This from Denver's "liberal" paper (i.e. they publish Rall, and their editorials, especially the cartoonist, are almost always left leaning). HT: my brother in Denver
Protests being waged by minority Sunnis over the outcome of this month's elections would have been unthinkable under Saddam Hussein.
Street protests in Iraq ironically signal that the country has progressed toward democracy. The protesters may be angry, but demonstrations also show that Iraqis want to exercise their civil rights and expect a say in the political process.
That's a far cry from where any of Iraq's three major ethnic groups were three years ago. Street demonstrations would have been unthinkable under Saddam Hussein unless orchestrated by his minions and in support of the government. To protest on behalf of an out-of-power political party would have invited prison and death.
But today, even minority Sunnis are confident enough to publicly express their grievances. Indeed, the Sunnis' strong participation in the Dec. 15 elections showed their desire to peacefully participate in the new government.
Continued on Page 47
âShameful," screams Mexico's President Vicente Fox, about the proposed extension of a security fence along the southern border of the U.S. "Stupid! Underhanded! Xenophobic!" bellowed his Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez, warning: "Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow a stupid thing like this wall."
The allusions to the Berlin Wall made by aggrieved Mexican politicians miss the irony: The communists tried to keep their own people in, not illegal aliens out. More embarrassing still, the comparison boomerangs on Mexico, since it, and not the U.S., most resembles East Germany in alienating its own citizens to the point that they flee at any cost. If anything might be termed stupid, underhanded or xenophobic in the illegal immigration debacle, it is the conduct of the Mexican government:
"Stupid" characterizes a government that sits atop vast mineral and petroleum reserves, enjoys a long coastline, temperate climate, rich agricultural plains â and either cannot or will not make the necessary political and economic reforms to feed and house its own people. The election of Vicente Fox, NAFTA and cosmetic changes in banking and jurisprudence have not stopped the corruption or stemmed the exodus of millions of Mexicans.
"Underhanded" also sums up the stance of Mexico, masquerading in humanitarian terms the abjectly immoral export of its own dispossessed. Rest at link. Continued on Page 47
Posted by: ed ||
12/30/2005 14:41 ||
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Remember the fuss about John Bolton, how Democrats stalled his confirmation as U.N. ambassador and depicted him as a threat to the world order? Well, his recess appointment is having a salutary impact.
Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? I know. It floored me, too...
That's not how it was supposed to turn out, at least according to the Democrats and the media hysterics. Bolton was the tough-talking undersecretary of state who was once so impolitic as to quip that it wouldn't much matter if the top 10 stories of the East River edifice were knocked over. Mix in some rumors about Bolton bullying State Department subordinates â a delicious fantasy, when you think about it â and it was enough for the whole center-left to go ape. These were the people who, unhinged by John Kerry's loss to George W. Bush, preferred the wisdom of European diplocrats to American interests.
If Bolton had a monocle and a snotty accent they'd have thought he was just ducky...
For some reason, Bolton's critics felt no need to reform the United Nations, which under the leadership of Secretary-General Kofi Annan has descended into the most intense sort of tragicomedy. The body's vaunted "oil for food" engagement with prewar Iraq came under investigation, prompting many observers to dub it the worst financial scandal in history. And reports came out of Africa about how U.N. "peacekeepers" were building a sex-slave industry. Did we mention that the U.N.'s human rights commission came under fire for naming to its membership agents of the world's most despotic regimes? Was no reform necessary?
Tut tut, m'good man! A few minor adjustments here and there and all will be well...
This week, even though the issue is plenty serious, the scene came almost as comic relief when the usually mild and measured Annan berated a British reporter. The Brit's offense? In a news conference, he inquired about the whereabouts of a Mercedes Benz that Kofi's son Kojo reportedly purchased under a U.N. exemption, possibly with the approval of the secretary-general. Clearly, recent developments have made Annan testy.
Kofi's going to leave office under a cloud...
The biggest factor more than likely was the sight of Bolton checking off the top items on his agenda. Bolton created an international stir â marked by the European Union's formal opposition â when he threatened to block the body's 2006-07 budget unless the U.N. commenced serious self-reform.
But since the EU showed its usual staunch level of commitment...
Last week: a successful start. The 191-member General Assembly approved a resolution for a two-year, $3.8 billion administrative budget. Attached to the resolution was a spending cap at $950 million, enough for the first half of next year. Look for Annan in June to request more money to pay U.N. personnel. Some countries â among them Egypt, India and Jamaica â deny the emergency budget was tied to any reforms.
I also deny that I've put on blubber in the past few years. My bones are getting bigger. And my clothes shrank in the wash...
But Bolton, calling the vote a victory for the U.S., said the resolution implies the General Assembly must approve, according to Reuters, "a new human rights body, new international accounting standards, a review of programs older than five years and a stronger internal watchdog office." Remind us: Just why did the Democrats oppose this guy?
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Sweet. Oh, and is it just me, or is Darth munching a rather large, juicy looking grub? It could also be half a cruller as well...hard to tell at this resolution.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
12/30/2005 1:39 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Remember the fuss about 
And reports came out of Africa about how U.N. "peacekeepers" were building a sex-slave industry. Did we mention that the U.N.'s human rights commission came under fire for naming to its membership agents of the world's most despotic regimes? Was no reform necessary?
The biggest factor more than likely was the sight of Bolton checking off the top items on his agenda. Bolton created an international stir â marked by the European Union's formal opposition â when he threatened to block the body's 2006-07 budget unless the U.N. commenced serious self-reform.
