Obama to Close Guantánamo; Russia to Resume Gas Supply to EU; Israel Bans Two Arab Parties

Related subjects: Executive Powers, Middle East, Security & Surveillance, The Global Intercept, The Vote, U.S. Politics

12 January 2009 :: staff

Pres.-elect Barack Obama’s aides have told members of the press that he will in fact issue an executive order in the early days of his administration to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp. Obama had said yesterday in an interview that he acknolwedges the closure will be complicated and will take some time; his aides have not specified how long the president-elect plans to take to close the facility or what plan he will enact to deal with the 250 people detained there, some of whom will likely face trial in US federal criminal courts.

There are concerns that such trials may not be possible, given the provisions of the US Constitution regarding due process and the Bush administration’s stripping hundreds of detainees of the right to habeas corpus. Hundreds of detainees have been held for years without charges, without hearings, without access to consular officials or lawyers, and some are reported to have been subjected to harsh interrogation techniques or even torture. Information from those interrogations, or even potentially at any time after them, may be barred from use in federal court.

Russia has reportedly reached a finalized agreement to resume pumping natural gas supplies through pipelines controlled by Ukraine, with whom an ongoing dispute led to accusations of theft, criminal behavior, extortion and ultimately the interruption of supplies to the European Union. Some have accused Russia of deliberately cutting off supplies at the peak of winter cold temperatures in order to force higher prices for its gas supplies.

Nations in the eastern EU, such as Bulgaria, faced nationwide collapse of heating fuel supplies and the real health risk related to sub-zero winter temperatures. Dozens died across several countries in the time heating supplies were shut down, and the standoff led to EU ministers warning Russia that the bloc would be developing a new, more reliable alternative fuel-supply strategy to avoid dependence on so unreliable a supply stream.

The UN says it is improving aid deliveries to beleagured Palestinian residents of Gaza, still under constant attack from the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). UN officials said the IDF has improved collaboration on site and coordinate recognition, protection of its civilian properties and personnel and distribution of aid, though overall delivery is still a “trickle” compared to what is required to provide for needs of civilian population.

Ban Ki-moon, UN sec. general, will travel to the region to press for an immediate ceasefire. Reports have surfaced suggesting last week’s UN Security Council vote on a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire was to be unanimous, that US sec. of State Rice planned to support the resolution, but that Israel’s PM Ehud Olmert contacted US pres. Bush directly and requested her position be switched to “abstain” or veto.

Israel has banned two Arab-Israeli parties from the upcoming elections. The motion had been put forth by a right-wing party after members of the Arab-Israeli parties had criticized the Israeli offensive in Gaza. The parties were accused of collaborating with Israel’s enemies and undermining the state’s security, apparently on no evidence other than their dissent.