It's amazing to me that the mainstream and cable news station can have every advantage in reporting news that is important and still somehow miss a story like this. Even if the premise of the story, that the US intends to invade Venezuela, is false, it is still pretty damn important to know that our "good friend" Putin is arming our neighbor to south in the face of embargo we've placed on that country. Couple this with another story about how Russia is promoting Venezuela for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council and you begin to have clear picture of what is happening outside of Lebanon. People, we need to start paying attention because it's stories like this that act as canaries in the mindshaft and warn us that WWIII is definitely building.
The Russian Federation and Venezuela on July 27, 2006 have negotiated and approved the sale of 24 aircraft and 53 helicopters—about a $1 billion (U.S.) deal—to Venezuela, as part of an ongoing landmark event, defying the American threats and demands to halt all weapons transfers and any future deals between Russia and Venezuela. Russia has already supplied and started delivering portions of a 100,000 Kalashnikov automatic rifles ordered by Venezuela and Russian attack helicopters to Venezuela. This deal has further entrenched Russian-Venezuelan cooperation, partnership, and the strategic shift of Russia replacing the United States as the military hardware supplier of Venezuela. The securing of this military hardware agreement between Russia and Venezuela is a sign of the fermenting geo-strategic confrontation or rivalry between the Russia and the United States.
The United States slapped the weapons embargo onto Venezuela referring as justification to the strategic partnerships and alliances of Venezuela with Iran and Cuba. The U.S. weapons embargo on Venezuela started in May, 2006, and has including the U.S. putting pressure on Spain and Brazil to halt their agreements to supply military equipment to Venezuela. Venezuela has responded that the U.S. embargo is illegitimate in violation of previous agreements between Venezuela and the United States, and based on a premise for an American offensive against Venezuela.
Venezuelan Army and Naval aircraft are almost all totally American manufactured, while the Venezuelan Air Force, with the most significant air fleet out of the three forces, had 177 U.S. manufactured aircraft out of a total fleet of 277 aircraft prior to the major military purchases from Russia. Venezuela has traditionally purchased its weaponry from the United States. Venezuela in 2005, alone, purchased about $34 (U.S.) million worth of U.S. military equipment. It is significant to note that just $30.5 (U.S.) million of these purchases were C-130 cargo plane spare parts.
The American embargo seems to be a deliberate tactic that is part of strategy to disarm Venezuela, a notable source of fossil fuels and an influential state in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Venezuelan military’s F-5 Freedom Fighters, F-16 Falcons, C-130 cargo planes and American attack helicopters would for all practical purposes eventually be neutralized. That is why Venezuela immediately sought other defence manufacturers, which ultimately resulted in Russia replacing the United States in equipping the Venezuelan military.
Possible Transfer of Venezuelan F-16 Falcon Squadron to Iran
What is interesting is that in response to the U.S. weapons embargo on Venezuela, the Venezuelan government has declared that it is considering transferring Venezuela’s F-16 Falcon squadron and other U.S. manufactured military aircraft to the Iranian military. The United States blasted the Venezuelan idea saying that base on the 1982 sale and deal between the United States and Venezuela for the F-16 Falcons Venezuela could not sell the planes to a third party, in this case Iran, without US approval, which the United States would definitely not give.
The Venezuelan government maintained that the sale of the F-16 Falcon squadron is perfectly possible because the United States had violated and breached the contract by not honouring the obligation of supplying Venezuela the aircraft parts that Venezuela has paid for and as agreed upon purchase by Venezuela and the United States.
The sale has been deemed by Western analysts to give no significant tactical benefit to Iran because of the fact that Iran is also under an American embargo and has no access to the spare parts needed to keep the aircraft operational, but then again the Iranian military has been reported to successfully reengineer old American military hardware and is highly secretive. President Hugo Chavez is due in Tehran, Iran and Venezuela might just sell portions of their U.S. manufactured aircraft that are being replaced with Russian manufactured aircraft to Iran.
The Venezuelan government has rapidly been shifting all its links and reliance away from the United States, all but the export of oil to the thirsting U.S. market which has also been outlined as an eventual strategic goal for Venezuela too. Deals have been negotiated for industrial and energy projects with both Russia and Iran. The rerouting of Venezuelan oil from the United States to China has been envisioned as part of the ultimate goal of Venezuela as a member of a solidifying energy alliance between Venezuela, Russia, and Iran. This is why the United States has tagged President Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelan government as a threat to American energy security. As a result relations between Venezuela and the United States have been deteriorating.
During February, 2005 the Venezuelan government publicly accused the U.S. government of plotting to assassinate President Chavez, something that the Venezuelan media has reported that the U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela admitted the U.S. government was aware of, but not a party too.
In Russia, during his July meetings, the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez triumphantly declared to the media that when the American blockade was imposed to weaken Venezuela for eventual U.S. invasion the Russian government had offered support to Venezuela. President Chavez and the Venezuelan government have clearly articulated that they are preparing the Venezuelan military to repel U.S. aggression, which is a widely held belief throughout Venezuela and neighboring Columbia. In Argentina, during the Summit of the Americas, President Chavez even told thousands of sympathetic Latin American demonstrators that U.S. plans to invade Venezuela in are in full preparation.
A statement released on March 8, 2005 and signed by almost 400 Venezuelan journalists accused the U.S. government and media of a campaign to prepare the basis for a U.S. military attack on Venezuela to control it natural resources, namely oil. Tensions were further heightened when Venezuela detected the secret presence of “US Marines, along with military planes and amphibious vehicles” on the Caribbean island of Curacao, part of the Dutch Antilles, just 75 km from the Venezuelan mainland during March, 2006, which the U.S. Ambassador in Caracas apologized for as a “lack of communication” between the Venezuelan and American governments.
Since the start of 2005, Venezuela has laid the strategic foundations of a new national security doctrine and an expanded military capability that is based on the core assumption that the greatest threat to Venezuelan sovereignty is the United States. Venezuela has also created a military reserve program that is projected to mobilize 2.6 million citizens in the defence of Venezuela from an American attack.
The Venezuelan national security doctrine, much like the Cuban national security doctrine, is primarily designed to oppose the anticipated U.S. military invasion is an asymmetrical war. Besides the expected U.S. military invasion, the Venezuelan national security doctrine has been drafted to meet a U.S. contrived war with Colombia, and internal armed insurgency sponsored by the United States. A mutual defence pact with Cuba has also been integrated into the Venezuelan national security doctrine and Venezuela has created special police elite paramilitary groups that operate independently from the regular command of the Venezuelan military.
Heard at Blogtalkradio.com/whiskeyrebellion every Tuesday Night at 8:00 PM Eastern, Call In At (646) 915-8862 Intellectual Honesty is a Greater Virtue Than Party Loyalty
Monday, July 31, 2006
Friday, July 28, 2006
Amnesty: Iran to stone woman to death by end of month
What can one say about this...the mullahs of Iran are animals, absolute animals. This is representative of all the reasons why Israel is right to take the fight to Hezbollah and not sit around watching the animals make the final preparations for total war against the West.
A young woman is at imminent risk of execution by stoning for adultery, according to the international human rights group Amnesty International.
Ashraf Kolhari, a 37-year-old mother of four has been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for five years, Amnesty said in a statement on Thursday.
“On or around July 2006, she received the order for the implementation of her sentence, and is reportedly due to be executed by stoning by the end of July”, the rights group said.
Kolhari had an extra-marital affair after her divorce request was rejected by the court, reportedly on the basis that she had children, and therefore had to resume living with her husband, the statement said.
“She was sentenced on two charges; the first was for participating in the murder of her husband, for which she received a sentence of 15 years imprisonment; the second was for adultery as a married woman, for which she was sentenced to execution by stoning. Article 83 of the Iranian Penal Code stipulates that the penance for adultery by a married woman with an adult man is execution by stoning”, it said.
A young woman is at imminent risk of execution by stoning for adultery, according to the international human rights group Amnesty International.
Ashraf Kolhari, a 37-year-old mother of four has been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for five years, Amnesty said in a statement on Thursday.
“On or around July 2006, she received the order for the implementation of her sentence, and is reportedly due to be executed by stoning by the end of July”, the rights group said.
Kolhari had an extra-marital affair after her divorce request was rejected by the court, reportedly on the basis that she had children, and therefore had to resume living with her husband, the statement said.
“She was sentenced on two charges; the first was for participating in the murder of her husband, for which she received a sentence of 15 years imprisonment; the second was for adultery as a married woman, for which she was sentenced to execution by stoning. Article 83 of the Iranian Penal Code stipulates that the penance for adultery by a married woman with an adult man is execution by stoning”, it said.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
President Bush Hates My Wife
With the Middle East going up in flames, North Korea launching missiles aimed at Hawaii (and falling far short) and China gearing up militarily for a showdown with the West, it can be hard to focus on domestic issues that really matter to us in everyday life. Somewhere between trying to convince a sovereign nation and their foe terrorist organization to have a ceasefire, President Bush snuck his very first veto passed a distracted populace.
President Bush carried through today (July 19th) on his long-stated threat and vetoed legislation that would have permitted federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
The president, in exercising the first veto of his presidency, said the research amounts to murder, but patient advocacy groups and many medical researchers said it holds extraordinary promise to help cure disease. source
Here we have a man who has never met a spending bill he hasn’t passed but got all uppity and indignant when somebody, say congress, had the audacity to want to move the field of medical science ahead a few years. I am particularly galled by this news not only because I think his reasoning is flawed but also because I cannot stand when a politician panders to his base to the exclusion and detriment of the rest of us.
Now I’m not going to start sounding off like John Edwards or John Kerry did in the run-up to the 2004 Presidential Election and proclaim that if this bill had passed, tomorrow would be the end of disease as we know it. First, the bill only forbids federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, leaving that domain strictly to the private sector. Given the public sectors propensity for slowing things down to a fault and screwing things up to a fair-thee-well, that may be a blessing in disguise. Presumably there will still be federal funding available for all the other various stem cell research being conducted across the country. In addition, though scientists are very positive on the potential of stem cell research to cure various diseases, non-embryonic stem cell research is no slouch either.
Still, none of this excuses Bush’s sad and rather obvious attempt to curry favor with the Christian fundamentalists in this country that are probably the single biggest threat to science since the Dark Ages of Europe. Playing to a crowd of people whom generations ago hung women they thought were witches and executed others for saying the world was round rather than flat, President Bush said, “This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others. It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it.”
Of course by saying this he is assuming we are all in agreement about when human life begins and what it means to be a human life. The ilk he was pandering to would tell you that life begins at conception and that life is as precious as say my wife’s life. Mind you, wife is 26 years old and has had all the experiences that make her a unique individual as opposed to a series of genes in a fertilized egg.
This debate begs the question, is all human life equal. If Bush is to be believed here, he certainly seems to think so. He will tell you that the above egg is as important as my wife’s life. In the eyes of our fair president, both the egg and my wife are of equal value. I can assure you, she’d disagree with that equation.
My wife was born with and developed over her years a series of genetic disorders, which, some day, if the advances in stem cell research are allowed to bloom, may in fact be curable. In order of her afflictions, she’s had chronic ear and throat infections since the age of 1 and these days has tubes in her ears, which she can’t get water in and make flying in an airplane an arduous chore. She developed asthma between the ages of 4 and 5, which then only compounded the infections issue.
At the age of 12, before women’s science was a well-studied field, she developed Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).
PCOS is a health problem that can affect a woman’s menstrual cycle, fertility, hormones, insulin production, heart, blood vessels, and appearance. Women with PCOS have these characteristics:
*high levels of male hormones, also called androgens
*an irregular or no menstrual cycle
*may or may not have many small cysts in their ovaries. Cysts are fluid-filled sacs.
PCOS is the most common hormonal reproductive problem in women of childbearing age.
Unfortunately for my lovely wife, at the aforementioned tender age of 12, she had cysts on her ovaries the size of a small nerf football. Incidentally, her father at the time thought she was faking it so she wouldn’t have to go to school. You can only guess what this sort of ordeal might do to ones psyche.
Giving a 12 – 13 year old girl birth control pills (specifically to stop the production of cysts, not because she was having teenage sex) back in 1992 in a semi-rural town in Ohio was for her an embarrassing and scarring incident in this young girls life but that was not even the worst yet to come. At 15 years old she developed, again from crap genetics, both Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and Osteoarthritis.
The former is defined as, “a type of autoimmune thyroid disease in which the immune system attacks and destroys the thyroid gland. The thyroid helps set the rate of metabolism, which is the rate at which the body uses energy. Hashimoto’s stops the gland from making enough thyroid hormones for the body to work the way it should. It is the most common thyroid disease in the U.S.”
It is also a precursor to cancer, especially in her family.
The latter is defined as, “the most common type of arthritis, especially among older people. Sometimes it is called degenerative joint disease or osteoarthrosis.
Osteoarthritis is a joint disease that mostly affects the cartilage (KAR-til-uj). Cartilage is the slippery tissue that covers the ends of bones in a joint. Healthy cartilage allows bones to glide over one another. It also absorbs energy from the shock of physical movement. In osteoarthritis, the surface layer of cartilage breaks down and wears away. This allows bones under the cartilage to rub together, causing pain, swelling, and loss of motion of the joint. Over time, the joint may lose its normal shape. Also, bone spurs--small growths called osteophytes--may grow on the edges of the joint. Bits of bone or cartilage can break off and float inside the joint space. This causes more pain and damage.
People with osteoarthritis usually have joint pain and limited movement. Unlike some other forms of arthritis, osteoarthritis affects only joints and not internal organs.”
Now you can imagine what that must have like for a teenager to have been afflicted with a disease that one should not be getting until they are much older.
My wife would also go on to develop insulin resistance, the precursor to diabetes, severe allergies to pollutants and environmental elements (grass, trees, cats, etc.), Temporo Mandibular Joint (TMJ), and genetic obesity. Despite these challenges she managed to find a way to live, become an optician, own a house and find man who loves her.
But her president, cause he owes his current position of high power to the Bible Belt, seems to not care whether or not she has these problems or if she lives or dies. These are the consequences for making such a shortsighted decision. Bush has accomplished nothing more than causing my wife possibly more years of discomfort, psychological pain, possible bankruptcy to pay for all of her medications and the sadness of knowing that the most powerful man in the world cares not for her well being.
Again, embryonic stem cell research is not the miracle cure of the future, but it is part and parcel of the scientific community dedicated to helping people like my wife live a life that is worth living. Not the life of a fertilized egg, but the life of a real live energetic and productive modern woman. If that is not worth the price of a few votes then Mr. Bush nor any politician who believes this tripe deserves to be a public servant.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Relations with Iran is strategic area of Tajikistan’s foreign policy
This is why isolating and sanctioning Iran in the end won't work. There are too many other developing countries from Central Asia to the Far East, to Latin America, that don't have the skittish feelings toward an Iranian nuclear bomb that we do here in the West. Simply put, you cannot isolate a country when plenty of countries have no compulsions about doing business them. As it stands, Tajikistan have already joined a list of countries enabling Iran that includes Russia, China, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea and good 'ole Cuba.
I believe that the only way we're going to solve the Iranian question without a full-scale invasion is to take advantage of the popular discontent and foment democratic revolution. It's not as sexy as nuclear war but no solution is perfect.
Tajikistan pays special attention to cooperation with Iran as it believes that the relations with that country is one of strategic guidelines in its foreign policy, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov said on Tuesday, opening his meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Tajikistan and Iran have common historical roots, on which our relations are being built,” Rakhmonov said. “We considered Iran as a friendly and reliable partner as of the moment we regained our independence,” he added.
The Tajik leader believes that the current meeting will give a fresh impetus to further development of bilateral cooperation, first of all in the economic and humanitarian spheres.
In spite of good potential of that cooperation, there are reserves for its enlargement and boosting, Rakhmonov said.
During the meeting, he drew attention of his Iranian counterpart to the opportunities opening up for Tehran in cooperation in the sphere of hydropower production and other spheres of economy.
After holding talks in an enlarged format with participation of delegations of the two countries, the sides will approve a final statement and sign five intergovernmental documents on energy, transport and agriculture.
I believe that the only way we're going to solve the Iranian question without a full-scale invasion is to take advantage of the popular discontent and foment democratic revolution. It's not as sexy as nuclear war but no solution is perfect.
Tajikistan pays special attention to cooperation with Iran as it believes that the relations with that country is one of strategic guidelines in its foreign policy, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov said on Tuesday, opening his meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Tajikistan and Iran have common historical roots, on which our relations are being built,” Rakhmonov said. “We considered Iran as a friendly and reliable partner as of the moment we regained our independence,” he added.
The Tajik leader believes that the current meeting will give a fresh impetus to further development of bilateral cooperation, first of all in the economic and humanitarian spheres.
In spite of good potential of that cooperation, there are reserves for its enlargement and boosting, Rakhmonov said.
During the meeting, he drew attention of his Iranian counterpart to the opportunities opening up for Tehran in cooperation in the sphere of hydropower production and other spheres of economy.
After holding talks in an enlarged format with participation of delegations of the two countries, the sides will approve a final statement and sign five intergovernmental documents on energy, transport and agriculture.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Bank of China Freezes N.Korean Accounts
Most of the news these days rightly concerns the escalating conflict between Israel and the terrorist organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah. However, we cannot and should not take our eyes off of China and more to the point, North Korea, whom not long ago was testing ballistic missiles aimed at Hawaii.
The following article states that China has frozen N. Korean assets at the behest of the US. It's not a full-scale invasion nor a complete denunciation of PRK activities and aggressions but it is at the very least a gesture to show some solidarity by China with the West. The least of peace offerings and a sign that China is trying to work with us. Now whether this will amount to anything is probably a fools hope but as I've seen before, we live in a world of gestures and signs rather than actions.
This of course is why the UN is still so very popular with a certain segment of the population.
The Bank of China has frozen North Korea’s accounts at a branch in Macau due to Pyongyang’s counterfeiting and money laundering activities, it emerged Monday. It is the very BOC branch where South Korea's National Intelligence Service transferred US$200 million to the North to guarantee the success of the first North-South summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and then-president Kim Dae-jung in 2000. U.S. pressure on the Macau-based bank Banco Delta Asia last year to freeze North Korean accounts reignited conflict between the U.S and the North.
Grand National Party lawmaker Park Jin said a former high-ranking U.S. official told him about the Chinese bank’s decision when Park visited Washington last week. A South Korean government official later confirmed the account, saying Beijing could not turn down Washington’s demand to clean up dubious accounts since it is well aware of the importance of improving financial transparency for the sake of trade. Analysts say that is one reason behind the recent rift between North Korea and its long-term ally over the North’s missile tests.
Park said the North moved its accounts to other banks in Zhuhai, China after Banco Delta Asia took the action last year. The U.S nonetheless continued its investigation of the Bank of China and persuaded it to halt all transactions with North Korea, he said. “I heard from Washington sources that North Korea counterfeits yuan as well as U.S dollars, so China had no choice but to impose restrictions on North Korea,” the opposition lawmaker added.
The following article states that China has frozen N. Korean assets at the behest of the US. It's not a full-scale invasion nor a complete denunciation of PRK activities and aggressions but it is at the very least a gesture to show some solidarity by China with the West. The least of peace offerings and a sign that China is trying to work with us. Now whether this will amount to anything is probably a fools hope but as I've seen before, we live in a world of gestures and signs rather than actions.
This of course is why the UN is still so very popular with a certain segment of the population.
The Bank of China has frozen North Korea’s accounts at a branch in Macau due to Pyongyang’s counterfeiting and money laundering activities, it emerged Monday. It is the very BOC branch where South Korea's National Intelligence Service transferred US$200 million to the North to guarantee the success of the first North-South summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and then-president Kim Dae-jung in 2000. U.S. pressure on the Macau-based bank Banco Delta Asia last year to freeze North Korean accounts reignited conflict between the U.S and the North.
Grand National Party lawmaker Park Jin said a former high-ranking U.S. official told him about the Chinese bank’s decision when Park visited Washington last week. A South Korean government official later confirmed the account, saying Beijing could not turn down Washington’s demand to clean up dubious accounts since it is well aware of the importance of improving financial transparency for the sake of trade. Analysts say that is one reason behind the recent rift between North Korea and its long-term ally over the North’s missile tests.
Park said the North moved its accounts to other banks in Zhuhai, China after Banco Delta Asia took the action last year. The U.S nonetheless continued its investigation of the Bank of China and persuaded it to halt all transactions with North Korea, he said. “I heard from Washington sources that North Korea counterfeits yuan as well as U.S dollars, so China had no choice but to impose restrictions on North Korea,” the opposition lawmaker added.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Israel Won't Rule Out Full-Scale Invasion
Russia and the rest of the known universe can condemn Israel all they want, at the end of the day, they are doing what needs to be done and what should have been since the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The sooner Western nations realize that militant Islam is at war with us and we should respond in kind, the sooner we can end this conflict. It continues to go on the way it does precisely for the reasons Russia, et. al. want the Israeli's to show "restraint" in dealing with these infantile Islamic fundamentalist guerillas. While we the Western world rest on laurels, show restraint, and give away territory, they attack as much as they can. I not only fully support what Israel is doing, I would hasten to ask, how long before they attack Syria and really do some damage?
Israeli troops met fierce resistance from Hezbollah guerrillas Thursday as they crossed into Lebanon to seek tunnels and weapons for a second consecutive day. Israel, meanwhile, refused to rule out a full-scale invasion.
Israeli warplanes also launched new airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, shortly after daybreak Thursday, followed by strikes in the guerrilla's heartland in the south and eastern Bekaa Valley.
The strikes came a wave of bombings Wednesday killed as many as 70 people, according to Lebanese television, making it the deadliest day since the fighting began on July 12.
Russia sharply criticized Israel over its onslaught against Lebanon, now in its ninth day, sparked when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Israel's actions have gone "far beyond the boundaries of an anti-terrorist operation" and repeating calls for an immediate cease-fire.
At least 306 people have been killed in Lebanon since the Israeli campaign began, according to the security forces control room that collates casualties. In Israel, 29 people have been killed, including 14 soldiers. The U.N. has said at least a half million people have been displaced in Lebanon.
In developments on the evacuation of Lebanon, U.S. Marines landed in Beirut Thursday to help Americans onto a Navy ship bound for Cyprus in the second mass U.S exodus from the battle-torn country.
About 40 U.S. Marines arrived at a beach just north of Beirut in a landing craft and picked up 300 Americans who they ferried to the amphibious assault ship USS Nashville just off the coast. The Nashville is supposed to sail for Cyprus with about 1,000 Americans.
Hundreds of people, some with shirts draped over their heads to protect themselves from the sun, gathered on the beach. A U.S. Embassy official, speaking through a megaphone, pleaded for patience, reassuring the crowd that all those who registered to be evacuated would be assisted.
"We are frustrated and disappointed, but we are O.K.," said Bob Elazon, an Illinois resident who complained that the U.S. evacuation was badly organized.
Elazon, who left his native Lebanon 34 years ago, was with his 20-year-old daughter, Anna, who was visiting the country for the first time. His wife departed just before the fighting erupted.
Meanwhile, the first plane carrying U.S. evacuees landed outside Baltimore early Thursday, and eager family members waited to greet the 145 Americans aboard the charter flight from Cyprus.
Some 900 Americans arrived in Cyprus early Thursday aboard a luxury cruise ship - the first mass U.S. evacuation from Lebanon since the Israeli airstrikes started more than a week ago.
It was among dozens of cruise ships evacuating thousands of foreigners from Lebanon. Some 8,000 of 25,000 U.S. citizens in Lebanon have asked to leave. So many people were leaving Lebanon that boats were forced to line up outside Beirut harbor and had to wait before docking in Cyprus.
Israel's series of small ground forays across the border have aimed to push back Hezbollah guerrillas who have continued to fire rockets into northern Israel despite more than a week of massive Israeli bombardment against them - raising the question of whether air power alone can suppress them. Guerrillas fired 25 rockets into Israel on on Thursday, which caused no casualties.
But the guerrillas have been fighting back hard on the ground, wounding three Israeli soldiers Thursday a day after killing two. On Thursday, an Israeli unit sent in to ambush Hezbollah guerrillas had a fierce gunbattle with a cell of militants.
In another clash, just across the border from the Israeli town of Avivim, guerrillas fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli tank, seriously wounding one soldier. Hezbollah said in a statement that its guerrillas destroyed two Israeli tanks as they tried to enter the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras, across from Avivim.
Israel has mainly limited itself to attacks from the air and sea, reluctant to send in ground troops on terrain dominated by Hezbollah.
But an Israeli army spokesman refused to rule out the possibility of a full-scale invasion. Israel also broadcast warnings into south Lebanon on Wednesday telling civilians to leave the region, a possible prelude to a larger Israeli ground operation.
"There is a possibility - all our options are open. At the moment, it's a very limited, specific incursion but all options remain open," Capt. Jacob Dallal, an Israeli army spokesman, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The Lebanese government is under international pressure to deploy troops in the south to rein in Hezbollah guerrillas - but even before the fighting many considered it too weak to do so without deeply fracturing the country.
An Italian paper quoted Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora on Thursday as making his strongest statement yet against the Shiite militant group. But Saniora's office quickly said he was misquoted.
The Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera quoted him as saying in an interview that Hezbollah has created a "state within a state," adding: "The entire world must help us disarm Hezbollah. But first we need to reach a cease-fire," Saniora told
But Saniora issued a statement denying the statement. He said he told the paper that the international community must help press Israel from Chebaa Farms, a small border area that Lebanon claims and Hezbollah points to as proof of the continued need for armed resistance.
Saniora told the paper that "the continued presence of Israeli occupation of Lebanese lands in the Chebaa Farms region is what contributes to the presence of Hezbollah weapons. The international community must help us in (getting) an Israeli withdrawal from Chebaa Farms so we can solve the problem of Hezbollah's arms," the satement said. There was no immediate comment from the Italian paper.
A day earlier, Saniora issued an urgent appeal for a cease-fire, saying his country "has been torn to shreds." On Wednesday, warplanes pounded areas in the south where Hezbollah operates - but civilian residential neighborhoods bore the brunt, with dozens of houses destroyed.
Dallal said Israel had hit "1,000 targets in the last 8 days - 20 percent were missile launching sites and the rest were control and command centers, missiles and so forth."
Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan insisted the Israeli army never targets civilians but has no way of knowing whether civilians are in an area they are striking. "Civilians might be in the area because Hezbollah is operating from civilian territory," Nehushtan said.
He said that Hezbollah has fired more than 1,100 rockets at civilian areas in Israel since the fighting erupted and that 12 percent - or about 750,000 people - of Israel's population currently live in areas that can be targeted by the guerrilla group.
Israel said its airstrikes so far have destroyed "about 50 percent" of Hezbollah's arsenal - and it has been trying to take out its top leaders.
Wednesday evening, the Israeli military said that aircraft dropped 23 tons of explosives on on what the military believed was a bunker used by senior Hezbollah leaders in the Bourj al-Barajneh neighborhood of Beirut between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Hezbollah said none of its members were hurt in the strike and denied a leadership bunker was in the area, saying a building under construction to be a mosque was hit.
Hezbollah has a headquarters compound in Bourj al-Barajneh that is off limits to the Lebanese police and army, so security officials could not confirm the strike.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman told CNN on Thursday said his country would not issue a statement about the attack until it is sure of all the facts. But he added, "I can assure you that we know exactly what we hit. ... This was no religious site. This was indeed the headquarters of the Hezbollah leadership."
Israeli troops met fierce resistance from Hezbollah guerrillas Thursday as they crossed into Lebanon to seek tunnels and weapons for a second consecutive day. Israel, meanwhile, refused to rule out a full-scale invasion.
Israeli warplanes also launched new airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, shortly after daybreak Thursday, followed by strikes in the guerrilla's heartland in the south and eastern Bekaa Valley.
The strikes came a wave of bombings Wednesday killed as many as 70 people, according to Lebanese television, making it the deadliest day since the fighting began on July 12.
Russia sharply criticized Israel over its onslaught against Lebanon, now in its ninth day, sparked when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Israel's actions have gone "far beyond the boundaries of an anti-terrorist operation" and repeating calls for an immediate cease-fire.
At least 306 people have been killed in Lebanon since the Israeli campaign began, according to the security forces control room that collates casualties. In Israel, 29 people have been killed, including 14 soldiers. The U.N. has said at least a half million people have been displaced in Lebanon.
In developments on the evacuation of Lebanon, U.S. Marines landed in Beirut Thursday to help Americans onto a Navy ship bound for Cyprus in the second mass U.S exodus from the battle-torn country.
About 40 U.S. Marines arrived at a beach just north of Beirut in a landing craft and picked up 300 Americans who they ferried to the amphibious assault ship USS Nashville just off the coast. The Nashville is supposed to sail for Cyprus with about 1,000 Americans.
Hundreds of people, some with shirts draped over their heads to protect themselves from the sun, gathered on the beach. A U.S. Embassy official, speaking through a megaphone, pleaded for patience, reassuring the crowd that all those who registered to be evacuated would be assisted.
"We are frustrated and disappointed, but we are O.K.," said Bob Elazon, an Illinois resident who complained that the U.S. evacuation was badly organized.
Elazon, who left his native Lebanon 34 years ago, was with his 20-year-old daughter, Anna, who was visiting the country for the first time. His wife departed just before the fighting erupted.
Meanwhile, the first plane carrying U.S. evacuees landed outside Baltimore early Thursday, and eager family members waited to greet the 145 Americans aboard the charter flight from Cyprus.
Some 900 Americans arrived in Cyprus early Thursday aboard a luxury cruise ship - the first mass U.S. evacuation from Lebanon since the Israeli airstrikes started more than a week ago.
It was among dozens of cruise ships evacuating thousands of foreigners from Lebanon. Some 8,000 of 25,000 U.S. citizens in Lebanon have asked to leave. So many people were leaving Lebanon that boats were forced to line up outside Beirut harbor and had to wait before docking in Cyprus.
Israel's series of small ground forays across the border have aimed to push back Hezbollah guerrillas who have continued to fire rockets into northern Israel despite more than a week of massive Israeli bombardment against them - raising the question of whether air power alone can suppress them. Guerrillas fired 25 rockets into Israel on on Thursday, which caused no casualties.
But the guerrillas have been fighting back hard on the ground, wounding three Israeli soldiers Thursday a day after killing two. On Thursday, an Israeli unit sent in to ambush Hezbollah guerrillas had a fierce gunbattle with a cell of militants.
In another clash, just across the border from the Israeli town of Avivim, guerrillas fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli tank, seriously wounding one soldier. Hezbollah said in a statement that its guerrillas destroyed two Israeli tanks as they tried to enter the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras, across from Avivim.
Israel has mainly limited itself to attacks from the air and sea, reluctant to send in ground troops on terrain dominated by Hezbollah.
But an Israeli army spokesman refused to rule out the possibility of a full-scale invasion. Israel also broadcast warnings into south Lebanon on Wednesday telling civilians to leave the region, a possible prelude to a larger Israeli ground operation.
"There is a possibility - all our options are open. At the moment, it's a very limited, specific incursion but all options remain open," Capt. Jacob Dallal, an Israeli army spokesman, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The Lebanese government is under international pressure to deploy troops in the south to rein in Hezbollah guerrillas - but even before the fighting many considered it too weak to do so without deeply fracturing the country.
An Italian paper quoted Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora on Thursday as making his strongest statement yet against the Shiite militant group. But Saniora's office quickly said he was misquoted.
The Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera quoted him as saying in an interview that Hezbollah has created a "state within a state," adding: "The entire world must help us disarm Hezbollah. But first we need to reach a cease-fire," Saniora told
But Saniora issued a statement denying the statement. He said he told the paper that the international community must help press Israel from Chebaa Farms, a small border area that Lebanon claims and Hezbollah points to as proof of the continued need for armed resistance.
Saniora told the paper that "the continued presence of Israeli occupation of Lebanese lands in the Chebaa Farms region is what contributes to the presence of Hezbollah weapons. The international community must help us in (getting) an Israeli withdrawal from Chebaa Farms so we can solve the problem of Hezbollah's arms," the satement said. There was no immediate comment from the Italian paper.
A day earlier, Saniora issued an urgent appeal for a cease-fire, saying his country "has been torn to shreds." On Wednesday, warplanes pounded areas in the south where Hezbollah operates - but civilian residential neighborhoods bore the brunt, with dozens of houses destroyed.
Dallal said Israel had hit "1,000 targets in the last 8 days - 20 percent were missile launching sites and the rest were control and command centers, missiles and so forth."
Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan insisted the Israeli army never targets civilians but has no way of knowing whether civilians are in an area they are striking. "Civilians might be in the area because Hezbollah is operating from civilian territory," Nehushtan said.
He said that Hezbollah has fired more than 1,100 rockets at civilian areas in Israel since the fighting erupted and that 12 percent - or about 750,000 people - of Israel's population currently live in areas that can be targeted by the guerrilla group.
Israel said its airstrikes so far have destroyed "about 50 percent" of Hezbollah's arsenal - and it has been trying to take out its top leaders.
Wednesday evening, the Israeli military said that aircraft dropped 23 tons of explosives on on what the military believed was a bunker used by senior Hezbollah leaders in the Bourj al-Barajneh neighborhood of Beirut between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Hezbollah said none of its members were hurt in the strike and denied a leadership bunker was in the area, saying a building under construction to be a mosque was hit.
Hezbollah has a headquarters compound in Bourj al-Barajneh that is off limits to the Lebanese police and army, so security officials could not confirm the strike.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman told CNN on Thursday said his country would not issue a statement about the attack until it is sure of all the facts. But he added, "I can assure you that we know exactly what we hit. ... This was no religious site. This was indeed the headquarters of the Hezbollah leadership."
Friday, June 30, 2006
Bush & Koizumi visit Graceland
Mark will return to active duty next week, and you won't believe what's grinding his gears this time around. Until then, this is guest blooger John Brodigan signing off with an article that had me stare at my computer blinking...
WASHINGTON - With an in-flight airing of Elvis Presley's greatest hits and an offering of his favored fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, President Bush brought Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi South Friday to see Graceland.
DVDs of Elvis's movies were available aboard Air Force One, and White House press secretary Tony Snow sported gold-rimmed plastic sunglasses for the flight to Memphis, unarguably Koizumi's highlight of the week.
The Bush-Koizumi tour through the late rock 'n' roll legend's mansion was wrapping up two days of consultations. His visit saw military pomp, the tinkling of crystal at a black-tie dinner and two hours of discussions on Iraq, North Korea, U.S. beef exports and other weighty matters in the Oval Office.
Click here for more...
WASHINGTON - With an in-flight airing of Elvis Presley's greatest hits and an offering of his favored fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, President Bush brought Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi South Friday to see Graceland.
DVDs of Elvis's movies were available aboard Air Force One, and White House press secretary Tony Snow sported gold-rimmed plastic sunglasses for the flight to Memphis, unarguably Koizumi's highlight of the week.
The Bush-Koizumi tour through the late rock 'n' roll legend's mansion was wrapping up two days of consultations. His visit saw military pomp, the tinkling of crystal at a black-tie dinner and two hours of discussions on Iraq, North Korea, U.S. beef exports and other weighty matters in the Oval Office.
Click here for more...
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Rush Limbaugh detained at airport, quizzed on Viagra
Hey, it's John. Mark apparently isn't having the worlds best honeymoon, so here's a little story to cheer him up a bit. Hot off the Associated Press...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Rush Limbaugh was detained for more than three hours Monday at Palm Beach International Airport after authorities said they found a bottle of Viagra in his possession without a prescription.
Customs officials found a prescription bottle labeled as Viagra in his luggage that didn’t have Limbaugh’s name on it, but that of two doctors, said Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
A doctor had prescribed the drug, but it was “labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh for privacy purposes,” Roy Black, Limbaugh’s attorney, said in a statement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection examined the 55-year-old radio commentator’s luggage after his private plane landed at the airport from the Dominican Republic, said Miller.
The matter was referred to the sheriff’s office, whose investigators interviewed Limbaugh. According to Miller, Limbaugh said that the Viagra was for his use, and that he obtained it from his doctors.
Investigators confiscated the drugs, which treats erectile dysfunction, and Limbaugh was released without being charged.
The sheriff’s office plans to file a report with the state attorney’s office. Miller said it could be a second-degree misdemeanor violation.
Limbaugh reached a deal last month with prosecutors who had accused the conservative talk-show host of illegally deceiving multiple doctors to receive overlapping painkiller prescriptions. Under the deal, the charge, commonly referred to as “doctor shopping,” would be dismissed after 18 months if he continues to submit to random drug tests and treatment for his acknowledged addiction to painkillers.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Rush Limbaugh was detained for more than three hours Monday at Palm Beach International Airport after authorities said they found a bottle of Viagra in his possession without a prescription.
Customs officials found a prescription bottle labeled as Viagra in his luggage that didn’t have Limbaugh’s name on it, but that of two doctors, said Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
A doctor had prescribed the drug, but it was “labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh for privacy purposes,” Roy Black, Limbaugh’s attorney, said in a statement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection examined the 55-year-old radio commentator’s luggage after his private plane landed at the airport from the Dominican Republic, said Miller.
The matter was referred to the sheriff’s office, whose investigators interviewed Limbaugh. According to Miller, Limbaugh said that the Viagra was for his use, and that he obtained it from his doctors.
Investigators confiscated the drugs, which treats erectile dysfunction, and Limbaugh was released without being charged.
The sheriff’s office plans to file a report with the state attorney’s office. Miller said it could be a second-degree misdemeanor violation.
Limbaugh reached a deal last month with prosecutors who had accused the conservative talk-show host of illegally deceiving multiple doctors to receive overlapping painkiller prescriptions. Under the deal, the charge, commonly referred to as “doctor shopping,” would be dismissed after 18 months if he continues to submit to random drug tests and treatment for his acknowledged addiction to painkillers.
Friday, June 23, 2006
PC Update 6/23/06: Greece
Hey Folks,
They charge by the minute for internet use here so I'll make this brief:
I caught a stomach flu on our second night of the cruise and got my wife and I quarantined for 24 hours. We fought it and managed to salvage our excursion into Croatia. I'm feeling better now.
Robyn however, is not so lucky. She caught the bug shortly after I did and was hospitalized today in Cofu, Greece (Day 4 of the cruise). Luckily there happens to be a clinic that specializes in touring Westerners so there's no language issue and they've been super accomodating. They treated her well and she is recuperating nicely.
I'm in a hotel down the street. When she gets signed we'll either start on the long haul home from Athens (the nearest big city) or we'll reassess our travel plans and try to salvage this honeymoon.
In the meantime, here are some random thoughts and quotes from the trip so far:
"Rome is a Third World city dressed in Gucci." Vatican Diplomat to India
When traveling to Italy, don't bother bringing credit cards because other than the hotel, nobody takes them. Since taking the Euro, this has become nearly an all cash society. Of course I found this out after insisting we didn't need to bring that much cash with us in the first place...and for that bit of reasoning, see the above quote.
Save the Boboli Gardens!
Ciao!
They charge by the minute for internet use here so I'll make this brief:
I caught a stomach flu on our second night of the cruise and got my wife and I quarantined for 24 hours. We fought it and managed to salvage our excursion into Croatia. I'm feeling better now.
Robyn however, is not so lucky. She caught the bug shortly after I did and was hospitalized today in Cofu, Greece (Day 4 of the cruise). Luckily there happens to be a clinic that specializes in touring Westerners so there's no language issue and they've been super accomodating. They treated her well and she is recuperating nicely.
I'm in a hotel down the street. When she gets signed we'll either start on the long haul home from Athens (the nearest big city) or we'll reassess our travel plans and try to salvage this honeymoon.
In the meantime, here are some random thoughts and quotes from the trip so far:
"Rome is a Third World city dressed in Gucci." Vatican Diplomat to India
When traveling to Italy, don't bother bringing credit cards because other than the hotel, nobody takes them. Since taking the Euro, this has become nearly an all cash society. Of course I found this out after insisting we didn't need to bring that much cash with us in the first place...and for that bit of reasoning, see the above quote.
Save the Boboli Gardens!
Ciao!
Monday, June 19, 2006
U.S.: North Korean missile fueling complete
Filling in for Mark while he's on his honeymoon is guest blogger John Brodigan
Well, now if this isn't the shit hitting the fan.
And in lighter news, CNN originally had this story as their breaking news, though they changed it for the following later breaking news:
"Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to be cited for failure to wear a helmet, not having a proper license at time of his June 12 accident."
Way to prioritize CNN. For those of you concerned aboot things that actually matter, here's the story...
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea has finished loading fuel into a long-range ballistic missile, a Bush administration official said Monday as signs continued that the reclusive communist state will soon test a weapon that could reach the United States.
U.S. intelligence indicates that the long-range missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2, is fully fueled, said the official, who requested anonymity because the information comes from sensitive intelligence methods.
That reportedly gives the North a launch window of about a month.
Click here for more....
Well, now if this isn't the shit hitting the fan.
And in lighter news, CNN originally had this story as their breaking news, though they changed it for the following later breaking news:
"Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to be cited for failure to wear a helmet, not having a proper license at time of his June 12 accident."
Way to prioritize CNN. For those of you concerned aboot things that actually matter, here's the story...
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea has finished loading fuel into a long-range ballistic missile, a Bush administration official said Monday as signs continued that the reclusive communist state will soon test a weapon that could reach the United States.
U.S. intelligence indicates that the long-range missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2, is fully fueled, said the official, who requested anonymity because the information comes from sensitive intelligence methods.
That reportedly gives the North a launch window of about a month.
Click here for more....
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Are Our Cities Making us Fat?
Filling in for Mark while he's on his honeymoon is guest blogger John Brodigan
I was out to dinner with some of my crew recently. One of their girlfriends was complaining about the portions being too large, and how restaurants should be forced to give people smaller portions. The restaurants are making her fat.
I always thought it was people's lack of willpower that made them fat. But, at least in this tart's mind, she shouldn't have to show any willpower. It's the restaurants responsibility to give her smaller portions, because if they give her a large portion...she can't stop herself from eating it. Why should she have to put in the effort?
I think of this every time I hear aboot how America is getting fatter, and was thinking aboot it as I read this article on MSNBC.com. A community that encourages walking and exercise? I can dig that.
Taxing everything that makes us lazy and fat? No so much so.
Here's the story...
DENVER - It’ll take more than public service campaigns to solve the nation’s obesity problem, according to fitness experts who say neighborhoods must be designed so people can get around without their cars.
Virtually everything American society has done for the past 100 years has made it easier for us to be fatter, said James Sallis, a San Diego State University psychology professor, and others who gathered recently at the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting.
“We’ve built an unhealthy world in a lot of different ways,” said Sallis, who was once dubbed an “obesity warrior” by Time magazine.
Sallis contends change will come only when the public demands walkable development, more federal money for parks and bike paths and even a tax on industries that promote sedentary lifestyles (he pointed to video game makers, movie theater chains and even electric Segway scooters).
Click here for more...
I was out to dinner with some of my crew recently. One of their girlfriends was complaining about the portions being too large, and how restaurants should be forced to give people smaller portions. The restaurants are making her fat.
I always thought it was people's lack of willpower that made them fat. But, at least in this tart's mind, she shouldn't have to show any willpower. It's the restaurants responsibility to give her smaller portions, because if they give her a large portion...she can't stop herself from eating it. Why should she have to put in the effort?
I think of this every time I hear aboot how America is getting fatter, and was thinking aboot it as I read this article on MSNBC.com. A community that encourages walking and exercise? I can dig that.
Taxing everything that makes us lazy and fat? No so much so.
Here's the story...
DENVER - It’ll take more than public service campaigns to solve the nation’s obesity problem, according to fitness experts who say neighborhoods must be designed so people can get around without their cars.
Virtually everything American society has done for the past 100 years has made it easier for us to be fatter, said James Sallis, a San Diego State University psychology professor, and others who gathered recently at the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting.
“We’ve built an unhealthy world in a lot of different ways,” said Sallis, who was once dubbed an “obesity warrior” by Time magazine.
Sallis contends change will come only when the public demands walkable development, more federal money for parks and bike paths and even a tax on industries that promote sedentary lifestyles (he pointed to video game makers, movie theater chains and even electric Segway scooters).
Click here for more...
Friday, June 16, 2006
Disaster relief firm's 9/11 fraud not prosecuted
Filling in while Mark is on vacation is guest blogger John Brodigan
I really have nothing to add to this other than my absolute disgust. I will leave you to yours...
NEW YORK - As firefighters searched for survivors after the Sept. 11 attacks, heat from the World Trade Center’s smoldering ruins burned the soles off their boots. They needed new ones every few hours, and Chris Christopherson made sure they got them.
The disaster specialist was proud to dispatch replacement boots from the Long Island warehouse of a company paid by the government to manage rescue supplies donated by Americans. Then came the moment that crushed Christopherson’s faith.
His employer dispatched trucks to the warehouse and loaded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of donated bottled water, clothes, tools and generators to be moved to Minnesota in a plot to sell some for profit, according to government records and interviews.
Dan L’Allier said he witnessed 45 tons of the New York loot being unloaded in Minnesota at his company’s headquarters. He and Christopherson complained to a company executive, but were ordered to keep quiet. They persisted, going instead to the FBI.
The two whistleblowers eventually lost their jobs, received death threats and were blackballed in the disaster relief industry. But they remained convinced their sacrifice was worth seeing justice done.
They were wrong.
Once-secret documents obtained by The Associated Press detail how the company, Kieger Enterprises of Lino Lakes, Minn., went unpunished for the Sept. 11 thefts after the government discovered FBI agents and other government officials had stolen artifacts from New York’s ground zero.
Click here for more...
I really have nothing to add to this other than my absolute disgust. I will leave you to yours...
NEW YORK - As firefighters searched for survivors after the Sept. 11 attacks, heat from the World Trade Center’s smoldering ruins burned the soles off their boots. They needed new ones every few hours, and Chris Christopherson made sure they got them.
The disaster specialist was proud to dispatch replacement boots from the Long Island warehouse of a company paid by the government to manage rescue supplies donated by Americans. Then came the moment that crushed Christopherson’s faith.
His employer dispatched trucks to the warehouse and loaded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of donated bottled water, clothes, tools and generators to be moved to Minnesota in a plot to sell some for profit, according to government records and interviews.
Dan L’Allier said he witnessed 45 tons of the New York loot being unloaded in Minnesota at his company’s headquarters. He and Christopherson complained to a company executive, but were ordered to keep quiet. They persisted, going instead to the FBI.
The two whistleblowers eventually lost their jobs, received death threats and were blackballed in the disaster relief industry. But they remained convinced their sacrifice was worth seeing justice done.
They were wrong.
Once-secret documents obtained by The Associated Press detail how the company, Kieger Enterprises of Lino Lakes, Minn., went unpunished for the Sept. 11 thefts after the government discovered FBI agents and other government officials had stolen artifacts from New York’s ground zero.
Click here for more...
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Iranophobia in the Mideast
Filling in for Mark while he's on his honeymoon is guest blogger John Brodigan
Mark is more of an expert on what's going on in Iran than I am, but I had found this on commentary and thought it was interesting. Another glaring example of how much of a problem Iran is, how stoogats the Middle East is, and how this adminstrations - for lack of a better word - "foreign policy" has made it that much harder for us to do anything about it.
Sheik Zaidan al-Awad of the Abu Jaber tribe, dressed in a traditional robe and checkered headdress, put on his reading glasses to check a text message. He comes from Iraq’s war-torn Anbar province, but when the sheik met with me in Jordan last week, he was staying in touch with his people by cell phone. We’d been talking about the death of Al Qaeda’s Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, who murdered four of the sheikh’s cousins. (The sheik said his men then killed 11 of Zarqawi’s followers.) And we talked about the U.S. occupation forces. (“Now Zarqawi is gone, what is their excuse?” he demanded.) The sheik has plenty of room in his heart to hate both the late Abu Mussab and the Americans.
But now the sheik paused. “What’s coming toward us—our real problem,” he said, “is Iran.” The dark eyes in his sun-lined face searched to see if he’d been understood. “Zarqawi is one person. The Americans are occupiers: they will come in today and leave tomorrow. But the Iranian project for Iraq is annexation.” He sipped a glass of juice. “The occupation of the Americans, the terror of Zarqawi, is better than the ‘bliss’ of Iranian rule.”
Washington needs to keep the sheik’s Iranophobia in mind as it prepares for the first high-level meetings with the mullahs since the overthrow of the Shah more than a quarter of a century ago. No date has been set, but if those talks do take place, they won’t just be about Iranian nukes. The future of the whole Middle East will be under discussion. And it’s not only Iraq’s Sunni sheikhs who worry that Washington will sell out to Iran and the Iraqi Shia factions it supports. Many of Washington’s old allies in Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia—who helped the United States isolate Iran in the past—worry that somehow they’ll be sold out, too.
Click here for more...
Mark is more of an expert on what's going on in Iran than I am, but I had found this on commentary and thought it was interesting. Another glaring example of how much of a problem Iran is, how stoogats the Middle East is, and how this adminstrations - for lack of a better word - "foreign policy" has made it that much harder for us to do anything about it.
Sheik Zaidan al-Awad of the Abu Jaber tribe, dressed in a traditional robe and checkered headdress, put on his reading glasses to check a text message. He comes from Iraq’s war-torn Anbar province, but when the sheik met with me in Jordan last week, he was staying in touch with his people by cell phone. We’d been talking about the death of Al Qaeda’s Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, who murdered four of the sheikh’s cousins. (The sheik said his men then killed 11 of Zarqawi’s followers.) And we talked about the U.S. occupation forces. (“Now Zarqawi is gone, what is their excuse?” he demanded.) The sheik has plenty of room in his heart to hate both the late Abu Mussab and the Americans.
But now the sheik paused. “What’s coming toward us—our real problem,” he said, “is Iran.” The dark eyes in his sun-lined face searched to see if he’d been understood. “Zarqawi is one person. The Americans are occupiers: they will come in today and leave tomorrow. But the Iranian project for Iraq is annexation.” He sipped a glass of juice. “The occupation of the Americans, the terror of Zarqawi, is better than the ‘bliss’ of Iranian rule.”
Washington needs to keep the sheik’s Iranophobia in mind as it prepares for the first high-level meetings with the mullahs since the overthrow of the Shah more than a quarter of a century ago. No date has been set, but if those talks do take place, they won’t just be about Iranian nukes. The future of the whole Middle East will be under discussion. And it’s not only Iraq’s Sunni sheikhs who worry that Washington will sell out to Iran and the Iraqi Shia factions it supports. Many of Washington’s old allies in Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia—who helped the United States isolate Iran in the past—worry that somehow they’ll be sold out, too.
Click here for more...
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Israel; Keep Your Pimp Hand Strong
A little while back I went home for lunch from work, which is rare for me, and was rewarded with some disturbing news. My fiancé had gone and done something that I thought was not only disrespectful to me but also was just a poor life decision. The details are not important, only that I was really angry, such to the point where as I was driving back to work I seriously contemplated staying on the interstate and not going back to work or my home. At the time her actions made me feel undermined, powerless and frustrated to the point that I did not know what to do next because all of the choices were not good ones.
Obviously I calmed myself down enough to go at least go back to work and decided to deal with the situation when the day was done. However, as drug addled and uneducated as the kids in my substance abuse rehabilitation program are, they are infused at times with a near divine wisdom and uncanny empathy when they are not completely focused on themselves. After a 10-minute group that simply went nowhere because my head was at home yelling at the love of my life or on the road to nowhere in particular so long as it was away from her, the kids finally asked why I looked pissed off. Since I clearly couldn’t hide my emotions I used this situation, as a model for dealing with situations that you cannot control and referred back to the Serenity Prayer.
Now my kids were more interested in the finer points of my home life than they were in developing the serenity to accept the things they cannot change. That’s when one of my more shrewd boys called out this memorable phrase, “Yo Mr. Mark, when you go home to your wife or whatever she is, just remember to keep your pimp hand strong.”
In other words, he was advising me to not let her walk all over me and make her understand that what she did was not a good thing. Retaliation is never a good thing but there are instances when an action requires an equal or greater response in order for there to be some semblance of stability. The opposite would be to placate and appease, and if you need an example of how those choices tend to end, see our current conflict with Iran.
On June 12th the military wing of the Palestinian ruling party, Hamas, ended its 16-month, unilateral ceasefire on the weekend after two days of supposed Israeli attacks. At least 17 Palestinians were killed, including a senior militant leader and seven members of a family picnicking on a beach.
When this story was first reported, most if not all the news stories had Israel as having been the aggressor in this particular exchange. This would make sense as the papers tend to favor the Palestinian cause and any bit of information that tarnishes the Israeli’s while promoting the Palestinians usually gets highlighted. However, as with much in the mainstream news, they only got the story half right and missed the main point.
According to Chron.com, ” Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Tuesday that Israel was not responsible for a blast that killed eight Gaza beachgoers, rebuffing Palestinian accusations that blamed an Israeli artillery round.
An Israeli inquiry concluded the blast was caused by an explosive buried in the sand, not from Israeli shelling on the afternoon of the Palestinian family's beach picnic…According to Israeli findings, shrapnel taken from two wounded Palestinians who were evacuated to Israeli hospitals showed that the fragments were not from the 155-millimeter shells used by Israeli artillery.
One theory is that the shell was planted there and then set off to make it look like an Israeli massacre, which would garner sympathy for yet another intifada. Israel had been shelling certain areas of northern Gaza for weeks, trying unsuccessfully to stop Palestinian militants from setting up and launching homemade rockets at Israel. These defensive maneuvers were followed by a deployment of Israeli commando forces in to Gaza to ambush rocket squads.
Hamas’ contention is that Israel maliciously killed innocent Palestinian women and children and thus calling off the “cease fire” is the right response to an unwarranted attack on a developing sovereign nation. This contention by Hamas is of course hooey.
According to the Age.com, Israel never recognized the so-called truce in the first place. ”It was frequently broken by other factions, notably Islamic Jihad, which killed 10 people with a suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv two months ago. Since the Palestinian ceasefire was announced in March last year, 48 Israelis and at least 360 Palestinians have died in the conflict. The collapse of the ceasefire coincides with mounting tension between Hamas and the former ruling party, Fatah.”
Hamas has stood by its claim that it does not recognize Israel. Hamas has further committed itself to the total destruction of the state of Israel and to see every Jew pushed into the sea. This is not exactly a recipe for a “good neighbor” policy. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that Israel should use this opportunity to strike back hard against Palestine as, in my mind, Hamas is clearly declaring war against Israel. Now we all now how well Israel does in wars against Arabs so I say give Hamas what it wants, total war.
Of course life is not that simple and so the dance continues. Ireland On-line reports that, ” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas put off an ultimatum to Hamas to accept a document that implies recognition of Israel, but he insisted that the Islamic militants, who head the Palestinian government, must accept the plan with no changes or face a referendum.
Abbas backed away from the brink of an open confrontation with Hamas yesterday, when he extended his deadline until the weekend.
The delay gave Hamas some breathing room as it struggles with a devastating international economic boycott and clashes with Abbas’ Fatah movement. But Hamas leaders insisted they won't cave in to deadlines.
Israel must continue to contain Hamas so long as they wish to perpetuate pseudo-war in the Middle East. They have a good friend as they’re going to get in Abbas but Fatah is not calling the shots right now. Until Hamas decides to at least stop calling for the destruction of Israel then the Jewish state must continue to press against the militants seeking to murder its people. Israel cannot afford to let Hamas use state negotiations as a shield to hide behind while it continues to kill under a banner of supposed peace. Like my kids would say, when it comes to Hamas, Israel, keep your pimp hand strong.
Obviously I calmed myself down enough to go at least go back to work and decided to deal with the situation when the day was done. However, as drug addled and uneducated as the kids in my substance abuse rehabilitation program are, they are infused at times with a near divine wisdom and uncanny empathy when they are not completely focused on themselves. After a 10-minute group that simply went nowhere because my head was at home yelling at the love of my life or on the road to nowhere in particular so long as it was away from her, the kids finally asked why I looked pissed off. Since I clearly couldn’t hide my emotions I used this situation, as a model for dealing with situations that you cannot control and referred back to the Serenity Prayer.
Now my kids were more interested in the finer points of my home life than they were in developing the serenity to accept the things they cannot change. That’s when one of my more shrewd boys called out this memorable phrase, “Yo Mr. Mark, when you go home to your wife or whatever she is, just remember to keep your pimp hand strong.”
In other words, he was advising me to not let her walk all over me and make her understand that what she did was not a good thing. Retaliation is never a good thing but there are instances when an action requires an equal or greater response in order for there to be some semblance of stability. The opposite would be to placate and appease, and if you need an example of how those choices tend to end, see our current conflict with Iran.
On June 12th the military wing of the Palestinian ruling party, Hamas, ended its 16-month, unilateral ceasefire on the weekend after two days of supposed Israeli attacks. At least 17 Palestinians were killed, including a senior militant leader and seven members of a family picnicking on a beach.
When this story was first reported, most if not all the news stories had Israel as having been the aggressor in this particular exchange. This would make sense as the papers tend to favor the Palestinian cause and any bit of information that tarnishes the Israeli’s while promoting the Palestinians usually gets highlighted. However, as with much in the mainstream news, they only got the story half right and missed the main point.
According to Chron.com, ” Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Tuesday that Israel was not responsible for a blast that killed eight Gaza beachgoers, rebuffing Palestinian accusations that blamed an Israeli artillery round.
An Israeli inquiry concluded the blast was caused by an explosive buried in the sand, not from Israeli shelling on the afternoon of the Palestinian family's beach picnic…According to Israeli findings, shrapnel taken from two wounded Palestinians who were evacuated to Israeli hospitals showed that the fragments were not from the 155-millimeter shells used by Israeli artillery.
One theory is that the shell was planted there and then set off to make it look like an Israeli massacre, which would garner sympathy for yet another intifada. Israel had been shelling certain areas of northern Gaza for weeks, trying unsuccessfully to stop Palestinian militants from setting up and launching homemade rockets at Israel. These defensive maneuvers were followed by a deployment of Israeli commando forces in to Gaza to ambush rocket squads.
Hamas’ contention is that Israel maliciously killed innocent Palestinian women and children and thus calling off the “cease fire” is the right response to an unwarranted attack on a developing sovereign nation. This contention by Hamas is of course hooey.
According to the Age.com, Israel never recognized the so-called truce in the first place. ”It was frequently broken by other factions, notably Islamic Jihad, which killed 10 people with a suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv two months ago. Since the Palestinian ceasefire was announced in March last year, 48 Israelis and at least 360 Palestinians have died in the conflict. The collapse of the ceasefire coincides with mounting tension between Hamas and the former ruling party, Fatah.”
Hamas has stood by its claim that it does not recognize Israel. Hamas has further committed itself to the total destruction of the state of Israel and to see every Jew pushed into the sea. This is not exactly a recipe for a “good neighbor” policy. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that Israel should use this opportunity to strike back hard against Palestine as, in my mind, Hamas is clearly declaring war against Israel. Now we all now how well Israel does in wars against Arabs so I say give Hamas what it wants, total war.
Of course life is not that simple and so the dance continues. Ireland On-line reports that, ” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas put off an ultimatum to Hamas to accept a document that implies recognition of Israel, but he insisted that the Islamic militants, who head the Palestinian government, must accept the plan with no changes or face a referendum.
Abbas backed away from the brink of an open confrontation with Hamas yesterday, when he extended his deadline until the weekend.
The delay gave Hamas some breathing room as it struggles with a devastating international economic boycott and clashes with Abbas’ Fatah movement. But Hamas leaders insisted they won't cave in to deadlines.
Israel must continue to contain Hamas so long as they wish to perpetuate pseudo-war in the Middle East. They have a good friend as they’re going to get in Abbas but Fatah is not calling the shots right now. Until Hamas decides to at least stop calling for the destruction of Israel then the Jewish state must continue to press against the militants seeking to murder its people. Israel cannot afford to let Hamas use state negotiations as a shield to hide behind while it continues to kill under a banner of supposed peace. Like my kids would say, when it comes to Hamas, Israel, keep your pimp hand strong.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi Killed in Air Raid
This is great news for two immediate reasons. One, it's good because while it's not the end of the war in Iraq, it is a declarative victory whenever we kill one of the leaders of Al Qaeda and certainly this guy needed to go. At the very least it was a symbolic victory.
The other reason is that now because if this IMPORTANT story, we won't have to hear about that stupid comment made by Ann Coulter, whose sole purpose was not to add to the national debate but to hawk her latest book (and I use the word book loosely).
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings of hostages, has been killed in a precision airstrike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. It was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.
Al-Zarqawi and seven aides, including spiritual adviser Sheik Abdul Rahman, were killed Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, officials said.
"Al-Zarqawi was eliminated," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.
At the White House, President Bush hailed the killing as "a severe blow to al-Qaida and it is a significant victory in the war on terror."
But he cautioned: "We have tough days ahead of us in Iraq that will require the continuing patience of the American people."
Al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed al-Zarqawi's death and vowed to continue its "holy war," according to a statement posted on a Web site.
"We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme."
Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said the hunt for al-Zarqawi began two weeks ago, and his body was identified by fingerprints and facial recognition.
Continued at link
The other reason is that now because if this IMPORTANT story, we won't have to hear about that stupid comment made by Ann Coulter, whose sole purpose was not to add to the national debate but to hawk her latest book (and I use the word book loosely).
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings of hostages, has been killed in a precision airstrike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. It was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.
Al-Zarqawi and seven aides, including spiritual adviser Sheik Abdul Rahman, were killed Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, officials said.
"Al-Zarqawi was eliminated," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.
At the White House, President Bush hailed the killing as "a severe blow to al-Qaida and it is a significant victory in the war on terror."
But he cautioned: "We have tough days ahead of us in Iraq that will require the continuing patience of the American people."
Al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed al-Zarqawi's death and vowed to continue its "holy war," according to a statement posted on a Web site.
"We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme."
Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said the hunt for al-Zarqawi began two weeks ago, and his body was identified by fingerprints and facial recognition.
Continued at link
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Iranian Oil Bourse nearly ready to open
If you couple this news with the recent announcement that the US will try to woo Iran by giving them nuclear technology, it becomes fairly obvious that we, the US, have lost our ability to be a controlling influence in world affairs. We are a contributor but no more than the EU, which is hapless at best. Thanks George!
The Iranian Oil Bourse is in its final stages, Iran's Fars news agency reported Monday.
According to the Fars report, the board of directors of the International Bourse Co., which is charged with establishing the bourse, will review the final draft of the articles of association of the Iranian bourse this week.
The International Bourse Co. was registered last month, with an initial capital of $2,000, and is charged with setting up the Iranian Oil Bourse on Kish Island. The IBC is owned by the National Iranian Oil Co., which has an 80 percent stake, and by with Kish Free Zone Organization and the Mostaz'afan and Janbazan Foundation, each of which hold 10 percent stakes.
Once the IBC finalize the draft, the articles of association will be sent to the body in charge of securities for review.
The bourse will be established in phases; following discussions of the first phase, rules and bylaws involving the establishment, running, equipping and opening of the bourse will be negotiated.
The Iranian Oil Bourse is in its final stages, Iran's Fars news agency reported Monday.
According to the Fars report, the board of directors of the International Bourse Co., which is charged with establishing the bourse, will review the final draft of the articles of association of the Iranian bourse this week.
The International Bourse Co. was registered last month, with an initial capital of $2,000, and is charged with setting up the Iranian Oil Bourse on Kish Island. The IBC is owned by the National Iranian Oil Co., which has an 80 percent stake, and by with Kish Free Zone Organization and the Mostaz'afan and Janbazan Foundation, each of which hold 10 percent stakes.
Once the IBC finalize the draft, the articles of association will be sent to the body in charge of securities for review.
The bourse will be established in phases; following discussions of the first phase, rules and bylaws involving the establishment, running, equipping and opening of the bourse will be negotiated.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Conservatives Hate Conservatism
The nature of political conservatism as I know it with regards to the economy is to expend the least amount of tax dollars for the most gain. If you listen to talk radio you hear this mantra about taxes being too high all of time and the collective wisdom of the talking heads is of course less taxes, less government spending and/or intervention and therefore more cash in the hands of spending Americans. In theory, it isn’t a flawed model. If more Americans can keep more of their money then, as current trends show, they tend to spend more and this cycle should, in theory, create jobs thus expanding the economy.
Conservative voters are also in favor of what they perceive to be the most cost effective solutions to problems, again favoring individual choice over federally regulated programs. In other words, any conservative with his/her salt will say that as a red-blooded, tax paying American, they deserve the right make choices and succeed or fail by themselves without the government sticking its nose into personal life business.
The practicality of the above analysis is subject to debate in possibly a later column but for the time being, take it as read that political conservatives say they stand for expanding the economy, protecting the boarder, the rule of law as it is written, reserved behavior dictated by Judeo-Christian values and of course the ability to make personal choices without government intervention via over taxation.
