Iraq. The Biggest Robbery Of The Century.
From: "Francisco Javier Bernal" [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Biggest Robbery Of The Century by Rafiq A Tschannen Daily Star (Bangladesh), 9th December DURING the gulf war 1991 the USA has destroyed the water distribution system of Iraq and thereby violated the Geneva war convention. Only recently an American High School teacher submitted a study which proved that the wilful destruction of a whole country was carried out with a strategic calculation. Nearly ten years later the whole population of Iraq continues to pay the price of the stubbornness of the USA and Iraq's leader Saddam Hussain. There is no end in sight in this situation. On the contrary during the US election campaign both candidates were eager to outdo each other in their anti-Iraq feelings. And quietly the robbing of Iraq continues as the work of the UNCC United Nations Compensation Commission shows, an obscure entity, which sucks off one third of all Iraqi export earnings. The UNCC has existed for the last ten years and remains nearly unknown to the public. But actually this discretely operating institution is one the most important instruments in the destruction strategy against Iraq. The economic sanctions against Iraq are being covered by the media. We see on TV malnourished children and hospitals where the most basic items are missing. We see a whole country and a whole culture being permitted to deteriorate further and further. But hardly any journalist seems to be interested in the work of the UN Compensation Commission and in their doubtful legality and their dubious practices. And this in spite of the fact that since December 1996, 11 billion dollars, approximately one third of the export earnings of Iraq, have flown into the coffers of this commission. In April 1991, shortly after the defeat of Iraq, the UN security council decided that according to international law Iraq will be liable for all losses, damages which other states, individuals, or foreign corporations have had as an immediate result of the Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait. For the determination of such damages the UN compensation commission was created. The board of this commission is made up of representatives of the 15 members of the UN security council. The executive council, which has been dominated by its US members right from the start, is supposed to inform the commission, although disinform would be the more appropriate term. The method chosen by the Security Council is without parallel in history at least not since the Versailles Agreement at the end of World War I, which laid the foundation for the Second World War. In article 231 of the Versailles agreement Germany was made to pay. Hitler took advantage of this agreement that went too far. It was easy for him to point out that "enough is enough". The United States had not ratified the Versailles agreement, but today is carrying on in the same way "Iraq will pay!" How will this time? Iraq is not even recognized as a defendant party". Every petty criminal has the right of defence but the country of Iraq has no say in how and how much the country is bled. Every year 50 million dollars are being deducted from the Iraqi export earnings to finance the activities of the commission. Excellent salaries of the commission members and their travelling arrangements in business class are financed. For the first time in the history of countries since the Second World War a state has absolutely nothing to say about a juristic case that directly relates to it. Iraq has no right to vote at the UN because it did not pay its dues. At the same time the USA is in arrears for over one billion dollars. Just another small example of the double standards prevailing today. One law for the super power and another law for the rest of the world. No doubt Iraq does have a duty to provide compensation. But how can a law case be fought and presented without giving the other side a right to present their own case? For instance: The state of Kuwait had presented a claim for 21.6 billion dollars in 1994. Baghdad was given a summary of the claim five years later in 1999. The Iraqi Government was given a dateline of 19th September 2000. Iraq requested permission to use some fund out of the commission's funds actually Iraq's own export earnings! to pay for a legal office to scrutinize all the documents. The commission refused. After a long discussion finally Iraq was given one hour on 14th December 1999 to present its point of view. One hour to treat a 20 billion dollar claim! In spite of Russian and French reservations the compensation was fixed at 15.9 billion dollars. The UN Secretary General had recommended in 1991 that Iraq "be informed about all claims and to be given the right
Belarus: Back In The USSR - NY Times
NY Times Magazine, Dec. 17, 2000 Back in the U.S.S.R. Belarus is convinced that it has the answer to post-Soviet turmoil -- Brezhnev-era Communism. By MATTHEW BRZEZINSKI Dr. Lev Demenuk was not always a Communist. He never believed the old propaganda about the evils of capitalism. Not until he experienced it for himself. "I cheered when Yeltsin stood on that tank and the Soviet Union fell apart," the tall, bearded physician tells me while we wait for a bus after the gala. "And I certainly didn't think I'd ever be celebrating Revolution Day again." The rain has stopped, and the streets are slick and empty. Minsk is very dark at night, with only the occasional streetlight or splash of neon to pierce the gloom. But the city feels perfectly safe -- one advantage of life in a police state. "We also used to have Chechen gangsters, and shootouts and robberies -- all the things they have in Russia," recalls Demenuk. "It was terrible. People were frightened to leave their homes." The bus arrives. It is crammed and steamy and, by the look of it, has been in service since the days of Brezhnev. Fortunately, Demenuk's building is only a few stops away. He lives in a Stalinist high-rise, virtually indistinguishable from the thousands of drafty, precast concrete structures Soviet architects slapped together after the Nazis razed Minsk to the ground. We continue our conversation in Demenuk's tidy fifth-floor apartment, over Armenian cognac and sliced pears. "We had every kind of shortage. There were work stoppages and equipment failures. Our wages were wiped out by hyperinflation. You couldn't even buy a roast with your monthly pay." Demenuk talks about the polyclinic at the Minsk Automobile Factory, where he works as one of 60 doctors and dentists caring for its 29,000 employees. "The plant was on the verge of closing. Production had dropped tenfold. At the clinic, we were reusing hypodermic needles. We had no medications for the workers. It was like the war." Things got so bad that Demenuk thought about returning to Russia, where he was born and reared before attending medical school in Minsk. But Russia was in even worse shape. He even considered emigrating. "My sister had moved to Boston. I went to the States, too -- worked under the table doing manual labor in Detroit for a while," he says. Demenuk liked America, even with the language barrier. But in the United States, he couldn't practice medicine. "I didn't want to end up as a taxi driver with a medical degree." There was some encouraging news from home, however. In the summer of 1994, a political unknown stormed onto the scene in Minsk. Aleksandr Lukashenko was charismatic and rugged, an avid athlete with a manly mustache and broad shoulders. At 39, Lukashenko was the same age as Demenuk, and many of the things he said struck a chord with Belarussians who longed for a strong leader, someone who would restore some sense and pride to their existence. He pledged to chase away the bandits and corrupt officials who were ruining the country, which in Soviet times had enjoyed one of the highest standards of living of all the republics. Lukashenko swept into office as a savior. "He was our de Gaulle," Demenuk says dreamily. Lukashenko quickly set about bridling the free press; its pesky criticism, he said, impeded his ability to make needed changes quickly. Next he turned his attention to the country's shadowy league of big bankers, the "parasites" who had looted the country through dubious privatization schemes. In renationalizing Belarus's banking sector, Lukashenko claimed he was simply returning stolen state property to the people. And the people cheered. Ivan Osintvev, for instance, a pensioner, had little sympathy for BMW-driving bankers. "I had my life savings in a bank that was privatized," recalls the decorated World War II veteran, who as a young Soviet soldier was shot in the leg just outside Cracow when the Red Army liberated Auschwitz. "The new owners closed the bank and ran off with my money," about $2,000, he says. "The capitalists stole all my money. The president simply gave it back to me." Full article at: http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001217mag-belarus.html
Colombia: Eyewitness to Revolution [FightBack]
Fight Back News Service http://www.frso.org/fight This article is from the Fall 2000 special supplement on Colombia of Fight Back! / ¡Lucha y Resiste! newspaper. Colombia: Eyewitness to Revolution Jessica Sundin, of the Colombia Action Network, led a small delegation of three North American activists to Bogatá in July 2000, to attend a conference responding to U.S. military aid. The delegation also traveled to the area in Southern Colombia controlled by the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP). Fight Back! interviewed Jessica about what she saw there. --- You recently had the opportunity to travel to Colombia to attend a conference on U.S. intervention and the so-called "Plan Colombia." Could you begin by explaining what Plan Colombia is? This year, President Clinton, along with the president of Colombia, launched Plan Colombia. The Plan gives Colombia $1.5 billion to buy attack helicopters, spy planes, high-tech surveillance equipment, and weaponry. This military aid goes to the Colombian Army, to fight the war against left-wing guerrillas. This fall, there have been at least two reports of U.S.-paid-for helicopters being directly involved in combat with guerrillas. Colombian activists say the Army will use U.S. aid to continue the Dirty War of human rights violations against community leaders, human rights activists, and labor union organizers. Even school children are targets of Colombia's Army - on August, 6 children were murdered when the Army fired in their school group during a field trip. What is Colombia's 40-year civil war about? There is zero political space for progressive people in Colombia to decide their own country's fate and there is a real need for change. It has the highest unemployment rate in Latin America. Even though it is rich in natural resources, many people in Colombia are homeless, can't get health care or a decent education. Every day Colombia's rulers sell off another piece of the country to foreign corporations. A handful of rich people run Colombia in their own interests. They keep themselves in power through violence. Colombia has the worst human rights record in all of Latin America. Anyone who speaks out for something different becomes a target of the most brutal military and paramilitary organizations (death squads) in all of Latin America. Who was at the conference and what did they say about Plan Colombia? The conference brought together hundreds of people: Leaders from the teachers union and the oil workers union, environmental activists, students and youth, progressive journalists, human rights workers, women leaders, and people from the Colombian left. Every person I spoke with said Plan Colombia is a plan for war. Because everyone at the conference was an activist, they are the civilians that are most threatened by the U.S. giving more weapons to the Colombian Army. They have fled their hometowns because of the violence, and every one of them has had friends and family murdered. They say the last thing Colombia's brutal army needs is more weapons. Plan Colombia will spray more toxic chemicals over suspected coca crops. So far, these campaigns have been one hundred percent negative. The government has sprayed areas where there were no coca crops at all. Many families have fled the fumigation because the chemicals were poisoning their children, the water, the air and the land. The sprays don't just kill coca crops, they kill food crops. The other problem with Plan Colombia is the "Push into Southern Colombia." Most U.S. military aid will be used to sponsor a Colombian military offensive against the guerrillas based in these areas. What are Colombians doing to try to change Colombia? I was inspired by people organizing in Colombia, in spite of the violence. Just days after I left, almost a million people joined in a general strike to say no to Plan Colombia, to stop the privatization of state-run hospitals and other industries, and to defend wages and jobs for state workers. Human rights workers in almost every small town are working to document human rights violations and bring those who commit these crimes to justice. I met indigenous leaders working in their communities to stop the sell-off of native lands to foreign corporations. I met students and young people fighting to keep public universities open. People are organizing strikes, and protests and letter-writing campaigns demanding an end to human rights abuses, to call on the government to meet peoples basic needs, and to get the U.S. out of Colombia. You spent a few days in an encampment of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and met with their chief negotiator, Comandante Raul Reyes. Could you describe
Turkish prisoners reported near death in hunger strike
From: Press Agency Ozgurluk [EMAIL PROTECTED] Turkish prisoners reported near death in hunger strike The Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (December 17, 2000 6:16 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - A prisoners' group said Saturday that dozens of prisoners on a 58-day hunger strike are near death. Some 250 prisoners linked to left-wing groups are refusing everything but water to protest transfers from their dormitory-style open wards to one- or three-person cells. The prisoners say the cells would leave them vulnerable to abuse by authorities. Mediation efforts ended Friday over what Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk called the prisoners' "unacceptable" demand to be housed in 20-person rooms. The government wants to break up large wards, which it cannot control and where riots and hostage-takings are frequent. "Only hours are left till death," a statement from Ozgur Tayad, a solidarity group for prisoners' families said. It said the prisoners would not abandon the strike until their demand is met. Umit Erkol, head of an Ankara-based physicians' association whose members have visited some of the prisoners, said "we can expect the worst now." The independent Human Rights Association said about 20 prisoners were in critical condition. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk In Support of the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey http://www.ozgurluk.org DHKC: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc ___ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for geopolitics. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___
