#1
Tipper, are you sure you weren't attracted by the second half of the article? I knew there was an upside to the way a chaps eyes wander. Based on this, Clinton must be huge.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/07/2004 19:41 Comments ||
Top||
For 60 years the skeletal remains of more than 200 people, discovered in 1942 close to the glacial Roopkund Lake in the remote Himalayan Gahrwal region, have puzzled historians, scientists and archaeologists. Were they soldiers killed in battle, royal pilgrims who lost their way and succumbed to hypothermia, or Tibetan traders who died of a mysterious illness? Now, the first forensic investigation of one of the area's most enduring mysteries has concluded that hundreds of nomads - whose frozen corpses are being disgorged from ice high in the mountain - were killed by one of the most lethal hailstorms in history.
Scientists commissioned by the National Geographic television channel to examine the corpses have discovered that they date from the 9th century - and believe that they died from sharp blows to their skulls, almost certainly by giant hailstones. "We were amazed by what we found," said Dr Pramod Joglekar, a bio-archaeologist at Deccan College, Pune, who was among the team who visited the site 16,500ft above sea level. "In addition to skeletons, we discovered bodies with the flesh intact, perfectly preserved in the icy ground. We could see their hair and nails as well as pieces of clothing." The most startling discovery was that many of those who died suffered fractured skulls. "We retrieved a number of skulls which showed short, deep cracks," said Dr Subhash Walimbe, a physical anthropologist at the college. "These were caused not by a landslide or an avalanche but by blunt, round objects about the size of cricket balls." Yeah, giant hail. Sure. These poor bastards ran into a yeti snowball fight and got cut down in the crossfire. More detail at the link.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
11/07/2004 8:04:50 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
severe weather - why does it hate us?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2004 8:41 Comments ||
Top||
New United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa ibn Zayed Al-Nahayan yesterday received a "pledge of loyalty" from a younger brother bypassed in succession arrangements, a move which seemingly refutes claims about possible differences on the issue. "As I pledge obedience and loyalty to you, I pray the Almighty to make you succeed in what is good (for the country) and guide your steps toward right and justice," Sheikh Sultan ibn Zayed Al-Nahayan wrote in a letter to Khalifa. "You are the best successor to the best predecessor," said Sultan, referring to Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al-Nahayan, who died on Tuesday after more than 30 years at the helm of the Gulf federation of seven emirates. "I congratulate you on the valuable trust placed in you by your brethren the rulers of the Emirates and its noble people by choosing you as head of state. It is a trust you deserve," he added in the letter.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 11:34:36 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under:
An armed group fired on a police station in northwestern Haiti on Saturday, prompting officers to flee while prisoners escaped and more than 100 people started a flurry of looting, officials said. No one was reported killed in the clash in Gonaives, the country's third-largest city, which left the station empty after looters broke into the building and carried away furniture and other items, police spokeswoman Gessy Coicou said. The attack happened several hours after a suspected gang member was arrested for attacking and looting humanitarian aid trucks, said Capt. Mamie Ward, spokeswoman for the 5,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti. Shipments of food for victims of recent floods that wiped out much of Gonaives are commonly attacked by young men armed with guns and stones.
Ward said peacekeepers helped guard the police station Friday night and Saturday morning after police received threats of attack. The troops returned to their base early Saturday, and soon after the attack began. Police called the troops for help when the shooting began, but by the time they returned the police had fled and more than 100 people were looting, Ward said. All those jailed at the station escaped during the melee, said Daniel Moskaluk, spokesman for the U.N. civil police. He did not know how many they were, but he said one prisoner was believed to be associated with the attackers. The Haitian broadcaster Radio Vision 2000 reported that the attackers were from the Artibonite Resistance Front, once a street gang known as the Cannibal Army that helped lead a February rebellion by attacking the Gonaives police station and killing officers. The rebellion led up to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Feb. 29, and under the subsequent interim government most rebels have continued to carry arms. Rebel leaders have since formed a political party, the Front for National Reconstruction. Some members recently distributed food to victims of Tropical Storm Jeanne, which unleashed floods and mudslides in September that killed some 1,900 and left 900 more missing and presumed dead, most in Gonaives. About 5,000 U.N. peacekeepers are currently in Haiti to provide stability. They include about 500 Argentine soldiers based in Gonaives.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 9:08:12 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Send all the Haitians to Ivory Coast so the French don't have to travel so far to clean up their messes and give the rest of the island to the Dominican Republic so they can reforest it and turn it into the tourist haven it should be.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/07/2004 12:28 Comments ||
Top||
#2
100 people started a flurry of looting
What's to loot? Somebody running off with the balsalt that holds the island together? Perhaps the rebels are making off with the precious saltwater, Haitis greatest natural resource.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) -- A new documentary thick with tales of spies and secretive submarine landings traces how Nazis smuggled gold and cash from Europe to Argentina, a notorious safe haven for war criminals after World War Two. "Nazi Gold in Argentina," directed by Argentine filmmaker Rolo Pereyra, aims to break new ground by revealing how Swiss banks, Roman Catholic bishops and Argentine politicians helped to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars in Third Reich treasures. This is completely unbelievable! How could Swiss banks and the Roman Catholic Church possibly have any interest in robbing the Jews of their wealth?!?
