The militarisation of 'war on terror' in the US

The National Defence Authorisation Act continues the onward march of the 'war on terror' through the American homeland.

New York, NY - In an instructive coincidence, the passage of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) by the US Congress came on December 15, 2011, the same day as the official start of US forces' pullout from Iraq. One front in the US' post-9/11 conflicts closed overseas, as another front seemingly opened at home. Now awaiting President Barack Obama's signature, which will turn it into law, the NDAA would further entrench here at home some of the defining features of the United States' extraterritorial campaign against political violence by non-state actors, continuing the onward march of the so-called "war on terror" through the American homeland.

For years, my students, my colleagues and I have been dealing with the realities of indefinite military imprisonment without trial, and of trial before untested and unfair military commissions. But we deal with those issues in the context of our work on behalf of our many non-citizen clients imprisoned outside of the US, at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and at Bagram Air Force Base, Afghanistan.

Together, the NDAA's provisions keep Guantánamo open as a facility, while expanding within the US a set of practices and legal approaches that stem from the Guantánamo experiment. Of course, the Guantanamisation of the American justice-and carceral-system was already well underway. Since 9/11, lengthy and oppressive pre-trial detention conditions have become the norm in federal terrorism cases, along with draconian sentence enhancements meted out to convicts in such cases, and subsequent imprisonment under cruel Special Administrative Measures and in majority-Muslim Communications Management Units. But this legislation represents further, significant strides in that direction, and, notably, ones that are overtly military in character.

To be clear, the NDAA does not institute martial law for all in the US. But it would be foolish not to see that it lays a potential foundation for it in the future. Students of history, and those of us new Americans who have lived under military or militarised regimes - and that includes many Muslim Americans - will spot the kinship and recognise in this law some of the markers of authoritarian rule. Read More

North Korean mourners, crying to survive?

Since Kim Jong Il's death was announced on Monday, many people have marveled at the mourning scenes featured on North Korean state television, made viral on the Internet: North Koreans prostrate, weeping, hitting the ground. Many have asked whether the anguish is genuine. How could citizens mourn the passing of a totalitarian, such a gross abuser of human rights?

The answer may be found in the human rights abuses themselves.

It is a lamentable characteristic of totalitarian regimes that they often demand acts of deceit from those they oppress. Often it is a matter of simple survival. Those who hate the regime are obliged to demonstrate patriotism. To fail is to risk persecution. The only alternative is to flee, a choice made by tens of thousands of North Koreans in the past two decades.

North Korea is unambiguously a totalitarian state. An estimated 200,000 North Koreans are held under brutal conditions in remote forced labor camps called kwan-li-so. Citizens are deprived of the freedom to speak, to dissent, to assemble, to seek remedies for grievances. Perhaps worst of all, there is no freedom from fear -- knowing that one can be imprisoned and tortured for minor trifles, sent to a kwan-li-so for being related to someone who displeased the state, or face a kangaroo court trial and possible public execution for a long list of political or economic "crimes." Read More

New North Korean satellite images give rare glimpse of life under Kim Jong-il

Yellow swaths of corn surround a nuclear reactor building in one image, revealing a surprisingly outdated system of gathering and drying crops, and thousands of North Koreans form a bird formation during military practice in another.

In a nation which struggles with famine in some of its poorest regions, the piles of corn drying around the Yongbyon centre is in stark contrast to the country's pursuit of nuclear technology just a few metres away.

Pomp and parade in the country is a collective effort, with tens of thousands taking part in elaborate spectacles shown to only a few dignitaries. The formation of a human bird during practice for the Pyongyang games in Kim II-Sung Square demonstrates the extraordinary discipline that is expected of North Korea's million-man army.

Other images, which have yet to be released, capture the expanding mass graves in the country's gulags – labour camps such as the ones where American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to work – and a prison-worker's mine shaft emitting a mile-long cloud of soot. Juche propaganda is also seen carved into the nation's mountains.

Allison Puccioni, a senior imagery analyst at IHS Jane's in California, said satellite images are perhaps the only way to get an accurate picture of daily life in the clandestine state. Read More

Kim Jong Il's son strengthens power with new post - 26th Dec 2011

North Korea identified Kim Jong Il's son as head of a top ruling party body Monday, a post that gives him authority over political matters in addition to the military control attributed to him in recent days.

Kim Jong Un has rapidly gained prominence since the death of his father on Dec. 17, with the state media showering new titles on him almost daily.

On Saturday, state media referred to the younger Kim as "supreme leader" of North Korea's 1.2 million-strong armed forces and said the military's top leaders had pledged their loyalty to him. On Monday, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper described him as head of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party — a post that appears to make him the top official in the ruling party.