The Biggest Robbery Of The Century [STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
- Original Message - From: Francisco Javier Bernal [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2000 1:55 PM Subject: The Biggest Robbery Of The Century [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK http://www.dailystarnews.com/200012/09/n0120902.htm#BODY4 The Biggest Robbery Of The Century by Rafiq A Tschannen Daily Star (Bangladesh), 9th December DURING the gulf war 1991 the USA has destroyed the water distribution system of Iraq and thereby violated the Geneva war convention. Only recently an American High School teacher submitted a study which proved that the wilful destruction of a whole country was carried out with a strategic calculation. Nearly ten years later the whole population of Iraq continues to pay the price of the stubbornness of the USA and Iraq's leader Saddam Hussain. There is no end in sight in this situation. On the contrary during the US election campaign both candidates were eager to outdo each other in their anti-Iraq feelings. And quietly the robbing of Iraq continues as the work of the UNCC United Nations Compensation Commission shows, an obscure entity, which sucks off one third of all Iraqi export earnings. The UNCC has existed for the last ten years and remains nearly unknown to the public. But actually this discretely operating institution is one the most important instruments in the destruction strategy against Iraq. The economic sanctions against Iraq are being covered by the media. We see on TV malnourished children and hospitals where the most basic items are missing. We see a whole country and a whole culture being permitted to deteriorate further and further. But hardly any journalist seems to be interested in the work of the UN Compensation Commission and in their doubtful legality and their dubious practices. And this in spite of the fact that since December 1996, 11 billion dollars, approximately one third of the export earnings of Iraq, have flown into the coffers of this commission. In April 1991, shortly after the defeat of Iraq, the UN security council decided that according to international law Iraq will be liable for all losses, damages which other states, individuals, or foreign corporations have had as an immediate result of the Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait. For the determination of such damages the UN compensation commission was created. The board of this commission is made up of representatives of the 15 members of the UN security council. The executive council, which has been dominated by its US members right from the start, is supposed to inform the commission, although disinform would be the more appropriate term. The method chosen by the Security Council is without parallel in history at least not since the Versailles Agreement at the end of World War I, which laid the foundation for the Second World War. In article 231 of the Versailles agreement Germany was made to pay. Hitler took advantage of this agreement that went too far. It was easy for him to point out that "enough is enough". The United States had not ratified the Versailles agreement, but today is carrying on in the same way "Iraq will pay!" How will this time? Iraq is not even recognized as a defendant party". Every petty criminal has the right of defence but the country of Iraq has no say in how and how much the country is bled. Every year 50 million dollars are being deducted from the Iraqi export earnings to finance the activities of the commission. Excellent salaries of the commission members and their travelling arrangements in business class are financed. For the first time in the history of countries since the Second World War a state has absolutely nothing to say about a juristic case that directly relates to it. Iraq has no right to vote at the UN because it did not pay its dues. At the same time the USA is in arrears for over one billion dollars. Just another small example of the double standards prevailing today. One law for the super power and another law for the rest of the world. No doubt Iraq does have a duty to provide compensation. But how can a law case be fought and presented without giving the other side a right to present their own case? For instance: The state of Kuwait had presented a claim for 21.6 billion dollars in 1994. Baghdad was given a summary of the claim five years later in 1999. The Iraqi Government was given a dateline of 19th September 2000. Iraq requested permission to use some fund out of the commission's funds actually Iraq's own export earnings! to pay for a legal office to scrutinize all the documents. The commission refused. After a long discussion finally Iraq was given one hour on 14th December 1999 to present its point of view. One hour to treat a 20 billion dollar claim! In spite of Russian and French reservations the compensation was fixed at 15.9 billion dollars. The
