Farewell 2006!

The major news item of 2006 is the defeat of the United States in Iraq, now clear for all to see, and of Israel in Lebanon, shattering the invincibility of the Zionist state and producing a new Arab hero, Hassan Nasrallah.

Let's have a look at the major news items in each month:

January: Hamas wins a majority in Palestinian Legislative Council elections. The U.S. and the E.U., hypocritical champions of democracy, reject the outcome. Sharon suffers a debilitating stroke but lives out the year in a coma.

February: The golden dome of the Askariya mosque in Samarra, one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines, is destroyed by a bomb explosion, leading to unprecedented sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia.

March: Slobodan Milosevic dies in his cell at the International Court in The Hague, ending the life of the architect of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia.

April: Chinese President Hu Jintao visits the U.S. but is more cordially received by Bill Gates on the West Coast than by George Bush on the East Coast.

May: The British Labor Party suffers a heavy defeat in local elections, indicating profound disapproval for Bush's poodle, Premier Tony Blair.

June: Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi is killed by coalition forces in Iraq, but the escalation of violence does not subside.

July: Israel launches war on Lebanon, but is defeated by Hezbollah. The so-called invincibility of Israel is shattered and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah becomes a hero in the Muslim world.

August: A United Nations Security Council deadline set on August 31 for Iran to stop enriching uranium passes without Iran complying. There is no proof Iran is aiming to build a nuclear weapon.

September: A military coup in Thailand deposes Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and in China the party chief of Shanghai Chen Liangyu is sacked for corruption.

October: North Korea tests a nuclear bomb becoming a declared nuclear power in an exclusive club. The UN Security Council imposes sanctions including a ban on luxury exports. The six party talks resume in December, but are adjourned after five days without any progress.

November: In the U.S. midterm elections, Republicans lose the House and the Senate. Voters present a clear mandate: “End the war! Get out of Iraq!”. Bush sacks Donald Rumsfeld. In a further setback to Washington, Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega are re-elected in Venezuela and Nicaragua, following in the footsteps earlier this year of Chile's Michelle Bachelet and Bolivia's Evo Morales.

December: Saddam Hussein is executed in Baghdad, but has never been convicted for his worst crimes, the invasions of Iran and Kuwait. The UN Security Council imposes sanctions on Iran because the country refuses to stop its uranium enrichment program. Intended to pressure Iran, they will no doubt have the opposite effect. The resolution may have opened the way for an American invasion.

Notable persons who passed away this year include adventurer Heinrich Harrer, journalist Anna Politkovskaya and singers Wilson Pickett, James Brown and Marishka Veres. The world was also left a bit cleaner by the disappearance of a few villains: Slobodan Milosevic, Pik Botha, Augusto Pinochet and Saddam Hussein.

Bye bye 2006, here comes 2007!

Hanged for wrong reason

Saddam Hussein was not allowed to see the first light of 2007. Rightly so, albeit for the wrong reasons. Massacring 148 villagers may very well be a crime punishable by death, but it was certainly not Saddam's worst crime. He was never convicted, and thus never punished, for the crimes of aggression against Iran and Kuwait, which caused the deaths of more than a million people.

During his trail and up to his execution he remained in U.S. custody, in the hands of the occupying power which invaded Iraq based on lies and false premises. If Saddam deserves to face the hangman's noose, so do the Commanders-in-Chief of the invading forces, Bush and Blair.

Many ministers of European countries condemned the execution because they are against the death penalty. The death penalty should not be carried out for ordinary murder like in the U.S., but crimes against peace, crimes of aggression and crimes against humanity deserve the highest penalty.

The gold medal for hypocrisy should perhaps go the Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, who declared that Saddam deserved the death penalty, but that it shouldn't be carried out. Twisted logic – in that case, why impose the death penalty at all?

The year 2007 will be free of Saddam the war criminal, but other war criminals remain heads of state or government. In a world where justice reigns, the hangman would not be without a job.

Imperial copyright

An updated book of memoirs by China's last emperor Pu Yi has been published by the Qunzhong Publishing House. It is an expanded version of a book originally published in 1964. The Beijing Supreme People's Court acknowledged that Pu Yi was the copyright owner, although as all such celebrities, he certainly didn't write the book himself.

Now his brother Pu Ren says that Qunzhong Publishing House should have asked permission to republish an expanded version of the book. This is clearly an imperial misuse of copyright. Even if we recognize the copyright of Pu Yi, what has his brother got to do with it? Is he styling himself as an imperial heir to the Dragon Throne. In that case he should be put in jail for trying to restore the empire.

Pu Yi and his last wife are long dead. He has no surviving children. Why should a brother profit from the publishing of Pu Yi's book? The brother also said the book violated Pu Yi's privacy because it described the infidelity of his former wife Wan Rong. In that case, anybody who ever wrote a word about Monica Lewinsky should also be prosecuted for violating Bill Clinton's privacy. Celebrities forfeit part of their privacy by being, well... celebrities. They can always chose to remain in obscurity, but then that they will miss out on the glamor and the glitter.

Copyright of published materials should be abolished altogether and replaced by the GPL-license, allowing anyone to reproduce the work and add to it, provided the original author is recognized. Journalists and authors are paid by their newspaper or publishing house, which make money by selling the originals. Why would they have to make even more money from re-publishing?

Do away with copyright and introduce the freedom to publish, the freedom of copyleft or the right to copy.

Mandriva 2007

Another year, another passage. I am switching operating systems on my PC. After I bought a Lenovo desktop in September 2005, I installed Linspire 5-0, rather by default because installation of other flavors of Linux failed for one reason or another, Fedora Core, SUSE, Ubuntu all failed. Overall I am satisfied with Linspire. It served me well and the only thing that ever broke occasionally was the Click 'n Run (CNR) software installation facility, but after a bit of tinkering I managed to get it working again.

