Living room quarterbacking from the exemplars of probity at the UN.
The UN's anti-torture panel has urged Britain to publish the findings of investigations into alleged cases of torture by British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan according to a report obtained by AFP. Britain should also "as a matter of urgency" review "potentially indefinite detention" of foreign suspects allowed under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act, the UN Committee against Torture said in draft conclusions on Britain's respect for international anti-torture rules. It called on London to report back on those issues and other concerns within a year.
British officials told the Committee during a public hearing last week that a total of 17 cases involving allegations of torture and mistreatment by soldiers in Iraq had been investigated. Eight cases were dropped after no crime was established while eight others are still being investigated or evaluated and one has been put for trial. Britain "should make public the result of all investigations into alleged conduct by its forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly those that reveal possible actions in breach of the Convention," the panel said. It also called for an "independent review of the conclusions where appropriate".
Britain has said that courts-martial would be public but declined to give details to the panel of allegations which were unfounded, while other cases were still subject to legal proceedings. Investigations so far indicated "no suggestion that British armed forces have been involved in systematic abuse of human rights in Iraq," Ministry of Defence official Martin Howard told the Committee. The 10 UN experts oversee the International Convention Against Torture, which outlaws torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. They insisted that "alternatives" to the indefinite detention of international terror suspects should be considered, including criminal trials of suspects or their expulsion.
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Posted by: God Save The World ||
11/25/2004 7:40:43 PM ||
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From mighty stallions killed by bullets or starvation to tiny glow worms that lit up the trenches, all were finally honoured yesterday with a memorial dedicated to all creatures, great and small, who served in time of war. In Park Lane, Mayfair, the Princess Royal unveiled the first permanent tribute to the horses, dogs, pigeons, elephants and others on whose skills the British have depended in times of conflict.
Carrying the inscription "They had no choice", the huge memorial, designed by David Backhouse, comprises a carved Portland stone wall alongside sculptures of two mules carrying battle equipment, a stallion and a dog. Jilly Cooper, the novelist and vice-president of the Animals in War Memorial Fund, watched as a flock of racing pigeons were released as part of the ceremony. "We never said thank you to them. They died in their millions. They carried our food and our weapons and they were phenomenal," she said.
Eight million horses are believed to have died in the First World War, most from exposure, disease or starvation while carrying men, ammunition and equipment. Hundreds of thousands of "mile-a-minute" carrier pigeons delivered crucial dispatches from the front, many suffering bad injuries. Among them was the famed Mary of Exeter, who returned from one mission with a damaged wing and three shotgun pellets in her breast. Even the lowly glow worm by whose light trench soldiers during the Great War were able to read their maps and letters, are represented in the sculpture.
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Posted by: Bulldog ||
11/25/2004 3:46:34 AM ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2004 9:34 Comments ||
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#4
Does not anyone remember reading the story about all the service animals in "Servants of the Queen" in Kipling's "Jungle Book"? Mules and horses, bullocks, dogs, camels and elephants, talking about fear and duty and companionship. (No pigeons, though.)
#5
Did any of the animals honored serve in wars against Muslims? If so, this memorial is offensive and must be taken down immediately. And an apology must be issued to the beautiful multicultural community of England. And bow when you say that, infidel.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2004 8:18:16 PM ||
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#1
As far as I'm concerned, this matter was handled well. He gets a token sentence, and is released to live out the remainder of his life in a country that will never, ever accept him due to his foreignness. Had the U.S. insisted on a stiff sentence, the Japanese would have been highly offended. Sometimes, keeping an ally happy is more important than throwing a deserter in the slammer for the rest of his life.
HT Captain's Quarters
Badges depicting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, a key symbol of his cult of personality, are disappearing from peoples' chests in the communist country. South Korea's Unification Ministry confirmed that lapel badges of Kim were no longer worn by North Koreans travelling from the Stalinist state to China on official business. In the past, they wore either a badge portraying Kim or a similar badge portraying his father, the Stalinist state's founder Kim Il-Sung who died in 1994. "North Koreans travelling to and from China who formerly wore the badge of either Kim Il-Sung or Kim Jong-Il on their chests, have stopped wearing the Kim Jong-Il badge," Yang Jeong-Hwa, a ministry official, told AFP, adding that her ministry could indirectly confirm the change. "They are wearing only the Kim Il-Sung badge."
Kimmie's soon to be naught but a fond memory and a lingering odor, perhaps?
Ten years after his death, the elder Kim is still revered in North Korea where he is frequently described as president for eternity. But the pervasive personality cult built around his son appears to be shrinking. Reports of the disappearing lapel badges follow recent confirmation that Kim Jong-Il's portraits have vanished from key sites visited by foreigners in Pyongyang. The Unification Ministry is still analyzing the nature and significance of these changes, Yang said. Media reports in South Korea said the phasing-out of the Kim Jong-Il badges was widespread and affected business people, diplomats and other North Koreans who come into contact with foreigners. But Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei on Wednesday said the Stalinist state was stable and big changes were not imminent.
"Depends on what you mean by 'big,' really. I mean, what's 'big' here in China ain't necessarily 'big' in Korea. It might be 'medium-sized,' y'know..."
"The politics are stable, the economy is developing and the leaders are thinking seriously about economic reform," Wu Dawei told a briefing in Beijing as he described his September visit to Pyongyang.
Does that mean Kimmie's in stable condition?
Choson Sinbo, run by the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, said the measures reflected the "noble will of General Kim Jong-Il who wants to hold up only President Kim Il-Sung aloft." Analysts said it it is virtually impossible to confirm exactly what is going on inside the secretive nation. Kim's portraits have long been ubiquitous in homes, offices and public buildings across North Korea, where they have hung prominently beside a picture of his late father. The junior Kim took power when his father, who founded the hermit nation, died in July, 1994.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/25/2004 11:51:34 AM ||
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#1
Looks like trouble in paradise.
Posted by: Tom ||
11/25/2004 12:23 Comments ||
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You know how it goes...
"Call something paradise..... kiss it goodbye!" - From an old Eagles song I forgot the title...
