January 11, 2003

'Positive' N. Korea talks in New Mexico end

A three-day meeting between Gov. Bill Richardson with two North Korean diplomats, designed to ease the crisis caused by North Korea's pulling out of the nuclear weapons nonproliferation treaty, ended on Saturday.

Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who has dealt extensively with North Korea, met Saturday at his governor's mansion with Han Song Ryol, North Korea's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, and Mun Jong Chol, first secretary to the United Nations.
[...]
Sources close to the discussions described the talks as substantive.
[...]
Richardson has repeatedly underscored that the talks are not negotiations and that he is not an envoy of the Bush administration.
[...]The sources said the meetings with Richardson came about quickly, when the North Koreans approached him after the United States -- in a policy shift -- said Tuesday that it would be willing to meet with them.

In addition to Richardson's experience with North Korea during his service as ambassador to the United Nations and as energy secretary, he also, while a congressman, negotiated the 1996 release of Evan Hunziker, who was held by North Korea on suspicion of espionage.

This makes me livid!
The only people with an ethnic background Richardson was elected to deal with were New Mexico's Indians!
If he were meant to function as the U.S. diplomatic representative, President Bush would have appointed him in that capacity; as it was, Clintoon only kept him in the post of U.N. Ambassador for a measly year!
And the only time that Richardson has "dealt extensively with North Korea" was in getting out a U.S. soldier or 2 that were being held hostage by the NorKs when he was a Congressman!
His biggest feat as the UN rep was alledgedly to have--get this!--negotiated a peace between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance in 1997...and we all know how long that lasted!
I posted this not only because I am OUTRAGED that a member of the *last Administration*--which, lest we forget, masterminded that abyssmal Agreement with the NorKs in 1994--just took it upon himself to "talk" to these plutonium playboys, but also because this puff piece that CNN tried to perpetrate on the American public shows they still have on their Monica knee pads for BillyJeffBlythe and his merry band of bureaucrats 24/7!
Proof positive that Bill Clinton's "shadow government" is alive and well!
Clinton arranged these "talks:" I know it. It's got Bubba written all over it.
[And as is S.O.P. with the Clintoonians, what will come out of this meeting? Bupkis! Nada! Nothing!...except after meeting with Bill R., the NorKs pulled out of the NPTreaty. Great work, Richardson!]
How else could those NorKs find their way to New Mexico? (Hell, some Americans can't find Santa Fe!)
And how did they know to talk to Richardson?
Again, somebody with some seeming gravitas told them to--WJBC.
Color me Tight Assed, but I want these kinds of things to go through the proper channels--that way, the NorKs can't tool us around with more casually-made threats about deadly serious weapons and then pretend that it was "unofficial" or "off the record" or "just kidding".
Damn Richardson!
Double damn Bill Clinton!
And TRIPLE damn those godd*mn Dimocrats who always think they know best about everything, especially international peace talks!
You're gonna get us all killed!
Stop it!
And I hope that the White House blasted Richardson and *any others* (you know who you are, Bill, Hill and Terry McAuliffe) involved for taking such horrendous liberties with our Nation's foreign affairs and trying to reshape our foreign policy the Tranzi way!
President Bush is in charge--and the Secretay of State, our Ambassador to the UN and the staff at the State Dept answer to him, not to either Clinton and certainly not to Bill Richardson!
Update: More fruit from Richardson's little talk with the Norks!
North Korea calls for 'holy war' vs. U.S.

North Korea called for a "holy war against the United States'' Saturday and declared it was ready to resume missile tests and may start reprocessing spent fuel rods from its nuclear reactor to make atomic bombs.

Can you believe this bullsh*t?!?
A "holy war!"
And these people aren't even Muslims!
In fact, they're supposed to be God-less Communists.

Does it make anyone else nervous that the head of the IAEA is an Egyptian Muslim named Mohamed?
Surely he's not a jihadi Islamist...
(Then again, an "Arab bomb" was the brainchild of that infamous Egyptian leader Nasser, too... and I must stop calling myself "Shirley!")

US boosts Gulf presence

The United States has announced that it is sending tens of thousands of additional military personnel to the Gulf in the biggest deployment yet of its military build-up against Iraq.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed the order to send up to 35,000 reinforcements to the region, including more marines who would spearhead any possible invasion force.
[...]
They will raise the strength of US forces in the region to more than 120,000.

BBC Pentagon correspondent Nick Childs says the US intention is to keep up pressure on Baghdad which, Washington says, has weapons of mass destruction.

The American deployment comes as the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal set sail for the Gulf in the biggest British naval deployment since the Falklands War.
[...]Our correspondent says that with the latest deployment, the US military presence in the Gulf is getting close to the minimum size of force analysts believe would be needed to begin an attack.

Although, it is believed that the Pentagon is aiming for a force of 250,000.

It's great to see this Iraq attack finally about to go down...
"It's been a long time comin'...,"Saddam.
Say your prayers and prepare to meet your Allah!

US al-Qaeda suspect pleads guilty

One of six Yemeni-American men arrested four months ago and charged by the US Government with supporting al-Qaeda has pleaded guilty to helping the organisation.
Faysal Galab, 26, entered the plea of guilty to contributing "funds, goods and services" to the network during a court hearing on Friday in Buffalo, New York, after previously pleading not guilty along with his five co-defendants.

The suspects - American citizens of Yemeni origin who are all in their 20s - were arrested in a series of FBI raids in the town of Lackawanna, near Buffalo, in September.

Prosecutors say they received weapons training at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan in 2001, before returning to the US as a so-called sleeper terrorist cell, waiting to be called into action.

