Extraordinary Rendition

I am appalled by what I am reading in the news today.

I place great hope in the EU. Progressive governance and an increasing ability (though apparently lacking desire) to break out from under the thumb of the US government gives Europeans great pride. However, continuing complicity towards Crimes Against Humanity should make all Europeans cringe as they read the news today.

From Ireland comes news today confirming the suspicion that Fianna Fáil (the party in power) gave their tacit support to American War Crimes in allowing the CIA to run over one hundred flights through Shannon Airport of "suspected terrorists" to formerly-secret concentration camps in Eastern Europe, with the full knowledge that those being taken would likely face torture.

F.F. have dishonored the memory of all those who died to bring about the Irish Republic, and for that they should be beyond ashamed.

From RTE News:

'Serious concerns' over use of Irish airports

28 November 2006 22:57
A draft European Parliament report into alleged CIA rendition flights has expressed 'serious concerns' over the 147 stopovers made by CIA-operated aircraft at Irish airports.

The report says these aircraft were on many occasions coming from, or en route to, countries linked with so-called 'extraordinary rendition' and the transfer of alleged terrorism suspects or detainees.

It also claims that CIA linked aircraft which had stopped off in Ireland had 'certainly been used for the extraordinary renditions' of nine named individuals.

From Al Jazeera:

Many European Union governments were aware of US secret jails being operated in Europe, according to a draft report.

Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, also made "omissions and denials" to EU investigators despite knowing about the CIA's covert operations in Europe, the European Parliament report says.

Claudio Fava, the author of the draft report on the CIA's use of European countries for the illegal transport and detention of prisoners, said: "Many governments co-operated passively or actively [with the CIA]. They knew."

To allow the CIA to use the airports of a supposedly neutral country is a violation of the solemn vow given by government ministers to represent the will of their population. That is an insult to the population, one that I hope will not be allowed to pass unnoticed.

Elections, The EU, Idiotic British Government, Beit Hanoun

Before mentioning the American Midterm Elections, lets take a moment to look southward. Does anyone remember when Ronald Reagan and George Bush (the first), along with Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, et. al., went about selling arms to Iran to fund their support for an anti-government terrorist organisation in Nicaragua? Those fighting against the government in Nicaragua were called the "contras," and they were working specifically on bahalf of the US government against the leftist-socialist president Daniel Ortega. Most recently, Oliver North flew to Nicaragua to specifically campaign against Ortega. Well, it didn't work.

We can factually state, now, that Daniel Ortega has won (and this is not a projection) the Presidency of Nicaragua, returning after over 15 years away. I'll bet Reagan is turning over in his grave.

Before touching on the U.S. elections, I would like to ask, with all due respect, who is the idiot in the EU government that decided, JUST WEEKS after the US passed a law doing away with the 800 year old concept of Habeus Corpus (the ability to ask for a fair panel to decide wether it is legal (or not) for you to be detained), and also putting in the hands of the untrustworthy US president the ability to singlehandely decide what constitutes torture, that the EU has decided to set up a high level group to work on increasing "anti terror" cooperation with the US. Just typing it makes me want to go wash my hands.

I would also like to mention to the British people that, every time you (as consistantly happens) tell your government to stop acting like a slave to the US, your government slaps you in the face. The british parliament has passed a law making it possible for the US to demand, and immediately receive, any British citizen that they demand (on "terror" grounds) without having to provide any evidence whatsoever. However, if the British government requests (not demands, requests) someone to be extradited from the US, they must carry the burden of proof that this person needs to be sent to Britain. Good luck with that.

In the western Middle East, the IDF has pulled out of Beit Hanoun after their "Autumn Clouds" operation leaving 50+ dead and hundreds more wounded, in addition to intense destruction of housing and infrastructure. As The Guardian reports, "Israel pulls out, leaving a trail of death."

On the American elections, already "glitches" in the voting system are popping up all over the country, with problems reported in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida, Colorado, Indiana, and Oklahoma. However, voter turnout seems to be approaching an unprecedented level for a midterm election. All of this is discussed in articles in The Guardian and RTE (Ireland).

I also have statement of fact to make: Joe Lieberman is not a Democrat, or an Independent-- he is a Republican.

VOTE BY PARTY ID TOTAL Lieberman Lamont Schlesinger
Democrat (39%) 32% 66% 2%
Republican (26%) 71% 9% 20%
Independent (35%) 54% 36% 9%


VOTE BY IDEOLOGY TOTAL Lieberman Lamont Schlesinger
Liberal (26%) 27% 70% 3%
Moderate (53%) 55% 37% 8%
Conservative (21%) 66% 13% 20%
----source------


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"It will represent a significant change in the balance of power between the Executive and Legislative branches" of the United States government -Wolf Blitzer, CNN, on the democrats being projected to win control of the House of Representatives.

No, it won't. In general, the democrats are still, by and large, quite conservative. They want to stay in Iraq, they want to "win." The question, as posed by Chuch Schumer, was how much of an agressive foreign policy people will support... not that they want to stop the conservative imperial agenda, just that they don't want to do it the same way.

We can hold out hope that they might shine some light into the dark corners of the US government, and it is an important first step in initiating change... but it is not the end of the fight. It is only the beginning.

North Korea, American Elections, and The EU

Just a quick post today covering a couple of newsworthy items today (other than the first major snowstorm of the year in Stockholm).

The first is the fact that the predictions of Far East analysts regarding North Korea using their Nuclear tests as a ploy to gain an advantage in diplomatic negotiations in the stalled six party talks seems to be accurate. While the DPRK's official news site has said this all along, now even Reuters is reporting (via the Moscow Times) that North Korea is "ready" to return to the 6 party talks, apparently dropping their demand for strict one-on-one talks with the U.S. This is likely due to pressure from Beijing to stop with their "provacative" measures, and likely to have been their strategy from the beginning. As they have been asserting all along, they have no desire to see a large scale conflict erupt.

On the American Elections, I'm sure most people are aware of former Presidential candidate John Kerry's comments saying that if you don't work hard and study you end up in Iraq. This was aimed at the Bush administration, and he followed up that statement (after an attack by the White House saying he was attacking the troops that were serving) by explaining further that it was the bush administration who didn't do their homework and thus ended up in Iraq.

Perhaps slightly more important for the hopes of changes in the US Government is the recent work of M. J. Fox for democratic candidates who support stem cell research, which seems to be increasing the lead most democrats have over republicans in the US, mere days before elections.

It's also interesting to note that Hilliary Clinton is openly advocating direct negotiations with North Korea, Iran, and Syria, finally taking a stand against pervailing American militarism (or so it would seem).

Also in the news is a recently leaked EU report on Turkey "slamming" their economic progress, and likely to curtail EU spending in that country and strain relations. Also the EU election inspectors currently in the Congo for elections being held there are urging calm following disputable results. Where were they in 2000 in the US? Hopefully they'll make a showing at the US elections and try to keep everything on the up-and-up.