Non-aligned, or 'axis of evil'? !!!!!

[Daanyeer]

Source: Bangkok Post
September 14, 2006




Havana (dpa) - Barely 150 kilometres from US soil, Cuba will play host to many of the leaders from what Washington terms rogue states, and might well even consider adding to its "axis of evil."

Heads of state and high level delegations from North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Burma and Belarus will arrive Friday and Saturday in Havana for the conclusion of the 14th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit.

Cuba has declared Havana the "capital city of the Third World" as it gets ready to host presidents including Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

The attendance of President Fidel Castro will be doubtful until the very last minute, but the possible presence of the host country's 80-year-old revolutionary leader has also raise expectations.

"When I read some news coming from regions other than ours, I am left with no option but to imagine that the 'axis of evil' is growing, and if we go by some press reports it will soon include 118 nations, namely those that make up NAM," Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno joked this week in Havana.

NAM is currently made up of 116 countries, with Haiti and St Kitts and Nevis set to join the bloc later this week.

The United States was invited to the summit as an observer, but unsurprisingly declined. The invitation issued by the communist island of Cuba had of course been less than enthusiastic - a formality given the US had attended the last NAM summit, in Malaysia in 2003.

Still, some allies of Washington are also expected in Havana, among them Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan. But the NAM summit at the very least has an anti- US flair, hiding with varying degrees of success under the bloc's defence of "multilateralism."

The meeting's current draft declaration, to be approved by leaders on Saturday, contains abundant, more or less explicit criticisms of Washington's foreign policy.

NAM leaders "reject the use of the term 'axis of evil' by certain states to stigmatize other states with the pretext of the fight against terrorism," the draft says.

Close US ally Israel does not escape unscathed either. NAM, which counts among its members such prominent Israel critics as Iran, Syria and Lebanon, condemns the recent "merciless aggression against Lebanon."

It further rejects "the imposition of unilateral measures and plans aimed at allowing Israel, the occupying power, to impose an illegal unilateral solution" in its conflict with the Palestinian people.

The draft also stresses the "unconditional support (...) for Syria's just demand to restore the full sovereignty of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights."

On the other side, the draft speaks in favour of fiery opponents of Washington like Iran, Venezuela and, of course, Cuba.

On Teheran, NAM "stresses the inalienable right of developing countries to take part in the investigation, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful ends," the draft says.

NAM also expresses its concern over "agressive" US policies against the government in Caracas, and "the increase in the actions of the US aimed at affecting the stability of Venezuela."

As usual, the Non-Aligned Movement draft demands the lifting of the US trade embargo on Cuba, in force since 1962.

"I would not say that the draft has very strong elements ... They are simply the NAM principles of international law, principles contained in the UN Charter," Deputy Foreign Minister Moreno said this week.

In a clear reference to the US, Moreno added that anyone who considers the draft too strong disagrees with the principles of international law.

Given the high number of leaders that have confirmed their attendance at the summit, analysts in Havana consider it highly likely that Fidel Castro will make an effort to appear, as he recovers from surgery undergone six weeks ago.

Castro is bound to enjoy the opportunity to appear in a "family picture" with such enemies of the US as Ahmadinejad or Syria's Bashar Assad.