Israel is "barking on the wrong tree"

Discussion in 'Politics' started by SouthAmerica, Oct 21, 2009.

  1. The Palestinians are some of the most mean-spirited, hateful people on the planet today. They, like so many other Muslims, are incapable of living side by side with other people who do not share their BS, dogmatic, Islamic view of the world. If you want to see some killing and terrorism occuring, simply look for a place where there is a Muslim and non-Muslim population living side by side. In such places Muslims cannot stop themselves from bombing and beheading the non-Muslims. In addition, in a lot of places Muslims tend to do it to each other. Look at the examples. Israel, the Balkans, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Phillipines, the UK, France, the US, Spain, the Netherlands, and the list goes on and on.
     
    #61     Nov 24, 2009
  2. .

    December 16, 2009

    SouthAmerica: The party is over, and it is the beginning of a new era.

    "Israel reacted angrily Tuesday to a British arrest warrant for former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on war-crimes allegations, with the government threatening to sideline the U.K. in Mideast peace talks."


    *****


    “Israel Calls U.K. Effort to Try Livni 'Absurdity'”
    By JOSHUA MITNICK in Tel Aviv and JOE PARKINSON in London
    The Wall Street Journal
    December 16, 2009

    Israel reacted angrily Tuesday to a British arrest warrant for former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on war-crimes allegations, with the government threatening to sideline the U.K. in Mideast peace talks.

    A Westminster, London, magistrate court on Saturday issued the warrant, alleging crimes related to Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip in late 2008 and early 2009. Ms. Livni, who is now opposition leader, was foreign minister at the time and one of three government officials -- with then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak -- to oversee the offensive.

    The warrant was issued ahead of a U.K. convention of the Jewish National Fund, to which Ms. Livni had been invited, but had declined to attend. The warrant was revoked by the court on Monday after it was clear she wasn't in the country.

    "We will not agree to a situation in which Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni will be summoned to the defendant's bench," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. "We will not agree that IDF commanders and soldiers ... will be condemned as war criminals. We reject this absurdity outright."

    U.K. Ambassador Tom Phillips was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem in protest.

    The British legal system allows private individuals and organizations to request arrest warrants from local courts under the principle of "universal jurisdiction." The judicial concept allows domestic courts around the world to try cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity, even if the infraction occurred abroad and the suspect isn't a citizen.

    In recent months, U.K. lawyers representing Palestinian groups sought an arrest warrant for Mr. Barak, but it was denied on grounds of diplomatic immunity.

    Israel called for "immediate" action from the U.K. to block plaintiffs from using its legal system to put Israeli leaders on trial for actions in the Palestinian territories. Ms. Livni is the fourth senior Israeli official since 2004 that pro-Palestinian activists have sought to detain using British courts.

    Israel and the U.K. have enjoyed generally good relations, and Britain often plays a high-profile role in the so-called Quartet on Mideast peace issues. The Quartet includes the U.S., the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is currently the Quartet's special envoy to the region.

    Israel officials threatened to boycott any further British role in the Mideast dialogue.

    "If Israeli leaders cannot visit Britain in a proper, dignified fashion, this will, quite naturally, seriously compromise Britain's ability to play the active role in the Middle East peace process that it desires," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

    The U.K. Foreign Office said that it was looking into the implications of the case "urgently" and stressed that Israeli leaders need to be able to visit for talks with the British government.

    Ms. Livni, Mr. Barak and Mr. Olmert oversaw Operation Cast Lead, the military offensive in Gaza. Israel said the action was in response to repeated militant rocket fire against southern Israel. More than 1,000 Palestinians died in the operation, along with 13 Israelis.

    Israeli officials have denied its military acted improperly. Israeli officials have also pointed to the subsequent reduction of rocket attacks from Gaza as evidence the military operation was necessary.

    "Cast Lead achieved its goal," Ms. Livni said at a Tel Aviv conference on Tuesday. "Israel needs to do what is correct."

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126088596179392051.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_world

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    #62     Dec 15, 2009
  3. .

    December 16, 2009

    SouthAmerica: The party is over, and it is the beginning of a new era.


