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Reuters/WashingtonUS Senator John Kerry received backslaps and lavish praise from his Senate colleagues at a hearing yesterday that left little doubt he will win easy confirmation as secretary of state.Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which he has chaired for the last four years, the five-term senator from Massachusetts and Vietnam War veteran was praised by Democrats and Republicans alike.“I look at you, in being nominated for this, as someone who has almost led their entire life, if you will, for this moment, being able to serve in this capacity,” said Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the top Republican on the panel.“We’re honoured to welcome you as the president’s nominee for a position you have most-deservedly earned,” said Senator Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat who is chairing the hearing for the committee, which is still technically chaired by Kerry.“You will need no introduction to the world’s political and military leaders, and will begin – on day-one – fully conversant not only with the intricacies of US policy, but with an understanding of the nuanced approach necessary,” Menendez added.Kerry was greeted with backslaps as he arrived for his hearing and bantered easily with senators, wryly noting his role reversal after spending 29 years sitting up on the dais and questioning witnesses.“I don’t want this to affect your opening questions, but let me say I have never seen a more distinguished and better-looking group of public officials in my life,” he said to widespread laughter.Several senators said they were certain of his confirmation.The one note of discord during the hearing came when a protester dressed in pink shouted “we need peace with Iran ... I am tired of my friends dying” before being removed by police.Kerry broke no new ground in his testimony, stressing his commitment to President Barack Obama’s policy of seeking a diplomatic solution to persuade Iran to give up its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons.Iran says its programme is solely for peaceful purposes.“The president has made it definitive – we will do what we can to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. I repeat here today: our policy is not containment,” Kerry said. “He and I prefer a diplomatic resolution to this challenge and I will work to give diplomacy every effort to succeed.” The senator added: “But no one should mistake our resolve to reduce the nuclear threat.”The main vehicle for diplomacy with Iran has been talks between Tehran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, a group collectively known as the P5+1.Kerry said that “everybody’s very hopeful that we can make some progress on the diplomatic front now” and, without disclosing US negotiating strategy, noted Obama had made clear his willingness to have direct negotiations with Iran if need be.His critics have said that Kerry has failed to seek tougher sanctions to discourage the Islamic Republic from pursuing its nuclear programme, but the nominee signaled that he was ready to keep the pressure on Tehran.Kerry told Menendez, one of the Senate’s most ardent advocates of tighter sanctions against Iran, that he was “totally” committed to enforcing them.As a senator, Kerry visited Damascus repeatedly prior to the outbreak of Syria’s devastating civil war and was a proponent of US re-engagement with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Kerry said there was a moment where Assad, impelled partly by of his desire to find jobs for his “burgeoning” youthful population, had an interest in improving relations with the US but that he missed the opportunity.“He has made a set of judgments that are inexcusable, that are reprehensible and I think is not long for remaining as the head of state in Syria,” Kerry said.The Yale-educated son of a foreign service officer, Kerry, 69, has long been a specialist in foreign affairs. In the 1960s, he differed from some of his well-heeled peers by enlisting in the US Navy and serving two tours of duty in the Vietnam War.He broke from – and enraged – the military establishment by becoming a prominent anti-war demonstrator after returning home.Bitter personal attacks over that anti-war role helped cost him the presidency in 2004 when he lost to Republican George W Bush.Kerry, who first testified before the committee in 1971 to express his opposition to the Vietnam War, choked up when recalling his father’s service as a career diplomat.“If you confirm me, I would take office as secretary proud that the Senate is in my blood – but equally proud that so, too, is the foreign service,” he said.

AFP/New York A 31-year-old New York woman was scheduled to appear before a judge today after being charged with murder as a hate crime for shoving a Hindu man to his death in front of an oncoming subway train. Erika Menendez of the Bronx borough was motivated by hatred of Muslims and Hindus, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office. “I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims. Ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers, I’ve been beating them up,” she told police. Menendez, who is awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court, faces from 25 years to life in prison if convicted. The victim, 46-year-old Sunando Sen, was born in India and raised Hindu, a roommate told the New York Times. The incident took place late on Thursday at a station on the number 7 line in Queens. Menendez – who was speaking to herself as she paced along the platform, according to witnesses – pushed the man as the train was pulling into the station. He apparently had his back to Menendez and did not see her. Police released surveillance camera video footage via Twitter showing a woman running from the scene. “The defendant is accused of committing what is every subway commuter’s worst nightmare – being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. “The victim was allegedly shoved from behind and had no chance to defend himself. Beyond that, the hateful remarks allegedly made by the defendant and which precipitated the defendant’s actions can never be tolerated by a civilised society.” Sen’s death was eerily similar to that of a 58-year-old man killed on December 3 when he was pushed onto the tracks during a fight with a deranged man at a Manhattan subway station. The assailant, later identified as 30-year-old Naeem Davis, has been charged with murder. Davis is homeless. A New York Post front page picture of the man on the tracks a split second before he was killed by the oncoming train provoked public fury as to why no one helped him – and why the tabloid newspaper published the photo. Several million people use the New York City subway system every day, but incidents of this kind are rare. Before the December 3 death, the last time someone was pushed onto the rails and hit by a train was in 2010. The woman survived. Thursday night’s incident appeared to have scared many New York subway riders as they kept closer to the walls as trains rolled into station. “It’s horrible,” said 46-year-old city resident Elena Rodriguez. “We’re feeling so insecure now to be in the subway.”  

Reuters/Washington   The US has aggressively ramped up its use of financial sanctions this year to pressure Iran to stop pursuing nuclear weapons, but a measure that takes effect in February could have the most dramatic impact yet, according to the Treasury Department’s top sanctions official. Starting February 6, US law will prevent Iran from repatriating earnings it gets from its shrinking oil export trade, a powerful sanction that will “lock up” a substantial amount of Tehran’s funds, David Cohen, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury Department, said on Thursday. “Iran’s oil revenues will largely be shackled within a given country and only useable to purchase goods from that country,” Cohen said in a speech to the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, a group that has advocated tougher sanctions. A year ago, the US Congress passed a law requiring buyers of Iranian oil to make significant cuts to their oil purchases, or risk being cut off from the US financial system. The new measure, developed by Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, was part of a second sanctions package passed by Congress in August. Along with a European Union embargo on Iranian oil, the sanctions have cut Iran’s oil exports by more than 50%, costing Iran up to $5bn per month, and led to a plunge in Iran’s currency, the rial, Cohen said. The US and European Union are hoping the economic pressure will force Iran to address international concerns about its nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes. “We are committed to increasing the financial pressure on Iran as long as necessary, and we will continue to look for innovative ways to make the Iranian regime bear the financial costs of its behaviour,” Cohen said. The US has so far granted sanctions waivers to importers for their oil dealings with Iran because the countries have substantially reduced their purchases. Starting in February, a foreign bank handling transactions related to Iranian oil sales must ensure the payments are held in an account within the importing country, and are used only for permissible trade between that country and Iran. If banks transfer Iran’s oil earnings beyond their borders, they will risk losing access to the US banking system, Cohen explained. “Virtually all countries that purchase oil from Iran run a significant trade deficit, meaning the value of their oil imports from Iran is greater than the value of their exports to Iran,” Cohen said. “As a result, this provision should lock up a substantial portion of Iran’s earnings in each of these countries,” he said, noting US officials have been meeting with international buyers to explain the new law. Japan, which counts on Iranian oil but has slashed its purchases in compliance with sanctions laws, has expressed concern about the new provision taking effect in February. The US Senate agreed to a third package of sanctions last week that would add similar restrictions on payments for Iran’s natural gas exports, and makes clear that sales or transfers of precious metals to Iran are not permissible. It is part of a defence bill that may be finalised by the Senate and House of Representatives by the end of the year, after which it would land on President Barack Obama’s desk to be signed into law.   Yemen foils jailbreak by Qaeda men Yemeni guards foiled an attempted prison break by 25 Al Qaeda convicts yesterday, some of them considered as high risk, a security official said. “The guards from Aden central prison foiled an escape attempt with the discovery of an 8m long tunnel dug by the 25 detainees,” the official told AFP. “Another 2m and the tunnel would have reached a market near the prison” in the Mansura district of Yemen’s main southern city, he added. The detainees included “some dangerous elements who were to be transferred to Sanaa,” the official said. Aden prison houses many suspected or convicted members of Al Qaeda which has been particularly active in the south and southeast of Yemen. In December last year, 12 Al Qaeda prisoners escaped from the jail, just months after 60 escaped from a prison in the port of Mukalla, killing a guard. In June this year, five Al Qaeda prisoners broke out of a jail in Hodeida on the Red Sea coast.  

