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An Unfiltered Report on Current Thought in the Muslim World
[It is extremely important that Americans and the Western World have direct access to this thinking, unfiltered by the spin doctors of the American corporate press, which is so heavily dependent upon and serving of U.S. military and economic imperatives. The author is the Director General of the respected Malaysian think tank, the Institute for Strategic and International Studies.]

And of the many movements and eminent individuals everywhere who fight for peace and justice, who should join hands across the globe in one powerful statement against the evil of unrestrained military might gone mad, but instead remain silent, or speak but with disjointed and isolated voices. . . . There are omissions aplenty . . . A global system that is too fragile and too easily manipulated by the powerful to prevent or punish terrorist states that seize, occupy and annex neighbouring lands . . . An anti-terrorist campaign that will not address root causes, and that breeds even more terrorism because it refuses to acknowledge, much less rectify, unjust policies. . . . The strong continue to arm themselves ever more, citing justifications that are denied for the weak, enabling the strong to become even stronger and compelling the weak to become even weaker. As a result today there is only one hyperpower, one that is furiously expanding its hegemonic capacity even more. It thinks this will provide it security against those it willfully alienates and antagonises. But there is no protection against terrorism until root causes are addressed. . . . This system conveniently ignores Israel, which has been in material breach of many more UN resolutions for a period four times as long. Iraq is suspected of having weapons of mass destruction, Israel is a confirmed owner and producer of weapons of mass destruction. Israel has these weapons aplenty, and it has used them to terrorise Palestinians daily for the past at least 40 years. The United States fears that Iraq may develop nuclear weapons. Israel already possesses them, and there is not even the mildest of censure from its ally or that ally's friends. . . . An attack on Iraq, however speedily executed, runs the risk of destabilising an entire region and alienating an entire world. It will kill, maim and displace thousands of innocent people in the country. It will inflame Muslim anger everywhere, turning moderates into radicals, and transforming radicals into terrorists. Currently pliant Arab states will face increasing hostility from their own people at home. The "war" against terror will begin to unravel. Economies, many of them already hard put to invigorate growth, will face further challenges. And the threat of further terrorism will rise. Third, if war does break out as many expect it will, the global community must ensure that it is conducted in the full gaze of the world, for only by so doing can the excesses of the powerful be checked. There will be an attempt to limit access by the media. We must fight it. Iraq must encourage full media presence, be it from the BBC, the CNN, Al Jazeera or others. . . . Sixth and finally, the global community must challenge the powers-that-be in the UN Security Council to take similar measures to enforce implementation of UN resolutions upon the terrorist state of Israel. The primary target for challenge should be the United States, for it holds virtually all the cards on Israel. If the United States fails to co-operate and opposes the initiative it must be condemned for what it is: a state sponsor of state terrorism.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 1:36 PM

 

£5,000 fine for pub that let customers dance - Ananova
A pub company has been fined £5,000 after a handful of customers were caught dancing. On one evening council officials spotted four and then later five people dancing to piped music at the pub in central London. Another time they noticed 11 drinkers doing the same. It was enough for Westminster City Council to take action against the company for not having a proper licence which allows dancing. Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries, which run the two Pitcher and Piano pubs on William IV Street and Dean Street, pleaded guilty at a London magistrates court and were fined £2,500 for each offence, plus costs of £1,600. Derek Andrews, Wolverhampton and Dudley's managed house boss, said: "We have spent ages trying to stop people dancing. We have signs up everywhere, managers instruct customers, we turn the music down, rearrange the furniture and so on. "On a personal note, I would like to say that to the best of my knowledge spontaneous dancing is not in the top 10 list of great social ills of our time." Westminster Council has also served two written warnings to another pub in Wardour Street, London, about people found "swaying", according to licensed trade newspaper The Publican. Under the current law dancing is only allowed if premises have been granted a public entertainment licence. What is unclear however is the definition of dancing. Westminster Council said : "Premises providing music and dancing are required as a matter of law to obtain a licence. For this reason our inspectors visit premises. "The two premises of Pitcher and Piano were advised that they were encouraging music and dancing and that they should apply for a licence, they did not."

****And I thought the USA had the corner on stupid, outdated laws****

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posted by A Curmudgeon 12:34 PM

 

A Quotation:
"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries."
- David Rockefeller, Baden-Baden, Germany 1991 (refering to the Bilderberger Group)

. . . Read more!


posted by A Curmudgeon 2:04 PM

 

Adbusters: Buy Nothing Day
If enough jammers turn their disaffection into resistance for just one day, November 29 could mark the delivery of a landmark social message. More than a million people will celebrate 11 years of opposition on the unofficial "opening day" of the Christmas frenzy. Play this one right and we will make Buy Nothing Day 2002 a global event on par with Earth Day. . . . Last year's alignment with the peace movement gave the day a wider resonance, and the bigger the BND tent, the better. This year, we're asking religious groups to add their voice, and we've made a pitch to environmental groups worldwide. After all, we told them, "Over consumption is mother of all our environmental problems." With vocal support from the greens, BND really could become an eco-holiday sans frontières.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 4:57 PM

 

The Italian jobs
By Irfan Husain - Dawn
On the morning of every working day, a long queue forms outside the Pakistan embassy in Rome. Unlike the lines outside western embassies in Islamabad, these people are not applicants for visas: almost every single one is a Pakistani reporting that his passport has been stolen or lost and applying for a new one. Once they prove their citizenship either through an ID card or some other document, they are issued new passports, often on the same day for an 'urgent fee' of $100. Armed with a passport and a job offer, they can approach the Italian authorities for permission to work. Given an aging population and a proportionately shrinking workforce, the Italians are glad to allow them to do so. The reason for tearing up the travel document they originally entered Italy on (almost always illegally) is that with a new passport, they can claim they have been in the country for longer than they actually have, thus becoming eligible for a work permit. The Italian authorities and the Pakistan embassy are obviously aware of this transparent scam, but nobody makes an issue of it as it suits all the parties concerned.

. . . Read more!


posted by A Curmudgeon 9:34 AM

 

Europeans Warn of Attacks
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 15, 2002; Page A01
BERLIN, Nov. 14 -- Normally circumspect European intelligence and law enforcement officials have issued a wave of stark warnings in the last two weeks in an echo of U.S. fears that another terrorist attack may be on the way, including the possibility that al Qaeda could employ chemical or other weapons of mass destruction against European targets. The statements -- by officials in Britain, Germany and France, as well as by the head of Interpol, the international law enforcement agency -- represent a breadth of concern that the continent has not experienced since immediately after the attacks in New York and at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, that killed more than 3,000 people and galvanized international efforts to combat terrorism. Some European politicians, fearing public panic, have attempted to play down any clear and present danger. But the release Tuesday of a tape-recorded statement attributed to Osama bin Laden threatening Britain, France, Italy and Germany, as well as Canada and Australia, has compounded the sense of threat.

. . . Read more!


posted by A Curmudgeon 9:13 AM

 

Laughing bomber enrages Australia
From Tim Johnston in Bali - November 15, 2002
AUSTRALIA has reacted with outrage to television and newspaper pictures of a selfconfessed Bali bomber smiling and joking with Indonesia’s chief of police. Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister, said: “I think these people are so bloodthirsty. Their sort of ugly, sneering, amused attitude at the slaughter of innocent people — it’s just horrific that there are people like that.”

. . . Read more!


posted by A Curmudgeon 9:10 AM

 

Cannabis trade gets Dutch economy high
In a bright yellow room dotted with multicolored suns, Barney's Breakfast Bar serves eggs, pancakes, and the house special -- Sweet Tooth, the best marijuana on sale in Amsterdam. At least that's what the judges at the Cannabis Cup decided last year. Now, Barney's and its coffee-shop rivals are gearing up for this year's edition of the contest. Beginning Nov. 24, close to 3,000 marijuana fans will spend five days in Amsterdam rating the very best in cannabis. That means a boom in business for the shop owners and for the Dutch economy. "There's great demand for the winning product," said Derry Brett, a former engineer and the owner of Barney's. His shop has no corners; the fluid shapes create the feeling of floating when high, Brett said. "Cannabis is a huge business for Amsterdam," Winning the cup can increase a shop's sales by as much as 50 percent, the event's organizer said. The 1976 decriminalization of smoking marijuana contributed to the Dutch economy. Drugs were a 1.4 billion euro (US$1.36 billion) business worth 0.5 percent of gross domestic product in 1995, the last time the government collected such figures. "It is a huge industry and growing," said Peter Cohen, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam. "Cannabis creates jobs and income for people who may not otherwise have jobs, who then pay taxes to the government." The government also collects taxes on income from marijuana -- as much as 52 percent depending on a shop's take. "The Dutch government is doing so well with drug tourism," said Mike Esterson, the Cannabis Cup's promoter and organizer. "It's a cash cow for everyone involved."

*****The Taipei Times?? I wonder how come CNN or the New York Times didn't cover this??? ABC could send Brian Ross to determine how much weed is being smuggled in under the noses of the US Custom Service everyday.****

. . . Read more!


posted by A Curmudgeon 10:19 AM

 

Australia plans CD 'censorship'
By Anita Kazmierczak - Tuesday, 12 November, 2002, 17:02 GMT - BBC News
Australians under 18 years old could soon be barred from purchasing CDs by arists such as Eminem, the Rolling Stones, and Tori Amos, under a new restrictive classification. The Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) and the Australian Music Retailers Association (AMRA) is revising the criteria for classification of CDs after talks with the government. Currently, CDs containing strong language or themes such as violence, drug use, murder and suicide are rated as Level 1 (moderate impact) or Level 2 (strong impact) and labelled with a warning advisory sticker. Under current CD monitoring, no CD is restricted for sale to anyone of any age. But ARIA is advocating a new Level 3 standard for classifying CDs and for the first time certain CDs will restricted from sale to under 18s.

. . . Read more!


posted by A Curmudgeon 10:13 AM

 

New tape raises old fears over terror threat
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Wednesday, November 13, 2002 -- An audiotape that U.S. government and coalition officials said Wednesday is almost certainly the voice of Osama bin Laden indicates that the terrorist leader may still be alive and warns of future attacks against U.S. targets. The message, broadcast Tuesday by the Arabic language news network Al-Jazeera based in Qatar, praises terror attacks in Yemen, Kuwait, Bali and Moscow as a response "to how the Muslims have been treated" and warns U.S. allies, "Just like you kill us, we will kill you." CNN Correspondent Mike Boettcher said the tape bears an ominous message. "Nowhere in the tape does he speak to his followers," Boettcher said. "This is a direct threat. And bin Laden is a person who carries through with his threats. That is his past history. And around the world there are many soft economic targets."

The commander in charge of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, Gen. Tommy Franks said he tells people the same thing he tells his granddaughter when she asks in bin Laden is still alive: "I don't know. But if he's alive, we'll certainly get him. This much I can tell you, he's having a bad year." President Bush told congressional leaders Wednesday that the voice on the tape appeared to be that of bin Laden and referred to the message as "timely." Bush said later at a Cabinet meeting that no matter who released the tape, it puts the United States on notice that "there is an active enemy" that continues to pursue its goals through hate and killing. "Whoever put this tape out has put the world on notice yet again that we're at war, and we need to take these message very seriously," he said. *****Major Revelation Here!!*****

A Curmudgeon says: *****Message to Those IN POWER: Isn't this more IMPORTANT than that petty tyrant in Baghdad who continually pisses into the wind??? Or do you have to wait until they light up one of our cities??? Or a city of one of our allies??? Don't you realize that this asshole-in-hiding is dead serious??? Are you willing to play chicken with the lives of millions of citizens??? Don't you realize that you are NOT going to find him and he is NOT going to just go away until you change the parameters????*****

. . . Read more!


posted by A Curmudgeon 9:32 AM

 

Australians warned over e-biz virus threat
By James Pearce, ZDNet Australia
06 November 2002
Companies and individuals worldwide face a significantly higher risk of computer virus infection from retail and leisure companies than other sectors, a new report has found. The ratios of e-mails infected with viruses to other e-mails in the retail and leisure industries globally are more than one in 50, according to a report from managed e-mail security company MessageLabs. By contrast, accounting and legal companies have the lowest proportion, with less than one in 350 e-mails infected with viruses. MessageLabs ascribes the high proportion of viruses in the retail and leisure industries to the fact those companies foster closer relationships with the home user market, which is notorious for its lack of security as a sector. The report points out that the finance and banking sector, although promoting a similar relationship with its customers, has a lower proportion of infected e-mails to non-infected e-mails (one in 101) due to its rigorous focus on security. The IT and Telecommunications sector has a virus to e-mail ration of one in 162. The report showed the most common virus was Bugbear (one in 324 e-mails), followed by Klez.H (one in 479 e-mails) and Yaha.E (one in 1069 e-mails).

. . . Read more!


posted by A Curmudgeon 8:03 AM

 

America's way - Bush's new doctrine is deaf to history
(The Guardian, September 24, 2002)
The whole world, Mr Bush argues, is "increasingly united by common values" and "common interests"- and these values and interests, it transpires, are America's own. He recasts humanity's entire history as a struggle between an absolute, Founding Father-style concept of freedom and "war, terror, poverty... and the evil designs of tyrants". Mr Bush (and advisers such as Condoleezza Rice) find, unsurprisingly, that America is uniquely equipped to fight and finally win this battle. After the defeat of communism and fascism, the US represents the "single sustainable model for national success", declares this philosopher-president. He deems it "our common calling" and a proud "mission". And like it or not, we are all putative, co-opted Americans now, or else non-persons, to be sustained by a US-tilted "balance of power that favours freedom" and protected by America's "unparalleled military strength". This Bush doctrine is by turns arrogant, patronising, complacent, amazingly presumptuous - but above all, aggressive. It brooks no opposition. It will tolerate no perceived threat. In the world according to George Bush, an irresistible America, convinced of its rightness and its altruism, always decides. Fatally, but in the true, naive American tradition, this doctrine is deaf to history, oblivious to consequences, and wondrously lacking in self-knowledge. . . . It marks the moment when the US, shifting up from superpower to hyperpower, unveiled the new age of the have-a-nice-day totalitarians. It's official: the US rules the world.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 5:19 PM

 

Russia fears US oil companies will take over world's second-biggest reserves
(Andrew Buncombe, The Independent, 26 September 2002)
Oil companies from around the world are manoeuvring for the multibillion-dollar bonanza that would follow the ousting of Saddam Hussein. . . . Russia is so concerned that it has been holding secretive talks with the Iraqi opposition to shore up its economic interests in the country which still owes Moscow $7bn dollars from Soviet times. . . . Oil industry experts say there is growing concern that America would dominate the Iraqi oil industry after Saddam. As a result, a number of oil companies have reportedly held talks with the Iraqi opposition to ensure they are involved in any future deals. . . . In this environment, it is likely that most leading oil companies are actively trying to position themselves to operate in Iraq if Saddam is overthrown. The US oil giants ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco both refused to say whether they had been holding talks with Iraqi opposition. Both said, however, that they would be interested in operating in Iraq if sanctions permitted.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 5:16 PM

 

US weapons secrets exposed
(Julian Borger, The Guardian, October 29, 2002)
Respected scientists on both sides of the Atlantic warned yesterday that the US is developing a new generation of weapons that undermine and possibly violate international treaties on biological and chemical warfare. . . . They also point to the paradox of the US developing such weapons at a time when it is proposing military action against Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein is breaking international treaties. . . . He said that work includes: . . . · CIA efforts to copy a Soviet cluster bomb designed to disperse biological weapons · A project by the Pentagon to build a bio-weapon plant from commercially available materials to prove that terrorists could do the same thing · Research by the Defence Intelligence Agency into the possibility of genetically engineering a new strain of antibiotic-resistant anthrax · A programme to produce dried and weaponised anthrax spores, officially for testing US bio-defences, but far more spores were allegedly produced than necessary for such purposes and it is unclear whether they have been destroyed or simply stored. . . . The focus on Washington's biological and chemical weapons programme comes at an awkward time for the Bush administration, which is locked in negotiations at the UN for a tough resolution on arms inspections of Iraq. According to Mr Dando, British and US research into hallucinogenic weapons such as the gas BZ encouraged Iraq to look into similar agents. "We showed them the way," he said. . . . "What happened in Moscow is a harbinger of what is to come," Mr Dando said. "There is a revolution in life sciences which could be applied in a major way to warfare. It's an early example of the mess we may be creating." . . . By blurring the edges of the treaty, they argue the US is inviting other countries to do the same. The US, Mr Dando said, "runs the very real danger of leading the world down a pathway that will greatly reduce the security of all."

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 4:34 PM

 

Chinese province issues swipe IDs to Internet cafe users
By Tim Richardson - The Register
Posted: 05/11/2002 at 12:09 GMT

People in the central Chinese province of Jiangxi who use cybercafes are having their online activities monitored by police. Anyone who wants to use a cybercafe must now carry an Internet identity card containing personal details including their name and address. These details are then logged onto a police database. Each time someone visits a cybercafe in Jiangxi their card is swiped enabling authorities to see who is online and what sites they're accessing. AP reports that this enables police to block access to certain sites, or even prevent individual users from using the Net. According to official sources the new system was introduced last month to identify criminals operating online and to prevent crimes. Critic claim this yet further evidence of the hard-line approach taken by the Chinese authorities and its continued nervousness surrounding unfettered access to the Net in China. China is very strict on people using the Net to "conduct illegal activities" such as peeking at porno and other subversive material. According to the report more than 200,000 cards have been issued so far in Jiangxi. Last month China launched yet another crackdown on Internet cafes banning children under the age of 16 from using them. The new regulations were introduced following a fire at a Beijing Internet café in which 24 people died and 13 were injured. The new regulations mean that as well as banning minors, it will be illegal to set up a cyber cafe within a stone's throw of a school. It will also be illegal to operate a cyber cafe before 8.00am in the morning and after midnight. ®

. . . Read more!


posted by A Curmudgeon 9:33 AM

 

The most savage war in the world
(Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, 27 October 2002)
I have never seen a country so ravaged by war. The Chechen capital, Grozny, is a great seascape of ruins, mile after mile of concrete buildings shelled and bombed in two wars. In many villages, all the houses have been destroyed, their burnt rafters open to the sky. . . . From the beginning the Russians were determined to exclude the media, or allow it to cover the war only on Moscow's terms. "Get the hell out of here or I'll throw you in jail right now!" shouted a beefy Russian colonel, giving me a shove backwards when I tried to enter Chechnya officially, on a Russian-controlled road. . . . Given their military superiority, the Russians should have been able to consolidate the victories won in the first six months of the present war. It did not happen because their army was a rabble, living off the land, killing and extracting bribes from their victims' families. The savagery of the Russian occupation has reduced the Chechens to a state of desperation, of which the attack on the theatre in Moscow is the latest fruit.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 10:19 AM