Is anybody out there? Politics on the U.S.-Russia border

Written by Joshua Grenzsund

Thursday, 28 February 2008

A shot of Russia's Big Diomede, also known as Ratmanova Island, which is only two miles from United States soil. How are relations between Alaska and Russia affected by high-powered presidential elections in both countries? World writer Joshua Grenzsund explains the relationship between Alaska's Little Diomede Island and Russia's Big Diomede. In the lower 49, it’s easy to forget Alaska’s shore is only 58 miles from the Chukotka Autonomous Region of Russia’s mainland. Additionally, few of us have probably realized that Alaska’s Little Diomede Island, which is nearly in the middle of the Bering Strait, is only two miles distant from Russia’s Big Diomede — or Ratmanova Island. As tensions renew between the United States and Russia — both of which are conducting high-profile presidential elections — Diomede and Ratmanova, though connected by winter ice and located more closely to each other than to their respective countries' mainlands, remain completely isolated from each other and the alternate reality of national politics. It seems all the world is riveted by presidential elections. The US election almost feels like a reality TV show with Senators John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama insinuating that the future of democracy hinges on who becomes the next commander-in-chief. On the other hand, Russia’s election turns more into a tragic comedy each day. In a very neo-Soviet move, Russian President Vladimir Putin hand-picked his successor, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev quickly asked Putin to be his Prime Minister, and many speculate this position will become the de-facto seat of power in the new government. Russia’s election is Mar. 2, and the results are a foregone conclusion. Opposition candidates have been marginalized, intimidated and even jailed, and Medvedev said he will not even run a traditional campaign because he does not have time. However, a recent poll shows almost 70% of Russians plan to vote for Medvedev. Russia Today reported that the government already started collecting ballots as early as Feb. 15 in the most Northeastern reaches of Russia, starting with Ratmanova Island — one mile from U.S. soil. Eastern Russia’s Koluma news agency reported that although the Siberian oblasts are sparsely populated, it is expected that as many as 160,000 votes will be cast over the next few days by nomadic herders and those living in remote towns, working in petroleum or stationed at military outposts. There is little doubt the official vote from this region will be staunchly pro-Medvedev. The Governor of Chukotka is Roman Abramovich, a 41-year-old billionaire oligarch who received his appointment in October 2005 at the recommendation of Putin. Abramovich fits the profile of the powerful and loyal young men Putin has used to consolidate Russian power politically and economically over the past several years. While the border station on Ratmanova appears politically secure under Russian-style democracy (or so it seems in the Russian press) the scene across the short stretch of ice in the village of Diomede - the United States’ most Western outpost - is ambivalent to say the least. In a recent phone interview, Henry Soolook, a 43-year-old life-long resident of Little Diomede and employee of the Diomede Tribal Council, spoke about the political atmosphere on the island. In contrast to daily, or even hourly updates bombarding those living closer to the core of the presidential elections, Soolook said the roughly 150 inhabitants of Diomede live without television or radio and with only limited Internet access. Within this isolation, the villagers are not paying any particular attention to who wins each party’s nomination in the US, much less who will be the next Russian president. He expects that although there are plans to cast ballots in November's general election, most people in Diomede could not name any of the remaining presidential candidates. But this distance from the politician’s names and the greater machinations of national elections only served to understate what Soolook considered the common concerns of Diomede’s population – being cut off from relatives living in Russian territory and the impacts of changing ice conditions, with thaws coming in mid-May. According to Soolook, there was an exciting time in the 1980s when relatives on both sides of the international border were able to visit each other with relative freedom. However, all travel has been cut since the end of that decade. Diomede residents no longer cross to the Russian side, not even while hunting, and the short distance truly marks a world apart. The outcomes of both nations’ elections will affect these sorts of border tensions, as a hawk like McCain in the White House and Putin taking up the Prime Minister seat at the Kremlin would likely drive relations closer to a renewed cold war. Similarly, the early thaws of arctic ice affect the residents of Diomede as residents hunt bearded seals and polar bears. Soolook reported there has only been one polar bear sighting this winter, an unusually low number for the area. While national politics may be ineffective in addressing global climate change, political campaigns certainly invoke it as a way to round out their image and garner votes. The fact that these concerns of political borders and environmental change come directly from constituents living on the furthest extremes of ice and isolation on the U.S.-Russia border should help remind us of the significant connection between national elections, international relations and personal contact. 2008 thecampusword.com

