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Editorial: Israeli Diplomat Carrying Large Quantity Of Explosives Arrested In Argentina
23/08/2006
Red Kalki
Last week, (mid August 2006) a very serious event transpired at the Buenos Aires international airport which the local mainstream press did not however bring to the attention of the public. Today, Red Kalki, relying on reliable sources, brings this matter into the open.
On Wednesday 9th August 2006, Ezeiza airport police arrested an important Israeli diplomat carrying a considerable quantity of explosives. The Zionist representative was en route to Chile and was detained minutes before boarding a plane. Despite his protests, airport police arrested him and informed the Argentine interior ministry of the situation which ordered that the situation be contained.
Firstly, it should be noted that the airport police, all ex aeronautical military police, were previously under the control of the Defence ministry and military command. Since the 'Four winds' (drugs) scandal however, control of this unit has passed to political funcionaroes of the Kirchner (Argentine PM) government. For various reasons, the unit is experiencing serious problems, among which is the precarious nature of their job security caused by the many failures of their new bosses in the interior ministry of the Krichner government and the many conflicts between the two.
According to various airport sources, including the members of the airport security unit, a verbal argument erupted between members of the unit and and members of the Krichner government who wanted to free the Israeli diplomat because there was no precedent for this type of arrest, which included the implication that if anything were happen as a result of the release of the bomb-laden Israeli diplomat, the blame would fall on the airport security unit.
Towards the invention of a "third attack"
For years, various reporters and indepdendent researchers have been highlighting the false nature of the "attacks" on the Israeli embassy in Argentina and on the headquarters of AMIA (Argentine Israelite Mutual Association which was "truck bombed" in July 1997 and the blame placed on Hizb'allah)
For example, the online magazine "Libertad de opinion" conducted an exclusive investigation into the Israeli embassy truck bombing in Buenos Aires in July 1997 (blamed on Islamic Jihad) in which it revealed reports submitted to the Supreme Court by engineers who had studied the scene of the embassy bombing and who asserted that there was in fact no truck bomb, that the building was destroyed by an implosion from within the building and that a crater was created before hand to provide evidence for the claim by local Zionist organisations that a truck bomb was the cause.
In May of 1999, the print edition of the same magazine (Libertad de opinion) published another shocking article in which it revealed the clues and questions that led many investigators to dismiss the "Islamic terrorist" hypothesis and to conclude that the the previously mentioned AMIA bombing in July 1997 was also the result of an internal implosion, on this occasion caused by the detonation of a box full of explosives that had been sent to the AMIA building by an Israeli community in Cordoba.
Today, Red Kalki is publishing details of both events so that readers can analyse and come to their own conclusions.
We observe that, despite the powerful interests who attempted to silence these issues, the claims of the 'Libertad de opinion' publication have stood the test of time, to the extent that, today, those who were originally accused of the "attack" have been freed due to a lack of evidence, and instead the ex-judge and Zionist Galeano, the ex-president of the DAIA (Delegation of Israeli Associations of Argentina) and the well know Zionist conman and bank robber, Ruben Baraja, are instead being prosecuted, while employee of the Argentine daily paper Pagina/12 and peddler of Zionist lies, Raul Kollman, is also being investigated.
A few weeks after Israel initiated its new aggression against Palestine and Lebanon, the Delegation of Israeli Associations of Argentina (DAIA) and the Wiesenthal Center, again began to proclaim to the press that a "third attack" in Argentina was in preparation. At the same time, the White House and the Pentagon began to announce results of their supposed investigations over the "latent dangers" in the Tripe Frontier area (area where the borders of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet) from the presence of the sizable "Arab Islamic community" there, including the suggestion that "al-Qaeda fighters" were ensconsed there.
With the war in the Middle East already begun, and as Red Kalki explained in our analysis of the conflict, a phenomenon, unexpected by Israel, occurred in the form of a unanimous rejection by the European and Latin-American left of organised Zionism. At the same time, South American governments refused to support Israeli terrorist policies, some through conviction and others in order to not appear as allies of colonialism.
In the particular case of Argentina, large-scale demonstrations by the Arab community took place which provoked the anger of local Zionist representatives, to the point that members of the Olmert government sent missives to the DAIA and the AMIA requesting that, in order to show their absolute and unfailing loyalty to Israel, they travel to Israel to personally express their support for the Israeli policy of unbridled genocide.
From all of this, it became clear to the Israelis that their image had passed from that of the victim to the victimiser. They concluded that the peoples of the world no longer looked upon them with pity but with repulsion, and as such, the Israelis are now desperately seeking to find new ways to re-esablish their role as that of the victim, a role which has always served them well to justify the mafia-like patronage of the US and the US military invasions of Israel's neighbors.
According to sources, a dramatic "attack" is being planned for South America, in order to neutralise the growing rejection of Zionist barbarity among South American governments. During the recent conflict, no South American government desired to come out in favor of Israel, and likewise, none wanted to openly criticise Hizb'allah. Given the existing conditions in the country and the militant awakening of the Argentine Islamic community, to the rest of the world a "third Islamic terror attack" in Argentina might appear quite credible. There also exists the possibility of such a 'false flag' attack in Chile where another large Palestinian community resides. Either of these two countries appear as likely targets, keeping in mind the recent news of the arrest of the bomb-laden Israeli diplomat en route to Chile.
The arrest of the diplomat set off alarm bells in the Casa Rosada (Argentina's 'White House'). Instead of making the arrest public and demanding explanations from Tel Aviv, The Kirchner government chose to maintain a disconcerting silence and allowed the days to pass. Rafael Eldad, Israeli ambassador to Argentina and self-declared Zionist fanatic who has had and has sons in the Israeli military, following instructions from the Israeli government, must surely have intervened in a shameless way in the matter of the arrest of the bomb-laden Israeli diplomat.
What will happen in upcoming months?
This is the important question that Argentine security forces are asking. After the Israeli diplomat debacle; will Tel Aviv call off or push forward with a similar "third attack"?
In the Zionist leadership, we notice something of a tendency towards an absolute loss of control caused by the fact that reality is not conforming to its nefarious plans. In an act of rage and impotence at not having achieved its military aims in Lebanon, in the last few days of the conflict, Israeli war planes dropped tons of bombs on Lebanese houses, hospitals, schools and religious temples, reaffirming in this way the genocidal policies of the Israeli invaders.
At the same time, the Zionist leadership in Argentina shares this irrational hatred and is totally subordinate to the directives of the Israeli government. Given this situation, intelligence analysts from various countries agree that it is very difficult to predict the exact nature of the Zionist plans for Argentina and its neighbors.
We hope that the Argentine government will finally do what must be done - reveal what happened at the airport; provide the complete details of the Israeli diplomat's identity; begin the necessary judicial investigation and demand immediate explanations from the Zionist regime in Israel. The Argentine government must also understand that to continue to cover up such matters, involves clearly forseeable risks to the security of the Argentine people and their country.
We at Red Kalki feel that we have done our duty in informing the citizenry.
Translated from the original by Joe Quinn for Signs of the Times.
Editor's note: See this link for details on the abovementioned attacks on Israeli targets in Argentina over the past 15 years.
Comment on this Editorial
Editorial: The Right To Return, a Basic Right Still Denied
Palestinian Right To Return Coalition
12/09/2006
- Palestinian refugees represent the longest suffering and largest refugee population in the world today.
- In 2005, there were approximately 7.2 million Palestinian refugees, equivalent to 74% of the entire Palestinian population which is estimated at 9.7 million worldwide.
- The breakdown of the refugee population is as follows:
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- During the creation of the Zionist state in 1948, approximately three quarters of a million Palestinians were forced to become refugees. Together with their descendants, more than 4.3 million of these refugees are today registered with the United Nations while over 1.7 million are not. According to The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), one-third of the registered refugees live in 59 U.N.-run camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The majority of the rest live in and around cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and of neighboring countries.
- Approximately 32,000 Palestinians became internally displaced in 1948. Today, these refugees number approximately 355,000 persons. Despite the fact that they were issued Israeli citizenship, the Zionist state has also denied these refugees their right to return to their homes or villages.
- When the West Bank and Gaza Strip were occupied in 1967, the U.N. reported that approximately 200,000 Palestinians fled their homes. These 1967 refugees and their descendants today number about 834,000 persons.
- As a result of home demolitions, revocation of residency rights and construction of illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian
owned-land, at least 57,000 Palestinians have become displaced in the occupied West Bank. This number includes 15,000 persons so far displaced by the construction of Israel's Annexation/Apartheid
Wall.
- The Right to Return has a solid legal basis:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 13 affirms: "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and return to his country."
- The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [Article 5 (d)(ii)], states: "State parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination on all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of ... the right to leave any country, including one's own, and to return to one's country."
- The International Convention on Civil and Political Rights [Article 12(4)], states: "No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country."
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Moreover, the Principle of Self Determination guarantees, inter alia, the right of ownership and domicile in one's own country. The UN adopted this principle in 1947. In 1969 and thereafter, it was explicitly applied to the Palestinian People, including "the legality of the Peoples' struggle for Self-Determination and Liberation", (GAOR 2535 (xxiv), 2628 (xxv), 2672 (xxv), 2792 (xxvi)). International law demands that neither occupation nor sovereignty diminish the rights of ownership. When the Ottomans surrendered in 1920, Palestinian ownership of the land was maintained. The land and property of the refugees remains their own and they are entitled to return to it.
- In 1948, the international community felt a deep sense of responsibility for the mass dispossession, ethnic cleansing and the Zionist transfer policy that began then. United Nations Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte, who was later assassinated by a Zionist terrorist hit squad, stated: "It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes, while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine" (UN
Doc Al 648, 1948). This remains true today as any Jew, regardless of national origin, can gain automatic citizenship while Palestinian Arabs are denied their right to return to their own homeland.
- Consistent with International Law, The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution
194 on December 11, 1948. Paragraph 11 states: "the [Palestinian] refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible."
- UN General Assembly Resolution
194 has been has been affirmed by the UN over 130 times since its introduction in 1948 with universal consensus except for Israel and the U.S. This resolution was further clarified by UN
General Assembly Resolution 3236 which reaffirms in Subsection 2: "the inalienable right of Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted, and calls for their return."
- Israel's admission to the UN was conditional on its acceptance of UN resolutions including 194. Denying the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands is a war crime and an act of aggression which deserves action by the international community. The international community can apply sanctions on Israel until it complies with international law.
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- The right of refugees to return is not only sacred and legal but also possible. Demographic studies show that 80% of Israelis live in 15 percent of the land and that the remaining 20% live on 85% of the land that belongs to the refugees. Further, of the 20%, 18% live in Palestinian cities while the remaining 2% live in kibbutzim and moshavs. By contrast, more than 6,000 refugees live per square kilometer in the Gaza Strip, while over the barbed wire their lands are practically empty. Ninety seven percent of the entire refugee population currently lives within 100 km of their homes. Fifty percent live within 40 km. While many live within sight of their homes.
- The inalienable rights of refugees are not negotiable. International law considers
agreements between an occupier and the occupied to be null
and void if they deprive civilians of recognized human
rights including the rights to repatriation and restitution.
- The US is bound by its laws not to fund regimes that violate human rights and basic freedoms. There is no more elemental right than one's right to his/her home and to live in his/her land. The US could use the leverage of the massive financial support it gives to the State of Israel to press for this right.
*Sources:
Dr. Salman Abu Sitta
Palestine Land Society
Badil Resource Center for Refugee Rights
Shaml - The Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Center
United Nations Relief and Works Agency
Comment on this Editorial
Editorial: Meanwhile in Baghdad...
By Dahr Jamail
09/12/06 "t r u t h o u t"
I've recently received several emails from Iraq. Some, like the first, have been sent to me from people I know. Others were passed on by my friend Gerri Haynes, who receives emails regularly from friends she made during her several trips to Iraq. I include them here, as the brunt of this piece, because they show the living hell that Iraq has become under US occupation.
Here is an email from a doctor living in Baghdad:
Although I have perfect job satisfaction as a full professor with an MRCP, FRCP, and two more degrees from London and France, things are so unhappy here in Baghdad. There is no quality of life at all. There are no services; we are loaded with garbage as it is not collected more than once every so many weeks. Garbage collectors are also afraid of being killed. We have almost no electricity, no fuel, bad water supply and what is more, you could get killed whether you are Shi'ite or Sunni if you fall into the wrong hands! I nearly got killed on several occasions!
As for our colleagues, nearly none are with me from our class since most have left the country. The last one to leave was Abdul Aal, who left two months ago to Oman. The only one left with me is Khdayyer Abbas, who is a physician in the department of Medicine.
It is not a miserable life; if there is a grade more than miserable, then it will be ours!!! We work no more than three days a week in the university. The medical city, which was elegant and beautiful before the occupation, is now surrounded by garbage, barbed wire and concrete blocks from all directions. We don't spend more than three hours maximum at work so that totals nine hours a week!!! This is the maximum that anyone is working. In the afternoons, most of my colleagues say that they have completely stopped going to their private clinics for fear of death or abduction.
I work no more than one hour and a half hour in the afternoon. I come back rushing to my house after that. We lock our doors and do not leave at all. What about shopping? It is called "Marathon Buying," for I try to spend no more than ten minutes getting all the needed vegetables, fruits and food items. This is on my way back from university, three times a week. I also spend another ten minutes in the afternoon on my way back from the clinic buying car fuel for my home electric generator. It is all black markets now since the lines are so long at the pumps, reaching four to five times the official price. If I need to get it officially, I have to spend the night in line in front of the gas station where people bring their blankets, water, food and sleep in the street in front of the gas stations. Sometimes I speak nicely to the guard of the gas station, presenting my ID and my business card and ask them if I can fill my car out of line. Sometimes they kick me out, other times I am lucky and the guard has some rheumatic complaints, back pain or knee pains, and bingo, I can fill my car out of line with a promise to bring him medicines to where he is. Of course, this is without any physical exam or investigations. If I was really lucky and the stars were on my side that day, then I might even be allowed to get an extra 20 liters of gas for my generator!!!
One month ago there were militia men with their guns storming the dormitories of the resident doctors in the medical city. They were looking for doctors from Mosul or Al-Anbar province. There was a big fuss, and the targeted doctors went into hiding so none were caught. The next day, two of them who were rheumatology post-graduates under my supervision asked me to give them leave to go to their hometowns and not be back except for their exams. I agreed, because they were leaving anyway. They would have been killed if they were caught, not because they have done any crime, but just because they are Sunni from Mosul or Al-Anbar. I believe that many doctors from southern parts of Iraq who were Shi'ites also left the dormitory that day because they feared that they were not safe anymore and it would be their turn with maybe Sunni militia gunmen who will come sooner or later. So everyone left!!!!
That same week, I had prepared a lecture for post graduate doctors in the medical city, and nobody appeared since all the resident doctors had left! Many have come back again, but are terrified. Life has to go on.
The same applies for other hospitals, where services are almost non-existent now. I was in Yarmouk Hospital two days ago. The resident doctor whom I was visiting was living inside the hospital with broken dusty furniture, wood and metal scattered all over. The doors and windows were broken and it looked like an animal barn. I was requesting a death certificate for a colleague, so I went with him to the morgue, where he kept the death registry. Outside the morgue there were bodies of two young men, both shot in the head, lying on stretchers in the open air. The hospital was barricaded behind huge cement walls. The hospital itself has been targeted several times by car bombs. Several months ago, doctors in this hospital declared a one-day strike because they were beaten and wounded by officers of the Iraqi National Guard. The hospitals are frequently raided by militia men who will pull the wounded out of their hospital beds and drag them to where they will be executed.
Attendance of patients to hospitals has dropped tremendously. Before the invasion, we used to see an average of 100 patients in our consultation clinic of rheumatology every single day. We don't see more than 20 nowadays. Don't ask me where the patients disappeared. Many are scared to leave their homes and go to the hospitals. The hospital used to provide medicines for the chronically ill, for diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. We used to have a monthly blood checking available, followed by a month supply of DMRDs. These supplies are now infrequent and blood checking is not done because services are so irregular. So most patients got fed up and decided it is no longer worth it to attend hospitals. Even simple medicines are not available most of the time for patients coming for acute complaints. Many who used to come from towns and cities away from Baghdad for better treatment in the capital city now think it is too risky and dangerous to travel to Baghdad for a follow-up. Patients stop their therapy altogether or depend on local facilities and whatever simple resources they get where they are, regardless of whether it is effective or not.
The financial situation of most families in Baghdad has gone so much down, that many find it is a luxury to treat chronic illnesses, since the priority is for food, fuel and staying alive. This is a small summary of what and how we are living.
Here is an email written on August 10. The woman who wrote it, Souad, holds a PhD and is a DU researcher who recently moved to northern Baghdad due to the security situation. She is a mother of four.
For a while we have been going through very hard times. My oldest brother, a kidney surgeon, died one month ago in a very painful situation. He was a director of a large clinic and was 61 years old. He had a severe stroke in the middle of the night. My brothers took him to Al-Kindy Hospital in the morning, because it is the closest to the area. After long time of waiting, they refused to hospitalize him in the intensive care because as they said they had no time for stroke victims and they had to perform so many amputations because of the explosions and the street fights. They asked my brothers to bring him back on Saturday, when they might have a place in the intensive care. My brother took him to private hospitals, which were very good at one time. Most of them were closed because their specialists had received envelopes saying "You have to leave, or else" with a gun bullet in the envelope. They took him back home, and he died the next morning. This is how much a human being is worth in liberated, democratic Iraq now. He worked all his life to save people's lives, but nobody saved his. We feel outraged and hopeless. We have more than 150 young men get killed every day only in Baghdad, and nobody knows what the Americans in Iraq are up to. The death squads attack Sunni Arabs areas, and when the people fight back to protect their kids and families, the American tanks start bombing the areas with the civilians in them. That proves that these squads are part of occupation plan to control Iraq. About two million people left Iraq this summer. On TV, we see the media making the relation between American and Iran look really tense. In Iraq, the Americans work hand in hand with the Iranian militias to slaughter Iraqis. I don't know when this bloodthirsty president of yours will stop. He is executing Hitler's plans with the Jewish, but this time on Muslims. I wonder what the children and teenagers will do after they see their parents suffering or being killed at the hands of occupation criminals. Excuse me for being so harsh and disappointed, but this is what we are doing every single day of our lives now.
Here is another email from Souad:
I know it is hard to imagine the situation. Baghdad turned into a ghost city this summer. Things are beyond the tolerance of any human being. No electricity, no fuel in the richest oil country to run even small house generators. 90% of the stores are closed because of the kidnappings and explosions. Some of my women relatives couldn't leave the house to their garden for six months. Can you imagine the house-prisons women are locked in here in Iraq these days? Some of them PhD holders. About two million Iraqi have left since June of this year to close-by countries waiting for a miracle to happen. We have no clue what will happen the next day. There is no planning and no reconstruction. Where are all the oil revenues going? Nobody knows. Every single dollar is being spent on security plans, and we have no security.
The following email is from Rizgar Khosnow, who is a Kurdish man with US citizenship and author of the book, Nothing Left But Their Voices. Khosnow lives in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, where most people in the US are led to believe things are so much better than the rest of Iraq. This first email is from August 12:
We have been stuck at home this summer because it is so hot here and we have very little electricity. Things are not that great here. As I have said in the past, I am considered wealthy here and I am just barley keeping my head above water. Believe it or not, I am spending $600-700 a month in gas alone! This gas I use to run my two generators, at different times in the day, and I must use them to run lights and fans. The rent is getting so ridiculous that the president of Kurdistan came on TV last night and said that he will do something about the rent increase that is going on here.
Three years ago, I rented a furnished home for $100 in the city of Arbil. Now, I pay $1500 a MONTH without furniture! My next door neighbor rented his home for $3,500 a month. Things are extremely bad here. The rich are robbing the poor. I wish I knew how people here are living when their monthly salaries are no more than $200 a month! Last year, a gallon of gas cost 25 cents and now the same gallon cost $6.00.
Here is another email from him:
I am glad that you are trying your best to get the word out. I feel that we need to let all Americans know what is going on. I have moved to my new home and it has taken me one week to do so. I have help from three of my relatives who are staying with me till I finish everything, and we still cannot seem to complete all that work that is needed. You will not believe how difficult things are here and how much I needed to do in my new home. Things are not easy here. At the new home we have electricity one hour a day. I have now bought another generator, now I have three of them, to give me power to run lights and fans. We also have not had water for three days so I had to buy water worth $20 a day! That is life here even for the well-to-do like myself!
