Syrian political senility

I would rather call it puerile!

Syria on Monday unmasked the 'Masked Witness' Hussam T Hussam and put him on state owned television, to claim that he has tricked the Mehlis commission. He disclosed that he was a member of Syria's intelligence and that 40% of the conclusions in the Mehlis report were based on his testimonies that he gave under duress. Syria wanted to use his TV appearance to discredit the Mehlis report which led to UN resolution 1636.

"This political senility and this deception by the Syrian security apparatus is a laughable farce and at the same time it seems they will use all means, even security, to shake up security (in Lebanon) to try to confuse the inquiry," Jumblatt told Reuters

It is obvious that Syria has been desperate for a long time to prove its innocence in the murder of Hariri, but was obviously having very hard time, since all events pointed to its involvement in a big way. This strange act by the regime was seen as Syria's, last attempt to prove its innocence by discrediting the Mehlis report, but again the Syrian regime failed badly.

This confirms that Assad is as stupid as he looks and really doesn't have a clue about what is going on around him. And that is dangerous.

Syria, Assad, Mehlis

Venezuela elections and more

Three Venezuelan opposition parties on Tuesday pulled out of congressional elections planned for Sunday, saying the conditions were tilted toward President Hugo Chavez's government.

Excellent move. Don't fall into the Mugabe trap as the MDC did. Participating in elections which are sure to be rigged in favor of your local dictator only legitimizes and reinforces the regime. Better to draw international attention by highlighting the frauds than to participate in a farce only to have Jimmy Carter certify it "free and fair". Chavez will obtain complete control of congress one way or another, but at least he will not be able to claim that he did it through "popular vote".

In fact, Chavez is preparing to crush any kind of internal opposition:

Venezuela has sworn in commanders of a new military reserve which President Hugo Chavez says is meant to deter aggression against his country. Twenty-thousand reservists paraded before Mr Chavez at the main military barracks in Caracas. The new formation, which the president wants to become a two million-strong force in the near future, will be directly under his command.

There is more:

Spain agreed Monday to sell 12 military planes and eight patrol boats to Venezuela in a $2 billion deal that the United States has threatened to block.

And he continues relentlessly to exploit high oil prices to spread his venom:

The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, has launched a regional oil initiative to provide fuel at cheaper prices to 15 Caribbean nations. Cuban President Fidel Castro - who is also attending the summit - hailed the initiative as an important step toward greater regional solidarity.

Covering all the angles:

Telesur is a new pan-Latin American TV channel based in Venezuela. It aims to rival CNN and the other Spanish-language news channels coming out of Miami and Atlanta. Some have already dubbed it Al-Bolivar - a combination of the Arabic news channel, Al-Jazeera, and President Hugo Chavez's favourite independence hero.

This is fishy, too:

For the first time since the fiery Hugo Chavez was elected as Venezuela's president, a multilateral institution, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), has approved a major loan deal for the country. Furthermore, Venezuela took pains preparing the ground diplomatically to win support from its neighbours.

Take what occurred in July, when Venezuela withdrew its candidate to be president of the IADB just before elections for the bank's new president were held. As a result, several Central American and Caribbean countries - which would have voted for the Venezuelan candidate because they receive oil from Venezuela at concessionary rates - were free to vote for the Colombian candidate, Luis Alberto Moreno, who duly won. After this, an overwhelming majority of Latin American countries voted in favour of granting Venezuela the IADB loans, despite opposition from the US (the IADB's biggest shareholder), which now opposes all loans from multilateral banks for Venezuela automatically, as a matter of policy.

With Morales in Bolivia poised to win next elections (18 December), the outlook for Latin America looks bleak indeed.

The consequences of this election, if Morales wins, will rattle all of South America. Bolivia is the world's third-largest producer of coca, with almost 75,000 acres devoted to that accursed crop. The top producers are Colombia and Peru. With coca friendly Morales leading, Bolivia will soon head the list. That must worry Brazil, because it is the first destination of that Bolivian drug. However, as dangerous as the drug is a potential war against Chile. With allies such as Cuba and Venezuela, two brawler states, it is likely that Bolivia will try to recover, manu militari, the territory it lost to Chile during the War of the Pacific, 1879-1883.