CNR was a paying service and became free this year, but it also became less useful. The latest addition to the CNR warehouse dates from August. Many new programs and upgrades have become available in the meantime. A second reason to leave Linspire behind and move on is that it still does not have a 64-bit OS. I can't wait any longer to take advantage of my 64-bit PC. Mandriva 2007 got very favorable reviews on the DistroWatch website, so I decided to give it a try. Becoming a member of the Mandriva Club doesn't come cheap but it gives you the possibility to download the Powerpack and take advantage of club offers.

As I will be reformatting my hard disk, i will also install a few other Linux flavors to experiment with: Fedora Core 6, Ubuntu 6.10, PcLinuxOS 0.93a and the experimental Elive 0.5 RL2.

With Internet traffic slowing to a crawl due to the cable break south of Taiwan and the holiday week between Christmas and New Year there is no better time to install a new operating system.

It's a breakdown!

This definitely shouldn't have happened. Internet traffic is seriously disrupted after an earthquake south of Taiwan damaged undersea fiber optic cables. The CNN website and many other websites in the U.S. and Europe were not accessible for most of the day or even not at all. Sites in China were accessible, because to reach them traffic is not routed through undersea cables.

The Internet came into existence to prevent just such a breakdown in (military) communications. When one link breaks down, traffic would be routed through other links and communications would not be interrupted. In theory. What happened today proves that the Internet is still vulnerable. On a virtual level there are a hundred routes from A to B, but if 99 out the 100 routes go through one fat cable on the physical level and that fatty goes down, the result is a communications breakdown.

A cable cut as a result of an earthquake or enemy action can paralyze Internet traffic around the world. Something has to be done about it. Who would have thought this could still happen in the dying days of 2006?

Happy birthday Chairman!

Today is the 113th anniversary of the birth of Chairman Mao Zedong. Like the 30th anniversary of his death this past September 9, it passed almost unnoticed in China. Mao still gazes from his portrait on the Gate of Heavenly Peace to the square. There are still tens, if not hundreds of Mao statues in China.

But the current leadership of the Communist Party does not want to launch commemorative activities for fear of opening a debate on Mao's merits and demerits. Developing the economy and making money is its goal, not debating the past.

Foreign news media do give it a try, but evaluating Mao in a newspaper story is an impossible task. You can formulate your conclusion, but there's not enough space to prove your point.

Veteran journalist John Roderick, who met Mao in 1946 in Yan'an, poses the question whether Mao was “a monster or an authentic Chinese hero”? (CNN: Mao Zedong: Monster or hero?) But he doesn't answer his own question, although he points to another basic question that should be answered. “Atrocities were committed in his name”. Sure, but does that make the man himself responsible? Food for thought.

There is not enough space for arguments here, but I can at least give you my answer to the questions: Yes, Mao was a Chinese hero, not a monster and No, he was not responsible for the atrocities committed in his name.

The Revolution is not a dinner party, it cannot be so refined... 

A piece of torn paper

U.N. Security Council resolutions indeed look more and more like pieces of torn paper, fig leafs to justify imperial aggression. Far from embodying the will of the international community, the Security Council is acting as the talking shop of the White House's war cabinet.

The Security Council decided 'unanimously' to impose sanctions on Iran. Because in the distorted imagination of the neocons, Iran is building the bomb. No proof needed, just the words – the lies – of the neocons. Russia, China and France put up some weak opposition, but in the end - again - followed Uncle Sam. The ten non-permanent members didn't dare to go against the Five Big Brothers.

WMD in Saddam's Iraq – none; collaboration with Al Qaeda – none; nuclear weapons in Iran – none. Once again a UN Security Council resolution is paving the way for the U.S. to invade a sovereign UN member country.

The Security Council is well on the way to become irrelevant. Unjust resolutions can achieve nothing because the people will oppose them. They achieve the opposite of what was intended. Shame on the 'diplomats'. Can't they come up with something that perhaps may achieve its intended purpose?

Israel wants to create conditions conducive to complete the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. To be able to do that, Iran has to be wiped of the map. Moreover, Iran is the principal obstacle to Western imperial ambitions in the Middle East.

As David Lindorff wrote on the CounterPunch website, “an attack on Iran would be an unmitigated disaster” and “there is no way the U.S. could hope to conquer Iran” (Crime of the Century). And again, the war mongers in Washington will try the unthinkable. 

So this is Christmas...

"A very merry Christmas, and a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one, without any fear
War is over, if you want it, war is over, now..."
(John Lennon, part of the lyrics of 'Happy X Mas')

Well, John, unfortunately, war ain't over yet... Baghdad, Ramadi, Kandahar, Bethlehem...

And so Bush, the war criminal, visited the wounded soldiers... Who does he think is responsible for their lost legs and bandaged heads, their weeping wifes, girlfriends, sons and daughters? And did he ever visit the morgues in Baghdad, the dead and wounded Iraqis who have been slaughtered as a result of the American invasion?

And let's not forget Bethlehem! Israel's Wall of Apartheid is strangling Bethlehem, 65% of its inhabitants are unemployed and its employees have not been paid for four months. And nobody cares... The Catholics and the Pope celebrate Jesus, while the people of Bethlehem suffer under Zionist occupation.

The Archbishop of Canterbury did accuse Bush and Blair of endangering the lives of thousands of Christians in the Middle East (The Times: Christians suffer for Iraq, says archbishop). But did he offer a solution? Did he call for a boycott of Israel?