    ***


    09-29-06

    2) General Augusto Pinochet has been having all kinds of legal problems related to his 17 year dictatorship of Chile. Even Henry Kissinger is afraid to leave US soil today, and recently he canceled a trip to Brazil, because he was named in legal actions over the Chilean coup that brought Mr. Pinochet into power.

    3) The leaders of the repressive Argentinean military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983 also have all kinds of legal trouble today related to their actions during that period. They thought that they were above the law, but now they will pay the price for their arrogance.

    The lesson to learn from recent past history is that no country or any one can act above the law. You might feel arrogant and untouchable today, and believe that you are superior to everyone and that you will get away with it, but given enough time you will also have your downfall similar to the above examples. Any country or individual that acts according to international law will not need any special exemption from future prosecution from the World Court.

    http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1215543&highlight=Henry+Kissinger#post1215543


    ***

    December 12, 2005

    SouthAmerica: Here are some examples of why the United States is losing all its influence in Latin America. Everybody is aware of what is going on and American propaganda can’t reverse the realities of what has been happening in Latin America.

    http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=923063&highlight=Henry+Kissinger#post923063

    Daniel Grech: Transcript: U.S. OKd "Dirty War", Miami Herald, December 4, 2003

    "At the height of the Argentine military junta's bloody 'dirty war' against leftists in the 1970s, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told the Argentine foreign minister that 'we would like you to succeed,' a newly declassified U.S. document reveals.This document is a devastating indictment of Kissinger's policy toward Latin America.


    ***


    The Independent - UK
    Published: 25 August 2005
    “Venezuela: revolutionaries and a country on the edge”
    Venezuelans were hardly surprised by an American preacher's call to kill their President. After all, the US funded a coup attempt against him
    By Johann Hari

    Venezuela is living in the shadow of the other 11 September. In 1972, on a day synonymous with death, Salvador Allende - the democratically elected left-wing President of Chile - was bombed and blasted from power. The CIA and the US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, had decided the "irresponsibility" of the Chilean people at the ballot box needed to be "rectified" - so they installed a fascist general, Augusto Pinochet. He "disappeared" at least 3,000 people and tortured 27,000 more as he clung to power right up to 1990.


    ********************


    “Israeli officials at risk for civil lawsuits”
    By E. B. SOLOMONT - JERUSALM POST CORRESPONDENT
    JERUSALM POST
    December 16, 2009

    Four American Jewish groups are urging the US Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision that could lead to Israeli officials being slammed with civil lawsuits in the United States.

    Coinciding with a British judge's decision to sign an arrest warrant for Kadima leader Tzipi Livni for alleged "war crimes" during Operation Cast Lead, the brief seeks to overturn a Fourth Circuit decision to strip foreign government officials from immunity in American civil lawsuits.

    Written by Washington attorney Nathan Lewin on behalf of the Zionist Organization of America, the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, Agudath Israel of America and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the "friend of court" brief warns against a "torrent of unfounded lawsuits against Israeli government officials" in the absence of absolute immunity.

    "Public officials should have the same immunity as their governments have under federal law in order to enable them to act in accordance with their best judgment in their roles," Lewin said.

    In the US, only prosecutors can pursue criminal charges against an individual, unlike in Britain, where a private party can initiate such proceedings.

    Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday blasted the UK judge's decision to issue an arrest warrant against Livni, who at a Tuesday conference in Tel Aviv called the operation a "necessary option" to defend Israeli citizens.

    "We will not agree to a situation in which [former prime minister] Ehud Olmert, [Defense Minister] Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni are sitting on the defendants' bench," Netanyahu said.

    "We will not allow for IDF soldiers and commanders, who heroically and morally defended our citizens from a cruel and criminal enemy, to be condemned as war criminals," he added. "We outright reject this absurdity."

    The American Jewish groups' brief argues that immunity is necessary for foreign officials to make decisions without fear of being punished later on. Without legal protection, Israeli officials will not visit the US and American Jews will be deprived of a First Amendment right to hear free speech and receive information.

    "Israel's adversaries are ready to pursue all possible means to hinder measures that duly elected Israeli leaders feel are necessary for Israel's self-defense," the brief argues.

