ANNUAL WEASEL POLL
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It's time for the third annual Weasel Poll. Vote for your favorite weasel in each category by going to http://www.comics.com/comics/dilbert/shop/html/weasel_index.html. Remember that weasels are the people who tried to get away with something, not just the people you hate.
The nominees are...
Media Pundit/Reporter
Dan Rather
Michael Moore
Tucker Carlson
Bill O'Reilly
Ann Coulter Tough one... Danny boy of Mike Al-moore...
Celebrities
Ashlee Simpson
Janet Jackson
Paris Hilton
Donald Trump
Michael Jackson
Britney Spears
Eminem
Industry
Oil
Pharmaceuticals
Fast Food
News Media
Law
Insurance Where's Hollywood?
Company
Halliburton
McDonalds
Fannie Mae
AIG
Marsh & McLennan
Disney
Politician
John Kerry
George W. Bush
Dick Cheney
John Edwards
Ralph Nader
Tom DeLay
Muqtada Al Sadr
Ahmed Chalabi
John McCain No Chirac?
Country
United States
France
North Korea
Iran
Pakistan
Israel Too easy....
Sports
Kobe Bryant
Shaquille O'Neal
Barry Bonds
Frank Francisco (The guy who threw the chair at the fan)
George Steinbrenner
Organization
ACLU
NRA
Swift Boat Vets
FCC
Religious fanatics
United Nations Hmm... ACLU or UN..... And where's the DNC?
A major earthquake occurred at 21:26:44 (UTC) on Thursday, November 11th, 2004. The magnitude 7.3 event has been located in KEPULAUAN ALOR, INDONESIA.
Location 8.137°S, 124.791°E
Depth 37.8 km (23.5 miles)
Distances
100 km (60 miles) WNW of DILI, East Timor
260 km (160 miles) NNE of Kupang, Timor, Indonesia
355 km (220 miles) ENE of Ende, Flores, Indonesia
810 km (510 miles) NW of DARWIN, Northern Territory, Australia
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/12/2004 3:03:55 AM ||
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Update: At least 16 people are reported to have been killed on the Indonesian island of Alor, off West Timor.
Also, as many as 47 people were badly injured and 485 buildings damaged, including two mosques and four churches.
A second quake with a 6.4 magnitude hit the same area about an hour and half later. There's a whole lot of shaking going on and more coming!
The Asian Pacific rim portion of the so-called Ring of Fire is being jolted with one powerful earthquake after the other.
I am just waiting for a VERY dangerous mega-quake of over 8 on the Richter scale to shockingly destroy both Yokohama and Tokyo.
When? Naturally this can not be accurately predicted, but recent seismic trending is pointing to additional very destructive quakes for Taiwan, Japan, Mainland China and the Islands of the Pacific.
If what I believe is coming for Japan, in terms of monstrous devastation to her twin financial & exporting centres, there shall also be very serious, global economic implications as well, due to the nature of market interconnections.
#3
Any reports of tidal waves from the Indo quake?
Posted by: Steve ||
11/12/2004 9:38 Comments ||
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#4
Indonesia is one of the prime regions of the world for earthquake activity simply because of the complicated tectonic nature of the Earths crust in the region. Another are that will be devistated by a major quake is Istanbul because of the monster laying in wait in beneath the Sea of Mamarra
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/12/2004 10:38 Comments ||
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#6
Steve, the latest update is not indicating any tidal wave movement but the death toll is now up to 17.
Cheaderhead, your excellent point about the Sea of Mamarra (link) has some people even in Israel concerned over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, since if a Mamarra connected mega-quake extended southward it could knock down major sections of the Islamic sections and therefore the radical Pal Arabs would blame Israel as they just did over Arafat's death in stating 'Israel poisoned him'.
Do you feel that Ankara is more susceptible to a Mamarra triggered monster size quake, more so, or equal to Istanbul?
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/12/2004 12:02 Comments ||
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Mark I'm going long on whiskey, fishhooks and seed corn.
ANTI-smoking enforcers will be given the power to slap fixed- penalty fines of up to £100 on anybody caught lighting up in a public place in Scotland, Jack McConnell announced yesterday. Taking the biggest gamble of his political career, the First Minister unveiled his plans to ban smoking in all pubs, clubs, restaurants and offices after March 2006. He told MSPs he was determined to end Scotland's reputation as the "sick man of Europe" and would drive through a total ban because he wanted to improve the country's appalling health record. Mr McConnell's decision has put him at odds with the United Kingdom government, which has baulked at introducing a blanket ban, and it will enrage smokers in many of Scotland's Labour clubs, who donate substantial amounts of money to the party.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/12/2004 2:32:06 AM ||
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god help any anti smoking enforcer that trys to stop me sparking up after a meal and a beer . Tis one of the few joys in my life :)
Next we'll be having the vegan-police running round moaning at every butchers / food stall ..... oohhh wait , they already are :P
The Philippines will send up to 150 soldiers to Haiti next week to help United Nations' peacekeeping forces stem political unrest and a wave of killings ahead of elections, a military spokesman said Thursday. Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman, said the Philippine troops would join nearly 4,000 peacekeepers in Haiti, now run by an interim government charged with organizing elections. "This is the first time we are sending peacekeeping troops to the Caribbean nation," said Pascual. "They will be staying there for six months. We may send a second batch if needed." Pascual said the Philippine contingent was organized after President Arroyo approved a request from the United Nations' Security Council to beef up the Brazilian-led peacekeeping mission. An advance team of four officers will leave on Friday.
The U.N. mission is charged with restoring order in the poor Caribbean nation after its president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted in February. The mission has been hampered from the start by a shortage of international troops and police.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/12/2004 1:42:16 PM ||
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"They will be staying there for six months" or until someone claims the next $6M hostage prize -- whichever comes first.
#2
The Phillipines ought to keep their troops at home and deal with their own Islamic insurgency. Haiti is a waste of time. It is a sick little country and has been a sick little country for 200 years.
But it is always easy to run off somewhere else than to clean up your own house.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/12/2004 21:21 Comments ||
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Russian President Putin is taking a lead role in putting together the most powerful coalition of regional and superpowers in the world. The coalition consists of India, China, Russia and Brazil. This will challenge the superpower supremacy of America as well as the European Union. The Chinese are concerned about American and European influence over the world. So is India, Brazil and Russia. Russians need Brazil badly. Brazil is in South America in the American corridor. According to Startfor, a strategic think tank, when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Brazil Nov. 21-23, he likely will talk economic issues with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva. However, Putin has bigger ambitions: He wants to establish a long-term Russian footprint in Latin America in order to expand Moscow's geopolitical influence in the region. Brazil is very open to the coalition concept where these large countries support each other in term of trade, economics, international politics and defense.
According other think tanks, this coalition will have an overwhelming influence over the United Nations. Russia and China are permanent members of the security council. India and Brazil are in the process of becoming the same. In terms of population, the coalition will have three quarters of the world population, largest amount of natural resources and largest pool of technical and scientific talent.
#1
Russia needs to seriously re-vamp their foreign policy. Consider backing Iran, and before them, Saddam's Iraq. Other than that, both India and China have been inherently distrustful of Russia for say, 500 years. I doubt Putin's glib tongue is going to change that any time soon. Last but not least, the rest of the world has long been puzzled why the US keeps (Monroe Doctrine) eastern hemisphere powers out of Central and South America, *and yet* doesn't ever put its own appendages in that fire. Maybe this time we will let them find out.
#2
"...this coalition will have an overwhelming influence over the United Nations..."
Ooooh, I'm scared! It might be able to do nothing with six resolutions rather than twelve.
Go ahead, Russia, pour your heart and soul and money into this. You couldn't even hold the Soviet Union together and you think you're going to get anywhere with this cast of characters!
Posted by: Tom ||
11/12/2004 22:06 Comments ||
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#3
The author of this article is on drugs. "Putin has bigger ambitions: a long-term Russian footprint in Latin America"???
Er, Russia not long ago shut down its listening station in Cuba. So you mean Putin's going to establish a base instead in Belo Horizonte? Russia is not a superpower. Russia is not even a great power anymore. It's no more powerful or influential than France or Germany, in fact less so. Putin cannot even defend his borders. In another generation, when Russia's population has shrunk by another 25% (it's shrinking by ~1% each year), the Russian Far East will effectively be ceded to China. So much for Putin's grand ambitions.
#4
No surprise here - China financially and materielly supports Nepalese Maoists and other pro-Socialist/Communist/China orgs, includ Muslim orgs, whom according to various sources are intent on attacking and destabilizing INDIA, starting in 2005, and other Asian nations. Chinese expats whom work for both Russian- and Chinese-subsidized Chinese companies are running all over Central and South America, and Africa. BETTER ADD ARGENTINA as when the Russkis talk of Brazil, they also infer Argentina, Chile, and other SA nations. We already know about the PANAMA CANAL and VENEZUELA, and Russia has no intent on relaxing its [anti-American] PC global weapons- and tech proliferation.
#5
FASCISM is the "New Communism", if only aesthetically - We have to stop thinking of Russia-China in 1980's terms, espec PROJECTION OF POWER. We must start thinking in terms of POWER DISGUISED AS PROJECTION OF FAILURE/ERROR, as Communism = Islam in that, worse coming to worse, IT IS BETTER FOR EVERYONE TO FAIL THAN TO LOSE FACE OR SUFFER DEFEAT, THAN FOR COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM, OR ISLAM TO LOSE POWER/CONTROL. The premise of 1980's GORBACHEVISM > if Communism and the East/Asia cannot be brought up to the standards of America, the West, or Capitalism, the latter will be brought down to the standards of Communism and the East. "The Children feed the Mother" as was said during Yeltsin's tenure - As per MACKINDER'S "WORLD ISLAND" THEORY, which still holds for both Russia and China, EURASIA specifically Russia-China, is the MOTHER, and the World, includ America and the West, are the CHILDREN. OWG > your Dad's punishment when one does something the Mother Asia andor Socialist world family doesn't like.
#1
once China works its way through this cyclical event. Because ultimately, the Chinese economy will emerge even stronger from the lessons it learns from this cycle - Good article with a sound conclusion. There's one hummdinger of a financial crisis coming.
#2
But because of massive over-investment, lack of financial system sophistication, rigidity of a centrally planned economy, and staggering and growing inequalities, a hard landing seems inevitable.
...Because ultimately, the Chinese economy will emerge even stronger from the lessons it learns from this cycle. It's only logical.
It's logical if you assume that China can address the economic problems enumerated without political repercussions. A dubious assumption.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/12/2004 14:33 Comments ||
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Also logical if one actually draws the correct conclusions and has the will to fix the problems.
Our friends the Japanese still haven't gotten around to mending their banking system and it's been...what...15 years or so.
Given how the central government in China tries to control information and stifle open debate, color me skeptical.
Japan has identified the submarine spotted in Japanese waters on Nov. 10 as belonging to China's navy, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said. The government concluded that the submarine was Chinese for various reasons, including the direction it headed after leaving Japanese waters, Hosoda told reporters today at a regular press conference in Tokyo. Japan will today summon officials from the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo to issue a protest, he added.
Japan put its naval vessels on alert after it detected the submarine near the southern island chain of Okinawa. That alert was lifted at 3:50 p.m. Japan time today, Hosoda said. The islands are near an area in the East China Sea claimed by both China and Japan that lies close to untapped undersea oil reserves. Hosoda said the crew of vessel, which appears to be nuclear powered, probably knew the sub was in foreign waters. Japan hasn't heard from the Chinese government regarding the submarine, he added.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/12/2004 6:00:22 AM ||
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Chinese Nuc boat?
Those old teakettles are noisy and very unique - the Japanese must have been bluffing to give China cover to get that turd out of the punchbowl, when they said they didn't know whose it was. They know, probably very early - given the electronics and signals processing capabilities the Japanese have.
I'd say drop a fish on em - Mk48 ADCAP, but with a dummy warhead. Watch them haul ass when they hear the trop hit the water and the motor kick in. And be sure to give them fresh laundry and mops when they surface - there will be excrement all over the deck inside that sub after they hear that torpedo in the water.
#2
Hey OS - the Mk48 is fired only from subs. The Mk 46 or Mk 50 is launced from the surface. You can't take the warhead out of the fish without runining it.
One thing we used to do was put an electric shaver up to "GERTRUDE" (the underwater mic that works like a megaphone underwater) The electric shaver over GERTRUDE sounds exactly like a fish in the water. Its only good for a quick scare since the Signal to Noise ration never changes. Anyway - it was still fun to get a quick scare out of them. Most times we even got cavitation from then by doing this.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
11/12/2004 10:55 Comments ||
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You'd think they had an LA class somewhere in the neighborhood for the ADCAP.
Didnt know you couldn't disable or pull the warhead.
Mk46 - thats what the Helos drop, right?
