Christopher Hitchens on Kurdistan

From Slate:

So, I posed the following question to my UNAMI comrade, who had said to me in so many words that things in his Iraqi bailiwick "could not be worse." Are you so sure that they could not be very much worse? In particular, what are you going to do about Kurdistan? In this region of Iraq, the local leadership has done almost everything that could have been asked of it by the United Nations or the United States. It maintains its own security, does not require foreign troops, has put an end to sectarian warfare among Kurds, fights against al-Qaida with some success, maintains a high regional standard for pluralism and democracy, and has enough left over to contribute soldiers to the policing of Baghdad and Fallujah. His response was to say, "The civil war will spread there, too." I didn't know whether to be more struck by his fatalism or his cynicism.

There's no doubt that he has a point. In two front-page stories last week, one read of attempts being made to drive the Kurds out of the northern city of Mosul and of the blowing-up of a major bridge that helps connect Baghdad to the Kurdish-majority city of Kirkuk. And this is only a dress rehearsal for what is to come as the people of Kirkuk get ready to vote on whether to affiliate themselves to the Kurdish autonomous region. Al-Qaida has made the sabotage of this vote a major effort and is sparing no atrocious tactic in its campaign of ethnic cleansing and clerical terror. So, what is all this idle babble about the conflict in Iraq being a "distraction" from the fight against Bin Laden? A very clear and bright line is being drawn in a country of vast strategic and economic importance. On one side of it stand the Iraqis who are willing to fight the common enemy of civilization, and on the other stands—what? Before we think about casting our own votes, we need to hear from every candidate whether he or she includes in their "withdrawal" package the abandonment of Kurdistan. And it would be nice to hear from the Bush administration, as well, a few crisp words on the identical subject. If we are not for ourselves, then who will be for us?

Martin Kramer v George W. Bush on Democracy in the Middle East

From the Jerusalem Post's BlogCentral, Martin Kramer's Prague speech (invited by Natan Scharansky himself):

Now in the Middle East, Saddam-style dictatorship, with mass graves and invasions of neighbors, is the exception, not the rule. So is Taliban-style puritanism, based on terrorism at home and abroad. The same is true of the genocidal regime in the Sudan, and the potentially genocidal regime in Iran. Democracy competes not against them, but against this consensual authoritarianism. And the reason democracy is losing that competition is that consensual authoritarianism produces security for its peoples, and exports security to its neighbors and the world.

We musn't be blind to these facts: these regimes cooperate with the world in combatting terrorism and containing an aggressive Iran, they have peace treaties with Israel or float peace initiatives, they don't threaten or intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, and they don't seek weapons of mass destruction. None of them has gone to war in the last thirty-plus years.

And who are the net exporters of insecurity? These are states that have multi-polar or pluralistic systems: Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and what some call Palestine. These systems aren't democracies, but in terms of formal practices like elections, they've actually gone the longer distance. Yet they don't provide security for their peoples, and they export insecurity, in the form of terrorism, refugees, radical Islam, and nuclear threats. What's discouraging is that this isn't true in only some of the cases, or only half of them. It's true, for now, in all if them.

Now it was also my teacher Bernard Lewis who said this: "Democracy is a strong medicine, which you have to give to the patient in small, gradually increasing doses. If you give too much too quickly, you kill the patient." This doesn't contradict his earlier statement, so much as it complements it. If they're not made free, they'll destroy us; but if they're made free too quickly, they might destroy themselves, and take us with them.

So how do we know whether the democracy dosage is too much, too fast? Security is the test. People around the world will look to this conference and say: solve this conundrum. Don't just cite precedents from other places and times. This is the Middle East, it looks different. Don't just offer lofty rhetoric. People are skeptical of it. Don't say that America will provide the security: it won't. And don't say that we have to think long-term: too much can go wrong in the short-term. The pro-democracy forces need to show how they'll make their peoples not only freer, but more secure--and how they'll make the rest of us safer.

Now unlike some others, I don't think this is an impossible mission. But it has to be acknowledged as the primary mission of dissidents today. It's a fact of life that the world's support for freedom isn't unconditional-- even for this US administration--and security is the condition. Meet that condition, even part way, and good people in the world won't just admire your courage. They might even take a chance and support you.

"For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!"

Now this is very interesting, just sent to me by someone I know...An interview with a young Kenyan economics expert, published by Germany's SPIEGEL ONLINE, pleading with the international community to stop funding "development" and "aid" programs, asap:

The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.

Also worth considering is this companion piece: this analysis by SPIEGEL correspondents Erich Wiedemann and Thilo Thielke:

Ahead of this week's G8 conference in Scotland, the world's richest nations forgave billions in debt to the world's poorest. Great news, right? Not necessarily. Decades of Western aid have done little to ease suffering in Africa -- indeed the situation is worse than ever. Is it time for the West to rethink its aid strategy?

Who's the Biggest Anti-Communist of Them All?

President George W. Bush dedicated the Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Washington today......While Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated Russian Independence Day by awarding Alexander Solzhenitsyn state honors.

Bush's event commemorates a defeat--Bush I's disastrous Tiananmen Square massacre. Putin's meeting symbolizes a victory--the restoration of non-Communist Russia and blessing from the leading Russophile writer (who refused honors offered by Yeltsin).

So, I'd have to call this a win for Putin. He's the bigger anti-Communist.

Some Background on CNI

What kind of organization is the ""Council for the National Interest"--sponsors of Sunday's full-page anti-semitic New York Times advertisement, published despite the New York Times' so-called advertising standards? A report on CAMERA's website, dated April 26, 2007 provides some background information:

CNI’s grossly distorted portrayal of Israeli policy and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is consistent with its longstanding animus towards Israel and its cozy relationship with Arab terrorists and anti-Semitic groups. In early 2006, for example, CNI leaders met in Damascus with Hamas chieftain Khaled Meshal as well as with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. An earlier CNI advertisement in the New York Times described Hamas as "a typical anti-colonial insurgency responding to an Israeli occupation and what amounts to government terror against Palestinian civilians."

CNI and its sister organization, the Council for the National Interest Foundation (CNIF), have maintained close ties with individuals linked to Islamic terror groups. Former CNIF Board Member Abdurahman Alamoudi, an open supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, is currently serving a 23-year prison term for illegally accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from top Libyan officials, plotting to murder Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah (on behalf of Libyan President Muammar Qadhafi), and violating tax and immigration laws (“Council for Islamist Interests” FrontPageMagazine.com, Aug. 5, 2004). In response to the exposure of the Alamoudi case by Stuart Wagner and Elon Granader, two research analysts associated with the Investigative Project (a Washington based counter-terrorism institute), CNI claimed ignorance of Alamoudi's activities, although his support for Hamas and Hezbollah was well known as early as 2000. After his arrest, he remained on the CNI Board for another ten months, finally being removed when he was convicted on July 30, 2004.

A 1999 CNIF press release showed a delegation that included CNI President Eugene Bird meeting with leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah. Also in 1999, CNI co-founder Richard Curtiss was the featured speaker at a Jerusalem Festival organized by the Islamic Association for Palestine, which has distributed Hamas communiqués including a charter calling for jihad against Jews.

Dr. Laura Drake is another extremist with ties to CNI. In 1993 and 1994, Drake served as the organization's Director of Research. By 1998, she was Director of the United Association for Studies and Research, an organization that, according to FBI Special Agent Robert Wright, "served as the command headquarters for the United States-based Hamas enterprise." George Mason University professor Peter Leitner, President of the Higgins Counterterrorism Research Center, similarly referred to the UASR as "a front organization for a terrorist group" and described it as "part of the international terrorist network." In a speech to the Al-Hewar Center in 2000, at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was offering far-reaching concessions to resolve Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians, Drake urged Arabs to refuse to normalize relations with Israel.

CNI members espouse fringe conspiracy theories and associate with anti-Semitic extremists. CNI Foundation Chairman Paul McCloskey refered to Israel as "an ugly little nation" and "a potential enemy of the United States." McCloskey stirred up controversy in 2000 when he was a featured speaker at a conference of the Institute for Historical Review, a Holocaust denial group, appearing with several notorious Holocaust deniers, like Arthur Butz, Robert Faurisson, David Irving and Ernst Zündel. And CNI Chairman Paul Findley has accused the Mossad (Israeli intelligence) of playing a role in the JFK assassination and attempting to kill President George Bush.

CNI is an outgrowth of the American Educational Trust (AET) , which publishes The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, a virulently anti-Israel publication with strong anti-Jewish undertones. The Washington Report has crudely branded Israel’s defenders, "fifth columnists," "Israel-firsters," "viruses," "bacteria," "cancer," and an "alien intrusion" operating "against the interests of the United States." The White House, the State Department, Congress, and the media have been termed "Israeli occupied territory."

Former CNI Executive Director David Bowen has joined Washington Report publisher Andrew Killgore and editor Richard Curtiss to speak at meetings of the now-defunct Liberty Lobby, which the Anti-Defamation League called "the most influential and active anti-Semitic propaganda organization in the United States."
AET’s membership includes a number of former Foreign Service "Arabists." Not surprisingly, while the heads of two modern democratic governments, the U.S. and Israel, are denigrated, the antediluvian Saudi monarch is portrayed in glowing terms. The April 22 ad in the Times presents the recent Saudi ultimatum to Israel concerning normalizing relations as "King Abdullah’s extraordinary effort to reopen the moribund Arab-Israeli peace process, so crudely ignored by Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and President Bush."

The Council for the National Interest essentially functions as the American arm of an Arab propaganda campaign to weaken bonds between the US and Israel by promoting the Arab narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This campaign inverts reality, casting Israel, a liberal democracy, as a racist, oppressive regime while ignoring the dictatorial nature of many of the Arab regimes CNI favors.

Lucky CAMERA had some information posted on the web. Abe Foxman appears to be AWOL on this issue, as I cannot find one word about Sunday's ad on the Anti-Defamation League website. ADL seems to be obsessed with the issue of sainthood for Pius XII--not a major threat to American Jews living today. IMHO Foxman is not up to dealing with actual threats faced by American Jewry after 9/11. The publication of full-page defamatory ads in the New York Times is evidence that ADL needs new leadership, asap...

Agustin Blazquez On NBC TODAY in Havana

NBC’S TODAY SHAM FROM HAVANA:
THE SAME BROKEN RECORD © 2007 ABIP
by Agustin Blazquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton

Warning to America: The NBC TODAY show knows what is going on behind the scene in Cuba but has decided not to tell the American people.

The reason is that in order to get a visa to report from Havana or to have a news bureau on the island, maybe even get the career-making interview with the tyrant himself, a news entity has to behave like a “good old boy” and deliver positive reports with plenty of references to the joys of touristing in Cuba – if not, it is expelled.

According to the article “Cuba Boots Foreign Reporters” by Humberto Fontova [http://www.amigospais-guaracabuya.org/oaghf077.php ] at the beginning of this year, “Gary Marx of the Chicago Tribune, Stephen Gibbs of the BBC, and Cesar Gonzalez-Calero of the Mexican newspaper El Universal were all served with pink slips, announcing that their services were no longer needed.” Cuba has done this many times and the U.S. media never make a big fuss about it. And so NBC went ahead with Matt Lauer’s trip to Cuba.

NBC executives know all about the system there. They know that “good behavior” in Cuba is a must, especially if they want the utmost grace of an interview with the Maximum Moribund or brother Raul Alcoholic Castro, or any other official of the tyranny. That’s is probably why they sent Andrea Mitchell (Castro fares best with female interviewers) – who, by the way, looks hideous without her usual lighting, makeup and hair.

So, reporting from Castroland requires hypocrisy because journalists must compromise their journalistic integrity and their credibility. As I always say, they are rendering a disservice to the American people as well as to Castro’s victims.

In spite of what a silly and overexcited Ann Curry said to Matt Lauer on the show, there was nothing to learn from the latest NBC TODAY sham from Havana on Tuesday, June 5, 2007. It was another exercise in futility and superficiality, a sorrowful spectacle that has been repeated many times before.

The charade was set in the same spots we have seen used in the past by NBC and other U.S. networks: with backdrops of the Morro Castle, the Paseo del Malecon, Havana’s sea shore boulevard, the Cathedral Square and usual tourist café, in the center of tourist-apartheid Cuba, where only foreigners and Castro’s elite are allowed. Cubans are permitted there only as servants, and they are not allowed to receive tips.

We were also treated to a musical number by Castro’s official group “Van Van,” with a circle of “happy Cubans” dancing and other staged-by-the government displays of tourist attractions. It was Castroland at its best, the face of Castro’s Cuba that most resembles Cuba before the revolution. Even a ballet dancer singing the praises of the revolution.

Included In this spectacular parade was a tired Ricardo Alarcon – some official of the revolution, no one important since Fidel didn’t include his name in his “provisional” abdication of the throne for the toilet. Let’s face it, the main puppeteers are always the Castro brothers: Moribund and Alcoholic. And good old NBC’s TODAY sham gave Alarcon a platform from which to spit his usual vitriolic propaganda.

Required on the agenda are the repetitious famous fallacies of the revolution about the free education and health care. But absent were the visits by the NBC cameras (even their hidden cameras – that’s a thought – NBC has gotten very good with hidden cameras lately) to the real schools and hospitals designated for Cubans, which are very different from the ones foreigners use, which also happens to be the ones NBC was given access to. NBC didn’t show the empty pharmacies and stores designated for the average Cuban. Yes, the tyranny assigns you to a particular pharmacy and store where you are allowed to shop.

How many times did Matt Lauer mention that there is no homelessness in Cuba? How does Mr. Lauer know that to be true? How can that possibly be? For photos of homeless and real Cuban hospitals visit [www.TheRealCuba.com ]. Does Mr. Lauer consider the incredible slums in which the vast majority of Cubans live to be “homes”? NBC didn’t show any of the slums of Havana or the living conditions that many families – especially blacks – have to endure in that country ruled by whites. Another use for NBC’s famous hidden cameras?

NBC didn’t mention the over 200 jails built by Castro. Didn’t show any dissident or political prisoner or even mention Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, a black human rights activist jailed under horrible conditions in Castro’s dungeons. Lauer did mention the human rights issue a couple of times, but his guests chose to ignore the issue and, hard journalist or not, Lauer let it pass. And of course, left out were the infamous “Acts of Repudiation” against people who dislike the tyranny [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3251464116022175058].

The NBC TODAY sham was just the usual pitch for lifting the U.S. embargo and travel restrictions in order to flood the island with unscrupulous U.S. businessmen and ignorant, insensitive tourists unaware of the reality of the Cuban tragedy. Oh, and flood Castro with more money, to keep up his tyranny indefinitely.

How would the obviously anti-Bush liberal U.S. media like Bush as president indefinitely?

No mention of the infamous sexual tourism – including with minors – sanctioned by Cuba. Too tetric for early morning TV?

No foreign businessmen do business with the Cuban people. All business is done with the Cuban military, which is in charge of all businesses in Cuba. There is no such thing as a Cuban businessman. And no foreign businessmen can hire and pay the Cuban workers. All workers are selected and supplied by the Cuban government; therefore, what is earned by the workers goes directly to Castro and his henchmen. They of course keep 95% of the salaries and pay a miserable salary in worthless Cuban pesos to the workers. International labor laws, norms and morals are not respected by the foreign businessmen.

These immoral businessmen are not contributing to the betterment of the Cuban workers. Rather, they are contributing to and becoming accomplices in their exploitation. As if once is not enough, Cubans are being victimized twice!

In relation to the preposterous idea that the flow of tourists will improve living conditions for the average Cuban and expose them to the idea of democracy, you have to consider that Castro’s laws penalize Cubans who make contact with foreigners. I repeat, there are drastic penalties and consequences for the average Cuban who befriends a foreigner in Cuba.

Cuba has an apartheid society (for that alone there should be an international boycott like the one against South Africa). Cubans are less than second-class citizens in their own country – and have been for years!

Tourists from Europe, Canada, Japan, Latin America and, yes, the United States, as well as other areas of the world, have been visiting Cuba for decades and there hasn’t been any change! Hello?!

Americans who want to travel to Cuba with the false hope of fostering a change in Cuba’s political system were pathetically misinformed by the garbage on the NBC TODAY sham.

