The Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre (GRC) will hold a two-day closed-door workshop on "The Gulf Region as a Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone" today and tomorrow.
Be sure to remind your neighbors to the east ...
Participants at the workshop will explore ways of building adequate political and legal structures to implement the project. A second objective will be to pave the way to achieve consensus among all the nine countries of the Gulf — the six Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC) countries and Iran, Iraq and Yemen. GRC Chairman Abdulaziz Sager said "the underlying goal of the project lies in ensuring that the Gulf region becomes a WMD-free zone just as five other regions across the world, with more than 110 countries, have managed to do".
"There is no bigger threat now than the arms race in the Gulf for developing weapons of mass destruction", Sager said, adding that "regional and world reaction to the project has been positive, confirming the appropriate timing of the project". Most of the Gulf countries will be represented by official delegates at the workshop. The GCC states, in their capacity as co-initiators of the project, will send top-level delegations drawn from their diplomatic and military establishments. Attendees will include delegates from the UN affiliate organisations concerned with WMD — which were closely involved in formulating regional disarmament treaties in Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia, South Pacific, etc., the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/11/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Does this mean Saudi Arabia will cancel delivery of the nuclear weapons being built by Pakistan?
#2
Nah, this is just a front, cause everyone knows the one power in the area with WMD is the US. Just another street theater being set up do denounce the US. "Gee, they have to have them, because you are here". Hey, after we field tested two in Japan nearly sixty years ago, I think we've shown major restraint, particularly by Rantburg standards.
Posted by: Don ||
12/11/2004 10:07 Comments ||
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#3
Don, you forgot Israel....Sorry. I just realized Israel is on the Mediterranean, not the Gulf. Never mind. (One of many family jokes is that I'm geographically illiterate.)
While such a move has all the appearances of progressive thinking, it is really just pure self-preservation. Given the inescapable level of internecine conflict inherent to the entire region, it would be nothing less than pure insanity for Islamic states in the Middle East to acquire nuclear capability. The region would be reduced a sheet of smoking glass in the time it takes to say, "Arab disunity."
Representative elected government should be a mandatory feature of any nation seeking to obtain nuclear technology. Without meeting the primary requirement of having a democratic process in place, no country should be allowed to develop WMDs.
Any who doubt this merely need to examine Pakistan. Not satisfied with proliferating nuclear technology to anyone with a fat bank account, this festering cesspool of terrorist indoctrination is in direct danger of having its nuclear arsenal fall into the hands of Islamic radicals who are actively undermining the state. Now magnify this several fold and the scope of risk involved with nuclear proliferation in the Middle East becomes apparent.
Iran's constant stream of threatening rhetoric should serve as an adequate example of what to expect from any other tinpot dictator or theocrat's pursuit of nuclear capability. That so few of the other major powers (i.e., Europe in general) do not seem to comprehend what sort of threat to regional and global security the possibility of Islamic nations obtaining nuclear weapons and WMDs in general, only increases the danger to all involved.
#5
"That so few of the other major powers (i.e., Europe in general) do not seem to comprehend what sort of threat to regional and global security the possibility of Islamic nations obtaining nuclear weapons and WMDs in general, only increases the danger to all involved."
I've become convinced that sooner or later, by one means or another we are going to have to adopt a policy that **NO** Islamic nation, democratic or not, shall be allowed to possess nuclear weapons-- and be prepared to back that policy with force, unilaterally if necessary.
I have no idea how we would come to adopt such a policy; I fear that it will come after-- not before-- one of our own cities is incinerated.
Islam simply is not compatible with nuclear weaponry, PERIOD.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/11/2004 17:46 Comments ||
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JAPAN took another step away from its post-World War II pacifism yesterday by ending its decades-old ban on military exports and telling defence planners to regard China and North Korea as threats. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet agreed to allow military sales — only to the US and for missile defence — a day after it extended Japan's ground-breaking deployment to Iraq for another year. The policy change yesterday came in the form of a set of guidelines for defence policymakers, updated for the first time in nine years, along with a five-year outline for military procurements set to begin from April next year. The guidelines approved by the Cabinet said Japan needed to change its mindset to have "multi-function, flexible defence capabilities" to deal with "new threats and various situations". A statement by the Government spokesman said Japan needed to change its stance on missile parts exports "to contribute to the effective management of the Japan-US security alliance and secure the safety of our country", but subject to "strict controls".
North Korea shocked the world in 1998 by firing a missile over Japan, leading Tokyo and Washington to begin to study a missile interception shield. But Japan was forbidden from exporting missile components to its close ally as it has had a defence-only security policy since its bitter defeat in World War II. The US-imposed constitution of 1947 said Japan would forever renounce war, leading Japan to produce top-of-the-line equipment which its military — known as the Self-Defence Forces — is forbidden to use. In 1967, Japan said it would voluntarily stop all weapons sales to communist countries and other states perceived to threaten world peace. The self-imposed ban was tightened in 1976 to rule out all weapons exports.
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Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/11/2004 5:04:31 PM ||
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I suspect this has everything to do with leverage on the ChiComs over NoKo. The heat is getting turned up on Big Red to do more over NoKo or get squeezed in their Asian-Pac region.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/11/2004 20:10 Comments ||
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A welcome attitude awakening in Japan. They recognize who their partners and friends are.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/11/2004 20:29 Comments ||
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JAPANESE troops could soon be training with Diggers on Australian soil for the first time as part of a move to forge closer military ties. Australian and Japanese defence officials have discussed the proposed war games as Tokyo yesterday took a historic step away from its post-war pacifist stance, ending a decades-old ban on military exports, and adopting a more aggressive defence and counter-terrorism posture. Although only in the early stages, the contentious military training talks, which have not reached ministerial level, are certain to divide war veterans and others in the community. It could also pose problems for Canberra's burgeoning relationship with China - including the pursuit of a free trade deal - given ongoing tensions between Beijing and Tokyo. As part of Japan's new military expansion, Tokyo has instructed its defence planners to regard China and North Korea as potential threats. Allowing Japanese troops to train in Australia would be viewed dimly by China, which is likely to become Australia's biggest trading partner over the next decade.
Defence Minister Robert Hill's office said yesterday it was unaware of any approach by Tokyo. But Senator Hill believes "participation in exercises" is one of the ways of deepening the Australia-Japan relationship. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also said last night that the Japanese Government had not made any formal approach. "But I suppose (if it were raised) there would be some community sensitivity," Mr Downer said. Veteran Perce Curvey, 87, a World War II survivor who spent three years and eight months as a war prisoner, told The Weekend Australian yesterday that the training exercises would be an insult to the memory of the the thousands of POWs who died. "There is a move afoot amongst some ex-POWs to forget and forgive," he said. "Well, I can't forget and I can't forgive, because what the Japanese did to us was brutal and totally unnecessary."
A memorandum of understanding signed by the Australian and Japanese defence ministers in Canberra in September last year, which has been made public only in the past fortnight, commits both countries to exploring "new areas of co-operation for promoting and deepening Australia-Japan defence exchange". The two countries already have strong intelligence and counter-terrorism ties - particularly in dealing with the nuclear threat posed by North Korea - and are also involved in naval and air exercises and unit to unit exchanges. Military expert Alan Dupont, a senior research fellow at the Sydney based Lowy Institute who has just completed a pivotal study on Japan's expected re-emergence as a defence power in the Pacific, predicted yesterday that joint land training exercises were "the next logical step in defence co-operation between the two countries".
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/11/2004 5:03:07 PM ||
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#7
TGA---Operation Kokoda, funny but cruel, heh heh. An Aussie friend of mine hiked the Kokoda Track. His dad said, "What the f**k [those were his words] did ya want to do that for? That place was the most miserable time in my life, fighting the Japs in the jungle."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2004 13:49 Comments ||
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#8
Umm, those are sidearms they're holding, right?
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/11/2004 18:05 Comments ||
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Look like submachine guns or PDW to me. Prolly tankers or something they got goggles.
France is to launch a French-language news channel next year in a long-awaited attempt to challenge the dominance of the American view of world current affairs, the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said yesterday. The government will provide â¬30m (£21m) in start-up funding for the channel, which will "allow international broadcasting that will express the diversity to which our nation is attached," Mr Raffarin said. The CII (International Information Channel) project, better known in France as "CNN à la Francaise", is a pet project of Jacques Chirac's and was first announced shortly after his 2002 re-election.
Cheeze. They can't even come up with an original name...
It was initially greeted with widespread scepticism, seen as yet another Canute-like attempt to preserve French language and culture in the face of the inexorable onward march of English. La langue de Moliere benefits from a battery of laws and directives to protect it at home, but in an age of global communications and the internet it has lost out to English abroad and is now the 11th most widely spoken language in the world. Nor is it any longer the language of diplomacy, even within Europe.
Somehow it had managed to be surpassed by English long before anyone had ever heard of the internet. What's important isn't a language's history, or its euphony, but what you say with it. There's more said in English that interesting, original or profound than there is in Francaise.
I'm not sure a state-controlled enterprise can compete with even a weak sister like CNN's become. In something like an open market, what's it gonna do against Fox News?
An estimated 260 million people around the world speak French as a native or second language, compared with some 700 million thought to speak English with some degree of competence. CII, which will not be broadcast inside France, is therefore likely to transmit some programmes in languages other than French - including English.
France's 35-hour working week will be radically eased under proposals outlined by Mr Raffarin to allow companies and employees to negotiate individual overtime agreements. The unpopular prime minister also pledged to cut France's near-10% unemployment rate to below 9% next year.
Posted by: tipper ||
12/11/2004 7:50:44 AM ||
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#1
I would like to know who has told that thief (I am speaking of Raffarin) he has the right to dig in MY pocket for this endeavour.
I wsould have some respect for that rival of CNN if it were started by people putting their money in it. But it is with money from other people, extorted money from other people.
#4
A news channel in the country's native language broadcast exclusively outside that countries borders? Sounds far more like a French version of the BBC world service than a CNN clone.
#6
Notice they would calim to challenge FNC? It's like the weakling on the playground picking on the cripple. It's sad for both and neither comes out a winner. And exactly how many countries require people to learn French? Talk about a finite audience!
#12
France is to launch a French-language news channel next year in a long-awaited attempt to challenge the dominance of the American view of world current affairs, the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said yesterday.
I can imagine its slant - Ali Khamenei, Kim Jong Il, Bashar Assad, and Fidel Castro are all decent and honorable men, and Hamid Karzai, Iyad Allawi, John Howard, and Ariel Sharon are all evil scoundrels.
#14
An estimated 260 million people around the world speak French as a native or second language, compared with some 700 million thought to speak English with some degree of competence.
Tee hee, the Guardianistas are so cute! When the inevitable corrections flow in, the GU will of course respond-- drum roll-- "but you're including the US, and we said, 'with competence'!!!"
In reality, the ratio of English- to French-speakers is at least twice as high as these ridiculous figures imply. You have around 450 million English speakers in the western hemisphere, plus another 120 million in British Isles + SA + OZ, plus another ~200 million across Africa and the middle east, plus ~200 million on the subcontinent and ~200 million in non-OZ East Asia. And finally you have another 200 million across continental Europe, = much more than >1 billion, probably 1.3-1.4 billion english speakers across the globe.
It's there somewhere...
Troops always gripe. But confronting the defense secretary, filing a lawsuit over extended tours and refusing to go on a mission because it's too dangerous elevate complaining to a new level. It also could mean a deeper problem for the Pentagon: a lessening of faith in the Iraq mission and in a volunteer army that soldiers can't leave. The hubbub over an exchange between Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and soldiers in Kuwait has given fresh ammunition to critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policy. ...I can feel it...
It also highlighted growing morale and motivation problems in the 21-month-old war that even some administration supporters say must be addressed to get off a slippery slope that could eventually lead to breakdowns reminiscent of the Vietnam War. ...and here it is: Vietnam. More at the link, if you care.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/11/2004 8:04:11 PM ||
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#1
Sigh. I wish we could institute legislation that would force everybody taking a degree in journalism to take at lest 3 classes in military history. Then maybe they could see that morale problems have been occurring ever since Ogg the caveman started bitching about the quality of the mastadon meat served at the mess cave.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
12/11/2004 20:34 Comments ||
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My son is nearing the end of his deployment in Iraq.
And in the last ten months, his loudest complaints have not been about anything connected with his own situation over there: they've been about the dishonest, disloyal news media and about articles like this little masterpiece, slyly crafted to help undermine the resolve of the people back home.
Vietnam and "slippery slopes" are a perpetual object of the media's fascination in this struggle. So are quagmires, which we began hearing about when the war was barely four days old. These bastards WANT us to lose.
And if we do, it won't because of any discontent among our troops: it will be because, just like with Vietnam, our Fifth Column leftists in the media succeed in convincing us to give up.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/11/2004 20:39 Comments ||
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To be fair, the journo does acknowledge this in the article:
For thousands of years, soldiers have grumbled about everything from their commanders to their equipment to shelter and food.
But of course the greater point that the journo is trying to make is that Iraq is, in fact, a quagmire:
The growing restiveness of U.S. troops in the Middle East echoes a drop in optimism at home that a stable, democratic government can be established in Iraq.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/11/2004 20:42 Comments ||
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#4
And if we do, it won't because of any discontent among our troops: it will be because, just like with Vietnam, our Fifth Column leftists in the media succeed in convincing us to give up.
Enough is enough. If the press can't be counted on to just report and let the public decide, then time to do away with those embeds, NOW.
#5
"The growing restiveness of U.S. troops in the Middle East echoes a drop in optimism at home that a stable, democratic government can be established in Iraq."
And what has caused that "drop in optimism"? It has been caused by articles just like this, whose very intent is to undermine that optimism and make failure a self-fulfilling prediction.
And since when is Iraq "in fact" a quagmire??? That judgement sounds more like an opinion to me, not a "fact"-- especially when you consider that things in Iraq sure as Hell aren't going any worse than they were in Germany at the end of 1946.
One thing that can tempt people to write Iraq off prematurely, is the notion that our ONLY objective over there is to create a stable, democratic government. Yes, it's an important objective in the overall war; and it's one of the few that the administration can discuss openly. But there are many, MANY other purposes to our being there, and few of them are any more than peripherally dependent on making Iraq into a modern democracy.
Yes, a democratic Iraq is something to strive for; but it's hardly the main reason we're over there.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/11/2004 21:16 Comments ||
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One of the CNN talking heads led off a piece late this afternoon with the announcement, delivered in a cheery tone, that "many" American soldiers were deserting. The support for this was a clip about Kinzman, who was shocked to learn that the Army expected him to be ready to kill people.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/11/2004 21:27 Comments ||
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#7
Dave, that was supposed to be sarcasm :) I never include the /sarcasm tags because I feel it spoils the fun.
The reason I posted this was the following assertion:
growing restiveness of U.S. troops in the Middle East echoes a drop in optimism at home
Oh really??? The only thing missing from this article is the dreaded "e" word escalation (from the Vietnam era). I'm sure it was meant to be in there but was overlooked.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/11/2004 21:35 Comments ||
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#8
Matt, this probably signals a new CNN offensive: focusing on the troops :) Interesting to see how far they go with it.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/11/2004 21:38 Comments ||
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Relax, folks: this is a sign of MSM desperation as elections approach. Notice how they've gone silent about Afghanistan now that elections have taken place, Karzai's exerting his authority and all their predictions have been shown to be foolish. They know the same fate awaits them in Iraq next year, and these neo-Vietnam stories should be viewed as the last-ditch fusillade of a group of dead-enders.
#10
"I never include the /sarcasm tags because I feel it spoils the fun."
Whew! Thanks for clarifying. :-)
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/11/2004 21:52 Comments ||
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"...and all their predictions have been shown to be foolish. They know the same fate awaits them in Iraq next year..."
Though I'm pretty confident that democracy in Iraq will eventually "take", I'm not too sure it's going to be as easy as it was in Afghanistan. I'd been puzzled at how peaceful and straightforward the Afghan elections seemed; but thinking about it I realize the Afghanis actually have a long history of consensual government, though in a form that's not very familiar to us: that loya jerga grand council thingamajig of theirs.
I don't expect it to be as straightforward in Iraq, though: there's a long history of brutal autocracy and inter-tribal abuse that may take years to erase to a point where Baghdad or Fallujah bear any resemblance to Peoria.