Venezuela, Bolivia, Chavez, Castro, Cuba, Latin America, Elections

Galloway gets it (or soon will)

MEMRI has a deeply satisfying article: "George Galloway Will Yet be Tried," by Iraqi author Fadhil Rashad. Conclusion:

I want to say in this article: George Galloway, leader of the Respect party - you defend your friend and benefactor Saddam and you will yet be tried just like your friend and benefactor Saddam. I assure you that the Iraqi people will never turn a blind eye to those who robbed them. You robbed from all of the Iraqis what amounts to approximately 20 million barrels of oil [that you received] in exchange for misleading public opinion concerning the crimes perpetrated by Saddam against his people.

"In this article, I call on the Iraqi government to open the file on the Oil-for-Food scandal and file criminal indictments with international courts against those who benefited [from the oil vouchers] and those who stretched out their hands and took those vouchers from Saddam.

"May the first [to be indicted] be George Galloway…"

Start running, George...Iraqis have long memories.

Iraq, Galloway, Oil for Food, Saddam

Italy names Islamic advisory body

Italy's interior minister Giuseppe Pisanu has announced the 16 members of a newly-established Islamic body which will have a consultative role on issues regarding the integration of Muslims into Italian society. The initiative will increase dialogue "with moderate Muslims, who are our natural allies in combatting extremism" he said. One of the surprises in the line-up was the head of the Italian Union of Islamic Communities (UCOII), Mohammed Nour Dachan, considered a more radical voice among Muslims in Italy.

I am not sure that this is the right way to go, especially involving "more radical voices", as Tony Blair has done. Apparently though, someone thinks it might be the right strategy:

Blair may or may not understand Islam. Here's what he does understand:

1. The winners write history;
2. History writes religion (religion shapes but also inevitably conforms to the people over time, not vice-versa);
3. Social pressure works.

What Blair is doing here is threefold:

• Setting up social expectations re: British Muslims that will pressure them to live up to them.

• Offering a psychological "out" that some British Muslims will accept and embrace as part of what their identity should be about (and for many outside the madrassas, it's not a big stretch).

• Creating a counter-narrative that, in concert with political and military pressure on the Arab/Islamic world, seeks to extend this "redefinition" of Islam more broadly. Some will do this from fear, other because they're tired of having some "bearded monster" (to use a term from Chan'ad Bahraini) dictate to them, and revolt against Islam's internal oppressors.

Anyway, I hope Italy will keep this in mind:

"Why are liberties granted to fascists who threaten those who disagree with them with hell and death? Pursuing the extremists would serve, first and foremost, the Muslim community, and would protect its members more than anybody else..."

Italy, Terrorism, UK, Islam

Iraq's kidnappings

A peace group blamed the United States and Britain for the abduction of four activists shown in an insurgent video, saying the kidnapping was the direct result of the occupation of Iraq. “We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and U.K. government due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people,” the group said. Christian Peacemaker Teams, a group that has had activists in Iraq since October 2002, said it was saddened by the video of their workers. The workers, the group said, were working against the occupation of Iraq.

In practice, these people are helping a few hundred terrorists against twenty seven million Iraqis.

The group listed the names of those abducted as Tom Fox, 54, of Clearbrook, Va.; Norman Kember, 74, of London; James Loney, 41, of Toronto, Canada; and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, of Canada.

This sounds very much like the fake kidnappings of Japanese and Italian nationals that were staged for obvious purposes by the same kind of pacifascists groups. I hope so.

Iraq, Terrorism, Kidnappings

Another Mahdi, that's all we need...

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad says that when he delivered his speech at the UN General Assembly in September, he felt there was a light around him and that the attention of the world leaders in the audience was unblinkingly focused upon him. Is the Iranian president claiming to be divinely inspired?

Here we go...playing to the ignorant masses to acquire holy status. He has been preparing the ground for a while, but I doubt this will go down well with Khamenei and Rafsanjani:

Ahmadinejad, however, has restored the concept of the Hidden Imam as the central truth of Iran’s political, cultural, economic and social life. He has written and signed a pact with the Hidden Imam and has asked all officials to do so, a move that, taken to its logical conclusion, dispenses with the need for any mullahs including the“ Supreme Guide”. Thus the government of the Islamic Republic becomes answerable to the Hidden Imam and not to the “ Supreme Guide” or the Iranian electorate.

This reinterpretation of Twelver Shi’ism excludes not only any form of rule by the mullahs but also any form of electoral democracy. In this way Ahmadinejad hopes to outflank the two principal political forces that have been fighting for power in Iran since the middle of the 19 th century. His message is: neither mullahrchy, nor democracy.

Pass the word for Gordon Pasha.

Ahmadinejad, Iran, Mahdi

The WP on Rumsfeld: when irony fails

Another clumsy and humorless attempt of the Washington Post to belittle and ridicule Rumsfeld. The only problem (for mr. Milbank) is that it fails miserably. The Secretary of Defense's quotes are perfectly logical and honest. If you want to know what was really said during the news briefing with Rumsfeld and General Pace, you can read it here.

Rumsfeld, WP, Iraq

Tony, listen up!

"The British government has been heeding [the advice of] prominent British Muslim figures whom it chose as advisors on issues pertaining to the Muslim community [in Britain]. This would be a positive step if it did not reflect a one-sided tendency. These advisors gave two justifications for the bombings carried out by British Muslims in London: British foreign policy and unemployment.

"The justifications by the advisors to the [Interior] Ministry have given the terrorists [precisely] what they do not deserve – a moral justification for their ugly crimes. What amazes me is that these advisors were against the government plan to go after the strongholds of extremism – the libraries, websites, and inciters – claiming that this is a restriction of liberties...

"Why are liberties granted to fascists who threaten those who disagree with them with hell and death? Pursuing the extremists would serve, first and foremost, the Muslim community, and would protect its members more than anybody else..."

A million dollars if you guess who said it! Ok, I'll tell you: Al-Arabiyya TV Director-General Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed.

Read it all.

UK, Terrorism

A striking resemblance

I was reading a very good article on Mengistu (ht: Stefania), part of a series titled "Left-wing Monsters" and was struck by the similarities between the Ethiopian butcher and Mugabe:

Mengistu's war against real and imaginary rivals was executed with ferocity and decisive action. In 1976, he turned against his colleague Major Jamor Sisay Habte, ordering his execution for supposed "right-wing tendencies." In 1977, the increasingly deranged Mengistu personally executed five of his political opponents in his office.

Remember Tongogara, Chitepo, Sithole?

The agricultural situation in Ethiopia was surprisingly positive in the first years of Mengistu's reign, mostly due to the fact that Ethiopian agriculture had been a booming industry in the later years of the Selassie government. The new socialist approach reversed these gains. This decline would only accelerate in 1981, when Mengistu began to install a Stalinist type of collectivization and command agriculture industry. With further government interference, farm outlays declined precipitously.

Ring a bell?

The slaughter began in earnest immediately following Megistu's call to arms. With the aid of East German Stasi agents, Mengistu's secret police soon fanned out throughout the country, jailing and killing thousands who were arbitrarily identified as enemies of the state. Soon, many were being shot in mass executions, their bodies dumped in the streets.

Change East Germany to North Korea and you have the Fifth Brigade '80s massacres in Matabeleland.

All throughout his calamitous reign of power in Ethiopia, Mengistu made frequent use a classic communist tactic: the facilitation of class warfare. Whenever given the chance, Mengistu made mention of his love and appreciation for the "peasant class," blaming all their problems on the wealthy oppressors he had heroically overthrown. Similar to most communist despots, Mengistu's embrace of the lower-class was merely an attempt to build a reliable social base. It is doubtful that he ever genuinely believed in the strictures of Marx or Lenin, or that he ever actually understood their political philosophies.

The same, word by word.

In reality, Mengistu was dismissive of the concerns of the peasant class, never addressing their poverty or suffering. In marked contrast to his piteous citizens, Mengistu held court in a massive palace in Addis Ababa, where he was served by an army of servants and liveried butlers.

This is what we are seeing in Zimbabwe today:

The tragic famine of 1984-86 – largely induced by the nonsensical policies of Mengistu – laid bare the inadequacies of his rule. Prior to the disaster, his failings had been unassailable due to tight control of national press and a brutal secret police system. However, with much of the country descending into disorder and economic devastation, Mengistu's hold on power slackened rapidly.

Unfortunately, Zimbabweans have not yet managed to organize a full-fledged rebellion as their Ethiopian counterparts did.

It is only fitting then that the two monsters should develop a close friendship:

Following his abandonment of the country in 1991, Mengistu fled to one of the more comfortable locales for any mass-murdering despot: Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. Mugabe, evidently grateful for the aid Mengistu had rendered him during his various uprisings and civil wars, gave the disgraced Ethiopian leader a palatial home in the outskirts of the capital along with a police bodyguard. Even as the mass graves were discovered and his crimes became more graphically evident, Mugabe consistently refused to hand over his friend Mengistu to the new Ethiopian government or the International Criminal Court.

Hopefully, Mugabe's retirement will be less comfortable.

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Ethiopia, Mengistu

Who are the real terrorists in Italy?

A decision by a Milan appeals court to uphold the acquittal of three North Africans on terrorism charges has drawn sharp criticism from Italy's best known anti-terrorism magistrate, Stefano Dambruoso who has led efforts to expose Milan as the main clearing house for Islamist militants operating in Europe. The men were accused of sending militants to Iraq and planning attacks in Europe, but in a highly controversial ruling in January, a judge said they were guerrillas not terrorists. In her ruling in January, judge Clementina Forleo said efforts by Daki and his co-defendants to help Iraqi insurgents amounted to guerrilla activity, which was not illegal in Italy. The appeals court did not immediately explain the reasoning behind its verdict.

Because there is no reasoning but only political bias.

"The sentence of acquittal in Milan emphasises yet again the strong contradiction between the scrupulous and serious work carried out by those in law enforcement, which has resulted in the arrest of 200 terrorism suspects... and the rulings of a way too tolerant judiciary which has acquitted them." Fabrizio Cicchito a senior member of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party said commenting Monday's sentence.

"We hope that this contradiction will not help provoke a tragedy," he added.

Given the state of our judiciary system (most Italian judges belong to the extreme left), the law enforcement people should be praised. If I were one of them I would have given up long ago as most arrests end up with political acquittals. Chaos, of course, is the purpose of these judges, as it would pave the way for more state control and a totalitarian regime.

Italy, Judiciary, Terrorism

Madam Chirac: it runs in the family

Remember Chirac? No? Hint: France, economic disaster, civil war, in hiding…never mind. It seems that he has even more problems now:

A French lawyer has accused President Jacques Chirac of impeding criminal investigations into the alleged illegal use of private jets by his wife, Bernadette. Maitre Jean-Paul Baduel formally proposed a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the activities of the Euralair charter and air taxi company, which collapsed two years ago with more than £30 million of debts. Documents seized by investigators suggest that Mme Chirac took six private flights with the company in 1998-99 but was never asked to pay the bills, which totalled £41,000. Euralair's founder and president, Alexandre Couvelaire, is a friend of the Chirac family.

But she did it in the national interest:

She took the private flights from Paris to Correze, mostly on council business, including an appearance at the making of the "biggest mushroom omelette in the world" in Brive in July 1998.

France, Chirac, Corruption

Oriana Fallaci

I have posted before about Oriana Fallaci, a brave writer and journalist who I admire very much. Pamela has an excellent post about Oriana's latest public appearance.

Don't miss it!

Oriana Fallaci, Eurabia, Islam

Saddam's trial

Only one thing is more squalid than Saddam holding a Quran at his trial and that is Ramsey Clark (who died recently but wasn't told out of compassion) sitting as an observer on the defense team of the monster.

Saddam, Clark, Iraq

Shameful compromise on terrorism at EUROMED

European Union leaders and their mostly Muslim southern neighbours have reached last-minute agreement over a code of conduct on fighting terrorism at the end of summit which most Arab leaders did not attend. The compromise came when the EU dropped its insistence that the right to self-determination did not justifiy terrorism, and references to Israel's 1967 borders and the right to resist foreign occupation were omitted from the final document. However, the summit, which has been described by observers as lackluster, failed to agree on a common definition of terrorism.

EUROMED, EU, Terrorism

Bush early start

Simon Jenkins, a columnist for London's Sunday Times, comments on reports that President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair toyed with the idea of bombing al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based TV network:

That Blair and Bush should have discussed bombing the Al-Jazeera building in Qatar is hardly surprising. They agreed to bomb the headquarters of Serbian television during the Kosovo war.

Well, color us impressed. Who knew President Bush was already conducting foreign policy back in 1999, when he was still governor of Texas?

Bush, Blair, Al Jazeera, Kosovo, Serbia

Canada gets rid of Martin

I as going to comment on slimy Martin but this is too good to pass:

Interestingly, C-SPAN radio carried Martin’s resignation speech / campaign opener. Aside from the first impression, which was that Mr. Martin is a smug, petulant little bastard, I was most struck by his collossal arrogance. He declared repeatedly that Canada was the conscience of the world.

The arrogance. The hubris. No nation or person with a legitimate claim of this nature, a claim to be a global moral authority of some sort, would ever voice such a claim. Mother Theresa, conscience of the world? Maybe. Bob Geldoff? No way, but nice try. Pope John Paul? Yeah, possibly. The nation of Canada? Please. Moreover, the former would be wayyyy too modest to stand up and claim moral authority over the world. The conscience of the world? More like the conscience of my ass.

The next time you see an article about Canadian media or political criticism of the “arrogant cowboy” in the White House, please, don’t bother forwarding it to me. Canada, at least its liberals, wouldn’t know arrogant if arrogant bit them in the ass then danced around them in circles wearing a sandwich board saying “Hey Everybody! I’m a Thoroughly Arrogant Fuckstick!” As far as I’m concerned, anybody other than God who claims to be the world’s moral authority is utterly full of shit, and if “Canada = World’s Moral Authority” is the official government line, than Canada can no longer be taken seriously, it’s as delusional as a late stages Alzheimer’s patient.

Canada, Martin

Galloway pledges solidarity to Chavez

At its national conference in November, the anti-war Respect coalition passed the following resolution pledging solidarity with Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution.

1. This conference extends its solidarity to the people of Venezuela and applauds its government for its challenge to neoliberalism and US domination.

2. We pledge our support for a broad based campaign of solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution.

3) We encourage those Respect members who can to attend the World Social Forum in Caracas being held 25-29 January.

4) We resolve to affiliate to the Hands off Venezuela campaign.

An anonymous source, highly placed in the Caracas government, informed me that immediately after the resolution was passed, Chavez phoned George and said: "Took your bloody time, didn't you, guv'nor? What does Assad have that I don't?" (This blog could not independently confirm the information).

As Fausta says: "Galloway is the gift that keeps on giving" ;-).

Galloway, Respect, Venezuela, Chavez, Assad

Bolton for President!

John Bolton, the US Ambassador to the UN continues to amaze me:

Following intense US pressure, the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday issued an unprecedented condemnation of Monday's Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel. This condemnation - slamming Hezbollah by name for acts of hatred - marked the first time the Security Council has ever reprimanded Hezbollah for cross-border attacks on Israel. The condemnation followed by two days a failed attempt to get a condemnation issued on Monday, the day of the attack, when Algeria came out against any mention of Hezbollah in the statement.

When asked what changed from Monday to Wednesday, one diplomatic official replied: John Bolton, a reference to the US ambassador to the UN.

Hezbullah, Bolton, United Nations, Security Council, Israel

Trolling for Syria

Syria Comment Plus has a poignant comment on Mehlis arrangement with Syria regarding the interrogation of the suspects:

With Mehlis set to interview five unnamed Syrian intelligence officers in Vienna, every Ba’athist on this planet is celebrating this victory of sort because the venue was changed to Austria and because guarantees for no arrest were given by Mehlis against the five suspects.

In fact, there is nothing to celebrate about and here is why.

If the five people were found to be involved in the assassination of Hariri and arrested in Vienna, then the international community looses the chance for regime change in Syria. The culprits have been arrested and will be judged under international law. Syria is off the hook. Assad is given a golden opportunity to save his regime.

But if the five return home to Syria and Mehlis finds in his report due to be delivered to the UN on December 15 that any of the ones he investigated are guilty, then international warrants will be issued and more than likely Assad will get into this tug-of-war of not delivering them thus placing Syria back into the pressure cooker.

Syria, Assad, Mehlis

Mugabe keeps on killing

One of Zimbabwe's few remaining dairy farmers has been strangled and then burnt to death. Don Stewart, 68, was attacked in his well-guarded homestead near Norton, 30km west of Harare on Sunday. A group of men, unable to get into Stewart's house through the doors or windows, entered through the roof and strangled him in his bed. They then covered his body with a mattress and set it alight with fuel stolen from a farm vehicle.

The rule of law in Zimbabwe has always been the primary target of Mugabe. It appears that he has been successful. Senate farce apart, the "man" is a terrorist and should be treated as such.

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Terrorism