Sunday, June 1, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Hagel: Congress Kept in Dark on Swap Because Bergdahl's Life in Danger – NBC
BY F. BRINLEY BRUTON
First published June 1st 2014

Congress was not told about the military operation to free Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from the Taliban ahead of time because officials believed the soldier's life was in danger, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday.

Intelligence gathered suggested that Bergdahl's "safety and health were both in jeopardy, and in particular his health was deteriorating," he said in his first extensive public comments about Saturday's operation.

The Pentagon did not give Congress the required 30-day notice for the release of detainees.

"We couldn't afford any leaks anywhere, for obvious reasons"

Bergdahl, 28, was turned over by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan to U.S. Special Forces Saturday evening in exchange for five prisoners described by the Taliban as “leaders” who were held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center.

The operation to move quickly was "essentially to save [Bergdahl's] life," Hagel said speaking to reporters traveling with him just hours after Bergdahl was flown from Afghanistan to a military medical center in Germany.

On Saturday, President Barack Obama appeared with Bergdahl's parents, and said he was "never forgotten" as he was held prisoner by the Taliban.

Only a handful of people knew about the operation and Hagel said "we couldn't afford any leaks anywhere, for obvious reasons."

The Taliban handed Bergdahl over to special operations forces in eastern Afghanistan, and later in the day the detainees were flown from the Guantanamo detention center to Qatar.

Hagel said the special operations forces conducting the operation took every precaution, using intelligence gathering, surveillance, well-positioned security assets and a lot of helicopters to ensure that things did not go wrong.

"No shots were fired. There was no violence," said Hagel. "It went as well as we not only expected and planned, but I think as well as it could have ...The timing was right. The pieces came together."

Hagel did not respond to questions on whether he believed Bergdahl was trying to desert the Army or go absent without leave when he walked away from his unit in Afghanistan five years ago.

"Our first priority is assuring his well-being and his health and getting him reunited with his family," Hagel said. "Other circumstances that may develop and questions — those will be dealt with later."

"This is a very happy day for the Bergdahl family," Hagel said. "It's a very important day for our troops and our country."

Hagel also said that his time in Vietnam and the fact that he knew people like Sen. John McCain of Arizona who was a prisoner of war, gives him a personal connection to such an exchange.

Nevertheless, McCain himself said there were important questions regarding the release in exchange for five Taliban militants.

“These particular individuals are hardened terrorists who have the blood of Americans and countless Afghans on their hands,” Sen. John McCain said in a statement, while acknowledging the joy Bergdahl’s family was surely feeling.

“I am eager to learn what precise steps are being taken to ensure that these vicious and violent Taliban extremists never return to the fight against the United States and our partners or engage in any activities that can threaten the prospects for peace and security in Afghanistan,” added McCain.

Indeed, the detainees could resume their previous roles as Taliban commanders, terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann said.

"Looking at the profiles of these individuals, I think there’s a valid reason for concern about what lies in the near future,” he added.




“The Taliban handed Bergdahl over to special operations forces in eastern Afghanistan, and later in the day the detainees were flown from the Guantanamo detention center to Qatar.... 'No shots were fired. There was no violence," said Hagel. "It went as well as we not only expected and planned, but I think as well as it could have ...The timing was right. The pieces came together.'"

There are suspicions that Bergdahl was trying to desert the army or go AWOL five years ago when he was apprehended by the Taliban after simply walking away from his base. Those questions will be explored later, according to Hagel. The particular Taliban fighters who were released in exchange for Bergdahl are considered “vicious and violent” by Sen. John McCain, and he questions what precautions are being undertaken to prevent them from returning to their battlefield positions with the Taliban. It is against US policy to negotiate with terrorists, but the news cited the actions of President Reagan who exchanged arms for prisoners. There is such a thing as a stalemate, and being able to get some of your soldiers back is a goal worth pursuing. War does, after all, have a human face.





Indian Dad of Raped, Slain Teen Hung From Tree Turns Down State Money – NBC
By F. Brinley Bruton, with Reuters
First published May 31st 2014

The father of one of two girls who were gang raped and killed in rural India has turned down thousands in compensation offered to him by the state government — an unusual refusal likely to focus attention on his demands for a federal investigation into the crime.

"I don't expect justice from the state government as state police officers shielded the suspects," said Sohan Lal, a poor farm laborer in Uttar Pradesh who was offered 500,000 rupees ($8,500) by the state government.

Such government payments are common in India when poor families face high-profile calamities.

Lal told reporters Saturday that he would accept no financial assistance until the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's FBI, takes over the case, which has triggered national and international outrage.

India has a long history of tolerance for sexual violence. But the gang rape and killing of the 14- and 15-year-old girls — which was followed by TV footage showing their corpses swaying as they hung from a mango tree — caused outrage across the nation.

Also on Saturday, police arrested a third suspect in the gang rape and slaying of the two teenage cousins found hanging from a tree in northern India, as a top state official said he was recommending a federal investigation.

The three suspects detained in the attack are cousins in their 20s from an extended family, and they face murder and rape charges, crimes punishable by the death penalty, said police officer N. Malik. Two other suspects from the same village are also being sought, he said.

Facing growing criticism for a series of rapes, authorities in Uttar Pradesh, which has a long-standing reputation for lawlessness, also arrested two police officers and fired two others Friday for failing to investigate when the father of one of the teenagers reported the girls missing earlier in the week.




"'I don't expect justice from the state government as state police officers shielded the suspects,' said Sohan Lal, a poor farm laborer in Uttar Pradesh who was offered 500,000 rupees ($8,500) by the state government. Such government payments are common in India when poor families face high-profile calamities.” Lal demands that the Central Bureau of Investigation will take over investigation of the case. This complaint that “state police officers shielded the suspects” is telling. Why would the state avoid apprehending them? Is it entenched anti-feminist feeling or the fact that they were from a lower class? Maybe the members of upper classes are able to pay the police a bribe to get their investigations going. Or maybe in this case the suspects are themselves members of a higher class.

“India has a long history of tolerance for sexual violence.” Two police officers have been fired and two arrested for failing to investigate. There are suspects, but they are still on the loose. “A top state official” has recommended a federal investigation. I will look for other articles on this as the case progresses.





Wolf Pups Rescued from Alaska Fire Find New Home – NBC
— Phil Helsel
First published May 31st 2014

Say "ahhh!" A vet checks up on one of the orphaned pups after the pups were rescued in Alaska.

Five orphaned wolf pups rescued from their den at the edge of a massive wildfire in Alaska have found a new home.

The pups, rescued by firefighters battling the Funny River fire in the Kenai Peninsula Tuesday, will become residents of The Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, Minn., the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Saturday.

All five pups suffered porcupine quill wounds when the one of the spine-covered critters likely barged into pups' den trying to find a refuge in the early days of the fire, raging since May 19, officials said.

The five are receiving treatment at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, but that facility doesn’t have the room to provide a home for the pups, zoo officials said this week.

The two females and three males will remain at the Alaska Zoo until they are healthy enough to be moved to Minnesota, the department said. The move to Minnesota ensures the five will remain together, officials said.

“It’s the companionship,” said Pat Lampi, executive director of the Alaska Zoo. “They were born together in the wild and now they can grow up together. As long as they remain together, wherever they go is home.”




Baby animals are almost always adorable. A baby alligator at the Okefenokee Swamp was carried around to those of us who were listening to a lecture and I petted it on the head. It was very cute. I'm glad these wolf pups will be kept together, because they are highly communal animals and would miss their siblings if separated. I saw a wolf held by itself at the Jacksonville Zoo and all it did was pace back and forth beside the fence, obviously waiting for a chance to escape, as it paid me no attention at all. As a group they can be well socialized and entertained. This is a happy story.





Sudanese Woman Sentenced to Death to be Freed: Government Official – NBC
— Reuters
First published May 31st 2014

KHARTOUM — A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for converting to Christianity is expected to be released soon, a government official said on Saturday, after Khartoum came under diplomatic pressure to halt her execution.

"The related authorities in the country are working to release Mariam (Yehya Ibrahim), who was sentenced to death for apostasy, through legal measures," Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary Abdelah Al-Azrak told Reuters.

"I expect her to be released soon," he added.

A Sudanese court this month imposed the death sentence on the pregnant 27-year-old woman, who is married to a Christian American, and ordered her to return to Islam.

The sentence caused a diplomatic incident, with Britain urging Sudan to uphold what it called its international obligations on freedom of religion.

Ibrahim’s lawyer, Mohaned Mostafa, said neither he nor the woman's husband had been notified about any release. "But we do hope she will get released soon," Mostafa told Reuters.

Ibrahim was also sentenced to 100 lashes for what it deemed her adultery for marrying a Christian. Last week she gave birth in prison to a daughter, her second child by her American husband Daniel Wani.




“A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for converting to Christianity is expected to be released soon, a government official said on Saturday, after Khartoum came under diplomatic pressure to halt her execution.” I thought the Islamic religion was supposed to be tolerant of all religions, but not apparently in a case of conversion, and not in Sudan. British diplomats urged Sudan to “uphold its “international obligations on freedom of religion,” and Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary Abdelah Al-Azrak said the government is “working” to get Ibrahim released. Hopefully she and her husband will go to Britain to live after her release.





​Lessons to be learned from a one-room schoolhouse
CBS NEWS June 1, 2014

There's nothing like a desk and a chalkboard to bring back memories of the one-room schoolhouse. Unless, that is, you live in one of the American towns where these fabled schools are more than just a memory. They're alive and teaching. Our Sunday Morning Cover Story is reported by Barry Petersen:

For a century-and-a half, Montana's Pioneer Mountains have echoed with the young voices from the Divide, Mont.'s one-room school.

Yes, there are still one-room public schools in America. Today about 200 one-room schools carry on a tradition that's older than America itself. And while the frontier where they first appeared may be gone, the spirit that they helped create is alive and well in towns across rural America.

"This is the heart of the community," said teacher Judy Boyle.

At Divide School, Boyle loves what she does: "I have teacher meetings once a week. It's with me, myself and I. We get along really well!"

Divide School teaches grades K through 8. At times it's had as many as 30 students.

This year, with only three students, Boyle can give such individual attention, she makes lesson plans for each student.

"You're really designing something custom-made for these three kids. That's, I would think, a great thing to be able to do as a teacher," said Petersen. "

"It is, it really is," said Boyle, "because you can respect their differences and what makes them tick."

But there are some key similarities between a one-room schoolhouse and your neighborhood school. Take the cost: it's roughly the same per student, and all the schools have to meet the same state and national standards.

And sometimes, like at Divide, there are additional expectations at a school that has been operating since the 1870s.

"In these small communities, their schools are really important to them," said Boyle, "because the school is what generates the reputation of that town."

There was a time when almost every American child learned in a one-room school. In the 1700s, John Adams taught in a one-room school near Boston; Abe Lincoln was educated at a one-room school; and Henry Ford loved his so much, he had it moved to a museum in Michigan.




“Today about 200 one-room schools carry on a tradition that's older than America itself. And while the frontier where they first appeared may be gone, the spirit that they helped create is alive and well in towns across rural America.... Divide School teaches grades K through 8. At times it's had as many as 30 students.” This year teacher Judy Boyle has only three students, so she designs individual lesson plans for each one. The article says that she does have to meet state and national standards, so her kids should be fully prepared for Middle School and beyond.

At least there won't be any undisciplined school bullies here, or hopefully not anyway. It's better than home schooling because Boyle is a fully educated and qualified teacher, as most parents in the US are not. In one way this would be an ideal educational environment. I think the disorder and failing students in so many city schools is due to overcrowding. The teachers simply can't keep up with what is going on, and many students “get lost” in such a large population, too often turning to gang membership for group identity. I'm glad to see this tradition survive.




'The disgraced oligarch’: WikiLeaks cables reveal changing US views on Poroshenko – CBS
Published time: May 30, 2014

The US was among the first states to congratulate Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko. Yet real US opinions of the new president are more complicated, as revealed by WikiLeaks cables which refer to the billionaire as a “disgraced oligarch.”

