Sentido News Global Section > Topical Updates: Democracy, Ecology, Regional Interests

Turkish courts ordered the release of 4 Kurdish activists, after a state prosecutor quashed the charges against them. Leyla Zana, who was the first Turkish MP to openly identify herself as Kurdish, had been jailed for speaking Kurdish at the end of her acceptance of the seat in Turkey's Parliament. The prisoner release is a major step in the eyes of EU officials, who have called for sweeping judicial and political reforms in Turkey, prior to any move toward accession to the EU. Critics note there are still major steps to be taken to democratize the legal system, and to recognize the Kurdish minority population, the very existence of which Turkey's government has long denied. [For more: BBC]

INTERCEPT EXCERPTS

1 June: TIME Mag. cites DoD e-mail: Cheney arranged Iraq contract for Halliburton...

31 May: Systematic torture, police killings, disappearance alleged under Karimov's regime in Uzbekistan...

30 May: Pinochet immunity revoked as court finds former dictator competent to stand trial...

ACLU WARNS OF LOOMING DISENFRANCHISEMENT, POLLING IRREGULARITIES IN FLORIDA
2 June 2004

The ACLU is reporting that current processes underway to prepare for November's elections in Florida are likely to cause many of the same incidents of disenfranchisement that turned thousands of voters away with no remedy in 2000. The State of Florida has said it cannot guarantee that information used to erase 40,000 names from the state's voter registry was accurate. Despite this shortcoming, the State ordered all county supervisors to begin the "purge" of names said to belong to legally disenfranchised felons, without any instruction reminding them of their legal obligation to ensure that the names actually match felons who have been barred from voting. [Full Story]

The question of "the other war" has been raised more and more this week, obscured as it was not only by Iraq, the prison scandal, and now the national mourning of President Reagan. There is very little reliable news about Afghanistan filtering through to the American public over the mainstream airwaves, or indeed through cable. Last Monday, Rep. Kucinich, campaigning in New Jersey, told a group of supporters: "We are seeing in Afghanistan the creation of a narco-terrorist state." [Full Story]

An Afghan woman who has been outspoken in her critique of warlords who continue to dominate regional Afghan politics is now to be protected by the UN. Malalai Joya is a delegate to the constitutional lloya jirga conference, from the province of Farah, in western Afghanistan. She tiraded the warlords at the conference, prompting UN fears that there would be violent retaliation against her by the factions targeted by her criticism. The UN moved her from the delegates' residence to a heavily guarded UN facility, though she still attends the talks.

Warlordism has been a concern of international experts and observers since before the war to oust the Taliban. Afghanistan suffered brutally under warlord factionalism from the time the Soviets were forced out until the rise of the Taliban, and much of the opposition to the Taliban was led by warlords, whose wealth and organization facilitated their role in the resistance. Taliban brutality was another agony for the Afghan people, but fears of a Taliban resurgence are rooted in widespread public fear of the lingering warlord influence over regional politics. [For more: Salon]

The refugee crisis in Darfur, in western Sudan, is deepening, with more Sudanese seeking refuge in the dangerous neighboring country of Chad. The UN has designated the Darfur crisis the world's worst humanitarian disaster at present. The UN has cited incidents of mass killing that it classifies as ethnic cleansing, carried out by government backed Arab militia. The ongoing violence has made the distribution of aid extremely complicated... [Full Story]

Swaziland is undergoing a severe and multifaceted national crisis. The UN has placed Swaziland with Botswana as the most AIDS-afflicted nation, with some 40% of adult Swazis infected with HIV or AIDS. Severe and widespread poverty is converging with the pandemic to create an unprecedented threat to the fabric of civil society itself. A reported 250,000 are now at risk for hunger, and the Swaziland government is urging the UN and the international community to intervene with increased shipments of food aid and development support. [For more: IRIN]

The President of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute has called for a comprehensive cleanup initiative in Iraq, aimed at reducing the danger posed by Depleted Uranium, left over from artillery shells launched against Basra, Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.

According to Dr. Helen Caldicott, founder of the NPRI, Uranium 238, the radioactive isotope present in Depleted Uranium, has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. That means that the level of radioactivity of the molecules in a mass of Depleted Uranium will be halved only after 4.5 billion years. This means that land contaminated with DU spilled from exploding artillery shells, used by the US military against enemy tanks, artillery depots and fortifications, will still be radioactive and uninhabitable 4.5 billion years from now. [Full Story]

The Reuters News Agency is reporting that 3 Iraqi journalists working for the agency were beaten and sexually abused when they were detained in January, while covering the story of a downed helicopter. The abuses occurred not at Abu Ghraib prison, but at the Volturno Forward Operating Base, near Fallujah. Reuters latest publication of the story is due to the fact that the Pentagon has not responded to requests for a review of an initial military report that found no torture had occurred (issued long before the Abu Ghraib photos had become public). [Full Story]]

In a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Levin cited Donald Rumsfeld as saying on 11 March 2003, one week before the war: "we know he continues to hide biological and chemical weapons, moving them to different locations as often as every 12 to 24 hours, and placing them in residential neighborhoods." The issue is how statements of such certainty had been made when new revelations indicate there was no reliable intelligence on which to base irrefutable affirmations of WMD in Iraq. [Full Story]

As pressure increases for Aristide to resolve the crisis, demonstrators marched in Port-au-Prince on Sunday. Due to past military dictatorships, Haiti has no military, and only 3,500 to 5,000 police officers, limiting the government's ability to maintain security. Rebels attacked another town today, killing the police commissioner. New reports suggest the rebels occupying Gonaives have "aligned with exiled figures associated with a past coup attempt and Haiti's last military dictatorship". During most of the crisis, opposition leaders have refused to negotiate with Aristide. [For more: AJC]

In direct response to new laws regarding Brazilian citizens entering the United States, the Brazilian government has imposed security restrictions for Americans entering Brazil. Americans will now be required to be fingerprinted, and to carry an entry visa, provisions which mirror new provisions imposed on Brazilians who visit the US. [For more: Seattle Times]