December 31, 2004
Aid Politics
Since the devastating tsunami hit South Asia on Christmas day, the issue of “international aid” has been propelled to the political forefront. Accusations from a U.N. official classifying Western aid efforts as “stingy” and an anonymous “senior career official” calling…
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December 30, 2004
Sidestepping the Quagmire
“I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up. Only…
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December 27, 2004
Happy Holidays.
As you may have already noticed, blogging has been slow the last few days. We expect to resume our normal rate of blogging in the next few days. In the meantime, feel free to browse the rest of our site…
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December 26, 2004
Setting Sights on Syria
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that Senior U.S. officials have told them that the U.S. is looking to increase pressure on Syria as it becomes increasingly clear they are actively aiding the Iraqi insurgency: The US is contemplating incursions into…
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December 23, 2004
United Nations Sex-Capades
The Times Online reported yesterday on the growing and disturbing sex scandal in the Congo involving UN peacekeepers. Here is an excerpt of their report: Home-made pornographic videos shot by a United Nations logistics expert in the Democratic Republic of…
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Immigration Politics & Myths
On Tuesday, President Bush reiterated one of the few myths that both the left and right repeat ad nauseum: that illegal immigrants (predominately originating from Mexico) perform jobs in the United States that “Americans won’t do.” On the surface this…
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December 22, 2004
Plots Against Spain Continue
In the latest example of how appeasement only encourages further aggression, the AP reports on new arrests in Spain concerning a suspected bombing plot: Police on Wednesday arrested three Moroccans they believe were part of a radical Islamic cell looking…
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MUST READ
Be sure to read… Ahmad Chalabi discussing the future that Iraq deserves: a pluralist state built on a democratic social contract. how in Germany and France, divorcing your spouse is easier, and in most cases cheaper, than dismissing an employee….
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Heading In the Wrong Direction
The pro-democracy organization Freedom House issued a global survey on freedom and has downgraded Russia to “not free” status “amidst further political restrictions [and] increased authoritarianism.” Perhaps most telling though was that Russia was the only country to register a…
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December 21, 2004
Saharasia
Now that law school exams are finally over, we have thankfully been able to read something not dealing with torts or contracts. Accordingly, our review of Saharasia is now available for viewing for those who are interested….
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Oil Roulette
Last week brought another Osama Bin Laden tape consisting of the usual rhetoric: calls for continued jihad against America, pandering to useful idiots in the West (reference this headline in the Boston Globe) and denouncements of the Saudi Royal family….
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MUST READ
Be sure to read… David Medienktrik’s report on Der Spiegel’s reaction to President Bush being named Time Person of the Year. the Wall Street Journal explaining how Saddam’s regime has not yet been defeated. David Brooks discussing the sudden moment…
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Revising Jewish Immigration Rules
Facing pressure from Israel, Germany is set to revise their liberal immigration rules for Jews established after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Germany is soon to revise its regulations governing Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in a “delicate” matter involving…
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December 20, 2004
Never Again
In case the auctioning of U.N. Security Council Seats by China, Russia and France was not enough to convince you that attempts by Bush and Blair to gain “international approval” for the removal of Saddam Hussein through the U.N. is…
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MUST READ
Be sure to read… The Diplomad’s top-ten list of American allies they admire and appreciate. Thomas Friedman offering a plan on how to minimize Iranian influence in the January 2005 elections in Iraq. former U.N. peacekeeper Kenneth Cain discussing how…
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India’s Silent Glee
Mr. Raja Mohan, professor of South Asian studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi wrote in the Wall Street Journal yesterday that while many in Europe are openly disappointed in the reelection of President Bush, India is quietly celebrating…
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December 19, 2004
Chocolate & the State
Earlier this week France continued their aggressive program of secularism in public schools by refusing to permit chocolates shaped like Christian crosses and St. Nicholas in the classroom. Most attributed this silly move to France’s relatively recent policy of secularizing…
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Hate Crime Convictions in Australia
Evidently, Europe and Canada are not alone in creating “hate laws” which seem to be aimed predominantly at protecting Muslims. The Australian reports on the first convictions under the law: AN evangelical Christian group incited hatred and severe ridicule of…
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December 18, 2004
Naming Names
MSNBC is reporting that the biggest hammer yet in the Oil for Food Scandal is about to fall. The former right hand man of Saddam Hussein and face of the Iraqi regime Tariq Aziz is preparing to name names in…
