The Israeli Public Security Minister has given notice that there is already a member of an extreme-right Jewish group preparing to assassinate a government official, possibly including Prime Minister Sharon, in order to stall or prevent the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. This is unfortunately not unforeseeable, since former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish extremist after making large steps in the peace process with the Palestinians. Can't we just take all of the extremists from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian factions and lock them all on an island somewhere so the rest of us can live in peace?
The pullout of US forces around the city of Falluja in April, allowing local Iraqis to police the city, has reportedly created conditions that are allowing insurgents to organize attacks against coalition troops and other targets. The result are events like those that occurred today in Samarra, where four US soldiers were killed in a mortar attack on the American headquarters. All this comes as the Iraqi government enacted emergency powers legislation giving them the right to impose limited martial law. On the subject of why those soldiers are supposedly there in the first place, there is now pressure by the opposition Labour Party on Australian Prime Minister John Howard to admit that there are no WMDs in Iraq after Tony Blair's recent announcement and George Bush's less-than-solid response to the question. In Guantanamo Bay, the measures currently being taken by the Pentagon to comply with the recent Supreme Court ruling concerning the prisoners' right to a hearing are seen as minimal if not in non-compliance with the ruling by many observers.
China is reportedly not very pleased with the spreading democracy in just about every country surrounding it, maybe because in a democracy it's much more difficult to greatly reduce the rights of ethnic groups like the Uighurs, subjecting them to arbitrary arrest and torture, with anti-terrorism legislation. Although then again, if they took John Ashcroft on as their Attorney General, maybe they could work something out.
The John^2 ticket is off and running today with a new 'optimistic' outlook and reportedly better hair than their opponents. The New Republic reports from Pakistani sources that American government officials are repeatedly stressing the need to capture Osama bin Laden before November, giving the Pakistani government arms deals and aid as an incentive. The Economist takes a look at the potential impact and relationship that Latinos have with both the Democrats and Republicans. The brand new rumor circulating around the media, however, is that Dick Cheney is going to resign his vice-presidency for McCain or Powell. I'll believe it when I see it.
Also:
- Slate tackles the social and political issues surrounding the death penalty.
- Echoing a small study I did while in university, welfare rates in Canada have now dropped well below the poverty line in all provinces.
- The Economist takes on the issues in the Indonesian election.
- UN officials have reported that due to the failed land-redistribution plan of President Mugabe, Zimbabwe will not produce enough food to feed its population this year. Meanwhile politicians in the US are putting more effort into moving forward with a response to the situation.
- The French government is opposing a UN Security Council resolution that would impose sanctions on Sudan, stating that they will not help the current situation in Darfur.
- The Congress Party, not wanting to go the way of the BJP in the last election, has issued a budget pledging billions of dollars to support poor regions.
- An article about the imported Japanese game show, Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.
- Why should you implicitly support the Democrats with your ketchup purchases if you're a Republican? Now you have an alternative choice -- W brand Ketchup.
- The CDC has a strange notion of what children are into. From their children's website, tradable disease cards!
- Bloggers who suffer burnout, or why I was on blogging vacation for the past month.
- A website devoted to the mistakes found in Spiderman 2. Once you get done with that you can check out Spiderman 2 online, as done by Lego characters. (QuickTime movie)
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