Maybe a genocidal past should be a requirement for membership

You're never going to believe this, but Serbia is saying that they need more time to turn over Ratko Mladic.

It was bad enough that Milosevic died before a verdict had been delivered in his case. At this rate, Mladic will live out the rest of his life without going on trial.

I can't say that I have high hopes for Europe standing firm on their deadline. Let's face it, it would be rather out of character. But if they do cave, they really need to think what message it sends that protecting genocidal maniacs isn't a barrier to joining your club.

Progress in the Middle East?

Sorting through the mail at work one day about 5 years ago, I came across a letter from Iraq. On it was a stamp with an image of Saddam Hussein. The picture was surround by a heart shaped garland of flowers. There was writing in Arabic (I don't know what it said), and in English it said "We say yes Saddam!".

A few minutes ago, I was looking at the massive pile of mail and told our clerks to watch out for cool stamps, because you never know what treasures you might find. I glanced through and found a letter from Saudi Arabia. The message on the stamp is "No For Terrorism". Sure, it would be better if it wasn't just rhetoric on Saudi Arabia's part. But if stamps from the Middle East have to contain political messages, I'll pick the latter over the former any day.

WWJD? I bet he'd say "Thank you"

The "Christian Peacemaker" hostages were freed today by coalition forces in Iraq. I don't care whether or not they acknowledge it, they owe their freedom to the brave British and U.S. forces that rescued them.

What I love about these pacifisty types is that, when push comes to shove, they will abandon their principles. If they don't believe that coalition forces should be in Iraq, then they should have refused to be rescued by them. Now we'll never know how long it would have taken for prayer to turn their captors hearts!

Attention Language Lovers!

Do you have any burning questions about generative grammar or the pro-drop parameter? If so, you won't want to miss the online chat with linguist Noam Chomsky at the Washington Post on Friday. If we're lucky, he might even be convinced to share his views on American foreign policy.

"I shall go on keeping score about this until the last phony pacifist has been strangled with the entrails of the last suicide-murderer."

I've been feeling sort of irritated of late as I keep reading things that imply that, at the 3 year mark, we are now all in agreement that the war was a bad idea.

And that is why we have Hitch.

Take your time, it's not like lives are at stake or anything

NATO is now saying that they will provide support for a U.N. mission in Darfur. Not actual troops or anything crazy like that. This is hardly worth the risk to Western soldiers! That's why God made Bangladeshis. But if the U.N. force should get a mandate and needs moral support, NATO will be right behind them.

NATO Secretary-General De Hoop Scheffer said he was "quite sure that when that question comes that the NATO allies will stand ready to support that mission in Darfur." Wow, "quite sure" that they will be able to provide some kind of support if given the chance. That's commitment!

Of course, it is all meaningless anyway, since the government in Khartoum says they will continue to oppose the presence of non-African troops in Darfur. And since it has taken three years to get NATO agree in principle to provide support, I'm not holding out hopes that someone is going to start getting tough with Sudan now.

Surprisingly, doing nothing just isn't enough

Eric Reeves explains why things are likely only going to get worse in Darfur (free registration required):

The African Union had committed "in principle" to a handover to the United Nations in January. But the genocidaires in Khartoum used the intervening weeks to remarkable diplomatic effect, pledging to withdraw from the African Union if there were a handover to the United Nations, implicitly threatening to unleash Al Qaeda on Western forces, and lobbying A.U. nations. Egypt weighed in on Khartoum's behalf, creating the prospect that the African Union might split along "Arab" and "African" lines.

Last Friday's decision by the African Union to keep the Darfur mission for another six months revealed just how effective these threats and lobbying efforts had been. Because the African Union reaffirmed its support in principle for an eventual U.N. mission, some at the United Nations sought to put a positive spin on the outcome. But the approving noises from Khartoum suggest how disastrous the decision is.

.....

In surveying this chaotic tableau of human suffering, we must not forget why it has taken place. This is not a "natural disaster," as one U.N. information site has suggested. Nor is it an accidental by-product of armed conflict--a massive case of collateral damage. This human destruction is intended. It grows out of racial and ethnic hatred, deliberately inflamed by the National Islamic Front regime in Khartoum. It is genocide. And after last week, we have every reason to believe that it is far from over.

I can't believe I'm saying this...

But go read this article in The Sun.

I'll have more thoughts on Afghanistan later. Class beckons.

Pretending to care was fun while it lasted

Jan Egeland, U.N. undersecretary for Human Rights, has warned that hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur face starvation if the situation there does not improve and says the region is returning to the "abyss of 2004".

Egeland said this is "a test case for the world for having no more Rwandas and no more massive loss of innocent lives." Is he even paying attention? If this was a test, the world failed a long time ago. Now he wants Western nations to send more money to support the African Union while they pander to the genocidal regime in Khartoum. And of course, wealthy Western nations will send money, because it somehow eases our guilty consciences. So what if the African Union forces won't be able to prevent the deaths of thousands of people in Darfur. At least we're doing something.

For the past few weeks the world has played a game and pretended that they might finally act in Darfur. Now we've decided to return to status quo and the most Darfuris can expect from the United Nations is the occasional statement about how things are becoming hopeless.

Since the African Union is expected to transfer responsibility in six months time, I predict we'll play this same game again in late July. Am I just being cynical? Let them prove me wrong.

This list will probably change tomorrow

I've been tagged by Martyloo:

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they are any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to."

1. The Decemberists -- The Sporting Life.

2. Belle and Sebastian -- Funny Little Frog.
I was rather disappointed by the last album, but I'm loving The Life Pursuit, and so...

3. Belle and Sebastian -- White Collar Boy.

4. Rufus Wainwright -- The Art Teacher.
It's not his best song, but something about it appeals to me of late.

5. Dwight Yoakam -- Little Ways

6. Radiohead -- Where I End and You Begin.

7. Wilco -- Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again).

Having never been part of a community in my life, I can't think of seven bloggers off the top of my head that I actually know, and I ain't tagging strangers (this might be the perfect opportunity for a certain someone who will remain nameless to start the sports blog that will change the face of sports blogging ... whatever that face might be). It will come to me. Why don't we start with Alexandrew. They are busy touring Asia, but this will give them something to think about once they reach the beach...

The previous times I have gone off topic, posting a link to a composite pic of Toronto and my post on Jesus' Birthday, I seem to have made my readers very nervous. Don't worry, I promise I will immediately return to the fun-free self-righteousness that you have all come to appreciate.

Harper Visits Afghanistan

Stephen Harper made a surprise visit to Afghanistan today to show his support for the troops. Today's soldiers are continuing our nation's proud military tradition of defending freedom throughout the world. Hopefully the Prime Minister's visit will help Canadians understand the importance of this mission.

Annan reaffirms that he is happy to watch Africans die

It has been decided that the African Union will continue to oversee peacekeeping operations in Darfur until December. After that, the UN will take over. This 'compromise' will allow Sudan to continue to perpetrate genocide while protecting the international community from actually having to give a damn. So everybody wins!

Kofi is reportedly happy with the agreement. Of course he is, by December somebody else will be Secretary General of the U.N., and the murder of tens of thousands of Darfuris can be somebody else's problem.

Milosevic is Dead

Slobodan Milosevic has died in his prison cell in the Hague, apparently of natural causes.

While it is hard to feel sorrow at the death of a genocidal lunatic, this means that his victims will be denied the justice that had already been so delayed. It is more important than ever that Mladic and Karazdic be brought to trial.

Got to get him healthy so he can go back to planning murder

If Rudolf Hoess had become sick in 1943 do you think the British government would have allowed him to visit for medical treatment so that he could return to Auschwitz and get on with the business at hand? Why do I ask? Because the head of intelligence for the Sudanese government, complicit in the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Darfur, was recently given entry into Britain to receive medical care.

Of course, this isn't the first time Salah Abdallah Gosh has received special treatment. Having been a good buddy of Osama's while the al-Qaeda leader was in Sudan, he has since come to be an ally in the war on terror and the U.S. government has lobbied to protect him from sanctions.

I'm not naive enough to pretend that fighting Islamist terrorism won't require Western governments to make deals with some rather unpleasant people. But you have to draw the line somewhere and, call me a pie-eyed idealist, maybe making friends with genocidal killers should be that place.

Now maybe the world will listen... (but probably not)

In response to the idea that the United Nations may take over from the African Union, citizens in Khartoum have taken to the streets:

``Death to invaders'' and ``Our country will be their graveyard,'' many in the crowds chanted, some waving automatic weapons in the air. Some carried banners reading ``death to America'' and ``resistance and jihad (holy war).''

Okay, so the world doesn't care that it's a crazy genocidal state. But when citizens of that crazy genocidal state start calling for jihad... maybe, just maybe, it's time to start paying some serious attention.

The situation in Darfur is not just about Darfur. It speaks to a larger political situation within Sudan. We will continue to ignore political crises in Africa at our own peril. But ignore them we will.

Please, just ten more minutes?

Europe has told Serbia it has one more month before bedtime they must turn over Ratko Mladic or they risk talks to enter the European Union. The original deadline was set for tomorrow, but since it hadn't been met, they went ahead and gave them an extension. Why do I think Ratko will be summering on the Adriatic?

And will you be offering troops?

Hilary Benn, Britain's International Development Secretary, has said that the U.N. should take over peacekeeping duties in Darfur. This is all very nice, but I don't hear anything about British troops to back up this effort. After three years, if the world is going to offer a serious effort and not just concerned talk, this is going to require real commitment, not just extra money.

I think perhaps Mr. Benn needs to climb into the magic change room and come out as a contigent of blue helmets (Bitter Lime will get that. For the rest of you: that's what Google is for!).

Sure he's a crazy bigot, but he had a point

With all the talk of capturing Ratko Mladic this week (see, this is why you read me, I'm cutting edge), I feel the need to point out that this isn't the first time we've pretended we couldn't find Serbian war criminals. Below is a copy of a letter Jesse Helms sent to Madeleine Albright back in 2000 when it was not just Mladic and Karadzic on the loose, but Milosevic too (the clock's ticking Radovan, in a few years, they'll be coming for you too!).

The Honorable Madeleine Albright Secretary of State U.S. Department of State Washington, D.C. 20520

Dear Madam Secretary:

I am fascinated by the "wanted" poster that the Department of State is placing in public buildings in Bosnia, Serbia, and other parts of Europe. The poster states that up to $5,000,000 will be paid for information leading to the transfer to, or conviction by, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic, or Ratko Mladic.

I have the information that you are looking for.

Mr. Milosevic and Mr. Mladic both are residing in Belgrade. Mr. Milosevic recently laid a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier on Mount Avala (to mark the first anniversary of the NATO bombing of Serbia). His address is: Presidential Palace, 15 Uzicka Street, Dedinje district, Belgrade.

Mr. Mladic is apparently unaware that he should be in hiding - he took a leisurely afternoon stroll down Knez Mihailova Street on Friday, March 24, waving at Belgraders as he walked along, and was spotted just this weekend at the Belgrade stadium taking in a soccer match.

Mr. Karadzic remains in the Pale area of Bosnia - living in the midst of thousands of NATO peacekeepers - where he has been seen regularly in public in recent months.

Reward payment should be made to Rev. Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse, a well-known and highly respected charitable organization in North Carolina. (Franklin is Billy Graham's son).

Kindest regards.

Sincerely,

____________________ JESSE HELMS

cc: The Honorable Lawrence Summers U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Rewards for Justice Diplomatic Security Service U.S. Department of State

(You'll note the "cc" makes it particularly timely, everything old is new again.)

Somebody (else) should do something!

Suddenly everyone cares about Darfur! And by cares about it, I mean are willing to pay it lip service. Not, you know, do anything about it. The U.S. has been pressuring the U.N. to take more action and encouraging increased NATO involvement. This all sounds very good, unless you listen close enough to understand that nobody is talking about a serious military commitment that could actually stop the genocide.

The French, predictably, have been urging caution in using NATO troops outside Europe. French Defense Minister Michelle Alliot-Marie said recently, "Let us make sure we do not spread ourselves too much in areas where the competence of other organizations is more obvious" (for those of you that don't speak French, that roughly translates as, "why should France care if black people are being murdered?"). Exactly which organization has obvious competence in this situation -- in which the world's incompentence is second only to its lack of concern -- I am not sure. As tempting as it is to point fingers at France, none of NATO's other member states (including Canada) seem desperate to help either.

I applaud the Americans for using their presidency of the Security Council to bring attention to the situation in Darfur. But it is too little too late. NATO providing increased support to the African Union is not going to help Darfur. This conversation should have occurred three years ago, before tens of thousands of people were killed and millions left homeless. If we are not going to act seriously, there is no point in spending any more money supporting African Union forces that don't have the power to improve the situation.

Mladic Still Free (and probably in Belgrade... check the pub)

Despite rumours in the Serbian press yesterday, everyone's favourite genocidaire is still on the loose.

“The news about Ratko Mladic is not correct,” Srdjan Djuric, the government spokesman in Belgrade, said. “This is a manipulation that undermines the Serbian Government’s efforts to complete co-operation with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.”

It would seem to me that their failure to capture Mladic is what undermines their co-operation with the war crimes tribunal, rather than rumours that they have. I don't buy claims that this is somehow going to hurt their efforts to catch him, because I don't believe that they're really trying very hard.

Serbia has been warned by Europe that if they don't arrest him by next week, negotiations for Serbia to enter the EU could be at risk. A threat from Europe... I'm willing to bet that Mladic will still be free next week. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong.