They lied their way into Iraq. Now they are trying to lie their way out
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1957695,00.html
Bush and Blair will blame anyone but themselves for the consequences of
their disastrous war - even its victims
Gary Younge
Monday November 27, 2006
The Guardian
'In the endgame," said one of the world's best-ever chess players,
Jos=E9 Ra=FAl Capablanca, "don't think in terms of moves but in terms of
plans." The situation in Iraq is now unravelling into the bloodiest
endgame imaginable. Both popular and official support for the war in
those countries that ordered the invasion is already at a low and will
only get lower. Whatever mandate the occupiers may have once had from
their own electorates - in Britain it was none, in the US it was
precarious - has now eroded. They can no longer conduct this war as
they have been doing.
Corruption, violence and vice have triumphed in Putin's Russia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1957680,00.html
The president may not have personally ordered Litvinenko's murder, but
he is overlord of a culture which legitimised it
Max Hastings
Monday November 27, 2006
The Guardian
In Moscow shortly after 9/11 a clever Russian academic told me: "Don't
believe all that stuff Putin is dishing out about how sorry we all are
about what has happened. A lot of people here are thrilled to see the
Americans get a kicking." A few months ago I heard a cluster of
diplomats lament the difficulties of doing business with the Russians.
"They still see negotiation in the old cold-war way, as a zero-sum
game," said one. "If the west wants something, it must be bad for
Moscow."
Open door
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1957646,00.html
The readers' editor on ... a word-for-word account of racist abuse
Ian Mayes
Monday November 27, 2006
The Guardian
On Wednesday last week (November 22) the Guardian carried two pieces
about a racist outburst at a Los Angeles comedy club by the actor
Michael Richards who plays Kramer in the television show Seinfeld. One
was a news report on the international pages of the main paper by its
Los Angeles correspondent, Dan Glaister. This was headed: Seinfeld
actor lets fly with racist tirade. The text spelled out the word
"*****", used repeatedly by Richards in a sustained rant at a heckler
(a black man) lasting some two minutes. The word was also picked up in
the caption to an accompanying picture of Richards who, it said, "was
filmed calling black audience members 'niggers'..."
How mirrors can light up the world
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1957692,00.html
Scientists say the global energy crisis can be solved by using the
desert sun
Ashley Seager
Monday November 27, 2006
The Guardian
In the desert, just across the Mediterranean sea, is a vast source of
energy that holds the promise of a carbon-free, nuclear-free electrical
future for the whole of Europe, if not the world.
We are not talking about the vast oil and gas deposits underneath
Algeria and Libya, or uranium for nuclear plants, but something far
simpler - the sun. And in vast quantities: every year it pours down the
equivalent of 1.5m barrels of oil of energy for every square kilometre.
Turks take to streets to protest at Pope's visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1957702,00.html
Ian Traynor in Istanbul
Monday November 27, 2006
The Guardian
Tens of thousands of Muslims and nationalists took to the streets of
Istanbul yesterday to vent their anger at the imminent arrival in
Turkey of Pope Benedict XVI. Amid a sea of red-and-white Turkish flags
and green Islamic bandannas, speakers at a rally denounced the Vatican
as a centre of a western conspiracy against the country and the Islamic
world.
The Pope, who arrives in Ankara tomorrow, sought to mend fences ahead
of the four-day trip by offering his "esteem and sincere friendship" to
the country. The Vatican said he would visit Istanbul's 17th century
Blue Mosque, his first visit to a mosque as Pope. But the gestures cut
little ice with a crowd of some 30,000.
Leftwinger on course to win Ecuador's presidential run-off
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1957720,00.html
Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent
Monday November 27, 2006
The Guardian
A charismatic leftwing economist was last night on course to win
Ecuador's run-off presidential election, beating the country's richest
man and giving a fresh surge to Latin America's "pink tide".
A quick, unofficial count gave Rafael Correa, an ally of Venezuela's
president, Hugo Ch=E1vez - and a fierce critic of the US - 56.9% of the
vote. His rival, the banana tycoon Alvaro Noboa, who advocates closer
ties to Washington and breaking links with Venezuela and Cuba, was
predicted to win 43.1%.