If convicted, they could face up to 10 years in jail.

The five were not charged in connection with the attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001 - or any other violent crime.

They were indicted under the 1996 anti-terrorism act, which makes it a crime to provide "material support" to groups listed by the US Government as terrorist organisations. [Note:This is a Clintoonian law and not one passed personally by "jack-booted Nazi" AG John Ashcroft, as the Lefties keep whining.--J.T.]

Defence lawyers have argued that the defendants, all Muslims, had gone to Pakistan to further their education in their faith...

...their faith in the power of C-4, TNT, flaming gasoline and box cutter stabbings to persuade infidels of the rightness of radical Islam!
Remember their Lackawanna Islamist friends and neighbors protesting how "innocent" and "peace-loving" these guys were?
Betcha they're quiet now.
And 10 years isn't near long enough to lock these future killers up, for my money!
Good thing for them we have a more-than-fair system of Justice in this country.
I'm sure if they'd committed a like offence under shari'a law in Saudi or even Yemen, they'd be minus their heads already!

Chavez orders food seizures

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he has ordered the army to seize private food stocks and food production plants that the general strike has rendered idle.

"[The army] must prepare plans to take military control of the food factories and stocks," he told supporters on Friday, according to the news agency AFP.

The president accused the strike organisers - who are calling for new elections - of "seeking to murder the Venezuelan people through hunger".
[...]
But an opposition representative angrily denied responsibility for the food shortages.

"We urge the military to realise that the only culprit for the shortages of food is the government," said Rafael Alfonzo, head of the Cavidea federation of food industry companies.

It's going to be a photo finish, but Chavez is now neck and neck with Kim Jung-Il and Saddam Hussein in the race to be the world's craziest and most despotic dictator (of course, Mogabe of Zimbabwe is the dark horse candidate, if you'll pardon the expression.)

Veteran Egyptian author ill

Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, the first writer in Arabic to win the Nobel prize for literature, is in intensive care in a Cairo hospital suffering from a chest infection.
[...]
His health has suffered since his hospitalisation for seven weeks in 1994 after an Islamic fundamentalist, angered by his portrayal of God in one of his novels, stabbed him in the neck.

The knife caused nerve damage in his neck, limiting his ability to use his writing hand and causing his eyesight and hearing to deteriorate.

Born in 1911, Mr Mahfouz is regarded as one of the best writers and premier intellectuals in the Arab world, publishing more than 50 novels, short story collections, plays, newspaper columns, essays, travelogues, memoirs and political analyses.

His works, including Palace of Desire, Adrift on the Nile and Children of Gebelawi, are often seen as depicting the social history of Egypt during upheavals of the 20th century, and have been published in 25 languages.

He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988.

Isn't that great?
The Arab world produces a good novelist after centuries and what do the Islamists do to honor him?
Stab him in the neck because they don't like his protrayal of "God" (betcha they find it blasphemous to Islam!).
Of course, I'm forgetting about Salman Rushdie, another good novelist from the "Arab world" who was honored with a fatwa demanding his death for "betraying Islam" with his work The Satanic Verses.
Hope you get well soon, Mr. Mahfouz!
You sound like a decent guy and I must make an effort to check out your books soon.

January 10, 2003

Both Grouchy Old Cripple Denny Wilson, Occum's Toothbrush's Moe Freedman and Lynn (Sislo) Unleashed Poet and Peasant have found liberty from outages and archive hacking at last by getting their own spiffy sites for their equally "with it" blogs!
Stop by and tour their new digs!

Iranian football club admits female fans
An Iranian football club has allowed female fans to watch a men's match for the first time in years.

A small group of women were admitted to the Iran Khodro stadium in the capital Tehran on Thursday, to see a first division match involving the hosts Paykan.
[...]
Since the 1979 revolution, Iranian women have been banned from attending men's sporting events.
What with this fan "reform"
and this one to allow lady cops, and this one to stop the stoning of lady adulterers to death, all enacted within the last few weeks, it looks as if women's rights in Iran are looking a lot better, but I wouldn't bet on it.
I think the Khatami government is throwing these out as sops to the masses in response to their massive and persistent protests for real governmental change for the last year or more.
It's definitely appears to be a case of too little, too late for the Ayatollah Khomeini's state to enact even democratic-like reforms!
Let's keep an eye on this member of the Axis of Evil for sure: change is definitely underway and we can only hope it's régime change.

Turkish army issues Islam warning

The head of the Turkish army has accused the new government of encouraging Islamic activism.

It is the first public sign of tension between the military and the new government led by the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development (AK) Party, which was elected in November.

The comments by General Hilmi Ozkok came after Prime Minister Abdullah Gul entered formal reservations last month against an order expelling soldiers from the army for Islamic agitation.

He said that by raising his "opposition" to the expulsions, Mr Gul had "undoubtedly encouraged those involved in anti-secular activities".
The country's military views itself as the guardian of the secular principles of the Turkish state, and has carried out three coups since 1960.

In 1997 it led a campaign to force from power Turkey's first Islamist-led government, led by the AK Party's predecessor, the Virtue Party.

At the time of the election last year, General Ozkok said the army would protect the state from the dangers of radical Islam.

He also said on Wednesday that the military would not look kindly on any moves to change laws banning the Islamic headscarf in public life.

The Islamic head covering is banned in Turkish government offices, schools and universities - a measure that the AK Party sees as a violation of human rights.

We respect the religious faith and the manner of its expression in the private lives of individuals. We criticise no-one for their belief, non-belief or manner of worship," General Ozkok said.

"However, we should not be expected to tolerate the use of these [privileges] and in particular the headscarf, as a symbol and action aimed at eroding the republican traditions."

General Ozkok is quite right.
The nation of Turkey was changed into a modern, secular republic under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk beginning in the 1920's, often with his fellow Muslim Turks kicking and screaming along the way.
This transition from its played-out Ottoman imperial past to a modern secular nation-state was accomplished through much hard work and some hardship by the Turkish peoples and many of them must not want to go in a direction that they can only see as backwards now!
It's not clear who in the majority AK Party is leading Turkey--President-elect Recip Erdogan is barred from holding public office due to his criminal conviction of Islamist agitation (Courteous always, President Bush received him in Washington last month as if his presidency was legitimate, though.)--but they've been giving the U.S. lots of trouble of late about using our own air force bases in Turkey for our impending Iraq attack, this being just one of the reasons that Turkey receives billions in aid from the U.S., too, I might add!
And these newly-voted-in Islamists have been making noises about grabbing the northern half of the island of Cyprus, even though Turkey's rep was "sick" for the scheduled EU meeting on the disposition of Cyprus and didn't appear for talks and in spite of the fact that only 18% of all Cypriots are Turkish.
And Erdogan was elected largely on his promises to get Turkey into the E.U., which most experts say will happen "when pigs fly," but which the EU said it would take "under consideration" for Turkey's "possible" admittance to the EU "sometime in the future..."
IOW, don't hold your breath!
But Turkey does belong to NATO and will have obligations to fulfill in that regard vis-a-vis a war with a nation that is an enemy of other NATO members!
The wearing of (Islam-prescribed) headscarves (or their eschewance, as with Turkey) can be a national cause celebre, as I've pointed out before in my post which I titled "It's the scarves, stupid!".
Obviously, Erdogan and the AK want to keep moving their secular country more and more towards shari'a government under Koranic law and wish to change Turkey back into an Islamic nation.
Let's hope that the Turkish Army watches their every move and steps into the breach the first time they make a misstep.
The last thing we need is for our great ally and friend Turkey to become another country to be added to the Islamist column in that area of the world, especially this country where a secularist democratic government, freedom of worship and religious tolerance have become the rule of the day.
And non-Muslim, Jewish, Christian and even non-believing Turks would suffer as 2nd-class dhimmi the most under shari'a.
If the General thinks they need another coup, I trust his judgement.
Erdogan and his AK friends make me nervous!

FOXNews.com

North Korea pulled out of the global nuclear arms control treaty Friday, saying it had no plans "at this stage" to develop nukes.

"Though we pull out of [the treaty] the we have no intention of producing nuclear weapons and our nuclear activities at this stage will be confined only to peaceful purposes such as the production of electricity." the North Korean government said in a statement carried on KCNA, its official news agency.

"Production of electricity?" Who are these guys kidding?
Not only do most North Korean homes not have electricity (because they're not wired for it and they couldn't afford it if even if they were), but in no way is the country itself set up to provide electricity, even if these nuclear power plants could generate the power--which they can't.

[...]The announcement came as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador, acted as a surprise intermediary between the United States and North Korea. He met Thursday night in his state with two envoys from the communist country in what observers hoped could augur an easing of tension.

What in the name of God were these NorKs doing in New Mexico?
Checking out our nuclear facilities at Los Alamos for pointers?!?
And where did former Clintonista Richardson get the authority to meet with these 2 Nork delegates?
And what did he say to them to get them so upset?
Not only was this meeting "not helpful" in the Rumsfeldian sense, it was outright disastrous!
Look at these FoxNews headlines coming out of the same event:
North Korea threatens 'Third World War'
ARGH!!! HELP!
Japan Demands N. Korea Reverse Decision
I'll bet. Those poor Japanese must have had to change their shorts several times today!
Gee, Governor Richardson--thanks a lot.
Before you had your little meeting, the U.S. almost had the NorKs ready to negotiate.
Now, we're about at the point of going to Defcon Delta.

Via those lovely lads over at Samizdata, comes this link to a terrific site The UN is Evil where their byword is: "The United Nation's mission is not world peace between sovereign nations, but the establishment of a global collectivist dictatorship."
There, at the top of the page, they quote the ever prescient and sage Ayn Rand (one of my personal idols):

There is no margin for error about a monstrosity that was created for the alleged purpose of preventing wars by uniting the world against any aggressor, but proceeded to unite it against any victim of aggression. The expulsion of a charter member, the Republic of China [Taiwan]—an action forbidden by the U.N.'s own Charter—was a 'moment of truth,' a naked display of the United Nations' soul. "What was Red China's qualification for membership in the U.N.? The fact that her government seized power by force, and has maintained it for twenty-two years by terror. What disqualified Nationalist China [Taiwan]? The fact that she was a friend of the United States.  It was against the United States that all those beneficiaries of our foreign aid were voting at the U.N. It was hatred of the United States and the pleasure of spitting in our face that they were celebrating, as well as their liberation from morality—with savages, appropriately, doing jungle dances in the aisles.— AYN RAND

So when Kofi Annan gives a pass to Iraq for having no "sign" of WMDs and blows off the NorKs' nuclear proliferation as "negotiable" and condemns Israel for defending her own territory and citizens, keep these thoughts in the front of your mind!

January 08, 2003

Venezuela faces bank strike

Bank staff in Venezuela have called a two-day strike, putting further pressure on President Hugo Chavez.

Staff from the Fetrabanca union will walk out on Thursday and Friday, adding more momentum to a six-week national strike.

Banks have already cut their opening hours from six to three hours a day.

Oooh. Worse and "worser" for Chavez....
How low can he go?
Looks like we're all gonna find out!
Go, strikers!
Let Freedom Ring in Venezuela!

Publisher Stops History Book Publication

NEW YORK - Publication has been halted on a disputed book about the history of guns in the United States.

Questions about Michael Bellesiles' "Arming America" had already led Columbia University to rescind the prestigious Bancroft Prize for history.

When Columbia made the announcement last month, publisher Alfred A. Knopf said the book would remain in print. But Jane Garrett, Bellesiles' editor, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the publisher would no longer sell it.

"We are in the process of ending our contractual arrangement with Michael for `Arming America,'" Garrett said.
[...]
Bellesiles spent 10 years [Sure he did!--Jen] working on "Arming America," published by Knopf in 2000. The book challenges the idea that the United States has always been a gun-oriented culture and that well-armed militias were essential to the Revolutionary War.
[...]Many cited it as a devastating statement against America's alleged historical love affair with firearms. But gun advocates quickly attacked the book, and scholars and critics also became skeptical.

The Emory report, written by scholars from Harvard and Princeton universities and the University of Chicago, said Bellesiles' failure to cite sources for crucial data "does move into the realm of 'falsification.'" It also suggested he omitted other researchers' data that contradicted his arguments.
[...]
Bellesiles has acknowledged some errors, but defends his book as fundamentally sound.

What's probably not too sound is Bellesiles' mind (as well as his book!)...
Isn't this great?
As someone whose stock in trade is scholarly research, I find it extremely gratifying to see a Liberal fraud like Bellesiles get busted!
Let's keep our fingers crossed and pray it is a trend in academia--there are a lot more "learned theses" that prop up pathetic arguments for Liberal causuae belli (?--I never studied Latin!) that need to be debunked and deflated after this one.
This is very likely another coup for the blogosphere where so many good bloggers "fact-checked" Bellesiles's *ss and found him wanting.
Although my blog hasn't focused on the gun control issue much in general or this dreadful book in particular,
I fully support every American citizen's 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.

Blair presses US over global agenda

The US must accept the importance of issues like a peace process for the Middle East, global warming and world poverty alongside terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, the prime minister will say on Tuesday.

Yeah. Got that, Tone. As if....Britain-- not the U.S.A.--led the world!
Lessee...we've got a "peace process" for the Middle East: the Paleostinians can have their own state when Hell freezes over when they behave like citizens of a democratic state.
Global warming? It's all crack-pot theory based on junk science and President Bush has already told ya, we're not buying any!
World poverty? If we Americans have to pay any more in taxes to go to the World Bank, the IMF, the U.N. and its charities, or just good old foreign aide, I'll have a stroke and die a bankrupt!
Now, put a sock in it!
[Poodle Boy made that speech yesterday and I haven't heard a word about it in the press, so it must have been as ignored as it deserved to be and we were kind of busy what with Bush introducing his almost $700 billion economic package, the swearing in of the new 108th Congress, the impending war in Iraq, nuclear proliferation in North Korea, etc., etc.
I'm sure President Bush will get around to responding to it, though. These are such salient criticisms of U.S. policy, after all. *Snort!*
Sounds like Blair is playing all the Clinton hits on his saxophone; he must be hoping that Bubba's coming over to be the new head of Oxford.
As Mr. T. would say, "I pity the fool..."!]

Three more sought in ricin hunt

Britain's anti-terrorism police are looking for three more people in connection with the discovery of the deadly poison ricin in a north London flat.

Six men - understood to be Algerians - were arrested on Tuesday and security experts are trying to establish if they have links to al-Qaeda.
[...]
Castor oil beans - from which ricin is made - and equipment and containers for crushing the beans were found at the Wood Green flat where one of the men was arrested.
[...]
Large quantities [of ricin] were reportedly found in caves in Afghanistan.

It is relatively easy to manufacture in small amounts but would be considered an unusual agent to use for a mass attack as it must be ingested, inhaled or injected to take effect.

Let's not think of all the ways a terrorist could plant ricin for the innocent and unsuspecting to eat, drink or breath it, O.K.?
And Algerians? No suprise there: Algeria is a hotbed for Islamist "activists."
Good hunting, London bobbies!
The life you save may be your own!

UK terror alert after ricin found
Britain was on terror alert on Wednesday following the discovery of what appears to have been a makeshift laboratory for concocting the deadly poison ricin.

It was thought a major public figure in Britain may have been the target of a potential attack.

Plans by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network to produce ricin were found in the Afghan capital of Kabul in November 2001.

Iraq is also known to have included ricin in its biological weapons programme.
[Gee! That's a link between Al Queda and Iraq. That can't be right! --J.T.]

Six men were arrested after anti-terrorist police raided a one-bedroom flat in Wood Green, north London, and discovered traces of the fatal toxin -- twice as deadly as Cobra venom -- as well as the ingredients and equipment for making it.

The six were still being questioned on Wednesday, but it was feared that other suspects with quantities of ricin could still be at large.

Only minute amounts of the poison, which can be administered by injection, ingestion, inhalation or simply by physical contact, are needed to kill...[...]
There is no known antidote to ricin, which experts say has the potential to be used as a bio-terror agent or weapon of mass destruction.
[...]
It could also be smeared somewhere where many people would touch it.
[...]The British government has issued a series of terror warnings in recent months, saying Britons are in "the front line" because of London's strong support for the U.S.-led war on terror.
Wrong, you limey morons:
Britons are in the front line for attack because, according to the jihadi Islamist terrorists, most Brits are not Muslims, but "infidels"and they haven't deposed Her Majesty and Tony Blair and set up a shari'a government by Islamic mullahs at Number 10 Downing Street.
Will it take a real attack for these Brit idiots to finally get an actual clue as to what these Islamists are about and why they "hate" the Judeo-Christian West?

Opec jitters send oil prices tumbling

Oil prices have fallen sharply, amid increasing speculation that production cartel Opec is about to step up output.

In early trading in Singapore, the US grade of crude oil fell below the $31-per-barrel mark, having now lost more than $2 per barrel this week alone.

Opec has called an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the current market situation.

Many predict that the meeting will result in an overall production quota increase of 1.5 million to 2 million barrels per day, roughly 2.5% of daily global oil consumption.

Some Opec members, notably leading producer Saudi Arabia, have been pushing for an increase to compensate for the effects of a crippling oil strike in Venezuela, an Opec member and a major supplier to the US.

Don't you love those Saudis?!
Looks like they want once last blow-out before the jig is up for them and the rest of their Islamist pals...
We'll get to them in good time, but for the time being, I hope our U.S. oil companies will stockpile their oil while it's cheap(er), to carry us through the winter, the current shortage of Venezuelan oil and the upcoming unavailibility of Iraqi oil (Ahem. If you know what I mean...!)
It just looks like that OPEC arrangement isn't really working out, doesn't it?
These guys play with oil prices and supply levels like I do with my thermostat here at home: "It's too hot." Adjust. 5 minutes later:" I'm freezing!" And so on, ad infinitum.
Face it, House of Saud: if you didn't clean up cashwise after you jacked up the price permanently in the 1970's, it's not going to happen now!
And now that the GOP controls the House, Senate and Congress, could we please put ANWAR back on the agenda, President Bush?

Bush economic package lifts dollar

The US dollar has risen against other major world currencies following the announcement of a $674bn package of measures for the American economy.
[...]
Tuesday's dollar rise was also propelled by bad news for the euro, with a key German survey showing an unexpectedly sharp fall in consumer confidence in Europe's biggest economy.

The gloom in Europe was compounded by German think-tank DIW, which cut to 0.6% its forecast for German economic growth this year.

That ain't the half of it!
Check out another BBC story from early this morning also about that floundering German economy:
EU to chide Germany over deficit

The European Commission is expected to confirm on Wednesday that Germany has become only the second country to breach financial rules governing the euro.

Germany's struggling economy pushed its budget deficit last year well above the limit allowed for euro members.

The public dressing-down from Brussels comes at a critical time for the German Government, which is threatened with an all-out strike over pay by three million government workers.

The European Commission formally is expected to recommend that Berlin be set a tough deadline to introduce measures to cut its deficit.
[...]
For Germany, the process is the more humiliating because it was the principal architect of the rules designed to prevent the euro being undermined by spendthrift governments.

To rectify the situation, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has been forced to pursue a deeply unpopular austerity package of tax rises and spending cuts.

Against that background, public sector workers demanding a 3% pay rise have been given short shrift.

Employers and trade union representatives are to make a last-ditch effort on Wednesday to avert a nationwide strike. But the outlook is not promising.

If the strike by nurses, firefighters, bus drivers and others goes ahead, it will be the first in Germany for more than 10 years.

Mein Gott! Do they have problems or what?!
My sympathies go out to my kinder, saner German friends like Ralf G. who knows that all this EUro mess is a crock!
I predict, also--and not for the first time here either--that France will be right behind Germany with economic problems.
The EU is a Continental house of cards not unlike Enron which will begin to fall to pieces in not very long.
"Brussels" can "chide" and get Germany, Portugal and other "bad" member nations to pass "economic measures" all they want to, but it won't change the numbers and it won't fix their economies.
I hope our European friends enjoyed the glory days this summer when the EUro was riding high and the dollar was suffering by comparison, because the U.S. was being counted out by her enemies, foreign and domestic, but neither of those currency movements were based on reality or real productivity measures and I told them so, too!

Iraqi oil minister forced out

Saddam Hussein has unexpectedly removed from power his long-standing oil minister, General Amer Mohammad Rasheed.

The official reason for General Rasheed's removal was that he was beyond Iraq's mandatory retirement age of 63.

But experts were questioning whether the sudden departure of General Rasheed was connected to the role of his wife, Dr Rihab Taha.

Dr Taha is known to be near the top of a list of biological weapons scientists the UN inspectors are trying to interview.

It is also alleged that General Rasheed has himself been involved in secret weapons manufacturing in the past.
[...]The 47-year-old Dr Taha is thought to have carried out work on germs that cause botulism poisoning and anthrax infections at the top-secret biological research laboratory al-Hakim in the late 1980s.

At this time, she was reported to have ordered and received biological specimens from US companies.

She gained her doctorate after studying plant disease in the UK.

Later she earned the name Dr Germ from weapons inspectors who interviewed her in the mid-1990s.

General Rasheed will be replaced by a senior member of the ruling Baath party, Samir Abdulaziz.
[...]
The country's dilapidated oil industry, still able to pump substantial exports, could be a target for missile strikes in order to disrupt fuel supplies to Iraqi defences.

The decision to remove General Rasheed was announced on Iraqi state television and was said to have come by decree from President Saddam Hussein.

"...by decree?" Gee, what happened to that Iraqi parliament we were hearing so much about?
Saddam seems to act like a king, but we know he just got "re-elected" and by a 99% margin,too!
Regarding the "dilapidated" oil industry of Iraq, I hear that's no lie: apparently, we're going to have a lot of work to do to bring Iraqi oil production to its optimal working capacity. (That's for the deluded and addled, "The Iraq war is only about oil" crowd.)
Don't the Tahas sound like a cute couple?
I suppose he's being let go so the pair of them can be "disappeared" and she won't be around to be able to spill what she knows to Hans Blix's boys.
Pity.

Hungary's first inauguration of Orthodox rabbi
since the Holocaust

Reviving rich prewar Jewish traditions, Israel's chief rabbi yesterday helped inaugurate the first Orthodox rabbi in Hungary since the Holocaust. Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu and Russia's Chief Rabbi, Berel Lazar, helped Budapest Orthodox Rabbi Boruch Oberlander induct Shlomo Koves, 23, at the tiny Chabad synagogue in the capital's former ghetto area. "The Torah has returned from Israel with this young rabbi," Eliahu said in his speech of blessing. Born in Budapest, Koves graduated from high school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before studying to be a rabbi in Paris, New York and Israel.

Shalom and Mazeltov, Rabbi Koves!
This is actually good news for the whole world, that there is one more place on the globe where men, women and children can worship God as they see choose in a country where they weren't free to do so for many years!
And thanks, Eastern Europe, for all the strides towards Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness that you've been making in only 10 short years!

Apple - Safari
OK, all you Apple lovers out there in Mac land, Rejoice...because Steve Jobs announced today at MacWorld in San Fran that Apple now has it's own browser named Safari!
Yes, it's in Beta, but it's clean-looking, has neat bells and whistles and its fast, fast, fast.
To download it (you must have a Mac with OS 10.2 Jaguar installed), click on the link above and prepare to surf the web at warp speed.
(...and Internet Explorer has been loading badly and slowly of late, too, as well as being the Numero Uno security leaker.)

Western allies ready troops for Gulf

The Western allies are gearing up their troops for possible deployment to the Gulf in the event of a war with Iraq.

The UK said it was calling up 1,500 reservists, with more to follow if necessary, and bolstering naval forces already earmarked for the Gulf.

In France, President Jacques Chirac said soldiers needed to be prepared in case new areas of engagement opened up - his clearest reference yet to the prospect of French involvement in any military action in Iraq.

And the United States Central Command has said it is dispatching battle staff to a new forward headquarters in Qatar, in the latest sign that Washington's build-up is gathering pace.
[...]
Alluding to Iraq, the French president, meanwhile, warned his troops that other theatres of engagement could open up, in addition to areas where French soldiers are currently engaged.

"Particularly, we have to be attentive to the way in which United Nations Security Council resolution 1441 is applied by Iraq," he said.

The BBC's Paris correspondent, Jon Sopel, says Mr Chirac is slowly trying to massage public opinion, readying it in case military action does take place and French soldiers are called to serve alongside American troops.

France has long opposed the prospect of unilateral military action by America against Iraq, insisting any resort to force must be approved by the UN first.
U.S. Deployment
Thousands of American soldiers are being deployed to the region this week, joining the 50,000 already there.

The White House has also ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to abandon its voyage home and return to Australia, fuelling speculation that plans are being made to use the vessel in a campaign.

The giant US Navy hospital ship, USS Comfort, also left her home port of Baltimore on Monday and is thought to be heading to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

At least 10,000 US reservists have been told to prepare for possible overseas deployment as early as this week to support the build-up.

The US Army has also started deploying more than 11,000 soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Benning and Fort Stewart in Georgia - specialists in desert warfare.

Correspondents say that many of these troops are veterans from Desert Storm, the US-led military operation to remove the Iraqi army from Kuwait over 10 years ago.

"Desert Storm vets?" I love it!
These fine soldiers are going to be looking for some serious payback...and for the opportunity to finally take Baghdad, as we really should have in 1991.
As for the 3rd Infantry, I just watched the movie
"Patton" for the umpteenth time (and it was still great!) and I think it was the 3rd Army that Patton led in the Battle of the Bulge...Great bunch of fighters, too!
We don't really need the French to do much...except add some fine field cooking, snappy uniforms like the ones they had for the Foreign Legion and their marvelous war phrases like "Courage, mon brave!," hors de combat and "C'est la guerre!"
I'd like to send a shout out to all our fine, strong men and women in the military who've deployed overseas: we're with you, we're proud of you and we're looking forward to you all coming home soon safe, sound and victorious!

January 07, 2003

Anti-Chavez groups start tax revolt

Opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have demonstrated in the capital, Caracas, tearing up income-tax forms as they vowed to deY5{nt of revenue.

The tax revolt comes on the sixth week of a nationwide strike that has already crippled the country's vital oil industry.

The opposition accuses President Chavez of mismanagement and authoritarianism, and is demanding his resignation.

President Chavez, for his part, warned that tax evasion carries up to seven years in jail.

"They've tried to break the oil industry," he said as the protesters marched on the federal tax agency in Caracas.

"Now they're trying to break the national treasury so there is no money."

Mr Chavez's opponents include Venezuela's opposition parties, the largest trade union confederation and the main business group.

They say the president's left-wing policies, which include increased state intervention in the economy, are leading the country to ruin and Cuban-style communism.

It's always exciting to watch a revolution, but especially so when the rebels' cause is Democracy, Justice and Liberty, as it is here.
Chavez, I think your days as President of the country are numbered and in small digits, too; when you get the unions and Big Business on the same side against you, you've gotta know your goose is cooked!
And Chavez *is* leading his country to "Cuban-style Communism:" Fidel is his pal and idol...2 crazy Miami DJs got through today to Hugo Chavez's private phone by pretending to be the Bearded One.*
[*I actually think this prank was pretty hilarious! My junior high side must be dominant today.]

