http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/15/russia.georgia Georgia crisis: Medvedev promises to guarantee any vote by rebel states to break with Tbilisi Ian Traynor, Europe editor The Guardian Friday August 15 2008 The Kremlin yesterday fuelled fears that it was bent on annexing Georgia's two contested provinces when President Dmitri Medvedev met the leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and pledged to support and guarantee any decision they took on their status. Eduard Kokoity, the pro-Russian leader of South Ossetia, on Georgia's northern border with Russia, and Sergei Bagapsh, the leader of the separatist western region of Abkhazia, were called to the Kremlin to sign up to the truce terms between Russia and Georgia mediated on Tuesday by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. Medvedev delivered a robust statement of support for the two rebel regions, while Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, flatly dismissed western insistence that Georgia's territorial integrity had to form the basis for any eventual settlement of the conflict. "We don't want the collapse of Georgia, but the de facto situation is such that neither the South Ossetians nor the Abkhaz want to live in the same state with the person who has sent his troops against them," said Lavrov. The breakaway Abkhaz administration said it needed to have a significant Russian "peacekeeping" contingent on its soil, indicating that Moscow intends to retain a heavy presence there. President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia said there could be no Russian forces in Abkhazia, although he agreed to a "temporary" Russian presence in South Ossetia. But the Russians have routed the Georgians, expelling their forces completely from the two regions, and European Union officials involved in trying to cement a ceasefire say it is realistic to expect the Russians to control the breakaway provinces. Medvedev's statement was a green light to the Abkhaz and South Ossetians to organise votes in their territories which would return verdicts in favour of independence or absorption by Russia. "I'd like you to know," Medvedev told the two leaders, "that we support any decision taken by the peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. We will not only support them, but guarantee them in the Caucasus and in the whole world ... Right is on your side." Medvedev added that any such decisions should conform with the UN charter and the Helsinki act. While effectively controlling the two provinces, Russia, say analysts, may prefer to leave their status open and unresolved in order to use them as bargaining tools rather than incorporating them into Russia and provoking a bigger international crisis. The Russian statements put Moscow on collision course with the west in seeking a diplomatic settlement to the Caucasus conflict. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, is to meet Medvedev in Sochi on the Black Sea today. Her spokesman said yesterday it was "sacrosanct for Germany" that "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia are not called into question in future talks". But Lavrov insisted that any diplomatic formula that sought to settle the conflict would be "useless" if it mentioned Georgia's territorial integrity. "Any reference to the territorial integrity of Georgia would simply be seen as an insult, a deeply human insult." The tentative peace formula unveiled by EU negotiators on Wednesday makes no reference to Georgia's territorial integrity, although a statement issued by EU foreign ministers stressed that any peace pact had to be based on respect for Georgia's recognised borders. ***** Barry Soetoro's Islam Faith From Fight the Smears: http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/christian The truth about Barack Obama's faith Truth: Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised as a Muslim, and is a committed Christian. Further, this myth perpetuates unfortunate falsehoods about the Muslim-American community that are offensive to people of all faiths. * Below is a uncovered copy of Barack Obama's childhood school registration, which shows him registered (under the name Barry Soetoro) as Islam in the category of religion. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ah63153bXx0/SK1asjtthNI/AAAAAAAAAXI/hx2uX-Vn0l4/s1600-h/obama-muslim.jpg Photo courtesy of http://noquarterusa.net For the record, I don't care that Obama was raised as Muslim at least at one point in his life. Indeed, in theory, that would be a sign of a positive, tolerant, multi-religious view. What is the issue is that Obama and his campaign continue to lie about very basic facts involving his own history. ***** http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=738&Itemid=1 Is Obama the End of Black Politics? Lord, No Wednesday, 13 August 2008 by Mel Reeves The New York Times magazine predicts that Black politics will fade into "mainstream" American politics as happened with the Italians and Irish, conveniently forgetting that "the Irish and Italian machines were white!" Moreover, the article seems to maintain that "electoral politics is the primary form of black political struggle" when "the most significant black struggle has occurred in the streets." Black electoral politicians aren't rated too highly in the ‘hood. "If asked to name black heroes off the top of their heads, most blacks would instantly nominate Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X - neither of whom held elective office." "The author is clearly out of touch with US history and the history of US race relations." Through its Sunday magazine, the New York Times asks, "Is Obama the end of black politics?" The most obvious problem with the question is that it assumes that electoral politics is the primary form of black political struggle. Some clarification is in order. Most of the struggle for black politics or a black piece of the pie has taken place outside of electoral politics. Rather, the most significant black struggle has occurred in the streets. The long list of black heroes in the quest for justice and equality in the US - the real black politics - includes very few politicians. In fact, if asked to name black heroes off the top of their heads, most blacks would instantly