Nearly 1,000 treated for breathing problems south of Mosul: hospital

Nearly 1,000 people have been treated for breathing problems linked to toxic gases from a sulfur plant which Islamic State militants are suspected to have set on fire near the city of Mosul, hospital sources said on Saturday.
No deaths were reported in connection with the incident, said the sources at the hospital in Qayyara, a town south of Mosul. The first cases began arriving on Friday morning, they said.
A sulfur plant caught fire earlier this week as the Iraqi army dislodged Islamic State fighters from the area of Mishraq, north of Qayyara. The U.S. military said the militants had deliberately set it on fire.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-sulfur-idUSKCN12M0K4

Turkey's Erdogan says respects borders, even if it 'weighs on our hearts'

Turkey respects every nation's geographical boundaries, even if it "weighs on our hearts", Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, in what appeared to be a reference to the Iraqi city of Mosul, once a part of the Ottoman empire.
His comment came after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declined an offer from Turkey to take part in the battle to dislodge Islamic State from Mosul. Turkey has wanted to take part in the battle. It still sees Mosul as firmly within its sphere of influence.
"Some ignorant people come and say, 'What relation could you have with Iraq?' Those geographies that we talk about now are part of our soul," Erdogan said in a speech.
"Even if it weighs on our hearts, we respect every nation's geographical borders."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-iraq-erdogan-bo-idUSKCN12M0LP

Inquiry finds Syrian government forces responsible for third gas attack

An international inquiry found Syrian government forces responsible for a third toxic gas attack, according to a confidential report submitted to the U.N. Security Council on Friday, setting the stage for a showdown between Russia and western council members over how to respond.
The fourth report from the 13-month-long inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the global chemical weapons watchdog, blamed Syrian government forces for a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib governorate on March 16, 2015, according to a text of the report seen by Reuters.
The third report by the inquiry in August blamed the Syrian government for two chlorine attacks - in Talmenes on April 21, 2014 and Sarmin on March 16, 2015 - and said Islamic State militants had used sulfur mustard gas.
The results set the stage for a Security Council showdown between the five veto-wielding powers, likely pitting Russia and China against the United States, Britain and France over how those responsible should be held accountable.
Following the submission of the third report, Russia said the conclusions could not be used to impose U.N. sanctions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-chemicalweapons-idUSKCN12M007

White House condemns Syrian government forces use of toxic gas

The White House on Saturday condemned the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government after an international inquiry found its forces responsible for a third toxic gas attack in Syria's civil war.
The fourth report from the 13-month-long inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the global chemical weapons watchdog, blamed Syrian government forces for a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib governorate on March 16, 2015, according to a text of the report seen by Reuters.
In August, the third report by the inquiry blamed the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for two chlorine attacks - in Talmenes on April 21, 2014 and Sarmin on March 16, 2015 - and said Islamic State fighters had used sulfur mustard gas.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Assad regime's defiance of the longstanding global norm against chemical weapons use and Syria's abrogation of its responsibilities under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it joined in 2013," White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement on Saturday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-chemicalweapons-idUSKCN12M0UT

Turkey bombs Syrian Kurdish militia allied to U.S.-backed force

The Turkish military confirmed its warplanes had carried out 26 strikes on areas recently taken by the Kurdish YPG militia, the strongest force in the SDF, and that it had killed between 160 and 200 combatants.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-kurds-idUSKCN12K0ER 

ICRC steps up aid for Iraq amid fears of post-Mosul sectarian strife

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is prepared to provide aid to 800,000 people who could flee the looming battle for Mosul, including against any use of chemical weapons, said Patrick Hamilton, the ICRC's deputy director for the Near and Middle East.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-redcross-idUSKCN12K1ZV 

Masculinity, Jihad and Mobilization

To engage gender analysis and application, we have to start by asking the “man” question, interrogating where and how men are situated in relation to the creation, perpetration, and institutionalization of politically motivated violence. In what ways does hegemonic masculinity work in these contexts, and how do masculinities operate to benefit even those men who are at the margins of masculinity norms and practice in the context of terrorist actions? Somewhat ironically, even within the hierarchies of masculinity, subordinated masculinities can benefit from the social construction of male privilege, and value and terrorism may provide a defined outlet for masculinities that would otherwise be subordinated and devalued by society. Thus, men who cannot meet traditional expectations of masculinity—such as bread winner, respect and honor, wealth, access to sexual partners of choice—may precisely find that radical or extremist political mobilization offers a compelling substitute for regular masculinity authentication. It is therefore not accidental that terrorist/violent extremist groups manipulate gender stereotypes to recruit men and women. ISIS notably employs hyper-masculine images to portray its fighters, as well as promised access to sexual gratification, marriage and guaranteed income as a reward for the glory of fighting. These motifs have proven indisputably alluring to marginalized men whose capacity to access any similar social capital or status in their own communities will be extremely limited.
https://www.justsecurity.org/33624/masculinity-jihad-mobilization/