January 06, 2003

Iran Freedom Watch:From tonight's email from the Iranian Student Movement:

"The seventh of January 1936 (17th of Dey 1314) is the day that the old wish of Iran's modernists and Free-thinkers came true and the freedom-loving women of Iran were released from the proverbial chain of the enforced veil (hejab). From that historic day on, Iranian women were able to attain many of their human rights and citizen rights by being actively present in the various social, economic, and political arenas alongside Iranian men-- rights that were
suppressed and violated under [the excuse of] religious bonds and restrictions.

With the establishment of the fundamentalist theocracy in Iran, the mullahs with obvious enmity and by establishing 'anti-women' laws and regulations, in the name of religion, trampled many of the women's obtained rights, and [still]
diligently pursue the return to the retarded and fundamentalist conditions of a hundred years ago. During the [near] 24 shameful years of the Islamic Republic's
lifespan, we have witnessed many times that the rulers of despotism, with various excuses, including the pretext of confronting the bad 'hejab'-- the Islamic dress code for women-- have sent their goons and agents of "vice" to the
streets to harass and persecute our mothers and sisters. We have witnessed how they arrest and humiliate young girls and boys for being together in public places such as parks and mountain hiking trails. We [continuously] witness how the legal rights of women are trampled in the religious courtrooms of Iran and how against the patriarchal laws of the mullahs women have no choice but to endure the
oppression. Alongside all these injustices against women we should add the pain of hunger and extreme poverty: the pain that has condemned them to selling their bodies and their children to living on the streets.

Despite the executions, stonings, suppressions, humiliations, and various injustices against the Iranian women, the noble women of Iran and-- especially-- the educated women, from the very beginning, have risen to struggle against the many discriminations and restrictions, and above all, against the 'enforced hejab,' which has forced the government to accept obvious setbacks. In order
to end the sexual discriminations and multiple injustices against our mothers and sisters, to support the continued struggle of the noble Iranian women and men against the backward laws and regulations of the religious fundamentalists, and to honor the Iranian Women's Liberation Day, on Tuesday, January seventh [17th of Dey] at 2:00 PM, we will gather together in all the main public sites of our cities and with our cries of "No to the Veil, No to Persecution" we will demand the freedom of all the political prisoners and the observance of a referendum for establishing a democratic secular government.

Furthermore; on this day, as the pioneers of the civil disobedience movement, we invite all the free-thinking
Iranian women to toss one of their half-burned headscarves
in the heavily populated streets or squares [of all the
cities] as a sign of protest to the enforced veil.

Go, girlfriends!
I support you!
Let Freedom Ring in Iran!

Saddam accuses UN inspectors of spying

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has said United Nations weapons inspectors are carrying out "pure intelligence work".

He denounced the work of the teams sent to monitor Iraq's compliance with demands to disarm, saying they were exceeding their mandate.

It won't be long now...
Saddam's losing his temper!
"One material breach, coming up!"

England and Israel

Among the government's post-attack decisions was a refusal to allow a PA delegation to participate in an important London conference later this month. Great Britain has registered a protest, but Finance Minister Silvan Shalom explained today that the Israeli decision is designed to prevent the PLO terrorists from presenting themselves around the world as seekers of peace.
England's protest follows on the heels of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's refusal to meet with Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu; Blair's red-carpet hosting of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad; and a British embargo on the sale to Israel of critical spare parts for the Phantom fighter-bomber jets. Israeli officials recently said that their fleet of 140 F-4 Phantoms might have to be grounded because of the embargo. "We are desperately searching for other sources," said a Defense Ministry spokesperson, "but we haven't found any yet."

Tony Blair is going to have to make a decision or else risking look like as schizophrenic a leader as Putin of Russia or Zemin of China:
he needs to either pledge Britain's faith to fighting all forms of Islamist terrorism, whether it be in Iraq, Syria, or the "Palestinian" areas in Israel, in which case he would unqualifiedly put the UK with us and Israel, or side completely with the Islamists, which would keep him in bed with Assad, Arafat and...yes, Saddam Hussein.
But to pledge his support for our U.S.-led mission for régime change in Iraq *and* support Arafat and the PLO in their Intifada, while openly spurning the Isrealis is simply "not on!"
It seems Blair has forgotten that one of Britain's greatest Prime Ministers was a Jew named Disraeli, doesn't it?

January 05, 2003

Iraqi anger over 'intrusive' inspectors

Two senior Iraqi officials have reacted angrily after being held for several hours at a site in Baghdad that was sealed off and searched by United Nations weapons inspectors.

Despite the fact that the behavior of both the Iraqis and the U.N. inspectors is a great Japanese Noh drama for the world's entertainment and means very little, this show of anger is more emotion than Saddam's régime can afford (if it's real.).
Inspections "without conditions" was the order of the day and the UNSC and that means no backtalk from the Saddamites.
As a public service, MSNBC now how has a countdown clock on the screen, counting down the days until Jan. 27th, when the final WMD report is due from Blix and his boys...If even peacenik-Lib central MSDNC acknowledges that the 27th is the day, Saddam better write his will or buy that airline ticket to Libya.
And I feel cheated that we didn't get a similar countdown clock for Shopping Days until Christmas, don't you?

Russia's navy faces huge cutbacks

The Russian navy is to scrap one-fifth of its fleet because of a chronic shortage of funds.

Under the proposals, dozens of ships will be decommissioned to free up money to use on the navy's best vessels.

