Category: World News & Politics

We passed by Carrefour today to get something fast for dinner, and as usual we had to follow our feet and check out the magazines and newspapers.

What caught my eye was the cover of The Economist which reads: “Better ways to attack Bush”.

It’s a rather interesting cover offering points that can be used against Bush in the election race and debates.

I actually agree that almost all these points are weaknesses that could break him in the elections.
All but the gay rights point. I think that maybe his strong position when it comes to this issue is more favorable among most Americans, or at least I’d like to think so.

The 11 ways listed on the cover are:

• Never hears a spending plan he doesn’t like
• Backs unequal rights for homosexuals
• Strong, but not humble
• Hot air on WMD
• No cojones on Palestine and Israel
• All hat and no plans for post-war Iraq
• The miscommunicator
• Too close to vested interests
• Budget belt far too loose
• Weak-kneed on trade: farms, steel, sugar, cotton…
• Tramples on civil liberties

Some interesting quotes by Ken Livingstone, mayor of London:

On Ariel Sharon:
“I’d like to see him locked up in the next cell to the former Serb President Slobodan Milosevic.”

On the Saudi Royal Family:
“I just long for the day I wake up and find that the Saudi Royal family are swinging from the lamp-posts and they’ve got a proper government that represents the people of Saudi Arabia.”

On Bush:
“I’m not even sure he was aware there were any Palestinians before he was elected, any more than he knew the name of the President of Pakistan.”

On the Middle East:
“[There will be no peace until] the West shows it is taking on board the injustice of what’s happening to Palestinians, and looks at the financial network of corruption between some of the oil sheikhdoms , the oil companies and the White House.”

[via Jalan-Jalan]

Bush photomosaic of Americans who have died in Iraq since the war president entered office.

[via Boing Boing]

‘I saw papers that show US knew al-Qa’ida would attack cities with aeroplanes’
– Sibel Edmonds

Sibel Edmonds, a former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has provided information to the panel investigating the 11 September attacks which proves senior officials knew of al-Qa’ida’s plans to attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes happened.

She said the claim by the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, that there was no such information was “an outrageous lie”.

“I gave details of specific investigation files, the specific dates, specific target information, specific managers in charge of the investigation. I gave them everything so that they could go back and follow up. This is not hearsay. These are things that are documented. These things can be established very easily.”, She said.

She added: “There was general information about the time-frame, about methods to be used

More: RSF

[via Hou-Hou Blog]

Inter Press Service (IPS) uncovered remarks by Philip Zelikow, who is now the executive director of the body set up to investigate the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001 — the 9/11 commission — in which he suggests a prime motive for the invasion of Iraq just over one year ago was to eliminate a threat to Israel, a staunch U.S. ally in the Middle East.

“Iraq under Saddam Hussein did not pose a threat to the United States but it did to Israel, which is one reason why Washington invaded the Arab country, according to a speech made by a member of a top-level White House intelligence group.” — Philip Zelikow, President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) 2001/2003 [ IPS ]

[via Je Blog, Bouillabaisse]

Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid won the Pritzker Architecture Prize for 2004, considered the profession’s highest honor. She is the first woman to receive it.

Movement, curvature, porosity, extreme horizontal elongation: these are some of the aesthetic properties that helped to establish Ms. Hadid, 53, as a major influence in her field well before she began to build.

Ms. Hadid was born in Baghdad in 1950. She studied mathematics in Beirut before moving to London to study architecture at the Architectural Association School. After graduating in 1977, she worked with Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis at the fledgling Office for Metropolitan Architecture, a practice that subsequently moved to Rotterdam under Mr. Koolhaas’s direction. She is now based in London and is a British citizen.

For more: click here.
(NY Times link. You can get login info from bugmenot.com)

[via Antipixel]

Vice Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, U.S. Navy talks about the increasing anti-US sentiment in the Arab World:

… Support for the war on terrorism is low, ranging from 56% in Kuwait to 2% among Jordanians and Palestinians. Support for America has dropped in most of the Muslim world. Favorable ratings in Morocco declined from 77% in 2000 to 27% in spring of last year and in Jordan from 25% in 2002 to only 1% in May 2003. The percentage of Saudi’s expressing confidence in the United States dropped from 63% in May of 2000 to 11% in October 2003. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Washington’s perceived pro-Israeli bias, was cited in some polls as a leading reason for anti-US sentiment. These conditions and increasing anti-US sentiment provide sustenance for radical political Islam at the expense of moderate elements… — Vice Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, U.S. Navy

[via Je Blog, L’Oeil de la Certitude]

New York City Police Have A ‘Big Mac Attack’ As Florida U.S. Senate Candidate Andy Martin Launches Worldwide McDonald’s Boycott.

New York City Police were called by McDonald’s Corporation Tuesday, as Florida U.S. Senate candidate Andy Martin launched a worldwide boycott to show solidarity with Palestinians who are being discriminated against by McDonald’s in Israel. Martin held a news conference to ask diners to avoid eating at McDonald’s restaurant to “help fight racism in Israel.”

“We heard sirens in the distance, and suddenly two police cars filled with officers showed up and parked in the middle of the street,” said Martin.” People who knew nothing about the boycott suddenly wondered what was going on…”

“Our boycott was/is peaceful. In fact McDonald’s knew the boycott was peaceful, because we had warned them in advance. McDonald’s was apparently afraid of an outbreak of violence because of their racist policies in Israel. McDonald’s employees also tried to threaten and intimidate me. I was not fazed.”

Related Links:
– Yahoo! News
– Electronic Intifada

[via Je Blog]