“Israel will not take US Dollars for free.
Secretary of State Rice has acknowledged a communique from Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Levni which requests that all foreign aid payments and loans from the United States be made in Euros rather than in Dollars. Foreign Minister Levni cited the rapidly declining dollar and it’s disfavor as a world currency as reasons for the request.”
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/3689
b: did you knew this news?

Posted by: curious | Sep 29 2007 9:19 utc | 3

I thought, that news was a bad joke.
I am sorry.

Posted by: curious | Sep 29 2007 10:57 utc | 5

Update from the Happy Little Kingdom which crossdresses as a member of the Coalition of the Willing:
Two Danish soldiers were killed this week in an ambush in Helman province, Afghanistan + one serious wounded. This brings the total dead to 13, including casualties in Iraq. Doesn’t sound like much, but it hits hard in a little country with only a thousand troops committed as a fig leaf in Bush’s ego war.

Posted by: Chuck Cliff | Sep 29 2007 11:41 utc | 7

b can you correct the typo in Hersh’s name in the link for me? It should not have a “c” – my oversight. thanks.

Posted by: Bea | Sep 29 2007 14:16 utc | 9

Another color revolution going bad:
Georgia in political turmoil after opposition leader’s arrest

Georgia plunged into political turmoil on Friday following the arrest of a former minister who made stinging accusations against the country’s pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Irakli Okruashvili, once a key figure in the government of the former Soviet republic, was arrested on Thursday after alleging Saakashvili had ordered the killing of high-profile figures.
(snip)
Okruashvili had been in Saakashvili’s inner circle since before the mass protests of the 2003 Rose Revolution propelled Saakashvili to power. He also served as prosecutor general and interior minister before being ousted.
Georgia is to hold presidential and parliamentary elections next year and analysts said Okruashvili has the credibility and power base to pose a threat to Saakashvili in the polls.
(snip)

Posted by: Alamet | Sep 29 2007 16:22 utc | 11

wouldn’t ya know it blakeman is of course connected with – aipac

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Sep 29 2007 17:32 utc | 13

noam chomsky interview by eva golinger
A Revolution is Just Below the Surface

…
EVA: Do you think the revolution in Venezuela serves as an example for people in the United States? That change is possible from the ground up?
CHOMSKY: It will if two things happen: One, if it’s successful and two, if you can break through the media distortion of what’s happening. Two things have to happen, ok? So, I mentioned that I was in Chile last October. The picture of Venezuela that is presented by the media, say in El Mercurio is about the same as it would have been in the old El Mercurio under Pinochet. So as long as that’s the picture, that’s the prism through which events are perceived, you can’t have much of an effect. But if you can change the prism so that things are reported more or less accurately, and if what’s happening in fact does constitute a possible model, if those two achievements can be reached, then yes, it could be.

Posted by: b real | Sep 29 2007 18:20 utc | 15

Update on Nahr al-Bared: Return is Promised, But Not Likely Soon

Posted by: Bea | Sep 29 2007 23:08 utc | 17

Largest Workers’ Strike in 20 Years Goes Forward in Egypt:

…at the state run textile and weaving company Ghazl Al-Mahala began one of the largest industrial protests of the past two decades, with 27,000 workers downing tools. The strike, say the workers, is a continuation of the action taken in December, when production at the plant was halted. On Saturday night, police forces had surrounded the factory only to withdraw, fearing direct confrontation with the workers. Meanwhile , Minister of Manpower Aisha Abdel-Hady said that action can only be taken once the strike is ended.
The workers have repeated many of the demands they first made in December, and to which the government agreed, only to backtrack on its promises. They include the payment of overdue bonuses, an increase in salaries and better medical services and transport facilities. The workers are also insisting that board chairman Mahmoud El-Gibali be suspended pending investigation into the alleged misuse of funds, and that union officials attached to the state-controlled General Federation of Trade Unions be impeached.
Mohamed Attar, a factory worker and one of the organisers of the current strike, spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly shortly before he was detained, and said workers were more determined than ever to achieve their goals.
“It has become an issue of life and death for us now,” he said, explaining that the workers had no choice but to strike after factory and union officials had failed to act and the government broke its earlier promises.
“There was real hope and confidence that the government understood our plight last December and would act accordingly,” said Attar. Now, he added, the workers feel betrayed and are in much more militant mood.

Posted by: Bea | Sep 30 2007 0:56 utc | 19

All used up and spit out to rot… US soldiers come home to a life not worth living; the cost is already higher than society can bear, and this is just the beginning

Economic forecasts vary widely for the federal costs of caring for injured veterans returning from the Middle East, but they range as high as $700 billion for the VA. That would rival the cost of fighting the Iraq war. In recent years, the VA has repeatedly run out of money to care for sick veterans and has had to ask for billions more before the next budget.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if these costs per person are higher than any war previously,” says Scott Wallsten, of the conservative think tank Progress and Freedom Foundation.

This piece is heartwrenching.

