International Affairs: November 2004 Archives

I haven't been posting much this weekend but I've been trying to follow the situation in Ukraine, and so far it looks very encouraging. The Parliament has called the recent election invalid, and observers seem to think this is a major step. The real key, of course, was the mass protest in Independence Square... I hope the oppressed in Arab nations are taking note.

Via Candied Ginger, I recommend Ivan Lenin for those who are interested in following the election debacle in Ukraine. I also encourage you to pray for a non-violent resolution that secures the liberty of the people in this developing democracy.

Update:
Instapundit also has lots more links (of course!), such as Le Sabot Post-Moderne blogging directly from the tent city in Independence Square. Maidan describes itself as "An Internet Hub for Civil Resistance to Authoritarianism in Ukraine" and has lots of information. SueAndNotU points out that the armed forces are a wild card and necessary to support any revolution, peaceful or violent.

Diplomad has a great inside perspective on what the UN is really like.

Those who don't rely on the "elite" MSM for all their information, know about the UN's "oil-for-food" scam that is slowly being uncovered, and could prove the most massive financial scandal in human history (even bigger than Massachusetts' "Big Dig.") The "oil-for-food" scam, huge as it is, flows logically from the ruling ethos at the UN. The UN system is built on corruption, on the principle of the shake-down; whatever lofty objectives might have existed at its creation, for the UN corruption now provides the means and reason to exist.

Let us explain.

The UN as an institution is the purest of pure bureaucracy: it is the thirty-year single malt of bureaucracies. We refer you to the UN website for details on careers there, but suffice it to say that if you want a job that is VERY well-paying, has lots of perks (first class travel; a generous pension; right to retire almost anywhere you want; tax free), and involves little actual work, the UN bureaucracy is for you -- unfortunately, if you're an American (or Israeli) you'll have a hard time getting it given the solid anti-Americanism (and anti-Semitism) of the UN Secretariat. The UN bureaucracy must have served as inspiration for a sci-fi story we vaguely recall about an ancient civilization that builds an elobrate machine that continues to operate even after the civilization itself has died. Subsequent generations -- in this case, in Europe and the boardroom of the NY Times -- have no idea what the machine does, but don't tamper with it, and, in fact, begin to worship it.

According to Wikipedia, the top UN contributors are:

As part of that agreement, the regular budget ceiling was reduced from 25 to 22 percent; this is the rate at which the United States is assessed. The United States is the only member that is assessed this rate, though it is in arrears hundreds of millions of dollars;(see also United States and the United Nations) all other members' assessment rates are lower. Under the scale of assessments adopted in 2000, other major contributors to the regular UN budget for 2001 are Japan (19.63%), Germany (9.82%), France (6.50%), the U.K. (5.57%), Italy (5.09%), Canada (2.57%) and Spain (2.53%).

Arrears? You mean we're not paying our UN dues?

U.S. arrears to the UN currently total over $1.3 billion. Of this, $612 million is payable under Helms-Biden. The remaining $700 million result from various legislative and policy withholdings; there are no current plans to pay these amounts.

That makes me smile; sometimes I really like Congress. Anyway, all the UN costs us is a couple billion dollars? That's not so bad. Plus, of course, the myriad headaches associated with all the nonsense resolutions -- but those only matter because it's still convenient to pretend we care.

Terrorist-sympathizing Canadian MP Carolyn Parrish has been sacked. Miss (I'm assuming) Parrish had previously been involved with heckling President Bush when he visited Canada, but she wasn't dismissed for publically derriding her nation's most important ally:

Ms. Parrish has refused to tone down her criticisms of Mr. Bush, who she has denounced as a "war-like" leader. But her most serious crime seems to have been rejecting the authority of her party's leader, saying Wednesday that Mr. Martin could "go to hell" if he didn't like her behaviour.

Her attitude received international attention when a photo of her stomping on a Bush doll, filmed as part of a This Hour has 22 Minutes episode, ran on the hugely popular Drudge Report.

Mr. Parrish has long been a thorn in the side of Liberals who want to rebuild ties with the United States. She called the countries contributing to U.S. efforts in Iraq a "coalition of the idiots" and was dismayed at the re-election of Mr. Bush.

