MaroonBlog

The assassination of Hariri has intensified world and Lebanese opposition pressure for Syria to withdraw its 15,000 troops from Lebanon. Those soldiers came to Lebanon as peacekeepers during the 1975-1990 civil war.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.

It was meant to be a heart-to-heart: just the two presidents and their translators, sitting alone inside the historic castle that overlooks the Slovak capital of Bratislava. Four years earlier, in another castle in Central Europe, George W. Bush looked Vladimir Putin in the eye and saw his trustworthy soul. But what he saw inside Putin last week was far less comforting. When Bush confronted his Russian counterpart about the freedom of the press in Russia, Putin shot back with an attack of his own: "We didn't criticize you when you fired those reporters at CBS."

It's not clear how well Putin understands the controversy that led to the dismissal of four CBS journalists over the discredited report on Bush's National Guard service. Yet it's all too clear how Putin sees the relationship between Bush and the American media—just like his own. Bush's aides have long feared that former KGB officers in Putin's inner circle are painting a twisted picture of U.S. policy. So Bush explained how he had no power to fire American journalists. It made little difference. When the two presidents emerged for their joint press conference, one Russian reporter repeated Putin's language about journalists getting fired. Bush (already hot after an earlier question about his spying on U.S. citizens) asked the reporter if he felt free. "They obviously planted the question," said one of Bush's senior aides.

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.

Cato Institute defense analyst Ted Carpenter said the recent level of U.S. casualties in Iraq resembled Soviet losses in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Both wars pitted forces of an invading superpower against tenacious Muslim insurgents.

the French and a large part of Europe envy and resent the US and its power, just as much as Chiraq does. This will go on. Europe will never play together in any significant way militarily, with the US. And Europe will never build any worthwhile military capacity, given the political, economical and technological limits that Europe faces.

NATO´s big idea was to stop the Soviets. It worked, and it is finished. What is left is the girlfriend-like rhetoric, that Steyn points out. I think we will see an environment which is more like pre-WWI, with each larger power playing as best it can in its own interest, and with alliances shifting on a case-by-case basis. E.g., we see that in Lebanon, the US and France are allied to get the Syrians out.

This is probably so. But I think that the further east you go in Europe the more states you will run into that still have the vitality to actively combat Islamo-fascism and fight with the US for democracy as necessary - states like Poland and Ukraine.

But enough about the European trip. Over at ChicagoBoyz, (one of my favorite blogs, for obvious reasons), Mr. Green tells readers that the Administration is pulling a fast one:

Extremely clever of the Bush team to have W in Europe mouthing platitudes, and getting all the press coverage, while Rice and Rumsfeld are laying the foundation for Japan to be a regional and global military player, and checkmating China. But the Chicoms and the NKs are watching. China will be deterred because we are speaking with clarity and we are committing resources and gathering allies. This is all good. This is about hard deterrence and hard capabilities.

"Do Not Watch the Hand that Appears to be Moving," he says. Good advice, too. It seems that, especially in the MSM, the Japan story is conspiculously absent, giving way to this top headline.

Except for neglecting the difference between the torpid "old" and the more vital "new" Europe, Mr. Green makes a good point about the timing and necessity of this step in US-Japanese security co-operation. It's pretty clear that the Administration has its eye on the long-term situation in Asia (read: rising China), which is good, and necessary. What also needs to happen, though, is increased security co-operation with the world's largest democracy. And the sooner, the better.

Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew made the official announcement in the House of Commons.

He said that while the U.S. is pressing ahead with the missile system, "Canada . . . must act in its own interests and must determine where its priorities lie."

"After careful consideration of the issue, we have decided that Canada will not participate in the U.S. ballistic missile defence system."

He said the decision is based on sound policy principles rather than emotion.

The leader of this Lebanese intifada [for independence from Syria] is Walid Jumblatt, the patriarch of the Druze Muslim community and, until recently, a man who accommodated Syria's occupation. But something snapped for Jumblatt last year, when the Syrians overruled the Lebanese constitution and forced the reelection of their front man in Lebanon, President Emile Lahoud. The old slogans about Arab nationalism turned to ashes in Jumblatt's mouth, and he and Hariri openly began to defy Damascus...

"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."

Democracy spreading? Well I'll be.

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

Liberty is liberty, not equality or fairness or justice or human happiness or a quiet conscience.

