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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 15-Jan-2012
15-Jan-12 World View -- Consensus is growing for military action in Syria

Web Log - January, 2012

15-Jan-12 World View -- Consensus is growing for military action in Syria

Venezuela's Chávez says U.S. is giving cancer to Latin leaders

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com.

Qatar now favors military action in Syria to 'stop the killing'
Arab League observer in Syria says his life was threatened
Incumbent Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou wins close reelection bid
Iran seeks revenge for killing of nuclear scientist
Venezuela's Chávez says U.S. is giving cancer to Latin leaders

Qatar now favors military action in Syria to 'stop the killing'

Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani

Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani

Qatar has led the Arab League in deploring the violence in Syria, but is now advocating a major step forward, according to the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday evening. When asked, "Would you be in favor of Arab nations intervening in Syria?" the emir said "For such a situation to stop the killing...some troops should go to stop the killing." State Dept. officials are saying that a consensus is forming in Washington and Arab capitals that diplomatic attempts to end the multiple crimes against humanity being committed by the regime of Bashar al-Assad are an embarrasing shambles. In the most likely scenario for military intervention in Syria, Turkey will take the lead, establishing a buffer zone within Syria, while the Nato would establish a no-fly zone over western Syria. States supporting the war, either diplomatically or with troops, include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, and Morocco. CBS News 60 Minutes and Telegraph

Arab League observer in Syria says his life was threatened

Anwar Malek, an Algerian national, who resigned last week as one of the observers in the Arab League mission to Syria, saying that the mission was a "farce," now says that he survived a personal assassination attempt, but had to flee Syria for his life. "That's the moment I decided I couldn't take any more," said Malek, who is now in France, where he lives with his wife and daughter. "Blackmail ranged from threats of death, to public humiliation. We were meant to be monitoring a peace-keeping effort but instead watched people being killed, beaten up, and arrested by police, soldiers and militiamen." According to Malek, "Any negative comments were ignored, and the authorities tried to blackmail us into keeping what we saw a secret. Our mobile phones were blocked, and we were told not to use email or social networking sites like Facebook to post information. This included reports of young children being shot dead, or being left to starve along with the rest of their families. They did not even have the most basic provisions, while prisoners were given one snack a day if they were lucky. Those that survived were terrorized daily." Telegraph

Incumbent Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou wins close reelection bid

Ma Ying-jeou gestures to supporters, in Taipei on Saturday, after winning

Ma Ying-jeou gestures to supporters, in Taipei on Saturday, after winning

Officials in Beijing and Washington are breathing a sigh of relief today, as the incumbent president, Kuomintang Party (KMT) leader Ma Ying-jeou, won reelection with 51% of the vote, defeating Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). As we reported yesterday, KMT is promoting closer relations between Taiwan and China, with eventual reunification of the two, while the DPP supports greater separation from China, with Taiwan eventually becoming a separate country. There had been concerns that if the DPP candidate won the election, then China would retaliate in some way. The victory of the KMT candidate puts those concerns to rest. China Post (Taipei) and China Daily (Beijing)

Iran seeks revenge for killing of nuclear scientist

The deputy chief of Iran's joint armed forces, Masoud Jazayeri, said:

"We consider committing a terrorist act of killing a scientist to be a threat to the nation... We are looking at punishing those who were behind the scenes of the martyrdom (assassination) of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan. ...
The enemies of the revolution and the Iranian nation’s progress should not harbor doubt that the U.S., the Zionist regime, and their criminal allies will receive appropriate response and punishment in due course."

He was the third nuclear scientist to have been murdered in similar circumstances in Tehran over the past two years. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Thursday that the "abominable" killing was committed "with the planning or support of the intelligence services of the CIA and Mossad" of the United States and Israel. Tehran Times and AFP

Venezuela's Chávez says U.S. is giving cancer to Latin leaders

Hugo Chávez

Hugo Chávez

Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez has suggested that the United States has developed new technology that can give people cancer, and that the CIA is using it to give cancer to Latin American heads of states. Chávez himself is recovering from cancer, and he made his "suggestion" the day after Argentina's president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced she had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Recent years have seen a series of leftwing Latin America leaders diagnosed with cancer, including Brazil's current president, Dilma Rousseff, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, and the former Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. According to Chávez, in a speech broadcast on live TV:

"Would it be so strange that they've invented the technology to spread cancer and we won't know about it for 50 years?
I don't know but … it is very odd than we have seen Lugo affected by cancer, Dilma when she was [presidential] candidate, me, going into an election year, not long ago Lula and now Cristina.
It is very hard to explain, even with the law of probabilities, what has been happening to some leaders in Latin America. It's at the very least strange, very strange. Evo take care of yourself. Correa, be careful. We just don't know. Fidel always told me, 'Chávez take care. These people have developed technology. You are very careless. Take care what you eat, what they give you to eat … a little needle and they inject you with I don't know what.'"

In July last year Evo Morales suggested that the CIA might deliberately plant drugs on Bolivia's presidential plane in order to discredit his government. Guardian

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 15-Jan-12 World View -- Consensus is growing for military action in Syria thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (15-Jan-2012) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 15-Jan-2012 15-Jan-12 World View -- Consensus is growing for military action in Syria

Qatar now favors military action in Syria to 'stop the killing'

Arab League observer in Syria says his life was threatened

Incumbent Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou wins close reelection bid

Iran seeks revenge for killing of nuclear scientist

Venezuela's Chávez says U.S. is giving cancer to Latin leaders

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 15-Jan-2012
15-Jan-12 World View -- Consensus is growing for military action in Syria