Dreams Into Lightning 2

Morning Report: 2012-05-24

African unrest in Tel Aviv. Demonstrations Reuters: 'Fleeing poverty, fighting and authoritarian rule, some 60,000 Africans have crossed illegally into Israel through the relatively porous desert border with Egypt in recent years. That has jarred the Jewish state, with its already ethnically fraught citizen population of 7.8 million. Some Israelis warn of a gathering demographic and economic crisis while others say a country born after the Holocaust has a special responsibility to offer foreigners sanctuary. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said some 15 percent of city residents were "illegal foreign workers" and the number was growing. Interior Ministry data show 82 percent of the African migrants are men, 15 percent women and the rest children. ...' Arutz Sheva:

Over 1,000 people took part Wednesday evening in a protest against Israel's growing illegal immigrant population. The protesters called on the government to send the infiltrators back to their countries of origin.

MK Danny Danon (Likud), who heads the Knesset Lobby to Prevent Infiltration, addressed the protesters and said: "The terrible situation that has formed here has only one solution and we need to talk about it and we must not be ashamed: expel them now!"

"The state of Israel is at war with an enemy state that has formed within Israel and has its capital in southern Tel Aviv," he stated.

Protesters who live in the working class neighborhoods that are flooded by the illegal immigrants spoke of harassment and physical attacks that have become a daily occurrence. Several cases of sexual assaults against Jewish women have been reported in recent months. ...

The protest in Tel Aviv against migrants led to 12 arrests; the suspects were released on bail. The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court has extended the remand of a man suspected of recruiting teens and giving them weapons to target Africans during the recent demonstrations. Two protesters were arrested for an attempted attack on a foreign worker. Yitzhak Halevi, mayor of the border city of Eilat, called for immigration enforcement:

He called on the government to implement the decisions it has already made to deal with the matter.

Halevi said the security fence on the Egyptian border needs to be completed within a short time, and that the government needed to expedite the construction of a detention center for illegal aliens. He also called on the government to fine those who employe illegal aliens. ...

Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the violence, adding: 'The migrant problem must be solved and we will solve it. We will complete the construction of the fence within a few months and soon we will begin sending the migrants back to their countries of origin.'

Mladic trial to resume. Reuters: 'The genocide trial of Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic is set to resume at the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal on June 25 four weeks later than initially planned, The Hague-based court said on Thursday. Mladic, who was arrested in Serbia in May 2011 after 16 years on the run, is accused of genocide for his role in the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and for orchestrating the killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995; Europe's worst massacre since World War Two. ...'

ICC clears way to try four Kenyans for violence. Reuters: 'The International Criminal Court on Thursday cleared the way for the trial of four Kenyans accused of being behind the violence which erupted after the country's elections in December 2007. The four men, who include Uhuru Kenyatta, a former presidential hopeful and the son of Kenya's founding president, have denied the charges and claimed the court did not have the right to try them. More than 1,220 people died in the post-election violence. ...'

More on south Tel Aviv. For my pictures of Allenby Street in southern Tel Aviv, see here, here, and here.

Morning Report: 2012-05-22

Guinea-Bisseau junta to turn power over to civilians, says spokesman. 'Six weeks after it toppled the government and derailed elections, Guinea-Bissau's military junta said on Tuesday it was handing power back to the West African state's civilian leaders. This follows a deal between the self-styled Military Command and the regional bloc ECOWAS that put in place transitional president Manuel Sherifo Nhamadjo, installed a 600-strong ECOWAS force and promised new elections in 12 months. ...'

Malawi's Joyce Banda to fight anti-gay legislation. Via Harry, the Scotsman reportsMALAWI’S president

Joyce Banda has declared she wants to repeal laws banning homosexual acts, going against a trend across Africa in which gays are increasingly being singled out for prosecution.

Ms Banda, who assumed the presidency in April when her predecessor died, made the announcement yesterday in her first state of the nation address.

“Indecency and unnatural acts laws shall be repealed,” she said.

But repealing a law requires a parliamentary vote, and it is unclear how much political support Ms Banda has for sweeping changes in the impoverished and conservative nation. ...

One Libya or two? Michael Totten at Commentary:

The Libyan city of Benghazi, the “capital” of the east and the second largest city in the country, held a referendum this past weekend on whether or not to declare political autonomy. The results aren’t in yet, but it’s likely to pass.

Muammar Qaddafi knew if an uprising against him were to break out that it would start in Benghazi. His regime never had much support in the east. His family was from the west, which to the people of Benghazi practically made him a foreigner. ...

Read the rest at the link.

