Migration talks could signal real opening with Cuba

Word from Washington that Cuba had agreed to reopen talks on allowing migration from the island and on mail delivery could be a sign that relations between the two countries are indeed warming and that diplomatic relations could be eventually in the offing. Cuba sent a note to U.S. officials on Saturday agreeing to resume migration talks suspended by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2004, according to the Reuters international news agency. A second note offered talks on direct mail service. "The two notes are a very positive step forward," the U.S. official said, according to Reuters. "Our goal has always been safe, orderly migration out of Cuba. It's in our interest to resume these talks." The two countries have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1960, when Cuba's new leftist leader, Fidel Castro, who overthrew the island's U.S.-backed leader, nationalized businesses owned by U.S. companies. The official said the Cubans also indicated an interest in holding talks on counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism and hurricane disaster responses. The notes apparently were timed to coincied with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's three-day trip to Latin America, where the Organization of American States is expected to readmit Cuba. Cuba's membership was suspended in 1962 after Castro began to implement Communist reforms and aligned Cuba with the Soviet Union, Reuters said.

Happy talk by former presidents obscures deep political divide

Nice to see former U.S. presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton getting along so well. The stuck up for each other and even joked around Friday at a political forum in Toronto when they spoke before a crowd of 6,000, according to the Associated Press. Neither criticized the other in their first appearance together, the AP said. Bush, who left office in January after eight controversial years as president, said he didn't like being criticized by previous administration officials and that Clinton never did that. Bush said there were "plenty of critics in America," the AP said. And Clinton, who was president from 1993-2001, did not even mention recent well-publicized comments by Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney, who has been highly critical of the new administration of Barak Obama. Bush even called Clinton his "brother" while joking about how much time his father, former President George H.W. Bush, spends with his immediate predecessor. Clinton and the elder Bush led international fundraising efforts after the southeast Asian tsunami and after hurricanes Katrina and Ike. The two former presidents made speeches before answering questions from the audience, the AP said. Clinton said he regretting not sending soldiers to Africa to stop the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, and Bush defended his administration's conduct of the Iraq war. "I don't buy the premise that our attention was diverted," Bush said, after Clinton said Bush should have given U.N. inspectors more time to look for weapons of mass destruction and instead concentrated more on Aghanistan, where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is still thought to be hiding. Clinton praised Bush for his contributions to efforts to battle the AIDS virus in Africa and for appointing a racially and ethnically diverse Cabinet. Bush said Clinton would not have been able to mobilize enough troops in time to stop the Rwanda bloodbath, in which Hutu militias killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in three months. The event was moderated Frank McKenna, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States.

Rise in bank failures belies optimistic assessments about economy

All the happy talk about the economy coming from the White House these days could just be wishful thinking. The Federal Deposit Insurance Program, which protects U.S. bank deposits, said yesterday that 53 banks had been added to its list of financial institutions at risk of failure, bringing the total to 305 in the first quarter, according to the Washington Post. The FDIC also said 36 banks had already failed in 2009. That doesn't exactly comport with President Barak Obama's optimistic statement today that the economy was getting better with the help of his $787 billion stimulus package. "Americans have saved thousands by taking advantage of the tax credits for the purchase of a new home, a new fuel-efficient car, or energy-efficient cooling and heating systems, windows and insulation," Obama said in a speech at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas. Obama said 95 percent of working families received tax cuts, unemployment benefits were extended and 44 million Social Security recipients got a $250 bonus from his stimulus bill, according to the Associated Press. But FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair said at a news conference Wednesday that officials have run into problems implementing the Troubled Assets Relief Program, which was supposed to help the banking system recover by sponsoring purchases of "toxic assets" held by financial institutions. Those assets, which include ill-advised loans to millions of home buyers and unsafe "securities" held by financial institutions, are blamed for the collapse of the banking system last year. Bair said some banks are balking at revealing information required by the government to enter the TARP system, and some are objecting to rules being drafted by regulators to bar banks from repurchasing their own toxic assets at a discount under the program. But the FDIC also said the nation's banks made a profit of $7.6 billion in the first quarter after losing $36.9 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2008. Banks earned $19.3 billion in the first quarter of 2008, the Post said.

Pakistan continuing to dismantle Musharraf legacy

Word from Pakistan that the country's Supreme Court has lifted a ban on holding office imposed on two leading politicians, including a former prime minister, demonstrates a commitment to maintaining its restored democracy and undoing the eight-year legacy of Pervez Musharraf. Tuesday's ruling means Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N who was deposed as prime minister in 1999 in a Musharraf-led military coup, can return to Parliament if he runs again and wins, according to the New York Times. The ruling also keeps Sharif's brother, Shahbaz Sharif, in his post as chief minister from Punjab Province. Shahbaz Sharif was forced to leave his post in February after the same Supreme Court ruling that barred Nawaz Sharif from holding office. But that ruling was stayed in March after nationwide protests by lawyers and others forced the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who had been suspended after refusing Musharraf's demand that he resign. Musharraf, a former commander of Pakistan's army, ruled the country for eight years before running for re-election in 2008 and losing to Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party. Musharraf now lives in London. After the Supreme Court ruling that cleared his return to politics, a triumphant Nawaz Sharif told a press conference at his home in Raiwind, near Lahore, that the country had never accepted the ruling that barred him. "Today, Pakistan will start moving in the right direction," he said, according to the Times. He said his government had been removed illegally in 1999 but was vague about his future plans, except to say he would run "when the right moment comes," the Times said.

