The SECRET is yourSELF. The SECRET is your PAIN. The SECRET is letting GO/giving UP/breaking DOWN/giving IN. Giving in to the END. Giving in to the BEGINNING. Giving in to LOVE.
India's defence ministry has been authorised by the cabinet to buy 12 used French-built Mirage 2000 jet fighters from Qatar.
It is part of a massive defence purchase package worth more than $700m.
The move comes days after the US announced it was going ahead with sales of its F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, despite opposition from India.
Washington has also offered advanced combat planes to India, an offer that Delhi is considering.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said his ministry was yet to negotiate the price of the Mirage jets.
He said the cabinet had also authorised a number of other military purchases.
Journalists have been allowed to accompany Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on his first official visit to the Natanz nuclear facility.
Natanz, some 250km (150 miles) south of Tehran, was a closely-guarded secret until late 2002 when its existence was revealed by an Iranian exile group.
The site holds uranium enrichment facilities which, the US says, could be aimed at producing nuclear weapons.
But Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
I Quit
I can’t handle spending all day arguing with people whose opinions I used to respect. It’s quite obvious that there is no room in the conservative movement for someone like me. I’ve blogged in suport of the rights of the religious in America countless times, and over the past few weeks I’ve seen just how much respect those very same religious people have for me, my opinions, and the rule of law.
Fuck all of you.
French President Jacques Chirac said Monday that the European Union hopes for an agreement soon to let Japan take part in a revolutionary nuclear project, despite a row over which country will host it.
Talks have been deadlocked for months on where to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), with the European Union threatening to go alone if Japan does not drop its bid.
"France along with Europe hope for Japan's participation as part of the international cooperation on ITER," Chirac said on a visit to Tokyo.
"I have no doubt that an agreement on this issue can be found quickly between the European Union and Japan," he told a seminar on sustainable development organized by the Nikkei financial press group.
The United States and South Korea support Japan's offer to build ITER in Rokkasho-mura, a northern Japanese village near the Pacific Ocean, while China and Russia back the EU bid for the southern French town of Cadarache.
European Union leaders at a March 23 meeting in Brussels said they would go ahead with construction in Cadarache and gave Japan until July to agree.
Taiwan's main opposition party has begun its first visit to China since Communist forces defeated it and took power on the mainland in 1949.
The 30-member team of the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) is being led by vice chairman Chiang Pink-kun.
Mr Chiang said the visit was aimed at easing tensions with Beijing.
China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province. Earlier this month, Beijing passed a law, allowing it use force to stop any Taiwanese independence moves.
"We hope to help ease cross-strait tensions to ensure people's well-being," said Mr Chiang, on arrival. "[We hope] to do what the government does not do and cannot do."
TAIWAN-CHINA RELATIONSRuled by separate governments since end of Chinese civil war in 1949 China considers the island part of its territory China has offered a "one country, two systems" solution, like Hong Kong Most people in Taiwan support status quo
I have often heard him say that a single legion with a few auxiliaries could conquer and occupy Ireland, and that it would have a salutary effect on Britain for the Roman arms to be seen everywhere, and for freedom, so to speak, to be banished from its sight.
- Agricola, ch. 24
TAIPEI, Taiwan — In one of the largest demonstrations in Taiwan's history, about a million people marched through the capital on Saturday to protest a new Chinese law that authorizes an attack on the island if it moves toward formal independence.
"Taiwan is only a small island, so we must speak out really loud to make the world hear that we are a democracy facing an evil giant," said Vivian Wang, a 38-year-old restaurant worker who traveled by bus from the southern city of Kaohsiung — about 190 miles away.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A leader of Hamas on Sunday accused Israel of violating a recent cease-fire agreement, hinted the militant group is using the current period of calm to rearm itself and warned that tensions over Jerusalem could quickly spill over into violence.
Hamas, which is expected to win a large share of seats in Palestinian parliamentary elections in July, also will oppose any peace agreement with Israel, said Mahmoud Zahar, one of the group's top figures in Gaza.
In a statement published in the Al Quds daily, Zahar criticized Israel's announcement last week that it plans to expand Maaleh Adumim, a major settlement near Jerusalem.
The planned construction would link the settlement to Jerusalem, separating Arab neighborhoods of the city from the rest of the West Bank. The Palestinians claim all the West Bank as part of a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as their capital.
A new expert report on the radioactive cloud from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster over France suggests radioactivity measurements were sometimes much higher than at first suggested, a source close to the case said Saturday.
When a mysterious woman makes Professor Daniel Jackson (James Spader) an offer he can't refuse, he ends up in a secret Air Force military base. His mission: to decode an ancient Egyptian artifact known as the Stargate.
