By Franklin Katunda
Washington DC -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked a very central question on US economic interests in Central Africa at a forum in Kinshasa, DR Congo. Unfortunately, an inquiry most Congolese have called insightful in regards to the US-Congo relations got “lost in translation”. Not only, had it lost its significance in the media coverage, but worst, given their slacking pleasure not to look into news tips and details, US media networks condensed it into another Clinton’s “saut d’humeur” sound bite.
A “key” question stolen by just another “sound bite”
This was, indeed, a very momentous question ever asked to a top US official in public by a citizen of Congo about the US-Congo relationship: China’s government economic engagement in the DR Congo, in the light of what the US-Congo cooperation should had been. The question was put out of context by a staffer who (apparently) did not understand the Congo’s accent of the student who spoke the French language, and provided a bad translation to Madam Secretary.
First, it is a shame for the State Department to recruit a language poorly-skilled staff to the highest US diplomatic affairs’ cabinet, regretfully. Than the media coverage of the forum was curtailed in the frenzy that always worships and longs for the Clinton buzz. Newscasters focused more on what they think Madam Secretary wanted to convey to Africans on her abilities vs. former president Clinton to bring about a new era in US-Congo relationships.
Result: The “I’m the Secretary of State, not my husband” was headlined on front pages of newspapers and 30 seconds “sound bite” played all day on every American TV network. The Daily News and the New York Post and others quickly “Xeroxed” the AP breaking news for their morning (August 11th) cover page. American listeners and viewers were unfairly fed with a sound bite played on almost every network, even though US journalists recognized the incident turns out to be a wrong translation of what the student’s question really meant. Interesting, business TV channels such as CNN-Money, CNBC and others Bloomberg News should have had interest in covering the story but all seem to have missed the ball… Or simply did not elaborate on another China’s gain over the US in the world’s business competition we have been losing at every inch of the way.
The release of the recorded-translation clearly casts a (female) voice translating the question by University of Kinshasa’s student (a young man), and it reads: (about the China and Congo’s relationships…)”What does Mr. Clinton think through the mouth of Mrs. Clinton, and what does Mutombo think about?” instead of translating: “What does Mr. President think through the mouth of Mrs. Clinton, and what does Mutombo think about?” The real argument here that one can make sense out of is to just think this: What if the incident played good for the US diplomat who happened lucky to not even dodge the question? Students from all over the world like President Obama, and students in Congo understand their aspirations in regards to the current US Administration. Any reference to Bill Clinton to reflect on China-Congo relationships won’t even cross their minds a beat, given the former president’s background on the Great Lakes conflict since the 90s.What strikes me, as I write this opinion piece here, is that the media did not extensively comment on Madam Secretary’s response, even after a clarification was made about the true meaning of the question.
Just as many Americans have not learned any consistent news on Congo’s fate in past decades. Meanwhile, China has gain significant economic interests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, as reported several informed-organizations. The US has been on the side lines, had timidly and sometimes just rhetorically referred to their will to “work with” these war-torn nations in order to help them recover, instead they did not effectively engage them economically.
The US government failed, to a large extent, to support them with conflict resolution during the invasion of the Eastern Congo region, the horrific mass killings in both Sudan’s Darfur region and Congo while complaining, for more than a decade, about the violence borne of sequences of civil unrests. America talked “human rights” when it comes to consequences of the war (rape and violence on civilians) but did too little when it comes to put pressure on the governments of Congo and Sudan, while China did none of these things and would never even refer to the observance of human rights when they strike a business deal. In facts, it’s not a secret to anyone that China, still a totalitarian regime, has made huge progress in economic development and diplomacy although a “red” regime. China seats on the UN Security Council without being questioned too much on plans it has to protecting and respecting the rights of its own citizens.
A call to US Media to factually and objectively report on African Affairs
A Huffington Post website writer critiqued the lack of depth in facts by US media coverage of the Congo’s conflict that required 17,000 UN peacekeepers to intervene, and yet unsuccessfully pacified. Georgianne Nienaber wrote that we (reporters) “owe Africa the same kind of attention to detail and accuracy in reporting. There is a certain sloppiness that happens in reports from Africa, and we can all do better”, she said.
A few newspapers like the NYT which report on DR Congo every other 6 weeks, sometimes with just a few short articles lost in pages 6 or 10; reporters negligently write without really attracting US scholars and citizens’ curiosity on the Congo’s crisis when, ironically, this war has been called the “worst armed conflict involving many countries since the World War II”. Radio, TV commentators and producers turn away from citizens’ calls and emails when contacted to speak out and to contribute in news analysis about the Congo during their show casts.
I personally was a guest-contributor on US-African Affairs with Voice of America (VOA) in Washington DC, and I sat down on a radio/web-TV panel that debated on the post-Congo’s 2006 presidential elections. My opinions on the topic, as always, were so pointed and my account of facts very challenging versus the scripted version they had. It’s safe to say that they did not align with the producers’ talking points on the DRC crisis, and (reason why) I never got invited again, despite my calls, emails and offers to contribute in months that followed. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and reporter Lisa Ling for the Oprah Show played a praised but risky role when reporting stories of rape, violence and genocide in the Eastern Congo during the Bush Administration.
Anderson went with President Obama to Ghana to report on the history at slave trade site, but Anderson’s CNN remained silent on Hillary Clinton’s trip to the DR Congo… No special report, not even a press correspondent was seen to be on Clinton’s plane to Congo… Why? MSNBC only played that sound bite over a “lost in translation” question, without reporting or calling for a news analysis on the question and the town hall’s highlights. Chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell invited on three shows in two days following Monday’s forum just elaborated on what may have gone wrong with the secretary of state as a person.
What a shame to reap a worst news spotlight with such unfairness in journalism, when so many human rights advocates, bloggers, Congolese and American scholars in US, activists like Kambale Musavuli of Friends of the Congo, Jean Kamba, Abraham Luakabuanga, John Pendergast or my-self; book writers, freelance photographers and even lawmakers like former GA Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney worked hard and took risks of their careers, calling for years for an exclusive spotlight on Congo since the war started?
