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Cuba's Castro: I Quit as Party Chief 5 years Ago

Paul Haven
The Associated Press
Tue, 22 Mar 2011 03:48 UTC
Fidel Castro
© The Associated Press/Javier Galeano
In this Sept. 28, 2010, file photo, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro delivers a speech during the 50th anniversary of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, CDR, in Havana, Cuba. Castro said Tuesday, March 22, 2011, he resigned five years ago from all his official positions, including head of Cuba's Communist Party, a position he was thought to still hold.
Fidel Castro's surprise announcement that he stepped down as head of the Communist Party five years ago - despite widespread belief he remained in charge - marks the bizarre end of an era for a nation, and a man, whose fates have been intertwined for more than half a century.

The 84-year-old revolutionary icon made the revelation Tuesday - with word of the resignation thrown in as an aside halfway through an opinion piece that otherwise focused on President Barack Obama.

The declaration raises fundamental questions about just how much power Fidel has been wielding behind the scenes since his 2006 illness, and to what extent his 79-year-old brother has had freedom to make his own decisions as he pushed the country to enact sweeping economic reforms.

It also gives the Castros an opportunity to tap a possible future successor with their naming of a new party No. 2 - one without their famous last name.

They might select from a cadre of younger leaders who could carry the fiscal changes forward, and perhaps even reboot relations with the United States. Alternatively, the brothers could look to the past by promoting a loyal-but-weathered veteran of the revolution that brought them to power in 1959.

The answer will likely become apparent through a high-level game of musical chairs that Fidel's departure will engender in the upper reaches of the Communist Party hierarchy during a crucial Communist Party Congress next month.
      Read More...
Heart - Black

For the sins of his father: Gaddafi's son 'killed in kamikaze pilot attack on barracks'

Richard Hartley-parkinson
The Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:28 UTC
Khamis Gaddafi
© unknown
Khamis Gaddafi: Libyan officials have denied that the 27-year-old has been killed by a kamikaze Libyan pilot at a barracks
  • Claims sixth son Khamis, leader of crack loyalist unit, died of burn wounds
  • Gaddafi's whereabouts remain unknown after attack on his compound
  • Dictator promises coalition forces a 'long war'
  • Rebels say Gaddafi's men have been using civilians as human shields
  • RAF Tornado turned back when it was realised residents were in danger
  • President Obama: Gaddafi is murdering his own people and must step down
  • William Hague refuses to say if Gaddafi was a target of aerial bombardments
  • US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says getting rid of Gaddafi is 'unwise'
  • UN Secretary-General clarifies support for air attacks but not ground troops
  • Cameron tells Commons air strikes stopped assault on Benghazi
    •
Colonel Gaddafi suffered a massive personal setback today when one of his sons was allegedly killed in a suicide air mission on his barracks.

Khamis, 27, who runs the feared Khamis Brigade that has been prominent in its role of attacking rebel-held areas, is said to have died on Saturday night.

A Libyan air force pilot crashed his jet into the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli in a kamikaze attack, Algerian TV reported following an unsubstantiated claim by an anti-Gaddafi media organisation.

Khamis is alleged to have died of burns in hospital. The regime denied the reports.

It was claimed he died in the same compound hit by RAF cruise missiles hit by coalition forces last night.

Loyalists have been photographed with shrapnel from the missile that struck the building and throughout the day there has been no information on Gaddafi's whereabouts.

Libyan state TV has claimed that 64 people were killed in the weekend attacks, causing friction between the west and the Arab world but the Ministry of Defence said it wasn't aware of civilian casualties.

But it exposed fractures between the U.S. and British positions, with U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates saying getting rid of Gaddafi would be unwise while the UK refuses to rule out any course of action.
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Bomb

Opposition to Libya Assault Grows as Allies Battle to Protect United Front

David Usborne and John Lichfield
The Independent, UK
Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC
Libyan rebel
© AFP/Getty
A Libyan rebel stands over Gaddafi forces' vehicles which were destroyed by French air strikes
Serious fractures emerged in the international community yesterday over the military intervention in Libya, with some nations asking such basic questions as what the end-game is and how long it will take.

Just days after forsaking its chance to veto the United Nations resolution that authorised the air strikes, Russia offered the most jarring commentary, with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin saying: "The resolution is flawed. It allows everything and is reminiscent of a medieval call for a crusade. In fact, it allows intervention in a sovereign state."

