Kabul - Afghanistan's first parliamentary election will be held on September 18, Bismillah Besmil, chairman of the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB), announced on Sunday. Voting for the 249-member parliament would be on a one-vote-non- transferable basis, and the JEMB had asked for 148.66 million dollars to conduct the entire exercise.
With the announcement, the role of the political parties' direct participation through candidates has been ruled out. Besmil said he hoped the funds would be made available as soon as possible. "The announcement comes with the arrival of Nawroz, the first day of the new year in Afghan calendar. It is a good omen. I hope and believe it will carry the message of prosperity, happiness and returning of stability in to the country," Besmil said.
The official said representatives of Afghan parliament's lower house and provincial councils would be elected through "free, general, direct, and secret" elections. The dates for District Council polls would be finalized once the elected Wolesi Jirga had resolved the outstanding issues relating to the formation, recognition, and boundaries of districts.
Besmil explained that the body's decision to hold the elections in September was solely due to technical consideration, and government authorities and all political parties were also consulted. "It's the wish and will of our people to have their voice heard on the future of their country," Besmil said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Qatar and other energy-rich countries of the Persian Gulf are some of the most crime-free places on Earth and among the most friendly to U.S. interests.
Even so, anti-Western feelings are on the rise, and with a Saudi crackdown on terror pushing militants into neighboring countries, observers say the Gulf states must act fast to prevent more bombings like Saturday's theater blast in Doha to halt serious damage to the region's appeal to Western tourists, residents and business.
"If the Qataris can dismantle this cell quickly and prove they are effective, I don't think this will have a great impact on expatriates or tourism," said Mustafa Alani, a terrorism analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.
But if the investigation founders or if attackers strike again soon, "this will undermine credibility. A lot of people will hesitate to come to the Gulf," Alani said.
Even as an investigation begins, with British and French authorities helping, the attack has brought normally bucolic Qatar into an unappealing club.
Now, only one of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states — the United Arab Emirates — has yet to experience attacks or public crackdowns after thwarted terror plots.
"This will be psychologically unnerving for many people. It shows a serious threat to countries traditionally thought of as safe," Kevin Rosser, an analyst with Control Risks Group, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), has implemented a tough crackdown after suffering terrorist bombings and gunbattles for almost a decade, pushing militants into neighboring countries, including Kuwait, where police have fought running street battles with fundamentalist outlaws. Oman rounded up dozens of suspects this year after uncovering a bomb plot. Bahrain late last year tried a group of men for plotting attacks and having contacts with foreign terrorist groups.
Saturday's bombing in Doha showed the infection of violence has spread there, too.
The blast erupted on the second anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites). Many believe it was launched at the behest of Saleh al-Aoofi, al-Qaida's leader in the Gulf, who urged militants last week to attack "crusaders" throughout the Gulf, including Qatar.
"These groups want to show they can attack any target in any state," Alani said. "They've proved they have sleeping cells in these countries and they can activate them when they want."
Anti-American sentiment — mainly against U.S. foreign policy — is strong in close-knit Qatar, best known as the home of Al-Jazeera TV and the forward headquarters of the U.S. military's Central Command.
But the bombing of a theater packed with civilians, next to a school, may have backfired, undercutting support for anti-Western militants.
"The majority of Qataris sympathize with the fundamentalist movement, including me," said Najeeb al-Nauimi, a prominent lawyer. "But this incident will make us change our minds."
Al-Nauimi said his two sons, ages 9 and 12, boycott American restaurants like McDonald's and Pizza Hut. And, like millions of others in the region, they back bin Laden's battle against U.S. support for Israel and its invasion of Iraq.
But on Sunday, al-Nauimi took his sons to see the theater destroyed in the bombing the day before.
"These people are criminals," al-Nauimi quoted one son as saying.
Al-Nauimi said an attack on a different target, such as the giant U.S. al-Udeid air base in the Gulf state, probably would not have provoked an outcry.
"People would say, 'Ah, the Americans have been attacked.' They won't condemn it," he said.
In November 2001, a Qatari was killed after he fired a Kalashnikov at the U.S. base.
"Everyone called him a martyr," al-Nauimi said. "They said he will go to heaven. But this guy who died in front of the school, he will go to hell."
What's more, the blast could damage Qatar's efforts to build beach resorts and hotels catering to foreigners, diversifying an economy based on its vast reserves of natural gas, said Youssef M. Ibrahim, an oil and political risk analyst who heads Dubai-based Strategic Energy Investment Group.
"If you're an expatriate firm putting people here, you need to factor into your decision the fact that your employees are at risk," Ibrahim said. "That means money: more insurance, more spending on security, more security staff."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 12:35:08 AM ||
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AlQ, the only "human" animal stupid enough to shit where it eats. Brilliant.
We appreciate your inbreeding, it makes things easier.
#4
Another case of lazy cliched distortion journalism. There is not one shred of evidence to support the headline about 'Rising anti-Western Sentiments.' It's just a stupid piece of media boilerplate. Anti-Western sentiments have existed there for a long time and the reasons are a lot more complicated than simple reaction to U.S. Foreign Policy and nothing more. But the Associated Press and others keep trying to lead the public into believing that they wouldn't hate us if only we altered our policy.
Notice that the story says little about general sentiments but rather talks about miltant activities. Rising militant activities doesn't equal rising sentiments. Notice also that this piece describes an incident about an attack on the U.S. Base as far back as Nov. 2001. So it can't even prove that the bombing is part of some new, disturbing trend.
Also note the man-in-the-street who they select for quotes. You know they selected him because he would give them the quote about how the majority of Qataris sympathize with the fundamentalists and how his sons boycott McDonalds - the AP just loves that $h1t and gobbled it right up.
But even Mr. al-Nauimi condemned the car-bombing of the theater. So maybe the trend in "Rising Sentiments" is actually that the terrorists are losing the sympathy of regular Qataris. But you can't expect the AP to report any that breaks with their pre-packaged script about gloom, doom and catastrophe and why-do-they-hate-us hand-wringing.
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
03/21/2005 18:24 Comments ||
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The MSM trend. I could post 20 stories a day that refer to a spurious or unsubstantiated trend. It must be something they teach them in journalism school as a device for demonstrating their deep knowledge of a subject.
A SAUDI academic has been sentenced to 200 lashes and time in jail for insulting an Islamist colleague, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported today.
Hamza al-Muzaini, a lecturer in linguistics at King Saud University, was accused by Abdullah al-Barak, a lecturer of Islamic culture at the same university, of defamation and insult, the London-based Al-Hayat reported.
Barak, who is described as a radical Salafist - a strict form of Sunni Islam - reportedly accused Muzaini of "mocking long beards" and questioning his knowledge in an article published a few months ago, other reports said.
Muzaini was sentenced to 200 lashes, four months in prison and banned from publishing, a verdict he immediately appealed, the newspaper said.
Muzaini maintains that his case should be examined by the ministry of information as it involves alleged libel, while Barak insists it is a personal matter that should be dealt with by a normal court.
The court has now appointed a committee to "implement the publications law, which dictates that cases involving publication (offences) should not be referred to (normal Islamic) courts," said the newspaper.
This article starring:
ABDULLAH AL BARAK
Learned Elders of Islam
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 12:30:58 AM ||
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And when you're done, send him over to us so we can kick his ass too...
Posted by: ZZ Top ||
03/21/2005 8:14 Comments ||
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I have had a mustache for most of my adult life.My dad once told me that a mustache ain't nothing but a shock absorber for C%^ck-sucker.
THE British military knew that al-Qaeda was active in Doha two years ago as the US-led coalition went to war in Iraq.
Senior commanders even seemed to know which hotel "A-Q operatives" used as a base.
As a journalist sent to Qatar to cover the war from the coalition's central command centre, an enormous American camp on the edge of Doha, I was warned of the threat by a senior military figure.
Qatar is one of the most Western-leaning countries in the Middle East. The Emir of Qatar has decided that it will tolerate alcohol being served in its big hotels. He has also invested in al-Jazeera, the pan-Arabic television station based in the state.
Unlike some other Arabic nations, women are allowed to drive and to stand for election to local councils.
Natural gas reserves have made the indigenous population one of the wealthiest per head in the world. But Qataris are far outnumbered in their country by "guest workers" from nations including Pakistan and Yemen employed in the construction and hospitality industries.
Guest workers are rarely granted citizenship and have to return to their own countries when they stop working.
Despite this possible cause of tension, Doha seemed friendly and unthreatening until the warning, given on the eve of war two years ago.
A fellow journalist had asked whether it was safe to go for a morning run around Doha every day. A senior military figure advised him to vary his route and then asked other journalists in which hotels they were staying. The reason soon became clear.
"I wanted to check where you were because A-Q is active here and we think there is a cell based in one of the hotels," he said. "But none of you is staying there."
This brought home to us that Westerners could be in real danger in the country where General Tommy Franks directed the downfall of Saddam Hussein.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 12:07:48 AM ||
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Well of course - Al Jizzy's HQ is there. And does anyone believe that these intel folks didn't inform the Qatari Ruling Royals of what they knew / suspected? Of course they did. And they thought they we immune, just like everyone else before AlQ took a dump on their living room table.
The government said Sunday that an Egyptian man was responsible for exploding a car bomb outside a theater complex in Qatar's capital on Saturday night, killing a British teacher and testing this Persian Gulf emirate's confidence in its immunity from terrorist attack.
The government said in a statement carried by the official Qatar News Agency that an initial investigation had determined that the explosion was a result of "a criminal act committed by Omar Ahmed Abdullah Ali" of Egypt. The car used in the blast was registered in Mr. Ali's name, according to the statement. No further information was provided about Mr. Ali's identity, and there were conflicting reports about whether it was a suicide bombing.
When the bomb went off, an amateur theater company, many of whose members are British, was performing inside. The company was in the middle of a performance of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."
An official said the police were working to establish whether the Egyptian acted alone. Al Qaeda is not known to have an active network in Qatar, where security forces maintain a strong presence. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Now may be the time to dig back in the archives to take a look at the members of the Qatari royal family who support the Bad Guys ...
This article starring:
OMAR AHMED ABDULLAH ALI
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 12:06:12 AM ||
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Bahrain's Cabinet yesterday strongly condemned the terrorist car bomb attack in Doha. Ministers expressed "total denunciation of all terror acts that conflict with the principles of Islam and human values," wishing the injured a quick recovery and offering condolences to victims' families.
The Cabinet, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Islamic Affairs Minister Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalid Al Khalifa, also affirmed Bahrain's support towards all measures taken by Qatar to protect its stability and the integrity of its territories.
It expressed confidence in the capability of Qatar to confront what it dubbed as acts alien to the peaceful and tolerant Qatari society, wishing the state further progress and safety under the leadership of the Amir, Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
The GCC and its other member states also condemned the blast and called for unity to eradicate "terrorism".
The condemnation came as Qatar's interior ministry said an Egyptian carried out the car bomb attack on a theatre that killed one Briton.
It identified the bomber as Omar Ahmed Abdullah Ali, and said he owned the car used to carry out the attack on the Doha Players Theatre in the northern Farek Kelab suburb.
Twelve others, including six Qataris, a Briton, Eritrean and Somali, were injured in the blast and later released from hospital, officials said.
The ministry said the explosion was carried out by Ali who detonated his car bomb from behind a brick wall close to the theatre, which is located in a compound. The blast set alight wooden buildings in the compound, while the main theatre building suffered slight damage.
Al Qaeda's leader in the Gulf urged militants this week to attack Westerners in Qatar and several other countries.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack on the theatre, which is popular with Westerners and close to the Doha English Speaking School.
The British Foreign Office confirmed a British citizen had died and said British authorities were assisting Qatar in the bombing investigation. French President Jacques Chirac also sent a team of experts to help with the investigation.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 12:04:28 AM ||
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The suicide bombing in Doha, Qatar took place three days after the airing of the taped speech of Al-Qaeda leader Saleh Al-Aufi. The target was a Western institution.
Some analysts say Al-Qaeda is losing its strong image of power in Saudi Arabia and is breaking up. Terrorism specialist and researcher Faris ibn Hizam said that one could sense from Aufi's speech that he was not aware of what was going on in the country. "He did not talk about the recent events in Riyadh, nor did he elaborate on the attack on the Ministry of Interior last December," said Hizam. He said that that was a clear message that Al-Qaeda was breaking up and dissolving.
In his speech, Aufi urged the followers and admirers of Al-Qaeda in the Gulf states to start moving and help back up Al-Qaeda. He started off with Qatar when he said "we urge our brothers Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, the UAE and all the Gulf states close to Iraq to help their brothers, each in his county by destroying machines, soldiers, bases and planes of the Crusaders".
That was one of the reasons why Al-Qaeda was going Gulfwide under the leadership of Al-Zarqawi and with the slogan of "Facing Americans".
Hizam said that Aufi showed weakness when he pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi.
The statement by Aufi does not show whether there is any sign of the presence of Al-Qaeda cells in those countries. However, there could be a cell waiting for a deadline to strike. The Qatar explosion may have something to do with that. Hizam believes that there may be only remnants of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia who are not well organized and that they may lose the right to be called an organization. "Beside a few cells in the Western region and Riyadh scattered here and there, there are no good signs of the presence of a well organized group in the Kingdom and we can say that the organization has come to an end," said Hizam. That was one of the reasons why Al-Qaeda was going Gulfwide under the leadership of Al-Zarqawi and with the slogan of "Facing Americans".
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda
SALEH AL AUFI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Terrorism specialist and researcher Faris ibn Hizam
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 12:03:25 AM ||
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Six months ago sergeant Mahmoud al-Harithi resigned from the Saudi military, said goodbye to his wife and two children, and left home for jihad in Iraq. A family man, the 32-year-old called home regularly. But he said little and resisted pleas for him to return. "He was looking for martyrdom. No matter who he would fight and no matter where, Afghanistan or Iraq, he was looking to be a martyr," said one of his cousins, who asked not to be named.
And now Mahmoud's worm-food in a forgotten grave in Iraq.
One Friday in late February his father had just finished midday prayers when he noticed two missed calls on his mobile phone. He called back, and heard a curt message telling him that Mahmoud's wish had been granted. "Your son is dead. We regret we cannot send you his body. We request your permission to bury him in Iraq," the voice said.
Harithi followed the same journey as many hundreds of Saudi men who are believed to have slipped away to fight in Iraq, angered by the US military occupation and driven by a desire to restore Muslim honour. Together with other foreign fighters they have helped fuel a bloody insurgency by Baathists and Islamists trying to force American troops out of the country they invaded two years ago. From time to time their secret, violent tales become public. In January, Saudi newspapers reported that a young Saudi man had survived, bloodied and horribly burned, after driving a fuel truck carrying explosives into Baghdad on December 25. Nine people died when the truck exploded but the militant, Ahmad Shayia, survived and were arrested, the papers said. His family in Saudi Arabia had already had a phone call telling them he was dead.
Let the Iraqi locals at him for five minutes and he will be.
Harithi had a pious upbringing and attended meetings regularly at his local mosque after sunset prayers. His family does not know exactly what prompted him to take up arms in Iraq, although he may well have been inspired by rhetoric at the mosque, and they begged him to reconsider. His father even told the Saudi authorities where his son was. "He kept calling from Iraq. He said: 'I'm in Iraq. I'm on jihad'," said the cousin. "They asked him to come back but he said he was afraid of being punished by the government."
"Nope, can't get back in the army, nope, you'll have to join the, um, ... interior police. Yeah, that's it."
His family, who were not told where or how Mahmoud died, accepted condolences for the traditional three day period of mourning. "They were upset but they appeared proud their son had fought in Iraq," said the cousin. Saudi authorities claim to have tried to stem the flow of terrorists jihadis heading for Iraq, tightening control at the border. "There are tens of Saudis in jail because either they wanted to go to Iraq, were caught trying to get in or were collecting money for people going to Iraq," said Mansour Nogaidan, a former terrorist militant who is now a critic of Saudi Arabia's strict Wahhabi school -- blamed by some for inspiring anti-Western violence.