There are three broad hypotheses about the sources of the very substantial disparities that this conference's papers document and have been documented before with respect to the presence of women in high-end scientific professions. One is what I would call the-I'll explain each of these in a few moments and comment on how important I think they are-the first is what I call the high-powered job hypothesis. The second is what I would call different availability of aptitude at the high end, and the third is what I would call different socialization and patterns of discrimination in a search. And in my own view, their importance probably ranks in exactly the order that I just described.

[A] righteous man will be remembered forever.

The George W. Bush revealed in two years of surreptitiously recorded private conversations with a former friend is more complicated and appealing than the uncompromising, language-mangling leader whom Americans are accustomed to hearing. His struggle to fit his morality to his politics is illuminating, if not exactly comforting.

And of all plagues with which mankind are curst, / Ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst. /

"Let's face it, 'First in war, first in peace, and seventh in the hearts of his countrymen,' doesn't sound very impressive,"

[S]eek first his kingdom and his rigteousness, and all [your needs] will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

We are all starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beyolding self. Indeed, what could be more ludicrous in a vast and glorious universe like this than a human being, on the speck called earth, standing in front of a mirror trying to find significance in his own self-image? It is a great sadness that this is thei gospel of the modern world.

Carter believes that considered opinions are the first casualty of an excess of small talk. 'Too much chatter means we keep our real thoughts to ourselves,' he said. 'We risk becoming rigid and thoughtless in our opinions,' he added.

Lemn Sissay, named as one of the 50 key black British writers, fetes small talk: 'Talking about traffic and patio doors is the Western Buddhist mantra,' he said. It's a way we can find inner peace in today's society. Small talk can give away so much more about people, and be much more fascinating than big talk. I truly respect those who can sit around and discuss patio doors for half an hour and get something out of it.'>

link | posted by Jason Broander : 10:57 PM

The private Mr. Bush sounds remarkably similar in many ways to the public President Bush. Many of the taped comments foreshadow aspects of his presidency, including his opposition to both anti-gay language and recognizing same-sex marriage, his skepticism about the United Nations, his sense of moral purpose and his focus on cultivating conservative Christian voters.

Iran has vowed to back Syria against "challenges and threats" as both countries face strong US pressure.

"We are ready to help Syria on all grounds to confront threats," Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref said after meeting Syrian PM Naji al-Otari.

It's worrying, of course. But not exactly unexpected, it makes perfect sense from an Iranian or Syrian point of view. There are only so many states willing to associate themselves with either of them, and their common goal of disrupting Iraqi elections and compromising the government of that country likely would gives some pretext to this sort of security cooperation.

This also throws some more light on Iraq. I cannot concieve that this is other than a balancing action on the part of the Iranian and Syrian governments. Assuming that there is cooperation between Iran and Syria in attempts to destabilize Iraq, it's likely that this alliance is born out of the failure in their Iraqi endeavors, even in light of the more recent election results. Read the words of Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref again. It is difficult to reconcile those words commiting his country to a strategic defense of a secular nation with the idea of a government which seriously thinks that it might co-opt the Iraqi government using common religion, whatever the election results in that country.

On the Syrian side, this is made necessary by a weakening Syrian position on several fronts, necessitating a crackdown of sorts. The popular reaction to the assasination of Rafik Hariri is an example of the precarious Syrian position in Lebanon. Mr. Hariri was murdered in broad daylight in one of the most liberal districts of Beirut, and the popular resentment of the act has manifested itself in peaceful demonstrations, which are enough to worry the Syrian government and the pro-Syrian Hizbollah party. When demonstrators call for assistance from the international community in throwing off Syrian domination, the Syrian government hears "regime change" and panicks. The Hariri assasination was a part of the crackdown which misfired politically unlike Assad's replacing of the previous intelligence chief with his own brother, a move which only makes his regime more secure.

Iran's interior ministry denied the blast was caused by a hostile attack and said it happened minutes after an Iranian plane had flown over Dailam

Moustapha told CNN Damascus regarded its military presence in Lebanon as a "stabilising factor" and said "we would be happy to withdraw the troops" if the Lebanese government asked Syria to do so.

"I am looking for a constitution that would be a clear mirror of the composition of the Iraq people," he said. It should be "based on respecting all Iraqi beliefs and freedoms."

The party explicitly urges for the "Islamization" of the Iraqi society and the state, including the implementation of Sharia, or Islamic law.

He dismissed the apparent contradiction, saying only, "theory is different from practice."

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the fanfares to die away, and no less interesting to see whether any of Miller's plays outlive him. Most are already deservedly forgotten, but I expect that "Death of a Salesman" will continue to hold the stage, though not because it is beautiful or intelligent or provocative. It is, rather, sentimental, and sentimentality always goes over big in the commercial theater, so long as it's disguised as realism. More important, "Death of a Salesman" has a coarsely compulsive power that somehow manages to mask its aesthetic deficiencies, or at least render them momentarily palatable. That's the mystery of theater: It's all about what works, and like it or not, "Death of a Salesman" works. But it's no "Lear," just as Arthur Miller was no Shakespeare, and anyone who thinks otherwise is as lead-eared as he was.

“Your guilty conscience may force you to vote Democratic, but deep down inside you secretly long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king.”
-Sideshow Bob

The man then walked out of the store and into the mall's main corridor, where he continued firing until he ran out of bullets...

A 20-year-old National Guard recruiter was struck in the left knee and taken by helicopter to Albany Medical Center, Olson said.

"There's a possibility he might lose the limb," Olson said.

The second gunshot victim, a 56-year-old man from nearby Kingston, suffered superficial wounds to his left arm, left thigh and left lower leg, possibly caused by a single "fragmented projectile," Olson said.

Another person was injured not from a bullet but possibly from flying glass, he said.

Two other people had bullet holes in their clothing, but escaped injury, he said.

The incident began shortly after 3 p.m., when a man from the nearby Saugerties area fired from "an assault-type rifle" as he entered a Best Buy store at Hudson Valley Mall, said Capt. Wayne Olson of the New York State Police. (emphasis added)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The measure, called the Real ID Act, says that driver's licenses and other ID cards must include a digital photograph, anticounterfeiting features and undefined "machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements" that could include a magnetic strip or RFID tag. The Department of Homeland Security would be charged with drafting the details of the regulation.

The American Civil Liberties Union likened the new rules to a "de facto national ID card," saying that the measure would force "states to deny driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants" and make DMV employees act as agents of the federal immigration service.

"We cannot spend another four years as we did in the past four years, and there is no need for us to repeat what we did in those years."

Since 2003, the United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia have held three rounds of talks aimed at persuading the North to abandon its nuclear weapons development in return for economic and diplomatic rewards.

But no significant progress was reported in those talks, all hosted by China, North Korea's last remaining major ally.

An accountant working late one night in July 2003 at the United Nations-affiliated weather agency in Geneva spotted a check that he had signed, but noticed that someone had endorsed it to an unknown third party, one L. Khalil. The accountant's curiosity was piqued, and he began nosing around.

"Within half an hour I had found about 25 checks worth about $400,000 that had not gone to where they were supposed to go," said the accountant, Luckson Ngwira.

That led to a formal audit and a continuing criminal investigation by Swiss authorities at the sleepy agency, focusing on allegations of embezzlement of training funds by Muhammad Hassan, a Sudanese employee who controlled that money. Investigators allege in documents and interviews that Mr. Hassan stole as much as $3 million over three or four years.

It gets worse

Mr. Ngwira, 49, the Malawian accountant who uncovered the first unusual check, initially hesitated to report his suspicions.

"Hassan was very close to the man who was then our secretary general," he said, referring to Godwin Olu Patrick Obasi of Nigeria. Mr. Obasi had run the meteorological agency for more than 20 years, and Mr. Hassan had boasted of being close to him. "They were always together, so we knew that if you annoyed Muhammad Hassan, you were annoying the big man," Mr. Ngwira said.

Mr. Ngwira said Mr. Hassan had told him that he had helped re-elect Mr. Obasi as head of the agency by defraying travel expenses for representatives of national weather services when they went to Geneva, one of Europe's most expensive cities. Those representatives elect the agency's secretary general.

Annan & co. wisely hang these guys out to dry, claiming that they are affiliated but not responsible. Representative Hyde (R-Il), chairman of the House IR Committee makes a good point, that the UN wants all the credit organizations like this can get them, but is neve willing to take any of the blame.

...the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government. This is not to say that there will no longer be events to fill the pages of Foreign Affair's yearly summaries of international relations, for the victory of liberalism has occurred primarily in the realm of ideas or consciousness and is as yet incomplete in the real or material world. But there are powerful reasons for believing that it is the ideal that will govern the material world in the long run.