Docudharma Times Friday May 22

 The Stupid That

Is Dick Cheney

Is Beyond Me

U.S. to Steer GM Toward Bankruptcy

Filing Expected as Chrysler Set to Emerge

By David Cho, Peter Whoriskey and Kendra Marr

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, May 22, 2009

The Obama administration is preparing to send General Motors into bankruptcy as early as the end of next week under a plan that would give the automaker tens of billions of dollars more in public financing as the company seeks to shrink and reemerge as a global competitor, sources familiar with the discussions said.

The move comes as the administration prepares to lift the nation’s other faltering car company, Chrysler, from bankruptcy protection as soon as next week, industry sources said.

The shifts into and out of bankruptcy are landmarks in the Obama administration’s attempt to broker a historic restructuring of the American auto industry in the space of months.

Spread of Swine Flu Puts Japan in Crisis Mode



By HIROKO TABUCHI

Published: May 21, 2009

KOBE, Japan – It all began at a high school volleyball tournament here on May 2 – or so residents of this Japanese port city suspect.

Soon, volleyball players who took part in the event were coming down with swine flu, early cases in a wider outbreak that has made Japan the worst-hit country outside North America in the global epidemic.

On Thursday, confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu virus in Japan reached 279, centering on Kobe and the neighboring city of Osaka, in western Japan. Like many other countries, Japan has reported mild flu cases and no deaths. Still, it is in crisis mode: more than 4,800 schools have been closed in the region, medical services are swamped, and testing laboratories are working around the clock.

USA

Obama Faces Pitfalls With ‘Surgical’ Tack on Detainees

NEWS ANALYSIS

By PETER BAKER

Published: May 21, 2009

As President Obama defends his national security strategy, he faces a daunting challenge. He must convince the country that it is in safe hands despite warnings to the contrary from the right, and at the same time persuade the skeptical left that it is enough to amend his predecessor’s approach rather than abandon it.

Arguably on the defensive over policy for the first time since taking office, Mr. Obama is gambling that his oratorical powers can reassure the public that bringing terrorism suspects to prisons on American soil will not put the public in danger.

At the same time, he must explain and win support for a nuanced set of positions that fall somewhere between George W. Bush and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Washington governor orders cutbacks in emissions

Her Legislature refused to impose a cap-and-trade system, so Gov. Chris Gregoire issues an executive order affecting a coal-fired power plant, public transit and other programs.

By Kim Murphy

May 22, 2009

Reporting from Seattle — Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire sidestepped her Legislature’s refusal to adopt a cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gases, signing an executive order Thursday to achieve similar reductions by ratcheting back coal-fired electricity and automobile emissions.

“I wanted cap-and-trade. I didn’t get it,” said Gregoire, a Democrat, whose order directs government agencies to expand public transit and other programs to meet auto emissions goals, and to reach agreement with the state’s only coal-fired power plant to reduce its carbon output at least 50% by 2025.

The order also calls for development of an even wider-ranging set of emission reduction strategies to achieve across-the-board greenhouse gas targets by 2020, and sets the stage for working with California and Oregon to implement a West Coast “electric highway” accessible to electric and alternative-fuel vehicles.

The new order is the latest in a series of efforts by governors to advance climate change goals while awaiting comprehensive national legislation in Washington.

Asia

In Sri Lanka the war is over but Tamil Tiger remnants suffer brutal revenge

• Reports of bodies of young women found with throats cut

• Paramilitaries abducting children, say observers

Gethin Chamberlain in Colombo

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 21 May 2009 21.45 BST

Reports are emerging from inside Sri Lanka’s internment camps of brutal revenge being taken against Tamil Tiger fighters and the abduction of young children by paramilitary groups.

Detainees in one of the camps told the Guardian that a number of female Tamil Tigers have been murdered after giving themselves up to the authorities.

The bodies of 11 young women were allegedly found with their throats slashed outside the Menic Farm camp near the town of Vavuniya, according to people being held behind the razor wire perimeter. The women’s short haircuts are understood to have made them easily identifiable as former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The bodies are said to have been discovered in the last two weeks, but there is no way of confirming the allegations because access to the camps is heavily restricted.

Swat town fights back to push Taliban militants out

Civilian counter-offensive boosts military campaign in North West Frontier Province

By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent

Friday, 22 May 2009

Residents of a town in the Swat valley took up arms to drive out Taliban fighters who were seeking sanctuary from a major military operation, it has been revealed.

In a rare instance of locals having the resources and determination to confront the militants, residents of the town of Kalam ousted the fighters and captured eight of them. They are now awaiting another possible assault from the militants.

News of the counter-offensive against the Taliban, which may indicate growing public support for the Pakistani military’s attempt to drive them from several areas in the North West Frontier Province, came as the amount of foreign aid donated to help civilians who have been driven from their homes by the fighting passed $200m (£127m).