She responded to Mr. Bush's election victory by saying that Americans had "reconfirmed [him] as their Commander-in-Chief, and he is a warlike man."

She was scolded then by Mr. Martin but she retorted that she would continue to speak her mind. But on Wednesday she went too far by shifting her criticism to the party's leadership.

"I have absolutely no loyalty to this team. None," she told Canadian Press.

"After what they've put me through and lots of my colleagues, they can all go to hell. But [Mr. Martin's] not going to control me, so all he's going to do is end up looking weak."

Mr. Martin could not, apparently, control her. But he could fire her.

It's about time someone started chilling speech and stifling dissent.

Digger reports that aid worker Margaret Hassan has been murdered on video. This is why I don't feel too bad about questionable killings on the battlefield -- the people we're fighting are monsters, and deserve no quarter. We may, in our mercy, decide to restrain ourselves -- but for these things morality hardly requires it.

That most splendid utensil points to a fascinating report from her Middle Eastern sources that explains in reasonable detail how Al-Zarqawi fits with Al-Qa'ida and what's going on in Iraq.

Al-Hayat: "Some of the operations of Al-Zarqawi's group in Iraq are extremely brutal: incidents of beheadings and boasting of them before the cameras in videos later distributed over the Internet, and car bombs killing dozens of civilians… There is widespread criticism to the effect that this group's operations damage the image of Islam."

Nu'man ibn 'Uthman: "I personally believe that these operations indeed damage [the reputation of] Islam. This is due to a mistake common to those movements categorized as ' Jihadist.' These movements base themselves on a religious-theological dimension, disregarding the present reality and the nature of things… This is the source of the[ir] mistake… For example, the slaughtering of hostages and airing it on the TV screens - I believe that those who perpetrate this consider only themselves and do not consider the effect on those they want to address. They focus on their desire to affirm that they are strong and capable of taking revenge…

"This brings us back to the basic problem, namely, that there is a confusion of strategies … [that were developed by Islamist groups] in Egypt … for the struggle against the existing regime, which they considered illegitimate. This has been going on for at least thirty years in Arab countries and in effect has not succeeded in realizing its aims… This does not suit the reality in Iraq for a simple reason: that Iraq now needs to revert back to the stage of being liberated from colonialism, [a stage] which the Arab and African nations had entered after WWII… The logic of a war of liberation is totally different from the logic of a struggle against the existing regime in one's own country.

"There is now an analogy between Al-Zarqawi's group and the GIA in Algeria. As far as tactics, they, Al-Zarqawi's group, carry out acts that we regard as mass slaughter, and [we see] scenes of the slaughter of military personnel or civilians and the issuing of declarations boasting of these actions and counting the dead. The GIA has made these things a matter of common occurrence and subsequently they pay the price for it. Now it seems to me that the group of Al-Tawhid Wa-Al Jihad [Al-Zarqawi's group, 'Monotheism and Jihad '] have contracted the worse form of this [disease] from the GIA - namely, [mode of] operation of displaying your force and asserting your existence and maintaining continuity by choosing very easy targets, usually unarmed civilians… These methods, in my point of view, will eventually lead to the isolation of Al-Zarqawi's group."

And there's much more.

(Now I'm going to spell "al Qaeda" this way so I can find this post with a text search later.)

I was listening to the radio briefly this morning on the way to work, and one of Rush's callers was astounded that anyone wouldn't love Yasser Arafat -- after all, he won the Nobel Peace Prize! And yes, she was entirely serious. So, for her benefit and yours, here are some famous Arafat quotes that might shed some light onto why he should be rightly reviled. (Note to Rush: you can send your listeners directly to my site.)

"Our law is a Jordanian law that we inherited, which applies to both the West Bank and Gaza, and sets the death penalty for those who sell land to Israelis.... We are talking about a few traitors, and we shall implement against them what is written in the law books. It is our right and our obligation to defend our land."

"When we stopped the Intifada we did not stop the Jihad to establish Palestine with Jerusalem as our capital.... We know only one word: Jihad, Jihad, Jihad.... We are at conflict with the Zionist movement...."

"The Israelis are mistaken if they think we do not have an alternative to negotiations. By Allah I swear they are wrong. The Palestinian people are prepared to sacrifice the last boy and the last girl so that the Palestinian flag will be flown over the walls, the churches and the mosques of Jerusalem."

"All of us are willing to be martyrs along the way, until our flag flies over Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine. Let no one think they can scare us with weapons, for we have mightier weapons - the weapon of faith, the weapon of martyrdom, the weapon of jihad."

"I say once more that Israel shall remain the principal enemy of the Palestinian people, not only now but also in the future."

"Cooperation and understanding between the P.L.O. and the rejectionist organizations is what will lead to the speedy retreat of Israel from the occupied territories in the first stage, until the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem. Only a state like that can then continue the struggle to remove the enemy from all Palestinian lands."

"The jihad will continue... You have to understand our main battle is Jerusalem... You have to come and to fight a jihad to liberate Jerusalem, your precious shrine... No, it is not their capital. It is our capital."

"The goal of our struggle is the end of Israel, and there can be no compromise."

"You are the generation that will reach the sea and hoist the flag of Palestine over Tel Aviv."

"Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations."

"The victory march will continue until the Palestinian flag flies in Jerusalem and in all of Palestine - from the Jordan River to the Meditteranean Sea and from Rosh Hanikra to Eilat."

"Palestine is onle a stone's throw away for a small Palestinian boy or girl."

Mayor As Mayor of the Munchkin City, in the County of the Land of Oz, I welcome you most regally.

Barrister
But we've got to verify it legally, to see --

Mayor
To see?

Barrister
If she --

Mayor
If she?

Barrister
Is morally, ethic'lly --

Father No.1
Spiritually, physically --

Father No. 2
Positively, absolutely --

Munchkins
Undeniably and reliably Dead!

Coroner
As Coroner I must aver, I thoroughly examined her.
And she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead.

Mayor
Then this is a day of Independence for all the Munchkins and their descendants!

Barrister
If any.

Mayor
Yes, let the joyous news be spread: the wicked Old Witch at last is dead!

Thanks guys. And thanks too, of course, to the American, British, Polish, and every other type of soldier fighting in Fallujah this morning. But especially the Iraqis, because it's none-too-soon for you folks to begin taking responsibility for your own psychopaths.

This morning Matt informs us that Yasser Arafat is both dead and not-dead, which means of course that he's undead: either a wraith or a ghoul, in my opinion.

Jessica wonders who's taking over after someone stakes a stick (or vice versa) through his black heart, but the thing to understand about thugocracies is that there isn't a "position" of President to be filled once its current occupant dies. Arafat is the President of the PLO, and the office doesn't exist apart from him. The Palestinians (and most corrupt third world societies) don't have self-existent governmental institutions -- they're held together by warlords and chiefs of various strengths. When Arafat shuffles off this mortal coil there will certainly be a power vacuum, and the next leader may call himself the "President", but he'll rule in his own right, by his own power, not based on any respected or honorable office.

Israel's wall around the West Bank is nearly complete, and just in time. Most experts (which I am not) think the West Bank will devolve into full-on civil war as the various factions duke it out for control. That could have been a huge problem for Israel, but now they can just shut the gates and toss a few thousand AK-47s over the wall. It'll be a bloodbath, and Jordan may eventually step in and exert some control. Then the Jordanians -- who are rather reasonable as far as Arabs go -- would then have some responsibility for the situation, and they can actually be dealt with.

The Gaza Strip is a different matter, but it's not likely to be as violent, by my understanding. There's no wall there, but there was also no Arafat for over three years. If things get tough it's possible that Egypt will occupy the Strip and enforce order, and we have a decent amount of leverage with them because we've been bribing them for decades.

An ideal situation would see Jordan permanently annex the West Bank and Egypt do the same with the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians could finally assimilate with their Arab neighbors, and Israel wouldn't have to worry about a sovereign Palestinian state that would serve as a base for terrorists. Worst-case: the whole region goes up in flames. But that's hardly new.

