Lefty Blogs
williampfaff ++ ++
Russian News ++
seaton-newslinks. USA expat in Europe ++
bilegrip Asu spleen ++
us-rockstroh a rant, not a blog ++
aboutmyplanet eco ++
sfgate ++
crookedtimber ++
onthecommons ++
sjlendman ++
....
abutamam freeiraq ++
airamericaradio +
amygdalagf +
angryarab ++
annezook +
antiwar ++
norwegianity
terrorism-news
blogspot
ourtomorrow
politickybitch
welcome-to-pottersville
aviraqi
billmon ++ whiskeyB
consortiumnews ++
dahrjamailiraq
dailywarnews ++
drforbush +
english +
fallujahinpictures
freespeechradio
halcyondays ++
healingiraq
hereticalideas ++
icasualties
maru
om
boxspinning boxes

jamaicaobserver newspaper
jameswolcott +
lefarkins +
liberalgirlnextdoor ++
lonehighlander Libya, not lefty
mahablog +++ solid
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indymedia melbourne
messopotamian +7Apr06
monkey ++
motherjones ++
fisk
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norightturn +NZ
peakoil ++
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rafahtoday Feb05?
rense w= wacko conspiracies
rigorousintuition x
hegemon ++
ruckus ++
rudepundit ++
satiricalpolitical +
scaramoucheblog ++
secretsinbaghdad ++15Ap06
Energring
aliveinbaghdad ++
riverbendblog ++
sideshow +++
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slashdot ++techy
talkleft ++
thinkprogress ++
thismodernworld +++
uncapitalist ++
velorution ++ bicycles
org ++Brazil peasants
warandpiece +
warfare.ru +russia military
greenpeace
allhatnocattle
alternet ++
americanpolitics
antiwar
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axisoflogic ++
blackcommentator
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buckfush +funnies
buggery +
buzzflash ++
changeforamerica
countercurrents
counterpunch +++
crisispapers
crooksandliars ++?
csmonitor
dahrjamailiraqhref="http://www.dailykos.com/
davidcorn
democracynow
democracyuprising
dissidentvoice
earthfirstjournal
earthstation5
empirenotes
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fromthewilderness
geocities
granta
grist ??
gristmagazine
guerrillanews
gulf
hizbollah
huffingtonpost ++
informationclearinghouse
infoshop +
inthesetimes x
iranmania x
ivaw
jihadunspun
juancole ++
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lrb ++ Iraqi?
mahablog
lewrockwell ++
marklynas climate change
mnftiu get your war on comics
motherjones
nilemedia
nybooks
occupationwatch
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palestine
prisonplanet
rall ++ Ted Rall cartonist
ratical
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rense
robert
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scoop
selvesandothers ++
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socialistworker
spiked
tblog
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theleftcoaster +
thepoorman +
tnr ++ magazine
tompaine ++ mag
traprockpeace ++
truthout +
boondocks ++
crowning3
. . . helix
Base
rain radar
Weather
worldtribunal +
worldwatch ++ $ required
zaman + Turkish news
youcantmakeitup + ?
youngfox ????????????
bareknucklepolitics videos?
popdrain videos??
discovery videos??
cs videos??
aegisIraq video??
mariyaguchi video??
iwilltryit video..
baghdadtreasure
ahram cairo newspaper
felbers
thepartyline
jfaughnan 28/04/2006 10:25AM
shrillblog +
thinkprogress +
marchforjustice + pictures
messopotamian + Iraqi not so radical, but scared (also see IraqTheModel which was a USA front, but is now also scared)
scaramoucheblog +
counterpunch
.............
blogads liberal blogs by CPM $ per view
malakandsky ++ stolid?
republicoft + black gay parent??
dailykos ++
rawstory ++
democraticunderground ++
atrios ++
workingforchange +
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washingtonmonthly ++
mydd +
politics1 +
bartcop ++
politicalwire +
sisterstalk black lesbian?
culturekitchen ++
alternet
wonkette +++
billstclair +
freefreedomtoldhere ++ pipe bomb

......
almuajaha defunct
whynot defunct
winstonsmith defunct
samadams dormant
mquinn02 defunct
iraqblogcount ++14Apr06 suspended
iraqicomments most recent: jan2005
iraqidoctor most recent: Aug2005
georgemustgo + moved?
vialls ++Dormant (joe is dead)
warblogging Defunct
hammeroftruth quiescant?
mediastorm quiescant? +
bushwhackedusa defunct
hamasonline defunct
4Jul06

04 July 2009

Kouchnerism, SOFA, , Manas

Intervention as PR .....sans frontières
...UN Resolution 43/131. There was something sneaky about the way the measure was implemented: it calls for intervention in case of ‘natural disasters and similar emergency situations’. Political turmoil turned out to be similar enough to storms or earthquakes, and in 1990 and 1991 the UN Security Council invoked 43/131 to open a ‘humanitarian corridor’ for Kurds fleeing Iraq.

This changed everything. It rendered national sovereignty conditional, and led to the increasing militarisation of humanitarianism, starting in Somalia. On the eve of the invasion of Somalia in December 1992, Kouchner wrote in Le Monde: ‘We believe in an armed and saving intervention by the international community.’... If intervening in Somalia made it permissible, on principle, to intervene in the Balkans, then intervening in the Balkans made it permissible, on principle, to intervene in Iraq.

... Rony Brauman later wrote, dismayed, that ‘for the first time, in Somalia, we killed under the banner of humanity.’ Yet these views, which would have seemed the merest common sense five years earlier, were in the minority. Public opinion, or at least public sentiment, was squarely behind Kouchner. Péan sees the droit d’ingérence as the start of a path that leads from Iraq to Somalia to Kosovo and then back to Iraq. He is right.
..............
Once the humanitarian case for going to war against Saddam Hussein was established – gassing his own people, death squads, assassination of political opponents – everything else, if you accepted Kouchner’s premises, was beside the point. The absence of weapons of mass destruction was unfortunate, but it was a side issue, as Kouchner forthrightly admitted: ‘The Americans,’ he said, ‘have led a legitimate war on the basis of bad and false reasons.’
....................
,,,Péan is quite right to say that neoconservatism is merely Kouchnerism taken to its logical conclusions.
............
lrb


CNI (central north island) Maori iwi (tribes) have been given half a billion worth of pine trees.
I have rather little race-pride, my white landlord might just as well be Polynesian.
Dont know if Maori will plant more trees - the NZ planting rate is currently lowest in 60 years
Wouldnt be surprised if they carry on cutting, converting to methane rich butter-fat farms.
Not so happy about the phrase "Tree-Lords", we already have "Sea-Lords" - some sort of corporate Maori structure about fish. Who seem happy to fire (Maori?) workers in the interests of profit.
Maori seem to me rather too much like the English - too ready to bow to "Lords", aristocrats.
...To hell with aristocrats, that includearistocracys Maori "Princesses" like Bob Dylan's girlfriend, and Alan Duff's heroines.
I expect that as Euro-Capital sinks further beneath the level of human nature, Maori will continue to seize the chance to invent themselves as noble, human, warm, true holders of wonderful values. Might as well have separate prisons, which I guess would be some kind of "Prison Lords" corporate structure.


Sacha Baron Cohen -
I see his schtick is still a Jew mocking Muslims. Why not try to get some laughs about Jews shelling UN schools in Gaza with Phosphorous?
Or Jews tying a 10yr old Palestinian boy to the front of a Caterpillar bull-dozer as it advances to demolish houses in Jenin, which may or may not have old people still inside?


Free Gaza
Larnaca, 1 July 2009) Yesterday, the Israeli Navy boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, SPIRIT OF HUMANITY and kidnapped the 21 human rights activists, humanitarian workers and activists on their way to Gaza...
The Free Gaza Movement is calling for their release and the release of our boat, seized in international waters off the coast of Gaza as our SPOT locator clearly shows.
But more importantly, twenty-one internationals can get headlines. What about the 11,000 Palestinians who languish in jail, many of them tortured...
freegaza


lrb
alcohol ravings


lrb
Patrick Cockburnn on SOFA Iraq
- how good is the LRB!


Manas
24June... A Kyrgyz parliamentary committee on Tuesday approved the deal to allow the US to use the Manas air base as a "centre of transit shipments" for .. Afghanistan. ... .. US agreed to pay more than triple the rent ..


Stuff I just didnt read...
.. on Monday, an extraordinary televised auction will see the multi-national majors from BP and Shell to China's Sinopec conduct an unseemly scramble for the right to develop the country's fields of black gold
telegraph


theage
Australia solar power... faltering?


Is China faking economic recovery?
dnaindia
re house price fall: locally there are many fewer on the market. The "realestate" shills interpret this as 'likely to boost prices', not the glum resignation of would be sellers. The end quote was there are more sales than 'usual' (sic) ..... owners are desperate for good news


911blogger
nano-thermite?

02 July 2009

Afghanistan, peak CO2, Thai cooking

Why are we in Afghanistan
OK, I was called on the Iraq war- some redneck said where is your dated opposition. Well in 2003 I was in a huge march in Sydney
But resistance was so obvious that I merely quoted others (Billmon. Villiers, others now dead or silent)
So lets get it clear: I oppose the Afghan war as an illegal invasion by USA.NZ, etc.
1)This despite having inside knowledge: A close relative did midwife training training in Afgh. The Taliban banned male doctors from treating females, then _ halted the modern training of midwives_
- this is a barbaric, ignorant, cruel, violent, medieval, stupid, theocentric monstrous policy, but it doesnt justify military invasion.
2)Taliban may have sheltered Bin Laden (Skinny BL or Fatty BL? Live BL or dead BL?) - doesnt justify an invasion. It might explain a couple of years of police/armed action, but Taliban did not attack USA. Note that USA didnt use its own troops in Tora Bora. They tried a big bomb "daisy cutter" it was a flop. BL fled to Pakistan (they themselves say)
3) Taliban hugely cut Opium/Morphine production. This is a good thing, so TPTB say. Personally, I reckon Morphine oughta be available at cost. If citizens feel suicidal, its up to the State to make the place worth living. Meantime, I defend the liberty of any citizen to bug out if they dislike the cash/work/compete/isolate/mean Capital way of life. But thats just me. #3 should be a cause to praise Taliban
Any heres the date 7/2/2009 10:31AM I oppose the Afghan war. I opposed it since it started dec2001
lrb
ps: I am opposed to USA stooge Ethiopia invading Somalia, no matter how foolish the Lads (Al Shaaab) are. Dont know if they allow midwives to get sterile suture episiotomy training...
........................



On a personal note: I died in Chaing Mai in 1979. Hypo full of #4. Was reborn because I didnt lock the door, and my Thai girlfriend discovered me not breathing (thanks Bom), called ambulance, Naltrexone had me on my feet in seconds.
I went on to Manhattan, Polk st, Sydney etc etc. Kinda glad. On my 4th visit to the 4-gated city of Chaing Mai, I finally, at the age of 56, discovered something about the female multiple orgasm. [hint: Masters & Johnson are totally wrong]. With a newbie 20 yrold girl, who I also taught to play pool. So the city of my re-birth features heavily. nb the cruising Toyota pickups which in 79 offered 2gm free samples are no more, Heroin is not on the streets there. Thaksin shot 2000 dealers, so the action has moved to India (?) Its more Thai cooking classes. The intra-mural town is height restricted,, so its still infinitely charming, but the ring road is now continuous traffic.
...The second-hand shops in 79 were filled with smuggled Nepalese Tanka, such that they were more spiritual than the brightly painted temples. No more. The Tanka trade has moved on also. laquerware is sadly hard to find in the night market, which has sort of gone tees and DVDs. The weekly market (Sunday?) may have some trad stuff. I started out with the 5 elephants, opium weights, I believe I'm down to 1 now.
...The monks at Doi Suthep will still give a blessing, without judgement, white cotton wrist strings to you and your girlfriend. However long that lasts. (Where are u Pon?)


... peak CO2 levels over the last 2.1 million years averaged only 280 ppm; but today, CO2 is at 385 ppm..
...Bärbel Hönisch...the shells of single-celled plankton buried .., off the coast of Africa....ratio of boron isotopes,..estimate how much CO2...cores of polar ice, which go back only 800,000 years.
...850,000 years ago, the cycles of ice grew longer and more intense...CO2 was flat during this transition and unlikely to have triggered the change.
"Previous studies indicated that CO2 did not change much over the past 20 million years, but the resolution wasn't high enough to be definitive," said Hönisch. "This study tells us that CO2 was not the main trigger..
.."We know from looking at much older climate records that large and rapid increase in C02 in the past, (about 55 million years ago) caused large extinction in bottom-dwelling ocean creatures, and dissolved a lot of shells as the ocean became acidic," he said. "We're heading in that direction now."
nasa
June 19 Science


sea level
June 22, 2009 Nature Geoscience [ie behind a Kraut paywall]...reconstruction of sea level fluctuations over the last 520 thousand years.
...Projection ...to today's CO2 ..results in a sea-level at 25 (±5) metres above the present. This is in close agreement with ..sea-level data from the Middle Pliocene epoch, 3-3.5 million years ago, when atmospheric CO2 concentrations were similar to the present-day value.

noc
com


Among the multiple-choice questions included in its Level 1 Antiterrorism Awareness training course, the DoD asks the following: ‘Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorist activity?’ To answer correctly, the examinee must select ‘protests’.
wordpress
nasa


aaa
Hungary
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On Tuesday, June 23rd, U.S. drones launched an attack on a compound in South Waziristan. Locals rushed to the scene to rescue survivors. The U.S. drone then launched more missiles at them, leaving a total of 13 dead. The next day, local people were involved in a funeral procession when the U.S. struck again. Reuters reported that 70 of the mourners were killed.
antiwar



aaa

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