Jinn of Current Events

Michael Kelly (Washington Post) reports that Joschka Fischer rose in public life as an important figure in the anti-American, anti-liberal, neo-Marxist, revolution-minded German radical left of the generation of 1968. This was the left that produced and supported the Baader-Meinhof Gang (or Red Army Faction), which refrained from nothing, including kidnappings, bank holdups, and murders. 

Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking intelligence officer ever to have defected from the former Soviet bloc, provides credible evidence that the current Foreign Minister of Germany, Joschka Fischer, has a terrorist past (that goes a long way to explain his rabid anti-Americanism): The December 1975 takeover of OPEC's headquarters in Vienna resulted in the seizure of 60 OPEC officials and staff members as hostages. The kidnapping was organized by Qaddafi and the infamous Ilich Ramirez Sanchez — "Carlos" or "the Jackal." Twenty-two years later, Carlos was arrested in Khartoum, Sudan... During interrogation, Carlos asserted that his deputy for the OPEC operation had been German terrorist Hans Joachim Klein... Carlos also testified that the weapons used for the OPEC operation had been kept in an apartment in Frankfurt/Main, where Klein was then living with two other "red revolutionaries" of those days, Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Joschka Fischer. 

Dr Khalaf (The Guardian): I write this to protest against all those people who oppose the war against Saddam Hussein, or as they call it, the "war against Iraq." I am an Iraqi doctor, I worked in the Iraqi army for six years during Iraq-Iran war and four months during Gulf war. All my family still live in Iraq. ... I am so frustrated by the appalling views of most of the British people, media and politicians. I want to say to all these people who are against the possible war, that if you think by doing so you are serving the interests of Iraqi people or saving them, you are not. You are effectively saving Saddam. You are depriving the Iraqi people of probably their last real chance get rid of him and to get out of this dark era in their history. 

BBC News: Japan has given a warning it would launch a pre-emptive military action against North Korea if it had firm evidence Pyongyang was planning a missile attack. Where is the international indignation in the face of such unilateral Japanese policy? where are the French and German pacifists, protectors of sundry dictators? where are Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, who gave in to North Korean and paid them to prevent what they have done anyway? 

OpinionJournal: Saddam Hussein is probably too clever to get caught openly canoodling with Osama bin Laden, but the evidence [in this article] shows that they share the same evil purposes. When it comes to the uses of terror and antipathy to America, Saddam and bin Laden are brothers under the skin. 

John Ridpath: History is replete with examples of charismatic power-lusting "leaders" directing mindless and obedient legions on campaigns of suppression and destruction. But America's great leaders have been different. America has often been blessed, in times of crisis, with principled, moral leaders, directing this nation against history's tyrants and in pursuit of freedom and the rights of man. Now, once again facing a crisis, America searches for great leadership. Dr. John Ridpath is an excellent speaker and lecturer, one of the best I have ever seen. 

The Rubicon has already been crossed. Washington Post: U.S. Special Operations troops are already operating in various parts of Iraq, hunting for weapons sites, establishing a communications network and seeking potential defectors from Iraqi military units in what amounts to the initial ground phase of a war... 

I'm flying into Heathrow later today. The Guardian: This week's Heathrow security alert was sparked by high-quality intelligence that Islamist extremists with links to al-Qaida have smuggled portable Sam-7 anti-aircraft missiles into Britain from Europe. Investigators have been told that the smugglers then contacted a small number of known sympathisers within the UK, who have become the focus of a huge police inquiry. The intelligence, which is understood to have been received at the weekend, sent shudders through anti-terrorist investigators.