Volvo’s self-driven car convoy treks 125 miles across Spanish motorway

Motorists may soon be able to use their cellphones while driving without fear of getting a ticket. In fact, they may be able to take their eyes off the road completely.


Volvo has successfully completed a public test of a self-driven convoy of cars. A human driver led the convoy of three self-driven vehicles, which mimicked the lead driver's actions through a wireless link.

"Driving among other road-users is a great milestone in our project. It was truly thrilling," Linda Wahlstroem, project manager for the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) project at Volvo Car Corp., told the BBC. "We covered 200km in one day and the test turned out well. We're really delighted."

The four vehicles completed a 125-mile voyage across a Spanish roadway traveling at an average speed of 52 mph.

You can watch a 2011 test video of the SARTRE system:



The SARTRE test was carried out as part of a European Commission research project. If offered to the public, Volvo says, the self-driving convoys could also allow commuters to "work on their laptops, read a book or sit back and enjoy a relaxed lunch" while traveling.


Of course, while the technology is exciting (the SARTRE system uses cameras, radar and laser sensors), the net effect would have some of the same drawbacks as public transportation. After all, you'd have to be traveling in the same direction as your convoy leader.

Still, Volvo says, the "road train" may be a viable future option for motorists and has added value since it would not require the development of new vehicles or roadways.

"People think that autonomous driving is science fiction, but the fact is that the technology is already here. From the purely conceptual viewpoint, it works fine and road train will be around in one form or another in the future," Wahlstroem told the BBC.

"We've focused really hard on changing as little as possible in existing systems. Everything should function without any infrastructure changes to the roads or expensive additional components in the cars."

No word on whether the SARTRE name was inspired by the French existentialist author Jean-Paul Sartre.

Winnie Byanyima: No ordinary woman

Imagine a picture captioned with “Mrs Winifred Besigye, aeronautical engineer for the Uganda Space Programme, conducting orientation for entrants to the Flight Engineers Training Workshop”. Feels strange on the tongue and mind if you are Ugandan, doesn’t it?
It gives the impression that someone other than Winnie Byanyima, Ugandan politician and women-rights activist, is the subject. Perhaps this is as it should be, because for a long time, Byanyima has been phenomenal in proving that it is only challenging, not impossible, for a woman to score successes while working with or against patriarchal structures.
Besides rather than behind
In hindsight, it seems like a deliberate branding strategy on her part for never overtly using her husband’s name to get ahead, since her 1999 marriage to retired Colonel Kizza Besigye, leader of the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). Her example proves that women can be besides successful men, instead of behind them as the popular adage maintains.

She could have scripted her bucket list like most girls: understudy other women for the role of wife and mother; study “soft” courses if the family was either willing or able to send her to school and have many babies really quickly. She could have settled for talking about and leaving women’s issues at the village well, never dabbling in politics beyond voting passively, and generally being satisfied with whichever dream, life or her husband, allowed her to chase.


Instead, she lived the very opposite of such type-cast roles; magnetised to politics by her father’s example, studying engineering at university mainly to defy society’s expectations of girls and excelling at it and winning a scholarship. She refused the token seat and beat men in hotly-contested Women member of Parliamentary elections, spearheading censure of the corrupt, actively contributing to a guerrilla war effort when she was aged 22, being vice chairman to a group in opposition to the government she once worked for and founding, and directing, organisations devoted to bettering the circumstances of women.

Leading by example
The impact on Ugandan society and women in particular is as wide-ranging as the various facets of her personality. Where her father was once National Chairman of the Democratic Party, she ended up being the third Vice-Chair of the Reform Agenda, before it evolved into the FDC. She aided its transformation from an Elect Kizza Besigye Task Force into a party formed on July 12, 2002, aimed at achieving political reforms for good governance, sustainable national unity, democracy and national development.


Her election in 1994 to the parliamentary seat for Mbarara Municipality was one small step for her, but one giant leap for Ugandan women. At the time, she was one of the few women who stood for direct election when others were content with the seats available to them on government’s affirmative action.


“The day I was first elected, women ran out on the streets, sat in the middle of the road, they climbed on top of the cars, ululating and even taking off their tops”, she recounted in a 2004 interview with the magazine Feminist Africa.

Partly, the euphoria was because she was on the road to fulfilling her pledge to campaign for equal value in government policies for women and children. Partly, it was because she had dared Ngoma Ngime, an incumbent Constitutent Assembly delegate, on President Museveni’s own home turf.

But more than dare, she actually had beaten a sitting National Political Commissar who had the resources of the NRM’s machinery at his disposal while her strongly feminist platform seemed like political suicide and won her no favours from her party, despite her longer track record and achievements.

Leveling the political ground for women
In Parliament, she formed the Women’s Caucus, which was instrumental in creating a constitutional basis for a Uganda where the genders were equal. The women’s caucus helped shape the writing of the 1995 Constitution in gender-sensitive language.

It sponsored the inclusion of an explicit statement of equality before the law, which invalidates all other laws, cultures, traditions or customs that undermine the dignity and well-being of women, and provides affirmative action for women to redress historic imbalances. In 1995, she became a founding member and first chair of the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), which grew out of the caucus. FOWODE extended the caucus’ scope by promoting gender equality in all decision-making through advocacy, training research and publishing.

After two terms as Mbarara Municipality’s representative in Parliament, she voluntarily stepped down in 2004. Hers is an example very immediate as Uganda currently debates the presidential term limits.


Ironically, she has expressed interest in standing for President, come 2016. If she does, she will be the third woman, after Miria Kalule Obote in 2006 and Betty Kamya in 2011, to stand for president.

Popular opinion maintains she might be the first one with a serious chance of succeeding where even her husband has yet to.