Recent developments on the ground
The bigger Congo’s picture here is that investigative journalists in US still ignore the magnitude of the civil unrest and violence between militias, and more the illicit exploitation of minerals in Congo’s conflict zones. A recent government “launch of the operation Kimia II in the DR Congo has seen a spike in the number of sexual assaults against the women of the Kivu’s”, wrote in an editorial, Scott Morgan, web-editor of the “Confused Eagle.” One key problem, he wrote, is that the “FARDC (Government of the Democratic Congo’s Armed Forces) is not able to sustain combat operations against the Rwanda’s FDLR.
As part of the Peace Accord, the Government in Kinshasa has instructed its army (FARDC) to integrate some of the former Militia Groups into the Regular Armed Forces. The FDLR have had bases in the region since they were driven out of Rwanda, after the horrific genocide of 1994.” The FDLR (Hutu Rwandans) “have a tactical advantage of knowing the terrain” in the Kivu provinces compared to the Congolese government forces, writes Morgan.
A columnist in LA Times, Helen Winternitz, said that the Eastern region of Congo has been set by civil wars for a decade, a horrifying symptom of breakdowns through the entire government. The undisciplined Congolese army and the various militias combating the FDLR use rape as a weapon of war. As many as 200,000 women and girls have been raped, some men mutilated to the point of death in what is described as the world's worst episode in mass killing and sexual violence.
Meanwhile, on an unprecedented twist since August 1998, Rwanda and Congo’s heads of state orchestrated a quick meeting in Goma, Kivu to normalize their diplomatic relations (under US’ recommendations?) … What do the two leaders discuss when they met in Goma, days before Clinton’s trip in Congo? Not much consistent is known about. The Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda (a Rwandan-born rebel), who terrorized the Kivu’s civilian population under Congo’s “laid up” President Kabila’s watch (his accomplice), was arrested a few days before the inauguration of Barack Obama, after he benefited with an impressive military logistic support from Rwandan President Paul Kagame (his mastermind). So many unreported happenings, news stories out there…
Congolese Bloggers and Web-news critiqued some of Hillary Clinton sayings
Although Mrs. Clinton was overwhelmingly welcomed in Kinshasa, Congo’s capital city, the Agence France Press (AFP) reports that she faced “some tough questions from students.” Questions from students at a forum in Kinshasa were worth being reported in western media, and of course only a few European and Congolese local newspapers commented on.
The American public and even some high government officials don’t know the history and the recent happenings in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), and if the conventional media won’t help with the matter, perhaps “citizen journalism” took over with tools like i-report, twitter, you tube, facebook, hundreds of Congolese news websites and many other independent blogs are beginning to help build networks of African news sharing in US. I’m not sure this can fight the coalition of powerful press agencies like the well-known AP, Reuters, AFP, Belga, Xinhua… But it’s been making a whole difference in shaping the public opinion.Signs of progress in social networking being noticed in Congo; residents of Kinshasa by-passed some of these traditional media who either report for either side of the story and just missed the point.
One web-twitter present at the forum (August 10th at 8:39 AM our time) wrote: “Town Hall ended a short while ago, that was pretty exciting, seeing HRC, Fox News, Secret Service and Mutombo in one room.” Another person twitted on Clinton’s address to Congolese students, reporting what she said at that very moment: “I came here to talk to you students before anyone in your government; I expect more transparency from your government” US News media would not broadcast even on a 30 seconds sound bite that: “A student told Clinton, to applause from the crowd, that underdevelopment (of DR Congo) stemmed from a long history of Western exploitation in the resource-rich nation, once notoriously the private fiefdom of Belgium's King Leopold II…”, as reported the AFP here.
Digging deep on the forum’s aftermath, one of the US top diplomat’s answers to Congolese created an outrage in many circles in Kinshasa; when Mrs. Clinton refused to “look back to the past”, saying she (the US) wants to “work with people who are seeking for a good future, not those who refer to the past.” An online blogger for hinterland wrote an open-letter back to Clinton saying: “This one sentence from your answers to the forum in Kinshasa is very saddening, and brings wordiness among the Congolese people, which is still traumatized by a 13 years-long war.
Your country, the US, wrote Roger Puati, wants to work with the Congolese people while suggesting that we live by your way of thinking: Never refer to the past… Meaning forget the humiliation we have endured for 10 years and even more for the past 50 years?” An expert on Central African Affairs and author of “East along the Equator”, Helen Winternitz writes in an Op-ed that “When Congo emerged from the vicious colonial rule of Belgium; the United States empowered and, as a Cold War tactic, supported Mobutu Sese Seko. Utilizing the dictator was considered a legitimate tool by American policymakers who did not worry about the long-term consequences. Mobutu fathered the corrupt and dysfunctional mode of governing that now plagues the country.
”Another Congolese appalled by Clinton’s remarks, Jean-Pierre Mbelu writes on a French/Flemish language website Congoforum.be: “In our faces, Mrs. Clinton asks us (Congolese) to turn the page on a past that holds more than 5 millions of lost lives ! “What about this? Secretary Clinton calls for trials on soldiers who raped in war zones without referring to their foreign chief-allies, past US administration’s officials and multinationals involved in secretly supporting or carrying out the invasion in the DR Congo to be tried as well or called on for their wrong deeds… Is that how the US will work with us?”
What if anything the Department of State should learn from this?
“Obama, who took an interest in Congo when he was in the Senate, has inherited the moral responsibility to make amends and help the Congolese build a government that actually works on their behalf”, says in an Op-Ed, Winternitz. The Senate bill S. 2125 from the 109th US Congress on the Democratic Republic of Congo happened to be the only foreign policy, Mr. Barack Obama (then US Senator) initiated with a bi-partisan support from twelve other US Democrat and Republican Senators. In the light of that 2006 congressional law signed by George Bush, the Obama administration cannot afford lose its “own” message.
Madame Secretary Clinton should be commended for meeting with students “before” meeting Congo’s officials (good move); she is to be saluted for clearly “voicing up” ( government officials including President Kabila) on the resolutions that borne from the last spring US Senate hearing on the DR Congo. A key message was to stop and prosecute the rape, used as weaponin conflict zones. This is the 111th congress senate hearing on Congo/Sudan where (as I reported earlier in Spring) California Senator Barbara Boxer (D) and the audience could not resist a heart breaking to the horrific account of scenes of rape and violence by among many, Mrs. Chouchou Namegabe, a Kivu-based Journalist and Activist.
