March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Sydney residents and tourists are cursing La Nina as the harbor city says goodbye to the summer that wasn't.
While the La Nina weather pattern is delivering rain to farmers after the worst drought in a century, it's cutting profits for cafe owners, travel agents and insurers. Insurance Australia Group Ltd., the nation's largest home insurer, last week posted a sixth straight profit decline after hail storms cost it A$105 million ($97 million). The yearly `Symphony in the Park,' which usually attracts 80,000 people, had 700 this year as the orchestra played behind a tarpaulin during a downpour.
``Everyone always thinks Australia is the best place for perfect weather, but I'm not sure I'll believe it any more,'' says Minsoo Seo, a 28-year-old marketing executive from Korea's Jeju Island, as he gazes at the waves crashing toward Bondi Beach on Australia's last day of summer. ``The wind's too strong,'' he says after deciding against surfing on a grey, gusty morning.
After four years of water restrictions, Sydney saw about 50 percent more rain than usual this summer, according to Mike De Salis, a spokesman at Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.
No day topped 31 degrees celsius (88 degrees fahrenheit) for the first time since 1956. Average daily sunshine totaled 6.7 hours, an hour less than normal and the lowest since 1991-92. The average maximum temperature was 25.2, the coolest since 1996-97.
``Suddenly we get one cool, wet summer and everyone's complaining,'' said De Salis.
Matthew Hassan, an economist at Westpac Banking Corp., said the soggy summer has weighed on Sydney's $285 billion economy.
``The endless rain is certainly adding to the sense of gloom,'' Hassan said. Employment and housing data show Sydney is already struggling with rising interest rates and gasoline prices.
More Rain
Surfer Seo's contribution to the tourism industry -- and the local economy -- will soon end. Seo is cutting his three-month Sydney stay short by a month because of the rain, which is forecast to remain for at least three months, according to the meteorology bureau.
La Nina, which means ``little girl'' in Spanish, is created by the cooling of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. It's the opposite of El Nino, or ``little boy,'' which can cause drought.
Dam levels rose to 64.4 percent at the end of February from 37.1 percent a year ago. Rain fall reached 439 millimeters this summer, compared with an average of 298 millimeters.
``We're not whinging about the rain,'' said Ben Fargaher, chief executive officer of the National Farmers' Federation in Canberra, Australia's capital city. ``Good living weather is not good farming weather.''
#1
FREEREPUBLIC Posters > SOLAR CYCLE 24 thus far not living up to scientific expectations, whereas SOLAR CYCLE 25 projected to be the weakest in recorded Sciens-Astronom history???
France, poised to expand its military commitment in Afghanistan, will push this week for a more focused allied plan to battle Taliban insurgents and rebuild the country, the French government said Tuesday. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will express the need for the alliance to develop a true strategy in Afghanistan when he meets in Brussels Thursday with foreign ministers at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting.
A French general must be in charge, naturally ...
Kouchner will be attending an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers where he is expected to discuss Frances ambitions with Canadian counterpart Maxime Bernier. Canada has waged a high-pressure diplomatic effort to convince NATO allies, and in particular France, to come up with the 1,000 troops Canada says it needs to continue its mission beyond 2009 in the dangerous Kandahar region of Afghanistan.
The Paris newspaper Le Monde reported last week that French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who will announce Frances plans at a NATO summit next month in Bucharest, wants to send the additional troops to the east to fight with Americans, rather than to the south with the Canadians. Pascale Andreani, senior spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry, refused to comment on the report but said France isnt ignoring Canadas request. We have certainly heard the call of Canada, she said at a news conference today. As I said to you, we are in the process of preparing a decision that will be announced in Bucharest.
She also noted that France has already recently boosted its efforts in Afghanistan, sending Mirage fighter jets to Kandahar and expanding efforts to train the Afghan National Army. French officials stress repeatedly that Canadians should recognize the country has more than 15,000 troops in various peacekeeping and peacemaking missions overseas, including about 2,000 in Afghanistan.
Some analysts have suggested that France, which has historically tried to push the image of French greatness abroad, would rather fight alongside American troops in the east than play a junior role to Canada in the south because Canada is a middle power that gets almost no media attention in Europe. But one official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Frances interest in locating more troops in the east has far more to do with operational and logistical issues and less to do with enhancing French prestige.
"Non, non, certainement pas!"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
As a canuck:
Who cares who gets credit? Get the job done.
Want a French general? Fine. With risk comes responsibility.
Want to send troops to the east? OK. Just send the spares to where the fighting is actually taking place.
Want to enhance French prestige? OWN UP to your NATO obligations.
Logistical problems in the south? Send helicopters, not Mirages. We can ship a dozen F18s on a moments notice, but our Chinooks are decades old, and Boeing won't fast-track new ones. I hear EADS is now flush with cash. How about a few choppers in return?
Logistical problems in Afghanistan was a "given" from the start. To see NATO floundering 7 years later is an embarrassment.
#2
What Vanc said so succinctly. Except for the being a Canuck part. ;-) Oh, and if French troops were to fight alongside the Canadians in the south, I suspect Canadian efforts would somehow get more attention in Europe.
#4
If the French are looking for publicity, they won't find it with the Americans unless they bring their own PR team. There are 10 times as many Americans in the east than Canadians in the south and we hear less of the US efforts. Plus, it seems a lot easier to operate with the Canadians due to language alone (Newfies excepted).
BTW, anyone know if the Marines sent to the south are operating with the British or Canadians?
Posted by: ed ||
03/05/2008 14:56 Comments ||
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#5
ION EUROPE, PRAVDA > ARMENIA UNDER ASSAULT/
ATTACK BY ORANGE AGENTS [read- US/NATO]. The Florida Orange Revolution???
Also, FREEREPUBLIC > iff one is going to die, don't die in a certain French town/parish lest vous be charged heavily for dying widout local permission + attempting to be buried in the town/parish cemetary where there is no more available space. LOCAL FRENCH CITIZENS MAY NO LONGER DIE IN THEIR HOMETOWNS = BIRTHPLACE WIDOUT PERMISSION???
Sudan would welcome a contingent of troops that Japan might send on a demining and construction mission to the south of the country, a top aide to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said in an interview with Kyodo news agency on Tuesday. Nafie Ali Nafie is in Tokyo for talks with Japanese ministers, who want to take a higher profile role in the region ahead of a conference of African nations in Japan in May and the G8 summit on the northern island of Hokkaido in July. Nafie also urged the United States to lift sanctions on Sudan. He said that a census would go ahead in April and steps were in place to hold a general election in 2009 and a referendum on the proposed independence of the southern region in 2011, Kyodo said.
Sudans foreign minister said last month he expected ties with Washington to be normalised within 4-6 months after more than a decade under US sanctions, but the U.S. State Department said there was no proposed new timetable for normalising ties. Media reports have said the Japanese government is considering dispatching troops to relatively peaceful southern Sudan as soon as June. Japans pacifist constitution limits the overseas activities of its troops, making it unlikely to deploy personnel to the conflict-ridden Darfur region. Nafie told Kyodo Japanese personnel would be welcomed, although he said the UN already had sufficient troops in the country. But in principle, I think we have no problem in having the Japanese help to demine the southern area or to construct some facilities - roads, bridges or whatever, Nafie told Kyodo. Japan is eager to take part in U.N. operations in Sudan in an effort to back up its long-running bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, Kyodo said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
Hundreds of residents of a remote town in southern Somalia staged an anti-American demonstration on Tuesday after the United States launched an air strike against a known al Qaeda terrorist there. The town of Dobley was hit by two missiles on Monday in the fourth US strike in 14 months against Somalia, where Washington says local Islamists are sheltering wanted al Qaeda leaders.
Demonstrators in Dobley, a small town on the Somali-Kenyan border, chanted anti-American slogans, a local official said. The district commissioner, Ali Hussein Nur, said the protesters were angry at the US attack. Since the American government admitted bombing our town, where people and livestock were killed and properties damaged, it must pay compensation, Nur told Reuters by telephone.
The exact toll from Mondays attack was unclear. Nur said on Monday that six people were killed, but a local politician said only three were wounded. Residents of Dobley said they believed the missiles were targeting senior Islamist leaders meeting nearby. In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said on Monday the attack was against a known al Qaeda terrorist. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters the United States would pursue al Qaeda operatives wherever it found them. They are plotting and planning all over the world to destabilise the world, to inflict terror, and where we find them, we are going to go after them, he said on Monday. In Mogadishu, two of the Somali capitals independent FM radios, Shabelle and Horn Afrik, were back on air after security forces raided their premises, their directors said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Since the American government admitted bombing our town, where people and livestock were killed and properties damaged, it must pay compensation,
Since they were harboring a known terrorist, I guess you could say that was our compensation.
#5
Well, if ya keep cows and goats in the safehouse, you're gonna lose some of 'em from time to time...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/05/2008 11:53 Comments ||
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#6
Tell them they have two choices: they can quit protecting al-qaeda and quit getting bombed, or start worrying that next time it'll be a pair of B-52s with indiscriminate iron bombs. Everything in life is a choice, and all choices contain consequences. Some consequences are good, others might just ruin your entire day - your choice.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/05/2008 13:40 Comments ||
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#7
Expect a rush of DoS weenies, checkbook in hand to make nice with these derelicts. Expect Condi to be leading the charge.
Eritrea on Tuesday accused the United Nations of siding with its arch-enemy Ethiopia, as UN peacekeepers finalise their pullout of border zones due to a fuel blockade imposed by Asmara. Eritrea demanded that the world body force Ethiopia to remove its troops from land ruled to belong to Eritrea by a UN-selected commission set up as part of a peace deal following their bloody 1998-2000 war. It is astonishing however why the UN Secretariat is abandoning its neutrality and serving the wishes of Ethiopia and its cohorts, said a foreign ministry statement posted Tuesday on a government website. This whole episode is a manufactured crisis. Washington and Addis Ababa are behind this negative campaign mainly in order to shift the attention from the core issue: Ethiopias occupation of Eritrean territories, the statement went on. The government therefore reiterates its call on the Security Council to shoulder its legal responsibility and act decisively to end the occupation, it added. Eritrea believes Washington, a close ally of Ethiopia, is using its sway in the UN to back Ethiopias rejection of the border decision.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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One soldier is missing after a vehicle of the European Union's military force in Chad (EUFOR) strayed across the border into Sudan and was fired on just days after the long-awaited peacekeeping force was deployed. "[We] appeal for Sudanese assistance for information as to his possible whereabouts," EUFOR Operational Commander Lieutenant General Patrick Nash said on 4 March in a statement.
You can appeal or you can demand. If the latter, back it up.
A second French soldier was reportedly wounded but escaped back to Chad.
The incident took place on 3 March while the European force was conducting a patrol around the town of Tissi in the far south east corner of Chad where it borders Sudan and the Central African Republic.
EUFOR began deploying in February after delays partly caused by a rebel attack on Chad's capital N'djamena. Some 14 European countries are sending a total of 3,700 troops for the mission. Its mandate is restricted to eastern Chad and Central African Republic where it provides security to humanitarian aid workers and UN personnel assisting displaced people and Sudanese refugees.
Lieutenant General Nash said in the statement that he regretted that the vehicle "unintentionally" crossed into Sudan. "EUFOR carries out its mandate in full respect of the sovereignty of the Sudanese border," he said.
The French Press Agency (AFP) quoted Sudanese authorities as saying that "white, non-African" forces twice crossed into Darfur on Monday, "sparking deadly exchanges of fire". AFP also quoted France's defence minister Herve Morin as saying that the attack on the EUFOR troops may not have been directed by Khartoum. "I think we find ourselves in a situation where soldiers whom we believe to have been Sudanese found themselves facing two men, two soldiers, and very likely out of reflex decided to use their weapons," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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The meeting was attended by Chief of General Intelligence Prince Miqrin Bin Abdulaziz and a number of Saudi officials
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia received here on Tuesday former Lebanese president Amin Gemayel, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. During the meeting, they discussed the current political crisis in Lebanon, SPAadded. The meeting was attended by Chief of General Intelligence Prince Miqrin Bin Abdulaziz and a number of Saudi officials, the agency concluded.
Saudi Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, received on Tuesday the US Acting Undersecretary of the Army Nelson Ford and French armed forces' chief of staff general Jan Loi Gior Golan and the accompanying delegation.
During the meeting, talks highlighted a number of topics, including bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern.
Hezbollah's chief spokesman can visit Britain on a speaking tour. The British government gave Ibrahim Mousawi, who is banned from France and Ireland because he has been dubbed a terrorist by those governments. a visa to enter the country. Mousawi is on a tour sponsored by the Stop the War Coalition, a group against the U.S. war on terrorism.
On Tuesday he will speak at a Liverpool church on the Israeli invasion of southern Lebananon. Mousawi has come under fire from Jewish groups for his vitriol toward Jews and Israelis, whose deaths at the hands of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah he has defended.
A Jewish member of Parliament, Louise Ellman, told the Liverpool Daily Post she was outraged that Mousawi was permitted to visit Britain. I am appalled he has been allowed into the country, and I am shocked that he has been invited to Liverpool, a city with a proud history of excellent community relations, she said. This is a terrorist leader who fosters division and hate. He represents the exact opposite of what is needed to bring peace and reconciliation in Lebanon and the Middle East.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Ibrahim [the tumor] Mousawi can speak in Britain
one tumor at a time the cancer in England metastasises.
God bless Louise Ellman her outrage should be every Britain's reaction.
#2
"Mousawi is on a tour sponsored by the Stop the War Coalition, a group against the U.S. war on terrorism."
Fun Facts to Know and Tell:
The scheduled protest outside the 2008 GOP/RNC convention is organized by no other then 'Stop the War Coalition'. So they support Hezbollah you say? Hmmm do you suppose this group may have an alternate agenda other then...anti-war?
If confirmed by our people I'd be happy to look to one side and watch the Colombians go medieval on FARC.
GENEVA (Reuters) - Colombia said on Tuesday that FARC rebels had been planning to make a "dirty bomb" with radioactive material, threatening the entire Latin American region.
The charges by Vice-President Francisco Santos, at the United Nations-sponsored Conference on Disarmament, marked a dramatic turn in a regional crisis that has seen Venezuela and Ecuador cut diplomatic ties with Colombia. "Just yesterday (Monday) our national police submitted an initial report regarding the content of two computers found with Raul Reyes, second in command of FARC, who was killed last Saturday," Santos said.
They contained "information from one commander to another indicating that FARC was apparently negotiating for radioactive material, the primary basis for generating dirty weapons of mass destruction and terrorism," he added.
Initial information verified with international support showed "terrorist groups, based on the economic power of drug trafficking, constitute a serious threat not to just our country but to the entire Andean and Latin American region," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
ION, ASIA TODAY > DONG-A-ILBO - NORTH KOREA [CONTINUES]DEVELOPING LONG-RANGE BALLISTIC MISSLE, Taepondong-2's capable of eventually striking the mainland USA; + NORTH KOREA DEVELOPING MISSLES INDEPENDENTLY, + OPED : JAPAIN? KOREAR?
#3
Planning and accomplishing are two different things. I plan to one day recover my girlhood figure and energy. On the other hand, a dirty bomb is more for frightening the ignorant populace than actually a matter of concern beyond the effect of the explosion, if I recall Rantburg U. lessons on the subject correctly.
It's true that one would probably not kill large numbers of people. However, in addition to causing panic it could, if detonated in a key business or governmental area, badly disrupt the economy and society for a good while.
For instance: a radioactively polluted Manhattan would close the stock exchange for a while at least, although IIRC after 9/11 not only the NYSE but also many brokerage firms established contingency backup sites elsewhere. If a group managed to detonate such in multiple financial centers at once, the economic impact on major countries around the world would be substantial.