Hey America, don't forget to keep an eye on our southern neighbor. Mexico doesn't understand that we don't want an open border, and they're constantly working to undermine our security.

Mexico is holding out hope that Latin America will get more attention during President Bush's second term and obtain changes in what a senior Cabinet minister calls ``absurd'' U.S. immigration policies. ...

``It's absurd that (the United States) is spending as much as it's spending to stop immigration flows that can't be stopped ... instead of using that money on real threats that pose risks for both countries,'' Interior Secretary Santiago Creel said earlier this week.

Your migrants are a threat to us, and then can be stopped. Once we muster the political will.

Here's a FoxNews article by Jane Roh that explains some of the dynamics behind the imminent repositioning of American military forces around the world, particularly in South Korea and Germany. It's about time -- I just hope we don't have to kick Germany out of Paris again any time soon.

One of Santa's elves (a so-called Canadian MP, whatever that is) is accusing America of being "out of step" with the world.

Carolyn Parrish said Wednesday that she's "dumbfounded" by Bush's victory. "He has been reconfirmed as their commander-in-chief, and he is a war-like man." American voters showed that they are "completely out of step with most of the free world," Parrish said. "I guess it's a reflection of the profound psychological damage of 9-11."

Strangely, MP Parrish is precisely in step with the terrorists who also don't like our war-like-ness and also didn't want to see Bush reelected. How odd! Fortunately, the "free world" as she calls it -- a.k.a., France, Germany, and the North Pole -- doesn't get to vote in American elections.

And so Parrish is "dumbfounded", but that's hardly news is it? I found out she was dumb long ago. After all, how many people consider 3000+ deaths and a traumatized economy mere "psychological damage"? Screw off. And if you want to see "war-like", just wait till American runs out of trees or snow -- we know where you live. My recommendation to the "free world": get in step with us, or get stepped on.

I think it's time for a preemptive strike against India and its blood-sucking monkeys.

Monkeys lurking at an ancient Hindu temple in India's northeast have attacked up to 300 children over three weeks, temple officials said Tuesday.

"They hide in trees and swoop on unsuspecting children loitering about in the temple premises or walking by, clawing them and even sucking a bit of blood," Bani Kumar Sharma, a priest at the Kamakhya temple in Assam state, told The Associated Press. The temple, one of the most famous in India, is located in Gauhati, Assam's capital.

"I was returning home from school when a monkey suddenly pounced on me, scratched my head and hand and pushed me to the ground," said Jolly Sharma, a 6-year-old girl.

Or at least send in some UN inspectors.

I've written previously that, despite noises from the political arena, American forces are likely to be deployed in Iraq for the forseeable future -- probably decades -- with the blessing of the Iraqi government. Now FoxNews is speculating similarly based on military construction in Iraq.

During the first presidential debate, Sen. John Kerry suggested that the U.S. military is planning to make 14 bases now in Iraq "a permanent concept."

While the major media overlooked the remark, instead critiquing the style and performance of the candidates, security analysts are debating whether the United States plans to use the bases, in various stages of construction, as strategic U.S. outposts in the broader War on Terror (search).

John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va., outfit that specializes in gathering national security and defense data, said researchers at his firm culled military news dispatches and can "conclusively identify" nine of these so-called "enduring bases," and possibly three more that are "too vague to pin down."

The politicos are making an expediently nebulous denial:

News of the "enduring bases," Pentagon terminology for such facilities, first came to light in a March 2004 article by the Chicago Tribune. Calling them "long-term encampments" for the thousands of U.S. soldiers expected to serve in Iraq for at least two years, the newspaper nonetheless quoted coalition officials as saying no policy is in place for the bases to serve as a permanent or even long-term headquarters for the United States in the Gulf region. ...

Pentagon and Central Command (search) officials told FOXNews.com they have no plans to make the bases permanent.

"No policy is in place" means basically nothing. I predict that we'll have major military bases (equipment, if not soldiers, as per the new model) in Iraq for decades. Certainly longer than we'll continue to maintain facilities in South Korea and Germany.