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You May Now Find This Site at www.inbb.org

Leaving Blogspot

Woke up this morning like a child a Christmas, but No, the site is not ready yet.
While I can move freely in the MT Control Panel, I can change things I can even write post, but I just can see the finished product. I'm still waiting for the domain to resovle on their server, I think I know what that means.

I really don't want to leave any post today, I might post over at The Command Post.
But posting here is like driving a station wagon to work when you got a BMW in the garage.
I'll wait for the Beamer.

I've been thinking at the new site I will focus more on writing and less on linking. I'm working on some things. Or I could do both. I think I rather do both. We'll have to wait and see.

Leaving Blogspot


MoveableType is already installed on my server, hopefully the site will be fully functioning by tomorrow!

INBB Is Leaving Blogspot

I've just upgraded to a .org with AQHost. Should be up and running a couple of days!

Javeir Solana, EU High Representiative for the CFSP, welcomes the vote in the Knesset on Gaza withdrawal pdf

''Myanmar's Costless Shift to a Hard-Line''
(via PTDR)

Corruptions continue in Burma

Than Shwe Will set foot in India

Check Mizzima.com for a host of other stories and updates.

Milosevic defence team asks to withdraw

Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial has plunged into fresh uncertainty after two lawyers appointed to defend the former Yugoslav president against his will said they wanted to pull out of the case.

Uganda: Forgotten crisis or global cover-up?

Political interests at home and abroad are helping to keep northern Uganda's 18-year conflict out of the global spotlight despite the fact that more people have been displaced there than in Sudan's Darfur region, NGOs say.
Some aid agencies argue that Uganda's special relationship with donors - which provide 50 percent of the country's annual budget - and the country's reputation as a development success story sometimes distract from what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Almost two million people have been displaced in northern Uganda, compared with just over a million in Darfur, yet the crisis rarely makes international headlines or sparks outcry from world leaders.

The Parties of Heaven and Hell

Does the United States have to give international institutions as well as other countries a say in shaping its policies? In answering this question, Walter Russell Mead - author of "Power, Terror, Peace and War" - divides those countries often opposed to U.S. policies into two groups. He concludes that the United States has little to expect from either of them.

War on the Poor

for Bill Clinton the Democratic defeat held its paradoxical allure. The old-line Democratic congressional leadership no longer held sway on the Hill. Tom Foley and Dan Rostenkowski were gone altogether-one back to the Inland Empire of the Pacific Northwest and the other to a federal penitentiary. The White House no longer had to dicker with hostility to its agenda from New Deal-oriented Democrats. Without the threat of a presidential veto to lend clout to their resistance, the liberal Democrats on the Hill were impotent against the Republicans flourishing their Contract with America. Thus unencumbered, the Clinton administration could cut deals with the Republican leadership.
All this strategy needed was a name, and soon after the election Clinton summoned in the man who would introduce "triangulation" into the lexicon of the late 1990s. Dick Morris, a man of elastic political scruple, had enjoyed a fluctuating relationship with Clinton. He’d bailed out the young governor of Arkansas after the latter's first comeuppance at the hands of the voters in 1980. Since then Morris had served many masters, ranging from the millionaire socialist from Ohio, Howard Metzenbaum, to Bella Abzug of New York, to Trent Lott of Mississippi ("I love his feisty, shit-on-the-shoes style"), and Jesse Helms of North Carolina. Morris worked as a consultant for Helms in 1990, in a particularly foul campaign against the Black Democratic challenger, Harvey Gantt.
Morris came to the White House with the purpose of providing new ideas and a new strategy. He says Clinton told him, "I've lost confidence in my current team." Morris commenced his mission of refreshment under conditions of secrecy, code-named Charlie, his function at first known only to the Clintons. His advice: steal the Republicans' thunder, draw down the deficit, reform welfare, cut back government regulation, and "use Gore's reinventing government program to cut the public sector's size." The president should demonstrate toughness, Morris counseled, with decisive action overseas.

Recent EU Developments

from my post at Command Post

Human Rights at Harvard

Just got my copy of Human rights at Harvard : interdisciplinary faculty perspectives on the human rights movement : second symposium held at Harvard University on April 5, 1997

I'm considering making a pdf. of the 66 page booklet available online. Motivate me.

Found some on line resources,

Harvard Human Rights Journal

The Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies

More Resources

UNESCO

China to Consider Resuming Human Rights Talks

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Monday that China had agreed to discuss the American request for a new dialogue over the detention of Chinese citizens without due process and other human rights violations. The talks broke off earlier this year because of Chinese objections to American criticism of its practices.
Mr. Powell also said he had sought to encourage China to have a dialogue with Taiwan to resolve its differences with Taiwanese leaders. But on this subject, Chinese leaders responded negatively, giving Mr. Powell what an aide said was "an earful" of criticism over American military aid to Taiwan.
Speaking to reporters after a morning of meetings with top Chinese leaders, Mr. Powell said the agreement to discuss a possible resumption of the human rights dialogue came as he again expressed American concern to the foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, about the arrest of a research assistant working for The New York Times.

The Recoiling Apathy (Part 1)

"Errors in nearly all the orders he pulled. Same kinds of mistakes over and over. Tried him in packing, complete mess, had to repack nearly every order he packed or the product would be destroyed three minutes..........."
- Misc. google result

Bernard J. Shapiro, from the little know Maccabean Online, states in his article, Coping with Terrorism and Demography, that "Israel's political leadership is indecisive and non-aggressive". Let's stop right there. What optimism, this surely is not a delusional statement but one which sees an Israel which can overcome the plight of cultural and rural disintegration and lead it's people into a true land of milk and honey - countering all it's problems at time in which most are currently losing the esteem for Israel's right to exist. Richard Holbrooke, Kerry's top foriegn policy advisor recently stated that a Kerry administration "would put more pressure on Israel".
I think most people forget that the two main reasons we support Israel is 1; It is a democracy in the middle east. That is in our interest. 2; If we didn't support them they would likely be destroyed. Mind you, they have a very capable military. Next to the U.S. they are one of the top suppliers and developers in military technology. They have defended themselves brilliantly in the past but with today's revived zeal in Arab nations Israel's luck just might come to an end.
Chomsky one said let Africa take care of Africa. From a historical perspective he makes a lot of sense but I feel it is unfortunate that such a great mind isn't put in a think tank to develop a plan to assist Africa with the least amount of financial and cultural burden. Unfortunately we are not in the detached position to let Israel take care of Israel, after all that is exactly the problem which presents itself.
The truth is I can't even hear the name Israel without the following canter of stringed instruments in streaming bellicoso and visions of historic ghettos pruning the chain of command.
While some have kept the presense of mind to remind the world Israel can relate with the U.S. concerning terror threats and have tried to keep Israel in the light of glory, others ( example A , example B ) rekindle the origin of the problem, Zionism.


More Later

Kerry Will "Put More Pressure on Israel"

LAST FRIDAY, Charles Krauthammer argued in his column, Sacrificing Israel, that the currency with which a Kerry administration "would pay the rest of the world in exchange for their support . . . is obvious: giving in to them on Israel." Krauthammer pointed out that Kerry has emphasized over and over again his desire to move closer to our allies and to re-engage with the "international community." The easiest way to do this would surely be to accommodate other nations' distinctively less friendly view of Israel, and their desire for the U.S. to pressure Israel into concessions for the sake of the "peace process." So, Krauthammer concluded, "If Kerry is elected, the pressure on Israel will begin on day one."
Pro-Israel Kerry supporters protested vigorously. Kerry is pro-Israel, they said. Krauthammer is making a hypothetical argument, drawing a speculative inference. Kerry will be as supportive of Israel's security as Bush has been.
Unfortunately, they forgot to tell the man who is perhaps Kerry's top foreign policy adviser and surrogate, Richard Holbrooke. Appearing on The O'Reilly Factor Friday night, Holbrooke warned of a possible "Iran-type clerical dictatorship" in Iraq: This would be "very dangerous for Israel, the U.S. and the world." Then Holbrooke segued into an account of how Kerry would improve the situation in the Middle East: "He [Kerry] has said already he would start intense talks with the allies . . . and he would reach out to the moderate Arab states. He'd put more pressure on Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia above all"
"He'd put more pressure on Israel." Holbrooke, perhaps Kerry's top foreign policy spokesman, confirms Krauthammer's prediction. So there is a real difference between Bush and Kerry on Israel. Isn't there, Sen. Kerry?

Given the history of Japanese textbooks outraging the country's neighbors by whitewashing Tokyo's World War II aggression and worsening its relations with China, Korea and other nations, yet another textbook written and published by right-wing groups has emerged. Though it is read by a tiny number of students, it has found its way into popular bookstores where it is a strong seller - a sign of the power of Japan's small number of influential hawks. Despite its right-wing genesis, the textbook still could provide a touchstone to reappraise historical wrongs. When it comes to Japan's seizing the wartime nettle, however, the pacifist public may be willing, but the political will, especially in the rightish Koizumi administration, doesn't seem to be there.

Asia Times

Fact Checkers

WaPo; No, no mention of blogs.

IN THE CLOSING days of an election, candidates tend to become increasingly unmoored from the facts, and the 2004 presidential race is proving no exception. Rather than lamenting that seemingly immutable political reality, though, we pause today to praise two entities that are pushing the other way. One, the Congressional Budget Office, is a longtime Washington institution; the other, FactCheck.org, is a new player on the scene. They may not have kept the political debate honest -- who could? -- but in very different ways each has helped make the campaign less dishonest than it might have been.

FactCheck.org

Time: Who Stretches the Truth?

ON HOMELAND SECURITY
ON THE COST OF WAR IN IRAQ
ON NORTH KOREA
ON NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION
ON MILITARY SPENDING
ON AFGHANISTAN
ON IRAQI FORCES
ON THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Also see, U.S. Elections 2004 Dept. of State

And who could forget Retro vs. Metro

Understatement (China)

Population peak may pose grave challenges

Useless tools

Here's a tool I just have to share, though be warned it's for the totally self-obsessed only.
This free text to speech program will allow your computer to read back your post to you.
It's also good for that novel your working on. C'mon, I know everyone of is working on something.

Don't for get to click on their faces!

Brazil wants a seat at the top table of world nations. It is the second-most populous country in the Western Hemisphere, a multiracial democracy and a major provider of foodstuffs to a hungry world. But it lacks the economic strength or military power to ascend automatically to the ranks of global political powers

The middle class -- defined in Brazil as the segment of the population with a monthly per capita income of more than 1,000 reals, or 340 dollars -- accounted for 42.5 percent of the country's total population in 1981. By 2002, that figure had dropped to 36 percent, according to a study by Waldir Quadros, a professor at the State University of Campinas, 100 kilometres from Sao Paulo.
The cost of living has increased tremendously for the middle class in recent years, he told IPS, partly due to inflation, but primarily because of a change in consumer demands, which now encompass products and technologies that didn't exist before. To maintain a middle class lifestyle in Brazil today means having a computer, Internet access, a cell phone, more sophisticated electronic equipment, like DVD players, "even imported wine," explained Quadros. The study reveals that while the middle class shrank, the ranks of the poor in Brazil grew larger, from 30.5 percent of the population in 1981 to 35.9 percent in 2002. In absolute terms, the number of Brazilians living in poverty rose from 36.3 million to 61.7 million people out of a total population of more than 178 million. For Quadros, the fundamental cause for this was "the lack of economic growth," which led to severe rates of unemployment in the 1990s. Other factors, like productive restructuring and the replacement of manual labour with new technology, had little or no effect on the situation, in his view. The economic recovery experienced this year, projected to lead to GDP growth of more than four percent, is nothing more than a temporary improvement, because the obstacles to sustained economic expansion still persist, he said.

Perhaps Brazzil Magazine, which is more like a blog, illustrates the frustrations of the nation with such articles as

You Don't Live, You Get By and I don't vote and I'm proud of it

Landless and just about hopeless and Childrens rights are just legal fiction

From a troubled land, bursts of vibrant art
A gallery embraces Haiti, and beyond.

Artisans World Gallery

plus

Human rights lawyer says Haiti's new government making illegal arrests

Clandestine Interview from Haiti: Resistance in the Slums of Port-au-Prince

We see that the situation in the streets, our situation, we who are part of the Cell of Reflection of Family Lavalas, we see that in all the poor neighborhoods there is not a day that goes by that the government does not squeeze us. The repression is much worse. And now the de facto Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has said he is going to sign a contract with the former military to kill us one by one. In a secret meeting he had with the Minister of justice, a friend inside heard Latortue estimate that it would be necessary to kill 25,000 people in the capital, in the capital alone to stop the calls for the return of President Aristide. September 30th was the beginning of this initiative where Latortue unleashed his forces that are comprised of new units of SWAT, USP, CIMO and the police where the killers of the former military had already been integrated. It was they who began firing on unarmed demonstrators while the Brazilians and the United Nations stood by to let them kill us.

Haiti's Ruler Chides World for Disinterest

Another rather amazing read. ( hat tip; Political Theory Daily Review)

From the Journal for cultural and religious theory

This reminds me of Ernest Becker meets E. Paxton Hood

I, insect; or Bataille and the Crush Freaks (pdf) wonderfuly executed by Jeremy Biles

Morning Papers

Friedman enlightens us, telling us our nickname in Iraq

I was speaking the other day with Scott Pelley of CBS News's "60 Minutes" about the mood in Iraq. He had just returned from filming a piece there and he told me something disturbing. Scott had gone around and asked Iraqis on the streets what they called American troops - wondering if they had nicknames for us in the way we used to call the Nazis "Krauts" or the Vietcong "Charlie." And what did he find? "Many Iraqis have so much distrust for U.S. forces we found they've come up with a nickname for our troops," Scott said. "They call American soldiers 'The Jews,' as in, 'Don't go down that street, the Jews set up a roadblock.' "

Indeed, this trend has widened since 9/11. Now you find a steadily rising perception across the Arab-Muslim world that the great enemy of Islam is JIA - "Jews, Israel and America," all lumped together in a single threat.

From L.A. Times, What's going right in Iraq

WaPo endorses John Kerry for President