EFL: The woman behind a divisive vote today to boycott Israeli universities has brushed aside criticism of the proposals, saying it is impossible to treat that country's academics as "normal citizens from a normal state".
"They're all Jooos, you know!"
Sue Blackwell, a Birmingham loonie lecturer, who is launching her second attempt to secure a national boycott of Israeli academia, said that, if successful, the move would increase the pressure on the "illegitimate state of Israel". She accused the country's universities of being complicit in the alleged abuse of Palestinians in the occupied territories. The proposal, due to be heard at the Association of University Teachers' conference in Eastbourne today, has already sparked a heated international debate. This week more than 250 leading academics voiced their concerns in the Guardian, claiming that there should be a "free flow of ideas" between universities, unfettered by politics. But the boycott campaign received a boost today when the Palestinian Authority said that it was supporting the motion. Ghassan Khatib, the minister for planning, told the Guardian: "Academics of the world should hold Israeli academics responsible for the deeds of their government, and maybe this might waken consciousness within them."
Speaking to the Guardian, Ms Blackwell said it was essential that academics took a stand against an "apartheid state." "There is this great wall of silence, great complicity, about what is happening," she said. "On one hand they are not saying anything about the occupation and on the other they expect it to be business as usual; they expect to be treated as normal citizens from a normal state. "They expect to come to international conferences and the boycott campaign is about saying no, you can't have your cake and eat it." She said those who objected to the proposed boycott did not understand "the extent to which Israeli academics are routinely implicated in racist discourses against Arab students and Arabs in general". Last night Ms Blackwell said she would not give up even if the motion was defeated. "Whatever happens, there's been a really good debate and we've got it on the agenda."
Posted by: Steve ||
04/22/2005 1:50:24 PM ||
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Seeing's Eastbourne is just down the road, I thought
about turning up, thanks to the Heads-up from rantburg these past few days, to register my discontent about their issues. Work interfered, so my follow up has been to visit Ms Blackwell's site.
Her claim to fame is getting booted off the Uni's sun sytem and complaining. Talk about an issue. The issue is the University of Birmingham saving it's ass against Hate Sites, of which, hers is one, (even if there are some great Caterpillar shots). Check 'em out, Border Patrol a la Israeli shots are pretty good, too. May pay to print some and sky-drop them on the southern us border deserts.
The extreme Islamist group accused of threatening George Galloway and hijacking a meeting of moderate Muslims is planning to step up its direct action campaign to stop fellow believers from participating in the election. The Guardian can reveal that the gang of youths who stormed two election meetings this week are members of al-Ghuraaba, an offshoot of the now disbanded radical organisation al-Muhajiroun. The group's east London campaign is being run by Abdul Mueed, a student, who promised yesterday that al-Ghuraaba would continue to disrupt events and target candidates to get across its message to Muslims that they will go to hell if they vote on May 5...
"The Respect party is coming into mosques and calling us to join democracy and is calling us to join the British army." When told that Respect is an anti-war party and is calling for British troops to be removed from Iraq, Mr Mueed changed tack and said it was the Muslim Council of Britain calling for Muslims to join the army. Edited for length, rest at link. Surprising that al-Guardian would allow this sort of thing in its publication.
This article starring:
ABDUL MUID
al-Ghuraaba
al-Ghuraaba
Posted by: gromky ||
04/22/2005 6:05:22 AM ||
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The real story here is that religious deception as practiced by 'moderate muslims' is thwarted by clear guidance jihad as practiced by 'extremist muslims'.
#2
I find this tactic a curious one. Telling people once that they will "go to hell" if they vote, and explaining the underlying reasoning, is probably enough to inform people. Beyond that, it's up to the listener to decide whether they believe it or not.
How does disrupting events and targeting candidates help illuminate the issue any better?
Unless, of course, they consider them apostates...in which case, in islam, it is their duty to kill the apostate, not simply disrupt meetings.
btw...the reason they are opposed to voting is because voting would mean they are agreeing to be led by a nonmuslim.
Just because a person is an apostate does not mean a muslim must kill them. Apostates who do not try to make others into apostates (call them non-outreach apostates) are supposed to be confronted and told the error of their ways. Apostates who are trying to lead others into apostacy (call them outreach apostates) are considered much more dangerous in Islam. Even there, however, there are some exceptions to the 'you must try to kill them' dictim. For one thing, there usually must be a fatwa (of course this is pretty easy to get nowadays - it wasn't always this way) unless there is an active war (of course, I suppose you could argue that since the bin laden decree of 1998 there is an active war).
GENEVA - Switzerland extradited to Spain a suspected Islamic extremist wanted for allegedly leading a bomb plot against senior magistrates. Mohamed Achraf, who was arrested in Switzerland last October, was flown to Madrid escorted by three Spanish police officers, the Swiss federal justice office said in a statement. Spanish authorities believe Achraf, who is an Algerian national, was a member of a terror group plotting an attack on Spain's highest criminal court.
Achraf was detained in September 2004 in Zurich on unrelated immigration charges, after going underground about a year earlier following a failed asylum bid, according to Swiss authorities. He was known to have been using several different identities, according to investigators. Switzerland's supreme court had opened the way for his extradition earlier this month by rejecting Achraf's appeal against the Swiss government's decision in January to hand him over to Spain.
This article starring:
MOHAMED ACHRAF
al-Qaeda in Europe
Posted by: Steve ||
04/22/2005 2:38:11 PM ||
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MADRID - Once known as a wealthy trader in his Madrid neighbourhood, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, alias ' Abu Dahdah ', is accused of being Al-Qaeda's leader in Spain and of links to the 9/11 attacks. The Syrian-born Yarkas, 41, who went on trial in Madrid on Friday, was arrested in the days following the September 2001 suicide attacks on the United States, suspected of helping to plot the killings. Authorities also believe he played a key role in establishing the extremist Islamic networks later blamed for the 11 March 11, 2004 train bombings in Madrid, which killed 191 people and injured almost 2,000.
Until his arrest, Yarkas seemingly led an orderly life between his business activities, his involvement with the local mosque, and his marriage to a Spaniard converted to Islam. He was a well-known figure in the capital's popular Lavapies neighbourhood, although he also made regular trips abroad. He stands accused of recruiting young Islamic militants for Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network between 1995 and 2001 and of sending at least 12 of them for training in Afghanistan, or to fight in Bosnia, Chechnya or Indonesia. Yarkas repeatedly claimed his innocence during preliminary hearings led by the Spanish anti-terrorist judge Baltasar Garzon, and is expected to plead 'not guilty' at his high-security trial, which opened in the Spanish capital.
Twenty-four suspected Al-Qaeda members appeared in court inside a bullet-proof glass cubicle, three of them (including Yarkas) accused of links to the 9/11 strikes. Prosecutors are calling for the three to face 60,000 years imprisonment for their alleged role in the attacks - 25 years for each life lost. A stocky man with thinning hair, Yarkas sat in the back row of the defendants' box, smiling and greeting his co-accused. He is not expected to face questioning until early next week. Telephone taps, police tails and other evidence allegedly link Yarkas to suspected top members of the Al-Qaeda network and specifically to several of the 9/11 suicide attackers. His Madrid telephone number was found at the Hamburg home of an Al-Qaeda member involved in the attacks. With the help of Driss Chebli, also on trial in Madrid, he allegedly organised a meeting where plans for the suicide attacks were finalised, in the Spanish coastal city of Tarragona in July 2001. Spanish authorities are still searching for several of Yarkas's associates, including his former right-hand-man, Amer Aziz, who is believed to have been linked to the Madrid bombings.
This article starring:
ABU DAHDAH
al-Qaeda in Europe
AMER AZIZ
al-Qaeda in Europe
Baltasar Garzon
DRIS CHEBLI
al-Qaeda in Europe
IMAD EDIN BARAKAT YARKAS
al-Qaeda in Europe
Posted by: Steve ||
04/22/2005 2:33:06 PM ||
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Abu Dahdah? He also has pretensions to artistic ability? And I wonder how long his Spanish wife will remain a muslim convert once he's been incarcerated.
I believe it's called, "Guys and Dolls Crushed Flat by Bulldozers"...
Other rejected titles; "Greased!, Beauty and the Dozer, My Flat Lady, West Bank Story...
Flatliners?
A new play tracing the journey of Rachel Corrie from comfortable American home to death in a Gaza refugee camp paints the young peace activist as neither a traitor nor a saint. Oh, I'll bet...
The 23-year-old campaigner was killed in 2003 trying to stop an Israeli army bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian home in the Rafah camp in the Gaza strip. A personal testimony, the show makes no pretense of impartiality. What a surprise.
Corrie's death made her a hero of the four-year-old Palestinian uprising, while critics attacked her as naive, an idiot and a traitor. Yes, so I've heard...
But far from being a political rant, "My Name is Rachel Corrie," directed by British actor Alan Rickman, paints a personal portrait, using Corrie's e-mails and diaries to reveal a poetic writer brimming with ideas, energy and quirky humor. ...who was stupid enough to get crushed flat by a bulldozer.
"I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don't think it's an extremist thing to do anymore," Megan Dodds in the title role says -- words from the last e-mail Corrie wrote her mother. Sorry, Rachel. Gotta work for a living... LOOK OUT FOR THAT BULLDOZER!!!
"We were just trying to show who she was and present her fairly, neither as a saint nor a traitor," Katharine Viner, a journalist at the Guardian newspaper who edited Corrie's writings with Rickman, told Reuters this week. Writer for the Guardian? Oh, I'm sure they won't have her up for sainthood...
"Some of her writing is very poetic and profound and you think 'God this was a really good writer and she could've written lots of great stuff had she lived."' ...and not been crushed flat by a bulldozer.
The show at London's Royal Court theater runs to the end of this month. So hurry and order now before it's too late!
Reviews of "My Name is Rachel Corrie" were generally positive, although The Times broadsheet said some scenes offered only a one-sided portrayal of the Middle East conflict, calling them "unvarnished propaganda." The Guardian countered that "theater has no obligation to give a complete picture." The right-leaning Daily Telegraph's review hailed the "vigor and courage of youthful idealism." I laughed! I cried! I hurled! I wet myself!
"I've got a fire in my belly," Corrie pronounces near the start of the show, which opens in her messy bedroom in the town of Olympia, Washington and ends among the bullet-pocked houses and rubble of Rafah. ...and a bulldozer parked on my head.
That fire kept Corrie scribbling plans, dreams and opinions constantly in her diary and obsessively making lists. One reads: "Five people to hang out with in eternity: Rainer Maria Rilke, Jesus, ee cummings, Gertrude Stein, Zelda Fitzgerald." Say hello for us, Rachel. Tell'em your tale. They'll probably get a kick out of it...
Her philosophical musings on death, faithless boyfriends and improving the world become urgent, intense dispatches to friends and family after she arrives in the Middle East in January 2003. Corrie's parents, in London to see Rickman's show, described it as an authentic portrait of their daughter.
"It helps to explain what took her to Rafah, it very powerfully explains what she found there," Corrie's mother Cindy told Reuters. People with bulldozers who don't fuck around maybe?
The Corries are suing Caterpillar Inc., the company which manufactures the type of bulldozer used by the Israeli army in Gaza, for damages, accusing Caterpillar of "war crimes." Yeah, good luck with that...
Corrie had several prescient dreams about her death. In her last e-mail home she writes: "Mom. I have bad nightmares about tanks and bulldozers outside our house and you and me inside." Wow! She was psychic, too?
Posted by: tu3031 ||
04/22/2005 10:21:54 AM ||
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Should have been titled: "New London play Fetes US nazi, racist bitch who turned a blind eye towards the murder of millions in Sudan"
#9
Idiot activist's stupidity immortalized! Celebrate the mental shortcomings of our species where even the sickest and stupidist amongst us can be somebody's heroine! Did her parents get some Intifada Shaheed cash I wonder? How do they calculate the sum due with international exchange rates? Do you calculate from the moment of squashing or do you use the day some "cleric" in Bughtiburg nodded his approval? Maybe that money went to pay the attorney on the case against CAT since that one defintely wasn't being taken on a contingency basis! So many questions.
#11
"Five people to hang out with in eternity: Rainer Maria Rilke, Jesus, ee cummings, Gertrude Stein, Zelda Fitzgerald."
While I suspect Christ would forgive her -- its his thing, after all -- I wouldn't be surprised to hear the others beat the living shit out of her.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/22/2005 11:57 Comments ||
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#12
hear the others beat the living shit out of her
like fluffing a rug, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/22/2005 11:59 Comments ||
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#13
First the play, then the song. Can history repeat itself?
Horst Wessel (b. September 9, 1907, Bielefeld, Germany -- d. February 23, 1930, Berlin, Germany) joined the Nazi party in in 1926. He was killed by political enemies in a fight in his rooms in Berlin. Glorified as a martyr to the Nazi cause, his song became the offical Nazi anthem. This was perhaps the most famous Nazi song of the war.
#14
Tied in with the Eastboune gig this week, this looks like an offensive. And we also have the postal vote scam from Birmingham/Manchester (musloids, ala Labour shite) and the voter intimidation in the East End. I think it's time for some serious profiling in the uk.
Remember? Rhodesia had a Terrorist war in the '70's and we folded through the fucking Western sanctions. And Zim is paradise now. Time to motivate.....WAKE UP
#18
In the saturation media age, totalitarian activists and other subversives know that they can benefit from replacing real history with historical fiction in public perception. How many millions, for example, mistake the background and setting of MASH for the actual Korean War? The lame defense that it's a work of fffiiicction just doesn't wash in the face of this transparently obvious intent.
The truth is out there, though, in the form of this suppressed photo taken just hours before Corrie's mysterious assassination:
Fast-food activist Rachel Corrie burns a rival company's menu during a pro-McDonald's demonstration in Gaza.
#22
Many thanks, .com.
It will indeed be up for a while, probably until the host bans me in the name of tolerance or I am assassinated by irate peace activists.
#23
LOL, AC! I was just wondering - I'll back you up if you need / want it, heh. The little IHOP label just does wonders for getting the message across... Heh.
OK. It's tinfoil hat time. Roger Simon begins with a mystery. Where is the Oil for Food investigation going?
...
Ontario? Does anything spooky ever happen in Ontario? In this case, maybe. Here's a chart I drew up based on known connections. A Canadian high-ranking UN official named Maurice Strong has resigned after being accused to being one of two officials who Saddam bagman Tongsun Park met.
....
However, this same Maurice Strong has connections to Paul Martin, the Prime Minister of Canada who is now being accused of presiding over a decades long corruption scandal and to the French-Canadian Demarais family which have strong monetary connections to Total Elf Aquitane, which is alleged to have dealings with Saddam Hussein and BNP Paribas, the official bank of the Oil-For-Food program. The Guardian reported on April 6, 2003
...
#2
Right you are,Craig.This wennie say's that a small,weak,inefective military(like Europe's military)is a good thing,a large,robust,effective military is bad.A military that strictly adheres to concepts of Honor and Morals is bad.What an idiot!
#3
Not to mention how expensive all the technological advances would be that we enjoy from the military-industial complex...research and development don't grow on tress, you know.
This guy needs to take a macroeconomics class.
"The truth is that there no longer exists any meaningful context within which Americans might consider the question, "How much is enough?" "
How much is enough? Well the last time we said "enough", several thousand Amricans died due to our limited responses to people who want to erase our nation. And we are paying the price of saying "enough" by having to rebuild our armed forces after letting them rot in half during the 1990's.
Somone needs to introduce this idiot writer to Barry Goldwater's writings.
"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
The author of the article is simply a whiney "I dont liek the Amricans" type, who wants the US to be brought down - he hates the US because it is strong and free. Typical little small-minded collectivist.
#5
Based on the comments I won't bother to read the article. However, if the writer dislikes America and Americans so much, shouldn't he be pleased that we are unnecessarily wasting national monies and manpower on armies and armaments we don't need, instead of putting it into making our country even stronger by the measurements he considers important? If he were as clever as he thinks he is, the tone of this article would be triumphalist instead of whiny: "Hah! See how we fooled G.W.! He's spending more money on his silly War on Terror and annoying the rest of the world while we surge ahead, growing stronger by making important commercial treaties with the countries that matter. Double hah!!"
Posted by: incarnate of lee atwater ||
04/22/2005 12:45 Comments ||
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#9
thibaud, the only problem France has with their strategy is that they seem to have structured things so that their economy can't manage the part about surging ahead.
How do you say free rider en francais? I don't speak the language, but it may well be the same term as "Lose/lose." ;-) A pity, as the world would benefit from a France that is actually successful and happy at the things that really count -- as opposed to the ones Chiraq is working on.
#12
Now, now: the writer is also a West Point grad and a Vietnam vet. I read the article. Interesting, and while I disagree with a fair bit of his thrust, he has provoked me to think about and examine why. The writer somehow thinks it's wrong and cowardly for Democrats to go along with the expansion of the military -- he practically sneers at them for voting to authorize the Iraq war and (for the most part) refusing to be the point men for the anti-war movement. Rather than cowardice or avarice, it demonstrates that there is indeed a sensible wing of the Democratic party, and once they get over their rabid anti-Bush nonsense, at least some Dems are going to be sensible about having and using a military.
The writer also decries the fact that we didn't spin down the military after the Cold War was over. He's wrong, we did down-size considerably, but not near as much as at the end of WWI (one of his examples). And for two simple reasons: 1) there were still substantial global security threats out there and 2) no one else around was going to pick up the slack in dealing with those threats. Sea lanes of control is just one example: if the US Navy were downsized to the point that we couldn't protect the sea lanes, who else was going to do it?
The writer also condemns our military mindsight to achieve "dominance": For the armed services, dominance constitutes a baseline or a point of departure from which to scale the heights of ever greater military capabilities. Indeed, the services have come to view outright supremacy as merely adequate and any hesitation in efforts to increase the margin of supremacy as evidence of falling behind.
Well of course our military is interested in dominance. Every military is. And our military has some first-hand experience of what it means not to have dominance (Bataan, Kasserine Pass, Pusan, etc). Not having dominance means a higher risk for your soldiers, and our generals rightly prize the lives of their soldiers. So of course they're interested in dominance in any situation they may be put into.
The real issue on that point, which the writer won't dare touch, is the political purpose of dominance -- to what uses will this military dominance be put? Ahhh, there's the rub, because he and LLL travellers assume that we're in it for oil, Cheney and Halliburton. Whereas what's been done with our military dominance since the end of the Cold War has almost always been in the direction of defending the weak and enlarging the democratic sphere. Is is wrong to use military dominance to bring democracy and personal liberty to parts of the world that need it? That's the real question, and the writer won't answer it -- he dare not answer it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/22/2005 14:44 Comments ||
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#13
The author should write about the POTEMKINIZATION OF WAR, as Osama and Radical Islam IMHO are PSEUDO-SPETNATZ, PC militarized proxies and diversions for the still-Communist centric Russia and China. The Failed/Angry Left in reality wants War, and wants America to PC create, and thus be PC blamed, for any GLOBAL EMPIRE - it will NOT accept America NOT waging war for Global Empire! What Americans have to understand is once AMerica is finis dev global empire/OWG for the self-alleged peace-loving Left, for all the blood spilt since 9-11, and any righteous indignation as a consequence of 9-11, AMERICA WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO RULE NOR GOVERN ITS OWN [SOCIALIST] EMPIRE. The USSR imploded because like any good societal delinquent, or medieval bandit-slaver-raider, it couldn't and wouldn't feed or take care of itself without external tribute,and or ransacking and looting the countryside- under Left-beloved dialectic theory and equalism, since the USSR imploded the USA must now implode, and the USA can implode by OVER-CONSUMPTION, OVER-SIZED, and OVER-COMPETENCY, as opposed to Commie under/non-consumption. under-/non-sized, and under or incompetentcy. IFF THE CLINTONS ANDTHEIR CABAL FAIL TO PC SUBORN THE USA TO OWG AND COMMIE WORLD ORDER, THE LEFT IS WILLING AND READY TO RESORT TO GLOBAL NUKE WAR - THESE ARE POWERCRATS. CONTROLCRATS, MAFIA-CRATS AND POLICRATS, etc, NOT and NEVER WERE DEMOCRATS - rest assured that like Bill Clinton, the USA's fav Hitlerist-for-Stalinism/Marxism, no matter the truth its YOUR fault they lied, deceived, stole, and enslaved you. Even iff they did admit to being a liar and crook, its your fault again and you have no right to label them as such, and have no right to resist them! The Lefties and their "LOOK AT ME" or "SOCIETY MUST BE PROTECTED FROM ME" psy complex are their own biggest [self]justification for REGULATION and SUPER/HYPER-REGULATION.
#15
Wow, Joe! There are enough concepts in there to populate a book. Your posts are like Bob Dylan lyrics - one song would populate 5 or 6 regular tunes.
This just rocks: "The Failed/Angry Left in reality wants War, and wants America to PC create, and thus be PC blamed, for any GLOBAL EMPIRE - it will NOT accept America NOT waging war for Global Empire!"
Wow - ties in handily to other observations, such as bad's rock-solid assertion that dead Americans is the fondest hope of the Moonbats.
#16
it will NOT accept America NOT waging war for Global Empire! Joe's got a point. The Left's problem is the facts don't support their worldview, therefore there must be an underlying reality beneath the facts.
The House approved a broad energy bill today aimed at boosting domestic production, including provisions to allow oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge and to shield makers of a gasoline additive from water contamination lawsuits. The largely Republican crafted bill was approved 249-183 after two days in which the GOP majority turned back repeated attempts by Democrats to add measures they said would reduce energy use, including a proposal for higher automobile fuel economy requirements. The bill includes $12 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for energy companies, more than the Bush administration said it wanted. Nevertheless, the White House strongly endorsed the measure. "This is a comprehensive piece of legislation and it does address one of the fundamental problems facing our nation and that is that we are growing more dependent on foreign sources of energy," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
Democrats argued that it would have little impact on U.S. reliance on oil imports and failed to address high gasoline and other energy prices. Contentious issues during debate involved the gasoline additive MTBE. The bill calls for shielding MTBE makers from product liability lawsuits stemming from contamination of drinking water supplies. Democrats warned the liability waiver would leave the public with billions of dollars in cleanup costs.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Democrats argued that it would have little impact on U.S. reliance on oil imports and failed to address high gasoline and other energy prices.
They've been arguing this, all right. How about doing something about it?
#2
From my reading, I understand that there is some language that dismisses lawsuits filed after 1993 against makers of MBTE additive. The only thing is that Congress and/or EPA mandated it. Now some members of the Senate may try to kill the energy bill because of this provision. Why should MBTE manufacturers be responsible, it was the govt that shoved this down our throats. We will see what the Roman Senate comes up with.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/22/2005 0:45 Comments ||
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#3
In this case the Dems have stumbled upon a correct contention -- though for the wrong reason, and it's not material to the issue at hand (ANWAR).
I bend over in agony each time I hear Dubya (or other savvy folks) play along with the myth of energy independence. Increasing volume and diversity of supply (both of petroleum and non-petroleum solutions) is desirable, and 95% a function of price levels. But notwithstanding the cartel, oil is the most efficiently produced, marketed, and priced commodity in human history. It is the lifeblood of ALL economies of any consequence, cuz such economies have a significant international component.
A price shock in oil is always universal in impact -- which does not diminish the utility of short-term palliative/stabilizing tools like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But while diversity of supply sources is inherently good -- and a natural development of unfettered markets responding to robust demand -- it's not a question of becoming "independent" in any meaningful sense.
Our reliance is not meaningfully on physical imports of the commodity -- it is on a globalized, dynamic, and increasingly efficient world economy. This economy cannot escape from the oil markets, regardless of how much oil crosses whichever borders. There is no plausible set of developments -- technological, economic, whether within or without the energy sector -- that will change this any time during our lives. And there's no problem with that. The US thrives most of all because of our ability to adapt and change. A thriving world oil market supported by robust prices is our best energy security --"independence" is not just infeasible ... it's actually undesirable.
I obviously think enough of Dubya's leadership and sense to come to Baghdad (though not in a dangerous job), but I wish he'd use his pulpit to educate on markets. Oil prices are one of the clearest and easiest market situations in the news to use as a real-world classroom. When gas prices jump and the astonishing spectacle unfolds of US senators flaunting their ignorance of economics thru speeches with charts and graphs on the Senate floor, absurdly intimating dark Big Oil conspiracies to fleece the Little Guy, I just wish someone would step up and bitch-slap this nonsense to hell.
#4
Here is an article that analyses MBTE and ethanol production as a replacement for gasoline. Despite some extremely shonky math it concludes that MBTE and Ethanol require more fossil fuels to produce than their energy value. The best the authors can say is that sometime in the future they may deliver a net energy gain. Note that the authors have to factor out electricity generated from non-fossil fuel sources (despite the fact when it comes to electricity production energy sources are interchangeable), include energy consumed in the (oil) producing country, and completely ignore secondary inputs like the gas workers use to drive to work and the energy to power their homes. And before someone says the workers would drive somewhere else, I would reply, it would be to produce something of value that can be sold in order to buy energy, instead of this running round in circles to end up way behind where you started from nonsense.
This is lunacy. And BTW the argument that MBTE and ethanol 'replace' inported energy is complete nonsense. The USA imports energy to cover the gap between domestic production and demand. Increase demand as alternate fuels do, then you increase imports. Start and end of story.
#5
Verlaine, two points. Firstly the USA or any country could have unlimited cheap energy from nuclear power as France has proved. Secondly, demand for fossil fuels especially oil is increasing faster than any possible increase in supply. There will be the mother of all energy supply crunches by the end of this year. World wide recession is the only way out.
