Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo
formerly: Zaire
DRC
Congo, Democratic Republic
of the
DRoC
Democratic Republic of the Congo former
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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO News:
20080624
 McCain
-  Charles
R Black Jr -  Foreign
-  Money
-  Politics
-  Human
Rights - 2008
Election -  Arizona
-  US
-  Pakistan
-  Angola
-  Philippines
- Zaire
now: Democratic Republic of the Congo -  Nigeria
-  Somalia
-  Kenya
"Terror
Strike Would Help McCain, Top Adviser Says." ...
"A top adviser to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and
Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain said that a terrorist attack in the United
States would be a political benefit to the presumptive Republican presidential
nominee, a comment that was immediately disputed by the candidate and denounced
by his Democratic rival." ... "Charles R. Black Jr., one of McCain's most
senior political advisers, said in an interview with Fortune magazine that
a fresh terrorist attack "certainly would be a big advantage to him." He
also said that the December assassination of former Pakistani prime minister
Benazir Bhutto, while "unfortunate," helped McCain win the Republican primary
by focusing attention on national security." ... "The comment reinjected
the fear of terrorism into the campaign as both candidates had been shifting
their conversation to the economy and $4-per-gallon gasoline." ... "The
comments also returned the political spotlight to McCain's advisers and,
in particular, to Black, who has drawn criticism for his long lobbying
career and his representation of controversial foreign governments. McCain
has been criticized for surrounding himself with top advisers who were
lobbyists." ... "Black and his lobbying partners were at times registered
foreign agents for a collection of U.S.-backed foreign leaders whose human
rights records were sometimes harshly criticized, even as American conservatives
embraced their opposition to communism. They included Angolan guerrilla
leader Jonas Savimbi, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Mobutu Sese
Seko of Zaire, Nigerian [General] Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Somali President
Mohamed Siad Barre, and the countries of Kenya and Equatorial Guinea, among
others." (1, 2)
-By Michael D. Shear with contributions by Karl Vick
and Alice Crites -WashingtonPost
20080523
-
John
McCain -
 Randy
Scheunemann - Charlie
Black - Money
- Politics
- Foreign
-  Russia
-  Macedonia
-  Republic
of Georgia - Zaire
is the Democratic Republic of the Congo -  Military
-  Food
-  Indiana
- Arizona
- US
- 2008
Election -  Law
- "Senior
Aide's Lobbying Efforts Highlight Challenge for McCain."
... "For a decade, [lobbyist] Randy Scheunemann has been a campaign staffer
to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain, an ideological
ally in the fight to contain Russian power -- and a lobbyist seeking the
Arizona senator's support for former Soviet states." ... "The lobbying
group Mr. Scheunemann founded in 2001, Orion Strategies LLC [Limited Liability
Company], has earned $2.6 million from clients for whom Mr. Scheunemann
directly lobbied [Arizona Senator] Sen. McCain and his staff, Justice Department
records show." ... "In March, as scrutiny intensified, Mr. Scheunemann,
who is the campaign's top foreign-policy staffer, sent a letter to the
Justice Department's office for foreign-client lobbying registrations saying
he had stopped working for clients such as Macedonia and [the Republic
of] Georgia. However, his company's contracts with those countries, worth
a combined $240,000, appear still to be in effect. A spokeswoman for the
Georgian Embassy in Washington said the country's contract with Orion is
active. The Macedonian contract is listed as active in Justice Department
records." ... "Charlie Black, a McCain campaign senior adviser, has represented
foreign leaders accused of corruption and human-rights abuses, such as
Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire [now the Democratic Republic of the Congo]. He
ended his relationship with BKSH & Associates Worldwide this year.
Outside advisers and fund-raisers for the campaign include Wayne Berman,
a registered lobbyist for an Indiana food-packaging company that sells
to the Department of Defense." -By Mary Jacoby
-WSJ.com
20080516
-
John
McCain - Charlie
Black - Money
- Philippines
-
 Myanmar
- Military
- Arizona
- US- 2008
Election - "McCain
Vets Staff for Lobbying Ties." ... "[2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain’s
presidential campaign is vetting its own staff members’ lobbyist connections—scurrilous
or otherwise—after two aides recently left the campaign when questions
arose over their prior lobbying work for Myanmar’s military junta." ...
"A Democratic outside group, MoveOn.org, is targeting another McCain campaign
senior aide in a new Web ad asking their supporters to call for the ousting
of longtime Washington insider Charlie Black, who until recently was a
lobbyist for BKSH Worldwide." ... "The ad charges that Black’s firm “made
millions lobbying for the world’s worst tyrants,” including Ferdinand Marcos
of the Philippines and Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire. “Charlie Black said he
didn’t do anything wrong,” the ad states. “John McCain should tell Black
he did.” " -By Susan Davis
-WSJ.com
 WATCH
MoveOn Charlie Black ad, "McCain: Fire Charlie Black."
