Provocateur par excellence

 

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un

If there is any world leader today that deserves to be called ‘provocateur par excellence’, it should be no other than North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un.

Ever since Kim took over the reins of the hermetic country after his father Kim Jong-Il’s death on December 17, 2011, he has always been observed to be taking the path of belligerency.

As if persistent rumors are not disturbing enough that people are so hungry in North Korea that they are eating other people, now comes another alarming news that this impoverished nation has allegedly been placed under martial law and that the young tyrant has ordered the army to “prepare for war”.

South Korea must have felt being alluded to that its President, Lee Myung-bak, has ordered the military to make a “strong response” to any provocation from North Korea.

The last time North Korea was placed under martial law was in March 1993, just days before it withdrew from the Treaty for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and the regime also ordered its troops to be ready for war.

Could this just be another ‘saber-rattling’ mode by the despot to show that he could not be cowed by the western power?

­The North Korean leader is said to have issued a series of orders to his top defense and security officials to complete preparation for a nuclear weapons test.

According to a South Korean daily, the nuclear test could come earlier than expected. Other analysts have said it would likely be held on February 16th, the birthday of the former leader Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011.

Another suggestion as to the test’s timing included February 25th, the inauguration day of South Korean President-elect Park Geun-Hye.

This latest provocation comes in the heels of new rounds of sanctions on North Korean entities and individuals, including travel bans and asset freezes, which were passed unanimously by the United Nations Security Council that included China, in December 2012 for carrying out the launch of a long range rocket in December 2012.

While Pyongyang claimed it was for the peaceful launch of a satellite, critics, however, say it was a thinly veiled test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Since the UN resolution was approved, North Korea has issued a number of warnings, including a statement on the day it was implemented, that there will be “no more dialogue or denuclearization.”  It also threatened “all-out war” against Washington, which it said was its sworn enemy and blamed for leading the sanctions.

The question now is: Can North Korea proceed with its new nuclear test at the risk of antagonizing China who is its foremost ally, trusted supporter of the regime and much valued trading partner?

One can’t help but wonder how long the world has to put up with the crazy and dangerous antics of this provocateur par excellence, who, is said to be only 29 years old.

 

New peace plan brings hope to Mindanao

 

Negotiators Marvic Leonen (r) and MILF’s, Mohagher Iqbal (l) shaking hands after signing the peace plan framework.

Watching the national TV prime news and seeing members of the Muslim communities, and even rebel soldiers, showing euphoria and tears of joy in anticipation of the signing by the government and the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), of a framework peace plan in a bid to end a 40-year conflict that has killed many and displaced countless, could only mean that both parties are going in the right direction.

The framework agreement was signed by government negotiator, Marvic Leonen, and his counterpart from the MILF, Mohagher Iqbal.

Witnessing the historic moment at Manila’s Malacañang palace were President Benigno Aquino III, rebel chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose country helped broker the deal.

“We are men and leaders who want to make a difference and we have decided that the time has come for us to choose the moral high ground. After four decades, peace is within reach,” said Razak.

A promising statement, indeed, that augurs well for Mindanao.

The framework deal is a big step toward a final settlement that grants minority Muslims in the southern Philippines broad autonomy and promises the people a “just and equitable share” of the region’s abundant natural resources.

The new autonomous region would be named Bangsamoro.

The draft agreement would give the leaders of Bangsamoro more political and economic powers, and provides for the gradual transfer of law enforcement from the army to the Bangsamoro police in a “phased and gradual manner”.

For now it is only a framework and much work has still to be done, but the optimism shown and the desire for peace by Christians and Muslims alike in the place is very encouraging and reassuring.

Peace is the only way it can sustain the socio-economic programs and development planned by government.

Peace is the only way Mindanao could attract investment from local and foreign investors and make progress in that region and prosperity for its people a reality.

Hopefully Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari, whose bloated ego has been punctured by this new peace agreement, will be man enough to respect and give the Bangsamoro entity a chance to succeed.

History has passed Misuari and that is all there is to it.

Prayers for Malala Yousufzai

 

Malala Yousufzai, shot and seriously wounded by Pakistani Taliban

Malala Yousufzai is a courageous 14-year-old Pakistani girl who is outspoken and has been using the internet for her human rights activism.

This is what sets her apart from other teenage girls and makes her unique – her being a website revolutionary at an early and very vulnerable age, fighting for freedoms to education and from discrimination on the basis of age and sex.

Undaunted of the people she was up against, the Pakistani Taliban, who are known for their Islamic extremism, she was relentless in her advocacy by leading a heroic stand blogging about her daily battle with extremist militants who used fear and intimidation to force girls to stay at home.

As early as 2009 Malala, had already expressed her indignation and anxiety, writing: “I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taliban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school. I was afraid going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools.”

Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who runs a school for girls, said his daughter had defied threats for years, believing the good work she was doing for her community was her best protection.

Malala’s family lives in northwest Pakistan’s Swat Valley — one of the nation’s most conservative regions. Her frustration with the Taliban’s restrictions on female education in her town prompted her to use the Internet and speak out, effectively making herself a target.

Last year, Malala confessed she feared “being beheaded by the Taliban because of my passion for education. During their rule, the Taliban used to march into our houses to check whether we were studying or watching television.”

She described how she used to hide her books under her bed, fearing a house search by the Taliban.

In reaching out to the outside world online, Malala knew she was exposing herself to the wrath of the Taliban, and true enough vengeance marked her and two other girls when the van taking them home from school was stopped by armed militants.

The armed men asked which girl was Malala, and when she was pointed out by her companions, the men opened fire hitting her in the head and neck. The other two girls’ injuries were not considered life-threatening as the van’s driver was able to speed away.

The shooting has drawn condemnation from the United Nations, rights groups and world leaders, as well as many Pakistanis, especially when the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban spokesman Ihsnaullah Ishan blamed the shooting on Malala’s activist blogging.

Doctors removed a bullet lodged in her neck during three hours of surgery. She remains in critical condition

“Inshallah (God willing), she will survive,” said Dr. Mumtaz Ali, a neurosurgeon who worked on Malala with three colleagues at a specialist hospital in the army garrison town of Rawalpindi.

Let’s all pray for Malala Yousufzai, the pretty, little Pakistani girl who  has taught us all the meaning of determination and courage in her fight for human rights against all odds.

Sharing with you this video taken in 2011 showing the young, fearless activist speaking up.

 

“Bangsamoro” is way to peace in Mindanao

Mohagher Iqbal(l), chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace panel and Marvic Leonen (r), chair of the government peace panel. (Photo by Mindanao News)

We would like to think and believe that the creation of “Bangsamoro”, as a new autonomous political entity in the Philippines, which was crafted after a long and tedious peace talks between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine Government in Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia will be a milestone that will finally end the decades-old armed conflict between Muslim insurgents and the country’s armed forces.

It is inspiring and reassuring at the same time knowing that both parties have acknowledged and accepted the fact that, first and foremost, we are all Filipinos before we can be anybody else. Defining and respecting who we are as people, where we are from and what our beliefs are have been important ingredients for the success of the peace talks.

“This agreement creates a new political entity, it deserves a name that symbolizes and honors the struggles of our forebears in Mindanao. That name will be Bangsamoro,” President Benigno Aquino said in announcing the acceptable deal as legitimate foundation for sustainable peace, economic and social development to Mindanao and the entire nation.

Aquino described the mutually welcomed accord as the way for “final, enduring peace in Mindanao.”

“It brings all former secessionist groups into the fold; no longer does the MILF aspire for a separate state,” Aquino added.

Looking at the Philippines now, more than ever, as “one nation and one people”, the Bangsamoro will now be a party to equal protection of laws and will be assured of a fair and equitable share of taxation, revenues, and the fruits of national patrimony just like anybody elsewhere in this country.

Having said that, the Bangsamoro will now be under the exclusive powers of the national government in defense and security, foreign policy, monetary policy and coinage, citizenship, and naturalization.

Indeed, this is a positive development that will surely be applauded by the international community and will hasten the growth and progress of Mindanao to the benefit of the Bangsamoro people and the entire nation.

Good bye to the old Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Welcome to the new Bangsamoro autonomous political entity.

(Note that on December 11, 2008 I blogged about what I called a half-baked peace accord entered into between the government panel and the MILF after the parties signed a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. This was eventually declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Please click at this link: http://quierosaber.wordpress.com/2008/12/page/2/)

Low-budget film that stoked Muslim outrage

 

Muslim outrage against America’s anti-Islamic film

Whoever produced the film, ‘Innocence of Muslims’, that caused mayhem in the Middle East, including the death of the of U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans, didn’t think well of the consequences of their work.

Or perhaps they did, but being American producers, they probably thought they could get away with it, while invoking the freedom of expression, and to hell with the rest of the world.

It was bad enough that the low-budget film has been promoted by Pastor Terry Jones, he, who has sparked deadly protests in the past by burning copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11 in 2010.

But, what made it worst is that the film was posted on YouTube for everybody to see, in both English and dubbed-Arabic languages.

While many criticized the movie as amateurishly and cheaply done, technically laughable and full of crap, to the Muslim world any portrayal and anything said about their revered prophet Mohammad that contradicts what he truly is, automatically becomes an anti-Islamic episode.

How could it not provoke outrage and riot when the film denigrates Islam’s holiest prophet, as a thuggish womanizer, and Muslims as homosexuals, child molesters and madmen, among other things?

While it may be true that only those belonging to the group of Islamic extremists have reacted violently to what they may have perceived as an incendiary flick, yet that does not give anybody the right to disrespect and be insensitive to the feelings of others, especially when it comes to religious beliefs.

But it doesn’t mean to say that the non-Islamic extremists didn’t feel enraged by the movie. Only, they showed more self-restraint, were more circumspect and more tolerant to the ignorance and bigotry of some Americans.

It is this kind of insensitivity, ignorance and bigotry that place Western diplomats in the Middle East, including Libya, in harms way, as what has happened with the irresponsible and catastrophic showing of the film, ‘Innocence of Muslims.’

Attached video will show how the outrage is better described by one who professes the Muslim religion.

9/11s of my life

The late Capt. Angel Sievert

For as long as I live the date September 11 or 9/11 will forever be etched in my mind.

The date involves three events that had devastating effects on lives – mine, the nation and the world.

The first event happened on September 11, 1965, when, while studying in Manila and staying in my relative’s house, I was awakened by my aunt very early in the morning informing me that my brother, Angel, a pilot of the defunct Fairways Airline was missing. She showed me the national papers and I saw my brother’s name. I was stunned. Immediately I felt goose bumps.

I dressed up and, together with my cousin, went to the airport. The office was already filled  with people – all relatives of the passengers of the missing plane.

Apparently the plane took off from Cebu for the half an hour flight to Bacolod City, but never reached its destination.

While search was conducted, I had to fly back to Cebu to be with the rest of my family – anxiously waiting. I kept on thinking about my brother’s own family – a wife and three kids, the youngest who was only a month old.

It seemed like an endless wait with our hope dimming and appearing as ominous as the weather that was not cooperating with the searchers.

Finally the wreckage was found, after nearly two weeks of searching, near the top of Mt. Kanlaon.

It devastated me as I did not only lose a caring brother, but a best friend whom I looked up to with respect and admiration. He was 28 then and I was 21.

I still remember our last conversation, sitting on the stairs of our old house in Sudlon, Colon, Cebu City, where he asked me why was I leaving for Manila when he was being based in Cebu already.

Looking back, it was fate.

The despot, Ferdinand Marcos

The second 9/11 event came into existence with the same devastating effect to the nation. This happened to be the birthday of Ferdinand Marcos, yes, the man who the nation thought would lead us to progress and prosperity when we elected him president in 1965.

Alas, the politician turned president was so drunk with power that he turned into a despot by issuing Proclamation 1081 on September 21, 1972, declaring martial law over the entire country on the pretext of overblown threats of Communist and Muslim insurgencies, as well as increasing civil disobedience. His ‘Bagong Lipunan’ or New Society based on new social and political values failed, plunging the nation into its darkest days and leaving it bereft of money, honor and dignity.

More than the date of the proclamation, it is 9/11 that made the citizenry cringe with hate because we were all made to commemorate the dictator’s birthday – the SOB! The rest is history.

Looking back, it was fate.

The third 9/11 event had the most devastating effect on humanity for it was seen by the whole world how terrorism was brought directly to the shores of the greatest nation on earth, the United States of America – the bastion of peace, equal opportunity, freedom and democracy.

The World Trade Center towers before its collapsed

That morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger jets. The hijackers intentionally piloted two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City and both towers collapsed within two hours. The hijackers also intentionally crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and intended to pilot the fourth hijacked jet, United Airlines Flight 93, into the US Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., however, the plane crashed into a field near Shanksvill, Pennsylvania after its passengers attempted to take control of the jet from the hijackers.

Nearly 3,000 people died in the horrible attacks, which included people of different races who were trying to make their American dream come true.

Looking back, it was fate.

How I wish there exist an armor against tragic fate.

China should rein in North Korea

 

North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un is against US-South Korea joint military exercise

On the heels of North Korea’s leader issuing a stern warning of an “all-out” war against South Korea because of its ongoing joint military drill with the United States, there, definitely, seems to be a need for ‘big brother’ China to rein in the dangerous, impulsive ‘little brother’ Kim Jong-Un for the sake of world peace and stability.

It has been reported that more than 30,000 US troops, including most of those based in the South plus 3,000 from overseas, are taking part in the annual joint drill known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which is aimed at testing defenses against the communist North.

This did not sit well with North Korea’s leadership as they insist that the exercise was more of a preemptive nuclear attack.

Kim Jong-Un called the drill a grave threat and said his army was ready to deal “deadly blows” if their territory was violated during the exercise.

“If the enemies fire even a single shell on our inviolable territory… the whole army should turn out as one and lead the battle to an all-out counter-offensive,” said the leader, adding, “There is a limit to our patience.”

Whether this is a bluff or an angry soliloquy of an impetuous, young, arrogant leader, China should step in to put caution and sense in Kim’s head. It is the only country that could temper the North’s aggressive stance.

Subsequently, China is the only country in the world today that North Korea could strongly depend upon and look up to for support.

It is especially in the economic aspect that North Korea needs China badly. Needless to say that China is North Korea’s lifeline for survival. It is their main source for economic opportunities and sustainability.

Trade with China makes up nearly all of North Korea’s foreign economic activity and the need for China’s assistance has never been more apparent than when this hermit kingdom was hit by massive flooding in late July.

In the same manner that North Korea needs China, China also needs North Korea to prop it up and keep it going because if communist party rule fails in North Korea, a lot of people in China might start wondering if the same thing could happen to them.

 

Israel itching for neutralizing nuclear Iran

Iran’s Shahab-3 missile

With Syria crumbling, Egypt experiencing a chaotic post-Mubarak regime, and as the Arab Spring continues to be an inspiration for freedom from despotic leaders in the Middle East, the Jewish state of Israel has all the reason to remain anxious of its existence.

But more than the rebellion displayed by people against oppressive government, and whether or not the end result will allow them to have peace and co-exist with Israel in the region, what has racheted up the Israeli government’s concern for safety, defense, and survival as a nation and people is the relentless development of Iran’s nuclear armament, despite the call for restraint and abandonment of their nuclear program by the international community, specifically the U.S.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a public warning that Tehran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear bomb. Netanyahu has declared that “all the threats currently being directed against the Israeli home front are dwarfed by another threat, different in scope, different in substance.”

This, after an unidentified source stated that new intelligence obtained by Israel, the United States and other Western showed that Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon is progressing far beyond the scope reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Tehran is said to have made significant progress towards assembling a nuclear warhead for a Shahab-3 missile, which has a range of nearly 1,000 miles, putting the whole of Israel, including the Dimona nuclear reactor in the southern Negev desert, within the Islamic republic’s range.

It is for this reason that Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, called on the Western powers to declare that the negotiations with Iran, conducted by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, had failed.

Not wanting to jeopardize his chances of winning re-election in November, President Barack Obama is suggesting for more time for international diplomacy to succeed and in fact Washington has been saying that the U.S. had “eyes” and “visibility” inside Iran’s nuclear program and would know if Tehran made a “breakout” towards a nuclear weapon.

Breakout capability is commonly understood to be the point when a state acquires the knowledge, capability and materials to build a nuclear bomb if it wants to.

Israel, however, can’t seem to wait in any longer. Pressure is building in Israel to take action, this, after the Jewish state has reportedly invested billions in home-front defense, and holding emergency drills, alluding to a military exercise being held in cities across Israel to test a text message warning system against missile strikes.

Because of difference in perception between the US and Israel as to what constitute an unacceptable threat, Israel may decide to draw the first blood and neutralize Iran before it is too late.

Militarization of the South China Sea

Taiwanese legislators visit Taiping island

As if China’s latest move of establishing a military garrison on the disputed Paracel Islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) is not bad and provocative enough, now comes Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) confirming that it will complete the installation of a certain number of cannons and mortars on Taiping Island in the South China Sea next month in a move to enhance its military presence in the disputed seas amid the escalating conflict over the region.

Taiwan controls the Dongsha Islands, the largest island group in the South China Sea, as well as Taiping Island, the largest of the Spratly Islands and the only one where fresh water is available.

A total of eight sets of 40mm autocannons and a certain number of 120mm mortars is said to be shipped to the island by the end of August after a legislative committee demanded in May that the MND should do so on Taiping Island and Dongsha Island within six months.

What we seem to be seeing now is the beefing up of arms and forces in the most unlikely place between these two antagonistic countries.

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province which it has vowed to retake, by force if necessary.

It must be recalled that Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China (ROC) government, which fled the mainland to Taiwan in 1949, at first claimed to represent the whole of China, which it intended to re-occupy. It held China’s seat on the United Nations Security Council and was recognized by many Western nations as the only Chinese government.

But in 1971, the UN switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing when the sleeping giant started waking up and flexing its muscles and the ROC government was forced out.

While China belittles Taiwan’s existence as a sovereign state, Taiwan’s leaders, however, claim that it is clearly much more than a province, arguing that it is a sovereign state, as it has its own constitution, democratically-elected leaders, and over 400,000 troops in its armed forces.

With the militarization of the South China Sea by the Chinese and Taiwanese governments, not to mention the minuscule presence of naval forces from the Philippines and Vietnam, which are both active participants in the sovereignty dispute in the region, the more that we see tension building up and the prospect of resolving the dispute slipping away.

For as long as China continues asserting, for historical reason, its claim of sovereignty over nearly all of the sea, which is believed to hold vast amounts of oil and gas, a rich fishing grounds and is home to shipping lanes that are vital to global trade, it leaves no doubt in everybody’s mind that the region will be an inevitable flashpoint in the years to come.

Peru University stripped of ‘Pontifical Catholic’ title

 

Pope Benedict XVI

A university in Peru which, in 1986, conferred an honorary doctorate to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, has been censured by the Vatican and no longer recognizes it as a ‘Pontifical Catholic’ institution of learning.

The Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, which was founded in 1917, was awarded its pontifical status by Pope Pius XII in 1942. It currently has over 16,000 undergraduate students and is regarded as one of the top universities in Peru.

For refusing to comply with the Church’s requirements for colleges for a long time now, the Vatican finally was forced to issue on July 21^st the following statement in Spanish and Italian: “The Holy See, with Decree of His Eminence the Secretary of State, under a specific Pontifical mandate, has decided to remove from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru the right to use in its name the titles “Pontifical” and “Catholic” in accordance with canon law.”

Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

The Vatican said that the break came after the university had several times unilaterally modified and/or continually refused to comply with the Church’s guidelines over the past 22 years, despite numerous requests to do so by the Vatican and this was seen as gravely prejudicing the interest of the Church.

Although the Vatican did not elaborate further, it is also a known fact that the university in the Peruvian capital Lima has long been identified with liberal, progressive thinking for decades.

This has reference, of course, to Gustavo Gutierrez, the priest considered the founder of the Liberation Theology movement, taught there for years. Peruvian President Ollanta Humala and former President Alan Garcia are both graduates.

Liberation theology was a radical movement that grew up in South America as a response to the poverty and the ill-treatment of ordinary people.

But, the guidelines on what is expected of an authentically Catholic university were laid out in the papal document “Ex Corde Ecclesiae,” which was promulgated in 1990 by Pope John Paul II.