Monthly Archives: September 2013

John Kerry: Assad is the new Hitler because of chem. weapon use

"Secretary of State John Kerry today compared Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein as he said new lab tests proved that deadly sarin nerve gas was used to kill nearly 1,500 civilians last month. 'Bashar al-Assad now joins a list of Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein who have used these weapons in time of war,' Kerry told NBC's 'Face the Nation.' Kerry called the murderous attack an 'affront against the decency and sensibilities of the world.' 'So this case is building and this case will build.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJohn Kerry: Assad is the new Hitler because of chem. weapon use

Iran claims U.S. Congress not ‘authorized’ to authorize Syria strikes

"The US Congress is not authorised to green-light American military strikes against Syria as any such action would be in violation of international law, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday. 'Mr Obama cannot interpret and construe international law for his own (benefit),' Zarif told reporters after a late afternoon cabinet meeting, the ISNA news agency reported. 'Congress cannot authorise strikes (against Syria) and that attack would be in violation of international law,' he said, explaining that 'only the UN Security Council — under special conditions — can issue authorization' for the use of force to restore international peace." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIran claims U.S. Congress not ‘authorized’ to authorize Syria strikes

A Bad Argument for Bombing Syria

"Obama said: 'When you start talking about chemical weapons, in a country that has the largest stockpile of chemical weapons in the world, where over time their control of chemical weapons may erode, where they’re allied to known terrorist organizations, that in the past have targeted the United States, then there is a prospect, a possibility in which chemical weapons, that can have devastating effects, could be directed at us and we want to make sure that that does not happen.' He proposes military measures to punish the Assad regime for its alleged use of nerve gas. But that would not in the slightest reduce terrorist acquisition of parts or all of the Syrian government’s stock of nerve gas." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Bad Argument for Bombing Syria

How many U.S. immigrant-citizens renounce their prior citizenships?

"What’s the rate of compliance with these single-citizenship laws? Not very high; perhaps half at most, judging from Japanese and South Korean data. In a minority of cases, failure to report your new citizenship to the government of your country of origin may indeed represent an attempt to game the system. However, in most cases, it’s simply due to benign neglect: you are no longer under the jurisdiction of the 'old country', and have no future intention of exercising any rights there, so you don’t bother with the rules of their system. And of course, civilised countries do not presume guilt in such cases, nor impose life-altering fines on emigrants for failure to comply with obscure paperwork." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow many U.S. immigrant-citizens renounce their prior citizenships?

Finally, a reasonable newspaper article on why people renounce citizenship

"'Wages in the United States are low and many hard working people struggle to afford life’s basic necessities. Other burning issues include a degrading public health system, a half-dead retail sector and an arguably chaotic political environment … Americans who have relatives and friends outside of the United States are choosing to renounce their U.S. citizenship and relocate to countries with better economies.' Oh wait, I seem to have inadvertently misquoted the article. We at the Isaac Brock Society deeply regret this editing error. It’s actually talking about the reasons why citizens of Botswana renounce." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFinally, a reasonable newspaper article on why people renounce citizenship

U.S. court grants Nigerian asylum-seeker the right to testify about his own torture

"The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided today that a Nigerian man, Olakunle Oshodi, will be allowed to testify fully at his deportation hearing about the torture he suffered as a political dissident at the hands of Nigerian officials before he fled his homeland. The lower courts and dissenting judges refused to hear what happened the first time an unsympathetic immigration judge deported him, back in 1978. Oshodi returned to the United States in 1981, eventually married a citizen and had a child. Despite that, he faced deportation years later and then applied for political asylum." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. court grants Nigerian asylum-seeker the right to testify about his own torture

North Korean spy’s memoir details ‘enemization’ training by abducted South Koreans

"After graduation, the focus switched to training the agents to pass as locals. South Koreans abducted and smuggled back into the North were among those who instructed them in mastering the right accents and understanding the social and political culture of the capitalist South. This 'enemization' process gave them their first real taste of life outside the isolated North, as they consumed a daily diet of South Korean TV shows, movies, magazines, newspapers and books. Popular songs and dance moves were memorised, along with the names and careers of prominent TV celebrities and sports stars." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNorth Korean spy’s memoir details ‘enemization’ training by abducted South Koreans

Do Korea “experts” know what they are talking about?

"There is convincing evidence that most Western 'experts' on the DPRK have little, if any, clue what they are talking about. B.R. Myers, one of the very few bona fide experts on Pyongyang and its weird regime, has written at length about just how misguided most of what you’re hearing and reading about North Korea now actually is. In the first place, many commentators apply outdated, Cold War thinking to the DPRK, where it doesn’t fit. Moreover, most 'experts' are stunningly ignorant of what North Korea actually is like or how it thinks, resulting in profound Western misreads on why Pyongyang does what it does. Which, given the awesomely high nuclear stakes right now, kinda matters." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDo Korea “experts” know what they are talking about?

Eric Margolis: Korea, One Of The World’s Five Most Strategic Nations

"Amazingly, South Korea’s tough 600,000-man armed forces are under the command of a US four-star general 60 years after the end of the Korean War, backed up by 28,500 US troops that include a full heavy infantry division, North Korea calls itself the 'true Korea,' denouncing the South as 'puppets of the US imperialists.' Interestingly, some studies show that many South Koreans share this view and are proud of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program though they want no part of its socialism and self-reliant policy known as 'juche.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEric Margolis: Korea, One Of The World’s Five Most Strategic Nations

U.S. seeks to speed up hearings for five 9/11 suspects

"Self-declared 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed appeared in the military court at the US prison in Cuba with his four co-defendants. All face the death penalty if convicted of plotting the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, which left nearly 3,000 people dead. Preliminary hearings in the case began in May 2012. The five defendants were held incommunicado in secret CIA prisons from 2002 to 2006, before they were transferred to Guantanamo. The detainees’ treatment has come under close scrutiny. Mohammed is known to have been subjected to 183 sessions of waterboarding, the technique of simulated drowning which has been decried as torture by rights groups." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. seeks to speed up hearings for five 9/11 suspects