|
Segunda-feira, Setembro 29, 2003
Até ao dia 29 de Outubro, a frequência de actualização dest Blog reduzir-se-á significativamente.
Espero que não aconteça oa Valete o mesmo que aconteceu ao Aviz.
posted by Joao
Sexta-feira, Setembro 26, 2003
Um palestiniano entra num autocarro cheiro de israelitas.
A mãe do palestiniano vê partir o seu filho e, virando-se para a sua amiga, diz-lhe: lá vai o meu rebento...
Nota: "Oy Vey" é uma exptressão em Yiddish que indica dor, desespero, angústia.
posted by Joao
BOAS-VINDAS 2 [directamente da feira de Azeitão no intervalo do jogo de futebol]
Caro visitante ocasional comuna,
Leia por favor a primeira nota de boas-vindas que ontem lhe enderecei.
O também já famoso post sobre Edward Said está aqui. O artigo sobre o Said que fazia parte do referido post está aqui (inlcui outras referências). Um post anterior sobre o Said e o "orientalismo" pode ser lido no Blog irmão.
Um outro artigo sobre o "orientalismo" foi publicado pela Reason.
Algumas informações sobre o Said podem também ser lidas neste post do Blog Powerline.
Esta foi a forma como o Best of the Web comentou a morte de Said: Edward Said, a rock-throwing Columbia literature professor known for his virulent anti-Israel and anti-America views, is dead at 67. Said last appeared in this column in May, when we quoted an article he wrote for the crackpot Web site Counterpunch.org: "Wherever you look in the Congress there are the tell-tale signs either of the Zionist lobby, the right-wing Christians, or the military-industrial complex, three inordinately influential minority groups who share hostility to the Arab world, unbridled support for extremist Zionism, and an insensate conviction that they are on the side of the angels." Charming, wasn't he? Said portrayed himself as a victim of Israeli aggression, but in a 1999 issue of Commentary, Justus Weiner published the results of an extensive investigation that disproved many of Said's autobiographical claims: "The plain, direct and honest truth is radically at odds with the parable he has been at pains to construct over the decades," Weiner wrote. "That parable, designed to augment the passions that have animated the revanchist program of so many Palestinian nationalists, is a lie."
P.S.1 Edward Said Compares the Holocaust and the Palestinian Disaster: " Every human calamity is different, so there is no point in trying to look for equivalence between one and the other. But it is certainly true that one universal truth about the Holocaust is not only that it should never again happen to Jews, but that as a cruel and tragic collective punishment, it should not happen to any people at all. But if there is no point in looking for equivalence, there is a value in seeing analogies and perhaps hidden similarities, even as we preserve a sense of proportion." [agradecimento a e-mailer anónimo]
P.S.2 Edward Said said: "The tragedy of the Palestinian movement is that it doesn't learn from freedom movements around the world like in Vietnam, Cuba, and the blacks in the US..." ( aqui). [idem]
P.S.3 Entrada da WIKIPEDIA: "...As a Palestinian activist, Said defended the rights of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories. For many years, Said was a member of the Palestinian National Council, but he broke with Yasser Arafat because he believed that the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 sold short the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in pre-1967 Israel. He also opposed the Oslo formula of creating a Palestinian entity out of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, arguing instead for the creation of one state, in which Arabs and Jews would have equal rights. His relationship with the Palestinian Authority was so bad that PA leaders once called for the banning of his books.
Said's books on the Israeli occupation of Palestine include The Question of Palestine (1979) and The Politics of Dispossession (1994).
For many years, Said, a skilled pianist, wrote music criticism for The Nation. In 1999, he jointly founded the West-East Divan Orchestra with the Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim, a close friend. It is an initiative to bring together every summer a group of talented young classical musicians from Israel and Arab countries. For their work, Said and Barenboim were among the recipients of the 2002 Prince of Asturias Awards for "improving understanding between nations."
In July 2000 Said travelled to Lebanon, where along with other Arabs he began hurling large rocks into Israel towards a group of Israeli soldiers. Agence France Press released a photograph showing him during this attack. When asked about this event, Said told reporters that this was "a symbolic gesture of joy", and aimed at an empty place. Eyewitnesses claim that Said was lying; The London Daily Post reported that Said was observed hurling stones, in a group, at Israel soldiers in an Israeli watchtower.
Dr. Said was criticised for this action by the moderate Arab Press. A report in the Beirut Daily Star stated that they were disappointed that a scholar "who has labored . . . to dispel stereotypes about Arabs being 'violent'" reversed couse, and let himself "be swayed by a crowd into picking up a stone and lofting it across the international border." The student newspaper of his alma mata, the Columbia Daily Spectator, commented that Said's “hypocritical violent action” was “alien to this or any other institution of higher learning.”
Several months later, in an interview with an Israeli newspaper (Haaretz English Edition, Aug. 18, 2000) Said reversed his story, and denied his previous description. He now claims "in fact what happened was that my son and some of the other young men were trying to see who could throw stones furthest. And since my son is a rather big fellow - he is an American who plays baseball - he threw furthest. My daughter said to me, 'Daddy can you throw a stone as far as Wadia?' and that of course stirred the usual kind of oedipal competition. So I picked up a stone and threw it." This latest revision is commonl held to be fallacious."
posted by Joao
BOAS NOTÍCIAS DO IRAQUE (relevância jornalística nula) "Basrah Moves Towards Religious Stability," reports Ahmed Mukhtar for Iraq Today, a new and useful source of information about the rebuilding--online at www.iraq-today.com, in English. Though the "former regime" tried to foment sectarian conflict in Basra, today Sunni, Shiite and Shakhi Muslims and Christians and Sabeans are trying to create joint self-help societies in the city of 1.4 million. "We regarded ourselves as original Iraqi residents," the Chaldean Christian leader Archbishop Gabriel T. Kassab told Iraq Today. "We had one destiny."
From Najaf, Sarmad S. Ali reports that "Security Efforts Target Foreigners," the "foreigners" being Iranian and Saudi infiltrators. But he also describes the rebuilding of the holy shrine of Imam Ali, which took a hit during a recent bomb attack. The marble work "is being done by Iranian workers who have come from the same quarries where the marble was made." Iraq's Olympic weightlifters, formerly fodder for Uday's amusements, have been invited to a training camp in the U.S.
Even from bloody Baghdad one reads that the Court of First Instance, the Iraqi civil court, is creating procedures to resolve disputes over debts, landlord problems and property confiscated during "the former regime."
But this is news written by Iraqis, who may tend toward hopefulness. Let us turn to a recent, underpublicized report from the U.S. National Democratic Institute, which sent an assessment mission to Iraq this summer (www.ndi.org). NDI's chairman is Madeleine Albright and its advisory committee includes Richard ("miserable failure") Gephardt.
The report's first sentence: "NDI's overwhelming finding--in the north, south, Baghdad and among secular, religious, Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish groups in both urban and rural areas--is a grateful welcoming of the demise of Saddam's regime and a sense that this is a pivotal moment in Iraq's history."
Touring the southern cities of Basra, Nassiriya and Aamara, NDI found, "Despite all of the obstacles, virtually every individual and group NDI met with in southern Iraq perceived this as a time of opportunity. . . . Iraqi citizens in the south demonstrated a hunger for information about the functioning of democracy." In the Kurdish-controlled north, NDI saw "clear evidence of a developing economy, relative security and prosperity and an active civil society and culture. . . . Local municipal councils are active and appear to be working."
The institute's advance delegation called Iraq "fertile ground for democracy promotion initiatives on a scale not seen since the heady days of the fall of the Berlin Wall." Sounds like a good story.
An American officer who worked on reconstruction in Mosul, well north of Baghdad, told me of meeting with young Muslawi lawyers who now want help forming a Mosul bar association and developing a modern system of defendants' rights. The Americans who lectured at the university in Mosul generally spoke in English because so many Iraqi professors speak English. The successes in Mosul, with two million people, are now being taken to smaller towns in the Nineveh province, generally with around 40,000 people.
About 10 days ago, some 140 delegates from eight districts in Salah-ad-Din province chose an interim governing council. The new council's members include a Shia woman from Bayji, tribal sheiks from Dujayl, religious leaders from Samarra and Kurdish and Turkmen members from Tuz. They of course posed afterward for group photographs. "
posted by Joao
BODY COUNT JOURNALISM - 25/09/2003
[Update: A "resistência" matou 2 soldados americanos e 18 civis iraquianos ( aqui).]
Ontem a "guerrilha" iraquiana que luta contra a ocupação imperialista americana e pela liberdade dos iraquianos, atacou um mercado à bomba assassinando 8 iraquianos e ferindo outros 18; atacou à bomba um hotel tendo assassinado um segurança somali e um engenheiro de som da NBC ( aqui).
Resultado final: A extrema-esquerda e os anti-americanos não puderam celebrar a morte em combate de nenhum americano, mas este tipo de atentados promete melhores resultados no futuro...é um empate com sabor a vitória.
- Desde o passado Sábado - há 5 dias - que não morre nenhum soldado americano em combate.
A última morte de um soldado americano em combate ocorreu no dia 20 de Setembro (Sábado).
O anterior período mais longo sem baixas mortais americanas em combate ocorreu no início deste mês e durou 7 dias.
- Nos últimos três meses, a média diária de soldados americanos mortos no Iraque tem vido a reduzir-se, sendo neste momento inferior a 1.
- Desde o início de Maio, altura em que foram interrompidas as operações militares principais, morreram 82 soldados vítimas de acções do inimigo. Ou seja, nos últimos 149 dias morreram 82 soldados americanos em combate, uma média de 0.55 por dia.
Fontes:
Casualty Reports do Centcom
Faces of Valor
Iraqui Coalition casualty count
posted by Joao
IRAQUE [Exclusivo nacional]
- White House: Iraq WMD Hunt Still Ongoing
"All of the chemicals specified in the Iraq inventory could fit in a backyard swimming pool and there's space for a lot of swimming pools in a country the size of California," one official said."
- DONALD RUMSFELD: Plan to Win the Peace in Iraq Will Succeed
[Texto do artigo do Washington Post]
"The United States is not in Iraq to engage in nation building, stated the secretary. "Our mission is to help Iraqis so that they can build their own nation. Our objective is not to create dependency but to encourage Iraqi independence, by giving Iraqis increasing responsibility, over time, for the security and governance of their country. The sooner Iraqis can take responsibility for their own affairs the sooner U.S. forces can come home."
- Life in Iraq: Tales of a New World
"Fox News' Steve Harrigan visited with Iraqis in their homes, at their places of work and worship, and as they made their way through the streets of Baghdad and Iraq's other cities. What he found...was a country and a people happy to be free of Saddam Hussein's rule."
- WOLFOWITZ: Elections in Tikrit province
"Citing an example of "good news," the secretary referred to a dispatch from Iraq reporting on the elections of a governing council in the province that includes Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
The process for selecting a governing council, according to the letter, "is a firm, if small step on the path to participatory government something inconceivable in Saddam's hometown just a few months ago … While it remains to be seen how effective this diverse group can be in tackling the daunting challenges … for the moment the predominant feeling is one of confident optimism and appreciation for what the coalition has made possible."
posted by Joao
THE ECONOMIST
- Solving Europe's pensions crisis
"EUROPE is currently witnessing the slow-motion explosion of the most predictable economic and social time-bomb in its history...European governments, as well as the voters whom they are supposed to serve, will have to face the unpalatable truth that their current public pension schemes are not sustainable...there are measures which both voters and governments should pursue?with some urgency.
First, governments will have to act much more boldly to reduce the scope of the core pay-as-you-go public pension system.
Second, employees, public or private, should be encouraged instead to channel their savings into private retirement accounts, either administered by employers or (even better) run directly by fund-management firms, thus taking responsibility for their own retirements. If encouragement does not work, such private savings may have to be made compulsory.
Third, the state retirement age should be scrapped, because a fixed pension age makes little sense either for privately-funded pension schemes, which should be encouraged, or for public schemes.
Alternatively, or as well, many European countries will have to do something to address the effects of their declining birth rates in order to redress the imbalance between workers and pensioners...Even with more immigration, increasing the domestic supply of younger workers?ie, having more babies?could also be desirable and, if current trends continue, probably necessary..."
- Iraq's constitutional troubles
"Sectarianism is making planning a constitution that much harder"
- Communism's cultural competition with capitalism was a long losing battle
"...Even at the height of the anti-communist hysteria, America was an infinitely more open, more dynamic, more flexible society than the totalitarian monolith behind the iron curtain. America's propaganda war needed only touches on the tiller, and dabs of CIA money here and there: every author that could find a publisher, every play with a producer, every gallery owner, every impresario, every editor was a protagonist in the battle of ideas, just by virtue of their own freedom of action.
In the Soviet Union, by contrast, culture was a matter for the central committee and the Politburo. What kind of modern art should be allowed? Was jazz decadent? Which foreign plays should be staged? Even to pose these questions was all but unimaginable in the West; yet they were matters of state in the East."
- Why there is a new panic over manufacturing in the rich world
"Primitive mercantilist views about the piling up of foreign currency by a nation selling more than it buys from abroad still rule in parts of Europe, notably Paris. In Britain, on the other hand, the unions may find their latest campaign tough going. The Labour government of Tony Blair has, at least until now, cast off its old pro-manufacturing socialist bias and embraced the mostly neutral policies towards manufacturing of its Conservative predecessor...
In Japan China is a favourite bugbear of nationalist politicians?and Japanese racists in general. Yet the ruling Liberal Democratic Party finds some of its baser instincts leavened by its desire to please big Japanese manufacturers, such as the car companies and electronics firms, which are finding both selling to and investing in China so attractive.
Hopefully, similar common sense will prevail in America, where big firms are indeed worried about growing protectionist sentiment towards China. But it may not. America's presidential elections next year will follow a recession that has cost 2.7m jobs. Politicians will feel the sharp anger of thousands of smaller American manufacturers, from furniture firms in North Carolina to car-parts makers in the Midwest. These firms really are taking a beating from China. An early test of Mr Bush's mettle will be how he handles a review of America's steel tariffs, slapped on 18 months ago at the behest of its ailing foundries. Expect more fireworks."
posted by Joao
NOTÍCIAS DA FRENTE
- Air Force Grounds Pilots Who Signed Refusal Letter
"Air Force officials suspended at least nine active pilots who signed a letter refusing to carry out interceptions in the West Bank and Gaza, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon said the pilots were wrong to draft their letter, noting that refusing to serve was a serious matter and that the army recently jailed a soldier who refused to remove an illegal settlement outpost...Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz noted that the pilots represented only a few out of thousands, and asked people to put the events into perspective: “We are in a vicious war against terrorism. We don’t choose our wars. This war is prescribed for us.” Meanwhile, an official close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that the interceptions against terror leaders will continue. “The traditional character of wars has changed forever,” he said “There is no battlefield where one army encounters another. Today, the targets seeking to destroy us are positioned within civilian territory.” "
- Belgium Dismisses Case against Sharon
"Belgium's highest court dismissed on Wednesday war crimes complaints against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron, former U.S. president George Bush, and Secretary of State Colin Powell, ruling the country no longer had a legal basis to charge them, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The decision was expected to improve Belgium's diplomatic relations with the United States and Israel, which hit their lowest points in decades over the complaints. "
posted by Joao
Quinta-feira, Setembro 25, 2003
Caro visitante ocasional comuna,
Se chegou aqui vindo de um certo blog da extrema-esquerda, não deixe de ler:
...mas sinta-se à vontade para ler tudo o que muito bem entender...
...reclamações e críticas bem educadas podem ser enviadas para aqui. Insultos e ameaças de violência física podem ser enviadas para o mesmo sítio, mas com cópia à PJ.
Obrigado e volte sempre.
posted by Joao
O Cláudio Tellez continua a sua guerra contra aqueles que querem beatificar o Allende. Algumas das citações contidas neste post são bastante esclarecedoras...contra factos não há argumentos (honestos).
posted by Joao
Edward Said, RIP
Infelizmente, as suas ideias continuarão vivas...
posted by Joao
Three Reporters See Media Coverage of Iraq as Excessively Bleak
"Three reporters in Iraq see a disconnect between the bleak media portrayals of Iraq and the better reality. A day after Democratic Congressman Jim Marshall condemned the media’s excessive negativism in covering Iraq, Time magazine’s Brian Bennett, MSNBC’s Bob Arnot and FNC’s Molly Henneberg backed him up on how media reports don’t match the improving reality of the situation" O Instapundit apresenta hoje mais um conjunto de testemunhos directos sobre a realidade no Iraque: testemunhos de um juíz, de um repórter, de soldados de volta a casa e mais...
posted by Joao
ANTI-CATOLICISMO
- O Quinto dos Impérios
"Esta notícia publicada no Púbico...merece reprovação imediata pelo sensacionalismo e desonestidade evidentes na discrepância entre o título e o corpo da notícia.
É bem sabido que, infelizmente, “Church bashing” está na moda e vende.
...Recusar o debate na questões de fé e doutrina mas querer discutir o comportamento da Igreja face a este ou aquele problema é pois, não só cobardia, mas, acima de tudo, desonestidade..."
O Valete comentou esta notícia recorrendo ao texto original da revista italiana.
- The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice
"The media, usually painstaking in their efforts to offend members of no racial, religious or gender category, consistently make one major exception-the Roman Catholic Church."
- Thou Shalt Not Pray
"Released this week, Limbaugh's copiously researched book documents how the courts, the universities, the media, Hollywood and government institutions react to any mention of Christianity like Superman recoiling from kryptonite, Dracula from sunlight, or Madonna from soap and water."
E já agora, vale a pena pensar nisto:
- Three Secular Reasons Why America Should be Under God
"Do you like having rights the government cannot take away? Do you like being equal? Do you like a country with few laws?
These ideas have origins. "
- Good Faith
"The companionship of God offers much in return: chances to learn and practice moral action. Experiences that elevate one’s thinking. The power and peace that come from a Father’s constant presence. An abstract yet powerfully immediate fraternity with millions of other humans from different places and times. Opportunities to be holy. These are the truest rewards of faith.
Yet Christians and Jews are also enjoined to be distinctive in the routines of their day-to-day lives... In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells the first members of the church to live as “children of light” and pursue “goodness, righteousness, and truth.” A whole series of very specific injunctions follow: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” Christians are told not to be angry or slanderous, to be kind, to avoid sexual immorality, drunkenness, and greed. “Be very careful, then, how you live,” instructs St. Paul—because the everyday actions of Christians are their advertisement to the rest of the world.
Theoretically, then, in addition to their richer philosophical understandings Christians ought to be registering unusually wholesome earthly outcomes.
Does that happen in practice? The verdict of this issue of The American Enterprise is that, yes indeed, things generally go better with God. Societies are more prosperous and individuals more thriving where faith blooms."
posted by Joao
Body Count Journalism (ontem à noite)
Americanos: 0
Iraquianos anti-americanos mortos pelos americanos: 9
Civis iraquianos mortos pelos iraquianos anti-americanos: 3 (só)
Resultado final: um noite má para a extrema-esquerda e para os anti-americanos.
posted by Joao
CONDOLEEZA RICE SOBRE AS WMD
"David Kay is a well respected former weapons inspector. The president told David Kay, he said, "David, I want you to go out and I want you to put together the coherent picture. I'm not going to pressure you for when it gets finished."
David Kay has miles of documents to go through. He has hundreds of people to interview. We're getting more and more tips by the way from Iraqis about this program, about what happened here. He's getting physical evidence.
He's going to put together the picture, and we will know precisely what became of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction."
posted by Joao
Eugenics and the Left"It is a good comment on the dismal minds of leftists that they think that nothing can be accomplished except through compulsion. And accomplish a lot they have. And in the realm of eugenics, Adolf Hitler remains their most successful disciple."
posted by Joao
Bulgarian balancing act"...the further east you go, the friendlier people become towards Americans. "
posted by Joao
Three Secular Reasons Why America Should be Under God
"Do you like having rights the government cannot take away? Do you like being equal? Do you like a country with few laws?
These ideas have origins. "
posted by Joao
Jean-Paul Sartre: Brilliant philosopher, or totalitarian apologist? [via Dissecting Leftism]
" He broke with Camus because the latter denounced totalitarianism. He was silent on the gulag ("It was not our duty to write about the Soviet labor camps"), and he excused the purges of Stalin and later Mao. When the defector Victor Kravchenko published I Chose Freedom, the first inside account of the horrors of Stalinism, Sartre wrote a play implying that Kravchenko was a creation of the CIA. Even when Sartre was on the right side, he could be morally tone-deaf. In opposing the war in Vietnam, he urged the Soviet Union to take on the Americans, even at the risk of nuclear war. And in championing Algerian independence, he wrote (in his preface to Franz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth) that for an African "to shoot down a European is to kill two birds with one stone, to destroy an oppressor and the man he oppresses at the same time.""
posted by Joao
U.S. Troops Arrest Two Suspected Fedayeen Saddam Leaders
TIKRIT, Iraq ? Two suspected Iraqi resistance leaders accused of organizing and financing attacks against American soldiers in the vicinity of Saddam Hussein (search)'s birthplace were arrested Thursday in pre-dawn raids.
posted by Joao
Quarta-feira, Setembro 24, 2003
'NO EVIDENCE' OF WMD ?????
"An interim report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction by former weapons inspector David Kay is not expected to reach any firm conclusions, the CIA has said.
Mr Kay is still receiving information from the field and his report will be only be the "first progress report," CIA spokesman Bill Harlow said.
...Andrew Neil, editor of The Business, told Sky News the interim report would conclude that Iraq did not possess WMD when it was attacked.
He said the team had found evidence of a fledgling weapons programme. But that had not been transformed into fully functioning weapons of mass destruction that posed a risk to the West.
"Iraq was developing programmes of weapons of mass destruction and could have cranked that up once the coast was clear," Mr Neil said he had been told.
"But the bottom line is there were no weapons that were built as a result of that programme."
..."Those who were against the war will use this as a strong weapon for undermining further the reasons we went to war."
US officials say they are confident that Mr Kay's report will find evidence that Iraq had active weapons programmes on the eve of the conflict." Rendo-me...afinal o Saddam tinha apenas uns programazitos de desenvolvimento de armas de destruição maciça que permitiriam produzir as ditas armas logo que o holofote fosse desviado para outro lado...é claro que isto não viola as determinações da ONU, nem coloca em causa a segurança de ninguém...
posted by Joao
- Bush at the UN: Arafat Betrayed Palestinian Cause
In his address to the United Nations on Tuesday, U.S. President George W. Bush made reference to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, saying that the Palestinian cause was being "betrayed by leaders who cling to power by feeding old hatreds and destroying the good work of others," HA?ARETZ reported. ?The Palestinian people deserve their own state and they will gain that state by embracing new leaders committed to reform, to fighting terror and to building peace,? Bush added, echoing remarks he has made in the past. He used his speech, which focused mainly on Iraq, to call on both Israel and the Palestinians to make good on their road map commitments.
- Hamas Spiritual Leader Vows to Remain on the Path of Terror
Hamas?s spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, said today that his group would not disarm, agree to a truce or join the new Palestinian government, HA?ARETZ reported. Speaking at a mosque, Yassin rebuffed incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, who has complained of the "chaos of weapons" in the West Bank and Gaza, proposed a comprehensive truce with Israel and invited Hamas into his government.
Qurei has not said what steps, if any, he would take to get illegal weapons off the street, as required by the "road map" peace plan. Qurei and other officials have ruled out using force in order to dismantle the terror groups.
- Israeli forces carrying out counter-terrorism operations in the southern Gaza Strip clashed with armed Palestinians today. A 15-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and 14 Palestinians were wounded during heavy exchanges of fire.
- IDF troops destroyed this morning the house of the suicide bomber who killed seven people at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem on September 9. Ramez Abu Salim's house was located in Kafr Rantis, northwest of the West Bank city of Ramallah.
- A wanted Tanzim militant surrendered to undercover officers before dawn today after a nearly 12-hour hunt north of Ramallah, and seven wanted Palestinians were arrested throughout in the West Bank overnight.
- Thailand's prime minister confirmed today a Channel 2 TV report that Thai police thwarted an al-Qaida plot to attack Israeli passengers inside Bangkok International Airport, and shoot down an El Al passenger plane at the same airport, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Bangkok police arrested a suspicious man three months ago as he was filming with a video camera near the El Al counter at Bangkok International Airport in order to collect intelligence on security and passenger routines. The attack was reportedly meant to take place in the very near future.
posted by Joao
O Público de hoje afirma: Vaticano Quer Proibir Palmas na Missa e Mulheres no Altar.
O artigo baseia-se num texto da Revista italiana "Jesus". Solicitei por e-mail o artigo em causa à revista italiana. O secretariado da revista fez o favor de responder quase instantaneamente.
Afinal, aquilo que o Público apresenta como sendo uma inovação está já contemplado no direito canónico, como aliás refere explicitamente a revista italiana: "Ma quali sono gli abusi elencati nell?istruzione? In realtà si tratta di materia già ampiamente trattata in altre sedi, dal Codice di diritto canonico ai vari documenti liturgici..." A única inovação consiste na possibildiade dos fiéis reclamarem e denunciarem as práticas proíbidas directamente às mais altas autoridades eclesiásticas: "Il principale elemento di novità è probabilmente quello del paragrafo 197 dell?attuale bozza, intitolato De quaerelis circa abusus in re liturgica, in cui si afferma che «ogni cattolico, sacerdote o diacono o fedele laico, ha il diritto di sporgere querela circa gli abusi liturgici », in via preferenziale «al proprio vescovo diocesano», ma anche «al pastore equiparato sui iuris o presso la Santa Sede». Esta iniciativa encontrava-se já prevista na carta encíclica Papal ( Ecclesia de Eucharistia), e é justicada pelos abusos que se registam nalguns países.
P.S. Assisti, por infelicidade, à peça da RTP2 sobre esta questão...que bela peça de desinformação...
posted by Joao
O Aviz está com alguns dias de atraso...
posted by Joao
The CIA-Bin Laden Myth
"Two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, no memorial service, cable-news talkfest or university seminar seemed to have been complete without someone emerging from the woodwork to wonder darkly why the CIA ever financed Usama bin Laden "in the first place."
Bin Laden himself has repeatedly denied that he received any American support. “Personally neither I nor my brothers saw any evidence of American help,” bin Laden told British journalist Robert Fisk in 1993. In 1996, Mr. Fisk interviewed bin Laden again. The arch-terrorist was equally adamant: “We were never, at any time, friends of the Americans. We knew that the Americans supported the Jews in Palestine and that they are our enemies.”
In the course of researching my book on Bill Clinton and bin Laden, I interviewed Bill Peikney, who was CIA station chief in Islamabad from 1984 to 1986, and Milt Bearden, who was CIA station chief from 1986 to 1989. These two men oversaw the disbursement for all American funds to the anti-Soviet resistance. Both flatly denied that any CIA funds ever went to bin Laden...
...There were two entirely separate rebellions against the Soviets, united only by a common communist enemy. One was financed by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states and was composed of Islamic extremists who migrated from across the Muslim world. They called themselves “Arab Afghans.” Bin Laden was among them. When the Saudis agreed to match U.S. contributions dollar-for-dollar, the sheikhs insisted that their funds go exclusively to the “Arab Afghans,” possibly including bin Laden. Meanwhile, U.S. funds went exclusively to the other rebellion, which was composed of native Afghans. Mr. Bearden told me: “I challenge anyone to give any proof that we gave one dollar to any Arab Afghans, let alone bin Laden.”
posted by Joao
posted by Joao
DONALD RUMSFELD [Exclusivo Nacional...]
"...if you go back and look at history in Germany or history in Japan or history with Kosovo or Bosnia or even Afghanistan the plan that's being implemented in Iraq is well ahead of anyone else in history...
...anyone whose looked at the history and compares it will see that the Cabinet was appointed in a fraction of the time that it took in Germany, a governing council was appointed in a
fraction of the time it took in Germany, the establishment of a court system, the electricity and water situation, all the universities are open, all the schools are open in the country, people in a bulk of the country are behaving in a relatively
normal way.
The central section in Baghdad we've got problems and
people are getting shot and killed and the reason for that is Saddam Hussein let loose something like 100,000 to 150,000 prisoners in his prisons and they're out there...
Second we've got the remnants of the Ba'athist Party - the Saddam Hussein crowd thatwas benefited by his dictatorship and they still want to have a role in the thing so they're in there paying people to kill and shoot not only Americans and Coalition people but also individuals who are cooperating with the coalition.
This is not unusual this happened in Germany after World War II, groups called the Werewolves were out shooting and attempting to stop people - Germans from cooperating with the allied forces at time.
My impression is that our folks are doing a good job, it's going to be tough, they'll still be people killed and wounded which is always just a heart breaker and yet the third group that we have deal with are foreign fighters, these are terrorist coming in from other countries and we scooped up I don't know we probably got over 200 that we picked up so far and it's tough to know even how many more there may be if they range somewhere between 500 and 1,500 additional ones that we got to go out, track down and find. But it is a tough business, it's a dangerous business but the - 90% of the people in that country are living in areas where they're being governed by local councils, city councils, village and town councils, that's unheard of - that is unheard of, we've gone from zero to 56,000 Iraqis assisting in the security of that country, that is the Army, the border patrol, the site protection people, the civil defense people, the local police..."
posted by Joao
AINDA O DISCURSO DO PRESIDENTE BUSH NA ONU
"The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction. It used those weapons in acts of mass murder, and refused to account for them when confronted by the world. The Security Council was right to be alarmed. The Security Council was right to demand that Iraq destroy its illegal weapons and prove that it had done so. The Security Council was right to vow serious consequences if Iraq refused to comply. And because there were consequences, because a coalition of nations acted to defend the peace, and the credibility of the United Nations, Iraq is free, and today we are joined by representatives of a liberated country.
Saddam Hussein's monuments have been removed and not only his statues. The true monuments of his rule and his character -- the torture chambers, and the rape rooms, and the prison cells for innocent children -- are closed. And as we discover the killing fields and mass graves of Iraq, the true scale of Saddam's cruelty is being revealed."
posted by Joao
AP and Reuters select news items that question Israeli policy -- but avoid items that justify it. "Journalists covering the Mideast conflict have to answer a hard question each day: "Given the range of newsworthy items that constantly emerge, what should I run with, what's my story?" Whatever they deem "in" will be zapped to tens of thousands of newspapers, radio stations and TV screens worldwide; what's ruled "out" will disappear from world consciousness. This, in a nutshell, is how the media's content decisions shape public opinion.
In the past week, such decisions on three major topics fell into a curious pattern ― when the news item challenged Israeli policy, it made it "in," but when the item bolstered Israeli policy, it was deemed "out"" E depois os jornalistas tradutores das secções internacionas dos nossos media fazem o resto...
posted by Joao
Terça-feira, Setembro 23, 2003
NOTÍCIAS DO IRAQUE SEM QUALQUER VALOR JORNALÍSTICO...
- The reopening of the largest cement factory in Iraq.
"According to Jamil Fadil, control room supervisor, the plant is operating at 50 percent capacity and still turns out 50,000 tons of cement a day. Plans are in place to refurbish the second of two production lines.
- More and more, U.S. troops in the north are becoming strictly a security force, as Iraqis begin to take on engineering, medical, and entrepreneurial roles. Even the security of coalition sites and key infrastructure is being gradually assumed by local forces, such as the U.S.-trained Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.
"
- Oil
"...the current level of oil production will help the province meet its oil-for-electricity agreement with Syria, two more pumps can be installed to increase revenue and provide more crude to local refineries.
The oil refinery in Qayyarah, for example, at one time considered too damaged to repair, is slowly being restored to operation and will soon need a steady supply of crude.
More than 9,000 tons of old asphalt is being reheated at the refinery for pressing road work, and work is under way to restore asphalt production by Oct. 7.
When fully operational, the plant will be the one of the largest asphalt producers in the Middle East, according to Salih Hamid, the asphalt component manager. More work is planned at the refinery to allow production of benzene, diesel and kerosene."
- COALITION ENGINEERS WORK ON BAGHDAD’S SEWER SYSTEM
- "All of Iraq's 240 hospitals and 90 percent of its health clinics are open today," he said. "There is adequate food and there is no sign of epidemic. We have cleared thousands of miles of irrigation canals so that farmers in these areas have more water than they've had in a generation." (aqui)
- "...a group of local restaurateurs presented a petition...last week that asked to have the curfew in Baghdad extended from 11 p.m. to midnight because "business is so good."
"But I would not hide from you the fact that it is a difficult environment. There are, after all, significant dangers,"..."But it is considerably better than it was a couple of weeks – a couple of months ago." (aqui)
posted by Joao
President Bush Addresses UN General Assembly [transcrição do discurso na ONU]
" Events during the past two years have set before us the clearest of divides: between those who seek order, and those who spread chaos; between those who work for peaceful change, and those who adopt the methods of gangsters; between those who honor the rights of man, and those who deliberately take the lives of men and women and children without mercy or shame.
Between these alternatives there is no neutral ground. All governments that support terror are complicit in a war against civilization. No government should ignore the threat of terror, because to look the other way gives terrorists the chance to regroup and recruit and prepare. And all nations that fight terror, as if the lives of their own people depend on it, will earn the favorable judgment of history.
The former regimes of Afghanistan and Iraq knew these alternatives, and made their choices...
...
First, we must stand with the people of Afghanistan and Iraq as they build free and stable countries
...In the nation of Iraq, the United Nations is carrying out vital and effective work every day. By the end of 2004, more than 90 percent of Iraqi children under age five will have been immunized against preventable diseases such as polio, tuberculosis and measles, thanks to the hard work and high ideals of UNICEF. Iraq's food distribution system is operational, delivering nearly a half-million tons of food per month, thanks to the skill and expertise of the World Food Program.
Our international coalition in Iraq is meeting it responsibilities. We are conducting precision raids against terrorists and holdouts of the former regime. These killers are at war with the Iraqi people. They have made Iraq the central front in the war on terror, and they will be defeated. Our coalition has made sure that Iraq's former dictator will never again use weapons of mass destruction. We are interviewing Iraqi citizens and analyzing records of the old regime to reveal the full extent of its weapons programs and its long campaign of deception. We're training Iraqi police and border guards and a new army, so the Iraqi people can assume full responsibility for their own security.
And at the same time, our coalition is helping to improve the daily lives of the Iraqi people. The old regime built palaces while letting schools decay, so we are rebuilding more than a thousand schools. The old regime starved hospitals of resources, so we have helped to supply and reopen hospitals across Iraq. The old regime built up armies and weapons, while allowing the nation's infrastructure to crumble, so we are rehabilitating power plants, water and sanitation facilities, bridges and airports. I proposed to Congress that the United States provide additional funding for our work in Iraq, the greatest financial commitment of its kind since the Marshall Plan. Having helped to liberate Iraq, we will honor our pledges to Iraq, and by helping the Iraqi people build a stable and peaceful country, we will make our own countries more secure.
...The primary goal of our coalition in Iraq is self-government for the people of Iraq, reached by orderly and democratic process. This process must unfold according to the needs of Iraqis, neither hurried, nor delayed by the wishes of other parties. And the United Nations can contribute greatly to the cause of Iraq self-government. America is working with friends and allies on a new Security Council resolution, which will expand the U.N.'s role in Iraq. As in the aftermath of other conflicts, the United Nations should assist in developing a constitution, in training civil servants, and conducting free and fair elections.
Iraq now has a Governing Council, the first truly representative institution in that country. Iraq's new leaders are showing the openness and tolerance that democracy requires, and they're also showing courage. Yet every young democracy needs the help of friends. Now the nation of Iraq needs and deserves our aid, and all nations of goodwill should step forward and provide that support. "
posted by Joao
O Valete Fratres ! é um blogzito de banho tomado, fato domingueiro e de chapéu na mão...
Aprendeu a ler, mas não sabe escrever...portanto faz cópia...
É um blog inculto, mas sabe muito bem de que lado do pão é que está a manteiga...
...é um Blog Livre...
...sem a licença de Vossas Senhorias.
posted by Joao
Marines Hand Over to Spanish in Iraqi Holy City
"U.S. Marines handed over on Tuesday to a Spanish-led force in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, scene of the country's deadliest postwar bomb attack which killed more than 80 people including a top Shi'ite cleric.
At a ceremony in bright sunshine on the outskirts of Najaf, U.S. Marine Brig. Gen. John Kelly transferred authority to Brigadier General Alfredo Cardona of the Spanish army.
"We've spilled blood to hand this province over to you," Kelly said somberly in an address to the Spanish-led force, recalling the Marines' key role in the war that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein"
posted by Joao
Francolateralism"When it comes to non-compliance with EU rules or international law there are two kinds of perpetrators. The first type is subject to legislative and administrative problems resulting from organizational, legal, technical and financial factors. The second one sees non-compliance as a political game to be played for domestic reasons. It is becoming increasingly clear that France falls within the second category. When it comes to the three main forms of non-compliance -- refusal to enact, refusal to comply and refusal to enforce -- France is the EU's least obedient country.
According to the latest figures, France has the worst record of all European countries for flouting EU regulations and failing to implement community directives. It is well-documented that the French break more free-market agreements than any other EU country and are the slowest to adopt agreed trade legislation. Of 1,598 internal market infringements under investigation by the European Commission, France heads the list with 220 cases. "
posted by Joao
THE WAY OF WARMING"No known mechanism can stop global warming in the near term. International agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol would have no detectable effect on average temperature within any reasonable policy time frame of 50 years or so — even with full compliance. Beyond 50 years, we have little, if any, idea what the energy infrastructure of our society will be. To highlight the folly of any such projection, compare the energy related concerns of 1900, when pundits cautioned that major U.S. cities would be knee-deep in horse "emissions" by 1930 unless we saw fit to "act now," with those of 2000.
We simply cannot predict our future. Rather, the more serious question provoked by the facts on global warming is this one: Is the way the planet warms something that we should even try to stop?
[Agradecimentos ao Paulo Almeida]
posted by Joao
Reagan and Thatcher: 'linked by the Lord'
"I am proud to call you one of my dearest friends, Margaret; proud to have shared many of life's significant moments with you, and thankful that God brought you into my life," Mr Reagan wrote, signing himself: "Sincerely, Ron."
[Agradecimentos ao Intermitente]
posted by Joao
An Unequal Distribution -- of Capitalism (Johan Norberg)
"The world's inequality is due to capitalism. Not to capitalism making certain groups poor, but to its making its practitioners wealthy. The uneven distribution of wealth in the world is due to the uneven distribution of capitalism.
...As U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said at a conference held in February 2000, soon after the demonstrations against the World Trade Organization: "The main losers in today's very unequal world are not those who are too much exposed to globalization. They are those who have been left out."
posted by Joao
Segunda-feira, Setembro 22, 2003
PARADA DE ORGULHO VALETE
Este humilde Blog foi referido no Merde in France e no Dissecting Leftism. Muito obrigado.
Merde in France and Dissecting Leftism linked to Valete Fratres ! Thanks.
O Mata-Mouros incluiu este humilde mouro no seus "melhores da semana". Muito obrigado.
posted by Joao
posted by Joao
Media's dark cloud a danger - Falsely bleak reports reduce our chances of success in Iraq
(o autor é um membro do Congresso do Partido Democrata que visitou recentemente o Iraque)
"I'm afraid the news media are hurting our chances. They are dwelling upon the mistakes, the ambushes, the soldiers killed, the wounded, the Blumbergs. Fair enough. But it is not balancing this bad news with "the rest of the story," the progress made daily, the good news. The falsely bleak picture weakens our national resolve, discourages Iraqi cooperation and emboldens our enemy."
posted by Joao
Iraq in historical perspective (Michael Barone)
"Put in historic perspective, the good things that are happening in Iraq are impressive, even if old media think they are no more newsworthy than an accident-free day at Disneyland. "
posted by Joao
ANDREW GILLIGAN VAI SER DESPEDIDO DA BBC
"Andrew Gilligan is likely to lose his Today programme position as part of a wide-ranging BBC shakeup intended to defuse criticism of the corporation in the forthcoming Hutton report.
The BBC also plans radical changes in the way it deals with complaints about its programmes. Greg Dyke, the director general, is said to want a "culture change" in the BBC, leading to a greater readiness to admit mistakes." Não terá dificuldade em arranjar emprego...
posted by Joao
[via Dissecting Leftism]
A propósito do post anterior, apresento três artigos:
- Environmental Scientists Must Stop Crying Wolf
" There is a crisis emerging in the scientific community. The ideals of science are being sacrificed to the god of political expediency. Environmental scientists are becoming so obsessed with the righteousness of their cause that they are damning those who wish to use science as an objective tool in public policy decisions. The latest example comes in a Science article* that advocates nothing less than promoting alarmism over environmental hazards, on the basis that the end justifies the means. The article uses economic analysis to argue that the benefits of environmental alarmism outweigh the costs. Yet, as well as endorsing the political reasoning of Niccolo Machiavelli, this paper offends against the ethics of science itself."
- Leftist Scare Tactic 101
Duas fotografias do "Buraco de Ozono": antes e depois !!!!
- Is Global Cooling About To Kick In?
posted by Joao
Climate Alarmism Reconsidered
O Institute of Economic Affairs publicou recentemente Climate Alarmism Reconsidered. Infelizmente, e ao contrário do que é habitual, este livro não está disponível online.
A principal conclusão do livro é a seguinte: "...climate alarmism and its corollary, policy activism, are unwarranted and counterproductive for the developed world and particularly for the world's energy poor.
...'Every few decades the intellectual community becomes obsessed with some energy "problem" to which it can see no solution and calls for intervention by governments and international bodies to save the world. In the 1970s the perceived problem was an imminent energy shortage; today the issue is climate change. In Climate Alarmism Reconsidered, Rob Bradley carefully dissects the evidence about climate change; points out the difficulties of drawing conclusions given that the climate is always in flux; emphasises the positive aspects of increased carbon dioxide concentrations; and argues powerfully that any incipient problems will be better solved by entrepreneurs in competitive markets than by imperfect governments under the influence of interest groups.'"
No anexo 1 deste livro, que tem o título " Falsified carbon energy alarmism", são listadas todas as profecias apocalípticas de origem pseudo-científicas que nas últimas décadas têm inundado os media e moldado as políticas dos governos. Qualquer semelhança entre as profecias referidas e a realidade é pura coincidência.
P.S. Se alguém estiver interessado, posso emprestar este livro.
posted by Joao
NEW REAGAN BOOK REVEALS PRIVATE LETTERS
Os artigos da Time sobre esta questão:
posted by Joao
Já passaram 15 dias mas o Aviz ainda não voltou.
posted by Joao
DIA EUROPEU DA IMOBILIDADE
A zona onde resido foi declarada "zona sem carros". Quando saí de casa, em vez da habitual azáfama matinal, um silêncio sepulcral: Sem carros...e sem pessoas.
A adesão entusiástica dos munícipes a esta iniciativa foi conseguida através da colocação de barreiras físicas à entrada das ruas e de polícias em locais estratégicos.
Depois, a câmara municipal decidiu encerrar uma parte da avenida principal. O trânsito foi desviado para as ruas secundárias. Habitualmente, utilizo o comboio para ir para Lisboa. Mas hoje, no dia europeu sem carros, não consegui chegar à estação e vim de carro.
P.S. Estava menos trânsito na ponte do que é habitual.
posted by Joao
Iraq institutes free-market reforms
" Iraq's leadership council yesterday announced sweeping free-market reforms that would permit foreign investment but said it would keep oil under government control.
The measures, designed to reverse decades of economic decay, pave the way for a sell-off of the state-owned companies that dominated Iraq's economy under Saddam Hussein — if buyers can be found. The changes would allow 100 percent foreign ownership of Iraqi firms, except those in the oil sector"
posted by Joao
Original 9/11 plan had 10 jets on both coasts
"September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has told U.S. interrogators that he first discussed the plot with Osama bin Laden in 1996 and that the original plan called for hijacking five commercial jets on each U.S. coast, according to interrogation reports reviewed by the Associated Press." Trata-se de um tentativa de desinformação...toda a gente sabe que foram os neo-conservadores que organizaram os atentados...
posted by Joao
DERROTA ELEITORAL DE SCHROEDER
[a derrota eleitoral dos trabalhistas ingleses foi interpretada como uma censura à política externa de Blair, logo...]
"Voters in the important Bavarian regional elections this sunday dealt the Social Democratic Party of chancellor Schroeder a devastating defeat. The SPD lost one third of its voter basis.
Results:
CSU (conservative/pro-american) 61,9 % (+8,2 %)
SPD (left wing/anti-american/Chancellor Schroeder's party): 19,3 % (- 9,5 %)
(difference to 100 %: other parties)
Quote by the bavarian SPD's top candidate, Franz Maget: "...Reason for the defeat is a terrible mood directed against the SPD on the national level ... without precedent..."
Olaf Scholz, Secretary General of the SPD: "This defeat is worse than what we expected...".
ZDF (influential public tv channel): "Today's election is a giant defeat of Gerhard Schroeder, the chancellor and even more so for him as chairman of the social democratic party."
When Blairs Labor Party lost an election last week, this was interpreted as a defeat of a man who supported the american Iraq policy. Now Schroeder lost, who fought against the american Iraq policy. Anti-americanism doesn't help winning elections in Germany anymore..."
posted by Joao
Domingo, Setembro 21, 2003
Inicia-se hoje, dia 21 de Setembro de 2003, no St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology o seguinte curso online:
From Genesis to Jesus: A Journey Through Scripture
Estão disponíveis outros cursos.
posted by Joao
Ex-U.N. inspector says Iraq invasion justified
"Ambassador Richard Butler, former chief United Nations weapons inspector for Iraq, told a couple hundred people that as a nation, we must respond to terrorists - or as Butler refers to them, "nonstate actors." As palavras do sr. Blix, que desmentiam os relatórios por ele assinados no início do ano, mereceram grande destaque mediático.
As palavras do sr. Richard Butler, que exerceu o mesmo cargo e que investigou as mesmas matérias, pelo contrário, não são citadas por ninguém.
posted by Joao
Sábado, Setembro 20, 2003
Unfair and Unbalanced"...are there no techniques or canons of journalism that will avoid giving a tyranny the upper hand in the press when it takes on a democracy?"
posted by Joao
Hoje é o concerto do Tiago - Apresentação do novo disco ("Mais dez fados religiosos de Tiago Guillul") na Sociedade Guilherme Cossoul, em Santos. Entrada: dois euros. O disco estará à venda entre um e dez euros. Lançando também o seu disco ("O caminho ferroviário estreito"), estará o Samuel Úria.
Do disco anterior:
Aninha-te no meu colo, Gato
Do novo:
Faz-me bem a mim e mal ao demónio.
posted by Joao
GERHARD SCHRÖDER NO NYT: "Germany Will Share the Burden in Iraq"
O que nos diz o chanceler alemão, líder do SPD, no seu artigo de hoje no New York Times ?
Em primeiro lugar, a Alemanha está ao lado dos EUA na guerra contra o terrorismo: "...With the fight against terrorism far from over, Germans and Americans stand united in the battle. Together, we will prevail.
For many months now, German soldiers have been fighting side by side with American troops in Afghanistan...
German-American cooperation is solid in other areas as well. Our troops are working with American forces in the Balkans to ensure stability there. Our navy is helping to patrol the Horn of Africa, protecting international sea routes...
In the fight against terrorism, German intelligence services and law enforcement are working closely with American and other international partners... Em relação ao Iraque, é altura de esquecer divergências e trabalhar em conjunto, debaixo dos desígnios da ONU: "It is true that Germany and the United States disagreed on how best to deal with Saddam Hussein's regime. There is no point in continuing this debate. We should now look toward the future. We must work together to win the peace. The United Nations must play a central role. The international community has a key interest in ensuring that stability and democracy are established as quickly as possible in Iraq. The international mission needs greater legitimacy in order to accelerate the process leading to a government acting on its own authority in Iraq.
In addition to its current military involvement in Afghanistan, the Balkans and elsewhere, Germany is willing to provide humanitarian aid, to assist in the civilian and economic reconstruction of Iraq and to train Iraqi security forces... A Alemananha, diz-nos o Chanceler deve a sua existência enquanto estado unificado e independente aos EUA: "When we gather in New York next week for the United Nations General Assembly, we will underline that Germany and the United States are linked by a profound friendship based on common experiences and values...
We Germans will not forget how the United States helped and supported us in rebuilding and reuniting our country. That Germany is living today in a peaceful, prosperous and secure Europe is thanks in no small measure to America's friendship, farsightedness and political determination." Mas, amigos, amigos, negócios à parte: o super-estado europeu é para ir para a frente...e a Alemanha perdeu todos os complexos e quer assumir-se como uma potência no âmbito das relações internacionais...os EUA devem habituar-se a este estado de coisas passar a actuar num quadro "multi-lateral": "Beginning with President Harry S. Truman, all American presidents have supported and encouraged European integration. This remains a wise policy, for a strong and united Europe is also in the interest of the United States. With the adoption of a European constitution and the enlargement of the European Union, Europe is opening an important new chapter in unity...
Not until after the fall of the wall and unification did Germany fully regain its sovereignty. Today we are a full member in the international community — with all the rights and obligations this entails. Germany's role in the world has changed and so has our foreign policy. My country is willing to shoulder more responsibility. This may entail using military force as a last resort in resolving conflicts.
However, we must not forget that security in today's world cannot be guaranteed by one country going it alone; it can be achieved only through international cooperation. Nor can security be limited to the activities of the police and the military. If we want to make our world freer and safer, we must fight the roots of insecurity, oppression, fanaticism and poverty — and we must do it together."
P.S. Na próxima semana no NYT, Bin Laden renuncia ao terrorismo mas avisa que continuará a patrocinar atentados contra os EUA enquanto este país não adoptar o Sharia.
posted by Joao
Coalition Provisional Authority Operational Briefing [as notícias censuradas pelos media]
"Despite the challenges, Irai and coalition forces continue to work towards our common objective: a free and democratic Iraq. Large areas of Iraq are peaceful. Reconstruction is under way, and in fact it's accelerating. The cadres of Iraq security forces continue to build on a daily basis, and the Iraqi people increasingly are taking charge of their own destiny.
This afternoon, let me highlight some of those important advances that we've been making towards this objective.
The first is a water project that was undertaken by the 14th Engineer Battalion. This water project brings clean drinking water to 15,000 people in Al-Zawiyah (sp). The 14th Engineers and the Iraq is developed the town water plan. They installed a 10-kilometer water main in the first phase, and then this was later connected to homes and businesses. And now, in phase two, they brought a water filtration plant on line that is providing fresh water to more than 15,000 Iraqis. This is another great example of how Iraqis and coalition forces are cooperating to bring a better quality of life to this country.
In the area of education, we continue to work very hard to help meet the educational needs of the Iraqi children, and coalition units all over Iraq are focused on refurbishing over a thousand schools by the 1st of October. We're confident that with the help of the Iraqi people we will be able to achieve this objective. Education continues to be one of the primary focuses for our commanders emergency response fund program, with more than $10 million invested to date in over 1,300 projects.
As an example, the 1st Armored Division here in Baghdad helped clean up about 25 schools around the city. The renovations included structural, electrical repairs, plumbing, glass replacement and paintings. These schools are now safe for the opening of the school year on the first.
In the area of health care, the 109th Medical Battalion has been training Iraqi personnel to provide emergency medical services in their community, and this program supports a larger initiative to ensure that every hospital and clinic in Baghdad is operating. To date, the Medical Battalion has provided EMS and paramedic training to 31 Iraqis that were selected by the Ministry of Health. This training provides crucial first-response medical skills to participants, and they have completed phase one of a three-phase course, with the second phase currently ongoing. The goal for the Ministry of Health is to certify more than 400 students who are currently enrolled in this program. And also, in the area of supply and power, the coalition has installed 128 -- or is in the process of installing 128 generators to provide a constant power supply to hospitals and clinics.
In the area of transportation, the 1st Armored and the 354th Civil Affairs Brigade continues to work on improving the streets of Baghdad. They're working closely with the City Projects director, and they've planned some extensive repairs, to include widening of roads, installing medians, posting signs. And I'm sure all of you, as you've driven around the city, you've seen Iraqis working to improve their streets.
In the area of the Iraqi security initiatives, we continue to develop and produce capability to provide both internal and external security for the country. And I believe many of you had the opportunity to observe the new Iraqi army in training in the last week. These recruits are eager and enthusiastic about serving their country. The old army was specifically built to oppress and exploit the Iraqi people. Those officers swore an oath to the cult of Saddam Hussein and to an ethos of terrorism and extortion. That is quite different from this new Iraqi army. These soldiers, these non- commissioned officers have sworn allegiance to the people and the rule of law, as expressed in the will of the people of Iraq.
So far, we've got a little bit under 800 recruits in training that will graduate by the 4th of October and begin to serve their country under the control of the coalition forces. On the 5th of October, we will start the training of the second battalion.
Now, those are a few examples of the many ongoing advances that we have made here in the country."
posted by Joao
UNILATERALISMO AMERICANO
"WARSAW, Poland, Sept. 19, 2003 ? The Polish-led Multinational Division in Iraq has impressed U.S. military officials by its leadership, professionalism and competence, Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said here today.
Myers and Gen. Czeslaw Piatas, chief of the Polish General Staff, held a press conference following a series of meetings here. Myers used the occasion to thank the Polish government and military for their contributions to the global war on terror.
"U.S.-Poland military ties are exceptionally strong," Myers said. "Poland is indeed a valued ally. We are very grateful for Poland's contributions to Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and the many other places around the world where Polish armed forces serve to make this world a more peaceful place."
Myers said Poland's leadership of the Multinational Division is a "great asset" not only for the coalition, but also for the Iraqi people. Poland leads the 10,000-man division. The Central European country has the third largest contingent in Iraq following the United States and the United Kingdom, military officials said. There are 2,500 Polish service members in Iraq. The division has soldiers from 23 countries and is headquartered in Hillah.
The Multinational Division has started patrolling in Najaf, the Shiia holy city."
...The area the division is in is primarily Shiia and has been relatively peaceful, U.S. military officials said.
Myers and the Polish military leaders also discussed a wide range of issues. These included modernization and transforming the Polish military to meet the challenges of the new security environment.´" Desde que as tropas polacas chegaram ao Iraque - logo no início das operações -, a Polónia tem sido alvo de uma vaga de atentados terroristas que fizeram milhões de vítimas; morre um soldado polaco de 5 em 5 minutos...
posted by Joao
AMERICANOS DESTROEM EMPREGOS NA EUROPA
"The Department of Defense today announced that on Feb. 29, 2004, theU.S. Army, Europe (USAREUR) will cease operations at two military sites in the Netherlands. These facilities are the Combat Equipment Base Brunssum at Brunssum
and Combat Equipment Base Vriezenveen in Almelo. Both of these sites had been used to store and maintain the Army's repositioned stocks.
...Overall, the closures will impact approximately 10 soldiers, two US civilians, eight local-national civilians and approximately 400 employees of the Dutch Ministry of defense working at these facilities."
posted by Joao
MEDIA LIES, AND THE LYING MEDIA LIARS WHO TELL THEM
"This mismatch between what we?re hearing from non-journalists in Iraq, and the unending lugubrious flow from Big Media, is shaping up to be the next blow to the credibility of Big Journalism. Why are the reports we?re getting so lousy? You might argue that the situation is complex, and that these positive stories are only part of what?s going on. But that doesn?t explain why the coverage is so unrelentingly negative, and why stories like these get so little attention. I think it?s a combination of factors..."
posted by Joao
Sexta-feira, Setembro 19, 2003
DOCUMENTÁRIO: Globalisation is good
Estreia este Domingo no Channel 4...
"The world is an unequal and unjust place, in which some are born into wealth and some into hunger and misery. To explore why, in this controversial Channel Four documentary the young Swedish writer Johan Norberg takes the viewers on a journey to Taiwan, Vietnam, Kenya and Brussels to see the impact of globalisation, and the consequences of its absence. It makes the case that the problem in the world is not too much capitalism, globalisation and multinationals, but too little.
Does globalisation create a race to the bottom - or to the top?
"Globalisation is good" tells a tale of two countries that were equally poor 50 years ago - Taiwan and Kenya. Today Taiwan is 20 times richer than Kenya. We meet the farmers and entrepreneurs that could develop Taiwan because it introduced a market economy and integrated into global trade. And we meet the Kenyan farmers and slum dwellers that are still desperately poor, because Kenya shut its door to globalisation. The Kenyans are suffering from regulations, corruption and the lack of property rights. The unequal distribution in the world is a result of the unequal distribution of capitalism - those who have capitalism grow rich, those who don't stay poor.
Is Nike exploiting workers in poor countries? The film also explores the role of multinational corporations, especially the most criticised - Nike. In Vietnam we see that Nike's so called sweatshops give the Vietnamese better working conditions and many times the wages they would have otherwise. Instead of hurting the country, Nike contributes to rapid growth, poverty reduction and less child labour. Domestic factory owners visit Nike to get ideas on how to improve productivity and working conditions. If that is exploitation, then the problem in the world is that the poor are not sufficiently exploited.
The film concludes that we must fight for more globalisation if we want to help the poor countries. EU-protectionism is the worst obstacle today. We spend so much on agricultural protectionism that each of our 20 million cows could fly round the world once every year. The problem is not that we in the West are trying to trick poor countries into global capitalism. The problem is we are shutting them out from it. Therefore, the anti-globalisation movement is ignorant and dangerous. Far from protecting poor people the movement is inadvertently helping to keep them poor.
posted by Joao
The Unity of Marriage Is Possible Only with God
"When you are married you are not merely ?living together with a license,? but you have combined your psyches, your bodies?you have fused a piece of God?s creation as your very life, together with another piece of God?s creation. The context of a correct marriage is spiritual and ontological.
...There is an Order to life: either a marriage is aligned to it, or the marriage will fall, as in the Garden of Eden story.
...God is Good. Creation is Good. You have wonderful God-given freedom?more freedom than perhaps anyone can handle?and it?s destroying marriages.
Why? Because we don?t have absolute freedom; only God is Absolute Freedom. We have relative or contingent-freedom. Either we exercise our freedom in accordance with the laws of God?s Garden, or our freedom will, exercised in excess, cause us all sorts of problems, pitfalls, pain, and suffering.
When human freedom in marriage is exercised aligned to God, there is Goodness. You experience, concretely through life, the nature of God as goodness, oneness, and freedom.
...The first step to solving any marriage difficulty is one of the core secrets in the book: ?You are DUST.? You are the stuff that accumulates on windowsills. It is only God?s ?Nishmat chayyim,? living breath, that makes you human.
Put your egos in the right scheme of things. Sub-ordinate to God and God?s Order. Only then can you even begin to solve your marriage problems! Once you do God will open the door and show you how!"
[dedicado ao Pedro Mexia]
posted by Joao
CORRUPÇÃO NA COMISSÃO: Fraud probe extends beyond Eurostat
"EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Eurostat fraud scandal, which has shed doubts over whether the present Commission took the necessary steps against alleged corruption and fraud, appears not to be an isolated case as investigations have spread to other departments.
While pressure is mounting on Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes to step down over this affair - Mr Solbes is responsible for the EU statistical office, Eurostat - investigations have also been opened into the European Publications Office in Luxembourg, which falls under the responsibility of the Culture Commissioner, Viviane Reding." O que podem os cidadãos dos estados-membro fazer contra a Comissão ? Nada.
posted by Joao
"France and Germany in united attack on Commission"FRENCH PRESIDENT, Jacques Chirac (left) may be set for more conflict with Commission President Romano Prodi (right) - but he has an ally in German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
France and Germany face large fines from the Commission for their budget deficits and there is added conflict - in France's case - over the state's rescue of industrial giant Alstom, which is being blocked by Brussels. But yesterday, the Franco-German alliance - once dubbed the "motor" of Europe - revved up again to launch a counter-attack." O que pode a Comissão fazer contra o eixo franco-alemão ? Nada.
posted by Joao
COLIN POWELL: 'As Long as It Takes' - Iraqis are on the road to democratic self-government
" How long will we stay in Iraq? We will stay as long as it takes to turn full responsibility for governing Iraq over to a capable and democratically elected Iraqi administration. Only a government elected under a democratic constitution can take full responsibility and enjoy full legitimacy in the eyes of the Iraqi people and the world.
Anyone who doubts the wisdom of President Bush's course in Iraq should stand, as I did, by the side of the mass grave in Halabja, in Iraq's north. That terrible site holds the remains of 5,000 innocent men, women and children who were gassed to death by Saddam Hussein's criminal regime."
posted by Joao
Quinta-feira, Setembro 18, 2003
THE ECONOMIST
- World trade after the breakdown in Cancún
“SOME poor countries' politicians seemed to revel in the collapse of the World Trade Organisation's ministerial meeting on September 14th. The Philippine trade minister, for instance, told Reuters news agency that he was “elated” by it. Tanzania's delegate claimed to be “very happy” that poor countries had stood up to rich-country “manipulation”. But others were upset and shocked. According to one observer, the trade minister of Bangladesh had tears in his eyes. “I'm really disappointed,” he is reported to have said. “This is the worst thing we poor countries could have done to ourselves.”
Disappointment is the right reaction. For the Doha round of trade talks run by the WTO was geared specifically to help poor countries. They will be the biggest victims if the talks cannot be revived, and there seems to be scant prospect of that.
- Sweden and the euro
"“When we ask voters a European question, the answer is either no, or yes by only the narrowest of margins,” the Financial Times quoted an official of the European Commission as saying this week. “That should be telling us something,” he added. This penetrating insight deserves applause. It should indeed be telling them something. Mainly, it should be telling them that the “ever closer union” envisaged by the proposed constitution does not seem to be what most Europeans want."
- The trouble with the BBC
"The Hutton Inquiry has exposed flaws in the way the BBC carries out its journalism "
- Edward Teller
"Edward Teller, master bombmaker, died on September 9th, aged 95...
He was a favourite of Ronald Reagan, whose election, Mr Teller said, was a “miracle” for western civilisation. Mr Reagan's knowledge of maths was even less than Truman's, but he had watched space movies. When Mr Teller speculated that a defensive shield could be constructed in space to destroy an attack by missiles, Mr Reagan was immediately enthusiastic. “Star Wars” was born. Although Star Wars was a dud as a military weapon, “economic wars” were having some success. Star Wars disheartened the Russians, who were already going bust as a result of trying to keep up with American arms spending. So the idea may have hastened the break-up of the Soviet Union."
- Coup in Guinea-Bissau
"Foreign donors complained of corruption and erratic shifts in policy. Diplomats acknowledged that Mr Yala could be excellent company, a first-rate mimic, a devoted football fan, an enthusiastic drinker and so on, but they could not take him seriously."
posted by Joao
Is Christianity on its way out?
Mel Gibson’s Passion gets a Roman endorsement
The State that Justifies
"The state that justifies" is that state that explains its intentions and actions in the name of humanity, of the needs of the world. But what is justified is precisely that concept of man that makes him "servile," that reduces him to a subject of the benevolent state whose justification in being is precisely a perverted form of brotherly love or charity, one that does not begin with what man is but with what the new state thinks he must be even if he is not."
posted by Joao
ANDREW GILLIGAN: CONCERN OVER NOTES
"A computer expert has expressed "concern" over notes from BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan's meeting with Dr David Kelly.
Edward Wilding said Mr Gilligan's electronic organiser displayed two diffferent versions of notes.Mr Gilligan, questioned by his barrister, Heather Rogers QC, said the second version of his interview with Dr Kelly had been made after the pair went over the notes from the initial copy.
...he strongly denied having made the latter notes after parting from Dr Kelly." Agoras, suponham um membro do governo Inglês - Blair ou Jeff Hoon, tinham dois conjuntos de apontamentos diferentes e contraditórios sobre o caso David Kelly. O que diria o jornalista Gilligan sobre o assunto?
posted by Joao
Parabéns à Charlotte.
P.S. 33 ? No jantar da UBL não parecia ter mais de 23.
posted by Joao
OECD: EDucation at a Glance 2003
Briefing notes - Portugal:
- The national authorities establish curricula for all types of schools, grades and subjects.
- Expenditure per primary, secondary and post secondary non tertiary student, increased between1995 and 2000 by over 25%. Increases in expenditures on educational institutions amounted to 30% in Portugal between 1995 and 2000.
- Despite of the fact that Portugal has a relatively low GDP per capita, teachers’ salaries are comparable to those in countries with much higher GDP.
- Ratio of students to teaching staff for all secondary education (8,9%) is below the OECD mean (13.9%). The same result is found for primary education
Resultados:
- A notable progress in upper secondary attainment levels……but a limited improvement over the proportion of highly skilled people.
- The performance levels in reading literacy are rather low…
posted by Joao
DAVID GILLIGAN LIED [Exclusivo Nacional]
posted by Joao
AINDA O ARTIGO DE ONTEM SOBRE O MONTE ATHOS
"...No one is calling for the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of Europe, just an acknowledgement of self-evident historical facts. But the omission of Christianity in the earlier draft EU constitution, and the assault on Mt. Athos, is telling.
...Is it the Church’s business to set the EU’s social and and political agenda, or any other nation’s for that matter? Not at all. “No doubt the Church should not take sides in matters that are purely political or economic, but she should and must intervene when politics or economics raise ethical questions,” wrote Fr. Lev Gillet, who published under the name of “A Monk of the Eastern Church.” The Church, Gillet said, “must defend the essential rights of the human being. She must fight for natural law to be respected, whether between individuals or between states.”
...In his just-published “Facing the World: Orthodox Christian Essays on Global Concerns” (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003), Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and all Albania, discusses how the Church can prevent human rights declarations from becoming “dry, legal documents.” The essential right, Anastasios points out, is the right to pursue one’s own true nature and purpose in life:
“As to the Christian churches, if they want to make their own distinctive contribution to the cause of human rights, they should not limit themselves to fine analyses and admonitions, but should become in reality what they were meant to be: centers of moral and spiritual inspiration, where personalities can be molded; laboratories of selfless love; a place where the kingdom of God reveals itself on earth; a place where the level of human life is elevated from a collection of individuals, who merely coexist biologically, to a ‘communion of persons,’ which takes as its model the supreme reality: the Holy Trinity, whose praises the churches ceaselessly extol.” Archbishop Anastasios asks the Church to offer its unique witness in the human rights debate. And the Church’s “moral and spiritual inspiration” of which he speaks is too little found where political power is concentrating today.
posted by Joao
Special Relationships
"It's becoming clear that some journalists in Saddam's Iraq had special relationships with the government. Others did it the right way." Os jornalistas portugueses fazem todos parte deste segundo grupo...
posted by Joao
O VALETE APOIA A OMC PORQUE...OS HOMENS NÃO SÃO ANJOS
' expect, indeed, that the freedom of trade should ever be entirely restored...is as absurd as to expect that...Utopia should ever be established in it. Not only the prejudices of the public, but what is much more unconquerable, the private interest of many individuals, irresistibly oppose it.
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book IV Chapter II
posted by Joao
Quarta-feira, Setembro 17, 2003
Trespassers on the Holy Mountain?The EU?s rights watchdogs launch an assault on Mt. Athos
"The Mt. Athos outrage comes amid controversy over the draft EU constitution, which originally excluded any mention of Christianity?s role in shaping European civilization...Said Christodoulos, the Greek Orthodox Archibishop of Athens and all Greece: ?The proposed Constitution reduces the Church to a non-governmental organization, an institution whose houses of worship have the same status as the branch offices of a bank.?
...Simply put, the Church, its truths and traditions, represents a stumbling block to the EU?s growing ambitions for power. Against Judeo-Christian morality stands the EU?s doctrine of fundamental rights ? a lengthy laundry list of Euro-socialist pieties...How will the EU superstate of the future exercise power in a way that is informed by its culture?s moral truths and traditions? EU statecrafters won?t have to; they will simply draw up more lists of rights and grievances.
In effect, the EU is censoring history to make it more pliable for its own ideological ends. On the matter of the draft constitution, Archbishop Christodoulos warned that events of the 20th Century showed how an ideology allied with a powerful elite could lead to tragedy: ?The peoples of Europe have suffered greatly at the hands of small but powerful groups that have wished to fit history and our will to their hands.?
...The paradox, today, is that under the guise of perfecting earthly society and endowing all with a rich panoply of human rights, states may trample on and discard religious faith..."
posted by Joao
CATHOLIC ENCYICLOPEDIA (1908)
- COMMUNISM
"The complete equality sought by communism is a well-meant but mistaken interpretation of the great moral truths, that, as persons and in the sight of God, all human beings are equal; and that all have essentially the same needs and the same ultimate destiny... In so far as they are embodied in the principle of common ownership, these truths have found varied expressions in various countries and civilizations...and it is certain to receive still wider expansion in the future. Nevertheless, the verdict of experience, the nature of man, and the attitude of the Church, all assure us that complete communism will never be adopted by any considerable section of any people. While the Church sanctions the principle of voluntary communism for the few who have a vocation to the religious life, she condemns universal, compulsory, or legally enforced communism, inasmuch as she maintains the natural right of every individual to possess private property. She has reprobated communism more specifically in the Encyclical "Rerum Novarum" of Pope Leo XIII. "
- SOCIALISM
- LIBERALISM
"Liberalism may also mean a political system or tendency opposed to centralization and absolutism. In this sense Liberalism is not at variance with the spirit and teaching of the Catholic Church. Since the end of the eighteenth century, however, the word has been applied more and more to certain tendencies in the intellectual, religious, political, and economical life, which implied a partial or total emancipation of man from the supernatural, moral, and Divine order. Usually, the principles of 1789, that is of the French Revolution, are considered as the Magna Charta of this new form of Liberalism. The most fundamental principle asserts an absolute and unrestrained freedom of thought, religion, conscience, creed, speech, press, and politics. The necessary consequences of this are, on the one hand, the abolition of the Divine right and of every kind of authority derived from God; the relegation of religion from the public life into the private domain of one's individual conscience; the absolute ignoring of Christianity and the Church as public, legal, and social institutions; on the other hand, the putting into practice of the absolute autonomy of every man and citizen, along all lines of human activity, and the concentration of all public authority in one "sovereignty of the people". This sovereignty of the people in all branches of public life as legislation, administration, and jurisdiction, is to be exercised in the name and by order of all the citizens, in such a way, that all should have share in and a control over it. A fundamental principle of Liberalism is the proposition: "It is contrary to the natural, innate, and inalienable right and liberty and dignity of man, to subject himself to an authority, the root, rule, measure, and sanction of which is not in himself". This principle implies the denial of all true authority; for authority necessarily presupposes a power outside and above man to bind him morally."
posted by Joao
Vende-se Blog.
Quase Novo.
30.000 visitas.
posted by Joao
LIES, DAMN LIES AND JOURNALISM
"BBC correspondent Andrew Gilligan has admitted to mistakes and making some "slips of the tongue" over his story about the Iraq weapons dossier.
Gilligan has been facing tough cross examination at the Hutton Inquiry into the death of his source - the weapons expert Dr David Kelly.
Questioned by his own barrister Heather Rogers QC, Gilligan said he made an error in his initial broadcast on the Today programme by saying Dr Kelly told him the government had included the 45 minute weapons of mass destruction claim against the wishes of the intelligence services.
He said "The error I made here was in expressing the understanding I had that the views had been conveyed to the Government as something which Dr Kelly had told me directly."
When asked under cross-examination if he had inferred the allegations himself, he replied: "That's right. That was my mistake.
Gilligan also admitted he had been wrong to send an e-mail to a member of the foreign affairs select committee revealing Dr Kelly as the source for another BBC report.
"I was under an enormous amount of pressure at the time and simply was not thinking straight.
Then Gilligan faced cross examination from the Government's barrister Jonathan Sumption QC, about his claim that Dr Kelly told him his role was to advise on chemical and biological weapons claims in the dossier.
Sumption asked: "He never said any such thing to you, did he?"
Gilligan answered: "Yes, he did."
And he admitted to a further "mistake" when he referred to Dr Kelly as a member of the intelligence services, calling it "a slip of the tongue".
But when asked why he then let members of the foreign affairs select committee believe his source to be from the Intelligence services he replied: "I was attempting to protect Dr Kelly as my source."
Then the barrister representing the Kelly family asked Andrew Gilligan if he had introduced the phrase "to make it sexier" to his conversation with Dr Kelly.
Gilligan replied: "That is correct. They were adopted by him and they were spoken. He repeated the words."
But he said the word "Campbell" was first spoken by Dr Kelly.
The BBC's Director of News Richard Sambrook has also been giving evidence.
He told the inquiry he "felt myself in a dilemma" when he discovered the source was not in the intelligence services.
But he didn't order a correction because "on balance, we owed greater duty of confidentiality to try to help prevent the identification of Dr Kelly".
But when asked whether the question of truth concerned the BBC when making serious allegations, he said: "I do not believe we are always in a position to judge the absolute truth of the allegations being made.""
posted by Joao
ENTREVISTA COM MILTON FRIEDMAN
- Sobre o Euro (Friedman é um crítico...)
"John Hawkins: That may be true. Switching directions again, Europe has been moving towards a single currency. Do you think that's a wise move for all the states, some of them, or none of them? Why so?
Milton Friedman: We're in the midst of wonderful natural experiment. You have a really different arrangement with the euro than we've ever had historically. We've had many cases in which a number of countries have used the same currency. That's when they've used gold or silver as money. But each individual country has been able to control the content of its own money. So while they were using the same commodity as currency, they were always in a position to determine what the terms of exchange were between their own currency and the other currencies.
But the euro is a very different arrangement. For the first time in history, we have essentially an independent central bank for a considerable number of distinct political entities. I, in advance, was very negative about it and have been very negative & pessimistic about it. We'll see how the Europe plan does on the one hand and on the other, how the other countries of the world, the UK, the United States, Japan, which are linked together by flexible exchange rates, we'll see how they do.
So we'll have a really nice, natural experiment just as before the Soviet Union dissolved, we had a natural experiment comparing socialism and capitalism.
John Hawkins: If the euro were to replace the dollar as the medium of exchange, if everyone bought and sold their goods in euros instead of dollars, would that have an impact on the US economy?
Milton Friedman: The success of the United States will depend on how much it can produce at home, how much it can sell abroad, what it buys from abroad. It's of less importance whether it is denominated in dollars or euros.
John Hawkins: So in the end, that is really not going to make a big difference one way or the other...
Milton Friedman: That's not going to make a great deal of difference. What's going to make the difference is the productivity of the different countries. But personally, as I say, I believe the Euroland is going to run into big difficulties. That's because the different countries have different languages, limited mobility among them, and they're effected differently by external events.
Right now for example, Ireland and Spain are doing very well, but on the other hand Germany and France are doing very poorly. The question is; "Is the same monetary policy appropriate for all of them?" Germany and France on one hand and Ireland and Spain on the other. It's very dubious that it is. That's why you're having increasing difficulties within the Euroland group. As you probably know Sweden, which had not joined the European Monetary Union, voted down doing so and will keep its own currency."
- Sobre a grande depressão
"John Hawkins: ...Switching gears again here, in your opinion, what caused us to pull out of the Great Depression? Was it Roosevelt's policies, WW2...
Milton Friedman: Roosevelt's policies were very destructive. Roosevelt's policies made the depression longer and worse than it otherwise would have been. What pulled us out of the depression was the natural resilience of the economy + WW2.
You know, it's a mystery as to why people think Roosevelt's policies pulled us out of the Depression. The problem was that you had unemployed machines and unemployed people. How do you get them together by forming industrial cartels and keeping prices and wages up? That's what Roosevelt's policies in the New Deal amounted to. Essentially, increasing the role of government, enhancing the monopolistic position of labor, and creating as I said before the equivalent of price fixing cartels made things worse. So most of his policies were counterproductive. "
- e muito mais...
posted by Joao
A INJUSTIFICADA CANONIZAÇÃO DE ALLENDE
(Tradução de Claudio Andrés Téllez)
"A comemoração do trigésimo aniversário do golpe de Estado contra Salvador Allende no dia 11 de setembro tem desencadeado uma onda de comentários e de análises nos quais a figura do presidente derrocado é canonizada e ele é transformado numa espécie de mártir da democracia. Sem dúvida, a longa ditadura instaurada pelo general Pinochet e a repressão brutal à qual deu lugar merecem uma condenação unânime. Entretanto, a história do fim do governo da Unidade Popular é bem diferente da refletida por uma boa parte dos meios de comunicação nestes dias e muito diferente de como foi contemplada no seu momento. Como expressava The Economist em seu editorial do dia 13 de Setembro de 1973: "A morte transitória da democracia no Chile será lamentável, mas a responsabilidade direta pertence claramente ao Dr. Allende e àqueles de seus seguidores que atropelaram a Constituição".
A tragédia chilena não foi o produto da eventualidade e nem das tentativas das "forças reacionárias" de acabar com um pacífico processo de mudanças, mas sim o efeito direto do projeto ideológico desenhado pelo Partido Socialista do Chile. Nos seus congressos de Linares (julho de 1965) e de Chillán (novembro de 1967), o PSCH definia-se como marxista-leninista e proclamava a legitimidade do uso da força como meio para alcançar e/ou manter o poder. No Congresso de Chillán, a resolução adotada de forma unânime pelos compromissários dizia que "a violência revolucionária é inevitável e legítima... Constitui a única via que conduz à tomada do poder político e econômico, e à sua ulterior defesa e fortalecimento. Somente destruindo o aparato democrático-militar do Estado burguês pode consolidar-se a revolução socialista". Obviamente, os membros restantes da coalizão allendista, como o MIR e o Partido Comunista, compartilhavam
dessa opinião (ver Julio Cesar Jobet, La Historia del Partido Socialista de Chile, Documentas, 1987).
A intervenção militar foi o resultado de uma rebelião civil e parlamentária diante da deriva do regime da Unidade Popular em direção ao totalitarismo..."
posted by Joao
NORMAN BARRY: There?s No Philadelphia in Europe
Para quê tanta discussão sobre "constituições" e outras manobras centralistas? Tragam de volta o velhinho Tratado de Roma:
"...the original Treaty of Rome (1957), which bound the creators of an economically integrated Europe, was not especially illiberal (in the classical sense). It embodied the ?Four Freedoms??of movement, of goods and services, of capital, and of labor?that constitute the sine qua non of a market society. International regulation was originally limited to the enforcement of the common rules of practice necessary for free economies. True, there were regulations that had immediate legislative impact on member states and directives that were adopted by local legislatures to fit particular circumstances. But in its early days, European-wide law did not automatically take precedence over the laws of member states; so there was some similarity with America?s Articles of Confederation, which required the agreement of all states for laws to be nationally applicable. Unanimity was never achieved, and that is why the framers of the Constitution aimed to make federal law directly applicable to all Americans, as well as to permit direct taxation by the proposed federal government."
posted by Joao
O Carimbo , o Tolentino e o Vitamina C fizeram o favor de se apresentarem ao Valete.
O Carimbo pretende "marcar mas não ferretear" e vai descrevendo os seus fins-de-semana em Oxford.
O nome e divisa do Tolentino são inspirados no escritor Nicolau Tolentino que infelizmente não é autor de nenhum dos 5 livros que o Valete leu até ao momento. A missão deste Blog é tornar a blogosfera mais actuante. Talvez por essa razão, o Tolentino considera que o Valete é uma "inutilidade militante"...bem-vindo ao clube.
O Vitamina C é um candidato à União dos Blogues Livres...seria o terceiro membro proveniente da FCHS da UNL (não devem haver muitos mais).
posted by Joao
Terça-feira, Setembro 16, 2003
CLÁUDIO TELLEZ NO MÍDIA SEM MÁSCARA: A causa de Fidel Reyes
O Cláudio continua a demolir o mito Allende: "Fica evidente que durante o governo da Unidade Popular não havia liberdade no Chile, o que havia era libertinagem e covardia. É isso que o advogado Fidel Reyes denuncia, e é isso que os meios informativos e os (de)formadores de opinião tentam calar a todo custo."
posted by Joao
Agradecimentos ao Pedro Mexia pela referência ao Valete no seu testamento blogo-político no Dicionário.
posted by Joao
 VALETE CLIMATE CHANGE INFORMATION SERVICE: Dentro de 100 anos as calotas polares vão desaparecer
De acordo com um artigo da New Scientist (referido aqui), as calotas polares de Marte estão a derreter-se e ameaçam desaparecer no espaço de 1 século. Os cientisitas estão perplexos com este desenvolvimento e atribuem-no às mudanças climáticas verificadas no planeta comuna vermelho.
Fiel à sua missão de serviço público, o Valete esclarece os cientistas: - Há muitos, muitos anos atrás, os marcianos resolveram implementar o "milénio sem carros".
- Esta medida foi responsável pela conservação da natureza marciana no seu estado puro, sem contaminação
humana marciana. Este estado de pureza ambiental durou muitos, muitos anos.
- Foi então que os imperialistas, capitalistas e neo-conservadores americanos resolveram enviar para Marte...1 carro. Chamaram-lhe "Mars Lander".
- O resultado está à vista e é documentado no artigo acima referido.
- Confrontados com esta catástrofe ambiental, e depois de muito estudo, os marcianos foram obrigados a escolher entre duas opções:
- Assinar os Protocolos de Kioto
ou
- Imigrar para a terra e e exterminar os humanos, responsáveis por esta desgraça.
- Não vou aqui revelar qual foi a decisão final dos marcianos, porque o meu isolacionismo não me permite envolver-me nos assuntos internos dos extra-terrestres...mas, de qualquer forma, na próxima vez que virem uma ambientalista na televisão, olhem bem para ele e ouçam-no com atenção...aquela conversa é de quem não sabe em que planeta é que vive...e agora já ficaram a saber por que razão é que também lhes chamam...verdes ("little green men").
posted by Joao
CNN CONFESSIONAL: THE NEWS WE KEPT TO OURSELVES...
"Over the last dozen years I made 13 trips to Baghdad to lobby the government to keep CNN's Baghdad bureau open and to arrange interviews with Iraqi leaders. Each time I visited, I became more distressed by what I saw and heard — awful things that could not be reported because doing so would have jeopardized the lives of Iraqis, particularly those on our Baghdad staff..."
posted by Joao
VALETE ISRAELI NEWS NETWORK
- Israeli Forces have thwarted seven terrorist attacks
"The Israel Security Agency, the Israel Defense Forces and the Border Police have thwarted seven terrorist attacks since the attacks on Jerusalem and Tzrifin last week, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Most of the thwarted attacks were to have been carried out by suicide bombers. A Hamas terrorist arrested Sunday morning in the Kalandia refugee camp near Ramallah was planning to carry out a suicide attack in Israel in the near future. The arrest comes a day after Border patrol forces found three explosives belts stashed in a washing machine in an East Jerusalem butcher's shop. The explosives belts were ready for use and contained 20 kilograms of explosives, as well as nails and metal ball bearings to increase the bomb's deadliness. In other news, a Palestinian child was shot dead by IDF troops near the Atarot airport close to Jerusalem Sunday night, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL reported. A group of people broke through the outer perimeter fence at Atarot airfield Sunday night and were heading for an inner fence."
- Inside the War on Hamas - How Israel's army tries to stop suicide bombers before they have a chance to strike
"...far from laying down its arms, Hamas used the cease-fire to reorganize, restock its bombmaking arsenal and plot a new wave of suicide attacks. Israel has responded by broadening its offensive against Hamas to include strikes aimed at killing the group's ideological and political leaders. "
- Arafat Offers Ceasefire, but Israel Refuses
"We are ready to sit and we are ready to declare a general ceasefire, but there needs to be something mutual because without mutuality nothing will be achieved," Rajoub told Israel Radio. He did not say how the Palestinian Authority would reach a new ceasefire deal with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several truces had not ended the fighting. The official quoted a security Cabinet decision from last Thursday which says Israel will not agree to anymore ceasefires.
Israel Radio quoted unnamed government officials as saying the truce offer was an attempt to "rescue" Arafat from the threat of expulsion."
- U.N. action urged to protect Arafat
"THE COUNCIL?S decision Monday night to go to a vote on a resolution drafted by the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Nasser al-Kidwa, capped a day of harsh debate in which more than 40 governments took the floor to condemn a decision by the Israeli security Cabinet to get rid of Arafat through unspecified means.
But Washington, Israel?s closest ally, was ?not prepared to support the resolution in its present form? because it did not explicitly condemn terrorism by Palestinian militant groups and was ?very lopsided? against Israel, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte told reporters."
- Israel Blasts UN Attempts to Protect Arafat
"Dan Gillerman, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, is accusing the UN security council of hypocrisy for considering a Palestinian resolution that demands that Israel refrain from taking action against Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL reported. Gillerman said the Security Council had repeatedly met to condemn Israeli actions, but ignored Palestinian suicide bombings and shooting attacks on Israelis. "The fact that the Security Council remembers to meet because of a decision to expel a person, who in everyone's opinion is a murderer and responsible for the wave of terrorism, and possibly for the worst terrorism in the 21st century, is a black mark," Gillerman said. The Security Council was set to vote today on a resolution forbidding Israel from deporting Arafat from the West Bank.
Israeli officials explained over the weekend that the cabinet's decision to remove Arafat had been made in principle but that no date or method of expulsion had been decided upon. Senior sources indicated "the Americans have no problem with deporting Arafat morally or ideologically, but see it as a political and practical risk." The United States issued a warning to Israel over the weekend not to exile Arafat for fear this would complicate the peace efforts and inflame the region."
- Why Arafat Must Go
"Arafat's ongoing encouragement of terror and his obstructive machinations were preventing all progress in diplomatic negotiations. Although he was relegated to the sidelines, his malign shadow still hovered over the road map, leaving it no chance of advancing while the violence escalated. The cabinet understood that it was either Arafat or negotiations, and decided to vote in favor of the peace process. The timing of when exactly to remove the PLO leader is still under discussion"
- U.S. to Hold Back Some Funds from Israel
"The Bush administration said on Monday it would withhold some funds from Israel because of its settlement activities in Palestinian areas."
- Cabinet Discusses Reductions in Defense Budget
"Before the cabinet convened today to discuss the 2004 state budget, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Minister of Finance Benjamin Netanyahu agreed that an additional NIS 320 million (approximately $71 million) would be slashed from the defense budget, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL reported. Sharon and Netanyahu had already agreed on Sunday to cut NIS 750 million (approximately $166 million) from the defense?s budget, setting its amount for next year at NIS 32.85 billion (approximately $7.3 billion). The treasury's original proposal recommended for a NIS 3 billion (approximately $600 million) drop in defense allocations for 2004.
..."The problem is that we have a government budget that's too large, a defense budget that's too large," Marani said. Rejecting a suggestion that the treasury should raise taxes, he said taxes were already too high and the deficit could not keep increasing indefinitely. Marani indicated that leaving the deficit unchecked would endanger the American loan guarantees and lead to the deterioration of the economy."
- Government Accepts Or Report, Sets Up Panel to Examine Findings
"The Government formally accepted the Or Commission's recommendations on Sunday and appointed a committee to examine the report and advise on how to implement its findings, HA?ARETZ reported. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that ?Israel's Arab citizens deserve equality as a right, and not a privilege? but that there was still a long way to go to reach that situation. Sharon said that the ?Government has put this issue high on its list of priorities? and that he personally chaired a ministerial committee on this matter. ?There are many more things which must be done in order to reach genuine equality of rights and obligations between Jews and Arabs,? Sharon indicated. The Prime Minister also said that the vast majority of the Arab public was law-abiding and had the right to demonstrate and protest within the framework of the law. But he warned against ?a vocal, extremist, inciting minority, several of whose members are in detention today on suspicion of cooperating with the worst of the nation's enemies?. ?Jews and Arabs will live together and can live together - and for this to happen, two things must occur - the law must be fully upheld by all and justice must be carried out," Sharon said.
Regarding the commission?s criticism of Israel Police, Sharon said, "the report raises severe shortcomings that must be examined and repaired; all lessons must be drawn. But, we must not, even for a moment, forget the police personnel who stand in the streets of Jerusalem today, patrol the seam line and prevent terrorist attacks, sometimes with their bodies.?
- US court: Iran to pay 420 million to US victims of Hamas bombing
posted by Joao
HUTTON INQUIRY II
" The big macher at the BBC, Greg Dyke, told the Hutton inquiry a couple of devastating things yesterday. First, he admitted that he had denounced criticisms of the BBC's journalism without even checking whether the sourcing was accurate or fair. Internal BBC emails worrying about the sloppy standards of reporter Andrew Gilligan's journalism were unknown to him at the time, he said. He also conceded that it was "unacceptable" that Gilligan had leaked the name of the late scientist David Kelly as the source for another reporter's work"
[Agradecimentos ao Intermitente]
posted by Joao
HUTTON INQUIRY: MI6 SPYMASTER SPEAKS "The spymaster who runs MI6 has stepped into the Iraq weapons row, saying the controversial claim that Baghdad's weapons could be deployed in 45 minutes was based on reliable intelligence.
Sir Richard Dearlove, who has never before spoken at a public inquiry, gave his evidence via an audio link to the investigation by Lord Hutton into the death of Dr David Kelly.
He revealed that the 45-minute line - which the BBC had claimed was used to 'sex-up' a report on Iraq's weapons capabilities - had come from "well-sourced intelligence" - a senior Iraqi military officer who was "certainly in a position to know this".
posted by Joao
THE ANNA LINDH MURDER: A TALE OF EURO-SCLEROSIS
"...for the second time in as many weeks, I find myself wondering where European statism is heading. In France, where the death toll in the brutal Gallic summer is now up to 15,000, the attitude of Junior to the funny smell coming from gran'ma's apartment was the proverbial Gallic shrug and a demand that the government should do something about it.
On Thursday, Swedes, though more upset, took much the same line: The government should have done more for Lindh.
...There seem to have been an awful lot of bystanders to Lindh's stabbing -- in broad daylight, in a crowded Stockholm department store, after being pursued by her assailant up an escalator...if just a handful of the dozens present, had acted rather than bystanding, Lindh might still be dead but her killer would be in jail and not en route, like the late Prime Minister Olav Palme's murderer, to becoming yet another man who got away.
''It's terrible wherever it happens,'' said Fredrik Sanabria. ''But you think you would be safe from this kind of violence in a country like Sweden.''
Really? Why would you think that? Sweden's violent crime and murder rates have been going up, up, up over the last quarter-century. But just about every Swede quoted in every news story seems mired in what National Review's Dave Kopel described, after 9/11, as ''the culture of passivity.'' The lone exception was Lanja Rashid, a Kurdish immigrant. ''If I had been there at the stabbing, I would have ripped his face off,'' she said. ''We Swedes have to think again. How could he have got away? How could people just stand back and watch?''
You can blame it on a lack of police, as everyone's doing. But Lindh's killer didn't get away with it because of the people who weren't there but because of the people who were: the bystanders...
To expect the government to save you is to be a bystander in your own fate." Há uns tempos atrás, contava-se a seguinte história sobre os Suecos: se alguém caia na rua vitimidado por uma qualquer doença súbita, ninguém parava para o ajudar...porque existia um serviço do Estado para tratar destes casos...enfim, é o que se chama desenvolvimento social e cultural.
posted by Joao
Vi no Sábado, pela primeira vez, o filme "Black Hawk Down".
É o filme mais projectado na sala de cinema da Casa Branca, portanto, fui forçado a comprar o filme...
Descobri na Internet a descrição da operação em causa num site dos Rangers americanos ( aqui), um documentário da PBS sobre o tema ( aqui) os comentários de um participantes na operação sobre os acontecimentos e sobre o filme ( aqui). Na sequência desta operação, foram atribuídas postumamente duas medalhas de honra do Congresso ( aqui).
posted by Joao
Segunda-feira, Setembro 15, 2003
O Valete subscreve as palavras do Abrupto sobre o Euro e a UE, como resulta do post desta manhã e da sequência de 5 posts publicada (como guest blogger) no Intermitente sobre Hayek e a U.E.
P.S. Hoje citei o Abrupto por 3 vezes...em minha defesa posso apenas referir que o meu seguidismo vem de longe...alguns dias depois de ter criado este Blog, e alguns meses antes do Abrupto ter nascido, escrevi este post...é verdade que gosto mais dos artigos do JPP do que do Abrupto - não tenho grande paciência para as pinturas, para os objectos perdidos, para as discussões literárias e...sempre que volto a face para o céu não é para olhar para as estrelas... mas nos últimos dias, o Abrupto parece-se cada vez mais com os artigos do JPP.
posted by Joao
DESINFORMAÇÃO - por J.O. de Meira Penna
"O controle da opinião pública através da desinformação está atingindo níveis insuportáveis neste últimos tempos...A transmissão da dezinformatsyia se faz de três maneiras diferentes: 1) de modo direto ou pela mentira; 2) pela ocultação da relevante notícia verdadeira; e 3) pela ambigüidade, a duplicidade ou o doubletalk."
[Agradecimentos ao Cláudio]
posted by Joao
A CORRUPÇÃO DOS JORNALISTAS OCIDENTAIS EM BAGDAD [agradecimentos ao Intermitente]
The New York Times' John F. Burns reveals just how compromised and corrupt so many journalists were in Iraq, how willing they were to hide the atrocities of the regime, how their own self-interest trumped the truth:
"Terror, totalitarian states, and their ways are nothing new to me, but I felt from the start that [Saddam's Iraq] was in a category by itself, with the possible exception in the present world of North Korea. I felt that that was the central truth that has to be told about this place. It was also the essential truth that was untold by the vast majority of correspondents here. Why? Because they judged that the only way they could keep themselves in play here was to pretend that it was okay.
There were correspondents who thought it appropriate to seek the approbation of the people who governed their lives. This was the ministry of information, and particularly the director of the ministry. By taking him out for long candlelit dinners, plying him with sweet cakes, plying him with mobile phones at $600 each for members of his family, and giving bribes of thousands of dollars. Senior members of the information ministry took hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes from these television correspondents who then behaved as if they were in Belgium. They never mentioned the function of minders. Never mentioned terror.
In one case, a correspondent actually went to the Internet Center at the Al-Rashid Hotel and printed out copies of his and other people's stories -- mine included -- specifically in order to be able to show the difference between himself and the others. He wanted to show what a good boy he was compared to this enemy of the state. He was with a major American newspaper.
Who was that reporter? Why won't Burns name him? If you still harbor doubts about the overwhelming moral case for the liberation of Iraq, you need to read this interview. It's devastating about the mainstream media in the U.S., let alone mouthpieces for tyranny like the BBC:
"Now left with the residue of all of this, I would say there are serious lessons to be learned. Editors of great newspapers, and small newspapers, and editors of great television networks should exact from their correspondents the obligation of telling the truth about these places. It's not impossible to tell the truth. I have a conviction about closed societies, that they're actually much easier to report on than they seem, because the act of closure is itself revealing. Every lie tells you a truth. If you just leave your eyes and ears open, it's extremely revealing... I did a piece on Uday Hussein and his use of the National Olympic Committee headquarters as a torture site. It's not just journalists who turned a blind eye. Juan Antonio Samaranch of the International Olympic Committee could not have been unaware that Western human rights reports for years had been reporting the National Olympic Committee building had been used as a torture center. I went through its file cabinets and got letter after letter from Juan Antonio Samaranch to Uday Saddam Hussein: "The universal spirit of sport," "My esteemed colleague." The world chose in the main to ignore this.
Of course they did. But they won't ignore even a single guerrilla attack on coalition forces, will they?
Isto não se aplica aos correspondentes portugueses, é claro...
posted by Joao
FULGENCIO BATISTA E FIDEL CASTRO: A TALE OF TWO DICTATORS
As recentes comparações entre Fidel e Pinochet são injustas para o Fidel, coitado. O Chile é completamente diferente de Cuba. O verdadeiro termo de comparação deve ser o ditador a quem Fidel substituiu, o Fulgêncio Batista:
"Batista bested Castro in virtually every broad socio-economic indicator, he paled in comparison when it came to controlling either the electoral process or the populace. Castro executed thousands of political opponents after he came to power, imprisoned tens of thousands and caused hundreds of thousands to flee to exile. Where Batista won a disputed election, a Castro election leaves no room for dispute: Castro allows no opponents, no opposing viewpoints to appear in the press...Castro managed a 90%-plus "yes" vote, not quite as impressive as Saddam Hussein's 100% but, among dictators, respectable enough."
[Publiquei este post pela primeira vez no dia 15 de Março de 2003]
posted by Joao
VALETE IRAQ NEWS SERVICE
- DONALD RUSMSFELD: 4 and a half months later...
"Among the "truly impressive accomplishments" made in Iraq during the past four and a half months, Rumsfeld cited the establishment of local governments in more than 90 percent of the country, the completion of 600 reconstruction projects, and the reopening of all universities, schools and hospitals.
And today, the defense secretary noted, up to 56,000 Iraqis are performing police, military, border-guard, site-protection and civil-defense duties. Another 14,000 to 15,000 Iraqis are now in training, he added."
- COLIN POWELL
"...the people of the world are going to see an Iraqi government that has now started to develop and that will grow as time passes and become more and more effective and will take on more and more responsibilities.
They are in the process now of forming a group to write a constitution, and from that constitution elections will flow. And from those elections, we will have new leadership.
And at that time, the Coalition Provisional Authority will be very happy to transfer full authority for this new country, this brand-new country, really, to the elected leadership of that country, a country that will live in peace with its neighbors and in security for its people."
- American forces arrested five men suspected of helping finance insurgents during raids on homes in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit
- Coalition Improving water distribution efforts in Northern Iraq
posted by Joao
EURO: O princípio do fim ?
- A França afirmou que não vai cumprir o pacto de estabilidade até "por volta" de 2006. Como o ministro das finanças francês explicou:"
my first duty is employment and not to solve accounting equations and do mathematical problems until some office or other in some country or other is satisfied.? Apesar das aparências, isto não é unilateralismo, nem desrespeito pelos "compromissos internacionais"...
- Apesar do incumprimento do pacto de estabilidade e das declarações claras do governo francês, a Comissão não mencionou ainda a possibilidade da aplicação da multa prevista pelo incumprimento do pacto. O comportamento da Comissão Europeia, a guardiã do pacto de estabilidade, levou já 1º ministro holandês a afirmar que, caso a Comissão não actue, levará o caso para os tribunais.
- Em 1 de Novembro de 2003, um francês assume as funções de governador do Banco Central Europeu (aqui).
- Os Suecos votaram marioritariamente contra a adesão ao Euro.
O projecto do Euro está em risco. A culpa é daqueles que não querem cumprir os compromissos anteriomente assumidos e também daqueles que querem transformar o Euro numa dos pilares de um Nova Europa centralizada e submetida aos interesses da França e dos burocratas de Bruxelas. A desconfiança que o comportameto de uns e os desejos de outros fazem surgir comprometem o Euro...e talvez não só o Euro...
Recordemos que foi graças ao Euro que Portugal conseguiu acabar com a herança de irresponsabilidade monetária e financeira herdada do 25 de Abril, beneficando em troca de uma redução das taxas de juro e da inflação e do fim da possibilidade das crises da balança de pagamentos. E foi graças ao pacto de estabilidade que os governos portugueses conseguiram fazer face aos grupos de pressão e iniciar (timidamente) um processo de restruturação orçamental.
posted by Joao
AS PROPOSTAS DE PAULO PORTAS
O Abrupto critica a proposta de Paulo Portas relativa à imigração. O Valete concorda com a crítica.
Mas o Paulo Portas propôs também a revisão da Constituição com o objectivo de expurgar do texto a linguagem e as propostas programáticas de inspiração socialista (e comunista). O Valete concorda com esta proposta (e acha que o Abrupto também concorda...mas não diz).
posted by Joao
AS MANIPULAÇÕES JORNALÍSTICAS DA RTP
O Abrupto afirma que a RTP manipulou a informação no que diz respeito ao referendo sobre o Euro na Suécia. A RTP tomou a parte - meia dúzia de entrevistados -, pelo todo, enganando assim os espectadores.
Na semana 6ª feira, o Valete tinha já detectado o mesmo tipo de manipulação em relação ao conflito Israel-Arafat.
Será coincidência ?
posted by Joao
The Conservative Tradition in America By Charles W. Dunn and J. David Woodard
The Ten Most Important Beliefs of Conservatism:
- Continuity: Order and the Rate of Change
"Tradition, continuity, and order in society . . . must not be disregarded, however carefully reasoned or attractive an untested reform may be."
- Authority: Power and the Limits of Government
"The state's primary function is to protect against foreign threats and to keep order at home . . . . The foundation of military strength is the belief that the American social order is unique and worthy of protection and respect."
- Community: Decentralization of Social Institutions
"The proper function of government . . . is not to concentrate power but to diffuse it to the institutions of organic society . . . [which] serve as checks on the power of the central authority."
- Deity: Man and Morality
"The conservative generally has a strong belief in God and holds to traditional moral values."
- Duty: Responsibilities over Rights
" 'Rights are something to be earned rather than given . . . The duties of man - service, effort, obedience, cultivation of virtue, and self-restraint - are the price of rights.'"
- Democracy: Limited Government and the Constitution
"If law changes with the circumstances of the time, it becomes uncertain and unstable. In such circumstances, Americans live under a government of men, not of laws."
- Property: The Role of Economics
"Capitalism is built on the assumption of private property . . .Government should interfere in the economy as little as possible, allowing the law of supply and demand to guide men in making profitable decisions."
- Liberty: Equality's Big Brother
"Individuals have an infinite variety of talents and are entitled to find economic, political, and social rewards without fear of government license or redistribution."
- Meritocracy: The Leadership Class
"America was founded as a society opposed to titles of nobility . . . John Adams spoke of a 'natural aristocracy,' which anyone could join by virtue of merit and ability."
- Antipathy: The Anticommunist Impulse
"The chief crime of communism is not that it takes away property, but that it removes freedom upon which property is based."
posted by Joao
Tornei-me assinante da versão digital da National Review. O preço da assinatura anual: USD 19.95 (mais ou menos 4 contos)...melhor do que que isto só na feira de Azeitão, onde o cigano está maluco e vende tudo a 5 euros.
posted by Joao
Sábado, Setembro 13, 2003
CONDOLEEZZA RICE: WMD report expected to be released later this month
"Condoleezza Rice told reporters at a Foreign Press Center briefing that former chief U.N. weapons inspector David Kay "is doing a thorough job now of putting together documentary evidence" on Saddam's suspected WMD programs.
Kay's work, Rice said, includes interviews and physical evidence to show "a full picture of what has happened" to Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and "the state of his (WMD) programs."
...That the deposed regime "had used and continued to pursue weapons of mass destruction" was backed up by "U.N. accounts, or the accounts of foreign intelligence services, or the accounts of three different" American administrations, Rice maintained.
...While no WMDs have been found in post-Saddam Iraq thus far, vast weapons caches -- and buried military jets -- have been discovered since the former dictator's regime yielded power April 9 when U.S. and coalition troops secured Baghdad.
However, Rice predicted that thanks to Kay's work "we will find now with the full picture before us, the state of those (WMD) programs." The report is expected to be released later this month. "
posted by Joao
b British Muslims condemn radicals
"Moderate Muslims joined Britain's opposition Conservative Party yesterday in calling for a crackdown on militant Islamists in the country.
The demand came one day after a Muslim group turned September 11 into a tribute to the "magnificent 19" hijackers who killed more than 3,000 people in the attacks two years ago.
...There, a man calling himself Abu Omar said the 19 hijackers had "done a good deed" and that they had "made the ultimate sacrifice" for Allah.
...One of the speakers later told a national television news program Thursday night that Prime Minister Tony Blair would be "a legitimate target for Muslims in those countries his soldiers occupy."
...Omar Bakri, the world leader of Al Muhajiroun, recently told The Washington Times that splitting the world was good for Islam.
Separation was needed between those who accepted Islam as the only legitimate religion and the rest, the "infidels."
The ultimate battle will be between the true Muslims and the rest of the world, who are either Christians, Jews or heathens ? and "there are also many Muslims who we consider traitors," Mr. Bakri said.
The vast majority of Britain's estimated 2 million Muslims support the left-of-center Labor Party, and several Muslims are members of Parliament.
One of the lawmakers, Khalid Mahmood, said the radicals' speeches Thursday were an affront to Muslims.
"They are doing it deliberately to incite racial hatred and they should not be allowed to get away with it," he told the Express.
"They are inciting divisions between communities, and I would say to decent people: Don't give them any credibility, and let people see how isolated they are." Comentários: - Alguns comentadores da extrema-esquerda e não só tomam as declarações dos "guerrilheiros" como expressão da "vontade geral" dos muçulmanos...pelos vistos a realidade é um pouco diferente...
- Outros confundem os "jovens guerrilheiros" com "combatentes pela liberdade"...são aqueles que nunca leram as declarações dos "movimentos radicais"...
- E, ao contrário dos cultores das teorias de conspiração, os "radicais" não têm dúvidas quanto à autoria dos atentados perpretados no dia 11 de Setembro de 2001...
posted by Joao
 SMILING FROM THE WOMB
"Pioneering scanning techniques have produced astonishing images from inside the womb which show babies apparently smiling and crying.
...The ultra-sound scanning techniques capture images which show the foetuses yawn, blink, suck their fingers and seem to cry and smile.
Up to now, doctors did not think infants made such expressions until after birth and believed they learned to smile by copying their mother."
À atenção do bloco de extrema-esquerda e dos "jovens" do ps [é claro que, no caso destes, a convivência com um certo secretário-geral explicará o seu apoio à liberalização do aborto].
posted by Joao
TURISMO ANTIGLOBALIZAÇÃO: The New Radical Chic
"For the anti-global-capitalism movement has always been partly about a particularly fashionable sort of fun -- fun involving ripped clothes, Third World music and cool venues. Stage a WTO meeting in Seattle, home of Starbucks and grunge, and thousands of demonstrators show up. Hold one in Frankfurt and no one will come. Cancun clearly belongs in the cool category, with its nice white beaches..." A indústria global do turismo anti-globalização tem, no entanto, sido vítima da recessão: "An economic downturn is bad for anti-globalist groups, which are dependent on the capitalist system not only for the computers they use to organize their protests and for the deregulated airlines they use to get there but for the funds, from individuals, corporations and even governments, that they live on." Mas nem tudo são más notícias. Parece que os turistas da anti-globalização começam a aprender qualquer coisa com as suas voltas pelo Mundo: " Listen hard to Third World activists these days -- Oxfam, say, or the Jubilee Network -- and it is not anti-globalization rhetoric you hear but anti-trade-barrier rhetoric. In the run-up to Cancun, at least a half-dozen people have told me that the average European cow receives $2.50 in daily agricultural subsidies, more money than at least 3 billion of the world's humans have to live on. These agricultural subsidies are, without question, one of the least-discussed, farthest-reaching of international scandals"
posted by Joao
France in choppy waters at EU finance ministers' lakeside retreat
"STRESA, Italy (AFP) - France was given a stormy ride by its EU partners Friday for flouting the budget rules governing the 12-nation euro zone, but appeared unrepentant despite the risk of multi-million-euro fines.
European Union (news - web sites) finance ministers gathered on the shores of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, in the shadow of the Alps, for what was billed as an informal get-together to take stock of economic developments.
But the French government's defiance of the euro area's Stability and Growth Pact left it seriously out of step with other member states and the European Commission (news - web sites).
Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes said he was "not reassured" by the French government's spending plans, and stressed it had to produce "clear and credible commitments" to reduce its swollen deficit.
Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm refused to rule out the threat of court action if the Commission failed to push for fines against France for repeatedly breaching the deficit limit for euro countries.
" Aposto que não será aplicada qualquer multa à França.
posted by Joao
Sexta-feira, Setembro 12, 2003
AL-QAEDA PRODUÇÕES TELEVISIVAS, S.A.
 | "A videotape showing one of the Sept. 11 hijackers encouraging Arabs to fight against Americans was released by the satellite television channel Al-Jazeera Friday.
Saeed Alghamdi, one of the four hijackers onboard United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa., killing 40 people, is shown reading his will and making threats against America...
The Mujahideen will carry out more attacks against the United States,? Alghamdi, a Saudi Arabian citizen, said on the tape. Alghamdi is shown in the desert firing a machine gun and operating a rocket launcher. ?The safety of the American is by leaving the Muslim countries,? he said on the tape." |
Os programas televisivos produzidos pela Al-Qaeda são normalmente difundidos pela Al-Jazeera, o tal canal cujo director trabalhava para os serviços secretos iraquianos e cujos jornalistas são presos em Espanha sob a acusação de terrorismo.
O objectivo das produções televisivas da Al-Qaeda é a propaganda.
Mesmo que a gravação não tenha qualquer valor informativo e seja uma simples repetição de ameaças mil vezes ouvidas, será fiel e acriticasmente retransmitida por todos os "ógãos de comunicação", que assim cumprem o papel que lhes foi atribuído pelos estrategas da Al-Qaeda. [É claro que a simples retransmissão de um discurso do Presidente dos EUA, sem qualquer "orientação" editorial, seria impensável; revelaria falta de "isenção jornalística" e seria uma forma vassalagem ao imperialismo americano...]
Os realizadores da Al-Qaeda, parecem, no entanto, estar a perder qualidades:
A última produção televisiva da Al-Qaeda é interpretada por um jovem que, por alguma razão misteriosa, resolveu fazer-se filmar com um pano da loiça na cabeça.
Este jovem faz parte do grupo de terroristas responsáveis pelo 9/11...mas é um terrorista incompetente; deixou que os passageiros do avião sequestrado impedissem os seus intentos.
Este jovem promete mais ataques contra os EUA...mas desde o 9/11 que não ocorreram quaisquer ataques terroristas no território dos EUA.
O jovem refere que a segurança dos EUA só será garantida quando os EUA abandonarem os países muçulmanos...mas se o objectivo do 9/11 foi forçar os EUA a abandonarem os países muçulmanos, então a al-Qaeda falhou redondamente: Não fosse a Al-Qaeda e o 9/11, as tropas americanas não estariam hoje no Iraque e no Afeganistão, que são países muçulmanos.
Por outro lado, a ocupação destes dois países, a destruição da infra-estrutura da Al-Qaeda, a perseguição aos seus membros e aliados e as medidas de segurança interna implementadas permitiram, até ao momento, garantir a segurança interna dos EUA contra os ataques daquela organização.
...e depois existe o pormenorzito de que as tropas americanas estão em países muçulmanos com a licença das autoridades legítimas desses países, com mandato da ONU e/ou com o apoio da população (Vd. sondagem aos iraquianos aqui referida ontem)...através de que milagre se transformaram as posições da Al-Qaeda na expressão da vontade geral dos muçulmanos ?
E o jovem do pano da loiça até residia nos EUA e tudo.
Só com o fim do terrorismo e dos seus apoiantes e o fim da ilusão de um califado mundial é que os EUA terão paz e segurança.
Enfim, o valor propangandístico desta mensagem é reduzido...talvez se o jovem do pano da loiça tivesse rapado o buço o impacto fosse maior...
P.S. Repare-se que são mostradas imagens do jovem do pano da loiça a brincar com metralhadoras e lança-granadas...mas depois só o deixaram usar uma faca...jovens terroristas em potência, não se deixem enganar pela propaganda da Al-Qaeda...
P.S. É isto o melhor que eles conseguem fazer ? ...It smell's like...victory !
posted by Joao
AINDA O ARAFAT...e a RTP
Assisti, involuntariamente, a um excerto do "telejornal" da RTP1. As "notícias" sobre a expulsão do Arafat incluiam um conjunto de entrevistas a cidadãos israelitas. Todos os entrevistados se mostraram contrários à expulsão de Arafat...o "pivot" de serviço concluiu que "os israelitas" estavam contra esta medida do governo Sharon.
Curiosamente, as sondagens realizadas em Israel apresentam resultados um pouco diferentes da "sondagem" da RTP ( aqui): "...according to YEDIOT AHARONOT, a poll conducted Thursday shows that sixty percent of Israelis would like to see Arafat killed or expelled. The telephone survey was conducted by the Dahaf Institute which asked 503 respondents what should be done with Arafat. Thirty-seven percent favored assassination, 23 percent said Israel should expel him and 21 percent said he should continue to be isolated at his West Bank headquarters. Fifteen percent said Israel should release him from isolation and resume negotiations with the leader. The Dahaf survey has an error margin of 4.4 percent."
posted by Joao
UN Sets Nuclear Deadline, Iran Walks Out in Protest
"The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog on Friday set Iran an October 31 deadline to prove it had no secret atomic weapons program, prompting Tehran to threaten a "deep review" of its cooperation with the agency."
posted by Joao
Visite o Blog do Cláudio Andrés Téllez, membro da UBL e autor deste artigo sobre o Chile de Allende.
posted by Joao
UE CONTRA O ESTATUTO MILENAR DA COMUNIDADE MONÁSTICA DO MONTE ATHOS
"The plenary session of the Euro-Parliament passed a proposal-report prepared by French Euro-deputy Fode Sylla concerning the EU Fundamental Rights situation for 2002 which includes, among others, a reference to the special status enjoyed by the monastic community of Mount Athos in northern Greece.
In essence, the Euro-deputies call on the Greek government to proceed with the lifting of the entry ban to Mount Athos directed on women.
The Sylla report got negative votes from the Euro-deputies of the Greek governing Socialist Party of PASOK. After the vote, the head of PASOK’s Euro-deputies Mr. Katiforis submitted a written statement to the Euro-Parliament Presiding Board justifying their position.
Among others, they mentioned that Mount Athos enjoys a special status, which was secured with a joint statement included in Greece’s EEC Accession Treaty. It is also mentioned that in the Amsterdam Treaty Final Act annex there is a statement by Greece, which is a reminder of the Joint Statement on Mount Athos attached to the Final Act of Greece’s Accession Treaty."
posted by Joao
JACK STRAW ACCUSES FRENCH OF ANTI-AMERICAN NEUROSIS
"A great many of the difficulties that have faced the relationship go back to the profoundly different experiences that we had in the war, with, "Britain standing alone", and "France capitulating and surrendering to the Germans."
..."There isn't any question but that a significant part of the way in which the French political diplomatic class defines itself is against America, and this has been a continuing neurosis amongst the French political class for many decades," Straw was quoted as saying.
posted by Joao
CLÁUDIO ANDREZ TELLEZ: O golpe de 1970 no Chile
"Ao violar sistematicamente a Constituição chilena e debilitar as instituições democráticas do país, o governo de Salvador Allende perdeu totalmente o seu caráter democrático. Essas circunstâncias levaram a Câmara de Deputados do Chile a aprovar, por ampla maioria, o Acordo de 22 de Agosto de 1973, em que ficou claro que competia às Forças Armadas pôr um termo imediato à situação. Eduardo Frei Montalva, que foi presidente do Chile de 1964 a 1970, afirmou no dia 10 de outubro de 1973, em entrevista ao jornal espanhol ABC: "Os militares foram chamados e cumpriram uma obrigação legal, porque o Poder Executivo e o Judiciário, o Congresso e a Corte Suprema tinham denunciado publicamente que a presidência e o seu regime quebrantavam a Constituição, os acordos votados no Parlamento e as sentenças por juízes absolutamente alheios à política. Allende veio para instaurar o comunismo por meios violentos, e não democráticos, e quando a democracia, enganada, percebeu a magnitude da armadilha, já era tarde. Já estavam armadas as massas de guerrilheiros e estava bem preparado o extermínio dos líderes do Exército."
[Leia o mesmo artigo no Blog do Cláudio]
posted by Joao
VALETE HAMAS-ISRAEL FRONTLINE DISPATCH
- “We’re in the middle of an all-out war with Hamas, and this is no time to slow down”
"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will convene his security cabinet today [thursday] to discuss Israel’s options in the wake of the two homicide bombings on Tuesday...
Security officials declared that the army remain ready to act and will continue to target terrorist leaders in the areas administered by the Palestinian Authority. “We’re in the middle of an all-out war with Hamas, and this is no time to slow down,” said a security official."
- Targeted Killings: Are They Effective?
"Israel's targeted killings of terror leaders seem to be working, despite an Associated Press report to the contrary."
- Body Count Journalism (em cadáveres jornalisticamente equivalentes)
"Over the past two weeks, six IDF helicopter strikes have eliminated 11 Hamas leaders in Gaza."
|
Twin Bombings Kill 15, Injure 60
"Twin Palestinian homicide bombings–one at a bus stop crowded with soldiers near Tel Aviv, the second five hours later at a popular Jerusalem nightspot—killed 15 and injured over sixty people, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL reported. In the first bombing, a Hamas operative exploded himself at a bus stop outside the Tzrifin army base, killing eight Israeli soldiers and injuring 14 others. The base is located in Rishon Letzion, south of Tel Aviv. According to witnesses, the bomber, wearing civilian clothes, walked up to the bus stop with a leather bag containing the 10-pound bomb. As military guards approached him, he detonated the charge.
Five hours later, another Hamas operative rushed into Jerusalem’s Café Hillel in the German Colony neighborhood and detonated a bomb, killing seven and injuring more than fifty people. The bomber first tried to enter the Pizza Meter restaurant next door, but when the security guard there questioned him, he ran towards Cafe Hillel instead. He pushed past the security guard at the entrance, who tried to stop him, and exploded as he entered the café.
David Appelbaum, 50, of Jerusalem was born in Detroit, raised and educated in Cleveland, and was head of the emergency department in Shaarei Zedek Hospital and founder of the Terem 24-hour emergency clinic in Jerusalem. His collague Shaarei Tzedek Hospital Director Yonatan Halevy said, “thousands of residents of Jerusalem owe their lives to Dr. Applebaum . This is a terrible loss.” His son Natan described his father was one of the "36 righteous people who uphold the world. He dedicated his life to saving lives.”
Nava Appelbaum, 20, of Jerusalem, a volunteer with children suffering from cancer as part of her national youth service, was to be married Wednesday evening. She and her father were celebrating their last night together before the wedding.
Gila Moshe, 40, of Jerusalem, a mother of two, is remembered by relatives as “devoted mother and full of life. She played with her kids like she was a kid herself.”
Alon Mizrachi, 22, of Jerusalem was the guard on duty at Hillel Café who attempted to prevent the terrorist from entering. His brother-in-law, Avi Levi, said he “had a soul of a hero. Alon always had a smile on his face, even when things were hard. He was everybody’s friend.”
David Daniel Abistris, 51, of Mevasseret Zion was the eldest of seven and took over the role of father figure when his father passed away. His brother Eli said “at the moment of the explosion he was standing between the terrorist and his wife, and she was miraculously saved.” Abistris leaves behind three children.
Yechiel Emil Tubol, 52, of Jerusalem is described by his co-worker Alona Angle as “a man of wisdom and honesty…everybody trusted him.” She added that he worked with Arabs all the time. Tubol leaves behind a wife and three children.
The last two names were not released before publication."
|
posted by Joao
VALETE ARAFAT NEWS SERVICE
posted by Joao
IT's OFFICIAL: The September dossier was not 'sexed up' by anyone either in Downing Street or elsewhere
"The Prime Minister published a report by the Intelligence and Security Committee today.
It examines whether the available intelligence, which informed the decision to invade Iraq, was adequate and properly assessed and whether it was accurately reflected in government publications.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the Committee comes to some important conclusions.
"The September dossier produced by the Joint Intelligence Committee was founded on the intelligence assessments then available," he said.
"The September dossier was not 'sexed up' by anyone either in Downing Street or elsewhere in Government. The JIC [Joint Intelligence Committee] has not been subjected to political pressure. Its independence and impartiality have not been compromised in any way."
posted by Joao
Quinta-feira, Setembro 11, 2003
GEORGE W. BUSH
" Today our nation remembers -- we remember a sad and terrible day, September the 11th, 2001. We remember lives lost. We remember the heroic deeds. We remember the compassion and the decency of our fellow citizens on that terrible day.
Also today is a day of prayer. We pray for the husbands and wives and moms and dads and sons and daughters and loved ones of those who still grieve and hurt. We pray for strength and wisdom. We thank God for the many blessings of this nation, and we ask His blessings on those who especially hurt today.