Fact file .
Born January 1, 1957.

Married to Dr Kizza Besigye, FDC Chairman, with whom she has a son, Anselm.

Education: Mt St Mary’s College, Namagunga. Has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, the first female Ugandan to become an Aeronautical Engineer.

Profession background: Aeronautical engineer, politician and diplomat. Byanyima worked as a flight engineer for the now defunct Uganda Airlines. She has served as the Director of the Gender Team in the Bureau for Development Policy at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 2006.

Political background: Byanyima is a member of the FDC party, although she has significantly reduced her participation in partisan Ugandan politics since she became a Ugandan diplomat in 2006.

Political jobs she has held over the years:

•She was a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Ugandan 1995 Constitution

•She served two consecutive terms as a Member of Parliament, representing Mbarara Municipality, from 1994 until 2004.

•Appointed Director of the Directorate of Women, Gender and Development at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2004. She left this for appointment at UNDP.

South Korea says North preparing for nuclear test

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Recent satellite images show North Korea is digging a new underground tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third nuclear test, according to South Korean intelligence officials.


The excavation at North Korea's northeast Punggye-ri site, where nuclear tests were conducted in 2006 and 2009, is in its final stages, according to a report by intelligence officials that was shared Monday with The Associated Press.

Its release comes as North Korea prepares to launch a long-range rocket that Washington and others say is a cover for testing missile technology that could be used to fire on the United States.

The Obama administration said Monday it would consider both a rocket launch and an underground nuclear test as highly provocative and leave Pyongyang more isolated.

"In each case this would be an indication of North Korea's decision at the leadership level not to take the steps that are necessary to allow North Korea to end its isolation, to rejoin the community of nations and to do something about the extreme poverty and depravation that its people suffer," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a news briefing in Washington.


Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and current Security Council president, told CNN on Monday that "either or both developments would be a blatant violation of North Korea's international obligations under Security Council resolutions."

"In the Security Council in New York, I anticipate that the council would convene to discuss this and to respond in a credible fashion, both to the missile launch and to any potential additional subsequent actions," she said.

Observers fear a repeat of 2009, when international criticism of the North's last long-range rocket launch prompted Pyongyang to walk away from nuclear disarmament negotiations and, weeks later, conduct its second nuclear test. A year later, 50 South Korean were killed in attacks blamed on the North.

"North Korea is covertly preparing for a third nuclear test, which would be another grave provocation," said the intelligence report, which cited U.S. commercial satellite photos taken April 1. "North Korea is digging up a new underground tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, in addition to its existing two underground tunnels, and it has been confirmed that the excavation works are in the final stages."

Dirt believed to have been brought from other areas is piled at the tunnel entrance, the report said, something experts say is needed to fill up tunnels before a nuclear test. The dirt indicates a "high possibility" North Korea will stage a nuclear test, the report said, as plugging tunnels was the final step taken during its two previous underground nuclear tests.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/28898968


U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters she was not in a position to confirm whether North Korea was preparing for a nuclear test after the rocket launch.


She said a launch would be "highly provocative" and a nuclear test "would be equally bad, if not worse."

Nuland said the U.S. was urging China to use its influence with North Korea to dissuade it from going ahead with the launch.

Asked about Japanese and South Korean preparations to shoot down any parts of the rocket that threaten to fall on their territory, Nuland told reporters that countries in the region have the right to "self-defense."

North Korea announced plans last month to launch an observation satellite using a three-stage rocket during mid-April celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung.

The U.S., Japan, Britain and other nations have urged North Korea to cancel the launch, warning that firing the long-range rocket would violate U.N. resolutions and North Korea's promise to refrain from engaging in nuclear and missile activity.

Nuland declined to specify what consequences Pyongyang might face if the launch goes ahead

At the very least, it would ruin a Feb. 29 U.S.-North Korean accord under which the North agreed to a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests and a freeze on its uranium enrichment program in exchange for U.S. food aid.

Wikileaks: Kony video maker spied for UPDF



Felix Kulayigye

 By EMMANUEL GYEZAHO (email the author)


Posted Tuesday, April 10 2012 at 00:00

Leaked cables of secret diplomatic notes by American officials in Uganda to Washington reveal that Invisible Children, the makers of the controversial film, Kony 2012, shared intelligence information with Ugandan security operatives that led to the arrest of a number of suspected regime critics. According to the memos posted by whistle-blower Wikileaks, Mr Patrick Komakech, a reported ex-LRA child soldier currently facing treason charges with a dozen other co-accused, was arrested on March 5, 2009, following a tip-off from officials of Invisible Children.

The development will offer critics fodder to suggest that the US charity should not be entitled to its not-for-profit status that presents fringe benefits such as tax exemptions. Mr Komakech’s arrest, the cable said, was made possible because he had been featured in past documentaries by Invisible Children, and is understood to have led to a swoop that eventually uncovered the supposed recruitment of disgruntled “northerners into anti-Museveni rebel groups”, backed by LRA-leaning individuals from the Acholi Diaspora


“Invisible Children reported that Komakech had been in Nairobi and had recently reappeared in Gulu, where he was staying with the NGO. Security organisations jumped on the tip and immediately arrested him,” wrote former US ambassador to Uganda Steven Browning in the June 11, 2009 cable.


“He had a satellite telephone and other gadgets which were confiscated when he was picked up.”

Both the UPDF and Invisible Children moved to dismiss details of the leaked memo yesterday, while officials from the US Mission in Kampala were unavailable for comment due to the Easter holiday.

“That’s a lie. Komakech was arrested in broad day light and we didn’t need a muzungu to tell us where he was,” UPDF Spokesperson Felix Kulayigye said.