Radioactivity in the near vicinity of a major power generation plant might disrupt power supplies for a long while, near a port might disrupt food, oil and other imports or exports etc. We don't have easy or effective ways to clear a lot of radioactivity spread through a wide area, even if it occurs in concentrations that are lethal only over a long period of time.
Such a device in DC, while it would not decapitate the federal government, would throw day to day processes into long lasting confusion.
Multiply that many times if such a device were used, not in the US, but against Bogota or Ottawa, New Delhi .... or against the electronics chip factories in Taiwan or ...
But for sure, the biggest impact would be panic out of proportion to the immediate threat posed by the device itself.
#9
"I'd be happy to look to one side and watch the Colombians go medieval on FARC."
Look to one side, hell - I'd be happy to watch, point and laugh, and serve extra popcorn.
F*ck all murderous communist assholes. May they all burn in HELL with their predecessors. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/05/2008 10:44 Comments ||
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#10
I agree with lotp, as this could be disastrous. Previous RB posts report Venezuela has been training ME to look and act as western Hispanics, their helicopters ferried Iranians to Nicaragua, and radioactive material imported from Europe, supposedly for legit purposes in the oil field industry. Smuggling a dirty bomb into the US is obviously relatively easy, especially with the volume of imports coming in every day, not to mention the border, and yet we have vital interests in the region that could easily be attacked to harm us financially, especially with stagflation lurking in our economic future. It would certainly be in Colombia's best interests to eliminate any threat to their own sovereign interests....
A new war among Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador would be inevitable this year but for the fact that its main promoter, Hugo Chavez, is having problems trying to make himself heard by his army and his people.
Sunday, in his TV show, he dictated orders to his Minister of Defense to send ten battalions (some 5,000 men) tanks and other weapons to the Colombian border. More than 24 hours later there are no signs that this order has been obeyed and one reason is that there might not be more than three battalions ready to march.
Worse for Chavez, an alliance of opposition parties and organizations of civil society, including the student movement, has vigorously rejected his call to arms and has labeled him as a traitor to the country.
------------------------------------
When notified by Colombian President Uribe of the raid Correa listened in silence. It was after receiving a call from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that he became extremely agitated and accused Colombia of violating Ecuadors sovereignty.
Technically he was correct, since the raid by the Colombian army had been made inside Ecuadorian territory. But Correa conveniently forgot that international law prohibits countries from harboring terrorists, that Reyes was a murderer and an enemy of the Colombian people and that he had been in Ecuador enjoying the hospitality of the government.
Colombia had made it clear to Correa that they knew Reyes was in Ecuador but Correa chose not to reply. In his guilty fury Correa has now expelled Colombias ambassador from Ecuador and has sent troops to the Colombian border.
#12
I s'pose the key question is: how dirty is the dirty bomb? If the manufacturer threw in some hospital waste that would be one thing, a significant quantity of less than bomb-quality uranium would be quite another. In my post above I made the unstated assumption that it would be the former, resulting in a small increase over local background radioactivity levels over an area limited to the bomb's blast radius -- ie considerably more frightening than meaningful.
If FARC is seeking to acquire quantities of semi-refined uranium, eg from Iran, where the resultant radioactivity levels are high enough to be a rational concern and the half life is a real consideration, my flippant attitude certainly is inappropriate.
#15
So what does Obama and Hillary say about this? They are the all seeing all knowing ones. Somebody ought to ask them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/05/2008 16:52 Comments ||
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#16
FREEREPUBLIC > VENEZUELAN MINISTER - "WAR HAS BEGUN". However, there are no Net or TV reports of any violent military exchanges [yet]. FREEP Posters > perhaps Minister is hinting at future cross-border guerilla raids???
Arab and European human rights and peace activists held a demonstration in front of the European Union headquarters in Brussels Tuesday afternoon condemning the Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.
"Lift the siege in Gaza. No to Israeli terror," shouted the protestors.
Amin Abu Ibrahim, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Platform for Human Rights and Solidarity which is based in Holland told KUNA that "we are calling on the EU to lift the siege on Gaza". Ibrahim said they also met the foreign relations committee of the European Parliament to press their demands.
The protestors who numbered in the hundreds had come from several EU states to take part in the demonstration. "The EU has a duty to stop the crimes in Palestine," read one placard held by the protestors. "Starving civilians is a crime," read another.
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 5, 2008 13:23:58 EST
Just eight months after taking off his uniform, the recently retired 15th sergeant major of the Marine Corps is jumping into the campaign fray, stumping for Sen. Barack Obama and echoing the Democratic candidates call for pulling troops out of Iraq.
I stood up and I said I agree with him when he said we should pull out of Iraq. I think its time for the Iraqis to stand up and take charge of their own country, retired Sgt. Maj. John Estrada said in a telephone interview Feb. 25.
Hes not talking about snatching everybody out of there. He said he will do it over a 16-month period. He will deploy the troops to places where theyre needed, like Afghanistan. ... Hes a guy who will use force reasonably, Estrada said.
Estrada, 52, was the highest-ranking enlisted Marine for nearly four years before retiring in June 2007 after 34 years.
He formally endorsed the Illinois senator for president of the United States during a rally at a high school gymnasium in Beaufort, S.C., on Jan. 24. Estrada served twice at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and is well-known among the locals there.