Bethlehem 2002. A Palestinian pregnant woman was trying to get to the hospital, bleeding heavily on the back seat of a car. An Israeli soldier looked at the blood and laughed! (The Independent: 'What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?') Since then 36 babies have died because their mothers were detained during labor at Israeli checkpoints. And some idiots still do not let us compare the Zionists to the Nazis...

Meanwhile, 'Christian' Bush signed a law to block U.S. aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government and Islamic Hamas is spending 50,000 dollars on Christmas decorations in Bethlehem. The Hamas Minister of Finance wished “our Christian brothers a happy Christmas”.

Israel (let's say this gently at Christmas time) must be dissolved and replaced by the People's Republic of Palestine, where Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and atheists can live in peace.

Will Bush regret it?

The Sunni Mujahideen Shura Council of Iraq has offered the U.S. forces safe withdrawal from Iraq within a month. The U.S. has two weeks to reply to the offer. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi added: “Obey our orders or regret it”.

Bush will of course reject it, because he doesn't talk to 'terrorists'. The war, the occupation, the insurgency, the slaughter and the bloodletting will continue.

After tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands more have died, in the end the U.S. will still be defeated. And everybody will regret the U.S. didn't get out earlier. In March 2003, peace loving people told Bush not to invade, and look what a mess he made. Now they tell him to get out, and he won't listen.

Republican Senator Gordon Smith, who initially voted for the war and now realizes his mistake, says the U.S. has the choice between 'cutting and running' and 'cutting and walking'. The second option involves the expenditure of more money and lives.

Maybe Bush will not regret it, but everybody else will. 

Who is to 'get serious'?

After five days of talking (mostly past each other) the six parties called it quits without even a joint statement or a date for the resumption of the talks. It is clear the Six Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program are achieving nothing, except perhaps a better understanding between the U.S. and China, and again perhaps that is not such a bad thing.

But the talks are certainly not leading to the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which is supposedly their aim.

U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill called on the North Koreans “to get serious”. But in fact it is the U.S. which has “to get serious”. At the end of the last phase in the talks in December 2005, the DPRK agreed in principle to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. But a few days later the U.S. began pushing other countries to freeze North Korean funds. For a year the DPRK refused to return to the negotiating table and in the meantime tested a nuclear weapon. During the past five days, the DPRK negotiators only wanted to talk finance, not nuclear arms.

By bringing up the so-called 'money problem', it is the U.S. which is deliberately undermining the talks. The result is that the DPRK can keep its bomb and make even more bombs in the meantime. And perhaps even conduct another test. It is the attitude of the U.S. which is not 'serious'. 

Packaging required

A producer of rice wine in Zhengzhou, China wanted to protest against the elaborate packaging of bottles on the occasion of holidays. In the culture of gift giving (and corruption), the packaging is sometimes as luxurious and costly as the content.

To protest against packaging, the Jixiang Ruyi Tobacco and Alcohol Company had planned a mass Christmas Eve nude run through the streets of Zhengzhou, offering the 284 prospective participants 10,000 yuan in cash and prices (around 1,000 euro). The streakers had to be under the age of 30 with 'healthy bodies' and 'regular features', Reuters reported.

But the police didn't like the idea of no packaging at all and prevented the run and the naked publicity of the liquor company.

In more secluded quarters, nudity is however becoming more accepted, as shown by the girl with the braille script written all over her body (see picture on the left). It is not known whether the blind were actually allowed to touch the script...

Apartheid in Palestine

My views on the Zionist occupation of Palestine are well known. I frequently compare the Zionists with the Nazis and the situation in Palestine with South African apartheid. Even former U.S. President Jimmy Carter now agrees with the latter in his latest book and has been lambasted by all the defenders of Zionist Israel, which includes all mainstream American publications.

Comparing Zionism with Nazism usually elicits opposition. It would be exaggerated and 'over the top'. Although both -isms are racist. Nazism is racism towards all non-Aryans, primarily Jews and gypsies. Zionism is racism towards all non-Jews, primarily Palestinians and Arabs. Zionists and Nazis both want to create more Lebensraum for their chosen people.

Today I had dinner with a retired Belgian journalist who has traveled extensively in the occupied territories, something which I unfortunately never had the occasion to do. I have no first hand knowledge of the Middle East, but I have read tens of books on the subject. My friend has himself written a few books on the situation in Palestine/Israel and confirmed that yes, Nazism and Zionism are not that far apart.

The truth is spreading, despite the Zionist clampdown on free speech.

Stupid Americans

Well, no, not all of them, but still a sizable proportion. A CNN opinion poll shows support for President Bush's management of the Iraq war has dropped to an all-time low of 28% (CNN: Poll: Approval for Iraq handling drops to new low).

The all-time low is great news, but it also means that 28% of Americans, more than a quarter of the population, are fundamentally stupid or worse, criminally insane. 6% said the strategy should remain the same, 'stay the course, guys'. How many Vietnams are needed before they will ever learn?

After all that happened in that once beautiful country of Babylon at the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris, how could anyone still support Bush's 'management' of the Iraq war? After reading the report of the 'bipartisan' Iraq Study Group, headed by Uncle Baker of the Bush family? Unless they are racist, war-mongering criminals who should be brought to justice?

Still, more than a quarter of all Americans support 'Bush in Babylon' (read the interesting book by Tariq Ali). 48% said victory was still possible in Iraq. Surely not an American victory? Is the U.S. winning in Iraq?

• George W. Bush: “Absolutely, we're winning”.
  
• 
  
• Robert Gates: “No, sir”.

Victory belongs to the Shia and Sunni insurgents who will drive the U.S. occupiers out of their country. For the first time, more than half of Americans disapprove of Bush's 'war on terrorism'. Maybe there is still hope for the sanity of the majority of Americans.