Displays of 2012 USA Olympics clothing at the Ralph Lauren store on Lexington Avenue in New York. Several lawmakers, mostly Democrats, unloaded this week on the US Olympic Committee after news reports that US athletes in this year’s London Games will wear outfits designed by American Ralph Lauren but manufactured mostly in China Reuters/New York Ralph Lauren’s stylish uniforms for the US Olympic team, complete with a jaunty beret, have sparked a political row because the red, white and blue outfits were made in China. With US unemployment hovering just above 8%, politicians have spoken out against the uniforms for the London Games, which start later this month, and six Democratic senators said they plan to introduce legislation requiring the ceremonial uniforms be produced in the US. “At a time when too many Americans are looking for work and our manufacturers are closing factories, we need to do everything we can to keep jobs in America and not give the work of producing our iconic American uniforms for our Olympians to China,” Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey said in a statement announcing the measure. The senators said they will introduce the “Team USA Made In America Act of 2012” next week. “I call on the USOC (US Olympic Committee) to do the right thing for this summer’s team, and I call on my colleagues to help pass this bill to ensure we don’t find ourselves in this appalling, embarrassing situation before the opening of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics,” Menendez said. The committee said in a statement late on Friday that it was too late to change the outfits ahead of the summer games in London, but it had agreed with Ralph Lauren to make apparel for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in the US. “With athletes having already arrived in London, and the apparel distribution process beginning this weekend, we are unfortunately not able to make a change for London,” it said. “We are absolutely committed, however, to working with our sponsors to ensure that the concerns voiced are addressed. To that end, Ralph Lauren has agreed to domestically manufacture Team USA’s apparel for Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.” The proposal from Menendez and Frank R. Lautenberg, of New Jersey, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Sherrod Brown of Ohio would amend the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, which specifies requirements and rules for the US Olympic Committee (USOC) and its members. A spokeswoman for Menendez said it would be limited to ceremonial uniforms because some athletes may require specific high-performance items for their sport uniforms that simply aren’t produced in the US. The move follows criticism of the uniforms from both political parties on Thursday. Rep. Steve Israel, a Democrat from New York, said the issue was not just about a label, but an economic solution. “Today there are 600,000 vacant manufacturing jobs in this country and the Olympic committee is outsourcing the manufacturing of uniforms to China? That is not just outrageous, it’s just plain dumb. It is self-defeating,” he said. House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, echoed that criticism. “You’d think they’d know better,” Boehner told reporters. The US Olympic Committee defended its decision to have Lauren design the outfits and oversee the manufacturing process. “Unlike most Olympic teams around the world, the US Olympic Team is privately funded and we’re grateful for the support of our sponsors,” spokesman Patrick Sandusky said in a statement.

