Filistines, Persians, and Papuans, Oh My!
Here are a few of the stories that are worth noting today.
"Palestinian" President Mahmoud Abbas has telephoned Ehud Olmert, the winner of this week's Israeli elections, congratulating him and wishing him luck in forming a ruling coalition. As some of you may realize, working diplomatically with an Israeli PM whose goal is withdrawal from the West Bank is in the best interests of Abbas and his constituency; that's probably why the savages from Hamas want him to step down. Meanwhile, the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations have threatened to cut aid to the "Palestinian" government unless the Hamas government renounces violence and recognizes the state of Israel; meanwhile, Muammar Qaddafi has pledged money to aid the Hamas government, though I don't think anyone is naive enough to think that Qaddafi can come anywhere near matching the amount of money that Hamas stands to lose out on. Also, it's tough to figure out what Qaddafi's strategy is; he may be eccentric, but he's not stupid, and this is deviating from his new game plan of sidling up to the West. As the new Hamas prime minister was sworn in, the United States and Canada officially cut ties to the "Palestinian" government. The degree to which Washington will continue involvement with the "Palestinian" Authority is unclear. For those of you who don't know the situation, "Palestinian" politics are pretty much the most complicated thing you could ever get into. You've got the Palestinian Authority, which is different than the government, both of which were controlled by Fatah for years and years, but now the government's controlled by Hamas, and you also have to throw in all the terrorist groups that double as "political parties", and I think there's some more.
Secretary of State Rice has issued a statement saying that Iran can have nuclear energy, but not nuclear weapons; the statement specifically precludes Iran from enriching its own Uranium. Russia, which has been a sort of intermediary and neutral third party through all of this, has released a statement saying that the Russian government only supports political avenues and diplomacy in dealing with the Iran nuclear issue. Iran may claim that they only want peaceful nuclear energy for research purposes; however, they've been offered pre-enriched Uranium, as well as light-water research reactors that can't be used to enrich Uranium. The Iranians have balked at all of it. The BBC has a great, simple feature on the nuclear fuel cycle.
And in the latest display of Islamist hypocrisy, an Indonesian cartoonist has depicted Australian Prime Minister and his foreign minister. What were they doing in the cartoon? According to the BBC article, they were "fornicating as wild dogs", with Howard "mounting" Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. And why did the Indonesian cartoonist do it? Because the Howard government granted visas to a group of Papuan dissidents who were seeking political asylum from the Indonesian government. Somehow, I doubt that Australians will take to the streets and riot against the Indonesian cartoonist.
"Palestinian" President Mahmoud Abbas has telephoned Ehud Olmert, the winner of this week's Israeli elections, congratulating him and wishing him luck in forming a ruling coalition. As some of you may realize, working diplomatically with an Israeli PM whose goal is withdrawal from the West Bank is in the best interests of Abbas and his constituency; that's probably why the savages from Hamas want him to step down. Meanwhile, the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations have threatened to cut aid to the "Palestinian" government unless the Hamas government renounces violence and recognizes the state of Israel; meanwhile, Muammar Qaddafi has pledged money to aid the Hamas government, though I don't think anyone is naive enough to think that Qaddafi can come anywhere near matching the amount of money that Hamas stands to lose out on. Also, it's tough to figure out what Qaddafi's strategy is; he may be eccentric, but he's not stupid, and this is deviating from his new game plan of sidling up to the West. As the new Hamas prime minister was sworn in, the United States and Canada officially cut ties to the "Palestinian" government. The degree to which Washington will continue involvement with the "Palestinian" Authority is unclear. For those of you who don't know the situation, "Palestinian" politics are pretty much the most complicated thing you could ever get into. You've got the Palestinian Authority, which is different than the government, both of which were controlled by Fatah for years and years, but now the government's controlled by Hamas, and you also have to throw in all the terrorist groups that double as "political parties", and I think there's some more.
Secretary of State Rice has issued a statement saying that Iran can have nuclear energy, but not nuclear weapons; the statement specifically precludes Iran from enriching its own Uranium. Russia, which has been a sort of intermediary and neutral third party through all of this, has released a statement saying that the Russian government only supports political avenues and diplomacy in dealing with the Iran nuclear issue. Iran may claim that they only want peaceful nuclear energy for research purposes; however, they've been offered pre-enriched Uranium, as well as light-water research reactors that can't be used to enrich Uranium. The Iranians have balked at all of it. The BBC has a great, simple feature on the nuclear fuel cycle.
And in the latest display of Islamist hypocrisy, an Indonesian cartoonist has depicted Australian Prime Minister and his foreign minister. What were they doing in the cartoon? According to the BBC article, they were "fornicating as wild dogs", with Howard "mounting" Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. And why did the Indonesian cartoonist do it? Because the Howard government granted visas to a group of Papuan dissidents who were seeking political asylum from the Indonesian government. Somehow, I doubt that Australians will take to the streets and riot against the Indonesian cartoonist.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home