International News

We seem to be seeing a lot of these stories anymore:

A Hong Kong cargo ship loaded with 36,000 tonnes of wheat bound for Iran was hijacked on Tuesday by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, near the Yemeni coast.

The latest example of piracy came as a Saudi supertanker, seized by pirates on Monday and laden with an estimated 2m barrels of oil, was confirmed to be anchored off the coast of Somalia.

And to make matters even more interesting, Saudi Arabia is now calling these pirates terrorists, in hope to get some international help.

That is what this is all about:

China faced a barrage of international condemnation from London to Canberra yesterday after it was revealed that it had launched a missile attack on an ageing weather satellite, a test that threatened to open a "Star Wars" space race.

Formal protests were lodged with the Beijing government, accompanied by expressions of concern from world leaders, including Tony Blair. The Bush administration is privately seething over the event and is believed to be preparing to turn the incident into a major diplomatic spat.

(emphasis mine)

Bush isn't mad because they can blow our satellites up. He is mad because they beat us. Is it shocking they did? Our country ranks low for education. Our brightest minds end up leaving to go to other countries, where they can work more freely. This whole "blowing satellites up" thing isn't new. This is Star Wars that Reagan was pushing for during his time in office. It has been talked about for at least 20 years. Now suck it up George - China beat us. Is it really a good time to piss them off more and possibly get Russia into the mix backing them? Democrats need to watch his actions on this also.

From Time Magazine:

Just days after his resignation, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany's top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The plaintiffs in the case include 11 Iraqis who were prisoners at Abu Ghraib, as well as Mohammad al-Qahtani, a Saudi held at Guantanamo, whom the U.S. has identified as the so-called "20th hijacker" and a would-be participant in the 9/11 hijackings. As TIME first reported in June 2005, Qahtani underwent a "special interrogation plan," personally approved by Rumsfeld, which the U.S. says produced valuable intelligence. But to obtain it, according to the log of his interrogation and government reports, Qahtani was subjected to forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, prolonged stress positions, sleep deprivation and other controversial interrogation techniques.

Now this could get very interesting. Looks like Bush's little back rub is really backfiring now.

Reporters Without Borders has released their annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index and the United States has now fallen 53rd place:

The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of “national security” to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his “war on terrorism.” The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognise the media’s right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism.

I am sure this is what our forefathers fought and died for - a country diminishing in the very freedoms it was based upon. We now fail in comparison to other countries such as Bosnia, El Salvador and Serbia. In other words - that glowing light of freedom is now much dimmer. Thank you George Bush.

After a much needed break yesterday, I return to this news:

The Israeli army dropped phosphorous bombs against Hizbollah guerrilla targets in Lebanon during the war in August, an Israeli minister said yesterday, confirming Lebanese allegations for the first time.

Phosphorus weapons can cause severe burns and are banned for use in civilian areas, but Israel insisted it used the weapons in accordance with international law. "The Israeli army made use of phosphorous shells during the war against Hizbollah in attacks against military targets in open ground," Cabinet Minister Yaakov Edri said.

I posted about complaints that some weapons were being used in Gaza were leaving injuries that had eerie similarities to Phosphorus weapons. As this article points out, these weapons are very nasty:

Israel has been accused of firing up to four million cluster bombs into Lebanon during the war, especially in the hours before the ceasefire. UN experts say up to one million cluster bombs failed to explode immediately and continue to threaten civilians.

The UN Mine Action Centre says at least 21 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded by cluster bombs since the end of the war. A cluster bomb killed a 12-year-old boy and injured his brother in southern Lebanon yesterday.

So did Israel break international law by using these weapons in civilian areas? I believe the UN should investigate that and if it is the case all the people who rallied behind Israel's "success" need to ask themselves how successful they really were. If it took Israel breaking international law and resorting to something so horrible then they did not become victors, they became terrorists. We must also wonder where Israel got these weapons. We are aware of one other country that has used them recently - ours.

Condi is out doing the tough talk on North Korea, but is she making promises she can't keep?

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reassured Japan on Wednesday that Washington would stand by a commitment to protect its Asian ally, trying to temper concerns of an Asian nuclear arms race after North Korea's atomic test.

"The United States has the will and the capability to meet the full range, and I underscore full range, of its deterrent and security commitments to Japan," Rice told a news conference in Tokyo, the first stop on a quick tour of North Asia.

The United States is worried Japan and South Korea might embark on an Asian arms race in response to North Korea building up a nuclear arsenal -- a concern Vice President Dick Cheney warned of two years ago.

"That is why it is extremely important to go out and reaffirm, and reaffirm strongly U.S. defense commitments to Japan and to South Korea," Rice told reporters traveling with her.

Wow I wish I lived in her America where we had an abundance of military forces. The America I live in can't even spare some extra helicopters to help fight in Afghanistan (you know - that little war involving the people who actually attacked us). Tomorrow she is going to South Korea to give basically the same speech. So now we are going to protect all of Asia? Hell we can't even keep our troops safe in Baghdad or protect our own people from Mother Nature. I am sure the leaders of Japan and South Korea know this and will let what Condi says go in one ear and out the other also.

Here's the key parts, but I urge you to read the entire report:

Doctors in Gaza have reported previously unseen injuries from Israeli weapons that cause severe burning and deep internal wounds often resulting in amputations or death. The injuries were first seen in July, when the Israeli military launched a series of operations in Gaza following the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants.

Doctors said that, unlike traditional combat injuries from shells or bullets, there were no large shrapnel pieces found in the patients' bodies and there appeared to be a "dusting" on severely damaged internal organs.

"Bodies arrived severely fragmented, melted and disfigured," said Jumaa Saqa'a, a doctor at Shifa hospital, the main casualty hospital in Gaza City. "We found internal burning of organs, while externally there were minute pieces of shrapnel. When we opened many of the injured people we found dusting on the internal organs."

[SNIP]

Photographs of some of the dead from Shifa hospital showed bodies that had been melted and blackened beyond recognition. Others showed internal bleeding without signs of shrapnel wounds. In several cases doctors amputated badly burnt limbs.

[SNIP]

Tissue samples from patients in Gaza were given to journalists from the Italian television channel RAI. In a documentary shown last week, the channel said the injuries appeared similar to the effects of the Dime. An Italian laboratory that analysed the samples reportedly said its results were "compatible with the hypothesis" that a Dime weapon was involved.

[SNIP]

The weapon is new and in the US is still in the early stages of development. It has a carbon-fibre casing and contains fine tungsten particles rather than ordinary metal shrapnel. It causes a very powerful blast, but with a much more limited radius than other explosives.

This sounds like some new sort of chemical weapon. What I have never been able to understand is why Israel is allowed to posses or even use such weapons and never have to answer about it. Israel has had a nuclear program for decades now. They don't admit it, the world knows it but refuses to admit it, so everyone is in denial. With nation's like Israel following this path, is it no wonder why we have problems with Iran and North Korea today? Perhaps if everyone came clean and those that don't faced serious sanctions,  then things will eventually get better. Every nation should be treated fairly and not the way the U.S. wants them treated. After all - if Israel keeps doing stuff like this, the tensions between the Muslim and Christian worlds will continue to grow.

Hezbollah enters Israel and kidnaps two of their soldiers and that justifies their reaction of bombing Lebanon to hell. So, does that mean Italy could attack us and it would be "justified"?

Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, the CIA targeted for abduction and rendition nearly a dozen Muslims living in Italy whom it suspected of having ties to al-Qaida, a senior Italian intelligence official has told prosecutors in Milan.

Meanwhile, aircraft flight records suggest the possibility of the CIA's previously unsuspected involvement in the disappearance of Mohamed Morgan, an Islamist militant living in Milan now believed to be in an Egyptian prison.

The testimony about the CIA's target list was given in June by Gen. Gustavo Pignero, a senior official of the Italian intelligence agency, SISMI, to prosecutors investigating the disappearance of an Egyptian-born imam, Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar.

Pignero's testimony is the first indication the CIA may have made far more extensive use than previously known of its paramilitary Special Operations Group to seize people suspected of terrorist links and render them without trial to Egypt and other Mideast countries for detention and interrogation.

After all, if the crossing of borders and conducting abductions on another country is reason to bomb someone, then Italy should be more than allowed to respond to the United States in such a manner.

