The New Saturday Evening Post
No. 6
For people who don’t have time for the bullshit corporate media
A. Doubts surface on North Korea's role in ship sinking
Some in South Korea dispute the official version of events: that a North Korean torpedo ripped apart the Cheonan.
July 23, 2010 |By Barbara Demick and John M. Glionna, Los Angeles TimesReporting from Seoul — The way U.S. officials see it, there's little mystery behind the most notorious shipwreck in recent Korean history.
Challenges to the official version of events are coming from an unlikely place: within South Korea. Armed with dossiers of their own scientific studies and bolstered by conspiracy theories, critics dispute the findings announced May 20 by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, which pointed a finger at Pyongyang.
They also question why Lee made the announcement nearly two months after the ship's sinking, on the very day campaigning opened for fiercely contested local elections. Many accuse the conservative leader of using the deaths of 46 sailors to stir up anti-communist sentiment and sway the vote.
The critics, mostly but not all from the opposition, say it is unlikely that the impoverished North Korean regime could have pulled off a perfectly executed hit against a superior military power, sneaking a submarine into the area and slipping away without detection. They also wonder whether the evidence of a torpedo attack was misinterpreted, or even fabricated.
"I couldn't find the slightest sign of an explosion," said Shin Sang-chul, a former shipbuilding executive-turned-investigative journalist. "The sailors drowned to death. Their bodies were clean. We didn't even find dead fish in the sea."
Shin, who was appointed to the joint investigative panel by the opposition Democratic Party, inspected the damaged ship with other experts April 30. He was removed from the panel shortly afterward, he says, because he had voiced a contrary opinion: that the Cheonan hit ground in the shallow water off the Korean peninsula and then damaged its hull trying to get off a reef.
"It was the equivalent of a simple traffic accident at sea," Shin said.
B. Kosovo receives independence from UN court
Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 did not violate international law, the United Nations' highest court declared Thursday in a closely watched case that could have significant repercussions for secessionist movements around the world.
The opinion by the International Court of Justice, while not binding, is likely to give a big boost to the tiny Balkancountry's quest for full statehood and represents a blow to Serbia, which considers Kosovo part of its territory. At present, 69 nations, including the U.S., recognize Kosovo as a country, but a number of major powers such as Russia andChina do not.
The court, based in The Hague, decided that Kosovo "did not violate general international law" in announcing itself independent in February 2008, because there are no prohibitions against such declarations.
C. Chavez cuts ties with Colombia
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez cut ties on Thursday with Colombia in an escalating dispute between the two Andean neighbors over Bogota's charges that leftist Colombian rebels shelter in Venezuela.
Socialist Chavez, who views U.S.-backed Colombia as a threat, announced he was severing relations after Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's government presented evidence it said showed 1,500 Colombian guerrillas were hiding in Venezuela.
The move elevated tensions in the Andean zone, a regional tinderbox where clashing ideologies and the presence of heavily armed militaries, guerrilla groups and drug-traffickers make for a dangerous and volatile mix.
But an immediate military confrontation between Venezuela, South America's biggest oil producer and a leading U.S. supplier, and Colombia, the region's top U.S. military ally, did not appear immediately likely.
Chavez called the Colombian accusations, which were presented at the Organization of American States (OAS), a U.S.-inspired "aggression," and said he was ordering "a maximum alert" on his country's long border with Colombia.
"We have no other choice but, out of dignity, to totally break our relations with our brother nation of Colombia," Chavez said as he hosted Argentine soccer idol Diego Maradona.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said he had ordered the closing of Venezuela's embassy in Bogota and gave the Colombian mission 72 hours to leave. He said Caracas was considering other measures, such as suspending flights.
Chavez, who portrays himself as an anti-U.S. and anti-capitalist standard bearer in Latin America, faces an opposition challenge in September 26 legislative elections and has ramped up his rhetoric against perceived foes. Critics say he is trying to distract attention from economic and other woes.
Colombia's OAS ambassador, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, called Venezuela's breaking of ties a "historic mistake."
"Venezuela should break relations with the gangs that kidnap and kill and traffic drugs, and not with a legally constituted government," he told reporters.
Chavez blamed the rift on outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, whom he called "crazed". He accused the United States of inciting Uribe to confront Venezuela.
But he added he hoped that Colombia's newly elected leader, Juan Manuel Santos, who will take office on August 7, would help bring relations back to normal.
President-elect Santos, in Mexico to meet President Felipe Calderon, told reporters: "The best contribution we can make is not to make any pronouncement. President Uribe is president of the republic until August 7.
D. International Montary Funds cancels Haiti’s debt.
PARIS – The IMF says it has canceled Haiti's $268 million debt and will lend the earthquake-devastated country another $60 million to help it with reconstruction plans.
The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday the decision is part of a plan for long-term reconstruction after the Jan. 12 magnitude-7 quake, which killed as many as 300,000 people.
The three-year loan carries a zero interest rate until 2011 which then rises to no more than 0.5 percent.The Washington-based fund says its moves should encourage aid contributions to the impoverished country.
"Donors must start delivering on their promises to Haiti quickly, so reconstruction can be accelerated, living standards quickly improved and social tensions soothed," IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement.
In Haiti more than six months after the quake, rubble and collapsed buildings still dominate the landscape.
The number of people in relief camps has nearly doubled to 1.6 million, while the amount of transitional housing built is minuscule. Crime is more prevalent since the quake, with attacks in camps terrorizing thousands, especially women and girls.
Most of the $3.1 billion pledged for humanitarian aid has paid for fieldhospitals, plastic tarps, bandages, and food, plus salaries, transportation and upkeep of relief workers.
At a March conference, donors pledged a total of $9.9 billion — money that is separate from the humanitarian aid — to help Haiti recover.
E. Federal Reserve Chairman says unemployment to remain low for sometime.
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Federal Reserve, in saying that it had no immediate plans to provide additional support to the economy, dashed the hopes of some economists and executives who have been pushing for action to add momentum to the sluggish recovery.
The chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, saidWednesday that the recovery was continuing at a modest pace, though with a “somewhat weaker outlook.”
He projected that the unemployment rate would remain well above 7 percent through the end of 2012, and the duration ofPresident Obama’s current term. That, too, was a discouraging note to Washington incumbents facing tough re-election fights.Mr. Bernanke’s statement that the Fed had no imminent plans to go beyond its current strategy of keeping short-term interest rates exceptionally low pushed stock prices down. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.07 percent, or 109.43 points, to close at 10,120.53.
In presenting the Fed’s semiannual monetary policy report to Congress, Mr. Bernanke said that it would take “a significant amount of time” to restore the 8.5 million jobs lost in the United States in 2008 and 2009, and that “the economic outlook remains unusually uncertain.”