By Barak Barfi/Tripoli With the creation of a new government, Libya’s leaders should finally be able to focus on organising the transition from the authoritarian state that they inherited to the more pluralistic one they envisage. But are they really able and willing to achieve that goal? In the United States, the debate on Libya has focused on what steps its government should take next. Senator Robert Menendez argues it “must move quickly to embrace democratic reform,” while international development specialists, such as Manal Omar of the US Institute for Peace, believe that success lies in the cultivation of a vibrant civil society. These views, however, overlook Libya’s unique history, and treat Libya as though it were just another Third World country in need of generic solutions. In fact, remedying the country’s ills requires building strong state institutions. Since Libya achieved independence in 1951, it has been a fractured state. Rulers relied on loyal tribes and narrow cliques to prop up their regimes. Under a monarchy that led the country from 1951-1969, King Idris’s relatives and inner circle ran roughshod over fledgling state institutions. More interested in reigning than in governing, state institutions withered under Idris’s neglect.  These trends were exacerbated after Muammar Gaddafi overthrew the king in 1969. Frustrated with a bureaucracy reluctant to implement his political vision, Gaddafi bypassed traditional institutions and claimed a direct dialogue with the country’s population. The new Libyan leader created an intricate hierarchy of political organisations that were advertised as empowering citizens, but which in reality only reinforced their subservience to his autocratic regime. As Libyans tired of Gaddafi’s revolutionary rhetoric, he decided that a new organisation was needed to stir popular support. In 1977, he established committees that he dubbed the “watchdogs of the revolution.” The committees formed their own courts, assumed sweeping arrest powers, took over the media, and purged officials who resisted Gaddafi’s will. This led to a split between the state’s official institutions and Gaddafi’s shadow revolutionary apparatus. Gaddafi clearly preferred the latter. In 1979, he resigned from his official posts to assume the vague role of “Commander of the Revolution,” explaining that “the revolution must be separated from the authority of the state.” This led to what the scholar Moncef Djaziri described as a division of formal and informal authority. Gaddafi’s strategy stunted the growth of state institutions, because, like Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution in China, it implied subordinating their development to the needs of an all-embracing vision of transformation. Economic planning reflected his populist policies and foreign adventures, rather than any focus on stability and sustainable growth. Instead of relying on state structures to govern, he leaned on a small coterie of minions and members of his tribe. As a result, state institutions decayed. Beginning in 1986, the Libyan Central Bank ceased publishing the annual statistical reports that economists and specialists need to formulate coherent policies. Frustrated by his population’s political apathy, Gaddafi frequently announced his intention to dissolve all government ministries and transfer their responsibilities to municipalities. Today, Libya’s state institutions exist merely to extract the country’s vast oil wealth and distribute it via subsidies. In a state that embodied the whim of its leader for 42 years, the rule of law does not exist. Explaining why he helped spearhead a 1993 military coup attempt, Air Force officer Mohamed Bashir Salah said, “We have neither a state, nor laws, nor a constitution.” Indeed, even the military, which in many Third World countries is the strongest state institution, was marginalised under Gaddafi. The revolutionary committees’ attacked it for being “a traditional fascist institution.” Gaddafi declared his desire to disband the army on several occasions, and its role was so insignificant that it played almost no part in defending the regime during the eight months of fighting that overthrew him. American diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks noted that Libya has “few formal decision-making structures,” and called it an “opaque regime in which lines of authority are deliberately blurred to obscure power structures and mitigate accountability.” Today, Gaddafi’s successors on the National Transitional Council (NTC) are perpetuating the dualistic authority that he created. Politically inexperienced and lacking strong leadership, they have proved unable to impose discipline on the myriad militias that sprang up during the revolution. These rogue units have exacted vengeance on Gaddafi supporters and alienated significant segments of society. If the NTC cannot assert its authority, the council risks the emergence of a movement nostalgic for Gaddafi and the security that his regime provided. Unlike their neighbours in Egypt, Libyans are not clamouring for the elections deemed by many Westerners to be of paramount importance. Instead, they have drawn on a patience rooted in their traditional political apathy. Few political parties have emerged, and there is little popular demand for them. Activists have instead focused on drafting a new constitution that would empower state institutions.  Libyans understand that the NTC needs time to build a new country on the ruins of the one that Gaddafi destroyed. That daunting task begins by developing the state institutions required to respond to Libyans’ needs. * Barak Barfi is a research fellow at the New America Foundation.