The mission leader, Colonel Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell), a tough military man with nerves of steel, commandders their trip through the Stargate to an ancient civilization on the other side of the universe. But once there, they must battle the astoundingly powerful Sun God, Ra (Jaye Davidson), before they can find their way back home.
Kyrgyzstan's new leaders have taken steps to restore order after widespread looting in the capital, Bishkek.
The city seemed tense but calmer as volunteer police patrolled the streets, with some clashes seen as evening fell.
Former opposition member Kurmanbek Bakiev, named as acting president, appointed an interim cabinet and said fresh elections would be held in June.
Meanwhile, deposed leader Askar Akayev accused the opposition of staging an "anti-constitutional coup".
OK lets go a bit further, lets say that the US and China get into a shooting war over [Taiwan], you can expect the moonbats to do their thing.
However, What a bout the T-bills that China has bought up? I know that Japan has more, but if China tries to sell them short,??? well crap I'm not to good at this Whole world macro economics. But they could defiantly put us in a Wringer.
I hope you are right about the Average American knowing that China is areal threat.
Maybe that will get some people more supportive of a missile defense system.
I also wonder, IF the EU drops the Weapons sale ban on China, and some time down the line a US ship catches another Exeocet or French made missiles in its side.... what would the eventual reaction be?
While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?
- The Gospel According to St. Luke
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - France is to put to a vote on Thursday a U.N. resolution referring Sudanese war crimes cases to the International Criminal Court, daring Washington to cast an embarrassing veto or accept a tribunal it opposes.
After weeks of haggling on a comprehensive resolution on Sudan, the U.N. Security Council has been deadlocked on where to try perpetrators of atrocities in the country's western region of Darfur.
On Wednesday, France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, introduced a draft resolution that would refer Darfur cases to the ICC, the world's first permanent criminal court, as recommended by a U.N. panel of experts in January.
But the United States offered to create a new U.N.-African Union tribunal in Tanzania that has drawn little support, with several council members arguing that only the ICC already has investigators on staff ready to begin work
Typical of the way the French are playing things.
And africa.... well.. is Africa. BTW you see this over at Instapundit? and strategy page?
http://www.strategypage.com/dls/...s/ 200532323.asp
This will deter the Chinese, if they're rational.
UPDATE: Jim Bennett emails: True. plus, the more foreign oil they import, the more vulnerable they would be to the US Navy cutting off their supplies. Worked wonders on Japan in WWII. Of course, they said all of this about Germany before WWI." Yes, that's the problem with the rational-actor assumption.
Of course my take is China may hope that the US fearing instability in the US markets will stand by and do nothing. for fear that Us consumers would become up set if the US government impose sanctions against China which would result in a loss of products for consumers.
in other words, What will Mr and Mrs Smith think when Wallmarts shelves go bare of the junk they buy everyday?
And how will the government Justify expending American lives to protect Taiwan if that results in such situation?
considering how the country was split in the last election......
What do you think?
French President Jacques Chirac said that lifting an EU arms ban on China "does not mean selling arms" to Beijing, in an interview with the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun released Tuesday.
"I want to reassure the Japanese who have expressed concerns," he told the newpaper, according to the transcript of the interview released to reporters accompanying Chirac at European Union (EU) summit in Brussels.
"Lifting the embargo does not mean selling arms. Europeans have no intention of commiting themselves to a policy of arms exports to China," he said, adding: "Neither does lifting the embargo mean ending arms export controls."
The EU arms sales ban was slapped on Beijing after 1989 massacre of pro-democracy students in Beijing, but France has led a group of EU countries arguing that it is outdates and should be lifted.
Arab leaders are expected to renew an offer to normalise relations with Israel, if it withdraws from all occupied land.
On the opening day of the Arab League summit in Algiers, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika called for the UN to issue a definition of terrorism.
He said only then could "an alliance between civilisations" be agreed that would protect all sides from terrorism. Only 13 of the 22 Arab leaders are attending the two-day summit.
Of course I square away on two of them, which ultimately turns out to be a mistake. Trapped between them both and getting equal levels of interest, it becomes impossible to seperate one from the other, or properly interpret which one is more interested... So while I am in between the Scylla and Charybdis, my other buddy is chatting up the third one....
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Sunday that China's recent adoption of an anti-secession law regarding Taiwan has complicated the lifting of the European Union's arms embargo against Beijing.
The law has "created quite a difficult political environment," Straw told the British ITV television channel.
The Chinese parliament last Monday approved a anti-secession law that calls for the use of force if Taiwan declares its independence from mainland China. Beijing considers the island as an inalienable part of Chinese territory.
"Politically there are problems and these problems have actually got more difficult rather than less difficult, not least because there hasn't been much movement by China in respect of human rights," Straw said.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -- At least 10,000 pro-democracy protesters stormed a police station and occupied several state buildings in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday, a government spokesman said, in the biggest demonstration since allegedly fraudulent elections last month.
The government said it was ready to negotiate with the protesters who have demanded President Askar Akayev's resignation.
"We hope there will be no further violence," presidential aide Abdil Seghizbayev said.
Opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev said talks would only be possible if Akayev himself sits down at the negotiating table.
"All other lower level negotiations will be just a waste of time," he said.
BEIJING — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested Sunday that European governments are irresponsible if they sell sophisticated weaponry to China that might one day be used against U.S. forces in the Pacific.
"It is the United States, not Europe, that is defending the Pacific," Rice said. She spoke in Seoul, the penultimate stop on her weeklong tour of Asia.
South Korea, Japan and the United States are all Pacific powers and all contribute resources to keep the Asia-Pacific region stable, Rice said.
The European Union may soon lift an arms embargo on China (search) that was imposed after the deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. Lifting the embargo would allow sale of technology and weapons that China badly wants to modernize its creaky military. China has recently gone on a military spending spree that Rice said concerns the United States.
"The European Union should do nothing to contribute," to the possibility that Chinese forces might turn European technology on Americans, Rice said after meetings with the South Korean president and foreign minister
The blueprint for reform, according to a draft copy obtained by The Times, also proposes ways to keep the U.N. the primary setting for global security decisions and the key player in international development issues.
In an attempt to put the U.N. at the center of security policy, the report calls for a comprehensive anti-terrorism convention by September 2006, new measures to stem nuclear proliferation and an agreement on rules for the use of force and preemptive action, the Times said.
The proposal is also in part an appeal to the United States not to forsake the U.N. but rather to help guide the reform. "In today's world, no state, however powerful, can protect itself on its own," it quoted Annan as saying.
[R]ather than establish criteria to exclude [human rights] violator nations from the council, he gently suggests that they have no place on [the new Human Rights Council]. "Those elected to the council should undertake to abide by the highest human rights standards," the Times quoted the report as saying.
The current process of selecting members from regional groups has given seats on the 53-member commission to countries with questionable human rights records, such as Sudan, Libya and Cuba, making it a lightning rod for criticism, even from supporters of the U.N.
On another attention-getting topic, Annan says expansion of the Security Council must occur but he takes no stand on two competing proposals, according to the Times.
Annan wants to enlarge the 15-member council to better reflect current realities and involve more countries who contribute financially, militarily and diplomatically to the United Nations. Both proposals would increase the membership from 15 to 24 but differ on the number of permanent and elected members.
Although he was a rising if unconventional executive at GM, and was believed by many to be destined for its presidency, he quit in 1973 to launch the DeLorean Motor Car Co. in Northern Ireland.
The Fly is a twenty-seven year old curmudgeon. He's a devout Anglican, a dedicated conservative, a renaissance man in combat boots, and an unlikely connoisseur of feminine pulchritude. His writings are a cure for ignorance and boredom in a troubled world.
| - | Yomping |
| Week 1 | 35 mins x 25 lbs |
| Week 2 | 35 mins x 25 lbs |
| Week 3 | 35 mins x 30 lbs |
| Week 4 | 40 mins x 30 lbs |
| Week 5 | 40 mins x 35 lbs |
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| Week 7 | 45 mins x 40 lbs |
| Week 8 | 45 mins x 40 lbs |
| Week 9 | 45 mins x 45 lbs |
| - | Swimming |
| Week 1 | 25 mins x4 |
| Week 2 | 25 mins x4 |
| Week 3 | 30 mins x4 |
| Week 4 | 30 mins x4 |
| Week 5 | 35 mins x4 |
| Week 6 | 35 mins x4 |
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| Week 9 | 45 mins x4 |
| - | Push-Ups |
| Week 1 | 3x15 x3 days |
| Week 2 | 4x20 x3 days |
| Week 3 | 4x25 x3 days |
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| Week 5 | 5x25 x3 days |
| Week 6 | 5x25 x3 days |
| Week 7 | 5x30 x3 days |
| Week 8 | 5x30 x3 days |
| Week 9 | 5x30 x3 days |
| - | Sit-Ups |
| Week 1 | 3x15 x3 days |
| Week 2 | 4x20 x3 days |
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| Week 9 | 5x30 x3 days |
| - | Pull-Ups |
| - | N/A |
