After much contemplation, I have decided to discontinue posting at Geopolitical Review. The decision is not easy, but given my obligations outside of this website (primarily law school), it is necessary. The domain name was recently renewed, so all of the previous postings will remain for quite some time. It has been a fun and eventful 2+ years writing here, and perhaps someday I will return. But for now, all postings will cease. Thank you to all who regularly visited the website, Brad, who helped carry the load, and especially those whom I personally corresponded with over the last few years.

I can’t, however, resist making one last comment. As some of you may already know, the Danish Government is under incredible international pressure from Islamic dictatorships, the morally bankrupt United Nations, and even some in the European Union to sanction, or at least denounce, freedom of speech in Denmark. This controversy arose out of the publication of twelve cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper, something which is forbidden by Islam. (Background info on the controversy can be found here.)

As a show of support for freedom of speech in Europe, Denmark, and the world in general, I urge all of you to send a quick note to your Danish embassy and let them know that you support their refusal to give into pressure from dictatorships and Western appeasers. (Contact information for their Embassy in Washington, DC can be found here.) It is a small gesture, but one that I’m sure will be appreciated by our staunch Danish allies. Thank you, and take care.

Posted by Jeff at 10:39 AM | eMail this entry | Comments (3)

Jeff and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah.

We are calibrating our Santa Detection Systems (SDS) and have much to report on our pagan-multicultural-Christian ubermaster and his pernicious ELF-front organization.

Oh yes, we are watching. There will be much eating of cookies and ingesting of Egg-nog, but GPR never sleeps.

Posted by Brad at 12:01 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

The latest frightening example of European thought crime, this time in the UK:

Lynette Burrows, an author on children’s rights and a family campaigner, took part in a discussion on the Victoria Derbyshire show on Radio Five Live about the new civil partnerships act.

During the programme, she said she did not believe that homosexuals should be allowed to adopt. She added that placing boys with two homosexuals for adoption was as obvious a risk as placing a girl with two heterosexual men who offered themselves as parents. “It is a risk,” she said. “You would not give a small girl to two men.”

A member of the public complained to the police and an officer contacted Mrs Burrows the following day to say a “homophobic incident” had been reported against her.

“I was astounded,” she said. “I told her this was a free country and we are allowed to express opinions on matters of public interest. She told me it was not a crime but that she had to record these incidents.

“They were leaning on me, letting me know that the police had an interest in my views. I think it is sinister and completely unacceptable.”

Scotland Yard confirmed last night that Fulham police had investigated a complaint over the radio programme.

A spokesman said it was policy for community safety units to investigate homophobic, racist and domestic incidents because these were “priority crimes”.

Mark Steyn, as could be expected, applies his ever witty and thoughtful insight to this incident.

Previous entries on European thought crime:

Mayoral candidate in Denmark has been reported to police for anti-Islam postings on her website

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Former French actress Brigitte Bardot was fined $6,000 for writing a book in which she voiced her disgust with France’s tolerance of Islam

European “Tolerance” Police

Posted by Jeff at 08:34 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

With protests steadily becoming more common in China, it was only a matter of time before the first deadly clash between the government and protestors since Tiananmen Square occurred. And an early report suggests such an event has occurred:

Armed police have sealed off a village in southern China after violent clashes with residents that rights group Amnesty International said marked the first time Chinese police had fired on protesters since 1989.

Residents said riot police had opened fire on Tuesday on protesters in the village of Dongzhou in Guangdong province after they moved in to quell demonstrations over lack of compensation for land lost to a wind power plant.

Estimates from residents and rights groups put the number of dead between two and 20.

“Now the authorities are coming to the village to detain people,” said one villager, adding his brother was among those shot dead during the demonstrations.

“My parents and my sister-in-law are kneeling in front of the house to ask the government officials to explain the killing,” he said in a telephone interview.

He put the number of dead at more than 10.

The resident said police were chasing away family members who tried to claim the bodies of those who were killed, describing the scene as “chaos” and pleading for help.

Amnesty said protests had been going on since September, with villagers complaining of forced evictions, and some fishermen worried the plant could affect their livelihood.

A government official in the administrative center of Shanwei said armed police had been sent into the area but that the violence was started by the villagers, who attacked police with pipe bombs.

UPDATE: There are reports that the village has been sealed off, with villagers claiming they’re being barred from leaving, even to buy food.

Why Companies and Businesses Prefer Internet Advertising(Publicidad en Internet in the South American Countries that speak Spanish)
written by:  Horeg

Internet advertising(publicidad en internet) is proving to the best method that companies and businesses can employ to expose their products and services to prospective customers. The advantages of advertising through the internet are numerous and currently exceed the traditional advertising methods like print, radio, television and publications. Some of the reasons why businesses prefer online advertising include;

Online advertising(publicidad en internet) is generally cheaper than the traditional methods of advertising. All businesses seek to cut cost and this can easily be achieved through employing online advertising. Advertising through brochures, newspapers, radio and television is expensive as one has to consider cost of printing and distribution. On the other hand,advertising through the internet is considered inexpensive as once the advertisement is generated,it only needs to be uploaded to websites.

Secondly, internet advertising(publicidad en internet) is not time bound.Online adverts can run 24 hours a day,7 days a week and 365 days a year. Offline advertisements, especially on radio and television usually run at specific times (peak period) so as to be effective. Advertising through the internet can get audiences both during the active and inactive hour’s e.g at night.

Internet advertising(publicidad en internet) enables business to have a global reach. Being not bound by geographical borders, the internet can make a company’s product or services be known worldwide.This is advantageous especially for companies seeking to cut out an international market for their products or services. In addition, achieving global reach through internet advertising is considered inexpensive as compared to employing traditional methods to achieve global reach.

Another reason why companies and businesses prefer internet advertising(publicidad en internet) is that it is mainly employed to target audiences. Online advertisements are focused on specific people who are likely to buy or use the product or service being advertised. As websites have their target audiences, advertisers use such information to know the best possible websites to display certain advertisements. If a product or service is meant for young adults, online advertisers will place its adverts on websites whose majority of audience are young adults. Target advertisement has been proved to be the most effective and efficient way of getting clients.

By employing internet advertising(publicidad en internet), prospective clients can easily engage with the product or service providers through existing online support systems. Furthermore, the product or service providers can get feedback from clients. This is beneficial as they are able to know the perception of their products or services and make necessary adjustments where necessary. With the internet, there are many product and service review sites and discussion forums which can provide beneficial information to both manufacturers and prospective clients. The internet also provides a platform for product and service providers to respond to issues raised by potential clients.

Lastly, internet advertising(publicidad en internet) is becoming the most preferred method of advertising especially to businesses that are starting up because of its flexible payment methods. When one chooses to advertise through the internet, they can pay only if their advert is clicked or viewed.Internet advertising is better than traditional advertising methods which require payment in advance even if the advert is ineffective.

Posted by Jeff at 11:15 AM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

Fjordman (who unfortunately will be departing from the blogosphere soon), has translated an absolute Must Read article that basically states the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will investigate the recent publication of 12, rather unflattering cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper. The investigation into free speech in Denmark is, not surprisingly, the result of pressure from 56 Islamic governments.

This development, if accurate, should scare the hell out of anyone when the words “United Nations” and “internet” are mentioned together. But it also serves as a friendly reminder of what would occur should the United Nations ever gain control of the internet. Putting the internet under UN control will effectively subject it to baseless investigations against legitimate free speech by despotic dictatorships such as those represented in this group of Islamic governments, but would also include despots from countries such as Zimbabwe, China, Cuba, etc.

Background information on the cartoon controversy can be found here, and you can view some of the “offensive” cartoons here.

Posted by Jeff at 08:29 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (1)

The results of this poll surely cannot make the “human rights” lobby pleased:

Most Americans and a majority of people in Britain, France and South Korea say torturing terrorism suspects is justified at least in rare instances, according to AP-Ipsos polling.

The polling, in the United States and eight of its closest allies, found that in Canada, Mexico and Germany people are divided on whether torture is ever justified. Most people opposed torture under any circumstances in Spain and Italy.

In America, 61 percent of those surveyed agreed torture is justified at least on rare occasions. Almost nine in 10 in South Korea and just over half in France and Britain felt that way.

No time to comment to any great length on this poll or the topic in general (final exam time), but former U.S. Department of Justice Attorney John Yoo’s quote in the article more or less is my position: “The debate is whether you can use interrogation methods that are short of torture…Some who have been critical of the Bush administration have confused torture with cruel, inhumane treatment.”

Most of those shouting torture tend to include things such as draping detainees in Israeli flags, sleep deprivation, or the use of dogs; tactics that until the topic recently became politicized, never, ever would have been classified as “torture.” Most disturbing is the fact that lumping in clearly non-tortious tactics under the general term “torture” diminishes the plight of those political prisoners suffering in outposts of tyranny such as Zimbabwe, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, etc. The misuse of the word “torture” has essentially watered down the term to the point at which it has no true meaning anymore.

UPDATE: Opinion Journal has an excellent piece on Europe’s mock outrage over “secret” terror prisions, which contains this notable passage:

[T]he claim that aggressive interrogations of these hard cases are unnecessary and unproductive is simply naive. On Monday, ABC News reported that “Of the 12 high-value targets housed by the CIA, only one did not require waterboarding before he talked.” The exception was Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who “broke down in tears after he walked past the cell of” KSM. “Visibly shaken, he started to cry and became as cooperative as if he had been tied down to a water board,” ABC’s sources said.

Posted by Jeff at 08:26 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

In an effort to appease the Chinese Dictatorship and encourage closer business dealings with Beijing, France has once again banned anti-China protests during the visit of a Chinese leader:

Protesters will neither be seen nor heard during the visit of Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao to France this week, according to an order given by the French government.

The order, given last week, is seen by critics as the latest in an attempt to hide embarassing human rights violations through censoring overseas protest.

Ahead of the visit, Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated in front of the national assembly last Wednesday, with the intention of bringing the persecution of their practice under China’s Communist government to the attention of French elected officials.

During a visit by Chinese leader Hu Jintao in January 2004, a number of foreign Falun Gong practitioners were detained by French police because they where wearing yellow, or had a logo which read “Falun Dafa is Good” on their clothing. The French government seems equally anxious to hide human rights protesters from Communist officials this time around.

Despite the extent of China’s human rights violations becoming increasingly apparent the French government have appeared to even openly support the regime.

In a visit to China last April, the French Premier, Jean-Pierre Raffarin expressed support for China’s anti-secession law on Taiwan which threatens the use of military force should Taiwan declare independence.

Not only do French business interests suppress democracy abroad, but domestically as well. (Is it any wonder that in a recent poll in the Arab world, France was chosen as the most popular choice to rule the world?) In truth, French democracy tends to only be suppressed domestically when the object of the protests is a dictatorship, as opposed to when the protests serve a useful end, such as scapegoating the United States for whatever the issue of the day is.

UPDATE: The tactic worked!

Airbus signed a $10 billion deal to supply 150 single-aisle passenger jets to China on Monday, scoring its largest deal with Beijing in what is already a record year for sales for Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing.

The agreement on A320-family jets was signed during a visit to France by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as Airbus embarks on a six-month study of plans to build its first non-European assembly plant in China due to fast-growing demand.

China also signed an agreement with Airbus’s sister company Eurocopter, the world’s largest civilian helicopter maker, to co-develop a 6-ton helicopter for the world market.

In bilateral agreements with France, China also signed a 150-million euro deal for construction of its high-speed Shitai railway link, and it ordered a satellite from telecoms equipment maker Alcatel Alenia Space.

We note that EU countries that may have hosted so called “secret CIA prisons” for terror suspects are being threatened with a limitation on their voting rights. Meanwhile, France suppresses democracy to court the business of a dictator, and Brussels yawns.

Posted by Jeff at 02:06 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

Supporters of the Kyoto Protocol who want to bring awareness to so called “climate change” are apparently planning a unique demonstration in Washington, DC:

In Washington, drivers of hybrid cars – which emit far less carbon dioxide – planned to drive around the White House.

Am I the only one who sees something terribly wrong with this? Maybe it is some sort of nouveau environmental healing measure not yet known to the general public. Perhaps they read the latest global warming research and are trying to speed up the global warming induced ice age in order to balancethe effects of global warming. Then again, it is most likely these people are just morons.

If a conservative group did something comparatively stupid to this, they would justifiably be portrayed as loons. Imagine supporters of gun rights destroying guns to support the Second Amendment, or right-to-life supporters having abortions on the steps of the Supreme Court to protest Roe v. Wade. But in the instant situation, the protest is portrayed as enlightened, and with no reference to it’s glaring fault.

Now I know, the use of hybrids is symbolic, but is it not a completely incorrect protest? Shouldn’t they be driving fuel cell cars, solar cars, or riding bikes instead? In other words, wouldn’t a mode of transportation that did not emit frivolous CO2 in the process be better? If (human induced) global warming is indeed occurring, this group just unnecessarily contributed to it. The fact that nobody in this group, or the MSM that is glorifying them, realized the idiocy of this plan is telling, but as with the environmental fundamentalist movement in general, not surprising.

Posted by Jeff at 09:12 AM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

USA Today informs us that global warming activists are set to descend upon the 10-day U.N. Climate Change Conference aimed at keeping the Kyoto Protocol off the ash heap. One of the groups participating in the protest is the Inuit Indians:

Canadian Inuit of the isolated Arctic north have traveled to Montreal to join the protest. Indian leader Jose Kusugak told The Associated Press that he brought along hunters, trappers and elders to reassure them that people from the south were not indifferent to their plight.

“It was important to show there are a lot of people in the world who care,” he said.

Perhaps instead of participating in a symbolic march, the Inuits could lead by example in their fight against global warming through personal sacrifice by ending the use of snowmobiles as their primary mode of transportation. At the very least, doing so might increase their credibility and standing on the issue. As pointed out here, snowmobiles emit as much harmful pollution (including greenhouse gases) in seven hours as a car driven for 100,000 miles. The Inuit Indians, seen here enjoying their environmentally destructive machines, contribute relatively more to global warming than an owner of any model SUV. It is safe to say that if everyone behaved like the environmentally harmful Inuit and used snowmobiles as their primary mode of transportation, the environment would be a much worse place, even more so than an SUV-owning-American.

