Barone has some thoughts.
Evidence abounds. Consider what is happening in Lebanon, long under Syrian control, in response to the assassination, almost certainly by Syrian agents, of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Protesters have taken to the streets day after day, demanding Syrian withdrawal. The Washington Post 's David Ignatius, who covered Lebanon in the 1980s and has kept in touch since, has been skeptical that the Bush administration's policy would change things for the better. But reporting from Beirut last week, he wrote movingly of "the movement for political change that has suddenly coalesced in Lebanon and is slowly gathering force elsewhere in the Arab world." Ignatius interviewed Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader long a critic of the United States. Jumblatt's words are striking: "It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq. I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world. The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it." As Middle East expert Daniel Pipes writes, "For the first time in three decades, Lebanon now seems within reach of regaining its independence."
Minds are changing in Europe, too. In the left-wing Guardian, Martin Kettle reassures his readers that the Iraq war was "a reckless, provocative, dangerous, lawless piece of unilateral arrogance" --the usual stuff. "But," he concedes, "it has nevertheless brought forth a desirable outcome which would not have been achieved at all, or so quickly, by the means that the critics advocated, right though they were in most respects." Or read Claus Christian Malzahn in Der Spiegel . "Maybe the people of Syria, Iraq, or Jordan will get the idea in their heads to free themselves from their oppressive regimes just as the East Germans did," he writes. "Just a thought for Old Europe to chew on: Bush might be right, just like Reagan was."
"Minds are changing" all over the world as if they have awoken from some trance put upon them by the left and anti-war movement. The fog has lifted and people the world over can now see the true enemy - the left.
Captain Ed has more on Egypt's democratic changes.
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Sunday, February 27, 2005
Egypt - Democracy Spreading
I've posted several times lately about the "Iraq Effect", that is the effect the US intervention in Iraq has had on spreading democracy throughout the Middle East.
The opposition in Lebanon went so far as to attribute democratic changes in the Middle East directly to the invasion of Iraq.
Now comes confirmation of the "Iraq Effect".
"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."
Jumblatt said that just four days ago. Today The BBC reports
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has asked parliament to change the constitution to allow multiple candidates in presidential polls.
The surprise announcement followed US and domestic pressure for reform in the Arab world's most populous nation.
And
An official in the opposition Al-Wafd party, Mohamed Ulwan, said it was a historic step.
"For the first time since the days of the pharaohs, the Egyptian people will choose their ruler," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.
It's early days yet and there is a lot more to be done but it's a start.
The UN has certified the elections in Afghanistan and Iraq were free and fair. Likewise, the Palestinian elections were said to be free and fair. Let's hope Egypt is next.
None of this would have been possible if the left and anti-war types had had their way. If the left had their way millions would still live in oppression or be buried in mass graves. Not only has George Bush lit the fire of freedom around the world, he has exposed the left for what they are, anti-democratic and supporters of terror. And that too may bring about more changes.
Witness this op-ed in the left wing New York Times.
Thanks to eight million Iraqis defying "you vote, you die" terrorist threats, Iraq has been reframed from a story about Iraqi "insurgents" trying to liberate their country from American occupiers and their Iraqi "stooges" to a story of the overwhelming Iraqi majority trying to build a democracy, with U.S. help, against the wishes of Iraqi Baathist-fascists and jihadists.
Almost exactly two years ago, 26 Feb 2003, and prior to the invasion of Iraq, President Bush prophetically proclaimed:
The world has a clear interest in the spread of democratic values, because stable and free nations do not breed the ideologies of murder. They encourage the peaceful pursuit of a better life. And there are hopeful signs of a desire for freedom in the Middle East. Arab intellectuals have called on Arab governments to address the "freedom gap" so their peoples can fully share in the progress of our times. Leaders in the region speak of a new Arab charter that champions internal reform, greater politics participation, economic openness, and free trade. And from Morocco to Bahrain and beyond, nations are taking genuine steps toward politics reform. A new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom for other nations in the region. (Applause.)
And
Much is asked of America in this year 2003. The work ahead is demanding. It will be difficult to help freedom take hold in a country that has known three decades of dictatorship, secret police, internal divisions, and war. It will be difficult to cultivate liberty and peace in the Middle East, after so many generations of strife. Yet, the security of our nation and the hope of millions depend on us, and Americans do not turn away from duties because they are hard. We have met great tests in other times, and we will meet the tests of our time. (Applause.)
We go forward with confidence, because we trust in the power of human freedom to change lives and nations. By the resolve and purpose of America, and of our friends and allies, we will make this an age of progress and liberty. Free people will set the course of history, and free people will keep the peace of the world.
How much faster could these changes be brought about if the rest of the world would join in and help?
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The opposition in Lebanon went so far as to attribute democratic changes in the Middle East directly to the invasion of Iraq.
Now comes confirmation of the "Iraq Effect".
"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."
Jumblatt said that just four days ago. Today The BBC reports
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has asked parliament to change the constitution to allow multiple candidates in presidential polls.
The surprise announcement followed US and domestic pressure for reform in the Arab world's most populous nation.
And
An official in the opposition Al-Wafd party, Mohamed Ulwan, said it was a historic step.
"For the first time since the days of the pharaohs, the Egyptian people will choose their ruler," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.
It's early days yet and there is a lot more to be done but it's a start.
The UN has certified the elections in Afghanistan and Iraq were free and fair. Likewise, the Palestinian elections were said to be free and fair. Let's hope Egypt is next.
None of this would have been possible if the left and anti-war types had had their way. If the left had their way millions would still live in oppression or be buried in mass graves. Not only has George Bush lit the fire of freedom around the world, he has exposed the left for what they are, anti-democratic and supporters of terror. And that too may bring about more changes.
Witness this op-ed in the left wing New York Times.
Thanks to eight million Iraqis defying "you vote, you die" terrorist threats, Iraq has been reframed from a story about Iraqi "insurgents" trying to liberate their country from American occupiers and their Iraqi "stooges" to a story of the overwhelming Iraqi majority trying to build a democracy, with U.S. help, against the wishes of Iraqi Baathist-fascists and jihadists.
Almost exactly two years ago, 26 Feb 2003, and prior to the invasion of Iraq, President Bush prophetically proclaimed:
The world has a clear interest in the spread of democratic values, because stable and free nations do not breed the ideologies of murder. They encourage the peaceful pursuit of a better life. And there are hopeful signs of a desire for freedom in the Middle East. Arab intellectuals have called on Arab governments to address the "freedom gap" so their peoples can fully share in the progress of our times. Leaders in the region speak of a new Arab charter that champions internal reform, greater politics participation, economic openness, and free trade. And from Morocco to Bahrain and beyond, nations are taking genuine steps toward politics reform. A new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom for other nations in the region. (Applause.)
And
Much is asked of America in this year 2003. The work ahead is demanding. It will be difficult to help freedom take hold in a country that has known three decades of dictatorship, secret police, internal divisions, and war. It will be difficult to cultivate liberty and peace in the Middle East, after so many generations of strife. Yet, the security of our nation and the hope of millions depend on us, and Americans do not turn away from duties because they are hard. We have met great tests in other times, and we will meet the tests of our time. (Applause.)
We go forward with confidence, because we trust in the power of human freedom to change lives and nations. By the resolve and purpose of America, and of our friends and allies, we will make this an age of progress and liberty. Free people will set the course of history, and free people will keep the peace of the world.
How much faster could these changes be brought about if the rest of the world would join in and help?
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Saturday, February 26, 2005
Intermittent Blogging
Sorry about the intermittent blogging. The wife has started a new job and we're having to juggle schedules. Hopefully things will settle down soon.
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Iran - Whose Side is Europe On?
I think we already know he answer to that one. If not, read this.
KISH, Iran - As President Bush pressures European allies to get tougher with Iran, NBC News got a rare glimpse inside the country — at an Iranian air show attended by some of the world's leading military contractors eager to do business with America's adversary.
On the island of Kish, mullahs mixed with Ukrainian generals amid photos of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran's contempt for the United States was clear — emblazoned underneath a helicopter, in Farsi: "Death to America."
It's generally illegal for American companies to do business with Iran. But NBC News found more than a dozen European defense and aviation firms eager to fill the void. Some do business with the Pentagon, yet they were actively selling their wares to Iran.
"We sell to Iran [sic] Air Force," said Francois Leloup from Aerazur, a French company that markets fighter pilot vests, anti-gravity suits and other protective gear for military pilots.
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KISH, Iran - As President Bush pressures European allies to get tougher with Iran, NBC News got a rare glimpse inside the country — at an Iranian air show attended by some of the world's leading military contractors eager to do business with America's adversary.
On the island of Kish, mullahs mixed with Ukrainian generals amid photos of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran's contempt for the United States was clear — emblazoned underneath a helicopter, in Farsi: "Death to America."
It's generally illegal for American companies to do business with Iran. But NBC News found more than a dozen European defense and aviation firms eager to fill the void. Some do business with the Pentagon, yet they were actively selling their wares to Iran.
"We sell to Iran [sic] Air Force," said Francois Leloup from Aerazur, a French company that markets fighter pilot vests, anti-gravity suits and other protective gear for military pilots.
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Germany - Freedom Gets the Death Sentence
More from the so called religion of peace.
On a cold afternoon this week, Hatin Sürücü gazed gravely from a large poster behind a bus stop lined with flowers, cards and candles.
To the people who came to this bleak part of Berlin's Tempelhof district for Tuesday's solemn vigil -- called not by the city's Muslim community but a gay and lesbian organization -- the image of the young woman in a headscarf, a baby in her arms, was familiar from newspapers and television. A few notes at the memorial read, "Hope you get a better deal in your next life," and "Live a life on your own terms."
"It's a scandal," said Ali K, 33. "All Muslims in Berlin should take to the streets to protest." Yasemin, 22, said, "It's horrific. All Hatin was doing was leading her life the way she wanted."
But it was a choice she paid for with her life. On Feb. 7, 23-year-old Hatin Sürücü was gunned down at the aforementioned bus stop. She died on the spot. Shortly afterwards, three of her brothers -- who reportedly had long been threatening her -- were arrested. Investigators suspect it was a so-called "honor killing," given the fact that Sürücü's ultra-conservative Turkish-Kurdish family strongly disapproved of her modern and "un-Islamic" life.
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On a cold afternoon this week, Hatin Sürücü gazed gravely from a large poster behind a bus stop lined with flowers, cards and candles.
To the people who came to this bleak part of Berlin's Tempelhof district for Tuesday's solemn vigil -- called not by the city's Muslim community but a gay and lesbian organization -- the image of the young woman in a headscarf, a baby in her arms, was familiar from newspapers and television. A few notes at the memorial read, "Hope you get a better deal in your next life," and "Live a life on your own terms."
"It's a scandal," said Ali K, 33. "All Muslims in Berlin should take to the streets to protest." Yasemin, 22, said, "It's horrific. All Hatin was doing was leading her life the way she wanted."
But it was a choice she paid for with her life. On Feb. 7, 23-year-old Hatin Sürücü was gunned down at the aforementioned bus stop. She died on the spot. Shortly afterwards, three of her brothers -- who reportedly had long been threatening her -- were arrested. Investigators suspect it was a so-called "honor killing," given the fact that Sürücü's ultra-conservative Turkish-Kurdish family strongly disapproved of her modern and "un-Islamic" life.
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Germany - Immigration Scandal
Seems Britain is not the only country where immigration will be an election issue. Immigration is a political hot potato in Germany.
It seems Germany's visa-granting policies for Eastern Europeans -- despite the intended good neighbor policy of further opening its doors to the former Eastern Bloc -- were too permissive, especially in Ukraine. The result, say Fischer's critics, was a gigantic loophole through which organized crime, human traffickers and prostitution rings could gain access to Germany and the European Union. Fischer, as the minister in charge of Germany's embassies and consulates, is in hot water. Indeed, the conservative opposition -- for years loathe to take on Fischer -- has felt so emboldened by the scandal that a prominent member of Bavaria's Christian Social Union recently got away with calling Fischer a "pimp."
Not to mention terrorists.
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It seems Germany's visa-granting policies for Eastern Europeans -- despite the intended good neighbor policy of further opening its doors to the former Eastern Bloc -- were too permissive, especially in Ukraine. The result, say Fischer's critics, was a gigantic loophole through which organized crime, human traffickers and prostitution rings could gain access to Germany and the European Union. Fischer, as the minister in charge of Germany's embassies and consulates, is in hot water. Indeed, the conservative opposition -- for years loathe to take on Fischer -- has felt so emboldened by the scandal that a prominent member of Bavaria's Christian Social Union recently got away with calling Fischer a "pimp."
Not to mention terrorists.
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Could Bush Be Right? -- Take Two
Thursday Der Spiegel asked this question the first time. And concluded, yes, Bush is right.
Friday, Der Spiegel asks the question again. And again the answer is yes.
Diplomacy, Bush seemed to be saying, can -- and perhaps should -- work like a friendship. Tell your friend when you think he or she is straying. But at the same time, show your commitment to the foundation of the relationship.
Chancellor Schroeder should take the lesson to heart.
Nice to see their paying attention.
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Friday, Der Spiegel asks the question again. And again the answer is yes.
Diplomacy, Bush seemed to be saying, can -- and perhaps should -- work like a friendship. Tell your friend when you think he or she is straying. But at the same time, show your commitment to the foundation of the relationship.
Chancellor Schroeder should take the lesson to heart.
Nice to see their paying attention.
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Friday, February 25, 2005
Iraq - Another Top Zarqawi Aide Captured
Reuters reports "Talib Mikhlif Arsan Walman al-Dulaymi, also known as Abu Qutaybah, was captured on Feb. 20 in Anah, a town northwest of Baghdad, about 35 miles from the Syrian border."
They're having a lot of success rounding these guys up. Let's hope they get Zarqawi soon.
U.S. and Iraqi forces are currently engaged in a security sweep along Anbar's Euphrates river valley leading toward Syria in an effort to hunt down insurgents holed up there. Anah, where Abu Qutaybah was caught, is one of those valley towns.
"Abu Qutaybah was a known associate of other detained Zarqawi lieutenants including Abu Abdul Rahman, Abu Ahmed and Abu Ali, who were captured by coalition forces," the Iraqi government said.
Another militant, Ahmad Khalid Marad Isma'il al-Rawi, also known as Abu Uthman, was captured during the same raid. Abu Uthman arranged meetings for Zarqawi and occasionally acted as his driver, the government's statement said.
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They're having a lot of success rounding these guys up. Let's hope they get Zarqawi soon.
U.S. and Iraqi forces are currently engaged in a security sweep along Anbar's Euphrates river valley leading toward Syria in an effort to hunt down insurgents holed up there. Anah, where Abu Qutaybah was caught, is one of those valley towns.
"Abu Qutaybah was a known associate of other detained Zarqawi lieutenants including Abu Abdul Rahman, Abu Ahmed and Abu Ali, who were captured by coalition forces," the Iraqi government said.
Another militant, Ahmad Khalid Marad Isma'il al-Rawi, also known as Abu Uthman, was captured during the same raid. Abu Uthman arranged meetings for Zarqawi and occasionally acted as his driver, the government's statement said.
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Belgium - Pro Bush Rally
Yesterday I posted anti Bush protest in Belgium.
Nice to see there are pro Bush people in Belgium as well.
My father was a policeman during World War II, and for his activities in the resistance he received several medals. His brother survived a concentration camp but suffered severe physical problems for the rest of his life. Look at the huge number of graves of American soldiers, sometimes of age 17 or less, who gave their lives for our freedom. I am really ashamed to be a Belgian after this humiliation and insult to a friendly nation that has helped us. It was not their war, but still they gave their lives to protect our democracy.
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Nice to see there are pro Bush people in Belgium as well.
My father was a policeman during World War II, and for his activities in the resistance he received several medals. His brother survived a concentration camp but suffered severe physical problems for the rest of his life. Look at the huge number of graves of American soldiers, sometimes of age 17 or less, who gave their lives for our freedom. I am really ashamed to be a Belgian after this humiliation and insult to a friendly nation that has helped us. It was not their war, but still they gave their lives to protect our democracy.
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Freedom
It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag.
- Father Dennis Edward O'Brian, USMC
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It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag.
- Father Dennis Edward O'Brian, USMC
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Thursday, February 24, 2005
France - Holocaust Funny?
Apparently one French comdeian thinks so.
A flare-up of racial tension has been sparked off in France after a black stand-up comic, Dieudonné, was reported to have said that the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Holocaust were "remembrance pornography".
Amid wide reporting of the comment by the half-French, half-Cameroonian performer, vandals attacked prominent Muslim and Jewish sites. Swastikas were daubed both on the walls of the Grande Mosquée in Paris and a Second World War railway carriage that stands as a Jewish memorial at a deportation assembly point in the suburb of Drancy.
Nice, huh?
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A flare-up of racial tension has been sparked off in France after a black stand-up comic, Dieudonné, was reported to have said that the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Holocaust were "remembrance pornography".
Amid wide reporting of the comment by the half-French, half-Cameroonian performer, vandals attacked prominent Muslim and Jewish sites. Swastikas were daubed both on the walls of the Grande Mosquée in Paris and a Second World War railway carriage that stands as a Jewish memorial at a deportation assembly point in the suburb of Drancy.
Nice, huh?
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Germany - Could Bush be Right?
Yesterday I posted about "Democracy For Me But Not Thee".
I started out by quoting an AP poll that said Europe did not think the US should be spreading democracy around the world. The poll contained this quote:
"Europeans in general especially the European elites tend to be more cynical about the possibilities of exporting democracy," said Mandelbaum, author of the book "Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free Markets." "There is a general feeling that democracy just doesn't fit some cultures."
One of the countries polled was Germany. This is what DER SPIEGEL had to say about Bush's visit.
Even German conservatives find the idea that Arabic countries could transform themselves into enlightened democracies somewhat absurd.
Nice, huh? Nobody seems to want to use the R word. But this all sounds like racism to me.
Later in my post I quoted Gerard Baker thusly:
Gerard Baker.
These differences are not just awkward, inconvenient blots on an otherwise pleasant landscape of Atlantic unity. They are great, ugly cleavages in basic perceptions, strategy, and policy. The Bush administration remains committed to revolutionary change throughout the world and, just as the Reagan administration did, believes America's security is inextricably tied up with the advance of liberty well beyond its borders. Europeans, meanwhile, are ever more staunch in their defense of the status quo, however unfree that may leave people. Stability, not liberty, is their aim.
Der Spiegel echoes those thoughts.
This, in fact, is likely the largest point of disagreement between Europe and the United States -- and one that a President John Kerry likely would not have made smaller: Europeans today -- just like the Europeans of 1987 -- cannot imagine that the world might change. Maybe we don't want the world to change, because change can, of course, be dangerous. But in a country of immigrants like the United States, one actually pushes for change. In Mainz today, the stagnant Europeans came face to face with the dynamic Americans. We Europeans always want to have the world from yesterday, whereas the Americans strive for the world of tomorrow.
How do the words to that Fleetwood Mac song go? "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow, yesterdays gone, yesterdays gone". Something like that.
Perhaps AP should do another poll, leave America out of it and ask the question of the same countries, "Do you want the world to stay the same or do you favor spreading democracy, by force if necessary, to people living in tyranny?" I'd bet the answer would be leave the status quo. I've got my freedom - screw the rest - would be the sentiment.
Janet Daley writing in The Telegraph nails it.
This entirely unresearched, academically unsound theory of mine came back to me as I listened to George W Bush telling Europeans that his campaign for liberty and democracy arose directly from ideals that had originated with them. You could almost hear the injured bewilderment in his voice: this was all your idea in the first place. Whatever happened to your commitment to the values enshrined in Magna Carta and the French Revolution - the doctrine of the rights of man and of government by consent? And if you are still committed to those principles, why can you not see the need to extend them to parts of the world that are still deprived of them?
The Der Spiegel article ends with this observation about Reagan, the Berlin wall and Bush's vision.
Yet three years later, East Germany had disappeared from the map. Gorbachev had a lot to do with it, but it was the East Germans who played the larger role. When analysts are confronted by real people, amazing things can happen. And maybe history can repeat itself. Maybe the people of Syria, Iran or Jordan will get the idea in their heads to free themselves from their oppressive regimes just as the East Germans did. When the voter turnout in Iraq recently exceeded that of many Western nations, the chorus of critique from Iraq alarmists was, at least for a couple of days, quieted. Just as quiet as the chorus of Germany experts on the night of Nov. 9, 1989 when the Wall fell.
Just a thought for Old Europe to chew on: Bush might be right, just like Reagan was then.
Bush has demonstrably proved he is right and Europe wrong. When given the opportunity to choose between democracy and tyranny, people the world over choose democracy; Afghanistan and Iraq are proof of that.
I started out by quoting an AP poll that said Europe did not think the US should be spreading democracy around the world. The poll contained this quote:
"Europeans in general especially the European elites tend to be more cynical about the possibilities of exporting democracy," said Mandelbaum, author of the book "Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free Markets." "There is a general feeling that democracy just doesn't fit some cultures."
One of the countries polled was Germany. This is what DER SPIEGEL had to say about Bush's visit.
Even German conservatives find the idea that Arabic countries could transform themselves into enlightened democracies somewhat absurd.
Nice, huh? Nobody seems to want to use the R word. But this all sounds like racism to me.
Later in my post I quoted Gerard Baker thusly:
Gerard Baker.
These differences are not just awkward, inconvenient blots on an otherwise pleasant landscape of Atlantic unity. They are great, ugly cleavages in basic perceptions, strategy, and policy. The Bush administration remains committed to revolutionary change throughout the world and, just as the Reagan administration did, believes America's security is inextricably tied up with the advance of liberty well beyond its borders. Europeans, meanwhile, are ever more staunch in their defense of the status quo, however unfree that may leave people. Stability, not liberty, is their aim.
Der Spiegel echoes those thoughts.
This, in fact, is likely the largest point of disagreement between Europe and the United States -- and one that a President John Kerry likely would not have made smaller: Europeans today -- just like the Europeans of 1987 -- cannot imagine that the world might change. Maybe we don't want the world to change, because change can, of course, be dangerous. But in a country of immigrants like the United States, one actually pushes for change. In Mainz today, the stagnant Europeans came face to face with the dynamic Americans. We Europeans always want to have the world from yesterday, whereas the Americans strive for the world of tomorrow.
How do the words to that Fleetwood Mac song go? "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow, yesterdays gone, yesterdays gone". Something like that.
Perhaps AP should do another poll, leave America out of it and ask the question of the same countries, "Do you want the world to stay the same or do you favor spreading democracy, by force if necessary, to people living in tyranny?" I'd bet the answer would be leave the status quo. I've got my freedom - screw the rest - would be the sentiment.
Janet Daley writing in The Telegraph nails it.
This entirely unresearched, academically unsound theory of mine came back to me as I listened to George W Bush telling Europeans that his campaign for liberty and democracy arose directly from ideals that had originated with them. You could almost hear the injured bewilderment in his voice: this was all your idea in the first place. Whatever happened to your commitment to the values enshrined in Magna Carta and the French Revolution - the doctrine of the rights of man and of government by consent? And if you are still committed to those principles, why can you not see the need to extend them to parts of the world that are still deprived of them?
The Der Spiegel article ends with this observation about Reagan, the Berlin wall and Bush's vision.
Yet three years later, East Germany had disappeared from the map. Gorbachev had a lot to do with it, but it was the East Germans who played the larger role. When analysts are confronted by real people, amazing things can happen. And maybe history can repeat itself. Maybe the people of Syria, Iran or Jordan will get the idea in their heads to free themselves from their oppressive regimes just as the East Germans did. When the voter turnout in Iraq recently exceeded that of many Western nations, the chorus of critique from Iraq alarmists was, at least for a couple of days, quieted. Just as quiet as the chorus of Germany experts on the night of Nov. 9, 1989 when the Wall fell.
Just a thought for Old Europe to chew on: Bush might be right, just like Reagan was then.
Bush has demonstrably proved he is right and Europe wrong. When given the opportunity to choose between democracy and tyranny, people the world over choose democracy; Afghanistan and Iraq are proof of that.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Ted Rall - Buffoon
For those readers who don't know what todays Day by Day cartoon is about, go here.
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Lebanon - Mubarak Tells Syria to Leave
That's the way it sounds to me.
Trying to lessen the heat on his Syrian allies, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) sent his intelligence chief and most trusted troubleshooter, Omar Suleiman, to Damascus.
"Something has to happen because the situation is difficult now and (Syria) won't be able to stand against the pressures of the international community," Mubarak told reporters in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
"But we must find solutions."
Yep, sounds like it to me.
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Trying to lessen the heat on his Syrian allies, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) sent his intelligence chief and most trusted troubleshooter, Omar Suleiman, to Damascus.
"Something has to happen because the situation is difficult now and (Syria) won't be able to stand against the pressures of the international community," Mubarak told reporters in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
"But we must find solutions."
Yep, sounds like it to me.
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Syrian activists urge Lebanon pullout
Now even Syrians are calling for Syria to pull out of Lebanon.
More than 200 Syrian activists publish open letter calling on Assad’s regime to withdraw from Lebanon.
By Roueida Mabardi - DAMASCUS
In a gesture of defiance, more than 200 Syrian writers, artists and rights activists issued an open letter to President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday calling on his regime to withdraw from Lebanon.
"Outside pressures are building in all sorts of ways. The Syrian people don't know what is awaiting them as the old political methods are no longer able to resolve crises," the letter said, a copy of which was received by AFP.
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More than 200 Syrian activists publish open letter calling on Assad’s regime to withdraw from Lebanon.
By Roueida Mabardi - DAMASCUS
In a gesture of defiance, more than 200 Syrian writers, artists and rights activists issued an open letter to President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday calling on his regime to withdraw from Lebanon.
"Outside pressures are building in all sorts of ways. The Syrian people don't know what is awaiting them as the old political methods are no longer able to resolve crises," the letter said, a copy of which was received by AFP.
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Lebanon - Who killed Rafik Hariri?
In this great who dunnit caper where not much is for sure, one thing is, Patrick Seale writing in the Guardian doesn't have a clue who killed Hariri.
The fact that Seale is writing in the Guardian is your first clue that this expose of whodunnit is going to point the finger at the US and Israel and away from Syria. But there is more evidence of Seale's bias which I'll get to in a minute.
Seale starts out by absolving Syria of all blame in the Hariri murder.
If Syria killed Rafik Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister and mastermind of its revival after the civil war, it must be judged an act of political suicide. Syria is already under great international pressure from the US, France and Israel. To kill Hariri at this critical moment would be to destroy Syria's reputation once and for all and hand its enemies a weapon with which to deliver the blow that could finally destabilise the Damascus regime, and even possibly bring it down.
So attributing responsibility for the murder to Syria is implausible.[...]
Well that's it then. Syria is innocent. Not so fast Mr. Seale.
Why is that Hariri's murder "must be judged an act of political suicide" and not a "grave mistake" by Syria? You accuse Syria of making grave mistakes in the same paragraph.
This is not to deny that Syria has made grave mistakes in Lebanon. Its military intelligence apparatus has interfered far too much in Lebanese affairs. A big mistake was to insist on changing the Lebanese constitution to extend the mandate of President Emile Lahoud - known for his absolute allegiance to Syria - for a further three years.
Sorry, Seale, but if Assad is that dumb he is dumb enough to have murdered Hariri. There are those that believe he is that dumb.
His father's methods, yes, but not his skills. The elder Assad was a tactical genius, even if his rule ultimately failed (he never regained the Golan Heights, never came close to destroying Israel, and rode Syria's economy and culture into the ground). The younger Assad combines strategic blindness with tactical ineptitude.
Within months of Bashar's accession, questions arouse about his ability to retain control over Lebanon; not long after, his ability to hold on to power in Syria itself came under doubt. The Syrian government's rush to the side of Saddam Hussein just as he was ousted made eyebrows rise with wonder.
Bashar's pattern of promising one thing to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, then instantly breaking his word caused general bafflement.
Seale goes on to give us more "evidence" of why Syria couldn't have done it.
Hariri was not a diehard enemy of Syria.
Maybe not a "diehard" but when Assad altered the Lebanese constitution and extended Lahoud's term in office, that was the last straw.
Political sources say Hariri first contemplated quitting power minutes after he was told by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in August that Damascus wanted to extend the term in office of his rival Lahoud.
Having fallen in and out of favor with Damascus over the years, he had recently joined calls by the opposition for Syrian troops to leave Lebanon in the run-up to a general election in May.
Seale goes on to try and muddy the water as to who the real culprit is with a host of villains, finally settling on the US and Israel.