U.S. citizens have been traveling to and doing business with China for decades. Is China a democracy? Does China respect human rights? China is not our ally, it is our adversary. The same can be said about Vietnam, which was recently accused of giving the Cuban tyranny the highly contagious virus of aviary flu H5N1 that could be distributed to the U.S. via migratory birds (so don’t be surprised by a future outbreak in the U.S.). The same can be said about Russia, which in spite of everything appears to be slinking back to the dark ages of dictatorship. America is surrounded by so many “good friends.”

Because of misinformation and disinformation by the U.S. media – reinforced by the NBC TODAY sham on June 5 – there is ever-growing support from the American people to lift the travel ban and the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

The lack of food, clothing and household goods is a Communist technique to keep populations under control, distracted by concerns about how they are going to survive. That is the rule of thumb in all communist tyrannies. Hunger is a tool, nay, a weapon against the masses.

Conveniently, the U.S. liberal media in general do not emphasize enough that Cuba trades with the rest of the world and that some of the same products available in the U.S. are available in Cuba – but mainly for foreigners and the Castro elite. Cuban people with their meager salaries, equivalent to $4 to $20 a month, cannot afford to pay $8 for a bottle of Johnson’s Baby Shampoo! Fortunately, NBC’s TODAY did mention this fact – good work!

In spite of the (in reality, symbolic) U.S. embargo, America is the biggest supplier of food and other goods to Cuba! The U.S. is also the major provider of humanitarian help to Cuba! And the Cuban exiles have been providing millions every year in cash, medicines and other goods to their families in Cuba for almost half a century!

Yes, the most hated and vilified (by the U.S. liberal media and academia) Cuban American exiles have never forgotten their homeland and their relatives living under the boot of the cruelest, most criminal and longest-lasting tyranny in the history of the Americas! Over 100,000 documented deaths. Yet for fewer than 3,000 deaths Augusto Pinochet was despised all over the Americas. What an outrageous double standard!

No, NBC’s TODAY show definitely was not forthcoming with its recent reporting. I challenge network executives to come clean and explain to America under what conditions they were allowed to work in Cuba. They should demonstrate more honesty and journalistic integrity if they want to be respected.

If NBC doesn’t do it, as far as I am concerned, the kindest word I can say about its silence, omission and collaboration with the enemy is that its conduct in this sham and throughout these 48 years of tyranny in Cuba has been criminal.
© 2007 ABIP

Agustin Blazquez, producer/director of the documentaries
COVERING CUBA, premiered at the American Film Institute in 1995, CUBA: The Pearl of the Antilles, COVERING CUBA 2: The Next Generation, premiered in 2001 at the U.S. Capitol in and at the 2001 Miami International Book Fair COVERING CUBA 3: Elian presented at the 2003 Miami Latin Film Festival, the 2004 American Film Renaissance Film Festival in Dallas, Texas and the 2006 Palm Beach International Film Festival, COVERING CUBA 4: The Rats Below, premiered at the two Tower Theaters in Miami on January 2006 and the 2006 Palm Beach International Film Festival and the 2006 Barcelona International Film Festival for Human Rights and Peace, Dan Rather "60 Minutes," an inside view , RUMBERAS CUBANAS, Vol. 1 MARIA ANTONIETA PONS, COVERING CUBA 5: Act Of Repudiation premiered at the two Tower Theaters in Miami, January 2007 and the 2007 Palm Beach International Film Festival, and the upcoming COVERING CUBA 6.

ALL AVAILABLE AT: www.CubaCollectibles.com
For previews visit: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Agustin+Blazquez

Author of more that 300 published articles and author with Carlos Wotzkow of the book COVERING AND DISCOVERING and translator with Jaums Sutton of the book by Luis Grave de Peralta Morell THE MAFIA OF HAVANA: The Cuban Cosa Nostra.

Andrew Kuchins on Putin's Missile Offer

From Newsday (ht Johnson's Russia List):

Maybe it is my sunbaked California upbringing that inclines me to think optimistically that Putin is serious, but let me offer a few reasons to support this view. First, I really don't think Putin wants a trashed U.S.-Russian relationship as part of his political legacy. I know Bush does not, and that is a big reason the two of them unexpectedly agreed to schedule the meeting in Maine this summer. But for that meeting to succeed in really turning the momentum in U.S.-Russian relations in a positive direction after a long downturn, something reasonably dramatic needs to be agreed on. Missile defense cooperation would certainly check that box.

Second, we have been discussing sharing missile launch data with the Russians for nearly 15 years, and we did reach an important agreement in 2000 to establish in Moscow a Joint Data Exchange Center, but implementation has been held up for legal and political reasons. Exploring missile defense cooperation was on the agenda for Bush and Putin going back to 2001, but the shift in our focus after 9/11 and other factors put that on the back burner. So there is considerable pre-history here that makes this proposal not entirely "out of the blue."

The obstacles, of course, are considerable. First, the radar in Azerbaijan is not of the technical specifications of the X-Band radar we had planned for the Czech Republic. There are all kinds of technical and legal complications, but the biggest challenges boil down to trust and politics. There is currently inadequate trust among the Russian and American political and military establishments to virtually overnight engage in a degree of cooperation found only among the closest of allies.

Bush and Putin have been saying for years that the Cold War is over; now they have the opportunity to most decisively prove that conclusion.

If they were to muster the political will against all odds, they would do a great deal for international security and their precarious legacies. You can bet that Putin's friends in Tehran and, to a lesser extent, in Beijing are not so comfortable with this turn of events.