Shurat ha-Din's Darshan-Leitner to receive Moskowitz Prize. 'Attorney Nitsana Darshan- Leitner, director of civil rights nonprofit organization Shurat HaDin (The Israel Law Center), will receive the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism, awarded annually to three Israelis deemed to best personify modern Zionism in Israel, for her work in taking Israel’s fight against terrorism to the courtroom. ...'

Nigeria Church Attack Kills 21

Gunmen attacked worship services at a university campus and a church Sunday in northern Nigeria, killing at least 21 people in coordinated assaults that saw panicked Christians gunned down as they tried to flee, witnesses and officials said. ...

Raymond Ibrahim has some background on Islamist persecution of Christians. Walter Russell Mead:

Nigeria is a major flashpoint for the religious conflict seen across Africa as a surging Christian presence shakes the confidence of traditional Islamic communities and as radical currents in global Islam make themselves felt in sub-Saharan Africa. Since independence, Nigeria’s Christian community has doubled as a proportion of the population (from roughly a fourth of the population to roughly one half) as animists and believers in traditional African religions converted to Christianity. Additionally, some Muslims have converted. The surge in Christian numbers comes at the same time that the Christian population and the predominantly Christian regions of the country are becoming more prosperous than the mostly Muslim north. Political power is also flowing to the south. ...

Go read the rest.

Morning Report: 2012-04-18

Argentina nationalizes Spanish energy firm YPF. 'The Argentine government's decision to reclaim what was once its state-owned oil company through expropriation is straining diplomatic relations with Spain, where the news was met with objections. The Spanish energy company Repsol purchased Argentina's oil and gas company, YPF, in 1999 during a period of privatization. But Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced this week a government plan to take YPF back through legislation that would expropriate a 51% share of the company. ...' This while Spain has been preoccupied with other distractions.

Guinea-Bisseau coup. Guinea-Bisseau is a small West African country wedged in between Senegal and Guinea. Here's The Economist's Baobab on the ongoing coup:

INTERNATIONAL experts like to tell developing countries they must focus on stuff they do well. If you have fertile soil and lots of rain, grow rice rather than strive for global high-tech leadership. Guinea-Bissau on the swampy west African coast is following that advice more closely than most. It has little chance of rivalling nearby Ivory Coast in cocoa production or beating Guinea at extracting minerals. Climate and geology conspire against it. But it has proven especially good at one thing: the nation of 2m people has seen at least four military coups in the last 14 years. They happen more regularly than elections in many neighbouring countries. No president has served a full term since its independence from Portugal in 1974....

Learning from the experience of Mali, the new bosses made it a point to capture the President early in the game. The military apparently took exception to a planned crackdown on the country's thriving cocaine-import business.

Totten on Tunisia. Beyond the New Carthage:

“I’m not getting in another car with you,” I said and began walking briskly back toward the terminal, leaving him to deal with the policeman on his own.

He didn’t argue. He even nodded at me with a respectful look on his face, respectful because he could see that I wasn't an idiot and that I chose the perfect moment to get away from him.

I'm telling you this story for a reason. Last year the Tunisian government declared a state of emergency in the wake of a rising crime wave. Five times in the last year—including a week after this incident happened—the Tunisian government extended the state of emergency. Crime is out of control, at least compared with the country's normal low level.

I’d like to tell you the crime rate is still low by international standards. Maybe it is. But somebody tried to rob me (or worse) before I even got out of the airport. ...

Read the rest at the link to find out how the rest of Tunisia - on the surface, and below the surface - differs from the "bubble" around the capital city, Tunis.

Rich Nigeria, Poor Nigerians

John Campbell at CFR:

Drawing on the statistical data, [Femi] Awoyemi observes that much of the growth is related to oil, telecoms, finance, the stock market and real estate. And civil servants and corrupt politicians are also doing well. Yet none of these industries are labor intensive and do little to reduce the country’s very high unemployment rate. A consequence is that the distribution of income is getting worse, not better. ...

Awoyemi:

It is a trite fact that unemployment economically translates to low purchasing power leading to lesser consumption of goods and services. This in turn impacts on businesses who then have to lower production outputs (or seek new markets, an irony when we have the largest market in Africa). These cyclical behaviour ultimately impacts economic growth in the long term. ...

Quoting CBN Governor Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi:

“We have a large cotton belt but import textiles from China (thus keeping their subsidized factories open and jobs in china). We are the world's number one producer of cassava but import cassava starch from Europe. We have a huge tomato belt in Kadawa, Jigawa and Chad Basin but are the world's largest importer of tomato paste - from China and Italy. We can produce rice but we import rice from Thailand and India-most of it from grain reserves that have been in stock for over 5 years”.

