Monday Global Briefing

Don’t we own Afghanistan yet?
Despite the hype that we are winning the war on terror, things are going from bad to worse in Afghanistan with the muhajadeen doing what they have always done when a foreign power invades – guerilla warfare. Which begs a couple of questions, I wonder if the West would be in any of this mess if the United States had refrained from playing God because of their Vietnam mis-adventure, by arming the Taliban and Bin Laden to the teeth in the 1980s to fight the Soviet Union.

This from Aljazeera…
More than 70 Taliban guerrillas have been killed in fighting with Nato and Afghan forces in the southern province of Kandahar, officials said on Sunday. Four policemen were also killed in the battle in Panjwai district, to the southwest of Kandahar city, Neyaz Mohammad Sarhadi, the local police chief, said on Sunday.


Saddam trial to start on Monday
I think Saddam is a war criminal, no doubt. The horrific things this he did to his own people from the indigenous Marsh culture to the Kurds is evidence enough of his wrong doing, on top of the tens of thousands slaughtered by his oppressive regime, on top of the many more killed in the wars he started. However the kangaroo court that has been set up does no justice to the victims of Saddam just as it doesn’t convict all those responsible for their deaths. Wouldn’t it be great if we could also put on trial the people who backed Saddam and who gave him the capability to wreck so much destruction. Who backed Saddam throughout the 1980s? Russia, France, Britain, oh and of course Saddam’s best friend in the West, THE UNITED STATES. Shouldn’t those countries also go on trial for their complicity in these horrendous acts of violence and mass murder? Well seeing as these show trials are the creation of America, I can safely say that won’t be happening.

This from Aljazeera…
The second trial of Saddam Hussein will begin on Monday, according to Raed Juhi, the chief-investigative judge for the Iraqi high tribunal. The trial will be conducted while Baghdad is under curfew, making it difficult for the movement of people to and from the court.


More Ethiopian troops enter Somalia
Blowback is a CIA term that means one of their ‘black op’ attempts to destabilize the inner workings of someone else’s country has gone pear-shaped and blown up in their faces. This was portrayed more openly than usual recently in Somalia where the US decided to arm local war-crime ridden Warlords in their fight against a local Islamic Nationalist up-rising. As evidence of the United States support grew, this Islamic Nationalistic up-rising suddenly gained popular support from the people. What the Bush Administration failed to grasp was the difference between al Qaeda and Islamic Nationalisim, in the Absolutist World of Bush, the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. You would think such a policy failure would make them readjust their strategy, as it is their meddling that is exasperating the situation. But this is AMERIKA the great we are talking about, they have simply begun tacit support of a much more heavy handed approach via Ethiopia.

This from Aljazeera…
Hundreds more Ethiopian troops have arrived in the town of Baidoa, the seat of Somalia's largely powerless transitional government, officials and witnesses say. The soldiers are reportedly taking over the security of an airport which was abandoned when government troops defected to the Islamic militia that controls the capital, Mogadishu, and much of the south of the country.


Time to start asking if Kidnapping is something more..
I’m sorry to say this for the friends and family of New Zealand cameraman, Olaf Wiig, but I think WHO Wiig worked for has more to do with his kidnapping than anything else. Conventional wisdom would say it is the ridiculously pro-administration, Fox News and thus America who are being targeted here, not the reporter. Of course the fact that this story has dominated Fox News for the last week with candle vigils certainly stops more critical questions of Israel’s recent military mis-adventure from getting aired. So who is holding Wiig? Palestinian groups who rely on a sympathetic media to combat Israeli State spin, or someone who needed a valuable hostage, or someone who wanted acute media attention on something else?

This from Aljazeera….
The brother of Steve Centanni, the American journalist taken captive in Gaza with his cameraman, Olaf Wiig, has appealed on Aljazeera for his release. Centanni and New Zealander Wiig who work for the US broadcaster Fox News were seized by masked gunmen in Gaza City in August 14


Bombing the UN makes EVERYONE reluctant.
Remember when Israel bombed the UN post that had been marked and was in place since the 1940’s? Remember how the IDF were told half a dozen times over 6 hours that they were bombing closer and closer to the UN Post, and they did it any way? Remember how we said that if you were committing a dirty war and setting the stage for more aggression in the future, the last thing you wanted was the UN hanging around, and that such deaths would deter other nations from standing witness? Yeah, well what a surprise that this has happened.

This from Aljazeera….
France has asked the European Union to hold a meeting on deploying troops to Lebanon, as Israel said that the Lebanese army should not deploy along the border until an international force is in place there. Philippe Douste-Blazy, France's foreign minister, said on Sunday he had asked the Finnish foreign minister, Mr Erkki Tuomioja, for a meeting so that the European countries could clarify their contributions to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil).


How did this country win the Olympics?
How does a country with an appalling Human Rights history that includes harvesting body organs from executed Prisoners to sell on the black market, get to host the Olympics? Ask Adolf Hitler. You would have thought that with so much global attention on Beijing, that they would at least pretend to not be a Totalitarian Communist State. Amazingly not.

This from Aljazeera….
Activists and government critics in China have called for the release of a prominent human rights lawyer detained by authorities. Police announced on Friday that they had arrested Gao Zhisheng "for suspected involvement in criminal activities", without specifying any charges.


Israel’s sour grapes make bitter wine
Okay, we know, they know, we all know (except for the Bush Bubble World) that Israel screwed up in Lebanon big time, and the myth of an invincible army has been banished. This is humiliation on a mass scale, perhaps a moment to reflect on the power of arrogance? For the Israeli people and party to take a long hard look at themselves and why these things happen? Not a chance my friend. Israel responds with a strike in Lebanon that has been described by Kofi Annan as a violation of the ceasefire AND Israel arrest a senior Hamas politician. What astounds me is how the pro-Israeli PR spokespeople can drink so heartily on their own vinegar without so much as a gag reflex across their self-righteous faces.

This from Aljazeera….
Israeli forces have arrested another senior member of the Hamas-led Palestinian government in the West Bank. Troops surrounded the home of Mahmoud al-Rahami - secretary-general of the Palestinian Legislative Council - and detained him in broad daylight, his sister Yageen said. The UN has said that Israel's commando raid in eastern Lebanon on Saturday violated the UN-brokered truce that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, said that he was "deeply concerned" by the violation of the ceasefire.