Battle for Mosul: Offensive sheds light on ISIL’s tactics

Civilians are fleeing rural areas near Mosul. The areas they have left shed some light on the tactics used by ISIL fighters. Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker reports from the town of Gweir, southeast of Mosul. 

http://video.aljazeera.com/channels/eng/videos/battle-for-mosul%3a-offensive-sheds-light-on-isil%e2%80%99s-tactics-/5177798624001

U.S. expects Islamic State to wield chemical weapons in Mosul fight

In a previously undisclosed incident, U.S. forces confirmed the presence of a sulfur mustard agent on Islamic State munition fragments on Oct. 5, a second official said. The Islamic State had targeted local forces, not U.S. or coalition troops.
"Given ISIL's reprehensible behavior and flagrant disregard for international standards and norms, this event is not surprising," the second official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity, and using an acronym for Islamic State.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-chemicalweapons-idUSKCN12I2WZ?

Aleppo, Ukraine, cyber attacks, Baltic threats: what should we do about Putin?

The key question is no longer how best to remove the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad. It is how to stop the Russian military, Assad’s main backer, which is held responsible, directly or indirectly, for numerous lethal aerial attacks against civilians, hospitals and schools, including last month’s destruction of a UN aid convoy.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/15/what-should-we-do-about-russia-aleppo-ukraine-cyber-baltic-vladimir-putin

Favela Nova Brasilia the first case on police violence in Brazil’s favelas before a human rights tribunal

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/580158abe4b06f314afeb3eb?timestamp=1476483361797

Burundi’s National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of withdrawing from the Rome Statute,

NEW YORK, October 13, 2016—Amid deteriorating human rights conditions in the country, the lower house of Burundi’s National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of withdrawing from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the world’s first permanent criminal court to investigate and prosecute the world’s worst crimes and an international system to fight impunity. The bill still must be approved by the upper house and then be signed by the president, triggering a year-long withdrawal process from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Most recently, the country slid into political crisis after Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza won a third term in an election that many have called unconstitutional. Since April 2015, an estimated 564 have been killed and more than 260,000 have fled. The African Union has been among those to criticize Nkurunziza’s third term.
“Burundi should reconsider this ill-conceived decision, which undermines efforts at the national level to bring justice, peace, and stability to the country,” said ICTJ President David Tolbert. “The vote is particularly troubling given Burundi’s clear unwillingness and lack of capacity to prosecute those most responsible for crimes during the recent violence and before.”
The passage of the draft law comes months after the ICC, tasked with trying serious crimes when states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves, said it will investigate violence sparked by Nkurunziza’s re-election, including killings, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, and enforced disappearances.
Some in the Burundian government, including vice president Gaston Sindimwo, have accused the ICC of plotting to harm the country and violate the rights of Africans. The charge arises from the perception, promoted by some African states, that the ICC unjustifiably focuses on African situations and disproportionately indicts political and rebel leaders.
“The Burundi government has done a great disservice to its citizens, especially victims, by adopting this decision which uses the false accusations of the court’s ‘anti-African’ bias to avoid the possibility of justice being done,” said Tolbert.
While nine of the ten situations now before the ICC are from Africa, five result from the Governments referring their own situations to the ICC. Two situations were referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council, which includes Darfur. One voluntarily accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction. The ICC acted on its own initiative in only two African countries: in Kenya, only after this country failed to initiate domestic prosecutions and in Cote D’Ivoire where the State voluntarily declared acceptance of ICC jurisdiction.
There are currently ten countries under preliminary examination by the ICC, only four of them are African nations, including Burundi.

https://www.ictj.org/news/burundi-icc-leave

EU sanctions on Moscow are hostage to politics and bureaucracy.

