It looks like the G20 is going to be a humiliating failure for Gordon Brown. George Soros says that IMF will probably have to rescue the UK, and Angela Merkel has said in no uncertain terms that Germany will not spend money according to the dictates of other countries. Meanwhile the Messiah is set to descend on London with armored limousines and an entourage of hundreds.In other news from the UK, the BBC has updated the Robin Hood legend to depict Friar Tuck as a buff black martial arts expert.
Thanks to Fausta, Gaia, Insubria, islam o’phobe, JD, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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EU: Brown Snubbed Over Tax — Germans Wreck ‘Global New Deal’
GORDON BROWN’S carefully laid plans for a G20 deal on worldwide tax cuts have been scuppered by an eve-of-summit ambush by European leaders.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, last night led the assault on the prime minister’s “global new deal” for a $2 trillion-plus fiscal stimulus to end the recession.
“I will not let anyone tell me that we must spend more money,” she said.
The Spanish finance minister, Pedro Solbes, also dismissed new cash being pledged at Thursday’s London summit.
“In these conditions I and the rest of my colleagues from the eurozone believe there is no room for new fiscal stimulus plans,” he said.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has insisted that “radical reform” of capitalism is more important than tax cutting.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Calabria Town Council Project for Local Currency
(ANSAmed) — SPEZZANO DELLA SILA (COSENZA), MARCH 27 — The aim of the Spezzano Sila town council’s “Scec coupons — local currency against the crisis” is to prevent the impoverishment of families by fostering recovery in local productive sectors. The Scec project (which takes its inspiration from the concept of “solidarity on the move”) provides for the use of vouchers to pay for goods and services that are part of a circuit. “The town council administration,” said mayor Tiziano Gigli, “has been working for months on new ideas that have the aim of supporting families in this particularly difficult moment, and of helping businesses by consolidating the responsiveness of institutions to the demands and needs of citizens. We are convinced that the plan for a local currency against the crisis — which has led to constructive discussions and ideas in the council and the country, and which in other situations is supplying serious solutions for the revitalisation of entire agricultural and tourist districts — is both a new and an effective response which we must place our trust and hopes in.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Soros: Britain May Have to Seek IMF Rescue
‘You have a problem that the banking system is bigger than the economy’
[Comments from JD: If the IMF get involved, Britain is doomed. Soros is promoting his own agenda.]
Britain may have to go to the IMF for a huge financial bailout, the influential investor George Soros warns today.
The man who made $1 billion on Black Wednesday in 1992 told The Times that Britain was particularly vulnerable to the economic crisis.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Zapatero Wants to Spur Modernisation
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 27 — The crisis should be taken advantage of to “stimulate modernisation efforts in the country”, is the view Spanish premier Jose Luis Zapatero expressed in an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore. He also said that with Spain’s “low level of debt”, the country has a greater possibility to bring in “new stimulus” for the economy and to concentrate on “green economy and biotechnology”. To assess whether “additional plans” will be needed, in any case it will be necessary to “wait for the summer” and see “whether there are signs of an economic recovery”. If there aren’t, then it will prove necessary to take action “by way of a different sort of effort, concentrated and selective,” focused on “the two large sectors which will be the growth factors for the latest phase in the world economy”. The latter are a sustainable economy and business innovation, “biotechnology as well as health and life sciences”. It is action that “it would be a good idea to plan alongside other European partners and which I consider structural”. In Zapatero’s eyes, also the Spanish financial system “has worked well”, thanks to the efforts of “its supervisor, the Bank of Spain”. If the Bank of Spain “were to believe that there is the need for some sort of additional measure, then we will listen to its suggestions.” In any case, the upcoming G20 in London “is necessary to come to an agreement on market reform in order to inject confidence at the international level”. The Spanish premier said that the aim of the next rotating six-month EU presidency will be to “get the Lisbon Treaty back on its feet, as long as the Irish manage to recover their faith in the European Union.”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gordon Brown Left Red-Faced at Summit as UK’s Debts Soar
Gordon Brown faced huge embarrassment on the eve of the G20 summit as it was revealed that Britain is heading for the top of Europe’s borrowing league.
The figures — which came as the first world leaders began arriving in London — mean Britain’s chairmanship of the meeting is likely to be overshadowed by the dire position of its public finances.
The Prime Minister’s hope of getting leaders to agree a ‘global new deal’ is already looking increasingly unlikely.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Boston College Nixes Invite to Former Radical
Students hope to host William Ayers off-campus
Boston College yesterday abruptly withdrew two student groups’ invitation to former radical William Ayers to speak on campus Monday.
A BC spokesman said he was unaware of the plan for the controversial figure to speak on campus until contacted by the Herald yesterday afternoon. But students last night were scrambling to hold the speech off-campus.
“After meetings between administrators and students, the decision was made to rescind the invitation,” spokesman Jack Dunn said. Dunn declined to say why, adding only, “We feel the appropriate decision has been reached.”
[…]
But student organizers reached last night said they want to try to hold the speech off-campus.
“All of us who have put a lot of hard work into planning and defending this event are really disappointed because we had hoped this would be an open academic forum for someone who’s widely respected,” said College Democrats member Melissa Roberts, 21. “We’re going to make sure this respected academic gets heard.”
[Comments from JD: Useful idiot(s).]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vice-President Joe Biden’s Daughter Ashley Filmed Snorting Lines of Cocaine
The White House was rocked yesterday by claims that the daughter of Joe Biden, the Vice-President, was shown on video snorting cocaine.
The video purports to show Ashley Biden, 27, snorting lines of white powder at a house party in her home state of Delaware.
It surfaced days after Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, declared that the United States shared the blame for Mexico’s violent drug wars. “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,” Mrs Clinton said on a trip to Mexico.
The video will embarrass Mr Biden, a teetotaller and an outspoken anti-drug crusader who coined the term “drug czar” in 1982 while campaigning for tougher action against illegal drugs.
However, the video is unlikely to undermine his position with President Obama. Mr Obama admitted in his own memoir that he had used marijuana and cocaine — but not heroin — as a youth. “Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though,” he wrote in Dreams from My Father.
This month Mr Biden swore in a new US drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, whose stepson has a history of marijuana arrests.
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BBC Reinvent Fat Balding Friar Tuck as Black Martial Arts Expert for New Series of Robin Hood
He is typically remembered as Robin Hood’s white, fat and balding companion..
But for the latest instalment of the BBC show, producers have reinvented Friar Tuck — as a black marital arts expert.
The fighting monk is played by Criminal Justice actor David Harewood, who had to undergo gruelling training sessions for the role.
The image overhaul appears to be keeping in line with some interpretations that Tuck was physically fit and ‘proficient with clubbes and staves.’
But the radical transformation has sparked fury among professors who believe the portrayal is historically inaccurate.
English professor Helen Phillips, from Exeter University, told The Times: ‘Sub-Saharan Africans wouldn’t have been converted by that point, they would have had other religions. North Africans would have been mostly Muslims.
‘Also, friars came from upper-class families, as did monks. The kind of families from which friars were drawn wouldn’t have been in any sense African.’
Harewood, who was the first black actor to play Othello at the National Theatre, admits he found the idea ridiculous at first.
He said: ‘ I actually laughed.’
‘My stunt double was a kind of capoeira champion and there’s quite a lot of marital arts that my character does later on in the series, which was really, really fun to do and very physical.’
However, the actor, 43, admits he was keen to take the on the role, which was originally rumoured to be played by Little Britain star Matt Lucas.
He said: ‘Funnily enough, when I first saw Robin Hood when it started three years ago, I though they’d missed a trick adn they they should have ahad a black character.
‘It turns out that I am the black character so I think it adds a modern dimension to it, as well.’
In the first episode, airing tonight on BBC1, Tuck returns to England in hopes of resurrecting the legend of Robin Hood.
Harwood said:’ He wants England to be a place of hope but he comes back to find the people are slightly broken, much like they are now with the credit crunch.
‘The people need a hero and that’s what Tuck very much wants, to stand behind a symbol of good.’
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-Greece: Defence; Crosetto in Athens, Policy and Weapons
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, MARCH 20 — The situation and cooperation in Kosovo and Afghanistan and the possibility of collaborating to upgrade the military was the focus in Defence Undersecretary Guido Crosetto’s meetings with Greek government representatives in Athens today. Crosetto, accompanied by a delegation from the ministry and by Ambassador Giampaolo Scarante, met with his counterpart Yannis Plakiotakis and Foreign Undersecretary Theodoros Kassimis. Crosetto specifically confirmed the government’s will to keep a contingent in Kosovo, stating the importance of the regional balance in the Balkans. In this context, he defined the defence of the Orthodox monasteries in the area as essential. He expressed a desire for greater cooperation between the contingents of the various countries, specifically Greece and Italy, in Afghanistan. Kassimis pointed out their agreement on political issues, which were discussed, and the desire of both Athens and Rome to face them in the same light within the EU. Crosetto also expressed to Plakiotakis his full willingness regarding agreements between the two governments to contribute to the modernisation of the Greek military, from Fremm multipurpose frigates to helicopters, destroyers, training military aircraft, missiles, and tanks. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nigerian Says Baby Death Tale Still True
Mother’s Supreme Court battle to prevent deportation from Ireland over female circumcision fears for daughters looks set to collapse
A case taken by Pamela Izevbekhai, the Nigerian woman who is fighting deportation from Ireland on the grounds that her two daughters will be forced to undergo female circumcision if returned to Africa, is expected to collapse when it comes before the Supreme Court this week.
Izevbekhai admitted yesterday that documents used to advance her case were fake.
She insisted, however, that Elizabeth, her first daughter, died in 1994 aged 17 months from blood loss following female circumcision.
Izevbekhai said she only discovered the documents were fake on Friday when her husband, who is living in Nigeria, admitted they were bogus.
He said he had been forced to obtain fake documents because Dr Joseph Unokanjo, an obstetrician, had refused to supply papers and medical reports without a substantial payment. Unokanjo has denied this.
The documents, including a death certificate and “statements” from Izevbekhai’s family doctor in Nigeria, were obtained from a counterfeiter.
“They were sent to me by my husband after I arrived in Ireland,” she said. “If I had known the documents were fake, I would have done things differently. I wouldn’t have put myself or the children through this kind of thing. I now regret taking the case. I am so sorry.”
The admission may prompt Izevbekhai’s lawyers to withdraw an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. It has asked the Irish government to put a stay on the family’s deportation until it can examine the case.
A garda investigation into Izevbekhai’s claims, during which officers travelled to Lagos, established that the documents were fake. The team tracked down Unokanjo to a clinic in Surulere, a district in the city.
When interviewed by gardai and staff from the Irish embassy in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, Unokanjo denied he had provided Izevbekhai with a statement supporting her claims. Unokanjo claimed that Izevbekhai had never given birth to a baby called Elizabeth in 1994, and provided the investigation team with copies of her medical records which suggested that her daughter Naomi was her first-born child.
Officials in government offices were also interviewed, and they stated that the death certificate for baby Elizabeth supplied to the Irish and European courts was also a fake.
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UK: Blow for David Cameron as Former Tory Donor Pledges £100,000 to UKIP
One of the Tories’ biggest donors is giving £100,000 to the UK Independence Party after becoming disillusioned with David Cameron’s line on Europe, it was reported today.
Spread-betting millionaire Stuart Wheeler said he now doubted the Conservative leader would honour his commitment to hold a referendum on the EU’s controversial Lisbon Treaty.
The paper said that Mr Wheeler now intended to vote for Ukip — which campaigns for withdrawal from the EU — in the European parliamentary elections in June, although he would continue to support the Tories in the local and general elections.
‘The EU is doing so much damage to our economy and our way of life that I can no longer vote Conservative at the European elections,’ he told The News Of The World.
‘The Conservatives — though perhaps more Euro-sceptic than Labour — just wish no one would talk about the EU so that they can win the general election in peace.’
He said that his doubts had been heightened by the tone of recent remarks by Mr Cameron.
‘My doubts about his commitment to doing anything effective were increased this week when I was told that he had got 70 Conservative MPs together and told them the EU issue did not matter,’ he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Women Told: for Family’s Sake, Commit Suicide
Honor killers avoid prison by forcing victims to take own lives
Turkey’s crackdown on the practice of honor killing has resulted in unintended consequences — instead of being murdered by a close male relative for bringing dishonor to their families, Muslim women are being pressured to commit suicide.
And the numbers of “honor suicides” are soaring, reported the UK’s Independent.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Only Five of England’s 44 Bishops Want the Bells to Ring Out on St George’s Day
Most Church of England bishops show little or no interest in the idea of celebrating St George’s Day by asking all churches to ring their bells.
Only five out of the church’s 44 bishops enthusiastically back the plan — and several are hostile, claiming it could be ‘dangerous’ and cause a backlash from other religious groups.
The lack of interest among senior clerics in England’s patron saint stands in sharp contrast to London Mayor Boris Johnson’s plan to hold a week-long celebration of St George in London, with traditional English music and poetry readings.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fashion: Italian Group Burani Invests USD 3.5 Mln in Beirut
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 20 — The new showrooms of the Italian designer, Mariella Burani, have been officially opened in the centre of Beirut. Three boutiques have been set up so far: Sebastian for shoes, Sécret Pon-Pon for bags and Mariella Burani for clothes. As for the Burani group’s Facco and Baccialini jewellery, they will be put on sale in the ABC shopping centre in Dbaye (a northern suburb of Beirut) in the coming months. The Burani Design Holding group has invested in Lebanon, in partnership with the industrialist Sarraf’s Lebanese Malia Holding group, creating a joint venture for luxury products, called Malia Mariella Burani — M. M. B. The new joint venture has a capital of USD 1 million and will represent all of the Burani group’s labels, both in Lebanon and in the Near East countries. The total investment in the Burani group in Lebanon is estimated at USD 3.5 million for the 2009/2010 period. The Italian Foreign Trade Institute (ICE) in Beirut has reported that Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Italian Ambassador Gabriele Checchia were at the official opening of the showrooms yesterday evening. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan: EU to Help for First Solar Energy Plant
(ANSAmed) AMMAN, MARCH 26 — The EU will help Jordan establish the kingdom’s first solar energy power plant in the central part of the kingdom by providing a 10-million-euro, an EU official said today. The plant, to be set up in the southern part of the kingdom, will become a centre for renewable energy training at the local and regional levels, according to Patrick Renauld, head of the EC Delegation in Amman. The plant would generate around five megawatts (MW) of energy, said Renauld, noting the project is part of efforts to establish a source of renewable energy applications in the Kingdom. Jordan is embarking on a number of key projects to generate power from natural resources apart from fossil fuel, including wind power generators and solar systems and nuclear plant. The country has little oil reserves and depends on purchasing fuel from abroad, an issue that caused massive pressure on the state budget. The use of alternative sources of energy will help the government find sustainable source of power at lesser cost. Officials from ministry of energy said the country should be able to generate 600MW of wind and 600MW of solar energy, 10 percent of the country’s energy consumption, by 2020. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Italian Navy Chief of Staff Visits Tunis
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, MARCH 27 — The Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, Admiral Paolo La Rosa, on a visit to Tunisia, met with Defence Minister Kamel Morjane. The meeting emphasized the excellent current relations between the two countries, which also cooperate on a military level.. The various aspects of cooperation between the two navies were examined, specifically in personnel training, maritime traffic control, hydrography, and sea aid and rescue. The next session for the joint Italian- Tunisian military commission is scheduled to take place in Tunis in June. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Umm Al-Fahm, 22 Arabs Arrested
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, MARCH 25 — Israeli police have today reported the arrest of 22 people involved in the protests staged by Umm Al Fahm inhabitants against the march by about a hundred Israeli extreme right militants. Those arrested have been identified as the inciters to the most violent forms of protest, which led to clashes with almost 3,000 policemen escorting the march. The rioting went on for just over half an hour, with stone throwing and tear gas, and about a dozen police and 15 demonstrators were injured. Thirteen arrests were made today, after nine yesterday evening. The march, which was held by representatives of the extreme right and the settlers’ movement with the stated aim of testing the loyalty of Israeli Arabs to the Israeli state, as well as underscoring the sovereignty of Israel over “the entire national territory”, was seen as a sort of provocation by local citizens, as well as by leaders of the Arab community, pacifist rabbis and leftist Zionists. Initially put on hold due to concerns over public order, it was later authorised by the Supreme Court in the name of freedom of demonstration, and therefore protected by police.(ANSAmed)..
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mediterranean Games: the Last Without Israel, Frattini
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 23 — “The games in Pescara will be the last Mediterranean Games without the participation of Israel and Palestine”. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, explained the initiative which could bring a change in the situation which is currently defined as “paradoxical” and as an opening to a “road map for peace in the Middle East”. During the Games’ inauguration ceremony, the minister plans for the organisation of a public meeting, in which the president of the Israeli Olympic Committee and that of the Palestinian Olympic Committee “will make themselves ready to participate together in the next event”, Frattini Explained. The head of the Foreign Ministry said that there is the need “to find a solution that comes from the base, from the athletes and the federations that say we are ready to compete together on the playing field instead of with machine guns”. The result of the initiative will be positive, according to Frattini, who added “before two athletic delegations presenting themselves, we will put the policy of denying possibilities of competing together against the wall”. Palestine, the minister concluded, “must become an independent state, I think that Israel understands that there will not be security without it”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
GCC: Conference in Manama, Common Currency Delay Inevitable
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, MARCH 25 — Delaying the emission of a common currency was the suggestion from the secretary of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) during an economic conference in Manama where, for the first time, some representatives from the secretariat of the oil block formally highlighted the impossibility of respecting the scheduled deadline of January 2010, reported the ‘National’. GCC member countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman — are still in fact busy creating a monetary body which will have the responsibility of establishing another timeframe for the actual minting of the currency. The agreement for the monetary union of the Gulf countries was ratified last December with some difficulty: Kuwait freed its currency from the dollar (to which all other Gulf currencies are tied), and Oman confirmed that it would not participate in the common currency, at least in the initial phase. A new deadline has yet to be proposed. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Turkey, Right-Wing Rhetoric Out of Government
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 27 — At a press conference in Brussels today, the Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, said that Turkey expects that there will be no space for the “right-wing rhetoric” they used while in opposition. Gul, who is in Brussels to meet the EU Commission, has raised the alarm about the possibility that Avigdor Lieberman’s right-wing party will not give up its positions: “The situation could get worse, creating further suffering”, Gul explained. Speaking about the crisis in the Middle East, Gul spoke about Turkey’s role as a mediator in the peace process.. “We have excellent relations with Israel, just as we do with the Palestinians and other Arab countries”, Gul added, pointing to Turkey’s mediation in the indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Hariri Tribunal; Media Cover Cassese’s Appointment
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MARCH 25 — Antonio Cassese’s photo is on the front pages of Lebanese papers today after the announcement that he is to head the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the Hague, although for the moment there has not been any official comment by Lebanese authorities.. “The Italian Cassese as President” (of the tribunal) is the headline across Al Mustaqbal, the paper owned by the family of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, whose assassination on February 14 2005 will be the focus of the tribunal. The widely-read An Nahar instead wrote that Cassese’s appointment and the first Syrian ambassador to Beirut were both “very important events in the modern history of Lebanon”. In relation to Cassese’s appointment, a number of papers have quoted Saad Hariri, son and political heir to the former prime minister, as simply saying that he “trusted in the tribunal” to do its job. Hariri has repeatedly accused Syria of being responsible for the violent explosion which killed his father and 22 others along the Beirut seafront. “We are sure that the Syrians committed this crime,” he has said. Damascus, on its part, has rejected all accusations.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Attack on Phalangist Leader Thwarted
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT — Lebanese daily An Nahar has reported today that over the night Lebanese security sources found material intended for an attack near the home of former Lebanese president and Christian Phalangist leader Amin Gemayal in Bikfaya, north-east of Beirut. The paper said that Gemayal’s private vigilantes had stopped and searched a suspicious-looking car over the night, driven by a Syrian and in which electricity wires, a detonator and a grenade were found. Quoting Lebanese security sources, An Nahar added that the driver, now undergoing police questioning, had a number of false passports with him. Gemayel’s private vigilantes have also said that they had seen the car driving close to the anti-Syrian leader a number of times over the past few days. Gemayel has already begun his election campaign for June’s legislative elections.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gandhi Arrested for ‘Inciting Violence Against Muslims’
The great-grandson of India’s first prime minister was arrested yesterday for promoting hatred against Muslims.
Varun Gandhi, 29, is alleged to have made hate speeches and incited violence ahead of next month’s national elections.
It is claimed he was filmed comparing a rival Muslim politician to Osama bin Laden and had threatened to cut the throats of Muslims at two recent political rallies.
Gandhi belongs to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, which has produced three prime ministers over six decades and always encouraged a secular government and tolerance for religious minorities.
But Varun, a descendant of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, is a member of the Hindu nationalist, right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.
Yesterday he drove through the streets of Pilibhit, a town in the state of Uttar Pradesh, 135 miles east of New Delhi — where he is seeking a parliamentary seat.
Thousands of supporters accompanied him before he turned himself in.
He will be held until tomorrow, when he can seek release on bail. If convicted, he could be disqualified from running for office and jailed for three years.
On March 17, India’s Election Commission told officials in Uttar Pradesh state to file a criminal case against him for promoting hatred.
Gandhi denied making the comments, saying the video had been tampered with.
He said: ‘I am innocent. I have been falsely implicated in a conspiracy.’
But the Electoral Commission said it is ‘fully convinced and satisfied’ the video ‘has not been tampered with or doctored’.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Gates: U.S. Not Prepared to Respond to North Korea Missile Launch
The United States can do nothing to stop North Korea from breaking international law in the next 10 days by firing a missile that is unlikely to be shot down by the U.S. or its allies, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.
Appearing on “FOX News Sunday,” Gates said North Korea “probably will” fire the missile, prompting host Chris Wallace to ask: “And there’s nothing we can do about it?”
“No,” Gates answered, adding, “I would say we’re not prepared to do anything about it.”
Last week, Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said the U.S. is “fully prepared” to shoot down the missile. But Gates said such a response is unlikely.
“I think if we had an aberrant missile, one that was headed for Hawaii, that looked like it was headed for Hawaii or something like that, we might consider it,” Gates said. “But I don’t think we have any plans to do anything like that at this point.”
North Korea has moved a missile onto a launch pad and says it will be fired by April 8. Pyonyang insists the missile is designed for carrying a communications satellite, not a nuclear warhead that the secretive nation appears bent on developing.
Gates said while he doesn’t think North Korea has the capability yet to shoot off a long-range nuclear-tipped missile, “I don’t know anyone at a senior level in the American government who does not believe this technology is intended as a mask for the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile.”
Gates conceded that North Korea will likely get away with thumbing its nose at the international community by test-firing the missile. He also said that six-party talks aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions have been largely fruitless.
“It’s very troubling,” Gates said. “The reality is that the six-party talks really have not made any headway anytime recently.”
Gates also lamented that the missile launch planned by dictator Kim Jong-Il comes just two months after President Obama took office.
