Monthly Archive for May, 2007

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US ranks low, just above Iran on new peace index

Published on May 30, 2007 in US. 0 Comments

Make of it what you will:

WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) – The United States is among the least peaceful nations in the world, ranking 96th between Yemen and Iran, according to a new index released on Wednesday that evaluates 121 nations based on their peacefulness.

According to the Global Peace Index, created by The Economist Intelligence Unit, Norway is the most peaceful nation in the world and Iraq is the least, just after Russia, Israel and Sudan.

“The objective of the Global Peace Index was to go beyond a crude measure of wars by systemically exploring the texture of peace,” said Global Peace Index President Clyde McConaghy.

He said the inaugural effort proves “peace can and has and will continue to be measured.”

The index was compiled based on 24 indicators measuring peace inside and outside of a country. They included the number of wars a country was involved in the past five years, how many soldiers were killed overseas and how much money was made in arms sales.

Domestic indicators included the level of violent crimes, relations with neighboring countries and level of distrust in other citizens.

The results were then reviewed by a panel of international experts.

“We were trying to find out what positive qualities lead to peace,” said Leo Abruzzese, the North American editorial director of the intelligence unit that is part of The Economist Group that publishes the well known magazine.

He said they found in general the most peaceful countries were the smallest, the most politically stable and democratic.

“Democracy didn’t actually correlate with peace, but a well-functioning democracy did. Efficient, accountable government seems to be the leading determinant of peace. Beyond that, income helps.”

Fifteen of the top 20 most peaceful nations are in Western Europe, and countries with higher income appeared to lead to higher levels of peace, he said.

The United States ranked 96th out of 121 nations, just worse than Yemen and just better than Iran, Honduras and South Africa.

Abruzzese said the United States’ score was pulled down by the number of wars it is involved in, large numbers of soldiers killed on the battlefield and high defense spending.

He said the fact the United States has the world’s largest prison population per share of overall population also pulled down the score.

“It also has relatively high levels of violent crime,” he added.

McConaghy said the index would be revised each year and increase the number of countries included. Some countries like Afghanistan and North Korea were not included in the first index because reliable data for all 24 indicators was not available.

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Lecturers back boycott of Israel

Published on May 30, 2007 in Israel, Middle East, Palestine and UK. 0 Comments

Good news:

University lecturers today backed calls for an academic boycott of Israel at their inaugural national conference.
Delegates at the University and College Union conference voted 158 to 99 to circulate its branches with the boycott call from Palestinian trade unions for “information and discussion”.

The general secretary of the UCU, Sally Hunt, said she believes “every member should have the opportunity to have their say”.

Opponents of the boycott have already called for a national ballot of all the union’s members.

In the wake of the controversial vote, it was still unclear when or how a boycott could be introduced. However, it was clear the union leadership was attempting to minimise the expected international backlash over the decision.

The decision followed a plea earlier today from Ms Hunt that the Israeli issue should not be a major priority for the union and that a boycott would be unlikely to win majority support from members.

Just hours before the debate at the union’s first national conference in Bournemouth, Ms Hunt told delegates that most UCU members would prefer to “retain dialogue” with trade unionists on all sides “not just those we agree with”.

The motion calling for an Israeli academic boycott came jointly from the University of Brighton and the University of East London.

They asked members to rally to the call from Palestinian trade unions “for a comprehensive and consistent international boycott of all Israeli institutions”.

Their motion also called on university lecturers to condemn the “complicity of Israeli academia in the [Palestinian] occupation”.

It went on: “Passivity or neutrality is unacceptable and criticism of Israel cannot be construed as anti-semitic”. Lecturers were told to consider the “moral implications” of existing and proposed academic links with Israeli institutions.

The Israel and Palestinian issue has a history of controversy at past annual conferences of both Nafthe and the Association of University Teachers (AUT), which merged last year to form the UCU.

An AUT boycott motion was passed in 2005, but it caused such controversy around the world that the union had to hold another special meeting at which it was rejected.

Natfhe has supported boycotts in the past. Last year, members agreed to continue the boycott, but the policy was dissolved when the union merged to form the UCU only hours later.

The latest Israeli boycott decision comes just days after American Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg cancelled an academic visit to the UK because of what he perceived to be a “widespread anti-Israel and anti-semitic current in British opinion”.

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Bush appoints himself Dictator

Published on May 30, 2007 in Politics and US. 0 Comments

It seems that being The Commander Guy just isn’t enough for George W:

President Bush, without so much as issuing a press statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted near dictatorial powers to the office of the president in the event of a national emergency declared by the president.

The “National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive,” with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential Directive, establishes under the office of president a new National Continuity Coordinator.

That job, as the document describes, is to make plans for “National Essential Functions” of all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, as well as private sector organizations to continue functioning under the president’s directives in the event of a national emergency.

The directive loosely defines “catastrophic emergency” as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.”

When the President determines a catastrophic emergency has occurred, the President can take over all government functions and direct all private sector activities to ensure we will emerge from the emergency with an “enduring constitutional government.”

Translated into layman’s terms, when the President determines a national emergency has occurred, the President can declare to the office of the presidency powers usually assumed by dictators to direct any and all government and business activities until the emergency is declared over.

Ironically, the directive sees no contradiction in the assumption of dictatorial powers by the President with the goal of maintaining constitutional continuity through an emergency.

The directive specifies that the assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism will be designated as the National Continuity Coordinator. Further established is a Continuity Policy Coordination Committee, chaired by a senior director from the Homeland Security Council staff, designated by the National Continuity Coordinator, to be “the main day-to-day forum for such policy coordination.”

Currently, the assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism is Frances Fragos Townsend. Townsend spent 13 years at the Justice Department before moving to the U.S. Coast Guard where she served as assistant commandant for intelligence. She is a White House staff member in the executive office of the president who also chairs the Homeland Security Council, which as a counterpart to the National Security Council reports directly to the president.

The directive issued May 9 makes no attempt to reconcile the powers created there for the National Continuity Coordinator with the National Emergency Act. As specified by U.S. Code Title 50, Chapter 34, Subchapter II, Section 1621, the National Emergency Act allows that the president may declare a national emergency but requires that such proclamation “shall immediately be transmitted to the Congress and published in the Federal Register.”

A Congressional Research Service study notes that under the National Emergency Act, the President “may seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, seize and control all transportation and communication, regulate the operation of private enterprise, restrict travel, and, in a variety of ways, control the lives of United States citizens.”

The CRS study notes that the National Emergency Act sets up congress as a balance empowered to “modify, rescind, or render dormant such delegated emergency authority,” if Congress believes the president has acted inappropriately.

NSPD-51/ HSPD-20 appears to supersede the National Emergency Act by creating the new position of National Continuity Coordinator without any specific act of Congress authorizing the position.

NSPD-51/ HSPD-20 also makes no reference whatsoever to Congress. The language of the May 9 directive appears to negate any a requirement that the President submit to Congress a determination that a national emergency exists, suggesting instead that the powers of the executive order can be implemented without any congressional approval or oversight.

Homeland Security spokesperson Russ Knocke affirmed that the Homeland Security Department will be implementing the requirements of NSPD-51/HSPD-20 under Townsend’s direction.

The White House had no comment.

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