The US and Israel have been trying to rally international support against Iran, Syria and Hizbullah. The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has condemned Iran as a prime sponsor of international terror. Syria has been condemned as a "destabilising" force in the region, and is in the dock because of Hariri's assassination.
Seale's logic is flawed. He starts from the premise that Syria didn't do it therefore someone else had to. But why rule out Syria? Because Seale has some serious bias issues.
You might want to read his guest CV at Islam Online which contains these nuggets.
He runs a consultancy on Middle East affairs for a number of international clients and writes regularly for Al-Hayat (London) and Al-Ittihad (Abu Dhabi), as well as The Daily Star (Beirut), The Saudi Gazette (Jiddah) and Gulf News (Dubai).
And his family connections to Syria might raise an eyebrow.
He is married to Rana Qabbani, a Syrian woman...
You also might be interested to read Seale's defense of the older Assad in his book, "Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East "
No friend of Bush, Seale wrote this in June 2004.
The unpalatable truth is that the Bush administration has failed in almost everything it has touched. The war in Iraq, based on lies and incompetence, has been a catastrophe, its always doubtful legitimacy fatally undermined by the torture of Iraqi detainees. The "war on terror" has greatly increased, rather than diminished, the threat from radical political Islam, both to the US itself and to its friends, as countries like Saudi Arabia are learning to their cost.
Meanwhile, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at the very heart of the region's discontents, has been allowed to sink to new depths of barbarism, largely owing to Bush's irresponsible support for Israel's bull-dozing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Boy he must have been pissed off watching the Afghanistanis, Palestinians and Iraqis vote.
Just a little biased, aren't we Mr. Seale?
I think we can rule out Mr. Seale's defense of his Syrian friends, don't you?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The fact that Seale is writing in the Guardian is your first clue that this expose of whodunnit is going to point the finger at the US and Israel and away from Syria. But there is more evidence of Seale's bias which I'll get to in a minute.
Seale starts out by absolving Syria of all blame in the Hariri murder.
If Syria killed Rafik Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister and mastermind of its revival after the civil war, it must be judged an act of political suicide. Syria is already under great international pressure from the US, France and Israel. To kill Hariri at this critical moment would be to destroy Syria's reputation once and for all and hand its enemies a weapon with which to deliver the blow that could finally destabilise the Damascus regime, and even possibly bring it down.
So attributing responsibility for the murder to Syria is implausible.[...]
Well that's it then. Syria is innocent. Not so fast Mr. Seale.
Why is that Hariri's murder "must be judged an act of political suicide" and not a "grave mistake" by Syria? You accuse Syria of making grave mistakes in the same paragraph.
This is not to deny that Syria has made grave mistakes in Lebanon. Its military intelligence apparatus has interfered far too much in Lebanese affairs. A big mistake was to insist on changing the Lebanese constitution to extend the mandate of President Emile Lahoud - known for his absolute allegiance to Syria - for a further three years.
Sorry, Seale, but if Assad is that dumb he is dumb enough to have murdered Hariri. There are those that believe he is that dumb.
His father's methods, yes, but not his skills. The elder Assad was a tactical genius, even if his rule ultimately failed (he never regained the Golan Heights, never came close to destroying Israel, and rode Syria's economy and culture into the ground). The younger Assad combines strategic blindness with tactical ineptitude.
Within months of Bashar's accession, questions arouse about his ability to retain control over Lebanon; not long after, his ability to hold on to power in Syria itself came under doubt. The Syrian government's rush to the side of Saddam Hussein just as he was ousted made eyebrows rise with wonder.
Bashar's pattern of promising one thing to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, then instantly breaking his word caused general bafflement.
Seale goes on to give us more "evidence" of why Syria couldn't have done it.
Hariri was not a diehard enemy of Syria.
Maybe not a "diehard" but when Assad altered the Lebanese constitution and extended Lahoud's term in office, that was the last straw.
Political sources say Hariri first contemplated quitting power minutes after he was told by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in August that Damascus wanted to extend the term in office of his rival Lahoud.
Having fallen in and out of favor with Damascus over the years, he had recently joined calls by the opposition for Syrian troops to leave Lebanon in the run-up to a general election in May.
Seale goes on to try and muddy the water as to who the real culprit is with a host of villains, finally settling on the US and Israel.
The US and Israel have been trying to rally international support against Iran, Syria and Hizbullah. The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has condemned Iran as a prime sponsor of international terror. Syria has been condemned as a "destabilising" force in the region, and is in the dock because of Hariri's assassination.
Seale's logic is flawed. He starts from the premise that Syria didn't do it therefore someone else had to. But why rule out Syria? Because Seale has some serious bias issues.
You might want to read his guest CV at Islam Online which contains these nuggets.
He runs a consultancy on Middle East affairs for a number of international clients and writes regularly for Al-Hayat (London) and Al-Ittihad (Abu Dhabi), as well as The Daily Star (Beirut), The Saudi Gazette (Jiddah) and Gulf News (Dubai).
And his family connections to Syria might raise an eyebrow.
He is married to Rana Qabbani, a Syrian woman...
You also might be interested to read Seale's defense of the older Assad in his book, "Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East "
No friend of Bush, Seale wrote this in June 2004.
The unpalatable truth is that the Bush administration has failed in almost everything it has touched. The war in Iraq, based on lies and incompetence, has been a catastrophe, its always doubtful legitimacy fatally undermined by the torture of Iraqi detainees. The "war on terror" has greatly increased, rather than diminished, the threat from radical political Islam, both to the US itself and to its friends, as countries like Saudi Arabia are learning to their cost.
Meanwhile, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at the very heart of the region's discontents, has been allowed to sink to new depths of barbarism, largely owing to Bush's irresponsible support for Israel's bull-dozing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Boy he must have been pissed off watching the Afghanistanis, Palestinians and Iraqis vote.
Just a little biased, aren't we Mr. Seale?
I think we can rule out Mr. Seale's defense of his Syrian friends, don't you?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Democracy for Me But Not Thee
AP reports on a poll asking if it should be the roll of the US to spread democracy.
A majority of people in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain said they thought it should not be the U.S. role to spread democracy, according to AP-Ipsos polls. A majority of those living in Canada, Mexico and South Korea (news - web sites) also disagreed with that role.
Strange, their forefathers felt differently when they were about to lose theirs.
Ok, so if not the US who then? Maybe no one?
"Europeans in general — especially the European elites — tend to be more cynical about the possibilities of exporting democracy," said Mandelbaum, author of the book "Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free Markets." "There is a general feeling that democracy just doesn't fit some cultures."
Which ones? Afghanistan and Iraq would disagree with that. So would the Ukraine. You have to pay to see the poll particulars but I imagine that these three countries were not polled. Now I wonder why that could be?
I would also like to know if Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Iran were polled.
I see a picture emerging here. The countries that already have freedom don't want to pay the price their forefathers paid to bring it to others - Freedom for me but not thee.
Gerard Baker summed it up well.
Gerard Baker.
These differences are not just awkward, inconvenient blots on an otherwise pleasant landscape of Atlantic unity. They are great, ugly cleavages in basic perceptions, strategy, and policy. The Bush administration remains committed to revolutionary change throughout the world and, just as the Reagan administration did, believes America's security is inextricably tied up with the advance of liberty well beyond its borders. Europeans, meanwhile, are ever more staunch in their defense of the status quo, however unfree that may leave people. Stability, not liberty, is their aim.
Ah, but that stability is just an illusion.
What these countries are blind to is the radical Islamic fundamentalist breeding ground the tyrants are providing. Remember, Bin Laden attacked the US embassies and the Twin Towers before Afghanistan and Iraq were liberated. Not the other way round. These terrorists are not leaving their breeding grounds in any great number and taking up residence in America. They're moving to Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain; the countries that say they are against the US spreading democracy. Now there's a coincidence.
Don't believe me? Check out Tightening al-Qaeda's European grip.
How bad can it get? Well for a start the Dutch are locking up their MPs to keep them safe from Islamic terrorists. And Dutchman Van Goh was murdered for making a film critical of the way Muslims treat their women.
Europe, as they say, watch out what you wish for, you may just get it.
UPDATE
Janet Daley writing in The Telegraph nails it.
This entirely unresearched, academically unsound theory of mine came back to me as I listened to George W Bush telling Europeans that his campaign for liberty and democracy arose directly from ideals that had originated with them. You could almost hear the injured bewilderment in his voice: this was all your idea in the first place. Whatever happened to your commitment to the values enshrined in Magna Carta and the French Revolution - the doctrine of the rights of man and of government by consent? And if you are still committed to those principles, why can you not see the need to extend them to parts of the world that are still deprived of them?
And
Europeans have found something better, and more readily controlled, as a substitute for personal liberty. They have found wealth: mass prosperity and the kind of government-subsidised economic security that their countries, traumatised by generations of war and unrest, have never known. Since the Cold War ended, they have been able to consolidate the post-war economic miracle with a "peace dividend": all that money that used to be spent on arms could go into more and more generous welfare and pension arrangements. So now they are not even fit to defend themselves, or to sort out a mess in their own Balkan backyard. Why should they join in any crazy scheme to bring peace to the rest of the world?
Bingo!
The tsunami disaster illustrated that in spades.
Europe is in a war with an enemy that it doesn't understand and is not equipped to fight - Islamic terrorism.
So, Europe tries the appeasement route - again. Look where that got them last time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A majority of people in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain said they thought it should not be the U.S. role to spread democracy, according to AP-Ipsos polls. A majority of those living in Canada, Mexico and South Korea (news - web sites) also disagreed with that role.
Strange, their forefathers felt differently when they were about to lose theirs.
Ok, so if not the US who then? Maybe no one?
"Europeans in general — especially the European elites — tend to be more cynical about the possibilities of exporting democracy," said Mandelbaum, author of the book "Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free Markets." "There is a general feeling that democracy just doesn't fit some cultures."
Which ones? Afghanistan and Iraq would disagree with that. So would the Ukraine. You have to pay to see the poll particulars but I imagine that these three countries were not polled. Now I wonder why that could be?
I would also like to know if Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Iran were polled.
I see a picture emerging here. The countries that already have freedom don't want to pay the price their forefathers paid to bring it to others - Freedom for me but not thee.
Gerard Baker summed it up well.
Gerard Baker.
These differences are not just awkward, inconvenient blots on an otherwise pleasant landscape of Atlantic unity. They are great, ugly cleavages in basic perceptions, strategy, and policy. The Bush administration remains committed to revolutionary change throughout the world and, just as the Reagan administration did, believes America's security is inextricably tied up with the advance of liberty well beyond its borders. Europeans, meanwhile, are ever more staunch in their defense of the status quo, however unfree that may leave people. Stability, not liberty, is their aim.
Ah, but that stability is just an illusion.
What these countries are blind to is the radical Islamic fundamentalist breeding ground the tyrants are providing. Remember, Bin Laden attacked the US embassies and the Twin Towers before Afghanistan and Iraq were liberated. Not the other way round. These terrorists are not leaving their breeding grounds in any great number and taking up residence in America. They're moving to Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain; the countries that say they are against the US spreading democracy. Now there's a coincidence.
Don't believe me? Check out Tightening al-Qaeda's European grip.
How bad can it get? Well for a start the Dutch are locking up their MPs to keep them safe from Islamic terrorists. And Dutchman Van Goh was murdered for making a film critical of the way Muslims treat their women.
Europe, as they say, watch out what you wish for, you may just get it.
UPDATE
Janet Daley writing in The Telegraph nails it.
This entirely unresearched, academically unsound theory of mine came back to me as I listened to George W Bush telling Europeans that his campaign for liberty and democracy arose directly from ideals that had originated with them. You could almost hear the injured bewilderment in his voice: this was all your idea in the first place. Whatever happened to your commitment to the values enshrined in Magna Carta and the French Revolution - the doctrine of the rights of man and of government by consent? And if you are still committed to those principles, why can you not see the need to extend them to parts of the world that are still deprived of them?
And
Europeans have found something better, and more readily controlled, as a substitute for personal liberty. They have found wealth: mass prosperity and the kind of government-subsidised economic security that their countries, traumatised by generations of war and unrest, have never known. Since the Cold War ended, they have been able to consolidate the post-war economic miracle with a "peace dividend": all that money that used to be spent on arms could go into more and more generous welfare and pension arrangements. So now they are not even fit to defend themselves, or to sort out a mess in their own Balkan backyard. Why should they join in any crazy scheme to bring peace to the rest of the world?
Bingo!
The tsunami disaster illustrated that in spades.
Europe is in a war with an enemy that it doesn't understand and is not equipped to fight - Islamic terrorism.
So, Europe tries the appeasement route - again. Look where that got them last time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belgian offensive
Powerline has "a message that badly needs to be delivered to our former Belgian friends."
Here is a snippet, be sure to read the whole thing.
Several readers have pointed out to us the Daily Standard column on the Belgian anti-Bush urinal: "Piss off." Let us recall that in December 1944 Belgium was the object of Hitler's last major offensive. Thousands of American heroes served and died to repel the offensive and to liberate Belgium. Click here for an excellent site devoted to the battle. Hitler's last gasp came shortly afterward in the lesser-known Operation Nordwind.
My teenage son asked me the other day why he needed to study history in school. Here's one answer son.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a snippet, be sure to read the whole thing.
Several readers have pointed out to us the Daily Standard column on the Belgian anti-Bush urinal: "Piss off." Let us recall that in December 1944 Belgium was the object of Hitler's last major offensive. Thousands of American heroes served and died to repel the offensive and to liberate Belgium. Click here for an excellent site devoted to the battle. Hitler's last gasp came shortly afterward in the lesser-known Operation Nordwind.
My teenage son asked me the other day why he needed to study history in school. Here's one answer son.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iraq - unsubstantiated rape allegations against US troops
Recently I posted about Amnesty International's report on US forces raping Iraqi women. The report said this:
Amnesty said several women detained by U.S. troops had spoken in interviews with them of beatings, threats of rape, humiliating treatment and long periods of solitary confinement.
We are not told how many several means and we are not given any evidence other than these unsubstantiated claims.
Now we know how many several is. Two.
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is investigating an allegation that a US soldier raped an Iraqi female prisoner while she was in US military custody, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
The allegation has not yet been substantiated, he said on Tuesday. He gave no details.
Another rape allegation against a US soldier by an Iraqi woman was dismissed for lack of evidence, Whitman said.
They are the only two rape allegations that have been made against US troops by Iraqi women, the spokesman said.
The allegations were part of a larger report wherein AI calimed that Iraqi women were worse off now than under Saddam.
I'll say again what I said then - morons.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amnesty said several women detained by U.S. troops had spoken in interviews with them of beatings, threats of rape, humiliating treatment and long periods of solitary confinement.
We are not told how many several means and we are not given any evidence other than these unsubstantiated claims.
Now we know how many several is. Two.
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is investigating an allegation that a US soldier raped an Iraqi female prisoner while she was in US military custody, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
The allegation has not yet been substantiated, he said on Tuesday. He gave no details.
Another rape allegation against a US soldier by an Iraqi woman was dismissed for lack of evidence, Whitman said.
They are the only two rape allegations that have been made against US troops by Iraqi women, the spokesman said.
The allegations were part of a larger report wherein AI calimed that Iraqi women were worse off now than under Saddam.
I'll say again what I said then - morons.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lebanon - Confirmation of the "Iraq Effect"
Recently I've posted about the "Iraq effect", that is the effect the Iraqi elections are having on the entire Middle East.
And yesterday I posted this:
Syrians and Iranians had to watch, first hand, in envy as expat Iraqis voted for the first time. The huge grins on those expats as they exited the polling booths after voting must have lit a phosphorus fire in the hearts of people all over the Middle East. A fire that will not be extinguished. A fire that burns continuous and begs the question - when? When will we get our freedom to vote? When?
Now comes confirmation of the "Iraq Effect".
"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."
So can the Iranians.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And yesterday I posted this:
Syrians and Iranians had to watch, first hand, in envy as expat Iraqis voted for the first time. The huge grins on those expats as they exited the polling booths after voting must have lit a phosphorus fire in the hearts of people all over the Middle East. A fire that will not be extinguished. A fire that burns continuous and begs the question - when? When will we get our freedom to vote? When?
Now comes confirmation of the "Iraq Effect".
"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."
So can the Iranians.
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Germany - Pro Bush Rally
A Pro Bush rally is to take place in Germany today. I hope they post some pictures.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Iran - Sliencing Free Speech
Africa's Mbeki criticized the US for placing "Zimbabwe alongside Cuba, Belarus, Burma, Iran and North Korea in a list of tyrannical states..." Even though Zimbabwe is kicking journalist out of the country and closing newspapers.
Strange, Mr. Mbeki, Iran is doing the same thing.
Iran Jails Editor for 14 Years for Insulting Leaders
TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian journalist was jailed for 14 years on charges ranging from espionage to insulting the country's leaders in an unusually heavy sentence in Iran, where tens of journalists have been tried in recent years.
Rights activists said on Tuesday that Arash Sigarchi, 28, was convicted by the Revolutionary Court in the Caspian province of Gilan in northern Iran.
Sigarchi, a newspaper editor in Gilan who also wrote an Internet journal or "weblog," was arrested last month after responding to a summons from the Intelligence Ministry.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Strange, Mr. Mbeki, Iran is doing the same thing.
Iran Jails Editor for 14 Years for Insulting Leaders
TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian journalist was jailed for 14 years on charges ranging from espionage to insulting the country's leaders in an unusually heavy sentence in Iran, where tens of journalists have been tried in recent years.
Rights activists said on Tuesday that Arash Sigarchi, 28, was convicted by the Revolutionary Court in the Caspian province of Gilan in northern Iran.
Sigarchi, a newspaper editor in Gilan who also wrote an Internet journal or "weblog," was arrested last month after responding to a summons from the Intelligence Ministry.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Africa - Mbeki criticises US over Zimbabwe
The BBC reports "South African President Thabo Mbeki has said the US was wrong to describe Zimbabwe as an "outpost of tyranny".
The US decision to place Zimbabwe alongside Cuba, Belarus, Burma, Iran and North Korea in a list of tyrannical states was "an exaggeration", he said.
The US and EU accuse Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe of election rigging and human rights abuses.
Well Mr. Mbeki what do you have to say about this.
Media forced to flee Zimbabwe
The raids and subsequent threats of arrest were seen as an attempt ahead of the March 31 parliamentary elections to silence the foreign media, one of the last independent voices remaining in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe forced the country's only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, to close last year despite court orders that it be allowed to reopen.
All other broadcast news and daily newspapers in the country are controlled by the state.
Sounds like an "outpost of tyranny" to me.
Notice which story the BBC run?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The US decision to place Zimbabwe alongside Cuba, Belarus, Burma, Iran and North Korea in a list of tyrannical states was "an exaggeration", he said.
The US and EU accuse Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe of election rigging and human rights abuses.
Well Mr. Mbeki what do you have to say about this.
Media forced to flee Zimbabwe
The raids and subsequent threats of arrest were seen as an attempt ahead of the March 31 parliamentary elections to silence the foreign media, one of the last independent voices remaining in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe forced the country's only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, to close last year despite court orders that it be allowed to reopen.
All other broadcast news and daily newspapers in the country are controlled by the state.
Sounds like an "outpost of tyranny" to me.
Notice which story the BBC run?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interpol sounds bio-terror alarm
The BBC is reporting:
The world is ill prepared for the looming threat of a biological terror attack, the head of Interpol has said.
Ronald Noble told the BBC the danger of an al-Qaeda attack has not diminished since the 9/11 strikes on the US.
Well what happened to your program that claimed there is no such thing as a world wide terrorists organization? You liked your program so much you replayed it. Something change your mind Auntie?
The head of the global police body also denied governments had played up the risks for political gain.
"I don't think it is the sounding of false alarms," Mr Noble said, citing recent evidence. "I think the alarm is real and it is continuing to ring."
What do you have to say for yourself Auntie? That was one of your major claims, wasn't it - governments sounding false alarms for political gain?
What are the odds the BBC run that program (sorry forgot the name) just before the UK elections - for political gain?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The world is ill prepared for the looming threat of a biological terror attack, the head of Interpol has said.
Ronald Noble told the BBC the danger of an al-Qaeda attack has not diminished since the 9/11 strikes on the US.
Well what happened to your program that claimed there is no such thing as a world wide terrorists organization? You liked your program so much you replayed it. Something change your mind Auntie?
The head of the global police body also denied governments had played up the risks for political gain.
"I don't think it is the sounding of false alarms," Mr Noble said, citing recent evidence. "I think the alarm is real and it is continuing to ring."
What do you have to say for yourself Auntie? That was one of your major claims, wasn't it - governments sounding false alarms for political gain?
What are the odds the BBC run that program (sorry forgot the name) just before the UK elections - for political gain?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
London Mayor - National Disgrace
Red Ken is still refusing to apologize for calling a Jewish reporter a concentration camp guard. Bunny takes a look at Komedy Ken. I like this bit.
He said that if the reporter had been offended by his remarks he was "in the wrong job".
This is after Ken has tried to excuse himself by saying:
Pursuing me along the pavement thrusting your tape recorder at me whilst repeatedly barking the same question when I had clearly indicated I did not wish to be interviewed by you is not acceptable behaviour by you or any other journalist.
While I have some sympathy for Ken here, the obvious retort arises that if he's offended by this sort of thing, then he's in the wrong job.
Indeed he is.
Bunny had an earlier post that ended with this:
Sue Carroll from The Mirror says:
Imagine this. Robert Kilroy-Silk emerges from a meeting of his political party Veritas (held in a phone box, probably) and is harassed by an Arab reporter.Kilroy loses his rag and tells the journalist he's no better than a Hamas suicide bomber.
Do you think there would be the same non-reaction from Labour and the race relations industry as the deafening silence following Mayor Ken Livingstone's outburst directed at a Jewish reporter from London's Evening Standard, who Livingstone likened to a "German war criminal" and accused of behaving like "a concentration camp guard"?
No, I don't.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He said that if the reporter had been offended by his remarks he was "in the wrong job".
This is after Ken has tried to excuse himself by saying:
Pursuing me along the pavement thrusting your tape recorder at me whilst repeatedly barking the same question when I had clearly indicated I did not wish to be interviewed by you is not acceptable behaviour by you or any other journalist.
While I have some sympathy for Ken here, the obvious retort arises that if he's offended by this sort of thing, then he's in the wrong job.
Indeed he is.
Bunny had an earlier post that ended with this:
Sue Carroll from The Mirror says:
Imagine this. Robert Kilroy-Silk emerges from a meeting of his political party Veritas (held in a phone box, probably) and is harassed by an Arab reporter.Kilroy loses his rag and tells the journalist he's no better than a Hamas suicide bomber.
Do you think there would be the same non-reaction from Labour and the race relations industry as the deafening silence following Mayor Ken Livingstone's outburst directed at a Jewish reporter from London's Evening Standard, who Livingstone likened to a "German war criminal" and accused of behaving like "a concentration camp guard"?
No, I don't.
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Hizballah: "Death to America"
As I've said before, one of Islam's war tactics states "Democrats and Leftist will support us". They're right and Top House Democrat Charlie Rangel is proof of that.
Top House Democrat Charlie Rangel said Tuesday that it was an act of discrimination to label groups like Hezbollah "Islamic terrorists."
Rangel must have missed Hizbullah Leader Hassan Nasrallah's latest speeches.
We consider it to be an enemy because it wants to humiliate our governments, our regimes, and our peoples. Because it is the greatest plunderer our treasures, our oil, and our resources, while millions in our nation suffer unemployment, poverty, hunger, unmarriagability, ignorance, darkness, and so on. America… This American administration is an enemy. Our motto, which we are not afraid to repeat year after year, is: "Death to America."
Crowd: Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
via LGF
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Top House Democrat Charlie Rangel said Tuesday that it was an act of discrimination to label groups like Hezbollah "Islamic terrorists."
Rangel must have missed Hizbullah Leader Hassan Nasrallah's latest speeches.
We consider it to be an enemy because it wants to humiliate our governments, our regimes, and our peoples. Because it is the greatest plunderer our treasures, our oil, and our resources, while millions in our nation suffer unemployment, poverty, hunger, unmarriagability, ignorance, darkness, and so on. America… This American administration is an enemy. Our motto, which we are not afraid to repeat year after year, is: "Death to America."
Crowd: Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
via LGF
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Europe vs America
Mark Steyn and Gerard Baker have some thoughts.
First, Mark Steyn
America and Europe both face security threats. But the difference is America's are external, and require hard choices in tough neighbourhoods around the world, while the EU's are internal and, as they see it, unlikely to be lessened by the sight of European soldiers joining the Great Satan in liberating, say, Syria. That's not exactly going to help keep the lid on the noisier Continental mosques.
Now, Gerard Baker.
These differences are not just awkward, inconvenient blots on an otherwise pleasant landscape of Atlantic unity. They are great, ugly cleavages in basic perceptions, strategy, and policy. The Bush administration remains committed to revolutionary change throughout the world and, just as the Reagan administration did, believes America's security is inextricably tied up with the advance of liberty well beyond its borders. Europeans, meanwhile, are ever more staunch in their defense of the status quo, however unfree that may leave people. Stability, not liberty, is their aim.
Now contrast that with this from The BBC.
US President George Bush is in Europe on a trip to try to heal some of the rifts that marked his first term.
No he's not, nor should he be. Bush is in Europe to show there are no hard feelings and you can still join us if you want. That won't happen except for a token gesture such as NATO training Iraqi troops - outside Iraq.
What happens, say in a few years time, with Afghanistan and Iraq liberated, Lebanon, Syria and Iran are free and the Israel/Palestinian conflict is resolved?
What happens when, during that same time Europe has swollen with fanatical Islamic fundamentalists, war breaks out in Europe? What happens then?
Think it can't happen? The Dutch are already involved in a war with Islamic fundamentalist and have some members of the government locked up for safety. That's right, the terrorists are free and the government is locked up. The Dutch are trying the Madrid maneuver and are pulling out of Iraq. Appeasement never works.
But there you have it. Train wrecks are ugly but you just can't help watching, can you?
UPDATE
And check out Tightening al-Qaeda's European grip
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First, Mark Steyn
America and Europe both face security threats. But the difference is America's are external, and require hard choices in tough neighbourhoods around the world, while the EU's are internal and, as they see it, unlikely to be lessened by the sight of European soldiers joining the Great Satan in liberating, say, Syria. That's not exactly going to help keep the lid on the noisier Continental mosques.
Now, Gerard Baker.
These differences are not just awkward, inconvenient blots on an otherwise pleasant landscape of Atlantic unity. They are great, ugly cleavages in basic perceptions, strategy, and policy. The Bush administration remains committed to revolutionary change throughout the world and, just as the Reagan administration did, believes America's security is inextricably tied up with the advance of liberty well beyond its borders. Europeans, meanwhile, are ever more staunch in their defense of the status quo, however unfree that may leave people. Stability, not liberty, is their aim.
Now contrast that with this from The BBC.
US President George Bush is in Europe on a trip to try to heal some of the rifts that marked his first term.
No he's not, nor should he be. Bush is in Europe to show there are no hard feelings and you can still join us if you want. That won't happen except for a token gesture such as NATO training Iraqi troops - outside Iraq.
What happens, say in a few years time, with Afghanistan and Iraq liberated, Lebanon, Syria and Iran are free and the Israel/Palestinian conflict is resolved?
What happens when, during that same time Europe has swollen with fanatical Islamic fundamentalists, war breaks out in Europe? What happens then?
Think it can't happen? The Dutch are already involved in a war with Islamic fundamentalist and have some members of the government locked up for safety. That's right, the terrorists are free and the government is locked up. The Dutch are trying the Madrid maneuver and are pulling out of Iraq. Appeasement never works.
But there you have it. Train wrecks are ugly but you just can't help watching, can you?
UPDATE
And check out Tightening al-Qaeda's European grip
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JESSE JACKSON - Plagiarist?
Has the man no shame??
Whizbang catches Jackson plagiarizing Barone!
Here is Barone yesterday.
Sometimes a decision made in the heat of partisan battle has reverberations for years to come.
One such decision was the one of Al Gore's campaign to selectively challenge the results of the 2000 election in Florida by demanding hand counts of votes cast in three counties -- Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach....
Here's Jackson today.
Sometimes a decision made in the heat of partisan battle has reverberations for years to come.
One such decision was the one of Al Gore's campaign to selectively challenge the results of the 2000 election in Florida by demanding hand counts of votes cast in three counties -- Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach....
This will be a fun one to explain. Meanwhile, the article is worth reading; Barone's that is.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whizbang catches Jackson plagiarizing Barone!
Here is Barone yesterday.
Sometimes a decision made in the heat of partisan battle has reverberations for years to come.
One such decision was the one of Al Gore's campaign to selectively challenge the results of the 2000 election in Florida by demanding hand counts of votes cast in three counties -- Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach....
Here's Jackson today.
Sometimes a decision made in the heat of partisan battle has reverberations for years to come.
One such decision was the one of Al Gore's campaign to selectively challenge the results of the 2000 election in Florida by demanding hand counts of votes cast in three counties -- Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach....
This will be a fun one to explain. Meanwhile, the article is worth reading; Barone's that is.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iraq - Canada Sending Troops to Train
in Jordon. Close enough for government work, eh?
OTTAWA (CP) - Canada will contribute up to 30 soldiers to a NATO-led force that will help train the new Iraqi army, senior federal officials confirmed Friday.
The formal announcement will be made when Prime Minister Paul Martin gathers with other leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting Tuesday in Brussels.
Ottawa also plans to contribute $1 million towards a NATO-managed trust fund that will help pay the expenses of Iraqi officers who take part in the program.
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OTTAWA (CP) - Canada will contribute up to 30 soldiers to a NATO-led force that will help train the new Iraqi army, senior federal officials confirmed Friday.
The formal announcement will be made when Prime Minister Paul Martin gathers with other leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting Tuesday in Brussels.
Ottawa also plans to contribute $1 million towards a NATO-managed trust fund that will help pay the expenses of Iraqi officers who take part in the program.
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Togo - US Surprises
Oxblog is surprised by Bush's multilateral approach.
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Al Qaeda - Tightening al-Qaeda's European grip
Asia Times reports on Al Qaeda in Europe.
Beghal's arrest subsequently led to the dismantlement of the so-called "Beghal network" in Corbeil-Essonnes, France, where he had lived until 1997, before leaving for the United Kingdom - where he met the influential Salafist preacher Abu Qatada - and later Germany and Pakistan. The kamikaze in the alleged planned attack would have been Tunisian Nizar Trabelsi, a former soccer player. Trabelsi was arrested in Belgium in September 2001, two days after the September 11 attacks, and sentenced to 10 years in jail two years later. He admitted he was preparing a terrorist attack, but said his target was a military base in Belgium.
Beghal's main co-defendant Kamel Daoudi, a computer scientist suspected of taking care of the logistics, was arrested in England and extradited to France. Last June, four members of the network were sentenced in the Netherlands, including French convert Jerome Courtailler.
Like Zakarias Moussaoui and shoe bomber Richard Reid, among others, Beghal attended the now famous Finsbury Park mosque led by Abu Hamza al-Masri. Several well-known Islamic radicals - among whom many have been involved in terrorism plots - found sanctuary in Great Britain, a country labelled "soft" on religious extremism.
Ain't that the truth.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beghal's arrest subsequently led to the dismantlement of the so-called "Beghal network" in Corbeil-Essonnes, France, where he had lived until 1997, before leaving for the United Kingdom - where he met the influential Salafist preacher Abu Qatada - and later Germany and Pakistan. The kamikaze in the alleged planned attack would have been Tunisian Nizar Trabelsi, a former soccer player. Trabelsi was arrested in Belgium in September 2001, two days after the September 11 attacks, and sentenced to 10 years in jail two years later. He admitted he was preparing a terrorist attack, but said his target was a military base in Belgium.
Beghal's main co-defendant Kamel Daoudi, a computer scientist suspected of taking care of the logistics, was arrested in England and extradited to France. Last June, four members of the network were sentenced in the Netherlands, including French convert Jerome Courtailler.
Like Zakarias Moussaoui and shoe bomber Richard Reid, among others, Beghal attended the now famous Finsbury Park mosque led by Abu Hamza al-Masri. Several well-known Islamic radicals - among whom many have been involved in terrorism plots - found sanctuary in Great Britain, a country labelled "soft" on religious extremism.
Ain't that the truth.
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Iraq - Zarqawi Vows to Fight On
Some people have to learn the hard way.
While the Taliban are laying down their arms in Afghanistan, Reuters reports "Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq dismissed on Monday a report of secret talks between insurgents and U.S. officials and said its attacks would continue, according to an Internet statement."
Perhaps Zarqawi doesn't speak for all the terrorists.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the Taliban are laying down their arms in Afghanistan, Reuters reports "Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq dismissed on Monday a report of secret talks between insurgents and U.S. officials and said its attacks would continue, according to an Internet statement."
Perhaps Zarqawi doesn't speak for all the terrorists.
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Taliban Fighters to Accept Amnesty
The Telegraph reports "One of the Taliban's most senior and charismatic commanders has become a key negotiator as more and more members of the Islamic militia in Afghanistan give up the fight against the Americans."
Now he is a supporter of President Hamid Karzai and is tempting diehard Taliban fighters to accept an amnesty offer and reconcile themselves to Afghanistan's first directly elected leader.
"The Taliban has lost its morale," he said, speaking by satellite phone from the heartlands of Zabul province, a Taliban redoubt. [...]
"They are in Kabul seeking peace and to boost the reconciliation process," he said, adding that he was hopeful that the Taliban surrender would take place before the parliamentary elections, expected in the summer.
Afghan officials claimed in recent days that four unnamed senior figures from the former Taliban government have accepted the US-backed offer of amnesty extended to them by Mr Karzai's government and will form a new party for the elections.
"This step is a great encouragement to other Taliban to end their struggle," said Mullah Rockety. "I have said to the Taliban that now is the time for unity, the time for Afghan brother to stop killing Afghan brother."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now he is a supporter of President Hamid Karzai and is tempting diehard Taliban fighters to accept an amnesty offer and reconcile themselves to Afghanistan's first directly elected leader.
"The Taliban has lost its morale," he said, speaking by satellite phone from the heartlands of Zabul province, a Taliban redoubt. [...]
"They are in Kabul seeking peace and to boost the reconciliation process," he said, adding that he was hopeful that the Taliban surrender would take place before the parliamentary elections, expected in the summer.
Afghan officials claimed in recent days that four unnamed senior figures from the former Taliban government have accepted the US-backed offer of amnesty extended to them by Mr Karzai's government and will form a new party for the elections.
"This step is a great encouragement to other Taliban to end their struggle," said Mullah Rockety. "I have said to the Taliban that now is the time for unity, the time for Afghan brother to stop killing Afghan brother."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia boosts Iraq deployment
The BBC reports on a country with some backbone.
How many lives could be saved and how much quicker Iraq could be rebuilt if more countries would get off their backsides and help out.
Iraq stands as a testament to the ineffectiveness of the UN.
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How many lives could be saved and how much quicker Iraq could be rebuilt if more countries would get off their backsides and help out.
Iraq stands as a testament to the ineffectiveness of the UN.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Middle East - Democracy Spreading
Shortly after 9/11 America invaded Afghanistan, routed Al Qaeda and defeated the Taliban. Recently Afghanistan held their first free and fair elections.
Next, America invaded Iraq, defeated the much vaunted Special Republican guard and captured the dictator Saddam. Recently Iraq held their first free and fair elections.
Inspired by all of this the Ukrainians overturned a stolen election and held new, free and fair elections.
The despot Arafat died and now the Palestinians have held free and fair elections.
Even Saudi Arabia is experimenting with elections. They have a long way to go and this maybe more for show but you can't put this genie back in the bottle.
All this happened during Bush's first four years in office. The next four promise to be even more eventful.
In this technologically advanced 21st century, news spreads like wildfire via radio, TV, email and the Internet; complete with photographs and video. More and more the people of the Middle East learn that their leaders have been lying to them - America is not the evil empire they were told it was.
All over the Middle East people watched as first the Afghanistanis voted, then the Iraqis and next the Palestinians.
Syrians and Iranians had to watch, first hand, in envy as expat Iraqis voted for the first time. The huge grins on those expats as they exited the polling booths after voting must have lit a phosphorus fire in the hearts of people all over the Middle East. A fire that will not be extinguished. A fire that burns continuous and begs the question - when? When will we get our freedom to vote? When?
You can see that fire growing, burning brighter every day. In Lebanon 10s of thousands took to the streets in protest of the Syrian occupation. In Iran "Tehran, Feb. 21 – Heavy clashes between Iranian Kurds and security agents erupted on Friday in three towns in western Iran, leaving dozens injured and hundreds arrested." The Iranian citizens came out in support of the protesters and chased away the security forces.
Now the fire is spreading to Egypt.
Hundreds of protesters have staged a demonstration against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
It was the largest such rally in a series of anti-government protests which began in December.
Much remains to be done but the profound changes brought about by George Bush in just four short years are astounding. Re-elected with a huge majority and unable to run for a third term, Bush will use these successes as a springboard to even greater success.
The next four years are going to be truly amazing. What a great time to be alive.
Michael Ledeen has similar thoughts.
We should be funding more (mostly private) radio and television broadcasting to Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The people in those countries know that they are being lied to by their governments, but they don't know the truth, especially about their own country. If you read some of the blogs from Iran, for example (and there are lots of them!), you find a reflexive rejection of anything that the government says: mullahs say Bush bad, people believe Bush good, for example. They need information. People in Tehran need to know what's going on in Isfahan, people in Damascus need to know what's happening in Aleppo or Beirut, people in Riyadh need to know the latest from the Eastern provinces.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next, America invaded Iraq, defeated the much vaunted Special Republican guard and captured the dictator Saddam. Recently Iraq held their first free and fair elections.
Inspired by all of this the Ukrainians overturned a stolen election and held new, free and fair elections.
The despot Arafat died and now the Palestinians have held free and fair elections.
Even Saudi Arabia is experimenting with elections. They have a long way to go and this maybe more for show but you can't put this genie back in the bottle.
All this happened during Bush's first four years in office. The next four promise to be even more eventful.
In this technologically advanced 21st century, news spreads like wildfire via radio, TV, email and the Internet; complete with photographs and video. More and more the people of the Middle East learn that their leaders have been lying to them - America is not the evil empire they were told it was.
All over the Middle East people watched as first the Afghanistanis voted, then the Iraqis and next the Palestinians.
Syrians and Iranians had to watch, first hand, in envy as expat Iraqis voted for the first time. The huge grins on those expats as they exited the polling booths after voting must have lit a phosphorus fire in the hearts of people all over the Middle East. A fire that will not be extinguished. A fire that burns continuous and begs the question - when? When will we get our freedom to vote? When?
You can see that fire growing, burning brighter every day. In Lebanon 10s of thousands took to the streets in protest of the Syrian occupation. In Iran "Tehran, Feb. 21 – Heavy clashes between Iranian Kurds and security agents erupted on Friday in three towns in western Iran, leaving dozens injured and hundreds arrested." The Iranian citizens came out in support of the protesters and chased away the security forces.
Now the fire is spreading to Egypt.
Hundreds of protesters have staged a demonstration against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
It was the largest such rally in a series of anti-government protests which began in December.
Much remains to be done but the profound changes brought about by George Bush in just four short years are astounding. Re-elected with a huge majority and unable to run for a third term, Bush will use these successes as a springboard to even greater success.
The next four years are going to be truly amazing. What a great time to be alive.
Michael Ledeen has similar thoughts.
We should be funding more (mostly private) radio and television broadcasting to Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The people in those countries know that they are being lied to by their governments, but they don't know the truth, especially about their own country. If you read some of the blogs from Iran, for example (and there are lots of them!), you find a reflexive rejection of anything that the government says: mullahs say Bush bad, people believe Bush good, for example. They need information. People in Tehran need to know what's going on in Isfahan, people in Damascus need to know what's happening in Aleppo or Beirut, people in Riyadh need to know the latest from the Eastern provinces.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran - Global blogger action day called
Nice to see The BBC reporting on this.
The global web blog community is being called into action to lend support to two imprisoned Iranian bloggers.
The month-old Committee to Protect Bloggers' is asking those with blogs to dedicate their sites on Tuesday to the "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day".
Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad are both in prison in Iran.
Blogs are free sites through which people publish thoughts and opinions. Iranian authorities have been clamping down on prominent sites for some time.
The Committee to Protect Bloggers has some links, email addresses and other ways you can help.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The global web blog community is being called into action to lend support to two imprisoned Iranian bloggers.
The month-old Committee to Protect Bloggers' is asking those with blogs to dedicate their sites on Tuesday to the "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day".
Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad are both in prison in Iran.
Blogs are free sites through which people publish thoughts and opinions. Iranian authorities have been clamping down on prominent sites for some time.
The Committee to Protect Bloggers has some links, email addresses and other ways you can help.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran - FREE MOJTABA AND ARASH DAY
From The Committee to Protect Bloggers
Today is Free Mojtaba and Arash Day in honor of the two Iranian bloggers currently incarcerated by the Iranian government.
Read about Arash and Mojtaba.
Here is what you can do.
With additional contact information.
Banners are available at various locations on this blog.We have already had a tremendous response, including encouragement and thanks from bloggers in Iran. Let's make a difference today. Freedom of speech is not a partisan issue, not an issue of culture or ethnicity, it is a bloggers' issue and a human issue.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today is Free Mojtaba and Arash Day in honor of the two Iranian bloggers currently incarcerated by the Iranian government.
Read about Arash and Mojtaba.
Here is what you can do.
With additional contact information.
Banners are available at various locations on this blog.We have already had a tremendous response, including encouragement and thanks from bloggers in Iran. Let's make a difference today. Freedom of speech is not a partisan issue, not an issue of culture or ethnicity, it is a bloggers' issue and a human issue.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, February 21, 2005
UN - Annan Covered Up for Old Friend
Fox News reports on Annan's cover up of the sex scandal at the UN.
The sexual harassment allegations were made against Lubbers in April 2004. In May of that year, an investigation into those claims was launched by the United Nations and the investigators backed the woman's claims.
But in July, Annan ruled that no further action be taken. He also kept the report secret.
The report was then leaked to FOX News last Friday, the same day Annan was holding a long-scheduled meeting with Lubbers. U.N. diplomats told The Associated Press that the secretary-general offered Lubbers two choices -- resign or face suspension and charges of breaking U.N. rules.
Two days later, Lubbers resigned.[...]
Further evidence of Annan's determination to keep the report secret appears to come in a series of letter exchanged between the United Nations and the alleged victim in this case, which has been obtained by FOX News.
The letters show that the alleged victim, an American woman who was a 24-year veteran of the United Nations, repeatedly appealed to Annan to allow her to see the report into the allegations she made. Her request was consistently turned down, as shown by the letter.
Annan should resign as well.
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The sexual harassment allegations were made against Lubbers in April 2004. In May of that year, an investigation into those claims was launched by the United Nations and the investigators backed the woman's claims.
But in July, Annan ruled that no further action be taken. He also kept the report secret.
The report was then leaked to FOX News last Friday, the same day Annan was holding a long-scheduled meeting with Lubbers. U.N. diplomats told The Associated Press that the secretary-general offered Lubbers two choices -- resign or face suspension and charges of breaking U.N. rules.
Two days later, Lubbers resigned.[...]
Further evidence of Annan's determination to keep the report secret appears to come in a series of letter exchanged between the United Nations and the alleged victim in this case, which has been obtained by FOX News.
The letters show that the alleged victim, an American woman who was a 24-year veteran of the United Nations, repeatedly appealed to Annan to allow her to see the report into the allegations she made. Her request was consistently turned down, as shown by the letter.
Annan should resign as well.
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Iraq - Women no better off post-Saddam
Well, they're alive. That's gotta be good.
Al Reuters reports on Al Amnesty Internationale's report on women in Iraq. Just another hit piece on America.
LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Nearly two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, women there are no better off than under the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, the human rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
Gee AI, did women in Iraq get to vote freely when Saddam was in power? Did women get elected to serve in a national assembly?
In a report entitled "Iraq -- Decades of Suffering," it said that while the systematic repression under Saddam had ended, it had been replaced by increased murders, and sexual abuse -- including by U.S. forces.
What does Al Reuters offer as proof?
Amnesty said several women detained by U.S. troops had spoken in interviews with them of beatings, threats of rape, humiliating treatment and long periods of solitary confinement.
AI conveniently fail to tell us why they were detained. It might have a bearing on the truth of their charges.
"Within their own communities, many women and girls remain at risk of death from male relatives if they are accused of behaviour held to have brought dishonour on the family," Amnesty said, noting some attempts by religious zealots to make the laws even more repressive against women.
That happens in most if not all Muslim countries; hardly the US fault.
But on the positive side, the report said several women's rights groups had been formed -- including ones that focused on the protection of women from violence.
Alright AI, let me get this straight. Women can now vote freely, be elected to a national assembly, form women's rights groups and are not in a mass grave but they are worse off now than when Saddam was putting them and their kin in mass graves?
Morons.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Al Reuters reports on Al Amnesty Internationale's report on women in Iraq. Just another hit piece on America.
LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Nearly two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, women there are no better off than under the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, the human rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
Gee AI, did women in Iraq get to vote freely when Saddam was in power? Did women get elected to serve in a national assembly?
In a report entitled "Iraq -- Decades of Suffering," it said that while the systematic repression under Saddam had ended, it had been replaced by increased murders, and sexual abuse -- including by U.S. forces.
What does Al Reuters offer as proof?
Amnesty said several women detained by U.S. troops had spoken in interviews with them of beatings, threats of rape, humiliating treatment and long periods of solitary confinement.
AI conveniently fail to tell us why they were detained. It might have a bearing on the truth of their charges.
"Within their own communities, many women and girls remain at risk of death from male relatives if they are accused of behaviour held to have brought dishonour on the family," Amnesty said, noting some attempts by religious zealots to make the laws even more repressive against women.
That happens in most if not all Muslim countries; hardly the US fault.
But on the positive side, the report said several women's rights groups had been formed -- including ones that focused on the protection of women from violence.
Alright AI, let me get this straight. Women can now vote freely, be elected to a national assembly, form women's rights groups and are not in a mass grave but they are worse off now than when Saddam was putting them and their kin in mass graves?
Morons.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran - The "Iraq Effect"
Earlier today I posted about "Lebanon - Beirut protesters denounce Syria".
I called this the "Iraq effect" because the Lebanese, like the Syrians and Iranians, had to watch as expat Iraqis voted in their first free and fair elections.
Looks like the "Iraq effect" is being felt in Iran.
Tehran, Feb. 21 – Heavy clashes between Iranian Kurds and security agents erupted on Friday in three towns in western Iran, leaving dozens injured and hundreds arrested.
Clashes broke out after State Security Forces agents used force to disperse demonstrations taking place simultaneously in the towns of Sardasht, Saqqez, and Baneh in protest against severe fuel shortages in the area, eye-witnesses reported.
Riiiight.
The demonstators fought back against the SSF.
The demonstrations quickly turned violent as protestors fought back and shouted slogans against Iran's ruling clerics.
In Sardasht, residents came to the aid of protestors during clashes as the SSF attempted to arrest anyone in the vicinity of the demonstration. At least 200 people, mostly youths, were arrested.
In Saqqez, residents reportedly forced SSF agents to flee the scene after serious scuffles.
Suddenly everyone wants democracy. Now I wonder why that could be?
Come on Iran, you can do it.
via The Adventuress
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I called this the "Iraq effect" because the Lebanese, like the Syrians and Iranians, had to watch as expat Iraqis voted in their first free and fair elections.
Looks like the "Iraq effect" is being felt in Iran.
Tehran, Feb. 21 – Heavy clashes between Iranian Kurds and security agents erupted on Friday in three towns in western Iran, leaving dozens injured and hundreds arrested.
Clashes broke out after State Security Forces agents used force to disperse demonstrations taking place simultaneously in the towns of Sardasht, Saqqez, and Baneh in protest against severe fuel shortages in the area, eye-witnesses reported.
Riiiight.
The demonstators fought back against the SSF.
The demonstrations quickly turned violent as protestors fought back and shouted slogans against Iran's ruling clerics.
In Sardasht, residents came to the aid of protestors during clashes as the SSF attempted to arrest anyone in the vicinity of the demonstration. At least 200 people, mostly youths, were arrested.
In Saqqez, residents reportedly forced SSF agents to flee the scene after serious scuffles.
Suddenly everyone wants democracy. Now I wonder why that could be?
Come on Iran, you can do it.
via The Adventuress
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Iraq - Insurgency is Failing
The Belmont Club shows why.
The regular newspapers have in their own way chronicled the insurgency's decline. The new European friendliness towards the Bush administration; Kofi Annan's pitiful attempt to claim credit for the Iraqi elections; America's recent agressiveness towards Syria; Senator Clinton's newfound optimism; the Ba'athist recent despair -- each chronicles after its fashion the story of defeat -- though the reader is left to deduce who is defeated.
It will probably be many months before the insurgency finally flickers out. Attempts will be made to extend its life through negotiations to win breathing space, through renewed and ever more heinous attacks. Unexpected events or a blunder may yet breathe life into it. But for the first time since terrorist warfare was developed and perfected in the Algerian war it has met its match on the battlefield. The vanquishing arms may have been American, but the heart that drove it was in large measure Iraqi.
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The regular newspapers have in their own way chronicled the insurgency's decline. The new European friendliness towards the Bush administration; Kofi Annan's pitiful attempt to claim credit for the Iraqi elections; America's recent agressiveness towards Syria; Senator Clinton's newfound optimism; the Ba'athist recent despair -- each chronicles after its fashion the story of defeat -- though the reader is left to deduce who is defeated.
It will probably be many months before the insurgency finally flickers out. Attempts will be made to extend its life through negotiations to win breathing space, through renewed and ever more heinous attacks. Unexpected events or a blunder may yet breathe life into it. But for the first time since terrorist warfare was developed and perfected in the Algerian war it has met its match on the battlefield. The vanquishing arms may have been American, but the heart that drove it was in large measure Iraqi.
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Wall Street Journalist Busted
for snatching laptop time.
John Fund, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, got caught snatching laptop time on other peoples laptops - bloggers laptops no less! Crosswalk has photos to prove it.
The incident provided a glimpse into the techincal savvy of such jorunalists. Hint: not good.
As Cox began closing the browsers that Fund had left open on the laptop, a small window opened alerting Cox, or whoever else might have seen it - that they were still logged in - to the Dow Jones servers as an admin user for the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to that Fund had left his access to Outlook Mail opened with his full lists of e-mail waiting and ready to be read. To Cox and the rest of the bloggers' credit - none was accessed. We can reveal though that one of the e-mail subject lines read "Smokin' Hot Dancer".
This raises an interesting question. Since Fund left his email open on someone elses computer while using it without their permission, were they entitiled to read them? I don't know but after the way MSM treat bloggers, I wish they had.
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John Fund, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, got caught snatching laptop time on other peoples laptops - bloggers laptops no less! Crosswalk has photos to prove it.
The incident provided a glimpse into the techincal savvy of such jorunalists. Hint: not good.
As Cox began closing the browsers that Fund had left open on the laptop, a small window opened alerting Cox, or whoever else might have seen it - that they were still logged in - to the Dow Jones servers as an admin user for the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to that Fund had left his access to Outlook Mail opened with his full lists of e-mail waiting and ready to be read. To Cox and the rest of the bloggers' credit - none was accessed. We can reveal though that one of the e-mail subject lines read "Smokin' Hot Dancer".
This raises an interesting question. Since Fund left his email open on someone elses computer while using it without their permission, were they entitiled to read them? I don't know but after the way MSM treat bloggers, I wish they had.
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Why the EU Constitution is bad
What in the world is going on? Many people are writing good things about America lately.
First, I find a BBC reporter writing a love letter to America.
Then, The Australian chimes in.
Talking about the EU constitution, The Telegraph ends the piece with this:
It would weigh scarcely anything extra to throw in the US Constitution with each envelope, thus offering the most instructive possible comparison.
And
Second, I would draw attention to the opening words of the two documents. The US Constitution begins, famously, "We the People…". The European Constitution begins, "His Majesty the King of the Belgians…". That gives you a fair idea of the different spirit of each document.
Be sure to read the whole thing. Hint: Charles Moore hates the EU constitution.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First, I find a BBC reporter writing a love letter to America.
Then, The Australian chimes in.
Talking about the EU constitution, The Telegraph ends the piece with this:
It would weigh scarcely anything extra to throw in the US Constitution with each envelope, thus offering the most instructive possible comparison.
And
Second, I would draw attention to the opening words of the two documents. The US Constitution begins, famously, "We the People…". The European Constitution begins, "His Majesty the King of the Belgians…". That gives you a fair idea of the different spirit of each document.
Be sure to read the whole thing. Hint: Charles Moore hates the EU constitution.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe must accommodate Bush vision
Says The Australian.
Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger once said he would pay attention to Europe when it had a telephone number. By basing himself near EU headquarters in Brussels for this visit, Mr Bush signals he understands Europe now has a voice. In return, EU leaders must get over their unproductive resentment towards Mr Bush. Apart from recent events in the Middle East, what strengthens Mr Bush's legitimacy is his re-election victory and the deeper changes it portends beneath the surface of US political life. If European leaders ever believed they could simply bide their time until the US produced a leader who thinks as they do, that moment has gone. The Bush vision, which is based on an aggressive assault on terrorism and an activist seeding of democracy, is the direct result of what the US learned on 9/11. It will not go away. And when we see the US mounting a full-scale assault on AIDS and hunger in Africa, or following hot on Australia's heels with on-the-ground tsunami relief in Aceh, we are looking at another side of the same vision.
Be sure to read the whole thing.
And there is even some flatery from a BBC reporter today!
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Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger once said he would pay attention to Europe when it had a telephone number. By basing himself near EU headquarters in Brussels for this visit, Mr Bush signals he understands Europe now has a voice. In return, EU leaders must get over their unproductive resentment towards Mr Bush. Apart from recent events in the Middle East, what strengthens Mr Bush's legitimacy is his re-election victory and the deeper changes it portends beneath the surface of US political life. If European leaders ever believed they could simply bide their time until the US produced a leader who thinks as they do, that moment has gone. The Bush vision, which is based on an aggressive assault on terrorism and an activist seeding of democracy, is the direct result of what the US learned on 9/11. It will not go away. And when we see the US mounting a full-scale assault on AIDS and hunger in Africa, or following hot on Australia's heels with on-the-ground tsunami relief in Aceh, we are looking at another side of the same vision.
Be sure to read the whole thing.
And there is even some flatery from a BBC reporter today!
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Kyoto Protocol
Some thoughts that caught my eye. Here is a snippet but be sure to read the whole thing.
As the US is a highly developed country with a huge population, it is little surprise that they are the ones who produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gases, and hence would be most affected by the proposals. So one would have thought that any outside body wanting to persuade them to cut down on their emissions would have considered that perhaps they will be a little reluctant to do so, and a strong case would have to be made. And that is where the rest of the world has failed. The failure of the US to sign up to what is clearly a flawed agreement is not that of the Bush administration (especially when considering that the US senate rejected the Kyoto Protocol by 95-0 in 1997, when Clinton was president), but that of the people who tasked themselves with trying to get them to do it in the first place. As French winemakers are finding out, selling something requires more than hurling abuse at your sales target and bullying them into submission. That the UN, EU, and a gaggle of tin-pot dictators cannot sell an idea should surprise nobody.
Incidentally, when people refer to the US as "the world's biggest polluter", it raises some interesting questions. Firstly, how accurate is the data coming from countries like Russia and China? Are we to believe that the respective governments are open and honest about their emissions, in the same way that they used to be open and honest about their economy, political freedoms, etc.? Personally, I wouldn't trust what the Putin government told me for one second. And secondly, the term "world's biggest polluter" is somewhat misleading in itself. It may be the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, but the two are not the same. In effect, the statement lumps together all kinds of pollution and fails to recognise that some kinds of pollution are worse than others. It is like referring to a town which is plagued by shoplifting as having the highest crime rate, when a town nearby is plagued with murders, albeit but of fewer number than that of shoplifters in the first town. Thirdly, does anyone honestly believe the likes of Russia is going to implement the carbon cutting measures, and truthfully report its emissions figures?
There's lots more.
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As the US is a highly developed country with a huge population, it is little surprise that they are the ones who produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gases, and hence would be most affected by the proposals. So one would have thought that any outside body wanting to persuade them to cut down on their emissions would have considered that perhaps they will be a little reluctant to do so, and a strong case would have to be made. And that is where the rest of the world has failed. The failure of the US to sign up to what is clearly a flawed agreement is not that of the Bush administration (especially when considering that the US senate rejected the Kyoto Protocol by 95-0 in 1997, when Clinton was president), but that of the people who tasked themselves with trying to get them to do it in the first place. As French winemakers are finding out, selling something requires more than hurling abuse at your sales target and bullying them into submission. That the UN, EU, and a gaggle of tin-pot dictators cannot sell an idea should surprise nobody.
Incidentally, when people refer to the US as "the world's biggest polluter", it raises some interesting questions. Firstly, how accurate is the data coming from countries like Russia and China? Are we to believe that the respective governments are open and honest about their emissions, in the same way that they used to be open and honest about their economy, political freedoms, etc.? Personally, I wouldn't trust what the Putin government told me for one second. And secondly, the term "world's biggest polluter" is somewhat misleading in itself. It may be the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, but the two are not the same. In effect, the statement lumps together all kinds of pollution and fails to recognise that some kinds of pollution are worse than others. It is like referring to a town which is plagued by shoplifting as having the highest crime rate, when a town nearby is plagued with murders, albeit but of fewer number than that of shoplifters in the first town. Thirdly, does anyone honestly believe the likes of Russia is going to implement the carbon cutting measures, and truthfully report its emissions figures?
There's lots more.
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British Muslim cleric talks of No 10 suicide attacks
Bunny posted about this yesterday but the ITV link disappeared. I did some googling and found another.
ITV News has been given exclusive access to a tape recording in which a radical Muslim cleric talks about flying a plane into Downing Street.
Shiekh Omar Bakri Mohammed - who is based in Britain - talks of suicide bombings and says that an attack on No 10 would be reconcilable with the Muslim faith.
I'll post a pic of the article in case it goes missing again.
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ITV News has been given exclusive access to a tape recording in which a radical Muslim cleric talks about flying a plane into Downing Street.
Shiekh Omar Bakri Mohammed - who is based in Britain - talks of suicide bombings and says that an attack on No 10 would be reconcilable with the Muslim faith.
I'll post a pic of the article in case it goes missing again.
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Biased BBC Number One British Blog
Well at least at British Blogs Top Ten.
Congrats to Scott Burgess of The Daily Ablution who came in 5th.
I'm at 18th place. Not bad, not bad at all.
Just a bit of fun but what the heck.
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Congrats to Scott Burgess of The Daily Ablution who came in 5th.
I'm at 18th place. Not bad, not bad at all.
Just a bit of fun but what the heck.
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BBC - Love Letter to America
Seems Rob Watson, BBC Washington correspondent, slipped one past the The BBC editors.
Ten years on after all, I have travelled much of the country, have got to know its people and I am proud to have a daughter as an American citizen, a rather beautiful one at that.
Boy is he in for a shock when he gets back to BBC HQ.
Though I love the way America looks, its enduring appeal is the way it feels, its people and their attitude to life.
It may all go back to Thomas Jefferson's claim in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 that the pursuit of happiness is among life's unalienable rights.
Whether it is or not, I have no idea, but certainly most of the Americans I know are in hot pursuit of the happiness thing.
And most are pretty successful according to those surveys so beloved by the opinion pollsters, which suggest Americans are among the happiest people on the face of this earth.
As infectious as their happiness is their optimism and "can do" spirit, the sense that there is no problem which does not have a solution. [...]
As a European, what I found most refreshing here was the remarkable lack of envy in American society.
When Americans see someone doing well, they do not grumble about it being all right for some, instead they say, one day that could be me.
And on immigration...
I have marvelled too at the country's ability to absorb so many immigrants, from so many different places, and at the ease with which Americans adapt to change.
Driving it all is the American dream, which still motivates immigrants and those born here alike. A belief that tomorrow is always a better day and that there is nothing you can not do if you really put your mind to it.
There's more and he ends with this.
Until I return, I will not mind telling anyone that the rest of the world has far more to learn from you than it has to fear.
Finally, someone at the BBC understands America and we'll hold you to that promise Mr. Watson.
Thanks for the letter.
Unfortunately, not all BBC reporters understand America. Ed says sack him now. I agree but the BBC won't.
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Ten years on after all, I have travelled much of the country, have got to know its people and I am proud to have a daughter as an American citizen, a rather beautiful one at that.
Boy is he in for a shock when he gets back to BBC HQ.
Though I love the way America looks, its enduring appeal is the way it feels, its people and their attitude to life.
It may all go back to Thomas Jefferson's claim in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 that the pursuit of happiness is among life's unalienable rights.
Whether it is or not, I have no idea, but certainly most of the Americans I know are in hot pursuit of the happiness thing.
And most are pretty successful according to those surveys so beloved by the opinion pollsters, which suggest Americans are among the happiest people on the face of this earth.
As infectious as their happiness is their optimism and "can do" spirit, the sense that there is no problem which does not have a solution. [...]
As a European, what I found most refreshing here was the remarkable lack of envy in American society.
When Americans see someone doing well, they do not grumble about it being all right for some, instead they say, one day that could be me.
And on immigration...
I have marvelled too at the country's ability to absorb so many immigrants, from so many different places, and at the ease with which Americans adapt to change.
Driving it all is the American dream, which still motivates immigrants and those born here alike. A belief that tomorrow is always a better day and that there is nothing you can not do if you really put your mind to it.
There's more and he ends with this.
Until I return, I will not mind telling anyone that the rest of the world has far more to learn from you than it has to fear.
Finally, someone at the BBC understands America and we'll hold you to that promise Mr. Watson.
Thanks for the letter.
Unfortunately, not all BBC reporters understand America. Ed says sack him now. I agree but the BBC won't.
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UN - Lubbers quits over sex claims
About time.
The head of the UN refugee agency, Ruud Lubbers, has resigned following allegations of sexual harassment.
In a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan, Mr Lubbers denied the allegations and said he was quitting because of a lack of confidence in him.
Mr Annan accepted the resignation, thanked Mr Lubbers for his work, and said a new page had to be turned.
The allegations against Mr Lubbers were contained in a confidential UN report leaked by the press on Friday.
I'd say several pages need turning, including Annan's.
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The head of the UN refugee agency, Ruud Lubbers, has resigned following allegations of sexual harassment.
In a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan, Mr Lubbers denied the allegations and said he was quitting because of a lack of confidence in him.
Mr Annan accepted the resignation, thanked Mr Lubbers for his work, and said a new page had to be turned.
The allegations against Mr Lubbers were contained in a confidential UN report leaked by the press on Friday.
I'd say several pages need turning, including Annan's.
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Lebanon - Beirut protesters denounce Syria
The BBC reports "Thousands of Lebanese protesters have gathered in Beirut, a week after the killing of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "
Many protesters out on the streets wore red and white scarves, symbolising the opposition's "independence uprising", which it describes as a peaceful campaign to dislodge the pro-Syrian Lebanese government and force out the 15,000 troops Syria keeps in Lebanon.
"It is my civic duty as a Lebanese to take part in this uprising," said one protester Youssef Mukhtar, quoted by the Associated Press news agency.
"Enough bloodshed and disasters. It is the 21st Century, and people should be able to govern themselves. The situation has become unbearable and we have to regain our country," he added.
The "Iraq effect". It must have been heartbreaking watching expat Iraqis vote for who would govern them.
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Many protesters out on the streets wore red and white scarves, symbolising the opposition's "independence uprising", which it describes as a peaceful campaign to dislodge the pro-Syrian Lebanese government and force out the 15,000 troops Syria keeps in Lebanon.
"It is my civic duty as a Lebanese to take part in this uprising," said one protester Youssef Mukhtar, quoted by the Associated Press news agency.
"Enough bloodshed and disasters. It is the 21st Century, and people should be able to govern themselves. The situation has become unbearable and we have to regain our country," he added.
The "Iraq effect". It must have been heartbreaking watching expat Iraqis vote for who would govern them.
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Cyber jihad
Jihad Watch has some disturbing news.
Cyber attacks on anti-jihad websites are growing increasingly common. Here is news of one from a press release from the Anti-Terrorism Coalition:
On January 11, 2005, the Anti-Terrorism Coalition (ATC) was attacked by unknown hackers. Around 6 pm Eastern Standard time, January 11, 2005, the ATC-owned Facts About Islam website was attacked. All of the accounts on which it was hosted on were completely destroyed within an hour. Shortly after the attacks, a message was posted by one of the suspected attackers:
"I WILL CONTINUE HACKING DOWN YOUR FILTHY ZIONIST SCUM WEBSITES UNTIL THEY DISAPEER! ALAHU AKBAR! f**kink kikes!"
I hope they had their files backed up.
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Cyber attacks on anti-jihad websites are growing increasingly common. Here is news of one from a press release from the Anti-Terrorism Coalition:
On January 11, 2005, the Anti-Terrorism Coalition (ATC) was attacked by unknown hackers. Around 6 pm Eastern Standard time, January 11, 2005, the ATC-owned Facts About Islam website was attacked. All of the accounts on which it was hosted on were completely destroyed within an hour. Shortly after the attacks, a message was posted by one of the suspected attackers:
"I WILL CONTINUE HACKING DOWN YOUR FILTHY ZIONIST SCUM WEBSITES UNTIL THEY DISAPEER! ALAHU AKBAR! f**kink kikes!"
I hope they had their files backed up.
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Iraq - Noose Tightening for Zarqawi
Antoher one bites the dust.
Zarqawi propagandist is toes up
Iraqi security forces have killed a propaganda chief of al-Qaeda’s frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the government said on Sunday. Security forces "killed the terrorist Adel Mujtaba, known as Abu Rim, who disseminated propaganda for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s terrorist network", it said in a statement.One of Abu Rim’s associates, Abu al-Izz, was also killed in the same raid on February 11, it added, without saying why it was only now releasing news of the raid. "Abu Rim specialised in creating terrorist websites which encouraged terrorism," the statement said. "He glorified the murder of innocent people and published images which included terrorists torturing hostages." Abu Rim is the third Zarqawi propaganda chief to be killed or detained after the alleged first and second in command, Abu Sufiyan and Husam Abdullah Muhsin al-Dulaymi, were respectively killed and detained, the statement added, without providing further details.
Via Rantburg
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Zarqawi propagandist is toes up
Iraqi security forces have killed a propaganda chief of al-Qaeda’s frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the government said on Sunday. Security forces "killed the terrorist Adel Mujtaba, known as Abu Rim, who disseminated propaganda for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s terrorist network", it said in a statement.One of Abu Rim’s associates, Abu al-Izz, was also killed in the same raid on February 11, it added, without saying why it was only now releasing news of the raid. "Abu Rim specialised in creating terrorist websites which encouraged terrorism," the statement said. "He glorified the murder of innocent people and published images which included terrorists torturing hostages." Abu Rim is the third Zarqawi propaganda chief to be killed or detained after the alleged first and second in command, Abu Sufiyan and Husam Abdullah Muhsin al-Dulaymi, were respectively killed and detained, the statement added, without providing further details.
Via Rantburg
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Islam and Liberal Lunatics
Remember one of Islam's war tactics states "Democrats and Leftist will support us".
Liberal Lunatics has a round up of them. Just keep scrolling.
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Liberal Lunatics has a round up of them. Just keep scrolling.
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Canada - Canadians Love Fox News
Well, some do.
Yes, friends, through Starchoice I've become a devotee of Fox News, (www.foxnews.com) the most popular all-news TV network in the U.S., and the one the Liberal-dominated Canadian Radio-telecommunications and Television Commission (CRTC) tried to prevent Canadians from watching.
Why? Because it openly gives a voice to conservative commentators rather than the Lib-Left establishment. And, naturally, the thought-control police of the Jean Chretien/Paul Martin regimes can't tolerate anything that doesn't walk the official Lib-Left line. [...]
Whatever, for years Canadians were forbidden to watch Fox News -- Big Brother saw to that -- but the CRTC made one huge error. It gave the green light to the Islamic terrorists' favourite network, al-Jazeera, to pipe its anti-America drivel into Canadian minds, and with that, the charade that there wasn't enough room for another all-news channel fell through.
With Fox News, talk radio and bloggers growing world wide, more and more the truth is getting out. Dan Rather (CBS), Eason Jordon (CNN) and John Simpson (BBC) found out the hard way.
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Yes, friends, through Starchoice I've become a devotee of Fox News, (www.foxnews.com) the most popular all-news TV network in the U.S., and the one the Liberal-dominated Canadian Radio-telecommunications and Television Commission (CRTC) tried to prevent Canadians from watching.
Why? Because it openly gives a voice to conservative commentators rather than the Lib-Left establishment. And, naturally, the thought-control police of the Jean Chretien/Paul Martin regimes can't tolerate anything that doesn't walk the official Lib-Left line. [...]
Whatever, for years Canadians were forbidden to watch Fox News -- Big Brother saw to that -- but the CRTC made one huge error. It gave the green light to the Islamic terrorists' favourite network, al-Jazeera, to pipe its anti-America drivel into Canadian minds, and with that, the charade that there wasn't enough room for another all-news channel fell through.
With Fox News, talk radio and bloggers growing world wide, more and more the truth is getting out. Dan Rather (CBS), Eason Jordon (CNN) and John Simpson (BBC) found out the hard way.
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Islam - Misconceptions that could kill Democracy
Jewish World Review takes a look at five of them.
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London Mayor Must Go
The Observer rips London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, a new one.
From Covent Garden to Kew Gardens, and the British Museum to the Science Museum, there is much about our capital city to be proud of... except, perhaps, its Mayor [...]
For months a rainbow coalition of gays, lesbians, feminists, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, secularists and democrats who once supported Livingstone have been fighting a more important battle about his support for Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Livingstone can't say he wasn't warned about the Egyptian theologian. Just before he met him in July last year, the papers were filled with the most lurid reports of his views. Apparently he advocated the murder of homosexuals and Israeli civilians and beating-up women. If Livingstone had qualms, they didn't show. He sent the limousine anyway. [...]
Livingstone claimed that Qaradawi was an enemy of terrorism. Yet when a genuinely moderate Egyptian cleric, Mohammad Sayed Tantawi, condemned the murders of Israeli children by suicide bombers, Qaradawi, was furious. 'Has fighting colonizers become a criminal and terrorist act for some sheikhs?' he roared. [...]
Last year Iraqi, Jordanian and Tunisian writers organised a petition to the United Nations by 2,500 Arab intellectuals which condemned 'individuals in the Muslim world who pose as clerics and issue death sentences against those they disagree with. These individuals give Islam a bad name and foster hatred among civilizations.' Prominent in their list of the 'sheikhs of death' was one Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Just as the British anti-war movement chose to turn its back on the eight million Iraqis who defied the murderers and voted, Livingstone has chosen to ignore the Arab left and offer comfort to its enemies.
Ouch!
UPDATE
Bunny has more with lots of links and ends with this:
Sue Carroll from The Mirror says:
Imagine this. Robert Kilroy-Silk emerges from a meeting of his political party Veritas (held in a phone box, probably) and is harassed by an Arab reporter.Kilroy loses his rag and tells the journalist he's no better than a Hamas suicide bomber.
