war

Chavez or no Chavez, they're crossing the border

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:01:34 +0100

Worsening relations between Colombia and Venezuela led to a decision on November 3 by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to close the border between the two countries. Instead of giving in to the obstacle however, residents from either side are finding every way round it.

On November 9 President Chavez told Venezuelans to prepare for war with Colombia, after it emerged the US army had been granted access to seven of the country's military bases. Chavez had already closed the border with Colombia a week earlier, following the murder of two border guards. Caracas suspected the Colombian paramilitary of carrying out the attack. This was followed by the killing of nine Venezuelans from the border town of Tachira. And to top things off, Chavez believed that the government in Bogota was planning to assassinate him.

Chavez deployed 15,000 Bolivian National Guards (GNB) along a 2,000-metre stretch of the frontier. The border towns of Mara, Páez and Almirante Padilla soon found themselves home to tanks and armoured vehicles.

Despite the tensions, however, residents from both sides of the border remain on good terms, and even manage, in various ways, to reach their neighbour's side.

Images from state run media Globovision.

War drawn by those who wage it

Julien — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:56:39 +0100

At first sight they seem to be children's drawings of jungles, mountains and rivers. But on closer inspection the details come into focus: people pleading for mercy before being executed, women being raped, hostages tied up, giant cemeteries...

Former Colombian combatants have painted some 90 canvasses as part of an exhibition called "The war we have not seen", currently on display in Bogota's Modern Art Museum. The large-format paintings were made by former members of the guerrilla, the paramilitary and the national army. The 35 men and women - who have deserted, demobilized or been wounded in combat - took up artist Juan Manuel Echavarría's invitation to capture their wartime experiences with paint and brushes.

Photo: Ernesto Monsalve Pino / Bogota Museum of Modern Art

Iraqi shoe-thrower to get hero’s welcome?

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:32:29 +0200

Published on al-Zaidi's Facebook fan page.

Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, who shot to fame last December when he threw his shoes at then President George W. Bush, was released from prison on Tuesday. But is he still hailed a hero for his crime? Not all of our Iraqi Observers are convinced.

It was during a press conference in Baghdad that al-Zaidi took off his size tens and hurled them at Bush, catapulting him to worldwide recognition... and also into a three-year jail sentence for "attacking a head of state on an official visit". His sentence was later reduced to one year on appeal, and then nine months for good behaviour.

The celebrated hero is set to be showered with gifts on his release from Muthanna military base in West Baghdad. The Emir of Qatar plans to hand over a horse made of gold, Libyan colonel Muammar Gaddafi wants to present him with a bravery honour, and Bahraini businessman Quresh Khan Buneeri would like to send him a limousine. As for his former employer, TV channel al-Baghdadia, they'll be handing over the keys to a new apartment, so Al-Zaidi can say goodbye to his one-bedroom flat in bustling Rachid, downtown Baghdad.

“Horrendous” mobile footage of Tamil executions

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:51:14 +0200

A UN expert has called for an investigation into mobile phone footage of what appears to be Tamil civilians, hands bound and stripped naked, being shot dead by Sri Lankan soldiers.

The images are thought to have been filmed during the final stages of Sri Lanka's quarter century battle against separatist activists Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The bloody conflict, which claimed over 8,000 lives in 2009 according to unofficial UN figures, came to an end in May following a final military push and the subsequent death of Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Warning, these images may be found very upsetting.

The video was released on August 25 by Europe-based activists "Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka" (JDSL), a group of majority Sinhalese, but also Tamil, exiled Sri Lankan journalists. They said it had been filmed in January, but were unable to release further details in order to protect their sources.

Two days later, on August 27, the army responded to the footage by saying it was fake, staged by members of the Tamil Tigers, and that the JDSL was a "front" to the group. The following day however, UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, urged an independent investigation into the video, calling it "horrendous".

On Monday, the Sri Lankan army again responded by reporting that, after investigating the video further, they were able to confirm it was staged, and suggested that it was probably Tiger members killing abducted soldiers rather than vice versa. Verifying the footage is almost impossible, due to the media blackout placed in the region during the conflict.

Walled cities of the world

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:57:22 +0200

Aerial views of Heusden and Naarden, both in Netherlands.

It would be so nice if it were true, but the fact is it isn't: the first settlements - before the Bronze Age, before the Iron Age, probably even prior to the Stone Age - didn't happen because folks liked each other's company. As the old saying goes: safety in numbers ... and fortifications.

This post was written by American blogger Avi Abrams. His blog: "Dark Roasted Blend".

The walled city of Shibam, Yemen - more info and images here.

If you have any doubt about how wood - and then stone, and later even, steel - walls helped shape human civilisation, all you need to do is take a closer look at most of our cities, especially the older ones.

Map of Utrecht from "Toonneel der Steden", published in 1652 - Via.

Sometimes it's easy to see where the boundaries between 'Us In Here And You Out There' once lay. Just look at the lovely city of Utrecht, in the Netherlands: a picture postcard of lovely homes, sparkling waterways, brilliantly green parks, and meandering walkways - a true jewel of civilisation. Except that Utrecht, and a huge number of other cities throughout Europe, were built as walled fortresses. In the case of Utrecht, that's pretty obvious when you look at the city from either the air or at the old city plans.

The original Roman wall, recently excavated - Via (left). "The Oudegracht With A View Of The Old Town Hall And The Dom Tower Beyond", old painting - Via (right).

Map of Brugge, Belgium, 1563 (left) - Poertoren ("Powder Tower") tower in Brugge, Via (right).

In other cities such as London and Paris, urban growth has completely overrun the original walls and fortifications - though they're there if you look hard enough.

Obama boosts joystick funding for war on terror

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:13:32 +0200

The Obama administration has just handed over five billion dollars to the armed forces to buy more robots. The country's ongoing "War on Terror" employs more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for its operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan than it does manned planes. Our Observer and expert in robotics tells us that the ethical concerns behind the programme have gone unnoticed.

Below, videos of two of the planes in question. The first is an MQ-9 Reaper, capable of carrying 14 hellfire missiles. The second, its predecessor, is the MQ-1 Predator, which can take only two missiles onboard.

Iraqi police, a bunch of ‘cowards’ and ‘women’

Emmanuel F24 — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:48:49 +0200

A video showing a US instructor yelling at Iraqi police and calling them ‘a bunch of women’ and ‘cowards’ has caused a huge buzz on the Net. Our Observers take a look.

One of Barack Obama's objectives when he was elected to the White House was to pull all US troops out of Iraq as soon as possible. As Illinois senator, he had been one of the few to vote against the war. The withdrawal is to start in August 2010. After that date, Iraqi forces will be held responsible for the country's security. But until then, it is up to coalition forces to train them.

We don't know the exact date of the video, nor where it was filmed. We found out that it was posted for the first time on February 4, 2009. It became a hit when US link sharing website Digg published it.

You’re watching Taliban TV

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:39:47 +0200

This little cyber-presenter, Dickie, seems pretty cute. Listen carefully to what he has to tell you, however. He's repeating - word for word - press releases from the Afghan Taliban.

FRANCE 24 contacted 'resistz2exist'; we'll update the post if they respond.

Our Observer describes the humanitarian disaster in Swat valley

Ségolène Team Observers — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:12:50 +0200

One of our Observers in Karachi, south Pakistan, has travelled the length of the country in order to administer humanitarian aid in the war-torn region of Swat valley. The refugees are left with absolutely nothing, and getting aid to them is hindered by the local authorities, he tells us.

Awab Alvi is a dentist from Karachi. He writes the blog Teeth Maestro.

Day three of our Swat relief drive was hectic to say the least. We (Hasnain, Youshey, me and Faris) left Peshawar at around 9am without having eaten breakfast."

Our aim was to start bright and early in order to get to Bagheecha Deri, where around 150 bags had been delivered the night before and were stored safely in a house. En route we decided to split the team. Faris and I continued to Baghecha Deri while Youshey and Hasnain would escort the truck to our warehouse in Takht Bhai, oversee the unloading and prepare for the delivery of 250 hampers being given to refugee families housed in that region."

