INTERNATIONAL: News briefs

Villagers killed in Kunduz, Afghanistan

The smell of burnt out flesh hung over the banks of the Kunduz river before dawn on Friday morning, the 14th day of Ramadan. The ground was scattered with the body parts of poor villagers who’s only crime was to help themselves to free fuel from a hijacked Nato tanker that was stranded in the river. However, what was initially a free-for-all fuel bonanza soon turned into a horror scene as Nato jets struck the tanker, thereby igniting an inferno that engulfed the entire area, killing between 50 and 90 people.

Eye witness accounts depicted the hellish scenes. "Nobody was in one piece. Hands, legs and body parts were scattered everywhere. Those who were away from the fuel tanker were badly burnt," said 32-year-old Mohammad Daud,

Dr Farid Rahid, a spokesperson in Kabul for the ministry of health, said up to 250 villagers had been near the tankers when the airstrike was called in. Officials said about 55 Taliban were killed and more than ten wounded, but witness accounts of civilian deaths are yet to be officially confirmed.

Witnesses told Agence France-Presse that villagers, including children, gathered around one of the tankers that had stalled in the shallows of the river to help themselves to fuel.
Taliban insurgents hijacked the trucks late Thursday, the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) under Nato said, and were trying to drive them across the river when one got bogged down.

Witnesses said the insurgents called on villagers living nearby to help themselves to the fuel -- probably to lighten the load and make the stranded truck easier to move.
"Villagers rushed to the fuel tanker with any available container that they had, including water buckets and pots for cooking oil," said Daud. Some farmers even brought their tractors to fill up, he said, and as they did, 10 to 15 Taliban gunmen stood on top of the tanker watching the free-for-all. "This was when they were bombed," Daud said. "Everyone around the fuel tanker died."

At the funeral ceremony, men and boys from the village stood silent along the edge of a mass grave as a tractor shoved earth over the dead remains. At the hospital in Kunduz city, the provincial capital, the injured were carried in, many with unspeakable wounds and red muscles exposed due to the absence of skin. Many were too dazed and in too much pain to even cry, according to witnesses.

Sources: ( AFP, Mail, Guardian, Ameen Salarzai and Angor Bagh)



Venezuela: A new socio-economic model


A first time meeting took place between the US author, intellectual and Professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Noam Chomsky and the leader of Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez. The meeting which took place in Caracas involved a televised forum discussion on hemispheric politics.

Chomsky is well known in Venezuela for his critiques of U.S. imperialism and support for the progressive political changes underway in Venezuela and other Latin American countries in recent years. President Chavez regularly references Chomsky in speeches and makes widely publicized recommendations of Chomsky's 2003 book, Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance.

"Hegemony or survival; we opt for survival," said Chavez in a press conference to welcome Chomsky. He compared Chomsky's thesis to that of German socialist Rosa Luxemburg in the early 1900s, "Socialism or Barbarism," and referred to Chomsky as "one of the greatest defenders of peace, one of the greatest pioneers of a better world”

Through an interpreter, Chomsky responded, "I write about peace and criticize the barriers to peace; that's easy. What's harder is to create a better world... and what's so exciting about at last visiting Venezuela is that I can see how a better world is being created."

During the forum, which was broadcast on the state television station VTV, Chomsky pointed out that the ongoing coup in Honduras, which began on June 28th, is the third coup the United States has supported in Latin America so far this century, following the coup against Chavez in 2002 and Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004.

According to Chomsky, the region has the capacity to unite and form a "peace zone" in which foreign militaries are forbidden to operate. "Venezuela can help to advance this proposal, but it cannot do it alone," he said.

Chomsky said the growing disappointment with the Obama administration in the U.S. was predictable because the corporate media marketed Obama's presidential candidacy on the slogan of "Change We Can Believe In" but omitted concrete proposals for effective changes, and the Obama administration has since shown an incapacity to institute such changes.

Sources: (Information Clearing House, Venezuelanalysis)



Powerful Russian jets set to reach Syria

According to a Russian newspaper, a contract to provide Syria with MiG fighter jets is being processed but the delivery of the hardware is yet to take place. The paper cites the head of United Aircraft Corporation as saying that a 2007 contract to supply the advanced interceptor jets is yet to enter into force. However, officials to have denied any such arms sale.

The MiG-31E is capable of firing at several targets concurrently to a distance of up to 180 kilometers. Such a contract is expected to anger Israel who’s recent efforts to convience the Krelmin not to sell arms to Iran and Syria appear to have been met with mixed success.

In May, Reuters cited sources that claimed that Russia halted plans to sell MiG-31 fighters to Syria due to pressure from Israel. In 2007, Russia agreed to supply Syria with eight MiG-31 fighters, known in the West by NATO codename Foxhound, for about $400-$500 million, the paper said.

Source: (HAARETZ)



Record high US unemployment

US government data shows that its unemployment rate is currently at 9.7 per cent, representing a 26 year old high. An estimated 216,000 people lost their jobs in August which nevertheless represents a decrease in the job loss rate from the previous month where some 276,000 people become jobless. In June a staggering 463,000 people fell out of work.

Economists took the data with a pinch of salt as the figures indicated that the rate of job losses was easing up whilst the total number of those unemployed continues to mount. Some analysts expect job losses to continue for a few more months during which time any recovery in consumer spending would be impeded. Other analysts remain more skeptical.

The US economy, the world’s largest, contracted by only one per cent in the second quarter of 2009 as compared with 6.4 per cent in the previous quarter. Many commentators expect the economic growth rate to turn around in the third quarter but most do not expect US unemployment to fall until mid-2010.

Source: (Agencies / Al Jazeera)