#6
Verlaine in Iraq----The thing that bugs me about the Bush Administration is that they are not educating the public on basic energy principles. Just standard statements. When we are talking about biofuel, we have to look at the overall energy balance. What is our payback in energy after we have done the conversion of biomass, or corn (liquor, heh) or whatever into diesel? Nobody explains that oil is a solar savings account. Oil was formed millions of years ago from byproducts of growing things from sunlight. Now we are drawing from that savings account. Bringing some simple, but rational things to the table will help the US to decide how best to deal with our energy challenges in the 21st century. Leadership is lacking here, so the LLL, moonbats, et all will step in to fill the void.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/22/2005 10:04 Comments ||
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#7
"Democrats warned the liability waiver would leave the public with billions of dollars in cleanup costs."
Well, who forced the use of MBTE? The GOVERNMENT!
Lawsuits willforce the gas companies to pay for the MBTE cleanup? Well guess who those costs get passed to, as a result of increasingt the cost of business? The PUBLIC.
And once the gasoline copanies are bankrupted by the costs of the MBTE cleanup, who ultimately will bear the cost when the government has to step in? The PUBLIC.
Are the Democrats really THAT stupid that they cannot see the ultimate end, the Public pays no matter what, and the government caused all this to begin with?
What a collection of idiots the Democratic party has become. Harry Truman, rest in peace.
#8
Is MBTE an issue anywhere other than Caliphornia?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
04/22/2005 11:46 Comments ||
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#9
If the government really wants to do something to lower the price of gasoline in the US, why don't they mandate a single formulation for the entire country, or at least a maximum of two or three and increase the number of refineries by at least 1/3?
#11
MBTE was blamed for massive increases in sinus infections and allergies in Chicago and other lake areas. In cold winter weather with inversions its not too healthy.
April 21, 2005: The U.S. Department of Defense is no longer sharing information, regarding its foreign spies, with the CIA. Years ago, because the CIA recruited the majority of foreigners as agents and sources, it established the InterSource Registry. All other branches of the U.S. government that hired foreigners for intelligence work had to register the agent with the CIA's InterSource Registry. This was so that the CIA would not try to recruit the same source for the same work, or if the CIA did, it would be done on purpose. But the military never trusted the CIA with this information, and are now able to ignore the InterSource Registry, and instead log in the new agent with a Department of Defense database called J2X. If the CIA thinks they have a problem with a foreigner they are hiring, or have hired, they can ask the Pentagon to check their J2X list. But there's more to all this. The Department of Defense never got the kind of intelligence services they expected, or needed, from the CIA, and have been gradually increasing their own intelligence capabilities. In Afghanistan and Iraq, military intelligence operators have been hiring thousands of local agents (as informants, spies, or armed mercenaries), and have a better idea of what's going on at the ground level than the CIA does. The Pentagon does not want the CIA people to come in and screw up their agent networks. So the InterSource Registry is out, and Department of Defense control of their own foreign spies is in.
The new DNI (Director of National Intelligence) is already being lobbied by the CIA to get the Pentagon to resume using the InterSource Registry. That's going to be a tough sell, as the Pentagon has been able to go straight to the top to get permission for J2X. The attitude appears to be, if the CIA won't do the job for the Pentagon, then let the Pentagon do it for themselves.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/22/2005 9:51:37 AM ||
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The attitude appears to be, if the CIA wonât do the job for the Pentagon, then let the Pentagon do it for themselves.
As it should be. Unresponsiveness on the part of a government agency shouldn't have to result in an "Oh well..." moment.
#2
I'm curious about your (you guys) opinion of the CIA. Do they really do anything worthwhile? If so what? etc... I don't know allot about it and grew up thinking they were bad asses but the more I read now, it sounds like they are jokes.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/22/2005 10:31 Comments ||
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The CIA, as an institution, learned its lesson in the 1970s: Any sign of effectiveness against the enemies of the US will result in the Democrats gutting them. So we have the CIA of today, which spends more time cooking up leaks and phony scandals about the President than it does figuring out what's going on in the world.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/22/2005 10:41 Comments ||
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If the CIA were being successful, it would be best to establish a cover story that they were not. Somehow, their track record does not seem like a cover story, but perhaps they are much better than we think.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
04/22/2005 10:46 Comments ||
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"The Department of Defense never got the kind of intelligence services they expected, or needed, from the CIA"
And this is the crux of the problem. During the Cold War, the CIA had its own mission, and would do things for the DoD when convenient, which was fairly frequent through the 1980's. It was set up to fight a monolithic opponent that branched out from a core nation-state to client states, with large conventional armies and the large number of bureaucrats needed by the communist system.
Those conditions don't exist anymore. When the SU disintegrated and we won the cold war, people started scrambling for job security. The "cover your ass" way of doing things that was brewed in the 1970's in the analysis branch, spread in the 90's to become a way of life for the entire agency. Apparently nobody is willing to go counter to the bureaucracy and orthodoxy inside CIA. People that do get passed over for promotions, or get called to task for doing things that might call down a Congressional Investigation. The place became as compliant as the old Soviet Politburo. You either went along, or you were out.
All the directors, starting with the ones under GHW Bush, through to Tenant resisted all the needed changes. Because they would have had to clean house, and had a decade of rot to clean up. Politcally its very messy. If you think otherwise, look at all the "leaking" of absolute bullshit info that happened against Bush by people during the campaign, leaks from "highly placed CIA officals" and other similarly unnamed sources. They knew what was coming if Bush was reelected and if Bush stands by his guns.
Given Bush's lukewarm performance defending the Bolton nomination and the spineless Republican performance in the senate on the judicial nominations, a lack of courage to carry though ones political conventions may eventually doom the needed cleanup and reform of the CIA. Its not a done deal in spite of Mr Goss's initial attempts. Goss is doing what needs to be done, but even there, he is fighting a hard tide of an agency that is no longer comitted to its mission, but instead is comitted to its entrenched way of doing things and protecting its bureaucrats. Some of this is the fault of the type of people CIA moved up during the 1990's - political hacks and yea-men, people more dedicated to their career than supporting the cause of freedom and defense of the nation.
As for the military setting up their own HUMINT networks...
I cannot blame the military, they are doing what they are supposed to do: fight and win the wars that ensure the safety of our nation. Its a shame they have to fight the CIA as part of this. The good thing is they are able to get such an effort up and running quickly, apparently producing a decent amount of intel of sufficient quality for their analysts to be able to help the warfighters.
(sarcasm)
Yep - supporting the warfighters. You know, the guys at the sharp end of the stick? What a novel concept. Its so retro, so "80's" ... (/sarcasm )
Disclaimer: I am not now an employee of the CIA or its contractors. However, I have done recent contract work for a government customer assoicated with the Department of Defense, so there may be bias in that direction.
#6
If the CIA were being successful, it would be best to establish a cover story that they were not. Somehow, their track record does not seem like a cover story, but perhaps they are much better than we think.
Unless in actuality they really are incompetent. In which case a cover story about them being incompetent would make people think they're successful...
#12
In net warfare the CIA represents more of an impedement than a help. The CIA has a major transformation in store for it. But, until then, peoples' lives get lost while waiting for the catch up.
Posted by: Dennis Kucinich ||
04/22/2005 15:41 Comments ||
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Not ironically, US intelligence agencies can be looked at in much the same way as monastic orders in the Catholic church. The CIA are much like the Jesuits, the FBI like the Dominicans, the State Department are like the Benedictines, the DIA are like the Franciscans, and the NSA are like the Carthusians. When looked at in depth, the comparisons are almost eerie.
#20
I got lost in the alphabet soup. CID is Scotland Yard? or something else? And what are LDS and DIA?
The comparison of the CIA to the Jesuits doesn't hold up, according to your comments above. The Jesuits got in trouble sometimes for being innovative and willing to buck tradition; and I gather from your comments that we cannot accuse the CIA of being innovative. They sound more like the Chicago Machine.
#21
LDS = Latter Day Saints (Mormons)
DIA = Defense Intelligence Agency
CID = Criminal Investigtion Division (at least in the US Army that's what it means ....)
Posted by: too true ||
04/22/2005 21:12 Comments ||
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Too True: Thanks. CID is also a name for Scotland Yard.
John Negroponte won easy approval by the Senate today to become the nation's first national intelligence director, a job created last year to better coordinate the nation's spy agencies following the Sept. 11 attacks and other intelligence blunders. Within 45 minutes of his approval, Negroponte was sworn in at the White House by chief of staff Andrew Card as President Bush witnessed the ceremony. Negroponte will take over the task of giving Bush a daily briefing on intelligence matters, probably beginning next week, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 ||
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adults are in charge, goodbye Burglar and Clarke
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/22/2005 0:11 Comments ||
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Now if only we could get Bolton approved. Thanks, Sen. Voinovich.
#3
What do Rantburgers REALLY think how much John N can really do with this super bureaucracy. I can see now why Rumsfeld likes the Pentagon agencies of his creation. His work demands results. I think that this superagency will go nowhere without a mandate to hose out the bureaucracy with the administrative equivalent of an Uzi.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/22/2005 10:07 Comments ||
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Speaking of Berger, there's been little mention of the guy in the news. Not surprising, really.
EFL: A whitewash? Say it ain't so...
UNITED NATIONS - Two senior investigators with the committee probing corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program have resigned in protest, saying they believe a report that cleared Kofi Annan of meddling in the $64 billion operation was too soft on the secretary-general, a panel member confirmed Wednesday. You mean the one that Kofi says exonerated him? That one?
The investigators felt the Independent Inquiry Committee, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, played down findings critical of Annan when it released an interim report in late March related to his son, said Mark Pieth, one of three leaders of the committee. "You follow a trail and you want to see people pick it up," Pieth told The Associated Press, referring to the two top investigators who left. The committee "told the story" that the investigators presented, "but we made different conclusions than they would have." We saw it as Kofi: Lovable Incompetent Boob where I think they saw it as Kofi: Criminallly Incompetent Boob.
The investigators were identified as Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan. Parton, as the senior investigative counsel for oil-for-food, had a wide purview. He was responsible for investigations into the procurement of companies under the oil-for-food program and he was the lead investigator on issues pertaining to allegations of impropriety relating to the secretary-general and his son Kojo Annan. Duncan worked on Parton's team. Parton, a lawyer and former FBI agent who has worked on a hostage-rescue team abroad, confirmed to AP on Wednesday that he resigned a week ago, but he declined further comment. Duncan did not respond to telephone and e-mail messages left at the Rockefeller Family Fund, where she is a member of the board. She is a granddaughter of billionaire David Rockefeller. So I don't think she'll be heading down to unemployment to file anytime soon.
The committee's interim report last month faulted Annan's management of the oil-for-food program, which was set up to help ordinary Iraqis cope with crippling U.N. sanctions imposed on Saddam Hussein's regime after his 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The report also said Annan didn't properly investigate possible conflicts of interest surrounding a U.N. contract awarded to the Swiss employer of Kojo Annan. The investigators criticized Kofi Annan for refusing to push his top advisers further after they conducted a hasty, 24-hour investigation relating to his son and found nothing wrong. Hey, they spent a WHOLE DAY on it! What do you people want, blood?
But the interim report cleared the secretary-general of trying to influence the awarding of the $10 million-a-year Swiss contract and said he didn't violate U.N. rules. Annan said the report exonerated him — something Pieth denied at the time — and the secretary-general said he had no plans to resign. The investigation into Kojo Annan continues. Volcker has promised to deliver a final oil-for-food investigation report in mid-summer. Let the heat die down a little. Release it on a Friday night, maybe fourth of July weekend...
The oil-for-food scandal has been among a series of problems that have plagued the United Nations in recent months. U.N. peacekeepers have also been accused of sexual misconduct in Congo and other missions, while the former U.N. refugee chief was accused of sexual harassment. Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard said the resignations were an internal committee matter and refused to comment. U.N. officials have repeatedly said the report speaks for itself. So we don't have to. Run along now. We're busy people here...
A spokeswoman at Volcker's committee, who would speak only on condition of anonymity, said the resignations came after the investigators had completed the work they signed on to do. Pieth acknowledged disagreements within the committee about how to interpret the evidence on Annan, but he denied investigators were censored. He also praised the work of Duncan and Parton. "I have high esteem for both Robert and Miranda," Pieth said. "It's not a bad parting. I think they are very capable people." Maybe too capable?
Pieth added, however, that he believed the two investigators got "personally very involved" in the probe and so grew upset. "Again, this is the nature of things," he said. Yes, we don't need people who take the job too seriously here. They should've known better.
The inquiry committee has more than 70 investigators probing all aspects of oil-for-food, and Duncan and Parton were two of its most senior investigators. The investigators report their findings to the three committee members — Volcker, Pieth and former Yugoslav war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone — who then make conclusions. Pieth said the committee had deliberately created an atmosphere where investigators felt comfortable dissenting with others. "I am also quite happy that there are people who dare to speak their mind because that is one of the problems with the U.N. — that you have these guys nodding their heads," Pieth said. "We reproached the secretary-general that he was satisfied with his top guys, who told him after 24 hours that everything was fine," he added, referring to the internal probe of Kofi Annan. "It's not a good thing to have these guys who only say what you want to hear." Really? I think Kofi would disagree with you on that one.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
04/22/2005 9:27:15 AM ||
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Now that corporate mcukety-mucks and maybe even Volcker are quarries, the left-wing MSM's now on the chase. Right-left combination followed by a blogosphere uppercut: bad news for Kofi.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 ||
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'bout frigging time W was on the offensive. Taking the Senate to task, using the bully pulpit and orchestrated public comments is the way to get the upper hand.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/22/2005 11:17 Comments ||
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The United States comfortably defeated a call to the UN's top human rights body on Thursday to launch a probe into alleged violations at Guantanamo Bay. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights rejected by 22 votes to 8, with 23 abstentions, a resolution brought by Cuba calling for the setting up of a special UN investigator for the detention centre at a US naval base on its territory.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A resolution into human rights abuses called by Cuba? Just when I thought I heard it all...
#2
Tell them to stay away or they will wind up behind the fence at Gitmo, throwing feces for sport.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/22/2005 0:46 Comments ||
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So who voted against the U.S. besides Cuba (that bastion of civil rights). Every day life (in the un) gets a little stranger. This is why they need John Bolton at the un. He would talk mean to the Cubans and make them play nice.
#8
Fox has his own little-known camps on Mexico's southern border. "Harsh" doesn't do them justice. Mexico has little sympathy (or food or water) for illegals entering their country from Guatemala,El Salvador, et al
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/22/2005 10:45 Comments ||
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Canadian Maurice Strong, an influential entrepreneur, withdrew as UN envoy for Korea on Wednesday while investigators probed his ties to a lobbyist suspected of bribing UN officials with Iraqi funds. Strong, who has served in a variety of UN posts since 1947, was a part-time adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the six-party talks aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs. "He is suspending himself with the secretary-general's approval," Mark Malloch Brown, Annan's chief of staff, said in an interview with two journalists. "Given the controversy, I think he's doing absolutely the right thing." Some diplomats said Strong acted only after senior UN officials suggested he resign. Annan was also considering a policy that would force part-time employees like Strong to disclose their finances to avoid conflicts of interest, Malloch Brown said. Only full-time staff now have to do so. Known worldwide for his work on the environment, Strong, 76, acknowledged this week he had business dealings in 1997 "on a normal commercial basis" with the lobbyist and businessman Tongsun Park, a South Korean born in North Korea.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 ||
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"known world-wide for his work on the environment."
LOL! Yeah, the mastermind of Kyoto. He'll be known world-wide for quite different reasons, if the investigators get to the bottom of UNSCAM - this asstard is at the heart of an amazing collection of world-wide ruses and scams. I certainly hope the extent of it all reaches the people of the US - it will be the undoing of the entire House of Socialist Cards, the UN, Soros, et al. He's one of the lynchpins.
#7
Environment, fooey. He was predicting world wide water shortages while the ranch he and his wife owned sprawled across one of the world's largest aquifers.
#8
This is a good article about the doings of Maurice Strong. Apparently he also is buddies with my personal favorite fixer, Adnan Khashoggi, arms dealer to the stars.
#9
Good article Sea. Lovely person that Maurice Strong. Scum personified. No need to invade over him though C.Sgt. Just have the IRS and local tax authorities look into his dealings in Colorado and elsewhere in the USA. I'm sure his operations here will reflect what he is and thereby provide a nice slew of criminal and civil charges that would inure to the benefit of all Canadians and Americans.
#10
Invasion, Cyber Sarge? No need to disturb the troops -- just send Condileeza Rice with a few senior aides to Ottowa to announce that we are taking over, and that she would be pleased to meet privately with anyone who objects. Oh, and she should wear those lovely boots and matching coat. They're about to hold an election anyway, I should think they'd be relieved to have someone competent running the country for a change.
#13
Symbol used is a white towel. Draw your own conclusions.
They are gearing up for the opening of the new Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy film? (Trailing daughter fondly informs me that I'm naive. Generally speaking, that is. At the moment Mr. Wife is driving her and her date to her first formal dance. I don't think either of the menfolk were prepared for the vision of td in fancy hair and makeup, let alone that dress and heels. Both looked slightly stunned as she came down the stairs.(Actually, date looked as if he'd not so gently been hit over the head, poor lad.))
#14
Memory trip, tw, heh. Both as date and as father. Sigh. Enjoy, it passes so quickly.
