Category: World News & Politics

According to a spokesman for the winning Spanish socialist party, Zapatero (the prime minister elect) will take Spanish troops out of Iraq on June 30 — the day the Coalition Provisional Authority is scheduled to turn over power to an interim Iraqi government.

The PM-elect has said: Spanish troops should never have been in Iraq, because there was no U.N. resolution authorizing military action.

He also told a Spanish radio station that no decision would be taken until he was in power and without wide political consultation.
“But the Spanish troops in Iraq will come home,” he added.

Outgoing prime minister Jose Maria Aznar was a key European ally of the Bush administration, taking his country to war even though polls showed 90% of the Spanish people were against it.

So, in a strong reply to the government’s lies and deception, the people of Spain have gone out and voted against the ruling party, kicking them out of rule.

The people of Spain have chosen change and have put an end to a government that blindly lead the country into a war of lies.

The socialist party won the elections and the Prime Minister elect Jose-Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has vowed to make the defeat of terrorism his immediate priority.

Well, that phrase has become quite a scary one lately which often means more use of power and more wars. So I hope it’s different this time and that this government is more rational and smarter than the previous one, and that it will understand that the only way to fight terrorism is by eliminating it’s reason to exist.

So, it seems more and more evidence coming out each day is pointing to Al Qaeda as the ones responsible for the attack in Madrid.

Recently a tape was found saying it’s from Al Qaeda in which they claim responsibility for the attacks as a form of retaliation for Spanish cooperation during the US-led invasion of Iraq.

“This is an answer to your cooperation with the Bush criminals
and their allies. “

“This is an answer to crimes which you committed in the world, notably in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there will be more, so help us God.”

Which confirms my thoughts that use of power from both sides will only bring more use of power in return.
Use of force is never a good solution for anything. It maybe good momentarily but it has a lot of bad consequences on the long run.
The only way any problem can be solved is by addressing the reasons behind it, what keeps it alive and finding peaceful solutions to it.

Anyway, what’s really disgusting is what the Spanish government did.
They pinned the attack on ETA and tried to play down any possibility Al Qaeda was behind it because they knew people would blame them for the attacks if Al Qaeda were behind it as 90% of the people were against Spain going to war.
And of course, being on the doorstep of elections, they don’t want to go through all that and lose, so what do they do ? They lie and hide evidence and push investigations towards ETA.

Before voting booths opened, thousands of demonstrators flocked into the streets of Madrid and other cities to protest against the government’s response to Thursday’s bombings.

Some protesters accused Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of provoking the attacks by supporting the US in its invasion of Iraq.

More than 3000 demonstrators shouted slogans such as “Resign” and “Kick Aznar Out!” beside the Atocha station, where two of the four trains exploded.

I sure wish this liar gets kicked out and that Bush and Blair follow.

One of the British captives freed from Guantanamo Bay tells the world of its full horror and what he and the other inmates went through.

Jamal al-Harith, 37, a father-of-three from Manchester, told how he was assaulted with fists, feet and batons after refusing a mystery injection and reveals how prostitutes were taken into the camp to degrade Muslim inmates.

“Prisoners faced psychological torture and mind-games in attempts to make them confess to acts they had never committed.”

Jamal added: “The whole point of Guantanamo was to get to you psychologically. The beatings were not as nearly as bad as the psychological torture – bruises heal after a week – but the other stuff stays with you.”

“punishment beatings were handed out by guards known as the Extreme Reaction Force. They waded into inmates in full riot-gear, raining blows on them.”

So much for human rights, huh ?!
You’d think the country that talks so much about human rights in the world would at least respect them itself.
Doesn’t seem that’s the case at all.

Read the full article: My Hell in Camp X-Ray.

What happened in Madrid yesterday was really bad.
So many people dead and a lot more injured. Truly sad.

It’s always sad when innocent human lives are wasted. And I wish we were in a better world where things like this never happened.

The Spanish government’s main suspect is the ETA group that has attacked before in the past and that wants independence for the Basque region.
Anyway a second line of investigation is going into whether there was a muslim link to the operation.

They say they found a van with detonators and a tape with Koranic verses on it. Plus a foolish group of known liars who claim they are related to Al Qaeda (Although intelligence sources have said time and again that they aren’t and that they’re just some people fooling around) are saying that they’re behind the attack.
So, basically there still is no strong link or evidence pointing at any Islamic group being involved.

Honestly, I truly hope that no one with any link to Islam is anywhere behind this.
It’s really enough that the Al Qaeda attacks are making Islam sound more like a terrorist brand than the peaceful religion that it is.

Anti-semitism:
(1) hostility toward Jews as a religious or racial minority group, often accompanied by social, political or economic discrimination
(2) opposition to Zionism
(3) sympathy for the opponents of Israel.

That’s the new definition of Anti-semitism in the Merriem-Webster dictionary in their Third New International dictionary.

So basically that makes millions of people (inlcuding a big number of Jews) anti-semites without them knowing it, just because they criticized Israeli policies or felt some sympathy for the Palestinian people.

I’m someone who respects all religions, never had anything against Jews as Jews and always stood by my belief that there is a big difference between a peaceful Jew and a murdering Zionist.
But still, according to this definition, I’m a big anti-semite because I’m totally supportive of the Palestinian cause, and because I’m firmly against Israel’s policies and the Zionist plans behind it.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) have lodged their protest with Merriam-Webster and have asked that Merriam Webster publicly repudiate the definition, send errata sheets to correct the dictionaries in libraries and rephrase the definition in future editions.
But a spokesman for the company, Arthur Bicknell, simply replied that a new edition of the dictionary, with an updated entry, can be expected by the end of this decade and that sending errata sheets to libraries as a temporary fix is beyond their capacity.

[via Jalan-Jalan]

Hard hats worn by Israeli-Arab builders of the Knesset’s new wing marked with a red “X” — to aid security snipers.

The Security Department instructed that their helmets be marked so that it would be easier to distinguish them from other, foreign workers and keep a constant watch on their movements.
The instructions were issued even though many of the workers were cleared by the General Security Service within the last month.

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin ordered Knesset security officers on Tuesday to halt their practice of ordering Arab construction workers at the Knesset to wear special identifying marks. Rivlin’s directive came after he was notified Monday evening of the practice by Member of Knesset Ahmed Tibi.

” I think this is a shameful disgrace for the Knesset”, Said Member of Knesset Issam Mahoul. ” I have no problem with security needs but this kind of marking is insufferable. If it isn?t removed, I will insist that it be replaced with a yellow patch”, he added.
An apparent reference to the yellow Star of David emblems Jews had to pin to their clothes during Nazi rule.

The Israel Office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has also harshly criticized the practice, issuing the following statement:

“While it is understandable that all workers at sensitive sites such as the Knesset have full and thorough security checks, it is both discriminatory and insensitive to visibly mark certain individuals based on race, religion or nationality, regardless of security concerns”

The ADL, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

More at Israeli Daily Maariv.

[via Je Blog]

So AskMen have released their list of the Top 99 Most Desirable Women in the World for the year 2003.

Here are the top 10:

1. Charlize Theron
2. Halle Berry
3. Heidi Klum
4. Salma Hayek
5. Monica Bellucci
6. Brooke Burke
7. Krista Allen
8. Shania Twain
9. Natalie Portman
10. Beyonce Knowles

I can’t really disagree about any of the women in the top 10, but I do honestly think Monica Bellucci should be higher up the list.

Here’s the full list of the Top 99 Most Desirable Women in the World 2003.

[via Hou-Hou Blog]

Abeer Zinaty, an Israeli citizen of Palestinian origin was fired from her job at a McDonald’s restaurant in Ramle, central Israel, specifically because she spoke Arabic to a co-worker.

McDonald’s Corporation confirmed that it has a policy banning its employees from speaking Arabic in its restaurants in Israel, despite the fact that Palestinian citizens of Israel form 20% of its workforce, and Arabic is one of the two official languages of Israel.

It is unimaginable that in its American restaurants, McDonald’s would prohibit the use of Spanish, the most-commonly spoken language in the United States after English.

“Zinaty’s treatment at the hands of the Israeli management of McDonald’s is a stark illustration of an ever-swelling tide of discrimination against Arab workers”
Jafar Ferah (Director of Mossawa — a political lobbying group for Israel’s one million Palestinian citizens)

Related Links:

• McDonald’s Israel reportedly fires employee for speaking Arabic (Electronic Intifada)
• McDonald’s Confirms ‘no-Arabic’ policy at its restaurants in Israel (Electronic Intifada)
• No Arabic at McDonald’s Israel (Al Ahram Weekly)

[via Je Blog, Jalan-Jalan]

So, after months of wasting time and working their interests, the Iraqi Governing Council has signed a new constitution for Iraq today.

A constitution they say will lay a strong foundation for rebuilding a new, free, democratic Iraq that protects the dignity of the human being and protects human rights.
A consitution that paints Iraq as “federal, democratic and pluralist”.

This can only be good, as it means things will be moving on forward from here. And it means that finally some form of democracy is taking place and that a number of people are actually discussing things and taking decisions together even if they have no true legitimacy.

But wait a second, this constitution is just ink on paper and a big load of bullshit unless Paul Bremer gives it a go ahead.
So much for the dream of democracy, huh ?
In the end of the day why didn’t Paul Bremer just write a constitution of his own and force it on everyone ?

The Iraqi Governing Council are just puppets and Paul Bremer is just another kind of dictator, an occupying one .
Nothing has changed for the Iraqi people on the ground. In fact it only got worse. They were living under the rule of a dictator in an Iraq of their own, and now they’re living under the rule of a dictator in an occupied Iraq.