Posted by: Bea | Sep 30 2007 1:44 utc | 21

bea – yep, i saw that one the other day. there are some problems w/ it though. first, CENTCOM is HQ’d in tampa, fla, and SOUTHCOM is HQ’d in miami, fla so it’s not w/o precedent that a command be based outside of its area of responsibility. currently AFRICOM is starting out as a “sub-command” under the wings of EUCOM, which is HQ’d there in stuttgart, and the plans actually do call for it to be based on the continent of africa by oct 2008 when they take the training wheels off & it becomes its own fully-fledged combatant command.
and, even though there are so many nations on the continent, that doesn’t mean the u.s. considers all of ’em potential sites for a HQ or regional cmd ctr. in the written answers that i pointed out last night in the previous OT, gen zippy kip ward listed

Some of the criteria includes: political stability; security factors; access to regional and intercontinental transportation; availability of acceptable infrastructure; quality of life; proximity to the African Union and regional organizations; proximity to USG hubs; adequate Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The transition team has used these criteria to narrow down potential sites. Those potential sites have been briefed to the Dept of State informally and we have begun dialogue on the advantages and disadvantages of those sites.

of course the major disadvantage is that none of the sites on their wishlist has openly agreed to submit, but those criteria, assuming they stick to them, automatically limit the number of candidates that could even be considered. for instance, i don’t believe that kenya has signed a SOFA since 1980, which is one of the regional anchors, even though they have had long military relations w/ the u.s.
and, depending on how many personnel are actually stationed at the HQ — i recently saw an estimate of 800 for AFRICOM staff — a major consideration is where their families could be planted. gotta have a certain level of infrastructure — schooling, medical, shopping, transport, communication lines, etc — just to accomodate the people that tag along. for instance, the school season in stuttgart began w/ a bit of tension as the influx of kids associated w/ parents working at the new cmd resulting in the initial decision to bus some kids to schools as much as 90 minutes away, until parents complained enough that another solution had to be implemented.so any host nation/city has to be able to meet these type of criteria.
my guess would be addis ababa in predominantly-christian ethiopia that is also the HQ for the AU. of course there is the issue of the autocratic meles regimes sad human rights record, its anti-democratic election history (killing 200 or so unarmed protestors disputing the last rigged elections is not the kind of thing that plays well w/ the u.s.’ democracy rhetoric), the secret prisons, and the genocides of anuak peoples, the oromo, in the ogaden, and in somalia amongst the hawiye clan. not the kind of reputation that the u.s. can afford to be associated w/, which is why they’re spinning hard to put lipstick on this pig. look for more marketing focus on the number of prisoners meles (“the humanitarian”) has released this year, ethiopia’s GDP & their allegiance to the GWOT to attempt damage control & crafting a cleaner image. at the same time, public pressure & continued exposure of just how unpopular & lethal meles & team are can play a large role in determining whether AFRICOM winds up in addis ababa or not. for those in the u.s. that like to put pressure on the people in dc that claim to be their representatives, congressman payne’s H.R. 2003 may be one avenue worth following through on.

Posted by: b real | Sep 30 2007 5:37 utc | 23

I know that there a few contributors here at the Moon that still have a hard time coming to grips with the evidence that point toward disastrous consequences from anthropogenic alteration of the world’s environment, especially the atmosphere.
That scientists on the forefront investigating climate change have been predicting many of these consequences for years and are now seeing their predictions happening doesn’t prove anything, does it?
Well here is just one more example that doesn’t prove anything especially after the energy industries put their big bucks PR spin on it.
The Arctic summer sea ice shrank by more than 20 percent below the previous 2005 record low in mid-September…
I’m looking forward to see how they debunk this one.

Posted by: Juannie | Sep 30 2007 13:51 utc | 25

actually, my previous link is old news, here is the story that got the ditto heads chattering.

Posted by: dan of steele | Sep 30 2007 16:05 utc | 27

Interesting Daily Kos diary (and it is almost equally interesting that it made the recommended list):
U.S. Detention Centers are Part of Long-Term DHS Plan: “ENDGAME,” Part I

In summary, ENDGAME is the second phase of a Reagan-era program, COG, furthered by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld to thwart the constitutional process of succession in case of an national emergency or disaster. ENDGAME is now aligned with the immigration arm of government, and also terrorism. It’s goal, or “endgame” is to round up and detain “all” deportable aliens or “potential terrorists” before 2012, some 12 million is a conservative estimate. A heady feat, but well on its way with a $400 million contingency contract awarded to Halliburton’s subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown, and Root by the Department of Homeland Security.

Posted by: Alamet | Sep 30 2007 17:30 utc | 29

in ecuador tonight, the people of latin & central america have brought another vistory – with their choce of the constitutional assembly
they are bringing light to us – the barbarians

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Sep 30 2007 23:12 utc | 31

@juannie I never refer to global warming. I speak of global climate change. I try to remember to refer to it as “climate destabilisation”.

Posted by: DeAnander | Sep 30 2007 23:50 utc | 33

Sorry, I killed the code. The ’emph added’ bit was this:

Some reports say State has spent $678 million alone with Blackwater since 2003. …

Posted by: Dismal Science | Oct 1 2007 0:30 utc | 35

LAT on Darfur – finally some sane reporting pointing to the real problems: Another disaster brews in Darfur

“The clashes could all stop tomorrow and we won’t have moved any closer to solving the real problems of Darfur, which I think come down to the environment,” said Cate Steains, acting head of U.N. humanitarian operations in El Fasher, capital of the region’s northern province.
…
For decades, western Sudan has grappled with climatic changes, particularly in northern Darfur, which lies along the edge of the encroaching Sahara.
Over the last 50 years, annual rainfall in El Fasher has been down 34%, turning millions of acres of grazing land into desert, a recent United Nations Environment Program study found.
Tree coverage in Darfur has dropped as low as 18%, from 48% in 1956, Sudanese forestry researcher Kamil Shawgi said. During the same period, the population of the region — a territory a quarter the size of California — swelled fivefold to 6.5 million; the number of grazing animals increased from 30 million to 130 million.
…
Part of the problem, experts say, is that no one is monitoring how much water residents take. It was assumed that each person would use about 4 gallons a day, but average consumption is 6 gallons, and some residents take 15.
Water is intended to be used for drinking and washing, but as the conflict drags on, residents are using it to generate income. Some are filling up donkey-drawn steel drums with free water from Abu Shouk and selling it in El Fasher, according to a recent report by Tearfund, a British-based Christian relief group.
Even more ends up poured into dirt pits to create mud for a booming brick-making enterprise. Workers, mostly young men and boys, can earn $5 a day.
…
But as lines grow longer, friction is more common at the pumps, said Asha Abdulla Noor, 50, who has lived in Abu Shouk for three years. “They shouldn’t use the water for bricks,” she said. “But you can’t tell people not to take the water. They just say, ‘This water is from the foreigners, and I’m free to take it.’ “
The presence of more than 12,000 aid workers and 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur is adding to the strain because foreigners tend to use four times as much water as locals. Finding enough water for the 26,000-troop U.N. peacekeeping force approved this summer will be yet another drain.

Posted by: b | Oct 1 2007 11:11 utc | 37

just a note that AFRICOM officially began operations today as a subcommand out of stuttgart, germany w/ a starting staff of 120. not to read too much into it, though i find it foreshadowingly suggestive, but the only source so far is a widely-circulated AP wire story; no press release on the DoD or EUCOM sites, nor have the AFRICOM sites been updated for weeks.

Posted by: b real | Oct 1 2007 15:15 utc | 39

another einstein & another apeh

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 1 2007 16:12 utc | 41

historic victory for ecuador

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 1 2007 16:16 utc | 43

saw that reuter’s article yesterday & still wondering how it qualifies as “analysis”. i guess you have to read b/w the lines. but i did like the zambian official’s line “It is like allowing a giant to settle in your home. And what would you do if you find him with your wife?” meaning why invite the superpower in to take what isn’t theirs…

Posted by: b real | Oct 1 2007 18:11 utc | 45

just watched an interview of the eye doctor & president of syria bashar al assad
it is a very comic turn of affairs when all the demons of the bush cheney regime – are such reasonable people – even awkward people – but not the monsters they want them to be
assad seems quite calm in face of what is clearly an intensification of preparations for war by israel
assad comes across – without spin, without hype – as a doctor who has found himself leading his people – he has always seemed uneasy with his leadership role but every interview i have read or seen – he always appears level headed
while in israel they have gone from one cross dressing hysteric to an obese general who was more murdererer than soldier & otherwise brutes like begin or netanyahu – the last thing they appear to be is level headed
for all the gifts that reside in the jewish people – i don’t think israel has ever, ever had a leader of real substance
israel cannot boast of a nasser for example, a person possessing the grandeur of his people
on the contrary we have found from presidents to prime minister for the last 20 or 30 years that there have been issues of corruption or of ethical problems that should shame their elites, but doesn’t. it wouldn’t be so bad if the aipac hoods did not continually sell the likudniks as closer to god than thee

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 1 2007 21:32 utc | 47

Last week, Burma’s junta decisively chose violence over civility. It’s soldiers fired automatic weapons at unarmed civilians. This obviously isn’t Gorbachev that Burma’s peaceful protesters are up against. The junta crossed a line, and that Only 10 out of 200 remained alive The second to last picture on this post says it all. That was last week, this week:
shhhh!! keep it quite, Bangkok got bombed last night.
One of the two English dailies buried the story. The other failed to report the story at all. Almost without exception, every international news service ignored the story.
One bomb went off in Bangkok last night and a second was found to have been planted across the street from Thai Military Headquarters (photo). Two Bangkok men suffered terrible injuries in the blast.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 2 2007 1:39 utc | 49

The War on Gaza’s Children

An entire generation of Palestinians in Gaza is growing up stunted: physically and nutritionally stunted because they are not getting enough to eat; emotionally stunted because of the pressures of living in a virtual prison and facing the constant threat of destruction and displacement; intellectually and academically stunted because they cannot concentrate — or, even if they can, because they are trying to study and learn in circumstances that no child should have to endure.
Even before Israel this week declared Gaza “hostile territory” — apparently in preparation for cutting off the last remaining supplies of fuel and electricity to 1.5 million men, women and children — the situation was dire.
As a result of Israel’s blockade on most imports and exports and other policies designed to punish the populace, about 70% of Gaza’s workforce is now unemployed or without pay, according to the United Nations, and about 80% of its residents live in grinding poverty. About 1.2 million of them are now dependent for their day-to-day survival on food handouts from U.N. or international agencies, without which, as the World Food Program’s Kirstie Campbell put it, “they are liable to starve.”
An increasing number of Palestinian families in Gaza are unable to offer their children more than one meager meal a day, often little more than rice and boiled lentils. Fresh fruit and vegetables are beyond the reach of many families. Meat and chicken are impossibly expensive. Gaza faces the rich waters of the Mediterranean, but fish is unavailable in its markets because the Israeli navy has curtailed the movements of Gaza’s fishermen.

Posted by: Bea | Oct 2 2007 2:45 utc | 51

great work b real.

Posted by: Bea | Oct 2 2007 3:33 utc | 53

Should an ‘activist’ edit the editorial and opinion pages of a major newspapers?

Staff writer Glenn Kessler in today’s WaPo:

China Rejects Attempt to Link Developments in Burma to Beijing Olympics

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy said yesterday that his government is working hard to stem the violence in Burma and argued against efforts by activists to link participation in the Beijing-based 2008 Summer Olympics to China’s handling of Burma.

WaPo opinion and editorial page editor Fred Hiatt yesterday:

What We Owe the Burmese

[H]ere’s something else I would do: Tell China that, as far as the United States is concerned, it can have its Olympic Games or it can have its regime in Burma. It can’t have both.

Just asking …

Posted by: b | Oct 2 2007 8:20 utc | 55

A neocon writer at weekly standard cautions you not to be ridiculous and paranoid if you chance to read, as some are these days, Sinclair Lewis’ novel It Can’t Happen Here, in which “an illiterate dweeb with sleazy charm and animal cunning,” backed by “a smooth and duplicitous political mastermind,” becomes president, “cooks up a war to extend his own power, cows Congress, corrupts the courts, bankrupts the country and all but destroys the press.”
Because it can’t happen here.

Posted by: dan of steele | Oct 2 2007 9:41 utc | 57

Talk by Naomi Klein September 27, 2007 at Town Hall Seattle, “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism”
Well worth you time.
I’d love to get Naomi together with Antonia Juhasz.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 2 2007 11:12 utc | 59

Chaos and Unity in a Fragmented Iraq
Interesting analysis.

What General David Petreaus and his master, President George W. Bush, would like us to believe is that recent American policy in Iraq can be seen as a military success but a political failure judged in terms of the inability of the country’s sectarian leaders to unite. What they cannot see is that the two are much more closely related than they are willing to admit….
The major reasons why sectarian leaders cannot come together to create a united leadership for a united Iraq is that, rather than being able to control their followers outside the Green Zone, they are now, to a larger extent, controlled by them….
The result: a patchwork of local groups and alliances no longer neatly split, if they ever really were, into different sectarian parties, management of which has mutated far beyond the capacity of the Maliki government, the occupying forces or even the Iranians to understand, let alone direct or control.
The implications are that Anglo-American policy aimed at building a central government consisting of a working arrangement among the leaders of all the larger sectarian parties has failed. Without the power over their constituents that comes from their ability to provide them with resources, these leaders have become largely captive to the more bellicose and outspoken among their followers….
If this analysis is correct, then Bush is right to believe that the presence of a large American military force is all that now holds the country together. But, by the same token, it cannot succeed in uniting Iraq behind a strong central government because the forces of disintegration unleashed by the occupation are now far too strong.
As a result Iraq faces a situation roughly analogous to Lebanon during its civil war in the late 1970s and 1980s or Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the Soviet Army in the 1990s; a situation in which warlord militias will increasingly rule the roost until one or other of them, or perhaps a combination, can obtain enough strength to create the beginnings of a new order.

Posted by: Bea | Oct 2 2007 15:27 utc | 61

The Ultimate Mission
An exciting and thrilling new way to experience Israel!
Meet the “heroes” who carry out targeted killings…
Observe/participate in a live penetration of Arab territory…
Gain first-hand understanding of what Life in Israel is all about… living in round-the-clock fear of extinction, all for the bargain basement price of $2,185! (not including air fare, of course).
Need I say more?

Posted by: Bea | Oct 2 2007 15:58 utc | 63

manonfyre- she explained on today’s program right after the news (10:48 in) that she has “a temporary condition called bells palsy” affecting a facial nerve that will last for several weeks.

Posted by: b real | Oct 2 2007 17:24 utc | 65

update: the two germans filmmakers were released by the nigerian govt, but the u.s. lady is still being held, though the story is now getting pretty silly
Nigeria: Espionage – SSS Implicates American Lady

The American lady, Dr. Judith Burdin Asuni, arrested with two Germans on suspicion of spying in the Niger Delta, may have been found culpable.
The two Germans said to be journalists have been cleared of any involvement in the espionage case being investigated by the State Security Services (SSS) and have been released.
Intelligence sources told THISDAY in Abuja yesterday that SSS investigation so far has shown that the woman has a case to answer.
…
According to sources, Asuni was said to have deceived the two German journalists who were coming to Nigeria to report on the Niger Delta crisis to apply as working for her non-governmental organisation (NGO) as she reportedly claimed they would be denied visas if they applied as journalists.
The journalists’ acquiescence to this was said to be their only involvement in the matter.
SSS Spokesman, Ado Muazu, told THISDAY that the journalists had been left off the hook after it was established that the American lady who is still being held tricked them into the deal.

sounds like they’re throwing everything they can at her, hoping something manages to stick

“Ongoing investigations have revealed unbelievable wide spy network being run by the lady,” the source said, while also confirming that the American Embassy in Nigeria has distanced itself from the woman as the embassy was not willing to defend her.
…
Investigations also revealed that the woman who was said to be very close to former President Olusegun Obasanjo used his name to coerce, intimidate and harass people to clear road for her numerous deals including collection of money from oil companies (Shell and Chevron) and state governments in the Niger Delta region.
Aside Obasanjo, former governors of Rivers and Delta States, Peter Odili and James Ibori, were also known to have come in contact with the woman.
Among the activities that landed her in trouble was the alleged unholy and questionable romance with hostage takers, cult members and militias in Bayelsa State.
She is also alleged to have stage-managed a phony hostage taking aimed at embarrassing the Nigerian Government.
…
It was also learnt that SSS investigation confirmed an unbelievable level of penetration of top government functionaries, oil companies and embassies by the lady.
Tactics allegedly employed by Asuni included dropping names of prominent persons; intimidation and collection of sensitive information on the activities of government.
She was also said to have brazenly exploited the crisis in the Niger Delta and was believed to have coerced some Niger Delta governors into sponsoring her activities.
Oil companies are said to have paid billions of naira to sponsor her activities like seminars, conflict management talks all in the name of peace making which is the official and stated aim of her NGO, the Academic Associates Peace Work, which began in Ibadan, Oyo State, a few years ago. She has since changed from peace making to what some intelligence experts called ‘conflict entrepreneur.’
The most intriguing revelation, according to sources, is the alleged attempt by the woman to penetrate the nation’s security system.
From the classified and sensitive information alleged to be in her possession, security sources concluded she must be running an espionage network.
“What is unmistakable is that she must be running an espionage network for some countries,” one security source said.

ah yes, the old name-dropping trick. they fall for it every time
probably can’t take the charges too seriously, as another report “informs” its readers that

Competent sources within the security outfit told LEADERSHIP in Abuja, “The most damning revelation is how she attempted to penetrate the nation’s security system. Classified and sensitive information was found in her possession. It was discovered that she was running an espionage network for some countries. She is also believed to be the source of information to some American and western election observers that made them to conclude the 2007 elections were flawed.”

never mind the active national media that covered the elections, the citizen voices, or the international observers…

Posted by: b real | Oct 2 2007 18:53 utc | 67

@ b 66
TPM reports:

Dem Rep. David “Obey, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, just said at a presser that he’ll use his power as committee chair to block future war funding measures if they don’t contain clear timetables for withdrawal from Iraq and don’t allow for longer troop rest times.
“I would be more than willing to report out a supplemental meeting the President’s request if that request were made in support of a change in policy that would do three things.
— “Establish as a goal the end of U.S. involvement in combat operations by January of 2009.”
— “Ensure that troops would have adequate time at home between deployments as outlined in the Murtha and Webb amendments.”
— “Demonstrate a determination to engage in an intensive, broad scale diplomatic offensive involving other countries in the region.”
“But this policy does not do that. It simply borrows almost $200 billion to give to the Departments of State, Defense, Energy, and Justice with no change in sight.
… “I also have no intention of acquiescing in a policy that will result in draining the treasury so dry that it will result in the systematic disinvestment of America’s future.

It is true that the Senate can pass as many spineless resolutions as it wants, but the purse strings reside exclusively with the House. If the house doesn’t open the purse, funding does not happen. All actual spending appropriations must originate in the House, which makes the Chair of the Appropriations Committee and the chairs of some other appropriations subcommittees quite powerful.
In fact, something like this actually happened WRT Nicaraguan contras under Reagan. Both Houses actually passed a resolution which basically approved US resistance to Sandinistas in Nicaragua. But funding bills move separately.
A Dem US congressman, who headed the appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding contras, disagreed with fighting, as did many of this Dem colleagues. He sat on the funding bill, simply would not report it out of committee. Thus, to oversimplify, there was no funding for fighting Sandinistas, and the Reagan administration birthed Ollie North and the Iranian weapons deals to fund the fight illegally.
Congressional rules have probably been changed since that time, to reduce the power of individual committee chairs. Nevertheless, if Obey sticks, he can certainly turn the speed of funding way down.

Posted by: small coke | Oct 2 2007 20:27 utc | 69

@67
“Ongoing investigations have revealed unbelievable wide spy network being run by the lady,” the source said, while also confirming that the American Embassy in Nigeria has distanced itself from the woman as the embassy was not willing to defend her. …
so if this is true, this courageous White American woman, having put in so much to help the oppressed peoples of the Niger-Delta, gets left to hang out to dry
then again, it does’nt help her case that she married a Black African man. So moral of the story — White women beware, if you must have a mission, go to Peoria !!!

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Oct 3 2007 0:04 utc | 71

from the prepared testimony of the human right’s watch panelist at today’s house subcommittee hearing, Ethiopia and the State of Democracy: Effects on Human Rights and Humanitarian Conditions in the Ogaden and Somalia

The Human Rights and Humanitarian Situation in the Horn of Africa: The Cases of Somalia and the Ogaden Region of Ethiopia
…
..today Human Rights Watch would like to focus on the conduct of the Ethiopian military, not only because the Ethiopian government’s military forces have systematically committed atrocities and violated the basic laws of war, but because Ethiopia is a key ally and partner of the United States in the Horn of Africa.
The crimes committed by Ethiopian forces in the Ogaden and in Somalia are not unique, on the contrary they add to a mounting toll of abuses that have made Ethiopian security forces among the most abusive on the continent. Human Rights Watch has previously documented crimes against humanity by Ethiopian military forces in Gambella, and serious abuses in Oromia, Addis Ababa and other parts of Ethiopia.
We recognize that Ethiopia has legitimate and serious domestic and regional security concerns, and that all of the warring parties share responsibility for atrocities against civilians. Nevertheless, nothing justifies the severe violations we are witnessing today in the Ogaden, or the conduct of Ethiopian forces and their allies in Mogadishu.
In the Ogaden, we have documented massive crimes by the Ethiopian army, including civilians targeted intentionally; villages burned to the ground as part of a campaign of collective punishment; public executions meant to terrify onlooking villagers; rampant sexual violence used as a tool of warfare; thousands of arbitrary arrests and widespread and sometimes deadly torture and beatings in military custody; a humanitarian and trade blockade on the entire conflict area; and hundreds of thousands of people forced away from their homes and driven to hunger and malnutrition.
The Ogaden is not Darfur. But the situation in Ogaden follows a frighteningly familiar pattern: a brutal counter insurgency operation with ethnic overtones in which government forces deliberately attacks civilians and displace large populations, coupled with severe restrictions on humanitarian assistance.
Unlike in Darfur, however, the state that is perpetrating abuses against its people in Ogaden is a key US ally and recipient of seemingly unquestioning US military, political, and financial support. Furthermore the crisis in Ogaden is linked to a U.S.-supported military intervention by Ethiopia in Somalia that has been justified in terms of counter terrorism. Because the United States has until now supported Ethiopia so closely, there is a widespread and growing sentiment in the region that the United States also shares some of the blame for the Ethiopian military’s abusive conduct. The increasing resentment produced by the silence over these atrocities risks radicalizing parts of the large Muslim population in the region and undermining the United States’ stated goal of combating militant Islamist groups in the region. It is imperative for the United States to use its influence in the region to end these abuses and ensure the well-being of civilians caught in these conflicts.
A crucial first step would be for the U.S. government to publicly acknowledge the depth of the suffering, especially in the Somali region of Ethiopia—and then, immediately, take concrete steps to alleviate that misery. Doing so would comply with the United States’ obligations under international law. It would also be the right thing to do, and, I’m sure of some interest to you, it would probably serve the national interest of the United States much better than the Administration’s current policy. We hope this hearing will help achieve those results.

the hearing today puts pressure on the u.s. govt to modify its relationship w/ the ethiopian govt.
the chair of the ogaden human rights committee canada, fowsia abdulkadir, spelled out to the committee how what the ethiopian govt is doing in the ogaden is categorically genocide:

I would submit to you that, the actions of the Zenawi regime placed upon the Ogaden, could be defined as genocide. And to that end, it is morally imperative that action be taken to mend broken lives.
Furthermore, my presentation would be incomplete if I did not mention the one big difference between Ogaden and Darfur. And that is, the government is doing the very acts of terrorizing the communities.
The currently accepted definition of genocide is the one contained in the 1984 United Nations Convention on Genocide:
“In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnical, or religious groups, as such: 1) Killing members of the group; 2) Causing serious bodily harm to members of the group; 3) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; 4) Imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the group; 5) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group”.
Actions by the Ethiopian military such as these listed below are to genocide.
· On July 22nd, 2007, in Qoriile, Ethiopian armed forces came in with a list of names, and then arrested a number of civilians. They transferred them to their barracks, where they were subjected to extensive torture. On July 24th, 2007, the Ethiopian armed forces killed the detainees in their custody, in Babaase. Most of the victims were hanged from acacia trees and then shot to ascertain their death. Ridwan Hassan Rage survived, and told about this massacre.
· Mr. Chairman, in November 20th, 2005, Ethiopian forces razed to the ground the village of Fooljeex, which is located 44 Km east of Qabridaharre. Before torching the residences, they looted personal properties and burned all the things they could not carry with them including the village’s barns, which contained more than 6000 Quintals of sorghum and maize. Pastoral development and Relief Association’s educational project in the area has also been damaged. (OHRC report 2007:18)
· Earlier in 2005, Ethiopian armed forces committed mass killings in Qabridaharre, Farmadow, Shilaabo, Madax-Maroodi, Karin-Bilicle and Gurdumi. (OHRC report 2007:18)
Mr. Chairman, I would submit to you that these acts fit very well within Article I and II of the current UN definition of genocide.

(and wtf — another congressional hearing re africa where yet again somebody has placed j. peter pham as an “expert” witness.)
the house today passed H.R. 2003 – Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007

The House of Representatives passed a measure Tuesday that would require the U.S. government to withhold security assistance to Ethiopia and impose travel restrictions on its leaders unless the African country met democratic benchmarks.
If the measure becomes law and sanctions were imposed, Ethiopia could risk losing travel assistance and the U.S. could impose bans on government and security officials from traveling to the United States.
…
The bill, called the Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act, would require the U.S. president to certify that Ethiopia had made reforms before dropping the restrictions.
The steps that Ethiopia would have to take to be certified include releasing political prisoners, strengthening its independent judiciary, punishing security forces involved in atrocities and ensuring independent media.
The measure would have to be passed by the Senate and signed by the president to take effect. It would allow the president to waive the restrictions and travel bans by certifying to the Congress that doing so was in the U.S. national interest.
Training for peacekeeping and counter terrorism would also be exempted from the restrictions on security assistance.
The bill included language that criticized the 2005 Ethiopian elections and a crackdown on opposition afterward.

still has to get through the senate though & signed by the executive office, which isn’t likely to happen in this day & age where aggression & murder are, if not encouraged, understood as necessary & acceptable so long as it can be justified w/ GWOT narratives.

Posted by: b real | Oct 3 2007 4:18 utc | 73

It isn’t news for MOA visitors, but Badger’s latest post documents the point of view of a leading Saudi cleric on who really controls the jihadis. It’s not hard to imagine the countries on his list of suspects, although the Mufti is too discreet to name them.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Oct 3 2007 4:57 utc | 75

Interesting that this story of the Israeli bombing of the USS Liberty is the second story this week revising the incident. In the link our friend Pat Lang is mentioned as one of the protagonists privy to original transcripts, and just happens to be currently “out of town”.mmmmmm, I wonder about a gathering push back among the intelligentsia against the Israeli lobby in advance of the upcoming AIPAC trials of Rosen/Weissman, set to take place in January. And in the process muddy the waters on any joint U.S./Israeli attack on Iran.

Posted by: anna missed | Oct 3 2007 8:49 utc | 77

Look amerika! Here is a country that is undemocratic:
‘Spoiled child’ demands Tonga democracy

A Tongan pro-democracy MP who has demanded immediate political changes has been described as a “spoiled child” by the country’s Prime Minister.
Pro-democracy politician Akilisi Pohiva said there would be ongoing demonstrations and civil disobedience unless Tonga became more democratic soon.
There are only nine people in Tonga’s Parliament who are directly elected by voters. Nine MPs are appointed to represent the nobles and 15 people are directly appointed by the King.
A report last year recommended that a new 26-member parliament be made up of 17 people’s and nine noble’s representatives.
A committee to investigate the changes recently became deadlocked over the date reforms should begin, and the Parliament voted to put constitutional changes on hold until 2010.

It has many resources – thousands of different postage stamps and cheap passports for crims on the run being the two largest, yet the King of Tonga won’t relinquish control of the political system. There is no trickledown of the kickbacks he cops for the passports, or dodgy web sites he embarasses his deeply religious people with by flogging off rude domain names. He told them to “get back to their basketweaving or whatever it is they do” during a memorable TV interview after his accession to the throne last year.
The western media particularly the Australian media in this patronisingly racist article think he is a great joke getting about in his monocle, dressed like a victorian colonial governor in ostrich feather hats and silly Gilbert and Sullivan uniforms, but the people of Tonga aren’t laughing.
Last year they burned down the CBD which had been taken over by migrant businessmen the only people with the money for kickbacks in that society where cash is in short supply. They were sick of being ripped off by high prices for the pittance they earned in a country where union leaders and newspaper editors risk imprisonment without due process.
So can someone tell the big boss of amerikaland George W Bush that here is a country which suffers from a democracy deficit disorder and has a beatable military (about 20 soldiers and an aging boeing aircraft). Although the king may challenge him to pistols at dawn or somesuch to decide who rules the joint.
Dubya can claim a great victory over the Chinese here as PRC was making investments until the riots burned them out I suppose they came back since amerika left a vacuum. An excerpt:

The US Congress last month received a 30-page report, “The Southwest Pacific: US Interests and China’s Growing Influence”, drafted by the foreign affairs, defense, and trade division of the Congressional Research Service (CRS), its public policy research arm.
The document provided a blunt assessment of Washington’s strategic interests in the South Pacific. It noted increasing opposition to Australian government interventions in the region and warned that the regional hegemony established by the US and its allies in the aftermath of World War II was being undermined by China. . .
. . . A striking feature of the paper was its frank elaboration of Washington’s interests. While sections of the document included pro forma declarations of US support for democracy, these were jettisoned when it discussed the key issue of intensifying regional great power rivalry. . . .
. . . .The Congressional report paid particular attention to China’s encroachments into Australian and New Zealand spheres of influence—Melanesia (Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu) and Polynesia (Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands) respectively.
The report noted that the US scaled back its presence in these areas in the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR lessened their perceived strategic significance. The last US bilateral development aid program ended in 1996, with the closure of USAID’s regional aid mission office in Fiji. Diplomatic programs such as the Peace Corps missions were also scaled back, and a number of embassies in the smaller Pacific states closed or amalgamated. . . .

I don’t particularly want amerikan influence back, if there must be ‘regional bosses’ from the superpowers at the moment China seems the best since they leave you pretty much alone, but the Tongans don’t want the mad king with his silly Oxbridge accent and dubious sexual practises to be left alone, so if Shrub really needs to get a win on the board before his duck loses all it’s legs why doesn’t he ‘liberate’ Tonga?
Can someone please point his chief god botherer in the direction of Tonga so he can wise Dubya up to the predicament these ‘good xtian folks’ find themselves in.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Oct 3 2007 20:42 utc | 79

update on #67
after earlier rpts that they’d been released & cleared, reuters is reporting that the two german filmmakers are now being charged in nigeria
Nigeria charges two Germans over oil delta images

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria charged two German men on Wednesday with breaching its Official Secrets Act and endangering national security by taking photographs and video footage of oil facilities in the Niger Delta.
An American woman based in the delta and a Nigerian man were also charged with violating the secrets act for helping the Germans, and with advising them to make false declarations to get visas.
“Florian Alexander Orpitz, 35 … and Andy Lehmann, 26 … did for a purpose prejudicial to the security of Nigeria take photographs and video shots of pipelines, refineries, petroleum installations, ships,” said one of the charges against the Germans.
Nigeria’s director of public prosecutions, Salihu Aliyu, told reporters after the Germans were arraigned that they faced a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
Judge Binta Murtala-Nyako adjourned the case until Friday and ordered that the suspects be held in the custody of the State Security Services (SSS), a secret police force.

hmmm

Posted by: b real | Oct 4 2007 3:57 utc | 81

Today a friend took me on an errand to meet his eccentric friend, who had built his own crazy world out in the woods. A virtual shanty town of various cobbled together sheds, workshops, and tree houses full of building materials, tools and all kinds of assorted junk. But what caught my attention was right next to the upside down satellite dish fish pond was a towering 10 foot tall concrete Easter Island head sculpture replica. It turned out this guy was manufacturing these things in one of the sheds, complete with jigs, piles of materials, and a special trailer he fabricated to transport them. All in spite of not ever selling one or not even knowing really why he was doing it. But there they were.
I took it as an omen.

Posted by: anna missed | Oct 4 2007 7:46 utc | 83

Several links (perhaps already signaled in other threads):

Badger chronicles a critical response to a response to the fatwah linked to in #75.

If the friend of Bush’s friend is a drug king-pin, what might we logically conclude?

Josh Landis signals this note regarding the Sept. 6 Israeli raid on Syria article from Haaretz , from which, to my mind, the money quote is

The farce came to a partial end
yesterday, and even though there is still a gag order on
most of the juicy details, we can safely say that behind
the successful blackout campaign lies an enormous
failure. The silence of official Israel was not meant to
protect military secrets.

Finally Xymorpha
links to a number of items belonging to the category of “things you already knew, but which are now being openly admitted”. In this instance, in the second article scrolling down, intelligence agency “guidance” to journalists, and in the first the effect of money on politicians.
With regard to the NSA “seminars”, I am coming to share the spooks belief in the efficacy of secrecy: nothing seems more likely to corrode the bars of the cast-iron cage of faith that restrains opposition to the crypto-U.S. government, than a resolute effort on its part to impose perfect hermeticism over an ever-widening swath of governmental activity and to define an ever-narrowing range of “acceptable” political or journalistic discourse.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Oct 4 2007 8:22 utc | 85

@ b 86 You deserve a pat on the back, in this case as in many many others.
Meanwhile the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq continues
to make new oil deals . This one is a doozy: at the center is Heritage Oil
founded by Anthony Buckingham: see here for his social network, which includes such mercenary ops as Sandline International, Executive Outcomes, and the founder of Aegis, Tim Spicer. The links between oil interests and mercenaries is not surprising, but to put it all out there on public view seems brazenly squalid, cf. 85 above, with regard to “open admissions”.
By the way, in an earlier Kurdish deal Hunt Petroleum received a lot of attention, but the (Canadian, like Heritage) firm Impulse Energy largely escaped scrutiny. It too might have interesting “silent partners” (pure conjecture, of course).

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Oct 4 2007 9:10 utc | 87

World Bank accused of razing Congo forests

The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world’s second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. The report by the independent inspection panel, seen by the Guardian, also accuses the bank of misleading Congo’s government about the value of its forests and of breaking its own rules.
Congo’s rainforests are the second largest in the world after the Amazon, locking nearly 8% of the planet’s carbon and having some of its richest biodiversity. Nearly 40 million people depend on the forests for medicines, shelter, timber and food.

Posted by: b | Oct 4 2007 10:59 utc | 89