Inside Iran's Parliamentary Election

Inside Iran's Parliamentary Election

Written by Joshua Grenzsund

Monday, 25 February 2008

As Iran prepares to hold its majles (parliamentary) elections on Mar. 14, the Islamic fundamentalist establishment continues to cull reformists from the vote. During the last several months crackdowns on rallies have pressured supporters of reformist movements and now, according to Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, the Interior Ministry has blocked over 2000 candidates, mostly reformists, from running for the legislative body’s 290 seats. Though the government claims these disqualifications are on legal grounds, it seems to be a move to keep the conservative majority in power. A power shift in the majles could set the stage for a reformist presidential candidate in 2009, much like the conservative shift in 2003 helped Mahmoud Ahmadinejad take power in 2004. But given the fate of reformist movements, such a shift is unlikely. According to Amnesty International, dozens of students and other supporters of reformist movements arrested in December and January are still being held without cause at Evin Prison north of Tehran. Allegations of torture at the prison are rampant and as recently as January a student arrested by the government died shortly after being taken into custody. Despite a February decree by the Iranian judiciary that bans arrest without cause, such arrests and torture are unlikely to stop. Agence France-Presse reported the decree reads that authorities should "Refrain from summoning people without sufficient proof, [and] refrain from holding people under arrest without pressing charges." Such an announcement, however, may represent unrealistic hopes when viewed in the light of those who actually hold power at this time. Tehran’s current mayor, Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, is a former Brigadier General in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. According to Iran Focus, when Qalibaf was still in the IRGC he co-authored a 1999 letter to then-president Mohammad Khatami urging the use of “every available means” to put down a pro-democracy student protest movement, or the Corps “would take matters into their own hands.” Since becoming Tehran’s mayor, many residents complain that police often conduct raids, beatings and arrests — that people “disappeared” if they were involved in trying to bring about lasting reformist change. In the context of these recurrent incidents, it is clear the disqualification of reformist candidates is yet another move by conservatives to hold power. AFP reported that Iran's former-president Mohammad Khatami called the mass disqualification a “catastrophe” for democracy and is evidence of a widening rift between the Iranian people and the Iranian state. Among those disqualificatied was Ali Eshraghi, the grandson of deceased leader of the 1979 Iranian revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Though this may be a surprise disqualification, Eshraghi has gained a reputation as being outspoken against military involvement in politics. Both Qalibaf and Ahmadinejad are former military members. In addition to trying to hold power within their borders, the conservative government is also trying to reinforce its regional alliances. With the United States in effect encircling Iran with its occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran has solidified its ties with Russia as that country re-asserts itself on the global stage as the ideological, economic and military rival to the US. Most notably, Russia has supplied the nuclear fuel for Iran’s reactor that is expected to start producing power this summer. Though Russia has taken notice of a recent test launch of a long-range missile, ostensibly part of a space program, as a possible nuclear weapons program, they show no signs of trying to distance themselves from the Islamic government. In fact, in late January Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty reported that Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Saltanov proposed a possible “regional security system that will take into account the interests of all littoral states and interested countries.” Such an organization would offer a Russian-led alternative to the United States' influence in the region. If a reformist majority were to take power in the parliamentary elections, it would certainly influence both this sort of development as well as Iran’s 2009 presidential election and its overall relationship with the West. The certainty that seems to surround a conservative hold on power in Iran is contrasted by the uncertainty about whether a conservative or more liberal candidate will take power in the US’s own presidential election in November. France's Le Monde newspaper reported that Ahmadinejad is watching the US election. According to the newspaper, he said that "if there were free elections in the United States, if the American people had various choices, not just two, we think they would opt for a different policy than the one implemented now by the United States." That policy is openly antagonistic towards Iran. In addition to the 2002 declaration by President Bush that Iran was part of an “axis of evil,” there has been a more recent development that indicates even a Democratic-led congress may continue in this anti-Iranian stance. In September, 2007 the US Senate voted on a nonbinding ammendment to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. All three of the leading US presidential candidates — Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama — were senators during this vote. Clinton voted for the amendment, while McCain and Obama both missed the vote. Clinton adopted up a hawkish position, but she is not likely to be outdone by McCain, who infamously answered a question last year about possible military action against Iran. In news reports and in video clips around the Internet it is clear he quips, "That old, eh, that old Beach Boys' song, 'Bomb Iran': Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah … " Of the three, the only one who is interested in direct diplomatic negotiation with Iran, regardless of whether reformist or conservatives are in power, is Obama. He recently gained the support of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, whose own diplomatic approach to foreign affairs led to his ouster from the Bush administration. In a recent interview, Powell said, in reference to Obama’s and Clinton’s opposing positions, "You have to talk to folks that you may not necessarily like, and you can't put down impossible preconditions for conversations." It seems to be a foregone conclusion that Iran’s Islamic fundamentalist government will stay in power in the Mar. 14 elections, but that government’s future relationship with the West will have much to do with the outcome of the US’ own 2008 election — as if it wasn't heated enough. 2008 thecampusword.com