Julia Gorin on President Bush's Kosovo Albanian Fans

From Frontpagemagazine.com (ht JihadWatch):

But no, we preferred, and prefer, to cast our lot with the Balkans’ most primitive elements — sacrificing friends to make friends of our enemies. Men who severed Christian heads, killed federal employees who were Albanian for “collaborating”, and violently purged their own ranks are the “statesmen” whom Condoleezza Rice and Nicholas Burns meet with regularly, the men we’ve set up as the legitimate rulers of an ethnically pure pro-American Kosovo, and who were honored guests at the 2004 Democratic Convention.

Rather than rule of law, religious freedom, ethnic diversity, equal justice and civil rights, Kosovo is governed by lawless, tribalistic, blood-code-following, clan-oriented mob justice. While reports out of Serbia concern debates in public schools over Evolution versus Intelligent Design theory — similar to our own — a typical report out of Kosovo concerned a debate over whether to kill the KFOR (NATO) mascot because the dog was Serbian.

“We’re defending our way of life,” our leaders told us in 1999. Perversely enshrining those ‘common values,’ a crude replica of the Statue of Liberty overlooks our mono-ethnic handiwork from atop the Victory Hotel where the American flag hangs upside-down just a few yards below. Nearby are Bill Clinton Boulevard and Wesley Clark Avenue — tributes cited recently as examples of the area’s pro-Americanism. (There are also streets named for Eliot Engel, Bob Dole and Madeleine Albright.) Meanwhile, the former terrorists whom we installed as the “Kosovo Protection Force” and as the legitimate government of the province attend annual July 4th celebrations at the U.S. Consulate in Pristina. One proposed banner for the competition to design “Kosova’s” new flag mimics the American flag, with the two-headed black Albanian eagle in the corner where the 50 stars would be, plus red and white stripes.

Great. The narco-terrorist gangster state we created is pro-American. Are we so desperate for an endorsement that we must grasp it even if it comes from a terror-friendly horde, our support of whom is already coming home to roost?

Shuttered Washington Bank at Center of UK-Saudi Bribery Scandal

From the Guardian (UK) (ht lgf):

Last night, the Liberal Democrat leader, Menzies Campbell, demanded to know the role of the attorney general in concealing from the OECD the payments of more than £1bn from BAE to Prince Bandar as part of the al-Yamamah contract.

The money was paid from an account at the Bank of England into accounts in Washington controlled by Prince Bandar. Details of the transfers were discovered by the Serious Fraud Office during the marathon investigation into BAE.

However, the SFO inquiry was suddenly halted late last year. Al-Yamamah, Britain's biggest ever arms deal, which was signed in 1985, involves the sale of Tornado fighter jets and Hawk aircraft.

The Guardian has this week published accusations that £30m a quarter - for at least 10 years - was paid into accounts controlled by Prince Bandar at the Riggs bank in Washington. [NOTE: Riggs bank shut down after pleading guilty to money laundering charges in 2005.]

The attorney general yesterday categorically denied part of the Guardian story in the affair.

He said that he had not ordered British investigators to conceal the £1bn payments from the OECD.

The director of the SFO took responsibility for the decision to withhold information. In a statement, Robert Wardle said the decision was made by his own organisation "having regard to the need to protect national security".

The Guardian investigation has revealed that:

· The attorney general became aware of these payments because of the SFO inquiry into BAE corruption allegations.

· He recognised the vulnerability of the government to accusations of complicity over a long period in the secret payments.

· There is no dispute that, as reported by the Guardian, the fact of the payments was concealed from the OECD when it demanded explanations for the dropping of the SFO inquiry.

· UK government officials have been exposed as seeking to undermine the OECD process, and complaining that its Swiss chairman has been too outspoken.

· When, before publication, the Guardian originally asked the attorney general's office who was responsible for concealing the information from the OECD, the newspaper was told: "The information presented to the OECD bribery working group ... was prepared by AGO and SFO".

The AGO is the attorney general's office. Both departments report to Lord Goldsmith himself.

Last night, when Lord Goldsmith was asked if the concealment was done with his knowledge, he said he could not respond. His spokesman had previously said that full evidence had not been given to the OECD because of "national security" considerations. He also refused to discuss the allegations concerning the payments. "I am not going into the detail of any of the individual allegations," he said.

It also emerged yesterday that Des Browne, the defence secretary, held talks this week with the Saudi crown prince, Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz - the father of Prince Bandar - to try to secure a £20bn arms deal for BAE Systems.

Sir Menzies said the attorney general had more questions to answer.

"If it is true that information about payments made to Prince Bandar was not given to the OECD, then that is an allegation of the utmost seriousness. It would be unsupportable for Britain to sign up to an international agreement on bribery and then fail to honour its obligations when an investigation comes too close to home."

Western Michigan University--Rah, Rah, Rah!

When it rains, it pours...

Not just Science Po in Paris, but also someone at Western Michigan University's Department of Political Science in Kalamazoo, Michigan seems to be reading my stuff.

Look at this listing among class assignments for Professor Sybil Rhodes' Introduction to Comparative Politics (PSCI 2400):

Writing assignment # 3 Due Thursday 11/9 in class.

Russian national identity
Questions: What does it mean to be Russian? Is Russia part of the West?

Required article:
Jarvik, Laurence. 2006. “Cultural Challenges to Democratization in Russia.” Orbis 50(1)(Winter).

Here's a link to the WMU website.

It Sounds Even Better in French...

France's venerable "Grande Ecole" Science-Po recently published a digest of my Orbis article, "NGOs: A New Class in International Relations." Since my great-grandfather is buried in Paris' Pere Lachaise Cemetery, you can imagine my pride upon reading the following listing in Science Po's "Articles of the Month" publication:

Jarvik, Laurence Ariel. - NGOs : a "New class" in international relations. - Orbis (Philadelphia) . - (2007,Spring)vol.51:n°2, p.217-238. - Fait partie d'un numéro spécial. - Une nouvelle classe d'acteurs a fait irruption ces dernières années sur la scène internationale, les ONG souvent d'origine occidentale, qui soutiennent la "société civile" contre les élites au pouvoir dans les pays du Sud. Les Etats-Unis ont appuyé à travers l'USAID et certaines multinationales l'activité de ces nouveaux acteurs, mais contrairement aux prédictions, ce basculement du pouvoir (power shift) dans les Etats-nations n'a pas favorisé la démocratie mais encouragé des sociétés dominées par la mafia et les seigneurs de la guerre comme on peut le constater en Afghanistan et en Irak et peut-être bientôt au Soudan.

Now that the article has been digested into French, perhaps President Sarkozy or Bernard Kouchner might understand what President Bush so far has been unable to...

Rabbi Pinchas Eisenbach

Visiting a friend in Chicago over the weekend, someone I know and yours truly met a remarkable rabbi, Pinchas Eisenbach, who called on our friend at Midwest Palliative Care Center and Hospice. Here's a couple of YouTube clips where Rabbi Eisenbach, a student of well-known Chicago Rabbi Soloveichik, discusses some end-of-life issues that he encounters in his practice as hospice chaplain:Here's a link to a 1999 story quoting Rabbi Eisenbach from Jewish World Review.

Anti-Semites in the New York Times Advertising Department

On page twelve of the Week in Review section of today's Sunday New York Times there appears an anti-semitic full-page advertisement from the so-called "Council for the National Interest"--an anti-Israel lobbying organization engaged in a demonization campaign against the Jewish state, American Jews, as well as gentile supporters of Israel in America. Indeed, it is not only anti-semitic, it is also obviously anti-American in its overt attack on our democratic process. IMHO the ad is clearly misleading, inaccurate, fraudulent, makes unfair claims and fails to comply with community standards of decency and dignity.

Today's CNI advertisement mocks a line of presidential candidates--Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, et al.-- as tools of the Jews, depicted lining up to reach a podium emblazoned with a Jewish star (the Israeli flag). The accompanying text decries the influence of the "Israel lobby"--and by implication attempts to slime America's political leadership for seeking Jewish support.

The ad is both offensive and ugly, beyond bad taste as hate speech--it employs anti-Semitic tropes familiar to those who have studied Nazi propaganda. It obviously violates the terms of advertising acceptability published on the New York Times advertising department website:

Advertising Acceptability Guidelines
The New York Times maintains an Advertising Acceptability Department whose function is to examine advertisements before publication to determine if they meet the standards of acceptability The Times has developed over the years.

The Times may decline to accept advertising that is misleading, inaccurate or fraudulent; that makes unfair competitive claims; or that fails to comply with its standards of decency and dignity.

If an advertisement contains statements or illustrations that are not deemed acceptable, and that The Times thinks should be changed or eliminated, the advertiser will be notified. The Times will attempt to negotiate changes with the advertiser; however, if changes cannot be negotiated, the advertisement will be declined by The Times.

In addition, an advertisement must sometimes be declined because of the applicability of laws dealing with such matters as libel, copyright and trademark, the right to privacy, the sale of securities, the sale of real estate and political advertising.

The New York Times maintains clear separation between news and editorial matter and its advertisements. Accordingly, ads that include elements usually associated with The New York Times editorial matter will not be accepted (for example, but not limited to: Times-style headlines, bylines, news-style column arrangements or typography). Additionally, The Times reserves the right to label an advertisement with the word “advertisement” when, in its opinion, this is necessary to make clear the distinction between editorial material and advertising.

The Advertising Acceptability Department can be contacted directly at 212-556-7171 for questions or for a pamphlet containing detailed information on acceptability guidelines.

The fact that today's advertisement was published--despite that it obviously is misleading, inaccurate and fraudulent; that makes unfair competitive claims (all manifest in the cartoon illustration); and that it fails to comply with its standards of 'decency and dignity'"-- indicates that the advertising department and publisher of the New York Times are either completely blind to incitements to Jew-hatred, or insensitive to the problem of anti-semitism and anti-Americanism, or more worryingly--openly endorse anti-semitism and incitement to Jew-hatred.

I don't blame CNI for wanting to spread its hateful message of intolerance. I do hold the New York Times responsible for accepting their ad for publication. The CNI ad was not "fit to print."

Shame on the New York Times.

Amil Imani on Iran and Israel

From AmilImani.com:

Throughout history, Iranians have been known for their tolerance of other creeds and religions. This was particularly notable in their associations and contacts with the Jews. Having been oppressed by the Seleucids and the Romans, the Jews had come to believe that Iran was the only super power capable of saving them from a fanatical foreign yoke, as it had done once before in the Achaemenid period.

The Parthian dynasty role in the liberation of the Jews gave rise to the well-known saying: “When you see a Parthian charger tied up to a tomb-stone in the land of Israel, the hour of the Messiah will be near". This shows the love of the Jews for the Persians as their savoir. Unlike what the clergies are preaching today, the majority of Iranians have enjoyed being a good host to their fellow countrymen, the Jewish population. “In the continuous struggles between the Parthians and the Romans, the Jews had every reason to hate the Romans, the destroyers of their sanctuary, and to side with the Persians: their protectors.”

True Iranians have remained friends of the Jews by both belief as well as deeds. During the shameful Hitlerian campaign of exterminating the Jews, for instance, Iranian missions in Europe, notably the one in France, issued Iranian passports to facilitate the flight of French and other European Jews from the claws of Nazis and their gas chambers—the very gas chambers that the true Muslim, disgracing Iranians, Ahmadinejad, denies ever existed.

Iranians stand for the rights of the Jews as well as the equal rights under the law for any and all religious and secular people. “A friend in need is the friend in-deed,” is an apt saying. It is time for Israel to reciprocate the historical assistance of the Iranians at the hour of their needs. It is payback time now. Israel should give the Iranian people a helping hand by supporting the freedom-loving Iranians. It is the Iranian people who can best end the tyrannical and menacing mullahcracy that is posing a deadly threat to all concerned.

Memo to Bush: Take Up Putin's Offer

Russian President Vladimir Putin tried one of those judo moves that he was trained to use as a black belt--turning Russian weakness into a strength by throwing an unsuspecting partner on his back with an offer of a joint US-Russian missile base in Azerbaijan at the G8 Summit.

Putin's offer is one way to turn American-Russian conflicts into a "win-win" situation. Bush might immediately accept the offer in principle--with details to be hammered out over time.

Putin has put forward a serious deterrent to Iran, as well as any other potential Islamist states or terrorist non-governmental organizations threatening the West. If accepted by Bush, Russia resumes a traditional role as a buffer in the Clash of Civilizations--familiar position for a nation that defeated both Hitler and Napoleon in alliances with the West. Finally, it moves the ball forward on other possible US-Russian joint projects, including, eventually, American participation in Russian pipelines as full partner--rather than competitor. This would mark an end to the "Great Game" played since the collapse of the USSR, and the beginning of a real Alliance of Civilizations, as well as a business partnership that could be rewarding for both America and Russia.

Plus, it has the added advantage of letting Europe know that the US will not be played off against Russia while the EU trades with Iran and other enemies of the USA. Making the EU and Russia equal partners with the US would mark the first step in crushing Osama Bin Laden and his Islamist extremist supporters around the world. The message would be received quite swiftly among American adversaries--it might even lead to peace in Iraq by September. As I learned at Moscow State University, Saddam Hussein's Baathists were educated in Moscow, as was Palestinian president Abbas.

So President Bush, let's talk Texan. The question facing you right now is simply: "Is George W. Bush man enough to say 'Yes' to Putin?"

Joel Mowbray: Fire Register or Lose Al-Hurra Funding, Congress Says

From the Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Register still seems to be toeing the PLO party line. Last Month, on May 15, Al-Hurra's onscreen ticker referred to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948 as "al Naqba," which in Arabic means "the Catastrophe." When Mr. Register was informed of this--that in effect Al-Hurra was taking a pro-Palestinian position absolutely not shared by the U.S. government that funds the network--he said to employees in the newsroom that it was appropriate, since it's the term used by Arabs. The ticker was eventually changed, but only after an hour had passed.

Mr. Register has assured Congress that he is committed to fair coverage of Israel. Yet those assurances should be considered alongside his view of the Feb. 9 riots that occurred just outside the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Despite widespread agreement in the Western media that the riots were started by Muslims, Mr. Register was convinced that Israel was the instigator--and he was determined to catch the Jewish state in the act the following Friday. He wrote an email to Al-Hurra staff saying that he wanted a satellite truck "in place to get people turned away from prayers . . . if the Israelis do this again."

Muslim men under 45 had been turned away from the mosque on Feb. 9--in order to limit the scope of violent riots that Palestinians had already hinted were coming. But so too were Jews, praying at the nearby Western Wall, removed from the area.

This week, the House panel responsible for funding the State Department and all international broadcasters takes up its fiscal year 2008 spending bill. Nine of the 13 members of the Appropriations subcommittee on Foreign Operations have already demanded that Mr. Register's employment be terminated, and now they have an opportunity to hand State and the BBG an ultimatum.

So Mr. Register's defenders should ask themselves: Is it worth risking millions to save someone with so dubious a track record?

NY Sun Links JFK Terror Plot to Iran

From today's New York Sun editorial:

The thing that caught our eye in the plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport and its oil lines concerns a detail in respect of the arrest of one of the key Guyanese suspects. It was the fact that the former member of the Guyanese legislature who was fingered in the plot, Abdul Kadir, was arrested in Trinidad on his way to Caracas, Venezuela. According to Mr. Kadir's wife, who was quoted in the Guyanese press, he was there to pick up an Iranian visa that would enable him to attend an Islamic conference in Tehran.

No doubt we will learn more about this plot as the weeks go on. Our sense of the intelligence community is that it is reserving its judgment, though clearly congratulations are in order for Commissioner Kelly, the United States attorney in Brooklyn, Roslynn Mauskopf, and the other officials involved in breaking this case. But our attention has been riveted for some time on growing evidence that the Iranian regime has been moving aggressively to gain influence in our hemisphere, and the big surprise in the latest case is only that it took so long for something to develop.

BTW, The New York Times ran its story on the JFK plot on page C12 (Business Section) of today's national edition--below the fold...

Libby Jail Term Puts Bush On The Spot

Peter Baker writes in the Washington Post:

The sentence imposed on former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby yesterday put President Bush in the position of making a decision he has tried to avoid for months: Trigger a fresh political storm by pardoning a convicted perjurer or let one of the early architects of his administration head to prison.

The prospect of a pardon has become so sensitive inside the West Wing that top aides have been kept out of the loop, and even Bush friends have been told not to bring it up with the president. In any debate, officials expect Vice President Cheney to favor a pardon, while other aides worry about the political consequences of stepping into a case that stems from the origins of the Iraq war and renewing questions about the truthfulness of the Bush administration.

The White House publicly sought to defer the matter again yesterday, saying that Bush is "not going to intervene" for now. But U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton indicated that he is not inclined to let Libby remain free pending appeals, which means the issue could confront Bush in a matter of weeks when, barring a judicial change of heart, Cheney's former chief of staff will have to trade his business suit for prison garb. Republicans inside and outside the administration said that would be the moment when Bush has to decide.

"Obviously, there'd be a significant political price to pay," said William P. Barr, who as attorney general to President George H.W. Bush remembers the controversy raised by the post-election pardons for several Iran-contra figures in 1992. "I personally am very sympathetic to Scooter Libby. But it would be a tough call to do it at this stage."

At the same time, some White House advisers said the president's political troubles are already so deep that a pardon might not be so damaging. Those most upset by the CIA leak case that led to the Libby conviction already oppose Bush, they noted. "You can't hang a man twice for the same crime," a Republican close to the White House said.

Classical Music Boosts DC NPR Station Ratings

Paul Farhi writes in today's Washington Post:

A bunch of European composers who haven't had a hit in decades have been very, very good to radio station WETA.

Since dropping news and talk programming for classical music in January, the Arlington public station has seen its fortunes soar. Ratings have more than doubled since the switchover from BBC and NPR reports to Bach and Brahms concertos. And perhaps just as important to WETA (90.9 FM), pledge contributions from listeners have been gushing.

WETA's strong showing in the first four months of the year likely reflects the death of WGMS-FM, the station that called it quits in January after 60 years as Washington's commercial classical station. WETA, owned by a nonprofit foundation, coordinated its format change with WGMS's expiration, becoming the sole classical outlet on the local airwaves.

The station's early success suggests that classical music isn't dead as a radio format, despite its long decline on commercial stations across the country. According to a study last year by the National Endowment for the Arts, only 28 commercial stations nationwide had a classical-music format in 2005. Public stations have gradually cut back on classical, jazz and other musical forms to focus on news and talk -- exactly the opposite path that WETA has taken this year.

The gains of that change are borne out by WETA's audience totals during the January-March quarter. According to the ratings service Arbitron -- which releases figures for public stations separately from those of commercial stations -- WETA captured 4.9 percent of the radio audience in Washington during the first quarter, up from 2.1 percent in the preceding three months, when WETA was a news-talk station. WETA carried mostly news and talk for a two-year period starting in February 2005.

Those numbers make WETA the region's fifth most popular station, behind traditional powerhouses WHUR-FM (which plays hip-hop), WTOP-FM (all news), WPGC-FM (urban contemporary) and WMMJ-FM (R&B hits).

Paul Weyrich on Western Media's Terrible Russia Coverage

From NewsMax.com:

When Yeltsin was in his second term he was blessed if he hit 29 percent. So I wondered how Kasparov was going to be able to oppose Putin, who at this writing is still scheduled to leave the Russian presidency at the end of his second term. I was thinking of the old Kasparov. This past week I had the chance to visit with Murashev in my home and the topic of Kasparov arose because it bothered me that the Western media had reported that he was held for several hours after a demonstration.

Murashev's views I have come to respect over the past nineteen years. He is very objective. He has seldom been wrong. He tells me that Kasparov has joined with a Marxist who campaigns for the return of Communism. Here is this important pro-democracy figure, Kasparov, who has now joined with his former arch-opponent to get political attention. Murashev says that unfortunately Kasparov has become an almost clownish figure.

He still has a good image in the Western media, however. I feel very badly that Kasparov, who no longer is involved with chess, is no longer respected in Russia. I liked the man. I was honored to be with him.

We have our sad figures who have fallen from grace as well. Think of Harold E. Stassen. I can only wish Kasparov well, but given his reputation, it is not likely we will be seeing him as a serious political figure ever again.

Meanwhile our conversation with Murashev turned to coverage of Russia by Western media. Murashev makes the case that it is terrible. I have seen it up close. Murashev is correct. The question is why?

Is it simply ignorance on the part of Western reporters? How can it be? They can see things with their own eyes. I once asked Igor Gaidar why Russia was receiving such bad coverage.

He said that the Soviets had spent millions to infiltrate the Western media, "Just because the Soviets went away, it doesn't mean these reporters have gone away. They are still there." I have no idea if that is the reason Russia gets such a bad rap. Perhaps some reporters are not communist plants but were sympathetic to the Soviet Union and resent what has taken its place.

I have met so many reporters who looked to the Soviet Union as a remarkable model. They blame the West for its collapse. Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky said that the West did not so much defeat that Soviet Union as it imploded.

Regardless of which notion is acceptable, the West defeated the Soviet Union or it imploded, there is no rational explanation for the coverage Russia is receiving. My own view is that most likely the reason for the bad coverage is resentment over what has replaced the Soviet Union.

A member of a prominent American Democratic campaign once told me that I had no idea how much liberals looked to the Soviet Union as an appropriate model for the West and how angry and confused the left now is that it has fallen. Most reporters belong to the left.

I would often say I would attend a hearing in the Senate and would not recognize the coverage of the same on the evening news. Now the Russians are having the same experience.