Internet Groups Fear UN Could Threaten Cyberspace

Hamadoun Toure, chief of the UN's telecommunication agency talks to Associated Press in London, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010.

Officials from 18 countries held an impromptu, late-night meeting earlier this month at the United Nations office in Geneva, and made a decision that rattled Internet technocrats around the world.

Autocratic governments like China and Iran attended the meeting, as did several democratic ones. Despite protests by Portugal and the United States, they voted to staff a working group on the future of the Internet Governance Forum -- an important theatre of discussion on matters of cyberspace -- by governments alone.

The seemingly arcane move reverberated through a community of technical experts, academics and civil society groups who felt they had been unfairly excluded.

Fourteen technical organizations that help oversee how cyberspace runs wrote an open letter asking the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD) to reverse its decision. Meanwhile the Internet Society, an umbrella group that helps manage technical standards online, posted a petition to its website in protest.

"A significant fuss has been kicked up about it," said Byron Holland, president and CEO of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, which manages the .ca domain.

Even Google waded into the fray. Vint Cerf, a vice-president at the online behemoth and one of the pioneers of the Internet, added his name to the petition, alongside 2,600 others. He also attacked the UN decision in a Dec. 17 blog post on Google's website.

"We don't believe governments should be allowed to grant themselves a monopoly on Internet governance," Cerf wrote. "The current bottoms-up, open approach works -- protecting users from vested interests and enabling rapid innovation. Let's fight to keep it that way."

Eleven days later the UNCSTD buckled under the pressure, according to the Internet Society, and agreed to include up to 20 non-governmental groups.

The episode underscored what has become an uneasy relationship between organizations that have helped gently steer the Internet since its infancy, and UN bodies that came to focus on Internet governance during the 2000s as cyberspace continued to unfurl across the brick-and-mortar world.

"The root of the debate here is a philosophical difference between how you approach the future governance of the Internet," Holland told CTV.ca by phone. "Everything that goes forward from that will have a very different tone or direction."

Technocrats like Holland have also been hinting at a specific threat: that the UN could become a forum where authoritarian governments who are riled by the free flow of information work to put the breaks on its superhighway.

Cyber peace treaty

A second UN body -- the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which manages the world's radio frequencies and orbiting satellites -- has been debating who should govern the Internet for years.

Its secretary general, Hamadoun Toure, would like to spearhead the creation of a "cyber peace treaty" to prevent the Internet from becoming another domain in which countries wage war against one another, as they do by air or at sea.

"Cyber threats can reach critical infrastructure of any country, the nerve centre of any nation," Toure said by phone from Geneva. "A sophisticated attack can bring even the most powerful nation to its knees."

There have been several recent examples of such events. During a dispute with Russia in 2007, Estonia was hit by widespread cyber attacks that knocked out bank, newspaper and government websites. Similar denial-of-service attacks struck Georgian media and government websites a year later as Russian tanks rolled into South Ossetia.

Then last July, the discovery of the Stuxnet worm led to speculation that a foreign government was trying use malicious software to cripple Iran's nuclear program.

But there are a number of hurdles to creating an international agreement that would discourage such attacks. One is who would forge it.

"If we were to have a roundtable on this, you would see not only governments around it. Are we mentally prepared for that, to have around the same table private sector, civil society, consumer groups and governments?" Toure said. "That is what it will take for meeting the challenges of a cyber peace treaty."

Risky business

Critics of Toure's proposal worry that non-governmental groups would not be given an equal seat at the table, and point to the ITU's plenipotentiary conference in October.

There, delegates discussed a Russian proposal to take over managing Internet domain names. Currently that task falls to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a private organization whose president and CEO was barred from attending the meeting.

Others say the ITU's government-to-government approach is too slow and clunky to manage something as fast-moving as the Internet, or that it could pave the way for less open regimes to introduce new online controls.

"We have to be careful about what institutions take the lead," said Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab and the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies at the University of Toronto. "The Chinas, the Irans, the Saudi Arabias of the world want to impose a territorial vision of control over cyberspace -- and if the ITU got its wishes, that's essentially what would happen."

In future, the debate over who should govern the Internet would do well to bear in mind its success stories like Google and Facebook, said Olaf Kolkman, director of NLnet Labs and chair of the Internet Architecture Board.

If the ease of accessing an unfettered online world helped those billion-dollar corporations evolve from tiny start-ups in garages or university dorm rooms, he suggested, then closing off the Web could lead to stagnation. It might also wall off opportunities for everyone who has yet to set foot in cyberspace.

"If we can preserve the spirit of openness moving forward," Kolkman wrote in an email, "we will see much of the innovation coming from developing countries, and the billions of people who have yet to come online but who will change the shape of the Internet when they do."(source)

Next Year's Wars: The 16 Brewing Conflicts To Watch For In 2011

The 16 brewing conflicts to watch for in 2011
DECEMBER 28, 2010


Across the globe today, you'll find almost three dozen raging conflicts, from the valleys of Afghanistan to the jungles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the streets of Kashmir. But what are the next crises that might erupt in 2011? Here are a few worrisome spots that make our list.

Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire is on the brink of what may be a very bad 2011. After a five-year delay, Côte d'Ivoire held presidential elections on Oct. 31. A peaceful first round of voting was commended by the international community, but the runoff between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara was marred by clashes and allegations of fraud on both sides.

The international community, including the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), former colonial power France, and the United States, has recognized Outtara as the victor, but this has not prevented Gbagbo, with the backing of senior military officials and the Constitutional Council, from taking the oath of office. Both politicians have named prime ministers and governments as tension mounts and protests occur in the streets. The United Nations has reported disappearances, rape, and at least two dozen deaths so far.

Worst case scenario: Gbagbo stays in power, armed conflict between the supporters of each side plunges the country into civil war. Best case scenario: Gbagbo succumbs to international appeals and steps down. But it's not clear how things could get better from here. The international community has already ratcheted up pressure, including financial restrictions and travel bans. And the United Nations renewed the mandate of its peacekeeping operation there, despite Gbagbo calling for its immediate departure.

It's very possible that Cote d'Ivoire will take a turn for the worse in 2011. Gbagbo and Ouattara both have heavily armed supporters who seem ready to fight for the long haul.

Colombia

At first glance, Colombia's prospects for 2011 look bright. The country's new president, Juan Manuel Santos, has surprised many former critics with his bold reform proposals, many of which are aimed at addressing the root causes of the country's 46-year civil conflict against leftist rebels. He has mended relations with neighbouring Venezuela and Ecuador, committed to protect human rights advocates, and proposed legislation to help resettle the country's four million displaced.

The news is not all good, however. Despite a series of strategic losses in recent years -- from territory to key leadership -- the country's leftist guerrillas, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), still maintain about 8,000 armed troops and perhaps twice that number of supporters. The rebels killed some 30 police in the weeks after Santos's inauguration, clearly to make a point. Meanwhile, new illegal armed groups have sprung up to capture the drug trafficking market, their ranks filled with former paramilitary fighters. These gangs are largely responsible for the rising incidence of urban violence; homicide rates have gone up by over 100 percent in Colombia's second city, Medellín, last year.

If these new armed groups are not contained, Colombia stands to regress in its long fight to finally root out the drug trade -- and the militancy it fuels. In such a scenario, FARC could see a comeback, restarting its campaign of terror in the country's major cities. As has been the case so often in Colombia's recent history, it would be the civilian population who would suffer most from such a return to conflict.

Yet the opposite scenario is equally likely in the coming months. Santos has worked with his counterparts in Venezuela and Ecuador to increase border surveillance, putting pressure on illegal armed groups holed up there. Under such pressure, FARC may even welcome the chance to start talks with the government about disarmament and reintegration. Much rests in this government's hands.

Zimbabwe

Keep an eye on Zimbabwe in 2011 as the country's "unity" government -- joining longtime President Robert Mugabe with opposition leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai -- will warrant its conciliatory name less and less by the day. The flashpoint next year? Elections. Both men want to hold them -- but they don't agree about what Zimbabweans should be voting on.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai were never going to be fast friends. Since the two were brought together in February 2009, following a 2008 election that Tsvangirai won (but his opponent refused to recognize), Mugabe has continued to monopolize the real levers of power. Despite Tsvangirai's protests, it's Mugabe who still holds sway over the army, the security forces, and all the state functions that generate revenue.

Earlier this fall, Mugabe declared that he wanted the unity government to end in 2011. He wants full elections mid-next year, and his party, ZANU-PF, is giving every indication that it will employ the same coercive tactics used in elections past to deliver victory to Mugabe. Tsvangirai's idea of the 2011 ballot is quite different: he wants to pass a new constitution.

The row over elections has pushed the nominal two-year truce between Mugabe and Tsvangirai toward the verge of collapse. Open violence could break out around the elections unless regional and international mediators negotiate a compromise and bring real pressure to bear on Mugabe to play by the rules.

Iraq

Iraq today is in far better shape than it was in 2007, when nearly two dozen Iraqis were dying each day in suicide bombings. But it's still far from out of the woods. And these days, it's not militants but the country's politics that post the biggest threat. The new government, formed in December after nine months of wrangling, is weak and lacks the institutions to rule effectively. Iraq's bureaucracies are nascent and fragile, and its security forces remain heavily dependent on U.S. training as well as logistics and intelligence support. Meanwhile, grievances abound -- from minority groups to repatriated refugees -- and it is unlikely that the state will be able to appease these many political demands. Sectarian violence resurfaces in fits and spurts, and is far from quashed entirely; approximately 300 Iraqis died in violence in November.

Iraq's neighbors could exploit the country's ongoing political turmoil to gain influence and sway, particularly Iran, which has long supported Shiite militants. Insurgents also await an opportunity to capitalize on political discord. At the same time, U.S. troops will be largely -- if not entirely -- withdrawn by the end of next year. And lacking that safety net, it would take very little for the country to lapse back into conflict.

That course is not inevitable, however. More likely, Iraq will continue on its current trajectory, retaining enough stability to keep its citizens relatively safe, even if services remain deficient. But in a muddle-through scenario, it may be the best the country can reasonably hope for as it emerges from an 8-year U.S. occupation.

Venezuela

Over the next 12 months, watch for Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to take his brand of 21st-century socialism to the extremes. Having lost his majority in Parliament in September, Chávez has since been working hard to ensure that the new, opposition legislature will be irrelevant by the time it is sworn in in January. The Venezuelan president has consolidated control over the military and police, seized more private companies, and won temporary "decree powers" from the outgoing, pro-government National Assembly.

Chávez's power grab comes as the country's economic, social, and security problems are mounting. Violence has spiked dramatically in urban areas; there were some 19,000 homicides in 2009 out of a population of 28 million. In recent years, Venezuela has become a major drug-trafficking corridor, home to foreign and domestic cartels alike. State security forces have also been accused of participating in criminal activity. Meanwhile, Chávez has escalated -- rather than soothed -- the situation with fiery, partisan rhetoric that seems to egg on a violent suppression of the opposition. That message has an audience; government-allied street gangs in Caracas stand ready to defend his revolution with Kalashnikovs.

Sudan

The fate of Sudan in 2011 will be set early, on January 9, when a referendum on southern self-determination is scheduled to take place, and which will likely result in independence for the south. Two decades of war came to an end in Sudan in 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). But as the agreement enters its last stages, however, that delicate peace will be tested. While securing the referendum has been an international priority, the long-term stability of the region relies on the ability of north and south Sudan to forge a positive post-CPA relationship.

If matters go well, the January referendum will take place smoothly, with its results respected by the government in Khartoum. This would provide the perfect platform for negotiations on post-referendum arrangements to be successfully concluded. But should the vote go poorly, we might witness the reignition of conflict between north and south and an escalation of violence in Darfur, all of which could potentially draw in regional states. At this point, nothing is certain.

Finally, there's the tricky matter of creating a new, independent Southern Sudan, which many are already dubbing a pre-failed state. The border remains undecided -- no small matter since the contested middle ground happens to sit on a large oil field. Meanwhile in Juba, the nascent capital, institutions and services would urgently need to be built from scratch.

Mexico

It has been four years since Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared war on the country's drug lords. During that time, 30,000 people have fallen victim to the conflict, many of them along the northern border with the United States, largely as a result of in-fighting among rival gangs vying for control of trafficking corridors. Today, Ciudad Juarez, a border city near Texas, competes with Caracas as the most deadly city in the world. Over the last 12 months, the violence has spread to Mexico's economic and cultural hubs that were once considered immune from drug infiltration. To the north, Mexico's organized crime routes now reach into nearly every metropolitan area of the United States.

In short, despite a $400 million annual aid package from the United States, and big boosts in funding for the military, it's far from clear whether the government of Mexico is winning -- or can win -- this battle.

During the last year in particular, Calderón has been criticized for the conduct of the narco war. Not only is it difficult to pinpoint clear progress, but for many, life has visibly deteriorated since the crackdown began. Twenty times more Mexicans have died during the last four years than Americans have in the entire war in Afghanistan. Two gubernatorial candidates and 11 mayors have been assassinated. The press is under increasing pressure to self-censor. One paper in Ciudad Juárez went as far as asking, in an open letter to the cartels, what it was that they were allowed to publish.

"Winning" would require a hard look at the Mexican military and police, which have been credibly accused of committing flagrant abuses while fighting the drug gangs. The judicial system likewise needs strengthening to bring the guilty to fair trial. And, of course, much depends on Mexico's northern neighbor: America remains the largest market for drugs in the world, and so long as U.S. users demand product, the cartels will keep the supply flowing.

Guatemala

Mexico's drug war is also sending shockwaves throughout Latin America. Under pressure from the Mexican state, the most infamous cartels are seeking friendlier ground and finding it in Guatemala, where the state is weak and the institutions are fragile. In the worst case scenario for 2011, Guatemala could be host to a perpetual turf war of attrition between these various cartels, all competing to control drug trafficking routes -- and increasingly human-trafficking corridors -- to the United States.

So far, Guatemala's best ally in fighting back has been the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a tribunal-like institution set up to root out corrupt and cartel-tainted officials. But its mandate ends in 2011 and its star prosecutor recently resigned, claiming that the political leadership was thwarting his work. Presidential elections are slotted for August, but early polls suggest a polarized nation, with around 20 candidates and no clear front runner. That's just the sort of uncertainty that cartels are good at exploiting.

Haiti

Nature had it in for Haiti in 2010, but it may be politics that batters the small island country in the coming year. The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere began the year with a devastating January earthquake that killed more than 300,000, a deadly cholera outbreak, and a tortuously slow reconstruction process, which remains way off the pace and beset with difficulties. A November 28 presidential election, which should have led to the election of a new, legitimate government, remains wedged in an impasse over allegations of fraud. The winner won't be decided until a run-off vote is held in January, but protests have already erupted over what some saw as the unfair exclusion of certain candidates in the second round. At least a dozen lives have been lost in the street clashes so far.

Already, Haiti was on the verge of a social breakdown. Today, more than 1 million Haitians remain homeless in the ruined capital. The government, whose ranks and infrastructure were devastated by the earthquake, has no capacity to deliver services or provide security. And international aid groups and U.N. peacekeepers can only plug those gaps temporarily. Relief work has also been hampered by a lack of funding. Despite big promises from international donors, dollars have been slow to trickle into the country.

This precarious situation will make for an enormous challenge if and when a new government does at last come to power next year. The run-off election will mark a year since the earthquake, with little improvement in the everyday lives of Haitians, whose patience is running out.

Tajikistan

Tajikistan, a land of striking beauty, grinding poverty, and rapacious leaders, could well become the next stomping ground for guerrillas -- Central Asians and other Muslims from the former Soviet Union -- who have been fighting alongside the Taliban for years and may now be thinking of returning home to settle scores with the region's brutal and corrupt leaders.

Run since 1992 by Emomali Rahmon, a post-Soviet strongman, Tajikistan has been hollowed out by top-to-bottom corruption. A U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks has an American diplomat noting that "From the President down to the policeman on the street, government is characterized by cronyism and corruption. Rahmon and his family control the country's major businesses, including the largest bank, and they play hardball to protect their business interests, no matter the cost to the economy writ large."

Not surprisingly in such an environment, most public services -- including the health system -- have all but collapsed. The economy survives on remittances from migrant laborers in Russia, and roughly half of the country's population lives below the poverty line. It is a dangerous brew for instability.

In recent months, the Tajik government has attempted to crack down against Islamist insurgent groups who have crossed the border from northern Afghanistan, but to little effect. There is rising concern in Washington that Tajikistan will become the new theater of operations for Islamic militants, and might offer a convenient route for insurgent penetration of other volatile or vulnerable parts of Central Asia -- first off, Tajikistan's desperately weak neighbor, Kyrgyzstan.

In the coming year, it's easy to imagine Tajikistan sliding further and further toward a failed state as the government quietly cedes control of whole sections of the country to militants. Even if the Afghan militants were out of the picture, however, Tajikistan's democratic prospects would look bleak. As the American cable put it, "The government is not willing to reform its political process."

Pakistan

It's hard to remember a time when Pakistan didn't seem on the brink of collapse. This coming year will likely be no exception. The country faces a humanitarian crisis in its mid-section where floods displaced 10 million people, a security threat from terrorist groups operating on Pakistani soil, and political instability from a weak administration still trying to wield civilian control over the all-powerful military.

The most immediate priority is assisting the millions of people who are still displaced following floods in Pakistan's countryside. The cities could also use attention; 2010 saw the biggest spike in urban terrorist attacks since the war next door in Afghanistan started. Insurgent and terrorist groups now have strongholds not just in the northwestern tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, but in urban centers such as Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta, and Lahore. Yet despite the flurry of attacks on its heartland, Pakistan still seems reluctant to confront the insurgents with full force. So far, military operations against terrorist groups have vacillated between the extremes -- either heavy-handed and haphazard force or ill-conceived peace deals. Further, the criminal justice system has failed totally to preempt, investigate, and convict militants. Violence may well spike again in 2011.

Meanwhile in Islamabad, the civilian leadership under President Asif Ali Zardari has grown unpopular and weak, plagued by corruption and an inability to maintain control of the military leaders. Civilian control over national security policy, in both the domestic and external domains, could help put the criminal genie back in the bottle. Stronger civilian leadership of the humanitarian agenda would also prevent the millions living in regions devastated by the massive monsoon floods of 2010 -- in the conflict-hit zones in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and also in the Pakistani heartland -- from becoming a soft target for militants. However, clashes between the judiciary and Zardari, and the military's propensity to destabilize elected governments, could result in the democratic transition faltering and even failing, with grave consequences for an already fragile state.

Somalia

If Somalia keeps heading south in 2011, the entire country could fall under Islamist insurgent control. Up to now, the country's U.N.-backed transitional government has withstood attacks from Islamist insurgents only thanks to protection from an African Union peacekeeping force; it remains weak and divided, a national government in name alone. Further, the capital city of Mogadishu is under perpetual siege by militants, a reality that has sent millions fleeing from their homes in this year alone. When the government does make gains on the insurgents, they are counted in mere city blocks, captured one by one.

The largest and most alarming insurgent group is al Shabab, which professes to desire the creation of a strict, conservative Muslim state and portions of whose leadership pledged allegiance to al Qaeda in early 2010. The group already controls most of southern and central Somalia and is currently trying to capture Mogadishu. Meanwhile, Somalia's neighbors fear that al Shabab will begin to export terrorism, as it did for the first time last summer in a series of bombings in Uganda during the World Cup.

That said, Somaliland in the country's northwest is an island of stability and democracy, and Puntland in the northeast is relatively peaceful, if troubled by Islamists and pirate gangs.

The best hope for Somalia is for its forces to exploit the divisions among the insurgency to recapture territory, particularly in Mogadishu. International support, already forthcoming, will help. But so would a lot of luck.

Lebanon

Still smarting from a war with Israel in 2006 that left a precarious balance of power between Christians and Islamic fundamentalists, Lebanon today is arguably more than ever on the brink.

In the coming months, an international tribunal is expected to issue indictments against Hezbollah members for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a step that could spark sectarian strife throughout the country. Most alarmingly, the indictments could unravel a fragile inter-Lebanese power-sharing agreement reached in Doha in 2008. In that scenario, Lebanon could see a return to political assassinations, all-out sectarian strife, or attempts by Hezbollah to assert greater political or military control. None of these scenarios are far-fetched in the coming year; indeed, they have all happened in Lebanon's very recent past. The fact that it is so hard to imagine both how the current status quo may survive and how exactly it will unravel says volumes about the state of uncertainty and shakiness which afflicts the country.

In addition to Lebanon's internal political unraveling, the country risks sliding back into war with Israel. Nearly five years after the 2006 war, relations between the two countries are both exceptionally quiet and uniquely dangerous -- for the same reason: On both sides of Israel's northern border, the build-up in military forces and threats of an all-out war that would spare neither civilians nor civilian infrastructure, together with the worrisome prospect of its regionalization, have had a deterrent effect on all. Today, none of the parties can soberly contemplate the prospect of a conflict that would come at greater cost to themselves, be more difficult to contain, and be less predictable in outcome than anything they witnessed in the past.

But that is only the better half of the story. Beneath the surface, tensions are mounting with no obvious safety valve. The deterrence regime has helped keep the peace, but the process it perpetuates -- mutually reinforcing military preparations, Hezbollah's growing and more sophisticated arsenal, escalating Israeli threats -- pulls in the opposite direction and could trigger the very result it has averted so far.

Nigeria

Nigeria's 2010 was about as rough as they come: The country's president disappeared on medical leave -- and then died -- hundreds were killed in sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians in the country's middle belt, and a rebel amnesty in the oil-producing Niger Delta region completely unraveled, leading to a string of bombing attacks and kidnappings.

And 2011 also looks rocky for Africa's most populous country. A presidential election is slated to be held in the spring; the last election in 2007 left international observers awestruck by flagrant intimidation and ballot stuffing. Voting in Nigeria has never been a pretty affair, and despite promises to reform the electoral system, the old habits of intimidation and vote buying die hard. After the polling does takes place, post-election turmoil is also entirely possible, particularly if one region or group is unhappy with the result. Nigeria's many regions -- north, south, west, east, and everything in between -- count on office-holders to pass out patronage and favors, so the stakes of losing are high.

Whoever it may be, Nigeria's new leader will have urgent tasks ahead. The rebellion in the Niger Delta is flaring up again, with militants promising to continue attacking oil facilities and government offices. A once effective anti-corruption commission has lost its momentum. And vast economic inequality is the order of the day, leaving oil wealth in the hands of a few while the majority of the country's 140 million people languish.

Guinea

Guinea enters 2011 on a hopeful path. In December, the West African country inaugurated its first-ever elected leader, Alpha Condé. After decades of strongman rule, followed by a 2009 coup, this new leadership seems nothing less than miraculous.

Yet the back-story offers some sense of just how deep tensions run. After the country's president died in December 2008, a small group of military leaders took over, declaring themselves the new leaders of Guinea. So corrupt and ineffectual had the former president been that many welcomed the junta's rule. But it soon became apparent that the military president, Moussa Dadis Camara, was equally inept. The pinnacle of that failure came in September 2009, when his troops massacred over 150 peaceful protestors in a local stadium.

International condemnation flooded the country, putting pressure on the junta to hold elections. Meanwhile, Camara was shot by a fellow junta member and sent to Morocco for treatment. His successor, Gen. Sekouba Konate, appointed a civilian interim leader and organized the recent election.

But throughout the junta's brief reign, the military took the opportunity to enrich and entrench its role in the economy, a fact that remains today despite the nominal civilian leadership. Guinea's military now has a strong stake in controlling mineral wealth -- the country is the world's largest producer of bauxite -- and other major industries. In the past, it has used strong-arm tactics to get its way, economically and otherwise, and this old habit will surely die hard. Having tasted the fruits of power under the junta, the military may not so easily return to its barracks.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Years after the official end of the Second Congo War, which raged from 1998 to 2003 and was responsible for up to 4.5 million deaths, whole swathes of the enormous Central African country remain in upheaval. In the eastern Kivu provinces, an undisciplined national army battles with rebel groups for territorial control. Amid the frenzy of violence and rape that follows in their path, the world's largest U.N. peacekeeping force is at a loss to protect even those civilians that live close to its bases.

Lurking behind the conflict is Congo's vast natural wealth, the very embodiment of the so-called resource curse. Government, militants, private corporations, and local citizens all angle to tap the gold, cobalt, copper, coltan and host of other minerals under the country's soil -- which are focused in the east and south of the country. Meanwhile, the central government lies nearly 1,000 miles to the west, separated from its eastern provinces by impenetrable jungle, a different language, and ethnicity. Rebel groups still roam the eastern border regions, exercising their authority with impunity and cruelty. Neither the government nor rebel groups have the strength to win, but both have the resources to keep fighting indefinitely.

Adding to the misery are appalling humanitarian conditions. Only a third of Congolese in rural areas have access to clean water, an estimated 16,000 children die each year before ever reaching the age of five, and life expectancy has actually fallen by five years since 1990.

Unless the Congolese and regional governments try different tactics, there is no end in sight to Congo's troubles. In an ideal world, military campaigns in North and South Kivu provinces would be suspended until better-trained troops can be deployed -- troops than can carry out targeted operations while protecting civilians. Meanwhile, governments in Africa's Great Lakes region should convene a summit and negotiate agreements on economic, land, and population-movement issues. A worst-case scenario would see more of the same: a mosaic of armed groups in eastern Congo continue to fight indefinitely, with civilians paying a terrible price. (source)

UNION TRUTH REVEALED: Avoiding Snow Removal In NY Streets To Protest, Resulting In Ambulances, People Stalled & In Danger

Sanitation Department's slow snow cleanup was a budget protest

These garbage men really stink.

A sleeping sanitation worker in Queens.

Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts -- a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned.

Miles of roads stretching from as north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south shore of Staten Island still remained treacherously unplowed last night because of the shameless job action, several sources and a city lawmaker said, which was over a raft of demotions, attrition and budget cuts.

"They sent a message to the rest of the city that these particular labor issues are more important," said City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens), who was visited yesterday by a group of guilt-ridden sanitation workers who confessed the shameless plot.



Halloran said he met with three plow workers from the Sanitation Department -- and two Department of Transportation supervisors who were on loan -- at his office after he was flooded with irate calls from constituents.


The snitches "didn't want to be identified because they were afraid of retaliation," Halloran said. "They were told [by supervisors] to take off routes [and] not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner. They were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank-and-file."

New York's Strongest used a variety of tactics to drag out the plowing process -- and pad overtime checks -- which included keeping plows slightly higher than the roadways and skipping over streets along their routes, the sources said.

The snow-removal snitches said they were told to keep their plows off most streets and to wait for orders before attacking the accumulating piles of snow.

They said crews normally would have been more aggressive in com bating a fierce, fast-moving bliz zard like the one that barreled in on Sunday and blew out the next morning.



The workers said the work slowdown was the result of growing hostility between the mayor and the workers responsible for clearing the snow.

In the last two years, the agency's workforce has been slashed by 400 trash haulers and supervisors -- down from 6,300 -- because of the city's budget crisis. And, effective tomorrow, 100 department supervisors are to be demoted and their salaries slashed as an added cost-saving move.


Sources said budget cuts were also at the heart of poor planning for the blizzard last weekend. The city broke from its usual routine and did not call in a full complement on Saturday for snow preparations in order to save on added overtime that would have had to be paid for them to work on Christmas Day.

The result was an absolute collapse of New York's once-vaunted systems of clearing the streets and keeping mass transit moving under the weight of 20 inches of snow.

The Sanitation Department last night denied there was a concerted effort to slow snow removal.




"There are no organized or wildcat actions being taken by the sanitation workers or the supervisors," said spokesman Matthew Lipani.

Joseph Mannion, president of the union that represents agency supervisors, said talk of a slowdown "is hogwash." But he admitted there is "resentment out there" toward Mayor Bloomberg and his administration because of budget cuts.

His counterpart at the rank-and-file's union, Harry Nespoli, has also denied there is a job action, though he admitted his guys are working lucrative 14-hour shifts.

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said only: "We would hope this is not the case."

But multiple Sanitation Department sources told The Post yesterday that angry plow drivers have only been clearing streets assigned to them even if that means they have to drive through snowed-in roads with their plows raised.

And they are keeping their plow blades unusually high, making it necessary for them to have to run extra passes, adding time and extra pay.

One mechanic said some drivers are purposely smashing plows and salt spreaders to further stall the cleanup effort.

"That is a disgrace. I had to walk three miles because the buses can't move," said salesman Yuri Vesslin, 38, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg -- quickly becoming the public face of failure this week -- spent a second consecutive day yesterday defending himself to critics of his administration's handling of the storm.

He took reporters to The Bronx to explain that the city is coming back to life and to tout his administration's efforts.

"Can't work much harder," Bloomberg said.

But Hizzoner admitted, "We didn't do as good a job as we want to do or as the city has a right to expect."

Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty promised that every street will have been plowed by 7 this morning, but then he offered this hedge: "Will somebody find a street that I missed? Maybe."

Bloomberg and Doherty also offered a series of excuses for the failed response to the blizzard. They blamed residents for shoveling snow into streets that had already been plowed and for tying up 911 with non-emergency calls.

"This was a failure in the operations and ultimately, as the mayor tells us very often, the buck stops with him," said Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-SI). (source)

GLOBAL WARMING UPDATE: WINTER MAY BE COLDEST IN 1000 YEARS

BRITAIN’S winter is the coldest since 1683 and close to being the chilliest in nearly 1,000 years.

Latest figures reveal that the average temperature since December 1 has been a perishing -1C.

That makes it the second coldest since records began in 1659.

The chilliest on record was 1683/84, when the average was -1.17C and the River Thames froze over for two months.

But with January and February to come, experts believe we could suffer the most freezing cold winter in the last 1,000 years.

The Met Office’s Charlie Powell said: “It’s rare to have cold this prolonged, with temperatures falling incredibly low.

“Temperatures will be down again by Sunday, with nights below freezing and daytimes below average at 3C to 5C. Our outlook forecast to January 26 shows temperatures 2C or 3C below average, frost and ice likely and the highest chance of snow or sleet over the northern half of the UK.”

Although official weather records only go back to 1659, weather experts said the centuries from 1100 to 1500, dubbed the “Medieval warm period”, would not have produced winters as cold as today.

So 2011 could end up being the coldest winter of the last millennium.

Brian Gaze, of The Weather Outlook, said: “It’s very unusual to have a sub-zero month.” (source)

Barry As President: MAKING THE WORLD HATE US (How Not To Reset Relations In Venezuela: Revoking The Ambassador's Visa)

Hugo Chavez had vowed Larry Palmer would not be US ambassador

Washington has revoked the visa of the Venezuelan ambassador to the US, the US state department has said.

The move comes amid a diplomatic dispute between the two countries over President Barack Obama's choice of ambassador to Caracas, Larry Palmer.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had been angered by comments Mr Palmer made about the country this year, and withdrew his approval of Mr Palmer.

The US move in effect expels Venezuelan envoy Bernardo Alvarez Herrera.

It is not thought Mr Herrera is currently in the US, but the revocation means he cannot return.

'Respect'

State department spokesman Mark Toner said Caracas had only itself to blame.

"We said there would be consequences when the Venezuelan government rescinded agreement regarding our nominee, Larry Palmer. We have taken appropriate, proportional and reciprocal action," he said in an emailed statement.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
If the US government wants to expel our ambassador there, let them. If they cut off diplomatic relations, let them”
End Quote
Hugo Chavez
News of the revocation had been carried earlier on Venezuelan sources.

Venezuela's Deputy Foreign Minister Temir Porras wrote on his Twitter account: "I can confirm. USA revoked the visa of ambassador Bernardo Alvarez."

On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of the US, said: "We have denied permission to this aspiring ambassador and now the US government threatens us with reprisals.

"They will do what they want, but that man is not coming here as ambassador. Anyone who comes here as an ambassador has to show respect. This is a country that must be respected."

He dared the US to cut off diplomatic ties.

"If the US government wants to expel our ambassador there, let them. If they cut off diplomatic relations, let them," Mr Chavez said on state television.

Earlier this year, Mr Palmer said morale was low in the Venezuelan armed forces, and expressed concern that Colombian Farc rebels had been sheltering on Venezuelan soil.

"Despite extensive financing, professionalism in the Venezuelan army has decreased due to the retirement of large numbers of officers and a President Hugo Chavez move allowing non-commissioned officers to transition directly into the commissioned corps," he said in answer to questions from the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July.

"New officer training has been cut from five to four years. Most significantly, there has been a noted preference for political loyalty over professional talent. Morale is reported to be considerably low, particularly due to politically-oriented appointments."

On the ties with Colombian Farc rebels, he said: "I am keenly aware of the clear ties between members of the Venezuelan government and Colombian guerrillas.

"The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) maintain camps in Venezuela, and members of the Farc high command have occasionally appeared in public in Caracas. The Venezuelan government has been unwilling to prevent Colombian guerrillas from entering and establishing camps in Venezuelan territory."

Tempestuous ties

Mr Chavez has long been at loggerheads with the US, denouncing "American imperialism".

It is unclear how the latest escalation will affect the two countries' tempestuous relationship, says the BBC's Iain Mackenzie in Washington.

The situation had shown signs of improving with the election of Barack Obama, he says; however, President Chavez later declared him to be "a great disappointment" and claimed he had "the same stench as George W Bush".

Venezuela is a major oil producer and, despite its political differences with Washington, remains the fifth biggest crude supplier to the US.

Mr Palmer's appointment, which was made in June, has yet to be confirmed by the US Senate.(source)

New AG Holder Calls Whites Cowards

February 19, 2009

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards." (source)

We can't have a conversation about race because of the built-in damage done by the Democrat Party. Imagine trying to converse sincerely with a person who is filled with hate and rage because they realize how deficient they are compared to the person across the table from them.

We say things like, "I'm tired of affirmative action for people who still hate my race", and are told by the pc police that "that isn't being productive".

So where can the conversation go from there? We have sincere feelings about harmony and right behavior, but are constantly told to stifle.

Do you know how hard it is to have a sincere conversation with all of the double standards that stand between us? Blacks have had so many rules bent for them in the American society that the rest of us don't know where to begin.

You see, when white people have a family member that gets pregnant at 14, we have the emotions of shame and regret that dominate our conversations: "How could you have done that, Debbie? We taught you better than that", and so on, so forth.

The sincere emotions that we express with our own kind are seen as racist and intolerant if we were to expect the same to be said to an African American. We have been told for a couple of generations now that our emotions and expectations out of ourselves is "living in a white world", by the leaders of the African American community.

Well, when you tell people like us whites something like that, we're actually embarrassed. We look hard at ourselves and try to correct what came from the black accuser. We don't suddenly get our back up at a person and try to "flip the script" on them. We actually try to self-improve, and avoid that kind of sentiment from coming up again.

So the conversation dies there.

Meanwhile, we try to teach our young the same principles that another segment of our population doesn't take as seriously. Years go by, kids grow up to become the next generation, and the problem continues to grow.

Today, African Americans commit 70% illegitimacy in their community. Whites are at 29% here in America.

It's hard to have a conversation on the weekends when every effort you've made to be good to the African American community is thrown back in your face as "racism".

If we let you go to your own schools for an education, we're told that we're racists because we graduate more people than your schools do.

If we force bussing and desegregation to have your black children next to our white children in school, you call us racists because our white kids do better.

If we dumb down the class curriculum so that your black children can finally keep up academically, you say we're racists because they still fail the SAT exams for college entrance.

If we dumb down the SAT so that you can score better, you say that we're racists because the colleges try to teach us about "dead white men".

If we dumb down the college experience so that you can feel more comfortable, you call us "racists" because there aren't as many scientists, doctors, and engineers who are black.

Whites aren't cowards because we don't seek you out on the weekends. We're simply exhausted with trying to keep up with your latest accusation.

The Israeli Chessboard: Pieces Are Set

August 31, 2008

Fair warning: Iran is 18 months away from having nuclear weapons.

Israel will not allow Iran to attain nuclear capability and if time begins to run out, Jerusalem will not hesitate to take whatever means necessary to prevent Iran from achieving its nuclear goals, the government has recently decided in a special discussion.

According to the Israeli daily Ma'ariv, whether the U.S. and Western countries succeed in thwarting the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions diplomatically, through sanctions, or whether a US strike on Iran is eventually decided upon, Jerusalem has begun preparing for a separate, independent military strike.

Ephraim Sneh a veteran Labor MK who has recently left the party, has reportedly sent a document to both US presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama. The eight-point document states that "there is no government in Jerusalem that would ever reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran. When it is clear Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, an Israeli military strike to prevent this will be seriously considered."

"The window of opportunity Sneh suggests is a year and a half to two years, until 2010." (source)

COLD WAR 21: Russia Tests ICBM

August 28, 2008

Last night Russia tested a stealth ICBM (Inter Continental Ballistic Missile), and reported that it was a successful endeavor. International experts say that the test was meant to alarm the West, and the World.

“The RS-12M Topol, designed to dodge defence systems, has a range of 6,125 miles — enough to reach Britain — with a 550-kiloton warhead capable of devastating a 14-mile wide area.” (source)

Coming on the heels of the Russian-Georgian war, this test fire has produced mixed reactions from around the world.

The UK says that no one wants to start a nuclear war with Russia.

Curiously, the Chinese are condemning the test fire last night as an unnecessary show of force against Georgia: The SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), made up of China and Black Sea states, said: “Relying on the use of force has no prospects and hinders a settlement of local conflicts. We urge the sides to solve problems peacefully.”

When the Chinese criticize their Russian comrades for demonstrating force, it is time to be suspicious. Is it possible that the Chinese are secretly aligned with Russia’s goals of imperialism, and are acting as pseudo-brokers of peace in order to give the Bear UN Security Council cover for accomplishing it’s goals?

ISLAMOPHILE 082708: Jihad On The UNC Campus

August 27, 2008

Naturalized US citizen from Iran, Mohammed Taheri-Azar.

A former student at the University of North Carolina was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison for plowing his sport utility vehicle into a crowd on the Chapel Hill campus in a self-professed bid to avenge the deaths of Muslims overseas.

The driver, Mohammed Taheri-Azar, pleaded guilty this month to nine counts of attempted murder in the March 2006 attack at a popular outdoor gathering spot known as the Pit. One person had a head injury and several had cuts and bruises, said District Attorney Jim Woodall of Orange County. Mr. Taheri-Azar, 25, is a naturalized citizen from Iran who grew up near Charlotte and graduated from the university. (source)

Cold War 21: The West Says, "Back Off"

August 28, 2008

UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband.

