26 November 2008
Mumbai attacks
I'm streaming this site and following realtime updates on Twitter.
Talk about the net changing everything...
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/26/08 13:00 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
17 September 2007
If it improves morale...
Australia navy in breast op row (BBC News)
Australia's opposition Labor Party has questioned the need for female sailors to be given breast enlargements paid for with public money.
An armed forces spokesman defended the operations, saying they were carried out for psychological reasons, not to make sailors "look sexy".
Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said the "holistic needs" of service personnel were considered under defence policy.
But he said breast augmentations were not routinely funded by the military.
"We do consider the broader needs of our people, both physical and psychological," Brig Nikolic said.
Broader needs?
That's an interesting word choice.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/17/07 10:07 | International | Technorati | Comments (2)
02 May 2007
The Nutroots imagines this is happening in, say, Texas
Polygamous lesbians flee Sharia (BBC News)
A Nigerian lesbian who "married" four women last weekend in Kano State has gone into hiding from the Islamic police, with her partners.Under Sharia law, adopted in the state seven years ago, homosexuality and same-sex marriages are outlawed and considered very serious offences.
The theatre where the elaborate wedding celebration was held on Sunday has been demolished by Kano city's authorities.
Oh my.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/02/07 09:39 | International | Technorati | Comments (2)
02 January 2007
Tweaking the Greeks
Dispute over 'Alexander airport' (BBC News)
Greece has reacted angrily to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's decision to rename its main airport after Alexander the Great.
Greece considers the famous warrior-king to be a central part of its own ancient heritage.
Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis protested at Macedonia's decision, saying: "History cannot change, or be falsified, 2,000 years on".
Greece and its neighbour are also in dispute over the name Macedonia.
Macedonia is the name of a region in northern Greece, and Athens has demanded that the country to the north be known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - the name under which it joined the United Nations after the break-up of Yugoslavia.
The short versus long name of the country is one thing. Naming the airport after Alexander can have no other intent but to tweak the Greeks. If they go crazy with the blue paint at the airport, it'll be a sure giveaway!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/02/07 20:11 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
18 December 2006
He just needs a little Mucinex
Castro to Recover but Not Return, Cubans Say (Julia Preston, New York Times)
Cuban officials told lawmakers from the United States House of Representatives visiting Havana yesterday that President Fidel Castro did not have cancer or any terminal illness....
It's just one of those lingering colds, kind of like Soviet leaders used to catch.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/18/06 11:00 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
17 July 2006
Chirac: France is strong because France is France
What happened to France's joie de vivre? (Susan Sachs, Christian Science Monitor)
The unemployment rate is falling. Nine out of 10 teenagers tell pollsters that they are happy in home and at school. France is the world's fifth-largest economy, with one of Europe's biggest public sectors, where jobs are essentially guaranteed for life.
And at this very moment, millions of French families are at the seaside or in country homes enjoying their five weeks of paid vacation after working a 35-hour workweek the rest of the year.
So why are they so pessimistic about the state of their economy?
The answer, according to many French people, is fear.
"In France we don't believe in growth," wrote Jean-François Deniau, a member of the prestigious Academie Française, in the newspaper Le Figaro this week. "In the opinion polls the so-called market economy is rejected by two-thirds of the population, which dreams of closing the borders and splitting up the cake of work, employment guaranteed. It's fear."
President Jacques Chirac, now in the last year of his presidency, rails often against what he calls the "declinologues" of his country, using a word that does not appear in dictionaries but is immediately understood. France is strong, he has said, because France is, after all, France.
Yeah!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/17/06 23:20 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
14 July 2006
Jack made him do it
Montt says he was unaware of atrocities (Juan Carlos LLorca, AP)
A former Guatemalan dictator said a Spanish judge's order for his arrest was unfounded and insisted that as president he was not aware of any atrocities committed by military officials during the country's civil war.
"The army followed orders and the law," Efrain Rios Montt told a news conference Wednesday, four days after Spanish National Court Judge Santiago Pedraz issued warrants against him, Gen. Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores — also a former dictator — and six military officials on charges of genocide, torture, terrorism and illegal detention.
Human rights groups say Rios Montt and Mejia are responsible for some of the worst atrocities of Guatemala's 36-year civil war, which left 200,000 people dead before peace accords were signed in December 1996.
Rios Montt should blame Jack Abramoff and the Republican culture of corruption for his travails. Why not? :)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/14/06 14:24 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
Civil war in Sao Paulo!
Crime wave in Brazil city enters 3rd day (Tales Azzoni, AP)
Gangs torched buses and attacked banks and police stations across South America's biggest city Thursday, deepening crime fears as a wave of rampant violence entered its third day.
At least six people have been killed in nearly 100 attacks on police and civilian targets since Tuesday night in what authorities believe is retaliation for a possible transfer of gang leaders to Brazil's first federal penitentiary.
Sao Paulo residents had trouble getting to work Thursday morning after several public transportation companies refused to dispatch buses out of fear of new attacks.
The violence comes two months after imprisoned leaders of the gang First Capital Command — known by its Portuguese initials PCC — ordered attacks against police across the city and Sao Paulo state, causing the deaths of nearly 200 police, prison guards, suspected criminals and jail inmates in one week.
If they keep this up, the intrepid Western media will be talking about Brazil being on the verge of civil war!
Oh wait, there's no way this can be blamed on the Bush Administration. Never mind. :)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/14/06 14:15 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
Jeb ought to at least get Transportation
Polish head swears in twin as PM (BBC News)
Polish President Lech Kaczynski has sworn in his identical twin brother, Jaroslaw, as prime minister.
The move comes a week after Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz resigned from the post following reports of a rift with Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
The development makes the Kaczynski brothers the world's only twins to hold the two highest posts in any country.
Mr Kaczynski's conservative government has to be approved in parliament. The vote is expected next week.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski leads the centre-right Law and Justice party, which won parliamentary elections last September.
It's very disappointing that a fellow member of the Axis of Good has trumped W this way. He ought at least to appoint Jeb to Transportation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/14/06 14:01 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
13 July 2006
Human nature, British edition
Blair's chief party fundraiser arrested (Adrian Croft, Reuters)
Lord Levy, the chief fundraiser for Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party, was arrested on Wednesday by police probing allegations that state awards had been given in return for cash.
The "cash-for-favors" row has dented Blair's standing in opinion polls and sparked calls for his resignation. The arrest of Blair's Middle East envoy, close friend and tennis partner makes the prime minister's position even more precarious.
Levy, who denied any wrongdoing and accused the police of using their arrest powers "totally unnecessarily," was later released on bail without charge pending further enquiries.
"It is damaging. It revives the sleaze story, one of Blair's many problems in recent months," said John Curtice, politics professor at Strathclyde University.
"The critical thing is Levy is quite close to Blair and the brutal truth is that Blair is wounded and the endgame is playing out. The more wounds there are, the sooner the end comes."
With or without this scandal, Blair will almost certainly ride off into the sunset within a year or so.
It may come as a shock to some people, though, that corruption in politics is not exclusive to the right or left, but rather seems more of a product of the nature of man and politics.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/06 10:27 | International | Technorati | Comments (1)
That one was hard to see coming
China to Block Vote Condemning N. Korea (Colum Lynch, WaPo)
China and Russia presented the U.N. Security Council Wednesday with a draft resolution that "strongly deplores" North Korea's July 4 missile tests. But it endorses only voluntary measures aimed at restraining Pyongyang's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.
The move threatens to head off a U.S.-backed effort to impose mandatory sanctions on North Korea, and places the United States, Japan and their European allies in the difficult position of having to offer concessions to secure Beijing's and Moscow's support or face a certain veto of their tougher sanctions resolution.
China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, confirmed Wednesday that he is prepared to veto a legally binding, U.S.-backed resolution that would condemn the missile tests, demand North Korea cease launching missiles, and ban trade in nuclear or missile technology with North Korea.
Okay, all you fans of diplomacy, what next?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/06 10:22 | International | Technorati | Comments (7)
Venezuela cuts US gasoline distribution
Venezuela to halt petrol supplies to 1,900 US filling stations (Andy Webb-Vidal, FT)
Venezuela's state-owned oil refining subsidiary in the US is to halt petrol distribution to about 1,900 filling stations in the US, although the company denied yesterday the decision was motivated by tensions between Caracas and Washington.
Citgo, which is wholly owned by Petróleos de Venezuela, said the decision to stop supplying some 15 per cent of its 13,100 US brand-bearing franchises had been taken for business reasons.
[snip]
"We are short [of] about 130,000 barrels a day of gasoline that's required to meet out customer obligations," he said. "We have to purchase that on the open market and that places us at a competitive disadvantage."
But the timing of the decision by Citgo, effectively run by the Venezuelan government, coincides with fresh diplomatic tensions between Venezuela and the US, as well as the start of the summer driving season. A senior Republican aide in Washington said yesterday: "This decision raises the question of whether Citgo is in fact having problems with its refining capabilities."
Given the politicization of every aspect of Venezuela's energy sector under Hugo Chavez, it wouldn't surprise if this were a political move. Then again, that same politicization could well be responsible for refining shortcomings. Neither possibility is especially encouraging.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/06 10:21 | International | Technorati | Comments (2)
03 July 2006
Sixteen Years IS Kind Of A Long March
Myanmar's long march to civilian rule (Larry Jagan, Asia Times)
Myanmar's military rulers have begun a significant internal shakeup of the army and government in preparation for a planned political transition to civilian rule, according to Yangon-based diplomats.
Eight deputy ministers and a Supreme Court judge were recently relieved of their posts and several other cabinet changes are believed to be in the pipeline.
It is the start of a fresh attempt to turn Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) into a civilian body in preparation for the political change that will be ushered in under a new constitution, which is expected to be promulgated in the next two years.
Right. Good one.
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won elections in 1990. Sixteen years later, that transition to civilian rule is moving kind of slowly.
It's nice that Larry Jagan was willing to serve as the press stooge for the junta.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/03/06 16:45 | International | Technorati | Comments (1)
India's Moment
Sri Lanka entering 'low-intensity' war (Matthew Rosenberg, AP)
Gunfire echoes nearly every night across the lagoon that rings this fishing town. Bodies turn up nearly every day in the jungles beyond, some riddled with bullets, others bound and gagged with a single shot to the head.
A year ago they called it a "Shadow War." Not anymore.
"Our war is again coming out in the open," said Tevanayagam, a 44-year-old fisherman, who like many here uses only one name.
Four years after a cease-fire raised hopes for peace between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, Sri Lanka is teetering on the brink.
The brink of what remains the question.
Naval battles, suicide bombings and jungle clashes have once again become the norm on this tropical island that for two decades has been largely known for the ferocious ethnic struggle between its Hindu Tamil minority and its Buddhist Sinhalese majority.
Still, the government and Tigers insist they are abiding by the truce, even as they settle into a pattern of attack and retaliation, with plenty of saber-rattling in between.
A "low-intensity war" is the description favored by analysts and diplomats.
India's Sri Lankan predicament (Ethirajan Anbarasan, BBC News)
As events in Sri Lanka spiral out of control, India is facing calls from both sides in the conflict to get involved.
Norwegian mediation efforts are apparently struggling and there are fears that war in Sri Lanka could affect regional stability.
The resonance of ethnic conflict would be felt keenly in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where more than 60 million Tamils reside.
But Delhi remains wary of being dragged back into Sri Lanka's problems, having had its fingers badly burnt in the past.
In recent days, both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers have made overtures to India.
[snip]
India was the first country to list the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist organisation in 1992.
Since then, India has pursued a hands-off policy in Sri Lanka's conflict. It has actively encouraged Norwegian mediation while carefully monitoring the situation on the ground.
With the current peace process deadlocked, the focus is now slowly shifting towards possible Indian involvement.
There's been quite a bit of talk in recent years of India getting a permanent U.N. Security Council seat. Taking the diplomatic lead on this worsening conflict in its own sphere of influence would certainly help India make its case in that regard.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/03/06 16:34 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
It's Not That Complicated
Maoist leader slams U.S. threat to cut aid (Agence France Presse)
The United States was undermining the peace process by threatening to cut 12 million dollars in aid funding if Nepal's rebels joined an interim government without first giving up arms, Maoist leader Prachanda said.
"I am not surprised with the comments of the American Ambassador to Nepal James F. Moriarty because he doesn't want peace in Nepal," the rebel leader told the state-run Rising Nepal newspaper on Sunday.
"He (Moriarty) seems very unhappy and restless over the recent political development and is trying to dismantle the harmony that is about to develop among the political parties," Prachanda, whose nom de guerre means the fierce one, said in an interview with the newspaper.
Moriarty said on Saturday that the US could halt aid if Maoists join the government without first renouncing violence and disarming.
He made the comments before leaving for Washington for talks with officials on Nepal, and after meeting with Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
"If the Maoists continue to use violence after they enter the government, our law says that we can't supply assistance to those who support a terrorist group. We have to consider them a terrorist group until they give up arms," Moriarty said, according to state-run Nepal television.
It's pretty simple -- if you want U.S. aid, give up your arms.
Leave it to the French news agency to lead with the rebel leader's whining, though.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/03/06 16:25 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
28 June 2006
On Its Own Terms?
India embraces Myanmar on its own terms (Sudha Ramachandran, Asia Times)
BANGALORE - Even as India was reaffirming its growing ties with Myanmar at the seventh round of consultations between the foreign offices of the two countries, the US and other countries have been moving forward at the United Nations to have Myanmar's military rulers censured by the Security Council.
The US-led move comes in the wake of the decision by Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to extend Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest. Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been under house arrest since May 2003.
[snip]
The proposed resolution in the Security Council would therefore be unprecedented. But even as the US is considering this resolution, for some of Myanmar's neighbors it is business as usual with the generals. India, for instance, seems unfazed by the proposed US move.
Recently, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran was in Myanmar, firming up energy and economic ties. "The talks covered the entire gamut of India-Myanmar bilateral relations, with special emphasis on issues such as security, energy, trade and economic cooperation and infrastructure projects," a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Indian officials are not worried about the proposed US resolution in the Security Council. China and Russia - both veto-wielding permanent members - and Japan, a non-permanent member, have already signaled their opposition. "I don't consider the situation in Myanmar as a situation that poses a threat to international peace and security," Japan"s ambassador to the UN is reported to have told the Security Council.
While India is banking on the Chinese veto to prevent the US resolution from being adopted, it was China's growing influence in Myanmar that in fact prompted India to begin engaging the generals there.
India desperately needs Burma's natural gas. China desperately needs Burma's natural gas. Both countries have inked deals for the same. They aren't going to jeopardize those deals by supporting "strong action" (whatever) from the UN.
The Japanese ambassador's comment is, of course, true in a limited sense, but it's still kind of despicable to be so indifferent to the junta's behavior and, in particular, its treatment of the opposition. Maybe Japan is looking to get in on Burma's hydrocarbon action as well.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/06 13:36 | International | Technorati | Comments (1)
They Call That A Navy?
Sailors killed in Sri Lanka clash (BBC News)
Five Sri Lankan sailors have died in a clash with Tamil Tiger rebels off the country's west coast, the navy says.
Navy spokesman DKP Dassanayake said about 20 rebel small craft had attacked two naval vessels near Kalpitiya, about 140km (86 miles) north-west of Colombo.
He said 12 rebels had also been killed. The Tamil Tigers say only one rebel died. A rebel spokesman blamed the navy for provoking the clash.
Worsening violence has claimed about 700 lives in Sri Lanka this year.
Referring to Sri Lanka's "navy" seems a bit of a stretch.
Any "navy" that can regularly be challenged by rebel insurgents on the seas -- and Sri Lanka's "navy" is regularly challenged by the Tamil Tigers -- isn't much of a navy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/06 13:23 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
No German Thatcher (or German Reagan)
Merkel changing her tune on taxes (Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune)
BERLIN Eight months into her term as chancellor, Angela Merkel is on the verge of raising taxes for the second time, in this case for a vast and bureaucratic health care system.
The proposal by her coalition of conservatives and Social Democrats envisions an expansion of the system to cover children that could cost taxpayers from €16 billion to €25 billion, or $20 billion to $31 billion.
[snip]
Merkel is already under fire from the business community for doing little on the reform front, and the costly new program will force her to decide how to pay for it. One choice is some kind of indirect tax, such as the value-added or sales tax; another is to raise the income tax.
Either measure is sure to be unpopular, particularly since Merkel has barely weathered the storm over raising the sales tax from 16 percent to 19 percent, an increase that takes effect next January. Economists have attacked this tax, saying it would do nothing to encourage consumer spending and thus to cut the unemployment rate of 11 percent.
Merkel came to office promising to cut taxes, reduce bureaucracy, and encourage competition and transparency.
There was a time when many analysts referred to Merkel as a "German Thatcher" or a "German Reagan."
Those comparisons can stop now.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/06 12:57 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
Villepin, Chirac Circle The Bidet
President breaks tradition to prop up failing protégé (Charles Bremner, Times)
PRESIDENT CHIRAC used a rare television appearance last night to attempt to reassert his authority over France by urging Dominique de Villepin, his embattled Prime Minister, to pay attention to unhappy MPs in his ruling centre-right party.
M Chirac, who is 73 and said to be depressed by his country’s recent succession of troubles, gave a live interview to state television in an attempt to end a revolt by MPs against M de Villepin and banish his own image as an “invisible” President.
He also refused to rule out the possibility that he would stand for a third term in elections next spring, although few in the political world regard this as a serious possibility.
Remember Chirac's landslide victory in the 2002 presidential election?
Yeah, nobody else does either, now that Chirac's popularity is down in the toilet bowl with Villepin's (or should I say, down in the bidet?).
Seriously, in the free world, has there ever been such a meaningless "landslide" victory in an election as Chirac's?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/06 12:52 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
02 February 2006
Only Half?
Bachelet era begins with change: Chile's first female president named a cabinet of 10 men and 10 women Monday (Jen Ross, Christian Science Monitor)
Michelle Bachelet made history Jan. 15 by becoming Chile's first female president.
Monday, she chalked up yet another precedent: naming a cabinet of 10 female and 10 male ministers. It's the first of its kind in the entire western hemisphere - and one of few examples in the world.
"This Cabinet reflects the new style of government I've proposed," Ms. Bachelet said, as she announced her choices. They included women in the key portfolios of economy and mining, as well as in her own two former ministries: health and defense.
It's a significant change to the political status quo, and expected to be the first of many. But in a country known as the most socially conservative in the region, not everyone is celebrating her announcement. In fact, some experts question whether she'll sacrifice competence for image.
"I think it's a grave error," says Ignacio Illanes, an analyst with the right-wing thinktank Liberty and Development (Libertad y Desarrollo). He puts it bluntly: "There's only one way to have a 50-50 cabinet and that is by lowering the quality of the cabinet."
I agree. It should be in favor of the women by at least 15-5. Otherwise, the quality suffers.
I just hope none of the ten women have anger-management issues like some Houston politicians. That could bring goverment to a standstill!
Actually, that might not be such a bad thing. Here or there.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/02/06 15:00 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)
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