However, if you bring up the topic of global warming, all of a sudden those same thoughtful and reserved conservatives seem to forget themselves and turn more liberal than Janeane Garofalo on a mochachino inspired Air America rant. This epiphany hit me while I was listening to a typical Michael Savage crotchety-old-man routine on his daily radio program, The Savage Nation. Intermittent with the usual “the-world-is-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket-and-I’m-the-only-one-that-knows” bit, he harangued people who conscientiously drove hybrid cars for being wimpy, liberal-minded, shmucks and then called global warming the big lie of our day.
Let’s go over this again…a conservative is yelling at those in his audience for MAKING THE CONSUMER CHOICE to purchase and operate a car that is appealing for its cost effective fuel efficiency. Now I’m used to folks like Rush, Hannity and Savage touting the wonderfulness that is driving a gas-guzzling tank while condemning the mere mention of the possibility that the burning of fossil fuels is ruining our environment. I’m used to this bunch crying crocodile tears about not being able to drill for oil in every free space of land not currently being raped to death or being occupied by the world’s billionth mall. As a matter of fact, the line of logic they usually rely on is that it’s an Americans right to buy a dump truck, as Bill O’Reilly once joked, if that’s what they wish to drive and nuts to the “supposed” environmental damage it causes. But in haranguing people for CHOOSING to buy a hybrid car, that was a first for the personal consumer choice crowd.
Clearly Michael Savage isn’t really a conservative. Neither is Rush, or Hannity, or Coulter or anyone that blindly falls in line and touts the message that there is no such thing as global warming and investing in alternative energy consumer projects is the exercise of wimpy liberal America-hating communists. They are not only betraying the core principles of conservatism but they are also running away from the facts faster than a Baptist from a movie theater showing The DaVinci Code.
First off, anyone that doesn’t believe that burning fossil fuels is changing our environment is clearly a dope, a liar or a finely tuned combination of both. Here are the facts as per bydesign.com:
Almost all fossil fuel use is by burning (or "combustion"). Burning produces waste products due to impurities in the fuel, especially particulates and various gases such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. These waste products may affect our environment or people, in harmful ways. We have gone to great lengths to minimize the adverse effects of fossil fuel combustion, and continue to make progress.
Then too, there are serious disagreements over whether some effects of fossil fuel use are harmful at all. In some cases the amount of waste is so small that the effect, if any, is difficult to detect. Mercury from coal burning is an example.
At the other extreme, all burning produces carbon dioxide and water vapor as byproducts. This is because carbon is part of what makes fossil fuel useful. But whether these byproducts are harmful, or beneficial, is a matter of intense public debate. Some argue that they are beneficial, because water and carbon dioxide are necessary for plant life on earth, which is the basis for all life. Some people believe, however, that our carbon dioxide emissions contribute to harmful global warming and climate change, either now or in the future. Those who fear climate change have proposed new government policies to drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Now the true conservative should look at the issue of global warming and err on the side of caution. The true conservative, naturally reserved in nature and behavior, should purport that conservation of finite resources and an investment in alternative, renewable energy should be the solution to even the possibility that we are causing environmental problems with our current methods of industrialization. Instead, false conservatives like the aforementioned Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, for whatever reason, betray true conservatism and instruct their listeners, where energy is concerned, to act like Roman noblemen at the feast and on the prowl. And much like our historical predecessors, the behavior is disgusting.
What I really don’t understand in these attacks on conservation and the pursuit of alternative energy is that usually conservatives are the ones shilling for various components of a bullish economy. They are the ones telling us to invest and seek out riches far and wide from Wall Street to Beijing. That is what really kills me here. Alternative energy as an investment opportunity in an expanding economy is actually on the rise both here in the US and in various countries around the world (Brazil and Germany being two big ones).
According to an article from June 3rd in the Arizona Daily Star, there are a plethora of great and wonderful alternative energy projects in the works as week speak, which are leading the way in casting oil dependence into the dustbin of history. In addition, the article states that ,” The run-up in gas prices has softened for now the argument that ethanol isn't economically competitive without federal subsidies, and it has accelerated plans for ethanol plants by farmers' cooperatives and Archer Daniels Midland Co., the Decatur, Ill.-based agribusiness, among others.
Still, ethanol's potential is limited by cost and transport problems and the fact that even those seemingly endless fields of corn in the Midwest are finite. Experts say corn-based ethanol is unlikely ever to displace more than 10 percent of the gasoline supply.
"We just don't have enough corn," said Dan Basse, an analyst for Chicago-based AgResource Co. "If you turned every corn plant in the country into ethanol, there still wouldn't be enough."
That's where biomass comes in. By using other crops and forest waste along with the entire corn plant, not just the kernels, the Department of Energy says, enough cellulosic ethanol could be produced by 2030 to lower U.S. gasoline consumption 30 percent.”
There you have it folks. More and more ethanol plants are being built in the US all the time and many more could be built if people felt bullish enough to invest in them. This would be the most cost-effective solution to divorcing ourselves from oil dependence and staving off complete environmental collapse. Adopting green measures and alternative renewable energy consumer products would be the conservative solution, even if global warming weren’t real (which of course it is).
But alas, the patron saints of conservative talk radio hate conservatism and everything it stands for. They are hawking every wasteful solution imaginable including but not limited to wars for resources, environmental degradation due to mass drilling for ever decreasing wells of attainable oil and condemning consumer choices in favor of the worst possible ones. Like I said, it appears that conservatives hate conservatism.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
United States and Iran: Payoff time
Like it or not, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was freely elected by his people and therefore is the rightful leader of Iran. He’s not Osama bin Laden, a terrorist whom relies on the kindness of likeminded world leaders in order to establish a base of operations (Sudan, Afghanistan etc.). While it might be nice to consider Mahmoud Ahmadinejad illegitimate, spinning yarns about how the mullahs stole the election for their candidate, that’s the same bit the rest of the world has uttered with respect to George W. Bush after both of is dubious electoral victories and yet, the world over is still considered the President of the United States, much to many a liberals chagrin. We cannot seriously purport the policy of not negotiating with terrorists when in fact despite some of the insane rhetoric this man spews his is a legitimate government. That being said, if the US is at all serious in trying to remain at the top of the international diplomatic food pyramid, then it must be a part of the nuclear negotiations, if for no other reason than to reassert its dominance as a leader in foreign affairs.
This is probably a good sign that we are sitting down with the Iranians. Win, lose or draw, this whole affair should reach a natural conclusion. The Iranians will cooperate or we will move toward war. Either way with the US leading the charge it is doubtful there will be anymore EU style lolly gagging with regards to the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Washington's readiness to discuss with Iran its nuclear program was expected, as the United States had to find a way out of the dead-end into which it had driven itself.
The Kremlin had firmly refused to vote for the UN Security Council resolution on Iran that stipulated sanctions, saying that there was no alternative to negotiations. On the other hand, in view of the previous format of the talks, Russia's offer amounted to another dead-end. The European intermediaries, including Russia, could not influence Tehran's stand. It was a double stalemate - the U.S. failed to convince Russia, whereas Russia and the other intermediaries failed to convince Tehran.
The new Washington's initiative is shifting the Iranian intrigue to a fundamentally new phase, which may be long or short. Rice said the formal condition for direct talks with Iran was an end to the uranium enrichment program. Tehran, which is satisfied with Washington's initiative, has not said anything regarding this condition.
Therefore, events can develop in at least two different ways.
One is short: Tehran clarifies its stand and agrees to talk without abandoning the right to enrich uranium. So far, the Iranian authorities have said they will never abandon the program.
In this case Tehran would lose the diplomatic game. The United States' show of goodwill and a step towards Tehran, with which it does not even maintain diplomatic relations, would fail to convince Tehran to go its part of the way.
This would put an end to talks, robbing Russia of arguments in favor of negotiations, and clearing the way to sanctions.
An unofficial U.S. source said the text of the UN Security Council resolution on Iran had been harmonized and might be put up for voting if negotiations break down. Sanctions against Iran would be imposed quickly, and all participants in the "Iranian nuclear process" would smoothly proceed in the Iranian labyrinth from one dead-end to another.
The other scenario is somewhat longer: Iran does not say yes or no, which it can do very well, but hints at a desire to negotiate all problems as a package. Russia and the other intermediaries convince Washington to at least listen to Iran's proposals.
Hypothetically, this scenario can have two outcomes.
One, Tehran goes back on all of its previous statements, agrees to halt its uranium enrichment program, and makes a compromise decision that has long been offered by Moscow - to enrich uranium under strict international control at a joint Russian-Iranian venture in Russia.
This may create problems for the Tehran political elite, which will have to explain this U-turn to its people, but the rest of the world will be happy. The United States will not initiate a war against Iran, and Iran will not have nuclear weapons.
Two, the talks take too long and appear ineffective because both Iran and the U.S. refuse to budge. Washington withdraws from the talks, which again brings us to the issue of sanctions. Tehran loses the diplomatic game, and Washington, having learned the lesson of international criticism of its Iraqi campaign, looks as a party that has done its best within the UN framework to avoid a military conflict.
In this case, too, all participants in the "Iranian nuclear process" will move from one dead-end in the Iranian labyrinth to another.
Judging by information available at the moment, Iran does not intend to abandon its uranium enrichment plans, which means that the short scenario is the most probable one.
But one way or another, an outcome is approaching.
This is probably a good sign that we are sitting down with the Iranians. Win, lose or draw, this whole affair should reach a natural conclusion. The Iranians will cooperate or we will move toward war. Either way with the US leading the charge it is doubtful there will be anymore EU style lolly gagging with regards to the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Washington's readiness to discuss with Iran its nuclear program was expected, as the United States had to find a way out of the dead-end into which it had driven itself.
The Kremlin had firmly refused to vote for the UN Security Council resolution on Iran that stipulated sanctions, saying that there was no alternative to negotiations. On the other hand, in view of the previous format of the talks, Russia's offer amounted to another dead-end. The European intermediaries, including Russia, could not influence Tehran's stand. It was a double stalemate - the U.S. failed to convince Russia, whereas Russia and the other intermediaries failed to convince Tehran.
The new Washington's initiative is shifting the Iranian intrigue to a fundamentally new phase, which may be long or short. Rice said the formal condition for direct talks with Iran was an end to the uranium enrichment program. Tehran, which is satisfied with Washington's initiative, has not said anything regarding this condition.
Therefore, events can develop in at least two different ways.
One is short: Tehran clarifies its stand and agrees to talk without abandoning the right to enrich uranium. So far, the Iranian authorities have said they will never abandon the program.
In this case Tehran would lose the diplomatic game. The United States' show of goodwill and a step towards Tehran, with which it does not even maintain diplomatic relations, would fail to convince Tehran to go its part of the way.
This would put an end to talks, robbing Russia of arguments in favor of negotiations, and clearing the way to sanctions.
An unofficial U.S. source said the text of the UN Security Council resolution on Iran had been harmonized and might be put up for voting if negotiations break down. Sanctions against Iran would be imposed quickly, and all participants in the "Iranian nuclear process" would smoothly proceed in the Iranian labyrinth from one dead-end to another.
The other scenario is somewhat longer: Iran does not say yes or no, which it can do very well, but hints at a desire to negotiate all problems as a package. Russia and the other intermediaries convince Washington to at least listen to Iran's proposals.
Hypothetically, this scenario can have two outcomes.
One, Tehran goes back on all of its previous statements, agrees to halt its uranium enrichment program, and makes a compromise decision that has long been offered by Moscow - to enrich uranium under strict international control at a joint Russian-Iranian venture in Russia.
This may create problems for the Tehran political elite, which will have to explain this U-turn to its people, but the rest of the world will be happy. The United States will not initiate a war against Iran, and Iran will not have nuclear weapons.
Two, the talks take too long and appear ineffective because both Iran and the U.S. refuse to budge. Washington withdraws from the talks, which again brings us to the issue of sanctions. Tehran loses the diplomatic game, and Washington, having learned the lesson of international criticism of its Iraqi campaign, looks as a party that has done its best within the UN framework to avoid a military conflict.
In this case, too, all participants in the "Iranian nuclear process" will move from one dead-end in the Iranian labyrinth to another.
Judging by information available at the moment, Iran does not intend to abandon its uranium enrichment plans, which means that the short scenario is the most probable one.
But one way or another, an outcome is approaching.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Teaching Lilly About the War on Terror
The War on Terror has been an enigma of sorts. It is has only loosely defined and grossly misinterpreted on both sides of the political aisle. Some say it’s a merely a Trojan horse for America to imperialize the Middle East and control the oil market while others are not nearly as cynical. These folks accept that the War on Terror is in fact the last great struggle for Western Civilization. It is as some have called it, the fourth great global war in history (for those that consider the Cold War the third great war.)
But despite all of these grand phrases and such, just what is the War on Terror? If you were to ask the average American in the street what he or she thought the War on Terror was, you would most definitely get a bevy of answers:
It’s a war against radical Islam.
It’s a war against Muslims.
It’s a war for oil.
It’s the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
We’re at war?
And while there might be many answers to that simple question, I truly wonder if people really understand just what is the War on Terror and why does it look the way it does. Why does it feel the way it does? What’s different about this war than the battles of the past? It is easy to accept what our leaders tell us so that we don’t have to think too hard about it but the fact remains that after nearly 5 years of battling this elusive foe, many simply do not know what it is we are trying to do. Mind you, for that I blame our president but that is a column for another day.
We, the capitalist modern West, are fighting a combination of radical religious fundamentalism and Fascism, as purported by Arabs and Persians who dominate the oil rich Middle East of Eurasia. That’s the headline right there but even that doesn’t really begin to describe in detail to those that need a better explanation what the whole point of this conflict is. In fact, it is because most people don’t really understand the headline that the war has become as muddled and misunderstood by the masses
Now let me tell you about Lilly. Lilly is a 17-year-old Mexican-American recovering meth addict from rural parts in central Florida. A friend of the family in the trailer park she lived when she was a little girl raped Lilly. She had a history of violence toward others that would make Sabu blush. To say our girl Lilly was limited in her understanding of the world would be a rather gross understatement. After nearly a year in an inpatient rehabilitation facility the girl could barely even fill out a job application and did not understand the concept buying insurance for her car what exactly the point of insurance was.
Now here’s the rub; Lilly will be able to vote in the very near future. In fact, if the current political trends hold, every pandering politician this side of Cuba will seek after her vote. When I think of how the message of what it is to fight the War on Terror has been so badly communicated, I think of poor, feisty, barely literate Lilly because if grown adults whom actually follow politics really don’t understand what is going on, this kids got no chance in hell of figuring it out.
One day at work, Lilly came to me after group and asked if we were going to get bombed by Iran. She stated that she had seen something in the on-campus that school on TV that scared her half to death and made her wonder if she was at risk. That prompted me to have to boil down nearly every important historical even from World War I to the War on Terror to its lowest common denominator in order for this girl to understand the current Iranian nuclear showdown. After about an hour of me drawing boxes and arrows on a marker board to illustrate the finer points of global policy and war, low and behold this child that resembles more animal than girl in her behavior actually understood the complexity of the War on Terror. She had somewhat of a difficult time explaining it to her peers but regardless; I was like a proud father watching his daughter taking her first steps into a larger universe.
That is when it hit me. My social studies teacher once told me that when you teach somebody something, you own that information for life. Teaching Lilly about the War on Terror actually cleared up some of the problems I had understanding the war. First off, and I didn’t realize this until after we were with our impromptu tutoring session, most people don’t know the first thing about fighting a conventional war, never mind an ideological one.
War is simply one mans attempt to secure resources for his people. Land is where the resources are kept obviously so as Sepultura once said, we war for territory. It its most base form, you mass an army to control the enemy’s territory and then either take over or sever their supply lines. Once you’ve done that, it’s over. The war is done. Mission accomplished. All of the ballyhoo, pomp and circumstance that we’ve learned in countless history classes regarding battles and such were about nothing more than the acquisition of scarce resources by competitive peoples.
People are expendable, good soil and a dependable water supply isn’t. People are replaceable; coal, oil, uranium, gold and other precious metals aren’t. That’s been the driving force of war, to risk people in trade for goods you cannot find elsewhere or are running out of in your own territory.
However, scarcity of resources may be enough for individual men to send millions of his brethren to their doom, but for those on the death march, even the ancient version of warring for oil was not appealing. That is where ideology comes in.
Whether it is religion, patriotism, revenge or the love of a hot chick, to make men fight you must give them a reason they can buy into. Convincing them to hate total strangers who look different from them is a good start but anyone who has studied marketing knows, you need a common denominator for people unite under. Once you’ve got your us VS them ideology rolling it’s easy to make men grab resources for you. It’s easy to commit mass murder in the name of whatever boogeyman you’ve created to unite your army.
The problem we’ve come to since the end of War World II is that somewhere along the way the ideology that makes men fight seemed to have surpassed the quest for resources that is the reason men are made to fight. The Cold War was absolutely about acquiring more resources or retaining the ones you had but those resources were for the first time in history actual people. Capitalist need people to buy their wares and Communists need people to man supply lines and make widgets. If either side had killed too many people then the whole point of the war would have been lost. After all, you can’t rule a country of corpses, until you are Tim Burton (cue rim shot).
The War on Terror is an extension of the Cold War. If you were to look at the possible endgame for the radical Muslims, what you would get is a world full of fellow believers whose sole purpose is to keep this ideology alive. Islam, like all belief systems feeds on humans willing to drink Kool-Aid. That’s it, that is all there is to it. I’m not even sure if Bin Laden and company has thought far enough in advanced to what they’d do with a world where Mohammed wasn’t threatened naked white chicks and newspaper cartoons.
That in a nutshell is why this is such a hard war to fight. If killing people were the way to win then the Muslims would have already lost, just ask the Japanese what I’m talking about. But that isn’t it. Even taking territory such as in Iraq and Afghanistan does next to nothing for us in the grand scheme of things because having control over those places doesn’t cut the average Muslims steady supply of blind faith.
However, not fighting is an even worse option than fighting badly. Because just as we cannot cut their supply of faith, it is that endless supply of faith that keeps them in the quest for the resources they seek. And that resource is us.
Somewhere in Central Florida a 17-year-old Mexican-American girl came away from a rehab understanding why we fight. Only 300 million more left to go.
Monday, May 22, 2006
US pressuring foreign banks on Iran
Isolation appears to be the name of the game when dealing with Iran. In theory, this is the best of all possible options where stability in the Middle East is concerned. Economic pressure and an ability to manage your country's finances are what were responsible for bringing down the USSR so it's a good model to use on Iran...in theory. You see, the more pressure we place on Iran, the more underground they will go. Every sanction or limitation we place on Iran on enlarges the black market where they do their greatest work. So on paper this is the way to go, in all practicality however, this will accomplish nothing more than continuing to turn Iran inward in that secretive North Korean-ish way.
US pressure has prompted four major European banks - UBS and Credit Suisse of Switzerland; ABN Amro of the Netherlands; and the London-based HSBC - to reduce their business dealings with Iranian banks and businesses in light of Iran's intransigence in the international crisis surrounding its nuclear enrichment program, The New York Times reported Monday.
Officials in the Treasury and State Departments have invoked various laws addressing banking and antiterrorism, specifically a 1984 statute banning any dealings with nations deemed sponsors of terrorism and the 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. An additional directive signed by President George W. Bush prohibiting business activity with partners suspected of contributing to the proliferation of unconventional weapons specifies Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization and its Atomic Energy Organization as off-limits.
Since any bank maintaining a branch in the US, as nearly all European banking institutions do, is subject to US law, the US brings no small amount of leverage to its demands. Foreign banks have already been financially penalized for failing to comply with US decrees regulating foreign business policy. Two years ago, the Federal Reserve fined UBS $100 million for transferring dollars to - among other countries - Iran. ABN Amro was fined $80 million for violating anti-money laundering regulations and sanctions against both Libya and Iran.
In addition to legal pressure, officials have also campaigned in Europe and the Middle East to persuade economic powers that Iran is too unstable to function as a viable business partner. US pressure was a factor in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's April decision to raise Iran's rating as a credit risk.
Over the last year, Iran's economy has shown a growth rate of less than five percent, and its stock market has plunged over 20%. "I think there is a real and growing sense that there's a risk associated with doing business with Iran, with lending Iran more money, or providing it with a line of credit," Robert G. Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security told the Times.
US pressure has prompted four major European banks - UBS and Credit Suisse of Switzerland; ABN Amro of the Netherlands; and the London-based HSBC - to reduce their business dealings with Iranian banks and businesses in light of Iran's intransigence in the international crisis surrounding its nuclear enrichment program, The New York Times reported Monday.
Officials in the Treasury and State Departments have invoked various laws addressing banking and antiterrorism, specifically a 1984 statute banning any dealings with nations deemed sponsors of terrorism and the 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. An additional directive signed by President George W. Bush prohibiting business activity with partners suspected of contributing to the proliferation of unconventional weapons specifies Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization and its Atomic Energy Organization as off-limits.
Since any bank maintaining a branch in the US, as nearly all European banking institutions do, is subject to US law, the US brings no small amount of leverage to its demands. Foreign banks have already been financially penalized for failing to comply with US decrees regulating foreign business policy. Two years ago, the Federal Reserve fined UBS $100 million for transferring dollars to - among other countries - Iran. ABN Amro was fined $80 million for violating anti-money laundering regulations and sanctions against both Libya and Iran.
In addition to legal pressure, officials have also campaigned in Europe and the Middle East to persuade economic powers that Iran is too unstable to function as a viable business partner. US pressure was a factor in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's April decision to raise Iran's rating as a credit risk.
Over the last year, Iran's economy has shown a growth rate of less than five percent, and its stock market has plunged over 20%. "I think there is a real and growing sense that there's a risk associated with doing business with Iran, with lending Iran more money, or providing it with a line of credit," Robert G. Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security told the Times.
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