Friday News Roundup - International
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-12-09/friday-news-roundup-international
European leaders reached a deal on saving the Euro, but not before britain bowed out; in a rare interview with the western media, the Syrian President denied ordering a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters; elections in Russia gave a less than ringing endorsement to Vladimir Putin’s party, amid concern of widespread voter fraud; Iran said it had a downed American drone, increasing speculation that the CIA was conducting a covert war there; and a bomb at a shrine in Kabul killed scores and raised concern about a return to sectarian violence. Moises Naim of El Pais, Indira Lakshmanan of Bloomberg News and Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post join guest host Susan Page for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
Guests
Moises Naim
chief international columnist, El Pais.
Indira Lakshmanan
senior reporter, Bloomberg News.
Karen DeYoung
senior diplomatic correspondent, The Washington Post.
Comments
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For some unknown reason opthamologists seem unable to handle political responsibility. Maybe they dream of being the veritable "one-eyed man in the land of the blind" and they just start poking irises with fingers like the Three Stooges. I do not believe Assad's cautionary tale about being "the boy in a bubble." ABC has an unfair advantage with Walters who could taste wine with Goebbels before the gates of Birnenwald without offending him. Is that a good thing, or a bad thing? Will Bashar visit "The View" next week? Such is the tenor (unwavering course) of network news.
Caption (as in the New Yorker) "Barbara, if my little doggy bit someone's finger I would whip him with a laurel and throw his chew toy over the fence."
Forget politics. Pres. Obama is the father of 2 daughters. As a pro choice supporter and mother of four adult daughters who engaged in open dialogue with me regarding sexual matters, too many girls 16 are not knowledgeable enough to make birth control decisions, independently. The morning after pill is not a "not tonight dear" headache remedy nor is holding an aspirin between the legs a birth control method. If this had been available to my daughters, I would have desired to be a part of the process.
I think the war with Iran started long ago. As Seymour Hersh wrote in the New Yorker almost five years ago that allegedly there have been Israeli and US special forces on the ground in Iran for years. Then we have Assasinations of Iranian scientist, Stuxnet, 18 explosions at military sites in one year. Drones flying over Iran...seems like the war all ready started with Iran based on unsubstantiated claims.
Could the shot down drone in Iran be a trojan drone?
Why would China need Iran to buy drone technology from.. China could get it from Israel who has sold US military technology to China for years
Has anyone asked about the venerability to hacking through the communications channel? I know that a year or two ago there was a report that the radio channels that the military is using to communicate with he drones may not be secure and people may have been able to hack in a and see the video feeds from the drones using store bought materials. I was wondering if anyone is asking this question of the government agencies and military?
In response to the airline pilot and helo pilot from Vietnam. The Iranians have been operating F-4 Phantoms and F-14 Tomcat fighter jets for 30 years under embargo. Can they reverse engineer the systems in this drone? Over time, probably. They have already reverse engineered the F-4, F-14, Boeing 747, Boeing 707, 727, and C-130. Considering that the Iranians will be working closely with the Russians and Chinese it can be assumed that the RQ-170 will have a short life.
Did you see that radar scatter grille on the air intake? Pretty spiffy!
So shallow. I'm talking about the panel's discussion re: the Iran situation and the RQ-170 drone that was lost (while violating the sovereign airspace of Iran, no doubt).
As far as I know, Congress never declared a war on Iran. As economic sanctions are considered an "act of war," we are already acting the part. Another constitutional violation related to war, and little discussion is dedicated to this fact.
You guys just talk about the covert operations going on in Iran like they're normal, and "should be." They shouldn't! What if the Chinese had top secret drones over our country?!
Honestly I don't get these "intellectuals" even getting the airtime to be able to give voice to their dribble/opinions that they have to offer. It gives me hope though; by the time I'm your age, I (along with my generation) will have gained mountains of wisdom through witnessing your mistakes, and by being the ones forced to correct them.
What MY generation talks about is: "Those old farts think they know what's best. They don't. But they'll keep thinking so until the house of cards comes crashing down around them. And then, we won't laugh, but we will cry knowing that we did what we could but "age" and "media exposure" were the only things that mattered in their hey-dey, so they wouldn't listen."
So long, America! It's been real! Unless we get a true gentleman and constitutional arbiter back into the office of the Presidency, and completely reinstall the bought-off Congress that's currently serving (minus a few, wise men and women fighting for their country, which includes 0 senators), it is guaranteed that America fails.
Why don't you think about the lack of respect you show to our forefathers and to the millions of Americans who sacrificed to make their country better. It's all been pissed away in a few short decades. And our forefathers knew that it would happen.
WHAT DOES THE EU HAVING ITS 'OWN':
- military (including a globally deployable navy, army and airforce that are separate from NATO);
- massive foreign service (planned to be 2X the size of the U.S.'s);
- embassies in nearly 1 hundred locations/countries around the world
( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/7045354/More-than-50...
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2010/01/those-embassies.html
http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/web_en.htm );
- global positioning system satellites (http://www.esa.int/esaNA/galileo.html ); etc
... HAVE TO DO WITH THE MOTIVATIONS* BEHIND THE FORMATION OF THE EU AND ITs PREDESESSOR BODIES**???
Roderick V. Louis
Vancouver, BC, Canada
========================
* to act as an impediment to continual wars on the Continent while improving economic, legal and governance structures among the Continent's countries; and to prevent injustices, intolerance, discrimination and persecution of minorities occurring among member states....
....
** European Economic Community (EEC)
@ pancake
"Birnenwald": it's either Buchenwald or (Auschwitz) Birkenau.
Can't see the point you want to make by the use of a metaphor referring to an era in history that is no way comparable with anything, in concept as well as execution. I resent the levity with which people think they can make use of it .
Loesje:
Very good response and example. I had almost the very same response by a person using a metaphor that in no way had anything to do with the time in history that I was writting about on FB Diana Rehms.
I generally love the international round up but Moises said that Iran had a nuclear weapons program and not a nuclear energy program and I think this is the type of language that led us into Iraq and I think he is a better commentator than that.
Reporter Moises Naim characterized the Mutli-Plural Republic of Bolivia as a "rogue state" along with Iran and Venezuela.
Evo Morales is a democratically elected indigenous leader who actually serves the interests of the majority of the population of Bolivians, who are also indigenous peoples.
The actions of that sovereign nation are not rogue decisions outside the norms of international law; indeed, the government of Bolivia, while not perfect, has not bankrupted their country, sought international loans for bank bail outs, or
pushed their population, especially their youth, into the streets of unemployment. They have never invaded another country, and have embarked on regional development projects never achieved in previously in 500 years of non-indigenous governance.
Guest Host Susan Page and Mr. Naim should be able to distinguish the actions of a regional financier of opposition groups, such as Iran, from the government of Bolivia. Such gaps in knowledge do this otherwise informed show, a great disservice. I respectfully request that his comment be scrutinized and that the regular host mention this characterization as outside the norm of responsible journalism.
Spain, for the record, enjoys regular commercial relations with the likes of Equatorial Guinea, a country that lacks democratic elections, but that is awash in oil and human rights atrocities, the former of which is of great interest to Spain, the later which has gone missing from Spain's newspaper of record. Perhaps El Pais could consider an investigative journalistic piece on that country. Or better yet, spend more time studying Bolivia than mis-characterizing its conduct.
I have no affiliation to the Bolivian Government, but I am an indigenous person. You have not conquered us.