Houthi Peace Ping Pong, Displaced Haitians May Go To Africa, Baptists Abduct Haitian Children

Boms & Arya
Abdul Rahman al Rashed
Mahan Abedin

"In a move perhaps unprecedented in Iranian history, the Islamic regime is systematically intimidating, arresting and even assassinating family members of its outspoken critics." - Boms & Arya

The links above are from foreign newspapers, which I try to catch up on the weekends. The first piece is about the lengthy tradition in the Middle East of hostage taking, and specifically in Iran, in light of the three hikers who wandered over the border from Kurdistan. Their parents can't find out right now any information on their children, how they are being treated, or if they are still alive in prison.

Abdul al Rashed's essay wonders about the Mouse That Roared situation in Yemen involving al Qaeda, pointing out that: "Forty years ago, it was said that the Imam of Yemen proposed entering a war with the United States as a solution to the financial problems from which his country was suffering. The Imam explained that because Yemen would certainly be defeated by America, America would then be obliged to rebuild Yemen." It's possible that al Qaeda in Yemen could be a hoax by the government to get American aid, which has succeeded in garnering $6 billion so far. Drunk with newfound money and the legitimacy of power, the Yemeni government has not accepted the Houthi rebels acceptance of their offer of a ceasefire. Because the area is in deep drought, the Yemeni government has decided to start drinking the blooh of the Houthi's instead. The demands for the Houthi rebels to comply are: "These conditions include removing checkpoints, ending banditry, handing over all captured military equipment, releasing goverment troops and officals as well as an end to all attacks on the Saudi Arabian military and territory." The Houthis acknowledged five conditions, ignoring the sixth one of no longer attacking Saudi troops. Saudi Arabia has declared themselves the victor in that clash.

Back to Iran with the third piece, on the shifting ugliness in the political climate that is currently being engaged in public, with Ali Rafsanjani bearing the brunt of it for his support of the liberal opposition demonstrations: "There is a widespread belief that former Iranian president and a long-time pillar of the establishment, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, is at the core of the internal squabbles that are threatening to tear apart the legacy of the Islamic revolution of 1979. Recent weeks have witnessed unprecedented verbal assaults on Rafsanjani, spearheaded by Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a former head of the judiciary and current influential member of the powerful Guardians' Council." Just further proof that the inmates are now running the asylum.

Remember the plane from North Korea that was held at the Bangkok airport as it stopped to refuel, that was full of missiles and munitions? It has definitely been determined by Thai officials that the plane's destination was Iran...

haitians to go to africa?
The Presdent of Senegal has suggested that the next African Union meeting take up the issue of relocating thousands of homeless Haitians to Africa: "The idea was suggested by Abdoulaye Wade, the Senegalese president, who said that the history of Haitians as descendants of African slaves gave them the right to a new life on the continent.


Jean Ping, the African Union (AU) chairman, told African leaders at the body's annual summit that it would discuss the proposal during the three-day event in Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia. "It is out of a sense of duty and memory and solidarity that we can further the proposal to create in Africa the conditions for the return of Haitians who wish to return after the effect of the disaster that ravaged Haiti," Ping said.
"What happened to Haiti is a tragedy that transcends borders. We have attachment and links to that country.

The ugliness has already started in Haiti. It's not enough that there's not enough relief aid to feed all of the people who need it, or that a bunch of dingy Scientologists are wandering around offering to "touch and heal" people courtesy of wacky John Travolta, or that political infighting between states like Florida and the Feds have stopped shipping injured people to hospitals stateside. Now we have Baptists illegally smuggling children, perhaps trying to turn a quick profit or fill a quota for Haitians back home, which have become quite chic: "Haitian police have detained 10 US nationals for trying to bus 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic.

"This is an abduction, not an adoption"

The US citizens did not have the proper documents from the government to take the children out of Haiti, nor letters of authorisation from their parents. The Americans were identified by Christallin as members of an Idaho-based Baptist group called New Life Children's Refuge. Their plan was to take around 100 children by bus to a rented hotel at a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, where they planned to establish an orphanage.

Laura Silsby, the group's leader, said on Sunday: "In this chaos the government is in right now, we were just trying to do the right thing." I can't really tell if she is naturally this naive or telling a lie on that stack of Bibles.

More credible children's adoption agencies have been quoted: "Amanda Weisbaum, from the non-profit organisation, Save the Children, told Al Jazeera that taking children out of their home country is not in their best interests.


"Experience has shown it is better to keep the children in the place, and with the people, they know," she said. "We trying to make sure that all these children still have parents or families within the area and that hasn't been ascertained yet. The Haitian government was quite right to halt these people at the border if they felt they didn't have the right paperwork." This mess makes those Scientologists seem harmless and quaint...


The UN plans on only giving food out to women they have previously given stamped coupons to over the next 15 days, in an effort to stop the madness and men shoving their way in and grabbing whatever they could. Now, they get to wait until the women get back to the tent camps before taking it away from the more helpless... It has devolved into a bizarre ritual of hunting and gathering...

sarah palin likes tea with her white bread...

Sarah Palin was punditing on Fox News and was asked about what to do about the tea partiers and the Republican Party: "They need to merge," Palin said. "Definitely, they need to merge. I think those who are wanting the divisions and the divisiveness and the controversy -- those are the ones who don't believe in the message. And they're the ones, I think, stirring it up."

She either has forgotten that most tea party activists are drop-outs from the Republican Party, it being not ideologically pure enough for them, or she is trying to justify the fact that she will still be speaking at the for-profit Tea Party Convention, that is charging about $550 per person to attend, charging any other organizations if they want to speak or hold workshops, and has agreed to pay Sarah over $100,000 for her to speak. A working girl has to feed her family...

The various tea party organizations are attacking each other and creating rifts among themselves, that if they did merge with the Republicans,their disharmony would probably do the trick in tearing it apart. Dick Armeyis already trying to sound like the Prophet of Tea in his pronouncements to the Washington Times, I doubt that there is enough room at the tippy top for both him and Sarah.

I have to admit that I get a bit confused trying to follow Sarah's logic whenever she speaks, like a sixth-grader trying to impress adults."We need to ignore that and we need to forge ahead with a cohesive message. It's a common sense message. It, again, is, Government, limit yourself so that the private sector, our families, free individuals can grow and thrive and prosper and enjoy America's freedom!"