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December 17, 2004
MUST READ
Be sure to read…. Victor Davis Hanson offering advice to the American Left on how to become a viable force again in American politics. how a teddy bear saved the lives of United States Marines on patrol in Iraq. why…
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Pickings from Buenos Aires
Here is a small but important piece of information from the Buenos Aires Climate Change convention that will either go unreported or be spun by the MSM: Ohio State University glaciologist Lonnie Thompson reported at the annual meeting of the…
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December 16, 2004
Another Mass Grave…
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced yesterday that another mass grave was discovered in the Kurdish North portion of Iraq: IRAQIS who lost loved ones during Saddam Hussein’s brutal rule today rushed to a site in the Kurdish region of northern…
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December 15, 2004
Iranian Conversion
The Washington Times offers an interesting look at a bizzare byproduct of the oppresive Iranian theocracy: The queries he receives from Iranian Muslims about converting to Judaism say less about the lure of the Jewish faith, Menashe Amir believes, than…
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The U.S., Europe and Arms for China
While usually at odds with each other, The Financial Times reports that the human rights group Amnesty International and the Bush Administration can claim common ground on at least one policy issue: European arms sales to China: Senior US officials…
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MUST READ
Be sure to read… why incoming Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice may find it difficult to conduct diplomacy abroad. about U.S. warnings to Israel (over a possible chemical weapons attack in one of their cities) and Egypt (about a large-scale…
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Preparing for Life After Allawi
U.S. News & World Report is reporting that the political currents in Iraq are running against U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. The situation has caught the attention of the State Department and Department of Defense who held a meeting last…
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December 14, 2004
WMD & the Former Soviet Union
Most security experts would likely argue that the worst terrorist scenario possible is the attainment and subsequent use of a weapon of mass destruction (“WMD”) by a terrorist organization. This concern was so great that it was the leading rationale…
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MUST READ
Be sure to read… how and why Global Warming extremists are on the run. how, as widely predicted after the November election, hatred previously reserved for President Bush in Europe has begun to transfer to the American people. the Belmont…
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Prioritizing in the New Century
Bjorn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist criticized the fight against global warming yesterday in the Telegraph as economically infeasible and bluntly stated that it should not be the top priority of the world in the new century. The reason…
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December 13, 2004
Membership or Terror Wave
As EU members decide tomorrow whether to begin the membership process with Turkey, the Times Online reports that Turkey’s Prime Minister has stated the EU will “pay a heavy price” if it rejects Turkey’s membership bid: [T]he Turkish Prime Minister,…
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MUST READ
Be sure to read… Arthur Chrenkoff’s latest roundup of good news from Afghanistan. how the United States is ignoring China’s growing military and economic power at its peril. that Abu Musab Al Zarqawi has allegedly announced a “mega” assault aimed…
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Zapatero’s World
The BBC has a good roundup of Spanish Prime Minister Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s testimony given today before a parliamentary panel investigating the Madrid 2004 bombings. Here is an excerpt of his statements and remarks: – Mr Aznar had increased the…
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December 12, 2004
Help From Above
The former chief confident of Saddam Hussein, Tariq Aziz, will soon receive legal counsel with assistance from a peculiar, yet interesting source: Saddam Hussein’s former foreign minister and right-hand man has persuaded sympathisers in the Vatican to arrange free legal…
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European “Tolerance” Police
We have reported in the past on the troubling situation in France where slowly but surely, the government is criminalizing opinions and viewpoints under the disguise of eliminating racism, sexism, and any other applicable “-ism” that comes to mind. This…
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December 11, 2004
Winter Offensive in Afghanistan
U.S. led forces have reportedly launched “Operation Lightening Freedom,” the much anticipated winter offensive in Afghanistan aimed at further weakening Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants ahead of parliamentary elections slated for the spring. One of the other goals of the…
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Deserting The Netherlands
The Telegraph reports that the Netherlands is currently experiencing a relatively large exodus of their native citizens: An exodus of native-born Dutch in search of a new life abroad has reversed immigration flows for the first time since the post-war…
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Thwarting Terror
Two Islamic terrorist plots have allegedly been thwarted in Europe. The first: Police have prevented a major terrorist attack in London that would have been on the scale of the Madrid bombings, the outgoing head of Scotland Yard said today….
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December 10, 2004
Is the Military Really “Angry?”
News wire service Reuters claims that U.S. troops are “angry” and that Rumsfeld was “bombarded” with criticism from U.S. soldiers while visiting in Kuwait. But is that really true? Fortunately, we can shed some light on this story, thanks to…
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Must Read
Be sure to read… Victor Davis Hanson asking if the Ents of Europe will awaken or continue their slumber. an op-ed piece posted on Al Jazeera that claims the U.N. Oil for Food Scandal is nothing more than another “neo-con”…
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Ignoring Global Warming Dissent
With Russia’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, the agreement now has enough signatories to make the agreement “binding.” But, as Andrei Illarionov, chief economic adviser to the president of the Russian Federation pointed out in an op-ed piece yesterday, the…
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December 09, 2004
Bureaucracy to the Rescue
Writing in the New York Times today, foreign affairs expert Thomas Friedman cites a specific failure of pre-Iraq War intelligence to critique the new Intelligence Reform Bill and explain how the bill will likely fail to address the most important…
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Playing the “War Crimes” Card
This rhetoric sounds eerily familiar: “We established the atrocities are not merely anomalous but part of a system, and that as an infantryman, I could have taken part in them. I knew in my heart these vehicles were civilians, but…
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Karl Rove’s Chief Useful Idiot
“For the last month, we’ve had to listen to a lot of conservative pundits talk about how Democrats need to run away from Hollywood. It’s actually the opposite. Democrats need to embrace Hollywood because this is where they need to…
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December 08, 2004
A Poll Is Worth A Thousand Words
Rarely does one poll explain so much: Six decades after the mass extermination of six million Jews in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany, more than 50 percent of Germans believe that Israel’s present-day treatment of the Palestinians is similar to…
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Outside the Geneva Conventions
With allegations of “abuse” and “torture” at the hands of U.S. forces being resurrected by the MSM, it is necessary to revisit an important question often ignored: are Al Qaeda and other terrorists protected by the Geneva Conventions? The Geneva…
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December 07, 2004
Arab Phoniness
While discussing in the Wall Street Journal today the myth that Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place, Michael Scott Doran, assistant professor at Princeton’s Department of Near Eastern Studies, provided this excellent insight into the mind of…
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Student Unrest in Iran
Once the backbone of Iran’s reformist movement, students have become increasingly frustrated by failed reforms and empty promises. As a result, they have begun to vent their frustration on President Mohammad Khatami, who they accuse of lacking the courage to…
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MUST READ
Be sure to read… Arthur Chrenkoff’s latest installment of “A roundup of the past two weeks’ good news from Iraq.”As always, it contains stories that the MSM decided were not important. Charles Krauthammer discussing Iraq’s civil war and how at…
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Dangerous Decision
As President Bush and Congress ignore the pleas of those calling for immigration concerns to be addressed in the Intelligence Reform Bill expected to pass in the coming days, we advise them to read this piece from yesterday’s New Jersey…
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Historic Day
Congratulations to Hamid Karzai as he was sworn in today as the first nationally elected President in Afghanistan’s history: The U.S.-backed leader, wearing a traditional green robe and a black lambskin hat, took the oath of office in a solemn…
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December 06, 2004
GDP Revision
Via the Economist: The OECD is forecasting a slowdown next year followed by a mild upturn in 2006. GDP growth across the OECD will slacken from 3.6% in 2004 to 2.9% in 2005, picking up to 3.1% in 2006….
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Laughing Matter
Appearing at the United Nations Correspondents Association as a guest and award recipient, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan made jokes about calls in the United States for his resignation: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who presented the awards at a black-tie…
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Dollar Disorientation
Alan Reynolds wrote the in the Washington Time yesterday that the rationale used to explain the devalued dollar is incorrect. Here is an excerpt of his analysis: The editor of ConservativeBattleline, Don Devine, writes that “entitlements [Social Security and Medicare]…
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December 05, 2004
The Importance of EU Membership
Columns by Robert Kagan are rare, but they are even rarer to disappoint. Today’s was no different as he discusses an area we consider to be his strongest: relations between the United States and Europe. Here is an excerpt as…
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Immigration and Politics
Michelle Malkin has some great commentary on the immigration reform clause in the now stalled Intelligence Reform bill and also on the recent revelation that President Bush did not do as well among Hispanics in last month’s election as previously…
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December 04, 2004
Trying Something New
Having failed to quell an eleventh month Muslim insurgency in the south, Thailand has instituted a new tactic: peace bombs: Hundreds of Thai school children and air force recruits have loaded an estimated 100 million origami birds onto military transport…
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Maybe They Understand Afterall
Admitting that their “notion of multiculturalism has fallen apart,” the Times of London details some relatively drastic actions recently taken by European authorities to combat radical Islamists: The shift is not just a reaction to exceptional violence such as the…
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Daunting Task
To understand the necessity of promoting political, individual and economic freedom in the Muslim world, consider the results from this two-year old survey taken in Egypt: A survey conducted for the Egyptian government a few years ago found that one…
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December 03, 2004
MUST READ
Be sure to read why… Charles Krauthammer is critical of Europeans for focusing on the importance of Ukrainian democracy while at the same time scorning President Bush’s aggressive push for democracy in the Muslim world. Michael Ledeen concludes that the…
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Looking Back
As only he can, Victor Davis Hanson provides some perspective as the world watches Iraq steadily approach her first democratic elections next month: [W]e already see how few talk of what it was like in the very dark days of…
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The Power of Denial
Reuters reports that Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and China rallied around U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday in response to criticism from the United States over the Oil for Food Scandal. French President Jacque Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder…
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Ukraine Situation Getting More Complex
For information on two bizarre developments in the Ukrainian post-election fiasco, read the following: The Transatlantic Intelligencer expands on a situation we reported earlier this week about how the Western backed Ukrainian Presidential candidate has a recent record of Anti-Semitic…
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December 02, 2004
Euthanizing Babies
The Diplomad has the best analysis we have read concerning the recent news that the Netherlands, arguably the most anti-capital punishment country in Europe, is now using “mercy killings” to end the lives of terminally ill babies, or in politically…
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New American Involvement in Oil for Food
ABC News has obtained new information that implicates two additional U.S. citizens in the Oil for Food scandal, one of whom has dubious ties to Bill Clinton: Former American fugitive Marc Rich was a middleman for several of Iraq’s suspect…
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MUST READ
Be sure to read… that nearly half of Britons in a poll said they had never heard of Auschwitz. how Muslim commentator Amir Taheri can say that the Palestine-Israel issue is low on the list of priorities for the average-Arab…
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Update on Missing Explosives
The London Telegraph has obtained a document from Iraq that may shed some light on the missing explosives that received great attention during the final days of the U.S. Presidential election: As American forces closed in on Baghdad last year,…
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Faces of the Canadian Anti-War Left
Courtesy of IDF ISRAEL, here are a few of the pictures he took at the anti-Bush rally in Ottawa on Tuesday: Be sure to view the entire photo journal here. Please note that the photos are on two seperate pages….
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December 01, 2004
Iraq Elections Are On Track
“I won’t say I am happy, but I am satisfied with the process. People tend to have these very unrealistic expectations about elections…They are not a panacea, but they seem to me at least at this moment the one way…
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Masking An Agenda
Expanding upon our earlier reference to the latest Abu Graib news, the interesting part about this story is that it concerns a lawsuit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, who describes themselves as the “premiere legal institution of the…
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MUST READ
Read the following: David Brooks of the New York Times apologizes for being the “bearer of good news” and reporting how the world is currently in the “11th month of the most prosperous year in human history.” The reason? Unprecedented…
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New Ivory Coast Development
LGF has obtained a short video from November 6, 2004 of French helicopters (allegedly) firing on Ivory Coast demonstrators without provocation. Please note that this incident occurred five days before the now confirmed shooting of 65 unarmed demonstrators on November…
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“Kofi Annan Must Go”
In an op-ed piece published in today’s Wall Street Journal, the senator leading an investigation into the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food program has called for Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resign. Here is an excerpt: Our Investigative Subcommittee has gathered overwhelming evidence…
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