A senior Russian naval officer, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, said the state simply could not afford to maintain its historic fleet.

Many of the navy's ships were built in Soviet times, when speed and not quality was seen as key.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow says the announcement will do little to revive the Russian navy's international image, which was tarnished following the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine in 2000 with the loss of 118 crew.

She adds that a decade or more of chronic under funding means that much of the fleet is now unseaworthy - more of a junkyard, as one analyst put it, than a navy.
In an interview with the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, Admiral Kuroyedov said the navy was receiving just 12% of the budget it needed to keep its ships afloat.

Poor Russia.
They are really having problems and are obviously very broke.
One hopes that what's happening to the Russian navy isn't a paradigm for the whole ship of state.
On the Russian army front, Putin has fired or been given the resignation of his 2 top generals (in Chechnya) and I remember hearing last New Year's that the rank and file soldiers hadn't been paid.
For a country that has put the lion's share of its resources into its military for decades, this blatant decline is ominous.
We can only hope that financial desperation doesn't impel Russia to sell off its vast arsenal of WMDs to the highest and most eager buyers, i.e. Al Queda and the other Islamist terrorists.
And maybe we should take a long look at how the flat tax mustn't be working in Russia...or maybe the problem is that capitalism, which fuels all state revenues, including taxes, in the first place, is still an "experiment" in Russia, but is alive and well here in the U.S.A.
It's always thrilling to me to see one of our beautiful carriers underway (or even in port) and to hear about our new ships online like the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan super-carrier and the U.S.S. New York, whose bow will be made from steel from the World Trade Center.
Go U.S. Navy!

JPost: After attack, right-wing legislators call for removal of Arafat

Following the deadly terror attack Sunday evening that left 20 people dead and wounded more than 50, National Religious Party chairman Effi Eitam demanded of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to expel Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat as soon as tonight, Army Radio reported.

"Arafat is terror's engine and until he is done away with blood will continue flowing down our streets," he told the crowd at an NRP election rally, the report said.

Herut chairman Michael Kleiner said Arafat should be "eliminated in military action," the report added.

Boy, you'll get no argument from me--Arafat is "terror's engine" and has been for the last 30 years.
Everything Osama learned about Islamist murder and terror, he learned from Arafat!
Why can't this man (and it's hard to believe he's a human being and fellow member of the human race, I know) meet the same fate he's meted out to so many innocents, as if he were God, when he's an unrepentant mass murderer?
Don't let it escape your notice that Arafat's own "gang," the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, took "credit" for today's slaughter.
That means he planned, funded and encouraged in every possible way the whole thing.
And for all you dim Dimocrats out there, don't forget that it was your boy Clintoon who had Arafat at the White House (that's "Our House") numerous times as if he were a respected head of state and that it was Bubba who got Barak to give away almost all of Israel at the Camp David 2000 talks to form Yasser's new "Palestine."
Because Arafat wanted all of Israel, not just most of it, he then launched the Intifada, sensing that complete victory (i.e. the eradication of Israel as a nation) was near.
That, plus a nuclear North Korea, plus 9/11 here in America, is the Clinton Legacy.
Thanks a lot, Billy Jeff.
Israel, do what you must do--it's going to come down to Arafat's *elimination* one way or another and those of us who live in Reality know that.
If America and the West, can take down Arafat, Saddam Hussein and Osama Ben Laden, that would be the ultimate Bushie trifecta.
Let's roll.

22 dead, 100 hurt in double suicide bombing in Tel
Aviv

At least 22 people were killed and 100 others were wounded in a double suicide bombing at around 6:30 P.M. Sunday evening at the Old Central Bus Station in south Tel Aviv.

The two suicide bombers blew themselves up within less than a minute of one another, at the corner of G'dud Ha'ivri and Neve She'anan streets in south Tel Aviv.
[...]Police spokesman Gil Kleiman said that the explosive devices used by the bombers were loaded with metal shards in order to maximize the destruction. [Bastards!--J.T.]
[...]
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, took responsibility for the attack. In a statement claiming that it was behind the bombings, the group identified the two bombers as Nablus residents Burak Hilsa and Samar A-Nuri.

Initially, a reporter for Lebanon's Al-Manar television station said that Islamic Jihad had phoned him to take responsibility for the attack, but an official in the Palestinian militant group said there had been no official statement.
[...]Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to convene a security meeting at 11:30 P.M. with Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the heads of the security establishment at 11 P.M. ...[...]
The attack was the first suicide bombing in an Israeli city since November, when a suicide bomber blew up a bus in Jerusalem, killing himself and 11 passengers.

I am outraged...again!
Of course, my prayers for the dead and wounded plus my sorrow and sympathy go out to the Israeli families of the victims.
IMO, President Bush didn't condemn this strongly enough, stating that such actions "hindered the peace process." (Duh.)
Why not call it what it is, President Bush?
Islamist terrorist murder. Full stop.
The "Palestinians" don't want "peace"--they want to eradicate the Jews and the nation of Israel.
Another Full Stop.
I pray for the day when Israel will expel every one of these "Palestinians" from their (the Jews') land back to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon where they (the Muslims) belong.
In the meantime, there could be no "retaliatory response" or defensive move the IDF could make that would strike me as too barbarous to deal with these mass murderers and cold-blooded killers in the "Palestinian" areas and the worst thing is, it would still be infinitely more civilized, humane and restrained than what the Islamists have done to their Israeli victims.
So build that wall, blow up the bombers' houses, shoot anything that moves after curfew in Jenin, Nablus, Gaza and Ramallah!
Above all, let's practice pest control on AraRAT!
Am Yisrael Chai!