Early sketch of Stonehenge found
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1957926,00.html
Maev Kennedy
Monday November 27, 2006
The Guardian
They got the date wrong by some 3,000 years, but the oldest detailed
drawing of Stonehenge, apparently based on first hand observation, has
turned up in a 15th century manuscript.
The little sketch is a bird's eye view of the stones, and shows the
great trilithons, the biggest stones in the monument, each made of two
pillars capped with a third stone lintel, which stand in a horseshoe in
the centre of the circle. Only three are now standing, but the drawing,
found in Douai, northern France, suggests that in the 15th century four
of the original five survived.
Blair fights shy of full apology for slave trade
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,1957742,00.html
Patrick Wintour
Monday November 27, 2006
The Guardian
Tony Blair is to express Britain's profound sorrow over the slave
trade, but will not give an unreserved apology for fear it will lead to
claims for reparations from descendants of Africans sold into slavery.
The move follows pressure from African and Caribbean countries as well
as Lady Amos, the black Labour leader of the House of Lords. It comes
ahead of the 200th anniversary of slavery's abolition next March. Plans
for Mr Blair's apology became public this month after Lady Amos showed
notes from a meeting with the prime minister discussing whether to back
a UN resolution on slavery tabled by Caribbean countries. The notes
contained the phrases "window closing, political pressure mounts, get
it out of way" and "do it before end of year". The notes said the
apology would be "internationally recognised" and "status enhancing".
Blix vs Blair (but this time it is over our weapons of mass
destruction)
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2018719.ece
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
Published: 27 November 2006
Dr Hans Blix, the former UN weapons inspector, will launch a new attack
on Tony Blair today, warning that the decision to press ahead with a
full replacement for Trident will make it more difficult to stop Iran
acquiring the bomb.
The respected chairman of the Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction
will use a speech in London to renew hostilities with Mr Blair. He will
say that modernising Britain's arsenal puts the non-proliferation
treaty (NPT) under "strain" and increases the feeling among non-nuclear
states, such as Iran, that they are being "cheated" by the nuclear
states.
Blair admits to 'deep sorrow' over slavery - but no apology
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2018756.ece
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
Published: 27 November 2006
Tony Blair will express his "deep sorrow" today for Britain's role in
the slave trade but will stop short of demands for a full apology.
The Prime Minister describes the slave trade, which Britain helped to
ban, as a "crime against humanity" in an article for the black magazine
New Nation.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: At last, the national conscience is awake
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/yasmin_alibhai_brown/articl=
e2018745.ece
A part of me is wary that Blair is using slavery to re-establish his
ethical credentials, but so what?
Published: 27 November 2006
Last week I was in Bristol to deliver a lecture marking 200 years since
the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. On the way to the venue my host
and driver said there had been a blazing controversy in the city over
the naming of a new shopping mall.
The burghers wanted to honour the old merchant class who had brought
prosperity to the city. Anti-racist inhabitants objected because many
of the most successful traders were slave trade profiteers who deserve
posthumous dishonour not fresh accolades. The Royal African Company, a
collective of avaricious venture capitalists had bases in this city, as
well as Liverpool, Glasgow, Hull and London. Go to Bristol's Venturers
House and see in stone the pride and self assurance of slave traders
who called themselves Christians.
Fewer kidnappings, improved security - but life remains harsh on the
streets of Haiti
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2018683.ece
By Andrew Buncombe in Port-au-Prince
Published: 27 November 2006
Sheltering from the sun beneath a tattered piece of plastic in the
crowded streets of Salamoun market, Jacqueline Charles shrugged when
asked whether life had improved under the government of the man she
voted for.
"We are thinking life will be better. Maybe one day," said the
60-year-old, who was selling rice. "[So far] there has been no real
change. Only God knows. I voted for change but things cannot change
right away."
Turks whip up storm of disapproval over Pope's Istanbul visit
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2018690.ece
By Peter Popham in Istanbul
Published: 27 November 2006
Pope Benedict was given another warning yesterday of what lies ahead
for him in Turkey when more than 20,000 people demonstrated against his
coming visit in central Istanbul and urged him to stay at home.
Huge banners stretched across the road screamed "Papa Gelmesin" - "The
Pope should not come"- and placards carried caricatures of the Pope and
his Christian Orthodox counterpart Bartholomew I scheming together to
recreate the Byzantine empire - all signs of the paranoid fear that
campaigners against the visit are stirring up.
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