KCNA -- The United States is taking much pain to justify its "war against terrorism" under the signboard of "spread of democracy". Lurking behind this is a sinister intention to cover up the illegality of the "war against terrorism" and include even the human rights issue in its category, says Rodong Sinmun Wednesday in a signed article. The U.S. efforts to veil its "war against terrorism" with the "spread of democracy" are attributable to the international community's strong opposition to and rejection of the war, the article observes, and goes on:
The U.S. much publicized "spread of democracy" is aimed to fight a fiercer "war against terrorism". The U.S. is trying to justify its undisguised interference in the internal affairs of other countries and its wanton violation of their sovereignty with the slogans of "democracy" and "protection of human rights". Whenever an opportunity presented itself the U.S. has found fault with human rights performances in other countries which incur its displeasure and threatened to put political, diplomatic and economic pressure upon them if they do not settle the "human rights issue". Through this the U.S. seeks to instigate counter-revolutionary elements to cause social chaos and uneasiness and realize regime changes. The U.S. "strategy against terrorism" and human rights offensive conducted under the guise of "spread of democracy" is targeted against the DPRK today. The U.S. ruling quarters are escalating their moves to bring down the political system in the DPRK and stifle it under the pretext of its non-existent "sponsorship of terrorism" and "human rights abuses".
But the U.S. human rights offensive and its moves to stifle the DPRK are bound to go bankrupt. The U.S. hands are stained with the blood shed by too many people to talk about the "spread of democracy." The U.S. imperialists, indeed, are hideous aggressors, destroyers of world civilization and biggest abusers of human rights in the world as they have wantonly violated international law under the pretext of "war against terrorism" and resorted to acts quite contrary to the universally recognized human ethics and cultural common sense.
This guy wouldn't make it in Division II. Score: 3.0
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2004 11:12:48 PM ||
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#1
Sheesh! Things must really be bad in North Korea. Poor Rodong Simnun is reduced to Xeroxing DNC/Int'l ANSWER talking points. Whatever happened to the might of single-hearted unity?
Posted by: Mike ||
11/25/2004 6:17 Comments ||
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hmmmm - a flyover of NK, dropping leaflets showing a typical Thanksgiving meal might just turn the tide....or get the Dear Leader eaten
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2004 10:19 Comments ||
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...And not even so much as a whiff of Juche. Disappointing, VERY disappointing, especially to me - on Thanksgiving Day '84, I was at Kunsan AB, Korea, having my dinner and listening to Radio Nork tell me about how in America that day, a family of twelve had to share a single 'frankerfurter'.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/25/2004 10:52 Comments ||
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What happened to the good olde Nork propaganda? The thrill is gone. Did they eat all the old writers or what? This stuff is just buzzard bait.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/25/2004 11:30 Comments ||
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Well he picks up speed towards the end, but overall very weak. 4.0 for at least mentioning the following:
counter-revolutionary elements
social chaos
imperialists
hideous aggressors
destroyers of world civilization
universally recognized human ethics
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/25/2004 13:59 Comments ||
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in America that day, a family of twelve had to share a single 'frankerfurter'.
I give Mike K's 20 year old memory a better score.
7.2
Them were the days.
#9
Never happened. It was a knockwurst. I was there.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2004 20:21 Comments ||
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U.S. Can Never Cover Up Illegality of Its "War against Terrorism"
Pardon me if I could give a royal gold-plated sh!t. The death of international terrorism infinitely transcends America's putative guilt or innocence vis same. Tough noogies, North Korea.
#11
When the folks at KCNA are just going through the motions, that's a pretty good indication that Kim Jong Il may be history. At the least, things are pretty unsettled and no one wants to stick their neck out until the situation clarifies.
Australian police say they may soon follow the United States' lead and issue air marshals with electric stun guns after a trial of the weapons by an elite security unit. The Taser X26 stun gun is to be tried out by the Specialist Response and Security unit in a six-month pilot scheme around Canberra, Detective Superintentant Rob Gilliland of the Australian Federal Police said. The weapon can incapacitate a person by temporarily collapsing their muscles with a powerful bolt of electricity delivered through charged probes. "It impacts immediately upon the central nervous system," Gilliland said. "It incapacitates the individual and it allows police to move forward and restrain them in a safe and effective way. The effects last for a short period of time and then there are no long-lasting effects on the subject. It would be used in controlling a potentially violent, aggressive combatant, an individual who is suffering the effects of liquor and violence, drugs and violence or mental dysfunction and violence."
Gilliland said the stun guns could eventually be used more widely, including by air marshals and Australian police posted overseas. Asked if arming air marshals with stun guns would eventually be an option, he said: "Yes, it certainly is." Australia is in the process of deploying about 200 police in neighbouring Papua New Guinea under a controversial plan to restore law and order there.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
11/25/2004 7:34:31 PM ||
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Muslim politicians in this country say Islamic sharia law is an inextricable part of their identity - but claim it can be practiced within the parameters of Danish democracy. Political parties in Parliament are pressuring Muslim members to publicly disavow portions of Islamic sharia law condoning stoning, whipping and the amputation of hands. Most parties have not urged their Muslim members to condemn portions of the traditional Islamic law pertaining to general lifestyle or religious issues such as prayer and fasting.
On Monday, Social Democratic immigration spokeswoman Anne-Marie Meldgaard issued an ultimatum to Muslim party members, demanding that they condemn sharia in order to remain in the party. Party leader Mogens Lykketoft has so far declined comment on the ultimatum, and Meldgaard has since modified her original remarks. "Of course it's OK to fast. As long as an individual is not acting in violation of the constitution, Danish jurisprudence, principles of equality or democracy, we can accept it. But I still maintain that people have no business with us if they place Islamic law above our democratic system, or support execution by stoning," said Meldgaard.
Social Democratic party member Hamid El Mousti, a Moroccan by birth, currently sits on Copenhagens City Council. El Mousti claims it is impossible for Muslims to disavow sharia in its entirety. "Sharia is a part of our identity - part of being Muslim. It's unreasonable to ask us to swear off our religion - but demanding that we accept the values of Denmark is fine," said El Mousti, emphasising that he in no way condones the stoning of adulterous women or amputation of hands to punish thieves.
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#2
This is silly and counterproductive. We don't make Mormons condemn the Book of Mormon for polygamy. We just tell them if they want in the union, they've got to make it illegal. There are plenty of parts of the Bible that contravene laws and what is currently aceptable behavior. Think abortion. Think divorce. We don't make people denounce the Bible because of this. If they want to drive the Muslims out, by all means do so. If they want them to assimilate, great. But you don't start by humiliating people and their religion.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/25/2004 22:18 Comments ||
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No change can happen until they are defeated. This is a crack - they have to accept stoning, beheading and amputations a no - no.
And the Danes are not asking that they disavow sharia in its entirety.
The European Union foreign policy chief has retracted comments made to the BBC that he held secret meetings with the Palestinian militant group, Hamas. Javier Solana had not met Hamas or any other organisation on the EU terrorist list, his office said on Thursday.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened."
He had earlier told the BBC that direct meetings took place "months" ago. Hamas was put on the EU terror list in 2003. Israel declined to say whether it had approved any talks between Hamas and EU envoys or had any foreknowledge. Mr Solana's office clarified his comments by saying he was referring to "soundings and impressions conveyed to him but gathered by governments and other parties on the ground".
"Wudn't me."
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman condemned Hamas as a "enemy of peace" and not as a partner in political talks. "We think they're part of the problem, not part of the solution," Mark Regev told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme. Mr Solana had told a BBC correspondent in Brussels that meetings took place with Hamas at a time when there seemed to be an opportunity to push for progress. "I have had direct contact with Hamas but not in the last few days," he said. "Those meetings were not long. They were just to pass a clear message of what the international community wants." If "they want to help the people in Palestine, they have to lay down the violence and become a political party," Mr Solana added. Asked how long ago the contact occurred, he said: "Months". The statement issued by his office said that "at no time did Dr Solana wish to imply that direct contacts between himself and Hamas had taken place".
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom ||
11/25/2004 10:46 ||
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#2
The fact the the head of the EU makes contat with a group the has sworn to drive the jews into the sea show just how far the EU is willing to go to have "peace" with the moose limbs.
As a US citizen I will warn the EU if you wish to confront the US and Israel over the issue of the existance of Israel the US and Israel will wipe your asses off the map. Hamas does not accept Israel. It wishes to destroy Israel. Solana is a fool. The EU is lucky Israel hasn't just wiped the west bank and gaza clean and moved settlers in and told the rest of the world to get fucked.
#3
EU's Solana - what an idiot - lies caught on tape
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2004 13:18 Comments ||
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The fact the the head of the EU makes contat with a group
Just a detail, but Solana isn't the "head of the EU". Barroso's probably the closest thing there is to a "head" of the EU. Solana's something like a foreign minister.
Still some that're shocked by this sort of thing? They can't have been living in caves. No caves in the Netherlands.
Dutch leaders on Wednesday condemned comments by a Muslim teacher who said he hoped for the death of a popular politician, further stoking religious tension prompted by the murder of a filmmaker critical of Islam. Abdul-Jabbar van de Ven, a Dutch convert to Islam, told a Dutch television chat show on Tuesday he hoped anti-immigration populist Geert Wilders would soon die, although he did not want him to be killed by a Muslim. What's Allah good for if not to give tumours to mouthy infidels?
Interior Minister Johan Remkes said he was horrified by the remarks and said the Justice Ministry would look into the matter. "It is too crazy for words," he told Dutch news agency ANP. Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk agreed: "How can it be that we have sunk so far in the Netherlands? I am really worried about this," she told Dutch television. Wilders, whose popularity has soared since he called for a crackdown on Muslim militants following the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh this month, has been the subject of several death threats for his views on Islam and immigration. Wilders is seen as a new Pim Fortuyn, the Dutch maverick killed by an animal rights activist in 2002. Wilders wants to launch a new right-wing party ahead of elections due in 2007 and a recent poll put him ahead of the ruling Christian Democrats.
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Posted by: Bulldog ||
11/25/2004 4:31:31 AM ||
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#1
The break is over --- its time for lessons in Europe.
#2
Allan says, don't shake a woman's hand, but it's OK to cut her head off.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/25/2004 8:30 Comments ||
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#3
said the Justice Ministry would look into the matter.
What's there to look into? It's all but incitement to violence and murder. Grow a pair, guys. Lock his ass up or send him off on the next Ukranian Airlines flight out of the country.
#5
Worse and worse. I'm betting that the euro nations that are the most PC will have the hardest landing when their jihadist thugs begin to show their fangs. The gap between the multi-culti rhetoric and the violent reality is too great for the citizenry to bear, and they will rise up, cast off their PC betters and meet fire with fire.
As is happening now in Holland. My money's on Denmark or Sweden as the next PC dreamland state to suffer a hard landing.
#6
Remember the good old days?Like 2002,when people said"They attacked the US for its' policies;that's why they haven't attacked Sweden or the Netherlands."
Posted by: Me ||
11/25/2004 20:44 Comments ||
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Helmut Schmidt, the former German chancellor, has inflamed the country's debate on immigration by saying that multiculturalism can only work under authoritarian regimes, and that bringing millions of Turkish guest workers to Germany was a mistake. "The concept of multiculturalism is difficult to make fit with a democratic society," he told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper. He added that it had been a mistake that during "the early 1960s we brought guest workers from foreign cultures into the country". Mr Schmidt, 85, who was the Social Democratic chancellor from 1974 until 1982, said that the problems resulting from the influx of mostly Turkish Gastarbeiter, or guest workers, had been neglected in Germany and the rest of Europe. They could be overcome only by authoritarian governments, he added, naming Singapore as an example. Yeah. Hitler would have known what to do. Or Stalin. Both made delicious, um, cakes with the human ingredients they inherited. You only find integration in non-authoritarian states. And we don't want integration. We want multicultutalism. Apartheid needs authoritarianism...
Yet many would suggest that Mr Schmidt himself was at least partly to blame for the problems he was raising.
I'd guess he realizes that...
Safter Cinar, a spokesman for Berlin and Brandenburg's Turkish Association, said that bringing people into Germany was not the mistake, but refusing to call it immigration and failing to implement the necessary policies was. He said these errors were made during Mr Schmidt's chancellorship. "When he is talking about mistakes, he is talking about his own mistakes," Mr Cinar said. "They did not bring in the Gastarbeiter because they were feeling generous, it was an economic necessity. "They may argue it was a mistake in 1973 when they put a halt on more Gastarbeiter coming in and another in 1974 when they allowed wives and families to join those who were here. It would have been possible, and legally feasible, to reduce numbers, to send back those who no longer had work. "But if they are allowed to bring their families, that is immigration - and they didn't develop policies for that. And this was when Mr Schmidt was chancellor."
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Posted by: Bulldog ||
11/25/2004 4:10:42 AM ||
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#1
authoritarian governments, he added, naming Singapore as an example This a gratuitous slur against a country that has a very large immigrant population - fully 33% of the population and a very succesful immigration policy. Singapore actually wants its immigrants and actively seeks out those who it feels will benefit the country.
#2
This a gratuitous slur against a country that has a very large immigrant population
It's only a slur if you think "authoritarian" to be an insult. Which I do, but am not sure Singapore does.
"The PAP prohibits public discussion of sensitive racial and religious issues "
"...any public assembly of more than five people must receive police approval."
#3
Anywhere else, and this would be merely inteligent discussion of demographics, and easily processed.
Here, it is disturbing if only because of the history. Kinda like when a white, conservative southerner like me weighs in on racial issues here in the U.S.
My sympathies, TGA, for all the Ignorant comments (including mine!) you are about to recieve.
Posted by: N Guard ||
11/25/2004 10:20 Comments ||
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#4
I've got no problem with foreign workers who assimilate
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2004 10:22 Comments ||
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Aris et alia: the situation in Singapore is a lot more complex than that; keep in mind it started out as a mainly Chinese city in a newly independent country where the Chinese were a hated minority group.
I wouldn't be suprised to learn that a great many of their immigrants are Chinese-descended people escaping discrimination from elsewhere in SE Asia.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
11/25/2004 10:32 Comments ||
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#6
We have many different cultures living in the same society and we have to do that with mutual respect."
Word, man. It's all about 'spect. I've got a family to feed.
#8
PF: Aris et alia: the situation in Singapore is a lot more complex than that; keep in mind it started out as a mainly Chinese city in a newly independent country where the Chinese were a hated minority group.
Hate is too strong a word. Resented is more like it.
PF: I wouldn't be suprised to learn that a great many of their immigrants are Chinese-descended people escaping discrimination from elsewhere in SE Asia.
That much is correct. The benefits for the ethnic Chinese refugees are clear. What's in it for the Singaporean government? This is part of a strategy to preserve or increase the proportion of ethnic Chinese in the country. Singapore is also deliberately admitting large numbers of Chinese nationals into the country to preserve its ethnic balance, despite the higher birth rates of its Malay Muslim ethnic minority.
By contrast, Germany is deliberately introducing people from another religion into the country. This is a very different proposition from what is happening in Singapore. If Germany were to try to redress the imbalance, it would have to start importing Eastern European, Filipino or Hispanic immigrants into the country.
#9
Singapore claims to import foreigners on the basis of specialized talents. But the reality is that large numbers are unskilled Chinese nationals brought in to pad the proportion of ethnic Chinese in the country. Singapore's objectives are quite distinct from Germany's - Germany imported Turks to fill a labor gap irrespective of culture or religion, whereas Singapore is attempting to preserve the domination of ethnic Chinese in Singapore's political scene and economy.
#10
The bottom line here is that the color-blind immigration policies of the West are quite unique. No other region of the world invites foreigners of other skin colors and religions to change the very composition of society. (I think it is unhealthy to admit too many people at once - Germany might end up becoming Turkish rather than the Turks becoming German). Europe is finding out what unlimited immigration coupled with the welfare state means for the preservation of their culture. Multiculturalism coupled with immigration is nothing more than the colonization of the West by another name.
#11
[Only the West] invites foreigners of other skin colors and religions to change the very composition of society. ...Europe is finding out what unlimited immigration coupled with the welfare state means for the preservation of their culture
Emphasis on the welfare state here. America's success in assimilation waves of immigrants who were strikingly different from the majority (first quakers and other Prot. dissenters, then Irish Catholics, then jews and asians and latinos) derives largely from the combination of a) great economic opportunities for the skilled and ambitious and b) the absence of a welfare teat to nourish the unskilled and/or lazy.
The Europeans are screwed in this matter by their fundamentally corporatist approach to different ethnic and religious minorities. Rather than provide incentives for (and eliminate barriers against) individual entrepreneurship-- which is the tried and true immigrant path to integration and a stake in the larger society-- the euros still think in terms of groups rather than individuals, ie in terms of political entities that require co-optation by the state rather than self-standing economic actors. There's little difference between the corporatism of Mussolini and Hitler and the recent proposals by Sarkozy in France for separate Muslim institutions that are infiltrated and directed by the state. This is the corporatist mentality that underlines Herr Schmidt's unfortunate remarks. Sigh.
The American individualist/laissez-faire approach has the great benefit of being ruthlessly color-blind, which ensures that entrepreneurial strivers prosper and that resenters fail. Also, this breeds a commitment to meritocracy that enables succeeding generations to blend into the larger culture more easily. Pretty simple, really, yet for some reason the euros are incapable of learning from 300 years of repeated American success with this concept.
#13
lex, the reason European nations are not following the American path of laissez-faire integration is that Europeans consider the individual as a citizen, to be governed and given privileges -- while Americans think of individuals as ends in themselves, who tolerate government for the sake of securing their rights.
Think about this: are you a _subject_ of the State from birth to death, or is the government _your_ temporary delegate?
#14
Sad but true, Kalle. This is I think the essence of the British reluctance to sign on to the EU project. In the Lockean Anglo-American political culture, the state does not exist above and before the individual. It is the individual who, by bestowing his consent, creates the state, not v-v. Profoundly contrary to EU thinking, ideology, culture, m.o.
#15
phil_b: This is contary to my experience and I'd like to see some evidence to back up the claim.
The Asian bulletin board on Yahoo appears to default to Singapore. There are a lot of complaints from local ethnic Chinese that Chinese nationals are being imported en masse for menial jobs. For many locals, the issue isn't the ethnic composition of imported labor - they want it stopped, period.
Two chiefs of overseas divisions at the CIA are leaving, according to a federal official — the latest changes at the spy agency that has been in turmoil since new Director Porter Goss took over. The chiefs of the Europe and Far East divisions are retiring, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The departing officials' names were not released because they work undercover. The two officials were in the highest level of clandestine service, the directorate of operations, The New York Times reported on its Web site last night. The retirements come almost two weeks after two other top officials — CIA's Deputy Director for Operations Stephen Kappes and his immediate deputy, Michael Sulick — announced they were leaving the CIA.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/25/2004 7:57:55 AM ||
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And so the (much needed) purge continues.
These 2 yo-yos should be grateful tho-- at least the're not gonna get either a quiet execution, or a show trial followed by a trip to siberiaalaskaalabamacanada somewhere unpleasant.
Posted by: N Guard ||
11/25/2004 10:26 Comments ||
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President George W Bush has ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to launch the largest expansion in its history, increasing its spies and analysts by 50 per cent. The White House released a memorandum from Mr Bush to Porter Goss, the new CIA chief, stressing the importance of an ethnically diverse corps of spies, with proficiency in "mission critical" languages, and the ability to "blend in more easily in foreign cities". Increases would involve recruiting thousands of new analysts and spies in its Directorate of Intelligence - the analytical arm of the agency and the clandestine Directorate of Operations, which runs spies overseas. Exact staff numbers are secret but the CIA is thought to have more than 17,000 employees, with 4,500 in the clandestine service.
Posted by: Capt America ||
11/25/2004 10:51:22 PM ||
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#1
First, and foremost, keep draining the swamp. I know time is important, but so is segregating the seditionists from the recruits - and dispatching them with an appropriate level of prejudice.
#6
Fire everyone who graduated from Yale, Harvard, Georgetown, UMass, Princeton, and a couple of other schools with "prestigious" foreign relations schools, and hire people from BYU, Nebraska, UTexas, Texas A&M, Cal Poly, the Citadel, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Co. School of Mines, and University of Maryland foreign campuses. The first question on the employment exam should be "What is your primary duty as a government employee?" If the answer ISN'T "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to bear true faith and allegiance to it", they don't get hired.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/25/2004 13:34 Comments ||
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#7
What OP said. Break the East Coast monopoly. Go for super-patriotic bright young people from the red states and second-tier schools.
#9
HAHAHA public university graduates - that'll be the day! I think the CIA, or any federal government agency for that matter, would rather see its turf divided up amongst its rivals rather than hire non-Ivy Leaguers.
In a major development, it is being reported that the EU is rejecting Iran’s request for changes in their "agreement." The IAEA is meeting in a few hours, we shall know then how much "chutzpah" Iran has. I bet they have alot.
One Western diplomat said the request amounted to Iranian ``chutzpah’’ before a meeting on Thursday of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is investigating whether Iran has a secret nuclear arms program.
Another said it was a clear message that Tehran had no intention of ending work on producing fuel, an activity that the United States believes will enable Iran to make nuclear arms.
The request followed an Iranian pledge to France, Britain and Germany last week that it would suspend its entire uranium enrichment program and all related activities in a bid to avoid possible economic sanctions by the U.N. Security Council.
``The Iranians asked to be allowed to continue conducting research and development with centrifuges during the freeze, but the Europeans told them, ’No’,’’ a Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity. more This story is also being reported by the BBC, China View, Gulf News and the UK’s DeHavilland.
Posted by: DoctorZin ||
11/25/2004 3:03:21 AM ||
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This shows the real Iranian motives. China is however going to VETO any sanctions.
The US and Israel are currently incapable of launching a military attack against Iran because of the repercussions they would face, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said yesterday. "The Americans and the Israelis are not able to launch a military attack against Iran," Yahya Rahim Safavi told reporters during a military parade near Teheran of the Guards' volunteer wing, the Basij militia. Choosing to carry out such an attack would be "stupid", he said. "If the enemies create problems for our country, we will create problems for them," he warned.
"Bob, where are we going to put all these rotting beturbanned bodies?"
"I don't know, Albert. Those ayatollahs certainly did create problems for us!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Let's see. We heard the same taunts from Saddam & Sons, and Mullah Omar. Must be an echo chamber.
Posted by: Capt America ||
11/25/2004 0:11 Comments ||
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General, the biggest problem you will create will be what to do with your corpse.
#6
I think we'll find out in time. Unfortunately too much emphasis is laid on the nuclear program (which the Iranians can always claim to be "peaceful") and too little on the ongoing missile program. The Shahab 3 goes well beyond anything that could be targeted with conventional warheads. The only reason to build long range missiles is to put a nuclear warhead on them. And I bet Mr Khan told them how to build them.
It's time to point to the elephant in the room. Combine the issues. If the Iranians want to enrich uranium for "peaceful uses", they have no reason to develop these long range missiles. What would they want to do with them?
And do mention the inscriptions, will you?
#11
Speaking of bravado,I was over at DU the other day and they were saying that now they are glad they couldn't get the gun-grabber laws past.Because now they might need them when they susseed from the Union,wish they would let me in I would have laughed and told them"Yeap,your going to need those weapons to protect yourself from thr street gangs".
#12
This is all a waste of time, the entire world knows Iran will welch on any agreement they make.
We need to send over a heavy dose of vitamins B-1, B-2 and F-117 to set them straight.
#13
All things in time. Iran is on the agenda right after North Korea and it looks like the policy of focused indifference is working in North Korea. Let's see how much noise the Iranians want to make next February after the Iraqi elections, when W has his new team ready to take the field.
#14
Well, maybe not. I just remembered Christmas 1972 when the US opened a large can of WhupAss labeled Linebacker II on the North Vietnamese. Last time I looked, there were still a few B52s (B1s and B2s) around. Don't know how big the bomb dumps at Diego Garcia are, but with JDAMs they're probably big enough. All W has to do is give the word and it's Merry Christmas Teheran.
Syrian President Dr Bashar Al Assad is ready to reopen negotiations with Israel "without conditions," the visiting UN Middle East envoy said yesterday — an overture Israel promptly rejected as propaganda. "President Assad had reiterated to me today that he has an outstretched hand to his Israeli counterpart, that he is willing to go to the table without conditions," Terje Roed-Larsen said after talks with the Syrian leader. "This is very encouraging because we in the UN do not believe that there will be a lasting peace unless there is a comprehensive peace. We have to address all the tracks in the Middle East peace process," he said.
But Israel rapidly dismissed the reported offer as a propaganda move designed to alleviate pressure from the United States. "This seems to be a propaganda manoeuver by the Syrian side," a senior foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity. "The Syrians are reacting because they have their backs to the wall after the (US) sanctions and the UN vote on Lebanon. "Only if a proposition reaches us through the correct American channels then we will be ready for discussions," he said.ÂÂ
"And they'd better know the secret handshake!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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I guess Bashar, for one, doesn't trust in US inability to separate foreign from Iraqi "insurgents" captured in Faluja. Or, the ability of the former to keep their mouths shut.
IN a dramatic 11th hour move ahead of a crucial UN atomic agency meeting, Iran has asked the watchdog to exempt several dozen centrifuges from its pledge to freeze its nuclear fuel cycle, diplomats said today. The development has been rejected by the European Union which earlier this month negotiated what was supposed to be a halt in all of Iran's uranium enrichment activities. It comes ahead of a meeting tomorrow of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which will decide whether to bring Iran before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, sought by the United States for what it says is a covert nuclear weapons program. A diplomat close to the agency said the Iranians "are trying to convince the IAEA to leave several dozen of the centrifuges unsealed for RD (research and development) purposes in addition to other equipment which has direct use for enrichment".
A Western diplomat said it would be "outrageous" if Iran at the last minute exempted some centrifuges, the machines used in enriching uranium. "It is not acceptable to us," a European diplomat said. Under the terms of a deal hammered out with Britain, France and Germany, Tehran was to suspend all uranium enrichment activities from Monday, a move which is now being verified by the IAEA. Iran had continued to produce the uranium gas that is the feedstuff for enriching uranium only days before Monday's ban, in a move which one European diplomat characterised as "not very helpful" as it led to doubts about Iran's intentions and the future of the suspension deal.
Iran has moved quickly to "sanitise" a site in northeast Tehran alleged to be at the heart of its feared pursuit of nuclear weapons, an Iranian opposition group claimed today. Speaking in London, National Council of Resistance (NCRI) member Farid Soleimani who said nine days ago in Vienna that secret enrichment work was being done at the Centre for Development of Advance Defence Technology, said the top secret site now has been sealed off. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is to report on the suspension when the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors meets tomorrow. IAEA officials were meeting with an Iranian delegation in Vienna today to point out that the Europeans insisted on a full, unequivocal suspension, a European diplomat said. The IAEA board will tomorrow hear a European draft resolution based on the suspension agreement and which finally won US backing.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: God Save The World ||
11/25/2004 5:12:54 PM ||
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Dog and pony show. They want the world to believe these centrifuges are the key ones for their nuke program so they're making a big fuss about them being exempted. They'll cave on it after fighting for a long time and then everyone will say "look, diplomacy solved this crisis." And in the Iranians will be laughing the whole time because they will have succesfully diverted attention away from their real nuke program.
#2
Personally I think the U.N. has full knowledge of Iran's nuke program but they are using this to give Iran some cover to develop their bomb. "See Iran is in full compliance with us!".
#4
sure, but we need the GPS coords of those you want exempted *fingers crossed*
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2004 10:05 Comments ||
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Iran is a culture that haggles to the end. We will either destroy their weapons program or they will haggle right up to the day they have nukes mounted on long-range missiles. If that day comes, their bargaining power goes up by orders of magnitude. North Korea is playing the same game and winning at it. Iran has paid attention.
Posted by: Tom ||
11/25/2004 12:35 Comments ||
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North Korea is playing the same game and winning at it. Iran has paid attention.
Good analysis, Tom. Hang up on the "nuke 'em now" crap and keep up with this sort of concise assessment, please.
Iran is the next North Korea. Neglect any pre-emptive action now and be rewarded with yet another rogue nuclear state. The only difference being that Iran will cheerfully hand off atomic devices to all and sundry who hate the "great satan."
In an odd formula, America has everything to lose by not intervening in Iran and everything to gain by doing so.
"Don't do it! We need more time to destabilize the country thoroughly!"
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2004 7:42:35 PM ||
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Interesting concept: I withold my vote and the government becomes ilegitimate. Ha. The new government won't be any more legitimate if the Sunni vote or not.
Damn the terrorists. Full speed ahead to a January vote.
#2
Seven other Sunni parties also demanded a delay in the election, saying they want guarantees that they won't be marginalized in any new government expected to be dominated by rival Shiites
The Sunnis are starting to run the numbers and don't like the results. No matter what happens, in their minds they will be marginalized compared to the "good old days." However, if they are stupid enough to fight the process they will be completely marginalized and, if the fight the government, they will be completely dead.
#3
That's it, fellas, now you're starting to figure it out. The train's leaving the station, and if you keep up the bombing, you'll be on your way to a constituent assembly that's 95% shi'a and kurd.
#4
you'll be on your way to a constituent assembly that's 95% shi'a and kurd
and they remember who did the killings/bombings/supported Saddam/....
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2004 22:53 Comments ||
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Here's a thought: rather than spin your wheels with a futile attempt to postpone the elections, why don't you summon your bad boyz and tell them to hand over Zarqawi or else face the wrath of imam-directed sunni vigilantes?
Two proposed resolutions condemning widespread rights abuses in Sudan and Zimbabwe have failed to pass a UN committee, and are mired in debate between African and western nations. The UN General Assembly's Third Committee, which covers human rights, blocked the proposed resolutions by adopting so-called "no-action motions" filed by South Africa on behalf of the African group of nations. The motions blocking the resolutions, with African and other developing countries voting to hold up the proposed condemnations of Sudan and Zimbabwe that western nations want to pass.
Since February 2003, more than 70,000 people have been killed or have died from hunger and disease in Sudan's Darfur region, according to the United Nations, and another 1.5 million have been displaced. Zimbabwe has suffered more than four years of government-backed political violence, chronic food shortages and one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection. "The African group remains unwavering in its total rejection of the country-specific resolutions within the UN," the South African representative, Pitso Montwedi, said. He says that resolutions targeting individual countries run against the principles of "friendly cooperation" that underlie UN actions.
#1
"The African group remains unwavering in its total rejection of the country-specific resolutions within the UN," the South African representative, Pitso Montwedi, said."
He says that resolutions targeting individual countries run against the principles of "friendly cooperation" that underlie UN actions."
Oh vey!
Remind me again about all those "rejections" of "country-specific" resolutions against Israel
THE Iraqi government has agreed to meet outside the country with Saddam Hussein supporters to try to convince them to abandon the insurgency, a senior Iraqi official said today. In a bid to draw Sunni support for the January elections, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said an Iraqi delegation would meet in Amman, Jordan, with "a number of political opposition movements", including some former Saddam Hussein supporters on the "most wanted list", to convince them to abandon the insurgency and take part in the election. No date for the meeting was announced, and Mr Zebari did not say who would attend, although he ruled out contacts with "terrorists". It appeared the contacts, which he said were encouraged by Arab governments, were aimed at trying to strike a deal with "nationalist" opposition groups and dividing them from religious extremists such as al-Qaeda-linked terror boss Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Sunni politicians have urged that the elections be delayed. Adnan Pachachi, a former foreign minister and a member of the Iraqi National Council, said delaying the ballot by three months or more would enable political leaders to convince Sunni clerics and others to abandon their boycott call. "I think that it will not be in the interest of anyone to let large segments of the Iraqi population be completely left out of the political process," Mr Pachachi, leader of the Independent Democrats party, said. Seven other Sunni parties also demanded a delay in the election, saying they want guarantees that they won't be marginalised in any new government expected to be dominated by rival Shiites. Many Sunni Arabs fear the Shiites, estimated to form about 60 per cent of Iraq's nearly 26 million people, will dominate the new government. Sunni Arabs make up an estimated 20 per cent of Iraq's total population and form the core of the insurgency.
Mr Pachachi said if many Sunnis boycott the elections, the result would be an "illegitimate" parliament with "no guarantee that the security situation will improve". Iraq's Electoral Commission today extended by another week the deadline for registering political parties in Sunni Arab areas where bloodshed is hampering preparations for elections. In an apparent bid to head off a possible Sunni boycott, parties in Iraq's third largest city of Mosul, the Anbar province that includes Fallujah, and the Salaheddin province that includes Samarra and Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, now have until December 2 to sign up.
Posted by: Mal ||
11/25/2004 05:17 ||
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This is a good David Horowitz piece from Front Page. Bottom line:
"The priority of the leftists who organized the anti-war demonstrations during Vietnam and the anti-war demonstrations with respect to Iraq is the same: whatever the war, America should lose."
Posted by: Matt ||
11/25/2004 17:43 Comments ||
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Long, but interesting read. What he doesn't say, but I suspect to be true, is that the Left is losing its thinkers.
#3
And that the Democratic Party has lost its soul. Kerry lost because 1-2 million registered Dem voters were "Closet Bush" supporters: liberals who were appalled by the party's embrace of an America-hating sh*thead like Mikey Moore but who would never admit to their liberal colleagues and friends that they voted for Bush.
Bush gained about 1 million jewish votes vs 2000 and I'd bet an equal number of non-jewish Dem votes, and this is almost entirely due to the Dems' complete incoherence and foolishness on national security. Only when my party rediscovers its Truman/JFK heritage will it become nationally competitive again.
I just want to shake my head in disbelief at how far PCism has gone in the country that can least afford it.The IDF will summarily discharge six members of its elite Naval Commandos, after Yedioth Ahronoth secretly photographed them taking part in a unit ritual, standing naked in the snow on Mount Hermon, Israel Radio reported Thursday. The commandos will be forced to leave the military within two weeks, it said. The six, among the veterans of the unit, were to have completed their army service in February after five years of difficult and dangerous duty. The practice of taking a picture of the commandos standing nude in natural surrounding in Israel, then hanging the photo in their headquarters, is a longstanding tradition of the unit, the radio said.
Posted by: phil_b ||
11/25/2004 7:35:09 AM ||
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The link says.
"The commander of the elite Naval commando unit decided on Thursday afternoon to put on hold an earlier decision to discharge six of the unit's members"
#3
Yeah, like we really need to figure out why international observers only see fit to 'observe' US and Israeli elections. Did any of you bother to show up in Ukraine earlier this week?
US Marines thousands of kilometres from home in Iraq face ruthless insurgents, a debilitating desert climate and tasteless food. But they dread nothing more than opening the 'Dear John' letter. "It's so hard when your girlfriend sends you that letter and says goodbye. It just shatters all your childhood notions of romance," said Corporal Samuel Shoemaker, 22, of Shelton, Washington. "(My girlfriend) wrote me a vague letter about our future but I had no doubt about what she meant. It's the last thing I needed out here. I first met her in grade school. I don't have the stamina to chase her anymore."
Thousands of US Marines launched an offensive this month that crushed Arab Muslim militants and Saddam Hussein loyalists in Fallujah, Iraq's most rebellious city. But many say victory can't ease heartbreak by letter or email. "Man I can't believe it," said an infantry Marine, who asked not to be named. "I was engaged to a woman who I raised our child with for three years. She wrote me a letter to ask whether we could put it on hold so she could have sex with another man. Then she asked me if I could accept her having sex with another woman if I reject the man."
Strict rules of conduct have not stopped Marines from seeking love on base. But it is not always easy and dating Iraqi women is prohibited. "(Iraqis) hit on us all the time. It is really annoying and we have enough to worry about out here," said Corporal Ann Gorecka, 23, of New York City.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: God Save The World ||
11/25/2004 3:43:06 PM ||
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It's tough to learn life lessons while confronting Islamofascists on the firing line of the war on terror. Buck up, 22 year old, such a dumping can actually bring greater opportunity than loss.
Posted by: Capt America ||
11/25/2004 0:05 Comments ||
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It was a different time & setting (post-Vietnam, onboard a guided-missile destroyer on a WESTPAC deployment), but yeah, you're right, some things never change. The unmarried guys in my work group formed a "Dear John Club" - all of us got dumped by our respective girlfriends while we were overseas (our Chief was married & stayed such after we got back).
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
11/25/2004 2:27 Comments ||
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"It just stinks when you get the letter. She was my best friend," he said.
No she wasn't. A test of any relationship - even a friendship - is whether the other individual sticks with you through thick and thin. And your "friend" failed you.
#5
"She wrote me a letter to ask whether we could put it on hold so she could have sex with another man. Then she asked me if I could accept her having sex with another woman if I reject the man."
Sheesh! That is one cree-pee chick. Run, do not walk, to the nearest exit, and file for sole custody of the kid.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/25/2004 7:14 Comments ||
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Now this is something the enemy doesn't have to worry about *cough*.
You'll never see an:
Dear Abu, things have changed, can we still be cousins?
#11
Dear John's suck but hey, you don't want some weak chick to come back to anyhow. If she can't take the separation, don't waste your time worrying about it. Press on, too many fish in the sea lads.
INSISTING it was time for peace in a region dominated by enmity between Pakistan and India, Pakistan's prime minister said today that the two nuclear-armed rivals had the chance to "prove the pundits of gloom and doom wrong". "After nearly half a century of acrimony and tensions, Pakistan-India relations are now at a historic crossroads," Shaukat Aziz said in a speech to top Indian business leaders, speaking a few hours after meeting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid an often-stumbling peace process. "With sincerity and courage born out of the conviction that our destinies are indeed intertwined, both countries can open a new chapter of friendship and cooperation," he said.
Mr Aziz, in India during a regional tour as the outgoing chairman of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, repeatedly insisted that peace was possible between the two nations, which were carved from British colonial India at independence in 1947. "If India takes a step forward, Pakistan will respond by two," he said in his speech overnight. "Let us both prove the pundits of gloom and doom wrong." Mr Aziz also played down recent tough talk by both sides, a flare-up that began after Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, raised the possibility of major changes in the way Kashmir - the disputed Himalayan region at the root of decades of Indo-Pakistan distrust - is governed. General Musharraf's comments, made to Pakistani reporters and not through diplomatic channels, set off a back-and-forth of increasingly belligerent comments. But Mr Aziz said there had been no lasting damage. "The discussions and the options listed by the president of Pakistan were merely on the basis of discussions within Pakistan," he told reporters after meeting with Mr Singh. "No proposals were ever presented and no reaction was expected from India."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: God Save The World ||
11/25/2004 5:14:50 PM ||
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Watch all the moonbats of India come out from their caves.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Wednesday ruled out any further negotiations with militants after claiming that the government had significant control over the troubled tribal areas. "Around 70 percent of the total Mehsud area was searched and is under our control. A search operation in the remaining area is underway. The operation will continue until the last foreign militant is flushed out," he told journalists at the Capital Development Authority (CDA) headquarters.
He said there was no chance of dialogue with militants like Abdullah Mehsud, who kidnapped innocent Chinese engineers and hampered the Gomal Dam project and blackened Pakistan's name. He denied that the government had declared South Waziristan Agency and the adjacent tribal areas 'war zones.' He said the government had taken control of the Wazir tribe's territory. Referring to the recent seizure of an arms cache and the arrest of two Tajik militants, he said that security forces had made gains and that the situation was improving. He denounced a statement by Abdullah Mehsud on BBC in which the militant said he would take every opportunity to exploit the situation in his favour.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2004 10:55:39 PM ||
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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.
The UN's anti-torture panel has urged Britain to publish the findings of investigations into alleged cases of torture by British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan according to a report obtained by AFP. Britain should also "as a matter of urgency" review "potentially indefinite detention" of foreign suspects allowed under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act, the UN Committee against Torture said in draft conclusions on Britain's respect for international anti-torture rules. It called on London to report back on those issues and other concerns within a year. 
Australian police say they may soon follow the United States' lead and issue air marshals with electric stun guns after a trial of the weapons by an elite security unit. The Taser X26 stun gun is to be tried out by the Specialist Response and Security unit in a six-month pilot scheme around Canberra, Detective Superintentant Rob Gilliland of the Australian Federal Police said. The weapon can incapacitate a person by temporarily collapsing their muscles with a powerful bolt of electricity delivered through charged probes. "It impacts immediately upon the central nervous system," Gilliland said. "It incapacitates the individual and it allows police to move forward and restrain them in a safe and effective way. The effects last for a short period of time and then there are no long-lasting effects on the subject. It would be used in controlling a potentially violent, aggressive combatant, an individual who is suffering the effects of liquor and violence, drugs and violence or mental dysfunction and violence." 
Helmut Schmidt, the former German chancellor, has inflamed the country's debate on immigration by saying that multiculturalism can only work under authoritarian regimes, and that bringing millions of Turkish guest workers to Germany was a mistake. "The concept of multiculturalism is difficult to make fit with a democratic society," he told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper. He added that it had been a mistake that during "the early 1960s we brought guest workers from foreign cultures into the country". Mr Schmidt, 85, who was the Social Democratic chancellor from 1974 until 1982, said that the problems resulting from the influx of mostly Turkish Gastarbeiter, or guest workers, had been neglected in Germany and the rest of Europe. They could be overcome only by authoritarian governments, he added, naming Singapore as an example.