nominate Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X - neither of whom held elective office. If you asked most blacks to name the top ten African Americans of all time, maybe, just maybe, a baby boomer or two would suggest former Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell. However the author, Matt Bai, limited his version of politics to the electoral kind. With one exception, he ignored everyone on the progressive side of the black spectrum. Clearly, his list of promising black leaders are all elected, relatively conservative Democrats - black politicos such as Newark mayor Cory Booker, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter and Alabama Congressman Artur Davis. Mr. Bai seems to hope that the ascendance of the Booker-Nutter-Davis crowd will put an end to black "whining" - and thus, black politics. Therefore the very question seeks to put black folks in a box that we should be very careful to avoid. Electoral politics - often a game of placing black faces in previously white places - has at best yielded mixed results in our community. To be fair, black elected officials have a tough job, but they have seldom succeeded in substantially bettering the conditions of poor black folks without the corresponding protests of people in the street. A simple observation of where blacks are located along the misery index will serve to make the point. "Mr. Bai seems to hope that the ascendance of the Booker-Nutter-Davis crowd will put an end to black ‘whining' - and thus, black politics." There really is no such thing as a basic conflict between the "civil rights" generation versus the younger (or "Hip Hop") generation in our community. Both generations are confronted with racism. There are, no doubt, generational competitions between those in the electoral milieu who are jockeying for HNIC spots. However, the author is clearly out of touch with US history and the history of US race relations when he suggests that, "the resistance of the civil rights generation to Obama's candidacy signified the failure of their parents to come to terms, at the dusk of their lives, with the success of their own struggle - to embrace the idea that black politics might now be disappearing into American politics in the same way that the Irish and Italian machines joined the political mainstream" The Times writer could at least have waited for the black historical actors to die off before he started revising African American history. First of all: the Irish and Italian machines were white! Mr. Cai is comparing apples and oranges. He is trying to wish into existence an historical transition that has not yet occurred for black people - and my never occur. Yes, there are more opportunities for blacks in America, but the hurdles of race remain extraordinarily high. Just look at the foolishness Barack Obama encounters on an almost daily basis. No matter how much he panders to the fears of whites, a significant percentage are not quite comfortable with the "colored boy." Either the author is an ostrich and has been living with his head in the ground, or a 21st century Rip Van Winkle and has been sleeping through this government's refusal to rectify or even sincerely address the damage done to black citizens by institutional racism. More importantly, the misinformed writer fails to comprehend the importance of the oil of racism to the capitalist machinery. The most foolish statement of the article came from the mouth Cornell Belcher, an Obama campaigner who declared, with astonishing conceit, "I'm the new black politics. The people I work with are the new black politics. We don't carry around that history. We see the world through post-civil-rights eyes. I don't mean that disrespectfully, but that's just the way it is." In essence, what the not-so-young brother said, is that he is blind and ahistorical, yet nevertheless he and others like him are going to lead black folks into the new millennium. An incredibly shallow person, Belcher puts Obama at the center of the African American universe. "Barack Obama is the sum of their struggle. He's the sum of their tears, their fights, their marching, their pain. This opportunity is the sum of that." No, not-so-young man, the struggle has always been for the full social, economic and political equality of black America as a whole, not for just a few individual and token achievements. "An incredibly shallow person, Belcher puts Obama at the center of the African American universe." Ben Jealous, the new elected president of the NAACP, was the only person who made any sense in this very deceptive article when he said, "It's still a human rights struggle. This isn't a struggle that began in the 1930's or 1960's. It's a struggle that began in 1620." Judging from what we have seen and heard, even if there is a president Obama in the White House in 2009 the struggle will continue. Unless Obama breaks with the political-economic-social system we know as capitalism and attempts to break the bonds of income disparity by redistributing the wealth and providing real equal opportunity and equal access to quality public education, universal health care, full employment, affordable housing, an end to military adventurism, and a fair shake from our justice department, then we will have to keep our marching boots at the ready. Mel Reeves is an activist living in Miami. He can be contacted at mellaneous19@yahoo.com ***** http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jUNOHxDTQoehoT3FAda6jBvSN4uQD92HNCEG1 Documents detailing early spy network released By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and RANDY HERSCHAFT 8-13-8 WASHINGTON (AP) — Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world. They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt. The secret comes out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives. They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops. Among the more than 35,000 OSS personnel files are applications, commendations and handwritten notes identifying young recruits who, like Child, Goldberg and Berg, earned greater acclaim in other fields — Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian and special assistant to President Kennedy; Sterling Hayden, a film and television actor whose work included a role in "The Godfather"; and Thomas Braden, an author whose "Eight Is Enough" book inspired the 1970s television series. Other notables identified in the files include John Hemingway, son of author Ernest Hemingway; Quentin and Kermit Roosevelt, sons of President Theodore Roosevelt, and Miles Copeland, father of Stewart Copeland, drummer for the band The Police. The release of the OSS personnel files uncloaks one of the last secrets from the short-lived wartime intelligence agency, which for the most part later was folded into the CIA after President Truman disbanded it in 1945. "I think it's terrific," said Elizabeth McIntosh, 93, a former OSS agent now living in Woodbridge, Va. "They've finally, after all these years, they've gotten the names out. All of these people had been told never to mention they were with the OSS." The CIA had resisted releasing OSS records for decades. But former CIA Director William Casey, himself an OSS veteran, cleared the way for transfer of millions of OSS documents to the National Archives when he took over the agency in 1981. The personnel files are the latest to be made public. Information about OSS involvement was so guarded that relatives often couldn't confirm a family member's work with the group. Walter Mess, who handled covert OSS operations in Poland and North Africa, said he kept quiet for more than 50 years, only recently telling his wife of 62 years about his OSS activity. "I was told to keep my mouth shut," said Mess, now 93 and living in Falls Church, Va. The files will offer new information even for those most familiar with the agency. Charles Pinck, president of the OSS Society created by former OSS agents and their relatives, said the nearly 24,000 employees included in the archives far exceeds previous estimates of 13,000. The newly released documents will clarify these and other issues, said William Cunliffe, an archivist who has worked extensively with the OSS records at the National Archives. "We're saying the OSS was a lot bigger than they were saying," Cunliffe said. On the Net: CIA OSS page: http://tinyurl.com/6bvmhf Index to National Archives OSS personnel files: http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/ ***** http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news?slug=ap-ath-mens100 So fast! Bolt smashes own world record to win 100 8-16-2008 BEIJING (AP)—Usain Bolt of Jamaica easily broke his own world record in the 100 meters to win the Olympic gold medal Saturday night, slowing up to celebrate and still finishing in 9.69 seconds. Bolt stretched his arms out wide and put his palms out, then slapped his chest just before crossing the line. He came in well below his old mark of 9.72 seconds, set May 31 in New York—less than a year after Bolt took up the dash. What had been billed as a showdown was not close at all. Richard Thompson of Trinidad took the silver medal in 9.89, and Walter Dix of the United States was third in 9.91. The 21-year-old Bolt’s performance left no doubt whatsoever about who deserves the title of “World’s Fastest Man.” Former world record-holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica was fifth, while reigning world champion Tyson Gay of the United States failed to qualify for the final. Bolt’s specialty has been the 200 meters, which he will be a heavy favorite to win next week in what would be first men’s Olympic sprint double since Carl Lewis in 1988. But he persuaded his coach to let him try the dash—and what quick progress Bolt has made. *** http://www.nbcolympics.com/swimming/news/newsid=224695.html Epic eight: Phelps makes history By NBCOlympics.com Saturday, August 16, 2008 BEIJING -- A journey that started four years ago after his six gold medals in Athens and included 17 swims over nine days here ended triumphantly for Michael Phelps on Sunday. Phelps earned his unprecedented eighth Olympic gold medal of the 2008 Olympics as he swam the butterfly leg of the Americans' world-record win in the 4x100m medley relay to close out the swimming competition at the Water Cube. Jason Lezak held off Eamon Sullivan of Australia in the freestyle leg, with the Americans finishing in 3:29.34. Australia took the silver in 3:30.04 and Japan the bronze. Lezak said he was inspired by the celebrities on hand to watch history in the making. "I looked up and I saw Kobe and LeBron, the best basketball players in the world. No way we were going to let those guys down," he said. Aaron Peirsol led off in the backstroke leg, Brendan Hansen swam the breast and Lezak anchored, the same three who won gold in Athens. Phelps swam the prelims of that race in Athens, giving up his finals spot to Ian Crocker. The American men have never lost the medley relay in the history of the Olympics. "Hats off to this guy right here," Peirsol said of Phelps in an NBC interview on the pool deck after the race. "He did something that's never been done before. We're happy to be a part of it." Hansen called Phelps' 8-for-8 the greatest achievement in sports. "Every single athlete in the world right now needs to tip their hat to Michael Phelps" he said. Phelps tied Mark Spitz with his seventh gold medal a day earlier in the 100m butterfly, winning by the slimmest of margins, .01 of a second over Milorad Cavic. His quest was almost derailed in Day 2 of the meet in the 4x100m free relay, but Lezak's unbelievable anchor leg kept the quest alive. he touched ahead of Alain Bernard of France by .08. "It wouldn't have been possible without the help of my teammates." Phelps said. "For the three Olympics I've been a part of, this is by far the closest men's team that we've ever had. I didn't know everybody coming into this Olympics, but I feel going out I know every single person very well. The team that we had is the difference." Phelps set world records in seven of his eight swims, with only the 100m fly mark not broken. He also won the 400m IM, the 200m IM and the 200m fly, breaking his own world mark in each, and led off the 4x200m free relay. It was nine days of magical moments for Phelps, and he said the collective effort is what he'll remember most. "Every race, from one to the other," he said. "It's the whole thing. It's a great experience." "Everything had to go perfect. Everything had to fall perfectly into place and I was able to have probably the best week of my life." Probably? The Associated Press contributed to this story.