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15. desember 2004
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Afghan election "death knell" for Taliban: a lesson for Iraq
Afghan security forces have arrested Taliban security chief Mullah Naqibullah Khan, a close associate if Mullah Omar, and another senior leader with him. That brings the number of Taliban militants picked up since Saturday to 19.
The arrests are part of what officials believe are the death throes of the Taliban's three-year insurgency. Its support in Pakistan has fallen away and threats to disrupt Afghanistan's October elections and the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai came to nothing.
Although attacks against America's 18,000 combat troops continue in the mountains, soldiers say the Taliban is now more a nuisance than a threat to national stability.
While the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan are not directly comparable, one lesson is obvious: involving people in running their own country through democratic elections drains support from militant insurgencies. Thus, contrary to the bad security situation in Iraq being an argument for postponing the elections, it is precisely a successful election that will, I hope, prove the turning point for the country.
The official election campaign started today in Iraq, and terrorists marked the occasion by blowing up a bomb by a holy Karbala shrine, killing seven people and injuring among others senior Shiite cleric Sheik Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalayee, a close aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The attack appears to have been an assassination attack. Shiites have generally welcomed the election, while the minority Sunni are skeptical and fearing they will lose dominance over Iraq.
11:16:03 PM 
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Blunkett resigns
Britain's under-fire Home Secretary David Blunkett has resigned.
It's all in the timing. He was already heavily criticised over allegations he fast-tracked the visa application for a lover's nanny (he is unmarried, but his now ex-lover is not) when a new biography voiced strong criticism of some cabinet collegues. I think that will go down as an example of political suicide. When you're in trouble, don't piss off those you need to survive.
7:19:25 PM
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It would take a superhero to build a "EU identity"
 Meet Captain Euro. He's a comic book superhero in the European Union's propaganda directed at kids. The EU commission is working hard to build a "EU identitiy" with young people, and nothing is better than bashing non-EU countries like, well, Norway.
In the comic «The war of the strawberry ice cream», EU children are taken prisoner by evil people who live in a country outside the EU, in a country that is described as having high mountains, boarders and levies, and ruled by a king.
That, of course, is entirely a coincidence, if we are to believe Percy Westerlund, EU ambassador to Norway. Many countries fit that description. Well, yeah. Norway and... Nepal?
The EU trying to build a common identity using a very American-style 1960s superhero cartoon is, on the other hand, just highly ironic.
5:16:14 PM
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Gov. Bush bites dog?
The algorithms Google News uses to lump together news articles about the same subject are pretty impressive, but sometimes they produce odd results. This just off the front page:
Man bites dog, charged with cruelty
Winnipeg Sun - 5 hours ago
A man has been charged with animal cruelty for allegedly biting his Jack Russell terrier as punishment, and police say he used a 90-kilogram bull mastiff in an attempt to keep back officers who arrived to arrest him.
Man Charged With Animal Cruelty After Biting His Dog The Ledger
Martinez, Gov. Bush discuss mutual concerns Miami Herald (subscription)
Now, spot the odd one out!
(Yeah, there is a good explanation. The man-bites-dog story is actually part of the bigger news roundup on the Miami Herald page.)
2:03:34 PM
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Turkey to begin EU negotiations
Just heard that the EU parliament has backed a proposal that Turkey can start membership negotiations with the union.
I understand the worries of those who are skeptical to allowing a predominantly Muslim country to join, but I don't see a better way of helping develop a modern, democratic Muslim state than at least allowing Turkey to discuss membership.
Not that I'm too happy about EU to begin with.
1:58:43 PM
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Hostage drama in Athens
A bus with around 25 passengers has been hijacked in Athens, Greece. Police are surrounding the bus where passengers are held at gunpoint by two men who are said to be Albanians.
The gunmen fired shots at the police when they arrived.
Update: The two hostage takers are now thought to be Russian, and are reportedly demanded a flight to Russia (!). Five hostages have been released.
Update 2: The gunmen are Albanian. The hostages remaining in the bus has now been imprisoned for more than 12 hours. The terrorists have guns and apparently a bomb.
Only seven hostages reportedly remain on board. The police has surrounded the bus. In two past instances, similar standoffs ended with the hijackers being killed by security forces. For whatever else we can say about Greek authorities, they don't believe that giving in to terrorism is a viable strategy.
Update 3: Happy ending!
8:02:30 AM
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Costa Rica no safe haven
Costa Rican Leonel Arias thought it was a fun idea to wear a Bin Laden mask, carry a pellet rifle and jump out in the streets to scare drivers. Not so.
Osama bin Laden take note: You wouldn't be safe in Costa Rica. A startled taxi driver shot and wounded a jokester wearing a plastic mask of the al-Qaida leader, police said Tuesday.
Arias had startled several drivers that way on Monday afternoon. But when he jumped out in front of taxi driver Juan Pablo Sandoval, the motorist reached for a gun and shot him twice in the stomach. He was hospitalized in stable condition.
Good reaction. The shooting could be improved, though.
1:28:15 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.01.2005; 02:37:19.
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