But they'll get there eventually. I think.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/11/2004 22:02 Comments ||
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Specialist Robert Loria of Middletown lost his arm in Iraq, but instead of a farewell paycheck from the U.S. Army he got a bill for nearly $1,800. On Friday a platoon of New York lawmakers came to his rescue. Loria found himself stuck in Fort Hood Texas this week when Army officials claimed he owed them money for travel expenses to a hospital and lost equipment. Several lawmakers — Rep. Maurice Hinchey and Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton — interceded on behalf of the 27-year-old veteran after his irate wife, Christine Loria, told the Times-Herald Record of Middletown about the problem.
Loria was wounded in February. But as he was about to leave the Army this month, officials told him he had been overpaid for his time as a patient at a military hospital in the Washington area, and claimed he still owed money for travel between the hospital and Fort Hood, and $310 for items not found in his returned equipment. Instead of a check for nearly $4,500, Loria was told he had to pay nearly $1,800. "Christmas is coming up, and we are severely overdrawn because of this," Christine said angrily. "It turned out his getting wounded wasn't the worst thing this year to happen — this was," she said.
Clinton, Schumer, and Hinchey said Friday the Army has dropped the billing demands and will allow Loria to return home today or tomorrow on leave before he is discharged. Clinton's office said late Friday that Army officials were now looking at cases of 19 other injured veterans who may have had payroll snafus similar to Loria. "This man has already made such a sacrifice, and then they just put him through the wringer," said Schumer. Clinton blamed the problem on someone in the bureaucracy being unwilling to help him with the paperwork that the Army insisted upon.
Snafus aren't exactly unheard of in the military.
Posted by: ranters should joint the army ||
12/11/2004 3:25:48 PM ||
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I did join the Army, jackass.
It was the summer of 1969 and I was still a British subject at the time. I flew to New York, enlisted, and had a year in Vietnam and a Purple Heart before I took the oath of citizenship. I went in at E-1, and stayed on in the Army Reserve until I finally retired at O-6 in 1999. I also saw minor combat in Desert Storm in 1991 and some similar but much uglier action in Somalia in 1993. I have never regreted any of it and I would go back in a heartbeat if they would have me.
I seldom mention my military record here because, frankly, I do not accept the totalitarian left's claim that the right to speak in favor of certain viewpoints is reserved solely for those who served. The entire "chickenhawk" controversy is a red herring, a leftist authoritarian effort to limit the opposition's right to speak by requiring a kind of authority that many do not have.
ZF is right, either join the jihadis, shut up, or quit setting self-serving limits on the right to speak and think.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/11/2004 17:39 Comments ||
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O-6 is a big bird.
I was enlisted until I moved into the "G" ranks
And the troll-name that posted this article doesnt realize that a large chunk of us here served, and a fair amount of us saw combat.
Doesnt surprise me some REMF screwed the guy on paperwork. There always have been and likely always will be rules-bound pencil-pushing jerks like that that in the military, especially outside of combat zones.
#5
Its not just a possible uniform REMF anymore. There's been a lot of transfer of admin to GS civilian positions, especially in finance and personnel. And Rummy is big on that type of tranfer. With the Congressional ceiling on the number of active on service, I can't blame him trying to maximize combat arms troops, but it also takes out the old 'WTF' from the Warrent Officer when he sees something like this going across his desk. An old WO or NCO usually would have thrown a fit in the command. A call to the organizational CSM would have meant a lot of personal attention to anyone who did something stupid like this to a troop.
and ranters should joint the army : Already did my twenty, how about you?
Posted by: Don ||
12/11/2004 19:03 Comments ||
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Got my 20 in. Betcha ranters should joint the army doesn't.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 19:13 Comments ||
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#7
how do I "joint the Army"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/11/2004 19:45 Comments ||
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#8
With a really big roach clip.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/11/2004 19:57 Comments ||
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#9
Mrs D! You shouldn't know about that! LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/11/2004 20:14 Comments ||
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#10
I didn't "joint" the Army or any of the other services and it is one of the dissapointments of my life. I am lucky enough to now get to work with military personnel in my job, supplying them with equipment that keeps them out of harm's way yet gives them the ability to kill the enemy with great precision. I am regulary impressed and always thankful for the service that they and all veterans have given this country.
Posted by: Remote Man ||
12/11/2004 20:25 Comments ||
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ranters should join the army
A lot (I'd wager most) of us on this board already did, fuckwit.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
12/11/2004 21:39 Comments ||
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#12
From all that my son has told me it's clear that one thing the new, modern All-Volunteer Army has retained from back when I was in (1970-1973) is bureaucratic screw-ups. It's probably a sacred tradition.
I have a stack of letters written during the Civil War by some great-great-great-great uncle of mine; and his gripes were essentially the same as mine, and my son's.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/11/2004 22:24 Comments ||
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#13
If I'd been smarter I might of joined the Army, but since I'm not I joined the Corps - so says my dad who was in the 101st.
Twenty years in the USAF, including six in the Strategic Air Command that kept you free, asshole. When did you do your time?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/11/2004 23:36 Comments ||
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#15
O-6 is a big bird.
I was enlisted until I moved into the "G" ranks
And the troll-name that posted this article doesnt realize that a large chunk of us here served, and a fair amount of us saw combat.
Doesnt surprise me some REMF screwed the guy on paperwork. There always have been and likely always will be rules-bound pencil-pushing jerks like that that in the military, especially outside of combat zones.
And the troll-name that posted this article doesnt realize that a large chunk of us here served, and a fair amount of us saw combat.
Doesnt surprise me some REMF screwed the guy on paperwork. There always have been and likely always will be rules-bound pencil-pushing jerks like that that in the military, especially outside of combat zones.
THE Pentagon said today it is investigating allegations of abuse reported by Australian terror suspect David Hicks at the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay. The Pentagon, which maintains detainees are treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions that prohibit the use of torture or abuse, acknowledged it is investigating claims of beatings and other mistreatment at Guantanamo and in Afghanistan raised by Hicks.
And the hooker. Don't forget the hooker...
"There's currently an ongoing investigation into allegations of abuse in the case of David Hicks based on abuse allegations," said Major Michael Shavers, a Pentagon spokesman. He said the investigation began before the allegations became public. Additional investigations into abuse and mistreatment at Guantanamo Bay, as well as other aspects of the detention mission, were also pending, Major Shavers said. Hicks' allegations became public yesterday in an affidavit released by his lawyer. Hicks said he and others suffered abuse by US troops in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, where he has been held since January 2002. He is one of only four men among the about 550 detainees who have been charged. He is scheduled to be tried by a military commission in March.
"At one point, a group of detainees, including myself, were subjected to being randomly hit over an eight-hour session while handcuffed and blindfolded," Hicks, 29, said in the affidavit sealed in August. "I have been struck with hands, fists, and other objects, including rifle butts. I have also been kicked." Hicks also said he was forcibly injected with sedatives, and that troops denied food to prisoners to coerce cooperation with interrogators. The US military has acknowledged 10 cases of abuse since the detention mission began at Guantanamo, including a female interrogator climbing onto a detainee's lap and a detainee whose knees were bruised from being repeatedly forced to kneel. Those cases are not among three incidents detailed in the July FBI letter to Major General Donald Ryder, the US Army's chief law enforcement officer investigating abuses at the US-run prisons. The memo obtained by AP documents abuses that included a female interrogator grabbing a detainee's genitals and bending back his thumbs, a prisoner being gagged with duct tape and an attack dog being used to intimidate a detainee, who later showed "extreme" psychological trauma.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/11/2004 6:43:27 AM ||
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Got any bruises to show, slick? No? Well, talk is cheap, and so are hoods...
PARIS — The Paris-based Society of Reporters Without Borders has requested Syrian President Bashar Al Assad on Wednesday to put an end to daily violations against freedom of the Press in Syria, on the threshold of the 56th International Day of Human Rights.
Dang, that made the Surprise Meter twitch.
The society, in a statement, said that economic openness and political modernisation in Syria will remain hollow without the existence of a free and independent Press in the country. It said that the methods of repression and intimidation used by Syrian security agencies since thirty years have transformed the Syrian media scene into a barren desert.
They said that the Syrian media was under the power of the 'Baath Party' and the government at the same time; and that if the government truly desired to rejoin the international community, it must by all means accept the emergence of an independent Press in the country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/11/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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#1
how does one say "fat chance" in arabic
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
12/11/2004 3:59 Comments ||
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Uganda's government must do what it can to protect children and women from violence, while the rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA) must immediately and unconditionally stop abducting, killing and exploiting Uganda's children, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.
Thank you for that little dose of moral equivalence. The Ugandan government, for all its failings, has been doing what it could to prevent its citizens from being abducted, raped and/or murdered. The LRA, on the other hand, is pretty consistently evil.
"Children are being killed and raped in Uganda," UNICEF's resident representative Martin Mugwanja said during the national launch of the agency's State of the World's Children 2005 report, entitled "Childhood Under Threat", in the northern town of Gulu. "Childhood is being destroyed. First and foremost, I appeal to the LRA to immediately and unconditionally stop the abduction, killing and exploitation of children," he added. "These acts are not only unconscionable, but are also flagrant violations of the children's right to life."
Appealing to them hasn't worked for 18 years. No doubt it will soon, though. All you have to do is keep repeating the same old pleas...
The LRA has targeted children throughout the 18-year war, forcibly recruiting boys to fight amongst its ranks and forcing girls to become sex slaves for its commanders. Relief agencies estimate that up to 20,000 children have been abducted across northern Uganda.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 9:24:58 PM ||
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Somalia's parliament passed a motion of no-confidence against the new prime minister and his Cabinet on Saturday, an official said, effectively sacking a government that had been expected to restore order to the country after 13 years of anarchy and war. The deputy speaker of the 275-member transitional parliament Dalhar Omar said 153 members voted against Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi, accusing him of failing to respect power-sharing arrangements reached in complex talks involving warlords and leaders of the country's main clans. Somali President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed plans to dispute the no-confidence vote, his spokesman Yusuf Mohamed Ismail said. But the president does not have final authority. Talks were under way between the president, Cabinet and the secretary of the parliament to resolve the crisis, the spokesman said. The president swore in Gedi's Cabinet on Dec. 1. The new government included warlords, clan leaders and technocrats and had been expected to establish the first effective central government since 1991.
Somehow I expected things like this. Swore 'em in less than two weeks ago and already they want to throw them out.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 7:44:18 PM ||
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This is the government the UN selected. Dare I say 'selected, not elected!'
RABAT: US Secretary of State Colin Powell stressed on Saturday the need for economic and political reforms in the Arab world to defeat terrorism. Opening the one-day "Forum for the Non-radioactive Future" conference in Morocco, Mr Powell told delegates from nearly 30 countries that now was not the time "to argue about the pace of democratic reform or whether economic reform must precede political reform". Mr Powell went on to say that "all of us (confront) the daily threat of terrorism" and that to defeat extremism countries must work together to address the causes of despair and frustration that extremists exploit for their own ends. That's kind of tough when so many of the Arab governments are merely using their extremists as non-military proxies to carry out anti-American agendas. A stronger hint may be needed. Like the threat of wholesale nuclear annihilation should even one single Islamic country assist a terrorist nuclear attack upon America. (Thank you, Mrs. Davis)
About 20 Arab, African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries attended the gathering, along with members of the Group of Eight (G8) industrial states, which launched the idea of promoting reform across the region in June. Always a popular topic. It surfaces somewhat routinely during interrogation sessions.
Mr Powell acknowledged on Friday that when the idea was first floated it was regarded by some as "America, once again. dictating to the world". But, he said, the US intent was to help countries modernise and reform in their own way. "We all agree that effective and sustainable change can only come from within," he told the opening plenary session. Independent Moroccan news magazine Le Journal Hebdomadaire called the meeting's organisers delusional and branded the forum "a flop" even before it took place.
A leading Moroccan human rights activist, Khaled Soufani, who had attended a peaceful protest by about 500 people outside the Moroccan parliament on Friday night, said that the forum was imperialist. He added that the fact it was being held legitimised "American military aggression on the Arab and Muslim worlds". Playing the old "humiliation" card, as usual. Boo-f&%king-hoo!
The concept of promoting democracy across the Arab world has been watered down since the plan was first leaked to the press, putting more emphasis on economics and less on political reform. The idea, diplomatic sources said, was to make it more palatable to governments loath to give up power, including constitutional monarchies like host Morocco. It's the perennial vicious scratch-itch cycle. Despotic governments so enjoy their grip on power that it extinguishes all motivation for any reform. Nothing is going to change until the outside world finally institutes more aggressive (i.e., punitive) measures to propel corrupt governments towards political reform (read: regime change).
Officials from more than 20 Islamic countries said Saturday that political, economic and social reforms must go hand in hand with steps toward settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Yep. Nothin's gonna work unless they get that fixed. Without the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict settled, why, there's no way we can elect our own dog catchers or install ATM machines at our banks!"
The commitment to reforms came during a four-hour meeting that included those Muslim nations, industrialized democracies, the Arab League and other groups. The United States, a driving force behind the conference, sees the changes as a way to make these societies less of a breeding ground for political extremism. At a news conference after the discussions, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was not disappointed that the Muslim delegates insisted on linking internal reforms to the Mideast dispute.
"Of course I'm not 'disappointed.' We expected the same old hokum."
"We're not starting reform or holding up reform. It's ongoing," Powell said. "Reform has to go on. A child needs an education now." Much of the discussion, conducted mostly in private, focused on raising the low literacy rates in the region and on ways to provide equal treatment for women.
That's a really nice balloon y'got there. Is that lead?
Economic development also was on the agenda. Treasury Secretary John Snow said the region's unemployment rate is about 50 percent. "The best development program is a job," Snow told reporters. "And a job comes from growth."
With 50 percent unemployment, they've got a lot of growing to do. No wonder there's so much cannon fodder available.
The Arab-Israeli dispute was a recurring theme with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal saying the "real bone of contention" for Muslims is "the Western bias toward Israel."
Yeah, but we weren't discussing Israel. We were discussing your unemployment rate.
A statement issued at the conclusion of the conference said the participants "reaffirmed that their support for reform in the region will go hand-in-hand with their support for a just, comprehensive and lasting settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 7:40:49 PM ||
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Gosh, all these Arab countries sure could free up a lot more time for political reform if they just weren't so busy protracting the Palestinian conflict.
Relief groups on Saturday urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai to remove his planning minister, who has proposed that most aid agencies working in the country be shut down because they waste money. Karzai quickly distanced himself from the remarks by Ramazan Bashardost, the minister, but officials had already begun to refuse visa renewals for some foreign relief workers because of confusion over their status. Presidential spokesman Khaleeq Ahmad said the government "doesn't recognize his comments, they are his own opinions," suggesting he had fallen out of favor with Karzai.
That often happens when you leave the PC road...
"We think he's just trying to get publicity and public support and ensure a good political future for himself," Ahmad said. The main umbrella group for Afghan and foreign aid groups, known as ACBAR, said it would press for a new law that would expose for-profit companies who have registered as non-governmental relief agencies in order to bid for reconstruction work. ACBAR said it would cooperate to root out fraud.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 7:32:32 PM ||
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U.S. military commanders in Iraq, where bombings pose the deadliest threat to their soldiers, have welcomed news the Pentagon wants to speed up production of upgraded armored Humvees, a military spokesmen said Saturday. The issue of whether the military is providing enough protection for its troops received new attention this week after an Iraq-bound National Guardsman questioned Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during a visit to neighboring Kuwait on why he and his comrades must scrounge through scrap piles for metal to protect their vehicles. The Army said Friday it was negotiating with an armor manufacturer, Florida-based Armor Holdings Inc., to accelerate production of upgraded M1114, or Level 1, Humvees. The company said it could boost monthly production from the current 450 vehicles to 550 in February or March. "Commanders are looking for any opportunity to increase force protection for the sake of their troops," said Maj. Neal O'Brien, spokesman for the Tikrit-based 1st Infantry Division. "Uparmor or add-on armor will always be one of those force protection assets they want more of."
I wonder if they've thought about looking for overseas suppliers? Contracts like this would be a good reward for countries like Bulgaria and Poland and Albania, all of whom have the capacity to fill the orders.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 7:28:38 PM ||
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I have read, I don't remember where, that the best armors are made of ceramic, but for that you need special oven and these are made overseas and take up to 18mth to manufacture.
#2
The weight of the traditional armor plate is killing the rolling stock. The Military have no viable short term alternative, but they are going to have to find one because the degradation rate on the vehicles is costing them a huge amount.
