World – Page 61 – praag.org

Mandela doesn’t sell anymore

But despite Nelson Mandela’s stature as a global icon, money has failed to follow the flow of interest. Over the past two weeks, as Mandela recuperated in a Pretoria hospital from a recurring lung infection, those trading on his name, directly and indirectly, did not see a spike in their revenues, to their considerable distress.

In the Pretoria CBD, street vendors flogging portraits and postcards said they had had more inquiries from foreigners, but that sales were occasional at best. In Soweto, at the Regina Mundi church, mosaics with Mandela’s name and T-shirts bearing his face sat unsold; vendors said their trade was more heavily influenced by the seasons and weather than by news of the statesman’s health.

In the market of rare coins and common medallions nothing much changed, except marked disappointment for traders and speculators still hoping to cash in on common coins.

“In the past there has been a sort of an uptick, but this time we haven’t noticed that,” says Alan Demby, chief executive of the South African Gold Coin Exchange, which sells a number of Mandela-themed medallions. “Interest in this kind of thing peaks when people are in the news; when British royals Kate and William got engaged, a lot of people bought coins. When they married, more people bought coins. People like to have that kind of memorabilia. With Mandela, it’s not always the case.”

In 2008 it was indeed the case. Very rare proofs – the most highly valued grade of coin – featuring Mandela achieved record-breaking prices, with confirmed sales of more than R100000 and claims of one coin selling for R2.5-million. After that, various sellers attempted to flog common versions of the same coin for far more than their face value, and often succeeded, with prime examples selling for about R5 000 each.

In July attempts to sell similar coins for R250 each failed dismally, although sealed and allegedly uncirculated coins were sold for R75 a piece. Coins that were actually used as currency, with all the wear and tear that comes with use, were also on offer. An attempt to sell an entire bag of such coins attracted attention – with an offer of R4 each for coins that merchants are obliged to exchange for R5 worth of goods. – M&G

‘Friends of Syrian rebels’ meeting in Doha to discuss more military aid

by Abhik Kumar Chanda

Foreign ministers of the “Friends of Syria” group meet in Doha on Saturday to discuss military help and other aid for rebels after an onslaught by government forces who have retaken key areas.

The meeting will address in a “concerted, coordinated and complementary manner” the concerns raised by the opposition’s military chief, Salim Idriss, during a “Friends of Syria” meeting in Ankara last Friday, a French diplomat said.

The rebels had notably asked for anti-tank and anti-air missiles to fight the regime forces. Western aid for them so far has been confined to non-military equipment like sophisticated communications materiel.

The upcoming talks — attended by ministers of Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Egypt — will also discuss a proposed peace meeting between President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime and the opposition to end the 27-month conflict which has claimed some 93,000 lives and shows no sign of abating.

“We will try in Doha to sum up the situation on the ground and to see how we can aid the opposition coalition and arrive at a political solution,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.

The Doha talks will be held against the backdrop of a string of successes by government troops into rebel territory, backed up by Iranian forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.

They have retaken Qusayr in the central Homs province near Lebanon and trying to recapture the key city of Aleppo.

It also comes days after a summit of G8 leaders issued a non-committal statement for a peace conference on Syria to be held as soon as possible. The group was deeply divided on key issues, especially owing the intransigence of Russia, Assad’s ally.

The G8 also agreed to push for a transitional government in Syria that could include members of Assad’s regime who switched sides.

French President Francois Hollande, who will be in Qatar and Jordan over the weekend in a visit that had been planned earlier, will also discuss the Syrian unrest with Qatar’s ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, officials said.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been the two major Middle Eastern states providing aid to the rebels.

Britain and France have recently pushed for providing weapons to them but have underscored that this must be done in a responsible manner to avoid the kind of anarchy that took place in Libya after the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

United States President Barack Obama has authorised sending small arms to the rebels after confirmation that chemical weapons were being used in the conflict. But he has refused to specify what they will be.