“Today Promasidor imports powdered milk from New Zealand and packages in Nigeria using our foreign exchange while we have cattle. WAMCO imports milk from the UK and adds water and tins it and calls it "production" of Peak milk. We use our Forex to import petroleum products and keep refineries and jobs open in Europe”.

“We don't create any value-added jobs as the only real production is peasant farming ...

In short, Nigeria is rich in raw materials, but lacks the capital and infrastructure to process its resources into usable goods.

Morning Report: 2012-04-13

Did 1976 Viking mission find life on Mars after all? 'New analysis of 36-year-old data, resuscitated from printouts, shows NASA found life on Mars, an international team of mathematicians and scientists conclude in a paper published this week.'

North Korea rocket launch fails. 'North Korea's long-range rocket failed early Friday, U.S. officials said, calling it a blow for the reclusive state's propoganda efforts. The rocket broke up about 90 seconds after taking off, an official told NBC News.' Video at the link, where Rachel Maddow covers the story in her inimitable fashion. Claire Berlinski offers a thoughtful analysis.

Apparent coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau. 'Soldiers have taken control of much of the capital of the Guinea-Bissau in what appears to be a coup attempt. Heavy gunfire was heard in the city of Bissau and at the residence of outgoing Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior.' UPDATE: PM Gomes, President Pereira arrested.

Monitors report first Syria clashes since ceasefire. '"Fighting with heavy machineguns took place in Khirbet al-Joz, located [in Edleb province] on the Turkish border, between regime soldiers and [army] deserters," Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP in Beirut.'

Police find weapons cache in Scotland house. 'The man who found the guns told BBC Scotland the haul included three assault rifles, handguns and a shotgun. At least two dozen officers, including a forensic team, have been searching a farm in Kessington Road in the Killermont area of Bearsden.'

Easter Bombing in Kaduna, Nigeria by Boko Haram Terrorists

At least 38 people were killed on Easter Sunday by a car bomb blast in Kaduna, about 100 miles north of Abuja, Nigeria.

The blast struck Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna state, leaving charred motorcycles and debris strewn across a major road in the city where many gather to eat at informal restaurants and buy black market gasoline. Nearby hotels had their windows blown out of by the force of the powerful explosion, which engulfed a group of motorcycle taximen. ...

CNN: 'The blast occurred in Kaduna, a city located about 230 kilometers (140 miles) southwest of Kano, around 8:40 a.m.'

Long War Journal has more.

Who are Boko Haram?

People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad[5] (Arabic: جماعة اهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad), better known by its Hausa name Boko Haram, is a jihadist terrorist organization based in the northeast of Nigeria.[6] It is an Islamist movement which strongly opposes man-made laws. Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2001[7] or 2002,[8] the organisation is a Muslim sect that seeks to abolish the secular system of government and establish sharia law in the country.[9][10]

The movement, whose name in the Hausa language, Boko Haram, translates as "Western education is sacrilege"[9] or "a sin",[11] is divided into three factions, and in 2011, was responsible for more than 450 killings in Nigeria.[9]

Though the group first became known internationally following sectarian violence in Nigeria in 2009, it does not have a clear structure or evident chain of command.[12] Moreover, it is still a matter of debate whether Boko Haram has links to terror outfits outside Nigeria and its fighters have frequently clashed with Nigeria's central government.[9]

Boko Haram is an islamist, jihadi group with links to Al-Qaeda:

The Daily Telegraph understands this transformation has come about partly because of the help Boko Haram has received from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a branch of the international terrorist network based in the Saharan states of Mali, Niger and Algeria.

Boko Haram demonstrated its new potency on Jan 20, when at least 100 of the movement's fighters executed eight assaults in Nigeria's northern city of Kano, overwhelming the security forces and killing 185 people. ...

In this latest attack, casualties may have been lower because of security measures around the church area, or because the bomber detonated prematurely.

Nigeria is about evenly divided between Muslims and Christians, with the prosperous, coastal south being mainly Christian and the poorer inland north predominantly Muslim.

Mali President Resigns

BBC: Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure has resigned, in a deal with coup leaders in the country's northwest.

Meanwhile, in Tunisia ...

Tunisia president backs conviction for "insulting Islam".

Totten on Mali

The Arab Spring spreads to non-Arab lands.

Qaddafi counted on significant support from hired Tuaregs, an indigenous people of the Sahara who long predate the arrival of Arabs to North Africa more than a millennium ago. With the Qaddafi regime defunct, many of his well-armed and battle-hardened Tuareg fighters drove hard across the desert and into Mali where they joined or re-joined the insurgency there. ...

For what this means, finish reading the post.

Meanwhile, Arab Spring spreads to space.