G-Four Group Seeks Support from African Nations

Brazil, India, Germany and Japan are negotiating with African nations in an effort to win permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council. Backers of a council expansion proposal are hoping for an early vote in the General Assembly.

Foreign ministers from the so-called Group of Four nations will be in New York Sunday for critical talks on their bid to become permanent members of the most powerful U.N. Council. The G-four, as they are known, will meet representatives of the African Union (AU) in hopes of winning the 53-member bloc's backing for their plan to enlarge the Security Council from 15 to 25 members.

Under the G-four proposal, six of the new seats would be permanent, two of them reserved for African countries. The AU has countered with its own draft that would result in slightly more influence for Africa.
Foreign Minister Olu Adeniji of the current AU president Nigeria is already in New York for the talks. Speaking to reporters, he signaled the African bloc's willingness to negotiate.

"That goes without saying," he said. "You don't submit a draft to 191 member states and say take it or leave it. That is a prescription for killing the draft before it gets off.

Two days of debate on the G-four proposal in the General Assembly this week revealed significant opposition. Two of the five current permanent Council members, China and the United States, warned against moving too fast on expansion. A third, Russia, suggested the G-four proposal was "unacceptable."

There is also a question of African support. Diplomats from African countries acknowledge the 53-member body is far from unanimous in its views on Council enlargement.

G-four ambassadors, however, remain hopeful of garnering the 128 votes needed for approval of their plan. Germany's U.N. representative Gunter Pleuger says when faced with a decision, member states would have only two choices: the G-four plan, or the status quo.

"The member states who have to push a button in the General Assembly will realize that the G-four draft resolution is the only one that can carry a majority," he said. "And they will also realize that the alternative is zero. There is no alternative."

There is, however, a competing proposal being circulated, should the G-four proposal fail. A group of G-four opponents led by Pakistan, Italy, Mexico and South Korea has come up with a draft that would add 10 new Council seats, all of them non-permanent.
Italy, which opposes a permanent seat for Germany, has dispatched a senior foreign ministry official to New York to lead a lobbying effort.
Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, which opposes India's candidacy, argues that pushing for an early vote on the G-four plan could spell disaster for the wider cause of U.N. reform.

"I certainly hope that the G-four will not rashly push on to a vote, because firstly I don't think it'll achieve the result, and secondly, it'll raise the temperature further and divide the whole place and put the rest of the reform exercise in jeopardy," said Mr. Akram. 

Germany's Ambassador Pleuger, however, said the G-four would press for an early vote on their resolution. When asked if the coalition including his country, Brazil, India and Japan could pick up the necessary 128 votes, he beamed with confidence.

"We will. You wait. We will," he added.

Diplomats say the G-four proposal could come to a vote as early as next week.

After that, however, the issue of Council expansion still faces a long and difficult road. A second General Assembly resolution would be needed to decide which countries would be named to permanent Council seats.

The third step would require ratification by the legislatures of two-thirds of U.N. member states, including all five permanent Security Council members.

10 Killed at Mexican Drug Rehab Center

Mexican police say gunmen have shot and killed at least 10 recovering addicts at a drug rehabilitation center. 

The killings happened late Sunday in Tijuana, near the U.S. border.The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
Mexican security forces have been engaged in a brutal struggle against the country's violent drug cartels since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006.
Nearly 30,000 people have been killed since the campaign began.

Last week, Mexican security forces seized 105 tons of marijuana in Tijuana, the largest Mexican drug bust in recent years.

Just one month before the 2010 midterm elections, a new public opinion poll shows that Arab-American voters favor Democrats over Republicans by a wide margin

The survey also finds that discrimination against Arab Americans appears to be on the rise.
Americans go to the polls next month to cast their votes against during a time of continued economic distress and unresolved conflicts across the Middle East. Arab Americans, once considered a political swing group, are now solidly in the Democratic camp, according to the new survey by Zogby International, which was sponsored by the Arab American Institute.
Favoring Democrats
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, points to foreign policy and civil rights as major reasons for the community's support of the Democratic party.
"It is not the party that made the war in Iraq. It is not the party that supported the devastation of Lebanon. It is not the party that supported and wrote the PATRIOT act and supported the abuse of civil liberties," says Zogby
The survey shows that Arab-Americans support Democrats two-to-one over Republicans on national security, fighting terrorism and the economy. On the issue of civil liberties, the margin is three-to-one in favor of the Democrats.
The survey was conducted during the last week of September, following weeks of controversy over plans by a Muslim group to build an Islamic cultural center and mosque - called Park 51 - near the site of the World Trade Center.
Many opponents of the project were conservative Republicans, who said building a mosque there would be insensitive to the families of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Zogby says that reinforced Arab-Americans' tendency to lean toward the Democrats.
Discrimination
Nearly half of those polled also report experiencing discrimination.
"When we asked Arab-Americans, 41 percent said they have been discriminated against because of their ethnicity. They are sensitive to these issues because they know when it does not smell right , does not feel right," says Zogby. "People are not going to vote Park 51, that is not going to be the cause of the vote, but it has created an atmosphere which reinforces a sense of not being welcomed, of not being included."
Zogby says the Arab-American vote in the midterm elections will be significant in Pennsylvania, Ohio, California and Florida, where there are large Arab-American communities. He expects a very significant impact in Michigan, where Arab-Americans make up five percent of registered voters.
Increased participation
Hassan Jaber, executive director of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Michigan, says one of the center's goals is to increase Arab-American political participation in the state.
"Detroit is one of the largest Arab-American communities in the nation and the community is extremely dynamic and engaged," says Jaber. "We have seen more engagement in the political process and obviously the Arab-American community has a lot of economic clout in Detroit, so it is significant. We work with community leaders in making sure that we maximize the engagement of Arab-Americans and that there will be coordination among Arab-American organizations."
According to Jaber, similar efforts are being made in many other Arab-American communities throughout the U.S., but there is a special focus on Michigan.
"There are scheduled fundraising events almost every evening this week, there is, in Michigan, recognition of the size and of the power of Arab-Americans and we are very happy with the level of engagement."
Jaber says candidates often attend these fundraising events, where Arab-American voters express their concerns over the rising trend of discrimination and the racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims at American airports.
The Zogby poll indicates that jobs and the economy are the top priority for 70 percent of Arab-American voters, followed by the war in Iraq, Middle East peace efforts and other foreign policy concerns.
On virtually every one of these issues, respondents said that the Democrats would do a better job than the Republicans and that they favor a Democratic-controlled Congress. Mid-term elections will be held on November 2, 2010.

Americans Misuse Chinese Characters

From the moment Spaniards -- or was it Vikings? -- first dropped anchor and encountered the natives whom the Spanish called Indians (because they thought they had landed in India), the land now known as America has been a multicultural place. And of course it's much more so today. Just check out our faces and dialects and music.


And our signs -- in English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and more. Well, maybe it's Chinese.
Mandarin Chinese characters, called Hanzi, are hot right now. They're a popular decoration on clothing and artwork and tattoos.


But as Tian Tang, a young Chinese American who's a graduate student at Arizona State University, points out on his Internet website, Hanzismatter.com, an awful lot of these characters are just plain wrong. Some are not even Chinese at all, but pretty little ink strokes that sort of look Chinese.


Mr. Tang's site shows us a colorful shirt decorated with a powerful, leaping tiger. Next to the beast are nine Chinese characters. But they translate into gibberish -- words like unicorn and chicken and superficial. Not one of the characters has anything to do with tigers, or even cats.


Other Hanzi, delicately tattooed onto a woman's back, translate as crazy diarrhea. Surely this wasn't what she ordered from the tattoo artist.


So, America is a multicultural melting pot. But reading the signs doesn't always tell you who you're melting with.

U.S. President Barack Obama is devoting most of his time and public appearances these days to one issue - reforming the nation's health care system

But concerns about the cost and scope of reform are growing among members of Congress and the general public. Mr. Obama is making an all-out effort to regain the upper hand.

President Obama is speaking out about health care reform on a daily basis - stressing its importance to the nation's long term economic well-being.

The latest stop on his campaign was the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he met with doctors, nurses and administrators on Monday. Afterwards, he told reporters that what he heard only strengthened his conviction that health care reform is needed now.

"We spoke about some of the strains on our health care system and some of the strains our health care system places on parents with sick children," said President Obama.

Mr. Obama said there is a health care crisis in America. And he said politics must not be allowed to get in the way of reform.

"The need for reform is urgent and it is indisputable," said Mr. Obama. "No one denies that we are on an unsustainable path."

The stepped up White House campaign for health care reform comes at a time when public support for the president's stand on the issue appears to be slipping.

A public opinion poll conducted by The Washington Post newspaper and the ABC television network indicates growing doubts among Americans about the president's handling of the issue.

Less than half of those polled - 49 percent - said they agree with his stand on health care. That is down from 57 percent in April.

Shortly after the poll results were released, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele delivered a speech attacking the president's push for health care reform.

"The Barack Obama experiment with America is a risk our country cannot afford," said Michael Steele. "It is too much, too fast, too soon."

Other Republicans have spoken in even tougher terms, with one senator suggesting health care could be Barack Obama's political downfall.

During his visit to the Children's National Medical Center, President Obama referred to those comments.

"This isn't about me," he said. "This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses and breaking America's economy."

The president has said he wants Congress to finish work on the legislation before its traditional long summer recess in August.

In a public television interview Monday evening on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Mr. Obama indicated the timing could slip. But he left no doubt that he wants to see a bill soon.

"If somebody comes to me and says it is basically done, it is going to spill over by a few days or a week, that is different," said President Obama.

　
The president also made clear he is not surprised by all of the obstacles opponents have tried to throw in the way of health care reform. He said that if the reform process was easy, it would have been done decades ago.

Afghan election officials have begun recounting disputed ballots from the August 20 presidential election

The recount amid fraud allegations leaves open the possibility of a second round for the disputed election.

　

The recount, ordered by the Election Complaints Commission, began this week and comes before the full, election results have been announced. The final preliminary numbers have been held up because of what the government-run Independent Election Commission describes as "technical problems" with the official forms for the remaining untabulated two percent of ballot boxes.

　

Noor Mohammed Noor, an IEC spokesman has told Afghan Service those forms are being sent back to the provinces for clarification.

　

The nearly complete results show President Hamid Karzai with a commanding lead over former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. The incumbent is currently above the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff election.

But the U.N.-backed Election Complaints Commission is ordering a significant recount of ballots from every province - covering 10 percent of all polling stations.

　
Canadian Grant Kippen is the chairman of the ECC, of which three of the five members are appointed by the U.N. Secretary General.

"We have received 2,300 complaints of which we have prioritized those complaints and over 700 have been deemed to be what we call a "Priority A' complaint, of high priority," he said. "Those are the complaints that we are actually dealing with at this point in time."

VOA News asked Kippen if the on-site investigations of massive ballot box stuffing and other acts of election fraud will take weeks or, as some predict, months to complete.

"I really cannot give you an answer in terms of a definitive date by which we are going to be done," said Kippen. "We are dealing with the complaints received, this order that we issued last week to the Election Commission. There is this audit and recount process. It is difficult to put a timeline to both of these activities at this point."

A runoff would likely have to be delayed until next year if not held very soon to avoid the impending winter, which would not make balloting logistically possible in much of rural Afghanistan.

Presidential candidate Abdullah says if the results are delayed until next year then Afghanistan should have a transitional government put into place.

"I would be more comfortable with the results coming out before the winter, yes, sooner rather than later," he said. "Should that other scenario, which is not preferable, happen, on that I think a sort of caretaker government has to be put together preferably with not Mr. Karzai at the top."

Abdullah says he should also not be the leader of such a temporary administration.

　
Abudllah's campaign contends that up to one of every four votes cast in last month's election are under suspicion of being tainted.

　
The foreign policy chief for the European Union, Javier Solana, has told reporters in Brussels that while he would like to see the process go faster the most important aspect is to have credible results in the end.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeir says the fraud allegations cannot be ignored and his European counterparts will insist the complaints be thoroughly scrutinized.

Many Western countries initially hailed the election as a victory for the democratic process. The Taliban, ousted from power by a U.S. invasion in 2001, had vowed to disrupt balloting.

The United States has the largest military force in the country among the 42-nation coalition fighting the eight-year-old war against the insurgents.

At the ASEAN Defense Ministers meeting in Hanoi

Chinese Minister of Defense Liang Guanglie invited his U.S. counterpart Defense Secretary Robert Gates to visit China, in what seems like an easing of military tensions in the region. Diplomacy appears to be making some progress in reducing tensions at the ASEAN Plus Eight defense ministers' meeting. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations invited the United States, China, Japan, Russia and other regional powers to address security issues in the Pacific.
China resumes military relations
By inviting Defense Secretary Robert Gates to visit next year, China is resuming high-level military relations with the United States. Earlier in the year, China suspended military contacts because of U.S. planned arms sales to Taiwan.
The Chinese Defense Minister also said talks with Japan's defense officials were positive. Tensions between the two countries have increased after a Chinese fishing boat collided with Japanese coast guard patrol ships in waters claimed by both sides.
U.S. support for Southeast Asia
Earlier in the day, speaking to members of the military and students at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi, Secretary Gates sent a message to reassure Southeast Asia.
"I think all Asia can be confident that the U.S. intends to remain engaged in Asia as we have been for so many scores of years before and that we intend to be an active party, not only in economic and political matters but also in defense and security matters," Gates said.
The United States is concerned territorial disputes over small island chains in the region could hurt access to one of the world's busiest sea lanes.
Beijing says its claims over the Spratly and Paracel islands are a "core national interest." Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia also claim all or part of the islands. Although largely uninhabited, the islands are believed to sit atop vast reserves of oil and natural gas.
Solution to sea disputes
The United States says it has a national interest in freedom of navigation in international waters. Mr. Gates said Asian sea disputes should be resolved peacefully through negotiations.
The defense secretary also says by acting together in a multilateral organization like ASEAN, smaller Asian countries can better resolve regional security issues.
"Increasingly we find that relying exclusively on bilateral relationships is not enough," said Gates. "We need multi-lateral institutions in order to confront the most important security challenges in the region."
During his two-day visit, Gates will meet with several Asian defense ministers who want U.S. support to counter the growth of China as a regional power.