politics-discussion

Who is Raúl Castro?

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:08:31 +0100

Brigadier-General (retired) Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (born 3 June 1931) is the President of the Cuban Council of State and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba. The younger brother of Fidel Castro, he is also Second Secretary of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), and Commander in Chief (Maximum General) of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, and Air Force).

On 31 July 2006, Raúl Castro assumed the duties of President of the Council of State in a temporary transfer of power due to Fidel Castro's illness. According to the Cuban Constitution of 1976, Article 94, the First Vice President of the Council of State assumes presidential duties upon the illness or death of the president.

Raúl Castro was elected President at the 24 February 2008 National Assembly as Fidel Castro had announced his intention not to stand for President again on February 19, 2008.

Castro married Vilma Espín Guillois, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemical engineering student and the daughter of a wealthy rum distiller, on 26 January 1959. Vilma became president of the Cuban Federation of Women.They have three daughters (Déborah, Mariela and Nilsa) and one son (Alejandro) Castro Espín. Their daughter Mariela currently heads the Cuban National Center for Sex Education. Vilma Espín died on 18 June 2007; a daughter and some relatives of Raúl are believed to reside in Italy.

In an interview in 2006, following his assumption of presidential duties, Raúl Castro commented on his public profile stating: "I am not used to making frequent appearances in public, except at times when it is required ... I have always been discreet, that is my way, and in passing I will clarify that I am thinking of continuing in that way".

Nobel Peace Prize Controversies

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:15:49 +0100

According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The awarding the Nobel Peace prize to President Barack Obama early in his presidential term has generated debate about the timing of the award in relation to the recipient's actual achievements, particularly in light of President Obama being office for less than two weeks before the February 1 nomination deadline. "So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act," said former Polish President Lech Walesa, a 1983 Nobel Peace laureate.

Since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901, the proceedings, nominations, awardees and exclusions especially in the Peace category, have generated criticisms and engendered controversies.The awards given to Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat, Lê Ðức Thọ and Henry Kissinger were particularly controversial and much-debated. Even nominations have generated loud noice, in particular infamous nominees like Adolf Hitler, nominated in 1939, Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini. The exclusion of famous history changers like Mahatma Gandhi, Corazon Aquino, Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II, Dorothy Day, César Chávez, Oscar Romero, Jose Figueres Ferrer, Steve Biko, Raphael Lemkin, Abdul Sattar Edhi and Irena Sendler also caused a stir.

Controversial Nobel Peace Prize Awards List

The award of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to United States president Barack Obama drew criticism that the award was undeserved or premature due to a lack of relevant accomplishments on Obama's part. However, opinions were divided.
Al Gore and the IPCC, 2007 winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, have had the validity of their winning of the prize disputed as well. US conservatives who believe global warming is neither man-made nor a problem claimed the decision was politically motivated.

Wangari Maathai, 2004 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was reported by the Kenyan newspaper Standard and Radio Free Europe to have stated that AIDS was originally developed by Western scientists in order to depopulate. She later denied these claims, though the Standard stands by its reporting. Additionally, in a Time magazine interview, she hinted at its non-natural origin, saying that someone knows where it came from and that it "...did not come from monkeys.

Jimmy Carter was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, for the "decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." The announcement of the award came shortly after the U.S. House and Senate gave President George W. Bush authorization to use military force against Iraq in order to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions requiring that Baghdad give up weapons of mass destruction. Asked if the selection of the former president was a criticism of Bush, Gunnar Berge, head of the Nobel committee, said: "With the position Carter has taken on this, it can and must also be seen as criticism of the line the current U.S. administration has taken on Iraq." Carter declined to comment on the remark in interviews, saying that he preferred to focus on the work of the Carter Center.

Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin were winners of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. Arafat was regarded by critics as a terrorist leader for many years. His critics often described him as an unrepentant terrorist with a long legacy of promoting violence. Kåre Kristiansen, a Norwegian member of the Nobel Committee, resigned in 1994 in protest at the awarding of a Nobel Peace Prize to Yasser Arafat, whom he labeled a "terrorist". Supporters of Arafat have pointed out that Nelson Mandela similarly had never formally renounced terrorism despite being a founder member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, but his Nobel prize did not receive similar criticism. On the other side, critics of Israel such as Edward Said have been equally critical of Peres and Rabin and the entire Oslo accords.