“If this is Kim Jong-Il’s welcoming present to a new president, launching a missile like this and threatening to have a nuclear test, I think it says a lot about the imperviousness of this regime in North Korea to any kind of diplomatic overtures,” he said.
Gates also said Japan is unlikely to shoot down a North Korean missile unless it drops debris on the island nation.
The Obama administration has signaled it wants to scale back the deployment of a missile defense system that was initiated by former President George W. Bush. The White House is also talking about dropping plans for missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Gates lamented the futility of diplomatic efforts toward North Korea and Iran, another nation with nuclear ambitions. Despite the Obama administration’s talk of ramping up diplomatic overtures toward Tehran, Gates was pessimistic about that strategy.
“Frankly, from my perspective, the opportunity for success is probably more in economic sanctions in both places than it is in diplomacy,” Gates said. “What gets them to the table is economic sanctions.”
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South Africa: He Has Four Wives and He Faced 783 Counts of Corruption
PETER HITCHENS on South Africa’s next president
Imagine how you would react if Gordon Brown opened and closed his election rallies by bursting into a song called Bring Me My Machine Gun, swaying and jigging to the hypnotic chorus of this menacing ditty.
And how would you feel if the Prime Minister were alleged to be taking campaign money from Colonel Gaddafi; faced 783 counts of fraud, racketeering, tax evasion and corruption which somehow never came to court; and had been acquitted of rape while his fearsome supporters mobbed the courthouse?
Then ponder how you would despair if, despite all these things, Mr Brown’s party was certain to win the election whatever he did or said.
If you can picture all this happening here, then you have an inkling of the horrible process South Africa is now going through. Except it is much, much worse.
[…]
In the coming weeks, South Africa seems to me to be taking several definite steps towards its cold, shocking awakening — as a full member of the Third World.
The man who will lead it there is called Jacob Zuma. Remember the name. You are going to hear a lot more of it.
Zuma is wholly African. He has at least four wives and 18 children. He has for years avoided standing trial on fraud and corruption charges. Nobody seriously believes he ever will: his approaching election is already spreading fear in South Africa’s legal establishment.
Mr Zuma joined the Communist Party in 1962 (he only left a few years ago), and has a dark and inadequately examined past as a much-feared intelligence chief in the ANC’s ruthless armed wing, Spear of the Nation. He underwent ‘military training’ in the old Soviet Union in 1978, when the KGB was very much in charge of such things.
On April 22 he will become President of one of the world’s most important countries.
Comrade Zuma, as his supporters know him, certainly is not dull. And South Africa will not be dull either when he takes over.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bolivian Police Bust Jungle Cocaine Factory
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia’s interior minister says police have uncovered one of the country’s biggest known cocaine processing factories.
Interior Minister Alfredo Rada says two Colombians and a Bolivian were arrested at the nearly 1,000-acre (400 hectare) site in Bolivia’s dense, southeastern jungles.
He said Friday that anti-drug police were led to the factory after intercepting a small plane bearing 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of cocaine near Bolivia’s border with Argentina and Paraguay this week.
Bolivia is the world’s third biggest producer of coca after Colombia and Peru.
The leaf is used in indigenous teas and medicines, and to make cocaine.
The government says Bolivian police confiscated a record 27 tons of drugs in 2008.
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
Obama will soon arrive in Europe with 500 staffers by his side, no doubt some of these are needed for security reasons, but this administration is so far proving to be one of the most wasteful in American history while constantly pointing the finger at the abuses and wasteful spending in the private sector. Obama is a typical socialist---massive government spending is find, but private companies had better watch out. Something is terribly wrong with this picture.
Is it really important how many people go with Obama to the summit? It's more important what issues they are covering there. The economy needs fixing, but how to do it is the big question. Will other countries follow Obama's advice, or is there a better way to go? This video has great arguments from both sides as they get ready to discuss this in Europe. http://tinyurl.com/ctl5bg. I thought the quotes from European sources were nice, and show maybe not everyone is obsessed with Obama like we think.
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