A European and US draft resolution will call for UN Security Council sanctions against the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad and several other top officials, council diplomats told Reuters on Monday.

More than 2,200 people have been killed in a five-month-old crackdown by Syrian forces against widespread anti-government protests that have gripped the country.

See Reuters' report here.

The draft would also call for a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The resolution's drafters are the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Portugal.

The five Western powers hoped to circulate a draft to the other 10 council members. Once it reaches the full 15-nation council, there will be further negotiations and the text will likely be revised.

Last week the UN’s human rights chief, Navi Pillay, recommended the Security Council refer Syria's crackdown to the ICC saying the government may have been guilty of crimes against humanity.

Russia and China traditionally oppose the use of sanctions against any UN member state and have worked hard for months to prevent the Security Council from imposing punitive measures on Damascus.

India, South Africa and Brazil have also resisted past moves for UNSC action.

But Western diplomats told Reuters that Moscow and Beijing - as well as Brazil, India and South Africa - might be persuaded that the time has come to take action against Assad’s regime.

The Syrian leader has ignored an August 3 demand by the Security Council to end the use of military force against civilian protesters.

On Monday, Syria faced a chorus of Western and Arab condemnation for its crackdown on anti-government protesters.

China, Cuba and Russia were among the few delegations to speak in support of Syria at the UN Human Rights Council, Reuters also reported.

But the US and the European Union, as well as regional powers Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia, accused the President Assad's regime of waging an unacceptable assault on unarmed civilians.

China has urged Libya to protect its investments after a rebel member was quoted as saying the new regime would have problems working with countries that did not back the rebel movement from the beginning of the uprising.

Reuters reported an official of the National Transitional Council (NTC) at a Libyan oil firm in control of the rebels as saying: “We don't have a problem with western countries like the Italians, French and UK companies. But we may have some political issues with Russia, China and Brazil."

China has responded by calling on the NTC to protect its investments and pointed out that the agreements in place would benefit both countries.

"China's investment in Libya, especially its oil investment, is one aspect of mutual economic cooperation between China and Libya, and this cooperation is in the mutual interest of both the people of China and Libya," said Wen Zhongliang, deputy head of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s trade department, in response to a question by journalists in Beijing on Tuesday.

"We hope that after a return to stability in Libya, Libya will continue to protect the interests and rights of Chinese investors and we hope to continue investment and economic cooperation with Libya," said Wen.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua last week quoted NTC Vice-President Abdel Hafidh Ghoga reaffirming Libya’s commitment to all deals and contracts made between the Gaddafi regime and China.

“The NTC welcomes Chinese enterprises back to the country to complete existing projects” he said.

“All deals and contracts signed earlier will be examined to see whether there is any corruption” he added.

The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) has launched a new commission of inquiry into Syria's crackdown on anti-government protesters, including possible crimes against humanity.

See reports by Al-Jazeera and BBC.

By 33 votes in favour to four against and nine abstentions, the HRC passed a resolution to "urgently dispatch an independent international commission of inquiry... to investigate violations of international human rights law in Syria since July 2011".

China and Russia said they opposed the measure as unnecessary intervention.

The resolution condemned the government’s violations “such as arbitrary executions, excessive use of force and the killing and persecution of protesters and human rights defenders”.

The announcement came as the regime of President Bashar al-Assad continued its months long and bloody crackdown on anti-government protestors.

Addressing the HRC on Monday, the UN Human Rights chief, Navi Pillay, said at least 2,200 people had been killed.

She told the HRC, "the gravity of ongoing violations and brutal attacks against the peaceful protesters in [Syria] demand your continued attention", adding that security forces were employing excessive force, including heavy artillery.

Whilst the Syrian regime has defied international demands that the crackdown ends, it also said Monday it would receive the UN’s international investigators.

The European Union extended its sanctions on Syrian officials and businesses, but stopped short of imposing a full oil embargo on Damascus.

