The US government is hoping that Germany will accept nine Uighur Chinese currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke with the lawyer representing four of the men. She argues that they would integrate well into the already sizeable Uighur community in Germany. SPIEGEL ONLINE: After a request by the US government the German government is examining a possible repatriation of nine Uighur men currently imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay to Germany. You just returned from the camp a few days ago and visited four of your clients who belong to this group. Can you describe your clients' current situation? Germany is being asked to accept nine Uighur Chinese men currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. Seema Saifee: The Uighurs are held in a facility known as "Camp Iguana," which is reserved for men who have been adjudged to be non-enemy combatants and who have been ordered released. Of all the camps at Guantanamo, Camp Iguana has the least restrictions. In Iguana, the Uighurs live and dine together; read books at picnic tables; wash their own laundry; and grow fruit and vegetables in a small garden. Camp Iguana, however, remains a military prison. SPIEGEL ONLINE: How do your clients feel about the current debate about them? Saifee: I spoke with my clients about the statements in the German media labeling them as dangerous. They were disheartened. US courts already ruled their detention unlawful. Federal judges found no evidence justifying their detention. The US government stated in open court there is no evidence they pose a security threat.
The US government is hoping that Germany will accept nine Uighur Chinese currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke with the lawyer representing four of the men. She argues that they would integrate well into the already sizeable Uighur community in Germany.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: After a request by the US government the German government is examining a possible repatriation of nine Uighur men currently imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay to Germany. You just returned from the camp a few days ago and visited four of your clients who belong to this group. Can you describe your clients' current situation?
Germany is being asked to accept nine Uighur Chinese men currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. Seema Saifee: The Uighurs are held in a facility known as "Camp Iguana," which is reserved for men who have been adjudged to be non-enemy combatants and who have been ordered released. Of all the camps at Guantanamo, Camp Iguana has the least restrictions. In Iguana, the Uighurs live and dine together; read books at picnic tables; wash their own laundry; and grow fruit and vegetables in a small garden. Camp Iguana, however, remains a military prison.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: How do your clients feel about the current debate about them?
Saifee: I spoke with my clients about the statements in the German media labeling them as dangerous. They were disheartened. US courts already ruled their detention unlawful. Federal judges found no evidence justifying their detention. The US government stated in open court there is no evidence they pose a security threat.
Seventeen Guantanamo inmates of Uighur origin may soon be leaving Cuba for Palau after the remote Pacific island nation announced its willingness to take the detainees. The Uighurs, refused by Germany, will encounter "paradise" there, said one Palau representative. The tiny Pacific island nation of Palau has stepped in to help in the tricky question of where 17 Guantanamo inmates of Uighur origin are to go when the camp closes. The island nation of Palau: A new home for the Uighurs? In a statement released to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Palau President Johnson Toribiong said his country would be "honored and proud" to take the detainees as a "humanitarian gesture." Palau, he said, had "agreed to accommodate the United States of America's request" to "temporarily resettle" the detainees, "subject to periodic review." Toribiong said he had discussed the issue with Daniel Fried, the US diplomat who has been charged with the effort to resettle Guantanamo detainees, during his recent visit to Palau. Representatives of the Palau government will travel to Guantanamo to make preparations for the transfer of the inmates, Toribiong said.
Seventeen Guantanamo inmates of Uighur origin may soon be leaving Cuba for Palau after the remote Pacific island nation announced its willingness to take the detainees. The Uighurs, refused by Germany, will encounter "paradise" there, said one Palau representative.
The tiny Pacific island nation of Palau has stepped in to help in the tricky question of where 17 Guantanamo inmates of Uighur origin are to go when the camp closes.
The island nation of Palau: A new home for the Uighurs? In a statement released to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Palau President Johnson Toribiong said his country would be "honored and proud" to take the detainees as a "humanitarian gesture." Palau, he said, had "agreed to accommodate the United States of America's request" to "temporarily resettle" the detainees, "subject to periodic review."
Toribiong said he had discussed the issue with Daniel Fried, the US diplomat who has been charged with the effort to resettle Guantanamo detainees, during his recent visit to Palau. Representatives of the Palau government will travel to Guantanamo to make preparations for the transfer of the inmates, Toribiong said.
But the US needs to sort out its own mess and prolonging the detention is simply sick. If they can't release them, turn Gitmo into a luxury holiday camp. give them some recompense for the brutatlity of the Bush/cheney era, don't prolong it. keep to the Fen Causeway
The island nation of Palau: A new home for the Uighurs? In a statement released to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Palau President Johnson Toribiong said his country would be "honored and proud" to take the detainees as a "humanitarian gesture."
that's the first statement about these victims i've seen that had some heart.
my inner cynic wonders what sweetener the palauans are getting to be so noble, but it is so unutterably appalling to think of what's happened to these people, and the u.s. attitude that others clean up their mess really stinks too.
they should be expensively apologised to, not shuffled off to random points around the globe like asylum seeking refugees. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Final campaigning for Iran's presidential poll has been overshadowed by a row over accusations made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Huge crowds have been gathering on the streets, as rival candidates hold their last election rallies. In a letter published by several media, ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to rein in the president. Mr Ahmadinejad alleged Mr Rafsanjani and other politicians were corrupt. He is thought to be in a tight race with his main rival, reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi. Two other candidates are standing.
Final campaigning for Iran's presidential poll has been overshadowed by a row over accusations made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Huge crowds have been gathering on the streets, as rival candidates hold their last election rallies.
In a letter published by several media, ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to rein in the president.
Mr Ahmadinejad alleged Mr Rafsanjani and other politicians were corrupt.
He is thought to be in a tight race with his main rival, reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi. Two other candidates are standing.
Zahra Rahnavard could turn the tide in Friday's elections in Iran. The former university chancellor is the wife of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and her popularity with Iranian women could be his secret weapon against President Ahmadinejad. Even before Zahra Rahnavard had arrived, it was clear that this woman was an important figure in the Iranian election campaign. The team working for the election of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi had only expected a few journalists to turn up to his wife's press conference. In the end 150 gathered to hear her speak. Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, has become a major factor in the Iranian campaign. Since the revolution in 1979 no other political spouse has been so much in the public eye. Rahnavard is even featured in her husband's election posters: she stands next to him, holding his hand. In Iran's strict Muslim society this alone is nothing short of spectacular. She wears her black chador loosely and instead of a plain scarf, hers is printed with a colorful floral pattern. Thousands of copies of the poster can be seen across Tehran in the run up to Friday's presidential election. Mousavi's strategy of bringing his wife into the campaign could ultimately tip the vote in his favor. People see the image of Rahnaward standing next to her husband as an equal as a kind of election promise. Many, and not just Iran's women, hope that if this reformist candidate wins, it could mark a new era of personal freedoms.
Zahra Rahnavard could turn the tide in Friday's elections in Iran. The former university chancellor is the wife of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and her popularity with Iranian women could be his secret weapon against President Ahmadinejad.
Even before Zahra Rahnavard had arrived, it was clear that this woman was an important figure in the Iranian election campaign. The team working for the election of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi had only expected a few journalists to turn up to his wife's press conference. In the end 150 gathered to hear her speak.
Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, has become a major factor in the Iranian campaign. Since the revolution in 1979 no other political spouse has been so much in the public eye. Rahnavard is even featured in her husband's election posters: she stands next to him, holding his hand. In Iran's strict Muslim society this alone is nothing short of spectacular. She wears her black chador loosely and instead of a plain scarf, hers is printed with a colorful floral pattern. Thousands of copies of the poster can be seen across Tehran in the run up to Friday's presidential election.
Mousavi's strategy of bringing his wife into the campaign could ultimately tip the vote in his favor. People see the image of Rahnaward standing next to her husband as an equal as a kind of election promise. Many, and not just Iran's women, hope that if this reformist candidate wins, it could mark a new era of personal freedoms.
To find out the answer to that question, I visited, for the first time (trust me) the site of Stormfront, the major white nationalist/neo-Nazi hate site. You can do the same, if you wish. It may take awhile, as traffic overload is an issue today, for obvious reasons. Although it is disconcerting to see that the site gets plenty of traffic every day, judging from the number of threads and posts and the purported number of new registrants last month (over 10,000). One problem today reading the reactions there: The main thread drew dozens of responses but was shut down and is now locked. Another thread is active as I write this, perhaps because it is buried and simply adds to years-old tributes to the alleged killer, James Von Brunn.
Although it is disconcerting to see that the site gets plenty of traffic every day, judging from the number of threads and posts and the purported number of new registrants last month (over 10,000).
One problem today reading the reactions there: The main thread drew dozens of responses but was shut down and is now locked. Another thread is active as I write this, perhaps because it is buried and simply adds to years-old tributes to the alleged killer, James Von Brunn.
"He's making white supremacists look like crazy right-wing loons!" Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
what was conveniently omitted was that it's the right wing blogs getting their knickers twisted, i haven't seen any incitements to violence coming from the left. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Charles Krauthammer was honored Tuesday with the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism, given annually by News Corp in honor of former New York Post editorial writer Eric Breindel. In his acceptance speech, Krauthammer praised Fox News for creating an "alternate reality" on TV: I said some years ago that the genius of Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes was to have discovered a niche market in American broadcasting -- half the American people. The reason Fox News has thrived and grown is because it offers a vibrant and honest alternative to those who could not abide yet another day of the news delivered to them beneath layer after layer of often undisguised liberalism. What Fox did is not just create a venue for alternative opinion. It created an alternate reality.
In his acceptance speech, Krauthammer praised Fox News for creating an "alternate reality" on TV:
I said some years ago that the genius of Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes was to have discovered a niche market in American broadcasting -- half the American people. The reason Fox News has thrived and grown is because it offers a vibrant and honest alternative to those who could not abide yet another day of the news delivered to them beneath layer after layer of often undisguised liberalism.
What Fox did is not just create a venue for alternative opinion. It created an alternate reality.
poor guy, bad enough having your brain warped.
i used to love to hate him, now i just wonder when he's going to keel over and die.
but no, those reptilian pontifications keep on comin'...
it's comical, in a deeply disturbed way, like watching gwb in full flow of gibberish.
at least cabbage-hammer doesn't have his finger on the button.
get the man an inhaler, stat. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
like watching a talking iguana... repellent and fascinating, what forces created a mindset so sneeringly, icily sure of its lack of any need for intellectual humility.
it's not that he's not intelligent... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
to think he's a psychiatrist!
I can only hope that he confines his damage to his columns and is not in practice. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
Long-term monitoring by UC Berkeley's Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) on the top of Mt. Wilson in Southern California shows that Betelgeuse (bet' el juz), which is so big that in our solar system it would reach to the orbit of Jupiter, has shrunk in diameter by more than 15 percent since 1993. ... The ISI has been focusing on Betelgeuse for more than 15 years in an attempt to learn more about these giant massive stars and to discern features on the star's surface, Wishnow said. He speculated that the measurements may be affected by giant convection cells on the star's surface that are like convection granules on the sun, but so large that they bulge out of the surface. Townes and former graduate student Ken Tatebe observed a bright spot on the surface of Betelgeuse in recent years, although at the moment, the star appears spherically symmetrical. ... "We observe around 11 microns, the mid-infrared, where this long wavelength penetrates the dust and the narrow bandwidth avoids any spectral lines, and so we see the star relatively undistorted," said Townes. "We have also had the good fortune to have an instrument that has operated in a very similar manner for some 15 years, providing a long and consistent series of measurements that no one else has. The first measurements showed a size quite close to Michelson's result, but over 15 years, it has decreased in size about 15 percent, changing smoothly, but faster as the years progressed."
...
The ISI has been focusing on Betelgeuse for more than 15 years in an attempt to learn more about these giant massive stars and to discern features on the star's surface, Wishnow said. He speculated that the measurements may be affected by giant convection cells on the star's surface that are like convection granules on the sun, but so large that they bulge out of the surface. Townes and former graduate student Ken Tatebe observed a bright spot on the surface of Betelgeuse in recent years, although at the moment, the star appears spherically symmetrical.
"We observe around 11 microns, the mid-infrared, where this long wavelength penetrates the dust and the narrow bandwidth avoids any spectral lines, and so we see the star relatively undistorted," said Townes. "We have also had the good fortune to have an instrument that has operated in a very similar manner for some 15 years, providing a long and consistent series of measurements that no one else has. The first measurements showed a size quite close to Michelson's result, but over 15 years, it has decreased in size about 15 percent, changing smoothly, but faster as the years progressed."
When the core fuel runs out again, the core resumes its collapse. If the star is massive enough, it will repeat stage 5. The number of times a star can cycle through stages 5 to 7 depends on the mass of the star. Each time through the cycle, the star creates new heavier elements from the ash of fusion reactions in the previous cycle. This creation of heavier elements from lighter elements is called stellar nucleosynthesis. For the most massive stars, this continues up to the production of iron in the core. Stars like our Sun will synthesize elements only up to carbon and oxygen in their cores. Each repeat of stages 5 to 7 occurs over a shorter time period than the previous repeat.
Wonder what element Betelgeuse is just finishing synthesizing, if that actually is the explanation for the shrinkage? Does enough information exit the star for spectroscopy to answer that question. It is 600 light years away. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
