Welcome Angelica!

The Belgian police and the Foreigners' Affairs Service (DVZ) tried to repatriate Ana Cajamarca and her 11-year old daughter Angelica because they were staying in the country illegally. Ecuadoran Ana arrived with her husband on a tourist visa and stayed on, already for four years. The parents of Angelica are now separated and each has a new partner, both having the Belgian nationality.

Ana is not a political refugee, she was fleeing poverty in her Ecuadoran homeland, hoping to give chances for a better life to her daughter. After a complaint to the police that “foreigners” were walking down the street, mother and daughter were picked up and immediately incarcerated in a closed center for illegal immigrants, 127bis in Steenokkerzeel, close to Brussels airport. The Belgian authorities are locking up children behind bars because their parents don't have the right papers in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. When police tried to transfer Ana and Angelica first to Brussels Airport and subsequently by car to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, they handcuffed Ana and brutally threw Angelica back into a car when they tried to escape. A doctor certified Ana's injuries.

At the eleventh hour a judge decided that both should be released immediately, to the utter frustration of the police and the fascist administrators of the Foreigners' Affairs Service. The police convoy on the way to Amsterdam had to turn back, while minister of the interior Patrick Dewael tried to subvert justice and convince the convoy's commander to continue to Schiphol.

Dewael and minister of Foreign Affairs De Gucht are liberal party members, trumpeting at each opportunity the freedom of the individual. But when a mother and daughter want to stay in Belgium to work hard for a better life, they condone the use of Gestapo practices to expel them. The Belgian wife of the Ecuadoran president accused the Belgian authorities of Gestapo practices. Later on, she retracted her words and De Gucht issued an indignant rebuttal and called the Ecuadoran ambassador for a dressing down.

Dewael and De Gucht are trying to wriggle themselves into the next Belgian government. They should be dismissed immediately from the current caretaker government and arrested for infringement of the human rights of innocent people, illegal detention, brutalities, lies and slander. The wantonly trampled under foot the European Convention on Human Rights and are getting away with it.

They claim to be liberals, uttering sweet words. Their deeds show they are fascists.

In the early 20th century, tens of thousands of Belgians fled poverty to the U.S. and Canada to seek a better life. Today we should welcome foreigners seeking a better life in Belgium. Abolish the borders! Welcome Ana and Angelica!

Abe's crushing defeat

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suffered a crushing defeat in upper house elections. Together with its coalition party New Komeito, the LDP only managed to grab 46 seats as it needed 64 seats to keep it majority in the House of Councillors. Half of the upper house's 242 were up fro grabs in Sunday's election. Former prime ministers who suffered similar defeats stepped down, but Abe declared that he would cling to power as his LDP still has a majority in the lower house. But his LDP colleagues will start getting nervous. They don't want to see a similar defeat at the next elections. While the Japanese parliament cannot force Shinzo Abe from power, the LDP could by choosing a new chairman.

Abe's government wanted to ramp up nationalist sentiment by embellishing Japan's past, rewriting the pacifist constitution and giving its army more leeway in missions abroad. The majority of the Japanese people don't care about this. They care about bread-and-butter topics like the economy, pensions, wages and unemployment. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) cleverly played up these themes and won big in the upper house. Now it will be able to delay or even block legislation tabled by the LDP.

Except for an 11 month intermezzo, the LDP has been continuously in power since its founding in 1955. The Japanese people want change. Shinzo Abe is paying the price. After 10 months in office, he is struggling to pass the one year mark. (The New York Times: “Governing Party in Japan Suffers Election Defeat”) (The Times: “Revenge of the middle classes sends Japan’s ruling party to historic defeat”) (The Guardian: “Japanese PM vows to stay despite poll disaster”)

Stupid fools

If you want to have a good laugh at the incredible stupid incompetence of certain journalists, or their criminal intent for that matter, you only have to turn to the pages or the website of the Washington Times. The paper's Bill Gertz is claiming that China is arming both sides in Iraq by concluding a deal with the government of Nuri al-Maliki to deliver small arms and by supplying shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, which end up in the hands of Iraqi insurgents. (The Washington Times: "China arms both sides")

Now let's see... Iran is actually supporting the current Iraqi government, because it is led by Shiites. al-Maliki has visited Tehran and met with Iranian president Ahmadinejad. So if China is indeed arming the al-Maliki government and Iran, it is supporting one side only, unless the Washington Post can prove that China is also arming the Sunni insurgents. Ah yes, but it does, says Gertz... because the insurgents are capturing arms from the Iraqi government. That's a pretty piece of mind boggling logic. The insurgents are no doubt also capturing weapons from the American occupiers, which by the same logic proves that Bush is arming the insurgents fighting “America's glorious men and women in uniform put in harm's way”.

An anonymous American official ads that “the Iraqi government needs to better understand that the U.S. military is fighting and dying to give their nation the opportunity for a free and open society and government,” and therefore shouldn't buy arms from China. Yeah right, the 650,000 Iraqis murdered as a result of the American occupation will not have the privilege to enjoy this “free and open society” which 2 million other Iraqis have fled and where you are more likely to encounter a suicide bomber at the next street corner than return safely home.

Richard Fisher, a China specialist with the International Assessment and Strategy Center added that “from oil deals now to arms deals, we are allowing China to benefit from the stability earned with American blood.” Which idiot could be brain-damaged enough to mention Iraq and stability in the same sentence, let alone stability earned with American blood? The American military is doing nothing but creating instability, chaos and carnage all over the world.

For good measure, Bill Gertz adds that the United States will need its nuclear weapons for the foreseeable future. He quotes Steve Henry, assistant secretary of defense for nuclear matters as saying that “China is building new strategic nuclear forces and the buildup cannot be ignored.” Of course, a statement without any proof to back it up. China has a small nuclear deterrent force sufficient to retaliate, but is certainly not expanding it. Moreover, China is the only nuclear power which has solemnly declared that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons and will never use them against non-nuclear states.

The propaganda machine of the Washington Times is continuously churning out lies, nonsense and incitement to war crimes. Press freedom should be as extensive as possible, but the Washington Times is crossing a red line.

The new empire

Michael Gorbachev presided over the demise of one empire – the former Soviet Union – and is now lamenting the rise of another – the new American empire. The United States is “sowing disorder across the world by seeking to build an empire,” he said. “World leadership by a single power, and what followed? What has followed are unilateral actions, what has followed are wars, what has followed is ignoring the U.N. Security Council, ignoring international law and ignoring the will of the people, even the American people. It is a massive strategic mistake: no single center can command the entire world, no one. Current America has made so many mistakes.” (Reuters: "Russia's Gorbachev says U.S. is sowing world disorder")

Ah yes, Gorbachev seems to have second thoughts on breaking up the Soviet Union and ending up with the American empire ruling the world. Gorbachev, who is deeply unpopular in Russia, now also risks to lose his credibility with his American friends. Although what he is saying now is right, it is too little too late. To his eternal shame, he left the world in the grip of the American empire. Destroying Soviet social imperialism was the right thing to do. But Gorbachev could have steered the Soviet Union back on the path of Marxist development instead of leaving the fate of Russia in the hand of a capitalist drunkard like Yeltsin.

Now, Gorbachev can lament as much as he likes. He had the power to destroy the Soviet empire, but he lacks the power to destroy the American empire. He is just shouting in the desert.

Chen in deep trouble

It doesn't look good for ex-comrade Chen Liangyu, former politburo member and Shanghai party secretary. Yesterday he was formally kicked out of the party. He's no longer Mr secretary, not even a comrade anymore, just a commoner standing accused of an impressive list of crimes. (China Daily: “Former Shanghai Party chief sacked from CPC, gov't posts”)

Chen funneled money from Shanghai's social security fund into private investment projects; used his authority to approve projects and investments – at a price; let his family members profit handsomely from his corrupt practices, while at the same time courting up to 11 mistresses. Ex-comrade Chen truly had a busy life. A life that is now in mortal danger.

His trial will no doubt be held in the coming months, certainly before the 17th party congress is convened in October. The crimes of which he stands accused certainly merit the death penalty, but it would be very unusual if it would be carried out on a former politburo member. Still, his former politburo colleagues might see the need of setting an example – killing the chicken to scare the monkeys – to show that anybody, never mind how high up in the hierarchy, will be prosecuted if found guilty of corruption. As general secretary Hu Jintao has said on many occasions, the fight against corruption is a life and death struggle for the party. It's also a life and death struggle for those convicted of corruption. The next months will show whether Chen Liangyu will win his last struggle to spend the rest of his life in prison and later on under house arrest or if he will get the ultimate corruption award: the executioner's bullet.

The end of the Tour

The cycling race “Tour de France” is becoming a complete mockery. All the cyclists know that taking forbidden substances is not allowed. But in quick succession Vinokourov, Moreni and even the yellow jersey Michael Rasmussen have been caught. The French press has declared the Tour to be death. France Soir and Libération have stopped covering the Tour and are not publishing race results anymore.

The basic flaw is not really medical, but rather commercial. Too much money is involved. The Flemish city of Gent paid a huge amount just to host the finish of one race. Sponsors are spending millions, increasing the pressure on their team to win. The race is becoming ever more difficult. Taking forbidden substances or blood transfusions becomes very attractive. Some are calling for a legalization of doping, but that would open the door to even more hanky-panky. If you allow doping it is the health of the cyclists which will be endangered.

The answer is to keep the aggressive anti-doping tests to screen out the cheaters on the one hand, and reduce the money element on the other hand. Throw out the advertising on the cyclists shirts. If companies want to sponsor, the can sponsor the Tour, not individual teams. With less commercial pressure to win at all costs, taking forbidden substances will lose its attractiveness.

China and terror

Economics professor M. Shahid Alam of Northeastern University draws an interesting parallel between Chinese resistance during the Second Opium War and modern-day Islamic “terrorists”. His historical point of reference is an article written by Friedrich Engels, co-author with Karl Marx of the Communist Manifesto. (Counterpunch: “Islam Now, China Then”)

Muslims are accused of insanity, brutal indiscriminate violence and suicide attacks against innocent civilians. Well, argues Alam, “a little history is connecting Islam today to China in the middle of the nineteenth century”. In May 1857 during the Second Opium War, Engels had an article published in the New York Daily Tribune. The Chinese, he describes, were fighting back with every possible means at their disposal against the colonial invaders, poisoning the bread of Europeans in Hong Kong, massacring crews and passengers on trading vessels, coolies fighting till the end in a show of “fanaticism”.

“European statesmen and newspapers fulminated endlessly about Chinese barbarity, calling their attacks “cowardly, barbarous, atrocious”. The Europeans too called for more wars, endless wars, till China could be subdued, totally.” Engels quickly unearthed the root cause of this barbarism: the source of this “universal outbreak of all Chinese against all foreigners was the piratical policy of the British government.” The Chinese could not match the military power of the Western countries, so they used asymmetrical warfare, targeting the West's weak points – just like today's Islamic “terrorists” are doing. The Muslims are also waging a popular war “for dignity and sovereignty”. Ultimately the West didn't succeed in splintering China into a hundred fiefdoms. Today, China is a peaceful, rising power. The West today is indeed still succeeding in splintering the Muslim world into a hundred fiefdoms – and the Muslim peoples are fighting back, with everything they have, including terror.

How to win the war on terror? Eliminate the root cause: the foreign policy of American imperialism and its followers.

Shahid Alam has also published a new book: “Challenging the New Orientalism: Dissenting Essays on the "War Against Islam".

The way ahead

In the run up to the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress in October, reformers and orthodox communists are trying to influence the leadership. The website Maoflag has become a gathering place for those who argue that China has become too capitalistic. The website published an open letter to the leadership, but this was quickly removed. A certain level of debate is tolerated, but open defiance of the policies of the Central Committee is still touchy.

On the other side of the political divide are the reformers, who argue that political reform is going too slowly and China should speed up the introduction of direct elections.

The debate is becoming much more lively thanks to the internet. In the past it would have been nearly impossible to have such a wide range of opinions published. Readers online can moreover add their comments to the stories. While websites are also monitored, what is tolerated on the web is much broader than what is tolerated online.

In the months ahead, the debate will certainly intensify. But the central leadership will no doubt stick to the middle ground: no return to communist orthodoxy, but also no far-reaching political reforms.

Singing PM-to-be

Yves Leterme has been minister-president of Flanders. But as the June general election approached, he wanted to play ball on the federal level. He resigned as minister-president, ran a campaign with promises of more powers for Flanders, garnered 800,000 votes behind his name and became Belgium's prime minister to be.

Yves Leterme wanted to switch from the Flemish regional level to the Belgian federal level, because – so he said – more powers have to be transferred from the federal to the regional level in order for Flanders to be able to conduct good governance. In the meantime, he compiled a dossier that will serve as the basis for discussions to form a new government. Whether he will be able to transfer more powers to Flanders remains to be seen as all French-speaking parties are against such a policy.

For Leterme the switch to the federal level didn't go very smooth when on Belgium's national day he couldn't recall the event in the past that is remembered on July 21 (the coronation of Belgium's first king Leopold I). That's not really a shame, most people don't know. But a future prime minister should presumably be able to sing the country's national anthem. Leterme blundered by singing the first part of the Marseillaise instead of the Brabanconne. Belgium once again was the laughing stock in the foreign press.

Belgium is more and more becoming a fiction. People identify themselves with Flanders, Brussels or Wallonia. Who needs a Belgian national anthem?

Blundering spies

Ever since the end of the Second World War, the C.I.A. has been considered to be the ultimate spy agency, together perhaps with the Mossad. The James Bond's of the C.I.A. were professional spies, turning up all sorts of secrets all over the world. In “Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA”, Tim Weiner thoroughly debunks this myth. In 1971, Henry Kissinger told Zhou Enlai that the competence of the CIA was being vastly overestimated. Evan Thomas sums it all up in this book review. Here is another one by Michael Beschloss, both published in the New York Times.

The C.I.A.'s spies were picked up by the dozen in the Soviet Union and China. The agency did not foresee the explosion of the Soviet atom bomb, the Korean War, uprisings in Eastern Europe, the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba, the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait or India's nuclear bomb explosion. Even its successes turned out to be failures. In 1963, the C.I.A. backed a coup in Iraq: it ultimately brought Saddam Hussein to power.

The C.I.A.'s analysis is fatally flawed by a lack of agents speaking foreign languages and understanding the history and culture of their target countries. This is even more so for those agents who try to directly meddle in the affairs of other countries. When the Berlin Wall fell, the leader of the C.I.A.'s Soviet division watched CNN...

For those who oppose U.S. imperialism, it's good to know that the C.I.A. is just a bunch of idiots. As Thomas notes, Weiner “paints what may be the most disturbing picture of C.I.A. ineptitude.” It may take some time, but ultimately, the truth surfaces.

Potter-mania

Today, the final book of the Harry Potter series goes on sale all over the world, with long cues at midnight for bookstores to open. This mania is a bit over the top. Those Potter fans can't even wait till the morning to rush to the bookstore. Most of them will only read the first chapter during the night. The rest and the final episode will have to wait for tomorrow anyway.

The Potter books are fiction and fiction has its place in literature. But this good-versus-evil, us-versus-them paradigm is not very appropriate. Bush will like it of course: playing the role of Harry Potter against the Voldemort terrorists. The real world is a bit more complicated. Underlying causes need to be analyzed. Some good guys are using bad methods to wage their struggle. One's good guy is another one's bad guy. Who is good and who is bad? And all the shades of gray in between?

The real world is much more complicated than a mere fantasy. But it can be equally, if not more, fascinating. I can't bring myself to read the Potter books. Time is a valuable commodity. There are only 24 hours in a day. Better don't spend them in a fantasy world.

Blistering growth

The Chinese economy grew 11.5% in the first half of the year. Inflation is also on the rise, with the CPI going up 4.4% in June, a 28-month high. Consumption is rising and fixed-asset investment slowing down a bit, but investment and exports are still the main drivers of economic growth. The central bank is raising interest rates, lowering taxes on interest income and increasing the banks' reserve ratio to reign in excessive lending. The central government is aware of the problem and trying by all means to do something about it. There is now even talk of taxing exports.

The bottom line is, however, that each and every local government or party leader wants the economy in his locality to grow as fast as possible, because high growth means prosperity. Cooling down measures are meant for somebody else. If this mindset doesn't change, the blistering growth will continue.

The problem with high growth Chinese style is that energy is wasted and the environment suffers. While double-digit growth rates seem to be sustainable, the underlying growth is not. Until other goals besides GDP-growth are deemed equally or even more important, the blistering growth will continue. But someday, the laws of capitalism will take their toll. The ghost of overproduction is rearing its head. When it does, the leaders will perhaps rediscover Marx.

Rebel soldier

Saturday, Pottermania will break out again all over the world. There's nothing wrong with escaping into a fantasy world from time to time, but basically it's a waste of time. There are so many things to learn about the real world. Moreover, they can also be a page-turner. Pick up “Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejía” and it will be difficult to put the book down before turning the last page.

A good book review is “From Foot Soldier of Empire to Rebel for Peace – Camilo Mejía's War”.

Camilo Mejía was born into a Nicaraguan Sandinista family and ended up in Miami, struggling to juggle attending college and working odd jobs to pay for it. Like so many other young men and women, he was tempted to sign up for the army, lured by promises of scholarships to put him through college, earn a decent degree and start a career. Camilo ended up in the Florida National Guard, but as a non-citizen, he could not serve more than 8 years in the U.S. military. Never mind, the army broke its own rules. Camilo's contract was supposed to end in May 2003, but in January 2003 it was illegally extended through a “stop-loss order” till... 2031. Worse was still to come: Camilo ended up in Iraq, in Ar Ramadi in the center of the Sunni triangle.

He tried to be a good soldier, but the brutality and racism of his fellow soldiers, the immorality of his superiors who send them into battle with the only aim of earning medals for themselves, the illegal detention camps where Iraqi prisoners were humiliated, the deliberate murder of Iraqi civilians ... all this made Camilo turn into a rebel soldier. He applied for a two-week leave to the U.S. never to return to Iraq. After staying AWOL for five months, he surrendered to the military to avoid charges of desertion, but was still court-martialed and sentenced to nine months in prison.

Camilo Mejía was illegally retained in the army, fought for justice and was thrown into prison, while the war criminals Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Powell and Rice go unpunished. American injustice for all to see.

Slave owners get away

Some of the bosses responsible for keeping children and adults in slave-like conditions, locked-up, deprived of adequate food and made to work without pay, have been sentenced. (China Daily: “One gets death in kiln slavery scandal”)

But it is surprising that only one man got the death penalty, because he killed one of the workers. So he was convicted for murder. All the others, including the owner of one of the kilns, got lighter sentences. Boss Wang Bingbing only got nine years in prison. It is practically a license to continue the practice of slavery! How is this possible? The local judges were probably also involved in the slave trade and wanted to shield their fellow criminals. In such a high profile case, the criminals should be brought to Beijing and tried by a special court. If they get tried in the locality where they perpetrated their crimes, corrupt judges will make sure they get off lightly. Even some Chinese law experts say the punishments were “lenient”. Not only the slavery scandal itself is a blot on socialist China, as Shanxi Provincial Court vice president Liu Jimin said, the lenient punishment is even a larger blot.

33 officials have been removed from their government or party posts and 62 received disciplinary warnings. They shielded slavery through corruption or dereliction of duty and got off lightly. The Shanxi party and government leadership itself should take the blame. Far from promoting socialist production, they condoned slavery. There are reports that several, perhaps tens or hundreds of slavery kilns are still in business and thousands of people – including children – are still treated as slaves. Protected by corrupt officials and the police. The central government should sent in elite troops to break up this mess, instead of relying on local cadres.

The rule of law doesn't work in China because the judiciary system is corrupt and rotten to the core, to such an extent that in a so-called “communist” country, slave owners are barely punished. Imagine what Chairman Mao's Revolutionary Red Guards would have done with the slave owners.

North Korean shut-down

North Korea has shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon after having received the first shipment of 6,200 tons of fuel oil. Inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have verified the shut-down and installed monitoring equipment to ensure that the reactor is not being restarted. (The Guardian: “Nuclear distraction”), (The New York Times: “Inspectors Check North Korean Nuclear Reactor”), (The Independent: “A better way to defuse Pyongyang's nuclear bomb”)

I have always argued that North Korea has the right to develop nuclear weapons as long as those nations which already possess nuclear weapons do nothing to reduce and finally eliminate their arsenals. But it is not because you have a right to do something, that you also have to do it. The shutdown of the Yongbyon reactor is a welcome development. But it is of course only the beginning and not the end of the process. Will North Korea declare its (perhaps non-existent) uranium enrichment program? Will it give up the atom bombs it has already developed.

Some say the reactor shut-down is a success for the Bush diplomacy. Nothing is further from the truth. Clinton was already negotiating with the North Koreans and even contemplating a visit just before he stepped down as president. The problem could have been solved years ago, without the North Koreans developing nuclear weapons. And even if Kim Jong-il turns out to be willing to give up his nukes, he will surely exact a high price.

The only thing you can say is that in this case Bush did not try to solve the problem by going to war. The reason is he couldn't because of the vicinity of China. He was forced by the circumstances to use diplomacy, not because he choose to do so. In the end, a peace treaty will have to be signed to formally end the Korean War. The American president will have to shake hands with the North Korean chairman. That at least is a duty Bush will be happy to leave to his successor.

The Iran War

One would assume that two disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are more than enough even for a supreme imperialist power like the U.S. The costs of the two wars are escalating and the troops are stretched to the limit. Rotations are postponed, tours of duties extended, National Guard troops unavailable for crises at home. No exactly a situation conducive to launching another war.

And still... Dick Cheney is pushing Bush to act on Iran, because “he is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo.” (The Guardian: "Cheney pushes Bush to act on Iran")

Few really believe that the U.S. will start bombing Iran and send in ground forces. No sane person would even contemplate it. The more so because it is completely unnecessary. As far as anyone knows, Iran is not developing a nuclear bomb, but even if it was, it would still take several years and on top of that why would Israel, Pakistan and India be allowed to have nuclear weapons, but not Iran.

There really is no justification whatsoever for whatever military action against Iran. And still, Cheney is pushing, because leaving this task to the next president may spoil the opportunity. There are already two aircraft carrier groups and almost half of the U.S.'s 277 warships in the vicinity of Iran, ready to strike. Tellingly, Israel has offered the Jews living in Iran from 5,000 pounds for an person to 30,000 pounds for a family to relocate to Israel. (The Guardian: "Iran's Jews reject cash offer to move to Israel") Better get the Jews out first before the bombing starts. Unfortunately for the Zionists, the Society of Iranian Jews declared that “the identity of Iranian Jews is not tradeable for any amount of money”. They prefer to continue to live in the Islamic Republic – and run the risk of being bombed – rather than relocate to the Jewish state, which once again proves that not every Jew is a Zionist.

I believe the U.S. will sooner rather than later attack Iran. One has to be fully aware of the possibility in order to better fight to try to prevent it. But if the Iran War does take place, it will probably ring in the final demise of American imperialism.

Bush... a winner???

Anybody writing an opinion piece entitled “Why Bush Will Be A Winner” (Washington Post) must be insane or have criminal intentions. William Kristol is probably insane and has criminal intentions. What are his arguments for calling Bush a winner?

Kristol praises Bush because there has not been a second terrorist attack on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001. This “achievement” is build on quicksand, it can vanish any day.

Second, Kristol claims the economy is strong. Not so. The U.S. government is paying itself to death financing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. America only survives on borrowed money.

Third, argues Kristol, on the war in Iraq “we now seem to be on course to a successful outcome”. Where he gets that idea? Shouldn't he be listening to the men and women in uniform with their boots on the ground in Iraq? They could tell him a different story. And the war in Afghanistan “going reasonably well”? Well, the output of opium is rising and the number of suicide bombings is increasing. And of course Kristol once again claims Saddam Hussein had connections with al-Qaeda. The truth is al-Qaeda couldn't get a foothold in Iraq under Saddam, while today Iraq is its main recruiting and training base.

Some people even forget their own words. In April 2003, Kristol wrote: “The battles of Afghanistan and Iraq have been won decisively.” Today, the first is “going reasonably well” and as to the second “we now seem to be on course to a successful outcome”. What happened to those decisive victories?

Some people will always refuse to see the truth. Nobody should believe them. And a newspaper like the Washington Post shouldn't print such nonsense.

Kristol concludes “If Petraeus succeeds in Iraq, and a Republican wins in 2008, Bush will be viewed as a successful president”. Petraeus, nor any other American commander will ever win in Iraq, that is an absolute certainty written in marble. As for a Republican win in 2008, who is willing to bet on that?

20 years after martial law

Tomorrow, 20 years ago on July 15, 1987 martial law was officially lifted in Taiwan. It had taken effect on May 20, 1949, right after the Nationalist army of Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan. That means martial law was in effect for more than 38 years. All those who chant the praises of Taiwan as a beacon of democracy in the Chinese world should not forget the long years of martial law, when in fact there was more freedom in mainland China than in Taiwan. Hundreds were executed and thousands imprisoned, many of them innocent. Chen Shui-bian's DPP even claims that 8,000 were executed and 200,000 imprisoned, although the KMT disputes those figures.

Then president Chiang Ching-kuo gave the order to lift martial law six months before he died. The lifting of martial marked the understanding of the Taiwanese authorities that “suppression of the Communist bandits” and “retaking the mainland” would fail. While this could of course be considered to be progress, Chiang's successor Lee Teng-hui gradually steered Taiwan on a course of independence, thereby risking an armed confrontation with the government of the People's Republic of China. So for 38 years under martial law, the authorities who had fled to Taiwan tried (in vain) to reconquer the mainland and topple its government and in the 20 years since, their successors are trying to split Taiwan from the mainland. In both cases they tried to provoke an armed conflict with the legal government of China in Beijing.

Perhaps the time has come for reconciliation, the return of Taiwan under the rule of the government in Beijing. That would be even more significant than the abolition of martial law. Taiwanese premier Chang Chun-hsiung said imposing martial law was a historic blunder that can be pardoned but cannot be forgotten. Declaring Taiwanese independence would be even a bigger blunder, which could not be pardoned nor forgotten.

The food we eat

Recently there has been a scare about the quality of food products exported from China. The U.S. and the E.U have claimed that fish and other foods have been contaminated. One should not exaggerate. I have been living in China for almost 20 years and only suffered a few times from diarrhea and never got food poisoning. So it can't be that bad. One has the impression that food quality standards are more and more used as a protectionist tool. China can of course also use it, claiming that Perrier mineral water contains too much bacteria.

A fundamental problem is that different countries use different standards. What is classified as a poisonous ingredient in one country is perfectly legal and acceptable in another. With increasing trade and globalization, there is a need for a unified standard of what is poisonous and what is not. To point the finger at China won't help. Still remember the dioxine-tainted chickens in Belgium, which led to the electoral defeat of the outgoing government of Jean-Luc Dehaene?

In China there are indeed unscrupulous food producers who mix dirty stuff because it's cheaper and they can earn a higher profit. The culprit is once again the greedy pursuit of profit. Since China doesn't seem ready to eradicate this evil, the only way to prevent serious repercussions on its international trade is to increase inspections of food (and other products) destined for export. China is doing just that. Scare-mongering by certain elements in the U.S. who have ulterior motives won't help.

PC LInux OS

After using Mandriva Linux for a couple of months, I have decided to try out PCLinuxOS. At Distrowatch.org, PCLinuxOS is now number 2, behind Ubuntu, but Ubuntu is losing popularity while PCLinuxOS is gaining and set to overtake Ubuntu to become number 1. The fact that PCLinuxOS gained so much popularity in so short a time must mean something. Obviously, they are doing something right.

I had expected more from Mandriva, a Linux distro that makes you become a member of the Mandriva Club (and pay cash) to download. There is nothing wrong with asking for payment, but in return you may at least expect some advantages. Mandriva isn't offering any. A few points of comparison between Mandriva and PCLinuxOS:

+ Mandriva doesn't allow you to log in as root. This is a nuisance, because sometimes you have to do some administrative chores which need root privileges. If you can log in as root, you can use the gui. In Mandriva, you have to do it all at the command line. Not very user friendly.
+ Mandriva doesn't offer video playback (wmv-files) out of the box. You need to install separate codecs and you can only do that as root. You see the problem. Under PCLinuxOS, video playback works right from the start.
+ Mandriva showed my system was completely updated, which it clearly wasn't. PCLinuxOS's system for installing and updating files works better.
Mandriva is a heavier system (over 4GB) while PCLinuxOS still fits on a CD-ROM and is simpler, leaner and meaner. I have the impression it runs faster.
+ The only downside for PCLinuxOS is that there is no 64 bit version, but as the 32 bit version seems to be faster than Mandriva's 64 bit, who cares.

As PCLinuxOS is still gaining in popularity, it will no doubt further improve in the future. Thumbs up!

Flemish national day

Today, Flanders remembers the battle in 1302 at the Groeningeveld at Kortrijk between a Flemish people's army and the troops of the French king. July 11 has become the national holiday of Flanders, although unlike the Belgian national holiday on July 21, it is not a public holiday.

Flanders had allied itself with England from which it imported wool for its emerging textile industry in the cities of Brugge, Gent and Ieper. But France and England were at war since 1294 and the French king decided to teach Flanders a lesson – or so he thought. Initially he succeeded, but after increasing taxes, the people of Gent and Brugge rebelled and killed the troops of the feudal lord. A French army of 8,500 under the leadership of Robert II of Artois thereafter invaded Flanders, but was routed on July 11 at the Groeningeveld. The Flemish decided not to take any prisoners, although a feudal lord taken prisoner could reap a handsome ransom. The French army was massacred.

It was an epic victory for Flanders, still commemorated today.

On this July 11, 2007 there is still no new Belgian government. Yves Leterme is waiting in the wings to become prime minister, but he is almost certain to again cave in to the French-speaking parties in order to be able to form a government. Leterme has been minister-president of the Flemish regional government and justified his transfer to the federal level by the argument that only on the federal level further powers could be transferred to the regions to enable them to pursue good governance practices. It will soon become clear enough whether he succeeds in transferring more power to the Flemish regional government. Don't bet on it.

Death for greed

Zheng Xiaoyu, director of China's State Drug Administration from 1998 to 2005 has been executed today in Beijing. He accepted 6.5 million yuan in bribes from pharmaceutical companies to be granted drug licenses. In his defense, Zheng said he only made a “mistake” by accepting the money. The bottom line is, in his greed to get rich, he granted licenses for the sale of fake drugs which led to the death of several people. Can there be anything more despicable than playing with the health of the people to increase your own wealth? (The Independent: Disgraced Chinese food regulator is executed)

Zheng deserved not one, but multiple death penalties. One serious question is how he could have kept up his corrupt practices at the head of an important administration without being denounced. Certainly somebody higher up in the Ministry of Health should also have been punished. What about all his collaborators who knew about the corruption and possibly profited themselves? Only a few have been convicted, many more escaped punishment. And finally, all those bosses of pharmaceutical companies who offered Zheng bribes? We haven't heard of any executions of those criminals.

Ultimately, where's the guarantee that Zheng's successor's hands will remain clean? The bottom line is the corrupt ideology promoted by Deng Xiaoping that “to get rich is glorious”. Those who are getting rich are doing so at the expense of the poor and the environment. The only thing which is glorious is to serve the people. Yes to achieve socialism and communism, the productive forces have to be developed to the fullest extent. But that does not mean letting a small bunch of wheeler-dealers get rich by oppressing and exploiting the people. There is a word for this kind of social system: it's called capitalism.

The Red Mosque

Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has ordered an assault on the Lal Masjid, the Red Mosque, in the center of Islamabad. The Red Mosque became a nuisance because students kidnapped seven Chinese from an acupuncture clinic (or perhaps a massage parlor). They were freed soon enough, but this led to calls by the Chinese government for better protection of its citizens. There are about 3,000 Chinese working and living in Pakistan. In their view, they are helping an ally and Third World country in its development, helping to build harbors, hospitals and oil fields. But some Pakistanis see them (correctly) as allies of the government. If those people are opposed to the government, the Chinese become easy targets to embarrass it.

That is what happened at the Red Mosque. Now look at it from another angle. We certainly may not like the Deobandi or Wahhabi variety of Islam with its medieval injunctions of no alcohol consumption, no images of living beings, no music or movies and the subservient position of women, forced to be covered from top to toe. But how did the fundamentalist islamist movement in Pakistan came to become so important? First of all it was supported by the state (the army and part of the government). The Taliban in Afghanistan were supported and nurtured by Pakistan's secret service. Many poor people did not have any alternative but to turn to the madrassas for an education, which unfortunately solely focused on the Koran. If the Pakistani government would have done a better job of helping the poor and fight corruption, the madrassas would have had no fertile soil to grow.

Musharraf is wrong to launch an attack on the Red Mosque. It will further aggravate tensions and could possibly lead to the overthrow of the government by parts of the army and the Islamic clergy. It would turn Pakistan into a nuclear armed Taliban-style country. Pervez Musharraf is playing with fire. (South China Morning Post: Chinese targeted to harm ties with Islamabad: analysts)

The plumber

The king of the Belgians, Albert II, has appointed a negotiator to try to clear the way for Yves Leterme to form a government. The man who is tasked to clear the way is none other than ex-premier Jean-Luc Dehaene, also called the plumber. Yes, the plumber is rather good at fixing things, but the question is whether Belgium needs a plumber to fix the leaking toilets and central heating? Probably not at this time. Belgium needs somebody with vision to chart the course, not a plumber to fix things. The problem is, there is nobody with vision to be found.

Dehaene himself called his mission “impossible”, but added that, like in the movies, missions impossible are usually brought to a happy end. It is nevertheless doubtful that this one will. The Flemish and French-speaking parties are too far apart to be able to form a government. Would-be premier Yves Leterme campaigned on a program of transferring more powers to the regions. If he doesn't deliver, he is going to be bloodied at the next general elections, and even earlier than that, his union with the NV-A will blow up. But the French-speaking parties don't want to have any more powers transferred to the regions, certainly not the MR, which is eager to be part of the next government, because more powers to Wallonia would mean more powers to the PS, which remains the largest party in the south of the country.

Those problems are much too significant for a plumber to fix. Dehaene himself is not very eager this time, because he won't become the next prime minister and he won't get much honor form clearing the way for Leterme even if he succeeds.

Belgium as it exists now has become ungovernable.

Marco Polo Bridge

70 years ago today, the Japanese engineered the Marco Polo Bridge incident southwest of Beijing as a pretext to launch of full-scale invasion of China. It also started the 8-year War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. In fact, the Marco Polo Bridge incident also marked the start of World War II, although it would still take a few years before hostilities would commence in Europe.

The Japanese invasion led to the fall of Beijing and Tianjin, and at the end of the year 1937 the then capital of China, Nanjing. Nine surviving veterans of the 29th Corps of the Nationalist Army, aged between 87 and 94, commemorated the incident at the bridge, during which more than 5,000 people were killed. (China Daily: A day that pains people even 70 years later)

The event was also commemorated in Taiwan, were presidential hopeful Ma Ying-jeou saluted the soldiers who fought against the Japanese.

One would hope and think that in the 21st century naked aggression of one country against another would finally belong to the past. In World War II, the United States was one of the allies fighting against the Nazi and Japanese aggression. At the beginning of the 21st century, the U.S. attacked and invaded the sovereign country of Iraq under a false pretext to murder its people and rob the country's oil. 70 years ago the Chinese people resisted the Japanese aggressors and finally defeated them. The Iraqi people will do the same with the Americans. Where there is aggression, there is resistance. Nothing can stop it, not even the dictator in the White House.

Bad bad birthday

... Mr. President! The world's No 1 war criminal – George W. Bush – turns 61 today. All peace loving peoples and all Americans who still have left an ounce of decency can only wish the president a very very bad birthday. (The Guardian: Congress and Libby give Bush the birthday blues)

It seems he is getting the message. The situation in Iraq is getting worse every day. The surge isn't working and even Republican senators don't want to wait till September to be told the inevitable – that no, because the Iraqi government didn't do its job, the surge didn't work.

Bush can only stick to his disastrous and criminal strategy – like a burned-out potato stuck to the bottom of the pot – because reversing course now, when everybody can clearly see the catastrophe, will not win him any points. Like a black fly who cannot extricate its legs from a mighty piece of shit, Bush is contemplating about his place in history and how future historians will rate him. His place is already reserved before he steps down: the worst president the U.S. has ever had in its entire history – period.

The leader of the 'free and the brave' remains holed up in the White House, at Camp David or Kennebunkport – too afraid to go to a restaurant in Washington D.C. because of the hostile attitude from the American people. He has lost all trust and all capability to govern except as a dictator trampling underfoot the constitution of the United States.

We wish you a bad bad birthday, Mr President.

They hate injustice

Why do 'they' hate 'us'? Why do 'they' – the Jihadis, the Arabs, the Muslims – hate 'us' – God-fearing Americans who want to bring freedom and democracy to every corner of the world?

“The Blair-Bush message: terror is simply the product of an evil ideology”. (The Guardian: Denial of the link with Iraq is delusional and dangerous) It's 'us' against 'them', freedom and democracy against Islamo-fascism... Bush, Blair and all the commentators who claim that “they hate us because of our freedoms” are the real fascists who want to whip up an anti-terror war to break-down what's left of precisely those freedoms in the West. What is fascism? It is one of the most brutal stages of capitalism, where the bourgeoisie sheds all its false pretenses of democracy and freedom to impose the dictatorship of bureaucrat-capitalism and crush any resistance by the working class. Look at Hitler. Now look at Osama bin Laden. There is much wrong with the guy, but he is not a fascist, not even an islamo-fascist. He is hiding in a corner of a medieval society dreaming about a kaliphate. Nothing fascist about that.

Why is this so called Islamo-fascist ideology flourishing now? Do 'they' attack 'us' because of our lifestyles? Then why doesn't Al-Qaeda attack Amsterdam or Stockholm? Why didn't they attack Britain before the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq?

The simple reason is that they don't attack 'us' because of our freedoms or lifestyles, but because of what the Western powers have done and are still doing in the Middle East: invading and oppressing peoples. 'We' are not bringing 'freedom' and 'democracy' to the Middle East, but only oppression, killings and exploitation. And so 'they' hate 'us'. Rightly so!

“A society can live with kufr (non-believers) but not with injustice,” dismissed Pakistani chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was quoted on the Counterpunch website (Counterpunch: Pakistan's New Jihad by Ayesha Ijaz Khan)

They can live with non-believers – they don't kill us because we are not Muslims; they kill us because we bring injustice upon them. Stop the injustice, and the war on terror will be won, by 'us' and by 'them' – together.

Ian is free!

The BBC's Gaza correspondent Ian Jonhston was finally released after 114 days in captivity. For a couple of days his live had seemed to be seriously in danger, as his kidnappers, the “Army of Islam”, belonging to Gaza's Dogmush clan threatened to kill him if their demands were not met. At one point they showed Ian in a video wearing a suicide belt. Calls from all over the world went unheeded. But in Gaza itself, something fundamental had changed.

Hamas had driven out the corrupt and treacherous Fatah elements and gained total control of the strip. Hamas wanted Ian Johnston to be free, because he had been the only foreign correspondent reporting from Gaza. Hamas began to heighten the pressure on the Dogmush, surrounding their stronghold and arresting its members. If the Dogmush had killed Johnston, Hamas would probably have eliminated the whole clan. Hamas showed that it had total power in Gaza and could wield this power to achieve its ends. Ian Jonhston was freed and warmly received by prime minister Ismail Haniyah. Hamas, the movement accused by the E.U. and the U.S. of terrorism, had freed a Western hostage. Foreign minister Mahmoud Zahhar (of the only legitimate Palestinian government headed by Ismail Haniyah) said security would be extended, so that foreign journalists would be free to work objectively.

Hamas surely scored a major propaganda victory, showing itself to be a responsible movement, capable to provide security and defending the rights of its people.

While Ian Johnston should never have been kidnapped in the first place and deserved to be set free a long time ago, let's not forget the tens of thousands of Palestinians kidnapped by the Israeli state and still languishing in its prisons. They are also held illegally, but the demand to set them free is a mere whisper compared to the worldwide outcry to secure Ian's freedom. (CNN: Freed BBC reporter: 'It felt like I was buried alive')

The lawless U.S. of A.

As was to be expected, U.S. president George W. Bush has commuted Scooter Libby's sentence so he will not have to go to prison. It's not a pardon, mind you, the guy will still have to pay a 250,000 dollar fine. What mattered was not going to prison, the fine will no doubt be paid by rich Republican Party donors as they have already promised to do.
(AlJazeera.net: Bush commutes Libby's prison term); (The Independent: Bush steps in to commute Libby's prison term); (The Guardian: Commuting his destiny); (TheRawStory: Scooter Libby gets out of jail free with card from President Bush); (The Times: President steps in to save Libby from ‘excessive’ prison sentence).

What does this charade says about “justice” or rather “injustice” in the U.S.? It means you can commit any crime you like, endanger the “national security” of the country as much as you like, and get away with it without any punishment, as long as the president approves. All the laws of the U.S. are worthless scraps of paper, only invented to make bickering lawyers rich. They are worthless! If the president says you can do it, you do it. If not, you end up in jail. Who needs laws if there is dictator Bush to decide?

Delaware Democratic Senator Joe Biden called on Americans to “flood the White House with calls expressing outrage over this blatant disregard for the rule of law.”

While Libby escapes prison...

... an upright man who has made a tremendous contribution to world peace by exposing Israel's nuclear arsenal has been sentenced to a 6-month prison term in Israel for the crime of talking to foreigners! Mordechai Vanunu already spent 18 years in prison and would like nothing more than to leave the damned soil of Israel. He was not even allowed to talk to foreigners! (The Guardian: Vanunu jailed again after talks with foreigners).

Moreover, he has no hope that the Israeli president will commute his sentence. The outgoing president, Moshe Katsav, is too busy raping his female secretaries, while the incoming president, Shimon Perez, played a crucial role in the establishment of Israel's nuclear arsenal and therefore hates Vanuanu intensely.

Come to think of it: if Scooter Libby doesn't have to spend time in prison, even poor Paris Hilton was treated unfairly. Libby may very well be the fall guy, the scapegoat, to shield criminals higher up the hierarchy such as Cheney and Bush himself, but that doesn't make him innocent.

Chocolate and wine

A German study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, claims that a piece of dark chocolate a day seems to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. An Italian study, published in the American Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry concluded that a regular glass of wine can help put off tooth decay and can kill bacteria that cause upper respiratory tract infections. Finally, a piece of good news: a glass of wine and a piece of chocolate are good for health. Of course, the wise doctors hasten to add: when consumed in moderate quantities, such as one glass of wine and one piece of chocolate a day... (The Wall Street Journal: Study Suggests Dark Chocolate Can Decrease Blood Pressure)

Well, drinking 10 bottles of wine and eating 10 kilograms of chocolate a day can indeed never be good, you don't need to be a doctor to understand this. But what about a bar of chocolate and a bottle of wine? Is that excessive? Too much? Yes, the doctors say, we do not recommend that. But have they ever conducted experiments to prove it. Perhaps they have stuffed some monkeys full of wine and chocolate, but certainly no humans, because they wouldn't want to harm their health, even if they have not yet obtained any proof that it is harmful.

If eating chocolate and drinking wine is indeed healthy, we shouldn't be too scroungy. Go for that bar of chocolate and that bottle of wine and help the doctors proof their point.

Brown's Wars

Today The Independent published a three-part story called Brown's Wars (Part 1: Under attack in the UK; Part 2: Meltdown on the frontline in Basra; Part 3: Overstretched in Helmand province) as well as stories on the car bomb attack at Glasgow Airport (Terror at Terminal 1: Horrific scenes as two men crash Jeep into airport).

Britain's new prime minister wasn't allowed a quiet entry to Downing Street 10. Two cars bombs were defused in the center of London, while Glasgow Airport was attacked by a flaming Cherokee Jeep. The terror alert was raised to the highest “critical” level. Passengers arriving at Glasgow Airport were stuck in their planes, unable to disembark. While the three attempted attacks didn't succeed in causing any casualties, they did succeed in spreading “terror”, “making the public feel uneasy wherever they go, causing disruption and economic damage.”

What is Gordon Brown to do? Attacks in Britain are directly linked to British actions in the Middle East. In Afghanistan, the British are losing the fight against the Taliban. Five years of Karzai government has not brought any improvement in the dismal living standards of the people. Afghanistan has one again become – under the noses of NATO commanders – a major producer of opium.

In Iraq, the remaining British troops are holed up at their base at Basra airport. When they do come out, they are killed. They only provide shooting targets, acting as a magnet for insurgent attacks, the city of Basra itself under the control of militias.

“The week's events tested the new Prime Minister in a way no one could have predicted.” (The Guardian: 'There was a man on fire. It was terrifying') If Gordon Brown wants to avoid carnage at home, he should call British troops back from Afghanistan and Iraq and denounce U.S. aggression. And lest we forget, call back Tony Blair as Middle East envoy. Stop the aggression and war crimes and the “terrorists” – even though they may very well be fanatics – are unlikely to attack. That is not capitulation, it is the right thing to do. Brown has got his work cut out for him, but will he deliver? Unlikely.