When we got there, we asked a few local maluvis (religious leaders) to announce the availability of relief aid. Within moments there was a small crowd. This being our first experience with distribution there was a bit of confusion. Documentation was needed as we only dealt with those refugees with an ID card or yellow social services relief cards. In the mêlée we were worried about locals falsely claiming to be refugees, which was tough.

We got Bagheecha Deri over with quickly and then headed towards Takht Bhai, where the third truck was in the process of being unloaded. Even before getting there, Youshey and Dr. Maqbool Shah had already departed with around 120 relief hampers to deliver to refugees in schools around Takht Bhai. Their progress was slow -- each stop catered to four or five families, and they were frequent, plus it took a while to physically verify that each recipient was a refugee."

By now we had a small crowd assembled at our warehouse, mostly consisting of anxious women from affected families. Seeing the urgent need to hand these refugees some relief we asked them to form a line and calmly distributed some 30-40 hampers among them. This ended up being a strategic mistake in hindsight as very soon word spread like wildfire that relief goods were being distributed on the Takht Bhai hospital premises and ever so slowly the crowd swelled, to enormous proportions by late evening.

During the very hectic afternoon we prepared another 300 relief hampers for Parkhro Deri, where a local Pakistani People's Party, or PPP, Nazim (a local branch affiliated to the PPP) had organized a distribution point for us. Hasnain was sent to Parkhro Deri where he did his best to filter those in real need from the fakes. The organisers were naturally insistent on pushing for their favourites but Hasnain held his ground for an orderly distribution. On their return they told us about the massive crowd of more than 500 families. Since they barely had 300 relief hampers, they left behind a disgruntled crowd."

At around 6pm we had run out of the 800 relief hamper bags that were provided to us by Makro, but still had a lot of loose aid lying around: abundant water bottles, sugar bags, biscuits, tea and many other items. This gave us the idea of handing them out directly to the roadside refugees. It would have been impossible to set up relief centres on the road and expect an orderly distribution, as open-air disbursement was prone to ransacking. Our plan was to ramble along the road, tossing essential relief goods en route. Our team hired two pickups and loaded them with loose items like ghee, biscuits and tea. The plan worked -- we were mobbed, but the moving vehicle kept people from snatching. It was a sad sight to see people fighting over food, but in hindsight I felt satisfied that we were able to directly touch the lives of many extremely deserving people who did not even have a shelter over their heads."

After two runs we came back to base camp in time to discover an angry crowd mounting outside the warehouse. Seeing a disaster waiting to happen, I asked the Mardan president of the PTI to help disperse the crowd. He was kind enough to talk to the people and slowly things did calm down, enabling us to mobilize our last set of disbursements to a local NGO (KhwandKho, a reliable set of people working with the Omar Asghar Foundation). We were assured that these items would be dealt out to the various schools that had been adopted by the Khwandhko Foundation. That left us with only a few last items -- approximately 40 stainless steel dishes, 50 stainless steel serving spoons and a few steel cups, which were handed out to some refugees in the area.

Wrapping up the day, we realized none of us had had either breakfast or lunch. So apart from the free-flowing tea, we were running on mere adrenaline. Late at night I sat down to pay various truck drivers and offered a short stipend to a few helpful members, most of whom refused it as they said it was a contribution to a noble cause. At 1am we arrived in Peshawar and had some much-needed food, courtesy of a local friend, Rashid Chughtai, whose team had already helped us extensively over the last three days, aiding us in translation and physical labour."

Tamil Tiger leader still alive!

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:47:40 +0200

The Sri Lankan Army released footage of the body of Tamil Tiger chief Velupillaï Prabhakaran on Tuesday. But a lot of Tamils refuse to believe it. Today we received supposed proof of Prabhakaran's continued existence. But it looks rather like Photoshop had something to do with it...

The photo, in which we see Prabhakaran watching the news of his own death on television, was sent to us by email under the title "proof that he's not dead". It was also posted on this Tamil site.