Friday, March 14, 2003

U.S. vs U.N. QUOTE OF THE DAY "By the solemn undertaking they have given here in open court, these eleven men and seven women, representing all regions of the world and many different cultures, have made themselves the embodiment of our collective consciences" - - Kofi Annan  (At the inauguration of the International Criminal Court (ICC) RHINO HERE: Last Tuesday in The Hague, Netherlands, the first permanent global war crimes court was inaugurated with the swearing in of its first 18 judges. Human rights groups have lauded the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the biggest step for world justice since the Nuremberg military tribunal tried Nazi leaders after World War II. Although Bill Clinton, in behalf of the U.S., signed the 1998 Rome Treaty creating the ICC, George W. Bush has renounced it & apparently ordered US ambassador to the Netherlands, Clifford Sobel, to decline his invitation to join Kofi Annan & hundreds of dignitaries for the ceremony. Instead, the shrubies have been busy securing 22 bilateral treaties with other countries exempting U.S. citizens from the court's authority, including its power of arrest. CNN article and more facts about the ICC at: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/03/11/world.court shrub & co dismisses warning from Kofi Annan Kofi Annan warned today that if the US fails to win approval from the Security Council for an attack on Iraq, Washington's decision to act alone or outside the Council would violate the UN charter. He said, "The members of the Security Council now face a great choice. If they fail to agree on a common position and action is taken without the authority of the Security Council, the legitimacy and support for any such action will be seriously impaired." The UN Secretary General's remarks were met with tartly worded response from shrub press secretary, Ari Fleischer which included, "...from a moral point of view..." if the UN fails to support the Bush administration's war aims, it will have "...failed to act once again as it did in Kosovo in the face of persecution of the ethnic Albanians by Serbia and earlier in Rwanda in the face of widespread massacres by Hutus against Tutsis." I guess rhinos have better memories than elephants cause I remember the Republicans fighting the Clinton administration every step of the way, not wanting the U.S. to get involved.  In fact I still have an occasional nightmare os seeing General Haig on TV, right after Ronnie Ray-Gun was inaugurated, stating, "Human rights will not be a priority in this administration." Within hours, the heads of oppressive governments around the world sped up the rate at which they were murdering their citizens, especially in Central America where graduates of The School Of The Americas were in abundance. Annan Says U.S. Will Violate Charter if It Acts Without Approval By PATRICK E. TYLER and FELICITY BARRINGER, 3/11/03 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/11/international/middleeast/11NATI.html France Has Vetoed 1 UN Resolution, While US Has Vetoed 73 With all the France bashing going on (the latest Republican action is, "BOYCOTT FRENCH KISSING!") it seems appropriate to remember that if it weren't for the French, our American founding fathers might likely have gotten their butts kicked by the British and we'd all be eating tea & crumpets and bad fish sticks. AP reports, "France last cast a lone veto in 1976, over a resolution to recognize the tiny island of Mayotte as part of the newly independent state of Comoros. For the United States, it was three months ago, over a resolution condemning violence in the Middle East, specifically the killing of U.N. employees by Israeli soldiers and the destruction of a U.N. warehouse filled with food for needy Palestinians. The power to veto, held by an exclusive five-member club of the Security Council, allows the world's most powerful nations to shape international peace and security... In the United Nations' 58-year history, the Soviet Union and its successor state, the Russian Federation, have used the veto 117 times - most coming during Cold War decades. The United States is second with 73. Since 1990, America has cast more Security Council vetoes than any country, many of them favoring Israel, a longtime ally." http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2470574,00.html 'Murdoch's Mouth' Says US Should Pull Out of UN Rupert Murdoch's mouthpiece Bill Kristol told Newsmax.com, "'I've never been a fan of the U.N., but I've also never been excessively alarmed about it. I just thought it was kind of pointless.  But I now think we really should rethink the whole American relationship with the United Nations.  Is withdrawing from the U.N. on the table? 'I'm open to that, absolutely. I just think it's a new moment, and that is an institution that has a certain rationale, I guess. It's a different era. It didn't even have that much rationale then [when the U.N. was formed]. But look, it's one thing if it's just useless and harmless. It's another thing if it actually becomes harmful. And I think you can make a case that it's actually become harmful." http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/3/11/110420.shtml Rhino thinks Kristol's boss, Ruppert Murdoch, is surely one of the most harmful forces in the world today. And are we to believe Kristol about issues related to Iraq? He's chairman of the PNAC, (Project for the New American Century)  the drafters of the Iraq War plan back in 2000 as detailed in Rhinos Blog of October 21, 2002. http://radio.weblogs.com/0103207/2002/10/21.html#a445 The British newspaper The Glasgow Sunday Herald called PNAC's plans for the world a "blueprint for US global domination" http://www.sundayherald.com/27735 Read their battle plan yourself: http://www.NewAmericanCentury.org Dennis Kucinich fighting the good fight As you may know from my bragging on him over the last months, Presidential candidate & Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations. http://www.house.gov/kucinich/ He is the man who envisioned a U.S. Department of Peace... http://www.house.gov/kucinich/action/peace.htm and he is now an official candidate for the 2004 Presidential Race. http://www.kucinich.us. Appeals Court Reinstates Conyers-Kucinich Lawsuit against War Roll Call reports, "Acting with surprising speed, a federal appeals court in Boston has revived a lawsuit seeking to block Bush from launching an attack against Iraq without a formal declaration of war approved by Congress. The constitutional challenge - filed by a dozen House Democrats and a number of military members and their families - was dismissed Feb. 24 by a lower-court judge. But in a rare move that signaled heightened interest in the matter, a three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency motion to hear an appeal of the lower-court ruling with an expedited argument and briefing schedule. An emergency hearing was held last week and the panel asked for both sides to submit briefs in the case by Tuesday, indicating that it would issue a ruling quickly. 'Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution is quite clear that Congress, and only Congress, shall have the power to declare war. Bush is not a king,' attorney John Bonifaz said." http://www.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=12627 Washington Post attacks Kucinich & refuses to print his response Recently Congressman Kucinich was aggressively attacked by Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen for suggesting that the preemptive strike on Iraq was based on oil.  The Post refused to print Congressman Kucinich's response which is THE BOTTOM LINE for today's Rhino's Blog. The majority of Post editorial columns have been decidedly pro-war so for them to not print the response is, In Rhino's opinion, ultra-lame. Join me in letting the Post know what you think at: ombudsman@washpost.com 8:10:30 AM    comment

Obviously Oil By Rep. Dennis Kucinich, AlterNet,  March 11, 2003 Is President Bush's war in Iraq about oil? Of course it is. Sometimes, the obvious answer is the right one: Oil is a major factor in the President's march to war, just as oil is a major factor in every aspect of U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf. Ask yourself: What commodity accounts for 83 percent of total exports from the Persian Gulf? What is the U.S. protecting with our permanent deployment of about 25,000 military personnel, 6 fighter squadrons, 6 bomber squadrons, 13 air control and reconnaissance squadrons, one aircraft carrier battle group, and one amphibious ready group based at 11 military installations in the countries of the Persian Gulf? (Note, the disproportionate troop deployments in the Middle East aren't there to protect the people, who constitute only 2 percent of the world population.) What was Iraq's number one export when the U.S. made an alliance with Saddam Hussein, sold him biological and chemical weapons agents, and then did not object when he gassed his own people? For what major Iraqi resource has Saddam Hussein denied contracts with the largest U.S. and U.K. multinational companies? (Note, those companies are the #2 (ExxonMobil), #4 (BP-Amoco), #8 (Shell) and #14 (ChevronTexaco) largest companies in the world, and the Bush Administration has been known to listen when large energy corporations speak.) For what Iraqi resource did French and Russian multinational companies receive lucrative contracts from Saddam Hussein? What valuable commodity does one reprehensible, megalomaniacal tyrant (Saddam Hussein) control that another reprehensible, megalomaniacal tyrant (Kim Chong-il) does not? How do the White House and State Department plan to pay for a post-Saddam occupation and reconstruction?  The answer to all of these questions is oil, of course. Oil obviously drives U.S. policy in the Middle East. So who can doubt that this war in Iraq concerns oil?... THE OTHER HALF OF THE ARTICLE IS AT: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15359 "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. 7:55:38 AM    comment

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