The Impudent Observer - Global Liberal Issues Analyzes issues of liberal concern and gives readers a digest of what is reported in over forty newspapers throughout the world to engage them in critical thinking issues. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 0 8518

Articles from The Impudent Observer - Global Liberal Issues

Annapolis Fiasco Looming? Or, Annapolis Success? 2007-11-21 07:56:11 The United States government has issued invitations to next week’s Annapolis meeting to Saudi Arabia and Syria who are asked to join the 40 nations attending. The assembled representatives will meet on November 26 for a dinner, they will spend November 27 working on something, and then conclude on November 28. President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority says his attempts to develop a plan of action for the meeting with Prime Minister Olmert of Israel have failed and his spokesperson, Imer Hammad says it would be a “miracle” if anything worthwhile emerged from the conference. The US State Department insists, “the parties will get to Annapolis in good shape, prepared to accomplish what it is that they set out for themselves.” One can only wonder on which planet Secretary of State Rice is living. Representatives from 40 nations are arriving at a meeting which has no agenda, no goals, in order to talk about something that no one agrees wishes discussed. The P ...

Life In Putin’s Russia–He’s The Boss Man! 2007-11-21 07:41:13 President Putin created the political party named United Russia as a means of carrying out his plan to control Russia. But, suddenly a person has emerged to end this political party’s dominance of the nation. The renegade refused to join United Russia. The renegade said United Russia’s programs had nothing to do with the ideas of Vladmir Putin. The renegade denounced United Russia as a party of incompetents without any ideals or beliefs in Russia. The renegade is none other than the party’s founder, Vladmir Putin! The Russian president during the past month has been attacking just about every group and person in his nation who supports his control of the country. The end result is that Putin, like most would-be dictators, lacks any loyal friends. Those in government serve him, not out of belief, but out of fear. They fear he will turn on them as he has turned on just about any person who dares challenge his authority and his dominance of the nation. The Russian people ...

Britain Abuses Asylum Seekers In Name Of Security! 2007-11-21 07:28:08 They come in the evening to drag away asylum seekers who arrive in England as a refuge from oppressive regimes back home. The oppressed of the world have come to England which historically has given refuge to such asylum seekers as Karl Marx, but modern England is a society obsessed with fears of security and willing to place innocent humans in the position of somehow being connected to terrorism. Maud Lennard had escaped from Ziimbabwe where she has opposed the brutal Robert Mugabe regime, but to the British security people who boarded her plane bound for the safety of Malawi, she was just another security risk. Ms. Lennard had been on a 53 day hunger strike to avoid being deported back to Zimbabwe, she had paid a bribe to get a passport to Malawi, but to British security agents, they would not allow her even that refuge. They came on the plane, beat her, called her a dirty black pig, and warned, “You don’t belong to malawi, you don’t belong to Zimbabwe, and the next ...

Southeast Asian Nations Ignore Human Rights Issues 2007-11-21 00:55:12 The meeting of southeastern nations resulted in an agreement to establish a human rights body whose function would be to protect outside nations from interfering when one of its member nations denies human rights to its people. The new human rights group would be a toothless body with absolutely no power to interfere in Myanmar’s policies of brutal suppression of those opposing the military junta. The new human rights body would be composed of representatives from ASEAN countries and would draft a “long-term roadmap” about human rights. But, it was made clear the body must show “respect for national independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identify of all ASEAN member states.” It was specifically emphasized that the agency should “be faithful to ASEAN and its common interests and oppose external influence attempting to interfere in the human rights issues of any ASEAN member state.” The ASEAN report is sickening ...

US Circumvented Japanese Nuclear Weapon Ban In 1960s 2007-11-21 00:43:41 Recently declassified documents reveal that in the 1960s the United States government made secret agreements with the government of Japan to circumvent the Japanese principles of never producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on its territory. A 1963 secret agreement allowed US ships which were either powered by nuclear power or had nuclear weapons to enter Japanese seaports. In 1968, the USS Enterprise which was nuclear powered docked in Japan despite student protests, but on the ground it was allowed to do so by terms of the 1963 agreement. The United States ensured its defeated enemy would never have access to atomic weapons and compelled Japan to make such provisions in its constitution and laws. Now, we learn, America circumvented those principles by compelling Japan to allow entry into its seaports of nuclear powered vessels that carried nuclear weapons. This is a sad story and fortunately, it belongs in the past. Hopefully, we today will ensure the Japanese nation never ...

President Bush Lied, Claims His Former Press Secretary 2007-11-21 00:28:37 President Bush’s former press secretary, Scott McClellan, in his forthcoming book accuses the president and others in the administration of lying about outed CIA operative Valerie Palme. In speaking to the press, Scott McClellan now admits he lied. “I had unknowingly passed along false information. And, five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so. Rove, Libby,the vice president, the president’s chief of staff, and the president himself.” The current press secretary, Dana Perino, responded to the accusation by saying, “The president has not and would not ask his spokespeople to pass on false information.” Several years ago, Republicans argued that President Clinton had lied concerning his relations with Monica Lewinsky and thus they initiated impeachment proceedings. We now have a specific charge of lying on the part of the president of the United States by a Republican who served in his administration. Wil ... President

Concrete Cowboys, Indians, And SUVs 2007-11-20 16:40:05 During the past several weeks, environmentalist activists have disabled SUVs during the evening. The group terms itself, “The Indians of the Concrete Jungle” and its aim is eliminating SUVs from the planet. The aim of the group as stated in its manifesto is: “If selective SUV-disarmament is done repeatedly and on a massive scale, it will develop from a slight annoyance in the eyes of the owners into a real obstacle for driving the things, thus putting an end to perhaps the most obnoxious aspect of bourgeois carbon addiction.” Every time the group deflates the air in a tire or slashes it, a note is left which explains problems caused by climate change. In response to these attacks, a new group, “Cowboys of the Concrete Jungle” are fighting back by infiltrating the Indians in order to prevent attacks. The Cowboys are annoyed that the “Sheriffs of the Concrete Jungle,”(the police) are not halting the attacks. In all honesty, I share the Ind ...

Is There Racism In Bulgarian Sports? 2007-11-20 16:05:18 Bulgarian sports groups held there first meeting to discuss the topic of racism. There have been occasions in which Bulgarian sport fans have made derogatory remarks to players on other teams, particularly those having players from Africa. According to Illa Liev, “the biggest problem in tackling racism is there is no precise definition of what exactly is a racist act.” He went on to describe an incident which he claims does not indicate racism in practice. “During the hearing a huge debate arose as to whether the monkey chants had to be treated as racist, is it enough to compare someone to an animal if you do not specify skin color? I can’t say there is racism in Bulgaria. I think most of the fans want to annoy and frustrate the opposition, they are trying to annoy the Bulgarian players as well as foreign ones.” Mr. Liev made not mention as to whether or not Bulgarian fans give the monkey chant to Bulgarian players, one would assume not. I simply don&rsqu ...

Chaos Accelerates In Somalia 2007-11-20 11:30:56 The situation in Somalia continues its rapid decline into even more chaos than previously has been characteristic of this nation. The United Nations estimates about 1,000,000 people are now refugees in their own land and at least 200,000 have fled the capital of Mogadishu in the past two weeks. Several months ago, an Ethiopian invasion urged on by President Bush led to the overthrow of an Islamic fundamentalist government and the creation of an interim Muslim government lacking power or authority. The UN Commissioner For Refugees(UNHCR) describes “Families continue to lack proper shelter and consistently resort to using any material– including plastic bags– to patch up their tukuls–flimsy dome-shaped shelters.” The UN authorized a force of 8,000 soldiers to assist in the area but only 1,600 Ugandans are in Somalia. George Bush is convinced that any type of Muslim government ruled by Islamic fundamentalist must, by definition, be a terrorist organization. H ...

Vietnam Arrests Peace Activists 2007-11-20 09:38:42 Vietnamese police have arrested two US pro-democracy activists, a Frenchwoman and a Thai who were attempting to hold pro-democracy seminars in their nation. The Vietnamese group, Viet Tan(Reform) said the activists, all members of a pro-democracy organization, were meeting with Vietnamese citizens to discuss “peaceful democratic change” in their nation. Police surrounded the house and entered to break up the gathering, taking materials they deemed subversive. The activists apparently were handing out copies of a book called “From Dictatorship to Democracy.” US consular officials had as of yet gained full knowledge concerning who was arrested and the charges being placed against them. Vietnamese police refused to discuss the raid, claiming, ‘we are not permitted to talk about his.” Vietnam is enjoying an economic boom and it is not surprising that some of its citizens expect to have greater freedom. America and Vietnam have established good working ...

Turkey Expects Annapolis Invitation 2007-11-20 09:22:08 The Turkish government is expecting an invitation to next week’s meeting in Annapolis to discuss the Middle East, with particular attention to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. A top Turkish diplomat noted, “We have made it clear to the U.S. and other concerned parties that broader participation in the conference is essential if they want more legitimate ground for future talks.” Last week, Turkey hosted a meeting between President Peres of Israel and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. Turkey has extremely close working relations with Israel and is probably the major Muslim nation with whom the Israel government feels confident it can secure honest cooperation. As a diplomat noted, “Both of us should see the fact that Turkey and Israel need each other for regional stability.” An interesting follow up from the Annapolis conference might be to ask Turkey to serve as the host center for future Israel and Palestinian discussions. The Muslim Justice a ...

Iran Welcomes Dialogue On Iraq With USA 2007-11-20 09:09:04 Iran’s Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki indicated his nation is prepared to engage in serious discussions concerning the situation in Iraq if asked by the United States. “Iran will give a positive response to the request” and hoped such talks could take place in the near future. He expressed the hope of his nation that Iraq achieve stability and security for its people. Iran continues denying it is supplying arms to insurgents in Iraq. The United States continues insisting that Iran wants Iraq to become destabilized. The American invasion of Iraq, which led to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, was a great assistance to Iran which hated Saddam and longed for his removal from power. As the United States continues to make one blunder after another in the Middle East, Iran is the nation which stands the most to gain. Iranians and Iraqi Shiites share the same religion, they are allies in the fight against Sunnis so why should Iran want the Iraq government to collapse? It ...

Stop Pressuring Iran Says Moderate Iranian Leader 2007-11-20 08:22:15 Former Prime Minister Mohammad Khatami whose tenure in that office was marked by efforts to reduce the power of extremist religious figures, urged the world to stop trying to halt his nation from engaging in peaceful uses of atomic energy. He noted the IAEA reported “contained positive points and I believe that the Iranians and the International Atomic Energy Agency have developed cooperation in a logical manner and achieved the desired results. However,” he admitted, “the report also included some negative points and ambiguities which can provide a path for those who are seeking a pretext to prevent a diplomatic settlement of the nuclear issue.” Khatami insisted that Iran only wants to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and raised the issue as to why Israel is allowed possession of nuclear weapons. There is no doubt the world has reason to be suspicious of an Iranian government headed by a man like Ahmadinejad. But, men like Khatami who reached out to w ...

Soldier Arrested For Protesting Bush War 2007-11-20 08:03:22 A Kentucky soldier facing his second tour of duty in Iraq tried checking into the VA hospital in Lexington but was arrested on charges of being AWOL. Spc. Justin Faulkner said he told his superior officers of his mental condition and went to the VA hospital where doctors wanted to keep him under observation, but he was arrested. “It’s made me lose respect for the military. to come and arrest me at the VA, it wasn’t like I was trying to hide, trying to run. I was getting help. I am being punished for getting help.” Faulkner completed a tour of duty in Iraq and was headed back for a second one when he felt symptoms of post traumatic stress and wanted mental assistance from the Veterans Administration hospital staff. Fort Campbell spokesperson, Cathy Gramling, claimed the military installation had sufficient medical staff to assist soldiers with PTS symptoms. Faulkner’s wife who is expecting another child said her husband was displaying symptoms of stress an ...

Silvio Berlusconi, Would Be Strong Man, Launches New Italian Party 2007-11-20 07:45:12 Silvio Berlusconi stunned the italian nation by dissolving the largest political party, Forza Italia, in order to form a new political organization. Italy’s richest man who controls large segments of the media told his supporters, “The time has come. today a great new party is officially born. the people are ahead of us and they demand it. Cast away hesitation and fear. Enough of wig-wearers and professional politicians. We have collected seven and a half million signatures and only half of those come from supporters of Forza Italia. That’s the demonstration that there is no reason to wait any longer.” Berlusconi has been working for over a year to bring down the government of Romano Prodi which defeated him in 2006. Berlusconi is attempting a huge public relations pitch to create a sense that Italy is headed toward some disastrous future and only a strong man like himself can save it. This attitude comes across as resembling the Benito Mussolini march on Rome ...