Ahmadinejad and Bush

One president comments on the success of the Annapolis conference, while another president comments on its failure. One believes that a two-state solution is practical in a 14-month time frame. The other, well, he believes that a two-state solution is unpractical because Israel is doomed to ‘collapse’.

So what are the flock to think of all this?

Well, think what you want.

Just remember that the Annapolis conference is part of a much broader picture. Until leaders with credibility - Abbas, Bush and Olmert are politically weak - are ready to pro-actively discuss the issues, any attempt at peace will fail. Retroactive solutions, like that of a junkie receiving methadone from a clinic, are destined to be a band-aid for the sixty years of violence in the holy land.

In the words of Ahmadinejad:

It is impossible that the Zionist regime will survive. Collapse is in the nature of this regime because it has been created on aggression, lying, oppression and crime.

 

Take it off, take it all off

As President Pervez Musharraf steps down from his position as chief of the Pakistani army, questions arise concerning his political acumen. Musharraf was not elected democratically eight years ago and may find himself isolated come January parliamentary elections. Both adversaries to Musharraf, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, have returned from exile and have filed for seats in parliament.

General Ashfaq Kiyani was named by Musharraf as the new army chief of Pakistan. Handpicked by Musharraf, Kiyani apparently has no political ambitions and just as well because Musharraf can not afford anymore rivals just now.

Emergency rule remains in effect for Pakistan while Musharraf continues to perpetuate his rule by aligning himself with close allies such as Kiyani and Mohammadmian Soomro, his caretaker Prime Minister.

Buy Nothing Day

Is it necessary to consume at the voracious pace we are?

Why is it so imperative that we spend more money than we have?

What will happen if we continue to live beyond our means?

Will our Earth recover from our extreme patterns of consumption?

Participate by not participating. Buy Nothing Day.

Bah, Humbug

Warnings that the US Army may run out of money by mid-February to be followed by the Marine Corps in March have reached a zenith with a threatening response from the Pentagon: Say good-bye to 100,000 civilian jobs by Christmas!

Democrats conclude that this cry for help is nothing but one of the scare tactics perpetrated by the Republicans greed to continue their haphazardly spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. These claims of crying ‘wolf’ by the Republicans have been rejected by Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell who was quoted as having said that the Pentagon is ‘not out to issue propaganda’.

Note to self: Morrell is a liar.

koo dey-tah

Stephen Lendman of the Atlantic Free Press has reported that a possible fourth attempt to oust Venezuelan President Chavez. A coup d’etat looms as Venezuela embarks on a path for constitutional reforms to take place 2 December 2007. The reforms are the target to which Western media has taken aim forecasting street protests and culminating in the form of a military coup.

Chavez has been deemed Washington’s biggest threat in South America and his relationship with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has unnerved some Neocons in the US capital. Chavez and Ahmadinejad have recently re-expressed their wish to stop pricing oil in US dollars and vehemently claimed the fall of the US empire echoing from the decline of the US dollar.

In stores this Christmas season: George W Bush the Puppet, hooray!

Alphabet soup anyone?

As invitations are being sent out by the US to initiate Palestinian-Israeli peace talks many commentators are concerned with the vagueness of possible agenda. Clarity and confidence will be required at the Annapolis meeting as to how a two-state solution should be administered. However, that may be as easy as following a story in alphabet soup.

Borders, Jerusalem, refugees, and security have been the key issues since the creation of Israel and May 2008 will mark the sixtieth anniversary. In that time Israel has illegally occupied Palestinian land, created Israeli settlements on said occupied land, and continued to ignore UN resolution after UN resolution. Both the Palestinians and Israelis are responsible for the murder and carnage that today creates such a hostile environment for possible peace negotiations.

More than 100 officials are expected to attend the Annapolis meeting including the much needed Arab League of States members. The faces may have changed, but the rhetoric remains sharply the same as the Oslo accords. Nothing much is new here. It is just so unlikely that Israel will acknowledge a viable Palestinian state and it is just as unlikely that Palestine and the surrounding Arab nations will recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Washington may just be compensating for the all the negative attention being paid to them as a consequence of the Iraqi occupation and the six year absence of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. The Bush regime continues to isolate itself as global criticism mounts against the aggressive posture of US foreign policy.

Brought to you in part by the Carlyle Group & Campbell’s soup: Mmm, mmm not so good.

Return to sender?

Iran has sent out a letter to the world’s top diplomats Tuesday emphasizing the peaceful intentions of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme. Ahmadinejad and his foreign ministry continue to persuade the West that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are ‘not a threat against any country’.

It was not specified whether the US had been sent the letter. It would hardly matter considering the disbelief projected by the Bush regime over Iran’s nuclear programme. Previous efforts by the Iranian camp to reach out to the US have failed as the Neocons in Washington continue with their attempt to isolate Tehran and bang on the drums of war.

President Ahmadinejad previously sent president Bush an 18-page letter creatively discussing religious values, history, and international relations. Ahmadinejad wrote of the sorrow felt around the world following 9/11 but cautioned Bush of the Western media response of intensifying the climate of fear and insecurity. In the letter, Ahmadinejad asks inquisitively if it is ‘possible to calculate the damages incurred from fear and panic?’

The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.

– Albert Einstein

American backdoor antics (or Keep it Canadian)

It is being reported that CanWest president Leonard Asper and Goldman Sachs managing director Gerry Cardinale issued a firm assurance that control of broadcasting decisions would remain in Canadian hands. This assurance is meant to give CanWest a majority of voting shares albeit in a minority position with a 36 per cent share in equity in the entity; meanwhile, 100-36=64 per cent majority position for the foreign investment bank, hooray!

While Goldman Sachs cannot cause CanWest to do anything, the foreign based partner has the ability to restrain CanWest from certain decisions and remains a role in strategic broadcasting decisions. Criticisms by the national actor’s union, ACTRA, in a recent statement have denounced the deal as foreign ownership of Canadian media by the back door. Union president Richard Hardacre believes ‘this deal effectively gives the US company control over a Canadian broadcaster, which is a violation of the Broadcasting Act and Canadian public policy.

First Gisele, now Ahmadinejad

Pop culture icons have started to flash euros, not dollars amidst the decline of the US currency world-wide. Rapper Jay-Z flaunts euros in a recent music video while fashion icon Gisele opts to be paid in euros due to the weak outlook of the US dollar.

Leader of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has continued to comment on an end to trading oil in US dollars, calling the currency ‘a worthless piece of paper.’ Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has iterated similar statements saying that the ‘empire of the dollar is crashing.’ The two presidents have a shared viewpoint on the decline of US hegemony and continue to bolster trade relations between Iran and Venezuela.

Apocalypse now

Melbourne neuroscientist Dr John Reid says he is skeptical about science’s ability to rescue humanity from over-population. According to research conducted by the Global Footprint Network in 2001, humanity ’s ecological footprint had exceeded the Earth’s biological capacity by about 20 per cent. In 2006, the WWF Living Planet Report put the figure at 25 per cent. Dr Reid asserts that planet Earth cannot support the present human population and humanity must not delude itself with science fiction. Accepting the calculations and data by the Global Footprint Network and the WWF leads Dr Reid to one inescapable conclusion: to quickly reduce Earth’s population to five billion and then to further reduce that to two or three billion.

Homer: I’m like that guy who single-handedly built the rocket & flew to the moon. What was his name? Apollo Creed?