Naval is not my specialty, unfortunately - only spent a bit learning about Iceland, and what P3's do as adjunct to my duties at one time... Mines a bit more on the human side of things, ground forces, etc. I'm a bit like a Marine in that respect - the Navy is just a means for getting the important stuff there. < grin >
Hello, America. Feeling down after a bad election result? Disgruntled the candidate you voted for wasn't elected? Why not move to New Zealand?
Visits to the New Zealand Immigration Service website topped 10,300 last Wednesday when George W. Bush was re-elected, says Cross Walk. NZIS marketing director Terry Murphy - who is from Portland, Oregon - says New Zealand has "liberal attractions", including the debate over civil unions for same-sex couples, anti-globalisation, and our anti-war stance
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
11/12/2004 8:27:16 AM ||
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Checked DU's site the other day,they finlly reinstated thier registration.But they won't accept registration from free e-mail sites(why should pay for what I can get for free)also Republicans or anyone who voted for Bush need not apply.
To the extent that you trust exit polls, here's some interesting facts about Bush vs Kerry voters:
VOTE BY INCOME: BUSH KERRY NADER
Under $15,000 (8%) 36% 63% 0%
$15-30,000 (15%) 42% 57% 0%
$30-50,000 (22%) 49% 50% 0%
$50-75,000 (23%) 56% 43% 0%
$75-100,000 (14%) 55% 45% 0%
$100-150,000 (11%) 57% 42% 1%
$150-200,000 (4%) 58% 42% *
$200,000 or More (3%) 63% 35% 1%
Looks like underachievers generally vote for Kerry... the less you make the more likely you are to vote for him.
VOTE BY EDUCATION BUSH KERRY NADER
No High School (4%) 49% 50% 0%
H.S. Graduate (22%) 52% 47% 0%
Some College (32%) 54% 46% 0%
College Graduate (26%) 52% 46% 1%
Postgrad Study (16%) 44% 55% 1%
Apparently the more educated you are the more likely you are to vote for Bush, up until the postgrad degree. This makes sense since most postgrads are ivory tower elitist who are afraid of the real world. Kerry does have a lead in the highschool dropouts though...
The FBI and U.S. attorney's office are investigating the apparent theft of about $350,000 in checks from a Democratic campaign committee, federal law enforcement and Democratic Party officials said Thursday. The money was traced to a private bank account that bank records indicate was opened by Roger Chiang, who was employed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. All but about $10,000 has been recovered, they said. Chiang, who was involved in fund raising, has been fired, the Democratic official said. No charges have been filed. Chiang did not immediately respond to a reporter's message, left Thursday on his home answering machine, seeking comment.
The campaign committee is the primary fund-raising and political organization for Senate Democrats. Overall, the committee reported raising more than $76 million for the two-year election cycle that just ended. Campaign committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse said the committee's internal auditors discovered the problem in early October. With the help of the U.S. Capitol Police, they traced and recovered most of the money in time to use it in this fall's Senate campaigns, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2004 10:49:06 PM ||
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Former Burmese officers living abroad told DVB that recent power struggle between the intelligence service and the combat troops within Burma's military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) means that the army is starting to crumble despite its claim of unassailable unity with the slogan "we won't split, whoever tries to split us". Major General Kyaw Zaw, one of the founders of the Burmese army with the Thirty Comrades, now living on the Sino-Burmese border said that the split in the army would hurt the country.
Retired army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Aye Myint now living in Australia agreed that the Burmese army is crumbling. He compared the power struggle to a fight between a tiger and an elephant in the middle of a paddy-field, and he added that the main victims would be the people of Burma who are in the middle, whatever the outcome. "If the tiger wins, the people will be bitten and if the elephant wins, they will be trodden. The problems for the people (civilians) would only end when both animals die in the fight," Lieutenant Colonel Aye Myint said.
But Major General Kyaw Zaw urged patriotic officers within the army to talk to leaders of the main opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD), many of whom were army officers themselves, so that the army won't crumble leaving the country in utter ruin, "for the sake of the people". He also warned the rank and file not to become the victims of the power struggle between the cliques and gangs within the army.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/12/2004 12:58:10 PM ||
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Fred, just wanted to put up som info since we're all enjoying the French humiliation.
Religions: Christian 20-30%, Muslim 35-40%, indigenous 25-40% (2001)
note: the majority of foreigners (migratory workers) are Muslim (70%) and Christian (20%)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 50.9%
male: 57.9%
female: 43.6% (2003 est.)
