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Curzon
Author

Curzon

Date

May 29th, 2007

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Roundup

Lots of interesting news stories—too many to post on, so in brief:

  • Chavez refused to renew the license of a popular opposition-aligned television network and faced protests of thousands. His warning on national television: “to continue calling for disobedience, inciting assassination … I’m going to warn them before the nation… I recommend they take a tranquilizer, that they slow down, because if not, I’m going to slow them down.” Spoken like a true world leader.
  • Cindy Sheehan has resigned from protesting the Iraq War and her membership in the Democratic Party, concluding that her son died for no reason and that the American people and the Democratic Party abandoned her.
  • Russia tested a new ballistic missile that it said could break through any antimissile defense system. The US says the system is aimed at blocking possible attacks by countries such as North Korea and Iran and that Russia could easily overwhelm such a shield with its huge missile force. Of course, if Theater Missile Defense is needed to protect against rogue states such as Iran and North Korea, why is the system being established in the Czech Republic and Poland?
  • New Zealand and Australia meet with Japan over whaling. The opposition Labor Party has recently suggested that, the new Japanese-Aussie defense pact notwithstanding, it could use military force to stop the whaling hunt.
  • In China, a former minister of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) was sentenced to death after he was convicted of dereliction of duty and accepting some $850,000 in bribes.

Comments to this entry

snow
May 30, 2007
2:25 am
Trust a labor party to talk of using military force to stop the whaling trade. What, kill humans to save the whales? Whatever happened to the idea of negotiation rather than unilateral military action?
Curzon
May 30, 2007
5:19 am
Forget negotiation, I'd settle for "national interest."
snow
May 30, 2007
6:26 am
Yes, I was actually being sarcastic, Curzon, as so many on the left keep screaming about negotiation whenever there's a possibility of the use of the military. You are spot on about national interest. What do the whales have to do with NZ's or Oz's national interest? And why should soldiers be sent in to 'battle' for such things that have no bearing on the national interests of either country? Many on the left seem willing to commit troops for situations having no 'national interest' and yet are dead set against those that do.
Curzon
May 30, 2007
7:07 am
And does the Aussie Labor Party realize that such military action would in effect require an act of war? Has there ever in history been military action by humans against humans to protect the lives of animals?

Also, I didn't link this in the post, but here is the story of the Aussie Labor party threatening military action to protect whales if it was in power.
snow
May 30, 2007
7:59 am
Let us hope that this party and others like it never get into power, they sound like a joke. They are so ridiculously clueless about the responsibilities of governing a country, I would be very worried about what other foolishness they promote. No doubt they are solidly behind the idea of bigger government, more taxes, more government intervention, even when it is of minimal concern to the national interests of the country.
a517dogg
May 30, 2007
9:47 pm
"What do the whales have to do with NZ's or Oz's national interest?"

Generally you don't want ecosystems to get too out of wack, because we don't really know what would happen. The extinction of whales would upset the ecosystem that fishermen depend on. While its obviously stupid to threaten the use of military force in something like this, the stupidity of the means doesn't mean the goal is a bad one.
Curzon
May 30, 2007
11:08 pm
a517D: Well, yes -- but we are by no means talking of the extinction of whales. As for disruption of ecosystems, the mass overfishing of the seas and oceans of the world over the past decade is a far greater issue than whaling will ever be. And from an ecosystem perspective, part of the Japanese justification is that whales eat fish by the tens of thousands, and limiting their population is the better option.
Chief Wiggam
May 31, 2007
1:17 pm
Despite historically unparalleled levels of prosperity in Australia during the past 11 years of conservative governance, it looks like the Australian Labor Party has a good chance of booting out the conservatives.

_Many Australians will vote for the opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) in this year's election, according to a poll by "Roy Morgan International":http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/15909. 51 per cent of respondents would support the ALP, while 35.5 per cent would back the governing Coalition of Liberals and Nationals.

The ALP has a lot of pent-up frustration over its marginalized position in Australian politics. Their victory could usher in an era of moonbattery that would be unprecedented outside of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. My position? No blood for blubber.