News – Sharon’s End Inevitable?

Israel/Palestine

Sharon seems to be amending his Gaza proposal now. One unconfirmed possibility seems to be a partial pull back from Gaza, which would more or less go over poorly with everyone. The settlers don’t want to budge and inch and the Palestinians want them all out. Middle of the road will likely be one of the poorest options in this game.

Meanwhile an Israeli missile strike kills two, including a 16 year old boy.

Overall, I don’t see this going well at all. Rumor has it Sharon might try a full referendum on the issue. So what if he wins it? It wont’ change the settlers determination. Many of them seem to be fanatical Zionists who simply won’t budge. Every halfhearted effort to move them, they’ve met with resistance. Will Sharon move the IDF to forcibly relocate them? If he does, what will all of Israel think of it? I think Sharon’s days in the lead are dwindling. Soon enough, he’s going to be voted out.

An Israeli firm, International Technologies Lasers Ltd, has developed a laser device that can detect a suicide bomber’s explosive belt or chemical weapons from dozens of meters away.

In a mirror of the assault in Blair, former US diplomats are leveling fire on Bush.

International Papers covers the snub of Sharon by his own party.

Iraq

Iran says the US should leave matters of Sadr to Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim leaders. Of course, that would be placing the issue out of reach, which US big wigs can’t stand. They need theor grips on power.

Bush wants punishments for those who abused the Iraqi prisoners. Good for sound bites, but we’ll see how his follow through is when it comes to divvying out correction. So far, the six reprimanded officers have likely ended their military careers. That’s a start.

Arab papers respond to the whole thing. And we can muse Rummy’s silence on the mater.

A senior CIA official says no CIA operatives were involved in the Iraqi prisoner abuse. Though the inspector general is conducting an investigation into the deaths of a prisoner who was held in the Abu Ghraib prison.

Tony Blair meets with Brahimi as criticism rises that the caretaker government proposed would have little in the way of power. Meanwhile the US announces Iraq will be given “full sovereignty”, but only “limited authority”. How you can have full in one and limited in the other is a little mystifying. The Bush administration has made clear that the caretaker government will have no control over security, laws or budgets.

Sounds like a symbolic power to me. I can understand sharing authority on security, but the other two are pretty much two thirds of the triad when it comes to sovereignty. What will this government have power over?

Afghanistan

Taliban guerrillas execute five Afghan policemen. The police in question were kidnapped on Moday in the Shah Joy district of Zabul.

Taliban militants being held since 2001 are staging a hunger strike in protest of conditions they’re being held in.

Turkey

Turkish police are probing a suspected bomb plot involving a NATO summit in Istanbul next month. Nine suspects are being held, while seven others have recently been released.

Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, an accused former aide of Bin Laden, was jailed yesterday for stabbing a guard through the eye with a sharpened comb while he awaited trial for conspiring with al Qaeda to kill Americans.

Bush is on a bus tour to the ‘battleground’ states. Yet another of the inanities of US elections. Only a few states get the honor to be a focus of the presidential candidates. Those others who aren’t are a given. Here in Virginia, we’re supposedly a Bush state. So neither of the candidates feels a need to play it up to the natives.

Kerry has a wave of ads coming to define himself and counter Bush’s latest barrage. So much money these two waste.

Meanwhile Cheney, the attack VP, starts blasting Kerry on spending and taxes. Isn’t it nice that Bush has his own personal attack dog to do the dirty work for him while he tosses out awkward attempts at humor?

Since when has it benifitted our national security to make secret that Augusto Pinochet was partial to scotch and pisco sours. 14 million more secrets for this administration.

Visitors to Ayers Island, home of an abandoned paper mill, will be placed under heavy surveillance to track and evaluate it’s visitors. It looks annoyingly intrusive to me.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission says it won’t have the cash to deal with possible election probems that could crop up in November with e-voting machines.

Explainer talks about who protects Supreme Court Justices. Why, the Supreme Court Police do.

General

Today’s Papers has the Bush administration officially violating federal law, hopeful signs in southern Iraq, questionable recommendations for Abu Ghraib last year and more.

Amusements

Restaurant cooling-unit fan becomes electric spanking machine for bungling burglar

Fark Photoshop Challege: Theme: How I spent my Spring Break

Fark Photoshop Challege: Farker misses his godson, who moved from California to Ohio. Create a printable card for him to send to remind Gino that Uncle Greg loves and misses him.