Category: International

Part of the fallout from the NSA–Edward Snowden government-surveillance eruption is one steeped in career irony. Snowden is now a man without a country living in an authoritarian state that knows he can’t be trusted. Glenn Greenwald, a relatively obscure reporter-blogger for The Guardian in the UK and a contributing writer to Salon before becoming a Snowden conduit, has just signed a deal with Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Macmillan. The book, to be published in March, will include additional NSA-related material obtained from Snowden.

Pope Francis dazzled in his week-long visit to Brazil, his charisma and populist personality literally drawing millions. But what was most significant about the globally-covered visitation–transcending those trivializing “rock star” analogies–was his empathetic and compassionate message on homosexuality.

Stated the Pontiff: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” That’s not how his predecessor would have framed it.

Given that the second term of President Barack Obama hasn’t gone as planned, it’s no shock that the first major trip to Africa by America’s first African-American president didn’t go as well as it might have. It seemed less special than expected and anti-climatic. Timing is everything.

Both of his predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, have track records and institutes that have done notable work in sub-Sahara Africa–efforts that trump Obama Administration accomplishments to date. In fact, former President Bush was literally there in Tanzania at the same time as Obama and could bask in the fact that the Dar es Salaam summit on empowering African women was organized by the George W. Bush Institute.

And for obvious reasons, there was no opportunity in South Africa for Obama to physically and symbolically meet with 94-year-old Nelson Mandela to literally embrace the man, the moment and the legacy.

And there was also that awkward moment in Dakar, Senegal with Senegalese President Macky Sall. At a press conference, President Obama responded to stateside news of the U.S. Supreme Court expanding federal benefits for married gay couples. He called it a “proud day for America.” He expanded on his comment by making it clear that this just didn’t apply to the U.S. That “everybody has to be treated equally.” And that obviously included Africa, where a number of countries still outlaw homosexuality, and a few even punish violations with death.

President Sall, while asserting that his country was “very tolerant,” then reminded Obama that Senegal is “still not ready to decriminalize homosexuality.”

America’s first African-American president returns to the continent of his ancestors–only to be rebuked on a human right by Macky Sall? Senegalling.

* You know the anti-government demonstrations in Brazil over price hikes and corruption are really serious when they also include angry outbursts over the huge public spending for next year’s World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. When defiant demonstrators won’t be placated by soccer icons Pelé and Ronaldo–and they, indeed, tried–it can only get worse.

Iran just elected a moderate president, the cleric Hasan Rowhani, 64, who won 50.7 percent of the vote in a six-way race. “I thank God that once again rationality and moderation has shined on Iran,” declared Rowhani on state TV. “This is the victory of wisdom, a victory of moderation and a victory of commitment over extremism.” On cue, the West breathed a sigh of geopolitical relief and began waxing optimistic.

A key caveat: All six candidates were handpicked by Iran’s religious leadership. And “moderate” is a quintessentially relative term in America these days, let alone Iran. By way of analogy, Rick Perry–in the context of Ted Cruz–is a Texas moderate.

More importantly, Iran’s new president yields–not wields–power in all things that matter–from nuclear policies and the armed forces to social restrictions and the electronic media–to the Islamic Republic’s  ultimate authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, unsubtly known as the “supreme leader.” Khamenei works well with the repressive Revolutionary Guards and directly appoints the uber powerful Guardian Council, which, among other responsibilities, determines who’s actually eligible to run for president. The supreme leader seemingly answers only to the Prophet Muhammad. He’s certainly above elections.

I recall in a 1999 visit to Iran what the atmosphere was like when the “reformist” moderate Mohammad Khatami, a former minister of culture who was fluent in English and German, was president. He was personally popular, especially with the younger generation and anyone perceiving a need for “reform.” But he had to continuously do a high-wire act over the political mosh pit of religious hard liners and pragmatic reformers. It was fraying Iranian tempers and fueling frustration even then, just two years into his moderating presidency.

I talked with a female University of Tehran student–majoring in architecture–on what it was like living in Khatami’s Iran. In short, increasingly exasperating, she said. As if to underscore that reality, our conversation was not unnoted–or unmonitored–by others. This was more than manifested when the student would stop in mid-sentence and do a conversational 180 and abruptly reference the ruins of Persepolis or a classmate’s birthday. In between furtive glances, she said: “I do not like the veil, especially in the summer. But older women don’t seem to mind it so much.”

On an even touchier subject:

“President Khatami is a good man, but a lot of students want more change, more freedom,” said the 18-year-old. “There is too much, how do you say, regimentation. You can’t think for yourself … I’m sorry, that is the third time I have been warned to leave this subject. You speak, please.”

 

Khatami’s eight-year tenure, which ended in 2005 and was rife with clashes with political hardliners and conservative Islamists, culminated in disillusionment by his supporters. Many observers–not just followers–believed he wanted to “democratize” the Islamic Republic. True believers hoped he would push to open up the economy and put the morality police on notice. He didn’t come close.

Now there’s the “diplomat sheik” Rowhani, certainly an image upgrade over his predecessor, the peevish Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but arguably less “moderate” than Khatami. And the position still comes with built-in governors on dealing with the West over the usual issues.

But at least there is this. No one is protesting that the election was rigged this time.

* Let’s face it, democracy is still a work in progress in this country. Lest we forget: Al Gore’s loss, recent voter suppression efforts and the inability of 60 senators to agree with 90 per cent of Americans on gun control. Not “exceptionalism’s” finest hours. And to expect “democracy” out of the Muddled East is to misread reality. Stability without brutalizing dictatorship is as high as the bar goes for the foreseeable future.

* For those looking for signs that Egypt’s Arab spring is actually transitioning into something progressively encouraging, this can’t be welcome news. Convictions for blasphemy, especially among Christians, continue to increase. Not that Egyptians are shocked. Criminalizing blasphemy was enshrined in the Islamist-backed constitution that was adopted in December.

* Bolivarian revolution update: With some 15,000 killings a year, Venezuela’s homicide rate is now the 5th highest in the world, according to United Nation’s statistics. The murder rate doubled during the14-year reign of the late President Hugo Chavez. And this just in: Outsized inflation is no longer such a galvanizing concern. Locals can now add toilet paper to the list of chronic shortages, which already includes medicines and basic food items.

Vice President Joe Biden gave the keynote address at the 43rd Conference of the Americas this week in Washington. Among other things, Biden said that Washington was aware that Cuba has been making some “small encouraging signs” of change–but hardly enough to impress the Obama Administration. It still wants to see “real change,” the kind that can lead to a “democratic” future for the island. The vice president stressed that the Administration wants to “encourage the next level of cooperation in Cuba” as well as “peaceful, democratic change.”

Yada, yada. Condi Rice could have scripted those remarks. It was a reminder that precious little has changed.

* For now, the U.S. State Department will keep intact its list of countries it officially considers state sponsors of terrorism. They remain: Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. To include Cuba is as ludicrous as it is outrageous.  It’s as if “W,” Rummy and Cheney never left, the Cold War never ended and North Korea has never been more of a threat than Cuba.

For the Obama Administration to continue to perpetuate this travesty is unpardonable because it knows better. Yes, there are more important foreign-policy concerns than Cuba. But, no, that is no excuse for not doing the right thing for so many right reasons–including telling Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart and fellow vendetta traffickers that they no longer matter, because what’s right for America matters so much more.

I’d rather consider the unbiased input of Col. Larry Wilkerson, a former member of the National Security Council under President George W. Bush and former chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell. “The Pentagon has absolutely no inclination in considering Cuba a threat to the U.S.,” he said in March at a “Rapprochement With Cuba” conference in Tampa. “Quite the opposite. It thinks our policy is preposterously stupid. Hell, they’re (Cuba) not sponsoring revolution. They’re sponsoring health care.”

* The good news: There are now 59 signatures (including that of Congresswoman Kathy Castor) on a letter from House of Representatives members urging President Obama to support travel to Cuba by granting general licenses for ALL current categories of travel. This would basically undermine the onerous Office of Foreign Assets Control and scissor most of the bureaucratic red tape that now complicates licensable travel to Cuba.

The less-than-good news: 376 House members haven’t signed. Moreover, Castor is the only Representative of the 27-member Florida delegation to do so.

He’s back. Well, sort of.

After being missing in print for nine months, retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro, 86, has shown up again in one of his “Reflections” columns in the Cuban Communist Party daily Granma. In his return to published musings, Castro urged restraint on the Korean peninsula and warned of potential nuclear catastrophe. And while he did admonish North Korea, he reiterated that the world’s foremost nuclear loose-cannon, Stalinist state will continue to be an ally of Cuba. Begs the sobering question of what it would actually take for North Korea to even jeopardize its ally status with Cuba. Perhaps a future “Reflections” column will provide more insight.

And lest we forget, weren’t the Soviets more than concerned about Castro’s seemingly itchy trigger finger back in October 1962?

Say what you will about North Korea, its obscenely skewed priorities and its 20-something, chubby-kid-with-a-bad-haircut leader. The real key to reining in this outlier loose cannon is not the United Nations or the United States. It’s China. The China that wants to be the world’s dominant economic player. The China that needs customers and clients and raw materials. The China that doesn’t want its border overrun by frenzied, panicking North Koreans. The China that provides enough food and energy for North Korea to maintain its subsistence lifestyle.

That recent conference at the Cuban Club in Ybor City–“Rapprochement With Cuba: Good for Tampa, Good for Florida, Good for America”–updated a couple of perceptions in the ongoing–and frustrating–relationship between the U.S. and Cuba.

*U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, now a third-term congresswoman, is a recognized player on the issue–and impressed out-of-town speakers as an advocate for Tampa as well as improved bilateral relations.

*Col. Larry Wilkerson, a former member of the National Security Council under President George Bush and former chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell, waxed frank about the military’s take on relations with Cuba. “The Pentagon has absolutely no inclination in considering Cuba a threat to the U.S.,” he emphasized. “Quite the opposite. It thinks our policy is preposterously stupid. Hell, they’re (Cuba) not sponsoring revolution. They’re sponsoring health care.”

*Llanio Gonzalez-Lopez, general counsel at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, was actually here in Tampa for the gathering. It was thought he would have to Skype or phone it in as Cuban diplomatic personnel have been routinely prohibited from traveling beyond the D.C. perimeter. Obviously, travel restrictions have been eased by the U.S. And Counselor Gonzalez-Lopez, who had 48 hours for his Tampa sortie, obviously appreciated his first-ever trip to Havana-rooted Tampa. “I feel like I’m in Cuba,” he said with an animated, ironic smile.