It is noteworthy that in the article, the AP manages to use the loaded word “spew” when describing the Untied States’ contribution to global warming in an effort to editorialize in a hard news story their displeasure with that situation. But, not surprisingly, the article is devoid of any mention of the Inuit’s duplicity on global warming.

UPDATE: The global warming insanity continues as a recent research study published in the New Scientist is predicting an ice age in Europe – and blames global warming for it.

UPDATE: Wow. Just when you think you have seen it all, the AP writes a favorable story on behalf of the Inuit, not once mentioning their use of highly polluting snowmobiles, and includes this ridiculous information:

“It is changing our way of life in every sense of the word,” Kusugak told The Associated Press in an interview. He said the risk of skin cancer had also increased in a community used to spending much of its time outdoors.

“People are not used to sunscreen but they need to wear it today, everybody is getting burned,” Kusugak said. “When I was a kid, we liked to stay outside all day and only went in to sleep. It was part of our life — and now it is changing.”

So now global warming is responsible for an increase in skin cancer. Unbelievable. Is there anything that can not be blamed on this boogeyman?

Posted by Jeff at 09:11 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (1)

A website whose time has come: FarmSubsidy.org.

As a result of approximately 40% of the EU budget going towards supporting the manufactured lifestyle of the romanticized European farmer and the secrecy that surrounds the program, a collaboration of journalists and activists have banded together to expose the concealment of who is profiting from the government handouts. Now if only something like this existed here in the States…

Background info here.

Posted by Jeff at 10:38 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

This is embarrasing (via David’s Medienkritik):

A multi-million pound campaign to boost Germans’ low self-confidence has backfired after it emerged that its slogan was first coined by the Nazis.

The £20 million Du Bist Deutschland – You Are Germany – campaign was devised to inspire Germans to stop moaning and do something good for their country.

But a historian from Ludwigshafen has provoked an uproar with his discovery that the same Du Bist Deutschland cry was used at Nazi rallies in the 1930s.

Stefan Mörz uncovered photographs of a 1935 Nazi convention in which soldiers display a banner reading, in gothic script, Denn Du Bist Deutschland (Because You Are Germany). The slogan was topped with the head of Adolf Hitler. Leading Nazis such as Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels attended the event.

Posted by Jeff at 10:02 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

The folks who brought us The Fourth Rail and The Word Unheard have established a great new all-purpose resource concerning international security information atThreatsWatch.org. Be sure to check it out, and stop by their blog while you are at it.

Posted by Jeff at 12:45 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

In a country where a standard pizza costs around USD$30, an influx of reasonably priced dental and medical service providers is threatening to undermine the Swedish health care system:

Like “the Polish plumber”, who in France has come to symbolize the challenges of low-cost services from new EU members, Swedes are grappling with the phenomenon of Polish dentists and Thai doctors, who are offering services at half the cost of their Swedish competitors.

While Stockholmers with toothaches are flocking to “City Dental”, which opened earlier this month in the heart of the capital and is staffed entirely by Polish dentists, not everyone is happy.

“Is this the beginning of the end for the Swedish model?” asked Marja Torsteinsrud, a dentist from Vaesteraas, west of Stockholm, in an irate letter to the Dagens Nyheter daily this week. “In the short term the winners are those who buy services cheaply, but in the end only businessmen and profiteers will benefit.”

“It’s a challenge,” admitted Ingemar Olsson, spokesman for the Swedish health ministry.

“But the government has always said that it welcomes competition when it happens in a fair way, according to the laws,” he told AFP.

Reports have suggested that the team of Polish dentists would leave Sweden before six months are up to avoid paying Sweden’s exorbitant taxes and social charges, to be replaced with a fresh team, which will also stay for just six months, and so on.

Within weeks of the Polish dentists arriving, a hospital in Thailand opened up an information centre this week in Stockholm to persuade Swedes to travel to Thailand for private care and skip long public sector queues at home.

“In Sweden, the waiting period for an operation or treatment can be anywhere from two to 80 weeks,” Leif Erre, the head of the Swedish company RelaxU which is organizing the trips, told AFP.

Despite the controversy, the challenge to the Swedish healthcare model “should not be exaggerated”, the health ministry’s Olsson said.

“The real challenges are political, for example if the conservatives win the next election and start privatizing hospitals. That would be a real threat,” he said.

Posted by Jeff at 09:57 AM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

On the heels of moving their capital, Myanmar (aka Burma) has opted to extend the house arrest of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. For those unfamiliar with Aung San Suu Kyi, background information can be found here. Also, read herehow French owned oil company Total is supporting the Myanmar military dictatorship and consequently hindering Aung San Suu Kyi’s democracy movement.

Posted by Jeff at 09:28 AM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

Not unexpectedly, France is set to tighten their immigration laws in a direct response to the riots that took place earlier this month:

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced plans on Tuesday to tighten immigration controls in response to France’s worst urban rioting in almost 40 years.

He proposed a longer wait for citizenship for foreigners who marry French people, a tougher selection process for students visiting France and close checks on immigration by families joining a foreign worker already living in the country.

He also called for tight policing of polygamy, which is illegal in France but some center-right politicians say was one of the causes of the unrest because children from large polygamous families have problems integrating into society.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who threatened to expel any foreigners involved in the riots, told parliament on Tuesday that France no longer wanted “those people that nobody else in the world wants.”

“Integration into our society, notably a grasp of the French language, should be a condition for bringing your family here,” [Villepin] said. “That ensures the future of the spouse and of the children but also of society.”

Under Villepin’s plans, a foreigner who marries a French person will obtain French nationality after 4 years if the couple lives in France — 2 more than now. The wait will increase from 3 to 5 years for couples living abroad.

Foreign students wishing to follow courses in France will be subject to a tougher selection process.

Posted by Jeff at 09:14 AM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

Much attention has been bestowed upon the controversy here in the United States between the science of evolution and the false science of “intelligent design.” Many, especially in Europe, have viewed the debate as a sign of hostility towards science in the United States and even an evolving (pardon the pun) theocracy, with intelligent design little more than a ruse to reinstate creationism in the American education curriculum. These concerns, like most topics in the press, are exaggerated as previously discussed here.

But compare the evolution/intelligent design controversy with the lack of attention given to the hostility towards science exhibited in Europe. No better topic illustrates this more than the opposition to genetically modified (GM) foods. Just this week Swiss voters approved a five year ban on using GM technology in farming, an event which should expose European hostility towards the modern science of agriculture. Of course the MSM will not frame the vote as opposition to scientific advancement, instead it will either be presented as an environmentally conscious decision or enlightened rejection of harmful technology.

Switzerland is not alone in Europe in fearing GM crops. In general, their vote represents the mindset of most of the European population and government officials. Certain European countries are in favor of some form of GM technology, such as Spain and the UK, and the EU did recently lift a six year ban on the sale of GM crops. Despite all this, however, strong opposition and skepticism remain in Europe. Austria hopes to capitalize on this deep-seated hostility and the Swiss vote by making the use and sale of GM technology in the EU a central issue when they assume the EU Presidency next year. A return to the ban on GM technology is not unthinkable.

Environmental fear mongers have successfully convinced a substantial portion of the European population that GM products are dangerous and harmful both humans and the environment in general. There is little substantive science to back up this assertion, but it manages to strike a cord anyway. European politicians and the elites have signed up to this charge as well, but for vastly different reasons. One of the reasons is that the United States is by far the leader in GM technology development. Allowing the introduction of GM technology at this point would further widen the technology gap between the EU and the United States. But Europe’s primary opposition to the use of GM technology stems from economic protectionism and the continuation of social staticism. GM products have the potential to revolutionize agriculture by allowing developing countries to finally compete in the global agriculture marketplace. Additionally, GM crops offer the capability to producehighly enriched foods to compensate for overall poor diets. European elites understand the former point, and fear the consequences of competition upon their archaic and unnatural agrarian lifestyle. The later is an unfortunate, but necessary consequence to ensure a manufactured lifestyle remains enact.

This protectionist fear is nicely stated by Daniel Ammann of the coalition of GM crop opponents after the Swiss vote: “All the farmers’ organizations were behind this proposal which they see as a chance for Swiss agriculture.” Harm to the environment and possible, but generally unsubstantiated side effects from the GM crops upon humans are nothing more than a smokescreen by GM opponents to push what amounts to an anti-science, pro-stagnant agenda. Their true motivation is to protect the romanticized lifestyle of the European farmer, which ultimately results in the hindrance of scientific progress ensuring developing nations remain poor.

Posted by Jeff at 12:04 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (84)

Some refer to them as the modern day “Minutemen,” others prefer “insurgents,” “militants,” or even “freedom fighters.” But to those of us grounded in reality and who still retain the ability to refrain from nihilistic moral relativism, we label the murderous thugs targeting innocent civilians in Iraq what they truly are: terrorists:

The Iraqi army said on Thursday it had seized a number of booby-trapped children’s dolls, accusing insurgents of using the explosive-filled toys to target children.

The dolls were found in a car, each one containing a grenade or other explosive, said an army statement.

The government said that two men driving the car had been arrested in the western Baghdad district of Abu Ghraib.

“This is the same type of doll as that handed out on several occasions by US soldiers to children,” said government spokesperson Leith Kubba.

Posted by Jeff at 09:10 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (3)

The United States military is in discussions with Poland and other unnamed European States to establish a missle base:

The US has been in talks with Poland and other countries over the possibility of setting up a European base to intercept long-range missiles.

A US official said there had been talks with other countries about establishing such a base to protect Europe as well.

Poland’s prime minister said the government would consider whether the idea was good for Poland.

The unnamed Pentagon official, who spoke to news agencies on condition of anonymity, said the talks had been going on since 2002.

“We have the most mature dialogue with Poland because they’ve expressed continuing interest in the subject,” he said. “There are other countries that remain interested in the dialogue on the possible emplacement of interceptors in Europe.”

Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said he wanted to open up the public debate on whether Poland should host a US missile base.

“This is an important issue for Poland, related to our security and to our co-operation with an important ally,” he said.

Posted by Jeff at 09:05 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

As Iran’s Manhattan Project moves along, and with little substantive opposition from the international community, it appears Israel is wisely taking some additional precautions:

According to German reports, Israel is acquiring another two German Dolphin class submarines. The subs may provide Israel with second strike capability, essential for deterring nuclear conflict.

Two German weeklies, Der Spiegel and Focus, have reported that Israel will be purchasing two Dolphin class submarines from Germany. The purchase will cost $1.17 billion, with one-third of the cost to be covered by the German government.

According to media speculation, the new submarines will provide Israel with second strike capability, in the event that Iran, or any other state, attacks Israel with nuclear weapons. Some reports suggest that the torpedo hatches on the Dolphin submarines acquired by Israel have been widened to accommodate nuclear missiles.

Second strike capability is essential for deterring nuclear attack. The underwater subs, which are very difficult to detect, would ensure that Israel could strike back and devastate any country that launched a first strike against it.

Posted by Jeff at 12:53 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

Appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle (no less) is the latest commentary on the Orwellian term “consensus” when used in conjunction with the theory of (human induced) global warming. Here is an except, but you should read it all:

THERE IS A MYTH in the American media. It goes like this: The good scientists agree that global warming is human induced and would be addressed if America ratified the Kyoto global warming pact, while bad heretical scientists question climate models that predict Armageddon because they are venal and corrupted by oil money.

A Tuesday Open Forum piece in The Chronicle, written by a UC Berkeley journalism professor and a UC Berkeley energy professor, provided a perfect example of this odd view that all scientists ascribe to a common gospel: “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a U.N.-sponsored group of more than 2,000 scientists from more than 100 countries, has concluded that human activity is a key factor in elevated carbon-dioxide levels and rising temperatures and sea levels that could prove catastrophic for tens of millions of people living along Earth’s coastlines.” The piece also cited research by “Naomi Oreskes, a science historian at UC San Diego, who reviewed 928 abstracts of peer-reviewed articles on climate change published in scientific journals between 1993 and 2003 and could not find a single one that challenged the scientific consensus that human-caused global warming is real.”

It’s odd that Oreskes couldn’t find a single article that didn’t follow the thin green line on global warming. Panelist and Colorado State University professor of atmospheric science William M. Gray, a hurricane authority, announced that he thinks that the biggest contributor to global warming is the fact that “we’re coming out of a little ice age,” and that the warming trend will end in six to eight years.

Said Gray, sagely: “Consensus science isn’t science.”

No lie. In fact, it’s a bizarre argument. Why do global-warming believers keep pushing this everyone-agrees line when consensus uber alles is so, well, unacademic? The ideal should not be scientists who think in lockstep, but those in the proud mold of the skeptic, who takes a hard look at the data and proves conventional wisdom wrong.

Stop by our Environment and Global Warming categories for related reading.

UPDATE: Not surprisingly, a new United Nations report finds that many EU States are increasing, rather than decreasing their CO2 emissions. Of note is that the EU countries who increased CO2 emissions generally have stronger economies while those who managed to decrease their emissions, are considered the stagnant economies in Europe.

Posted by Jeff at 12:45 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

As the violence from the French riots “subsides,” some international security advisors are suggesting that there is evidence of meddling by a popular foreign Islamist group in the riots, a proposition that if accurate, undermines the “youths” story of the MSM:

After the rioting continued for several days, Hizb ut-Tahrir concluded that the demonstrations had political value and sent some Pakistani, Algerian and Moroccan members to France, according to Indian analyst B. Rahman in a piece for the South Asia Analysis Group.

Rahman, one of Delhi’s top security advisers and commentators on Islamic affairs, is a retired Additional Secretary of India’s Cabinet Secretariat and Director of Chennai’s Institute For Topical Studies with close ties to India’s intelligence Research and Analysis Wing agency, or RAW.

Hizb ut-Tahrir was founded in 1953 in Saudi Arabia and Jordan byPalestinian Taqiuddin an-Nabhani. An-Nabhani’s writings remain very influential: He rejects the “depraved democracies” imposed by the West on Muslim nations and advocates “a single state over the entire Muslim world” under the leadership of a caliph.

Posted by Jeff at 12:34 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

This seems like it deserves more attention:

A marijuana-laden dump truck got stuck in the Rio Grande on Thursday evening in Hudspeth County, leading to a standoff between U.S. law enforcement and what appeared to be the Mexican military, sheriff officials said.

The incident began when Border Patrol agents tried to stop the dump truck on Interstate 10, sheriff’s officials said. The truck fled to Mexico in the Neely’s Crossing area.

The truck got stuck in the riverbed, and the driver took off running. Agents “started to retrieve the bundles (of marijuana) when the armed subjects appeared,” said Agent Ramiro Cordero, a Border Patrol spokesman.

The Border Patrol called Hudspeth County sheriff’s deputies and Texas state troopers for backup, both agencies confirmed.

Doyal said the truck driver returned with the armed men, including men who arrived in official-looking vehicles with overhead lights and what appeared to be Mexican soldiers in uniform and with military-style rifles.

The standoff ended when the “soldiers” used a bulldozer to pull the dump truck into Mexico, sheriff’s officials said.

Doyal said the bulldozer is kept in the area and is suspected of being used to create makeshift paths across the river.

It is uncertain from the article whether the truck was still located in the U.S. when it came to a stop in the riverbed. But, the comment highlighted above by “sheriff’s officials” indicates that since the truck was pulled into Mexico, it came to a stop while still in the United States. If that is the case, then some unconfirmed agent of the Mexican government, possibly the military, clearly violated the territorial sovereignty of the United States in order to retrieve the truck. In that situation, then the United States should at the very least demand an immediate explanation from the Mexican government on this unacceptable incident.

For the record, the close relationship between Mexican law enforcement and the drug trafficking business is no secret.

Posted by Jeff at 10:38 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

It looks like our prediction was somewhat correct, although it is likely still too early to determine whether this is a short-term or long-term trend:

Almost two thirds of Jordanians have changed their views of al Qaeda for the worse following suicide bombings against Amman hotels that killed more than 50 people last week, a poll said on Wednesday.

The poll of 1,014 people published by independent Al Ghad newspaper also said 87.1 percent of respondents considered al Qaeda a “terrorist organisation” and that 86.4 percent said the group’s attacks did not represent Islam.

The poll by survey firm Ipsos did not provide a comparative figure, but in the past surveys had showed that al Qaeda enjoyed high approval ratings in Jordan.

Once again, it appears that whenever al Qaeda launches a terrorist attack inside of a Muslim country, their support erodes. The key data will be when the Pew Research does their next poll in the Middle East similar to the one cited earlier this year. Will Jordan’s approval for suicide bombing also decline? We will have to wait and see.

Posted by Jeff at 08:41 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (2)

In what comes as no surprise, a former French diplomat and Special Advisor to Kofi Annan has reportedly admitted to taking bribes from Saddam Hussein:

One of France’s most distinguished diplomats has confessed to an investigating judge that he accepted oil allocations from Saddam Hussein, it emerged yesterday.

Jean-Bernard Mérimée is thought to be the first senior figure to admit his role in the oil-for-food scandal, a United Nations humanitarian aid scheme hijacked by Saddam to buy influence.

The Frenchman, who holds the title “ambassador for life”, told authorities that he regretted taking payments amounting to $156,000 (then worth about £108,000) in 2002.

The money was used to renovate a holiday home he owned in southern Morocco. At the time, Mr Mérimée was a special adviser to Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general.

According to yesterday’s Le Figaro, he told judge Philippe Courroye during an interview on Oct 12: “I should not have done what I did. I regret it.”

The ambassador said the French authorities had known of his every move.

France has been gravely embarrassed by oil-for-food allegations against senior figures, including Charles Pasqua, the former interior minister. He has denied receiving any benefit from the oil allocations issued in his name.

Inquiries have also found that French firms benefited disproportionately from oil-for-food contracts as part of an Iraqi policy to influence French votes on the UN Security Council.

UPDATE: The Transatlantic Intelligencer has more.

Posted by Jeff at 09:54 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (1)

In an effort to attack the credibility of the Bush Administration’s offensive against pre-Gulf War II historical revisionism, the NY Times inadvertently undermined their own objective and bolstered the Administration’s case. The piece itself is riddled with inaccuracies and falsehoods too numerous to address, but one particular inaccurate statement will suffice to highlight the NY Times attempts to help the anti-war Left re-write history:

The Bush administration was also alone in making the absurd claim that Iraq was in league with Al Qaeda…

With this simple statement, the NY Times is attempting to portray the belief in a connection between Iraq and al Qaeda as ridiculous and unique to the Bush Administration. But this ignorant statement is a great example of the revisionism currently under “attack” and also how the NY Times is actively participating in the historical revisionism. Consider the following that also made the “absurd” claim of an Iraq – al Qaeda connection:

Video of an ABC News report

 examining the connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

Saddam Hussein, who has a long record of supporting terrorism, is trying to rebuild his intelligence network overseas–assets that would allow him to establish a terrorism network. U.S. sources say he is reaching out to Islamic terrorists, including some who may be linked to Osama bin Laden, the wealthy Saudi exile accused of masterminding the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa last summer. - Newsweek January 11, 1999

Al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq. - 1998 Clinton Administration indictment

“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein…has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members…” - Senator Hillary Clinton, October 10, 2002

Iraq’s contacts with bin Laden go back some years, to at least 1994, when, according to one U.S. government source, Hijazi met him when bin Laden lived in Sudan. According to Cannistraro, Iraq invited bin Laden to live in Baghdad to be nearer to potential targets of terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. . . . Some experts believe bin Laden might be tempted to live in Iraq because of his reported desire to obtain chemical or biological weapons. CIA Director George Tenet referred to that in recent testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee when he said bin Laden was planning additional attacks on American targets. - National Public Radio

There are likely dozens more examples of a pre-Gulf War consensus that Saddam and al Qaeda were “in league together.” These are just the first few that surfaced with a quick Google search. Based on the past exposures of duplicity at the NY Times, they may have even made the Iraq – al Qaeda connection themselves.

The New York Times could have conducted their own research, but they did not. Why? Two reasons, which are both closely related: (1) Ignorance and (2) Arrogance. With regards to ignorance, the NY Times still resides in a pre-internet era where it was much more difficult for the lay person to fact-check their work. This mindset allows them to make ridiculously misleading/false statements such as the one highlighted above and not anticipate that they will be exposed. The NY Times has failed to account for the fact that any person with a modem can fact check their assertions, undermine their falsehoods, and make this information available to thousands of people in a matter of minutes. Concerning arrogance, the NY Times still expects us common folk to take what they say as fact because, hey, they’re the NY Times! For years they were in the unique position to set the news agenda in the United States and even globally. This arrangement instilled an extreme form of arrogance in the Times that is completely incompatible with the current media environment of increased competition and greater access to information.

