I don't think they like this "guy"...
Pyongyang, August 20 (KCNA) -- Kim Jae Suk, head of the Central Headquarters of the "ROK Residents Association in Japan (Mindan)", in a "congratulatory speech" at a "meeting celebrating the day of national liberation" on August 15 talked nonsense that the Korean war started by someone's "southward invasion" was "the biggest blot on the history of the Korean nation" and that in the subsequent period, too, "the north has taken an attitude of turning its back on world peace and human rights with its nuclear and missile development." Commenting on this, Rodong Sinmun Saturday says:
[Pauses for breath, checks vitriol guage...]
He hurled malignant slanders at the north for no reason, distorting and beautifying the outside forces' history of war of aggression which brought pain and misfortune to the Koreans, instead of protesting against them. This treacherous act can be perpetrated only by a guy steeped in the sycophantic nature to the marrow of his bone, bereft of even an iota of mentality as a Korean. Being nothing but a poor servant who is prolonging his remaining days with a petty amount of money given by his American master, Kim had no alternative but to echo the hue and cry over someone's "southward invasion" raised by outside forces and anti-reunification forces. Wonder who this "someone" is that he's talking about? He seems to be a philistine who lacks any sense of reality, to say nothing of consciousness as a Korean and understanding of history. His gibberish only represented the black-hearted intention of outside forces and anti-reunification forces busy inciting north-south confrontation and a fratricidal war in a bid to stop the advance of the June 15 era of reunification calling for reconciliation and cooperation, displeased with it. He recklessly let loose such invectives in the heart of Tokyo in a bid to chill the ardent desire for national reconciliation and reunification at a time when Koreans from the north and the south and overseas gathered to hold a grand national festival on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Korea's liberation. This only touched off astonishment and resentment at him among them.This guy has already lost the qualification to live in the era of the June 15 reunification as he has been thrown into such a wretched position by outside forces and anti-reunification forces where he is compelled to wag his tongue in order to fan up antagonism and confrontation among Koreans in Japan and north-south confrontation. He will have to pay dearly for his reckless utterances going against the trend of the times. Looks like they broke a lot of the classics out for him...
#1
Ah, the beautiful ranting prose of the Nork. Has it been recognized by the UN as a special human cultural heritage thingy worthy of protection yet? I'm suprised they didn't break out the "grass hut scholar" tag for Kim Jae Suk after those hurtful slurs about the war. The south ain't gonna get happy family reunification until they learn to tow the Nork party line faithfully. Wouldn't it be obvious that there will never be peaceful reunification when the Nork demands it's people as well as those in the south live in a twisted glorious leader Kimmie fantasy land? Either he dies or it never happens. Lil Kimmie is not a candidate for a political makeover in the forseable future. One doesn't go from dictator-god to fellow citizen peacefully or willingly. One 7.62 mm round to Kimmie's small skull would do more for reunification than 100 years of empty words and futile gestures to woo the Norks.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/22/2005 10:27 Comments ||
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#4
Sounds like the Norks Grand Spittle Wizard just officially endorsed a hit on this man who has the courage to speak the truth. Don't be surprised if you never hear from that man again.. the Norkie government is run by little apes who scream, bite & scratch anyone who tries to get them to grow the hell up.
#6
SPACEDAILY.com, aka SPACEWAR.com, has an article from Yonhap claiming that 2/3's of SoKor youths would support the North in any US-NK war. although the writer lists no source(s) - only proves that the Commies and aligned Lefties will continue to target the young, because these are young. dumb, and full of idealist kimchee naivete' so as not to know or believe what Communism truly stands for., nor will believe that the Commies, etal. want them that way.
After weeks of slipping support, German opposition chancellor candidate Angela Merkel got some good news Friday with latest voter surveys showing five of the country's six leading opinion polls giving her a slim parliamentary majority. TGA predicted this, didn't he? The weekly ZDF TV poll reported a one point rise for Merkel's CDU/CSU to 43 per cent, with its designated Free Democratic (FDP) partner at 7 per cent. Germany's top six polls give a possible CDU/CSU-FDP coalition between 49 per cent and 51 per cent of the seats in Germany's Bundestag, or lower house of parliament. Rising support for the CDU/CSU comes despite intense controversy over comments by CSU Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber that eastern German voters were "frustrated" and "stupid calves."
Schroeder's ruling Social Democratic (SPD) coalition with the Greens is at 36 per cent to 37 per cent, the six polls show. A newly formed Left Party - a merger of former East Germany's post-communists and rebel members of Schroeder's SPD - continues to lose support. The ZDF poll shows is has slumped to 8 per cent after polling up to 13 per cent late last month. Berlin's left-leaning Tageszeitung newspaper said this was because voters were increasingly focused on who would rule Germany after the September 18 election. "If there is not a political earthquake the next chancellor of Germany will be Angela Merkel. And this constellation means that the SPD-critical stance of the Left Party is merely a side-show," said the paper.
The Left Party's problem is that it is a protest movement which has trouble competing now that Merkel has unveiled a shadow cabinet, while Schroeder can hold up popular government members such as Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, said the Tageszeitung. Some analysts nevertheless predict the Left Party will sweep up enough votes to block Merkel from forming a CDU/CSU-FDP government. This, they say, could force a grand coalition with Merkel as chancellor and Schroeder's SPD as junior partner. But there is also speculation that Schroeder, who is one of Europe's most wily politicians, may have another plan to ensure his survival.
A grand coalition would keep out the small FDP which is desperate to get back into government. "The FDP is ready to do anything ... they will walk over corpses to get back into power," said a commentary in the Financial Times Deutschland, the German language edition of the global newspaper. Both the Financial Times and Franz Walter, a respected political scientist at the University of Goettingen, predict Schroeder will make an offer to the FDP to join his SPD-Greens government - assuming the election results would allow such a coalition.
This politically awkward scenario might permit Schroeder to stay on as Chancellor for another four-year term. But most observers are still betting Merkel will be the next German leader even though there is a big question mark over what kind of coalition she will head. The Handelsblatt newspaper said Merkel plans to release a 100 Day Plan in the coming weeks to boost her election chances. Included in the plan will be moves to loosen Germany's tough laws on sacking workers; trimming back the power of trade unions in big companies; and eliminating state subsidies for people who take early retirement or shift to part-time work, said the paper citing unnamed CDU/CSU sources.
In a final hurdle to German elections, the country's Federal Constitutional Court is due to rule next week on whether the vote can go ahead. The high court is expected to give a green light despite a legal challenge brought by two members of parliament angry over Schroeder's decision to call early elections.
Posted by: too true ||
08/22/2005 09:26 ||
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#1
Lest we forget - polls showed a majority for John F'in Kerry too. I'll wait to see what the German people actually do on election day.
#2
Whomever wins will have to take on a number of economic problems and will be hated because of it. It would actually be wise for Schroeder's party to sort of let hte other guys take a bite of the shit sandwich, let them fix the place and piss everyone off, and then come in ready to go mucking it up again afterwards. Sort of the way Clinton did, taking credit for the Reagan boom.
In the "DC Grist" column of the DC Examiner, on page 9. Is Abbie Hoffman at Crawford yet? And posted on the Metro bus stop shelters this am - big "war" protest on Aug 25, against the "occupation" of Iraq, Palestine, and (yes, folks; couldn't leave this out!) Israel. Cindy Sheehanâs vigil outside President Bushâs ranch in Texas â currently on hold while the slain soldierâs mother returns home to be with her ailing mom â had more than a few things in common with a 1960s-style sit-in: the simplicity of the anti-war message, the way it irked Republicans, the almost total lack of showering. But there was something less obvious tying it to the decade of love â the involvement of David Fenton, renowned â60s amateur photographer and now head of D.C.-based Fenton Communications. Despite the appearance that Sheehanâs success with the media was all good timing and amateur savvy, the fact is that Fenton and his shop were at work behind the scenes almost 24 hours a day, wrangling journalists, arranging interviews and prepping Sheehan with talking points and message strategy. The lefty shopâs fee was paid by True Majority, the very â60s-style advocacy group founded by former Ben & Jerryâs ice cream magnate Ben Cohen.
Among the subjects of Fentonâs semi-famous photos were beat poet Allen Ginsberg, anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman and members of the Black Panthers. He was also there to shoot some of the storied Central Park be-ins. Retrospectives of his work recently went up in New York and San Francisco, accompanying his just-released book, âShots: An American Photographerâs Journal, 1967-72.â The agency continues to push the vigilâs vestiges while waiting for Sheehanâs return.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/22/2005 07:54 ||
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#1
Its all one left and MSM hissy fit for losing big time in Novemeber. Its like the big sports stars whining they deserve another 10 million next year or they won't play. The limelight is moving on, no matter has desperate the MSM folks are in promoting it. Its wretched excess along the line of massive movie hype for a real bad movie, the type were the only two good scenes are in the trailer. The hysteria on the left is going to lead to something really really bad which will result in massive blowback beyond their comprehension.
#6
It is no longer about the grievous loss of a true soldier whose mom Cindy Sheehan & his dad agonize over as so many other families suffer as in all wars. Cindy Sheehan's son is a hero to me. I will never doubt her grief or sorrow. I could have easily not come back alive either... and my mother would have been no less overwhelmed. I do not agree with her personal opinions of the war, the president and that my country is not worth dying for. I am ashamed that her grief has attracted extremists here in America to catapult their agendas and enter their disgusting clown-like causes and tearful embracement for Islamofacists that would cut their throats without a second thought. Then again, the Bund that was formed on the threshhold of America officially entering WW II was shameful just as the KKK. The Black Panthers, the Weatherman, the Symbonese Liberation Army, the gang bangers and all the other terrorists that attacked or are attacking this country make me want to puke. Worse more are the media slop that spin everything they see or hear or imagine to sell our country out just to further their portfolios. They make me wanna puke.... and I don't care for Iraq, but I would return without a tear if it meant helping some more grateful people with the courage to return a smile brighter than the toads hopping around Crawford under the guise of being Americans. They need to grow up and out of their one-dimensional selves and repent to America for their shameful and slander slinging behavior. Shame on them.
#7
Wow, Ulunter Ebbaimp1388. Hooray! Have you posted here before, under a name that's easier to pronounce?
In any event, please come back!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/22/2005 15:53 Comments ||
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#8
San FRan no longer wants the USS IOWA - guess the city's rebuke finally proves that the USA did start WW2 when the warmongering imperialist Fascist USS Ward maliciously sank an innocent IJN submarine on its attack mission ags Pearl Harbor, thereby causing Nagumo and his carriers on mere innocent MILEX in international waters, only coincidentally near Hawaii, to send planes to bomb Pearl.
If any further proof is needed that this is not about grieving mother Cindy Sheehan, here it is... CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - Malodorous Birkenstock clad Iraq war protesters camping out near President Bush's ranch are rapidly descending into form getting support from a prominent figure in the anti-Vietnam war movement: folk singer Joan Baez. Who exhumed her?
"In the first march I went to (opposing Vietnam) there were 10 of us. This is huge," Baez told relatives of fallen U.S. soldiers Sunday as she prepared to perform a free evening concert in Bush's adopted hometown. Since most of her supporters don't appear to have jobs, this makes sense...
The concert was expected to draw more than 1,000 people to a 1-acre lot offered by a landowner who opposes the war. Not far away, protesters continued a camp-out started by grieving mother Cindy Sheehan. A miniature Woodstock - too bad it didn't rain as in the original.
Meanwhile, more Bush supporters arrived at a downtown pro-Bush camp. As of Sunday afternoon, more than 150 people had visited the large tent with "God Bless Our President!" and "God Bless Our Troops" banners and a life-size cardboard cutout of Bush. Heh. More (as in not much more) at the link.
Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer?
Losing my timing this late
In my career?
And where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don't bother - they're here.
#6
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Ms. Baez was the ONLY named anti-war activist who publically condemned the actions and behaviors of the Communists after the American pull out.
#7
PUPPET ALERT!
Just saw puppet head on Good Morning America being prepared for the Presidents Salt Lake City event. Appeared to be Bush head with fangs... wow... that's a new one...
#9
I have a GREAT IDEA!!! Let's put Cindy S., Jihadi JANE,J. Kerry and the rest of em' on the bus that runs on corn oil and let TED KENNEDY drive em' to Salt Lake City!!!! There's got to be a bunch of bridges on that route!!!
#19
Granny shouldn't go bra-less. Things could get tangled, causing her to trip, break a hip, and become senile while healing in the hospital. Besides, it makes her look, well, extra saggy and baggy -- especially in that factory made tie-dye t-shirt and a hairstyle just like the one her mother used to have.
#3
Even the Dems are trying to distance themselves from the lunatic fringe of the far-left. Problem is, thats where the money seems to be. The democrats have no continuity, and now they are splitting the minority up into smaller slices.
#5
I've always wondered about the number of visits to Kos' site. What do you think the percent breakdown is. I've always thought there are probably more conservative visitors that dem/lib/socialist/anarchis/children. I mean that site just feeds all conservative blogs with material. I think more than Drudge. Besides the conspiracy theories are just plain fun to read. I mean I can picture his commmentors trying to squeeze in a comment before his chores and x files.
MHW - 2004 harly muzzle the hard left - more like nuzzled up to. Kerry hanging with Moore. DLC sure didnt get a candidate it liked. If the hardleft wants to claim the Dems lost cause Kerry was too moderate they can try that.
#14
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the suicidal sacrificial rite
I saw Karl Rove Satan laughing with delight
The day the DLC music died
I may think Hagel is wrong, but I don't get the impression he hates this country or its people, unlike McKinney and many others in her party.
I no more trust Democrats than I'd trust a rabid dog.
Another parallel with the South Park episode -- I'd rather put the contestants in the Special Olympics in charge of national security than Democrats. At least I know the handicapped won't intentionally screw things up.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/22/2005 16:17 Comments ||
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#18
The Dems already know what to do - they're waiting for Dubya to invade Iran and North Korea; they're waiting for new 9-11's ags America which will hopefully not only result in 000K's of ddomestic casualties but also take out Dubya, his Admin., andor the bulk of MALE GOP-DEM POLS in CONGRESS. The Dems are quietly positioning themselves as the alternative to alleged Repub FASCISM, i.e. SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH, SOCIALIST AUTHORITARIANISM - whats the alternate or anithesis to Rightism-based FASCISM and FASCIST AUTHORITARIANISM? Answer - Left-based COMMUNISM AND COMMUNIST TOTALITARIANISM/ABSOLUTISM! BILL MAHER > he in paraphrase proclaims he's not a Dem or Communist Totalitarian or Policrat: Maher = is a LEFTLIBERAL, WAFFLING, PERFECTIONIST- IDEALIST. And dem dars the [PC] difference!? Iff the Clintons are enemies of the US Right and US Left, of both the GOP and Dems, then no one should be surprised at Left vs Left, intra-Party fractionalisms, as the Clintons > the future of the US DemoLeft lies in evolving towards being a de facto Communist Party of the USA, and America nuthin' but a Soviet-style, weak, SOcialist. GLOBAL SSR, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!? AND THE LEFTIES ARE NOT GONNA CARE CUZ THEY'RE JUST GOING TO LIE TO YOU, YOURS, ANYONE, AND EVERYONE ANYWAYS. As Dem strategist Bob Eckel said on FOXNEWS just this AM, "The real War is here back in the USA ...Bush and the GOP [based on curr polls] are losing the War at Home"!? Radic Islam is just a PC, BLOODY, POTEMKINIST, GEO-STRATEGIC DIVERSION - the real threat is "CREEPING OR GRADUAL SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM" of mainsteam America! TO TRULY DEFEAT RADIC ISLAM AMERICA MUST DESTROY COMMUNIST RUSSIA-CHINA ONCE AND FOR ALL. NO PATRIOT SHOULD BE SCARED OF NUKE WAR, LIMITED OR TOTAL - WHY, BECAUSE AMERICA'S ENEMIES AREN'T TO DO IT TO YOU AND YOURS!
#1
yesterday there was an article about how the Oregon Bar association (or something like that - too late to look up) wouldn't run the military's ad. Will be fun to watch the outrage by the left over the decison in Utah while they nod their head yes over the decision in Oregon.
#2
As an aside, I'm going to miss ol momma Sheehan when the left throws her out with the trash. Nothing like a good freak parade to make you feel better about yourself.
#5
Her 15 minutes of fame are about to run out. Even CBS couldn't float that gas bag.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/22/2005 3:31 Comments ||
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#6
2b: "As an aside, I'm going to miss ol momma Sheehan when the left throws her out with the trash."
I predict she kills herself sometime after she is tossed aside. If she has any functioning brain cells, sooner or later she is going to realize that she was used. She'll snap like a dry twig.
"Ok..now I feel bad I said that. She did produce a good and brave soldier..."
Don't feel bad. Her son most likely turned out to be the man he was due to his Fathers efforts, and, he probably recognized what a wingnut his mom was. Stil, I am sure he cared for her.
AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
08/22/2005 7:51 Comments ||
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#7
Labor Day the grown-ups come back from vacation. Cindy's going to feel like Madge Owens the day after the Picnic as she watches that freight train roll out of town. Unfortunately, no busses stop in that strip of reality Cindy inhabits. Too small. Too bad. But not too soon.
An article from The Chicago Tribune, written by John Crewdson.
Crewdson is pretty sharp, usually does his background work and nails his sources down.
Consider the odds: two men named Mohamed Atta, total strangers with nothing to connect them, both arriving in Prague just as one, the Sept. 11 hijacker, was beginning his fateful journey to the United States. According to documents in the files of the German federal police, the improbable scenario of "The Two Attas" is precisely what transpired in the spring of 2000, confusing investigators for months and laying the groundwork for a spurious claim that Atta later met with an Iraqi intelligence agent.
In the weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, Czech and German investigators labored under the misimpression that Atta the hijacker had arrived in Prague on a flight from Germany at the end of May 2000, been sent back to Germany the same day for lack of a Czech visa, and then reappeared early June 2 with his papers in order. It turned out the Atta who arrived on May 31, 2000, was a Pakistani businessman. The one who arrived later was the Sept. 11 hijacker.
The mistaken notion that Atta - if he had come twice to Prague - must have had some urgent business there before his June 2000 departure for the United States set the stage for the Czech government's insistence, which proved groundless, that Atta returned to Prague the following year to meet an Iraqi intelligence officer.
The story of The Two Attas began within hours of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, when the BKA, the German equivalent of the FBI, asked European airlines to search their records for all previous travel by al-Qaida-linked hijackers and their suspected accomplices. Dozens of such flights were found, many offering important clues to the scope and complexity of the Sept. 11 conspiracy.
One, however, was a shocker: a May 31, 2000, booking by Mohammed Atta on Lufthansa from Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, to Prague by way of Frankfurt Airport. BKA agents quickly noticed that, unlike the Jiddah passenger, Atta the hijacker spelled "Mohamed" with a single "m." But airlines frequently misspell the names of passengers, especially those who pay cash for tickets as this Atta did. Moreover, the likelihood of two Mohamed Attas converging on Prague at almost the same moment seemed at best remote.
Atta's presence in Saudi Arabia a few days before he made his first entry into the United States represented a potentially crucial piece of the Sept. 11 puzzle. Most of the Sept. 11 hijackers had come from Saudi Arabia, and al-Qaida had long been suspected of receiving much of its funding from that country.
In early October 2001, documents show, BKA agents assigned to pursue that lead were dispatched to Prague, where they discovered that information gathered by the Czech anti-terrorist police only deepened the mystery. Atta, it seemed, had visited Prague at least once before, in December 1994, at the beginning of a six-month leave from his job with a city planning firm in Hamburg, Germany, where he was also studying architectural engineering. Co-workers recalled Atta, who had become an ultra-devout Muslim since arriving in Hamburg, telling them he planned to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. But investigators were unable to learn why Atta had instead gone to Prague. ....
As the BKA pieced together the timeline, it seemed that Atta had flown from Jiddah to Prague on May 31, 2000, even while knowing that his newly acquired Czech visa would not take effect until the following day, June 1.
"He was trying to get into the Czech Republic, but he did not possess all the proper documents he was supposed to have, so he wasn't allowed to enter," then-Czech Interior Minister Stanislav Gross told the Chicago Tribune a few weeks after Sept. 11. "He didn't leave the transit area of the airport."
That scenario, however, raised the question of why Atta would fly nearly 3,000 miles only to spend six hours in Prague's cheerless Ruzyne Airport before being shepherded aboard a Lufthansa jet for the 70-minute flight back to Frankfurt. Had Atta met someone at the airport, investigators wondered, a meeting too important to have been postponed? But airport surveillance cameras provided no clue.
According to Czech immigration records, Atta again arrived in Prague on June 2, 2000. His visa had become effective the day before. The following day, he flew non-stop aboard a Czech Airlines flight from Prague to Newark, N.J., giving his destination as New York City's Lexington Hotel. After arriving in Newark on the afternoon of June 3, Atta presumably met up with hijacker Marwan Al-Shehhi, who had arrived in Newark from Brussels on May 29. ....
The idea that Atta had a connection to someone or something in Prague laid the foundation for the Oct. 26, 2001, declaration by the Czech Republic's Gross that an informant for the Czech internal security service, the BIS, had witnessed a meeting in Prague between Atta and an Iraqi intelligence officer named Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani. That meeting, variously reported as having taken place on a Prague street or in a hotel restaurant, was said by the BIS informant to have occurred on April 8, 2001 - 10 months after Atta's June 2000 visit to Prague, and five months before the Sept. 11 hijackings. ....
In its final report last month, however, the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission concluded that "the available evidence does not support the original Czech report of an Atta-al-Ani meeting."
All that remained was the mystery of The Two Attas. The first clues were found in Atta's Egyptian passport, recovered by the FBI from one of his suitcases, which failed to make the hijacked flight. The passport bore no evidence of an attempt to enter the Czech Republic on May 31, 2000. The passport did, however, contain a Czech visa, valid June 1 through June 20, that Atta had obtained in Bonn on May 26 of that year. It also contained a Czech entry stamp dated June 2, the day Atta arrived in Prague by bus from Germany, and an exit stamp dated June 3, placed in his passport as he departed Prague for Newark. He used another Egyptian passport, issued in Germany, to board his Sept. 11 flight.
Intent on nailing down whatever connection might have existed between Atta and the Saudis, in December 2001 the CIA concluded that the Mohammed Atta who had flown from Jiddah to Prague on May 31 and been refused entry wasn't Atta the hijacker after all, but a Pakistani businessman with an almost-identical name. Not only had Atta the hijacker not been in Saudi Arabia, he hadn't made more than one visit to Prague, which now appeared to be only a transit point on his journey to the United States. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/22/2005 21:11 ||
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Breaking
An explosion rocked a shopping center in a neighborhood in northern Beirut on Monday, security officials said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Residents of the Zalka area said black smoke was rising near a hotel. Ambulances and fire engines headed to the area, they said by telephone.
Syrian or Hezbollah festivities? Or a natural "explosion"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/22/2005 16:26 ||
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A powerful explosion late Monday rocked a shopping center and hotel in the Zalka neighborhood in north Beirut, injuring at least two people and causing extensive damage, security officials said.
Heavily armed Lebanese soldiers cordoned off the area, punching and hitting journalists to keep them back.
Two workers could be seen helping a black-clad, veiled woman down the glass-covered front stairs of the Promenade Hotel. She appeared shaken but not injured.
Security forces were seen rounding up several suspects, including five men with their hands tied behind their backs. The were taken to a military vehicle.
Zalka mayor Michel Murr told the Lebanese Brodacasting Corp. that the bomb was placed in an open area between the Centre Moussa shopping center and the hotel, which was packed with tourists. A busy Starbucks coffee shop sits across the street.
He said tourists were evacuated and none was injured.
Brig. Gen. Darwish Hobeika, commander of Lebanon's Civil Defense Corps, told Lebanese Broadcasting that two people were lightly injured and one Civil Defense rescuer was hurt.
Residents said black smoke billowed into the night sky near the hotel. Ambulances and fire engines responded to care for potential victims and put out the fire.
Zalka, on the Mediterranean coast, is a mixed residential and commercial area on a main street that leads to Lebanon's Christian heartland. The area has several cafes _ including a Starbucks coffee shop _ and restaurants and other nightspots that were full of patrons.
The explosion was the latest in a string of bombings that have killed or wounded politicians and other prominent figures in Lebanon since the February assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, an attack that rattled Lebanon's political and security foundations.
Bombs also have targeted commercial and industrial centers. The bomb that killed Hariri took 20 other lives, and explosions since then have killed at least six people, including a prominent politician and an anti-Syrian journalist. More than 50 people, including Lebanon's defense minister, have been injured.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/22/2005 22:30 Comments ||
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For two years now, the Bush Administration has willingly taken a back seat to European diplomacy to induce Iran to abandon its nuclear-weapons program. In the last few weeks, the world has been able to see what this non-cowboy strategy has achieved:
⢠Iran's new president has called for "a wave of Islamic revolution." Only a few years ago, this new world statesman was running gangs of street thugs who harassed anti-government demonstrators. His political rise was engineered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini, who barred 1,000 reformist candidates from the recent parliamentary elections.
⢠Last week, Iranian police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration of Iranian Kurds in the city of Mahabad, reportedly killing four of the protestors [sic] . Meanwhile, dissident journalist Akbar Ganji is on his 75th day of a prison hunger strike, and prosecutors are now threatening his family.
⢠On the nuclear issue, Tehran has resumed an early-stage uranium enrichment process at its nuclear site in Isfahan. And it has denounced as "unacceptable" a European offer to provide security and economic favors in exchange for Iran dropping parts of its nuclear program that have bomb-making uses.
Memri, which translates Middle East broadcasts from their native languages, recently captured Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Hosein Musavian, on Iranian TV: "Thanks to the negotiations with Europe, we gained another year, in which we completed" Isfahan. Iran suspended enrichment "in Isfahan in October 2004, although we were required to do so in October 2003. . . . Today we are in a position of power. We have a stockpile of products, and during this period we have managed to convert 36 tons of yellowcake into gas and store it."
⢠Then there is Iranian assistance for terrorists in Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has publicly accused Iran of "allowing" weapons to move across its Western border, and U.S. troops have captured explosives shaped for destructive terror use with Iranian pedigrees. Time magazine, no friend of the U.S. effort in Iraq, recently published a report, "Inside Iran's Secret War for Iraq." This is all especially notable because advocates of courting the mullahs often warn that a harder line against Tehran could invite Iranian meddling in Iraq. But that meddling is a reality under current Iran policy, and it is killing American soldiers.
The Iranians themselves are now admitting that all of this is no happenstance but is a calculated effort to exploit what the mullahs perceive to be American weakness and Europe's lack of will. An internal Iranian government document recently obtained by an opposition group says that "The talks process ended the suffocating economic pressures that our country was being subjected to in the months prior to the October 2003 agreement. . . . With the Americans deeply stuck in a quagmire in Iraq, the Europeans know that they will have to ultimately accommodate our just demands."
And why shouldn't the mullahs believe this, given Europe's reaction to President Bush's routine recent comments that "all options are on the table" regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions? German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, facing an uphill election campaign, seized on the remark as an opportunity to repudiate even the possibility of using force. "We have seen it doesn't work," he declared, in a reference to Iraq. (Saddam Hussein might argue from his holding cell that it does.)
No one can plausibly claim that this Iranian hardline has been inspired by U.S. saber-rattling. Since including Iran in the original "axis of evil" in 2002, Mr. Bush has softened his rhetoric on Iran to a near-whisper. The Administration agreed to European mediation efforts in October 2003, and agreed again in 2004 after Iran cheated on its initial commitments by secretly enriching uranium. Then the U.S. agreed again to another try earlier this year, this time offering World Trade Organization membership. Tehran's response has been evident the last few weeks.
Perhaps it's time to try a different strategy. We aren't referring here to economic sanctions via the U.N. Security Council. China and Russia aren't likely to agree to sanctions, and even if they did (after many months of haggling) Iran may think it can ride them out in a world of $60 oil.
Leaving aside--but not ruling out--the option of military intervention, the Iranian regime is vulnerable to diplomatic pressure from without and even more so to democratic pressure from below. Yet the Bush Administration has given comparatively little support to Iranian pro-democracy groups, and it has made no effort to organize bans on Iranian participation in prestigious international forums or at sporting and cultural events. Patrick Clawson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy suggests, for starters, barring the Iranian national soccer team from the World Cup.
Perhaps even this is too militant for the likes of Chancellor Schröder. But it would be the beginning of a serious Iran policy. Handwringing 101. Chock-full of presumptions, I find the assumption that what they can see is all there is to see is reminiscent of The Blind Men and The Elephant... We shall all see, when the sands run out. If Bush blinks, and holds back the Israelis - assuming they would listen, the world will pay a dear price, I'm afraid. One thing is certain now, today: The US has received precisely zero help with this global threat. Israel, the only other nation with the stones to act has been, I'm certain, asked by the US to remain in the background. The actions of the EU3 have been pathetic and contemptible - I do not care what anyone else might say. In the end, there are only the Persians themselves, the US, and Israel. At least one must act to stop this madness. The ineffectiveness of the CIA, hamstringing us in so many ways, contributes here and is a (the?) major part of the devastating legacy of PCism, Moonbattery, and Camelot II. I don't know whether to assign the role of Ephialtes to Clinton, Elbaradei, Puttyputz or the EU3 leadership. Perhaps they all deserve the part - and that place in history. We shall see.
#1
Granted, some handwrining. Fact is, the EU-3 angle is a surrogate for going to the UN because the UNSC and IAEA are disinclined to do anything constructive.
Funding the anti-regime elements sounds same as Michael Ledeen.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/22/2005 7:46 Comments ||
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#2
Iran is a big problem and the US knows it. But what can they do? Right now the large Iranian contingent in Iraq is mainly quiet regarding Coalition forces (concentrating on enforcing Sharia among the Iraqis and 'hustling' votes), but if the US were to bomb Isfahan (for example) I expect there would be major attacks on US logistics lines across the south. The US does not have a large enough force to maintain current operations in the center AND effectively defend its supply lines against Iran.
Even if Europe wanted to help (ha!) they don't have the ability to field a militarily significant force.
Whatever gets done about Iran in the near term is going to have to be covert and have at least some 'deniability'. 'Vandalism' against electricity network, rail or pipeline 'accidents', perhaps even a 'Three Mile Island' event?
#3
Iran, russia, china, and NKor have us over a barrel right now because of Iraq. But they arent thinking about the future, we'll be done in Iraq eventually and Sauron's eye will turn to these assholes. Then, they will want to negotiate, talk compromise, and make deals. With the exception of China, I think.
China will either tear itself apart like russia 1991 or we will have to do a major cold-war type build up to protect ourselves from them, the others will fade away when we free up from Iraq.
Just one guys prediction, but I don't think Iran, Nkor or russia have the ability or money in the latter two's cases to cause us much trouble in the long run.
#4
Illusions of a Spartan empire .com? Let's not fool ourselves into that one, the annual "our Town" presentation in Mansfield Ohio during the cold war was the closest we've come to the platonic state, and that was a boy scouts/DOD war propoganda PR illusion.
Or is this new Ephialtes you speak of ushering in the OWG? Smells of moonbat conspiracy theory, you been reading too much Kos?
Regardless, do you really think the Persians are going to do dick to put down this govt of theirs? Sadly, the current Iranian powers represent their best and brightest, mostly because they kill all who oppose them and indoctrinate all others. Otherwise the smart ones moved to America or Europe.
The infrastructure for an Iranian revolt is not there or we'd have already moved on it. Rather the Iranian infrastrucutre for a new shiia Iraq is well in place. As is the destruction of the Sunni minority, good riddance? Maybe not, they've been a solid balancing force against the Persians since the British propped up Faisal almost a century ago.
We're playing pinball with the deaf dumb and blind kid when we play pinball in Iran. So fuck playing pinball, that dream is dead, so let's move on.
Maybe we could generate some regional revolts but any serious plans for revolution? kaput.
And what, we take the leash off the Israeli bulldog?
Yeah, we're gonna do that and incur the PR wrath of the civilized world, cause make no mistakes they'll use the nukes we gave em if we let the leash go. And then we and the Israelis will be responsible for unleashing the first nukes since 1942.
Doubtful, much more likely we're going to see a new nuclear powered bunch of Mad Mullahs in Iran.
Leave it up to the Europeans to fuck up a situation royally, or at least to do what we expected them to do. Pacify.
So what option is left? An option I have seen you deny here previously, War with Iran.
What eventuality of yours am I missing?
Jesus coming down and smiting them?
Because all I see is a new nuclear armed enemy and a recipe for disaster.
Indeed I advocate that we unchain Mars on the Iranians and let slip the dogs of war, but I dine alone with my opinion very often. Noone seems to have the stomach for a real war anymore, if you would be able to call rolling over Syria and Iran a real war.
You smell of State Department employ with this revolution talk, let me guess after the Army and Laos, Dusseldorf, a closet office with a view of the Potomac, Jakarta, then Doha and maybe Sana'a, Muscat or Tunis, then Dhahran by way of some private consulting for an energy or defense contractor?
#9
BTW numbnutz - "the nukes WE gave them"? Prove it. Britain and France enabled the Israeli nukes.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/22/2005 16:32 Comments ||
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#10
You smell of State Department employ with this revolution talk, let me guess after the Army and Laos, Dusseldorf, a closet office with a view of the Potomac, Jakarta, then Doha and maybe Sana'a, Muscat or Tunis, then Dhahran by way of some private consulting for an energy or defense contractor?
#11
Lol. Spartan empire illusions? WTF? Are you senile? What are you rambling on, about, anyway? And ramble you do - that's an almost worthless post. A collection of half-assed pseudo-thought - and pointedly unkind.
You obviously completely misread my comment - and you blather BS out your ass like a fool. Re-reading it, I can NOT see where the fuck you got your notions.
If you re-read it, very very slowly, I'm skewering the editorial assholes who are wringing their hands (a new low for WSJ/OJ, IMHO) and the traitorous dithering of our erstwhile allies - and laying a turd on Russia's doorstep (for their assisting the Mad Mullahs).
All of those I named are playing the part of Ephialtes. Are you sure you know who he was - your comments indicate you don't really know dick about the real meaning of Thermopylae. Will Bush be Leonidas? At the moment, he is - and he's planning, looking for his Thermopylae chokepoint battleground - Xerxes is till far away, by most estimates. The analogy fits the current situation all too well -- I am advocating a very different ending must be decided upon. There are three parties who can act to change the outcome of Mullahs acquiring nukes. At least one must act. How could I be clearer - and how the fuck could you have missed it? Blinded by your own brain farts?
What FrankG said in #5 is spot-on: I want the MM's and the entire Mad Mullah structure DEAD. Take a reading comprehension course - or STFU when you don't have a clue what you're talking about.
I've been advocating a strike against Iran since, at least, Oct, 2003 (comment #2). I began talking it about in those terms in April, 2003 (comment #8 - I posted as 'PD' back then) - that's awhile back, wouldn't you agree? Loooong before most folks. Sheesh, wotta pisser to have some nitwit come along more than 2 YEARS later and call me a limp-wrist, lol. I summarized what I though the options were in July, 2004 (comment #7) and again in Jan, 2005 comment #29).
Go ahead, read those links. You need the education. Then, when you realize what a jerk you were to post an attack, assuming you're even remotely honest with yourself, hie thee back into retirement. Oh, and kiss my hairy ass for attacking without a scintilla of understanding or even an effort to do so before spewing.
#15
yup, i gotta back that up. Dot com, with whom im often in strong disagreement, is one for hitting the mullahs hard.
Myself, I have no idea how easy a hit would be to pull off. Doesnt mean I think it CANT be pulled off, i just dont think the relevant info is in the public domain.
and for alot of reasons I think a democratic revolution in Iran would be more desirable. And no, I dont think that it hasnt happened yet means it wont happen.
Lh - Absolutely the desired option, I couldn't agree more - and I, too, hold out some small hope. If we had a CIA worthy of the name... Sigh. For the Persians to swing the Mullahs from the lampposts, themselves, would be even sweeter than blowing them to tiny bits with Holy TLAMs.
If I would stop being lazy and post more do you think I would attract my very own nimrods to play with too? LOL
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/22/2005 17:19 Comments ||
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#20
Lol, LotR, sure! Just post, at some length - a few solid paragraphs will do the trick, on any topic and some comprehension-challenged turd will pop up. They float, y'know. ;-)
#21
.com, agree about the WSJ. Don't feel like doing Iran again. It's only been a week and this is the end of August. What are the chances this editorial was written by Bret Stephens? I'll bet so and that he'll ruin the page.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/22/2005 17:32 Comments ||
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#22
Mrs D - I don't know who the Stephens character you mention is, and the article doesn't identify who wrote it, but since they published it, well, that must mean that the Chief Editor signed off on it - and that really sucks. Sounded like Arnaud de Borchgrave at UPI / Wash Times to me, and that means bland, half-baked, nuanced shit, IMHO. Not something I would have associated with WSJ/OJ. Sigh.
#23
Bret Stephens was the guy who stuck up for Eason Jordan in the WEF flap and also the guy who had dinner with the anti-American German ambassador but wouldn't argue with the guy becasue he didn't want to break up the wives' friendship but then wrote an article about it. There was one other thing but I can't recall it now. Anyway, he's a growing power on the editorial page but seems to have a little too much of that Eastern elitist inside the beltway attitude for what I want to see when I'm drinking my first coffee. Robert Barkley was right when he said the WSJ was the only editorial page that sold a newspaper along with it as opposed to vice versa.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/22/2005 17:45 Comments ||
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#24
A free and truly democratic Iran, hell yea. I might even be inclined to trust them with reactors. The Mad Mullahs no way, not ever.
The choice of how Iran is dealt with is up the the people of Iran. At some point in the undetermined future I have a feeling the people of Iraq will regret not taking to the streets and stringing up the "revolutionaries" if they don't act soon. A genuine revolt that is fully internal so no one can represent that some foreign hand was behind it.
#25
Mrs D - Oh, okay, that fool. I was with the crowd that thought he was a dick for not taking his so-called "host" on. Indeed, he is not cut from the same cloth as the others, Taranto, et al, that we've come to trust - almost unique in the MSM for me.
SPo'D - Amen. I wouldn't mind helping them with arms, planning, and even SF to take out hardpoints and protect their oil infrastructure during the real revolution. But without a functioning humint element in the CIA, that's not very likely. Perhaps, and this is very possible, the Israelis or others have penetrated Iran sufficiently to make up, somewhat, for the CIA's emasculation at the hands of Tenet and others. It would be soooo sweet...
#26
You all applaud abu Troll Slicer, all I saw was a squished Bunny. Maker me weep. Reminds LOl ummm.. remnd LOL LOL hhhaaaaaaaaaa reminds me of frogger.
#28
If I weren't so busy picking dogshit up out of the yard, I'd have responded to your idiotic rantings sooner .com. Dogshit nonetheless.
I give you too much credit.com, you aren't an old State Dep. hack, you are a complete fucking idiot. Or else you'd know what the fuck I'm referring to when I point to the father of Athenian democracy, you fucknut.
However, let me digress in my criticism to say yes, Thermopylae is an excellent reference, and not the one I thought you were making with Ephialtes.Wrong Ephialtes, my misinterpretation.
However, that being said, go fuck yourself while the real warriors fight in the shade, that reference better for you asswipe? You're soooooo fucking bright for bringing in a historical reference. Everyone clap for .com today. hoorah, you fucking tool.
If I were attacking your comments, you'd have known it. I was trying to ascertain what your posting was advocating. I thought war with Iran, you obviously had sucking your own cock more in mind. And as for limpwristed, I won't insult the limpwristed by casting your stupid ass amongst them. Although I'm sure your Dixie Chicks album would give you away to a true conservative.
I hope you and your fucking debutante groupies weren't too upset by someone other than their god and master generating conversation on something you claim to be so knowledgeable on, a war with Iran.
Your prophetic postings? You want to act like every other half ass analyst wannabe in the fucking rational world hasn't been advocating atacking Iran,since well before 2003. Dumbass.
Quit fucking recycling half ass theorems your roomate wrote for your poly sci classes at Utah State Community College and see the reality that we aint gonna let Israel do shit, period. That would be diplomatically worse than the US itself attacking Iran directly. Israel is our bulldog, and we hold the chain. Not the other way around. If Israel attacks it will be as second fiddle- at best-to our forces.
So take a break from advocating your recycled biblical apocalyptyic bullshit psuedo prophecies and shut the fuck up for a change.
#29
Finally Fired - nice mouth. You blow your dog with that?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/22/2005 19:19 Comments ||
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#30
Okay, this thread has officially exceeded this moderator's obscenity threshhold.
Plus, it's boring.
Finally Retired, you were IMO off base with your original comment to .com. If you're going to come out swinging that way it is not too much to ask that you do a quick search through the archives first. That way the whole comment thread here doesn't get hijacked by the feces fest that was pretty much triggered by you.
I disagree with .com on a whole slew of issues and he is not always sweetness and light himself. It's just the case that your poke came first.
Can we please get this thread back on topic and leave the playground stuff outside?
#31
I think you must have taken your brains that fell out for that dog feces Finally Retired. Take up a new hobby, reading comprehension doesn't appear to be something you are good at. Trolling at Rantburg won't last.
FOAD HAND
My points were clear enough for intelligent folks. You are just too stupid and full of yourself to notice. That is what's most apparent in your asinine posts.
You have no plan, no salient points, nothing but spew - brainless pointless invective. Your posts make no sense. None. Your attacks make no sense. None. You're simply a hole, where a person should be. You deserve nothing. You merit nothing. You are nothing. *pffft*
You've resorted to ad hominem from the first - totally unwarranted. You haven't addressed a single point in those links I offered - just lame tripe about wanting to understand, I'm a State weenie, idiotic crap about bliblical stuff, blah³, all perfectly irrelevant bullshit. Wotta load.
You made a stupid claim that I had "An option I have seen you deny here previously, War with Iran.". Prove it, asshole. I'll wager you're either just blowing out your ass (a Sphincter of Allan specimen) or you are another idiot who believes that, because you want it to be so, Magik happens and another 2 or 3 hundred thousand boots will Magikally materialize - just for you. You've substantiated nothing - just that you're inept and reduced to foolish half-witted blather.
You think you're tough and war-like, it seems. You're not tough - you're a joke. I've killed people, gutted them from crotch to sternum, that I respect more than you. They were men. You're something less - I wouldn't wipe my blade on your pathetic carcass.
You remind me of my ex-wife, only I doubt you can shine a knob like she could - you merely blow.
#34
While not as diplomatic as Finally Retired, after reading and re-reading the piece, I don't concur with com and D.
I see a pretty clear strategy from Bush for Iran. It's called timing. Bush is hoping that the EU-3 will come to the conclusion that they have been fucked over and over again by the Iranian regime. Whether or not this possibility is realistic, Bush has to play it out for domestic purposes too.
As the the US, Bush wants to get Dummycrats to the point of screaming that we aren't doing enough about Iran. You are already beginning to hear Dummycrats saying we picked the wrong country, and this will only ratchet up further as the EU-3 initiative has been a proven failure and Iran gets closer to full cycle capability.
In the interim, I agree with the WSJ Editorial Board (this was an editorial) that we should at minimum be supporting the anti-regime elements in Iran. This is very consistent with where Michael Ledeen (NR/AEI).
As for debating the merits of particular WSJ figures, take your debate elsewhere. Perhaps on Page 4.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/22/2005 19:48 Comments ||
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#35
I crossed posts with you, lotp. But I mean every fucking word of it. Ban me, if you think you must. You've flown off the handle over much less.
#36
Any non-Persian support for a genuine Iranian "revolution" will be taken as meddling by the evil amis and joos. It has to be the real deal. The best course is verbal support and making sure that "clean Persian hands" make the kind of money to support a popular uprising.
#37
This article is a joke. You can tell by the way it ends with a funny punchline:
"...barring the Iranian national soccer team from the World Cup... would be the beginning of a serious Iran policy."
I am no diplomat, but making a stand and being consistent is essential. Why in the hell would be oppose the theocracy's nuclear efforts and brutalization of Iranians and turn a blind eye towards letting their newly elected president speak at the UN? Why would we not oppose their national soccer team from playing in the World Cup? Do you realize how important the World Cup is to Iran?
Again, this is "for starters" and it would not be a joke in Iranland
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/22/2005 20:27 Comments ||
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#39
Com, your soccer team is herewith banned from the World Cup. Finally Retired, you will not be able to speak in NYC before the UN general assembly.
God
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/22/2005 20:30 Comments ||
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#40
You believe the mullahs would think twice about Islamic world domination if a soccer season is at stake? Think again, tool of The Great Satan.
#41
Smile when you refer to me as The Great Satan (and keep it between the two of us, heh).
In fact, the Iranian regime requires some degree of legitimacy for internal consumption and external gamesmenship. Removing them from the World Cup (huge in global stage), is but one "for starters" (don't forget, "for starters")step of a constant build up apace of their steps towards nuclear weaponry-- when the real games begin (hint: it won't be soccer)
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/22/2005 22:04 Comments ||
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#42
What in the world makes you guys think the World Cup folks, run by Germany this time IIRC, will do anything of the sort? Lol. Not a chance. Period. They'll put on knee-pads - and not for playing soccer football.
#43
Oh, dear. *weakly leans back in chair, wiping tears of laughter from the corners of eyes*
This has got to be a first, .com -- congratulations! Nobody has ever thought of you as State Dept. material before, let alone careerist. Although I imagine such could consider invective a foreign language to be studied, not unlike Russian or Farsi.
As for Mr. Retired, congratulations to you, too. I see you plan to make use of your newfound freedom.
However, it is generally not considered good manners to enter your host's home roaring semi-coherent obscenities... at least if you wish to be invited back. Please re-think your approach, as this is Fred's private playground, at which we are all guests. If you have thoughtful and informed commentary on the posted article, or any of the posts, we would be pleased to learn what you may have to teach, as we do from one another. But I think you will need to give us your bona fides, so that we can judge your contributions accordingly. (I, to give an obvious example, wouldn't dream of commenting on matters military except in the most general sense, although I might have very strong opinions on debutante activities, even though in my family we gave up such sillinesses several generations ago.)
#46
tw - lol! I did not intend to post any comments, today. I just posted a few articles I found interesting. The in-line comment was, I thought, pretty obvious. The Thermopylae parallel suggested itself to me without efffort - and I believe it applies, so far. I have no idea where FR came from or what his itch was.
Iranâs hard-line President Mahmood Ahmadinejad put his proposed Cabinet to Parliament yesterday, lashing out at the West and liberalism and promising a government that will âpromote virtue and prohibit vice.â
We've even formed a committee to do just that!"
Signaling his shock election win had delivered a clean break from the previous reformist administration of Mohammad Khatami, Ahmadinejad pledged to fight off liberalism that he argued threatened Islamic values. âThe international community they go so far as to condemn us. What sort of balance is this? This is injustice and oppression, and our nation will not accept this in international affairs,â Ahmadinejad, who took office on Aug. 3, told Parliament.
It was a clear reference to threats against Iran in the wake of Tehranâs decision to resume sensitive nuclear work earlier this month. The clerical regime has refused to return to a full freeze of nuclear fuel work - the focus of fears the country is seeking atomic weapons. Ahmadinejad also vowed a more assertive trade policy. âCurrently we are importing from some countries billions of dollars whereas they are not buying our oil and they are also not buying our products,â he said in a speech one MP described as âmore about ideals than strategiesâ.
âThese countries should be thankful to us because we are helping their economic boom, but they are not thankful and are looking at us as if we were indebted to them,â the 49-year-old former commando told the conservative-controlled assembly.
So you're not going to buy Euro weapons after all?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
âThe international community they go so far as to condemn us. What sort of balance is this? This is injustice and oppression, and our nation will not accept this in international affairs,â
Perhaps one should really set them off, and refuse Ahmadinejad entry so that he cannot vist the UN...
#4
And in the same breath he pledges to keep them in the dark ages. Rule over them with a heavy hand, and oppress the living shit out of every man, woman, and child. Now lets have a round of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" chants. You shall chant or you will be stabbed in the head. Oh, yeah, you have to like it too.
ISLAMABAD: The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has refused to register its seminaries with the government under the Madaris Registration Ordinance 2005, Online reported on Monday. JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman told reporters that his party would not register its 8,500 seminaries across Pakistan. âWe reject the Madaris Registration Ordinance which President General Pervez Musharraf has promulgated by amending the Society Act. If we approve such amendments and the parliament also approves them we will be forced to introduce the government-dictated syllabus and employ government-recommended teachers in the madrassas. This is not possible for us,â he said. âWe will not accept any restrictions on madrassas.â
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2005 21:45 ||
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Shutting down the Jihadi camps is apparently not an option
Dissatisfied with the performance of foreign missions, the federal government is planning to engage international public relations companies and advertising agencies to promote a softer image of the country.
Official sources told Daily Times that President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had directed media consultants to prepare a comprehensive international media strategy. A team of media consultants, led by Mehreen Khan, was already working at the Prime Ministerâs Secretariat to deal with international media affairs.
Sources said that the group of consultants held a few meetings with the president and the prime minister and apprising them of the salient features of the campaign involving the international newspapers and television channels.
One of the main tasks of the consultants is to counter the ânegativeâ propaganda against Pakistan by recognised newspapers and television channels. Sources said that the international media campaign assisted by advertising agencies and public relations firms would promote Pakistanâs culture and tourism. The campaign would also project Pakistan as attractive for investment. However, it was not clear how much money would be required to launch such a big image-building drive.
According to the proposal, a rapid response unit will be set up to monitor and counter the international media reports aiming to malign Pakistanâs image
Posted by: john ||
08/22/2005 12:33 ||
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Foreign PR firms to boost Pakistan's poor image
Somehow, Pakistan's little "image problem" probably has more to do with reality than propaganda.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/22/2005 19:11 Comments ||
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#7
Is this the same firm that helped the Saudi image so much?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/22/2005 19:15 Comments ||
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#8
The Ministry of Tourism already has it covered:
"Pakistan - The Land of Adventure and Nature"
http://www.tourism.gov.pk/
Personally, I was thinking more along the lines of:
"Pakistan - The Land of the Islamic Bomb" or
"Pakistan - The Land of Osama's Getaway" or
"Pakistan - Daniel Perl Toured Here, You Can Too!"
Shattered glass, body parts, a blood-splattered blue sedan: the grainy video pans over the scene as Iraqi officers comb the site of a drive-by assassination. It's "Cops" Iraqi-style, minus the "Bad Boys" soundtrack but otherwise roughly modeled after the American TV show.
Created to make government more transparent, "The Cops Show" featuring Kirkuk officers in action is the first of its kind in the country and is breaking new ground in Iraqi television. A live call-in portion gives the public the chance to praise the security forces or gripe about them. Screened weekly on Kirkuk Television, which broadcasts in this northern city of nearly 1 million people, "The Cops Show" has opened the floodgates in a community long suppressed.
"During Saddam Hussein's time, it was very different," station manager Nasser Hassan Mohammed said. "You were unable to ask questions. You couldn't say anything bad about police. Now people can call in directly. Anyone has the right to do this. This is the difference now. This is freedom." The call-in portion, initially a novelty, has become a staple of the show, and panelists field up to 30 calls per segment, Mohammed said. And because Kirkuk is ethnically mixed, the show switches among the languages spoken by Kurds, Arabs, Turkomen or Assyrians. It took Iraqis a while to master the art of the phone-in. "But after more than a year, they understand very well," Mohammed said.
Col. Gordon Petrie, the show's American military adviser, said it marks a new era for community service television. "There has been a sea change in media," said Petrie, who heads public affairs for the 116th Brigade Combat Team. "Before 2003, it was all-Saddam, all-the-time. "Kirkuk, which was one of the largest TV stations, basically was robotic. They'd get the Baghdad feed and send it out again. Now they are in charge here."
#5
I wonder if they get runs to the Sunni trailer parks?
"Been drinking today, Mahmoud? You got any AK's or RPGs on ya? Anything gonna explode in your house when I go in there? All right. Things between you and her get out of hand a little? All right. You just sit there. I'm gonna get her side of the story."
#6
"soldier-man don't give you no break,
No no policeman don't give you no break,
Bad jihadis bad jihadis
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you?"
Posted by: Jonathan ||
08/22/2005 15:56 Comments ||
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#7
When the "cops" bust a jihadist and find porno mags and drugs on live tv it makes it very clear that the government isn't making this stuff up to vilify the bad guys. Very nice.
Palestinians from the ruling Fatah party armed with assault rifles converged on the Gaza Parliament building yesterday to demand jobs in a protest that underlined challenges ahead for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has vowed to crack down on worsening internal lawlessness and faces pressure to rein in militants during Israelâs pullout from the occupied Gaza Strip in order to maintain stability and advance peacemaking efforts. But he has shied from direct confrontations with militants.
At least 200 Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members, most dressed in black, demanded jobs while accusing officials of corruption. Some fired into the air. The protesters came close to scuffles with police before commanders on both sides ordered calm. They then dispersed. âWe are here only to send a message that Fatah fighters should be treated fairly. Jobs should be secured for those who made dear sacrifices,â said Abu Jihad, a spokesman. He complained that jobs were given to âthose who did not deserve them while the fighters were forgottenâ. One Al-Aqsa protester said through a loudspeaker: âWe are not here to beg anybody. We are here to seek our fair rights.â
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2005 00:00 ||
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Wait a second. I thought that the martyr brigades splodeydopes were supposed to have 'done their job', right, as boomers? How come these guys are still around looking for jobs. Doesn't sound to me like they are very successful martyrs.
#3
You weren't listening to the UN-funded ads: 'Victory in Gaza, on to the West Bank, then Jerusalem (then the rest of Israel)' Their 'job' is not finished yet.
Iraqi negotiators have reached agreement on one major roadblock to a new Iraqi constitution and an agreement could be reached on another as soon as tonight, a senior Iraqi official told CNN on Sunday. Negotiators clarified the role of Islam in the constitution, said Hachim al-Hassani, speaker of the National Assembly. Al-Hassani said the compromise language called Islam "a main source of legislation" -- wording that he said concerned him and women's rights advocates.
This is the piece that's going to bite them hard in the long run. It's the camel's nose for the beturbanned bully boys to shove their fellow citizens around, like Tater's thugs are fond of doing already. They continue to shy away from that idea of individual freedom, first and foremost because their religion denies it. It's why I'm coming around to the idea that we're going to lose the fight to democratize them.
The idea of federalism -- splitting the country into as many as three separate autonomous regions -- is the other stumbling block delaying a draft constitution. Those issues prompted the National Assembly to extend the August 15 deadline to Monday. The federalism issue hinges on control of Iraq's oil reserves, which are mostly contained in the Shiite majority south and the Kurdish majority north.
I guess that part is actually "all about oil."
Sunni Arabs, who largely live in the oil-devoid central areas, oppose a federalist system that would keep oil profits in the hands of regional governments. Some officials said the negotiators are seeking a solution that would keep control of oil revenues in a central government. Kurdish leaders, while pushing for autonomy, are shying away from the idea of the right to self-determination, a term that implies independence, not just autonomy. Some Shiites, particularly the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, have come out for an autonomous region in the Shiite south. Sunni Arabs and other Shiites, particularly those in the ruling government, oppose strong decentralization, and want a unified Iraq. The time set down by the transitional law for a referendum on the document is no later than October 15.
I hope the Kurds don't give too much away on that one. They've set up a functioning economy by not spending all their time arguing about religion and all their money building mosques. The idea of them picking up their marbles and leaving would be a good incentive for the rest of the country not to go to extremes. Our constitution works because of all the checks and balances, so they should put as many in theirs as they can get away with, without grinding everything to a halt.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Lefties are trying to push the theocracy pitch. I won't believe anything until the final document is out.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/22/2005 7:37 Comments ||
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#2
With Gaza back in Paleo hands and Iraq another serene Islamic state, I fully expect the attacks on the West to cease.
National Assembly member Bahaa Al-Aaraji just told Al-Iraqia TV that an agreement has finally been reached among the leaders of political bodies on the final draft of the constitution and that disputes over issues like federalism, distribution of resources and the role of Islam have been solved.
"All we need now is a couple of hours to reprint the document and produce enough copies to submit them to all the members of the National Assembly to get theri approval later this eveningâ¦" Al-Aaraji explained.
Iraq yesterday called on neighboring Jordan to extradite members of Saddam Husseinâs former regime it accused of fomenting âterrorismâ on its soil. It also claimed that the United Arab Emirates and Syria as well as Jordan were being used by groups backing the deadly insurgency and said it was seeking counterterrorism accords with the three states. âWe are sorry to say that until now, a high number of the figures of the regime and those who supervise terrorist groups are based in Jordan,â government spokesman Leith Kubba charged. âWe hope to have an agreement with Jordan to combat terrorism, and to chase and extradite wanted people,â he said.
Kubba said Iraqis had warned that the violence engulfing their country would reach its neighbors, referring to the triple rocket attack on US warships on Friday in Jordanâs Red Sea resort of Aqaba. âWe sympathize with Jordan... but we have always warned that the flames of terrorism in Iraq, which many ignored or sympathized with... would not be confined to Iraq and would move to other countries,â he said. âIt is in the interest of all to work on putting out this fire (of insurgency) before it stretches to their countries,â he said.
âThere are three countries where many Iraqi organizations operate, appearing to be political, but in fact supporting terrorism... We hope to reach agreements with these countries.â He named the three as the UAE, Syria and Jordan. âThere are activities that support terrorism â sometimes through media â and originate in these countries,â he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2005 00:00 ||
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The influential Muslim Brotherhood has declined to endorse any candidate in next month's presidential elections, but it made clear Sunday that supporters should not vote for President Hosni Mubarak. In a long awaited statement on the Sept. 7 polls, Egypt's largest Islamic group urged people to vote in the elections, the first in which Egyptians have a choice of candidates. "All the brothers should know that we could not support an oppressor or cooperate with a corrupt person or with a tyrant," said the statement, which was signed by the group's leader, Mohammed Mahdi Akef. Akef told The Associated Press on Saturday that the Brotherhood was opposed to Mubarak.
A leading Brotherhood member, Ali Abdel Fattah, said Sunday's statement meant the group was urging its supporters to vote for any candidate except Mubarak. "President Hosni Mubarak has been in office for 24 years and yet he didn't cancel the emergency legislation or implement any kind of true reform," Fattah told the AP. "We refuse to let the status quo continue."
"Vote for someone weak and ineffectual! Vote for someone we can terrorize!" Fattah proclaimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2005 00:00 ||
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LAHORE: Pakistan People's Party (Lahore Branch) President Azizur Rehman Chan rejected reports of a PPP leader joining the Pakistan Muslim League.
PPP leader joins PML
LAHORE: Pakistan Peopleâs Party leader Raja Akram Ali met Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi at Chief Ministerâs House and announced joining the Pakistan Muslim League, said a official statement on Sunday.
PPP to cut off talks with govt
LAHORE: Pakistan Peopleâs Party chief Benazir Bhutto has decided to cut off talks with the presidentâs aides following what the party sees as widespread rigging in the local elections and the governmentâs dogged pursuit of cases against PPP leaders in Swiss courts, party insiders told Daily Times on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Police say they are now examining whether any other group besides the outlawed organisation Jamaatul Mujahedin was involved in Wednesdayâs bomb explosions across the country. So far, 123 people have been netted in connection with the bomb blasts throughout the country. Of them 26 have been taken to Dhaka and are being interrogated by experts.
Inspector general of police Abdul Qaiyum told the BBC, "in the primary investigation it was found that members of the banned Jamaatul Mujahedin were involved in the incident. So a good number of operatives of that organisation had been nabbed." The IGP added, "we think the JMB does not have the capability to carry out bomb explosions simultaneously across the country and we are carefully examining whether any one else was behind the incident. At present we are taking steps against active workers of the JMB."
... thereby allowing anybody else involved to hightail it for Calcutta...
Asked about how could a banned organisation operate the IGP replied it acted secretly adding that "we arrested some activists of the organisation but no one could be held indefinitely without specific charges and the arrestees got bail." The IGP mentioned, "police have intensified efforts to net JMB leader Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai."
"1-Adam-12, 1-Adam-12 ..."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/22/2005 00:00 ||
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KATIF SETTLEMENT, Gaza Strip - The doomed Gaza Strip settlement of Katif was completely emptied on Sunday, with most Jewish settlers leaving voluntarily after an emotional farewell prayer ceremony with soldiers, the army said. âIt finished a short while ago, 370 civilians were evacuated from Katif,â an army spokeswoman told AFP.
Around 60 families were earlier seen boarding buses and their own private vehicles in the settlement after commanders managed to persuade them to leave without a struggle, an AFP correspondent witnessed. âAll of them are leaving by their own decision,â said police spokesman Superintendent Avi Zelba. âIt was an amazing act of dignity and respect.â
The settlers had earlier prayed side-by-side in the settlementâs synagogue with police and soldiers who had been given orders to evacuate them. At the end of the service, the local rabbi locked away the Torah scrolls.
In the morning, security forces had used bulldozers to force their way into Katif, one the last remaining of the 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. But although the settlers set fire to piles of tyres and rubbish as the troops arrived, the resistance was no more than symbolic.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/22/2005 00:00 ||
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DHAKA - Bangladeshâs foreign minister admitted on Sunday the country was struggling with rising militancy, in his first public reaction to the hundreds of bombings that shook the South Asian nation last week. âWe are shocked that such people do exist in our country. We never thought this thing would happen in our country but it did happen,â minister M. Morshed Khan told reporters, putting Wednesdayâs attacks on level with the September 11 strikes in the United States and the London bombings.
"I mean, who'd ever think that Islamist political parties could spark militancy?" he added.
A total of 434 small bombs exploded in cities and towns across Bangladesh on Wednesday, killing two people and wounding more than 100. The blasts brought to the fore rising concerns over security and the existence of extremism in the Muslim-majority nation. âIt was an attack ... on our image of being a tolerant, moderate practicing democracy,â Khan said of the blasts.
Bangladesh being a pillar of democracy for such a long time ...
Police have arrested 123 people and are probing the possible involvement of the recently banned Islamic militant group Jamayetul Mujahideen after leaflets bearing its name were found at all blast sites. Jamayetul Mujahideen and another hardline group, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, were banned in February for alleged links to a wave of bombings of non-governmental groups, holy shrines and other targets.
Khan, however, declined to say whether extremists were responsible for the attack. â(The) professionalism we see in these (bombings) raises many questions.... It is too early to say whether it was Islamists or non-Islamists,â he said.
Bangladesh is the worldâs third largest Muslim-majority nation with a population of 140 million. Its four-party Islamist-allied coalition government, led by Ziaâs Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has repeatedly rejected claims that Islamic extremism was a problem.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/22/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
As with INDIA, iff they build it, the Chicoms will come - neither China nor Russia will seriously tolerate any nuclearized Pakistan or India. The Radic Islamists have gotta know once America is defeated or destroyed, their next, just as the US- and Euro-/Western Lefts are deluding themselves if it believes the Orientalists or Asian Commies won't purge, gulag, or execute their own to ensure foreign rule.
#2
Hey Joe, What are you trying to say? India and Pakistan already have Nukes and wanted to use them in 2000. India fought China to a standstill in Arunchal Pradesh and Russia has so many homegrown Islamists they are sending conscripts to Dagestan and Chechnya.
#3
"...It was an attack ... on our image of being a tolerant, moderate practicing democracy,â Khan said of the blasts."
This 'tolerant, moderate' image is based on successful PR and through the work of unpaid apologists and suckers. In reality, Bangladesh has been infected with brutal islamist activity (including successful and unscrutinized ethnic cleansing of Chistians and Hindus) for 3 decades.
Prince Andrew, the second son of the British Queen Elizabeth, arrived in Iraq on Saturday on an unannounced visit to the town of Basra, South of Iraq, a source at the British embassy said on Sunday. In a press statement, the source said Prince Andrew, a former Royal Navy pilot, visited the British troops in Basra who are part of the multinational forces stationed in Iraq. Prince Andrew met with the Commanders of the Royal Irish Regiment in Al-Shaibah Logistics Base east of Basra and visited the Iraqi Umm Qasr Naval Base located south of Basra, the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2005 00:00 ||
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Alright Andrew. Nice to know that there is some red blood left in the royal line.
#5
I believe he also flew his chopper out to play Exocet decoy for his carrier a couple of times.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/22/2005 16:23 Comments ||
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#6
I've heard that LOR also heard it called an Urban Legend, would be fun to know his participation. Hell landing a helicopter on a frigate in the S Atlantic is scary enough.
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.
The weekly ZDF TV poll reported a one point rise for Merkel's CDU/CSU to 43 per cent, with its designated Free Democratic (FDP) partner at 7 per cent. Germany's top six polls give a possible CDU/CSU-FDP coalition between 49 per cent and 51 per cent of the seats in Germany's Bundestag, or lower house of parliament. Rising support for the CDU/CSU comes despite intense controversy over comments by CSU Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber that eastern German voters were "frustrated" and "stupid calves." 
Schroeder's ruling Social Democratic (SPD) coalition with the Greens is at 36 per cent to 37 per cent, the six polls show. A newly formed Left Party - a merger of former East Germany's post-communists and rebel members of Schroeder's SPD - continues to lose support. The ZDF poll shows is has slumped to 8 per cent after polling up to 13 per cent late last month. Berlin's left-leaning Tageszeitung newspaper said this was because voters were increasingly focused on who would rule Germany after the September 18 election. "If there is not a political earthquake the next chancellor of Germany will be Angela Merkel. And this constellation means that the SPD-critical stance of the Left Party is merely a side-show," said the paper. 
Cindy Sheehanâs vigil outside President Bushâs ranch in Texas â currently on hold while the slain soldierâs mother returns home to be with her ailing mom â had more than a few things in common with a 1960s-style sit-in: the simplicity of the anti-war message, the way it irked Republicans, the almost total lack of showering. But there was something less obvious tying it to the decade of love â the involvement of David Fenton, renowned â60s amateur photographer and now head of D.C.-based Fenton Communications. Despite the appearance that Sheehanâs success with the media was all good timing and amateur savvy, the fact is that Fenton and his shop were at work behind the scenes almost 24 hours a day, wrangling journalists, arranging interviews and prepping Sheehan with talking points and message strategy. The lefty shopâs fee was paid by True Majority, the very â60s-style advocacy group founded by former Ben & Jerryâs ice cream magnate Ben Cohen.
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - 
Iranâs hard-line President Mahmood Ahmadinejad put his proposed Cabinet to Parliament yesterday, lashing out at the West and liberalism and promising a government that will âpromote virtue and prohibit vice.â 
ISLAMABAD: The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has refused to register its seminaries with the government under the Madaris Registration Ordinance 2005, Online reported on Monday. JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman told reporters that his party would not register its 8,500 seminaries across Pakistan. âWe reject the Madaris Registration Ordinance which President General Pervez Musharraf has promulgated by amending the Society Act. If we approve such amendments and the parliament also approves them we will be forced to introduce the government-dictated syllabus and employ government-recommended teachers in the madrassas. This is not possible for us,â he said. âWe will not accept any restrictions on madrassas.â
Shattered glass, body parts, a blood-splattered blue sedan: the grainy video pans over the scene as Iraqi officers comb the site of a drive-by assassination. It's "Cops" Iraqi-style, minus the "Bad Boys" soundtrack but otherwise roughly modeled after the American TV show.
Palestinians from the ruling Fatah party armed with assault rifles converged on the Gaza Parliament building yesterday to demand jobs in a protest that underlined challenges ahead for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has vowed to crack down on worsening internal lawlessness and faces pressure to rein in militants during Israelâs pullout from the occupied Gaza Strip in order to maintain stability and advance peacemaking efforts. But he has shied from direct confrontations with militants.
Iraqi negotiators have reached agreement on one major roadblock to a new Iraqi constitution and an agreement could be reached on another as soon as tonight, a senior Iraqi official told CNN on Sunday. Negotiators clarified the role of Islam in the constitution, said Hachim al-Hassani, speaker of the National Assembly. Al-Hassani said the compromise language called Islam "a main source of legislation" -- wording that he said concerned him and women's rights advocates. 
Iraq yesterday called on neighboring Jordan to extradite members of Saddam Husseinâs former regime it accused of fomenting âterrorismâ on its soil. It also claimed that the United Arab Emirates and Syria as well as Jordan were being used by groups backing the deadly insurgency and said it was seeking counterterrorism accords with the three states. âWe are sorry to say that until now, a high number of the figures of the regime and those who supervise terrorist groups are based in Jordan,â government spokesman Leith Kubba charged. âWe hope to have an agreement with Jordan to combat terrorism, and to chase and extradite wanted people,â he said.
The influential Muslim Brotherhood has declined to endorse any candidate in next month's presidential elections, but it made clear Sunday that supporters should not vote for President Hosni Mubarak. In a long awaited statement on the Sept. 7 polls, Egypt's largest Islamic group urged people to vote in the elections, the first in which Egyptians have a choice of candidates. "All the brothers should know that we could not support an oppressor or cooperate with a corrupt person or with a tyrant," said the statement, which was signed by the group's leader, Mohammed Mahdi Akef. Akef told The Associated Press on Saturday that the Brotherhood was opposed to Mubarak.
So far, 123 people have been netted in connection with the bomb blasts throughout the country. Of them 26 have been taken to Dhaka and are being interrogated by experts. 
