Reports from Saudi Arabia say 10 people have been killed in clashes between police and militants in the holy city of Mecca. The semi-official Saudi daily, Okaz, said five suspected terrorists and five members of the security forces died during a battle in the city's Khaldia district. Police arrested another seven suspects in a raid carried out after the clashes. The paper did not say if the suspects were linked to last month's bombings. Sunday's incident occurred when a group of men in a vehicle ignored police orders to stop. After a car chase through the streets during which shots were fired, they took refuge in a building. Police evacuated the building and stormed the apartment where the suspects were holed up. Inside, they found a large quantity of weapons and explosives, while one of those arrested was wearing a suicide bomber's belt. Security was reported to be tight on the outskirts of Mecca on Sunday, with troops stopping cars for searches and to check drivers' identification.
Regardless of what they're saying, what they're doing seems to be producing some sort of results. It'd be nice to know the picture behind it, though.
Some more detail from Saudi Press Agency...
The security men raided at 9:30 on Saturday evening "Al-Attas" apartment building in Al-khalidia district in Makkah where a group of terrorists were residing and were preparing to launch a terror act soon. During the raid, the terrorists fired heavily on the security men and the citizens around the building and the security men responded by firing at the terrorists. Five of the terrorists were killed and the work is proceeding ahead to identify them.
Five other terrorists were captured, two of them Chadian nationals, one Egyptian, one Saudi, and the fifth one whose identity is still unknown, as well as a number of suspects. The source said that Captain Yassir bin Hasabullah Al-Mulad and Soldier Fahd bin Abdullah Wazna were martyred, adding that five policemen and four citizens also sustained slight injuries. The source noted that the apartment was ready to be exploded, and the security men found 72 bombs of different sizes which were made by the terrorists, a number of submachine guns, guns, live ammunition, cleavers, contact-devices, chemical materials for making explosives and head-masks.
Cheeze. What nice neighbors. And how nice of those guys to come all the way from Chad...
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/15/2003 08:28 am ||
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Gotta give 'em credit for actually doing something.
#2
credit, but qualified - it was only when the princelings' own necks started getting on the line....if it was just Jeeewwwss and Merkins, they'd be sitting on the asses
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2003 11:00 Comments ||
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It must really gall the Saudis to see their own money being used against them for a change.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2003 13:23 Comments ||
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*laughs*
Frank, you really ought to look up the word Merkin in a dictionary. It's not merely slang for "American", it's a real word for a rather hilarious piece of *ahem* body augmentation, second only to the codpiece.
*grins*
Ed Becerra
Posted by: Ed Becerra ||
06/15/2003 16:19 Comments ||
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Instead of "Merkin", how about "Ami" as I have been fondly called in Germany, as in "Ami aus!"
If Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev is extradited to Russia, he would be treated in compliance with international standards. Russian Justice Minister Yury Chaika told RIA Novosti Tuesday: "If we hold Zakayev in Russia, we are ready to let international human rights activists, including members of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, visit Zakayev on a daily basis, if they want to." Commenting on a statement from one of Zakayev's lawyers, who said at the London hearings that torture is flourishing in Russia, Yury Chaika said: "Zakayev's lawyer has been diverted from the reality." The minister's deputy, Yury Kalinin, confirmed Chaika's words. The deputy justice minister believes that there are no threats of loss of life or torture for Chechens in Russian jails. "We attempt to make prisons into rehabilitation centers. We need to prepare a person for freedom from the first day of imprisonment," RIA Novosti quoted Yury Kalinin as saying.
Not that Zakayev can expect to see a last day of imprisonment...
The hearings on Zakayev's extradition to Russia started at London's Bow Street Magistrates Court on June 9th. The British court is considering the request from the Russian Office of the Prosecutor General to deliver Zakayev to Russia on the basis of serious charges, including murder, torture and masterminding Chechen terrorist attacks. Zakayev has been in Britain since early December of 2002. He arrived in the UK from Denmark (the Danish government had refused to deliver him to Russia). Zakayev was invited to come to London by British actress Vanessa Redgrave, but the Chechen rebel envoy was detained at Heathrow Airport on the basis of the international warrant that had been issued in connection with Russia's accusations. Zakayev was released on bail of 50,000 pounds later on. The Echo of Moscow radio station reported that Zakayev was currently residing at Redgrave's mansion in London.
Since like gets along with like...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 06:26 pm ||
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LONDONDERRY, SPA: British army experts dismantled a large van bomb Sunday that had been abandoned by a roadside in Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second-largest city. No group claimed responsibility for the thwarted attack, but police and politicians blamed Irish Republican Army dissidents opposed to the IRA's 1997 cease-fire.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 02:32 pm ||
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With the EU Constitution, London will now take it's orders from Brussels.
If the UK drops Northern Ireland (as the IRA demands) then Ulster can be reunited with the Irish Republic.
Then Ulster will take it's orders from Dublin which will be getting it's orders from Brussels.
Give it up, lads. Go spend your Euros on pints instead on Semtex.
Nigel Lawson, former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, on why Britain should avoid the euro.
The most significant part of Gordon Brown's long-awaited statement on the UK and the euro last week was the section that had unaccountably gone missing. When he originally set out the official position some six years ago he emphasised that the Government would need to be sure that the as-yet-unborn European monetary union was "successful" before it would recommend UK entry. With the monetary union now some four and a half years old it was surely reasonable to suppose that a key part of last week's statement by the Chancellor would be an assessment of how successful it had so far proved to be. Yet his lengthy statement contained not a single sentence assessing the success of the project to date. One can only surmise that the assessment was left out because, in the purely economic terms which the Government claims should be decisive, success has been conspicuous by its absence. As Prof Wilhelm Nolling, the distinguished former Bundesbank director, pointed out in this newspaper last week, for Germany in particular â the euro-zone's largest economy â the strait-jacket of a one-size-fits-all monetary policy has been unequivocally harmful.
"One size fits all" is usually harmful and often painful. Just ask anybody wearing hand-me-down shoes...
Mr Brown did, however, offer a clue about what is fundamentally wrong with the European monetary union when he quite rightly stated that "it is important to learn the lessons not just from the experience of the euro area but also from how the states and regions adjust successfully in the United States monetary union". And so far as the United States is concerned the lessons are clear. Three absolutely crucial conditions are satisfied. First, there is a very high degree of labour mobility: Americans are prepared to move long distances, within the union, to find work. Second, there is a high degree of labour market flexibility, allowing wages to move down as well as up. And third, as a result of a genuinely federal system of taxation and public expenditure, substantial sums of money are automatically transferred from the more prosperous to the less prosperous parts of the union. Not only does the European monetary union satisfy none of these conditions, but the first could fully be achieved only if the union were bound together by a common language, the second is a feature of the "brutal" Anglo-Saxon economic model which the "civilised" European social model explicitly rejects, while the third is the characteristic of a single federal state.
Which is what they're going for...
It is not, of course, remotely surprising that the European monetary union as we know it is fundamentally flawed since, as is openly avowed by its continental promoters, its raison d'etre is not economic but political. There is nothing remotely disreputable about this: what is disreputable is to deny it. For many in Europe that motivation is the eventual creation of a federal United States of Europe, an ideal sought for its own sake, and towards which the monetary union is seen as an essential stepping-stone. Indeed, outside the United Kingdom, it is France alone that presents a major obstacle to this process. But it is important to understand precisely what the French objective is. As the Iraq imbroglio underlined, it is to construct a Europe sufficiently united to create an effective challenge to what it sees (and fears) as the political, economic, and indeed cultural hegemony of the United States.
Of which, I suspect, the last is the one that counts with the Frenchies. If we smoked Gaulloises, drank Bourdeaux instead of Coke, and â what joy! â spoke French or at least crowded out Anglo-Saxon rooted words with French-rooted words, the first two would be side issues. When all you've got left is your culture, and your culture's in danger of being unceremoniously supplanted by that of hairy-knuckled (occasionally remote) offspring of Perfidious Albionâ¢, leavened by imports from most everyone else in the world who doesn't smoke Gaulloises, what else can you do?
This, it firmly believes, can best and most safely be achieved by a Europe under French leadership.
Look at how successful Louis XIV was. And that Bonaparte guy. Both Bonapartes, in fact. And it was France that was the genesis of the Holy Roman Empire...