Rigoberta Menchú won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, in part for her autobiography I, Rigoberta Menchu. In 1999 she was accused byDavid Stoll of having fabricated events in her family history in the book to further the guerilla cause. See Rigoberta Menchú for details.

Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt during a war against Israel in 1973, the Yom Kippur War, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Menachem Begin, in 1978 for their contributions to the successful closure to the Camp David Accords in the same year.

The United States Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his work on the Vietnam Peace Accords, despite having instituted the secret 1969–1975 campaign of bombing against infiltrating NVA in Cambodia, the alleged U.S. involvement in Operation Condor—a mid-1970s campaign of kidnapping and murder coordinated among the intelligence and security services of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay—as well as the death of French nationals under the Chilean junta. He also supported the Turkish intervention in Cyprus resulting in the de facto partition of the island.

Cordell Hull was awarded the Nobel Prize in Peace in 1945 in recognition of his efforts for peace and understanding in the Western Hemisphere, his trade agreements, and his work to establish the United Nations. Hull was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Secretary of State during the SS St. Louis Crisis. The St. Louis sailed out of Hamburg into the Atlantic Ocean in the summer of 1939 carrying over 950 Jewish refugees, mostly wealthy, seeking asylum from Nazi persecution just before World War II. The ship's voyage caused great controversy in the United States: Initially President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt showed modest willingness to take in some of those on board, but vehement opposition by Hull and from Southern Democrats—some of whom went so far as to threaten to withhold their support of Roosevelt in the 1940 Presidential election if this occurred. On 4 June 1939 Roosevelt issued an order to deny entry to the ship, which was waiting in the Caribbean Sea between Florida and Cuba. The passengers began negotiations with the Cuban government, but those broke down at the last minute. Forced to return to Europe over a quarter of its passengers subsequently died in the Holocaust.

In 1936, Adolf Hitler was offended with the Nobel Foundation when the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Carl von Ossietzky, a German writer who publicly opposed Hitler and Nazism. (At that time, the prize was awarded the following year.) Hitler reacted by issuing a decree on 31 January 1937 that forbade German nationals from accepting any Nobel Prize in the future. Awarding the peace prize to Ossietzky was itself considered controversial. While fascism had few supporters outside of Italy and Germany, those who did not necessarily sympathize with fascism felt that it was wrong to offend Germany by awarding the prize to someone opposed to the current German regime.
Mahatma Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace Prize, though he was nominated for it five times between 1937 and 1948. Decades later, though, the Nobel Committee publicly declared its regret for the omission. The Nobel Committee may have tacitly acknowledged its error, however, when in 1948 (the year of Gandhi's death), it made no award, stating "there was no suitable living candidate" though they awarded it posthumously to fellow Scandinavian Dag Hammarskjöld in 1961, who died after being nominated. Similarly, when the Dalai Lama was awarded the Peace Prize in 1989, the chairman of the committee said that this was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi". The official Nobel e-museum has an article discussing the issue.

President Theodore Roosevelt—the 26th President of the United States—received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905 for helping negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese War. However, he played a role in the suppression of a revolt in the Philippines.

Another criticism of the peace-prize is the notable omissions, namely the failure to award individuals with widely recognized contributions to peace. The list includes Mahatma Gandhi, Corazon Aquino, Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II, Dorothy Day, César Chávez, Oscar Romero, Jose Figueres Ferrer, Steve Biko, Raphael Lemkin, Abdul Sattar Edhi and Irena Sendler.

When is the next UK elections?

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:16:00 +0100

When is the next UK elections?
The United Kingdom has five types of election: UK general elections, elections to national/regional parliaments and assemblies, elections to the European Parliament, local elections and mayoral elections. Elections are traditionally held on Thursdays. General elections do not have fixed dates, but must be called within five years of the opening of parliament following the last election. Other elections are held on fixed dates though in the case of the devolved assemblies and parliaments, early elections can occur in certain situations. Six different electoral systems are currently used: single member plurality system (First Past the Post), multi member plurality system, Party list, Single Transferable Vote, Additional Member System and Supplementary Vote.