Europe

Silvio Berlusconi vows to grab more power in Italy at Parliament’s expense

From The Times

May 22, 2009

Richard Owen in Rome

Silvio Berlusconi vowed yesterday to change the Italian constitution to give himself greater power as Prime Minister at the expense of Parliament, which he denounced as “useless”.

“You have a Government that is for the first time run by an entrepreneur and a team of ministers that resembles a company board in its efficiency, but we have to reckon with a legislature that must be modernised because the premier has virtually no power,” Mr Berlusconi told the annual conference of Confindustria, an employers’ federation.

He said that a Bill changing the constitution would have to take the form of a “popular initiative” taken outside parliament, as deputies and senators would not undermine their own power.

Russia alarmed over new EU pact

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned the European Union not to turn a proposed partnership with former Soviet countries against Moscow.

Friday, 22 May 2009 The BBC

Mr Medvedev was speaking at the end of a Russia-EU summit held against a background of deep divisions over security, trade and energy supplies.

He also signalled a new gas crisis may lie ahead, suggesting Ukraine lacks the money to pay for gas Russia provides.

A row over prices severely affected supplies to Europe in January.

The BBC’s Richard Galpin in Moscow says divisions between Russia and the European Union seem to be growing ever wider, and this latest summit, held in the far east of Russia, made that abundantly clear, with little sign of progress on any significant topic.

‘Anti-Russian bent’

“We would not want the Eastern Partnership to turn into partnership against Russia. There are various examples,” Mr Mevedev told a news conference at the end of the summit.

Africa

Robert Mugabe offers MDC surprise concessions over key Zimbabwe posts

From The Times

May 22, 2009



Jan Raath in Harare

President Mugabe sprang a number of surprise concessions on his opponents yesterday, agreeing to several key appointments demanded by Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

In a move that will make Zimbabwe’s coalition Government look more like an equal partnership, Mr Mugabe reversed his previous decision to name all ten provincial governors from his Zanu (PF) party. The MDC will now fill five of the posts.

The MDC and its smaller coalition partner have also won five vacant ambassadorial posts and its members may become permanent secretaries in the powersharing Government. Mr Mugabe even agreed finally to swear in Roy Bennett, the MDC’s white treasurer, nominated in February as Deputy Agriculture Minister.

Malawi leader to be inaugurated

Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika is due to be inaugurated for a second term after a landslide election win.

Friday, 22 May 2009 The BBC

The election commission said he had won more than 2.7m votes, with nearest rival John Tembo taking nearly 1.3m.

Mr Tembo cried foul but his opposition coalition backer, ex-President Bakili Muluzi, congratulated the incumbent.

Mr Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) also won a majority in parliament. Regional heads of state are in Malawi for the inauguration.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Zambia’s President Rupiya Banda, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and Tanzanian Vice-President Ali Mohammed Shein are due to attend the ceremony.

Song and dance

South Africa, Rwanda, Swaziland and Lesotho are also expected to send representatives to the event at the Kamuzu national stadium in Blantyre.

Middle East

Obama demands that Israel stop settlements. How feasible is that?

The US and Israel agreed this week to establish a joint committee on how to implement a freeze outlined in the 2003 road map.

By Joshua Mitnick | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

ARIEL, WEST BANK – This week, US President Barack Obama conveyed a clear message to his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu: the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank must stop.

On Thursday, Israeli police evacuated an unauthorized settlement outpost of Maoz Esther, but Israeli peace activists said the move was a public relations stunt, since no settlers live there on a permanent basis.

Amid the ebb and flow of US peace initiatives and the rise and fall Israeli governments, the unchecked growth of Israeli citizens in territories claimed by the Palestinians has been a constant. But now that there appears to be a will at the White House, is there a way to prompt Mr. Netanyahu to take his right-wing government where no Israeli prime minister has ever gone? While Israel has agreed to freeze settlement growth in the past, implementing, monitoring, and enforcing such an agreement is fraught with political and logistical difficulties.

Iran’s Missile Test: A Message to Obama and Netanyahu



By TONY KARON  

ran’s latest missile test may have less to do with advancing its military capability than with getting a last word in on Monday’s conversation between President Barack Obama and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After all, the weapon whose test-firing was announced Wednesday by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the election campaign trail does not significantly extend the reach of others already in Iran’s arsenal. Instead, it appears to have been a ballistic message, to Iranian voters as well as to the U.S. and its Mideast allies, that Iran isn’t about to be intimidated into backing off its nuclear development, and that it has the means to retaliate against any military strikes.

Netanyahu emerged from Monday’s White House meeting saying he and Obama saw “exactly eye to eye” on the Iran issue, and some media reports suggested that Obama had agreed to a deadline of the end of 2009 for his diplomatic efforts to succeed in persuading Iran to reverse course on its nuclear program.

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