NightWatch

For the Night of 22 July 2009

Pakistan: Update. According to The Associated Press, the Supreme Court of Pakistan summoned former President Musharraf to explain his 2007 firing of several dozen independent-minded judges. Wednesday's court notice allows Musharraf to send a lawyer in his place.

The Attorney General confirmed the court order. He said the federal government would not defend the actions taken by Musharraf on 3 November 2007, when faced with growing challenges to his rule, he declared a state of emergency, suspended the constitution and dismissed the judges.

Musharraf is currently staying in London with his family. He could not immediately be reached for comment. The next hearing in the case is on 29 July.

Zardari on Musharraf. President Zardari will completely honor whatever decision the 14-judge bench of the Supreme Court will announce about the fate of certain judges and the 3 November 2007 action by Musharraf, his spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) spokesman, Babar, said the Party had always said Musharraf’s 3 November emergency action was unconstitutional. “We will not take any step to nullify the court ruling.”

Pakistan-US: US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Ambassador Richard Holbrooke Wednesday said ex President Musharraf is now history and that the US will not come to defend him. In a conversation with reporters, Holbrooke termed Musharraf’s case as Pakistan’s internal issue and added that the US respects Pakistan’s judiciary and free press. Hmmm…

Iran: President Mahmoud Ahmadi-nejad stuck by his controversial appointment for a key top deputy on Wednesday in an unusual act of defiance of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who reportedly ordered the man's removal. Ahmadi-nejad's defiance will likely outrage his fellow conservatives and could cause an outright rift between him and his primary backer, Supreme Leader Khamenei.

Khamenei's order for the removal of Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, as First Vice President was a rebuke to Ahmadi-nejad. Khamenei apparently judged it necessary to preserve hard-line support.

A chorus of ultra-conservative clerics and politicians denounced Mashai since Ahmadi-nejad announced him as his choice for first vice president last week.

This week several tell tale signs have raised reasonable suspicions of strain between the leaders. The most significant is Khamenei’s letter which is an attempt to not permit the country’s president to do what he is constitutionally authorized to do. That is an unmistakable indicator of a leadership struggle.

Honduras: The Foreign Minister said in a press conference on 22 July that Zelaya's return "is out of the executive branch's control," that there is a separation of powers in the country, and that other powers would have to approve that. The interim foreign minister then affirmed that Micheletti's delegation will continue to engage in talks with a positive attitude.

He also criticized the Venezuelan Government for failing to recognize the interim authorities while keeping its embassy open, in addition to accusing it of interference in local affairs and citing the loan of a plane for Zelaya's attempted return to Honduras as an example.

Feedback: A brilliant and diligent Reader did some checking on the allegation that the computers seized in the Presidential Annex in Tegucigalpa contained referendum voter results three days before the referendum. The Reader learned that the files contained the warning that they were a TEST. The Attorney General has dropped this as one of the several criminal charges against Zelaya.

Mexico: The El Paso Times reported the following article.

“The analysis of census data from both the U.S. and Mexican governments, being released

Wednesday by the Pew Hispanic Center, highlights the impact of the economic downturn on Mexican immigrants, many of whom enter the United States illegally.

The study found that immigrants arriving from Mexico fell by 249,000 from March 2008 to March 2009, down nearly 60 percent from the previous year. As a result, the annual inflow of immigrants is now 175,000, having steadily decreased from a peak of 653,000 in 2005, before the bursting of the housing bubble dried up construction and other low-wage jobs.

The total population of Mexican born immigrants in the U.S. also edged lower in the past year, from 11.6 million to 11.5 million, according to the study by Pew, an independent research group. Up to 85 percent of immigrants are believed to be in the country illegally.

Still, immigrants already in the U.S. are opting not to return to Mexico, because many of them are betting the economy will improve as well as perhaps hoping that immigration reform could soon pave the way for U.S. citizenship, according to a senior demographer at Pew who co-authored the study.

According to the data, the number of Mexican migrants who return home from the U.S. and other countries each year - roughly 450,000 - has remained largely unchanged. "There's not a lot in Mexico to go back to, because if anything the Mexican economy is doing worse," Pew said. "But also, in light of enforcement that has made it more dangerous and expensive to get into the U.S., once

people get here, they're reluctant to leave."

End of NightWatch for 22 July.