The Taliban has found a way to recruit fighters that is less about winning hearts and minds and more about the enduring appeal of cold hard cash. They are paying fighters up to $12 a day to fight the fledgling Afghan National Army, which pays only $4 a day to its soldiers in the field, according to military officials. The Taliban are supported by Pakistan and they get money from the drugs trade so they get more pay than our soldiers, said Colonel Myuddin Ghouri of the national armys 205 Corps.
While the ANA has the advantage of superior equipment and the same medical treatment as British troops, its troops often have to risk their lives far from home. If you were a lad in the hills and you were offered $12 to stay local or you could take $4 and fight miles away from home, which would you do? said Lieutenant Colonel David Hammond, an officer with 7 Para who is training Afghan officers in the southern province of Helmand as part of a mentoring scheme.
The pay difference is making it harder to recruit soldiers to the 38,000-strong ANA, which has faced a much better equipped and funded insurgency since January. Western officials have estimated the Talibans forces have risen from 2,000 last year to 6,000 this year. The Taliban claims to have 12,000 men. Afghan defence ministry officials believe funds for the insurgency are flowing over the border from Pakistan and possibly from Arab countries.
The multi-ethnic Afghan National Army has been one of the success stories of the post-September 11 era and is hugely popular with most Afghans. However, Afghan officials in Kabul say the pay of Afghan soldiers will remain a problem. Basic pay of $70 a month was a lot of money three years ago but it is harder to recruit people to fight in a bitter insurgency now, said a Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
the ANA has the advantage of superior equipment and the same medical treatment as British troops
The ANA soldier also has the advantage of surviving to get paid for more than a few days. Also, if you do happen to die, I'll be willing to bet your family actually gets the money!
#3
Until now I was on pesimistic mode after notcing that tehre are far more Taliban than yesteryear. Now I am optimistic again: if they propose money is that they are scrapping the bottom of the madrassas bucket.
Ethiopian troops are in Somalia, a United Nations envoy has confirmed. But Francois Fall told Reuters news agency after a one-day trip on Tuesday to Baidoa and Mogadishu that reports of 4,000-5,000 troops were "exaggerated".
Sources have confirmed to the BBC that arms shipments have been arriving at the airport in the capital - monitored by the UN. Mogadishu is controlled by the Union of Islamic Courts and the UN is trying to prevent conflict between the two sides.
The UN is trying to prevent conflict? They're doomed.
Both the Ethiopian government and the weak transitional government have refused to confirm the presence of Ethiopian troops on Somali soil.
The UN says it has monitored that Eritrea is sending arms to the Islamists in Mogadishu and that Ethiopia is arming the government based in Baidoa. Analysts say there is a real danger that Somalia could end up being a battleground for a proxy war being fought between Ethiopia and Eritrea - who went to war over their joint border between 1998 and 2000.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/26/2006 08:33 ||
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(SomaliNet) The powerful Council of Islamic Council (CIC) in the Somalia capital Mogadishu has issued a press release on Tuesday asking the world community to put pressure Ethiopian government to pull out its troops from Somalia territory. The statement said the regime in Addis Ababa has admitted to have sent thousands of its troops into Somalia particular Bay and Bakol regions in southwest of the country while the so-called Somali Transitional Federal Government continues to deny it.
The Islamic Courts said they will invite the international community to visit all areas under its control to witness the facts. The Islamic Courts accused the Ethiopian government of harbouring some of the defeated warlords by the people's uprising as the current military movements by Ethiopia indicates how it is happy with recent peaceful developments in Mogadishu and in Somalia and parts of the country.
The CIC draws the military intervention by Ethiopia as in violation of Somalia sovereignty and its territorial integrity, violates the United Nations arms embargo on Somalia, and jeopardizes the Khartoum peace talks between the TFG and Islamic Coorts. The Islamists also made it clear the Ethiopian invasion has subverted IGAD as the key organization responsible for the Somalia peace%2
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#3
Resisting the urge to grin. The Ethopians at least know how to fight the growing threat of Islamic "radicalism". I hope the start annexing land and forcing the Jihadi's into direct fire-fights. If worse come to worse I highly doubt we'll let Ethopia fall. At least I hope we won't.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/26/2006 8:04 Comments ||
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#4
What? You say Allen is too busy? Or the number you called can not be completed? Hint!
#10
The powerful Council of Islamic Council (CIC) in the Somalia capital Mogadishu has issued a press release on Tuesday asking the world community to put pressure Ethiopian government to pull out its troops from Somalia territory
If you're so powerful, you can handle it yourself.
(SomaliNet) Somalia's interim government has agreed to talks with the Islamists. This took place after U.N special envoy to Somalia, Mr. Fall Lonseny, met with the President Abdullahi Yusuf and urged him not to abandon the on going peace talks. On Saturday Mr.Yusuf declined to have talks with the Islamists after he accused them of wanting to control Baidoa. The Islamic Court Union representatives pulled out from the talks in protest due to the presence of Ethiopian soldiers in the town of Baidoa where the interim government is currently based.
Mr.Fall's visit came a day after the African Union urged the U.N Secretary Council to lift the arms embargo on Somalia so that peace keepers could be deployed immediately. However, this plan has been rejected by the Islamists who have warned against foreigners.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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" (SomaliNet) The supreme leader of Council of Islamic Courts Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said on Tuesday they (Islamists) want to rule out the world suspicion on attacking Baidoa by Islamic Courts, making clear that it is not their intention by action or by morally to attack Baidoa town based by transitional federal government.
In a telephone news conference from central Somalia Galgadud region to Mogadishu today, Sheikh Dahir Aweys set a pre-condition to the attending of Khartoum peace talks unless Ethiopia withdraw its troops from Somalia territory. "We are still in position of engaging peace dialogue with transitional federal government but the negotiation can not go ahead because of Ethiopian invasion into Somalia, justifying to defend Somali's interim government in Baidoa," Sheikh Aweys said. "No talks acceptable till Ethiopia occupies a land of Somalia.
"We had assumed there was no way to protect Somali government from its people but now I realized that Ethiopia which was long running enemy is seeking an awful justification to occupy our territory," The Sheikh said suggesting if the Baidoa based government wants peace talks it should first pull the Ethiopian troop back the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak rejected calls for tougher action in response to Israels offensive in Lebanon, in comments carried by the state-owned press on Wednesday.
Those who urge Egypt to go to war to defend Lebanon or Hezbollah are not aware that the time of exterior adventures is over, he told reporters on the flight back from talks with Saudi King Abdullah. Mubarak stressed that throwing the country into a war would be irresponsible when 73 million Egyptians need development, services, work and housing.
Those who are asking for war will make us lose all of that in a blink, said Mubarak, quoted by the goverment Al-Gomhurriya daily. He stressed that he was not ready to spend the peoples budget on a war... which isnt their war.
The Egyptian army is for defending Egypt only and this is not going to change, Mubarak added.
Egyptian opposition parties and newspapers have been very critical of the regimes stance since Israel launched a deadly offensive against Lebanon following the July 12 capture of two its soldiers by Hezbollah militants. As Egypt marks the 50th anniversary of the Suez canal nationalisation by Gamal Abdel Nasser, critics have accused Mubarak of being subservient to the West and praised Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah for daring to challenge Israel.
Whilst condemning Israels killing of Lebanese civilians, Mubarak also criticised Hezbollah adventurism, charging that the Shiite guerrilla group risked dragging the entire region into conflict. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state in 1979 and has been a major mediator in the regions crises. Mubarak and King Abdullah agreed that their countries would demand an immediate ceasefire during an international crisis conference on Lebanon to be held in Rome on Wednesday.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/26/2006 08:47 ||
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#2
*very unladylike snicker* Although the demands for an immediate ceasefire are the Arabs' way of hamstringing Israel, which always worked well in the past. We are blessed to have Bush and Rice running things, openly declaring that they will not allow a hudna ceasefire be imposed on Israel that allows continuation of an unacceptable situation... and others like Australia's Howard to back them on it, howl though the newspapers may.
#6
Mubarak stressed that throwing the country into a war would be irresponsible when 73 million Egyptians need development, services, work and housing.
Those who are asking for war will make us lose all of that in a blink,,/em>
#7
Ah, but would Egypt be willing to send "peacekeepers" to southern Lebanon? Since they are at peace with Israel, Israel should have no complaint. And being Sunni Arabs, it would well serve the entire region if they could act against any Iranian Shiite threat.
Of course, Hezbollah wouldn't dream of attacking their fellow Moslems, now would they? And, if the whole expedition was paid for by the US and Europe, it would be a good training exercise for the Egyptian military.
#8
"Those who urge Egypt to go to war to defend Lebanon or Hezbollah are not aware that the time of exterior adventures is over,"
Translation: The "ass whoopin" we received from Israel is such that, it will be felt, for generations to come. We will wait for the right tour guide before we go on that "adventure," again.
#11
You're right, GT - and a lot of others in Islam are thinking the same, no matter how much they get.
This is the Mad Mullah Show and their pit Hezbull is in the center ring at the moment. They promise an aerial act is coming, but someone may cut the wires before it gets off the ground.
Saudi Arabia's king has warned the current crisis between Lebanon, the Palestinians and Israel could spark a full-scale Middle East war. King Abdullah has also pledged $500m to rebuild Lebanon and $250m to help the Palestinians.
"If the peace option fails because of Israeli arrogance, there will be no other option but war," Saudi state television quoted the king as saying in an official statement. "No one can predict what will happen if things get out of control.
"So we wish the Zionists would hurry the hell up and finish off the Shi'a Hezbollah."
"The Arabs have declared peace as a strategic choice ... and put forward a clear and fair proposal of land for peace and have ignored (Arab) extremist calls opposing the peace proposal... but patience cannot last forever."
The king was referring to an Arab peace initiative, proposed by Saudi Arabia and adopted in a 2002 Arab summit. The deal offers Israel a comprehensive peace in return for Arab land it seized in a 1967 Middle East war.
And requiring the 'right of return', and handing over Jerusalem including the Wailing Wall ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
He's worried about the fragile Middle East stability... that keeps him in power.
You should've made peace with Israel way back when, Kingy. Then you'd have some sway with them now. But you're a sworn enemy of your own choosing, so fuck off, LOL.
#2
The Arabs are slow to gather, but when they do, they get stupid together. Minimally, I'd diplomatically tend to their fears, if I was the State Dept, especially after the recent Arab Summit where all the rich oil bastards and dictators caught up. They'res a big plot, maybe from Iran brewing the whole Middle East.
#5
They all feel the same way and for good reason. As soon as war breaks out, they want a cease fire. this is because most world governments are so fragile that a broad war will topple them.
What we should do to keep democracies from being toppled, is lock up the press for a decade or so.
#6
#sigh# As much as I hate to admit it wxjames, history has shown us time and time again that you cant have a democracy without a free press. Its like shaving with a double sided razor: you cant trim your beard without one, but youll keep cutting yourself every day.
Yes, obviously they are "free" to print any damned thing they want, national security secrets, endless lies, distortions, factual omissions, editorial spin disguised as news, lionization of both hateful assholes such as those who sympathize with Hezb, the Taleban, and al-Qaeda as well as those who are obviously reality-challenged such as Cindy the Parasite Code Pink Tool, giving disproportionate coverage to the Socialist and Tranzi agendas while disingenuously bandying "disproportionate" about as a charge against Israel's attempt to live in peace, and promoting the agendas of the unelected self-styled and self-appointed forces of "progressivism" while daily demeaning the elected government leaders of this nation in a never-ending display of BDS dementia.
#9
They are 'free' to choose which side to be on (or to be on neither side).
They 'choose' to support terrorism, murder, and kiddie rape. Evidence: Beslan the Russian school where kids were murdered, raped, and killed and the MSM provided cover to the islamic terrorists - refusing to call them 'terrorists' or reporting that they were -each-and-every-one-of-them MUSLIMS.
There is a disturbing phenomenon on the rise in Britains Muslim community called honor killings. This barbaric practice involves the killing of a female for alleged sexual or marital impropriates by members of her own family. Scotland Yard is currently investigating eighteen such cases. Last month a trial in London resulted in murder convictions in the case of a young Muslim Pakistani woman killed by her father, brother and cousin for refusing to enter into a pre-arranged marriage. Her mother was watching on as the murder took place.
In the course of the proceedings details came to light which illustrate the horrific nature of this practice. Samaira Nazirs throat was cut in 3 places and she was stabbed 18 times with 4 different knives. According to the UK Times :
As she screamed for help one neighbour banged on the front door, but the father emerged claiming that his daughter was having a fit. When police arrived they found a trail of blood from the front of the house to the back door and then to the hallway where Miss Nazirs body was slumped in a pool of blood.
It should be a matter of heightened concern that Muslims across Europe are becoming increasingly vocal in demanding that Sharia which apparently sanctions this kind of brutality govern areas where they live as majorities. Capitulation to their demands would constitute nothing less than a tragic marker in the Continents descent into darkness and barbarism. Given the fecklessness of Europes ruling elites combined with the Muslims rapidly growing numbers and influence, it is not inconceivable that in some places they may get their way in the not-too-distant future.
#2
Descending into darkness for sure. My God, I never thought the Brits would let this happen. They prosecuted this one, but this shit will continue unless they start cracking the whip hard. A shame that is has gone this far. In France I expect this occurs weekly. And it happens in Germany. But the Brits !
#6
I hope those three are very afraid for their lives every day in prison... If some of these bastards were to meet a timely demise, less of this stuff would happen. And, yes I am suggesting that since Britian lacks a death penalty, it be "accomplished" by "other means"
Go ahead mods, delete this, but we all are thinking the same thing and I just said it...
Remember John Geoghan and Jeffrey Dahmer, and others?
This is a war for western civilization and these three are nothing but animals that have to be sent to the lower regions sooner rather than later.
#7
Big Ed, that's all true, but consider for a second the mindset of a father stabbing his daughter to death. Just today, a jury found a woman who drowned 5 children insane. Within the reach of Islam, millions of parents may be on the edge of sanity on a daily basis. Let's start by making the practice of Islam illegal here in the US, then we can export our mindless nonsense on other democracies.
July 26, 2006: Russia, in an attempt to capitalize on the recent deaths of senior terrorist leaders, is offering amnesty to hundreds of Chechen terrorists. The offer actually includes terrorists from other nationalities in the Caucasus. The basic deal is, if no one can prove you killed anyone, you can renounce your terrorist ways and walk. Previous offers of amnesty had relatively few takers, and the many terrorists who refused the amnesty, made it clear that any who did, were dead-men-walking.
This time around, after years of shrinking popular support, and increasingly effective counter-terrorism efforts by loyal Chechens, and Russian commandos, there are far fewer terrorists in Chechnya. Not nearly enough to hunt down all those who accept amnesty. If the Russians are lucky, most of the remaining terrorists will come in from the cold. The hard core Islamic terrorists probably will not. But these guys have displayed a tendency to wander off to other killing zones like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. This trend may become accelerated as Chechnya becomes much less hospitable for terrorists, especially Islamic terrorists. Most Chechens could get behind the separatists terrorists, who wanted an independent Chechnya. Fewer were all that enthusiastic about an Islamic Republic covering all the Caucasus. Chechens tend to be independent minded, and were not keen about living in a religious dictatorship. That, and bad odds eventually catching up with them, brought down the boldest Chechen terrorists like Basayev.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/26/2006 09:55 ||
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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday he doubts Israel's deadly attack on a UN observation post in Lebanon, which killed a Canadian observer, was deliberate.
...
"I certainly doubt that to be the case, given that the government of Israel has been cooperating with us in our evacuation efforts, in our efforts to move Canadian citizens out of Lebanon and also trying to keep our own troops that are on the ground involved in the evacuation out of harm's way," he said. Enough to make a Canadian proud again (sniff), after the lunacy of Chretien and Martin.
"We want to find out why this United Nations post was attacked and also why it remained manned during what is now, more or less, a war during obvious danger to these individuals." Unfortunately, Steve, I think the MSM is not at all interested in finding an answer to the second question.
"This coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long established and clearly marked U.N. post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire," Annan said.
Just when it looked like the Senate Republicans had finally gotten the message that the American people in general, and their own supporters in particular, are outraged over amnesty for illegal aliens, some Republican Senators have come up with yet another disguise for amnesty -- and gotten bipartisan support, including Ted Kennedy and John McCain.
Under this new plan, its advocates claim, illegal immigrants would "have to leave the country" and re-apply to come back in legally and get on a path toward citizenship. It sounds good, but on closer examination it turns out to be a fraud.
How long would the illegal immigrants have to leave the country? According to the Senate bill they "may exit the United States and immediately re-enter." In other words, do a U-turn and come right back. How is that for "tough" border control?
Nobody else gets into the United States that easily. You can say "tough" all you want and still be a wimp. Or a politician.
How long do the Senate Republicans think they can keep insulting the public's intelligence, with an election just a few months away?
Every gesture that the Senate has made toward controlling the border is one that they have backed into under pressure from an outraged public. The Senators' whole focus has been on what they could do for the illegal aliens, in order to win Hispanic votes -- and how they could camouflage it in order not to lose other votes.
Businesses that want cheap labor are also in favor of amnesty, under whatever name. So are citizen-of-the-world intellectuals, for whom national borders are just unfortunate relics of the past and illegal aliens are just like everyone else except for not having legal documents.
Nobody is just like everyone else, individually or collectively. Second-generation immigrants are not even just like their parents. Their crime rates are far higher than those of their parents who came here to work and who can appreciate the difference between what they had in Mexico and what they have here.
The second generation does not compare their lives here with how people live in Mexico. They compare their lives with the lives of other Americans -- and there are all sorts of people around to tell them that the difference is due to injustices that they suffer.
Some of the more doctrinaire free trade advocates see the free movement of people across national borders as being just like the free movement of goods. But, when you buy a Toyota, it doesn't issue demands that our automobile laws be in Japanese and it doesn't have little Toyotas that add to the crime rate or to the burdens of our school system.
Moreover, when a Toyota needs repair, it doesn't go to an emergency room and expect the taxpayers to pay for parts and labor.
Whoever buys a Toyota is expected to pay the full price of the car and its upkeep.
But employers of illegal immigrants get the benefit of cheap labor and leave it to the taxpayers to cover the costs of their health care, imprisonment and everything else.
Our schools pay the price not only in money but also in lower educational quality when children with a limited knowledge of English and a limited commitment to learning impede the education of other children.
People who argue about immigration in the abstract ignore the fact that there is no such thing as an immigrant in the abstract. Immigrants from some countries have twice the education of immigrants from other countries and the differences between how many commit crimes can be some multiple between one group and another.
The most fundamental question is: What is to decide how many immigrants from what countries are to be admitted to the United States? The laws of this country or the fait accomplis of illegal aliens?
Are the citizens of this country to be people committed to this country or people who go back and forth, who expect American culture to adjust to them instead of vice versa, and who are kept separate and disaffected by their leaders and by the multicultural cult? We already have too many Americans with no real commitment to this country and no willingness to defend it.
#1
It's a lost cause. These donks in Washington can't even appropriate money for a fence. They could gave a damn about immigration or what the American people think.
New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer are "seriously reconsidering their opposition to the nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The reason: With war raging in the Middle East, the two are facing increasing pressure from pro-Israel groups to forgo another Democratic filibuster against Bolton.
"Given the fact that we face a world today where every decision every day seems to count, we cannot allow any disruption in who plays the lead role in representing the United States," said Jack Rosen, chairman of the American Jewish Congress.
"This is not a time for a void. It is not a time to take away someone who's represented us well at the United Nations, putting aside for the moment any squabbles or disagreements with the administration."
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a hearing on the nomination on Thursday, and several Democrats on the panel have indicated they are still opposed to the nomination, the New York Sun reports.
But Schumer and Clinton, who voted to block Boltons confirmation a year ago, have not yet stated their position regarding the ambassador.
And the president of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein, said that "important friends" of Schumer and Clinton have confided to him that the senators are "seriously reconsidering" their position on Bolton.
"If they came out against him, I would be somewhat surprised," Klein told the Sun. "I think there's a reasonable chance they might support him this time around."
Support of Bolton from Clinton and Schumer would seriously jeopardize any Democratic effort to filibuster his confirmation. Bolton has served as U.N. ambassador without legislative backing since President Bush appointed him during a congressional recess last August.
As NewsMax reported last week, Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio the lone Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee who opposed the Bolton nomination last year has now said he would vote to confirm Bolton as ambassador.
Committee chairman Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana "seized on Mr. Voinovichs reversal last week and immediately scheduled a hearing on the nomination, according to the Sun.
The American Jewish Congress Rosen said he believes that Clinton and Schumer "would understand that the Jewish community is supporting Bolton and that when you represent a large Jewish community in New York, politics matters.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/26/2006 17:49 Comments ||
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#2
It is about time. Get rid of the uncertainty of this recess appointment, and get "Darth" Bolton in there at the UN, officially, to crack some heads! Enough of the whineboxes in the Senate.
#3
And the president of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein, said that "important friends" of Schumer and Clinton have confided to him that the senators are "seriously reconsidering" their future Jewish community funding contributions position on Bolton.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. congressional Democrats expressed alarm on Tuesday over Iraq's denunciation of Israel in the Middle East conflict, and some said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's address to Congress should be canceled unless he apologizes.
Apologizes for what? He never promised to support Israel.
A group of about 20 House of Representatives Democrats sent a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert urging the Illinois Republican to secure an apology from Maliki or cancel the address on Wednesday to a joint meeting of Congress. Some said they planned to boycott the speech.
Hastert's spokesman, Ron Bonjean, said there was no intention of canceling Maliki's speech, and he accused Democrats of "political gamesmanship during an election year."
Iraq's U.S.-backed government denounced Israel's raids on Lebanon and Gaza. Maliki last week called for "the world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression."
Meaning they're Arabs. It's a fact of life that very few Arabs are going to praise Israel for thrashing the Hezbies, even if they're scared of Iran. al-Maliki has his own problems, and saying a few words about the Zionists for domestic consumption is one less headache for him.
Senate Democrats in a letter to Maliki called his statements "very troubling" and asked for an explanation, but did not demand that his speech be canceled. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Maliki, in his White House appearance with President George W. Bush, again failed to state his view of Hizbollah, which the United States deems a terrorist organization.
"We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq. We've lost more than 2,500 American soldiers, more than 20,000 wounded. We deserve that answer," Reid said.
He's not going to get one if Maliki is smart. Trashing the Hezbies publicly will inflame a lot of Shi'a at home, and in case Harry Reid hadn't noticed (or doesn't care), things are a little difficult back home.
House Democrats in their letter to Hastert cited reports that Iraqi leaders were "increasingly influenced" by Iran, and said the "goal of the invasion in Iraq was not to remove one threat in favor of another."
Maliki isn't a threat, he's a politican who can count noses, as opposed to Saddam who just cut them off. Back home, the noses don't want any kind comments about Israel. Fact of life.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said unless Maliki "disavows his critical comments of Israel and condemns terrorism, it is inappropriate to honor him with a joint meeting of Congress."
As if Pelosi would give a damn about Israel. Her supporters certainly don't.
Most Republicans said Democrats were making unrealistic demands, and said Congress should support the struggling leader as Iraq faces mounting sectarian violence. "For him to take a strong stance that's perceived as pro-Israel where he's from is very difficult," Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback said.
Senate Republican Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called the Democrats' statements "an insult to a duly-elected leader."
But ungrateful Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter said he had "serious reservations" about Maliki's speech, and said it was "outrageous to accuse Israel of aggression when Hizbollah has been sitting on their northern border with a knife at Israel's throat for years."
It isn't Iraq's fight. If Saddam were still in power, he'd be shipping guns 'n' ammo to the Hezbies. Maliki's confined himself to a few comments. I consider that a substantial improvement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
He should've followed Jordan's and Egypt's example.
Or said nothing at all. Now that would've been an improvement.
#2
This from the party that put Carter and Moore in the convention skybox. Maliki's playing to his crowd, just as the Donks play to theirs. Hard to tell them apart at times. Most times. Pretty much all the time.
Except that, oops, America is seen as Israel's biggest backer. And, oh yeah, Israel's response is seen as part of the wider war on terror. Soooo...if Israel is the aggressor, then that means...no, wait, that's not it...
#5
The Sunnis and moderate Muslims have got to understand that any defeat = destruction of Israel does NOT mean the Radical Iranians = Radic Shia view Sunnis as equals or in benevolent compassionate friendly co-existence, or that Sunnis Islam will escape post-Israel persecution, repression, or even genocide by Radical Iran. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR, SUNNIS AND MODERS, YOU JUST MIGHT GET IT.
#6
Harry was on the radio this morning. All he wants to know is, "Does al-Maliki support Hezbollah or not? Yes or no?"
Harry - do you support President Bush? Yes or no?
Whadda fool. Up for re-election, is he?
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/26/2006 6:31 Comments ||
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#7
Once again the dems put politics above the good of the country. It's definitely in the country's interest that the government of Iraq succeed, but not in the dems interest. They could give a sh*t about the USA, and seem to have only one thought morning noon and night: How do I play this so I can keep my ass in power?
As to Maliki's comments, you have to admit he's asshat as a politician. Best thing would have been to keep his mouth shut, especially considering he was about to address a joint session of Congress.
#9
Until Arab/Muslim peoples in the area accept Israel's right to exist where it is, we're gonna be fighting this war with Arabs/Muslims. That elephant in the room needs to be named.
Uncomfortable to say, but nonetheless true.
As long as every country in the area buys into the notion that Jews deserve to die and that the state of Israel must be eliminated, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine will be minefields and others will be drawn into the fight. And since our Western peers are so reluctant to ever fight for anything, Americans, Israelis and a handful of other friends will be the only ones making sure that Jews aren't finally exterminated by the greater Muslim community, whose hatred of Israel and support of Islamic militants is well represented in Maliki's comments.
Maliki is not courageous-he's just clever. His silence about his hatred for Israel would have made no one safe. He, like his brethren, is playing a double game and we would be fools to believe he has anything in mind other than elimination of Jews and their state, Israel.
Europe's unhealthy guilt is steering the course of events; if there were more support for the state of Israel from that "international community" and its servant force of journalists, Arab and Muslim states would feel greater pressure to accept Israel. Unfortunately, the gargantuan guilt that Europe bears for the Holocaust is not as great as their wish to "win" Arab/Muslim approval for purely financial reasons.
In the war on terror, those who openly fight against hatred of Jews are among the heroic. Most of the time it's Pubs with that courage; this time, it was 2 Dems.
Posted by: Jules in the Hinterlands ||
07/26/2006 12:37 Comments ||
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#10
maliki's foreign minister has stated that Hez b allah shouldn't have crossed the border.
Give the Dems some credit. They may have bad motives but it may have come out right anyway.
CHICAGO Citing national security, a federal judge Tuesday threw out a lawsuit aimed at blocking AT&T Inc. from giving telephone records to the government for use in the war on terror. "The court is persuaded that requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal government could give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities," U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly said.
Careful with that feather there, Judge Kennelly. It almost knocked me over.
A number of such lawsuits have been filed around the country in the wake of news media reports that AT&T and other phone companies had turned records over to the National Security Administration, which specializes in communications intercepts. Kennelly's ruling was in sharp contrast to last week's decision from U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco, who said media reports of the program were so widespread there was no danger of spilling secrets. Kennelly ruled in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois on behalf of author Studs Terkel and other activists who said their constitutional rights were violated because of an NSA program of gathering phone company records.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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The only thing this confirms is that the Indian PM is gullible
Union home minister Shivraj Patil confirmed the worst suspicions of security agencies on Tuesday when he said that terrorists had taken advantage of buses and trains launched as part of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) to sneak in from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The acknowledgement was based on the intelligence input that those who came here to watch cricket matches and went missing (11 of them from Mohali in 2005) might have been terrorists. This has become a serious area of concern as security agencies track terror suspects in the wake of the Mumbai blasts.
Replying to an adjournment motion moved by BJP in Lok Sabha, the home minister elaborated that terror had spread its tentacles not just in border towns but well into the hinterland.
The minister said, "Terrorists have come through water and air taking advantage of the friendly atmosphere...the warmth in ties."
The adverse side-effects of the people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan may prove to be a dampener for CBM enthusiasts who have advocated cultural interaction with neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.
While interaction is seen to bring down barriers and dissolve stereotypes, Pakistani visitors can see whether conditions in India tally with PTV propaganda, there are security concerns in the CBMs being abused.
Posted by: john ||
07/26/2006 15:15 ||
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#1
So the Indian taxpayer finances the bus service that delivers terrorists to their cities. Nice.
The bus leaving Indian Kashmir has been running EMPTY most days, with the occasional single passenger.
Manmohan Singh needs to get a clue.
Posted by: john ||
07/26/2006 15:26 Comments ||
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So the Indian taxpayer finances the bus service that delivers terrorists to their cities. Nice.
The seminaries, known as madrassas, pledged on Tuesday to resist moves to expel foreign students, a year after the government said they would all be sent home as part of a drive to counter extremism and terrorism. President Musharraf decided in the wake of the July 7 bomb blasts in London that all foreigners studying at madrassas should leave by the end of 2005, as their presence was giving Pakistan a bad reputation as a breeding ground for militancy. The government later relaxed the deadline in a compromise with clerics in charge of the madrassas, but the authorities have recently turned down extensions to students' visas and threatened them with deportation.
"We will not hand them over at any cost," Mohammad Hanif Jallandari, a cleric at the Ittehad-e-Tanzeemul Madaris, told a press conference. When Musharraf issued orders for foreigners studying in madrasas to go home, he said there were over 1,000 in the country. Authorities say most have left but there are still 200 in Pakistan, mostly studying in madrassas in Karachi. Jallandari said madrassas were not taking any new foreign students.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Pakistan and Iran are the biggest future threat to world peace. This is one of the key reasons why. This, combined with the fact that they have nuclear weapons and have millions of people in utterly uncontrolled tribal lands. If ever there were a region that was going to be turned into an ash tray, this is it.
The grand tribal jirga will meet key North Waziristan militant commanders today (Wednesday) as the Taliban hope that a negotiated peace settlement is "not far off". A jirga member told Daily Times from Miranshah that the meeting with key Taliban commanders near Razmak was important and the jirga would present proposals for their consideration. He, however, declined to give details of the proposals, saying that complete secrecy was necessary to help broker peace in North Waziristan.
Purported Taliban spokesman Abdullah Farhad confirmed contacts with the jirga members, saying: "Things are moving in the right direction."
"The Taliban and civil and military establishments are serious in finding a negotiated settlement and their willingness is understandable since both sides have suffered heavily during the operations," the jirga member said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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The US government has handed over a fresh list of 21 "most wanted" persons to Pakistan and has asked the federal interior ministry bosses to arrange for their extradition immediately so that they can be put on trial for their crimes against the United States of America and its citizens.
The USA has also offered to help Islamabad 'sensitise' Pakistani judges by arranging seminars in Pakistan to facilitate early extradition of these wanted men as delayed judicial proceedings have resulted in delayed justice. Top level sources confirmed to Daily Times that out of 21, 14 cases of extradition relate to drug barons wanted in the USA. However, sources said the interior ministry is keeping these names secret to avoid any adverse fallout in Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Heh, think of it as a test, Perv. If you pass, well, we'll keep talking to you and pretending you're in control of something. If not, well, hot pursuit and far more cooperation with India is in order. Of course, we may do those anyway.
(KUNA) -- Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf Tuesday underlining the importance of national security said that defence of the country is strong and no body dares cast an evil eye on it. He, while inaugurating a palm oil refinery in southern Karachi port city, a joint venture with Malaysia, said that the power comes from strength and no body should be under any illusion. Security is a necessity and Pakistan would ensure it any cost, said President Musharraf. Talking on his diplomatic efforts to resolve Lebanese crisis, he said that he is in close contact with his Malaysian counterpart over important issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Saddam Hussein has asked the court in his trial in Baghdad to execute him by firing squad -- "not by hanging as a common criminal" -- if it convicts him of all charges and sentences him to death. So for your last meal, you'd prefer lead to rope? Noted.
The former Iraqi leader said he was forcibly taken into court in the Irai capital against his will Wednesday morning from a hospital where he was being treated for the effects of a hunger strike. Thinner but combative, Hussein was making his first appearance in court since his hunger strike and hospitalization. He again rejected the tribunal as an agent of the U.S. occupation. Hussein's defense lawyers were not in court Wednesday as they continued a boycott started last month after one of them was kidnapped and killed. Among other things, they demanded increased security for the defense team.
Wednesday's session began with a 20-minute lecture by Hussein to the judges in which he complained that he was removed from his hospital bed where he was receiving nourishment through an IV and nasal feeding tube for the past three days. He said he has not eaten since he started a hunger strike on July 8. "The Americans brought me here against my will," Hussein said. He said he did not physically resist them since he is not a young man. Chief Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman read a medical report saying Hussein was fit to appear in court.
Hussein questioned why the court has not met his lawyers demands for more security. "Half of them have been killed," he said. In fact, three defense lawyers have died since the trial started last October, but only one worked directly for Hussein.
At the end of his speech -- in which Hussein looked at his court-appointed lawyer and told him he was "an enemy of the people -- the former Iraqi leader told the judges "I refuse to stand in front of this court. Take whatever measures you want." He then sat down and listened quietly as that court-appointed lawyer began to deliver a closing argument on his behalf.
"Boy, do you have bad timing. If you hadn't invaded Kuwait and then thumbed your nose at those UN resolutions, right now you could be leading the Arab world against Iran, instead of awaiting a long drop on a short rope."
Posted by: Steve ||
07/26/2006 13:54 Comments ||
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#13
I think he should be excuted by a firing squad. Of course, I also think he shoudl be executed the way that Black Jack Pershing executed Muslim rebels in the Philippines: Bring in a pig, slaughter it, have all the firing squad dip their bullets in the blood, and fire away.
On the other hand, there is that recycling advantage to hanging - the Iraqis can use the same rope on all of Saddam's guilty henchmen, rather than wasting bullets.
#14
The marksmen should consist of one Shiite Marsh Arab, one Kurd and one Sunni with clean hands. The first one should shoot him in the balls. An hour later, the second one should shoot him in the knee caps. Once he's screamed for a good hour or so, the last one should expose the back of his head to the outside world.
Posted by: Tibor ||
07/26/2006 15:41 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush told Turkish Prime Minster Tayyip Erdogan that the United States wants to deal more aggressively with cross-border attacks by Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, the White House said on Tuesday.
"We have talked about establishing a trilateral framework between the United States, Iraq and Turkey to address this issue," national security adviser Stephen Hadley said after Bush met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. "We have already identified some steps that can be taken and that the Iraqis are going to take," he told reporters.
Sounds good. Whacking the PKK perhaps isn't the first priority for the Iraqi government, but it should be on the list.
"There have to be concrete steps we can take to show both Iraqis and Turks that there is a plan to deal with that problem and that it is something we have to address more aggressively," Hadley said. "The president has made that assurance to Prime Minister Erdogan ... Now we've got to deliver on it."
Diplomats say Turkey is frustrated that the United States accepts Israel's right to launch attacks against its enemies over the border in Lebanon while remaining opposed to Ankara taking unilateral action against the PKK in Iraq. The United States, like Turkey and the European Union, views the PKK as a terrorist organization but says broader security problems in Iraq prevent the kind of full-scale military crackdown on the group that Ankara demands.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The problem is that the Kurds are frustrated that the US accepts Turkey's right to brutalize the Kurdish population and, in fact, has armed Turkey for many decades for this purpose. There is also a great frustration with the fact that there is no political avenue open for the Kurdish people. Democracy is strictly a cosmetic.
Ever since December, 2004, when the EU agreed to open accession negotiations, arbitrary detentions, torture, extrajudicial murders and impunity of security forces have been on the increase. Add to that the fact that there have been serious allegations of TSK use of chemical weapons against the gerîlas on several occasions this year, one of which included the discovery of a mass grave of gerîlas killed in 2003. This is the last straw which caused an uprising in March.
90% of the population of Amed (Diyarbakir) supports PKK. I would estimate that in other areas the percentage of support is higher. This means that out of a population of 20 million, Turkey and the US will have to get rid of some 18 million Kurds in order to get rid of PKK.
Kurds have nothing else to lose. It's very unfortunate from my side of it, but brutality and slavery is not acceptable.
Posted by: Azad ||
07/26/2006 13:54 Comments ||
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"90% of the population of Amed (Diyarbakir) supports PKK. I would estimate that in other areas the percentage of support is higher."
by Rich Noyes at NewsBusters Emphasis added; hit the link for a transcript and still photos.
On Mondays "Anderson Cooper 360," CNNs Anderson Cooper related his visit to a Hezbollah-controlled section of Beirut where he was supposed to photograph certain damaged buildings, part of the terrorist groups strategy of generating news stories about Lebanese civilian casualities caused by Israeli bombs.
But instead of merely transmitting Hezbollahs unverified and unverifiable claims to the outside world, Cooper to his credit exposed the efforts by Hezbollah to manipulate CNN and other Western reporters. Its quite a contrast from the much more accommodating approach taken by his colleague, Nic Robertson, in a report that aired on a variety of CNN programs (including AC360) back on July 18, a report that Robertson himself has now conceded was put together under Hezbollah's control.
Unlike Robertson, Cooper was explicit about how Hezbollahs operatives had set all of the rules: Young men on motor scooters followed our every movement. They only allowed us to videotape certain streets, certain buildings, he explained. He countered Hezbollah claims that Israel targets civilians by pointing out that the group based itself in civilian areas and that Israel's air force drops leaflets warning of attacks.
Cooper exposed for CNN viewers that the sight of speeding ambulances, sirens blaring, was just a phony play staged by Hezbollah: One by one, theyve been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians....These ambulances arent responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect.
CNN showed cameramen from other news organizations dutifully photographing the ambulances as they went by.
Anderson Cooper is my new favorite news guy.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/26/2006 11:59 ||
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#1
A newsman at CNN with ethics. Good for him!! Just might get me to watch his show.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/26/2006 12:24 Comments ||
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#3
I saw that show and my jaw did drop at that comment by Anderson. I watch his show occationaly however I really hate his self-loving glamor shots. Reporters should report stories not report themselves near the story. But decent show worth checking out especially the late night one when Fox is just stuck in reruns of earlier shows. I would like to see Fox change that practise.
#4
I guess he only gets one shot at this, so he made it a good one. I wonder if he'll get any more interviews with terrorists anywhere in the region. Don't expect any other reporters to file similar reports any time soon, especially CNN.
Fifteen years from now, amid the rubble of a war-torn city in a distant land, a strange creature lurks in the dark. Encased in lightweight climate-controlled body armour, humming with electricity and bristling with sensors, this fighting man-machine is constantly updated with battlefield information via a glowing monocular display. Meet the soldier of the future.
Several countries are pursuing this vision of a networked infantryman dripping with technology, and, while the US Army's Integrated Future Force Warrior project leads the way in R&D investment and ambition, other nations are making significant headway with their own initiatives. Alongside Slovenia's 21st Century Warrior, Australia's Land 125, Portugal's Soldado do Futuro, Felin in France and the Swedish Markus programme, almost every militarised nation is investigating the concept of the 'future soldier'.
Continued on Page 49
Michelle Malkin reports that Indonesia has become so Islamic, that Muslims have targeted Indonesia's Miss Universe contestant Nadine Chandrawinata for death. Of course, regardless if Nadine Chandrawinata was Muslim and in a head to toe burka, if she was Shiite, the Sunni's would demand her death, or vice versa. Must be "exciting" to be a Muslim. So many other people to kill...
#2
Walid Jumblatt: "Great, so he's a hero. But I'd like to challenge this heroism of his. I have the right to challenge it, because my country is in flames. Besides, we did not agree... We agreed on an agenda with regard to Palestine. If the agenda changes, that will be another matter. The agenda with regard to Palestine, on which we agreed, includes the establishment of a [Palestinian] state alongside Israel, the right of return, Jerusalem as the capital, the demolition of the wall of humiliation, and the dismantling of the settlements. This is our agenda at this point in time. In his political speeches, [Nasrallah] says: 'I do not recognize the state of Israel, and I want to set out from South Lebanon to liberate Palestine in its entirety.' This is what he is doing. If this is his agenda, I have the right to oppose it."
#5
It finally occurred to me that the reason the Arab world is so adamant about the "Right of Return" is that they want to get the Palestinians the hell out of their countries to someplace else where they can become someone else's problem. If the Palestinians ever moved back to an Israel without Jews and the aid shut off, they would starve within two years.
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt struck a defiant tone on Tuesday amid an ongoing Israeli assault on Lebanon. "Today, we are heading toward the unknown but we have no choice but to resist and to support our brothers in the South," Jumblatt said. The head of the Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc praised the struggle being made by Southern residents and Hizbullah against "the Israeli murder and destruction machine," but warned the fight would be a long one.
"Unfortunately, the Syrian regime has achieved its promise," he added. "[Syrian President] Bashar Assad told [late former Prime Minister] Rafik Hariri in August 2004: 'If [French President Jacques] Chirac wants to oust me from Lebanon, I will destroy your country," Jumblatt said. "What is happening today makes us more determined to build a democratic and independent country, establish diplomatic relations with Syria, demarcate the borders in the Shebaa Farms and discuss Hizbullah's arms," the PSP leader said. "And when [Hizbullah leader] Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah tells us that his weapons are efficient and sharp, we will tell him that they would have been more efficient if they were within the government's defense strategy," he added.
Meanwhile, parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri said "radical solutions should be reached [to the escalating violence] because we don't want such a crisis to be repeated."
"We need to empower the government and rebuild all of what the Israelis destroyed in all the Lebanese territories," the Future Movement leader told Al-Arabiyya television station on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Syria's ambassador to the United States denied Monday a report that Damascus was ready to help Washington track down Al Qaeda cells in Lebanon. "No, this is untrue," Ambassador Imad Moustapha told CNN television, rejecting a report by Britain's Sky News television that Syria was prepared to tell the United States the whereabouts of Al Qaeda cells in Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
It's true. Bashar himself and almost all his regime are busy compiling a long list of every Al Qaeda member in Syria, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, etc.. And Bin Laden's hiding places, too! And they said Al Qaeda guys are morons who drink camel pi$$.
Venezuela is sending two jets to evacuate Venezuelans who fled Lebanon amid ongoing fighting between the Israeli military and Hezbollah guerrillas, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
The country is coordinating with the Syrian government to send the planes, which each have a capacity of 300 people, Reinaldo Bolivar, deputy foreign minister for Africa, said. The planes will leave Tuesday night are expected to arrive in Syria on Thursday.
Venezuela's ambassador to Syria, Dia Nader de El Andari, said 700 Venezuelans at the embassy were waiting to be evacuated, but officials "expect many more" to seek safe passage out of Lebanon. Never realized there were so many Levantine Bolivarians
#1
These 700 are probably terrorists being brought to venezuela for future smuggling into US nothing chavez does is benign. pray for turbulence & flocks of birds.
An Israeli bomb destroyed a UN observer post on the border in southern Lebanon, killing two peacekeepers with two others feared dead under the rubble. UN chief Kofi Annan said Israel appeared to have struck the site deliberately.
Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman expressed his "deep regret" for the deaths and denied Isarel hit the post intentionally. "I am shocked and deeply distressed by the hasty statement of the secretary-general, insinuating that Israel has deliberately targeted the UN post," he said, calling the assertions "premature and erroneous." The IDF said in response that it deeply regretted the "tragic death" of the UN personnel and vowed to investigate the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Smells like another 'Gaza beach shelling' incident to me. Kill your own people, or your friends in this case, and blame it on the Joos. The MSM, etc. etc. lap it up, cos it's what they want to hear.
#2
"I am sure the Israelis targeted our outpost deliberately. OK, so we were giving some tactical information to our buds in Hezbollah, but so what. I mean, we've been doing that for years now. What got the jew-boys knickers in a twist this time??? I'm really pissed. They are not going to believe the heavy handed letter of condemnation that I am going to write. And my buds at ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC, CNN and lots of other places are going to back me up 100%. Yeah, them jooooos really stepped in it this time."
"So, where we goin to dinner. I'm famished...Your buying tonight right?"
#5
When the UN allowed Hizb'allah to build observation posts right next to the UN ones it lost all it's vanunted "peace keeper" trappings. Goofy Asshat is going to have to get over it.
#6
Did those morons really allow Hez observation posts to be placed anywhere near UN observation posts? If so, I'll bet they don't do that again.
When Kofi said it was deliberate, perhaps he just meant that the Israelis hit what they were aiming for. Unless someone knows differently, I am going to assume what was not reported, or what Kofi did not say was that the Israelis just didn't know it was occupied by UN observers instead of Hez. It seems logical that it would have been occupied by Hez observers because they have no morals and because there should have been no UN observers there. It also seems logical to me that Kofi is going to be covering his a$$ on this one, just like he does on all his screwups, by blaming something "unforeseeable or incomprehensible" about the combat.
#7
What an IRRESPONSIBLE thing to say!!!!! Proof? Evidence? None. What an SOB he is. I have nothing but contempt for this asswipe.
He simply makes an accusatory declaration. This is a statesman? A diplomat? Nah. Just the leader of the UN....and we know how reasonable and objective that group of petrowhores peace loving, fair minded, balanced body is.
#9
Well, when you house Hezbollah in UN post, what the fuck do you expect to happen? I encourage Israel to hit more UN targets. And the US too. Like Turtle Bay.
#10
"Furthermore, the source added, the strike came after repeated requests by UNTSO commanders to the IDF not to strike that specific position."
If true, this is could become a collosal blunder politically. It's not like the target was a mistake. Bottom line...UN get out now! It's not like your referees judging a vollyball game.
#12
Question 1-Why isn't the UN "cuttin and runnin" as quickly as they did in Iraq after then unknown Zark blew up the non secured UN mission.
Question 2- I am certain Kofi wants the investigation to proceed as "thoughtfully and carefully" as the "oil for food" investigation, right?
Question 3- What if it is found the IDF precision strike set off an unforeseen secondary explosion? Kofi knows this for sure?
#14
Those UN deaths are on Kofi's hands. This is why we don't let politicians run armies.
What dumb fuckin Kofi doesn't realize is that as soon as the Hezb are through using his blue hats, they will kill the blue hats in a flash. Kofi should be evacuating his troops NOW.
While at it, give Hizballs bonus points for using blue hats as human shields. Creativity counts for something.
#15
Kofi's comments are predictable. He's long since given up any pretense of fairness. The automatic knee-jerk moral equivalency arguments are unpacked every time there's a crisis.
The more Kofi automatically equates civilized people with cockroaches, the more irrelevant he becomes, and the need for the US to quit the UN becomes more apparent.
#16
Ok. Now I have some questions for Kofi.
The UNiFIL guys were observvers. Did they observe Hizbollah building bunkers and moving in rocket launchers ?
Did they say "hey you can't do that here." ?
Did they report these doings to the UN ?
Where are these reports ?
What did you do about it ?
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
07/26/2006 11:50 Comments ||
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#17
Did any UN observer ever report Hezb activity?
Even once? Ever?
It is time to DEMAND an answer.
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
07/26/2006 11:53 Comments ||
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#18
Remember, Kofi and other new world order moonbats think that the UN should use taxes to support their own army. Well, once again, reason is provided why Americans will not serve under the UN banner, or under UN command.
This is also a reminder of how useless the UN has become.
#19
Given that these guys were all from 3rd world armies, what do think that the odds are that they were almost every one of them subborned by Hizb'allan? (Hmmm. Cooperate and live or report honestly and get a metric ton of Allan's love sent to your compound special delivery. What do you think a Ghanian battalion commander is going to choose?) Leaving observers (who ususally aren't armed or only lightly so) in a war zone is unprecedented. Was Hizb'allan in effect holding them hostage by not allowing them to leave? If I am reading Wetchard's round up correctly, then Hizb'allan has been using the the OPs to shelter their firing positions and civilian population (and probably fighters) for he length of the conflict.
#22
"Given that these guys were all from 3rd world armies, what do think that the odds are that they were almost every one of them subborned by Hizb'allan?"
Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, looking extremely tired, defiantly vowed Wednesday that his guerrilla fighters would begin firing rockets deeper into Israel, beyond the northern port of Haifa, and said the Jewish state's two-week-long military offensive against Lebanon was linked to a US-Israeli plan for "a new Middle East."
"I declare that we will enter the 'beyond Haifa' stage," the bearded and black-turbanned Shiite cleric said in a speech on Hezbollah's al-Manar television in the early hours of Wednesday. "In the new stage, our attacks will not remain limited to Haifa. Irrespective of the reaction of the enemy forces on the rocketing of Haifa, we will move to the stage of 'beyond Haifa."'
Nasrallah appeared to mock Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who just concluded the first American diplomatic foray in the region since the fighting began July 12 and repeatedly said there was no place in "a new Middle East" for Hezbollah or other Islamist groups bent on Israel's destruction. Rice also backed Israel's refusal to negotiate a quick cease-fire, claiming a lasting settlement could not be reached until Hizbullah was disarmed and unable to launch rocket attacks on Israeli towns and villages.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Wonder what he's getting at with the contention that Israel planned a sneak attack in October but he forced their hand? Maybe it was he who planned such an attack and he's 'projecting' being "extremely tired" and all.
In a SPIEGEL interview, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, 48, discusses Israel's bombing attacks on Lebanon, a weak Lebanese government that has been unable to contain Hezbollah and the roles played by Syria and Iran in the current conflict.
SPIEGEL: Madam Minister, after Hezbollah attacked a patrol and kidnapped two soldiers, your government launched a military offensive that you defend as your right to self defense. But what does the bombing of Beirut have to do with a right to self defense?
Livni: The legitimacy of our answer relies on the size of the threat and not a specific attack. Hezbollah as a real threat to us is a fact that is acknowledged by the entire world. Sheik Nasrallah wants to assume the position of a provocateur to prevent peace in the area of Israel and Lebanon. Israel will fight the Hezbollah wherever they are. Their command center is in southern Beirut. This is why we bombed this area.
SPIEGEL: Why did the Israeli air force bomb the Beirut airport?
Livni: We wanted to prevent two things: the transportation of the two soldiers to an area outside Lebanon and the import of weapons.
SPIEGEL: The parents of the kidnapped soldiers are pushing for the release of Arab prisoners from Israeli jails to exchange for their sons.
Livni: I am in contact with the parents of the kidnapped soldiers. Of course we have a responsibility to them. But we also have to protect the interests of the Israeli government. We are demanding the unconditional release of the soldiers and we expect the global community to support us in that.
SPIEGEL: How do you react to the massive international criticism of the many innocent victims?
Livni: I very much regret the civilian victims. But there is a very significant difference between us and our enemies: we are defending ourselves against anyone who attacks us and use every means possible to prevent hitting civilians. The Hezbollah, however, intentionally aims its weapons at the houses of uninvolved citizens, at women and children. Israel only attacks areas where, according to our knowledge, there are terrorists. The problem is that the Hezbollah hides some of its weapons in apartment houses.
SPIEGEL: Does that justify the growing number of civilians that have been killed?
Livni: As the government of the state of Israel we are faced with a dilemma: do we expose our citizens to this threat or do we attack? Incidentally, we are doing something that no other country would do -- we warn the people using Lebanese television, radio and flyers that we spread over the affected areas. We ask the people to leave their homes and get themselves to safety.
SPIEGEL: What is the goal of the military action?
Livni: It's not only about the goal of the military action but about the demands of the international community that we explicitly share. They are: there must be a government and an army in Lebanon. There can no longer be militias and terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah. Hezbollah must be completely disarmed. They should no longer have the ability to be armed by Syria and Iran. In southern Lebanon there can be no more Hezbollah bases. The Lebanese army must be stationed there in its place. The global community a while ago demanded that the Lebanese government fulfill its responsibilities. It hasn't yet done so.
SPIEGEL: The complicated political situation in Lebanon makes the Lebanese government extremely weak. How can they be held fully responsible for Hezbollah's violent acts under these conditions?
Livni: Whether weak or strong, a government carries the responsibility for whatever happens within its country. We are currently considering the question of whether we must strengthen the Lebanese government from the outside so that it would be able to fulfill its responsibilities.
SPIEGEL: Don't Syria and Iran carry considerably greater responsibility for the violent acts committed by the Hezbollah?
Livni: Hezbollah is the long arm of Iran. They share the same horrible ideology. It's an ideology of hate that is fed by the wish to destroy Israel. Syria supports Hezbollah by, on the one hand, providing weapons and, on the other, acting as a conduit for weapons deliveries from other countries.
SPIEGEL: Are you afraid that Syria and Iran could get involved in the war?
Livni: I hope that they don't give into this temptation. They would be making a serious mistake.
SPIEGEL: Would the deployment of international peacekeepers be a way to end this conflict?
Livni: We are reviewing this possibility. But the most dangerous move in the current situation would be a cease-fire without an agreement for the day after. The international community should not demand a cease-fire that creates a vacuum. It would be a victory for the Hezbollah.
SPIEGEL: Has the international community done too little to disarm Hezbollah?
Livni: The international community has already achieved one major success -- the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon. It was one of the few times where the world presented a united and unwavering front and sparked a positive process. Now we need to finish the work.
SPIEGEL: Was the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the security zone in southern Lebanon in 2000 a mistake?
Livni: I don't currently busy myself with 'if only' questions. Israel made a decision at the time that, as we see today, wasn't without risk. The same could be said about the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Israel is also attacked with rockets from there and a soldier was also kidnapped there. This is why the international community should give Israel even greater support now.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Not a bad interview. Livni was on-topic and on-target all the way. I particularly liked this bit:
SPIEGEL: Are you afraid that Syria and Iran could get involved in the war?
Livni: I hope that they don't give into this temptation. They would be making a serious mistake.
A serious mistake, indeed, but I pray it will happen - and very very soon. Pushing Hezb off the border and killing some or many of them won't end anything. Full regime change in Iran is the only thing that will end this particular nightmare.
#5
Any end of this war short of removing Islam from the face of the earth is a failure. Throughout history these bastards have gotten off the ground after total defeat and regrouped to fight and murder another day. Not until the human race can rid itself of this brain rot, Islam, can we proudly declare victory. It makes no sense to pass a still warm carcass to our children.
As invasions go, it lacked punch: 200 troops and five pickup trucks with machine guns. You can find 10 times the firepower in a NASCAR parking lot. Still, it was an invasion, and as the Ethiopia-Somalia war threatened to enter its second week ...
Oh, who cares. Even though Somalia is run by Islamists so extreme they make the Taliban look like lapsed Unitarians, the progressive peace movement would take notice of the region only if Uncle Satan intervened to help Ethiopia support the U.N.-recognized government. And then the progressives would rally to the Islamist cause. Recent anti-Israel protests remind us again of our era's peculiar alliance: The most violent, intolerant, militantly religious movement in modern times has the peace movement on its side.
The usual delusions are abundant. The progressives imagine they're the vanguard shielding the last jot of human rights from the ever-gathering fascist storm. (Forget the executions in Somalia for the crime of watching the World Cup; there's a rumor Wal-Mart won't offer the usual new-release discount for DVDs of Al Gore's eco-doc.) They imagine that conservatives support Israel because they want to convert Jews and usher in the last book in the "Left Behind" series. They have internalized the Palestinian narrative so deeply they blame the "occupation" for rocket attacks coming out of territory no longer occupied. They're so convinced of their rectitude that the obscenity of an Israeli flag spattered with swastikas makes perfect sense: Why, if the Israelis weren't actually Nazis, the progressives wouldn't oppose them. They marched with communists for Worker's Rights, regardless of whether anyone in communist countries had a job or any rights. And now they march with Hezbollah supporters for Peace and Justice.
And so you have George Galloway, the British politician who was the progressives' darling when he sparred with Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., in some Senate hearings about Oil for Food corruption, proclaiming his love and support for Hezbollah's leader. You have the Dutch Socialist Party leader equating Islamic terrorism to the resistance of the Dutch against the Nazis. In London, the woolly-minded pawns marched beneath banners that said "We are all Hizbullah." Really? Is that why there's a rocket launcher at my kid's day care? Makes sense now. In Sydney, the progressives dutifully trotted alongside the city's Islamic "spiritual leader" under a sign that called Gaza a "holocaust" -- a word no doubt chosen at random without knowledge of its historical antecedents.
In Montreal, in Los Angeles, in Boston: City after city hosts merry rallies where Hezbollah sympathizers join earnest Greens and "peace" activists to howl out support for an Iranian-funded army that has taken Lebanon away from its people and strangled its revolution. You'd think they would root for the people who rose up against the Syrian occupation, no? Wouldn't that be, well, progressive?
Not if the U.S. is shipping guided munitions to help Israel blow up bad guy hidey-holes. That trumps all. Given the left's romance with revolution and guerrillas, it'll be only a matter of time before Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah appears on T-shirts like Che, and his merry band are lionized as the new Viet Cong. Hezbollah builds schools, you know. Granted, they're schools where the biology lesson consists of sawing off the heads of infidel frogs. But they build schools!
Imagine rallies in 1939 in which brownshirts taunted Jews, screamed NO BLOOD FOR BEER, blamed Pearl Harbor on FDR, and called for the destruction of the French Entity while peace activists applauded. That's what we have today. It's like watching Nazis and Quakers as ballroom dance partners.
This hasn't infected the mainstream left, but the Democrats have a nasty chancre on their periphery. There has been a fascinating debate over a Daily Kos blog about whether Israel has a right to exist, and whether the U.S. should be attacked for supporting the Zionist Thingamabob. (To quote Rev. Lovejoy of "The Simpsons": Short answer, no with a but; long answer, yes with a maybe.) It's a site many high-profile Democrats have courted. Jimmy Carter posted there, as did John Kerry.
There'll be a Sister Souljah moment when the Democrats have to disavow the progressive base, and the sooner the better. If only Halliburton had built Hezbollah's underground bunkers. That would change a few minds. Ah -- the real enemy shows its face again.
What is the likelihood that the op-ed writer, or cartoonist, or university professor who rants about the evils of Zionism is really an old-fashioned Jew-hater? Much better than most of us thought, according to a study in the August 2006 issue of The Journal of Conflict Resolution...
...Even after controlling for numerous potentially confounding factors, we find that anti-Israel sentiment consistently predicts the probability that an individual is anti-Semitic, with the likelihood of measured anti-Semitism increasing with the extent of anti-Israel sentiment observed...
Think about it: you will NEVER seen one of those people complain about ANY other nationalism (including say Arab nationalism), you will NEVER see them complain about Turk occupation of Cypriotic lands or say, about Arab occupation of Kurdjsk lands and in tyhe same vain they will colmplain about fate of Arab minorities in Israel (the onluy Arabs who can vote) instead of about the Copts in Egypt and about Israeli atrocities each time a Palestinians suffers acratch all while Sudanese are being massacred.
Oh and I forgot that ALL the Palestinian organizations have proclaimùied their goal of a second Shoah. You you also should see the violence of the anti-Jewish posts in some blogs those guys who support them are notr merely anti-Jewish: theyn hate Jews as much as hard-core Nazis did.
#8
I think it's a mis-diagnosis to say that the moonbats are anti-semites. Most of the anti-Israel sentiment on the far Left is different mental condition - it afflicts many Jews as well. The condition is that their ideology corrupts their thinking causing mass hallucination. When they look at Hamas or Hezbollah or even al-Qaida, they don't see the Hezbollah that you and I see, the one that exists. They see Che and Fidel, or Nelson Mandela or maybe even Luke Skywalker and the rebellion - meaning that Israel and the US are "The Empire" (as the famous lefty book by Hart and Negri is titled). Nothing that Hezbollah does or says can penetrate this delusion, no matter how badly they misbehave.
I don't think it does the Right any service to go around casting accusations of anti-Semitism. That's just a mirror of the Left's tactics in smearing others as racists. The people who hear it don't buy it. When you argue with a moonbat about Israel, stick to other pro-Israel arguments, the simple bed-rock facts: Hezbollah is not a liberation movement. They are insane fanatics. They are the enemy of everything we hold dear. We, being lefties and righties, Christians and Jews, atheists and agnostics. They are also the enemy of sane, moderate Arabs and Muslims.
Of course with people like Pat Buchanan...then they really do hate Jews.
#9
M. Moonbat, I'm going to make what might appear a relatively arcane point. I agree with what you say, except I would differentiate anti-semitism from being anti-semitic. On the Left anti-semitism is reflexsive. It doesn't represent a deep jew hating core of the true anti-semite.
I'd characterize it as mental sloppiness that anyone (every one) on the Left needs to make sense of their nonsensical world view.
In our modern world, for the Left, every one is a victim and therefore there has to be a victimizer. These are vaguely defined - big business, government and the Middle East it's the Jews (when it's not the Americans or the 'colonial powers').
#10
THe Left is, ultimately, anti-God. The end point of Socialism is to replace all other loyalties with loyalty to the state. The state directs all, becomes the source of all rights and all benevolence. God is a competitor to the state, so God and the worship of God must be suppressed.
Given all that, little wonder that the Left is so reflexively hostile to the Chosen People of God.
(Do note, also, that the Left isn't exactly friendly to us "fundo breeder Christers" either.)
Posted by: Mike ||
07/26/2006 5:44 Comments ||
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#11
We can think of it then as a subset of antisemitism, Monsieur Moonbat, or a reliable predictor -- that's what this study says. The summary above says that the two are statistically linked, with correlative increases in intensity. Whether moonbat anti-Zionistic sentiments predispose a person to extending the hatred to all Jews (even the one's own Jewishness, clearly), or whether unacknowledged antisemitism leads a person into hating the only Jewish state does not appear to have been addressed in this study. As I think about the question of causality -- the study design to tease out cause v. effect for this kind of thinking would have to be large scale, longitudinal from childhood (at least two decades I think, to properly cover adult-onset changes in thinking), address psychiatric as well as psychological issues, familial attitudes and issues that might predispose to such thought (or non-thought?) processes... and controlled against other common bigotries (eg. in the US, black v. white racism -- or control for race and keep the study participants all white, sexism -- do such people also get stuck at the boys/girls are icky/stupid stage?). The results, too, are likely to be highly controversial -- think of the screams of rage if it turns out that strong antisemitism/anti-Zionism and similar strong world-conspiracy bigotries result from a subtle but debilitating brain chemistry imbalance or lesion, easily identifiable once we know what to look for, and possibly fixed pharmacologically or with a simple surgery to remove a lesion or microadenoma... or identifiable but unfixable.
Of course, I'm not even an amateur in the fields of psychology, statistics or study design, so make of all that what you will. ;-)
#13
Prefrontal lobotomy would be just fine for me, as long as the care of the drooling idiots resulting from the operation (how can you tell the difference?) is left to their family.
#14
It may be old news, but the stduy does make some valid points. It's not really fair to dismiss it out of hand. As to the apparent contradiction of Jews themselves being anti-Jewish, the phenomenon of the self-loathing Jew is well documented.
#15
Leftists & Islamists suffer from basically the same mental illness: malignant narcissism that disables the ability to feel empathy or develop a conscience, and assures them of their own superiority. This blinding self-absorption and misplaced feelings of superiority leads to self-reinforcing delusions of being persecuted and victimized. This naturally leads to wild conspiracy theories about who's doing the persecuting and victimizing, and of course the oppressors have to be masterfully diabolical to plan and execute such broad and complex plots. The depth of evil they imagine in their oppressors in turn justifies any means necessary to resist it.
So it's plain why their tortured logic inevitably winds up in the same place. The diagnosis is the same for lefties as for terrorists, calling for the same treatment: copious doses of lead.
Posted by: ST ||
07/26/2006 8:48 Comments ||
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#16
Sometimes those of us involved with non-Jewish groups must make hard decisions even without invoking labels.
Labels? Ohhh, you mean like old-fashioned Jew-hater, anti-Israel, stupid and/or treacherous, functional anti-Semitism, and bigots? Yeah, that might be helpful for a more reasoned discourse.
Pat Buchanan, when he talks about Israel, sounds much like your standard leftist - They have a right to exist BUT. And folks farther along then Pat, do the same thing "im against Zionism, not Judaism". Or Robert Novak. Or David Duke.
The Anti-Israel/antisemitic relationship is a generic one, that is not about what you think about private property, the class structure, or even G-d.
And this study addresses something thats been a real concern. Now I understand that Antisemitism is NOT the same thing as Antizionism, and that in theory its quite possible to be an antizionist without being an antisemite. And so its necessary for those of us who are pro-Israel to be cautious in calling our opponents antisemites, because to do so without clear evidence tends to damn us more than our opponents. However it has also always struck me that antizionism IS a convenient cover for antisemitism, and that MANY antizionists are antisemites, to the point where the correlation is very significant. But its hard to make that more subtle case heard, against both the antizionists who deny it, and the more softline prozionists, who are so afraid of appearing unreasonable (sometimes for reasons similar to my own, but sometimes not) that they censor their own legitimate intuition of the connection between antizionism and antisemitism.
The existence of an actual, statistically based study, published in a journal with a generally progressive agenda (conflict resolution) is VERY helpful in making our case, I think.
TW is correct - its much harder to prove A causes B (or B causes A) then to show that A and B are correlated, without showing direction of causation. However I think in the current discourse establishing the link is much more important than establishing the direction of causality.
#20
It's easy to pick them out.
When they complain about Israel I ask them how they feel about TAiwan.
If they have no opinion on Taiwan then theiir opinion on Israel is from bias.
The people who think that Al Qaeda and Hizbollah are the good revolutionaries need to think about how they would feel if the KKK set up in their state like Hizzbolllah is set up in Lebanonn.
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
07/26/2006 11:20 Comments ||
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#21
Mike (#10) nails it. And it all comes from our favorite lunatic German philosopher, GWF Hegel:
"The State is the march of God through the World, its ground is the power of reason realizing itself as will." -- (Philosophy of Law)
The progressive, post-modern, deconstructionist Left is, as was Marx, Lenin, Mussolini and Hitler, completely Hegelian: the State is supposed to provide for all citizens, and all citizens are to realize their potential through the goodness of the State.
And the State is jealous, it tolerates no competing gods. Whether one is an observant Jew, a fundamental Christian, a Muslim or a Buddhist is irrelevant: the religious person gives his ultimate loyalty to God and not the State.
Few people have done more to harm this world than GWF Hegel.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/26/2006 11:41 Comments ||
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#22
Appreciate the compliment, Steve; this is turning out to be one of the best discussions we've had around here in a while, and 'Hawk and TW and you deserve most of the credit.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/26/2006 11:56 Comments ||
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#23
Not just God, Steve White and Mike. Anything that stands between the State and the indivdual must be crushed: family, clan, fraternal organizations, independent charities. Orwell takes it all to its logical extremes in 1984. Artsem, Spies, and communal dining take the place of sex, the Boy Scouts, and the family table. Ultimately even the individual mind must be invaded, free will crushed, and every non-trivial action controlled.