In an open letter to Sec. Clinton, another Congolese US-based website’s owner urges, on the post Congo’s trip, the US to be practical if “work with” Congo is what they want, and get all rapists be tried in criminal courts. He proposes Clinton’s cabinet to “… send DNA technical experts to DRC to help collect DNA samples from former militias and soldiers who fought in the east of Congo and from children born out of rapes. By matching the DNA samples of children and militias in a DNA data center, wrote the web-writer, the paternity of these fatherless children will clearly be established.”
Editor Sylvester Ngoma believes that “… The criminals will then be excluded from the national army and brought to justice. Even new victims will be able to report to these data centers for DNA collection to help catch rape criminals. This approach will have several positive effects. Some soldiers will leave the national army on their own just by knowing that their DNA will be collected and kept in a data center. The parliament will need to pass a law mandating all soldiers who fought in the east of the country to comply to the "DNA as a Rape Deterrence Plan" (from Congovision)At the end of the dayHaving say all that, Secretary Hillary Clinton still needs to carefully do an unscripted facts check on Congo since the Rwanda genocide of 1994, and attentively review the history about the after 1997 invasion of the DR Congo by Rwandan and Ugandan militias (when Bill Clinton was President).
The State Department’s African Affairs division must sincerely determine what the public opinion in regards to the US responsibility in the conflict is, and then apply President Obama’s own policy. The Congo Senate Bill (as they call it) will empower Secretary Clinton to pressure on President Joseph Kabila’s governance style. Only the S2125 bill would help them to measure up the progress in security and the observance of human rights towards the people of Congo, and then she can finally masterfully avoid alienate, frustrate the Congolese people, but would preach the message of “Hope”, accompanied with an engaging economic and bi-lateral cooperation the US failed in the past 8 years.
It has to be known that above and beyond the differences of cultures, languages and the issue of proximity, Congo shares a common history with the US, citing the past “Cold War” as an illustration; Congo (ex-Zaire) has gone out of the way to contribute through the generosity of its people, the use of its territory militarily, its strategic resources, minerals and intelligence to strengthen US national security and preserve its interests not only in the Continental Africa, but here at home and around the world.
Fifty years since Congo’s independence, and considering the potential level of cooperation both countries can still develop, our commitment at Congoboston.com to write ( please read: to accurately translate) the opinion of the Congolese people from their French heritage to English, and into the American mainstream media, I strongly hope that today’s message of “Hope” to Congo will NOT be lost in translation again.
An Opinion Editorial by Franklin Katunda, in Washington DC
Franklin is a freelance web-writer; chief-editor for Congoboston.com. Barack Obama surrogate, expert in US politics and foreign Affairs, he actively worked for 2 years within the presidential campaign and is member of OFA, Organizing for America.
© August 18th 2009, Congoboston.com
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 10:22 amSecretary Clinton’s Digital Town Hall for Summit of the AmericasDipnote, the State Department blog, gives us the details:
Link Message on White House dot govSecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will conduct Digital Town Hall of the Americas, a live web-based discussion, from the Dominican Republic on Friday, April 17, 2009, in anticipation of the Fifth Summit of the Americas to be held April 17-19 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The event will provide an opportunity for Secretary Clinton to launch a conversation with citizens from across the Western Hemisphere to discuss the Summit’s themes of securing our citizens’ future by promoting human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability, as well as the situation in Haiti, where she will visit and attend meetings on Thursday, April 16. Link
Sometimes we become wrapped so tight in our own world we forget how other look or feel towards us Americans. Since our economical troubles began late last September, just about every country has weighted in with both proposed solutions and/or condemnations or any combination there of, regarding what we have caused to the international community at large, but one country has been relatively silent over the economic burdens around the globe, and that country is Russia.
For me, this is rather amazing, since Russia’s economy has been performing very well over the past few years; so along came the international down turn, what’s their reaction?
A fellow blogger (Andrew) posted this interesting article, entitled: “Fresh Angle on US-Russia “New Era”” yesterday, which is primarily devoted to an editorial authored by Mark H Teeter, an American writer residing in Moscow, and Mark’s view of how the Russians are perceiving the world’s economy.
Here are some excerpts from Andrew’s posting:
Sometimes the Moscow Times opinion editorial columns can be a little overbearing. While undoubtedly well written and informative, they are almost universally po-faced. Amid this environment of solemn political analysis and grave social policy, Mark H Teeter brings a delightfully light touch and sharp wit to his keenly observed bi-weekly columns about life and news in Russia. Most weeks he addresses US-Russia relations through the prism of an American living in Moscow, and this week must have provided a bonanza for Teeter, as Barak Obama apparently “pressed the reset button” on US-Russia relations, and wants to reopen nuclear arms control talks with the Kremlin. (Note to self: I do wish the press wouldn’t refer to the pressing of any kind of button when it comes to nuclear arms. It causes a certain… frisson. NTS2: And speaking of uncouth Obama press coverage, when will they stop referring to the fiscal stimulus bill as Obama’s stimulus package? Anyway, back to Teeter: funny guy, sublime writer, irreverent vignettes on US-Russia relations and cultural differences through the eyes of a veteran American expat in Moscow. Today, Teeter has managed to trump every single one of the major op-eds and foreign policy wonk notes I’ve read on the start of a another new ‘new era’ of Russo-Yankee relations. Click here for an engaging read.
Sometimes the Moscow Times opinion editorial columns can be a little overbearing. While undoubtedly well written and informative, they are almost universally po-faced. Amid this environment of solemn political analysis and grave social policy, Mark H Teeter brings a delightfully light touch and sharp wit to his keenly observed bi-weekly columns about life and news in Russia.
Most weeks he addresses US-Russia relations through the prism of an American living in Moscow, and this week must have provided a bonanza for Teeter, as Barak Obama apparently “pressed the reset button” on US-Russia relations, and wants to reopen nuclear arms control talks with the Kremlin.
(Note to self: I do wish the press wouldn’t refer to the pressing of any kind of button when it comes to nuclear arms. It causes a certain… frisson. NTS2: And speaking of uncouth Obama press coverage, when will they stop referring to the fiscal stimulus bill as Obama’s stimulus package?
Anyway, back to Teeter: funny guy, sublime writer, irreverent vignettes on US-Russia relations and cultural differences through the eyes of a veteran American expat in Moscow.
Today, Teeter has managed to trump every single one of the major op-eds and foreign policy wonk notes I’ve read on the start of a another new ‘new era’ of Russo-Yankee relations.
Click here for an engaging read.
Dear Members of "AFRICANS and AMERICANS FOR OBAMA" online group,
Fellow Americans, Congolese and Friends of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire),
I'm Franklin Katunda, community leader and organizer. Since 2001 I'm been president and editor of the Congoboston Network --that helps thousands of African immigrants to social networking online and through events. I learned about Senator Barack Obama after the 2004 DNC Convention, have learned about his judgement and character during his US Senate during the War in Iraq. I endorsed Barack Obama for US Senate Re-election in December of 2006 after he adressed my "Class of 2006" at the Universirty of Massachusetts-Boston. I did not know he was going to run for the higher office, but I have watched his US senate's moves to pass bills working with both sides of the aisles and ... I discovered the Man's mind.
I knew Obama is the "Man with the Plan", not a follower! Now, soon as he announced his candidacy in February of 2007, It was easy for me to back someone that I as a role model, a leader, a charismatic visionary; young and refreshing politician like I would like to be. I knew which candidate, against all odds of backing a least experienced candidate, to choose from Clinton, Biden, Dodd, Edwards bids, and I decided to believe and to back Barack Obama (D. Illinois) in the 2007 pre-primaries.
Currently I am a Non-paid Field Organizer, and an Online Group Coordinator; I am working on an ambitious current project to rally a voter's registration that supports and raises awarness in politics from newly African Naturalized US-Citizens. I work in campaigning for and in helping to elect Barack Obama as President of the United States of America. This year has been busy for us since the launch of the campaign in February of 2007, so we put our Congoboston's activities on hold to make sure the Illinois Senator is elected "President of the United States of America", first.
Why Barack Obama? Well, it is not because he is running for office and has a better chance at winning, but because the United States of America is seen and wanted as a strong ally by African countries, and particularly to the Congo. (Second), because among all US Senators from the 109th US Congress, Democrat Senator, Barack Obama is the only one who dared to introduce a bill that was passed and signed into law to require the Bush Administration to eefectively act on protecting the new Congolese Nation's choice of governance.
After a five years period of civil war and a coslty, unprepared and yet rigged election in 2006 in Congo, the US Senate and US House's bill was needed in DC to ensuring the welfare of not less than 40 millions of desperate Congolese, entrapped in a series of civil wars and social misery, as a result of a four decades reign of Mobutu. This is a vast and war-torn country that continues to provide to US and European Corporations tons of minerals such as the Coltan, the Uranium, the Cupper, Diamonds, and Gold. The Congo produces also a dozen of more unheard of minerals (exploited even during the recent killings that resulted in the loss of more than 5 million souls. [Read about the bill here] http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-2125
In December 2006 when the bill was introduced, passed and signed into law, Senator Barack Obama, works in a bi-partisan way to make sure this bill also called the " S.2125" : Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006, could be used by both the Executive Branch of the US government and Congress as a test piece to measure how the Bush foreign affairs' cabinet would handle this country's fate. The bill tells where the US stands in its diplomatical efforts to help to prosperity and peace in Congo. Response: The US government has done almost nothing since 2006 to ensure the bill was acted upon. The War (another insurrection) has started again in the eastern Congo, President Kabila of Congo has violated human rights on numerous occasions; his operatives (army, security agencies and presidential guards) continue to persecute and/ or to murder opposition leaders; Congolese protests are being shut out, when manifestants are being killed at every occasion without our embassy getting involved in checking facts; More than ever, I strongly believe that the future of this vast country in the heart of Africa is on the 2008 US presidential ballot.
Facts About US- DR Congo Foreign Affairs
The Bush GOP Cabinet had all the diplomatical tools to run a better foreign policy in regards to the DRC, [ ...and we had not need to sit with "hostile" leaders in order to save these innocent lives], but acted timidly, according to most US and Congo's politicians, newsmedia makers and well-informed human rights and citizen's networks in the DRC and here in US. How do we know it? Check facts on the ground: The Democratic Republic of Congo has plunged once again (September 2008) into another civil unrest in the eastern region where thousands of citizens are being bodily-mutilated with machettes and displaced by dissident troops of the war lord and domestic terrosist; Sir Nkunda Batware.
This man is well-known for his fame in killings and terrorism on civilians by the US State Department's African Affairs Office in Washington DC; His prouesses are well-acknowledged by the UN's Mission and its "Bush Friend" Mission's coordinator -- Mr William Swing. Yet Kunda Batware is being ignored by our embassy officials while he should be arrested as he is the most dangerous war criminal to be "deported" to the the Hague's Court. This former rebel and Kagame's army dissident is backed by current authorities of Rwanda (Congo eastern-border neighboring country). Amazingly, Sir Batware has been a close friend and a former political ally to the current Congo's president Joseph Kabila. [Bush supports Kabila who made it to the White House for official visits more than twice in less than four years of Bush re-elect term in the Oval Office.] Both Congolese President Kabila and Rwanda's president Kagame (another beloved-Bush ally in North Eastern Africa's region) have not done enough to crack down on dissident Nkunda Batware's operatives in the Kivu Eastern Region of the Congo; a pre-condition in restoring peace and democracy in Congo, and to ensure welfare of citizens in the region.
How long are we going to count our failed US diplomacy deeds, while a clear foreign policy was pushed by a known US senator on a bi-partisan way? Why do we have to continue another four years-period of uncertainty in the Congo if the United States has a chance to elect democrat candidate to wipe the republican failure? When issues of lack of consistency and involvment in our relationships with African countries are clearly established in the current GOP agenda -- the Congo has been flagged as a threat to national security and our strategic position in Africa. Congo is a strong ally to the US since the 60s when the country became politically independent from the Belgian Kingdom.
