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Paleos postpone elections...
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Sunday-go-to-meetin'-clothes...
Foto accompanying an article in today's New York Times...
Residents of Ugborodo, Nigeria, which is next to a ChevronTexaco plant, see Americans as both a source of their suffering and the solution.
Alright. I agree. We need a massive program to export fashion designers and coordinators to Uganda Nigeria. Call Bill Blass! Call Calvin Klein! I don't care if it's government funded or not, I don't care what it takes — just GET THEM OVER THERE, QUICK!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 12:20 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  my eyes! my eyes! make it stop!
Posted by: Anonymous || 12/22/2002 11:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Er, that's Nigeria.
Posted by: someone || 12/22/2002 12:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Is this what the well heeled "409" email scam aritist is wearing this season?

Posted by: Frank Martin || 12/22/2002 12:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Get a load of the Cool Katz outfit... I feel good..nananananah so good
Posted by: James Brown || 12/22/2002 23:17 Comments || Top||

#5  I got a 409 email from "Dr. Simon Jones" the other day. Could this be the good doctor? He be stylin'.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/23/2002 9:13 Comments || Top||

#6  This guy was in the original "Dr. Doolittle". I like the shoes.
Posted by: Chuck || 12/23/2002 9:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Looks like he tossed the shoes and is wearing the boxes. But he still be stylin'!
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/23/2002 9:42 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
US-led forces in Afghanistan suffer huge attacks
Azzam
Massive explosions rocked the headquarters of coalition forces in Kabul killing two soldiers and severely injuring five others. A large explosion was followed by a series of small explosions, which resulted in the HQ becoming engulfed by fire and large clouds of smoke. It has not been confirmed yet what type of bomb was used in the attack. The Coalition HQ is located near to Sherpur where a number of foreign consulates are located and was previously the KGB HQ during Communist rule in Afghanistan.

On Thursday more than 30 coalition troops died in two different mujahideen operations inside Afghanistan. In the first operation at around 17.00 local time near the Sahara Garden US Airbase, mujahideen shot down a US transport helicopter with rocket fire. The US transport helicopter became a fireball as soon as the rocket hit killing all 30 US troops on board. An air and ground search and destroy operation was initiated by the Coalition troops but no arrests have yet been reported. Approximately 15 to 20 helicopters were seen after the attack shifting helicopter wreckage and dead soldiers to an unknown location.

Later in the Pul Charkhi region near Kabul, a lone mujahid died in a martyrdom operation against a convoy of five US- Coalition military vehicles. The mujahid managed to kill 10 coalition troops and several others sustained life threatening injuries.
Must be frustrating that press organizations with any claim to credibility — to include al-Jazeera — don't pick up on these stories. Truth, you know, is an artificial construct of the decadent West.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 10:30 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Juche Idea: eat grass and boiled tree bark, while your leaders are the largest importers of French cognac in the world.
Posted by: Anonymous || 12/22/2002 11:12 Comments || Top||

#2  This reminds me of Churchill's "some chicken, some neck" speech in Canada during WW2. The mujas keep wringing the coalition's neck, yet somehow it still keeps on breathing. They are actually giving our troops credit. At this rate of casualties, soon there will be nobody left, yet they still wouldn't be able to win the war. How are they going to spin that? "The US is using their secret cloaking device to hide themselves, but the mujahideen continue inflicting massive casualties on the unbelievers' army."
Posted by: rw || 12/22/2002 16:16 Comments || Top||


Axis of Evil
U.S. To Ready Kurd Areas in Iraq for Possible War
With Washington and Baghdad at loggerheads over the degree of Iraqi compliance with U.N. inspections, more American war preparations are under way in northern Iraq, reported a leading U.S. news paper Sunday, December 22. American intelligence officials have been working alongside Kurdish officials in recent weeks, and recruiters for an American-sponsored opposition group have been selecting candidates for a program to train scouts and translators that one day may help American forces inside Iraq, the New York Times quoted Kurdish and Western officials as saying.
I thought just training 5000 men for the Iraqi force was a bit light. 5000 scouts and translators might actually be a bit heavy, so there are probably a few other duties included in that number, like MPs and interrogators.
American military planners have visited secluded corners of the country to examine potential basing sites for use in a war, according to a Western expert familiar with the activity. No American military forces are based here yet, Kurdish officials said, claiming that recent Turkish and Arabic news reports of sizable military deployments were unfounded. But teams from the Central Intelligence Agency have been working with the principal political parties in the Kurdish region - the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the east, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the west - for upward of two months.
Probably pretty sizable teams, too. I'm not sure if I like the long-term implications (long-term being a 50-year window in this case) of the CIA having its own armed force, but at this point it's certainly handy.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 10:30 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Juche idea study group formed in France
The French Group for the Study of the Juche Idea was inaugurated with due ceremony in France on Dec. 14 on the occasion of the 11th anniversary of Kim Jong Il's assumption of the Supreme Commandership of the Korean People's Army and the 85th birth anniversary of Kim Jong Suk, an anti-japanese war woman hero. A letter to Kim Jong Il was adopted at the ceremony.
As if the Frenchies didn't have enough problems with exploding Islamists...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 11:07 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All the world ponders what this means. The conclusion:"Huh?"
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/23/2002 9:18 Comments || Top||

#2  A letter to Kim Jong Il was adopted at the ceremony

I believe it was the letter "L"
Posted by: Chuck || 12/23/2002 9:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Can't wait for KCNA's "Best and Worst of 2002" list. Should be a classic...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/23/2002 9:46 Comments || Top||


Caucasus
Boldyrev replaces Troshev in Chechnya...
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on Sunday ushered in a new general responsible for military operations in war-torn Chechnya, and thanked his fired predecessor for his service.
"Thank you very much. Now shut up and get out."
During an hourlong ceremony at the North Caucasus military headquarters, Ivanov introduced the new commander, Col. Gen. Vladimir Boldyrev, who previously headed the Siberian military district. Boldyrev replaced Col. Gen. Gennady Troshev, who was fired Wednesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The day before he was fired, Troshev revealed to the press that he had been offered the post of Siberian commander but wasn't interested in leaving Chechnya. Russian media speculated that the outspoken but popular general was fired for his public defiance.
The Russian military is no more allowed to engage in "public defiance" than American or British officers are. That's one of the reasons they don't have military coups in Russia. The Siberian Military District command, by the way, isn't "being sent to Siberia." It's a pretty cushy, high-visibility job. It's a rest and relaxation assignment after commanding North Caucasus Military District, and Troshev would probably have moved from there to a position on the General Staff. But instead...
Ivanov thanked Troshev for his contributions, and promised that ``we will find a suitable place for him in the military if he, of course, agrees to remain in the army,'' ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
"After all, we always need tank drivers!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 11:47 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...like commanding some shithole above the arctic circle somewhere..."
Posted by: mojo || 12/22/2002 16:08 Comments || Top||

#2  It's cushy until North Korea implodes (look closely at Vladivostock, they share a common border for like 5 miles).
Posted by: Brian || 12/22/2002 21:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah, but Korea adjoins the Far East Military District, which'd be reinforced by Transbaikal MD. Think middle part of Russia, east of Kazakhstan.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2002 22:38 Comments || Top||


Troshev's staff under the gun...
Military counter-intelligence organs in the North-Caucasian Military District have been ordered to reinforce control over the officers from Col. General Gennady Troshev’s entourage. On Wednesday Vladimir Putin dismissed the refractory general from his post as head of the federal forces in Chechnya.
"Reinforcing control" means that they're going to be given the hairy eyeball. Some are going to be tossed, some are going to find themselves commanding prison guards at Perm and never seeing another promotion, and a few are going to welcome their new commander and serve him loyally. Loyalty in the Russian forces is not to the commander, but to the state. And that's a good thing.
Gennady Troshev’s dismissal resulted from the general’s public statement made a day earlier in Makhachkala. At a news conference in the Dagestani capital Troshev bluntly rejected the Defence Ministry’s offer to swap posts with the chief commander of the Siberian Military District. The form and tone in which the statement was made left no doubts that Troshev was deliberately displaying a lack of respect for the Defence Minister.
"This is my foot. Want to see me shoot it?"
''The Defence Minister has asked me to head the Siberian Military District. It is for the minister to decide, but I have refused that offer. I have been the head of the North Caucasus Military Distinct for three years. There are no complaints about the District and there are no complaints about me as a commander. Therefore, I don't understand the reason for this move,'' Troshev said.
Now there are complaints, aren't there? Officers who bitch publicly are canned publicly.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 11:53 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How'd somebody so stupid become a Colonel-General? And what part of "shut the fuck up and soldier" didn't he get? A transfer like that may be phrased as a request for politeness, but it is an order none the less.
Posted by: mojo || 12/22/2002 16:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't forget the American tradition, from Custer to MacArthur. Reading your newspaper clippings can be detrimental to your army career.
Posted by: Chuck || 12/23/2002 9:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Tsk. In the old days, when they sent you to Siberia, you damn well went to Siberia.
Posted by: Tripartite || 12/23/2002 10:20 Comments || Top||


Georgia unlikely to grant political asylum to detained Chechen rebels
There are no grounds for Georgia's granting political asylum to the Chechen militants whose extradition is sought by Russia, Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky told Interfax. "The law enforcement agencies of Russia and Georgia are prosecuting these people for criminal rather than political reasons," Fridinsky pointed out.
"Whether these goobers consider killing people a political act or not..."
The six Chechens were detained while carrying arms on the Russian-Georgian border. The Prosecutor General's Offices of both Russia and Georgia launched criminal cases against the suspects. Fridinsky denied earlier reports that the militants asked for political asylum in Georgia. "According to our information, no official application to this effect was filed," he said. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has sought extradition of six of 13 Chechen militants who were detained on the Russia-Georgian border in August 2002. Five members of the group were handed over to Russia. Two of the fighters are Georgian citizens and will face trail in Georgia.
Apparently they aren't the brightest of Georgian citizens...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 11:58 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Fifth Column
Qatari embassy in Cairo focus of protests
Angy Ghannam & Khaled Mamdouh for IslamOnline
Hundreds of people, including prominent British and U.S. fifth columnists figures and lunatics pacifists, chanting anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans, demonstrated outside the Qatari Embassy in the Egyptian capital Saturday, December 21, to protest a new military agreement between the emirate and the United States. The rally started a little after noon Cairo time, and lasted for more than three hours, with heavy security presence. No serious clashes erupted. Some of the protestors tried in vain to break through police lines to reach the embassy in the southern Cairo neighbourhood of Mohandiseen. The demonstrators denounced the U.S. and Israel as the "common enemy" of the Arabs, and accused Arab regimes allowing U.S. bases on their lands of "complicity" in U.S.-led war plans against Iraq. On December 11, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed a new defense pact with Qatar to formalize the presence of some 4,000 U.S. soldiers at the airbase of Al-Udeid, the largest U.S. military warehouse in the Middle East. U.S. troops have also been massing in Kuwait.
Qatar and Kuwait represent the chink in the armor of Arab intransigence. If they're not brought into line, others could follow. And trying to stage a coup against the Qatari gummint must have really screwed things up, from the point of view of the Learned Elders of Islam...
More than 1,000 riot police, with truncheons and shields, surrounded the embassy and neighbouring streets to monitor the protest which was organized by several Egyptian popular groups. Addressing the gathering, senior vice chairman at the Parliamentary Labor Party, George Galloway, said; "The criminals of Suez (a reference to the aggression on Egypt by Britain, Israel and France in 1956) are getting ready to invade another Arab, Muslim country to again steal wealth, its oil, and control its people."
Galloway's turned into the Jane Fonda of this war. I'll bet he's not in Baghdad when the ordnance starts dropping, and I'll bet he's not in Baghdad for the big victory parade...
Addressing the Qatari people, Galloway, who participated in the International Campaign Against U.S. Aggression on Iraq (ICCA), hosted by Cairo December 18-19, said; "Do not allow your governments to work as a slave to America."
"Better to be a slave to the Soddies and Egyptians..."
For his part, British socialist writer and activist, John ("NATO is the New Imperialism") Rees, said that most of the British people are against the looming U.S.-led war on Iraq. "Mr. Blair is coming to Egypt tomorrow for his holiday. I am very glad that this is the kind of welcome he is getting from the Egyptians, and I urge you to continue such welcome," Rees, founder of the "Stop The War" coalition in the U.K., said.
"What shall we do to relax today, Tony?"
"I dunno, Cherie. Which do you prefer? The pyramids at Gizeh or the howling mobs in Cairo?"
"Oh, the howling mobs, definitely. They're so picturesque!"
"I'll bring the camera!"

The demonstrators chanted slogans such as; "Down with the U.S. and Israel", "Shame on non-committed Arab regimes", "Arab peoples will prevail over U.S. hegemony", "No God but Allah, Bush is Allah’s enemy".
"Shame on non-committed Arab regimes" is it? Qatar's problem is that it has committed — just not to the side the howling mob's on.
One of the demonstrators, an Egyptian housewife carrying her baby and joining the rally, told IslamOnline that she took part in the demonstration because Iraq will not be the end but rather the start of U.S. attacks in the Middle East to control the whole region. "It’s Baghdad now, may be Cairo will be next, or any other Arab capital and people."
"We certainly wouldn't want to see honest government here! It'd never work!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 10:30 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Anybody smell a whiff of Boxer Rebellion?
Posted by: mojo || 12/22/2002 16:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Er, sorry about that. I was SURE that was the clean laundry pile.
Posted by: Anonymous || 12/23/2002 10:45 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Iran, Saudi Arabia denounce US detention of Muslims
Tehran Times
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi has described as 'insulting and unacceptable' U.S. new immigration measures which have led to widespread detention of Middle Eastern nationals, mostly Iranians.
Wonder what Soddy Arabia and Iran do with illegal residents?
Assefi described the measure as "unacceptable", saying it was not justified by any international standards, the Persian daily Siasat-e Rouz said.
"You have no right to keep riff-raff out of your country..."
U.S. immigration lawyers have estimated that at least 500 Middle Eastern immigrants, mostly Iranians, have been detained in California since Monday when male visa holders were asked to report to local immigration offices to be fingerprinted and photographed.
Better make sure your visa's not forged, though...
U.S. civil rights groups and Muslim leaders on Thursday called on Washington to scrap the "flawed and misguided" program aimed at men from the Middle East, North Africa and North Korea following the arrest of scores of immigrants who voluntarily turned up to register under the new rules.
"And give their explosives back, too!"
The detentions sparked an angry street protest in Los Angeles on Wednesday by thousands of Iranian-Americans protesting the "unjust" detentions of loved ones. "The American government has put violence, threat and pressure on the agenda of its foreign policy. It has taken measures against those Iranians who, in American officials' own words, are among the elite and educated of that country," the paper said quoting Assefi. This step of the American government contradicts international conventions on civil rights and Iran's Foreign Ministry regrets it."
Perhaps he can discuss it with them, if we send them back to Iran. I suspect most of them won't be deported, though...
Saudi dailies also on Saturday said the detention of hundreds of Muslim men under a new U.S. anti-terrorism campaign is an act of racism that will only deepen the divide between Muslims and Americans. "To a great extent, it is similar to racist practices we thought had disappeared long ago. But now they come anew with hi-tech means," Okaz newspaper said.
"The Soddy approach is much more enlightened. We torture them in our prisons and then cut their heads off."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 10:30 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah. And taking over an embassy and holding the diplomats as hostages was unacceptable also. And if we hadn't had a wimp like Jimmy Carter as president you turbans would have paid a dear price.
Posted by: Denny || 12/22/2002 21:19 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Anti-American Feeling Rises in Pakistan as U.S. Confronts Iraq
With the possibility of an American attack on Iraq looming, people like Tanweer Ahmed, an amiable man in a cardigan sweater, has Western diplomats and Pakistani moderates worried. Mr. Ahmed, a middle-class 37-year-old Pakistani shopkeeper, says Presidents Bush and Saddam Hussein are "equally aggressive." He cannot understand why the United States feels threatened by a small country like Iraq. He says it "goes without saying" that the United States is biased toward "the Jews" and discriminates against Muslims.
If it goes without saying, then he shouldn't say it, should he?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 11:31 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Mom sez it's Asif...
Police handed over the body of Asif Ramzi to his mother and wife on Saturday after his identity was established. The remains of another body were identified as those of Amir Memon, a resident of Kharadar. These remains were handed over to Mr Memon's father, Haji Amanullah. The mother of Asif Ramzi, Hajra Bibi, and his wife, Sofia Ramzi, were approached on Saturday by the police who took them to the Edhi morgue, near Sohrab Goth. There the remains of Asif Ramzi were shown to them. Hajra Bibi and Sofia Ramzi both observed the remains in detail and ultimately recognized them as of Asif Ramzi. Sofia Ramzi positively identified him after looking at the foot, which was similar to his mother's foot. Hajra Bibi, who also examined the remains closely, was convinced that they were the remains of her son. She also recognized her son from the left foot. She said the mark on her son's foot was similar to the mark of her own foot.
Why am I not buying this? Why do I feel like it's a ringer, some drunk they found in an alley?
Abdur Rasheed, the brother-in-law of Asif Ramzi, told Dawn that they were confused on Friday and had failed to recognize the remains. He stated there was no pressure from the police, or any other law-enforcement agency, and had made their statement without duress.
That's why.
Talking to reporters, Hajra Bibi said the police had picked up some family-members of Asif Ramzi and put them behind bars at Surjani Town police station for a month to force her son to surrender. She called her son a 'mujahid' and said the police actually sat inside her house in civvies to trap Asif.
"I'm so proud of him, I could just explode!"
Fayyaz Leghari, the DIG Investigations, said: "We are now sure that it was Asif Ramzi, as his mother and wife have identified him. We have obtained samples from the mother and also the remains of Ramzi and we may go through DNA tests to rule out all the other possibilities."
I think I'd certainly go through the DNA samples, because I wouldn't trust Asif's family for 30 seconds...
He said three of the dead had been identified so far and there could be one or two more, who are yet to be identified as the bodies were in pieces and it was difficult even to count them.
"Awright, dammit! We have six spleens, four left feet, two and a half heads, and ten elbows. How many bodies does that make?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 12:19 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Latin America
Venezuelan News Outlets Line Up With the Foes of Chávez
When government opponents convene marches as part of their strike to force President Hugo Chávez from power, the coverage is ample on Globovisión, the privately owned 24-hour news network. Coverage of the protests, complete with the commentary of anti-Chávez analysts, is broadcast for hours on end. Strike organizers are given nightly time slots for rambling speeches, charging Mr. Chávez with everything from repression to terrorism to looting the central bank. Government officials are given few opportunities to rebut the anti-Chávez invective. The bias toward the opposition is also striking at the other private broadcast stations and major newspapers, like El Universal and El Nacional, which dominate news coverage in this country. The situation worries some analysts and journalists, who see it distorting the role of the press and aggravating the current political crisis. The government is demanding that the news outlets moderate their tone as part of negotiations for an electoral solution to the standoff between Mr. Chávez and his opponents, who are continuing a prolonged national workers' strike aimed at forcing Mr. Chávez to resign.
Not being a journalist, I should probably have no opinion in the "neutrality" argument, but...

I have to wonder if the Times would be hooting this loudly if the situation were reversed. If the networks and the papers were playing up what a fine fellow Hugo is, would they take that as a reflection of support for him? Has the Times done a critical examination of the Iraqi press's adulation of Sammy? Or have they merely taken the fact that the press is owned and operated by the Tikrit Mafia as a part of the natural order of things?

A free press can be a thorn in the side of lots of people — look at al-Jazeera, which manages to cheese off everybody in sight at one time or another. The alternative is Babil, JANA, Arab News, Okaz, and all the other mouthpiece presses around the world. Thankfully, that's a shrinking number.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 10:51 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
Paleos postpone elections...
The Palestinian Cabinet on Sunday postponed elections set for next month, blaming the continuing Israeli military occupation of West Bank towns. The Palestinian leadership issued a statement accepting the recommendation of an expert commission that concluded elections can be held no earlier than three months after Israel pulls its troops back. The elections were originally set for Jan. 20, and there is currently no plan to withdraw Israeli troops.
Toldja so.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 11:36 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, that's a surprise isn't it.
Posted by: Tony || 12/23/2002 8:11 Comments || Top||

#2  The Phillistines never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 12/23/2002 9:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Actually, I think this time they're cancelling the opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Posted by: Hermetic || 12/23/2002 10:34 Comments || Top||


North Africa
Libya yaks with Central African Republic...
From the latest collection of JANA dispatches...
The secretary of the general peoples committee for African Unity held a meeting with Martin Zegeri the prime minister of the Central African Republic in Bangi. They discussed bilateral relations and ways of advancing and developing them for their mutual interest. The also discussed the development of the situation on the African continent in general and in the Central African Republic and the current efforts for maintaining the legitimacy in his country. Zegeri praised the efforts exerted by the Leader of the Revolution in suppporting stability in his country and emphasised the importance of continuing such efforts due to the high esteem in which he held.
The Leader of the Revolution is Muammar, in case you've forgotten. Libya has an imperialist fraternal force in Central African Republic to keep the current crop of crooks from being thrown out...
In a statement to Jana in Bangi he said I have to deliver the thanks and gratitude on behalf of the Central African Republic and its people to the Leader of the Revolution, Colonel Muammar al Qathafi, and to the brotherly Libyan people for the humanitarian assistance they have given to our people. He affirmed that the return of the Central African people to continue their activities is due to what the Great Jamahiriya presented to support his country in this matter and indicated that the Libyan brothers exerted great efforts to protect our country and its people.
That means the Libyans won't let the locals hang the members of their government...
He renewed the support of his country for the great African Union indicating that Africa is standing firm due to the efforts of its great son, Colonel Muammar al Qathafi.
JANA's okay for occasional reading, but it lacks the rollicking lunacy of the North Korean press...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 11:02 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I had to check out the North Korean press link. Wow. It's amazing. Blatent threats to Japan (Dec 23), 'death-defying battles with Yankees' (Dec 16), umbrage with 007 (Dec 23) etc. etc.

And all in the most eloquent language, to whit (Dec 16):
The U.S. should be mindful that this is not an expression of the feeble-mindedness and weakness of the DPRK at all.
The DPRK remains unfazed as it has made full preparations to cope with the confrontation and clash with the Yankees. The army and people of the DPRK with burning hatred for the Yankees are in full readiness to fight a death-defying battle.

Awesome! :)
Posted by: Tony || 12/23/2002 8:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Dear Leader needs a good shrink that's all.
Posted by: Anonymous || 12/24/2002 16:27 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
U.S. Fears Islamic Militancy Could Emerge in Cambodia
"I say Cambodia is safe," said Ahmad Yahya, one of the most prominent Muslims in the country, addressing fears that Islamic militants could find a niche in this unruly land. "But who knows?"
In Cambodia, fer Chrissake?
With its porous borders, its corruption, its hide-and-seek legal system and its disorganized Muslim community, some analysts say, this small Southeast Asian country could easily become a refuge and a breeding ground for terrorists. "I told the ambassador, don't worry about our people," Mr. Yahya said, referring to the American envoy. "Our people I can guarantee. But the Bangladeshis, Afghanis, Pakistanis, Saudis and people like that who come here, I cannot guarantee."
What the hell do they have to do in Cambodia?
Those foreigners, and the mostly fundamentalist Islamic schools and mosques they are rapidly setting up, have already changed the face of Islam in Cambodia. The question is whether they are bringing radicalism and militancy with them.
Ummm... Even without any evidence, we might be able to answer that question...
For Cambodian Muslims, this is a time of internal turmoil and uncertainty as the religion seeks to redefine itself after a period of repression that almost destroyed it. Like most others in the country's Muslim minority, Mr. Yahya, a member of Parliament who heads a local Islamic foundation, is an ethnic Cham, descendant of a great empire that dominated much of the region early in the last millennium. The communist Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia in the late 1970's, targeted the Cham for extermination and devastated their culture and their religious institutions.
The kingdom of Champa used to cover most of what's now South Vietnam and part of Cambodia. The Vietnamese expanded south and exterminated or absorbed the populace, and the Cambodians and Laos mostly absorbed the remnants around Champassak. In their heyday, the Chams were Lesser Vehicle Buddhists, with a heavy overlay of pre-Hinduvta Hinduism, or more properly later Vedism. The Chams picked up Islam in their declining years in the same wave of expansion that killed off the Vedic kingdoms of Java and Sumatra. Even Southeast Asia experts tend to forget they're around anymore. The Cham kingdom's been dead for 300 years or so.
Muslims now make up 5 percent or less of Cambodia's population of 12.5 million. As they rebuild their religion, many are moving away from the magic and mysticism that their fathers mixed with the teachings of the Koran, trying to adapt their religion to a more modern world.
Wait for it... Here it comes...
"This country is ripe for Muslim missionaries," said Bjorn Blengsli, a Norwegian anthropologist who is studying Cambodian Islam. "They had to start all over again. They had no religious leaders, nothing. They lost almost everything — their script, their rituals, almost all their written material. They were left with a couple of myths. That's why today a purification movement is so easy. They are very vulnerable, and a lot of people are coming into Cambodia and telling them how to change."
How very nice of them...
But he said that "being fundamentalist does not mean being a terrorist. If you have radical, militant Muslims living in Cambodia, I have not seen any proof."
"I mean, other than a few explosions."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 12/22/2002 11:29 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They better watch their wallets, and everything else for that matter. The Cambodians will strip 'em right down to the bone and have 'em blaming each other...
Posted by: mojo || 12/22/2002 16:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Yet another syncretic, mystical islamic community under pressure from the "purists" (IE Wahabis). ANd this one weakened by the Communists first. More of the Saudi effort to transform the Islamic world after their own image. Has Steve Schwartz gotten hold of this yet?? (on a related note, anyone noticed Saudi is welching on their commitment to provide $50 million to help Afgan rebuild the Kabul-Kandahar-Herat raod - now its just $30 million, and its a loan instead of a gift. Saudi just cant affrod to help rebuild Afganistan - all their money is going to - er, Uhmm, maybe better not to say where their money is going)
Posted by: liberalhawk || 12/23/2002 8:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Hey, Bjorn? Looking back on it, when you were making a career choice, do you think you might re-evaluate your pick of "anthropologist who is studying Cambodian Islam"? And I'd be real wary of this "They are very vulnerable, and a lot of people are coming into Cambodia and telling them how to change." There were some very impressive skull piles the last time that happened....
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/23/2002 9:39 Comments || Top||



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Sun 2002-12-22
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Sat 2002-12-21
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Thu 2002-12-19
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