Sudan and South Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan is a country in the Nile Valley of North Africa, bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest. It is the third largest country in Africa.

Country profile

Sudan was the largest country in Africa and the Arab world until 2011, when South Sudan separated into an independent country, following an independence referendum. Sudan is now the third largest country in Africa (after Algeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and also the third largest country in the Arab world (after Algeria and Saudi Arabia).

The capital is Khartoum. The official languages are Arabic and English.

The president is Omar al-Bashir. From December 2018 onwards, Bashir faced large-scale protests which demanded his removal from power. On April 11, 2019, Bashir was ousted in a military coup d'état. Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan assumed office on 4.12.19.


Its predominant religion is Islam.

The politics of Sudan is regulated by a parliamentary organization called the National Assembly. The Sudanese legal system is based on Islamic law.

Sudan suffers from poor human rights, most particularly dealing with the issues of ethnic cleansing and slavery in the nation.











South Sudan becomes the world's newest nation on Saturday, 7.9.11, after a half-century struggle with their lack of autonomy, and the streets of the capital began to pulse with excitement as the clock ticked down toward history.

The capital is Juba. The official languages are English, Arabic (both official), Juba Arabic, Dinka. The president is Salva Kiir Mayardit .

Panning for gold in South Sudan.

There is a history of ethnic tension in the country that has spilled over into the political arena between the ethnic Dinka, which is the majority tribe of the president of the country, Salva Kiir. And his former vice president, Riek Machar, who represents the Nuer faction, which is the largest minority tribe in the country. There has often been conflict between the Dinka and Nuer going back centuries, really, because of different roles in society.

Just two years later, however, the country was engulfed by civil war when Mr Kiir sacked his entire cabinet and accused Vice-President Riek Machar of instigating a failed coup.

Under international pressure, the two sides signed a peace deal in May of 2014 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The deal paves the way for a permanent ceasefire followed by the formation of a transitional government, the drafting of a new constitution and, eventually, fresh elections.


  

Afghanistan and Pakistan

The president of Afghanistan was Hamid Karzai. His term ended on September 21, 2014. Afterwards the president was Ashraf Ghani ;he was the president from 9.29.14 to 8.15.21. Hibatullah Akhundzada assumed office as president on 8.15.21.

The capital is Kabul. Islam is their official religion; 99.7 percentage. The official languages are Pashto and Dari.

Quick guide and life of the Afghan country.

The plight of the Afghan woman

Sarkozy says burqas are 'not welcome' in France

The president of Pakistan is Asif Ali Zardari. His successor Mamnoon Hussain was elected on 30 July 2013. On 8 September 2013, Zardari became the country's first president to complete his constitutional term and handed over duties to a democratically elected successor.

The capital is Islamabad. CIA Factbook.


Who are the Taliban? They are islamic extremists/militants. It is commonly believed that they first appeared in religious seminaries - mostly paid for by money from Saudi Arabia - which preached a hard line form of Sunni Islam. Men are required to grow beards and women have to wear the all-covering burka. They show a similar disdain for television, music and cinema and disapproved of girls aged 10 and over from going to school. On October 9,2012, they shot a 15 year old girl name, Malala Yousafza, in the head for advocating education for girls in Swat Valley. In January 2009, militants took over her once-tranquil city in Swat Valley and ordered schools to stop educating girls. She blogged about the Taliban's efforts to scare girls away from learning institutions. She lives under constant threats for going to school in the conservative Swat Valley region in northwest Pakistan, where women are repressed under the militants' strict interpretation of Islam.

They emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. They first came to prominence in the autumn of 1994. Their leader was a village clergyman, Mullah Mohammad Omar , who lost his right eye fighting the occupying forces of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Their target was the feuding warlords known as the mujahideen who had forced Soviet troops out of the country. The Taliban was defeated November 21, 2001, but resurgent in 2003 after the United States shifted its military efforts to fighting the war in Iraq.


Pakistan's president is Asif Ali Zardari as of September 9, 2008. His election followed Pres. Pervez Musharraf's resignation on August 18, 2008. His successor Mamnoon Hussain was elected on 30 July 2013. The capital is Islamabad.

U.S.-Pakistan relations and Issue Guide. The U.S.-Afghanistan relations.


5.6.09 "Joined By a Common Goal"

What’s New in the Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan , and A New Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan , and Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan ,and The New Way Forward .

Pres. Obama assigned Richard Holbrooke as an envoy to both countries. He died on 12/13/2010 of a tear in his aorta.







FBI Chief says the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan are top terror threat







3.27.09 Video and Text: President Obama's comprehensive strategy


BBC reports: the plan has received a broad welcome from both countries




Zardari moves to end Pakistan political crisis





Karzai agrees with U.S. strategy, but says no al-Qaida bases in Afghanistan



NOTE: al qaeda leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said that he had personally beheaded Daniel Pearl, an American journalist who was the South Asia Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal, who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in early 2002, during the early months of the United States' War on Terror.




12.1.09 Pres. Obama is ordering 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Watch the video and read the transcript

Key points of Pres. Obama's strategy for Afghanistan.

• Send 30,000 additional U.S. troops. "So that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers," Pres. Obama said.