The DR Congo had aligned itself as one of the most pro-American philophical "stronghold" in Central Africa for three decades while the country has been surrounded by socialist colors; (pro-former USSR, pro-China, pro-North Korea and even ... because of its African roots, pro-Cuba) .... The regime of Kinshasa has resisted ideals and ties to African military regimes in countries like its neighbors: the people's republic of Congo-Brazzaville, the people's republic of Angola and some left progressist leaders such as the Zambian president Kaunda (in South) or the mighty President Machel of Mocambique; far the Congo secured America's presence in southern Sudan in efforts to stop the Khartum socialist agenda, their push in Ethiopia, Guinea and so forth etc...
The Congo ( known as Zaire) has been a reliable US "pied-a-terre", serving as a US military runway (the Kamina military base) to face and to deter both the rise of a communist ideology during the 30 years long civil in the war-torn country of Angola (South-Western border) and to help the US diplomacy to reign in isolating and rallying other African countries in the region to help end the threat to human rights, segregation and racism in the South Africa's Racist White-Supremacist regime of Peter Botha.
Minerals and components used in most US weaponry and the world's telecommunication devices are put together for decades with resources extracted from the Congo's soil. Congo has offered a best terrain to most US Presidents like Jimmy Carter (D), Ronald Reagan (R), Bush Sr (R) and Bill Clinton (D) to execute very complicated but vital national security decisions in regard to the stabiltity of Africa, by establising our intelligence in the region, a competitive market and intelligence strategy that helped the US to compete with Europe and Asia. The sin about our relationship with Africa, and for this case the DR Congo, is that we often benefited from all of the above for a less sustainable cooperation tools of diplomacy in regard to how African leaders offer a better governance, a sound fiscality, and the observance of citizens' human rights.
No doubt the DR Congo should remain a strong US ally in the Central African region where the French and the Belgians did nothing to disengage the "former" Soviets-aligned "Eastern-European Regimes" to establish their strong holds and networks in Africa. Now How in the world, with today's rise of another Russia's "impulse" with Georgia and its attempts to raise fears of an imminent "cold war", are we going to afford another war-torn Congo in the midle of Africa?
Distabilized - the Congo still produces tons of extractions of its massive "Uranium", very essential to make nuclear weaponry. That we cannot afford... remaining silent in America after it has been established that many Al-Qaeda and other terrorist operatives have been seeking to exploit and engage in illicit trade of these highly dangerous materials that can provide them with real weapons of mass destruction. The world knows it, President Bush does and Congress (with what I call Obama bill) warns it too!
Breaking the Silence (0n the behalf of Congo)
Many NGOs and associations around the world are observing a "Seven-Days" or the "Congo's Week". It is an Awarness Campaign with a theme: BREAKING THE SILENCE on the behalf of the DR Congo across the US and around the world. They have gotten the attention of several media cells in Western countries: France, Belgium, US, Australia etc to learn and advocate for the Congo, at least by talking about theese atrocities that took place when elections are taking place in US. One of them, I currently hold a membership, is the "Friends of The Congo" - FOTC [please visit their website] : www.FriendsoftheCongo.org
I cannot tell you enough how important and timely right it has been for US citizens who long for justice, equality and peace and the world; for those US-born Congolese, Americans and Friends of the Congo to rein in with their vote and support only "15 days" left before the 2008 elections to pass on this message. With this November 4th's Countdown to US elections, let all remember that the 109th Congress in its Democratic Majority with the help of 12 senators: 4 prominent Republicans and 8 Democrats had joined to co-sponsor a bill initiated by Senator B. Obama (D, Illinois). This 2006 bill had unanimousely (with few amendments and fewer objections) passed, and was signed into law to ensure better foreign policy , security, development, better governance in the Congo, and yet "nothing" consistent [ in other words "just a little"] has been done to follow through.
So, I am inviting those who are willing to visit the webpage that features that ONE-week (Sunday, October 19th through Saturday 25th 2008) event at this link: http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/time_critique.php for your own knowledge, to participate or donate if you cannot attend. Students, Capitol Hill's news professionals, Graduates-Interns, Human Rights Organizers...This is a great moment to raise awarness of the American public! Overhaul, lets remember that the 2008 US presidential elections is an answer to the failures the US developped in Africa.
One among our failed approaches in diplomacy with AFRICA
The GOP's last eight years continues to prophecy without actions for the US to rely on the Department of State's reports and on our European Allies' out-of-touch lines of diplomacy towards Africa; our current foreign service envoys are still using those heavily-biased and politically-partisan lines of policies that are ( ... as old as Pres. Nixon's talking points on African Affairs; demoded in their essence like the pre-Berlin Reagan's views on our relationships with Africa; our policies have been much of the former French president Mitterand's philophy; he forecasted a "pro-but-fake" democratic way of governance in Africa) -- And no wonder we cannot be relevant in solving most crisis in Africa where the United States have common strategic and national security interests as the Europeans, but where we still lagging in being equally involved economically like the Europeans are, and even the Chinese, the Russians and South-Koreans have been.
The US cannot afford being less politically and diplomatically involved in Africa in 2008, and expect our relationships to be economically sound in trades and to earn respect from the African People. News stories and real facts on the ground show that the Russians, the Chinese, and even South-Africans are developing sound trade deals and back-door deals with or without the Congo's approval in its soil. All this is happening far ahead of Washington's less aggressive approach in its African Affairs agenda. We are talking about the Congo in a vast continent, the one Historian Frantz Fanon said: (Africa) "...It has the map-shape of a gun with its trigger located in the Congo"
[ Please check the Africa's map and the Congo's location on in to better understand the metaphore].
The DR Congo is located at the (trigger)- the heart of the African Continent (in Yellow)
He was right because like I said before, the strategic plan to position in the region comes a sustained stability, peace and democracy in the Congo. This is an African country where, if there is not a strong leadership in Washington DC, our national security interests in the region will be in a permanent danger for real. Congo's strategic location on the Africa's regional map is economically a better market to engage and invest in, and with respect to the US intelligence and our military overahaul strategies in the region, the next president of the USA should do better than "all" his predecessors.