Bush is not going to be 'rushed into a decision' about what to do next in Iraq. Let some more Iraqis (and American soldiers) die while the war-criminal-in-chief makes up his mind...

Exit Rumsfeld, enter Bill Gates (oops, erh, I mean Bob Gates). (CNN: Gates: Failure in Iraq would 'haunt' U.S). “Failure in Iraq would endanger Americans for decades to come," he rambled when taking the oath as Secretary of Defense. Failure for sure, and Americans have only themselves to blame for allowing George W. to become president. In the final analysis though, it's about more than a lone Texas cowboy. It's about imperialism dropping a stone on its own foot. As, according to the Law of Imperialism, it is bound to do. Binding its own feet,... with Chinese characteristics. 

Gang of 8 in Beijing

One of the most high-profile U.S. government delegations visited Beijing this past week, headed by Treasury Secretary Henri Paulson and including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. In all, eight American ministry level officials. Their demand: revalue the yuan!

“Oh no, we won't”, the Americans heard the Chinese say, down from President Hu Jintao to Supreme Negotiator Madame Wu Yi and further down the ranks. The U.S. should know by now that pressuring the Chinese won't work. Sure, Beijing will let the market play a bigger role in determining the exchange rate of the currency. It will promote consumerism and better protect intellectual property rights. And the U.S. government promised to advise its people to save more money.

All promises which are rather difficult to fulfill by Christmas. The high-powered 'strategic economic dialogue' ended without tangible results.

And still, for both parties, Chinese and Americans, it was a win-win situation. Paulson can tell Congress that the Chinese listened to the American point-of-view. Th Chinese can tell their people they didn't give in to American pressure. And they can continue talking next year in June in Washington.

Better to talk than to make war. Let the markets sort out the economic problems. 

'You' beat Ahmadinejad

Time Magazine choose 'You' as Person of the Year, relegating Iranian President Ahmadinejad to an honorable second place. (Time: You)

I also would have chosen Ahmadinejad, because in the original list there was no 'You' only YouTube, which is a different matter altogether. While YouTube is part of the You revolution on the Internet, it's only one part, the video clip part.

Expression and collaboration on the Net is much wider than video clips: book reviews on Amazon, photos on Flickr, file sharing with BitTorrent, profiles on MySpace, blogs on BlogSpot, knowledge on Wikipedia, Linux on DistroWatch, podcasts, citizen journalists all over... 'You' are taking over control in the Information Age.

Yes, You made your mark on the world. Not statesmen and war criminals make this world turn around, the people do and that's you. The Net is empowering the people. Millions of people exchanging information, collaborating, getting to know each other, making friends, and yes, making love not war.

As Time noted "We are looking at an explosion of productivity and innovation, and it's just getting started." A new digital democracy is bubbling up. Warts and all. 

I think Time made a good choice. And yes, also a good second choice: Ahmadinejad.

Dump this U.S. lackey!

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for early Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections (Aljazeera: Abbas calls for early polls). He was elected in early 2005 and the Hamas government was elected in January this year. This 'cohabitation à la Française' didn't work. Fatah and Hamas have fundamentally different policies for attaining Palestinian statehood: two states or one state.

The Hamas government was democratically elected, but because it doesn't recognize the Zionist state of Israel the U.S. didn't like the result of the democratic process and supports a strongman who wants to sell out the rights of the Palestinian people. Abbas has no right to call early elections but instructed by his masters in Washington he is doing so to try to topple Hamas.

If elections take place, the outcome may be completely different: a Hamas president and a Hamas government. This will mean the end for the corrupt Fatah clique. Whether it tried to kill Prime Minister Ismail Haniya remains a mystery, but it might turn out to be the case.

The U.S. wants to break at all costs a strong Palestinian resistance against Israel. Condoleezza Rice is asking Congress for tens of millions of dollars to strengthen Abbas to ensure he emerges victorious. Washington is giving Abbas a poisoned pill as strong as polonium-210.

The Palestinians will know for whom to vote to safeguard their rights. 

Belgian banana split

The French-language TV station RTBF has aired a 'special news bulletin' claiming that the Flemish regional parliament had declared the independence of Flanders. The King fled Brussels to take refuge in Congo. The news bulletin showed flag-waving Flemish nationalists celebrating, while Belgian nationalists demonstrated in Brussels. Until half an hour later, it turned out it was all fake, an elaborate fictional cocktail to stimulate debate... (CNN: Fake 'Belgian split' TV sparks row)

Even more shocking than this 'docu-fiction' was the flood of comments from the Prime Minister down to thousands who believed what they saw on TV until being told the truth. "Irresponsible", "questionable" and "regrettable", a bad joke...

Journalists' organizations deplored the loss of journalistic ethics, the Royal Palace refrained to comment on a mere TV program and everybody hollered and jelled that it was shameful that such a program could be presented as 'news'.

Any TV-viewer could have found out it was a deliberate fiction within 10 seconds by zapping to the Flemish TV, because if it was true, it would certainly air live the glorious Flemish revolution. Well, it didn't. It broadcast a football match. But French speakers don't watch Flemish TV, not even for 10 seconds to check the veracity of their own broadcasts, so they were fooled until after half an hour a notice appeared at the bottom of the screen that it was all a fake.

The big 'scandal' lasted for a mere half an hour and everybody is up in arms. Luckily without the fire or the bullets. Everybody condemned the RTBF except Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Belang, because he wished it was true and Geert Lambert of Spirit because the guy has a sense of humor.

And that, in the end, was lacking the most, a sense of humor. Apparently the unity of the country is no laughing matter. The debate about the future of the country will have to be held one day. Because the docu-fiction showed in an exaggerated way what could have been or what the future perhaps still holds in store. But for now the news of the split of the country turned out to be a banana split. And many a journalist and politician slipped on the skin. 

50% for 2%, 1% for 50%

The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of all household wealth and the poorer half own barely 1%.

That is the conclusion of a study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at the UN University.

Most studies look at income, not accumulated wealth. Of course, income inequality is also growing, but the study concludes that inequality is even sharper in wealth than in annual income. The study is based on data for the year 2000. In the meantime, wealth and income inequality has no doubt increased even more.

This trend will continue, but it cannot continue indefinitely. Karl Marx already noticed this trend more than a century ago. The dispossessed will ultimately overthrow the rich. Because half of the world's population cannot live and consume with only 1% of all the wealth, while 2% of the world's population is wasting half of its wealth.

Building socialism, the first stage of communism, on the basis of feudalist societies in Russia and China didn't work. But the forces of inequality and alienation are rising still further.

The future will show that Karl Marx was right after all. 

Wiped out or disappeared?

67 researchers from 30 countries attended a conference on the Holocaust in Teheran. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Monday the aim of the conference was “not to deny or confirm the Holocaust”, but “to create an opportunity for thinkers who cannot express their views freely”.

Nobody should deny the Holocaust because it is an undeniable historic fact. But it is equally true it has been blown up out of all proportion by the Zionists. The Nazi's killed 50 million people, out of which 6 million Jews. The killing of the Jews is remembered as the Holocaust and in some countries it is a crime to deny it. But what about the other 42 million victims of the Nazi's. There is no law to criminalize denial of the death of those victims.

The neocons and their lackeys at CNN are using the conference to prepare the ground for aggression against Iran. “Iran: Israel to be 'wiped out'”, CNN headlined on its main webpage, above a picture of Iranian President Ahmadinejad. (CNN: Iran: Israel will be 'wiped out'). Compare the wording of what Ahmadinejad supposedly said on the CNN and BBC websites:

• CNN: “Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out.” “Wiping a country out” has the connotation of driving its people in the sea or to the gas chambers.
  

• BBC: “Just as the USSR disappeared, soon the Zionist regime will disappear.” The Soviet regime indeed disappeared, but Russia didn't, nor did its inhabitants.
  

The fact that Ahmadinejad embraces ultra-orthodox Jews proves that he is not a Jew hater like Hitler or ex-Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who was also present at the conference. While the Iranian president sat next to the ultra-orthodox Jews of Neturei Karta and Jews Against Zionism, Duke sought the company of other Holocaust deniers.

The Holocaust of the Jews is used by the Zionists to justify another Holocaust, the Holocaust of the Palestinians. While the denial of the historical fact of the Holocaust of the Jews is a crime, Western leaders turn a blind eye to the ongoing Holocaust of the Palestinians.

Tony Blair called the conference “shocking beyond belief”. There are no reports however that anybody died as a result of the conference. What is truly “shocking beyond belief” is Bush and Blair's illegal invasion of Iraq.

There can only be peace in the Middle East after the Zionist regime of Israel “has disappeared”. 

China 5 years in the WTO

Yesterday, December 11, China marked the fifth anniversary of its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the end of a five-year transition period.

In the past five years all economic indicators showed a remarkable rise. GDP-growth, imports, exports, foreign direct investment, foreign exchange reserves and per capita income all increased substantially. GDP nearly doubled in the past five years and China became the world's fourth largest economy and third-largest trading nation. The average tariff rate has dropped from 15.3% to 9.9%.

As Cary Huang wrote in the South China Morning Post “China has gained more than it has lost and paid much less than had been feared five yeas ago”. Director Deng Hongbo of China's WTO Affairs Center commented that “no country has benefited more from WTO membership than has China” and that “WTO membership had changed China dramatically”.

But now that the transition period is over, China also faces still more pressure from its trading partners to open up even more and to make it ever easier for foreign companies to penetrate the Chinese market or to set up production facilities for export. Protectionism is rising especially in the U.S. The past five years better prepared Chinese businesses to face the global competition while it becomes more difficult to stop or reverse China's further integration into the globalized world economy.

It is time for the European Union and its member countries to grant China market economy status. 

Death without trial

“He took his crimes to the grave”, headlined The Independent. “Mort mais pas jugé” (dead but not judged) wrote France's Libération.

Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (1951~2006) started his murderous reign on another September 11, not in 2001, but in 1973. As a consequence of this September 11, 1973 more innocent people were murdered than in the later, now most famous September 11, 2001.

He overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende because it was 'Marxist' and received applause from the U.S., this champion of 'democracy'. The U.S. doesn't like democracy if it doesn't like the outcome. That's why it is boycotting the democratically elected Hamas-government in Palestine. The U.S. doesn't care about human rights if it doesn't like the victims.

The 'Angel of Death' is finally death, escaping trial. Chile never went further than putting him under a soft house arrest even though he had tortured the current Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and murdered her air force general father.

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon charged him with genocide, terrorism and torture. Pinochet didn't confine himself to ordering the torture and murder of his own people but also let his Gestapo loose on foreigners living in Chile. He was apprehended in London for 16 months, but finally released without being put on trial.

He was not well enough to stand trial, but finally sick enough to die. He called human rights “an invention of the Marxists”. Try to tell that to the Chinese who are accused daily of violating human rights by the U.S. and its allies. They would certainly not invent a stick to be beaten with.

Family and friends of Pinochet's victims are rejoicing all over the world that the torturer is finally dead, but sad that it took so long. Finally he did not die convicted, but he died in disgrace.

And in London an Iron Lady is crying crocodile tears. Baroness Margaret Thatcher is said to be “greatly saddened” by the death of her buddy, who offered vital support in Britain's colonial Falklands War in 1982. 

Red light parade

Today is International Human Rights Day. The focus this year is 'Fighting Poverty: a matter of obligation, not charity'. I will return to this topic in the coming days. But for now let's examine another case of infringement of human rights.

Police in Shenzhen paraded about 100 prostitutes and their clients through the streets of the booming city, using loudspeakers to read out their names and alleged misdeeds. It reminded people of practices used during the Cultural Revolution (The Washington Post: Public Shaming of Prostitutes Misfires in China).

The Post's Edward Cody moreover notes that “many Chinese view the human rights situation as such an improvement over times past that they would rather emphasize how far they have come than how far they have to go”.

“Twenty years ago, this kind of parade would have been greeted with unanimous applause. But now it gets more criticism than support because more people realize their rights should be protected,” he quotes sociologist Kang Xiaoguang of the Rural Development Institute as saying.

The spectacle took place on November 29 but has since been severely criticized by Netizens and even by the Ministry of Public Security. Shanghai lawyer Yao Jianguo said the Shenzhen parade was illegal under current laws. The All-China Women's Federation complained that the parade was an insult to the image of Chinese women.

Chairman Mao eradicated prostitution in one swoop in 1950. Maybe the oldest profession in the world will no longer exist in a socialist society. But in a market economy it is impossible to stamp it out. Target the criminals behind the girls, who earn the most from the trade, legalize acceptable behavior of suppliers and clients. And make the police think twice about organizing red light parades. 

A labor of spin

Yesterday Chairman Serge Janssens of the European Chamber of Commerce in China called a press conference in the Kempinksi Hotel in Beijing, prior to organizing a glittering Charity Dinner where a seat at the dinner table set you back 850 to 950 yuan (92 euro or 121 dollars). Sure, proceeds will go to a good cause, but it's also another occasion for the rich to wallow in luxury. Wearers of jeans and sneakers will be stopped at the door.

The Chairman didn't show up at the press conference and no apology or explanation was offered for his absence. And so it fell to Secretary General Giorgio Magistrelli to explain to the 10-odd journalists that the chamber was fully supportive of Chinese lawmakers' efforts to draw up a new Labor Contract Law. The Chamber also advised the Chinese government to better implement its existing laws.

That's it. Finito. Spin spin spin...

The Labor Contract Law has not been finalized yet, so nobody knows what the final text will say. But some commentators had suggested that the European Chamber was not happy with the way things were turning out because better labor protection would endanger the competitiveness of companies producing in China.

Magistrelli wanted to set the record straight. European companies are supportive of the new contract law, they are not in China because of the cheap labor, but because of the market, he lectured.

Well now, that is at the very least only partially true. The Chinese government is trying to ban Dickensian child labor, infringements on work safety rules, withholding of payment of salaries and other unlawful practices. Most European companies operating in China are indeed not guilty of those practices, which may be found at some local companies or companies with Taiwanese, Hong Kong, overseas Chinese or South Korean investment.

But going so far as to say that European companies don't really care about there competitiveness in China because they are in it for the market is spin that nobody is going to believe.

Inviting foreign correspondents to a press conference to only spin the spin is disingenuous. 

Zionist hypocrisy

Now even the incoming U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has conceded that Israel has nuclear weapons, a revelation for which whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu had to spend 18 years in jail and is even now prohibited form leaving the Zionist state.

"Israel won't say, or not say, whether we have nuclear weapons. It suffices that one fears that we have them,” declared Israeli deputy prime minister Shimon Peres (Aljazeera: Israel to keep nuclear silence). The Zionists live by the mushroom cloud and the spreading of fear.

By not declaring to possess nuclear weapons, Israel can benefit from more than 2 billion dollars a year in aid from Washington.

Hypocrisy, lies and slander are their bread and butter of the Zionists. Another lie is to equate the existence of Israel with the existence of the Jewish people. Anybody opposing Israel can thereby be accused of antisemitism and anti-Jewish racism.

“There is an axis of evil that threatens the very existence of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas,” writes member of the Knesset Benyamin Elon on Ynet News (Time to fight back).

Nobody threatens the existence of the Jewish people. Not Ahmadinejad. Not Assad. Not Nasrallah. Not Meshaal. Perhaps some Nazi remnants would like to, but they will be opposed and defeated by all people, including Muslims.

First of all, only 5 to 6 million Jews live in Israel, a minority of the Jews in the world. So how can you say Israel = the Jewish people.

Second, not all the Jews support Israel. In fact, the most Orthodox Jews, those who follow their holy book, the Torah, are as opposed to Israel as President Ahmadinejad is. They even visited Teheran and were cordially received by an Iranian vice-president (see the website of Neturei Karta). Proof enough that Rabbi's and Rebbe's, Hotjatolislams and Ayatollahs can live together in peace. But you will never find this news in the mainstream media, because the Zionists won't allow it. 

“Grave and deteriorating”

The Iraq Study Group made its report public today. It is not worth the scrap paper it is printed on. The only thing on the minds of the members of the commission is how to get the U.S. out of the shit. They don't give a damn about the Iraqi people who find themselves in a living hell created by the Devil and His Poodle, war criminals Bush and Blair.

It is not going to give back a decent and peaceful life to the Iraqi people and it isn't even going to get the U.S. out of the shit. Because it doesn't recommend immediate and unconditional withdrawal of U.S. forces. And Bush is not going to implement it anyway... He already rejected one of the key recommendations, to hold direct talks with Iran and Syria.

The report recognizes that Iraq is in a mess. Do we need a commission to know that? And the two B's remain in denial.

A useful recommendation would have been to arrest Bush and Blair and fly them under armed guard to the International Court in The Hague to be prosecuted for the crime of aggression, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“Nice words that had no effect," was the comment of a Sunni Arab employee of Iraq's Industry Ministry on similar reports written in the past (CNN: Iraq Study Group report gets cool reception among Iraqis)

And Bush will start to blame it all on the Iraqis, ungrateful for being 'liberated'... He is still waiting for other reports, from the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council. More stupid words to hide behind and continue the slaughter of innocent Iraqis.

One of the commission's major recommendations is training and equipping more Iraqi security forces. That's exactly the same recommendation which was implemented after the U.S. military got stuck in the Vietnam War. When if finally realized it could not win the war, the U.S. government withdrew combat troops, increased the number of military advisers and beefed up the training of South Vietnam's forces. The end came in April 1975 when the last American diplomats fled by helicopter from the roof of their embassy in Saigon.

The same is bound to happen in Baghdad. The situation is indeed "grave and deteriorating". Just wait and see. 

Blair's WMD

Britain's PM Tony Blair joined His Master George W. Bush in an illegal and criminal invasion of Iraq because Saddam was supposedly building weapons of mass destruction and helping terrorists. No WMD were found and there are many more 'terrorists' in Iraq now than under the rule of Saddam.

Again together with Bush, he is lambasting North Korea because it tested an atom bomb and Iran because in his distorted view he thinks it is also building the bomb. Neither of those two countries has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. North Korea has left the NPT according to its provisions and Iran is not violating it.

And guess what? Blair has just decided to violate the NPT, deciding to build a new generation of nuclear ballistic-missile submarines at a cost of at least £20 billion.

This is a blatant violation of the treaty. Signatories have committed themselves to gradually diminish the number of their nuclear weapons. Cutting the nuclear submarine fleet from four to three and reducing the number of operational nuclear warheads by a fifth to about 160 cannot be called disarmament when the U.K. is also designing more powerful nuclear weapons.

Britain's nuclear defense consists of Trident missiles carried aboard four Vanguard-class nuclear-powered submarines. The missiles are leased from the U.S. at an exorbitant price and London has to ask the U.S. for permission if it wants to use them. Britain owns its 200 atomic bombs but cannot use them without Washington's go-ahead.

The U.S. has around 11,000 nuclear weapons, enough to destroy the whole world many times over. It doesn't need the British ones, and Britain itself cannot used them without U.S. consent.

Perhaps Saddam should raise an army to invade Britain and help rid the world of Britain's WMDs. Of course, he can't and he won't. So all peace-loving people in the world should join together to stop warmongers from building even more powerful nuclear weapons. As European citizens, let's start making Europe free of nuclear weapons. That will set an example, giving us the moral high ground to take on the U.S.

The Pope is a dictator

The Vatican is all up in arms because a bishop was ordained in China without papal approval. It urged that there be no more 'illicit' ordinations.

Ye Xiaowen, Director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs and officials from the Communist Party's United Front Department attended the mass to ordinate Wang Renlei as coadjutor bishop of Xuzhou in Jiangsu province. This is an indication that the central government recognizes the ordination. It is the third episcopal ordination in China this year the Vatican considers to be 'illicit', because the Pope didn't give his prior approval.

Bishop Zhao Fengchang, who celebrated of the mass, and bishop Wang, both face excommunication by dictator Benedict.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry urged the Vatican to view the ordination in a positively light and warned against interference in China's internal affairs.

While everybody is talking about promoting democracy, the Pope is acting like a dictator. Where is the proof that 'God' gave him the right to decide about bishop's ordinations all over the world?

Three religions believe in the existence of one God: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Shia Grand Ayatollahs, Sunni Great Muftis and Orthodox Rabbis are only benevolent guides, they do not claim to be infallible dictators like the popes. The Protestants among the Christians also do not recognize a supreme representative of God on earth.

Which leaves us with dictator Benedict XVI. If God does exist, and if He recognizes the Pope as his earthly diplomat, and as the Chinese patriotic church disobeys the Pope, and as God is supposedly almighty, then why does he not strike down those blasphemous 'illicitly ordained' bishops with a bold strike of thunder and lightning? He is doing nothing of the sort, which only proves the Pope is acting as a petty dictator. Or perhaps proves that at least the God of Catholicism doesn't exist...

Shi'a muslims may follow the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani or Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani, or Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, or Grand Ayatollah Yusef Saanei or Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi or Grand Ayatollah Sayeed Hassan Fadlallah. Or who knows how many others. Our Iranian brothers and sisters have the freedom to choose whom to follow in their quest for God. Catholics have only the freedom to submit to the whims of a dictator.

The Chinese Patriotic Church is right to resist the dictatorship of Benedict XVI. Amen. 

V for Chavez, D for Devil

Democracy has taken its course in Venezuela. President Hugo Chavez has won his re-election with a big margin of 61% to 38% for his right-wing challenger. Compare this to the elections George W. Bush supposedly won. In the first one against Al Gore, he actually lost the popular vote, only stealing victory by recounting hanging chads. In the second against John Kerry, he won with such a slim margin their should have been a run-off with only two candidates. And if Bush could run for re-election in 2007, he would surely loose. The Venezuelans want more of Chavez, the Americans want to get rid of Bush, the sooner the better.

The U.S. administration, which has been touting democracy everywhere it thought the outcome would be to its liking, will not be happy with the Venezuelan people's choice. Chavez called Bush 'the Devil' and the people have re-elected him. It's another defeat for 'the Devil' who has turned Iraq into a living hell. Such a hell in fact, that he doesn't even dare to set foot again in Baghdad, even with an infantry division, a planeload of Secret Service agents and F16s for air cover.

Also elsewhere in Latin America, the reign of American- supported dictators and henchmen is coming to an end. The 'angel of death' Augusto Pinochet and Comandante Fidel Castro are both close to death. The first is despised all over the world, ending his days under house arrest. The second will see with satisfaction that new governments in Latin America are coloring the continent red.

“It's another defeat for the devil, who tries to dominate the world,” Chavez told the Venezuelan people. “Down with imperialism! We need a new world!” 

Viva Fidel!

Comandante en Jefe Dr Fidel Castro didn't turn up yesterday in Havana for the 50th anniversary of his return to Cuba from exile in Mexico aboard the legendary Granma. Due to his illness, his 80th anniversary celebrations were postponed from August to the first week of December. But unfortunately, he didn't make it. The state of his health is a state secret, but his no-show yesterday points to serious problems.

He came to power when Eisenhower was president in the U.S. and could perhaps leave this world when the worst president the U.S. has ever known is spending his last days in the White House. From a collection of fascist dictatorships with just one red Cuban outpost, the whole of Latin America is slowly turning red. Three of Castor's friends rule in their countries: Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia and in Nicaragua Daniel Ortega will soon take over. And leftist economist Rafael Correa has been elected president in Ecuador.

Cuba has a good basic education system and health care, but its economic development has lagged behind. A major cause is the blockade by the U.S. and its allies which makes it difficult for Cuba to further integrate in the world economy and develop its foreign trade. This may change with the Red Tide washing over Latin America...

Patria O Muerte! Venceremos! Viva Cuba socialista! 

“In the name of God”

The Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written an open letter to the American people. Like his previous letter to Bush, it was dismissed by the White House as not worth commenting on. That's because Ahmadinejad is telling the truth.

Let's quote a few passages and see who is right or wrong, A. (Ahmadinejad) or B. (Bush)?

1.“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. O, Almighty God, bestow upon humanity the perfect human being promised to all by You, and make us among his followers.”

• Pretending to speak in the name of God doesn't sound good to an atheist, but many heads of state and politicians are invoking God, including Bush. A=0; B=0.
  

2.“Persistent aggressions by the Zionists are making life more and more difficult for the rightful owners of the land of Palestine. In broad day-light, in front of cameras and before the eyes of the world, they are bombarding innocent defenseless civilians, bulldozing houses, firing machine guns at students in the streets and alleys, and subjecting their families to endless grief.”

• A. is right to support the Palestinian resistance against Zionist aggression, while B. supports Israel all the way. A=1; B=0.
  

3.“You have heard that the US administration is kidnapping its presumed opponents from across the globe and arbitrarily holding them without trial or any international supervision in horrendous prisons that it has established in various parts of the world.”

• While Iran has also been accused of kidnapping (and even murdering) its own dissidents, this cannot compare with what the U.S. administration has been doing since September 11, 2001. It has kidnapped and tortured hundreds of innocent foreigners who did not receive a trial at all. A=1; B=0.
  

4.“The legitimacy, power and influence of a government do not emanate from its arsenals of tanks, fighter aircrafts, missiles or nuclear weapons. Legitimacy and influence reside in sound logic, quest for justice and compassion and empathy for all humanity.”

• Iran does not use its military to impose its will on other countries. The U.S. does. A=1; B=0.
  

5.“Is it not possible to put wealth and power in the service of peace, stability, prosperity and the happiness of all peoples through a commitment to justice and respect for the rights of all nations, instead of aggression and war?”

• Iran has not invaded any other country, it has itself been the victim of aggression. The U.S. has committed many acts of aggression against other countries. A=1; B=0.
  

6.“We all condemn terrorism, because its victims are the innocent. But, can terrorism be contained and eradicated through war, destruction and the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocents?”

• No, terrorism cannot be eradicated through war. It will cease to exist when desperate people no longer see it as a means to fight imperialism, that is when imperialism ceases to exist. Therefore, if you want to prevent terrorism, fight imperialism. A=1, B=0.
  

That's 5 points for A. and 0 for B. Congratulations, George W.!

Dirty Windows

Windows Vista went on sale yesterday, ... in bulk for businesses. Ordinary people like you and me have to wait till January 30. Why is that?

And why did it take the largest software company in the world five years to come up with something new? And what makes Vista so blisteringly great people should fork out hard earned money to make the richest man in the world even richer? Why would companies risk mayhem by upgrading to the latest ugly duck from Redmond?

Anything Vista can do, hundreds of Linux distro's can also do. Not by running to the store and opening your wallet, but by a few clicks of the mouse. I have said it before, Windows is the black Ford-T, Linux is the colorful rainbow. I am using Linspire 5-0 right now, but am considering to give Mandriva 2007 a spin. And Fedora Core 6 perhaps. OpenSuse ruled itself out since Novell made a dirty deal with the Microsoft Devil.

Anyone running to kiss Gates' ass must be mad. What's so special about Vista? Give Linux a try! Linspire, Freespire, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Elive (from Belgium), Nonux (from Holland), Xandros, Fedora, Mepis, PCLinuxOS, Knoppix, CentOS, Kanotix, Red Hat, Turbolinux, Red Flag, 64Studio and more than 500 other Linux distributions to choose from, to experiment with! And most of them are free! And those who charge you money such as Linspire, Xandros and Mandriva offer a much better deal than the Microsoft cheaters.

There are two devils in the U.S. One on the West coast and one on the East coast. Dump them both. Impeach Bush, impeach Gates!

And if you don't break your windows, at least give them a cleaning. Go Linux!