Oct. 11, 2016 7:06 p.m. ET European leaders will gather in Brussels next week to discuss Russia strategy, and one important question will be whether and for how long to renew sanctions on Moscow. Given Vladimir Putin’s behavior in recent days, they have reason to be wary.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-realism-in-brussels-1476227204

Greece Denies Asylum Bids of Four More Turkish Officers

http://www.wsj.com/articles/greece-denies-asylum-bids-of-four-more-turkish-officers-1476210740

German cabinet approves more troops for air surveillance of Islamic State

The Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft will be based at Konya air base in southern Turkey. They will be used for reconnaissance in support of air strikes against Islamic State targets.
The German military, or Bundeswehr, provides about one third of the crews used to operate and maintain NATO's AWACS planes, but German law requires that individual missions must be approved by parliament. No details were provided on exactly how many troops would be part of the deployment.
Germany already has about 500 military personnel involved in the fight against Islamic State, including over 240 who are based at Incirlik air base in Turkey to operate six Tornado surveillance aircraft and a refuelling plane. Others are on board a German frigate that is operating in the eastern Mediterranean with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-germany-turkey-awacs-idUKKCN12C0YM

Russia scorns Boris Johnson's 'hysteria' as bombs hammer Aleppo

Moscow has responded forcefully to accusations by Britain’s foreign secretary about its involvement in an attack on an aid convoy in Syria last month, as intense violence in Aleppo’s besieged east continued.
The Russian defence ministry said Boris Johnson’s comments that Russia should be investigated for war crimes in Aleppo were “Russophobic hysteria”.
“There were no Russian planes in the area of the aid convoy to Aleppo. That is a fact,” the ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. Johnson’s speech was “a storm in a glass of muddy London water”, he added.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/12/russia-boris-johnson-syria-aleppo-war-crime-russophobic-hysteria

Pentagon Confronts a New Threat From ISIS: Exploding Drones

In the last month, the Islamic State has tried to use small drones to launch attacks at least two other times, prompting American commanders in Iraq to issue a warning to forces fighting the group to treat any type of small flying aircraft as a potential explosive device.

The Islamic State has used surveillance drones on the battlefield for some time, but the attacks — all targeting Iraqi troops — have highlighted its success in adapting readily accessible technology into a potentially effective new weapon. American advisers say drones could be deployed against coalition forces by the terrorist group in the battle in Mosul.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/world/middleeast/iraq-drones-isis.html?_r=0 

Saudi forces down missile fired by Yemen's Houthis

Saudi air defence forces shot down a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi group toward Khamees Mushait city in the kingdom's southwest on Tuesday night, a Saudi-led coalition said in a statement carried by the state news agency SPA.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-yemen-security-missile-idUKKCN12C0G9 

It’s Time to Release the Real History of the 1953 Iran Coup

Sixty-three years ago, the CIA and British intelligence fomented a coup d’état that toppled the prime minister of Iran, restored a cooperative shah and strengthened a regional buffer against possible Soviet aggression. It also unwittingly set Iran on a course toward dictatorship and helped inject the 1979 Iranian revolution with an anti-American cast that continues to animate hardline elements within the current regime.
More than six decades later, the coup against Mohammad Mosaddeq and its aftermath are still haunting U.S.-Iran relations. Yet amazingly, Americans do not have access to the full historical record of U.S. involvement in the event, even though much of that record (at least the parts the CIA has not destroyed, by its own admission) is unclassified.

