#3
Thing is that no one takes Ms English seriously. And, as a normal male I have to observe that those MPs in the photos must have been quite lonely to want . . . (NO STRIKE THE LAST REMARK)
If she were pretty like Jessica Lynch . . . (NO THAT'S SEXIST-STRIKE THAT REMARK TOO-SORRY PFC LYNCH). . . Er forget it, Homely or no, throw her in the brig for all the trouble she caused, and throw the key away.
Posted by: ed ||
05/13/2004 10:03 Comments ||
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#5
I lost internet connection before I could post. I was going to say how seeing them all excited and happy when I got home took all the weight of the days crappy news off my shoulders and let me get in a better mood. I finally watched the Berg video and it disturbed me. Thats all.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/13/2004 10:26 Comments ||
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#6
YS - I'm with you. My dogs help keep me sane at times like this ... even when they're driving me crazy by barking their fool heads off ("Intruder squirrel at 5 o'clock!!!!" "Those guys in the big truck are stealing our trash again!!!!") or by digging out the bushes I just planted (like Baby Huey, "I'm helping!!").
#7
For me it's horses. I've got 4. Also 4 cats, 4 dogs, 3 chickens, 2 ducks, and Elsbeth, the pig. Each evening we have a parade down to the creek where everybody (except the cats and chickens) goes swimming.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/13/2004 11:55 Comments ||
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#8
Remember, while I think it was bad, there are a lot of victims of the terrorists who don't wind up having their deaths televised; take, for instance, those schoolkids who died in Basra last month when the "resistance" decided to blow up a police station.
Don't forget about Berg, but don't forget about the schoolkids either. The so-called enlightened people want us to, because it doesn't fit into their "brave resistance vs. evil American imperialists" template.
This war is about more than just the United States or Americans, or this week's torture scandal. Did the terrorists kill Daniel Pearl in retailation for the prisoner abuse scandal?
Andrea Harris has written about this, much better than I ever could, here. Read the whole thing.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
05/13/2004 18:55 Comments ||
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Saudi security forces captured six wanted suspects during a series of overnight raids that ended at dawn on Tuesday in Medina. Four of them were arrested in the Al-Salam neighbourhood where the suspected extremists had hoped to escape the security net by âhiding among civiliansâ, said Al-Riyadh. Okaz said the arrests were made without a shot being fired, and no weapons were found with the suspects. Security forces have rounded up hundreds of presumed Islamist extremists since a wave of bombings, blamed on sympathisers of the Al Qaeda terror network, began in Riyadh exactly a year ago. But 18 most-wanted suspects from an original list of 26 remain at large.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2004 2:12:03 PM ||
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Venezuela's outspoken president, Hugo Chavez, has claimed often and passionately that he is the target of coup and assassination plots. In 2002, it was actually true. So many Venezuelans are befuddled by his latest claims: that dozens of Colombian paramilitaries were training to kill him. More than 100 people have been arrested since authorities stormed a farm on the outskirts of Caracas Sunday. No weapons have been seized, and some wonder whether it is an elaborate ruse to deflect attention from a possible vote to recall the president. "Colombian paramilitary fighters so close to Caracas? It's hard to believe," said Gloria Pineda, a 34-year-old housewife. "How is they get here without being detected? I'm not sure what to think."
Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries deny involvement in the alleged plot and Colombia's government has offered to help Venezuela identify the detainees. Chavez claims the United States â along with Venezuelan and Cuban exiles â supported the alleged plot. Washington denied the accusation, which was just the latest in repeated claims by Chavez that the Bush administration is seeking his ouster as president of one of the world's top oil producers. Venezuelan officials have provided only vague information about who the masterminds of the purported conspiracy could be. Some Venezuelans are piecing together their own â often elaborate â theories. Chavez claims Robert Alonso, a Cuban exile and longtime Venezuela resident who owns the farm where the suspected paramilitaries were detained, was involved. Alonso, in hiding, has denied it.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2004 14:00 ||
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A Greek extremist group called the Revolutionary Struggle has threatened visitors to the Olympic Games, adding to security woes just three months out from the start of the event. The warning came after makeshift bombs exploded at a Greek bank in an Athens suburb early on Thursday, and another explosive device was found at a nearby British bank. Devices made up of gas canisters exploded at 2am at an automatic teller machine owned by Alpha Bank, Greece's second largest bank and an Olympics sponsor. Another unidentified explosive device was found outside the office of the British-owned HSBC bank and defused.
The blasts, which caused some damage but no injuries, came eight days after dynamite explosions at a police station in Athens, an incident blamed on local extremists rather than international terror groups like al-Qaeda. The Revolutionary Struggle group on Thursday claimed responsibility for the May 5 bombings and issued a warning to visitors to the Olympics, which run from August 13 to 29. It described government officials, business leaders, security officials and wealthy tourists who plan to attend the event as "undesirables". Greece announced this week that 70,000 security personnel will watch over the Games - outnumbering athletes by almost seven to one - with Olympic officials saying preparations for the sporting extravaganza were on track.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/13/2004 15:51 ||
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Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, in an interview published Thursday, compared Iraq to a "black hole that is sucking up" the world and said France would at no time send in troops. Barnier, who travels to the United Nations Friday for talks on Iraq, expressed alarm about "the spiral of horror" that is gaining ground and the loss of human dignity as violence progresses. In an interview with the daily Le Monde, he made a "call to reason and conscience." He also stressed that Iraqis must be given authentic sovereignty after the transition of power June 30 from American to Iraqi hands. "We must get out of this black hole that is sucking up the Middle East and, beyond that, the world," Barnier was quoted as saying. "What shocks me is the spiral of horror, the blood, the inhumanity that we see now on all fronts, in Fallujah like in Gaza or through the terrible images of the assassination of this unfortunate American hostage... What is in question on all sides is this fundamental value at the heart of all religions, all civilizations: human dignity." Barnier said that it is "out of the question" that France send troops to Iraq. "There will be no French soldiers in Iraq, not now and not later."
Well, that's a relief...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2004 13:54 ||
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#1
"the spiral of horror"
Mr Foreign Minister. The only greater "Spiral of horror" is the complicity of your government with Saddahm before he was "put" in a hole in the ground!
#3
We must get out of this black hole that is sucking up the Middle East
What you mean 'we', frenchie??? Go along and play with the other Euros while the grownups deal with the threat to western civilization, that's a good boy.
#4
I misunderstood - I thought he said "the spiral of honor" and figured that was why he couldn't send French troops. Either way, no thanks, France
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/13/2004 19:34 Comments ||
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#5
ima riding my cycle of violence into the spiral of horror and make everybody pay to see i a far west gun totting boot wearing devil may care kinda guy
Tried to edit the article for posting; failed miserably. The phrase "crisis of multilateralism" makes an appearance.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
05/13/2004 12:24:58 AM ||
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#1
We should let them have ours. We should no longer need it if we withdrew.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
05/13/2004 0:41 Comments ||
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#2
giving Germany a seat, (and thus 3 EU seats) without a Japanese and an Indian seat wont fly. Give all those guys seats, and the moaning will start for a muslim seat, and maybe a Latin American seat. DO all that, and still give each perm member a veto, and you get the expanded EU problem - too many veto wielders, paralysis.
#5
ed - Your scenario would give the Islamic countries 3-1/2 seats now.
Pakistan, Bengladesh, and Indonesia are over 100M.
So is Nigeria, where Islam is domiinant but not in total control everywhere . . . yet.
We'd loose Britain and could only hope for support from Japan on some issues.
In a few years Egypt will also qualify. Very BAD IDEA.
Others - Trading France for Germany - nice thought. When the Conservative CDU comes back into power, we might actually have a vote with us sometimes. (Never will happen though)
#6
The members of the Security Council are nuclear powers. Using that rationale, there is more reason to put Israel, India, and Pakistan on the Security Council than to put the "Sick Man of Europe" on the Council.
This is just more of Old Europe's pining for a return to the days when they were contenders.
Unilateralism | The whole world must realize that the US is, for the time being at least, the only power capable of saving Mexico from economic and financial bankruptcy (in 1995), to dissuade Communist China from attacking Taiwan militarily, to attempt a mediation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, to put efficient pressure on the Serbian government to send Slobodan Milosevic to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and to attempt with any chance of success the reunification of the two Koreas under one democratic government. The European Union tried to meddle with this last problem by sending a delegation led by the Swedish prime minister to Pyongyang in May of 2001. However, this delegation found nothing better to do than to prostrate itself at the feet of Kim Jong Il, the criminal leader of one of the last totalitarian prisons on this planet. The âEuropean solution,â if it were clearly understood, would be to align South Korea with the North Korean regime, instead of the reverse. If the Europeans think that they can put an end to the American âunilateralismâ by ideas of this kind, the diplomatic dominance of the US will last for a long time to come.
Posted by: Ernest Brown ||
05/13/2004 13:04 Comments ||
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#8
Germany is the third largest contributor to the United Nations after the USA and Japan. So it would make sense to have both Japan and Germany on board plus India and Brazil. There will always be at least one major Islamic country in the SC as they rotate.