Change We Need in our relations with AFRICA
Where have we been all this time? Good question. I will tell you what? We always have developped that mentality that to deal with Africans, we ought to be careful on who (public officials) we send out to carry the message in Africa; we are always careful in choosing our "envoys", we emphasize on their ethnic and religious backgrounds; we base our selection of diplomats or State departments Officers on what is their knowledge of the region as we anticipate "wrongly" that our African counterparts (presidents, royalties or their ministers) would line up with how Europeans lines of diplomacy would dictate our stance, given the history of Africa colonists in the 1960s. For e.g. countries like Portugal, Spain, England, France, and even smaller numbers of Germans and Italian adventureers in Africa have marked their foot-prints, cultural landmarks and have shaped political philosophies in Africa.
In 2008, just like in other continents where colonists have no longer dictate the way business should be conducted, countries and territories like Hong-Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Brasil, India and many other lands where colonists left their foot prints, citizens and their government decided to "admit" they are ready to be on their own, and to embrace new ideas, new horizons, new opportinities -- to launch new markets of the 21th century. What Can the US do at this point? It is the role of the USA, I believe, to engage a new quality diplomatic approach that restores confidence from the African People's stand point. The US have to guarantee two aspects with a new and successful diplomacy tactic in its relationship with Africa: Engaging in Economic and Strategic Security Initiatives in the Continent and to Restoring democracy and a regulated and fiscally-sustained system of governance.
The African Affairs Office at the Department of State ( during the next Obama Administration) should actively work in exploring ways to offer "sticks and carrots" to hold African leaders "accountable" to respect of their signed-and-agreed upon treaties, their local politics dealings and issue promises, their binding bi-lateral agreements with the United States. We should compete with other countries like China, South-Korea or Argentina where African leaders are NOT being asked much to qualify in dealings. Economically speaking , it is about securing America, in one hand, our trades and investments' operatives (guarantying peace and stability) for "highly" profitable African markets. On the other hand, the US should ensure civil liberties are respected, they should reward fiscally-sound governance and encourage the enactment of national laws that promote the eradication of the culture of corruption as a way to monitor the improvement, to re-enforce the laws and ensure the respect of rule of law overahaul, as the 2006 Congo's "Obama Bill" outlined.
Besides many other failures to enforcing our treaties and bi-lateral accords in the African Affairs office at the Department of State, there are these US Governemt's weak actions that did not do much US initiative to Africans in terms of reenforcing the presence with the peace corps, humanitarian organizations and educational and relief organizations on the ground to work with local networks that canvass their communities.
The US should engage pre-emptively the health and human services approach in Africa in order to prevent diseases, pandemies and better nutrition for the population. To denounce and to stop adverse trends in ways of governance that leed to recent African Nation's cases of Genocide, such as Darfour (In Sudan) , Rwanda and the Eastern-Congo. Our relationships with African Leaders have to go beyond just helping them to stay capable militarly but to offer them logistic assistance when it comes to dealing with conflict resolution of hot national topics.
Our embassies in Africa should double efforts like do their couterparts in middle-eastern regions with bi-cultural and bi-lingual envoys to deal with and to clearly decongest the national political apparatus in every country where foreign service officers are assigned to. We need to learn how culture, history and tribal aspirations can shape and benefit US present and future relationships; they have to be active, as intelligence becomes available, to not only report, but to repudiate violations of human rights and to work in these countries' educational settings. Our cooperation in education should promote an agenda that eradicate sentiments of hate and philosopies that oppose the US...
The US should assist and reward only those countries that offer a progress report with fiscally-sound ways of governance; the observance of democracy and human rights. They haven't been doing so in the last decades, because we buy into fallacious French "Mitterand" ideas that because there: "... was election in a given African country, means that country's regime is "democratic".
It's Time to Turn the Page !
The 2008 elections is a time to change course in our foreign policy and to recognize our moral and historical responsibility in regards to Africa; It is an opportunity to raise awarness to the facts that the US has crucial need of a solid "diplomatic machine", made of a new generation of effective "foreign service" officials, effective appointed-government officials, foreign affairs officers in DC and in our consulates. Paramount, the US should show a stronger leadership in the White House that will level with a better diplomacy and will apply a "Peace-and-Democracy" philosophy versus the current "Our interest-Only" approach in Africa.
Like never before there is a need of a US President and an Administration in DC that hold a pro-democracy and human rights-compliant agenda in Africa. Senator Barack Obama (author of S. 2521) has the record to prove it, maybe did not articulate much about it, but worse John McCain never been vocal (not even once) for such an agenda in Africa. He won't do it, won't promise he would look into it. We can't even hold him accountable in doing some thing about it because I doesn't KNOW much about !
Barack Obama is the only alternative to save millions of lives who die in civil conflicts, of diseases and pandemies, of lack of economic development, because of political persecutions or ethnic cleansing! I will be launching a "MySpace Outreach Page" to continue rally efforts from Americans, Congolese-Americans, Africans, Friends of the Congo and Organizations that work for peace, prosperity and the economic development of this nation. We want to help solidify and organize thousands more entities for this humanitarian cause.
I believe that Africa and the Congo's fate are definetely tied to the outcome of the US Presidential Elections.
Barack Obama, a real President in theWhite House; Change for a better World.
I'm Franklin Katunda - Barack Obama Surrogate, and I approve this Message.
Thank You !
I created this blog to start some discussion of ways to improve upon the performance of US diplomacy under the coming Obama presidency. An Obama administration will be different. From State and USAID to the World Bank and UN, to the Department of Defense, we can improve management and impact with strategies that work.
internationalstrategy.org
Clearly, former US diplomats from both parties and from widely varying realms all recognize the paramount need to base US Foreign Policy and the day to day operations of the US State Department on something more evolved that the demands of the American corporate structure and the needs of the Pentagon, Halliburton, Blackwater, and Kellogg, Brown, and Root.
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama received the official endorsement of more than 200 former U.S. diplomats in the form of a jointstatement signed before his Friday debate with Republican nominee JohnMcCain.
"We are supporting Senator Barack Obama because of his judgment, experience, and ability to inspire people to come together around a common purpose," the letter said. "Senator Obama's talents offer an historic opportunity; for the sake of America's security and standing in the world,we must seize it."
The letter was signed by officials from both major political parties, including former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher, former National Security Adviser Richard Clarke and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk.
