Girl from Ecuador Assaulted on train in Barcelona - El Racismo no es Blanco y Negro
Random Act of Violence
On October 7th in Barcelona, Spain a young lady of 16 years old was attacked for no apparent reason by a man, that claims he was drunk - but is not remorseful of his actions. It’s sad to watch this video of the innocent girl getting kicked, punched, and spat on…the reporter narrating the video explains that the man was heard yelling out racial slurs in Spanish (of course).
Victim Did Not Press Charges - Attacker goes Free
The victim and her family, perhaps afraid of consequences, declined to press charges and the local judge let the attacker go home, with no criminal charge. Spain’s main anti-racism and civil-rights groups are hoping to appeal the judge’s decision and demand jail time for the attacker’s actions. I wrote some commentary in Spanish below.
The attacker denies he is racist…
Fue un Crimen Contra La Humanidad
En los países Latino-Americanos no existe el racismo de la misma forma que se observa en los Estados Unidos y en Europa. Será por que todos somos una mezcla verraca de tantas razas; la mayoría de la gente en Sudamérica son criollos y mestizos de alguna manera, y comparten sangre con los Europeos, Africanos, Anglos, Árabes, etc. No estoy hablando del racismo natural basada en riqueza/pobreza que es común en las clases sociales pero el racismo que es mas peligroso. El que se desarrolla dentro del mismo grupo social y cultural. Este es el tipo de prejuicio que ocurrió en Barcelona y es indicador de falta de educación y éticas morales.
Un fenómeno que se presenta hoy día y que no ha recibido atención es el aumento de grupos racistas en Europa y en los países de Sudamérica. Los Skinheads, traídos a los países Hispanos por la música Oí y Punk se esta evolucionando al estado den los Nazis de Hitler. Estamos en el mejor tiempo para empezar a combatir el racismo en los países Latinos. Si los eventos actuales son alguna indicación de lo que viene en el futuro hay que prevenir con educación ahora antes de que no se pueda controlar la situación.
Para mas comentario en Español sobre el ataque visite este enlace
Iran-Pakistan-India: Laying the ‘Peace Pipeline’
A Natural Gas Pipeline that will connect these three critical nations.
Iran, Pakistan, and India, collectively known as the IPI, are very close to finalizing the ‘Peace Pipeline’ plan that would drop a critical natural gas supply line that would run through the three neighboring countries. As always, there is a catch (or several) - and India is weary of signing on because of the Price Revision Clause being imposed by Iran that would base the price of the natural gas on a formula that utilizes Japan’s gas market as a benchmark. Nevertheless, India’s participation in the ‘Peace Pipeline’ doesn’t seem to matter as much to Iran and Pakistan as they continue bilateral talks that suggest India’s role as merely an added bonus that would sweeten the deal. Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran, Shafkat Saeed, insists that if India rejects the terms of the deal, the oil will be routed through China instead.
“We have informed Iran that we are prepared to transfer Iran’s gas to China through this pipeline should India decide not to join the gas project.” [ Associated Press of Pakistan, Oct 2007 ]
Though India has assured that it will take part in the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline - it is clear that the TAPI pipeline is not a replacement for the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, and their lack of an absolute decision in light of U.S. pressure is proof that the IPI pipeline stands to bring benefit to the Indian economy.
U.S. Threatens Sanctions on Pakistan if they seal the deal with Iran - Who Cares?
Check out this Business Week editorial from June of 2005 that demonstrates the United States’ declining ability to ‘demand’ U.S.-friendly international policies. The U.S. perhaps using scare tactics, has mentioned that investment sanctions are a possibility for India and Pakistan should they join hands with Iran on this business deal - But who’s economies are at stake on a local level? There was a time when the U.S. could influence just about any nation to favor U.S. interests - either by the diplomatic efforts of our 20th century leadership or brute force.
Russia doesn’t care.
“Russia’s Gazprom has established a branch office in Islamabad to participate in IPI project (Press TV Iran, Oct. 2007)” Furthermore, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin issued a statement last week to confirm that he will continue to cooperate with Iran on their nuclear program, identified as a deadly threat by the United States.
China doesn’t care.
Chinese officials continue to insist that sanctions are not the solution and will only complicate the situation - and as a permanent U.N. Security Council member they have rejected any and all U.S. involvement in Iran.
And of course…Iran doesn’t care.
Mr. ‘what me worry?’ himself, President Ahmadinejad, is not worried about U.S. sanctions. As a matter of fact a senior Iranian military commander has warned that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard will carry out suicide bombings throughout the Persian gulf if “necessary.”
Rating: 
Armenian Genocide Resurrected, Blamed on Ottomans, Turkey’s Government is Upset
The details of the brutal and tragic mass genocide of Armenians in 1915 are discussed in exhaustive detail on the Armenian Genocide wiki page.
Armenia’s president, Robert Kocharian, is adamant at proving his point - whatever it is! He’s looking to bring accountability to Turkey’s government for facilitating the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians…and he wants these evil acts ‘acknowledged fully in U.S. policy toward Turkey’. So on Wednesday, October 11, the bill to condemn the massacres was voted on by the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the majority supported the measure.
Turkey feels insulted. They sent a U.S. envoy home and forced him to leave the country, insisting that the action was not to indicate a deterioration in relations between the two nations. And many people, including president George Bush disapproved of this action - perhaps not for the same reasons but the disapproval was there.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry insists that “it has been accused of something that never happened in history.” With such statements coming straight from the horse’s mouth - what kind of diplomacy is possible? Damage control is possible.
The U.S. has mission critical supply routes that run through Turkey and provide crucial strategic support to U.S. troops in Iraq. The Bush administration strongly disapproved the genocide resolution and insisted that national security interests are at stake. The warnings of the top strategists in Turkey and the U.S. were ignored and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed that the Armenian Genocide measure will go forward.
Resources:
- Armenian National Institute - Armenian-Genocide.org: Exhaustive details of the ‘Armenian Genocide’ and support for the Armenian lobby
- Armenian-Genocide-Lie.com: The ‘Armenian Genocide’ is a sham and a lot of people died as a result of war
- The Armenian Genocide Wikipedia Page: Supposedly Impartial (not always the case with wiki)
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