New Start: US Senate approves Russia nuclear treaty

US senators have voted to ratify a much-delayed nuclear arms treaty that will pave the way for new cuts in American and Russian nuclear arsenals.

After months of wrangling in the Senate, the New Start treaty was passed by a vote of 71 to 26. The treaty requires the US and Russia to cut their deployed nuclear warheads by some 30%.

It must still pass Russia’s parliament, a move expected next spring.

“The question is whether we move the world a little out of the dark shadow of nuclear nightmare,” Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., said to his colleagues moments before the historic tally.

“The winners are not defined by party or ideology. The winners are the American people, who are safer with fewer Russian missiles aimed at them, and who benefit knowing that our co-operation with Russia in curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and supplying our troops in Afghanistan can be strengthened.”

The New Start Treaty, which will replace its lapsed predecessor, Start (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), was signed by Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, President Dmitry Medvedev, in April 2010. It trims US and Russian nuclear arsenals to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads – a cut of about 30% from a limit set eight years ago. The treaty would also allow each side visually to inspect the other’s nuclear capability, with the aim of verifying how many warheads each missile carries. A previous inspection regime – part of the old Start treaty – expired a year ago. In addition, there will be legally binding limits on the number of warheads and missiles that can be deployed on land, on submarines, and on bombers, at any one time.

Last major holdout, U.S. will sign U.N. declaration on rights of native people

President Obama said Thursday that the United States will sign a United Nations non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, a move that advocates called another step in improving Washington’s relationship with Native Americans.

Obama announced the decision during the second White House Tribal Conference, where he said he is “working hard to live up to” the name that was given to him by the Crow Nation: “One Who Helps People Throughout the Land.”

It was the second such conference Obama has held since being elected president. Indian leaders promised to bring a variety of policy matters to the table in an overall effort to forge stronger tribal-federal relations. Many were overjoyed to learn of the president’s support for UNDRIP, with a thunderous applause arising from Interior’s Sydney Yates Auditorium.

The United States is the last major country to sign on to the U.N. declaration, which was endorsed by 145 countries in 2007. A handful of countries, including the United States, voted against it because of the parts of the provision that say indigenous peoples “have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied, or otherwise used and acquired.”

That language does not override national law, and Canada and New Zealand, which also initially opposed the declaration, said in recent months that they would support it.

Obama has told Native American leaders that he wants to improve the “nation-to-nation” relationship between the United States and the tribes and repair broken promises. There are more than 560 Indian tribes in the United States.

Robert Coulter, director of the Indian Law Resource Center, wrote in a column after the president’s announcement that the endorsement marks the culmination of more than three decades of hard work by indigenous peoples and other members of the international human rights community.

“Our work to ensure justice for Indian nations in this country begins in earnest with the United States’ endorsement of the U.N. Declaration,” Coulter said. “To see the promise of the declaration become a reality, we must continue to fight for laws, policies and relationships that take into account the permanent presence of Indian nations in this country, and throughout the world.”

iPOD apps give aboriginal languages modern edge

(from Montreal Gazette)

VICTORIA — Some of British Columbia’s ancient languages are getting an ultra-modern boost in the hopes that cool technology will appeal to young aboriginal people.

New language apps for Apple’s iPod, iPad and iPhone devices have been developed for two native languages in the province: Sencoten, spoken on southern Vancouver Island; and Halq’emeylem, spoken in the Fraser Valley. Six more communities are using archives of recorded words and phrases to build mobile audio dictionaries with funding help from the province.

“Young people today are distracted by a lot of technology. They want to text, be on the web and play games,” says Peter Brand, co-ordinator of FirstVoices, which helped develop the apps. “And so we knew that, if we had any hope of keeping the language in front of them, it had to be presented in these ways.”

The struggle to keep B.C.’s 34 aboriginal languages alive becomes more difficult as elders die. On Vancouver Island’s Saanich Peninsula, for example, only about 10 fluent Sencoten speakers remain.

“We are trying to archive as much as we can and the key is to make the language accessible to more people,” says Tracey Herbert, executive director of the First Peoples Heritage, Language and Culture Council.

The apps — developed with copious volunteer time and about $30,000 in funding from the First Peoples Cultural Foundation — are media-rich with audio recordings, images and videos. While struggling through the correct pronunciation for words such as grandmother or cat, generic pictures can be replaced with images from the student’s own life.

The apps can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store by searching for Sencoten or Halq’emeylem.

Omani women finally get a home of their own

(from The Jerusalem Post)

MUSCAT, OMAN – Nawal Jamal Al-Bulushi, a 32-year-old Omani woman who works for a Muscat-based management consultancy, is waiting eagerly to see if her name is among one of those appearing in the lists of people entitled to a free grant of land from the government.

“The draws are held weekly, but I wish they could be held every day,” she says wistfully. “It’s something for the ladies to hold onto.”

Free land would be welcomed by anyone, but for Omani women it has been something akin to a social revolution. Local law doesn’t automatically entitle women to a share of their husband’s property in a divorce and only 0.4% of all the country’s landowners are women. Many women say they remain in bad marriages for fear of being made homeless if they divorce.

Sheikha Saud Al-Araimi, 65 and from Sur, a coastal town, is already dreaming of her future home. Due to her age and social status, Araimi received a plot of government land soon after the first draw occurred in April. Widowed and childless, Araimi lives with her husband’s nephews and their family but aspires to live in a home of her own. Under Islamic Inheritance Law, she inherited some of her husband’s land after his death but not enough to build a house.

“If your husband died and you have no children, you now don’t have to worry about where you will live,” she told The Media Line.

The government is also supposed to assist Araimi, the widow, in obtaining funds to build a house on her new land. She can also sell her husband’s land to access further funds.

The new law also strikes a blow against traditional social attitudes, in which the male head of the household exercises the ultimate right to decide how to use family income; including money belonging to his daughter and wife. Single women will also enjoy unprecedented financial security.

For four decades, since the government began giving away land, the program had been reserved exclusively for men, but in 2008 the government decided to open up the grants program to all Omanis age 23 and over, including women. Priority is given to those who haven’t previously owned land. Not surprisingly, when the first gender-neutral land draw occurred last April, most of the 100 names were female.

“It’s very good for women to have equality, and it is especially important for women from less privileged backgrounds,” Ayesha Mohammed Al-Salti, an Education Ministry employee, married with five children, told The Media Line. “They can financially help out their husbands and fathers by selling their land, for example.”

The government  has recently issued instructions that all loans from the public housing bank be distributed equally to any man or woman over the age of 21 owning a plot of land.

Historic Cobell settlement brings measure of justice to Native Americans

Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, decided in 1996 that enough was enough and she was tired of not having a resolution to the Indian Trust Fund situation.  On June 10 of that year, she filed a lawsuit (Cobell v. Salazar) against the government in the hopes of finding a solution and resolution.

That resolution finally came on Wednesday, Dec. 8 as President Barack Obama signed the Claims Resolution (aka Settlement) Act of 2010 officially bringing the decades-old Indian Trust Fund debacle to a close.  Under the Act, $3.4 billion will be provided to settle trust fund accounts and land interests across Indian Country.

In a White House ceremony, the president signed off on Congress’ approval of a settlement to the long-running Cobell v. Salazar Indian trust fund lawsuit. The case was first filed in 1996, and went through numerous court proceedings until last December when the Obama administration announced a deal with Indian plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs had argued for years that the accounting of their royalties held in trust by the Department of the Interior had been inaccurate and mismanaged since the 1800s, resulting in numerous losses for Indian families. The Obama administration ultimately agreed that a large injustice had been done.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, present at the presidential ceremony, called the agreement “a milestone in empowerment and reconciliation for the nation’s First Americans.”

He said, too, that the settlement is the beginning of “true trust reform.” Along those, lines, he is establishing a Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform in consultation with tribes. Interior officials said the commission will undertake an evaluation of how the department manages and administers its trust responsibilities.

“We need to be more transparent and customer-friendly,” Salazar said. “The status quo is not acceptable.”

Several Indian officials and lawmakers with ties to Indian country hailed the settlement after the president signed the legislation.

“The president and the Congress have continued to exhibit a renewed determination to honor the federal trust responsibility to tribal nations and Indian people,” said Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, upon the president’s signature. “Today’s ceremony is another concrete example of this administration’s commitment to work with members of Congress to honor our historic, nation-to-nation relationship.”

“This is historic legislation,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, in a statement. “It not only closes the books on a shameful period of history for the federal government, it provides some long delayed justice to hundreds of thousands of Native Americans.”

“After years of delay, this bill will provide a small measure of justice to Native Americans whose funds were held in trust by a government charged with looking out for them,” the president said in remarks just before he signed the legislation. “And it represents a major step forward in my administration’s efforts to fulfill our responsibilities and strengthen our government-to-government relationship with the tribal nations.”

Present at the ceremony was lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell – whom the president singled out, noting her work on the case through the years.

“Elouise’s argument was simple: The government, as a trustee of Indian funds, should be able to account for how it handles that money. And now, after 14 years of litigation, it’s finally time to address the way that Native Americans were treated by their government. It’s finally time to make things right.”

Cobell, wearing a bright red outfit, seemed pleased, and smiled when the president shook her hand after signing the settlement into law.

“After 123 years of living with what Congress once called the ‘broken trust,’ people throughout Indian country will see Wednesday as a monumental day,” the Blackfeet Nation citizen said.

“On Wednesday the nation’s political leaders placed their seal of approval on the settlement of our fight in the courts. The successful enactment of the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 confirms that both Congress and the executive branch believe that our settlement is fair and proper – a good deal for all.”

Multicultural team wins culinary championship

The team representing Israel in an international cooking championship could not be more diverse: A Jew, a Muslim, a Christian and an Armenian make up the Israeli squad that competed in this year’s Expogast Culinary World Cup in Luxemburg.

Armenian Sarkis Yacoubian, Jewish Charlie Fadida, Muslim Imad Shourbagi and Christian Johnny Goric – these four chefs were selected so as not to neglect any sector, and to send audiences a message of coexistence. They arrived in Luxemburg last week motivated to show chefs from all corners of the world what can be done with a quail and some olive branches. They returned with three gold medals and their share of battle stories.

On November 23, after four years of preparation and several sleepless nights, the chefs could finally allow themselves to breath easy. With the medals in their hands, they took the time to thank the man who so greatly contributed to their victories: Antonio, a cook in a Luxemburg restaurant.

Only a few days earlier they did not know Antonio, but he became their savior during the games. Upon arriving to Luxemburg, they found out that the kitchen promised to them for preparations simply did not exist. “I told myself that nothing will come out of it,” Fadida said. “We wanted to pull out of the race.”

Local cook saves competition

After wandering around the city searching for a solution, they found Antonio, who was kind enough to allow them make use of the restaurant where he works. They cooked in the kitchen and utilized the basement, as well as the laundry facility of the hotel where the restaurant was located – laundry facility being fancy name for a moldy cluttered room with loose cables hanging from the ceiling, littered with cigarette butts.

“We began looking for pots here, and we found things that haven’t been used in years,” Fadida said, referring to the so-called laundromat. “You can succeed even in tough conditions.”

Assisted by four honor students from the east Jerusalem culinary institute Notre Dame, they cooked to the sound of the washing machines. With the combination of religions and ethnicities, it was not surprising that the Italian Antonio proudly spoke of how nice his new friends were and how glad he was to see them return with medals.

In gratitude, the contestants made the restaurant workers an ethnic meal influenced by their diverse origins, and Johnny Goric gave Antonio a wooden cross – a memento from the holy land.

‘If we get along, why can’t leaders?’

Calm rules these chefs’ kitchen; no one pelts frying pans or rubs salt in anyone’s wounds. Chef Imad Shourbagi is used to the company of his teammate Fadida, since they work together at the Sheraton Hotel in Tel Aviv. “Charlie and I are like brothers,” he says, but admits that he doesn’t understand the Israeli leaders, and their difficulty of arriving at an agreement.

“If we are getting along, what is the problem of the ones in leadership?” he asks. “Unfortunately, it’s a small minority that makes the decisions. We can’t let it take over our lives. To each his own beliefs, that what I teach my children.”

Sarkis Yacoubian was the one to initiate the collaboration, which is dubbed “Taste of Peace.” He was born in Beirut, and after visiting his grandmother in Jerusalem in 1967, his family was forced to stay when the Six Day War broke out. “The borders were closed and we couldn’t leave,” he said. “So we stayed and started over. I’m not sorry about it.”

Yacoubian said he emphasizes with the Jewish people, since the Armenian people suffered multiple hardships as well. “For 25 years I have grown among Arabs, and 25 years among Jews. I have friends on both sides. It’s not an issue of religion and nationality, it’s an issue of being a human being,” he said.

‘Chefs more powerful than bomb’

Twenty-year-old Moussa was one of the four sous-chefs picked from the Notre Dame school to accompany the team to Luxemburg. Born in Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter, he currently lives in the Qalandiya refugee camp.

“We don’t have any problems in our kitchen,” he said while meticulously ridding a roasted eggplant of its innards. “We cook like brothers, everything together. The chefs are great people, they speak gently and patiently.”

The diverse team inevitably drew much interest during the competition, and caught the attention of the World Chefs Association Societies President Gissur Gudmundsson, who came to their corner for some wine and chocolate. The collaboration is a model for chefs all over the world, Gudmundsson said while writing down tips the chefs gave him.

According to Gudmundsson , everything begins and ends in the kitchen; chefs cook for many powerful people, and have the power to kill more people than a bomb. On the other hand, he noted, everyone must eat, so when there’s food, there’s peace.

 

Kurdish writers who needed pseudonyms now have a Master’s program

(from Christian Science Monitor)

Mardin, Turkey

For 20 years, Tekin Cifci explored his native Kurdish language in secret, hiding behind a pseudonym when writing for semi-underground Kurdish magazines. For much of that time inTurkey, the use of Kurdish was banned – an utterance on the street could mean time in jail.

But today Mr. Cifci is writing the thesis for his master’s degree, in Kurdish and about Kurdish – and under his real name – as part of Turkey’s first-ever graduate program in Kurdish language and culture.

“I’m still not used to this new period,” says Cifci, who is part of the pilot Kurdish program of Mardin Artuklu University in southeast Turkey’s ethnic Kurdish heartland. The region has been plagued by civil war between Kurdish rebels and the state security forces since 1984, and witnessed tens of thousands of deaths.

That conflict has eased in the past decade. And the Turkish government last year announced a “Kurdish Opening” aimed at improving the lives of ethnic Kurds, by restoring some long-denied cultural rights.

But while many Kurds feel that little has changed the Kurdish language program is planting new seeds that could transform attitudes.

“Each time our teachers explain about Kurdish language and culture, I find myself in a different world,” says Cifci. “It’s like coming into the world again, like being reborn to the culture…. Kurdish was a forbidden language for many years; never mind academic work, even speaking was forbidden…. Now the Kurds are recognized as a nation in Turkey.”

Cifci says he is proud to be one of Turkey’s first crop of “Kurdologists,” one of 30 accepted for the two-year master’s program. The university began its work in Kurdish last summer, teaching a crop of 50 language instructors whose certification will allow them to teach elsewhere in Turkey as new Kurdish programs are founded.

The interest was overwhelming. Some 550 people applied for the three-month summer course, and 350 to be candidates for the master’s degree.

At the university in Mardin, a project is under way to create a library of original historical handwritten Kurdish texts, and to play catch-up with more established Kurdish programs in the region and beyond, in a bid to make Mardin the recognized center of Kurdology.

“In the beginning, we had difficulty finding some educators, because in Turkey there is no one whose official profession this is,” says Dr. Adak, who himself speaks five languages. “But this university has found us and brought us together…. It is a very important step. We believe this will impact Turkish society, and help bring peace.”

Graduate student Cifci says he wants to be there, on an academic front line where Kurdish writers and intellectuals no longer need pen names for their poetry.

“We are not discussing anymore if there is a Kurdish nation or not, but how the education of Kurds can be in their mother tongue,” says Cifci. “Now more and more people accept that the Kurdish issue is not a terrorist issue…. When I started this program, the rector asked: ‘Where were you until now?’ I replied: ‘I was among those hiding my name.’”