Brazil, with Rare WTO Approval, Threatens U.S. with Trade Sanctions
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
	After eight years of complaints, Brazil is now threatening to impose stiff trade sanctions against the United States over U.S. subsidizing of cotton production. Brazil has appealed to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which first ruled that the American subsidies were a violation of international law and then approved Brazil’s list of pending tariffs on U.S. exports.   A total of more than 100 goods, valued at $591 million, could be subject to import tariffs within 30 days, unless the U.S. comes up with a satisfactory compromise. Cotton products would be charged with a 100% tariff, while other goods like cars would increase from 35% to 50% and milk powder would jump 20%. Brazil is also considering $238 million worth of limits on royalties and intellectual property rights.   The Office of the US Trade Representative expressed disappointment over Brazil’s decision and called for new negotiations to settle the matter before the sanctions kick in. -Noel Brinkerhoff   Brazil Slaps Trade Sanctions on US over Cotton Dispute (BBC News) Brazil Details US Cotton Retaliation, Wants Accord (by Raymond Colitt, Reuters) U.S. Cotton Dispute – Publication of the List of Goods Subject to Increased Import Duties (Ministry of External Relations) Brazilian Retaliation Against U.S. Trade Violations: A Signal for Reform (by Daniella Markheim and Scott Lincicome, Heritage Foundation) The WTO Cotton Case and US Domestic Policy (by Darren Hudson, Choices Magazine)

U.S.-Supported Afghan Chief Served Prison Time in Germany
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
	After U.S. forces pushed the Taliban out of the southern Afghanistan town of Marja, Afghan officials installed Abdul Zahir Aryan to serve as the local representative of the government. Zahir’s job is to demonstrate to locals that siding with Kabul is better than helping the Taliban, but that task has become complicated by Zahir’s criminal history.   Before retuning to Afghanistan, Zahir lived in Germany for more than a decade, during which he served four years in prison for attempted murder after stabbing his stepson. Several American officials confirmed this fact off the record when asked about it by The Washington Post. Neither U.S. nor Afghan officials have been forthcoming about Zahir’s past.   Afghan leaders have promised to look further into Zahir’s criminal record in Germany. -Noel Brinkerhoff   New Top Official in Marja, Afghanistan, was Convicted of Stabbing Stepson (by Joshua Partlow and Jabeen Bhatti, Washington Post) Afghan: Marjah Chief's Crime Recordw will be Probed (by Deb Riechmann and Kirsten Grieshaber, Associated Press) New Government Takes Official Control of Marjah (by Alfred de Montesquiou, Associated Press)

Defense Contractor Agrees to Pay $400 Million Criminal Fine
Monday, March 08, 2010
	United Kingdom-based defense contractor BAE Systems has pled guilty in U.S. federal court to charges of defrauding the government and trying to cover up its illegal activities. The company has agreed to pay $400 million, one of the largest criminal fines ever ordered by the Department of Justice in cases involving overseas business corruption.   The criminal investigation involved allegations that BAE paid bribes to foreign officials in exchange for contracts from foreign governments. However, the company did not admit to making illegal payments to gain favor with “marketing advisers.”   BAE has been accused of corruption for years, including allegations of maintaining a $40 million slush fund to bribe government officials in Saudi Arabia and other countries. -Noel Brinkerhoff   BAE Systems PLC Pleads Guilty and Ordered to Pay $400 Million Criminal Fine (U.S. Department of Justice) No Surprises as BAE Pleads Guilty to Defrauding the U.S. (by Christopher M. Matthews, Main Justice)

Journalist Attacked by Assassins While Speaking on Live Radio
Sunday, March 07, 2010
	Karol Cabrera, a controversial journalist in Honduras, survived an assassination attempt last week that took place while she conducted a radio interview via phone in the capital of Tegucigalpa. Cabrera was traveling by car with Joseph Hernández Ochoa, a journalism student at the University of Honduras and former entertainment presenter on a local television station, when two men pulled up alongside and sprayed the vehicle with bullets. Ochoa died at the scene, while Cabrera suffered a broken arm and ribs from multiple gunshot wounds.   Cabrera became a controversial media figure because of her support for the coup that ousted former President Manuel Zelaya in June 2009. She had received numerous death threats, and on December 15 her pregnant daughter, Kathleen Nicolle Rodríguez Cabrera, was killed while driving her mother’s car down the same road as last Monday’s attack.   Meanwhile, Ochoa’s mother accused Cabrera of being involved in the planning of the attack, and urged the U.S. not to offer asylum to Cabrera until an inquiry into the shootings can be conducted. -Noel Brinkerhoff   Broadcaster Shot Dead in Apparent Attempt on Fellow Journalist’s Life (by Louise Hallman, International Press Institute) Politicians and Media Urged Not to Try to Exploit Journalist’s Murder (Reporters Without Borders) Journalist Killed, Another Wounded in Honduras Shooting (Committee to Protect Journalists) Mainstream Media Turns Blind Eye as Reporter Survives Assassination Attempt and Another Dies (by Miguel Guadalupe, Huffington Post) Padres de Joseph Ochoa culpan a Karol Cabrera de matar su hijo (La Tribuna-Tegucigalpa)

Civilians Account for One-Third of Drone Attack Deaths in Pakistan
Saturday, March 06, 2010
	Estimates for the civilian casualty rate in Pakistan from U.S. drone attacks have varied widely depending on the source, according to the New America Foundation. The rate at which non-militants have died or been injured in aerial assaults by Predators and other pilotless aircraft have ranged from as low as 20—according to an unnamed source in the Obama administration—to 700 in 2009 alone, according to the Pakistani government.   A study conducted by the New America Foundation concluded that 32% of all deaths from drone attacks have been Pakistani civilians.   The killing of possibly hundreds of non-combatants in Pakistan has not dissuaded the Obama administration from ramping up the attacks. In 2009, 51 strikes were carried out, compared to 45 during President George W. Bush’s last year in office.   The foundation cites polling data revealing that drone attacks are extremely unpopular among Pakistan’s population, with only 9% approving them. -Noel Brinkerhoff   The Year of the Drone: An Analysis of U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan, 2004-2010 (by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann, New America Foundation) (pdf)

Accused Death Squad Leader on Verge of Election to Iraqi Parliament
Friday, March 05, 2010
	Accused of being behind hundreds of kidnappings and murders has not ruined Hakim al-Zamili’s chances of getting elected to Iraq’s parliament, thanks to his connections within Shiite political circles.   Al-Zamili was accused and put on trial for orchestrating the killings of hundreds of Sunnis from 2005 to early 2007 while heading the government’s health ministry. Support from Shiite warlord Moktada al-Sadr has made al-Zamili powerful, and he’s likely to succeed in an election where many Sunnis have been barred from running for office because they once were members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.   One American official told The New York Times that the situation “sends the worst possible message to loyal Iraqis.”   Al-Zamili says the charges brought against him were politically motivated. His trial went nowhere after witnesses were intimidated into refusing to testify. -Noel Brinkerhoff   Murky Candidacy Stokes Iraq’s Sectarian Fears (by Marc Santora and Michael Gordon, New York Times) Trial of 2 Shiite Ex-Officials Tests Iraq’s Judicial System (by Alissa Rubin, New York Times)

Army Considers Need for Better Bullets and Rifles in Afghanistan
Thursday, March 04, 2010
	Combat experience in Iraq has shaped the training and arming of American soldiers in Afghanistan, even though the aspects of warfare are noticeably different. Whereas the Army, Marines and Special Operations regularly engaged insurgents within close proximity (less than 1,000 feet) in Iraq, U.S. personnel fighting the Taliban often find themselves in firefights that span longer distances. But according to a research paper authored by Major Thomas Ehrhart at the Army School for Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, soldiers are trained to fire their rifles accurately up to only 600 feet. Also, the M4 carbine given to troops can’t hit targets beyond a thousand feet (300 meters), even though half of enemy attacks come from beyond that range.   Another problem is that enemy forces in Afghanistan have learned to attack from high ground because they know that U.S. soldiers can’t operate effectively at elevations higher than 6,000 feet.   Ehrhart’s critique has attracted the notice of senior commanders who are considering changes for the Afghan campaign. These include improvements designing bullets that can remain lethal past 500 meters, redesigning the M4 rifle, completely replacing the carbine altogether, and developing new camouflage uniforms that better match the terrain. -Noel Brinkerhoff   Army Paper Prompts Look at Combat Gear (by Christian Lowe, Military.com) Increasing Small Arms Lethality in Afghanistan: Taking Back the Infantry Half-kilometer (by Thomas P. Ehrhart, School of Advanced Military Studies, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College) (pdf)

German Family Granted Asylum in U.S. in Order to Home School
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
	Political asylum, normally reserved for immigrants fleeing torture, imprisonment or threats of deaths, has been awarded to a German family wanting to home-school their children. Near the end of January, Uwe and Hannelore Romeike, along with their five children, were granted asylum by Memphis U.S. immigration judge Lawrence Burman following their departure from Germany in 2008. Devout Christians, the Romeikes wanted to educate their children themselves, something that is forbidden in Germany. Parents are allowed to send their kids to private or religious schools in the country, but home-schooling is only granted for children with serious health problems.   Uwe Romeike said his children were having a difficult time learning in German schools, where he said bad behavior is permitted and “character-building” is lacking. Romeike told Spiegel that German textbooks are “more about vampires and witches than about God." However, he disputed the commonly held notion that home-schoolers are “fundamentalist religious nuts who don’t want their children to get to know what is going on in the world, who want to protect them from everything.” He told The New York Times: “I want my children to learn the truth and to learn about what’s going on in the world so that they can deal with it.” -Noel Brinkerhoff   Judge Grants Asylum to German Home Schoolers (by Campbell Robertson, New York Times) Evangelical Christians Celebrate Victory over 'Embarrassed' Germany (by Christoph Titz and Carola Padtberg, Der Spiegel)

Cuban Political Prisoner Dies after Hunger Strike
Friday, February 26, 2010
	For the first time in almost 40 years, a political prisoner in Cuba has died from a hunger strike. Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a 42-year-old plumber and bricklayer, was arrested in 2003 for his participation in several dissident groups. He began a hunger strike on December 3, 2009, to protest his treatment in Cuba’s Kilo 7 prison, where he was subjected to numerous beatings, according to his family.   Cuban President Raúl Castro not only publicly acknowledged Tamayo’s death, but also claimed that he lamented it. The last time a Cuban political prisoner died from a hunger strike was 1972, when Pedro Luis Boitel, a poet and student leader, died after fighting against both the Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro dictatorships.   Zapata was buried on Thursday in his hometown of Banes, leading to tightened security and more arrests. -Noel Brinkerhoff   Jailed Cuban Activist Orlando Zapata Tamayo Dies on Hunger Strike (by Juan Tamayo, Miami Herald) Orlando Zapata Tamayo Dies (Uncommon Sense) Raul Castro Expresses Regret over Cuban Dissident's Death in Prison (by Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times) Dissident's Funeral Spurs Crackdown in Cuba (by John Lyons, Wall Street Journal) CUBA: Newly Declared Prisoners of Conscience (Amnesty International) (pdf)