#24
Steve, I think the State as God plays a small part in this, but only a small part. The folks we are talking about, other than the rightwingers who are probably actually anti-semetic (Buchanan, Duke), are all glorifiers of the communist/socialist model. At the very least they are heavily influenced at a subconcious level by this model. The protaganists have changed from the original marxist labels of capitalist and proletariat. Now they have morphed to the more simple characterizations of strong and weak.
The US, Israel and, on a broader scale, The West, are the strong. They are always the target and worthy of any criticism. The weak are those who oppose the strong. They are always to be championed regardless of the depravity of their behavior.
I would guess that the more concious adherents of this psychological view truly do hate the jews, just as they hate America, capitalism and the West in general for all of the "ills" these groups have wrought upon the world.
But those who routinely criticize the State of Israel, her military activities and responses to terror (terror from the weak, so it is ok), I think many of these folks might not be anti-semetic on a direct person to person level. But they can't accept the strenght of Israel relative to those it is fighting.
That they support the enemy of the strong does not, ipso facto, make them hate the strong.
#25
Usually I like your posts Anonymoose but this time you did a disservice. In all fairness you should have also included this quote (in italics) from the link:
Can one be a critic of Israel and indeed not harbor anti-Jewish feelings? Categorically yes if the criticism of Israel is not particularly pronounced. In their words:
(I'd go even further and ask if you can be a critic of Jews, or the various Jewish groups, and harbour anti-Jewish feelings.)
It is noteworthy that fewer than one-quarter of those with anti-Israel index scores of only 1 or 2 harbor anti-Semitic views (as defined by anti-Semitic index scores exceeding 5), which supports the contention that one certainly can be critical of Israeli policies without being anti-Semitic. However, among those with the most extreme anti-Israel sentiments in our survey (anti-Israel index scores of 4), 56% report anti-Semitic leanings. Based on this analysis, when an individuals criticism of Israel becomes sufficiently severe, it does become reasonable to ask whether such criticism is a mask for underlying anti-Semitism.
Anyone who wants to experience this debate firsthand can research the various disputes that arise between Jews and Poles in Poland concerning Auschwitz, the pogroms in Jedwabne, and the massacre in Koniuchy (Jews against Poles).
What usually ends up happening in these "debates" is that sooner or later the one side is labelled anti-semitic, and the other side counters with this very same argument that you don't have to be critical of Jews and be anti-Jew at the same time, especially when Auschwitz, Jedwabne, and Koniuchy are involved.
The sad thing is, the true anti-semites always end up joining the disputes and then everything gets really ugly, with all semblance of reason going out the window.
Such has been my experience.
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/26/2006 14:09 Comments ||
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#26
My criticism of Israel is that they were to quick to hold back on the Hezbollas at the pleadings of too many folks, thus laying themselves open to more attacks and deaths. They should have cleaned up the Hezboola quickly and efficiently, as they have been know to do in the past in similar situations with others...
Lefty nutbags don't fathom that Hezboolas are stalking horses for Ahmadisnutz and his Mulla-cronies in Tehran, and the sooner that the Hezboolas are dealth with full force the better...
#27
What we can notyice about those people who tell themselves antizionists but not antisemitic is that theere is NO other cause who desrves their ire. They foam at the mouth when a Palestinien terrorist gets mangled finger due to an Isreli bombardment but they will yawn if told about one thosand blacks raped and killed in Sudan.
I have battled one of them in a Spanish blog owned by a Jew and he ever escaped, cahnged theread or came with platitudes about all deaths being equivalent. One day I asked him given that the spends hours writing against zionism, how much time he had spent on Sudan and to point me to ONE post written against Sudan. He never answered. And he didn't asnweer when I reiterated the question. He called me a fascist and continued writing about the pooooooooooooooooooR Palestinians and the eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil Jews.
#28
JFM, that builds on my point exactly. In the Sudan you have two sides that are not in the "Strong" category. Both are muslim, and so cultural victims of the west. Both are non-European, or not white in the European sense. Thus your Spaniard can take no side and has no emotional ties to the issue.
If one of the strong parties is not involved, particularly the US or Israel, then those on the left simply don't care. Even if they do they won't demand any real action from either of the involved parties. Feel good platitudes perhaps, but nothing more.
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
07/26/2006 18:47 Comments ||
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#30
Both are muslim, and so cultural victims of the west. Both are non-European, or not white in the European sense. Thus your Spaniard can take no side and has no emotional ties to the issue.
Both sides also cannot be controlled through lawfare and other forms of passive-aggressive coercion. Thus we've come full circle and have returned to the issue of malignant narcissism.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has endorsed an energy cooperation agreement between the United States and India, lawmakers announced on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2006 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Taliban has found a way to recruit fighters that is less about winning hearts and minds and more about the enduring appeal of cold hard cash. They are paying fighters up to $12 a day to fight the fledgling Afghan National Army, which pays only $4 a day to its soldiers in the field, according to military officials. The Taliban are supported by Pakistan and they get money from the drugs trade so they get more pay than our soldiers, said Colonel Myuddin Ghouri of the national armys 205 Corps.
" (SomaliNet) The supreme leader of Council of Islamic Courts Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said on Tuesday they (Islamists) want to rule out the world suspicion on attacking Baidoa by Islamic Courts, making clear that it is not their intention by action or by morally to attack Baidoa town based by transitional federal government. 
Saudi Arabia's king has warned the current crisis between Lebanon, the Palestinians and Israel could spark a full-scale Middle East war. King Abdullah has also pledged $500m to rebuild Lebanon and $250m to help the Palestinians.
There is a disturbing phenomenon on the rise in Britains Muslim community called honor killings. This barbaric practice involves the killing of a female for alleged sexual or marital impropriates by members of her own family. Scotland Yard is currently investigating eighteen such cases. Last month a trial in London resulted in murder convictions in the case of a young Muslim Pakistani woman killed by her father, brother and cousin for refusing to enter into a pre-arranged marriage. Her mother was watching on as the murder took place.
By Thomas Sowell
New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer are "seriously reconsidering their opposition to the nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
But Schumer and Clinton, who voted to block Boltons confirmation a year ago, have not yet stated their position regarding the ambassador.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. congressional Democrats expressed alarm on Tuesday over Iraq's denunciation of Israel in the Middle East conflict, and some said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's address to Congress should be canceled unless he apologizes.
CHICAGO Citing national security, a federal judge Tuesday threw out a lawsuit aimed at blocking AT&T Inc. from giving telephone records to the government for use in the war on terror. "The court is persuaded that requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal government could give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities," U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly said.
The seminaries, known as madrassas, pledged on Tuesday to resist moves to expel foreign students, a year after the government said they would all be sent home as part of a drive to counter extremism and terrorism. President Musharraf decided in the wake of the July 7 bomb blasts in London that all foreigners studying at madrassas should leave by the end of 2005, as their presence was giving Pakistan a bad reputation as a breeding ground for militancy. The government later relaxed the deadline in a compromise with clerics in charge of the madrassas, but the authorities have recently turned down extensions to students' visas and threatened them with deportation. 
The grand tribal jirga will meet key North Waziristan militant commanders today (Wednesday) as the Taliban hope that a negotiated peace settlement is "not far off". A jirga member told Daily Times from Miranshah that the meeting with key Taliban commanders near Razmak was important and the jirga would present proposals for their consideration. He, however, declined to give details of the proposals, saying that complete secrecy was necessary to help broker peace in North Waziristan.
The US government has handed over a fresh list of 21 "most wanted" persons to Pakistan and has asked the federal interior ministry bosses to arrange for their extradition immediately so that they can be put on trial for their crimes against the United States of America and its citizens.
(KUNA) -- Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf Tuesday underlining the importance of national security said that defence of the country is strong and no body dares cast an evil eye on it. He, while inaugurating a palm oil refinery in southern Karachi port city, a joint venture with Malaysia, said that the power comes from strength and no body should be under any illusion. Security is a necessity and Pakistan would ensure it any cost, said President Musharraf. Talking on his diplomatic efforts to resolve Lebanese crisis, he said that he is in close contact with his Malaysian counterpart over important issues.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush told Turkish Prime Minster Tayyip Erdogan that the United States wants to deal more aggressively with cross-border attacks by Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, the White House said on Tuesday. 
Fifteen years from now, amid the rubble of a war-torn city in a distant land, a strange creature lurks in the dark. Encased in lightweight climate-controlled body armour, humming with electricity and bristling with sensors, this fighting man-machine is constantly updated with battlefield information via a glowing monocular display. Meet the soldier of the future. 
Michelle Malkin reports that Indonesia has become so Islamic, that Muslims have targeted Indonesia's Miss Universe contestant Nadine Chandrawinata for death. Of course, regardless if Nadine Chandrawinata was Muslim and in a head to toe burka, if she was Shiite, the Sunni's would demand her death, or vice versa. Must be "exciting" to be a Muslim. So many other people to kill...
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP 
Venezuela is sending two jets to evacuate Venezuelans who fled Lebanon amid ongoing fighting between the Israeli military and Hezbollah guerrillas, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
An Israeli bomb destroyed a UN observer post on the border in southern Lebanon, killing two peacekeepers with two others feared dead under the rubble. UN chief Kofi Annan said Israel appeared to have struck the site deliberately. 
Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, looking extremely tired, defiantly vowed Wednesday that his guerrilla fighters would begin firing rockets deeper into Israel, beyond the northern port of Haifa, and said the Jewish state's two-week-long military offensive against Lebanon was linked to a US-Israeli plan for "a new Middle East." 
What is the likelihood that the op-ed writer, or cartoonist, or university professor who rants about the evils of Zionism is really an old-fashioned Jew-hater? Much better than most of us thought, according to a study in the August 2006 issue of The Journal of Conflict Resolution...
