Saturday, June 28, 2003

STREETART

Fahrenheit 451 Update @ Razhia..check the streetart section

Friday, June 27, 2003

USA-EU

Heise: Einheit statt Multipolarit?t, Ordnung statt Chaos
US-Sicherheitsberaterin Condoleezza Rice ruft die Europ?er zum Kampf gegen Iran und Nordkorea auf und fordert den Schulterschluss mit den USA
Condoleezza Rice, die Sicherheitsberaterin des Wei?en Hauses, forderte in einer Rede am International Institute for Strategic Studies in London die Europ?er auf, sich nun endlich im Fall von Nordkorea und Iran hinter die USA zu stellen, um die Welt von Massenvernichtungswaffen zu befreien - wenn sie in den H?nden der Falschen sich befinden. ?hnlich wie vor dem Irak-Krieg drohte sie mit einem Alleingang der USA, wenn die Europ?er nicht mitmachen, wobei sie milit?risches Vorgehen nicht ausschloss. Mit deutlichem Wink nach Frankreich gei?elte sie die Idee einer multipolaren Weltordnung: Einheit ist verlangt.


Aber es ist extrem wichtig, dass L?nder wie Nordkorea merken, dass sie dafür zahlen müssen, wenn sie ihre internationalen Verpflichtungen nicht einhalten.
Danke liebes Amerika. Danke das ihr andere L?nder lehrt wie sie mit internationalen Verplichtungen umgehen müssen. Die Usa k?nnen das ja besonders gut. Wie beim internationalen Strafgerichtshof, Irak, Kyoto-Protokoll, Guantanamo, Kriegsgefangen, Lateinamerika.......Amerika ist ein leuchtende Beispiel. Der leuchtende Pfad dem wir folgen sollten

Thursday, June 26, 2003

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Gott befahl mir, al-Qaida anzugreifen und ich griff sie an, und dann trug er mir auf, Saddam anzugreifen, was ich auch machte, und jetzt bin ich entschlossen, das Problem im Nahen Osten zu l?sen. Wenn Sie mich unterstützen, werde ich handeln, wenn nicht, dann werden die Wahlen kommen und ich werde mich darauf konzentrieren müssen

george w. bush jr. zum palästinensischen Regierungschef Abbas (Quelle: Haaretz)

"Jesus is Homeboy"
ISRAEL

Heise: "Gott hat mir befohlen, al-Qaida und Saddam anzugreifen"

Waffenstillstand im Nahen Osten fast von allen Seiten unerwünscht, zudem ist US-Präsident Bush ungeduldig bei der Umsetzung der "Road Map", da Wahlen anstehen

Die "Road Map" zum Frieden im Nahen Osten, die Präsident Bush mitsamt einem autonomen palästinensischen Staat vor dem Irak-Krieg versprochen hatte und mit der er die Glaubwürdigkeit seiner Politik demonstrieren muss, kommt nur sehr stotternd voran. Der palästinensische Regierungschef hat nun im Rahmen der Gespräche über einen Waffenstillstand von seinen Verhandlungen mit dem israelischen Ministerpräsidenten Scharon und dem US-Präsidenten Bush berichtet - und von einer nachdenklich stimmenden Äußerung des mächtigsten Mannes der Welt erzählt.

Bush, der den Waffenstillstandsgesprächen skeptisch gegenüber steht, fordert indes, dass Hamas völlig zerschlagen werden müsse. Erst wenn diese Terrororganisationen ganz zerschlagen seien, könne es Frieden geben. Bush übersieht freilich, dass Hamas nicht nur als Terrororganisation Unterstützung bei den palästinensischen Menschen findet, sondern auch mehr und mehr als soziale Organisation in dem verarmten Land und als politische Alternative zu Arafat und Abbas. Die Verantwortung für die Gewaltspirale weist Bush wieder einzig Hamas und den Terrorgruppen zu:
Progress toward this goal will only be possible if all sides do all in their power to defeat the determined enemies of peace, such as Hamas and other terrorist groups. Nearly every hopeful moment in the region, nearly every sign of progress toward peace is followed by more murders in the guise of martyrdom, as those who oppose peace do all they can to destroy the hopes and aspirations of those who desire to live in peace.

"Leider wird dabei vergessen das die Hamas sozusagen von Israel gegründet wurde und zwar als Gegenpol zur PLO von Arafat.Solche Sachen können ins Auge gehen wie Amerika am 11. September erfahren musste. Darüberhinaus sollte Israel mal seine eigene Geschichte studieren da die Zionisten zu genau den gleichen Mittel griffen um den Engländern einen Staat abzupressen. Aber wer erinnert sich schon gerne daran das der grosse Israelische Premier Menachem Begin mal der Anführer der Terrorgruppe Irdun war, die unter Anderem das Britische Hauptquartier in Jerusalem in die Luft jagten wobei 91 Menschen getötet wurden. Ein Anderer Israelischer Premier, Yitzhak Shamir war einer der Anführer der Stern-Gang, die Araber massakrierten und 1946 den Britischen Gouvaneur Lord Moyne bei einem Attentat ermordeten."
EURO VS DOLLAR

UPI: Malaysia Advocating Switch To Euro
SINGAPORE (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Malaysia, whose currency the ringgit has been pegged to the U.S. dollar since 1998, has become an unlikely advocate for the Euro.

Of late, the oil producing Malaysia has been advocating a review of international oil prices, currently denominated in dollars, to protect oil producers from the uncertainties of the currency market.

And Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed has also been urging the private sector to use the Euro in their export trade believing the dollar was likely to depreciate further.
IRAQI WMD

AFP: Expert Says He Was Pressured To Distort Iraqi WMD Intel

A top State Department expert on chemical and biological weapons told congressional investigators he had been pressured to change his analysis of intelligence on Iraq and other issues, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed congressional officials.

The expert, identified by the daily as Christian Westermann, reportedly told the House of Representatives Intelligence committee during private hearings last week that he had felt pressure from the administration of President George W. Bush to tailor his analyses to the administration's positions.
IRAQ

Tagesannzeiger: Erneut irakische Ölpipeline gesprengt
In Irak haben Saboteure nach Informationen des arabischen TV-Senders al-Jazeera zum vierten Mal innerhalb von zwei Wochen einen Sprengsatz an einer Pipeline gezündet
IRAQ

Spiegel: Die Gotteskrieger stehen auf
Der Widerstand gegen Amerikaner und Briten im Irak wird immer stärker. Zu den jüngsten Attacken auf die Siegermächte haben sich die Mudschahedin bekannt. Die religiösen Fanatiker kündigten neue Anschläge an
IRAQ

Spiegel: rrrr

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

EU

Spiegel: Dem "Seite-eins-M?dchen" droht das Aus
Die EU-Kommission will die Darstellung von Frauen als "Sex-Objekt" in s?mtlichen Medien und in der Werbung verbieten. Der europ?ische Verleger-Verband ist entsetzt und fürchtet um den Fortbestand der redaktionellen Freiheit.

Brüssel - TV-Programme, in denen Frauen nur klischeehaft dargestellt werden sollen laut Pl?nen der EU-Kommission genauso verboten werden wie Werbung, in denen Frauen "ohne Respekt vor der menschlichen Würde" gezeigt werden. Wie die "Financial Times" berichtet, sei der Entwurf der Kommission einer der ehrgeizigsten Pl?ne innerhalb der europ?ischen Sozial-Gesetzgebung überhaupt

IRAQ

The New Republic: THE SELLING OF THE IRAQ WAR.The First Casualty
oreign policy is always difficult in a democracy. Democracy requires openness. Yet foreign policy requires a level of secrecy that frees it from oversight and exposes it to abuse. As a result, Republicans and Democrats have long held that the intelligence agencies--the most clandestine of foreign policy institutions--should be insulated from political interference in much the same way as the higher reaches of the judiciary. As the Tower Commission, established to investigate the Iran-Contra scandal, warned in November 1987, "The democratic processes ... are subverted when intelligence is manipulated to affect decisions by elected officials and the public

"In dieser Schrift legen die Autoren John B. Judis und Spencer Acker-
man aus liberaler Sicht klar, daß die US-Administration mit der
bisherigen Politk zum Irak immer mehr Vertrauen verspielt.
Bedeutend ist diese Schrift deshalb, weil der New Republic den
neokonservativen Leitlinien von Lawrence F. Kaplan folgt"
911

Salon: BUSH'S 9/11 COVERUP
"While the administration of President George W. Bush is
aggressively positioning itself as the world leader in the war on
terrorism, some families of the Sept. 11 victims say that the facts
increasingly contradict that script," reports Eric Boehlert. "The
White House long opposed the formation of a blue-ribbon Sept. 11
commission, some say, and even now that panel is underfunded and
struggling to build momentum. And, they say, the administration is
suppressing a 900-page congressional study, possibly out of fear
that the findings will be politically damaging to Bush." According
to Monica Gabrielle, whose husband Richard died at the World Trade
Center, "As soon as we started looking for answers we were blocked,
put off and ignored at every stop of the way. We were shocked. The
White House is just blocking everything."