However, a diplomatic source told AFP:

“We are in a process of working through what further tools we want to use.”

“We are open to all options - the oil embargo, sanctions on banks and telecoms, in line with the Americans - but we want to make sure sanctions are targeted at the Assad regime.”

“We are acutely aware of the need to ramp up sanctions, but we don't want them to impact on the Syrian people.”

Some 90 percent of Syrian crude oil is exported to the EU, where the main buyers are Denmark, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Austria and Spain, in that order, AFP says.

US President Barack Obama and the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Spain last week called publicly for Assad to quit power, a first-time demand dismissed by Russia and Turkey.

Libya’s rebels took control of most of Tripoli in a lightning advance Sunday, celebrating the victory in the city’s symbolic Green Square, as Muammar Gaddafi’s defences collapsed with little resistance.

The rebels were welcomed by thousands of jubilant civilians who rushed out of their homes to cheer the long convoys of pickup trucks packed with fighters, who linked up with comrades said to have infiltrated the city in recent days.

Tens of thousands of Libyans in Benghazi celebrate the near total fall of Tripoli into rebel hands on Sunday. Photo AFP

Large crowds also celebrated in the streets of Benghazi, the rebels' de facto capital hundreds of miles to the east. Amid fireworks and celebratory gunfire, they cheered and waved the rebel tricolor flags, dancing and singing in the city's main square.

Two of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s sons are in rebel custody, though the whereabouts of Gaddafi himself are not known.

Gaddafi forces still control parts of the city, including the areas around Col Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizia compound and near the hotel where foreign journalists are staying, south of the city centre.

Green Square has already been renamed Martyrs Square by the rebels.

The startling rebel breakthrough, after a long deadlock in Libya's 6-month-old civil war, was the culmination of a closely coordinated plan by rebels, NATO and anti-Gadhafi residents inside Tripoli, rebel leaders told Associated Press.

President Barack Obama said Libya is "slipping from the grasp of a tyrant" and urged Gadhafi to relinquish power to prevent more bloodshed.”

"The future of Libya is now in the hands of the Libyan people," he said.

On Sunday, rebel fighters from the west swept over 20 miles in a matter of hours, taking town after town and overwhelming a major military base as residents poured out to cheer them, while at the same time, Tripoli residents secretly armed by rebels rose up.

When rebels moved in, the regime unit guarding the capital, known as the Mohammed Megrayef battalion, surrendered and its commander ordered its troops to put down their arms. Its commander is said to have been working for the rebels for months.

The six month armed struggle to topple Gaddafi’s regime has been closely supported by NATO airstrikes.

Nonetheless, the rebel victory Sunday was a stunning reversal for Gadhafi, who earlier this month had seemed to have a firm grip on his stronghold in the western part of Libya, despite months of NATO airstrikes on his military.

The rebels had been unable to make any advances for weeks, bogged down on the main fronts, outgunned by the regime’s military and short of weapons and at times ammunition.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Sunday Gaddafi's regime was "clearly crumbling" and that the time to create a new democratic Libya has arrived.

Aircraft from Britain and France have led NATO's attacks, supported by the United States and other countries. They are operating under a United Nations mandate provided by Security Council resolution 1973.

British Defence Secretary Liam Fox said Monday:

“We believe the regime is behaving with excess at the moment against the civilian population. The time for Gadaffi to go has long since passed. In its final days the regime is carrying out vindictive attacks which we have information about and we have been carrying out surgical counter-attacks."

Libyan leader Muamar Gaddafi with Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa pictured in 2009 at the 40th anniversary celebrations in Tripoli of the 'Great September Revolution'. President Rajapaksa was also the first Sri Lankan head of state to visit Libya. Gaddafi hailed Rajapaksa’s victorious onslaught against the Tamil Tigers, saying it was an example to the world, press reports said. Sri Lankan troops also marched in Gaddafi's celebration parade.

Gaddafi is the Arab world's longest-ruling leader - presiding for 42 years over the North African desert nation with vast oil reserves and just 6 million people.

The rebels' leadership National Transitional Council, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, sent out mobile text messages to Tripoli residents, proclaiming, "Long live Free Libya" and urging them to protect public property.

In the Netherlands, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, confirming Seif al-Islam's arrest, said his office would talk to the rebels on Monday about his transfer for trial.

Seif al-Islam, his father and Libya's intelligence chief were indicted earlier this year for allegedly ordering, planning and participating in illegal attacks on civilians in the early days of the violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters.

The United States has urged Sudan to implement recommendations outlined in a UN report which found credible allegations that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed in the South Kordofan region.

The report, by UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay, has been blasted by Sudan who described the UN report as "unfounded" and "malicious", yet conversely said that it would form its own committee to assess the situation in the area.

The move comes as efforts by the United States for a UN Security Council statement were stalled by Russia and China. The disagreements are said to be over the  “precise language” and not “on the need for a council statement”.

While Sudan has agreed to let UN relief agencies into the region, the regime still refuses to allow an investigation by the UN into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.



Pressure mounts

The statement by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, US Permanent Representative to the UN said that the United States was “deeply disturbed” by the report. She added:

“We strongly support Commissioner [Navi] Pillay’s recommendations, including immediate, unhindered access for humanitarian assistance and ongoing human rights monitoring as well as for an independent inquiry to hold perpetrators of violence to account. We urge all members of the UN Security Council to join us in pressing for implementation of these recommendations.”

The call for an investigation comes as a report by the Satellite Sentinel Project, has uncovered evidence of more mass graves in South Kordofan.

The project is a coalition of several groups working with commercial satellites and Google maps to capture and record the violence in Sudan.

Of the latest report, which included satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts, Dr Charlie Clements, Executive Director of the HarvardCarrCenter, said:

“The concealment of potential evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity can itself constitute a war crime. The Satellite Sentinel Project’s evidence, presented in this report, adds urgency to the many calls to finally secure evidence of the crimes allegedly committed by the Government of Sudan.”

This was echoed by Phillipe Bolopion from Human Rights Watch, speaking to Al Jazeera who said:

"The Security Council cannot look the other way, it needs to act. It needs to let the Sudanese government know it cannot get away with murder.

We need monitors, we need an investigation. We need for people committing crimes to know they will be held accountable. At this point the Security Council is really left with no excuse not to act."

Security Council

Objections to UN Security Coucil criticism of Sudan are thought to have come from Russia and China, whose Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi visited Sudan last week, securing a lucrative oil deal for three new oil blocks in the country.

He then went on to visit South Sudan to “explore bilateral cooperation in agriculture, mining, housing, telecommunications, water conservancy, road and other sectors”.
 
Southern Kordofan is Sudan’s only oil-producing state, accounting for 115,000 barrels a day, according to Sudan’s minister of state for oil, Ali Ahmed Osman.

Despite having been a long standing ally of Sudan, China supported a referendum on the indepence of South Sudan over Khartoum’s objections.

See our earlier post: "A supremely pragmatic actor" (Jan 2011)

'Biased and had no evidence'

Meanwhile, Sudan has continued to deny any wrong doing in the region.

"Speaking of war crimes in South Kordofan is biased and has no evidence," foreign ministry spokesman Al-Ebeid Morawah told AFP. He went on to accuse southerners for the violence and of having "started the war and attacked government offices."

The decision to allow UN agencies into the country was described as insufficient by Western nations on the UN Security Council. Speaking to the AFP, one Western diplomat called the move “a smokescreen”.

"Khartoum is still banning free access to humanitarian aid. Khartoum is not allowing an independent inquiry into the accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity made against its troops," he added.

Sudan's state news agency said Justice Minister Mohamed Bushara Dosa vowed to form a committee to "gather information and facts, visit sites of the displaced and interview them as well as meet with government authorities and citizens" in Southern Kordofan.

The news comes as the US kept Sudan on its list of sponsors of terrorism and the UN-AU Joint Peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) extended its mandate in the country.

The UNAMID is the world’s largest peacekeeping force, consisting of 26,000 military personnel, and was established by the UN in 2007. The extension of the missions mandate quickly drew condemnation from Sudan who vowed to use all possible means to oppose it.

See our earlier posts:

UN calls for probe into Sudanese war crimes (August 2011)

Sudan’s genocide against the Nuba people (July 2011)

“The air strikes launched by Turkey against Kurdish bases across the border [in Iraq’s Kursish region] are part of a misguided strategy aimed at eliminating an entire people.

“Turkish leaders now seem to have discarded dialogue in favour of what has been described as a “Tamil solution” to the Kurdish question. This will lead to disaster for the country and more death and destruction for a region that is already in flames.”

- Peace in Kurdistan Campaign. See full text here.

Iraqi politicians in Baghdad have joined Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials in condemning several days of Turkish air strikes on Kurdish rebel bases that have hit border villages in Iraq.

Turkey aircraft struck in 85 places in one 24 hour period alone this week, AFP reports.

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign is an advocacy group for a political solution of the Kurdish question.

Its patrons include Lord Avebury, Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Alyn Smith MEP, Hywel Williams MP, Elfyn Llwyd MP, John Austin, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, Edward Albee, Margaret Owen OBE, Mark Thomas, and Bairbre de Brún MEP

The UN has called on the Pakistani government to investigate a series of abductions, disappearances and extrajudicial killings that have been targeting journalists and political activists.

At least 16 journalists were killed in 2010, while 25 people including writers and political activists were killed in the troubled province of Balochistan in the first four months of 2011 alone.

In March, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay spoke out against the increasing trend of violence in the province and now the UN have asked for an inquiry into the cases.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said:

“We call on all responsible parties to immediately stop such violations of human rights, and we urge the Government to take immediate steps to independently investigate these cases.”

Amnesty International also appealed to the Pakistani authorities “to ensure a prompt and thorough investigation into the circumstances around the killing or abuse of journalists, and bring those responsible to justice in fair trials that are consistent with internationally recognised standards of human rights.”

Citing the investigation into the killing of journalist Saleem Shahzad by the government as “encouraging”, the group went on to say “Pakistan’s political parties and authorities must send the message that perpetrators of human rights violations are not above the law”.

See our earlier post:

Pakistan prosecutes its paramilitary soldiers for extrajudicial killing (Aug 2011)

A 74 year old social activist from the western Indian state of Maharashtra has shot to global fame this week as the leader and icon of India’s anti corruption crusade.

Anna Hazare’s demand for a powerful anti-corruption ombudsman – or Lokpal – has drawn stunning popular support across India. It has also brought him into confrontation with the India’s government.

But what could the objection be?

The tussle is over the extent of the Lokpal’s reach. While the Congress government wants to keep the Prime Minister’s office and the Judiciary outside the purview of the Lokpal legislation, Hazare and an array of anti corruption activists insist that these powerful bodies must also be included.

Indian social activist Anna Hazare (C) waves the Indian national flag as he stands on the back of a vehicle outside Tihar Jail in New Delhi on Friday. Photo AFP

In early August the government presented its version of the anti corruption bill, which was promptly rejected by anti corruption activists as toothless.

Hazare, whose impromptu hunger strike in April 2011 gathered such popular support that it led to the government agreeing to a bill in the first place, announced last week he would go on fast again unless a stronger bill was forthcoming.

But before he could start, he was unexpectedly arrested on Tuesday, triggering a nationwide movement of demonstrations and vigils demanding his release that have received worldwide coverage.

He was released Friday.

‘Foreign Hands’

While Hazare’s supporters hail him as a modern day Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attacked his campaign as ‘misconceived’.

Singh has been derided after claiming that Hazare’s movement was backed by anti Indian ‘forces’ seeking to thwart India’s rise.

Congress party spokesperson Rashid Alvi even claimed that the United States was behind the movement, adding “We will have to find out the truth, why the US is supporting this movement.”

The claim even compelled US Senator McCain, the 2009 Presidential candidate, now on a six day visit to India to issue a denial.

Under increasing pressure from a growing social movement and opposition parties, the government ordered Hazare’s release late Thursday. Hazare is set to begin a public fast on Friday.

National movement

Hazare is an unusual figure for India abroad. Unlike the Bollywood starlets and corporate industrialists that are the international faces of rising India, Hazare’s public career is that of a social reformer working on grass roots agricultural and social development projects in his home district Ahmednagar in Maharashtra.

His arrest Tuesday prompted popular outrage nationwide, with thousands taking to the streets from the northern Himalayan town of Leh to the southern Tamil Nadu cities of Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai.

His supporters come from across India’s socioeconomic spectrum and include a high proportion of young people, college and high school students as well as young professionals.

They are mobilised by the country’s recent high profile corruption cases, as well as the more mundane corruption that pervades daily life.

A sign of the growing popularity of the movement, Bombay’s famous tiffin carriers (Dabbawalas) have also said they will strike Friday - for the first time in 120 years - in support of Hazare’s campaign.

Young supporters of Anna Hazare. Photo India Today

But the anti-corruption movement is also drawing on popular resentment against the more mundane corruption that Indians face in everyday life.

For middle class citizens, getting a passport or driving license, and other routine interactions with public service invariably involves paying small bribes to otherwise recalcitrant officials.

Low income urban workers such as auto-drivers or street vendors have to pay bribes to get necessary work permits or even to avoid harassment – an unofficial protection racket institutionalised in the state.

In rural areas, poor villagers have to bribe officials to access desperately needed and publicly provided goods such as food rations or access to government run employment schemes.

Congress resistance

Public anger over corruption has been spurred by a spate of high profile scandals that have plagued the Congress government and even Prime Minister Singh’s reputation as incorruptible is no longer able to stymie it.

In February authorities arrested then Telecoms Minister A. Raja for his part in the 2008 underselling of 2G telecoms licenses, estimated to have cost the Indian government $40 billion.

In May the authorities also arrested Kanimozhli, a parliamentarian from the Tamil Nadu party, DMK, a key ally in Congress’ ruling coalition. Raja’s appointment to the post of Telecoms Minister, press reports said, was a Congress concession to the DMK for its support.

Quoted on CNN "He gives hope for all Indians. There is a feeling he can take us out of these problems. People have started considering him another Gandhi." - Usheer Mohan, New Delhi business owner who took to the streets to protest Hazare's arrest. "If you keep track of Indian news, you know how truly widespread and national this is - it is in every nook and corner of this country today. "One and all have either seen bribes or experienced bribes or suffered from a bribe, so it's both at bottom and the top, and it's truly united this country in a wave against corruption." - Kiran Bedi, a Hazare aide "The path that he has chosen to impose his draft of a Bill upon Parliament is totally misconceived and fraught with grave consequences for our Parliamentary democracy." - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

The Congress government’s refusal to accommodate the anti-corruption movement’s demands has put it out of step with the groundswell of demands for better governance and public accountability.

The party is also losing the support of coalition partners while opposition parties - particularly the Hindu nationalist Bharatha Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) – draw succour.

Some analysts even suggest the government’s vacillation, tinged with belligerence, has also put the spotlight on the Gandhi family, particularly Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, widely expected to become her successor and eventually a future Prime Minister.(See Reuters' report here)

Prospects and implications

The anti-corruption movement’s goal of a wholesale transformation ushering in good and accountable government is hugely ambitious.

It remains to be seen whether the requisite changes in institutions, practices and, most importantly, attitudes of India’s extensive and complex bureaucracy, the political class and individual officials will necessarily follow the massive outpouring of sentiment.

However, the national mobilisation is striking in and of itself.

Firstly, it has sprung from national popular sentiment, rather than the actions of the leadership of any political party. Having long accepted corruption as an inevitable, if unattractive, part of Indian reality, the protestors are motivated by a vision of a better India. Whether or not their objectives are realised the anti-corruption agenda has become a core moral issue for a national public.

As such, secondly, the issue has united Indians across the country. Indian politics have been dominated by conflict – and sometimes violent conflict – along cleavages of caste, religion and ethnicity.

It has also brought to fore the underbelly of India’s spectacular economic growth: the corrosive aspects of the close and often corrupt relationships between government and the corporate sector.

As such, the spectacular scandals such as that over 2G licences, have brought to national consciousness something that has hitherto only been reflected in the simmering Maoist insurgency fighting on behalf of tribal peoples living in India’s mineral rich forests and seeking to preserve their ways of life against the advances of major mining corporations.

The United States today called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, and announced new sanctions against his regime.

Leaders from the UK, France and Germany also echoed President Obama’s statement in the wake of a violent crackdown against protestors that has killed thousands.

The demands come as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, briefed the UN Security Council after a report identified 50 Syrian officials that could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court for possible crimes against humanity.

In a statement US President Barack Obama said:

“The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way. His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people.  We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way.  He has not led.  For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, declaring a new tougher round of sanctions against the Assad regime, said in a televised address:

"In just the past two weeks, many of Syria’s own neighbors and partners in the region have joined the chorus of condemnation. We expect that they and other members of the international community will amplify the steps we are taking both through their words and their actions."

A joint statement by British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Sarkozy and German Chancellor Merkel said:

"The Syrian authorities have ignored the urgent appeals made over recent days by the United Nations Security Council, by numerous States in the region, the Gulf Cooperation Council and by the Secretaries-General of the League of Arab States and of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

"They continue to cruelly and violently repress their people and flatly refuse to fulfil their legitimate aspirations. They have ignored the voices of the Syrian people and continuously misled them and the international community with empty promises."

"Our three countries believe that President Assad, who is resorting to brutal military force against his own people and who is responsible for the situation, has lost all legitimacy and can no longer claim to lead the country. We call on him to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside in the best interests of Syria and the unity of its people."

Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay briefed the 15-member Security Council at a closed door session on Thursday, after the UN released a report led by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha-Kang, accusing Syrian officials of torture, summary executions and abuse of children, allegations that could amount to crimes against humanity.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stepped up calls for a wider global trade embargo on Syria as anti-government protests continue, despite widespread oppression and violence in the troubled Middle Eastern state.

"We urge those countries still buying Syrian oil and gas, those countries still sending Assad weapons, those countries whose political and economic support give him comfort in his brutality, to get on the right side of history," Clinton said.

In a later interview with CBS, Clinton singled out China, India and Russia to join the Obama administration in pressuring the Assad regime to halt his brutal crackdown (See video of the interview here).

Clinton told CBS, “We want to see China take steps with us. We want to see India, because India and China have large energy investments inside of Syria. We want to see Russia cease selling arms to the Assad regime.”

She also called on European governments to impose broader sanctions on Syria’s oil and gas industry, in line with the US, which has already severely limited economic and trade ties with the country.

The call was echoed by Human Rights Watch who urged the EU to freeze the assets of the Syrian National Oil and Gas companies, as well as the Central Bank of Syria. The EU already has passed four waves of sanctions since the violence began including asset freezes, travel bans or arms embargoes on individuals associated with Assad's government.

The Assad regime claims that the unrest in the country is due to “terrorist groups”, as anti-government protests erupted over 5 months ago. An estimated 2,000 civilians have been killed in the violence.

“I know well many of the mega-rich and, by and large, they are very decent people. They love America and appreciate the opportunity this country has given them. Many have joined the Giving Pledge, promising to give most of their wealth to philanthropy. Most wouldn’t mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering.

“I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off.

“And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.”

- Warren Buffet, billionaire chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway. See his comment in the International Herald Tribune here.