"As former diplomats, we believe it is past time that we had a President with the judgment and confidence -- in himself, our diplomatic corps, and our values -- to talk directly to America's adversaries with due preparation but without preconditions," the letter said.
Commentary from Stephen Fox: We absolutely must as a nation move past a total reiteration of the era of the Ugly American, except now it is exponentially worse than the late 1950's when Eugene Burdick first started writing that important book.
Former President of Poland and Nobel Peace Laureate Lech Walesa told this to a group of students, not long ago in Santa Fe:
"You Americans must begin to recognize throughout the entire world that you have lost your Moral Power, and this has disbanded most of your Political Power. You squander what remains of your Economic Power on maintaining your Military Power, which does nothing constructive in the world at large and won't even last very long."
When Obama wins, I know he will have the good sense and foresight, among his first appointments, to ask New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to be the Secretary of State. We will miss him as Governor, but as a former UN Ambassador, it is obvious to me and to most New Mexicans that Bill Richardson has a higher calling and destiny, and is so needed to repair the damage done internationally during the past 8 years.
In reference to the passport snooping story that's unfolding ...
Obama said Congress should be part of any investigation.
"When you have not just one but a series of attempts to tap into peoples' personal records, that's a problem not just for me but for how our government functions," Obama told reporters in Portland, Ore. "I expect a full and thorough investigation. It should be done in conjunction with those congressional committees that have oversight so it's not simply an internal matter."
From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080321/ap_on_el_pr/obama_passport
He is calling for the investigation to be open and transparent, not - as he puts it - 'an internal matter'.
This is the type of government Obama is advocating.
I would also say that this is a good example of his leadership ability. Don't you?
Yes We Can. Si Se Puede.
Obama 08
As a child, I really enjoyed the Asterix cartoons. If you're not familiar, they feature a Gaulish village under Roman occupation. The residents of the village have a special potion that makes them super-strong, and they routinely beat up the Romans. One of the main characters is named Obelix, a menhir salesman who fell into a vat of the potion as a child. He is very strong but a big oaf.
I am thinking of Obelix today, because as I read the latest revelations about the various breaches of security in the passport files of presidential candidates, I can't help but remember something that Asterix used to say to Obelix when he messed things up for the villagers:
"Ah, bravo Obelix! With you around, there's no need for any Romans in Gaul."
Let me make it clear that I am actually not terribly surprised that low level contractors accessed these files. When presented with a large database of information, I think most people naturally want to see if they can find anyone they know. Think about it -- how often have you googled yourself or your friends?
From MSNBC:
Two contract employees of the State Department were fired and a third person was disciplined for inappropriately looking at Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's passport file. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the department itself detected the instances of "imprudent curiosity," which occurred separately on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14. He would not release the names of those who were fired and disciplined. The three were working in separate offices within the passport system, according to State Department officials. "We believe this was out of imprudent curiosity, so we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that that is, in fact, the case," McCormack said.
Two contract employees of the State Department were fired and a third person was disciplined for inappropriately looking at Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's passport file.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the department itself detected the instances of "imprudent curiosity," which occurred separately on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14. He would not release the names of those who were fired and disciplined. The three were working in separate offices within the passport system, according to State Department officials.
"We believe this was out of imprudent curiosity, so we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that that is, in fact, the case," McCormack said.
Imprudent curiosity! That's the bureauspeak understatement of the century. Why Obama, specifically?
The State Department was looking into possible violations of the Privacy Act and would meet with lawyers on Friday, officials said. Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama's presidential campaign, called for a complete investigation. "This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years. Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes," Burton said. "This is a serious matter that merits a complete investigation, and we demand to know who looked at Senator Obama's passport file, for what purpose, and why it took so long for them to reveal this security breach," he said. "We briefed Senator Obama's office on this issue this afternoon," McCormack said. "That was when senior management first became aware of these incidents." McCormack said it was not immediately clear what the contract employees may have seen in the records or what they were looking for. He said he did not know the names of the companies they worked for.
The State Department was looking into possible violations of the Privacy Act and would meet with lawyers on Friday, officials said.
Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama's presidential campaign, called for a complete investigation.
"This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years. Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes," Burton said.
"This is a serious matter that merits a complete investigation, and we demand to know who looked at Senator Obama's passport file, for what purpose, and why it took so long for them to reveal this security breach," he said.
"We briefed Senator Obama's office on this issue this afternoon," McCormack said. "That was when senior management first became aware of these incidents."
McCormack said it was not immediately clear what the contract employees may have seen in the records or what they were looking for. He said he did not know the names of the companies they worked for.
There are two options if the spokesman doesn't know the name: 1) nobody knows which employees exactly (meaning, in the unlikely scenario that this is so, there are probably more employees who committed similar breaches), or 2) it would be flagrantly embarassing to somebody for that connection to be released, and there's either an attempt at a cover-up or a pressure to be absolutely certain before the stuff hits the fan.
The department has informed Obama's Senate office of the breach, and a personal briefing for the senator's staff was scheduled for Friday, McCormack said. The State Department does not check the political affiliation of its contractors, but a senior official told NBC News there was "no political motivation" to the incidents, adding that the three were low-level contract employees doing administrative work when they accessed Obama's records. This official told NBC News that he does not believe any of the accessed information was sent anywhere. Monitoring systems are tripped when an employee accesses the records of the high-profile individual, a department official told NBC News. "When the monitoring system is tripped, we immediately seek an explanation for the records access. If the explanation is not satisfactory, the supervisor is notified." Explaining why the contractors had access to the files, the official said: "The State Department uses cleared contractors to design, build and maintain our systems and cleared contract employees provide support to government employees and several steps of passport processing including data entry, file searches, customer service and quality control. "Each time an employee logs on, he or she acknowledges the records are protected by the privacy act and that they are only available on a need-to-know basis," the official added.
The department has informed Obama's Senate office of the breach, and a personal briefing for the senator's staff was scheduled for Friday, McCormack said.
The State Department does not check the political affiliation of its contractors, but a senior official told NBC News there was "no political motivation" to the incidents, adding that the three were low-level contract employees doing administrative work when they accessed Obama's records. This official told NBC News that he does not believe any of the accessed information was sent anywhere.
Monitoring systems are tripped when an employee accesses the records of the high-profile individual, a department official told NBC News. "When the monitoring system is tripped, we immediately seek an explanation for the records access. If the explanation is not satisfactory, the supervisor is notified."
Explaining why the contractors had access to the files, the official said: "The State Department uses cleared contractors to design, build and maintain our systems and cleared contract employees provide support to government employees and several steps of passport processing including data entry, file searches, customer service and quality control.
"Each time an employee logs on, he or she acknowledges the records are protected by the privacy act and that they are only available on a need-to-know basis," the official added.
I have a feeling like security protocols need a teensy tiny bit of revamping if low-level contract workers who are maintaining your systems can access the personal data on them. That's not exactly the place for Wikipedia-style after-the-fact security.
I am incensed over this.
It turns out the state dept employee involved at the management level is an ex-Clinton employee:-------------------------------------------------He was assistant secretary of state under clinton from 1993 - 2001. Oh yeah, one stupid coincidential breach, but three on interestingly important dates...
BS: Here's his creds: Patrick F. KennedyPatrick F. Kennedy is a Clinton "employee". HELLO. Was Assistant Secretary of State for Bill Clinton from '93 to 2001. Deputy Director Office of Director of National Intelligence, and went back to Department of State in May 2007
FROM Department of State Website:
BIOGRAPHY
Patrick F. KennedyAssistant Secretary, Bureau of AdministrationTerm of Appointment: 05/23/1993 to present
Patrick Kennedy was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for Administration on May 23, 1993.
He joined the Foreign Service in 1973 and served his first tour as a Regional Administrative Officer in Africa. He returned to Washington DC and served from 1975 to 1977 as the Personnel Officer of the Bureau of African Affairs. Following that he was Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Management from 1977 to 1981. In 1981, he was assigned to Paris, France as Supervisory General Services Officer.
In 1985, he returned to Washington to become Executive Director and later Deputy Executive Secretary in the Department's Executive Secretariat, where he was responsible for coordinating all administrative support for the Department's principal officers. This assignment included accompanying the Secretary of State on all foreign travel. From 1990 to 1991, he attended the Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy at the Department of State's Foreign Service Institute and then was transferred to Cairo to serve as Counselor of the Embassy for Administrative Affairs.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, he received a C.S.F.S. From Georgetown University. He is married to Mary Elizabeth Swope, who is also a Foreign Service Officer.
Released on January 21, 2001
Patrick F. KennedyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, searchFor other persons named Patrick Kennedy, see Patrick Kennedy (disambiguation).Patrick F. Kennedy is currently director of the U.S. State Department's Office of Management Policy and is the Undersecretary for Management. Formerly Deputy Director for Management at the cabinet level Office of the Director of National Intelligence, he returned to the Department of State on May 7, 2007.
Kennedy is also the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Management and Reform and previously served as Chief of Staff for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He was the Assistant Secretary of State for the Clinton Administration from 1993 to 2001.
Kennedy holds a B.S.F.S. Degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_F._Kennedy" BIOGRAPHY
Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.
(CNN) -- The State Department has confirmed a breach on Sen. Barack Obama's passport file.
Obama's campaign is asking for a complete investigation to find out who looked at Obama's passport file and why.
"This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton in a statement.
"Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes."
After watching PBS/Frontline's documentary on Iran ( '' Showdown '': http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/showdown/ ), examining various content & sources of online articles in the last 48 hours and hearing the news about Secretary of State rice declaring official sanctions ( see excerpt below ) I've come to the conclusion that the middle east situation in this region of Arabia isn't as bad as many conservative and liberal analysts, commentators and pundits inside the Capitol make it out to be.
Late last night I came to the stark realization that as long as people across the world be they muslims or whities are keeping themselves occupied or are otherwise professionally at an economic advantage, having sexual intercourse, making bank and ethically, morally looking out for their neighbors near and far with a cautious nod ( for doves like us ) to the military and the civil defense types that yes they too exist and have a part, we are all happy. It is people like Darth Cheney, http://www.whitehouse.gov/vicepresident/ and his Vader-like sidekick David Addington, http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/2940 who do their worst when working behind the scenes to fuck over that harmony; to confuse both the message & the reader, steal from, proxy into or obfuscate the terms of those 4 basic principles. When Frontline did their documentary on Cheney did you all catch a glimpse of the document Addington drafted to try, through the auspices of a branch of the State Dept. and other government organizations, to secure the warrantless wiretap program at the (in)Justice Dept.? He's a bastard.
I encourage all my readers to focus now more than ever on regional issues, to expand or narrow if you view it that way your scope and scale to look at the community you live in and how it impacts you for the better. Rather, you should be more closely examining how *you* impact it by the way you live, your carbon footprint, what you eat, where you shop, who you consort with and what your long term goals and present day achievements are. Only by thinking locally and acting globally in this time will we be able to live well not just survive and by meeting our personal and collective obligations together or apart defeat these trends of bad capitalism, corruption, fascism, corporatism and anger. Nobody wants war. Nobody wants racism, sexual violence or confusion in their lives except the weak at heart and the weak minded among us. Pass the test and deal with the pest. Peace takes courage. Live to love!!! Senator Obama, if by chance you are reading this what I say is in the public domain and for the people. You have permission to use these words for any political, legal or economic purpose.
From the WaPo: '' [A]nnounced jointly by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., marks the first time that the United States has tried to isolate or punish another country's military. It is the broadest set of punitive measures imposed on Tehran since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy, and included a call for other countries and firms to stop doing business with three major Iranian banks.The sanctions recognize that financing for groups like the Revolutionary Guard have become closely entwined with Iran's economy, making it difficult to disrupt the one without targeting the other.The Revolutionary Guard "is so deeply entrenched in Iran's economy, that it is increasingly likely that if you are doing business with Iran you are doing business with the IRGC," Paulson said.The banks involved are Bank Melli, Bank Mellat and Bank Saderat. The first two are being designated for helping finance Iran's proliferation program, and Saderat is being designated for financing terrorism. In addition, the administration named five Revolutionary Guard leaders who are included under the new restrictions, as well as nine businesses and the Iranian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics. ''
Now that the horse is out, the State Department is closing the barn door:
