The prosecutor of the new International Criminal Court has said he is investigating killings, mass rapes and other atrocities in western Sudan but can only interview witnesses outside of lawless Darfur. Luis Moreno Ocampo, an Argentine who was asked by the UN Security Council in March to prosecute those responsible for atrocities in Darfur, also told the council that the Sudanese government had been cooperating with him.
But Mohammed al-Mardi, Sudan's justice minister told Reuters in an interview that Moreno Ocampo's investigators would not have any access to Darfur, where ethnic cleansing has resulted in killings, rape and the uprooting of 2 million refugees. He said: "The ICC officials have no jurisdiction inside the Sudan or with regards to Sudanese citizens. They cannot investigate anything on Darfur".
Moreno Ocampo, as well as the current Security Council president, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, told reporters no such official notice had been received from Khartoum. Jones Perry said: "We will judge the government of Sudan by its actions," adding that if Sudan did not cooperate: "we will need to respond to that and we will respond to that".
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Men who said they were former al-Qaida members said on Saudi television the network planned to set up a 12,000-strong Islamic army to oust "infidel" regimes.
The men who appeared on Saudi television Tuesday night confessed that their leaders assured them that "an army of 12,000 diehard Muslim believers could not be defeated."
They said they had been misled by al-Qaida preachers who recruited them by exploiting their religious zeal and then dispatched them to Afghanistan through various countries in order to conceal their destination.
They said they were placed in military camps where hundreds of young Muslims were being trained in the use of arms and fighting techniques. Training lasted between two weeks and six months, depending on each person's capacities.
"The military camps were divided as there was a camp for Libyans and Egyptians and other camps for other nationalities," they said.
They noted the special camp of al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden hosted only a few elite groups.
They said al-Qaida coordinators - who lived in a variety of Arab and Islamic countries - had the mission of arranging the travel of recruits to Pakistan where other network members coordinated their travel to Afghanistan.
"The military camps in Afghanistan were fertile grounds for mobilizing the zealous Muslim youth and mounting them against their governments and regimes," they added.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/14/2005 16:49 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"... an army of 12,000 diehard Muslim believers could not be defeated."
Via DhimmiWatch
Russia is the Islamic world's most reliable partner, President Vladimir Putin said in Chechnya on Monday, implying that by attacking Russia, terrorists were doing their cause a disservice.
Putin paid a surprise visit to Grozny, capital of the war-torn Islamic region, to address the opening of the first session of the local parliament. "Russia has always been the most faithful, reliable and consistent defender of the interests of the Islamic world," he told Chechen lawmakers, to applause. "Russia has always been the best and most reliable partner and ally." "By destroying Russia, these people [terrorists] destroy one of the main pillars of the Islamic world in the struggle for rights in the international arena, the struggle for their legitimate rights," Putin added.
He said the leaders of key Islamic states understood this, which was why the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League sent observers to monitor recent elections and a referendum on a constitution for Chechnya. While Western organizations refused to serve as observers, the Arab and Islamic bodies sent delegates and gave the elections their approval.
Expanding on Russia's ties to the Muslim world, Putin said OIC member states had unanimously agreed to admit Moscow as a permanent observer. "Recently a delegation of Russian Muslims has been to Mecca to discuss the problems of Muslim world development with their brothers," he said. "Russia will pursue this policy."
Russia has a total population of some 144 million, of which more than 20 million are Muslims. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2005 19:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
Brett-
I think it is a good move by Putin. Now he can really kick the crap out of the terrorists, because he can say, What? I'm the muslims' best friend. I love those guys.
A SYDNEY magistrate has thrown the book at a 21-year-old man who was at Sunday's riots in Cronulla, jailing him within hours of his arrest for carrying a tree branch as a weapon in the western suburb of Penrith. The swift justice happened because the man was charged with carrying an offensive weapon in a public place - a summary offence that is dealt with immediately, usually resulting in a fine.
But in a rare case of imposing a prison term for such an offence, Penrith magistrate Ian McRae said "drastic punishment" was required, and sentenced the man to four months. He said the stiff penalty was needed as a deterrent for such extreme anti-social behaviour.
Police told the court the man had been arrested after midnight on Monday with two others, who were carrying iron bars. The men told police they had just come from Cronulla and claimed they had been harassed by a group of people of Middle Eastern appearance. NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the swift sentence sent a strong message to the community.
"The message that must go out to people now is that if you go to this type of event and you enjoy a boozy Sunday afternoon and you ... go somewhere else and the police catch you, you may well pay with the loss of four months of liberty," Mr Scipione said. "If that's not a strong message, I don't know what is."
NSW Premier Morris Iemma said police were satisfied with the prison term, but Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said the man should have been sent to prison for years.
Police Minister Carl Scully said he regretted that many of those arrested over the violence had been freed on bail. He said emergency powers to be granted to police today would mean people accused of the same offences this weekend would have to show they deserved bail.
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2005 16:11 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
F*cking assholes. Meanwhile, the muslims are rampaging through town burning churches and cars and the police don't do *dick* about it. I can understand why they'd want to throw bottles at the cops - they are NOT allies in this.
If you are muslim you are allowed to kill innocent people, gang rape, main, and burn cars and personal property - have at it!. However if you are not muslim you are not even allowed to carry a stick to defend yourself.
#4
Looks to me as if the police are going after the easy targets, whether guilty of anything more than carrying a tree branch to defend himself.
Being a non-Muslim the cops now don't have to worry about the captured man calling for reinforcements on his cell phone, getting the officers brought up on harrassment charges, and summoning enough force to have the officers retreat.
In other words going after a "Soft" target, and not the real perps.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/14/2005 22:45 Comments ||
Top||
THE ringleaders of Sunday's protest at Cronulla Beach delivered written apologies to Sydney's Lebanese community yesterday, saying it was meant to be a peaceful protest but spiralled out of control due to alcohol and a lack of leadership.
Troy Denenhy formally apologised to the Lebanese community, police, ambulance officers and the Sutherland Shire for his behaviour, which featured prominently in media coverage of Sunday's riot.
Mr Denenhy, who has a Japanese wife, emphasised he was "not racist". "It was supposed to be a peaceful protest but turned into a racial war," his letter says.
Glenn "Steely" Steele, who was another vocal local early on in Sunday's protest, now says he is "deeply embarrassed and ashamed". He said alcohol played a major part in the escalation of violence and admits to being extremely drunk on Sunday.
But while Cronulla local Josh Loney, 21, agreed with the sentiment of the letters, he predicted "it's gonna happen again this weekend". "I'm just sticking up for my place and my mates," he said.
Senior lifeguard manager and Cronulla Boardriders Association spokesman Brad Whittaker said Sunday began "as a show of solidarity" against up to seven years of intimidating behaviour by "non-locals on shire beaches that escalated out of control". "The beach is for all to use with everyone to show respect and consideration for each other," Mr Whittaker said.
United Muslims of Australia's Faid Kanawati and Azad Houda met the boardriders before publicly accepting the apology.
Mr Kanawati said it wasn't just Islamic Lebanese youths at Sunday's riots but Christian Lebanese were also involved. He told the Christians to heed Jesus's message to "do unto others as we would have done unto ourselves"' and the Muslims "to be just is to be closest to piety". Yesterday's meeting followed a similar rapprochement on Tuesday at Maroubra between the "Bra Boys" gang and Islamic leaders.
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2005 16:08 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
FOUR churches in Sydney's southwest have been attacked in 24 hours as the city's riots spread from race to religion.
A community hall linked to a Uniting church was burned to the ground early yesterday, carol-singers were spat on and church buildings peppered with gunfire.
In response, members of the Arab Christian and Arab Muslim communities have called for a curfew for all Lebanese youths over the weekend.
Police believe the attack on the hall, in the suburb of Auburn, was intended to destroy the Uniting church next door, while nearby StThomas's Anglican Church, which has a primarily Chinese congregation, had all its front windows smashed. Three of the attacks were on churches within minutes of each other. The night before, Molotov cocktails were used in an attack on an Anglican church in Macquarie Fields in the city's far southwest. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2005 15:57 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It wouldn't be wise to turn this into a religious conflict....
"Hanoi Jane" Fonda is claiming that ever since Vietnam, U.S. troops have been trained to commit atrocities against innocent civilians as a matter of military policy. "Starting with the Vietnam War we began training soldiers differently," the anti-American actress says in an email to the Washington Post. Fonda claims she learned of the policy switch in "secret meetings" she had with military psychologists "who were really worried about what was happening to our combat personnel." One doctor, she insists, told her U.S. troops had been deliberately trained to be "killing machines."
Rather than as ernest debators of weighty subjects they know little about...
"This began," Fonda maintained, "because the military discovered that in World War II and Korea, [U.S.] soldiers weren't killing enough. So they changed training procedures" to teach troops how to commit atrocities."
True. The venerable M1 was replaced by weapons with more ammunition capacity. Greater reliance was placed on air support. Artillery went from being towed by horses to being self-propelled. The Russers invented the operational maneuver group, and we took the idea and built the combined arms concept. The entire purpose of warfare is to kill the enemy, and the side that does it better wins.
Still, the anti-war gadfly cautions, it's important not to blame the soldiers themselves for carrying out war crimes.
They don't know any better, see? Being simple proles and all...
Recalling the "Winter Soldier" hearings that she and John Kerry staged in 1971, Fonda lamented: "When you put young people into an atrocity-producing situation where enemy and civilian are commingled, where the 'other side' is dehumanized, we cannot be surprised." Anti-war vets now returning from Iraq, Fonda cautioned, should be listened to instead of being dismissed as "unpatriotic."
Antiwar vets returning from Iraq are vastly outnumbered by guys who're proud of their accomplishments.
"We have not learned the lessons of Vietnam," she declared.
And as usual everything is Just like Vietnamâ¢. Why can't something be like the Blackhawk War? Or the War of Jenkins' Ear? Can we have a battle that's like Austerlitz, rather than like Tet '68? Just once?
#1
No Jane, on the contrary, YOU have not learned the lessons of Vietnam.
Seems like the US military has learned and applied the lessons well.
Posted by: john ||
12/14/2005 9:39 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"... in World War II and Korea, [U.S.] soldiers weren't killing enough."
No, they killed ENOUGH (we won), but it would have been better if they had killed them SOONER, and with fewer losses of their own. So now we try to train and equip our soldiers better. But not to commit attrocities - unless, like Jane, you think killing your enemy is an atrocity.
#3
All the returning soldiers I have talked to have told me they go to extreme lengths to avoid any civilian casualties. This lying weasel id just that, a lying weasel.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/14/2005 9:48 Comments ||
Top||
#4
No, Jane's play friends, the communist of South East Asia, in cold blood, killed over a million Cambodians in the third Holocaust of the 20th Century and we heard not a word of disapproval from Comrade Jane. Guess she's only concern that her side is losing that makes the difference and not the fate of those caught in between.
#5
C'mon Deacon, the soldiers only *think* they go to extreme lengths, 'cos they're told to think that. The conditioning for atrocities is subliminal; possibly even a Halliburton implant. Only smart folks like Hanoi Jane can pick up the evilbot transmissions...
#7
Think about all the energy the Hollyweird left spend fawning over Tookie. Now if there was a role model for evil and atrocities that miscreant would certainly qualify. If anyone would extrapolate his behavior to broadly tag all black people as being nothing less than a plague on society, that accuser would be labeled a racist. However, when personalities like this Fonda engages in such display of bigotry and hate, her fellow travelers donât even seemed embarrassed in the least. You know Congress can rewrite the libel laws to allow class action suits by those of our uniformed services for such idiocy. In anyoneâs defense, the very foundation of the free press, the case of the Royal Governor of New York versus the publisher Peter Zenger, established that the truth is a defense. Belief is not proof or truth. Let these creatures defend their outbursts in a court of law.
#8
We are killing machines. You put an enemy near us, we kill them. Ruthlessly, efficiently. However, we are also very away of the Iraqi populace and do our best to help them out. Building, carrying candy for the kids, health care.
You are rapidly falling into the enemy camp Fonda. Think about it.
#11
Hokay, posters, you heard bigjim-ky, no more MoveOn.org commie bullshit today. Save it for tomorrow :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/14/2005 10:40 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Why wasn't this bitch hanged for treason?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/14/2005 10:41 Comments ||
Top||
#13
in a very perverse way, I enjoy watching Jane humiliate herself in this way. She could have written it off to youthful stupidity and asked for forgiveness and at least died with a shred of dignity. Now she's just a wacky, creepy ol' grandma whose the ultimate whore for the camera.
#14
Jane, you ignorant slut. While the American fighting man may have indeed changed, it's important to note that skanked out, ill informed, hippie douchebags have also evolved. They are now dried out, ill informed, elderly hippie douchebags living off the pity millions of the elderly millionaires they willingly spread their legs for before finally being cast aside like so much used up trash. Please remember that the next time you talking vagina decides to sing show tunes.
#18
"And as usual everything is Just like Vietnamâ¢. Why can't something be like the Blackhawk War? Or the War of Jenkins' Ear? Can we have a battle that's like Austerlitz, rather than like Tet '68? Just once? "
Tactically, like the Malay emergency, various small wars as described by Max Boot, etc.
Strategically, it may well end up like Korea. Neither a grand victory, nor a defeat - and the setting up of a regime thats none too pretty at first, but that evolves in the right direction.
#19
If our soldiers were really mindless killbots they would've turned Hanoi Jane into a grease spot long ago. In her case they've shown almost superhuman restraint...
#20
"This began," Fonda maintained, "because the military discovered that in World War II and Korea, [U.S.] soldiers weren't killing enough. So they changed training procedures" to teach troops how to commit atrocities."
Wait a second. This sounds vaguely familiar. There was a documentary about this on TV (A&E?) a while ago. Fonda may be correct, but she twists everything to suit her purposes.
The documentary claimed that the military discovered in WW2 (particularly the Pacific campaign) that only a small percentage of troops at a time actually fire their weapons in combat.
The military designed a training technique to develop a "programmed" response to kill. A black, human-shaped target pops up in the distance, and the soldier fires his weapon as quickly as possible. The end result is faster response times, and soldiers being used to shooting at "humans", instead of just a round target.
Fonda saw the same documentary, and twisted everything. Which just tells you everything you need to know about her. Wotta loser.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 12:01 Comments ||
Top||
#21
Round targets rarely fire at you, but human target do. Gee I hope the LLL latch onto this Run Forrest Run. Heck it has been hours since one of said something stoopid.
#22
I sure hope Jane Fondue is right. That's what we spend good money to train our military to do, kill people and break things, I'm all for it.
Jane Fondue doesn't realize that this is a complement.
Posted by: Captain America ||
12/14/2005 14:02 Comments ||
Top||
#23
Rafael, I didn't see the documentary, but the idea sounds like a version of the "SLAM" Marshall post-WWII study based on group interviews which in part concluded (IIRC) that only about 10% of the troops engaged in any given firefight actually discharged their weapons. The validity of the study was (again IIRC) later questioned. How someone gets from there to "atrocities" I have no idea. Other than by being a lying, America-hating bitch, that is.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/14/2005 15:22 Comments ||
Top||
#24
Can't we sell her to some decrepit, yet randy, sheik?
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2005 15:50 Comments ||
Top||
#25
Depends. How much would we have to pay him?
Posted by: Matt ||
12/14/2005 16:00 Comments ||
Top||
#26
Matt, you're right, I think that's what it was. (And also, on second reading, I didn't phrase my comment correctly)
I don't recall this documentary being negative towards the military. There was certainly no mention of atrocities or killing civilians. That's where Fonda's creative thinking skills come into play.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 16:32 Comments ||
Top||
#27
LiberalHawk, I dont think North Korea evolved in the right direction. But I *do* take your meaning.
I say we trade her for some (or even none!) of the Hostages the terroroists have. Solve two problems at once. She might even grow a clue (but I doubt it... its damn hard to teach an old bitch new tricks)
#28
"I said 'Sarge, I wanna kill. I mean, I wanna KILL! I wanna eat dead, burnt bodies and pick things from between m'teeth. I WANNA KILL!'"
-- Alice's Resturaunt
#30
SLA Marshall's contention in, I believe, "Men Under Fire" has been loudly and soundly discredited.
Marshall claimed to have interviewed the entire complement of men from over 300 rifle companies. It has been proven that that simply never happened. Marshall may have interviewed 30 men from half a dozen companies that were never near combat according to the authorities.
When interviewed in regards to Marshall's findings, German soldiers are reported to have something to the extent of "We never saw any hesitation of American soldiers in combat to use their weapons".
The program was a load of bull - just like Hanoi Jane.
#31
Heh! I'm not surprised you guys are having a field day with this one! After the Vietnam War, a few decent lefties did sign a petition protesting the crimes of the Stalinist regime that took control of the South. Hanoi Jane not only refused to sign it, but said the US had a lot to learn from the commies in the provision of social services!
I would recommend you people get a book called 'The Vietnamese Gulag' by Doan Van Toai. Stick it in Jane's mouth whenever she opens it to talk about Vietnam.
#32
Try to understand the inner agony of a woman who reached her intellectual peak in Barbarella. For that matter, she is starting to look her age now, so there really isn't any reason left to pay any attenetion to her. If her father hadn't been Henry Fonda, she would have been just another piece of ass used and discarded by the amazingly intolerant free love / peace movement.
#33
Didn't she apologize for her Viet Nam stunt on David Letterman not so long ago? Or was that more of an explanation of why she did it?
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 19:19 Comments ||
Top||
#34
was it her or her vagina speaking...I never know lately. Could you read her lips?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/14/2005 20:21 Comments ||
Top||
#35
Jane Fonda: U.S. Troops Are 'Killing Machines'
And her point is? However, one thing our troops are not is mindless killing machines. Something she seems all too glad to impute. If this moron wants first hand knowledge of war crimes and atrocities, she should pay a jailhouse visit to Saddam and help sift through some of his mass graves.
She needs to toddle off and service fellow quagmireist Ted Kennedy. At least that way her mouth would be full and we'd be spared having to hear any more of this idiotic drivel. If this whore hates America so much, why is she still here?
Much like all other things reported in the media, the hacket job on Marshall didn't turn out as originally reported. Everyone initially bought into one critic's assault without checking [like that is unusual these days]. They've since found materials the critic claimed didn't exist and the critic's timeline of Marshall's movements didn't quite sync. So now we live with a new urban legend. So what's new.
BTW, Marshall did a follow up study on the Korean fight, not the history the River and the Gauntlet. Infantry Operations and Weapon's Usage in Korea, by SLAM, very detailed analysis. Hunt it down, read it, and then judge the veracity of both authors.
Canada to US: "c'est la vie" In American that translates as, "Nyah, nyah, you aren't the boss of me!"
The United States made an unprecedented foray into Canada's election campaign on Tuesday, warning politicians not to bash Washington in their bid to win the January 23 election. But an unapologetic Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin responded immediately by saying "c'est la vie" -- that's life -- if the United States did not like his remarks, and he would not accept anyone telling him he cannot defend his country.
Bush can say "c'est la vie" the next time Martin — assuming he's reelected — is left cooling his heels on a state visit. If you're friends with someone, you don't call them names. If you're not friends with someone, then you can't expect friendly courtesies from them; the best you can expect is correct behavior. We don't even get that, since calling names is not correct behavior. The reason for that is not that we're so evil, but that we're not; the name-callers don't expect any repercussions. Some of us in this country, though, are willing to repercuss.
In a hard-hitting speech in Ottawa, U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins lamented what he called relentless and incessant criticism of his country, which he speculated might begin to sow doubt about the strength of the binational relationship. "Canada never has to tear the United States down to build itself up," Wilkins said. "It may be smart election politics to thump your chest and constantly criticize your friend and your No. 1 trading partner. But it's a slippery slope and all of us should hope it doesn't have a long-term impact on our relationship."
We're about halfway down that slippery slope at this time. We haven't hit bottom yet, but people like Martin will get us there if they can.
Wilkins did not name the prime minister directly, but he specifically targeted a comment made last week at the Montreal climate change conference in which Martin called on the United States to heed a "global conscience" and join efforts to combat global warming. That remark -- on top of criticism of U.S. policy on lumber, guns, passports and Iraq -- appeared to have riled the White House the most, particularly since Canada has a proportionally worse record than the United States on reining in greenhouse gas emissions. "I would respectfully submit to you that when it comes to a 'global conscience' the United States is walking the walk," Wilkins said, addressing the Canadian Club of Ottawa. "And when it comes to climate change, we are making significant progress, greater progress than many of those who have been most critical of the U.S." In the campaign for the June 2004 election Martin regularly said Canada did not want U.S.-style health care, fiscal deficits, taxes or attack ads. After all, who in his right mind would want a health care system that actually functions, deficits that can be paid off by the national economy, or low taxes?
Martin, whose minority government was brought down on November 28 after an official report detailed Liberal kickbacks which were used in election campaigns, currently leads Conservative leader Stephen Harper in the polls but not by enough to regain a majority in Parliament. Good. May you lose the election, you consummate ass!
And from a related article:
Canada generally tilts more to the left than the United States, and opinion polls show most Canadians dislike U.S. President George W. Bush. Their privilege, of course, but likewise it's the Americans who elect America's president.
#1
Consider thoroughly inspecting all cargo crossing the northern border until further notice. Could you transporting a dirty bomb you know.
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2005 0:59 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Canada was FOUNDED on America-bashing. It's self-castrating nanny-statism is a just fate for those blinkered idiots, good guys like Mark Steyn and Colby Cosh aside.
Check out the link for a good explanation of this from Shiny Happy Gulag.
Posted by: Ernest Brown ||
12/14/2005 1:21 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Martin is just pressing the anti-American button, which usually works pretty well in election campaigns. What a total loser. You don't have to like Bush, but for cryin out loud, for the sake of Canadians doing business with Americans, STFU!!
I just looked around and see nothing but Liberal and NDP signs on front lawns. God help us. No really, help us.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 3:21 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The Canucks have obviously opted out of the Anglosphere. Time to treat them a lot more harshly. Make them see that there are serious costs for their actions and they'll start thinking about what they're doing. As for Martin, he's just another crooked Liberal politician trying to distract attention from their latest political scandal.
Posted by: mac ||
12/14/2005 5:46 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Hay Canada! STFU! We don't care what you think, just keep standing at the fench of the greatest nation and wish you were here.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
12/14/2005 6:19 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Yep, makes real sense. Piss off the Americans and when your western oil producing provinces decide theyâd get a better economic and social deal from Washington rather than Ottawa, weâll be real considerate of your feelings.
#8
Kanuckistan is a suburb of Frankistan. Treat it that way. It is a neighbor as friendly as Mexico. Start the fence. Ask the Princess Pats to go home. Have some guy at Bud write a rant on how proud he is to be an American, denigrating Canada in every statement. Stop drinking Canadian Club.
#9
The criminal conspiracy formerly known as the Liberal Party are running a terrible election campaign. Their vision is limited to beer and popcorn. Martin is playing a deparate card, wrapping himself in a Canadian flag and crying "Woe is us". What he needs for this strategy to work is for the Stephan Harper's Consrvatives to respond in some embarrassing way to make this a campaign issue. Harper had already made his comments to US issues in the Washington Times and has said nothing more.
The Canadian MSM, Liberal to the core, are beginning to see the turkey that Martin has become. According to the latest polls which still show the Liberals ahead of the Conservatives, 58% of voters see a need for "change". You don't win elections when the majority are not on your side.
Posted by: john ||
12/14/2005 9:20 Comments ||
Top||
#11
The United States made an unprecedented foray into Canada's election campaign on Tuesday, warning politicians not to bash Washington in their bid to win the January 23 election.
This is crazy. Leave them to their politics and simply return the favor at every possible opportunity. The Canucks can dispense it; let's see if they can take it.
#12
You don't win elections when the majority are not on your side.
It's not enough that Martin lose, Harper must win. So far all I see is Martin's lost votes going to the NDP.
And then there's Toronto and the GTA. I predict another landslide for the Liberals here.
The only hope is for Quebec to go totally Bloc, with Ontario (ex-GTA) going totally Conservative. I'm not sure what's going on in the Maritimes, but it doesn't seem like a Conservative bastion. As for the west, Vancouver might be a problem as usual.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 11:07 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 11:15 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Canada isn't our enemy. We're not giving China a hard time even though they have generals who make ghoulish threats every so often. Think of Canada as the foul-mouthed peacenik from the '60's who was in the movement for the free sex - left-wing cranks who are embarrassing, but essentially harmless.
A little side note: my wife is a Girl Scout leader, and the Scouts often sing (and have for a long time) a silly song based on the Princess Pats' unit song. Apparently the PPs are none too pleased about it and want it to stop. My wife's getting this second or third hand and wants to get an official statement from the PPs before accusing them of whining about the GSA.
Seems to me that the publicity from lodging such a complaint would do far more to damage a military unit's reputation than just accepting it in the good fun it's intended for.
#16
Think of Canada as the foul-mouthed peacenik from the '60's who was in the movement for the free sex - left-wing cranks who are embarrassing, but essentially harmless.
when the borders are porous, when by the government's own admission tens of thousands of driver's licenses are sold/forged/stolen (but are sufficient for crossing the border), when Canadian officials say foul-mouthed hateful things about the US and our president, when jihadis captured in Afghanistan originate in Canada and are able to return there to live comfortable lives on the dole while studying chemical engineering and jihadism ....
that might turn out to be a bit too charitiable ZF. We'll see.
#18
Right lotp, And they are a big free rider on American defence expenditures, more than any other country in NATO, except Greece, I think.
They have a controversy with Norway or Denmark over an iceberg somewhere. We should come down big time on the Scandinavian side, too.
#21
lotp: when the borders are porous, when by the government's own admission tens of thousands of driver's licenses are sold/forged/stolen (but are sufficient for crossing the border), when Canadian officials say foul-mouthed hateful things about the US and our president, when jihadis captured in Afghanistan originate in Canada and are able to return there to live comfortable lives on the dole while studying chemical engineering and jihadism ....
that might turn out to be a bit too charitiable ZF. We'll see.
When a bunch of Canadian jihadis kill a few thousand Americans, I'll start worrying about it. It's not happened yet, and I don't think it ever will. Like I said, they're like a bunch of beatniks past their prime.
UC3683: Right lotp, And they are a big free rider on American defence expenditures, more than any other country in NATO, except Greece, I think.
We'd have that military regardless of what Canada did. It preserves our freedom of action and enables us to do things like Iraq without Canada's approval.
UC3683: They have a controversy with Norway or Denmark over an iceberg somewhere. We should come down big time on the Scandinavian side, too.
I don't really see why we have to take sides - that could result in a permanent breach with what is essentially a harmless neighbor. (If we simply remained neutral, the dispute would become one between the EU and Canada - I think Canada would back down/realize it's good to have Uncle Sam guarding your flank). It makes no sense to turn Canada into a Mexico - a borderline hostile country.
It was always like this, you just never paid any attention until now. Though it has become more virulent recently. I was told in elementary school that Canadians don't really like Americans. No reason for it was given. Probably something to do with an inferiority complex.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 19:28 Comments ||
Top||
#29
think about the Americans we've sent them: draft dodgers, et al.... small wonder. Time for Canada to grow up, though. Things there could get painful with "Operation STFU While We Inspect Everything Slowly Enough To Strangle Your Economy - Merry Christmas Assholes"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/14/2005 20:32 Comments ||
Top||
Gee thanks. What's your return policy on those disaffected democrats that came streaming north? (the two of them) We'd like to return them.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 21:12 Comments ||
Top||
#31
OK, folks, there was some good Canada bashing there and I hope everyone feels better. But, let's face it. If you (the US) are going to be a superpower then you should be prepared to have a thick skin. I doubt if there is any country on the planet that doesn't bash the Americans during an election. It works. Its like the same way everyone complains about their boss at work. We don't and will not know the pressures and responsiblity that the US has.
Having said that I am embarased at a few remarks we have made in the past but shit happens. I just have to say sorry about Caroline Parish. She is not running again.
Also, for your amusement JFK called Diefenbaker a prick, LBJ told Pearson not to piss in his backyard and Nixon called Trudeau an asshole. And Bush2 (at least his staff) called Cretien a dinasaur How does that compare to comments on climate change?
Domestic politics aside, consider this:
While we are not in Iraq, we are putting 2000 troops into combat in Kandahar which allow the US to redeploy or return home some of their troops.
After Huricane Katrina, we sent three navy ships, two navy dive teams, and an urban rescue team to the New Orleans area. Our Navy busted their asses 24/7 to load the ships with everything we could think of. AND we offered our country's entire emergency national supply of medicine.
After 9/11, our army, the Princess Pats by the way, went to Afghanistan and fought alongside the 101st Airborne under US command. Our snipers were credited with saving several American lives.
During 9/11, the US closed its airspace and Canada had to land all the incoming transatlantic flights. The American passengers that were billeted still go back to Newfoundland each year to be with their hosts because they were so welcoming. All this while the American media was reporting that the terorists came in from Canada.
The list goes on.
So, say what you want. But, push come to shove, you won't find a better friend than Canada.
#32
I just have to say sorry about Caroline Parish. She is not running again.
She's not running but oddly enough she's backing the Conservatives this time around.
Canuck, you paint a rosy picture of Canada which is real, but which applies only to a specific segment of the population. I can paint a much, much uglier picture. And it disconcerts me very much, not to mention how embarassing and offensive it is.
If you're from the Toronto area, take a listen to Spaceman on Mojo radio. Listen to the people calling in. The anti-American venom (anti-Bush specifically) is incredible, even if it is just "entertainment". And it's hurting us badly. Enough with this shit already!
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 21:35 Comments ||
Top||
#33
Canuck - understand too, that all the Americans I know have a positive ideal of Canadians. That could change. Nobody can expect to play the prodigal son forever, we just may not be as good and understanding as the fabled father. Just as the Democrats in our countru risk opening wounds that haven't been opened before, and may never heal, Canada's demagogues will bear a heavy burden. Telling us to suck it up and take it as a "superpower should" is unacceptable. I, for one, am reconsidering the trip to Banff I'd planned...woulda dropped a lot of $, too bad...looks like Idaho and Montana (sorry AP- not this year)
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/14/2005 21:50 Comments ||
Top||
#34
If you (the US) are going to be a superpower then you should be prepared to have a thick skin.
I do have a thick skin. That's why I don't see what Wilkins is whining about. If we returned the favor often enough and promptly enough, maybe the Canuck politicos (and some of the population) will come to their senses. If not, it'll just keep on keepin' on until they do.
Bill Kristol, executive editor of The Weekly Standard, said Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) are "crazyâ if they believe that Americans donât want to win in Iraq.
Kristol, appearing Wednesday on Fox News Channel, made his comments in response to a press conference called by the Democrats prior to President Bushâs speech Wednesday on the progress in Iraq and the war on terrorism.
Reid and Levin, looking grim during the press conference, both droned about how the presidentâs plan to "stay the courseâ in Iraq does not give hope to Americans living in the United States.
"This nation roots for success,â Kristol said. "If the war goes badly, theyâll blame President Bush, and rightly so. But they [Reid and Levin] looked defeatist, like they are half-rooting for failure.
"They are so grudging in their praise for Bush and the Iraqi people who are turning out to vote in this weekâs elections at a great personal sacrifice, that I think Americans will reject or dismiss their comments completely.â
Kristol said the Democrats are foolishly and appallingly pinning their hopes on future setbacks in Iraq to help drive down President Bushâs approval numbers, which have been rising in the past few weeks.
"Politically, patriotically and from a human point of view, I donât understand why these Democrats donât lay off the politics and just watch the voting over the next few days,â he said. "Americans are rooting for victory â for our soldiers and for the Iraqi people.â I heard Reid and Murtha on Hugh Hewitt and tif they were giving a pep talk to the Iraqis on the eve of their elections they fell way short. Listening to them you would think that our troops were trapped at Dunkirk and on the brink of surrender. THANK GOD they are not in power and god speed the Iraqis in their first steps in Democracy.
EFL...
Dick Marty, a Swiss senator looking into claims the CIA operated secret prisons in Europe, said an ongoing, monthlong investigation unearthed "clues" that Poland and Romania were implicated â perhaps unwittingly. "To my knowledge, those detainees were moved about a month ago, maybe a little more," he told reporters after briefing the legal committee of the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog, on his findings. "They were moved to North Africa." Asked by The Associated Press on the sidelines of the meeting to which North African country detainees might have been moved, he said: "I would imagine that it would be Morocco â up to you to confirm it." Apparently that's Swiss-politico speak for "I just pulled this outta my ass."
Moroccan government spokesman Nabil Benabdellah denied any connection to such prisons when reports of the transfers surfaced last week. "We have nothing to do with and we have no knowledge about this subject," he told the AP.
"So piss off. Y'bother me, infidel!"
The investigator told reporters he could not offer proof that secret detention centers existed. Didn't stop him from having a press conference, though. Is there an election coming up in Helvetia?
But he cited two suspected cases of detainees held by U.S. authorities in Europe as signs that suspects were held at least temporarily in Europe. The cases cited were the alleged February 2003 kidnapping of Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr by the CIA in Milan, Italy; and claims by Khaled al-Masri, a Lebanese-born German, that the agency took him to Afghanistan and tortured him after mistakenly identifying him as being linked to al-Qaida. Al-Masri said he was released in Albania in May 2004. Albania? I'd be annoyed if they dropped me off there, too.
Marty told reporters that his aim was not to expose any U.S. wrongdoing but to ensure that he gets his 15 minutes too, dammit! the Council of Europe's 46 member states did not violate its rules. Marty has asked for air traffic logs from European countries as he seeks to trace flight patterns for several dozen suspected CIA airplanes. He also has asked for satellite images of the Sczytno-Szymany airport in northeastern Poland and the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania. "And a pony, too!"
Marty said some governments may not have known of detention centers on their own soil and it was "still too early to assert that there had been any involvement or complicity of member states in illegal actions." Yet not too early to start throwing around accusations before he has any real proof of anything....
The senator also was critical of the United States, saying he "deplores the fact that no information or explanations" were provided by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who faced repeated questions about the CIA prison allegations on her recent visit to Europe. Ask her about stuff involving the diplomatic corps, idjits. That's her responsibility, not the spies.
Rice has said the United States acts within the law and argued that Europeans are safer because of tough U.S. tactics, but she refused to discuss intelligence operations or address questions about clandestine CIA detention centers.
#1
Nice comments, Blondie. But technically, as NSA boss Dr. Rice prolly did know something about where all the renditionees were renditioned to...not that I can really work up a sense of outrage about poor poor Mahmoud
#3
Time to demand transaction records for all Swiss bank accounts. Swiss banks could be used for unlawful purposes you know.
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2005 0:56 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Lead story, Le Temps (Geneva paper): "MORSURES. S'il existe bien des races de chiens dangereuses, que faire des bâtards qui en sont issus, sachant qu'ils ne sont pas toujours faciles à reconnaître? Problème." Translation: "Certain breeds of dogs [Rottweiler, etc.] may be dangerous, but what about mixed-breed offspring of those breeds, which are not always easy to recognize? It's a real problem."
Posted by: Curt Simon ||
12/14/2005 12:05 Comments ||
Top||
Wait a minute...
Now that I think about it, I did notice that the boneless chicken patties in the chow hall always did taste different the day after the detainees were "transferred to division"...
Posted by: N guard ||
12/14/2005 15:07 Comments ||
Top||
#7
"I would imagine that it would be Morocco â up to you to confirm it."
Morocco was also mentioned by a Polish newspaper. Not sure who's using who as a source. But it kinda makes sense if the final destination is Guantanamo.
Sczytno-Szymany airport in northeastern Poland
Former air base. Now a commercial airport. Polish newspaper said it's possible FBI planes also landed here, as part of their training of Polish agents (police?). Though FBI usually flies commercial, doesn't it? Oh well. So many planes, so little time.
It was also reported that George Tenet could have visited this airport during one of his 5 visits to Poland. The plot thickens...
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 19:15 Comments ||
Top||
#8
The last photo (bottom) in the link I provided above is highly suspicious. Looks like an actual photo of a "rendition" taking place.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 19:39 Comments ||
Top||
The forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are not in Pakistan to chase al-Qaeda, says the man heading the NATO mission there. "Chasing al-Qaeda is neither our agenda nor our mandate," Air Commodore Andrew George Walton told the Pakistani daily Dawn at the Chaklala Airbase. NATO had deployed a 1,000-strong contingent to Pakistan - which includes engineers and doctors - in the wake of the 8 October earthquake.
Some Pakistani opposition groups have voiced fears that the NATO relief contingent could lead to a long-term NATO presence in the area. Earlier this month however the Pakistani authorities said that they have told NATO they were not considering an extension when the alliance's 90-day mandate in Pakistan expires.
Walton said that after accomplishing their short-term mission in Pakistan, the NATO forces would return to their headquarters and not travel to Afghanistan to take part in peace-keeping operations.
He categorically rejected allegations that NATO had acquired land to establish bases in Kashmir.
"No acquisition of any land has taken place in Kashmir or any other part of Pakistan, nor will it happen in the days ahead," he said. He said he had no funds for the purpose, which was also something beyond the mandate of the NATO forces here.
Walton also added that the NATO forces were in the country by invitation of the Pakistani government to provide aid and support after the October earthquake. Their mission, he said, was disaster relief only and it was not involved in any other issues related to the Kashmir region.
He said NATO engineers, medical personnel and helicopters would leave Pakistan after spending 90 days here. NATO had no intentions to stay here beyond the stipulated period and the withdrawal of the relief team was expected to be completed by Feb 1, 2006, he said.
He said NATO through its air bridge had flown more than 2,300 tons of tents, blankets, stoves and food to Pakistan in more than 145 flights from Europe.
The alliance's field hospital and mobile medical units in the Bagh area had treated more than 3,000 patients and continued to send mobile teams into the mountains, he said. The organisationâs engineers were working on roads between Arja and Bagh and on schools and medical facilities in the area, he said.
They were supporting the Pakistan Army in âOperation Winter Raceâ to set up shelters for the population living in the mountains before the snow set in, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/14/2005 16:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
In what could be read as New Delhiâs growing sense of unease with Dhaka, India has decided to more than double the number of border outposts along the Indo-Bangladesh border and place sensors along the border to curb cross border illegal infiltration.
According to senior government officials, India will have at least 1,200 BOPs along the Indo-Bangla border against the current 500. On the India-Pakistan border there are 650-odd BOPs. The distance between each BOP along the Bangladesh border will come down from 8-10 Km to 3.5 km.
At a recent meeting attended by representatives of the MEA, PMO and the Home Ministry it was decided to have all the 1,200 BOPs in place by the 2006 end. India also plans to complete the remaining 1,000 km of fencing and flood-lighting the entire the border by the end of next year.
While the Indo-Pak border has very sophisticated electric powered Cobra-wire sensors, India is against using the same sensors on the eastern border. It has been argued the high density of population along the border will not allow the use of electric powered sensors there. Sources said that as a pilot project these sensors are being installed along a 294 km patch in North Bengal. The BSF has also been asked to suggest modifications to sensors to suit the requirements of the border. Each BOP will be manned by a platoon-strength squad. Besides, India has also decided to man the numerous rivulets criss-crossing the border by erecting towers on both the banks. Till now, India had argued that manning the riverine portions of the border was not possible.
The Union Home Ministry, however, wants to downplay the spurt in security measures on the Indo-Bangla border. It says this demarcation is 4,000 km long whereas the Indo-Pak border is about 2,200 Km long, hence the bigger number of BOPs in the east.
It has always been argued that Bangladesh was friendly country which did not warrant policing. So, despite a Group of Ministers recommending deployment of over 70 BSF battalions along the Indo-Bangla border, India was happy to do the job with 50-odd battalions.
However, all that is set to change now. As the CRPF takes over from the BSF in Jammu and Kashmir, the freed battalions are promptly being deployed along the India-Bangladesh border.
Posted by: john ||
12/14/2005 15:31 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Each BOP will be manned by a platoon-strength squad
A platoon of border guards every 3.5 km... not bad.
Posted by: john ||
12/14/2005 18:43 Comments ||
Top||
Either another dose of warm milk or a declaration of independence. We'll see which.
QUETTA: President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday that Pakistan was not hostage to a bunch of terrorists and extremists who could dictate their âwills and ideasâ by their petty sabotage activities. Addressing trainee officers and faculty members of the Command and Staff College Quetta, Musharraf said Pakistan was on its way to stability and democratic norms were steadfastly gaining ground. He condemned and shunned terrorists and extremists, who were bent upon spoiling Pakistanâs image, and vowed to foil their nefarious designs. He called on Muslim states to shun such elements likewise for a better image of the Islamic world.
He also talked about Pakistanâs economic growth, saying it indicated an increase in the annual GDP of 8 percent whereas foreign loans had been reduced from $50 billion to $35 billion. He said exports had registered a 100 percent growth, at about 17 billion. He said safe and drinkable water and electricity would be provided to every corner of Pakistan, a project that would be completed by 2007. Similarly, a strategy had been evolved to combat the growing menace of poverty and unemployment, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Too bad you can't turn medals into blankets.
Posted by: Neutron Tom is Back! ||
12/14/2005 7:27 Comments ||
Top||
#2
What is the beauty queen sash for?
The Pak dictator General Zia Ul Haq wore one but that was awarded by King Hussain of Jordan for his role in the "Black September" crushing of the PLO.
Posted by: john ||
12/14/2005 12:37 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The sash-n-sprocket ensemble is de rigeur for all aspiring thugocrats; ya can't dictate without it!
The world has shirked its duty to help prosecute Saddam Hussein, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday. "The international community's effective boycott of Saddam's trial is only harming the Iraqi people, who are now working to secure the hope of justice and freedom that Saddam long denied them," Rice said. Preach it, sister!
Rice, speaking at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said other nations are starting to do more to help rebuild Iraq and are opening their checkbooks to do it. "As welcome as this broad support is, I am sad to say that the international community has barely done anything to help Iraq prosecute Saddam Hussein," she said. "All who express their devotion to human rights and the rule of law have a special obligation to help the Iraqis bring to justice one of the world's most murderous tyrants." Why, to do otherwise would be an act of hypocricy! Rice praised Britain and other countries that have contributed troops or cash to the Iraq effort, and she prodded some of Iraq's Arab neighbors and others to do more.
"In just two days, when Iraqis make history by selecting the most democratic leaders in the entire [Arab] Middle East, they will do so with the moral and financial and diplomatic backing of an overwhelming majority of the world," Rice said. Gosh, is it election time already? How time does fly!
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will not seek re-election after Thursday's parliamentary election because the new constitution has curbed his powers, his office said on Tuesday. "This position does not tempt me," Talabani told Arab satellite television al-Arabiya on Monday in comments later issued by his office. "I would not nominate myself given the powers the president now has under the new constitution. He has no power to participate in the running of the state. I wouldn't want to be a president of protocol."
Talabani's decision not to seek re-election suggests he might seek a more powerful post in the new government. His Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two parties in the Kurdish bloc which came second in January's election, is part of the coalition government and is expected to be a major player in the new assembly formed after Thursday's vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Ariel Sharonâs political rivals are voicing increasing alarm that the tidal wave triggered by the prime ministerâs formation of a new centrist party is threatening to engulf Israeli democracy. Having poached leading figures from all his main competitors, the latest polls show that Sharonâs Kadima party is on course to trounce all-comers at a March 28 parliamentary election. Only three weeks after its formation, a survey in yesterdayâs Yediot Aharonot daily predicted Kadima would have double the number of seats (41) in the next Knesset than its nearest rival, the center-left Labour party. The bulk of support comes from voters who supported Likud, the right-wing party led by Sharon for five years until he became fed up battling hard-liners.
I'd submit that the saber-rattling from Tehran is intensifying and the Israeli pols (reluctantly, I'm sure) realize they'll need to face it together and let Arik continue to take the heat.
#1
Probably the people at the Arab News are also ticked off with the prospect of 4 more years of Arik.
Frankly, I think it is time for a new generation to take over. Arik is in his late 70s, Shimon Peres is over 80. Netanyahu is in his 50s but he is IMHO, a jack-ass.
#2
actually IIUC the handwring is coming from the old line Israeli parties, Likud just as much as from Labour. Its particular in response to Mofaz leaving Likud and joining Kadima.
ISRAEL urged the world to "open its eyes" to the Iranian regime and its nuclear programme after its outspoken president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described the Holocaust as a "myth".
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman pledged that Israel had the means to defend itself and would not allow for a second genocide of Jews. "Thank God, Israel has the means at its disposal to bring about the downfall of this extremist regime in Iran. There will be no second 'final solution'," Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin said. Sounds like a threat/promise to me.
"We hope that these extremist declarations will make the world wake up to the nature of this regime -- especially the fact that Iran's nuclear programme and its support of international terrorism, represents not only a danger for Israel but for the entire Western civilisation."
The comments came after Ahmadinejad said in a speech that "they have invented a myth that Jews were massacred" and said the Jewish state should be moved as far away as Alaska.
Ahmadinejad also caused uproar in Israel and the international community in October when he called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map".
"We hope these extremist comments by the Iranian president will make the international community open its eyes and abandon any illusions about this regime," foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said to AFP. "Israel is calling once more for Iran's nuclear programme to be submitted by the International Atomic Energy Agency to the UN security council" and for the imposition of sanctions, added Regev.
Ahmadinejad's comments reflected a "perverse vision of the world held by this regime and underline the danger should such an extremist regime have a nuclear capacity in the future."
Israel has consistently called for international action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, with its chief of staff Dan Halutz claiming yesterday that Tehran would have all the necessary knowledge to build a nuclear warhead within three months.
Israel is widely believed to possess around 200 nuclear warheads, making it the only nuclear power in the Middle East, although it has never admitted having atomic weapons.
#1
If the U.S. doesn't have the stones to carry out the end of the Islamo-Fascist regime in Iran, it is nice to know that Israel does and will reduce the Persian Empire into a glowing ashcan.
Remember when President Bush called Iran part of the Axis of Evil and our Left-liberals laughed? Who is laughing now, Murtha, Kerry, Clinton, Kennedy and all you other insufferable asshats?
#2
If this worries you, read the story on Rafsanjani saying the Islamic world could nuke Israel and basically get away with it. Then you'll really be worried about these assholes. When is the world going to aknowledge that they are going fully full-on for a nuke, and they won't hesitate to use it when it's done. And all the U.N. can do is threaten them with sanctions?? The U.N. is right, they really need a new building.
#3
There have been some extremely interesting developments in the US-Israel relationship. I wonder whether the strategy has been, all along, for us to establish a Mid-East Beachhead in Iraq and allow Israel to attack Iran from behind our shield. Meanwhile, Israel and the US have shown their willingness to compromise with the Gaza withdrawal and the statement by the president promising help to a Palestinian state.
Indeed, this heightened rhetoric by Iran may be in reaction to their inability to harness outrage over the Palestinian cause to justify their terror. Considering this, I would consider the Iranian rhetoric as a sign of weakness and desperation. At least they are showing their true colors at heightened volume, loud enough that our "allies" cannot pretend that the motives of Iran are opaque and unknowable.
2006 may be the turning point when we suppurate the wound of the Middle East.
#7
I assume (based on reported threats during the Cold War) that the footprint of Israeli weapons would be at least as far as Moscow. That puts all the mid-east and most muslim lands within range of missile attach.
In the future, robotics could play a role in anti-piracy defences, though the technology has yet to be endorsed by the International Maritime Bureau.
Robotic bots could safeguard the seas from piracy and fight ocean-going people traffickers, reports Tracey Logan in the BBC World Service's Discovery programme.
#2
I thought the current policy was that robots were good for surveilence, but that a human had to make descisions and give orders to deliver fire. That kind of limits the potential use of robots, doesnt it? At least the kind they are talking about.
#4
In the future, robotics could play a role in anti-piracy defences, though the technology has yet to be endorsed by the International Maritime Bureau.
I can see it now: mechanical dolphins with a high explosive payload. Find a pirate ship, snuggle up to the hull, and BOOM.
The peace process between the Indonesian government and rebels in Aceh province is working, with rebels handing in more weapons than planned and prisoners released ahead of schedule, the International Crisis Group said. ``There are serious challenges ahead, most importantly the reintegration'' of rebel fighters, Gareth Evans, president of the Brussels-based crisis group said, according to an e-mailed report. ``What has been achieved so far is a real credit'' to the government and rebels.
Reintroducing former rebels to civilian life and Indonesia's parliament approving a law that would allow the rebel Free Aceh Movement to become a political party are the main obstacles to overcome, the group said in its report. Indonesia's government and the rebel movement known as GAM signed a peace accord in August in their third attempt in four years to end a conflict that has killed more than 12,000 people in the Southeast Asian nation since 1976. Peace talks began this year after the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami left more than 165,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia's western-most province. The peace accord will help Aceh get more autonomy and greater control over revenue from oil and gas in the province, which accounts for 5.5 percent of Indonesia's gas reserves. Aceh lies on the northern part of Sumatra island, where ancestors of the rebels once fought Dutch colonial rulers.
No link, but I saw an article the other day that nature is taking its course and Aceh is expecting quite the baby boom in the next year. They've had mass weddings in the camps and are getting right down to the business of rebuilding a lost generation.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
TEHRAN, Iran â Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad escalated his anti-Israeli rhetoric Wednesday, calling the Holocaust a "myth" used by Europeans to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic world.
"Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in the southeastern city of Zahedan. He's been hanging out with David Duke again.
His remarks drew swift condemnation from Israel, Germany and the European Commission. Germany said the remarks would affect upcoming negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. I hope that Mahmoud is more impressed than I am.
Ahmadinejad last week questioned whether the Nazi destruction of 6 million European Jews during World War II occurred and said Israel should be moved to Europe. He also provoked an international outcry in October when he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
But Wednesday was the first time he publicly denied the Holocaust. Touring southeast Iran, Ahmadinejad said that if Europeans insist the Holocaust happened, then they are responsible and should pay the price. Do you get the feeling that the Iranians are working up to something here?
Posted by: Floating Stone ||
12/14/2005 17:59 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Arab denial of the Holocaust and their continued desire for annihilation of the Jews will eventually result, much to their surprise, in a Muslim holocaust. There will come a point when the non-Muslim world tires of constant atrocites and deems the collateral damage of killing a majority of Muslims to be an acceptable cost for the elimination of Islamist jihadis.
#3
The Islamic denial of the holocaust combined with the Islamic praise of Hitler for performing the holocaust is creating a small industry of academic workers who seek to harmonize these two positions.
There is the, "he killed just a few and wanted to kill lots more" school and the "he killed a lot but they deserved to die for regular crimes so its not genocide but he should have killed them all for being Jews" school.
By repeatedly calling for Israel's destruction and slamming the door on a nuclear compromise, Iran's hardline president has put Tehran on a collision course with the West, diplomats and analysts warned, AFP reports.
In his latest anti-Israeli assault, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the Holocaust as a "myth" and said the Jewish state should be moved as far away as Alaska -- views that one European envoy posted in Tehran described as "way beyond political incorrectness".
"At first, we were tempted to put it down to inexperience or a simple gaffe," he said of the firebrand president's string of outbursts, which began in October with a call for Israel to be "wiped off the map".
"But there is now a clear pattern of confrontational, extremist rhetoric apparently designed to upset the international community. And he's succeeding," said the European diplomat, who asked not to be named.
According to the diplomat, "the very radical change of tone in Iran has to be seen in the context of the nuclear issue" -- or fears that Iran is using an atomic energy drive as a cover for weapons development.
"This kind of talk from the president is not confidence-building, this is confidence destroying. It undermines all the diplomatic efforts to find a mutually satisfactory compromise on a very serious issue. You can't help but feel pessimistic."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2005 14:35 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Do something about it or STFU, little doggie. As long as our "leaders" whimper powerlessly about it, Pres. Omanimanidjit will say and do anything he wants.
Ruling Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani declared Friday that the Muslim world could survive a nuclear exchange with Israel - while accomplishing the goal of obliterating the Jewish state.
"[The] application of an atomic bomb would not leave anything in Israel - but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world," Hashemi-Rafsanjani said, in quotes picked up by the Iran Press Service.
"If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate," he posited.
Analysts told IPS that Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjaniâs speech, delivered at a Tehran prayer service, was the first time that a prominent Islamic leader openly suggested a nuclear attack against the Israel.
Six weeks ago, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a "World Without Zionism" conference that Israel should be "wiped off the map."
Last week, United Nations nuclear watchdog Mohammed ElBaradei said Iran would be able to produce nuclear weapons in a matter of months.
#1
Start hoardin' cans o tuna and ammo. I believe this makes perfectly clear the Mad Mullahs' intentions to obliterate Israel. His statement does not, however, take into account what the US response would be. They don't believe we will do anything.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/14/2005 9:28 Comments ||
Top||
#2
What I do not understand is that any nuclear attack on Israel would take out all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and most of Jordan. I guess taking out Hashemites and Palestinians as well as Jews would be a feature, not a bug. Armageddon indeed.
Irony indeed that the sole protector of the Palestinian state is the hated Jeeeeews.
Posted by: john ||
12/14/2005 9:35 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Is this new? I thought he said the same thing a long time ago.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/14/2005 9:44 Comments ||
Top||
#5
John - the fact that the 'Muslim World' doesn't give a rats ass about the Palistinians comes as no suprise.
The thing is the U.N. and MSM would spin any nuke attack to appear to be Israel's fault. "She was asking for it..." just as they do now - today - with the Palistinians deliberate targetting and murdering of innocent civilians. Muslims will get a 'pass' - after all the victims are 'only jews'.
Hell they will probably give Rafsanjani a Nobel Peace Prize!
Not that it would deter Israel's response. I wonder where the Iranian 'leadershit' will be hiding... Perhaps we should lend Israel some of our nuke bunker-buster tech.....
#7
He did say this a long time ago so he's either saying it again or someone dug up the old quotes to remind people what's really on this guys mind.
If he did say it again it fits my guess that they are trying to provoke an attack, probably because they are unsure their own weapons will work and need deniability and a clear external enemy to rally the radicals around.
#8
There was some speculation a while back about a scenario in which the Mad Mullahs or their proxies would detonate its own nuke in a Muslim population center if they could set it up to look like a Israeli strike...
#9
Ruling Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani declared Friday that the Muslim world could survive a nuclear exchange with Israel - while accomplishing the goal of obliterating the Jewish state.
Not without paying a heavy price in their own blood and other aspects. If he thinks otherwise, he's terribly mistaken.
#11
Total over the top delusional idiots. The more they talk the more they make Mao, Kruschev and the other shoe bangers look like Nobel Peace Prize standouts.
#12
When he said this in 2001, I believe, we hadn't discovered their nuclear program yet. Now that they are a few months away from being able to build a nuke and launch it with their existing missile tech, a statement like that provokes a new sense of urgency. They are shit-house crazy and I don't think they would stop to consider the ramifications of doing something like this. They havent learned a thing about Israel or us in the last 30 years, have they?
(1) Israel to redeploy all its nukes on submarines to ensure second strike capability (may have already started doing this).
(2)Israel to make it known than after any nuclear attack on them, the whole of Iran PLUS Mecca and Medina get wiped out by Israel.
(3) After clearing up the mess, the whole of Palestine is declared a muslim-free zone, to be populated by Jews from the diaspora and any Old Testament Christians willing to lend a helping hand. Buddhists also welome.
#14
but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world,
By "damages", I assume he means the 128 Most Holy Places of Islam would be warm, radioactive glass.
For 50 years, Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) worked with the Soviets because no matter what their goals, deep down, they were ultimately rational and wanted to survive. This is exactly why MAD will not work with the Islamists.
What those wacky mullahs are leaving out of their calculations is that once this starts, others will have to get involved on the grounds that if Iran did it once, they would have no qualms about doing it again.
#15
There was some speculation a while back about a scenario in which the Mad Mullahs or their proxies would detonate its own nuke in a Muslim population center if they could set it up to look like a Israeli strike...
If Israel had any intention of doing such a thing, it would have happened a long time ago. The restraint shown by the Israelis is nothing short of superhuman. I remain awed that they did not step in and snuff Arafat long before his all too timely demise.
A simple map needs to be released showing how, should Israel be attacked with nuclear weapons, every major population center and shrine in the the entire Middle East will become uninhabitable radioactive wasteland. In their primative and non-quantitative reality, the mullahs have ZERO concept of what actually awaits their obsessive aggression against Israel.
At some point, the remaining Middle East nations will need to consider military intervention against Iran, if only to stop the mullahs from getting EVERYONE killed.
And finally, DECAP these monster raving mullah loons NOW!
#16
I don't believe Rafsanjani is crazy - Ahmadinejad, sure - but not old Raf. He is a rational actor. He's in it for himself as well as being on the other side, but he's rational, and we could play MAD with him if necessary. He wants to live to enjoy what he has taken from the people. Unfortunately a total nutcase beat him the recent elections, and we need his behind-the-scenes restraining influence.
#17
These statements by Rfsanjani and others lead me to believe they actually have no idea what a nuclear explosion does. What part of Israel can they safely bomb without making Jerusalem, and therefore, the Dome of the Rock Mosque, uninhabitable?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/14/2005 13:57 Comments ||
Top||
#18
And Rafi was the "moderate" presidential candidate. It's as bad as labeling sKerry a war hero.
Posted by: Captain America ||
12/14/2005 14:00 Comments ||
Top||
#19
It doesn't matter, DB. The Wahhabs are just as likely to collapse the Dome on their own pointy heads by their own excavation work. They have been gleefully bulldozing their own historic sites in Mecca. All that matters is dead Jooos. And once they're gone from the Levant, the biggest remaining pocket of Jooos is right here in the U S of A.
#21
Come on everybody. Let's be rational. A unsolicited nuclear attack on another country is no big deal. Americans have paid reporters to print stories, and hazed prisioners. Let's keep things in perspective here.
#22
Folks, nukes are nothing to play with, but some of the talk on this topic is nonsense. A nuke has a blast radius commensurate with its size. The Iranians are building either a U235 bomb, or a plutonium bomb. Those have a maximum size. Only thermonuclear (H-bomb) blasts are big enough to "wipe out" Israel.
The Iranian bomb, if it's ever built, will probably be somewhere on the size of 20Kt to 100Kt. That gives a blast radius of between 3NM and 7NM for 90% destruction, up to 15NM for 50% destruction, and no more than about 35NM for 0-25% destruction, depending upon the lay of the land and the type of construction used in structures. There is a LOT of land in Israel. While the country's not very wide, it's long. If the Iranian strike Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheba and Eilat survive. The Israelis WILL retaliate. How, and to what degree, are questions I can't answer. There's no way, though, that a single nuclear strike on Israel would destroy the entire nation.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/14/2005 16:22 Comments ||
Top||
#23
Old Patriot - They won't launch just one. They've got to launch at least "several" since Israel has some basic ABM capabilities.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/14/2005 17:16 Comments ||
Top||
#24
I dont think Raffie-boy can hold his wad that long.
And Ahmadinejad definately sounds like a premature shooter to me.
#25
I sure hope we're working OT with Armenia. They seem to be everybody's back door. To the extent that Georgia and the Kurds can be "got right", if Armenia can be as well, there's a huge wedge handy for use. I hope Israel is working there also. Be interesting if Iran begins developing some internal problems in the next few months, from some unexpected directions.
#28
Israel has about 200 modern warheads, ranging from 200kT to a few 1MT units.
4 airburst 200kT over mecca is enough to eradicate it, likewise Medina, etc. a 1 MT airburst over Qom (Holiest city in Iran) would obliterate it,
Remember, Israeli nukes would be targeting a lot of brick and frame structures, whcih woudl not resist the heat and overpressures nearly as well as the modern steel and concrete structures the nuke balst calculations were based on.
With 200 assorted warheads, Israel could glass every major muslim population concentration in the middle east, as well as vaporizing every significant holy site the Muslims have. Basically, in terms of Muslims left in the middle east, there would be about 25 million less of them in an instant with dobule that number dead within a year. 50% of Arab muslims east of suez simply ceasing to exist, along with Mecca, Medina, etc. Same goes for Iran - net effect woudl be for half of Irans population to be dead within a year, mainly those in the urban areas.
Remember there are 1 billion Muslims in the world (estimated), but most of the large muslim populations are in SW Asia and toward the pacific - like Indonesia).
The world economy would collapse absent quick action to sieze the oil fields and refineries by western aligned forces.
This would probably include Iraq's expansion to "control" the coastal oil fields of Iran, the US trained Kurds siezing Northern Iran and the Caspain oil fields, and the US and Emirates siezing coastal Saudi oil fields and facilities with British and Indian troops.
The "Winner" would be Iraq and Lebanon, and possibly Egypt if they stay out (so Israel doesnt nuke them too).
The big losers woudl be the Jews, who woudl die in large nubmers, and Iran & Saudi, who will be bascially destroyed as a society.
And of course, the Mulsims world wide would be praying 5 times a day toward a pile of radioactive slag, until their religion gets banned and/or abandoned for the worship of a violent evil false prophet and his lies that it is.
#29
Oh - to address things I forgot to answer (implict in the warhead yields):
Israel likely has a few fission bombs, but the more likely have a complete thermonuclear arsenal. They are far more reliable and better yeild and maintainability. Plus in terms of yield vs warhead weight, thermo wins hands down.
I know for sure I woudl not want to be on the reciving end of the surviving Israeli forces that have slipped the nuclear leash - East Jerusalem will be the graveyard of many muslims at the end of Israeli bullets and bayonets. The dome of the rock will be bulldozed.
#30
Old Spook - a few questions aside from the military. Say you're an sunni arab politico listening to Ahmednsbaziaew whatever, and you're within, say, 150 miles or close fallout range of Eretz Israel. And say Israel has made clear enough their policy as you've outlined. Wouldn't you be real tempted to let Iran know they're treading a little too close? And is there any chance of making a Sunni/Shia military split - as in letting Iran know their nukes are strategically worthless since you'd rather not be sacrificed for the greater glory along with the neighborhood infidels? And would you somehow let Iran know, oh so quietly that an attack on Israel is also an attack on you? And do you think one outcome of tomorrow's election is the possibility of a Shia/Sunni state thinking along those lines which already has a wee shared military history with the Medes?
Then again - they could just be crazy Persians. Be a shame if all those Palestinians barely survive the "occupation" only to get slaughtered from afar.
#31
Problem is you are expecting rational thoguhts from religious fanatics behind the triggers in Iran.
At least with Kimmie in Korea you have some delusions of reality that keep him from pulling the trigger, liek a Chinese leash on his power structure.
In Iran, you have no such restraints - the political culture is corrupt and the destruction of democatic society by the Mullahs has left no check or control to thier power. Look at how they rigged the election, and now are answerable to nobody. They dont even listen to their own peopel - so having the Pallys or Sunni be able to talk to them is even less probable.
These guys are as rational as Hitler in the bunker in Berlin. And just as vicious. The difference is they have nukes and a religious fanatacism thats driving them toward their destruction and the destruction of all around them.
WASHINGTON â US President George W. Bush has urged Syria to release its political prisoners, especially opposition activist Kamal Al Labawani and eight other prisoners. Spokesman for the White House Scott McClellan said in a statement issued on the anniversary of the World Human Rights Day that the Syrian authorities ârejected the basic rights of freedom of expression and the opinion.â
McClellan added in the statement that âBush calls on the Syrian government to immediately release and unconditionally Dr Kamal Al Labawani and all other prisoners of opinion, including Habib Saleh, Nizar Restanawi, Aref dalila, Riad Seif, Mamoun al-Homsi, Walid al-Bunnim Habib Issa and Fawaza Telloâ.
The Syrian authorities arrested the founder of the Democratic Liberal Coalition, Kamal Al Labawani, in Damascus on November 8 after a visit to the US, where he had attended a meeting at the White House. The Syrian authorities accused the founder of the opposition coalition of "affiliating to a banned organisation," undermining the sovereignty of the country, transferring information outside the country that weakens national commitment and provoks sectarianism."
I like him already.
Meanwhile, the White House said yesterday that the UN Security Council should âincrease the pressureâ on Syria after a report implicating high-ranking Syrian officials in the murder of Lebanonâs former premier.
The UN Security Council was due later in the day to examine the report by chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, which further ties Lebanese and senior Syrian officials to the February slaying of Rafiq Hariri. âWe believe itâs important, when the Security Council discusses this report, that they continue to keep the pressure, and increase the pressure, on Syria,â spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/14/2005 00:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
This isn't surprising. I'm tired of the way the Nazi movement is drawing stronger, new life. The far right and far left loons have found a common ground.
#16
Too bad Mossad can't punch Duke's dance card while he's traipsing around their turf. This dirtbag should not be allowed re-entry into the United States. Let him live in any one of his favorite anti-Zionist utopias.
A Syrian witness in a U.N. probe into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri is ready to meet rights groups to show that he was not coerced to recant his testimony, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
"No, no! Not coerced at all! I never did have any nails on that hand! And Grampaw was very depressed. That's why he shot himself..."
... twice ...
German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who led the U.N. inquiry, said in a report on Monday there was "credible information" that Syria had pressured one witness, Hosam Taher Hosam, to rescind his testimony for an earlier report in October that implicated Syrian officials in the Hariri murder. But Hosam's lawyer, Imran Zobi, said the charges were "pure fabrication".
"Lies! All lies!"
"I assure everyone that everything in the Mehlis report about pressure applied on Hosam and the arrest of his kin is completely untrue and is a pure fabrication," Zobi said. "I invite all human rights organisations and all bodies active in this area at any time they desire to come to Syria and meet my client Hosam and all (or any) member of his family and in the fashion they deem appropriate," he told Reuters.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
The UN inquiry into the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, could take years unless Syria speeds up cooperation with the investigation, the head of the probe has said.
That's exactly what they want, so don't expect much in the way of cooperation...
In response, Fayssal Mekdad, Syria's UN ambassador told the UN Security Council his country had not hindered the investigation, led by Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor.
Then his lips fell off.
"We are ready to do whatever the commission requests us to do," Mekdad said on Tuesday. He said his foreign minister, Farouk al-Shara, welcomed a meeting with Mehlis. The Syrian ambassador gave his government's first response to a 25-page report Mehlis delivered to the council on Monday. He said his team had found new evidence implicating Syria in the truck bomb murder of al-Hariri and 22 others on 14 February, 2005 in Beirut. After the meeting, Mekdad told reporters: "We believe that this investigation will lead to the clearance of Syria because it is in our interest to find the truth. Syria has nothing do with this heinous crime."
"We're just not in a rush. Fresh evidence isn't the same as good evidence, y'know."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reiterated his doubt about the Holocaust and called on Muslim nations to take a proactive stand on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, state media reported Tuesday. The president's comments, published on Iranian state television's Web site, were the second time in a week he has expressed doubt about the Nazi genocide of Jews during World War II. In October, Ahmadinejad also said Israel should be "wiped off the map."
"If the killing of Jews in Europe is true," the Web site quoted Ahmadinejad as saying during a speech at an Islamic conference in Tehran, "and the Zionists are being supported because of this excuse, why should the Palestinian nation pay the price?"
In Israel, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev criticized the remarks. "The real problem with the repeated statements of the Iranian president is that they correctly represent the mind-set of the Iranian leadership, and they accurately articulate the policies of that extremist regime," he said.
I think it's pretty obvious by now that Mahmoud's a nutbag. The fact that there's a nutbag as president of a major nation in the Middle East should be cause for concern, but it's going to be another elephant in the living room situation for as long as the International Community⢠can possibly pretend it isn't so. That could be for about six years â the same length of time as 1933 to 1939 â while he makes the trains run on time, or some shorter period, depending on when he has something that he thinks will produce a big enough boom. You heard it here first, even though you've been thinking it all along.
And I don't notice the Expediency Council reigning this sucker in like they did Khatami.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I vote we let the Israelis take back all of the Jews' historic lands.
He may have enrolled in the Irainian Taxi Cab Acamedy but there's no way he accumulated enough units to graduate.
The comment also infuriated the Saudis as it was made on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference that was dedicated to showing the moderate al-Taqiyya/Dissimulation face of Islam.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/14/2005 5:34 Comments ||
Top||
The Security Council and Secretary-General Kofi Annan today condemned the murder of Gibran Tueni, a politician and journalist in Lebanon, as Council members received the report of Detlev Mehlis, head of the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) probing the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Condemnations are cheap. Actions cost money.
Earlier today, a spokesman for Mr. Annan said he was âshocked and dismayedâ to learn about the murder of Mr. Tueni, who he hailed as âa tireless advocate of a sovereign Lebanon and free press.â Three others were also killed in the blast, which spokesman Stephane Dujarric called âcold-blooded murder.â He said it was âthe latest in a vicious campaign against Lebanese citizens, journalists, political leaders and their right to freedom of expression.â
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
...a spokesman for Mr. Annan said he was âshocked and dismayedâ
It's needed, and the envirogoobers will fight it tooth and nail.
Louisiana is among three U.S. states interested in being the site of a joint venture refinery with Kuwait amid concern about a shortage of capacity to process crude into gasoline and other fuels, Kuwait's oil minister said. Kuwait, the Middle East's fourth-largest oil producer, is seeking a ``mid-sized'' U.S. partner like Marathon Oil Corp. to build a refinery in the U.S. with as much as 400,000 barrels a day of output, Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah said in an interview last night. Texas and New Mexico may also be interested, Sheikh Ahmad, 42, said. ``We are very keen to build a refinery in the U.S., but environmental restrictions and other regulations make it difficult,'' Sheikh Ahmad said in Kuwait City, where he's hosting OPEC's sixth ministerial meeting this year.
A lack of construction in the U.S. and Europe during the last 30 years has left refineries with little margin for error and susceptible to breakdowns. Worldwide, refineries ran at 95 percent of capacity last year, up from 80 percent in 1984, according to the International Monetary Fund. Expanding a U.S. refinery may cost as much as $10,000 per barrel of capacity, according to Dan Robinson, president of Placid Refining Co., operator of a refinery in Port Allen, Louisiana. That means that Kuwait's refinery project may cost as much as $4 billion. Strict environmental rules and the high cost of investment have kept oil companies based in the U.S. and Europe from building refineries near their biggest markets.
Kuwait was in talks in September with the Bush administration to build a refinery in the U.S., seeking to construct the nation's first new plant in three decades as gasoline and diesel prices surged to records. The Persian Gulf emirate was seeking White House assistance in gaining the necessary permits, Sheikh Ahmad said in a Sept. 18 interview in Vienna. Kuwait is hosting OPEC's sixth ministerial meeting which starts today.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Louisiana is among three U.S. states interested in being the site of a joint venture refinery with Kuwait amid concern about a shortage of capacity to process crude into gasoline and other fuels, Kuwait's oil minister said.
Attaboys! Another refinery in hurricane territory oughta do the trick. Yesirree....
#2
Needs to be built inland from Kings Bay Georgia. Close enough to infrastructure, but off the usual target area, and there are port facilities and infrastructure to support unloading and pipelining to an inland refinery.
Need another one in CA as well (away from quake zones)
#3
This will be good but I agree they need to look at a better location. Might want to build a pipeline from the coast and do it inland in Texas. Then they can just shut the pumping facility down for the week of a Hurricane.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
12/14/2005 6:26 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Need another one in CA as well (away from quake zones)
Heh, this whole damn state is nothing but one big quake zone.
#6
another refinery close to the Mississippi shipping lanes
What for? Rail can do it better (if you can't use pipes).
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2005 17:11 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I'm not so sure that's true, Rafael. For heavy bulk items water is usually the best shipping means when it's available. And certainly the depots are built for water delivery in many cities in the Mississippi valley and the tributaries, such as the Missouri and the Ohio which are major rivers in their own right.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The prosecutor of the new 
"Hanoi Jane" Fonda is claiming that ever since Vietnam, U.S. troops have been trained to commit atrocities against innocent civilians as a matter of military policy. "Starting with the Vietnam War we began training soldiers differently," the anti-American actress says in an email to the Washington Post. Fonda claims she learned of the policy switch in "secret meetings" she had with military psychologists "who were really worried about what was happening to our combat personnel." One doctor, she insists, told her U.S. troops had been deliberately trained to be "killing machines."
QUETTA: President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday that Pakistan was not hostage to a bunch of terrorists and extremists who could dictate their âwills and ideasâ by their petty sabotage activities. Addressing trainee officers and faculty members of the Command and Staff College Quetta, Musharraf said Pakistan was on its way to stability and democratic norms were steadfastly gaining ground. He condemned and shunned terrorists and extremists, who were bent upon spoiling Pakistanâs image, and vowed to foil their nefarious designs. He called on Muslim states to shun such elements likewise for a better image of the Islamic world.
Iraqi President 
Ariel Sharonâs political rivals are voicing increasing alarm that the tidal wave triggered by the prime ministerâs formation of a new centrist party is threatening to engulf Israeli democracy. Having poached leading figures from all his main competitors, the latest polls show that Sharonâs Kadima party is on course to trounce all-comers at a March 28 parliamentary election. Only three weeks after its formation, a survey in yesterdayâs Yediot Aharonot daily predicted Kadima would have double the number of seats (41) in the next Knesset than its nearest rival, the center-left Labour party. The bulk of support comes from voters who supported Likud, the right-wing party led by Sharon for five years until he became fed up battling hard-liners.
WASHINGTON â US President George W. Bush has urged Syria to release its political prisoners, especially opposition activist Kamal Al Labawani and eight other prisoners. Spokesman for the White House Scott McClellan said in a statement issued on the anniversary of the World Human Rights Day that the Syrian authorities ârejected the basic rights of freedom of expression and the opinion.â
A Syrian witness in a U.N. probe into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister 
The UN inquiry into the assassination of 
Iranian President 
The Security Council and Secretary-General Kofi Annan today condemned the murder of 
Louisiana is among three U.S. states interested in being the site of a joint venture refinery with Kuwait amid concern about a shortage of capacity to process crude into gasoline and other fuels, Kuwait's oil minister said. Kuwait, the Middle East's fourth-largest oil producer, is seeking a ``mid-sized'' U.S. partner like Marathon Oil Corp. to build a refinery in the U.S. with as much as 400,000 barrels a day of output, Sheikh 
