HARARE, Zimbabwe, June 23 -- Heavily armed police officers on Monday raided the headquarters of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party, dragging away about 60 people -- including children -- on a day when world leaders condemned violence by the Zimbabwean government in increasingly strong terms.
I don't see how this isn't another version of the United Nations:
We should go further and start bringing democratic peoples and nations from around the world into one common organization, a worldwide League of Democracies. This would not be like the universal-membership and failed League of Nations' of Woodrow Wilson but much more like what Theodore Roosevelt envisioned: like-minded nations working together in the cause of peace. The new League of Democracies would form the core of an international order of peace based on freedom. It could act where the UN fails to act, to relieve human suffering in places like Darfur. It could join to fight the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa and fashion better policies to confront the crisis of our environment. It could provide unimpeded market access to t hose who share the values of economic and political freedom, an advantage no state-based system could attain. It could bring concerted pressure to bear on tyrants in Burma or Zimbabwe, with or without Moscow's and Beijing's approval. It could unite to impose sanctions on Iran and thwart its nuclear ambitions. It could provide support to struggling democracies in Ukraine and Serbia and help countries like Thailand back on the path to democracy.
"This League of Democracies would not supplant the United Nations or other international organizations. It would complement them. But it would be the one organization where the world's democracies could come together to discuss problems and solutions on the basis of shared principles and a common vision of the future. If I am elected president, I will call a summit of the world's democracies in my first year to seek the views of my democratic counterparts and begin exploring the practical steps necessary to realize this vision.
"Americans should lead this effort, as we did sixty years ago in founding NATO. But if we are to lead responsibly, our friends and allies must see us as responsible nation, concerned not only about our own well-being but about the health of the world's economy and the future of our planet.
I don't see how this "League of Democracies" would not become another toothless tiger, like the U.N., or another NATO which is basically the United States military in another uniform. And, frankly, that "another uniform" is a big problem in itself.
Dreams and ideals are nice, but the world is a real place and I think that it is demonstrated that world organizations, for the most part, are a huge money spending failure.
Ummm.... If you wonder why there is a spike in oil prices, I'm sure this doesn't help:
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela deployed tanks and air and sea forces toward the Colombian border on Wednesday in its first major military mobilization in a crisis that has raised fears for regional stability.
Venezuela's military said it started sending 10 tank battalions toward the border and activated its air force and navy. Military analysts estimates such a mobilization could include more than 200 tanks.
The action escalated tensions over Colombia's weekend raid to kill rebels inside another South American neighbor, Ecuador, which Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an ally of leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, said could spark war.
While Ecuador and Venezuela have poured soldiers toward their borders with U.S.-backed Colombia in recent days, Wednesday's movements were the first signs of heavy firepower being mobilized.
Colombia said it would not deploy extra forces and governments worldwide urged the nations to defuse tensions as Venezuela and the United States blamed each other for the intensifying crisis.
Interesting...
Can you help me figure this one out?
Bush and Raul Castro
WHITE HOUSE (AP) - Don't look for President Bush to be sitting down with the new president of Cuba anytime soon.
During his news conference, Bush defended his stance of not talking directly with leaders of adversaries such as Iran and Cuba without setting preconditions. In doing so, he offered some of his strongest criticism yet of Raul Castro, who assumed Cuba's presidency on Sunday after his ailing brother Fidel stepped aside.
Bush told reporters that "sitting down at the table, having your picture taken with a tyrant such as Raul Castro, for example, lends the status of the office and the status of our country to him."
President George W Bush has said that he will attend the Beijing Olympics amid a growing furore about China's support of the Sudanese regime.
Mr Bush said he viewed the Games as a "sporting event" and that China's close ties with Sudan would not affect his stance, despite what he has termed "genocide" in the Sudanese region of Darfur.
Am I wrong in wondering what's the difference here? How many political prisoners does China have now and how many have they had in the past? How many died in custody? And the difference between them and Cuba is?
The next time some fool states that Africa is of no strategic importance to the U.S., point that fool to this:
Although there is no way of knowing how many of the total entrants the 606 recorded individuals represent, officials said Sinjar was a primary entrance point. Its importance increased as Iraq's Anbar province -- farther south and bordering Saudi Arabia and Jordan -- became more difficult for foreigners to cross.
"We also adjusted our analysis [to say that] more North Africans were foreign terrorists than previously assessed," said Col. Steven A. Boylan, spokesman for Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Although Saudi Arabia was by far the most common country of origin of foreign fighters, with about 40 percent of the total, a surprising share -- 19 percent -- came from Libya. Overall, about 40 percent were North African.
Then stand back and watch that person's head spin with foam spewing out of the mouth.
I read this and came up with an idea.
Stock markets around the world plummeted today, as a financial crisis that began in the market for U.S. home mortgages spread to almost all corners of the global economy.
U.S. markets were closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, but all of the world's other major economies experienced a sell-off. Stock prices fell 7 percent in France and Germany, 5 percent in China and Great Britain, and 4 percent in Japan. Stocks lost value in 42 of the 43 nations with widely followed markets; the only exception was Sri Lanka.
"It was all about blood on the wall," said Georges Ugeux, chairman of Galileo Global Advisors, who was visiting the Indian stock exchange, which fell 7.4 percent (the equivalent of a 900-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average). "For them, this is a black Monday."
You won't like this idea at all, but I think it's the best thing for the U.S. economy. Instead of coming up with a "stimulus package" that, in reality, is nothing more than a wet band-aid, why don't we just let the markets do what the markets are going to do and suffer the ride?
Cutting rates, coming up with a stimulus package that gives people money to spend, pumping money into the economy, saving people from losing their homes, now, only to lose them later, etc, is just delaying the inevitable and making the real correction much harsher in the long term. Just, let it happen.
I know I should be posting something mindless and not post something that if you think about it, it could mess up your weekend, but it is not a good idea that Saudi Arabia and China are bailing out our major financial companies.
I wish I could remember the person and the exact quote, but a famous communist once stated they didn't have to do anything to make capitalism fall, because capitalism will sell and buy the rope to hang itself with.
Can anyone tell me exactly how Rudy Ghouliani fought terrorism in New York City?
Initially, I wanted to write that I thought that Bhutto had a hand in her own assassination because she was in a vehicle, standing through a sun roof, that made her an easier target. While I thought that she may have accepted the fact that she was going to be killed, I didn't understand why she seemed to make it easy.
I didn't write it, here, because I realized it may have been too far out there. I did write it in other blogs though. But it looks like I wasn't the only person wondering.
In our shock and sadness over Benazir Bhutto's murder, a question haunts my Westernized thoughts: Why wasn't she more cautious?
The former Pakistani prime minister and current opposition leader was standing up and waving to cheering crowds through the sunroof in her white SUV, judging by photos taken just before she was killed.
She was greeting crowds in the same cheerful, open-air way two months earlier when a suicide bomber killed 140 people at her welcome-home parade in Karachi. A great tragedy might have been avoided this time had she only stayed in her seat.
She knew the odds, yet fear was a luxury she refused to afford. Bhutto was vying for leadership again after living in exile for almost a decade. The television ad wars, familiar to American campaigns, are not enough for an opposition leader in Pakistan. Pakistanis had to see her, hear her and even touch her. She accommodated them.
Read the entire article because it goes into more than what I just quoted.
Bush administration, meet bus. Bus, meet Bush administration.
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto followed urgent pleas to the State Department for the last two months by her representatives for better security protection. The U.S. reaction was that she was worried over nothing, expressing assurance that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf would not let anything happen to her.
That attitude led Bhutto's agent to inform a high-ranking State Department official that her camp no longer viewed the backstage U.S. effort to broker power sharing between Musharraf and former Prime Minister Bhutto as a good-faith effort toward democracy. It was, according to the written complaint, an attempt to preserve the politically endangered Musharraf as President Bush's man in Islamabad.
Bush confirmed that judgment Thursday when he urged that the Jan. 8 election be held in furtherance of Pakistani ''democracy.'' That may be Musharraf's position, but it definitely is not that of his critics. They say an election would be a sham with Bhutto dead, no successor named to head her Pakistan People's Party, and Saudi-backed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif boycotting the balloting.
No one has a clue as to what is going on in Pakistan, what is "best," nor how to achieve it. This was true before the death of Bhutto, and will be true after her death.
When a father and son are "chosen" to lead a political party after the death of the head of the party, then this isn't about "democracy," it is about a monarchy.
OK, ladies and gentlemen, are you scared yet?
The Federal Reserve launched a concerted effort with central banks around the world to try to get financial institutions to lend money more readily, its latest attempt to help thaw a frozen financial system.
The surprise move, announced yesterday, less than a day after the Fed cut a key short-term interest rate, is an attempt by the central bank to prevent worsening problems in global credit markets from causing a U.S. recession. In this case, the tools are special auctions that would make at least $40 billion available to U.S. banks by the end of the year, and an agreement with the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank that would make $24 billion available to banks in Europe.
"The Fed has not only opened its vault doors to the banking industry, they are now trucking it to their place of business," Scott Anderson, a Wells Fargo senior economist, said in a report. "If that doesn't get the banks excited about lending again, nothing will, and the battle to forestall recession is already lost."
Well, I am.
I have A LOT to do but very little time to do it. So, taking a quick break, I need to make a few comments on the release of some information from the NIE as it pertains to Iran and its nuclear capabilities:
This needs to be discovered and taken seriously.
Even though he is retired, this demonstrates the breakdown in command. Yes, I do realize he was forced out, however, I think that he would still have respect for the troops and honor for the troops. I think he still has contacts in the service and his contacts are telling him to stand firm.
ARLINGTON, Va. – The former top commander of U.S. troops in Iraq slammed the handling of the war and gave a bleak assessment of the current situation in Iraq.
“There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight,” retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told a convention of military journalists on Friday.
Sanchez commanded U.S. troops in Iraq from June 2003 to July 2004. His controversial tenure saw the capture of Saddam Hussein and the handover of sovereignty to the Iraqi government, but also the rise of the insurgency and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
Honestly, I hope he's wrong.
Why wasn't news of suspected nuclear material found at the U.N. not big news?
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. weapons inspectors discovered a potentially hazardous chemical warfare agent that was taken from an Iraqi chemical weapons facility 11 years ago and mistakenly stored in their offices in the heart of midtown Manhattan all that time, officials said Thursday.
The material — identified in inventory files as phosgene, a chemical substance used in World War I weapons — was discovered Aug. 24. It was only identified on Wednesday because it was marked simply with an inventory number, and officials had to check the many records in their vast archives, said Ewen Buchanan, a spokesman for the U.N. inspection agency.
U.N. and U.S. officials said the material posed no threat to anyone's health or safety.
A team of hazardous materials experts from the FBI and New York City police removed the substance from the office on Manhattan's east side, about a block north of U.N. headquarters, in three steel containers. The containers were flown to a military facility in Aberdeen, Md., for disposal, U.N. officials said.
How do you make such a "mistake"?
Now it appears European authorities have stopped a terrorist plot:
Police have smashed a suspected al Qaeda terror cell nursing a "profound hatred of US citizens" plotting to bomb civilian and military jets.
The force of the planned explosions would have been worse than the train bombings in Madrid and the Tube and bus attacks in London on 7 July, 2005, according to German security sources. Those attacks killed 191 and 52 people respectively.
Three men aged 22, 28 and 29 have been arrested in Germany days before they planned to strike, and bomb-making equipment and explosives have been seized.
The arrests come a day after Danish police conducted raids and took eight young Muslims into custody whom they suspect of plotting a bomb attack and having links with al Qaeda. No direct link has yet been established between the two plots.
Federal prosecutor Monika Harms said the three suspects had bought 700kg (1,500lbs) of hydrogen peroxide to make massive bombs. She said: "We have prevented what we believe would have been the worst terror attacks ever on German soil".
She declined to name specific targets but said the suspects had an eye on institutions and establishments frequented by Americans in Germany, including discos, pubs and airports.
We live in interesting times. People need to open their eyes.
This thought was generated from a post by Baldilocks highlighting the hope that Castro is dead.
Miami "Cubans" need to get a life and stop waiting for the end of Castro's life. When Castro dies, there is no way they can "go back" and "get back" their land and property. The Cuban "Cubans" aren't going to roll over and let them take what is now theirs. Plus, just because Castro dies, it doesn't mean the leadership currently in place is going to let "the revolution" die.
The Miami "Cubans" need to:
But that makes too much sense and Republicans don't want to lose the sure money the Miami "Cubans" generate.
More reports of a turning tide:
Fed up with being part of a group that cuts off a person’s face with piano wire to teach others a lesson, dozens of low-level members of al-Qaeda in Iraq are daring to become informants for the US military in a hostile Baghdad neighbourhood.
The ground-breaking move in Doura is part of a wider trend that has started in other al-Qaeda hotspots across the country and in which Sunni insurgent groups and tribal sheikhs have stood together with the coalition against the extremist movement.
“They are turning. We are talking to people who we believe have worked for al-Qaeda in Iraq and want to reconcile and have peace,” said Colonel Ricky Gibbs, commander of the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, which oversees the area.
This is good news.
The dollar is getting KILLED on the international currency market.
The sub-prime home lending market is "correcting".
The Dow Jones, which isn't the best stock market indicator, hit a record high today, July 16, 2007 although declines out numbered advances.
Hedge funds are going public to the ordinary investor when they used to only be open to multi-millionaires and when most hedge fund managers have 20 and 2 compensation.
I know I'm not the only person seeing trouble in these monetary tea leaves, am I?
Market forces at work. You have to love it:
The company, which is behind visual shopping Web site Like.com and specializes in image recognition software, had maintained offices in both Bangalore and the U.S. despite the difficulties of being based in locations 12 time zones apart because low wages and a strong pool of talent in India meant the company still saw a significant return on investment.
But in his company blog, Riya chief executive Munjal Shah, said: "Bangalore wages have just been growing like crazy. To give you an example, there is an employee of ours who took the first five years of his career to get from 1 percent to 10 percent of his equivalent U.S. counterpart.
"He then jumped from 10 percent to 20 percent of his U.S. counterpart in the next 1 year. During his time with us (less than two years) he jumped to 55 percent of the U.S. wage. In the next few months we would have had to move him to 75 percent just to 'keep him at market.'"
Shah added: "In general this wage inflation is really good for my employees and great for India."
But the increase in Bangalore wages had "destroyed the ROI" that was the rationale for maintaining the otherwise difficult two-continent operation. The company has now moved to consolidate its engineering and research work at its California headquarters.
This is too funny!
OK, this is SCHWEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - The leader of an al-Qaida umbrella group in Iraq threatened to wage war against Iran unless it stops supporting Shiites in Iraq within two months, according to an audiotape released Sunday.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who leads the group Islamic State in Iraq, said his Sunni fighters have been preparing for four years to wage a battle against Shiite-dominated Iran.
"We are giving the Persians, and especially the rulers of Iran, a two month period to end all kinds of support for the Iraqi Shiite government and to stop direct and indirect intervention ... otherwise a severe war is waiting for you," he said in the 50-minute audiotape. The tape, which could not be independently verified, was posted on a Web site commonly used by insurgent groups.
Iraq's Shiite-led government is backed by the U.S. but closely allied to Iran. The United States accuses Iran of arming and financing Shiite militias in Iraq—charges Tehran denies.
I really hope it is true!
Are you ready to realize these people, coordinated and/or working separately, are serious?
Are you ready to realize these people, coordinated and/or working separately, are serious?
I just wanted to provide this type of information.
Radical Islam's "End-Game"
Terrorism Frank Salvato, Managing Editor
June 15, 2007When one examines the facts and logistics of Islamofascist aggression – both in history and modern times – it is hard to argue that the basis for this aggression is Western influence on the Islamic culture. If this were the sole reason for Islamofascist aggression there would be no excuse for attacks in the name of Islam on the Hindus or Buddhists or in any nation that doesn’t embrace Western values such as Thailand, Somalia or most of Indonesia. Yet, the slaughter of innocents in the name of Islam does take place against these people and in these non-Westernized regions. By acknowledging these facts – and they are indisputable – we can dismiss the argument that the US and the West have brought the wrath of Islamofascism upon ourselves, which is the basis for the argument used by the anti-war movement, the American Fifth Column and disingenuous and opportunistic politicians.