And that, in effect, is what we have known up to now. It has been made possible because European history over the past hundred years has made the idea of a German-led Europe unacceptable. Hence the settled view of the German political classes that they can best exert influence not as Germans, but as Europeans in a Europe led by a Franco-German axis. And hence, too, the settled French policy of seeking to create a European Germany in a French Europe.
In an American world...
Mr Blair's seldom-articulated reason for so obsessively wishing to see the UK sign up to the euro is also political rather than economic. He appears to believe that, once inside EMU, we could exert a decisive influence over Europe's role in world affairs that would be unattainable outside it. It is, however, a motivation that is implausible to the point of incoherence. In the first place, just as we have always been anxious to exclude France and Germany - particularly France - from the intimacy of the Anglo-American special relationship, so they have no wish to see Britain complicate the Franco-German special relationship by turning it into an uneasy menage a trois.
"That's French! Oh, Tish!"
Indeed, in French eyes there is a compelling reason not to do so. As, once again, Iraq showed, Britain is (in de Gaulle's words) America's Trojan horse in Europe. Unless Britain were to sign up to the French agenda, to allow the United Kingdom a leadership role of any kind would be to threaten what, as France sees it, Europe is all about. The problem for France is that, as time passes, German guilt, on which France relies to ensure its paramount political role in the Franco-German special relationship, and thus the de facto leadership of Europe, is a wasting asset. When, one day, the day the German economy recovers, Germany will understandably wish to assert itself politically. But it is a delusion to suppose that, if and when that happens, Britain will be the gainer. For if and when France can no longer exert its present leadership of Europe, it will flip from being the only effective obstacle to a United States of Europe to being its foremost and most eloquent advocate, leaving the UK once again out in the cold, but in a more fundamental way than ever.
I'm not sure that last statement holds water. Nope. It's leaking like a colander. Germans who had any connection with the Reich are dying off â probably most of what's left were Hitlerjugend, and they're moving rapidly into pension territory. It's the post-war babies who're in power now, and they weren't around, so we're reduced to beating them up over what Mom and Dad did in their youth, and as a result they've assiduously avoided the sins of the fathers. Twenty years from now, we'll be beating them up over what Grandmaw and Grampy did, which begins to approach the silly. I think that's a pretty logical cut-off â when was the last time anybody beat up the Fritzies over Kaiser Bill? By that logic, and we could be beating up the Frenchies over the atrocities Napoleon was responsible for and tracing down bloodlines to make sure people in power had nothing to do with that regime of a couple hundred years ago. So the Germans, with a clean, or impending clean, record assume their rightful place in the center of Europe, now reunified, with the East mostly digested. So I see an impending Franco-German rivalry to go with the traditional Anglo-French rivalry. France, remember, wasn't a member of the Holy Roman Empire, even though it started with them.
Contrary to the Government's latest propaganda line, there is nothing "anti-European" about not wishing to see sterling replaced by the euro. Is Denmark, whose people voted decisively not to join the monetary union, anti-European? The plain fact is that to pay an economic price, which may be small, but could also in some circumstances be large, to secure a theoretical objective that is in fact unattainable and a practical consequence that we do not desire, cannot make sense. It is a Rubicon which it would be the utmost folly to cross. If Mr Brown is really as prudent as he claims to be, he will not dream of allowing Mr Blair to do so.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/15/2003 06:23 am ||
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#1
My home being in Canada, I'm actually resigned to this whole debate now; I could care less what happens in Poland or the rest of Europe. Best of luck to them. I just hope the UK does not get suckered into anything.
As a parting shot, I would ask TGA and Aris to give us an estimate on when Turkey will be invited to join. TGA? Aris? (This is of course a question to set you up)
#2
An excellent, if blunt, analysis of American economic advantages over Europe. Yes, the American economic system is somewhat brutal, but if France's system is the alternative, then we'll pass, thank you very much.
#3
"As a parting shot, I would ask TGA and Aris to give us an estimate on when Turkey will be invited to join. TGA? Aris?"
First of all countries aren't "invited" to join, they apply to join and certain applications are accepted. You may think it a nitpick perhaps, but it's a crucial one, I think.
Secondly, for new countries to join the Union you need a unanimous agreement from the countries already in it. As long as Turkey occupies half of Cyprus, neither the Republic of Cyprus nor Greece will accept Turkey's application.
Thirdly, it has been agreed that Turkey needs to first satisfy the "Copenhagen criteria", about democratization and human rights.
Fourth, the Treaties specify what will happen as long as we have up to 27 members (that's the 15 current ones + the ten to join up next year + Romania and Bulgaria). I'm sure there's gonna be some sort of renegotiation before we accept countries beyond the "27" limit -- such renegotiation will not only influence Turkey but also countries that are likely to enter the EU before her, such as Croatia, or even (if all goes well) Serbia & Montenegro.
So to sum it up.. Estimation? If Cyprus is reunified, and new negotiations aren't sabotaged by youknowwho, 2012-2015 seems a likely goal for Turkey to strive towards.
Hmm... But are countries prone to be victims of Islamic terrorism (such as UK) likely to accept the idea of 70 million or so Muslims allowed to freely roam through its borders? ( This is of course a question to set you up! ;P )
#4
"And third, as a result of a genuinely federal system of taxation and public expenditure, substantial sums of money are automatically transferred from the more prosperous to the less prosperous parts of the union. Not only does the European monetary union satisfy none of these conditions,"
Excuse me? Where has the Telegraph been all these years not to know that substantial aid is given to the less prosperous parts of the Union?
#5
You're ignoring the clause: "...genuinely federal system of taxation and federal government...", Aris. Thankfully the EU hasn't yet had the chance to impose direct taxes on nation states' citizens to appropriate capital to be redistributed away from the prosperity-generators. Of course the EU's into wealth distribution, but it's carried out under the guise of CAP etc., and the funds are obtained from member states' EU subscriptions. But your knee-jerk reaction is to assume you know the basics of EU finance better than a man who controlled Britain's economy for seven years. I would have expected no less.
But I'm glad you seem to agree with everything else. Must make a change for you to ingest something other than al Grauniad make-believe when it comes to news from the UK, Aris.
#7
Yes, I've failed to notice the important difference of genuine federal redistribution of wealth vs. the non-genuinely federal redistribution of wealth.
Agree with everything else? Hardly. I just chose to dispute a factual piece of information rather than waste time discussing the guy's opinions.
#9
That's quite okay. I rarely waste time discussing most opinions expressed here either. Who would have the time? Some things interest me enough to respond, other don't. And that's the way it should be.
Who's Nigella? Pretty girl, but I haven't heard about her.
#10
i for one will take a brutal system where i myself makes it or breaks it! i do not want to pay for someone who does not want to work hard! in the end it makes a stronger person and nation..
Posted by: Dan ||
06/15/2003 15:21 Comments ||
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..genuinely federal system of taxation and federal government..."
It's of course something the UK would be fighting against with teeth and claws. So it boils down to this: We won't join the Euro until the conditions are right. But we'll do anything to prevent that these conditions may be realized. The cat bites its tail rather happily.
I think Europe should tell the UK. Come when you are ready, we'll get along until then. But you know what Mr Gorbachev said about being late in history.
Let's review the statements:
"but the first could fully be achieved only if the union were bound together by a common language"
Not really. Switzerland has four and lives rather happily with that. Although most Europeans are fluent in at least one foreign language, and most of the time it actually is English. In the East German may be a bit more common.
"the second is a feature of the "brutal" Anglo-Saxon economic model which the "civilised" European social model explicitly rejects"
in its "brutal form" yes but most European countries are on the way to reforms in that respect although they want to reform social security, not kill it.
while the third is the characteristic of a single federal state.
Which the UK will never accept, of course. But once the smaller countries (especially the new ones) realize that the won't be swept under the table of a Federal Europe things may change. When they do the UK will have to make some hard decisions.
Let's face it: Europe can survive without the UK. The UK can probably survive outside the EU. Question is whether the UK will want to.
As for Turkey I think Aris has answered it all. Europe can't expand forever (some Rantburgers already want Israel in it, a true Trojan horse indeed, and looking at the map I don't see Israel being part of Europe). Europe will enter a long phase of consolidation. Turkey is basically an Asian country and will have to live with close association for the next decade. How Turkey will look like in 2013 we'll see then. Turkey actually blew a big chance with Cyprus to be considered earlier.
#12
I don't think anyone is more happy about Poland joining the EU than the Germans. As for Turkey, just as I thought, they will always have that carrot in front of their nose but will never be able to reach it.
PARIS - France's defense minister took a double swipe at the United States on Saturday, accusing her counterpart Donald Rumsfeld of American supremacism and U.S. industry of waging "economic war" on Europe. Actually, it is France and Belgium who started this economic war. The US is just doing what it does best, and that is work as efficently as possible. From this there is a spill over effect. France just can't compete with the big boys anymore. It's lost it's will to compete. For example, 75% of high school students polled said they want a career as a public worker, because of the security. Michele Alliot-Marie's remarks, in a newspaper interview, were the bluntest criticism of Washington by a French official since presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush skirted around their differences on Iraq at a summit two weeks ago. "The American Defense Secretary (Donald Rumsfeld) believes the United States is the only military, economic and financial power in the world. We do not share this vision," Alliot-Marie told Le Monde newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
"E pur se muove."
In Washington, the Pentagon rebuffed her remarks. Who Cares!!
"The French minister is entitled to her own opinion. However her opinion does not accurately characterize the policy or position of the secretary of defense or the position of the U.S. government," Defense Department spokesman Jim Turner said. France's suggestion of superpower arrogance comes days after Rumsfeld revisited the scene of recent bickering over French opposition to the Iraq war by distinguishing between "old" and "new" Europe â language which infuriated Paris in January. Back then, Rumsfeld had dismissed France and Germany as "old Europe" in contrast to a "new Europe" of mostly eastern European countries more supportive of Washington. He repeated the controversial barb in Germany on Wednesday. Alliot-Marie said military and intelligence co-operation between Paris and Washington had been unaffected by the split over Iraq. The Pentagon, however, said last month France would not be invited to a major military exercise in Nevada next year.
Maybe they can have one in Novosibirsk?
The fallout from the Iraq row was on stark display on Saturday as top U.S. military and aerospace figures boycotted the opening of the Paris Air Show â a prestigious event held every two years to the roar of American flypasts. This time, the Pentagon banned the traditional aerial displays by its military pilots and scaled down its presence at the Le Bourget show in what is widely seen as a deliberate snub. In her interview, timed to coincide with the air show, Alliot-Marie urged European firms to stand together to resist what she called an American "economic war." Yeah, let's all get out on the street and do a Manifestation, rather than just go put in a good day of hard work. It's funny living in France has made me believe that the rest of the world want to have what the US has (Germany and Japan excluded), without putting in the required amount of hard work!
"American industrialists are pursuing a logic of economic war," she said in the interview, which Le Monde daily said had been read and cleared by her office before publication. "This attitude is not connected to the Iraq episode. Faced with this, European industry must regroup in order to be in a better position to resist." I love how the French collectively align their economic incompetence with the rest of europe. In Paris, A Japanese friend asked me the other day, "How is it that France is in the G8?"
European and American planemakers traditionally battle for airline orders at the Le Bourget air show outside Paris, but top executives from firms like Boeing and Lockheed Martin have all decided not to attend this year. Alliot-Marie said she was worried by what she sees as moves by U.S. investors to attempt to take control of firms involved in European defense and had ordered a study into the issue.
Posted by: George ||
06/15/2003 08:00 am ||
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...she was worried.........as moves by U.S. investors to attempt to take control of firms involved in European defense.........
Who in their right mind would want to own a company that could not fire employees for cause (e.g. cause bidness is slow, etc.)
#3
"This attitude is not connected to the Iraq episode. Faced with this, European industry must regroup in order to be in a better position to resist."
It's called cutting the fat and I know Euros do not have the good sense to do that. Just wasted breath.
#4
The American Industrialist Conspiracy, again? Yes, we caused the rise of nazism, and we're also truly sorry that we called you old. Can you ever forgive our Superpower Arrogance? I suggest a good tactic for resisting the economic war would be to join the 21st century.
Posted by: Dick Saucer ||
06/15/2003 10:38 Comments ||
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A Belgian court has ruled that a case brought against an Israeli general for crimes against humanity can go ahead. Twenty-three survivors of the 1982 massacres at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon filed the lawsuit against General Amos Yaron, responsible at the time for the Beirut sector of the Israeli defence ministry. The so-called "intergalactic king of nations and divinely authorised judge of all mortal souls" "universal competence" law under which the case was brought allows Belgian courts to prosecute people with no direct link to Belgium or crime. Ariel Sharon - current Israeli prime minister, and defence minister at the time of the massacres - was also named in the original lawsuit, causing Israeli outrage at Belgian "interference". Israel temporarily recalled its ambassador to Brussels. The law was amended in early April under intense pressure from the US and Israel to allow Belgium to refer accused foreigners to courts in their country of origin if they were democracies with a fair judicial record. But this time, the court ruled there was no reason not to allow the case to proceed.
On 16 September 1982 Lebanese Christian militiamen went into Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, bent on revenging the assassination of their leader Bashir Gemayel. Three days later, hundreds, possibly thousands of civilians inside were dead. It was during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and Israeli forces had encircled the area. General Yaron is now director-general at the Israeli defence ministry. If a judge decides to press charges, technically he could be arrested to stand trial if he enters Belgium. Last month the Israeli justice ministry said it would boycott the suit against General Yaron. "We have announced in a letter that enough was enough, that the game was over and that Israel will no longer take part in this lawsuit, which is becoming a political issue," Irit Kahn, in charge of international affairs at the chief prosecutor's office, was quoted as saying by AFP news agency. She cited an earlier decision to allow US courts to handle lawsuits filed in Belgium against former US President George Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell for their roles in the 1991 Gulf War. "Belgian justice has accepted to transfer these cases to the United States but are continuing their lawsuit against Amos Yaron. "We have no reason to tolerate such discrimination." Are Belgian nationals being held to account for colonial crimes? Or just crimes like serial child-killing. Oh, my bad.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/15/2003 07:51 am ||
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...he could be arrested to stand trial if he enters Belgium...
Yeah. I'd like to see them try.
#2
I wonder what the world would think if the US were to pass a "universal competence" law like Belgium's.
Heh, heh...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/15/2003 10:55 Comments ||
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Hmm... so the list of 55 most wanted Iraqis, isn't some kind of "universal competence" the American government thinks it has about crimes committed on Iraqi soil?
And what about other people such as Castro? Are they allowed to freely visit America and leave it without being bothered by the authorities?
#4
Aris, we mostly handle that by denying visas. Castro simply isn't welcome. If he showed up here, he'd be arrested for entering the country illegally.
The only foreign leader I'm aware of us incarcerating is Noriega, who was convicted on drug trafficking charges (operations conducted inside the US, even if he wasn't).
Europe's history of welcoming "The Leader" of various nations is well documented. It's not something I'd be too proud of if I were you.
#5
Aris, we've asserted this competence only in countries we've fought and defeated. Now if Belgium is prepared to conquer Israel... Maybe we'll assert universal competence by conquering Belgium. Or Greece...
#6
The United States is capturing and holding the 55 "most wanted". We've yet determined how we would proceed with a procecution. We are also militarily in charge of Iraq until the Iraqi people can elect members to a national government. As for Castro, his entry into the United States has been to visit the United Nations, and the US has allowed such visits to keep from causing problems with the UN membership. Aris, you know this, but spew your arrogant bullshit to stir up trouble. You are disgusting.
The biggest POC in Europe is France, where our good friend Bob from Zimbabwe was welcomed with open arms by Chirac. Bob's welcome during his French visit was a carefully crafted political blow aimed at Britain - something all Britons should keep in mind before blindly accepting further "integration" into the "European Union".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2003 13:54 Comments ||
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"Castro simply isn't welcome. If he showed up here, he'd be arrested for entering the country illegally."
So, let's assume that you had a certain free borders treaty (let's call this hypothetical treaty "Shengen"). Let's say that Castro used it to go from one country to the other.
Should you arrest him or shouldn't you? You won't have "illegal entry" as an excuse.
"As for Castro, his entry into the United States has been to visit the United Nations, and the US has allowed such visits to keep from causing problems with the UN membership. Aris, you know this, but spew your arrogant bullshit to stir up trouble. "
Actually, no, I had momentarily forgotten that Castro had spoken in the UN.
"The biggest POC in Europe is France"
What does POC mean?
"where our good friend Bob from Zimbabwe was welcomed with open arms by Chirac."
#8
Castro is a bad example: He has killed Americans. End of the story.
Noriega's drug trafficking killed Americans: End of the story.
With the rest of the bunch it's easy as well: When entering the U.S. you have to sign that you never committed genocide, are not entering the US to commit terrorist acts or drug trafficking, and that you don't show your willie in public ("moral turpitude").
The Belgians should just do the same ;-)
Btw I'm not sure whether Chirac was that happy about Mugabe attending. Many African states actually said, if Bob doesn't show up we won't either, which would have spoilt Chirac's African party. It was like ten babes insisting on bringing along the wallflower or... Hmmmm would you show the babes the door?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2003 16:01 Comments ||
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"So, let's assume that you had a certain free borders treaty...". We don't.
For those who believe in moral equivalence (I'm not one), the Belgian law is equivalent to Frankenkimmie or some mullah declaring the right to try anyone in the world for crimes against Juche or Islam. Please note Khomeini's standing fatwa against Salman Rushie for his writings in the UK.
Belgium has claimed the right to try anyone in the world for actions that to not directly or indirectly involve Belgium or Belgians. That's fine. They have a right to claim that. They shouldn't be surprised, though, when we treat them like other nations that claim the same.
PESHAWAR: Peshawar Police on Sunday foiled a smuggling attempt of a huge cache of deadly weapons and narcotics from the Tribal Area to Karachi, and arrested three members of a terrorist gang. Police Chief Tanvirul Haq Sipra told journalists during a press conference that after a preliminary investigation it was found that the arms were aimed at using in sabotage activities in Karachi. âIn the light of information gathered from the terrorists, other member of the network will be arrested soon,â he claimed.
Sounds painful. I hope they used pliers...
He said the accused were not [hired] carriers but the members of a gang and it would help the police nab the rest of the gang in Sindh and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). He said two of the accused belonged to the Frontier while one hailed from Sindh. He said he had informed about the Sindh Police chief about the breakthrough. Kabuli Police led by Deputy Superintendent Chaudhry Ashraf and SHO Muhammad Riaz Khan seized the arms and narcotics from a Karachi-bound passenger bus and arrested Habib Khan Arbab Tapo and Mushtaq Ahmad, from Lakki Marwat and Mumtaz Ali, both from Ghumbat Tehsil, and Khirpure, Sindh, he added. The arms recovered during the raid included 3,400 anti-aircraft shells, eight rocket launchers shells, 340 rounds of 44-bore, 440 rounds of 7-mm, 200 rounds of 8-mm, three AK-47 assault rifles, 10 pistols of 30-bore, spare parts of pistols and 20 hand grenades. The police claimed all were foreign made. They also recovered four kilogrammes of heroin, 200kg of opium.
They checked all that as luggage at the bus station?
Mr Sipra said the accused had disclosed the names of some of their accomplices in the Frontier and Sindh during the investigation but refused to give details to the press due to security reasons. âThese are deadly arms and usually used in terrorist and sabotage activities,â he said. âAccording to its size and composition, this is the largest arms cache seized by the police during the past six months.â He said he would seek the help of police of other districts to arrest other members of the gang. He, however, said it was premature to suggest that any of the arrested smugglers belonged to a religious party.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 06:45 pm ||
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SRINAGAR: Three of seven policemen arrested last week in the Indian Held Kashmir for links with âseparatist guerrillasâ had allegedly masterminded the assassination of Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, a minister in the previous National Conference government in September last year, Police Chief Gopal Sharma said on Sunday. The two policemen had acted in tandem with separatist guerrilla groups in Mr Loneâs assassination in Kupwara in north Kashmir while he was campaigning for last yearâs assembly elections. Sub-Inspector Ghulam Rasool Wani, and Constable Abdul Ahad, arrested last week in Kupwara, had been giving logistical support to various separatist groups active in the area. âThis is the first time Kashmiri policemen have been found supporting militants in such a manner,â said the police chief. He said the policemen had held a meeting with the local commanders of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen immediately before Mr Lone travelled to Kupwara from Srinagar in connection with electioneering. He identified the policemen who participated in the meeting as Ghulam Mohammad Peer alias Gulla Peer, Mohammad Rustum Lone and Abdul Ahad. âThe militants provided wireless sets with scrambled frequencies to the policemen so that they could pass on information about the ministerâs movements,â he said. The two policemen also allegedly helped two recent âFidayeenâ suicide attacks in Kupwara,â he added.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 06:34 pm ||
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SPA — Guerrillas ambushed a U.S. convoy in the hostile region north of Baghdad on Sunday, wounding several soldiers, as a new U.S. mission was launched to hunt for Saddam Hussein loyalists blamed for recent attacks. A crippled U.S. truck smouldered on the highway south of the restive town of Balad after the ambush, its tyres and canopy ablaze. Apache helicopters buzzed overhead, searching for the attackers. Tanks and armoured vehicles surrounded the truck. Troops trained their guns at the fields around the road. Soldiers said several casualties had been evacuated. They said the convoy had been travelling from Baghdad to Balad, about 90 km (60 miles) to the north. It was attacked about 20 km south of Balad.
FoxNews says CENTCOM is denying this report...
The ambush came as the U.S. military launched a new mission, Operation Desert Scorpion, to root out Saddam loyalists after a spate of attacks that have killed about 40 U.S. soldiers since major combat was declared over on May 1. The new U.S. military sweep followed last week's Operation Peninsula Strike — the biggest such U.S. manoeuvre in Iraq since May 1 — when a series of raids were mounted in the fertile plains around Balad near the Tigris river.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 06:19 pm ||
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EFL and multiple sources
From the Guardian
An Army maintenance unit that lost 11 soldiers and had several taken prisoner in an ambush in Iraq was sent in the wrong direction by other American soldiers as they sped to catch up to their convoy, a Texas congressman [Rep. Slivestre Reyes, D-El Paso] said Friday. Reyes is a Democrat from El Paso, home to Fort Bliss, where the 507th is based. He was briefed Friday by the Defense Department. Things worked against the soldiers nearly from the start, he said. The company left Camp Virginia in Kuwait in a convoy to support the 3rd Infantry, which was heading north. Their heavier vehicles had trouble keeping up as they traveled through raw desert. Also, they were responsible for stopping to repair vehicles that broke down. Think about it. Your job is to stop and repair vehicles in hostile territory. Stopping to repair vehicles will quickly get you isolated. Did someone have a force protection plan for this? Obviously not.
To adjust, the 507th's commander split the company to keep some units with the main convoy and others to attend the broken vehicles. Reyes was not sure of the number of units in the company but said it was about a dozen. The gap grew larger and soon the units that remained behind had spotty communication with the main convoy. The commander headed toward the American checkpoint for which all units had been given coordinates. When they arrived, about nine hours behind the main convoy, they were waved in an easterly direction to the outskirts of Nasiriyah, Reyes said. The main convoy had gone west. Reyes said the units traveled 10 to 20 miles around the city when the commander's Global Positioning Satellite system indicated a turn that was not on his route. That's when he decided to double back to the checkpoint. As the ambush happened, the commander was able to speed ahead and flag down Marines down the road who returned to assist the soldiers.
From The El Paso Times -
...But it concludes that the 507th "found itself in a desperate situation due to a navigational error caused by the combined effects of the operational pace, acute fatigue, isolation and the harsh environmental conditions." ... The first sergeant, who was at the rear of the convoy, directed the vehicles at the end of the convoy to move faster, but the convoy began to split into three smaller groups. The first group, led by the commander, returned fire and maneuvered around obstacles, and broke out of the city to meet with Marines moving north. The commander requested help from the Marines, who sped north and managed to rescue a second group of soldiers, who had been forced out of their disabled vehicles. Five of those 10 soldiers were wounded. The third group of 17 soldiers, which included a truck driven by Piestewa that was carrying the company first sergeant and Lynch, "took the brunt of the Iraqi attack."
The Arizona Republics adds -
The report also states that the unit's soldiers who survived the attack explained that they were issued rules of engagement that prohibited them from firing on Iraqis who did not exhibit hostility. Soldiers also had been warned to expect possible "happy fire," shots fired in celebration and not to cause harm.
I'm too old and fat for that sort of stuff anymore, but if I wasn't, and I was part of a convoy thrusting into Iraq — don't even think about "happy firing" anywhere close to me.
Posted by: Don ||
06/15/2003 11:19 am ||
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We lost several Marines on the same day that the 507th got ambushed. It's not clear to me whether the Marine losses were attributable to them rushing to the aid of the 507th, or to something else.
Posted by: Matt ||
06/15/2003 11:46 Comments ||
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...they were issued rules of engagement that prohibited them from firing on Iraqis who did not exhibit hostility.
Isn't the usual wartime standard armed personnel who won't surrender their weapons? Talk about political correctness. Now I understand why our guys are still being attacked - the bad guys aren't afraid of us.
#3
Give every soldier a small loudspeaker that says (in Arabic) "Drop your weapons and raise your hands or we will kill you" "Those who fire weapons, will be fired upon." Do you think that would work?
SPA — Government troops on Sunday stormed the houses of two Muslim rebel leaders wanted inconnection with bombings in the southern Philippines — but found only caretakers, officials said. About 100 police and soldiers simultaneously raided the homes of Moro Islamic Liberation Front vice chairman for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar and vice chairman for military affairs Al Haj Murad in Maguindanao province's Sultan Kudarat town, 930 kilometers (580 miles) southeastof Manila.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 03:19 pm ||
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Myanmar's foreign minister said Sunday that Aung San Suu Kyi is being kept in custody to protect her from a possible assassination attempt, and added that no time frame can be given for the pro-democracy leader's release. "And who would know better than us, the generals, that she's in danger?"
Foreign Minister Win Aung refused to say who the possible assassins would be or why they would want to target Suu Kyi. ``We have heard there were assassins coming in the country. I don't know who their target will be, our leaders or ...,'' the minister told reporters in Phnom Penh where he will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference beginning Monday. But if ``anything happened to her it will be blamed on us.'' Well natch.
Suu Kyi was detained on May 30 after a clash between her supporters and a pro-government crowd in northern Myanmar. She has been kept incommunicado since then, jeopardizing the reconciliation process to end the country's 15-year-old political deadlock. But Win Aung said Suu Kyi is not in detention but in custody to make sure that she comes to no ``personal harm,'' adding the government never had any ``intention of freeing harming'' Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's national hero, Aung San. ``She is our national leader's daughter she is like our sister,'' he said. "Of course, she's the sister who should be home making babies and spinning yarn."
Win Aung also said, the government could not give a date for her release. ``Don't press us to commit ourselves to a timeframe and date of releasing her ... the important thing is that the will (to free her) is there,'' he said. "... in about thirty years. But don't press me on that."
On Saturday, Myanmar's state-run press blamed Suu Kyi for the May 30 clash that led to her detention, and said the violence showed she was incapable of running the country. The government says members of Suu Kyi's party instigated the violence when her motorcade was confronted by thousands of military supporters. Oh sure, my unarmed, peaceful supporters would always confront a bunch of military thugs with weapons.
But opposition accounts say pro-government thugs ambushed Suu Kyi's motorcade, stabbing and beating her followers. Her detention has evoked an international outcry from world leaders including President Bush and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan who have demanded her release. The foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations the local affiliate of the UN, of which Myanmar is a member, will meet with foreign ministers of other Asian and Pacific countries on Wednesday at a regional security meeting. At which time nothing will happen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2003 02:07 am ||
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Click here
Read the whole article. Some excerpts
‘ "The administration wasn't matching its deeds to its words in the war on terrorism. They're making us less secure, not more secure," said Beers, who until now has remained largely silent about leaving his National Security Council job as special assistant to the president for combating terrorism. "As an insider, I saw the things that weren't being done. And the longer I sat and watched, the more concerned I became, until I got up and walked out’
‘ ...Whis frustration with the culture of the White House. He was loath to discuss it. His wife, Bonnie, a school administrator, was not: "It's a very closed, small, controlled group. This is an administration that determines what it thinks and then sets about to prove it. There's almost a religious kind of certainty. There's no curiosity about opposing points of view. It's very scary. There's kind of a ghost agenda."
’ I have always felt uneasy with the Administration's domestic antiterror policies. I still turn on the TV twice a day expecting to see something like the World Trade Center on fire.
Christopher Johnson at MCJ finds this, extolling the latest hobby horse of the enviroloons.
A waterless dry toilet, which generally costs about $2,000, collects human urine and feces and requires emptying by humans on a regular basis. Advocates claim the resulting matter can then be composted and used as fertilizer for food crops...
Warnberg's website explains that the dry toilets need to be emptied at 6- to 12-month intervals, "depending on loading," and his design includes the use of earthworms to "provide mixing and aeration."
When I was just a lad, we had one o' them new-fangled dry toilets out back. We didn't realize we wuz modern and environmentally friendly. We thought we wuz just po' folks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 08:56 pm ||
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Invite a few guests and those dry toilets fill up rather quickly. (speaking from experience)
#2
The amount of chemicals that I would need to deodorize a 'dry toilet' would completely offset any environmental benefits since, unlike the Green Lefties, I readily admit that my shit DOES stink.
#4
Using perfume instead of cleaning things up is a very european practice. That practice contributed significantly to the black death.
This is already done commercially (and sanitarily), though I'm not sure how widely.
#5
Damn, I thought I was the only one that had "environmentally friendly" plumbing growing up... My parents put in "indoor" plumbing just before I brought my bride home for the first time. I've been in on the working end of a spade, both digging a new hole and filling in the old one. There are some new "chemical" toilets that have some features we didn't have in an outhouse, but it still comes down to the same thing. I will have to admit, baring your backside to a cold February wind whistling through the cracks in an outhouse builds character - also frostbite in some very unusual places.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2003 22:40 Comments ||
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Clivus Multrum was a name of an entity that was connected with the Rockefeller family, where the entity in question did indeed come up with a waterless toilet, but they lost over $1 million (and probably more) trying to 'implement' this idea. I wonder why...
#7
Don't know how widespread thier use is,but the USFS uses these dry toliets at the Salt river Canyon(Arizona)Rest stop.The times I stopped there the oder was barely detectable.
Don Sensing discusses similarities between Israel in 1948 and Paleostine today.
One of the things that makes a sovereign state sovereign is holding a monopoly on the use of force, especially military force. This monopoly is proving to be a huge hurdle for birthing a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas nominally commands the Palestinian Authority's security forces, but he has not yet demonstrated just how much real control he has of them. And, as I posted Wednesday, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas violently refuses to accept Abbas' authority. Unless Hamas is brought to heel there is no prospect for a sovereign Palestinian state.
Then he goes on to explain why. A very interesting and informative read, by one of the best analytical minds in Blogdom.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 08:40 pm ||
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There was also a discussion of this incident over on littlegreenfootballs.com earlier, including debate over whether the usual history of the event is correct or not.
It's an interesting incident anyway; I had never heard of it before the last week or so, and I'm glad I read about it in both places.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/15/2003 21:57 Comments ||
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Unless Hamas is brought to heel there is no prospect for a sovereign Palestinian state.
TRIPOLI - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has called for the wholesale privatisation of the country's vital oil and other industries, which were nationalised when he seized power in 1969, reports said Saturday.
That's because he pissed away all the money...
In a speech to parliament Friday, Kadhafi said the public sector had failed and should be abolished, including in the oil industry, "which is the basis of Libya's wealth." He called for companies to be formed "which would not be the property of the state but of Libyans," who could call on foreign experts to help run them, in order to "develop the oil industry, from prospection to production and marketing." Similar measures should be applied to the country's banks, airports, road and "other public enterprises," he said.
By Jove! I think he's got it! Catches on quick, doesn't he? It's only been... ummm... 34 or 40 years.
Oil accounts for nearly 90 percent of Libya's resources. Its production quota set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) stands at 1.3 million barrels a day. Kadhafi slammed the "irresponsibility" of civil servants, accusing the public sector of wasting billions of dollars and warning that the economy would collapse if it were maintained. "The public sector needs people with a high level of expertise, patriotism and unshakeable morality", he said, adding that the state-run economy had failed in the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe because it relied on "incompetent functionaries who cared nothing for the national interest."
Money is power. It doesn't matter if it's other people's money, as long as it's your power...
Libya announced in January last year its intention to open up the tightly controlled economy. Five months later it launched an ambitious 35 billion dollar three-year investment plan, to include a high proportion of foreign capital, particularly in the oil and other industrial sectors.
So here's your chance. If you trust Muammar not to change his mind again in six months.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 08:11 pm ||
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This is new. This is different...
TRIPOLI - Veteran Libyan diplomat Ali Abdel Salam al-Triki lost his job when his post of African unity minister was abolished in a government reshuffle announced Saturday. Triki, 65 this year, saw his ministry absorbed into the foreign ministry, still headed by Abdel Rahman Shalham in the new government headed by Shukri Ghanem, a former economy minister and oil expert who replaces Mubaral al-Shamekh as prime minister. Ghanem holds a PhD from a US university.
I wonder if there are more than a hundred non-Libyans in the world who even knew Libya had a prime minister...
Triki served as foreign minister from 1976 to 1981 and 1984-86, as well as ambassador to France, the United Nations and the Arab League in his long career. He became African unity minister when the portfolio was created in 2001, reflecting a switch in Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's policy to regard Libya as an African rather than an Arab state.
Then they discovered Africa's as goofy as the Arab world...
At the same time Kadhafi threatened to pull out of Arab League, an organisation he accused of failing to deal effectively with Arab problems, notably the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The threat was lifted last month.
It'll be back...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 07:56 pm ||
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Iran's cleric-run government has declared war on satellite television and begun jamming American-based channels, blaming them for inciting the wave of student-led protests that have brought bloody clashes to Tehran's streets. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed America for stirring up protests by "mercenaries" as U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Iran was secretly attempting to build nuclear weapons. Many of those who took to the streets first learned of the protests from satellite channels, run by American-based exile groups. They include National Iranian Television, which is run by Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah. The satellite broadcasts, which mix popular and political programs, are one of the few diversions openly available to Iranian youth, a welcome relief from the religious fare offered on state-run channels.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 07:28 pm ||
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Open an office of "Radio Free Iran" in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in Oman. Run the power up to 1MW, and broadcast on the "official" channel as well as on a dozen or so "odd" wavelengths, playing nothing but Merle Haggard and Dixie Chicks. Broadcast "The Beverly Hillbillies" on the "official" television channel round-the-clock, without commercials or any other break. Dare Iran to do anything about it. Shouldn't take but a couple of weeks for things to start to come apart in the land of the Meades and Persians.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2003 22:54 Comments ||
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KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (Reuters) - President Bush on Sunday said the world must "deal harshly" with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and a leading Republican senator said U.S. troops may have to go after them. "The free world and those who love freedom and peace must deal harshly with Hamas and the killers," Bush told reporters when asked whether Israel was justified in recent attacks against the group. The remarks were his most extensive on the situation in the Middle East since a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence last week threw his peace "road map" into turmoil, and they intensified earlier calls for action against Hamas. Bush said the United States was helping the Palestinian Authority reconstitute a security force to take on Hamas, but declined to say if Washington would provide arms or money.
U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, "clearly, if force is required ultimately to root out terrorism, it is possible there would be American participation." Asked if that meant such troops would go after Hamas or other groups, he said, "That may be the conclusion... It may not be just Hamas but clearly Hamas is right in the gunsights."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 07:17 pm ||
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YOKOHAMA -- A top government official has accused the North Korean regime of behaving like "gangsters" during a lecture he gave here. "I don't think you can have a healthy dialogue with somebody who smuggles drugs and abducts 13-year-old girls," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said at a Yokohama hall Saturday. "These are actions you'd expect from organized criminal gangs. There is no one in the world who believes that you can solve gangster troubles through dialogue."
"Well, maybe the South Koreans. But nobody else. Except for the UN, of course..."
Abe, who is one of the key men in the Koizumi Cabinet, warned Pyongyang that its blackmail tactics would not work. "They will gain nothing if they continue to do what they are doing now," the deputy chief Cabinet secretary said. Abe stressed that Japan should take a hard-line approach in dealing with the reclusive regime. "Time is on our side. The condition in North Korea is getting worse every single day. All we should do is to snub their blackmail tactics."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 07:12 pm ||
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this seems like a realllly bad idea. Just let the Israelis do what they can/should and have been restrained from doing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading Republican lawmaker said on Sunday U.S. forces may have to help "root out terrorism" in the Middle East conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, including taking aim at Hamas.
In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Sen. Richard Lugar, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said American forces might be part of an international force to help stop attacks by Hamas, the main group behind a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis, and other groups.
Hamas has said it would reject any peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Lugar said such a force could be used to quell Israeli and Palestinian disputes, "and, maybe even more important, to root out the terrorism that is at the heart of the problem."
Asked if that meant such troops would go after Hamas or other groups, he said, "That may be the conclusion."
"...It may not be just Hamas but clearly Hamas is right in the gunsights," he added.
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE PRESIDENT BUSH"
"...The terrorist aspect really has to be dealt with and that's why I say don't underestimate President Bush," Lugar said.
Lugar is headed to the region next week and said he, as well as top U.S. officials, would be there seeking to halt the cycle of violence that is jeopardizing the U.S.-backed peace "road map."
The United States has appealed for restraint from both sides after a week of bloodshed in which more than 50 people were killed.
Last week's violence included the killing of four soldiers in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus and seven Israeli helicopter strikes on militants, including an attempt to assassinate a Hamas leader.
Bush has sent the veteran diplomat John Wolf to the region to prevent the failure of the peace plan affirmed at a June 4 summit in Aqaba, Jordan, with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Lugar said Secretary of State Colin Powell also would be free after meetings in Jordan next Sunday.
UNILATERAL ACTION?
Whether to insert forces into the volatile situation is being considered, including "whether they are to be all by themselves" or in conjunction with a United Nations or NATO force, he said.
"That is always a possibility but having said that, I would just say this is down the trail. We have to be very, very careful about the use of American forces," he said.
"But clearly, if force is required ultimately to root out terrorism, it is possible there would be American participation." Well, they ARE terrorists, and we are committed to the WOT, but why not let the IDF take their gloves off. You know they want to
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2003 07:00 pm ||
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Bad title: I should've said: "May Have to go after Hamas"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2003 19:31 Comments ||
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TEHRAN: A group of 248 Iranian dissidents issued a scathing declaration on Sunday stressing the right of the people to criticise the leadership and describing the holding of absolute power as âheresyâ.
That kinda gnaws at the base of theocracy, doesn't it?
âThe people have the right to supervise the action of their rulers and to advise and criticise them, as well as to dismiss or oust them if they are not satisfied with them,â said the declaration, which was signed by reformists, liberals, journalists, intellectuals and several clerics. âSitting or making individuals sit in the position of divine and absolute power is a clear heresy towards God and a clear affront to human dignity,â said the strong-worded declaration received by AFP.
They're only saying that because it's true...
The statement came after five consecutive nights of bitter student-led anti-regime protests in Tehran that have been marked by vitriolic slogans targeting Iranâs Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wields absolute power over the Islamic republic.
Kinda Louis XIV, only without the wardrobe...
Among the signatories to the letter was Hashem Aghajari, a pro-reform dissident who was sentenced to death last year on charges of blasphemy after he questioned the right to rule of clerics. He is currently awaiting a revision of his sentence. Other signatories were close allies of embattled President Mohammad Khatami, student activists, journalists, prominent academics and members of the banned-but-tolerated Iran Freedom Movement (IFM).
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 06:39 pm ||
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My goodness, these 248 dissidents had a collective James Madison/John Adams/Ben Franklin moment, didn't they?
More, please. Faster, please.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2003 19:56 Comments ||
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Freetown, SPA — Sierra Leone's former military junta ruler Johnny Paul Koroma, who has been indicted by a U.N.-backed war crimes court, is dead, Reuters quoted the court's top investigator as saying on Sunday. "I told the indictee's wife that her husband has been killed and we got this from credible information," Alan White told the news agency by telephone in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown. Koroma had been on the run since January this year.
So where's the corpse to back up the statement?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 04:58 pm ||
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GAZA CITY: With Palestinians under heavy US pressure to reach a ceasefire agreement with the Israelis and implement an international "roadmap" for peace, the radical group Hamas was keeping its options open Sunday and trying to avoid isolation. After a week of relentless Israeli strikes against the movement's leaders and militants, Hamas appeared to be toning down its bellicose declarations against Israel and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas' government.
Guess they're talking about stuff like "ceasefire is not in our vocabulary"
While the group remains officially opposed to any ceasefire arrangement with Israel, it agreed to join Egyptian-brokered inter-Palestinian talks which are ultimately aimed at reaching a truce. "We will not boycott the Egyptians, we are always in contact with them. If the delegation arrives today, there will be meetings," senior political leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi told AFP on Sunday. "This dialogue should start from a clear basis which promotes the national interest of the Palestinians. Then the Hamas will participate in the dialogue," added Rantissi, who himself survived an Israeli assassination bid last week. An Egyptian delegation arrived for separate talks with all the main factions, before bringing them all to the same table in a bid to revive the national dialogue and reach a ceasefire deal. Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said after a cabinet meeting Sunday the government had received "positive signs" from radical groups and that he was "sure" the coming contacts would yield results. The arrival of the delegation headed by an aide of Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman coincides with that of US envoy John Wolf and his team tasked with monitoring the progress of the road map. Hamas is fiercely opposed to the blueprint, which proposes the creation of a Palestinian state covering a tiny fraction of what the group advocates in its charter.
Its efforts to derail it have been spectacularly not subtle...
But the group realises it has more to lose by escalating its campaign of suicide bombings and other anti-Israeli violence, a source close to Hamas said. While the group has been feeling the heat from Israel's formidable war machine over the past week, its funding channels are running dry and it could be hurt by further confrontation with the Palestinian Authority controlled by the mainstrean Fatah, the source said.
Fatah's afraid of them. Abbas won't crack down on them because it'll lead to civil war — which the PA might not win, and which'll be even more destructive regardless of who does..
"Hamas will negotiate. It cannot confront the Authority, because it will lose everything," warned the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The inspiration behind the group when it was founded in 1987 is the Muslim Brotherhood, which has always favoured a soft, integrated approach, gaining weight within the system to promote its views," he said. "Hamas needs dialogue to achieve its political goals," he added. Hamas broke off dialogue with Abbas two days after the moderate prime minister angered Palestinian radicals by using the term "terrorism" for their military operations and vowing to end the armed intifada, at the Israeli-Palestinian-US summit in Aqaba, Jordan on June 4. "Hamas is also feeling the international noose tightening around its neck. Under US pressure, the money is not flowing from its foreign sources as well as it used to," the same official said.
And FoxNews sez Bush is cracking down on their funding channels...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 04:54 pm ||
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NEVE TSUF, West Bank (AP) - Jewish settlers occupied a remote site in the West Bank early Sunday, then left after the Israeli army promised that it would close two local roads to Palestinians, the settlers said. The brief encounter was just the latest in the cat-and-mouse game the Israeli army has been playing with the settlers.
Under terms of a U.S.-backed peace plan, Israel is to remove all outposts erected since March 1, 2001. Last week soldiers tore down 10 tiny, empty hilltop outposts and three inhabited points, but settlers stopped removal of others by appealing to the Supreme Court. On Sunday, the high court delayed evacuation of an outpost next to the veteran settlement of Beit El, near the Palestinian town of Ramallah, court officials and settlers said, after an appeal by the settlers. Another hearing is set for Monday.
Over the weekend, about 200 settlers occupied an area near the settlement of Neve Tsuf, near the town of Ramallah, to protest the shooting of two Jewish women by Palestinian killers gunmen on Friday. The women were wounded.
However, after a few hours, soldiers arrived and the settlers agreed to leave. Soldiers loaded a cargo container, the main structure at the rump settlement, onto a large, red flatbed truck and hauled it away from the site, accompanied by armored jeeps. Settler spokesman Oded Stern said that in exchange, the army promised to ban Palestinians from stretches of road between the settlement of Neve Tsuf and Beit Tilo, a Palestinian village, and the village of Beit Rima and the Ateret settlement - a total of about 12 miles. The military refused to comment.
Dror Etkes of the anti-settlement Peace Never Now movement charged that the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has deliberately refrained from aggressively removing outposts because it sympathizes with the settler movement. Sharon ``has the power to deal with the settlers,'' Etkes said, ``but not the will.'' Dror, didn't your own Supreme Court put a hold on this during an appeal? You gotta problem with democracy? You'll like living in Paleostine a lot less, promise.
Settlers have pledged to put up new outposts to replace the ones removed by the army. The settlers and their backers believe Israeli must hold on to the entire West Bank for security and religious reasons. As part of the biblical Land of Israel, they say, the West Bank cannot be banned for Jewish settlement.
Palestinians claim all of the West Bank - seized by Israel in 1967 along with the Gaza Strip - as part of a caliphate state they hope to create right after they murder all the Jews and consider all the settlements, not just the outposts, as illegal encroachment on their land. Hey Dror, if the Paleos get their way the only place you'll be allowed to live is about 40 miles west of Tel Aviv. Think about it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2003 03:04 pm ||
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BEIRUT, Greater Syria Lebanon (AP) - Lebanese Finance Minister Fuad Saniora has been banned from entering the United States for giving money to a society accused of links to the Hezbollah guerrilla group, the minister's spokesman said Sunday. What's so unusual about that?
U.S. Ambassador Vincent Battle told Saniora of the ban two weeks ago. Saniora's spokesman said the minister donated 1 million Lebanese pounds, or $650, last year to the Islamic Benevolent Society headed by Grand Ayatollah Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, often cited as a spiritual leader of Hezbollah. The Lebanese guerrilla group backs the Palestinian uprising and is listed in Washington as a supporter of terrorism. $650 is walking around money in Chicago. That doesn't buy you a zoning variance from an alderman.
And Mullah Fudlullah sez he's split with Hezbollah. Now they're just good friends...
According to the spokesman, the U.S. ambassador told Saniora that a new U.S. anti-terror law imposes sanctions against groups or individuals who make contributions to organizations considered supporters of terrorism. Saniora argued the donation was part of his religious requirement to give alms, one of the five pillars of Islam. "My faith required me to buy that rifle ammobaby milk!"
Capable Muslims are required by their religion to give a percentage of their annual income for distribution to poor and needy co-religionists, often at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Collecting alms at gatherings to end a day's fasting is a common practice. Saniora's spokesman said the minister told Battle that if applied, the anti-terror act would affect thousands of Lebanese who make such donations. Clever lad, he's catching on!
Saniora is a close confidant of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a pro-Western Sunni Muslim who has often been at odds with Hezbollah. Saniora also has come under sharp criticism from Hezbollah for his fiscal and taxation policies. We put Capone away on tax evasion. Wonder if Saniora ... ... ... ... nah!!!!
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2003 02:57 pm ||
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IRIN - Liberian peace talks in Ghana reached deadlock at the weekend as both rebel movements demanded that President Charles Taylor resign within 10 days of a ceasefire agreement being signed.
Tip... tip... tip... Go ahead and tip, dammit!
Monrovia remained calm on Sunday, five days after rebel fighters withdrew from the western suburbs of the city, but residents said they were afraid of further attacks soon given their latest ultimatum to Taylor to quit. The sources at the peace talks in Akosombo, a lakeside town 100 km north of Accra, said the Liberian government delegation had flatly refused this demand by the rebels, who control about two thirds of Liberia, who had demanded that Taylor quit as part of any ceasefire agreement. The delegation, led by Defence Minister Daniel Chea, had responded that Taylor would only consider stepping down once he and other government leaders and senior military commanders had been given international guarantees about their security, they added. Taylor was indicted for war crimes by a UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone last week for his alleged part in fuelling that country's 1991-2001 civil war, which was marked by the arbitrary killing, maiming and rape of tens of thousands of civilians.
So give him "immunity" and then make sure all his enemies know his address and phone number. Somebody'll shoot him, or blow him up, or beat his head in with a rock...
Zim Daily News is back on line...
THE South African government has approached Harare about releasing Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and about the resumption of dialogue between the countryâs main political parties, diplomats told the Daily News this week. They said Western countries were also pressing South Africa to use its influence to ensure that Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabweâs main opposition party, was not detained for much longer. Tsvangirai, who is already charged with treason for allegedly plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe, was arrested last Friday at the end of the five-day anti-government protests called by his party. He is facing fresh treason charges for allegedly making statements calling for the unconstitutional removal of Mugabe and is in remand prison pending a ruling on his application for bail. The diplomatic sources said Malawi, Nigeria and South Africa, which are attempting to facilitate dialogue between the MDC and Mugabeâs ruling ZANU PF party, were keen to secure Tsvangiraiâs release. They told the Daily News that South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma had a telephone conversation with Mugabe on Monday morning, during which Tsvangiraiâs arrest and continued detention were brought up.
Bob's got his own fine line here. He's got to keep cracking down on MDC and Morgan to stave off having his power slip away. But if he disposes of Morgan, even he can see it as his tipping point...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/15/2003 01:53 pm ||
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#1
Ah, the old assassination plot ploy...
Is there anybody in Zim who's *not* plotting to assassinate Bob?
Arrhythmias strike the heart of darkness... EFR
A planned three-month "lightning mission" by a European Union combat force to the Congolese town of Bunia could last at least a year, a leading French officer has warned. "Three months is ridiculous, even six months won't be enough," said Col Daniel Vollotwith a resigned shoulder shrug, carefully buttering up a ration pack croissant before sinking his teeth into a dripping tranche of rehydrated camembert, who has commanded UN peacekeepers in Bunia for the last seven months. The warning will fuel fears in Britain at the decision to send a French-led EU force of up to 1,500 soldiers, including 100 British troops. Last week Adam Ingram, the armed forces minister, said it would withdraw "later in the summer".
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/15/2003 07:32 am ||
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#3
The little secret the colonel didn;t mention is that the force would be in country for more than three months if they are actually required to fire their weapons in anger.
#4
*blinks at badanov* Don't you mean they wouldn't be in the country for more than three months if they are actually required to fire their weapons in anger?
#5
This is obviously a quagmire with no light at the end of the tunnel. The Frogs are going to have to destroy Bunia in order to save it.
Posted by: Matt ||
06/15/2003 11:41 Comments ||
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#6
Wait till a few French (or even worse, British, God forbid) soldiers start coming home in bodybags...the outcry will ensure that they'll scoot soon enough. Of course, there are already calls in the UN for a "massive, long term, fully funded, fully logistically supported, fully authorized" military intervention with a mission of "social reconstruction"...in other words, get the US to do it.
Iran is recruiting top Iraqi weapons scientists to join a dangerous brain drain from Baghdad as international concern grows about Teheran's clandestine arms programme. The pro-Iranian Badr Brigade, an Iraqi Islamic militia, is helping scientists to travel through tribal areas north east of Baghdad and across the border for meetings with senior military and regime figures in Teheran, The Telegraph has learnt. The Iranian regime is particularly seeking Iraqi specialists in solid missile propellants, a technology in which Baghdad was strong but Teheran weak. Iran wants to switch from liquid to solid fuels to improve the performance of its long-range Shahab missiles, which may soon be able to reach Europe. Somehow I doubt whether Europe's top on the list of destinations. But it would certainly make some EUnuchs more amenable.
I doubt it. Not until Brussels or Strasbourg is a hole in the ground...
Last week Iran barred United Nations inspectors from taking samples from a suspect nuclear plant, heightening fears that the regime is secretly preparing to make enriched uranium, the crucial raw material for nuclear weapons. Donald Rumsfeld, the American defence secretary, issued a warning that Iran was actively working to develop a bomb. A senior Pentagon official who has just visited Baghdad privately confirmed that Iran headed a list of states - including Syria, Libya and possibly North Korea - which have approached some of Saddam Hussein's leading missile experts. Senior employees of Iraq's Military Industrialisation Commission (MIC), the body that ran Baghdad's weapons programmes, have also told this newspaper that scientists are being recruited overseas.
I hope nobody's surprised at this. The NKors would be doing it, too, if they could afford to buy... uh... pay them...
There are particular fears over the intentions and whereabouts of Gen Mudh'her Sadeq Sabe'a, Saddam's chief missiles expert, and the man behind the al-Samoud missile that was proscribed by UN inspectors for exceeding the permitted 92-mile range. Gen Mudh'her, who shares the same Shia Muslim faith as Teheran's ruling clerics, disappeared from Baghdad after the war. An Iraqi businessman with close links to the MIC said that the general was travelling between his home province of Diyala and Iran, under protection from the Badr Brigade. Former MIC associates predicted that several leading weapons scientists would take their expertise to Iran after falling victim to the clear-out of ruling Ba'ath Party officials ordered by the coalition. "Do not be surprised when some of these people start turning up in Teheran," Brig Marouf al-Chalabi, the former director-general of the MIC, told The Telegraph. "If the Americans do not find work for MIC's employees soon, and if they continue to rule out all of the Ba'athists, then many of our best scientists will leave. Some want to go to the West, but others will go to Iran." Brig al-Chalabi, who insisted that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programme after 1991 during a lengthy interview last week, said that he did not know Gen Mudh'her's specific plans. He also gave a warning that files and computer disks looted from his Baghdad research facility could be sold abroad. The brigadier, who studied mechanical engineering in America and was honoured by Saddam for his work last year, said that he had previously been questioned extensively by UN inspectors, but had not been questioned by the Americans. American officials confirmed that Iran and Syria are making lucrative financial offers to Iraqi scientists. One intelligence official said: "Some have gone, and others will go. We need to get a programme in place quickly to keep these people and their expertise in Iraq."
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/15/2003 06:06 am ||
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Hired thugs: they don't just do it for the love of it.
Zim-Bob-We's security forces, the front-line enforcers of President Robert Mugabe's brutal regime, are being paid only a fraction of their salaries as the country's economic crisis deepens. Many soldiers and police officers, whose loyalty has traditionally been bought with high pay and other perks, are receiving less than half of their wages because there is not enough money in the Treasury coffers, according to serving police officers. The pay cuts are threatening to undermine the forces' morale and, crucially, their loyalty to Mr Mugabe. Opponents say that Mr Mugabe continues in power only because critics of the regime risk violence, jail and death at the hands of his ruthless state security forces, including the feared Central Intelligence Organisation. Last week, with the help of an intermediary, The Telegraph met two policemen in the capital, Harare, who were prepared to speak out, on condition of anonymity. One officer, in his mid-thirties, said: "Recently I have been paid only a small part of my salary and it is making life very difficult. I have a wife and children. How am I supposed to feed them if am not being paid properly?"
Because somebody's going to hack you and probably them to pieces with machetes if you don't keep the regime in power? I think that's it...
The other, a slightly older man, said: "If you were in the security forces you always knew that you would be rewarded well because you were protecting the regime. But that is not happening now and many police officers are suffering, and soldiers too. It makes us wonder why we do it." Tap tap... Nothing's registering on the sympathy meter.
My guess is self-preservation at this point...
The Government denied that security officers were not receiving their full salaries and said that all civil servants would receive pay rises from July 1. The police officers were adamant, however, that they were not being paid in full and said that the cuts were causing "deep resentment". Members of the ruling Zanu-PF's 40,000-strong youth militia threatened to revolt last year because they had not been paid, but a rebellion by experienced security officers would pose a serious threat to Mr Mugabe's rule — and possibly his life.
Anybody heard anything from Ceaucescu's Securitate organization lately?
The pay cuts will hit particularly hard because they come at a time when prices in the shops are soaring — Zimbabwe's inflation is just under 300 per cent — and there are serious shortages of basic foods, petrol and medicines in the worst economic crisis since independence from Britain was won in 1980. David Coltart, an MP for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said that if Mr Mugabe was unable to pay the police and army it would be "a devastating blow" to the regime. "Without the military, Mugabe is nothing," he said. One Zimbabwean opposition MP said that Mr Mugabe would "simply print millions of banknotes" to pay his security forces, even though this would send inflation soaring even higher. There is another problem: the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar means that it now costs 700 dollars (50p) to produce a note for 500 (36p). Add a zero or two...
I also read somewhere that they can't afford to buy the ink to print the notes anymore. Bob's Zim is trying to make the NorKs look prosperous...
The banknotes are printed by a government-owned company in Harare. Last week, it was frantically churning out notes to meet increased demand because of inflation and last week's strikes. The $500 note - Zimbabwe's highest denomination note, which was worth £500 just after independence in 1980 - is now not enough to buy a bottle of beer.
Zim now has the highest inflation rate in the world. Who said they're not a world-leader in something?
Protesters said they were very concerned about the arrest of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC who called last week's protests as a "final push" against Mr Mugabe. Mr Tsvangirai, 51, is in custody on charges of treason for plotting to use illegal means to overthrow the government. Last week, Mr Mugabe threatened to expel Brian Donnelly, the British High Commissioner in Harare, for "interfering in Zimbabwe's affairs by helping the MDC to organise its demonstrations". A spokesman for Mr Donnelly denied any role in organising the protests. Western diplomats saw the warning as Mr Mugabe's latest attempt to blame his troubles on the former colonial power. If he's not careful, he's going to run out of excuses before his white-winged air taxi descends from the heavens. Wouldn't that be a shame?
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/15/2003 05:53 am ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