Germany, which like Russia abstained at last week's UN Security Council meeting, also repeated its misgivings about the operation. And via a state newspaper, the Chinese government condemned what it called "armed action against a sovereign country" and expressed its regret that "the West will not give up their jurisdiction over justice and injustice".

Even Britain, France and the US, which together have conducted the raids aimed at destroying much of Libya's air-defence capability and neutralising Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's military advantages, manoeuvred to manage diplomatic and domestic political fall-out from the still nascent operation.

Rising quickly to the top of a long list of concerns was the chance that, with most of the heavy bombardment over, the coalition may find itself drifting into a prolonged stalemate in Libya with no real change in the balance between the rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces. Asked when operations would be over, a senior French military adviser replied that it might be "a while".
      Read More...
Vader

Obama: 'President Does Not Have Power Under Constitution to Unilaterally Authorize a Military Attack'

Fred Lucas
CNS News
Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Foreign Policy
As a presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D.-Ill.) emphatically stated that the Constitution does not give the president the authority to unilaterally authorize a military attack unless it is needed to stop an actual or imminent attack on the United States.

Obama made the assertion in a Dec. 20, 2007 interview with the Boston Globe when reporter Charlie Savage asked him under what circumstances the president would have the constitutional authority to bomb Iran without first seeking authorization from Congress.

"The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation," Obama responded.
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USA

Obama: Drill, Brazil, Drill!


Investors.com
Mon, 21 Mar 2011 06:08 UTC
Image
© unknown
U.S. President Barack Obama and Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff are mobbed by primary school children as they arrive for a meeting at Planalto Palace in Brasilia March 19, 2011. Obama is on the first leg of a three-country tour of Latin America.
Energy Policy: While leaving U.S. oil and jobs in the ground, our itinerant president tells a South American neighbor that we'll help it develop its offshore resources so we can one day import its oil. WHAT?!?

With Japan staggered by a natural disaster and a nuclear crisis, cruise missiles launched against Libya in our third Middle East conflict and a majority of U.S. senators complaining about a lack of leadership on the budget, President Obama decided it would be a good time to schmooze with Brazilians.

His "What, me worry?" presidency has given both Americans and our allies plenty to worry about. But in the process of making nice with Brazil, Obama made a mind-boggling announcement that should make even his most loyal supporter cringe:

We will help Brazil develop its offshore oil so we can one day import it.

We have noted this double standard before, particularly when - at a time when the president was railing against tax incentives for U.S. oil companies - we supported the U.S. Export-Import Bank's plan to lend $2 billion to Brazil's state-run Petrobras with the promise of more to follow.

Now, with a seven-year offshore drilling ban in effect off of both coasts, on Alaska's continental shelf and in much of the Gulf of Mexico - and a de facto moratorium covering the rest - Obama tells the Brazilians:

"We want to help you with the technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely. And when you're ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers."
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Chess

Raymond Davis: Trap for Kiyani and Obama

Dr Shahid Qureshi
Opinion Maker
Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© unknown
Raymond Davis
Radiating Raymond Davis was a 'cluster bomb' which not only hit Pakistanis killing three people as well President Obama and his administration. There is no doubt that some elements in the US establishment could not stand and have not accepted a 'Blackman' in a 'White House'. The Clinton camp with Robert Gates included made President Obama lie on tv channels about 'diplomatic immunity' which he never had. Who is undermining President Obama?

Raymond has achieved almost all the objectives of the sub contracted parties (India-Israel) who hired Raymond. For example:
  1. They have managed to successfully discredit all major political parties and its leaders and proved them as US and foreign collaborators/agents
  2. They have managed to discredit the civilian governments, military establishment, judiciary as well as the agencies
  3. Raymond was on a radioactive mission and he himself was radiating
  4. He has radiated his lovers and enemies
  5. He has also pointed to the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the corrupt Pakistani elite across the board
  6. He has proved that US friendship is cancerous and toxic
  7. Americans living in the USA are the most ignorant about the outside world and their media is the most biased, controlled by a small ethnic racist and blackmailer minority
  8. USA is an occupied country and need to win another war of independence from Wall Street Bankers, and racist supremacists.
  9. A unilateral declaration of independence from Israel is a way forward because US taxpayers are paying very heavy price financially and human cost of this toxic friendship?
  10. Raymond was a symbol of US imperialist mentality and some one else somewhere else might pay the price of this 'halal rescue' arranged by the filthy Zardari - Sharifs regimes in Pakistan.
  11. Afghanistan is a magnet for the empires to come and die it has become a suicide spot for the super powers.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Five-Mile Wide Suspected Oil Slick Spotted Just North of Deepwater Horizon Explosion Site


The Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:46 UTC
A suspected oil slick has been spotted around 20 miles north from the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.

Several people reported seeing a rainbow sheen on the surface of the water several miles long just off the coast of Louisiana, to the National Response Center.

Officials have confirmed there is a five-mile wide spill of some substance in the Gulf of Mexico, but have not yet identified it.

Image
© Jerry Moran, Native Orleanian Fine Photography
Another slick? Several people have reported seeing a rainbow sheen on the surface of the water several miles long just off the coast of Louisiana
Casey Ranel, a spokesman for the Coast Guard said the agency sent out a cutter this morning to collect samples of the substance.

An airplane is also expected to fly over the area to give officials a better idea of what's in the water.
      Read More...
Camcorder

Ron Paul: Libya Reaction: Where's the Authority?


Daily Paul
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC
In this C4L update, Congressman Ron Paul comments on how President Obama's actions on Libya are violating the Constitution, ceding authority and sovereignty to the United Nations, and weakening the United States. Action by the American people to return government to its constitutional limits is critical if we are to change our course.

      Read More...
Vader

Obama the Vacillator meets Christ the Redeemer: Sightseeing tour of Brazil ends while bombs and cruise missiles continue to pound Libya


The Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 21 Mar 2011 06:29 UTC
As U.S. and British air strikes and cruise missiles pounded Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli palace, President Barack Obama was on a sightseeing tour of Rio de Janeiro's iconic Christ the Redeemer hilltop statue.

He also visited Brazil's famed City of God slum as the biggest military intervention in the Arab world since the Iraq invasion entered its second day.

The President's wife Michelle and daughters joined him on the five-day visit to Latin America prompting the trip to be branded a 'vacation' by right-wingers.

Image
© The Associated Press
President Barack Obama with first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha spent their final night in Brazil touring the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro
Steve Doocy, co-host of Fox & Friends, said: 'What is happening with the President while all of this is going on? He's going on vacation. He's going to Rio.'

Republican Newt Gingrich has mocked Mr Obama for his lack of leadership over Libya by publicising his final four March Madness picks as rebels battled for their country.

During his sightseeing tour of the slum, Obama kicked a soccer ball with pint-sized boys and swayed to the beat of a samba performance at a makeshift community centre.

Residents crowded sidewalks, rooftops and balconies to wave as Obama's shining black SUV rolled through the narrow streets.
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War Whore

Libya Airstrikes: The Psychopathic Women Who Called for War

John Avlon
Yahoo News
Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:50 UTC
Image
© AFP
Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice (L) and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R)
That a diplomatic team led by Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, and Samantha Power advocated military action against Gaddafi may be a footnote in the Libyan conflict - but it is a significant mark of our nation's evolution, argues John Avlon.

The Libyan airstrikes mark the first time in U.S. history that a female-dominated diplomatic team has urged military action.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined with U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and the influential Office of Multilateral and Human Rights Director Samantha Power to argue for airstrikes against Libya. Their advice triggered an abrupt shift in U.S. policy, overturning more cautious administrations' counselors.

The circumstances under which the U.S. decided to attack the Gaddafi regime reveal an internal evolution of strategy. Until last week it was assumed the North African uprising against dictatorships would overwhelm the Libyan dictator. But in the absence of an established no-fly zone, he successfully turned the tide against rebels in the eastern half of his nation by strafing his citizens.

In a strange reversal of international stereotypes, French President Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead in arguing for military intervention and organizing an international coalition. (In 1986, French President François Mitterrand had resisted allowing U.S. planes to use French airspace when President Reagan bombed Tripoli and Muammar Gaddafi's palace in retaliation for sponsoring terrorist attacks.) Sarkozy's arguments took on more urgency as it became clear that the Obama administration's inaction was itself a decision that could prove politically pungent at home and disastrous for the people of Libya.
      Read More...
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