Taj
and Trident Tower reopen, but not the Oberoi which will take another seven
months or so.
An unsmiling policeman stood behind sandbags, rifle poised. If the metal
detector beeped, a polite staffer requested guests to have their bags checked. Besides the security, on Saturday, a day before the Trident reopened, it felt
like the most brazen terror attack on India never happened. [...] On the fringes of the crowd were those who see the Taj every day. Prakash
Chavan, who has been selling peanuts outside the Taj for 15 years, said: “I
can’t afford to walk into the hotel, but when they reopen their doors,
I’ll clap proudly.” |
Cheers to India. Never let down. Never let the thugs win.
Iraq’s parliament has dealt
al-Maliki a serious defeat. Sadr is smiling.
Iraq’s parliament has rejected a draft law that would have permitted forces
from the UK, Australia and a number of other countries to remain after 2008. The bill, rejected by 80 votes to 68, would have given the 6,000 non-US troops
a legal basis for staying once the UN mandate expires on 31 December. It will now be sent back to the cabinet for amendment. A vote is due next
week. [...] |
It’s bad enough the Brits were demeaned to this lower agreement, but now that
Sadr has successfully defeated it that means the non U.S. forces could basically
be kicked out of Iraq. Juan
Cole has more.
The shoe thrower was beaten, according to reports by the Guardian.
| he Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President George Bush was viciously beaten after being taken into custody, according to a police officer who accompanied him to prison. Wrestled to the ground and then buried under a frantic mound of security officers, Muntazer al-Zaidi was last seen being dragged into detention. Controversy has since raged over what treatment was meted out to the man hailed a hero in many parts of the Arab and Muslim world for his protest against the invasion of Iraq. Yesterday there were further demonstrations in the Middle East calling for his immediate release. … |
The story of the
Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip hardly makes the news in the U.S. It’s
indicative of our blindness to the suffering of the Palestinians. As good a
friends as we are with Israel, which is as it should be. If that is really true
then it’s time for us to tell our friends enough.
Impoverished Palestinians on the Gaza Strip are being forced to scavenge
for food on rubbish dumps to survive as Israel’s economic blockade risks causing
irreversible damage, according to international observers. [...]The figures collected by the UN agency show that 51.8% – an “unprecedentedly
high” number of Gaza’s 1.5 million population – are now living below
the poverty line. The agency announced last week that it had been forced to
stop distributing food rations to the 750,000 people in need and had also
suspended cash distributions to 94,000 of the most disadvantaged who were
unable to afford the high prices being asked for smuggled food. … |
Our problems with the Arab and Muslim world will not be solved until we give a little tough love to our Israeli friends.
The situation in Gaza is something no one should countenance. Will Barack and Clinton have the spine to do it together? They make the right team.
Settlements and the Palestinians, will we ever find a reconcilable medium?
At least PM Brown is making a concerted effort, one of the few. It’s a never
ending quagmire that awaits Obama. Our national security is tied up in it.
The international community must do more to hold Israel accountable – particularly
on its accelerated West Bank settlement construction – if peace efforts are
to have a chance, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad said in
an interview Saturday. [...] However, in recent months, Fayad has tried a new approach, proposing
practical steps in which European countries could help curb settlement expansion. In May, he wrote to 27 EU nations, proposing the link between an upgrade
in Israel-EU ties and halting settlement construction. Fayad also exchanged
letters with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown who said he wants to make
sure products from West Bank settlements are denied favorable EU tariffs. Under a 2003 agreement between Israel and the EU, settlement products must
be clearly labeled. Brown wrote Dec. 9 that he wants to make sure the agreement
is implemented effectively “and any abuse of the system fully investigated.”
Brown also wrote that he’s looking into ways to discourage British citizens
from buying property in settlements. [...] |
As the 21st century unfolds, Russia goes backwards to the bad old days. George
W. Bush looked into Putin’s soul, but was too ignorant to see the darkness. Bush ignored Russia, which is odd considering Condi’s historical prowess on all things Soviet. Treason
is now being expanded to include talking to journalists as a possible punishable
offense.
In a country where government critics already feel vulnerable, legislation
to expand the definition of treason has inspired a new round of hand-wringing
about how far the state will go to rein in dissenters and regulate Russians’
contact with foreigners. Even certain conversations with a foreign reporter could be “considered
treason under the new legislation,” contended Ernst Chyorny, the leader
of a human rights group in Moscow, because they could be seen as “consultative”
support to a foreign entity. And that, he says, could land a violator in prison
for as long as 20 years. [...] |
China
sends navy vessels to fight pirates off of the Horn of Africa.
Iran
sends warships to battle the pirates off of Somalia as well.
In the plot thickens, Lebanon
now has an ambassador to Syria. Yep, that’s right. It coincides with another
tale I’ll tell you after the jump.
Lebanon appointed an ambassador to Syria on Saturday, the first time the
Arab neighbours will have full diplomatic relations since gaining independence
from France in the 1940s. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had issued a decree in October to establish
diplomatic relations with Lebanon, with whom bilateral ties have thawed since
the end of a Lebanese political crisis in May. [...] |
Now before going on, this exchange was expected “before the end of the
year.” They made it by a week. But that’s not the thing to watch.
The real
story is the pending trial at the international court at The Hague regarding
the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri of Lebanon. After
judges being replaced, deaths, disappearances, witness protection and every
other manner of mob like threats, the beginning of the most dangerous part is near. All signs
are revealing the Assad government had a hand in the assassination, which doesn’t shock anyone who follows this region. The Atlantic lays it out in their December issue: Getting
Away With Murder? This will be yet another swirling wind President Obama will have around him in the coming year.
There is
much talk that even though many facts point to Assad and the people around him, including his brother-in-law, as well as generals in Lebanon, with things as tenuous as they are
in the region, the question is being asked whether the fall of Assad is something
anyone can afford. You likely know where I’m going. In order to save the Syrian
government, people around him could be held up, not exactly patsies but not the head of the snake, which would save Great Britain, the U.S., Israel, etc. from having to deal with the aftermath of Assad falling. The reality is that an assassination of this magnitude would need the backing of a state, with Assad the person at the top. But wait! There’s an on the other hand. What
will the majority Sunni in Syria do if it’s seen that people who planned al-Hariri’s
assassination (likely Shia) are not held accountable? Quite a dangerous situation, with the trial in early in 2009. We’ll see who has the courage to demand justice for the Lebanese people,
as well as for “Mr. Lebanon,” who clearly was more than just a politician to the people.
That’s why he’s dead, with his son in hiding for his life.