    The case in question, Samantar vs. Yousuf, which is on the docket for March 3, concerns a former minister of defense and prime minister of Somalia, Mohamed Ali Samantar, who was in power between 1980 and 1990 when opponents of the Supreme Revolutionary Council were allegedly tortured and killed. Federal law protects present and former government officials, but a Fourth Circuit judge said immunity should not be extended to Samantar personally.

    Alyza Lewin, whose father wrote the brief, said foreign officials have been targeted "with increasing frequency all over the world."

    "The decision of the court in the case will have a very significant impact on Israel and on Jews," she said. "There are immediate consequences."

    The brief cites at least 15 present and former Israeli officials who could face civil or criminal legal actions.

    "We'd be rather shocked to see that happen in the US, but nonetheless because of a potential concern of a situation arising, that's what motivated us to file this brief with the Supreme Court," said Nathan Diament, director of the OU's Institute for Public Affairs, when asked about the British warrant for Livni's arrest. He said it was hard to imagine a US prosecutor filing charges against an Israeli official, but an individual filing a civil lawsuit against an Israeli official is possible.

    "In fact, it's happened," said Susan Tuchman, director of the ZOA's Center for Law and Justice. Likud MK and former IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon was sued in the Second Circuit, but the case was dismissed in 2008 when a judge concluded the Foreign Sovereignty Immunity Act applied not only to foreign governments, but also to officials carrying out the government's policies. A case against Kadima MK Avraham Dichter was dismissed on the same basis.

    Tuchman said she did not know the details of the case against Livni in Britain. But, she said, "certainly in Europe, arrest warrants have been issued for foreign officials and that's exactly the kind of situation we're looking to avoid here in the United States."

    Civil lawsuits against Israeli officials could have a "chilling effect," she said, impacting diplomatic relations between Israeli and American government officials.

    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260930874395&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

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    #63     Dec 16, 2009
  4. Dear Southamerica,

    I do care. If Israel understand the Golden Rules; the Golden Age will arrive... if not it's over for mankind. Nothing more, nothing less. I have a lot of hope ! The PEACE concept work for everyone.

    That's where we are in disagrement. For me Israel is the promise to make the desert green. And do you know how much sand there are south of europe ? So I hope that they will quickly understand that Water is a infinite ressource, if you have the energy to make it clean... So with an acces to the red sea and mediteranean sea salt water will never be scarced.

    Secondly, and you know it I truely love Brazil, however destroying the Native forest to raise crop to send them trough Cargill to Mcdonalds isn't the best that Brazil can do... I hope that one day, the Brazilian people will understand that their true wealth is to preserve at any cost this Wild Life... Hurting it more is an insult to any form of consciousness...

    I don't want to tell you what's the other option.

    Do you think that the power of gun could help ? Or do you think that it's only trough the Golden Rules that there is a hope for all region ?

    Don't you think that the Golden Rules by itself can stop that too ? Fight for the mothers the rest is pure BS...

    Some time 2000 times isn't enough... How many time Did the people need to say that the Earth was round before the World starts to listen... ( the Native in America were enjoying America at the same time... pfff... )

    Ohh and I don't want to see it... However as I can't see the future I only hope that everyone here is realizing that Iran is the Oil provider of China... May the 200 millions chineses soldier be enough to stop any kind of violence.

    Nuclear Weapon have to be BANNED from every nation on Earth to permit the Golden Age...

    We didn't see sign of Alien Intelligence... And maybe never will, because intelligence as always destroyed itself in the love of power... And never went to the Power of Love...
     
    #64     Dec 16, 2009
  5. .
    February 23, 2010

    SouthAmerica: It seems to me that it is open season for hit squads to kill their enemies anywhere around the world.

    It did work well for Israel this time around.

    Israel can’t complain in the future when Israelis are targeted by hit squads anywhere around the globe.

    This game is a two way street – If it is acceptable for Israelis to play that game against other people then it is O.K. to give Israelis the same treatment anywhere around the world.

    Israel fired the first shot on this nasty game – and now it is open season against Israelis anywhere around the globe.

    The global community should show to Israel that if they think they can do anything they want even send hit squads around the world to kill people in other countries then the global community should let hit squads kill Israelis anywhere around the world.

    Where the Israelis are going to send their hit squad next to murder anyone who disagrees with Israel’s policies? To the United States? To France? To Brazil or Argentina? To Russia? Or even China?

    Here is another example of how Israel is becoming a real lose cannon and that will have severe consequences in the future - and it is time for the United States to start getting smart and finally distance itself from Israel.


    *****


    February 23, 2010
    haaretz.com
    Sarkozy on Dubai hit: “France can't accept such executions”

    European Union foreign ministers protested yesterday against the use of forged European passports by a hit squad that killed a top Hamas official in Dubai, but stopped well short of blaming Israel for the undercover action.

    French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday reiterated his condemnation of the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai and insisted "nothing positive" comes of such killings. He added that France cannot accept such "executions."

    At least 11 passports from Britain, Ireland, Germany and France, many of them forged, were used by the alleged killers of Mabhouh on January 20, provoking expressions of outrage from the EU countries concerned…

    http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1151738.html


    *****


    Dubai murder an 'Israeli act of terror': Iran
    (AFP) – February 23, 2010

    TEHRAN — The murder in Dubai of top Hamas militant Mahmud al-Mabhuh last month was an act of Israeli "state terrorism," the Jewish state's arch-foe Iran said on Tuesday.

    "The Dubai assassination is an act of state terrorism on the part of Israel," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a report by state-run Press TV.

    "Israel's existence is itself based on terrorist activities," Mehmanparast said at his weekly news conference, according to the channel which translated his comments into English.

    The spokesman described the assassination of the Palestinian militant as an "embarrassment for Europe."

    Dubai has accused Israel of sending agents of its Mossad secret service to the Gulf state to carry out the murder.

    The emirate's police chief has named 11 suspects who travelled on European passports -- six of them from Britain, three from Ireland, one from Germany and one from France.

    Several of the suspects have joint Israeli nationality, and suspicion has fallen on Israeli intelligence, which is known to have carried out similar assassinations of Palestinian militant leaders in the past…

    Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iqW587WjdIW8-85TrwqjCGh-tKuw

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    #65     Feb 23, 2010
  6. Nice moral equivalency, once again demonstrating the complete stupidity of your uber-liberal anti-western ilk.

    Israel kills terrorists with blood on their hands, Israel's enemies indiscriminately and deliberately murder innocent Israeli civilians and they never needed the excuse of a dead Hamas terrorist in the first place. Israel does not complain, it fights back, it's Israel's enemies (islamo-nazis and their supporters like you) who do the lion's share of complaining and whining.

    The elimination of this arms smuggling Hamas dude with Israeli blood on his hands has potentially prevented the death of dozens/hundreds of innocent Gazans and Israeli. Kudos to Israel for the job well done!!!

    Perhaps if Dubai was looking for Hamas terrorists and arms smugglers as diligently as they were looking for the assassins, if they were willing to arrest them, prosecute them and extradite them to Israel, perhaps Israel would not have to resort to such measures. But guess what, Dubai does not recognize Israel's right to exist. It on the other hand recognizes Hamas' right to exist and murder innocent Israelis.
     
    #66     Feb 23, 2010
  7. .

    February 24, 2010

    SouthAmerica: Reply to APerson

    When you take that road: it becomes an eye for an eye and so on…It is only fair.

    Remember: Open season works both ways.

    You are the one who is doing the whining. You are trying to justify the Israeli hit squads going around the world and killing people in other countries.

    But when I told you that it works both ways then you gave me that bullshit of moral equivalents.

    The same way people around the world will be desensitized to the Israeli’s hit squads and their global assassinations...on the other hand nobody will give a shit when the same happens when hit squads murder Israeli citizens anywhere around the world.

    It is open season and works both ways….

    First you justify by saying that so and so was a arms dealer and the next time the justification will be he was a powerful banker who helped finance wars and destruction around the world…

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    #67     Feb 24, 2010
  8. .

    February 24, 2010

    SouthAmerica: ..."Peace in the world does not mean isolating someone," Lula said.

    "I'm going to Iran in May to buy things from them. Brazil exports to Iran are worth one billion dollars a year and imports nothing from them," Lula added.


    *****


    World should avoid isolating Iran: Brazil

    (AFP) – February 24, 2010

    CANCUN, Mexico — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva said the global community, in its quest for peace, should avoid isolating Iran over its controversial nuclear program.

    Lula, whose country has friendly ties with Iran, spoke at a summit of leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean at a joint press conference with the event host, Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

    "Peace in the world does not mean isolating someone," Lula said.

    "I'm going to Iran in May to buy things from them. Brazil exports to Iran are worth one billion dollars a year and imports nothing from them," Lula added.

    Brazil, which has its own nuclear energy program, supports Iran's stated quest to have a peaceful nuclear energy program.

    The United States and leading world powers suspect Iran is enriching uranium to make nuclear weapons under cover of its civilian energy program, a charge Tehran denies.

    Brazil has steadfastly said it does not want to see international sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, and does not adhere to US and European fears that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons.

    Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim recently said that his country supports talks between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), before deciding on sanctions.

    In November, Lula in Brasilia urged visiting Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to find a "just solution" with the West to Tehran's contested nuclear program, and reiterated that Brazil backed Iran's declared quest for "peaceful nuclear energy in full respect of international accords."

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i6w07wzLKrukn4Ff3baGx5ZK9vrQ

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    #68     Feb 24, 2010
  9. .
    February 28, 2010

    SouthAmerica: Here we go again. As the enclosed article said: “…Hillary Clinton heads south to push Brazil to take a tougher approach towards Iran.”

    How about if she takes the time to discuss a tougher approach towards Israel – a country that sends death squads to other countries to assassinate people?….

    The article also said: … Mrs Clinton also sent out a coded message to Brazil when she expressed her fears this month that Iran was “moving toward a military dictatorship”.

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad should be pleased that Mrs. Clinton is in the process of promoting him to the rank of general in the Iranian armed forces.

    Or Mrs. Clinton has something else in mind more in line with the coup of 1953 of Iran which is the CIA's (Central Intelligence Agency) first successful overthrow of a foreign government – when the CIA installed on behalf of the United States a dictatorship in Iran of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

    The Islamic government of Ayatollah Khomeini supported terrorist attacks against American interests largely because of the long American history of supporting the shah's suppressive regime. Even under more moderate rulers, many Iranians still resent the United States' role in the coup and its support of the shah.

    It seems to me that the United States really like to interferer in the domestic affairs of Iran and the US government goes out of its way to pressure other countries (in this case Brazil) to also play these dirty games.

    I wonder what would be the American people reaction if the Iranian government were playing the same game and were trying to overthrow the US government to replace it with some form of Islamic government?

    I wonder who gave the United States the right to interfere in the internal affairs of Iran and Americans have been playing that game since 1953 with disastrous results for the Iranian people.

    In my opinion President Lula should tell Hillary Clinton in a very polite way: stop being a nuisance and why don’t you “Get Lost” or go and play your old games in Iraq or Afghanistan?


    ********


    “US woos Brazil over Iran nuclear dispute”
    By Daniel Dombey in Washington and Jonathan Wheatley in São Paulo
    Published: February 27 /February 28, 2010
    Financial Times (UK)

    The dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme is casting a shadow over the Americas as Hillary Clinton heads south to push Brazil to take a tougher approach towards Iran.

    The US secretary of state will on Sunday embark on a week-long tour of South and Central America. Brazil, which is deepening its ties with Tehran and resisting Washington’s drive for United Nations sanctions, is to be the main focus of attention.

    In a preparatory move, William Burns, the state department official leading the sanctions drive, travelled to Brasília on Friday.

    “Brazil is an emerging power with growing influence in the region and around the world, and we believe that with that influence comes responsibility,” said the state department.

    But, in a sign of its increasing self-confidence, the administration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva remains at odds with Washington over one of the US’s top international priorities.

    Brazil is on the UN Security Council, where the US is looking for consensus for sanctions in coming weeks but faces additional resistance from China, Turkey and Lebanon.