Havana Radio news/views Dec 16-17
X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Unverified) subject:Havana Radio news/views Dec 16-17. Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - Weekend News Update - 16-17 December 2000 . *CUBA PULLS THE PLUG ON DIRECT PHONE CALLS FROM THE US *FIDEL CASTRO AWARDED HEALTH ACTIVIST DIPLOMA *CUBAN-VENEZUELAN MIXED COOPERATION COMMISSION MEETING CONCLUDES *MINISTER OF CUBAN ARMED FORCES MEETS WITH RUSSIAN COUNTERPART *INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL UNDERWAY IN HAVANA *NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO COLLECT RECYCLED MATERIALS CONCLUDES . *CUBA PULLS THE PLUG ON DIRECT PHONE CALLS FROM THE US Havana, December 16 (RHC)-- Cuba has every legitimate right to cut direct, long-distance telephone calls from the United States. During a special roundtable discussion, aired live on Cuban radio and television last night, a panel of journalists and experts on international affairs examined the decision to cut the cord on direct communications, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday. One panelist on the roundtable -- Eduardo Dimas, a political commentator on radio and television in Havana -- recalled that since 1966, Cuba has maintained telephone links with the U.S. despite the fact that payments were never made. Dimas said that Cuba did not receive a single cent for the phone service and that the money was frozen in U.S. bank accounts until 1994. Journalists taking part in the televised program Friday night noted that in 1999, a judge in Miami ordered that the frozen funds be used to pay the families of four members of the terrorist group Brothers to the Rescue. The four were shot down, despite repeated warnings that they were violating Cuban territorial airspace, on February 24, 1996. It was revealed that Judge Lawrence King is in the pay of the right wing Cuban-American community in southern Florida. After warning that telephone service would be cut if the bills were not paid to ETECSA, a Cuban-Italian joint venture, it was announced that phone service would be disconnected beginning on Friday, December 15th. Several panelists pointed out that the right-wing Cuban-Americans in Miami are now raising hell -- claiming that Havana has unilaterally taken this measure at a time when relatives in southern Florida want to call their families on the island and wish them a Merry Christmas. Reinaldo Taladrid, a television commentator, said that the Miami mafia is not reporting on the long history of stormy relations in communications between the two countries... trying to make it seem like Cuba is cutting the cord on telephone calls at this time of year to punish the families of Cubans on the island. Taladrid pointed out that when one doesn't pay their bill, services are terminated. And he pointed out that even in the United States, if one doesn't pay their gas bill, their heat is turned off -- even in the dead of winter, right around Christmas-time. The right-wing campaign coming out of Miami and Washington, designed to make Cuba into the bad guy, was quickly dismissed as nothing more than a weak propaganda effort. During the roundtable discussion on Friday, panelists also examined the desperate attempts by Miami to try to free international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who is being held in Panama for planning to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro. The participants pointed to the campaign -- led by an attorney and former attorney general of Panama -- who has been paid to try to defend Posada Carriles and his accomplices. It was noted that attempts to defend the jailed terrorists in Panama and free them on bail purposefully ignore the long history of Luis Posada Carriles in attacks against the Cuban Revolution. *FIDEL CASTRO AWARDED HEALTH ACTIVIST DIPLOMA Havana, December 16 (RHC)-- Delegates to the First National and Regional Conference on Health Promotion have granted Cuban President Fidel Castro the Health Activist Diploma "for his tireless efforts and his active participation in the promotion of adequate and high- quality health care assistance not only for his people, but also for all peoples of the world." The First National and Regional Conference on Health Promotion, which concluded on Friday here in the Cuban capital, gathered representatives from nine countries, including Mexico, other nations from Central America and the Caribbean. For two days, participants in the conference exchanged their experiences in the fight against tobacco, alcohol and drug addiction. Experts also reviewed current national programs against sexually transmittable and other preventable diseases. Other Cuban personalities who were also given the diploma for their active participation in health promotion are Dr. Carlos Dotres, Health Minister, Vilma Espin, President of the Cuban Women's Federation and Juan Contino, National Coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs). The President of the Conference Organizing Committee, Dr. Jose Pinon, pointed to Cuba as a vivid example of what can
