The Philippine Online Chronicles

Chavez cuts diplomatic ties with Colombia.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced on Friday that his country is severing its diplomatic ties with Colombia, which has accused his government of harboring the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Chavez has recalled Venezuela’s ambassador in Bogota and has given the Colombian government seventy-four hours to evacuate its embassy in Caracas. Earlier this week, Colombian Ambassador Luis Alfonso Hoyos presented to the Organization of American States (OAS) evidence allegedly proving that Venezuela is supporting the Colombian rebels. Venezuela rejected the accusations and suggested that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is trying to spark war between the two Latin American countries.

"Uribe is even capable of setting up a fake camp in one of the jungles on the Venezuelan side to attack it, bomb it and bring about a war between Colombia and Venezuela," Chavez said.

Analysts say that the dispute stems from personal animosity between the two Latin American Presidents. “This is vintage Chávez, and vintage Uribe, playing out their last act together as presidents at each other for eight years. But I think when Santos takes over, things are going to calm down. I think there is a lot at stake for both countries,” Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based think tank Inter-American Dialogue, said.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon expressed hopes that the two countries would resolve their dispute peacefully.

North Korea, Myanmar dominates ASEAN meeting.

Tensions in North Korea and the upcoming general elections in Myanmar are dominating the on-going foreign ministers’ meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Hanoi, Vietnam.

North Korean representative Ri Tong Il traded barbs with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday over the on-going military exercise between South Korea and the United States. Ri said the drills are an “expression of hostility” against North Korea that warrants a “physical response” from the reclusive Stalinist regime. Clinton, on the other hand, said Washington is willing to reach out to Pyongyang if the latter would stop its “hostile and provocative” actions, including the recent alleged torpedo attack on a South Korean ship.

"It is distressing when North Korea continues its threats and causes so much anxiety among its neighbors and the larger region," Clinton told reporters. "But we will demonstrate once again with our military exercises ... that the United States stands in firm support of the defense of South Korea and we will continue to do so."

Meanwhile, ASEAN foreign ministers have expressed concern about the upcoming elections in Myanmar. The regime has promised that the polls will push through but there are lingering doubts because the exact date of the elections is yet to be announced. The opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi are boycotting the said polls, saying it is merely an attempt by the military regime to legitimize its rule. Clinton also urged the Myanmar to ensure that the elections would be fair and free. She also called on the ASEAN to monitor the Myanmar elections to this end.

The ARF groups the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the other major stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region: China, the Koreas, Japan, Russia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Canada, the United States and the European Union.

Desmond Tutu retires.

Citing his desire to spend the last years of his life with his family, South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu has announced on Thursday that he is retiring from public life this October, according to a report by CNN.

"The time has now come to slow down, to sip Rooibos tea with my beloved wife in the afternoons, to watch cricket, to travel to visit my children and grandchildren, rather than to conferences and conventions and university campuses," Tutu said in a statement.

Tutu was an influential archbishop of Cape Town and chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that was founded by South African President Nelson Mandela to look into the crimes of the country’s previous apartheid regime. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.

Since retiring from the Truth Commission, Tutu has traveled extensively to deliver lectures around the world. He has also been chairing The Elders, a group of elder global statesmen—including Mandela, former US President Jimmy Carter, former Irish President Mary Robinson and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Anan—that tries to help in resolving global conflict, campaign against nuclear weapons and for women’s rights.

Bombing in Afghanistan injures 17.

A candidate for the upcoming Afghan parliamentary elections was seriously wounded while fifteen others were injured in a bombing attack in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, according to a report by the Associated Press.

The candidate, Mawlvi Saydullah, was delivering a campaign speech when the bombing took place. Most of those wounded were civilians, according to government spokesman Mubariz Zadran. It is unclear as of press time if the insurgent Taliban group, which has been intensifying its attacks against United States and NATO targets, is responsible for the attack.

The bombing came shortly after the Afghan government announced that several Taliban officials, including former spokesman Abdul Hay Motmaen, have been captured in raids by US and NATO forces across the country on Thursday. The attack raised concerns that the September polls might be undermined by intensified Taliban attacks.

Photo: “Presidente Chávez en la graduación de la Misión Che Guevara” by¡Que comunismo!, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved