About 5,000 citizens jammed a main road in the capital Friday, waving red and white Bahraini flags in the second rally for constitutional reforms in a month in this tiny Gulf kingdom. Many protesters wore stickers reading, "Constitutional Reform First."
The rally was spearheaded by the Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which calls for more power for parliament's elected lower chamber. That body now shares equal powers with the royally appointed upper house. "People are demanding immediate constitutional reforms which will guarantee more rights to the people," said Abduljalil Singace, an al-Wefaq spokesman at the rally.
The demonstration followed one last month that drew 7,000 flag-waving people demanding reforms. In October 2002, Bahrain held its first democratic parliament elections since 1973 after the ruler, Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, won the approval of a new constitution. The charter called for a parliament — which had not existed since 1975 — an independent judiciary and a body to investigate public complaints. But al-Wefaq and three other groups boycotted the 2002 elections, in part because of their objection to the equal powers between the two houses of parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 07:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
If there were another "Pearl Harbor" type surprise attack in the Pacific, it would not hit Hawaii, but Guam. There, Anderson Air Force Base, and the surrounding logistical complex, is the most important American military base in the Pacific. Anderson's several 10,000 foot air strips can handle any aircraft in the American inventory, and lots of them at the same time. Air power, not warships, would dominate in another major war, and Guam is the big Pacific base for the United States.
Anderson's ammo bunkers hold over 100,000 bombs and missiles. Fuel storage holds over a quarter million tons of jet fuel. Each B-52 flying off from Guam carries over 140 tons of jet fuel, each F-15, over five tons. KC-135 tankers fly off with nearly a hundred tons of fuel on board. Guams workshops can repair aircraft as well as ships. The island, which is American territory, also contains a naval base and facilities for naval aviation.
Guam also has some downsides. It's small (212 square miles) and dry. While the natives are great, there are not many of them, and there's not much else. So everything has to be imported. Because there's not much there there, troops don't like to be stationed on Guam. But it isn't in the middle of nowhere, it's in the middle of everywhere. Guam is 2,500 kilometers from Tokyo, Japan, 2,700 kilometers from Taiwan, 2,500 kilometers from the Philippines, 1,800 kilometers from Indonesia, 2,900 kilometers from South Korea, 2,300 kilometers from American bases in Okinawa, and 3,000 kilometers from China. The chessboard for a Chinese campaign is evolving. The Chinese have a restrictive timetable to snatch Taiwan then go into a defensive mode. To meet this timetable they must reduce the Pacific fleet, the ports of Bremerton and San Diego. Otherwise, it is still TBD if they need to take on secondary targets, such as Guam, San Francisco, Subic Bay, the Panama Canal, or use its base in the Caribbean to attack the US Atlantic fleet. Wild cards are Japan, Australia, and India.
#1
China has a base in the Caribbean? Are you talking about Cuba, or is there some Chinese outpost that I'm not aware of?
Posted by: Sheik Abu Bin Ali Al-Yahood ||
05/07/2005 18:58 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I guess the ethnic chinese in Ensenada are moles? Paranoia reigns supreme for the moose
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 19:05 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Frank G: Paranoia, hardly.
http://www.khouse.org/articles/1999/171/print
"To complicate matters further, continued U.S. access could be at risk due to a deal struck between the Panamanian government and a Chinese-based company named Hutchinson Whampoa, Ltd. On March 19, 1997, in a $22.2 million/year deal, the government of Panama gave the Hong Kong company 50-year rights to two prime American-built port facilities flanking the canal zone at Balboa and Cristobal: both ends of the canal. Hutchinson Whampoa has worked closely in the past with the China Ocean Shipping Co. (COSCO) on shipping deals in Asia even before Hong Kong reverted to Beijing's control in 1997. COSCO is the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) controlled company that almost gained control of the abandoned naval station at Long Beach, California.
Hutchinson Whampoa is owned by Chinese billionaire Li Ka Shing, who has such favorable ties to the Beijing government that he was at one time offered the governorship of Hong Kong...The agreement with the Chinese was enacted by secret Panamanian legislation, passed on January 16, 1997. It provided to Hutchinson Whampoa "first option" in taking over the Rodman naval station, rights to operate piloting and tugboat services for the canal and private roads near the two ports, as well as authority to deny ships access to the ports and entrances to the canal if the ships are interfering with Hutchinson's business. This is a direct violation of the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty, which guarantees expeditious passage for the United States Navy. There is also another troubling report that a U.S.-based company had submitted a higher bid on the ports' lease than did the Chinese. This has lead many Americans, including U.S. Senator Trent Lott and former Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, to seek answers from the Clinton administration and the Secretary of Defense as to why a company with possible ties to the Chinese military was allowed to assume control over these former U.S. military installations..." For further information on holdings in the Caribbean:
http://www.hutchison-whampoa.com/eng/ports/international/the_americas.htm
#4
respectfully, your concerns are noted. When they're addressed and discarded will you accept that?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 20:57 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Frank G: When they *are* addressed, and to my satisfaction. Otherwise, objections are less than persuasive. Having presented my thesis, I breathlessly await your antithesis, unless it only consists of objections.
#6
Chinese ownership and control is operative ONLY until severed and replaced (i.e.: easily done in time of war). When they can project power further than the west edge of Taiwan, I'll join you
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 22:00 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The Li Ka-shing connection is true. But the significance of the deal is overrated. Can the Chinese defend it from an American demand for it to be opened to American shipping? No. Panama is 8,000 miles from China, and at most 2,000 miles from the Southern Command. No way they can defend it, even for days. Besides, why would the Panamanians allow the Chinese to dictate how the canal is used? The whole theory makes no sense. Even if the Chinese annexed Panama and put 100,000 troops in place, there is no way they could defend it. We'd annihilate them in no time. Like I said, it's too far from China. Another way of putting it is that they'd be a big fat target.
#8
I 'm on board with ZF - IF China was able to take advantage of the pieces on the board, yes, moose, you'd be rightfully concerned, and we'd join you. Given PRC's limitations, that's not gonna be possible for 15-20 yrs with total inactive US moves...not likely IMNSHO.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 22:10 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Guam also has Apra Harbor, the former NorthWest Guam AAFB, NAVCAMS and the former NAVMAG, now NAVORD [Ordnance Annex] - besides Guam, there also the former huge US WW2 air and naval bases on Tinian and Saipan islands in the CNMI. Japanese naval forces that helped attack Wake and Midway came from here, and the CNMI is believed to be where the Japanese took Amelia Earhart. Hoewever temp any "rest period" after taking Taiwan, I doubt the Chicoms will stop at only Taiwan - THE WORLD IS IN THE PROVERBIAL "FINAL STRUGGLE/CONFLICT" BETWEEN COMMUNISM-SOCIALISM AND CAPITALISM. The Commies and aligned are out to destroy Democracy and Capitalism everywhere in the world, by any each and every means necessary, from within and without, legit or illegit, even iff it means working or pretending to be GOP- RIGHTIST. BILL MAHER said or inferred it again last night - there are no DEMOCRATS anymore, only Rightist "Liberals" and Republicans/Rightist Conservatives for Socialism and Communism - eerrr, Regulation and Protection of domestic,mainstream America.
#10
The axiom that the Panama canal would be defended is incorrect. The H-W corporation would only need to *deny* it to the US. This would not be done with some declaration that the US couldn't use it, it would be done by either scuttling a large ship (hopefully a US warship) in the canal or some other means to make it non-navigable. As far as other Caribbean operations go, anything great or small that could inhibit the US Atlantic fleet from proceeding apace would be their intent. At worst, they would hope that the fleet would have to sail around Cape Horn, costing them a week or more travel time. The Chinese accept as doctrine that they cannot take on the US in a direct fight, so their emphasis is distraction and to delay the US's response to their actions, by unconventional means, until they have a much better strategic position. Most likely, after the conquest of Taiwan, they would immediately be prepared to set up an enormous and international scream that the US was conducting an aggressive war against "unified China", that even the US had long recognized was a single state.
#11
...would be done by either scuttling a large ship (hopefully a US warship) in the canal or some other means to make it non-navigable.
Can't see it taking more than three days to carve up said ship and taking out the small chunks. That, and the semi-permanent deployment of two carrier groups in the Pacific, then add in the common perception fact that our Navy is superior to the Chinese Navy in innumerable ways, I don't see it adding up, really.
Most likely, after the conquest of Taiwan, they would immediately be prepared to set up an enormous and international scream that the US was conducting an aggressive war against "unified China", that even the US had long recognized was a single state.
What's left out of that calculus is the fact that we'd actually give a flying fuck about 'international opinion' after an obvious grab of a soverign democracy. The ChiCom's intent is fairly obvious, even to the moderately untrained eye, and I doubt we'd wait for a UNSC resolution in this case.
I know he's just sticking up for his kid, but this article, entitled "The Crimeless Crime: The Prosecution of John Walker Lindh," is crap. He repeats the lie that we gave money to the Taliban in 2001, and he claims that John Boy went to Afghanistan to help the "Freedom Fighters," aka, the Taliban, fight off the oppressive and rapacious "Russian-backed Northern Alliance." He says John John had no idea that the Taliban had a horrendous human rights record, but later alleges he was afraid of Dostum on account of his reputation for having murdered some Taliban fighters in 1997. For such a studious guy, Lindh was only selectively well-informed. Also, Taliboy was "unimpressed" by bin Laden, yet admitted that he trained at an al Qaeda camp, that his "heart had become attached" to the Taliban and that every Muslim aspired to become a martyr. Spin it any way you want, Pops, but your son is a treasonous dirtbag.
#2
possibly Johnny could mate with Lori Berenson and their grandkids could welcome their release....
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 0:23 Comments ||
Top||
#3
If I remember correctly, Mr. and Mrs. Lindh were quoted as saying something to the effect that they didn't want to impose their own views on their son; they wanted him to learn for himself. Looks like Mr. Lindh still doesn't get the idea that parents must train up a child in the way he should go. They stood for nothing when their son was young; and so he fell for anything. Sad.
#7
Maybe he and Mumia can share a cell, become bestest friends, and be made a citizen of Paris? Heck he speaks the launguage (Arabic) and hates America, what other qualifications are there?
#9
I actually have more contempt for his parents. If I recall correctly, they let him enroll in a Yemeni madrassah at a very young age. Since his beleif system was partially formed at a time when his parents should have been protecting him, they're at least 50% to blame. They need to be in jail more than he does. They're trying to mask their failure by transferring elsewhere.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named Peruvian Alvaro de Soto as his next Middle East peace envoy. De Soto, who succeeds Terje Roed-Larsen in the post, will act as Annan's envoy to the Quartet for Middle East Peace, as well as his personal representative to the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority, the UN said in a statement on Friday.
De Soto, whose position as Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process becomes effective immediately, will attend a quartet meeting in Moscow on 9 May. "The appointment of a new Middle East envoy comes at a time of renewed momentum for peace that must be sustained by the parties and strongly supported by the international community," UN spokesman Fred Eckhart said. "The Special Coordinator will be guided by the principles of the relevant Security Council resolutions on the Middle East and by the road map for peace put forward by the quartet."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
''The appointment of a new Middle East envoy comes at a time of renewed momentum for peace that must be sustained by the parties and strongly supported by the international community,'' UN spokesman Fred Eckhart said.
Lol! Candidate for Howler of the Day. Methinks he'll say anything for a paycheck, heh. I'm sure that a real-speak translation would have something to do with coughing up more money.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 0:16 Comments ||
Top||
#3
de Soto is a brilliant man. Check him out. He has radical ideas about solving global poverty: provide legal property rights to the poor for the hovels and land they occupy. This instantly makes them players in the economy, and they make very effective use of that.
Posted by: Brian H ||
05/07/2005 3:54 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Brian post some links and we will read them. All google tells me is that he was responsible for Cyprus and Burma. Hardly shining examples of the UN at its best.
#7
Brian is confusing Alvaro with Hernando de Soto, author of
''The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else''
From a review of his book It's become clear by now the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in most places around the globe hasn't ushered in an unequivocal flowering of capitalism in the developing and postcommunist world. Western thinkers have blamed this on everything from these countries' lack of sellable assets to their inherently non-entrepreneurial ''mindset.'' In this book, the renowned Peruvian economist and adviser to presidents and prime ministers Hernando de Soto proposes and argues another reason: it's not that poor, postcommunist countries don't have the assets to make capitalism flourish. As de Soto points out by way of example, in Egypt, the wealth the poor have accumulated is worth 55 times as much as the sum of all direct foreign investment ever recorded there, including that spent on building the Suez Canal and the Aswan Dam.
No, the real problem is that such countries have yet to establish and normalize the invisible network of laws that turns assets from ''dead'' into ''liquid'' capital. In the West, standardized laws allow us to mortgage a house to raise money for a new venture, permit the worth of a company to be broken up into so many publicly tradable stocks, and make it possible to govern and appraise property with agreed-upon rules that hold across neighborhoods, towns, or regions. This invisible infrastructure of ''asset management''--so taken for granted in the West, even though it has only fully existed in the United States for the past 100 years--is the missing ingredient to success with capitalism, insists de Soto. But even though that link is primarily a legal one, he argues that the process of making it a normalized component of a society is more a political--or attitude-changing--challenge than anything else.
Posted by: john ||
05/07/2005 8:22 Comments ||
Top||
#8
But even though that link is primarily a legal one, he argues that the process of making it a normalized component of a society is more a political--or attitude-changing--challenge than anything else. If this is indeed his view then he is wrong. Collateralisation of property is a function of the banking system, assuming there are secure and transferable rights to property. A bank lends money and the borrower agrees to pay interest and the sum borrowed at a future date and the bank acquires a legally enforceable right to seize some real property should the borrower default.
#9
It was a link to the Amazon Listing for ''The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else''.
I've double checked this one, so it should work or Fred's got a new bug for Mother's Day
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/07/2005 8:46 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Yup. Bug.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/07/2005 8:47 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Let's see if "that" helped...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 9:07 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Phil, your asumption of secure and transferrable title is not valid in the countries De Soto studied, primarily Peru, and is exactly the one De Soto hones in on. He goes through how excessive bureaucratization in zoning and title transfer has fed corruption and has led to most personal real estate in the developing world being "illegal" and off the records. But if you leave the high rise government offices and go into the neighborhoods, everybody knows and generally agrees on who owns what and how to transfer property within their neighborhood. Apparently this includes some substantial dwellings as well as the cardboard shanty towns that have grown up around all the metropolitan areas. Given that people do not have legal titles to the real estate they own and hold, banks will not lend with it as collateral. This is the source of the statement about the illiquid capital the poor have that must be liberated. His book also goes into the efforts necesary to get the real estate properly titled.
What is fascinating is that he goes into how the U. S. did it correctly with stories of the settlement of the U. S. The bottom line, as I recall and I read the book several years ago, is that when the U. S. was settled, the lawyers tried to bring over the land laws from Europe. They didn't work in the early U. S. just as they haven't worked in the third world. But in the U. S. one of the great unheralded legal and political developments of the 19th century was the evolution of land law to recognize and parallel common practice instead of denying the existance of common practice and trying to maintain the fiction of uneconomic and unuseable legal formalities. A triumph of localized republican democracy muddling through to find a practical, workable solution without any care for its theoretical consistency.
This is one of the hallmarks of les Anglo Saxons that the French fear so much. They and the Spanish must have theoretically consistent solutions that eminate from and reenforce the power of the omniscient and omnipotent center. This story is told in "The New World of the Gothic Fox: Culture and Economy in English and Spanish America" by Claudio Veliz. For the Spanish it comes from the need for central control to finally drive the Moors from Spain. So the bottom line is that the whole land tenure problem in Latin America is the fault of the Mooselimbs. Great way to get back to the GWOT.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/07/2005 9:24 Comments ||
Top||
A former investigator for an independent inquiry into the UN oil-for-food programme handed over potentially explosive documents on Thursday to a US congressional committee, triggering outrage from inquiry head Paul Volcker.
Robert Parton, a lawyer and former FBI agent who resigned last month as senior investigative counsel for the inquiry, gave the documents to US lawmakers even though he signed a confidentiality agreement when he was hired and certified when he left that he possessed no documents related to his work. Congressional investigators speculate the documents could show that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan misled Volcker, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board, during the investigation. Annan has repeatedly insisted he committed no wrongdoing, was truthful and withheld nothing from investigators. Parton has told associates he felt Volcker's inquiry had been too soft on Annan when it looked into whether the UN chief interfered in the awarding of a lucrative contract in Iraq to the Swiss firm Cotecna, which employed his son Kojo.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Headline should read ''Investigator Hands Over Whats Left Of Oil-For-Food Papers''.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/07/2005 2:00 Comments ||
Top||
Syria appears to be gearing up for the modernization of its military. President Bashar Assad has ordered the General Staff to upgrade the armed forces. The directive was said to include upgrades as well as the procurement of new military platforms and equipment. The official Syrian news agency, Sana, quoted Assad as saying on Tuesday that the military must undergo modernization in an effort to improve its capabilities. Assad issued the call during a meeting with senior officers. "President Bashar Assad asserted the necessity for modernizing the armed forces and boosting their defense abilities, pointing out to the importance of the ideological army which fights for the issues it believes in," Sana reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 08:46 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
With what funds? Isn't Syria the poor relation of the Arab world?
#4
It's the culture, as much as the new platforms/equipment, that make a warfighting force. I don't know if Assad had any military training (unlike King Abdullah II of Jordan, who graduated Sandhurst), because he still doesn't seem to get "it". Like the importance of NCOs and cross-training, for one.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
05/07/2005 15:25 Comments ||
Top||
#5
maybe a big net to catch those IAF jets buzzing the palace?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 16:34 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Not necessarily Russia as the supplier, or Syria providing the financing.
As newly appointed Lebanese Premier Najib Mikati headed to New York to discuss Lebanon's political future with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the country's foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud surprisingly welcomed Wednesday's UN statement which said Lebanon has yet to comply with UN Resolution 1559. Hammoud described the UN statement as "reasonable and acceptable." While acknowledging that Syrian troops had left Lebanon, the UN statement said the resolution had not been implemented as there had been "no progress" on other provisions of 1559 calling for the disarmament of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias. Hammoud said implementing 1559 would be the main focus of the talks between Mikati and Annan in New York today.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah has called upon the Lebanese people to ask the United States and France to cease their interference in Lebanon and to allow the country to manage its own affairs.
"We wuz doing so well, until youse guyz butted in!"
Speaking during Friday's prayers, Fadlallah further urged voters to place the country's interests above all other groups when choosing their representatives in parliamentary elections later this month. "They should study all political players and read the history of each one of them, far from idolizing individuals. The country is above all considerations and individuals," he stressed. Fadlallah called on all Lebanese to keep sectarian demands and political sensitivities far from the debate over the electoral law. He said: "Let the citizenship of the Lebanese be the basis in law, security, economy and vital services."
This article starring:
MOHAMAD HUSEIN FADLALLAH
Hezbollah
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Lebanon's Parliament will meet today under intense pressure from the opposition in an 11th-hour bid to seek compromise on a controversial electoral law 22 days ahead of much-awaited legislative polls. It comes as Prime Minister Najib Mikati flew to New York yesterday for talks with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the elections and Syrian troop withdrawal.
Pro-Syrian Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri issued a terse statement late Thursday saying Parliament would meet this morning after President Emile Lahoud signed a decree to hold elections later this month. In a series of meeting with opposition leaders, including Christian MPs and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, the speaker said he was opposed to any attempts to throw out the 2000 electoral law. "Over my dead body," he was quoted as saying by the Beirut press Saturday.
Isn't that what Hariri told the Syrians?
But he told Jumblatt he would agree to a slight amendment to please the opposition, which is demanding greater representation in the elections based on the "qada," or smaller constituency, rather than the larger "mohafaza."
"Berri's compromise is to allow elections on a qada basis across Lebanon, except in the south," where he can count on the majority vote of his Shiite constituents, Jumblatt told reporters. Opposition Christian MPs of the Qornet Shahwan movement issued a statement calling on the Lebanese people "to be vigilant and work together, through the elections ... to build a modern country". The movement met with Maronite Church leader, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, to discuss today's parliamentary session, reiterated anew their rejection of the 2000 electoral law. Sfeir later told reporters the polls must provide for a better representation of Christians.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Lebanese Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, who returns home from exile today, said the Hezbollah militia must not be disarmed by force but persuaded by dialogue and integration into a new national political scene, in an interview published yesterday. "It must be integrated into Lebanese society and politics, it must remain in the Lebanese context," he told the daily El Mundo. "That is our point of view and it must be implemented with dexterity because no one wants Lebanon to fall into the abyss again."
Good luck with that idea, Mike...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba, which is among the outfits responsible for terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, has been banned by the United Nations for its links with Al-Qaeda. The organisation, along with its aliases, has been banned under UN resolution 1267 under which all states are obliged to freeze the assets, prevent their entry into or transit through their territories. The resolution also asks the member countries to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer of arms and military equipment with the entitities belonging to the Taliban, Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda organisation. Lashker-e-Taiba was put on the list on May 2 this year with all its aliases, including Al-Mansoorian, a shadow outfit which has nowadays been active in Jammu and Kashmir. Pasban-e-Ahle-Hadit, Pasban-e-Ahlehadis, Army of Pure, The Army of Pure and Righteous have also been included in the banned list and all of them are "shadow" outfits of Lashker terrorist outfit.
This article starring:
AL MANSURIAN
Lashker-e-Taiba
ARMY OF PURE
Lashker-e-Taiba
PASBAN E AHLEHADIS
Lashker-e-Taiba
PASBAN E AHLE HADIT
Lashker-e-Taiba
THE ARMY OF PURE AND RIGHTEUS
Lashker-e-Taiba
Lashker-e-Taiba
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/07/2005 05:45 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Lol, well Hamas is an EU favorite (it has wings, lol!) and the Mullahs are fans of Hizbollah, so the UN won't be calling them names anytime soon. Where would we be without our betters to steer us straight, eh? Going off all willy-nilly calling a spade a spade. Sheesh. Wotta simplisme lot we are. :-)
#3
I hear that Hamas is being given a spot in the Eurovision song contest to balance out Israels participation.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/07/2005 10:31 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Is that a snark, Jack, or real? I mean, I wouldn't be surprised either way, which shows how far Europe has fallen in my estimation.