He planned to campaign again for the senator in Texas on the weekend preceding the critical March 4 primary between Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
He has this I want to call it a unifying force. I see him uniting our country more so than the others. Old, young, across all ethnicities, Estrada said.
Estrada currently works for a defense contractor and lives near Orlando, Fla., with his two children. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Estrada moved to Washington, D.C., when he was 14 to live with his mother, a health care worker. He joined the Corps in 1973 and later became a U.S. citizen in the 1980s.
Representatives from the Obama campaign contacted Estrada in January and asked him to attend a round-table discussion with other veterans in South Carolina shortly before the primary election there in January.
Estrada said he was impressed by Obamas knowledge of issues such as traumatic brain injury and his apparent concern for veterans affairs and the Department of Veterans Affairs, which Estrada believes is woefully underfunded.
After meeting with Obama, campaign officials asked Estrada to introduce the candidate at a rally later that evening, and Estrada accepted. During the introduction, Estrada gave Obama his full endorsement.
Some scholars say Estrada is part of an alarming trend of political involvement among military leaders. Many say the trend began in 1992, when Bill Clinton then the governor of Arkansas rounded up a list of endorsements from retired general officers.
This is a trend that a lot of us are not really happy with in terms of military officers getting out and throwing themselves into a campaign, said Jim Currie, a professor of national security studies at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.
You dont want an officer corps that is seen as a Democratic officer corps or a Republican officer corps.
Peter D. Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University in North Carolina, agreed.
It politicizes the military, even when that is not the intention of the former military person, Feaver said. Obama will love this until he becomes president and then he starts to worry about the political leanings of the people serving under him in the military.
Enlisted Marines, however, are not necessarily held to the same standard for political activity. Only commissioned officers are subject to Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which threatens a court-martial against those who use contemptuous words against the president or defense secretary.
With [commissioned] officers, its a much bigger issue, said Michael Noonan, a captain in the Army Reserve and a research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.
Estrada said he thought about all of that and nevertheless chose to speak out.
This is the freedom we fight and die for, Estrada said. I know some people wont like that Im doing this, but I earned that right. I had people die to give me that right.
He agrees that officers and noncommissioned officers should not talk about politics while in uniform.
I used to tell my Marines, We dont discuss politics in work. I dont think anyone knew how I felt about anything politically. I said, You have a chance to express your opinion on Election Day.
Estrada said he was not a citizen and could not vote when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. He voted for Bill Clinton in 1992. He said he liked John McCains candidacy in 2000, but ultimately voted for Al Gore because McCain lost the Republican primary to President Bush.
Estrada dismissed the notion that pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq will lead to more violence and chaos.
Were not going to just pull out and leave them hanging. But once they see that were serious about leaving, they are going to wean themselves and start standing up and it will force them to come together as a nation.
Current troop levels in Iraq are making America less safe, Estrada said.
We are stretched so badly our equipment is worn out, our sailors and Marines are tired, some are in their fifth and six deployment. I think that puts us in a very vulnerable position.
Suppose a couple other incidents break out in the other parts to the world. We may have trouble responding to them and dealing with them effectively.
Nevertheless, Estrada does not expect all U.S. troops to leave anytime soon.
I think there will be some kind of U.S. presence there for a long time, but I dont think it needs to be what we have going on right now.
Some Marines have already shunned Estrada. Shortly after making his initial endorsement, he was visiting Marine Corps Base Quantico and dropped by to see a senior officer whom he used to work for and considered a friend.
The officer refused to see him.
It was a little disappointing, Estrada said. I will probably lose a few friends, but they need to remember this is why we serve our country.
#1
This is the freedom we fight and die for, Estrada said. I know some people wont like that Im doing this, but I earned that right. I had people die to give me that right.
I don't like the guy he's backing, but I'm not gonna argue with that.
#2
So why not pull the troops first from Europe and Asia on the basis of "I think it's time for the Iraqis to stand up and take charge of their own country," or are 'browns' less worthy at a shot at democracy than whites or yellows have had for decades? Is this what Bush referred to as the 'racism of low expectations'?
#3
Once he became a civilian, he is as entitled to speak out as anyone else. I consider him a good example of citizenship to those he served with, and to the rest of us as well. And as a sergeant his concern was the welfare of the enlisted Marines, who along with their families have been stretched more than normal, and maintaining adequate levels of supplies and equipment, which also have been stretched more than normal.
One fourth of our troops are registered Democrats, if I recall correctly, and that ought to be respected by their fellows, just as a small but significant percentage are atheists.
#4
he has more than earned the right to speak his mind and participate in politics. I sincerely thank him for his admirable service and disregard his recommendation
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/05/2008 19:57 Comments ||
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#5
WTF is up with the Marines? They feeding them Stupid Pills over in the Corps?
Most individuals and terror groups operating in India had linkages with groups and agencies across the border - mainly in Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Express quoted a state minister as telling the Indian lower house on Tuesday.
State Home Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told Lok Sabha that the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami, Hizbul Mujahideen and Al-Badr were International terror groups. Close vigilance and surveillance is being maintained on borders to check and control the possible infiltration of terrorists into the country, Jaiswal said.
Other measures that had been taken to check cross-border infiltration included border fencing, floodlighting and strengthening coastal security arrangements, he said, adding that efforts were also underway at international level to check and counter terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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Not Muslim enough? Too Muslim? Decisions, decisions, decisions...
