Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Page 17 | Page 18 | Page 19 | Page 20 | Page 21 | Page 22 | Page 23 | Page 24 | Page 25 | Page 26 | Page 27 | Page 28 | Page 29 | Page 30 | Page 31 | Page 32 | Page 33 | Page 34 | Page 35 | Page 36 | Page 37 | Page 38 | Page 39 | Page 40 | Page 41 | Page 42 | Page 43 | Page 44 | Page 45 | Page 46 | Page 47 | Page 48 | Page 49 | Page 50 | Page 51 | Page 52 | Page 53 | Page 54 | Page 55 | Page 56 | Page 57 | Page 58 | Page 59 | Page 60 | Page 61 | Page 62 | Page 63 | Page 64 | Page 65 | Page 66 | Page 67 | Page 68 | Page 69 | Page 70 | Page 71
Michael Ubaldi, February 28, 2005.
We cannot forget the sacrifices of Iraqis like those five-score brave men murdered today as they stood to join the tens of thousands defending a young free nation. And their deaths must keep close in our minds the ends their killers wish for us. But a month and a half ago I wrote in anticipation of atrocities that will be seen in months and years ahead: [V]ulnerabilities will occasionally be pronounced as the liberalization and greater openness of Iraq coincides with the work of thugs who seek to exploit the mutual faith of free, public association.
And beyond the death and carnage, what will the attack bring Iraq's enemies? Little. Killing police recruits has long been a failed tactic; it may be simply that the gore sates terrorists' perversions, a red cheer for fiends. And existing police forces are growing in number and capability, totally unaffected by this bombing. The country at large will mourn but it moves ever-forward. Omar's casual photography reflects a monumental construction effort; his brother Mohammed relates Iraqis' enthusiasm for a national conversation led by weblogs, the 21st-Century combination printing press and broadcast tower. Former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi publicly speaks of Iraq's first popularly composed constitution; its "Founding Fathers." And Arthur Chrenkoff announces triumphs across Mesopotamia. Michael Ubaldi, February 27, 2005.
More posturing, contrivance, observation and speculation follows the murder of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. On Thursday Syrian Ba'athists said they would quit Lebanon. A weekend report suggests Damascus coughed up thirty of Saddam Hussein's old henchmen who were until recently working freelance from Syria to unsettle the foundations of Iraqi democracy: twenty-nine plebes and one big fish, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan. Given Damascus' sixteen years of procrastination, far deeper investment in Iraqi sedition than the thirty, and notable success in escaping all punishment from Washington but largely gestural sanctions, this is chaff to throw off the seeking bolt whose head is a coincidental Franco-American diplomatic alliance and whose shaft is an implacable Lebanese nationalism. Lebanese are suspicious, too: Eyewitnesses along Lebanon's strategic Beirut-to-Damascus highway say they have seen no sign of any Syrian troop movements yet and many are openly questioning Syria's intentions. ...Beirut's influential An Nahar newspaper is also complaining that Syria's intention to redeploy does not include its feared secret police. Lebanese opposition politicians, including Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, have accused Syria's secret police of being responsible for the car bomb which killed former Prime Minister Rafik al Hariri.
At a time where the Syrian Army's withdrawal remains a heated debate between Syrian and Lebanese officials, Chtaura residents are being cautious about what they say. Local taxi driver Assam Qurbie said: "The place is crawling with mukhabarat and the Syrian Army, if we anger Syria, we are the first to get into trouble."
Asked whether he had convinced European leaders to seek sanctions against Syria, Bush said Damascus must withdraw its troops and "secret services" from Lebanon and not try to influence upcoming parliamentary elections there.
That will be to the increasing skepticism towards Syrian withdrawal. In the three days since declaring troop movements Damascus has peddled a few excuses for obfuscation and non-performance, including a security threat from Israel. One, of a sort, has emerged: just yesterday, Jerusalem blamed Syria's terrorist bazaar, with Iran's, for the latest bombing murder of Jews. Given that both Israel and Palestinians officially suspect Hezbollah, Syria's most favored client, whose training camps Islamic Jihad — the terrorist group claiming responsibility — has been attending since the 1990s, the possibility of another event manufactured by Damascus is strong. If so, the "threat" from Israel would be altogether justified, and the murderous distraction will quickly falter. Then we may hear more of Bashar Assad's intention, as reported by the Turkish press, to filibuster. Knowing President Bush, it will be met with cloture. Michael Ubaldi, February 26, 2005.
Turn back to one of the "tests" facing the Bush administration's democratization strategy: holding Egypt's regime to account for its repression. Liberty activist Ayman Nour is not yet free from unjust imprisonment but thanks to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's delivery of a diplomatic slap to the cheek of Cairo strongman Hosni Mubarak, Nour's fellow democrats may have won the chance to popularly defeat millenia of resident-tyrant rule. Tigerhawk has more. (Hat tip, IP.) Michael Ubaldi, February 25, 2005.
I was astonished when I recently watched a brief 8-millimeter film of my paternal grandparents' wedding, an event I'd only ever known from a handful of posed pictures. Via Stephen Green, something almost too fantastic to believe: color photographs from the Great War. MORE: One of Stephen's commenters pointed to a collection of color photographs by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii — from as early as 1907. We're well beyond words. STILL MORE: The Second World War. Elite technology was far more accessible. But it's no less dazzling. Michael Ubaldi, February 25, 2005.
Terrorists in Al Anbar province are being hammered by Allied and Iraqi forces engaged in Operation River Blitz. Fear among citizens continues to depreciate, and the courage shown in a developing Iraqi common good, the kind we knew we would see, is a weapon seditionists and invaders will be increasingly unable to counter: North of Ar Ramadi, a local civilian directed a U.S. Marine combat patrol to an improvised-explosive device, which consisted of four 105 mm artillery rounds that were daisy-chained together in a brown bag hidden underneath a pile of leaves at approximately 10:00 a.m.
Michael Ubaldi, February 25, 2005.
Another day, another twenty-percent upward revision in the measure of quarterly gross domestic product expansion: The economy grew at a solid 3.8% annual rate in the final quarter of 2004 — stronger than previously estimated — and an encouraging sign that the business expansion was firmly entrenched at the start of the new year. The reading on gross domestic product, released by the Commerce Department on Friday, was better than the government's initial calculation a month ago. That estimate showed the economy growing at a 3.1% pace.
DRAG RACE DOWN WALL STREET: Couldn't resist stretching the metaphor. The stock market liked what it saw today, no doubt. Michael Ubaldi, February 24, 2005.
The "uprising" marches on: Opposition deputies said on Wednesday they would seek to topple Lebanon's Syrian-backed government in parliament and called for a one-day national strike next week. The deputies, riding high on mass protests over the past week, called for an international investigation into last week's assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and wanted security chiefs sacked and put on trial.
The president's democratic allies have themselves been emboldened. President of the umbrella group Reform Party of Syria, Fadrid Ghadry, has advocated in the Washington Times sandwiching Damascus between dissent inside Syria as well as its Lebanese conquest: The next U.S. step, following the withdrawal of the U.S. ambassador in Damascus, must be to open a front against the Syria Ba'athists in their own backyard. Not a military front, far from it, but a popular civilian offensive. The United States should aim to create the same disequilibrium in Syria that the Syrian Ba'athists so readily encourage elsewhere.
FEINT: Bashar Assad's regime has released a statement promoting "commitment" to withdrawing its 15,000 troops from Lebanon. No explanation or time window was offered, and we should remember that on Monday it was "soon" — as it was in 1989. The dominative mind is not an awfully creative one; Damascus' gesture is probably a probe of Washington. If not rebuked and rejected by a distrustful White House the Ba'athists would do best to wait as long as possible before ordering any significant force movements. The longer the delay, the more tempting Damascus will find a roll-up to be. But via Jim Geraghty, some are convinced that the Bush administration does not intend to let the Lebanese be silenced. And, helpfully enough, strange bedfellow Walid Jumblatt called the statement "a new farce." WHAT EVERY TYRANT FEARS IS UNDER HIS BED: Syria's democrats. Michael Ubaldi, February 23, 2005.
The Yomiuri Shimbun has been an excellent source of news on Japan's practical attainment of noble standing in the free world. Debate on the revision of war-renouncing Article 9 of the postwar constitution proceeds while less newsworthy — yet significant — operational changes, made in close coordination with the United States, are under consideration or due for implementation. In the conference room, suggestions, differences, arguments and compromises shape constitutional draft amendments to be revealed in April: The Liberal Democratic Party's committee on constitutional reform is involved in heated debates over whether the party should maintain its conservative stance or work with other parties to devise constitutional amendments that are feasible. The hottest topic at the meeting was whether the amended Constitution should clearly state the right to exercise collective self-defense.
For Japanophobes reading a jingoist resurgence between the lines, relax: some committee members were reportedly dithering on the potential offensiveness of the newly directed armed forces' title. The fact that Japanese (or any foreign) military self-reliance would modify (and eventually obviate) America's based military presence is lost on neither Washington nor Tokyo. During the recent meeting that produced Japan's first unambiguous statement respecting Taiwan's freedom from Chinese seizure, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld discussed with their Tokyo counterparts how best to renovate a San Franciscan house built in 1951: At a bilateral meeting of foreign and defense chiefs, the two sides confirmed that within the next few months they would map out measures to realign U.S. troops in Japan by reviewing role-sharing between the SDF and U.S. troops and speeding up discussions on the realignment of U.S. military bases.
The two sides also discussed measures relating to China, with Machimura saying it was important to ask the Chinese government to increase the transparency of its military spending.
The LDP and Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) have been busy drafting bills to be presented to the current Diet session for a law aimed at improving the human rights situation in North Korea. The bills being prepared by the LDP and Minshuto are designed to increase pressure on North Korea over such issues as the abduction of Japanese by Pyongyang and assistance to North Koreans fleeing the country, sources said.
THE CATCH: Yomiuri's links are fly-by-night. All have been switched to caches or mirrors. Michael Ubaldi, February 22, 2005.
When next publicly expressing yourself, count your blessings. Where you might live today still determines what you can say. (Via IP.) Michael Ubaldi, February 22, 2005.
When rightist commentators fit "Ukraine" and "Lebanon" in the same sentence, I nodded at the parallel but was unsure of causality. According to this CBC report, the power of the Orange Revolution and Lebanon's miraculously porous media net have catalyzed the seized country's spirit: A small tent city has popped up on Martyrs' Square in Beirut as anti-Syrian protesters call for political changes in the wake of former prime minister Rafik Hariri's assassination. Thousands of demonstrators have spent four nights in the square and more are joining them each day.
|