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| ©Associated Press |
| An Egyptian activist flashes an Arabic banner condemning torture in front of riot troops during a protest in Cairo. |
The Bush administration has called for the respect of human rights in Burma, a pretty safe piece of posturing, but it remains silent as Egypt's dictator, Gen. Hosni Mubarak , unleashes the largest crackdown on public opposition in over a decade. Our moral indignation over the shooting of monks masks the incestuous and growing alliance we have built in the so-called war on terror with some of the world's most venal dictatorships.
Comment: For many people this article from the Singapore Straits Times may seem reasonable enough - the leader of Singapore saying how the rule of law is essential to Singapore's success. We would all like to live in a nice law-abiding society, right? BUT the society that Mr Lee has created is highly ponerised and his words are those of a typical psychopath in power.
Look deeper and take a moment to think. MM Lee is the unelected leader of Singapore; the rule of law he speaks of is the rule of Corporate Law not that of individual freedom (try demonstrating against Mr Lee on the streets of Singapore and see how quickly you end up in police cell - a former President has spoken out on the issue of dissent); the original Chinese minority have usurped the country from the original Malay majority and through deliberate policies now outnumber the Malays; the independence of the Courts is a proven lie.
Singapore may be small but it may also represent a microcosm of where we are headed on a global scale - a world in which the elite are above the law and live in splendor; where a middle class competes feverishly to serve their lords and master better so as to attain/retain material comfort and where the rest of us are dispensable slaves kept sufficiently fit to labour but with no rights or freedoms. In fact, that scenario is not where we are headed, it is where we are NOW, and things can only get worse.
© Reuters
Pino Arlacchi, the leader of the United Nations Drug Control Program, said in an interview that initial surveys of Afghanistan in the midst of the annual opium-planting season show that a July edict against its cultivation seems to be taking effect across the country, the world's largest producer of opium.
At the same time, Mr. Arlacchi said, his agency has now amassed strong evidence that local drug lords along the northern border with Tajikistan have stockpiled a supply of opium -- and its derivatives, morphine and heroin -- adequate to supply Europe and the United States for up to three years.
Comment: It's seven years later and the Taliban are no longer in control. Guess who is providing fertilizer, other wise know as money, to the poppy growers?
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday accused Iran of "lying" about the aim of its nuclear program, saying there's no doubt Tehran wants the capability to produce nuclear weapons and has deceived the U.N.'s atomic watchdog about its intentions.
Comment: Is Rice telepathic? Or she's projecting her own genocidal thinking on the Iran government? The latter seems more probable.
Comment: Is Rice telepathic? Or she's projecting her own genocidal thinking on the Iran government? The latter seems more probable.
The European Union and China locked horns over exchange rates on Tuesday after authorities in Beijing deflected a European call for a rise in the level of the renminbi.
SHANGHAI - China has more billionaires than any country except the United States, as soaring stock and property prices helped to boost wealth among the country's super-rich, researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said on Wednesday.
The number of Chinese worth $1 billion or more jumped to 108, from 15 last year, growing much faster than in western countries, Hoogewerf said in his 2007 China "rich list," which ranks the 800 wealthiest individuals in the country.
The number of Chinese worth $1 billion or more jumped to 108, from 15 last year, growing much faster than in western countries, Hoogewerf said in his 2007 China "rich list," which ranks the 800 wealthiest individuals in the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday defended the construction of a fence along the southwest border, saying it's actually better for the environment than what happens when people illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico line.
"Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas," Chertoff said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the environment."
Comment: Geez, how touching! Never mind that it is US 'free trade' policies which have created this misery for millions of Mexicans, forcing many to consider illegal immigration in order to feed their families.
"Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas," Chertoff said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the environment."
Comment: Geez, how touching! Never mind that it is US 'free trade' policies which have created this misery for millions of Mexicans, forcing many to consider illegal immigration in order to feed their families.
A suicide bomber wearing an army uniform blew up an Afghan military bus in Kabul Saturday, killing around 30 people and wounding many more in one of the deadliest attacks of the Taliban's insurgency.
Afghanistan's US-backed president, Hamid Karzai, called for "stronger vigour" in the worldwide fight against terrorism after the devastating blast.
Comment: How do they know that it was a suicide bomber? Remember any one including the Western counterinsurgency can make a phone call and claim to be a spokesman calling on behalf of the Taliban.
Afghanistan's US-backed president, Hamid Karzai, called for "stronger vigour" in the worldwide fight against terrorism after the devastating blast.
Comment: How do they know that it was a suicide bomber? Remember any one including the Western counterinsurgency can make a phone call and claim to be a spokesman calling on behalf of the Taliban.
Finally the Imperial Senate calls for Iraq's partition.
A few months ago, Sen. Biden, interviewed by Shalom TV, an American mainstream Jewish cable television network, called Israel "the single greatest strength America has in the Middle East". "I am a Zionist," stated Senator Biden. "You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist."
We know the Israel Lobby is not a very convincing thesis, at least for Noam Chomsky. So, let's talk about coincidences.
US lawmakers voted Wednesday to split Iraq into a loose federation of sectarian-based regions and urged President George W Bush to press Iraqi leaders to agree.The proposal came from Senator Joseph Biden, the smart-ass who heads the chamber's foreign relations committee and is running for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination.
A few months ago, Sen. Biden, interviewed by Shalom TV, an American mainstream Jewish cable television network, called Israel "the single greatest strength America has in the Middle East". "I am a Zionist," stated Senator Biden. "You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist."
We know the Israel Lobby is not a very convincing thesis, at least for Noam Chomsky. So, let's talk about coincidences.
Comment: But as she rightly points out, her comments are only aimed at "situations that I want the American people to look at". Well here is one that they don't want you to see.