September 2007 Archives
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Postcard from Cyprus
Filed under: Travel
Globetrotting Publius Pundit journalist Manuela Paraipan sends us a postcard from Cyprus. Click the jump to read her message and view her snapshots of a place few of us will ever see that sits in the crossroads of a great deal of political and financial intrigue. Feel free to drop questions for Manuela in the comments section, she will no doubt be stopping by to answer any you may have.
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redditBlogging Burma
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Listed above are some voices attempting to blog information from within Burma to get the word out on what is going on there. It's being reported that bloggers within China are expressing support for the protesters. But one blogger reports that the government has shut down the country's internet connection and Western reports are depressingly garbled, unsure even as to whether monks have been killed or not as the junta's troops have repeatedly fired into the massive crowds seeking to disperse them. They say a Japanese photographer, Kenji Nagai (shown below lying wounded in the street still trying to snap photos) is among the fatalities.
The Bush Administration is imposing sanctions on the individual members of the junta, and even Laura Bush has boldly condemned the world's silence -- led chiefly by the malignant pairing of Russia and China, who have blocked responsive action in the U.N.
Can anyone explain to me how Russia, which is not only obstructing pro-democracy action in Burma but obliterating democracy at home in a nation that covers 11 time zones and giving the same diplomatic cover to Iran as it seeks to engulf the world in an atomic jihad, can be allowed a seat on the G-7 panel of leading democracies? Recall that in just a few months ago Russia announced its intention to build a nuclear reactor for the Burmese military junta, just as it is already doing for the maniacal ruler of Iran. Although the Bush administration, to its credit, is doing the right thing on Burma itself, where is our policy regarding Russia? Mired in catastrophe after Bush "looked into Putin's soul." Too bad he didn't manage to see Burma or Iran reflected there. Where are the reports of bloggers within Russia showing support for Burma? When, dear Lord, is the POTUS going to come to his senses and back away from his dear darling little friend Pooty-poot? Time is most surely running out.
View dramatic Washington Post photos of the carnage here.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditBurmese vs. Chinese
Filed under: Asia ~ Myanmar
The unexpectedly enormous demonstrations in Burma that have been ongoing for over a week now have surprised the world. It has been nearly two decades since such an uprising has occurred, and as Richard Fernandez at Pajamas Media points out, the entire episode is reminiscient of the "people power" uprisings in both the Philippines and Indonesia. He also makes the astute observation, repeated in this Opinion Journal article, that the state of China has to some degree supported the military dictatorship in Burma.
Surely, the scene is familiar. Tens or hundreds of thousands of people in the streets demonstrating against a ruthless dictatorship is one that has been repeated the world over. Yet when these revolutions occur, the people have another target: those on the periphery supporting the regime. In this case, though, I am not simply talking about the state of China itself, but the ethnic Chinese population in Burma itself.
A huge reason this scene is familiar to me, aside from the people protesting in the streets, is the fact that Burma has, like at the time of the Philippines' and Indonesia's revolutions, an incredibly strong "market-dominant" ethnic Chinese population.
It is well-known in the Philippines, back then as well as now, that the ethnic Chinese minority, despite its incredibly small numbers, controlled the vast majority of the economy, from big business to retail. Their economic strength was granted through the cronyism of the Marcos dictatorship, which produced a comfortable symbiotic relationship in which they were able to thrive while Marcos could stay in power while pocketing a truckload of cash as well. The pro-democracy People Power Revolution had an interesting anti-Chinese tint to it.
Same story in Indonesia. General Suharto pocketed more than a billion dollars through corrupt deals with ethnic Chinese. It is no wonder that when Suharto was forced to resign in the chaos of mass protests in 1998, that thousands of ethnic Chinese were slaughtered, with their homes and storefronts ransacked. Afterward, mass nationalizations occurred in the name of the "native people," predominantly Chinese-owned, causing over $40 billion in capital flight from which Indonesia has yet to recover.
The situation is not all that different in Burma. General Ne Win encouraged anti-Chinese policies; but following the crushing of pro-democracy protests and the subsequent military coup, the junta found a very cozy relationship with the Chinese minority. Since then, they have become the supreme economic minority. They have the most education, hold the most professional jobs, and control all of the middle and big businesses in the country in conjunction with the government. They deal in mining, illicit drug trades, and even human trafficking. In return for this, they support the military junta, from which this native autocracy profits highly.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Burmese wonder why they're so damn poor and can't do anything about it. Gas and food prices are skyrocketing, putting them on the edge of survival, while they see that their own government and a bunch of "outsiders" are doing very well for themselves despite the widespread poverty all around. When these people are taking to the streets, not only are they protesting for democracy, but they are protesting in large part due to their current economic conditions, which many are largely blaming on the collusion between the government and ethnic Chinese businessmen.
Every government feels the need to protect the interests of its citizens abroad, especially the incredibly wealthy and well-connected ones. The government of China does use its influence to protect the Burmese military junta to some degree, but it is doing so because of the huge investments and interests of its powerful citizens there. The Chinese, both the businessmen and the government, know that their minority population is in a very precarious situation. The junta knows this as well. Because of this symbiotic relationship, in which one cannot possibly survive without the other, the Chinese continue to support the junta with money and development from the contracts given them, while the junta must apply force at all possible times so that these people and their assets are protected so that, in the end, they remain in power!
China's position is extremely precarious right now. Unless these protestors and their leaders are particularly high-minded, it would not be at all surprising to see a slew of renationalizations of Chinese-owned industries should the junta be completely swept out of power. More than likely, with the arms that the military possesses, along with the entrenched interests of the Chinese businessmen and military autocracy with each other, the only way the pro-democracy opposition will be allowed to have power to formulate policy is if they take a tone of reconciliation and extreme moderation. If anything comes out of their camp talking about confiscation of all that wealth, no matter how corruptly it was obtained, then they are going to have a hard time ever beating the junta.
While we see a lot of similarities between this demonstration in Burma and the people power revolutions elsewhere in Asia, one of the big ones is the cronyism present between the dictatorship and the Chinese businessmen. Given the strength of the military junta, though, we may not see this dictatorship simply swept away, and if we do, it could be with even more disastrous economic consequences than they already suffer. The country cannot afford to see what capital it has leave completely.
Yet this does not mean that change is impossible. Most democratic transitions occur slowly; in fact, most people power movements fail relatively soon afterward. If the pro-democracy opposition can prove to the military that it won't try to persecute them and confiscate Chinese wealth, the possibility of a slow transition with greater economic liberalization, the growth of civil society, and the removal of international sanctions should become possible.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditAnnouncements
Filed under: Middle East
Pajamas Media Blogger/Editor Fausta Wertz will be hosting a BlogTalk radio show tonight at 9 pm (EST). On the program, Cinnamon Stillwell discusses the international trend on libel tourism, where reporters are sued for libel in countries other than where they reside. Dr Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It will discuss her book and the libel lawsuit following its publication.
This topic obviously couldn't be more timely in light of our most recent installment in the articles section, which exposes Russia's support for terrorism and for the rogue state of Iran and its crazed dictator.
Tune in to the show if you can, and feel free to call in and give your thoughts or ask questions after it gets undeway. Click here to access the program.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditOne Picture is Worth a Thousand Screams
Filed under: Iran ~ US Elections
Copious Dissent says that the nutroots (led by the fanatical Daily Kos, which is currently arguing that Ahmadinejad is no different than a radical Republican on the issue of homosexuality, and previously said it couldn't care less about the American civilians being killed in Iraq, whom it called "mercenaries" and said "screw them") have botched the Ahmadinejad and Moveon.org issues and are dooming their political fortunes in 2008; in fact, he says they've poisoned the well for all Democrats. Do you agree? David Brooks says the nutroots are on the way out, too, but says there is still a chance for the Democratic center to prevail. Comments welcome.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditWhat do you think about torture?
Filed under: Philosphy
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditPajamas Media Announces a New XM Radio Presence
Filed under: US Elections
Mark your calendars because this Thursday, September 27 at 3 pm (PST) on XM Radio, Channel 130, Pajamas Media (our parent organization) debuts its weekly radio show on P.O.T.U.S. '08. P.O.T.U.S. '08 is a new channel launched by XM who is partnering with C-SPAN and other media outlets to offer a 24-Hour, commercial-free channel devoted to the 2008 Presidential Campaign. The channel will be broadcast free to all XM radio receivers. If you have an XM radio but opt not to subscribe to XM, you can still listen to the presidential election channel.If you don't subscribe to XM, they are offering a free trial where you can listen online. Publius Pundit bloggers may end up participating at some point, and in any case the Pajamas Media mother blog is always a great resource.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditThe New York Times & Columbia University: An Axis of Evil?
Filed under: Iran ~ Ukraine
"In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have this."-- the so-called "president" of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking to students at Columbia University earlier today and explaining why it's impossible to accuse Iran of persecuting and executing homosexuals.
Ten days ago, we reported on how the New York Times had sunk to a new low, allowing the wretched extremist left-wing Soros-funded propaganda campaign "Moveon.org" to pay less than one-third the going rate for a full-page ad launching a scurrilous attack on General David Petraeus over his handling of the Iraq campaign. In the resulting scandal, not only did the Washington Post expose the fact that the Moveon ad was riddled with factual errors, but the Times own Public Editor declared the preferential pricing to have violated the Times own guidelines for accepting political advertisements -- exposing a Times cover-up which insisted for days that it did nothing wrong in accepting the ad. Moveon is now running scared in the face of several complaints to the FEC by conservative groups.
Meanwhile, crazed Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived today in New York City with an invitation to speak before the student body of Columbia University and the intent to visit and desecrate with his presence the sacred ground of the 9/11 attack site.
How are the two incidents related, you ask? Well, it so happens that a few years ago Columbia, which controls the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, voted to allow Times reporter Walter Duranty to keep his Pulitzer prize even after it was revealed that Duranty had intentionally covered up facts about the Ukrainian famine/holocaust inflicted by Josef Stalin in order to help advance the interests of the USSR. As a recent letter to the editor of the International Herald Tribune stated: "During the Soviet-induced famine in Ukraine in the 1930s when at least 14.5 million people died, according to the historian Robert Conquest, many millions of Ukrainians were marched by foot to the White Sea, where they were loaded on to barges to be towed out to sea. Soviet gunboats then blasted them out of the water. No one knows how many millions perished. They too deserve mention and our memories."
Does anyone see a pattern?
Interestingly, the cowardly little rat bastard Ahmadinejad did not have the guts to let fly with his whole holocaust-denying, Israel-destroying repertoire of senile, subhuman bile while speaking at Columbia, giving rise to speculation that he may be too extreme even for his own country and may be getting flack at home for poisoning Iran's diplomatic well. But even toned down, he's still a weeping pustule on the buttocks of the world. Senator Mitch McConnell said of Columbia's invitation: "There is a world of difference between not preventing Ahmadinejad from speaking and handing a megalomaniac a megaphone and a stage to use it." New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn stated at a mass protest outside the United Nations: "We're here today to send a message that there is never a reason to give a hatemonger an open stage." Columbia University President Lee Bollinger told Ahmadinejad during his introduction of the speaker: "You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated. Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator. When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous." Gee, wonder which one of those reasons was the one that caused Columbia to give him a platform? Did they just want to all have a good laugh? Is any brainless moron or insane provocateur entitled to expect Ivy League speaking engagements?
Has the world gone mad?
Photo courtesy of Michelle Malkin. (It's worth noting that Russia also provides massive financial aid to Hamas, as well as Hezbollah, and provides nuclear technology and missiles to defend it to Iran itself, as well as huge quantities of weapons to Syria. Russia may certainly be deemed a root cause of Iran's hubris and aggression, making the regions lunatics think they have a bulwark against intervention, and should be treated accordingly in U.S. and European foreign policy.)
As David J. Feith & Jordan C. Hirsch of National Review put it:
It is naive to ignore the uses to which Ahmadinejad will put his invitation. Over the past years, Ahmadinejad's confrontational rhetoric and policies have resulted in diplomatic isolation and economic hardship for Iran. These developments are unpopular among Iranians. It is beneficial to Ahmadinejad and his regime, then, if he can claim to the Iranian people that his leadership is not hurting their country. If he can demonstrate that he is treated abroad as a respected leader, he will be better able to counter his critics at home. Columbia's invitation thus gives political assistance to Ahmadinejad.
How is it possible that the leaders of one of our loftiest universities can't understand this? Maybe Ahmadinejad was truly among his peers, where he belonged?
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Filed under: Myanmar
The New York Times reports:
The most serious popular challenge to Myanmar's military junta in nearly two decades gained momentum Sunday as thousands of onlookers cheered huge columns of barefoot monks and shouted support for the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, witnesses said. Marching for the sixth day through rainy streets in Yangon, the antigovernment protest swelled to a reported 10,000 monks, one day after several hundred monks paid respects to Aung San Suu Kyi at the gate of her home, the first time the Nobel laureate had been seen in public in four years.
Perhaps the junta's days at last are numbered. Hell hath no fury like a scorned monk! What do you think? Is Myanmar on the road to democratic revolution? Reader comments most welcome.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditComputing for Democracy
Filed under: Technology
Back in April
, our Robert Mayer blogged about Nicholas Negroponte's "One Laptop Per Child" campaign, posting video of his lecture about the project at Time magazine's 2007 Leadership Forum. The sub-$200 laptop, designed to be used by children in the developing world and potentially a boon to openness, development and democracy, is shown above.Now, the New York Times reports that the project is facing trouble:
Late last year, Mr. Negroponte said he had hoped for orders for three million laptops, but those pledges have fallen short. Orders of a million each from populous Nigeria and Brazil did not materialize. Still, the project has had successes. Peru, for example, will buy and distribute 250,000 of the laptops over the next year -- many of them allocated for remote rural areas. Mexico and Uruguay, Mr. Negroponte noted, have made firm commitments. In a sponsorship program, the government of Italy has agreed to purchase 50,000 laptops for distribution in Ethiopia.
Click through to find out more about the current status of the project and how you can help (a new marketing initiative allows you to buy two such machines for $399, keeping one for yourself and sending one to a child in a developing nation). Watch a video review of the product here.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditExposing Michael Moore's Lies About Cuba
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"All the world health organizations or whatever [sic] have confirmed that if there's one thing they do right in Cuba, it's health care. And there's very little debate about that."-- Michael Moore
Reporter John Stossel of 20/20 has the following interesting observations about Michael Moore's claims concerning the state of Cuban healthcare in his "documentary" Sicko:
1. As we previously reported, Moore did not visit representative hospitals, but only elite institutions.
2. The United Nations report that Moore relies upon to support his claims of medical nirvana in Cuba did not gather any data. It simply repeated data given to it by the Cuban government itself, a government that is a crazed dictatorship with no checks on its power or accuracy.
3. Cuba's infant mortality rates are grossly understated because of the national practice of aborting sick fetuses before they are born (hence they never get to be infants and never get the chance to perish as such) and of classifying a fetus which perishes within a few hours of being born as never having been born at all.
4. Moore stated: "All the independent health organizations in the world, and even our own CIA, believes that the Cubans have a pretty good health system. And they do, in fact, live longer than we do." Stossel asked the CIA, and it stated that it never made such a conclusion about Cuban health care; it stated that its data shows Americans live significantly longer on average than Cubans.
5. When challenged with these facts by Stossel, Moore tried to change the subject: "Let's stick to Canada and Britain and this stuff, I think you should challenge me on these things, and I'll give you my answer."
The prosecution rests.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditAnnals of Islam
Filed under: Asia
Translation:
PANEL #1:
-Boy, what is your name?
- My name is Babu.
PANEL #2
-It is customary to mention Muhammed before the name.
PANEL #3
-What is your father's name?
-Muhammed Abu
PANEL #4
-What's this in your lap?
-Muhammed cat
Source: Little Green Footballs
Guess what happened after the above cartoon appeared in Alpin, a weekly satire magazine of leading Bengali daily Prothom Alo in Bangladesh. The author of the cartoon, Arifur Rahman, was arrested, and mobs went wild in the streets of Bangladesh calling for the execution of the paper's editor, Matiur Rahman. Gateway Pundit has photographs. Click here to read about the U.S. State Department's effort to use blogs to combat the evils of radical Islam.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditAnnals of Neo-Soviet Duplicity
Filed under: Russia
Two very interesting events occurred recently, events which are even more interesting when viewed in juxtaposition.
First, America proposed installing a ballistic missile defense system in Eastern Europe. In response, Russia opposed the installation and proposed locating the system in Azerbaijan -- a region heavily within the Russian sphere of influence. This implies that Russia is interested in helping the U.S. and NATO allies assure their strategic security against their enemies and that it is suggesting it can be trusted over the long term not to undermine such a base.
Second, as Vladimir Socor of the Jamestown Foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor writes:
Russia abstained in the UN Security Council's September 20 vote to prolong the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, a NATO-led operation. This is the first time since 2001 that Russia withheld its approval from an allied operation (U.S.-led Enduring Freedom and NATO's ISAF) in Afghanistan. Concurrently, Moscow indicated again that it tolerates the U.S.-led air base in Kyrgyzstan -- that supports operations in Afghanistan -- conditionally and temporarily. Moscow's abstention in the Security Council has no significant consequences on the practical level. Symbolically, however, it hits at what the United States and NATO define as a core interest and top operational priority. Politically, it signifies yet another warning that Russia is prepared to challenge U.S. and NATO interests and hinder their policies almost anywhere in Eurasia to the maximum feasible extent.
Isn't that interesting? It hardly seems that Russia's actions in the Security Council verify its ability to stand behind its Azerbaijan proposal. Given that, the U.S. and NATO would have be be raving lunatics to give serious consideration to Russia's proposal and, thankfully, it seems they have no such intentions. In actuality, we ought to be quite insulted that the malignant little troll who presides over the Kremlin thought we might be stupid enough to fall for a gambit like this.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditAnnals of Neo-Soviet Hypocrisy
Filed under: Russia
You may recall that back in early August we reported on how Russian state-owned RTR television had Photoshopped a false version of the front page of the esteemed British daily the Times of London in order to launch an attack on hated dissident Boris Berezovsky.
Now, it turns out that what is sauce for the Western goose is not necessarily sauce for the neo-Soviet gander. When Putin's Kremlin is the recipient of this kind of activity, they lash out violently. Click the jump to read all about it.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditSexist America by the Numbers
Filed under: US Elections
Never let it be said that this blog lets America off the hook in criticizing the need for democratic reform. With that in mind, let's challenge America to be fairer to the fairer sex (even within the civil rights movement, women were denied a place at the table by those who purported to struggle for fairness):
9.8%
Share women hold on the list of 400 wealthiest Americans
16%
Share women hold of the U.S. Senate
16.3%
Share women hold in the U.S. House of Representatives
17.4 - 19.8 - 19.9%
Global Average for female representation in parliament -- European average --
48.6%
Fraction by which U.S. median male incomes exceed median female incomes
51.1%
Share women hold of the U.S. population
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditBedlam in the Middle East: Ahmadinejad on his Way Back to Columbia, Maybe Ground Zero too, and to Soon Play Footsie with Putin Whilst Syria is Getting Nukes from North Korea
Filed under: Iran
Last year Columbia University invited maniacal Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to give a speech to its students. A furious backlash resulted and the invitation was rescinded. Think that ended the matter? Guess again.
He's baaaaaack. It's just been announced that Ahmadinejad will speak at Columbia this coming Monday after he addresses the United Nations General Assembly at the opening ceremonies. Amazingly, Ahmadinejad also made a request to visit the Ground Zero site and lay a wreath, but it seems New York City authorities have denied the request (though perhaps not conclusively, he may go anyway).
In other news, it's being reported that Syria has a secret nuclear program, perhaps working in league with North Korea and, of course, Iran.
And Iran is reporting that it is pressing forward with Russia to put its Bushehr nuclear plant online. Russian "president" Vladimir Putin will visit Ahmadinejad in Tehran next month. Click the jump for an artist's rendering of the two faithful companions.
We have a poll running in regard to how the U.S. should respond to Ahmadinejad's evil deeds in Iraq, and over 300 have already cast their votes. Why not add your views to the mix? Click here to vote.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditLive from Lebanon v. III: BREAKING NEWS
Filed under: Middle East
The Associated Press reports that a bomb has exploded "in a Christian suburb east of the Lebanese capital Wednesday, killing anti-Syrian lawmaker Antoine Ghanem (pictured) and six other people." Ghanem becomes the eighth prominent anti-Syrian figure assassinated since 2005.
I find it very difficult to believe although I saw the place. I still cannot believe it is true. I was at a meeting in Verdun when the bomb exploded and I heard the news over the radio and headed towards Sin El Fil. It is the first time ever that I saw a place after a bomb exploded and I have yet to get accustomed to the thought. There were lots of people, army and police. Just when I arrived some said that a body was still caught in the remains of a car but I did not see anything. Kataeb (Phalange Christian party) MP Antoine Ghanim lost his life and at least 4 or 5 other persons. There are many speculations on the ground and some were saying that maybe it was Syria. It is yet too soon to know for a fact. After Pierre Gemayel was killed in November in the very same neighborhood now it was Antoine Ghanim turn. Regardless of who did it and why, it is a fact that Christians are a target. Even now after few hours people are still there... it is unbelievable. I am speechless. A friend called to say that he heard of at least 25 persons being injured and taken to the hospitals. I cannot but ask: Who has the major interest to destabilize Lebanon? Who has weakened Lebanon for decades and who is still using it as a card in its regional game? Definitely Syria. Iran is there next to Damascus but even though these two share some common objectives the approach is different. Syria acts in Lebanon through its proxies and the list is long. Weapons enter from Syria to various parties, movements, cells etc. It is not only HizbAllah that gets the weapons. That is known for a fact. If the outside world want to change things in Lebanon cut Syria off.
Click the jump to view Manuela's photographs from the scene of the carnage. Manuela retains the copyright on all these original images, they may not be republished without her express written permission.
Watch video from the scene here. Gateway Pundit has additional details and photos.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditLive from Lebanon v. II
Filed under: Middle East
Manuela Paraipan writes from Lebanon:
For those interested in a cool brief analysis of what is going on now in Lebanon I whole-heartedly recommend an interview with Sami Nader (pictured, he's a professor at St. Joseph University in Beirut,) published on the World Security Network. He is a charismatic guy with a very sharp mind. As part of Michel Aoun party he was known mainly by those who worked with him in the so called General's inner circle. Now that he is out he has the chance to go bigger on his own.
Here are some key extracts:
How do you see Lebanon's present situation?"The main course for us is to take Lebanon out of the Syrian orbit and this was the case since the inception of Lebanon. It's a continuous struggle with Syria. The Arab Baath regime ideologically considers Lebanon to be part of the historic Syria."
"We have two projects. On the one side you have the government: Lazy, not working well but it represents Lebanon's sovereignty. And then we have the other project: The resistance. They want to fight Israel even if they must do so alone."
What is the core of the present crisis?
Click through to read the whole interview.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditKGB Killer Andrei Lugovoi on LDRP Ballot
Filed under:
Following the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the UK government asked for formal extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB agent who had met with Litvinenko the day he fell ill. The UK's director of public prosecutions Ken Macdonald said Lugovoi should be extradited to stand trial for the murder of Litvinenko by "deliberate poisoning" after Polonium-210 was found in numerous places visited by Lugovoi that day. Russia denied the extradition request and negligible progress has been made on the case.
Four months since the May extradition demand from the UK, Andrei Lugovoi has resurfaced. At a congress for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), he announced his intentions to be an MP for the party, confirmed by LDPR party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. If elected, Lugovoi will be granted immunity from prosecution from Litvinenko's murder.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditBest way to learn a language?
Filed under: Technology
I have lived in Latin America and Spain for a few years, and as such have "learned" Spanish through immersion without any formal education whatsoever. However, because of this, I have never been able to perfect my grammar, tenses, vocabulary, and all that good stuff. I can shoot off the slang like it's no one's business, but using the subjuctive will throw me off base.
I am looking for a way to do this without having to take classes in an actual classroom.
People talk a lot about the Rosetta Stone software, but from what I've read, it mostly teaches you words through association with images. This would be really useful for someone who is just starting a language, but it appears that at no time does Rosetta Stone really indoctrinate the formal grammar into you, or even the alphabet! It is these technical aspects that i need to master rather than simply more trial-and-error.
Given that Publius has a very international and internationally-minded audience, I'm sure many of you have learned a second language. What I'd like to know is, first, how did you do it? Second, if you used any kind of software, CDs, online courses, anything, what was it and how well did it work for you?
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditExposing Viktor Zubkov: Reading Putin's Toxic Tea Leaves
Filed under: Russia
The September 14th issue of the Moscow Times quotes newly-appointed Russian
Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov (pictured) as announcing "corruption is the major issue in our efforts to increase the effectiveness of the state administration." The Times stated that "Duma Deputy Gennady Gudkov, who sits on the Duma's anti-corruption commission, said Zubkov was ready to 'seriously tackle' the issue."
Yet, according to the Times, many analysts were skeptical. It reported:
"Corruption is ubiquitous in Russia. It is the very texture of Russian life," said Masha Lipman, an expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "It would need a deep restructuring of the whole political system and the process of policymaking. What drives corruption is the large-scale involvement of the state.""Everything here is rotted by corruption. I don't think Zubkov is going to position himself as a reckless warrior against corruption," said Stanislav Belkovsky, head of the Council for National Strategy and a former Kremlin adviser. "[His appointment] is just a public relations campaign. It is designed to concentrate people's minds on the problem of corruption and distract them from other issues."
Kirill Kabanov, head of the nongovernmental National Anti-Corruption Committee, said he did not see any efforts by the government to address corruption other than at the lowest levels. "I would like to see issues such as systemic corruption and the independence of the judiciary tackled," he said.
So it's possible that when Zubkov says he's going to launch a war on corruption, he's just blowing neo-Soviet smoke.
But there's another possibility. A source with knowledge of the proceedings, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, tells me that just about the time Vladimir Putin came to power, the United States was helping many of the former Soviet republics set up what are generically called "Financial Intelligence Units" (FIU's). In the case of Russia, Putin called his newly-formed unit the "Committee for Financial Monitoring" (Komitet po Finansovomu Monitoringu - FMC). Even in Russia, the use of the word "komitet" (it's the "k" in KGB) was provocative, and true to form, Putin loaded it with ex-KGB guys.
My source tells me that everyone who was working with Russia on setting up their FIU, including the people from the international Financial Action Task Force ("FATF") (the enforcement lever U.S. personnel worked with to ensure compliance with FATF standards and recommendations), was somewhat surprised by the zeal with which Putin set up the FMC, but it wasn't long before they learned why: He cleverly turned all the tools they gave him for monitoring illegal financial flows into the best weapon imaginable against his political opposition. All he had to do was label them "extremist" if not "terrorist" organizations, and the rest quickly fell into place. Massive financial levers could be used to squeeze the victim, with the tacit approval of the Western powers -- who could hardly object to his using a weapon designed to combat terrorist financing against only slightly less dangerous "extremists."
So there you have it: the U.S. helped Putin create a new dimension to traditional Russian autocracy, helped bring it into the modern world, so to speak. The U.S. almost did the same in Ukraine, too, except that there the opposition was a little better developed, and they managed to seize power before the Russian-backed Kuchma/Yanukovych team was able to use the Ukrainian FIU against them.
And Viktor Zubkov was intimately involved in this process, ultimately being appointed by Putin to head the agency. So it's quite possible that by elevating Zubkov to an even higher position now, Putin is setting the stage for a major escalation in the growth of what can only be called a neo-Soviet state, crushing the last gasp of life out of dissident politics and rival centers of commercial power. In other words, it's possible Zubkov is quite serious about launching a war within Russia's financial systems, but one which would in effect make the country more corrupt, not less.
This tactic has already been used in regard to freedom of expression. Putin's government rammed through a so-called "Anti-Extremism Law" ostensibly to crack down on racist violence by skinheads against ethnic minority groups, but just as the law's opponents had feared no sooner did the law come into effect than it was immediately turned against opposition political groups, driving many out of business. In Putin's Russia, criticizing Putin is viewed as dangerously extreme.
My source had a number of personal meetings with Zubkov during the phase-up of the Russian FMC program, and refers to him as "an interesting guy." When he headed up meetings, he was much more prone to genuine smiles than a typical soviet aparatchik, and he usually had a mischievous twinkle in his eye when he smiled, as if he were letting everyone in on a good joke -- maybe like he was aware that the group's assignment was a silly, politically-motivated exercise in futility and wanted everyone to know that he was aware of it too, but "let's all pretend we're taking it seriously, okay?" My source characterizes him as "by far the most likable ex-sov I've ever met to this day."
However, throughout their dealings my source always assumed that Zubkov was KGB, basically because every single staff member on the Russian side was too. After dealing with Zubkov for some time, my source was actually quite surprised and impressed that the KGB could produce such a person. Zubkov's staff was found to be extremely cold to the idea of assisting other former Soviet republics to develop their own FIUs, and instead attempted to lobby for having Russia's entity perform umbrella functions "as if Ukraine was still part of Russia, or someday would return to that status." Later, my source realized there was another dimension to this as well: The Russians were openly (among themselves) planning to use the FMC and Anti-Money Laundering laws to disrupt the financing of the Russian opposition parties, and were afraid that if power changed hands in Ukraine (which it finally did, in the Orange Revolution), this weapon might be used against the pro-Russian parties.
Obviously, a slick experienced operator like Zubkov would be the perfect choice to spearhead a renewed effort to adopt a "final solution" on the Russian opposition groups; combined with the empowerment of a thug like Sergei Ivanov, and the tactics of physical liquidation that we have already seen applied to dissidents like Anna Politkovskaya and Alexander Litvinenko, this could give the Kremlin a powerful one-two punch that might lay the last vestiges of civil society in Russia firmly in its tomb. If Zubkov is a deep-cover KGB mole and the Kremlin intends to conceal this fact (rather than bragging about it, as it often does), that would be a still further ominous indication of how bleak things may rapidly become in Russia.
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