Syrian rebels have asked friendly world powers to give them heavier weapons and to impose a no-fly zone over parts under their control to avert a humanitarian disaster.

“The regime could use Scud missiles with unconventional warheads to shell liberated areas. So we need a safe haven,” Free Syrian Army spokesman Louay Meqdad told AFP.

“It is necessary to establish secure areas and impose no-fly zones in the south or north,” he said.

Calling for anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, he said that “if they do not provide us with arms to protect civilian areas, a humanitarian disaster will occur because regime troops are committing massacres in the areas they are recapturing”. – AFP

SA knew UK was spying

The South African government knew that British spooks were spying on it at the 2009 London G20 summit, say international relations sources.

As soon as it became aware of the surveillance by the United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters, it took measures to strengthen security for its delegations visiting foreign countries.

The UK government acknowledged this week to its South African counterpart that the action was wrong, international relations insiders told the Mail & Guardian.

Though the news of the UK spying on South Africa was made public by the Guardian newspaper only last weekend, a source in the department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco) told the M&G that South Africa knew about the spooks in 2009, but opted to deal with the matter privately because of its embarrassing nature.

“What was carried in that Guardian article is something we already knew,” said the international relations source.

Among other things, the increased security measures demand that no South African government minister is allowed to use any host country’s communication tools when visiting other countries.

Dirco this week demanded that the UK government take action against those involved in the espionage at two G20 meetings in April and September 2009. South Africa, however, said this incident would not hurt “solid, strong and cordial” ties with the UK.

Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela told the M&G that South Africa would use relevant diplomatic channels to communicate issues. “There’s a planned SA/UK bilateral [meeting] in the coming weeks and South Africa will utilise that opportunity to raise anything that we believe affects our relationship.”

Information about the UK’s spying on South Africa, Turkey and Russia came to the fore this week after former US spy Edward Snowden leaked documents to the Guardian.

The Dirco insider said while governments know that they spy on each other, the UK is in the wrong because “they deliberately set up countries that they spied on. That’s not a conventional way of doing things. That’s why all the countries affected reacted with anger. As much as we know we spy on each other, don’t get caught.” – M&G

Obama makes ‘an alarming call to end Catholic education’

The Catholic media is up in arms over comments President Obama made during a speech while in Northern Ireland for the G8 summit. Obama made what is described as “an alarming call for an end to Catholic education,” in spite of the fact that it is considered “a critical component of the Church.”

In front of an audience of about 2,000 young people, including many Catholics, Obama claimed that Catholic education divides people and blocks peace, according to the Scottish Catholic Observer

“If towns remain divided—if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Protestants have theirs, if we can’t see ourselves in one another and fear or resentment are allowed to harden—that too encourages division and discourages cooperation,” Obama said.

Catholic World News noted:

Ironically, President Obama made his comments just as Archbishop Gerhard Müller, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told a crowd in Scotland that religious education upholds the dignity of the human person. Archbishop Müller said that Catholic schools should promote “all that is good in the philosophies of societies and human culture.”

Fr. John Zuhlsdorf quoted the Observer’s article on Fr. Z’s blog and added:

Another example of what this man wants: total isolation of any religious values in the private sphere alone. Pres. Obama is working either to intimidate or legislate or even TAX religious freedom out of the public square.

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a foreign visit to a Islamic nation where he told people on his arrival that they shouldn’t have madrasas. Can you?

Did he when visiting, say, Israel, say “You Jews shouldn’t have synagogue schools and you muslims shouldn’t have mosque schools.” I can’t remember. Did he?

Each of the articles drew numerous public comments, most suggesting that Obama be more concerned about the public schools in the United States than their parochial schools, which are working just fine. – bizpacreview.com

Tax havens cost Africa tens of billions: Kofi Annan

Tax havens used by major international firms are depriving impoverished African states of tens of billions of dollars each year, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan said.

