Russia 'strengthens occupation' despite claims of withdrawal

[HT:JH]
Gori - The Russian occupation of the Georgian city of Gori appeared to be more entrenched tonight, despite claims by President Medvedev that his troops were planning to withdraw. As international pressure increased on Mr Medvedev to implement a French-brokered ceasefire pledge signed last week, the Kremlin declared today that Russian forces would start pulling back from the occupied territory in 'three or four days'...

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NATO, divided over Russia sanctions, 'gave birth to a mouse'

NATO declared Tuesday that it cannot have normal relations with Russia while its troops occupy large parts of Georgia --- but alliance foreign ministers failed to terminate any cooperative programs.

The outcome of the emergency session called by the Bush administration indicated continuing divisions within the 26-nation organization even as Moscow has failed to withdraw its forces under a French-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Some European powers, like Germany, have been counseling restraint, anxious not to aggravate the crisis and jeopardize their energy supplies from Russia.

The United States and former Soviet-bloc governments have advocated a tougher stance, anxious to deter the Kremlin from believing it can reimpose its influence over its former empire...[snip]

Russia's representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, made light of the western alliance's indecision.

"The mountain gave birth to a mouse," he told reporters.

[Europe's moral bankruptcy is inviting further aggression, and not just Russia: what do you think China is learning from this vis-a-vis Taiwan {which the US is legally obligated to defend}? Worse than useless.]

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Poland 'won't be intimidated over missiles'

Warsaw - In a clear swipe at Russia, Poland's President Lech Kaczynski said his country would not give in to threats over its deal with Washington to deploy US missile silos on Polish soil. ''No one can dictate to Poland what it should do. That's in the past,'' Mr Kaczynski said in a live television address ahead of tomorrow's signing of the accord with the United States.

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British anti-Americanism 'based on misconceptions'

[HT:SB]
A poll of nearly 2,000 Britons by YouGov/PHI found that 70 per cent of respondents incorrectly said it was true that the US had done a worse job than the European Union in reducing carbon emissions since 2000. More than 50 per cent presumed that polygamy was legal in the US.

The survey showed that a majority agreed with the false statement that since the Second World War the US had more often sided with non-Muslims when they had come into conflict with Muslims. In fact in 11 out of 12 major conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims, Muslims and secular forces, or Arabs and non-Arabs, the US has sided with the former group. Those conflicts included Turkey and Greece, Bosnia and Yugoslavia, and and Kosovo and Yugoslavia.

Asked if it was true that "from 1973 to 1990 the United States sold Saddam Hussein more than a quarter of his weapons," 80 per cent of British respondents said yes. However the US sold just 0.46 per cent of Saddam's arsenal to him, compared to Russia's 57 per cent, France's 13 per cent and China's 12 per cent.

[and where would they get such misconceptions? A: same place we do: 'the telly' ]

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Arab Sentiment Backs Russia Over Georgia

A Gulf News editor, Abdul-Hadi Al-Timimi, wrote in an op-ed Sunday that Russia’s willingness to use its military might to reassert its influence in the former Soviet space was “long overdue,” and “most urgently needed at a time when the U.S. and its allies are targeting two of the last few Russian allies in the Middle East: Iran and Syria." [you know: terrorist exporting states]

“All Arabs are mad at Georgia because it sent its troops to Iraq and took part in the occupation of that Arab land,” he said. “If it weren’t for Russia, Georgian forces would still be in Iraq."

However, amid the pro-Russia sentiment, a warning came from the Middle East Times, which in an editorial Monday urged Arabs to think with their heads rather than their hearts:

“Today, and merely to spite the U.S., many Muslims forget that [Russian prime minister and former president] Vladimir Putin has repeatedly taken violent military stances against Muslims in Chechnya and elsewhere, and celebrate his violence to compensate for their constant failure,”

[tens of thousands of casualties in Chechnya.]

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union had close ties at times with a number of countries, including Egypt, Syria, Iraq, South Yemen, Algeria and Libya. It was also a key ally of the terrorist Palestine Liberation Organization.

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Twofer...

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Beijing's protest zones: Apply at your own risk

But four days after he evaded security officials in his hometown, slipped into Beijing at dawn and submitted his application, Gao, a farmer from Heilongjiang Province, has yet receive permission to display his hand-scrawled poster, which accuses local Communist Party officials and the police of conspiring to steal public money.

A tall, plain-spoken man, Gao, 45, persisted. During a subsequent arrest, he said he was brutally beaten by the police. They broke his leg in two places, his teeth were shattered and, he says, they kicked his genitals so hard he became impotent. During an interview on Tuesday, he showed photographs of his bruised limbs. His limp and evident stutter, he said, were a result of the beating. [snip]

Five days since the Olympics began, not a single demonstration had taken place at the three city parks approved for protests. In fact, at least four people have been detained for seeking to demonstrate, according to human rights groups and relatives of those who have been seized...

[Recommended > ]

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China has yet to approve protest applications
[HT:BN]
Beijing - Chinese authorities have not approved any of the 77 applications they received from people who wanted to hold protests during the Beijing Olympics, state media reported Monday.

The state-run Xinhua News Agency said the applications received since Aug. 1, a week before the games opened, were submitted by 149 people, including three from overseas. (Snip) But 74 of the applications were withdrawn...

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Arctic ice refuses to melt as ordered

Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the "North Pole may be ice-free for first time this summer". Others predicted that the entire "polar ice cap would disappear this summer".

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado released an alarming graph on August 11, showing that Arctic ice was rapidly disappearing, back towards last year's record minimum. Their data shows Arctic sea ice extent only 10 per cent greater than this date in 2007, and the second lowest on record. Here's a smaller version of the graph:
The problem is that this graph does not appear to be correct.

Other data sources show Arctic ice having made a nice recovery this summer. Maps of Arctic ice extent are readily available from several sources, including the University of Illinois, which keeps a daily archive for the last 30 years. A comparison of these maps (derived from NSIDC data) below shows that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007. (2008 is a leap year, so the dates are offset by one.)


So how did NSIDC calculate a 10 per cent increase over 2007? Their graph appears to disagree with the maps by a factor of three (10 per cent vs. 30 per cent) - hardly a trivial discrepancy.

And what of the Antarctic? Down south, ice extent is well ahead of the recent average. Why isn't NSIDC making similarly high-profile press releases about the increase in Antarctic ice over the last 30 years?

[A: funding]

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Inconvenient Youth: Brainwashing Teens With Climate Hysteria

A new group has been launched to brainwash America's teenagers with a "youth-focused version" of Nobel Laureate Al Gore's hysteria-filled and factually inaccurate schlockumentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Even scarier, its founder is the daughter of a key partner at the venture capital firm Gore joined last November.

Based in Menlo Park, California, Inconvenient Youth is a non-profit group looking to "mobilize young people to educate their communities about environmental science" in order to solve global warming.

Isn't that sweet? Now Gore's got kids brainwashing other kids to further climate hysteria in the hopes that Congress will eventually enact a carbon cap and trade program that will likely make him a billionaire.

As reported by MarketWatch Friday:...

[do you know what your children are being 'taught' on this topic?]

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To Drill, or Not to Drill

... The answer that [Governor of Alaska] Palin makes a straightforward case for drilling in ANWR.:

"One of the pieces of a solution is allowing exploration on that little 2,000 acre plot of land out of the 20 million acres up there in the coastal plain."

The 2,000 acres that Palin refers to is the area that a drilling site would require--"smaller than the size of LAX," as she puts it.

"With new technology and directional drilling and other measures that can be taken today to minimize even that footprint. We know that this can be done safely and this can be managed well."

She added:

"And I know up here in Alaska, most every Alaskan believes that ANWR should be drilled, and no one cares more about Alaska's environment--our lands, our wildlife, our fresh air, our clean water--than Alaskans themselves. And we know that this can be allowed safely, cleanly, ethically--this type of exploration and development of an American supply of energy."

That last point is significant...

[where do all the bad guys of the world get the money to cause trouble? Us. We financed the invasion of Georgia: it's a consequence of >100$ oil due to our arbitrary refusal to contribute to world supply.]

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NAFTA paves U. S. route to energy from north

Beneath the forests of Alberta, 2,300 miles miles northwest of Buffalo, you’ll find the latest black gold: a mix of sand and oil being mined as a new kind of gusher.

And Alberta’s Athabasca Oil Sands are just part of a petroleum boom that has made Canada the world’s top supplier of oil to the United States.

[everyone but us]

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Union Prez: Teachers Shouldn't Protect Students

If your child's school were invaded by Columbine-style killers, methodically murdering students in cold blood, would you want teachers to shoot to stop them? Gayle Fallon wouldn't.

The topic was a decision adopted by a rural north Texas school district to permit teachers to carry guns in the classroom. Harrold, TX School Superintendent David Thweatt explained that the decision was prompted by the school's close proximity to an interstate and its remoteness—thirty minutes away from law enforcement—factors presumably making it a tempting target.

Thweatt made clear that all guns have to be approved by the school board and teachers have to undergo extensive safety and related training. None of that mattered to Fallon:

"Initially I thought it was a joke. However, after a couple of media calls, we realized it wasn't and we were asked whether our district would consider it, and it was absolutely no way would we consider it. One of the things that hit me is, you know, Columbine and the other incidents were generally initiated by students. Now, I've been around teachers a long time. They don't have it in them to aim at a student and kill him. Nor would I want them to." [?]

View video here.

[even when the 'student' is witnessed murdering others? ..... we need universal vouchers]

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Bush to relax protected species rules

WASHINGTON - Parts of the Endangered Species Act may soon be extinct. The Bush administration wants federal agencies to decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants.

New regulations, which don't require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews government scientists have been performing for 35 years...

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Shocking!: Windmill Owner Wants More Wind Subsidies!

Would a major newspaper editorialize with surprise that "even Kraft Foods says we need to eat more macaroni and cheese"? Would guests on The McLaughlin Group get away with saying that "even Budweiser is lobbying for more beer consumption"?

Then why do talking heads and journalists exclaim with surprise that "even T. Boone Pickens," is lobbying for greater U.S. reliance on wind power? Don't they know he owns the largest wind farm in the world?

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