PROPAGANDA WATCH

Fair: LINKING 9/11 TO IRAQ

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting says major media is ignoring the
story that flawed intelligence " may have been a result of
deliberate deception, rather than incompetence." According to FAIR,
"former General Wesley Clark told anchor Tim Russert that Bush
administration officials had engaged in a campaign to implicate
Saddam Hussein in the September 11 attacks-- starting that very
day. Clark said that he'd been called on September 11 and urged to
link Baghdad to the terror attacks, but declined to do so because
of a lack of evidence. ... Clark's assertion corroborates a
little-noted CBS Evening News story that aired on September 4,
2002. As correspondent David Martin reported: 'Barely five hours
after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, the
secretary of defense was telling his aides to start thinking about
striking Iraq, even though there was no evidence linking Saddam
Hussein to the attacks.' According to CBS, a Pentagon aide's notes
from that day quote Rumsfeld asking for the 'best info fast' to
'judge whether good enough to hit SH at the same time, not only
UBL.' (The initials SH and UBL stand for Saddam Hussein and Osama
bin Laden.) The notes then quote Rumsfeld as demanding, ominously,
that the administration's response 'go massive...sweep it all up,
things related and not.'"
PROPAGANDA WATCH

twincities.com: "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" FOR BUSH ON IRAQ

In George Orwell's 1984 "Ignorance Was Strength" for Big Brother's
regime, and so it is for President Bush. "A third of the American
public believes U.S. forces found weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq, according to a recent poll. And 22 percent said Iraq actually
used chemical or biological weapons. Before the war, half of those
polled in a survey said Iraqis were among the 19 hijackers on Sept.
11, 2001. But such weapons have not been found in Iraq, and were
never used. Most of the Sept. 11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
None were Iraqis. ... These results startled the pollsters who
conducted and analyzed the surveys. ... Pollsters and political
analysts see several reasons for the gaps between facts and
beliefs: the public's short attention span on foreign news,
fragmentary or conflicting media reports that lacked depth or
skepticism and Bush administration efforts to sell a war by
oversimplifying the threat. ... Bush has described the preemptive
attack on Iraq as "one victory in the war on terror that began
Sept. 11." Bush officials also claim that Iraq sheltered and helped
al-Qaida operatives. ... And GOP pollsters said any controversy
over weapons wouldn't change public attitudes because ridding Iraq
of an oppressive regime was reason enough for war for many
Americans. 'People supported the war for national security reasons
and that shifted to humanitarian reasons when they saw evidence of
Saddam's atrocities,' said Republican strategist Frank Luntz."
PROPAGANDA WATCH

Lewrockwell.com: Fibbing It Up at Fox

If you're wondering whatever happened to all those alleged weapons
discoveries that Fox News reported during the war, Lew Rockwell has
compiled a list, along with other examples of dishonesty, error,
bias and propaganda at Fox News.

"CHECK IT"

"Fox News: fair and balanced reporting...die würden sich besser comedy channel nennen"
PUBLIC SPACE

NY Times: The Town Square as Billboard

"This property for rent. That's what an increasing number of
strapped municipalities are proclaiming to Madison Avenue as they
make available for advertising, marketing and promotional purposes
an expanding range of public places - whether zoos, parks and train
stations, or museums, piers and beaches. And while you still may
not be able to fight City Hall, in some instances you can rent it
for an event. ... 'We call it the city-for-sale phenomenon,' said
Gary Ruskin, the executive director at Commercial Alert in
Portland, Oregon, an organization dedicated to fighting what he
terms ad creep. 'Every one of these is a victory of crass
commercialism over local values. Places like parks are intended to
be sanctuaries from the more noxious aspects of our commercial
culture, refuges from the hustle and bustle of marketing. Instead,
they're now degraded into huckstering, up for bid to the
corporations with the deepest pockets.' "
SOURCE: New York Times, June 23, 2003

USA

NY Times Op-Ed: BUSH DECEIVED US INTO WAR - WHY THE DENIAL ? by Paul Krugman

Politics is full of ironies. On the White House Web site, George W. Bush's speech from Oct. 7, 2002 — in which he made the case for war with Iraq — bears the headline "Denial and Deception." Indeed.
There is no longer any serious doubt that Bush administration officials deceived us into war. The key question now is why so many influential people are in denial, unwilling to admit the obvious.

CHECK IT



PR WATCH

CRAZY LIKE A FAUX

It was apparently just a matter of time. A parody website called
the "Faux News Channel, P.N.N. (Pentagon News Network)" has
received a letter from attorneys for the Fox News Network. The
attorneys object, among other things, to the sale by Faux of "Bill
O'Reilly Hitler Youth" t-shirts. They express concern that people
may confuse the real Faux with the fake Fox ... or is that
vice-versa? Faux responds: "Now isn't that a hoot: to be accused of
'incredibly poor taste' and being 'highly offensive' by a
representative of the network responsible for such benchmarks of
good taste as 'Temptation Island 3,' 'Joe Millionaire' and 'Stupid
Behavior Caught On Tape.' Folks, the irony is so thick around here
you can cut it with a knife."

Tuesday, June 24, 2003

911

Rense: STILL No Arabs On Flight 77
IRAQ

Independent: Bush Now Blames Looters For Failure To Find WMD

It has taken more than two months. But belatedly, from his Democratic challengers for the White House and in committee rooms on Capitol Hill, President George W Bush is starting to feel the heat of the controversy over Iraq's missing weapons stockpiles.

In his weekly radio address yesterday, Mr Bush was forced to produce a new explanation of why the US has not found Iraq's alleged chemical and biological weapons. He told listeners that suspect sites had been looted in the closing days of Saddam Hussein's regime.

But this rationale is no more likely to still the gathering debate than the President's dismissal last week of the "revisionist historians" who doubt the administration's pre-war claims that Iraq not only possessed a huge chemical and biological weapons arsenal and an active nuclear weapons programme, but had close links with the al-Qa'ida terrorist organisation.

"Nach Umfragen glauben 1/3 aller Amerikaner es seien im Irak Massenvernichtungswaffen gefunden worden. 83% glauben Sadaam habe Atombomben entwickeln lassen "
SCIENCE

Guardian: How two students built an A-bomb
It's one of the burning questions of the moment: how easy would it be for a country with no nuclear expertise to build an A-bomb? Forty years ago in a top-secret project, the US military set about finding out. Oliver Burkeman talks to the men who solved the nuclear puzzle in just 30 months
SYRIA

Spiegel: US-Armee greift syrische Grenzsoldaten an

Auf der Jagd nach den Führern des gestürzten Baath-Regimes haben US-Soldaten offenbar einen syrischen Grenzposten angegriffen. Dabei gab es mehrere Verletzte. Die GIs sollen auch die irakische Grenze nach Syrien überschritten und Gefangene gemacht haben.

Damaskus - Die Amerikaner hatten von einem früheren Saddam-Berater den Hinweis bekommen, von ihnen gesuchte, hochrangige Iraker befänden sich in einem Konvoi auf der Flucht nach Syrien. Die US-Armee nahm die Verfolgung des Trecks auf. Wie jetzt bekannt wurde, endete die Jagd in einem Feuergefecht mit syrischen Grenzsoldaten.
IRAQ

Spiegel: Sechs britische Soldaten getötet
Bei zwei Angriffen auf britische Truppen im Irak sind nach Angaben der Regierung in London sechs Soldaten getötet worden, acht weitere wurden verletzt.
ISRAEL

World Socialist Website: Terrorism and the origins of Israel—Part 1
Terrorism and the origins of Israel—Part 2

The following is the first of a two-part series. The concluding part will be published June 23.

Last month the National Archives, formerly known as the Public Record Office, released MI5 Security Service files showing that Zionist terror groups planned to set up cells in London and assassinate the post-war Labour government’s British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin.

“Present Trends in Palestine”, an MI5 briefing paper written in August 1946, reported on the activities of the Stern Gang. This was the terrorist group that had assassinated Lord Moyne, the British military governor in Egypt in 1944.

“In recent months it has been reported that they [the Stern Gang] have been training selected members for the purpose of proceeding overseas and assassinating a prominent British personality—special reference having been made several times to Mr. Bevin in this connection,” the paper noted.

One of the leading lights of the Stern Group, which had by this time renamed itself Lehi, was Yitzhak Shamir who became prime minister in 1983 and whose tenure in the highest office in Israel was second only to Ben Gurion.


Monday, June 23, 2003

VENEZUELA: EURO VS DOLLAR WAR

VHeadlines: Venezuelan move to replace US$ with the €uro upsetting Washington more than Saddam's €uro conversion last November

VHeadline.com editor & publisher Roy S. Carson writes: A move by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias to replace the US$ with the €uro is seen as upsetting Washington more than when Iraq's Saddam Hussein started using the €uro for oil transactions last November ... precipitating the US-led action to invade Iraq. Beltway bullies are now said to be angered by Venezuela's decision to barter oil with thirteen other Latin American countries, dealing moves to dollarize South America currencies. Intelligence reports say that while the US was able to pull the wool over the international community and ally with Britain's Blair to bulldoze action against former Iran War ally Hussein, the situation with Venezuela is proving more difficult.

CIA and other intel organizations, including Britain's MI5, now fear that the next step is that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is about to switch to €uros ... the immediate effect would be a massive devaluation, perhaps sparking of domino-effect devaluations worldwide in US$-related foreign reserves and foreign debt calculations.

With a massive budget deficit, the United States is running scared of latest intel that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is on the brink of converting to the €uros and the opinion held by many OPEC ministers is that the conversion is an inevitability ... the only question left is WHEN?

"Coupe d'Etat underway"


IRAQ

Independent: Powerless Iraqis rail against ignorant, air-conditioned US occupation force
As temperatures reached a scorching 45C (113F) in Baghdad last week
people in al-Thawra, a sprawling working-class slum, unearthed hidden rifles
and threatened to kill the manager of the local electrical sub-station if
he did not resume power supplies. "Some had guns and others threw stones
at us, but I told them this was just a sub- station and we aren't
receiving any electricity," said Bassim Arman, the harassed-looking manager. "Now
I have to close down anyway, because employees are too frightened to come
to work."

Electricity is vital to life in the Iraqi capital where the temperature
can soar as high as 60C (140F) at the height of summer. Without it there is
no air-conditioning, no refrigerators to prevent food rotting and no light
in a city terrified by looters. The failure to get the electrical system
working has become a symbol for Iraqis in the capital of the general
failure of the American occupation to provide living conditions even at
the miserable level they enjoyed under Saddam Hussein.
IRAQ: CENSORSHIP

Zmag/Independent: Censorship Of The Press by Robert Fisk
A Familiar Story For Iraqi's

Paul Bremer has ordered his legal department in Baghdad to draw up rules for press censorship. A joke, I concluded, when one of the newly styled Coalition Provisional Authority officials tipped me off last week. But no, it really is true. Two months after "liberating" Iraq, the Anglo- American authorities and their boss Paul Bremer - whose habit of wearing combat boots with a black suit continues to amaze his colleagues - have decided to control the new and free Iraqi press.

Newspapers that publish "wild stories", material deemed provocative or capable of inciting ethnic violence, will be threatened or shut down. It's for the good of the Iraqi people, you understand. A controlled press is a responsible press - which is exactly what Saddam Hussein used to say about the trashy newspapers his regime produced.

"Wenn etwas zur Herstellung einer
USA: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Spiegel: US-Unis dürfen Minderheiten weiter fördern
In den USA gilt es als das wichtigste Bürgerrechts-Urteil seit einem Vierteljahrhundert: Der Oberste Gerichtshof hat entschieden, dass US-Hochschulen Schwarzen auch künftig bei der Zulassung einen Bonus geben können - allerdings nach strengen Regeln.

Ny Times: Supreme Court Splits on Diversity Efforts at University of Michigan
In its most important statements on affirmative action in a quarter-century, the Supreme Court narrowly upheld the admissions policy of the University of Michigan law school today, finding that minority applicants may be given an edge, but struck down the part of the university's undergraduate-admissions system that relies on a point system.

ISRAEL

Spiegel: Scharon lässt Siedler heimlich weiterbauen

Israels Ministerpräsident Scharon scheint auf den Friedensprozess zu pfeifen. Während einer Regierungsberatung soll er sich gegen den in der Roadmap vorgesehenen Baustopp jüdischer Siedlungen im Westjordanland ausgesprochen haben. Die Siedler, so wird er in Medienberichten zitiert, sollen heimlich weiterbauen.

Tel Aviv - Die israelische Zeitung "Jediot Achronot" meldete am Montag, Scharon soll während des Regierungstreffens gesagt haben: "Wir können in den Siedlungen bauen, jedoch nicht darüber sprechen. Und es ist auch nicht notwendig, jedes Mal öffentliche Freudentänze aufzuführen, wenn eine Baugenehmigung erteilt wird." Mit dieser Aussage verstößt Scharon klar gegen die Roadmap, den internationalen Friedensplan für den Nahen Osten.
ZÜRICH

20min: Illegale Party artete aus

Schwere Auseinandersetzung zwischen Besuchern einer illegalen Party und der Stadtpolizei Zürich: Feiernde Jugendliche griffen zwei Beamte tätlich an.
Die Party fand auf dem Dach eines Parkhauses an der Pfingstweidstrasse statt. Zwei angerückte Polizisten verlangten vom DJ in den gestrigen frühen Morgenstunden, die Musik abzustellen. Als dieser der Aufforderung nicht nachkam, brachte einer der Beamten den Plattenteller von Hand zum Stehen. Dann eskalierte die Situation.

"Aint no party like a ZEE RIOTZH party"
FERIEN

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