Disputes - international: Continuing rebel fighting extends to neighboring states and has kept out foreign workers from nearby countries; the Ivorian Government accuses Burkina Faso and Liberia of supporting Ivorian rebels As African ex-colonies go, Ivory Coast is among the best, literate and productive.
Posted by: ed ||
11/12/2004 11:37 ||
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#1
Court officials in Bobigny, near Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport said Friday that 10 women, including one in her sixties, have filed suit for rape.
Rape is always to be condemned in every way possible, but can someone explain what can these people expect to gain by filing suit? Filling the suit of a Legionnaire makes sense but not with a lawyer.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/12/2004 14:06 Comments ||
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#2
Sooo... over a million atrocities and rape rooms in Iraq are OK, but not in the Ivory Coast. I see, anyone but the French or Europians is ok, but against whites is not. Good to see the "Progressive" EU still in the colonial mindset.
#3
She has decided that she, too, will leave France's former star colony in west Africa, and said: "We have been stabbed in the back. People are fleeing and I tell others that they must leave, too."
No! Stabbed in the back, France? Sacre bleu.
Sydney Morning-Herald (registration required, also posted at Free Republic)
Some 1600 French people arrived at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris with tales of fear and horror after days of anti-French attacks in the Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast is now officially a red state.
Most of the evacuees had left behind their homes and their livelihoods, often after many years of condescension and exploitation in Africa. Helene, who lived for 32 years in Abidjan running a printing business, told French radio: "We spent five hours on the roof, listening to them taking our apartment to pieces and then breaking everything they couldn't remove. Our life is there; we have nothing in France. The radio was screaming at everyone to rid themselves of the 'imperialist pigs', the 'Satans'." Who would have thought that Rantburg had so many readers in Ivory Coast?
"There is so much hatred in their faces. Why? We have many, many Jewish Ivorian friends. Why so much anti-French hatred?" It's America's fault, all those soap and toothepaste ads have had an effect on the locals. Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/12/2004 12:08 Comments ||
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#2
"They hate us!"
Ya' think?
Maybe you should ask yourselves why.
Just sayin', 's all. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/12/2004 12:17 Comments ||
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#3
You're still basically a colonial if you have a helicopter that makes house calls.
Posted by: Tom ||
11/12/2004 12:19 Comments ||
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#4
I'm feeling schadenfreude to the max here.
Posted by: Matt ||
11/12/2004 12:26 Comments ||
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#5
maybe they'll repair the De Gaulle to the point that it is capable of heading towards Ivory Coast...wouldn't make it, but at least an effort?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/12/2004 12:32 Comments ||
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#6
I think you guys are taking too much joy in that it's French people being harrased. There is a larger problem here in that it's looking like the Ivory Coast is about to become another Zimbabwe... and I promise they won't be a "red state", they'll be very anti-american.
#8
DPA, It's looking like all Africa is reverting to its pre-colonial existance. I'd not be surprised to see a big and bloody Christian-Muslim conflict there for decades. And there's just not a lot to be done about it, except at the UN. So if all we can get is a few chuckles at the expense of France, well, c'est la guerre.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/12/2004 12:46 Comments ||
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#9
You are probably right,DPA.But for now just enjoy the momment,it's the little pleasures that make life worth living.
#10
This is not, and will not be, another Zimbabwe, DPA. The proximate cause of this anti-French outburst was a rebellion by Islamo-fascists in the northern part of the country. The government was winning until French "peacekeepers" intervened to impose a settlement that favored the Islamos. This was done in the name of "stability" ie to protect French business interests and NGO activity, and of course to win a few dhimmi points from the ummah.
#15
Not quite that simple, AC. CdI had a legacy of lax and unspecific immigration rules, and was content to let folks from neighboring countries come and work and even settle, and even vote, without getting too picky about it. [Hmm. Sounds vaguely familiar...] When the grand old man died, his successor Bedie tried to put together a power base by focussing on "Ivorianism" and deprecating the northern immigrants. Guei [what a name] staged a coup, continued the rather devisive approach to the north,and was killed during a general uprising. Both Guei and Gbagbo prevented the north's favorite son, Ouattara, from running for president because he had foreign parents. I don't know exactly when foreign influence started to becoming important, but I'd guess shortly before Ouattara called for new elections (and many of his supporters were killed). Then you have the rebellion of the to-be-demobilized soldiers in 2002 that produced the current mess. And as best I can remember, the govt. wasn't winning, or losing; the fighting was pretty much a stalemate, with even some Liberians looking for a peice of the action in the west.
I don't believe the rebellion didn't have foreign backing, nor am I rooting for the rebels in any way. But the Bedie/Gbagbo policy of demonizing the northern/partly-foreign tribes was bound to cause trouble, and did. To be fair, insofar as Ouattara represented the interests of northerners in his campaigns, he contributed to the polarization.
I don't get much news out of the north, so I don't know how much of a foothold the Islamofacists have there. Sooner or later they always show up.
Posted by: James ||
11/12/2004 15:40 Comments ||
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From the Dept. of Things That Make You Go Hmmmm...
Belarus conceded on Thursday that mercenaries from the former Soviet republic may be in strife-torn Ivory Coast, where they have been accused of piloting planes that carried out a fatal attack on French peace-keepers. "There are no Belarussian servicemen in Ivory Coast but we don't answer for former military personnel," Belarus airforce spokesman Vladimir Lavrinyuk said.
"If any members of your IM Force are caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of their action"
Nine French peacekeepers and a US civilian were killed earlier this month when government SU-25 jets bombed a French military camp in Bouake in the course of what the government said were air strikes on rebel positions. The French and US governments said the SU-25s were piloted by mercenaries from Belarus.
Which explains why they hit the target. Ground attack was the USSR's specialty.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
11/12/2004 11:03:18 AM ||
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Via Bros. Judd
Germany's economic growth has slowed as export weakness offset a rise in domestic demand. According to the Federal Statistics Office, the German economy grew just 0.1% in the three months to September, slower than expected. The figure is the lowest since the outright contraction in the second quarter of 2003. Economists said the news meant growth figures for the 12-nation eurozone, out on Friday, would also be revised down. The 0.1% expansion - making an annual growth rate of 1.3% - follows a 0.4% reading for each of the first two quarters of the year. "The decisive factor in the weak economic growth in the third quarter was - in contrast to the four preceding quarters - declining exports," the statistics office said. High oil prices are partly to blame, economists say. But the sinking value of the dollar also poses a threat, according to the ZEW survey of finance professionals. The German economy is reliant on healthy exports, and a falling dollar makes euro-denominated goods more expensive in the key US market. Stubbornly high unemployment has meant weak demand at home, although the third quarter has shown an improvement. Government efforts to rejig the benefits and pensions system, with the intention of reinjecting some life into the labour market, are meeting staunch resistance.
The African Union chairman, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, has invited six African leaders to a summit on the crisis in Ivory Coast.
Oh boy, a summit! Nuttin' says progress like a summit of African politicans ...
Leaders from Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Libya and Ivory Coast are expected to attend the talks on Sunday. War resumed and riots erupted after France destroyed the Ivorian air force, in retaliation for peacekeeper deaths. The exodus of foreigners has been continuing, after huge anti-French protests prompted Europeans to flee. Citizens of nine more countries - Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, the US and Canada - left on Thursday. France had already begun to airlift its citizens.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/12/2004 5:38:41 AM ||
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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.
ANTI-smoking enforcers will be given the power to slap fixed- penalty fines of up to £100 on anybody caught lighting up in a public place in Scotland, Jack McConnell announced yesterday. Taking the biggest gamble of his political career, the First Minister unveiled his plans to ban smoking in all pubs, clubs, restaurants and offices after March 2006. He told MSPs he was determined to end Scotland's reputation as the "sick man of Europe" and would drive through a total ban because he wanted to improve the country's appalling health record. Mr McConnell's decision has put him at odds with the United Kingdom government, which has baulked at introducing a blanket ban, and it will enrage smokers in many of Scotland's Labour clubs, who donate substantial amounts of money to the party.
The FBI and U.S. attorney's office are investigating the apparent theft of about $350,000 in checks from a Democratic campaign committee, federal law enforcement and Democratic Party officials said Thursday. The money was traced to a private bank account that bank records indicate was opened by Roger Chiang, who was employed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. All but about $10,000 has been recovered, they said. Chiang, who was involved in fund raising, has been fired, the Democratic official said. No charges have been filed. Chiang did not immediately respond to a reporter's message, left Thursday on his home answering machine, seeking comment. 
