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Monday, August 14, 2006 |
Juan Cole: "Seymour Hersh says that sources knowledgeable about Israeli and Bush administration planning maintain that the Israelis laid out last spring in Washington and gained administration support for a plan for a bombing campaign against Hizbullah in Lebanon based on the Kosovo campaign. Moreover, the exercise was intended as a demonstration project and a preparation for a Bush administration war on Iran. The campaign against Hezbollah would have two major benefits. It would remove Hezbollah's rocket capability, which was a form of deterrence against Israeli or American bombing of Iran. And, what Israel learned from attacking Hezbollah would be useful in formulating tactics in the American assault on Iran.
Let me say this loud and clear. Any US attack on Iran could well lead to the US and British troops in Iraq being cut off from fuel and massacred by enraged Shiites. Shiite irregulars could easily engage in pipeline and fuel convoy sabotage of the sort deployed by the Sunni guerrillas in the north. Without fuel, US troops would be sitting ducks for rocket and mortar attacks that US air power could not hope completely to stop (as the experience of Israel with Hizbullah in Lebanon demonstrates). A pan-Islamic alliance of furious Shiites and Sunni guerrillas might well be the result, spelling the decisive end of Americastan in Iraq."
Independent: "The real war in Lebanon begins today. The world may believe - and Israel may believe - that the UN ceasefire due to come into effect at 6am today will mark the beginning of the end of the latest dirty war in Lebanon after up to 1,000 Lebanese civilians and more than 30 Israeli civilians have been killed. But the reality is quite different and will suffer no such self-delusion: the Israeli army, reeling under the Hizbollah's onslaught of the past 24 hours, is now facing the harshest guerrilla war in its history. And it is a war they may well lose.
But if the ceasefire collapses, as seems certain, neither the Israelis nor the Americans appear to have any plans to escape the consequences. The US saw this war as an opportunity to humble Hizbollah's Iranian and Syrian sponsors but already it seems as if the tables have been turned. The Israeli military appears to be efficient at destroying bridges, power stations, gas stations and apartment blocks - but signally inefficient in crushing the 'terrorist' army they swore to liquidate."
Scotsman: "Tony Blair is planning to push through 90-day detention without charge for terror suspects following the alleged plot to murder thousands of airline passengers by blowing their jets out of the sky."
Which means Tony Blair is at the end of his tether. If he only has scant indications of possible terrorism, has made no charges, that means he only wants to intimidate his opponents and possible terrorists.
The real problem is Blair's foreign policy.
"Prime Minister,
As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against all those who target civilians with violence, whenever and wherever that happens.
It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad.
To combat terror the government has focused extensively on domestic legislation. While some of this will have an impact, the government must not ignore the role of its foreign policy."
12:27:22 PM 
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"Ich bin die Kraft, die stets das Böse will und stets das Gute schafft."
Mephisto in Goethe's Faust.
Is Bush the evil force that will eventually destroy capitalism and bring about a social world community?
Stern: "Der Boden des Westens knackt und knirscht, er bebt. Eine Kluft hat sich aufgetan, die immer tiefer zu gehen scheint. Wie können die Europäer, wie kann Deutschland, verhindern, dass es zum echten Bruch kommt, zu jenem Auseinanderdriften, das sich niemand ernsthaft wünschen kann?
Die Europäer müssen zunächst tunlichst darauf bedacht sein, die Verletzung rechtsstaatlicher Prinzipien anzuprangern."
"The Rule of Law
1. The Law is superior to, and thus binds, the government and all its officials.
2. The Law must respect and preserve the dignity, equality, and human rights of all persons. To these ends the Law must establish and safeguard the constitutional structures necessary to build a free society in which all citizens have a meaningful voice in shaping and enacting the rules that govern them.
3. The Law must devise and maintain systems to advise all persons of their rights, and it must empower them to fulfill just expectations and seek redress of grievances without fear of penalty or retaliation.
United States Supreme Court
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
Remarks to the American Bar Association, August 5, 2006.
LewRockwell: "The foreign policies of America are going down to disastrous defeat all over the world. Americans will soon wake up to defeat after defeat. The basic reason for these defeats is that the West under American leadership is simply incapable of controlling the rest of the world.
America in every way is simply unequal to the task of ruling the world. It can't do it physically since it lacks the raw resources or power. It can't do it mentally since it lacks the spirit or will [I would say it lacks the knowledge and intelligence]. It can't do it morally since it lacks the moral high ground. It can't do it financially since it lacks the wealth. If it keeps on trying to run the world, it can only meet with more defeats than it already is running into.
And there is no need for America the state to run the world. Our security does not depend on it. Nor is it right to spread a vision of what some or even many Americans think are right values via the forces of the state.
The myth of America being a superpower that can remake the world is just that, a myth. Neoconservatives had a dream. They came to power. They turned that dream into a nightmare. They have taken America down to defeat after defeat. They are still dreaming their dreams and still leading the country downwards."
LewRockwell: "Little by little - or all of a sudden - sentiment is going to change toward the downside. We see it already. House prices are no longer rising... in some areas, they have begun falling. Stocks have gone nowhere for a very long time... certainly not up. America's military adventures are bogging down. Commuters are running out of gas. Consumers are running out of money. Energy and commodity prices are still rising, showing little signs of coming down.
The Empire is peaking out... it is going broke..."
The rule of law is the basis of any civilization. If that no longer works and the neocon mob rules, civilization breaks down. It's as simple as that.
11:45:44 AM
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So, what do you do with all those weapons of mass destruction confiscated at airports?
You sell them at eBay. Like money, 'weapons' must circulate, that's the game.
11:21:48 AM
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© Copyright 2008.
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