• Pursue a more effective civilian strategy. Pres. Obama said the U.S. would work to build up programs and institutions that will benefit Afghanistan's citizens.

• Have a more robust partnership with Pakistan. "We will strengthen Pakistan's capacity to target these groups [Taliban and al Qaeda] that threaten our countries. America is also providing substantial resources to support Pakistan's democracy and development." - Pres. Obama.






3.7.10 Adam Gadahn, America-born Jew converted to Islam is an al-qaeda spokesman. He's FBI most wanted terrorist who has been arrested in Karachi, Pakistan. Since 2004, he has been asking muslims in the U.S.A. to wage Jihad on Americans. Gadahn's arrest spells trouble for al-qaeda's regime and shows distrust in their inner circle. CNNs Amanpour interviews him.



3.8.10 VOANews: Al-Qaida suspect arrested in Pakistan is not Gadahn

3.16.10 Afghanistan-Pakistan Annual Review



Saving Aesha became a symbol of the oppression of women in Afghanistan, her war-torn country. Her Taliban husband and in-laws punished her for running away by hacking off her nose and ears and leaving her for dead.

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established on July 29, 1958, by the National Aeronautics and Space Act. It was created because on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world's first Earth-orbiting satellite. The launch of the 183-pound, beach ball-sized satellite caught the United States off guard while it was preparing to launch its own Earth-orbiting satellite. It took 98 minutes for Sputnik 1 to orbit the Earth, a single event that effectively launched the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, as well as the space age, including the creation of NASA in 1958.

In addition to the space program, it [NASA] is also responsible for long-term civilian and military aerospace research. Since February 2006 NASA's self-described mission statement is to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research."



Do faith in God and science contradict?
Learning more about the way God constructed our universe helps all of mankind appreciate the wonder of creation. Expanding our knowledge helps us to combat disease, ignorance, and misunderstanding. However, there is danger when scientists hold their faith in human logic above faith in our Creator. A Christian’s belief in science should never be like our belief in God. A Christian can have faith in God and respect for science, as long as we remember which is perfect and which is not.  We can count on science to do many great things, but we can also count on science to make mistakes. If we put faith in science, we depend on imperfect, sinful, limited, mortal men.  ..... Cursed is the one who trusts in man.... Jeremiah 17:5



The 9 planets : Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. Explore the planets .









3.24.09 President Obama's conversation with NASA Astronauts

Link



4.15.10 Pres. Obama's New plan for NASA .

African American Astronauts:

Guion Bluford Jr. was the first African American astronaut in space when he flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger on its night launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.




Robert Lawrence Jr. was the first African American appointed to the manned orbiting laboratory program, in June 1967, but he never made it into space. He was killed six months after his fighter jet crashed on the runway at an air force base in California.




Dr. Mae Jemison was on the space shuttle Endeavor when it left its launching pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida on September 12, 1992. She is the first African American woman to travel into space. She's a physician and a space engineer.




Bernard Harris Jr. was the first African American astronaut to walk in space. He is also a physician, and a businessman.




11.26.11 Mars rover, Curiosity, blasted off to search for life on Mars. Curiosity is expected to spend about two years roaming Mars, hunting things researchers say are essential for life to grow: liquid water, key chemicals used by living organisms and an energy source.

North Korea

Lisa Ling's sister, Laura Ling, and her colleague Euna Lee were seized along the Chinese-North Korea border. North Korea decides to indict them. June 8, 2009, and sentences them to 12 years labor. Pres. Obama said the U.S. was working through all channels to secure their release.

Ms Ling, 32, a Chinese-American, has reported on drug wars in Mexico and native tribes in Brazil and is the younger sister of Lisa Ling, an award-winning TV journalist. Her father, Doug Ling, told reporters that he brought up his daughters as a single father and that both of them were sometimes “too adventurous” in covering news around the world. “I worry quite a bit. But I’m not losing any sleep over it,” he said. “Because I’m more or less used to it.”

Dan Rather says:

1. N. Korea is testing the Obama Administration. They don't want to get lost in the shuffle of this new Administration.

2. N. Korea is eager to call attention to themself to what they call the unfairness of previous U.S. Administrations. So the journalists have become bargaining chips for N. Korea.

3. Bill Richardson is trusted in N. Korea. They want to get some attention from him or Al Gore. They want some engagement from the U.S.

4. N. Korea is furious because the United Nations is considering putting more sanctions on them because they launched a rocket a couple of months ago. Also, they don't like that Secy. of State Clinton is talking about putting them back on the U.S. terrorist state list.

Embedded video from CNN Video


Embedded video from CNN Video

7.11.09 : U.S. is seeking amnesty

8.4.09 : Bill Clinton sent to negotiate with Kim Jong-Il

updated 3 hours, 55 minutes ago

Story Highlights:
1.President Clinton on mission to negotiate release of Euna Lee, Laura Ling
2.Reporters for Al Gore's Current TV accused of plotting smear campaign
3.Visit comes amid tension over North Korea's nuclear program
4.Clinton unlikely to have made trip without likelihood of success, analyst say

(CNN) -- Former President Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in North Korea on Tuesday, North Korea's state-run news agency reported.

Clinton arrived in Pyongyang earlier in the day on a mission to negotiate the release of two American journalists who have been held in the reclusive communist nation since March, the White House confirmed.

Clinton "courteously conveyed a verbal message" to Kim from President Obama, North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denied that Clinton was carrying any message from the Obama administration.

Kim and Clinton had "an exhaustive conversation" that included "a wide-ranging exchange of views on the matters of common concern," KCNA reported.

Earlier in the day, Gibbs confirmed Clinton was on a "solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans," but gave little detail on his itinerary .

"We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission," Gibbs said.

KCNA did not disclose the purpose of the visit in its three-line dispatch. However a source with detailed knowledge of Clinton's movements told CNN late Monday that he was going to seek the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, both reporters for California-based Current TV, a media venture launched by Clinton's Vice President Al Gore.

Yang Hyong Sop, the vice president of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, and Kim Kye Gwan, the vice foreign minister, met Clinton, KCNA reported.

Lee and Ling were arrested while reporting on the border between North Korea and China and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign.

Since the United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, efforts to resolve the issue have been handled through Sweden, which represents U.S. interests in the reclusive communist state.

Video: What may lie behind the pick of Bill Clinton
Embedded video from CNN Video



Last month Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Obama administration had dropped its request for Ling and Lee to be released on humanitarian grounds and instead was seeking amnesty, which implies forgiveness for an offense.

This change in language is an important distinction that could move North Korea to release the women without feeling that its legal system has been slighted, analyst Mike Chinoy said.

"I suspect that it was made pretty clear in advance that Bill Clinton would be able to return with these two women; otherwise it would be a terrible loss of face for him," said Chinoy, an Edgerton senior fellow on Asia at the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles, California. "The bigger, broader and more important question is what else could be on the agenda. Will Clinton be carrying a letter from Barack Obama for the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il? Will he meet Kim Jong-Il?"

Clinton's mission comes as the United States and its allies in the region are trying to push North Korea back into stalled nuclear disarmament talks. North Korea conducted its second nuclear bomb test in May and has conducted several missile tests since then. The United Nations responded by tightening and expanding sanctions.

The two nations were on opposite sides in the 1950-1953 Korean War and had no regular contacts before a 1994 crisis over North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea agreed at that time to halt the development of nuclear weapons, but abandoned that accord and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003.

Clinton had considered visiting North Korea in 2000 near the end of his second term as president. His secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, had gone to Pyongyang in early 2000 to meet with Kim, now widely reported to be ill.

8.4.09 : The U.S. journalists are pardoned

updated 4 minutes ago

Story Highlights:
1.NEW: "Clinton expressed sincere words of apology," statement says
2.NEW: North Korea says Laura Ling, Euna Lee have been released
3.Reporters for Al Gore's Current TV accused of plotting smear campaign
4.Visit comes amid tension over North Korea's nuclear program

(CNN) -- North Korean President Kim Jong Il has pardoned and released two U.S. journalists, state-run news agency KCNA said Wednesday.

The announcement came after former U.S. President Clinton met with top North Korean officials in Pyongyang to appeal for their release.

"Clinton expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists against the DPRK after illegally intruding into it," the news agency reported. "Clinton courteously conveyed to Kim Jong Il an earnest request of the U.S. government to leniently pardon them and send them back home from a humanitarian point of view.

"The meetings had candid and in-depth discussions on the pending issues between the DPRK and the U.S. in a sincere atmosphere and reached a consensus of views on seeking a negotiated settlement of them."

The report said Clinton then conveyed a message from U.S. President Obama "expressing profound thanks for this and reflecting views on ways of improving the relations between the two countries."

It added, "The measure taken to release the American journalists is a manifestation of the DPRK's humanitarian and peace-loving policy.

"The DPRK visit of Clinton and his party will contribute to deepening the understanding between the DPRK and the U.S. and building the bilateral confidence."

DPRK is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the nation's official name.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, both reporters for California-based Current TV, a media venture launched by Clinton's Vice President Al Gore, have been held since March.

Lee and Ling were arrested while reporting on the border between North Korea and China and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign.

Because the United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, efforts to resolve the issue have been handled through Sweden, which represents U.S. interests in the reclusive communist state.

Video and Text: Clinton returns to the U.S. with the journalist . Also watch the video of Laura Ling speaking. After seeing Bill Clinton, they knew the nightmare was ending . President Obama reflects on their release. Pres. Obama's remarks.

Ireland

[ Fast Facts ] [ CIA: World Factbook ] [ St. Patrick's Day ]



Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth.

Two main languages are spoken in Ireland: Irish and English. The capital is Dublin. The president is Michael D. Higgins,and the prime minister is Enda Kenny.

In 2011, 84.2% of the population identified themselves as Roman Catholic, 4.6% as Protestant or of another Christian religion, 1.1% as Muslim, and 6.2% as having no religion.

The Church of Ireland is the second largest Christian denomination. Membership declined throughout the twentieth century, but experienced an increase early in the 21st century, as have other small Christian denominations. Significant Protestant denominations are the Presbyterian Church and Methodist Church. Immigration has contributed to a growth in Hindu and Muslim populations. In percentage terms, Orthodox Christianity and Islam were the fastest growing religions, with increases of 100% and 70% respectively.

Iran

3.20.09 NBC's John Yang explains how Pres. Obama plans to make a break from the Bush Administration regarding relations with Iran.

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Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Mahmoud Ahmedinejad welcomes 'honest' talks with U.S.

Ayatollah sees Pres. Obama sincere in muslim message

Mexico

The capital of Mexico is Mexico City. The president is Felipe Calderón. His term ended 11/30/12, and the new president's term began 12/1/12; he is Enrique Peña Nieto .

The country's profile . And the history of the country.








U.S.-Mexico Border Security Policy

White House steps up anti-cartel fight on border

Protection for the U.S.- Mexico Border

Embedded video from CNN Video





The President and Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan celebrate Cinco de Mayo at the White House.

6.5.09 Plan to combat drug trade at border

Tanzania

Tanzania is a nation in central East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south.

The Capital is Dodoma. The President is Jakaya Kikwete Mizengo Pinda. The Country profile , the CIA Factbook, and the history.


Embedded video from CNN Video

Albinos killed to harvest body parts


Witchcraft in Tanzania .





President Barack Obama meets with Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete in the Oval Office Thursday, May 21, 2009. This was the President's first meeting with an African Head of State. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)


1.14.15: Tanzania Bans Witchcraft to Stop Albino Killings.

Tanzania

Tanzania is a nation in central East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south.

The Capital is Dodoma. The official languages are Swahili and English. The President is John Magufuli. Their government is a presidential constitutional republic (supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch). The Country profile , the CIA Factbook, and the history.

Ethnic groups: mainland - African 99% (of which 95% are Bantu consisting of more than 130 tribes), other 1% (consisting of Asian, European, and Arab); Zanzibar - Arab, African, mixed Arab and Africa.

Albinos killed to harvest body parts. Their body parts are used as good luck charms . Some Tanzanian people superstitiously believe that to bring good luck and wealth it is necessary to make a magic ritual during which the flesh of an albino is mixed with special herbs and sea water.



Witchcraft in Tanzania .

1.14.15: Tanzania Bans Witchcraft to Stop Albino (A genetic condition marked by a reduction in melanin production in hair, skin, and eyes). Killings.

Greenland

Greenland is located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. 80% of the place is covered in ice. People get around by boats or planes. The great majority of the people in are Inuit (Eskimo) who have been dominated by the small European imperialist country Denmark.

A short history of Greenland

Brazil and Latin America

Latin America aka S. America refers only to those territories in the Americas where the Spanish or Portuguese languages prevail: Mexico, most of Central and South America, plus Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.

From a cultural perspective , Latin America generally includes those parts of the Americas where Spanish, French, or Portuguese prevail: Mexico, most of Central America, South America, and part of the Caribbean in which Haiti (a non-Hispanic country with some Hispanic cultural influence) is generally included.



The President of Brazil is Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva since January 1, 2003. A former union leader, Lula presided over a period of strong economic growth in Brazil during which more than 20 million people were lifted out of poverty. President Lula da Silva was in office until 12.31.2010. He steps down on January 1, 2011. He will leave behind a booming economy and a faith in the future unseen in Brazil for decades.

The capital is Brasilia. The Official language is Portuguese. The country's profile.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said the world's poor people should not be forced to pay for the global financial crisis. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva blamed the global economic crisis on “white people with blue eyes” and said it was wrong that black and indigenous people should pay for white people’s mistakes.

President Lula said white, blue-eyed people - not Indians, nor black, nor poor people - had created and spread the crisis throughout the world.

"It is a crisis caused and encouraged by the irrational behaviour of white people with blue eyes," the president said, "who before the crisis appeared to know everything, but are now showing that they know nothing. I do not know any black or indigenous bankers so I can only say [it is wrong] that this part of mankind which is victimised more than any other should pay for the crisis."



Dilma Rousseff , Lula's former chief-of-staff, was inaugurated as the new President of Brazil on January 1, 2011. She is the first female elected to the office. She won re-election on October 26, 2014.

On December 3, 2015, impeachment (to accuse a public official before an appropriate tribunal of misconduct in office) proceedings against Rousseff were officially accepted by the Chamber of Deputies.

April 18, 2016: The lower house votes for Dilma Rousseff's impeachment.

May 6, 2016: Senate Committee Votes for Rousseff to Stand Trial.

May 11, 2016: Supreme Court allows impeachment vote to take place.

On May 12, 2016, the Senate of Brazil temporarily suspended President Rousseff's powers and duties for up to six months or until the Senate reaches a verdict: to remove her from office if found guilty or to acquit her from the crimes charged. Vice President Michel Temer assumed her powers and duties as Acting President of Brazil during the suspension.

8.5.16 Friday: 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro officially starts.

8.10.16: The Senate votes in favor of impeachment trial for Rousseff.

8.31.16 Wed.: Senate removes President Rousseff from office 8.29.16: Dilma Rousseff defends record at impeachment trial. She is accused of illegally manipulating the budget to hide a growing deficit.

If Ms. Rousseff, age 68, is impeached, acting President Michel Temer will serve out her term, which ends in December 2018.

8.31.16: Lawyers at the impeachment trial of suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff wrapped up their final arguments, and are expected to take a short break before the Senate votes on whether to remove her from office.

8.31.16 Wed.: Senate removes President Rousseff from office. The Brazilian senate voted 61-20 to remove Rousseff from office for breaking federal budget laws.

Rousseff was accused of illegally using money from state banks to cover deficits in the federal budget in an effort to boost her popularity heading into the 2014 presidential election. She denied wrongdoing and accused her political opponents of using the trial as a way to overthrow her and undermine Brazil's democracy.





8.31.16: Michel Timer takes the oath of office to become the new president; his term ended on 12.31.2018. The current president is Jair Bolsonaro on 1.1.2019. His term ended on 12.31.2022. He was succeeded by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, he assumed office on January 1, 2023.

Tibet

China led a military assault on Tibet in October 1950, and in April 1951 Tibet's leaders said they were strong-armed into signing a treaty, known as the 'Seventeen Point Agreement', which gave China control over Tibet's external affairs and allowed Chinese military occupation, in return for pledging to safeguard Tibet's political system.

There was widespread open rebellion against Chinese rule within Tibet by 1956, which tipped over into a full uprising in March 1959. Tibetans say that thousands died during the occupation and uprising, but China disputes this.

On the night of 17 March the Dalai Lama , the spiritual leader of Tibet, fled to northern India. Some 80,000 Tibetans followed over the next few months.

The Chinese government went on to establish the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in 1965, and in 1966 Tibet was subjected to China's Cultural Revolution, which destroyed a large number of its monasteries and cultural artefacts.

China terrorizes Tibet

Tibet functioned as an independent government until China sent troops to Tibet in 1950, and summoned a Tibetan delegation the following year to sign a treaty ceding sovereignty to China.

Q&A: China and Tibet . Tibetan exiles keeps their identity alive. They self-immolate (set themselves on fire ) to protest China's rule over them. They grow increasingly frustrated about what they see as the Chinese government’s limitations on their religion and culture – a charge Beijing denies.

China

China , officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion.

The capital is Beijing. The official language is standard chinese. The president is Xi Jinping. He succeeded Hu Jintao (11.15.02 to 11.15.12).





China is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population. China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China (CPC). Communism means all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party. In theory, under communism, all means of production are owned in common, rather than by individuals ( see Marxism and Marxism-Leninism). In practice, a single authoritarian party controls both the political and economic systems. The Communist Party maintains strict control over the people. The authorities still crack down on any signs of opposition and send outspoken dissidents to labour camps.

All communists are socialists, which is an economic system - the government maintains the dominant influence over the economy - in which the production and distribution of goods are controlled substantially by the government rather than by private enterprise, and in which cooperation rather than competition guides economic activity.

The Capital is Beijing . The President is Hu Jintao. On 15 November 2012, Hu relinquished the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the CPC and was succeeded by Xi Jinping .

The Country profile , the CIA Factbook, and the history.





Embedded video from CNN Video





U.S. relationship with China



Examples of issues where progress can be made in the future:

First, we can cooperate to advance our mutual interests in a lasting economic recovery... We can promote financial stability through greater transparency and regulatory reform. We can pursue trade that is free and fair, and seek to conclude an ambitious and balanced Doha Round agreement. We can update international institutions so that growing economies like China play a greater role that matches their greater responsibility.

Second, we can cooperate to advance our mutual interest in a clean, secure, and prosperous energy future.

Third, we can cooperate to advance our mutual interests in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.

And fourth, we can cooperate to advance our mutual interests in confronting transnational threats. The most pressing dangers we face no longer come from competition among great powers -- they come from extremists who would murder innocents; from traffickers and pirates who pursue their own profits at the expense of others; from diseases that know no borders; and from suffering and civil wars that breed instability and terror.







4.12.10 Highs and lows in U.S.- China relationship.







China led a military assault on Tibet in October 1950, and in April 1951 Tibet's leaders said they were strong-armed into signing a treaty, known as the 'Seventeen Point Agreement', which gave China control over Tibet's external affairs and allowed Chinese military occupation, in return for pledging to safeguard Tibet's political system.

There was widespread open rebellion against Chinese rule within Tibet by 1956, which tipped over into a full uprising in March 1959. Tibetans say that thousands died during the occupation and uprising, but China disputes this.

On the night of 17 March the Dalai Lama fled to northern India. Some 80,000 Tibetans followed over the next few months.

The Chinese government went on to establish the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in 1965, and in 1966 Tibet was subjected to China's Cultural Revolution, which destroyed a large number of its monasteries and cultural artefacts.

China terrorizes Tibet

Tibet functioned as an independent government until China sent troops to Tibet in 1950, and summoned a Tibetan delegation the following year to sign a treaty ceding sovereignty to China.

Q&A: China and Tibet

Wang Yue , the two-year-old girl who was left for dead on a narrow street in southern China after a hit-and-run accident, has died. She died about 12:32 a.m. Friday 10.21.11. Two hit-and-run drivers ran over Yueyue, one after another, after she wandered into the alley outside her father's hardware store. Both fled the scene but are now under arrest. But there was one thing more shocking than the double hit-and-run: the seeming apathy by pedestrians, cyclists and drivers—18 of them—who did not stop to help. Yueyue laid motionless in the street for 10 minutes until Chen Xianmei, a 58-year-old woman who collects trash for a living, passed by. She moved her to safety and called for help.

A security camera captured the incident on tape. After the video was posted online, Yueyue's plight prompted sympathy, outrage and debate in and outside China. How could 18 people pass by the critically injured child and do nothing? The incident has also prompted widespread soul-searching in China about the state of the nation's morality and civic-consciousness. The incident has also prompted widespread soul-searching in China about the state of the nation's morality and civic-consciousness.

Why is it so difficult for Chinese nowadays to be a Good Samaritan ? There are many possible explanations and many possible culprits.Some blame it on the lack of laws and regulations. Others argue it's caused by the failure of China's education system to inculcate respect for human life and dignity.Still others blame it on what some call "jingshen kongxu", or spiritual vacuum. As the country's 1.3 billion people compete to make money and climb the economic and social ladder, experts say, many people find themselves spiritually adrift.

Pope Francis reaches out to China as he begins Asia trip.

Despite the Vatican's objections, Beijing insists on maintaining a state-controlled Catholic church that does not answer to Rome. There is also a large underground church, and the two sides disagree over which has the authority to ordain priests.

November 2009: Mixed-Race TV Contestant Ignites Racial Debate In China - Lou Jing, 20-year-old Shanghai woman whose mother is Chinese and father is African-American.

Turkey

Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.

The Capital is Ankara. The largest city is Istanbul. The President is Dr. Abdullah Gül , and the Prime Minister is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan . As of August 28, 2014, the PM is Ahmet Davutoğlu; he resigned on 5.22.16. On 8.28.14 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected President.

The Country profile .

5.15.14: Turkey updated profile .

Interactive map .

They are a NATO member .

11.23.11: Turkey officially apologizes for 1930's mass killings of Kurds .

7.3.14: At age 27, Leyla Imret is Turkey’s youngest mayor .

7.15.16: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced a military coup attempt as an "act of treason" and insisted his government remains in charge.

The coup attempt began late Friday night;7.15.16. It escalated quickly as military units closed key routes into Ankara and Istanbul and seized control of state-run television stations. There were clashes between crowds of government supporters and a military group calling itself the Peace at Home Council. The coup plotters issued a statement through the military saying they wanted to take control “to reinstall constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms, (and) to ensure that the rule of law once again reigns in the country." Critics blame Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule for eroding democracy and secular laws.


10.9.19 Turkey invades northern Syria and launches an attack on U.S.- allied Kurdish forces. The attack followed a sudden and unexpected decision on Sunday by U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from northern Syria ahead of the operation. Both members of Trump’s Republican Party and the Democratic Party expressed strong opposition to the withdrawal decision. Critics said the U.S. is abandoning its ally, the Kurdish fighters who fought with American troops against the Islamic State (IS). Turkey has long threatened to attack the Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. It says the Kurdish fighters are terrorists linked to a Kurdish rebellion in Turkey. But world powers fear the latest Turkish action could expand Syria’s eight-year-old civil war.

Who are the Kurds?

Cuba

Cuba , officially the Republic of Cuba is Communist( a political and economic system in which the major productive resources in a society—such as mines, factories, and farms—are owned by the public or the state, and wealth is divided among citizens equally or according to individual need.) and an island country in the Caribbean comprising the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud and several archipelagos. It is the only Communist-run country in the Western Hemisphere.

Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. The official language is Spanish. The president is Raúl Castro . On 4.19.18 Miguel Díaz-Canel was selected to succeed Raúl Castro as the new president.

In April 1961, Cuban exiles trained by the CIA attacked the Caribbean island and tried to overthrow Communist leader Fidel Castro.



Statement on Cuba Policy Changes - ease trade, travel and financial restrictions that have been in place for decades.


Pres. Obama has said he wants to ease restrictions on remittances and family travel by Cuban Americans. Some critics in the Cuban-American community oppose relaxing sanctions until Cuba releases political prisoners. Some of the Bush sanctions were put in place following a Cuban government crackdown on dissidents in 2003. With worsening U.S. relations in recent years, Cuba has drawn closer to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who provides billions of dollars in subsidies to Cuba. Continue...




President Obama lifted all restrictions Monday, April 13, 2009, on the ability of individuals to visit relatives in Cuba, as well as to send them remittances.

The move represents a significant shift in a U.S. policy that had remained largely unchanged for nearly half a century. It comes days before Obama leaves for a key meeting of hemispheric powers, the Summit of the Americas, in Trinidad and Tobago.

"President Obama has directed that a series of steps be taken to reach out to the Cuban people to support their desire to enjoy basic human rights and to freely determine their country's future," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

Obama also ordered new steps to promote the "freer flow of information among the Cuban people and between those in Cuba and the rest of the world, as well as to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian items directly to the Cuban people," Gibbs added.

The president took "these steps [in part] to help bridge the gap among divided Cuban families."




4.13.08 Monday: President Obama charts a new course with Cuba. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports: Keeping a campaign promise to ease U.S. policy toward Cuba, the President acted to allow Americans to make unlimited trips and money transfers to the communist nation.

The Cuban government, long the object of a U.S. economic blockade, is prepared to meet with the Obama administration, Cuba's leader said. "We've told the North American government, in private and in public, that we are prepared, wherever they want, to discuss everything -- human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners -- everything, everything, everything that they want to discuss," Cuban President Raúl Castro said Thursday at a summit of leftist Latin American leaders in Venezuela.

Organization of American States lifts 47-year-old suspension. Washington has enforced the embargo (the U.S. embargo against trade and financial activity) for nearly 50 years, in part to press the Communist nation to move toward democratization and greater respect for human rights. Some U.S. leaders say the hard-line stance has clearly failed to achieve the goal. Cuba & the U.S. struggle to repair relationship. The center of the Cuban exile community is in Miami, where the Cuban American National Foundation became a powerful lobbying group courted by U.S. politicians. For nearly five decades, pressure and political donations from the exile community have thwarted any efforts to lift the embargo.



EMBARGO

The origins of the embargo go back even further, to when Fidel Castro came to power Jan. 1, 1959. He quickly lost American support as he publicized private land and companies, and imposed heavy taxes on imports from the U.S. In the first year of Castro’s regime, U.S. trade with Cuba decreased 20%. Essencially, after Castro nationalized American-owned property, allied himself with the Communist Party and grew friendlier with the Soviet Union, America’s Cold War enemy, the U.S severed diplomatic and economic ties with Cuba and enacted a trade and travel embargo that remained in effect until 2015.

Why Did the U.S. and Cuba Sever Diplomatic Ties in the First Place? As Castro purged Cuba of Batista supporters, he declined to institute the democratic reforms that many had hoped for. Initially, the revolution had not been overtly Communist, but Castro moved further toward that ideology as his rule went on. In the middle of 1959, he instituted wealth-distribution and land-confiscation programs.

In a Cold War world, the rise of Communism in a nation so close to Florida was not taken lightly. Though the U.S. ambassador to Cuba, Philip W. Bonsal, did finally manage to meet with Castro that September, their discussions — partly concerned with arrests of U.S. citizens in Cuba and the government confiscation of some U.S. investments in Cuba — proved fruitless.

In the United Nations, Cuba began to stand with Communist nations against the U.S.; in Cuba, the ruling regime encouraged anti-U.S. sentiments; in early 1960, the U.S.S.R. instituted a trade-and-aid deal with Cuba; U.S. sugar producers pushed for the nation to stop buying sugar from Cuba; Castro accused the U.S. of sabotaging a ship that blew up in Havana’s harbor. The details of changes in Cuba and the U.S. reaction to those developments are complicated and often conflicting, but suffice it to say that TIME called that period a “rapidly deteriorating situation that sees Cuban-American relations reach a new low each day.”

Eventually, in late October of 1960, the U.S. imposed a strict embargo barring two-thirds of American imports from Cuba, which before then had been buying a whopping 70% of its imports from the United States.

3.21.16: Obama tells Raul Castro the Cuban embargo is going to end.



January 14, 2011: President Obama has directed the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Homeland Security to take a series of steps to continue efforts to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to freely determine their country’s future. Changes are to be made to regulations and policies governing: (1) purposeful travel; (2) non-family remittances; and (3) U.S. airports supporting licensed charter flights to and from Cuba. These measures will increase people-to-people contact; support civil society in Cuba; enhance the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban people; and help promote their independence from Cuban authorities.



Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba and has been used by the United States Navy for more than a century. Since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, for persons alleged to be enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan and later in Iraq. These are combatants who are considered "unlawful combatants" and who were formerly not being afforded protection under the Geneva Conventions for various reasons.

1.22.09: Pres. Obama issued executive order to close Guantanamo Bay prison and an order that all interrogations must follow Army manual. This will change America's image abroad, which has been damaged by the use of torture and the indefinite detention of suspects at the Gitmo prison in Cuba.

The Obama-Biden administration has already suspended terrorist suspects' trials at Gitmo for 120 days pending a review of the military tribunals.


5.15.09: President Barack Obama will restart military tribunals for a small number of Guantanamo detainees, reviving a Bush-era trial system he once assailed as flawed but with new legal protections for terror suspects, U.S. officials said.

2006 Military Commissions Act allows prosecution of Gitmo prisoners in a military court and abolishes habeas corpus a.k.a due process rights (a right to a court hearing so as not to be held indefinitely in a prison without being charged) for enemy combatants.

Dems voted against the Act. GOP voted for the Act.

Bush was reducing the number of detainees and has been seeking to return dozens of cleared prisoners to their countries of origin.

Obama said the military tribunal (court of justice) is flawed. Gitmo should be closed and habeas corpus restored. In 2006 Obama said it was a violation of U.S. law because of th elimits on detainees' legal rights. Biden said Gitmo should be closed and prisoners moved to the maximum military prison at FT. Leavenworth, Kansas.

Military Tribunal is a Bush-era trial system (detention system). Many human rights advocates and legal organizations don't like this system because it denies detainees many of the rights they would be granted in a civilian courtroom.

2.1.2010: Pres. Obama is asking for more than $230 million in the 2011 budget to buy and prepare an idle Illinois prison to house terrorism suspects now detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. CNN reports


2.27.15: The U.S. and Cuba make progress in Restoring Diplomatic Ties .


11.25.16: Wearing a green military uniform, Cuba's President Raul Castro appeared on state television to announce his brother's death. "At 10.29 at night, the chief commander of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, died," he said, without giving a cause of death. "Ever onward, to victory," he said, using the slogan of the Cuban revolution.




BACKGROUND (Also see Pre-Castro Cuba)

Fidel Castro and the road to power as he and a small band of rough-looking revolutionaries overthrew unpopular dictator, Fulgencio Batista, in 1959 and rode their jeeps and tanks into Havana, the nation's capital. They were met by thousands upon thousands of Cubans fed up with the brutal dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and who believed in Castro's promise of democracy and an end to repression. That promise would soon be betrayed, though, and Castro held on to power for 47 years until an intestinal illness that required several surgeries forced him to relinquish his duties temporarily to younger brother Raul in July 2006. Castro resigned as president in February 2008, and Raul took over permanently.

The United States government had supported the American-friendly Batista regime since it came to power in 1952. After Fidel Castro, together with a handful of supporters that included the professional revolutionary Che Guevara, landed in Cuba to unseat Batista in December 1956, the U.S. continued to support Batista. Suspicious of what they believed to be Castro’s leftist ideology and fearful that his ultimate goals might include attacks on U.S. investments and properties in Cuba, American officials were nearly unanimous in opposing his revolutionary movement. As the Castro government moved toward a closer relationship with the Soviet Union, and Castro declared himself to be a Marxist-Leninist, relations between the U.S. and Cuba collapsed into mutual enmity.

In October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war over Soviet nuclear missiles installed in Cuba. President Kennedy demanded that the Soviets remove the weapons, and he established a naval blockade around the island. In the end, the Soviet Union backed down and removed the missiles. Cuba, which had struggled economically despite the Soviet subsidies, underwent even more severe hardships starting in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

A group of CIA-trained Cuban exiles, armed with US weapons, landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Castro. The invasion failed miserably, with many of the exile fighters killed or captured.

The United States later paid $53 million worth of food and medicine in exchange for more than 1,100 prisoners.

Two weeks after the Bay of Pigs,an isolated spot on the island’s southern shore, Castro formally declared Cuba a socialist state. A group of CIA-trained Cuban exiles, armed with US weapons, landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Castro. The invasion failed miserably, with many of the exile fighters killed or captured.

The United States later paid $53 million worth of food and medicine in exchange for more than 1,100 prisoners.

Two weeks after the Bay of Pigs, Castro formally declared Cuba a socialist state.






A Timeline of US-Cuba Relations.




11.28.16: "If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate the deal," Donald Trump tweeted. He would reverse the deal unless Cuba met certain demands such as the "religious and political freedom for the Cuban people, and the freeing of political prisoners," without going into specifics. He called the Obama administration's negotiations "a very weak agreement."

The White House pushed President-elect Donald Trump not to reverse President Obama’s opening with Cuba.


11.29.16: Some blacks applaud Castro legacy of racial equality. To them, he was a freedom fighter who cared about improving the lives of all Cubans, regardless of race.

Many Cubans saw their families torn apart after Castro took power, seizing property and jailing dissidents. Millions fled the country.

But for many African-Americans, Castro was a leader who was unafraid to stand up against racism at home and abroad.

At the height of the U.S. civil rights movement, Castro met publicly with Malcolm X, and sent Cuban troops to Angola to fight against the apartheid government of South Africa at a time when the U.S. still supported it. His support of the Civil Rights movement in America and African independence movements abroad has complicated his story.

Soledad O’Brien, whose mother is an Afro-Cuban, said those who have not fully studied history should take into account the “horrible things” perpetrated on Cubans, as well as the “big things” Castro brought to the nation, including healthcare, literacy and his attempt to “stamp out racial discrimination.”








Assata Shakur was granted asylum by Fidel Castro in 1984.


Cuba has long been a haven for African-Americans who've committed what might be interpreted as political crimes. Black Panthers such as Eldridge Cleaver, Huey Newton and Raymond Johnson all spent time in Cuba in the 1960s (not always happily). At one time it was speculated that as many as 90 African-Americans were living in Cuba under asylum.

For Cuba, turning Shakur in to U.S. authorities would constitute a betrayal of its long, very carefully cultivated relationship with the African-American community, with the African diaspora and Africa itself. Castro didn't just do photo ops with Malcolm X; under his leadership, Cuba articulated a vision for the elimination of institutional racism and attempted to dismantle it (though even he admitted this was not as successful as he'd hoped), put men and women on the ground in several wars of liberation in Africa, trained doctors from Africa for free through its Latin American School of Medicine and, in recent years, extended scholarships to the school through the Congressional Black Caucus to U.S. students from underserved communities. (Of course, all this has also resulted in tremendous tolerance by African and other Third World countries of Cuba's human rights abuses.)

Returning Shakur to the U.S. would be an inconceivable 180 on the principles that governed all that. And whatever Cuba's actual record on more general ethical behavior, this is one issue on which it has never wavered.



12.17.19: 5 Years After Detente With US, Cubans Say Hope Has Dwindled.