American Attacks Good, Russian Attacks Bad

Bush

President George W Bush has authorised US military raids against militants inside Pakistan without prior approval from Islamabad, the BBC has learned.

Pakistan has said it will not allow foreign forces onto its territory.

“Pakistan would not accept foreign troops. This is not the best way to pursue the war against terror,” he [Husain Haqqani, Pakistani ambassador to the US] said.
(Source: BBC News)

Do you see how it is? If Russia attacks Georgian troops invading South Ossetia and Abkhazia, then that’s Russia being a warmonger. Dick Cheney starts foaming at the mouth:

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has condemned what he called Russia’s “illegitimate” attempt to change Georgia’s borders last month.

Mr Cheney added that Russia’s actions during the recent conflict with Georgia had cast doubt on its reliability as an international partner.
(Source: BBC News)

Because, you see, the USA respects national borders. It values sovereignty.

Except when it doesn’t. As in invading Afghanistan. Then invading Iraq. And now, violating Pakistan’s borders.

Bush can personally authorise these illegal incursions into Pakistan’s sovereign territory and such is the state of the media kow-towing to the US that it doesn’t even warrant a mention on our TV news.

Imagine if Iran had sent its military into Israel this week, claiming it was tracking down terrorists the Israelis were harbouring. How much would that have been on the news? How many gravelly-voiced, terribly serious analyses would we have heard, bleating about Iranian aggression the way they bleated about Russian aggression last week?

But let’s be fair here. It’s not just the USA that international law doesn’t apply to. It also doesn’t apply to its good friends like Israel:

Israel has annexed thousands of hectares of West Bank land beside the barrier it is building, according to an Israeli rights group.

The group says some settlements have seized up to two and a half times more land than they have been designated by fencing it off or through intimidation.

Under international law the settlements in the West Bank are illegal.

The International Court of Justice issued an advisory ruling in 2004 that the barrier breached international law where it is built on occupied territory and should be dismantled.
(Source: BBC News)

And what has Bush or Cheney or the rest of the gang of murderers, war criminals and consummate hypocrites we call the US government said about this?

Nothing.

Nope. Not a word.

It seems some nations’ borders are more sacred than others…

iTunes 8 Not So Clever

iTunes 8 new visualizer

Soooo… I updated to iTunes 8 tonight. I like the new layout for albums:

iTunes 8 new display

Although iTunes remains rubbish at fetching album art so most of them remain blank.

I also love the new visualizer:

iTunes 8 new visualizer

But the new Genius function seems rushed and half-baked. I’ve tried for the last two hours to get it to work and it simply doesn’t. Maybe my music library is too large (247 gigs at the mo) but even after it chuntered through it all the first time, it never got further than ‘sending information to Apple.’ This is what I keep getting:

iTunes 8 genius

The genius bit really is rather thick. *sigh*

Ah well… in the mean time, have a look at some more pretty iTunes pics:

iTunes 8 new visualizer

iTunes 8 new visualizer

US Hypocrisy Reaches Critical Mass

Arseface
Dick Cheney – proud mass-murderer

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has condemned what he called Russia’s “illegitimate” attempt to change Georgia’s borders last month.

Mr Cheney added that Russia’s actions during the recent conflict with Georgia had cast doubt on its reliability as an international partner.
(Source: BBC News)

This is the same Dick Cheney that said that the butchering of over one million Iraqis by illegally invading US forces was, in his words, a “major success.” (Source: ABC)

Was Cheney so worried about borders when his country invaded a sovereign, non-aggressor nation, committing a war crime?

But the USA is a proud defender of national borders… when it suits them:

Pakistan has condemned an alleged raid by foreign [US] troops based in Afghanistan which officials say killed at least 15 villagers in a north-west tribal area.

The South Waziristan raid would be the first ever ground assault into Pakistan by foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Pakistan says the raid was a violation of its sovereignty. On Thursday a US missile killed at least five people in nearby North Waziristan, officials say.
(Source: BBC News)

You won’t see that particular border violation on your telly. There’s not enough time, what with all the anti-Russia hype whipped-up by the warmongers of Washington.

Oh, but we must all follow the US line: Russia BAD, Georgia GOOD. After all, who started the bloodshed in the first place, them Russians, wasn’t it? Umm…

The conflict between Georgia and Russia erupted on 7 August after Georgia tried to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia by force.

Russian forces launched a counter-attack and the conflict ended with the ejection of Georgian troops from South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia.
(Source: BBC News)

Now, that’s strange! The way everything is being reported on the TV news, it’s Russia that are the heartless invaders, trying to chop poor little Georgia into pieces. No doubt, this means the people of South Ossetia HATE the Russians, doesn’t it? Ermmm…

They [South Ossetians] are very clear who they blame: Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili, who sent troops to re-take control of this breakaway region. That effort has clearly backfired. The pro-Russian sentiment I experienced on my last visit four years ago has become far fiercer as a result of this conflict.

“They signed a ceasefire, but Saakashvili can start bombing us again any minute,” Lusya said, referring to the OSCE/EU-brokered peace plan between Moscow and Tbilisi.

“Look how many people died here! We can never join Georgia after this. We’ll cope on our own.”

“We were bombed for three days and nights. If Russia had not helped, we would have disappeared,” Lusya’s neighbour Elena said, visibly angry. “Only Russia takes us under its wing. We want to be with Russia.”
(Source: BBC News)

So, South Ossetia sees Russia as the saviour and Georgia as the aggressor. That’s a bit different from what good old Dick Cheney, mass-murderer of Iraqis, triumphant bomber of Afghan children says, innit?

One would think, the way every poodle of the USA, sorry, great Western democracy has backed the US that the Russian troops in South Ossetia must be lepers. They must be having as hard a time as the US troops in Iraq. Surely? Hmmm…

Despite international calls for a withdrawal, there is no sign of Russia pulling its troops out of Ossetia. By Wednesday, they had received an order to cease fire, but not to leave.

Their presence is popular with many locals, who wave as soldiers drive past in the street.
(Source: BBC News)

Ahhh, not quite the same as how the Iraqis and Afghans see the US forces in their countries, is it? But then, Cheney manages to accuse Russia of warmongering at the same time as standing on the pile of Iraqi corpses and calling that mission a success! Amazing! This man is some kind of Oscar-level actor, to be able to spout such hypocritical nonsense with a straight face.

Do you remember this?

There is convincing evidence that 60 children and 30 adults were killed in a US air strike in western Afghanistan last Friday, the United Nations says. (Source: BBC News)

Those sixty innocent children that the USA just murdered – is the US government apologetic? Guilty? Filled with remorse? Nope. It just denies it ever happened and, yet again, rubbishes the UN when it suits its purposes. So much for the US’ hand-wringing about naughty Russia and their aggression. And now the US is pumping war funds into Georgia under the guise of aid. Yeah, right.

Again, I am not saying that Russia is good. Russia is, after all, another superpower. All I’m saying is that if you want to find the most destructive, most dangerous, most imperialistic nation on earth, don’t look at Russia.

Look at the USA and their hideous record of murder, torture and kidnapping in Afganistan and Iraq. Nothing Russia has done can match the USA’s evil there.