Invisible Children Uganda Spokesperson Florence Ogola said: “That is not true. We are not involved in anything to do with security. We only deal with development.”

She said allegations that the charity was involved in spy work on behalf of the UPDF is part of the “propaganda” and “tagging” that is gaining prominence after the release of the 30-minute Kony 2012 video early this year, which critics dismissed for its supposed simplistic portrayal of the two-decade conflict and insistence on a military solution.

In an interview yesterday, Water Minister Betty Bigombe, who was at the heart of negotiations between government and the LRA, admitted that she “got wind of the role” Invisible Children played in bringing Mr Komakech back to Uganda from Nairobi, where he had been holed up but said she was “unaware” if the charity may have helped Ugandan security in having him arrested.

Mr Browning wrote that Ms Bigombe, “who has known Mr Komakech for 10 years, said he had confessed to being part of a new anti-government movement in the north.”


Mr Komakech is said to have been on the Ugandan security radar, reputedly for impersonating LRA leaders to extort money by presenting “fake defection” plans.

Ms Bigombe said she knew Komakech “very well”, as a child soldier she met during the first peace process in the early 90s and eventually a resourceful individual during the Juba peace process but admitted she was “shocked” to discover “he was playing games with other ex-rebels.”

Mr Browning wrote, however: “Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence officers confirmed Komakech’s confession and said the new group, previously called the Uganda People’s Front, is now the PPF.”

The ex-envoy said Mr Komakech reportedly gave the locations of several arms caches in Pader District with a total of 600 weapons recovered, and reported that the group had begun recruiting throughout the north, from West Nile to Pader.

Mr Komakech is said to have named several former LRA combatants that had been integrated into the UPDF as members of the new group as well as other civilian participants.

egyezaho@ug.nationmedia.com

Africom - Real Crisis In Congo: Rwanda, Uganda, & US Interests - The Truth - congojustice.com

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Ffeature%3Dendscreen%26NR%3D1%26v%3DVeC2oD6uCiM&h=3AQEMIQtrAQGAySDLR9ZlkumpINo_N_oGymEZq96PnptNzg

MPs seek signatures to impeach President



Add cLead petitioner Ken Lukyamuzi signs the impeachment papers as his co-petitioner Odonga Otto waits for his turn at Parliament yesterday. Seven MPs signed the papers on Day One. PHOTO BY Geoffrey Sseruyange

Seven opposition lawmakers yesterday set out on what is likely to be an uphill task when they signed onto an unprecedented petition seeking to impeach President Museveni.

The lawmakers say the President, who faced a similar though unsuccessful challenge during the 7th Parliament from former MP Aggrey Awori, is guilty of economic crimes.

However, pro-ruling party members, who enjoy a commanding majority in the House, were quick to pour cold water on the attempt to unseat the President under Article 107(1)b of the Constitution, describing it as “diversionary, irresponsible and unwarranted.”

“Those MPs who want to impeach the President are jokers,” Information Minister Karooro Okurut said. “Impeaching the President

would be taking an aimless walk in the political desert”.
President Museveni’s Spokesperson Tamale Mirundi later described the MPs as an “impotent lot”.

He said: “There is no serious Ugandan who is going to take them seriously. In fact, they are like a married man who spends a lot of time in a bedroom with his wife but cannot produce a kid.”

Mr Odonga Otto (Aruu, FDC) and Mr Ken Lukyamuzi (Rubaga South, CP) yesterday morning launched the impeachment process which requires at least one-third of Parliament’s 386 members to sign for it to progress.

Other members who appended their signatures are Wafula Oguttu, (Bukholi Central, FDC) Ssemujju Nganda Ibrahim,(Kyaddondo East, FDC), Joseph Gonzaga Sewungu (Kalungu West, DP) Deo Kiyingi (Bukomansimbi, DP) and Bernard Atiku (Ayivu, FDC).


“We the undersigned MPs do hereby append our signatures fully persuaded that Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of the Republic of Uganda, be removed from office on grounds that he has abused his office and willfully violated the oath of allegiance and the presidential oath and other provisions of the Constitution,” Mr Otto announced shortly before the legislators appended their signatures.

Allegations

Mr Otto and Mr Lukyamuzi first revealed their intention to try to impeach Mr Museveni in January, listing 74 grounds for their cause.

“We strongly believe that the continued stay of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in office as the President is against the national interests of Uganda,” Mr Lukyamuzi said yesterday.

The legislators alleged that President Museveni diverted over Shs100 billion from a British government grant intended for recovery programmes in post-war northern Uganda in 2008 to the purchase of his presidential jet without parliamentary approval.

The MPs also want President Museveni to take responsibility for the withdrawal of $735 million (Shs1.7 trillion) from Bank of Uganda to buy fighter jets and other military hardware without prior parliamentary approval.

“President Museveni has conducted himself in a manner which has brought the office of the President into hatred, ridicule, contempt and disrepute. He has dishonestly done acts and omissions prejudicial and inimical to the economy and the security of Uganda,” said Mr Otto.


The petitioners further accuse the President of disregarding parliamentary resolutions by allowing Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and Internal Affairs minister Hilary Onek, who were accused of taking bribes from oil exploration, companies to continue working.

They say the President has also frustrated the prosecution of individuals who caused financial loss, citing the Shs142 billion businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba was paid in inflated compensation.

The MPs also cited the Shs500 billion Chogm scandal, and the country’s external debt standing at $4 billion which they attributed to the President’s “reckless public expenditure”.

The MPs have also profiled 112 loans the government has contracted between 1996 to 2011 which they say the government has abused.

Army put to task over Kerim’s death

Army officers lower Brig. Kerim’s remains into the grave in Paidha Town in Zombo District on Wednesday. Photo by Felix Warom Okello


By Felix Okello Warom (email the author)
In Summary

Complaint. Kerim’s brother Naphtali Ocama, questioned why his deceased brother had not been flown out of the country for specialised medical care as government does for other ailing officials.

Relatives of fallen deputy UPDF Reserve Force commander Peter Kerim have asked the government to explain the circumstances under which he died at Nakasero Hospital in Kampala on Sunday.

The late Brigadier’s brother, Mr Naphtali Ocama, told hundreds of mourners during Kerim’s burial in Paidha Town on Wednesday that they want a proper account, arguing that Kerim was involved in a suspicious motor accident about three months before he died.

“We demand that government gives us explanation on how the accident happened, and we would like to know whether the person who knocked him has been arrested,” Mr Ocama said.

When Paidha Town Council chairman Innocent Onega translated Mr Ocama’s statement in the eulogy delivered in the native Alur language into English, the message sparked tension.

Army Spokesperson Felix Kulayigye immediately grabbed the microphone from Onega, who retorted: “Information being given should be straightforward. We cannot be suppressed on this.”

Mr Ocama also questioned why his deceased brother had not been flown out of the country for specialised medical care as government does for other ailing officials. “Was he really a Brigadier who served this country?” he asked.

Responding to the accusations, the UPDF Land Forces Commander, Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala, denied that Kerim, who crossed from the government army to join NRA guerillas in 1981, was neglected in his hour of need.

Share “There are always high emotions when death occurs,” he said, “but about the accident, he was scanned on every part of the body but he later developed other complications.”

He added: “It is not true that we (UPDF) took him to a mere clinic. We never deserted his family.”

Brig. Kerim’s death on Sunday amid reports he had been sidelined by the military leadership and made redundant in the deputy Army Reserve Force commander post, shocked and angered the people of West Nile where he was popular.

Korean Dictator's Final Ride Was In a Vintage Lincoln Continental



Korean Dictator's Final Ride Was In a Vintage Lincoln Continental

 Mourners lined the streets of the North Korean capital Pyongyang today, crying and wailing as the funeral procession of their "Dear Leader' Kim Jong-Il, marched slowly through the streets. But a curious detail was that the boxy black hearse that crept through the light snow was a vintage Lincoln Continental.

The choice of a U.S.-made luxury car seems odd for a country that preached a belligerent self reliance, reviled America and was put on President George W. Bush's Axis of Evil list.

Experts at Edmunds.com put the year of the Lincoln at 1976, making the 35-year-old vehicle older than North Korea's 23-year-old new leader Kim Jong-Un.

The choice of an American luxury car for his final ride is consistent with Kim's tastes, despite his regime's propoganda depicting the U.S. as evil, dangerous and violent, and his history of antagonizing numerous American administrations with threats of war and nuclear weapons.

Kim was reported to be a big fan of Hollywood movies, with favorites including the slasher flick "Friday the 13th" and Sylvester Stallone's action film "Rambo." He supposedly owned both in his
collection of over 20,000 films, many of which starred his favorite actress Elizabeth Taylor. Kim was also a known NBA fan. One of his most prized possessions was said to be an autographed Michael Jordan basketball, presented to him by then Secretary of State Madeline Albright at a rare high point in North Korean-American relations.

Appeals court tosses Obama birthplace challenge

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The so-called birther movement was dealt another legal blow Thursday when a federal appeals court tossed out a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship and his eligibility to serve as commander in chief.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that none of the challengers had legal standing to file the lawsuit on Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama was inaugurated. The three-judge panel cited various reasons for disqualifying six sets of plaintiffs, who included Obama's political rivals, taxpayers and military personnel.

The birther movement has filed multiple lawsuits over the issue, so far with no success. Its leaders have lost similar challenges before the U.S. Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court.

The U.S. Constitution says only "a natural born citizen" may serve as president. The challengers allege that Obama, whose father was Kenyan, was born in that African country, rather than the U.S. state of Hawaii. They claim his Hawaii birth certificate is a forgery.

The appeals court didn't address the authenticity of the birth certificate, instead ruling that the challengers couldn't show "concrete injury" from the allegations.

The taxpayers listed in the lawsuit, for instance, failed to show how the citizenship question affected any federal taxing and spending provisions.

The lawsuit was filed in 2009 by 40 plaintiffs, including conservative activists Alan Keyes and Wiley Drake, who ran for president and vice president respectively as members of the American Independent Party against Obama in 2008.

They alleged they had standing to file a lawsuit because of their interest in competing in a fair election. Libertarian Party vice-presidential candidate Gail Lightfoot was also a plaintiff.

Judge Harry Pregerson, writing for the three-judge panel, said Keyes and Drake waited too long to file their lawsuit. The election was over and Obama was already sworn in when the lawsuit was filed.

"Once the 2008 election was over and the President sworn in, Keyes, Drake, and Lightfoot were no longer 'candidates' for the 2008 general election," Pregerson wrote. "Plaintiffs' competitive interest in running against a qualified candidate had lapsed."

Orly Taitz, one of the challengers' lawyers, said she would ask the appeals court to convene a special 11-judge panel to reconsider the case. If she's turned down there, she said she would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

Taitz said she has filed similar lawsuits in five states and has two other federal appeals pending in Washington, D.C.

Drones: A deeply unsettling future

The rapid expansion of a drone arms race has emerged both domestically and abroad, leaving everyone vulnerable.

At least 50 countries already have unmanned aerial fleets - and that number is rising every month [EPA]


San Francisco, California - On Sunday, Iran claimed to have taken down a US drone in Iranian airspace - not by shooting it out the sky, but with its cyber warfare team.