Ad Text:
"John McCain says we're fighting in Iraq to plant "the seeds of democracy
but the firm of his "chief political adviser" Charlie Black made millions
lobbying for the world's worst tyrants: Ferdinand Marcos, who executed
thousands of his own citizens in the Philippines, Zaire's Mobuto, who publicly
hanged his opponents and looted his country's vast mineral wealth, and
rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, a mass murderer, who covered Angola with landmines.
Charlie Black said he didn't do anything wrong. John McCain should tell
Black he did. Call John McCain and tell him to fire Charlie Black."-Documentation
-MoveOn.org
20070618
-
Analysis
- Countries
-
 People
- Law
- Money
-  Environment
- Religion
-  Terrorism
-  Nuclear
- Military
- Politics
- "The
Failed States Index 2007." ... "The world’s weakest
states aren’t just a danger to themselves. They can threaten the progress
and stability of countries half a world away." ... "The problems that plague
failing states are generally all too similar: rampant corruption, predatory
elites who have long monopolized power, an absence of the rule of law,
and severe ethnic or religious divisions." ... "For the second year in
a row, Sudan tops the rankings as the state most at risk of failure. The
primary cause of its instability, violence in the country’s western region
of Darfur, is as well known as it is tragic. At least 200,000 people—and
perhaps as many as 400,000—have been killed in the past four years by janjaweed
militias armed by the government, and 2 to 3 million people have fled their
torched villages for squalid camps as the violence has spilled into the
Central African Republic and Chad. These countries were hardly pictures
of stability prior to the influx of refugees and rebels across their borders;
the Central African Republic plays host to a modern-day slave trade, and
rebels attacked Chad’s capital in April 2006 in a failed coup attempt.
But the spillover effects from Sudan have a great deal to do with the countries’
tumble in the rankings, demonstrating that the dangers of failing states
often bleed across borders. That is especially worrying for a few select
regions. This year, eight of the world’s 10 most vulnerable states are
in sub-Saharan Africa, up from six last year and seven in 2005." ... "That
is not to say that all failing states suffer from international neglect.
Iraq and Afghanistan, the two main fronts in the global war on terror,
both suffered over the past year. Their experiences show that billions
of dollars in development and security aid may be futile unless accompanied
by a functioning government, trustworthy leaders, and realistic plans to
keep the peace and develop the economy." ... "Today, two countries among
the world’s 15 most vulnerable, North Korea and Pakistan, are members of
the nuclear club. Their profiles could hardly be less similar: The former
faces the very real prospect of economic collapse, followed by massive
human flight, while the latter presides over a lawless frontier country
and a disenchanted Islamist opposition whose ranks grow by the day." (1
of 9)
2
"The world’s weakest states are also the most religiously intolerant",
3
"several vulnerable states took a step back from the brink",
4
"Three of the five worst performing states—Chad, Sudan, and Zimbabwe—have
leaders who have been in power for more than 15 years",
5
"correlation between stability and environmental sustainability",
6
"world’s failing states tend to cluster together",
7
"A dozen countries among the 60 most vulnerable contain “virtual states”",
8
Failed State Rankings,
9
"FAQ and Methodology"
-FundForPeace.org/fsi
-ForeignPolicy.com
[Below are the 20 most vulnerable countries out of
60 countries listed out of 177 countries examined and ranked by the
Fund for Peace's Conflict
Assessment System Tool (CAST) that uses 12
indicators of country vulnerability for it's country stability analysis.]
"[Failed
State] The Rankings."
-FundForPeace.org/fsi -ForeignPolicy.com
1 
Sudan
2 
Iraq
3
Somalia
4 
Zimbabwe
5 
Chad
6 
Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire)
7
Democratic Republic of the Congo
8 
Afghanistan
9 
Guinea
10 
Central African Republic
11 
Haiti
12
Pakistan
13 
North Korea
14
Burma (Myanmar)
15 
Uganda
16 
Bangladesh
17
Nigeria
18 
Ethiopia
19 
Burundi
20 
Timor-Leste (East Timor)
20050407
-
 Jack
Abramoff -  Tom
DeLay -  Northern
Mariana Islands
-  Immigration
-  Garment
-  Labor
- Law
- Politics
-  Intelligence-  History
- "Jack
Abramoff: The friend Tom DeLay can't shake." ...
"Where to begin examining the extraordinary career of Jack Abramoff? His
work trying to secure a visa for the great Zairian kleptocrat Mobutu Sese
Seko, perhaps, or the bilking of an estimated $66 million out of Native
American tribes, clients he described as "monkeys," "troglodytes," and
"idiots"? Or his leadership of a 1980s think tank financed, unbeknownst
to him apparently, by the intelligence arm of South Africa's apartheid
regime?" ... "No, the chapter of our man's story that matters most at the
moment begins with a toast given by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay during
a New Year's trip they both took to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands
in 1997. "When one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your
most able representative in Washington, D.C., invited me to the islands,
I wanted to see firsthand the free-market success and the progress and
reform you have made," DeLay said before an audience of Abramoff's clients
in the islands' garment industry—whom, upon his return to Washington, he
helped win an extended exemption from federal immigration and labor laws."
-By James Harding -Slate
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