Global

This article opens up a contradiction that is hard to fathom:

Link to IHT Article

By Carlotta Gall
Tuesday, December 18, 2007

. . . .

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies, apparently trying to avoid acknowledging an elaborate secret detention system, have quietly set free nearly 100 men suspected of links to terrorism, human rights groups and lawyers say.
. . . . .
The issue of the missing had become one of the most contentious between Musharraf and the Supreme Court under its former chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry.

One should not forget that Cardinal Ratzinger (before becoming pope) said: Turkey should find its identity in the Islamic world and not in Christian Europe.

I had the privilege to visit Istanbul recently, and I would advise anyone to please go visit Turkey, and particular Istanbul, to understand this critical issue at this point in history:

1. Istanbul sits in Europe (on the old Greek province of Thrace).  The Ottoman Sultans' seat of government was here.

2. The Ottoman sultan was also 'sultan-i-room' - King of Rome - the Byzantine Empire (the Russian Orthodox became independent due to the conquest of Byzantium by Muslims).

While travelling the other day, I observed the lady next to me reading an American evangelical magazine with page after page of anti-Islam stuff stated in the most childishly hateful manner. More than offended, I was amused and wondered what was the desired goal of this synergy between Zionists, evangelical Christians and some militant governments of the West. Governments that keep warning, almost subliminally, 'they want to change our way of life, let history judge us'.

I don't know how the media missed the angle that the current Pope, Benedict XVI, made comments that Turkey did not belong in the European Union and it should look for its identity in the Islamic world. These remarks were made just before he became Pope. It has also been widely known that the Pope wants to take on Islamic fundamentalists on an intellectual level.

Letter published by the Toronto Star

Re: Outspoken Liberal MP exits foreign critic post - Aug. 24.

The recent flap over a Liberal MP's suggestion that Canada should be encouraging a dialogue with Hezbollah is very unfortunate.

The rationale that one should never talk to a militant group is flawed and part of the verbal arsenal of the neo-con assault on common sense.

No one can dispute that Hezbollah is part and parcel of the 1.4 million Lebanese in southern Lebanon and its formation is the direct result of the political aspirations of the Lebanese Shia.

Often in human history, there comes a time when a generation must heed the call to quell a threat to civilization. Not every generation is faced with this call and those that do are remembered for their sacrifice by the others that are not.

Akber Choudhry

"Russia's big and so is China", the US president made this remark while the microphone was on. The rest of the overheard conversation showed how pitifully foolish and out of touch Bush is. It also shows, sadly, that the US has no clout left.

Well, you are going to read it here first: the US is not intervening in the Israel-Lebanon war because it cannot. As simple as that. Iran has skillfully played its hand and the Arabs, the Americans and the Israelis are not happy that Iran is now the 'other power' in the Middle East.

Impeccable timing and media manipulation - that's all I can say.

"Now the Lebanese and the Palestinians are both caught in the crossfire. Iran and its proxies on one side, and Israel (and Washington) on the other, are acting like chess players who, having both thought out a sequence of moves well in advance, are now moving pieces and sacrificing pawns at breakneck speed. There will be a great many pawns sacrificed, as well as most of the other pieces on the board, and the end game will inevitably be truly ugly. Unless somebody intervenes." -- Geov Parrish at WorkingForChange.com

Israel's over-reaction to the capture of anonymous soldiers coincided with the referral of Iran to the UN concerning its nuclear program. The dust will not settle easily now. The US is going to be pulled in, and its decision is to let tensions simmer or let the drums roll - World War III.

"This isn't a challenge to some decision that a court makes. This is a challenge to the court itself." --
Prof. Neal Katyal, in front of the US Supreme Court.

bin Laden's driver defeated the US Secretary of Defence in the US Supreme Court. Some sense has prevailed in the US, and the doublespeak of the Bush administration has come to a reckoning. And finally, we see a glimpse of what made Western civilization great: the rule of law.

By Faheem Hussain
The Post, Pakistan

Faheem Hussain is an Italian based Pakistani theoretical physicist who has written for Counterpunch magazine.

In this piece for the Pakistani newspaper POST, Hussain appeals to the American people
saying, Americans "are responsible for their elected leaders and, if they want to save civilisation in the United States, they have to get rid of this terrorist cabal which has taken over the reins of power in the White House before they do any more damage to the world. The criminal gang in the White House should be impeached and tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Only in this way can there be any hope of resurrecting the image of the United States in the world." Hussain suggests the US is rapidly descending into a "barbarity" that shows something "deeply pathological" about the country.

Pope Benedict said the following today:

In a clear reference to Iran, he said: "Concerning the international crises linked to nuclear power, may an honourable solution be found for all parties, through serious and honest negotiations."