...
In his 1996 fatwa, Osama bin Laden proclaimed:
“. . .O you horses (soldiers) of Allah ride and march on. This is the time of hardship so be tough. And know that your gathering and co-operation in order to liberate the sanctities of Islam is the right step toward unifying the word of the Ummah under the banner of ‘No God but Allah’. . .Our Lord, shatter their gathering, divide them among themselves, shaken the earth under their feet and give us control over them. . .”
It should be noted that to bin Laden, the Ummah is considered a figurative nation comprised of all Muslims and all Islamic nations.
>“. . .Afghanistan is the only country in the world that has the Shari'ah. Therefore, it is compulsory upon Muslims all over the world to help Afghanistan. And to make hijra to this land, because it is from this land that we will dispatch our armies to smash all kuffar all over the world.”
In October of 2005, during his address to the United Nations, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said:
“From the beginning of time, humanity has longed for the day when justice, peace, equality and compassion envelop the world.”
And in a speech to Friday prayer leaders he said:
“Our revolution’s main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi.”
It should be noted here that Ahmadinejad believes – as do most Shi’ites – that the 12th Imam (or Muhammad al-Mahdi), according to their interpretation of the Quran, will bring “peace and justice on earth” by establishing Islam throughout the world. This equivalent of the “second coming” would take place when the world has fallen into chaos and civil war emerges between the human race for no reason.
Like I wrote, I just wanted to provide this type of information.
Pottie Poot is talking about new ICBMs capable of defeating missle shields...
Chavez has grabbed private oil company assets and made them government owned...
The U.S. is talking to Iran for help with Iraq. Iran. IRan. IRAn. IRAN...
China needs oil and has access t it with Sudan so they are going to block U.N. "efforts" in the Sudan...
We live in interesting times.
Not long ago, Chavez took control of the oil producing assets of foreign companies in Venezuela. Now, Chavez is going after television stations opposed to him.
President Hugo Chavez's clampdown on opposition television stations widened Monday as police used rubber bullets and tear gas on demonstrators protesting what they called an attack on free speech.
Venezuela levied charges against US cable network CNN for linking Chavez to Al-Qaeda terror network headed by Osama bin Laden. The move came just hours after the shutting-down of the country's oldest television station, the openly anti-government Radio Caracas Television network.
The government also accused Venezuelan TV network Globovision of encouraging any would-be assassins of the president.
So, are U.S. Chavez supporters feeling uneasy yet?
[ Update ] Reformatted
Young U.S. Muslims back suicide attacks
By Jennifer Harper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES May 23, 2007The first nationwide survey of Muslim Americans revealed that more than a quarter of those younger than 30 say suicide bombings to defend Islam are justified, a fact that drowned out the poll's kinder, gentler findings suggesting that the community is mainstream and middle class.
"There are trouble spots," noted Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, which conducted the survey of 1,050 adult Muslim Americans -- two-thirds of whom were foreign-born -- January to April. The results were released yesterday.
"We should be disturbed that 26 percent of these young people support an ideology in which the ends justify the means," said Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, chairman of the Arizona-based American Islamic Forum for Democracy.
Survey: U.S. Muslims Assimilated, Opposed to Extremism
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 23, 2007; Page A03Unlike Muslim minorities in many European countries, U.S. Muslims are highly assimilated, close to parity with other Americans in income and overwhelmingly opposed to Islamic extremism, according to the first major, nationwide random survey of Muslims.
The survey by the Pew Research Center found that 78 percent of U.S. Muslims said the use of suicide bombings against civilian targets to defend Islam is never justified. But 5 percent said it is justified "rarely," 7 percent said "sometimes," and 1 percent said "often"; the remaining 9 percent said they did not know or declined to answer.
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