O tenebroso Estado Islâmico, na Síria e no Iraque

Islamic State militants are the most dangerous threat the US has faced in recent years, Washington has warned.

Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said US air strikes had helped to break the Islamist advance in Iraq, but the militants could be expected to regroup.

America's top general Martin Dempsey stressed that IS could not be defeated without attacking their base in Syria.

The warnings come after IS posted a video showing the beheading of US journalist James Foley.

The US has now begun a formal criminal investigation into Mr Foley's death, with US Attorney General Eric Holder warning that the country has a "long memory".

It has emerged that a special US military mission tried but failed earlier this summer to rescue Mr Foley and other US hostages held in Syria.

The militants had also reportedly wanted a $132m (£80m) ransom for his release.
'Apocalyptic vision'
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Mr Hagel described IS as an imminent threat.

Islamic State militants control large swathes in Syria and Iraq

The US has carried out air strikes in Iraq since 8 August

"They are beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess, they are tremendously well-funded... this is beyond anything that we have seen."

Meanwhile, Gen Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said IS was "an organisation that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated".

"To your question, can they be defeated without addressing that part of their organisation which resides in Syria? The answer is no. That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a non-existent border."

Neither Mr Hagel nor Gen Dempsey announced a change in the limited military campaign adopted by Barack Obama, and the US president is unlikely to deepen his involvement in Iraq or Syria, the BBC's Barbara Plett Usher in Washington reports.

But US officials did not rule out additional action against IS in Iraq or Syria, our correspondent adds.
Hunt for killer
In the UK, police and security services are trying to identify the jihadist who appeared in footage of Mr Foley's killing.

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The BBC's Ian Pannell says finding Mr Foley's killer and bringing him to justice may be impossible

Unconfirmed reports suggest the man - who had an English accent - is from London or south-east England.

In the video of Mr Foley's murder, IS militants threatened to kill another American if the US did not stop its air strikes against the group in northern Iraq.

US air strikes have continued near Mosul despite the warning.

On Wednesday, President Obama vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"We will be vigilant and we will be relentless," he said. "When people harm Americans, anywhere, we do what's necessary to see that justice is done."
Air strikes intensify
The US has been conducting air strikes across Iraq since 8 August, as part of a campaign against IS targets.

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Jeremy Cooke reports from the frontline, as Iraq forces battle Islamic State militants

US aircraft destroyed or damaged four IS vehicles and several bomb placements in strikes near the strategic Mosul Dam in northern Iraq on Thursday, the military said.

There have been a total of 90 air strikes across Iraq since operations began, the Pentagon said.

Of those 90 strikes, 57 have been near the dam.

The US said Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters recaptured the dam with American assistance on Monday.

IS fighters have waged a violent campaign in Iraq and Syria, seizing large swathes of both countries.

The violence has displaced an estimated 1.2 million people in Iraq alone.

Who are Islamic State (IS)?

• Formed out of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in 2013, IS first captured Raqqa in eastern Syria
• By early 2014 it controlled Falluja in western Iraq
• Has since captured broad swathes of Iraq, seizing the northern city of Mosul in June
• Fighting has displaced at least 1.2 million Iraqis
• Pursuing an extreme form of Sunni Islam, IS has persecuted non-Muslims such as Yazidis and Christians, as well as Shia Muslims, whom it regards as heretics
• In July alone, IS expanded dramatically, recruiting some 6,300 new fighters largely in Raqqa, an activist monitoring group said.  BBC

Mais de um milhão de iraquianos foram mortos

American academic Noam Chomsky says the United States will be recognized as a leading terrorist state if international law is applied, Press TV reports.

“I took the official definitions of terrorism, which were very good, I took the definition that is given in US and British law, which is a fine definition but has a flaw; If you apply it, it turns out the United States is one of the leading terrorist states in the world,” Chomsky told Press TV in an interview on Tuesday.

The academic added that he had predicted the ongoing so-called war on terror by the US when Ronald Reagan was president in the 1980s.

“I’ve been writing about terrorism since 1981, since Ronald Reagan came into office and declared that a war on terror would be the centerpiece of the American policy,” Chomsky stated.

He called into question the legality of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, saying, “The US and Britain tried to provide a kind of a thin legal cover for the invasion. The legal cover was, as you know, that Saddam had not ended his programs of weapons of mass destruction.”

US-led forces attacked Iraq in 2003 and toppled Saddam Hussein on the pretext of possessing weapons of mass destruction. But no WMD was ever discovered in Iraq.

At the peak of the US-led military operation in Iraq, there were 170,000 US troops and more than 500 bases in Iraq.

More than one million Iraqis were killed as the result of the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of the country.

KA/SS/IS

Carta de Tutu ao povo de Israel

My plea to the people of Israel: Liberate yourselves by liberating Palestine

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, in an exclusive article for Haaretz, calls for a global boycott of Israel and urges Israelis and Palestinians to look beyond their leaders for a sustainable solution to the crisis in the Holy Land.

A child next to a picture of Nelson Mandela at a pro-Palestinian rally in Cape Town. August 9, 2014 / Photo by AP

By Desmond Tutu

Published 21:56 14.08.14

The past weeks have witnessed unprecedented action by members of civil society across the world against the injustice of Israel’s disproportionately brutal response to the firing of missiles from Palestine.
If you add together all the people who gathered over the past weekend to demand justice in Israel and Palestine – in Cape Town, Washington, D.C., New York, New Delhi, London, Dublin and Sydney, and all the other cities – this was arguably the largest active outcry by citizens around a single cause ever in the history of the world.
A quarter of a century ago, I participated in some well-attended demonstrations against apartheid. I never imagined we’d see demonstrations of that size again, but last Saturday’s turnout in Cape Town was as big if not bigger. Participants included young and old, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists, blacks, whites, reds and greens ... as one would expect from a vibrant, tolerant, multicultural nation.
I asked the crowd to chant with me: “We are opposed to the injustice of the illegal occupation of Palestine. We are opposed to the indiscriminate killing in Gaza. We are opposed to the indignity meted out to Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks. We are opposed to violence perpetrated by all parties. But we are not opposed to Jews.”
Earlier in the week, I called for the suspension of Israel from the International Union of Architects, which was meeting in South Africa.      
I appealed to Israeli sisters and brothers present at the conference to actively disassociate themselves and their profession from the design and construction of infrastructure related to perpetuating injustice, including the separation barrier, the security terminals and checkpoints, and the settlements built on occupied Palestinian land.
“I implore you to take this message home: Please turn the tide against violence and hatred by joining the nonviolent movement for justice for all people of the region,” I said.
Over the past few weeks, more than 1.6 million people across the world have signed onto this movement by joining an Avaaz campaign calling on corporations profiting from the Israeli occupation and/or implicated in the abuse and repression of Palestinians to pull out. The campaign specifically targets Dutch pension fund ABP; Barclays Bank; security systems supplier G4S; French transport company Veolia; computer company Hewlett-Packard; and bulldozer supplier Caterpillar.
Last month, 17 EU governments urged their citizens to avoid doing business in or investing in illegal Israeli settlements.
We have also recently witnessed the withdrawal by Dutch pension fund PGGM of tens of millions of euros from Israeli banks; the divestment from G4S by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and the U.S. Presbyterian Church divested an estimated $21 million from HP, Motorola Solutions and Caterpillar.
It is a movement that is gathering pace.
Violence begets violence and hatred, that only begets more violence and hatred.
We South Africans know about violence and hatred. We understand the pain of being the polecat of the world; when it seems nobody understands or is even willing to listen to our perspective. It is where we come from.
We also know the benefits that dialogue between our leaders eventually brought us; when organizations labeled “terrorist” were unbanned and their leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were released from imprisonment, banishment and exile.
We know that when our leaders began to speak to each other, the rationale for the violence that had wracked our society dissipated and disappeared. Acts of terrorism perpetrated after the talks began – such as attacks on a church and a pub – were almost universally condemned, and the party held responsible snubbed at the ballot box.
The exhilaration that followed our voting together for the first time was not the preserve of black South Africans alone. The real triumph of our peaceful settlement was that all felt included. And later, when we unveiled a constitution so tolerant, compassionate and inclusive that it would make God proud, we all felt liberated.
Of course, it helped that we had a cadre of extraordinary leaders.
But what ultimately forced these leaders together around the negotiating table was the cocktail of persuasive, nonviolent tools that had been developed to isolate South Africa, economically, academically, culturally and psychologically.
At a certain point – the tipping point – the then-government realized that the cost of attempting to preserve apartheid outweighed the benefits.
The withdrawal of trade with South Africa by multinational corporations with a conscience in the 1980s was ultimately one of the key levers that brought the apartheid state – bloodlessly – to its knees. Those corporations understood that by contributing to South Africa’s economy, they were contributing to the retention of an unjust status quo.
Those who continue to do business with Israel, who contribute to a sense of “normalcy” in Israeli society, are doing the people of Israel and Palestine a disservice. They are contributing to the perpetuation of a profoundly unjust status quo.
Those who contribute to Israel’s temporary isolation are saying that Israelis and Palestinians are equally entitled to dignity and peace.
Ultimately, events in Gaza over the past month or so are going to test who believes in the worth of human beings.
It is becoming more and more clear that politicians and diplomats are failing to come up with answers, and that responsibility for brokering a sustainable solution to the crisis in the Holy Land rests with civil society and the people of Israel and Palestine themselves.
Besides the recent devastation of Gaza, decent human beings everywhere – including many in Israel – are profoundly disturbed by the daily violations of human dignity and freedom of movement Palestinians are subjected to at checkpoints and roadblocks. And Israel’s policies of illegal occupation and the construction of buffer-zone settlements on occupied land compound the difficulty of achieving an agreementsettlement in the future that is acceptable for all.
The State of Israel is behaving as if there is no tomorrow. Its people will not live the peaceful and secure lives they crave – and are entitled to – as long as their leaders perpetuate conditions that sustain the conflict.
I have condemned those in Palestine responsible for firing missiles and rockets at Israel. They are fanning the flames of hatred. I am opposed to all manifestations of violence.
But we must be very clear that the people of Palestine have every right to struggle for their dignity and freedom. It is a struggle that has the support of many around the world.
No human-made problems are intractable when humans put their heads together with the earnest desire to overcome them. No peace is impossible when people are determined to achieve it.
Peace requires the people of Israel and Palestine to recognize the human being in themselves and each other; to understand their interdependence.
Missiles, bombs and crude invective are not part of the solution. There is no military solution.
The solution is more likely to come from that nonviolent toolbox we developed in South Africa in the 1980s, to persuade the government of the necessity of altering its policies.
The reason these tools – boycott, sanctions and divestment – ultimately proved effective was because they had a critical mass of support, both inside and outside the country. The kind of support we have witnessed across the world in recent weeks, in respect of Palestine.
My plea to the people of Israel is to see beyond the moment, to see beyond the anger at feeling perpetually under siege, to see a world in which Israel and Palestine can coexist – a world in which mutual dignity and respect reign.
It requires a mind-set shift. A mind-set shift that recognizes that attempting to perpetuate the current status quo is to damn future generations to violence and insecurity. A mind-set shift that stops regarding legitimate criticism of a state’s policies as an attack on Judaism. A mind-set shift that begins at home and ripples out across communities and nations and regions – to the Diaspora scattered across the world we share. The only world we share.
People united in pursuit of a righteous cause are unstoppable. God does not interfere in the affairs of people, hoping we will grow and learn through resolving our difficulties and differences ourselves. But God is not asleep. The Jewish scriptures tell us that God is biased on the side of the weak, the dispossessed, the widow, the orphan, the alien who set slaves free on an exodus to a Promised Land. It was the prophet Amos who said we should let righteousness flow like a river.
Goodness prevails in the end. The pursuit of freedom for the people of Palestine from humiliation and persecution by the policies of Israel is a righteous cause. It is a cause that the people of Israel should support.
Nelson Mandela famously said that South Africans would not feel free until Palestinians were free.
He might have added that the liberation of Palestine will liberate Israel, too.

Camarões: Incapacidade perante o Boko Haram

The military's reorganisation to cope with the jihadist threat leaves unanswered the charge that the country is a soft touch for kidnappers

As further details emerge about Boko Haram's 27 July attempt to capture Amadou Ali, one of President Paul Biya's top ministers and confidants, questions remain about the adequacy of the government's response. The attack – part of a broad offensive by the jihadist insurgents in Cameroon – saw a force of 200 militants driving into the country to seize Deputy Prime Minister Amadou Ali, who was visiting Kolofata, his home town. They killed three before escaping with Ali's wife and other hostages. A major detachment of troops, supported by an armoured vehicle, was mysteriously recalled from Kolofata three days before the attack, Africa Confidential has learned from a source in Yaoundé. Despite calling immediately for help, Ali later complained, the special anti-terrorist unit, the Brigade d'intervention rapide, did not respond and the Boko Haram column was free to escape across the border to Nigeria. Although the attack lasted some four hours, troops only arrived 90 minutes after Boko Haram had left, we hear.
Africa Confidential

A emergência do Reino de Marrocos

Lors de son discours, mercredi, à l'occasion de la "Fête de la révolution, du roi et du peuple, Mohammed VI a estimé que le Maroc avait vocation à intégrer "le concert des pays émergents", soulignant que les prochaines années seraient "décisives" pour atteindre cet objectif.

Le Maroc a "rendez avec l'Histoire". Le 20 août, lors de son discours à l'occasion de la "Fête de la Révolution du roi et du peuple, Mohammed VI a soutenu que son pays avait vocation à intégrer le club "des pays émergents".
Sur un ton volontairement optimiste, le souverain chérifien a affirmé que le modèle de développement marocain a "atteint un niveau de maturité qui l'habilite" à faire cette "entrée méritée" dans un club qui comprend celui des Brics (Brésil-Russie-Inde-Chine-Afrique du Sud). "L'économie nationale a connu une transformation profonde dans sa structure et une grande diversification dans ses secteurs productifs", a fait valoir Mohammed VI, soulignant "un taux de croissance élevé et constant (...) au Maroc, en dépit des retombées de la crise mondiale".
Parmi les réussites, Mohammed VI cite également le développement des infrastructures, une amélioration "du climat des affaires", la création de "pôles compétitifs" ou encore "l'essor" des énergies renouvelables.

Ne pas céder "à l'autosatisfaction"
"Les prochaines années seront décisives pour préserver les acquis, corriger les dysfonctionnements et stimuler la croissance et l’investissement", a toutefois prévenu le roi, appelant à ne pas céder "à l'autosatisfaction".
Pays de 35 millions d'habitants, le Maroc a connu en effet ces dernières années des taux de croissance compris entre 2 % et 5 %, malgré la crise en Europe, son principal partenaire. Son économie demeure toutefois grandement tributaire du rendement du secteur agricole, qui représente près de 20% du PIB.
Après avoir culminé à plus de 7% en 2012, le déficit public a, de son côté, été ramené à 5,5 % en 2013 et devrait repasser sous la barre des 5 % l'an prochain.
(Avec AFP)


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Casamansa, nada mansa

SENEGAL Taking a chance on Casamance

Armed with a development plan and secretive mediators, the President thinks he can pacify the troubled region The fractious politics of Casamance are holding up President Macky Sall's grand economic plans as he tries to relaunch his battered government. He believes that a breakthrough in the deadlock with Casamance separatists could pave the way for a major revival in his political fortunes. The urgent need for change was underlined on 17 August when ten young people were killed when their ox cart detonated a land mine close to Casamance's border with Gambia. Administrative and financial problems have undermined support for his presidency, resulting in heavy losses for the governing coalition in local elections in late June, and Sall urgently needs a win. Africa Confidential

Economias asiáticas em crescimento

Amid all the geopolitical doom and gloom that is dominating the headlines, I thought I'd focus on a piece of good news this week: Asia's small and poor economies. While China is still a star performer in terms of economic growth—a remarkable achievement given its continental scale—growth is slowing, and every year it slips down the regional growth rankings. In 2015 our prediction is that Papua New Guinea will be Asia's fastest growing economy, with a number of others, including Cambodia and Mongolia, growing faster than China.

Asia is dotted with a number of rich countries, like South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, that were poor not so long ago.  These provide a compelling example for their regional neighbours to aspire to (although not for North Korea).  In many cases, smaller countries can also be more welcoming to foreign investment, as larger countries like China, India and Indonesia become increasingly selective about which sectors are open for foreign investment.

Of course, it's not all about growth rates. Despite Japan's meagre growth rate, in 2015 it will still add a hefty US$124bn to its GDP.  Simon Baptist, The Economist