The next election is due on or before 3 June 2010. The elections would be make or break for Gordon. If labour, currently the underdogs pulls surprise win, Gordon would have resusteated his polical career. If not- that would be the end of Gordon. The next few national opinion polls will be very interesting.

United Kingdom general elections are the elections held when the Members of Parliament (MPs) forming the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are elected. Following the Parliament Act 1911, parliamentary sessions last a maximum of five years, and are ended with the dissolution of Parliament. Therefore elections are not fixed, and the time is chosen by the governing party to maximise political advantage. Under the provisions of the Septennial Act 1715 as amended by the Parliament Act 1911, the next general election must be held on or before Thursday 3 June 2010,barring exceptional circumstances. In recent times, and certainly since the enactment of the Septennial Act 1715, Parliament has not been allowed to expire. The present parliament which first met on 11 May 2005 will expire at midnight on 10 May 2010. The previous general election in the UK was held on 5 May 2005. Assuming a proclamation summoning a new Parliament is issued that day, the date of the general election would be 3 June 2010.

The next general election will be most likely called following the dissolution of the current Parliament. Parliament is dissolved by the Monarch, usually at the request of the Prime Minister. Dissolution can occur at any time within five years of the start of that parliament. However, since the Parliamentary term was set at five years, parliaments have most often sat for four years, with fresh elections being called at the start of the fifth year.The local elections for 2010 have been firmly scheduled for May 6, and some commentators have suggested that the general election may also be held on this day.

How does a party win a general elections in UK?
Candidates aim to win particular geographic constituencies in the UK. Each constituency elects one MP by the first past the post system of election. At the 2005 general election, there were 646 constituencies, thus 646 MPs were elected to Parliament. Boundary changes in Scotland reduced the number of MPs from 659 at the 2001 election to 646. The party with the most seats, i.e. the most MPs, usually forms the government, and the second largest party forms Her Majesty's Opposition. Almost all candidates are members of a political party and the majority of voters in the UK choose who to vote for based on the candidates' parties, rather than the personalities or opinions of the individual candidates.

Is Gordon Brown the new comeback kid after speech?

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:11:44 +0100

Gordon Brown's make-or-break speech to the Labour Party conference in Brighton today was his last before the general election. Gordon Brown listed a long list of Labour;s achievements and the list went on and on. He also set out his usual surprises. Many labour delegates left excited about the speech and thought it was really quite remarkable, including Brown's close ally Ed Balls who praised Gordon speech on Sky News, saying he "gave a very clear message that we are going to keep going forward". However other Gordon Brown critics including Charles Clarke, the former home secretary, think that the Prime Minister should quit or Labour will be condemned to at least a decade in opposition. Is Brown now Labour’s Comeback Kid? The next few national opinion polls will be very interesting.

Jonathan Moyo for president of Zimbabwe!

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:10:11 +0100

After spending 5 years as an independent candidate, Professor Jonathan Moyo, the most controversial political figure in Zimbabwe, publicly announced his re-admission into Mugabe’s ZANU (PF) party. Jonathan Nathaniel Moyo was Minister of Information from 2000 to 2005 and is currently an independent Member of Parliament. He is considered the core architect of AIPPA and POSA and is credited for single-handedly rescuing Mugabe’s party from total collapse after the 2000 elections.

His return to Mugabe’s party follows the death of Mugabe’s vice president, Joseph Msika. Many believe Mugabe has not been able to deal with the succession issue because there ant many candidates that can match his intellect. The current potential candidates include Joyce Mujuru, Emerson Mnangwarwa, Gideon Gono but none can match Jonathan Moyo sheer intellect and political wit- the guy is considered by many as a genious. His return to ZANU (PF) is interesting, given the vacant vice president post and Mugabe’s search for a successor who will be as shroud as he is. With the current presidential candidates, Mugabe’s party is guaranteed of not winning any election for the next 50 years just like all the other political parties in Africa that were involved in liberation/independence wars. By making Jonathan Moyo a vice president and perhaps destined for a higher office, Mugabe would have found himself a successor who would guarantee success of his party in the next elections.

However Jonathan Moyo has his weaknesses. He graduated from a school of controversy- he changed political parties more than 3 times, he has more enemies than friends and he is too clever to trust him with any sort of leadership. Besides he comes from a minority tribe.