This combination of ignorance and arrogance will ultimately be the downfall of the MSM behemoths such as the New York Times.

UPDATE: We can add Richard Clarke to the list of those making the “absurd” connection between Iraq and bin Laden (via Instapundit):

I have to admit that I have failed miserably in my small effort to make the words “Boogie to Baghdad” part of the national conversation on ties between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

In case you don’t remember, “Boogie to Baghdad” is the phrase that Richard Clarke, when he was the top White House counterterrorism official during the Clinton administration, used to express his fear that if American forces pushed Osama bin Laden too hard at his hideout in Afghanistan, bin Laden might move to Iraq, where he could stay in the protection of Saddam Hussein.

Clarke’s opinion was based on intelligence indicating a number of contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq, including word that Saddam had offered bin Laden safe haven.

UPDATE 2 We can also add CNN to the list of who made the “absurd” claim that, according to the NY Times, was unique to the Bush Administration (viaInstapundit):

Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire accused by the United States of plotting bomb attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa, has left Afghanistan, Afghan sources said Saturday.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered asylum to bin Laden, who openly supports Iraq against the Western powers.

Posted by Jeff at 12:29 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (1)

This certainly sounds like good news (via TigerHawk):

A major declaration on political reforms in the UAE is expected to be announced by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan “within months”, it has been revealed.

A highly placed source confirmed to Gulf News that work was going on at the topmost levels on the planned reforms. “Women will be able to elect, and be elected to, government positions. There will be a complete change in the political scenario next year. Top officials are already working on this project,” the source said.

“The country deserves a roadmap of reforms to catch up with what is going on around us,” said Dr Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, professor of political science at UAE University.

He said the UAE should have been in the lead with regard to political reforms. “Now, a leading figure like Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has made it clear that the leadership has in fact a plan which we expect will live up to the high expectations of the people”.

Posted by Jeff at 05:31 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

This story will not be a surprise to regular GPR readers, but compared to the United States, Canadian efforts to cub air pollution are severly lacking:

Canada lags behind the United States when it comes to clamping down on air pollution, says an environmental watchdog.

Pollution Watch says the United States reduced air pollution emissions by 45 per cent between 1995 and 2003, while Canada reduced air pollution emissions by 1.8 per cent over the same period.

“There is evidence that U.S. facilities are outperforming Canadian facilities,” said Paul Muldoon, with the Canadian Environmental Law Association, a partner with Pollution Watch.

Ottawa fails to follow through on its environmental promises and Canadians fail to hold it accountable, says the group.

It is worth quoting what has been written here before:

By focusing the world’s attention on “soft pollutants” (i.e. CO2) rather than “hard pollutants” (i.e. mercury), Europe and Canada have successfully deflected attention away from the proven and more dangerous pollutants emitted by their own countries. Their media and government have seized upon the fact that the United States is the largest emitter of CO2 and used that as a tool to not only stereotype and scapegoat an entire nation’s treatment of the environment, but also convince their own citizens that they are relatively benign vis-à-vis the environment. Given the lackluster evidence of human induced global warming and Europe and Canada’s own difficulties in complying with the Kyoto Protocol, this type of rhetoric is not only misguided, but also dishonest.

Posted by Jeff at 05:17 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is still trying to locate the hundred’s of millions of dollars earned by the late despot Yasser Arafat while he presided over the Palestinian Kleptocracy. Instead of returning these monies to the Palestinians that he allegedly fought for, Arafat kept the funds hidden upon his death. In a bit of irony, the PA is seeking the assistance of Israel to locate Arafat’s plundered assets:

A year after Arafat’s death, the PA has intensified its search for hundreds of millions of dollars that disappeared in his wake. Now the PA is asking Israel’s help to find the lost loot.

The PA’s appointee for financial matters, Salam Fayid, has asked Israeli intelligence to help search for Arafat’s secret investments, estimated at upwards of one billion dollars. The PA wants the money to help set up a state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Most of the efforts to find the money are focusing on locating a web of complex investments spread around the world by Arafat’s financial advisor and personal confidante, Mohammed Rashid. Rashid has so far been unwilling to volunteer detailed information regarding those investments.

A number of investments were purportedly made in various tourist sites in Africa, with others in communications and other international high-tech companies. Rashid, considered an expert at moving and hiding money, so far has not left any significant leads.

Arafat’s wife, Suha, who currently lives in Tunisia, is also apparently a party to the money’s disappearance. Suha’s expense account in Paris has led investigators to open a file into suspicions of her involvement in laundering money in Swiss bank accounts, according to Israeli newspaper Yediot Acharonot.

If anyone is interested in the economics behind terrorist leaders such as Arafat, you should pick up a copy of Loretta Napoleoni’s Terror Incorporated. The book details the intricacies of terrorist economics, with particular focus on “shell states” such as the Palestinian territories. As becomes clear from the book, Arafat’s net worth was in the billions of dollars, comprised mostly from illegal activity.

Posted by Jeff at 12:37 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

For now, the European Commission has decided not to investigate the Washington Post report that the CIA runs secret prisons in Europe, in part because no substantial evidence suggests the report is credible:

The European Commission rejected MEPs’ calls for a formal and in-depth investigation into alleged CIA prisons on EU territory, claiming it has no competency for such a move.

Speaking before the European Parliament on Monday (14 November), justice commissioner Franco Frattini said the commission had seen “no evidence” for allegations that the US intelligence branch, the CIA, has detained top Al Qaeda suspects somewhere in eastern Europe.

But commissioner Frattini shrugged off MEPs’ calls for a thorough investigation into the matter, after several parliamentarians had called for more action from the EU executive.

Mr Frattini said the only thing the commission could do was to continue its “ongoing dialogue” with member states, NGOs, and the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, which started its own investigation last week.

A formal commission enquiry into the matter is “not authorised by the [EU] treaty,” the commissioner said, explaining that the commission could not be compared to a national prosecutor that could seek information.

Posted by Jeff at 12:06 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

The kidnapping of Hindu females in Pakistan and forcing them to convert to Islam is apparently a growing trend (via Fjordman):

An alarming trend — that of Muslims kidnapping Pakistani Hindu girls and forcing them to convert to Islam — in Pakistan’s Sindh province is forcing the worried resident Hindu community to marry off their daughters as soon as they are of marriageable age or to migrate to India, Canada or other nations.

Recently, at least 19 such abduction cases have occurred in Karachi alone, while several others have been reported in the media.

“Kidnapping Hindu girls like this has become a normal practice. The girls are then forced to sign stamp papers stating that they’ve become Muslims,” says Laljee Menghwar, a member of the Hindu Panchayat in Karachi.

According to him, the Pakistani government needs to examine and put a stop to the social oppression of religious minorities in the country. “Hindus here are too frightened to vent their anger — they fear victimisation. But we have now decided to go public with these cases and demand justice,” Laljee says. Their cause has found support in the Pakistani Christian community, who carried out a demonstration with them in Karachi, protesting against this crime.

Similarly startling incidents have occurred in several districts of Sindh and evoked identical responses. At least six Hindu girls met this fate a few months ago in Jacobabad (a tribal area heavily inhabited by Hindus) and Larkana districts.

Posted by Jeff at 12:00 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

Be warned that praising Jews and discussing the bible in Saudi Arabia can result in a prison sentence and several hundred lashings:

A court sentenced a teacher to 40 months in prison and 750 lashes for “mocking religion” after he discussed the Bible and praised Jews, a Saudi newspaper reported yesterday.

Al-Madina newspaper said secondary-school teacher Mohammad al-Harbi, who will be flogged in public, was taken to court by his colleagues and students.

He was charged with promoting a “dubious ideology, mocking religion, saying the Jews were right, discussing the Gospel and preventing students from leaving class to wash for prayer,” the newspaper said.

A 2003 report by the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom, the world’s only government-sanctioned entity to investigate and report religious-freedom violations, named Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest violator of religious liberties.

The commission took the country to task for “offensive and discriminatory language” disparaging Jews, Christians and non-Wahhabi Muslims found in government-sponsored school textbooks, in Friday sermons preached in prominent mosques, and in state-controlled Saudi newspapers.

This latest example of Saudi Arabia’s intolerance toward religions other than Islam follows the release of the State Departments most recent International Religious Freedom assessment. Saudi Arabia, of course, scored poorly.

Posted by Jeff at 03:54 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

In a showcase of political drama, Venezuelan despot Hugo Chavez has drawn the ire of Mexican President Vicente Fox for some provacative comments:

Mexico recalled its ambassador from Venezuela on Monday after Caracas said it would withdraw its top diplomat instead of apologizing after President Hugo Chavez warned Mexican leader Vicente Fox: “Don’t mess with me, sir, because you’ll get stung.”

Chavez, who is a close ally of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and sharp critic of President Bush, had accused Fox of attacking him and Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, who hosted the summit.

The Venezuelan leader also accused Fox of violating summit protocol in trying to press for an agreement on the free trade zone when that wasn’t on the agenda.

“President Fox left bleeding from his wound,” Chavez said Sunday, echoing remarks last week in which he accused Fox of being a “puppy” of the U.S. government for supporting the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

“Don’t mess with me, sir, because you’ll get stung,” Chavez added

Posted by Jeff at 03:44 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (2)

It will be interesting to see if the terrorist attacks that predominantly killed Jordanian Muslims will effect the support of suicide bombers among Jordanians. I wager that it will and this is why. In a poll taken in portions of the Muslim world earlier this year, support for Osama bin Laden and the tactic of suicide bombing in defense of Islam had declined remarkably (proving that the U.S. is winning the battle for the “minds” of Muslims). The most precipitous drops were, not surprisingly, in countries that had directly endured the brunt of Islamic suicide bombings, such as Indonesia and Morocco.

Of the countries surveyed, however, Jordan was the only country where the majority surveyed (57%) still supported terrorist acts in defense of Islam, something attributed to the majority Palestinian population that makes up Jordan. To date, although Islamofascists have tried numerous times before the Iraq War to attack Jordan, they had not successfully carried out a terrorist bombing inside the country. That changed yesterday as Jordan felt the full effects of suicide bombings. Now that Jordanians are not immune from the murderous intentions of terrorists using suicide bombings in the name of Islam, look for that 57% figure to drop the next time this poll is taken. Indications are this shift has begun to occur already, as the Jordanians start to learn what their brethern in the Muslim world increasingly realize: that Bin Laden’s Jihad against the West is a fraud, further exposed with attacks such as these.

And for the record, although it is true that Zarqawi is Jordanian, keep in mind that he does not consider himself Jordanian, but Palestinian, a subtle, but noteworthy difference.

Posted by Jeff at 06:52 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (3)

It has been one year since unprovoked French troops fired on unarmed protesters in the Ivory Coast, and John Rosenthal from Transatlantic Intelligencer revisits the tragedy over at Tech Central Station. You can read his excellent piece here.

Couple quick points. It is interesting to compare this coverage of this atrocity to the world wide outrage of the abuse at Abu Ghraib. The MSM was not interested in the Abu Ghraib situation until there were graphic pictures to peddle on television and the front pages of newspapers. With the killing of Ivory Coast citizens by French soldiers, however, there was video almost immediately available on the internet, yet the atrocity was ignored by the MSM (I did see a news clip from a Swiss news station that covered the story, but that was it).

So what is the lesson of this discrepency? Americans placing (suspected) Arab terrorists in naked pyramids and making them wear women’s underewear will receive international condemnation, but the indiscriminant killing of black Africans by French troops is not worthy of so much as a mention in passing by either the press or the international community.

Background:

New Ivory Coast DevelopmentIvory Coast Attrocity Claims

French Admission

Ivory Coast Shooting Update

UN Embargos & French Unilateralism

Posted by Jeff at 03:58 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

Norman Podhoretz, Who is Lying About Iraq?

That is all.

Posted by Brad at 01:18 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

Here’s an assortment of news pertaining to the riots in France:

Euro is Declining as a Result of the Riots

“The riots are spreading across France, bringing about huge adverse effects on the euro,” said Michiyoshi Kato, a vice president of foreign exchange sales in Tokyo at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd., a unit of Japan’s second-biggest lender by assets. “Acts of violence will surely continue to weigh on the euro.”

Against the dollar, the euro traded at $1.1795 as of 8:42 a.m. in Tokyo, from $1.1805 late yesterday in New York, according to electronic foreign-exchange dealing system EBS. The euro was at 138.66 yen, from 138.92. The euro may fall to $1.1760 against the dollar today, Kato said.

[Quotes removed - see comments below]

The Paris Riots are a CIA Plot (via No Parasan)

The widow of the only fatality in the Riots blames French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, and not the Muslim rioters who beat him to death:

“He lit the fuse with his provocative remarks,” Mrs Le Chenadec told reporters.” It is because of him that Jean-Jacques is dead.”

Algerian immigrants call French government’s recourse to emergency law to quell riots a provocation:

Algerian immigrants in France on Tuesday slammed a decision by President Jacques Chirac to tackle widespread rioting by invoking an emergency law created 50 years ago to quell unrest in their homeland, calling it a “provocation”.

“I never thought that they would dare to do this, it’s really a provocation for those of us who lived the humiliations, the torture, the round-ups during the war of independence,” he said, his eyes shining with anger.

Maps:

Posted by Jeff at 12:49 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (5)

This definitely qualifies for the most bizarre news story of the day:

Myanmar’s information minister has announced that the government has begun moving various ministries to a new administrative capital hundreds of kilometers (miles) north of Yangon.

Speaking at a news conference in Yangon, Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan said nine ministries had begun moving personnel and equipment on Sunday to Pyinmana, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) to the north.

Kyaw Hsan did not give a detailed explanation for the move, but said that as Myanmar develops, there is a need for a “command and control center” in a strategic location.

“The reason we are moving to Pyinmana is because Pyinmana, which is in the center of Myanmar, is geographically and strategically located for the development of the country,” he said.

The intense secrecy surrounding the move has fueled speculation over its motives, with one popular theory — talked about on the streets of Yangon as well as by Myanmar-language radio news services abroad — being that it was because the new capital would be easier to defend if the United States attacked.

The military government quietly began building the new capital more than three years ago, and it is believed to host a prime minister’s residence, diplomatic quarters, an airport, hospital, a golf course, hotels and nearly 40 buildings for each ministry — each of which can accommodate 500 people — and a separate complex that houses military headquarters and bunkers.

As the article states, rumors on the street in Myanmar claim that the move is motivated in large part to prepare for a U.S. invasion. If this is indeed the true motivation, the Myanmar Dictatorship either (1) suffers from an extreme case of narcissism to think that they are important enough to warrant military action or (2) is manufacturing the threat of a U.S. invasion to rally their citizens a la Venezuelan despot Hugo Chavez. Removing the Myanmar dictatorship would of course be beneficial to the people of Myanmar and the world in general, but it has to be one of the last things that the Bush Administration is considering right now.

Posted by Jeff at 09:25 AM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

On the night that France experienced the worst rioting yet with over 1,400 cars burned and the first fatality, the rioting has now moved into neighboring countries:

Rioting by French youths spread to 300 towns overnight, and a 61-year-old man hurt in the violence died of his wounds, the first fatality in 11 days of unrest that has shocked the country, police said Monday.

After sundown, rioters in the southern French city of Toulouse set fire to a bus, then pelted police with Molotov cocktails and rocks, a local official said.

As urban unrest was reported in neighboring Belgium and Germany, the French government faced growing criticism for its inability to stop the violence, despite massive police deployment and continued calls for calm. One riot-hit town in suburban Paris said it was preparing to enforce a curfew.

On Sunday night, vandals burned more than 1,400 vehicles, and clashes around the country left 36 police injured, setting a new high for overnight arson and violence since rioting started last month, national police chief Michel Gaudin told a news conference.

Attacks overnight Sunday to Monday were reported in 274 towns and police made 395 arrests, Gaudin said. The Justice Ministry said Monday that 27 people had been convicted in fast-track trials since the beginning of the unrest.

The Brussels Journal continues their excellent coverage and analysis.

Posted by Jeff at 02:09 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

With the rioting in France showing no signs of abating, violence is evolving from arson and rock throwing to using guns against police:

[I]n fresh violence late on Sunday, rioters shot and injured 10 policemen, two of them seriously, when they fired at security forces confronting 200 stone-throwers, police said.

Violence was renewed as darkness enveloped Paris. A police spokesman said gunmen among some 200 youths attacking police with stones and other objects in Grigny, south of Paris, fired at officers with shotguns, hitting 10 policemen.

Two officers were being treated in hospital, one with shot wounds to the throat, the other with wounds to a leg.

And French officials are accusing both foreign and domestic Islamic “militants” of paticipating in the insurgency:

In the first disturbing assertion that a European country and its capital can be brought to a halt by the massed forces of Islamist militants both within and outside its borders, French police warned there was evidence they had played a role in inciting vandals, albeit “not on the front lines.”

Meanwhile, Yves Bot, Paris chief prosecutor, said the hit-and-run arson attacks were an insidious “form of action that is organised. It responds to a strategy. It’s done by mobile units of youths or older guys because they are masked who arrive on scooters, throw a burning bottle at a vehicle and leave.”

He said it was “irrefutable” that these “are organised gangs because it’s done in a way that gives every sign of coordination. In fact, one can read blogs on certain websites inciting other cities to join the movement of the Parisian region.”

As always, Mark steyn puts the latest Muslim violence into its proper perspective. Here’s an excerpt:

After four somnolent years, it turns out finally that there really is an explosive ”Arab street,” but it’s in Clichy-sous-Bois.

The notion that Texas neocon arrogance was responsible for frosting up trans-Atlantic relations was always preposterous, even for someone as complacent and blinkered as John Kerry. If you had millions of seething unassimilated Muslim youths in lawless suburbs ringing every major city, would you be so eager to send your troops into an Arab country fighting alongside the Americans? For half a decade, French Arabs have been carrying on a low-level intifada against synagogues, kosher butchers, Jewish schools, etc. The concern of the political class has been to prevent the spread of these attacks to targets of more, ah, general interest. They seem to have lost that battle. Unlike America’s Europhiles, France’s Arab street correctly identified Chirac’s opposition to the Iraq war for what it was: a sign of weakness.

And don’t miss the Brussels Journal taking aim at the superficial analysis of the situation by the MSM. Here’s an excerpt:

Most observers in the mainstream media (MSM) provide an occidentocentric analysis of the facts. They depict the “youths” as outsiders who want to be brought into Western society and have the same rights as the natives of Old Europe. The MSM believe that the “youths” are being treated unjustly because they are not a functioning part of Western society. They claim that, in spite of positive discrimination, subsidies, public services, schools, and all the provisions that have been made for immigrants over the years, access has been denied them.

This is the marxist rhetoric of the West that has been predominant in the media and the chattering classes since the 1960s. But it does not fit the facts of the situation in Europe today. To understand what is going on one cannot look at today’s events from a Western perspective. One has to think like the “youths” in order to understand them. Not imagine oneself in their shoes, but imagine their minds in one’s own head. The important question is: how do these insurgents perceive their relationship with society in France?

Posted by Jeff at 10:10 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

The riots in Paris are now spending across the country:

The violence that has wracked Paris suburbs over the past week has spread to new areas and outside the French capital for the first time.

Youths burned buildings and more than 500 vehicles in the eighth consecutive night of rioting. Nearly 80 arrests were made in Paris.

Cars were torched in the eastern city of Dijon, and sporadic unrest broke out in southern and western France.

Outside Paris, as well as the cars set alight in Dijon, unrest flared in the Rouen area of Normandy and in the Bouches-du-Rhone region near Marseilles in the south.

The scope of the Riots visualized:

Additional Reading:

Suburbs burn in worst night of Paris riots

The War in Francistan – the First European Intifada, and what comes next

France Demands Calm! Rioters Take Up Arms!

Photos of the Riot Destruction (via LGF)

Posted by Jeff at 09:00 AM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)

EU diplomats are voicing skepticism over a Washington Post report (based entirely on anonymous sources) that claims there are secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe:

EU diplomats do not believe the CIA has secret al Qaeda detention camps in Poland or Romania, but the European Commission will quiz member states informally on the subject.

The Washington Post and NGO Human Rights Watch broke the story on Wednesday (2 November), indicating that northeast Poland and the Romanian Black Sea coast are likely sites.

Warsaw and Bucharest has categorically denied the claims however, with policy advisors to EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana accepting the rebuttals at face value.

“They wouldn’t have said it in that tone if there was a shred of truth in it. Having this level of denial means it didn’t happen”, the Institute for Security Studies eastern Europe expert Marcin Zaborowski told EUobserver.

Posted by Jeff at 04:23 PM | eMail this entry | Comments (0)