| |
|
15. januar 2007
|
|
Recently declassified papers show that the French prime minister in 1956, Guy Mollet, wanted a union between France and Britain. Really.
At the time of the proposal, France was in economic difficulties and faced the escalating Suez crisis. Britain had been a staunch French ally during the two world wars.
When Mr Mollet's request for a union failed, he quickly responded with another plan - that France be allowed to join the British commonwealth - which was said to have been met more warmly by Sir Anthony.
A document dated September 28 1956 records a conversation between the prime minister and his cabinet secretary, Sir Norman Brook, saying:
"The PM told him [Brook] on the telephone that he thought, in the light of his talks with the French:
· That we should give immediate consideration to France joining the Commonwealth
· That Monsieur Mollet had not thought there need be difficulty over France accepting the headship of her Majesty
· That the French would welcome a common citizenship arrangement on the Irish basis."
However, this proposal was also eventually rejected and, a year later, France signed the Treaty of Rome with Germany and the other founding nations of the European common market.
I didn't expect that France even sent its ministers around the world to find someone to surrender to.
9:59:31 PM 
|
|
Fareed Zakaria fears that the surge in US troops in Iraq, and the coming operations in Baghdad may aid Moqtada al-Sadr by only targeting the Sunni insurgency.
Groups like Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army don't generally start fire fights with the Americans or attack Iraqi forces. Their goals are different, quieter. Another U.S. adviser, Maj. Mark Brady, confirms reports that the Mahdi Army has been continuing to systematically take over Sunni neighborhoods, killing, terrorizing and forcing people out of their homes. "They're slowly moving across the river," he told Hastings, from predominantly Shiite eastern Baghdad into the predominantly Sunni west. If the 20,000 additional American troops being sent to the Iraqi capital focus primarily on Sunni insurgents, there's a chance the Shiite militias might get bolder. Colonel Duke puts it bluntly: "[The Mahdi Army] is sitting on the 50-yard line eating popcorn, watching us do their work for them."
Especially considering the shenanigans of Iraq's neighbours next door, it is clear that the Shiite militias are emerging more and more as the real strategic threat.
4:39:47 PM
|
|
Barzan Ibrahim has been executed:
Saddam Hussein's half brother and the former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court were both hanged before dawn Monday, Prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon said, two weeks and two days after the former Iraqi dictator was executed in a chaotic scene that has drawn worldwide criticism.
Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, had been found guilty along with Saddam in the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims after a 1982 assassination attempt on the former leader in the town of Dujail north of Baghdad.
Let's hope we don't get the director's cut of this event.
Update: So much for that hope. Journalists have been shown video of the double execution, and it's a grisly one.
Executioners in balaclavas placed hoods round both men's heads, then the noose.
A short while later the footage, which is silent, shows both men fall.
Almost immediately the rope that was round Barzan's neck flicks upwards, the body dropping below.
The cameraman then shows the pit below and a headless body, bloodied at the neck and what officials say was Barzan's head still covered by a hood.
Bandar's body was still hanging above, said one official who was present at the execution.
Our correspondent says officials say they are not planning to release the footage publicly.
Don't bet on it.
It sounds extremely strange that a man is decapitated during hanging.
8:41:46 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2007 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.02.2007; 06:23:04.
|
|
|