I'm looking forward to the HHG movie, as well, heh. Might even part with the money to see it at a theater, lol! I hate subsidizing Hollyweird, so I haven't done that in about a decade, since before SaudiLand.
I've got my fingers crossed that there are enough cracks to let the light in - Strong and all of his lying perverse cohorts need a thorough public bashing and prison. And what a boon t would be for getting the yoke of the UN and all of the other sham Tranzi crap off of the US. Please oh please, yes! More! Faster!
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has ignored U.S. objections to the delay in the UN report regarding the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon by one week, repeating that it is yet to be completed. France and Britain have also opposed the delay, which had been requested by Syrian President Bashar Assad in a telephone call to Annan.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said late Wednesday the United Sates was disappointed by the delay. "But we also want to keep the focus on what's important here. And what's important is that we work together to achieve the withdrawal of all the Syrian troops and to have elections in Lebanon," Ereli told reporters.
"The three (U.S., France and Britain) don't want any backslidings and pushed Annan for the report's immediate release," said a Western envoy, who spoke on condition of anonymity. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and French President Jacques Chirac urged Annan on Monday not to delay the report, the diplomat said. The Syrian President had sought a significantly longer delay to allow the U.N. technical team to properly verify the withdrawal, U.N. officials said. The report was due to be released Tuesday, but Annan said it was not complete and probably wouldn't be issued until April 26 as there was a need to wait for further developments in Lebanon and Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has ignored U.S. objections to the delay in the UN report regarding the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon by one week, repeating that it is yet to be completed.
The right of Lebanon's Shiites to political representation has always been in Syria's hands and "the Shiites were not allowed to be politically represented unless they belonged to one of the political Shiite groups falling under Syrian influence," according to Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad al-Amine. Amine was speaking during the first "Shiite National Meeting" in Ras al-Nabaa on Thursday, which gathered several MPs and officials, including Baabda MP Bassem Sabaa and former Baabda MP Salah Harakeh. He also spoke of pressure "applied by Syria on the Shiite to prove their loyalty to the mandate authority."
... and to the mandate authority's ultimate masters...
He added: "The other sects were pressured as well, but to a lesser degree." During the meeting, depicted by its organizers as the emergence of a new Shiite political direction, Anine lashed out at Shiite groups that "try to summarize the entire Shiite sect in them." Amine said: "It is not in anyone's interest to limit the Shiite sect like that, especially our brothers in the resistance who are convinced of the necessity of having political diversity. However, neither we, nor the resistance were able to be free from Syrian hands." He added: "Now that Syria is gone, aren't we allowed to breathe?"
Time to take a long shower and move on?
Amine also addressed Hizbullah and the Amal Movement's objection to a UN investigation commission to investigate the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Amine asked: "Is it true that the arrival of such an international commission would jeopardize the Shiite sect? Why should the Shiites be under suspicion?"
... unless they done it?
He added: "The Shiites want the international investigation commission." Both parties have said on more than one occasion such a commission would undermine sovereignty and interfere in the country's internal affairs. But, Amine said: "It is a national necessity to reveal the identity of the assailants."
An indication those who're so concerned about keeping outside investigators out might be involved in the crime?
The cleric also spoke of Shiite participation in the "Cedar Revolution" and the demonstrations calling for a free and sovereign Lebanon. According to Amine, the Shiite sect was underrepresented in "the second independence," following the commands of its political representatives. He said: "Why shouldn't the Shiites participate in this great national manifestation?"
Because they were busy being bussed in to Hezbollah's counter-mainfestation?
Amine made clear he "disagrees" with Amal and Hizbullah on this matter. He said: "They think this policy protects and preserves the Shiite sect. It is the Shiite's right to be on the same level as the other sects in this matter."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Guess the dude is affraid that something similar, yet opposite to what happened in Iraq, may transpire in Lebanon. It is smart to learn from mistakes, it is smarter to learn from mistakes of others.
Iranian Ambassador Masoud Idrisi Karmanchahi reiterated on Wednesday his support to Hizbullah, adding that the issue of disarming the resistance is a Lebanese matter and should be dealt with by the Lebanese people themselves.
The ambassador paid a visit on Wednesday to Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati. Following the meeting, Karmanchahi said: "Iran is ready to support Lebanon and to promote the relations between the two sisterly countries." The ambassador further stressed the leading role of the resistance in liberating the South and standing up to Israel. Asked about his country's opinion on UN Security Council Resolution 1559, he said: "Iran knows that Hizbullah is a Lebanese party and all the decisions pertaining to it should be made by the Lebanese people themselves, through dialogue and national consensus." Concerning the disarmament of Hizbullah, the ambassador once again reiterated: "The resistance belongs to the Lebanese people, and Iran will support the Lebanese decision relating to that matter."
Posted by: Fred ||
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A new deadly strain of terrorism is on the horizon. How can we defeat it? To discuss the future of terror with us today, Frontpage Symposium is joined by a distinguished panel:
Evan Kohlmann, the author of Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe and founder of Globalterroralert.com. He is currently scheduled to testify as an expert witness on behalf of federal prosecutors in the upcoming trial of alleged jihad recruiter Ali al-Timimi in northern Virginia;
Simon Reeve, a New York Times bestselling author and television presenter. His book The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the Future of Terrorism, which warned of a new age of apocalyptic terrorism, was the first in the world on bin Laden and al Qaeda;
Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, the author of Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror. He is Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore;
and
Dan Darling, a counter-terrorism consultant for the Manhattan Institute's Center for Policing Terrorism. He is considered the terrorologist of the blogosphere. Visit his blog at Regnum Crucis.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/22/2005 9:41:39 AM ||
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Dan the Terrorologist, and TGA who knows the new Pope?
This place is CONNECTED!
Dan, I hope you have good points on the abuse of religion as ideaology for terror. This seems to be something that the "experts" are loathe to discuss, unless it involves Catholocism and the IRA (which fortunately has gone out of vogue as people have seen the IRA to be completely political and non-Christian). I guess we Irish Cahtolics are fair game, but Wahabbi Saaudi Islamists get a free pass... unitl now (go Dan!)
Trailing Wife, I am currently a junior in college here at Rockhurst University and won't be graduating till May 2006.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/22/2005 12:26 Comments ||
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Dan,
Please pay attention to the increasingly blurred line between ideologically-motivated terror groups and international criminal organizations (see FARC, IRA, etc).
The point isn't that terror is just a police problem, or a "nuisance" that "we'll just have to get used to" (as per that moron who went down to defeat last Nov) but that the m.o. for terror groups now includes
1) advanced cross-border organizational and funding tactics perfected by international crime rings; and
2) gangster justice and other forms of takeover of local political institutions
#12
Dan - I'd say that the use of our institutions against us by CAIR, et al, might be the largest threat we face. Bush & Co have done a credible job of either containing (NorK, PakiWakiLand, etc.) or dismembering and fragmenting (flypaper in Iraq was an unexpected bonus - thx, jihadis!) the Islamists. Internally, however, we are not doing so well and have lost some legal battles. It's easier to frighten people with vague charges about the Patriot Act and that they're suddenly going to have barcodes tatooed on their forearms than it is to get them worked up about the rights of jihadis on the battlefield.
Just my $0.02.
Thank you for the great work you do - and my sincere appreciation for the awesome content you provide on RB! All the very best.
#15
RM - A favorite commenter on Fox. He gets so worked up sometimes that he almost loses it, heh, but one thing is certain: he knows whereof he speaks and pulls no punches. Thx for the tip!
April 22, 2005: The U.S. Army Special Forces tactics are becoming very popular in the war on terror. These techniques involve going in and making friends with as many people as possible, and then waiting for the people you have helped to reciprocate with information, or even actively joining your efforts to chase down terrorists. The first thing you have to do is make an assessment, and this is why Special Forces training includes learning the languages of the area they will specialize in. The five active duty Special Forces groups (brigades) each specialize in a different region of the world. Going around to villages or neighborhoods to introduce yourself usually goes over very well. The Special Forces is an exotic visitor who speaks your language, knows your customs and is very respectful. Two men in each twelve man Special Forces team are medical specialists, and being able to provide professional medical attention in Third World countries is a great ice breaker. Since they know the culture, the Special Forces operators know when it is polite to offer something, how to do it, and when to keep quiet. The people in these poor countries know of America as a rich, generous country, so it's not difficult for the Special Forces to offer assistance. After all, America has so much, and likes to share, and there are so many poor people.