Kim Jong Il, who ruled North Korea for 17 years, wielded power as head of three main state organs: the Workers' Party, the Korean People's Army and the National Defense Commission. His father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung remains the nation's "eternal president" long after his 1994 death.

The Kim family has extended its control over the country of 24 million people to a third generation with Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and was revealed last year as his father's choice among three sons for successor.

He was named a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party, but was expected to ascend to new military and political posts while being groomed to become the next leader. Read More

South Korean civilian delegation enters North to pay respects to Kim - 26th Dec 2011

A delegation of South Korean citizens arrived in Pyongyang on Monday to express condolences over the death of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the North's state-run news agency reported.

The 18-member civilian delegation was led by Lee Hui-ho -- the widow of the former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at nurturing reconciliation between the two Koreas -- and Hyun Jeong-eun, the widow of Chung Mong-hun, the former chairman of Hyundai Group who pushed for heavy industrial investments in the North.

"I hope this helps improve North and South relations," Lee said in a statement read by one of her aides prior to her departure at the border.

The visit comes at a delicate point in relations between the two Koreas. The death of Kim Jong Il, announced by Pyongyang on December 19, has put the region on edge, as the world waits to see how the leadership succession will play out in the secretive regime.

Seoul has expressed its sympathy to the North Korean people and given the green light to Lee and Hyun's group to visit the North. But it has said it will not send an official delegation to pay respects to Kim Jong Il.

Pyongyang had sent delegations to South Korea when the former president Kim and the former Hyundai chairman Chung died in 2009 and 2003 respectively. Read More

Dayle Long: 'I’m a cop, I can do whatever I want ' off-duty policeman shouts before 'executing guy in bar' over a game of darts - 25th Dec 2011

An off-duty police officer has been charged with executing a man in a sports bar - after an argument over a game of darts.

Riverside County sheriff's deputy Dayle Long, 42, allegedly shot Samuel Vanettes, 36, three times, leaving him to die on the floor of the bar in Murrieta, California.

It is reported that Long, who had been drinking alone, struck up a conversation with Vanettes and his friends at Spelly’s Bar and Grille before the shooting.

An altercation allegedly broke out after the police officer told one of the friends 'I’m better at darts than you are', Chris Hull, 39, told Patch.com.

'My buddy says, "Aw, you suck at darts". (The man) says, "That’s why I’m a cop, I can do whatever I want to do".'

Hull tsaid his friend asked; 'Really, you can do anything?'

The police officer then pulled out his gun, Hull claimed and after the group repeatedly asked him to put it away he 'pops three rounds into my friend Sam'.

The ten-year department veteran appeared at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley in a red prison uniform, on Friday charged with murder. Read More

Marriage database raises privacy concerns among Chinese

China is launching a national online marriage database to fight bigamy, a move that has raised concerns among millions of Chinese about protection of privacy.

The Chinese government's announcement that it plans to make the database available next year comes amid reports last week that hackers gained access to the personal information of 6 million users of the China Software Developer Network, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Saturday.

The hacking triggered widespread panic in China, and some Chinese citizens raised questions about the safety of the anticipated marriage database, Xinhua said.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs dismissed concerns, saying more than 20 provinces have already digitized local marriage registrations. The ministry says a centralized database will make it harder for people to commit bigamy.

Bigamy is a problem in China as many couples live apart for work and migration reasons. more

Kim Jong-il Son Cleared as Top Military Commander - 24th Dec 2011

North Korea’s state-run media on Saturday published an entreaty to the country’s new young leader, Kim Jong-un, to become “supreme commander” of the military, signaling that his succession is moving forward unimpeded.

The military’s support is considered crucial to his consolidating control after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, a week ago, and the commentary is part of the pattern set when Kim Jong-il took power: entreaties are made and then the leader graciously accepts.

The commentary by Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party and the primary outlet of the government’s policy statements, was titled “Our Supreme Commander.” It called the son, who is believed to be in his late 20s, “our heart.”

“We urge Comrade Kim Jong-un to embrace the people’s call on him to become our supreme commander,” the commentary said. “We will complete the great task of our songun revolution by upholding Comrade Kim Jong-un as our supreme commander, our general.” Read More

Chinese dissident receives 9 years in prison - 23rd Dec 2011

Veteran rights activist Chen Wei was sentenced to nine years in prison Friday by a Chinese court in one of the harshest sentences involving a dissident this year.

A court in Suining in southwestern China's Sichuan province found the 42-year-old guilty of inciting subversion of state power.

Chen was detained in February after he published essays online that mentioned the 1989 Tiananmen protests, calling for freedom of speech, democracy and political reform.

"Everyone has opinions, but he was brave enough to express his openly and was punished for it," Wang Xiaoyan, Chen's wife, said in an interview with CNN. "I feel no sadness, just pure anger at how this all played out."