For years, the US was keeping an eye on the Ukrainian billionaire and former foreign minister. Between 2006 and 2011, Poroshenko's name was a direct or indirect subject of hundreds of cables released by WikiLeaks.

A simple search for ''Poroshenko'' on WikiLeaks' website gives at least 350 documents mentioning his name. But some of the descriptions provided by US diplomats are far from complimentary.

Poroshenko is not new to politics, having occupied various prominent posts in Ukraine in the past.

The majority of the negative characteristics were given to Poroshenko by US diplomats between 2006-2009 - the years he served as a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada and council chair of the National Bank of Ukraine.

For example, in a cable dated February 16, 2006, US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst describes Poroshenko as a “disgraced oligarch.”

''[Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister] Konstyantyn Hryshchenko claimed that Poroshenko appeared to be working hard to scuttle a possible deal between Yushchenko and Yanukovich, because such a coalition would likely freeze out the disgraced oligarch. End summary,'' he said.

In another cable dated May 26, 2006, deputy chief of the US mission in Kiev Sheila Gwaltney addressed the Department of State describing 'Poroshenko as“tainted by credible corruption allegations.”

Then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was one of the people behind the corruption accusations. Poroshenko was then one of Viktor Yushchenko’s close allies during the Orange Revolution.

A series of US diplomatic cables shows the Poroshenko-Tymoshenko rivalry, revealing that he would stop at nothing in order to get back at Tymoshenko for accusing him of public corruption.

Beginning with 2009 - the year Poroshenko became a Ukrainian foreign minister - US descriptions began to turn around, with personal characteristics becoming more favorable.

In a cable dated October 9, 2009 US interim charge d’affaires to Ukraine James Pettit described him as a“wealthy businessman with broad political connections, calling for increased European integration and more pragmatic relations with Russia.”

Later, cables talked about Poroshenko developing pro-Western views.

US Ambassador John Tefft’s report from February 17, 2010 said that it was Poroshenko who recommended that then-President Viktor Yanukovich make his first visit to Brussels instead of Moscow.

Poroshenko “urged the US not to read too much into language in Yanukovich's speeches favorable to Medvedev's [the then Russian president] proposal for new security architecture.” The note added that Poroshenko insisted “NATO membership remains an aspiration, albeit a distant one.”

When asked about Poroshenko’s thoughts about the cables, the president-elect’s press secretary Irina Friz told Kommersant newspaper that “he did not read them.”

Poroshenko already has a meeting scheduled with Barack Obama, after the US president expressed his readiness to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart while on his European tour. The meeting is scheduled for June 3, according to Kommersant.

The Ukrainian leader is one of the country's richest businessmen. He has been dubbed the 'Chocolate King' because of the fortune he has made in confectionery, which is worth more than US$1.3 billion. Poroshenko also unofficially controls Ukraine’s Channel 5.

Poroshenko officially won the election as he received 54.7 percent of the votes, the country's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) announced Thursday.

The president-elect's main competitor, Yulia Tymoshenko, was a distant second, with just 12.81 percent of the votes, according to exit polls.

The inauguration ceremony for the new Ukrainian leader is scheduled to be held sometime between June 8-10.

Meanwhile, Kiev intensified its military operation in the eastern regions of Ukraine in the run-up and following the election, escalating the conflict further.




“US interim charge d’affaires to Ukraine James Pettit described him as a 'wealthy businessman with broad political connections, calling for increased European integration and more pragmatic relations with Russia.'” In 2010 he was described as supporting closer relations with Europe than Russia, and even the possibility of NATO membership. A meeting between Poroshenko and President Obama is scheduled for June 3, and his inauguration is due between June 8 and June 10.

The headlines on this article seemed to indicate a scandal against Poroshenko, but the comments quoted about him were only vaguely negative and the most recent ones showed him as a leader in several positions over the years with a definite leaning toward the West. He is continuing the attempts to unseat the Russian rebels in the East. In another article there was a statement that a group of Ukrainian soldiers gave up a position to the Russians, so that isn't good, and in another article the Russian government is in conflict with Kiev over payment of its debt for natural gas supplies. They are negotiating over the price. At least Russia hasn't sent its troops back to the Crimean border. It seems that the crisis is diminished for the time being.