    The Obama administration is particularly concerned about Mr Lula da Silva’s calls this week for the world not to isolate Iran. The US is seeking to increase such isolation through sanctions until Tehran is more eager to negotiate.

    “They have largely given Iran a pass on the nuclear issue,” says a US diplomat. “We see increasingly suspicions in the world as to what Iran is doing, whereas Brazil is heading in the opposite direction.”

    Washington was dismayed to see the Brazilian president exchange hugs with his Iranian counterpart when Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad visited the country in November. Mr Lula da Silva intends to pay a return visit to Tehran in May, with increasing trade ties at the top of the agenda.

    Mrs Clinton also sent out a coded message to Brazil when she expressed her fears this month that Iran was “moving toward a military dictatorship”.

    Brasília has made clear its aversion to coups within Latin America – and has been at odds with the US over what it sees as Washington’s overeagerness to live with the results of a coup in Honduras last year.

    But Mr Lula da Silva’s government is keen to set out its own diplomatic path and has bristled at international efforts in the past to divide countries into nuclear “haves” and “have nots”, forging ahead with an uranium enrichment project despite reservations in the US and elsewhere.

    Brazil also holds out hope of a compromise on the current nuclear dispute with Iran, despite arguments from the US and its European allies that Tehran has spurned Washington’s efforts at engagement.

    “Our view is that the possibilities for negotiation are a long way from being exhausted,” said Roberto Jaguaribe, the official responsible for relations with Iran at Brazil’s foreign ministry. He called for “quiet” rather than “loud” diplomacy.

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    #69     Feb 28, 2010
  10. Tom B

    Tom B

    +1

    Brazil is a banana republic.

    Rio is a little slice of heaven.

    The gun-toting boys from Brazil who rule Rio’s ‘Corner of Fear’

    Dom Phillips in São Paulo
    February 27, 2010

    A boy steps boldly into the night traffic and waves a gun to bring the cars to a halt, clearing a path for a motorcycle which screeches into the intersection. Riding pillion is another boy, brandishing a machinegun.

    Later two teenagers, also riding pillion on motorbikes, flash their guns at other motorists; nearby, a boy can be seen taking aim with a rifle equipped with a telescopic sight. Other youths wander the street smoking crack.

    For residents, the junction between the busy Dom Helder Câmara and dos Democráticos, in North Rio de Janeiro, has become known as the Corner of Fear — and video footage of daily life there has shocked a nation already familiar with guns and violence.

    The latest images, captured by undercover journalists from the Rio tabloid Extra, have exposed the city’s criminal youth culture in a manner that echoes the journalistic investigation featured in the film City of God.

    The age of the criminals — one pistol-toting boy is 12 — is obvious cause for alarm, but so is the seeming impunity with which they act.

    The video footage has provided a glimpse into the city’s underworld that hardly touches Rio’s wealthier citizens.

    Local newspapers rarely show at first hand the violence that permeates the city’s slums (favelas). Since the brutal torture and murder of the journalist Tim Lopes — who was caught filming secretly in the Vila Cruzeiro favela in 2002 — Brazilian reporters have been reluctant to take their cameras into slum areas. Any reports that are filed tend to come from correspondents talking from inside armoured cars, or are images showing the aftermath of a shooting.

    “What is shocking is this parallel power, the fact that they are very young,” said André Cabral De Almeida Cardoso, 41, a teacher. “They are so brazen about it.”

    Valera dos Santos, 34, a maid who lives in a favela in São Paulo, said: “My God, I’ve never seen pictures like this. It’s absurd, they’re just boys.”

    The journalists who captured the images were also taken aback. “Even knowing the reality of what could happen, you are still shocked by the glamour that these weapons represent in the arms of minors,” said Fernando Torres, 27, one of a team of three who spent four nights undercover at the Corner of Fear.

    “These images are desolate,” said Lucy Petroucic, 56, a translator. “These boys have become little Taleban who think they have nothing to lose.”

    Within hours, police arrested one of a group of bandits shown in the video and promised that changes were on the way. Luiz Fernando Pezão, Rio’s Deputy Governor, told reporters that a new police base would open nearby in May.

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7043223.ece
     
    #70     Feb 28, 2010