Thank you. "
posted by Joao
Tive um problema com o Template do Valete desde a hora do almoço.
Finalmente está resolvido.
Agradecimentos ao Fumaças.
posted by Joao
"The memories of September 11th will never leave us. We will not forget the burning towers, and the last phone calls, and the smoke over Arlington. We will not forget the rescuers who ran toward danger, and the passengers who rushed the hijackers. We will not forget the men and women who went to work on a typical day and never came home. We will not forget the death of schoolchildren who were on a school trip.
And we will never forget the servants of evil who plotted the attacks. And we will never forget those who rejoiced at our grief and our mourning.
...The forces of global terror cannot be appeased, and they cannot be ignored...We will not wait for further attacks on innocent Americans. The best way to protect the American people is to stay on the offensive, to stay on the offensive at home and to stay on the offensive overseas.
...These 24 months have been a time of progress against the enemy. Terrorists have lost their training camps in Afghanistan. They lost the protection of the Taliban. Al Qaeda has lost nearly two-thirds of its known leaders. They've either been captured, or they've been killed. Terror networks have lost access to some $200 million, which we have frozen or seized in more than 1,400 terrorist accounts around the world. The terrorists have lost a sponsor in Iraq. And no terrorist networks will ever gain weapons of mass destruction from Saddam Hussein's regime. That regime is no more."
George W. Bush, 10/09/2003
[ Fonte]
posted by Joao
Quarta-feira, Setembro 10, 2003
| "We in America have learned bitter lessons (...): It is better to be here ready to protect the peace than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.
...we try always to be prepared for peace; prepared to deter aggression; prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms; and, yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation."
Ronald Reagan, Pointe du Hoc, France
June 6, 1984
[Speech commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion] |
posted by Joao
WHAT IRAQIS REALLY THINK
"Working with Zogby International survey researchers, The American Enterprise magazine has conducted the first scientific poll of the Iraqi public.
...Conducted in August, our survey was necessarily limited in scope, but it reflects a nationally representative sample of Iraqi views, as captured in four disparate cities: Basra (Iraq's second largest, home to 1.7 million people, in the far south), Mosul (third largest, far north), Kirkuk (Kurdish-influenced oil city, fourth largest) and Ramadi (a resistance hotbed in the Sunni triangle).
The results: - Iraqis are optimistic. Seven out of 10 say they expect their country and their personal lives will be better five years from now. On both fronts, 32% say things will become much better.
- The toughest part of reconstructing their nation, Iraqis say by 3 to 1, will be politics, not economics. They are nervous about democracy. Asked which is closer to their own view--"Democracy can work well in Iraq," or "Democracy is a Western way of doing things"--five out of 10 said democracy is Western and won't work in Iraq. One in 10 wasn't sure. And four out of 10 said democracy can work in Iraq. There were interesting divergences. Sunnis were negative on democracy by more than 2 to 1; but, critically, the majority Shiites were as likely to say democracy would work for Iraqis as not. People age 18-29 are much more rosy about democracy than other Iraqis, and women are significantly more positive than men.
- Asked to name one country they would most like Iraq to odel its new government on from five possibilities--neighboring, Baathist Syria; neighbor and Islamic monarchy Saudi Arabia; neighbor and Islamist republic Iran; Arab lodestar Egypt; or the U.S.--the most popular model by far was the U.S. The U.S. was preferred as a model by 37% of Iraqis selecting from those five--more than Syria, Iran and Egypt put together. Saudi Arabia was in second place at 28%. Again, there were important demographic splits. Younger adults are especially favorable toward the U.S., and Shiites are more admiring than Sunnis. Interestingly, Iraqi Shiites, coreligionists with Iranians, do not admire Iran's Islamist government; the U.S. is six times as popular with them as a model for governance.
- Our interviewers inquired whether Iraq should have an Islamic government, or instead let all people practice their own religion. Only 33% want an Islamic government; a solid 60% say no. A vital detail: Shiites (whom Western reporters frequently portray as self-flagellating maniacs) are least receptive to the idea of an Islamic government, saying no by 66% to 27%. It is only among the minority Sunnis that there is interest in a religious state, and they are split evenly on the question.
- Perhaps the strongest indication that an Islamic government won't be part of Iraq's future: The nation is thoroughly secularized. We asked how often our respondents had attended the Friday prayer over the previous month. Fully 43% said "never." It's time to scratch "Khomeini II" from the list of morbid fears. ? You can also cross out "Osama II": 57% of Iraqis with an opinion have an unfavorable view of Osama bin Laden, with 41% of those saying it is a very unfavorable view. (Women are especially down on him.) Except in the Sunni triangle (where the limited support that exists for bin Laden is heavily concentrated), negative views of the al Qaeda supremo are actually quite lopsided in all parts of the country. And those opinions were collected before Iraqi police announced it was al Qaeda members who killed worshipers with a truck bomb in Najaf.
- And you can write off the possibility of a Baath revival. We asked "Should Baath Party leaders who committed crimes in the past be punished, or should past actions be put behind us?" A thoroughly unforgiving Iraqi public stated by 74% to 18% that Saddam's henchmen should be punished.
- Inchoate anxiety toward the U.S. showed up when we asked Iraqis if they thought the U.S. would help or hurt Iraq over a five-year period. By 50% to 36% they chose hurt over help. This is fairly understandable; Iraqis have just lived through a war in which Americans were (necessarily) flinging most of the ammunition. These experiences may explain why women (who are more antimilitary in all cultures) show up in our data as especially wary of the U.S. right now. War is never pleasant, though U.S. forces made heroic efforts to spare innocents in this one, as I illustrate with firsthand examples in my book about the battles.
- Evidence of the comparative gentleness of this war can be seen in our poll. Less than 30% of our sample of Iraqis knew or heard of anyone killed in the spring fighting. Meanwhile, fully half knew some family member, neighbor or friend who had been killed by Iraqi security forces during the years Saddam held power.
- Perhaps the ultimate indication of how comfortable Iraqis are with America's aims in their region came when we asked how long they would like to see American and British forces remain in their country: Six months? One year? Two years or more? Two thirds of those with an opinion urged that the coalition troops should stick around for at least another year."
posted by Joao
A Madre Teresa de Calcutá faleceu há 5 anos, no dia 5 de Setembro de 1997.
Em Fevereiro de 1994, em Washington, a Madre Teresa de Calcutá proferiu as seguintes palavras: "I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself, and if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?"
posted by Joao
DANIEL PIPES: Lições dos acordos "de paz" de Oslo, por ocasião do seu 10º adversário
"...The date was Sept. 13, 1993, and the occasion was the signing of the Oslo accords on the White House lawn. Yitzhak Rabin, Israel's prime minister, and Arafat, the Palestinian leader, stood by President Clinton and shook hands. For years afterward, "The Handshake" (as it was known) served as the symbol of successful peacemaking.
...Instead, Oslo brought the Palestinians poverty, corruption, a cult of death, suicide factories and militant Islamic radicalization. The Israelis have mainly suffered from terrorism's toll of 854 murders and 5,051 injuries, plus assorted economic and diplomatic losses.
...What went wrong?
...the deal rested on a faulty Israeli premise that Palestinians had given up their hope of destroying the Jewish state. This led to the expectation that if Israel offered sufficient financial and political incentives, the Palestinians would formally recognize the Jewish state and close down the conflict...Each concession further reduced Palestinian awe of Israeli might, made Israel seem more vulnerable and incited irredentist dreams of annihilating it.
The result was a radicalized and mobilized Palestinian body politic. In speech and actions, via claims to the entire land of Israel and the murder of Israelis, the hope of destroying Israel acquired ever-more traction.
...In the spirit of Oslo's 10th anniversary, I propose a radically different approach for the next decade:
* Acknowledge the faulty presumption that underlay both Oslo and the road map (Palestinian acceptance of Israel's existence).
* Resolve not to repeat the same mistake.
* Understand that diplomacy aiming to close down the Arab-Israeli conflict is premature until Palestinians give up their anti-Zionist fantasy.
* Make Palestinian acceptance of Israel's existence the primary goal.
* Impress on Palestinians that the sooner they accept Israel, the better off they will be. Conversely, so long they pursue their horrid goal of extermination, diplomacy will remain moribund and they will receive no financial aid, arms or recognition as a state.
* Give Israel license not just to defend itself but to impress on the Palestinians the hopelessness of their cause.
When, over a long period of time and with complete consistency, the Palestinians prove they accept Israel, negotiations can be re-opened and the issues of the past decade - borders, resources, armaments, sanctities, residential rights - be taken up anew. The sooner we adopt the right policies, the sooner that will be."
posted by Joao
France Heat Wave Death Toll at 15,000
"An estimated 15,000 people died in France's scorching heat wave last month, the country's largest undertaker said Tuesday, surpassing the official government estimate of 11,435."
posted by Joao
The new face of Roman Catholic higher education
"...Administrators at new-breed Catholic colleges interviewed by The Washington Times describe their role as similar to that of the monasteries of the Dark Ages: trying to maintain vestiges of civilization in the face of the barbarians of modernity.
...Conservative Catholic schools, along with evangelical Protestant colleges, are flourishing amid a U.S. enrollment surge as more baby boomers opt for values-based higher education for their children."
posted by Joao
Terça-feira, Setembro 09, 2003
Almocei com a Voz do Deserto !
...sacrifício que lhe valeu uma indulgência plenária...
P.S. Voltei a publicar os links sobre religião. Estão lá para baixo, longe da vista...
posted by Joao
Islamic fundamentalists use the media as one of their more potent weapons...
- "In Somalia, the Somalis took over 30 casualties for every American killed or wounded. That was done through the use of superior American training, firepower (on the ground, and in helicopters overhead) and situational awareness (helicopters and more radios.) The battle in Mogadishu is only considered an American defeat because the American government considered 18 dead G.I.’s a defeat, even if over 500 Somali fighters died as well. At the time, the Somalis considered themselves defeated, and feared the return of the Army Rangers the next day to finish off the Somali militia that was terrorizing Mogadishu. The media declared the battle an American defeat, and that’s how it became known. Asymmetric warfare includes having the media in your corner, for that can easily turn a military defeat into a media victory."
- "...in Iraq in 2003. During the first two weeks of the American advance into Iraq, any real, apparent or imagined delay of the coalition forces was instantly declared the beginning of a coalition defeat. Even as American troops moved within sight of Baghdad, the pundits were still gravely talking about bloody house to house fighting. There was much talk of asymmetric warfare by the Iraqis, and there was a lot of guerilla type attacks. But the American troops came up with new tactics faster than the Iraqis could think of ways to get around the American advantages. "
Comentário do Instapundit: " You would think that media people would reexamine a general bias that makes them feel that they're doing their job when they're harming the forces of civilization, and being "used" when they're not."
posted by Joao
Misunderstanding terrorism
"One distinctive feature of Islamist terrorists is that they repeatedly attempt to explain and justify their atrocities, complete with extensive Koranic citations. One distinctive feature of western analysts is that terrorists’ explicit goals are often ignored, and instead their actions are misread as reactions to Israel, third world poverty, or supposed American unilateralism.
...Islamist terrorists are not fighting for third world liberation. As they announce repeatedly, they are messianic organizations explicitly fighting to restore a pan Islamic Caliphate governed by Islamic law. Throughout the world, they methodically kill people opposed to the Caliphate, whether UN or non-UN, Muslim or non-Muslim, left or right, American, British, Israeli, French or Australian.
Neither the UN, nor Australia, nor Iraq’s Shiites, will find immunity from terrorism by distancing themselves from the US. They would simply encourage those who hate them."
posted by Joao
VALETE IRAQI NEWS SERVICE
- BODY COUNT JOURNALISM - 3ª feira, 09/09/2003...
"For the seventh day in a row, the U.S. military reported no combat deaths Monday."
- PAUL BREMER: Iraq's Path to Sovereignty
E ainda:
- "Iraq is the only Arab country today where all political parties, from communist to conservative, operate freely. Visitors will be impressed by the openness of the political debate there, something not found anywhere else in the Arab world. Also, for the first time, Iraq has no political prisoners.
Almost 150 newspapers and magazine are now published there, offering a diversity not found in any other Arab country. One theme of these new publications is the need for democratization in the Arab world. This may be putting the cart before the horse. What Arabs, and Muslims in general, most urgently need is basic freedom, without which democracy cannot be built." (aqui)
- Arab League OKs Seat for Iraqi Council
- Reconstructing Iraq - With the Marines in the south and the 101st Airborne in the north.
E ainda:
- Congress Set to Tackle $87 Billion Bill for Iraq
- "The U.S. Army has ordered thousands of National Guard and Army Reserve forces in Iraq (news - web sites) and nearby countries to extend their tours of duty to a year, The Washington Post reported Tuesday." (aqui)
- "Britain announced plans to bolster its force in southern Iraq. London said it would send two additional battalions to Iraq, adding 1,200 troops to its 11,000-member force in the region around Basra, the country's second-largest city."
- U.S. raids Tikrit, finds arms cache - Four wanted men arrested
- OS ANIMAIZINHOS DO ZOO...alguns animais são mais iguais do que os outros...
Durante a brilhante operação militar que permitiu libertar o Iraque da ditadura saddamita, os nossos "órgãos de comunicação" "noticiaram" que os animaizinhos dos jardins zoológicos se contavam entre os milhões de vítimas do imperialismo americano. Apesar de demonstraram um grande amor pelos animais, os "órgãos de comunicação" deixaram escapar a notícia da reconstrução do Zoo de Mossul...alguns animais são mais iguais do que os outros...
posted by Joao
HUTTON INQUIRY: Documents reveal Gilligan misled MPs (via Instapundit)
"THE reputation of Andrew Gilligan, the controversial BBC journalist at the centre of the Hutton Inquiry, has suffered another blow after previously unpublished documents reveal he misled MPs investigating the case for war with Iraq.
The BBC reporter has already been criticised by corporation executives after he e-mailed two members of the foreign affairs select committee (FAC) revealing that Dr David Kelly was the source of a report by the BBC Newsnight journalist Susan Watts.
It has since emerged that three days after sending the e-mail, Mr Gilligan told the committee he had no knowledge of the MoD scientists’ dealings with other journalists, including Ms Watts.
The contradictory statements have infuriated Labour MPs on the committee and will raise further doubts about the credibility of Mr Gilligan as Lord Hutton prepares for the second stage of his inquiry.
Committee member and Labour MP Gisela Stuart said she would be asking her colleagues to consider referring Mr Gilligan to the appropriate Commons authority for his alleged contempt of Parliament.
P.S. O Daily Telegraph criou uma secção especial para expor o enviesamento da BBC ( aqui). Inclui exemplos.
posted by Joao
Carta aos Colossenses 2,6-10
" Do mesmo modo que recebestes Cristo Jesus, o Senhor, continuai a caminhar nele: enraizados e edificados nele, firmes na fé, tal como fostes instruídos, transbordando em acção de graças. Olhai que não haja ninguém a enredar-vos com a filosofia, o que é vazio e enganador, fundado na tradição humana ou nos elementos do mundo, e não em Cristo. Porque é nele que habita realmente toda a plenitude da divindade, e nele vós estais repletos de tudo, Ele que é a cabeça de todo o Poder e Autoridade."
posted by Joao
Segunda-feira, Setembro 08, 2003
BODY COUNT JOURNALISM
"It’s now nightime in Iraq on Sunday, September 7. If no US soldier is killed in Iraq today, this will mark the longest stretch of Operation Iraqi Freedom without a US military death – five days – since the war began in March.
Based on the chronolgical listing at Faces of Valor, previously the longest period without a US military death was April 18-21. (The death on April 17 occurred in Kuwait, but like other casualties in Kuwait, it is included in the numbers we hear for the Iraq war.) I’ll be interested to see whether the news outlets that have kept up the daily drumbeat of war deaths will take note of this milestone.
Looking at the number of deaths over the past 30 days (August 9-September7) and comparing it with the monthly statistics at Lunaville suggests that the rate of US military deaths may be coming down (Lunaville counts both US and UK troops). Of course, this would be good news, so the Washington Post ran a story on September 2, highlighting a rise in wounded..."
posted by Joao
4TH ID CAPTURES FORMER REGIME LOYALIST
"The 4th Infantry Division?s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, also known as ?Warhorse Brigade?, captured a former regime loyalist suspected of carrying out attacks against Coalition forces at a children?s hospital.
Acting on information provided by a local source, the 1-67 Armor Battalion conducted a raid in Ba?qubah to capture the individual, suspected of conducting a grenade attack at the Ba?qubah Children?s hospital in August that killed three soldiers Sep 6. The raid resulted in ten detainees in all."
posted by Joao
Sexta-feira, Setembro 05, 2003
DANIEL PIPES: Who Supports Israel?
"I have developed a habit," writes Richard Ingrams, a columnist for The Guardian, a far-left British newspaper, "when confronted by letters to the editor in support of the Israeli government to look at the signature to see if the writer has a Jewish name. If so, I tend not to read it."
This shameful passage raised a small storm in Britiain over anti-Semitism. But what about Ingrams' assumption that Jews uniformly support the Sharon government?
At first glance, this might seem accurate. Israeli Jews voted Ariel Sharon into power and the leading diaspora Jewish organizations generally take their cues from Jerusalem. But a closer look reveals the assumption to be nonsense, as Jews are among Sharon's (and Israel's) most vocal critics.
The academic campaign to delegitimize Israel presents a striking example of this, for Jewish faculty have lead the effort. Noam Chomsky started and other Jews picked up the pressure on U.S. university administrators to withdraw investments from Israel. In Britain, Steven and Hilary Rose initiated an academic boycott against Israel; John Docker had a similar role in Australia. Among Middle East specialists, Joel Beinin, Ian Lustick and Avi Shlaim lead the anti-Sharon charge.
Authors such as Norman Finkelstein, Thomas Friedman, Michael Lerner, Arthur Miller and Susan Sontag are outspoken critics. Lawyer Stanley Cohen specializes in representing the enemies of Israel. British MP Oona King states that "in escaping the ashes of the Holocaust, [Israelis] have incarcerated another people in a hell similar in its nature - although not its extent - to the Warsaw ghetto." The president of the World Jewish Congress, Edgar Bronfman, clashes publicly with the Sharon government. One compilation lists 65 predominantly Jewish or Israeli anti-Sharon groups.
In short, Jews - especially Jewish intellectuals - do not uniformly support Sharon.
There is, however, another group that does predictably support Israel: conservatives. No less predictably, the Left opposes Israel. While there are plenty of exceptions, this pattern has wide validity. Some examples:
A conservative like U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay speaks of the "common destiny of the United States and Israel" and the "heartfelt friendship between the citizens of two democracies at war, bound by the solidarity of freedom." In contrast, a far-leftist like the writer Kirkpatrick Sale considers the idea of a Jewish state "a mistake" and says the time has come "to ask whether the 50-year-old experiment known as the state of Israel has proven to be a failure and should be abandoned."
Britain's Labor prime minister, Tony Blair, hosted a conference in early 2003 on the Arab-Israeli conflict and did not bother to invite Israelis; he also ostentatiously snubbed Israel's foreign minister. In reply, Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith criticized Blair for "fiddling with pointless conferences while suicide bombers are malignantly burning their way through Israel" and he berated Blair for "giving support" to Yasser Arafat while refusing to see the Israeli foreign minister.
It was primarily conservatives in the European Parliament who pushed for a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the possible misuse of the European Union's monthly 10 million euro stipend to the Palestinian Authority for support of terrorism.
Ethnicity and religion certainly play a role in shaping attitudes but ideas matter more. One telling symbol of this was in 1998, when The Nation magazine called on a leftist Jew (Andrew N. Rubin) to savage a book by a conservative Muslim (Fouad Ajami) for being too friendly to Israel.
In many other countries, notes Charlotte West, Israel also finds its most solid support among conservatives; Australia, Canada, France, Italy come to mind.
This is new. Twenty years ago, liberal or conservative outlooks had little bearing on one's views of Israel or other Middle East issues. During the Cold War, Middle Eastern problems stood largely outside the great debate of that era - policy toward the Soviet Union - so views of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq, militant Islam and other topics were formed in isolation from larger principles.
Today, all that has changed. The Middle East has replaced the Soviet Union as the touchstone of politics and ideology. With increasing clarity, conservatives stand on one side of its issues and liberals on the other.
posted by Joao
Bush=Hitler: The politics of dangerous stupidity
Nazis murdered millions of unarmed people. They put them in ovens. They made soap out of them. They carted off children in boxcars to die and used some of the kids for medical experiments, including injecting dyes into their eyes to see if they could improve their looks. Lower on the list of charges, the Nazis enslaved millions and launched wars for territorial and egotistical gain (and sent many of the conquered populations to death camps as well). Lower still, they banned books and burned them too. They expropriated homes and businesses, banned religions, etc.
(...)
Show me the camps. Show me the millions of people being gassed. Show me the tattoos on people's arms. Show me elderly Muslim men being beaten in the streets, their stores smashed, and books burned. Show me huge piles of emaciated bodies stocked high like cords of wood.
(...)
By the way, I don't say this because I feel a passionate need to defend George Bush. I would make the exact same points if Al Gore were president. I would make the exact same points if anybody running for the Democratic nomination were president. This has nothing to do with partisanship. It has to do with the fact that such comparisons are slanderous to the United States and historical truth and amount to Holocaust denial. When you say that anything George Bush has done is akin to what Hitler did, you make the Holocaust into nothing more than an example of partisan excess. Tax cuts are not genocide, as so many Democrats have suggested over the years. (For example,. during the Contract with America debate, Charles Rangel complained that "Hitler wasn't even talking about doing these things" that were in the Contract with America. In other words, the Contract with America was in some way worse than what Hitler did. At the end of the day, that is Holocaust denial.)
"Darn those Republicans" does not equal "Darn those Nazis." The Patriot Act is not the final solution. The handful of men in Guantanamo may not all be guilty of terrorism, but it's more than reasonable to assume they are. And no matter how you try to contort it, Gitmo is not the same thing as Auschwitz or Dachau. There are no children there. You don't get carted off to Cuba and gassed if you criticize the president or if you are one-quarter Muslim. And, inversely, there was no reasonable justification for throwing the Jews and the Gypsies and all the others into the death camps. The Jews weren't terrorists or members of a terrorist organization. To say that the men in Guantanamo ? or any of the Muslims being politely interviewed by appointment ? are akin to the Jews of Germany is to trivialize the experiences of the millions who were slaughtered. Even if you think Muslims are being unfairly inconvenienced, when you say they are the Jews of Nazified America you are in essence saying the worst crime of the Holocaust was to unfairly inconvenience the Jews.
(...)
And that's how I think of all these people who e-mail me insistent that George Bush is a Nazi. They believe they are so important, so noble, their hatred and fear must be rooted things of Great Consequence. It's just so prosaic to hate Republicans. I am better than that. So, Republicans must be Nazis. They must be a threat to the whole world and to the sanctity of everything I hold dear because anything less would not be worth my time. George Bush can't simply be someone I disagree with. No, his popularity must be an indication of mass hysteria, of Nuremberg-style devotion to evil.
So desperate are these people to live in interesting times and play the hero, that they are willing ? eager ? to topple every significant moral and historical category so they can role play as the Heroes who Would Not Stay Silent. That would be fine if these losers were playing some multisided dice game in their basements. But they're not. There's a war going on and these guys are acting like we're the real enemy. That's not just shameful and stupid, it's unhelpful.
posted by Miguel Noronha
Quinta-feira, Setembro 04, 2003
Why Are There So Many Palestinian Refugees? (via Dissecting Leftism)
Artigo de Daniel Pipes no History News Network
Here's a puzzle: How do Palestinian refugees differ from the other 135 million 20th-century refugees?
Answer: In every other instance, the pain of dispossession, statelessness, and poverty has diminished over time. Refugees eventually either resettled, returned home or died. Their children - whether living in South Korea, Vietnam, Pakistan, Israel, Turkey, Germany or the United States - then shed the refugee status and joined the mainstream.
Not so the Palestinians. For them, the refugee status continues from one generation to the next, creating an ever-larger pool of anguish and discontent.
Several factors explain this anomaly but one key component - of all things - is the United Nations' bureaucratic structure. It contains two organizations focused on refugee affairs, each with its own definition of "refugee":
The U.N. High Commission for Refugees applies this term worldwide to someone who, "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted . . . is outside the country of his nationality." Being outside the country of his nationality implies that descendants of refugees are not refugees. Cubans who flee the Castro regime are refugees, but not so their Florida-born children who lack Cuban nationality. Afghans who flee their homeland are refugees, but not their Iranian-born children. And so on.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), an organization set up uniquely for Palestinian refugees in 1949, defines Palestinian refugees differently from all other refugees. They are persons who lived in Palestine "between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict." Especially important is that UNRWA extends the refugee status to "the descendants of persons who became refugees in 1948." It even considers the children of just one Palestinian refugee parent to be refugees
(...)
The High Commission definition would restrict the refugee status to those (...) yet alive. According to a demographer, about 200,000 of those 1948 refugees remain living today.
UNRWA includes the refugees' children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as Palestinians who left their homes in 1967, all of whom add up to 4.25 million refugees.
The 200,000 refugees by the global definition make up less than 5 percent of the 4.25 million by the UNRWA definition. By international standards, those other 95 percent are not refugees at all. By falsely attaching a refugee status to these Palestinians who never fled anywhere, UNRWA condemns a creative and entrepreneurial people to lives of exclusion, self-pity and nihilism.
The policies of Arab governments then make things worse by keeping Palestinians locked in an amber-like refugee status. In Lebanon, for instance, the 400,000 stateless Palestinians are not allowed to attend public school, own property or even improve their housing stock.
(...)
posted by Miguel Noronha
EU TRADE BARRIERS KILL ONE PERSON EVERY 13 SECONDS
A new report, EU Trade Barriers Kill, published today in the run-up to the Cancun ministerial meeting of the WTO by the Centre for the New Europe, the Brussels-based think tank, analyses the impact of EU trade regulations and barriers on the developing word.
The key findings are:
- 6,600 people die every day in the world because of the trading rules of the EU. That is 275 people every hour.
- In other words, one person dies every 13 seconds somewhere in the world ? mainly in Africa - because the European Union does not act on trade as it talks.
- If Africa could increase its share of world trade by just one per cent, it would earn an additional £49 billion a year. This would be enough to lift 128 million people out of extreme poverty. The EU?s trade barriers are directly responsible for Africa?s inability to increase its trade and thus for keeping Africa in poverty.
Key extracts from the report:
Trade barriers imposed by the EU are more than just a technical issue. Lack of access to the European market - by far the richest in the world - slows development in the poorest countries of the world, condemns thousands of millions of people to poverty and kills many others. This paper quantifies, for the first time, the cost in human life to Africa of EU protectionism.
It is widely acknowledged that it was trade that enabled the ?Asian Tiger? countries - Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, etc - to develop as manufacturing economies. Opening their economies to the rest of the world allowed them to attract the investment in physical and human capital that brought them comparative advantages in the manufacture of a widening range of products.
It could be the same story for the very poorest countries now. For one thing they tend to have advantages in agricultural or textile production.
For the most part, however, this option is not available. Four main countries or trading blocs - the European Union, the United States, Japan and Canada - account for 75 per cent of world output. They are the obvious destinations for exports from the poorest countries. Yet while these countries talk endlessly about the liberalisation of world trade, they have been ruthless in keeping their domestic markets closed to agricultural and textile exports from the poorest countries.
The worst of the rich protectionists, however ? by far - is the European Union.
The EU runs two sets of protectionist policies that could be almost designed to wreck the trading chances of those of the poorest countries that have comparative advantages in food and textiles.
First, there are the trade restrictions. Though the EU has a low industrial tariff of five per cent, its agricultural tariffs are far higher. These average 20 per cent, but rise to a peak of 250 per cent on certain products. For example, the tariff on Bolivian chickens is 46 per cent, and on Bolivian orange juice 34 per cent. On textiles, there are strict quotas on most important lines. These have been reduced or removed in the case of fairly unimportant products such as parachutes and umbrellas. But the European market remains barely open to the majority of low cost textiles from the developing world.
Added to open trade barriers are the complex rules of origin applied to imports from the developing world. These stipulate how much of a product must be made from local inputs to qualify for the preferential tariffs. According to a report published by the Centre for European Policy Studies, only a third of imports from developing countries eligible for preferential access are able to meet the strict criteria to comply with the rules of origin.
Even if an exporter from the developing world is able to comply with these regulations, there are then the further regulations on health and safety. These have a protectionist effect, and that again may be their intention. For example, one regulation requires that milk should be taken from cows by machinery and not by hand. This effectively shuts out all Indian milk products, which would otherwise, admittedly, enter only at prohibitive tariffs of between 76 and 144 per cent. Again, complex rules on aflotoxins cost sub-Saharan Africa $1.3 billion every year in lost exports of cereals, dried fruits and nuts per European life allegedly saved thereby.
Second is the agricultural subsidy handed out by the EU under the rules of the Common Agricultural Policy. This amounts to $41 billion a year, or $14,000 per European Union farmer (though half the spending goes to the biggest 17 per cent of farming enterprises). The CAP subsidy affects agricultural producers in the developing world in three main ways:
- It completes the effect of tariffs and other barriers in shutting them out of a market in which they would otherwise have a comparative advantage. For example, the EU spends Euros 2.7 billion each year on subsidising European farmers to grow sugar beet, while it maintains high tariff barriers against sugar imports from the developing world.
- It generates immense surpluses of foodstuffs that cannot be sold within the EU at the prevailing intervention prices. Much of these surpluses are exported at very low prices that undercut those charged by the unsubsidised producers of the developing world. A prime case of this is sugar sales in the Middle East. Countries like Sudan are crowded out of the sugar market in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
- Some of the surpluses are exported at subsidised prices to developing countries, thereby crowding out domestic producers. In Jamaica, some 3,000 dairy farmers are being driven out of business by imported milk powder from the EU. 5,500 metric tons are sent there each year at a cost to the European taxpayers of $3m. Many of the farmers are women.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Tim Evans (President, CNE) 07956 969523
Stephen Pollard (Senior Fellow, CNE) 07956 118035
Alberto Mingardi (CNE Italian Visiting Fellow) + 39 33 96 02 18 70
Dr. Sean Gabb 07956 969523
www.cne.org
posted by Joao
Quarta-feira, Setembro 03, 2003
VALETE IMPERIAL NEWS NETWORK
- Congressional Budgeters Estimate Costs of Keeping Army in Iraq
"A U.S. occupation of Iraq that relies on the creation of two new Army divisions could cost up to an estimated $29 billion annually, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office."
- Bush Seeking Multinational Force Support
"The Bush administration is quietly consulting with other countries on a new Security Council resolution that would give the United Nations a leading role in building an Iraqi government and transform the military presence in Iraq (news - web sites) to a multinational force."
- U.S. Gives Poles Control of Part of Iraq
"The United States on Wednesday symbolically transferred control over the south-central part of Iraq (news - web sites) to a Polish-led force, while the governing council swore in the newly appointed ministers who will form the provisional government until elections take place."
posted by Joao
Terça-feira, Setembro 02, 2003
THE GUARDIAN: Did BBC 'sex up' its own statement?
"The BBC chairman has admitted the corporation may have overplayed David Kelly's status in the rush to head off a government row, confessing that a PR wrongly inferred Andrew Gilligan's story had come from an "intelligence source".
In a private exchange of emails published by the Hutton inquiry, Gavyn Davies admitted the line was inserted into the last draft of a key statement by the board of governors giving full backing to the Today reporter."
posted by Joao
OS AMERICANOS TRANSFORMARAM O IRAQUE NUM PAÍS INSEGURO !!!
Pau Bremer:
"...terrorism is not new in Iraq. The government of Iraq was a terrorist government, a terrorist government which terrorized its own people. Saddam Hussein, by several reports I've seen, killed more Muslims than any other man in history; most of them, his own citizens. Mass graves are opened almost every day. I think we're approaching something like 100 of them now. There was terror on this land under Saddam Hussein. It was, perhaps, not car bombs; it was a more silent and in some ways a more awful terrorism.
So I would say to Iraqis I understand their anguish -- and share it -- about the car bombs. It's a fight we're now going to have to win here -- this fight against terrorism.
But the Iraqi people are now free. And they do not have to worry about the secret police coming after them in the middle of the night, and they don't have to worry about their husbands and brothers being taken off and shot, or their wives being taken to rape rooms. Those days are over."
posted by Joao
PAUL BREMER (02/09/2003) - Sobre a Constituição
"...As I mentioned in my opening statement, the Governing Council, several weeks ago, appointed a preparatory committee to decide to make a recommendation to the Governing Council on how the constitution should be written. They have been told to report back to the Governing Council by September 15th...
Our principle is quite clear. The constitution should be written by the Iraqi people and for the Iraqi people. And when the constitution is written, it should then be subjected to an approval process, as I suggested, a referendum, so that the Iraqi people for the first time in their history can write and approve their own permanent constitution...
...The coalition has no intention of changing the constitution...The constitution will be written by the Iraqi people, not by the coalition. We don't intend to change it, we don't intend to unchange it. It's going to be done by the Iraqi people. It will be written by Iraqis for Iraqis, and it will then be put to the Iraqi people for their approval."
posted by Joao
PAUL BREMER (02/09/2003) - Segurança Pública
"We completely agree with the argument that we should find ways quickly to give Iraq and Iraqis more responsibility for security, and indeed that is exactly what we are doing. We have almost 40,000 Iraqis now in the Iraq police around the country. We have recruited at least three battalions -- full battalions of Iraqi civil defense corps, all in the last four weeks. The first battalion of the new Iraqi army is in training...
As for your question about training the police, we have -- (audio break) -- to 75,000 -- (audio break) -- to do that, we -- (audio break) -- assuring that the police have a high standard of training. And that means training not just in police work but training in human rights, respect for individual liberties, and the non-use of torture and force in law enforcement.
We hope that we will be able to reach the goal of 65- to 75,000 police officers by the end of 2004, but it will require a substantial increase in the amount of training, some of which may be conducted outside of this country, including in the country you mentioned, though there are no plans yet firmed up in that respect. We will continue to try to find the quickest and most cost-effective way to reach our goal of a substantial Iraqi police force, including by training them as necessary in countries other than Iraq."
"...this is a big job, not the least because Saddam Hussein let something like 100,000 prisoners out of all of the prisons in this country before liberation. And we have to find a way to catch those people. Many of them are murderers. Many of them are conducting the kidnappings and carjackings that are happening. And that is essentially what the role of the police is -- to stop that crime. They are conducting regular patrols here in Baghdad, in Basra, in other major cities, day and night, to try to find criminals, and they are indeed arresting criminals."
posted by Joao
PAUL BREMER (02/09/2003) - Justiça
"Well, we've come a long way. When we arrived here on April 9th, all 151 prisons in the country were closed; most of them basically burned down. There were no courts open. There was not a single policeman in the country. There was no rule of law.
...We have 300 of the country's 400 courts open and working."
posted by Joao
PAUL BREMER (02/09/2003) - Sobre as acusações de um membro demissionário do Conselho
Q: Theola Labbe, Washington Post. What do you say, then, about the resignations on the council of membership over security issues? I mean, then -- that does seem to send a message that is some disagreement about how security is headed and what the CPA's role is in that.
Bremer: Well, I'm not aware of any resignations, unless they've happened in the last half an hour. One member of the council has said that he will suspend his membership until he's assured of better security at the holy sites. We are working and have been working for more than a month with the (inaudible) and with the secular leaders in Najaf and Karbala to improve the security of the holy sites. We offered -- have offered several times since liberation to put coalition forces into and around the holy sites and have been politely told by the religious leaders that they did not want coalition forces there, which we understood.
We have provided, at the request of the governor before the attack last week, uniforms and weapons for a special police that he intends to put around the holy sites in Najaf. Since the attack, we have provided $200,000 in emergency medical support to the victims, the surviving victims of the attack, and we are in basically constant contact with both the religious and secular leaders at the holy sites to improve the security. So I am confident that we will, in fact, improve the security around the holy sites, which is, as I say, the only circumstance I'm aware of.
posted by Joao
PAUL BREMER (02/09/2003) - Contratos
"...the coalition itself, in its expenditures of money here, is operating under direct guidance from me to direct as much as possible of all of our expenditures to Iraqi companies. And I think we will find, as time goes on, that a very large percent of all of our contracts are in fact being given to Iraqi companies. The exceptions are when we required to import large-scale machinery that is not made in Iraq. Then we obviously can't source that locally. But we are making every effort to assure that as much as possible the money that we're spending on Iraq is spent in Iraq."
posted by Joao
VALETE FRENCH NEWS NETWORK
- 8000 'disappeared' in dirty war
"ARGENTINE ex-dictator General Reynaldo Bignone has admitted that 8,000 people were kidnapped and killed during the 1976-83 military regime, and said the church leadership had given its approval to torture practices.
In an interview published today in Pagina 12, Bignone said French instructors had taught Argentina's military how to kidnap and torture suspected opponents of the regime, and how to secretly execute them.
Bignone said the ruling junta had asked Roman Catholic bishops in Argentina about the use of torture, and were told that it was permissible under certain circumstances.
...The regime's brutal repression of opponents was modelled directly on the Battle of Algiers, he said. French instructors gave conferences and consultations on how to carry out the strategy."
- France puts growth before Stability Pact
"France believes in the euro-zone Stability and Growth Pact and will respect a commitment to improve its underlying public deficit next year, but puts growth and employment first, Budget Minister Alain Lambert said. France "will respect the commitment to improve the structural balance" of the public deficit in 2004, but "our first duty is to get back to growth and employment," he said.
...France faces a deadline of October 3 to provide the EU Commission with an overall plan to put its public finances in order next year or face a heavy fine."
posted by Joao
DAVID KELLY: Unpublished analysis supports Blair Government
"A remarkable article by Dr David Kelly, published for the first time today, reveals the government scientist's true views ahead of the war on Iraq and his expert assessment of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
In a development which could have a major influence on the Hutton inquiry, Kelly said that, although the threat was 'modest', he believed military action was the only way to 'conclusively disarm' the country.
He also argued that there was evidence Saddam still had chemical and biological weapons and regime change, the policy of the United States, was the only way to stop the Iraqi dictator."
Revealed: Kelly's case for war
Full text of Dr David Kelly's article
What Kelly really thought about Iraq war
[Agradecimentos ao João Lecour]
posted by Joao
BRANCO ESTÚPIDO E MENTIROSO
"In the newly-released DVD version of his Academy Award-winning documentary "Bowling for Columbine," filmmaker Michael Moore has altered a caption that he fictitiously inserted into a 1988 Bush-Quayle campaign commercial -- one of a number of misstatements and deceptive arguments we criticized when the film was released last year. Ironically, on the same day the DVD was released, Moore issued a libel threat against his critics on MSNBC's "Buchanan & Press," saying, "Every fact in the film is true. Absolutely every fact in the film is true. And anybody who says otherwise is committing an act of libel."
While we were among the first to call Moore on the inaccuracies in his film, most notably the alteration of the Bush-Quayle ad and his misleading presentation of US aid to Afghanistan in a timeline sequence, we were far from the only ones. Dan Lyons of Forbes Magazine also revealed several important lies or distortions, including the fact that the scene during which Moore receives a gun at a bank was staged. And David Hardy, an Arizona lawyer specializing in gun issues who has worked for the National Rifle Association, has compiled a voluminous list of allegations, including Moore's heavy and misleading editing of NRA President Charlton Heston's speech in Denver after the Columbine massacre."
...e estes são só os dois primeiros parágrafos do artigo.
posted by Joao
A Voz do Deserto já voltou há uma semana e eu só agora é que a ouvi !
posted by Joao
ENVIESAMENTO JORNALÍSTICO: A Terrorist by Any Other Name ...
"A terrorist by any other name is still a terrorist, even when politically correct media outlets refuse to call them such under claims of maintaining the standards of objectivity."
Sinónimos de terrorista: "militantes"; "alas militares"; "jovens"; "guerrilheiros"; "radicais";...
posted by Joao
|
