International Affairs: March 2005 Archives

Just like last year, Mexico disgraces herself by booing America and cheering Osama.

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico topped the United States 2-1 and the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying group on Sunday, and upheld its 71-year unbeaten record at home against the Americans. ...

The crowd booed the U.S. national anthem and a spattering of fans chanted "Osama! Osama!" before play started, and shortly after Lewis' goal.

Let's see video of those chants playing on the mainstream media news shows... I think the Minutemen might get more volunteers. I have zero sympathy for poor and desperate people who want to come here yet lack the civility to side with us against terrorist scum like "Osama". Plenty of Mexicans were killed on 9/11.

How many Mexicans are buried beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center may never be determined.

A dozen kitchen helpers who worked in the 107th floor "Windows on the World" restaurant are missing, and as many as 500 are thought to have toiled in and around the twin skyscrapers that were dismembered by a kamikaze attack on Black Tuesday, Sept. 11.

The Mexican consulate has no census of its countrymen and women who worked at the toppled towers, but given the swelling Mexican population in New York City, the numbers are sure to devastate feeder communities back home.

The behavior of these soccer fans is sick and disturbing.

Consonent-endowed Kyrgyzstan has had a mostly-peaceful revolution in the blink of an eye.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) - President Askar Akayev's government collapsed Thursday after opposition protesters took over the presidential compound and government offices, throwing computers and air conditioners out of windows in a frenzy of anger over corruption and a disputed election.

The popular uprising in this impoverished Central Asian nation of 5 million forced Akayev to flee, was breathtaking in its speed and resulted in only a few dozen injured. The government was the third in a former Soviet republic - after Georgia and Ukraine - to be brought down by people power over the past year and a half.

I think President Bush deserves some credit for this series of democratic dominos. This is what can happen when America stops working merely for "stability" and actually encourages those around the world who long for liberty.

If Mexican President Vicente Fox wants an "open border" with America, then he'd better be prepared to make a few changes in the laws of his own country.

1. Mexico had better start extraditing murderers who flee south over the border. As it is, Mexico won't extradite anyone who is facing a death sentence or any "indeterminate" prison term (such as a life sentence). As you can imagine, there are hundreds of wanted killers living freely and openly in Mexico right now.

2. Mexico must allow foreigners to own property in the so-called "forbidden zones" that encompass most of the valuable land in the country. There's a complex scheme of trusts that allow foreigners to invest in real estate, but they can't own land outright and it's very difficult (impossible) for a foreigner to invest in any natural resource development. Mexico has a closed, largely nationalized economy, and if they want more contact with America (and more prosperity) they need to open it up.

As it is, I can see why Fox wants an open border: there's nothing but upside for him. But what's in it for America? Why is President Bush so eager to accomodate Fox's desires? It's amazing to me that a former governor of Texas can be so out of touch with the American will on border policy.

WACO, Texas — President Bush yesterday said he opposes a civilian project to monitor illegal aliens crossing the border, characterizing them as "vigilantes."

He said he would pressure Congress to further loosen immigration law.

More than 1,000 people — including 30 pilots and their private planes — have volunteered for the Minuteman Project, beginning next month along the Arizona-Mexico border. Civilians will monitor the movement of illegal aliens for the month of April and report them to the Border Patrol.

Mr. Bush said after yesterday's continental summit, with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin at Baylor University, that he finds such actions unacceptable.

If you want to do something to tell Bush how you feel on the matter, consider signing Bill O'Reilly's petition to President Bush.

(HT: DeoDuce and tallglassofmilk.)

AFP is reporting that upwards of 800,000 Lebanese have gathered to protest against Syrian occupation. That's mind-boggling considering that Lebanon has a population of under 4 million people. Here's a picture of the demonstration:

The shadow of Mohamad al-Amin mosque where late Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri is buried is cast on hundreds of thousands of Lebanese demonstrators who packed Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut. More than 800,000 people poured into the heart of the city for an opposition demonstration demanding an end to nearly three decades of Syrian military domination and to mark the fourth week since Hariri was killed.(AFP/Haitham Mussawi)

Yeah, I think President George W. Bush deserves some credit for this, don't you? Not to mention the brave people of Iraq and Ukraine.

In a bizarre man-bites-dog twist to a predictable headline, 50 Iranians have peacefully hijacked a plane to protest against the EU's involvement with the Mullahs in Iran.

A group of unarmed Iranians staged a protest aboard a Lufthansa jet at the Brussels airport Thursday, refusing to leave the plane and calling for the return of the monarchy in Iran, officials said.

The plane landed at Brussels International airport at 3 p.m. (9 a.m. EST) on a flight from Frankfurt, and the protesters stayed behind after most of the 59 passengers got off.

"This is not a hijacking," said police spokeswoman Astrid Kaisen. ...

Christina Zia, who said her father called her on his cell phone from the plane, said they were supporters of the late shah and wanted to draw attention to Iran's problems.

"There are no weapons. This is nothing dangerous. They only want the world to see the problems, to see that Iran is not what the world sees today," said Zia, who spoke to The Associated Press by telephone from Germany.

The group had a letter for NATO and refused to leave the plane until they are allowed to hand it over to the alliance, Zia said, adding that she did not know its contents.

Jonah Goldberg has posted an email from a source that often updates him about Iranian issues.

Today 50 Iranians, inspired by the comments of Iranian scholar and righteous activist, Frood Fouladvand (who runs a TV station out of his home in London) gathered in London, boarding a plane to Brussels. In Brussels they refused to get off the plane that is still sitting on the tarmak of the Brussels airport and they are conducting a very quiet and peaceful protest against the heads of the E.U. who refuse to stop doing business with the bloodthirsty regime of the Islamic Republic and the Mullahs in Iran. The protestors have been verbally abused by the Belgian authorities, being accused of hijacking and though the protestors are doing nothing but singing Iranian national anthems of a free Iran and asking to speak to the UK, French and German representatives to the E.U. they are being nonetheless abused by Belgian authorities who are refusing to allow the media on plane.

How fascinating. I'm generally not in favor of this sort of civil disobedience, but I must admit that the irony of the situation is rather appealing.

The Iraqi government has released new pictures of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that show him looking "slightly older and chubbier than previous mugshots". I wonder what the differences are in personality types between someone like Zarqawi and someone like Dennis Rader?

Which formerly free, non-Muslim nation will be the first to succumb to Islamisation and become a part of the Dar al-Islam? Perhaps the Netherlands?

Leave this stable and prosperous corner of Europe? Leave this land with its generous social benefits and ample salaries, a place of fine schools, museums, sports grounds and bicycle paths, all set in a lively democracy?

The answer, increasingly, is yes. This small nation is a magnet for immigrants, but statistics suggest there is a quickening flight of the white middle class. Dutch people pulling up roots said they felt a general pessimism about their small and crowded country and about the social tensions that had grown along with the waves of newcomers, most of them Muslims."The Dutch are living in a kind of pressure cooker atmosphere," Mr. Hiltemann said.

There is more than the concern about the rising complications of absorbing newcomers, now one-tenth of the population, many of them from largely Muslim countries. Many Dutch also seem bewildered that their country, run for decades on a cozy, political consensus, now seems so tense and prickly and bent on confrontation. Those leaving have been mostly lured by large English-speaking nations like Australia, New Zealand and Canada, where they say they hope to feel less constricted.

This is a cultural war, and if the West doesn't recognize that then it's only a short time before we're consumed.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz may be the American nominee for the presidency of the World Bank, and I think he'd be an excellent candidate. He's worked tirelessly for years in the international arena on behalf of America, and he's a key architect of our new democracy-spreading agenda. As I've written before about the follies of foreign aid, we need to use our aid money to further our own interests, not just to line the pockets of tyrannical dictators.

Leadership of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund is decided by all the shareholders in the institutions. But the US and Europe in effect divide up the top jobs, with an American heading the bank and a European running the fund. ...

European officials point to the dispute over Caio Koch-Weser a candidate for the IMF post favoured by Europe but blocked by the US as setting a precedent that could see them veto the US nominee. Developing countries have also demanded a greater say in the selection.

Of course "developing nations" want a greater say, because they're the recipients of the aid. In my opinion, they shouldn't be included in the decision at all. The leaders of most "developing nations" are thugs and criminals who hold their people in thrall through brute force, and our aid policy should be designed to reduce their strangleholds, not strengthen them.