Posted on 07/18/2007 5:26:23 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Nelson Mandela and five other senior statesmen will today form themselves into a team of international troubleshooters called "The Elders".
The initiative, funded by Sir Richard Branson, will be launched in Johannesburg during celebrations marking Mr Mandela's 89th birthday.
The former South African president, who spent 27 years behind bars during the apartheid era, is a figure with unparalleled moral authority.
The idea is that he will team up with Jimmy Carter, the former US president, Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary-general, Mary Robinson, the former Irish president, Desmond Tutu, the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and Mohammed Yunus, the Nobel Laureate and founder of the Green Bank in Bangladesh.
The membership of The Elders has been carefully chosen. Each one is a non-partisan figure with a rolodex packed with international contacts.
"This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken," said Mr Mandela in a statement.
"Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict, and inspire hope where there is despair."
Sir Richard Branson cited hostage situations in Nigeria as an example of where The Elders could intervene.
During the build-up to the war in Iraq in 2003, Sir Richard persuaded Mr Mandela and Mr Annan to agree to travel to Baghdad and persuade Saddam Hussein to leave the country peacefully.
But the war began before the idea could get off the ground. Mr Mandela, who enters his ninth decade today, no longer travels outside South Africa and very rarely speaks in public.
He is unlikely to be an active, travelling member of the club. Instead, he is more likely to be an elder figurehead of an elderly group.
Yes, I recall that Amnesty International did not consider Mandela a political prisoner, because he was convicted of a valid criminal violation.
Will they get special powers, like X-ray vision or being able to leap tall buildings? Of course, all socialists have the power to make money disappear.
Fire up the Soylent Green machine.
I’ll save em a lot of trouble, I’ll write their official troubleshooting findings right now. “THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL ARE THE REASONS THERE IS SUFFERING AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THE WORLD”. There, just saved em a lot of time !!!
Actually, this is a great idea. Get’em all on the same aircraft, and then blow it out of the sky.
These are all communists.
The League of Jimmy Carters.
and they formed the new woyd oydey and ruled it forever and there was happineessss and pyospeyity around the globe, no more global warmint or famine or nobody fighted nobody and gayees ruled wisely and nakeeed, and nobody had to woyk, state took care of everything and everybody was winner in internet olympiques, and ... oh and Hitlery was elected queeeny of all peoples republiks for life and Chikoms were supplying painted food for everybody and rasPutin was commiesar of all and Algore was found frozen in greenieland on melted icyberg and they all lied hapilly ever laughter, seriesly
Didn't Jimmuh certify Hugo Chavez election in Venezuela? Heres what CATO Institure had to say about that:
Page 12-13 --
Reports by international observers (the Organization of American States, the European Union, and Spanish Congress) during the last two electoral events, in 2004 and 2005, found that the NEC’s activities lack transparency.
Fourth, the Electoral Registry is deeply corrupted. It includes, according to the council, almost 17 million voters, a statistical improbability since Venezuela has a population of 26 million, 60 percent or more of whom are too young to register. It is presumed, therefore, that millions of foreigners have been given Venezuelan papers in a very short time in order to swell the registry, which has grown 8 to 10 times faster than normal in the last two years. Gustavo Adolfo Fabregat, a 57- year-old Uruguayan information system expert who resides in South Carolina, has made an analysis of the Venezuelan electoral roll and describes some of the many irregularities, such as the existence of 39,000 voters over one hundred years old.32 This is a number equal to that of the same age group in the United States, where the population is 10 times greater. Of these 39,000 people, 17,000 were born in the 19th century, and one is 175 years old and still working! Nineteen thousand voters were born the same day and year in the state of Zulia. There are thousands of people sharing the same address. This would make hilarious reading if it were not so tragic.
Fifth, the voting machines used by the government belong to a company alleged to have had connections to the government until the Miami Herald denounced this perceived conflict of interest.33 The company that owns the machines, Smartmatic, was created in 2000. Reports have linked its owners to Chávez and other members of his government.34 But Smartmatic and the Venezuelan government deny the company has ever had any type of relationship with the Chávez administration. This company received a no-bid government contract for $100 million in 2004, just a few months before the August 2004 Venezuelan presidential referendum, in which the machines were used for the first time. The results of that referendum were questioned by the opposition but validated by the observers of the Carter Center and the OAS.
yitbos
Desmond Tutu – Marxist, anti-American, anti-semite, pro-homosexual, pro-abortion, and terrorist sympathizer.
Kofi Anan – Marxist, anti-American, anti-semite, pro-arab, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual and terrorist sympathizer.
Mary Robinson – Marxist, anti-American, anti-semite, pro-homosexual, pro-abortion and terrorist sympathizer.
Starting to see a trend here!
Show me the money.
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