Guardian: Putin to rig election

The Kremlin is planning to falsify the results of this Sunday’s presidential election in Russia by compelling millions of public sector workers to vote and by fraudulently boosting the official turnout after polls close, the Guardian has learned.

Governors, regional officials, and even headteachers have been instructed to deliver a landslide majority for Dmitry Medvedev - Russia’s first deputy prime minister, whom President Vladimir Putin has endorsed to be his successor.

Officials have been told they need to secure a 68% to 70% turnout in this weekend’s poll - with around 72% casting votes for Medvedev. However, independent analysts believe the real turnout will be much lower - with between 25% and 50% of the electorate taking part.

The Kremlin is planning to bridge the gap by the use of widespread fraud, diplomats and other independent sources have told the Guardian. Local election officials are preparing to stuff ballot boxes once the polls have closed with unused ballots, they believe, with regional officials also giving inflated tallies to Russia’s central election commission. Guardian

Israel warns of invasion of Gaza

Israel’s deputy defence minister has said it will be left with “no choice” but to invade Gaza, if Palestinian militants step up rocket attacks.

Matan Vilnai said the Palestinians risked a big disaster - using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.

Mr Vilnai said Israel would use all its might to defend itself, after rockets hit the city of Ashkelon, 10km (six miles) from Gaza. BBC

Turkish troops pull out of Iraq, both sides declare victory

The Turkish version of “mission accomplished”:

Turkey says its troops have been withdrawn from northern Iraq after an offensive against Kurdish PKK rebels.

In a statement on its website, Turkey’s military said it had achieved its goals, and there was no question of any foreign influence on the decision. BBC

Update: The PKK responds via Al Jazeera:

Ahmed Danis, a spokesman for the PKK, confirmed the Turkish troop pull-out.

He said: “We are observing military movements like empty military trucks coming from Turkey. The trucks are being loaded with troops and returning to Turkey.

“If they [Turkish troops] withdraw completely it would be a victory for Kurdistan and for the PKK.” Al Jazeera

US sends warship to Lebanon

Signaling impatience with Syria, the United States has sent its USS Cole warship off the coast of Lebanon in a “show of support” for regional stability, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

(…) “The United States believes a show of support is important for regional stability. We are very concerned about the situation in Lebanon. It has dragged on very long,” said the senior official, who spoke on condition he was not named. Reuters

Watch stability sprout up at gunpoint.

Army: Nation building as important as combat missions

The Army on Thursday rolled out the first revision of its operations manual since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, putting stability operations - nation-building - on par with combat.

Army officials said the revision reflects a focus on fighting terrorism.

“The field manual is our Army’s blueprint for an uncertain future,” said Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, commander of Fort Leavenworth, where the document was produced. “It does provide the blueprint for how we, as an Army, will operate over the next 10 to 15 years.”

The new manual reflects Army experiences over the past six years of fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan and insurgents in Iraq, as well as with relief efforts after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Caldwell said the U.S. will focus on building its influence in nations plagued by conflicts so that it can make them stable and secure. AP

Now all we need is a time machine to send this back to 2000. That can’t be harder than what the US Army is facing in Iraq, so I say we go for it.

Bush 2000

Seeing the Democratic debate reminded me of something. And it still blows my mind. Bush actually said this in his second debate with Al Gore in 2000:

MODERATOR: The use of the military, there (Columbia) — some people are now suggesting that if you don’t want to use the military to maintain the peace, to do the civil thing, is it time to consider a civil force of some kind that comes in after the military that builds nations or all of that? Is that on your radar screen?

BUSH: I don’t think so. I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I’m missing something here. I mean, we’re going to have kind of a nation building core from America? Absolutely not. Our military is meant to fight and win war. That’s what it’s meant to do. And when it gets overextended, morale drops. I strongly believe we need to have a military presence in the peninsula, not only to keep the peace in the peninsula, but to keep regional stability. And I strongly believe we need to keep a presence in NATO, but I’m going to be judicious as to how to use the military. It needs to be in our vital interest, the mission needs to be clear, and the extra strategy obvious.
Debate transcript, October 11, 2000

1% of Americans behind bars

The land of the Free.

For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.

The report, released today by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world. AP

What’s worse, the prisons are so overcrowded that one has to be tough to walk out of it again. So prisons are responsible for releasing hardened criminals who are usually a bigger threat to society than they were before they went to prison. The “correctional” aspect of “correctional institution” never even enters into the equation as people are warehoused.

Millions of dollars are spent on such crime farms, yet any suggestions like maybe not sending people to prison for minor offenses (420), is brushed aside as not being “tough on crime.”

Well, way to be “tough on” society there.

Iraq denounces Turkish offensive, tells troops to withraw immediately

One thing to remember: Kurdistan once existed where now Iraq and Turkey do.

The Iraqi government has denounced a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq in some of the strongest terms heard since the operation began last week.

In a statement, the Iraqi cabinet expressed its “rejection and condemnation” of the operation.

It called on Ankara to withdraw its troops immediately. BBC

Or else?

White House says illegal phone wiretaps back on

Yo, America! You do know your President is forcing illegal actions onto large corporation to keep taps on your phones again, right?

The Bush administration said on Saturday U.S. telecommunications companies have agreed to cooperate “for the time being” with spy agencies’ wiretaps, despite an ongoing battle between the White House and Congress over new terrorism surveillance legislation.

The Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint statement saying wiretaps will resume under the current law “at least for now.”

“Although our private partners are cooperating for the time being, they have expressed understandable misgivings about doing so in light of the ongoing uncertainty and have indicated they may well discontinue cooperation if the uncertainty persists,” the statement said. Reuters

This is beyond absurd: The phone companies are not sure they should do what the government tells them to, because what the government tells them to is unethical and illegal. It’s that simple.

Instead of talking about the issue in a calm and objective way, the Bush administration resorts to terrifying stories about how America will be attacked again if this is not allowed. They say that if wiretapping americans is not made legal retroactively America is “at risk,” even though it is the president who is “at risk” of being held responsible. And we all know how much he hates that.

And if an attack should occur, which would be on his watch (again), it would be the Democrats fault because it is their twisted little mind who can’t come to grips with the fact that the president has said it’s ok, so it is. What did they think this was? A democracy?

Yet even members of the GOP have stressed they had reservations about tapping the phones of their own constituents without legal reason or backing. Since Bush is the president, and head of their own party, they can be forced into submission.

This has nothing to do with Democrats, or for that matter anyone, wanting America to go up in flames. It has everything to do with everyone involved, except the Bush administration, wanting to protect what America is. (or should I say was?) A country of the free, where laws are there to protect you.

Turkey army launches land offensive into Iraq

Turkish troops have crossed into northern Iraq in their hunt for Kurdish PKK guerrillas, the military said on Friday, but the United States and the European Union urged Ankara to keep the campaign limited.

The White House said the United States had been informed in advance of the incursion and urged Turkey to limit the operation to “precise targeting” of the PKK rebels hiding there.

Turkish TV said 3,000 to 10,000 soldiers had entered Iraq, but Iraq’s foreign minister and a senior military official with coalition forces based in Baghdad denied it was a major operation, saying only a few hundred troops were involved. Reuters

Don’t worry, they will no doubt be heralded as liberators and greeted with flowers. This is a cakewalk.

I mean, come on, this is Iraq. Nothing ever goes wrong there.

And even if something should go wrong, I am sure we will get very objective reports from the Turkish army, just like the US has done in Iraq. Use of internationally banned phosphorous optional, of course.

The UK non-apology for rendition flights

This is widely heralded as a British MP apologizing for extraordinary rendition:

The Foreign Secretary apologised to MPs today after it emerged that two American “rendition flights” of CIA detainees had landed on British soil, contradicting previous statements from the Government.

David Miliband told the House of Commons that he had now been informed by the US Government that the controversial flights – one en route to Guantanamo Bay and one to Morocco – stopped over at Diego Garcia, the British overseas territory in the Indian Ocean.

He said the US had just alerted the Government to the incidents, explaining the oversight due to “record errors” and was “very sorry indeed” that previous information given by ministers to the Commons had been incorrect. Times

It’s not. He is apologizing for getting information wrong. He is not apologizing for the flights.

That is a huge difference.

Bush’s approval rating at 19%

George Walker Bush has eclipsed Richard Milhouse Nixon as the least liked US President ever:

George W. Bush’s overall job approval rating has dropped to a new low in American Research Group polling as 78% of Americans say that the national economy is getting worse according to the latest survey from the American Research Group.

Among all Americans, 19% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 77% disapprove. When it comes to Bush’s handling of the economy, 14% approve and 79% disapprove. American Research Group

Gitmo: There won’t be acquittals, period

Ross Tuttle at The Nation has some interesting background on the upcoming Kangaroo Court down in Guantanamo. Long quote, but it’s important:

When asked if he thought the men at Guantánamo could receive a fair trial, Davis provided the following account of an August 2005 meeting he had with Pentagon general counsel William Haynes–the man who now oversees the tribunal process for the Defense Department. “[Haynes] said these trials will be the Nuremberg of our time,” recalled Davis, referring to the Nazi tribunals in 1945, considered the model of procedural rights in the prosecution of war crimes. In response, Davis said he noted that at Nuremberg there had been some acquittals, something that had lent great credibility to the proceedings.

“I said to him that if we come up short and there are some acquittals in our cases, it will at least validate the process,” Davis continued. “At which point, [Haynes’s] eyes got wide and he said, ‘Wait a minute, we can’t have acquittals. If we’ve been holding these guys for so long, how can we explain letting them get off? We can’t have acquittals, we’ve got to have convictions.’”

(…) Haynes, a political appointee and chief legal adviser to Defense secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates, was nominated in 2006 by the Bush Administration for a lifetime seat as a judge in the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. But his nomination never got out of committee, primarily because of the opposition of Republican Senator (and former military lawyer) Lindsey Graham and other members alarmed over Haynes’s role in writing or supervising the writing of Pentagon memos advocating the use of harsh interrogation techniques the Geneva Conventions classify as torture.

Currently, in his capacity as Pentagon general counsel, Haynes oversees both the prosecution and the defense for the commissions. The Nation

New FL education standards use word ‘evolution’

For the record, Florida is now teaching evolution:

Florida’s public school science standards for the first time will use the word “evolution,” although the biological concept already was being taught under code words such as “change over time.”

The new standards, part of a set of overall science changes adopted by the State Board of Education Tuesday on a 4-3 vote, require schools to spend more class time on evolution and teach it in more detail. AP

Can you believe a decision like this scrapes by with a 4-3-split vote?

US inflation continues to rise

Bush gave the world freedom, now he keeps giving us wealth:

Inflation rose more than expected last month, the government reported on Wednesday, adding to worries about the economy and sending a reminder to central bankers that rising prices remain a threat.

Meanwhile, the housing crisis continued to take a toll on residential home construction. Groundbreakings for homes rose slightly but remained near their lowest levels since the early 1990s, and permits for new home projects fell again.

The inflation report raised concerns among some investors that the Federal Reserve will back away from cutting interest rates again at its next meeting, on March 18, and stocks declined at the opening bell. NY Times

I had a condo in Florida and the rest of my money in Apple stock. Looks like I sold both just in time. (Apple will rebound, Florida, probably not so much.)

John Kerry is only 3 1/2 years late

I have to admit, I didn’t expect reading a story about how President Musharraf says he will bow to the election results in Pakistan and go quietly was going to make me laugh out loud. But the Times just gave me the giggles by first enumerating how truly remarkable this is, then following up with this paragraph that contains the first quote in the story. Who did they choose to quote, you ask?

Mr. Musharraf was “accepting of the reality of the election,” Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in Islamabad, the capital, after he and two other American senators met with Mr. Musharraf. NY Times

Here’s what made me laugh: John Kerry telling us that a hated leader is about to leave office because of the “reality of the election.” And it’s only 3 1/2 year late.

It’s either that, or John Kerry is now the guy you quote when someone looses an election against all odds.

Florida schools await board’s vote on evolution

Nearly 150 years after Charles Darwin revolutionized biology, evolution will become required study in Florida classrooms if the state Board of Education approves new science standards Tuesday that explicitly names the ‘’E'’ word for the first time. (…)

Naturally that is just outrageous. Sure, it’s a widely accepted fact that evolution is what governs pretty much any hard science out there, but it’s not in the Bible. So how could it be true? Enter outraged mob:

Their refrain: The new standards need to call evolution a ‘’theory,'’ so that evolution does not appear to be the fact that mainstream science says it is.

The outcry at so many public hearings led the Florida Department of Education to schedule an extra hour of public testimony and, late Friday, offer an alternate version of the standards that calls every theory a ‘’Scientific Theory'’ — whether it’s about evolution or atoms — and identifies every natural law as such.

Many want more. One expert who sat on the framers committee that formed the standards wants the board to consider his ‘’minority report'’ to teach kids about scientific differences over evolution. Lori Muller, a mother from St. Augustine, said at a Monday public hearing in Orlando that she liked this idea.

“Just by tweaking some of the words in the standard, we can all win,” Muller said. “We are not supposed to be pushing any secret and biased agenda, but just making sure the children of Florida receive the best education possible.'’ Miami Herald

This will henceforth be known as the “Scientific Theory of how the United States lost its leading edge in science.”

Election outcome in Pakistan offers best chance for reform in years

The party of Pakistan’s late former PM Benazir Bhutto - the biggest winner in Monday’s election - says it is ready to form a coalition with the PML-N party. BBC

If this goes through it could single handedly reform Pakistan from a dictatorship to a more or less functioning democracy.

Just wait for Bush to herald this as one of his triumphs even though it has absolutely nothing to do with him. On the contrary, Bush kept backing Musharraf, even though it was crystal clear he is a dictator who imposed marshal law in an over-reaching power grab and largely ignored al-Quaida operatives within Pakistan’s borders.

Castro

Castro to leave office. The BBC has more.

Another Cold Warrior gone.

Havana, Cuba: Pope John Paul II listens to a welcoming speech by Castro in January 1998.
AP via Guardian

CIA unsuccessfully went ‘free market’ after 9/11 as a cover

The LA Times reported this over the weekend but I didn’t see it until now:

The CIA set up a network of front companies in Europe and elsewhere after the Sept. 11 attacks as part of a constellation of “black stations” for a new generation of spies, according to current and former agency officials.

But after spending hundreds of millions of dollars setting up as many as 12 of the companies, the agency shut down all but two after concluding they were ill-conceived and poorly positioned for gathering intelligence on the CIA’s principal targets: terrorist groups and unconventional weapons proliferation networks.
 
The closures were a blow to two of the CIA’s most pressing priorities after the 2001 terrorist attacks: expanding its overseas presence and changing the way it deploys spies.

The companies were the centerpiece of an ambitious plan to increase the number of case officers sent overseas under what is known as “nonofficial cover,” meaning they would pose as employees of investment banks, consulting firms or other fictitious enterprises with no apparent ties to the U.S. government.

But the plan became the source of significant dispute within the agency and was plagued with problems, officials said. The bogus companies were located far from Muslim enclaves in Europe and other targets. Their size raised concerns that one mistake would blow the cover of many agents. And because business travelers don’t ordinarily come into contact with Al Qaeda or other high-priority adversaries, officials said, the cover didn’t work. (…) LA Times

Financial Times: US consumer confidence at 16 year low

US consumer confidence dropped to a 16-year low this month, a level that has historically signalled recession.

The Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment fell 11 per cent for early February to 69.6, compared with the previous month - the lowest level since February 1992. Financial Times

Russia: US spy satellite plan ‘a cover’ for military test

The standoff continues:

Russia has accused the US of using a plan to shoot down a broken spy satellite as a cover for testing an anti-satellite weapon.

The US said last week that it would use a missile to destroy the satellite, to stop it from crash landing.

(…) Russia’s defence ministry said the US had not given enough information on the reasons for the decision.

“Speculations about the danger of the satellite hide preparations for the classical testing of an anti-satellite weapon,” a statement reported by Itar-Tass news agency said.

“Such testing essentially means the creation of a new type of strategic weapons,” it added.

“The decision to destroy the American satellite does not look harmless as they try to claim, especially at a time when the US has been evading negotiations on the limitation of an arms race in outer space,” the statement continued. BBC News

US Misses Second Deadline to Protect Polar Bears

The United States has missed its own postponed deadline to decide if polar bears need protection from climate change, and critics link the delay to an oil lease sale in a vast swath of the bear’s icy habitat.

“When it comes to the survival of the polar bear, the Bush administration is putting the ‘dead’ back into ‘deadline,’” said Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who heads a House of Representatives panel on climate change.

“Now that the Bush administration has taken care of its clear first priority - taking care of their friends in the oil industry - perhaps they can finally give the polar bear, and the global warming that is causing the bear’s demise, the attention it is due,” Markey said in a statement. Reuters

US plans to shoot down own satellite

The US military is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite due to crash land on Earth in the next few weeks, the Pentagon has announced.

President George W Bush approved the option to fire a missile from a US Navy ship to destroy the satellite before it enters the atmosphere, officials said.

(…) The US Navy plans to modify a Standard Missile 3 to be launched from an Aegis destroyer - usually part of the US Missile Defense System designed to intercept ballistic missiles.

Gen Cartwright said they planned to have one missile shot, but there would be three missiles available on three ships. If the first attempt was unsuccessful, a decision would be made whether a second attempt was required.

It must be done before it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere, otherwise the craft would be “next to impossible” to hit because of atmospheric disturbances.

“We are better off taking the attempt than not,” Gen Cartwright said. BBC

It will be interesting to see if this actually works.

If it does, the US will have publicly admitted that it has the capability to down satellites.

If it doesn’t, the US will have publicly admitted the system it claims can shoot down missiles it quite literally tracks on the fly cannot shoot down a satellite the location of which is exactly known. The the new defence system Putin, the EU, and the US are facing off about (entry) is also based on this technology and failure to down the satellite would call its effectiveness into question.