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Another World Leader Puts Chavez in his place
Earlier this year Columbian President Alvaro Uribe asked Hugo Chavez to act as mediator between the Columbian government and leftist guerrillas. Uribe asked Chavez to mediate, because the rebels have expressed admiration for the dictator of Venezuela.
The hope was that Chavez could broker the release of hostages held by the guerrillas, or at the very least work out some kind of prisoner swap with the Columbian government.
When Chavez asked Uribe for permission to talk with Colombian generals about the hostages, the Uribe responded with the humor he often uses to diffuse tension with the Venezuelan leader: “No, you might turn them into Chavez-followers.”
But on Wednesday Chavez got on the telephone with the head of Colombia’s armed forces and asked about the kidnap victims whom Uribe wants to swap for guerrillas held in jail.
Upon hearing that Chavez had defied his orders not to speak with the Columbian armed forces, President Uribe abruptly canceled the talks and fired Chavez.
President Uribe is very popular with Columbians, because he refuses to be intimidated by rebel groups such as the FARC which routinely kidnap columbian citizens and foreigners.
Columbia has the highest rate of kidnappings in the world, and President Uribe is the first President in many years who appears to be making some headway against the criminal elements that have run wild in Columbia for decades.
-Samantha Giles
U.S. Asked To Support Palestinian Authority HQ in Jerusalem
Palestinian leaders asked the U.S. to support a demand that the Palestinian Authority be allowed to open official representative institutions in eastern sections of Jerusalem, including a sanctioned headquarters in Israel’s capital.
WorldNetDaily is reporting that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is studying the request, which comes ahead of a U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian summit scheduled next week in Annapolis.
The opening of PA offices in Jerusalem would serve as a major statement that the city would become the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Until now, the Palestinian Authority has been barred from conducting any kind of political activity inside Jerusalem. Until 2001 the PA did have an office in east Jerusalem called Orient House. Following a series of suicide bombings, Israeli security forces discovered that the PA was using Orient House to plan and carry out terrorist attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Ahud Olmert is expected to announce Israel’s vision for a Palestinian state that will encompass most of the West Bank.
Hamas leaders, including the group’s chief in Gaza, repeatedly have vowed to take over the West Bank if Israel withdraws from the strategic territory. Hamas in June seized the Gaza Strip, overrunning all U.S.-backed compounds of Abbas’ Fatah organization.
If Iran waits long enough they won’t have to wipe Israel off the map, because Israel may just give the entire country away to the terrorists. I really can’t believe that Olmert is gonna cave to any demands made by the thugs in the Palestinian Authority.
The second that Israel pulls out of the West Bank, Hamas is going to take it over and use it to launch attacks. This is all a big sham, because both Fatah and Hamas are terrorist killers who will never be interested in peace.
It’s outrageous that Israel just keeps giving away their land once piece at a time. The Holy Land and the birth place of Jesus is pretty much a giant terrorist training camp, and once again the Jews are being oppressed.
-Chris Jones
China Drops Out of Talks on Iran Sanctions
It looks like China is taking a hard line against further sanctions:
China has dealt a blow to Western efforts to increase diplomatic pressure on Iran over its nuclear program by dropping out of a meeting to discuss tougher sanctions against Tehran.
Russia, which like China opposes further U.N. sanctions against Iran, added fuel to the fire by announcing on Friday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog would soon start inspecting and sealing atomic fuel bound for an Iranian reactor.
The West fears Iran wants to develop atomic weapons but Iran denies this. Tehran says it wants only to generate electricity.
Political directors from Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China were due to meet on November 19 to assess reports about Tehran’s nuclear program from the United Nations and from EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
“I think it’s partly related to genuine travel difficulties, but also linked to resistance on the broader question of sanctions from that quarter,” a European diplomatic source said of China’s decision.
It doesn’t make any sense that China and Russia keep urging the Bush Administration to use diplomacy rather than war, but then block our diplomatic efforts at every opportunity.
-Chris Jones
U.S. Experts Begin To Disable North Korean Nuclear Program
U.S. experts on Monday launched an unprecedented process to disable North Korea’s nuclear arsenal at the key Yongbyon atomic complex under a multilateral agreement.
A State Department spokesman acknowledged that the process has in fact started, but did not give details on what had been undertaken so far in the disablement of the plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon.
Disablement aims to make the reactor and other plants unusable for at least a year while talks on total denuclearization continue.
North Korea agreed to end its nuclear weapons drive in return for aid, security and diplomatic guarantees under the agreement among the United States, the two Koreas, China, Russia amd Japan.