Annan told a Security Council meeting on natural resources and conflict that tax avoidance and “murky” deals result in a loss of state revenue that fuels the wars over natural resources that have bedeviled Africa for decades.

“When foreign investors make extensive use of offshore companies, shell companies and tax havens, they weaken disclosure standards and undermine the efforts of reformers in Africa to promote transparency,” Annan said.

The former UN leader said the Africa Progress Report panel, which he chairs, had found “anonymous shell companies” were used in five deals that cost the Democratic Republic of the Congo nearly $1.4 billion from 2010 to 2012.

That sum is almost double the impoverished but resource-rich country’s annual budget for health and education.

Annan added that Africa loses more money each year through a Africa Progress Report panel technique, known as trade mispricing, than it receives in international development assistance.

More than $30 billion a year is sent to Africa each year in development aid by Western countries. Trade mispricing is where companies quote artificially low prices to deceive tax authorities.

Annan praised a vow by Group of Eight leaders at a summit this week to crack down on tax avoidance.

He called for international rules to insure the payment of taxes, “rules that limit the use of shell companies and other tools that contribute to secret, murky and exploitative deals.”

Annan said this could “help prevent the conditions that lead to armed competition for the spoils of natural wealth.”

He also said the Security Council could “play an important role in ending the plunder of minerals and other natural resources that perpetuate violent conflict” by taking tougher action against trade in conflict-linked resources.

The meeting was organized by Britain, which is Security Council president for June and had hoped the talks would result in a statement on conflict and natural resources.

But diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said this was blocked by Russia.

Without naming any country, Britain’s UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant expressed “disappointment” at the failure to agree a joint statement.

He said certain members had objected, saying that the issue of natural resources and conflict falls outside of the council’s mandate.

“This is clearly not true,” he said.

“There are a significant number of countries on the council’s agenda in which the weak management and illegal exploitation of natural resources has played a role in triggering, prolonging or escalating a conflict.” – SAPA/AFP

White South Africans killed in Somalia named

Denel has released the names of two of three employees who were killed after an attack on a United Nations facility in Somalia on Wednesday.

They were Morne Lotter, 42, of Oudtshoorn and Alan Simpson, 35, of Port Elizabeth, spokeswoman Vuyelwa Qinga said on Thursday.

The name of the third employee, a Somali, would be released soon.

On Wednesday morning at around 11am the UN Development Programme camp in Mogadishu came under attack and at least 16 people were killed, Denel said.

Denel group chief executive Riaz Saloojee said the company would do everything possible to help the families of the deceased, and would repatriate their bodies at the earliest opportunity.

“We further extend our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the UN employees who lost their lives,” he said.

The Denel staff in Somalia belonged to a contingent of personnel in the company’s humanitarian demining operations, Mechem, and were providing camp management services to the UN operations in the region.

These included managing and providing catering, cleaning and logistical support, as well as mine protected vehicles in the region.

The company would continue with its work towards the UN’s peace-keeping efforts.

“This is a very unfortunate incident, but Denel will continue to support all peace-keeping efforts carried out under the auspices of the United Nations and the African Union.

“In this instance our employees lost their lives while they were providing services to the UN’s peace-keeping efforts in the region,” said Saloojee.

The remaining Denel employees in Somalia were moved to facilities under the protection of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) where they were reported to be safe.

UNDP administrator Helen Clark strongly condemned the attack.

“We are all appalled and deeply saddened by this cowardly attack.”

She said on Wednesday that among the UN fatalities were one international staff member, three contractors, and four Somali security guards.

A number of Somali civilians were also killed.

“We grieve with the Somali people, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and the entire UN family today,” said Clark.

The security forces arrived at the scene soon after the explosion. The UNDP compound is next to the airport where the AU forces have a base.

Countdown to urgent elections after Mali ceasefire

The clock is ticking for Mali as it scrambles to organise key elections in less than 40 days following a ceasefire deal between the government and separatist Tuareg rebels.