The Special Forces will usually say why they are there, to catch terrorists who threaten the United States. For that reason, the Special Forces will get cozy with locals who are not Islamic radicals. It's all about establishing relations, and maintaining them. The army Civil Affairs battalions actually belong to the Special Forces, and specialize in working long term with locals to improve living and economic conditions. Something as simple (for Americans) as have a veterinarian check local herds for diseases, and then inoculating the animals to cure, or prevent livestock diseases, creates lots of good will. Flying in equipment to drill water wells, or passing out battery powered short wave radios (with a wind up mechanism to recharge the battery) builds long term good will. The Special Forces know what goods and services will be most useful, and appreciated, by the locals.
Once the good will is established, the Special Forces then have an invaluable intelligence tool; the ability to go to villagers and just sit and talk. And ask questions that will be answered. Did any armed strangers pass by the village in the last week? The imam (Moslem clergyman) in a nearby town is preaching hatred of the West, is anyone paying attention to him? Is Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda more, or less, popular than he was a year ago. Getting honest answers is not automatic, you have to gain trust first.
The Special Forces training also makes it easier for the operators to detect when they aren't making progress. To detect when they are being lied to or patronized. This is important, because the Special Forces and Civil Affairs troops might we working an area for months, or years, before the locals decide that the foreigners are OK and can be trusted, and spoken to freely and frankly.
When this rapport is established, a senior Special Forces or army commander that speaks the local language can then invite local leaders to special parties. In Arab countries these are called Diwaniya, and are part entertainment, part eating out, and mostly talking things over. The host supplies the place, and the food, and also can lead the conversation. Usually, the guy hosting the Diwaniya is a local big shot, and the gathering is a way for him to monitor the local public opinion, and also see who needs favors. Doing good deeds for your guests creates loyalty to the host, not to mention good will and a willingness to come back. One British general in southern Iraq worked his way up to being able to hold Diwaniyas, which made his job of keeping the peace much easier.
The war on terror is being fought, and won, with thousands of good deeds and kind words. These are tools that are often more effective than bombs and bullets.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/22/2005 9:48:41 AM ||
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One unspoken truth about this is that some of these personnel are obliged, as a courtesy, to take "wives" from local women. This serves both sides very, very well. First of all, "extra" daughters are expensive to maintain, and it is a major coup to have them married to a "wealthy" husband, who provides a great dowry. Second of all, it creates a family tie with the soldier which means he is (loosely) "kin", obligating both him and his new family to protect each other. Third, he becomes heir to all the extended family gossip and intel, which is truly amazing in its depth and complexity. However, this all breaks down if the girls back home find out. They are usually bitterly resentful of the competition, and don't want their potential husbands marrying some "foreign whore". The worst that can happen, as the British found out, is for the domestic wives to join their husbands in the foreign country. This stamps out a gigantic reservoir of information and good feeling, as the domestic girls frown on *any* "mixed" marriage.
#3
Successful SF wives know very well the wall between out there and home. That's just part of the sacrifice all parties have to make, is all, and they expect their men to bring home nothing that isn't curable. For that matter, that's the deal in all successful marriages where one of the spouses travels extensively, and the stay-at-home just has to have implicit trust in the judgement of the travellor. Mr. Wife told me of spending enough on taxi fares in Egypt to buy the services of "100 women!" as his driver told him, and how the guest houses in South America came with bed warmers unless specifically repudiated. Different cultures... what is one to do?
#6
Yuck, TW. I've spent the majority of my 17 year marriage apart from my wife. In the last 45 days, I have slept in my own bed 4 nights. I have never slept with another woman, boy, girl, goat, knothole and never will. I trust my wife does likewise. If your idea of trust is 'I trust he won't bring home the clap' then 'tis a pity. The only trust worth having, the whole point of marriage, is the knowledge that no one is allowed inside you and your spouse's intimate space, regardless of distance. Far-off betrayal is betrayal nonetheless.
April 22, 2005: The U.S. Air Force has developed air dropped supply pallets that incorporate GPS and a simple system that controls the parafoil (a gliding parachute) so that the pallet can land at a pre-programmed destination. This was fine for a single pallet, but the most effective drops involve many pallets, often dozens, from several aircraft. So the Oynx system was developed, which enabled the many pallets in a "swarm" to communicate enough to avoid collision, and actually glide in formation. Tests have shown that an Oynx swarm can contain at least fifty pallets, each of which can glide up to fifty kilometers before landing within fifty meters of the GPS location they were programmed to head for. Thus a few C-17s could put over a hundred tons of supplies on the ground within minutes, with pinpoint accuracy, and little risk of pallets colliding with each other in the air.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/22/2005 9:47:00 AM ||
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#9
Lol Shipman- in my 52 years that makes one compliment about my rhythm !
Seriously, as Phil says, this is very cool. Imagine what use Special Forces types can make of this system. I wonder how much weight it can take.
Lisa Jane Phillips, a Meredith College student, regaled many with her heroic war adventures but the campus police chief smelled a scam. Phillips told glowing stories of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said she was a pilot, wore an Air Force captain's uniform with numerous medals and frequently left school for a few weeks at a time on a "mission."
Yeah, that has the fine ripe smell of a fish story.
Frank Strickland, the campus police chief and a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, grew suspicious, especially about those two-week deployments to combat areas. He notified federal investigators. Phillips, 34, of Cary, N.C., was arrested earlier this month and indicted on 12 charges stemming from false impersonation of a U.S. military officer, CBS News said.
Bye, bye honey.
The government said her stories were made up and the uniforms and medals she wore were not earned. Her claims led to her tuition and fees being waived at Meredith, a private women's college. Her free ride totaled $42,178.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/22/2005 8:55:13 AM ||
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Her claims led to her tuition and fees being waived at Meredith, a private women's college.
Wow. I would have thought that a private womynz college would have thrown her out for being a member of the baby-killing, non-V-friendly Bushitler Wermacht.
We need to be reminded of this.
The mountains and plains of Iraqi Kurdistan compete with Afghanistan for the title of the most mine-ridden country in the world. By one calculation, there are four or five mines for every one of the four million Kurds in northern Iraq. Even in comparison with other landmines, the Valmara 69 is a menacing object. Five horns stick out of its head making it look like a miniature Dalek. Touch any of them and, propelled by a small charge, the device jumps into the air to waist height and explodes, spraying 1,200 lethal metal fragments 50 yards in all directions. "The Valmara is one of the most dangerous of the mines and difficult to defuse," said Gafar Gafor Abbas Wariyah, a veteran Kurdish peshmerga, famous in northern Iraq for defusing 107,000 mines, before a premature explosion tore off his hands.
The mountains and plains of Iraqi Kurdistan compete with Afghanistan for the title of the most mine-ridden country in the world. By one calculation, there are four or five mines for every one of the four million Kurds in northern Iraq. Mine clearance has been agonisingly slow. Under Saddam Hussein, mine detectors were often banned from entering areas where they were most needed. After the US invasion in March 2003 the campaign to clear Kurdistan of mines should have speeded up. Instead it has slowed down as the US, in effect, took over responsibility from the United Nations for funding mine clearance. Only some of the money needed for clearing mines in Kurdistan has materialised, although the State Department has contributed $9m to the demining activities of a British-based organisation, the Mines Advisory Group in northern Iraq over the last two years.
In an old Iraqi army fortress overlooking a green plain outside Sulaymaniyah in eastern Kurdistan, Twana Bashir, the operations head of the General Directorate of Mine Action said he had been forced to stop operations for four months because of lack of money. This time, he was back in business, having just procured enough money to issue tenders for clearing 50 minefields out of an estimated 4,000. The oldest active minefields date from 1974 and were laid by the Iraqi army suppressing the Kurdish rebellion. Mines protected every Iraqi army post. During the eight-year war with Iran, Saddam, short of troops, tried to defend his northern front with great belts of minefields.
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Posted by: phil_b ||
04/22/2005 2:23:45 AM ||
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Excellent article, Phil. We should funding mine-clearing as much as possible. There should be a dozen Mr. Zangana's clearing the country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/22/2005 9:00 Comments ||
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Eventually, there needs to be deployed a directed energy weapon that can clear a large area. Since line-of-sight is important, it should be elevated; and since time-over-target is also a consideration, it should be a dirigible. The large amount of energy would almost have to be generated by a small, 2-5 ton nuclear reactor. Something like a powerful microwave dish that would heat the soil to a temperature hot enough to detonate the mine, to a depth of one foot.
#4
Hmmm. This might be as effective as sewing salt or soaking in oil, heh. Think of all the critters, insects and worms and nematodes - etc, that would be baked. I'm thinking heat to a 1 ft depth over broad swaths sounds like a major ecologicial FUBAR... Hey, I'm just sayin...
#5
This is nuts. What I don't get is why they don't fire up a thousand fuel-air explosive bombs and just clear the area. A cheaper way would be to use flail tanks, as in Normandy.
#6
I have got a simple idea that is relatively inexpensive and enviornmentally sound. Let them take their convicted thugs and allow them volunteer for chain gangs (with long segments between them of course) to clear by hand! As an incentive give them a target amount for clearing and provide a reduced sentence for work completed. Have them walk the cleared areas afterward just to be careful though.
#7
The ecological effects are very limited. First of all, the largest of minefields is tiny compared to the land around it. Second, while it would, indeed, sterilize the ground, the ground wouldn't stay that way very long. Third, and this is an interesting effect, the moisture in the soil would be turned to steam, strongly churning the soil. This would be much like plowing it, making it more fit for either agriculture or to return to its natural state.
#10
Anonymoose is right. Sterile soil is pretty quickly recolonized by the organisms in the encircling, uncooked soil. If you feel bad about it, though, just culture a batch from the nearby soil ahead of time, attach to a hose, and spray as soon as the popcorn sound stops. You can even include fertilizers and legume seeds (eg. peas, alfalfa or clover, depending on whether you wish to provide food, feed goats or attract bees) to improve over the original condition.
#11
Anonymoose / tw - Cool - it just struck me that, because you don't know where the mines actually are the area zapped would be large, and the goodies in our symbiotic existence would be smacked - an out of balance situation that I didn't see being rectified so easily. Glad it's not nearly as dire as my first thoughts implied. Thx!
The UN Human Rights Commission adopted a resolution Thursday condemning abuses in Sudan and accepting compromise wording on improving the situation in the embattled Darfur region. The resolution, passed by consensus and adopted without a roll-call vote, had support from Sudan and other African nations, the United States, the European Union and others. It was approved after the EU withdrew a more strongly worded document. The final resolution was the result of weeks of negotiations between the EU, the United States and African nations.
The African countries agreed to remove wording that praised the Sudanese government's steps to improve the situation in Darfur, while the Western countries dropped specific condemnation of the Sudanese government. The resolution said, "The commission condemns continued, widespread and systematic violations by all parties of human rights and international humanitarian law" in Darfur. It specifically condemned "the violence against civilians and sexual violence against women and girls, destruction of villages, widespread displacement and other violations."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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That's the perfect graphic for a whitewash namby-pamby "all parties" are being vewy vewy bad. They'll be sent to bed without their milk and cookies if they don't play nice. Everybody agreed to dumb-down the resolution to the point of utter pointlessness. And pointlessness is Job 1 at the UN. Mission accomplished.
#3
The resolution, passed by consensus and adopted without a roll-call vote, had support from Sudan and other African nations...
Well if it has the support of the nation it's condemning, you just know how effective it's gonna be.
Do the Morons of Turtle Bay just think the world is inhabited my morons or do they consider it an established fact?
#4
If people in that hell hole of a place weren't being killed, maimed and terrorized on a massive scale it would almost be more humorous than patheric. What a waste. And the point of it all is? "Weeks of negotiation" led to the EU withdrawing the "more strongly worded document." It all adds up to nothing more meaningful than a huge squandering of time, money, and life. Somebody should do an economic study into the sum cost of spitting out these "resolutions."
ISLAMABAD: In what could be described as a severe blow to the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday decided not to attend the alliance's future meetings. "We have decided to stay away from ARD meetings after the Pakistan People's Party-Parliamentarians (PPP-P) did not bother to confer with the PML-N on important decisions," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, PML-N acting parliamentary leader, told a press conference. He said a PML-N meeting would be held next week to draw up a strategy to discuss the matter with the PPP-P. "The PPP-P made several decisions of national importance but never took the ARD or the PML-N into confidence," he added. He said that on the one hand the PPP-P was chanting slogans of go Musharraf go, but on the other it was talking about national reconciliation. He alleged that the PPP-P ignored the PML-N on Asif Ali Zardari's arrival in Lahore.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The Punjab government cordoned off Bilawal House-II on Thursday and told Asif Ali Zardari that he was under house arrest, but later permitted him to go to Data Darbar to offer prayers with a small protocol. Asif Zardari, escorted by a police vehicle and his bodyguards, arrived at the shrine amid hundreds of workers showering him with petals and raising slogans. Interestingly, Traffic Police kept all traffic signals open on his route from Bilawal House to Data Darbar via Jail Road, the Canal, and the Mall.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 ||
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I'll bet he ceremoniously abased himself and pressed the Giant Switch of Reset - and got a string of greens all the way home, too.
The Foreign Office on Thursday summoned ambassadors of the European Union, Belgium, and the Netherlands to lodge a protest against the European Parliament's (EU) refusal to meet Maulana Samiul Haq, who was part of Pakistan's parliamentary delegation. Maulana Samiul Haq was detained at the Brussels airport for an hour and a half and was later allowed to stay in his hotel on the condition that he would not address any gathering in Belgium, nor give any statements to the media.
Athar Mahmood, additional secretary (Europe), told the ambassadors that the government of Pakistan had taken exception to the treatment meted out to Maulana by the European Parliament. He emphasised that the Government of Pakistan had lamented the European Parliament's discriminatory behaviour towards Samiul Haq, who as an elected senator, leader of a major political party and a member of the Senate's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, saying he merited due respect, especially when he was representing Pakistan in Brussels.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
He's such a clotheshorse. Isn't that a Bill Blass kaffiyeh?
#2
I can almost hear Robin Leach... "In today's episode of Turbans of the Rich and Infamous we drop in on Maulana Samiul Haq, Sami to his crew, to check out his fabulous crib - recently redecorated with treasures he picked up in a jaunt across Europe. Sami, may I call you Sami? I understand you had a lot of spare time on your hands - obviously, you spent much of it shopping. Please - tell us about the headgear. I must say, it's stunning! Smart, tres chic, it will go with simply anything..."
ISLAMABAD: PPP has welcomed the International Crisis Group's (ICG) latest report that calls upon the government not to push democratic forces in the country with their backs to the wall. The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, multinational organisation dedicated to preventing and resolving deadly conflicts around the world. "The State of Sectarianism in Pakistan" report by the ICG says that the military's policies of marginalising secular democratic forces was generating religious intolerance and promoting sectarianism.
It's a good report. It identifies all the obvious problem areas. But the solutions it calls for are impossible to implement with things as they stand now.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Egypt said it plans to double the size of its contingent in the African Union (AU) monitoring force in western Sudan's Darfur region. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Ghait told reporters after a meeting with Sudan's officials "President Hosni Mubarak suggested his plans at the three-way summit on the on the crisis in Sudan's western Darfur region last Tuesday with leaders of Sudan and Ethiopia. "President Mubarak made clear that Egypt is prepared and has a definite intention to reinforce the Egyptian presence in the monitoring force by doubling the number of Egyptians, which now stands at about 100 police and military," Aboul Gheit said. "Egypt will act soon to double that or more."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Well now, that will have, uh, no effect. Good show!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The woman behind a divisive vote today to boycott Israeli universities has brushed aside criticism of the proposals, saying it is impossible to treat that country's academics as "normal citizens from a normal state". 
The extreme Islamist group accused of threatening George Galloway and hijacking a meeting of moderate Muslims is planning to step up its direct action campaign to stop fellow believers from participating in the election. The Guardian can reveal that the gang of youths who stormed two election meetings this week are members of 
GENEVA - Switzerland extradited to Spain a suspected Islamic extremist wanted for allegedly leading a bomb plot against senior magistrates. 
The House approved a broad energy bill today aimed at boosting domestic production, including provisions to allow oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge and to shield makers of a gasoline additive from water contamination lawsuits. The largely Republican crafted bill was approved 249-183 after two days in which the GOP majority turned back repeated attempts by Democrats to add measures they said would reduce energy use, including a proposal for higher automobile fuel economy requirements. The bill includes $12 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for energy companies, more than the Bush administration said it wanted. Nevertheless, the White House strongly endorsed the measure. "This is a comprehensive piece of legislation and it does address one of the fundamental problems facing our nation and that is that we are growing more dependent on foreign sources of energy," said White House spokesman 
Canadian 
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has ignored U.S. objections to the delay in the UN report regarding the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon by one week, repeating that it is yet to be completed. France and Britain have also opposed the delay, which had been requested by Syrian President 
The right of Lebanon's Shiites to political representation has always been in Syria's hands and "the Shiites were not allowed to be politically represented unless they belonged to one of the political Shiite groups falling under Syrian influence," according to Shiite cleric Sayyed 
Iranian Ambassador 
The 
ISLAMABAD: In what could be described as a severe blow to the 
The Punjab government cordoned off Bilawal House-II on Thursday and told 
The Foreign Office on Thursday summoned ambassadors of the European Union, Belgium, and the Netherlands to lodge a protest against the European Parliament's (EU) refusal to meet Maulana 
Egypt said it plans to double the size of its contingent in the African Union (AU) monitoring force in western Sudan's Darfur region. Foreign Minister 