Northwest Electricity

To stay turned on longer, turn it off more often

In my opinion | Duceré Useré Cycleré

By: Josh Grenzsund

Posted: 2/20/08

Our modernity is as unstable as the next power outage. In an electrically dependent world, discordant appliances humming in your office or home environment can affect your mood, and the various power stations churning out voltage for us day and night affect our larger environment.

This last point is the one that takes up so much space in news reports, community meetings and campaign speeches. Everything is becoming connected to global climate change. Given that our appetite for the markers of convenience and modernity result in the alteration of our Earth's environment, we are beginning to think about each decision that we make as having an impact on our ecological systems.

Even more than that, we're recognizing that environmentally motivated lifestyle choices don't just affect the 'natural' environment, but have interrelated impacts on economic and political systems. All of this is often simplified under the current buzz word "sustainability" as people and organizations look for ways to provide convenient and modern goods and services while minimizing environmental impacts.

A common factor in all sustainability equations is energy. A lot of attention is given to liquid petroleum fuels and possible renewable replacements, but if one had to make the decision of giving up either the convenience of trucked products and personal vehicles or the convenience of electricity, people would realize the understated importance of electricity.

As far as electrical energy goes here in Eugene, our dominant hand seems safe for the time being. With so much pressure on the energy industry to clean up emissions, we are blessed by geography. While about half of our nation's electricity comes from coal-fired plants, we get about 95 percent of our electricity from sources that do not produce greenhouse gasses.

This number is a not only a result of our region's bounty of hydro-electricity, but also a result of environmental foresight nationally, regionally and locally. In 1980 Congress passed the Pacific Northwest Power Act, which authorized Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana to take steps to maintain power supplies while mitigating the impacts of hydropower on fish populations.

The act reads that "Priority shall be given first to conservation; second to renewable resources; third to generating resources utilizing waste heat or generating resources of high fuel conversion efficiency; and fourth to all other resources." The Eugene Water and Electric Board has integrated this list of priorities deep into its strategic planning and uses them to guide its infrastructure, investment, and marketing efforts.

As a result, the bulk of Eugene's electricity comes from hydropower, about 7 percent from nuclear power and only about 5 percent from the Bonneville Power Association's natural gas and coal-fired resources. In order to decrease even this small percentage of electricity use that results directly in greenhouse gas emissions, EWEB's objectives over the coming years include substantial increases in wind and solar thermal power.

But the quest for developing new, even renewable, sources of electricity can be seen as dubious wisdom. Yes, we have to find better ways to support our convenient and modern lifestyle, but making more electricity from alternate sources may lead to unforeseen consequences. In the 1930s, hydropower was seen as the ecological and renewable solution for our country's power needs, but now these dams across our land are at the center of serious environmental debates.

The best solution, the retro '80s idea, one with not nearly the flash and marketing pizzazz of "sustainability," is still conservation. As the entity that harvests and distributes our shocking fuel for modernity, we should be thankful for a power board that remembers the one good idea from the 1980s. In our drive to make cleaner, faster energy more sustainable, we forget that conservation is the best investment for lessening our impact on our environment and ourselves.

Someone once said that the cleanest energy is the energy you never use. So, back here in our fully-electrified lifestyle, at the same time that you make decisions to try and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create sustainability, figure in the basics and remember to find ways to use less electricity in the first place.

jgrenzsund@dailyemerald.com

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© Copyright 2008 Oregon Daily Emerald

Afghanistan's Character Shreds NATO Ideals

Afghan student journalist's death sentence upheld: a rejection of open democracy?

Written by Joshua Grenzsund

Wednesday, 13 February 2008

Source: NATO On Jan. 30, Afghanistan’s Meshrano Jirga (from the country's House of Elders) issued a statement endorsing the death sentence of journalist Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh and criticizing the international pressure to nullify the Balkh provincial court’s ruling. The following day, the jirga withdrew its statement, as legal experts pointed out the unconstitutionality of the parliamentary body’s involvement in judicial affairs and 200 protesters marched in Kabul to protest Perwiz’s sentence. However, the jirga, headed by President Hamid Karzai’s ally Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, maintained its support for the prosecution of anti-Islamic activities. This succession of statements coincides with the release of three reports on the political and military state of affairs in Afghanistan, all of which assess that things are going poorly. The analysis released by the US Afghanistan Study Group flatly claims that “the mission to stabilize Afghanistan is faltering.” Additionally, Afghanistan recently rejected the United Nation’s choice of Paddy Ashdown as an envoy with expanded authority. Taken together, all these represent the country's wholesale rejection of Western ideals at the same time that NATO powers struggle with their own commitment to Afghanistan’s stabilization and democratization. The ASG analysis warns that “Afghanistan stands today at a crossroads,” citing theTaliban’s “anti-government insurgency that has grown considerably over the past two years” as well as public opposition to the war in several NATO countries that is “threatening to fray the coalition in the next two years.” Most recently, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper notified US President George Bush that Canada will not renew its troops’ mission, in the violent south, unless it receives more support from other NATO nations. Their mission is scheduled to end in 2009. In response to the rejection of Ashdown, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged that “the international community has not yet found a way to coordinate its effort in a way that is effective and efficient and can fully support the Afghan government in reconstruction." This failure to maintain the momentum built up from the 2001 invasion through the 2004 parliamentary and presidential elections has opened up the space for the inertia of Afghan independence on its own terms. The Taliban’s disturbing resurgence in Afghanistan’s south is matched by the government’s legislative and judicial branches’ equally disquieting use ofShari’a law as a cover for corruption and intimidation. The death sentence of Perwiz illustrates this brash confidence flies in the face of the country's recent foreign occupation. Half a decade is all the country’s leaders needed for the mujahideen-like tenacity and patience to wear down international resolve. Perwiz has been convicted of blasphemy for printing, and sharing with friends, an Internet blog article that criticizes a passage of the Koran. Shortly after his arrest this past October, his case was, unusually, referred to the Balkh Shura-ye Ulema (Council of Religious Scholars) instead of a civil court. The council recommended a death sentence for apostasy and rejection of Islamic faith — a civil court later heard the case and convicted Perwiz of blasphemy. Though Perwiz is afforded three appeals, he was denied counsel at his initial trial and many are deriding the harsh sentence as a blatant move by corrupt judges and lawmakers to intimidate Perwiz’s brother Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, a journalist who has been critical of several Afghan politicians in northern Afghanistan. Yaqub’s reporting for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting has covered alleged human rights violations, killings, kidnappings, armed robberies and other instances of intimidation carried out by warlords-turned-leaders in Baghlan and Faryab provinces. One of Yaqub’s articles reports that “a former regional strongman was now ‘masquerading’ as the head of a security firm” and that these armed fighters, possibly 25,000 nationwide, are equally dangerous to the population, whether they are recognized as outlaws or as legal private security personnel. Yaqub has also been openly critical of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek who is very influential in the country’s north. Though Dostum currently serves as chief of staff to the commander-in-chief of Afghanistan's armed forces in Kabul, several of his former sub-commanders have expanded their influence in the north at a time when most international attention is focused on the Taliban in the south. One of Yaqub’s articles characterizes Abdul Rahman Shamal, a former Dostum lieutenant, as “a king … accompanied by armed men on horseback.” The article also describes private prisons, extortion and widespread abuses. The growing intimidation of Yaqub, peaking with the sentencing of his brother, demonstrates the extreme lawlessness that existsunder the faltering veneer of western-style stabilization. In the context of Perwiz’s and Yaqub’s treatment by religious scholars, the courts and now the Afghan jirga, Jean Mackenzie, IWPR Afghanistan Program Director, said that this indicates “a frightening new level of attacks on freedom of speech and the media in Afghanistan.” This crackdown on free press is just a symptom of a more elemental reality that the fractious country is fueled by guns and drugs. Those in control of the money and fighters cannot tolerate the depth of corruption exposed to the public to any degree; they turn to the severe punishments of Shari’a law to discourage investigative reporting. As a seemingly final insult to the international efforts to institute a free democracy in Afghanistan, IWPR reported that those most pleased with the government’s posturing is the Taliban, who have posted praise on their website saying that they encourage the “jihadi and brave Afghans toadminister severe chastisement to the perpetrator of this action.” Many previous occupiers of Afghanistan have been likewise blindsided by synchronous turns of events that repeatedly reveal a reality that runs counter to would-beliberators' or occupiers’ aspirations. Though President Karzai must approve Perwiz’s death sentence for it to be carried out, he has so far been largely silent on the issue, even amid growing international concern. This failure to lead his nation towards democratic ideals indicates Afghanistan’s reassertion of its indomitable, if fractured, identity and its final preparation for throwing out this latest wave of foreign occupation and foreign influence. Though the warlords and the Taliban are not likely to unite in the absence of an international occupation, they will do so in order to achieve their individual short-term goals and force out the foreign body within their borders. 2008 thecampusword.com

Pondering Our Connection to Electricity

The loss of our white noise

In my opinion | Duceré Useré Cycleré

By: Josh Grenzsund

Posted: 2/13/08

Thank you! Welcome back! I'd like to pick up right where we left off last week. We were in the midst of the completely organic, sustainable, zero-emissions, locally grown alternative to the mass-marketed awards shows: the Golden Carbon Sequestration Device Awards - formerly known as the Golden Tree Awards.

Before the break we had announced the winners in the emissions and energy categories. Now let's move on to the nominees in -

And just like that it's gone. Black. Quiet.

It may have been power lines knocked over in a storm or toppled in a forest fire. Maybe it was a terrorist attack or a disciple of Ted Kaczynski, or maybe it was just someone between here and Bonneville Dam with a half-flask of whiskey and a penchant for shooting high tension power line insulators.

Whatever the case, we have been cut off from the source of our electricity and now we have to make do for the next 800 words. Getting along without electricity is one thing if you're camping, or otherwise deliberately separated from it. But it is a wholly different situation if you are cut off against your will.

The loss of electricity can be very isolating. Without our computers, televisions and radios to bring the world into our homes, we are cut off. In the '80s, each time there was a blackout I would hypothesize that the electromagnetic pulse from Soviet bombs exploding on the U.S. Minuteman missile silos just north of my hometown had knocked out the power stations. How were we to know for sure, without broadcast radio and TV to tell us?

Losing power can also be very inconvenient. In an instant all the modern comforts of heating, cleaning, entertainment, cooking and refrigeration can be reduced to mocking irony - the heater will not comfort, the stove will not cook, the idiot box will not entertain, and the refrigerator will become the place you keep food to have it rot rather than to preserve it. In a worst-case scenario it can be life threatening. Sure, hospitals have emergency power, but for how long? And in my case, we have aquariums in our home and without filtration, the fish will either be poisoned or suffocate.

In the 1930s the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River was constructed as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's Rural Electrification Administration. Electricity was seen then not only as a way to ease the labor of rural life, but also as a marker of civilization and modernity. Though we may no longer think of the former so much, we certainly still consider the latter. Often a region or country without electricity is considered a backwater, a third world, or even a humanitarian disaster. We define our culture by its dependence upon electricity, and we have lived a fully electrified existence for more than three generations. However, we live on a precarious edge - we don't know how to function if we lose power.

But a blackout is not all bad. If nothing else, it can provide an opportunity like this, to reflect upon the role of electricity in our lives, and the sense of civilization and modernity it brings to us. Very often we do not understand the subtle influences of electricity on our lives precisely because we don't experience life without electricity.

When the electricity goes off in your home or office there is a different sort of silence. National Public Radio recently aired a story about how the appliances around us emit hums and buzzes of differing pitches. We are often not aware of them, but if you have a computer, television, refrigerator or other appliances around you, their sounds can combine into a very discordant symphony. Other times they are reminiscent of minor-key horror film music. The subtle cacophonous noise pollution actually affects your mood and the way you feel about your home and work environments.

These same sorts of effects are part of our larger modern environment as well. It's hard to bring up without seeming to state the obvious, but all of our electricity comes from somewhere. Whether it's hydroelectric, coal fired, nuclear, natural gas, wind or solar, there's a facility somewhere that is churning out voltage. From the resistors in your computer, down the power cord, back through the wall, out onto the street, to a substation and out into the wilderness of electricity production and distribution, you have a direct connection to that anonymous facility. As such, the kilowatt hours that you pull from the nether of this infrastructure affects the source, ever so subtly. Whether it is from one of the Columbia River dams, the nuclear powered Columbia Generating Station near Richland, Wash., or from other hydropower, wind or gas generation facilities, the presence of those facilities in turn affects the environment in which they, and we, all coexist.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council Web page addresses the discordant affects of hydropower on the Columbia River. It cites Nisqually Indian leader Billy Frank, Jr. as having said that when we turn on our light switches in the Pacific Northwest, "salmon come flying out." It certainly may not be as dramatic as he suggests, but we do have to stop for a moment and consider the sources of our electricity, the sources of our modernity.

Next week I will do just that, with an investigation into the University's and Eugene's electric power sources.

jgrenzsund@dailyemerald.com

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© Copyright 2008 Oregon Daily Emerald

Roll out the green carpet for awards

Roll out the green carpet for awards

In my opinion | Duceré Useré Cyceré

By: Josh Grenzsund

Posted: 2/6/08

Do you remember the '80s, when environmentalism was code for dealing with toxic waste, stopping the clubbing of baby seals and protecting spotted owl habitat? Well, the spotted owls have taken roost in new-growth forests, the baby seals are a dead cliché, and addressing toxic and radioactive waste just never had the sex appeal of our new cause de decade - green, sustainable, zero emissions carbon sequestration. Sorry, Captain Planet.

While the sheer marketability of the new environmentalism may be its undoing, it is also the core of the plan. The whole idea of keeping the environment in a condition that will keep us alive means that we have to live in, wear, want, build and buy new stuff that will emit zero greenhouse gases. So, if this sexy marketing is really well done and we literally buy into a product cycle that is all that, then we will have achieved our goal simply by continuing to consume. It sounds a lot like President Bush compelling us to go shopping in late Sept. 2001, but really it's the same logic - if we don't buy "green" products, then global climate change has already won.

We can already recognize that we live in a changed world. The Golden Globes were canceled, and we can imagine a night without the Oscars. In light of these developments, we can see it is the time for the new environmentalists to intervene.

In fact, it has already begun. What I'm presenting to you now is a completely organic, sustainable, zero-emissions, locally grown alternative to the mass-marketed awards shows. So here it is. Based on their noteworthy achievements and performances, I am proud to present the Golden Carbon Sequestration Device Awards - formerly known as the Golden Tree Awards - given out to those who would give the appearance of doing something for the environment, but can't for the fact that gold does not grow.

Energy is always near the top of the list, so here we go. The nominees are: The MidAmerican Nuclear Energy Company, Eugene Water and Electric Board, and the Oregon State Law requiring 10 percent ethanol in all gasoline.

Backed by Warren Buffet, MidAmerican scrapped plans to build a nuclear reactor on the Oregon-Idaho border. However, it wasn't because they wanted to invest in wind or solar; it was because they couldn't find cheap enough parts due to an upsurge in nuclear power's new popularity. Also, another company, Alternate Energy Holdings, is still trying to fund a new reactor south of Boise, ID.

EWEB has decided not to include photovoltaic panels on its new operations complex. The company says that it is too costly, but earlier in the month they attended a neighborhood meeting to sell Eugene residents on the idea of investing in solar energy panels for their homes.

Oregon State Law now reads that by fall 2008 all gasoline sold in the state must be 10 percent ethanol. However, corn is still the main raw material for ethanol production, and the petrol and chemicals needed to grow the crop merely displace the carbon emissions and air pollution to elsewhere in the state or nation.

And so the GCSDA for energy goes to - EWEB! If it's really a worthwhile investment, which I believe it is, then you'd better step up and help lead the way, otherwise you're just selling us dirty product, giving only the façade of emissions change. On the other hand, rather than a GCSDA, a Breath of Fresh Air goes to Lucky Lab Brewing Company in Portland, which installed a solar thermal unit on the roof of its operation to help brew its beer. They plan to install units at their other locations as well.

In the emissions category we have two nominees - the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States. The EPA rejected a petition by Oregon and 16 other states to require tougher tailpipe emissions than federal law. Though several EPA staff members termed California's petition "compelling and extraordinary," the final official answer was that the petition in fact did not meet these "extraordinary conditions," and that in effect requiring stricter standards would cramp the federal style.

In addition to failing to step up at the Bali Climate Talks in December, the U.S. is ranked a mere 39th out of 149 countries in terms of ability to manage its natural resources and control pollution - beneath all other G8 countries, based on the Yale and Columbia University ranking. The GCSDA for emissions goes to - the EPA! What a shocker! But on the flip side, another Breath of Fresh Air goes to Oregon Governor Kulongoski, for working with other western states and Canadian provinces to implement a regional cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gases, possibly serving as a model or incentive for a federal, even international, program.

Stay tuned, we'll be right back after this short break.

jgrenszund@dailyemerald.com

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© Copyright 2008 Oregon Daily Emerald

Afghan Journalist Sentenced to Death

Afghan journalist, Iranian students face prison and death

Written by Joshua Grenzsund

Monday, 04 February 2008

Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh The Jan. 22 announcement that a Balkhprovincial court sentenced an Afghan journalist to death for distributing“blasphemous” material signals that Afghanistan,and other nations in the region, are collectively stepping back from ensuringfreedom of the press. Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a 23-year-old Afghan,had been attending Balkh University and working at the daily Jahan-e Naw (NewWorld) newspaper in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif when he was arrested thispast October on charges that he printed an article from the Internet thatquestioned the Koran’s position on unequal treatment of men and women andshared it with others. Though thearticle was actually written by an online journalist – an Iranian-born studentwho lives in Europe and goes by the name of ArashBikhoda, or "Godless," in Persian – the court ruled that Kambakhshwas guilty of, and had already confessed to distributing anti-Islamic material. The BBC hasreported that the provincial deputy attorney, Hafizullah Khaliqyar, threatenedother Afghan journalists with arrest if they attempt to interfere in the nexttwo hearings that are required to affirm Kambakhsh’s death sentence. Meanwhile,the France-based Reporters Without Borders and theLondon-based Institute for War andPeace Reporting are both reporting that Kambakhsh’s arrest and sentencing areactually intended to intimidate Kambakhsh’s brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, whois also a journalist. Ibrahim recently published an article that implicates anAfghan legislator in a series of killings and kidnappings. This is notthe first time that claims of the Afghan government and clerics using religiouspretexts to arrest and imprison journalists have surfaced. In October, 2005 Ali Mohaqeq Nasab, Afghan journalist and the editor of the"Hoqoq-e-Zan" (Women's Rights) monthly, was arrested andsentenced to two years in prison on charges of blasphemy. Nasab had publishedarticles that argued that giving up Islam, apostacy, was not a crime andquestioned Shari’a law and its harsh punishments, such as stoning a woman whois found guilty of adultery. Though clerics had originally demanded the deathpenalty for Nasab, he was released in December 2005 after he apologized for thearticles and an appeals court succumbed to international pressure and gave hima six month suspended sentence. In an interview with Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty after his release,Nasab claimed that the clerics and the courts arrested and charged him onorders “from oneof Afghanistan’s neighbors” and that the charge of “insulting Islam was only anexcuse” that served at once as a reason to attack him personally, as an ethnicHazara, so that no Hazaras “should grow and reach success” and also to attack “issuessuch as freedom of expression, democracy, and civilization.” His concerns echothe eerily similar Kambakhsh’s case, as Nasab said that “those who are incharge of enforcing democracy and freedom of expression are people who do notbelieve these [principles]. They are even the enemies of these principles [and]that if it goes on like this, freedom of expression may be no more.” Thepractice of detaining, and even killing, journalists is a tactic shared byseveral of Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Khazakstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran, each of which has been cited, bythe Committee to Protect Journalist, as being among the most censored or mostdangerous places to be a journalist. This common characteristic is not so muchan issue of simply obstructing free press, but is rather the visible byproductof governments which are eager and willing to oppress their citizens to stay inpower. While thegovernments in former Soviet Republics of Central Asia fight any reporting that mayencourage either democracy or Shari’a-based government, as they try to hold onto communist dictatorship in the 21st century, their neighbor, Iran,is mainly fighting movements that challenge the entrenched Islamicfundamentalism. Afghanistan, then, is a confused amalgamationof these two – with both a Soviet legacy and a strong Taleban resurgence – inwhich President Hamid Karzai’s government seemingly has to take a stand againstany press or reporting that could encourage democracy, Shari’a, orcommunist-style dictatorship. This situation of having to suppress everythingsatisfies no one and demonstrates the ineffective and paradoxical position thatKarzai’s government is, unsuccessfully, attempting to occupy. In Iran thesituation is much more straight-forward, and the systematic dismemberment offree press and dissident movements is apparent in the hard-line conservative policiesof President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, aone-time Brigadier General in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, which arespurring arrests of dissidents to a new level. Though conservatives won controlof the Iranian Parliament in 2004, reformists and others who oppose Ahmadinejadhave since won the majority of seats in Tehran’s municipal government. Many ofthese opponents cite the president’s failure to focus on domestic issues,especially as the lower classes are being hit by high energy prices, inflation,and gas shortages during an unusually hard winter. As Ahmadinejad himselfstepped from the position of Tehran’s mayor into the presidency, it isclear that such a shift at his powerbase is extremely threatening, withparliamentary elections scheduled for Mar. 14. As aresult, the pressure on dissidents, reformist, and journalists has increased.One recent crackdown involved about 60 university students across the country,four of whom were expelled, for what they claim are false accusations takingpart in unauthorized demonstrations. But many students have actually beendetained for similar activities. In a public statement released by AmnestyInternational, the organization claims that between 20 and 30 studentsassociated with Students for Freedom and Equality (Daneshjouyan-e Azadi Khahva Beraber Talab), were detained for participating in demonstrations forNational University Students’ Day on December 7, 2007 and have yet to be released. Thisdetention has led to fears that the students “could be tortured or otherwiseill-treated in detention” at the notorious Evin prison, north of Tehran, which has been connected withnumerous political detentions and deaths. RFERL reports that one portion ofEvin, section 209, where many political dissidents are held, is controlledentirely by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. The fearsare not unfounded. On Jan. 18 Radio Farda reported that a student activist detainedin Iran’s Kurdistan province, Ebrahim Lotfollahi, forreasons authorities have not explained, died in custody. Officials report thathe suffocated, an apparent suicide they say, but no autopsy was performed, thegrave was quickly covered with concrete. Reuters reports that his family isdemanding that his body be exhumed to determine the cause of death. But it is no longer just groups who endorsedemocratic reforms who are facing detention and torture. Even Marxists students,who had been tolerated by the government because of their shared anti-Westernsentiments, are now facing scrutiny, possibly because of their growing size andinfluence and the fact that their leftist ideology is, at heart, contradictoryto the Islamic government. To hold power in the March elections, the governmentfeels it has to come down hard, but arresting journalists is evidence more evidence of weakness than of strength. 2008 thecampusword.com