The flight of many Nazis, including notorious Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele and Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann, from war-torn Europe to South America has been extensively documented.But the trail of a fortune in gold and cash has been much less explored. Unless you happened to have watched the superb documentary by Frontline called; "Nazi Gold."
The documentary, partly financed by HBO, re-enacts stories of Nazi submarines loaded with gold landing in Argentina's far-flung Patagonia, the mysterious deaths of Nazi conspirators, and spy-novel machinations based on 10 years of research. How sad that Simon Wiesenthal and Ellie Wiesel weren't able to take part in this.
It received a standing ovation at Sao Paulo's International Film Festival last month, and director Pereyra suspects the audience enjoyed the film's dramatic flair. The documentary will be screened at film festivals in Belgium, Spain and Cuba through December. "My idea was to give it a bit of that spy story rhythm ... with spies spying on spies ... People appreciate that," Pereyra said.
Banker's suspicious suicide
The film includes vignettes on such figures as Hermann Doerge, a powerful German banker who worked at Argentina's Central Bank in the 1940's and died in a suspicious suicide after destroying proof of the Nazi wealth transfers, according to Argentine central bank archives and Allied intelligence. The film -- based on the book "Odessa al Sur" by Argentine writer Jorge Camarasa -- connects the dots between Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany and Argentina to show how Nazis and their wealth were smuggled to the New World. And who did what to stop it?
Hundreds of Nazis flocked to Argentina after the war, drawn by the open-door policy of Gen. Juan Domingo Peron, a pragmatic politician with fascist sympathies. But Nazi ties to the political and economic elite outlasted Peron, Pereyra said. What an unexpected relevation!
"What surprised us is that the trail of this smuggled money leads to the heirs of many families, even up to the 1980's and 90's," Pereyra said. "These people are linked to the Argentine oligarchy and the economically powerful." Pereyra was nominated for an Emmy Award in the mid-1980's for an investigative report on the burning alive of a young couple during Chile's military dictatorship.
"Nazi Gold in Argentina" includes interviews in Argentina with Wilfred Von Oven, a former aide to Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and the son of Erich Priebke, a former SS captain who was extradited to Italy and jailed for his role in the murder of 335 civilians in Rome in 1944. Camarasa said the importance of the probes is that they unearthed conspiracies and complicities hidden for decades. "Bringing this to light allowed people to confront a quite shameful episode in Argentina," Camarasa said. "This is just another story about the good guys and the bad guys and how the bad guys triumph," he said, chuckling. Time for the good guys to triumph, for a change.
Posted by: Zenster ||
11/07/2004 2:35:21 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under:
A series of killings and gang shootouts in Naples have Italian officials worried that the southern city is turning into the "Wild West" of Italy, with many calling for tougher measures to curb the violence.
On Sunday night, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a group of youths in a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city, killing a 25-year-old and injuring five others. In the same area earlier in the week, at least two other people were killed and four injured. Authorities say the killings are part of a mob turf war.
Naples Mayor Rosa Russo Jervolino said the attacks show that "strengthening intelligence services on the territory is necessary to understand what's going on", according to the ANSA news agency.
The president of the Campania region, which includes Naples, called on the government to step up security measures.
"We must react, all of us," Regional President Antonio Bassolino told Corriere della Sera. But then he added: "Guaranteeing public order is the duty of the central state."
Criminality has traditionally been a problem in Naples, where unemployment runs as high as 24 per cent, according to some estimates. The nationwide average is about 9 per cent.The city and nearby villages are home to the Camorra crime syndicate, which runs extortion rackets, illegal gambling and drug trafficking.
But the recent violence is unusual even by Naples' standards. Besides Sunday's attack, two suspected mobsters were killed and four paramilitary Carabinieri policemen were injured this week. Shootouts last month left a 17-year-old dead and two people injured, La Stampa newspaper said.
Italian newspapers have dubbed Naples the "Wild West" of Italy, and Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu called on city residents to help authorities pin down the criminals.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 5:46:48 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
My brother lives in Naples. He is going to Iraq next month. I wonder which will worry more. His family about him or he about his family?
