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Zimbabwe Independence Day Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007 ¤ Zimbabwe Independence Day - An African Statement Yesterday the people of Zimbabwe celebrated their nation's 27th year of independence and the US and other European powers are not pleased. They hoped that the White minority settlers in Zimbabwe could have continued controlling the vast amounts of land that were taken during colonial rule. Despite the increasing pressure from the US and other European powers, the majority in Zimbabwe remain strongly aligned to the ruling ZANU-PF party and their president, Robert Mugabe. It was hoped that economic hardship fueled by sanctions and the ongoing campaign by Western countries to demonize President Robert Mugabe could have been enough to turn the majority of people in rural areas against Mugabe. So far that has failed. ¤ The Hobbesian Hell of Iraq What are we to make of the bizarre contrast between our national grief over the terrible slaughter of students and faculty at Virginia Tech and our muted reaction to the continuing bloodbath in and around Baghdad? One mass killing in the 209 years since Virginia Tech was founded is not exactly a trend. It is a terrible thing but not likely to be repeated anytime soon. We cannot say the same about events in Baghdad and Iraq. Just today four separate car bombs in and around Baghdad teft at least 180 Iraqis--mostly Shia--dead. On Tuesday, at least 85 bodies turned up and there were more bombings. Monday was not much better--thirty corpses and at least twenty killed in bombings. Sixty nine plus on Sunday. And the beat goes on. ¤ Wolfowitz's World Bank deputy tells him to quit ¤ In Baghdad, carnage continues US efforts to subdue the insurgency in Baghdad suffered a setback yesterday when the Iraqi capital endured one of its most wretched days in four years of slaughter, with nearly 200 people killed and more than 200 injured in a volley of afternoon bomb attacks. Some of the capital's poorest and most densely populated areas once again confronted scenes of carnage and devastation as at least five large explosions detonated within a terrifying few hours. In the worst attack, a car bomb at a market in a Shia district killed at least 140 people, some of them labourers rebuilding the marketplace from a previous attack in February. ¤ A Day of Bombs and Blood ¤ Somalia Fighting Kills at Least 12 ¤ Police 'sorry' killer's videos were broadcast US police said tonight they were "sorry" hate-filled videos recorded by campus killer Cho Seung-Hui have been broadcast. Virginia Police Superintendent Steve Flaherty said he was disappointed US channel NBC chose to show the disturbing footage. He said officers studied the ranting speeches recorded by the 23-year-old South Korean murderer but they "simply confirmed what we already knew". Although NBC News delayed broadcasting clips for several hours while FBI officers examined the footage, it has since been criticised for airing them ¤ Wednesday: 312 Iraqis, 1 GI Killed; 302 Iraqis Wounded ¤ Unplugged McCain sings 'bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran' ¤ John McCain Just Doesn't Get It - II ¤ Former Mossad chief not against taking out Ahmadinejad ¤ The Endless War ¤ Tangled in Table Talk ¤ Heck of a Job, Wolfie At least they can't blame Paul Wolfowitz on the Jews anymore. That's the good news in the scandal; his lover and neocon political soul mate, Shaha Ali Riza, the World Bank official who received a lucrative transfer to the State Department at Wolfowitz's direction, is an Arab Muslim. She is one in a group of Arab exiles, the most prominent being Ahmed Chalabi, who clearly had as much of a role as the oft-mentioned Israel lobby in driving the U.S. to war. Throw in the Christian right's fierce support for the invasion and responsibility for this debacle is now proved to be quite ecumenical. ¤ Meeting the Resistance in Iraq ¤ Wolfowitz's Quid Pro Quo Of the top five outside international appointments made by embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz during his nearly two-year tenure, three were senior political appointees of right-wing governments that provided strong backing for U.S. policy in Iraq. The latest appointment came just last month, when former Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher was named senior vice president for external affairs. Muasher served as King Abdullah II's ambassador in Washington in the run-up to the Iraq War in 2002 and reportedly played a key role in ensuring Amman's cooperation in the March 2003 invasion. During and after the invasion, when Muasher served first as foreign minister and then as deputy prime minister, he was considered among Washington's staunchest supporters in an increasingly hostile Arab world. ¤ Imus Is Out, But Whitey Execs Get the Last Laugh ¤ Mauritania swears in first President ¤ Iran denies US claims on weapons in Afghanistan ¤ 'I Wish The Iraq War Never Existed,' It Was 'Osama Bin Laden's Idea' ¤ Va. Tech shooter was laughed at ¤ Backlash leads to pullback on Cho video ¤ Bomber gets by Baghdad security; 12 dead ¤ The Deeper Darkness Behind the Wolfowitz Scandal ¤ Deadly clashes erupt in Mogadishu Fighting has erupted again the Somali capital Mogadishu, leaving at least 10 civilians dead and 15 more injured, Al Jazeera says. Heavy shelling could be heard around the city on Thursday as Ethiopian troops clashed with Somali groups opposed to the country’s interim government, agencies report. Witnesses told the AFP news agency that eight people were killed when a mortar landed in a bus station in the south of the city. ¤ Bringing Down the House of Lies It's a bit of a mixed feeling to realize that millions and millions of people who didn't get this distinction two, four or six years ago now understand that the "political' issues we now face aren't about right and left, they're about right and wrong. On one hand, what took you so long? On the other, thank God and welcome aboard. ¤ Trouble is brewing for the US in Iraqi Kurdistan ¤ The Assault on a Pregnant Woman ¤ Our dead, their dead As tragic as the Virginia Tech shootings are, let's face it: 32 dead is a slow day in U.S.-occupied Iraq. "Those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate," President Bush said. "They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." He would know. In America, we have the luxury of mourning our dead for days or even years (see 9/11). If Iraqis tried to "pull together" and "come to grips" with every massacre of innocents . . . well, you get the idea. |
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