22. april 2004

Bin Laden truce offer - confirmation When discussing Osama Bin Laden's truce offer to Europe, I suggested that it was primarily a message to conservative Muslims who sympathised with al-Qaeda's goals but had qualms about their methods. I wrote: Second, he is addressing the radical Muslim population in Europe who may nevertheless have scruples about attacking their own host country. When Europe refuses to accept Bin Laden's honest and generous offer of a truce, it may harden them in their resolve to aid the jihad against us infidels. It offers at least some support to my theory that some British Islamofascists use exactly that argument, as quoted in this scary Evening Standard article: Referring to the latest truce offered by Bin Laden, and Britain's scathing rejection of it, Abu Malaahim adds: "He tried to make a peace deal. When terrorism happens, you will only have yourselves to blame." Thanks to comments from 10^6aire. 11:39:08 PM    comment []  trackback []

North Korea train explosion may have killed 3000 Up to 3000 people may have been killed when two trains loaded with fuel exploded in North Korea, according to South Korea's YTN television  It is not clear if the number 3000 refers to casualties or deaths. Curiously, the blast is to have occurred nine hours after a special train with NK's dictator Kim Jong-il had passed the station. There was no immediate suggestion the blast was anything other than an accident. But the explosion came after Kim met China's new leadership during a rare foreign visit to discuss the North's nuclear weapons plans and tentative economic reforms. North Korea appears to have cut international telephone lines to the area to prevent information about the explosion getting out, Yonhap added. The North appears to have declared a type of emergency in the area. "We have not yet received official information on the accident. We are trying to confirm the report," a Unification Ministry spokesman said in Seoul. Other officials at various government agencies also had no information. I would doubt this was really related to Kim Jong-il's train passing earlier, except that maybe emergency reschedulings messed up train routes and indirectly contributed to the disaster. But who knows. A horrible thing to happen to people who have suffered too much already under Stalinist thugs. 6:22:37 PM    comment []  trackback []

Of mice and no men A female mouse born through virgin birth, thanks to Japanese scientists, has now herself become a mother to normal mice. These mice, of which only one is still alive, is the first mammal to be born without having any genetic father. So who needs men? 6:06:17 PM    comment []  trackback []

Iraqis: Spain's withdrawal is 'caving in to terror' Spanish troops in Iraq "overwhelmingly" oppose Zapatero's decision to call them home. They feel they have an important job to do in Iraq and, even worse, that the decision to leave is caving in to terrorism: But privately some said the "honour of the Spanish army" might have been tarnished by the sudden withdrawal, especially in the light of recent attacks by Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. [...] On the streets of Diwaniyah some Iraqis also felt that Spain was caving in to "terrorism both at home and in Iraq," and that the troop pullout would lead to lawlessness and would leave them at the mercy of mobs and militias. Some of the same sentiments were echoed on the streets of Najaf, where Sadr has been holed up for the past two weeks despite the presence of Spanish troops. The catalyst for Spain's decision to pull out its troops was the March 11 train attacks in Madrid that killed 191 people. The lame excuses that were made for Spain's appeasement are now largely forgotten in face of the hard facts, and that is just as well. It was becoming increasingly embarrassing listening to adults denying the obvious. Link from Tim Blair. 3:40:30 PM    comment []  trackback []

Arafat throws out 20 terrorists Yasser Arafat is really feeling the heat. He has now, after offering a group of wanted al-Aqsa brigades terrorists sanctuary in his West Bank headquarters for a long time, thrown the 20 men out. Last week, Israeli security officials summoned Ismail Jabber, commander of the Palestinian national forces, and told him if the fugitives were not forced out they would invade, and if necessary, pull them out of "Arafat's desk drawer," said a fugitive, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Following that, five of the fugitives left voluntarily. Overnight, at about 3 a.m., Arafat — under pressure from his aides to get rid of the fugitives due to signs Israel was preparing to invade the city of Ramallah — personally told the 20 remaining men to leave, the fugitive said. He said they had left but were angry. And, I bet, scared. As they should be. Another side effect of the Israeli "Hamas assassination of the month" programme, no doubt. 12:25:40 PM    comment []  trackback []

UNscam to be investigated With a United Nations Security Council resolution, SC res 1538, ordering an investigation into the UN oil-for-food palaces scandal, named UNscam in the blogosphere, mainstream media could no longer ignore what may be the biggest and possibly most murderous fraud case ever. The investigative panel is headed by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. It is hardly set up for a whitewash, as far as I can see so far. Even the BBC makes this the top story: The now-defunct scheme was designed to help Iraq buy humanitarian goods and ease the impact of sanctions. But an adviser to the Iraqi Governing Council told the BBC it allowed Saddam Hussein to buy influence abroad. He said the former Iraqi leader spent billions of dollars bribing foreign businesses, journalists and officials. "The oil-for-food programme provided Saddam Hussein with a convenient vehicle through which he bought support internationally," Claude Hankes-Drielsma, a British adviser to the US-backed Governing Council, told the BBC's Today Programme. [...] The Security Council welcomed the wide-ranging inquiry and called for all governments to co-operate. But Mr Hankes-Drielsma said some Security Council countries had benefited from the bribes and were "part of the problem". One example of blogs being way ahead of the mainstream media loop. PS: The Russians are not too happy about this probe, even though they approved it: "We respect the decision of Kofi Annan to set up a commission for an independent investigation of media reports, mostly American, that UN Secretariat officials have committed violations in the program. This is his right," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov told Interfax on Thursday. Russia supported UN Security Council Resolution 1538, which welcomed the establishment of an independent commission by the secretary general, he said. "However, we do not think that such historical inquiries are a key priority of the UN Security Council," Fedotov said. Heh. Knowing that the Russians, along with the French, make the top of the list of suspects, these statements appear extremely self-serving. Obviously, Fedotov is wrong. It is very urgent to find out how deep corruption gets in the UN system. PS 2: The name UNSCAM makes it into mainstream media courtesy of Austin Bay (watch list). General Tommy Franks dubbed the program "Oil for Palaces." Internet wags call it UNSCAM. It's actually a good article, showing (a point bloggers like Roger L. Simon have already made) that both opponents and supporters of the UN should be united in getting to the bottom of this. PS 3: Looking back at my own coverage of this story, I made an early mention of it when treacherous British MP George Galloway was accused of taking bribes from the programme. Galloway sued The Telegraph over these charges; it will be interesting to see how these accusations fit into the wider UN probe. I wrote about the scandal in February, after the story got serious traction in the blogosphere and some media attention following a series of articles in the Iraqi daily al-Mada (MEMRI translation and analysis, Free Republic translation of list). Those Iraqi journalists have done an admirable job fulfilling the potential of a free press, a necessary condition for democracy, and puts many of their collegues in the west to shame. PS 4: If you want to send just one newspaper article to somebody to explain what UNscam is about, I'd recommend this Telegraph article. Rather amusing: The names included the office of President Vladimir Putin, of Russia; Charles Pasqua, the former French interior minister; Jean-Bernard Merimee, the former French ambassador to the UN; the Indian Congress Party; President Megawati Sukarnoputri, of Indonesia; the Palestinian Liberation Organisation; and a prominent British MP. Now who could that British MP be? 12:12:12 PM    comment []  trackback []

Oh dear Sometimes, bloggers outside their blogs are like fish out of the water. 4:03:46 AM    comment []  trackback []

Chopping somebody's head off... ...is not funny. I will never claim that it is. So I admit a bit of guilt as I giggled over The Religious Policeman writing about it. Yeah, that is the new Saudi blog I wrote about just yesterday, and he's now discussing the death penalty. He's on a roll! 2:24:36 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.05.2004; 02:45:45.