The U.S. Embassy in Athens warned Americans in Greece on Saturday to exercise caution and heighten their level of security following Washington's formal recognition last week of Macedonia under that name. Greek politicians and religious leaders have widely condemned the U.S. decision to recognize the tiny Balkan nation under the name Macedonia, fearing it could lead to a territorial dispute. The move is expected to stoke traditionally strong anti-American sentiment in Greece. In an e-mail sent Saturday to U.S. citizens living in Greece, the embassy warned of possible protests and said "for the time being, all Americans in Greece should also heighten their individual and family sense of and attention to personal security." Later Saturday, about 100 people gathered outside the U.S. consulate in the northern Greek port of Thessaloniki to protest the American decision. That must be one dull place on a Saturday
Greek officials did not immediately comment on the embassy statement, which also was posted on the embassy's Web site. Athens has argued that use of the name Macedonia implies territorial claims toward Greece, which has a neighboring province with the same name. Greece lodged a formal complaint with the United States on Thursday following Washington's recognition of Macedonia. Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and joined the United Nations under the provisional name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" to sidestep Greek objections. Athens uses the U.N. acronym, as do international organizations. What buffoons
Greece has threatened it may veto Macedonia's bid to join the European Union and NATO. Time to leave NATO and establish bilateral treaties with real allies and let the others stew in their own juices.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/07/2004 7:58:44 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yeah....wait till they find out there's an "Athens, Georgia". They'll REALLY get their panties in a knot over that one!
#6
Maybe the State Department should ratchet this up and warm Americans against going to Greece. It won't destroy their economy, but every little bit helps.
Well it looks like Canada will be getting a lot more malcontents :)
President Bush has launched an internal review of the pros and cons of nominating Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as the chief justice if ailing William Rehnquist retires, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
A top White House source familiar with Bush's thinking explains the review of Thomas as chief justice is one of several options currently under serious consideration. But Thomas is Bush's personal favorite to take the position, the source claims.
"It would not only be historic, to nominate a minority as chief justice, symbolizing the president's strong belief in hope and optimism, but it would be a sound judicial move.... Justice Thomas simply has an extraordinary record."
One concern is the amount of political capital Bush would have to spend in congress to make the move.
A chief justice must be separately nominated by Bush and confirmed by the Senate, even if the person is already sitting on the court.
The need to replace Rehnquist could arise by year's end, Bush aides now believe.
Officially, Bush advisers call any Supreme Court vacancy talk premature.
Developing...
Ottowa should really think twice about allowing in additional American leftwing losers. Don't they have enough nuts already?
Chief Justice Tomas -What a great sound that has!! After the living hell the radical left put this man through before, how sweet it is!
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 9:14:29 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/07/2004 22:11 Comments ||
Top||
#3
What Robert said. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/07/2004 22:32 Comments ||
Top||
#4
What Barbara said, Thomas would be an exceptional chief justice. :)
Alberto Gonzales has been at the top of the rumored list of S.Ct. appointees for a while. Imagine what would happen if Rehnquist were to retire and the Dems were put in the position of opposing not only the court's first black chief justice but also the court's first Hispanic member. That would be a politically painful twofer.
With same-sex marriage now a reality in Massachusetts and a possibility elsewhere, should legalized polygamy be next? Yes, asserted George Washington University Law School's Jonathan Turley in a recent article in USA Today .
He detests the practice but sees it as a matter of constitutional freedom, noting that even the Bible accepts polygamy. The issue arose when Utah's Tom Green, who has five wives and 31 children, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his imprisonment for polygamy on grounds of religious conscience.
Green observes the polygamy revelation from the prophet Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon church. The church retains that teaching in its Scriptures but halted the practice in 1890 and excommunicates "fundamentalists" like Green who obey Smith's original words. (Smith secretly took at least 28 wives.)
Turley said the Supreme Court enforced religious bigotry when it upheld federal law barring polygamy.
Polygamy is "one of the common threads between Christians, Jews and Muslims," Turley argued. However, the religious situation isn't that simple.
In Islam, the Quran teaches, "If you fear that you cannot deal justly with the orphans, then marry such of the women as appeal to you, two, three or four; but if you fear that you cannot be equitable, then only one" (4:3).
Some Muslims consider polygamy an essential tenet and cite the example of the prophet
Muhammad (who had 10 wives). But Quran translator Majid Fakhry says the verse does not require polygamy and "most commentators regard the permission as an exception and not a rule."
Fakhry notes the context of this revelation: 70 Muslim warriors had been killed in battle and the widows needed new husbands to provide for them. Most Muslims are, in fact, monogamous.
And the Bible? Turley cited Old Testament patriarchs and kings who took multiple wives. Biblical law in Deuteronomy assumes some men will have two wives (21:15) but says a monarch "shall not multiply wives for himself" (17:17) - an admonition ignored by the multi-married kings David and Solomon.
However, Jewish and Christian authorities agree that the Bible's ideal is monogamy, established at the creation: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).
The first biblical polygamist, Lamech, is portrayed as a vengeful murderer (Genesis 4:23-24). Numerous subsequent Bible passages treat monogamy as the norm and depict practical woes in plural marriages.
#3
Interestingly enough, East Asia (Korea, Japan, China, etc) adopted monogamy as a result of Western influence. It would be interesting to see their reaction to the restoration of polygamy in the West.
#5
It was this guy that convinced me to vote for the Ohio Marriage Amendment. This article was originally in USA Today Op-ed about a month ago. I've got absolutely no problem with civil unions for gay people, but I've got a major objections to polygamy, and whatever other "rights" some activist judge chooses to dredge up. Guess that makes me another "homophobic red-neck bible-thumping Bush voter".
Posted by: A Jackson ||
11/07/2004 22:40 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"Jewish and Christian authorities agree that the Bible's ideal is monogamy..."
Whenever the Bible talks in any detail about the family life of someone who had more than one wife, there are invariably problems:
*bickering. Esau's wives drove his parents crazy, so he married two more, hoping they'd be more congenial;
*jealousy. Leah and Rachel, sisters, both married to Jacob and fighting with each other for decades.
*favoritism. Jacob showed obvious favor to Joseph and Benjamin, his children by Rachel, to the point where his other sons came to hate Joseph so much that they sold him into slavery and told Jacob that a wild beast had killed Joseph.
*bitchiness. Elkanah loved Hannah more than his other wife, Peninah, so Peninah rubbed Hannah's nose in the fact that Hannah had no children
*rape, murder, and rebellion. King David had so many children and so many responsibilities that he didn't discipline his sons. When Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar, David didn't do anything, so Tamar's brother Absalom killed Amnon and rebelled against David.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are surging, businesses appear to be hiring again, and a pro-business administration is about to start a second term in the White House. What could Wall Street possibly be worried about? Inflation. The Federal Reserve meets this week to discuss the economy and likely raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 2 percent.
The move is designed to make capital harder to come by, thus reducing prices and keeping inflation in check. Analysts added that even with the key interest rate rising, rates remain historically low and should not present too much difficulty for growing businesses.
But inflation itself is another matter. This summer's economic "soft patch" - slow job growth, high energy prices and lackluster consumer spending - may be over, and some analysts believe the economy is ripe for inflation to take hold. (chart in link)
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 5:43:21 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
Accra, Ghana, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Authorities in Ghana have made seven arrests in the investigation of an alleged plot to overthrow President John Kufuor, the BBC reported Sunday.
Ghana is directly next door to The Ivory Coast
Ghana officials have said the seven past and present military personnel planned acts of "destabilisation and sabotage" prior to December's presidential election. Kufuor was expected to win a second term.
There have been several coups in Ghana since the country gained independence in 1957. However, in recent years, the country has been stable, the BBC said.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 5:38:49 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
International and domestic flights in Nigeria have been hit by a shortage of aviation fuel, with planes unable to leave the commercial capital, Lagos.
Planes were unable to find fuel on Thursday and the situation has now worsened while it is unclear what lies behind the shortages. (Incredible, in a one of Opec's leading producers)
Nigeria has a thriving domestic airline industry with many people shuttling regularly between major cities.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights have also been disrupted.
BA flying from Abuja to London on Friday had to stop in Ghana to pick up enough fuel to finish the journey.
Virgin Atlantic, also heading for London, was delayed by several hours.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 5:00:12 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11135 views]
Top|| File under:
Machete-waving mobs looted and burned in Ivory Coast's largest cities Sunday, laying siege to a French military base and searching house to house for French families after a day of sudden clashes between forces of France and its former colony.
France's military sent helicopters to pluck trapped expatriates from buildings as other helicopters and armored vehicles moved out to confront the mobs, lobbing volleys of tear gas and percussion grenades that sent rioters fleeing.
French gunships took up positions at bridges in skyscraper-lined Abidjan on Sunday, a day after seizing control of the country's two airports and flying in 600 reinforcements.
Faced with the confrontation with France, the Ivory Coast government reluctantly moved to call off its offensive against rebels who control the northern part of the country. The government broke a more than year-old cease-fire last week by launching airstrikes against the rebels.
The government said Sunday it was willing to cease fire and that it would pull back its troops. French retaliation on Saturday for a surprise bombing of French peacekeepers destroyed Ivory Coast's tiny air force and left its airports under French control.
The government took a defiant tone toward France. Ivory Coast will ask the U.N. Security Council for action against France, presidential spokesman Desire Tagro told The Associated Press. "We are faced with aggression by one country against another country. We are going to inform the entire world ... that France has come to attack us."
France's retaliation -- destroying the military's five helicopter gunships and two Russian-made Sukhoi warplanes -- came after the Sukhois bombed a French peacekeeping position in the north, killing nine French peacekeepers and an American consultant working for an aid group.
Mob violence after France's response claimed more victims. A Red Cross official, Kim Gordon-Bates, said about 150 people had been wounded in Abidjan, most from bullets. The official refused to give any information on deaths.
State television showed the bodies of what it said were five loyalists killed by French forces.
About 300 French troop reinforcements landed Sunday at Abidjan's international airport, which was taken by France late Saturday after it destroyed what it said was the entire Ivory Coast air force.
Another 300 reinforcements would be sent from France, the French Defense Ministry said. Three French military planes, including a medical support aircraft, were en route to Ivory Coast, while three French military Mirage fighter jets were on standby in the West African nation of Gabon.
Still more reinforcements headed toward Abidjan on Sunday afternoon from the capital, Yamoussoukro, to confront the mobs.
An Associated Press photographer saw 20 heavy vehicles bearing French troops heading toward Abidjan -- a city in flames.
Gunfire rang out in the city and smoke billowed into the air from throngs laying waste to both foreign and locally owned property.
Loyalists set up roadblocks of burning tires. An Associated Press reporter watched as a crowd armed with machetes and iron bars entered a neighborhood near the city's main French military base, demanding to know if there were any French living in the district.
"It's better to kill the whites than steal their stuff," one rioter shouted.
"It's better to burn them, like in Algeria. They burned the whites -- that's why they're respected," another said.
Foreigners cowered.
"We are all terrified, and try to reassure each other," one French resident said by telephone from his home elsewhere in the city, speaking on condition his name be withheld.
"We have been told by the embassy to stay at home ... It is a difficult situation to live through," he said.
Also in danger: hundreds of thousands of immigrants from neighboring Muslim countries.
"We're afraid because who knows, maybe this is civil war," said one, hiding with 30 other Muslims in a mosque Sunday. He gave only his last name, Ouedraogo.
A French military helicopter swept in Sunday to rescue trapped civilians, apparently expatriates, from an Abidjan hotel, airlifting about a dozen to safety with their suitcases.
Numerous French families contacted French authorities in Ivory Coast overnight, saying their homes were being attacked and looted, French military spokesman Henry Aussavy said. Electricity and phone lines at the French Embassy were cut, spokesman Francois Guenon said.
Rioting persisted despite demands France and from the U.N. Security Council that President Laurent Gbagbo restore order. France warned of international sanctions.
Ivory Coast leaders sounded alternately conciliatory and challenging.
"Let us cease fire," National Assembly president Mamadou Koulibaly said on state television, offering to return to a more than year-old calm broken by Ivory Coast's resumption of attacks on Thursday.
Speaking to French radio Inter, however, Koulibaly accused French President Jacques Chirac of arming Ivory Coast's rebels and of sabotaging Ivory Coast's government.
"Ivory Coast has become an overseas territory in Jacques Chirac's head," said Koulibaly, Ivory Coast's second-highest leader.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/07/2004 2:54:52 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I can't sympathize with the violence and looting, but I sure would like to see the French kicked out of there -- and the Moslem rebels utterly defeated.
I note that the French troops are acting as if at war with the local government, not cooperating with local troops (but doing so with rebels in the North).
I'll gladly pay 50% more for chocolate if that's what it takes to free that country from French colonialism and Moslem attackers.
Just like Mark E. was tellimg us...
Cocoa traders face a volatile week as unrest in the Ivory Coast threatens to disrupt supplies from the world's biggest producer. Prices in New York last week jumped 11% and surged 4.2% on Friday as the government attacked rebel positions.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
11/07/2004 11:18:38 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It's pretty rude to scoop Mark on a price story.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/07/2004 12:46 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Sea, you are on the ball! Top notch posting. Now I want some M&M'S after looking at the picture :)
Look at that, an 11% price surge and most of it was toward the end of the week. I saw the same type of price trending in 2002 when the West African nation slide into a similar situation between domestic waring factions. Monday we can expect a surge in prices again.
The cocoa crop is harvested beginning in September and was compleated a few weeks ago thus the market concern. The cocoa beans like coffee, which also grows in the Ivory Coast need to be dried. The cocoa trees offer shade to the coffee bushes thus two of the nation's main sources of exported income are in question now.(Check the link, which I consider one of the most detailed on the global cocoa bean crop)
Mrs D. We can equant the threat to Ivory Coast's estimated 40% of world-wide cocoa production with possible supply disruptions to Saudi & Iranian crude oil supplies sometime in 2005. Prices for these vital natural recourses, when vast concintrations are centralized in one or two geographic zones are threatened with a cut off exports. Prices climb quickly based on fear of the unknown outlook. I was busy with the cocoa situation on a website which focuses on commodities.
I recommend this article for a clear discussion of the history and timeline of the Ivory Coast brouhaha. There's a link to the author's blog at the bottom...
Posted by: Seafarious ||
11/07/2004 11:11:45 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11133 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hmmm... could that tanker filled with 45,000 pounds of chocolate that overturned in New York state on Thursday have been the victim of a terrorist act?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/07/2004 11:30 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Please GWB, no compromise with france regarding tit for tat vis a vis Iraq and the Cote.
Let the little asses stew in their own piss on this one. We can do it in Iraq, they can't anywhere. Thats about enough french today for me.
#4
I'm going to ponder that advise some Ship. But I do wonder how much this little fracus will festor and how much it could lead to an outright gauling. No kidding!
Machete-waving mobs looted and burned in Ivory Coast's largest cities Sunday, laying siege to a French military base and searching house to house for French families after a day of ground and air clashes between forces of France and its former colony. Ivory Coast — its tiny air force destroyed and its airports taken by the French in retaliation for a deadly airstrike on a French peacekeeping position — reluctantly said Sunday it was willing to cease fire and that it was pulling back troops. The move aims to restore a cease-fire with rebels controlling the north that was in place for more than a year until government forces broke it on Thursday. Still, the government took a defiant tone toward France. Ivory Coast will ask the Security Council for action against France, presidential spokesman Desire Tagro declared on state TV, adding, "We are faced with aggression by one country against another country. We are going to inform the entire world ... that France has come to attack us."
France's punishing military strikes came in retaliation for the Ivory Coast air force's surprise bombing of a French peacekeeping position on Saturday in the north, held by rebels since civil war broke out in the world's top cocoa producer in September 2002.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 9:01:52 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
U.S. to Phwrance: QUAGMIRE!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/07/2004 9:09 Comments ||
Top||
#2
French troops went in to protect the Moslem rebels. The non-Moslem majority refuses to be told what to do, in particular they want their freely elected president to rule with an executive of his choice, not one infected by the rebels under the supervision of the French.
Note also that French troops are in key positions around the country, either shoulder-by-shoulder with the rebels or near airports. Doesn't sound like peacekeeping to me. Sounds like reinforcing the rebels.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom ||
11/07/2004 05:44 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This is clear evidence of a quagmire.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/07/2004 8:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Not to mention possible war crimes. Someone call the International Court.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/07/2004 9:40 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Next time Israel uses a 20mm gun to stop rioters we need to remember to point this out. I don't think Isreal ever used a chopper to strafe Paleos. It's quite possible the 30 dead is under reporting the actual deaths as well.
France is a ICC signatory. I think we should give them a call.
#4
Meanwhile, Paris has dispatched an extra two companies of troops to beef up a force of 4,000 already deployed... It has also redeployed three jet fighters to the region...The UN Security Council moved swiftly to back the French action, and called on all sides to stop the fighting.
Not only is it a quagmire, it's an escalating one. Guess it's okay since it has UNSC support.
#5
The French in the Ivory Coast is a subbed out job by the UNSC, according to this here ICC ruling document, to wit:
If the French commit any wrongdoing, it will not be considered wrongdoing under the auspices of this Court, insofar as the United Nations Security Council and the Secretariat are concerned. Complaints of human rights occuring in this aforementioned action shall be presented in writing on UNSC Form 7734 in pentuplicate and shall be forwarded to the Secretariat via diplomatic pouch through the nearest local commander of French Forces serving in the Ivory Coast Theater of Operations. This is a necessary but not necessarily sufficient requirement, which depends upon the tactical and political situation of the nearby local commander of French Forces.
Howzat?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/07/2004 16:25 Comments ||
Top||
ABIDJAN - French forces wiped out Ivory Coast's military aircraft that were sitting on the ground Saturday in retaliation for the killing of nine of its soldiers stationed here, and sent in reinforcements as anti-French feeling reached boiling point in the west African former French colony.
Time for the FFL.
At the same time, France called on President Laurent Gbagbo to find a political solution to the current tension in Ivory Coast, the worst since a force was placed between the government army and rebels.
The Security Council, meeting at France's request, condemned the attack on French forces and voiced support for French and UN forces in the country.
That will be effective as anything the UN ever does.
France will ask the Security Council for an arms embargo on Ivory Coast, French UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said.
That will be effective as anything the UN ever does.
Ivory Coast warplanes had earlier executed a devastating raid on a French army camp killing the nine men plus a US national and wounding about 30 other soldiers. French President Jacques Chirac thereupon ordered the destruction of all Ivory Coast planes involved in ceasefire violations in the country, divided since a failed coup two years ago. The French blew up two warplanes on the ground and later destroyed at least three army helicopters by later Saturday, a French army spokesman said.
Resentment against France boiled up in Abidjan, where youths chanting anti-French slogans rolled their eyes looted and made faces torched four French schools. Tens of thousands of young supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo marched on Abidjan airport, where a company of French infantry was stationed, and French helicopters fired warning shots to head them off. Faced with an immense human tide, the French armed forces used 20mm cannon near the Houphouet-Boigny and Charles de Gaulle bridges on the lagoon, which link the working-class and business districts with the airport.
Witnesses said the crowd was halted, but it was still large at 2 am (0200 GMT) while sporadic firing continued.
There was no immediate information about victims, but witnesses said they had seen bodies on the De Gaulle bridge. An hour-long clash had earlier occurred at the airport between French and Ivorian troops.
Ivorian forces closed the airport on Saturday afternoon and evacuated staff, sealing off the perimeter and closing it to air traffic, airport sources said.
A diplomatic source said Gbagbo had met for an hour with the ambassadors of France and the United States, Gildas Le Lidec and Aubrey Hooks.
The attack by Russian-built Sukhoi fighter-bombers which dropped a 500 pound bomb was the most serious against French military personnel in operations since one in Lebanon in 1983 killing 58 personnel. A French military spokesman ruled out the possibility of error by Ivory Coast aircrew.
France called upon the UN Security Council for support to modify the rules of engagement of UN and French peacekeepers currently in Ivory Coast. Essentially these are allowed to use force only in legitimate self-defence.
That will be effective as anything the UN ever does.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said France had destroyed the Ivorian aircraft as an act of legitimate self-defence. French military sources told AFP that in addition to the Sukhoi fighter-bombers a total of five helicopters were also targeted. This is just about all of the military aircraft the Ivorian government forces possess.
France also ordered 300 more troops to Ivory Coast to buttress its 4,000-member peacekeeping force. It also scrambled three Mirage fighter jets from Chad to Libreville in Gabon.
Chirac called President Gbagbo after the attack "to warn him against any act liable to break the ceasefire" between the government and rebel New Forces holding the north of the country, presidency officials said.
The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the attack on the French peace-keepers was "inadmissable," and warned Gbagbo he was responsible for the safety of all foreigners in the country, including the 14,000 French nationals. The future of the Ivory Coast's relationship with the EU depended on it, he said.
The EU is almost as effective as the UN.
In attacks apparently ordered by Gbagbo, government jets Thursday began pounding northern communities under the control of the New Forces since September 2002 when an insurrection erupted in the wake of a failed military coup.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/07/2004 12:58:46 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"French go home!" mmmmm That has a ring to it.
"French go home!" loyalist mobs shouted, as thousands set fire to at least two French schools and tried to storm a French military base, seeking out French civilians as French and Ivory Coast forces briefly traded gunfire.
"Everybody get your Frenchman!" young men screamed to each other, swinging machetes.'(AP)
The Ivory Coast IS Chirac's version of Iraq.
Let's see if the U.N. acts quickly since Chirac gets along so well with Kofi. Are U.N. troops about to be airlifted in to Abidjan.
Hot tip of the weekend: Cocoa beans are going to be a hot (bullish) item, right up there with crude oil when cocoa traders begin buying & selling Monday morning :)
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 2:09 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"Faced with an immense human tide, the French armed forces used 20mm cannon ..."
We stop to contemplate French reactions should 20mm cannon were used in West Bank (or Faluja) against 'peaceful' demonstrators.
The next time the "French" and UN tell us how Israel
breaks the conventions of war will we remind them?. I would bet that it was more than one shell and that more than just a few "unarmed civilians" were killed.
#5
I wonder how soon l'effette chirac is going to call on Monsieur le President Bush to assist in the effort to subdue the Ivory Coast situation.
It seems very fitting for France to be faced with this situation. It is even better that there are 14,000 frenchies right there and l'effette chirac is asking the black dictator to be responsible for them. That's a laugh! since when has a black dictator been responsible for a whitey?
Wait, what was I thinking? I am sure l'effette chirac will wait until after the 18th UN resolution to ask the country for a resolution to decide on a resolution to the situation. These are great times to be alive in the USA
On a more serious note: has anyone seen anything more enlightening or definitive about this "US national" (aid worker) killed in the attack described above? I havn't found anything yet.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
11/07/2004 7:02 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I am no friend of the French but...
The black dictator is a French puppet, he'll protect the French citizens if he wants to stay in power. It is not a coincidence that Coup de'Etat is a French word. If not him, they'll get someone else to protect Tota FinaElf profits.
I think the attacks by French on civilians for revenge reasons are probably bullshit, like the Jenin massacre. I'm not really sure how the bridge could not be covered in bodies if 20mm canon were fired at it. I'm guessing some warning shots for dramatic effect. This of course is amplified by those that want the French to look bad just as injuries caused by the US are amplified by the French media.
I'd like the French kicked out of west africa (even better would be if they behaved like a civilized nation in the region but I'm not expecting that to happen any time soon) but I just don't trust this report very much.
#8
All this goes to prove without doubt that the *SPIT*FRENCH*SPIT* haven't learned a thing since Algeria. They were stupid then, and they're still stupid now. Watch for French to start losing hundreds of men to sniper attacks.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/07/2004 13:03 Comments ||
Top||
#10
It's le Quagmire, le Quagmire, I tell ya! Let the French get out of their outhouse pit on their own. They will either get smarter, less verbose (0.000001 odds) or they will STFU.
Fred, put up the sympathy meter on this one!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/07/2004 13:20 Comments ||
Top||
#11
We should be asking the French 'where are the tons of missing cocoa beans?'
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 17:30 Comments ||
Top||
#12
I was listening to NPR in the car this morning and the poor reporters couldn't find anyone to root against so they were forced to report it pretty much down the middle.
It's scary when NPR has to resort to objective, fact-based journalism.
The South African government's powerful union ally COSATU launched a blistering attack on Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe yesterday, calling it a "derailed revolution" and comparing its tactics to Hitler's.
The conmparison is usually overused. This is one of the few times it's apt...
The hard-hitting comments, published in the weekly Mail & Guardian newspaper, follow Zimbabwe's deportation last month of 13 unionists from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) who had entered the country on a fact-finding mission. They signal a widening rift between South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its left-wing alliance partners over Pretoria's policy of "quiet diplomacy" towards Zimbabwe, accused by critics of widespread human rights abuses. "We will not keep mum when freedom does not lead to respect for workers and human rights," COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said in a commentary provocatively headlined "We are not quiet diplomats".
You kept quiet when they came for the white farmers, though, didn't you?
That was, um, different.
"Liberation must mean a decent life for all, not a selected few." Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, are accused by the West of rigging elections, muzzling the press and ruining the economy by seizing white-owned farms for distribution to landless blacks. "Recent events in Zimbabwe have opened up a debate in COSATU as to whether that country does not now represent a typical example of a derailed revolution," Vavi wrote.
I dunno about a typical example of a derailed revolution. Seems the "revolution" is the problem. It's definitely the epitome of a failed state, though...
He also said Zimbabwe Information Minister Jonathan Moyo who accused COSATU of working on behalf of the British had modelled his tactics on Hitler. "Hitler, the master propagandist from whom Moyo must certainly have learned his tricks, believed in repeating a lie frequently enough until it settles as the truth in the minds of ordinary people," Vavi wrote. The comments are sure to anger the ANC, which tolerates little dissent in its own ranks and insists that behind the scenes prodding is the only way to resolve Zimbabwe's political and economic quagmire.
It's going to start working any time now...
Critics contend the ANC's Zimbabwe strategy shows it cannot bring itself to criticise an ally from the black liberation struggles against colonialism and white rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 11:59:02 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
...COSATU were told by our government that their visit was unacceptable and that they would not be welcome but the Union representatives said they were coming anyway... The 13 member COSATU delegation arrived in Harare but were detained by state security agents at the airport for almost two hours. It seemed that the COSATU delegates were being told that they would only be allowed in if they agreed in writing not to meet certain Zimbabwean groups... The COSATU delegation stood firm, refused to sign anything and were eventually allowed into the country.
The COSATU visit did not last long. The next morning CIO [Central Intelligence Organisation] agents descended. They were soon joined by riot police who helped enforce a Cabinet ruling to deport the COSATU team... There were no farewells from the airport but a six hundred kilometer drive in the middle of the night to literally dump the Union leaders at the Beit Bridge border.
The Supreme Court upheld a federal law that facilitates middle and lower-middle class families to restrict marriage parties to only soft drinks in hotels while allowing meals to guests within the precincts of a house. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui dismissed constitutional pleas of one Chaudhry Muhammad against the federal law banning lavish meal expenditure on marriage parties. The apex court ruling while citing section No. 4 (1) of the law stated, "No person celebrating his marriage or any other person shall serve or allow any one to serve meals or other edibles to persons participating in the marriage in a club, hotel, restaurant, wedding hall, community center or any other place except hot and cold soft drinks." However, the law allows the eating of meals within a house by members of the family celebrating the marriage or the house guests.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 11:39:37 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
#5
At first I thought this was a ScrappleFace article. No doubt they're just trying to avoid bloodshed at hotels, restaurants, etc. -- you know how we crazy Americans are prone to attack wedding parties.
Posted by: Tom ||
11/07/2004 15:38 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.
Ward said peacekeepers helped guard the police station Friday night and Saturday morning after police received threats of attack. The troops returned to their base early Saturday, and soon after the attack began. Police called the troops for help when the shooting began, but by the time they returned the police had fled and more than 100 people were looting, Ward said. All those jailed at the station escaped during the melee, said Daniel Moskaluk, spokesman for the U.N. civil police. He did not know how many they were, but he said one prisoner was believed to be associated with the attackers. The Haitian broadcaster Radio Vision 2000 reported that the attackers were from the 