The agreement, reached on Tuesday after 10 days of tense negotiations, will enable Malian troops to enter the Tuareg-held city of Kidal in the northeast to secure polls scheduled to take place on July 28.

Malians have welcomed the truce but there are fears the deal will be difficult to implement and could unravel after the vote.

Malian military sources say the accord envisages the army entering the regional capital “without delay”, accompanied by French soldiers and troops from the African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA).

French President Francois Hollande told a meeting of his cabinet the agreement was “a major breakthrough”, his spokesman said.

The US also welcomed the deal.

“The agreement clears the way for the return of Malian administrative and security authorities to Kidal to permit the holding of presidential elections there on July 28,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

And the UN Security Council urged other armed groups who had cut ties with “terrorist organisations” in Mali to join the ceasefire.

But analysts raised a number of problems with securing a long-term ceasefire, such as difficulties monitoring any disarmament; and differentiating Tuareg militants from the diverse range of insurgents infesting Mali’s north.

“Ultimately, this is an interim agreement to allow the organisation of the presidential elections in Kidal, ” Malian analyst Mamadou Samake told AFP.

“It has not solved all the problems, it just put off some of the problems.”

The Malian government signed the accord with the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and a smaller Tuareg group in Ouagadougou, capital of neighbouring Burkina Faso.

The two sides agreed to halt hostilities and organise peace talks after the election, but the Tuaregs were not pressed to lay down their weapons.

“It was that or nothing, but we were heading for disaster if we hadn’t been able to get an agreement on presidential elections in the Kidal region,” said an aide to President Dioncounda Traore.

The Tuareg occupation of Kidal has been a major obstacle to holding the election, seen as crucial to Mali’s recovery from the conflict of the past 15 months.

Malian officers staged a coup in March 2012 but the weak army was overpowered by the MNLA, which seized key northern cities before being sidelined by its Al-Qaeda-linked allies.

The MNLA sided with a French-led military intervention, which reclaimed most of the lost territory from the Islamists. But the rebels have been reluctant to allow government troops into their Kidal bastion for the vote.

For analyst Samake, settling the major issues relating to Mali’s Tuareg separatist movement will have to wait.

“After the presidential elections, the legislative elections loom on the horizon. Former Tuareg rebels will certainly want to stand,” he said.

“But for now, they cannot because of an arrest warrant against them… That could create problems.”

Those warrants will likely be dropped, but the accord does state that international investigators will look into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the conflict.

Confronted with these problems, an official from the Ministry of Territorial Administration would only say: “Let’s take each day as it comes.”

The logistics of the disarmament is another obstacle to be cleared for all parties working for lasting peace in the Kidal region.

But the larger problem, say military sources, is that Islamist insurgents continue to hide out in northern Mali. They could launch attacks which might be wrongly attributed to former Tuareg rebels.

“We are the military — we don’t do politics,” a battalion commander from a neighbouring country’s army told AFP in the northern city of Gao.

“But just so there is no ambiguity, there will have to be some kind of mechanism in Kidal to prevent any infiltration of terrorists, otherwise it could complicate things.” – AFP

Zimbabwe’s ‘Cattle Bank’ takes deposits – with 4 legs

William Mukurazita’s deposit at the bank has four legs and moos.

Zimbabwe’s first “Cattle Bank” has just opened its books in a unique kind of banking where owners bring in their animals as collateral against cash loans.

For many rural poor in this southern African country once wracked by world-record inflation, it’s the first bank account they’ve ever had.

“Cattle banking is the only way owners can get monetary value for their animals without having to sell them,” bank executive Charles Chakoma told Associated Press, speaking from a smallholding near Marondera, east of Harare.

Owners accrue interest and have the option to get back their cattle after an initial two years or leave them with the bank for longer. Depositors can get loans of an equal value of the cattle they have put in the bank.

In the event the owner fails to repay the loan, the bank keeps the animals. When an owner dies, a close member of the family can take over payment of the loan and ultimately get the cattle back.

The bank, which owns several fast food outlets across the country, says it also will slaughter aging cattle for beef and replace them with more productive cattle of the same value.

Mukurazita, 69, and his wife, Elizabeth, 66, kept about 70 head of cattle at Masomere village, 140 kilometers (90 miles) from Harare. But poor health stopped them from looking after their herd and at least 20 animals died or were stolen, Elizabeth Mukurazita said.

Now they have “deposited” 24 cattle at the TN Bank, named after its founder, financier and social innovator Tawanda Nyambirai. The couple now has $10,000 worth of cows in the bank.

“If we only knew about this cattle banking before, we could have saved all of our herd,” Elizabeth Mukurazita said.

A veterinarian checks the animals and the bank pays to transport them to paddocks it has bought across the country for fattening and cross-breeding programs. Owners are issued with the bank’s ‘Certificate of Cattle Deposit’ as proof of a transaction.

As bank officials log in their cattle, the Mukurazitas look worriedly at a scrawny calf whose mother has died days before. Two other calves nurse from their mothers. The envious, starving orphan makes an attempt to reach for the cow’s udder but is kicked aside and wanders off to graze awkwardly on a small patch of grass.

Untended, it will die within days, said Chakoma, the banker. The state veterinary official passes the calf and values it at $49.

He said the bank wasn’t supposed to accept unhealthy animals, but that this particular calf might survive because it was able to graze on its own. He requested anonymity saying he needed his superiors’ permission to speak to reporters.

Only 20 percent of Zimbabwean cattle are in commercial ranches. The rest – some 3.5 million village animals – are valued at more than $1 billion, Chakoma said. The TN Bank wants to reassure Zimbabweans that despite years of world record inflation their bovine savings are safe, he added.

In traditional rural society, cattle symbolise wealth and play a role not just in farming but as marriage dowries, funeral sacrifices and appeasers of ancestral spirits. Many cattle owners are reluctant to give up such a valued status symbol, but Chakoma said cattle banking eases the burden on the elderly, left behind as young people head for the cities.

“Farmers may not want to part with their animals but we try and persuade them to keep a few for tilling and milking as the rest will just be a burden to them,” he said.

During the dry season, there is less pasture and cattle roaming in search of grass often get lost or stolen. In winter, the cold can kill them.

Interest can be paid in cash or cows. The Mukurazitas say they’d prefer it in cows so that their son can take over managing a new herd and get more land later.

“We don’t necessarily want the cash; we want to improve our herd, ” said William Mukurazita. – Sapa

Mugabe seeks to delay Zim elections – minister

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has filed an urgent application with the country’s top court to push back crucial elections by two weeks, his justice minister said Wednesday.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told AFP he had filed papers “yesterday (Tuesday)” that sought “a postponement of the date for the harmonised elections from July 31 2013 to August 14, 2013.” – Sapa

Cell phones lead to higher levels of violence throughout Africa

Much research and media attention has been devoted to exploring rapidly emerging African countries in recent years. In addition to extraordinarily high GDP growth rates, many African countries have seen their middle classes grow substantially and demand goods and services that were formerly available only to individuals in more developed countries. Cell phone use in Africa has increased substantially in recent years; its nearly 649 million mobile users in 2011 made it the second-largest market for mobile phones in the world after Asia.

Furthermore, the continent has the fastest-growing cell phone market in the world, maintaining an annual growth rate of almost 20% since 2007. This has substantially contributed to economic development within the continent as a result of various innovations and improvements, from mobile banking to faster communications between merchants and customers, as the World Bank notes. In Kenya, the success of the mobile banking system M-pesa has opened the door for a multitude of mobile phone tech startups, prompting some to refer to the country as the “Silicon Savannah.” (It should be noted, however, that mobile phone technology in Africa frequently does not afford robust Internet access, with all its innovation potential.)

The benefits of mobile technology in other regions are widely hailed. The availability of cell phones and use of social media is often credited with playing a key role in the Arab Spring, which toppled dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia, and sparked protest movements throughout the Middle East and North Africa. In Mozambique, cell phones have been shown to improve voter education and political participation, while in Namibia cell phone usage has allowed citizens to hold their government officials more accountable and reduce corruption. Although much research has been done on the rise of technology in the developing world and its positive dimensions for politics, very little research has been done regarding possible negative externalities of increased communications capacity, such as improving the organizational abilities of violent groups to incite more conflict.

A 2013 paper from Duke University and the German Institute of Global and Area Studies published in the American Political Science Review, “Technology and Collective Action: The Effect of Cell Phone Coverage and Political Violence in Africa,” examines the impact that cell phones have had on violent conflict on the continent. The authors, Jan H. Pierskalla and Florian M. Hollenbach, utilize conflict data from the UCDP Georeferenced Event Data Set, which includes data on organized violence from 1989 to 2010, and data on cell phone coverage from the GSM Association, a global association of mobile phone service providers. The authors use various statistical techniques to account for economic, social and geographical factors related to conflict and to determine whether there is indeed an association between cell phone coverage and violent conflict in the context of Africa.

Key findings include:

– Even when confounding variables such as income, inequality, ethnic fractionalization, geography are accounted for, increases in cell phone coverage are associated with higher levels of violence throughout Africa.
– When evaluated on an individual country level, the impact of cell phone coverage on conflict is also significant within each country.
– Greater cell phone coverage leads to more conflict in “areas with structural conditions that favor violence” than those where the conditions do not favor violence; it “enables groups to overcome their collective action and coordination problems more easily, which translates to more organized conflict events.”
– The authors conclude that “cell phones lead to a boost in the capacity of rebels to communicate and monitor in-group behavior, thus increasing in-group cooperation. Furthermore, cell phones allow for coordination of insurgent activity across geographically distant locations.”

“We do not believe,” the researchers caution, “that the spread of cell phone technology has an overall negative effect on the African continent. The increase in violence induced by better communication might represent a short-term technological shock, while the positive effects of better communication networks on growth and political behavior may mitigate root causes of conflict in the long run.” The authors suggest that more research must be done to determine how communication technology, such as cell phones, impacts various forms of collective action, whether violent or non-violent, in Africa. They also note that prior research on the connection between cell phone capacity and violence — namely, the 2012 working paper “Is the Phone Mightier than the Sword? Cell Phones and Insurgent Violence in Iraq” — observed the opposite effect: Mobile technology was associated with decreased insurgent violence in Iraq.

Related research: The World Bank’s 2012 report “eTransform Africa: The Transformational Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Africa” examines a wide variety of areas, including agriculture, health, education and governance. The report discusses the implications of Africa’s so-called “mobile decade.” – journalistresource.org

Confidence in mass media falls dramatically

Continuing a decades-long downward trend, fewer than one-fourth of Americans have confidence in newspapers, according to a recent Gallup poll.

The percentage of Americans saying they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers dropped to 23 percent this year from 25 percent last year, according to a report on the poll, which was released Monday.

American confidence in newspapers reached its peak at 51 percent in 1979, and a low of 22 percent in 2008.

But newspapers don’t stand alone. Confidence in television news has also been slipping — it’s tied with newspapers this year at 23 percent, which is slightly up from last year’s all-time low of 21 percent. Newspapers and television news rank near the bottom of a list of 16 “societal institutions,” according to the report. The only institutions television news and newspapers beat out this year are big business, organized labor, health maintenance organizations and Congress. Americans expressed the most confidence in the military, at 76 percent, and small businesses, at 65 percent.

Gallup attributed the drop in confidence to a number of factors, including a growth in social networking websites and an online audience that left news outlets struggling to find their place.

“Americans’ confidence in newspapers and television news has been slowly eroding for many years, worsening further since 2007,” the report says. “By that point, newspapers and television news had been struggling for years to figure out how to adjust their strategy for a growing Internet audience.”

Though all key demographic groups express low levels of confidence in the media, according to the report, the levels of negativity varied by age, education and gender. College graduates are less likely to trust the media than those with only a high school diploma, for example. The poll also found that women are slightly more confident than men in both television news and newspapers.

Much of the confidence can also be measured by political orientation. Conservatives remain the most critical of newspapers and television news, while liberals are the most supportive. Confidence in newspapers by party also mirrors their ideologies. Democrats are most confident, at 33 percent, while Republicans, at 16 percent, are least confident.

“The divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans the House, is likely part of the reason for the low levels of confidence rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans express, and is tied to Americans’ frustrations with Congress’ inability to get much done,” the report says. – usnews.com

BlackBerry SA denies backdoor for British spying

There was no “back door pipeline” to BlackBerry South Africa’s platform, the company said on Tuesday following reports that the United Kingdom government had been monitoring e-mails and phone calls.

“While we cannot comment on media reports regarding alleged government surveillance of telecommunications traffic, we remain confident in the superiority of BlackBerry’s mobile security platform for customers…,” it said in a statement.

“Our public statements and principles have long underscored that there is no ‘back door’ pipeline to that platform. Our customers can rest assured that BlackBerry mobile security remains the best available solution to protect their mobile communications.”

On Monday, international relations department spokesman Clayson Monyela said government had noted with concern the reports published by the UK Guardian.

According to the report, the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) allegedly hacked into foreign diplomats’ phones and e-mails.

In 2009, it set up internet cafes for delegates to the G20 summit to use, with an e-mail interception programme and key-logging spyware and monitored communication on BlackBerries.

According to one article in the Guardian, in 2005 it was decided to intensify spying on South African officials to “gain access to South African MFA [ministry of foreign affairs] network”, “collect intelligence from target machines” and “find more access points to increase reliability”.

It wanted information on the negotiating position of the government of former president Thabo Mbeki, “an independently minded swing vote on issues of global economics and finance”, the report claimed.

The phone lines used by the country’s high commission in London were “investigated”. Online accounts of South African diplomats were hacked, according to the report.

The allegations were reportedly contained in top secret documents uncovered by whistleblower Edward Snowden, who worked for a company contracted to the United States government’s National Security Agency (NSA).

Monyela said on Monday: “We do not yet have the full benefit of details reported on, but in principle we would condemn the abuse of privacy and basic human rights, particularly if it emanates from those who claim to be democrats.”

The department called on the UK government to investigate and take action against any perpetrators.

According to news reports, the NSA had gained access to some internet companies’ user data by submitting a request which the companies considered. – Sapa

Who is Mr Rhodes?

Ben Rhodes offers insight to POTUS — Ben Rhodes offers insight into POTUS

Everyone is wondering who Mr. Rhodes is. Ben Rhodes, a 30-something who ascended from literally nowhere to be what seems a main driving force behind Obama’s foreign policy. He is credited with convincing the president to embrace the Arab Spring, convincing the president to bomb Libya, and, now, convincing the president to start yet another war, this time against Syria.

[To South Africans his name sounds a lot like that of Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902), a ruthless imperialist, therefore not a friendly name.]

Who is he? How did a 24-year old aspiring fiction-writer in 2002 suddenly become one of the drafters of not only the 9/11 Commission report but also the Iraq Study Group Report? Then move on to Obama’s presidential campaign as a speechwriter and then to Deputy National Security Advisor, from which he announced the beginning of a US war on Syria while the president met with supporters in the East Room of the White House? Those familiar with Washington know that such miraculous ascents rarely happen on their own and are equally rarely the result of pure, raw talent.

There might be some clues to his brother David’s also improbable rise — from a lowly production assistant at Fox News at the end of the 1990s to covering presidential elections for Fox News (including the one where his brother was writing Obama’s speeches) to the lofty position of president of CBS news by 2011!

The excellent Russ Baker was wondering about all this way back in March, when he noticed a typical New York Times gloss-over article on Rhodes.

Aside from his quite unbelievable rise, we do know that he was catastrophically wrong on Libya, where a Time Magazine article pointed out at the time that he was the strong counter-weight to those who argued for more caution on the use of force.

Here is how Time put it back in 2011, when the interventionists were on the verge of their triumph:

Obama and his aides know they are taking a big risk. “It’s a huge gamble,” says the senior administration official. The administration knows, for example, that al Qaeda, which has active cells in Libya, will try to exploit the power vacuum that will come with a weak or ousted Gaddafi. They also know that the U.S. will have to rely on other countries for the crucial task of rebuilding Libya and that the region may in fact be further destabilized by intervention. Outweighing that, the National Security Council’s Ben Rhodes says, are the long-term benefits of saving lives, protecting the possibility of democratic change elsewhere in the region and—tellingly—ensuring “the ability of collective action to be a tool in circumstances like this.”

Rhodes carried the day on Libya and he was completely incorrect in his assessment, his analysis, his prediction, and his prescription. Anyone who bothers to look at Libya today, which is run by gangs of roving extremist death squads would see what a fool Ben Rhodes is for his promise of “democratic change” in Libya — and how much more foolish is the president for following the advice of such a person.

Rhodes is named as the source of the White House-altered CIA talking points on Benghazi, where references to the Islamist extremist role in the attack on US Ambassador Chris Stevens were erased. It is understandable why the fiction writer Rhodes would want to toss that reference in the circular file: that particular sub-plot did not fit in with the main theme he had already painstakingly written, namely that the US attack on Libya would end the killing, stabilize the country, and bring about a democratic revolution that would continue to spread through the region. Fiction writers understand that a sub-plot could take your readers too far off the main narrative of the story and cause serious structural problems. That is why there are so many rounds of re-writes. The killing of Stevens and the rise of murderous extremists did not fit the plot, so it had to be deleted.

Being wrong on war when you are on the sending end of death and destruction is less obvious to your countrymen than when you are on the receiving end. But anyone living in Libya after Rhodes’ “life-saving” mission knows full well the kind of liberation that comes at the tip of a US missile. And neighboring countries know as well what happens when a nation armed to the teeth with weapons, including chemical weapons, completely implodes after its infrastructure is destroyed by foreign attack.

In Washington, though, being catastrophically wrong on Libya eminently qualifies Ben Rhodes to take the lead on US Syria policy. – Lew Rockwell Blog

Kuwait hangs ‘monster’ child rapist

Authorities in Kuwait on Tuesday hanged a 33-year-old Egyptian man dubbed a “monster” for the abduction and rape of 17 children under the age of 10, the public prosecution said.

Hajjaj Saadi, who was handed five death sentences, complained shortly before his execution that had not been given any assistance from the Egyptian government, a witness said.

Saadi strongly denied in court that he had committed any of the crimes, which shocked the Kuwaiti public, and insisted his confessions were extracted under duress.

Arrested in July 2007 as he prepared to board a flight to Luxor in Egypt, he became known as “the Hawalli monster” for the district near Kuwait City where the crimes took place.

The authorities said Saadi had confessed to raping 17 boys and girls after luring them onto rooftops in Hawalli, an area mainly inhabited by foreigners 12 kilometres (seven miles) south of the capital.

Another Egyptian man was executed at the same time after he was found guilty of killing an Asian couple by setting their home ablaze and attempting to murder another couple from Egypt the same way, said the prosecution.

Ahmad Abdulsalam al-Baili poured an inflammable material in the apartment of the Asian pair and set it on fire in April 2008, causing their deaths, it said in a statement.

Later he tried to kill an Egyptian couple the same way. They survived despite suffering injuries.

The hangings were the second set of executions in Kuwait since it reintroduced the death penalty following a six-year moratorium.

In April, the authorities in the oil-rich Gulf state executed a Saudi, a Pakistani and a stateless Arab who were convicted of murder. – AFP