Amazon (not .com)

It appears that the Amazon is being cut down at historic levels.

      PRELIMINARY FIGURES FROM the Environment Ministry, released late Wednesday, showed deforestation in the Amazon jumped to 9,840 square miles last year ? the highest since 1995 ? from 7,010 square miles in 2001.

Undoubtedly it is the fault of the Bush Administration’s failure to back the Kyoto Protocol.

The Jackal

Uh oh, Osama has got the Jackal on his side now. 

Carlos the Jackal, whose real name is Illich Ramirez Sanchez, praises Osama Bin Laden’s “shining” example in a selection of writings from his prison cell in France which went on sale on Thursday.

A convert to Islam since his imprisonment for three murders, Sanchez preaches “revolutionary Islam” - which is the title of his book - as the new, post-Communist answer to what he calls US “totalitarianism”.

From one terrorist to another, with love.

Comical Ali

I just love this quote from a CENTCOM spokeswoman regarding Comical Ali.

“He is an interesting story teller and we look forward to hearing what he has got to say,”

Who says CENTCOM folks don’t have a sense of humor?

Zimbabwe Facing Another Food Shortage

Here’s the UN dispatch.

Although national cereal production is considerably up from last year, a combination of erratic rainfall, limited access to seed and farmers newly settled through a land reform programme failing to utilize all the land due to lack of capital have cut cereal production by 51 per cent compared to 2001. The large-scale commercial sector now produces only about one-tenth of its output in the 1990s.

Keep in mind that Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa until Mugabe started his “land reform program” in which he forced whites off of the land they had farmed for generations and gave the land to his cronies.  Of course, the UN seems to think that if only they had the capital, they could farm the land.  In truth, vast tracts of fertile soil were given to people with no interest in or ability to farm. 

Once again, the UN answers the brutality and racism of a vicious dictator by asking the world to send him more money.

Iran says Iraq hid weapons

It appears that Iran’s intelligence agrees with us.  Are they part of the VRWC too?

   NEW YORK ? An Iranian government official with ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Tehran sides with the Americans on one big issue ? Saddam Hussein’s weapons.
   “Yes, we agree with the Americans. Our intelligence indicated that Iraq did possess weapons of mass destruction and was hiding them from the U.N.,” the official said.

(Link via LGF)

EU

It seems that many in the Eastern European countries which suffered under Communism recognize the EU, and not in a good way.  Did we win the Cold War only to lose Europe to the Socialists/Communists?

Poland Joins EU

Poland joins the EU.

Polish television said 81.9% of those who voted had backed EU membership.

Assuming that the exit polls weren’t done by the Voter News Service - this is probably accurate.

All in all, I think this is a good thing.  Although the EU is a very corrupt and un-democratic organization, it is a fact of life.  I hope that the noble Poles will help to center the EU before it goes off the deep end.

OPEC Wants Cooperation

DOHA, Qatar—If Organization of Petroleum Exporting member countries cut oil outputs further, nonmembers should do likewise, the oil cartel’s president said Sunday.

“OPEC can’t work alone. We require their (non-OPEC member states) support,” Dow Jones Newswires quoted Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah as telling an American Business Council of Qatar gathering ahead of the cartel’s Wednesday meeting in Doha.

Uh-huh.  OPEC drove up oil prices in the 70’s specifically to hurt the American economy.  And they expect us to cooperate.  Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

Zimbabwe

More crushing of dissent in Zimbabwe. 

Here’s the story.

Iran

Does Iran really want to push their luck with the US right now?

Four United States soldiers and five civilians on boats were detained and interrogated by Iranians for several hours on Sunday, according to US Central Command.

Russia plans northern exodus

It seems that Russia still thinks it’s a communist state.

The Russian Government has announced a plan to resettle up to 600,000 people from the country’s remote far north.

Do free market governments “resettle” people.  Picture this story:

The US Government has announced a plan to resettle up to 600,000 people from the country’s remote far north (North Dakota).

Not bloody likely.

EU Constitution

If you’re looking for a good chuckle, check out the new EU Constitution.  Be forewarned, it’s 148 pages long.   If your Constitution is 148 pages long, you’re in for a rough ride.

Steven Den Beste has an excellent take on this.

The Husseins

Time has an excellent article on the savagery of the Husseins.

Last October another bride, 18, was dragged, resisting, into a guardhouse on one of Uday’s properties, according to a maid who worked there. The maid says she saw a guard rip off the woman’s white wedding dress and lock her, crying, in a bathroom. After Uday arrived, the maid heard screaming. Later she was called to clean up. The body of the woman was carried out in a military blanket, she said. There were acid burns on her left shoulder and the left side of her face. The maid found bloodstains on Uday’s mattress and clumps of black hair and peeled flesh in the bedroom. A guard told her, “Don’t say anything about what you see, or you and your family will be finished.”

Stomach turning.

No Juice, Ajima

If there’s one thing I miss about Korea, it’s the Juicy Bars.

If there’s one thing I don’t miss, it’s the once-a-month troop in my office explaining that he wants to marry a foreign national because she’s “The One.”

One Russian lady said that “I was supposed to marry American man but my employment agency took my registration card and I cannot get US visa now.”

EU Army

The EU’s “Rapid Reaction Force” appears to be neither rapid, nor able to react, nor a force. 

So everyone agrees that military capabilities must be improved, but there are differences of opinion within the EU about future strategy.

Well then, so long as we’re all agreed, it shouldn’t be a problem.  Right???