U.S. Announces Unilateral Sanctions Against Iran
The Bush administration announced sweeping new sanctions against Iran Thursday – the harshest since the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in 1979 – charging anew that Tehran supports terrorism in the Middle East, exports missiles and is engaging in a nuclear build up.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, joined at a State Department news conference by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, said the steps the Bush administration is taking against the Revolutionary Guard Corps and a number of banks are designed, among other things, to punish Tehran for its support of terrorist organizations in Iraq and the Middle East.
Rice said the moves were in response to “a comprehensive policy to confront the threatening behavior of the Iranians” although she also said that Washington remains open to “a diplomatic solution.”
Gates meets Turkey’s defense chief amid Iraq incursion fears
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates held talks here Sunday with his Turkish counterpart as tension mounted between the two nations over Ankara’s plans for possible attacks on Kurdish rebels in Iraq. Gates urged Turkey to obtain precise information on the location of the separatist rebels before launching any military incursion into northern Iraq.
“The key is to develop intelligence to enable us to find these people… that has to precede any action by anybody,” he told reporters after meeting here with Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul.
“Lacking specific targets is likely to lead to a lot of collateral damage… restraint should not be confused with weakness,” he said, adding that military action “would be contrary to Turkey’s interests but also to US interests and Iraq.”
For his part, Gonul said that Turkey has plans to make a cross-border incursion to attack Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq but “not urgently.”
Putin: No Proof Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons
President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday there is no proof Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons, but emphasized that Tehran must be encouraged to make its nuclear program fully transparent.
Russia has opposed the U.S.-push for tougher sanctions against Iran and called for more checks and inspections of Iranian facilities by International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
”We have worked cooperatively with our partners at the United Nations Security Council, and we intend to continue such cooperative work in the future,” Putin said.
But he said that with no ”objective data” showing Iran is developing nuclear weapons, ”we proceed from an assumption that Iran has no such plans.”
Israeli Air Strike on Syria Kindles Debate in the U.S.
There is an interesting article in the New York Times this morning that discusses an internal debate within the Bush Administration about how to deal with North Korea.
As of right now our agreement with the North to provide various kinds of economic aide in return for dismantlement of their nuclear program still stands.
However, Israel is arguing that in light of the recent discovery of a possible clandestine nuclear program in Syria thanks to the help provided by North Korea, we should reconsider that deal.
Israel recently launched air strikes against a facility in Syria that is alleged to be home to some type of clandestine nuclear program. The Israelis allegedly sent special forces soldiers in to Syria prior to the bombings to retrieve some type of proof that the facility was indeed a nuclear facility.
They showed the proof to President Bush and he gave the go ahead for the air strikes. Now some in his Administration are advising him that the North cannot be trusted in light of these recent events.
According to the article Bush, Rice, and Defense Secretary Gates remain committed to the deal with the North at least for the time being.
By Chris Jones
The Hot Joints
Obama Wants to eliminate all nuclear weapons
According to the NY Times Senator Barack Obama proposed on Tuesday setting a goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons in the world, saying the United States should greatly reduce its stockpiles to lower the threat of nuclear terrorism, aides say.
In a speech at DePaul University in Chicago, Mr. Obama will add his voice to a plan endorsed earlier this year by a bipartisan group of former government officials from the cold war era who say the United States must begin building a global consensus to reverse a reliance on nuclear weapons that have become “increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective.”
“In 2009, we will have a window of opportunity to renew our global leadership and bring our nation together,” Mr. Obama is planning to say, according to an excerpt of remarks provided by his aides. “If we don’t seize that moment, we may not get another.”
In his speech, according to a campaign briefing paper, Mr. Obama also will call for using a combination of diplomacy and pressure to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs. Aides did not say what Mr. Obama intended to do if diplomacy and sanctions failed.
As long as we have countries like Iran pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program it doesn’t seem practical for us to give up nukes. I agree that we could all cut down on stockpiles, but to think the world will ever be free of nuclear weapons is a bit naive.
-Chris Jones
Leaders of North, South Korea Meet
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il welcomed South Korea’s president to Pyongyang displaying scant enthusiasm Tuesday while orchestrated crowds cheered the start of the second-ever summit between the divided Koreas since World War II.
The greeting was a stark contrast to the first North-South summit in 2000, when Kim greeted then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung with smiles and clasped both his hands tightly in an emotional moment that softened the North Korean strongman’s image to South Koreans and the world.
This time, Kim appeared reserved and unemotional, walking slowly and occasionally clapping lightly to encourage the crowd of thousands at the outdoor welcome ceremony, who waved red and pink paper flowers. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun appeared to revel in the moment, waving and smiling broadly before reviewing a goose-stepping North Korean military honor guard wielding rifles with bayonets…FULL STORY
The Truth about the Bush-Aznar Transcript
The far-left is buzzing about the newly revealed transcripts of a secret meeting President Bush held with former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Aznar in 2003. They met at President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas to discuss the lead up to the Iraq war. The interesting thing to note is that the conversation between the two leaders was never meant for public discussion, therefore you get a rare glimpse into how the President of the United States thinks about issues.
To hear it from crazyland also known as the far-left blogosphere you would think the transcripts reveal Bush to be the crazed war criminal they always claimed him to be. However, I think 99.99% of those who read the complete transcript will come away with precisely the opposite opinion about the President.
In fact, the analysis of the transcript by the far-left is so nuts that I swear they’re reading a different version than the rest of us. I urge everyone to first read the transcripts below and then click HERE and read the far-left analysis of what you just read. Crazy enough for you?
Full text of the top secret transcript of the conversation between US President George W. Bush and Spain’s Prime Minister José Maria Aznar at Crawford, Texas, on February 22, 2003, as printed in the Madrid daily newspaper El País on September 26, 2007 (translation: José Guardia)
President Bush: We are in favor of pursuing a second resolution by the Security Council, and we would like to have it quickly. We would like to announce it on Monday or Tuesday [March 24 or 25, 2003].
PM Aznar: Better on Tuesday, after the meeting of the European Union’s General Affairs Council. It’s important to keep the momentum of the EU Summit resolution [in Brussels on Monday, February 17, 2003]. We would prefer to wait until Tuesday.
Bush: It could be on Monday afternoon, considering the time difference. Next week, in any case. We envision a resolution that doesn’t contain mandatory elements, that doesn’t mention the use of force, and that states that Saddam Hussein has been unable to comply with his obligations. Such a resolution could be voted for by many. It would be similar to the one for Kosovo [on June 10, 1999].
Aznar: Would it be submitted to the Security Council before, and independently of, a parallel declaration?
Condoleezza Rice: Actually, there wouldn’t be a parallel declaration. We are thinking about a resolution that is as simple as possible, without many details about compliance that could be used by Saddam Hussein as steps not to comply. We are talking with Blix [chief of UN inspection] and others in his team about items that could be in the resolution.
Bush: Saddam won’t change and will keep playing games. The moment of getting rid of him has arrived. That’s it. As for me, from now on, I’ll try to use the most subtle rhetoric I can, while we look for the resolution to be approved. If some country vetoes [the resolution] we’ll go in. Saddam is not disarming. We must catch him right now. We have shown an incredible amount of patience until now. We have two weeks. In two weeks, our military will be ready. I think we’ll achieve a second resolution. In the Security Council, we have three African countries [Cameroon, Angola, Guinea], the Chileans, the Mexicans. I’ll talk with all of them, also with Putin, naturally. We’ll be in Baghdad at the end of March. There’s a 15% chance that Saddam will be dead by then or will have flown. But these possibilities won’t be there until we have shown our resolution. The Egyptians are talking with Saddam Hussein. It seems he has hinted he’d be willing to leave if he’s allowed to take 1 billion dollars and all the information on WMDs. Ghadaffi told Berlusconi that Saddam wants to leave. Mubarak tells us that in these circumstances there is a big chance that he’ll get killed.
We would like to act with the mandate of the UN. If we act militarily, we’ll do it with great precision and focus on our targets to as high a degree as possible. We’ll decimate the loyal troops, and the regular army will quickly know what it’s all about. We sent a very clear message to Saddam Hussein’s generals: we will treat them as war criminals. We know they have stocked big amounts of dynamite to blow up the bridges and other infrastructure, and the oil wells. We are planning to take control of those wells very soon. Also, the Saudis will help us by putting as much oil as necessary on the market. We are developing a very strong aid package. We can win without destruction. We are already working on the post-Saddam Iraq, and I think there’s a basis for a better future. Iraq has a good bureaucracy and a relatively strong civil society. It could be organized as a federation. Meanwhile we’re doing all we can to fulfill the political needs of our friends and allies.
Aznar: It’s very important to have that second resolution. It will be very different to act with or without it. It will be very advisable to have a sufficient majority in the Security Council backing that resolution. In fact, having that majority is more important than whether some country vetoes. We think that the resolution should, among other things, clearly state that Saddam Hussein has squandered his opportunity.
Bush: Yes, of course. That would be better to mention than “the necessary means.”
Aznar: Saddam Hussein hasn’t cooperated, hasn’t disarmed – we should summarize all his non-compliance and make a more elaborate message. That, for example, would allow Mexico to change [its opposition].
Bush: The resolution will be made in a way that can help you. I don’t care much about the actual content.
Aznar: We’ll send you some text.
Bush: We don’t have any text. We only have one goal: that Saddam must disarm. We can’t allow Saddam to drag his heels until the summer. After all, he has had four months in this last stage, and that’s more than enough time to disarm.
Aznar: Such text would help us to be in a position to introduce the resolution [at the Security Council], to be its co-authors, and to convince many people to sign it.
Bush: Perfect.
Aznar: I’m meeting Chirac next Wednesday [February 16]. The resolution will be circulating by now.
Bush: I think this is a great idea. Chirac knows the situation perfectly. His intelligence services have explained it all to him. The Arabs are sending Chirac a very clear message: Saddam Hussein must go. The problem is that Chirac thinks he is “Mister Arab,” and the truth is that he’s making their lives impossible. But I don’t want any rivalry with Chirac. We certainly have different points of view, but I’d like that to be all. Give him my best regards. True! The less rivalry he feels there is between us, the better it’ll be for us all.
Aznar: How will the resolution and the report by inspectors work with each other?
Rice: Actually there won’t be a report on February 28; the inspectors will submit a written report on March 1, and they won’t appear before the Security Council until March 6 or 7, 2003. We don’t have high hopes about that report. Just like on previous occasions, they’ll cover their bases. My impression is that Blix will be more negative now about the Iraqis’ intention. After they appear at the Security Council, we forecast a vote one week later. Meanwhile, the Iraqis will try to convince that they’re complying. It won’t be true and it won’t be enough, even though they’ll likely announce the destruction of some missiles.
Bush: This is like Chinese water torture. We must put an end to it.
Aznar: I agree, but it would be good to have as many people on board as possible. Be a little patient.
Bush: I’ve run out of patience. I won’t go further than mid-March.
Aznar: I’m not asking you to have infinite patience. I’m just asking you to try as hard as possible to make everything work.
Bush: Countries like Mexico, Chile, Angola and Cameroon must know that it’s US security at play and that they must act according to their friendship to us. [Chilean president Ricardo] Lagos must know that the Free Trade Agreement is pending ratification in the Senate and that a negative attitude on this issue could jeopardize that ratification. Angola is receiving funds from the Millennium Account that could also be compromised. And Putin must know that his position is endangering Russia’s relationship with the United States.
Aznar: Tony [Blair] would like to wait until March 14.
Bush: I prefer March 10. This is like the good cop, bad cop routine. I don’t mind being the bad cop and letting Blair be the good cop.
Aznar: Is it true that there’s a chance that Saddam will go into exile?
Bush: Yes, there is. There’s even a chance that he’ll be assassinated.
Aznar: An exile with some kind of guarantees?
Bush: No guarantees. He’s a thief, a terrorist, a war criminal. Compared to Saddam, Milosevic would be a Mother Teresa. When we go in, we are going to discover many more crimes, and we’ll take him to the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Saddam Hussein believes he has escaped. He thinks that France and Germany have stopped the process of his prosecution. He also thinks that last week’s anti-war demonstrations [Saturday, February 15] protect him. And he believes I’m weakened. But people around him know that things are totally different. They know their future is in exile or in a coffin. This is why it’s so important to keep the pressure up. Ghaddafi is indirectly telling us that this is the only thing that can finish him. Saddam’s only strategy is delay, delay, delay.
Aznar: Actually, the best success would be to win the game without firing a single shot when entering Baghdad.
Bush: To me, it would be the best outcome. I don’t want war. I know what war is like. I know the death and destruction they bring. I am the one who has to comfort the mothers and wives of the dead. Of course, for us [a diplomatic solution] would be the best one. Also, it would save 50 billion dollars.
Aznar: We need you to help us with our public opinion.
Bush: We will do all we can. On Wednesday, I’m going to talk about the situation in the Middle East, proposing a new peace system that you already know about, and about weapons of mass destruction, the benefits of a free society, and I’ll put Iraq’s history in a bigger context. That may help you.
Aznar: What we are doing is a very profound change for Spain and the Spanish citizens. We are changing the last 200 years of the country’s politics.
Bush: I’m guided by a historical sense of responsibility, as you are. When history judges us in a few years, I don’t want people wondering why Bush, Aznar, or Blair didn’t confront their responsibilities. At the end of the day, what people want is to enjoy freedom. A short time ago, in Romania, I was reminded of Ceaucescu’s example: it only took a woman to call him a liar for the whole regime to come crumbling down. It’s the irrepressible power of freedom. I’m convinced I’ll achieve the resolution.
Aznar: That’s better than good.
Bush: I made the decision of going to the Security Council. In spite of some internal disagreements within my administration, I told my people that we needed to work with our friends. It will be great to have a second resolution.
Aznar: The only thing that worries me about you is your optimism.
Bush: I’m optimistic because I believe I’m doing the right thing. I am at peace with myself. We have the responsibility of facing a serious threat to peace. It irks me tremendously to contemplate the insensitivity of Europeans toward the suffering that Saddam inflicts on the Iraqis. Maybe because he’s dark-skinned, distant, and Muslim, many Europeans think that all this doesn’t matter. I will never forget what Solana [European High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy] asked me once: why do Americans think that Europeans are anti-Semitic and unable to confront their responsibilities? That defensive attitude is terrible. I must admit that I have a magnificent relationship with Kofi Annan.
Aznar: He shares your ethical concerns.
Bush: The more Europeans attack me, the stronger I am at home.
Aznar: We should try to bring together your strength with the support of Europeans.
*Transcript provided courtesy of Pajamas Media
-Chris Jones
The Hot Joints
Negotiators Seek Timeframe for North Korea Disarmament
BEIJING—Negotiators are sticking to a year-end target for the disablement of North Korea’s nuclear program, a U.S. envoy said Thursday after the start of the latest round of six-nation disarmament talks.U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said a draft joint statement covering a disablement plan was expected to be circulated at talks Friday.
“We hope to agree on a kind of road map that will take us through to the end of the year,” Hill told reporters. “Of course, the key for us would be the disablement steps that would be agreed and then the declaration.”
Hill and his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan agreed at talks in Geneva earlier this month on the disablement goal by the end of the year, although the specifics were not worked out.
Hill and Kim, plus envoys from China, Russia, Japan and South Korea will try to fill in the details during the talks in Beijing that last until Sunday.
Under a February agreement, North Korea will be provided with 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil, or the monetary equivalent in other aid and assistance. In return, North Korea agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor — which it did in July — and then declare and ultimately dismantle all its nuclear programs.
“(The joint statement) will be more specific in terms of timing. Also it has to lay out how the fuel oil is provided, so it would be more detailed,” Hill said after a day of bilateral meetings and then an hour of talks among all six envoys at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Beijing had delivered a second batch of oil to Pyongyang, part of the total of 50,000 tons it has pledged to give. No details were provided.
Hill said the joint statement would cover uranium enrichment issues as well as weapons-grade plutonium that has already been produced. He did not provide details.
North Korea has a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor, and there have been allegations that North Korea has a second, undeclared nuclear weapons program using enriched uranium. North Korea has said it was willing to discuss the issue, although it did not acknowledge having such a program.
The talks, which have dragged on for more than three years during which North Korea successfully detonated a nuclear device, come after Israeli warplanes attacked a Syrian installation on Sept. 6.
Foreign news reports have cited officials and experts as saying the strike targeted either arms meant for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon or some sort of nonconventional weapons target, perhaps a joint Syrian-North Korean nuclear project. Syria has denied both claims, and North Korea has denied a nuclear link with Damascus.
Israel has not confirmed the attack or commented about it.
Chun Yung-woo, the chief South Korean delegate, said there were still some differences between what North Korea was intending to do on disablement and what the other countries wanted done.
“Still, North Korea has a strong resolve to obtain results from this six-party talks, and other countries also want to obtain results. So I believe it’s not impossible to overcome that difference,” Chun told reporters.
Japanese envoy Kenichiro Sasae described Thursday’s talks as “a polite exchange where we discussed some ideas.”
The talks in Beijing are the first since Yasuo Fukuda replaced Shinzo Abe as Japan’s prime minister earlier this month, but Tokyo’s insistence on focusing on the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North is unlikely to change.
North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens and allowed five to return home, saying the others were dead. Many in Japanese believe more victims remain in the communist country, and the government has refused to contribute aid to North Korea under the February agreement.
“Our basic stance to seek for comprehensive solution on the issues of the abductions, nuclear and security remains the same,” Sasae said before the meeting.
[FOX News]
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