Nice to see how well we do take care of our citizens. This is from the Canadian Embassy in Beirut:

The Canadian Government has arranged for sea vessels to assist Canadians wishing to depart Lebanon. All costs related to the evacuation of Canadians citizens from Lebanon will be borne by the Government of Canada.

Now from our embassy:

The Department of State reminds American citizens that the U.S. government does not provide no-cost transportation but does have the authority to provide repatriation loans to those in financial need. For the portion of your trip directly handled by the U.S. Government we will ask you to sign a promissory note and we will bill you at a later date. In a subsequent message, when we have specific details about the transporation arrangments, we will inform you about the costs you will incur. We will also work with commercial aircraft to ensure that they have adequate flights to help you depart Cyprus and connect to your final destination.

Isn't it great to live in the "richest nation on Earth"? We really do take care of our people - NOT!

With all the tensions in the Middle East, leave it to our President to have a little blunder that at least gives us some humor:

President Bush, not realizing his remarks were being picked up by a microphone, bluntly expressed his frustration with the actions of Hezbollah, a militant Islamic group believed backed by Iran and Syria that is engaged in escalating warfare with Israel.

"See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this (expletive) and it's over," Bush told Blair in a discussion before the Group of Eight leaders began their lunch.

Bush also suggested that Annan call Syrian President Bashar Assad to "make something happen."

Hopefully someone has the actual audio of this to play, though the only expletive I can think of that would fit in there is "shit".

Now the serious part of this lies in Bush wanting to pass the buck to Annan on getting action stopped. Our administration has been relatively docile on the recent conflict. Former administrations would have already had an envoy in the region trying to calm things down.

here are rumors that Bush may send his father and Bill Clinton over there to help mediate things. Amazing how he must turn to that duo every time. I believe Clinton would be just as effective, if not more without Bush Sr. We are dealing with the part of the Arab world that is not to thrilled about Bushs as it is.

Every hour that goes by, this conflict gets more intense and the risk of Syria and Iran getting involved is even greater. Once that does happen, then the entire Middle East is in a war and the ramifications of that will be a shock around the world. We really need to get this situation under control fast. The more we sit and wait, the worse it will get.

Yesterday was a picnic in the Middle East in contrast to the situation today:

Israeli forces struck Beirut's international airport for the second time Thursday, hitting fuel tanks that exploded into fireballs.

The attack came soon after two rockets struck the northern Israeli port of Haifa on a day of spiraling violence and deepening crisis.

Israel Defense Forces said the Haifa rockets came from Lebanon and blamed the strike on Hezbollah, whose guerrillas triggered the violence when they attacked inside Israel on Wednesday, killing eight Israeli soldiers and capturing two more.

Daniel Ayalon, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, said the Haifa attack was "a major, major escalation."

Hezbollah earlier had threatened to hit Haifa, but Lebanese TV reported that the militant group denied launching the attack on the city of 280,000.

And for all of those out there who think this has no impact on us, think again. I just received the following news alert:

Oil prices settled at a new high of $76.70 a barrel Thursday in a response to escalating violence in the Middle East

I wonder how much longer before Israel gets to bogged down in this fighting and needs assistance from an ally like, oh I don't know, US. This situation is getting very bad and the entire Middle East is risking a threat of a total regional war. We have troops stuck dead in the middle of this and that situation will result in even higher oil prices. Hell - someday soon people will dream of the $3.00 a gallon days.

This is very, very bad:

Israeli tanks and troops today invaded southern Lebanon after Hizbullah captured two soldiers and killed several others. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, described the capture of the soldiers an "act of war" by Lebanon, with today's developments compounding the ongoing political crisis over an abducted Israeli soldier being held in Gaza.

Palestinian militants holding Corporal Gilad Shalit have demanded that all Palestinian women and young people held in Israeli jails be freed in exchange for his release.

The Bush administration blamed Syria and Iran for today's kidnappings and violence, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the two soldiers.

Guess the road map to peace has hit a dead end now. To make matters even worse, we are condemning other countries in the actions of Lebanon today:

The United States blamed Syria and Iran on Wednesday for the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants and an eruption of violence along the southern border of Lebanon.

The White House called for the immediate and unconditional release of the two soldiers.

"We condemn in the strongest terms Hezbollah's unprovoked attack on Israel and the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers," National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said as President Bush flew here for a visit. He said Hezbollah had also launched unprovoked rocket attacks on civilian targets in Israel as part of its offensive.

Israel sent troops, warplanes, tanks and gunboats in a military offensive into southern Lebanon after Hezbollah militants crossed into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel said seven of its soldiers had been killed in the violence.

Remember how people against Iraq said the entire area was on the verge of "descending into chaos"? Well it seems that is now happening. I won't say this is all the fault of our failed policy in Iraq, but our foreign policy as a whole has been damaging to the entire Middle East. With this escalation of violence with our ally Israel, I wonder how long before our military is involved. Even worse - how long before Iran really gets involved? If they weren't involved already, the fact that our government has pointed the blame finger to them will surely provoke their getting involved now.

Wow - don't you just wish our only problems were a President getting a blow job?

First we get this story from 9:19 am this morning:

South Korea's defense minister said Thursday that Seoul believes North Korea's missile launch is not imminent despite concern in the region that the communist nation would test-fire a long-range missile.

 "It is our judgment that a launch is not imminent," Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung told a parliamentary meeting in comments confirmed by his ministry.

Worries over a possible North Korean launch have grown in recent weeks after reports of activity at the country's launch site on its northeastern coast where U.S. officials say a Taepodong-2 missile — believed capable of reaching parts of the United States — is possibly being fueled.

Then an hour later, this report comes out:

North Korea is far along in its preparations for a test of a long-range ballistic missile and the United States hopes the North Koreans will "give it up and not launch," a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters it remained uncertain if North Korea actually planned to conduct a test-firing of the missile, which Washington has warned would be seen as a provocative act.

"I think what we've said publicly is we're watching it very carefully and preparations are very far along. So you could, from a capability standpoint, have a launch. Now what they intend to do ... of course we don't know. What we hope they will do is give it up and not launch," he said.

WOW - are you dizzy yet. Who do we listen to on this? South Korea is saying the test is not "imminent" yet our government is saying they are "far along" in preparations. So which government should we trust?

Wait - which government has a recent history of a major intelligence failure that lead to the invasion of a sovereign nation?

Iran or the US. Which do you feel a bigger threat to the Middle East? That is the question asked on a recent poll conducted world wide and the answer may shock some:

The world increasingly fears Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear bomb but believes the U.S. military in Iraq remains a greater danger to Middle East stability, a survey showed on Tuesday.

As Washington campaigns to highlight the threat it sees from Tehran, the good news for the United States in a Pew Research Center poll of 17,000 people in 15 countries is that publics, particularly in the West, are worrying more about Iran.

The bad news is people worldwide think the U.S. presence in Iraq is an even bigger threat and support in most countries for President George W. Bush's war on terrorism is either flat or falling.

So the rest of the world understands what the right wingers here at home can't - that our presence in the Middle East goes against everything they believe in and is posing a bigger threat to the stability of the region. Of course Bush and his buddies in the right-wing talking pundit universe will dismiss this as some "Islamic sympathy" or something of the sort.

This is really interesting. Two different stories, two different countries, two different outcomes. Both have surfaced in the last week:

First this news from South Carolina:

The South Carolina bill, proposed by Republican Rep. Ralph Davenport, would make it a felony to sell devices used primarily for sexual stimulation and allow law enforcement to seize sex toys from raided businesses.

The measure would add sex toys to the state's obscenity laws, which already prohibit the dissemination and advertisement of obscene materials.

Now let's head down under to the land of Kangaroos and Foster's:

Prostitutes, strippers and lap dancers can claim tax deductions for adult toys and lingerie, officials said Friday, as the Australian Taxation Office issued a list of deductible items for the sex industry.

Condoms, lubricants, gels and oils are among a myriad of other items that these workers can claim against tax, according to a fact sheet issued on the office's website. While they cannot claim deductions for fitness classes that keep them in shape, the tax office ruled they can claim the cost of dance lessons.

Look's like the land of the free is moving down under now.