Statement from G8 Leaders Marks Tipping Point in Terror War

The key sentence is in point 4: a reference to "fanaticism and extremism." The Russians and Chinese have stated a number of times that the war on terror is a war on "terrorism, fanaticism, and extremism." Until today, I never heard a British or American leader mention the last two. But now they've all signed onto the same page at the G8 summit, it seems. If true, this would mark a turning point in the right direction for the Global War on Terror.

Statement from world leaders: Terrorist Attacks on London: "Statement by the G8, the Leaders of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa and the Heads of the International Organisations represented here.

1. We condemn utterly these barbaric attacks. We send our profound condolences to the victims and their families. All of our countries have suffered from the impact of terrorism. Those responsible have no respect for human life. We are united in our resolve to confront and defeat this terrorism that is not an attack on one nation, but on all nations and on civilised people everywhere.
2. We will not allow violence to change our societies or our values. Nor will we allow it to stop the work of this Summit. We will continue our deliberations in the interests of a better world. Here at this Summit, the world's leaders are striving to combat world poverty and save and improve human life. The perpetrators of today's attacks are intent on destroying human life.
3. The terrorists will not succeed.
4. Today's bombings will not weaken in any way our resolve to uphold the most deeply held principles of our societies and to defeat those who would impose their fanaticism and extremism on all of us. We shall prevail. They shall not.

7 July 2005

Now that the G8 leaders appear have agreed the problem is ideological at base, perhaps Mssrs. Blair and Bush might stop supporting Palestinian, Chechen, Uighur, Uzbek and other Muslim Brotherhood inspired terrorists, fanatics, and extremists...

Did a "Covenant of Security" Protect the United Kingdom?

Listening to the BBC World Service coverage, I thought I heard an announcer say that the British felt safe from terror prior to the recent bombings because Europe provided a base for terrorists. Hard to believe, so I checked it out on the web and came up with this article; in whichDaniel Pipes argues the British had a deal with terrorists, prior to July 7th, called the "covenant of security":

To the extent the allowing of Islamists and terrorists safe haven on British soil is a conscious decision to keep the UK safe at the expense of others, this is an immoral and despicable policy that must be changed immediately. (August 9, 2004)

If true, this theory might explain why indeed Britain did give asylum to Abu Hamza, Chechen warlords and Hizb-ut-Tahrir leaders, among other various and sundry terrorists, fanatics, and extremists--prior to the London bombings.

Live TV Coverage of London Bombings

From Camera Works: Audio and Video (washingtonpost.com)

London bombings - Wikipedia

Link to 7 July 2005 London bombings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

UKBlogs Aggregator on London Bombings

Link to the UKBlogs Aggregator (via Instapundit) for latest reports.

Guardian Unlimited: Newsblog

The Guardian Unlimited: Newsblog is covering the London bombing live.

Statement of Prime Minister Tony Blair on London Bombings

From the 10 Downing Street Press Office:

I am just going to make a short statement to you on the terrible events that have happened in London earlier today, and I hope you understand that at the present time we are still trying to establish exactly what has happened, and there is a limit to what information I can give you, and I will simply try and tell you the information as best I can at the moment.

It is reasonably clear that there have been a series of terrorist attacks in London. There are obviously casualties, both people that have died and people seriously injured, and our thoughts and prayers of course are with the victims and their families.

It is my intention to leave the G8 within the next couple of hours and go down to London and get a report, face-to-face, with the police, and the emergency services and the Ministers that have been dealing with this, and then to return later this evening.

It is the will of all the leaders at the G8 however that the meeting should continue in my absence, that we should continue to discuss the issues that we were going to discuss, and reach the conclusions which we were going to reach. Each of the countries round that table have some experience of the effects of terrorism and all the leaders, as they will indicate a little bit later, share our complete resolution to defeat this terrorism.

It is particularly barbaric that this has happened on a day when people are meeting to try to help the problems of poverty in Africa, and the long term problems of climate change and the environment. Just as it is reasonably clear that this is a terrorist attack, or a series of terrorist attacks, it is also reasonably clear that it is designed and aimed to coincide with the opening of the G8. There will be time to talk later about this.

It is important however that those engaged in terrorism realise that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world. Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilised nations throughout the world.

Multiple blasts hit London transport system

Multiple blasts hit London transport system .

Sad news of another presumed terrorist attack.

Judith Miller Goes to Jail

The New York Times reports on its reporter's jailing in DC.

Some ironies:

Miller was relentlessly criticized by the left as a pro-Bush agitator for the Iraq war.

The New York Times demanded a special prosecutor to find out who leaked CIA agent Valerie Plame's idenity to Robert Novak.

Miller's jail time might give her the chance to write another best-seller...

BTW Powerline has a good discussion of the case here.

Why Bush is Losing, Continued...

Mohammed Zahid's article gives one reason: Islamist extremists think they are winning...

London Gets the 2012 Olympics

According to the IHT (via Instapundit). Curiously, when I was there, every Londoner I met said they didn't want them. Talk about British understatement . . .

Still, I hope Moscow tries again.

Spielberg Reportedly Making Anti-Israel Film in Malta

The not always reliable DEBKAfile , basing their report on the not always reliable New York Times, says Spielberg will be in Malta shooting the story of Mossad agents who hunted down and killed Palestinian assassins in the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics. The film will be critical of the Israelis, and feature their "troubling doubts." Debka advises Spielberg to be careful while filming in Malta, since his Hollywood production might become a target for Islamist terrorists, itself.