Muslim clerics and researchers from 95 countries participating who participated in the recent Al-Azhar University alumni conference in Malaysia have drawn up a plan for coordination among Islamic religious institutions in the issuing of fatwas. Oh, I'm sure they'll get it all squared away...
The move is aimed at eliminating the issuing of conflicting fatwas, which causes confusion in Muslim society. Confusion in Muslim society? Can ya beat that...
#1
We're working on beating it, just not the way the muzz might like...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/05/2008 11:49 Comments ||
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#2
Boy, and to think that the .com name/goldrush was going to be intense.
Just keep me up to date on the astronaught prayer mecca thing.
meanwhile, the rest of the world marvels at the sheer coordination of technology despite people who don't practice what they preach, telling the rest of the world how to live. I swear, keeping up with being a devout mouselimb has got to be a full time job within itself - no wonder nothing gets done.
#5
And this is different than SCOTUS allowing conflicting results on fundamentally similar issues stay in practice in different Appellate Districts? If it is a constitutional question, then it should apply across the entire country, why does SCOTUS allow 'findings' in one district to be substantially different than in another? Other than the obvious that members of the court can't count upon their view prevailing, thus denying a hearing before the court, leaving a portion of the country under rules that otherwise would not survive a full hearing.
#7
BrerRabbit had the same idea as me - Can't Allen keep it straight? They don't like to 'tie down' Allen, so the fatwas flow freely, but with 21st-century communications, the conflicts were bound to show up.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/05/2008 18:26 Comments ||
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#8
Put the clerics in a cage, let them fight it out to the death, put the show on pay-per-view. More fun than WWE. Let the best fatwa win.
At the request of Iran's foreign minister, UN Human Rights Council holds moments of silence for Palestinians killed by Israeli military Hope he was courteous enough to provide the Vaseline...
The UN Human Rights Council held a moment of silence Tuesday for "martyrs in Gaza" killed by Israeli armed forces, after a request by Iran's foreign minister. Manouchehr Mottaki called for the gesture on behalf of the "women and children who are nowadays under attack by the Zionist regime," the term Iranian officials use for Israel because they do not recognize the Jewish state. Maybe this will become a weekly event.
"I would like ... to request one minute of silence and ask my Muslim brothers and sisters to read the fatah for those martyrs in Gaza," he asked the council president, referring to the opening verse in the Quran. The room was silent for about 30 seconds. Those present said no one stood. Another Great Moment in UN History...
Israel's UN Ambassador in Geneva, Itzhak Levanon, said, "the real news is that the international community did not respond and all the members of the Human Rights Council remained seated." Yeah, in the UN that's considered "spine"...
He said he would have stood himself if the silence had been devoted to victims of Iranian human rights abuses. Hey, c'mon now. None of that.
The US mission in Geneva said it had no comment on what happened. Yep. It was a real shock to us, lemme tell ya...
The Human Rights Council, created in 2006, is dominated by a bloc of African and Islamic countries, and has denounced Israel in a series of resolutions. The body has no power beyond international scrutiny. But I'll bet they have damn fine buffets...
Pakistan, as chairman of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), on Monday urged UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to call on governments to take a firm stand against the publication of blasphemous cartoons in the western media.
The right to freedom of expression carries with it special duties and responsibilities, and does not provide a licence to insult and hurt the sentiments and beliefs of others, a statement issued by the chairman of OIC in New York said.
The OIC urged the secretary-general to call upon the governments of the states that condone the publication of these blasphemous caricatures and media material, as well as the campaigns for anti-Islamic regulations, to take all possible legal and administrative measures to prevent the repetition or continuation of these deliberate offensive acts, which impinge greatly on the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, of the followers of Islam.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
The right to freedom of expression carries with it special duties and responsibilities, and does not provide a licence to insult and hurt the sentiments and beliefs of others,
Unless they're infidels? Then you can treat them like third-class citizen-cows, charge them a special infidel tax, but not hurt their sentiments and beliefs?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/05/2008 6:25 Comments ||
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#2
does not provide a licence to insult and hurt the sentiments and beliefs of others
Uh, yes it does. Once again the muzzies are unclear on the concept.
#3
The right to freedom of expression carries with it special duties and responsibilities, and does not provide a licence to insult and hurt the sentiments and beliefs of others, a statement issued by the chairman of OIC in New York said.
What's that sign say? Behead those who insult Islam?
Guess he didn't get the memo...
#4
take all possible legal and administrative measures to prevent the repetition or continuation of these deliberate offensive acts, which impinge greatly on the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, of the followers of Islam
This doesn't make any sense at all to me. They don't believe in the inherent right of freedom of thought, religion, speech, but they are trying to evoke it for their own use?
Weird man, weird.
US forces expect to clear Al Qaeda militants from the northern city of Mosul within months, said a senior US army officer on Monday. But success against Al Qaeda in Mosul is posing a new challenge for US forces, as military operations drive militants from the city to remote areas beyond reach of US and Iraqi intelligence and surveillance. The real challenge now is to find where they are with any sort of centre of gravity, said Army Brig Gen Tony Thomas, second in command of multinational forces in northern Iraq. Coalition and Iraqi security forces have established joint-security sites and combat posts in the heart of Mosul as the first critical step toward lasting security.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
(Xinhua) — A U.S. senior military officer accused Iran on Tuesday of continuing to support Iraqi insurgents by providing training and weapons. "We have no doubt they are still supporting insurgents," said the former senior military commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, at a press conference in Washington. However, Odierno did not view Iran's support to insurgents as along-term threat to Iraqi stability, but he acknowledged the need to "constantly watch it."