Reports confirm that the US believes Iran is now in possession of "one of the more sensitive surveillance platforms in the CIA's fleet", but deny Iran's involvement. Of course, Iran’s claim of overtaking the drone with its cyber warfare team should be tempered with a serious dose of scepticism, as cyber security experts say the facts may not add up. But this is just the latest story in a series of incidents that raises worrying questions about security problems caused by drones. And given the coming proliferation of drone technology both domestically and abroad, this should be a concern to citizens all over the world.

Two years ago the Wall Street Journal reported Iran-funded militants in Iraq were able to hack into drones' live-video feeds with "$26 off-the-shelf software". In another unnerving incident, Wired reported in October that a fleet of the Air Force's drones was infected with a computer virus that captured all of drones' key strokes. Technicians continually deleted the virus to no avail. How did the drones get infected? The military is "not quite sure". Worse, the Air Force's cyber security team didn't even know about the virus until they read about it in Wired.

Wired reported in a separate story that an upcoming Congressional report will detail how hackers broke into the US satellite system. With one satellite, hackers "achieved all steps required to command" it, "but never actually exercised control".

Last summer, a drone caused a scene in the nation's capital, when, as New York Times wrote, "fighter jets were almost scrambled after a rogue Fire Scout drone, the size of a small helicopter, wandered into Washington's restricted airspace". A similar incident took place in Afghanistan where military planes had to shoot down a "runaway drone" when pilots lost control.

The US, of course, leads the world in drone use for both surveillance and combat missions. Attacks are carried out in Pakistan every four days on average. Many times, the US isn't even sure exactly who they are killing. Despite the fact that the location of vast majority of drone bases are classified, journalist Nick Turse pieced together a startling picture of the massive US fleet. He determined that the US has at least 60 drone bases operated by either the US military or the CIA around the world, and "most of these facilities have remained unnoted, uncounted, and remarkably anonymous - until now".

But drone use is not just relegated to US military. Drone manufacturers already command a $94bn market, according to some estimates, and the drone arms race is in full swing. As the Washington Post reported, the constant buzz of drones and threats of attack now dominates the lives of civilians in Gaza. And Turkey plans to have Predator drones in operation by June 2012.

Meanwhile, Chinese contractors unveiled 25 types of unmanned aircraft last year. In all, at least 50 countries now have some sort of unmanned aerial vehicles, and the New York Times reports that "the number is rising every month". That number also includes Iran, which is seeking to upgrade its fleet. Even the Libyan rebels had their own surveillance drone - provided to them by Canadian defence contractors - before they were in full control of their own country.

The technology itself is also developing at an alarmingly rapid pace. The New York Times reports that researchers in the US are working on "shrinking unmanned drones, the kind that fire missiles into Pakistan and spy on insurgents in Afghanistan, to the size of insects", along with oversized drones that can capture video of an entire city. There are birdlike drones, underwater drones, drones within drones, facial recognition drones, and perhaps most terrifying, completely autonomous drones - currently being tested in Georgia - which will require no human control at all.

As Micah Zenko, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told me last month, "It's a very impressive and responsive tool that should be used sparingly. Even if we’re responsible now, we might not be forever."

But in the US, drones will become yet another way authorities can compromise the privacy of ordinary citizens, as the FAA plans to propose new rules for their domestic flight. As Newsweek reported, police forces and border patrols in the US are buying the technology from defence contractors, and one has already been spotted flying over Houston. Police departments are already using GPS and cell phone tracking without warrants, this will another powerful surveillance weapon in their arsenal. As privacy advocates warn, "drones can easily be equipped with facial recognition cameras, infrared cameras, or open Wi-Fi sniffers". And while these drones will be used for many surveillance purposes (a scary thought in and of itself), contractors admit they are equipped to carry weapons, such as Tasers.

Whether they are being used for surveillance or all-out combat, drones will soon pose serious risks for all of the world's citizens. They can offer governments, police departments, or private citizens unprecedented capabilities for spying, and given their security vulnerabilities, the potential consequences could be endless.

Trevor Timm is an activist and blogger at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He specialises in free speech issues and government transparency

The Next D.C. Power Brokers.

It’s not too soon to start cozying up to the future stars who will hold the glamour power positions in Washington after next November’s elections. It’s time to stop saying unkind things about those with prospects, even in private. All this good behavior and restraint makes for boring conversations. But business is business. Already, speculations are whispered about the next bunch of winners and losers, all below the radar to be sure. Yes, it is necessary to pay attention to the obvious choices who sometimes, only sometimes, land the predicted jobs. But turn on the radar for the over-the-horizon surprises that inevitably materialize. Be creative, starting at the top of the ladder.

Sure, it’s almost certain Barack Obama will run again and maybe even win. But what if the economy really takes another dip, despite Friday’s announcement that unemployment has come down? And what if he starts to do really terribly in the polls against one of the powerhouse Republican candidates like Mitt Romney or mighty Newt Gingrich? He might just decide to go back to Chicago Law School, in which case, the Democrats have a terrific candidate staring them in the face: Joseph Biden.


Biden has done a magnificent job as the veep. He’s probably handled the negotiations with Republicans over the economy and federal budget better than the president himself. He certainly talks more plainly and effectively to the public than Obama. On foreign policy, Obama would have saved himself a lot of grief had he followed Biden’s advice on many occasions. In particular, a year ago, Biden urged the president to adopt an antiterrorist strategy in Afghanistan rather than pursuing the fruitless and high-troop-level counterinsurgency strategy. Biden would be a very strong candidate against any Republican and wouldn’t carry much of Obama’s baggage.



Whether it’s an Obama or Biden administration in 2013, look for many new faces in key places. If Tom Donilon, whose position is strong, decides to leave his post as national security adviser, the line of likely successors would be long: Denis McDonough, the present deputy, also known as the Lord High Executioner for Obama; Jim Steinberg, recently retired as deputy secretary of state and now at Syracuse; or Harvard’s Joe Nye. Two insiders with the strongest reputations and the most talent are Mike Froman, currently Obama’s international economics adviser in the White House; and Tony Blinken, Biden’s national security chief. Support is also building for Stephen Colbert.

Hillary Clinton is almost certainly leaving the State Department. The three most-talked-about replacements are Sen. John Kerry, who has already undertaken many diplomatic missions for Obama and is chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Susan Rice, the U.N. ambassador; and Brookings president Strobe Talbott. Stephen Colbert is a long shot.


Leon Panetta could keep his post at defense, since the military already loves him for protecting their budget. Other possibles are Ashton Carter; the current No. 2 at the Pentagon; and Center for Strategic and International Studies president John Hamre; or former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig.


Tim Geithner will be leaving the Treasury to return to dreamy Larchmont, N.Y. Two of the strongest contenders to replace him are Vincent Mai, one of Wall Street’s finest, former head of AEA Investors and a Democrat; and David Rubenstein, cofounder of the Carlyle Group. Another possibility is Kenneth Chenault, who runs American Express. Never count out Roger Altman, financial success and former Treasury No. 2.
Other foreign policy and national security stars to watch: Heather Hurlburt, who runs the National Security Network; Suzanne Nossel, who recently left a key post at the State Department; Daniel Feldman of the State Department; foreign-policy expert Nina Hachigian; and defense expert Brian Katulis; and Diamond Derek Chollet, now of the NSC staff. There are also three standouts at the Council on Foreign Relations: Elizabeth Economy on China, Isobel Coleman on international economics, and Julia Sweig on Latin America. The stars from this pack certain to haul in high posts are Jake Sullivan, now director of the State Department Policy Planning staff; and Mathew Spence, formerly special assistant to Tom Donilon

Other foreign policy and national security stars to watch: Heather Hurlburt, who runs the National Security Network; Suzanne Nossel, who recently left a key post at the State Department; Daniel Feldman of the State Department; foreign-policy expert Nina Hachigian; and defense expert Brian Katulis; and Diamond Derek Chollet, now of the NSC staff. There are also three standouts at the Council on Foreign Relations: Elizabeth Economy on China, Isobel Coleman on international economics, and Julia Sweig on Latin America. The stars from this pack certain to haul in high posts are Jake Sullivan, now director of the State Department Policy Planning staff; and Mathew Spence, formerly special Assistant to Tom Donilon.
 
 
For a Republican president, the national security adviser job might go to Richard Haass, now president of the Council on Foreign Relations; Richard Burt, former ambassador to Germany; Dov Zakheim, former senior official in the Pentagon; and a number of senior military officers who have worked closely with Republicans over the years. Good money is also being placed on Nick Burns, the former super diplomat now at Harvard. Burns could serve the Democrats as well.


Foggy Bottom could turn out to be home to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.); Richard Armitage, former No. 2 at state to Colin Powell; and Jon Huntsman, former ambassador to China and a Republican candidate for president. And if she seeks a return to State Department haunts, Paula Dobriansky will land a top position. Then, of course, there’s Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, who can bring his “pray the gay away” philosophy to American diplomacy.

At the Department of Defense, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is bound to be high on the list. Mike Mullen, the retired former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would be a leading candidate along with former four-star Army Gen. David Petraeus, now hidden away at the CIA. Bill Kristol might accept the job if the Department of Defense returns to its old and glorious name, the War Department.

Treasury, a Republican president might well turn to Robert Zoellick, now president of the World Bank and formally a senior official in several Republican administrations. Jamie Dimon, now chairman of JPMorgan Chase and an amateur boxer when he was unemployed for two years, might be another name discussed. Paul Ryan, the Tea Party congressman of draconian budget fame, also will be part of the Treasury mix. A long shot may be former IBM chief Louis Gerstner.


Upcoming foreign-policy stars for the Republicans don’t have a substantial presence in the op-ed pages and journals and at foreign-policy conferences. One name that keeps popping up is Peter Schweizer of the Hoover Institution and someone who helped out half-Gov. Sarah Palin. Former George W. Bush national security adviser on Iraq Brett McGurk, emerging whiz, is also a contender, as is Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute. And someone named Hannah Montana

Corruption has reached a crisis level, Kadaga says

The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has admitted that corruption in Uganda has reached “crisis” levels but guaranteed that the 9th Parliament would ruthlessly fight a vice that has bedevilled the NRM administration.

“I believe corruption is at a crisis level. It has become a malignant that all of us are used to it,” Ms Kadaga said.

She added that the 9th Parliament will not tolerate any corruption tendecies in government. Her comments were contained in a message read out on her behalf by Ndorwa West MP David Bahati on Tuesday at the end of the annual general meeting of the 5th East African Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities held in Entebbe.

To back her claim, the Speaker said research had shown that up to 20 per cent of the budgets for the East African member states end up in the pockets of the corrupt while millions continue to wallow in poverty.

She said the region is at a crossroads as corruption robs hardworking citizens of the opportunity to live better lives. “It is because of corruption that Africa continues to grapple with challenges of inadequate infrastructure, poverty, war, disease, famine, high maternal and infant mortality rates,” said the Kamuli Woman MP.


Discussions at the two-day conference focused on the strategies of promoting zero tolerance to corruption in East Africa.

Development hindered

Several delegates from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan attended the conference. Despite a wide array of machinery at the government’s disposal to fight graft, the vice continues to blight development in the country, delegates heard.

That reality has left some like Judge John Bosco Katutsi, the former head of the Anti-Corruption Court, concluding that graft can only be solved if the culprits are hanged like it’s done in China. The World Bank, a few years ago, said at least Shs500 billion is lost due to graft in Uganda annually.

Ms Kadaga said Parliament had instituted measures to fight graft like the enactment of the Anti-Corruption Act, which strengthened the penalties for corruption offences.

She also cited the enactment of the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2010 that provides for protection and reward of individuals who report corruption cases that result in recovery of public funds as well as the National Audit Act 2008, which empowers the Auditor General to scrutinise books of accounts of the entire organisation where government has interest.


The 8th Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee instituted a probe into the multi-billion 2007 Commonwealth meeting in Kampala. That probe saw several high profile government officials implicated in alleged misuses of Chogm funds. Although some of those officials have appeared in court, no convictions have been made.

awesaka@ug.nationmedia.com

DESTINATION 2012.



Barack Obama

  

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Herman Cain



Jon Huntsman

Newt Gingrich

Mitt Romney

Rick Santorum

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 'The Bubble Primary': Republicans Keep Finding a New Flavor of the Week

CHICAGO – Call it “The Bubble Primary.” From Michele Bachmann to Rick Perry, from Herman Cain to Newt Gingrich, it seems like every month there is a new Republican candidate surging to the forefront of the race for the GOP presidential nomination before, just as quickly, fading back into the pack.

In what has already been a wild and wacky primary, with everything from sexual harassment allegations to epic gaffes, only Mitt Romney has held steady at the top of the polls, while the race to emerge as the so-called “Romney alternative” has been an entirely unpredictable roller-coaster ride.

If August belonged to Bachmann, then September was Perry’s, October Cain’s, and now November is Gingrich’s moment in the sun.

“I think it’s for two reasons,” Republican strategist Torie Clarke said. “First of all, the primary means of assessing the candidates is the debates, so whoever performs well there tends to move up. For instance, that helped Newt since he was aggressive and assertive in the debates. Then, as we’ve seen, once you get into the top two or three in the polls, everyone turns their gun sights on you and that scrutiny takes a toll.”

“Bubbles,” she noted, “survive only to a certain altitude.”

In the past four months, “The Bubble Primary” has provided four distinct chapters for four distinct candidates, but thus far, they have all ended – or appear likely to end – with the same result.

In August, Bachmann won the first serious competition in the GOP race, emerging victorious at the Iowa straw poll in Ames. Bachmann’s triumph – evidence of the strength of the Tea Party movement – seemed to indicate that she would be a force to be reckoned with once winter rolled around. After all, the winner of the Iowa caucuses has finished either first or second in Ames every time since the event was first held in 1979.

“We’ve just gotten started,” the Minnesota congresswoman exclaimed after her win in Iowa.

But Bachmann’s success was short-lived. The ensuing few weeks were disastrous for her: First, she joked that Hurricane Irene – the storm that killed more than 30 people along the East Coast – was God’s message to Washington politicians to cut back on federal spending. Then, she lost her campaign manager, Ed Rollins, who promptly said she was no longer one of the frontrunners. To make matters even worse, she said that a vaccine used to prevent cervical cancer could cause mental retardation, a claim widely refuted by the medical community.

More importantly than any of her gaffes or staff changes, perhaps, was the fact that Bachmann’s victory in Ames was blunted by Perry’s entrance into the race that very same weekend. No sooner had the brash Texas governor thrown his hat into the primary ring than he shot straight to the top of the polls. A CNN/ORC International poll in late September showed Perry leading the GOP field with 28 percent support, followed by Romney at 21 percent. With the likes of Sarah Palin and Chris Christie not running for the White House, Republicans, it seemed, were finally coalescing around their chosen candidate.

But it didn’t last long. Perry’s stunning loss to Cain in the Florida straw poll in September turned out to be an ominous sign of things to come for his campaign. Over the next month, it was Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, who embarked on a surprising run to the front of the Republican field. By the time Perry committed the biggest gaffe of the race thus far – blanking on the name of the third federal agency that he had proposed to eliminate at last week’s Michigan debate – the Texas governor was plummeting and the little-known businessman was soaring.

Could Cain – who had never before held any elective office – really shock the political world and secure the GOP nomination? Just when it was starting to seem like Cain might have some staying power, his bubble started to burst.

First, a slew of sexual harassment allegations were leveled against him at the end of October. Then, weeks later, he suffered his own brain freeze, albeit a less prominent one than Perry’s: In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel board, he stumbled and bumbled his way through a straightforward question about whether or not he agreed with President Obama’s response to the Libyan uprising.

Out with the old, in with the new. Cue the Gingrich surge. After a few months of dismal poll numbers, a mass staff exodus and bizarre campaign decisions – Gingrich and his wife, Callista, went on a cruise of the Greek Isles last summer – the former House speaker was suddenly flying high. A CNN poll of GOP voters this week showed Gingrich hot on the heels of Romney, trailing only 22 percent to 24 percent, compared to only a month ago, when he faced a far larger 26 percent to 8 percent gap. Gingrich himself has acknowledged that he is part of an audition to be “the conservative alternative” to Romney, but can he ride his sudden momentum into January?

If the recent history of the Republican primary is any indication, Gingrich will face a real challenge to stay on top for long. In fact, the backlash against him has already begun. Bloomberg News reported this week that Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from mortgage giant Freddie Mac, the government-run company that played such a prominent role in the nation’s devastating housing crisis. Freddie Mac’s chief lobbyist, Mitchell Delk, told Bloomberg that the two once met about a program to expand homeownership, including “what the benefits could be for Republicans and particularly their relationship with Hispanics.”

For the most part, Gingrich has had a positive relationship with Latinos. Last month, he accused his party of “incompetence” in losing the Latino vote. Last year, he went so far as to praise the DREAM Act, the Democrats’ bill that would help undocumented students who came to this country before age 16 become legal residents after five years by completing higher education or military service. In an interview with Jorge Ramos on Univision’s “Al Punto” in the fall of 2010, Gingrich noted that “there are parts of the DREAM Act that are actually quite useful.” Two months later, Senate Republicans shot down the bill in Congress.

However, Gingrich has also had his run-ins with Latinos. In 2007, he called Spanish “the language of living in a ghetto,” a comment for which he later apologized.

All of these issues will now come to the fore as rival campaigns seek to burst Gingrich’s bubble. Thus far, Gingrich has managed to stay on the fringes of the GOP’s debates, picking more fights with the moderators than with his rivals. But now that many of the candidates are looking up at Gingrich in the polls, that is sure to change. Just ask Perry: When he emerged earlier this fall as the party’s frontrunner, he was on the receiving end of so many attacks that he said he felt like “a pinata.”

In addition to Gingrich, Cain, Perry and Bachmann, another candidate warrants mentioning. Ron Paul only lost the Iowa straw poll to Bachmann by 152 votes, and the Texas congressman is currently in a virtual statistical tie for the lead in the Hawkeye State. According to a Bloomberg poll this week, Cain is in first with 20 percent, followed by Paul at 19 percent, Romney at 18 percent, and Gingrich at 17 percent. A whopping 60 percent of likely caucus-goers said they could still be persuaded to vote for someone other than their current first choice, yet another indication of “The Bubble Primary.”

“I’ve never seen it this wide open,” a top Republican operative in the state said late last month.

Will we see the rise of Rick Santorum next? Is the Jon Huntsman jump coming up soon?

“Every week, it’s like you get a stiff neck watching people go up and down,” Huntsman’s daughter Abby said on ABC News’ “Top Line” Wednesday. “It’s like, who’s going to be next, you know?”

So what does “The Bubble Primary” all mean? According to Clarke, the nature of the race thus far is partly because of the fact that Republican voters are not only thinking about which candidate they favor, but which one stands the best shot of winning the White House next year.

“Some people might look at that and say voters are being fickle or not sticking with their guys. I don’t think that’s it,” she said. “I think a wide swath of Republicans are prepared to set aside their most fervent beliefs and say, ‘What I want is someone who can beat President Obama.’ Republicans tend to be very litmus-testy – ‘If a candidate doesn’t agree with me on certain issues, then forget them.’ But I think that’s dropping away a little bit. Now people are saying, ‘This may not be the perfect candidate, but I want a candidate who can win.’”

It is up for debate whether or not the ever-changing views of Republican voters in their search for the “Romney alternative” bode well for the former Massachusetts governor. The anti-Romney argument would be that despite high name recognition, he has yet to convince the majority of his party – especially the Tea Party – that he is their best candidate for the White House, leaving voters searching for someone else to latch onto. On the other hand, the pro-Romney argument would be that he boasts a solid, unwavering block of support – and that thus far voters have yet to coalesce around an alternative to him, leaving him at the head of the pack.

In addition, Romney enjoys the advantage of a larger war chest than any of his rivals, the experience of his 2008 run for the nomination, and the electability factor: He is the only Republican to poll ahead of President Obama in head-to-head matchups.

“These elections, especially when you talk about general elections, are marathons,” said Clarke. “You have to be in it for the long haul. That’s where Romney is strong, both from an organizational standpoint and an experience standpoint. The conventional wisdom is that ‘the flavor of the week’ phenomenon is a reflection on him. I see less of that. He’s been in there a long time. He’s performed well at the debates. He’s demonstrating that he is in it for the long haul.”

In a recent column for the Washington Examiner, Michael Barone, a senior political analyst there, said that the Tea Party has upset the conventional political order, comparing the group to the peace movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“New movements prove troublesome for the political pros, and nowhere more than in the most problematic part of our political system, the presidential nominating process,” Barone wrote. “Peaceniks and Tea Partiers naturally want nominees who are true to their vision. They are ready to support newcomers and little-vetted challengers over veteran incumbents who have voted the wrong way on issues they care about.”

“Mitt Romney is next in line,” Barone wrote, “but some of his past positions are – how to put this politely? – in tension with those of the Tea Party movement. Tea Party types have been scrambling to settle on an alternative, so far without success.”

With only a month and a half left before the first primary votes are cast in the Iowa caucus, one thing is clear: The GOP race is still very much up for grabs. Romney remains the frontrunner, but “The Bubble Primary” shows that Republicans are still looking for another candidate, even if to date they are yet to find the one they want.

After all, the nature of bubbles is that sooner or later, they always burst.

Matthew Jaffe is covering the 2012 campaign for ABC News and Univision.

Ron Paul

Russian military chief: War risks have grown

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's chief military officer says the nation is facing an increased threat of being drawn into conflicts at its borders that may grow into an all-out nuclear war.
Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff, pointed at NATO's expansion eastward and said Thursday that the risks for Russia to be pulled into local conflicts have "risen sharply." He added, according to Russian news agencies wires, that "under certain conditions local and regional conflicts may develop into a full-scale war involving nuclear weapons."

steady decline of Russia's conventional forces has prompted the Kremlin to rely increasingly on nuclear deterrent. Its military doctrine says it may use nuclear weapons to counter a nuclear attack on Russia or an ally, or a large-scale conventional attack that threatens Russia's existence.

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