John Bolton for the Supreme Court

From OpinionJournal:

A lot of worthy names have been floated for the impending Supreme Court vacancy, and we'd like to add one more to the list: a distinguished public servant who graduated from the prestigious Yale Law School and is an expert in international law, an area that is particularly important in wartime.

We refer, of course, to John Bolton.

OK, it's a long shot, but wouldn't it be worth it just to see Voinovich cry again?"

That'll teach 'em . . .

Edinburgh G8 Rioters Appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court

The Scotsman has the story on the hearing for those arrested in the violent anti-capitalist demonstrations in the Scottish capital; interestingly, in the land of Adam Smith, the inventor of Capitalism.

The sad fact is that these latter-day Brownshirts only survive because of the sympathetic treatment they get from the press. If they were treated as they deserve by the media--as retrograde reactionary wreckers and thugs, whose nihilist vision would create a dystopic world no better than the one fought for by the Ku Klux Klan--their movement would shrivel up and die in an instant.

But they've been given a pass, because they act out the hateful adolescent fantasies of a lot of repressed writers and academics who get vicarious cheap thrills of the sort the Weathermen, Huey Newton and Abbie Hoffman once provided. It's too bad that they were able to smash up Seattle and Edinburgh, among other nice towns, in orgies of public idiocy.

UPDATE: Via Powerline, this link to Josh Trevino's Edinburgh G8 Blog.

New York Times Reputation Sinking Fast

This Reuters story says the legendary newspaper of record is now in 6th place, down from first place in 2003--behind the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Le Monde, and Neue Zuercher Zeitung.

It's worse than the Washington Post, too, IMHO.

I love my new phone!

It's a Nokia 3220 Phone, from T-Mobile.

I hate to sound like Glenn Reynolds talking about his cameras, or Ann Althouse talking about her car, but my phone is driving me crazy with joy. It is like having a mini-disco, tv and photography studio, tape recorder, and it even synchronizes with my Outlook according to the program I just downloaded from the Nokia website. I took some great pictures of the fireworks last night on the National Mall, and already used it for the Central Asian blog I contribute to, to take some pictures at a Senate hearing. What else can it do? I wonder...

Is Your Boss a Psychopath?

Peter Carlson's magazine column in the Washington Post today led us to this article from Fast Company magazine:

One of the most provocative ideas about business in this decade so far surfaced in a most unlikely place. The forum wasn't the Harvard Business School or one of those $4,000-a-head conferences where Silicon Valley's venture capitalists search for the next big thing. It was a convention of Canadian cops in the far-flung province of Newfoundland. The speaker, a 71-year-old professor emeritus from the University of British Columbia, remains virtually unknown in the business realm. But he's renowned in his own field: criminal psychology. Robert Hare is the creator of the Psychopathy Checklist. The 20-item personality evaluation has exerted enormous influence in its quarter-century history. It's the standard tool for making clinical diagnoses of psychopaths -- the 1% of the general population that isn't burdened by conscience. Psychopaths have a profound lack of empathy. They use other people callously and remorselessly for their own ends. They seduce victims with a hypnotic charm that masks their true nature as pathological liars, master con artists, and heartless manipulators. Easily bored, they crave constant stimulation, so they seek thrills from real-life 'games' they can win -- and take pleasure from their power.

Having run into this type of character in a number of situations, ranging from politics, to business, to personal life, I found Alan Deutschman's story fascinating reading . . .

Happy Independence Day!

Sandra Day O'Connor and Me

It's not the best story in the world, but it is still a story that tells you something about the strong personality of America's first female Supreme Court Justice...

Now that she's retiring, I can finally tell about my close encounter with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

A few years ago, I was invited to attend a preview screening at a movie theatre in the basement of Union Station. I forget the film, but I remember there was a crowd. And a long line to get in. As I made my way to the entrance, a petite older lady determinedly strode through the crowd, making her way to the front. In my opinion, she cut in front of me. I was incensed. "Who does she think she is?" I asked myself. I tried to get a look at her face--and saw she was Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

We both got in.

Ed Klein v Hillary Clinton

John LeBoutillier analyzes the meaning of the new biography of the former First Lady:

The stunning news that Ed Klein's book, THE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY, has reached the coveted number 2 spot on the prestigious New York Times bestseller list for July 10 is a huge victory for some - and a shattering defeat for others.

Let us examine:

Winners:

1) Ed Klein, the author, who has been relentlessly trashed by the Clinton Spin Machine, has now been vindicated by the smashing success of his book. A completely honorable man and a credible journalist, the pro-Hillary camp had tried to discredit him and his book. And even some prominent conservatives - with their own selfish agendas - aided this trashing. But getting to number 2 on the Times's list has vindicated Ed Klein.

I'm no friend of Klein's. When my documentary "Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die?" came out a quarter of a century ago, he ran an article by historian Lucy Dawidowicz in the New York Times Magazine designed to discredit my work, so nasty and sneaky in my opinion that it didn't even mention the name of the film, yet sought to undermine my key points . So I've never liked the guy, and really do sympathize with Bill and Hillary on a personal level.

Nevertheless, Klein's not the world's greatest writer, and as John LeBoutillier says in this column, it might have been a better policy for them to just ignore the book. After all, if the Kennedys can take it from Klein, so can the Clintons...