Korean Central News Agency Dec 16
December.16.2000 Juche 89 [CONTENTS] * Greetings to President of Niger * Commemoration function held in Nigeria * Delegation of south side leaves * Joint communique on 4th round of inter-Korean ministerial talks released * Kim Jong Suk's feats praised * Ethiopian President supports Korea's reunification * Women's meeting for earlier opening of Japan-DPRK diplomatic relations held * "Theory of principal enemy" denounced * Japan's intention to place SDF on war footing * S. Korean organizations call for repeal of SL * Halt to U.S. forces' firing exercise demanded * Abolition of SL in S. Korea called for * China will support Korean people's struggle * KCNA on sinister plot of Japanese reactionaries Greetings to President of Niger Pyongyang, December 16 (KCNA) -- The south side's delegation headed by Unification Minister Pak Jae Gyu left here today after participating in the fourth round of the inter-Korean ministerial talks. It was seen off at the airport by delegates of the north side to the talks. Commemoration function held in Nigeria Pyongyang, December 16 (KCNA) -- The fourth round of the north-south ministerial talks, which opened in Pyongyang amid the expectation and concern of the public at home and abroad, closed today. At the talks, both sides reviewed the work done for the implementation of the historic north-south joint declaration and reached an agreement on the proposals made from the viewpoints of reconciliation, cooperation, unity and reunification. At the talks, heads of the delegations of the two sides signed the agreements on the protection of investment between the two sides, on the prevention of double taxation on the income between the two sides, on the settlement of accounts between the two sides and on the procedures for the settlement of disputes between the two sides which were reached at the second working-level contact for north-south economic cooperation held on Nov. 10. A joint communique on the 4th round of the north-south ministerial talks was released at the talks. The communique says: The 4th round of the north-south ministerial talks was held in Pyongyang from Dec. 12 to 16, Juche 89 (2000). At the talks the two sides reviewed the last six months' work for the implementation of the historic north-south joint declaration and agreed as follows after sharing the understanding that they are committed to positively implement the joint declaration, greeting 2001: 1. The north and the south agreed to form and operate a committee for the promotion of north-south economic cooperation with a view to ensuring the balanced development of national economy and co-prosperity. This committee will be made up of 5-7 members to be headed by vice-minister-level official from each side and have its first round of contact in Pyongyang around December 26, 2000. It will take up and solve such practical matters arising in the immediate economic cooperation as cooperation in the field of power industry, the issue of relinking railways and roads, the construction of an industrial district in Kaesong and the issue of pushing ahead with the project for the prevention of flood damage in the area along the River Rimjin. 2. The north and the south agreed to cooperate with each other in the field of fisheries. As regards the proposal made by the north side to offer part of its fishing ground in the east sea of Korea to the south side for a certain period, those officials concerned of the authorities of the two sides agreed to have a contact in the area of Mt. Kumgang at an early date to discuss the matter. 3. The north and the south agreed to recommend a contact between Taekwon-do organizations of the two sides to discuss the exchange of Taekwon-do demonstration teams. 4. The north and the south agreed to conduct on an experiment basis the work of confirming whereabouts of separated families and relatives and exchange of correspondence. The work will involve a hundred persons from each side in January and February, 2001 and about 300 persons from each side will write to each other in march, 2001. 5. The north and the south will exchange the third visiting groups of separated families and relatives, 100 persons from each side, in late February, 2001. 6. The north side will send a team to tour Mt. Halla in March, 2001 and an economic study team in the first half of 2001. 7. The north and the south agreed to separately go through the formalities for the effectuation of the agreements on the protection of investment between the north and the south, on the prevention of double taxation on the income between the two sides, on the settlement of accounts between the two sides and on the procedures for the settlement of
Korean Central News Agency Dec 17
TODAY'S NEWS (December.17.2000 Juche 89) [CONTENTS] * New feature film produced * Seminars held in Tanzania and Ethiopia * Pyongyang declaration's vitality increases * Japan's claim to Tok Islet rejected * Punishment of Japan's war criminals called for * Repeal of SL demanded * Japan urged to drop its bid to sit on UNSC For Spanish-speaking people * farsa de intriga de fuerzas conservadoras de japon * exhibicion de fotos y proyeccion filmica New feature film produced Pyongyang, December 17 (KCNA) -- Some days ago the April 25 Film Studio of the Korean People's Army produced part 4 (Choe Hyon) of the multi-part feature film "the Nation and Destiny" part 53. The film depicts the heroic battles fought by Choe Hyon and KPA servicemen behind the enemy lines to protect the safety of the supreme headquarters after it went over to a counterattack from the entire front line under the preeminent operation plan of the President Kim Il Sung during the Fatherland Liberation War (June 1950-july 1953). It truthfully represents the indomitable fighting spirit of the first and second generations of the revolution who devotedly defended the party and the leader and stresses that comradely love and the sense of obligation centered on the leader serves as a source of inexhaustible strength of the revolutionary armed forces. A preview of the film took place at the People's Palace of Culture yesterday. Senior party and state officials and other cadres and Pyongyangites saw the film. Seminars held in Tanzania and Ethiopia Pyongyang, December 17 (KCNA) -- Seminars were held by the Tanzanian National Coordinating Committee of the Juche Idea Study Groups and the Addis Ababa Group for the Study of the Juche Idea of Ethiopia on December 8 and 9 separately to mark the 9th anniversary of the great leader Kim Jong Il's election as Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and the 83rd birth anniversary of the great communist revolutionary fighter Kim Jong Suk. The chief of the Addis Ababa Group for the Study of the Juche Idea of Ethiopia in his speech said that world politicians are now praising him as a general type statesman. He went on: The DPRK considers the military affair as the most important state affair and gives top priority to strengthening the army. This politics is the political mode which can be created only by Kim Jong Il, general type statesman. Only victory and glory are always in store for the Korean people guided by Kim Jong Il, general type politician with literary and military accomplishments. The secretary general of the Tanzanian National Coordinating Committee of the Juche Idea Study Groups in his speech said: The world records many heroines, but no great woman performed such great exploits as Kim Jong Suk did. What occupies the most important place in her history of revolutionary struggle and her feats was that she ensured President Kim Il Sung's safety and brought about the future of modern Korea by giving a steady continuity to the revolutionary cause of Juche. Pyongyang declaration's vitality increases Pyongyang, December 17 (KCNA) -- The Pyongyang declaration "Let us defend and advance the cause of socialism" has gives a strong impetus to progressive parties and people around the world in their struggle for socialism with great attraction. The Pyongyang declaration was adopted by leaders and representatives of progressive parties including communist parties and workers' parties of many countries in April Juche 81 (1992). This declaration represented the resolution of the communist parties and workers' parties to fight it out for the future of humankind with firm confidence in the cause of socialism. No sooner had the declaration been published than over 150 media of more than 60 countries gave wide publicity to it. The number of political parties which signed the declaration at the time of its adoption was 70 and it reached 170 one year after its adoption. 251 political parties have signed it up to this date. The progressive parties including communist parties and workers' parties of various countries took the Pyongyang declaration as the charter of socialism and their action program and are working hard to put it into practice. The political parties of various countries including Russia and Romania keep pace with each other in the movement for rebuilding socialism, boosting their relations on the basis of the declaration. Many progressive parties including the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Norwegian Communist Party and the New Communist Party of Great Britain sent their delegations to the DPRK to learn from experience in its party building and socialist construction. A gathering of officials of progressive parties from more than 20 countries took place in Moscow to mark the fifth anniversary of the publication of the declaration. It adopted a statement
