Yasser Arafat 'very, very sick'
Jasser Arafat´s death would be extremely bad thing. If purely emotional reasons are not counted, there are several very good reasons to hope that he would survive. The open question of succession is only one, but very important one. Marwan Barghouti seems to be the only man thought to be able to fill Arafat´s shoes, but that´s the reason why he is in a Israeli jail. Mohammed Dahlan seems to thought himself to be a man with enough strength to carry the burden, but the populace doesn´t seem to share his view. Members of PLO´s old guard, like Qurei, don´t have much backing and they have shown themselves to be ineffective. So the Palestinians would become more divided and the next president could be quite weak and lacking the same kind of support that Arafat enjoys. Weak president and weak prime minister could then be locked in the same kind of match of wills that Arafat won agaist Qurei.
Among the other reasons is the undiplomatic response from leaders of Israel and the US. Knowing them, they would not hide their joy and would be quite open about it. Israel has decided that it won´t allow Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem and this would be seen, as it is, as an attempt to humiliate the Palestinians. Simply, Israel would use Arafat´s death to make the possiblity of negotiations even remote than they are now. Violence would ensue.
And the Americans. They would be quite happy with Arafat´s death, wouldn´t hide it and would say every possible nasty thing of him and would also use the occasion to sing the glories of Israel and it´s virtuous leader (after all, they have to show their allegiance to Israel whenever the possibility to do so arises.) Then they would smile and claim that they are eager to work with the new Palestinian leadership and that they believe that new leadership won´t make the same mistakes as Arafat.
They don´t understand diplomacy, the Americans. They can insult you and the next moment ask you to co-operate with them. But by insulting Arafat after his death, they would be insulting the Palestinians (which the Americans probably wouldn´t understand, they would claim that the insults and glee about Arafat´s death would be directed to their home audience and Israel, not to the Palestinians, and that the Palestinians should disregard of it etc), whatever the Palestinians think of Arafat, they could hardly come to any other kind of conclusion, and the new leadership hardly could accept this. If they would, they would be seen as cowardly collaborators.
Only bad things will come if Jasser Arafat dies.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Let liberty transform Palestinians, too
Quote:
US policy on a future Palestinian state is just as shortsighted. Israelis and Palestinians who have met with the National Security Council and State Department have come away certain that it is unofficial, but rock-solid, US policy to support Israel's stance that there can be no elections in the West Bank and Gaza as long as Mr. Arafat seems likely to be reelected.
Well, it´s not a great surprise to find out one more proof that the leaders of the Americans are arrogant, lying bastards. That´s the reason they support the colonialist enterprise of Israel in the first place.
Quote:
US policy on a future Palestinian state is just as shortsighted. Israelis and Palestinians who have met with the National Security Council and State Department have come away certain that it is unofficial, but rock-solid, US policy to support Israel's stance that there can be no elections in the West Bank and Gaza as long as Mr. Arafat seems likely to be reelected.
Well, it´s not a great surprise to find out one more proof that the leaders of the Americans are arrogant, lying bastards. That´s the reason they support the colonialist enterprise of Israel in the first place.
Crude attempt at a evolutionary tree of humanity after Homo habilis(Africa, 2,3-1,8 million years ago):
1.Homo ergaster (Africa, 1,85 mya - 100 000 ya).
1.1. Homo erectus(Asia, 1,8 mya - 27 000 ya) . Possibly just an Asian form of H. ergaster.
1.1.1. Homo floresiensis (Asia, 95 000-12 000 ya).
1.2. Homo antecessor (Europe, 0,8-0,7 mya). Possibly just a European form of H. ergaster.
1.3. Homo heidelbergensis(Africa, Europe 0,6-0,3 mya). Possibly descendant of H. antecessor.
1.3.1 Homo neanderthalensis(Europe, Asia, archaic form 0,3-0,135 mya, classic form 135 000 - 29 000 ya).
1.3.2 Homo sapiens idaltu(Africa, 160 000 - 154 000 ya).
1.3.2.1. Homo sapiens sapiens(Africa circa 150 000 years ago - to today, when we are everywhere).
If H. ergaster, H. erectus and H. antecessor are all just variants of the same species, then the name of that species is H. erectus.
Between African H. heidelbergensis and H. sapiens idaltu there are "archaic" forms of Homo sapiens, of whom the most famous is from current Zimbabwe, still known as "Rhodesian Man", and it lived about 250 000 years ago. Possible modern H. sapiens skulls have been found from Morocco and dated at 150 000 years ago, certainly modern humans were living at South Africa 115 000 years ago.
1.Homo ergaster (Africa, 1,85 mya - 100 000 ya).
1.1. Homo erectus(Asia, 1,8 mya - 27 000 ya) . Possibly just an Asian form of H. ergaster.
1.1.1. Homo floresiensis (Asia, 95 000-12 000 ya).
1.2. Homo antecessor (Europe, 0,8-0,7 mya). Possibly just a European form of H. ergaster.
1.3. Homo heidelbergensis(Africa, Europe 0,6-0,3 mya). Possibly descendant of H. antecessor.
1.3.1 Homo neanderthalensis(Europe, Asia, archaic form 0,3-0,135 mya, classic form 135 000 - 29 000 ya).
1.3.2 Homo sapiens idaltu(Africa, 160 000 - 154 000 ya).
1.3.2.1. Homo sapiens sapiens(Africa circa 150 000 years ago - to today, when we are everywhere).
If H. ergaster, H. erectus and H. antecessor are all just variants of the same species, then the name of that species is H. erectus.
Between African H. heidelbergensis and H. sapiens idaltu there are "archaic" forms of Homo sapiens, of whom the most famous is from current Zimbabwe, still known as "Rhodesian Man", and it lived about 250 000 years ago. Possible modern H. sapiens skulls have been found from Morocco and dated at 150 000 years ago, certainly modern humans were living at South Africa 115 000 years ago.
Stupendous paleontological find from the Indonesian island of Flores: a new human species, Homo floresiensis, that existed between 18 000 - 12 000 years ago and may have survived to modern times!
This tiny, 1 meter tall, species had a brain size of about 380 cubic centimeters, which is the lowest number for a hominid for something like the last three million years, but still used tools, may have hunted, and probably had the ability to speak.
This is certainly the biggest scientific discovery of the year!
Nature articles, BBC article.
This tiny, 1 meter tall, species had a brain size of about 380 cubic centimeters, which is the lowest number for a hominid for something like the last three million years, but still used tools, may have hunted, and probably had the ability to speak.
This is certainly the biggest scientific discovery of the year!
Nature articles, BBC article.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Civil war in Israel?
From our national experience, I can say that there´s one good thing in civil wars; when your own people massacre each other, you lose all those fantasies how good and noble your people is compared to those Others.
From our national experience, I can say that there´s one good thing in civil wars; when your own people massacre each other, you lose all those fantasies how good and noble your people is compared to those Others.
I have to admit that I too find it hard to imagine John Kerry as a president of the US. Not that he wouldn´t be a better president than George Bush II - it would be hard to be worse - but that somehow I can´t make myself believe that he can win and... There really ain´t that many things I agree with him, but he would be better than Bush and that´s enough.
In Britain, I favor Charles Kennedy over Tony Blair and Blair over Michael Howard as the next prime minister.
In Britain, I favor Charles Kennedy over Tony Blair and Blair over Michael Howard as the next prime minister.
I read somewhere - don´t remember where and by whom - a good(?) reason/excuse why many Americans will vote for Bush come November 2nd, even if they are dissatisfied with him. And this simple reason is, that they can easily imagine the future if the bungler wins a second term, but they can´t imagine what kind of "reign" Kerry would have and what the future would hold for the US with him calling the shots, so they as members of a conservative nation select the easy choice and vote Bush.
The colonial precedent
Quote:
As Blair and Bush claim to support democracy in Iraq, it is as well to remember that London and Washington have almost always opposed popular, democratic forces in the Middle East, preferring strong regimes capable of bringing "order".
And then they whine when people don´t believe that this time they are fighting for democracry, honestly. Maybe they are, in their inept and wrongheaded way. But it would be best for democracy if they would leave this task to others that are more capable and would just stop supporting oppressive regimes, Israel included, in the Middle East and elsewhere. You don´t have to go to war to promote democracy. At least thus they would be doing something good. At the same time that US claims it´s fighting for democracy in Iraq, it´s supporting most of the undemocratic/oppressive regimes in the area, like Egypt, Israel, Saudi-Arabia and Yemen, and the more mild, but still not democratic regimes like Jordania. They should remember that Soviet Union wasn´t conquered, but fell apart from inside.
Quote:
As Blair and Bush claim to support democracy in Iraq, it is as well to remember that London and Washington have almost always opposed popular, democratic forces in the Middle East, preferring strong regimes capable of bringing "order".
And then they whine when people don´t believe that this time they are fighting for democracry, honestly. Maybe they are, in their inept and wrongheaded way. But it would be best for democracy if they would leave this task to others that are more capable and would just stop supporting oppressive regimes, Israel included, in the Middle East and elsewhere. You don´t have to go to war to promote democracy. At least thus they would be doing something good. At the same time that US claims it´s fighting for democracy in Iraq, it´s supporting most of the undemocratic/oppressive regimes in the area, like Egypt, Israel, Saudi-Arabia and Yemen, and the more mild, but still not democratic regimes like Jordania. They should remember that Soviet Union wasn´t conquered, but fell apart from inside.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
The age of anxiety
American academic Richard Sennett, who has been teaching in London for five years, returns to New York and takes the cultural and political temperature
American academic Richard Sennett, who has been teaching in London for five years, returns to New York and takes the cultural and political temperature
This review of Iain M. Banks´ new novel The Algebraist has a good point to make; parts of the novel feel that the editor has been on holiday and that Banks himself could have written them over at least once more, should have put more effort at the novel. It´s like a house that looks great outside, but whose interiors are not yet finished. Certainly this is an inferior work compared to Look to Windward(2001), but continues a recent trend in the author´s oeuvre. Especially in his mainstream work Banks has lately had this Kerouacian tendency to leave things raw.
Still, this isn´t a bad book, I enjoy it too much to claim so. On the negative side, it also has these Banksian moments of sadism that are - as usual in his work - totally unrelated to the plot plus rather lame comic effects that don´t work - like Fassin Taak´s uncle, who has transformed himself to a walrus descending into senility - and Banks tends to explain things too much himself, instead of letting the characters and their actions show us this new universe he has invented, but when the voice of the author fades on the background and the characters have the centerstage, it´s quite enjoyable. Reminded me much of the Against a Dark Background(1993). But if one starts to read the book waiting it to prove that Orbit´s hype - "The most eagerly awaited science fiction novel of this decade" - is worthy of the book, one will certainly be disappointed, because this isn´t even the best science fiction novel Banks himself has published during this decade, this century, this millennium, during the last ten years etc.
Still, this isn´t a bad book, I enjoy it too much to claim so. On the negative side, it also has these Banksian moments of sadism that are - as usual in his work - totally unrelated to the plot plus rather lame comic effects that don´t work - like Fassin Taak´s uncle, who has transformed himself to a walrus descending into senility - and Banks tends to explain things too much himself, instead of letting the characters and their actions show us this new universe he has invented, but when the voice of the author fades on the background and the characters have the centerstage, it´s quite enjoyable. Reminded me much of the Against a Dark Background(1993). But if one starts to read the book waiting it to prove that Orbit´s hype - "The most eagerly awaited science fiction novel of this decade" - is worthy of the book, one will certainly be disappointed, because this isn´t even the best science fiction novel Banks himself has published during this decade, this century, this millennium, during the last ten years etc.
There is no case for torture, ever
Quotes:
English judges have accepted that confessions beaten out of suspects can be used for the first time since the 1630s. The only reaction, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, could manage to their extraordinary decision was the Peck sniffian bleat that he had the 'awful feeling' that learning to live with torture 'is probably the right conclusion.' As with so many other descents into barbarism, the judges and ministers make each step on the downward path appear eminently reasonable.... It suggests that people are being held indefinitely in British jails because a naked man beset by dogs named him to placate his tormentors... What is dispiriting about the degeneracy of the Government and the Court of Appeal is that the old lessons have to be learned once again. The reasons why first England and then the civilised world rejected torture were practical as well as moral. Most people break under torture. Most people say whatever they have to say to stop the pain. When names are suggested to them, they agree. If the torturer wants to implicate the innocent or invent imaginary plots, he usually gets what he wants from his victim... If they give me a law officer, the Lord Chancellor perhaps, or the Director of Public Prosecutions, and a couple of heavies, and leave us alone in a locked room, I think I can guarantee that within a week he will have revealed that the entire senior judiciary are members of al-Qaeda.
16th century documents from Languedoc show that then only 10% of the people who were tortured by the law courts gave evidence that the torturers themselves believed to be valid.
With the use of torture one can prove whatever they want to prove.
Quotes:
English judges have accepted that confessions beaten out of suspects can be used for the first time since the 1630s. The only reaction, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, could manage to their extraordinary decision was the Peck sniffian bleat that he had the 'awful feeling' that learning to live with torture 'is probably the right conclusion.' As with so many other descents into barbarism, the judges and ministers make each step on the downward path appear eminently reasonable.... It suggests that people are being held indefinitely in British jails because a naked man beset by dogs named him to placate his tormentors... What is dispiriting about the degeneracy of the Government and the Court of Appeal is that the old lessons have to be learned once again. The reasons why first England and then the civilised world rejected torture were practical as well as moral. Most people break under torture. Most people say whatever they have to say to stop the pain. When names are suggested to them, they agree. If the torturer wants to implicate the innocent or invent imaginary plots, he usually gets what he wants from his victim... If they give me a law officer, the Lord Chancellor perhaps, or the Director of Public Prosecutions, and a couple of heavies, and leave us alone in a locked room, I think I can guarantee that within a week he will have revealed that the entire senior judiciary are members of al-Qaeda.
16th century documents from Languedoc show that then only 10% of the people who were tortured by the law courts gave evidence that the torturers themselves believed to be valid.
With the use of torture one can prove whatever they want to prove.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
According to the pathetic US web magazine Slate, funding Palestinian resistance against the illegal Israeli occupation is antisemitism.
This is a curious claim to come from a country where you can legally murder burglars who enter you house. But the Palestinians don´t have even the right to defend their country and their families according to Slate, not speaking of the sanctity of their homes, because it would be antisemitism!
The Americans have made the Israeli Jews their living gods, which the majority of them worship with the fervour of a true believer. Why just worship an invisible God, when one can also worship the living god of war, Ariel Sharon, whose handwork you can see every day from the television?
This is a curious claim to come from a country where you can legally murder burglars who enter you house. But the Palestinians don´t have even the right to defend their country and their families according to Slate, not speaking of the sanctity of their homes, because it would be antisemitism!
The Americans have made the Israeli Jews their living gods, which the majority of them worship with the fervour of a true believer. Why just worship an invisible God, when one can also worship the living god of war, Ariel Sharon, whose handwork you can see every day from the television?
Mid-East 'drifting towards chaos´ according to the UN.
Quote:
Since the start of the latest intifada, or uprising, in September 2000, some 3,839 Palestinians and 979 Israelis had been killed, said Mr Prendergast, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs.... And an estimated 36,000 Palestinians and 6,297 Israelis had been wounded.
There should probably be a zero behind both numbers of Israeli casualties before they would start to appreciate the benefits of a just peace. Now they just think that they can kill their way to a Greater Israel.
Quote:
Since the start of the latest intifada, or uprising, in September 2000, some 3,839 Palestinians and 979 Israelis had been killed, said Mr Prendergast, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs.... And an estimated 36,000 Palestinians and 6,297 Israelis had been wounded.
There should probably be a zero behind both numbers of Israeli casualties before they would start to appreciate the benefits of a just peace. Now they just think that they can kill their way to a Greater Israel.
Friday, October 22, 2004
Are Bush supporters just plain ignorant, or are they living in a state of denial?
As a European, I am tempted to claim that Bush supporters are mainly just ordinary Americans, ignorant - or should we say uninterested to find out - of not only of the world outside the borders of US, but also of what kind of people rule their own country. Add a bunch of Bible Belt loonies who live even more hermetic lives and you get this kind of numbers. A poll that I shaw in spring claimed that 59% of the people who voted Bush in the 2000 elections claimed that they don´t follow news at all, not from TV, not from newspapers, not from radio, not from the web.
As a European, I am tempted to claim that Bush supporters are mainly just ordinary Americans, ignorant - or should we say uninterested to find out - of not only of the world outside the borders of US, but also of what kind of people rule their own country. Add a bunch of Bible Belt loonies who live even more hermetic lives and you get this kind of numbers. A poll that I shaw in spring claimed that 59% of the people who voted Bush in the 2000 elections claimed that they don´t follow news at all, not from TV, not from newspapers, not from radio, not from the web.
Monday, October 18, 2004
Idiot to win second term in the land of the stupid and mentally retarded, but the good news is that the price of oil will likely reach 60 $ per barrel in the near future.
Palestinians in plea to UK over peace process. More.
Pathetic mister Straw condemns all Palestinian resistance against Israeli occipation and declares UK support for Israeli aggression against Palestinians as long as it isn´t "disproportianate". Which means that mister Straw is scared sh*tless of the Israelis, as usual.
Pathetic mister Straw condemns all Palestinian resistance against Israeli occipation and declares UK support for Israeli aggression against Palestinians as long as it isn´t "disproportianate". Which means that mister Straw is scared sh*tless of the Israelis, as usual.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Gaza's Wars of Perception and Breaking Sharon's 'Iron Wall' - Death of the Roadmap to Peace.
Even darker times ahead.
What comes to the "Roadmap", it was just a sham.
God punish America!
Even darker times ahead.
What comes to the "Roadmap", it was just a sham.
God punish America!
Up to 70 000 people from Darfur dead since March; mainly of disease and malnutrition in refugee camps. About 10 000 dies every month.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Our debt to Derrida
I have never been a great fan of the more modern schools of study of literature (meaning pretty much every branch since the Russian Formalists in the 1920s). So I am bit of a conservative when it comes to the study of literature. And I do have read huge amounts of work from different schools of study of literature, even if largely of necessity. The modern schools have their merits, especially one: They have taken "high literature" from it´s pedestal and have put it among the "rabble"; not in the context of other "great works of literature" but in the context where the artist worked and the work itself was created, and where the kinship between "artists" and "craftsmen" of literature can be seen and aknowledged better than before. Still, modern study of literature can be at it´s worst ghastly nonsense, where elaborate theories take centerstage.
I have never been a great fan of the more modern schools of study of literature (meaning pretty much every branch since the Russian Formalists in the 1920s). So I am bit of a conservative when it comes to the study of literature. And I do have read huge amounts of work from different schools of study of literature, even if largely of necessity. The modern schools have their merits, especially one: They have taken "high literature" from it´s pedestal and have put it among the "rabble"; not in the context of other "great works of literature" but in the context where the artist worked and the work itself was created, and where the kinship between "artists" and "craftsmen" of literature can be seen and aknowledged better than before. Still, modern study of literature can be at it´s worst ghastly nonsense, where elaborate theories take centerstage.
Sharon's plan will perpetuate war
It seems to be one of the raison d´etres of it.
The sad truth is that the western countries are only interested of peace negotiations when Israel has a leadership that supports them. When there isn´t, they give up. It´s devastating for all concerned, but... What can be done?
It seems to be one of the raison d´etres of it.
The sad truth is that the western countries are only interested of peace negotiations when Israel has a leadership that supports them. When there isn´t, they give up. It´s devastating for all concerned, but... What can be done?
Monday, October 11, 2004
Somalia´s interim parlament has elected 69-year old Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the leader of the Puntland autonomous region, as the new president of Somalia.
Not the Right Answers to Middle East Question
Quote:
And all the candidates could say was that the war in Iraq was fought to help protect Israel, that Israel had every right to retaliate against terrorism in any manner it deemed appropriate and that Mr. Arafat had to go.
Israel is to the United States what Soviet Union was once to most of the Communist countries. Like the Soviet Union, Israel can´t be critized and all of it´s actions must be praised. Bush, Cheney, Edwards and Kerry would have been good leaders of any vassal state of the Soviet Union with these credentials. They would have praised the glories of the occupation of Hungary and Czechoslovakia and the invasion of Afghanistan as least as well as any real Communist leader, with straight face and voice full of passion.
Quote:
And all the candidates could say was that the war in Iraq was fought to help protect Israel, that Israel had every right to retaliate against terrorism in any manner it deemed appropriate and that Mr. Arafat had to go.
Israel is to the United States what Soviet Union was once to most of the Communist countries. Like the Soviet Union, Israel can´t be critized and all of it´s actions must be praised. Bush, Cheney, Edwards and Kerry would have been good leaders of any vassal state of the Soviet Union with these credentials. They would have praised the glories of the occupation of Hungary and Czechoslovakia and the invasion of Afghanistan as least as well as any real Communist leader, with straight face and voice full of passion.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
"Sharon and Arafat should step aside"
Sadly, Israel´s Jabba the Hut has (scared) enough of the voters behind him to secure continuation in power, his most likely successors from Likud are no better, the Labor has little chance of return to power and in the Palestinian side as long as USA demands Arafat to step aside the populace will support him. I sometimes wonder are the Americans really this stupid, don´t they understand that the more they demand Arafat´s removal from power at the same time that they sing the glories of Israel´s bloody occupation, the more secure Jasser Arafat is - or is this a cunning plan to sabotage peace negotiations, demanding Arafat´s removal from power and at the same time acting so that he remains in power, which then is used as a reason for not negotiating with the Palestinians?
Sadly, Israel´s Jabba the Hut has (scared) enough of the voters behind him to secure continuation in power, his most likely successors from Likud are no better, the Labor has little chance of return to power and in the Palestinian side as long as USA demands Arafat to step aside the populace will support him. I sometimes wonder are the Americans really this stupid, don´t they understand that the more they demand Arafat´s removal from power at the same time that they sing the glories of Israel´s bloody occupation, the more secure Jasser Arafat is - or is this a cunning plan to sabotage peace negotiations, demanding Arafat´s removal from power and at the same time acting so that he remains in power, which then is used as a reason for not negotiating with the Palestinians?
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Death toll from the Sinai blasts rises, as does too the death toll from the attack of the colonialists on Gaza. BBC claims this to be "over 80", but in fact it´s almost 100.
First votes cast in Afghan poll
Hopefully as few people as possible will die.
I am not enthusiastic about this election. This election is arraigned to help George W. Bush to be re-elected as the president of the US, to give him a foreign policy achievement. He will claim that this election will show the "progress" that has been "made" in Afghanistan and claim that it´s now a working democracy.
One great problem with this election is that it´s really about persons, not about politics - one can claim that all the candidates that have something like national recognizition, are nationalistic rightwing politicians, some are more conservative than others, some bow before religious authorities more than others, but there is little to choose from (and even if there are persons who are more politicians than others - some are warlords - all the big guys have blood in their hands). Especially as the president is totally at the mercy of foreign powers, who decide the fate of Afghanistan - will they give more troops to stabilize the country and more money to rebuild it? The answer to that question will decide the fate of Afghanistan and it´s a question in which Afghan people have little power.
Anyway, all commentators have decided months ago that Hamid Karzai will win the elections. Most likely he will. I don´t think that he would be as certain a victor if the rebuilding of Afghanistan would be well on it´s way, but now, as things are as they are, the Afghan people will probably don´t want to shake the boat and elect a new, less known figure as president. One less problem the struggle with.
Hopefully as few people as possible will die.
I am not enthusiastic about this election. This election is arraigned to help George W. Bush to be re-elected as the president of the US, to give him a foreign policy achievement. He will claim that this election will show the "progress" that has been "made" in Afghanistan and claim that it´s now a working democracy.
One great problem with this election is that it´s really about persons, not about politics - one can claim that all the candidates that have something like national recognizition, are nationalistic rightwing politicians, some are more conservative than others, some bow before religious authorities more than others, but there is little to choose from (and even if there are persons who are more politicians than others - some are warlords - all the big guys have blood in their hands). Especially as the president is totally at the mercy of foreign powers, who decide the fate of Afghanistan - will they give more troops to stabilize the country and more money to rebuild it? The answer to that question will decide the fate of Afghanistan and it´s a question in which Afghan people have little power.
Anyway, all commentators have decided months ago that Hamid Karzai will win the elections. Most likely he will. I don´t think that he would be as certain a victor if the rebuilding of Afghanistan would be well on it´s way, but now, as things are as they are, the Afghan people will probably don´t want to shake the boat and elect a new, less known figure as president. One less problem the struggle with.
Mars Express 'divining rod' mission delayed
Of course MARSIS will be deployed - if nothing happens to the spacecraft first.
Of course MARSIS will be deployed - if nothing happens to the spacecraft first.
Friday, October 08, 2004
The real Gaza plan
The problem of Palestine is the American obsession about Jews, which springs from the theocratic nature of large block of the Christian American voters and their hopes of a coming Armageddon. To them "the state of Israel" is a sign of the Second Coming of the Christ. We have to remember that they often know very little and usually care very little of the real country of Israel itself. Ask them to name ten Israeli cities or ten current politicians. How many of them can?
Palestine isn´t part of the realm of foreign policy in the US. No, it´s part of the domestic policy., The fate of Palestine is decided by the know-nothing residents of the US Bible Belt, who just can´t wait for the world to end. And then the powerful Jewish lobbying croups use the dummies to control the Washington D.C. political scene with an iron hand. The result is catastrophic in the short term for the Palestinians, and in the long run for the Israelis too.
The problem of Palestine is the American obsession about Jews, which springs from the theocratic nature of large block of the Christian American voters and their hopes of a coming Armageddon. To them "the state of Israel" is a sign of the Second Coming of the Christ. We have to remember that they often know very little and usually care very little of the real country of Israel itself. Ask them to name ten Israeli cities or ten current politicians. How many of them can?
Palestine isn´t part of the realm of foreign policy in the US. No, it´s part of the domestic policy., The fate of Palestine is decided by the know-nothing residents of the US Bible Belt, who just can´t wait for the world to end. And then the powerful Jewish lobbying croups use the dummies to control the Washington D.C. political scene with an iron hand. The result is catastrophic in the short term for the Palestinians, and in the long run for the Israelis too.
Two girls, two shots to the head
Palestinian 15-year-olds among growing number of children hit by Israeli snipers during 'Days of Penitence'.
About 29 [link is a little dated, because the Israelis kill several children every day] Palestinian children have died in Israeli attacks during the last 8 days.
Palestinian 15-year-olds among growing number of children hit by Israeli snipers during 'Days of Penitence'.
About 29 [link is a little dated, because the Israelis kill several children every day] Palestinian children have died in Israeli attacks during the last 8 days.
Israeli tanks fire shells into family homes in Gaza, killing father and son and mortally wounding a 1,5 year old child.
53 787 people killed in violence in the Nigerian Plateau state between September 2001 and May 2004 according to a new study by government appointed committee.
It seems that al-Qaida has striken again, now in Egypt. Possibly three bomb attacks have been made against tourist resorts in the towns of Ras el-Sultan, Nuwaiba and Taiba in the Sinai peninsula. It seems that Israeli tourists were especially targeted. About 100 people may have died, most of them Egyptians, and something like 23 Israelis.
These kind of simultaneous attacks are the hallmarks of al-Qaida.
These kind of simultaneous attacks are the hallmarks of al-Qaida.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Aide: Gaza Plan Aims to Block Statehood(ABC, AP).
Sharon Aide Says Peace Process is 'Frozen'(Washington Post).
Israel: Thanks to the U.S., Palestinian state is ruled out(Al-Jazeera).
Israel: Palestinian State Shelved with U.S. Blessing(Reuters).
Israel takes U-turn on road map(Christian Science Monitor)
Sharon Aide Says Peace Process is 'Frozen'(Washington Post).
Israel: Thanks to the U.S., Palestinian state is ruled out(Al-Jazeera).
Israel: Palestinian State Shelved with U.S. Blessing(Reuters).
Israel takes U-turn on road map(Christian Science Monitor)
Report concludes no WMD in Iraq. More.
"Huge failure of intelligence", writes apogoletic BBC journalist, but how it can be a "huge failure of intelligence", when intelligence material was deliberately misused and very questionable claims were taken at face value by the political leaders?
"Huge failure of intelligence", writes apogoletic BBC journalist, but how it can be a "huge failure of intelligence", when intelligence material was deliberately misused and very questionable claims were taken at face value by the political leaders?
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Israel is undermining it´s credibility, claims an editorial in Haaretz, but frankly, in whose eyes?
Israel´s government could claim that the Sun circles around the Earth and it wouldn´t lose it´s credibility in the eyes of the majority of the Americans - after all, even senior figures in the US administration claim that they believe everything Israeli government says because "they are our friends and wouldn´t lie to us" - and in the eyes of pretty much everybody else, except cautious politicians and diplomats - like those in the EU, who are frankly scared of Israel&US - it has lost it´s credibility already.
Israel´s government could claim that the Sun circles around the Earth and it wouldn´t lose it´s credibility in the eyes of the majority of the Americans - after all, even senior figures in the US administration claim that they believe everything Israeli government says because "they are our friends and wouldn´t lie to us" - and in the eyes of pretty much everybody else, except cautious politicians and diplomats - like those in the EU, who are frankly scared of Israel&US - it has lost it´s credibility already.
What would Israel do without UNRWA?
by Amira Hass, Haaretz.
Quote:
...UNRWA is one of the most important safety nets the international community has spread out under Israel, which, as an occupying power, has been unwilling to recognize its responsibility for the occupied civilian population. For the past three years, the UN has been regularly providing food aid to about half the Palestinian population, which is in a state of "food insecurity." UNRWA alone provides regular food aid to about 1.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. ...The UN food aid is preventing outbreaks of disease and the spread of malnutrition. How would Israel's UN ambassador, who is calling for Hansen's removal, respond to reports of malnutrition of an African-type scale, if not outright hunger, in the territories that Israel controls?
UNRWA is currently the body most concerned with finding new housing for thousands of refugees made homeless by Israel's home demolitions in the Gaza Strip. In these very days, when Israel Defense Forces bulldozers are causing people to flee their homes in the Jabalya refugee camp, UNRWA - along with the relatives of those affected - is mobilizing to provide initial aid in the form of food, textbooks, kitchen appliances and medicines - everything that was lost to the teeth of the Israeli machinery. After that, it will also supervise and coordinate the rebuilding of the houses. Just as it is doing in Jenin, Rafah and Khan Yunis, and thereby preventing a deepening of the Palestinian social crisis, as well as sparing Israel from having to give an accounting under international law for the harm done to the civilian population under its occupation.
by Amira Hass, Haaretz.
Quote:
...UNRWA is one of the most important safety nets the international community has spread out under Israel, which, as an occupying power, has been unwilling to recognize its responsibility for the occupied civilian population. For the past three years, the UN has been regularly providing food aid to about half the Palestinian population, which is in a state of "food insecurity." UNRWA alone provides regular food aid to about 1.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. ...The UN food aid is preventing outbreaks of disease and the spread of malnutrition. How would Israel's UN ambassador, who is calling for Hansen's removal, respond to reports of malnutrition of an African-type scale, if not outright hunger, in the territories that Israel controls?
UNRWA is currently the body most concerned with finding new housing for thousands of refugees made homeless by Israel's home demolitions in the Gaza Strip. In these very days, when Israel Defense Forces bulldozers are causing people to flee their homes in the Jabalya refugee camp, UNRWA - along with the relatives of those affected - is mobilizing to provide initial aid in the form of food, textbooks, kitchen appliances and medicines - everything that was lost to the teeth of the Israeli machinery. After that, it will also supervise and coordinate the rebuilding of the houses. Just as it is doing in Jenin, Rafah and Khan Yunis, and thereby preventing a deepening of the Palestinian social crisis, as well as sparing Israel from having to give an accounting under international law for the harm done to the civilian population under its occupation.
Sharon plan 'blocked peace talks' - with US support, claimes Sharon´s man. More.
Nancy Pelosi, one of the Democratic bosses in US Congress, claimed after the vote for Sharon´s plan in US Congress that he voted for it because even if the Sharon´s plan is bad for the Palestinians, "it will certainly lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state", which she claimed justified her support for it. Well, it doesn´t . Proud of yourself, Nancy? Of course you are. After all, you are an American Israeli loving politician, who must do what her handlers in AIPAC command.
Nancy Pelosi, one of the Democratic bosses in US Congress, claimed after the vote for Sharon´s plan in US Congress that he voted for it because even if the Sharon´s plan is bad for the Palestinians, "it will certainly lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state", which she claimed justified her support for it. Well, it doesn´t . Proud of yourself, Nancy? Of course you are. After all, you are an American Israeli loving politician, who must do what her handlers in AIPAC command.
Uganda today: a children's war
When the Ugandan army tells that it have killed LRA guerillas, we have to remember that it tells that it has killed most likely people who were victims of LRA themselves, kidnapped as children, in many cases still children.
When the Ugandan army tells that it have killed LRA guerillas, we have to remember that it tells that it has killed most likely people who were victims of LRA themselves, kidnapped as children, in many cases still children.
Latest US government stupidity on the issue of Palestine has nothing to do with Palestine but everything to do with US internal politics. Whatever the wording the UN Security Council would have used, still US would have vetoed it. Simply because John Kerry´s campaign could have possibly used it against Bush. Bush has to be 101% Pro-Israel, or so the "wisdom" goes. He can´t act against the "brave, democratic Israel, who fights against cruel terrorists" - the usual crap - and in fact no US president can ever act, because there´s always elections of some kind in the horizon and the revence of the Christian fundamentalists and AIPAC would be terrible. In Middle Eastern issues, the US president is not a leader of a sovereign state, but an Israeli governor general installed in the White House to oversee the occupation of the US.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Christopher Hitchens is still a delusional intellectual who dreams of world revolution. Nowadays he just has changed the old red flag to a blue-and-white-and-red -flag...
It´s hard to take him seriously when he says things like this:
He explains that he believes the moment the left's bankruptcy became clear was on 9/11. "The United States was attacked by theocratic fascists who represents all the most reactionary elements on earth. They stand for liquidating everything the left has fought for: women's rights, democracy? And how did much of the left respond? By affecting a kind of neutrality between America and the theocratic fascists." He cites the cover of one of Tariq Ali's books as the perfect example. It shows Bush and Bin Laden morphed into one on its cover. "It's explicitly saying they are equally bad. However bad the American Empire has been, it is not as bad as this. It is not the Taliban, and anybody - any movement - that cannot see the difference has lost all moral bearings."
The "American Empire" is worser than the Taliban because the Taliban were and are petty thugs in Central Asia, who did and can make live miserable for millions of people, but the United States is a global power, whose actions affect all of us. The Taliban wanted to rule a single country and mould it to suit the movement´s wishes; Christopher Hitchens wants USA to rule the world and make it in it´s own image. The Taliban have been in existence about ten years; the United States have been on existence in 228 years and has invaded other countries in something like 160 times and in the wars that it has fought, tens of millions of people have perished, genocides and ethnic cleansings have been committed by it and regimes that it has supported. And the United States has also ways to wreak global havoc in peaceful ways.
Just lately, by taking millions of dollars of US support away from a UN charity, which abortion opponents have falsely claimed supports abortions in China, Bush caused 600 000 new abortions to be made next year. This many unwanted pregnancies could have been avoided with those millions of dollars. The president of the US have immense power. If he makes a mistake, a simple, innocent mistake, huge numbers of people may die. If a leader of a terrorist group wants to achieve same kind of results, it could take years and years of plotting and hard work to get the same kind of results. US president can kill far more people by writing his name on a peace of paper than a Taliban leaders can ever "hope to achieve".
Yes, the theocratic fundamentalists are not nice people. But that doesn´t make the people and states they oppose the good guys. Most of the regimes and countries they fight against are just as bad at least - and with the resources a country offers, usually kill far more people. And one has to remember that even nice people can too make terrible things, especially if they have a good cause they truly believe in. You don´t have to be evil to kill innocent civilians. Sometimes all is needed is a uniform and a commanding officer that says that it´s your duty and necessary thing to do to protect your own civilians. Most of the terrorists are no worser people even if they don´t have a uniform. They just think that what they do is necessary and unavoidable, part of a just war. There certainly are among them people that enjoy killing, but then there are sadists in every army and in every police force. And if we deny people the right to fight for their and their peoples freedom with arms if necessary, we end up supporting stagnated conservative world order, Metternich´s dream of Europe transferred on to a global stage.
If just truly bad people would do all the killing, this world would be a almost perfect utopia.
It´s hard to take him seriously when he says things like this:
He explains that he believes the moment the left's bankruptcy became clear was on 9/11. "The United States was attacked by theocratic fascists who represents all the most reactionary elements on earth. They stand for liquidating everything the left has fought for: women's rights, democracy? And how did much of the left respond? By affecting a kind of neutrality between America and the theocratic fascists." He cites the cover of one of Tariq Ali's books as the perfect example. It shows Bush and Bin Laden morphed into one on its cover. "It's explicitly saying they are equally bad. However bad the American Empire has been, it is not as bad as this. It is not the Taliban, and anybody - any movement - that cannot see the difference has lost all moral bearings."
The "American Empire" is worser than the Taliban because the Taliban were and are petty thugs in Central Asia, who did and can make live miserable for millions of people, but the United States is a global power, whose actions affect all of us. The Taliban wanted to rule a single country and mould it to suit the movement´s wishes; Christopher Hitchens wants USA to rule the world and make it in it´s own image. The Taliban have been in existence about ten years; the United States have been on existence in 228 years and has invaded other countries in something like 160 times and in the wars that it has fought, tens of millions of people have perished, genocides and ethnic cleansings have been committed by it and regimes that it has supported. And the United States has also ways to wreak global havoc in peaceful ways.
Just lately, by taking millions of dollars of US support away from a UN charity, which abortion opponents have falsely claimed supports abortions in China, Bush caused 600 000 new abortions to be made next year. This many unwanted pregnancies could have been avoided with those millions of dollars. The president of the US have immense power. If he makes a mistake, a simple, innocent mistake, huge numbers of people may die. If a leader of a terrorist group wants to achieve same kind of results, it could take years and years of plotting and hard work to get the same kind of results. US president can kill far more people by writing his name on a peace of paper than a Taliban leaders can ever "hope to achieve".
Yes, the theocratic fundamentalists are not nice people. But that doesn´t make the people and states they oppose the good guys. Most of the regimes and countries they fight against are just as bad at least - and with the resources a country offers, usually kill far more people. And one has to remember that even nice people can too make terrible things, especially if they have a good cause they truly believe in. You don´t have to be evil to kill innocent civilians. Sometimes all is needed is a uniform and a commanding officer that says that it´s your duty and necessary thing to do to protect your own civilians. Most of the terrorists are no worser people even if they don´t have a uniform. They just think that what they do is necessary and unavoidable, part of a just war. There certainly are among them people that enjoy killing, but then there are sadists in every army and in every police force. And if we deny people the right to fight for their and their peoples freedom with arms if necessary, we end up supporting stagnated conservative world order, Metternich´s dream of Europe transferred on to a global stage.
If just truly bad people would do all the killing, this world would be a almost perfect utopia.
The Unfeeling President, by E.L. Doctorow. I found this through Kim Antieu´s blog The Furious Spinner.
Monday, October 04, 2004
Two Peoples, One State
There would still be time for a viable two-state solution, but as the western countries are incapable of any action against Israel, we will probably see in the time of couple of years creation of small bantustans on the West Bank, which Israel then claims - with US support - to comprise a "Palestinian state". South Africa wasn´t succesful with this kind of policy and let´s hope that Israel is neither.
Eggs in One Basket
Avnery doesn´t mention one thing of the possibilities of Jews in the 19th and 20th century European world: Jews could in fact get to the higher echelons of society and state - if they stopped being Jews. Families could rise very high in few generations after conversion to Christianity. Theirs was the usual dilemma of minorities, to be fully accepted by the society they lived in, they had to blend in and choose a new identity. In todays Eastern Europe, it´s claimed that significant part of the 600 000 Hungarians of Slovakia are in fact Gypsies, maybe up to 100 000 of them. A despised and opressed minority finds shelter by adopting a new identity.
But what comes to the American Jews, it´s good to remember that usually minorities tend to prosper in large empires that have heterogenous populations. But when things start to go wrong in these empires, the minorities tend to get find themselves attacked. This has happened troughout history and practically in all empires of this kind.
The T´ang dynasty of China, that ruled from 618 to 907, was until 755 very open to foreigners and their cultures and religions. The capital, todays Xi´an, was the most cosmpolitan city of it´s day in the entire world. But in 755 nine governors of non -Han-chinese background rebelled, claiming corruption in the court as the reason of their rebellion. Led by An Lus-han, a man of Turkish origin, they started a civil war that ran for 11 years. Both sides used foreign mercenaries. When loyalist troops re-captured the capital, they had to let their nomadic auxiliaries to rob it because of the agreement they had made with them (and because they still needed their support). The kingdom of Tibet attacked and captured the corridor that connected China proper to the Chinese possessions in Central Asia, where a Chinese army had been defeated by the Muslims near Samarkand in 751. This Tibetan war run until 779, and China didn´t re-capture the corridor until 848, when the Tibetan kingdom had been destroyed by a civil war between buddhists and animalists. But now T´ang dynasty was too weak to start any new expansion in the areas that it had controlled prior to the rebellion.
China was devastated, the glory of the dynasty was a thing of the past, and so too was China´s openness to foreigners. When new rebellions emerged, the rebels usually targeted the foreigners living in China. Large massacres were common. And the government itself took a dim view of foreign influence in China. Buddhism, import from India, was targeted during the 840s. Thousands of monasteries were destroyed, tens of thousands of monks and nuns were forced to leave religious life. Christianity, that had been given imperial aproval in 635, and Islam, were both destroyed in China as a side-effect.
After a government ban of non-governmental sailing and shipping to foreign countries was lifted in 1567, large numbers of Chinese emigrated to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and etc. There they both prospered economically and were oppressed politically and often massacred. In the 18th century Philippines, a massacre of a significant portion of the Chinese population of the Spanish held part of the islands occurred about once in a generation. 10 000 killed was not an uncommon number.
The Chinese still have this position of a scapegoat in several countries in the area, like Indonesia. During the genocide of 1965-66, at least 20 000 Chinese and maybe as many as 500 000 were murdered in Indonesia and large numbers were forced to leave the country. During the riots that forced an end to the dictatorship in 1998, and which made Indonesia the partial democracy that it´s today, the rioters targeted especially Chinese.
So, as long as US fares well, the US Jews have little to fear. But when things go ugly - and in the end they go ugly for every empire - it may be best to be able to blend in, to adopt another identity, claim other roots.
Avnery doesn´t mention one thing of the possibilities of Jews in the 19th and 20th century European world: Jews could in fact get to the higher echelons of society and state - if they stopped being Jews. Families could rise very high in few generations after conversion to Christianity. Theirs was the usual dilemma of minorities, to be fully accepted by the society they lived in, they had to blend in and choose a new identity. In todays Eastern Europe, it´s claimed that significant part of the 600 000 Hungarians of Slovakia are in fact Gypsies, maybe up to 100 000 of them. A despised and opressed minority finds shelter by adopting a new identity.
But what comes to the American Jews, it´s good to remember that usually minorities tend to prosper in large empires that have heterogenous populations. But when things start to go wrong in these empires, the minorities tend to get find themselves attacked. This has happened troughout history and practically in all empires of this kind.
The T´ang dynasty of China, that ruled from 618 to 907, was until 755 very open to foreigners and their cultures and religions. The capital, todays Xi´an, was the most cosmpolitan city of it´s day in the entire world. But in 755 nine governors of non -Han-chinese background rebelled, claiming corruption in the court as the reason of their rebellion. Led by An Lus-han, a man of Turkish origin, they started a civil war that ran for 11 years. Both sides used foreign mercenaries. When loyalist troops re-captured the capital, they had to let their nomadic auxiliaries to rob it because of the agreement they had made with them (and because they still needed their support). The kingdom of Tibet attacked and captured the corridor that connected China proper to the Chinese possessions in Central Asia, where a Chinese army had been defeated by the Muslims near Samarkand in 751. This Tibetan war run until 779, and China didn´t re-capture the corridor until 848, when the Tibetan kingdom had been destroyed by a civil war between buddhists and animalists. But now T´ang dynasty was too weak to start any new expansion in the areas that it had controlled prior to the rebellion.
China was devastated, the glory of the dynasty was a thing of the past, and so too was China´s openness to foreigners. When new rebellions emerged, the rebels usually targeted the foreigners living in China. Large massacres were common. And the government itself took a dim view of foreign influence in China. Buddhism, import from India, was targeted during the 840s. Thousands of monasteries were destroyed, tens of thousands of monks and nuns were forced to leave religious life. Christianity, that had been given imperial aproval in 635, and Islam, were both destroyed in China as a side-effect.
After a government ban of non-governmental sailing and shipping to foreign countries was lifted in 1567, large numbers of Chinese emigrated to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and etc. There they both prospered economically and were oppressed politically and often massacred. In the 18th century Philippines, a massacre of a significant portion of the Chinese population of the Spanish held part of the islands occurred about once in a generation. 10 000 killed was not an uncommon number.
The Chinese still have this position of a scapegoat in several countries in the area, like Indonesia. During the genocide of 1965-66, at least 20 000 Chinese and maybe as many as 500 000 were murdered in Indonesia and large numbers were forced to leave the country. During the riots that forced an end to the dictatorship in 1998, and which made Indonesia the partial democracy that it´s today, the rioters targeted especially Chinese.
So, as long as US fares well, the US Jews have little to fear. But when things go ugly - and in the end they go ugly for every empire - it may be best to be able to blend in, to adopt another identity, claim other roots.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Streets of despair
What humans, men, are capable of.
I was once saw a documentary of these things in Albania and the makers of the document had filmed a kidnapping of a girl from school. They just filmed hidden and didn´t do anything. I was outraged at the time. How can one just watch? But of course, in reality, most of us just stand aside and leave these things happen, as these things happen and their victims end up, in most of the countries of the world, and some of us abuse the victims.
What humans, men, are capable of.
I was once saw a documentary of these things in Albania and the makers of the document had filmed a kidnapping of a girl from school. They just filmed hidden and didn´t do anything. I was outraged at the time. How can one just watch? But of course, in reality, most of us just stand aside and leave these things happen, as these things happen and their victims end up, in most of the countries of the world, and some of us abuse the victims.
Arafat: Israel is "using illegal weapons"
Israel´s use of weapons banned by international agreements, which it has itself signed, is well known fact. Fragmentation weapons are one, and they also used in Lebanon nail grenades. But what comes to the deaths caused by Hamas rockets, I think that Arafat is wrong, even if they really do very little damage. In pictures of their effects that I have seen they leave in ground a hole less than a meter in size and only a few tens of centimeters deep. So they have to hit very close even to hurt anyone, but in three cases they have caused death. In reality they are very very uneffective weapons and it´s impossible to know where they hit. In some cases they have even fallen in Gaza itself. Of course, at the beginning of the Iraq war, US cruise missiles fired at Iraq from ships in the Red Sea sometimes fell at Saudi-Arabia and few flew to Iran. During the 1998 bombing of al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan some US cruise missiles fell in Pakistan and it was claimed that Pakistan´s missile program profited from these examples of more modern missiles than their own at the time.
Israel´s use of weapons banned by international agreements, which it has itself signed, is well known fact. Fragmentation weapons are one, and they also used in Lebanon nail grenades. But what comes to the deaths caused by Hamas rockets, I think that Arafat is wrong, even if they really do very little damage. In pictures of their effects that I have seen they leave in ground a hole less than a meter in size and only a few tens of centimeters deep. So they have to hit very close even to hurt anyone, but in three cases they have caused death. In reality they are very very uneffective weapons and it´s impossible to know where they hit. In some cases they have even fallen in Gaza itself. Of course, at the beginning of the Iraq war, US cruise missiles fired at Iraq from ships in the Red Sea sometimes fell at Saudi-Arabia and few flew to Iran. During the 1998 bombing of al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan some US cruise missiles fell in Pakistan and it was claimed that Pakistan´s missile program profited from these examples of more modern missiles than their own at the time.
Hamas pledges new rocket attacks as the number of Palestinian dead during the last few days go over 50.
Saturday, October 02, 2004
Eyewitness: Inside Jabaliya
The Israeli government and army declares itself guilty of war crimes as their representatives publicly say time and after that the current Israeli attacks are a collective punishment for Palestinians. Of course, it´s easy for criminals to confess when they know that they are above laws.
The Israeli government and army declares itself guilty of war crimes as their representatives publicly say time and after that the current Israeli attacks are a collective punishment for Palestinians. Of course, it´s easy for criminals to confess when they know that they are above laws.
Friday, October 01, 2004
Horrific death toll in Darfur revealed
Quote:
Over 90% of the displaced families in the refugee camps said they left their homes because of a direct attack on their village, and up to 90% of deaths in the families prior to arriving at the camps were a result of violent attacks.
Quote:
Over 90% of the displaced families in the refugee camps said they left their homes because of a direct attack on their village, and up to 90% of deaths in the families prior to arriving at the camps were a result of violent attacks.
The scale of killing and disappearances amongst men was so high that the population of the camps now shows a deficit of males: for every 100 women in the camps studied there are only around 60 men.
Playing Politics with Nukes: Is the US on a Collision Course with Iran?
Yes, because it leaders want it to be, even if many of them know that the US has neither the military strength now nor the funds to wage war against Iran. But a foolish attack against the nuclear installations in Iraq, with maybe some Israeli help, could just be sold to the White House, and maybe in the cards. After all, this government has shown time and after that it´s suspectible to crazy adventures in foreign policy. One could say that George the Weak´s advisors and cabinet members are gamblers who can´t stop, even if they keep on losing.
Yes, because it leaders want it to be, even if many of them know that the US has neither the military strength now nor the funds to wage war against Iran. But a foolish attack against the nuclear installations in Iraq, with maybe some Israeli help, could just be sold to the White House, and maybe in the cards. After all, this government has shown time and after that it´s suspectible to crazy adventures in foreign policy. One could say that George the Weak´s advisors and cabinet members are gamblers who can´t stop, even if they keep on losing.
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