On GlennReynolds.com:
"September 11, 2001 wasn't the beginning of this war. In fact, fundamentalist Islamists had been making war on the United States for years, with the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, the attacks on our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 (which was intended to topple both towers, but failed), all the way back, in some sense, to the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran back when Jimmy Carter was president. For all those years, they were at war with us, but we largely ignored it. But September 11, 2001 was when we woke up, and realized what was going on. When people talk about the 1,000th casualty in Iraq, it's worth remembering that we had 3,000 casualties in a single day, in America, and that terrorists want to do much, much worse."
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Mira Nair's Unknown 9/11 Film
Viewer's of Vanity Fair might be interested to track down a copy of Mira Nair's short docudrama about 9/11, one episode in an anthology film, which according to Tom Plate in the Straits Times, is not being shown in the US:
"Grieving Americans, shocked to discover that not everyone reacted to the World Trade Center massacre the same way, might want to see 11'09'01 September 11. It's an anthology, of sorts, from directors in 11 countries. The Egyptian contribution, by director Youssef Chahine, contains dialogue making the case for terrorist attacks against the US and Israel. India's Mira Nair tells the story of a Pakistani-American who died helping firefighters at the World Trade Center and who, posthumously, became the target of an anti-terrorist probe simply because, as his mother puts it, 'his name wasn't Jesus'- or David or Cary. Curtains go up on the controversial film in France on Sept 11. Americans who want to see it, at this point, will have to go there. It has yet to find a US distributor. Might this be a foretaste of US cultural protectionism? What an unwanted surprise ending that would prove. "
Here are some more details on the film, from ApunKaChoice.Com:
"Mira Nair's vignette dramatises the real life story of Salman Hamdani, an American Muslim medical student who went missing in New York City after the attack and later became a terrorist suspect. The all-American upbringing of the boy came to naught as his family saw neighbours and friends turn against them. Finally, it turned out that Salman had died helping people out of the World Trade Center tower that day. The members of the youth's family took part in the film.
"Nair was later quoted as saying that she wanted to make a film about the reality of life for South Asians in New York City after September 11. 'Life has changed irrevocably, and I think forever. From New York to Jenin to Gujarat, the Islamophobia that has taken over the world disturbs me immensely. As a filmmaker, I thought it was about time we spoke up,' the director of such popularly acclaimed films as 'Salaam Bombay' and 'Monsoon Wedding', told an ethnic Indian newspaper in the US."
Shahid Nahim reported that Nair's 9/11 docudrama was banned in the USA, in Pakistan's Daily Times:
"In the discussion that followed, Mira Nair revealed that the American film distribution association refused to distribute the film. According to them, the film is controversial and political. Hence the Columbia screening might be the only screening in the US. This effective banning of the film has come from Hollywood, which is notorious for making films about disasters and tragedies that have taken place all over the world. The film has been shown in Europe and other parts of the world and has been well received. It is a shame that the US public is unable to see the film � they need to see films of this kind more than any other nation. It is the US public that needs to learn how the rest of the world looks at them and their government. It is they who need to find out that there are other perspectives, other prisms through which events like 9/11 look very different indeed. 9/11, the film, does not present things as black and white or good and evil, unlike the US version of 9/11, where all good lies on one side and all evil on the other. "
"Grieving Americans, shocked to discover that not everyone reacted to the World Trade Center massacre the same way, might want to see 11'09'01 September 11. It's an anthology, of sorts, from directors in 11 countries. The Egyptian contribution, by director Youssef Chahine, contains dialogue making the case for terrorist attacks against the US and Israel. India's Mira Nair tells the story of a Pakistani-American who died helping firefighters at the World Trade Center and who, posthumously, became the target of an anti-terrorist probe simply because, as his mother puts it, 'his name wasn't Jesus'- or David or Cary. Curtains go up on the controversial film in France on Sept 11. Americans who want to see it, at this point, will have to go there. It has yet to find a US distributor. Might this be a foretaste of US cultural protectionism? What an unwanted surprise ending that would prove. "
Here are some more details on the film, from ApunKaChoice.Com:
"Mira Nair's vignette dramatises the real life story of Salman Hamdani, an American Muslim medical student who went missing in New York City after the attack and later became a terrorist suspect. The all-American upbringing of the boy came to naught as his family saw neighbours and friends turn against them. Finally, it turned out that Salman had died helping people out of the World Trade Center tower that day. The members of the youth's family took part in the film.
"Nair was later quoted as saying that she wanted to make a film about the reality of life for South Asians in New York City after September 11. 'Life has changed irrevocably, and I think forever. From New York to Jenin to Gujarat, the Islamophobia that has taken over the world disturbs me immensely. As a filmmaker, I thought it was about time we spoke up,' the director of such popularly acclaimed films as 'Salaam Bombay' and 'Monsoon Wedding', told an ethnic Indian newspaper in the US."
Shahid Nahim reported that Nair's 9/11 docudrama was banned in the USA, in Pakistan's Daily Times:
"In the discussion that followed, Mira Nair revealed that the American film distribution association refused to distribute the film. According to them, the film is controversial and political. Hence the Columbia screening might be the only screening in the US. This effective banning of the film has come from Hollywood, which is notorious for making films about disasters and tragedies that have taken place all over the world. The film has been shown in Europe and other parts of the world and has been well received. It is a shame that the US public is unable to see the film � they need to see films of this kind more than any other nation. It is the US public that needs to learn how the rest of the world looks at them and their government. It is they who need to find out that there are other perspectives, other prisms through which events like 9/11 look very different indeed. 9/11, the film, does not present things as black and white or good and evil, unlike the US version of 9/11, where all good lies on one side and all evil on the other. "
Michael Wilmington Talks to Mira Nair
He interviewed the director of Vanity Fair for The Chicago Tribune:
"Movie director Mira Nair has a great, warming, infectious laugh and a mind that works like a steel trap. And, much like Becky Sharp, the seductive but smart, nice but naughty anti-heroine of Nair's latest movie, 'Vanity Fair,' she seemingly never lets life get her down. Nair, 46, the Indian-born, Harvard-educated, internationally admired director of 'Salaam Bombay!' and 'Monsoon Wedding,' might seem an odd match for 'Vanity Fair': the lavishly produced new movie adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's classic 19th Century British novel. Similarly, her film's star -- lively 'Legally Blonde' ingenue Reese Witherspoon -- might seem too Hollywood-ish a choice for 'Fair's' classically unscrupulous, seductive Becky, one of English literature's juiciest, most provocative females. Yet, as Nair points out, 'Vanity Fair' -- which she first read as a schoolgirl in India -- is a book she has read and loved for most of her life. And Witherspoon was Nair's first choice and, as it turns out, a memorable Becky -- winning us over equally or more than Miriam Hopkins in the trailblazing 1935 Hollywood Technicolor 'Becky Sharp' (directed by Rouben Mamoulian) or Natasha Little (star of the deservedly praised 1998 BBC TV-film, and a supporting player, as Lady Jane Sheepshanks, in Nair's all-star cast)."
"Movie director Mira Nair has a great, warming, infectious laugh and a mind that works like a steel trap. And, much like Becky Sharp, the seductive but smart, nice but naughty anti-heroine of Nair's latest movie, 'Vanity Fair,' she seemingly never lets life get her down. Nair, 46, the Indian-born, Harvard-educated, internationally admired director of 'Salaam Bombay!' and 'Monsoon Wedding,' might seem an odd match for 'Vanity Fair': the lavishly produced new movie adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's classic 19th Century British novel. Similarly, her film's star -- lively 'Legally Blonde' ingenue Reese Witherspoon -- might seem too Hollywood-ish a choice for 'Fair's' classically unscrupulous, seductive Becky, one of English literature's juiciest, most provocative females. Yet, as Nair points out, 'Vanity Fair' -- which she first read as a schoolgirl in India -- is a book she has read and loved for most of her life. And Witherspoon was Nair's first choice and, as it turns out, a memorable Becky -- winning us over equally or more than Miriam Hopkins in the trailblazing 1935 Hollywood Technicolor 'Becky Sharp' (directed by Rouben Mamoulian) or Natasha Little (star of the deservedly praised 1998 BBC TV-film, and a supporting player, as Lady Jane Sheepshanks, in Nair's all-star cast)."
Friday, September 10, 2004
How the Internet Saved the Book Business
Again via Artsjournal.com from The Guardian:
"They might not be ditching the traditional shop, but the suggestion that booksellers would crumble under the challenge of the internet has been utterly refuted. Instead of becoming a footnote in bookselling history, the industry has used the web to secure its future. And the resulting competition between the main players means that, right now at least, the second-hand book field really is a buyer's market."
(I know it's bad form to say "told you so," but just am unable to resist noting that in 1998 I published a magazine article analyzing charges that Amazon.com would put bookshops out of business, called "Turmoil in the Book World." It concluded the internet was good for the publishing industry, and that Amazon.com would stimulate book sales. Unfortunately, the full text is not available free online, so I can't link to it.)
"They might not be ditching the traditional shop, but the suggestion that booksellers would crumble under the challenge of the internet has been utterly refuted. Instead of becoming a footnote in bookselling history, the industry has used the web to secure its future. And the resulting competition between the main players means that, right now at least, the second-hand book field really is a buyer's market."
(I know it's bad form to say "told you so," but just am unable to resist noting that in 1998 I published a magazine article analyzing charges that Amazon.com would put bookshops out of business, called "Turmoil in the Book World." It concluded the internet was good for the publishing industry, and that Amazon.com would stimulate book sales. Unfortunately, the full text is not available free online, so I can't link to it.)
The Disappearing Cultural Exchange
Via Artsjournal.com this linkfrom Backstage on the collapse of cultural diplomacy:
"And the bottom line: 'The annual number of academic and cultural exchanges has dropped from 45,000 in 1995 to 29,000 in 2001.' This means that far fewer American artists, including performing artists, are being given chances to ply their crafts on foreign soil. The study presumes that those figures have decreased even further in recent years."
"And the bottom line: 'The annual number of academic and cultural exchanges has dropped from 45,000 in 1995 to 29,000 in 2001.' This means that far fewer American artists, including performing artists, are being given chances to ply their crafts on foreign soil. The study presumes that those figures have decreased even further in recent years."
Putin's Resolve
It's the beginning of the end for the terrorists, saysMansoor Ijaz in National Review Online
"Like him or not, Vladimir Putin's resolve to stare down Beslan's terrorists--about whom he understood nothing--will (if by accident) be seen one day as a turning point in the war against extremism, because the depravity of Beslan's architects has turned the silent majority in the Muslim world on its ear. Editors, political leaders, and mullahs from Jeddah to Istanbul to Jakarta are decrying the insanity of the Beslan murders. And they are beginning to realize that always blaming others for their woes won't help elevate their disaffected people or spread the word of their failed vision any faster or better.
"We Muslims (I am an American whose faith remains that of the humane and dignified Islam) have no legs to stand on anymore when those who proclaim our religion are willing to put a gun to a child's head, pull the trigger, and call it an act of martyrdom. Islam no longer carries a message of hope, only the indelible impressions of cruelty. Its purveyors are bankrupt of ideas that inspire, and have failed in an ideology that in its very heart today has become hypocritical. To top it all off, America's Muslims--whose freedom to craft and convey an opposition to the terrorist cancer is protected by the very people those terrorists seek to destroy, sit silent-- stone cold silent.
"Islam's 'vanguard,' as Zawahiri called it, has an opportunity to redefine the message and turn away from the extremists. America will win the war against extremism because America's values are righteous, and because God, whatever you conceive Him to be, is at our side. But Islam will surely lose its credibility as a great religion if its benefactors don't stand now and drive the final nail into the coffin of the terrorists who have hijacked a noble faith."
"Like him or not, Vladimir Putin's resolve to stare down Beslan's terrorists--about whom he understood nothing--will (if by accident) be seen one day as a turning point in the war against extremism, because the depravity of Beslan's architects has turned the silent majority in the Muslim world on its ear. Editors, political leaders, and mullahs from Jeddah to Istanbul to Jakarta are decrying the insanity of the Beslan murders. And they are beginning to realize that always blaming others for their woes won't help elevate their disaffected people or spread the word of their failed vision any faster or better.
"We Muslims (I am an American whose faith remains that of the humane and dignified Islam) have no legs to stand on anymore when those who proclaim our religion are willing to put a gun to a child's head, pull the trigger, and call it an act of martyrdom. Islam no longer carries a message of hope, only the indelible impressions of cruelty. Its purveyors are bankrupt of ideas that inspire, and have failed in an ideology that in its very heart today has become hypocritical. To top it all off, America's Muslims--whose freedom to craft and convey an opposition to the terrorist cancer is protected by the very people those terrorists seek to destroy, sit silent-- stone cold silent.
"Islam's 'vanguard,' as Zawahiri called it, has an opportunity to redefine the message and turn away from the extremists. America will win the war against extremism because America's values are righteous, and because God, whatever you conceive Him to be, is at our side. But Islam will surely lose its credibility as a great religion if its benefactors don't stand now and drive the final nail into the coffin of the terrorists who have hijacked a noble faith."
Word Wrap on 60 Minutes Forgery Scandal
For those of you not tired of the document details, Little Green Footballs has a very complete analysis of why the 60 Minutes story is a hoax.
Blogs v. 60 Minutes
The Blogger dashboard carried this link to an interesting story by Jay Currie:
"One day. That was all it took for the ranks of citizen journalists to swarm and then thoroughly discredit a story which ran in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and on a network news magazine. From the Kerry perspective a scandal involving forged documents is a disaster. Kerry had yesterday to get in front of the story and he missed that boat. Instead of being able to stay on message and trying to beat down the post convention pulse which has sent Bush several points ahead in various opinion polls, Kerry is likely to face questions about who was responsible for the forgeries. While it would be astonishing if anyone inside the Kerry organization had a hand in them, it is a question that will be asked. Moreover, the spectacle of Kerry announcing that his campaign organization and the Democratic Party had nothing to do with issuing those documents will occupy several critical news cycles and focus attention on character -- exactly where Kerry does not want to be.
"From the perspective of the establishment media, this, too, is a disaster. CBS will have to explain: where did the documents come from? What were the bona fides of the source? Who was the source? Which expert looked at the documents? How closely? Those are the starter questions. The more basic question is how could a rabble of bloggers, in one day, provide hard core proof of forgery when major news organizations took those documents at face value? Most fundamental of all, why did the New York Times, the Boston Globe and CBS allow themselves to be used for such a transparent attempt to slander President Bush? Out in the blogosphere there are a swarm of people rooting for the answers."
"One day. That was all it took for the ranks of citizen journalists to swarm and then thoroughly discredit a story which ran in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and on a network news magazine. From the Kerry perspective a scandal involving forged documents is a disaster. Kerry had yesterday to get in front of the story and he missed that boat. Instead of being able to stay on message and trying to beat down the post convention pulse which has sent Bush several points ahead in various opinion polls, Kerry is likely to face questions about who was responsible for the forgeries. While it would be astonishing if anyone inside the Kerry organization had a hand in them, it is a question that will be asked. Moreover, the spectacle of Kerry announcing that his campaign organization and the Democratic Party had nothing to do with issuing those documents will occupy several critical news cycles and focus attention on character -- exactly where Kerry does not want to be.
"From the perspective of the establishment media, this, too, is a disaster. CBS will have to explain: where did the documents come from? What were the bona fides of the source? Who was the source? Which expert looked at the documents? How closely? Those are the starter questions. The more basic question is how could a rabble of bloggers, in one day, provide hard core proof of forgery when major news organizations took those documents at face value? Most fundamental of all, why did the New York Times, the Boston Globe and CBS allow themselves to be used for such a transparent attempt to slander President Bush? Out in the blogosphere there are a swarm of people rooting for the answers."
Victor Davis Hanson on Beslan
He calls it the straw that broke the camel's back:
"The recent slaughters in Russia were the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back of excusing or explaining away radical Islamic terror. If the Estonians can break away from post-Soviet oppression and free themselves from Russian authoritarianism without slaughtering schoolchildren and blowing up airplanes, then the Chechens can as well -- but only if they wish to create democracy rather than an Islamic fascist state."
"The recent slaughters in Russia were the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back of excusing or explaining away radical Islamic terror. If the Estonians can break away from post-Soviet oppression and free themselves from Russian authoritarianism without slaughtering schoolchildren and blowing up airplanes, then the Chechens can as well -- but only if they wish to create democracy rather than an Islamic fascist state."
CYA
As the most intelligent person I know pointed out regarding the 60 Minutes Forgery Scandal, the documents must surely be forged -- since no one who really wanted to cover his backside would put the term "CYA" on a memo designed for that purpose. As any bureaucrat knows, the only way one can properly cover one's backside is by not announcing that is the purpose of the document...
Here's some backup from a posting in the comments section of Roger L. Simon's blog:
Posted by: Terrye at September 10, 2004 07:28 PM
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick B
No officer would ever use it on a memo. It would be dispositive proof of failure to perform or at minimum to report undue influence. Wouldn't look too hot in a court martial. "I knew it was wrong but I wrote this memo - see."
Thank you!
The "CYA" jumped out at me for exactly that reason.
I have to say this part of it is as shocking to me as anything, since presumably the staff members dealing with these memos are writers, at least some of them.
Seriously: I probably would only have noticed the problems with the type subliminally, but the "CYA" just smacked me between the eyes.
The entire point of a CYA memo is to CYA.
==============================================
Here's some backup from a posting in the comments section of Roger L. Simon's blog:
Posted by: Terrye at September 10, 2004 07:28 PM
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick B
No officer would ever use it on a memo. It would be dispositive proof of failure to perform or at minimum to report undue influence. Wouldn't look too hot in a court martial. "I knew it was wrong but I wrote this memo - see."
Thank you!
The "CYA" jumped out at me for exactly that reason.
I have to say this part of it is as shocking to me as anything, since presumably the staff members dealing with these memos are writers, at least some of them.
Seriously: I probably would only have noticed the problems with the type subliminally, but the "CYA" just smacked me between the eyes.
The entire point of a CYA memo is to CYA.
==============================================
Mark Helprin on America's Mistakes in Iraq
From the Wall Street Journal: "
"We have followed a confusion of war aims that seem to report after the fact what we have done rather than to direct what we do. We could, by threatening the existence of Middle Eastern regimes, which live to hold power, enforce our insistence that the Arab world eradicate the terrorists within its midst. Instead, we have embarked upon the messianic transformation of an entire region, indeed an entire civilization, in response to our inability to pacify even a single one of its countries. As long as our war aims stray from the disciplined, justifiable, and attainable objective of self-defense, we will be courting failure.
"Our strategy has been deeply inadequate especially in light of the fact that we have refused to build up our forces even as our aims have expanded to the point of absurdity. We might have based in northern Saudi Arabia within easy range of the key regimes that succor terrorism, free to coerce their cooperation by putting their survival in question. Our remounted infantry would have been refreshed, reinforced, properly supported, unaffected by insurgency, and ready to strike. The paradigm would have shifted from conquer, occupy, fail, and withdraw--to strike, return, and re-energize. At the same time, we would not have solicited challenges, as we do now, from anyone who sees that although we may be occupying Iraq, Iraq is also occupying us."
"We have followed a confusion of war aims that seem to report after the fact what we have done rather than to direct what we do. We could, by threatening the existence of Middle Eastern regimes, which live to hold power, enforce our insistence that the Arab world eradicate the terrorists within its midst. Instead, we have embarked upon the messianic transformation of an entire region, indeed an entire civilization, in response to our inability to pacify even a single one of its countries. As long as our war aims stray from the disciplined, justifiable, and attainable objective of self-defense, we will be courting failure.
"Our strategy has been deeply inadequate especially in light of the fact that we have refused to build up our forces even as our aims have expanded to the point of absurdity. We might have based in northern Saudi Arabia within easy range of the key regimes that succor terrorism, free to coerce their cooperation by putting their survival in question. Our remounted infantry would have been refreshed, reinforced, properly supported, unaffected by insurgency, and ready to strike. The paradigm would have shifted from conquer, occupy, fail, and withdraw--to strike, return, and re-energize. At the same time, we would not have solicited challenges, as we do now, from anyone who sees that although we may be occupying Iraq, Iraq is also occupying us."
"60 Minutes is Toast"
Via Matt Drudge, here's the source for reporting on the 60 Minutes Forgery ScandalPower Line: The sixty-first minute.
Lileks on the 60 Minutes Forgery Scandal
Thanks to a link from Instapundit, from The Bleat:
"I can't add a thing to the forgery controversy, even in my capacity as a lily-gilder. The efforts of the Powerline guys and Charles Johnson speak for themselves, and you ought to read them before you make up your mind. Is there anyone out there who doesn't know what I mean? Possible. It's the old non-contiguous information stream issue again. I mentioned the story to someone today--a friend who has his ideas about politics, of course, but doesn't follow the braided strands of intrigue that thread through the blogosphere. He's an independent. Ventura voter. He'd heard about the latest round of National Guard stories, and he couldn't care less. I told him about the forgery rumors; he was amused. Did it change his opinion of CBS? Not really, because he didn't care for them one way or the other. Dan Rather's news was the Daily Show without the laughs."
"I can't add a thing to the forgery controversy, even in my capacity as a lily-gilder. The efforts of the Powerline guys and Charles Johnson speak for themselves, and you ought to read them before you make up your mind. Is there anyone out there who doesn't know what I mean? Possible. It's the old non-contiguous information stream issue again. I mentioned the story to someone today--a friend who has his ideas about politics, of course, but doesn't follow the braided strands of intrigue that thread through the blogosphere. He's an independent. Ventura voter. He'd heard about the latest round of National Guard stories, and he couldn't care less. I told him about the forgery rumors; he was amused. Did it change his opinion of CBS? Not really, because he didn't care for them one way or the other. Dan Rather's news was the Daily Show without the laughs."
Tim Blair on the Jakarta Bombing
Tim Blair has some updates from Australia on the bombing in Indonesia that targeted the Australian embassy.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Ed Koch: "Russia is America's Ally Against Terrorism"
From Newsmax:
"The Times editorial denounces the Russians for responding to Chechen efforts to secede, 'mainly with force and intransigence.' In the days of the Civil War and the South's efforts to secede from the Union, did The Times propose to President Lincoln that he 'reach for compromise' and let the South go? Lincoln's refusal to allow the secession, despite the knowledge that it would result in a tragic civil war, was nevertheless the right thing to do. Will Putin follow in Lincoln's footsteps? I hope so...The tragic events in Russia should be another wake-up call to the civilized world. As we grieve with the Russian people, we should remember that we are allies in a common war against international terrorism."
"The Times editorial denounces the Russians for responding to Chechen efforts to secede, 'mainly with force and intransigence.' In the days of the Civil War and the South's efforts to secede from the Union, did The Times propose to President Lincoln that he 'reach for compromise' and let the South go? Lincoln's refusal to allow the secession, despite the knowledge that it would result in a tragic civil war, was nevertheless the right thing to do. Will Putin follow in Lincoln's footsteps? I hope so...The tragic events in Russia should be another wake-up call to the civilized world. As we grieve with the Russian people, we should remember that we are allies in a common war against international terrorism."
A "New Russian" Love Story
From MosNews:
"A 23-year-old former Miss Moscow contestant has avoided a prison sentence for ordering a contract hit by marrying her intended victim, Ananova web-site reports. After a bust up with boyfriend Igor Lantsov, a wealthy Moscow businessman, Anastasia Nasinovskaya contacted an old friend and offered $15,000, of Lantsov’s money, to make their separation permanent. The relationship reached breaking point in December of last year when Lantsov demanded Nasinovskaya return a brand new BMW.
“I spent a half a million dollars on her in the six months we lived together,” Lantsov told a police investigator, Izvestia reported. “It’s pure impudence: ordering a hit on me with my own money!”
"She offered Ivan Sentyurin $10,000 up front, with an extra $5,000 after he produced evidence of the contract killing. Sentyurin, however, went straight to the police who set up a ‘sting’ when the would-be hitman went to collect his second payment. In an apparent change of heart by Lantsov, however, the businessman hired a top lawyer to defend his ex and even proposed.
“Apparently his feelings were stronger than the insult of having a contract put on his life,” the police spokesman said. As a result of their wedding the court gave Nasinovskaya a five-year suspended sentence at the end of August, the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid wrote."
"A 23-year-old former Miss Moscow contestant has avoided a prison sentence for ordering a contract hit by marrying her intended victim, Ananova web-site reports. After a bust up with boyfriend Igor Lantsov, a wealthy Moscow businessman, Anastasia Nasinovskaya contacted an old friend and offered $15,000, of Lantsov’s money, to make their separation permanent. The relationship reached breaking point in December of last year when Lantsov demanded Nasinovskaya return a brand new BMW.
“I spent a half a million dollars on her in the six months we lived together,” Lantsov told a police investigator, Izvestia reported. “It’s pure impudence: ordering a hit on me with my own money!”
"She offered Ivan Sentyurin $10,000 up front, with an extra $5,000 after he produced evidence of the contract killing. Sentyurin, however, went straight to the police who set up a ‘sting’ when the would-be hitman went to collect his second payment. In an apparent change of heart by Lantsov, however, the businessman hired a top lawyer to defend his ex and even proposed.
“Apparently his feelings were stronger than the insult of having a contract put on his life,” the police spokesman said. As a result of their wedding the court gave Nasinovskaya a five-year suspended sentence at the end of August, the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid wrote."
Russian Foreign Minister Blasts US, UK
For giving aid and shelter to Chechen separatists, according to MosNews:
"Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Thursday that the United States and the UK were employing double standards in sheltering Chechen separatists. Speaking to the Vremya Novostei (Time of News) newspaper, he said that rendering asylum to 'persons involved in terrorism, and Russia has documentary witnesses of it, not only rouses our regret but really undermines the unity of the anti-terrorist coalition.' The minister expressed discontent with the facts that Chechen separatist spokesman Akhmed Zakayev lives in London, and their foreign envoy Ilyas Akhmadov has received asylum in the United States. Lavrov called for the executive authorities in those countries to 'take measures not to let those people propagandize terrorism.' In this connection, he recalled that Zakayev had blamed the Russian authorities for the school siege in Beslan."
"Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Thursday that the United States and the UK were employing double standards in sheltering Chechen separatists. Speaking to the Vremya Novostei (Time of News) newspaper, he said that rendering asylum to 'persons involved in terrorism, and Russia has documentary witnesses of it, not only rouses our regret but really undermines the unity of the anti-terrorist coalition.' The minister expressed discontent with the facts that Chechen separatist spokesman Akhmed Zakayev lives in London, and their foreign envoy Ilyas Akhmadov has received asylum in the United States. Lavrov called for the executive authorities in those countries to 'take measures not to let those people propagandize terrorism.' In this connection, he recalled that Zakayev had blamed the Russian authorities for the school siege in Beslan."
What Putin Wants
BBC correspondent Paul Reynolds explains the Russian leader's concerns in Chechnya:
"His insistence that there can be no surrender to demands for independence for Chechnya is based on a number of factors which include:
* a fear of further chaos on Russia's borders in the region
* a feeling that Russia must not make any further territorial concessions anywhere
* a belief that the Chechens were offered and threw away the chance of responsible independence before.
"Mr Putin has also added into this complex mix the spectre of international (by which he means Islamic) terrorism and an accusation that unnamed foreign countries want to break bits off Russia. It must also not be forgotten that he has staked his own reputation on his policy and that therefore he is reluctant to change it."
"His insistence that there can be no surrender to demands for independence for Chechnya is based on a number of factors which include:
* a fear of further chaos on Russia's borders in the region
* a feeling that Russia must not make any further territorial concessions anywhere
* a belief that the Chechens were offered and threw away the chance of responsible independence before.
"Mr Putin has also added into this complex mix the spectre of international (by which he means Islamic) terrorism and an accusation that unnamed foreign countries want to break bits off Russia. It must also not be forgotten that he has staked his own reputation on his policy and that therefore he is reluctant to change it."
"Now that we are the target ..."
From The Sydney Morning Herald:
"The bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta delivered an unequivocal message. Australia is, for the first time, the clear and specific target of Indonesian-based terrorists. The Bali bombings of 2002, which killed 88 Australians, and the later attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta were directed at 'Western interests' in general. However, the car bomb which exploded outside the gate of the heavily fortified embassy struck at the very symbol of Australia's interests and policies. Suspicion has immediately fallen on the regional extremist network, Jemaah Islamiah (JI), despite the huge security operation which netted more than 200 senior JI operatives after the Bali bombings. The attack suggests the Indonesia-based JI, or a similar splinter group, is still active and dangerous, creating real cause for alarm over the security of Australia's large expatriate community."
Last year, we visited some Australian diplomats in New Delhi, and every time our car stopped at the front gate of the residential compound, a guard would look under the vehicle with a mirror on a stick. Each time, it was a reminder of the Bali bombing tragedy, evidence that Americans are not the only terrorist targets...
"The bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta delivered an unequivocal message. Australia is, for the first time, the clear and specific target of Indonesian-based terrorists. The Bali bombings of 2002, which killed 88 Australians, and the later attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta were directed at 'Western interests' in general. However, the car bomb which exploded outside the gate of the heavily fortified embassy struck at the very symbol of Australia's interests and policies. Suspicion has immediately fallen on the regional extremist network, Jemaah Islamiah (JI), despite the huge security operation which netted more than 200 senior JI operatives after the Bali bombings. The attack suggests the Indonesia-based JI, or a similar splinter group, is still active and dangerous, creating real cause for alarm over the security of Australia's large expatriate community."
Last year, we visited some Australian diplomats in New Delhi, and every time our car stopped at the front gate of the residential compound, a guard would look under the vehicle with a mirror on a stick. Each time, it was a reminder of the Bali bombing tragedy, evidence that Americans are not the only terrorist targets...
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