And now the Comoros/Italy problem in Bolivia

I spoke about two problems before, two rich parts of a country, Italy and Comoros in this case, no longer want to subsidise poorer parts of their country. And with different results. Here's another example from Bolivia where Santa Cruz wants to have more autonomy over land use, taxes, decision making powers, and and and. Obviously the central government does not look upon it in the same way. Self Determination? Who will you support? Say you support the case of Kashmir, Scotland and say Palestine. Which way will you go? And why? If Santa Cruz says yes in a majority, will their vote hold?

Technorati Tags: Italy,Comoros,Bolivia,Self Determination,Freedom

An update on the Comoros issue

I wrote about the Comoros issue before. Nobody has been killed in the invasion and toppling of the rebel government. And as I predicted, nobody really gives a toss. And this is what throws up the hypocrisy of people. Just because it is a tiny island off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, it is not important. Hypocrisy galore. Would there be stop the war processions? Would people stand up for the right of self determination? As I said, hypocrisy galore.

But here's a good article on the impact of this intervention by the AU. I quote:

Should the AU have the responsibility to protect in defiance of the whims and self-interest of the regime, where clear human rights violations are taking place? Should it act, or simply react when called upon to do so? Should intervention only be considered when major conflict has already laid waste to peace and security? Has the Comoros intervention signalled a radical departure in the AU’s policy of intervention? Will pre-emption now form a critical component of African peacekeeping and conflict resolution?

And what happened to the rebel leader? Here's an eyewitness note. Oh! and France is involved neck deep in this mess. Not that this war seems to have impacted business and trade, investments are going on. The situation is a bit murkier than I first made out.

Comoros is involved with the Arab League and is thanking Libya and Sudan (holy cow, I can well see those two countries being the standard bearer of democracy and self determination...). Other countries also were involved in the invasion from Tanzania and Senegal. Mind you, the French and the Americans offered logistical help to the AU forces. Very murky indeed.

But, again, the silence on the part of the world is so curious.

Technorati Tags: Comoros,France,African Union,Africa,Indian Ocean,Arab League,Tanzania,Senegal,Sudan,Libya,Self Determination

African Union Troops help take back Anjouan

I am not sure how many of you know but there is a wee bit of a war going on in a tiny corner of the world in the Indian Ocean(See here for a bit of a background to this war). So some of the regional African heavies got together, threw their weight around, created an army and went to kick out the chaps who declared independence. Now this step was very interesting for so many reasons. But as usual, I had some stupid questions:

• So this step was carried out without UN blessings. How many of the howlers at the Iraq war out there are howling equally at this imperialistic step? Speak up, guys, I cannot hear you loud and clear....


• So this was a dump on a secessionist self determination exercise. How many of the secessionist self-determinist howlers are howling equally at this step? Hello? cant hear you..


• So Anjouan declared independence. I must have missed the announcements of recognition by USA, Germany, UK etc. just like they did for Kosovo. Where are the police forces and aid convoys from the EU?


• When is the African Union going to deal in a similar way with Congo, Zimbabwe, Darfur, Sudan, Somalia, Morocco, Western Sahara..?


• Typically, Anjouan is the island which is most economically active and rich. So this is basically a fight over resources... basically, it was the people who do not have money who went to kick out the people who have money because the people who have money were refusing to pay the people without money....


• The country was sent to the dogs by some exceedingly stupid economic policies of the state directed kind. Who will repair this and provide aid to fix these issues? The invasion has immediately mucked up the economics of that island for the next many years anyway. The only basis remaining is, whoops, we mucked up again, because of our political, economic and military policies, our people are AGAIN starving, please help with money, food, equipment.... (tens of coups since independence, welcome to paradise on earth...)....

Thinking about all these questions, the quote "is hammam me hum saab nange" (In this bathhouse we are all naked) comes to mind.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!