China greets Mugabe with open arms

[dArKeR]

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe yesterday revelled in his red carpet welcome by China, as other countries pressed for a UN Security Council meeting on his slum demolition drive.
Mugabe is on a six-day visit to China and has been warmly greeted as "an old friend" by President Hu Jintao (???), head of one of the few countries to embrace the 81-year-old autocrat who is banned from traveling in the EU and US.

At the same time, Britain was urging a Security Council meeting on his slum demolition campaign as UN chief Kofi Annan ruled out a visit there until Harare ended its shantytown evictions and allowed humanitarian aid in.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/07/28/2003265364

[Eugene]

1. Mugabe says that China will "protect" him at the UN.

Mr Mugabe, currently in Beijing, dismissed possible security council
censure, saying Zimbabwe would be protected by the Chinese vote.
"China will never allow that nonsense to happen. China is our great
friend," said Mr Mugabe, according to the official state newspaper,
the Herald.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,1537484,00.html


China has designs on Africa. Gaining influence by
providing alternatives to Western style reforms
serves that interest.

[dArKeR]

2. Critics lash Beijing over firm support for Robert Mugabe

China's embrace of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe amid international censure of the African strongman is part of a disturbing pattern of Chinese support for repressive states, US critics said.
Mugabe and Chinese President Hu Jintao (???) signed a major economic agreement in Beijing this week, just as the UN issued a report condemning his government for destroying the homes or jobs of 700,000 people in Harare's slums.

The 81-year-old Mugabe, who is barred from traveling to the EU, the US and Australia, among other nations, was warmly greeted as "an old friend" by Hu.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2005/07/30/2003265613

Tell ya something. Pakistan's Musharraf's standing in the world was worse than Mugabe. That is until he joined the Bush Crime Family!


Musharraf's coup

Elections in Pakistan are now threatened

Special report: Pakistan

Leader
Monday June 25, 2001
The Guardian

In perpetrating a second coup against democracy, General Pervez Musharraf may have strengthened his own position but he has done Pakistan no favours. Gen Musharraf's decision to elevate himself from "chief executive", the title he assumed after the 1999 military takeover, to president, had been predicted. But that does not make it any more acceptable. And the timing was inept, coming as his foreign minister, Abdul Sattar, was in Washington trying to persuade a sceptical US administration to show more understanding of his country's problems.

Mr Sattar, who seems to have been badly caught out by the presidential putsch, conducted a similar exercise in London the previous week. Any progress he may have made has now been wrecked by the general's action, which brought sharp rebukes from the US State Department and the Foreign Office. Any chance that Washington would relax its sanctions has been blown, while the Commonwealth must decide whether to expel Pakistan when it meets later this year.

Just as when he overthrew Pakistan's elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, Gen Musharraf justifies his latest constitutional violation on grounds of personal duty and the national interest. Some progress has been made since 1999 in tackling corruption and restoring order to the country's indebted economy. Growth this year is estimated at 4% and exports and foreign currency reserves are up. But these advances have come at a high cost, with normal political life suspended, violence in Kashmir increasing again, and Pakistan isolated, especially over its links with Afghanistan's Taliban. Although Gen Musharraf promises to allow parliamentary elections by October next year, he is likely to retain his dominant, still illegitimate position, backed by an unelected security council. Public anger at Mr Sharif's clique has been replaced by a sense of powerlessness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,511917,00.html

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COUP IN PAKISTAN

JIM LEHRER: That military coup in Pakistan: We start with a report from Robert Moore of Independent Television News filed earlier today.

ROBERT MOORE: No pictures have emerged from Pakistan since news of the military coup first broke, but the latest reports suggest that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is under house arrest. There have been no official announcements from the civilian or from the military leadership tonight, and the television stations have been taken off the air.

SPOKESPERSON: The meeting dispelled the impression...

ROBERT MOORE: In mid-broadcast, a program was interrupted. And tonight, the confusion remains. But the key development was Prime Minister Sharif's attempt to sack this man, General Perveez Musharraf, the head of the army. He was away in Sri Lanka, but appears to have organized the coup, in what appears to have been a highly effective counterattack following his sacking. The crisis was triggered when the military was ordered to pull back Pakistani guerrillas who had crossed into Indian-controlled territory in Kashmir. For many in the army, this was a humiliating setback in the confrontation with India. Developments in Pakistan will be causing alarm throughout South Asia. The army has mobilized not just in the capital, Islamabad, but also in the second city of Karachi, and also in Lahore, Prime Minister Sharif's hometown and power base. Ever since the country followed India and conducted underground nuclear explosions, the stakes have increased enormously. The West now faces a military coup and possible chaos in the world's newest and most volatile nuclear state. In the last few minutes, news has flashed on Pakistani television saying that the Nawaz Sharif government is being dismissed, a sign the coup is now being consolidated.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec99/pakistan_10-12.html

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A beleaguered Pakistan military regime faces mounting criticism

By Vilani Peiris
21 November 2000

Use this version to print

Last month marked one year since General Pervez Musharraf ousted the elected Pakistani government, arrested prime minister Nawaz Sharif and installed his own military regime. Accusing the previous government of corruption and ruining the economy, Musharraf promised to bring economic progress and political stability, eradicate poverty, build investor confidence and restore democracy as quickly as possible.

Twelve months later none of these promises have been fulfilled. The economy is still on a knife-edge and there is growing popular discontent with falling living standards and the lack of basic democratic rights. The regime is under fire not only from the political opposition but also from its supporters in the ruling elites including among the military top brass.

At the end of October, a meeting of key military commanders grilled Musharraf over the record of his administration. According to an Agence France-Presse report: “Political and diplomatic sources said that the commanders discussed plans to appoint a civilian prime minister to deflect public anger from the military, should the situation deteriorate further.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/nov2000/pak-n21.shtml


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The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll: General Pervez Musharraf

http://www.pakistan-facts.com/staticpages/index.php/20021121101525217


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In the late ’80s, Pakistan’s then head of state, Benazir Bhutto, told the first President George Bush, “You are creating a Frankenstein.” But the warnings never quite filtered down to the cops and G-men on the streets of New York.

http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/EdDesk.nsf/All/3043C0B91612E654CA256AD2000148E5

Can anyone figure out why Bhutto has been crushed in Pakistan? Same as Estrada in PI.