Frist Pushing Dem Agenda

Former Senator Dr. Frist is still blogging; this time he is using his name recognition to push support for ONE Vote '08, an effort designed to make world poverty and disease the central issue in the next presidential election.

Whilst this is an admirable goal, I deplore the effort to make this issue the centerpiece of our national elections when we are in the midst of a war on Islamofacism. Yet I am not surprised; Frist's agenda as senate majority leader rarely matched up with mine.

And what of ONE Vote '08 itself? Fighting disease, providing clean water and sending 77 million kids to school are all very excellent goals, but how does the organization suggest that these goals be achieved?

Well, according to One Vote '08, the United States should:

• Provide 1/3 of the additional $22 billion necessary to fight AIDS starting in 2008.
• Fund 1/3 of the $3.1 billion per year necessary to fight tuberculosis.
• Give 1/3 of the $1.8 billion per year to target malaria.
• Toss another $1.3 billion at "family planning and reproductive health" by 2012.
• Support "stronger health care systems" in deserving countries, improve access to vaccines and expand (i.e., throw money at) research efforts for new vaccines.
• "Aggressively scale up assistance" (i.e., throw money at) for approved country-owned national education plans, and provide funding for education in "weak and fragile states" through alternative means.
• Spend $3.3 billion annually until 2015 on "universal primary education".
• "Dramatically increase its spending on water and sanitation in developing
  countries" to the tune of $1.3 billion.
• Fund purchasing food from local markets rather than shipping surplus from American farmers.
• Increase funding for food aid and throwing resources at increasing agricultural productivity in developing countries.
• Work harder on debt cancellation for developing countries.
• Develop and fund "microfinance programs" that give at least 50% of their money to the very poor.
• Come up with "innovative means" to encourage investment in developing countries (can you say "tax breaks"?).

Is it just me, or is there a pattern emerging here? More money will solve all the world's problems. How terribly liberal of you, Doctor Frist.

While there are a (very) few policy recommendations made by the organization, they are poorly defined and serve to mainly direct how money will be spent, not how to encourage nations to do better themselves. For instance, One Vote '08 urges full implementation of Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act, which was little more than yet another bipartisan unfunded government mandate (remember that Simon was a Democrat from Illinois).

There is no talk of education in treating AIDS. How do you stop the transmission of a sexually transmitted disease in a society in which women are routinely the object of brutal assault? In a country in which 60 children a day are raped? [A practice possibly fueled by the belief that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS and one that shows no indication of slowing anywhere in Africa.]

How do you stop sexually transmitted disease when men won't use condoms even when they are free? [There are 10 million condoms rotting in an Algerian warehouse because there are no takers. There are no takers because many believe that AIDS is transmitted through touch, and many others believe as the Imams preach — that is, AIDS is a punishment from God meant for sexual deviants like homosexuals. So why use a condom?]

So ONE Vote '08 gives up on education and focuses on convincing the American taxpayer to give, give, give.

Money doesn't buy happiness, and when given to nations it rarely does more than fill the pockets of corrupt politicians.

As Kenyan economist James Shikwati says, AIDS is big business in Africa, perhaps even the biggest:

Millions of dollars earmarked for the fight against AIDS are still stashed away in Kenyan bank accounts and have not been spent. Our politicians were overwhelmed with money, and they try to siphon off as much as possible. The late tyrant of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, cynically summed it up by saying: "The French government pays for everything in our country. We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it."

ONE Vote '08 doesn't talk about using DDT to fight malaria in Africa, even though it has been proven to be effective and safe.

There's no talk of fighting radicalism designed to keep the poor in misery.

And there's certainly no mention of taking down despots and tyrants to implement democratic reforms and capitalistic opportunities.

Dr. Frist, even though I've long suspected you are a bleeding-heart RINO, I truly expected more from you. So you'll understand when you don't receive any more donations to VOLPAC from this American taxpayer.

South Africa's "Dr. Garlic"

Bush pledged $15 billion to fight AIDS in Africa. With over 5 million infected people, South Africa has more infected people than anywhere else. Hundreds die every day.

Which is why this is unbelievable:

Stressing the benefits of olive oil, garlic and beet root, South Africa's health minister insisted Thursday that good nutrition was just as important as anti-retroviral medicines for people infected with the AIDS virus and said her government would not be pressured into meeting U.N. treatment targets. ...

"Raw garlic and a skin of the lemon - not only do they give you a beautiful face and skin, but they also protect you from disease," she said, adding that beet root was also a vital ingredient in any diet. ...

"When we were being pressurized to use anti-retrovirals, we did warn of the side effects," she said. "When I get reports of people on anti-retrovirals, nobody reports to me how many have fallen off the program or died of the side effects. I don't know what happens to those who started on anti-retrovirals."

Tactics of a Tyrant in Zimbabwe

Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube has called for "a nonviolent, popular, mass uprising".

While uttering this statement is punishable by 20 years in prison, so far Mugabe has responded only by calling the cleric a "mad, inveterate liar" "half-wit". Pretty tame for a man who ...:

• ... hung a campaign worker from the opposition party from a tree over burning logs.

  "When the branch eventually broke, he fell, rolled over into a ditch and stayed there in blistering heat," Mr McCormick said. "Then he crawled away at night. Eventually we found him and brought him to hospital in Harare, and he's OK now."

• ... has more dead and imaginary people voting for him than all the American Democrats in history:

  Mr Whitehead said that a conservative extrapolation of the statistics gave a total of 2.6 million “ghost” and duplicate voters, and a voters’ roll that in reality is closer to 3.1 million. “There is only one way he can win — by stuffing the ballot boxes,” he said. “You need a heavily inflated number of voters so that a huge fake turnout doesn’t look unreasonable.”

• Utilizes state-run media to do what Dan Ra^ther only dreamed of.
• Hands out food to a population he is starving into submission at his political rallies and withholds food from opposition supporters.

Besides, Mugabe is in charge of counting the votes:

This time a small number of observers, the cutting of the election from three days to one, the doubling of polling stations to more than 8,000 and the near-impossibility of the MDC training more than 32,000 election agents – four per polling station – have all worked in the ruling party’s favour.

And the Opposition insists that in an electoral system whose senior officials are personally appointed by Mr Mugabe, where polling stations are manned by civil servants, including soldiers and policemen, and independent scrutiny will be limited, required results can be made to order.

Look for a landslide victory for Mugabe, even with 95% of the population voting against him.

Annan/Chirac Told to Step Up or Step Out

Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo used his hardest tone yet on Tuesday in demands that the 10,000 French and UN peacekeepers in the West African country disarm the rebels holding the north or leave immediately.

"I have more than 10,000 soldiers from around the world in my country, which I have asked to help me bring an end to the rebellion," Gbagbo was quoted as telling representatives from the central Tiassale region of the world’s top cocoa producer. "Those who come here must clearly state the reasoning for their presence — either they’re here to rid us of the rebellion, in which case they disarm the rebels, or they let us disarm them ourselves and they go back to where they came from."

Female Condoms Used in Zimbabwe

In a country with 25% of the adult population HIV positive, it is important to encourage the use of condoms. But I don't think this is what we have in mind as we give away fistfulls of dollars:

The rubber rings are removed from the condoms and made into fashion items.

"We get them for free from hospitals and clinics. Then we cut the plastic off, just leaving the band, which we repaint in bright colours - pink, yellow, red."

The government makes condoms available free of charge at health centres throughout the country as part of the fight against HIV/ Aids.

The article goes on to state that Zimbabwe is one of the leading consumers of female condoms, using almost a million a year. Now we know why.

Africa Demands Security Council Veto

The UN Security Council is to be restructured later this year under one of two plans, both of which give Africa two seats at the table:

"In light of the fact the current permanent five are saying they will retain the right of veto, therefore the new permanent members should have the same right," Mbeki said in an interview with Reuters and South African Broadcasting Corp after a summit of the African Union (AU) late on Monday. "The AU is saying you should not have two degrees of permanent members, some with a veto right and others not."