This week they had a March of the Survivors from Auschwitz, and everybody said, "Never again," in solemn tones. But of the Europeans I only believe that they mean Never again will we bestir ourselves to kill off our Jews and other minorities in an organized fashion. However, if others should feel the need, neither will we bestir ourselves to stop them -- it's not as though they were real people like us, after all.
The childhood and youth of my parents were twisted into unexpected channels by the Nazis and their little helpers; my grandmother's memoir is in the Holocaust Museum in DC and Yad Vashem. My own life and that of my children is, in one aspect, a victory over Hitler. I still have some cousins over there, and friends from when we lived there. For years I told Mr. Wife's management that we were anxious for another stint abroad -- but now the very thought makes me ill, because of what Europe has chosen to become. Bat Yeor and Bernard Lewis write about Western Europe's choice to ally with the Arab Muslims, and what has resulted. But the philosopher Emil Fackenheim decreed a 614th Commandment (Jews recognize not ten commnadments, but 613, of which the Ten are primary): The authentic Jew of today is forbidden to hand Hitler yet another, posthumous victory. And yet, France and Germany seem determined, passive-aggressively, to do so.
So you can see why I hope your comment is merely a snark.
#5
I'm pretty sure he's kidding, though it's practically there. They had a winning song (from Turkey??) about how Israel must be destroyed.
I'm hope I'm not going to be too controversial and harm the nice friendly chat atmosphere of Rantburg, but I think the concentration on Hitler is a bad idea. Yes, he was far worse than the medieval or renaissance rulers that robbed, exiled, or killed so many Jews, but much of that was because he had more capability ruling over most of Europe and the higher technology. The Nazi-era Nuremburg laws were practically word-for-word identical with those of the 16th century. Remember, too, that for all the bravery of a few who helped, there were far more active collaberators who agreed with the idea of genocide. Poles, French, Russians, every nation. (The vast majority of course simply kept their heads down and tried to get by.)
It's something in Western culture. We're not immune to here in the US, either, though we're better than most. And no, you can't blame Christianity, either, for pagan Rome was pretty brutal, and of course Islam had many Jew-hating writings long before 1948.
#7
I don't disagree, Jackel. The main difference between Hitler and what has come since is the industrialization of the effort. What's happening in, e.g. Sudan, is no different in terms of intent, although the effort is local, rather than essentially continent-wide. The other difference of the Holocaust, though, is that there was no place for the Jews to escape to. Unlike the Sudanese victims, or the Tutsis, or the Bosnians, or even the Palestinians, there were no refugee camps outside the borders of the conflict -- of my mother's family, only her half-sister was able to leave. Of my father's family, only he and his mother.
But to say that Darfur and its ilk are not attempts at genocide, as the UN is doing, is to ignore the magnitude of the effort by one people to eradicate another, just because they aren't using the tools of gas chambers and concentration camps. The hypocricy is itself a sign that the speaker has surrendered to evil.
A Pakistani Islamic group on Friday expressed disappointment at British Prime Minister Tony Blair's victory in elections because of his support Iraq war. Syed Munawar Hassan, secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami, said that by re-electing Blair the Britons have enlisted their "names among the oppressors and killers of Muslims". Hassan did not expect Blair to change his policy on the war in Iraq during his third term. He said, "The British people are not interested in human values and human rights," adding, "They supported the war that was fought on the basis of lies and disinformation."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"The[y] are not interested in human values and human rights," adding, "They support[...] war that was fought on the basis of lies and disinformation."
Last time I checked that pretty well summed up most Pakistani Islamics. Thanks for sharing, Syed.
A prayer leader led prayers for the success of Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban against US and coalition forces in Afghanistan. An Afghan refugee, the leader has been delivering Friday sermons at a mosque on Nasir Bagh Road since the 1980s. On Friday, he asked worshippers to 'pray for the success of Osama and the Taliban'. He also criticised President General Pervez Musharraf for helping the US topple the Taliban government in late 2001. He also wished for Bin Laden's sons to complete their father's mission. The US and President Musharraf are normally mentioned during Friday sermons in many mosques across the NWFP where anti-American feelings remain high. Conservatives in the province voted for the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) during the 2002 elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
How is this different from practically any other mosque on the planet?
The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) on Friday demanded an independent inquiry into the March 17 clashes in Dera Bugti where many people were killed, saying the alliance would soon meet to plan and adopt a joint strategy.
The ARD delegation, consisting of Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Tehmina Daultana, Nawabzada Mansoor and others, visited Dera Bugti where they met Nawab Akbar Bugti and discussed several issues. They also visited the area where Frontier Corp (FC) personnel and Bugti tribesmen clashed on March 17. They expressed their sorrow over the destruction, especially in the Hindu Mohalla where a large number of men, women and children were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
MIRANSHAH: Thousands of tribesmen rallied against the "illegal military operation", against suspected militants here on Friday and torched effigies of US President George W Bush, witnesses said. About 5,000 people attended the rally, called by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) party to call for an end to the "illegal military operation", they said. "Down with the United States," shouted the protesters in Miranshah, the main town of the tribal North Waziristan region which borders Afghanistan. The rally took place just two days after Pakistan announced the capture of Abu Farraj al-Libbi.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement narrowly beat off a strong challenge by the militant group Hamas in local elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Friday, with Fatah winning 56 percent and Hamas 33 percent of the vote.
Fatah had feared defeat in Thursday's elections but the results indicated the party won in 45 of 84 communities. However, Hamas established itself as a major political player by winning 23 of the contests, including in the three biggest towns, Qalqiliya, Rafah and Beit Lahiya. In the remaining 16 communities, neither side won a clear majority, with independents or smaller factions getting the most votes. Both Hamas and Fatah disputed some of the results. Hamas said it had won in 34 communities, with its candidates in some towns running as independents for fear they would otherwise be targeted by Israel. Fatah also demanded a recount in Rafah and the Bureij refugee camp.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
good, I was worried extremist militants might win..
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 0:03 Comments ||
Top||
#2
That's right, 23 percent, the new 3 percent!
Posted by: Charles ||
05/07/2005 1:56 Comments ||
Top||
U.S. forces in Iraq are adapting to lessen the threat posed by the enemy's improvised explosive devices, senior military officers told House Armed Services Committee members here May 5. To boost troop protection against IEDs, the U.S. military has "increased the number of armored vehicles deployed to the (Iraq) theater by a factor of over 100-fold in 18 months," Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, the Army's deputy for acquisition and systems management, noted at the Capitol Hill hearing. "We have also increased delivery of body armor, IED countermeasure systems, and changes of tactics and training," Sorenson pointed out.
IEDs, also known as roadside bombs, have been the major cause of U.S. combat casualties in Iraq, according to Pentagon officials. Brig. Gen. William Cato from Marine Corps Systems Command reported to the committee that "100 percent of our wheeled vehicles involved in combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan or the Horn of Africa are equipped" with some type of armor. The Marines are also adding underbody armor and other reinforcements to Humvees, 5-ton cargo trucks and other supply vehicles. "We continue to meet emergent vehicle armor protection requirements to stay ahead of an adaptive enemy," Cato said.
After Saddam Hussein was removed from power in March 2003, Iraq became "an evolving theater" of operations, Cato explained, as die-hard Iraqi insurgents loyal to the old regime and Islamic militant fighters stepped up attacks against U.S. and coalition occupation troops, and pro-coalition Iraqi forces and citizens. Insurgent IED threats once chiefly consisted of "60 mm, 81 mm mortar kinds of rounds," Cato said. Nowadays, he pointed out, insurgents have upped the ante, using 122 to 155 mm artillery shells, 500-pound bombs and double-stacked mines to provide more explosive power for their IEDs. "As we've added armor, they've added greater explosives," Cato told the committee.
"This is combat, and this is a thinking enemy up against us," noted Marine Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico, Va., who also attended the hearing. "We are outthinking them, and we will continue to outthink them," Mattis asserted.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
05/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Damn I'm glad the Wehrmacht didn't fight with IED, it would have been a quagmire.
What's all the fuss with the Real ID Act about?
President Bush is expected to sign an $82 billion military spending bill soon that will, in part, create electronically readable, federally approved ID cards for Americans. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the package--which includes the Real ID Act--on Thursday.
What does that mean for me?
Starting three years from now, if you live or work in the United States, you'll need a federally approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments, or take advantage of nearly any government service. Practically speaking, your driver's license likely will have to be reissued to meet federal standards. The Real ID Act hands the Department of Homeland Security the power to set these standards and determine whether state drivers' licenses and other ID cards pass muster. Only ID cards approved by Homeland Security can be accepted "for any official purpose" by the feds.
How will I get one of these new ID cards?
You'll still get one through your state motor vehicle agency, and it will likely take the place of your drivers' license. But the identification process will be more rigorous. For instance, you'll need to bring a "photo identity document," document your birth date and address, and show that your Social Security number is what you had claimed it to be. U.S. citizens will have to prove that status, and foreigners will have to show a valid visa. State DMVs will have to verify that these identity documents are legitimate, digitize them and store them permanently. In addition, Social Security numbers must be verified with the Social Security Administration.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: God Save The World ||
05/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Ummm, it won't affect me at all.
I'll be glad to show my birth certificate AND my passport to renew my drivers' license. Or to vote.
Of course, I have those to show. The Dems' best friends illegal aliens don't.
Tough.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/07/2005 0:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I am sorry. The DMV folks are just too stupid for this. Passport people ok. DMV.. Half the time I can't even understand what they say. I was born overseas with an embassy registered birth certificate. I know that there is not enough cummulative IQ in my local DMV to deal with that.
#3
So you HAVE visited the main DMV office in Bakersfield Ca? I would not even trust that all the workers are legal citizens?
You need a picture ID to get a Drivers license which is the default picture ID? That is a circular bit of BS. So I am going to use a drivers license to get a drivers license?
#6
SPoD:
The new ID will combine info. Your current driver's license looks at least a little like you, I presume. However, it doesn't prove citizenship. Add a birth certificate (or naturalization papers), which proves citizenship, but does not have a picture. The combined picture plus citizenship is what the new ID card will show.
I suppose we could have simply required everyone to get a passport (and quintuple the State Dept's budget), though that doesn't show current address.
Frankly, I'm a little worried about this. Showing ID to vote or otherwise deal with the government is fine. I approve of it greatly. No problems there, provided it stops there. But it won't.
When it becomes required to do a bank transaction, and then any ATM/debit transaction (buying "adult" books, AIDS drugs, or mental illness drugs) that I don't like it at all.
The people supporting this are not the people who want to record all your food purchases and tax you on "inappropriate" or "excessive" calorie consumption. But those people exist, have openly stated they want to do that, and someday (Jan 2009?) may get into power.
#7
Oh, joy. And if you liked Prohibition, you are just gonna *luv* this. They seem to have the idea that by having a national ID, that they will magically abolish *all* crime, and force everybody to obey every petty rule they can think of. Not only that, but can you imagine some small town arresting 500 people because they don't have ID? I look forward to a grassroots revolt over this turkey.
#8
ya know, moose? It's paranoid drivel like yours that combines with the ACLU/CAIR/MALDEF bullshit concerns over profiling to cause nothing to happen. While you wring your hands, things continue. Take off the tinfoil hat, dude. Who says it'll abolish all crime. Strawman. Who says roundups will occur? Strawman. Chicken Littles like you make me wanna puke
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 11:08 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I'm actually more pissed off than that rant showed.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 11:08 Comments ||
Top||
#10
When I can't use cash, I'll worry about the nutters haveing taken over here. When Fred has to get SSN for comments, I'll worry. Till then, I'd rather try to make it harder for the nutters to do business here and easier to track them.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/07/2005 11:17 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Here in the People Republic of Washington (state) you will soon have to show picture ID to obtain cold medicine.
All because a few people make meth (who the left would claim are simply misunderstood and should not be punished).
#12
Here in Oregon, we already have to show picture ID to buy over-the-counter flu meds. Our idiot child state government has determined that we are not to be trusted with flu meds, because some morons can use them as base chemicals for making meth. So, punish the whole state instead of crucifying the meth makers, since Oregon now has moved into the People Republic category.
#13
To further My previous comment, I want to repeat that I think this is a good thing for border control and more honest voting.
I just have two (unrelated) concerns.
1. Some people think this is something we should do instead of patrolling the borders, searching out and arresting jihadis, and removing dangerous governments, just as they think that spending more money on firefighters and ambulances is an alternative to spending money rebuilding Iraq. I don't want support for this to undermine support for the other.
2. The tranzis are adept at warping any law or regulation to suit their program. They twisted RICO from going after the mob to going after anti-abortion protestors (not those who murder doctors, but peaceful protestors). They misuse the courts with SLAPP lawsuits (yes, others do it, but only after the left blazed the trail). Eminent Domain has been twisted into giving land to other private parties, that will pay more taxes.
#14
In California, DMV employees get busted selling 'real' Drivers Licences on a regular basis.
One of my sisters had a friend(DMV Fresno)of hers get pre-dated docs.,so she could Junk a number of vehicles. (bad Sis)
Yes, I would like bullet proof I.D, administered in a secured professional manner but
I'm NOT going to hold my breath until that day arrives.
#15
I used to write at length on this topic before I had my falling out with the Libertarians at Samizdata on exactly this subject. What it comes down to is a tradeoff between the strength of identity and identity systems, and security (in general, not just relating to terrorism). People and societies become more secure (i.e. less crime) as identity becomes stronger (i.e. more difficult to fake or avoid).
One other thing, many especially those on the Left would have you believe that privacy is somehow an extension of liberty and decreasing your privacy (as better ID systems unquestionably do) somehow restricts your liberty. I would argue that decreased privacy results in increased security and the opportunity for increased liberty. The example I use is someone in a crime ridden neighbourhood who can go out on the streets as security increases.
Most of the arguments against it are of the form - its not going to be perfect, so we shouldn't do it. Well nothing's perfect. Roll on the day when we have the same in Australia, where our identity systems are a worse mess than yours.
#18
I just don't want the idiots at DMV trying to understand my documents. I know that they are not bright enough in the average office. Let the passport or the SS folks do it.
#19
There is one possible fraud proof ID system. Take a DNA sample from each newborn baby, and incorporate it into the birth certificate. Anything else is intrinsically compromised by opportunity for fraud.
Do it right or don't bother making it worse.
#20
I am going to go out on a limb here and state that there are VERY few people who don't have some form of ID with a picture on it. If they "force" everyone to get a national Id (like most other countries) then I fail to see the downside. OK you might have to trek to the nearest ID center and get your picture taken and show some legal documents. Why an ID is not required to vote is hard to defend because even poor people have some sort of ID, to get food stamps, apply for welfare, or get section 8 housing.
Pakistan Observer article
By Lt Col (R) M Zaman Malik "The matter rests with UN and Pakistan does not swear to adhere with its verdict with bad intentions. We stick to what we promise. In that case India should rather be ruled by Muslims who have been ruling it since 712 AD. And the J&K Muslims will rule India as their forefathers have been ruling them. So, this is what India can get from the Muslims of J&K, if it takes a U-turn from pledge acceptance of UN resolutions. Before British for a short while (they had to go back in any case) we were the rulers of India. We shall claim any part now under the occupation of India. India belongs to us. It is the Muslims who gave it the name of 'Hindustan'. Prior to that it had no name. Every small state had its different name. There were Hindus however, in the Karnataka/Southern India. Tuzk-i-Babri though in Persian tells all about this and Emperor Jehangir had further elaborated upon what his father had said in his Tuzk-I-Jehangiri. In any case, Babar also came from the areas from where the Aryans had come many long centuries before he came.
We shall get those areas in which our mothers, sisters and daughters have been treated by the beasts and this cannot be described. Our sacrifices of millions since partition will not go waste. We shall come, if you don't give us our majority areas. What was decided by the 'Cabinet Mission' (the last one) in June 1946? Attlee like Blair was hastened by the Pax-Americana to leave every principle in the Lurch in order to face threat obtaining from Korean side. The world is fed up with threats after threats by the Zionist US and its allies. ... Pakistan is a moderate Islamic State. It abhors extremism, individual acts, should not be attributed to Islamic teaching. Are the Hindus, Jews ad Christians, doing exactly what there Holy Scriptures have ordained them do?"
Posted by: john ||
05/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sooner or later it will come down to this: it's either them, or us. I hope I'm wrong; but I don't think so anymore.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/07/2005 0:07 Comments ||
Top||
#2
hmmm I think it'll hit the fan before then, but I wouldn't wanna be a muslim when it hits the fan
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 0:12 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Wow. Serious meds are called for here. Malik sounds like he got one of those well-rounded madrassah edumacations.
#4
bruised forehead and hindquarters from the five-times daily supplicant bendovers positioning?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2005 0:25 Comments ||
Top||
#5
At some point this stupid cult of death will have to be put down. The longer we wait the more difficult it will become. Do you trust the Tranzis to do it? Do you trust the MSM to support it? The longer teh world waits the more difficult it will become.
#6
What shocked me was that this article is in an english language newspaper (and thus read by a tiny elite minority) and this guy is a former colonel in the Pakistan army. He would not have been educated in a madrassa but rather in the best public (read exclusive private) schools in Pakistan, gone to military staff college etc. His generation of officers also trained in US and UK.
Years of education and specialized military training yet he is identical to the typical deranged mullah. But far more dangerous - mullahs don't have access to nuclear weapons but the Pak military does.
Posted by: john ||
05/07/2005 8:12 Comments ||
Top||
Internal Department of Homeland Security documents ... show officials fear Pakistan-based al-Qaida may be sending terrorists our way, including ones trained in terror camps up and running inside Pakistan -- that's right, Pakistan. The terror-training camps we shut down in Afghanistan are now open for business on the other side of the border, despite Islamabad's apparent efforts to crack down on them. According to the closely held intelligence bulletins, officials worry Pakistanis trained in the camps are trying to sneak into America to carry out terrorist attacks. In fact, U.S. border authorities are reminded each day in shift musters that Pakistanis pose the No. 1 terrorist threat to America right now. And for the past several months, they have been under orders to increase scrutiny of travelers of Pakistani origin. The latest advisory puts authorities on high alert for Pakistani terrorists trying to enter the U.S. with fake British passports.
Posted by: john ||
05/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It's intuitively obvious to the casual observer that PakiWakiLand is a leading Sybil of the ''modern'' world. Equally obvious is that Pervy has been dancing on a razor blade edge for several years, surrounded on all sides by a veritable zoo of murderous schizophrenia, an alphabet soup of Nitwits of Doomâ¢.
That we have ''allied'' ourselves with Pervy in exchange for WoT help is one of those situations that reeks of the fatally-flawed diplo-habit for convenient accommodation and ripe with blowback consequences. When he tires and stumbles - or one of the hyenas finally snips his Achilles - it will implode, relieving us of the burden of our commitment. Another possibility that would have the same effect would be a hit by Paki-trained or Paki-funded or Paki-faction terrs on American soil.
We must be rid of the impediment. I hope it comes through internal machinations rather than dead Americans. Come it will. I wonder what plans are in place for that day. A grid of smoking holes is my future vision of PakiWakiLand.
#3
I hope Perv departs in the far distant future. The problem is when Perv goes, who gets the nukes? I suspect we will 'cause we'll be fustest with the mostest and that's part of the deal with Perv. But once we secure the Islamic Bomb all hell will break out in Mooselimbstan. I prefer to enjoy the current situation, distasteful as it is, as long as possible.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/07/2005 6:42 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Ditto's Mrs. D
Since 911, on balence Perv has improved the place.
Throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S. soldiers witness the dangers of conducting daily operations in Iraq during an insurgency. To better understand and combat the anti-coalition forces attacking them, soldiers of the 256th Brigade Combat Team intelligence section gather and discuss the reasons and motivations behind terrorist acts in a meeting known as "The Murder Board."
"In some cases you have to think like a terrorist, to understand one," said U.S. Army Maj. John Michael Wells, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 256th Brigade Combat Team, intelligence officer. "If you put yourself in the terrorists' shoes and think of what they'd need and how to carry out a specific task, stopping them from doing those acts becomes easier," said the New Orleans, La., native.
The 256th intelligence soldiers conduct "The Murder Board" specifically for that purpose. Wells said all the analysts meet weekly in an open forum bringing their ideas to the table to explore what can be done to aid soldiers who encounter the enemy. "Intel personnel don't normally have to face a VBIED (vehicle borne improvised explosive device) or go on a raid, so we have to get a good picture or a story told from the reports," said Sgt. Andrew Hyde, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 256th Brigade Combat Team. "We then try to figure out the next line of the story. Once we figure out what is going to happen next, we make recommendations to the commander on how to combat the enemy."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: God Save The World ||
05/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
All well and good, I prefer infiltration myself. Shadow boxing is not sufficient in and of itself.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/07/2005 22:27 Comments ||
Top||
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.
UN Secretary-General 
A former investigator for an independent inquiry into the UN oil-for-food programme handed over potentially explosive documents on Thursday to a US congressional committee, triggering outrage from inquiry head 
Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed 
Lebanon's Parliament will meet today under intense pressure from the opposition in an 11th-hour bid to seek compromise on a controversial electoral law 22 days ahead of much-awaited legislative polls. It comes as Prime Minister 
Lebanese Christian opposition leader 
The 
MIRANSHAH: Thousands of tribesmen rallied against the "illegal military operation", against suspected militants here on Friday and torched effigies of US President George W Bush, witnesses said. About 5,000 people attended the rally, called by the 
Palestinian leader 
"The matter rests with UN and Pakistan does not swear to adhere with its verdict with bad intentions. We stick to what we promise. In that case India should rather be ruled by Muslims who have been ruling it since 712 AD. And the J&K Muslims will rule India as their forefathers have been ruling them. So, this is what India can get from the Muslims of J&K, if it takes a U-turn from pledge acceptance of UN resolutions. Before British for a short while (they had to go back in any case) we were the rulers of India. We shall claim any part now under the occupation of India. India belongs to us. It is the Muslims who gave it the name of 'Hindustan'. Prior to that it had no name. Every small state had its different name. There were Hindus however, in the Karnataka/Southern India. Tuzk-i-Babri though in Persian tells all about this and Emperor Jehangir had further elaborated upon what his father had said in his Tuzk-I-Jehangiri. In any case, Babar also came from the areas from where the Aryans had come many long centuries before he came.