Iran rejects West-proposed freeze of nuclear program

News from Tehran that Iran has rejected a proposal by Western nations to freeze its nuclear program was, presumably, not a surprise to anyone except, perhaps, U.S. President Barak Obama. Obama has made diplomatic engagement with Iran one of the hallmarks of his early foreign policy, even after decades of mutual mistrust, and the Western allies are looking for a way to convince Tehran to stop pursuing nuclear weaponry short of war. But it is a risky proposition, given the less-than-peaceful rhetoric emanating from Tehran, Washington and Jerusalem. True, the West was only offering the usual inducements -- an end to UN financial sanctions, international acceptance and full participation in the rulers' club -- things that have repeatedly failed to convince Iran to stop behaving like an outlaw nation. But Iran has not always behaved like a rational country since the 1979 revolution that toppled the U.S.-imposed Shah and brought Islamic rulers to power. Iran's conservative president, Dr. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, offered to debate Obama on world politics at the United Nations but ruled out any further talks on the nuclear issue, according to the Reuters international news service, after the United States, Russia, China, England, France and Germany invited Iran fto talks on the subject. "Our talks will only be in the framework of cooperation for managing global issues and nothing else," Ahmadinejad said Monday at a news conference. "The nuclear issue is a finished issue for us." Ahmadinejad said Iran was pursuing peaceful nuclear energy, not weaponry, and was opposed in principle to "the production, expansion and the use of weapons of mass destruction," Reuters said. So, why is Iran so afraid to join the civilized world?

Obstructionism as an art form

Today's comment by Sen. John Kyl of Arizona threatening a filibuster of whomever U.S. President Barak Obama nominates for the open seat on the U.S. Supreme Court is another low for the foundering Republican Party in a decade of lows. Believe it or not, the second most-powerful GOP senator said today that he would try to hold up confirmation of any court nominee who displays the quality of empathy, according to the Associated Press. Kyl told the conservative Federalist Society that such a judge could not be trusted to be objective so such a nomination should be blocked. "I was distinguishing between a person who is just liberal — and undoubtedly this nominee will be liberal — and one who decides cases not based upon the law or the merits but, rather, upon his or her emotions, or feelings or preconceived ideas," Kyl said. "That would be a circumstance in which I could not support the nominee." Do these guys even listen to what they're saying? Kyl's remarks were in response to comments to a C-Span interview broadcast Saturday in which Obama said he wanted to nominate a judge with "understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles" in deciding cases. "You have to have not only the intellect to be able to effectively apply the law to cases before you," Obama said. "But you have to be able to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes and get a sense of how the law might work or not work in practical day-to-day living." Who could argue with that? Well, apparently, at least Kyl has figured out how to, even though he should well know that George W. Bush, Obama's predecessor, appointed doctrinaire conservatives to the court. "We will distinguish between a liberal judge on one side and one who doesn't decide cases on the merits but, rather, on the basis of his or her preconceived ideas," Kyl said, according to AP. Obama is expected to announce his nomination this week, possibly as early as Tuesday. The nominee should be confirmed with little problem, because the Democrats hold a 59-40 majority in the U.S. Senate. People known to be under consideration include federal appeals court judges Diane Wood and Sonia Sotomayor, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, the AP said.

Sri Lanka government about to defeat decades-long insurgency

Reports from Sri Lanka say the government is in control of the entire coastline and has cornered the Tamil Tigers in what could be the end of the 25-year insurgency. Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Saturday that his military had "finally defeated" the insurgents after a generation-long war that killed thousands of civilians, saw the first use of suicide bombings and of women and children in terrorist attacks, and included assassinations of many Sri Lankan political leaders and, allegedly, of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi. According to the Associated Press, the Tamil Tigers rebel group, which had been fighting for the establishment of an independent state for the minority Tamils in the island nation, was calling for peace and for negotiations with the government in Colombo. It was a far cry from the 1980s when the Tamil Tigers operated a virtual state in the country's north, commanded a navy and controlled a smuggling network, the AP said. The vast majority of Sri Lankans are Sinhalese, mostly Buddhist and speak the Sinhala language; the Tamils come from India, are primarily Hindu and speak Tamil, according to the nonprofit Council on Foreign Relations. But the government has rejected entreaties for a truce, even from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and pressed on with a massive bombing campaign against the remaining rebels. Tigers spokesman Selvarasa Pathmanathan told the AP that U.S. President Barak Obama call on Wednesday for a peaceful resolution of the conflict was welcome, but did not agree to Obama's request for lay down their weapons.