Mexico

On pointlessness

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Image: Keystone/Zuma Rex Features

Image: Keystone/Zuma Rex Features

Saturday we heard about several kilos of drugs in UN diplomatic pouches shipped from Mexico via DHL that “weren’t intended for the UN”. Then why did DHL try to deliver them to the UN regardless of a complete lack of paperwork, or even an address label; surely that is against the law? Certainly it makes for failed and pointless security policies designed to prevent parcel-bombs.

Sunday saw Kofi Annan sounding off about the huge threat that the drugs trade presents to Africa’s fragile post-conflict countries. I suppose the doesn’t have the stomach to talk about the mid-conflict countries. The comments section is lit up like a Christmas Tree with pointed remarks about the failed and massively expensive War on Drugs. It also mentions Kofi’s less than sparkling reputation after the accusations against him in 2005 that damaged the UN’s reputation, leaving stains that are still visible today.

On Monday BBC Newsnight interviewed Wael “Mission Accomplished” Ghonim about Egypt’s restarted revolution or “his Revolution 2.0” as the BBC titled the segment (they are actually referring to the title of the book he just wrote. At least, I hope they are). Enough said. Almost. But a comment on the BBC blog, suggesting (tongue in cheek) that Mrs Ghonim might be his “CIA handler” did make me smile. Pointless aside: Wael also created the website for former election candidate Mohamed ElBaradei.

As I write this, it’s Tuesday, and we have just heard from the Arab League at the UN after their extended, then aborted, mission to Syria. Arab League as usual saying nothing of value, and certainly nothing that will help stop Syrian bloodshed or save Syria from a bitter civil war. Surely the biggest exercise in pointlessness of all.

US expels #Venezuela diplomat over #Iran cyberespionage allegations

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Livia Acosta NogueraBy JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The United States has ordered the immediate expulsion of the head of the Venezuelan consulate in Miami, over allegations that she helped coordinate a cyberattack against US government targets in 2008. The diplomat, Livia Acosta Noguera, was declared “persona non grata” (an unwelcome person) by the US Department of State last Friday, and was given 72 hours to leave the country. State Department officials refused to discuss the reasons for Acosta’s expulsion. But the BBC said that the expulsion order was prompted by a letter sent last month to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by four members of the US Congress. The letter’s authors reportedly raised concerns about a documentary aired in December by Univision, a US-based Spanish-language broadcaster, titled “The Iranian Threat”. According to reports, the documentary alleged that Acosta was part of a multinational team of diplomats from Venezuela, Iran and Cuba, who, while stationed in Mexico in 2008, helped orchestrate a cyberespionage operation against US targets. The alleged operation was aimed at computer servers belonging to the US government computer, including some at the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the White House. Computer servers at several nuclear power plants across the US were also reportedly targeted. The documentary exposé, which later appeared in print in US-based Spanish-language newspaper El Nuevo Herald, included allegations that Acosta is in fact a member of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service, Venezuela’s foremost external intelligence agency. The allegations were refuted by several diplomats, including the Iranian ambassador in Mexico; but the US State Department reportedly decided to order the Venezuelan diplomat’s expulsion after consulting with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. News agency UPI reported on Monday that Acosta appeared to have left the country by Sunday afternoon, and that the Venezuelan consulate in Miami was closed. The agency contacted the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC, about Acosta, and was told that a statement about the expulsion would be issued by the Venezuelan government in Caracas. But Venezuela had not published a statement as of late Monday night.

via US expels Venezuelan diplomat over cyberespionage allegations.

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