Friday was the first time Wang had seen her husband since his detention by central government security officials in February after they invited him to have tea, play poker and eat lunch, amid a government crackdown on the Jasmine protests. His family was not given a reason for his detention. Read More

Egypt: Live ammo, beatings, stripping - 23rd Dec 2011

South Korean Groups Cleared for Border Crossing into North Korea to pay Respect to Kim Jong Il - 23rd Dec 2011

North Korea said it would open its border near the town of Kaesong for South Koreans to enter and pay their respects to deceased leader Kim Jong Il, clearing a land route for symbolic visits by two high-profile delegations with links to the North.

Seoul has approved groups led by the widow of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and the head of Hyundai Group to go to the North. Kim Dae-jung, who died in 2009, and the Hyundai conglomerate were key players in the so-called "Sunshine Policy" years during which liberal South Korean leaders attempted to improve relations with Pyongyang through political engagement and financial support.

A summit in 2000 between Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang led to the creation of an industrial park in North Korea that remains a major source of foreign-currency income for the North. Meanwhile, the Hyundai conglomerate started a tourism program at a mountain resort in North Korea in 1998 that attracted more than 400,000 visitors from the South each year until Seoul suspended trips after a South Korean tourist was shot and killed by a North Korean soldier at the resort in 2008.

It's unclear whether either group will get to meet with new North Korean leader Kim Jong Eun or whether they will actually attend the funeral for Kim Jong Il. Local media reports have said the delegations won't stay in North Korea for the funeral Dec. 28 or the last day of national mourning Dec. 29. Read More

Inside Story - United China?

North Korea urges South to pay its respects at Kim Jong-il funeral

Japanese celebrity magician who performed in Pyongyang at Kim Jong-il's request could be among few non-Koreans to attend.

As North Korea prepares for the funeral of Kim Jong-il, the guest list is generating enough speculation to match The Tempest for Shakespearean intrigue.

According to the state media, the government has not invited foreign dignitaries, but has encouraged South Koreans to pay their respects at the ceremony in Pyongyang next Wednesday.

The government in Seoul does not plan to send a delegation and has imposed a travel ban on ordinary citizens, but it has authorised a select group of people to attend. Among them is Lee Hee-ho, the wife of the former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, whose "sunshine policy" of engagement in the late 1990s has given way to frostier ties under the current president, Lee Myung-bak. The South says it will allow her to attend, given that the North sent representatives to her husband's funeral in 2009.

Accompanying her from Seoul will be Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of the Hyundai group, a major investor in the North. Some expect her to use the opportunity to discuss North Korea's seizure of Hyundai assets at Mount Kumgang, a North-South operated resort, earlier this year. Read More

Thousands of residents protest Chinese town’s planned coal power plant, clash with police

Thousands of people besieged a government office in a southern Chinese town Tuesday and blocked a highway to demand a halt to a planned coal-fired power plant because of concerns about pollution, protesters said.

Riot police used tear gas in an attempt to disperse the protesters at the highway in the town of Haimen in Guangdong province, and the demonstrators hurled rocks, water bottles and bricks in return, said one of the protesters, a 27-year-old man surnamed Chen.

It is the second major protest in two weeks in a corner of coastal southern China that has been seeing periodic unrest over the last few years, primarily over land disputes. In much of Guangdong province, conflicts have been intense because the area is among China’s most economically developed, pushing up land prices.

In Wukan, a village to the southwest of Haimen, protesters drove local authorities from the area nearly two weeks ago over a land dispute. Wukan protesters reached by phone Tuesday said plans for a large march on a nearby government office on Wednesday would go ahead. Read More

Local Cops Ready for War With Homeland Security-Funded Military Weapons

A decade of billions in spending in the name of homeland security has armed local police departments with military-style equipment and a new commando mentality. But has it gone too far? Andrew Becker and G.W. Schulz of the Center for Investigative Reporting report.

Nestled amid plains so flat the locals joke you can watch your dog run away for miles, Fargo treasures its placid lifestyle, seldom pierced by the mayhem and violence common in other urban communities. North Dakota’s largest city has averaged fewer than two homicides a year since 2005, and there’s not been a single international terrorism prosecution in the last decade.

But that hasn’t stopped authorities in Fargo and its surrounding county from going on an $8 million buying spree to arm police officers with the sort of gear once reserved only for soldiers fighting foreign wars.

Every city squad car is equipped today with a military-style assault rifle, and officers can don Kevlar helmets able to withstand incoming fire from battlefield-grade ammunition. And for that epic confrontation—if it ever occurs—officers can now summon a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. For now, though, the menacing truck is used mostly for training and appearances at the annual city picnic, where it’s been parked near the children’s bounce house.

“Most people are so fascinated by it, because nothing happens here,” says Carol Archbold, a Fargo resident and criminal justice professor at North Dakota State University. “There’s no terrorism here.” Read More