Terrorists Militants have found other routes, mostly through Syria. Recent claims of successes by Saudi security forces in their battle with Al Qaeda militants may have pushed more fighters towards Iraq. One senior Saudi security official recently told a private gathering there may now be 1,500 Saudis in Iraq, Nogaidan said. Fares Houzam, a researcher on Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, said he estimated up to 2,500 Saudis have travelled to Iraq since the US invasion in March 2003, 400 of whom may have died there. "Every day somewhere in Saudi Arabia, in the north or the south, there is a family accepting condolences," he said.
And just 1500 more to go ...
Saleh al-Awfi, the suspected leader of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, has pledged to despatch more Saudis to Iraq. "We will send you terrorists fighters and martyrdom seekers whenever you need them and you will find us a fortified castle and a strong shield," Awfi wrote in a letter posted on the Internet.
We'll find them under rubble, dead, mostly.
Prominent Saudi Muslim holy men scholars have stoked the fires, declaring support in November for the terrorists militants and saying holy war against occupiers was a duty. The statement, signed by 26 holy men scholars, urged Muslims to "stand by their brothers in Iraq".
"We of course are too valuable to go risk our necks in Iraq, so we'll stay here and cheer for you", the statement concluded.
Saudi officials fear returning terrorists militants from Iraq could spell further trouble in the birthplace of Islam, where Al Qaeda supporters have carried out a series of attacks aimed at scaring away Westerners and undermining the pro-US royal family. Islamist lawyer Mohsen Awajy said most Saudi militants in Iraq had "one-way tickets" and would most likely die there. But if any came back they could bring with them the more violent ideology of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda leader in Iraq.
Hence the one-way ticket.
This article starring:
AHMED SHAIIA
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Fares Houzam, a researcher on Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia
Islamist lawyer Mohsen Awajy
MAHMUD AL HARITHI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Mansour Nogaidan
SALEH AL AWFI
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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What movie was it - Butch Cassidy? Butch says,(about Sundance), "He'll leave if you ask him to stay." So the defeated gambler asks him to stay, and Sundance says, "No, thanks.... I gotta go." And he cleans all the chips off the table.
THAT's when we leave Iraq - when ALL the Sunnis want us to STAY!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/21/2005 0:31 Comments ||
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Uh ... so what's the name of the surviving (unwitting) bomber who turned?
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
03/21/2005 8:16 Comments ||
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âWe will send you fighters and martyrdom seekers whenever you need them..."
So when are you getting on the express bus to Baghdad, Saleh?
A theatre which was forced to axe a play after a riot by Sikhs is to risk controversy again by staging a new drama about Muslim brothels. The new play, Bells, by a young Anglo-Pakistani playwright, Yasmin Whittaker Khan, will expose the secret world of the "mujra", or courtesan house. It shows how Muslim girls find themselves trapped, and exposes the hypocrisy of the otherwise religious men who visit them. The play, featuring "non-graphic" sexual scenes, is set in a fictional British "mujra" and opens at the Birmingham Rep Theatre on Wednesday.
The same theatre became a battleground shortly before Christmas. For several nights, angry Sikhs protested against the play Behzti - Punjabi for "dishonour" - a black comedy depicting rape and murder in a Sikh temple. Sikhs said the play was grossly insulting to their faith. The demonstrators eventually stormed the Birmingham Rep, throwing missiles and breaking windows. Behzti was cancelled and its female playwright, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, went into hiding after receiving death threats.
Whittaker Khan told The Telegraph yesterday that there was no comparison between portraying sexual abuse and murder in a holy place and showing the low life of a brothel. Whittaker Khan said: "Is it safe to put it on? Yes, I hope that it will be safe. The theatre has thought about it and they do think it is safe. The play is provocative. I don't mind if there are peaceful protests although I can't see why there should be."
Whittaker Khan, born a Muslim to Pakistani parents and then adopted by an English family, has no strong faith. She says the Pakistan film industry has glamorised mujras as harmless. She says mujras now operating in Britain and in Pakistan are brothels. Girls sing and dance and then money is thrown at them on stage to buy their favours. She says she knows of at least four mujra clubs in this country and has made several visits to them for research. She wants to expose the misery that goes on within them. "In Pakistan, sometimes girls are kidnapped, or they have arrived there after divorce or misfortune, or they can be born into the club," Whittaker Khan said. The girls might pray five times a day, but in between they are bought like chattels, she added.
Birmingham Rep declined to talk about the production yesterday, but in a brief statement said its policy for the past six years had been to encourage a new generation of playwrights. The play is to go on a national tour after being staged in Birmingham.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
03/21/2005 4:06:53 AM ||
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Don't feed the police German Shepherds for 3 days before this gig kicks off.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/21/2005 10:15 Comments ||
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...and start greasing those baton rounds with pork fat.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/21/2005 10:16 Comments ||
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I'm impressed. When a Cincinnati theater company was browbeaten into submission by the local jihadi supporters, they returned to their old habits of only staging plays that offend Christians.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/21/2005 10:36 Comments ||
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There are nice Sikhs, and not-so-nice Sikhs. I know several Sikh convenience store owners, and then there are the kind that bomb jetliners. When "normal" Sikhs riot against theater plays, I wonder if there's justification in mentally separating Sikhism from the suspicion I hold for the "rest" of Islam.
I remember a few years ago in Vancouver there were riots, and a couple deaths, over whether or not old people/invalids could sit in chairs in the Sikh temple, rather than kneeling or sitting cross-legged as required by the faith. The Canadian provincial equivalent of the federal disability folks got involved, and it wasn't pretty.
OK, maybe that was more than a few years ago. My mind has been stretching/compressing time in an unusual fashion recently. :)
#3
That would be rather uninteresting, I suspect, Gromky. You'd have, what? England, Scotland, Wales, and northern Ireland? Can someone tell Me are the parties relatively equal across the various realms? Or is, say, Wales a big Labour region, while Scotland is Tory?
Do the people (or sheep) of the Falklands get to vote?
Posted by: abu Virginia Compromised ||
03/21/2005 11:33 Comments ||
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#5
I am not a Brit, so please correct my understanding if it is incorrect.
Parliament is akin to the electoral college in that the Brits never explicitly vote for the Prime Minister (PM), only their own Member of Parliament (MP). The PM is the one who can put the most MPs together to form a government, regardless of the outcome of the popular vote. This is usually done by the leader of the party also winning the most popular votes. But a party could win the majority of MP seats without winning a majority of the popular vote.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/21/2005 11:58 Comments ||
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Exactly Mrs. D. except for the Dutchy of Lancaster which is usually held by a sheep without portfolio. Or a blue painted man (religon) with a wheelbarrow (burial). You would know this if your history had not suddenly ended in 1776.
Dunno what color this revolution is. McGregor plaid, maybe. They're coming fast enough that we're running out of colors...
"Erkin Esinaliyev, Deputy Chief of the Osh Regional Internal Affairs Directorate, and Ermek Kochorov, Deputy Chief of the Osh City Police Force, swore allegiance to the people several minutes ago," Irina Gordiyenko of the Moscow-based Novaya Gazeta reported from the central square of Osh. Upper echelons of the police, National Security Service, and prosecutor's office of the Osh region swear allegiance to the people ...senior officers of the Osh regional division of secret services are addressing thousands of supporters of the opposition at the rally.
The authorities of Kyrgyzstan agree to negotiations but the opposition does not have anyone to negotiate with: the president is not available. The Navruz, one of the most important holidays in the region, is celebrated in Central Asia, today. The spring holiday is known as the Nooruz in Bishkek. Every year, between 8,000 and 10,000 people assemble in the central square of the capital and the president addresses the nation. Everything is different now. There are about 500 policemen in the central square of Bishkek, and no festivities...
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
03/21/2005 10:56:40 AM ||
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Interesting.
But, according to Aris, there's nothing to see here. That the elections were rigged, etc. was dismissed because it wasn't for "the people" but for "specific members of the political elite".
I envy his access to the inner circles and thoughts of every political movement and non-movement. Pretty impressive. I have no such access so I'm stuck with reading the stories and relying upon my betters for guidance.
I do get the impression that Soros could pick up another country on the cheap, here. This non-movement could be leveraged into a "stage managed" non-movement with a little cash, some handy thugs, and pushing in the right places.
Nah. Nothing happening here. Just ignore this. Move along.
If I was wrong, and the Kyrgyzstan uprising trully ends up being a democratic revolution instead of elites squabbling for power, I'll be the first to rejoice. But please do btw, learn to link past articles properly: This was the article you meant to link.
As for your fucking trollery and obnoxiousness, shove it up your ass. When I disagreed you with you on the nature of the revolt (again, it was here), I didn't insult you about it, nor comment on the rampant ignorance and flaming idiocy.
BTW, my link works just fine - directly to where your opinion was enshrined. You really shouldn't get so exercised - I pointed to your superior wisdom. If you turn out to be wrong (Gasp! It's NEVER happened before - you've said so!) that's okay. Happens to everyone, regular folks, anyway, now and then. Relax. Tell us about the inner workings of Alphabetistan, we're so hungry for knowledge and wisdom! I'm positively green with jealousy regards your access.
I, too, would rejoice if there really is a popular movement afoot to end a regime that tampers / fixes elections. We're in agreement.
#9
.com, are you referring to this comment of March 20th?
So far the Kyrgyz protests instead of genuine pro-democracy revolts (like in Ukraine), seem to revolve instead around specific members of the political elite that objected to their own exclusion from the power-pie. Their protest are not united, and each elite excluded just tries to win the district he ran in, instead of having a common democratic vision. Unlike Georgia and Ukraine they couldn't agree even in choosing a leader among them.
Admittedly, there's no confirming reports, but something appears to be happening across a good portion of the country that goes beyond a "rent a crowd".
We'll have to see if the much-vaunted media decides to rouse itself enough cover it.
#13
.com, ofcourse that's where your link goes to --after it loads that entire day of Rantburg, all nearly 300 Kb of it. The link I gave goes to a 10kb page instead.
Don't waste Fred's bandwidth, and don't force slow connections to take a whole day to find what you are talking about. Next time link to the article itself, not the whole day. It's faster that way.
you turn out to be wrong (Gasp! It's NEVER happened before - you've said so!)
I've turned out wrong many times before. Want me to mention several such mistakes I've made here in Rantburg? I don't have links for you but I remember them quite well.
It's one of your continuing LIES that I've ever claimed the opposite. You lie and lie and then lie some more, pretending that I've ever claimed myself all-knowing. Think that enough slander thrown at my direction will ever make it a statement other would believe I made, or that I would myself care to defend?
I'm self-admittedly arrogant, but I've never claimed perfection -- it's you who are claiming it on my behalf.
And if I'm mistaken on the Kyrgyzstan situation *again*, this will be a mistake I'll be happy to have made, and I'm glad it's "enshrined". Unfortunately your obnoxiousness and trollery and LIES are also enshrined in this thread.
#16
Obsesessed about Aris?!? Hold on there! I'm the one that's supposedly obsessed with you, Aris. You're getting confused again. Take a few deep breaths and try to sort it out. I know you miss Frank's taunts and insults, but don't get all weepy -- it distorts your perceptions and gets y'all confused.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/21/2005 20:27 Comments ||
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#17
"Admittedly, there's no confirming reports, but something appears to be happening across a good portion of the country..."
What is "something", Aris, and where do you get that info, ESP?
Posted by: Tom ||
03/21/2005 20:38 Comments ||
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#18
Aris - regards my link, it is the height of absurdity for you, LeechBoy, to lecture me about Fred's bandwidth. I cover my RB antics - you, on the other hand, don't do dick, you cheap fuck.
You're a cunt, Aris. Had you said Oops - looks like it might be real, I'd have joined you in the chorus for freedom. Instead, it took you more than 5 hours to figure out how you would "fight back" from the position of terminally, excrementally, puss-ridden wrong. Your initial response of screeching, crying, whining, and throwing around epithets was pathetic. This one is classic Aris.
You're not admittedly arrogant. You are the pluperfect asshole of all time. Imminently worthy of endless derision and ridicule - a flagellation festival, if you will - to match your propensity for endless self-aggrandizement. Arrogance doesn't begin to cover your ego's offensive droppings.
Right, enshrined indeed - it's not about those people, it's about you. Lol! Eat shit, junior -- obsession is the shining hallmark aspect of your perverse existence on RB. Thoroughly enshrined in the RB archives.
#19
I thought I was the obsessed one, no wait, it appears to be our Leel Greek Fren'
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2005 21:06 Comments ||
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#20
It's cute how you think it "took me more than 5 hours to figure out how I would fight back", but in reality, I'd been out for a movie. "Constantine". Cool fun movie, though I'm a bit annoyed that they didn't have him be a Brit.
Your lies remain your lies, .com, enshrined for the world to see, even as my mistakes are -- except your intentional lies much more shameful than my mistakes. You didn't show interest in letting you know about more of my mistakes as I offered (since you are so obsessed about them), but I have no problem telling you some I remember on my own. Consider them my affectionate gift to you:
- I had stated that the wall in Israel wouldn't help fight against the terrorist attacks, since it was too long to be guarded, but I was wrong about that and it has indeed helped.
- I thought that the EU Constitution referendum in Spain would be a close one, and the French referendum would be a clear victory for the Yes side -- it turned out I was wrong about that and the situation is reversed.
- I believed that letting Fallujah in the control of the insurgents may not have been too bad a decision, but I was wrong about that.
- I had once thought that Frank G was a nice guy. Oh, boy, was I *ever* wrong about that.
Here. These are specific and clear mistakes I've made, so you won't need to go hunting needles in haystacks about whether Kyrgyzstan is a true democratic revolution or not. I still think it doubtful it is one.
Had you said Oops - looks like it might be real, I'd have joined you in the chorus for freedom.
I acknowledge my mistakes, but I don't turn over and show my belly in submission, .com, nor do I apologize for honest opinions on the issues -- I certainly did nothing to apologize for in the links you provided.
You on the other hand were obnoxious and launched personal attacks without being provoked by me at all, and then you clearly lied about me. I face my mistakes but you are too scared to face or respond to *those* facts instead.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2005 21:23 Comments ||
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#24
I wonder how many hundreds-- or even thousands-- of Rantburg comments this obnoxious, narcissistic twat has posted that are entirely devoted to explaining, justifying or excusing himself?
"The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons."
--- Emerson
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/21/2005 21:32 Comments ||
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#25
Dave D, check out the first post of this thread. I didn't start the discussion on my person.
But cowards always are annoyed when their victims fight back, aren't they? *You* people can launch unprovoked attacks, but heavens forbid that your target responds!
#26
So even having played Risk for a while, and being pretty good at Trival Pursuit geography, just where the h-e-double-hockeysticks is Kyrzgzstan?????
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/21/2005 21:43 Comments ||
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#27
Ask Aris -- he has ESP.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/21/2005 21:45 Comments ||
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#28
Risk - so.end of Siberia/Yakutsk. Note that Afghanistan is too far west
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2005 21:47 Comments ||
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#32
Woohoo! Hands-down the best Alfredo I've ever made, perfect rare prime rib, a pile of perfect sauteed fresh mushrooms, nuked green peas which survived rather well... W00t! And Mrs Smith's Deep Dish Apple pie, possibly with Dreyer's Vanilla Ice Cream, on tap in, lessee... 38 minutes plus cooling time. Awesome. Okay...
Aris as victim. Sniff, sniff... Been there many times, sniff. Shopworn. How unendearing and irrelevant - it doesn't play this time, either. Nice distraction technique, if you have the credibility - for you Aris, a total waste of time. You work to hone your asshole, er, discussion skills frequently, as the archives here (and only the MCP knows where else) rather clearly attest. But in the end, it just doesn't work, son - you're utterly and perfectly transparent. The penultimate jerk - a red-headed stepchild so overdrawn and absurd even a movie producer would wince. You need help, external help, professional help... massive help. It's that LMS that drives you. Your insignificance and irrelevance eat away at your very being - thus you post... and post... and post... and post. Endlessly hoping, endlessly failing to be somebody. Little Man Syndrome. It's like a whole 'nuther world, not entirely sane nor rational. In the end, it's just pathetic... not sympathetic for it's toxic, just pathetic.
It keeps coming back to where it has no place, trying with all its might to create one. Leeching off of all who frequent the 'Burg, shitting on the carpet, peeing on the pillows, and daring an overly tolerant Sheriff to arrest it, for its own good. Pathetic.
Aris The Grate. Leech. Asshole. Whiner. Crybaby.
Apologist for EUsurpers.
Poster Child of The Bot-Driven Self-Obsessed.
The World is About Aris.
CuntBoy Extraordinaire.
Future Prison Bitch.
Toward that Day, that End, that obvious Destiny, I offer this teaser to the current prison population...
#35
Thank you, Sobiesky...between China and Kazakhstan! Why dincha sayso?
Dot Com --- I'm ... um ...ashamed of myself.... Here all this time I thought I was posting for fun, and to demonstrate I actually read the Rantburg, er, rants. Now I find out I post because my "insignificance and irrelevance eat away at your very being - thus you post... and post... and post... and post. Endlessly hoping, endlessly failing to be somebody. Little Man Syndrome. It's like a whole 'nuther world, not entirely sane nor rational. In the end, it's just pathetic... not sympathetic for it's toxic, just pathetic. It keeps coming back to where it has no place, trying with all its might to create one. Leeching off of all who frequent the 'Burg,..." Ohhhhh! I am *so* ashamed!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/21/2005 22:52 Comments ||
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#36
Bobby, if you really identify with that, what can I say... it your choice... by all means. ;-)
#41
Bobby - You're new here. I don't expect you to fully absorb or understand this is actually a 2 year old thread, but then I wouldn't have jumped in head first without knowing what the fuck was going on. Have a very nice day - and do hit the tip jar, Fred is a Saint.
Police stormed past protesters to recapture administrative buildings in southern Kyrgyzstan on Sunday, after a two-day standoff with opposition activists demanding the president's resignation. Police said they had detained some activists and denied opposition allegations that they used weapons and excessive force to regain the two buildings in Osh, the ex-Soviet Central Asian state's second city, and Dzhalal Abad. Other regions, including the capital Bishkek, have also seen opposition protests, with some demonstrators electing "people's councils" after parliamentary polls left the opposition with a mere handful of seats.
Vote monitors from the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe criticised the poll, held in two rounds in February and March — pointing to vote buying, disqualification of opposition candidates and media manipulation. "Yes, the police have taken the building. Force was used against some people, if they showed resistance," said a spokesman for Osh region's police, in comments echoed by his colleagues in Dzhalal Abad. "The building was fully freed by morning. The organisers of the illegal demonstrations were detained, and we have detained 15 people for hooliganism," said Omurbek Egemberdiyev, head of the police in Dzhalal Abad region. "No weapons were used, and we caused no injuries. On the contrary, they threw stones and two policeman were injured, and sent to hospital."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev pardoned more than 100 prisoners on Sunday, including dozens of opposition politicians whose release had been demanded by Europe's top human rights body. Fifty-three of the 114 people pardoned were on a list of political prisoners that the Council of Europe demanded be released, Aliev's office said in a statement. Aliev's decree came just four days after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe warned Azerbaijan that it must free its political prisoners or face punitive measures, including a review in the former Soviet republic's membership on the 46-nation council. Council officials were pressing for the prisoners to be released by April to ensure parliamentary elections scheduled for November are free and fair.
First time in a while that 'soft power' has done anything worthwhile, unless I missed Uncle Sam with a big stick lurking in the background ...
Aliev's another hereditary president, which means he's on the poop list by definition. I understand he's rather personable, or was before the old man died.
Among those pardoned Sunday were seven top opposition leaders convicted for taking part in protests following a 2003 presidential vote and sentenced to prison terms of up to five years. Aliev was declared the winner of the 2003 poll to succeed his father Geidar. Western observers said the election was marred by fraud, and several thousand protesters marched through Baku, smashing cars and shop windows after the vote. Like his father, the longtime ruler in this oil-rich Caspian state, Aliev is correctly accused of stifling political dissent and media independence, and opposition members mounted large protests earlier this month after the killing of a prominent journalist whose death they blamed on the authorities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/21/2005 10:55:42 PM ||
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#1
Is Azerbaijan Europe or Asia? Where's the boundary?
Four policemen were beaten to death on Sunday when thousands of people stormed government buildings to protest against Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev. Akayev had warned last week that any attempt to copy the "Orange Revolution" in fellow ex-Soviet state Ukraine could lead to civil war.
That worked well...
The opposition seized control of the southern Kyrgyz town of Dzhalal Abad, following protests on Friday in nearby Osh and in two other regions in the south. A Bishkek police official said that four policemen had been beaten to death in clashes after police fired shots but failed to stop the demonstrators.
I think I saw that part in an Eisenstein movie once...
The Russian Interfax news agency quoted police as saying up to 10 people had been killed, a figure denied by government officials. The opposition said six of its protesters had been injured. "The police opened fire, and I saw with my own eyes that four people got hit by ricochets," said Abdul Kambarov, a civilian with injuries to his face and legs. Witnesses said that government buildings were burning and the streets were strewn with broken glass caused by protesters throwing petrol bombs to force the police to leave. There were bloodstains on the floor and the staircase of the main administration building, now occupied by protesters.
How about the baby carriage? Did it roll all the way down the stairs?
O.J. saved the baby ... oops, wrong movie.
"We want Akayev to understand what's going on. Either he resigns now or he gives us an assurance he will resign in October," said Bektur Asanov, a losing candidate in the elections. The opposition says Akayev could use his majority in parliament, which includes two of his children, to change the law and stand for a third term in elections later this year. A spokesman for Akayev said the president was following the situation but he made no public statements or appearances.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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"We know North Korea has a collective screw loose the plutonium that can go into the bomb," Mohammed ElBaradei told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday. Duh. "We have not seen any such material in Iran." North Korea, he said, represents an "imminent threat or an imminent danger," while Iran is paying me handsomely to look the other way merely suspected of having a nuclear program.
And there ladies and gentlemen is the clearly enunciated international standard: you're not a threat until you've assembled all of the pieces necessary to build a weapon and blackmail the world. The IAEA is more than worthless, it's dangerous. Warning, tranzi moonbattery ahead:
"We need to make sure that every country especially Muslim countries in the future has what we call assurance of access to nuclear weapons supply, that they have access to nuclear technology for electricity, for other applications like bombs, but try to minimize the risk associated with that by having an international consortium, for example, producing the fuel and then take back the fuel again under international supervision and who better to head such an effort than myself, for a substantial raise of course. ... No one country should enrich its own uranium."
"No one country" is an interesting turn of phrase the clear implication of which is that an unaccountable, irresponsible, supranational organization is required. If we could just get rid of those pesky nation states.
Iran claims it is trying to kill all the Jooos and Infidels "protect their activities," ElBaradei acknowledged, but would not say the country is trying to hide evidence concerning a possible nuclear program. "They are fulfilling their legal obligations," he said, with a "minor infraction here and there."
And, he said, recent events are leading to utter disaster especially for the Yankee Infidels and Jooos in the right direction, particularly the United States' support of a European initiative to bring Iran in line through dialogue. "[W]e need to make sure the process continues ... as long as the parties are talking, we're on the right track."
It would appear that those who criticize NGOs as debating clubs that fiddle while Rome burns have been vindicated right from the horse's mouth.
Less talking and more shooting please.
Posted by: AzCat ||
03/21/2005 6:05:23 AM ||
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#1
ElBaradei is worthless. This has all happened under his watch and he's either clueless or wanting to appear so, even after it reaches "imminent threat". Mr. Annan, tear down this bureaucracy... or at least get this clueless Muslim bureaucrat off the Muslim-bombs oversight committee.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/21/2005 8:01 Comments ||
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#2
He'll say anything to divert attention from his fellow muslims.
#4
"We need to make sure that every country especially Muslim countries in the future has what we call assurance of access to nuclear weapons supply, that they have access to nuclear technology for electricity, for other applications" Wouldn't that be like giving a schitsophrintic,by-polar gang-banger the ability to make pastique as long as his unused amounts are givenup after a period of time.
#5
So did Christiane hit him with the followup question, "So what can the UN do about this imminent threat?". I doubt it, but it would've been nice to see him squirm as he said, "Not much".
Why? A better solution would be to ship the UN, lock, stock, and barrel, to some other location OUT of the U.S., preferably tomorrow, and terminate our participation in such a useless organization. They can fiddle with their bureaucracy as much as they like, as long as it's not being done here.
#10
He'll say anything to divert attention from his fellow Muslims.
That's the slight of hand. Take attention off the Ayatollahs. His fellow Muslims. If I were an Iranian overlord I would tell El Baredi that his family is dead and maimed if he doesn't go along with us. What is Muhammadanism without the intimidation factor? Much Mo' fun that way for the Allah intoxicated.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested on Sunday that European governments are irresponsible if they sell sophisticated weaponry to China that might one day be used against US forces in the Pacific. "It is the United States, not Europe, that is defending the Pacific," Rice said. She spoke in Seoul, the penultimate stop on her weeklong tour of Asia. South Korea, Japan and the United States are all Pacific powers and all contribute resources to keep the Asia-Pacific region stable, Rice said.
The European Union may soon lift an arms embargo on China that was imposed after the deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. Lifting the embargo would allow sale of technology and weapons that China badly wants to modernise its creaky military. China has recently gone on a military spending spree that Rice said concerns the United States. "The European Union should do nothing to contribute," to the possibility that Chinese forces might turn European technology on Americans, Rice said after meetings with the South Korean president and foreign minister. Rice has earlier said that China's recent statements about a possible invasion of Taiwan should give the Europeans pause. China passed a law this month codifying its intention to use military force against Taiwan should the island declare formal independence.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 10:39:51 PM ||
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#1
The day that hostilities start with China, after assistance from those Europeans who value money more than their citizens, I suggest that we, the US, fires in both directions. Every country that helps to arm them, directly or indirectly. should lose their top 5 cities in the first salvo.
#3
That's a little harsh, .com. But a threat of war crimes trials for those involved in the weapons sales, along the lines of those who produced the gas used in Nazi concentration camps, might well not be out of line. A quiet word from Secty. Rice in the shell-like ears of the appropriate politicians and CEOs would certainly be effective, and the loud outcry thereafter from those spoken to would serve to publicize the U.S. position.
#5
It was early when I posted -- no meds, no caffeine yet. Please read would certainly be effective as might well have an effect
One of the things I really like about this administration is that they are very clear about positions, causes and effects. The fact is, those who sell China advanced arms and technology are increasing the probability that China, feeling confident in her abilities, will pick a fight that will end in a real war, and sooner rather than later. The French, German and Russian manufacturers of the weapons and chemicals found in Iraq have gotten off this time, but they mustn't in the future. The time to establish that is now; by the time we have to actually fight the war is too late.
#6
TW, Look at the trial of Milosovic. It is the international equivalent of the OJ trial. Do you really think we would ever try a European non-combatant civilian for War Crimes? Where? The Hague? Geneva? Boston? War Crimes trials are and always were show trials. If you win a war, you get to kill whomever you wish. Trials are a cover for murder. By 1960 it was history. That's why Eichmann was tried in Israel. He would never have been executed by Europeans.
No, if we have a real problem with this, what we should do is tell the Euros they have a choice, us or China. If they choose China, kiss NATO good-bye. Those who do not sell to China get bi-lateral mutual defnece, non-agresion pacts. Those who sell get to coordinate defence policy with Beijing.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/21/2005 7:31 Comments ||
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#7
Mrs D. -
You are right, but OTOH - following a US/China conflict - if just one EU arms billionaire, or better yet, one bureaucrat found themselves in a US court facing those charges, I doubt it would happen again.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/21/2005 7:46 Comments ||
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#8
Mrs. D., you think NATO is valued at all by France, Germany or Britain?
#9
I could care less whether they value it. But I do value my word and my country's word. Right now, we're committed to treat an attack on France or Belgium as an attack on us. If they want to ship arms to China, I'd like them to get that assurance from China instead of us. Let them be explicit about all the implications of their decision. Right now we're letting them have theri cake and eat it too.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/21/2005 7:58 Comments ||
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#11
I'm with 3dc - wetworks against the heads of the corps that supply our enemies
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2005 8:22 Comments ||
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#12
It's one thing to not support us in Iraq, but it's quite another to deliberately help arm our adversaries over our objections. If the EU or any member states take steps to help arm China, then they are in a European-Chinese military axis. If Europe can afford that, then NATO is done. Europe is behaving like a three-year-old and needs some swift consequences for behavior correction. Swift consequences like the end of military cooperation with Old Europe and requiring a much larger share of U.N. budget and U.N. military support from Old Europe.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/21/2005 8:23 Comments ||
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#13
Why can't we end this farce? Europe can't even defend it's self. Kill NATO. Screw them. The game is over. The open hostility of the German media and government towards the US seems pretty clear. The French don't even count anymore. We can have a defense treaty with thet UK or anyone else if they decide they are not going to be part of the EU. The EU has decided it will be a competitor with us not a partner. The EU can fund it's own protection.
Our future lies in the Pacific and Asia not Europe and the Atlantic. Thats is where we need friends and partners. Persons and countries that arm China are not helpful and need to feel pain when they work against the intrests of peace in the Pacific and Asia.
#15
And China needs weapons from the EU why? Who do the Chinese fear and why? I agree with Mrs. D. Let the EU understand that weapons sales to make a buck are fine but they do have consequences that will cost them economically. Tell em that it's nothing personal but we'll pull out our people and cash from the EU to respond to the problems those sales potentially create. On second thought, I suppose in the end the Chinese will reverse engineer what they get or obtain the technology otherwise. They'll have their weapons if they really want them, though the fact that our so-called allies are helping speed up the process without any great protest from our government is telling.
Now how do you know this? Why do you think Dr Rice went to Europe immediately after confirmation to SecState? To have tea in London and bon-bons in Brussels? You don't think she was carrying Bush's, uh, message on this and other topics to our erstwhile allies?
They will do what they choose, I suggest that we not assume that Bush is lax and fucking up without proof -- that's the MSM's job.
#17
We should be clear here that the best outcome would be for NATO to remain an active alliance. I am not eager to see China using Frennch weapons to kill Americans, Taiwanese, Indians or Russians. And that is the alternative.
China has probably already stolen all the designs they need. They certainly seem to have had the run of Los Alamos. But having the designs and being able to build them are two different things as the Russians proved for 70 years, and as the French proved with the de Gaulle.
With us giving buckets of money to the Chinese via Wal-Mart they will eventually get it right; but it will take a long time. Things might evolve internally for China by then. With access to European experience, the process could be accelerated to the point where they would have the systems efective before the evolution is complete.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/21/2005 10:17 Comments ||
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#18
Rice has earlier said that Chinaâs recent statements about a possible invasion of Taiwan should give the Europeans pause.
It's not the Europeans that would actually assist in any defense of Taiwan; that's why they're so eager to sell China weapons. Nothing to lose, but money to gain.
#19
Euro Blaster only $16.95
Adjustable spray head with four different spray patterns to tackle all those dirty jobs!
Blast away Euroweinies grass and leaves, wash the scum from the earth windows without a ladder, clean the liberals and backstabbers gutters, and roof. Fill the detergent chamber and wash the UN car, van or boat in minutes! With the Euro Blaster, no cleaning job is too tough!
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Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/21/2005 12:29 Comments ||
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#20
What do they mean by "weapons?" If they mean small arms then, frankly, no big deal. We can cope with that. If they mean warships, missiles, and near space high tech.... then that's a very big deal. That's almost a declaration of war.
I would seriously prefer not flattening swathes of Europe again. I do not want to leave the task of rebuilding that continent to Trailing Daughters #1 & 2 and their children.
But I like the US or China choice you present, as well. That decision takes effect now, vs. in the indefinite future when the war against China would be won.
The Government's immigration policy contains no Christianity-specific clauses but must take religious conversions into account, Prime Minister John Howard says.
The cases of 30 of Australia's longest-serving immigration detainees are under review, some of them because they have converted to another religion, including Christianity, since arriving in the country.
Mr Howard says the Government's policy is always under review, although there will be no major changes.
He says that while the policy is not biased in favour of Christians, concerns about religious persecution are taken into account.
"We're not in the business of saying 'well we're going to give a special preference'," Mr Howard said.
"We are nonetheless concerned when people can demonstrate that by dint of having embraced a particular belief they may suffer persecution if they go back to a particular country - that's always been there."
"The idea that we've introduced something that is peculiar only to people that convert to Christianity, that's not correct," Mr Howard added.
More conversions
Labor's Laurie Ferguson is sceptical.
"To basically have a situation here now where a great possibility is given to those people who convert, I think we're going to find a few more conversions quiet frankly," Mr Ferguson said.
Federal Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown says the religious preference of immigration detainees is not relevant to their case to remain in Australia.
Senator Brown says religion is only relevant if it is the reason detainees have been persecuted.
"If we're going to have people being kept in Australia because of one religious belief, we should have people kept in Australia because of any religious belief," he said.
"The rule here is humanity, not the religious belief of some of those poor people who are facing export to countries where they face punishment."
The chairman of the Family First Party, Peter Harris, has also questioned the review of immigration detainees who have converted to Christianity.
Mr Harris is concerned some detainees may convert just so they can stay in Australia.
"Let's not underestimate persecution that occurs in different countries but I think that if the Government makes decisions on the basis of religion as opposed to having a process of compassion and expediency, there are some real dangers in causing people to go down that pathway," he said.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
03/21/2005 1:51:12 AM ||
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After Pascal Bruckner publicly backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq in 2003, anonymous callers threatened him by phone. Strangers insulted him on the street. Friends and colleagues told him that he had taken a gutsy but mistaken stance against the mighty antiwar tide in France.
Two years later, the prominent French novelist is hearing very different reactions.
"People are saying that even if Americans are making a lot of mistakes, they are changing things," said Bruckner, who supported ousting Saddam Hussein but is sharply critical of the Bush administration's handling of the conflict, "while Europe -- and especially France -- remains terribly conservative. We're the world champions of the status quo."
Since Iraq's Jan. 30 elections, and fledgling signs of democracy elsewhere in the Middle East, doubts are spreading among scattered European pundits, politicians and ordinary citizens who once staunchly opposed the war.
"The Middle East moves: Should one thank Bush?" France's Le Monde newspaper asked in a front-page headline this month.
"Could George W. be right?" echoed an article in Germany's Der Spiegel newspaper.
"In private, I've heard a number of times after this election in Iraq that Bush was right -- in his determination to go along with the political process in Iraq, and to commit himself to change," said Iraq's ambassador to France, Mowafak Abboud. "And I've heard this from diplomats and politicians."
To be sure, the second guessing remains only a small aspect of tangled and shifting transatlantic sentiments, two years after the first U.S. bombs were lobbed into Iraq. While they now talk about helping in Iraq's reconstruction, French President Jacques Chirac and other war opponents argue the conflict has made the Middle East -- and the rest of the world -- a more dangerous place.
And after back-to-back fence-mending visits to Europe by Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, some analysts predict potential squalls over matters ranging from European efforts to lift an arms embargo on China to recent nominations of two Bush administration hawks to fill key U.N. and World Bank posts.
"We had a change in the weather system with the Bush visit. The clouds separated and the sun shone down for a week or so," said Richard Whitman, head of the European program at Chatham House, a London policy institute. "But I think there are clearly difficulties."
Another area of transatlantic disagreement -- Iran -- surfaced again Friday, during a four-way meeting in Paris among European heads of state. French and German leaders endorsed Russian plans to build a nuclear reactor plant in southern Iran, which Washington opposes.
With general elections expected in May, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is fighting slumping popularity polls, largely because of Iraq. "Blair was once Labor's election winner. Now he seems to be their election loser," said Whitman.
Nor is Blair the only European leader paying a big price for his allegiance to Bush and to the Iraq conflict. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced he would consider withdrawing Italian troops from the U.S. -led coalition -- a move other European leaders already have undertaken.
Berlusconi had ignored public antiwar sentiment in sending Italian forces to Iraq. But the unintentional killing of an Italian intelligence agent by U.S. forces in Iraq caused an outpouring of popular outrage. Like Blair, Berlusconi also faces national elections next year.
One of Bush's closest European allies -- Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar -- was ousted from power last March, largely because of Madrid's involvement in the war.
"The majority of Spaniards are still against the Bush administration," said Antonio Remiro, a political science professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid. But he added that relations between Washington and Spain's current Socialist government are improving.
Once-strong views on Iraq are fading across much of Europe, and leaders have picked up the Bush administration mantra of putting Iraq war differences behind. The two sides have closed ranks in opposing Syrian forces in Lebanon, and in coaxing recent advances in the Middle East peace process.
"I think we've begun a new chapter in U.S. relations with France and with the European Union," said a senior official at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, echoing the views of European diplomats.
The European Union, bitterly divided over the war, is also coming together on Iraq's reconstruction. While refusing to join NATO training missions inside Iraq, France, Germany and Spain all have offered to train Iraqi security forces outside the country.
The EU plans to open a Baghdad office to coordinate the training of hundreds of Iraqi judges, prosecutors and prison guards. And Europeans are now discussing hosting an international conference on Iraq this year to coordinate reconstruction efforts.
"Iraq is behind us," said Guillaume Parmentier, director of U.S. studies at the French Institute for International Relations, in Paris. "Because now the deed is done, and we all have to live with it.
"The Americans have to live with the fact it's much harder than they thought. And the Europeans have to live with the fact it has to be handled, and cannot collapse. Because if it collapses, it will endanger our security."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 5:00:21 PM ||
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" 'I think weâve begun a new chapter in U.S. relations with France and with the European Union,' said a senior official at the U.S. Embassy in Paris..."
Yes, four more years of Bush without the niceties of a re-election campaign to inhibit him. Pass the popcorn.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/21/2005 21:07 Comments ||
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Euros starting to come around?
Who knows, some more bitch slapping and they may wake up one day....
#3
It's not behind us. The shit storm is just starting from the American side. Americans owe many French, Germans, et. al. many buckets full of hate. Fight or live on your knees with your muslim minorities pending majorities. But never expect any help ever again.
Posted by: ed ||
03/22/2005 0:06 Comments ||
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PARIS, March 21 (AFP) - French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin and leaders of the country's Muslim community on Monday signed the statutes setting up a "Foundation for Islam" which will be used to finance the development of the religion in France. Relying on private donations from France and abroad, the Foundation will spend money on building and renovating mosques and rifle ranges prayer halls, and training imams and chaplains for the estimated five million strong community.
In conformity with France's strict separation of religion and state, the body will receive no public money. However its funds will be banked at the state-owned Caisse des Depots et Consignations - which will guarantee financial transparency.
For a small fee...
Islam in France has for years been funded by foreign governments and donors, but there has been no public oversight over how the funds have been spent.
Or any way to get a cut..
Muslim leaders hailed the Foundation as an important step towards the "institutionalisation" of France's second largest religion.
It comes two years after the establishment of the Council for the French Religion in France (CFCM) - Islam's first ever officially-recognised representative body in the country. Leaders of the four main groups inside the CFCM were at Monday's signing ceremony and will administer the Foundation's funds.
They are the Union of Islamic Organisations in France (UOIF) which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood movement; the National Federation of Muslims in France (FNMF) which is linked to Morocco: the Grand Mosque of Paris, which is close to Algeria; and the Coordination Committee of Turkish Muslims in France.
I notice one major source of islamic funding that doesn't seem to be mentioned here.
In response to criticism that "the big four" are monopolising power in the Muslim community, other groups and independents will also be represented.
The Foundation will start operating in a few months, once the state council - France's highest administrative court - gives its approval, Villepin said.
Intense debate broke out over the funding of Islam when Villepin's predecessor - Nicolas Sarkozy - suggested in a recent book that the best way of bringing the Muslim community into the mainstream would be to break France's century-old taboo and provide public money for mosques and imams. The idea was shot down by most of the political establishment.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/21/2005 12:49:58 PM ||
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why bother? The Phrog government is doing a fine job of it all by themselves.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/21/2005 13:31 Comments ||
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Even if Paul Wolfowitz and John Bolton weren't two of the more farsighted thinkers in the Bush administration, appointing them respectively to the World Bank and the United Nations would be worthwhile just for the pleasure of watching the Europeans, Democrats and media stew over it. The assumption seems that, with things going his way in Iraq and Lebanon and Egypt and Saudi Arabia, President Bush needs to reach out by stiffing counselors who called it right and appointing more emollient types who got everything wrong. Each to his own. But, as I see it, the question isn't why Mr. Wolfowitz and Mr. Bolton should hold these jobs, but why Kofi Annan, Jacques Chirac, John Kerry and assorted others still hold their jobs.
Still, if you're to play the oldest established permanent floating transnational crap game for laughs, might as well pick an act with plenty of material. What I love about John Bolton, America's new ambassador to the U.N., is the sheer volume of "damaging" material. Usually, the Democrats and media must rifle through decades of dreary platitudes to come up with one potentially exploitable infelicitous sound bite. But with Mr. Bolton, the damaging quotes hang off the trees and drop straight into your bucket. Five minutes' casual mooching through the back catalog and your cup runneth over:
The U.N.? "There is no such thing as the United Nations."
Reform of the Security Council? "If I were redoing the Security Council, I'd have one permanent member... the United States."
International law? "It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law."
Offering incentives to rogue states? "I don't do carrots."
But he does do shtick. I happen to agree with all the above statements, but I can see why the international community might be throw its hands up and shriek, "Quel horreur." It's not just the rest of the world. Most of the American media are equally stunned. The New York Times wondered what Mr. Bush's next appointment would be: "Donald Rumsfeld to negotiate a new set of Geneva Conventions? Martha Stewart to run the Securities and Exchange Commission?"
OK, I get the hang of this game. Sending John Bolton to be ambassador to the U.N. is like ... putting Sudan and Zimbabwe on the Human Rights Commission. Or letting Saddam's Iraq chair the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. Or sending a bunch of child-sex fiends to man U.N. operations in the Congo. And the Central African Republic. And Sierra Leone, and Burundi, Liberia, Haiti, Kosovo, and pretty much everywhere else. All of the above happened without the U.N. fetishists running around shrieking hysterically. Why should America be the only country not to enjoy an uproarious joke at the U.N.'s expense?
That's why the Bolton flap is very revealing about conventional wisdom on transnationalism. Diplomats are supposed to be "diplomatic." I mentioned a month or so ago the late Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson's bon mot: Diplomacy is the art of letting the other fellow have your way.
In other words, you were polite, discreet, circumspect, etc., as means to an end. Not anymore. None of John Bolton's detractors is worried his bluntness will jeopardize the administration's policy goals. Quite the contrary. They're concerned the administration has policy goals -- that it isn't yet willing to subordinate its national interest to the polite transnational pieties. In that sense, our understanding of "diplomacy" has become corrupted: It's no longer the language through which nation-states treat with one another so much as the code-speak consensus of a global elite.
For much of the civilized world, the transnational pabulum has become an end in itself, one largely unmoored from anything so tiresome as reality. It doesn't matter if there is any global warming or, if so, whether Kyoto will do anything about it or, if you ratify Kyoto, whether you bother to comply with it. It only matters that you sign on to the transnational articles of faith. The same thinking applies to the International Criminal Court, and Darfur, and the Oil-for-Fraud program, and anything else involving the United Nations.
That's what John Bolton had in mind with his observations about international law: "It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law even when it may seem in our short-term interest to do so -- because, over the long term, the goal of those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrict the United States."
Just so. When George Bush the elder went through the U.N. to assemble his Stanley Gibbons coalition for the first Gulf War, it may have been a "diplomatic triumph" but it was also the biggest single contributing factor to the received wisdom in the decade and a half since that only the U.N. has the international legitimacy to sanction war. That in turn amplifies the U.N. claim to sole global legitimacy in a thousand other areas, big and small -- the environment, guns, smoking, taxation. Yet the assumption behind much of the criticism of Mr. Bolton from the likes of John Kerry is that, regardless of his government's foreign policy, an ambassador to the United Nations must at some level be a U.N. booster.
Twenty years ago, then Secretary of State George Shultz welcomed Reagan administration ambassadorial appointments to his office and invited each to identify his country on the map. The guy who had just landed the embassy in Chad would invariably point to Chad. "No," Mr. Shultz would say, "this is your country" -- and point to the United States.
Nobody would expect a U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union to be a big booster for the Soviets. And, given that in a unipolar world the most plausible challenger to the United States is transnationalism, these days the Shultz test is even more pertinent for the U.N. ambassador: His country is the United States, not the ersatz jurisdiction of Kofi Annan's embryo world government.
Reporting on the Bolton appointment in the Financial Times, James Harding wrote, "Mr. Bush is eager to re-engage with allies, but is unapologetic about the Iraq war, the policy of pre-emption and the transformational agenda." "Unapologetic"? For what, exactly, should he apologize? The toppling of Saddam? The Iraq election? The first green shoots of liberty in the desert of Middle Eastern "stability"? When you unpick the assumptions behind James Harding's sentence, Mr. Bush's principal offense is remaining "unapologetic" about doing all this without the blessing of the formal transnational decisionmaking process.
Good for him. In recent years, I can find only one example of a senior U.N. figure having the guts to call a member state a "totalitarian regime." It was former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali last autumn, talking about America. Mr. Bolton's sin isn't that he is "undiplomatic" but that he's correct.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/21/2005 10:30:07 AM ||
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Steyn is really getting mileage out of this column. Is this day 3?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/21/2005 12:16 Comments ||
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Hard service in Iraq is wearing out some of the US military's core weapons. Tanks, armored vehicles, and aircraft are being run at rates two to six times greater than in peacetime, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told Congress earlier this month. The bad news here is they may need to be replaced. But there's good news too, according to Secretary Rumsfeld: It's possible they can be replaced with something better. The need to refurbish equipment "is providing an opportunity to adjust the capabilities of the force earlier than otherwise might have been the case," Rumsfeld told the House Armed Services Committee on March 10.
Perhaps the same might be said of the military as a whole. Two years after the invasion of Iraq, the tough work of helping rebuild a nation while fighting an insurgency has profoundly affected the organization and deployment of United States forces. Whatever Iraq becomes, the American way of war may never be the same. Throughout the services there's a new emphasis on mobility, guerrilla-fighting skills, and special forces. These changes might have occurred whether President Bush ordered the toppling of Saddam Hussein or not. But the urgency created by war may be making it easier for Secretary Rumsfeld to pursue a long-sought transformation of the Pentagon.
-snip-
The Army and Marines have created the kind of units needed for counterinsurgency. The Pentagon is increasing the size of special forces - 500 new Green Berets are scheduled to be added this year, for instance. Veteran special-forces operators are now eligible for reenlistment bonuses of up to $150,000.
Slowly, after some missteps, the military is moving to provide troops with extra protection tailored to the manner in which insurgents fight. This means body armor, and armor for Humvees and other transport vehicles. But at a recent hearing members of Congress still pleaded with Gen. John Abizaid, commander of US Central Command, to ship a stockpile of ballistic glass to Iraq, so that troops could custom-fit window shields. General Abizaid admitted that there was a lesson for the military in the fact that troops were unprepared to combat improvised explosives and other guerrilla weapons. "We have to design our armed forces for the 360-degree battlefield and not the linear battlefield," he told House Armed Services Committee members.
-snip-
Yet Iraq - and more broadly, the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan - is also providing the military with opportunity for comprehensive change. The US may have gone to war with the Army it had, to paraphrase Secretary Rumsfeld. But it's likely to leave the war with armed services that are considerably different.
Take the Navy. In the old days it had a strict 18-month cycle for ship deployments, notes Thompson of the Lexington Institute. This meant six months at sea, followed by six months downtime, and six months spent preparing for the next deployment. That's been changed so that deployments are less automatic, and more responsive to events in the world. Such tactics as switching crews while ships remain at sea in effect increases the Navy's size, as it can lower the number in port. The Navy "now has a completely new model based on surging in response to threats," says Thompson.
The Air Force, for its part, is inevitably becoming less fighter-centric. The most important airplane in Iraq, according to Abizaid of Central Command, has been the C-17 airlifter. For this reason, plus budget pressure, the projected numbers of the new F-22 fighter are dwindling.
Then there's the Army. With the Marines, it has shouldered most of the Iraqi fighting, and suffered many of the casualties.
Iraq has given the Army an opportunity to test and change its new Stryker brigades, which, with their wheeled armored vehicles, are intended as a lighter and faster-acting fighting force. It has put the service on notice of its need for greater modularity - in which each division might be less unique, with interchangeable smaller units. "The Army has been through very tough times in the last four years. What has come out is a determination to really completely change its organization," says Mr. Thompson.
Right now the US military is embarking on a new Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) process, a periodic exercise in which the Pentagon leadership sets down a broad vision for the structure and use of US forces in the world. If nothing else the QDR this time may allow the Pentagon and the Congress to draw on the Iraq experience and decide how to balance the demands of peacekeeping and war-fighting in the modern age. "We need as a nation to decide what we want our military to be," says Jack Spencer, a military analyst at the Heritage Foundation.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/21/2005 3:29:24 PM ||
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Ultimately, warfighting is way more important than peacekeeping. It's one thing to lose a few thousand troops in an insurgency. Losing a shooting war with China could involve tens of thousands of dead Americans. No question here about priorities - situations like Iraq are little more than skirmishes extended over time, whereas China poses a threat of a much larger scale, in terms of the resources required, and the assets at risk.
#2
I am confident Mr. Rumsfeld will make sure that the QDR focuses on China. However, the U. S. will never create a military capability sufficient to defeat China during peace time. Fortunately, what we need do to prevent China from defeating us is to maintain naval, air and space supremacy, something much easier than amassing sufficient military capability to defeat China.
A shooting war with China would involve tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dead Americans regardless of the outcome.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/21/2005 20:58 Comments ||
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ZF your comments reminded me of passages in Robert Utley's book Frontier Regulars, chapter three, The Problem of Doctrine -
"Neither West Point nor the postgraduate schools addressed themselves more than incidentlally to the special conditions and requirements of Indian warfare. Indian campaigns found their way into professional literature as interesting history rather than as case studies from which lessons of immediate relevance might be drawn...Military thought continued to focus on the next foreign war, as General Hancock make clear when he advised a congressional committee in 1976 that the Indian service of the Army was 'entitled to no weight' in determining the proper strength, composition, and organization of the army. Yet for a full century, with brief interludes of foreign and civil war, Indian service was the primary mission of the army."
"Instead, for a century the army tried to perform its unconventional mission with conventional organizations and methods. The result was an Indian record thta contained more failures than successes and a lack of preparedness for conventional war that became painfully evident in 1812, 1846, 1861 and 1898."
BTW, I'm not aware of anyone in a position of responsibility or authority advocating any campaign plan or potential fight on the Chinese mainland. However, I'm sure you can point me to one.
#4
Mrs D - apparently maintaining that military superiority now involves not sharing our miltech with NATO countries. Sad, that countries can be such business money whores that past alliances and past ass-saving is forgotten for the pieces of silver, no?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2005 21:21 Comments ||
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ZF - peacekeeping is being ready (really ready) for warfighting. That's why we won the cold war. Nobody wanted to fight it, but the military was ready to win - even at the expense of most of the rest of the planet, if it came to that!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/21/2005 23:13 Comments ||
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The American Civil Liberties Union has warned the 950 volunteers expected to take part next month in an Arizona border vigil against illegal immigration that it is assigning monitors to ensure none of the aliens are abused. The warning came in the wake of meetings last week by five senators from Mexico's three political parties, who voiced their concerns to Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, state legislators, civic leaders and the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "We're very worried about it," Sen. Sadot Sanchez Carreno of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and chairman of the Mexican Senate's human rights committee, told reporters in Phoenix. In the days following the meetings, Mexico filed a diplomatic note with the United States asking for assurances the volunteers, who begin their monthlong vigil April 1 as members of the "Minuteman Project," do not abuse Mexicans caught illegally entering the United States.
You don't want them "abused", keep them home.
Geronimo Gutierrez, undersecretary for North American affairs at Mexico's Foreign Ministry, wrote that actions by the volunteers "could be in violation of federal and state laws to the detriment of Mexican citizens," adding that Mexico did not want "the rights of its citizens transgressed." Meanwhile, the ACLU of Arizona announced it was training legal observers to follow and document the activities of the Minuteman volunteers. "The purpose of legal observers is to deter abuses, document the actions of these individuals and highlight the real tragedies that occur along the border," ACLU spokesman Ray Ybarra said. "Perhaps someday, we will live in a society where no human being will have to face death and hatred in pursuit of work that this country requires." Mr. Ybarra also said the organization will have lawyers on standby ready to file civil cases against the volunteers, who he described as "vigilantes" who will "attempt to take out their frustrations on a group of individuals who are simply in search of a better life." He said they could "come to our state as 'vigilantes' and end up leaving as 'defendants.'
James Gilchrist, a California accountant who organized the Minuteman Project, said the volunteers will be posted at 200-yard intervals a mile inside the border to observe illegal aliens coming into this country and report them to the U.S. Border Patrol, but will not confront them. "We are American citizens who want to freely assemble under the First Amendment to express our displeasure with federal, state and local appointees who have been charged with U.S. immigration laws and have left us wide open for another terrorist attack," Mr. Gilchrist said. Mr. Charlton, according to spokeswoman Sandy Raynor, told the Mexican lawmakers U.S. authorities also would monitor the volunteers and that "anyone who violates anyone else's civil rights within the United States will have to face punishment." Steve Wilson, spokesman for Mr. Goddard, said the attorney general told the legislators he had little jurisdiction over U.S. immigration laws or possible civil rights violations, but his office would seek to ensure no violence was aimed at the aliens or the volunteers.
The more the ACLU bitches about it, the more press coverage the protestors will get. Why, it's almost like they planned it that way.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/21/2005 9:32:51 AM ||
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The big question is how many video cameras are going to be out there. Imagine movie after movie showing herds of illegals like in the Hollywood movie "Born in East L.A." But unlike the normal flood of illegals, most ordinary Mexicans will avoid that border crossing for a month--instead, many of the crossers will be looking for a fight. Crossing the border could soon be seen the same as when Poncho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico. Nothing quite like a few firefights to get peoples' attention.
#3
The American Civil Liberties Union has warned the 950 volunteers expected to take part next month in an Arizona border vigil against illegal immigration that it is assigning monitors to ensure none of the aliens are abused.
A few "warning shots across the bow" should suffice.
Geronimo Gutierrez, undersecretary for North American affairs at Mexico's Foreign Ministry, wrote that actions by the volunteers "could be in violation of federal and state laws to the detriment of Mexican citizens," adding that Mexico did not want "the rights of its citizens transgressed."
Keep 'em away from the border, preferably on the Mexico side, and nothing will happen.
#4
Cheer-up,maybe we will get some video of these proto-communist,city bred tranzies stumbling around the Sonoran and Mojavi deserts.Should to be very intertaining.
#6
I would trade the Mexican government even up, 1 ACLU lawyer for each 10 illegals (I would do 1 to 1, but that would be too heavy a burden on Mexico), with the only provision that they have to keep the lawyers from recrossing the border for at least 10 years (or permanently, if they so chose, after all they are lawyers, not protected species like kangaroo rats). Financially, this would be a win - win.
#7
I hope the Miniutemen are armed with Video. I think a video of the ACLU 'staging' an incident (and I do think that they are capable and willing to stage an incident) would be interesting (even if the MSM would never show it).
#8
I emailed a suggestion about the ACLU to the Minutemen Project and did receive an answer. They are not really worried about the ACLU given that the majority of their volunteers will be on land that is privately owned with the ACLU not invited and they also aren't too sure of these 'observers' being able to keep up and find them.
If you look over the MMP site, you'll see they intend each patrol to have *at least* one videocamera and they are under orders to avoid any contact with the illegals if they can. Procedure is for the patrols to simply report their location, numbers, etc to the MMP and to the Border Patrol.
#11
..the majority of their volunteers will be on land that is privately owned with the ACLU not invited..
Don't count on the ACLU obeying a no trespassing edict or appropriate signage. An armed patrol would probably be necessary, whether it be the landowners themselves or qualified individuals under contract.
#12
BAR - In that case the ACLU and MSM will play *that* as the Miniutemen 'hiding something' instead of a landowner not wanting the ACLU on contaminating their property.
Apologies in advance for the editing, I tried to cut out as much of the background material as possible. If this guy is a Chechen terrorist, though, there is no way I want him on US soil.
The apartment felt like a safe house. The curtains were drawn. Someone else's family portraits hung on the walls, and a stranger's books lined the shelves. Other than a small framed photograph of the sons he had not seen in nearly three years, Ilyas Akhmadov hadn't bothered to unpack in the two weeks that he'd been there. His meager belongings stood near the door, ready for a hasty exit.
The 44-year-old fugitive Chechen rebel leader had made more than a few hurried departures on his way to becoming one of Russia's most wanted men, and he had been almost constantly on the move since fellow insurgents smuggled him out of war-torn Grozny in 1999. But on the day intermediaries arranged for us to first meet last fall, Akhmadov seemed anxious not to leave the temporary sanctuary offered by this borrowed two-bedroom apartment.
"Will you have another coffee?" he asked shyly in Russian. It was his fifth and my fourth, and the air had grown thick from countless cigarettes. As he spoke of Chechnya's two-century struggle for independence, smoke swirled around his spiky gray mustache, and, in the dark, caffeinated atmosphere, he looked momentarily like the sinister image of the jihadist mastermind he is accused of being. "I'm a little afraid to go outside," he finally confessed. "Someone might recognize me."
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
ILYAS AKHMADOV
Chechnya
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 12:21:13 AM ||
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It was a feature article in WaPo Sunday magazine. I'll move most of this to Page 71 but it is worth reading. Thanks for the editing, Dan; I didn't really feel like tackling it myself. The part that interested me is the A-list of names supporting him--why are all these pols and policy types defending him?
#3
I have absolutely no idea why all these folks are defending him, could be he's innocent. All the stuff against him could be Russian propaganda, certainly wouldn't be the first time they've lied to us on Chechnya-related stuff. Oh, and for all those who think that all the Islamist is nothing but Russian propaganda, Akhmadov himself describes Basayev as an Islamo-fascist in league with Binny's lieutenant Khattab.
This is honestly the first time I'd ever really heard of Akhmadov, he certainly doesn't seem to be as high-profile as Zakayev. Still, if he has any ties whatsoever to the monster that orchestrated Beslan I want his ass deported to Russia ASAP. He and Vlad would deserve each other.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 3:13 Comments ||
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Here's the Rantburg archives for Akhmadov. Not a lot of specifics. I like the comments to this article.
#5
If he is a terrorist I want him gone, even if he was only peripheral to terrorist acts. This two faced stance on the Chechens is BS. None of them are "freedom fighters." That list of "supporters" doesn't do a thing for me
#6
It is reassuring to return to that cold war sense of universal non-credibility, suspicion, and unknown motives. Perhaps Le Carre can get a new novel out of this.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/21/2005 7:21 Comments ||
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Mrs D-
Actually, as much as I liked LeCarre's George Smiley books, he is in reality a Grade A World Class Moonbat. He's so far out of it, he thought Bill Clinton was a war criminal.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/21/2005 7:51 Comments ||
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#8
Let him go back and face his own. I'd bet there are more than a few people still alive in Chechnya who know him and would welcome the opportunity to have achat with him. Poor beastie, he's afraid to go outside! The fresh air and sunlight of Chechnya may do him more good than he could imagine. His supporters could go back with him too and the swank 2 bedroom apartment he's holed up in could be put to better purposes in the exchange.
#9
Mrs D-
Actually, as much as I liked LeCarre's George Smiley books, he is in reality a Grade A World Class Moonbat. He's so far out of it, he thought Bill Clinton was a war criminal.
Also, Le Carre is overrated. He can't hold a candle to, say, Charles McCarry as a writer.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
03/21/2005 13:20 Comments ||
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UNITED Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan today unveiled his blueprint for the most sweeping changes to the UN since the world body was founded after World War II. Driven in part by the bitter divisions over the United States-led war in Iraq, which he said had brought the world to a crossroads, Mr Annan wants national leaders to agree on an ambitious list of changes this year. Mr Annan's 63-page report calls to widen the membership of the Security Council — the UN's top organ for international security — and asks it to fix guidelines that would determine when nations may legally go to war. It asks nations to agree on a proposed definition of terrorism, which has been disputed for decades, establish a new human rights council and commit to ambitious goals on development, slashing poverty and building democracy. "In an era of global interdependence, the glue of common interest, if properly perceived, should bind all states together in this cause, as should the impulses of our common humanity," Mr Annan says in the report. "After a period of difficulty in international affairs, in the face of both new threats and old ones in new guises, there is a yearning in many quarters for a new consensus on which to base collective action."
"This is a deal that the secretary general is offering the world," Annan's chief-of-staff Mark Malloch Brown said at UN headquarters in New York. "It's not an a la carte package. We believe the whole thing has to hold together." World leaders will hold a summit here in September, by which time Mr Annan is hoping most of the changes — including those contentious issues that have defied agreement for years — will be hammered out. "If it doesn't come to a head by that (summit), the fear is that it just drifts into another period without a deadline," Mr Malloch Brown said.
The main changes would have to be agreed by two thirds of the UN's 191-member nations as well as by the five veto-wielding permanent Security Council members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. It remains unclear how much political will exists for substantive change. But Mr Malloch Brown said momentum had been growing for sweeping reforms. "I think there is a huge support for the idea that it's time for a bold and practical deal of this kind," he said.
Mr Annan put forward two options for expanding Security Council membership from the present 15 to 24 nations — one of which would add new permanent members — and called for the creation of a peace-building commission. He also issued a call for a new human rights council to be elected by member states as part of an overall bid to stress that development, health and rights are essential factors in the freedom and security of peoples and nations. "Even if he can vote to choose his rulers, a young man with AIDS who cannot read or write and lives on the brink of starvation is not truly free," Mr Annan writes in the report's introduction. "Equally, even if she earns enough to live, a woman who lives in the shadow of daily violence and has not say in how her country is run is not truly free."
Though in the works for more than a year, the report comes with the UN buffeted by a series of high-profile scandals that has focused the spotlight on itsmismanagement. It also comes with Security Council nations at a deadlock over tackling the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, where UN officials say as many as 180,000 people have died in fighting between the Sudanese government and rebels.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
03/21/2005 2:02:47 AM ||
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More blathering from one of my favorite anti-American morons trying to save his Tranzi dream.
The only changes that would be worth considering are a promise to stay out of US sovereign affairs and foreign policy.
Of course a reduction of the percentage of the UN budget the US pays from around 1/4 to 1/191 as is fair in my view, and move it to Brussels of course. Anything less than that is window dressing.
The UN ultimately needs to be dissovled, period. Many RBer's have given much more eloquent arguements than I could hope to put together for the reasons why - but they should be apparent to even the most mildy alert Americans that the UN is nothing but no good.
My sense that the UN is capable of acting correctly was never established so I don't need to worry about it being restored. I would like to see them fall on their sword though with a wave of arrests and lengthy jail terms for those involved in the oil for food embbezzlement, and I'm talking EVERYONE.
But we all know Kofi will never man up.
#2
"...establish a new human rights council and commit to ambitious goals on development..."
Translation: more bureaucracy and his hand deeper in your pocket.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/21/2005 8:05 Comments ||
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#6
I don't see what the big deal is. I've never been to the UN, but are the floors that dirty? Do they really need to reform their sweeping that badly?
Certainly, there will be no attempt to fix the core problems of the UN. For a start, the UN delegate must be elected in an honest, unrestricted, multi-party, election, or appointed by a government that was elected thusly. No more appointees of Castro or the Mad Mullahs. There are many other serious structural problems, but there's really no point in doing anything else unless that is fixed. "Accountability" means nothing when you are "accountable" to thieves and murderers.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the United Nations on Sunday to expand the Security Council from 15 to 24 members and scrap the Commission on Human Rights as part of a package of sweeping reforms at the world body. Annan said the council's expansion was crucial to making the United Nations "more broadly representative of the international community as a whole and the geopolitical realities of today."
The secretary general urged member states to agree to green light his proposal prior to a summit of world leaders, scheduled for September 2005 at the United Nations in New York. Annan, in a report to be delivered today (Monday) to the 191-nation UN General Assembly, also waded into the debate over the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, calling on the Security Council to set out rules for when it should authorise the use of military force. However, in the use of force as well as in reform of the Security Council, Annan did not set out his own recommendations, leaving these questions to UN members. Annan's plan aims to preserve the United Nations as the focus of global multilateral action and also to respond to growing criticism of the United Nations, fuelled by allegations of sex abuses by peacekeepers and mismanagement of the $67-billion oil-for-food plan for Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
A nice little bribe for those countries that would support him against U.S. demands for openness and honesty and other horrible things.
#2
Why don't we just kill the UN instead? No more seats on the Security Council, their are no nations deserving to be on it. Infact there is one nation that no longer even has a place on the council. Kick France off and put India in it's place. All Kofi is up to is trying to screw the United States and paper over the gross malfeasance rampant in the current administration and through out the various offices of the UN.
DAMASCUS: Businessman Osama Mohammed is so insulted by the anti-Syrian curses Lebanese protesters are chanting and by reports of Syrians being murdered in Lebanon he has stopped going to Beirut to shop, dine and watch movies. "I'm boycotting everything Lebanese until my dignity is restored," said Mohammed.
Hotel executive Imad Mansour has withdrawn his life's savings from a Lebanese bank because he has lost trust in Lebanon's economy - which has been a boost to Syria's economy for years - and worries he will have no access to his money if that country becomes too dangerous for Syrians. And Ali Serhan, who has been driving his cab to Lebanon for 10 years, barely finds customers for the three-hour trip across the border.
Many Syrians suddenly feel embittered and insecure in a country where they had always felt at an advantage. During 29 years of control in their tiny neighbor, Syrians have come to see Lebanon as an engine of wealth, a place to play and a source of jobs for Syria's many unemployed. And they have always been told by the government that their troops - deployed in 1976 initially as peacekeepers in Lebanon's civil war and reaching up to 40,000 at one point - were benefiting the Lebanese by helping preserve stability. But that control has started to erode after Syria completed the pullback of its forces and intelligence agents from western Lebanon to the eastern Bekaa Valley a few days ago.
Now Syrians are seeing the sneering banners, jibes and chants - sometimes outright obscene - that Lebanese protesters have directed at the Syrians during street rallies, and they have heard the anti-Syrian jokes, some of them racist and cruel, spread by e-mail and phone text messages in Lebanon. And they're hearing reports of attacks on Syrians. One Syrian has been confirmed killed and several injured in stabbings and limited clashes following the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, blamed by many Lebanese on Syria or the Damascus-allied government. Reports in the Syrian media say 35 Syrians have been killed, but there has been no official Syrian or Lebanese confirmation of that figure. Lebanese opposition leaders have urged protesters not to attack Syrians.
Syria's tight hold kept Lebanese from voicing resentment toward Syria's presence until recently, meaning Syrians heard little of it directly; and Syria's state-run media painted the presence only as a benefit to Lebanon. Syrian leaders often say the Syrians and Lebanese are "one people in two countries," and the late President Hafez Assad once said: "What is between Syria and Lebanon is God-made."
But in a speech on March 5, President Bashar Assad became the first Syrian official to publicly admit that not "all our acts in Lebanon were correct."
"Yes, there were mistakes, but what we're seeing from the Lebanese is spite and hatred," said Mohammed, the businessman, as he ate a dinner of chicken and rice with three friends at a trendy Damascus cafe. "The Syrian soldiers sacrificed their lives for Lebanon's stability. We're getting ingratitude in return."
His friend, Shadi Thafer, a 31-year-old physiotherapist, recounted the story of a Syrian colleague whose car windows were smashed in Lebanon's skiing resort of Faraya a few days ago.
Noor Moussa told the men the issue was not so much Syrian-hating Lebanese as an American plot to weaken Arab countries and consolidate U.S. control over oil resources and ensure Israel's security. "America is an empire that aspires to spread its influence outside its borders and doesn't want to have powerful nations in the region," said Moussa, a 28-year-old radiologist, sipping thick black coffee. "Close ties between Lebanon and Syria make the two countries strong." The fear and paranoia are not only among Syrians.
Shopkeepers in Damascus say there's a huge drop in Lebanese coming to shop for cheaper clothes, fabric and food on the weekend. "The passenger situation is not normal," said Serhan, the driver. "I used to make up to three trips a day before. Now I barely make a couple a week."
I guess they're voting....with their wallets
The tensions are likely to hurt the closely integrated economies of Lebanon and Syria. Lebanon relies on hundreds of thousands of Syrian workers who do jobs the Lebanese shun - mainly in farming and construction - and the workers send home hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Their numbers have dwindled in the last few weeks because many are too scared to venture back into Lebanon. At home, they will be an economic burden, adding to the 20 percent unemployment. In addition, Lebanese banks will be affected if Syrians withdraw their substantial deposits.
Andrew Tabler, a Damascus-based fellow at the Institute of Current World Affairs and consulting editor for Syria Today, pointed out Lebanese banks still service the majority of foreign-currency letters of credit that allow Syrians to import goods, partly because the facilities do not exist in Syria and also because Syria has been under U.S. sanctions that were imposed in 1979 and strengthened last year. "Going through Lebanon is a good way to get around (the sanctions)," said Tabler.
Yes, isn't it though. Wonder if a free Lebanon would permit that to continue?
Mansour, the hotel executive, said the Lebanese bank manager tried to dissuade him from withdrawing his money. "I refused. I'm scared the Lebanese economy will deteriorate," he said. "Who wants to live with such worry?"
Posted by: Steve ||
03/21/2005 1:10:21 PM ||
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until my dignity is restored
Lol - since he's an Arab, that will be a while.
President Emile Lahoud will not bow to pressure from the anti-Syrian opposition to resign, a senior aide said Sunday as the crisis in Lebanon deepens since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Lahoud's media adviser stressed the president can be forced to step down only if he is impeached by Parliament for either violation of the constitution or high treason. "Since these two matters have not occurred ... this issue is out of the question for the president," Rafik Shalala told The Associated Press. Lahoud, Shalala said, "will not relinquish power and leave a constitutional vacuum in the country."
"Instead he'll remain in power and hope the whole thing blows over."
Lebanon's president is elected by Parliament. On Saturday, the Druse leader Walid Jumblatt, who is leading the opposition campaign against Syria's military and political role in Lebanon, renewed his call for Lahoud to step down as a way out of the political crisis. "Unless a new president is elected from the current Parliament - and there are many opposition legislators who are qualified to lead the country - the future may be unknown," Jumblatt said in a speech to supporters. Only Jumblatt and four other legislators - and not the entire opposition - have demanded Lahoud's resignation.
But Wally's currently the most prominent opposition figure, even if not the most well-beloved...
Lebanon's most prominent anti-Syrian opposition leader, former army commander Gen. Michel Aoun, said from France that he is against Lahoud's resignation for now because the current 128-member legislature, packed with Syria's supporters, can elect a new president loyal to Damascus. "We do not want to bring the president down under the present Parliament because this Parliament can immediately elect a pro-Syrian president," Aoun said in a statement published Sunday by An-Nahar newspaper.
I don't think Wally actually wants him to step down yet, either. But isolating Lahoud enhances the opposition position in the upcoming elections. It also draws a more distinct line between who's on which side.
Also Sunday, an eight-member delegation from the U.S. Congress visited Lebanon briefly to pay condolences to Hariri's family and meet opposition figures. "The purpose of our visit to Lebanon, as a congressional delegation, is to say to the people of Lebanon that the world is watching," said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, of California, who headed the delegation. The delegation demanded a full withdrawal of Syrian troops. U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen also called for calm in Lebanon, saying he is worried that another Lebanese leader might be assassinated, An-Nahar reported Sunday. He did not name the leader.
That'd be Wally he's not naming...
The president on Saturday decided to stay away from an Arab summit in Algeria, citing "exceptional circumstances" after a car bomb rocked a Christian neighborhood in Beirut, injuring nine people and raising the specter of renewed violence.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 12:24:30 AM ||
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#3
Funny, if Pelosi had her way, Hezbullah would run Lebenon and Syria was just doing a fine job of policing Lebanon. It was only AFTER that she saw the demonstrations that she suddenly became a supporter of Democracy in Lebanon.
Syria looks set to pull all of its troops out of Lebanon ahead of upcoming elections, the Syrian ambassador to Britain said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. "I don't have clear information... However I tend to believe that we will be out before the elections," Sami Khiyami told Britain's ITV Television. Asked whether he meant that all Syria's troops and intelligence elements would leave the country, the ambassador replied: "All troops ... All intelligence operatives." UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said he expects a complete withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon before a legislative election is held. The vote in principle will take place by May 31. On Thursday, the Syrian army completed the first stage of a planned pullback ahead of schedule, with some 4,000 troops having returned home, as more symbols of its near-30-year presence in Lebanon were hauled down.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Lebanon's crisis deepened yesterday with the opposition spurning a plea for dialogue from the pro-Syrian president and as a UN envoy said he feared another high-profile political killing in the country. Opposition figures led by veteran Druze politician Walid Jumblatt rejected an appeal for talks that President Emile Lahoud issued Saturday after a bomb blast in a Christian quarter injured 11 people and sparked fears of a return to sectarian violence here. Lahoud later scrapped plans to attend an Arab summit in Algiers this week.
The opposition rejection means that an ominous standoff between anti-Syrian opponents and the current leadership is set to continue in an atmosphere of mounting political tension that followed the assassination Feb. 14 of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. A special United Nations envoy to Lebanon and Syria, meanwhile, warned that under current circumstances Lebanon could suffer another political killing. "I am truly worried about the possibility that a major Lebanese figure could be assassinated," envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said in remarks carried yesterday by Beirut Arabic-language newspapers. "I had sensed trouble before the assassination of Hariri."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Looks a little like Hugo Chavez, but then again, maybe it's just the sash
The U.S. State Department has confirmed that the issue of the sale of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan did come up during Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's recent visit to Islamabad, and in return Washington may have sought President Musharraf's cooperation in dealing with Iran.
According to a online report of Asia Times, Islamabad may have agreed to host US troops and intelligence assets near Pakistan's border with Iran in preparation for a possible attack on Iran and probably agreed to train American forces in Karachi in return for some kind of commitment on F-16 deliveries.
Rice, according to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, thanked Musharraf for Pakistan's "superb support in the war on terror". The possible sale of F-16 fighter planes came up, Boucher said, but he gave no details, reports the Daily Times.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 2:24:28 PM ||
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The fact that Pakistan places so much importance on acquiring F-16's, in view of their purchase of the latest Chinese jets, tells me that the Chinese stuff really isn't up to snuff.
From DEBKA-March 20, 2005, 9:01 PM (GMT+02:00) A part of Yasser Arafat's secret hoard - $4 bn - has been documented and accounted for in a painstaking project undertaken by Nigel Roberts, the World Bank's country director for the West Bank, and Palestinian finance minister Salam Fayyad. They have obtained partial information about another $1-2bn and found a further three to four billion invested on Arafat's behalf by two individuals, his chief financial adviser Mohammed Rashid, and Palestinian-born international tycoon Samer Khoury. "You can stop going around with your hat in your hand," a stern US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice told Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) at the London conference on Palestinian reforms earlier this month. "You have all the money you need to transform the economic situation in the Palestinian Authority." She told Abbas to go back to Ramallah and assume immediate control of the Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF) where the bulk of Arafat's money was stashed, or forget about receiving a single aid dollar from international donors.
Pressed for details on their findings, Roberts and Fayyad explained: Arafat kept an iron grip on all the moneys flowing to the Palestinian Authority after it was established by the 1993 Oslo Accords. World donors contribute at least $8 bn towards the creation of jobs and building infrastructure - schools, medical facilities, water works and roads. According to the Los Angeles Times, the PA was awarded "one of the most expensive development programs ever granted on a per-capita basis." But Arafat had other goals in mind. He diverted the lion's share to profitable investment on the advice of Rashid, who conferred with Khoury at his offices in Greece on the highest-yielding outlets. Khoury often secretly handled the investment through his own company.
In 2002, world aid givers began demanding guarantees that that their contributions were not being spent to fuel the Palestinian terrorist war against Israel then raging in its third year. The Palestinian Investment Fund was set up to provide "responsible stewardship" for Palestinian Authority assets and holdings and ensure they were used to stimulate economic growth — not buy guns. Before long, Khoury got himself appointed to the PIF's audit and nominations committees and Rashid joined the board of directors. This gave them the run of the Fund and kept all investments under Arafat's thumb. Arafat's secret business empire sprawled far and wide, ranging from telecommunications companies in Brazil to Guinea Bissau's national airline and a coffee plantation in Zimbabwe. Eighty percent of international donations accumulated over nearly a decade was invested for profit. The remainder financed terrorism, arms purchases, training, subsistence and payouts to families left bereaved by suicide bombings and other casualties. A portion of the profits supported Arafat's corrupt entourage of cronies, hangers-on and their life style. Not much was left over for creating jobs or building hospitals.
Abu Mazen was sent off from London to start selling off these assets to finance urgent projects for his impoverished people. He was warned that the $350 million pledged the Palestinians would be transferred only when it was matched by income from the sale of PIF properties — a dollar-for-dollar deal. The World Bank has projects ready to go. Roberts cited a $1bn plan to create 50,000 jobs in the Gaza Strip. Back in Ramallah, Abu Mazen ran into his first major obstruction to divestment: Prime minister Ahmed Quriea (Abu Ala), who by withholding his signature has the power to block any Palestinian Authority measure, accused Abbas of surrendering to US-British dictates and opening the door for them to take over Palestinian funds. Then, most of the 11 PIF board members resigned or are about to do so, further disabling the fund's operations. As a result —
1. Projects in which funds have already been invested are left high and dry for lack of anyone to take charge of direction. Most PIF staffers are offspring, relatives or mistresses of senior Palestinian officials who have ordered them to down tools until their own political and financial future is settled.
2. The departure of Arafat, Khoury and Rashid leaves no legal authority to administer the Fund, sign documents on its behalf or appoint new board members. Fayyad is seeking legal advice.
3. Palestinian security and intelligence chiefs are scrambling for PIF appointments and jobs.
Abu Mazen's close allies warn him, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly's Palestinian sources, that without control of the PIF, he will never be more than a figurehead, His rivals have come to the same conclusion and are all now chasing after the billion-dollar fund hoping to lay hands on the wherewithal for buying a following. They are racing all the harder with the approach of the next Palestinian ballots — the April 28 municipal election and the July 17 parliamentary vote. A hefty cash campaign chest can promise victory. It can also buy the undying loyalty of all or some of the endemically corrupt Palestinian security and intelligence services. Conversely, candidates strapped for funds may as well give up. Control of the PIF will also buy political control within Abu Mazen's unruly and divided Fatah party. At the same time, some central party figures warn that the gold rush could destroy the Fatah from within.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/21/2005 11:09:36 AM ||
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#1
Nothing wrong here that another couple of billion won't cure.
Posted by: abu Virginia Compromised ||
03/21/2005 12:22 Comments ||
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[Rice] told Abbas to go back to Ramallah and assume immediate control of the Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF) where the bulk of Arafatâs money was stashed, or forget about receiving a single aid dollar from international donors.
Yee-haw!
Dr. Rice, you da' woman!
If I were a man, I'd be in love. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/21/2005 12:24 Comments ||
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âYou can stop going around with your hat in your hand,â a stern US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice told Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas
*sigh*
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/21/2005 12:31 Comments ||
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Yee-haw! in 96pt bold caps, Barb.
Condi sounds like my wife when she upbraided our sons on the proper use of an allowance. As I recall "that look" was only needed once.
#7
Abu Mazenâs close allies warn him, according to DEBKA-Net-Weeklyâs Palestinian sources, that without control of the PIF, he will never be more than a figurehead, His rivals have come to the same conclusion and are all now chasing after the billion-dollar fund hoping to lay hands on the wherewithal for buying a following. They are racing all the harder with the approach of the next Palestinian ballots â the April 28 municipal election and the July 17 parliamentary vote. A hefty cash campaign chest can promise victory. It can also buy the undying loyalty of all or some of the endemically corrupt Palestinian security and intelligence services. Conversely, candidates strapped for funds may as well give up. Control of the PIF will also buy political control within Abu Mazenâs unruly and divided Fatah party. At the same time, some central party figures warn that the gold rush could destroy the Fatah from within.
Boy, these Paleos are seriously, seriously, phuqued up, and they have Arafart to thank for all of it.
#8
Control of the PIF will also buy political control
if the paleos were simply striving for a homeland, none of this would be necessary. but it's not about that. it's about power and greed, and they use the politics of hate and division for their own purposes. contrast that with how Israel began: everyone came together, from secular Jews to Orthodox, for a common cause - the birth of their nation.
#10
"'You can stop going around with your hat in your hand,' a stern US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice told Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas"
was she wearing the knee boots and black wrap dress?
#12
The fundamental problem viewed from 50,000 feet is that the corrupt sponges who have been in control will no longer have any relevance. They were only interested in instability as "peace" does not bring in the financial assets that would pour in from the EU and the middle east.
Those on the "donor list" for Arafat were merely outsourcing their own dislike of the sucess of Isreal. Take away the ongoing contributions which it is becoming apparent was only arriving at pennies on the dollar after Arafat paid off himself, and the whole payroll will be gone. The corrupt sponges will have to look for real jobs. Peace has never been in the PLO's financial interests.
Edited for brevity.
Several hundred people protesting the U.S. presence in Iraq split into pro- and anti-Egyptian government camps Sunday.
Riot police surrounded both sides as they massed in the capital's main downtown center. Anti-U.S. protests are not unusual here. But a growing and increasingly vocal movement openly opposes the Egyptian government and President Hosni Mubarak. Criticism once voiced only in the privacy of homes or in taxis is now shouted in public over megaphones. Yesterday's protest, falling on the second anniversary of the Iraq war, included members of the new Kefia (Enough) movement, as well as the Islamist-leaning Labor Party, the socialist party and human-rights groups. They shouted "Down with Mubarak and ... the dogs of Mubarak!" and "Down with Bush!"
"Freedom, freedom, where are you?" marchers chanted. "Mubarak is between us and our freedom!" They also shouted "Long live Saddam!" and "Resist, resist, oh Zarqawi!" -- referring to Iraq's deposed dictator and to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's leader in Iraq and the man behind many suicide bombings and hostage beheadings there.
Several Iraqi journalists visiting Cairo rolled their eyes at the pro-Zarqawi and pro-Saddam chants. "They shout to make Iraq bleed more," said one, Awadh Al-Taee. "I hope Zarqawi joins them in Egypt, and then they see how they like it." "It is so sad that they say they support Saddam and Zarqawi," said reporter Salam Jihad. "That means they support the terrorists. ... If they really want Iraq to be liberated, as they say, they should keep their hands off of Iraq. They are so hypocritical."
Posted by: Dar ||
03/21/2005 10:49:16 AM ||
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I dunno. Sounds like a parallel of the typical lefty cognitive disonance. Something's going on. Maybe mankind is splitting into two species--Homo sapiens cognoscus and Homo disonantus miscreanticus. Hopefully, the second species is on an extinction path.
#2
Well - Mubarak is covertly anti-American whereas the opposition is openly anti-American. I suspect if Mubarak gives up his throne, we are in for a spate of big-time anti-Americanism in Egypt. My hope is that we'll have an excuse to finally end the $1b we send to Egypt every year.
#6
Shipman, they hate Mo's guts naturally, so I assure you that you can buy entertainment cheaper than that! 1/10 may be a sufficient to induce seething apoplexy in Pharaohstan.
#7
Several Iraqi journalists visiting Cairo rolled their eyes at the pro-Zarqawi and pro-Saddam chants. "They shout to make Iraq bleed more," said one, Awadh Al-Taee. "I hope Zarqawi joins them in Egypt, and then they see how they like it."
March 20, 2005: While many Sunni Arabs still support al Qaeda, a growing number of key tribes and families do not. Worse yet, for the terrorists, Sunni Arab tribes, clans and families are increasingly at war with al Qaeda. Sunni Arabs are killing al Qaeda groups they believe were responsible for the death of family or friends. But it's also about money, and war crimes trials.
The government controls the oil, and the oil revenue is given out in the form of jobs, bribes and all manner of good things. The coalition also controls billions in foreign aid. This also gets disbursed in the form of jobs and purchases. The coalition also has very effective soldiers that make sure the Sunni Arabs don't cheat when they take money. No longer can Sunni Arabs join the police, and still work with the terrorists. If you want to be a cop, you have to act like one.
The Sunni Arabs never expected all this armed resistance, to Shia and Kurdish rule, to get Sunnis back in power. What they want is a deal on the question of war crimes trials and revenge in general for their complicity in Saddam's decades of atrocities. The armed resistance gives the Sunni Arabs something to bargain with. Of course, the major members of Saddam's gang will go to trial, but there are thousands of lesser officials, nearly all of them Sunni Arabs, who also have blood on their hands, and real concerns about prosecution (legal, or otherwise.) Negotiations have been intense, and many of the Sunni Arab clans and families involved have begun to actively battle al Qaeda gangs in their neighborhoods. These groups are a mixture of Iraqis and foreigners, and are basically armed religious fanatics. There's no negotiating with them, and the terrorists don't apologize if one of their suicide bombers accidentally kills a lot of Sunni Arab civilians. It's Gods will, and all that. Increasingly, Sunni Arabs are fed up with this, and killing al Qaeda in their vicinity, or driving the fanatics out. It will be difficult to prosecute a lot of lesser war criminals who have recently become heroes by fighting al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda members won't negotiate with the Sunni Arabs over compromising with the new Iraqi government. According to al Qaeda belief, the new Iraqi government is illegitimate. The government is the creature of a democratic vote, which al Qaeda considers un-Islamic. Only God can decide such things, not the votes of the people. Moreover, this illegitimate government also allows foreign, non-Moslem, troops to stay in Iraq.
Given a choice between a job with the police or government, and more terrorist violence, the majority of Sunni Arabs are going with peace and paychecks. Each household is allowed to have one weapon, usually an AK-47. The government tolerates, for the moment, clan and tribal chiefs maintaining personal security forces, which sometimes amount to hundreds of armed men. As long as the al Qaeda and anti-government fighters continue to be turned in, dead or alive, the government tolerates the private guns. Al Qaeda is being driven out of the country, and the most effective weapon is not a gun, but angry stares and muttered threats.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/21/2005 10:19:43 AM ||
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Our main weapon is angry stares and muttered, ummm... our two weapons are angry stares, muttered threats and eye rolling, ummmmmm, our 3 main weapons are angry stares, muttered threats, eyes rolling and American dollars....
EFL. A long journalistic color piece by usually reliable John Burns. Perhaps a New Yorker can tell us if this one made page 1. Was the Saturday article just a trial baloon?
As interesting as the content of the article is whether the MYT is making an explicit decision to climb back from the extreme anti-American position it has had for the last few years. After losing Howell Raines, it seems the inmates he left behind took over the asylum. Is this changing?
American soldiers call the street Purple Heart Boulevard: the First Battalion of the Ninth Cavalry, patrolling here for the past year before its recent rotation back to base at Fort Hood, Tex., received more than 160 Purple Hearts. Many patrols were on foot, to gather intelligence on neighborhoods that American officers say have been the base for brutal car bombings, kidnappings and assassinations across Baghdad. In the first 18 months of the fighting, the insurgents mostly outmaneuvered the Americans along Haifa Street, showing they could carry the war to the capital's core with something approaching impunity. ... "We know that we face a learning enemy, just as we learn from him," said Maj. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, who left Baghdad recently after a year commanding the First Cavalry Division, responsible for overall security in Baghdad and for the 800-member task force dedicated to Haifa Street. "But I believe we are gaining the upper hand," he said.
For now, the days when rebels could gather in groups as large as 150, pinning down American troops for as long as six hours at a time, have tapered off. American officers say only three Haifa Street mortars have hit the Green Zone in the past six months; in the last two weeks of September alone, 11 Haifa Street mortars hit the sprawling zone. In recent weeks, with the new Iraqi units on hand, the Americans have sent up to 1,500 men at a time on sweeps, uncovering insurgent weapons caches and arresting insurgent leaders like Ali Mama, the name taken by a gangster who was once a favored hit man for Saddam Hussein. He is now in Abu Ghraib; others who have become local legends with attacks on the Americans have been killed, including one who used the nom-de-guerre Ra'id the Hunter, American intelligence officers say. The two Iraqi battalions, backed by a new battalion from the Third Infantry Division, will now bear the main burden of establishing order in the sprawling district around Haifa Street - three miles deep and about half as wide, encompassing about 170,000 people, the city's main railway yards, current and former government buildings, and the Mansour Melia Hotel, favored by many Westerners based in Baghdad. ...
American morale, for the moment, is high. Lt. Col. Thomas D. Macdonald, the cavalry division officer who commanded the Haifa Street task force, believes that the Iraqis, with an affinity for their own people, can push the rebels farther back. "I've got the enemy to the point where he can't do large-scale operations anymore, only the small-scale stuff," he said recently, during one of his last patrols, at the head of a company of 120 soldiers. "If we put in more Iraqi garrisons like this, that will be the final nail in the coffin."
When Iraqi units began to serve in combat zones, desertion rates were high. During the first offensive in Falluja, last April, some soldiers refused to fight. But over the past nine months, a $5 billion American-financed effort has bought Iraqi units more than 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles, 100,000 flak jackets, 110,000 pistols, 6,000 cars and pickup trucks, and 230 million rounds of ammunition. In place of the single Iraqi battalion trained last June, there are more than 90 battalions now, totaling about 60,000 army and special police troops. No one is certain how many insurgents they face; the number, including foot soldiers, safe-house operators, organizers and financiers, is estimated to be 12,000 to 20,000. Iraqi units still complain about unequal equipment, particularly the lack of the heavy armor the Americans use, like Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams tanks. But the complaints among American officers about "tiny heart syndrome" - a caustic reference to some Iraqi units' unwillingness to expose themselves to combat - have diminished. "Now, they're ready to fight," said Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American officer overseeing the retraining effort, in a recent interview at his Green Zone headquarters. snip. We could probably have gotten to this point a lot sooner if we had not pursued the de-Baathification policy. It still seems like the correct decision to me, but it will be interesting to see what we think about it in 5 years.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/21/2005 8:34:39 AM ||
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Arthur Sulzberger continues to piss away his once magnificent inheritance to stay in the good graces of the Kool Aid Kocktail Circuit Krowd. The New Yellow Times is rotten from top to bottom. Burns needs a smoke detector and a new inner ear, it seems, to alert him he's on a ship that's burning and sinking.
#2
Mrs. D: In the national print edition this is front-page below the fold (close but no cigar.)
The main thing the NYT has done with its Iraq coverage is to contract it from a couple of front-page articles and two full inside pages down to usually one front-page article and one inside page. Oddly enough, this change occurred shortly after January 30.
Burns is good but you get the impression that the editors are on-call 24 hours a day to dilute any positive reports. For example: "American morale, for the moment, is high..." "For the moment" looks like it was stuck in by an editor, and what the hell does it mean? That we should expect a collapse in American morale any minute? In your transi dreams, NYT dudes.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/21/2005 10:40 Comments ||
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#3
MD: We could probably have gotten to this point a lot sooner if we had not pursued the de-Baathification policy.
Don't really see it. De-Baathification was necessary because we weren't going to run Iraq like a protectorate, which is what we did in West Germany. We wrote Germany's constitution and let them elect their own leaders 5 years after the end of the war. There was no question of West Germany ejecting US troops at any time in the occupation. Any attempt to do that in the first few decades of the postwar era would have resulted in the disbanding of the West German Army (Bundeswehr) and a protracted war to keep the West Germans down. These are not options with Iraq.
#5
Someone, that's by Edward Wong. If Wong saw Rummy using Zarqawi's head as a bowling ball, he'd find some way to spin it.
"The toughness of Mr. Zarqawi's skull enabled the beleaguered Secretary of Defense to pick up a difficult spare, foreshadowing further resurgence blah blah blah..."
Posted by: Matt ||
03/21/2005 15:39 Comments ||
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#6
Greyhawk over at Mudville Gazette isn't very happy with Mr. Wong's reportage:
"Those who disembowel aid workers and turn victims of Down's Syndrome into 'suicide bombers' have no greater champion than Ed Wong."
I'm not so sure about that. Dexter Filkins of the NYT is pretty close.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/21/2005 18:46 Comments ||
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A judge has set an Aug. 23 trial date in the case filed against the Republic of Sudan by the families of the victims of the 2000 attack on the destroyer Cole. Sudan is accused of providing the financing and training for al-Qaida terrorists who carried out the attack. U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar, who is presiding over the suit, ruled Wednesday that the case will go forward even though Sudan has never responded to the legal action.
The suit, initially filed in July by seven victims' relatives, now includes all 17 families of those killed in the blast. They will be seeking tens of millions of dollars from the East African nation. The attack on the Norfolk-based Cole in the harbor at Aden, Yemen, killed 17 sailors on Oct. 12, 2000. Six suspected al-Qaida operatives were charged in Yemen with plotting the attack. Six of the sailors and their families lived in Norfolk at the time. Three widows remain here, but they have been reluctant to speak publicly due to the legal action.
There are 58 family members involved in the suit, including 10 children, according to James Cooper-Hill, a Texas attorney for the Cole plaintiffs. "Understandably, for many, it's a very emotionally draining situation," Cooper-Hill said Thursday . "Some people really don't want to testify. It's very painful for them."
He said he plans to have six to eight relatives of Cole victims testify at the Aug. 23 trial. He and other attorneys involved are scheduling depositions with all family members. Initial court filings said that the suit would seek $105 million for the seven families that filed first. The total amount sought for all 17 families has not been disclosed. Cooper-Hill said he realizes that Sudan is a poor nation. He and the other attorneys have sought congressional approval for payment from $29 million in Sudanese assets that the United States has frozen.
A number of families initially did not want to sue and instead sought compensation through the Sept. 11, 2001, fund set up by Congress, Cooper-Hill said. When legislation to add those names failed to get approval, those families joined the suit. Sudan has not responded to the lawsuit and is not expected to participate in the trial. Papers were served at the country's Washington embassy and with officials in Khartoum, the nation's capital.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden operated training camps in Sudan through the 1990s. It was at those camps that al-Qaida militants trained to manufacture and detonate explosives, the lawsuit says. The Sudanese government allowed bin Laden to ship explosives out of the country, including four crates of explosives used in the Cole bombing, the lawsuit alleges. Bin Laden fled Sudan sometime after 1996 and is believed to be hiding in a remote region bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan. U.S. forces continue hunting him.
Six al-Qaida operatives were charged in Yemen with plotting the attack. One of the six, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, believed to be an al-Qaida leader in the Gulf region, has been sentenced to death in Yemen. Another organizer had his death sentence commuted last month to 15 years in prison.
This article starring:
ABD AL RAHIM AL NASHIRI
al-Qaeda in Yemen
James Cooper-Hill, a Texas attorney
U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 12:26:54 AM ||
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Top military brass of Pakistan has authorised the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) to ''work out a strategy with extremist groups to launch fresh attacks on a limited basis in the Indian territory''. A meeting of Corps Commanders was held on Janauary five in Islamabad and they asked the intelligence agency to work out strategy for launching limited attacks in India from March 2005, said the book 'The Final Settlement-Restructuring India-Pakistan Relations', issued by the International Centre for Peace Intiatives.
The Jehadi forces are being used as a tool by the army and the ISI. ''Currently they are junior partners both of the army and the democratic institutions. If they continue to grow, it is possible that they may emerge as dominant partners in a future scenario. There are more than 100 Jehadi organisations in Pakistan, but it is difficult to estimate their strength.'' Quoting independent observers, the book claimed that approximately one million young men are associated with the Jehadi groups, including many in non-combatant roles such as logistic, propoganda and preaching work, besides fund raising. ''The number of armed militants is estimated to be around 200,000, but there are no defined lines between armed and unarmed militants due to frequent changes in their respective roles.'' In the next five to ten years, the greatest risk to the development of Pakistan as well as peace in South asia, is that the Jehadi forces may succeed in turning Pakistan's military into a strategic tool, the book said and added ''Of the 100 militant groups that now function in Pakistan, many are small and ineffective. they are created by intelligence agencies for specific purposes and specific period of time and then forced to low lie untill they are required again in future''. Nevertheless, ten of these organisations have managed to grow into a big force to some extent in partnership with the army. These include Harkatul Jihadi islami, Laskar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e Mohammed. ''The groups have more in common with al Qaeda than Kashmir focused groups like Jammu and Kashmir Liberation front, it said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/21/2005 12:09:59 AM ||
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Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, has said that the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) was blackmailing the government in the name of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), NNI reported. Mr Rehman told reporters on Sunday that the ARD's refusal to participate in the MMA's million-man march reflected its double standards that on the one hand it was making a deal with the government while on the other it was playing with the MMA on the pretext of talks. "The ARD is not struggling for people's rights, but to save Benazir Bhutto," he said.
Ahah! So that's why only 35,000 of the million showed up!
He asked Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) President Makhdoom Amin Fahim why he was not attending the MMA's million-man march. Fazl criticised the PPPP, saying that it did not want a combined opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed outrage on Sunday after a powerful bomb killed 39 devotees at a shrine in Balochistan "The secretary-general is outraged at reports of a bomb attack in a shrine in Balochistan that has killed a large number of people," said Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard. "He condemns in the strongest terms this attack that appears to have targeted civilians at a religious site and reiterates his well-known position that no cause can justify terrorist attacks anywhere," Eckhard said. "The secretary-general calls for those responsible to be brought to justice and appeals for calm and restraint in the face of this brazen and cowardly act," he concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
The Magik Wand has been waved!
*GAZE*
Now you guys are in Big Trouble!
"He condemns in the strongest terms this attack that appears to have targeted civilians at a religious site and reiterates his well-known position that no cause can justify mumble mumble and natter natter. Got it? No TV for you tonight!"
35,000? That's less than a million, right? (Where's my calculator?)
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has called President Pervez Musharraf a security threat to Pakistan and has alleged that the government has decided to hand over Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr AQ Khan to the US.
Sounds good to me...
Speaking at a "million man march" organised by the religious alliance at Tibet Centre on Sunday, MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed said President Musharraf had compromised Pakistan's nuclear programme, which acted as a deterrent against foreign aggression, and had made the country's defence insecure. Qazi also blamed President Musharraf for misguiding the nation under the pretext of enlightened moderation, saying his (Musharraf's) term was aimed at presenting a brand of Islam acceptable to US and European governments. Earlier, before the US attacked Afghanistan, the president tricked the people by saying Pakistan came first and under the same pretext helped US forces attack a neighbouring country and occupy its territory.
Otherwise we'd have attacked Pakistan, too. But Qazi doesn't believe that.
He said Pakistan was made to promote Islamic values and to implement an Islamic system of governance, which meant not being dictated by foreign powers. He claimed that foreign powers had conspired against Islam and cited the government's decision to not include the religion column in the new passports, changing the blasphemy laws and handing over the country's education system to the Aga Khan Board. He also claimed that Pakistan's education system, especially its Islamic curriculum, would change once the Aga Khan Board took control of the education system.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Either Amr Moussa or Jerry Lewis in one of his less memorable roles.
The Arab summit will not accept Jordan's proposal for normalizing relations with Israel, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said yesterday. The original proposal had dropped the traditional Arab call for recognizing Israel in exchange for the Jewish state's withdrawal from land it has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. "If Israel implements all its commitments, all the Arab countries will be ready to normalize relations with Israel. We are not going to move even 1 millimeter away from this," Moussa told reporters after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the Algerian capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Can any organization be more pointless than the Arab League? Oh, okay, not counting the UN?
"Bob, I've got some money to invest, but I'd like to fight terrorism, too. What do you suggest?"
"I'd say put your money in Pakistan, Herb."
"Right."
President Pervez Musharraf has said foreign investors should fight against extremism and terrorism by investing and setting up new industries in Pakistan, Geo news channel reported on Sunday. Addressing foreign delegations in Pakistan for the Textile Asia 2005, the president said foreign investment in Pakistan would help eliminate terrorism and extremism by eliminating poverty, the report added. Calling the textile industry Pakistan's economic backbone, President Musharraf said investors would have to control the cost of production, price and improve quality to make room in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the report said. He also said industrialists would have to take interest in exporting non-traditional products along with traditional products, it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Iraq will recall its ambassador to Jordan in a tit-for-tat move, after Amman withdrew its envoy to protest anti-Jordanian protests, said an Iraqi Foreign Ministry official. Earlier, Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki said that Amman had recalled its top diplomat in Iraq for consultations after a wave of anti-Jordanian protests. "We have recalled Home for Consultations charge d'affaires Dimai Haddad because the embassy (where he lives) is unsafe for him," said Mulki, adding, "It does not mean that we are shutting down our operations in Iraq but that we suspended them until proper security is guaranteed for the embassy." He said that Haddad was practically under siege at Jordan's embassy, which was targeted daily for the past week by angry Iraqi demonstrators protesting against a recent suicide bombing linked to a Jordanian.
Man, that Arab street is rough.
Anti-Jordanian protests have increased over the past week in Iraqi cities and outside the embassy in Baghdad after some media reports in Iraq and Jordan pinned responsibility for the Hilla bombing on Jordanian Raed el-Banna. The reports said that Banna's family in Jordan held a service for him to honour him as a "martyr" after carrying out the attack that killed at least 118 people and wounded scores on February 28. Banna's family has denied that he was involved in the Hilla attack. His father said his son died and was buried in Mosul and that he had received a call from an unidentified man telling him that his son had died a "martyr" in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Heh. Gosh, Mr Hashemite Kingy Thingy, seems like they don't think you're very impressive or that you're such a fine neighbor. Um, who needs whom in this deal? Their oil will be purchased, no questions asked. What've you got, eh? Can you bag or bottle seething? Guess you're gonna hafta stop the globe-trotting BS pretending you lead anything but a cesspool - and get bizzy cleaning up. There's this Al Zarqi jackoff running around, too. Prolly pops in on Mom now and then, y'know? Take a ride on your Harley and thimk about it, why doncha? When the thimking's done, get your ass in gear, clean up your own mess, then maybe someone will be interested in your envoy. I think Dubya should send your wanker Amb packing, too, in solidarity, lol! Always wanted to use that Commie Pinko "solidarity" werd, heh.
#2
This isn't the fault of the King of Jordan. He is about as good a monarch as one could expect. He has helped the US on the Israel/PA situation; he has helped the US on other things. It is true that Jordan had Zarqawi in custody once and released him, but that was more our fault than theirs.
The problem here is salafist/wahabi/islamist thought or, if you drill down, the problem is islam (or at least the dozens of jihadist verses in the Quran and the hundreds of jihadist stories in the hadiths and the hundreds of thousands of jihadist sermons, textbooks and the like) and I don't see the Iraqis protesting against Islam. In fact, at the demonstrations against Jordan, they also decided to burn the flag of Israel. The evolution of Iraq has just begun; who knows where it will end up.
#3
mhw - And your commentary changes / invalidates what?
Jordan is a rabid cesspool that he has done precious little to clean up. Just as his father before him, he does only that which ensures his own survival. Jordan shares with Egypt the distinction of producing some of the best premium-quality jihadis.
As for the little town mechanic from Al Zarqawi, pray tell - with proof, how he is free due to the US? Of course if it was another opportunity lost by Clinton, I won't be able to scrape up much surprise. Between Billy Boy, Dickie Clarke, and Sandy Burger the US was singularly ineffective.
#4
First of all, on the "What has K Abdullah (of Jordan) done"
- well he has kept the border with Israel quiet; he has kept terrorists from using that border; he has prevented smuggling across that border (yes some smuggling does get done but its much less than it could be); he has tried to get the PA to reform; he has promoted market economy measures in Jordan (there are a number of very nice suburbs, in fact the Hilla suicide bomber- who recently started seriously reading the Quran- came from such a suburb); he has been cooperative in keeping the lid on the terrorist financial infrastructure (much, much better than the Soddies or Egypt or Yeman or...); he obviously can't change the culture by himself - the honor killings, the Islamist subculture, etc.
second, on the 'who got al Zargawi out of jail' issue -- this was a murky affair -- he was released from prison in 1999 in a 'general amnesty'. Jordan consulted with the US about who was and who was not going to be retained. Whether it was the US Ambassador who dropped the ball or whether it was one of the people you cited will not be known until the relevent diplomatic cables are declassified (if then). However, it is worth noting that Jordanian courts (which are under the control of the King)have reindicted Zarqawi several times since he was released -- in fact one such reindictment was just a few weeks ago.
#5
Regards the top half, he's maintaining an even strain internally - just enough to cover his own ass and, I'm sure he hopes, survive. I've been to Amman - only for 2 days, however - and yes there are a few nice neighborhoods. I believe the US Aid employee who was assassinated lived in one of them, in fact. You and I both know the key: the imams and the moskkks. He doesn't seem to have much to say or do with that. Sad. That's where the rubber meets the road.
Zarqi's indicted all over the place - that doesn't do anything. Hell, considering what his group wanted to do in Jordan with the chemical truck bombs, you'd think Abdullah would be beside himself trying to both to get his hands on Zarqi and Crew and to turn his population away from the Islamists.
Okay - so you see him in a relative light. Relative to other Islamist shitholes, Jordan's pretty, um, benign. I look at what is there and think he would best serve his own interests (and ours at the same time) by cracking down on the imams - the focal point of Islamist hatred. Just by educating his people via the media he could draw some very stark contrasts between what they have now, can reasonably expect without change / progress, and what others enjoy.
He'd better think hard and lead the wave - given what's happening next door.
#6
Well .com, you are correct that the relativist view looks different from the absolutist view.
But both the US and Israel take the relativist view of Jordan. It is asking a lot for an arab ruler to crack down on the mosques. Even where it clearly is in their own interest (e.g., the Soddies), this is tough for them to do.
#7
#4 First of all, on the "What has K Abdullah (of Jordan) done" - well he has kept the border with Israel quiet; he has kept terrorists from using that border; he has prevented smuggling across that border (yes some smuggling does get done but its much less than it could be
which is a hell of a lot more than the Egyptians have done on their border with Gaza.
ALGIERS - Jordan has recalled its top diplomat in Iraq for consultations amid a wave of anti-Jordanian protests in the neighbouring country, Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki told AFP on Sunday. "We have recalled home for consultations charge d'affaires Dimai Haddad because the embassy (where he cowers lives) is unsafe for him while other diplomats who live outside the embassy remain in Iraq," Mulki said in Algiers.
"It does not mean that we are shutting down our operations in Iraq but that we suspended them until proper security is guaranteed for the embassy," Mulki added.
Gosh, Iraqis angry at Jordan. Can't imagine why.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Now if they would just do the same for Saudi Arabia they might start gettting some where a bit faster.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Six months ago sergeant 
Police stormed past protesters to recapture administrative buildings in southern Kyrgyzstan on Sunday, after a two-day standoff with opposition activists demanding the president's resignation. Police said they had detained some activists and denied opposition allegations that they used weapons and excessive force to regain the two buildings in Osh, the ex-Soviet Central Asian state's second city, and Dzhalal Abad. Other regions, including the capital Bishkek, have also seen opposition protests, with some demonstrators electing "people's councils" after parliamentary polls left the opposition with a mere handful of seats. 
Azerbaijan's President 
Four policemen were beaten to death on Sunday when thousands of people stormed government buildings to protest against Kyrgyzstan President 
"We know North Korea has 
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested on Sunday that European governments are irresponsible if they sell sophisticated weaponry to China that might one day be used against US forces in the Pacific. "It is the United States, not Europe, that is defending the Pacific," Rice said. She spoke in Seoul, the penultimate stop on her weeklong tour of Asia. South Korea, Japan and the United States are all Pacific powers and all contribute resources to keep the Asia-Pacific region stable, Rice said. 
The 
UNITED Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan today unveiled his blueprint for the most sweeping changes to the UN since the world body was founded after World War II. Driven in part by the bitter divisions over the United States-led war in Iraq, which he said had brought the world to a crossroads, Mr Annan wants national leaders to agree on an ambitious list of changes this year. Mr Annan's 63-page report calls to widen the membership of the Security Council — the UN's top organ for international security — and asks it to fix guidelines that would determine when nations may legally go to war. It asks nations to agree on a proposed definition of terrorism, which has been disputed for decades, establish a new human rights council and commit to ambitious goals on development, slashing poverty and building democracy. "In an era of global interdependence, the glue of common interest, if properly perceived, should bind all states together in this cause, as should the impulses of our common humanity," Mr Annan says in the report. "After a period of difficulty in international affairs, in the face of both new threats and old ones in new guises, there is a yearning in many quarters for a new consensus on which to base collective action."
Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the United Nations on Sunday to expand the Security Council from 15 to 24 members and scrap the 
President 
Syria looks set to pull all of its troops out of Lebanon ahead of upcoming elections, the Syrian ambassador to Britain said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. "I don't have clear information... However I tend to believe that we will be out before the elections," Sami Khiyami told Britain's ITV Television. Asked whether he meant that all Syria's troops and intelligence elements would leave the country, the ambassador replied: "All troops ... All intelligence operatives." UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said he expects a complete withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon before a legislative election is held. The vote in principle will take place by May 31. On Thursday, the Syrian army completed the first stage of a planned pullback ahead of schedule, with some 4,000 troops having returned home, as more symbols of its near-30-year presence in Lebanon were hauled down.
Lebanon's crisis deepened yesterday with the opposition spurning a plea for dialogue from the pro-Syrian president and as a UN envoy said he feared another high-profile political killing in the country. Opposition figures led by veteran Druze politician 
A part of Yasser Arafat's secret hoard - $4 bn - has been documented and accounted for in a painstaking project undertaken by 
Top military brass of Pakistan has authorised the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) to ''work out a strategy with extremist groups to launch fresh attacks on a limited basis in the Indian territory''. A meeting of Corps Commanders was held on Janauary five in Islamabad and they asked the intelligence agency to work out strategy for launching limited attacks in India from March 2005, said the book 'The Final Settlement-Restructuring India-Pakistan Relations', issued by the International Centre for Peace Intiatives.
Maulana 
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed outrage on Sunday after a powerful bomb killed 39 devotees at a shrine in Balochistan "The secretary-general is outraged at reports of a bomb attack in a shrine in Balochistan that has killed a large number of people," said Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard. "He condemns in the strongest terms this attack that appears to have targeted civilians at a religious site and reiterates his well-known position that no cause can justify terrorist attacks anywhere," Eckhard said. "The secretary-general calls for those responsible to be brought to justice and appeals for calm and restraint in the face of this brazen and cowardly act," he concluded.
The 
President Pervez Musharraf has said foreign investors should fight against extremism and terrorism by investing and setting up new industries in Pakistan, Geo news channel reported on Sunday. Addressing foreign delegations in Pakistan for the Textile Asia 2005, the president said foreign investment in Pakistan would help eliminate terrorism and extremism by eliminating poverty, the report added. Calling the textile industry Pakistan's economic backbone, President Musharraf said investors would have to control the cost of production, price and improve quality to make room in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the report said. He also said industrialists would have to take interest in exporting non-traditional products along with traditional products, it added.
Iraq will recall its ambassador to Jordan in a tit-for-tat move, after Amman withdrew its envoy to protest anti-Jordanian protests, said an Iraqi Foreign Ministry official. Earlier, Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki said that Amman had recalled its top diplomat in Iraq for consultations after a wave of anti-Jordanian protests. "We have recalled Home for Consultations charge d'affaires Dimai Haddad because the embassy (where he lives) is unsafe for him," said Mulki, adding, "It does not mean that we are shutting down our operations in Iraq but that we suspended them until proper security is guaranteed for the embassy." He said that Haddad was practically under siege at Jordan's embassy, which was targeted daily for the past week by angry Iraqi demonstrators protesting against a recent suicide bombing linked to a Jordanian. 
