Tag: justification
U.S. Denounces Thai Coup, Warns On Relations

U.S. Denounces Thai Coup, Warns On Relations

Washington (AFP) – The United States warned Thursday it was reconsidering cooperation with ally Thailand after a military coup, which Secretary of State John Kerry denounced as having “no justification.”

Kerry urged the restoration of a civilian government, respect for press freedom and “early elections that reflect the will of the people.”

“I am disappointed by the decision of the Thai military to suspend the constitution and take control of the government after a long period of political turmoil, and there is no justification for this military coup,” he said.

“While we value our long friendship with the Thai people, this act will have negative implications for the U.S.–Thai relationship, especially for our relationship with the Thai military.”

Kerry did not specify measures but the Pentagon said it was reconsidering cooperation with Thailand on training exercises.

The drills, which started Monday and run through next Tuesday, involve about 700 US Marines and sailors.

“We’ve been reviewing our military-to-military assistance including the CARAT exercise,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters, referring to the latest drills.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the more than $10 million in U.S. assistance could be suspended after a review is completed.

“We’ve taken preliminary steps to suspend military engagement and assistance while we consider the facts on the ground,” Psaki told reporters.

The United States provides $11.4 million in aid to Thailand each year, including $3.7 million in military assistance.

Kerry called on the Thai military to release detained leaders of political parties and voiced concern at the shutdown of media outlets.

“I urge the restoration of civilian government immediately, a return to democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as press freedoms. The path forward for Thailand must include early elections that reflect the will of the people,” Kerry said.

Thailand is the oldest US ally in Asia and offered crucial support to the United States on conflicts including the Korean and Vietnam wars. The United States provides $11.4 million in aid to Thailand each year, including $3.7 million in military assistance.

Under domestic law, the United States is obliged to curb assistance to a foreign military if it carries out a coup. Washington briefly suspended aid after a previous coup in Thailand in 2006.

Psaki stated clearly that the United States considered Thailand’s takeover a coup. The United States last year took pains not to call the Egyptian army’s overthrow of elected president Mohamed Morsi a coup.

The State Department in a message urged U.S. citizens to “exercise caution” in Thailand and to avoid any large gatherings as they could spiral into violence. But it stopped short of recommending that Americans avoid Thailand, a popular tourist destination.

©afp.com / Manan Vatsyayana

Far-Right Intelligentsia Struggles To Come To Terms With Norway Tragedy

It’s been less than 2 weeks since the tragic terrorist attacks in Norway carried out by anti-Muslim extremist Anders Behring Breivik, and already far-right commentators have started justifying them. The most recent and egregious example is a blog post from Pamela Geller — the conservative commentator who started the false “Ground Zero mosque” rumor last year — which implies that Breivik was justified in murdering teenagers at summer camp because they were not white.

On Monday, Geller posted a picture of the summer campers murdered by Breivik, along with this caption: “Note the faces that are more Middle Eastern or mixed than pure Norwegian.” The rest of the post pointed out that the teenagers were interested in politics and members of a political youth organization, “Arbeidernes Ungdomsfylking,” similar to the “College Republicans” and “College Democrats” organizations in the United States.

Geller later edited out the racist line, but retained the information about the campers’ politics. Geller’s insinuation that the teenagers were a legitimate target because they supported a political party she dislikes has been a common refrain on the far-right. Last Thursday, former Fox News host Glenn Beck compared the terrorist victims to “the Hitler youth,” since they were politically active.

Geller may be blaming the victims to distract from her links to Breivik. Reports have emerged that someone — possibly Breivik — left comments on Geller’s site saying he was “stockpiling and caching weapons, ammunition and equipment.” Geller prominently featured these comments, while keeping their author’s identity anonymous. Breivik was certainly familiar with Geller’s site, and cited her approvingly numerous times in his manifesto.

Meanwhile, other ultra-conservatives took to the opinion pages to defend Breivik’s views. Bruce Bawer, the author of such Islamophobic books “While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within” and “Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom” was also referenced approvingly in Breivik’s manifesto. After the attacks, he wrote a piece published in Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal that seemed less concerned with the victims of Breivik’s rampage than with the damage it could do to Islamophobic movements in Europe. Bawer says that once he learned one of his fans — rather than Al Qaeda — committed the attacks, “it was immediately clear to me that his violence will deal a heavy blow to an urgent cause.”

That cause, of course, is religious discrimination against Muslims in Western Europe. Bawer admits that the attack by an anti-Muslim terrorist on a government he felt was not discriminating against Muslims enough has made him fearful — of the government. “It will, I fear, be a great deal more difficult to broach these issues now that this murderous madman has become the poster boy for the criticism of Islam,” he concludes.

Pat Buchanan, the former Republican presidential candidate best known for his Holocaust denial and hardline views on immigration, wrote an op-ed for the conservative website World News Daily. In the piece, Buchanan argues that “Breivik may be right.” Buchanan condemns Breivik’s violence, but argues that he was right to prepare for a religious war in Europe on the scale of the Crusades, “a climactic conflict between a once-Christian West and an Islamic world that is growing in numbers and advancing inexorably into Europe for the third time in 14 centuries.”

Buchanan also seems to approve of Breivik’s choice of targets, noting that he “chose as his targets not Muslims whose presence he detests, but the Labor Party leaders who let them into the country, and their children, the future leaders of that party.” Like Beck and Geller, he frames the campers killed in Utoya as dangerous political operatives, rather than innocent teenagers.

Bipartisan Group of Congressmen Sue Obama Over Libya Incursion

The Obama administration’s intervention in Libya to aid rebels seeking to oust strongman Muammar Gaddafi has, since its inception, had critics on the anti-war Democratic left, but also on the right, where some GOP lawmakers are skeptical of what they say is a violation of the War Powers Resolution, the 1973 law intended in the wake of Vietnam to limit the president’s ability to involve the U.S. military on foreign soil for an extended basis.

Unable to block the president legislatively, they are now seeking an injunction from the courts:

The lead plaintiffs, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., filed the lawsuit at U.S. District Court in Washington on Wednesday afternoon, as the White House prepared to deliver a report to Congress to address a June 3 House resolution calling for Obama to answer what his ultimate goals are in Libya and why he hadn’t sought congressional authorization for U.S. troop involvement.

In addition to Kucinich and Jones, the plaintiffs are Democratic Reps. Michael Capuano of Massachusetts and John Conyers of Michigan; and Republican Reps. Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, Dan Burton of Indiana, Howard Coble of North Carolina, John Duncan of Tennessee, Tim Johnson of Illinois, and Ron Paul of Texas.

This comes in the wake of Republican Speaker John Boehner’s call for a legal explanation of the administration’s continued military presence in Libya after the 60 or 90 day period prescribed by the War Powers Resolution. Of course, Mr. Boehner voted to repeal the law in 1995, arguing it infringed on executive authority. His insistence on the president justifying his actions now is probably indicative of the Tea Party movement and its relatively isolationist views gaining steam in the GOP.

In defense of the ongoing action in Libya, Obama administration lawyers told Congress today that since U.S. forces are not engaging directly and individually in hostilities, but rather are providing logistical and other support to a NATO operation, the Resolution does not apply. [National Journal] [The New York Times]