Remember that the "African Union" is composed of such freedom-loving countries as

• Chad:run by an "ethnic oligarchy"
• Angola: 27 years of civil war and $4 billion looted from the country by its leaders in the last five years
• Burundi: 200,000 dead in a decade of violence between the Hutu and the Tutsi
• Cameroon: again, an ethnic oligarchy and a dismal 127th on the list of countries in the Index of Economic Freedom
• Comoros: 19 coups in 30 years
• Democratic Republic of Congo: where six foreign armies and 11 factions are duking it out while UN "Peacekeepers" are busy recipients of the benefits of child prostitution
• Egypt: who takes millions in US handouts and encourages hateful anti-American rhetoric in the state-owned press
• Rwanda: genocide of 800,000 Tutsis in 100 days back in 1994 and things haven't gotten much more stable since
• Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic: a country that the US doesn't even recognize (the UN does and promised help, although it has never materialized, of course)
• Sao Tome and Principe: coup attempts in 1995 and 2003
• Sierra Leone: Home to the brutal RUF and campaign of "Operation No Living Thing", child soldiers high on cocaine, "blood diamonds" and Charles Taylor. 'Nuff said.
• Sudan: governed by Islamofascists and the site of an ongoing genocide and a rape jihad
• Zimbabwe: A dictatorship run by a white-hating despot that only a Frenchman could love

Given these credentials, is there any doubt that the U.N. will accede to the African demands?

AIDS in Africa

The Big Picture has an excellent overview of the effectiveness of our intervention in Africa and the hypocrisy of Jesse Jackson who is trying to get headlines.

U.S. Admonishes U.N. on Sudan

John Danforth, the U.S. ambassador, has assailed the UN General Assembly, saying its decision to avoid voting on a resolution denouncing human rights violations in Sudan called into question the purpose of the Assembly.

"One wonders about the utility of the General Assembly on days like this," he said Tuesday. "One wonders if there can't be a clear and direct statement on matters of basic principle, why have this building? What is it all about?"

One wonders. This one has wondered for quite some time.

Update: A Reuters report gives much more detail on the diplomacy taking place in the U.N.

• Resolutions denouncing human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and Sudan were killed because African nations believed that the measures were "politically motivated by Europeans and the United States".
• South Africa led the effort to table the Zimbabwe and Sudan resolutions until next year. [Note: South Africa is one of the more advanced countries in Africa.]
• The South African diplomat said "criticism would undermine the African Union's peace process".
• That criticism included an expression of "grave concern" on the topic of atrocities in Darfur in the Sudan.

Yep, don't want harsh language like "grave concern" interfering with the "peac process". Let's put off this kind of firm step until next year. In the meantime the rapes and murders will continue.

Profiting from Horror

Amnisty International (I know, not exactly the best source, but it's still worth noting given the magnitude of the U.N. Oil for Palaces corruption scandal) details transactions that shows that firms from several countries (including members of the Security Council) have imported weapons and ammunition into the Sudan. For starters:

China:
According to UN Comtrade data, (86) Sudan imported $845,918 worth of "parts and accessories for shotguns or rifles" as well as $34,827 of pistols and revolvers and $97,437 of "sporting and hunting shotguns" from China during 2002.

France:
According to UN Comtrade data, France exported large quantities of "bombs, grenades, ammunition and other military items" to Sudan during 2000 and 2001. The export data records show $244,066 worth of such items in 2000, $447,687 in 2001 and a decline to $24,546 in 2002.

Iran:
UN Comtrade data show that Iran has recently been a large supplier of small arms, light weapons and other military equipment to Sudan. Iran exported $1,418,434 worth of "small arms ammunition" in 2000, followed by $2,936,321 in 2002. In addition, Iran exported $2,656,080 worth of "bombs, grenades, ammunition and other military items" and $1,051,357 of "parts and accessories of shotguns or rifles" to Sudan. The Sudanese authorities also recorded a value of $154,236 for imports from Iran of pistols and revolvers. Iran continues to produce a version of the G3 assault rifle, possibly still under a licensed production agreement from Germany. Reports during the 1990s indicated that large quantities of G3 rifles had been supplied to Sudan.(87)

Saudi Arabia:
Sudan reported to UN Comtrade that US$58,329 worth of "military weapons" had been imported from Saudi Arabia to Sudan during 2002.

Switzerland:
The Sudanese authorities provided UN Comtrade with a trade entry for US$4,258,112 worth of imports of "military weapons" from Switzerland, the existence of which was completely denied by the Swiss Government in July 2004 who disclaim all knowledge of such transfers. Switzerland did however appear to record exports to Sudan of small dollar values of "pistols and revolvers" according to the UN data (see below).

Ukraine:
According to reports, a Ukrainian company was involved, via Cyprus, in the construction of an ammunition factory in Sudan in 1996.(88)

United Kingdom-Brazil:
According to UN Comtrade Sudan recorded the importation of US$184,392 worth of "parts pistols and revolvers" from the United Kingdom. In response to a newspaper article concerning this figure, the UK Department of Trade and Industry stated that it had no records of such an export.

In June 2004, an End Use Certificate (EUC) apparently signed by the Sudan government authorized a UK firm, Endeavour Resources UK Ltd, to negotiate for 5,000 M973 9mm semi-automatic pistols to be supplied by Imbel, a company in Brazil, "for the sole use by the internal drug and law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Sudan." (89) The EUC was obtained in September 2004 by a UK newspaper that alleged arms brokers based in Ireland and the United Kingdom had been involved in negotiations for arms deals to Sudan contrary to a new UK law on arms brokering which came into force on 1 May 2004.(90)

Other:
The UN Comtrade data for small arms and light weapons cannot be regarded as complete, not least because import and export data may not correspond, but also because many governments do not report their import or export data to the UN, or withhold data on exports to specific countries or specific weapon types. For example, the UN recorded US$217,276 worth of imports to Sudan of "parts and accessories for revolvers and pistols" during 2002, but the imports are not attributed to any country. A variety of arms from other countries has been identified in Sudan by Human Rights Watch, including from Belgium, Hungary, Israel, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom, USA and the former Yugoslavia.(91)

There is an EU ban on exporting weapons to the Sudan that is ten years old. Given the ferocity of the fighting, the number of atrocities and the camps full of displaced persons, I'm guessing the embargo is working about as well as the one the U.N. imposed on Saddam.

Ivory Coast Primer II

After you've read the Ivory Coast primer I previously recommended from the MSM, run over to Cavalier's Guardian WatchBlog for an excellent history lesson with liberal sprinklings of incisive and insightful commentary.

Ivory Coast Primer

Who knew? The A.P. can do good journalism. This is from Ivory Coast: Why the Onetime "Paris of Africa" Is Sliding Into War, and Why It Matters:

In 2002, British, U.N. and West African armies crushed a vicious Liberia-backed insurgency in Sierra Leone. The next year, American, U.N. and West African forces and Liberian rebels routed the chief promulgator of West Africa's wars, Liberia's Charles Taylor.

Taylor, a Cold War creation of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's guerrilla camps, had trafficked arms and insurgencies across West Africa's borders since 1989.

Today, 75 percent of the world's 62,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops are trying to enforce peace deals across Africa, and $2.9 billion of the world body's $3.9 billion peacekeepinG budgetq are spent here.

With up to 10 percent of the world's oil reserves in West Africa, the United States and other nations increasingly are saying they have a strategic interest in Africa - and a stake in keeping it peaceful.

More than half the world's total peacekeepers - 32,402 - are based in Taylor's old stomping grounds - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast itself, divided by civil war since 2002.

There's more.