Happy holidays!

I'll be traveling for the holidays so posts will be iffy. Anyway, a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2006 to all of you! (And let's hope Santa will bring some nice surprise!).

Syria's U-Haul and Store

So, Syria agrees to store Iran's weapons on its soil in case of UN sanctions against Teheran. Nothing new here, Assad already did the same for Saddam. It would be good to have everything in one place.

Iran, Syria, Iraq

Mansions for the Homeless

A Zimbabwean cabinet minister has condemned as "sub-standard" a model of a home built by the United Nations (UN) for victims of a government clean-up blitz that left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Chombo said that the money spent on asbestos walling could have been used to buy bricks, the paper said.

"Comrade Chombo described the house... as below human dignity, saying the people who designed the structure were guided by a 'this-is-good-for-Africa' attitude," The Herald said.

UN relief aid coordinator Jan Egeland should realize two things: Mugabe wants nice houses made of bricks because a) through his Vice President Joice Mujuru he has bought brick factories prior to Operation Murambatsvina (Drive out filth) and b) the homeless will never see the inside of these houses as they will be rented out or given to army officers as bribes.

I am sure that the UN is not as naive as to ignore what I have just stated, but their continuous pretense of taking everything at face value is tiring, stupid and dangerous.

PS Sokwanele has posted a petition initiated by the Mail and Guardian to refer Mugabe to the Security Council:

To compel the United Nations Security Council to pass resolutions imposing economic sanctions on Zimbabwe and establishing an International Tribunal for Crimes Against Humanity in Zimbabwe. Perpetrators of these crimes should be apprehended and then prosecuted.

Might as well try it. Go and sign!

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Corruption, UN

Iraq's future

Forget all the doomsayers, defeatists catching at straws. "Iraq is disintegrating!" screams the Independent (and results are not out yet!)! Didn't America risk to elect Kerry? Welcome to democracy! It'll work out.

Iraq, Democracy, Elections

Democratic underground (take five)

Don't miss this, it's hilarious: Annual ten worst quotes From The Democratic Underground For 2005 (ht: Rantburg).

Number 3:

3) seabeyond: "i refuse kentuck i just refuse. why do you think the (American) people are so dumb because they have been being dumb down consistantly alst decade especially during bush time. i refuse and tell my children i refuse to allow them to be dumb down. they had better use their brain to follow me. i have high expectation,. i will not feed into the dumbing down of america. i tell my friends, exactly i expect more out of them, i especially tell my older nieces and nephews and their friends, i will not play their dumb down game

no no no"

Don't laugh, though; it would be like mocking the Special Olympics (Thanks, BH!).

What a coincidence...

Germany has secretly released Hammadi ,a Hezbollah member jailed for life for killing a U.S. Navy diver and returned him to Lebanon despite an extradition request from the United States. Lebanese political sources said on Tuesday.

Hammadi's release occurred a few days before German hostage Susanne Osthoff was freed in Iraq. The archaeologist had disappeared on Nov. 25. Germany said on Sunday she was in safe custody. She has made no public statement since. A Lebanese source said a senior German intelligence officer visited Damascus early this month but did not disclose the purpose of the trip. Syria is a key backer of Hezbollah.

Thanks g-d Germany is not on the Security Council or they would have sold their veto power on Syria's resolutions.

Germany, Terrorism, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria

The Iranian regime will never change by itself

An interesting post on LiberoPensiero, comparing today's Iran to communist USSR (translation mine):

Today's Iran plays the same role once rendered by the USSR, although on a smaller scale. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the whole global structure of the totalitarian left collapsed with it. Similarly, if Iran's Islamic Republic collapses, it is likely that the whole islamofascist structure would too.

If this is true, and I tend to agree with it, then Teheran's regime has no choice but to behave as it does, to say what it says and to support terrorism all over the map in order to survive. Having said that, the choices for the civilized world are then extremely limited: either promote a popular revolt that would erase the theocracy (but time is running out) or provoke regime change by external means, now. If the first step towards this objective is a referral to the Security Council so that sanctions can be imposed to Iran, so be it, but the West should be well aware that no negotiations, threats or enticements will ever budge Teheran from its positions as this would amount - for the regime - to political (and religious) suicide. In fact, any dialogue with the EU and/or the US emboldens it.

Even if Ahmadinejad gets out of the picture (see preceding post), and the regime offers the world a less unpleasant and undiplomatic side, the West should not believe for a moment that Teheran's aims and objectives have mellowed. In a way, in fact, it could be more dangerous as it would give an excuse to some countries (Russia, China, France, Germany) to pretend to appreciate Iran's government improved attitude (in order to do business with them) and insist on endless and useless negotiations while the mullahs develop their nuclear program at their leisure.

Iran, Ahmadinejad, USSR

The short happy life of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Sources in Iran also indicate that efforts are under way to impeach the new President, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, but that a parallel effort has been working on sending him back to Allah and opinion has it, he will not complete his term in office.

Looks like Ahmadinejad has a short future in front of him.

Iran, Ahmadinejad

Ahmadinejad assassination attempt

Bandits killed a guard of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hours before the leader visited southeastern Iran this week, Iranian television reported Saturday.

Bandits?

Iran, Ahmadinejad

Iraq issues arrest warrant for UN HQ bomb suspect

Iraq has issued an arrest warrant for a militant believed to be responsible for the 2003 truck-bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement on Friday. The attack killed 22 people including U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello. The statement said Iraq's Central Investigating Court had issued the warrant on Dec. 4 for Mullah Halgurd al-Khabir. It named him as the prime suspect for the U.N. headquarters attack and said he was the senior leader in Baghdad of the Army of Ansar al-Sunna -- one of the main Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq. It also said Khabir had historical ties to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq.

Moreover, Ansar al-Sunna is a terrorist organization with links to Iran and Syria (and probably an ally of Moqtada al Sadr), believed to be based in Mosul. Many of its members have been arrested in north Iraq by the Kurds; some must have repented and confessed their sins.

Iraq, UN, Zarqawi

Iraq's victory against MSM

After yesterday's historic Iraqi elections that have seen Sunnis renounce violence for representation, I hope all those idiots, hypocrites, extremists and opportunists (and yes, I am also talking about BBC, Reuters, AP, &c) will stop calling terrorists "insurgents" or "militants". They were false and ridiculous before, they would be pathetic now.

Iraq, MSM, Terrorism

Nigeria's agricultural revolution

Impressed by the success of the commercial farming initiative of Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State, President Olusegun Obasanjo would today hold a retreat with all the state governors in Kaduna to explore the possibility of replicating the initiative in other states.

Prior to the retreat, Adamu had disclosed that the Presidency after his visit to the state to assess the progress of the Zimbabwe Farmers had met with the expatriate farmers at Aso Rock where he had recommended the commercial farming initiative to 12 states and had directed them come to Kwara to see things for themselves. He stressed that in its determination to ensure the success of the White Farmers programme, the federal government had set up a technical committee to advise and added that funding would play critical roles in the success of the programme.

Bello praised the white farmers for putting the nation on the world map of agriculture revolution and added that agriculture remained the mainstay of the nation's economy, "it is growing at a faster rate because it holds the key to job creation and poverty reduction." Visiting Nassarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Adamu expressed excitement at the prospects of the commercial farming initiative and said, "from today, I wish to announce to you that the government and people of Nassarawa State having come and seen the good efforts of these farmers and what they have done within 10 months which we cannot do in 10 years we are on board."

If Mugabe had any dignity, he would dig a very deep hole and jump in it.

Read it all and cry for Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Nigeria, Obasanjo, Agriculture

A letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

We have been (almost) good this year and would like some presents very much. We'll give you a choice, but if you manage to carry off all of them we would be very, very happy (we also did some preliminary legwork for you):

Regime change:

Iran
Syria
Zimbabwe
North Korea
Venezuela
Cuba
Burma

Termination:

Bin Laden
Al Zarqawi
Al Zawahiri

Disappearance:

Ted Kennedy
George Galloway

Thank you Santa! You'll find milk and Christmas pudding near the fireplace for your refreshment (and Dasher's, Dancer's, Prancer's &c).

Christmas, Santa Claus, Presents

Ahmadinejad told to take a hike...to Alaska

Outspoken Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should take a trip to Alaska to cool off after his latest outburst against Jews, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said, AFP reported. "He has to go to Alaska to cool off a little bit," Peres told a press conference at a European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg.

Apart from Peres' ironic but bland comment, Iran has become a huge world problem and must be dealt with swiftly and completely.

Iran, Ahmadinejad, Peres, Israel

Zimbabwe's quiet coup

Trevor Ncube, chairman of the Africa board of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, has hit out fiercely at Zimbabwe's ruling elite, alleging that the deeply troubled southern African state is now effectively being ruled by the military and the intelligence agencies rather than by President Robert Mugabe.

"It has become clear Mugabe is not running the country," said the publisher. "Remember after Operation Murambatsvina. It was revealed that it was the Central Intelligence Organisation that was behind it." Operation Murambatsvina, which translates into Shona as "Operation Drive Out The Rubbish", resulted in somewhere between 750,000 and 2.3 million Zimbabweans being made homeless when police, soldiers and militias of the ruling ZANU PF party moved into working class suburbs in the cities and towns, hotbeds of support for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, and razed many thousands of homes with bulldozers and sledgehammers.

"Mugabe has no intention to leave [the presidency], and in fulfilment of that he now relies more and more on the military," continued Ncube. "In other words we have a military dictatorship in place.

An earlier post of mine sounds eerily prescient today:

One way out for Mugabe, perhaps the only one (short of suicide) at this point, is to provoke a crisis that would justify the introduction of martial law, immediately followed by a military coup (with his support in exchange for protection). His recent promise to allocate stolen land to 6000 members of the armed forces hints at some kind of agreement.

Zimbabwe, Mugabe

Iraq Votes

We are living through a watershed moment in the story of freedom.

Go to Pajamas Media for an excellent coverage of the Iraqi elections.

Iraq, Elections

Kyoto

Global warming could be due to hot air.

Kyoto, Montreal, Environment, Global Warming

Bolton pushes Annan for reform

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. Ambassador John Bolton discussed reforms four days after Annan reproached him for criticizing a top U.N. official.

Details of Annan and Bolton's discussion were not made public, but Dujarric said the talks focused on reforming the United Nations, including establishing a Peacebuilding Commission and transferring power from the disgraced Human Rights Commission to a new human rights council.

Hopefully Bolton will knock some sense into that zombie.

UN, Annan, Bolton

Algeria's crisis

The condition of Algeria's president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in a Paris hospital for surgery on a stomach ulcer, is critical according to anonymous diplomatic sources.

After the trick referendum some people are getting worried.

Meanwhile, the chain of events in the country this week have exposed the fragility of the Algerian regime, which is built on loyalty to personalities and influential people and not on the basis of the strength of state institutions. An analyst said the reason behind the tension that engulfed the country in recent days was that a number of officials whose appointment lacked legitimacy feared that they would fall if President Bouteflika left the presidency in one way or the other.

Algeria, Bouteflika

Syria's position worsening by the hour

Assad threatens the region and the world if Syria is subjected to sanctions and the next day Tueni, a prominent anti-Syrian journalist, is killed in Beirut. Is Assad naive or does he think he can play hard without someone playing harder?

The latest Mehlis report doesn't leave much to the imagination; Assad must make up his mind quickly or there will be nothing left to decide for him.

Mehlis, United Nations, Tueni, Syria, Lebanon