Thinking Allowed

Clowns

2007-05-20T08:21:00.001+08:00

Malaysia has again been embarrassed by the country's volunteer corps (RELA) after two officers arrested and wrongly detained an Indian national film director whom they mistook to be an illegal immigrant.

The director, Mr Sanjiv Mishra, was in Malaysia filming a tourism documentary titled Dream Hotels in Asia for a German production company when two Rela officers arrested him on Monday.

Mr Mishra was only released when his colleagues brought his passport to the station as proof that he entered the country legally.

Rela has attracted a barrage of criticism for abuses of power, including from the US-based Human Rights Watch, which earlier this month called for it to be immediately disbanded.

Article

Comment:
What can I say, it's cowboy country in there! Too little things to do for too many people so they find it necessary to find little things for their people to do in order to achieve an illusion of doing something important.

The buck stops here

2007-04-12T08:25:00.000+08:00

By Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's own admission, this is not the best of times for the Government to be grappling with an issue as sensitive as a pay hike for ministers and civil servants.

Certainly not when the income gap in Singapore is seen to be widening, and not everyone is enjoying the benefits of the returning good times.

So, when Mr Lee took the floor yesterday to wrap up the debate... he said he would freeze his pre-increment salary of $2.5 million for the next five years, promising to donate any increase in pay to charity.

Ok. Nice gallant move and all but why didn't he just donate whatever amount of money he intended to give to the people at the public sector to charitable causes in the first place?

Oh I forgot. Our opinions don't matter.

B-word causes airport scene

2007-03-30T07:29:00.000+08:00

A CASUAL mention of the word "bomb", and apparent over-zealousness of the part of airport security officers, grounded a family of four's holiday plans earlier this month.

On March 9, after checking in their luggage at about 7.15pm, Mdm Tan and her daughter proceeded to the security gantry to have their hand luggage and bodies scanned.

Then her 13-year-old daughter asked casually: "Mummy, why do you have to remove your shoes?"

Mdm Tan, 33, told her it was because the officers were "afraid that we might keep bombs in our shoes".

Overhearing this, a male security officer asked Mdm Tan to repeat what she had said, which she did. According to Mdm Tan, he then told her that she would be reported as she had said the word "bomb" twice.

Full story here

We actually have brainless, inflexible staff working at the airport who are not capable of critical thinking?

Much ado about nothing. Unbelievable.

Soon, plastic for the people

2007-01-23T07:49:00.000+08:00

Banking Act changes give lower-income access to unregulated, limited credit.

There may not be a name for it yet, but cards granting up to $500 in credit could soon line the pockets of Singaporeans who do not qualify for existing credit cards.

The way was paved for this new kind of credit product when Parliament approved changes to the Banking Act yesterday.

First the "Intergrated Resorts" and now this!?

I detest the government more and more each day. What are they doing now? They're supposed to protect the people!

So, damn...

2007-01-01T10:45:00.000+08:00

Egypt on Saturday said it "regretted" the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein which took place on the Muslim feast of sacrifice, the foreign ministry said.

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that the hanging of Saddam Hussein on the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival caused "surprise and dismay", the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Saddam Hussein was buried early Sunday in his home village of Awjah in northern Iraq.

Saddam might indeed have done all that, even to fellow Muslims, but they were very rude to have done the deed on a religious day of importance such as that.

This, I believe have forced open the lid to Pandora's box even more.

Sickened

2006-12-08T09:31:00.000+08:00

I've been around. Just that I don't know what else to comment about when I see the news. It's the same old thing recycled over and over again. Same old crap.

The Singapore government can't get its priorities right.

The US government under Bush can't stop the fires they started.

And every damn news resource seem to want people to believe that Muslims are the enemy. Efforts by Muslims worldwide to maintain peace on both micro and macro levels do not count for one bit.

Just replace 'Muslims' with Buddhists or Catholics and I'd still be as incensed. I just don't like the whole idea of sweeping everything with one broom.

It's sickening. So until I get over it, I won't be posting anything on here. Ta.

Iraq civilian death toll hits new high

2006-11-23T07:07:00.000+08:00

The death toll of civilians killed in Iraq reached a new high of 3,709 in October, a United Nations report said Wednesday.

Quebec is a 'nation'

2006-11-23T07:04:00.000+08:00

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Parliament Wednesday he would recognize the country's francophone Quebec province as a nation within Canada.

Interesting. Like Malta and San Marino within Italy, Andorra sandwiched between France and Spain as well as Monaco in France.

Now there's a win-win situation.

SurpRISE!

2006-11-16T07:16:00.000+08:00

The Goods and Services Tax in Singapore will be increased to 7 percent, up from 5 percent presently.

This was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Parliament on Monday.

Mr Lee said the hike is necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets, which are needed to help the lower income group.

You'll pay more, but you'll be earning more. Higher wages will offset GST hike for better-off echoed Defence Minister Teo.

I smell a rat.

Are they saying the truth?

What happened to the surplus in our reserves? Bad investment moves perhaps? Say, like the Shin Corp deal that went sour and had a big hand in changing the whole government and way of life in Thailand?

Besides, what kind of logic is that just because we could be earning more that GST should also be increased? Isn't this what the income tax is for?

Singapore's government must be the only one in the world which thinks it is bigger than the people and hence not answerable to the people even though 66.6% of the people voted them in the last elections earlier this year.

This "Gahmen (government) say so, just do lor" attitude has got to go.

66.6% of the people must be feeling stupid right now.

I hope some, if not all of the 66.6% will finally realize the usual baiting tactics employed prior to every election for instance the handing out of free money (and sentionalizing it), the promise of estate upgrades (even though it's the people's money to begin with no matter if they come from opposition wards) because what comes after those are the surprises.

Simple folks cannot afford to be simple-minded anymore. Can't just leave everything to the government which apart from two seats is ruled by only one party. They would eventually get big-headed and truly believe every decision they make is the correct one with only two voices to question them.

How can we expect only these two voices to represent us in questioning some of the government's calls that we oppose?

Try it on for size

2006-10-26T07:12:00.000+08:00

It is understood that in some communities, putting on the veil is supposed to repel attention away from oneself, but according to Zaiba Malik, a freelance writer and broadcaster in London, it has quite the opposite effect of what it is trying to achieve.

She has her points but the objective she set out to do with this report is clearly lopsided. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that people are welcome to have their own opinions.

I just wished she or anyone could have been less "provocative" in the pursuit of that. When will it all end if we keep going at it? Let us all live and let live.

Below is an excerpt of her report:

There's a poster on the wall of an Islamic dress shop in East London showing a young woman in a black hijab. Above her is the word "Pure."

I'm here for the full Islamic covering, the complete three-piece suit: the hijab that I will wrap around my head, the shapeless robe known as an abaya, and the now-terribly-controversial niqab — a square of material that goes over one's face with a slit of about five inches for my eyes.

... I take it all home, but I don't put it on until the next morning. When I do, I see myself for the first time in full Islamic dress — and I'm horrified.

... I don't understand the need of women to wear something as severe as the niqab. But for that tiny number that do, I will shake their gloved hands for bearing this endurance task — the staring, the swearing and the discomfort. On the streets of London, the black veil does nothing to distract attention — and everything to attract it.

Muslims being demonised

2006-10-25T10:50:00.000+08:00

The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today said the row over whether Muslims should wear veils had parallels with the hounding of Jews in Nazi Germany.

The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, in his office at City Hall on Tuesday October 23 2006

Mr Livingstone also praised the "incalculable debt" the world owes to Muslim culture, science, learning and commerce. However, Muslims in London face "serious discrimination and prejudice".

Royal row over Russian bear fate

2006-10-21T04:31:00.000+08:00

A Russian official has claimed that a tame bear was plied with honey and vodka, before being shot dead by King Juan Carlos of Spain.

"It's not hunting - it's murder," Sergei Starostin, deputy head of Vologda region's hunting resources department told AFP news agency.

The bear - called Mitrofan - is said to have been taken from his home at a local holiday camp, put into a cage, and transported to the hunting grounds.

"Naturally, a heavy, drunken animal became an easy target. His Highness Juan Carlos took Mitrofan out with one shot," Mr Starostin said in the letter.

Somalia Bans Swimming for Women at Beach

2006-10-21T04:19:00.000+08:00

An Islamic court has banned women from swimming at the main beach in Somalia's capital, the latest step to impose strict religious rule that has sparked fears of an emerging, Taliban-style regime.

"They cannot prevent us from our right to swim in the sea. What is wrong with us enjoying ourselves like men? That is clear discrimination," Miriam Isse told The Associated Press as she watched others swimming in the Indian Ocean.

What is wrong with these people? I am sure God never intended for women to stop living a full life on Earth. They are His creations too.

Veil row may be damaging

2006-10-09T04:23:00.000+08:00

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has warned that the debate about the wearing of the veil by Muslim women could damage community relations.

Mr Prescott said that Jack Straw, the Leader of the Commons, had been right to raise the issue, insisting it should not be a "no go area for debate".

Jack Straw

But he voiced concern that it could also lead to "considerable difficulties" in terms of community relations.

On the flipside, British newspapers on Saturday backed cabinet minister Jack Straw after the political storm sparked by his remarks that veils worn by Muslim women harmed community relations.

Woman in burqa

Rashid Ibrahim, from Baltimore in the American state of Maryland, said: "One has to consider the wisdom behind the veil for women. The wisdom behind the veil is for the protection of the woman. It is not oppressive, rather, it is empowering. In a world rampant with sexuality and nakedness, it is refreshing to see a veiled woman with a strong statement about her body: judge her by the contents of her mind, not her body. It is also sign of obedience to the Almighty Allah."

But another reader, Jackie Lewis, from Harrow in the United Kingdom, said: "I have to agree with Jack Straw's comments on the Islamic veil.

"I am personally offended to see any woman covered up in the 21st century. I often see them wearing the full burka in Harrow, yet they are always accompanied by men in baseball caps, jeans and trainers. As with a lot of faiths there are always double standards between the sexes."

In the White House, blunder after blunder

2006-10-08T05:25:00.000+08:00

Americans had better get used to a failed foreign policy, at least until 2008.

Stephen M. Walt of The Boston Globe sums it up nicely.

And if he was wrong, thousands of others couldn't be.

Oil for life

2006-10-07T04:23:00.000+08:00

Despite Dubya's effort to keep fuelling the "anti-terrorism" movement (pardon the pun), the US military is still worn out after five years of playing cowboys and Injuns.

Should oil continue to be paid with life?

A human by any other nationality...

2006-10-04T05:38:00.001+08:00

... is still a human, isn't it?

A NOTORIOUS Singapore stereotype — the maid suffering abuse in silence or getting her salary deducted without good reason — may soon have to be revised.

I've often seen foreigners, not only maids, who earn their living in Singapore, being exploited by their local employers.

I don't understand it.

The popular mentality here is that as long as you come from some third world country or some country whose economic situation is worse than ours, that you suddenly do not have any right as a human being.

Why is that so?

Why do some local employers subject their foreign workers to these conditions?

Why does coming from a lesser country automatically qualify one as less than a human being?

Some filipinos hired as maids, in my observation are made to work at their employers' company premises for long hours for a pittance... with no off days!

There are also Sabah and China workers who get paid slightly more in salary and slightly better terms but just because they're foreigners, they're subject to differing conditions as compared to local workers by I would say, a big margin.

For instance, a normal working day for them includes a 12 hr shift as compared to 9 for a local. Some of them do not even get paid overtime for anything on top the stipulated hours.

If they're lucky, they get an off day once a fortnight as compared to once a week for a local.

On the flipside, we could take it that they should be grateful to even manage to get a job in Singapore and they are in this respect.

The amount of money they take home is probably worth little to us but when converted to their respective home currencies, it's a fortune. That much is true.

However my argument is about whether they should be treated as less than a human being just because they come from a less fortunate place.

Why should another human being treat another this way?

From Singapore, with love...

2006-10-04T05:38:00.000+08:00

Last week, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi sought to find out why Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had made certain remarks recently about the state of ethnic Chinese in Malaysia. Yesterday, Mr Lee wrote back to Mr Abdullah, explaining both the context and the reasoning behind what he had said. The following is the text of his letter.

Excerpt - My neighbours both have problems with their Chinese. They are successful, they are hardworking and, therefore, they are systematically marginalised, even in education. There are quotas to prevent you.

I don't claim to be an expert in these matters but in my observation, I do not think MM Lee was half wrong in his statement.

What he said was already quite obvious for all to see just that it is a taboo subject.

However, what makes him so smug to believe that the opposite is not happening here?

Just look at the classifieds any day of the week. "Chinese-speaking preferred" almost automatically takes a non-Chinese out of the equation in the job-search process.

Just stating the obvious. There is nothing to hide when it is not hidden in the first place.

Is Singapore less guilty in this context?

East Timor PM says jailbreak was preventable

2006-09-03T11:50:00.000+08:00

More than 50 prisoners walked out of the Becora jail on Wednesday, including rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado, renewing concerns about security in the fledgling nation.

"Had there been strong security outside, this could have been prevented. I am personally just puzzled why in spite of our repeated requests for static forces to be outside the prison this was not done," Ramos-Horta told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

This is what we call "biting the hands that feed you".

US Muslims face growing suspicion

2006-09-03T11:37:00.000+08:00

"The trends of Islamophobia unfortunately are worsening," Abdul Malik Mujahid, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organisations of Greater Chicago, said.

Politicians and the media are certainly to blame for the US public's increasing hatred and fear of Islam in the five years since the September 11 attacks.

They continue to face dehumanization and a great trend of Islamophobia. Their crime? Just for being Muslims.

How is that fair?

Beating the Bush around the bush

2006-08-18T08:58:00.000+08:00

President George W. Bush has strongly defended his Iraq war policy against Democratic demands to bring US troops home and warned that if America leaves Iraq could become a country controlled by terrorists willing to use oil as a weapon.

"Controlled by terrorists willing to use oil as a weapon..."

Ha ha ha ha ha ho ho!!!

LOOK who's talking?

Seriously though, Bush could have said anything else but that. Everyone knows his intentions. I have said it before and I'll say it again. The US should finish what they started, work towards the best solution and leave.

Train the Iraqi government and military to look after themselves and leave some oil for them to work with, then go. Stop meddling. Their involvement is actually encouraging more people to go up against them when in fact they're trying to achieve the exact opposite.

No wonder popularity ratings are near the lowest of his presidency due largely to dissatisfaction over Iraq. No amount of damage control is enough but he could lessen the damage on himself and his country by being more wise.

John Prescott, the UK's Deputy Prime Minister, has given vent to his private feelings about the Bush presidency, summing up George Bush's administration in a single word: crap.

That was very eloquent. It sums just about everything up.

Death of Moderates in The Muslim World

2006-08-13T09:29:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Israel and company, all volcanoes of suppressed, calmed and negotiated hard feelings are now erupting in the Muslim world.

All old and new wounds are now open and sore — from the creation of Israel on Arab land, to 1967 war that grabbed more lands including Islam’s third holiest shrine, Al-Aqsa Mosque, to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the over twenty years of occupation of its southern part, to Qana I that killed scores of civilians to Gaza and Jenin massacres up to the recent history from Afghanistan to Iraq.

The list of wounds is long and hurtful, and whenever it seems to cool a bit, an adventure like this hits again. No lull is long enough for moderates to preach peace, forgiveness and logic.

Mideast crisis

2006-08-07T06:38:00.000+08:00

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, has told European leaders to stop preaching to him about civilian war casualties.

He added, "If Hezbollah knew what the consequences of their attack would be, would they nevertheless have done it? I don't think so."

Meanwhile Lebanon rejects a draft U.N. Security Council resolution to end 26 days of fighting because it would allow Israeli forces to remain on Lebanese soil, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Sunday.

And in the US, respondents to a CNN poll released Friday were nearly evenly split on President Bush's handling of the current conflict in the Middle East.

Forty-six percent of 1,047 Americans participating in the telephone poll, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN, said they disapproved of Bush's handling of the crisis, while 43 percent said they approved. Ten percent had no opinion.

Nearly. Evenly. Split.

It's a no-brainer. What have they got to be split about? Why would anyone support this or have no opinion about it even?

Break

2006-08-05T10:18:00.000+08:00

I'm on a self-imposed hiatus from writing on this blog. Everyday's the same old bad news and it's getting to me.

Till then.

What price, peace of mind?

2006-07-31T11:47:00.000+08:00

Cisco's Track and Trace system (TTS), to be launched later this year, will enable Singaporeans to trace almost everything — from loved ones to company property. It is the ultimate tool for employers.

Its other service, Safeview, sells "peace of mind" to parents who worry about leaving their children alone at home with their maids, or storeowners who want to check on what the sales staff are doing with just a flip of a 3G mobile phone.

And come Sept 1, a new Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) network set up by the Singapore Land Authority will mean users can track anything or anyone to within half-a-centimetre accuracy.

But all this comes at a price. Just when and where do we cross the privacy line?

Respect for privacy is perhaps the human race's last bastion in the preservation of human dignity. It is one thing to use a tracking device to trace a missing passenger to improve an airline's punctuality, but it is quite another thing to pry into what he purchases at a shop.

Israel halted

2006-07-31T11:40:00.000+08:00

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on all countries to stop Israel’s "fascist crimes" in Lebanon here on Sunday.

"What Israel is doing is fascism and terrorism. We call on the world to stop Israel's insanity," he said during a ceremony at the University of Tehran in which he was awarded the Order of the Islamic Republic of Iran, First Grade.

The world must have the ability to stop Israel’s madness, he added.

He emphasized that Iran and Venezuela have adopted a common stance condemning the Israeli crimes.

"Bush claims that he has a connection with God every day, but, in fact, he has a connection with the devil because no other country has put humanity in danger like the United States," he said.

Israel bowed to international pressure last night and agreed to suspend its aerial bombardment of southern Lebanon for 48 hours, after an air strike killed at least 60 civilians - more than half of them children.

"Why have they attacked little children and defenceless women?" asked a bereaved man.

The three unwise men

2006-07-25T11:37:00.000+08:00

1) Seeking another recruit for his anti-American movement, Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez began a major international tour yesterday with a visit to the isolated former Soviet nation of Belarus, whose authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has been dubbed Europe's last dictator.

He seems to be on a roll, Chavez. It's not good news for the rest of the peace-loving world. World war seems to be apparent with two sides already forming in the past year or so, and even more obvious now.

2) In spite of the unfolding catastrophe in Lebanon, US President George W. Bush (and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair) have agreed to give Israel at least until the end of the month to achieve its war aims. They have rejected demands for an immediate ceasefire from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, from European and Arab leaders, and from a rising groundswell of outraged international opinion.

These actions will undoubtedly be met with resistance and only produce more violence and chaos. Doesn't matter what the rest of the world says, such is the arrogance of the US and its puppets.

3) The Australian government is to consider boosting its defence force numbers, with Defence Minister Brendan Nelson indicating more soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan and possibly Lebanon.

This is another bad sign. When governments such as that of sleeping giants like Australia are considering this sort of moves, it tells a lot of what to expect in the near future.

I'm not sure if Australia's going to keep its "defensive" status in its military force in the time to come.

A changed world makes next polls tougher: PM

2006-07-24T08:41:00.000+08:00

Speaking at the appreciation dinner for retired Members of Parliament (MPs) on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the People's Action Party (PAP) must expect a much tougher fight in the next General Election, as by 2011, the world and Singapore would have changed.

The Prime Minister said that his party was already starting to look for new candidates for the 2011 election, adding that the second line of leaders should be preparing to take over, while a third one forms.

The former Speaker of Parliament, Mr Tan Soo Khoon, also added, asking the new MPs to respect the "views of those who disagree", and asked the Government to "smile" at itself when confronted with "gentle" jibes.

"So even now as we call on every Singaporean to put on a wide grin come September for our visitors, we too can learn to smile at ourselves, if some choose to poke gentle fun at us."

What does it all mean?

2006-07-24T08:18:00.000+08:00

Bush's 'freedom doctrine' is but another secular attempt to justify a political point-of-view.

modern Western thought has been obsessed with ideology, providing a secular substitute for the interpretation of human existence previously provided by biblical religion.

European thought concluded in the 18th and 19th centuries that it was unreasonable to believe that God exists, or that human existence is, in some meaningful way, connected to a divine intelligence.

There has been plenty of progress in science, technology and human organisation and institutions since the presumed death of God more than 200 years ago. But the years since have also given us ideological totalitarianism, the two world wars and many savage smaller wars, genocide in Europe, Africa and Asia, and the war "between civilisations" that George W Bush is now pleased to call the "long war" against global terror and tyranny.

This is the recent record of human progress through reason — although some would object that it is no worse than much that preceded it. But the Age of Reason was supposed to be better. Reason and science were supposed to move steadily toward solution of the great problems of history.

The latest of these to gain international significance was, of course, the Bush "freedom doctrine", saying that everyone everywhere wants American-style democracy, and that when they have it, history will have reached its goal.

We are plausibly told by Washington, the world is only at the start of the "long war" against Evil (itself a theological reinterpretation of a political effort to control the Middle East).

As for my own view, I do not think God is dead, and I think only he knows the meaning of history. The problem for man is not to try to substitute his own for the divine intelligence.

But I doubt many are listening.

by William Pfaff
The writer is a veteran columnist on world affairs for the International Herald Tribune.

Trick or threat

2006-07-23T17:55:00.001+08:00

I'm just throwing this out in the open here. The way the world's going on right now is like a combination of the periods prior to both WW1 and WW2.

In summary:
1) Nose-diving economy
2) Increased armament activity worldwide
3) Big sports event occuring in Germany (ok so this last one doesn't prove anything)

Not really in summary:
Countries have armed themselves excessively since forever, especially after the last World War. This includes putting in place mandatory military service, developing of new weapons technology, the trading of weapons technology and others. But a lot of these effort are going nowhere.

Weaponries get obsolete and are replaced with more sophisticated ones, soldiers get old and are replaced by younger ones, and for what?

Governments spend perhaps trillions of dollars in the last few decades building up their defence only for the "investment" to just be written off year after year. It is a big waste of money. At some point, some of them would want to see some returns of their investment.

In a down-spiralling global economy, the US is leading the race for acquiring raw commodity such as oil, forcibly or not, knowing that the value of the dollar is closely pegged to the quantity of oil being circulated worldwide in order to continue forcing the value of their currency to be maintained at a high level.

Such is the arrogance of the Americans, they always have to take something that is existing, change the rules, change the name, Americanize the whole thing and make themselves world champions. They absolutely have to win at all cost.

Right now, from the east to the west, there is a tit for tat military aggression between Israel, Palestine and Lebanon with some countries like USA, Russia, Iran and Syria watching on the side just waiting to jump in, India is blaming Pakistan for allowing troublemakers to operate from within to attack it, Iran wants to be a nuclear-power and are not backing down from their nuclear ambition, anarchy in Iraq and Afghanistan, northeast Asian countries are getting nervous about North Korea's recent nuclear tests, Australia wants to be a world police, there is a growing anti-American leftist movement in Latin America led by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro, long-standing civil wars in Ivory Coast, Somalia, Sudan in Africa and so on and so forth.

One thing all these problems have in common is USA.

It seems that the only thing USA is good at is being nosey about other countries' business. To them, if it affects them, it is their problem. It doesn't matter if each country is sovereign in its own rights.

It's not suprprising if World War 3 should start soon since many countries just cannot wait to show off who's got the biggest muscles for the right to exist. This could also provide a stop gap measure to ease the unemployment status in each country, just like the period between WW1 and WW2 had been.

People get employed to build more weaponries and military gear for the armies and men get themselves killed just because some power-crazy heads of states decide as such.

The world map

Should it occur, there would be two sides, as I've mentioned in an earlier entry, with both sides claiming the other is evil. It'd be complete madness.

Team USA roster
USA
Canada
Mexico
European Union
Israel
India
Japan
South Korea
Australia
The Philippines

Team New Order
Venezuela
Ecuador
Bolivia
Cuba
Lebanon
Palestine
Iran
Russia
China
North Korea

It's very real and very scary. More countries would be dragged in on both sides and the reality of a nuclear war cannot be too far away. Each side has its own nuclear arsenal.

All the innocent people of the world can do is stand back, some will get caught in the crossfire, and wait for the first party to unleash nuclear technology.

Hopefully, it doesn't happen. Hopefully, what I had just written is only a fragment of my imagination.

Deadly times

2006-07-20T21:54:00.000+08:00

Lebanon pleaded for mercy but got none. Instead, it endured its eighth day of terror since two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by the anti-Zionist Hizbollah forces.

At least 72 civilians were killed and scores wounded in a series of deadly Israeli raids across Lebanon.

Russia has sharply criticized Israel over its onslaught against Lebanon, now in its ninth day. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Israel's actions have gone "far beyond the boundaries of an anti-terrorist operation" and repeating calls for an immediate cease-fire.

Who knows, maybe Iran is next for being strong Hizbollah supporters. The Iranian nuclear plan offers a huge threat to Israel if realized. It doesn't seem that they're backing down just yet.

"This war is going to end with a sour taste in our mouths," wrote Yaron London in the best selling Yedioth Ahronoth daily. "We had best begin to accustom ourselves to that flavor."

Java hit by tsunami

2006-07-18T21:40:00.000+08:00

Despite efforts to establish an early warning system in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami, there was still no reported local warning of the tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Java on Monday. The death toll has risen to at least 339.

The tsunami was triggered by a 7.7 magnitude undersea earthquake that struck off Pangandaran causing a 2m-high wave.

In addition to the dead, about 450 people have been injured and around 52,700 people have been displaced.

Violent crimes up in early 2006: Malaysia

2006-07-17T09:20:00.000+08:00

Malaysian Deputy Internal Security Minister Fu Ah Kiow said that the number of violent crimes — especially robbery, bag snatching and rape — had increased in the first five months of this year.

The authorities, according to him, were hard-pressed to find out the reason for the increase, but attributed the incidents of bag snatches to drug addicts and immigrants.

In my opinion, that is only one source of the problem. The other is "poor economy" or the result of it. Most opt for the easy way out, which is to commit crime knowing they have a good chance of escaping despite Mr Fu's claims that Malaysia has had a high rate of success in solving violent crimes.

However, one way of self-improvement is to accept there is a problem in the first place and in this matter, the Malaysian government has only one way to go - up.

The Bush agenda

2006-07-17T08:46:00.000+08:00

The US President George Bush cemented his softly-softly approach to his old friend Vladimir Putin yesterday, admitting he would not be tackling him on the state of Russian democracy or Chechnya at the G8 summit.

That is a great idea seeing that the US has now got a bigger problem right in their own home. Al Qaeda released a video that reflects a significant change in how it operates which is to recruit ordinary American Muslims who might be offended, as many ordinary Americans are, by America's mistakes and moral failings in carrying out the war on terrorism.

It is only now, nearly five years after Sept. 11, that the full picture of the Bush administration's response to the terror attacks is becoming clear. Much of it, we can see now, had far less to do with fighting Osama bin Laden than with expanding presidential power.

The same pattern emerges: Given a choice between following the rules or carving out some unprecedented executive power, the White House always shrugged off the legal constraints particularly that of the Geneva Convention.

At hearings last week, the administration made it clear that it merely wanted Congress to legalize President George W. Bush's illegal actions - to amend the law to negate the court's ruling.

Undoing the Geneva Conventions would further endanger the life of every member of the U.S. military who might ever be taken captive in the future. And if the prisoners scooped up in Afghanistan and sent to Guantánamo had been properly processed first many would never have been kept in custody, a continuing reproach to the country that is holding them. Others would actually have been able to be tried under a fair system that would give the world a less perverse vision of U.S. justice.

Retaliation is a result of provocation. They must accept that. They're guilty of provocation and no matter how much they always try to point their fingers at others, the truth is finally out.

It was embarassing when Bush loyalists argued that the United States could not follow the Geneva Conventions because Common Article Three, which has governed the treatment of wartime prisoners for more than half a century, was too vague. Which part of "civilized peoples," "judicial guarantees" or "humiliating and degrading treatment" do they find confusing?

The administration's intent to use the war on terror to buttress presidential power was never clearer than in the case of its wiretapping program. Republicans in Congress were all but begging for a chance to change the process in any way the president requested. Instead, of course, the administration did what it wanted without asking anyone. They simply ignore the issue.

Bush's constant efforts to assert his power to act without consent or consultation has warped the war on terror. The unity and sense of national purpose that followed September 11 is gone. The president had no need to go it alone - everyone wanted to go with him. But the obsession with presidential prerogatives created fights where no fights needed to occur and made huge messes out of programs that could have functioned more efficiently within the rules.

The horror of September 11 became an excuse to take up this cause behind the shield of Americans' deep insecurity. The results have been devastating. Civil liberties have been trampled. The nation's image as a champion of human rights has been gravely harmed. Prisoners have been abused, tortured and even killed at the prisons we know about. American agents "disappear" people, some entirely innocent, and send them off to torture chambers in distant lands.

86,000 R&D jobs to be created in S'pore by 2015

2006-07-15T11:43:00.000+08:00

Singapore is aiming to create 86000 jobs in R&D by 2015.

In the greater scheme of things, this is of course a great ambition but it wasn't mentioned how many jobs will be lost along the way and how many of these 86000 would actually go to Singaporeans.

Some of these jobs would just be like replacing jobs lost in the R&D and other sectors from now till then and that much number of jobs is just about right to keep up with the growing population. Let's just hope most of it would actually go to us.

It also signals Singapore's intention to be yet another hubba hubba hub. R&D hub this time. It's yet another great shift in focus that we need to stay competitive. It's an announcement to the world that we should be considered as an ideal location for such an industry. Plug and play nation we are.

On the whole, I applaud this move.

Malaysia declassifies crooked bridge papers

2006-07-15T11:39:00.000+08:00

After almost a decade of fruitless negotiations, Malaysia has finally declassified the crooked-bridge-to-nowhere documents which includes correspondence between Malaysia and Singapore's past and present leaders, in a bid to counter their ex-PM's harsh criticisms.

Those are very expensive papers. I hear Gerbang Perdana, the contractor who built the now-redundant foundation for the bridge is holding out for more compensation.

Recipe for disaster

2006-07-15T11:26:00.000+08:00

A number of harsh critics of Hugo Chávez are claiming that, in the course of a planned upcoming tour of Russia at the end of this month, the Venezuelan President may decide to also visit North Korea suggesting the purpose of the trip is to initiate ‘oil-for-missile’ talks with American arch-nemesis Kim Jong Il.

Should this occur for certain, coupled with whatever's happening in the Middle East, it could add fuel to the fire leading to a war on a much larger scale than what we're seeing today. Big trouble a-brewin' already.

Two sides. A few countries on each side. Most capable of unleashing nuclear technology. Both claiming the other is evil like what's going on in South Asia presently. Recipe for disaster.

God help us.

It's not all about money

2006-07-14T10:16:00.000+08:00

So, money isn't everything after all — even when it comes down to determining how committed one is to a job.

Just one in four employees said money was an important factor in driving job satisfaction, compared to 56 per cent who chose having a good working environment as their key motivator.

Who are they kidding?

The Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) survey, which involved 127 companies that employ between 50 and 800 people, found that monetary rewards may have played a significant role in attracting people to a company, but in driving employee loyalty and commitment, cash plays a small role.

Instead, topping the list of motivators are: A good working environment and bosses who involve staff in decision-making.

Right... . Even if they pay peanuts? I don't think so. They didn't ask me.

I believe this is just another one of those superficial "findings" consistently sent out to the media that's meant as a propaganda in order to create a small ripple to boost the economy in the larger scheme of things over a short period.

I don't believe everything they say. I figure my own things out, thanks.

Acts of war raise risk to Mideast region

2006-07-14T10:04:00.000+08:00

It is not yet war between Israel and Lebanon, but these are acts of war.

So now everyone in the Middle East is involved. Guess all Israel, under their new coalition leadership, needed was an excuse and it came when one of their soldiers, hardly a key appointment holder, was kidnapped by Palestinian trouble-makers a couple of weeks ago.

They're all over the region now and probably looking for a fight to prove their might and confirm without a doubt that they belong where they are right now.

These don't look like the military

So many sparks in the world today, it feels like WW3 is coming.

The wrong people are being punished
Everyone's being punished collectively

M'sia's covert power struggle

2006-07-13T11:33:00.000+08:00

The gripping drama that is the spat between Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his successor, Mr Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has seen a respite for the past week. That's because both men were on holiday.

... It's hard to picture Dr Mahathir ever losing a battle. After all, he's won so many. But this time, it could well be that the seasoned politician has grossly miscalculated the situation. He is, ironically, the victim of his own success, for it was Dr Mahathir who concentrated all the levers of power in the hands of the executive.

Taliban use beheadings and beatings to keep Afghanistan's schools closed

2006-07-11T12:21:00.000+08:00

The letter pinned overnight to the wall of the mosque in Kandahar was succinct.

"Girls going to school need to be careful for their safety. If we put acid on their faces or they are murdered then the blame will be on their parents."

Today the local school stands empty, victim of what amounts to a Taliban war on knowledge. The liberal wind of change that swept the country in 2001 is being reversed.

By the conservative estimate of the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, 100,000 students have been terrorised out of schools in the past year. The number is certainly far higher and many teachers have been murdered, some beheaded.

Israel launches strikes after rebuffing ceasefire

2006-07-09T16:34:00.000+08:00

Israel launched rapid-fire air strikes against Palestinian targets across the Gaza Strip on Sunday after rebuffing a proposed ceasefire by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

Israel is threatening to expand its offensive unless militants release Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier abducted in a cross-border raid on June 25, and halt rocket fire on Israeli cities.

At least three militants were injured in an early morning air strike near the Karni commercial crossing between Gaza and Israel, Palestinian medics and police said.

Seven Palestinians, including a 6-year-old girl and a policeman, on Saturday, Palestinian witnesses said.

I don't know if we'd ever see peace in the middle east in this lifetime... .

Poetic justice

2006-07-07T08:46:00.000+08:00

The Somali gunmen who shot dead two people watching a World Cup match have been arrested and will face Islamic justice, Sheik Aweys an Islamist leader has said.

Somalian extremists shoot two for watching World Cup

2006-07-06T11:15:00.000+08:00

SOMALI Islamist militia shot dead two people who wanted to watch the World Cup semi-final, in the latest sign of a hardline religious edge to the newly-powerful movement, witnesses said yesterday.

Four others were wounded in the fracas outside a cinema.

The Islamists, who kicked US-backed warlords out of Mogadishu then took control of a large swathe of southern Somalia last month, initially sought to project a moderate image but have been increasingly showing a more radical side.

And they still believe they're right. Paradise awaits? For causing mindless grief all around, I don't think so.

Our own law commission?

2006-07-05T12:57:00.000+08:00

OVER the past year, there have been calls for law reform in several areas of law.

There have been suggestions that the Films Act needs to be updated to be in synch with our developing society and its norms. Arguments have also been put forward that various aspects of our criminal law be reviewed so as to give better rights to a defendant, especially one arrested by mistake or through entrapment.

For example, lawyer Thomas Koshy argued in Today recently on the need to provide a wrongfully accused person the right to recover his legal costs from the state.

These aspects of law reform could have a profound impact on the legal rights, liabilities and duties of many, if approved by Parliament.

Yet, these calls have been met with silence from the two bodies that bear the important burden of law reform.

The primary entity for law reform in Singapore is the Law Reform and Revision Division (LRRD) of the Attorney-General's Chambers, whose two-fold mission is "to review and reform the law to meet the needs of Singapore and its people in the 21st century" and to revise legislation "to consolidate, modernise and simplify them".

The secondary entity is the Law Reform Committee (LRC) of the Singapore Academy of Law, which makes recommendations to the Government on the need for legislation in any area of law; reviews any legislation before Parliament; and publishes selected reports available online.

Not many laymen seem to know of these two bodies. They seem to be...

America in the eyes of the world: Unpopular and discredited

2006-07-05T12:52:00.000+08:00

America's self-defined campaign against terrorism has not always received full endorsement or support by the rest of the world.

So much so that Americans at one point asked "Why do they hate us?" as much as the world today questions "Why does the US continue with flawed policies?"

According to a YouGov/Gulf News survey carried out in June, respondents had no doubt that the policies of the current US administration had made the world a worse place to live in.

A whopping 70 per cent believed so, regardless of their nationality. Only a handful (7 per cent) expressed the exact opposite opinion. This overall dismay was seen across the different age and income groups, gender and religious conviction.

Even respondents who had expressed their liking of Americans and their belief in the US as being the only superpower harboured the same sentiments.

No licence to massage

2006-07-04T21:54:00.000+08:00

In a three-day, island-wide operation that began last Friday and lasted until Sunday, scores of plain-clothes police officers conducted surprise checks on 129 massage parlours in the heartlands, of which 37 were caught operating without a valid licence.

In total, 77 foreign workers — from China, Malaysia and Thailand — were arrested for offences under either the Immigration Act or the Employment of Foreign Workers Act.

Operators of the other 92 parlours were also advised by the police to remove curtains and partitions that obstructed their shops from the view of the public.

They were also all issued reminders to register their businesses with the Police Licensing Division before the Aug 26 deadline.

If only one good thing could come out of this, it is that those jobs can now be filled up by Singaporeans like they should have been in the first place.

But it's not as easy as it seems? Do Singaporeans want to fill up those jobs anyway? And will there be enough job openings now that many of the massage parlours are closing down in response to this new ruling?

Bush: fighting fit and shocked to be 60

2006-07-04T21:37:00.000+08:00

On Thursday, President George Bush will undergo what will come to be the defining experience of boomers in the next few years: he turns 60.

We're all shocked.

Smoked out as ban kicks in

2006-07-03T12:19:00.000+08:00

When the extension of the smoking ban kicked in last Saturday, some football fans gave up their seats rather than forsake their puffs.

Under the extension of the smoking ban which kicked in on Saturday, smoking is prohibited in indoor eateries. Hawker centres without outdoor areas can convert 10 per cent of their indoor seating capacity into smoking corners. For those with outdoor seating areas, up to 20 per cent of the outdoor area can be designated for smokers.

This could be seen as yet another one-size-fits-all solution by the government but it is a necessity. It is a move necessary to promote health for the public in general.

It only makes sense as there are probably more non-smokers than smokers in the country and it is only fair that they do not be forced to suffer the minority's second hand smoke.

In the short run, of course eating establishments will suffer a dip in earnings, probably from the loss of income of smokers who'd rather not hang around while smoking with friends.

But in the long run, as the ban kicks in, people would find this a norm and adjust accordingly. Everything will get back to normal.

Afterall, how long can smokers hang on to their silent sit out protest? Even smokers need to eat.

New massage rules — here's the rubdown

2006-07-03T12:05:00.000+08:00

THE stricter rules announced a week ago may have reined in some shady massage parlours, but they have also claimed some unintended victims.

Tinted doors and windows are not allowed and curtains and cubicles have to be removed, forcing honest customers and legit masseurs to conduct their services in full view of the public.

This definitely hurts business. Which customer would want to be gawked at while being massaged?

In the short run, as usual, massage parlours would have to reduce prices, hoping to earn their keep by volume which in the long run would make them less motivated to continue. They will one by one die a slow death.

All this is because of a few bad apples in the industry. The Singapore government has once again responded with a one-size-fits-all solution which once agains highlights its "guilty until proven innocent" approach.

Childish games

2006-06-29T11:30:00.000+08:00

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has rejected Mr Chiam See Tong's request for $80 million in upgrading funds for his Potong Pasir ward.

In his reply to Mr Chiam, which was copied to the media, Mr Mah explained that since Mr Chiam claimed during the election campaign that his Town Council had enough funds to do lift upgrading for all the blocks over the next five years, he should therefore proceed to do so.

Will the ruling party please grow up, please grow up, please grow up.

The ultimate axis of evil

2006-06-29T11:20:00.000+08:00

WHAT do American soldiers in Iraq, Israelis in Palestine and Russians in Chechnya have in common?

In each case, soldiers went into battle convinced they were fighting an enemy who was not only inferior, but also represented a threat to their countries. Hatred and fear drive otherwise decent human beings to commit butchery on a scale they would normally be incapable of.

How do ordinary people reach such a state of bestiality?

Israeli army enters Gaza in ground offensive

2006-06-28T22:04:00.000+08:00

Israeli troops entered the southern Gaza Strip, starting a broad ground operation early Wednesday, following the abduction of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants.

The Israeli army has confirmed the start of the offensive, code-named "Summer Rain", adding that the military operation is aimed to secure the return of the kidnapped soldier.

It is the first major ground offensive by the Israeli army since Israel withdrew troops and soldiers from the entire Gaza Strip last summer after 38 years of occupation.

Seems like peace in the Middle East is still a far-fetched idea.

Will the real English master stand up?

2006-06-26T19:34:00.000+08:00

This article highlights some important points in regards to the Singapore government's intention to hire native English speakers to teach local students in the English language.

This problem of having the impression that native English speakers being the best to teach non native English speakers is a myth.

I mean, who'd understand the Scots!

Drug firms attacked on marketing

2006-06-26T19:13:00.000+08:00

The Consumers International lobby group accused drugmakers of using the methods to get doctors to prescribe products and persuade consumers they need them.

Drug firms say that they act within strict guidelines.

One report said only one of the firms studied, Orion Pharma, provided specific marketing budget information.

It also pointed to the "large numbers of serious, recent and repeated breaches of marketing codes".

This showed the "current regulatory framework is clearly insufficient to prevent systemic violations of marketing regulations".

A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore

2006-06-17T20:10:00.000+08:00

To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:

On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?

How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?

That's right. Horse shows.

I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.

I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.

Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?

When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?

When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?

Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?

Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?

With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?

Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.

That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.

It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the window at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"

My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?

And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?

Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.

Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?

I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?

I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.

Yours,

Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com

The War is Killing My Friends and I'm Sick of It

2006-06-17T19:53:00.000+08:00

From: SPC Fish
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 12:22 AM
To: soldiers@michaelmoore.com
Subject: I can't sleep

Thank you! Thank you for caring about us, speaking for us, and telling the truth. A British coalition soldier gave me his copy of Fahrenheit 9/11 while I was serving in Afghanistan. That soldier was involved in a suicide car bomb this month and we took care of him at the hospital. I just got back yesterday and looked you up. I've always been a liberal girl, and it ticks me off to no end that Bush is going to try to take away my rights and screw America over with his Christian-influenced "leadership." And what makes me even more angry is that all my friends and my husband are serving in a bullshit war in Iraq. I served in another bullshit war as a nurse in Kandahar.

I have sent soldiers with missing limbs, with vents breathing for them, with malaria infections, and with burns from IEDs and land mines back to Germany and I don't know why this had to happen in the first place. We will never find Osama, it's a lost effort. In Iraq, we are only breeding more terrorists because we won't leave them alone and let them fix their own problems. We just want to storm on in and make "functional governments" within the Middle East so we can profit from them and their oil. The war is killing my friends and I'm sick of it, I want my husband to come home alive. I'm sick of thinking about the soldiers screaming in the trauma bay before we took them to surgery, and I haven't even seen combat, only the effects. I watched C-SPAN today and saw my senator, Barbara Boxer, ask Condoleeza Rice why we're still there if no progress is being made. She could not answer it, her reply was a tap dance of excuses. It made me cry. Thank you for listening to us.

- SPC Fish

Drug-using doc done in by his habit, not entrapment

2006-06-17T18:58:00.000+08:00

He may have been a young doctor who had made good from a humble background — but recently-convicted Adrian Yeo was a habitual drug user and the actions used to nab him were strictly professional, said the Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA) in a statement on Friday.

The CNB are talking as though the "entrapment" tactic they use to nab drug offenders are justified and to a certain extent they are. Obviously, eliminitating of the growing and manufacturing of drugs is the best solution but that's not gonna happen.

But putting these small time offenders in the gallows using this tactic is a waste of limited resources that could have better been used to go for the big fishes instead. Now they are the people the CNB should be focusing on for without them, there'd be no one to supply all the small fishes.

Demand is nothing without supply and in this context, that is very positive. Nabbing these small time drug offenders is just the tip of the iceberg and "entrapment" only gives the impression they are doing something about the problem at large when in fact they are not doing much to stamp it out.

Timor Leste rebels surrender weapons

2006-06-17T18:52:00.000+08:00

Timor Leste's rebel soldiers on Friday surrendered their weapons to international troops, obeying an order to disarm from President Xanana Gusmao.

The rebels, led by Major Alfredo Reinado, handed over 12 M16 rifles, four handguns and ammunition to Australian troops, who later secured the weapons inside steel containers.

Reinado said more weapons would be coming in from his area of control in the next few days.

Good to know that peace is underway in Timor Leste. Also we shouldn't discount the fact that Major Reinado knew he was being cornered. With the cache of weapons he just surrendered, he couldn't have lasted long with the ball on his side of the court.

He got what he wanted - attention and now for the negotiation bit.

Banned tactics used in detainee interrogations

2006-06-17T18:40:00.000+08:00

Special Operations interrogators gave some detainees only bread or crackers and water if they did not cooperate, according to the investigation by Brig. Gen. Richard P. Formica of the Army.

One prisoner was fed only bread and water for 17 days. Other detainees were locked for as many as seven days in cells so small that they could neither stand nor lie down, while interrogators played loud music to disrupt sleep.

Some detainees were stripped naked, drenched with water and then interrogated in air-conditioned rooms or in cold weather.

Despite the findings, Formica recommended that none of the soldiers be disciplined, saying what they did was wrong but not deliberate abuse.

He faulted "inadequate policy guidance" rather than "personal failure" for the mistreatment, and cited the dangerous environment in which Special Operations forces carried out their missions.

"It is regrettable," Formica said in an interview.

The report made public by the Pentagon on Friday was a heavily redacted copy of the 75-page classified document that Formica completed 20 months ago; but this one was released only in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union.

In my opinion, if the tables were turned, Formica and the whole of the USA would definitely look at it differently, least of all "regrettable". At least the American Civil Liberties Union got a foot in. Shows that there are people in America itself who also wants answers.

Cleric Calls on Bush to Convert to Islam

2006-06-16T08:35:00.000+08:00

A reputed leader of the al-Qaida-linked terror group blamed for deadly bombings across Indonesia on Thursday accused President Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard of waging wars against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir also called on Bush and Howard to convert to Islam, saying it was "the only way to save their souls," adding that families still grieving after the 2002 Bali blasts that killed many foreigners should also become Muslim to find "salvation and peace."

"I feel sorry for the American people, but it seems now they realize he was wrong," Bashir added.

Uh huh. That's gonna happen. What a way to start a Friday.

Iraqi oil money should be shared with people: Bush

2006-06-16T08:31:00.000+08:00

The new Iraqi government should set up a trust fund to share the country's oil money with its people and is forming special repair teams to fix quickly energy sites that are attacked, President George W. Bush said on Wednesday.

"I reminded the government that that oil belongs to the Iraqi people and the government has the responsibility to be good stewards of that valuable asset and valuable resource," he said.

Wow, look who's talking here?

Fraudsters stole $1bn of Hurricane Katrina relief cash

2006-06-16T08:19:00.000+08:00

About US$1bn (£542m) in relief meant for victims of Hurricane Katrina was lost to fraud, with bogus claimants spending the money on Hawaiian holidays, football tickets, diamond jewellery and Girls Gone Wild porn videos, the US Congress was told yesterday.

"We expected it, but we didn't expect it on this magnitude," Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the house homeland security investigations panel, told reporters. "It's an assault on the American taxpayer."

And everyone else in the world who chipped in, if I may add.

Crying foul

2006-06-12T07:55:00.000+08:00

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said there are three criteria when selecting precincts for upgrading: How old the blocks were, where the blocks were — to ensure upgrading is not concentrated in a few constituencies — and support for the Government.

But the Opposition feels it is unfair to place its wards at the back of the upgrading queue.

"Mr Mah's main argument was that the PAP Government had to be fair to those who had voted for the PAP on its promise to upgrade PAP wards. But the bigger question on voters' minds is a very simple one — whether such a promise is a legitimate use of taxpayers' monies or not," said Ms Lim, who is chairman of the Workers' Party.

"Everybody pays taxes whether they live in PAP or Opposition wards. There are no tax rebates for those living in Opposition wards."

The victims the law forgot?

2006-06-12T07:45:00.000+08:00

WHEN a crime is committed, justice may be meted out with the offender being fined, jailed or both. But victims of crime are often left confused and traumatised by the experience in addition to having suffered physical and emotional harm or loss to property.

The criminal justice system has been focused on apprehending and securing convictions against those who were thought to pose a threat to society. This has led to victims of the crime — the ones who had been truly harmed by the offender — being virtually ignored by the process meant to support and protect them.

The victims of crime should be given adequate information about "their" case, such as the progress of investigation, prosecution, conviction and sentence of the offender.

The greater attention given to victims of crime is a result of a realisation by governments around the world of their obligation to protect individuals from harm — and where this is not possible, to render adequate support for them to get on with their lives.

Dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system by victims of crime may be a factor leading to failure to report offences, which means that society as a whole will suffer if the offender is free to commit other offences.

Released without charge

2006-06-11T12:07:00.000+08:00

The two brothers arrested last week in an anti-terror raid on a house in east London, in which one was shot, were released without charge last night after police failed to find any link to an alleged biological terror plot.

Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23 and Abul Koyair, 20, maintained their innocence throughout their detention. They were released from Paddington Green high security police station shortly before 8:30pm after an extensive search of their house.

More than 250 police officers, some of them armed and wearing biochemical suits, burst into the house at 4am last Friday after receiving intelligence claiming that a chemical or biological weapon could be inside.

During the operation, Mr Kahar was shot in the shoulder by a police gun. The shooting of Mr Kahar will be investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which could take months to produce a report.

Azad Ali chair of the Muslim Safety Forum, which tries to improve relations between the Muslim community and the police, said officers should explain fully to the family what happened and apologise for the trauma they caused.

"The police have clearly made errors and they have to learn lessons," he said.

In light of the situation, the brothers' family sent a statement to at least 20 mosques on Thursday evening which was read to worshippers during prayers on Friday afternoon, urging them to disassociate themselves from the event.

Mr Koyair and Mr Kahar's sister, Humeya Kalam, said the police raid represented "barbaric and horrific actions" but an extremist protest would "only give another opportunity for our community to be portrayed in a negative light".

Danish PM confronts Bush

2006-06-11T12:04:00.000+08:00

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Friday became the first foreign leader to publicly confront President George Bush over allegations of civilian killings in the Iraqi town of Haditha.

It took a leader of a small nation to do this. Shows some balls.

Bush 'would like to empty Guantanamo'

2006-06-11T11:44:00.000+08:00

US President George W. Bush on Friday said that he hoped to "empty" the US-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by sending some detainees home and trying the most dangerous in US courts.

In the meantime, three detainees at Guantanamo Bay apparently committed suicide amid protests of the U.S. military prison by inmates, the Defense Department said Saturday.

Don't just say it. Do it.

Uncivilised war

2006-06-05T21:33:00.000+08:00

At least 40 people -- some of them high school students -- were reported killed across Iraq, as the new government failed to name security ministers to deal with continuing violence.

Seems like they are running out of people to kill so they're killing one another. It's just plain ridiculous.

GUILTY!

2006-06-02T09:04:00.000+08:00

A US military jury on Thursday found US army Sergeant Santos Cardona guilty of threatening a detainee at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison with his dog, and of dereliction of duty.

Timor Leste roundup

2006-06-02T08:51:00.000+08:00

Yesterday morning at Becora, Timor Leste, Kiwi troops led by Major Eugene Whakahoehoe took over from Charlie Company of Australia's 3RAR battle group just hours upon arrival.

They immediately set out to patrol some of Dili's toughest districts, tasked with bringing gangs of thugs to heel in townships razed by the violence that still continues to erupt in East Timor's capital.

He said he doubted if the Kiwis would need to use their guns to face down the gangs of slightly-built Timorese: "You put a 100kg Kiwi into the middle of a crowd and it's quite easy to disperse a crowd."

That's right. My first rugby debut was for my school team in a friendly against the New Zealand College and it's not an over-exeggaration when I say that they STEAMROLLED all over us 95-0! And they were on average two years younger than us!

Get out! The Kiwis are coming!

Major Alfredo Reinado, the fired army commander whose rebellion triggered the collapse of security, blamed Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri for the crisis and said it wouldn’t be over until he was gone from office.

He accused the prime minister of ordering troops in April to open fire on civilian demonstrators who supported the rebels. Five people were killed when rioting erupted.

Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato, who was asked by the government to step down earlier this week, officially announced his resignation Thursday. He said he accepted “moral and political responsibility” for failing to ensure the safety of the police officers killed last week.

Defense Minister Roque Rodriguez also resigned Thursday. The government had announced earlier in this week he would be replaced.

Looks like Alkitiri is doing a Rumsfeld but for the sake of peace and a bigger cause than himself, he should be humble, accept responsibility and resign so that Timor Leste can move on as a nation.

No case and UN chief apologises to S'porean

2006-06-02T08:46:00.000+08:00

Singaporean United Nations official Dileep Nair has been cleared of charges of corruption and inappropriate recruitment.

Mr Nair, 55, a former DBS Bank managing director who is now based in Dubai as Singapore's Consul General, had maintained his innocence throughout, pointing out that the campaign against him was revenge for the high-profile investigations conducted by his office with the UN.

That's a piece of good news for Singapore's integrity which has extremely rarely been an issue.

U.S. Troops May Have Fired at Kabul Crowd

2006-06-02T08:10:00.000+08:00

The U.S. military is investigating the possibility that soldiers fired into a crowd of Afghans at the scene of a fatal traffic accident that sparked a day of rioting here this week.

"There are indications, as part of our initial investigation, that coalition soldiers did in fact use their weapons in self-defense," Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for U.S. forces here, said on Wednesday.

Witnesses say the crowd was trying to prevent the troops from leaving the scene to ensure that victims were compensated and that police had time to investigate the accident and arrest anyone responsible. They also say some military vehicles drove over people and crashed into shops in their hurry to leave.

Let's learn

2006-05-31T11:43:00.000+08:00

When Osama Bin Laden spoke of "a Crusader-Zionist-Hindu war against Muslims" in a recent audiotape message, he sought to delegitimise moderate Muslims who refuse to accept violence and coercion as an integral part of their Islamic faith. Bin Laden rejected coexistence with the secular West on the basis of universal human values.

Not all Muslims support his ideas

"The West is incapable of recognising the rights of others," he declared, echoing the sentiment of Muslim revivalists bent upon turning the tide of modernity. According to Bin Laden, "The West still believes in ethnic supremacy and looks down on other nations. They categorise human beings into white masters and coloured slaves."

Something for all to learn. If you keep pushing people's backs to the wall, they are going to bounce back.

Engage, not disengage

2006-05-31T11:39:00.000+08:00

Points stressed by President Nathan at yesterday's swearing in ceremony:

"A younger generation of post-independence Singaporeans have grown up amidst peace and prosperity.

"They have more choices to explore and high expectations of what they want to achieve in life. They are passionate about pursuing ambitions, see the world as their oyster.

"This government must continue to engage and bond with this new generation, and stay in touch with their aspirations and ideals.

"By galvanising the aspirations of the young, we will generate a sense of common endeavour and purpose among all, to shape the future of our country together."

Aid workers gunned down

2006-05-31T11:32:00.000+08:00

Three Afghan women working for the Action Aid agency were gunned down yesterday in a rare attack on aid workers in the normally tranquil northern provinces.

The three aid workers, one aged 20, were gunned down by guerrillas on motorcycles as their vehicle travelled along a quiet rural road near Sheberghan, the capital of Jowzjan province.

This is ridiculous. Biting, no, killing the very hands that feed them. They have totally lost all common sense and logical thinking.

Now they have nothing left

2006-05-30T11:09:00.000+08:00

Bantul, a semi-rural district just south of the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, in the heartland of the island of Java where farmers grow rice, corn and chillies, was hardest hit by an earthquake that struck the area on Saturday morning. More than 80 per cent of buildings were flattened.

The total death toll stood at more than 4,600 last night, with up to 20,000 injured and more than 100,000 left homeless.

Budi Wiyana, 63, whose house was destroyed, said: "We're short of everything - clothes, food, water, all are gone. We are poor people, but our lives still matter."

Guantanamo hunger strike

2006-05-30T11:06:00.000+08:00

The number of detainees on hunger strike at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has grown and now involves 75 inmates.

"This new hunger strike is likely a co-ordinated, but short-term, effort designed to coincide with the military commission hearings scheduled for the next several weeks as defence attorneys and media normally travel to Guantanamo to observe this process," Navy Cmdr Durand said in a statement.

How does he live with himself?

God-sent

2006-05-30T11:04:00.000+08:00

AUSTRALIAN peacekeepers made a show of force in East Timor's smouldering capital, Dili, yesterday, throwing youths wielding machetes to the ground and handcuffing them as residents looked on.

Not a walk in the park

2006-05-30T10:51:00.000+08:00

"They are not brave soldiers (US-led coalition forces). They are just backstreet, bad-driving thugs. They think Afghanistan is a playground where they can practise shooting," said one protester.

Seems like Afghanistan is turning out to be a park... Jurassic Park.

Radicalism spotting

2006-05-28T15:08:00.000+08:00

An Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were fatally shot last week in Baghdad because they were wearing shorts, authorities said yesterday, reporting the latest in a series of recent attacks attributed to Islamic extremists.

Still living in the past, some people. Sigh...

Divine help wanted

2006-05-28T15:02:00.000+08:00

Frightened Timorese packed churches to pray for peace on Sunday, but gangs allied to feuding police or army units continued to rampage through the capital, evading foreign peacekeeping troops and torching homes and vehicles.

Dear God, we need some brains around here. And jobs too, please.

"Why aren't the Australians doing anything?" said one youth, manning a barricade on the main road leading from the airport.

"It has begun to quiet things down, it's a trickier operation than some people think," Australian Prime Minister John Howard told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Sunday. "Nobody should assume that it's just a simple walk-in-the-park military operation - it's quite challenging."

"This is nothing to do with the current situation," said Eduardo Villieras, a businessman. "These are just hooligans causing trouble and settling old scores.

Some want to see the Australians take a firmer hand.

"They need to crack heads to get them to stop," said Felipe Carrascalao.

Will the real threat please stand up

2006-05-28T14:46:00.000+08:00

"This is only the beginning," Bush said. "The message has spread from Damascus to Tehran that the future belongs to freedom, and we will not rest until the promise of liberty reaches every people in every nation."

"If our enemies succeed in acquiring such weapons, they will not hesitate to use them, which means they would pose a threat to America as great as the Soviet Union," he added. "Against such an enemy, there is only one effective response: We will never back down we will never give in, and we will never accept anything less than complete victory."

What exactly is he on about now?

Last July, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, Samir al-Sumaidaie, accused the Marines of killing his 21-year-old cousin in cold blood during a search of his family's home in Haditha, a city of about 90,000 people along the Euphrates River 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.

That is not the only case pending: On Wednesday, the military announced an investigation into allegations that Marines killed a civilian April 26 near Fallujah. The statement gave no further details except that several service members had been sent back to the United States pending the results of the criminal investigation.

Together, the cases present the most serious challenge to U.S. handling of the Iraq war since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

A videotape shot by an Iraqi journalism student, obtained by Time magazine and then by Arab television stations, showed the bodies of women and children, some in their nightclothes after the search operation by US Marines in Haditha last July.

Other evidence such as photographs taken by a Marine intelligence team have convinced investigators that a Marine unit killed as many as 24 unarmed Iraqis, some of them execution-style, in the insurgent stronghold of Haditha after a roadside bomb killed an American in November.

Who is the threat here?

Here comes the South Pacific Police!

2006-05-25T21:16:00.000+08:00

"Did you remember to bring dah bahbecue grill?"

Australian commandos clad in full combat gear flew into East Timor today as the advance guard of an international force called in to prevent a rebellion by disaffected ex-soldiers descending into civil war in the tiny island state.

"Hey mate, reckon they got the Socceroos-Greece game on da tele?"

The violence is the worst since East Timor won independence from Indonesia in 1999. "We can’t control the situation," said Jose Ramos Horta, the Foreign Minister.

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has confirmed some of the rebel soldiers leading the unrest in East Timor were trained in Australia (GASP!).

That has been confirmed by East Timor's Ambassador to Australia Hernani de Silva.

Rodrigo Vasquez playing ninja with the neighbourhood kids

"These are soldiers who have been sacked and so yes you are completely right they will know how to fight," he added.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that not all of them will be armed. Some of them are armed with rifles, machetes and rocket propelled grenades. How cute.

Trigger-happy

2006-05-25T21:07:00.000+08:00

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, urged the international community yesterday to confront Iran quickly over its uranium enrichment program or risk "nuclear aggression" that could plunge the Jewish state and the entire Middle East into chaos.

Here's an idea: Why don't everyone just stop their armament policies, starting with the biggest culprit, the US?

Tall order I must say, since they seem to enjoy bombing everything and anything for whatever reason, no matter who's involved.

Sixteen civilians died in an American air strike over their houses last Sunday.

Their excuse?

"The military did not know civilians were in the houses when A-10 warthog planes fired at buildings," said Col Collins.

Gimme a break! Hello! What do you expect to be in houses!?

Wronging rights

2006-05-25T20:36:00.000+08:00

"They're going to kill women one way or another," said Leyla Pervizat, a women's rights researcher in Istanbul.

Honour-killings. Where's the honour in that?

In this day and age, some people still stick with age old customs that completely do not make sense.

For instance, a woman gets raped. She is forced to commit suicide or be murdered. The assailant walks away.

This is not Islamic culture. This is just plain twisted.

Dumb and Dumber get smarter

2006-05-24T11:20:00.000+08:00

President Bush, facing political pressure for troop cutbacks, said Tuesday he would make a fresh assessment about Iraq's needs for U.S. military help now that a new government has taken office in Baghdad.

So does Blair. It seems both are attempting to improve their credit ratings back home. That could only be good for the world.

They will discuss plans for an accelerated exit of troops from Iraq, starting in July.

The US will increasingly play a supporting role as Baghdad's new government gains its footing, the American president has said.

But George Bush offered no timetable for a US withdrawal despite the new prime minister's promise that Iraqi forces would be in charge in most of the country by December and a British prediction that foreign troops may be out within four years.

Save common sense

2006-05-24T10:37:00.000+08:00

Eighteen-year-old Iranian, Nazarin, is not a child offender. She unintentionally killed a man in self-defence against three of them who attempted to rape her niece and her in March this year.

Now she is facing (has faced?) the gallows (as of 19 May, we have about one week to petition against this sentencing - according to a release by Canada's University of Winnipeg whose president, Lloyd Axworthy, is the former Canada Foreign Affairs minister). I am unable to find more information, but I have signed the petition.

She is but a child whose common sense – and sense of righteousness – is way beyond her years, acting in self-defence, defending her body and her niece's under duress.

Shame on the courts (probably run by adults), the authorities (adults again), and especially to the men who tried to rape innocent young girls. Shame on Iran.

It has not been widely reported, so I've tried to verify the authenticity of this case and it appears to be true.

Given below is the link to the international petition calling for a review of her case and the appalling verdict against her. Also, there are the links to the Amnesty International report and the website of one her top defenders - Iranian-born Miss Canada 2003, Nazanin Afshin Jam.

The Petition.

Amnesty International.

Nazanin Afshin Jam.

Looking the other way

2006-05-23T19:12:00.000+08:00

Britain has provided no financial assistance to the five main pro-democracy organisations in Myanmmar for the past three years. The Government has also failed to provide assistance for the Karen tribespeople, who have been under attack by the Burmese army.

The Government did, however, spend £120,000 of public money to fund scientific surveys of bats near the region where some of the worst repression is occurring.

Lord, get your priorities right!

How does bat-research take precedence over human rights abuse?

John Duh

2006-05-23T18:40:00.000+08:00

It's amazing how Howard is closing himself to the Bush regime when others are staying away, or staying neutral.

In my opinion, Howard has sold out. He's sold Australia out.

Australians can't seem to figure out how to get rid of him so they have learned to live with him and apologize to the world for him. Howard sees himself as a great leader and Australians see him as an embarrassing U.S. parasite.

Somebody needs to remind him who's boss - The Australian people. They hate seeing their country playing right into America's hands.

I mean what's this? Seems that Howard is doing America's bidding here. What has Australia got to do with the European Union's economy?

Guantanamo cha cha

2006-05-22T17:15:00.000+08:00

Here's the world's most despicable female.

"We will be delighted when we can close down Guantanamo," Rice said on Fox News Sunday.

"(But) if we do close down Guantanamo, what becomes of the hundreds of dangerous people who were picked up on battlefields in Afghanistan, who were picked up because of their associations with Al Qaeda?"

Got prove?

Superwoman

2006-05-22T17:12:00.000+08:00

Now here's a person who has very strong beliefs.

Ms Suu Kyi never intended to be a heroine for Burmese democracy. She was nursing her ailing mother in Rangoon when General Ne Win staged the coup in 1988 and the military fired on student protesters, killing thousands.

She spoke out against army brutality and was detained at gunpoint and put under house arrest at her family's rundown house. But she became revered as an icon for the dispossessed and a thorn in the junta's side.

She even chose her country above her dying late husband. Exceptional!

Read on. It's a long shot but hopefully the military junta that's running Myanmmar do not extend her house arrest any longer.

Resolve Iraq

2006-05-22T16:40:00.000+08:00

"We will use maximum force against terrorism, but we also need a national initiative," Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki said in reference to previous calls for "national reconciliation" among all Iraqis.

In my opinion, when push comes to shove, I believe the best resolution for now is for the country to be split in three between the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis.

It's a tough call but if living together can cause so much sectarian violence, I guess this is the most obvious way to go. And then, there's the oil.

There's always the oil, isn't there? I bet they're going to argue about that as well. And USA's going to stick its nose in and complicate things.

Dead right

2006-05-20T13:49:00.000+08:00

New Prime Minister Romano Prodi called the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq a “grave error” and vowed to withdraw Italian forces from the war-torn country.

Here is an honest man. Nothing more to add.

Fire power

2006-05-20T13:43:00.000+08:00

Prime Minister John Howard says he has an open mind on the development of nuclear power in Australia, which has 40 percent of the world's known reserves of uranium, and has called for a full debate on the issue.

Australia must be one of the world's top three most self-sufficient countries. It has everything from coals, to cattle, to human resource and it also the world's supplier for uranium.

I've always thought this was coming. They have it, so why not use it for their own peaceful purposes?

Papa don't preach

2006-05-20T13:38:00.000+08:00

Inmates at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have attacked guards after luring them with a staged suicide attempt.

This is one of the worst things to happen to a human being - to be detained without trial and I guess the inmates there have just had about enough.

How a country like the US can tell other countries like Myanmmar and China to improve their human rights policies is beyond me. It seems that the US believes they're bigger than anything in this universe.

I say, practice what you preach before telling others what they should do.

Scary thought

2006-05-19T08:50:00.000+08:00

"The United States is not very moral, despite the fact it possesses technological, military, and economic power," highlighted Fidel Castro in his conversation with the Iranian President.

It's not about having nuclear technology for whatever purpose anymore it seems. It seems that the world have had enough about the double standards practiced by the self-styled world police that is the US and are just doing things to piss them off.

Doesn't look good.

Doesn't look good when even Venezuela had staged a mock foreign invasion on its own soil to prepare themselves for a real one.

In the words of one high-ranking official, "When oil reaches US$100 per barrel, who knows, anything could happen?"

Scary thought.

Charm/Offensive

2006-05-16T19:19:00.000+08:00

Bush bans arms sales to Venezuela. Uh hmm.

How does it feel to be threatened for a change?

They mentioned reason for doing so because Chavez has been supporting terrorist activities by allying his country with Cuba, Iran, etc but as usual, failed to mention the oil that they rely on Venezuela, 1.5 million barrels a day to be exact.

Nit-picking comes to mind.

And it's not suprising to see Chavez reacting angrily to this sanction.

"Bush is the world's biggest terrorist!" he remarked citing bombing whole towns, civilian populations, killing innocent people and women and children in Iraq as some examples.

At home, Bush's government have fire on their asses right now from the latest blunder they manage to get themselves into - phone tapping. It puts American liberties at risk.

It is time to call the bluff of the Bush administration and Republican water-carriers. The US is not a nation at war. The so-called war on terror has never been a war. It is a threat from a wide variety of autonomous groups that hate the US. But it is not a war, and they cannot justify abandoning the existing laws to fight it.

If they need domestic surveillance, then a new law needs to be created to justify it. Unauthorized gathering of classified information also helps terrorists and their enemies.

Away from home, it's been discovered that the US had been sending possibly mentally unfit soldiers to Iraq while being kept on potent antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, with little or no counseling or medical monitoring..

The suicide rate among troops serving in Iraq reached an all-time high in 2005 when 22 soldiers killed themselves - accounting for nearly one in five of all army non-combat deaths.

The investigation found that at least 11 service members who committed suicide in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite exhibiting signs of significant psychological distress.

In at least seven of the cases, superiors were aware of the problems.

Also, at least three soldiers who have killed themselves since the war began were deployed despite serious mental conditions, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

It's no wonder Chavez left his unofficial visit to London with his head held high recently. His charm offensive seems to work better than Bush's "if you can't control 'em, bomb 'em" attitude.

Before he left, he quoted Rousseau, "Between the poor and the rich, liberty is oppressive. Only law can liberate".

Grateful dead

2006-05-16T19:16:00.000+08:00

BRAZIL’S richest and most populous state suffered a third day of fear and chaos yesterday during a violent campaign by the largest criminal network in the country.

The attacks, in which 81 people have died, are aimed at forcing the state government to back down in its effort to break the gang’s control over the state prison system. A series of drive-by shootings has targeted law enforcement officials and a state-wide rebellion has engulfed 80 prisons in São Paulo.

It's things like this that make me feel grateful for being in Singapore... and then there's this. Ha ha.

Liberate Liberia

2006-05-16T19:13:00.000+08:00

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who took office in January after winning the first elections since the war ended in 2003, has pledged to rebuild the country, which is still without running water or electricity years after the guns fell silent.

He highlighted that it is important sanctions should be lifted on the country for the new government to have access to needed resources to execute its programme and improve the living standards of the people.

The danger is that if democracy does not produce quick dividends in both Sierra Leone and Liberia... apathy and cynicism may begin to set in.