Do you think there would be the same non-reaction from Labour and the race relations industry as the deafening silence following Mayor Ken Livingstone's outburst directed at a Jewish reporter from London's Evening Standard, who Livingstone likened to a "German war criminal" and accused of behaving like "a concentration camp guard"?
From Covent Garden to Kew Gardens, and the British Museum to the Science Museum, there is much about our capital city to be proud of... except, perhaps, its Mayor [...]
For months a rainbow coalition of gays, lesbians, feminists, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, secularists and democrats who once supported Livingstone have been fighting a more important battle about his support for Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Livingstone can't say he wasn't warned about the Egyptian theologian. Just before he met him in July last year, the papers were filled with the most lurid reports of his views. Apparently he advocated the murder of homosexuals and Israeli civilians and beating-up women. If Livingstone had qualms, they didn't show. He sent the limousine anyway. [...]
Livingstone claimed that Qaradawi was an enemy of terrorism. Yet when a genuinely moderate Egyptian cleric, Mohammad Sayed Tantawi, condemned the murders of Israeli children by suicide bombers, Qaradawi, was furious. 'Has fighting colonizers become a criminal and terrorist act for some sheikhs?' he roared. [...]
Last year Iraqi, Jordanian and Tunisian writers organised a petition to the United Nations by 2,500 Arab intellectuals which condemned 'individuals in the Muslim world who pose as clerics and issue death sentences against those they disagree with. These individuals give Islam a bad name and foster hatred among civilizations.' Prominent in their list of the 'sheikhs of death' was one Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Just as the British anti-war movement chose to turn its back on the eight million Iraqis who defied the murderers and voted, Livingstone has chosen to ignore the Arab left and offer comfort to its enemies.
Ouch!
UPDATE
Bunny has more with lots of links and ends with this:
Sue Carroll from The Mirror says:
Imagine this. Robert Kilroy-Silk emerges from a meeting of his political party Veritas (held in a phone box, probably) and is harassed by an Arab reporter.Kilroy loses his rag and tells the journalist he's no better than a Hamas suicide bomber.
Do you think there would be the same non-reaction from Labour and the race relations industry as the deafening silence following Mayor Ken Livingstone's outburst directed at a Jewish reporter from London's Evening Standard, who Livingstone likened to a "German war criminal" and accused of behaving like "a concentration camp guard"?
EU - Europe Makes no Difference
Mark Steyn has some harsh words for Europe.
The EU isn't the Arab League, though for much of the past three years it's been hard to tell the difference. But it, too, is out of step. The question is whether the Europeans are smart enough, like the savvier Sunnis in Iraq, to realise it. The Washington Post's Fred Hiatt compared the President's inaugural speech with Gerhard Schröder's keynote address to the Munich Conference on Security Policy last week and observed that, while both men talked about the Middle East, terrorism and 21st-century security threats, Mr Bush used the word "freedom" 27 times while Herr Schröder uttered it not once; he preferred to emphasise, as if it were still March 2003 and he were Arab League Secretary-General, "stability" – the old realpolitik fetish the Administration has explicitly disavowed. It's not just that the two sides aren't speaking the same language, but that the key phrases of Mr Bush's vocabulary don't seem to exist in Chirac's or Schröder's.
The differences between America and Europe in the 21st century are nothing to do with insensitive swaggering Texas cowboys. Indeed, they're nothing to do with Iraq, Iran, Kyoto, the International Criminal Court, or any other particular issue. They're not tactical differences, they're conceptual.
Then he gives a few examples.
By contrast, consider the Kingdom of Tonga; population 100,000. A few months back it managed to deploy 45 Royal Marines to Iraq, and without getting schmoozed by Condi or Rummy or anyone else. A proportional deployment from France would be 27,450 troops; from Germany, 37,350 troops. Even Belgium would be chipping in 5,000. Can you conceive of any circumstances in which France or Germany would ever "cooperate" to that extent? The entire "Trans atlantic Split: Chirac Aghast At Blundering Yank Moron Shock!" vs "Transatlantic Rapprochement: Rumsfeld Gives Tongue Sarnie To Schröder – See Souvenir Pictorial" narrative is wholly post-modern: either way, it makes no difference. That suits Europe; the Kyoto Treaty makes no difference to global warming, the EU negotiating troika makes no difference to Iran's nuclear programme, the threat of an ICC subpoena makes no difference to the Sudanese government's mass slaughter programme – and Washington has concluded that a Europe that makes no difference suits it just fine, too.
Ouch! I would add the UN is out of step and making very little difference.
Still, somehow we've got to work together if we want to defeat terrorism.
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The EU isn't the Arab League, though for much of the past three years it's been hard to tell the difference. But it, too, is out of step. The question is whether the Europeans are smart enough, like the savvier Sunnis in Iraq, to realise it. The Washington Post's Fred Hiatt compared the President's inaugural speech with Gerhard Schröder's keynote address to the Munich Conference on Security Policy last week and observed that, while both men talked about the Middle East, terrorism and 21st-century security threats, Mr Bush used the word "freedom" 27 times while Herr Schröder uttered it not once; he preferred to emphasise, as if it were still March 2003 and he were Arab League Secretary-General, "stability" – the old realpolitik fetish the Administration has explicitly disavowed. It's not just that the two sides aren't speaking the same language, but that the key phrases of Mr Bush's vocabulary don't seem to exist in Chirac's or Schröder's.
The differences between America and Europe in the 21st century are nothing to do with insensitive swaggering Texas cowboys. Indeed, they're nothing to do with Iraq, Iran, Kyoto, the International Criminal Court, or any other particular issue. They're not tactical differences, they're conceptual.
Then he gives a few examples.
By contrast, consider the Kingdom of Tonga; population 100,000. A few months back it managed to deploy 45 Royal Marines to Iraq, and without getting schmoozed by Condi or Rummy or anyone else. A proportional deployment from France would be 27,450 troops; from Germany, 37,350 troops. Even Belgium would be chipping in 5,000. Can you conceive of any circumstances in which France or Germany would ever "cooperate" to that extent? The entire "Trans atlantic Split: Chirac Aghast At Blundering Yank Moron Shock!" vs "Transatlantic Rapprochement: Rumsfeld Gives Tongue Sarnie To Schröder – See Souvenir Pictorial" narrative is wholly post-modern: either way, it makes no difference. That suits Europe; the Kyoto Treaty makes no difference to global warming, the EU negotiating troika makes no difference to Iran's nuclear programme, the threat of an ICC subpoena makes no difference to the Sudanese government's mass slaughter programme – and Washington has concluded that a Europe that makes no difference suits it just fine, too.
Ouch! I would add the UN is out of step and making very little difference.
Still, somehow we've got to work together if we want to defeat terrorism.
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Iraq - Talks With Terrorists
Time reports on talks between the US and terrorists in Iraq.
The secret meeting is taking place in the bowels of a facility in Baghdad, a cavernous, heavily guarded building in the U.S.-controlled green zone. The Iraqi negotiator, a middle-aged former member of Saddam Hussein's regime and the senior representative of the self-described nationalist insurgency, sits on one side of the table. He is here to talk to two members of the U.S. military. One of them, an officer, takes notes during the meeting. The other, dressed in civilian clothes, listens as the Iraqi outlines a list of demands the U.S. must satisfy before the insurgents stop fighting. The parties trade boilerplate complaints: the U.S. officer presses the Iraqi for names of other insurgent leaders; the Iraqi says the newly elected Shi'a-dominated government is being controlled by Iran. The discussion does not go beyond generalities, but both sides know what's behind the coded language.
The Iraqi's very presence conveys a message: Members of the insurgency are open to negotiating an end to their struggle with the U.S. "We are ready," he says before leaving, "to work with you."
Interesting.
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The secret meeting is taking place in the bowels of a facility in Baghdad, a cavernous, heavily guarded building in the U.S.-controlled green zone. The Iraqi negotiator, a middle-aged former member of Saddam Hussein's regime and the senior representative of the self-described nationalist insurgency, sits on one side of the table. He is here to talk to two members of the U.S. military. One of them, an officer, takes notes during the meeting. The other, dressed in civilian clothes, listens as the Iraqi outlines a list of demands the U.S. must satisfy before the insurgents stop fighting. The parties trade boilerplate complaints: the U.S. officer presses the Iraqi for names of other insurgent leaders; the Iraqi says the newly elected Shi'a-dominated government is being controlled by Iran. The discussion does not go beyond generalities, but both sides know what's behind the coded language.
The Iraqi's very presence conveys a message: Members of the insurgency are open to negotiating an end to their struggle with the U.S. "We are ready," he says before leaving, "to work with you."
Interesting.
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Iran - Blogger Protest Day: 22 Feb 2005
Nice to see The BBC reporting on The Committee to Protect Blogger's day of protest to free imprisoned Iranian bloggers.
Be sure and post about it tomorrow and write to the Iranians.
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Be sure and post about it tomorrow and write to the Iranians.
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Saturday, February 19, 2005
Islam - Racism in the Mosque
From Women Living Under Muslim Laws.
The knee-jerk reaction to being reminded of our internalized racism is predictable: complete denial. Racism governs our behavior, yet we are oblivious to our own prejudices and tribalism. With noted exceptions, I saw this in action on Sunday. I heard repeatedly from Arabs in the audience that Amina Wadud does not understand Arabic. Instead of debating the merits of her argument, many invoked and sought refuge in their ethnic and linguistic superiority.
Then there is the predictable reaction towards converts. If the converts are white, all of us, Arabs and South Asians, simply go complete gaga, but if we run into Black converts, we treat them at best in a condescending manner with barely concealed disrespect, as demonstrated Sunday night in Toronto.
Abbas Syed, an Indo-Canadian who witnessed the entire episode summed it best. "When a white person converts to Islam, we try to make him the Imam of the mosque. But when a Black woman converts to Islam, we expect her to run the mosque day care for children during Jum'a prayers. Amina should have worn the Hijab; people would have mistaken her for a dark Pakistani."
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The knee-jerk reaction to being reminded of our internalized racism is predictable: complete denial. Racism governs our behavior, yet we are oblivious to our own prejudices and tribalism. With noted exceptions, I saw this in action on Sunday. I heard repeatedly from Arabs in the audience that Amina Wadud does not understand Arabic. Instead of debating the merits of her argument, many invoked and sought refuge in their ethnic and linguistic superiority.
Then there is the predictable reaction towards converts. If the converts are white, all of us, Arabs and South Asians, simply go complete gaga, but if we run into Black converts, we treat them at best in a condescending manner with barely concealed disrespect, as demonstrated Sunday night in Toronto.
Abbas Syed, an Indo-Canadian who witnessed the entire episode summed it best. "When a white person converts to Islam, we try to make him the Imam of the mosque. But when a Black woman converts to Islam, we expect her to run the mosque day care for children during Jum'a prayers. Amina should have worn the Hijab; people would have mistaken her for a dark Pakistani."
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Islam's Victims: They're Mostly Muslims
Clifford May hits the nail on the head.
It is a common misperception that most terrorism is directed against Jews and Christians. The fact is no group has suffered more than Muslims from radical Islamist violence. Especially at risk are those bold enough to speak out for such values as freedom, human rights and democracy.
But sadly, their religion seems to trap them in a no win position.
He then issues a wake up call, something I've been doing for a long time.
“Islamism is a form of Fascism,” he told me. “The mission of the Islamic fundamentalist terrorists is to eliminate all persons with differing opinions who may threaten their political and religious aspirations. They are the No.1 threat to democracy and civilization today. But too many Europeans, and too many Americans, do not realize the danger threatening their societies.”
[That is because too many of those same people are too busy blaming America for all the ills of the world]
Two lessons to take away from all this: The Iranian ayatollahs are Shi'a Muslims, while the Algerian radicals are Sunni Muslims. For years, many in the U.S. diplomatic and intelligence communities have insisted that such collaboration was a “theoretical” impossibility and therefore not to be seriously considered, much less combated. (They have said the same about alliances between “secular” Baathists and Islamists.)
Second: One expression of the pathology of the broader Middle East is that often the choice is between ruthless authoritarianism on one side, and religious totalitarianism on the other. Paradoxically, it is in the interest of despots of both stripes to suppress advocates of liberal democracy, to make certain there is no third way.
In the past, this strategy has succeeded – which is why today the Middle East is dominated by dictators, dynasties and terror masters of various political and religious stripes. The changes occurring in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestinian territories -- coupled with increasing American support for the dissidents and freedom fighters of the Muslim world – might change that. It's hard to imagine what else could.
Spot on! Most people either won't admit we are at war or are just totally oblivious of the fact. See here for their war plan.
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It is a common misperception that most terrorism is directed against Jews and Christians. The fact is no group has suffered more than Muslims from radical Islamist violence. Especially at risk are those bold enough to speak out for such values as freedom, human rights and democracy.
But sadly, their religion seems to trap them in a no win position.
He then issues a wake up call, something I've been doing for a long time.
“Islamism is a form of Fascism,” he told me. “The mission of the Islamic fundamentalist terrorists is to eliminate all persons with differing opinions who may threaten their political and religious aspirations. They are the No.1 threat to democracy and civilization today. But too many Europeans, and too many Americans, do not realize the danger threatening their societies.”
[That is because too many of those same people are too busy blaming America for all the ills of the world]
Two lessons to take away from all this: The Iranian ayatollahs are Shi'a Muslims, while the Algerian radicals are Sunni Muslims. For years, many in the U.S. diplomatic and intelligence communities have insisted that such collaboration was a “theoretical” impossibility and therefore not to be seriously considered, much less combated. (They have said the same about alliances between “secular” Baathists and Islamists.)
Second: One expression of the pathology of the broader Middle East is that often the choice is between ruthless authoritarianism on one side, and religious totalitarianism on the other. Paradoxically, it is in the interest of despots of both stripes to suppress advocates of liberal democracy, to make certain there is no third way.
In the past, this strategy has succeeded – which is why today the Middle East is dominated by dictators, dynasties and terror masters of various political and religious stripes. The changes occurring in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestinian territories -- coupled with increasing American support for the dissidents and freedom fighters of the Muslim world – might change that. It's hard to imagine what else could.
Spot on! Most people either won't admit we are at war or are just totally oblivious of the fact. See here for their war plan.
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SATURDAY'S LIBRARY
In The Red Zone has a great suggested Saturday reading list, including yours truly! I'm flattered and welcome ITRZ readers!
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