European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

EuroPDB: August 10, 2005

by soj
Wed Aug 10th, 2005 at 04:40:34 AM EST

Welcome to the "Euro PDB", a briefing paper on today's events affecting Europe and European interests.

Today's big stories... A court in Germany may determine next month's elections are illegal... police in Britain brace for another attack... and Turkey's accession talks are on track despite staunch opposition from France...

In English

Believe it or not, a court in Germany may rule that the proposed elections for September 18 are illegal. If they are declared illegal, I'm not quite sure what the heck would happen.

Olli Rehn, who has the whimsical title of EU Enlargement Commissioner, says he is pretty sure that Turkey will start its accession talks on schedule despite the wishes of countries like France, who oppose them.

James Hart, who is a commissioner in the London Police, continues to shout "boogah boogah" about future terrorist attacks.

The citizen of Egypt who was originally thought to have been involved with the 7/7 London bombings, Nagdy al-Nashar, has been freed by his government and has been cleared of all suspicion:

"He is in good health, thank God," el-Nashar's younger brother, Muhammad al-Nashar, said. "There were never any charges against him."

But his mother insisted: "I will not let him go to London now unless the British government officially announces he is innocent the same way they accused him."

The WaPo is reporting that he did know two of the 7/7 bombers but only casually.

The Islamic group Hizb-ut-Tahrir has learned some effective advertising techniques, warning Britain that if it became outlawed in that country it would only strengthen its appeal. And Hizb-ut-Tahrir is definitely right.

I see now the OSCE has officially condemned Azerbaijan's crackdown on protestors upset about the arrest of a prominent opposition leader:

We strongly condemn these acts of violence. It is unacceptable that groups of private citizens decided to take justice into their own hands," the Head of the OSCE Office in Baku, Maurizio Pavesi said.

Violent protests have erupted around the offices of the opposition National Front of Azerbaijan party over the past two days after the authorities announced the arrest of an opposition figure with alleged ties to Armenian secret police.

Demonstrators on Monday exchanged volleys of stones and bottles, in which no one was injured, and bizarrely beat each other with flowers in another demonstration on Tuesday.

Tensions flared after Ruslan Bashirli, leader of the Yeni Fikir (New Thought) youth opposition group, was arrested for allegedly accepting money from enemy Armenian agents to fund a revolution in Azerbaijan.

I see the BBC has picked up on a story I ran yesterday on FTS about the Dutch PM saying the CIA let AQ Khan operate unmolested for 10 years.

Corriere Della Sera is reporting an alleged Al-Qaeda member, the "right arm" of #3 man Abu Farj al-Libbi, has been arrested in Pakistan and had in his possession maps of Italy. Here is a link to a story in English about it.

The sex and finance scandal in the church continues in Greece as the Bishop of Attica has been fired.

In an attempt to battle widespread drought, a man in Spain has opened a golf course which does not use any irrigation or watering and has termed it "eco-golf". Golf courses worldwide are some of the heaviest users of water for non-agricultural and non-consumption purposes.

Following on this week's historic progress in joint confidence building measures (military) between India and Pakistan, I am happy to report they are amazingly also working on a free trade agreement as well:

India is expected to again urge Pakistan to grant it the most favoured nation (MFN) status while Islamabad will push for greater market access for its goods in bilateral trade talks beginning on Tuesday.

It seems like strongman Robert Mugabe is keeping his grip on power in Zimbabwe by giving seized land to members of the military. Despite insanely high levels of inflation (164%) and unemployment (75%), Zimbabwe spends nearly 10% of its budget on the military.

The nation of Afghanistan, which is trying to hold parliamentary elections next month, needs an additional 19 million dollars to pay for election workers and set up polling booths. But of course the elections will be held anyway, since they're not designed to do anything of substance anyway :(

Meanwhile the Invincible Taliban continue their relentless campaign, killing one American soldier in heavy fighting in Zabul Province.

And in the forgotten North Caucuses War, three police officers were killed by an anti-vehicle explosion near Grozny, Chechnya. A Russian soldier was killed by a second explosion in Staropromyslovsky, Grozny. And near Nozhai-Yurt, four soldiers were founded in a gun battle.

Three men and a girl have been arrested in Turkey, charged with attempted murder for the bomb that went off in Istanbul last month.

Straight from the Pentagon's own website:

Iraqis see foreign troops - and there are 138,000 Americans in the country - as occupation forces

A filmmaker in Russia is shooting a "musical" pornographic movie based on the allegations that Georgian PM Mikhail Saakashvili has had a sexual relationship with Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko. This movie may cause tensions between the three countries or not, but it's certainly going to get a lot of attention.

I'm sure you've heard of the saber rattling over Iran's resumption of uranium enrichment, but now surprisingly Russia has also joined in to urge them to cease activity. Meanwhile today's Spiegel has a good round-up of what German papers are saying about it, including De Tagezeitung blaming the crisis on the U.S..

Good news as the United Nations' WHO says that the bird flu epidemic in Russia should disappear by the end of the month due to changing winter conditions.

And last but not least, in response to a diplomatic crisis with Colombia, the government of Ireland may use local laws to make the "Colombia 3", three Irish citizens convicted of crimes in Colombia, serve out their sentences in Ireland.

Peace/Paz/Pace/Paix

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EuroPDB: August 10, 2005 | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Senior Army Gen Byrnes Relieved of Duties (none / 1)

Gen. Kevin P. Byrnes relieved of his command (Military.com reg. req.)

WASHINGTON - The Army, in a rare disciplinary act against a four-star officer, relieved Gen. Kevin P. Byrnes -bio- of his command after a Pentagon investigation into unspecified "personal conduct."

Byrnes was relieved as commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command on Monday by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker, according to a brief statement issued by Army headquarters at the Pentagon.

In that post, Byrnes oversaw all Army training programs and the development of war-fighting guidelines. It operates 33 training schools and centers on 16 Army installations and is headquartered at Fort Monroe, Va. Among the command's responsibilities is to oversee Army recruiting and initial recruit training.

"The investigation upon which this relief is based is undergoing further review to determine the appropriate final disposition of this matter," the Army statement said.

Although disciplinary action against general officers is not uncommon, it is extremely rare for a four-star general to be relieved of command. Byrnes held the position as commander of Training and Doctrine Command since November 2002. Before that he was director of the Army staff at Army headquarters in the Pentagon.

Byrnes' tenure at Training and Doctrine Command was already coming to a close, since his successor had been named - though not yet confirmed by the Senate - and Byrnes had not been nominated for another post. He was expected to retire.

A spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Bryan Whitman, said the investigation involved "matters of personal conduct," but he would not say more. Other officials said the matter was investigated by the Defense Department Inspector General and the findings were now being considered by senior Army officials to determine whether further action should be taken.

Among the four-star general or flag officers to have been relieved of command in recent years --
● Navy Adm. Richard C. Macke, sacked as commander of Pacific Command in 1995 for remarks he made about the case of U.S. Marines accused of raping a 12-year-old Japanese girl,
● Gen. Michael Dugan, who was fired as chief of staff of the Air Force in 1990 for comments to reporters about planning for the 1991 Gulf War.

~~~

by Oui on Wed Aug 10th, 2005 at 08:36:08 AM EST

Re: EuroPDB: August 10, 2005 (none / 1)

For all their public complaints, the Colombians have not made any formal request of the Irish Government.

The legislation they're talking about using has yet to be enacted. And would be subject to judicial review, including the issue of the standard of justice systems in the state that convicted them.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Aug 10th, 2005 at 08:38:19 AM EST

Aug 2005 - Taliban Executes Afghan Woman (none / 1)

.
On charges of spying for the United States! Father and husband were abducted, government fears for their safety and lives. Who is in control of Afghanistan anyway! Recent news from Afghanistan: US Seals lost, chinook helicopter shot down, 14 US lives lost.

Last week een message from 9/11 terrorist Al Zawahiri, Bush spending 5 weeks on his ranch in Texas. Is the world safer with Bush in the White House? When will this Bubble of Illusion Burst! Bush-Rove are identical to Houdini, their politics market illusions. SHAME!

Afghan News <click on pic for Afghan Map>

Al-Qaeda a virtual network

~~~

by Oui on Wed Aug 10th, 2005 at 09:31:30 AM EST

Re: Aug 2005 - Taliban Executes Afghan Woman (none / 1)

I check in on that site periodically and wonder how Afghanistan is simply off the radar completely for people in the US..almost like our invasion there either never happened or we 'won' and now everything is all perfect so........

Is Afghanistan covered more in the news over here?

"People never do evil so throughly and happily as when they do it from moral conviction."-Blaise Pascal

by chocolate ink on Wed Aug 10th, 2005 at 09:54:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Aug 2005 - Taliban Executes Afghan Woman (none / 1)

I don't speak many languages but the only place Afghanistan is regularly covered is in Pakistan. It also gets regular coverage on Al-Jazeera. Other than that, it might as well not exist even with Americans blowing up.

Pax

Night and day you can find me Flogging the Simian

by soj on Thu Aug 11th, 2005 at 12:21:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Aug 2005 - Taliban Executes Afghan Woman (none / 0)

I check Al-Jazeera regularly also...among all the deaths in Afghanistan in the last month or so the deaths for American troops continues to escalate-5 just this week I believe...and no one in the US seems to give a shit. I just don't get it.

"People never do evil so throughly and happily as when they do it from moral conviction."-Blaise Pascal

by chocolate ink on Thu Aug 11th, 2005 at 03:30:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: EuroPDB: August 10, 2005 (none / 1)

All good stuff as usual soj. Found the link about golf courses in Spain interesting..I knew they used an enormous amount of water but as stated in article a gold course uses the equivalent amount of water to a town with 12,000 people. That certainly puts things in rather a sickening perspective.

"People never do evil so throughly and happily as when they do it from moral conviction."-Blaise Pascal

by chocolate ink on Wed Aug 10th, 2005 at 09:49:06 PM EST

EuroPDB: August 10, 2005 | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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