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15. februar 2004
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— Chechen separatist was killed by Russian intelligence
The assassination of Chechen separatist Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in Qatar bears all the hallmarks of a Russian intelligence operation, it is alleged. His car was booby trapped before he entered the car with a "sophisticated" bomb that was operated by remote control.
Russia's security services, the FSB, have long sought the extradition of Yandarbiyev from Qatar, where they claim he was being sheltered in a diplomatic compound under police protection. Qatar has denied all links to terrorism. The FSB accused him of helping to finance terrorist acts, including the Nord Ost theatre siege in which 40 Chechen gunmen held 800 Muscovites hostage.
'During the siege Yandarbiyev called the gunmen's leader, Mosvar Barayev, directly,' a senior FSB source said. 'Yandarbiyev cannot afford to finance anything himself, but some of the money from al-Qaeda sponsors came to [accounts in] his name and he gave it out.'
If this was really a Russian operation (which I guessed it was from the start), it is probably the first "wet" operation by Russian intelligence abroad since the FSB had another, more well-known acronym. The operation was extremely high-profile, probably more than it had to be. In that case, it is what we can call a "signal" to the world, and especially to Muslim stated tempted to support or host Chechen rebels.
It is also worth noting that Qatar is strongly within the sphere of influence of the United States, being the base of US Central Command (CENTCOM) during the Iraq war, so very doubtful that Russia would commit such a high-profile assassination there without at least tacit US approval. And why should not the US approve of a Chechen terrorist being killed?
11:33:52 PM 
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British school children to be taught about atheism
Britain is increasingly getting more secular, but quite a few anachronistic institutions remain there, as they do here in Norway. One is education in state schools, where children are still exposed to a level of religious indoctrination.
In the UK, a national exams body is now suggesting that school children now also be taught about the beliefs of atheists and humanists.
Non-religious beliefs such as humanism, agnosticism and atheism would be covered alongside major faiths such as Christianity or Islam under draft guidelines being prepared by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which regulates what is taught in schools in England.
Why should what is growing to become the majority beliefs (or non-beliefs) in Europe not be taught in schools?
I still have to repeat my pet peeve that atheism is not a belief, and neither a belief system. Atheism is the absense of a set of belief systems, namely those that teach the existence of God or gods. Other than that, atheists do not need to have much in common. Some Buddhists, as well as humansists, communists and satanists, all share the fact that they don't believe in gods. Other than that, they may not have much in common.
9:57:48 PM
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Athens 2004 - six months to go
The 2004 Olympic Games will be hosted in Athens in Greece, in the country that invented the idea. The running-up to the massive event has really been one scandal after another, delays and general disorganisation. The significantly delayed construction projects just didn't need massive freezing and snowfall, which happened on Friday 13th, when it was exactly six months to go.
I really hope Athens can pull this off. Ready or not, it will happen in 180 days.
5:38:36 PM
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Source: Kerry affair story 'much nastier than is being reported' 
Rumours tend to have a life of their own, and in the case of the alleged affair between presidential hopeful John Kerry and 24 year old journalist Alexandra Polier (picture), allegations are added drop by drop. And the more is added, the weirder it seems.
Polier is currently in Kenya. She doesn't appear to have run away as Drudge asserted - she is there with her Israeli fiance Yaron Schwartzman - but she and her boyfriend refuses to comment on the rumours, and they have (understandably) gone into hiding.
Others, however, have not shut up, and if there is a PR disaster in the early part of this story (from Polier's point of view, assuming she wants this to go away) it belongs with her parents.
Miss Polier's parents, Terry and Donna, from Malvern, Pennsylvania, added fuel to the fire by claiming that Mr Kerry did pursue their daughter.
"I think he's a sleazeball. I did wonder if she didn't get that feeling herself," said Mr Polier. "He's not the sort of guy I'd choose to be with my daughter.
Her parents claims that he was "after" their daughter, and calls Kerry a "sleazeball" without elaborating further. Of course if an almost 60 year old politician was "after" a 20ish something girl, that would qualify in most people's mind. Then again, such allegations are much more vague and harder to prove than a genuine "affair."
While the US press is largly silent about the elephant currently occuping most of the electorate room, the British press is pursuing this story with a vengeance. And again it is people close to Alex Polier that has supposedly been talking.
"This is not going to go away," one American friend of Miss Polier said yesterday. "What actually happened is much nastier than is being reported."
Alex Polier and her fiance are living in his parents house in Nairobi, Kenya, most likely under siege from jounalists eager to find out what there is to this story.
She appears to have few friends of her own in Kenya: she has never lived in the country and makes only occasional visits. "She seemed perfectly nice, although she was a little cool," said a Schwartzman family friend.
"She didn't seem to be very willing to open up but whether it was because she was aloof or just shy, I couldn't work out."
She needs a lawyer, but more than that, she needs a good PR consultant. Fast!
PS: So does his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, except she already has one. I am one of the few bloggers who haven't yet quoted her now famous view on spousal infidelity, so to fix the record:
Her views on marital fidelity: "I don't think I could have coped so well" with a mate's philandering as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has. "I used to say to my husband, my late husband, 'If you ever get something I'll maim you. Not kill you, just maim you.' And we'd laugh, laugh, laugh." Heinz adds that she has never had any reason to suspect either of her husbands. "Not for one day, because what I expect of them, they have a right to expect of me. Maybe I'm into 18-year-olds." At which Heinz's campaign handler, former political journalist Chris Black, cautioned bleakly: "That was a joke."
To confirm the rumours, look for Kerry's blood.
4:47:58 PM
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Popups be gone
Microsoft is planning to phase out popup and pop-under ads from the MSN portal.
Reuters, who carried this story, obviously is not. The page with that news item alone tried to open two such annoying popups when I visited it.
I suspect the wide distributiion of pop-up killers, like the one in the Google toolbar, makes these annoying ads less profitable.
2:40:51 PM
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Kerry wins new victories
John Kerry is widening his lead in the democratic caucuses in Navada and DC. In Nevada Kerry won 63% of the vote, distantly followed by Dean (17%) and Edwards (10%). In DC he won 47% against Sharpton's 20%. Dean was at 18% and Edwards again at 10%.
The unsubstantiated claims about a Kerry affair has either had no effect or are not known.
12:06:06 PM
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The death of a colonel
On January 7, retired Colonel Robert Workman, a 83 year-old pensioner was shot and killed on his doorstep in the quiet village of Furneux Pelham in England. Nobody saw or heard anything.
The victim was described as the perfect gentleman, quite well off, who never made any enemies, and who had gently nursed his wife for years until she died some months earlier. There were simply no obvious suspects, but a very mysterious phonecall to 999. The caller is still a mystery. As is everything else in this case.
In other words, it is a perfect English murder mystery, except it had a real victim.
1:52:40 AM
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© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.03.2004; 14:42:03.
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This is my blogchalk:
Norway, Bergen, Norwegian, English, Jan, Male, 31-35.
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