Posted by: Remote Man ||
12/11/2004 20:16 Comments ||
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SwissTex, that is correct (for the moment; "best" is constantly changing), but remember that we don't need the best. We don't have enemy tanks shooting at us. We need to stop RPGs, IEDs. Not to downplay those, but it's far easier to defend against just those threats if you also don't have to worry about Long Rods and such. Surprisingly, ordinary rubber (sandwiched between steel) does a pretty good job. Reactive armor works, too, but there are tactical difficulties.
Exactly, RM, which is why the Humvees didn't have armor in the first place. They were replacements for the Jeep, not the M1.
Really, the only long-term solution would be to start using real armored vehicles, like the Bradley or Stryker. That's $$$$$$$$$ also, but better than paying off life insurance.
#4
I've had a composite armor idea I've been working on in my spare time, but I am having trouble making progress because the alloys I wanted to use to begin with weren't readily available.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/11/2004 21:46 Comments ||
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Phil F, read Fred's suggestion. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the E European allies could come up with the alloys you seek.
#6
Along the same lines as making politicians fly on commercial carriers; I say we round up all the Pentagon bean-counters who nixed the Iraq troops' armor requirements and and let them take a self-guided tour of Baghdad in an unarmored Humvee.
#7
Think we can get a Congressional delegation together to go on TV and announce a waiver of their laws and regulations in order to expedite the process? No cheap shots a year or two down the road for a public circus? Not likely.
As Blackfive posts - As you might recall, I had pushed for the Rapid Acquisition Authority Bill to be sent out of the Senate Armed Services Committee and into a vote. The RAAB gave commanders the ability to make purchases that would protect their troops in a combat zone - purchases without going through the laborious and lobbyist intense acquisition process for the Pentagon.
Unfortunately, both Republicans and Democrats killed the bill. Their excuse was that the 2005 Defense Budget addressed the need for Rapid Acquisition.
They were/are incorrect.
Nuff said.
Posted by: Don ||
12/11/2004 23:21 Comments ||
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Israel's dovish Labor Party voted Saturday to join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ruling coalition, a move that makes it easier for the Israeli leader to implement his Gaza withdrawal plan next year. Yoram Dori, an adviser to Labor leader Shimon Peres, said coalition talks would begin later Saturday. Sharon needs to forge an alliance with Labor to push through his plan to pullout of the Gaza Strip next year and to prevent an early election. Sharon's hard-line Likud Party voted Thursday to open coalition talks with Labor. He invited Labor into the government early Friday. "The Labor Central Committee authorized Shimon Peres to hold talks for a broad coalition. Negotiations with Likud will begin tonight," Dori told The Associated Press. Sharon's plan to pullout of all Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements next year cost him his parliamentary majority.
I'm glad Sharon was able to bring it off, and I hope he doesn't have to give too much away to Peres to get the deal to work. Leaving Gaza's the best idea he's had yet...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 7:25:58 PM ||
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It's been suggested that Sharon and Peres might have reached an odd entente, both irritated with the extreme ends of their own political parties, and annoyed with the power politics played by tiny 3rd parties. This proposal is that, if the two of them broke off the middle and abandoned both the far left and the far right, the would have a huge majority of the center in a new, centrist party. No more extremists demanding and getting largesse from the government, and a stable coalition that would last a decade or two before a *reasonable* centrist alternative arose to compete with it.
#2
The thing that I read about, and the thing I am concerned about is the possibility of Hizb'Allah taking over the power vacuum in Gaza and becoming a threat to Israel's western border. It seems to me that the sooner Syria is out of the terror base business, the less influence the MMs of Iran have in either Lebanon or in this case, Gaza.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2004 20:52 Comments ||
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Negotiators from groups battling in Sudan's Darfur region opened their latest round of peace talks on Saturday, with African mediators imploring the government and rebels to resolve their differences through talks. Peace negotiations have failed to stop nearly two years of fighting in Sudan's western region that has killed tens of thousands and left nearly 2 million homeless. African Union officials have said that attacks continued this week. "War will not resolve the problems of Darfur," Sam Ibok, a top mediator of African Union, told delegates. "It's not just a military problem, it's a problem that can be resolved by political means." Representatives from Darfur's two main rebel groups and Sudan's government are attending the talks, which were promptly adjourned Saturday and expected to continue Sunday.
Let us know if anything happens, okay?
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 7:21:17 PM ||
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RAMALLAH, West Bank - Yasser Arafat's nephew said Saturday the lack of a clear reason for his uncle's death raised suspicions the Palestinian leader died of "unnatural" causes. Hmm...viruses are pretty natural.
The comments by Nasser al-Kidwa, after he handed over the 558-page medical dossier to Palestinian officials in Ramallah, were certain to fuel speculation that Arafat was poisoned. Arafat died in a French hospital on Nov. 11. Making it the best damn Veterans' Day in a long time!
Rumors and speculation among Palestinians and the broader Arab world that Arafat was poisoned could make it more difficult for a new leadership to take control. Palestinian presidential elections are scheduled for Jan. 9. Al-Kidwa repeated his statement from last month that the French doctors were unable to rule out the possibility that Arafat had a disease that has killed millions worldwide and shows no signs of abating been poisoned, although they said they had not found traces of "any poison known to them."
"Examinations of X-rays and all imaginable tests ... are still with the same results, the inability of reaching a clear diagnosis," Al-Kidwa said in English at a news conference in Ramallah on Saturday. Maybe it was Mad Cow?
"That is precisely the reason why suspicions are there, because without a reason you cannot escape the other possibility... that there is unnatural cause for the death," he said. Well, yeah...I can't think of any blood infection that could possibly make someone waste away like Yasser did....
Al-Kidwa received Arafat's dossier from French medical officials last month. On Saturday he gave the records to interim Palestinian President Rauhi Fattouh in Ramallah. A committee will look over the file to try to determine the cause of death. Still trying to rule out things like Kuru, bad clams, fugu, etc.
Al-Kidwa and other Palestinian officials have said Israel contributed to Arafat's death by making it real difficult to get his AZT and drug "cocktails" confining him to his battered West Bank compound for the last three years of his life. Palestinian Health Minister Jawad Tibi said Saturday the committee appointed to study the medical records would be composed of Palestinian and Arab doctors who treated Arafat before he was urgently airlifted to Paris on Oct. 29. Maybe they should consult a nice Jewish doctor instead?
Al-Kidwa said Palestinian officials would pursue their investigation until they reach a politically acceptable bullshit story clear conclusion, and vowed to keep the Palestinians in the dark make the diagnosis public. "This file should remain open until the Palestinian people find out the truth," he said. "Dammit, we can't blame Suha for this one!
Posted by: Desert Blondie ||
12/11/2004 9:56:50 AM ||
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Rumors and speculation among Palestinians and the broader Arab world that Arafat was poisoned could make it more difficult for a new leadership to take control.
It's not the rumors or the speculation that's the problem. It's the mentality of the people breeding them.
#5
The Paleos are having a Medical Records Swarm over the 558 page medical novel they just got. When they finish a-buzzin' over that one, maybe they can solve the Mystery of the Missing Billions, or do they have to send in Scooby Doo to solve that one. Morons.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2004 20:07 Comments ||
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actually Mad Cow was my diagnosis of Suha
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/11/2004 20:12 Comments ||
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An intense secret debate about a previously unknown, enormously expensive technical intelligence program has burst into light in the form of scathing criticism from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. For two years, the senators have disclosed, Republicans and Democrats on the panel have voted to block the secret program, which is believed to be a system of new spy satellites. But it continues to be financed at a cost that former Congressional officials put at hundreds of millions of dollars a year with support from the House, the Bush administration and Congressional appropriations committees. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the panel, denounced the program on Wednesday on the Senate floor as "totally unjustified and very, very wasteful." Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, later called it "unnecessary, ineffective, over budget and too expensive."
Neither senator would say much more about what he was referring to. Even in private on Thursday, most Congressional and intelligence officials who were asked refused to comment about the name, purpose or cost of the program. But former Congressional and intelligence officials who oppose it said it would duplicate capabilities in existence or in development, as part of the country's vast network of satellites, aircraft and drones designed for eavesdropping and reconnaissance. Among the possibilities suggested by private experts, including John Pike of Globalsecurity.org, a research organization in Alexandria, Va., were that the system might be a controversial unproven program to launch a reconnaissance satellite that adversaries could not detect. Former Congressional officials said they would discount speculation that the debate had to do with any antisatellite space warfare capability...
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
12/11/2004 10:32:18 AM ||
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More likely it is either a sigint bird or some sort of enhanced Jstars-on-a-satilite.
Posted by: N Guard ||
12/11/2004 11:23 Comments ||
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The Zionist Death Ray Version 2.0
Posted by: Matt ||
12/11/2004 11:24 Comments ||
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we need the teleporter
we could send 6 Marines anywhere without worrying about the navy
#4
NYT: But former Congressional and intelligence officials who oppose it said it would duplicate capabilities in existence or in development, as part of the countryâs vast network of satellites, aircraft and drones designed for eavesdropping and reconnaissance.
Duplicate capabilities in existence? But that's the very point of military equipment. It needs to be redundant, so that if one system fails or is destroyed by the enemy, we continue to have coverage via the other systems.
#6
Gee, let's have a single point of failure for the war effort (oops we already have that, it's called ths disloyal opposition.) Isn't rockefeller from a red state - what the hell are they drinking?
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
12/11/2004 15:44 Comments ||
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Wonder if the bee in their bonnet is that this is a DOD program & not a CIA one ??
Posted by: too true ||
12/11/2004 17:20 Comments ||
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FYI: All satellite programs are DoD. Look who launches and runs the satellites, and who they work for.
And if this is a "high survivability" satellite program, its about time. The firs thing any adversary would want to do is blind us.
Given the atrophy in ground assets as part and parcel of the atrophy of the military in the 90's (ex: the retirement of the SR-71, etc), people are unaware of how little we have except overhead assets available for our troops to gether intelligence. Its a danger we risk only at the risk of another Pearl Harbor, or a 9/11 on a continental scale.
#9
America's dependency upon satellite based intelligence gathering is fundamentally unhealthy. Feet-on-the-ground tend to intercept more critical secret information. Our blindness that contributed to 9-11 is a solid example of this. During the Cold War our over-reliance upon satellites actually increased the danger of nuclear war. Had our relatively unsophisticated network of orbital stare-down mosaic arrays and other monitoring birds suddenly gone out-of-service, we might have been forced to "launch 'em or lose 'em." A single high-explosive projectile fired into "The Blue Cube" in Sunnyvale might have been able to precipitate such a crisis.
That said, the value of orbital reconnaissance cannot be overstated. While it needs to be balanced with more conventional intelligence gathering methods, the KH series of satellites has provided us with critical and otherwise unobtainable data. Space based photography allowed Kennedy to correctly call Kruschev's bluff during the Cuban missile crisis.
As to the current ado over this secret project; The technologically illiterate politicians who run this nation's government cannot be trusted to make wise decisions regarding our space based assets. However little I enjoy the military's tradition of budgetary mismanagement, I'd rather that America maintain its technological supremacy despite the cost overruns. Any new network of orbital monitoring systems will perforce be integrated with whatever missile defense shield that is built. Since this is part of a critical strategic initiative, it gets my vote.
#10
T**** Sh*t for the dummycrats, we got the votes. I suspect this bird has something to do with SDI.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/11/2004 20:21 Comments ||
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FYI: All satellite programs are DoD. Look who launches and runs the satellites, and who they work for.
And if this is a "high survivability" satellite program, its about time. The firs thing any adversary would want to do is blind us.
Given the atrophy in ground assets as part and parcel of the atrophy of the military in the 90's (ex: the retirement of the SR-71, etc), people are unaware of how little we have except overhead assets available for our troops to gether intelligence. Its a danger we risk only at the risk of another Pearl Harbor, or a 9/11 on a continental scale.
#12
FYI: All satellite programs are DoD. Look who launches and runs the satellites, and who they work for.
And if this is a "high survivability" satellite program, its about time. The firs thing any adversary would want to do is blind us.
Given the atrophy in ground assets as part and parcel of the atrophy of the military in the 90's (ex: the retirement of the SR-71, etc), people are unaware of how little we have except overhead assets available for our troops to gether intelligence. Its a danger we risk only at the risk of another Pearl Harbor, or a 9/11 on a continental scale.
Israeli police released a Palestinian candidate in the campaign to elect a successor to Yasser Arafat after detaining him for involvement in a scuffle at a West Bank checkpoint on Friday. Witnesses said Israeli border police earlier stopped Bassam al-Salhi, handcuffed him and took him away as he tried to cross A-Ram checkpoint into East Jerusalem. Police scuffled with Salhi's aides when they tried to pull him free. A police statement said Salhi, a member of the communist People's Party faction inside the PLO, had attacked a border policeman when he was denied entry into Jerusalem for not having a permit. Salhi denied assaulting the policeman. "They were arresting me and I only tried to resist being arrested," he said. Police released him on bail hours later but planned to charge him with assault and illegal entry, the police statement said.
Salhi said he had hoped police would ignore his lack of a permit in a goodwill gesture to allow greater freedom of movement for presidential candidates to promote their campaign.Palestinians want Israel to ease its clampdown in the West Bank and Gaza Strip so candidates can move freely ahead of January 9 presidential elections. Israel said it would try to cooperate, though it remains wary of Palestinian militants waging a four-year-old revolt.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 12:14:21 AM ||
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Top Israeli strategists have drawn up a proposal to return parts of the occupied Golan Heights to Syria under a peace deal and will put it to a key policy conference next week, organisers said on Thursday. Since Syria has always made it a point of principle to insist on the return of the entire Golan, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, the proposal appeared to have little obvious appeal for Damascus.
Other than that they're bankrupt and surrounded on all sides by superior military forces.
Israeli officials said the initiative did not reflect government thinking, but the Herzliya Conference has often served to float ideas that later became policy — including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to quit occupied Gaza. The proposal, which would also involve Jordan and Lebanon, comes against a backdrop of renewed overtures from Damascus. "Prime Minister (Ariel) Sharon is fully aware of what is on the agenda," a conference organiser said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/11/2004 12:05:56 AM ||
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So Israel steals Syrian land and then offers to give back half of it for peace. Gee, what a generious offer. What next - 5% of the West Bank for peace? I guess in this day and age you can steal peoples homes by force and then demand that they allow you to keep part of it just so you don't get hit.
#3
To expand on Raj's statement: You start a war, then lose it, you've no business complaining about the result.
In this case, the various Arab-Israeli wars are technically battles in what we at the moment might call The 50+ Years War. Except for Egypt and Jordan(?), the rest of the Arab world has never accepted Israel's right to exist, and have never signed a peace treaty ending the hostilities they formally declared on the date of Israel's establishment in May, 1948.
In the periods when they haven't been actively attempting to overrun Israeli territory, all the countries in the region have supported terrorist organizations, via funds, training, materiel and information: first the Fedayeen, then groups such as the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, and all their even more radical offshoots. The only reason Israel's borders don't extend from the Nile to the Euphrates is because every time the Arab belligerents start to lose, the world intervenes to force a ceasefire on Israel.
You embarrass yourself, Thraing Hupolurong1664, by conclusively demonstrating your ignorance and bigotry. The Little Green Footballs website has a thorough history of the region, with links to source materials. Go educate yourself, and come back when you have something worthwhile to say.
#4
I don't think Thraing Hupolurong1664 understands what winning a war means. He's probably Arab. When was the last one they won?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/11/2004 14:45 Comments ||
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#5
Conquest of Constantinople, I think. TH1664's English reads comfortable with American vernacular (if not spelling), though, Frank, so if he is Arab, he came over pretty young. I had him pegged as a semi-educated blowhard, myself. Probably still at school, where the teachers push the party line pretty hard, and hasn't yet started ot think for himself.
#6
My apologies, Frank. Constantinople/Byzantium was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, not the Arabs. Persia, perhaps? Somewhere along the north coast of Africa?
#8
Ah yes! Syria a made up country where a small ethnic minority run a nasty police state that has 'stolen the land' of 90% of the population. But the UN says they are the legitimate government, so everything is fine and right with the world and of course no suggestion that people are asked what they want.
#9
I've been reading about remote viewing (a sceptic needs to be sceptical about his own scepticism) and how people claim to be able to see future events. I swear whenever I see a picture of Assad, it morphs into him with a bullethole to the head lying in some grotty courtyard. Make of it what you will.
#12
So Israel steals Syrian land and then offers to give back half of it for peace.
Apparently, the fact that constant Syrian shellings of Israeli territory originated from the Golan Heights before the Israelis captured it isn't all that important...
#13
This baffles me. Why would a victorious state that was surprise-attacked (on a religous holiday no less) ever give back anything? That little twit in Damascus ought to just be thankful they haven't rammed an H-bomb up his rear end yet. His day is coming.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/11/2004 17:16 Comments ||
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#14
I don't think that Israel will give the Golan heights back. From there you can see for miles around
#15
Israel is just floating the idea to see how Syria and everyone reacts. You do not give up the stragegic high ground without some other REAL guarantee of security.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2004 21:06 Comments ||
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#16
er, STRATEGIC, sorry.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2004 21:06 Comments ||
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#17
When are France, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, and the Czech Republic going to return the land they stole from Germany after it attacked them?
Heck, when are the Moslems going to return North Africa, Persia, Syria, Anatolia, Bosnia, Sudan, ... they stole from Christian or Zoroastrian peoples?
#18
AP #15 - What concerns me is that the current leadership is almost crazy enough to do something like that. After all, Sharon is planning to pull out of Gaza without a single reciprocal concession by the Paleos.
#19
Bryan---Pulling out of Gaza and walling the place in makes strategic sense, as long as an army does not replace the Paleos that will start a missile attack against Israel and hide amongst the Paleos.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2004 21:43 Comments ||
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The International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross (ICRTC) yesterday expressed concern about civilians in Fallujah, where sewage is flowing in the streets and hundreds of bodies apparently lie in a warehouse since a US assault. The Swiss-based humanitarian group will provide tools and equipment to carry out basic repairs on damaged water treatment facilities and the sewage system, ICRTC spokesman Florian Westphal said. No date was set for delivery, but it was vital to restore the city's clean water supply to prevent disease, he said.
Feel free to put some gloves on and hoist away ... well okay, double-glove.
A team of seven ICRTC Iraqi staff, including engineers, entered Fallujah on Tuesday for the first time since the assault by 10,000 US troops backed by Iraqi units began on November 8. "Our team was told by the US army that there are several hundred dead bodies in a warehouse in the city," Westphal told Reuters, adding that the ICRTC team was unable to see the site, later described as a cold storage facility. "Obviously it is something we will follow up with a view to ensure that any human remains are properly identified and families are informed," he said.
ICRTC officials also saw "sewage flowing in some streets", according to the spokesman. Raw sewage and a lack of clean water can pose a public health threat, including diarrhoeal diseases. The ICRTC staff, who travelled from Baghdad for the day to Fallujah, held talks with local water and sewage board officials, as well as US army officials and the Iraqi National Guard. But they were unable to determine how many civilians remain in the city of 300,000 residents — ravaged by artillery, air and tank bombardments. "They saw very few people but apparently most people are staying indoors," Westphal said. Fallujah also lacks a functioning health facility as the hospital lies on the city outskirts and is difficult for people to access since it was used as a ammo depot by the terrorists and was thus blown to smithereens, according to the ICRTC spokesman. A small clinic set up in a mosque in the city was believed to have some limited supplies.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/11/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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I wonder if the ICRTC is starting to get the message. They don't dictate anything to us. If they get uppity we just cut off there access. The "leaking" of reports indetified as theirs and there sheilding of terrorists is over.
#2
How long did it take for the greatest generation to rebuild the cities of Europe after a major fight? Particularly those on unfriendly ground. Berlin wasn't rebuilt in a day.
Posted by: Don ||
12/11/2004 10:10 Comments ||
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#3
Are they sure there wasn't sewage in the streets before the assault?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/11/2004 11:34 Comments ||
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#4
Damn RC. You beat me to it.
On the other hand these were Saddam's 'favorites' so they probably had better then most.
#6
The thing that amazes me is how all these ME places with huge amounts of wealth do not spend some on water and sewer. Densely populated places are living petri dishes for disease.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2004 13:52 Comments ||
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#7
What are you saying, AP? We all saw the pictures of Saddam Hussein's gold toilets. Obviously they must do something with their sewage! /end foolishness ;-)
#8
Trailing wife---you have stumbled on one of the great questions I have been pondering:
In all of Saddam's many palaces with gold plated toilet fixtures, what was the other end connected to? Did they have a sewage disposal system (septic tank and drainfield, extended aeration plant) or was it the open end of a pipe draining on the ground or into a river? Curious to know how far the wealth went.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2004 17:58 Comments ||
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Boy howdy, a real red-letter day on international cooperation, yesterday was ...
NEW DELHI - Seven south Asian nations pledged Friday a joint assault on terrorism and transnational crime in response to regional violence and fraud. Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand agreed during a two-day meeting in New Delhi to set up a series of programmes and mechanisms for more effective action, an official statement said.
And who would know about crime and terror better than the generals of Myanmar?
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) will serve as a platform for cooperation to enhance "operational and strategic capabilities in preventing and suppressing terrorism and transnational crime".
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/11/2004 11:47:38 PM ||
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A 40-member defence delegation, led by His Royal Highness Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, assistant minister of defence for military affairs of Saudi Arabia, arrived in Islamabad on Friday. Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal, State Defence Minister Zahid Hamid and senior officials received the Saudi delegation. Prince Aziz told reporters at the Chaklala Air Base that his visit would strengthen relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The prince will visit Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, the Heavy Industries Complex in Taxila and will meet President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during his four-day tour.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 12:00:11 AM ||
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#1
I guess, the definition of a "nuclear family" is no longer: mom, dad, & 2.5 kids.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazlur Rehman group) leaders in Balochistan have asked the central leadership of the party not to take the current protest campaign by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) against President General Pervez Musharraf, to Balochistan. "Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani, the president of JUI-F Balochistan, has made it clear to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the party president and the leader of the opposition, that the JUI-F Balochistan would not welcome the protest campaign in the province," sources in the JUI-F told Daily Times.
They said Sherani also told Fazlur Rehman that the JUI-F had come into power in the province after many years, therefore it should rule the province calmly. "MMA should not hold a protest gathering in Balochistan that would destabilise the coalition government of the JUI-F and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML)," sources quoted Sherani as saying. Sources said the Balochistan JUI-F also made it clear to the central leadership of the JUI-F that the MMA should not extend its campaign to the North West Frontier Provinces (NWFP) either, restricting its campaign to Punjab and Sindh. Provincial leaders of the JUI-F have also suggested that the MMA hold gatherings in areas where the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had National Assembly seats," sources said.
"Go pee in somebody else's sandbox, capische?
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 11:38:58 PM ||
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#1
Hey what you expect from the JUI-Fs (jews in french) but to be in league with evil zionist Musharraf.
Maulana Shoaib, the head of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam in Peshawar, was arrested on Friday. Maulana Shoaib who is also the administrator of the Qasmia Mosque, was expelled from the mosque a few days ago. Shuba Bazar Auto Mobile Association general secretary had filed a report against the maulana, on which the police arrested him.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 11:55:48 PM ||
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All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Ahmad Shah were put under house arrest while Javed Ahmad Mir, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Bashir Bhat, Tahir Mir and Ghulam Nabi Saumji were among 100 Kashmiris arrested during demonstrations on Friday against abuses by Indian troops. They were demonstrating in connection with the International Human Rights Day, police and witnesses said. Geelani was informed about the restrictions on his movement outside his Hyderpura house on Friday morning as he was planning to lead a protest march against the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir, sources said. Geelani was also prohibited from leaving his house for the day at Rawalpura on the outskirts of the city, they said Javed Mir, who heads recently floated Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Forum, was detained at Lambert lane in Srinagar as he was leading a demonstration, the sources said. He was lodged at Kothibagh Police Station, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
For the first time since the beginning of the struggle against Indian rule in 1989, activists from Kashmir's biggest and pro-India party also demonstrated against rights violations. Over 100 members of the National Conference party, led by two Kashmir lawmakers, staged a noisy march in Srinagar. "Down with state terrorism", they chanted. "We want (an) end to human rights violations."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 11:49:07 PM ||
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I'm bitter. My email only threatens me with lower mortgage rates...
The US Embassy in Tunis said on Friday that an American company received an unsigned e-mail message earlier this month threatening terrorist attacks against US interests in Pakistan, Turkey and 10 North African and Middle Eastern countries. The unidentified company received the message on December 2, and it threatened attacks in Algeria, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan and Tunisia, the embassy said. Turkey also was mentioned, an official told The Associated Press. Authorities were working to verify the threat, the embassy said. It said the letter suggested an attack on a US target in Tunisia could take place "in the weeks to come," the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2004 11:51:38 PM ||
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#1
You're lucky, Emily. I got something about an ISO standard fawta in arabic from some arabic site in Austria the other day.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2004 2:27 Comments ||
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#2
US interests in Pakland are going to get spammed? Bring 'em on...
#3
Gee, was this mixed in with ads to refinance your mortgage, body part enhancement and the always favorite I have $10 million bucks I want to land in your bank account?
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
12/11/2004 15:53 Comments ||
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Can't tell the players without a program. Here are some of the main leaders in the United Iraqi Alliance: ABDEL-AZIZ AL-HAKIM
Top billing on the list goes to this black-turbaned, pro-Iranian cleric who heads the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and opposed Saddam Hussein from exile in Iran before returning after last year's U.S.-led invasion. Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim was a member of the dissolved Iraq Governing Council and is allied to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Hussein al-Sistani, the country's top Shiite cleric, who was instrumental in setting up the coalition.
Read the Rantburg archives on the family al-Hakim. Very enlightening.
Al-Hakim headed his organization's armed wing, the Badr Brigade, which oversees security in several southern cities. His older brother, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, was assassinated in a car bombing in Najaf last year.
IBRAHIM AL-JAAFARI
A Shiite and the main spokesman for the Islamic Dawa Party, Ibrahim al-Jaafari was born in Karbala and educated at Mosul University as a medical doctor. The Dawa Party was previously based in Iran and launched a bloody campaign against Saddam's regime in the late 1970's. Saddam crushed the campaign in 1982. The group said it lost 77,000 members in its war against the toppled Iraqi dictator.
AHMAD CHALABI
A secular Shiite and one-time Pentagon confidant who led the Iraqi National Congress, a major umbrella group of numerous disparate groups, including Iraqi exiles, Kurds and Shiites. A 58-year-old former banker who left Iraq as a teenager, Ahmad Chalabi fell out with Washington this year after claims he had passed on intelligence information to Iran. He also has many critics who are opposed to anyone ruling Iraq after spending so many years abroad.
al-Hakim also spent many years abroad in Iran.
Chalabi was convicted in absentia of fraud in a banking scandal in Jordan in 1989 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Had been touted as a possible Iraqi leader, but lacks support from other opposition groups.
HUSSAIN AL-SHAHRISTANI
One of six figures chosen by al-Sistani to draw up the coalition list of candidates, Hussain al-Shahristani is a nuclear scientist whose refusal to work in Saddam's nuclear program led to his 1979 jailing. He escaped in 1991 after the U.S. military bombed the Abu Ghraib prison during the first Gulf War, enabling him to head for Jordan. Educated and married in Canada, al-Shahristani worked for human rights organizations in Iran and London. After Saddam was toppled, al-Shahristani's reputation for being nonpolitical saw his name floated as a possible interim prime minister, but the job went to Ayad Allawi.
SHEIK FAWAZ AL-JARBA
Head of the powerful Mosul-centered Sunni Shemar tribes, Sheik Fawaz al-Jarba is a cousin of interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer, and has close ties with both Shiite and Kurdish groups. The Shemar tribe is one of Iraq's most prominent Sunni clans, crossing into Iraq from Saudi Arabia in the 17th century and scattering across the country. Sheik Fawaz refused Saddam's plan to "Arabize" the Kurdish north, and the participation of his predominantly Sunni tribe makes him a valuable partner in the Shiite-dominated coalition.
#1
Being that Sunnis are the majority in Iraq, and most of the Shi'ite 'leaders' are pro-Iranian, the Sunnis win the majority vote the Iranian backed Shi'ites could try and trigger a civil war where the two sects converge south of Baghdad, in the Karbala district after the national elections, which Coalition forces would have stop. Let's hope this does not transpire.
Hussain al-Shahristani seems like a resonable man, after reading his bio.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
12/11/2004 1:45 Comments ||
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#2
No the Shi'a are the majority - approx 60% of the pop.
Hey, theres no need to cross out the abroad, Iraq and Iran are hardly the same country, they hate each other; remember the bitter bitter war they had in the 80s? Thats pretty uneasy bedfellows.
#4
That's not true in the Shi'a south. Saddam fought Iran - and his armies were majority Sunni, with the officer corps almost exclusively so. All of the leading Shi'a Ayatollahs and lesser Clerics are Qom-trained. This does not necessarily mean pro-Iranian, but certainly far far less antagonistic than your statement implies.
#5
This does not necessarily mean pro-Iranian, but certainly far far less antagonistic than your statement implies.
I agree, i did word it a little too strongly. But i stand by my implication that many iraqis and iranians are opposed, ideologically / religiously, if not culturally. But of course you're right that a great many would happily ally with each other.
#6
tell a persian you thought he was an arab and see if you get a peaceful response or a smite on the neck with a dull blade--p.s. DUCK
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
12/11/2004 3:49 Comments ||
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#7
Be careful around here WingedBinger, there are fact checkers and snark masters galore. It might be best to do a season in Double A just to get a feel for the game.
#12
ISTR I once suggested to Gentle that she go over to nicedoggie.net for a "more congenial audience". Come to think of it, I haven't seen her since...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/11/2004 14:09 Comments ||
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#13
You fed that nice Muslim girl to the dogs! What an evil infidel you are, Dave D. [Murat too?]
Posted by: Tom ||
12/11/2004 16:47 Comments ||
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#14
"[Murat too?]"
I wanted to give the Emperor's subjects something to amuse themselves with, not inflict them with an annoying pain in the ass.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/11/2004 18:38 Comments ||
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#15
LOL - Misha would rip his head off in one bite!
Posted by: Tom ||
12/11/2004 19:27 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
JAPANESE troops could soon be training with Diggers on Australian soil for the first time as part of a move to forge closer military ties. Australian and Japanese defence officials have discussed the proposed war games as Tokyo yesterday took a historic step away from its post-war pacifist stance, ending a decades-old ban on military exports, and adopting a more aggressive defence and counter-terrorism posture. Although only in the early stages, the contentious military training talks, which have not reached ministerial level, are certain to divide war veterans and others in the community. It could also pose problems for Canberra's burgeoning relationship with China - including the pursuit of a free trade deal - given ongoing tensions between Beijing and Tokyo. As part of Japan's new military expansion, Tokyo has instructed its defence planners to regard China and North Korea as potential threats. Allowing Japanese troops to train in Australia would be viewed dimly by China, which is likely to become Australia's biggest trading partner over the next decade. 
THE Pentagon said today it is investigating allegations of abuse reported by Australian terror suspect 
PARIS — The Paris-based Society of Reporters Without Borders has requested Syrian President Bashar Al Assad on Wednesday to put an end to daily violations against freedom of the Press in Syria, on the threshold of the 56th International Day of Human Rights.
Somalia's parliament passed a motion of no-confidence against the new prime minister and his Cabinet on Saturday, an official said, effectively sacking a government that had been expected to restore order to the country after 13 years of anarchy and war. The deputy speaker of the 275-member transitional parliament 
Israeli police released a Palestinian candidate in the campaign to elect a successor to Yasser Arafat after detaining him for involvement in a scuffle at a West Bank checkpoint on Friday. Witnesses said Israeli border police earlier stopped Bassam al-Salhi, handcuffed him and took him away as he tried to cross A-Ram checkpoint into East Jerusalem. Police scuffled with Salhi's aides when they tried to pull him free. A police statement said Salhi, a member of the communist People's Party faction inside the PLO, had attacked a border policeman when he was denied entry into Jerusalem for not having a permit. Salhi denied assaulting the policeman. "They were arresting me and I only tried to resist being arrested," he said. Police released him on bail hours later but planned to charge him with assault and illegal entry, the police statement said.
Top Israeli strategists have drawn up a proposal to return parts of the occupied Golan Heights to Syria under a peace deal and will put it to a key policy conference next week, organisers said on Thursday. Since Syria has always made it a point of principle to insist on the return of the entire Golan, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, the proposal appeared to have little obvious appeal for Damascus. 