Here is another email from him:
It is true what is going on is horrifying, but there is even more happening every day that goes by. Since I am moving from my current home to a new home, my cousin told me that he will come to Arbil and help us move. He lives in Baghdad. He called this morning and told me that he cannot make it because of the curfew that is going on in Baghdad. There is absolutely nobody going out of their home at any time.
It was supposed to be for two days but now it will be one full week. The curfew is only in the Sunni areas. That means the Shi'ites will still have their weapons to kill more Sunnis as they wish. Yesterday, some 20 or so soldiers entered all the homes in my cousin's area. They entered my cousin's home to search for weapons. It was a very scary and unpleasant experience for my relatives. Let me tell you what that means for people too scared to leave their houses now.
They have no food; only water, bread and some rice. Since there is no electricity, they cannot store food. We all know that Iraqis go to the market on a daily basis to buy food or they have to stay hungry for a week. Since there is no electricity, some areas have large private generators that they turn on for at most five hours a day to give each home enough power to run two fans and few lights- each home usually gets 4 to 5 Amps. They usually charge a lot of money for this service, and even that is not working this week, because the owner of the generator is not allowed to turn it on and he cannot even leave his home. Anyone needing medicine is out of luck. No government offices are open. Anyone needing to go to the hospital must wait for a week! Simply put, Iraq is nothing but a large prison.
Here is an email from him on August 19:
I do have a lot to say and I wish to get the word out. No American can imagine what is going on here at this time. It seems that the sad stories never end here. Just a few weeks ago, my cousins, the five of them brothers, were warned that they would be killed if they did not leave their homes in the Sunni areas of Baghdad. They all packed their bags and moved to Egypt with their families. The brothers will return to Kurdistan to work with me in the next couple of months once they set up their families in Egypt. This is the life in Iraq, and Bush and Rice keep telling us that we are "making progress in Iraq." What a bunch of bull - -
Here is an email from him on August 28:
I have concluded that there is no way on earth that Iraq will recover, as one country, in the next ten to twenty years. We need a new generation here if we are going to see any kind of peace. There have been so many killings here that there is no way one will forgive the other. I personally know many people in Baghdad who are waiting for the right time to seek revenge on others that have hurt them. There has been so much hurt here that you can never imagine it.
Iraqis have given up on peace in Baghdad especially. There is no hope. What you see on TV is propaganda and controlled by the USA and is absolutely not true. There is no such thing as "reconciliation" between Iraqis. There has been too much blood spilled and Iraqis are VERY well known not to forget and forgive.
Here is a letter I received from a WWII veteran named Jack Cross who had asked me if I had figures of the tonnage of bombs dropped by US warplanes in Iraq. I include it here to underscore the fact that those responsible for creating the living hell that Iraq has become are war criminals and should be treated as such. I include it here for those currently serving in the US military as an example of what true honor looks like:
I am 84 years old, and I flew as a navigator on B-25s in the campaign that drove the Germans out of North Africa - from Cairo to Tripoli. Then, returning home I undertook pilot training as a student officer. I then transitioned in B-29s, flying from Tinian as a co-pilot on the last ten missions against Japan. I was in the air when the atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - and I participated in the total destruction of Aomori on the northern tip of Honshu.
Realizing how ignorant I really was, I returned home and entered the University of Chicago and spent several years getting my AB, MA, and PhD there. After this I served for a while in Air Force Intelligence in Washington in a relatively new "targeting division," then transferred to the CIA where, in the Materials Division of the Office of Research and Reports, I spent about seven years as an analyst, rising from a GS7 to a GS11 before quitting in disgust after sitting in on some of the early planning sessions in which the overthrow of Mossadegh [democratically-elected prime minister of Iran, 1951-1953] was planned.
Over the years, as I reviewed my experiences, I have come to realize that I was a participant in war crimes myself, as were so many others - and just how difficult it is to face that reality. Because we were all such heroes of the "good" war. Retrospect, however, shows me that there are no good wars. War is an abomination, a failure of our humanity, and a neglect of our better natures.
I sit here knowing that every major city in the world has been carefully targeted and the international armaments industries of all the major powers have become the most important things in supporting the economies of the countries of the world. I know that the electoral process has been corrupted by diabolical power brokers and realize just how ignorant - in the sense of not knowing anything about the structure (or mal-structure, if you will) of our governments - the people are, or their believing in an innate goodness of man despite all the evidence to the contrary. I cringe before the monsters that the Pentagon and its Air Force have become.
I cringe knowing that all political parties are completely complicit in these developments. I wish I could see some hope. But unless and until the people turn these Republicans out of office and Congress mounts serious investigations of all levels of corruption in the Bush administration and act on their findings, I am very pessimistic about the future. Unless these investigations are carried out and the findings are laid bare for the entire world to see just how nefarious this administration has been - and because this bunch of people know just how serious all this is to their own survival - I am very pessimistic about the future.
No, I don't think we will be able to get the figures for the number of bombs and missiles we have used in this Iraqi war crime, nor will we know what will be used in Iran. It has become important to these people for us not to know these things.
Comment on this Editorial
Ponerized
US Student: "Palestinians welcomed me with open arms into their homes and shared with me what little that they had"
Central Michigan Life
September 13, 2006
Even an impending war couldn't stop Cody O'Rourke from volunteering.
He recently spent three weeks in the West Bank rebuilding a family's demolished home.
O'Rourke, a 25-year-old senior from Gladwin, became interested in traveling to the region after a friend shared a story with him about the struggles of the Palestinian people.
This was his second trip to the region in less than two years.
During this trip, hostilities between Lebanon and Israel had grown worse, but O'Rourke went ahead with his plans despite the danger.
"I was a bit nervous," he said. "But I knew that I had to go anyway."
O'Rourke was greeted by locals with a mixture of distrust and excitement when he arrived in the West Bank.
"The response from the Israeli Defense Forces was usually poor and unwelcoming," O'Rourke said.
"But there are many Israelis who want to try to work with the Palestinian people so that they can share peace."
Palestinians welcomed O'Rourke with open arms into their homes and shared with him what little that they had, he said.
For an American traveling in the region, the dangers are high.
"People were probably suspicious of (O'Rourke) at first," said Apler Dede, temporary faculty in the political science department. "People perceive (Americans in the region) as a negative thing - they think it could be part of a larger conspiracy theory. People in the region are usually suspicious of people from the west, especially Americans."
Many in the region learn about America from films and news reports, so meeting an American often creates a stereotype conflict, Dede said.
"I was trying to understand the United States from Hollywood movies," said Dede, who is from Turkey. "I never had a chance to understand America - imagine what it's like to try to understand the U.S. from seeing movies."
In order to blend in with his surroundings, O'Rourke said he made up various stories to tell the IDF if they became suspicious of his activity in the region.
"(The IDF) don't like internationals traveling around the West Bank," he said.
Plans were changed abruptly when the site where O'Rourke was building a home came under fire from the IDF, who exchanged rubber bullets and tear gas with locals.
"The first house we were trying to build was in a southern part of Anata," O'Rourke said. "We had to stop building because it was being built in an area where the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier was going up."
Building the house proved to be the most difficult task for O'Rourke, he said.
"We had no power tools," O'Rourke said. "The house was made mostly out of cement, so we had to mix most of it by hand."
Three weeks in a war zone hasn't deterred O'Rourke's interest in the area, he said.
"I am planning to go back next summer and spend the entire summer there working with some kids at the Hope Flowers Al-Amal School, which is a school that teaches nonviolence in their regular curriculum," he said.
Despite the dangers present in the region, O'Rourke said people should remain interested in helping.
"(They shouldn't) let fear sway their decisions," O'Rourke said. "Don't let the fear of not getting enough money, or being hurt, or detained, or kidnaped influence your decision, but rather, the simple will to help people."
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Sources: Hamas-led cabinet to resign within 48 hours
www.chinaview.cn 2006-09-14 19:06:39
GAZA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Hamas-dominated Palestinian cabinet led by Prime Minister Ismail Haneya would resign within 48 hours, well-informed sources said on Thursday.
Haneya had planned to hand the letter of resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday evening, but Abbas, who was to meet visiting French foreign minister at his Ramallah headquarters could only travel to the Gaza Strip on Friday, said the sources on condition of anonymity.
The move was part of preparations for forming a new Palestinian government with the participation of Fatah, paving the way for the resumption of badly-needed Western aid.
Many world donor countries have cut off direct aid to the Palestinians since Hamas came to power after its victory in the January elections.
Though many portfolios would be re-designated, Abbas confirmed on Wednesday that Haneya is the one that would be asked to form and lead the 11th Palestinian coalition government.
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Military court halts release of Hamas officials following appeal
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
Last update - 14:29 14/09/2006
An Israeli military court on Thursday suspended the release of 20 Hamas legislators and ministers detained by Israel following an appeal by the military prosecutor.
Instead, the court will hold a hearing next Monday on a possible extension of their administrative detention.
The deputy president of the IDF court, Judge Ronen Atzmon, ordered the release of the 20 last Tuesday, and voiced rare criticism of their detention.
In his decision to free the politicians, Atzmon questioned the timing of the arrests, noting that the men were permitted to run for office and serve in the Palestinian government for months before their detentions.
"There is evidence upon which the charges are apparently based," he said, but added that the officials should be released until their trial begins. Only then would it be possible to request their detention until the end of legal proceedings, he said.
The 20 were arrested in the wake of the abduction of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit by Palestinian militants on June 25.
The court on Thursday rejected the arguments of the detainees' lawyers, who said they enjoyed diplomatic immunity and that the arrests contravened the Geneva Convention.
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Children detained in Israeli jails
Maan News
Sep 14, 2006
The Palestinian Prisoner Society has appealed to local and international human rights organizations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and children's organizations, to intervene immediately for the release of two boys currently being held in the Talmond Prison.
The children suffer from difficult psychological conditions in their detention.
Muhammad Othman, 11, and Rafeeq Al Aishih, 13, are from the Our At Tahta region outside the city of Ramallah. They were beaten during their arrest two weeks ago, before being transferred to an Israeli military outpost and forced to sign statements under threats and further beating.
The Israeli authorities have, since the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, arrested more than 5000 child detainees. 350 of them, between the ages of 11 to 18, are still detained in several Israeli prisons and investigation centers and are exposed to almost daily attacks by their captors.
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Amnesty International report: Hezbollah guilty of war crimes
By Yossi Melman
Haaretz Correspondent and DPA
14/09/2006
Amnesty International has accused Hezbollah of "serious violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to war crimes" during the recent Lebanese war.
In a report published in London Thursday, the human rights group condemned the "deliberate targeting" of Israeli civilians by Hezbollah.
The report states that 43 civilians, including seven children, were killed in these Hezbollah attacks.
In meetings with Amnesty International, Hezbollah had argued that its rocket attacks on northern Israel were a reprisal for Israeli attacks on civilians in Lebanon and were aimed at stopping such attacks.
In its report Amnesty rejects the Hezbollah claim by pointing out that international law forbids the targeting of civilians and reprisals.
During the month-long conflict, Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel, killing 43 civilians, seriously injuring 33 others and forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to take refuge in shelters or flee, the report said.
Approximately a quarter of all rockets were fired directly into urban areas, including rockets packed with thousands of metal ball bearings.
"The scale of Hezbollah's attacks on Israeli cities, towns and villages, the indiscriminate nature of the weapons used, and statements from the leadership confirming their intent to target civilians make it all too clear that Hezbollah violated the laws of war," Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan said in a comment on the report.
"The fact that Israel has also committed serious violations in no way justifies violations by Hezbollah. Civilians must not be made to pay the price for unlawful conduct on either side."
Combined with its earlier publication on Israel's targeting of Lebanese civilian infrastructure, the latest findings underlined the urgent need for the United Nations to establish a full and impartial investigation into violations committed by both sides.
The Amnesty report on Israel was severely criticized in Israel and by Jewish groups abroad, who accused the human rights organization of bias. These same critics maintain that Amnesty should have waited and issued the two reports simultaneously.
Haaretz learned that the decision on the timing of the reports' release was made in London, which did not please officials of Amnesty at the Israel office.
The director of the Amnesty International office in Tel Aviv, Amnon Yarden, will present Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav with a copy of the report Thursday.
Comment: So it's okay for Israel to invade Lebanon, destroy much of the country's civilian infrastructure, and murder thousands of civilians, but Hezbollah is the one condemned for killing 43 Israeli civilians?? Obviously, Amnesty International believes that Israeli lives are far more valuable than Lebanese lives.
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Lebanon: Israel encroaching on our soil with new fence
By The Associated Press
KAFR KILA, Lebanon - United Nations peacekeepers asked Israel's army yesterday to pull down a new barbed-wire barrier that Lebanon says encroaches on its territory. However, Israel denied that the fence was on Lebanese soil.
Meanwhile, the handover of south Lebanon continued, with Lebanese troops taking control of a large border zone for the first time in three decades. Israel, whose forces in Lebanon now number a few thousand, said on Friday that it expected to pull all of its troops out within two weeks.
UN peacekeepers inspected the disputed barrier - two coils of barbed-wire that Lebanon says were unfurled some 15 meters inside Lebanon, just across from the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora protested the encroachment, and a spokesman for the UN mission in Lebanon said that the peacekeeping force had asked Israel's army to remove the barrier.
But the Israeli military said that it was repairing the fence along the route set down in a 2000 UN resolution. The fence is not inside Lebanese territory, it said, so there is no reason to remove it.
At the border, a new dirt track controlled by Israelis could be seen running between the tall border fence and the barbed-wire coils laid inside a field.
"The Israeli soldiers moved in and began unfurling their wire in the middle of my land," said farmer Mahmoud Sheikh. He said that the incident occurred three days ago, and that the troops had waved him off as he tried to intervene.
New barriers have been put up in several places, including the Khiam plain and the town of Ghajar. The barriers enclose an area about 15 meters deep and three kilometers wide, Lebanese Army and UN officials said.
Some 10 kilometers away from the contested stretch of fence, Lebanese soldiers in a long column of old jeeps and armored vehicles took control of a 200-square-kilometer zone around Houla, near the border, for the first time in decades.
Children clapped their hands, women threw rice and men waved yellow Hezbollah baseball caps to greet some 300 soldiers. A Lebanese officer commanding the deployment said that because the army has not been in the zone for decades, "we've been studying maps and aerial photographs to find our way."
"We're overjoyed to have them all here," said the mayor of Minni Hayam, Salah Jaber. "Finally, the sovereignty of Lebanon is restored here."
Also yesterday, some 175 French soldiers landed in Lebanon, bringing the number of UN peacekeepers to nearly 3,750.
Under the UN resolution that ended the conflict, 15,000 UN peacekeepers are to secure a buffer zone with Israel in south Lebanon, supporting an equal number of Lebanese troops.
The resolution also calls for disarming Hezbollah. But most soldiers being deployed in the south are conscripts, who are deemed no match for the highly trained guerrillas, and many also say they support Hezbollah.
"Hezbollah are our brothers," said Assem Shouri, a soldier deployed in the southern town of Tibnine. "If ever there's a problem with Israel and I'm asked to disarm them, I'd leave the army and join Hezbollah."
In Berlin, Germany's cabinet approved the deployment of warships to the eastern Mediterranean as part of the peacekeeping force. Parliament, which must also approve the deployment of up to 2,400 navy personnel, is to vote on it next week.
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One month on, uneasy truce holds in battle-scarred border villages
Clancy Chassay in Aita al-Shaab
Thursday September 14, 2006
The Guardian
In the dusty, broken village of Aita al-Shaab, where almost every house bears scars from the battle between Israel and Hizbullah, the war still lingers a month after it officially ended.
Israeli tanks and bulldozers roam back and forth across the border at night, locals say, while Hizbullah fighters patrol the thick green hills above the village. The sound of Israeli drones is familiar to the people of southern Lebanon, who report daily over-flights.
According to Alexander Ivanko, spokesman for the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil), there have been more than 100 recorded ceasefire violations by Israeli forces in the last month. These have been mostly over-flights and incursions by tanks, troops and bulldozers. Mr Ivanko said that 24 Lebanese civilians - including four men from Aita al-Shaab - had been detained at gunpoint by Israeli troops. All were later released.
In addition to the incursions, there have also been a number of shooting incidents - described by the residents of Aita al-Shaab as "intimidation fire".
Gunfire fears
Some locals have moved to escape the gunfire on the edge of the village, a few hundred metres from the site where two Israeli soldiers were abducted on July 12, sparking a 34-day conflict that left more than 1,000 Lebanese civilians dead. Wafa Srour, 21, said: "The bullets were coming very close to the house, so we moved to a friend's house close to the centre of town."
Last night the Israel Defence Force said it had kept to the requirements of UN resolution 1701, which ended the conflict, and 80% of territory had been "transferred" to Unifil. Israel reserved the right to continue "intelligence surveillance" while the two captured Israeli soldiers were still held, it said.
Like the Israeli forces, Hizbullah has not withdrawn from the battlefield. Within minutes of the four Aita al-Shaab residents being held by Israeli troops last Friday men from the village took up position in anticipation of a possible battle. They wore Hizbullah's trademark black T-shirts and combat trousers.
But the villagers say local fighters will not violate the ceasefire. "Sayyed Hassan [Nasrallah, the Hizbullah leader] has said that is what is best for Lebanon, so that is what they'll do," said Fatmeh Srour, 19, Wafa's sister. She said many in the village believed Israel was trying to provoke them. "They were trying to take us back into war by shooting at everything, but we remained steadfast."
The Srour sisters lost their brother, Mohammed, in the fighting. "He was a brave warrior; he fought hard in two battles before he was martyred," Fatmeh said. Her husband, a Hizbullah fighter, was on patrol in the next village. "Every time we see the boys holding their heads high, it makes us feel proud."
Many villagers lost relatives in the conflict, either Hizbullah fighters or civilians killed by missiles. Many houses have been shredded beyond recognition and conditions are difficult, with many villagers suffering infections from contaminated well water. Aid workers have set up a clinic and are working with Hizbullah officials to distribute supplies. A small medical camp has been set up by the Iranian Red Crescent.
As well as bringing tinned food in the days after the ceasefire the UN delivered tents, but most families prefer to live in the remains of their homes. According to the UN, the Italian contingent has carried out some limited de-mining operations and the French have been involved in engineering, but now they remain in their bases citing "logistical problems".
Compensation
Most residents are too loyal to criticise Hizbullah, but one family said it felt abandoned by the party, which runs the local council. The family got the standard $12,000 (Ł6,400) compensation from Hizbullah for its destroyed house but was then told it was on its own. "What are we supposed to do when winter comes and we do not yet have a new house?" asked the grandmother.
Few in the village are reassured by the Lebanese army's deployment. Kalamia, 59, recalled a previous visit. "I remember back in the 70s, the last time the Lebanese army was here," she said. "There were about seven soldiers stationed here and when the Israelis came over the hill and down into the village not a single soldier even raised his gun. They don't have the weapons to defend us, it's all for the cameras."
Talk of the UN met with a similar lack of enthusiasm. "We don't know them and they don't know us - so how can their be any real trust between us? They will not stand against the Israelis; they are Europeans that are coming now," said Kalamia. Villagers had seen UN troops roll through the village without stopping a few days earlier. "They have come and gone before, it's the same old story. Whether they're here or not, it doesn't make any difference to us," said Fatmeh Srour.
In neighbouring Rmeish, the mood is different, with young people strolling through relatively unscathed streets. A largely Christian village, it escaped much of the fighting and its people are happy to see the Lebanese army and UN forces providing extra protection.
Nearby Bint Jbeil, where the bloodiest battles were fought, is the first of four southern towns to benefit from a planned $300,000 reconstruction project funded by Qatar. The Lebanese army deployed to the town nearly two weeks ago, but the residents still complain of Israeli harassment. "It's not a ceasefire yet because the Israelis have not stopped their firing," said Ibrahim Bassi. "The big test for the Unifil is whether they can stop the violations."
Back in Aita al-Shaab, a man recited the opening verse of the Qur'an over a freshly laid gravestone. As the sun slipped over the hill into Israel, an explosion rang out across the lush green hills of the border.
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Former IDF chief: Soldiers were sacrificed for spin
By Jonathan Lis, Eli Ashkenazi and Ari Shavit
Haaretz Correspondents
14/09/2006
Former chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon believes the prime minister and chief of staff should resign, and the defense minister should be replaced for mismanaging the war in Lebanon.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Haaretz which will be published in Friday's Magazine, Ya'alon condemned the decision to launch the ground operation at the end of the war, in which 33 soldiers died.
"That was a spin move," Ya'alon said. "It had no substantive security-political goal, only a spin goal. It was meant to supply the missing victory picture. You don't do that. You don't send soldiers to carry out a futile mission after the political outcome has already been set. I consider that corrupt."
You are saying a very serious thing. Thirty-three soldiers were killed in that operation. Were they killed to achieve a spin?
"Yes. And that is why people have to resign. For that you don't even need a commission of inquiry. Whoever made that decision has to assume responsibility and resign."
Does the prime minister have to resign?
"Yes. He can't say he didn't know. He can't say that. Even if he was not an army person in the past and was not prime minister or defense minister, he knows how one goes to war. This is not the way to go to war. And he knows how a war is managed. This is not the way a war is managed. Going to war was scandalous, and he is directly responsible for that. The war's management was a failure, and he is responsible for that. The final operation was particularly problematic, and he was directly involved in that. He was warned and did not heed the warnings. Therefore, he must resign."
And the chief of staff?
"The chief of staff failed in the management of the war. He gave the political echelon the feeling that he had the capability, which in practice he did not have, to bring about a political achievement by means of an extremely aggressive military operation.
"He entered the war without defining it as a war, and maybe without understanding that it was a war. He did not understand the implications of the measures he himself adopted. He did not mobilize the reserves in time, and did not open the emergency depots in time, and did not activate the high-command base.
"He managed the war from his office. He imposed missions such as Bint Jbail without any discussion and without consulting with the command about the consequences and implications. He created lack of clarity that rattled the forces in the field, caused a loss of trust and generated chaos. He did not give the commanders in the North backing. He did not build a structure that would help him overcome his weakness in the land sphere. He managed the campaign arrogantly and shallowly."
Must the chief of staff resign?
"Yes. He should have resigned immediately after the conclusion of the campaign."
And the defense minister?
"The defense minister should be replaced. There is a certain justice to what he says about being new and not having time to learn and not even hearing that there were rockets in Lebanon. But the responsibility is on his shoulders in his very agreement to take the job. Both he and the person who appointed him are responsible for appointing an inexperienced person to a sensitive post, without taking into account that within a short time he would have to manage a crisis. There is no doubt the leadership team that was created here was perceived by Hezbollah as weak and inexperienced. Nasrallah may have been taken by surprise at the aggressive reaction by the prime minister, defense minister and chief of staff, but in the end he was right in his assessment that this team was incapable of managing a war properly."
Ya'alon still denied any intention of entering politics, but his denial sounds fainter than before. "Today I don't think politics is my way to exert influence," he said.
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Israeli president grilled on sex allegations
AFP
Wed Sep 13, 2006
JERUSALEM - Israeli President Moshe Katsav was grilled by police for a fifth time over allegations of sexual harassment in a growing scandal that threatens to end his career.
Katsav was questioned by police investigators for six hours at his Jerusalem residence, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
"Police questioned President Moshe Katsav for six hours on Wednesday. He is suspected of obstructing justice, perjury and illicit phone-tapping" in connection with the allegations, Rosenfeld told AFP.
"The police also questioned seven women who have been employees of Katsav in the course of his various public duties, but some of this testimony cannot be used in evidence against him," he added.
Rosenfeld said Katsav would be questioned again later on a date yet to be set.
Israeli media on Wednesday night quoted a presidency official who did not wish to be named as saying Katsav completely rejected the allegations against him.
"It is a baseless plot hatched a long time ago by a group of criminals who want to strip him of his post," the official was quoted as saying.
"He will continue to fight these false allegations until the truth is known and justice is done," the official was reported as adding.
The 61-year-old Iranian-born head of state was last week grilled on two consecutive days by police, following two earlier sessions in August.
The married father of five faces allegations that he forced at least two women employees to have sex with him by abusing his position of authority and suspicions that his office granted illegal pardons to prisoners.
Katsav, who could yet be forced to resign, has denied the allegations against him and rejected calls that he step down pending the investigation.
A parliamentary committee Wednesday agreed to accept a request from Katsav that his duties be suspended for a day on Thursday so that he would not have to preside over the swearing-in of nation's first female head of the supreme court.
"In this way, President Katsav wants to avoid any controversy that his presence can create in current circumstances," his spokeswoman Hagit Cohen said on Sunday.
The Katsav case is the latest blow to hit Israel's leadership, with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government steering its way through public anger over failings of its 34-day war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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"Axis of Evil"
Who was behind the attack on the US embassy in Syria?
By Joe Kay
13 September 2006
On Tuesday, Syrian officials foiled an attack on the American embassy in Damascus. Three of the attackers were shot and killed, while another was captured by Syria. Three Syrian security agents were wounded, along with ten civilians and a Chinese diplomat.
Syria has initially fingered a little-known group called Jund al-Sham, an organization that reportedly has ties to Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
In evaluating an event such as the failed attack on the US embassy in Damascus, it is necessary first of all to ask the question, "Who benefits?"-or, in this case, "Who would have benefited?"
Who could possibly have an interest in attacking the American embassy? The attack failed because of the intervention of the Syrian forces, combined with the apparently primitive character of the explosives used by the attackers. If it had succeeded, however, the most likely consequence would have been a sharp increase in pressure directed against Syria by the United States government. This would have played into the hands of sections of the American establishment who have been pushing for military actions against Syria and/or Iran.
In an article in Time magazine posted yesterday, Scott Macleod noted that, while the Syrian regime has come into conflict with the US, it would have no interest in seeing the attack carried through. "Assad's regime knows that could be a casus belli for a US military strike on Syria," he wrote. "Relations have been tense for years. The US recalled its ambassador in Damascus after Syria, despite its denials, was implicated in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in February 2005." The assassination of Hariri itself is highly suspicious, and it is not possible to rule out Israeli or US involvement in that incident as well.
What seems least likely is that the attack on the American embassy was simply the product of a few individuals, motivated purely by hatred of the United States and American policy. Of course this cannot be entirely eliminated as a possibility, but it is in the nature of such organizations as Jund al-Sham that they are heavily infiltrated and are extremely susceptible to the manipulations of this or that outside power.
Both American and Israeli intelligence agencies have a long history of manipulating these groups. Jund al-Sham was reportedly established in alliance with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi with funds provided by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1999. At the time, the US was still doing deals with the Taliban and the Islamic fundamentalists of Afghanistan as part of its efforts to secure a gas pipeline through the country.
Since its founding, Jund al-Sham has shown little interest in the United States, directing its attacks mainly against the Syrian government because of the latter's secular orientation. It has also targeted Syria's ally, Hezbollah.
In considering the events of September 12, 2006, it should be recalled that the attacks five years ago were carried out by individuals, known by American intelligence agencies to be members of Al Qaeda, who were allowed to freely enter and exit the United States, take flight training classes and purchase one-way, first class tickets on major airlines-all in the face of mounting intelligence indicating that Al Qaeda was planning to hijack airplanes and attack the United States. It is almost certain that sections of the American intelligence and political apparatus were aware of an impending attack but decided to let it take place-in order to establish a pretext for carrying out important US policy goals.
During the past several weeks, there have been several events to remind us of the extremely useful role that Al Qaeda plays in furthering the interests of American imperialism. In a number of his speeches leading up to the September 11 anniversary, Bush reproduced statements, supposedly from Osama bin Laden, declaring Iraq-conveniently enough-to be the centerpiece in the struggle for the "Islamic caliphate." This of course is quite useful for the US government, which would like to continue to portray the brutal occupation of Iraq as part of the "war on terror," and would like to continue to link this occupation, in spite of all contrary evidence, to the attacks of September 11.
Then, shortly before the anniversary, a new tape emerges depicting Osama bin Laden greeting some of the September 11 hijackers prior to the attacks: Another convenient reminder that the "war on terror" continues.
The Democrats occasionally denounce the Bush administration for failing to capture or kill bin Laden. They do this in order to present themselves as the more consistent advocates of the "war on terror." No one bothers to suggest that perhaps the main reason he has not been captured or killed is that he continues to be a very useful asset of the Central Intelligence Agency. It was the CIA, after all, that fostered him in the 1980s as part of the proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
Now there is an attack on Syria, apparently organized by a similarly shady and amorphous outfit with ties to bin Laden. It comes at a time of increasing crisis within the American political establishment. The occupation of Iraq is in deep crisis. Democratic and Republican commentators alike are calling for more American troops to deal with the Shia militias in the south and the Sunni organizations in the west. Israel's invasion of Lebanon has been a debacle, and only served to increase the prestige of Hezbollah and strengthen the hand of Iran in the region.
Major divisions are beginning to emerge between Europe and the US over Iranian policy, with the EU-bolstered by the US-Israeli disaster in Lebanon-seeking to make its own accommodation with the regime in Tehran. At the same time, there is growing opposition and skepticism within the United States, as broad sections of the population are beginning to reject the whole fraud of the "war on terror," and the President's speech on the fifth anniversary is striking largely in its completely unreal and unbelievable rhetoric.
There is a significant section of the US ruling elite that considers the only "solution" to these problems to be a massive escalation of US aggression-including attacks on Iran and Syria and the complete militarization of American society. In the furtherance of these aims, an attack on an American embassy in Syria would be quite convenient indeed.
This is not to suggest that the attackers on Tuesday were themselves working for sections of US intelligence. Individually, they were likely motivated by a combination of anger over American intervention in the Middle East, combined with the reactionary ideology of Islamic fundamentalism. Such actions are organized more tangentially, and the individuals who are directly involved have no idea who is manipulating them. The extremely bungled character of the operation-which failed to even penetrate the embassy walls-suggests that those involved in the direct planning were highly inexperienced.
Whether or not it could serve as a casus belli for attacking Syria, the attack would-and even it its failure still does-allow the administration to argue that the war on terror is not over, thereby justifying the administration's policy and Bush's speech on Monday. It also allows them to step up pressure on Syria.
Indeed, aside from the obligatory remarks of appreciation for Syria's actions in foiling the attack, this was the main tenor of administration comments on Tuesday. "Stop harboring terrorist groups, stop being an agent in fomenting terror," White House spokesman Tony Snow declared. "Work with us to fight against terror, as Libya has done-that's the next step for Syria." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the attacks demonstrated that terrorists can still attack diplomatic facilities anywhere, in spite of "an extraordinary effort" to prevent them.
Of course one cannot rule out other possibilities to US involvement, and there are many possibilities. However, in such cases one is entitled to speculate.
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Syria Says US Behind Attack On Own Embassy
Ryan R. Jones
All Headline News Middle East Correspondent
September 13, 2006
Jerusalem, Israel - Senior Syrian government official have accused the US of being behind Tuesday's assault on its own embassy in downtown Damascus.
A Baath party official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told WorldNetDaily, "We in the government are 100 percent sure America was behind this attack, which is not the same as other attacks by Islamic groups."
He explained, "Only the Americans can succeed in carrying out an attack just 200 meters from President [Bashar] Assad's residence in the most heavily guarded section of Syria."
The official charged that Washington had orchestrated the attack to "prove Syria is filled with terrorists and to put us in a weak position" in order to extract political concessions. Following the attack, Bush administration officials said they hoped the incident had convinced Damascus of the dangers of Islamic terror and the need to cooperate with the West against the phenomenon.
The US and several of its European allies have repeatedly demanded over the years that Damascus close down the local offices and training camps of several organizations hostile to Israel and the West.
The identities of those who attacked the US embassy Tuesday have not been revealed. Three of the gunmen were killed by Syrian guards during the assault. A fourth was reportedly captured.
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Annan: Iraq invasion "a real disaster"
www.chinaview.cn 2006-09-14 02:49:16
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Most leaders in the Middle East think the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and its outcome were a "real disaster" for the region, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday.
"Most of the leaders I spoke to felt the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath have been a real disaster for them," Annan, who returned from a trip to the region late last week, told a press conference at the UN headquarters.
"They believe it has destabilized the region," said the secretary-general. "It cannot stay and it cannot leave."
Annan said many leaders believed the United States should stay until Iraq improves while others, such as Iran, said it should leave immediately.
Iran had offered to help the United States leave but did not go into details, Annan added.
The UN chief's two-week tour to the region, with the focus on rallying support for Security Council Resolution 1701 ending the monthlong Israel-Hezbollah conflict, also took him to Iran, currently locked in a bitter nuclear standoff with the West.
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U.S. denies saying Iraq war causing "disaster"
www.chinaview.cn 2006-09-14 06:57:33
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United States rejected on Wednesday the saying that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq has caused "a disaster" for the Middle East region.
"I'm not going to engage in a further disputation with the secretary general of the United Nations, but we disagree with the characterization," White House spokesman Tony Snow said, while acknowledging "sectarian violence" in Iraq.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who visited the Middle East recently, told reporters earlier in the day that the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath were "a real disaster" for the region.
"Most of the leaders I spoke to felt the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath has been a real disaster for them," Annan said. "They believe it has destabilized the region."
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Poland to send 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan
www.chinaview.cn 2006-09-14 20:06:03
BEIJING, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Poland will send an additional 1,000 troops to join the NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan in response to NATO's call for reinforcements, said its defense minister.
"As of February next year, over 1,000 Polish soldiers are going to be serving in Afghanistan," said Polish Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski Wednesday evening in Washington, according to media reports.
"It will be a mechanized battalion that will be stationed at Bagram, where 100 of our soldiers are. We are going to take part in operations primarily in the eastern part of Afghanistan."
Polish defense ministry spokesman Leszek Laszczak said, "Poland will increase its contingent in Afghanistan. We will send 1,000 additional troops from February."
The soldiers will do a one year tour of duty, starting February 2007, Laszczak added. He also said a Polish general will become a deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force(ISAF).
Last week, leading NATO military commanders called for 2,000-2,500 additional soldiers to plug shortfalls in the alliance's force in Afghanistan, which has met strong resistance from the resurgent Taliban guerrillas along Afghanistan's southern border.
But a NATO spokesman said on Wednesday member countries had failed to respond to the military commander's call for reinforcements.
NATO nations currently have around 18,500 troops in Afghanistan with other non-NATO countries contributing a further 1,500 to the ISAF.
The alliance has asked for the soldiers to be available immediately, and it was not clear whether the Polish contribution would plug the gap.
Sikorski and Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski are in Washington for talks with U.S. leaders.
The country is the first to commit extra troops to the NATO force. It also has around 900 soldiers stationed in Baghdad.
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IAEA protests "erroneous" U.S. report on Iran
By Mark Heinrich
Reuters
Sep 14, 2006
VIENNA - U.N. inspectors have protested to the U.S. government and a Congressional committee about a report on Iran's nuclear work, calling parts of it "outrageous and dishonest," according to a letter obtained by Reuters.
The letter recalled clashes between the IAEA and the Bush administration before the 2003 Iraq war over findings cited by Washington about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that proved false, and underlined continued tensions over Iran's dossier.
Sent to the head of the House of Representatives' Select Committee on Intelligence by a senior aide to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the letter said an August 23 committee report contained serious distortions of IAEA findings on Iran's activity.
The letter said the errors suggested Iran's nuclear fuel program was much more advanced than a series of IAEA reports and Washington's own intelligence assessments have determined.
It said the report falsely described Iran to have enriched uranium at its pilot centrifuge plant to weapons-grade level in April, whereas IAEA inspectors had made clear Iran had enriched only to a low level usable for nuclear power reactor fuel.
"Furthermore, the IAEA Secretariat takes strong exception to the incorrect and misleading assertion" that the IAEA opted to remove a senior safeguards inspector for supposedly concluding the purpose of Iran's program was to build weapons, it said.
The letter said the congressional report contained "an outrageous and dishonest suggestion" that the inspector was dumped for having not adhered to an alleged IAEA policy barring its "officials from telling the whole truth" about Iran.
Diplomats say the inspector remains IAEA Iran section head.
The IAEA has been inspecting Iran's nuclear program since 2003. Although it has found no hard evidence that Iran is working on atomic weapons, it has uncovered many previously concealed activities linked to uranium enrichment, a process of purifying fuel for nuclear power plants or weapons.
IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said: "We felt obliged to put the record straight with regard to the facts on what we have reported on Iran. It's a matter of the integrity of the IAEA."
Diplomats say Washington, spearheading efforts to isolate Iran with sanctions over its nuclear work, has long perceived ElBaradei to be "soft" on Tehran.
"This (committee report) is deja vu of the pre-Iraq war period where the facts are being maligned and attempts are being made to ruin the integrity of IAEA inspectors," said a Western diplomat familiar with the agency and IAEA-U.S. relations.
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Iran wants to return to IAEA framework
www.chinaview.cn 2006-09-14 19:21:17
VIENNA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran claimed on Thursday to have fully cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and said it wanted to return to the IAEA framework, one day after the U.S. threatened to urge the UN Security Council to use sanctions to back diplomacy.
Speaking at the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, Iranian Ambassador to the Agency Ali Asghar Soltanie said that Iran's nuclear program and activities were "exclusively for peaceful purposes."
The Iranian diplomat hit out at the U.S. for describing sanctions as acts of diplomacy in the same way it had called its "unilateral military invasion" of Iraq an act of "multilateral diplomacy." He added that the decision to refer Iran's nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council was based on "ridiculous motivation."
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Iran calls for negotiations; France warns of split over nuclear issue
by Michael Adler
AFP
February 14, 2006
VIENNA - Iran has called on the United States to be patient in the standoff over its nuclear activities and said negotiations should begin without preconditions and delay.
But French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy warned that Iran was trying to divide the international community in order to pursue its uranium enrichment activities, referring to the process which makes nuclear reactor fuel but also atom bomb material.
"If the international community were to become divided, Iran would continue" its enrichment work, Douste-Blazy charged in an interview to appear in the French weekly Valeurs Actuelles.
Douste-Blazy called for a sustained effort to engage Tehran in dialogue and warned that otherwise there would be "a growing drive -- on either side -- towards confrontation, (and) the international community would split."
Six world powers have proposed Iran talks on a package of benefits if it first suspends enrichment.
In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said: "The United States only needs to be a little patient to prove its honesty on welcoming talks under the current circumstances."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday in Dakar that he doubted the United Nations Security Council would impose sanctions over his country's nuclear program, which Western countries fear aims to build atomic weapons.
"We are supporters of dialogue and negotiation and there is no reason for sanctions," Ahmadinejad told journalists.
In Vienna, Iran's ambassador to the watchdog
International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asghar Soltanieh urged the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors to use its influence to help "commence the negotiation, without any precondition and without further delay."
Soltanieh challenged the US ambassador to an "open-ended" debate on Washington's call for UN sanctions over Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.
"I am fully prepared ... (for) a debate with the US ambassador in order to prove ... that allegations are baseless and the Islamic Republic of Iran is (the) victim of neglect, discrimination and double standards," Soltanieh said.
Soltanieh's challenge echoed Ahmadinejad's call in August on US President George W. Bush to debate. US officials refused this, calling the offer a public relations gimmick.
Soltanieh said that Washington's presenting sanctions as diplomacy was equivalent to describing "unilateral military invasion in Iraq as 'multilateral diplomacy.'"
US ambassador Gregory Schulte had Wednesday told the IAEA board, which Thursday wrapped up a meeting that had begun Monday, that "Iran's refusal to suspend and its refusal to cooperate is a choice of confrontation over one of negotiation."
Schulte and European speakers urged Iran to choose negotiations over UN sanctions, but said the key to this was Tehran first suspending enrichment.
EU-Iran talks stalled Thursday, when a meeting planned between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was postponed. Their aides met in Geneva Thursday.
Soltanieh said there was "no problem. The only thing is both sides (need) to find the best appropriate time and venue.
"Therefore everything is on the right track."
Solana and Larijani had held talks described as "constructive" last weekend in Vienna, raising hopes this would lead to negotiations with the six world powers, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
The United States, which charges that Iran is engaged in secret work to make nuclear weapons, is pushing for Security Council sanctions against Iran for failing to honor a Council resolution that set an August 31 deadline for Tehran to halt enrichment.
Larijani had offered to consider a temporary halt in uranium enrichment in talks with Solana in Vienna last Saturday, diplomats said.
But they noted that this was only an offer to consider a halt, not to implement it, and that there were conditions attached such as the UN ceasing action against Iran which made it unacceptable to the West.
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Psychopathy in Action
SPIEGEL Interview With Zbigniew Brzezinski: "Victory Would be a Fata Morgana"
SPIEGEL Magazine
September 12, 2006
Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski discusses the errors committed by the Bush administration in its war on terror, the disastrous campaign in Iraq, and the risks of a global uprising against inequality.
SPIEGEL: Dr. Brzezinski, President Bush compares the dangers of terrorism with the dangers of the Cold War. He has even spoken repeatedly of a "nation at war" and will only accept "complete victory." Is he right or is he using exaggerated rhetoric?
Brzezinski: He is fundamentally wrong. Whether that is deliberate demagoguery or simply historical ignorance, I do not know. For four years I was responsible for coordinating the U.S. response in the event of a nuclear attack. And I can assure you that a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union on a comprehensive scale would have killed 160 to 180 million people within 24 hours.
No terrorist threat is comparable to that in the foreseeable future. Moreover, terrorism is essentially a technique of killing people and not the enemy as such. If one wages war on an invisible, unidentifiable phantom, one gets into a state of mind that virtually promotes dangerous exaggerations and distortions of reality.
SPIEGEL: What are these distortions?
Brzezinski: After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States was energetic and determined, and during the 40 years of the Cold War it was patient and deliberate. In neither case did any U.S. president intentionally preach fear as the major message to the people - on the contrary.
With his very loose formulations, the president is now creating a climate of fear that is destructive for American morale and distorting of American policy.
SPIEGEL: Is fear, as at the thought of a nuclear weapon in the hands of terrorists, not something very natural?
Brzezinski: Certainly, such a notion is not entirely unrealistic, but on the other hand we are not confronted with the Soviet nuclear weapons arsenal. I do not wish to minimize the danger of a single or even multiple terrorist acts, but their scale is simply not comparable.
SPIEGEL: Yet sometimes the discussions, in the United States but also in Europe, create the impression that radical Islam has taken the place of the former Soviet Union and that some form of Cold War is continuing.
Brzezinski: Radical Islam is such an anonymous phenomenon that has arisen in some countries and not in others. It has to be taken seriously, but it is still only a regional danger most prevalent in the Middle East and somewhat east of the Middle East. And even in those regions, Islamic fundamentalists are not in the majority.
SPIEGEL: Fear-mongering is therefore not a valid response?
Brzezinski: We have to formulate a policy for this region which helps us to mobilize our potential friends. Only if we cooperate with them can we contain and eventually eliminate this phenomenon. It is a paradox: During the Cold War, our policy was directed at uniting our friends and dividing our enemies. Unfortunately our tactics today, including occasional Islamphobic language, have the tendency of unifying our enemies and alienating our friends.
SPIEGEL: So it is exaggerated rhetoric which ensures that Osama bin Laden is elevated to the level of a Mao or Stalin?
Brzezinski: Correct. And that is of course a distortion of reality - notwithstanding the fact that bin Laden is a killer. He is a criminal and should be presented as such, and not intentionally elevated into a globally significant leader of a transnational, quasi-religious movement.
SPIEGEL: Has there been any progress at all in the fight against terrorism for the past five years?
Brzezinski: Yes and no. Knock on wood. So far, there has been no repetition of a terrorist attack in the United States, and that - as was the case with the recent plot in London - is probably partly due to preventive measures we have taken.
Also, there is a growing realization among the modern elites in the Moslem world that Islamic terrorism is a threat to them as well - but it is a slow process. Moreover, this process has been handicapped, as with our invasion of Iraq, which has galvanized a lot of hostility in the Islamic world towards the United States. Our insensitive and ambiguous posture in the Israel-Palestinian conflict is also a very important reason for the hostility towards us. All this helps terrorism.
SPIEGEL: Is complete victory, as demanded by the president, actually possible?
Brzezinski: That depends on your definition of victory. If we act intelligently and form the necessary coalitions, the appeal of terrorism may diminish and limit its capacity to find sympathizers or even would-be martyrs. Then it will probably gradually fade away. If, however, we envision victory as the equivalent of a Hitler shooting himself in the bunker, that will not happen. This is precisely why the whole analogy with the war is so misleading. It is not helpful for making the public understand that we are dealing with a long-term problem in a very volatile region, the solution of which depends on mobilizing moderate forces and isolating fanatics.
SPIEGEL: What advantages does President Bush see in his war rhetoric?
Brzezinski: First of all it helped him get reelected - a nation at war does not dismiss its commander in chief. Secondly it enhances his ability to exercise his executive powers on a scale no other president before him has done. This of course brings risks with it, such as the infringement of civil rights. And, it gives him the claim that he can use the U.S. Armed Forces as he wishes, even without congressional sanction involving a declaration of war.
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SPIEGEL: Is there an inherent danger for democracy?
Brzezinski: In the long run, yes. However, democracy is ingrained so deeply in the psyche and fabric of American society that such a threat could only arise if such a president were able to implement such policies over a prolonged period of time. But Bush cannot be reelected. Therefore it will all be over in two and a half years.
SPIEGEL: European politicians have never accepted the concept of a war on terror. Furthermore, there are fierce differences concerning interrogation techniques or prison camps such as Guantanamo. Given such diverse opinions, how can the United States and Europe cooperate at all?
Brzezinski: This is exactly what makes it so difficult to deal with the problem collectively. However, realistically one also has to take into consideration that there is, in a quiet way, extensive cooperation, especially among our police forces. But precisely this cooperation reflects the realization that fighting terrorism is ultimately an operation against criminal behavior. Although I share Europe's criticism about Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the mistreatment and even torture of prisoners, Europeans should in their indignation not lose sight of their own past - not the Germans, but also not the French, who have had extensive experience in the Algerian war.
SPIEGEL: The U.S. administration has declared Iraq the central front in the war on terror, but instead of disseminating democracy, Iraq today serves as a magnet for new terrorists. How can the United States extricate itself from its own trap?
Brzezinski: We should neither run nor should we seek a victory, which essentially would be a fata morgana. We have to talk seriously with the Iraqis about a jointly set withdrawal date for the occupation forces and then announce the date jointly. After all, the presence of these forces fuels the insurgency. We will then find that those Iraqi leaders who agree to a withdrawal within a year or so are the politicians who will stay there. Those who will plead with us, please, don't go, are probably the ones who will leave with us when we leave. That says everything we need to know about the true support Iraqi politicians have.
SPIEGEL: Would such a rapid withdrawal not leave chaos behind?
Brzezinski: The Iraqi government would have to invite all Islamic neighbors, as far as Pakistan and Morocco, for a stabilization conference. Most are willing to help. And when the United States leaves, it will have to convene a conference of those donor countries that have a stake in the economic recovery of Iraq, in particular the oil production. That is foremost a concern of Europe and the Far East.
SPIEGEL: The donor conference will take place in the fall anyway.
Brzezinski: Yes, but I doubt that it will create much enthusiasm as long as U.S. soldiers are in the country indefinitely. Incidentally, this is not just my argument. All this corresponds almost verbatim with the proposals of the new Iraqi security advisor.
SPIEGEL: Opponents of a rapid withdrawal make the case that the sectarian war between Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis would become even more violent than it is already.
Brzezinski: Everyone who knows the history of occupying armies knows that foreign armed forces are not very effective in repressing armed resistance, insurgencies, national liberation movements, whatever one wants to call it. They are after all foreigners, do not understand the country and do not have access to the intelligence needed. That is the situation we are in. Moreover, there is this vicious circle inasmuch as even professional occupying armies become demoralized in time, which leads to acts of violence against the civilian population and thus strengthens resistance. Iraqis can deal with religiously motivated violence in their country much better than Americans from several thousand kilometers away.
SPIEGEL: So there is no alternative to troop withdrawal, even if there is an initial escalation of violence?
Brzezinski: Iraqis are not primitive people who need American colonial tutelage to resolve their problems.
SPIEGEL: In reality, isn't the president worried that Iraq will fail to become the model democracy he envisages after the Americans have left?
Brzezinski: That's for sure, and therefore any attempt to seek his definition of victory is pure fantasy. Still, there will be a government dominated by Kurds and Shiites, and some Sunni elements. That in itself is already an improvement compared to the regime of Saddam Hussein and therefore at least a partial success.
SPIEGEL: Are you sure that a religious civil war can still be prevented?
Brzezinski: Of course I cannot be sure. But was de Gaulle sure when he decided that it would be fine for France to end the Algerian war? Everybody around him warned him of the terrible consequences of his decision.
SPIEGEL: Are you not afraid that such a religious conflict could ignite the whole region?
Brzezinski: Quite the contrary. The longer we stay the more likely it will ignite. The fact is that we have been there for three years and the situation today is a lot worse than it was then. At least logically, there is some evidence to support my proposition.
SPIEGEL: Bush presented the "axis of evil" to the world. Did he not make it all too easy for himself by simply attacking the least dangerous part of this axis?
Brzezinski: Yes, Iraq was not dangerous. North Korea and Iran seem to presently be very calculating. However, Iran is a genuinely historic nation that has to play an important role in the region. My guess is that Iran will find some form of accommodation with the rest of the world, at least easier to achieve than for North Korea.
SPIEGEL: If negotiations with Iran fail, will America intervene militarily?
Brzezinski: There are some members of the administration who favor that. However, in view of the experiences in Iraq I consider it more likely that the government, together with its allies, will impose significant sanctions, which then have to be given a few years to show effects, which makes it highly unlikely that Bush will be the one to undertake such a dangerous course of action.
SPIEGEL: What would be the consequences of such an attack?
Brzezinski: The Iranians have a number of options open to them. Among them is the destabilization of Iraq and the western part of Afghanistan as well as the everpresent option of activating Hezbollah in Lebanon. They could cut down oil production, damage the Saudi oil production and threaten the passage of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz - with all the devastating consequences for the world economy. They could of course also accelerate the production of weapons of mass destruction, which then quite possibly would lead to renewed and more comprehensive military attacks - a vicious circle.
SPIEGEL: You said that the United States needs solid European counsel to avoid an unrealistic view of the world. Is Europe even in the position to give such counsel?
Brzezinski: In the Middle East, the United States is unintentionally slipping into the role of a colonial power, repetitive of extensive European experiences. A combination of self-interest, a sense of mission and an arrogant ignorance resulted in Americans doing what they do right now. Because Britain and France have had the same experiences in the past, they have a better sense for the fact that the American course in the Middle East is a political mistake and, in the long run, also dangerous for America. In the short run, it damages America's principles and its international legitimacy.
SPIEGEL: Do you really believe that this is the kind of advice the British Prime Minister Tony Blair delivers to Bush?
Brzezinski: It is what he should deliver. But I think the British made a decision after the Suez crisis in 1956 to never again collide with the United States and to achieve an alternative source of global influence by becoming America's closest partner.
SPIEGEL: There is fear in Europe that Bush could return to unilateralism should he regain his freedom of action in foreign policy.
Brzezinski: For that, he would miraculously have to achieve his phantom-like victory. But that recedes ever farther. It is exactly like it was with the Soviets, who used to insist that the victory of socialism was just over the horizon, overlooking the fact that the horizon is an imaginary line which recedes farther as you walk towards it. Moreover, in two and a half years he will no longer be president, and no successor will want to embrace the slogans and demagoguery of the past three years.
SPIEGEL: Are there any conditions under which America could lose its current political supremacy?
Brzezinski: One would only have to continue the current policies and, also, in future not give a serious response to increasingly louder complaints of global inequality. We are now dealing with a far more politically active mankind that demands a collective response to their grievances from the West.
SPIEGEL: Is your demand to eradicate global inequality not as illusionary as Bush's demand that America free the world from evil?
Brzezinski: Achieving equality would indeed be an illusionary goal. Reducing inequality in the age of television and Internet may well become a political necessity. We are entering a historic stage in which people in China and India, but also in Nepal, in Bolivia or Venezuela will no longer tolerate the enormous disparities in the human condition. That could well be the collective danger we will have to face in the next decades.
SPIEGEL: You call it a "global political awakening."
Brzezinski: Yes, and it is essentially a repetition, but now on a global scale, of the societal and political awakening that occurred in France at the time of the revolution. During the 19th century it spread through Europe and parts of the Western hemisphere, in the 20th century it reached Japan and finally China. Now it is sweeping the rest of the world.
SPIEGEL: The Islamic countries as well?
Brzezinski: Not really in the same way. It is a turbulent, multi-directional process which, however, is a challenge to global stability. If the United States, Europe and Japan, but also China, Russia and India cannot find a mechanism for effective global collaboration, we will slide into a growing global chaos, which will be fatal to American leadership. Therefore I consider the American leadership role vulnerable, but irreplaceable in the foreseeable future.
SPIEGEL: Dr. Brzezinski, thank you for speaking with us.
The interview was conducted by Hans Hoyng and Georg Mascolo.
Comment: Zbigniew Brzezinski is the man who plotted the strategy of arming the Muslim fighters in Afghanistan against the Soviets. He might say he had a certain role to play in creating the scenario we see playing out in the Middle East and Central Asia.
He also used his connections to stiffle the publication of Andrew M. Lobaczewski's book Political Ponerology, all the while telling the author that he would use his connections to ensure its publication.
In other words, the man is a player.
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War Pimp Kissinger warns of possible "war of civilizations", promotes "New World Order"
AFP
Wed Sep 13, 2006
WASHINGTON - Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger warned that Europe and the United States must unite to head off a "war of civilizations" arising from a nuclear-armed Middle East.
In an opinion column in the Washington Post, the renowned foreign policy expert said the potential for a "global catastrophe" dwarfed lingering transatlantic mistrust left over from the
Iraq war.
"A common Atlantic policy backed by moderate Arab states must become a top priority, no matter how pessimistic previous experience with such projects leaves one," Kissinger wrote.
"The debate sparked by the Iraq war over American rashness vs. European escapism is dwarfed by what the world now faces.
"Both sides of the Atlantic should put their best minds together on how to deal with the common danger of a wider war merging into a war of civilizations against the background of a nuclear-armed Middle East."
Kissinger wrote that the big threat lay in the erosion of nation states and the emergence of transnational groups.
Iran was at the centre of the challenge, he said, with its support for Hezbollah, radical Shiite groups in Iraq and its nuclear program.
Washington must accept that many European nations were more optimistic about talks designed to convince Iran to halt uranium enrichment -- a process Tehran denies is aimed at making weapons, he wrote.
But in return, he said, Europe should accept the process must include a "bottom line" beyond which diplomatic flexibility must not go and a time limit to ensure talks did not become a shield for "developing new assaults."
In the article, Kissinger, national security adviser for former president Richard Nixon, and secretary of state for Nixon and his successor Gerald Ford, warned the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah was still dangerous, after its month-long conflict with Israel.
"Hezbollah's next move is likely to be an attempt to dominate the Beirut government by intimidation and, using the prestige gained in the war, manipulating democratic procedures," he said.
He concluded by noting that observers wondered whether, after the Cold War, trans-Atlantic ties could survive the loss of a common enemy.
"We now know that we face the imperative of building a new world order or potential global catastrophe. It cannot be done alone by either side of the Atlantic. Is that realization sufficient to regenerate a common purpose?"
Comment:We now know that we face the imperative of building a new world order or potential global catastrophe.
Well, you knew this one was coming, and who better to deliver it than Kissinger?
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Blair attacks Europe's "mad anti-Americans"
By Paul Majendie
Reuters
Sep 13, 2006
LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair launched a withering attack on Thursday on what he called "mad anti-Americanism" among European politicians.
Blair, U.S. President George W. Bush's closest ally in the so-called war on terror, said the world urgently needs the United States to help tackle the globe's most pressing problems.
"The danger is if they decide to pull up the drawbridge and disengage. We need them involved," Blair said, spelling out his political vision in a pamphlet published by The Foreign Policy Center think-tank.
"The strain of, frankly, anti-American feeling in parts of European politics is madness when set against the long-term interests of the world we believe in," he said.
Blair, accused by critics of being Bush's poodle who slavishly follows Washington's line, sought to stifle a revolt in his ruling Labour Party last week by promising to quit within a year after almost 10 years in office.
His popularity has tumbled in opinion polls after government scandals over sleaze and mismanagement were compounded by controversy over the wars in Iraq and Lebanon.
As he did during the Iraq War, he sided squarely with Washington over the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas, angering Arab nations and European allies by refusing to call for an immediate ceasefire.
Responding to those who have criticized the White House, Blair said in his pamphlet: "The danger with America today is not that they are too much involved."
"We want them engaged. The reality is that none of the problems that press in on us can be resolved or even contemplated without them," he added.
Laying out his vision for countering extremists, he said: "We need to construct an alliance of moderation that paints a future in which Muslim, Jew and Christian, Arab and Western, wealthy and developing nations can make progress in peace and harmony with each other."
Blair, returning from a trip to the Middle East, said the stand-off between Israel and the Palestinians remains "a -- perhaps the -- genuine source of anger in the Arab and Muslim world, going far beyond anti-Western feeling."
"The issue of even-handedness rankles deeply," he acknowledged.
Blair pledged to making Middle East "an absolute priority for the rest of my time in office."
But analysts believe his efforts are unlikely to break the logjam there, nor restore his reputation. His trip smacked of an attempt to burnish his reputation as his career draws to a close, they argue.
"He is not as instrumental as he needs to be, or would like to believe he is," said Rosemary Hollis, a Middle East expert at British think-tank Chatham House.
Comment:
Dear Tony,
Remember all those people who were booing you recently with torches and pitchforks in hand because you're still in power?
Well, why do you think that any of them - or anyone else for that matter - will actually listen to a single word you say?
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38 US Reps for Bush Impeachment Review
By Matthew Cardinale, News Editor and National Correspondent, Atlanta Progressive News (September 12, 2006)
(APN) ATLANTA - US Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) became the 38th Member of the US Congress officially listed as a supporter of H. Res. 635, a bill which could lead to recommendations to impeach President Bush.
The bill, sponsored by US Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), would create a Select Committee to look into the grounds for impeaching President Bush over misleading the public on the need to go to war; retaliating against public officials who disagree with him; and encouraging torture.
US Rep. Rothman actually had indicated his support since March of 2006, but a clerical error led to his name not being listed until late last week, the Congressman's Communications Director, Kimberly Allen, told Atlanta Progressive News. This would be a second time a clerical error has occurred related to this bill.
US Rep. Rothman recently pledged his support at a constituent panel on leaving Iraq, "If Not Now, When?"
"The only body that has the power to impeach the president is the House of Representatives. The effort, if I may be so bold, is to take back the House," US Rep. Rothman said, according to The Bergen Record Newspaper of New Jersey.
"Rothman, building on one audience member's suggested metaphor, likened the war, and its aim of finding weapons of mass destruction that were never recovered, to an unresolved car theft," The Bergen Record said.
"Imagine if you will, if the police and prosecutor, they refuse to charge you with a crime," Rothman said, according to The Bergen Record. "You did it, but they refuse to charge you. What do we do as a society? We replace the police and the prosecutor."
"This November, you can get a new prosecutor and a new police force and charge with a crime and have a trial... We will hold all those hearings, including one in which we look at whether an impeachable offense occurred," US Rep. Rothman said, according to The Bergen Record.
"A number in the audience were very passionate that President Bush should be impeached. They even went so far as to say that he was responsible for war crimes ... and what would I do about it," Rep. Rothman said according to The News-Leader Newspaper in New Jersey.
"Having served on the House Judiciary Committee when President Clinton was going to be impeached for having sex with someone other than his spouse ... that was, in my opinion, an abuse of power and a violation of our Founding Fathers who allowed for an impeachment only for treason, high crimes or other misdemeanors," Rothman said, according to The News-Leader. "I'm reluctant to join any frivolous effort to impeach President Bush without clear evidence of bribery, treason or high crimes or misdemeanors."
"The president's Republican majority said they will not convene any such hearings in regards to President Bush. A number of us in Congress supported the holding of hearings to determine if there was evidence for an impeachment hearing," Rep. Rothman said according to The News-Leader.
9% of US Congress now supports the impeachment review, including 18% of Democrats, 100% of Independents (1 out of 1), and 0% of Republicans.
The best represented states on H. Res 635 are California (9), New York (6), Illinois (3), Massachusetts (3), Minnesota (3), Georgia (2), New Jersey (2), and Wisconsin (2).
The current 38 total co-sponsors are Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA), Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA), Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA), Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), Rep. Jackson, Jr., (D-IL), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Rep. John Olver (D-MA), Rep. Major Owens (D-NY), Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ), Rep. Martin Sabo (D-MN), Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), Rep. Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA), Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), and Rep. David Wu (D-OR).
An Atlanta Progressive News analysis has found that, interestingly, 30 of the 38 total co-sponsors are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. However, only 30 of the 62 members of the Caucus have signed on.
Atlanta Progressive News is calling out the other 32 self-described progressives who have not signed on. They are Reps. Becerra, Bordallo, Corrine Brown, Sherrod Brown, Carson, Cristenson, Cleaver, Cummings, DeFazio, DeLauro, Evans, Frank, Grijalva, Gutierrez, Tubbs Jones, Kaptur, Kilpatrick, Kucinich, Lantos, Markey, McGovern, Miller, Holmes-Norton, Pastor, Rush, Serrano, Slaughter, Thompson, Udall, Watson, Watt, and Waxman.
In the US Senate, Barbara Boxer (D-CA), John Kerry (D-MA), and Tom Harkin (D-IA) are currently the three co-sponsors of US Senator Russ Feingold's (D-WI) bill, S. Res 398, to censure President Bush. US Sen. Menendez told Atlanta Progressive News recently that several Senators are closely considering the censure resolution.
In the last couple months, there have not been any new cosponsors to either resolution. The most recent activity involves US Rep. Rothman's cosponsoring of H. Res 635; although his office is characterizing Rothman's position on an impeachment review as not new.
Atlanta Progressive News has provided near-exclusive-and during many times, exclusive-coverage of the progress of H. Res 635.
A few months ago, H. Res 635 was discovered by the corporate media.
While the corporate media has yet to give serious treatment to the grounds for an impeachment review, they have given voice to Republican scare tactics that, "Oh no, if Democrats take back the House, it will be impeachment hearings!" we paraphrase.
US Rep. Conyers has been in an ideological tug of war in the meantime.
Many progressives have criticized Conyers for not doing enough, saying the time has come for outright impeachment proceedings.
One commenter on ConyersBlog accused the Congressman of essentially appeasing progressives with his bill to make it look like something was being done about Bush's apparent lies, even accusing Conyers of being a secret agent of Republicans.
Meanwhile, Republicans have highlighted Conyers's likely upcoming promotion to US House Judiciary Committee Chairman as part of their fundraising efforts, while current Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has distanced herself from the impeachment movement as much as possible.
"There has been massive support for House Resolution 635 from a very vigorous network of grassroots activists and people committed to holding the Bush Administration accountable for its widespread abuses of power," US Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) said in a statement prepared for Atlanta Progressive News.
"The Atlanta Progressive News has reported regularly on this bill," Conyers wrote on ConyersBlog.
On the local level, impeachment resolutions have been passing in more and more US cities.
At least twelve (20) US cities, including Arcata, Berkeley, Fairfax, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Sebastopol, each in California; Brookline, Massachussetts; Hanover, New Hampshire; New Paltz, Plattsburg, and Woodstock in New York; Carrboro and Chapel Hill in North Carolina; and Battleboro, Brookfield, Dummerston, Marlboro, Newfane, Putney, and Rockingham, each in Vermont, have passed resolutions calling for Bush's impeachment or an impeachment investigation, according to ImpeachPAC.
State Assembly Resolutions are also being considered in California, Illinois, and Vermont, either of which would force the issue to be considered in the US House according to The Jefferson Manual.
At least three members of Congress are prepared to sign Articles of Impeachment if they were to be introduced, sources tell Atlanta Progressive News. One of them is US Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), according to a radio interview he did. His press office later tried to spin this, saying of course Rep. Lewis meant it would only be introduced if it went through a proper investigation.
Conyers's bill was initially referred to the US House Rules Committee, which has not taken action. None of the US House Democrats on the Rules Committee have signed on as co-sponsors. The Ranking Democrat on the Committee is US Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY). Democratic members of the Committee are Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Doris Matsui (D-CA), and James McGovern (D-MA). Republicans currently outnumber Democrats on the committee by about a two-to-one ratio.
The US House Rules Committee would need to take action on H. Res 635 because it calls for the creation of a Select Committee, in other words the creation of a new committee that is not a standing committee, Jonathan Godfrey, Communications Director for US Rep. Conyers, told Atlanta Progressive News. Such a Committee would need to be staffed, Godfrey noted.
If not acted on this session, the bill would have to be reintroduced next session. It is possible a new bill could include new language regarding Bush's approval of illegal NSA domestic wiretapping.
For now, however, sources in Washington DC tell Atlanta Progressive News that H. Res 635 is a venue for coalition among members of Congress who are willing to consider impeachment for a variety of reasons.
Even though H. Res 635 does not specifically reference the NSA domestic wiretapping issue, some Members of US Congress have found the wiretapping issue a compelling reason to sign on as a co-sponsor, sources say.
In other words, why introduce separate legislation to address a single issue when momentum has been built with H. Res 635?
The thing about H. Res. 635 is, it deals with impeaching Bush over a cluster of issues from misleading the public to go to war, to authorizing torture. Wiretapping was not listed as one of the reasons to investigate the grounds for Bush's impeachment in the bill because the existence of the secret, illegal wiretapping had not come to light yet when the bill was being prepared.
US Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) withdrew her name from H. Res 635 at the end of January 2006, whereas she had been listed as a cosponsor throughout January 2006. Lofgren cited a clerical error for her name having been listed in the first place. Lofgren's Office told Atlanta Progressive News the Representative learned of her being listed as a co-sponsor after reading an exclusive article by Atlanta Progressive News issued January 01, 2006.
Atlanta Progressive News will continue to follow this story and any related developments. We have a juicy related scoop to be revealed soon.
Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor and National Correspondent for Atlanta Progressive News. He may be reached at matthew@atlantaprogressivenews.com
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Johnathan murderer a psychopathic volcano, sentencing hearing told
ARMINA LIGAYA
The Globe and Mail
A psychiatrist has painted a disturbing picture of a teen who stabbed his younger brother to death, calling him a "psychopath" and describing the 19-year-old as a "smouldering volcano with steam coming out of the vents."
Ian Swayze told Ontario Superior Court yesterday of the teen's pattern of violent behaviour, including aggression with knives and fire, threats to bomb a school and kill other students, and deliberate destruction of public property.
These "explosions of anger" are not out of character, but rather "a cascade towards a terrible event . . . a path towards disaster," Dr. Swayze testified at the teen's sentencing hearing.
The young man was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2003 death of his 12-year-old brother, who was found in a basement crawl space in their east-end Toronto home with 71 wounds from stabbing, hacking and cutting. Another teen, now 18, was convicted of manslaughter for the crime.
The Globe and Mail
Neither can be named by law, as both were under the age of 18 at the time of the murder. The victim is known only as Johnathan.
They were found guilty in February, 2005, after their second trial (the first ended in a mistrial). This hearing will determine whether the teens will be sentenced as adults.
The pair sat quietly in the Toronto courtroom as Dr. Swayze, a court-appointed psychiatrist from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, outlined his psychiatric assessment. His conclusions were based on the 19-year-old's records and five hours of interviews between April and August of this year.
"[He] has anti-social, pro-criminal, psychopathic traits," Dr. Swayze said.
He told Mr. Justice David McCombs that the teen -- wearing glasses, a grey suit jacket, crisp white shirt and red pants -- showed no remorse and had a "cavalier disregard" for his actions. Dr. Swayze added that the teen is "angry with the world in general, that he's the perceived, or real, victim of injustices . . . "
The 19-year-old also scored high on psychological tests measuring anti-social behaviour and psychopathic characteristics, warranting the diagnosis of "psychopath," Dr. Swayze said.
"[He] is rampant with impulsivity. . . his ability to contain his behaviour is dismal," he told the court.
The teen has also had a pattern of alcohol abuse, the psychiatrist said, noting he had been drinking a bottle-and-a-half of wine around the time of the murder. He also told the court the teen struggled academically, and was frequently absent from school. Dr. Swayze also said the teen stole from his parents and was a pathological liar.
"Stories change depending on who's asking, and when they're asking," he said.
However, Dr. Swayze said the teen's behaviour in custody has improved. But, he told the court, it was mainly due to the strict rules and contained environment.
"If he had access to the community, he would be expressing those behaviours," he said, and recommended therapy, detention and close supervision.
The hearing continues today.
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Big Brother row as 400,000 civil servants win right to snoop
thisislondon.co.uk
14.09.06
A vast database containing a file on every man, woman and child is being planned by the Government in a 'sinister' expansion of the 'Big Brother' state.
Personal information containing details of every aspect of an individual's life will be available to 400,000 Whitehall civil servants and council workers.
Lord Falconer has ordered privacy laws to be watered down to allow the plans to be forced through.
The plans would allow anyone working for a public body to monitor everything from an individual's driving licence record to whether they had paid their council tax on time.
Critics warned that allowing sensitive financial information to be viewed by all public bodies would leave it wide open to identity fraud. And pensioners who take stands against soaring council tax bills by refusing to pay could have their rights to pension credit withdrawn.
Data-sharing powers would also allow the electoral roll to be used to police the ID card database - allowing residents to be fined up to Ł2,500 for not registering their name or address.
Data protection laws - which are supposed to safeguard individuals' rights to information held about them - will be changed to force the moves through.
Ministers want the changes in place by April next year. The plans would see a massive sharing of all state databases including the electoral roll, benefits records and information collected by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency - but taxpayer, medical and criminal records would be exempt.
MPs and civil liberties campaigners condemned the moves as a further erosion of individual's privacy by the Big Brother state. The plans were published yesterday in a blandly-worded 'vision statement' by Lord Falconer's Department for Constitutional Affairs.
The document says civil servants and council workers must 'fully understand that the Data Protection Act is not a barrier to appropriate information sharing'.
The Government insisted the database would help people moving house avoid contacting local authority, driving licence and the Inland Revenue separately because records would be updated automatically.
Information should be routinely shared 'to expand opportunities for the most disadvantaged, fight crime and provide better services' and in other instances 'where it is in the public interest'.
Constitutional Affairs Minister Baroness Ashton said the Government was 'committed to more information sharing between public sector organisations and service providers'.
But Ministers have already made inroads into individual freedoms, including the creation of a Ł200 million Children's Index which will create a file containing information on the health and education of every child in England and Wales.
A report last month warned that a database holding the personal details on ten million children will hand a 'dangerous weapon' to paedophiles.
The Valuation Office Agency is building a detailed property database of every home - including information on conservatories, scenic views and gardens - in preparation for the shake-up of council tax.
Microchips are being fitted in household dustbins by councils to pave the way for a new rubbish tax, imposed on householders who do not meet recycling targets.
And the DVLA was criticised this year after it emerged it had sold the driving licence details of more than 100,000 motorists to private firms. But Simon Davies of Privacy International said the plans were 'alarming', adding: 'Who will decide what is in the public interest?'
Gareth Crossman, policy director of Liberty, said: 'The Government seems set on moving from a situation where information is not shared unless there is a reason to do so, towards one where information will be shared unless there is a reason not to. 'This is an information free-for-all which is very worrying.' Shadow Constitutional Affairs Secretary Oliver Heald said: 'Step by step, the Government is logging details of every man, woman and child - and their home - in "Big Brother" computers. For all of Labour's talk of human rights, it's clear their state inspectors have little respect for people's privacy.
'There is a case for Government agencies to share data to tackle crime and prevent fraud. But I fear the wholesale weakening of Data Protection laws will merely be used as a sinister excuse for bureaucrats to snoop in people's homes and Gordon Brown to increase taxes by stealth.'
Phil Booth, of the NO2ID campaign, said: 'From now on, you can assume that anything you tell to an official or public servant will not only go on your record, but be passed on to anyone at all in "the public interest" - which has already been neatly redefined to mean 'official convenience'.
'How many thousands of officials will now have free rein to snoop on your personal, business and children's lives?'
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Two dead, 20 injured in Montreal school shooting
by Jacques Lemieux
AFP
September 13, 2006
MONTREAL - Two people included the suspected gunman were shot dead and at least 20 people were injured in a school shooting, police and news media reported.
A gunman opened fire at 12:45 p.m. (1645 GMT) at Dawson College, an English language school in downtown Montreal with some 10,000 students, city police chief Yvan Delorme told reporters.
The incident paralyzed downtown Montreal as frightened students fled in droves and police blocked off streets, even closing a metro (subway) station that directly accesses the college.
Delorme said authorities did not know of a motive for the shooting, but did say there were no indications that it was an act of terrorism or was motivated by racism.
"For now, I will only say there is one suspect who is dead following the arrival of the first police on the scene," said Delorme.
Police killed the shooter, Delorme said. "I can confirm that there is another suspect," he added, giving no further details.
After the press conference, Radio-Canada reported that a young woman not included in the police toll had died on the scene.
Delorme said 20 victims were in hospital following the shooting. Three had serious injuries, he said.
"At 12:41 pm (1641 GMT), an individual penetrated the establishment and opened fire in different places," said Delorme. "Some minutes later, around 12:44 pm, police arrived on the scene to intervene. The police acted quickly, which limited the damage."
Authorities evacuated an adjacent commercial skyscraper and its retail center, in which witnesses said they heard the gunfire, television networks reported.
According to LCN television, a man in a trench coat, armed with an automatic weapon, entered the school cafeteria and began shooting.
Television images showed frightened students running as they were evacuated from the building and one person being carried out on a stretcher.
"We were in class. We heard gunshots, a couple of gunshots. We heard a bunch of girls yelling. I opened the door, I saw a bunch of people running, I closed it, then the teacher came. He locked the door and then said something major was going on in the other room. At a certain point, the lights went off. We heard several gunshots, a dozen maybe," student Daniel Harrosh, 17, told AFP.
"I saw the gunman who was dressed in black and at that time he was shooting at people. It was probably one of the most frightening moments of my life," another student at the college, Michel Boyer, told CTV television.
One of the suspects was described by witnesses as a man in his 20s, wearing a Mohawk haircut and armed with an AK-47.
A spokeswoman for the city's general hospital, Ann Lynch, said that 11 victims had been admitted. Of those six were critical, but two had stablized.
At least two other city hospital accepted victims, Lynch added.
Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay described the incident as a "very unhappy event," but also one that was "isolated."
Quebec Premier Jean Charest said that the whole province was "distressed" by news of the shooting.
"All of Quebec is distressed," he said, expressing "deep sorrow for the victims, the families, for the parents who have children studying at Dawson and who must have lived a very difficult day, a day of great anxiety," he told reporters.
The shooting recalled the so-called Montreal Massacre on December 6, 1989, at Montreal's engineering school Ecole Polytechnique.
In that incident, an enraged gunman, Marc Lepine, killed 14 female students before killing himself.
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Montreal gunman called himself 'angel of death'
Last Updated Thu, 14 Sep 2006 08:54:32 EDT
CBC News
The gunman who went on a shooting rampage at a Montreal college on Wednesday apparently left an online journal with chilling comments and photos of himself brandishing a rifle.
Kimveer Gill, who is believed to be the man who shot a young woman to death and wounded 19 other people, was the author of an online diary posted at the website vampirefreaks.com.
Gill, 25, arrived at Dawson College dressed entirely in black, wearing a trench coat and carrying an automatic gun when he opened fire.
Of the 19 people injured, at least six were reported in critical condition Thursday morning. Montreal police said the victims ranged in age from 17 to 48.
On Thursday, police identified the dead student as Anastasia De Souza, an 18-year-old woman from Montreal. Published reports said De Souza was a student at Dawson College.
Chaos on campus
Investigators with Montreal police's Major Crimes Unit and with the Sűreté du Québec, the provincial police force, spent the night picking through the crime scene to collect forensic evidence, and piece together what happened Wednesday afternoon.
Eyewitnesses say they saw a tall, Goth-looking man in a long black coat drive up near the college on Maisonneuve Street in a black Pontiac Sunfire at around 12:30 p.m. He got out of his car, opened the trunk and removed a rifle.
The gunman walked toward the college's southwest entrance, firing randomly, said witnesses, who saw him shoot at least one person outside. The man then walked into the college, gripping the rifle. Police say the first gunshots were heard at 12:41 p.m.
It was lunchtime and the school was packed when the gunman entered through the main doors and headed to the cafeteria. "He was shooting randomly," said Dawson student Michel Boyer, who witnessed the gunfire. "I'm not sure who he was shooting at, but the [cafeteria] atrium was completely cleared."
Chaos ensued, said Boyer. "The adrenaline was rushing. It was like something from a movie. It was completely unbelievable and incredible."
The first police officers were on the scene within three minutes, said Montreal police chief Yvan Delorme. By coincidence, they had been called to the college on an unrelated drug investigation.
Officers with guns drawn rushed into the building, at which point witnesses reported hearing more shots fired. Montreal police confirmed that the officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect, and that the suspect was hit by at least one officer.
Police said the gunman died during the shootout, but backed away from a claim Wednesday night that the suspect was killed by police.
"We know that shots were fired, both by this man and the police," said Sűreté du Québec spokesman François Doré.
An autopsy is expected to confirm the cause of death.
Panic in the streets
Pandemonium broke out inside the college and on surrounding streets minutes after the shooting began.
Hundreds of students poured out of the school, running with their heads covered. Many were crying and yelling into their cellphones, and several people fleeing the scene had blood stains on their clothes.
People collapsed on nearby streets as they tried to flee, and some of those lying on the ground were trampled by others as they ran away.
While hundreds of students sought refuge at nearby Concordia University, others hid for as long as three hours, until police with dogs escorted them out to safety.
Eyewitness Andrew Galle said he emerged from Dawson College's campus radio station to a gruesome scene. "There was glass everywhere, and a big pile of blood, with tracks out the front door and outside the school itself."
Police officers were seen dragging a bloody body out of the school about 45 minutes after the first gunshots were heard. They rested the body next to a patrol car and threw a sheet over the corpse. Police confirmed Wednesday night that the body was that of the gunman.
Officers then searched the school, floor by floor and room by room, amid initial fears that there might have been be a second gunman. The school was declared empty about three hours after the first shots were heard.
Police say it will take weeks before they can assemble a complete account of what happened. Investigators worked through Wednesday night examining the crime scene.
They also searched Gill's car and his residence in Fabreville, a borough in Laval north of Montreal on Thursday morning, searching for evidence.
Neighbours told CBC Radio that Gill lived with his parents in the house.
Gunman said he was "Ready for Action"
In his profile on vampirefreaks.com, a website devoted to Goth culture, Gill called himself "Trench," and wrote: "You will come to know him as the Angel of Death."
"Work sucks ... School sucks ... Life sucks ... What else can I say?" he wrote. "Metal and Goth kick ass. Life is like a video game, you gotta die sometime."
A photo gallery accompanying the profile includes pictures of Gill brandishing a Beretta CX4 Storm semi-automatic rifle. In the last seven photos, he is wearing a black trench coat and holding the rifle. The caption below the last photo reads, "Ready for Action."
Dawson College, where the shooting occurred, is closed until Monday. About 10,000 students attend the junior college, which offers a two-year pre-university program or a three-year technical program.
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Money Matters
IMF: risk of global crash is increasing
By Philip Thornton, Economics Correspondent in Singapore
The Independent
13 September 2006
Financial markets have failed to price in the risk that any one of a host of threats to economic stability could materialise and deliver a massive shock to the world economy, the International Monetary Fund warned yesterday.
The world's chief financial watchdog said the financial system had so far proved resilient in the face of recent price falls but warned the risk of a crash had increased. And when it comes to worrying about a crash in the financial markets that could deliver a body blow to the world economy, it seems that all roads lead to the US.
The IMF highlighted five major risks, all but one of which can be attributed to a greater or lesser extent to the economy and foreign policies of the US administration. Not that the politically savvy IMF phrases it exactly like that.
Its message coincided with a stark warning from HSBC, one of the world's largest investment banks, that it had put the US on alert for "recession risk".
The fund, which is holding its annual meetings this week, issued its warning in its closely watched, twice-yearly Global Financial Stability Report. It highlighted a sharp slowdown in the US economy, triggered by a slump in house prices, as the major risk. Other dangers included:
* A surge in inflation that would force central banks, particularly the US Fed, to impose sharp rate rises that would ripple through emerging markets
* A rebound in oil prices on the back of mounting speculation of geopolitical tensions - a reference to a showdown between Iran and the US over nuclear technology
* A sudden unravelling of the record imbalances between surpluses in Asia and deficits in the US
* A mutation in the avian flu virus that would lead to a "sharp decline in economic activity".
Jaime Caruana, director of the IMF's monetary and capital markets department, said: "Markets appear to price in little provision for these risks. So if one or some combination of these risks materialises, financial markets could experience greater turbulence that places stress on international markets, possibly with a wider impact on the global economy."
He said markets were now much more focused on a US-led global slowdown rather than the threat from global imbalances that has worried the IMF for the past six years.
However Hung Tran, Mr Caruana's deputy, said: "Comparable countries such as the UK and Australia experienced a strong upturn in prices and then a deceleration and the process has been seen as a soft landing so there is hope - which is our central case - that the US will experience something similar.
"However, it is clear that the risks are on the downside of a sharper than expected slowdown [in house prices] that would produce weaker-than-expected growth that would have implications for global growth and financial markets." This risk segues directly into fears of a slump in the dollar. HSBC issued a "recession-risk" alert for the US economy that would trigger a sharp fall in the dollar and pound.
David Bloom, a global economist, said the US would slow sharply next year, prompting investors to pull out of their massive gambles on US assets that so far had succeeded in offsetting record trade deficits. "Once these assets stop performing well and the dollar drifts lower, the dollar and asset cycle can turn more vicious. Once one does not want to buy an asset because of the fall in the dollar then the dollar starts to impact back on assets."
The IMF said its assumption was that any decline in the dollar would be "orderly", but there could be a more pronounced drop. It warned one reason the dollar could fall would be if investors believed it was clear the world's leading economies would fail to take action to resolve the imbalances between saving and demand across the world.
"A gradual and orderly adjustment would very likely depend on a credible policy framework for resolution of global imbalances over the medium term," the report said. "Accordingly, the risk of a disorderly dollar adjustment could arise without policies being put in place to foster the needed adjustments in savings and investment imbalances."
The IMF has done its bit, setting up a multilateral consultation between China and the US, as well as Saudi Arabia, to find a way to resolve the imbalances.
Its keynote world economic outlook published tomorrow will undoubtedly reiterate that the US must cut its deficits, China must liberalise its financial system and allow its currency to appreciate, the oil-rich countries should invest their windfall for growth while Europe should do more to boost its sluggish growth rates.
A fall in the dollar would also add to the inflation in the US as import costs rose. Inflationary pressures have been rising thanks to soaring energy costs.
The GFSR report showed that while long-run inflation expectations in the US have picked up, the inflation-related risk premium that investors are forced to pay has declined. "Should these gains erode and risk premiums for unexpected inflation increase, asset markets could come under pressure with potentially negative consequences for the real economy," it said.
Meanwhile, oil prices jumped more than a dollar a barrel yesterday, ending a run of recent declines. US oil prices broke back through $66 a barrel after a foiled attack on the US embassy in Damascus.
Unsurprisingly, the IMF did not give estimates for the financial implications of a dollar crash. But last month it published research by a leading economist that found, with a 10 per cent fall in the dollar, US stocks and bonds would wipe out $1.2 trillion of wealth held for foreigners.
The research found that UK investors held $471bn of US assets, the second largest in the world behind Japan. However, a national 10 per cent slump in asset prices would wipe out the equivalent of 5 per cent of GDP compared with almost 15 per cent in Italy.
The IMF did highlight consensus forecasts yesterday showing even an orderly decline in the dollar would not be shared equally across the world. The forecasts showed the fall would be absorbed entirely by a rise in the currencies of Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. On a general note, the IMF said the financial system had withstood a fall in prices and a rise in volatility in May after an unexpectedly large rise in inflation.
The IMF said corporate fundamentals were still solid, equity valuations were not stretched in most markets and major financial institutions were profitable and well capitalised.
However, it remarked: "In these circumstances it is reasonable to wonder whether financial markets might react to less favourable developments in a way that would amplify - rather than dampen - the emerging risks." The trigger for a shock to asset prices can come out of the blue, perhaps a natural disaster or a health epidemic such as bird flu.
The IMF reiterated its fears that an outbreak would reduce investors' appetite for risky investments, cut capital flows between companies and weaken financial systems as absenteeism rose.
David Nabarro, the senior UN System Co-ordinator for avian and human influenza, is in Singapore at the weekend to meet Jim Adams, head of the World Bank's avian flu taskforce.
But could political instability - such as that at the highest levels of the Labour Government this week that knocked the pound - trigger a crash? Mr Hung dodged the specific question, but said: "In the short term, this is very noisy and can distort uncertainty in exchange rates so we try to look over the medium term." Mr Caruana added: "There will always be surprises - but surprises are surprises."
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Stocks fall on inflation worries
By Emily Chasan
Reuters
September 14, 2006
NEW YORK - Stocks fell on Thursday as a fresh batch of economic data prompted worries about rising inflation and slow U.S. economic growth which could dig into corporate profits.
U.S. stock indexes backed off four-month highs, hurt by downgrades of blue chips General Electric Co. and Boeing Co..
Investors grew concerned about the economy after government data showed import prices rose 0.8 percent in August, more than expected and hinting at inflation pressures. Monthly U.S. retail sales were stronger than expected, though sharply lower than the previous month.
"The downgrades on GE and Boeing started the market with a negative tone, and I guess the feeling is import prices were higher than expected and retail sales, ex auto, were a little less than expected," said Jim Awad, chairman of Awad Asset Management in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 35.70 points, or 0.31 percent, at 11,507.62. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 2.94 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,315.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 6.71 points, or 0.30 percent, at 2,220.96.
UBS cut its rating on GE to "neutral" from "buy," citing concerns at its financial and other non-infrastructure business.
The bank also cut its rating on aerospace company Boeing, to "reduce" from "buy," citing worries about an economic slowdown which could hurt the company's orders.
Boeing shares slid 1. percent to $75.06, while GE shares lost 0.6 percent to $34.62.
Shares of Ford Motor Co. fell 4.1 percent to $8.81 after the Detroit News said the automaker could post a pretax loss of $8 billion to $9 billion this year, citing unnamed Ford sources.
Other government data showed U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly fell last week but the previous week's figure was revised upward.
Investors were waiting to hear from Federal Reserve Board Governor Susan Schmidt Bies, who is due to testify before a U.S. House subcommittee at 11 a.m.
Investors widely expect the U.S. central bank to hold interest rates steady at its September 20 policy meeting as it did in August when it left the federal funds rate at 5.25 percent.
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Analyst predicts plunge in gas prices
By Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers
September 14, 2006
WASHINGTON - The recent sharp drop in the global price of crude oil could mark the start of a massive sell-off that returns gasoline prices to lows not seen since the late 1990s - perhaps as low as $1.15 a gallon.
"All the hurricane flags are flying" in oil markets, said Philip Verleger, a noted energy consultant who was a lone voice several years ago in warning that oil prices would soar. Now, he says, they appear to be poised for a dramatic plunge.
Crude-oil prices have fallen about $14, or roughly 17 percent, from their July 14 peak of $78.40. After falling seven straight days, they rose slightly Wednesday in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, to $63.97, partly in reaction to a government report showing fuel inventories a bit lower than expected. But the overall price drop is expected to continue, and prices could fall much more in the weeks and months ahead.
Here's why:
For most of the past two years, oil prices have risen because the world's oil producers have struggled to keep pace with growing demand, particularly from China and India. Spare oil-production capacity grew so tight that market players feared that any disruption to oil production could create shortages.
Fear of disruption focused on fighting in Nigeria, escalating tensions over Iran's nuclear program, violence between Israel and Lebanon that might spread to oil-producing neighbors, and the prospect that hurricanes might topple oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
Oil traders bet that such worrisome developments would drive up the future price of oil. Oil is traded in contracts for future delivery, and companies that take physical delivery of oil are just a small part of total trading. Large pension and commodities funds are the big traders and they're seeking profits. They've sunk $105 billion or more into oil futures in recent years, according to Verleger. Their bets that oil prices would rise in the future bid up the price of oil.
That, in turn, led users of oil to create stockpiles as cushions against supply disruptions and even higher future prices. Now inventories of oil are approaching 1990 levels.
But many of the conditions that drove investors to bid up oil prices are ebbing. Tensions over Israel, Lebanon and Nigeria are easing. The hurricane season has presented no threat so far to the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. peak summer driving season is over, so gasoline demand is falling.
With fear of supply disruptions ebbing, oil prices began sliding. With oil inventories high, refiners that turn oil into gasoline are expected to cut production. As refiners cut production, oil companies increasingly risk getting stuck with excess oil supplies. There's already anecdotal evidence of oil companies chartering tankers to store excess oil.
All this is turning financial markets increasingly bearish on oil.
"If we continue to build inventories, and if we have a warm winter like we had last winter, you could see a large fall in the price of oil," said Gary Pokoik, who manages Hedge Ventures Energy in Los Angeles, an energy hedge fund. "I think there is still a lot of risk in the market."
As it stands now, the recent oil-price slump has brought the national average for a gallon of unleaded gasoline down to $2.59, according to the AAA motor club. In the Seattle area, prices per gallon have fallen to $2.856 currently from $3.071 a month ago, a decline of 7 percent, according to AAA.
Should oil traders fear that this downward price spiral will get worse and run for the exits by selling off their futures contracts, Verleger said, it's not unthinkable that oil prices could return to $15 or less a barrel, at least temporarily. That could mean gasoline prices as low as $1.15 per gallon.
Other experts won't guess at a floor price, but they agree that a race to the bottom could break out.
"The market may test levels here that are too low to be sustained," said Clay Seigle, an analyst at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consultancy in Boston.
On Monday, the oil-producing cartel OPEC hinted that if prices fall precipitously, OPEC members would cut production to lift them. But that would take time.
"That takes six to nine months. If we don't have a really cold winter here [creating a demand for oil], prices will fall. Literally, you don't know where the floor is," Verleger said. "In a market like this, if things start falling ... prices could take you back to the 1999 levels. It has nothing to do with production."
Comment: It's an election year, and people are worried about the economy.
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DHL to supply hospital equipment
BBC NEws
05/09/2006
The NHS has struck a deal with German company DHL to privatise the supplying of goods and equipment to hospitals.
From 1 October, DHL - best known for delivering parcels - will supply everything from stationery to bed linen and MRI scanners to English hospitals.
The deal is opposed by trade unions and will see 1,700 NHS employees transferred to the private sector.
More than Ł22bn of orders over 10 years will be affected. The company says it will save the NHS Ł1bn in that period.
The contract will be officially announced on Tuesday.
DHL is best known for delivering documents and freight, but has evolved into a company that is also involved in logistics and supply chain work on behalf of organisations across the world.
Its deal with the NHS is one of many contracts it has as part of its DHL Exel logistics division, which was formed in 2005.
Market power
DHL Logistics chief executive John Allan told BBC News quality would not be sacrificed to save money.
Staff across the NHS will be watching this privatisation deal, which will be viewed by many as symbolic of what is to come
Unison
"We are hoping to achieve efficiency benefits in buying for the NHS, which they will be able to feed back into patient care.
"But we will be working very closely with clinical specialists - with doctors, with the trusts - to ensure we procure for them precisely the products they want."
Some critics fear that DHL may opt for cheaper, inferior products and that the company will have excessive market power which could lead to small manufacturers suffering.
But Mr Allan told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the doctors and trusts would decide which clinical products to buy.
"Our job then will be simply to get the best possible price we can for the standard of quality they have specified."
DHL had "set out to ensure" its former NHS employees' terms and conditions - including pensions - would be "protected", Mr Allan said.
He added the company planned to create more than 1,000 extra jobs.
The deal is effectively a privatisation of part of NHS Logistics as well as a part of the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency.
The supplier's former chairman David Hall said it had a good performance history and was not a part of the NHS that "needs tinkering with".
"There are many more important areas that I would have thought would have had the government's attention," he added.
Hundreds of NHS Logistics workers who are members of Unison are already being balloted by their trade union after it was discovered ministers were considering outsourcing the contract.
'Sad day'
The union's head of health, Karen Jennings, said it made "no sense" to break up NHS Logistics.
"This is a very sad day for the NHS," she said.
"Staff across the NHS will be watching this privatisation deal, which will be viewed by many as symbolic of what is to come."
Results of the ballot are due to be announced next week.
The GMB union has said it will support members who want to take industrial action.
Savings promise
The move is the biggest example of what some regard as creeping NHS privatisation.
DHL says it can make savings by reducing the range of products available to hospitals - for example, at the moment hospitals have a choice of 133 different paper staplers to choose from in a catalogue.
Goods and services supplied by DHL will include food, bed linen, cleaning products, surgical and medical equipment and stationery.
Shadow health minister, Stephen O'Brien, said: "By gaining control of the NHS Logistics and most of the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency, U.S. companies DHL, and its sub contractor Novation, will become responsible for spending Ł22bn of U.K. taxpayers' money."
Comment:
Stolen body parts 'sold to NHS'
Alistair Cooke Potentially contaminated body parts allegedly stolen in the US may have been implanted into British patients, a government agency says.
Over 1,000 body parts were plundered by gangs in New York and then sold for transplants, it has been claimed.
Biomedical Tissue Services, the firm at the centre of the scandal, exported 77 body parts to the UK last year.
NHS regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said it had alerted 20 NHS trusts.
Late last year, the US Food and Drug Administration ordered a recall of the potentially tainted products and warned that many patients could have been exposed to HIV and other diseases, but insisted the risk of infection was minimal.
New York investigators say death certificates were doctored to make the dead out to have been younger and healthier than they actually were.
Question: Is there a link between these two stories?
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Russian central banker killed in contract "hit"
By Richard Balmforth
Reuters
September 14, 2006
MOSCOW - A Russian central banker who fought to clean up his country's murky banking system died early on Thursday from gunshot wounds after being ambushed by assassins in what police said was a contract 'hit'.
The killing of Andrei Kozlov, 41, a respected first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, was the highest-profile assassination in Moscow during the six years President
Vladimir Putin has been in power.
Kozlov had led a fearless campaign to close banks suspected of involvement in money laundering. Gunmen fired on him as he left a football match between bank employees on Wednesday night.
Kozlov fell to the ground bleeding from the head and chest and was rushed to hospital, where he died a few hours later after emergency surgery. His driver was killed on the spot.
"Andrei Kozlov died early this morning," Inna Sigeyeva, a deputy chief doctor at Moscow's Hospital No. 33, told Reuters.
His murder plunged Russia's financial establishment into shock. With his department closing banks at the rate of two or three a week, Kozlov had no shortage of enemies and his colleagues said he had paid the ultimate price for his zeal.
"He was at the cutting edge of the battle against financial crime. He was a very brave and honest man and through his activity he repeatedly encroached on the interests of unprincipled financiers," Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said in a tribute.
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, leading a minute's silence at a cabinet meeting, said Kozlov's death was a great loss.
Anatoly Chubais, chief executive of Russia's electricity monopoly, described the murder as an "impudent challenge" to Russia's political class. "The response of the authorities must be tough, prompt and pitiless," he said.
Only last week, Kozlov had called at a banking forum in the southern city of Sochi for much tougher penalties against bankers found guilty of money laundering.
Russia's financial markets are used to unpleasant surprises. The RTS stock index rallied by 1.4 percent and state-controlled Sberbank, Russia's biggest bank, gained 2 percent in early trading.
Kozlov's killing, with its grim echo of the often violent years of Boris Yeltsin's rule, was uncomfortable news for Putin who has consistently trumpeted the stability he has brought to Russia in the year Moscow heads the G8 group of economic powers.
After overseeing years of rapid economic growth, Putin now wants a trouble-free political climate in which to prepare an orderly presidential succession in 2008.
Al Breach, chief economist at Swiss bank UBS, said the murder could unsettle investors, though it was unlikely to change the overall investment climate.
"It will remind people of political risk before the presidential elections," he told Reuters.
The Kremlin declined immediate comment on Kozlov's killing.
Russia has about 1,200 banks. Many of them are tiny outfits with little capital and banking experts say allegations of malpractice are common.
"They assassinated Kozlov because he withdrew bank licenses. It is horrible that these attacks still happen in Russia. The government must find the killers," Vladislav Reznik, chairman of the State Duma (parliament)'s financial committee, told Reuters.
HIGH PROFILE ATTACK
Russia's banking system grew out of chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union when violence was a part of doing business. One analyst said the attack showed the sector had still not shaken off its past.
Contract-style killings of wealthy businessmen and bankers were common in the 1990s but they tapered off after Putin came to power in 2000.
Kozlov's killing is the highest profile attack in the capital since Chubais escaped unscathed from an assassination attempt in March 2005 when his motorcade was attacked.
In the only other attacks on top state banking officials, shots were fired through a window in 1997 at the then Central Bank chief Sergei Dubinin.
Kozlov, who was married with three children, started at what was then the Soviet central bank at the age of 24. He rose quickly through the ranks to become first deputy chairman in 1997. He left two years later for a spell in the private sector, rejoining the central bank in April 2002.
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Singapore, World Bank tussle over activist blacklist
By Geert De Clercq
Reuters
September 14, 2006
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore said on Thursday it might admit some of the 27 civil rights activists it barred from an IMF-World Bank meeting, but the bank rejected the government's softer stance as being insufficient.
Singapore had originally blocked the activists from attending the September 11-20 meetings on the grounds they posed a threat to security and public order.
But in an apparent attempt to placate the monetary chiefs, who along with the European Union have criticized the city-state's tight security, Singapore said on Thursday it was willing to reconsider the ban on the activists.
"The IMF/WB have asked the government to allow in the 27 activists. The government has responded that if these activists travel to Singapore, we will assess at the point of entry whether they pose a security or safety risk," the Singapore 2006 Organizing Committee said in a statement.
"If we judge the risk to be acceptable for that particular activist, we are prepared to allow him or her in. However, we cannot guarantee that all 27 activists will be admitted to Singapore," it said.
The statement was issued shortly after World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz met with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
"This statement is not a sufficient response to give the individuals in question the assurance that they would be granted access," a World Bank official told Reuters.
"We have accredited these individuals based on clearance by their respective governments and we believe they should be able to participate in our meetings."
Wolfowitz had said earlier that he hoped the ban on the activists was not a case of censorship, adding that it might be in breach of a 2003 agreement with the city-state.
But the Singapore 2006 committee said the memorandum of understanding signed between IMF/WB and the Singapore government "obliges Singapore to take all necessary measures for the safe passage of all persons in and out of Singapore."
It said the government takes this duty seriously in view of the international security environment.
Antonio Tricarico of Italy's Reform the World Bank said that according to the list, Singapore's objection to his accreditation was based on security and law and order considerations.
"Technically, that means terrorism. This is absurd," he told Reuters. Tricarico is the first person on the blacklist, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
Earlier, Singapore police said they had detained three Singaporeans who were planning to distribute flyers criticizing the IMF and World Bank and had seized their computers.
Police spokesman Mohamed Razif said they were investigating the men under legislation stating that anyone possessing materials which contain "any incitement to violence or counseling disobedience to the law" would be jailed for up to three years or fined, or both.
On Wednesday, Singapore deported two Filipino activists who had been planning to join anti-IMF protests.
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Ken's oil for brooms deal: fuel for us, a clean-up for Caracas
Hugh Muir
Wednesday September 13, 2006
The Guardian
The point at which President Hugo Chávez decided that London should serve as a model for services and governance in Caracas was not immediately apparent. He came in May, visited City Hall amid much controversy and fanfare, and was soon gone.
But the result of his visit is likely to be an extraordinary deal struck with London's mayor, Ken Livingstone, that would see Caracas benefit from the capital's expertise in policing, tourism, transport, housing and waste disposal.
London, meanwhile, would gain the most obvious asset the Venezuelans have to give: cheap oil. Possibly more than a million barrels of the stuff.
South American diesel would be supplied by Venezuela - the world's fifth-largest oil exporter - as fuel for some of the capital's 8,000 buses, particularly those services most utilised by the poor.
The exchange arises from the high-profile offer President Chávez made to London during his visit to City Hall in May. Since then officials have been meeting in London and Caracas to bring the barter deal about.
Yesterday Mr Livingstone confirmed that the agreement was in the making, and finer details were being thrashed out.
"We have poor people in London. We are the richest city in Europe and yet we have the disgrace of child poverty," he said. "They have a vast population living in slums, and we have a lot of experience in terms of housing policy and all the things we know about how to take a city and make it function."
But opponents on the London assembly, who want to question the mayor at City Hall today, are unconvinced. Angie Bray, the leader of London's Tories, dismissed the scheme as a "socialist propaganda fest".
She said: "Ken and the president of Venezuela should be ashamed of themselves for even contemplating such a proposal. I'm sure the Venezuelans who struggle below the poverty line, many of them critically so, would be shocked at the cynical siphoning off of their main asset to provide one of the world's most prosperous cities with cheap oil."