Most recently, John Kerry’s State Department, which has shown real acumen in dealing with Iran, has decided not to release its long-overdue official compilation of internal documents on U.S. diplomacy covering the coup period, basing its reasoning on a concern for the fragility of relations with Iran.
The desire to protect the hard-won 2015 nuclear accord is fully understandable, but this decision appears to be based on misperceptions about the risks—and a disregard for the potential benefits—of releasing this important historical material.
Specifically, the State Department is declining to publish the relevant volume in its venerable series, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), the “official documentary historical record” of U.S. foreign policy, according to the State Department’s web site. The series has already endured one major public scandal over its Iran coverage. In 1989, the State Department published a volume on the early 1950s that deliberately airbrushed out any trace of American and British authorship of the coup.
Scholars called it a fraud, and Congress was sufficiently outraged to pass legislation requiring FRUS to present a “thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record” of American policy. The State Department Historian’s Office promised a make-up volume, which it painstakingly compiled several years ago and expected to publish in 2013. In other words, as the Department’s own historical advisory committee noted in its latest annual report, it is finished and ready to go. But it has yet to appear.
Numerous excuses for refusing to publish documentation on the Iran coup have surfaced over the years. A standard rationale invoked by the intelligence community on a wide range of subjects has been the need to safeguard “sources and methods.” Protecting individuals from harm is praiseworthy, though arguably less meaningful in cases such as this when every major participant is deceased. Protecting methods is also perfectly reasonable in theory, but CIA claims deserve some scrutiny when the agency has used similar assertions to keep World War I-era techniques like the use of invisible ink classified until almost a century later—far beyond the method’s usefulness.
Besides, a 200-page internal CIA history of the coup that leaked to the New York Times in 2000, as well as two other agency histories that have been partially declassified under the Freedom of Information Act, have almost certainly revealed every method the agency utilized in 1953.
Another basis for State Department and CIA interest in blocking access to these records has been the desire to honor a British government request to keep a lid on their part in the coup. The problem with this rationale is that the lid has been off for years. For example, Kermit Roosevelt, who ran the operation in Tehran, published an entire memoir about it in the late 1970s—with CIA consent—and it included references to British involvement. Furthermore, the 200-page CIA history mentioned above contains extensive detail about the British role in planning the operation. In the extraordinarily unlikely event that there is specific information that still deserves protection, government declassifiers can always excise the particulars while leaving the larger picture intact.
In recent years, the CIA appears to be placing less stock in some of these older excuses when it comes to Iran in 1953. To its credit, in 2011 the agency finally declassified part of an internal document confirming its coup activities, and its historical staff reportedly cooperated well recently with their State Department counterparts in compiling the FRUS volume. Other parts of the government have become more candid as well. Two presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have broken with precedent and publicly owned up to the U.S. role in the coup.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/its-time-to-release-the-real-history-of-the-1953-iran-coup-214353#ixzz4MvpNNGY8
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Aleppo doctor files against Russia at ECHR

London-based lawyers acting on behalf of Dr Moawyah Al-Awad, a cardiologist at one of east Aleppo’s last functioning hospitals, said his claim at the European Court of Human Rights is based on Russia’s violation of his and his patients’ right to life and to live free from inhumane and degrading treatment, as specified under international law. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/aleppo-doctor-legal-action-russia-assad-bombing-hospitals-syrian-civil-war-latest-a7358026.html

NATO officers arrest in Turkey

Some 32,000 people have been jailed, and 100,000 military officers, police, teachers, judges, prosecutors.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-turkey-security-idUKKCN12C0W1

Russia vetoes Aleppo cease-fire resolution

Russia vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Saturday that would have demanded an immediate end to air strikes and military flights over Syria's Aleppo city and called for a truce and humanitarian aid access throughout Syria.

Meanwhile, a rival Russian-drafted resolution that aimed to revive a failed Sept. 9 U.S. and Russia ceasefire deal on Syria did not garner the minimum nine votes.

Fighting continued in the almost six-year conflict with Syrian government forces recapturing territory from insurgents in several western areas.

President Bashar al-Assad's forces, backed by Russian air power and Iranian, Lebanese and Iraqi fighters on the ground, hold the upper hand around the key battleground of Aleppo, whose opposition-held eastern sector has been encircled for all but a short period since July.

The government side's bombardment of Aleppo since a ceasefire brokered by Washington and Moscow in September collapsed after a week has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and countries supporting the Syrian opposition.

France, which opposes Assad, demanded in its draft resolution an end to air strikes and military flights over Aleppo city. Russia has backed Assad with a year-long air campaign against the rebels.

French President Francois Hollande on Saturday had urged United Nations Security Council members not to use their veto against a resolution that calls for an end to bombardments of Aleppo.

Russia's draft, which does not include that demand, urges Moscow and Washington to revive the ceasefire deal.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN1280JS

ONU manda tropa do Brasil para área destruída por furacão no Haiti

O general Ajax Porto Pinheiro, comandante das tropas internacionais da ONU na missão de paz no Haiti (Minustah), deslocou o comando do Brasil e cerca de 330 soldados brasileiros, cuja base é a capital, Porto Príncipe, para as cidades mais destruídas pelo furacão Matthew, que deixou até o momento mais de 800 mortos, segundo as autoridades locais ouvidas pela agência Reuters. Para Pinheiro, o número de mortes ainda deve aumentar, e passar de mil.
http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2016/10/onu-manda-tropa-do-brasil-para-area-destruida-por-furacao-no-haiti.html

Brasil quitará suas dívidas com órgãos globais, afirma ministro

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mundo/2016/10/1820281-brasil-quitara-suas-dividas-com-orgaos-globais-afirma-ministro.shtml

Colombia's FARC rebels say will forfeit assets for victim reparations

Colombia's FARC rebels will forfeit all their assets to fund victims reparations, the group said on Saturday, one day before the Colombian people are set to vote on a peace deal between the insurgency and the government.
Colombian authorities say the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, possess huge tracts of valuable land, as well as cattle ranches, shops and construction companies which have allegedly helped the group launder money from drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion.
"We will proceed to declare before the government all the monetary and non-monetary resources that have formed part of our war economy," the Marxist group, which has fought the government for 52 years, said in a statement.
The peace deal, which will receive final approval or rejection at the polls on Sunday, requires the group to hand over all money and property before it can transition into a political party.
The funds will be given to victims of FARC killings, kidnappings, bombings and displacements and will be handed over during the demobilization process, set to begin in the days after the referendum vote.
"We will proceed to the material reparations of victims," the statement said, adding that the FARC "has no monetary or non-monetary resources additional to what it will declare during the laying down of arms."
The government had previously said it would seize all guerrilla assets to fund the reparations, but confiscations of rebel property have so far been limited.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-peace-idUSKCN1213N0

El Salvador judge reopens case of 1981 civil war massacre

A judge in El Salvador has reopened the case of a massacre allegedly carried out by soldiers in 1981 that is considered the worst atrocity committed during the country's brutal civil war, a lawyer involved in the matter said on Saturday.
The massacre took place in the northeastern town of El Mozote, allegedly at the hands of an elite army unit, and resulted in the deaths of between 900 and 1,200 people, mostly women and children.
The decision by Judge Alberto Guzman to reopen the matter marks the first time such a case has been allowed since an amnesty law was declared unconstitutional in July.
The law sought to absolve militants on both sides of the conflict who took part in war crimes, and was often invoked by judges to explain why they could not hear such cases.
"The reopening of the case is an open door to seek justice that has been denied for so many years to victims of crimes against humanity in El Salvador," lawyer Ovidio Gonzalez told Reuters.
The reopening of the case follows formal complaints by local human rights groups and victims families seeking justice for those killed in El Mozote.
Those pushing the case seek a truthful accounting of what happened and the facts surrounding who ordered the massacre, Gonzalez said. They are not seeking punishments such as jail terms, he added, but want those responsible to admit their roles and ask for forgiveness.
Judge Guzman has ordered military records from the time of the massacre to be turned over, as well as additional records on 14 named ex-army and security officials.
The first public hearing is not expected for several months.
While victims' families pushed for a trial as early as 1990, the case has never been heard locally. In 2010, the human rights commission of the Organization of American States recommended that El Salvador repeal the amnesty law as a means for those responsible for the massacre to be held to account.
El Salvador's civil war stretched from 1980 to 1992, taking around 75,000 lives and leaving another 8,000 people missing.

A truth commission created by the United Nations in 1992 published a report that declared the El Mozote massacre the worst war crime perpetrated during the conflict.
El Salvador's government denied for years having perpetrated the slaughter, but in 2012 the government of then-President Mauricio Funes acknowledged the state's role and apologized to the families of the victims.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-el-salvador-massacre-idUSKCN122014

EUA convidam OEA para observar eleições presidenciais pela 1ª vez

A OEA recebe esse passo "histórico" como um "ótimo sinal" ao considerar que "a melhor maneira de consolidar a democracia é com o exemplo", segundo disse neste sábado (1) à Agência Efe Francisco Guerrero, secretário para o Fortalecimento da Democracia na organização.
Durante os 54 anos de história da observação eleitoral da OEA, os EUA "foram centrais" na hora de financiar missões nos pleitos dos países latino-americanos, mas nunca tinham permitido que a organização analisasse os seus próprios.
"Isso estabelece um precedente que dá aos Estados Unidos mais legitimidade quando pede a outros governos do continente que convidem a OEA para observar suas eleições", comentou à Efe o presidente do centro de estudos Diálogo Interamericano, Michael Shifter.
Os Estados Unidos permitiram a observação eleitoral da Organização para a Segurança e a Cooperação na Europa (OSCE), entidade à qual também pertence.
Na OSCE os membros aceitam automaticamente por uma cláusula a observação eleitoral, enquanto na OEA cada país pode decidir se convida ou não a organização para supervisionar seus pleitos.
Perguntado pela Efe sobre os motivos de agora para abrir as portas à OEA, o Departamento de Estado se limitou a dizer que recebe a observação da organização como "uma oportunidade de demonstrar a dedicação e o apoio dos Estados Unidos a esta importante função da instituição".
"Avaliamos enormemente o importante trabalho da OEA para promover eleições livres e justas na região, e convidamos a OEA a observar nosso processo eleitoral", afirmou à Agência Efe um porta-voz do Departamento de Estado.
Na OEA, Guerrero agradece este "gesto de confiança" com a organização e constata, sem entrar em avaliações, que a abertura dos EUA à apuração da organização coincide com "uma eleição muito concorrida, que foi motivo de atenção mundial, porque é uma eleição polarizada".
O candidato republicano à presidência, Donald Trump, disse em várias ocasiões que teme que haja fraude contra ele em estados-chave como Pensilvânia, sobretudo através dos sistemas de voto eletrônico.
As modalidades de votação serão um dos elementos que a OEA estudará, junto ao registro de eleitores, o financiamento das campanhas, a inclusão das minorias, a igualdade de gênero e o papel dos veículos de imprensa.
"Nos Estados Unidos, a fraude aberta no processo eleitoral é muito rara, mas há contínuas controvérsias sobre o financiamento das campanhas, as leis de identificação dos eleitores, a descentralização e os inconsistentes mecanismos e tecnologia de voto", apontou Shifter.
Em função dos fundos arrecadados pela missão, que não podem ser dos EUA, a OEA determinará o número de observadores que pode desdobrar em um país onde a grande extensão e a descentralização das regras eleitorais supõem grandes desafios.
A organização está agora "em pleno processo de pedido e discussão" com as autoridades estatais, levando em conta que 11 estados limitam ou proíbem a presença de observadores internacionais.
Estes estados, alguns dos quais já puseram impedimentos à observação da OSCE em anos anteriores, são Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississipi, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio e Connecticut.
A OEA quer ter observadores pelo menos em um estado fronteiriço com o México, em outro fronteiriço com o Canadá e nas duas costas.
A missão, que é dirigida pela ex-presidente da Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla, utilizará para a observação nos EUA a mesma metodologia e princípios que nas mais de 240 experiências que tem em 26 países do continente desde que começou suas tarefas de supervisão eleitoral em 1962.
Com a incorporação dos Estados Unidos neste ano, restam sete países onde a OEA não enviou missões de observação eleitoral: Argentina, Barbados, Brasil, Canadá, Chile, Trinidad e Tobago e Uruguai.
Guerrero interpreta esta "abertura" americana como um reconhecimento ao secretário-geral da organização, Luis Almagro, "por sua contribuição ao debate democrático no último ano e meio", desde que chegou ao cargo em maio de 2015.
http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2016/10/eua-convidam-oea-para-observar-eleicoes-presidenciais-pela-1-vez.html

 

 

Turquia prorroga missão de tropas na Síria e Iraque por um ano

A Turquia lançou em 24 de agosto uma ofensiva denominada "Escudo de Eufrates" para expulsar os extremistas do grupo Estado Islâmico e as milícias curdas. Ao menos 20 tanques, cinco blindados de transporte de tropas, caminhões e outros veículos blindados cruzaram a fronteira com a Síria.
Os veículos de combate cruzaram a fronteira a partir da província turca de Kilis em direção ao povoado sírio de Al Rai para apoiar militarmente os combatentes rebeldes sírios, depois de expulsar os extremistas de Jarablos e outras cidades do norte da Síria em sua operação "Escudo de Eufrates", lançada em 24 de agosto, informou a agência estatal turca Anatolia.
Nos últimos meses, Al Rai mudou repetidamente de mãos entre os rebeldes e o EI. Durante esta nova operação terrestre foram disparados morteiros contra vários alvos do EI.
http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2016/10/turquia-prorroga-missao-de-tropas-na-siria-e-iraque-por-um-ano.html

Russian and Syrian missiles pound Aleppo, destroy hospital: rebels and aid workers

Russian warplanes and their Syrian government allies battered rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo on Saturday and rebels and aid workers accused them of destroying one of the city's main hospitals, killing at least two patients.
The strike on hospital M10 in eastern Aleppo - the city's main trauma hospital - came as the United States and its allies urged Russia, which is trying to crush resistance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to halt the bombing and reach a diplomatic resolution.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN12133Z