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POPSGirls and Women Women of Iraq have gradually let go of most of their 20th century gains and privileges in the last 4 years of occupation. Iraq turned from a modern country of educated and working women into a divided land of Islamic and ethnic warlords who compete in canceling women from the social realm........Read more Islamic Sharia law: a constant threat against the rights and freedom of women in the Middle East
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POPSAn American in Albania ...The Albanians of Montenegro were lucky, I thought as we approached the customs agents, to live under Josip Broz Tito's relatively lenient communist system in Yugoslavia instead of suffering Enver Hoxha's full-bore Stalinist regime just a few miles away in Albania proper. Hoxha, who ranks among the most thoroughly oppressive tyrants in history, made Tito's dictatorship look libertarian....
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POPSIraq, and the Truth We Dare Not Speak I couldn't clip the foundational paragraph of this excellent article. It explains the contrary poles of American thinking and the danger of the current public opinions in America.
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POPS'Tragic protest' of Iraqi Kurdish women "When Saddam's regime was in power he did everything to subordinate women" "The Anfal Campaign against the Kurds was exactly like that. He actually killed all the men but let the women stay and live that sort of misery with their children. There was 30 years of that kind of rule. It will take a long, long time for that to change. It is a very slow and painful process." The human rights minister in the Kurdistan region admits that immolation is a problem that his government is struggling to deal with There have been attempts to improve education and women's shelters have been built, but it will take years to change long-held customs.
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POPSHersh: Surge=Ethnic Cleansing; Worse than Vietnam.
Hersh: "Much worse. Vietnam was a tactical mistake. This is strategic. How do you repair damages with whole cultures? On the home front, though, we'll rationalize it away. Don't worry about that. Again, there's no learning curve. No learning curve at all. We'll be ready to fight another stupid war in another two decades. Hersh on Media: "... back then, they blew it. When you have a guy like Bush who's going to move the infamous Doomsday Clock forward, and he's going to put everybody in jeopardy and he's secretive and he doesn't tell Congress anything and he's inured to what we write. In such a case, we become more important. The First Amendment failed and the American press failed the Constitution. We were jingoistic. And that was a terrible failing. I'm asked the question all the time: What happened to my old paper, the New York Times? And I now say, they stink. They missed it. They missed the biggest story of the time and they're going to have to live with it."
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POPSKucinich: Bush Cronies and privitization of Iraqi Oil
More: The connections between Hunt Oil Company and the Bush Administration are numerous: * Mr. Ray Hunt, CEO of Hunt Oil, acted as the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee for President George W. Bush in 2002, led the Republican National Committee's Victory Fund for President George W. Bush and personally donated $20,000 to the Committee. * Mr. Hunt contributed $100,000 toward inaugural festivities for President George W. Bush in 2001, while Hunt Consolidated contributed $250,000 toward the 2005 Bush presidential inaugural gala. * Mr. Hunt has also given generously toward construction of the Bush library by securing $35 million in additional property for the endeavor. * President George W. Bush has twice appointed Mr. Hunt to a seat on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), which is said to have access to intelligence that experts acknowledge is advantageous to the international energy interest of the Hunt Oil Company.
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POPSAmerica's Allies at War: Turkey and the Kurds Ut-oh. Turkey? As in our long-time Near-Eastern ally? Getting ready to invade Iraq? To attack the Kurds? As in the only people in Iraq currently not trying to kill us? I'm going to file this one under "Lose Lose Situation." To bad we don't have a leader with diplomatic skills who could be defusing this situation RIGHT NOW...
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POPS Tehran Calls Iranian Kurds "Terrorists" In an exclusive interview with Newsmax recently in Berlin, Ahmadi says that Iran was now working hand-in-glove with Turkey to get PJAK labeled as a terrorist organization. “Iran knows they can’t make trouble for us directly because they have such bad relations with Europe. That’s why they are going through Turkey.” The Iranian regime has been telling journalists and diplomats that PJAK and the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers Party) are the same. “But we are an Iranian party, and have nothing to do with Turkey,” he says. PJAK has become a serious threat to the regime in Tehran because it is fighting to overthrow the clerical regime in favor of a secular republic and because it favors equality between men and women, Ahmadi asserts. The group has around 2,500 armed guerilla fighters, 40 percent of whom are women.
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POPS11 years old Sara Jaffar Nimat stoned to death in Kurdistan Khanaqin (Khanakin, Xanaqin, Xaneqîn) is a city in eastern Iraq, south of Kurdish regions. In 9/6/2006 all the members of the city council of Khanaqin demanded that the city be separated from control of the Diyala governorate and be allowed to join the Autonomous Kurdistan region. In December 2007 there will be a referendum including the city to the Kurdish controlled north. en.wikipedia.org As for so-called honour killings see also this clip , this one , and this one . See also matttbastard's blog .
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POPSTurkish incursion threatens only part of Iraq still at peace
From the article: The impact on the region of a Turkish attack, if it takes place, will depend on the extent of the intervention. If it is confined to the mountains on the frontier, where there are only a few villages, then the KRG would be unlikely to respond. Turkish incursions by 35,000 to 50,000 troops in 1995 and 1997 failed to achieve anything. But if Turkish forces advance into important towns and cities then Kurdish troops would be bound to respond. The KRG will also want to prevent a precedent being established whereby the Turkish army can cross the Turkish-Iraq frontier at will. Turkey has been alarmed to see the development of an effectively independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq and an Iraqi government in Baghdad in which the Kurds play a leading role. It is particularly anxious about the referendum which might lead to the oil province of Kirkuk joining the KRG under a poll which was promised under the constitution for the end of 2007 but may now be delayed."
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POPSConflict on a Second Kurdish Front Like the P.K.K., the Iranian Kurds control much of the craggy, boulder-strewn frontier and routinely ambush patrols on the other side. But while the Americans call the P.K.K. terrorists, guerrilla commanders say P.J.A.K. has had “direct or indirect discussions” with American officials. They would not divulge any details of the discussions or the level of the officials involved, but they noted that the group’s leader, Rahman Haj-Ahmadi, visited Washington last summer. Biryar Gabar, one of 11 members of the group’s leadership, said there had been “normal dialogue” with American officials, declining specifics. One of his bodyguards said officials of the group met with Americans in Kirkuk last year.
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POPSTurkish Parliament approves Iraq offensive The vote was 507-19 They stressed the offensive against the PKK or Kurdish resistance, would not start immediately, and would proceed over a one year time period. President Bush said ":We don't think it's in their interests to send more troops in" Turkey already has troops stationed in Iraq. Oh yeah, their country is just a few miles north of the Real terrorism. So now he runs Turkey, but beside that, with all of the statistics and calls for help the U.S. Admin has issued with regard to help with the war in Iraq, the Turkish Govt's aim seems the same as the Iraqi's, to "Halt the terrorist activities of the PKK in Iraq," I don't know why the Turkish action won't achieve the same as that of the US. Perhaps the type help requested by the US is too specific. Bush wants WASPs (White Anglo Saxon Protestants), with a few notable Minority figures in charge.
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POPSPeaceful Kusdistan? Tell that to the Iranians and Turks He said that a statement issued by the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, a branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which is also known as the PKK, claimed credit for the recent assassination of an Iranian intelligence official. Yawr said the Iranian raid was in retaliation.... Earlier this year, Turkey, a NATO ally, threatened to invade northern Iraq if the United States and Iraq didn't stop PKK guerrillas from taking shelter there. Turkey said the PKK's battle for an ethnic homeland has claimed the lives of 30,000 people.
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POPS The Restoration of King Dollar Every time an international terrorist event occurs, like the al-Qaeda assassination attempt on former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the dollar falls. When the Turks threaten military action in Kurdistan, Iraq, with speculation that they might march toward the Kirkuk oilfields, the dollar falls. When comrade Vladimir Putin shows up in Iran, with mischief-making statements that support trade and nuclear partnerships with that terrorist government, the dollar falls. It seems as though any nasty international event leads to a dollar decline. This is not good. The dollar needs some propping up. Oil prices are rising. Gold prices are rising. And currency traders around the world have set up huge short-selling positions in the greenback. But a few strong words from Mr. Paulson, coupled with a few well-timed rounds of dollar-buying, could turn the U.S. currency story around
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