"Speaking during a visit to Kiev, David Miliband, the UK foreign secretary, called on the European Union and Nato to prepare for "hard-headed engagement" with Moscow following its military action in Georgia.

"Russia must not learn the wrong lessons from the Georgia crisis. There can be no going back on fundamental principles of territorial integrity, democratic governance and international law," he said." (source)

The rest of Western Europe is nervously watching the Bear's activities, too. G7 countries have roundly criticized Russia for its Georgian war, and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned that the situation was "very dangerous" because Russia might now be considering other targets such as the divided state of Moldova and Ukraine, with its strategically important Crimean peninsula.

In typical Russian style, the Bear slashes and rips at its victim, then turns to a defender to claim, "you made me do it." As the EU prepares for an emergency summit on the Georgian crisis, Russia's response is to urge the west not to damage broad mutual ties.

According to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili: "This story is no longer about my small country, but the west’s ability to stand its ground to defend a principled approach to international security."

Cold War 21: Our Pawn Moves Up One

August 27, 2008

President Bush has reacted to Russia's escalation of superpower tensions from yesterday: he deploys our military Coast Guard to rush in humanitarian supplies to thed war-torn people of Georgia.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter, Dallas at Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008. The U.S. military ship on Wednesday docked at the Georgian port carrying humanitarian aid. The Dallas, had originally been slated to dock at the Black Sea port of Poti, which is still controlled by Russian forces. But instead it arrived in Batumi, a port well south of the zone of fighting in this month's war between Russia and Georgia. ( AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

We have NATO on our side, of course, but the USA is the first to send in substantial help to the Georgians. Unilaterally. That's leadership in the grown-up world of superpower politics. No time for an untested boy to seize control of the wheel.


"Can NATO - which is not a state located in the Black Sea - continuously increase its group of forces and systems there? It turns out that it cannot," Russian General Anatoly Nogovitsyn was quoted as saying Wednesday by the Interfax news agency.

To recap: Russia kills hundreds if not thousends of Georgian civilians in a hostile takeover of region in a bordering soveriegn nation. The rest of the world reacts with shock and horror. While there is much European nail-biting and rethinking of everything they knew, the US saddles up and risks it's military men's lives to send much-needed aid to the Georgians. And beacause we are navigating between their naval blockade in the Black Sea to bring Georgia this help, Russia calls us "devilish." (source)

Your move, Old Bear.

The Board Is Set: South Ossetia and Abkhazia In Place

August 27, 2008

The nation sits distracted with our Changing Of The Guard ceremonies in Denver, just as the world sat distracted with Beijing a few weeks ago for the beginning of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. During both times, we saw the worm turn. What was a decade-plus of new friendship with Russia turned quickly into a geopolitical shift in concern and priorities. Our State department is suddenly changing plans and making emergency trips to Eastern Europe a lot. We are suddenly having to draw lines in the sand for the same foe that butchered tens of millions of people and said that the problem was really with us.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that Russia is recognizing the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia. Clever ploy the Russians deployed years ago: Instal clusters of Russians in the satellite republic of Georgia when your federation is falling apart. Consider these players as "pawns" in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Instruct them to agitate their parent nation, Georgia, and even spark low-level assaults on the Georgian military and police force. Have them do this for years in order to demonstrate the justification for rushing in to "recognize their grievances".

"We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a Cold War," Medvedev said yesterday. (source)

He ordered Russian Foreign Ministry to start establishing diplomatic ties with the secessionist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Who can't see what's next: Russia will consider the recognized breakaway regions as "part of Russia now", and declare these Georgian regions fair game for the picking.

Yes, we condemned the act. Yes, so did the rest of Western Europe (Eastern Europe is bracing for more, and silent). Still yet, Russia dares to "flip the script" on us, saying that even though Russia killed Georgian civilians needlessly, the keys to stopping the madness is up to us: "everything depends on the position of our partners".

Eight years went by before Putin pulled this move on us. Is it possible that he did this, knowing that a lame duck President Bush will not be able to commit a response to effectively face down this annexation of Georgia? And what does that say for how much they fear whoever is next? Is this anytime to elect a weak judge of character into office?

The Axis Of Evil: North Korea

August 26, 2008

We’ve known that North Korea has always been a despotic hellhole for 50 years. That’s why the truce has never matured to a declaration of peace. When my grandfather was stationed there, a group of US infantrymen were beaten and killed in their sleeping bags. When I was there, a border massacre on the DMZ had just taken place.

Years later, in the mid 90’s, it was time for the Democrats to steer our country through the foreign policy minefield that Reagan, Bush, Nixon, and Eisenhower had superbly navigated. How did Bill Clinton direct our stance against communism? He sent Madeline Albright to give away the farm.

Madeline Albright negotiated [read: asked what could we do to erase our previous hard stance against evil] with the N. Koreans, and ended up with a GREAT deal for them, and another bunch of lies and empty promises for us. She “negotiated” to give Kim Il sung the know-how and help to build them nuclear reactors.

Albright barked back at those of us here in the US who said that they will use these “power plants” to make enriched plutonium: “Diplomacy takes time, and trust”, she said. Ten years later we find out that--surprise--the N Koreans had successfully tested an underground nuclear bomb.

As the grown-ups took control of our relations with N. Korea, they tried to put guardrails up to contain this monster. President Bush actually achieved an agreement with them to demolish their reactor, along with 11 other disablement measures in order to be removed from the famous list we keep of “terror-sponsoring countries”.

Finally, this past June, the North Koreans blew up their nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

We thought that this MAY be the start of something good. But, almost two months later, they showed their true self again. Today the tyrannical regime announced that they were halting their disablement program.

Why, you ask? Because our president had the audacity to ask Kim Jong-il (Kim Il Sung's son) to clean up his human rights problems. The North Koreans are a regime that can only be trusted by the blind, or the suicidal. Which one are Madeline Albright and Bill Clinton?

Sliding Into The Next Dark Age

August 25, 2008

Evidence of a sea change is taking place right now. We are seeing the equivalent of a polar shift in Earth’s tilt towards the sun. Have we experienced such changes in the past? Yes. Do we know what it’s outcome will be? No.

Condoleeza Rice is set to recommend to President Bush that we recall a nuclear plan we had structured with Russia in the last few years. It was a program designed to share nuclear materials and fuel between the two former adversaries, as something of a safeguard against rogue nations acquiring the same. (source)

This move is not one-dimensional: For the UN (and the US) to have any affect on isolating Iran and their drive to become a nuclear superpower, we needed to work through Russia. With the way that Russia has exposed itself in the last few years, culminating in their invasion of Georgia two weeks ago, all deals are becoming void.

This should be alarming for all who watch world affairs and concern themselves with the survival of Western Civilization. The bonds we sought to establish with this former monster are dissolving in front of our eyes. Their goal is becoming more clear with every tank, naval blockade, and assassination they thrust upon us.

The kabuki dance going on right now between the US and Russia is the distraction. Watch Israel, Syria, and Iran for proxy wars between The Bear and us, The Last Great Hope.

ISLAMOFILE 082108b

August 21, 2008

There has been a push from the world of academia here in the West to sanitize the religion of Islam. After 9-11, UNC Chapel Hill incorporated a semester-long course in Quoranic studies as a requirement for all students. Is there an equal requirement for New Testament studies, or Old Testament, or Upanishads studies?

Hardly.

But the same crowd who likes to demonize all things Christian has practically tripped over itself to embrace the “religion of peace”, Islam. For some reason, we here in the West seem to forget the 1300 years worth of Islamic terror, expansionism, and “convert-or-die” mentality. Far from it’s mythological image of today, the Crusades were a series of efforts to combat the imperialism of Islamic savages.

It’s almost as if we’ve forgotten the episodes of Moors, Barbary pirates, and IslamoFascism happening every day around us.

That is why I am starting this chronicle of examples of how Islam is practiced around the world: the bombings, the honor killings, and the attempt to shame those of us who say, “enough”.
If there were enough “moderate” Muslims who were trying to reign in their zealot brothers and sisters, I wouldn’t have to do this. What right does any Muslim have to shame America for trying to bring this insanity to a close? To me, the Muslims who get angry at the West because we call this practice what it is-barbarism-are simply cowards, and stone-age troglodytes.

They know they can beat up on the West because we’re an easy target around the globe. We open our doors to any malcontent in the world, give them a safe place to lay their head, start a family, earn a decent living, and what do we get in return? Screaming, riots, and lawsuits over perceived prejudice, whether it's a cartoon or something insignificant, even.

Today, I learned about a recent case of honor killing that took place in Saudi Arabia. A young girl converted to Christianity, and just like the young girl in Columbine who was asked by her assailant if she still believed in God, this little Saudi Arabian girl received the same fate.

Except this killer wasn’t some self-absorbed, emo punk on mood drugs. This little girl was killed by her own father. When he found out that she had converted, he first cut out her tongue, then held a “debate” with her. Then he burned her alive. (source)

I hope and pray that there is a special place in hell for people like her father.

ISLAMOFILE 082108

August 21, 2008

The Taliban bombed the Pakistani Army’s main ammunition factory near Islamabad yesterday. The terrorists waited until a shift change was taking place at the facility, in order to inflict the highest amount of casualties on the civilian workers. (source)

Mullah Omar, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said the attack was a response to yesterday's airstrike in Wana, South Waziristan, that killed at least eight al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. (source)

Mullah Omar, spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are the subject of increased tensions between the Taliban and government officials. Pakistani authorities are continually trying to reassure their nation that the Pakistani military is fighting the Taliban to prevent their seizure of these weapons.

Military operations have recently been conducted in Swat and Bajaur, threatening the Taliban organizations there. Baitullah Mehsud, the commander of the Pakistani Taliban, had previously threatened wage "jihad" and turn the provinces of Sindh and Punjab "into a furnace" if the operations did not cease.

Baitullah Mehsud, the commander of the Pakistani Taliban

The Dark Heart Of Russia

August 21, 2008

The South Ossetian village of Mul burns following Russian assault (EPA)

When a nation sends its army, navy, and airforce to do battle in another country, never does it hold something so improper as a concert 13 days into the occupation. Whether its going well or not.

In fact, the only reason why you would go to the trouble of high security for the concert participants, the attendees, etc, and the diversion of troops to accomplish it...is to make a big show for the residents, the nation, and the world. This is something you do when you know your hand has been overplayed, so you try to "flip the script", and accuse the accuser of provoking you in the first place. "You pushed me to it! You made me do it to you!" This is many times acted out during an alcohol-driven rage between husband and wife. The Russians are known for their drinking.

On this day, the Russians have announced a cease fire 7 times; every day continuing to blockade naval ports, burn villages, and kill civillians. How could they stop in the middle of this carnage, death, and Stalin-esque behavior to hold a symphony concert?

A statue of former Soviet Communist dictator Joseph Stalin is seen from a window shattered by bullets in Gori, Georgia. Russian forces were continuing their occupation of the city, despite a ceasefire document demanding their withdrawal (AP)

If you understand the macabre, you understand the Russian. There is a certain quality that allows leader after leader for hundreds of years to practice similar acts of madness, without a protest from their people. As if it is as much a cultural experience as any other peoples may have. (Or because no one dares utter a word, lest they be sent away.)

And cultural it was. From the conductor himself, Valery Gergiev, who is the conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and a South Ossetian. He was conducting in London one moment, then flying into Georgia the next to conduct this, "victory concert."

Valery Gergiev conducts in the ruins of Tskhinvali.

And to add more irony, the conductor continues the propaganda with his own design on how this entire war went down:

Gergiev arrived on stage with a group of children and said that he had come to Tskhinvali “to see with my own eyes the horrible destruction of the city”. He told the audience that Tskhinvali reminded him of pictures of Stalingrad, the city where Soviet troops began to turn back the invading Nazi army. He flatly blamed Georgia for the destruction and repeated earlier Russian claims that 2,000 people had died, which led the Kremlin to accuse Georgia of genocide. (source)

Apparently, from his estate in England, he missed the finer details on just how this thing went down:

A bloodied woman after the Russians bombed Gori, whch is not in either of the breakaway regions.

A Georgian woman is left in tears as her apartment burns after being hit by a Russian shell in Gori (Bela Szandelszky/AP)

As part of Russia's tough response to Georgia's action in South Ossetia, troops moved into Orjosani, between the Georgian capital Tbilisi and the strategic town of Gori (AP)

[Notice even AP categorizes Russia as "tough", while also careful to paint Georgia as the original aggressor. The AP is purposely misleading in this caption. Georgia is not the one who began this conflict. This feud between South Ossetia and it's parent nation, Georgia, has seen the two trade rounds on a regular basis for years now. And all of a sudden, Russia chooses a friday, the first day of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, to claim that they just can't stand by anymore and watch the harrassment of their precious expatriots. Because Russia cares about people.]

During the Russian operation following the start of fighting, the main railway link between eastern and western Georgia, near the town of Kaspi has been destroyed (Reuters)

The conductor should have talked to these folks before he started to warm up the woodwinds: