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Gloria's Journal
Obama to Visit Site of Bataan Memorial Death March on Memorial Day…To Repair Dumb Comment Damage? (Or…To Straighten Out Foreign Policy Mix-up with Bill Richardson?) http://insightanalytical.wordpress.com
Steele brought up Obama's Reagan comments....none too flattering, wondering where the substance is...questioning what Obama's belief is...
Steele is author of "A Bound Man"--he thinks there's some decency in American today, he's taken advantage of that...but he hasn't told the country what he would do with power.....
October 7, 2007, we will have a new area code, 575 in addition to 505. You can use either until October 5, 2008 when using the new code becomes mandatory. Quest sent us a little map and it's wild. From the 4 Corners area, it looks like an area shaped like Massachussetts juts out and surrounds ABQ and Santa Fe. Seems like the oil and gas industries up there will be able to keep their original area code.... MEANWHILE, the bulk of the state has to switch over to 575. Which includes us down here in Las Cruces.... link to a map and info http://www.nm575.info / Naturally, the link that Quest provided to their site doesn't work!!
From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com 2//The Toronto Star, Canada Oct. 17, 2006. 05:45 AM http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe... CASH GLITCH DELAYS AFGHAN WORK: GENERAL Bruce Campion-Smith, Ottawa Bureau OTTAWA—Canada's military says it isn't to blame for the lack of major reconstruction work in the Kandahar area, citing instead a federal agency's failure to deliver promised cash. Brig.-Gen. Al Howard told a Senate committee yesterday that the provincial reconstruction team is ready to proceed with several projects but can't because it's still waiting for the Canadian International Development Agency to deliver the cash. "There are a few funding glitches," he said. "There are a number of projects where we are just waiting to get additional money." That delay in getting redevelopment projects off the ground is putting the lives of Canadian soldiers at risk as they struggle to contain a swelling insurgency in southern Afghanistan, said Senator Colin Kenny, who chairs the Senate committee on national security and defence. (SNIP) But Howard's revelation about funding tie-ups seemed to catch senators by surprise. And it seemed to confirm their own suspicions — delivered earlier this month — that little reconstruction is underway in the Kandahar region. MORE
4//The Manila Times, Philippines Friday, October 13, 2006 http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/o... From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com ARMED FORCES’ ROLE IN ELECTIONS REDUCED AFP and Anthony Vargas The military’s role in future elections will be greatly diminished under an agreement signed Thursday with election officials, a minister said. The Armed Forces and the Commission on Elections agreed that military personnel will no longer take part in counting and canvassing votes, choosing precincts, transporting ballot boxes and carrying election material and results, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz told reporters. Soldiers will still set up checkpoints to enforce the gun ban during elections. “This is a big step toward the insulation of the from politics,” Cruz said.
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From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com 2//The News International, Pakistan Monday, October 09, 2006 Updated at 0400 PST http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp#1091... SOMALI ISLAMISTS WARN OF REGIONAL WAR MOGADISHU: Somalia's powerful Islamist movement warned that a regional Horn of Africa war could erupt unless the world presses Ethiopia to withdraw troops it has reportedly deployed in Somali territory. The Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS) said the alleged Ethiopian presence in the country would doom peace efforts between it and the weak Somali government and spark conflict that might engulf neighboring states. A day after the Islamists ordered parts of the border with Ethiopia closed, accusing Addis Ababa of invading, mining and shelling Somali territory, they called for international pressure on neighboring Ethiopia to pull back. "We are not attacking or creating violence inside Ethiopia, so we ask the international community to press Ethiopia to get out of Somali territory," said SICS executive committee chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. "Otherwise, the consequences will be grave and the pain of war will spread all over the region," he told reporters after meeting Italy's envoy to Somalia, Mario Rafielli, in Islamist-held Mogadishu. MORE
From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com 1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Oct 6, 2006 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HJ... TALIBAN LAY PLANS FOR ISLAMIC INTIFADA By Syed Saleem Shahzad (Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.) THE PASHTUN HEARTLAND, Pakistan and Afghanistan - With the snows approaching, the Taliban's spring offensive has fallen short of its primary objective of reviving the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan, as the country was known under Taliban rule from 1996-2001. Both foreign forces and the Taliban will bunker down until next spring, although the Taliban are expected to continue with suicide missions and some hit-and-run guerrilla activities. The Taliban will take refuge in the mountains that cross the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where they will have plenty of time to plan the next stage of their struggle: a countrywide "Islamic Intifada of Afghanistan" calling on all former mujahideen to join the movement to boot out foreign forces from Afghanistan. The intifada will be both national and international. On the one hand it aims to organize a national uprising, and on the other it will attempt to make Afghanistan the hub of the worldwide Islamic resistance movement, as it was previously under the Taliban when Osama bin Laden and his training camps were guests of the country. The ideologue of the intifada is bin Laden's deputy, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has assembled a special team to implement the idea. Key to this mission is Mullah Mehmood Allah Haq Yar. Asia Times Online was early to pinpoint Haq Yar as an important player (see Osama adds weight to Afghan resistance, September 11, 2004). Oriented primarily towards Arabs, especially Zawahiri, Haq Yar speaks English, Arabic, Urdu and Pashtu with great fluency. He was sent by Taliban leader Mullah Omar to northern Iraq to train with Ansarul Islam fighters before the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. He returned to Afghanistan in 2004 and was inducted into a special council of commanders formed by Mullah Omar and assigned the task of shepherding all foreign fighters and high-value targets from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan. He is an expert in urban guerrilla warfare, a skill he has shared with the Taliban in Afghanistan. His new task might be more challenging: to gather local warlords from north to south under one umbrella and secure international support from regional players. MORE
From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com 2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Oct 4, 2006 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/H... AHMADINEJAD’S DOMESTIC TROUBLES By Kimia Sanati TEHRAN - While President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is busy running a high-voltage campaign against the United States and its policies, Iranians are wondering whether he will ever make good on election promises to crack down on corruption and distribute Iran's vast oil revenues more equitably. "My whole family voted for Ahmadinejad because he promised to improve our lives. He said he was going to fight corruption and create jobs. He said oil money belonged to the people. I haven't seen any of the oil money in my house yet, but I have to deal with the ever increasing prices anyway," said a 67-year-old pensioner who asked to remain anonymous. "I'm running a family of three on less than US$220 a month and the price of the cheapest cut of meat is $6 per kilogram. Thank God I'm not paying rent or we wouldn't have anything to eat." A political analyst in Tehran said: "Dissatisfaction with the administration of President Ahmadinejad is not yet widespread, but it is growing fast. The hardline government that outran reformists on a plank to check inflation, lift living standards, create employment, and take a bite out of the corrupt and the rich and give it to the impoverished has not only failed to deliver those promises, but has clearly moved in the opposite direction." He said: "Iran is the 30th-largest economy in the world. The per capita income in 2006 is estimated to rise to $3,465, or $700 more than the previous year. But according to Social Security Organization figures, 30% of the population is still living under the poverty line. The top 20% of the population is holding 50% of the national income and 80% of the total wealth, so it's quite natural that economic improvement means a great deal to the president's most ardent supporters, the impoverished. ”Results of an opinion poll reported by Mehr News Agency in September show that in May, 61% of those asked found his team successful in the nuclear issue, 44% in managing inflation and only 37% in fighting corruption. "The report doesn't mention percentages but says those asked consider unemployment and inflation the administration's most urgent problems. It seems Ahmadinejad has concentrated his efforts more in foreign policy rather than in the more challenging economic arena." MORE
From the new World Media Watch, up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com 1//The Daily Times, Pakistan Monday, September 25, 2006 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p... \09\25\story_25-9-2006_pg7_24 RUSSIA WARNS AGAINST IRAQ-STYLE ‘PROOF’ IN IRAN NUCLEAR STANDOFF AFP ATHENS: The United Nations must not rely on the kind of evidence used to justify slapping sanctions on Iraq ahead of the 2003 US-led invasion when considering Iran’s nuclear programme, Russia said Saturday. In an interview published in Saturday’s edition of Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said the UN should only consider sanctions if presented with “concrete and incontrovertible evidence that Iran is attempting to build nuclear weapons and clear evidence that it is supporting international terrorism.” Ivanov added that it would be “unacceptable to repeat the scenario of Iraq which had sanctions applied against it without complete evidence,” he said. One of the reasons the United States and Britain gave for supporting sanctions against Iraq and invading was that Baghdad under former dictator Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Over three years after the invasion no serious evidence of WMDs has been found in the country. (SNIP) Moscow is opposed to the idea of imposing sanctions on Iran, despite the fact that Tehran ignored a August 31 UN Security Council deadline to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. Referring to the US take on the current crisis, Lavrov on Thursday criticised what he called “the obsession with sanctions.”
From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical 1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Sep 22, 2006 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/H... US TROOPS IN IRAQ ARE TEHRAN’S ‘HOSTAGES’ By Gareth Porter WASHINGTON - For many months, the administration of US George W Bush has been complaining that Iranian meddling in Iraq is a threat to the country's stability and to US troops. The irony of this publicity campaign over Tehran's alleged bid to undermine the occupation is that Iran may well be the main factor holding up a showdown between militant Shi'ites and US forces. The underlying reality in Iraq, which the Bush administration does not appear to grasp fully, is that the United States is now dependent on the sufferance of Iran and its Iraqi Shi'ite political-military allies to continue the occupation. Three and a half years after the occupation began, the US military is no longer the real power in Iraq. As the chief of intelligence for the US Marine Corps revealed in a recent report, US troops have been unable to shake the hold that Sunni insurgents have on the vast western province of al-Anbar. But the main threat to the occupation comes not from the Sunni insurgents but from the militant Iraqi Shi'ite forces aligned with Iran, led by Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army. The armed Shi'ite militias are now powerful enough to make it impossible for the US occupation to continue. Gone are the days when the US military could be so cavalier about Muqtada's forces that it deliberately provoked a major confrontation with him in Najaf in April 2004. That was when he was believed to have 10,000 poorly trained troops. Since then, US officials have avoided giving any estimate of the Mehdi Army's strength. But according to a report published last month by London's Chatham House, which undoubtedly reflected the views of British intelligence in Iraq, the Mehdi Army may now be "several hundred thousand strong". Even if that estimate vastly overstates his troop strength, it reflects the sense that Muqtada has the strongest political-military force in the country - because of the loyalty that so many Shi'ites have to him. MUCH MORE
From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytcal Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com 2//DW-Worlde.de/Deutsche Welle, Germany 19.09.2006 http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2... GERMANY STRUGGLES TO EXPLAIN FAR-RIGHT ELECTION SUCCESS Politicians are scrambling to clarify why the far-right NPD won seats in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's state assembly last weekend. But explanations should be replaced by long-term deliberation, say analysts. SNIP "We had feared it would happen, so we weren't surprised," said Botsch, an expert on right-wing extremism. The "nice Nazi from next door" According to Botsch, the results were in part due to the party's strategy. For one, the NPD had the help of neo-Nazi comradeships. "The NPD is allied with these groups, who, for example, systematically apply intimidation tactics at events of the major democratic parties," Botsch said. In addition, the NPD took on a very civic appearance. "It's the idea of the nice Nazi from next door," said Toralf Staud, author of the book "Modern Nazis" and a writer on right-wing extremism since 1998. These neo-Nazis have become an integral part of civil society across wide areas. In small towns and villages, right-wing extremists have for the large part taken over civic programs for children and youth, for example. SNIP There, where the state and its educational facilities are increasingly retreating, where sociopolitical groups such as religious communities are closing down their institutions, neo-Nazis are investing in youth work -- and infiltrating a generation with their ideology. MUCH MORE
From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com More headlines in My Journal.... 1//The Observer/Guardian, UK Sunday September 10, 2006 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story... US ACCUSED OF COVERT OPERATIONS IN SOMALIA Emails suggest that the CIA knew of plans by private military companies to breach UN rules Antony Barnett and Patrick Smith The Observer Dramatic evidence that America is involved in illegal mercenary operations in east Africa has emerged in a string of confidential emails seen by The Observer. The leaked communications between US private military companies suggest the CIA had knowledge of the plans to run covert military operations inside Somalia - against UN rulings - and they hint at involvement of British security firms. The emails, dated June this year, reveal how US firms have been planning undercover missions in support of President Abdullahi Yusuf's transitional federal government - founded with UN backing in 2004 - against the Supreme Islamic Courts Council - a radical Muslim militia which took control of Mogadishu, the country's capital, also in June promising national unity under Sharia law. Evidence of foreign involvement in the conflict would not only breach the UN arms embargo but could destabilise the entire region. One email dated Friday, 16 June, is from Michele Ballarin, chief executive of Select Armor - a US military firm based in Virginia. Ballarin's email was sent to a number of individuals including Chris Farina of the Florida-based military company ATS Worldwide. more
From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com 2//The Turkish Daily News, Turkey Sunday, August 27, 2006 http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article... ‘TURKEY SHOULD SEND BUSINESSMEN TO NORTHERN IRAQ INSTEAD OF TROOPS’ While Turkey debates whether to launch a large-scale military operation to stop the increasing terrorist activities in Turkey by terrorists believed to be infiltrating from across the Iraqi border, northern Iraq has become a huge construction site with hundreds of Turkish companies operating in the area Metin Can (SNIP) More than 600 Turkish companies operating in northern Iraq: A possible Turkish military operation on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) camps located in northern Iraq's Kandil Mountains is being debated. The Turkish government is said to have been ‘negotiating’ with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The feedback from these meetings is quite positive, with many PKK offices in the region shut down. (SNIP) Meanwhile, there are 600 Turkish firms operating in northern Iraq, with the Turkish Armed Forces Assistance Fund (OYAK) being the most active in meeting northern Iraq's cement, construction products and paper needs. Out of all the products sold at Arbil's first big shopping mall, Nazemall, Turkish goods make up 80 percent. Turkish businessmen are investing in Arbil in record numbers, and the reason behind the Turkish success in the area is their international experience. The KDP's external relations representative, Safeen Dizayee, and Arbil's Chamber of Commerce chairman, Daarel Celil Hayat, are calling on Turkey to make use of this opportunity. “Turkey should take a leadership role in the area by sending businessmen instead of troops,” said Hayat and Dizayee. (MORE)
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Profile Information Gloria
Not a DU Donor 16593 posts Member since 2001 NM Internet Radio for the Left!
http:www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radi... INTERNET RADIO FOR THE LEFT Daily, hour-by-hour Listings Please send any info on additions/deletions/corrections to grl8@cornell.edu . THANKS!! ************************************************************************** Index to The LISTINGS! 1. ****The Daily Radio Listings: Weekdays, Saturday/Sunday****(Hourly) 2. International Perspectives on the News 3. Watch Government in Action! 4. Radio Networks (Domestic--Air America; Pacifica; Notable Community/Independent Stations) 5. Satellite Radio (Sirius and XM) 6. Live and On Demand Broadcasts & Syndicated Hosts with Varying Air Times 7. Sites with Archives of Popular Broadcast Shows World Media Watch October 6, 2006 Edition
Full articles at the homepage or Buzzflash.com WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR OCTOBER 9, 2006 1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--BLOODY FIGHT OVER KIRKUK’S FUTURE (The security situation in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk has further deteriorated over the past few weeks after the Iraqi government formed a committee assigned to "normalize the situation". The creation of that committee under a constitutional provision has led to a rise in ethnic tensions among Kirkuk's Kurdish, Arab and Turkoman populations. Violence has risen with the tensions. September was one of the bloodiest months for Kirkuk, with an unprecedented number of attacks. For many, the message behind the attacks is to stop implementation of Article 140 of Iraq's constitution, and to inflame sectarian strife in the city. Article 140 sketches a three-step plan to remove traces of the Arabization policy of the regime of former president Saddam Hussein. The constitution now provides for a census followed by a referendum on the fate of the city, after normalizing the situation. The issue is