Politics

Shiite clergy push vote in Iraq, The momentum they have created has made a delay in the ballot difficult, if not impossible. Voters will choose a 275-member National Assembly, but powerful groups within Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority are boycotting the election or have called for a postponement so that they can bring calm to restive Sunni regions where insurgents have threatened to attack those taking part. At the same time, the clergy's campaign has virtually ensured support among Iraq's Shiites for an alliance of about 240 candidates that was brokered this week and has the backing of Sistani.
Michelle Grattan, The Age (Aust), Krudd as Savior, The line-up for the future leadership of the Labor Party is turning into a beauty parade where all the contestants want to cover up. Kim Beazley? No, no, no, no - over all that, he'd say. Stephen Smith? Just keeping busy at the new job, mate. Wayne Swan? Want to talk about the economy? Kevin Rudd? What, ambitious? You must have the wrong man! … The Australian columnist Greg Sheridan last week wrote that "No one is more likely (than Rudd) to find a bridge between the inner-city moral middle class and the outer-suburban aspirationals", while Phillip Adams opined yesterday that "To set a new course in the three-year voyage before the next election, the rudderless ALP needs Rudd".

Global War on Terror

Soldier killed, four wounded as charge explodes near Gaza patrol, A Golani brigage soldier was killed after an explosive charge was detonated during an army patrol near the Karni crossing early Tuesday. A soldier and his sniffer dog were searching a chicken coop when a booby-trap exploded, fatally wounding both. Four other soldiers were wounded, two moderately, as they tried to recover their fallen comrade. Hamas took credit for the attack. Two Palestinian militants were killed in the firefight
07-Dec-04, Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times (Hong Kong), Tribal timebomb, Exclusive information gathered by Asia Times Online suggests that the latest incident of violence in the port city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia is the manifestation of extreme discontent within the Saudi socio-political system, which will be further reflected in the shape of more violence in the coming days. This situation is compounded by anger at US-imposed solutions on the House of Saud to clamp down on Islamists.

Opinion

Everyday Acts of Resistance, An online gourmet food shop calls its Maple Cream Cookies "truly delicious and addictive." In John Banzhaf's view, that description should be treated not as a selling point but as a warning. Banzhaf, a George Washington University law professor who never saw a problem that couldn't be solved by suing someone, argues that food sellers have a legal duty to warn consumers about the dangerous deliciousness of high-calorie products such as ice cream, cheeseburgers, and potato chips. "Bet you can't eat just one!" presumably wouldn't count.
07-Dec-04, Spengler, Asia Times (Hong Kong), Writing off Europe, Every German schoolroom should display a stuffed Dutchman as a horrible example to youth, wrote the poet Heinrich Heine in 1831. For Americans, the horrible example to youth at the taxidermist shop is Western Europe. Last month the US re-elected a president despised by enormous European majorities. Europeans hate and fear the United States, but Americans barely can summon the energy to ignore Europe, which they have written off as a decadent and soon-to-disappear civilization. In the major newspapers of the US east coast, to be sure, Europeans continue to read about their sad little concerns. What "red state" Americans hear, by contrast, is that Europe is dying, like the now-vanished "evil empire" of Soviet communism.
06-Dec-04, Mark Steyn, The Daily Telegraph (UK), An Englishman's home is his dungeon, One of the key measures of a society's health is how easily you can insulate yourself from its underclass. In America, unless one resides in a very small number of problematic inner-city quarters or wishes to make a career in the drug trade, one will live a life blessedly untouched by crime. In Britain, alas, it's the peculiar genius of Home Office policy to have turned the entire country into one big, rundown, inner-city, no-go slum estate, extending from prosperous suburbs to leafy villages, even unto Upper Cheyne Row. (Link Requires free registration and cookies enabled)
08-Dec-04, Caroline Overington, The Age (Aust), Blair backs Annan as quit pressure simmers, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has backed beleaguered UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, saying criticism of him was unfair and that he was doing "a fine job". Speaking in London, Mr Blair said he hoped that Mr Annan, who has been criticised over the UN oil-for-food scandal, would be "allowed to get on with his job".

