Somalia Is 'The Forgotten Crisis'

From The BBC:

The lives of up to 15,000 children are at risk in Somalia unless emergency aid arrives in the next two weeks, the UN children's agency, Unicef, has warned.

"It is the forgotten crisis," Unicef's Christian Balslev-Olesen told the BBC, saying Somalia was the world's worst place for children.

Without extra funding, emergency feeding programmes could be closed down next month, he warned.

He said fighting had created "a time-bomb" of people living in camps.

Read more ....

My Comment: The last time Western forces were in Somalia we had the "Blackhawk Down" episode. After Afghanistan and Iraq, there is little if any will in the West to be actively involved in this conflict. Will Africa become involved .... using half measures they will publicly talk about their commitment, but on the ground this participation will be very limited. Africa has enough problems that have the potential to make Somalia just a minor family dispute.

US Intel Links Iran With Nuke Bomb Bid

From Yahoo News:

VIENNA, Austria - The U.S. has recently shared sensitive information with the International Atomic Energy Agency on key aspects of Iran's nuclear program that Washington says shows Tehran was directly engaged in trying to make an atomic weapon, diplomats told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The diplomats said Washington also gave the IAEA permission to confront Iran with at least some of the evidence in an attempt to pry details out of the Islamic republic on the activities, as part of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's attempts to investigate Iran's suspicious nuclear past.

The decision by the U.S. administration to declassify its intelligence and indirectly share it with Iran through the IAEA was a clear reflection of Washington's' drive to pressure Iran into admitting that it had focused part of its nuclear efforts toward developing a weapons program.

Read more ....

My Comment: Why share classified information? Iran's leaders have not only made their intentions clear, but in fact have been very public about it. If you want to destroy Israel, I doubt that they are talking about a peaceful process. Since Israel is too strong to me defeated using conventional military forces, the only way that it can be destroyed will be through the use of unconventional military forces .... i.e. nuclear.

The fact that they also provide financial and logistical support to organizations such as Hezbollah, elements of Al Qaeda, Hamas, and who knows who else .... it is very clear that their intentions are not peaceful nor accommodating.

‘Our Country Is In Trouble’ -- An Ex-bin Laden Hunter On Why The U.S. Hasn't Beaten Al Qaeda.

From Newsweek:

Michael Scheuer is a worried man—and an angry one. He's worried by what he regards as the United States's failure to devise a successful strategy against Osama bin Laden and angered by what he sees as the political timidity behind that failure. Scheuer has a claim to be heard. He was a CIA officer for almost 20 years. In the 1980s he was involved in the arming of the Afghan mujahedin against the Soviets. For much of the 1990s he ran the team hunting for Osama bin Laden. In 2004 he quit the CIA to write a book titled "Imperial Hubris," an account of years of Western failure to take seriously the growing threat of Islamist terrorism. Now Scheuer has written a new book, "Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq." He spoke with NEWSWEEK'S John Barry about it.

Read more ....

My Comment: Since the seventies, after the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee headed by Senator Church had hearings on "illegal" conduct of the C.I.A. that resulted in the elimination of much of its traditional "body on the ground" intelligence work to favor more electronic and equipment surveillance, America's Intelligence capability has not been the same. While it is probably the best in monitoring leaders of state, it is clear that it is not effective against individuals and quasi organizations such as Al Qaeda.

To change the culture of America's Intelligence Organizations will, in my opinion, only come about through an act of god. Since 911, there are two images that sum up to me on what is the best and worse of the CIA. The first one is right after 911, when CIA operatives were dropped into Afghanistan and were successful in organizing opposition groups in that country as well as coordinating U.S. air strikes against the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies. The second one is learning about Valerie Plame and her involvement in sending her husband to Niger, and the fallout after that escapade. The clear nepotism and politicization of the CIA for all to see.

UN: 13 Countries Use Child Soldiers

From Time Magazine:

The situation for children caught in conflict remains "grave and entirely unacceptable" because 58 groups in 13 countries still recruit and use child soldiers, according to a senior U.N. official.

Undersecretary-General Radhika Coomaraswamy told the U.N. Security Council Tuesday that in addition to being pressed into service, children in several countries are also killed, maimed, abducted and raped and denied access to humanitarian groups.

She cited a recent report from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict that named 58 groups in 13 countries "responsible for the recruitment and use of child soldiers."

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My Comment: A problem that has been with man since the beginning of recorded history. Young generations lost and destroyed to fulfill an adults view of what should be.

U.S. Military Aid To The Phillipines Found Effective In Separatist Clash

From The Washington Times:

U.S. military assistance to the Philippines has been effective in building counterinsurgency capacity, according to a U.S. military study, but critics say it has come at the price of a U.S. blind eye to extrajudicial killings there.

The government of the far-flung archipelago nation has been locked for decades in a conflict with separatist groups in the southern region of Mindanao, home to the Philippines" Muslim minority.

Peace deals and cease-fires were negotiated with the mainstream rebel groups in the 1990s, and Mindanao was granted autonomy in 1996, but more radical elements, some linked to al Qaeda and other Islamic terror groups, have since emerged.

Read more ....

My Comment: Conflict in the Philippines is nothing new. But the fact that the central government is starting to be successful against many of these insurgent groups is new. Concerns about extrajudicial killings is an area of concern. Unfortunately, civil war and conflict is never clean, and the prospect of brutality and war crimes being committed is almost a given.

Will the Philippines ever achieve a level of peace .... maybe ..... but like all low level conflicts this is a very long term prospect. The only hope is to minimize it and localize it to the regions that have always bred this level of violence.

Infamous Hezbollah Terrorist Imad Mughniyeh Assassinated By Car Bomb In Syria -- Roundup Of News

From Yahoo News:

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Imad Mughniyeh, the militant accused of attacks that left hundreds of Americans and Israelis dead, including a U.S. Navy diver during the infamous 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner, has been killed, Hezbollah said Wednesday.

The militant group blamed Israel for the assassination — a charge the Jewish state denied — but it did not say how he died. However, Middle East media reported he was killed in a recent car bomb in Syria.

His killing is a major blow to Hezbollah, which fought Israel in the summer 2006 war in Lebanon, and its Iranian and Syrian backers.

Read more ....

News Updates From Other News Services:
News FromThe BBC: Bomb Kills Top Hezbollah Leader

News From Haaretz: Hezbollah Deputy Leader Was Behind String Of Terror Attacks

From Yahoo News: Attacks Blamed On Mughniyeh

From First Post: Death Of The ‘Original Bin Laden’

From Breitbart: Hezbollah Says Top Militant Is Killed

From Times Online: Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah Terror Leader, Killed In Car Bomb

From The Belmont Club: Mughniyeh Killed in Damascus

From CNN: Hezbollah Commander On FBI Terrorist List Killed

My Comment: You can run, but you cannot hide. Aside from the story that he is now dead, the next story should be what is Syria's involvement in giving sanctuary to such a person. Obviously there is and always has been a direct collaboration between the two.

With his death Syria's role in terror attacks against U.S. interests will probably now never be known. But what is known is that this is a clear signal to Hezbollah that their leadership are not immune to attacks and being safe in countries that support their efforts.

Hasil Kompetisi International Moot Court Tingkat Nasional

MAHASISWA HUKUM INDONESIA AKAN “MEMUKUL” LAWAN-LAWANNYA DI WASHINGTON D.C.

Mahasiswa Hukum asal Universitas Indonesia dan Universitas Parahyangan akan mewakili Indonesia dalam kompetisi peradilan semu internasional (international moot court competition) pada bulan Maret mendatang di Amerika Serikat.

Mereka adalah tim pemenang dari kompetisi Moot Court tingkat Nasional setelah mengalahkan para pesaingnya yang juga merupakan mahasiswa hukum S1 lainnya dalam the 2008 Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition di Jakarta.

Kemenangan tersebut meloloskan mahasiswa UI dan Parahyangan untuk ikut serta dalam salah satu kompetisi internasional paling bergengsi bagi Mahasiswa Hukum pada bulan Maret dan April mendatang di Washington D.C. Di lokasi tersebut, mereka akan menghadapi lawan-lawannya dari berbagai penjuru dunia.

Kegiatan ini merupakan kompetisi kali ke-7, di mana untuk tahun ini dilaksanakan atas kerjasama antara Indonesian Society for International Law dan Mahkamah Konstitusi RI. Kompetisi yang diselenggarakan di dalam gedung Mahkamah Konstitusi ini telah membuktikan tingkat kemampuan para mahasiswa hukum Indonesia untuk mengambil peran dan partisipasi dalam berbagai kegiatan hukum internasional.

Dua puluh tim universitas negeri dan swasta dari seluruh penjuru Indonesia turut ambil bagian dalam kompetisi kali ini. Mereka adalah Universitas Airlangga, Universitas Andalas, Universitas Katholik Atma Jaya, Universitas Bhayangkara, Universitas Borobudur, Universitas Brawijaya, Universitas De La Salle Indonesia, dam Universitas Hasanuddin, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Universitas Negeri Manado, Universitas Padjadjaran, Universitas Katholik Parahyangan, Universitas Tarumanagara, Universitas Trisakti, Universitas Al Azhar Indonesia, Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Internasional Batam, Universitas Pelita Harapan, Universitas Sumatera Utara, dan Universitas Surabaya.

Kegiatan ini juga dihadiri oleh 48 ahli hukum Indonesia yang berasal dari latar belakang profesi yang berbeda, seperti Hakim, Praktisi Hukum, Akademisi dan Dosen, serta Pengacara yang berasal baik dari dalam negeri maupun luar negeri.

Gary F. Bell, salah satu ahli hukum internasional yang menjadi juri pada persidangan babak final, mengatakan bahwa mahasiswa hukum Indonesia telah menunjukan kemampuan kelas dunianya dalam hukum internasional. Juri lainnya, yaitu Mr. Nobuo Hayashi, Penuntut Umum pada International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia, dan Mr. Anees Ahmed, Penuntut Umum pada Criminal Tribunal of Cambodia for Khmer Rouge, memberikan impresi yang positif terhadap perkembangan para ahli hukum Indonesia di masa yang akan datang.

Prof. Hikmahanto Juwana, ahli hukum internasional Universitas Indonesia yang juga menghadiri perhelatan akbar tersebut mengatakan bahwa kompetisi merupakan wadah yang sangat baik bagi para calon pengacara Indonesia untuk mempersiapkan diri mereka pada pengadilan internasional.

Lebih lanjut, Prof. Jimly Asshiddiqie, Ketua Mahkamah Konstitusi RI, sangat terkesan dengan kemampuan dan penampilan para peserta dalam menguasai prosedur dan substansi pengadilan internasional. Beliau mengatakan bahwa para peserta sudah menunjukan kemampuan profesional layaknya para pengacara internasional.

Sebagai pemenang, Universitas Indonesia memperoleh Mochtar Kusuma Atmaja Award yang diberikan oleh Mahkamah Konstitusi. Sementara itu, peghargaan the Best Oralist pada babak final jatuh kepada Edwina Kharisma dan Fitria Chairani dari Universitas Indonesia. Mereka berhak memperoleh beasiswa untuk melanjutkan program LL.M di National University of Singapore (NUS).

Tentunya kita semua berharap dan memberikan dukungan penuh agar para delegasi Indonesia dapat membawa pulang berbagai penghargaan pada Kompetisi Peradilan Semu Internasional mendatang di Washington D.C. demi mengibarkan nama harum ibu pertiwi, Republik Indonesia.

Adapun daftar para pemenang secara keseluruhan adalah sebagai berikut:

1. Spirit of Jessup - Universitas Internasional Batam
2. Third Best Memorial - Universitas Pelita Harapan
3. Second Best Memorial - Universitas Padjadjaran
4. Best Memorial - Universitas Parahyangan
5. Third Best Oralist - Vincent Bellamy, Universitas Parahyangan
6. Second Best Oralist - Fitria Chairani, Universitas Indonesia
7. Best Oralist - Rivana Mezaya, Universitas Indonesia
8. Second Runner Up - Universitas Padjadjaran
9. First Runner Up - Universitas Parahyangan
10. Champion - Universitas Indonesia