whether Kirkuk should be added to the autonomous Kurdish-run region of northern Iraq. … . Amid all these tensions, residents resent remarks that Kirkuk may become the "flashpoint" for an all-out civil war in the country. But not many are sure how the microcosm can withstand the larger divisions within Iraq.) 2//The News International, Pakistan--SOMALI ISLAMISTS WARN OF REGIONAL WAR (Somalia's powerful Islamist movement warned that a regional Horn of Africa war could erupt unless the world presses Ethiopia to withdraw troops it has reportedly deployed in Somali territory. The Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia said the alleged Ethiopian presence in the country would doom peace efforts between it and the weak Somali government and spark conflict that might engulf neighboring states. … . "We are not attacking or creating violence inside Ethiopia, so we ask the international community to press Ethiopia to get out of Somali territory," said SICS executive committee chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. "Otherwise, the consequences will be grave and the pain of war will spread all over the region," he told reporters after meeting Italy's envoy to Somalia, Mario Rafielli, in Islamist-held Mogadishu.)
3//MercoPress News Agency, Uruguay--VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION DARES AND “AVALANCHES” CARACAS (An estimated 200.000 people turned out to the streets of Caracas on Saturday in support of Manuel Rosales, Venezuela’s main opposition leader for the coming December presidential elections and who intends to defeat President Hugo Chavez re-election bid. Under slogans the “Great Caracas avalanche” and “Dare” thousands of Venezuelans convened to the centre of the capital in a massive demonstration of support for Rosales who claimed Venezuela was currently ruled by “Cuban authoritarianism”, which if elected he promised to put an end. … . Rosales reiterated his promise that if elected a fifth of oil windfall profits would be distributed among lower middle class and popular sectors at an average 280 to 465 US dollars per family. He also challenged official oil production figures which allege Venezuela is pumping 3.4 million bpd, “at the most it’s 1.1 million bpd and a big portion is been handed out to other countries”. … . Although the release of public opinion surveys are strictly monitored by the Chavez regime, one of the few to become public showed that support for Chavez between June and September dropped from 55 to 48% and Rosales’ soared from 7 to 30%.)
4//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--LABOR VOTE CREEPING UP ON HOWARD (The federal Labor Party has a strong election-winning lead over the Coalition according to the latest Herald/ACNielsen poll, which also shows almost six in 10 voters want Australian troops withdrawn from Iraq. Labor has an eight-point lead over the Coalition on a two-party-preferred basis and, for the first time in almost a year, has a stronger primary vote, leading by three points.
The poll of 1400 people was conducted from Thursday to Saturday last week and comes after a month in which Iraq and the battle over values have been dominant topics. Iraq shot to the fore after a US security assessment which showed the war had increased the problem of terrorism.
The poll shows that recent increased calls by the Prime Minister, John Howard, for Australians to stay in Iraq and defeat the terrorists had little effect on voters. … . The poll result will be welcomed by Labor, especially as it also shows it to be leading the Coalition for the seventh successive month.)
5//The Independent, UK--HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED: BRITONS WANT TO BE FRENCH (A famous wit once observed there were two reasons for the British to dislike the French. Firstly, they are too logical and secondly they own France - "a country which we have always judged to be much too good for them". How times have changed. Now it seems that Britain's middle-class love affair with all things Gallic has reached the point where a fifth of Britons now actually want to be French. A study of attitudes towards our closest neighbour has found that Britons would prefer to work in France or retire to France above any other country, including their own. The ICM survey found that if given a choice of nationality, just over half of Britons under 50 would retain their British passport. But 22 per cent would rather ditch their British status altogether and opt to become French.)
Copyright 2006, Gloria R. Lalumia
Contact: grl8@cornell.edu Visitor Tools
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