Veto power is more difficult. To have 4 more veto powers does not make sense. My suggestion would be that the U.S., Russia and China keep full veto power, while France, Germany, UK, Japan, India and Brazil get "half of a veto". That means that they'd need another veto to go along with them. This would effectively translate into a largely symbolic loss of power for the UK, as it is hightly unlikely that the UK would have to vote against the U.S. AND Europe. The pride of France would be hurt most. They probably believe they can just make their veto stronger by always having Germany with them but I rather guess Germany will reign in France in time. It's no loss for the U.S. as now France has full veto power. You can't kick France out as France would have to vote in favor of its own ejection.
Also the changes would certainly come into effect after Schroeder is confined to the dustbin of history and the next CDU government will certainly repair the transatlantic ties and I don't see it voting against the U.S. either.
But then, I think the reforms of the UN should be sweeping. More countries on the UNSC is just window dressing. As a political organization to guarantee peace in the world the UN is pathetically inept.
America will be calling the shots for the next decades. What will happen then nobody knows. China might emerge as equally powerful... or disintegrate.
Germany will not always be the sick man of Europe. Once government changes sweeping reforms will happen. We're not as sick as we seem: We are still export champion of the world, produce quality work and once we get bureaucracy, social security and taxes back in order we'll emerge stronger in a competitive, but bigger European market.
#9
"We are still export champion of the world,"--I beg your pardon, but Germany couldn't possibly export more than the U.S.
"produce quality work and once we get bureaucracy, social security and taxes back in order..."--That's a huge "If," TGA.
The way the German economy's been going, that's not going to happen any time soon.
But I'm sure your country appreciates your optimism.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 15:23 Comments ||
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#10
Regarding UNSC reform, I agree entirely with TGA.
Jen - I dont have numbers handy, but why is TGA's claim impossible? Say US economy is 4 times the size of Germany - given how self-sufficent we are EVEN now, trade could well be more than 4 times as big a share of Germany's economy as ours. Remember, even selling something across the border to Belgium or Denmark counts as an export there - WE have a continental economy. Imagine how huge Californias exports would be if a sale to Texas or Oregon counted as an export.
Now if we excluded German exports to other EU states, to make it more comparible to the US, that would be different.
#11
Lh, EU stats notwithstanding, Germany isn't the biggest exporter.
I don't have any numbers handy, but I know the USA is head and shoulders above Deutschland, followed by Japan.
(You can Google this as well as I can.)
Remember the economy of California alone was/is bigger than France.
As to TGA's rosy views of the prospects for reform and growth of the German economy, it's just plain wishful thinking.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 15:38 Comments ||
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#12
according the WTO, in 2002 US exports exceeded German, but only by 15%. So TGA may be wrong (i didnt find 2003 data, but suspect US was even stronger relatively in 2003) but hes hardly that far off. And Japan was third, behind Germany.
#13
15% is a lot in global terms.
And Germany is losing that trade advantage with every passing day, while the US is gaining.
Get a grip.
And I don't believe those figures--no way Germany is behind Japan.
China must be gaining, as well.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 16:02 Comments ||
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#14
It would be an elegant melding of a fading power that has lost its will to live with an organization that has become too corrupt to be relevant, a veritable saturnalia of nihlism.
Posted by: Random thoughts ||
05/13/2004 16:05 Comments ||
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#15
Whats your basis for questioning it? Again GDPwise, Japan aint that much bigger than Germany (Germanys growth may have been slow since reunification, but Japans has been worse) and Japan may well be less trade oriented than Germany - again, Im not sure you get my point about the impact of intra EU trade on German export figures.
#16
In 2003 Germany exported goods with the value of 750 bn dollars (â¬661,6 at then current exchange rates, calculated at an average $1.13 for the Euro), this is (slightly) more than the U.S. (725 bn) exported in goods in 2003 (Japan has much less). Germany has more than 10% of the world trade. (Japan less than 7%). This comes with a huge trade surplus. If you add services, the U.S. takes the lead.
My point is, we're still rather competitive.
It has to be said as well that Germany was able to take the lead only because a much stronger Euro re-evaluates the total in dollars. Still exports are sharply up for 2004, and this despite a (still) strong Euro that usually hampers exports.
LH, I understand your EU argument but it is flawed. Germany is not the EU, we have competitors there as well, don't you think? Of course the U.S. industry exports less because the U.S. market is so much bigger than the German. I could argue the same way with NAFTA. German EU exports (2203) account for 55% of total foreign trade (set to climb with the new EU states of course).
Of course the U.S. population is 3,5 times bigger than Germany, so I won't even go into the per capita argument.
Our problem is the German market. High taxes and social contribution make Germans spend less than the average consumer in the U.S.
As for the wishful thinking, Jen: I have seen Germany in ruins in 1945. I guess we're in a much more comfortable position right now. We live in the center of a peaceful Europe, with the biggest market we ever had. The rotten state of East Germany has weakened us temporarily, but that will not last. We need more optimism here, some courageous politicians to enact necessary reforms and we'll be back on track. I'm not belitteling problems (aging population is a major concern) but there is no reason to write Germany off.
Our GDP ranks third, after the U.S. and Japan. Some calculate that if China keeps it's current growth it might catch up with Germany in 2013.
#17
Hey, Berlin - you can have the whole goddam UN (though I hate to wish that on Berlin - it was a nice, though divided, city the last time I was there). Sit anywhere you want - just not in New York.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/13/2004 0:55 Comments ||
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#18
This isn't ever going to happen since it would give the EU three seats -- shades of the old Soviet Union gettting multiple seats at the UN for its "constituent republics." Especially since Japan, India and Brasil all think they deserve a permanent seat.
But I'll compromise -- let's give the Germans the French seat.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/13/2004 1:09 Comments ||
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#19
Each Time you say it Steve it sounds better and better.:)
#21
Random thoughts nailed it, Lh.
Japan's growth is far steadier and its economic outlook far brighter than Germany's.
There is no real impact of "intra EU trade" that won't be undone by the "impact" of the old West Germany carrying the weight of the former East Germany--where unemployment is almost 20% with no prospect of improvement in sight--and the added weight of supporting France's Common Agricultural Policy as a gesture of "friendship."
And then there's the cost of the welfare state Germany's put herself in--more benefits, shorter hours and more holiday for workers, less tax revenue, declining birthrates and declining number of workers in the population, etc.
I finally Googled the export figures myself and Germany is slightly ahead of Japan, but the point was GERMANY DOESN'T LEAD THE WORLD IN EXPORTS and won't in the future.
In fact, Germany probably hasn't lead the world in exports since about 1910.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 16:27 Comments ||
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#22
Germany leads Japan in exports by 50% and Jen calls that "slightly" US leads Germany in exports by 15% and Jen calls that important. Hmmm.
I didnt say where Germany was heading. TGA can say more about German prospects for internal reform than I can. Bringing Eastern Europe into the EU, and prospects for growth there should help Germany. Right now Russia, a priniple German market, is still relatively weak, while China is going through an import boom that is sustaining the Japanese economy. Germany has structural problems, but so does Japan. They have comparable demographic problems. Germany has a more severe problem with its welfare state, but Japan has serious problems in its financial sector - Im not sure theyve worked through them all.
#23
I'm sorry, TGA, but it's still pretty much happy horseshit.
Germany's "glory days" (and by this I mean post-WWII West Germany's, but Germans would probably think of either Hitler's Dritten Reich or Prussia under the Kaiser) are behind it.
Kind of sad, really.
Japan should get France's seat on the UNSC, not Germany, because the balance of powers in the world is shifting out of "Old Europe."
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 17:10 Comments ||
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#24
Jen - please quote where I said "Germanys doing so well" I said no such thing. I only said that TGA's assertion was not unreasonable. Its NOT. WTO and CIA data show US exports for 2002 greater than Germany by 15%. TGA's 2003 data is different - i think reflecting exchange rate differences more than growth in German exports. In any case thats my point - the difference between the US and German exports is small enough that it can be swamped by exchange rate differences, or year to year growth. Meanwhile I fail to see you admitting your error in regard to Japanese exports.
TGA Of course the U.S. industry exports less because the U.S. market is so much bigger than the German.
Well, yes, that was precisely my point. Basically to help Jen understand how an economy that is smaller than the US, and not necessarily more competitive, could nonetheless have the same or larger exports.
As for NAFTA, while in concept its comparable, in fact Canada and Mexico are rather smaller markets than France or the UK. My point is that comparing Export relative to GDP between the US and Germany naturally gives a much higher figure for Germany, If we compared the US to the EU, or even NAFTA to the EU, we'd find the figures much more comparable. And if we looked at the US trade position in countries in neither the EU or NAFTA, EG Japan, China, Russia,India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, etc US economic dominance would be much clearer.
#25
Come on Jen, what's really horseshit here is the term "Old Europe". Even Donald Rumsfeld conceded that in a private conversation. (OK he didn't say horseshit.)
We can see the glass half full or half empty. I prefer the American view of things. But if you want to argue, argue with figures. Correct figures that is.
20 years ago Germany was on the front line, the first country to be annihilated if things had gone bad. Now the former enemy is an enticing new market.
As for the UN seat, I'm not pushing too hard for it anyway. It makes sense but I bet German politicians were rather glad that Germany didn't have veto powers in March 2003.
#26
I found NO figures that put Germany ahead of the U.S. in exports.
And I did admit my erroneous assumption above--you're just not reading my reply or like a typical Liberal, you failed reading comprehension.
Germany's in a state of decline and doesn't rate a seat on the UNSC.
Japan, a major world power and one about to join the nuclear club and a strong ally of the US, does.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 17:28 Comments ||
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#27
BTW Jen, Prozac is a product of Eli Lilly, located in Indianapolis, Indiana last I heard.
#28
LH, I wasn't questioning the U.S. economic dominance in absolute terms. My point was that as a country that doesn't even have 30% of the U.S. population we're doing very well in export. And if you're doing well in export it means that you're doing something better than other nations.
Unfortunately Germans have a tendency to whine a lot. We have problems, but we can fix them.
The U.S. has problems, too (trade deficit, debts etc) but I'm sure it can fix them, too.
What we need is a new transatlantic union. We may have our differences but considering our current and future rivals (and foes) it would be suicidal to turn Europe against America. We share too much to let that happen.
#29
[UN 'Security' Council] 'veto' 'powers' - heh, now there's a marvellously oxymoronic topic.
Is Berlin trying to switch attention away from domestic problems, TGA?!
Personally, I'd like to see the abolition of the UNSC. If you allocate the 'power' through any of the suggested means it's logically indefensible one way or another. The UN is moribund, and rightly so.
#30
'Germany was on the front line, the first country to be annihilated if things had gone bad."
Don't you mean thousands of US troops stationed in (West) Germany were the ones on the front line and the first to be annihilated if there were a Soviet attack?
The USA received very little thanks for that and we're still waiting.
At some point in time, the bill has to arrive for Germany to pay for its hubris and its warmongering not to mention its anti-Semitism which has now found a sympathetic "ally" in its large (and growing) immigrant Muslim population.
That bill has arrived and the Fatherland has only begun to pay.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 17:35 Comments ||
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#31
Jen, just because YOU didn't find the figures this doesn't mean that they aren't there :-)
You think only having nukes qualifies? We could have nukes easily if we wanted to. We don't WANT them. Japan may only want them if NKor doesn't back off.
And you didn't get the German UN move at all. Germany doesn't push for a permanent seat alone, but in concert with Japan, India and Brazil following UN reforms.
#32
You guys are forgetting the impact of EU expansion. Germany is poised to gain the most because of the huge market that just opened up on their eastern side. But, as with other free trade regions around the globe, Germany should also be prepared for a giant sucking sound as their industry gravitates toward the cheaper labour force of Eastern Europe. Last I heard, Slovakia is supposed to become the auto manufacturing center of the world. Not much different than what happened under NAFTA essentially.
And BTW, if Aris' dream of a federal Europe is realized, shouldn't the US of E get one vote at the UNSC?
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/13/2004 17:38 Comments ||
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#33
I found NO figures that put Germany ahead of the U.S. in exports.
And I did admit my erroneous assumption above--you're just not reading my reply or like a typical Liberal, you failed reading comprehension.
Yup, sorry, you did say that Germany is slightly ahead of Japan. I define an admission of error as something that says, "oops" or "I was in error" or something to that effect - (regulars here will know that I do say oops when im mistaken) not simply stating the opposite of what one earlier asserted. And, by the way, your assertion that German exports are SLIGHTLY ahead of Japans is WRONG. German exports are 50% greater than Japans. DO you define a slightly as a 50% difference??? "officer, i was doing 80MPH, thats only slightly over the 55MPH limit"
:-)
As for TGA's figures, he'll have to source them himself.
In any case, TGA suggested that Japan be included on UNSC, as well as Germany, and several other states. Or didnt you bother to read his post?
#35
Jen - there were thousands of German troops on the frontline beside the US during the cold war. Also Brits, Canadians, Dutch and yes, Belgians and French.
I think theres been much thanks over the years - if some German pols today have forgotten, I dont think TGA has.
As for the antisemitism - Jen, my greatgrandfather was murdered outside his shtetl in Poland by Nazis. I dont need a lecture from you on German antisemitism. But I can see the difference between that Germany and the Federal Republic, which has long been a friend of Israel,and which has for years done more than most states on the planet to try to innoculate its youth against antisemitism. That there is antisemitism in Germany now seems largely a legacy of the GDR, which did not teach its youth so well. And there is certainly less antisemitism in Germany today than in France or Belgium.
Even in recent months, Germany has joined UK in pushing for EU sanctions against Hamas, only to be blocked by - you guessed it - France.
#37
Bulldog, Germany pushes for a permanent seat at the UNSC, the question of veto power hasn't been raised (and is more likely to be addressed as part of the necessary UN reforms).
If the political integration process of the EU continues we'll probably see one EU veto at the UNSC. We're not there yet.
My sources? One is the German edition of the Financial Times, which claims Germany to be "Exportweltmeister" (world champion in exports), in 2003 (click on the graphic Warensausfuhren. In this article the numbers for December 2003 had to be estimated but have been confirmed later. Another (much more detailed) the Statistisches Bundesamt, with a galore of Excel files a bit hard too browse through. Most current is a German PDF file you'll find here.
#38
Speak for yourself and only yourself, Liberalhawk.
I like to think I am more forgiving and generous towards the Germans than they deserve and than the average American.
Germany was there when France stabbed us in the back in 2002 and they've both kept on stabbing.
Because Germany hasn't been as outspoken as Jacques Chirac, they haven't rubbed their perfidy into our faces as much, but arrogant apologists like you make it worse.
This whole reductio ab absurdum argument began when TGA said that Germany "led the world in exports."
Which I proved was not correct.
And you had to argue and kept arguing, as if it proved the point that a seat on the UNSC was dependent on exports.
Which it isn't.
If that were the case, the USSR would never had made it and they've been on the SC since its inception.
You just want to argue, Liberalhawk, and on "strawman" points and manipulated statistics and "untruths," which is the clear sign of an idiotarian.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 17:58 Comments ||
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#39
...there is certainly less antisemitism in Germany today than in France or Belgium.
Not according to the ADL, Lh. At least in 'attitude', France is about as anti-Semitic as Britain (the apparent rise in anti-Semitism in the UK this report indicates disgusts, but hardly surprises me) whilst Germany and Belgium rank highest and second highest in ten EU countries surveyed. According to the ADL, more than one third of Germans and Belgians hold anti-Semitic attitudes; about one quarter of French and British do.
#41
Jen, are you deliberately ignoring figures or what? Then let me clarify: In 2003 Germany exported more goods (calculated in dollars) than the United States, this is a fact disputed by no one. What on earth did you prove wrong with this? The CIA factbook still has the figures of 2002.
This, btw, has nothing to do with a future UN seat. Neither me nor LH have made such an argument. My point in that respect was that Japan and Germany are the biggest financial contributors to the UN after the U.S. (and both pay on time, I might add). Right now German troops help to secure peace in Kosovo, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa. In 2001/2002 German AWACS secured U.S. airspace. German soldiers guard U.S. installations in Germany while U.S. troops are in Iraq.
Per capita Germany gives much more foreign aid than the U.S.
Jen if you judge a country by what a single administation did and not by what this country has done and achieved in 60 years, too bad.
LH a lot could be said for antisemitism and I'm sure I can address the issue at given time. But since Jen favors Japan so much, let me ask her one question. Which of the two countries has done more to acknowledge its past and learn from it? When you ask the Japanese about their guilt in WW2 it's still mostly crickets chirping. The "comfort women" are still waiting...
#42
I noticed they didn't survey Poland. What a shame. Lots of dirty laundry there. I'd say up to 50%.
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/13/2004 18:18 Comments ||
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#43
"Per capita Germany gives much more foreign aid than the U.S."--And this statistic proves WHAT, exactly?
(The US still ranks head and shoulders above other countries in foreign aid.)
"Jen if you judge a country by what a single administation did and not by what this country has done and achieved in 60 years, too bad."
If we cut Germany any slack whatsoever, it's due to the fine governance of the former West Germany by Helmut Köhl.
Not only has Germany stabbed America in the back continually in the WOT and is rife with Jew hatred even in the 21st Century and in spite of supposedly "learning their lesson" of WWII, but the Foreign Minister is a former terrorist himself!
Never forget that Joschka Fischer was an unrepentant member of Bader Meinhof.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 18:35 Comments ||
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#44
TGA: Germany's efforts in addressing the past are to be applauded, just as Japan's are inadequate. Ultimately, I believe it will make a difference for the better in the "German people's character", for whatever that term means in the future. IMHO We Americans (especially on RB) are vexed by the prominence of anti-American rhetoric and those riding it to success in Germany and Spain, and to a lesser extent (only because we thought less of them in the first place) in France. Much of the arguments going on reflect that rather than facts. For myself, I believe the EU should be limited to one seat at the UNSC table - by their own choosing/organization. My other choice would be Japan, especially to F*&K with china (my bad)
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/13/2004 18:39 Comments ||
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#45
"TGA, dont think Jen represents most Americans, or most hawks, or most Republicans in her attitude toward the Federal Republic of Germany."
How dare you, Liberal "hawk!"
There are millions of Americans that feel just like I do and they're called Jacksonians!
When a nation that is supposed to be a friend and an ally betrays us the way Germany has, then they are no longer a friend and an ally and are perilously close to being an enemy.
(Or are you distancing yourself from Jacksonian Democracy, too, as well as common sense?)
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 18:40 Comments ||
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#46
Jen, unlike many many members of the "Greatest Generation" there is little point discussing with you, unfortunately.
Oh btw, millions are not a majority. But there we go into figures again.
#47
We of the new Greatest Generation are the majority, but I guess you'll have to wait until November to see when President Bush gets reelected by a huge margin.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 18:54 Comments ||
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#48
...they are no longer a friend and an ally and are perilously close to being an enemy.
Jen, look at it in relative terms. There's more common ground to be found with Germany than France, for instance. I would tend to be more forgiving of Germany, for some complicated reason. OTH, the Greens' recent anti-American tone is worrisome. So let's wait until their next elections.
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/13/2004 18:57 Comments ||
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#49
I agree, Rafael, but as you say, it's all "relative."
Our problems with EUrabia come second to those of the Axis of Evil right now.
EUrabia's only a minor player now and once Britain votes "No" to the EU Constitution, the fun will really begin...all these little plans of world glory and dominance will go down Der Toiletten once again.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 19:02 Comments ||
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#50
JEN!
Britian votes "No" on the EU Constitution, and Chirac calls in the Florida Supreme Court.
#51
Sorry Jen, but if you want to fight the Arabs, the EU and probably China in the future you are going to be rather exhausted very soon.
And you would count your friends with one hand. Please spare me that nonsense of EU world glory and dominance. It's like the wolf blaming the sheep that is drinking downstream for troubling his water.
#52
Put them all on the council. Give them all the veto. The sooner that mutual masturbation society collapses under it's own weight, the sooner we can start a council of democracies (with proof of freedoms as a requirement for entry).
#54
I was surprised that the German leadership was unsupportive of the U.S. in Iraq, but not at all surprosed by France. As Charles Degaul (sp?) said "Why should one drop of French blood be shed to liberate France? The British and Americans will do it for us." The French have NEVER been our friends. I think we do have more in common as a nation with the Germans than the French or maybe even the British. I believe it all revolves around MONEY. The French blocked or tried to block every sanction against Iraq and opposed any action to unseat Saddam Hussein because of their oil deals. Their philosophy was "you scratch my back I'll scratch yours". The U.N. was in the same bed and Kofi Annon should be ousted. I hope I live to see the day the U.S. withdraws from the U. N. and kicks them out of the United States.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/13/2004 21:33 Comments ||
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#55
Remember the USS Stark? Hit by a French Exocet SSM, fired from a French Mirage F1, flown by an Iraqi pilot. 37 sailors killed, 21 injured. Almost 17 years to the day (May 17)...talk about irony.
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/13/2004 21:46 Comments ||
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#56
Hmm I hafta agree with some of the earlier posters on this board. I dont see Germany gaining a permanent seat unless its as a single EU seat. Which would mean France at the least would need to lose their seat and possibly the UK as well.
As for economic data, I do wonder how much the rise of German export values is from the higher valued euro, I personally suspect it is probably in the range of about 10% at most, but I could be wrong. However I do think if you toss in both continental interstate trade (like TGA said, we got a bigger manufacturing base but a lot of it is used for creating products for our own citizens rather than for overseas sales) and services (most trade numbers are usually just the actual merchandise figures), well then the scale tips pretty badly. Interesting sidenote to me tho, the number 2 and 3 largest GDP's in the world and two world's top exporters are countries the US bombed and/or invaded.
The primary Iranian supporter of Senator John Kerry and a subject of many controversies, Hassan Nemazee, has sued the "Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI) and its coordinator for 10-million dollars in damages. These two frivolous and potentially muffling law suits were filed on March 3rd at Houston Texas. Tactically, the law suits are believed to be an attempt to publicly rehabilitate Nemazee's reputation. Being the subject of many less than positive discussions, Nemazee needs his image polished to cleanse John Kerry's Presidential campaign that has been tarnished with troubling questions on his international links. Muffling, or forcing SMCCDI to cease operations would then give them a free hand in regard to the Iranian-American equation. Indeed, sustaining a judgment against SMCCDI could very well cause its well known and valuable American operations to cease, as none of its US resident members have the resources to fight the Iranian-American businessman supporting Mr. Kerry.
#4
I can't believe that the Iranians will support Kerry. No matter how much they hate Bush, Kerry is part Jewish. They are so warped that I just find it hard to believe that they will be able to get past the idea of supporting a Jew.
Posted by: B ||
05/14/2004 11:11 Comments ||
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#5
Kerry is not a threat to them and they know it. Bush is and they know that too. What's religion got to do with it?
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
05/14/2004 11:17 Comments ||
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Nevada Senator John Ensign blasted Democrat Ted Kennedy for his "shameful" statements likening US soldiers to Saddam Hussein's torturous regime. Cheers, Senator. I'm glad someone has.
The Nevada Republican was commenting on a statement credited to Senator Kennedy Tuesday. Kennedy is quoted as saying, "Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management: U.S. management." Lest anyone forget what the Drunken Master said.
Ensign believes Kennedy crossed the line with his comments and called on Kennedy to retract them immediately. "To express disappointment or anger over what has occurred at Abu Ghraib prison is one thing. To put American servicemen and women in the same category as one of the most evil and bloodthirsty regimes in modern history is reprehensible." Senatespeak for "That's about the worst thing you could have possibly said under the circumstances, Senator."
Ensign said it is appalling that anyone would make those kind of comparisons, let alone a US Senator. "I'm disgusted and ashamed that such a comment would be made by anyone, in any setting. For it to be uttered by a United States Senator is especially shameful." He believes Kennedy owes US service members an apology. "Senator Kennedy needs to retract that statement and apologize immediately to the men and women risking their lives in Iraq." Calling him out by name, and not referring to him as 'My esteemed colleague from Massachussets' is pretty bold. This must not have been said on the Senate floor.
#2
The senate and the senators should expose Kennedy for what he is, and not be intimidated by his senority. Hold Mr. Pickled up to the light of day and he will sober up or he will wither into dust. Some things and people are nation treasures. Sen. Kennedy is a national embarassment.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/13/2004 15:22 Comments ||
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#3
Amen, AP!
He should be censured, at the very least, if not resign.
You know, there's no statute of limitations on murder; don't you think it's time the case of Mary Jo Kopeckne was re-opened?
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 15:25 Comments ||
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#4
Ah, I missed it yesterday. But at least I got to say "Drunken Master" again. It feels alright...
Angry war veterans with flashing flag pins on their collars marched into the East Nassau Village Board meeting Wednesday to show officials how to say the Pledge of Allegiance with feeling. But the crowd of about 50 veterans left angrier than they were when they arrived. Last month the five-member board voted to remove the first line on their monthly agenda, the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, commonly said at all municipal meetings but not required by law. Elected officials said it was routine patriotism that is too often said without feeling and needlessly took time out of their regular meeting and village business.
The move caused a sharp reaction from veterans groups, fraternal organizations and local and state politicians. Even Gov. George Pataki said he thought the move ill-advised and some politicians have suggested legislation be passed to make the pledge mandatory at municipal meetings. A story about the controversy ran on the front page of the military newspaper Stars and Stripes last week, said Bob Reiter, Rensselaer County veterans director. "Imagine that. Our people over there in Iraq going through all they are going through reading that," Reiter said before the meeting.
The pledge was not listed on the top of the agenda handed out Wednesday. As soon as Mayor Robert Henrickson opened the 7:30 p.m. meeting at the rural Tsatsawassa Protective Fire Co. quarters in Brainard, he immediately tried to start talking to the veterans about a compromise the board had agreed on. The crowd interrupted loudly: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all." "And if you donât have a tear in your eye and a lump in your throat when you say that, then you donât know what it is to be an American," shouted Phil Schwartz, 81, a Marine Corps veteran of Guadalcanal.
Some board members stood, put hands over their hearts and said the pledge with the group, but when the crowd broke into "God Bless America," with much emphasis on the three words, the officials were caught off guard and had already sat down. That stirred the veterans to lash out at the uneasy elected officials. "You sat through âGod Bless America,â " Reiter yelled. "There is no excuse for that." Henrickson calmly tried to tell the group that the officials meant no disrespect to them or the flag. "I want to thank you all very much, but as I was trying to say at the beginning of the meeting we have made some changes," Henrickson said. The mayor said the board had decided that anyone who comes to the meetings in the future can request to lead the officials in the pledge. "We will stand, face the flag and say it with you," Henrickson said. "We are not un-American."
"Youâre the leader you should be leading the pledge," a veteran shouted at Henrickson. "This a bunch of baloney." The group then walked out of the meeting but vowed to return. Henrickson has said he was surprised at the reaction. When the trustees agreed to drop the pledge he said he went along because no one comes to meetings anyway. Only 35 people voted in the recent election. The village of 571 souls was created out of a successful fight to stop a mining operation on Snake Mountain. Henrickson said the elected officials, who were involved in that fight, are very mindful of their civic duties and responsibilities but believe it is more important to increase residentsâ involvement in civic affairs, something the monthly ritual was not doing. "The real issue is how do we keep people involved in running their community," Henrickson said. "I can say I think we have a bit of start on that here tonight."
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
05/13/2004 9:39:07 AM ||
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#1
small people with small minds - how much time did the pledge take from their precious agenda?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/13/2004 10:13 Comments ||
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#2
Stand up for what makes you American - all the things that made us British are slowly disappearing in our society due to placating the minorities/liberals. One day you'll wake up and won't recognize the country you live in. Don't budge an inch.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/13/2004 10:46 Comments ||
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#3
It takes me more time than to say the pledge...
It takes me more time to stand in a supermarket line, yet I buy groceries I need to survive.
I takes me more time to fill out an application for a job or drivers license.
It takes me more time to wait for a plane at the airport, yet I have to get to my destination.
It takes me more time to do something wrong at work only to be told later by my supervisor I wasted so and so time on nothing.
It takes me more time to sit in front of the tv
set doing nothing but staring at the screen..
It takes me more time....
Too long to post here; typical NYT hack job but Rummy's strength still shows through. Check his quote at the end.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/13/2004 1:03:28 AM ||
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#1
Yesterday, I was bothered by the all out global effort by the media to call for Rumsfeld's head, but today I am heartened.
In cards, we call this "overplaying your hand". They were going for broke on this one and in the process showed the American public their cards. Their hand isn't strong enough to win.
#2
Rumsfeld in indeed hanging in there. None of this - "I was for the war in Iraq before I was against it."
Posted by: Rock ||
05/13/2004 10:56 Comments ||
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#3
Rumsfeld and Myers are doing a live conference in Iraq with questions - from the soldiers not the press - Rumsfeld sez: "I am a survivor" - Booyah!
And doing a lot of his martial arts hand-fighting techniques...it's on Fox right now
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/13/2004 11:02 Comments ||
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The party of opposition presidential hopeful Fernando Poe Jr. warned Wednesday of another "people power" revolt if he's cheated of the presidency - fighting words in a nation where popular protests have knocked two leaders out of office. Polls and surveys showed the count from Monday's election race going in different directions. With both sides coming close to claiming victory after a bitterly fought contest, some kind of confrontation appeared likely. Even though official results aren't expected for weeks, a confident President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called a Cabinet meeting to start delivering on her campaign promises. A statement from Poe's KNP party said a repeat of "people power" - the mass protests that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001 - "will surely come out" if the vote count is tainted with fraud. Arroyo took over for Estrada midway through his term but now is seeking her own six-year presidency.
A nationwide survey by a reputable independent pollster has projected that Arroyo will beat challenger Fernando Poe Jr. by 41 percent to 32 percent. But a "quick count" by an officially sanctioned election watchdog group showed Poe ahead 43.7 percent to 33.4 percent. The count covered only 1.8 percent of the precincts. Poe's camp has alleged widespread election irregularities, and he has urged his backers to "remain firm in our belief in the truth that victory is ours." Arroyo's office said she called a Cabinet meeting for Friday to begin "work on her governance agenda."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/13/2004 12:47:16 AM ||
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Hussein Piruzi, the manager of the Imam Khomeini Airport, which was shut by troops on its first working day on 8 May for purported security reasons, told ISNA on 11 May that the Transport Ministry has ordered the airport to remain shut, "until [those] events ... are clarified and the government makes a decision, and until there are specific procedures at the airport and we no longer witness such problems." He said that the Tepe-Akfen-Vie consortium is no longer running the airport, but there must be a "clarification" of its status and that of its equipment at the airport, ISNA reported. Jaâfar Pursadeqian, the public relations chief for the state aviation authority, said on 11 May that the consortiumâs employees were asked to leave the airport on 7 May, "due to objections by the armed forces", though this did not prevent the closure, Fars News Agency reported the same day. The contract with the consortium, he said, is currently "in a state of suspension," though not cancelled, farsnews.com reported.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
05/13/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Bet they used the same contractors as Denver, wonder if they have the same lizard problem?
Pressure is building in Iran to ban a film which is widely seen as satirising the countryâs religious authorities. Several big cities outside Tehran have now banned the film Marmoulak - which translates as The Lizard. It tells the story of a thief who escapes prison by dressing up as a mullah and then performs a number of outrageous actions while wearing the robes of a religious man. It has been a huge hit in Iran since its release several weeks ago, but it has roused increasing opposition from some factions of the countryâs religious elite.
The Lizardâs release was delayed by a month as the religious authorities debated whether or not to ban it. It was finally released last month with minor cuts from the version that won the best film award at Tehranâs international film festival in February. It was an immediate hit. The audience lapped up the comedy, as the filmâs lead character Reza Marmoulak - or Reza the Lizard - revels in the privileges and power with which his fraudulent donning of clerical robes endows him. ....
But conservative religious leaders have struck back. First, the city of Mashhad and now others like Orumiyeh and Rasht have banned it. Qom - the main theological centre in Iran - has never even considered releasing it. Some cinemas have been broken into and reels of the film stolen. The head of the powerful Guardian Council, Ahmed Jannati, conceded he had not seen it but said from what he had heard it was a very ugly film and should be stopped.
The leading conservative newspaper, Jumhuri-ye Eslami, has mounted a campaign against The Lizard, renaming it The Scorpion because - as the newspaper puts it - it attacks social norms with its poisonous sting.
The filmmakers argue that the filmâs ultimate message is one the conservatives should approve - in the end, Reza the thief has a change of heart and finds God under the influence of a simple, pious cleric. And they say no-one - not even the religious elite - should be above constructive criticism.
Not all religious authorities have opposed the film - on his popular weblog, one of the countryâs vice presidents, Mohammed Ali Abytahi, has praised it. But he added, tongue-in-cheek, that he hoped his recommendation - coming from a religious leader - would not harm the filmâs box-office takings.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
05/13/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Sounds like the Sean Penn character in the movie, "We're No Angels", from 1989.
Named after the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the new Tehran airport was built and expected to be run by Turkish and Austrian consortium TAV. Yet the Iranian army closed it down on Saturday, citing that its foreign ownership was a security concern. The army also criticised what it said were TAVâs business links with Israel. .... Iranâs armed forces said the decision to entrust the airportâs operation to a foreign company "threatens the security of the country as well as its dignity". ...
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
05/13/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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as well as its dignity
That sums up the Mullahs exactly. The most important thing in the world is their "dignity."
Too bad they don't have any.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/13/2004 12:14 Comments ||
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Maulvi Ghulam Rasool, accused of killing a 19-year-old Christian boy, named his two accomplices on Wednesday after being interrogated for nine days.
"Cheeze! Not the pliers again! I'll talk!... What the hell day is it?"
Ghulam Rasool allegedly killed Javed Anjum when the latter refused to convert to Islam. The minorities and human rights groups are taking the issue seriously. On May 6, some of the organisations protested outside the Press Club, claiming Mr Anjumâs murder was a reflection of religious nutbaggeryfanaticismintolerance fundamentalism in the country. Similar demonstrations were also staged in Toba Tek Singh, the victimâs hometown. Mr Anjumâs father, Pervaiz Masih, told the police that his son was a B Com student in Quetta. The family had moved to Balochistan a few years ago, but Mr Anjum come to his native village to attend a marriage ceremony on April 10. He had gone to a nearby town, Gojra, on April 16 with his mother and a sister where the two women got busy talking to their relatives as Mr Anjum moved away from them. After the relatives were gone, the two women tried to find him, but he was not around. The family lodged an FIR with the city police. They also advertised on local cable television about his disappearance. However, Mr Anjum was not found until April 22, a day when Maulvi Ghulam Rasool handed him over to the city police in a critical condition.
Ghulam Rasool claimed that he had caught him while he was trying to steal the water pump at the seminary. The police called the victimâs father, asking him to take his son to a hospital. Mr Masih took him to Toba Tek Singh, but he was moved to Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, due to his critical condition. He could not survive, succumbing to his injuries on May 2. The autopsy report said Mr Anjumâs right arm was fractured and he was given electric shocks as well. He was also suffering from renal failure and had to go through dialysis four times. The doctors also said there were 26 wounds on his body, and his urine bladder had stopped working. He was passing blood and pus instead of water. While on his deathbed, Mr Anjum told the police he was drinking water from a tap near the seminary when Ghulam Rasool had caught him, accusing him of stealing the water pump. He told Assistant Sub-inspector Muhammad Ashraf: âThey tortured me badly when I denied the charge. When they realised that I was a Christian, they also forced me to convert to Islam. On my refusal, they tortured me for five days without giving me food and water.â Ghulam Rasool on Wednesday disclosed he tortured Mr Anjum with a club. His friends, Muhammad Tayyab and Omar Hayat, helped him as well. Meanwhile, Christian organisations claim that District Nazim Toba Tek Singh Chaudhry Ashfaq Ahmad is now asking the victimâs family to compromise and withdraw the case. Mr Ahmad was not available for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2004 15:01 ||
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The United States is moving quickly to cement its security relations with Sao Tome, where an oil production boom is expected to make the tiny West African island nation strategically important. Defense officials have disclosed that a U.S. military liaison officer was sent to Sao Tome earlier this year on a one-year assignment on behalf of the European Command, which is responsible for most of Africa. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, tell VOA the officer's role is to coordinate and develop security cooperation programs with Sao Tome. The officials indicate those efforts will include not only military education and training for Sao Tomean forces, but also military equipment sales and transfers.
News reports from Sao Tome indicate the sales and transfers under consideration will focus on bolstering the island nation's Coast Guard. The goal is to give Sao Tome the naval means to patrol its exclusive offshore economic zone, as well as the joint development zone it shares in the Gulf of Guinea with Nigeria. Both zones are believed to be rich in oil, and production efforts are already getting under way. The dispatch of a military liaison officer is noteworthy, as there is no U.S. Embassy in Sao Tome. Diplomatic and other contacts are handled by American officials based in Gabon.
In another development, U.S. and Sao Tomean officials have revealed explosives experts will travel to Sao Tome in June to begin destroying what are described as obsolete sea mines. U.S. and African security sources say there has also been discussion of holding joint naval maneuvers later this year. Sao Tome has a small number of patrol boats. The moves follow comments by the senior U.S. military commander for Africa, General Charles Wald, who said last year he views Sao Tome as a potentially ideal site for one of the U.S. military's so-called Forward Operating Locations. These are not permanent bases, but rather facilities that can be used in an emergency. General Wald said that, both, because of its proximity to the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea and its strategic position along the Equator close to West and Central Africa, Sao Tome is an attractive location. He likened it to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, a strategically-placed base, used heavily by U.S. forces during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. General Wald visited Sao Tome last year, the most senior U.S. military officer ever to go to the island.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/13/2004 2:56:52 PM ||
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Sao Tome also has a booming industry for telephone sex. They are very entrepreneurial.
(I work for a telephone reseller and we have a lot of disputed calls (900 type) to there)
#2
They are nice but expect an anti-gov. coup every 10 years without a shot :) it's couple of small islands in southern Atlantic , discovered by us Portuguese around 1400? they got independent in 1974
At least seven people were killed and 35 injured in one of the cityâs most violent polling days in Wednesdayâs by-elections for three National Assembly and one provincial assembly seat.
"Mahmoud! It's an election! Democracy in action!"
"I'll get my gun!"
According to police, supporters of the three parties shot at each other, killing six workers and injuring many. Baldia Town, Liaqatabad, Gulberg, Malir, Saudabad, Khokhrapar and Jaffar Tayyar Society were the cityâs most violent areas, where rival party supporters attacked each other with automatic weapons. Hospital sources said most of the dead and injured had multiple bullet wounds. The bodies and the injured were moved to Civil Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Rival supporters reached the hospitals and surrounded them. Doctors and other hospital staff said they were reluctant to provide details of the dead and injured people due to pressure from party activists. But they confirmed that 35 people had been injured.
Who was it that said, "You can't make an omelette without breaking legs"?
The overall turnout was low since the polling started but got some a in the afternoon. Polling at many stations was stopped for some time due to disturbances. MQM-MMA clashes left three MMA and three MQM workers dead in Baldia Town, Liaqatabad and Federal B Area. DIG Tariq Jamil said police had intensified security in the area and the situation was under control.
"Yeah, hell. They're dead. Nothin' to worry about now... Duck!"
Authorities also confirmed that three cars and two motorcycles were burned in various parts of Karachi. The MMA on Wednesday demanded the government cancel by-poll results and hold new elections, saying the MQM had attacked its workers and killed several.
"Yeah! They brought in ringers! They were better shots than our guys!"
The MQM, a component of the ruling alliance, on Wednesday swept the by-polls held for three National Assembly and one Sindh Assembly seat in Karachi. The ruling coalition also won the Rahimyar Khan National Assembly seat while results of the Sanghar National Assembly seat were yet to come out. According to unofficial results, MQMâs Abid Ali Umang, Abdul Wasim, Nisar Ahmad Panhor and Yousaf Munir Sheikh won all three National Assembly seats and one Sindh Assembly seat from Karachi.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2004 14:20 ||
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Muslim mobs brandishing machetes and clubs attacked Christians in the streets of Kano on Wednesday as security forces struggled to quell a two-day rampage to avenge a massacre of hundreds of Nigerian Muslims. Police confirmed at least 30 killed in strife engulfing this northern city, where thousands — mostly minority Christians — cowered in army barracks and police stations as mobs attacked victims outside. Witnesses spoke of scores more slaughtered. "I saw them put an old tire on his neck and set him ablaze," said a 30-year old Christian, Barry Owoyemi, of a dead Christian neighbor. Owoyemi was whisked to safety by police who fired guns in the air to scare away the attackers. Authorities ordered police to shoot rioters on sight.
The rampage exploded Tuesday following a demonstration by thousands of Muslims protesting the slaying of up to 600 Muslims by a predominantly Christian ethnic group last week in the central Nigeria town Yelwa. The latest rioting threatened to send violence spiraling further. In an apparent response to Muslim attacks, a group of young Christians in one Kano neighborhood fired shotguns Wednesday at groups of Muslim men accused of torching houses.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2004 14:03 ||
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caught via Drudge - Schadenfreude tastes great! I had no idea! Air America has shut its sales offices in Los Angeles and Chicago and is recasting its business plan, the networkâs president said on Wednesday as troubles beset the liberal talk show network. makes Biz sense, after all, nobody else gets advertising there
With Air America not broadcasting in those two cities after a financial dispute in April, network president Jon Sinton said, "Thereâs not much sense in having sales offices in cities where you donât control a single friggin station." About 15 to 20 people were laid off in the closing of the sales offices, the latest sign of problems for Air America, launched on March 31 as a liberal alternative to the countryâs predominantly conservative talk show culture led by right-wing icons like Rush Limbaugh. Since it started, Chairman Evan Cohen, Vice Chairman Rex Sorensen and Head of Programming David Logan have left while co-founder Mark Walsh has stepped down as chief executive to take a smaller role in the organization. Sinton said Air America was in "high-level affiliate discussions in Chicago and Los Angeles" and other cities. "If they return our calls....no luck so far...maybe GoreNet will"
Sinton said the company had moved away from its original business model, which was to lease and totally control the radio stations in which its programing ran. Rather, Sinton said Air America has found success with traditional affiliate relationships, under which it provides about 20 hours of programing per day in many cases in exchange for the ability to sell a certain number of minutes per hour of advertising. GM says they want no part... maybe foreign hybrid car ads?
"The business model has changed with our on-air success. The fact that we are moving the needle so quickly with affiliates has surprised us and negated the need for us to control our own stations," Sinton said. After its launch, a dispute with business partner Multicultural Radio Broadcasting led to its programing being yanked from the air in Chicago and Los Angeles. Air America, which is said to have more than $30 million in financing, is operating in about nine markets, and on satellite radio and the Internet. Its Web site said that 15 more stations will be coming in May. "Weâre always looking for new financing, but the investors we have are committed and we would we like to raise more money," said Sinton, who said that certain people on the board with long-term radio experience have recently taken over key decision-making roles in a departure from the past. Serious errors in business judgment account for Air Americaâs problems, rather than its slate of programing, say various radio industry insiders. "It makes you wonder why everybody is leaving the company," said Michael Harrison, editor for Talkers, a magazine about Talk Shows. "sinking ship come to mind?"
"I think the concept of liberal radio is great, but they went about it wrong. They first insisted that stations take an entire line-up. The odds of getting enough stations to take a whole line-up are so impossible."
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/13/2004 2:01:07 PM ||
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HA HA!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/13/2004 14:06 Comments ||
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The left is bound and determined to screw up my summer's entertainment, aren't they?
But I guess when the only jokes you can make are Bush is dumb, there are only so many permutations of the format.
Also, outside of the promised humor, doesn't it strike anyone as odd this story comes out right on the heels of the criminal threats agaiunst Bush issued by Rani Rhodes?
#4
15 to 20 people laid off? Kerry should be all over this! More victims of the George W. Bush economy! The worst administration for liberal radio networks since Herbert Hoover!
#6
Air America has shut its sales offices in Los Angeles and Chicago and is recasting its business plan, the networkâs president said on Wednesday as troubles beset the liberal talk show network.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/13/2004 15:47 Comments ||
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#10
Is Soros broke?
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
05/13/2004 16:25 Comments ||
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Donât worry they are just âconsolidatingâ their assets. They are become a smaller, leaner, and meaner network. Pretty soon they will be so powerful they will only have to be on one or two stations. Classic business practice, if youâre a communists!
An Irish graduate student has uncovered words blacked-out of declassified US military documents using nothing more than a dictionary and text analysis software. Claire Whelan, a computer science student at Dublin City University was given the problems by her PhD supervisor as a diversion. David Naccache, a cryptographer with Gemplus, challenged her to discover the words missing from two documents: one was a memo to George Bush, and another concerned military modifications to civilian helicopters. The process is quite straightforward, and according to Naccache, Whelan's success proves that merely blotting words out of declassified documents will not keep the contents secret.
The first task is to identify the font, and font size the missing word was written in. Once that is done, the dictionary search begins for words that fit the space, plus or minus three pixels, Naccache explained. This process yielded 1,530 possibilities for word blanked out of a sentence in the Bush memo. Then, the text anaysis routine checks for words that would make sense in English. The sentence was: "An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an XXXXXXXX service at the same time that Bin Ladin was planning to exploit the operative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strike." Just 346 words remained on the list at this stage. The next stage is to involve the brain of the researcher. This eliminated all but seven words: Ugandan, Ukrainian, Egyptian, uninvited, incursive, indebted and unofficial. Naccache plumped for Egyptian, in this case.
Clever girl, so simple once it's pointed out.
Whelan subjected the helicopter memo to the same scrutiny, and the results suggested South Korea was the most likely anonymous supplier of helicopter knowledge to Iraq.
Hummm
Although the technique is no good for tackling larger sections of text, it does show that officials need to be more careful with their sensitive documents. Naccache argues that the most important conclusion of this work "is that censoring text by blotting out words and re-scanning is not a secure practice".
Easy fix for electronic documents would be to assign a special character for deleated words of any length. Instead of "XXXXX" = "South", you would use "#" = "South" as a example.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/13/2004 1:02:21 PM ||
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Old technique used for years to recover lost text from ancient documents. I'm suprised it took this long for someone to use it for blacked out texts.
EFL - that damn Indian obsession with Ghandi - they even elected an Italian who was married to a Ghandi
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned Thursday after his governing coalition lost the parliamentary election, ending his nearly six years in power, local news media reported. Vajpayeeâs Bharatiya Janata Party had said he would hand his resignation to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at the ornate presidential palace, and his office said he would later address the nation on state-run television. No official announcement was immediately made, but the Press Trust of India news agency and other news media reported that Vajpayee had quit.
When the new Parliament convenes, possibly next week, Vajpayee will remain the leader of the National Democratic Alliance of 11 parties with whom he governed and fought the election, his defense minister, George Fernandes, said. Earlier Thursday, results showed Indiaâs opposition Congress Party captured the most seats in parliamentary elections, a stunning defeat for Vajpayee that was almost certain to return the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to power. Vajpayeeâs ruling party conceded defeat, opening the way for Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, to become the countryâs leader. It was one of the most dramatic political upsets since Indian independence almost 60 years ago. The results reflected the feeling by millions of Indiaâs rural poor that they had been left out of the economic boom promoted by the BJP government.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/13/2004 10:10:29 AM ||
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My favorite part of this election was how they transported the new-fangled electronic voting machines to the remote cities and villages...by elephant!
#1
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war....
Posted by: Random thoughts ||
05/13/2004 12:28 Comments ||
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WOW...that is a speech that needs to be posted on more than a few foreheads.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/13/2004 12:35 Comments ||
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It is not abnormal for societies to have thier Mafiosi. Call this one Mulla Mafia, Islamic Mafia, whatever. The rules are the same gangland operations. You cannot cure them, only lock them up or kill them. Lets get on with it.
Everytime I read this I do a slow burn. Between the government loving elite and the IslamoPigs they just about have us cornered. I do believe we are very well on our way to an out right armed conflict between Americans in the next 20 years. Can Islam and the Marxist co exist? I was never any good at Math. PC Marxist Roots Unearthed
by William S. Lind, Free Congress Foundation
Political Correctness is intellectual AIDS. Everything it touches it sickens and eventually kills. On Americaâs college campuses it has diminished freedom of speech, warped curricula, politicized grading and replaced intellectual integrity with vapid sloganeering. In classroom after classroom, professors offer an ideological rant, which students are compelled to regurgitate to get a grade: the vomit returns to the dog. These places--and they are many--are no longer universities, but small, ivy-covered North Koreas.
Just what is Political Correctness? The "Politically Correct" people on your campus really, really donât want you to know the answer to that question. Why? Because Political Correctness is nothing less than Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms. The parallels are obvious. First, both classical, economic Marxism and the Cultural Marxism that is Political Correctness are totalitarian ideologies. Both insist on "truths" that are contrary to human nature and experience. Contrary to economic Marxism, there is no such thing as a "classless society," and economic incentives matter. Contrary to Political Correctness, men and women are different, as are their natural roles in society; races and ethnic groups have specific characteristics; and homosexuality is abnormal. Since the only way people will accept the ideologuesâ "truths" is if they are forced to, they will be forced--by the full power of the state, if the Marxists of either stripe can control it.
The second parallel is that both classical Marxism and Cultural Marxism have single-factor explanations of history. Classical Marxism argues that all history was determined by ownership of the means of production. The Politically Correct Cultural Marxists say that history is explained by which groups--defined by sex, race and sexual normality or abnormality--have power over which other groups.
The third parallel is that both varieties of Marxism declare certain groups virtuous and other evil a priori, without regard for the actual behavior of individuals. Thus economic Marxism defined workers and peasants as good and the middle class as evil, and Cultural Marxism defines blacks, Hispanics, Feminist women, homosexuals and some other minorities as virtuous and white men as evil. Political Correctness does not recognize the existence of non-Feminist women and defines blacks who reject its ideology as whites.
The fourth parallel is in means: expropriation. Economic Marxists expropriated the property of the middle and upper classes and gave it to the state. Cultural Marxists, on campuses and in government, lay penalties on white men and give privileges to the groups they favor. Affirmative action is an example of this kind of expropriation.
Finally, both types of Marxism employ a method of analysis guaranteed to show the correctness of their ideology in every situation. For classical Marxists, the method is Marxist economics. For Cultural Marxists, the method is linguistic: deconstruction. Deconstruction first removes all meaning from "texts," then inserts new meaning: one way or another, the text illustrates the oppression of women, blacks, homosexuals etc. by white men and Western culture. The intended meaning of the author is irrelevant.
These parallels are not coincidental. They exist because the Cultural Marxism of Political Correctness is in fact derived from classical, economic Marxism, largely through the work of the Frankfurt School. Following World War I, European Marxists faced a difficult question: why did the proletariat throughout Europe not rise in revolution and establish a new, Marxist order, as their ideology said it would? Two prominent Marxist thinkers, Antonio Gramsci in Italy and Georg Lukacs in Hungary, came up with an answer: Western culture. Western culture so blinded the workers to their true, "class" interests that they could not act on them. So before socialism could come to power, Western culture had to be destroyed. Lukacs in 1919 posed the question, "Who will save us from Western civilization?" As Deputy Commissar for Culture in the Bolshevik Bela Kun government in Hungary that same year, the first thing he did was introduce sex education into Hungarian schools.
In 1923, Lukacs and a group of German Marxist intellectuals founded a "think tank" intended to translate Marxism from economic into cultural terms, the Institute for Social Research at Frankfurt University. The Institute quickly became known as the Frankfurt School. In 1933, when the National Socialists came to power in Germany, the Frankfurt School moved to New York City. There, its key figures--Theodor Adano, Erich Fromm and Wilhelm Reich--developed critical theory," a crossing of Mark with Freud that labeled the key components of Western culture "prejudice," i.e., a psychological disease. The "critical theorists" argues that to eliminate "prejudice," Christianity, capitalism and the traditional "patriarchal" family all had to be destroyed. The connection between the Frankfurt School and the student rebellion of the 1960s was made primarily by a key Frankfurt School member, Herbert Marcuse--the man who in the â60s coined the phrase, "Make love, not war." Marcuseâs books "Eros" and "Civilization" argued that the tools with which to destroy Western culture were, in effect, sex, drugs and rock ân roll. He popularized the Frankfurt Schoolâs ideas in ways the â60s student radicals could understand and absorb, and we now know his work Political Correctness.
So that is Political Correctnessâ dirty little secret: it is Marxism, Marxism translated from economics into culture. We know what economic Marxism did to the old Soviet Union. Are we going to permit Cultural Marxism to do the same thing to the United States?
Posted by: Long Hair Republican ||
05/13/2004 12:15:42 AM ||
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As fast as our cultural elites can lead us. Lets all eat cake.
#2
This is news? Hell, the very term "politically correct" is a lightly chocolate-coated version of the Marxist "ideologically correct", and has all it's linguistic ancestor's disasterous consequences.
#10
I have always refered to the people in the article as PC Totalitarians. This article lays out what most people examining the situation at universities has realized for a long time.
It was a half-century ago that Krushchev, supreme ruler of the USSR proclaimed that the west would make the rope to hang itself with. In that vein, I suggest we stop the nonsense by ending all non-technical state funded university courses. Unless we are dealing with medicine or engineering or maybe certain business oriented courses of study (accounting / computer programming e.g.), we pare back all funding. INCLUDING LAW SCHOOLS! If the PC Totalitarians want to spew their dictatorial garbage, let them do it with private funds, and not taxpayer funds.
Air America, "left-wing talk radio" is dying a proper slow death, so should it be with the modern "Liberal Arts" education.
#11
BigEd, isn't that like punting on the war of ideas? If nothing else good comes out of the current WoT, it at least is exposing the hollowness of the politically correct and multi-cultural BS. Within ten years there will be a dramtic shift in the make-up of university faculties and curriculum, only it will not involve the elimination of the liberal arts. It will involve a replacement of the current illiberal arts curriculums with true liberal arts.
Posted by: Sam ||
05/13/2004 12:39 Comments ||
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BigEd - wasn't that Lenin (rope to hang oneself)? I remember Krusty Khrushchev stating "We will bury you" but not the other thaaang.
#14
"The media fracas over Iraq, the Bush administration's unilateralism, and the 9/11 Commission, have overshadowed the transformation taking place in the ranks of young Americans. A surprisingly large number have embraced President Bush's worldview, often described by foreign policy commentators as "neoconservative," so highlighting its departure from cold, calculating realpolitik.
This shift coincides with a surge in the number of active young conservatives. Membership of the College Republicans has tripled in the past three years, while a study by Harvard's Institute of Politics found that two-thirds of American college students supported the war in Iraq. Liberal college professors bemoan the conservatism of their students, many of whom participated in pro-war patriotic rallies to counter the traditional anti-war protests on most college campuses. All this activity amounts to what The Economist has called a youthquake for President Bush.
In short, for thousands of future conservative leaders, September 11 was a watershed event, this generation's Vietnam. Fortunately, the lessons of Vietnam and September 11 could not be more different. The lessons of September 11 are threefold."
This quote is from an article today in NPR, http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/fly200405130856.asp
This is why I think campuses will get more conservative. It is harder the sell the - "all cultures have equal value and worth" and "they're not bad, just different" BS when you see beheadings and children wearing bomb vests on the news.
Posted by: Sam ||
05/13/2004 14:38 Comments ||
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It is harder the sell the - "all cultures have equal value and worth" and "they're not bad, just different" BS when you see beheadings and children wearing bomb vests on the news.
Problem is, the people in charge of the news do their damndest to see to it that we get little to no chance of seeing those kinds of things. Can't have Americans getting pissed at barbarians, ya know. Barbarians getting pissed at Americans though, is perfectly okay.
#16
Capitalist Pig! I real Marxist would have gone without the cream, sugars, and the coffee.
Posted by: ed ||
05/13/2004 9:51 Comments ||
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Sam, I hope you are right, but a local incident involving UCLA's Republican Club makes me pessimistic. The goons in the administration were harassing the club until they were frightened by publicity, largely from a local talk radio host, Al Rantel.
#18
Face it, we're fighting 2 wars: the WOT and the Culture Wars.
Right now, the Left is making common cause with the IslamoNazis.
I guess they're thinking when they "win," then they'll have to fight between themselves as to whether Marxist Socialism or shar'ia wins the day, although the 2 systems have an awful lot in common.
But pure Marxism won't tolerate any religion except its own, even the Religion of Pieces.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/13/2004 15:35 Comments ||
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Isn't it hard to fit the Liberal Arts Majors into the fryer?
Mike was too modest in wanting to post this without commentary. Fortunately I'm not so inhibited.
All Praise is to Allah, Salah Allahu Allahee Wa Salam, Lord of the Worlds, the One and only God, without partners, who has carried our burden and seen fit to restore our site and our souls through His faithfulness. We have just completed two back-to-back server moves; with the second one unexpected and most concerning indeed. Alhamdulilah, JUS is now on the path we originally planned.
Funny, we were talking about your extinction as well.
When we decided to migrate to the Middle East, taking the land from the Phoenicians and Israelites we felt it was best to relocate the site however we did not know what to expect with respect to the IT infrastructure in the region.
IT support in the Middle East? Depends, you got any kuffar webheads around?
Some months ago, we were contacted by a Muslim IT company in Malaysia that was to have a full team of hard boys programmers and who offered to strap on assume the IT work for JUS.
Is this out-sourcing or up-sourcing?
We felt this was an answer to our demented prayers to Allan. Shortly after they began to work with us, they were busted lost a major contract and most of their staff headed fer the hills dispersed. We decided to locate the new servers in Malaysia safe from the evil Zionist death ray until we evaluated the resources in the Middle East on the basis that the IT company there could manage them and that this would also help to them rebuild their business.
Um, sport, when someone is "rebuilding" a business, you might want to ask what caused it to be "unbuilt".
From the time we began migrating the JUS site, the project was riddled with shrapnel problems. We were down for 14 days solely because we could not get the site up on the new servers.
I realize that IIS is not exactly user friendly, but still ...
We finally brought in western high level technicians only to discover that the servers were an 8088 PC and a 1200 baud modem âa serverâ without significant power or bandwidth to run it on. JUS is a large and complex site running a variety of killer applications and it became quickly evident that the original spec requirements had not been met and was not going to be under the terms of the pie in the sky agreement. We also discovered that the IT Company had another agenda that was not conducive to the Islamic principles we embrace.
Penetrated by the CIA, perhaps?
Four weeks ago, we began to set up new servers all over again. Alhamdulilah, JUS is now live on our new home. All praise is to Allah that we have been the benefactors of His mercy and blessing. In addition to our existing staff, Allah has provided us with good brothers to assist us in this and we have been able to accomplish this work quickly.
Also penetrated by the CIA.
We are still in the process of restoring some pages and services on our site, Over the next few weeks you will also see some new additions, including regular columnists since the last ones strapped on a bomb vest, new features, a revised snuff Video store and a revised discussion forum to name a few. We encourage you to stay tuned â there is much more to come!
Such a deal.
On a lighter note, we assume that the recent interruption to our publishing schedule now fully dispels the âCIAâ accusations! This certainly would not have happened has we had their resources! And as we have said all along â we would all be driving much better cars if that were the case!
You're 2 for 2 there, Snuffy.
One behalf of all of us at JUS, I sincerely thank you for your patience, support and readership through out this testing time.
We can hardly wait, and remember to say "hi" to the CIA case officer reading your site.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester & AoS ||
05/13/2004 12:23:00 AM ||
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Maybe badanov and Phil F. could put up a fun-house mirror for JU's site too. They seem to have the codeology all worked out...
Imagine downlaoding JU and then filtering it through a script that will change the word Muslim(s) to a random selection of joto, ankle-grabbers, turd daddies, and Allah to Dubya.
I am afraid I would have to be paid for that, but it would most definately be the most fun I could have without dropping $150 on dinner and a nightclub. ;o)
I am not the swiftest guy on the planet, but how f*cking stoopid do you have to be to let someone on your payroll get a server running in two weeks and still not get the thing right?
(SHAMELESSPLUG)In Oklahoma, I tell prospective customers we can deploy small networks, firewalls, scripting, some applications in 48 hours and that it with me and another partner. They can't do it in TWO WEEKS??(/SHAMELESSPLUG)
Folks, we are going to win this war, not because our technology is better (which it is), not because our military is stronger and smarter (which they are), but because for fiddy bucks ANYONE can setup their own server and not blame nefarious agents when something goes wrong.
An Important Message From The Publisher
May 12, 2004
All Praise is to Sauron, Lord of the Worlds, the One and only Power, without partners, who has carried our burden and seen fit to restore our site and our souls through His faithfulness.
We have at Isengard Unspun completed two back-to-back server moves; with the second one unexpected and most concerning indeed. Mount Doom, Isengard Unspun is now on the path we originally planned.
When we decided to migrate to the Dark Land, we felt it was best to relocate the site however we did not know what to expect with respect to the IT infrastructure in the region. Some months ago, we were contacted by a Dark Power IT company in Gondor that was to have a full team of programmers and who offered to assume the IT work for Isengard Unspun. We felt this was an answer to our prayers. Shortly after they began to work with us, they lost a major contract and most of their staff dispersed. We decided to locate the new servers in Gondor until we evaluated the resources in the Dark Land on the basis that the IT company there could manage them and that this would also help to them rebuild their business.
Following the unification of five Pakistan Muslim League (PML) factions, two break-away factions of the Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan Peopleâs PartyâPPP-Sherpao and PPP-Patriotsâwill also unify into one party on May 17. Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal, who is also chief of PPP-Patriots, and Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, president of his own faction of the PPP, on Wednesday held a detailed meeting and decided to announce their partiesâ unification on May 17. Sources told Daily Times that after the unification of these two factions, the new political entity would be registered with the Election Commission as the Pakistan Peopleâs Party with Mr Rao as its chairman and Mr Sherpao as its president. As the Benazir-led PPP of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was disqualified from participating in the 2002 elections, no political party under the nomenclature of Pakistan Peopleâs Party was allotted an election symbol by the Election Commission.
Under the election rules and with the amendments in the Political Parties Order, no convict can hold a party office or become its member. Similarly, no political party led by a convict can contest the elections. Benazir Bhutto was declared an absconder for not appearing in a court and subsequently she was convicted in absentia under the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance (NABO). The PML-Nawaz had overcome a similar obstacle by electing Shahbaz Sharif as its president as Nawaz Sharif could also not head a political party for being a convict. He was disqualified after having been sentenced by an Accountability Court in the helicopter case.
The President Musharraf-led establishmentâs plan is to unite all PML and PPP factions, keeping both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif out of mainstream political parties. As a first step all PML factions minus the Nawaz-led group, have already united. With the unification of the two break-away PPP factions, the ground will be leveled to also invite other PPP factions and the politicians who had long parted ways with Benazir Bhutto after her illustrious father was hanged. Sources said once the PPP-Sherpao and PPP-Patriots united, the close associates of ZA Bhutto, who were the assets of the PPP and went into hibernation due to their differences with Benazir Bhutto, would also be invited at a later stage to join the minus-Benazir PPP.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/13/2004 12:15:59 AM ||
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so can perv gather ALL the secular pols, while still keeping the MMA? Does this mean that he can rely on the secular pols more, and ditch the MMA?
#2
so can perv gather ALL the secular pols, while still keeping the MMA?
As long as he is able to hand out enough perks
Does this mean that he can rely on the secular pols more, and ditch the MMA?
I don't see why he would want to ditch them, at the very least he will stick with Fazl's party.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/13/2004 18:27 Comments ||
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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.