Law Enforcement

'I see now, finally, justice for David', The parents of a 17-year-old slain by Hamas terrorists in Israel were awarded $156 million Wednesday in what plaintiffs called a precedent-setting, historic victory for terrorism victims and a blow to U.S-based Islamic groups that fund terror overseas. "I see now, finally, justice for David. David I'll never see again, but justice I have," said David's mother, Joyce Boim, who wept after the verdict. "I hope to see more of these terrorist organizations put in their place and stopped." The 12-member jury that deliberated since Tuesday found the Quranic Literacy Institute of Oak Lawn liable for funding Hamas terrorists and awarded Stanley and Joyce Boim $52 million.
Wretchard, Belmont Club, The Defense of the Realm, Dr. Ian Stephen "an Honorary Lecturer (Forensic Psychology) at Glasgow Caledonian University" and "a consultant to forensic psychology television series Cracker" gave some advice to British householders on the appropriate way to handle a home invasion. The advice was given in response to heightened public fears caused by the murder of British financier John Monckton. Burglars tricked him into opening his door by impersonating mailmen. He was killed in the hallway of his multimillion-dollar home. His wife, Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley, was stabbed so hard her ribs were broken…

Politics

Peres loses appeal and loses a vote. Again., The Labor Party's appeals court decided on Wednesday that voting to set a date for party leadership elections will take place on Sunday by secret ballot. The court made its decision after rejecting an appeal by Labor Party chairman Shimon Peres on Tuesday against the original decision to convene the Labor central committee on Sunday. Peres claimed that two of the five members of the appeals court should be disqualified. (Link Requires free registration and cookies enabled)
09-Dec-04, The Daily Telegraph (UK), Religious hatred Bill is being used to buy Muslim votes, An English diplomat in 17th-century Holland said that "Religion may possibly do more good in other places, but it does less harm here". In recent months, a society long celebrated for its openness and tolerance has undergone a sudden change. Churches, mosques and faith schools have been torched in tit-for-tat fashion. Members of the Dutch parliament, notably the extraordinarily brave Somali Hirsi Ali, have been forced into hiding, only appearing in public ringed by bodyguards.

Opinion

Poll: Decrease in Palestinian support of terror, The death of Yasser Arafat has left most Palestinians optimistic regarding the future and opposed to the continuation of terror attacks on Israel, according to a public opinion poll published Wednesday by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center A majority of 51.8 percent of the Palestinians polled said that they were opposed to "military operations" against Israeli targets and consider them harmful to Palestinian national interests, compared with 26.9% last June. Only 41.1% of the Palestinians believe that terrorist attacks should continue compared with 65.4% last June. (Link Requires free registration and cookies enabled)
09-Dec-04, Ira Sharkansky, Shark Blog (US), Letter from Jerusalem, Marwan Barghouti has entered himself as a candidate, and he has considerable support on the street. It is more accurate to say that his wife and some supporters entered his name, insofar as he is in an Israeli prison, sentenced to four consecutive life terms for involvement in murder. Hard to imagine that Israel will release him. Palestinians are pressuring him to withdraw, and many of their leading voices are endorsing Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazzan). He is supposed to be a moderate, willing to deal with Israel. So far he has indicated that he will insist on the right of return for Palestinian refugees (a sure deal breaker), and denied that he said that. Spokesmen for Hamas indicated that they support the Palestinian political process and will boycott the election. If Abbas is elected, he will enjoy international support and something between Israeli support and sympathy. But he will have to find a way to deal with the Israelis, not inclined to be overly generous after four years of Palestinian violence, and Palestinians demanding more than the Israelis offered before the violence began.
09-Dec-04, Judy Lash Balint, Israel Insider, A Brit who gets it about Islam, Don't let the upper class British accent or title fool you. Baroness Caroline Cox, 67, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, does not hold by the politics or the worldview of many of her fellow upper class Brits. The modest demeanor and strong convictions of this Christian human rights campaigner were much in evidence at the Jerusalem Summit last week, as Baroness Cox stepped up to receive the Scoop Jackson Award for Vision and Values awarded annually by Summit organizers.
08-Dec-04, David Warren, Ottawa Citizen (Canada), The Shia party, We now know not only that there will be an election in Iraq on Jan. 30th, but who is going to win it. This is because a single party slate has been assembled out of the various Shia factions to contest it; and the Shia are three-fifths of Iraq's population. In defiance of any advice I might have given, the electoral system cuts several Gordian knots by making the whole of Iraq into a single constituency. It is thus a radical system of proportional representation, in which each party will be assigned seats according to its share of the overall vote.

Global War on Terror (GWOT)

The Trojan Horse of Wahhabism, As international attention remains occupied with the terror murder of Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic extremist, and the long-term implications of the spread of Islamic fundamentalism within Europe, Greece continues to be roiled by a debate over the proposed construction of the first state-recognized mosque in the vicinity of Athens in modern times. The Islamic Center in the Athenian suburb of Peania, more than 15 miles northeast of Athens near the new international airport, will be financed directly by the King Fahd Foundation of Saudi Arabia. According to the Arab News, an English-language Saudi daily, some 8.5 acres were donated by the Greek government for the structure. Foreign assistance for the radicalization of Islam in Greece will inevitably be a central element of the activities at the mosque, which will be very large, intended, it is said, to accommodate all of the estimated 120,000 Muslim faithful in the capital city.
09-Dec-04, Bing West, Slate (US), Fallujah, the Morning After, Over the next nine months, Fallujah, traditionally a rebellious city, metastasized into a Taliban-style fundamentalist tyranny, exporting suicide bombers bent on mass murder. Most of the beheadings featured on the Al Jazeera news network were committed in the city, carried out under klieg lights with written instructions how and when the CDs should be delivered to make the evening news. The city's warlords, Janabi and Hadid, paid obeisance to the arch terrorist Zarqawi and competed for his favor by assassinations and bombings. They bragged their "martyr battalions" would cut to pieces any American force entering the city.

Dysfunctional UN

UN notes anti-corruption with tokenism, Events are being held in countries around the world on Thursday to mark the first United Nations anti-corruption day. Nations including Bangladesh, Germany, Colombia and Morocco are marking the occasion with workshops, rallies, and the release of research. The World Bank estimates that more than $1,000bn is paid out in bribes every year around the globe. And it says corruption takes place in rich nations as well as poor ones. To highlight the scale of the problem and efforts to fight it, the UN initiated the anti-corruption day.
09-Dec-04, Andrew McArthy, NRO (US), International Law Targets American Sovereignty, It is high time for the American people to ask: Just what is international law? Is it a body of obligations, rooted in the principles of consent and comity, that provides sovereign nations with a path toward avoiding provocation and bloodshed? Or is it a subversion by which foreign entities and their activist nongovernmental organizations trump democratic choices and sovereign self-determination?

Law Enforcement

The ghost of Harold Shipman, Of all the absurdities currently guiding UK government health policy, the notion that an intensive inquiry into the work of Britain's first GP serial killer provides the basis for a comprehensive reform of medical practice surely takes the biscuit (1). The measures proposed in Dame Janet Smith's report, published yesterday, are likely to prove more damaging, to both doctors and patients, than the activities of one deranged GP.

Israeli Politics

Sharon Cobbles A Coaliton, The Labor party approved negotiations to enter into a coalition with the Likud party Saturday night. Negotiating teams from the two parties met shortly thereafer for a first round of talks. The Likud negotiating team was Yoram Raved, Tzipi Livni, Gideon Sa'ar, and Yisrael Maimon. For Labor, Dalia Itzhik, Haim Ramon, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, and Yoram Dori were negotiating. At the beginning of the meeting, Dalia Itzhik demanded that negotiations to join the coalition be opened with Shinui as well. (Link Requires free registration and cookies enabled)
09-Dec-04, Amotz Asa-El, Jerusalem Post, Shinui? Reflections on the revolution in Israe, However, there was also a downside to his popularity; as the writer of works like Why I Am Agnostic, that self-made attorney became suspect in the Republican Party even though he served it well as a spokesman and attorney-general (in Illinois). Asked how much it cost him to assemble the rich library he had in his home, Ingersoll retorted that it cost him the governorship of Illinois, if not the presidency of the US. In a way, that is also what happened to Tommy Lapid. THE MAN who last week was outmaneuvered by Ariel Sharon - the one he mistook for an ally - owes his meteoric, if belated, political success to his secularism, eloquence and bellicosity. (Link Requires free registration and cookies enabled)
11-Dec-04, Maariv (Israel), Peres suspected of forging party document, Labor’s internal party court has instructed the party’s legal counsel, Attorney Eldad Yaniv, to file a complaint with the police over the alleged use of a forged document by party chairman Shimon Peres. Yesterday the party forum heard an appeal by Peres, against a previous decision by the party’s lower internal court, which ordered him not to cancel next week’s planned central committee meeting. The meeting is due to vote on when the primaries for party leader will take place, and Peres, as interim leader wants to delay them for as long as possible.

Opinion

The Ents of Europe, More specifically, does the Ents analogy work for present-day Europe? Before you laugh at the silly comparison, remember that the Western military tradition is European. Today the continent is unarmed and weak, but deep within its collective mind and spirit still reside the ability to field technologically sophisticated and highly disciplined forces — if it were ever to really feel threatened. One murder began to arouse the Dutch; what would 3,000 dead and a toppled Eiffel Tower do to the French? Or how would the Italians take to a plane stuck into the dome of St. Peter? We are nursed now on the spectacle of Iranian mullahs, with their bought weapons and foreign-produced oil wealth, humiliating a convoy of European delegates begging and cajoling them not to make bombs — or at least to point what bombs they make at Israel and not at Berlin or Paris. But it was not always the case, and may not always be.

Main Stream Media

How the left-leaning media hurt Labor, Tony Abbott is half right ("The other election losers", on this page on Tuesday) when he says the media in Australia lean to the left. But what he doesn't say is that this left-leaning media bias is hurting the Labor Party. And this fact disguises a harsher truth: media bias is irrelevant to electoral outcomes. Look at the presidential election in the United States. The media were massively anti-George Bush, but he won comfortably. Eighty per cent of US counties are now Republican. The way Bush campaigned explains what happened. Bush didn't try to influence journalists. They were for John Kerry. Instead, he went to rallies, looked into the camera, and spoke directly to voters.

Diplomats at Work

Anyone who has spent time in Saudi Arabia will have a story to tell about the crude antics of the muttawa, or religious police: Western women who might have felt the sharp prod of a stick if they forgot to cover their hair and shoulders with shawls or scarves; expatriate workers suffering the dread of being arrested for carrying the taint of alcohol on the breath; or foreign visitors accosted for attempting to converse with a Saudi woman. But this is as nothing compared with the impact on the lives of Saudi citizens, where charges of sedition, adultery or apostasy by the religious police can lead to death by beheading.

The United States urged sceptical Arab and Muslim nations to embrace vigorous and speedy reforms without using the Middle East conflict as an excuse to delay political and economic liberalisation. But the call was greeted with demands for a final and just settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and complaints about Washington's policies in the region which top Arab officials said were a major impediment to change.

Something's Rotton in Langley

Twelve years of CIA discontent, For a dozen years or more, things have been going from bad to worse at the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Some, of course, may welcome this. They should note the following, however: for better or for worse, the United States - militarily and economically - is the world's most powerful nation. When its foreign-intelligence service stumbles from intelligence failure to intelligence failure, mis-assessment to mis-assessment, and, finally, a near-collapse of its discipline, integrity and morale, more than just US national security is put at risk. Avoidable, globally destabilizing catastrophic events occur.

Dysfunctional Multilateralism

10-Dec-04, Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post, The wisdom of the fathers, This week saw Arafat's heirs, PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and PA Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, on a junket to Syria and Lebanon where they labored to shore up their base of political support. In Syria, the Palestinian "moderates" met with dictator Bashar Assad and his underlings and agreed to coordinate their positions in future negotiations with Israel with him. That base covered, they went to meetings with the senior terror chieftains who make their homes in Damascus: Ahmed Jibril, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command; Nayef Hawatmeh, head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas; and Ramadan Shalah, head of the Islamic Jihad. (Link Requires free registration and cookies enabled)