“¡Hay que virarse para la tierra! ¡Hay que hacerla producir!”
— Raúl Castro

“We must return to the land. We must make the land produce,” declared Cuban President Raúl Castro today. Though Cuba began relaxing property regulations in 2003, owning land in Cuba was not possible as all property was nationalized back in the 1960s. Under Fidel after 2003, Cubans were allowed to own their homes but not the land. Raúl Castro is proposing allowing Cubans to own and develop agricultural land. The problem for Cuba has been a sharp 33% decline since 1998 in acreage under cultivation.

Cuba’s agricultural problems began in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union that saw Cuba’s economic subsidies disappear effectively overnight. Peak oilers look at Cuba as post-peak society because Cuba after 1989 suffered a near total loss of hydrocarbons. In the last decade of the 20th Century, the average Cuban lost 20 pounds due to Cuba’s inability to grow its own food due to lack of petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides. Without these, yields fell by at least 50%.

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This weekend the By The Fault Weekend Reader takes a look at European views and coverage of Senator Barack Obama.

Germany
Obama’s visit to Berlin has become polemical with his request for a speech at the historic Brandenburg Gate that has divided German politicians. Chancellor Merkel is against it arguing that it sends the wrong signals. However, the minority SPD (Germany’s Social Democratic Party) which has seen its polling numbers dropped to under 20% seems intent on riding Obama’s coattails in the hopes of regaining some of its lost lustre.

German Politicians Are in an Obama Tizzy from Der Spiegel.
Obama Reacts to Debate in Berlin from Der Spiegel.
‘Tough Love’ Expected in Obama’s Berlin Speech Der Spiegel.
Weak Explanations For Obama’s Non-Flip-Flop On FISA from Across the Pond.
Unwelcome in Germany from Zeit in German.

Angela Merkel is right to oppose Obama speaking at the Brandenburg Gate. “It’s never good when German policy gets mixed up in US election politics.”

Great Britain
Barack Obama heads to London for European tour from The Times of London.
Democratic unity: still an oxymoron, an op-ed by Michael Tomasky in the UK Guardian.
In praise of … Rathaus Schöneberg An Editorial in the UK Guardian.
The Tired Politics of Racial Division An Editorial from the UK Independent

Switzerland
Swiss papers reserved about Obama’s chances from Swiss Info.

Russia
Turning the Page: Medvedev, Obama US-Russian Relations from Russia Monitor.
Russian view on US election A Video Report from the BBC

Spain — ABC (Madrid)
Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy prompts the Spanish daily to reflect on the differences between political cultures in Europea and America: “We always put yesterday before tomorrow and we love to fight the same battles and the same debates a thousand times over without coming to any result. The US, on the other hand [according to Immanuel Kant], is the ‘country of the grandchildren’. … While the [announced] changes in Spain are aimed at more or less preserving the status quo, the changes in the US are real and permanent. … What a contrast to our country, where the political leaders - whether left-wing or right-wing, democratic or totalitarian, capable or incapable - cling on to their posts until they get thrown out, not because someone better is there to replace them but because of their own mistakes.” (05/06/2008)

Denmark — Berlingske Tidende
“As things stand now, McCain is a better man for Europe,” the Danish daily Berlingske Tidende writes. “[But] anyone who watches the orator Barack Obama gets the feeling this is a very special political figure, even though he is still an unknown quantity. … Many possibilities are opening up now for Obama to concentrate on politics and on the causes he wants to commit to if he wins. We can only hope he will move towards the political centre. While President Bill Clinton rejuvenated the Democratic Party by moving it closer to the centre, there are signs that Barack Obama is more conventional. He has a hesitant stance on free global trade, an unclear foreign policy and a traditional policy of redistribution. But Obama could give us a pleasant surprise, for instance by swerving to the right, where the Americans are.” (05/06/2008)

Slovenia — Delo
The daily does not expect a potential President Barack Obama to execute major changes in transatlantic politics: “After eight years of George W. Bush, who embodied all the negative stereotypes and prejudices regarding the US, everyone wants a new American president. But there will be fewer changes in the US’s foreign policy than Europe hopes. … The new president’s top priority will understandably be reconciliation with the world, and above all with Europe. Disagreements between the two are bad for both [sides] from a global perspective. The respect the US once commanded has been replaced by anger, opposition and fear. If a candidate who wants to adhere to Bush’s course wins, the transatlantic rift will only grow deeper.” (05/06/2008)

A note to our European and International Readership, feel free to comment and express your views, positive or negative, on what you expect from the United States. My chief objections to Obama are his lack of experience and the apparent lack of core convictions that are continuously leading to his 180 flips. Granted McCain does not inspire much either. Oh for a Zapatero or a Merkel. Pas Sarkozy and Berlusconi let’s not even go there. Helen Clarke down in New Zealand, ten years on the job. I am ambivalent on Kevin Rudd, an improvement on John Howard no doubt.

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Having been a loyal Apple user for over 20 years now, I am thrilled that Apple’s new products have brought financial success to the company. For a while in the mid and late 1990s, many of us were worried about Apple’s survival. Today Apple launched its 3G iPhone. It sold out in Europe in minutes. I will assume that sales are brisk in the Americas as well. The store in San Francisco had people camped out. Kudos to Steve Jobs.

Now for a bone to pick. In conjunction with the new launch of this iPhone, Apple was to launched a suite of services called Mobile Me for its Dot Mac customers like myself. Unfortunately instead, I have been left without email service for 27 hours.

MobileMe web applications not yet available.

The MobileMe transition is underway but is taking longer than expected. While core services such as desktop mail, iDisk and sync are available, the new MobileMe web applications are not yet online. Thank you for your patience as we complete the upgrade.

Die MobileMe Web-Anwendungen noch nicht verfügbar.
Der Übergang zu MobileMe ist im Gange aber dauert länger als erwartet. Während die Hauptfunktionen wie Mail auf dem Desktop, iDisk und die Daten-Synchronisierung völlig funktionsfähig sind, sind die neuen MobileMe Web-Anwendungen noch nicht einsatzbereit. Wir bedauern die Unannehmlichkeiten. Wir arbeiten daran, um MobileMe baldmöglichst zugänglich zu machen.

Les applications web MobileMe ne sont pas encore disponibles.
La transition MobileMe est en cours de réalisation mais elle prend plus longtemps qu’anticipé. Pendant que les services principaux comme Mail dans une application de bureau, iDisk, ainsi que la synchronisation fonctionnent normalement, les nouvelles applications web MobileMe ne sont pas encore en ligne. Veuillez nous excuser pour tout dérangement que cela pourrait vous occasionner. Nous nous efforçons de mettre en service MobileMe dès que possible.

MobileMeのWebアプリケーションはまだご利用いただけません。
現在、MobileMeへの移行作業が行われていますが、当初の予定より作業完了が遅れています。デスクトップのメール、iDisk、シンクなどのサービスはご利用いただけますが、新しいMobileMeのWebアプリケーションのリリースにはもうしばらくお待ちください。ご迷惑をおかけして大変申し訳ありません。

No, my desk top mail services are not available. Please restore them.

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From the Associated Press, a report on the health of US reef systems:

From the Los Angeles Times:

Nearly one-third of the small animals that make up the most massive and elaborate structures in coral reefs face an elevated risk of extinction from global warming and various local problems, an international group of scientists reported Thursday.

The worldwide assessment of more than 700 species of corals showed that 32.8% were threatened with extinction, especially those that formed large mounds or intricate branches resembling antlers.

Coral reefs provide hiding places and a habitat for 25% of all marine life and are a major source of food for the poor and of tourist revenue in tropical countries.

Some of the threats are global, including elevated ocean temperatures that have stressed corals so much that they are “bleached” bone-white. A massive bleaching brought on by warmer waters in the 1998 El Niño resulted in a vast decline of the world’s reefs.

Corals also face excessive and destructive fishing and polluted runoff that buries them under sediment or bathes them in nutrients that fuel out-of-control growth of algae and bacteria.

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We are trying to fight the war in Afghanistan on the cheap and it is costing us plenty. If these tactics of fighting a war from the air continue, we will lose the war in Afghanistan. This is, frankly, genocide. We are killing innocent civilians because we lack the political will and the moral fiber to commit to a war that requires the investment of more resources and more troops. It also requires rebuilding Afghanistan. Building roads, schools, clinics, creating opportunities for the people of Afghanistan.

From the UK Guardian:

A US air strike killed 47 civilians, including 39 women and children, as they were travelling to a wedding in Afghanistan, an official inquiry found today. The bride was among the dead.

Another nine people were wounded in Sunday’s attack, the head of the Afghan government investigation, Burhanullah Shinwari, said.

Fighter aircraft attacked a group of militants near the village of Kacu in the eastern Nuristan province, but one missile went off course and hit the wedding party, said the provincial police chief spokesman, Ghafor Khan.

The US military initially denied any civilians had been killed.

Lieutenant Rumi Nielson-Green, a spokeswoman for the US-led coalition, told AFP today the military regretted the loss of any civilian life and was investigating the incident.

The US is facing similar charges over strikes two days earlier in another border area of Afghanistan.

The nine-member inquiry team appointed by the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to look into the wedding party incident found only civilians had been killed in the attack.

“We found that 47 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in the air strikes and another nine were wounded,” said Shinwari, who is also the deputy speaker of Afghanistan’s senate.

“They were all civilians and had no links with the Taliban or al-Qaida.”

Around 10 people were missing and believed to be still under rubble, he said. The inquiry team were shown the bloodied clothes of women and children in a visit to the scene.

The Red Cross said 250 people had been killed or wounded in five days of military action and militant attacks in the past week.

The toll included the US-led air strikes and a suicide blast outside the Indian embassy in Kabul on Monday that killed more than 40 people, including two Indian envoys.

The UN said last month that nearly 700 Afghan civilians had lost their lives this year - about two-thirds in militant attacks and about 255 in military operations.

Karzai has pleaded repeatedly for western troops to take care not to harm civilians, and in December wept during a speech lamenting civilian deaths at the hands of foreign forces.

We need boots on the ground, not surgical airstrikes that are anything but surgical. How many families were wiped out in this attack? Afghan lives have to matter just as much as our own.

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I don’t even know what to say anymore. I am guessing that this is David Axelrod’s idea. The ad man strikes again. The selling of Obama continues unabated. The maturity level remains that of a child. The story from Sports Illustrated:

SI.com has learned that for the first time in history, a major presidential candidate may sponsor a race car in NASCAR’s premier series. According to sources, Barack Obama’s campaign is in talks to become the primary sponsor of BAM Racing’s No. 49 Sprint Cup car for the Pocono race on August 3. Details of the agreement are expected to be worked out over the coming days.

A BAM spokesperson has revealed the team will hold a press conference July 23 in Miami to reveal the partnership, currently a proposed one-race deal with an option to continue. Obama will be at the briefing, which will be tied to the “Get Out The Vote” campaign message he spread throughout the 2008 primary season.

Racing sources claim one of the options being considered would allow individual campaign donors to get their name on the race car for as little as $100. Obama will also be present for a second private fundraiser on July 30 in Miami, in which team owners Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau — staunch Republicans — will give the Democrat an opportunity to spread his message of change. Randy Moss and Fergie are among the celebrities confirmed to be a part of that fundraiser in support of the candidate and his venture into NASCAR.

While George Bush was prominently featured on Kirk Shelmerdine’s No. 72 car in 2004, this is the first time a national presidential campaign has actually given its own money to make itself a primary sponsor of a race car. The sport has typically shown itself to be a Republican stronghold, a trend two-time champ Jimmie Johnson recently alluded to when he said he believed John McCain was the candidate of choice for most NASCAR fans this year.

Ken Schrader will drive the entry, a Toyota, at Pocono for BAM, which is outside the top 35 in owner points and must qualify for the race on speed. The team has run just once since Martinsville due to sponsorship concerns, and has just six top-10 finishes in 167 career starts in the Cup series dating back to ‘02. According to sources, the team will stick with Toyota after making a switch from Dodge back in the spring.

I think Obama would put an ad on the Moon if he could.

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has arrived at the Amuay Refinery in the Venezuelan state of Falcón for his one-day summit with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The summit is largely to cover commercial issues but Colombia it seems will sign not on to the project that Chávez covets most, the construction of a railroad from Venezuela to the Colombian Pacific. On political matters, such as Venezuela’s support for the FARC, the talks are expected to be tense.

From Venezuelan Television (In Spanish)

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By The Fault is a Feminist blog in case you were wondering and proudly so. For stories on women around the world, please check our Rights of Women and Women at the Top categories.

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Here is the Friday, July 11th, 2008 edition of events and news from around the world.

UK Housing Prices Tumble
Negative equity is when you owe more on an asset than what it is worth. In the UK, negative equity fears grow as house prices take record tumble. Negative equity is one of the reasons for increased foreclosures or defaults on loans. More on the situation in Britain from the UK Guardian.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to Face War Crime Charges
The UK Guardian is reporting that the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is likely to face war crime charges at the International Crime Court.

The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, issued a statement yesterday announcing that he would be submitting evidence “on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years”. The statement said he would then publicly “summarise the evidence, the crimes and name individual(s) charged”.

Moreno-Ocampo told the security council last month that he intended to go after top Sudanese officials, saying the “entire state apparatus” was involved in systematic attacks on civilians.

Long over due and we will see where it goes. Another report on this development from the New York Times.

China and the US Presidential Election
The Asia Sentinel looks at the US Presidential contest and how each candidate might handle US ties with the People’s Republic of China.

Radical Islam in Indonesia
Under Suharto, the radical fringes of Islam were kept under tight wraps but with Indonesia’s nascent political liberalization, there has been a proliferation of Islamic groups across the political spectrum. The Asia Sentinel looks at some of the more radical groups.

India Debates Its Nuclear Agreement with the US
India’s politics is not for the feign of heart. It’s not easy running a nation of nearly a billion people who speak some 700 different languages to boot. It is amazing to watch to India’s political scene. First of all, Prime Minister Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will seek a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha next week. The Indian Communist Party will vote against the agreement. The four Left parties formally withdrew their support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, they sharpened their offensive and vowed to make it “politically impossible” for the Manmohan Singh government to go ahead and clinch the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal. The General Secretary of Indian Communist Party called the agreement a “shocking betrayal”. Meanwhile the opposition Hindu Nationalist Party BJP seems amused by the whole debate. Its leader and likely the next Prime Minister of India should Singh’s government falter said he had “never seen so many people in despair” over an issue. Indian politics. All stories are from the Hindu Times.

Pyongyang Remembers Kim Il-Sung
In case you have ever wondered what a news release from North Korea looks like, here is your chance. Today’s feed from the Korean Central News Agency of the DPRK. Some tidbits:

A delegation of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League headed by Kil Chol Hyok, secretary of its Central Committee, left here today by air to attend the meeting of the Coordinating Council of the World Federation of Democratic Youth to be held in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, the State Academy Beryozka Dancing Troupe of Russia Named after N.S. Nadezhdina headed by Mira Koltsova arrived here today.

Big news I suppose but not a word on the six party talks under way in Beijing on the North Korean nuclear talks. For news on this subject, coverage from Reuters.

Chinese Polar Exploration Sets off from Shanghai
The race for polar resources is on. With hundreds waving goodbye on the dock, an ultra-modern icebreaker left the eastern Shanghai port on Friday morning, marking the start of China’s third scientific expedition to the North Pole. The full story from Xinhua Net.

Sarkozy Lectures The Irish
Ever the diplomat, Nicholas Sarkozy yesterday told “our Irish friends” to get going and not to wait to long to make a decision about how to get out of the mess created by the No vote. Le Monde reports that he, as rotating president of the EU, wants to propose a solution either at the October or the December EU summit. More from Euro Intelligence.

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