Meanwhile, the general noted a positive change of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army, which was considered the biggest challenge to U.S. efforts to stabilize the country. "I think he's trying to move them away from a militia-based organization to one that is more - as it started out to be - helping the poor Shiite community have a role and a vote in what goes on in the government of Iraq," he said.
Echoing Odierno's concern on Iran, Adm. William Fallon, the chief of the Central Command governing the troops in the Middle East, told a Tuesday hearing at the Senate that Iran was fanning the flames of global terrorism. He claimed that although the Irani government denied charges of harmful meddling in Iraq, "the facts prove otherwise."
However, Fallon also described Irani President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's two-day trip to Iraq this week as a "mixed bag" that could offer an opportunity for the Iraqi government to push Iran directly to stop supporting insurgents and start cooperating with coalition forces. Ahmadinejad's visit to Iraq was the first by an Iranian leader since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Oh, goody...
Former US president Jimmy Carter and former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan wish to arrive in Israel in the coming months in order to help negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Army Radio reported. Hamas wants y'all to start buildin new crematoriums, Ehud. Ah don't see that as a problem, do you, Kofi?
Certainly not, Jimmy. Perhaps this could be a starting point in the negotiations.
Is the dinner menu here yet?
The two contacted the Prime Minister's Office and requested to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. ...and can we enter through the Attention Whore entrance? Thanks so much.
They also asked to be allowed in the Gaza Strip to meet with Hamas officials. Sure. Just don't let them back out.
According to the report, Israel is opposed to the initiative, but officials said that Jerusalem would be well advised to try and channel the visit into a positive track so as not to damage the country's image in the media. Yeah, really. Wouldn't wanna damage all that glowing coverage the media gives the Israelis...
What, was this in response to a request for mediators who have the least possible amount of credibility, ever? Carter has written volumes that clearly state his record as to where his sympathies lie. And Annan's actions (and inactions) speak volumes themselves. I can't think of any two people with less right to "negotiate a ceasefire" than them.
Honestly, even bin laden has more credibility than these two, because he's less of a petro-whore than those clowns.
#9
I do like the idea of holding any talks in Sderot and/or Ashkelon. At a school. During school hours.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
03/05/2008 19:38 Comments ||
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#10
Carter and Kofi together - just one more example of Blair's Law: "the ongoing process by which the world's multiple idiocies are becoming one giant, useless force"
Palestinian President Abbas met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah Tuesday afternoon. They discussed the continuing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip and the issue of resuming negotiations with the Israelis. At the joint press conference held at the Presidential Offices, Abbas said that conditions on the ground are deplorable and must be improved. He said that he had stressed to Rice on many occasions that the Palestinians have been open to negotiations, as reflected in the Arab Peace Initiative, however we have identified Israels unwillingness due to its insistence of consistently using intense force and military processes with seriously negative consequences, such as in Gaza.
The Palestinian leader also told the press conference that security must come from both the Israelis and Palestinians, and not only in the form of political, social and economic security. He stressed that no one can justify the killing of 120 Palestinians, of whom 20 were children, and wounding 300.
For her part, Rice expressed concern over the situation in Gaza, focusing on the need to stop rocket attacks.Additionally, she said that negotiations must continue and violence must decrease.
On its part, Hamas on Tuesday said that the visit of Rice to the region was "ominous" and fell in line with American pressures on Arab parties. Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, Fawzi Barhoum in a statement on Tuesday said that Rice's visit also aims at providing more support for the "Israeli occupation's massacres and siege" on Gaza in addition to covering up for its crimes. According to him, Rice's visit is unwelcome and added, "We do not have high hopes on the visit and we consider the American administration an accomplice in the occupation's crimes against our people and specifically in the latest massacres in the Gaza Strip".
According to PIC, the spokesman called on the Arab and Islamic masses to continue in their solidarity campaigns with the Palestinian people and to pressure their governments to end their "dreadful silence" and to adopt courageous steps in boycotting and exposing occupation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
From the RB D-S: Sound an awful lot like the Berkeley city council, don't they?
Yeah, except with Hamas at least you can figure out their "reasoning" for not wanting them there.
Israel has informed foreign diplomats that it would reoccupy Hamas-ruled Gaza if necessary, though it prefers not to do so, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, as the IDF operated against defiant Gaza rocket squads. Israel is contemplating a reoccupation of Gaza even as it makes efforts to make peace with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who controls the West Bank. On Sunday, Abbas called off talks with Israel to protest the high death toll from the IDF's latest incursion into Gaza. Palestinians reported more than 120 dead in the military campaign.
Israeli leaders have signaled that a broad invasion of Gaza is in the works to halt rocket fire that is striking closer to Israel's center. In a meeting Monday with foreign diplomats based in Israel, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni did not rule out an Israeli reoccupation of the Strip, home to 1.4 million Palestinians. Israel pulled its settlers and troops out of Gaza in 2005, and last June, Hamas violently seized control there. "We cannot afford this kind of extreme Islamic state controlled by Hamas," Livni said, according to a ministry statement released Tuesday.
Israel evacuated Gaza "not in order to come back, but we might find ourselves in a situation where we have no choice," Livni said.
