Free Republic

`Exceptionalism' bumps isolationism WASHINGTON -- In rejecting a string of international arms control and environmental agreements, President Bush is carving out a foreign policy that puts what he perceives as the U.S. national interest ahead of global compromise and seeks to preserve the nation's sole superpower status. Administration officials reject the charge that Bush is anti-treaty, pointing to the president's strong support for NATO expansion and bans on weapons proliferation, among others. But the case grew more difficult to make over the past week. In Bonn, a U.S. envoy was booed as 178 countries, not including the United States, reached ...

The United States and Australia could establish a new Asian security forum that would include Japan and possibly South Korea in a more cohesive partnership to maintain peace in the region. US Secretary of State Colin Powell flagged the latest diplomatic development at the annual Australian-US ministerial meeting in Canberra yesterday. Referring to the forum, Mr Powell said, "Since we have such common interests, it might be wise to find ways to explore that on a more regular basis. But we have no form for it yet." The issue of the new security forum was raised during wide-ranging conversations ...

AS George W. Bush continues to refocus America's foreign and military policies, one thing is clear: Asia is becoming more important in Washington's thinking. And that means Australia's value as an ally of the US also increases. Australia's proximity to Asia and its political and historic links with the West, gives it a unique perspective. That is one reason Mr Bush is continuing the practice of recent presidents by sending two of his most senior cabinet members, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, halfway around the world to talk with Australian ministers. No doubt Washington ...

US Imperial "Observers" David Bedein 29 July 2001 During US Secretary of State Colin Powell´s June 28th visit to Israel, Powell announced that the US would dispatch military "observers" to oversee the implementation of US-brokered accords between Israel and the PLO. On July 27th, two days before the Tisha B´Av fast that marks the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem, the new US ambassador, a Jewish American, Daniel Kurtzer, was reported to be completing the final draft of the agreement for the deployment of US troops in Israel. This followed confirmed reports that the US has been training the security ...

CANBERRA, Jul 30, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) In the lexicon of George W. Bush's administration, China is no longer a "strategic competitor" - a phrase coined by the president during his campaign to describe U.S. relations with Beijing. But Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said here Monday that the jury is still out on the ultimate character of the critical Sino-U.S. relationship. In a rare joint appearance after Australia-U.S. security meetings here, Powell and Rumsfeld were pressed to define U.S. relations with Beijing and denied that any gaps existed between them on the issue. ...

Bush II: Where Are The 'Scandals'? By KEVIN CANFIELD The Hartford Courant July 31, 2001 So it has come to this: The biggest story out of Washington since President Clinton's controversial 11th-hour pardons centers on another intern and a back-bench congressman virtually unheard of outside his own district before May. Suddenly, Chandra and Gary are first-name celebrities. This, as much as the coverage of the Clinton administration itself, suggests that the man from Hope, Ark., may have changed the tenor of D.C. news for good, making it more than ever about sex, fame and scandal. Faced with a new president ...

CHINAGATE: UNFINISHED BUSINESS Ashcroft shakes upcriminal division Demotes Radek, fingered by FBI agents as Reno's cohort in protecting Clinton WASHINGTON – As part of a reorganization of the Justice Department's criminal division, Attorney General John Ashcroft relieved a controversial figure in the campaign-finance investigation of his duties as head of the department's highly sensitive office charged with investigating public corruption. Lee Radek, roundly criticized for steering the so-called Chinagate probe away from the Clinton White House, was chief of the Public Integrity Section during both Clinton terms. A 30-year department bureaucrat, he was moved Friday to the Asset Forfeiture ...

WASHINGTON, Jul 31, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) China's objections to President George W. Bush's planned missile shield will not sway the U.S. leader's determination to field such a system, the White House said Monday. Bush "has made very clear that he believes that the job of the commander in chief is to protect the people of the United States from accidental or rogue launch of a ballistic missile," said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. "The president is going to continue to consult with our allies, consult with Russia, consult with the Chinese, but he has made perfectly plain that he ...

MOSCOW, Jul 31, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Only nine percent of Russians believe what the authorities are telling them about the Kursk submarine disaster last August, even fewer than did so at the time, according to a poll published Monday. Those who believe what they are being told are massively outnumbered by the 76 percent who say the authorities are concealing the truth about the disaster, the VTSIOM polling institute reported. In Russia's worst modern military disaster, all 118 men onboard died when the nuclear-powered submarine, rocked by two unexplained explosions, sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea. ...

Li praises Government decision. City University's council will meet next week to decide the fate of freed scholar Li Shaomin, the head of the university said on Tuesday, as the return of the convicted spy sparked controversy. The vice-chancellor of City University, Chang Hsin-kang said the decision would not be up to him. Dr Li could face the sack if the council, whose members include Pacific Century CyberWorks chief, Richard Li Tsar-kai, decide to proceed to a disciplinary hearing on the grounds that the associate professor had brought the university into disrepute. Executive Council member Leung Chun-ying said the Government ...

In the last few weeks, the Bush administration has refused to sign or ratify a number of international agreements. These refusals are denounced as "U.S. unilateralism" by European politicians. Their criticism was echoed by the Washington Post foreign affairs columnist, Jim Hoagland, who described Bush's policy as "isolationism lite" but worried that it could have very un-lite consequences. Other nations fear the effect of Bush's rejectionism on the system of international agreements and negotiations that has grown since World War II. This fear is most pronounced in Germany, where postwar independence and reunification are seen as based on the ...

Dan Rather, the legendary anchor at CBS, thinks the case of Washington's missing intern isn't newsworthy and he's refused to discuss it on his TV news show. Dalton Camp, an opinion-dispenser at The Toronto Star, also think the case of missing Chandra Levy is "hardly news" and not worth covering -- though he devoted half a column talking about it on Sunday. What he doesn't mention is her name -- she's the "intern," rather as Monica was "that woman" to President Bill. What Dalton does find newsworthy, however, is that Dan Rather thinks the case is not newsworthy. Unless ...

The following was found while I was doing a google search for magnetic field pole transitions. I found it of interest and am placing it here for view and commentary.-VANNROX What the NSA is patenting To: cypherpunks@toad.com Subject: What the NSA is patenting From: Bruce Schneier <schneier@counterpane.com> Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 01:26:35 -0500 Posted-Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 01:29:17 -0500 (CDT) Sender: owner-cypherpunks@toad.com I just spent a pleasant hour or so searching a patent database for all patents assigned to the NSA. There's some interesting stuff: "Self-locking, tamper-evident package" Method of retrieving documents that concern the same topic" Fifty-Four ...

With he name Chandra on nearly everyone's lips these days, and her face and form now widely known around the world - few know of another famous high-flying Chandra. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory satellite. This page offers a very brief introduction to those who don't know about it - and a chance to learn more about satellites (my field of work) than you probably want to know. No better description of the satellite, and how it came to be called Chandra - is needed than this one provided by Beverly Berger of Oakland University. Harvard has a great photo album ...

Good Morning!! Free the Senate! No Senate, no justice, no peace. The Washington Pravda is reporting DC Deputy Police Chief Gainer stated the authorities are no longer viewing Rep. Conditit as the central figure in the Chandra Levy disappearance. According to Yahoo! News, the First Lady has developed her own opinion regarding stem cell research, but refuses to say what that decision is. Laura Bush has made it clear, however, that unlike her predecessor, she does not view herself as an advisor to the President on policy issues. For AMERICA - The Right Way, I remain yours in the Cause, ...

Brothers With Heart Four brothers, close since childhood, are collaborating on the development of organs made from a patient's own tissue. before long, custom-grown body parts may replace transplants By Joseph D'Agnese Photography by Chris Buck [see link above for pictures in the article] The doctor they call Chuck stands over the body with an electric blade, ready to make the first incision. The knife whirs, peeling crisp brown skin off the breast and digging into the firm white flesh below. The doctor wields the knife confidently, humming to himself, as if he finds pleasure in severing muscle from bone. ...

President George W. Bush has decided he is not going to let anyone -- either individual countries, conglomerates of countries, or the basket-case of the United Nation -- push America around. What's wrong with that? He's also not going to let a bunch of Lib-Left types within his own country -- phoney civil rights' organizations, self-serving lawyers' groups, sham environmentalists, or fraudulent 'peace' lobbies -- tell him what to do either. Bush is going to do what is best for the American people. Now, don't you just wish we had a leader like that in Canada? You've probably already ...

Arafat Goes All Out 30 July: DEBKAfile’s military sources report that, following Israel’s air bombardment Monday night of a mortar factory concealed inside the Palestinian police compound in Gaza, Yasser Arafat is reported to have ordered from Tunis the launching of a large scale mortar offensive in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Jerusalem. The Palestinian munitions factory was demolished after Israeli settlements were subjected to a night of mortar fire. Arafat’s new offensive comes on top of the fast-multiplying Palestinian assaults at every hand that brought the confrontation to boiling point Monday. In Jerusalem alone, an orthodox Jew ...

Betsy Hart:Superior usefulness of embryonic stem cells appears to be speculation I WASN’T surprised to see actress Mary Tyler Moore on Chris Matthews’ “Hardball” show extolling the breathtaking benefits that belong, alone according to her, to embryonic stem cell research. It’s easy to see why people desperately want to believe that research currently in play would restore the health of those with chronic, degenerative or deadly diseases. (Moore herself struggles with diabetes.) My own mother succumbed with lightning speed to the cancer multiple myeloma six years ago — and how I would have loved to have believed that a ...

"Watermelon" is a term used nowadays to described the radical environmentalist - green on the outside, and 'communist red' on the inside. For the most part, Black Americans have been on the sidelines in the environmental battles taking place across American due to the vast majority living in urban settings. But, as I suspected, evidence has emerged that the land-grabbing left, now realizing that they have formidable opposition, will soon begin a campaign to recruit a different breed (skin color) of foot soldiers - from the urban jungles of America. To best fight this next phase of the battle, I ...