Mike Tuffrey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in London, said the deal smacked of aid, not trade. "This reduces us to the status of a third-world barter economy. We should be weaning ourselves off fossil fuels, not trying to get them at subsidised prices from Venezuela."
Details of the deal under discussion emerged in a memo seen by the Guardian that described the progress of meetings between the mayor's most senior officials, embassy officials and figures from PDV UK, the Venezuelan state oil company.
It said London would receive an unspecified amount of oil as part of the 1.3m barrels needed to run the buses each year. In return the mayor's aides would promise to "actively and efficiently promote Venezuela's image in the UK" by highlighting the oil deal's benefits for London's poor and by boosting tourism with advertisements on buses.
Caracas, it said, would also benefit from help in running its transport system and in fighting crime, using London's expertise in the use of CCTV, fingerprint technology and neighbourhood policing. Consultants would help with waste disposal, air quality and adult education.
Among those who could go to Caracas to give advice are Mr Livingstone's economics director, John Ross, who has been involved in the talks, and John Duffy, London's waste disposal and environment tsar.
The memo revealed that the president's initial proposal, to supply heating oil to "young people, schools in working-class areas and the homes of elderly people" was dropped because too many UK authorities would be involved. Officials preferred the bus plan for its simplicity and its ability to help the poor directly. They might receive a "special identity card" to access cut-price bus tickets, thereby sharing the fare subsidies that already apply to children and pensioners.
The practicalities of delivering the oil were also discussed. One option involved UK suppliers Shell, Chevron and Conoco providing the oil to London and being reimbursed with an equivalent amount from PDV UK in Venezuela.
Mr Chávez has repeatedly been accused of using oil to increase his own influence. Last year Venezuela gave more than 45m litres at 40% below market prices to the poor of Boston and New York. A group of Caribbean countries also received cheap oil.
But he also favours barter arrangements. Cuban doctors are working in the poorer areas of Venezuela in exchange for the supply of cheap oil to their country.
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Earth, Wind, and Fire
Fire in the Mid Canterbury skies
By Sue Newman
Thursday, 14 September 2006
Ashburton Guardian
School children saw it, businessmen saw it and little old ladies in their gardens saw it.
The meteor that blazed its way across Ashburton skies yesterday caught many by surprise and, so quick was its passage, most doubted what they had seen.
That doubt remained until reports of the fiery, moving light began to flood into newsrooms around the South Island.
Ashburton was spared the sonic boom that was heard in greater Christchurch as the fireball plunged through the earth's atmosphere, but our skies appear to have been the playground in which the meteor flared its last.
Sightings have been reported to the Guardian from around the district and to a person, the meteor spotters are consistent in their recollection of the form the fireball took.
The sightings were all made just before 3pm.
Alford Forest man Nigel Birt said the object was 'big, bright and iridescent".
"It was streaking through the sky. It didn't have any real shape but had a tail flaring off the back. Two bits broke off and it just burned up and disappeared," he said.
The meteor was visible for just a few seconds and when it disappeared was heading in a north, north-east direction, Mr Birt said.
Just a few kilometres away at the Mayfield Golf Course, Paul Gardner saw a fiery object appear overhead. He shook his head and wondered if he was seeing things.
"It took about three seconds to cross the sky and was like a ball of orangey-blue fire with a tail."
Given the direction it was moving in and its speed of travel, Mr Gardner said it appeared to be heading towards Oxford.
He has absolutely no doubt that what he saw was a meteor.
"I knew as soon as I saw it that it wasn't a plane. I watched it and it just disappeared, it died. If this thing had been at night, it would have been incredible, spectacular," he said.
Real estate salesman Tony Sands was driving along Chalmers Avenue, his mind on an appointment with a Bridge Street home owner, when a bright light appeared in front of his car.
"It was about five to three and I saw this flash of light towards the top of my windscreen. It was there one minute and gone the next. It was travelling too fast to be a plane and was a yellowy, white light."
The object was moving towards Christchurch
"It was travelling inland at speed and it was very unusual because it wasn't high in the sky, I didn't have to crane my neck to see it through the windscreen," Mr Sands said.
The bright, travelling light had no apparent body shape and it flared at the back like a jet.
"I've never seen anything move so fast," he said.
And just down the road at the Ashburton Airfield, pilot Robin Corbett was out on the runway when he spotted the meteor.
"It was an awesome sight. I saw its full splurge of fire, but I didn't hear any sound. It was a broad band of light and as it got closer to the horizon it faded off and a few bits seemed to split away. It was an impressive sight," Mr Corbett said.
Like others who reported sightings of the meteor, Mr Corbett said the object was low in the sky and was heading in the direction of Hanmer.
September 13 2006
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Three earthquakes hit Russia's Far East
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, September 13 (RIA Novosti)
Three powerful earthquakes have been registered off Russia's Pacific coast, local officials said Wednesday.
Two quakes measuring 4.7 and 4.8 on the Richter scale were registered at 6:54 p.m. local time Tuesday (5:35 a.m. GMT) and 11:59 p.m. (10:59 GMT), respectively, 220 kilometers (140 miles) to the east of the Kamchatka Peninsula at a depth of 33km (21 miles), seismologists said.
Another quake, with a magnitude of 4.6 was registered at 1:39 p.m. local time (2:39 a.m. GMT) in the Sea of Japan 125km (78 miles) to the northeast of the city of Nakhodka in the Primorye Territory, a spokesman for local emergency services said.
"A 4.6-magnitude earthquake occurred at a depth of the 450km (280 miles)," he said. "No tremors were felt in the territory's coastal regions. No casualties, destruction or threat of tsunamis have been reported."
Powerful quakes have hit Russia's Pacific for years. Over 2,000 people were killed when a devastating earthquake destroyed the town of Neftegorsk on the island of Sakhalin on May 28, 1995.
This year more than 1,200 people, including 542 children, were evacuated from the north of the Kamchatka peninsula after a series of major earthquakes. The first 7.8-magnitude quake, the strongest in the Koryak Autonomous Area since 1900, injured 31 people on April 21 and had an epicenter about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the town of Khailino. It also damaged about 380 houses and 25 administrative facilities in four other towns.
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Gordon picks up strength; Helene forms
AP
September 14, 2006
MIAMI - Tropical Storm Helene moved quickly in the open Atlantic early Thursday, while Hurricane Gordon gained strength but posed no threat to land, forecasters said.
The remnants of Hurricane Florence, which had raked southern Newfoundland in Canada with 100 mph wind gusts and rain on Wednesday, damaging roads, ripping shingles from roofs and knocking out power, moved away from the coast on Thursday. The Canadian Hurricane Center said the winds should decrease through the day.
Helene had top sustained winds near 40 mph Thursday morning, just above the 39-mph threshold for a tropical storm. The eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season formed late Wednesday night.
At 5 a.m. EDT, Helene was centered 695 miles west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands and moving west over warm Atlantic waters at 22 mph, forecasters said. A gradual turn toward the west-northwest was expected over the next 24 hours.
Gordon was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane late Wednesday when its top sustained winds jumped to 120 mph, up from 110 mph earlier in the day, forecasters said.
The hurricane was moving out to sea and was no threat to land, according to the hurricane center. Gordon's clearly defined eye was centered about 550 miles east-southeast of Bermuda and moving north-northeast at near 13 mph. Some gradual weakening was expected over the next 24 hours, forecasters said.
"Although Gordon's eye remains distinct, it has become smaller and a little less well-defined," said Richard Knabb, a senior hurricane specialist.
Some waves could reach Bermuda, but the British territory should not feel tropical storm force winds, forecasters said.
The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. The National Hurricane Center's latest forecast for the season expects between seven and nine hurricanes, a slight reduction from earlier predictions.
Federal scientists said Wednesday that the season hasn't been as busy because weak El Nino conditions have developed in the tropical Pacific.
El Nino means higher ocean temperatures that inhibit hurricanes by increasing crosswinds over the Caribbean. This vertical wind shear can rip storms apart or even stop them from forming. But National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists warned that the El Nino impacts on hurricanes have been small so far.
"We are still in the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season, and conditions remain generally conducive for hurricane formation," said Gerry Bell, the agency's lead seasonal hurricane forecaster.
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New El Nino sparks weather fears
By Corinne Podger
BBC News
Thursday, 14 September 2006
The periodic phenomenon known as El Nino has developed in the Pacific Ocean threatening extreme weather in many parts of the world, US scientists say.
El Ninos begin with a warming of waters in the eastern Pacific, and there has been a steep rise in water temperature in recent weeks, they say.
This El Nino is likely to strengthen towards the end of the year and early into 2007, the researchers add.
However it is not expected to reach the strength of the 1997 phenomenon.
In that year El Nino brought drought to parts of Asia and Australia, and heavy rains and floods to Latin America.
Scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) say there has been drier-than-average weather in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines - countries which are often the first to show the effects of a new El Nino.
But the early indications are that weather changes will be milder than in some previous events.
"What happens is that the cool current over the eastern Pacific, which brings cold waters from the Antarctic, up the South American coast towards the equator - the Humboldt currrent - weakens, and this allows El Nino to develop off South America, and the temperatures rise quite considerably," commented Dr Harvey Sterne from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
"In some years we've had four or five degrees Celsius above normal; now, this year, they're about one or two degrees above normal, so it's nothing like we had in the early 1980s."
Noaa says this latest phenomenon may explain why this year's Atlantic hurricane season has so far been weaker than expected - winds associated with El Nino events disrupt and weaken storm formation.
The researchers are also predicting a milder-than-average winter for much of North America, and wetter weather for the US Gulf Coast and Florida.
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Wildfire-burned acres sets 45-year high
By CHRISTOPHER SMITH
Associated Press
September 13, 2006
BOISE, Idaho - Wildfires across the country have scorched more land in 2006 than in any year since at least 1960, burning an area twice the size of New Jersey.
But the flames have mainly raced across sparsely populated desert, causing fewer firefighter deaths than in previous years.
As of Wednesday, blazes had torched 8.69 million acres, or 13,584 square miles, just above last year's total of 13,573 square miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise. Reliable records were not kept before 1960, officials said. The annual average over the past 10 years is 4.9 million acres.
Federal officials attributed the increase to two consecutive seasons of hot and dry weather that left forest and ranges parched and easily ignited by lightning.
Fifteen federal, state and local firefighters have died this year battling wildland fires, the center reported. The worst single accident this year was a helicopter crash Aug. 13 in Idaho that killed three firefighters and the pilot.
Rose Davis of the NIFC said the 2006 acreage was skewed by unusually large early season range fires in Texas and Oklahoma - blazes that burned mainly sparsely populated areas and did not lead to large numbers of deaths or heavy damage to homes.
The Interior Department and the U.S. Forest Service have spent about $1.25 billion fighting the fires since the fiscal 2006 year began last Oct. 1.
The wildfire season may almost be over. Cooler weather and upper-elevation snow are expected in the Northwest.
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Arctic ice melting rapidly, study says
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Wed Sep 13, 7:41 PM ET
Arctic sea ice in winter is melting far faster than before, two new NASA studies reported Wednesday, a new and alarming trend that researchers say threatens the ocean's delicate ecosystem.
Scientists point to the sudden and rapid melting as a sure sign of man-made global warming.
"It has never occurred before in the past," said NASA senior research scientist Josefino Comiso in a phone interview. "It is alarming... This winter ice provides the kind of evidence that it is indeed associated with the greenhouse effect."
Scientists have long worried about melting Arcticsea ice in the summer, but they had not seen a big winter drop in sea ice, even though they expected it.
For more than 25 years Arctic sea ice has slowly diminished in winter by about 1.5 percent per decade. But in the past two years the melting has occurred at rates 10 to 15 times faster. From 2004 to 2005, the amount of ice dropped 2.3 percent; and over the past year, it's declined by another 1.9 percent, according to Comiso.
A second NASA study by other researchers found the winter sea ice melt in one region of the eastern Arctic has shrunk about 40 percent in just the past two years. This is partly because of local weather but also partly because of global warming, Comiso said.
The loss of winter ice is bad news for the ocean because this type of ice, when it melts in summer, provides a crucial breeding ground for plankton, Comiso said. Plankton are the bottom rung of the ocean's food chain.
"If the winter ice melt continues, the effect would be very profound especially for marine mammals," Comiso said in a NASA telephone press conference.
The ice is melting even in subfreezing winter temperatures because the water is warmer and summer ice covers less area and is shorter-lived, Comiso said. Thus, the winter ice season shortens every year and warmer water melts at the edges of the winter ice more every year.
Scientists and climate models have long predicted a drop in winter sea ice, but it has been slow to happen. Global warming skeptics have pointed to the lack of ice melt as a flaw in global warming theory.
The latest findings are "coming more in line with what we expected to find," said Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. "We're starting to see a much more coherent and firm picture occurring."
"I hate to say we told you so, but we told you so," he added.
Serreze said only five years ago he was "a fence-sitter" on the issue of whether man-made global warming was happening and a threat, but he said recent evidence in the Arctic has him convinced.
Summer sea ice also has dramatically melted and shrunk over the years, setting a record low last year. This year's measurements are not as bad, but will be close to the record, Serreze said.
Equally disturbing is a large mass of water - melted sea ice - in the interior of a giant patch of ice north of Alaska, Serreze said. It's called a polynya, and while those show up from time to time, this one is large - about the size of the state of Maryland - and in an unexpected place.
"I for one, after having studied this for 20 years, have never seen anything like this before," Serreze said.
The loss of summer sea ice is pushing polar bears more onto land in northern Canada and Alaska, making it seem like there are more polar bears when there are not, said NASA scientist Claire Parkinson, who studies the bears.
The polar bear population in the Hudson Bay area has dropped from 1,200 in 1989 to 950 in 2004 and the bears that are around are 22 percent smaller than they used to be, she said.
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Amerika
New York Sun reports that son of American Jew joined al-Qaeda, is wanted by FBI
Ynetnews
09.13.06
An al-Qaeda activist who in a tape aired by the terror group called on American citizens to embrace Islam is Adam Pearlman, the son of a Jewish musician from California.
The New York Sun newspaper reported on Wednesday that Pearlman, 28, has been on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists for two years.
His family converted to Christianity and adopted the family name Gadahn when he was a teenager.
Gadahn converted to Islam in a California mosque at age 17. His father slaughtered animals and sold meat to Californian Muslims.
An essay by "Adam Pearlman" was posted on the University of Southern California's Muslim Student Association compendium of Muslim texts, the Sun said.
Titled "Becoming Muslim," it states: "As I began reading English translations of the Quran, I became more and more convinced of the truth and authenticity of Allah's teachings. ... Having been around Muslims in my formative years, I knew well that they were not the bloodthirsty, barbaric terrorists that the news media and the televangelists paint them to be."
Called "Azzam the American" in al-Qaeda propaganda tapes, Pearlman first appeared in a video by the terrorist organization in October 2004. "Allah willing, the streets of America will run red with blood," he said in the tape.
On Spetember 12, 2005, he appeared face covered in a video aired by al-Jazeera. "Four years after the blessed raids on New York and Washington, we find the people of the West continuing to speculate about the ... historic events. ... We find them uncertain about which steps or actions they must take to achieve the restoration of the security they once enjoyed," he said.
Shortly before the fifth anniversary of September 11, Pearlman appeared on al-Sahab, al-Qaeda's propaganda vehicle.
A day after the July 7 attacks in London, he appeared in a tape released by al-Qaeda to praise the attacks.
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Negotiations on terror bill snag
By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY
Associated Press
September 13, 2006
WASHINGTON - The White House and three powerful GOP senators reached an impasse Wednesday over a Bush administration plan to allow tough CIA interrogations, underscoring election-season divisions among Republicans on the high profile issue of security.
In a direct challenge to President Bush, Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said his panel would meet Thursday to finalize an alternative to the White House plan to prosecute terror suspects and redefine acts that constitute war crimes. Warner, R-Va., said the administration proposal would lower the standard for the treatment of prisoners, potentially putting U.S. troops at risk should other countries retaliate.
The White House said Warner's proposal would undermine the nation's ability to interrogate prisoners and arranged an extraordinary conference call with reporters in which the nation's top intelligence official criticized Warner's plan.
"If this draft legislation were passed in its present form, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency has told me that he did not believe that the (interrogation) program could go forward," National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said.
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The US Factor: Why Obama came last
By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz U.S. correspondent
Last update - 22:12 12/09/2006
It's been a week since our first Israel Factor survey, and my initial analysis rightly dealt with the clear winner, Rudy Giuliani. All the while, however, a question about the loser was troubling me: Why was Barack Obama ranked bottom?
Talking to some of the panelists this week, I tried to understand if there was anything significant about the fact that the popular senator from Illinois came last, or if it was just coincidence. I got different answers from different panelists, and, delving into Obama's numbers again, now I think it's time to present some limited conclusions.
Let's start with the data:
1. Obama got low marks from almost everybody on the panel.
2. He scored badly on every single question we asked (3.75 on Iran, 4.88 on emotional attachment to Israel).
3. Obama did better than Hagel, Huckabee and Vilsack (the three ranked directly above him) on some of the questions, but on question 5, the one dealing with more general perceptions, he did worse than all three.
4. There's not one question, apart from question 5, in which Obama came last.
5. One could not detect any pattern to explain the panel's votes. There were no differences between left and right, academics and practitioners etc.
What do we learn from this? That there's a group of possible candidates (and let's face it, Obama is not what you'd call a "likely" candidate) that the panel does not trust on the issues. None of them is a "high profile" candidate in the sense that Israelis already know him very well.
And, as one panel member told me yesterday, "If you don't trust someone, you try to be careful with him." This is as true for Huckabee and Vilsack as it is for Obama. With Hagel, it's more straight forward, as he positioned himself as a critic, for which he got lower marks from many in the panel. This is also true for John Kerry, ranked fifth from the bottom, whom the panel do know but don't trust.
But, again, why did Obama come last?
I asked around and was told that Jewish activists in the Chicago area tend to think he is pro-Israel in the most sincere way. Some mentioned his trip to Israel, others highlighted his perfect record in the Senate on Israel-related issues. But the panelists still didn't feel they knew enough about him.
It's "the unknown factor," one explained. "What kind of constituency does he bring with him, and how will they influence his positions?"
Another panelist told me that, "we need more time to trust him. Voting for Israel a couple of times doesn't constitute enough of a track record on which to make a more favorable judgment."
I also asked the question that's on everyone's mind: Is it because he is African American?
The near unanimous answer, and I think it was also a sincere one, was "definitely not." One panelist even backed up his argument to a certain extent by pointing out that Condoleezza Rice ranked pretty well. So it can't be that the issue of color played a role.
However, and I'm trying to be careful, but not to mask my suspicions, I think that subconsciously it might have played a small part (one panel member told me as much). One mustn't forget that relations between the African American community and Israel aren't always good, and that many African American leaders take strong positions against Israel.
Of course, Obama is not the one to blame for that. Guilt by association, and association by color, are things we all want and try to avoid. But let's face it, we don't always succeed. And this might explain why Obama was pushed, just a little, below Huckabee and Vilsack.
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Strange But True
Study finds Neanderthals survived longer
By MALCOLM RITTER
Associated Press
September 13, 2006
NEW YORK - Neanderthals survived for thousands of years longer than scientists thought, with small lingering bands finding refuge in a massive cave near the southern tip of Spain, new research suggests.
The work contends that Neanderthals were using a cave in Gibraltar at least 2,000 years later than their presence had been firmly documented anywhere before, researchers said.
"Maybe these are the last ones," said Clive Finlayson of The Gibraltar Museum, who reported the findings Wednesday with colleagues on the Web site of the journal Nature.
The paper says charcoal samples from fires that Neanderthals set in the cave are about 28,000 years old and maybe just 24,000 years old.
Experts are divided on how strong a case the paper makes.
Neanderthals were stocky, muscular hunters in Europe and western Asia who appeared more than 200,000 years ago. They died out after anatomically modern humans arrived in Europe some 35,000 to 40,000 years ago and spread west into Neanderthal territory.
Scientists have long been fascinated by the last days of the Neanderthals. Were they doomed because they couldn't compete with the encroaching modern humans for resources, or because they caught new germs from the moderns, or because of climate change? Did the two groups have much contact, and what kind?
They didn't appear to encounter each other in Gibraltar at Gorham's Cave. More than 5,000 years separate the last traces of the Neanderthals from the earliest evidence of modern humans, Finlayson said. He believes the area near the cave contained small bands of Neanderthals and of advancing moderns at the same time, but over a large and varied landscape. So it's not clear if the two groups ever met, he said.
The Neanderthals probably roamed a large area and used the cave periodically as a place to cook, eat and sleep, he said. The cave has yielded butchered bones of such animals as wild goat and deer, and remains of mussels and shellfish. At the time of the Neanderthals, the Mediterranean Sea was about three miles away; rising sea level has since brought the water to within a few dozen yards.
Experts said the region is a likely place to find the last vestiges of Neanderthals, because it's the tip of a geographic cul-de-sac that leads away from central Europe.
Eric Delson of Lehman College in the Bronx and the American Museum of Natural History, who did not participate in the research, said the paper's 28,000-year-old date seems secure but that its case for Neanderthal presence after that is shaky.
Even the older date is the only clear evidence of Neanderthals anywhere after 30,000 years ago, he said. But there have been prior claims of "the last Neanderthal" that were eventually shot down, and whether this one will hold up remains to be seen, he said.
Other experts are less convinced.
Paul Mellars, a professor of prehistory and human evolution at Cambridge University, said he believes the range of radiocarbon dating evidence in the paper suggests ages more like 31,000 or 32,000 years for the charcoal. Contamination by younger material might have skewed some radiocarbon results toward more recent dates, he observed.
Even with the older dates, the paper would be important because it would represent one of the last Neanderthal occupations in Europe, he said.
But paleoanthropologist Richard Klein of Stanford University said it's questionable whether the charcoal fragments really date Neanderthal presence. Neanderthal artifacts appear to be sparsely distributed in the deposit, and their spatial relationship to the charcoal needs to be specified more clearly, he said.
Finlayson said he's comfortable with the 24,000-year figure and called the 28,000-year estimate conservative. There's no evidence of contamination with younger material and chemical analysis argues against it, he said.
As for the Neanderthal artifacts, he said, their location within the excavated site shows they're associated with the dated charcoal. And there aren't any artifacts from modern humans associated with the charcoal, he said.
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3rd Rare White Buffalo Born on Wis. Farm
Thursday September 14, 2006 2:31 PM
By EMILY FREDRIX
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) - A farm in Wisconsin is quickly becoming hallowed ground for American Indians with the birth of its third white buffalo, an animal considered sacred by many tribes for its potential to bring good fortune and peace.
"We took one look at it and I can't repeat what I thought but I thought, 'Here we go again,''' said owner Dave Heider.
Thousands of people stopped by Heider's Janesville farm after the birth of the first white buffalo, a female named Miracle who died in 2004 at the age of 10. The second was born in 1996 but died after three days.
Heider said he discovered the third white buffalo, a newborn male, after a storm in late August.
Over the weekend, about 50 American Indians held a drum ceremony to honor the calf, which has yet to be named, he said.
Floyd "Looks for Buffalo'' Hand, a medicine man in the Oglala Sioux Tribe in Pine Ridge, S.D., said it was fate that the white buffaloes chose one farm, which will likely become a focal point for visitors, who make offerings such as tobacco and dream catchers in the hopes of earning good fortune and peace.
"That's destiny,'' he said. "The message was only choose one person.''
The white buffalo is particularly sacred to the Cheyenne, Sioux and other nomadic tribes of the Northern Plains that once relied on the buffalo for subsistence.
According to a version of the legend, a white buffalo, disguised as a woman wearing white hides, appeared to two men. One treated her with respect, and the other didn't. She turned the disrespectful man into a pile of bones, and gave the respectful one a pipe and taught his people rituals and music. She transformed into a female white buffalo calf and promised to return again.
That this latest birth is a male doesn't make it any less significant in American Indian prophecies, which say that such an animal will reunite all the races of man and restore balance to the world, Hand said. He said the buffalo's coat will change from white to black, red and yellow, the colors of the various races of man, before turning brown again.
The birth of a white male buffalo means men need to take responsibility for their families and the future of the tribe, Hand said.
The odds of a white buffalo are at least 1 in a million, said Jim Matheson, assistant director of the National Bison Association. Buffalo in general have been rare for years, thought their numbers are increasing, with some 250,000 now in the U.S., he said.
Many people, like Heider, choose to raise the animals for their meat, which is considered a healthier, low-fat alternative to beef.
Gary Adamson, 65, of Elkhorn, who is of Choctaw and Cherokee heritage, said tribal elders will help interpret the animal's significance.
"There are still things that need to be done, and Miracle's task wasn't quite done yet, and we feel there's something there,'' he said.
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Missing Fla. boy's mom commits suicide
By TRAVIS REED
Associated Press
September 14, 2006
LEESBURG, Fla. - Two weeks after telling police that her son had been snatched from his crib, Melinda Duckett found herself reeling in an interview with TV's famously prosecutorial Nancy Grace. Before it was over, Grace was pounding her desk and loudly demanding to know: "Where were you? Why aren't you telling us where you were that day?"
A day after the taping, Duckett, 21, shot herself to death, deepening the mystery of what happened to the boy.
Police have refused to say whether she left a suicide note, and said nothing they have found so far in their investigation of her death has shed light on the whereabouts of her 2-year-old son, Trenton.
Investigators have stopped short of calling her a suspect but have focused increasing attention on her movements just before the boy vanished and the notes, computer, camera and other items seized from her house.
Duckett's family members disputed any suggestion that she hurt her son. They said that the strain of her son's disappearance pushed her to the brink, and the media sent her over the edge.
"Nancy Grace and the others, they just bashed her to the end," Duckett's grandfather Bill Eubank said Tuesday. "She wasn't one anyone ever would have thought of to do something like this. She and that baby just loved each other, couldn't get away from each other. She wouldn't hurt a bug."
Janine Iamunno, a spokeswoman for Grace, said in an e-mail that Duckett's death was "an extremely sad development," but that the program would continue covering the case.
"We feel a responsibility to bring attention to this case in the hopes of helping find Trenton Duckett, who remains missing," Iamunno said.
Duckett had told police that after she finished watching a movie Aug. 27, she went to check on Trenton in his bedroom, and all she found was an empty crib - and a 10-inch cut in the window screen above it. At the time, she was living with her son, wading through a messy divorce with the boy's father and trying to get her life back on track after getting laid off from her job with a lawn care company.
The boy's disappearance in this town of 19,000 people about 45 miles northwest of Orlando stretched the 75-member police force to its limits. Fliers were posted on gas station doors around town, asking for information from anyone who might have seen the boy, a brown-haired youngster wearing denim shorts and a diaper.
Trenton's father, 21-year-old Josh Duckett, was closely questioned after the boy disappeared. Newspapers reported that his wife had taken out a temporary restraining order against him. But Josh Duckett took a polygraph test and has answered all police questions satisfactorily, Capt. Ginny Padgett said.
On Sept. 7, Melinda Duckett gave a telephone interview to CNN Headline News' Grace, a former prosecutor known for practically cross-examining her guests. Duckett stumbled over such questions as whether she had taken a polygraph - she said she refused on the advice of her divorce lawyer - and where, exactly, she was shopping with the boy before his disappearance.
Hours before the interview aired, Duckett shot herself Friday with her grandfather's gun at her grandparents' house, up the road from where she was living.
Investigators are still trying to piece together a timeline of where she and Trenton were 24 hours before she reported him missing. On Tuesday, they released the make and model of her car, a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse, and asked anyone who might have seen it during that period to call them.
Also on Tuesday, a newspaper reported that she bought a shotgun from a pawn shop two days before Trenton vanished. Padgett said police could not confirm that.
On Monday, agents used dogs and digging equipment to search an outlying area that someone had called about, but found nothing. Investigators continued to field tips.
"We're following up," Padgett said. "Hopefully they'll bring in something to help us firm up the timeline."
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The Other "Axis of Evil"
Venezuela's promising future
By Renaud Lambert
September 2006
Le Monde Diplomatique
Local councils - Units of Popular Power - are being set up in the hope that their members, and the small groups they represent, will take responsibility for changing their lives.
JUAN Guerra, a lorry driver from Zulia state, knew that he looked out of place in an office in his dirty jeans and three-day beard. But he had spent a week crossing Venezuela and he would not be intimidated by a civil servant from the national assembly. He slammed his fist on the table and said: "No, we are not asking, we are demanding that the comrade deputy transmit our complaint to the citizen president."
Juan and his colleague Jhonny Plogar represent 700 lorry drivers. In 2000 they filed a complaint against their employers, the coal haulage companies Cootransmapa, Coozugavol and Coomaxdi. According to the plaintiffs, the companies "misused their cooperative status to benefit from tax exemptions and state contracts". Over the past five years the two men have been shunted from office to office and Jhonny has a bulging file of copies of letters written to ministries, town halls, the state government and the president.
When Venezuela's National Superintendence of Cooperatives (Sunacoop) finally withdrew the companies' cooperative status, the national coal mining company continued to use their services. The Zulia state governor and presidential candidate, Manuel Rosales, who signed a decree dismantling all bodies set up during the 2002 coup, is in no hurry to put Sunacoop's decision into effect. The bosses are using the time to get organised. Hired killers known as sicarios will soon be threatening people.
This is a common situation in Venezuela. When the two men reached the national assembly to present their case, they found a crowd of other plaintiffs with similar cases. All support Hugo Chávez, the citizen president, and all demand an end to bureaucracy and corruption. They are hostile towards a government that they consider inefficient at best, reactionary at worst. Chávez himself has said: "Our internal enemies, the most dangerous enemies of the revolution, are bureaucracy and corruption" (1).
This language has been used before to blame incompetent activists for not applying presidential policies correctly. But the "Bolivarian process" stresses popular participation as a means of transforming the state apparatus. In Venezuela it is called "the revolution in the revolution".
Before Chávez was elected in 1998, two parties shared power for 40 years: the Venezuelan Christian Democratic party (Copei), and the social democratic party, Democratic Action (AD). They were adept at using petrodollars to deal with problems. They handed out government posts to calm social unrest but had to comply with the neoliberal ideology of the North and the need to limit public policies. The only way to offset the bloated state apparatus was to organise its inefficiency. With Venezuela's social divisions, skilled civil servants often come from backgrounds resistant to social change, sometimes because of ignorance of the conditions in which most Venezuelans live. Gilberto Gimenez, director of the foreign minister's private office, has said his solution was: "Diplomats will be promoted only if they spend two weeks in the barrios (working class districts)." He was smiling when he said it.
Few political leaders are able to take an active role in transforming the state from within. Before the foreign minister, Ali Rodriguez (2), got the job, six others had tried their hand since 1998.
Not a political party
The Fifth Republic Movement that brought Chávez to power is not a political party. After 1994 (3) it grew out of a coalition of leftwing parties and former guerrilla movements disgruntled with their leaders, who some thought settled too comfortably into the society they had struggled against. Young activists trained by AD and Copei quickly realised that the Chávez candidature would open up new ways to reach power and many joined his ranks.
In November 2001, when Chávez tried to pass 49 decrees to start social reform, Luis Miquilena, who had been responsible for bringing the Venezuelan left and Chávez together, decided the decrees were too radical. He resigned as interior minister (4) and his followers in the National Assembly followed. "We lost a legislature," explained sociologist Edgar Figuera, "They were passing those laws on the cheap. Venezuela is still stuck in the legal framework of the Fourth Republic" (5). Until the country could train its activists, a revolutionary project was being built with tools inherited from a state devoted to perpetuating the neoliberal model.
At the December 2005 parliamentary elections pro-government parties won all 167 seats in the national assembly and no longer had any excuse to delay legislative reforms. The 75% abstention rate in the elections may have been the result of a boycott by the opposition, realising that it would be beaten and preferring to abstain. Even so, it revealed dissatisfaction with a common failing in the revolutionary process, one with which Venezuela must deal: the replacement of a bourgeois elite by a political elite that has the same shortcomings and distances itself from the daily realities of the people.
Without a real party, a solid state, enough revolutionary activists or, for the moment, a coherent social movement, the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela is no different from any other experiment in Latin America. Chávez said in 2004: "The people must be organised and take part in a new participative, social state so that the old rigid, bureaucratic, inefficient state is overthrown." He was referring to "missions", programmes managed by the community, that bypassed the old state to deal with social emergencies. The creation of communal councils this April is an important step towards building the new state and the type of local government on which it will be based.
A small house shelters the Unit of Popular Power (UPP) at Vela de Coro from the sun that scorches the Paraguana peninsula. A small poster explains that communal councils "are a push for participative democracy, for assisting social movements in their quest for solutions to collective problems and paying back the nation's social debt". Here, the town hall took the initiative to help set up these organisations. Xiomara Pirela, UPP coordinator, said: "We just supply the tools or help in the event of conflict. Only a citizen's assembly can make decisions."
The councils at work
The councils' task is to coordinate and integrate activities of local missions, urban land and cultural committees. Pedro Morales, director for the Caracas region of Fundacomun, the organisation that finances the councils, said they do not "represent, but speak for the citizens' assembly, which is the ultimate decision-making body".
Xiomara Pirela showed us a pile of maps, some drawn in felt-tipped pen. "People start by making a social sketch of their community: houses, inhabitants, their income, infrastructure, social problems." This work contributes to the "participative diagnosis" and highlights priorities: water supplies, drainage, a health centre. On that basis the communal council suggests projects to citizens' assemblies, passes them to relevant authorities and manages resources allocated through a communal, cooperative bank. Each project can get up to $15,300; applications for more expensive projects can be made to public planning councils or town halls for the following year.
In Barinas, Mérida, Táchira and Trujillo, the four most advanced states of the Occidente region, more than $44.6m has already been paid for some 3,000 projects. After 2007 half the money allocated to the Intergovernmental Decentralisation Fund and the Special Economic Assignments Law for mines and hydrocarbons, nearly $1.2bn, will be earmarked to finance the councils. Town halls and states that used to benefit from these funds will have to make do with what is left over.
Some mayors are tempted to push their sympathisers for election to the councils, although it is illegal. According to Pedro Morales: "The councils are not only a response to the problems of bureaucracy and corruption; they also increase the accountability of people who were used to letting the state decide for them and then complain about the result." The population is more than ready to take on the responsibilities.
On 16 July Block 45, a huge apartment building in the 23 de Enero barrio of western Caracas, leapt a political hurdle. After half a dozen preparatory assemblies, they elected a council. A resident pointed to the garbage piled carelessly around the block. "This building is known as one of the filthiest in all of South America," she said, then added proudly, "but now people will get a grip on the situation."
'No vote, no meals!'
Something similar happened further up the hill in the El Observatorio district. A plastic sheet pinned in a corner served as a voting booth, a poster reminded voters "balloting must be direct and secret" and a queue formed in front of the cardboard urns, shown to be empty before voting began. As is so often true, the local women had taken matters in hand. The stakes were considerable and the law clear. Notices said: "If less than 20% of the community takes part (6) the election will be invalid and no complaints will be accepted afterwards. The women were confident: "The men will come," one said. "I've told my husband: no vote, then no meals, no laundry, nothing!"
In a few months thousands of councils have been or are being set up. Those that existed before the law was passed are gradually being legalised. There are already more than 500 in Caracas and 50,000 are expected overall. Upper-class districts are also taking part - "that is, when people agree to provide information on salaries", said a resident of Prado del Este. Xiomara Paraguán, an El Observatorio council member, said: "At least they're taking part. Who would have thought that possible a few years ago?"
Why did the government wait seven years to set up the councils? Engels Riveira of the Camunare Rojo council said: "If the mayors and governors had done their jobs properly, we wouldn't have needed the councils. In a way it's thanks to them."
The rush to set up the councils shows that they cater to a need for democratic process. Participation had already been encouraged in the workplace, as co-management, self-management or cooperatives (the number of these shot up from under 1,000 in 1999 to more than 100,000). There were local cultural committees. But political arrangements were still needed.
Now the community is the basic structural unit of government of the new state, legally defined as 200-400 families in urban areas, around 20 in the countryside and from 10 up for the indigenous population. The Spanish political analyst Juan Carlos Monedero observed that the main reason 20th-century socialism failed was a lack of participation by the people. Communal councils may be instrumental in the construction of Venezuela's 21st-century socialism. "If we get the money," said Xiomara Paraguán. Another El Observatorio council member countered, "If the money doesn't come, we'll go and get it."
Since the elections things are moving in El Observatorio. Paraguán attended a workshop on social projects and showed off her diploma. All council members will have similar training.
Faced with the inertia of some bureaucrats and politicians, people have to rely on the vigour of Contraloría (social control), a citizens' watch that defends the process. Councils may be more finely tuned version of the principle and help Venezuelans get the means to exercise co-responsibility with the state.
Juan Guerra is a grassroots expression of Contraloría. After he finally got to meet a deputy, he said: "Revolution is like an iron fence protecting the bourgeoisie. If we, the people, allow the rust to accumulate, the fence will fall."
Translated by Krystyna Horko
(1) On Hugo Chávez's Sunday evening chat show, "Aló Presidente", 5 February 2006.
(2) Rodriguez resigned for health reasons on 8 August.
(3) The year Chávez was freed from prison after an attempted coup on 4 February 1992.
(4) Before taking part in the April 2002 coup.
(5) The 1999 constitution established the Fifth Republic.
(6) Anyone over the age of 15 who has lived in the district for more than six months is entitled to vote.
Renaud Lambert is a journalist
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Castro receives foreign guest during NAM summit
www.chinaview.cn 2006-09-14 12:45:33
HAVANA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cuban leader Fidel Castro made the first appearance on Wednesday since he fell ill in July when a Cuban TV station showed photos of him chatting with Argentina's famous writer and legislator Miguel Bonasso at his home.
The TV program "The Round Table," showed the 80-year-old Castro, who underwent surgery in late July after suffering gastrointestinal bleeding, talking with Bonasso about the release of the second edition of the book "One Hundred Hours with Fidel."
The book, written by French journalist Ignacio Ramonet, will be given to all delegations participating in ongoing Non-Aligned Movement summit scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Havana.
Castro and Bonasso also talked about a free eye surgery program for poor people, primarily from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Bonasso, who heads the Natural Resources and Environmental Commission of Argentina's Chamber of Deputies, presented Castro with a travel bag as a gesture of confidence that the Cuban leader will continue to travel.
Castro thanked Bonasso for his visit and firm support for Latin American integration projects.
Earlier, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Castro is recovering satisfactorily, but added that he is not certain that the Cuban leader will attend the summit of the nonaligned countries.
Castro temporarily handed over his power to Defense Minister Raul Castro because of the surgery. Raul Castro, 75, is officially in charge of Cuba until Castro is well enough to get back to work full time.
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Important Political Matters
Bush to Discuss Borat Show With Kazakh President
Created: 14.09.2006 14:39 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:39 MSK
MosNews
U.S. President George Bush is to host White House talks on British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who has infuriated the Kazakhstan government with his portrayal of Borat, a bumbling Kazakh TV presenter.
Cohen, 35, creator of Ali G, has caused a diplomatic incident with a movie of Borat's adventures in the U.S., the Daily Mail reports.
The opening scene, which shows Borat lustily kissing his sister goodbye and setting off for America in a car pulled by a horse, had audiences in stitches when it was first shown last week.
But the film, which has just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, has prompted a swift reaction from the Kazakhstan government, which is launching a PR blitz in the States.
Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev is to fly to the U.S. to meet President Bush in the coming weeks and on the agenda will be his country's image.
President Nazarbayev has confirmed his government will buy "educational" TV spots and print advertisements about the "real Kazakhstan" in a bid to save the country's reputation before the film is released in the U.S. in November.
President Nazarbayev will visit the White House and the Bush family compound in Maine when he flies in for talks that will include the fictional character Borat.
But a spokesman for the Kazakhstan Embassy says it is unlikely that President Nazarbayev will find the film funny.
Roman Vassilenko said: "The Government has expressed its displeasure about Borat's representation of our country.
"Our opinion of the character has not changed. We understand that the film exposes the hypocrisy that exists both here in the U.S.A. and in the UK and understand that Mr. Cohen has a right to freedom of speech.
"I cannot speak for the president himself, only for the government, but I certainly don't think President Nazarbayev and Mr. Bush will share a joke about the film.
"The bottom line is we want people to know that he does not represent the true people of Kazakhstan."
The Kazakh government has previously threatened Baron-Cohen with legal action, for allowing Borat to, among other things, make fun of his homeland, demean women, slander gypsies and urge listeners to "Throw the Jew Down the Well."
Anti-Borat hard-liners have pulled the plug on borat.kz, Borat's Kazakhstan-based Website after his frequent displays of anti-Semitism and his portrayal of Kazakh culture.
The row originally erupted in November 2005, following Borat's hosting of the MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon.
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