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When I was growing up, fascism was a political term in common use. I was seven years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the years following saw us occupied with the defeat of fascism. I can’t say I knew what it meant. I just knew it was bad. I have this uncanny feeling that, as fascism rears its ugly head again in our world, that a lot of people still don’t know what it means. One reason I think so is because more than a few people object to the term “Islamofascism.” Here is a definition of fascism,...

JINSA Report #586 Former Secretary of State Albright was on TV this weekend, suggesting that the current Secretary of State fly off to the Middle East to engage in some “diplomacy.” “I still do think that we actually need to be more involved. And I wish that the secretary had announced that she was leaving (St. Petersburg and the G-8 Summit) … I believe that it’s not possible for the U.S. to get over-involved.” Well, yes it is. American diplomacy has often served to protect the perpetrators of violence from just retribution. Papering over terrorism with a “peace process” full...

ISRAEL might have to negotiate over Lebanese prisoners held in Israel to end a crisis sparked by Hezbollah's abduction of two soldiers, an Israeli cabinet minister said today. There was no indication whether Public Security Minister Avi Dichter was speaking on behalf of the Government or giving his personal opinion. Israel has previously rebuffed Hezbollah's offers of a prisoner exchange. "I think at the end we will bring the soldiers home and if one of the ways must be through a negotiation about Lebanese prisoners, I think the day will arrive when we must consider (this) as well," Mr Dichter...

/begin my translationN. Korea: Nuclear Test Possible If UN Sanction Is Imposed 2006.07.13 If UN passes sanction against N. Korea, N. Korea may resort to nuclear test, according to some expert. Peter Hayes, a professor at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia argued during an interview with RFA that Kim Jong-il may carry it out to show that he does not succumb to U.S. pressure.Professor Hayes is an expert on energy and security issues. He has been running a project to build small power plants in N. Korea to solve its energy problem. He has visited N. Korea seven...

THE White House has denied the US government has been negotiating in Iraq with "terrorists" and Saddam Hussein loyalists but says it is "reaching out" to those rejecting the political process. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the United States was "not talking" with al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, "other terrorists," or loyalists of ousted president Saddam Hussein. "But part of our strategy, a critical element of our strategy, is to broaden participation in the political process," McClellan told reporters. "We have been reaching out to the rejectionists." Washington wants "rejectionists" to understand that "the way forward is...

AS THE WAR between the United States and Al Qaeda enters its fifth year, the nature of the armed, transnational Islamist group's campaign remains misunderstood. With the conflict viewed largely as an open-and-shut matter of good versus evil, nonmilitary engagement with Al Qaeda is depicted as improper and unnecessary. Yet developing a strategy for the next phase of the global response to Al Qaeda requires understanding the enemy -- something Western analysts have systematically failed to do. Sept. 11 was not an unprovoked, gratuitous act. It was a military operation researched and planned since at least 1996 and conducted by...

Some China Textile Import Quotas Re-ImposedBy MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Thu Sep 1, 9:18 AM ET The Bush administration announced Thursday that it was re-imposing quotas on two categories of Chinese clothing and textile imports after negotiators in Beijing failed to make progress toward an agreement to limit a surge of imports from China. The administration said that it would limit imports of fabric made with synthetic filament threads and also bras and other body-supporting undergarments, in response to shipments that have battered the U.S. industry. "Today's announcement demonstrates this administration's commitment to leveling the playing field for U.S....

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/26/opinion/26kristof.htmlN. Korea, 6, and Bush, 0 By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Published: April 26, 2005   ere's a foreign affairs quiz:(1) How many nuclear weapons did North Korea produce in Bill Clinton's eight years of office?(2) How many nuclear weapons has it produced so far in President Bush's four years in office?The answer to the first question, by all accounts, is zero. The answer to the second is fuzzier, but about six.The total will probably rise in coming months, for North Korea has shut down its Yongbyon reactor and says that it plans to extract the fuel rods from it. That...

...snip.... Nuclear forecast Amid the Bush administration's tough talk toward North Korea, a new fear is emerging: Could Pyongyang test a nuclear weapon this year? Some insiders think so. "Knowing Kim Jong Il 's track record for brinksmanship, I'd bet on it," says Larry Wilkerson , who worked the North Korea issue as former Secretary of State Colin Powell 's chief of staff. "If we don't resume negotiations, I'd give it a 70-30 chance." The CIA is not predicting anything imminent. But then again, it missed India's nuke test in 1998. "The only thing that would preclude this," says Wilkerson,...

'When people see a strong horse and a weak horse," Osama bin Laden said after the destruction of the World Trade Center, "by nature they will like the weak horse." No maxim has better encapsulated the merciless philosophy of al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups around the world. In the past week, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist believed to have captured the Liverpudlian engineer Kenneth Bigley and two Americans 10 days ago, has shown that this principle remains at the heart of what he and his fellow fanatics are doing. If Zarqawi's aim has been to show that the West...

Statement by Secretary James A. Baker, III, Bush-Cheney '04 Debate Negotiations Team Leader and Vernon Jordan, Jr. (title edited for length)  NEW YORK - Secretary James A. Baker, III, Bush-Cheney '04 Debate Negotiations Team Leader and Vernon Jordan, Jr. today issued the following statement:"We are pleased to announce today that President Bush and Senator Kerry will participate in three debates.  The first debate is on Thursday, September 30 at the University of Miami, in Coral Gables, Florida, the second is on October 8 in St. Louis, Missouri at Washington University, and the third at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona...

White House divisions threaten talks, says Clinton aide By Andrew Ward in Seoul Published: August 28 2003 5:00 | Last Updated: August 28 2003 5:00 Few people can claim to know Kim Jong-il, North Korea's secretive communist dictator, but Wendy Sherman got closer than most. She met him in Pyongyang three years ago while serving as North Korea specialist in former US president Bill Clinton's administration. "He was intelligent, he was conversational but it would be overstating it to say he has a sophisticated view of the outside world," says Ms Sherman. "He watches CNN, he surfs the internet. But...

Troops handed 'Saddam letter' By Shafik Meghji and James Langton, Evening Standard 23 June 2003 American soldiers have allegedly been handed a letter from Saddam Hussein offering his terms of surrender. The development comes amid further claims that he is still alive and active in Iraq. Saddam passed the handwritten document to Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti shortly before the former aide was captured by US forces last week, it has been claimed. In the letter Saddam called for "fair treatment" by the allied forces for himself and that his family be allowed safe passage from Iraq to another Arab country....

Sarri Singer, the daughter of New Jersey State Senator Robert Singer, was wounded in Wednesday's bus bombing in Jerusalem. Singer, in her 20's, was seated on the bus but only lightly hurt in the attack. She is at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem's Ein Karem. In an interview with Israeli media, Singer said she was on her way to visit friends in Jerusalem's German Colony, aboard bus no. 14A when it blew up Wednesday afternoon. The attack deepened her dismay with the policies of US President George W. Bush who has set in motion a peace process known as the 'road...

Translation synposis provided from original Japanese by AIT:Text:"Kim Jong il's Skillfull (Superior) (note: "joutou") Technique"North Korea announced yesterday they were quitting the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as well as withdrawing from safety and inspection protocols of the I.A.E.A. organization, and have removed themselves from the requirement of submitting to nuclear inspections. This was stated by the KCNA News Agency from Pyongyang. It is clear that the North Koreans have taken this emboldened actions because of the position of the United States on January 7th, which showed 'weakness' (note: 'yowami') when it conceded to have discussions in order to...