Oct 18th bits & bobs

[Guest DeputyHawk]

News 2002-10-18

 

Northern Ireland: British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the Provisional IRA it must definitively declare the civil war over, the peace process cannot continue half-heartedly and with the threat of violence still a real one during a hard-hitting speech in Belfast, the first time he had unflinchingly told loyalist paramilitaries that they must disband permanently. The Good Friday agreement hangs in the balance waiting for the IRA’s response.

 

United States: President George W. Bush bafflingly shifted the focus of The War On Terror away from Iraq and onto North Korea, suddenly saying they are prepared to accept a compromise over U.N. weapons inspectors entering Iraq without the proposed ‘do or die’ ultimatum. This comes at the same time British & Australian authorities advise travellers in Indonesia to return home, Bush apparently shocked to find North Korea has been developing a nuclear program despite the fact they have known about it for years. Odd. Bush says he wants a peaceful resolution to the problem. Something smells slightly peculiar about this tangent.

 

Australia: Prime Minister John Howard travelled to Bali, Indonesia to promise grieving relatives of the bombing victims that those who perpetrated the terrorist attack would be brought to justice, though surely not the kind of mob justice which has seen racist arsonists firebomb a mosque in Melbourne.

 

Indonesia: An unidentified group of eight people (7 Indonesians & 1 foreigner) are being held as the prime suspects in the Bali nightclub bombing. President Megawati Sukarnoputri received parliamentary backing for a brand new anti-terrorism law allowing for the death penalty to be meted out in cases of terrorism, cracking down on the radical muslim groups it has long been criticised of appeasing, but assuring that the law will not be used against political opponents. Muslim cleric Abubaker Baasyir, alleged leader of the Jemaah Islamiah al-Qaeda splinter group, has been detained for questioning.

 

Philippines: 6 people were killed and 144 injured when two bombs exploded in the Zamboanga city centre. Al-Qaeda splinter group Abu Sayyaf are provisionally being held responsible while investigations get underway..

 

Israel: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited U.S. President George Bush to discuss Israel’s strategy both towards Palestine and, should they be attacked, Iraq, America urging restraint on both counts in an effort to avoid compromising a potential U.S./Arab coalition in the area. Meanwhile back home, 7 Palestinians were killed and 40 wounded by Israeli tank fire in the Gaza Strip’s Rafah refugee camp. If they’re hoping to keep the domestic conflict out of international headlines for the time being, one would think they’ll have to try a little harder.

 

Pakistan: Tensions with nuclear rivals India are slowly easing as Pakistan has offered to partially withdraw troops back from the Indian border, though definitively not from the disputed Kashmir territory, in response to India’s border-troop reduction earlier in the week. Chance of negotiations remain slim however with India steadfastly refusing a dialogue over Kashmir while Pakistan still supports what it sees as terrorism

 

Columbia: New President Alvaro Uribe sent 1,000 government troops in the middle of the night to invade the Comuna 13 guerrilla-held slum in Medellin in an effort to re-establish authority in key parts of his country, resulting in running gun battles which left 13 soldiers dead and 20 civilians wounded, the army said to be shocked at the improvements in militia structuring and explosives handling demonstarted by the city-based guerrillas who are said to have received training from the IRA. The urban firefight looks set to continue, with human rights groups appalled by the army’s lack of concern towards its civilians.

[Guest DrTom]

Bah. First Iraq, then Saudi Arabia, then North Korea, then a big middle finger to the rest of the world, extended with a defiant and crazy-eyed, "Who's next!?"

 

Btw, welcome back.

[Guest MrRant]

Followed by a spear and then the jackhammer!

[Guest danielisthor]

not much to say but welcome back.

[Guest TJH]

Edit: I was wrong.

[Guest DeputyHawk]

(Yes, I'm back, not that you missed me)

 

As for that alleged Mosque fire-bombing, I'm a citizen of Melbourne, and <b> it never happened</b>. I don't know where you got that from, it seems to be completely made-up.

i'm pretty sure it did happen, i noticed it from a couple sources. obviously i don't live in melbourne so you're in a better position to be savvy with events there than me, but it was certainly reported in the u.k. by more than one journal. i can't remember where i originally read it, but here's a snippet from the scotsman website, a respectable enough source. if it's not accurate, sorry for the misrepresentation of oz. someone with stroke over here's clearly got it in for you.

 

Arsonists threaten to attack more mosques

 

John Innes

 

 

ARSONISTS who firebombed a mosque in southern Australia yesterday have threatened to attack more Islamic sites.

 

Windows were smashed and carpets burned when a firebomb was hurled through a window at the mosque in Melbourne, police said.

 

Islamic officials said one man was inside the building at the time and that he put out the fire. No-one was hurt.

 

An Umma Islamic Centre spokesman, Noor Dean, said the attack - the second on a mosque in Australia this week - was a backlash against the Muslim community after the loss of Australian lives in the terrorist attack in Bali.

 

Mr Dean said the arsonists also scrawled threats on the outside of the mosque, including: "You get out or we’ll be back again." Security guards will be posted at the mosque, he added.

 

However the deputy police commissioner, Bill Kelly, said no evidence has surfaced that the attack was a response to the bombing in Bali.

 

"It’s not being looked at as a retaliation attack, it is just being looked at as an arson attack on a building."

 

But he said investigators will consider whether the attack was "politically or religiously motivated".

 

The Melbourne attack follows vandalism at a school, adjoining mosque and Muslim leader’s home in western Sydney on Tuesday.  

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Over 79 results, many from mainstream news sources, with a quick Google search.

Click here for another

So anyway, this is where the scores stand.

Pro-Islamic firebombings: ~7,240

Anti-Islamic firebombings: 3

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

At least no one was in there, then there'd be all kinds of shit getting stirred up.

[Guest TJH]

Deputyhawk, I got it wrong. I'm pretty in-touch with news & current events here, and I didn't see it in the papers or on T.V, until someone told me about it. Once again, I was wrong, and hence I apologise. I should also apologise for those who give my nation a bad name.