On The Road In The Kingdom Of Fear: May 2005

in breif

protests in Bolivia over the ownership of the gas industry

kenya moving to ban smoking in public

and the dude john simpson gives his thoughts to 'whats next for europe'

Non

One cannot think for ones self at the moment on the French referendum result, but I would recommend a couple of items I've read on other blogs:

Paul Anderson: It’s hardly the end of civilisation as we know it, but it is depressing. The constitutional treaty is a long way short of perfect: it is for the most part aimed at making the existing intergovernmentalist EU structures work more efficiently and contains little to address the union’s democratic deficit. But if implemented it would create an institutional settlement that could be improved over time.

Now, however, it looks as if it won’t be implemented: it is difficult to see how the treaty can survive the French “no”, and it will be dead and buried if the Dutch reject it too.

It is even more difficult, however, to see how a better constitutional treaty can be negotiated, at least in the short term. Of course, it is possible that the European political class responds to the setback with the imagination, dynamism, flexibility and commitment to democratic principle that were so conspicuous by their absence in the horse-trading that created the constitutional treaty. But that’s rather unlikely.

Socialism in an Age of Waiting: Meanwhile, if the European left really wants to keep itself distinct from the European right (and parts of it clearly do not, but that’s another matter), it surely must, sooner rather than later, come up with at least an outline for a positive reform of the EU in the direction that the left believes it ought to go (albeit without illusions, to quote an over-used but highly relevant phrase). Otherwise the left risks becoming - or, if not becoming, being decisively portrayed as - a wholly negative force, undeniably skilled at pointing out what is wrong with the EU in particular, and the neoliberal consensus in general, but fatally weakened by being - or, again, seeming - utterly impractical about what to do next.

irony

Turns out some of the white make-poverty-history wristbands might have been made in a sweat-shop in China.

interesting debate

John Micklethwait, Christopher Hitchens, Roy Hattersley, Mark Leonard: History will be kinder to Bush and Blair than to Chirac and Schroeder

Jon Snow chairs the debate on security, democracy, diplomacy and piety in the early twenty-first Century.

You can listen to the debate here

a point of view

An interesting thingy from Brian Walden on the term 'the west'. Scroll down the article to find a link to listen to this on internet radio.

ID card problems

The beeb reports on impending problems with the ID card proposals. Will the civil liberty bashing wankers in New Labour listen? me thinks not

Lets hope the Conservative-Lib Dem-Labour rebel coalition can stop these proposals.

The ageing Lords may also becoming usefull again. We might be seeing another all-nighter similar to the anti-terror legislation earlier in the year.

Pipelineistan

Pepe Escobar at Asia times takes a look at the new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC)

"The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) - conceived by the US as the ultimate Western escape route from dependence on oil from the Persian Gulf - is finally in business.

This is what Pipelineistan is all about: a supreme law unto itself - untouchable by national sovereignty, serious environmental concerns (expressed both in the Caucasus and in Europe), labor legislation, protests against the World Bank, not to mention mountains 2,700 meters high and 1,500 small rivers. BTC took 10 years of hard work and at least US$4 billion - $3 billion of which is in bank loans. BTC is not merely a pipeline: it is a sovereign state.

BTC would be impossible without the usual, strategically positioned US-supported dictator - in this case old, ruthless Caucasus hand Heydar Aliyev, who died in December 2003. A dynastic dictatorship is even better, since his son Ilham became the successor in fraudulent elections in October 2003. It also helped that Ilham, a former playboy, happened to be the head of the state oil company, SOCAR. Azerbaijan was never about "liberty and democracy" or color-coded revolutions in the style of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. Just last Saturday in Baku, Azeri police beat up and arrested more than 100 opposition protesters demanding "Freedom!" and "Free elections!" This is a regime that according to Transparency International ranks 140th out of 146 in the global corruption index. From Washington's point of view, the Aliyev dynasty in Azerbaijan performs the same role as Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan: they are "our" dictators."

Read the whole thing Here

Pipelineistan

Nepal reporters in protest march

Up to 200 journalists have marched through Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, to protest against the government's closure of a radio production company.

The journalists demanded the lifting of Saturday's closure order on the Communication Corner company and vowed to take the issue to the Supreme Court.

King Gyanendra has imposed strict media controls since taking direct power of Nepal on 1 February.

Bush admits to propaganda

George Bush:

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."

hear the quoted section of the speech here

i found this via www.crooksandliars.com

they are stealing our mudcrabs!

Those fucking indonesians! Austrailias premier news corperation reports

Resolving the Clash of Civilizations by Michael J. Totten

the interesting articles is here

Backsliding on democracy in Egypt

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak approved multi-candidate elections last February.. ahem... bullshit... cough cough

The Associated Press reports:

Police and plainclothes security men beat and arrested demonstrators calling for a boycott of Wednesday's government-backed referendum on constitutional changes that would clear the way for Egypt's first multicandidate presidential election.

Scattered anti-Mubarak demonstrations took place in defiance of warnings, some on the margins of pro-Mubarak street rallies, with scattered reports of violence. Many gatherings were broken up by force.

In one, more than a dozen members of the anti-Mubarak movement Kifaya, or "Enough," were beaten by pro-Mubarak gangs in Cairo. The protesters sought police protection but a high-ranking officer ordered lawmen to withdraw and allowed the attackers to set upon the demonstrators.

Elsewhere in the capital, 150 pro-Mubarak protesters attacked Kifaya members, belting them with wooden sticks use to hold Mubarak banners. Demonstrators scattered, with some taking refuge inside the press syndicate building.

One woman trying to leave the building was pounced upon by Mubarak loyalists who punched and pummeled her with batons and tore her clothes. As police looked on, the woman screamed, then vomited and fainted.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the only way supporters of opposition candidate Ayman Nour could hold a demonstration was to buy tickets to a movie and stand outside the theater shouting slogans. The police quickly put an end to that.

Much more than with the regimes in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the US has some real leverage with the Mubarak government-- the kind of leverage provided by $2 billion a year in military and civilian aid.

In February Secretary of State Rice sent a message to Egypt's rulers by postponing a planned visit to the country-- which probably helped prod Mubarak's election announcement.

But this week, Reuters reports:

[First Lady] Laura Bush adopted the Egyptian official line when she said on Monday, on a visit to the Giza pyramids, that Mubarak's proposal to introduce direct presidential elections was bold and wise and political reform must happen slowly.

"What she said is really frustrating for most opposition forces in Egypt," said Gameela Ismail, Ayman Nour's wife and a spokeswoman for his Ghad (Tomorrow) Party.

Governments around the world betrayed their commitment to human rights in 2004, Amnesty International says.

The US abdicated its responsibility to set a global example in upholding human rights in 2004 and, with the UK, led a "dangerous new agenda" by sanctioning torture in a failed attempt to combat terrorism, Amnesty International warned today.

The report also highlighted the London-based organisation's concerns about:

- A lack of accountability for human rights violations in Haiti and in the Democratic Republic of Congo

- Reported abuses by Russian forces in Chechnya

- New levels of brutality against civilians by armed groups in places like Iraq

- Slow progress in achieving the Millennium Development goals

- Indifference to violence against women

- Lack of a full independent investigation into abuses against detainees in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

reports from the beeb, guardian and amnesty itself

<http://www.amnesty.org/>

Joygasm!! EU aid agreement announced!

As Britain prepares to put the fight against world poverty at the top of its G8 summit agenda this summer the European Union has agreed to double its development aid to poorer nations.

the beeb reports

meanwhile.. lets make-poverty-history

and make a stand at Gleneagles

Metric Youth

a poem by Raul Jazzy Blizzard

The metric youth aren’t looking back,
Growing up on promises of potential that cannot be kept,
You took our life as we slept,
Now we are taking it back.
The troubled words of a troubled mind spilled over a page fuelled by rage,
You lied, you lied, you lied
And n a poor boy cried looking on at the wreckage of just another suicide bomb,
And what are we to do when the G8 is a machine of hate?
Draw up another resolution, choke our planet under a blanket of pollution

Daily Mail Cunts

It has only recently come to my attention that the Daily Mail exploited a pensioner. The labour MP Clive Soley brought up the issue in Parliment. Good on him!

The Daily Mail alledged the pensioner was so poverty stricken that she couldn’t pay her council tax. In fact she was withholding payment because she disagreed with European regional policy.

Grrrrrrrrr Daily Mail Fucking Scum!!!!!

Africa

Some good news from the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia seems to be running a free and fair election. It is too early to be sure but initial reports are good.

In Somalia warlords are pulling out of the Mogadishu. The African Union is hoping to secure the area before sending in more peacekeepers.

(Blez- we should still go and see Mr Big-Beard!)

NATO, the West and other countries are giving additional help to the African Union thus helping to build up an indigenous force.

No Work No Vote - German unemployment nearing 1932 levels

The German Social Democrats have lost control of North Rhine Westphalia - the industrial heartland of Germany and traditional left-wing stronghold.

4.1 million Germans were unemployed in 1998. Today 4.9 million are out of work, the highest since 1932

For more info see here

Iran 'bars pro-reform candidates'

The beeb reports that reformers have been banned from standing in the upcoming presidential election. 'Elections' (in the Bush 2000 sense of the word) for the presidency will be held on 17 June.

Monitoring Bush: Support Saudi democrats - thanks Harry

Three Saudi liberal democrats-- exactly the sort of people Western governments should be supporting in a country ruled by such a benighted regime-- have been sentenced to lengthy prison stays after circulating a petition calling for a peaceful transition to constitutional democracy. They were tried after they bravely refused to sign pledges not to make further public statements or talk to the foreign press.

According to a Washington Post editorial:

[Ali] Dumaini, who received the stiffest sentence of nine years, further offended his captors by describing the Saudi educational system and Wahhabi religious ideology as causes of extremism -- an observation that by now is obvious to anyone following the stream of Saudi recruits for extremist causes ranging from the Sept. 11 attacks to the Iraqi insurgency.

.....The trial process simply served to demonstrate why the intellectuals' original dissent was justified. One open session was held last August; when supporters of the accused appeared there, the judge closed all subsequent sessions. Several lawyers for the defense were disqualified, and one was himself arrested after he refused to keep quiet. Inside the court, prosecutors accused the intellectuals of such crimes as "disobeying rulers" and speaking to foreign journalists.

In a country where al Qaeda has been active and extremist groups recruit young men for suicide attacks against Iraqi and American soldiers, these would seem to be fairly minor offenses. Yet a Saudi government that has seen fit to pardon associates of al Qaeda proposes to imprison three intellectuals for six, seven and nine years for suggesting that a democratic rule of law gradually replace the power monopoly of the Saudi royal family. The message to society is clear: no independent reform movements, however small or moderate, will be tolerated; any change in Saudi Arabia will be dictated from above.

The Bush administration's response to this outrage has been disappointingly muted. On Wednesday the State Department belatedly declared itself "troubled by the outcome" of the case, adding with almost comical understatement that the trials "appear to have been conducted in a somewhat irregular fashion." Mr. Bush himself has been silent. That doesn't sound like the president who, in his last inaugural address, promised "democratic reformers facing repression" that "when you stand for your liberty we will stand with you." If he is to keep faith with those words, Mr. Bush should stand up for Ali Dumaini, Matrouk Faleh and Abdullah Hamed.

Instead of holding hands with their oppressors, Bush should be symbolically joining hands with these three corageous men.

Thanks again for this Harry

Bush meets Saud

Bangladeshi policemen beat a boy who was taking part in a protest march during a general strike called by opposition leaders in Dhaka. (By Mohammad Shahidullah -- Reuters)

US schools teach pupils how to fire a gun

im speechless.... they are so fucking retarded over there

the ever creditable Fox News 'reports'

Neo-cons on Uzbekistan

The Weekly Standard, neo-cons Stephen Schwartz and William Kristol on Uzbekistan:

"The Bush administration's response to the bloodshed has been tepid, featuring calls for restraint by both sides. The president's failure even to mention Uzbekistan in a major foreign policy speech to the International Republican Institute last week is not good news. Neither is the absence of talk about using U.S. aid as leverage on Karimov.

Uzbekistan has a distinguished cultural and theological Islamic heritage. If it had a regime accountable to the people, allowing entrepreneurship and pluralism, it could become a force for progress in other Muslim lands. As an exemplar of successful reform, Uzbekistan would be a far more valuable ally than it is now as Karimov's fiefdom.

President Bush should lead the international pressure on Karimov to allow journalists, legitimate relief workers, and trustworthy investigators to travel to Andijon and render a verdict on the events there. That verdict will likely be harsh for Karimov, and it should have consequences for U.S. aid to and support for the regime. Washington cannot turn a blind eye to massacres in a country where U.S. troops are based and that receives U.S. assistance. Here as elsewhere, the principle of linkage between a regime's behavior and relations with the United States must be reestablished. And if not in Uzbekistan, where we have so much leverage, how seriously will others take our promises and our warnings?"

see... their not that evil....ahem..

Have we got a forecast for you

It's almost a distant memory now, but the short-lived Newsnight weather report, and its accompanying furore, didn't go unnoticed by the team of Have I Got News For You.

More abuse... suprise suprise

New details have emerged of alleged abuse of prisoners by US troops in Afghanistan. Well thats a fucking suprise isnt it! The cretins in the US military have an average IQ equivalent to that of a pack of rabid hyenas.

the beeb story is here

The blood of the Uzbeks, the hypocrisy of the West, and the last great oil grab - an article by Johann Hari

The current policy amounts to trading the human rights of 25 million Uzbeks for access to oil supplies

Welcome to the New Middle East. On your left, you'll see the largest Asian massacre since Tienanmen Square. Look - they're hosing blood off the streets. To your right, you can see some dissidents being boiled alive, while the local regime smirks they had "an accident with a kettle". Ah, and here's a dictator who reminisces about his trips to the White House and brags: "I'm prepared to rip off the heads of 200 people, to sacrifice their lives, in order to save peace and calm in the republic. If my child chose such a path, I would rip off his head myself."

The debate about Uzbekistan over the past week has been weirdly unreal. The Uzbek people are rebelling because they live in grinding, binding poverty and have no freedoms at all. Many still live on Soviet-style collectivised farms and earn less than $2 a day. True, there is a small Islamic fundamentalist political movement in the country, but in the current rebellion all the classic jihadist tactics - like suicide-bombs or targetting civilians - have been scrupulously avoided, with only the police feeling the force of their rage. Yet all it has taken is for Islam Karimov to cry "terrorism!" and most Western politicians and journalists have acted as though the "war on terror" is the reason why Britain and America are deeply enmeshed with the Karimov tyranny.

Yes, the Uzbek KGB provides us with some intelligence on apparent al-Qa'ida cells, but according to a man who has read all of it - Craig Murray, Britain's ambassador to the country post-9/11 - it is "totally useless". This is hardly surprising, since Karimov is "systematically" using torture, according to the UN. Information acquired via electrodes is as useful as the European confessions of witchcraft in the 16th century.

Any benefit to the "terror war" from reading this junk is far outweighed by the damage to that same "war" caused by our association with Karimov. All experts on the region agree that Karimov's Stalin-era policies of criminalising Islam, no matter how mild or pluralistic, is directly fuelling jihadism. As one member of the European Parliament's Uzbekistan relations committee explains: "By supporting Karimov, we are helping to create the very thing we fear - Islamic fundamentalism. Islam has never been strong in central Asia. Even before the Russians came, alcohol was widely drunk, prayer observed fitfully. Now, a visitor sees neither beards nor headscarves... yet official persecution is giving fundamentalists their opening in the region. Ordinary Uzbeks, constantly told that all opponents of the regime are Islamic radicals, are understandably wondering whether there might not be something in this ideology." And by shovelling cash to Karimov and building bases on Uzbek soil, we are ensuring angry Uzbeks will ultimately blame us for their oppression - and possibly make us pay a blood-price for it. Jihadism was born in the Middle East when the West supported savage dictators; why repeat the mistake?

No; the reasons for our governments' connections to Karimov are rather different. Uzbekistan's first uprising - the first of many - is right now being crushed by US-trained troops and with US funds, in return for access to the last great oil-grab in history. The Republican regime in the White House wants to be part of the global scramble for the final untapped stash of fossil fuels on earth, before the carbon-burning party winds to an end. Central Asia holds up to 243 billion barrels of crude, worth around $4 trillion - enough to meet the West's energy needs for years - and Uzbekistan is in the region's dead (and I mean dead) centre. A strategic decision was clearly taken that, if this requires them to fund and fuel Karimov, the butcher of Uzbekistan - and inadvertently recreate the Middle East in central Asia - so be it.

This isn't just my view. In 1998, Dick Cheney - when he was still CEO of the oil firm Halliburton - explained, "I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian [central Asia's source of oil]." Three years later, Cheney was responsible for the National Energy Report, which recommended that "the President make energy security a priority of our trade and foreign policy". Their words. Their intentions.

At a time when oil supplies are either vulnerable to jihadist coups (as in Saudi Arabia, where our governments still back and arm the odious House of Saud) or are simply running dry, the oil industry is ravenous for new supplies. In some places - like Iraq - this thirst will lead the US to overthrow tyrants but, in just as many places, like Uzbekistan, it will lead them to prop up oil-and-pipeline-friendly tyrants, with the British government following closely behind. The question "do they let us buy and sell their oil?" determines policy, not the question "do they terrorise their people?"

So we ignore the voices of the Uzbek people; nobody wants to know the price for our carbon-economy. The rote condemnations offered by the US and British governments over the past few days do not match their actions. (The US call for "peaceful resistance" - in a country where people regularly "disappear" for joking about the leader - is preposterous). Look at the plight of Craig Murray as British ambassador. Whitehall's man in Tashkent did everything a representative of democracy should: he spoke out against Karimov's butchery, and offered dissidents support and protection. He was repaid with the sack, and a vicious smear campaign. There is no point having a fake argument about whether Karimov is a necessary but ugly ally in the "war on terror", when the real argument is about whether it is worth trading the human rights of 25 million Uzbeks for access to remaining oil supplies.

We must be honest: that is what the current policy amounts to. At the best of times, trading human lives and human dignity for oil would be repellent, but right now, it would be near-suicidal. Islamic fundamentalism will pose a genuine threat to free societies in the coming age of DIY-WMD, where the technologies of destruction are terrifyingly easy to acquire. We need to undercut the causes of Islamic fundamentalism - particularly Western-backed tyranny in the Muslim world - now.

Even more importantly, the petrol-based economy which these excursions into central Asia are designed to prop up is an environmental disaster for all humans, and finding a new set of dealers for our fossil-fuel habit is not the solution.

Some American environmentalists have tried to turn this insight into what they call a "geo-green movement" to make Americans realise that they need urgently to begin the transition away from dirty fuels, for the sake of human rights abroad and for the planet. It's time for a British counterpart. For the sake of us and for the sake of the Uzbeks, it's time to wake up and smell the petrol.

Respect

In the Queens Speech we heared about the importance of "respect". If we are fighting a war against international terrorism, it would appear to me, that it is important not to sink down to the levels of the terrorists.

How can we take the moral high ground after the Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and, now Soddom Hussain abuses, have been uncovered.

He may have been an evil cunt but does the fucking Geneva Convention mean nothing to the fuckwits in the American military! We are meant to be on a higher moral plain to tyrannical dictators!

The Geneva what?????

Galloway - the US interpretation

<http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=2544>

Over the pond they aren’t used to the likes of Gorgeous George. Most Americans wouldn’t know what a left-winger was if one shat on their face and shoved a small figure of Karl Marx up their arse. Many commentators have been known to refer to Democrats (centre politics) as “Communists!” Fucking Retards!

It has also come to my attention that George smoked a Havana Cigar in the capitol building and blew the smoke towards the white house. I thought this was a nice touch.

Oh and thanks Ben for this make-poverty-history link *thumbs up*

<http://www.sendmyfriend.org/home.html>

Galloway update:

buy a cool Galloway T-shirt here

'Newsnight's off' as Paxman refuses to cross picket lines

The dude has pointed me in the right direction - towards the Guardian - where i am informed of a socialist take-over of the BBC. Hurrah!

apparently even Paxman is getting involved!

<http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1487696,00.html>

yawn

Not much to blog about at the moment im afraid. Ermm.. im hoping the French vote ‘NO’ in the Euro-constitution referendum. Only because it would avoid the British Yes campaign (which I fully support) having to go through the embarrassment of losing. How can it win against a puerile and xenophobic populous dictated to by right-wing media moguls (Murdoch, the Barclays’, Desmond etc etc) and their pretend newspapers.

Take a look at Mail Watch to see what’s going on at the scummy end of Fleet Street.

<http://www.mailwatch.co.uk/>

Oh and ive found an interesting article from Le Monde by Xavier Ternisien on ‘The Church in Relation to Islam: Challenge for Benedict XVI’.

Check it out.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/050405I.shtml

UK Politics - labour and the house of commons

Do even the ‘disaffected’ Labour MPs care for our liberty? If this analysis (<http://www.revolts.co.uk/Identity%20cards%20II.pdf>) of parliamentary voting from before the election is a guide, even with a reduced Labour majority and focussed Tory and Liberal Democrat opposition we should not expect to escape compulsory registration. The ID card bill - more appropriately called the National Identity Register Bill - will almost certainly pass. And then, on some date in the near future, you and I will be required to queue for recording. Once that is done, the stone will have been rolled to the top of the hill and we will only be able to guess at its future path. When the mechanism of dystopia is brought online, both paranoia and conspiracy are redundant.

The National Identity Register is unprecedented. Its architects hope to assemble a state-wide apparatus in which any citizen, with or without his or her card - and perhaps with or without his or her consent or knowledge - can be scanned and immediately matched to a computerised record. Even without your presence, every transaction you make in which your identity is checked against the register will be centrally recorded. Every life will be written up in a file which only the government will have the discretion to show, hide or alter. Such a device, although in itself difficult and expensive to build, has the capacity to generate nightmares.

There are alternatives. We do not need a central register.

<http://www.projectliberty.org/about/whitepapers.php>

UN calls for Uzbek deaths inquiry ... whoopie shit!

After the giant fuck up that is the UN's reaction to the Darfur crisis, it does not fill me with great hope that the UN's top human rights official has called for an independent investigation into reports that Uzbek troops shot dead hundreds of protesters. We can but hope the situation will be resolved.

The Long Emergency - a new book by James H. Kunstler

In the book Kunstler tells us

"One thing that I'm predicting is that there will be a vigorous and futile defense of suburbia and all its entitlements, no matter what reality is telling us to do. And this will translate into a lot of political mischief. You can quote me: Americans will vote for cornpone Nazis before they will give up their entitlements to a McHouse and a McCar."

Scenes We'd Like to See

Thanks Billmon! your a dude!

Defendants in the dock at the Ango-American War Crimes Trial of 2010, held at The Hague under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

Of the 20 defendants shown here -- the so-called "Republican Guard" -- only one (Alan Greenspan, second row, second from right) was found not guilty, on the grounds that the destruction of the American economy and the global financial crash of 2008, while regrettable, did not constitute war crimes as defined by the Geneva Convention.

Another defendant (Ari Fleischer, front row, extreme right) received only a light sentence, as the court determined that lying to the American people was too common a crime to merit more severe punishment.

In a more controversial decision, former Secretary of State Colin Powell was spared any prison time at all, after the judges ruled that being seated between former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers for the entire eight-month trial constituted "punishment enough."

Former Vice President Richard Cheney (second row, extreme left), who feigned narcolepsy throughout most of the trial, was committed to the newly established United Nations Hospital for the Criminally Insane, as was former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (next to Cheney), who insisted on being addressed as "Mrs. Bush" during the the trial.

The remaining defendants were sentenced to life terms at the Guantanamo War Crimes Penitentiary -- the same facility used to imprison the remaining leaders of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, whose own war crimes trial began shortly after this picture was taken.

Again.. Thanks for this great pic Billmon!! xxxxx

KZDN's grandmother makes an insightfull comment!

Nazism vs. Stalinism.

She was watching a Holocaust program on TV. They were showing the cattle cars the Nazis used to transport people to the death camps:

The cattle cars used by the Nazis to transport Hungarian citizens of Jewish origin to the death camps had a hole in the middle of the floor that people could defecate through, whereas the cattle cars used by the Soviets to transport Hungarian citizens of various origin to various labor camps had a bucket with an empty bottom covering that hole.

Betcha didn't know that!

Fucking Labour and Fucking shitting on Civil Liberties! grrrrr

Reported in the indy this morning -

"Lindis Percy, a 63 year old health visitor and vicars wife from Hull, may become the unlikeliest recipient of an ASBO yet. Her Crime? Protesting against the deployment of US weaponry on British Soil"

Lindis Percy takes on a SuperPower

Galloway fights back!

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4556113.stm>

check out his testimony.. sorry if its a bit long.... i have a lot of time on my hands...

Im not a big fan of Mr Galloway – the dirty campaign for Baghdad and Bow speaks for itself – but we must respect his attack on the Neo-Cons in Washington.

Oh and the ever reputable ‘fair and balanced’ fox news has a bite-sized version

<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156803,00.html>

For a bit of Anti-Galloway shit check out this

<http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/investigations/inquiryreports/mariam2.asp>

12. The Commission has been unable to obtain all the books and records of the Appeal. Mr Galloway, the first Chairman of the Appeal, has stated that this documentation was sent to Amman and Baghdad in 2001 when Fawaz Zuriekat became Chairman of the Appeal. Mr Galloway has informed the Commission that this documentation is no longer under the control of the original trustees of the Appeal and cannot be located by them. Mr Galloway confirmed that the Appeal did not produce annual profit and loss accounts or balance sheets.

Unfortunately it appears Senator Coleman was not aware of this very important section of the Charity Commission report and let Galloway's distortion pass without comment.

Yet, it is absolutely vital to the main question of whether the pro-Saddam businessman Fawaz Zuriekat pumped oil for food cash, allegedly gained by kickbacks to Saddam, into Galloway's political campaign.

OH and what about this…

Galloway promised two years ago to Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight to make the finances of the Mariam Appeal public.

JEREMY PAXMAN:Will you open the accounts?

GEORGE GALLOWAY:Yes.

But to this day he has not kept that promise.

Why?

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/2969925.stm>

OOOOO!! Nazi's V Liberals!

check out madjackie!

you go girl! =p

<http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/t89997-29.html>

Lenin offers some thoughts on the Uzbek situation… thanks dude!

The uprising in Uzbekistan is one revolution that won't be branded. The State Department has no word for the protesters, about 500 of whom were murdered by the government led by Islam Kalashinov. This is the very same regime ex-diplomat Craig Murray (stood against ‘Jack the rascal Straw’ in the election) accused of boiling dissidents to death and torturing thousands of people each year - the regime is much more cruel and vicious than the former Soviet one. Mr Murray also told Newsnight last night that the regime's courts have a 99% conviction rate (ours is 3%), so those sprung from prison had a very low chance of being tried fairly. It is alleged that the protesters began the violence, but the BBC was reporting on Thursday that the protests, which had been going on for months, represented Uzbekistan's "most orderly protests" in some time. Kalashinov claims that the troops had to fire into the crowd of demonstrators to put down an uprising, after they had tried to 'negotiate' a peaceful settlement. Troops don't negotiate - they say "get the fuck out of here before we kill your asses", or they simply kill your ass.

Naturally, the American news is taking a remarkably even-handed approach in all of this. "Troops and protesters killed in Uzbekistan clash” says the New York Times. CNN International is even better: "U.S. values Uzbekistan but urges rights reform" : "The United States has had good relations with the government of Uzbekistan in recent years but at the same time is bluntly critical of the country's political system and the human rights situation there." Rewind two years and replace the word Uzbekistan with 'Iraq' - wouldn't that have been a remarkable sentence?

Bush and Kalashinov.. thanks Billmon!

Hazah! a commited Bush..... perhaps....

The US says it is "deeply disturbed" by the Uzbek governments actions! It has called for the Red Cross to be allowed full access to the regions affected by the protests. Local sources say several hundred people died when troops shot at unarmed protesters in Andijan on Friday.

US state department spokesman Richard Boucher said that stability in Uzbekistan depended on the government addressing human rights issues and the rule of law. However, he also condemned violent protesters who had stormed government buildings.

If Bush is to keep to his inaugural promises he must intervene and place pressure on President Kalashinov.

Excerpts of the Bush's inaugural address:

...There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

.....So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

Craig Murray (the ex Brit ambassdor to Uzbekistan) has an excellent article on what is going on and why the west is remaining silent.

Key quotes

"The bodies of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Uzbekistan are scarcely cold, and already the White House is looking for ways to dismiss them. The White House spokesman Scott McClellan said those shot dead in the city of Andijan included "Islamic terrorists" offering armed resistance"

"Karimov is very much George Bush's man in central Asia. There is not a senior member of the US administration who is not on record saying warm words about Karimov. There is not a single word recorded by any of them calling for free elections in Uzbekistan.

And it's not just words. In 2002, the US gave Uzbekistan over $500m in aid, including $120m in military aid and $80m in security aid. The level has declined - but not nearly as much as official figures seem to show (much is hidden in Pentagon budgets after criticism of the 2002 figure)."

Go read the whole thing.

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1484631,00.html>

Uzbekistan

Pro-Democracy Students Held in Nepal

In Kathmandu yesterday Police broke up a pro-democracy rally and arrested protesters near the royal palace. Over 200 students defied a ban on demonstrations, shouting anti-monarchy slogans and demanding democracy be restored to their country. They were dragged into vans and taken to detention centres.

b) Describe one piece of evidence that suggests there are different attitudes to international migration. (5)

If one was to study a selection of British journalism then the differing attitudes within the population to international migration would certainly become apparent. The pseudo-fascist Daily Mail (owned by Nazi sympathisers in the early 1930’s) is a case in point. It vomits typical xenophobic laden drivel, feeding the septic souls of those who read it with a fear and loathing of ‘the immigrant’. It convinces the pallid minds of its readers that drug dealing, paedophilic, heroin addicted asylum seekers, originating from France, are a direct threat to their way of life. These beige, tawdry, Coronation Street watching imbeciles of ‘Middle Britain’ see themselves as bastions of morality. Steve Coogan has written, “Alan Partridge is basically a Daily Mail reader”. I believe this says it all.

.....yawn..... *stretches*....

Uzbek Slaughter

"Only three out of four corpses had uniforms. The otheres were wearing civilian clothing"
- Peter Boehm in the Ferghana Valley - Indy

a lovely Johann Hari essay from 2003

<http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=216>

the uzbek test for bush

Uzbekistan's repressive regime is led by President Karimov, who blames "criminals" and "Islamic radicals" for the countries recent problems. As Uzbekistan serves as a US base, the country has received relatively gentle treatment from the Bush administration (bar the $18 million in military and economic aid last year withheld due to human rights abuses.)

It would appear Uzbekistan is a test of Bush's commitment to the spread of democracy. The US should do all it can to strengthen the forces of democratic opposition in the country while pressuring President Kalashinov to step down.

Bush should re-read his inaugural address of last January and act accordingly.

on the road in the kingdom of fear

On The Road In The Kingdom Of Fear

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

in breif

Non

Monday, May 30, 2005

irony

interesting debate

a point of view

Sunday, May 29, 2005

ID card problems

Pipelineistan

Nepal reporters in protest march

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Bush admits to propaganda

they are stealing our mudcrabs!

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Resolving the Clash of Civilizations by Michael J. Totten

Backsliding on democracy in Egypt

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Governments around the world betrayed their commitment to human rights in 2004, Amnesty International says.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Joygasm!! EU aid agreement announced!

Monday, May 23, 2005

Daily Mail Cunts

Africa

No Work No Vote - German unemployment nearing 1932 levels

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Iran 'bars pro-reform candidates'

Monitoring Bush: Support Saudi democrats - thanks Harry

US schools teach pupils how to fire a gun

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Neo-cons on Uzbekistan

Have we got a forecast for you

More abuse... suprise suprise

Friday, May 20, 2005

The blood of the Uzbeks, the hypocrisy of the West, and the last great oil grab - an article by Johann Hari

Respect

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Galloway - the US interpretation

'Newsnight's off' as Paxman refuses to cross picket lines

*yawn*

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

UK Politics - labour and the house of commons

UN calls for Uzbek deaths inquiry ... whoopie shit!

The Long Emergency - a new book by James H. Kunstler

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Scenes We'd Like to See

KZDN's grandmother makes an insightfull comment!

Fucking Labour and Fucking shitting on Civil Liberties! grrrrr

Galloway fights back!

Monday, May 16, 2005

OOOOO!! Nazi's V Liberals!

Lenin offers some thoughts on the Uzbek situation… thanks dude!

Hazah! a commited Bush..... perhaps....

Craig Murray (the ex Brit ambassdor to Uzbekistan) has an excellent article on what is going on and why the west is remaining silent.

Pro-Democracy Students Held in Nepal

b) Describe one piece of evidence that suggests there are different attitudes to international migration. (5)

Uzbek Slaughter

a lovely Johann Hari essay from 2003

the uzbek test for bush

About Me

Links

Previous Posts

Archives

yawn