new roads.

He has also invited foreign universities to establish Middle East campuses in a $100-billion Education City in Doha.

Without an elected parliament to advise him, the Emir has final say in the disposition of the country’s $70-billion to $100-billion sovereign wealth fund, which has made it a financial powerhouse internationally by investing heavily in everything from German carmakers Porsche and Volk-swagen to the Agricultural Bank of China, Harrods department store in London, a Brazilian bank, Chinese oil refineries, a Spanish soccer team and a French fashion house.

The Emir’s most influential investment was his creation of the 24-hour Arab-language Al Jazeera television network in 1996.

Granted a level of editorial independence unheard of in the Arab world, Al Jazeera is encouraged to report freely and aggressively on everything but Qatari politics, and is the most watched TV network in the Middle East.

The broadcaster was widely regarded as one of the driving forces behind the spread of the Arab Spring.

“Qatar hopes to insert itself as the key mediator between the Muslim world and the West,” Mr. Roberts said.

“Qatar sees its role as a highly specialized interlocutor between the two worlds, making – from the West’s point of view – unpalatable but necessary friendships and alliances with anti-Western leaders.”

Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem Al-Thani, Qatar’s Prime Minister and a distant cousin of the Emir, likes to say his country is small and has to be proactive to protect its interest and avoid being run over by more powerful neighbours.

“Our policy is to be friendly with everybody,” the Emir said recently in a television interview. “We are looking for peace. It doesn’t mean if two parties turn against each other, we have to go to one party. No, we would like to stick with the two parties.”

– Formerly a British protectorate, Qatar has been ruled by the Al-Thani family since the mid-1800s. The current Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, overthrew his father in a bloodless coup in 1995.

– Oil and natural gas revenues have enabled Qatar to attain the highest per-capita income in the world (US$84,000 according to a report this year by Global Finance).

– Oil output at current levels should last 57 years, according to the CIA World Factbook.

– It has a zero unemployment rate and zero percentage below the poverty line.

– The mostly flat and desert land is 11,586 square kilometres – only slightly larger than Jasper National Park.

– It has a population of 848,016 – similar to the population of Edmonton.

SOURCE: NATIONAL POST NEWS SERVICES

JONATHON RIVAIT / NATIONAL POST

pgoodspeed@nationalpost.com

February 26, 2012 Posted by | Bureaucracy, Character, Community, Financial Issues, Leadership, Political Issues, Qatar | Leave a comment

Unity in Diversity

As so often happens, when I read Forward Day by Day, an illumination of the daily readings in the Lectionary, I think “Oh! This is meant for me.”

My heart is heavy as the Syrian peoples in Homs and Hama are bombarded, and babies, children, mothers, non-combatants – all are killed, whether they are fighting or not. I remember the shivers as we would pass the headquarters of the Mukhabarat, or secret police, which we called ‘the fingernail factory’ and I am shamed at our shallowness and callowness, as the reality of people tortured and damaged just for the example of it. While I know that the troubles are political, they are following religious lines. Homs and Hama have always resisted the rule of the Alawites, and have suffered horribly, 30 years ago, at the hands of Bassam Al-Assad’s father, who almost leveled Hama. I know, because I visited there shortly afterwards. It was a silent ghostland, a beautiful city, deserted and haunted.

Who is next, Assad? After the cities of Homs and Hama – oh, and don’t forget Deraa – will you start hitting the Christian villages, even though the Syrian Christians are at the very least, neutral, and many support you? The monster of tyranny is not easily sated, and to survive, there must be constant sacrifices to keep the people in fear, or else they won’t be obedient.

This is all heavy on my heart. I lave loved Syria, all of it, not just Damascus. When will we learn to live in peace with one another?


(Image of Hama from WikiMedia)

John 17:20-26. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me.

This verse is taken from the so-called high priestly prayer of Jesus for the unity of the church. What is our understanding of unity in the church? From the outset there was a great diversity of Christian groups. Diversity arose from differing practices and religious customs as well as from the difficulty of interpreting authentically the mystery of the person of Jesus.

What is meant by the unity of all Christians? An imposed uniformity in which everyone must bow their heads and obey without freedom of expression and cultural variations? That would be more harmful than beneficial. That idea persisted for a long time and led to the imposition of strict uniformity in religious practice worldwide. It was pernicious.

Today we realize that there can be unity in diversity. It is important to highlight the diversity of cultures while maintaining unity. The unity that Jesus wanted was based on love, compassion, and mercy—not uniformity.

PRAY for the Diocese of Bukuru – (Jos, Nigeria)

Ps 30, 32 * 42, 43; Ezekiel 39:21-29; Philippians 4:10-20

February 25, 2012 Posted by | Circle of Life and Death, Community, Crime, ExPat Life, Interconnected, Living Conditions, Political Issues | | 2 Comments

Malek Jandali Freedom Qashoush Symphony مالك جندلي حرية سيمفونية القاشوش

We have spent many happy hours and days in Syria. We grieve for our Syrian friends, for those living in Homs and Hama, and all those seeking freedom from tyranny.

February 16, 2012 Posted by | Bureaucracy, ExPat Life, Free Speech, Interconnected, Leadership, Living Conditions, Political Issues | | Leave a comment

Three Lies About the American Economy

Here is what makes me sad. Even though this information is available to everyone, these three misconceptions will continue to be put forth as “truth.” People believe what they want to believe, and they don’t do the research. I found this on the AOL Daily Finance page.


By Morgan Housel

At a conference in Philadelphia last October, a Wharton professor noted that one of the country’s biggest economic problems is a tsunami of misinformation. You can’t have a rational debate when facts are so easily supplanted by overreaching statements, broad generalizations, and misconceptions. And if you can’t have a rational debate, how does anything important get done? As author William Feather once advised, “Beware of the person who can’t be bothered by details.” There seems to be no shortage of those people lately.

Here are three misconceptions that need to be put to rest.

Misconception No. 1: Most of what Americans spend their money on is made in China.

Fact: Just 2.7% of personal consumption expenditures go to Chinese-made goods and services. 88.5% of U.S. consumer spending is on American-made goods and services.

I used that statistic in a recent article, and the response from readers was overwhelming: Hogwash. People just didn’t believe it.
The figure comes from a Federal Reserve report. You can read it here.

A common rebuttal I got was, “How can it only be 2.7% when almost everything in Walmart (WMT) is made in China?” Because Walmart’s $260 billion in U.S. revenue isn’t exactly reflective of America’s $14.5 trillion economy. Walmart might sell a broad range of knickknacks, many of which are made in China, but the vast majority of what Americans spend their money on is not knickknacks.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics closely tracks how an average American spends their money in an annual report called the Consumer Expenditure Survey. In 2010, the average American spent 34% of their income on housing, 13% on food, 11% on insurance and pensions, 7% on health care, and 2% on education. Those categories alone make up nearly 70% of total spending, and are comprised almost entirely of American-made goods and services (only 7% of food is imported, according to the USDA).

Even when looking at physical goods alone, Chinese imports still account for just a small fraction of U.S. spending. Just 6.4% of nondurable goods — things like food, clothing and toys — purchased in the U.S. are made in China; 76.2% are made in America. For durable goods — things like cars and furniture — 12% are made in China; 66.6% are made in America.

Another way to grasp the value of Chinese-made goods is to look at imports. The U.S. imported $399 billion worth of goods from China last year, which is 2.7% of our $14.5 trillion economy. Is that a lot? Yes. Is it most of what we spend our money on? Not by a long shot.

Part of the misconception is likely driven by the notion that America’s manufacturing base has been in steep decline. The truth, surprising to many, is that real manufacturing output today is near an all-time high. What’s dropped precipitously in recent decades is manufacturing employment. Technology and automation has allowed American manufacturers to build more stuff with far fewer workers than in the past. One good example: In 1950, a U.S. Steel (X) plant in Gary, Ind., produced 6 million tons of steel with 30,000 workers. Today, it produces 7.5 million tons with 5,000 workers. Output has gone up; employment has dropped like a rock.

Misconception No. 2: We owe most of our debt to China.

Fact: China owns 7.6% of U.S. government debt outstanding.

As of November, China owned $1.13 trillion of Treasuries. Government debt stood at $14.9 trillion that month. That’s 7.6%.
Who owns the rest? The largest holder of U.S. debt is the federal government itself. Various government trust funds like the Social Security trust fund own about $4.4 trillion worth of Treasury securities. The Federal Reserve owns another $1.6 trillion.

Both are unique owners: Interest paid on debt held by federal trust funds is used to cover a portion of federal spending, and the vast majority of interest earned by the Federal Reserve is remitted back to the U.S. Treasury.
The rest of our debt is owned by state and local governments ($700 billion), private domestic investors ($3.1 trillion), and other non-Chinese foreign investors ($3.5 trillion).

Does China own a lot of our debt? Yes, but it’s a qualified yes. Of all Treasury debt held by foreigners, China is indeed the largest owner ($1.13 trillion), followed by Japan ($1 trillion) and the U.K. ($429 billion).

Right there, you can see that Japan and the U.K. combined own more U.S. debt than China. Now, how many times have you heard someone say that we borrow an inordinate amount of money from Japan and the U.K.? I never have. But how often do you hear some version of the “China is our banker” line? Too often, I’d say.

Misconception No. 3: We get most of our oil from the Middle East.

Fact: Just 9.8% of oil consumed in the U.S. comes from the Middle East.

According the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. consumes 19.2 million barrels of petroleum products per day. Of that amount, a net 49% is produced domestically. The rest is imported.

Where is it imported from? Only a small fraction comes from the Middle East, and that fraction has been declining in recent years. Last year, imports from the Persian Gulf region — which includes Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — made up 9.8% of total petroleum supplied to the U.S. In 2001, that number was 14.1%.

The U.S. imports more than twice as much petroleum from Canada and Mexico than it does from the Middle East. Add in the share produced domestically, and the majority of petroleum consumed in the U.S. comes from North America.

This isn’t to belittle our energy situation. The nation still relies on imports for about half of its oil. That’s bad. But should the Middle East get the attention it does when we talk about oil reliance? In terms of security and geopolitical stability, perhaps. In terms of volume, probably not.
A Roomful of Skeptics

“People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe,” said Andy Rooney. Do these numbers fit with what you already believed? No hard feelings if they don’t. Just let me know why in the comment section below.

Motley Fool contributor Morgan Housel owns shares of Wal-Mart. Follow him on Twitter @TMFHousel. The Motley Fool owns shares of Wal-Mart Stores. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of and creating a diagonal call position in Wal-Mart.

See full article from DailyFinance: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/02/13/3-economic-misconceptions-that-need-to-die/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl6%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D135454&icid=sphere_copyright

February 14, 2012 Posted by | Cultural, Financial Issues, Lies, Living Conditions, Political Issues, Social Issues, Statistics, Work Related Issues | Leave a comment

New Yorker: Obama Watches “Superbowl”

January 29, 2012 Posted by | Humor, Political Issues | Leave a comment

Canadian Family Found Guilt of Honor Killing

From today’s AOL / Huffington Post: World:

 

KINGSTON, Ontario — A jury on Sunday found an Afghan father, his wife and their son guilty of killing three teenage sisters and a co-wife in what the judge described as “cold-blooded, shameful murders” resulting from a “twisted concept of honor.”

The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case that shocked and riveted Canadians from coast to coast. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

After the verdict was read, the three defendants again declared their innocence in the killings of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia’s childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.

Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ontario, where the family had stopped for the night on their way home to Montreal from Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly killed the three teenage sisters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and going online. Shafia’s first wife was living with him and his second wife. The polygamous relationship, if revealed, could have resulted in their deportation.

The prosecution alleged it was a case of premeditated murder, staged to look like an accident after it was carried out. Prosecutors said the defendants drowned their victims elsewhere on the site, placed their bodies in the car and pushed it into the canal.

Defense lawyers said the deaths were accidental. They said the Nissan car accidentally plunged into the canal after the eldest daughter, Zainab, took it for a joy ride with her sisters and her father’s first wife. Hamed said he watched the accident, although he didn’t call police from the scene.

After the jury returned the verdicts, Mohammad Shafia, speaking through a translator, said, “We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn’t commit the murder and this is unjust.”

His weeping wife, Tooba, also declared the verdict unjust, saying, “I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother.”

Their son, Hamed, speaking in English said, “I did not drown my sisters anywhere.”

But Judge Robert Maranger was unmoved, saying the evidence clearly supported their conviction for “the planned and deliberate murder of four members of your family.”

“It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime … the apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor … that has absolutely no place in any civilized society.”

Hamed’s lawyer, Patrick McCann, said he was disappointed with the verdict, but said his client will appeal and he believes the other two defendants will as well.

But prosecutor Gerard Laarhuis welcomed the verdict.

“This jury found that four strong, vivacious and freedom-loving women were murdered by their own family in the most troubling of circumstances,” Laarhuis said outside court.

“This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and the core principles in a free and democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy,” he said to cheers of approval from onlookers.

The family had left Afghanistan in 1992 and lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai before settling in Canada in 2007. Shafia, a wealthy businessman, married Yahya because his first wife could not have children.

The prosecution painted a picture of a household controlled by a domineering Shafia, with Hamed keeping his sisters in line and doling out discipline when his father was away on frequent business trips to Dubai.

The months leading up to the deaths were not happy ones in the Shafia household, according to evidence presented at trial. Zainab, the oldest daughter, was forbidden to attend school for a year because she had a young Pakistani-Canadian boyfriend, and she fled to a shelter, terrified of her father, the court was told.

The prosecution said her parents found condoms in Sahar’s room as well as photos of her wearing short skirts and hugging her Christian boyfriend, a relationship she had kept secret. Geeti was becoming almost impossible to control: skipping school, failing classes, being sent home for wearing revealing clothes and stealing, while declaring to authority figures that she wanted to be placed in foster care, according to the prosecution.

Shafia’s first wife wrote in a diary that her husband beat her and “made life a torture,” while his second wife called her a servant.

The prosecution presented wire taps and cell phone records from the Shafia family in court to support their honor killing theory. The wiretaps, which capture Shafia spewing vitriol about his dead daughters, calling them treacherous and whores and invoking the devil to defecate on their graves, were a focal point of the trial.

“There can be no betrayal, no treachery, no violation more than this,” Shafia said on one recording. “Even if they hoist me up onto the gallows … nothing is more dear to me than my honor.”

Defense lawyers argued that at no point in the intercepts do the accused say they drowned the victims.

Shafia’s lawyer, Peter Kemp, said after the verdicts that he believes the comments his client made on the wiretaps may have weighed more heavily on the jury’s minds than the physical evidence in the case.

“He wasn’t convicted for what he did,” Kemp said. “He was convicted for what he said.”

January 29, 2012 Posted by | Crime, ExPat Life, Family Issues, Law and Order, Lies, Living Conditions, Political Issues, Social Issues, Survival, Values, Women's Issues | Leave a comment

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

We couldn’t wait. We saw the earlier version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, you know, the one with Alec Guiness, and we couldn’t wait to see this new version, with Gary Oldman playing the Smiley role. He was awesome.

The LeCarre’ books featuring George Smiley are grim and grey, and the opening captures that exactly. The entire movie has a bureaucratic, institutional bleakness, with all the power plays, the petty snobberies, the jockeying for position that these bureaucracies seem to nurture. The only times in the movie when there is color and life is the annual bureau party, once done entirely in Russian, once in French.

The movie is faithful to the book, which I think I need to go back and read once again. It all seems so historical now.

One of the things we noticed was that the theatre was utterly quiet as the movie progressed. A lot of the action is in the mind, figuring things out, and trying not to get caught, so the suspense is of the subtle kind, not the car-crashing and jumping off buildings kind. It was as if the entire theatre were holding its breath; noticeable because of its rarity.

We were oddly jangled as we left the theatre, and over dinner we talked about how we never thought we would be obsolescent, but the Cold War has passed; the soldiers of today weren’t even alive when the Berlin Wall came down and the Iron Curtain parted and the cars flowed east. Life goes on.

There were several quotes, one that made us laugh was spies talking about recruiting other nationalities “You can hire an Arab but you can’t buy ’em.”

January 8, 2012 Posted by | Adventure, Aging, Arts & Handicrafts, Books, Bureaucracy, Character, Community, Counter-terrorism, Cultural, Entertainment, ExPat Life, Political Issues | Leave a comment

Sexual Assault Still a Problem at US Military Academies

It’s one of my hot buttons, so I will share this with you. Once again – sexual assault isn’t about sex, it’s about power. It takes time to teach people they can’t force themselves on others, no matter what their rank, how rich or powerful they are, etc. It takes time to teach these yahoos that there are consequences for breaking these laws. And 🙂 it IS the law.

From today’s AOL News/Huffington Post, where you can also see a video report of this item:

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The number of reported sexual assaults at the nation’s three major military academies rose overall in the latest academic year from one year earlier, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pentagon.

The Defense Department’s “Annual Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies” for academic year 2010-2011 found there were 65 reports of sexual assault involving cadets and midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy. That was up from 41 reports of sexual assaults in the prior academic year.

“This is a leadership issue, first and foremost, so I also expect us to lead with integrity and with energy to eliminate sexual assault and harassment from our culture,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a statement. “I’m confident the steps we are taking are the right ones, but we must continue to improve.”

The Pentagon said it could not conclusively identify the reasons for the increases. However, the department has worked to encourage more victims to report sexual assault and the Pentagon says that could explain the higher number of reports.

The annual report was mandated in the 2007 John Warner National Defense Authorization Act. It directed the Pentagon to evaluate the effectiveness of the sexual harassment and sexual violence related policies on an annual basis.

Aiming to eliminate sexual assault and harassment from military culture, the Pentagon also announced two new policies to support abuse victims as it released the findings Tuesday.

Service members who have been the victim of sexual assault and have filed an unrestricted report now have the option to request an expedited transfer from their unit or installation, the Defense Department said. Under the new policy, the service member must receive a response to the transfer from the unit commander within 72 hours. A service member also will be able to request a review of any denied request and receive that response within 72 hours, the Pentagon added.

Another new policy will standardize retention periods for sexual assault records across the military services. Specified documents will be retained for 50 years in unrestricted cases and for five years in restricted cases to give victims longer access to documents related to sexual assault, the Defense Department said.

While the report found that the U.S. Military Academy at West Point is in partial compliance with the department’s policies regarding sexual harassment and assault, it concluded the academy was not in compliance with department policy for providing prevention and response training to all cadets.

The Service Women’s Action Network, a national human rights organization founded by women veterans, was critical of the increase in sexual abuse reports. Greg Jacob, policy director for the organization, also underscored the noncompliance with Pentagon policy in the report.

“Ending the widespread issue of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military starts by ending it at the service academies,” Jacob said in a statement.

West Point did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Other academy officials said they believe the increase in reporting indicates a positive step in making cadets and midshipmen feel more comfortable about reporting incidents – a crucial part of addressing the problem.

“We believe that there’s much more trust in our system than maybe we’ve seen in years past,” said Col. Reni Renner, vice commandant culture and climate at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Deborah Goode, a spokeswoman at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., said the school includes training for midshipmen throughout all four years to prevent harassment and encourage reporting.

“We believe there is a better understanding by midshipmen of what constitutes sexual harassment and sexual assault, as well as an increased willingness to report incidents, which may account for increased reports of sexual assault cases,” Goode said.

The Air Force Academy had 33 reports in the latest academic year, an increase from 20 in the previous year. However, Renner noted that five of this year’s reporters were for incidents that occurred prior to military service. The Naval Academy had 22 reported incidents, compared to 11. West Point reported the same number in both years, 10 in each year.

December 28, 2011 Posted by | Crime, Cultural, Mating Behavior, Political Issues, Social Issues, Women's Issues, Work Related Issues | 2 Comments

Kuwait Emergency Message for U.S Citizens 19-2011 – Demonstrations

Kuwait City, Kuwait
November 28, 2011

Subject: Emergency Message for U.S Citizens 19-2011� Demonstrations

Please circulate the following message without additions or omissions
immediately to all U.S. Citizens within your area of responsibility.

According to press reports, anti-government demonstrations are planned this week
at Determination Square and near the Parliament building in Kuwait City. An
increased police and security presence is expected in and around the capital
with traffic congestion.

Spontaneous and/or planned demonstrations do occur in Kuwait in response to
global, regional, and local developments. U.S. citizens are advised to avoid
areas where demonstrations are ongoing and exercise caution if within the
vicinity of large gatherings.

Please stay current with media coverage of local events, be aware of your
surroundings, and continue to practice personal security awareness.
U.S. citizens traveling and residing abroad should enroll in the Smart Traveler
Enrollment Program (STEP) at the following website:

https://travelregistration.state.gov.

U.S. citizens without internet access may enroll directly at the U.S. Embassy or
Consulate at their destination. By enrolling, U.S. citizens make it easier for
the Embassy to contact them in case of emergency.
Updated information on travel and security may be obtained from the Department
of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or,
for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at
1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern
Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays). For further
information, please consult the Bureau of Consular Affairs Internet website at
http://travel.state.gov where the Worldwide Caution and Country Specific
Information can be found. In addition, the Embassy encourages U.S. citizens to
review “A Safe Trip Abroad,” which includes valuable security information for
those traveling or living in foreign countries. You can also follow the Bureau
of Consular Affairs on Twitter and on Facebook.

The U.S. Embassy is located at Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa Street, Block 6, Plot 14,
Bayan, Kuwait. If you are a U.S. citizen in need of emergency assistance in
Kuwait, you may reach the U.S. Embassy by calling +965-2259-1001 and requesting
the duty officer.

U.S. citizens in Kuwait who would like to receive future Emergency and
Informational Messages from the Embassy directly by e-mail may sign up for this
service by sending an e-mail to the following address: join-wardenmessagekuwait@mh.databack.com

This message may be accessed on the Embassy website, http://kuwait.usembassy.gov
Please note that the Consular Section is closed for U.S. and most local
holidays. The current holiday schedule for 2011 is posted on
http://kuwait.usembassy.gov/holidays.html.

November 28, 2011 Posted by | Kuwait, Political Issues | 2 Comments

Kuwait arrests activists for storming parliament

Holy cow. Reader John Mueller sent me this from Yahoo news. Oh no. Thank you, John.

Kuwaiti police Wednesday arrested at least one opposition activist over charges of storming parliament while other activists began surrendering voluntarily, their lawyer said.

“Police arrested youth activist Yussef al-Shatti at Kuwait Airport this morning,” coordinator of the opposition defence team Al-Humaidi al-Subaie told AFP.

Subaie said that so far the public prosecutor has issued around 50 arrest warrants against opposition activists who stormed the parliament building last week after a rally and clashes with riot police.

Kuwait Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah on Sunday described the incident at parliament as a “black day” for the oil-rich Gulf state and said that legal action will be taken against some 40 activists.

Subaie expected that more arrest warrants will be issued against other activists but said that a large number of them have decided to surrender to police whether they are summoned or not.

“Right now, I am heading to surrender to police. They have called me for interrogation although I was not involved in storming parliament,” Mohammad al-Bulaihees, a youth leader, told AFP by phone.

“This is a deliberate government policy to arrest opposition youth activists in a bid to silence them,” he said.

Subaie said that around 100 activists plan to give themselves up to police under a campaign “Arrest us all” launched by the opposition to protest the arrests.
The Kuwaiti opposition has been launching a campaign with the aim to change the prime minister and dissolve parliament following an alleged corruption scandal involving around 15 MPs.

The opposition has also accused Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family, of transferring public funds into his overseas bank accounts. The government has denied the charge.

The opposition, which has the support of half of the 50-member parliament, has been holding huge rallies to press their demands. On Tuesday, government supporters staged a rally in support of the prime minister.

OPEC member Kuwait sits on about 10 percent of the global crude oil reserves and currently pumps around 3.0 million barrels per day.

November 26, 2011 Posted by | Kuwait, Political Issues | 1 Comment

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