14. april 2003

How to get rid of 30,000 spent chickens Farmers Arie and Will Wilgenburg had a problem: how to get rid of 30,000 chickens that were "spent", that is, no longer producing eggs. Because the farm was still under quarantine, they could not make chicken soup out of them. Solution: Feed all 30,000 chicken alive through wood chippers. I imagine it made a lot of mess, but the problem is undoubtedly solved. The brothers will not even face charges, as they actually had permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to do this. 10:28:58 PM    comment []

US threatens Syria with sanctions Bush has accused Syria of having chemical weapons, Ari Fleischer called it a "terrorist state" and now Colin Powell makes thinly veiled threats of sanctions: we will examine possible measures of a diplomatic, economic or other nature The US claims that Syria has allowed top Iraqi officials to find refuge in the country, supported by General Ali al-Jajjawi, the republican guard commander who switched sides during the war. The general says Baath Party deputy Izzat Ibrahim and a number of other officials fled to Syria shortly before Mosul fell. Syria is angrily denying the accusations, also pointing out that there is one country in the region, Israel, that is known to have weapons of mass destruction. Naturally, that kind of rhetoric plays well to an Arab and partially a European audience, but is likely to be considered provocative and defiant in Washington. At the same time, the usual suspects, for example Syria's old ally Russia and war opponent Germany has warned the US against making "harsh statements" that makes a messy situation in the Middle East even worse. One can also argue that the "they have WMDs!" accusation directed at yet another country sounds hollow all the time the coalition has not found any such weapons in Iraq. 8:38:19 PM    comment []

— Russia spied for Saddam The Sunday Telegraph says that it has discovered documents in Iraqi ministries that demonstrates that Russians spied on Britain and other western countries and passed on sensitive information to Saddam Hussein. The reporter David Harrison says: We went through cupboards, files and drawers and turned up some extraordinary information about relations between Iraq and Moscow. One of the choicest things we found was evidence that the Russians spied on Tony Blair and passed the information on to the Iraqis. I discovered a report that discussed sending troops to Iraq. This was dated from March 5 of last year. The conversation recorded by the Russians -- presumably illegally -- concerned the sending of troops to Iraq. Tony Blair told the Italian Prime Minister Sylvio Berlusconi he was not prepared to do this while Britain still had troops in Afghanistan ... that this was too soon. Russian intelligence rejects the charges. 7:49:11 PM    comment []

Family blames bouncer's death on anti-smoking law A New York bouncer was fatally stabbed in a fight which started when he asked two patrons to put out their cigarettes. The bouncer's brother says he was "the first casualty" of the ban on smoking in restaurants and bars. Norwegian lawmakers have recently decided that a similar ban will be in effect countrywide from next year. 5:04:51 PM    comment []

Baghdad police answers US call Around 2,000 police officers have answered a call from coalition forces, and the overwhelming response means that joint patrols can start soon to put an end to widespread looting. 4:36:16 PM    comment []

We want al-Sahaf on TV! There are lots of fans of the Iraqi information minister everywhere, and some Brits have started an online petition to get Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf his own TV show on BBC. As the text says, Please don't take this comedy character away from us. At this writing, there are 875 signatures. 4:12:06 PM    comment []

Combined arms, joint victory Fred Kaplan looks at how the US military rethought its core strategy after the Viet Nam disaster and built the most powerful military force in history. The change can be traced back, he says, to Huba Wass de Czege who rewrote the basic army doctrine in 1982, and educating a group of young ambitious officers who became staff officers for Schwarzkopf (a googling on "Wass de Czege" brings up a few interesting results for those who want an in-depth look at US military strategy) . From Gulf War I, through Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, and now finally Iraq again, the tactics has been refined into a high technology machine for swift victories. 7:51:38 AM    comment []

Arafat reportedly opposes new cabinet President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, has rejected a cabinet list presented by the newly appointed prime minister Mahmoud Abbas (also called Abu Mazen). Abbas had demoted a number of earlier cabinet ministers close to Arafat, and also kept the interior ministry for himself. A number of the demoted ministers are refusing to serve on the new cabinet. This may be a serious setback for the peace process, as Bush has set the appontiment of a real  prime minister (and, obviously, sidelining Arafat) as a condition for presenting the "road map" to a Palestine state. 7:39:15 AM    comment []

Hungary wants to join EU Hungarians overwhelmingly supported joining the European Union in a referendum Saturday. After 99% of votes were counted, it was clear that about 84% backed entry. At the same time, the ruling nationalist party on Malta claimed victory in a general election, which will confirm the island country's bid to join the EU. 5:51:54 AM    comment []

Virtual Occoquan #26 Mark has put together a great new issue of the Occoquan Inquirer, containing some of the best articles in the past week on Salon blogs. Don't miss this! From this blog, Mark has included my recent article about al Jazeera. 4:29:55 AM    comment []

Bush to Syria: co-operate! President Bush is increasing the pressure on Syria by warning the country to not harbour fugitive Iraqis. Earlier, Rumsfeld has accused Syria of trafficing weapons to the Iraqi armed forces, and also said a number of Syrian nationals are fighting against the coalition in Iraq. Rumsfeld said that the Syrian government "is making a lot of bad mistakes, a lot of bad judgments in my view." Bush also said he believed there were chemical weapons in Syria. Whether he referred to weapons brought from Iraq or those US intelligence has long believed Syrian authorites have developed is unclear. Syria is strongly denying all accusations, and the US has provided no evidence supporting the accusations. Bush refused to elaborate on consequences; he just reaffirmed that Syria should cooperate. 2:05:13 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.05.2003; 02:59:13.