Vesicle Trafficker II

I have quickly read through many posts above, and clearly I am entering this debate at a late hour. So here I will try to avoid repeating too many of the arguments that were raised above and instead concentrate on two issues which I think deserve separate consideration but that you appear to want to lump together. These are: Who is to blame for 9/11? Is the Bush Doctrine a better policy for fighting terrorism than the Clinton Doctrine (for want of a better term).

Yes, that's definitely the $64,000 question. Let's assume for the moment that Gore would have done the same thing as Bush in Afghanistan (under the doctrine); the issue then becomes Iraq.

Despite my reply, I am not saying Bush is entirely to blame for 9/11. I was trying to be provocative and I am glad it achieved that purpose. What I am challenging, and what I do not think you can prove, is the charge imbedded in your argument that places the majority of the blame on 9/11 on Clinton.

You're off here; If I meant to blame Clinton, I would have blamed Clinton. In the 10 years before 2001, we had three presidents, Bush, Clinton, Bush (hold the jokes, please). I'll say that all three share blame.

read the rest! »

Russia's Capitalism

Excerpted from a post on The Pro's Edge, my firm's corporate blog:

"Russia's capitalism will be characterised by a significant role for foreign capital; a domestic environment warped by concentration of ownership and over-dependence on natural resources; and a big role for the state...."

The above passage is from the Economist Intelligence Unit's ViewsWire Eastern Europe service. Their analysis punctures a couple of common beliefs, and looks at some of the promise and the perils ahead for a country whose resources are growing in strategic signficance.

Tin Ear

I'm having one of my bang-my-head-against-the-keyboard moments again. If you wonder why I do it more often when liberals do something amazingly boneheaded, it's because I'm a liberal, and I JUST HATE IT when I see things that convince me that we're going to be sleeping on the porch for the next few weeks.

In the course of an interesting post on what we should require from journalists - in terms of disclosing or aligning their own interests - Atrios casually mentions this:

"Since when is having an abortion a controversial act?"

read the rest! »

AfricaPundit's Regional Briefing: 2004-03-31

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Africa, courtesy of AfricaPundit.

TOP TOPICS

• The new African parliament (for what it's worth) was inaugurated this month. Details over at Head Heeb and Mostly Africa.

• Yvette reports on more terrorist attacks against foreign aid workers in Somaliland. In a hopeful sign, Somalilanders responded to the attacks with a weekend full of anti-terrorism protests.

• German president Johannes Rau's visit to Africa was followed by bombings in Tanzania and diverted by an assasination plot in Djibouti. Islamist terrorists are suspected of plotting both attacks. If only Germany hadn't supported the war in Iraq....

Other Topics Today Include: Beaucoup de coups; trouble in Sudan; Blair and Qaddafi make up; War on terror news; Health and environment roundup; Mugabe's condom problem.

read the rest! »

Downloads & Record Sales

Here's one from John Paczkowski of the San Jose Mercury:

"A study published Monday confirms what anyone who isn't somehow affiliated with the Recording Industry Association of America has long known: File sharing is not the major cause of declining music sales over the past few years. According to the study -- which tracked music downloads over 17 weeks in 2002, comparing data on file transfers with actual market performance of the songs being downloaded -- the overall impact of file sharing on sales was almost imperceptible:

read the rest! »

Opening Day 2004: Yankees Lose!

2004 Opening Day. Baseball is...again. Play Ball!

This year's season opened in Tokyo, Japan, with Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui, A-Rod, and the rest of the NY Yankees playing the Tampa Bay Rays. On paper, this seems like a complete mismatch. On the field, however, Tampa Bay spanked the Yanks 8-3, as ex-Yankee Tino Martinez slugged his 300th career home run.

• Baseball Musings, the designated GM for the new "Top Prospects" team on our blogroll, has the Opening Day blog coverage.

• I thought Allah was all-knowing and all-seeing. But this important item is nowehere to be seen on his blog. He's maundering on about terrorism, U.S. elections, and other irrelevant silliness. It's like he's not actually Allah...

Fred Siegel of the DLC: Not Stupid

Wow. The DLC has published a rip-roaring condemnation of the alliance between the New Left and radical Islamism by Fred Seigel, whose work I'll be looking out for. (hat tip to praktike in the e-voting comments, below) he opens with a sharp summary:

In the new era, Communist red and Islamist green, joined by more than a dash of Nazi brown, have increasingly forged an anti-liberal alliance that sees Israel and the United States as its common enemies. They all believe, in different ways, that if only the United States and Israel could be destroyed, the world could return to the idyllic harmony that prevailed before Jewish capitalism polluted it.

read the rest! »

Electronic Voting: Truly, Deeply Stupid

Also in today's L.A. Times, a frightening story in which election results are changed by electronic voting machine problems - and there's not a damn thing we can do about it.

Although some Orange County voters cast the wrong electronic ballots in the March 2 primary, potentially altering the outcome of one race for a Democratic Party post, Registrar Steve Rodermund said he will certify the results of the election today.

In a report circulated late Monday to the Board of Supervisors, Rodermund acknowledged for the first time that his office's failures could have affected a race ... and gave ammunition to critics of electronic voting.

read the rest! »

Kerry on Energy: Truly, Deeply, Stupid

Kerry is going to announce today that he would open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to pressure OPEC to lower prices in order to lower the price of gasoline.

In the L.A. Times this morning:

Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry will announce a plan today in San Diego for reining in skyrocketing gas prices, saying President Bush has done nothing to stop increases that are hurting average Americans.

read the rest! »

The U.N. Oil-for-Palaces Scandal, Part III

Instapundit has more. The largest episode of corruption in history? Don't know, but at the very least it's in the top tier.

Here's a wild thought... at $10 billion and counting, plus the blood of the Iraqis the U.N. was supposed to be protecting and helping to feed, maybe there ought to be a congressional investigation about that.

Quixote's Carnival of the Capitalists

Carnival of the Capitalists is up again this week at Admiral Quixote, with more of the best posts on business and economics from around the blogosphere. Is China's economic bubble sustainable? How can RFID tags benefit consumers? And where have all the start-ups gone?

Viva La Revolucion!

Yesterday, I posted some thoughts by Belmont Club on the nature of the war before us, and sparked a lively exchange in the Comments section. Today I segue over to Laughingwolf's series on the same subject. He, too, sees 2 wars facing us - but they are not the same 2. Rather, his second front is a conflict between the old rules and conventions of international diplomacy and the new. Along the way, he makes some useful points about the potential pitfalls and dangers ahead:

"The easy choice is to give up freedom, to go for an imperial leader and deal strictly by force of arms. Pax Americana. The opposite choice, and equally damning, is to give up freedom, and go for a socialist response that would maintain the illusion of power and control by the Old Powers, while adding a new and unchecked element in the form of Islamic fundamentalism. A third option exists, however, that threads the shoals and offers the chance of something truly new.

We take a page from the communists and socialists and export revolution. Not just any revolution, but The Revolution...."

There's much to be said for this idea, though one hopes that its adherents have learned appropriate lessons from the Marxists' tactical and doctrinal mistakes. We should be able to extract a few from Ken Wilber's work, though this link is kind of a heavy-isotope presentation.

Clinton, Bush, and 9/11

In the comments to 'Sondheim' below, Vesicle Trafficker makes these accusations:

This is a very common argument in Pro-Bush Pro-Iraq war circles. The problem is, it is only partly true. If you substitute "In the decade or so" with "between January and September of 2001", I think you'd be right.

...

I stand by my statement that it is a Pro-Bush Pro-Iraq war fantasy that the blame for 9/11 falls on Clinton for his alleged effete or ineffective response to global terrorism. 9/11 is not evidence for this, it is only evidence for Bush's incompetence. It happened on his watch. He didn't take Al Qaeda seriously. He was worried about stem cells and Saddam.

VT, your evidence for this would be exactly...what?

Because I've got a fairly substantial amount of evidence that points the other way.

read the rest! »

Chernobyl: Incredible, Heartbreaking, Humane

Go click here immediately to see the website of a Russian motorcyclist who regularly travels through and photographs the Chernobyl 'Dead Zone'.

Her writing is first-rate (I'll excuse her English) and her photographs have so much emotional impact that I'm going to spend the rest of the week thinking about them.

Note that this isn't some 'Soviets Bad' or Atomic Energy Bad' site; she's just sifting through the detritus of a tragedy, and because so few can (I assume she has some kind of special access from her comments) it is preserved. She makes the analogy to Pompeii, and it's a good one.

Religion, Terror & Our Future

Is the War on Terror really a war between the West (or at least some parts of the West) and Islam? Do the terrorists speak the true thoughts and aspirations of Muslims around the world? And can Westerners speak freely about the limitations of Islamic societies?

This is a sensitive and complex topic. My hope here is to begin a thoughtful discussion about the role that religion plays in international affairs, and how that role may impact us all in the 21st century. The issue goes well beyond Islam.

Last week the former (Anglican) Archbishop of Canterbury spoke out regarding Islamic culture, saying it was authoritarian, inflexible and under-achieving:

"[Lord Carey] acknowledged that most Muslims were peaceful people who should not be demonised. But he said that terrorist acts such as the September 11 attacks on America and the Madrid bombings raised difficult questions.

read the rest! »

Contest: Who Is This Frenchman?

After criticizing French foreign policy last week, it is only fair to provide balance by drawing attention to French public figures who have been willing to speak out against the self-absorbed pensée unique and in defense of U.S. policy. Winds of Change has in the past mentioned a few of France's "anti-anti-Americans". Below is an article written last year before the war by a lesser known member of this group. Can you guess who it is? (without cheating)

UPDATE: All guesses so far have been wrong. ANSWER TO BE POSTED AT MIDNITE E.S.T. - YOU ARE GUARANTEED TO BE SURPRISED!

AND THE ANSWER IS: The article was published in the French daily Le Figaro on February 3, 2003 in support of the U.S. position in the runup to the war in Iraq (copy here). It was written by the Mayor of Briac (Brittany), former French environment minister and one-time presidential candidate Brice Lalonde. Mr. Lalonde is best known in the United States as John Kerry's first cousin.

"Abominable Yankee Totalitarianism! "Appearances can be deceiving. The Americans are pretending to have respect for democracy. In reality, they strut around armed to the hilt and spend their time shooting up passers-by and Indians. No need for inspectors to verify that. George Bush won the elections only because of oil money and electronic voting booths. Saddam Hussein did not use such practices. He's not a hypocrite, but a self-avowed conscientious dictator. He doesn't think twice about gassing his own people to curtail their suffering. George Bush would never have such courage. We all know, the United States is a lousy place to live. The prisons are overflowing with the poor, all sentenced to die in the electric chair. Blacks are persecuted. Garbage cans are overflowing with wasted resources. In contrast, Baghdad protects its Kurdish minorities against the Arab bands of El Answar. Iraqis lead a frugal, healthy life, and without contributing to the greenhouse effect. Saddam is generous. He selflessly rewards the families of martyrs who blow up women and children in Israel."

read the rest! »

Robin's Winds of War: 2004-03-29

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Robin Burk.

TOP TOPICS

• Iran's proxy cleric in Iraq, al-Sadr, calls 9/11 a miracle from Allah. CPA authorities have closed down his newspaper for 60 days.

• The planned Arab League summit was cancelled amid disagreements over how to respond to the US Middle East Initiative and the Yassin assassination. League foreign ministers did agree to fund the Palestinian Authority for 6 months, however. Belmont Club has an analysis.

• Did al-Zarqawi mastermind the Madrid bombings?

Other Topics Today Include: Marines return to Iraq; BBC's Gilligan changes mind; one step from uranium enrichment in Iran; more on the Madrid bombing; Islamic bonds in Germany; ethnic cleansing in Kosovo; forced conversions in Egypt; Hizboallah and Hamas link up; return to Mogadishu; end of Pakistani border operation; Thai bar bombing; bulldozers in an unexpected place.

read the rest! »

World Wars: Two?

Belmont Club:

"The possible electoral defeat of President Bush by John Kerry raises the question of whether the Global War on Terror ultimately requires a war on the Left. That is to say whether a political defeat of the Left is a prerequisite for stamping out worldwide terrorism. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many in the Left, at least, believes that the GWOT is a war on them. America, not Osama Bin Laden is the putative enemy, and their fire is directed accordingly. Conversely, many conservatives are conditioned by the sight of a de facto alliance between the Left and Islamism to think that both parties are on the same side of the fence. But must it necessarily be so?"

An important, timely and very provocative question, especially given Armed Liberal's past posts re: "The War on Bad Philosophy." Wretchard continues:

read the rest! »

Sondheim on Clarke

Josh Marshall has an extensive post up on the continuing war between the GOP and Dems over Clarke.

I'm not overly interested in the tactical elements of this war; what I'm interested in is seeing of there are grownups at some level of the U.S. Government - my government that can somehow stop this crap.

Here's the problem.

A Damn Bad Thing happened - a series of attacks against our people and places that culminated in an act of war on 9/11. In the decade or so leading up to this, we didn't do enough, which is, in part why it happened.

In the next decades, while we try and reduce the number of people willing to engage in these kind of acts - by bribing, converting, or killing them - we ought to not make the same mistakes. We'll make different mistakes, and we will be attacked, make no mistake about that. But it would be nice to have a reasonably objective and levelheaded look at what happened.

It'd be even better to have a government in place - and here I point at both sides of the aisle that was capable of taking such a reasonable and levelheaded look.

As long as I'm wishing, can I have a pony?

read the rest! »

Fez Sacred Music Festival

Western music isn't the only genre with transformative potential. Orrin Judd has an article about the Fez Festival of Sacred Music in Cassablanca, Morocco - and how it's now "going on the road" as an international tour of sorts. Since the King of Morocco has one of the best claims in the Islamic world to legitimate succession from the Prophet Mohammed, this is good news indeed:

"Fez native and Sufi scholar Faouzi Skali first initiated a film festival in the wake of the first Gulf war. He dubbed it Desert Colloquium, after Desert Storm. "It was a modest response," he told me over mint tea in Fez last year, "and it has kept on evolving." What it evolved into is the current Fez Festival of Sacred Music. "Music seemed more elemental," he explained, "and it got around barriers of language."

The Moroccan festival has included Buddhist and Native American music, but its focus remains the unity of the three Abrahamic traditions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. And for the past three years, among the festival's most resonant sounds has been people simply talking."

Thanks to uber-reader Mike Daley for the heads-up.

Mel Gibson & the Maccabees

Apparently, Mel Gibson wants to make a movie about the Maccabees, who gave us the holiday of Hannukah through their Braveheart-style revolt against the Greek Selucid king Antiochus. Gideon's Blog notes the intense irony here, and delivers a great synopsis of the key players in Judea during Jesus' time. He concludes:

"So the irony of Gibson's film project is twofold. He made a film about Jesus' death that, in the mind of many Jews, slandered the Jewish High Priest with the crime of deicide. But ironically, this High Priest was someone opposed by the ancestors of today's Jews, the Pharisees. And now, to "make up" to the Jews, Gibson is proposing to make a film that glorifies the Maccabees. Normally, this would be a topic modern Jews would love, as Zionism has rehabilitated the Maccabees from their traditional rabbinic disparagement, though it's unlikely most Jews will appreciate the gesture coming from Gibson. But ironically, these Maccabees whom Gibson will celebrate are the ancestors of the same Caiphas who is the villain of Gibson's Passion!"

All true. Also true: if he made a Braveheart-type movie about the Maccabees, I'd go see it.

Sufi Wisdom: What the Sufis Do Not Want Us to Know

As militant Islam does its best to discredit the religion, it is important to remember that there are other voices within the faith. One such is the Sufis, a branch of Islamic mystics with roots in many religious traditions. The lessons of Sufism are often communicated through humorous stories and mystical or romantic poetry. As a part of Joe's Good News Saturdays, we spend some time each week with the Sufis and their "wisdom of idiots."

In Shah's essay collection Sufi Thought and Action, Edwin Clitheroe discusses the Sufi approach to knowledge, and how it differs from other teachings...and indeed, how true Sufi teaching differs from what often passes for "Sufism":

read the rest! »

Arab Demuqratiyya Briefing: 2004-03-26

A couple weeks ago, Deneris Fann dropped out of cyberspace and asked if he could write for us. Since he identified himself as a liberal U.K. Muslim with a strong interest in Arab Democracy, I thought it would be interesting to have him do a briefing on the subject. This is the result. Thanks to Patrick Belton of Oxblog & OxDem for offering Deneris his Friday slot.

• Algeria
• North Africa: Libya, Morocco, Tunisia
• Gulf States
• Iraq
• Jordan And The Palestinian Authority
• Lebanon & Syria
• Saudi Arabia

read the rest! »

Who Knew?

Mickey Kaus, fellow Norman and depressed Democrat, has an interesting nugget buried in his story on Bush's 'WMD Joke' speech.

P.P.S.: The soldier sitting closest to me clearly liked Bush, perhaps because he had just seen the president, in person, for the third time. Apparently, Bush pays regular visits to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. Did you know that? I didn't. Admittedly, it's easier to visit the wounded than to go to funerals, which Bush has been accused of not doing enough of. Still ...

Honestly, I'm not shilling for Bush. I'm just trying to figure the guy out.

French Threat Levels Joke

The French Government, taking a page from our own Department of Homeland Security has established internal threat levels. Unlike the USA, the French only have four such levels. They are, from low to high: RUN, HIDE, SURRENDER, and COLLABORATE.

On Saturday, in light of the Madrid bombing, France has raised its terror alert level from "RUN" to "HIDE."

The Networked Force II

Lots of solid links and comments to "The Networked Force." Time to add some stories and links of my own.

Federal Computer Week recently ran an article with a Lt. Col. combat leader. He did not turn on his "Blue Force Tracker" in Iraq until a sand storm showed up and left him no choice. After that, he was a "battlefield convert" to the new 'networked force'...

"How much of a difference did Blue Force Tracking make in Iraq? One simply has to ask Army Lt. Col. John Charlton. On March 17, 2003, two days before the start of the war in Iraq, Charlton and his M2A3 Bradley crew meticulously cut and pasted laminated maps inside their 35-ton armored personnel carrier. Before the war, the Army quickly trained 3rd Infantry Division soldiers how to use Blue Force Tracking. However, they did not feel confident using the computer, so they didn't turn it on when crossing into Iraq on their first mission.

read the rest! »

Sean-Paul on the 9/11 Commission

Sean-Paul has a very good post up about the 9/11 Commission. Whether you're Left or Right, this is a perspective we need to listen to.

Shays on Clarke

Here's a letter from Rep. Christopher Shays (letterhead clipped when I squared the text up) back in July of 2000, criticizing Richard Clarke for presenting a 'Most Wanted' list as an antiterror strategy. Vodkapundit also has a text version of this scanned letter:

read the rest! »

Carter and Frum

I consider Phil Carter one of the two or three smartest people blogging about foreign and military affairs. So I'm completely puzzled at this:

Update V: David Frum, a former Bush Administration speech writer who now pens a 'blog for the National Review, has an interesting take on the Clarke allegations from the perspective of someone who served in the same GWB West Wing.

read the rest! »

3/11, Again

3 articles about Spain's 3/11 attack that are worth your while today:

• Spain's outgoing President Jose Maria Aznar Lopez, writes a column in the Wall St. Journal, discussing the events, how they were handled, and what should happen next. Definitely one of the good guys:

"Its lessons are simple. If we want to stop terrorists from murdering us and from dictating how we lead our lives, we must confront them. Some think the solution is to sue for peace, to negotiate with terrorists so that they might go and kill elsewhere. But that way is unacceptable to me and to millions of Spaniards. Terrorism deserves only to be defeated. This is the debt we owe to the victims of the attacks, and to the society that mourns them...."

• Joe Gandelman, who covered Spain & the Basque region as a reporter for the respected Christian Science Monitor newspaper, pens "What We've Learned About Terrorism." Really good points, all 13 of them.

• P. wonders if American commentary on 3/11 is helping us, and asks himself how it might be viewed from the other side. Given his usual views re: Europe, it's an interesting angle to take.

It's All About Guns This Morning

First, here in reality, a good friend is moving and asked me to store his firearms until he gets a safe set up in his new home. That seems to me to be a good hook to use to remind everyone who owns guns that you are responsible for your firearms. Leaving them lying around the house unsecured means that your child, a visitors child, or the local teenage burglar could wind up with it - with consequences you really don't want to think about. Years ago, I had a handgun stolen from my car by parking valets, and while I called the police on the spot, it was never recovered. To this day, I worry about what happened to it, and what it was used for. And I no longer have weapons that are not under my direct personal control or behind a meaningful lock.

There are rapid-access safes for handguns and long guns that make your firearm as easy to get to as pulling it from a drawer. There's really no excuse not to secure firearms

I take this tack because I believe that owning firearms here in the U.S. is a right - but like all rights, it comes inextricably bound with responsibilities. You can't have one - a right - without the other - a responsibility, and yet for some reason I keep running into people who believe that you can.

read the rest! »

Dan's Winds of War: 2004-25-03

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Dan Darling. of Regnum Crucis.

TOPIC TOPICS

• In an earlier special analysis, I noted that one of the strongest reasons for suspecting that al-Qaeda attacked Madrid in order to influence the Spanish elections was a al-Qaeda document found online stating as much as a preferable option. The complete document, entitled "Jihad of Iraq" (Jihad al-Iraq), can be accessed in Arabic here and appears to allude to further terrorist attacks in Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

• As I noted on Tuesday, one of the chief problems with former counterterrorism official Richard Clarke's claim that the war in Iraq detracted from the campaign against al-Qaeda is that Clarke himself had been instrumental in convincing President Clinton to attack the al-Shifa plant in Sudan on the grounds that it was producing a precursor to the deadly nerve agent VX and that numerous Clinton administration officials, notably Sandy Berger, continue to stand by these claims. Now Ranck and File has an excerpt from former US defense secretary William Cohen saying pretty much the same thing. If these claims are accurate, it would tend to throw the whole notion that Saddam Hussein would never work with al-Qaeda out the window, yes?

• Speaking of al-Shifa, former Indian intelligence official B. Raman is now claiming that noted Pakistani mad scientist and nuclear black marketeer Abdul Qadeer Khan may also have had ties to the plant in question. Now ain't that interesting ...

• Speaking of Mr. Khan, ex-ISI chief Hamid Gul and the Pakistani Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam party have decided he'd make a swell replacement to General Musharraf, especially in light of the current military operations in Waziristan.

Other Topics Today Include: Iraq Briefing; U.S.S. Cole mastermind arrested; Waziristan round-up; recent bin Laden hideout discovered; al-Qaeda vows dire revenge; al-Qaeda's use of the internet; latest fighting in Afghanistan; GSPC's Sahara base; Imad Yarkas admits knowing Zougam; Tangiers cell link to Madrid bombings; Brigitte tied to 9/11, 3/11; Belgium arrests 3/11 co-conspirator; Russian thwarts apartment bombing; Syria's Kurds demand greater rights; targeted assassinations; Egypt arrests the children of al-Qaeda leaders; mass arson in southern Thailand; US and allies stepping up action against the GSPC; winning the war on the battlefield and losing it in the courtroom; and Germany can't pay for Lederhosen anymore.

read the rest! »

Missile Defense

Reader Mike Daley emailed me to share missilethreat.com, a new site put together by The Claremont Institute to support missile defense. As Mike notes:

"The site is loaded with links, including many to the best of the pro and con arguments."

I like that approach. Still, with nutbars like North Korea and the mullahs of Iran building nukes and long-range missiles, I'm surprised this is even a question any more.

Happy Nowruz from Winds of Change.NET!

We've spent a lot of time covering Iran here on Winds of Change.NET, and one of the rewards is being notified of events like Nowruz (No Ruz, "new day" or "new year"). It begins on the 1st day of Spring (Vernal Equinox or "Saal-Tahveel"), and lasts for 13 days. I emailed Kaveh of Freethoughts.org to ask about it, and he replied:

read the rest! »

Tinker, Chaplain, Soldier, Spy, Adulterer, Pornographer, Whatever

I wouldn't want to interrupt anyone in the middle of a war, but given the attention drawn earlier to the spying charges against Army Chaplain James Yee, including here at Winds of Change, perhaps without sufficient concern raised about the potential for abuse of government power, particularly in a time of war, it only seems fitting to note that the military has dropped all charges against Yee in what is widely thought to be an example of just such an abuse. I guess on some level the system worked.

Now, back to the war...

Palestinians and the Image Problem

As an Iranian, who has never been sympathetic with the Arab world - perhaps because of the historical problems between Iranians and Arabs - I think Palestinians suffer hugely from an image problem.

read the rest! »

Grand Strategy

Lots of discussion of Grand Strategy today, triggered in large part by the killing of Sheikh Yassin, the Clarke book, and the 9/11 Commission testimony.

I think that this discussion is a good thing; I don't think we discussed these things enough, or were explicit enough, and that it cost us.

And I'll note that Robert Tagorda, and the Oxblog-derived Nathan Hale society are having a meeting Sunday night here in Los Angeles that I'm going to try and attend.

Two posts, one from Matt Yglesias, and one from Kevin Drum (at his new big-journalism home) touch on related issues.

read the rest! »

Drezner on Clarke

Go read Daniel Drezner on Richard Clarke, one of the most sensible commentaries on the subject that I've seen. Two key quotes:

So, does Clarke have a personal incentive to stick it to this administration? Absolutely. Does he know what he's talking about? Absolutely. Can what he says can be ignored? Absolutely not.

and

55 years ago, George Kennan and Paul Nitze had different positions on how to wage a containment policy, with Nitze taking a much more aggressive posture in NSC-68 than Kennan did in "The Sources of Soviet Conduct." I'm not sure that it's ever been decided which position was right. The same will likely be true of current debates.

Update: The Washington Post has a good editorial on this as well. Here's a key quote...

read the rest! »

The Networked Force

In Dr. Evil Cornered, Robin Burke and Tom Roberts were talking about communications and U.S. forces, and how that affected our NATO allies in Afghanistan. That's something I've covered before in U.S. Military -- Back to the Future! Here's Robin...

"US troops are begining to deploy some rather advanced technologies on the battlefield, plus fighting doctrines to leverage these technologies. The other NATO countries can't begin to match these capabilities and integrating those troops with our forces that do use them is a recipe for real problems.... How on earth would you integrate large numbers of NATO forces into those scenarios, even if there weren't the ego / geopolitical games about targetting and risk taking???"

...and Tom Roberts:

"Non US forces don't even have digital communications for the most part. In many cases the Coalition forces have to be lent commo gear so that their HQs can talk with US forces. This creates a dichotomous pace of operations in any NATO command as well. Without heavy US liaison elements, the NATO forces don't know what is going on. To a certain extent the Canadian friendly fire deaths by Kandahar two years ago were due to such issues (along with two US pilot's very poor judgments), but you might notice that when US forces swing into an offensive situation either allies get totally integrated into the US force structure (like the Canadian snipers were at Tora Bora or the Aussie SAS is with us Spec Forces) or they get totally out of the way."

Which brings up two things I talked about in my article clips:

read the rest! »

Randinho's Latin America Briefing: 2004-03-24

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Latin America, courtesy of Randy Paul.

TOP TOPIC

• Haiti remains in the news as the aftermath of Aristide's departure leaves some unanswered questions and a rift between the US and Caricom.

Other Topics Include: Hugo Chávez continues to rail against his foes (real and imagined) and presume he has friends where he, in fact, doesn't; Interesting news from several Central American countries; Brazil's financial worries after its worst economic performance in 11 years; Cuba reaches a disgraceful anniversary; An exciting and comprehensive introductory series of books on Latin America.

read the rest! »

JAG??

Out the door to a dinner, but here's something to pass up the food chain.

Roadracing World, a motorcycle roadracing magazine and website I read regularly, intermittently publishes letters from riders and racers stationed over in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here's an excerpt from one published today:

My former NCOIC was severely injured in a terrible roadside bomb yesterday. He was in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle commander's hatch when it exploded and some shrapnel hit him in the back of the neck. Luckily the convoy he was in was right next to a U.S. base so they managed to air-evacuate him almost immediately. He spent about 6 hours in surgery and they almost declared him dead twice. They finally managed to stabilize him but they weren't showing any brain activity. So basically they thought he had brain stem damage. But this morning he was doing better and they are putting him under observation for 2 days to see if the swelling in his brain goes down before they try to evacuate him to Germany. My soldiers are pretty upset. He is now the 3rd soldier that I personally know who has been killed or severely injured here. He had a month left to go--he has a wife and 3 kids back in Germany. We are all just praying for his recovery.

The other bad news is that for some reason the stupid idiots at the Corps level JAG are deciding to clean out the jails here in Iraq. Well, instead of letting out the low-level weapons violators they are letting out the terrorists that are involved in putting out these roadside bombs--because they claim that we don't have enough evidence against them. In the last two weeks three major figures in the main bad guy group here have gotten out--and we have already seen the results as one of our unit's informants has already been assassinated. So it seems like everything we have worked for for the last year and the 13 deaths our unit has sustained has been for nothing. We are all pretty discouraged.

If the latter is true, than someone needs to get hammered. We're still at war, and to the extent that the JAG staff is applying peacetime public-defender standards (and remember, I'm the pro-defense attorney liberal) there's something seriously wrong.

If anyone knows more about this, I'd love to hear about it.

Yassin, Hamas & Israel

Roger Simon has a good post that expresses my views nicely, but I'd like to come at the question from another angle. See, it's like this...

Israel kills Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in an airstrike (link | timeline | pictures | editorial cartoon). In return, Hamas vows bloody revenge.

Which means what, exactly? Ruthlessly murdering men, women, children and old people in calculated strikes? Committing to a goal of genocide and cleaning against Jews, regarding them as sub-human? Doing everything in their power to annihilate the Jewish state and its inhabitants?

As opposed to what would have happened if Israel had left Hamas and its leader alone, of course...

read the rest! »

Nathan's Central Asia "-Stans" Summary: 2004-03-23

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus.

TOP TOPICS

• If you are reading this briefing, you're probably the type of person who knows that, at the very least, a whole lot of something is happening in Pakistan and Afghanistan right now. It would be foolhardy for me to give a blow-by-blow here, but Operation Mountain Storm is well underway and is designed to capture, kill, or flush into Afghanistan the militants taking refuge in Pakistan's tribal regions. For reports of various engagements over the past month, check out the Winds of War Archive at this very blog or Eye on the World's brief report.

• Early speculation that Pakistani troops had cornered Ayman al-Zawahiri appears to be untrue. However, it looks like the group making its last stand near Wana, Pakistan is none other than the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The "high value target" is most likely Tohir Yo'ldosh, the co-founder of the IMU. Whoever was there may have escaped through a tunnel system and fled for Afghanistan.

• Civil war was narrowly averted in Georgia this month following a quickly-escalating crisis precipitated when officials in the semi-autonomous region of Ajaria barred President Saakashvili from entering the region.

• In the New Yorker, Seymour Hersh connects the dots between Libya, Pakistan's nuclear arms market, and Operation Mountain Storm. The Agonist has more information, courtesy of Stratfor.

Other Topics Today Include: More on Yo'ldosh & the IMU; Georgia's Ajaria Problem; Uzbekistan, Human Rights, and The West; Turkmenistan's Continuing Slide Towards Absurdity; and, Much More.

read the rest! »

Pity and Parody

A bunch of people have commented on a terminally silly and self-indulgent article in Salon (which used to be good, by the way, and iconoclastic and surprising), so I sat through the lame Flash ad and read it.

It's about an author who is unhappy that her books aren't stacked fifteen deep at airport bookstores (and, by entension, the covers hung on the walls of her place in the Hamptons). Here's the miserable pittance she earned from writing:

• 1994 - $150,000
• 1997 - She doesn’t say what she got for the celebrity bio she ghostwrote, but friends put these kinds of assignments at about $50,000 - $100,000, so call it $50,000
• 1998 - $10,000
• 2002 - $80,000

read the rest! »

Ontario's Energy Crunch

Ontario, Canada is facing a power generation shortage. While this didn't cause last summer's backout, it very well may cause one this year. Worse, recent moves by the government are likely to make the problem worse in the short term. This is likely to have significant effects on Ontario's manufacturing sector in particular, and hence the Country's economy.

Fred Cowans covers the issue in these 2 posts on my firm Pro-Edge's new corporate blog, The Pro's Edge:

1. Ontario's Power Crunch
2. Power Generation, Private Investment & Political Risk

I think Fred underestimates the dimensions of political risk in the utility sector, but his pointers are useful and so is his outline of the situation.

Clarke and al-Shifa

I normally don't post on days not involving my Winds of War or analyses, but today is an exception due to my overwhelming frustration at the lack of a critical evaluation of former US counterterrorism official Richard Clarke. To put it simply, if Clarke wants to assert that the war in Iraq has detracted from the US campaign against al-Qaeda, then he had better be ready to deal with his own support for US cruise missile attack on al-Shifa.

read the rest! »

Andrew's Winds of War: 2004-03-22

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.

TOP TOPICS

• Pakistan has agreed to a cease-fire with the militants pinned in South Waziristan in order to allow tribal elders to negotiage their surrender. But it is looking less likely that al Qaeda number two man Ayman al-Zawahiri is among those caught in the Pakistani net.

• Israel is planning a systematic war against Hamas, characterizing the terrorist group as a strategic enemy of Israel. As Israel prepares to withdraw from Gaza, they want to inflict as much damage as possible to Hamas while they are still in proximity to the terrorists. This strategy appears to have already borne fruit, as Israeli forces killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of Hamas, with an airstrike on his car while he was en route to a mosque.

Other Topics Today Include: rocket attacks in Baghdad; power sharing in Iraq; the value of UAVs; IAEA 'suspicious' of Iran's nuke program; terrorism optempo; al Qaeda nukes; Kosovo flares up again; terrorist apology; and Dr. Seuss.

read the rest! »

Bob Zangas, blogger, K.I.A.

"This time, however, I am a civilian: Wearing civilian clothes, growing my hair, and singing Kumbya on my guitar."

Bob Zangas' "Journey In Iraq" has come to an end. Inkgrrl notes his passing last week, killed in Iraq. She speaks for us, too.

Pruning the 'Antiwar' Movement

UPDATE: Citizen Smash went to the antiwar demonstrations in San Diego, and filed quite a report. He even interviewed one of the speakers. Go check him out, view this picture, and then read the site linked below...

Here's some interesting reading from an antiwar Brit who's disgusted with the antiwar movement and wants it fixed. (Hat Tip to the always excellent Harry's Place). Essays include, in order:

1. A Personal Journey Through the Stop the War Coalition
2. Unholy Alliances: The Stop the War Coalition, the Extreme Left and Islamic Fundamentalism
3. Sinning by Omission: The Stop the War Coalition and Palestine
4. Playing Pontius Pilate: Why Shouting "End the Occupation" Isn't Helpful
5. Stop the War Coalition Rehab: A 7-Step Programme
6. Further Online Reading

I've read lots of very similar things about our domestic antiwar movement - and seen them myself in some of the older "New Left" era.

In case people wonder why I - a pro-war liberal - would want to see a healthier antiwar movement, the answer's simple. I don't think I have a monopoly on truth, and constructive, intelligent dialog is needed to help us all constantly review and check our perceptions of events and the world. I think we need a real debate - because when we have one, we'll begin to be able to build a common framework from which we can act as a nation and a culture.

We're a long way from there today.

France - Pas Comme Les Autres

by "Gabriel Gonzalez" (Paris, France)

After reading Kenneth Timmerman's condemnation of France's $100 billion profiteering from Saddam's cruel regime (The French War For Oil), and my own recent article (From Madrid to Paris), some commentators expressed the view that France is just an ordinary country defending its interests and is no different than any other country, including the U.S. Indeed, for some in the anti-war camp France is even assumed to be necessarily a morally superior nation.

This view is so thoroughly ignorant of French foreign policy realities that it should really be put to rest once and for all.

read the rest! »

See You In The Funny Papers

Look. I'm a lifelong Democrat. I'm desperately trying to get a handle on this election, as I weigh Bush's foreign policy - which is a lot closer to my beliefs than what I've heard from Kerry to date - against his damaging domestic policies.

I'm actually working on the question of what Kerry could say that would convince me - I'm drafting the speech and will put it up here sometime this week.

Now go over and click on today's Doonesbury, if you haven't seen it in the paper yet.

read the rest! »

Siege in Pakistan: Dr. Evil Cornered?

(Updated, originally posted March 18, 2004)

I was talking to Dan Darling on the phone today, discussing coming improvements to our Winds of War and geopolitical coverage, when something on the wires caught his attention. It was about that Waziristan (say where?) hostage situation he discussed in today's Winds of War. Apparently the newswires were discussing the possible presence of a "high value target" at the centre of it all, and having 250 hostages involved made that a pretty plausible scenario. We speculated that it was probably Taliban leader Mullah Omar, but promised to wait and see as we usually do.

Persistent reports are now circulating among bloggers and major media that the "high value target" may be none other than Egyptian jihadist Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, but things have become murky. Dan's note that one of the people now suspected of being there has been used as a Zawahiri body double was interesting, as are the Chechen connections now surfacing and the prisoners taken. See:

• Dan's "just the facts" summary. Lots and lots of things going on, and lots of possibilities re: who this could be (updated!)
• Terrain maps of the battle area
• Belmont Club gives the full lowdown on Operation Mountain Storm, of which this "hammer and anvil" setup is just one part.

read the rest! »

Well, That Settles It Then

Yasser Arafat Says Gibson Film Not Anti-Semitic

Happy Birthday to The Command Post

Today is the 1st Anniversary of an idea that changed the blogosphere. Both Michele and Alan received our Blogosphere Medal of Service links for creating The Command Post, whose unparalleled ability to cover breaking stories while maintaining fairness and quality often leaves conventional media outlets in the dust. Congratulations to Michele, Alan, and all of our fellow contributors. Many more.

There's No Place Like Home

So we're back from our trip, a few pounds heavier, a lot poorer (time to go get some consulting work!!), and very pleased with the world around us.

We rode motorcycles up to Paso Robles, CA, which has become a center for food and wine since I last looked; we stayed in a superb, romantic B & B with three guest rooms, and while we were there had a rather shocking experience.

read the rest! »

Sufi Wisdom: The Crows

As militant Islam does its best to discredit the religion, it is important to remember that there are other voices within the faith. One such is the Sufis, a branch of Islamic mystics with roots in many religious traditions. The lessons of Sufism are often communicated through humorous stories and mystical or romantic poetry. As a part of Joe's Good News Saturdays, we spend some time each week with the Sufis and their "wisdom of idiots".

In The Magic Monastery, Idries Shah relates an "Unlikely Legend":

"Cosmetic surgery," said an eagle, "is not only useful, it is practically a necessity, with the present development of the social environment."

When he had his talons trimmed and his beak shortened, everyone liked the effect so much that they had it done, too.

Almost all of them, that is. The ones who did not trouble themselves about improving their appearance were the crows.

They grew their claws, and waited for a day when the other predators should have practiced chiropody and developed civilization for so long that they wouldn't know what to do with claws even if their social taboos, under pressure, allowed them to grow them again.

Who is the eagle, and who are his imitators? And who are the crows?

Sesame Street Memories

You can find nearly anything on blogs. While looking to replace my trashed "Capital I" MP3 file, I came across Scott McJ's outstanding blog post Sesame Street. Not only did I find an MPEG sound file for "Capital I", I also found audio of the Yip Yip Martians skit, and of Cookie Monster singing a song to the tune of "Makin' Whoopee".

Then there's this bit of Zen/Sufi wisdom, Sesame Street style:

BERT: What happened today, Ernie?
ERNIE: Nothing.
BERT: I'm sorry to hear that...but wait, weren't you at the zoo today? Things are always happening at the zoo.
ERNIE: Not today, Bert. (looks at finger) Well, there was one thing. See, got this teeny, tiny scratch on my finger here.
BERT: That's too bad. How did that happen?

read the rest! »

George Michael: A Ray of Sunshine

I'm not exactly a huge fan of George Michael's music, though his singular ability to do justice to Queen's Freddie Mercury at the 1992 Tribute Concert earned him my grudging respect as a very talented vocalist. Now this:

"Michael plans to release his future work to the Internet and invite his fans to make charitable donations in exchange for downloading the tracks. "I think ('Patience') is going to be my last commercially promoted release," Michael told BBC Radio 1. "I've been very well remunerated, as they say, for my talents over the years, so I really don't need the public's money. I'd really like to have something on the Internet with charitable donation optional, where anyone can download my music for free. I'll have my favorite charities up there and people will hopefully contribute to that."

If he follows through with this, he'll earn an upgrade in my books to full respect.

Toronto Counter-Protest

If you're in Toronto, Canada, MaderBlog wants you tomorrow:

"This Saturday, March 20, the anti-war folks are holding their one year anniversary protest, “The world still says no to war.” (JK note: probably led by the International ANSWER types, as usual). A bunch of conservative groups here in Toronto have organized a counter-protest. The information about our event is here."

Baseball, Evolution & Change

Anyone who read the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game is familiar with the change going on in baseball. The difference isn't so much how the game is played - it's in how teams are being run, with a greater emphasis on sabermetrics (measurement) as opposed to pure subjective feel. The implications have applications that go way beyond baseball:

"The reason it is perceived as so radical is that to fully embrace the power of sabermetrics requires that clubs change their entire way of thinking to some extent. That is perceived as a threat to the status quo, which is something they hold very dear. But I don't see this is cyclical at all. Some folks seem to think that, once we reach the point where all teams are integrating sabermetrics into their player evaluation process, the competitive advantage will be neutralized -- thus the idea of this being cyclical. That won't happen, for two reasons:

read the rest! »

Reader Quote of the Week: 2004-03-19

While Parisian resident Gabriel Gonzalez' comment was made into a Guest Blog ("From Madrid to Paris"), the prize this week goes to M. Simon. Responding to Trent Telenko's article "The French War for Oil", he fondly recalls World War 2 and notes:

"As I recall in that war we got to bomb France and be their ally. Does it get any better than that?"

Outside blogger quote of the week, meanwhile goes to AllahPundit:

"Actor Jim Caviezel's capacity for resisting temptation suggests he might actually be Jesus."

Russia's Elections

One week ago, Oxblog's Patrick Belton ran a briefing on Russia's upcoming elections in his OxDem Global Democracy Report. Now his Oxblog counterpart David Adesnik publishes a post-election assessment, tying Russia's political and economic developments together to present a more complete picture.

Blog Spotlight: Digital Photography Blog

Newly redesigned, the Digital Photography Blog offers reviews, tutorials, and tips for everyone from amateurs to advanced photographers.

Cheney Takes Kerry Out to the Woodshed

...and beats him like a rented mule.

Dan's Winds of War: 2004-18-03

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Dan Darling. of Regnum Crucis.

TOP TOPICS

• There is a special analysis up on the Madrid bombings for those seeking further information on the tragedy of 3/11 and their larger implications for the war on terrorism. A communique from the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades today is ordering all cells to cease operations in Spain proper as well as endorsing President Bush in the 2004 US elections (thereby fullfilling one of the theories that I put forth in the analysis). In addition, it seems there may be a link between suspected mastermind Jamal Zougam and London-based al-Qaeda supporters from Finsbury Park mosque, a location that has come up in conversation a few times in the past.

• The powerful bombing of a Baghdad hotel killed at least 29, with the none other than Abu Musab Zarqawi. The fact that both Egyptian and Jordanian nationals were staying at the hotel would also make it an attractive target for Zarqawi, especially given his purported hatred for the Hashemite monarchy.

• Waziri tribesmen suspected of harboring al-Qaeda are refusing to surrender - and now appear to be taking matters into their own hands, taking 250 hostages and forming suicide squads. As a result of these events, the locals are fleeing the area and they aren't the only ones heading for greener pastures.

Other Topics Today Include: Iraq Briefing; Iran Reports; 13% of British Muslims support al-Qaeda attacks; 12 Taliban dead; French say bin Laden slipped the dragnet; Tajik bust would-be plutonium dealer; 2nd Hama in the making; Saudis kill Khaled Ali Haj; Yemen arrests al-Qaeda members; Turks foil 3rd wave of suicide bombings; al-Qaeda recycling names; and 4 African nations unite against the GSPC.

read the rest! »

PRC News China Briefing: 2004-03-17

Winds of Change.NET Regional Breifings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, courtesy of Adam Morris in Tianjin.

HOT TOPICS

• The Beijing-based doctor previously shot to fame for blowing the whistle on the SARS-era coverup writes a letter to the central government eloquently requesting that the government rethink the 1989 Tiananmen Square "incident." Official reaction has been muted, but the unofficial reaction is that of blocking and shutting down Chinese-language blog communities as well as some other news-based websites.
• In a sign of increasing belligerence and perhaps of political instability, a series of editorials has appeared casting the debate over Hong Kong's democratic future in patriotic terms and reminding citizens of the PRC's right to declare a "state of emergency" should certain bodies not vote a certain way.
• The book China's Peasants: A Survey hits the stands and the minds of those concerned for the plight of the peasants getting left behind despite solid GDP numbers.

OTHER TOPICS TODAY INCLUDE: Newsworthy tidbits in the run up to Taiwan's election ... Chinese web search engines take on Google ... News discussions clamp down ... And everything from public sex education to buying pirated software on the streets of Hong Kong.

read the rest! »

The French War for Oil

Read this NY Post article. Color me unsurprised:

"Many Americans are convinced even today that the war in Iraq was all about oil. And they're right - but oil was the key for French President Jacques Chirac, not for the United States. In documents I obtained during an investigation of the French relationship to Saddam Hussein, the French interest in maintaining Saddam Hussein in power was spelled out in excruciating detail. The price tag: close to $100 billion. That was what French oil companies stood to profit in the first seven years of their exclusive oil arrangements - had Saddam remained in power."

Hey A.L., you still wanna argue the French haven't gone evil with a capital "E?"

Guest Blog: From Madrid to Paris

Accommodationists versus 'Warmongers'
by Gabriel Gonzalez

"This dilemma is at the heart of many people's anguished indecision over the wisdom of our action in Iraq. It explains the confusion of normal politics that has part of the right liberating a people from oppression and a part of the left disdaining the action that led to it. It is partly why the conspiracy theories or claims of deceit have such purchase. How much simpler to debate those than to analyse and resolve the conundrum of our world's present state."
   -- Tony Blair, March 5, 2004

From where I sit (in Paris, France), this is how I have seen recent developments on the terror front unfold:

read the rest! »

Technology & Same-Sex Marriage

My friend Rev. Donald Sensing, writing in the Wall Street Journal:

"Sex, childbearing and marriage now have no necessary connection to one another, because the biological connection between sex and childbearing is controllable. The fundamental basis for marriage has thus been technologically obviated. Pair that development with rampant, easy divorce without social stigma, and talk in 2004 of "saving marriage" is pretty specious. There's little there left to save. Men and women today who have successful, enduring marriages till death do them part do so in spite of society, not because of it."

A fine article, worth reading entire. One of the things you'll soon see more of on Winds of Change.NET is coverage of new technologies and their potential effects. They're often large - and frequently non-linear. Of course, James Burke could have told us that....

UPDATE: Demosophobia responds to Armed Liberal on the issue of Gay Marriage, and adds an angle worth considering - "I propose that the institution of marriage evolved to maximize the potential for just conduct..." It's in-depth and well thought out.

Special Analysis: An Al-Qaeda Victory

Since last Thursday's tragic events in Madrid and their impact on Sunday on the course of the Spanish elections, a great deal of commentary in blogosphere has been focused on what happened and why, as well as their potential for impact on the American elections that will occur this November. This analysis will endeavor to address some of those concerns, but I will be quite frank: this was a definitive victory for al-Qaeda.

read the rest! »

Eyes on Korea: 2004-03-16

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. Today's Regional Briefing focuses on Korea, courtesy of Robert Koehler in Seoul.

TOP TOPICS

• Impeachment! South Korea's opposition-dominated National Assembly voted to impeach President Roh Moo-hyun only a year into a five year term.

• For all your NK diplomacy needs, I direct you to NKzone's archive on this subject -- there's enough info in there to keep you contented until next month's briefing.

• North Korea has been getting quite a bit of negative press lately, almost all of it -- IMHO -- deserved. Most of this was covered by my March 5 briefing (Eyes on Korea: Dispatches from Hell</