Fighting escalated sharply last week after Israel mounted an onslaught in northern Gaza to go after Palestinian gunmen who have fired closer to Israel's heartland than ever before. Israel pulled out its ground forces on Monday, but has continued the air assaults against persistent Palestinian attacks. Livni told the diplomats that Abbas' decision to halt the negotiations "shows weakness," signaling to Hamas that its attacks from Gaza could influence Abbas' actions.
Hamas, meanwhile, urged Abbas to resist Rice's appeals to return to the negotiating table. "Once again, this visit is designed to provide more support for the Israeli occupation to commit new massacres and ... to provide cover for Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. "We do not welcome this visit and are pinning no hopes on it."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
I say "Go for it" you're going to be the Villon whatever happens, might as well get some good out of it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2008 13:12 Comments ||
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#2
I won't believe that Hamass is contained until Israel napalms the entire Gaza - three times. Nothing else will do any good. The US should cooperate by doing the same thing to Turtle Bay.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/05/2008 14:49 Comments ||
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#3
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
03/05/2008 20:27 Comments ||
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Reacting to the third round of sanctions imposed on it, Iran on Tuesday said the credibility of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was further damaged because pressure from a few countries prevented it from heeding the judgment of a technical body of the United Nations the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
While the IAEA clearly acknowledges that Irans nuclear programme is peaceful and all the outstanding issues have been resolved, some countries deliberately undermine the work of the agency that is part of the U.N. It therefore appears that the UNSC attaches no value even to other U.N. institutions and bodies. It is, therefore, no wonder that the UNSC, which has repeatedly encroached on the mandates and authorities of other U.N. bodies, cannot be trusted to respect the views and judgments of other U.N. agencies, said Irans Ambassador to India Syed Mahdi Nabizadeh.
Although the IAEA recently cleared Iran, Tehran was open to further examination of its nuclear activity by the world body. In view of certain misunderstandings and questions raised on the civil nuclear programme, Iran concentrated its efforts on removing the misunderstanding. The latest was an action plan under which the IAEA posed questions and Iran answered them before the fixed timetable. Its recent report has confirmed the correctness of Irans statement, he said.
Method of the west
Accusing the U.S. of using the Anglo-French combine to present a false resolution to the IAEA because it had realised that the issue between Iran and IAEA was nearing resolution, the Iranian Ambassador said, this is the method of the west. They saw eye-catching progress in Iran-IAEA relations and reported some false matters to the IAEA. We expect the U.S. government, instead of trying to politicise the nuclear programme of Iran, should tell its own people that its evaluation of Irans nuclear programme was wrong. There is no doubt the U.S. is inventing this pretext to pursue one goal of impairing Irans science and technology programmes.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
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.
March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Sydney residents and tourists are cursing La Nina as the harbor city says goodbye to the summer that wasn't. 
France, poised to expand its military commitment in Afghanistan, will push this week for a more focused allied plan to battle Taliban insurgents and rebuild the country, the French government said Tuesday. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will express the need for the alliance to develop a true strategy in Afghanistan when he meets in Brussels Thursday with foreign ministers at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting. 
Sudan would welcome a contingent of troops that Japan might send on a demining and construction mission to the south of the country, a top aide to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said in an interview with Kyodo news agency on Tuesday. Nafie Ali Nafie is in Tokyo for talks with Japanese ministers, who want to take a higher profile role in the region ahead of a conference of African nations in Japan in May and the G8 summit on the northern island of Hokkaido in July. Nafie also urged the United States to lift sanctions on Sudan. He said that a census would go ahead in April and steps were in place to hold a general election in 2009 and a referendum on the proposed independence of the southern region in 2011, Kyodo said. 
Hundreds of residents of a remote town in southern Somalia staged an anti-American demonstration on Tuesday after the United States launched an air strike against a known al Qaeda terrorist there. The town of Dobley was hit by two missiles on Monday in the fourth US strike in 14 months against Somalia, where Washington says local Islamists are sheltering wanted al Qaeda leaders. 
Saudi Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, received on Tuesday the US Acting Undersecretary of the Army Nelson Ford and French armed forces' chief of staff general Jan Loi Gior Golan and the accompanying delegation.
Pakistan, as chairman of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), on Monday urged UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to call on governments to take a firm stand against the publication of blasphemous cartoons in the western media. 
(Xinhua) — A U.S. senior military officer accused Iran on Tuesday of continuing to support Iraqi insurgents by providing training and weapons. "We have no doubt they are still supporting insurgents," said the former senior military commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, at a press conference in Washington. However, Odierno did not view Iran's support to insurgents as along-term threat to Iraqi stability, but he acknowledged the need to "constantly watch it." 
Palestinian President Abbas met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah Tuesday afternoon. They discussed the continuing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip and the issue of resuming negotiations with the Israelis. At the joint press conference held at the Presidential Offices, Abbas said that conditions on the ground are deplorable and must be improved. He said that he had stressed to Rice on many occasions that the Palestinians have been open to negotiations, as reflected in the Arab Peace Initiative, however we have identified Israels unwillingness due to its insistence of consistently using intense force and military processes with seriously negative consequences, such as in Gaza.
Reacting to the third round of sanctions imposed on it, Iran on Tuesday said the credibility of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was further damaged because pressure from a few countries prevented it from heeding the judgment of a technical body of the United Nations the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
