Global Notebook 6-30-05
NATIONAL
Guard unit formed to track domestic groups.
Story
Arming Private Security in Kenya
Members of parliament in Kenya are proposing that private security guards be armed. Mirugi Kariuki an MP in the office of the president said, "The government is working on the Private Security Provision Bill, which will look into the possibility of arming private security firms." David Mwenje the MP for Embakasi stated, "The country is under siege as thugs continue to take charge". While Budalang' MP Raphael Wanjala, believes that "police must be allowed to shoot-to-kill criminals." He also called for the arming of security firms.
Nuclear Proliferation: A Neo-Con Goal?
John Bolton offered a harsh and uncompromising view on
Meeting the Afflicted
Gray clouds sweep over the mountains around Blantyre, Malawi, bringing raindrops that tap at the windows of the men’s ward in Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Inside, a young man sheepishly removes his shirt as a doctor and two medical students arrive at his bed. A brief exam reveals thrush, shingles, and wasting, and the med students diagnose a classic case of HIV. The doctor, Claire Scarborough, nods in agreement. Later, she estimates that 80 percent of the patients are HIV-positive. Many of them look young.
Draft Chatter
George W. Bush’s decision to unilaterally invade Iraq in March 2003 has placed a severe strain on the US military. The Army currently has almost half of its 32 combat brigades deployed there, with two more assigned to Afghanistan. This means that three-quarters of its forces are either committed to combat zones or recuperating from recent combat.
About 60,000 of the 140,000 troops in Iraq are activated reservists from National Guard or Reserve units. These “weekend warriors” have been involuntarily kept in the war zone an extra three to five months, despite promises that their tours would be limited to one year. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has used “stop loss” orders to keep about 50,000 GIs on active duty past their discharge or separation dates.
One-Way Road
The road is the baby of Mexican President Vicente Fox’s Plan Puebla Panama, an initiative meant to facilitate the transport of goods between Mexico and other Central American countries. At first glance, its promise to carry El Salvador to economic prosperity is convincing. Yet, a second glance, through the smeared window of an old US school bus chugging painfully up the asphalt’s easy grade, raises doubts.
For those riding in creaky vehicles puttering along in the right lane, or waiting among the crowds that mill on the shoulder, the road merely accentuates the contradiction of Salvadoran economic progress that has left them behind. In the emergency lane, the informal economy thrives. Elderly women plod slowly with bundles of firewood, jugs of water, cans of cooking gas, and baskets of vegetables balanced elegantly on their heads. Small children trail behind them, using their hands to steady the smaller items that sway above them. Piles of coconuts wait for thirsty travelers under improvised thatch roofs at every curve. Two long-eared cows are tethered to a tree in the median.