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The Latest In Text Quote: "Those terrorists . . . we have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th Century. By sacrificing life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies." - George W Bush. Trevor Stanley Weblog PWHCE's Editor Trevor Stanley, the columnist for this page, now has his own Weblog, http://trevorstanley.blogspot.com/. The weblog renders this centre column somewhat redundant, so posts here will be much less common from now onwards. I hope those who read this column will appreciate the Trevor Stanley blog. Trevor Stanley Happy New Year 2004! Perspectives on World History and Current Events (PWHCE) began in October 2001, but took a long time to really take off. 2003 was the year that we really made progress, not only breaking the 10,000 hit barrier, but almost reaching 40,000 hits across the whole site (since 2001 we have had over 39150 hits). During 2003, PWHCE registered over 30837 hits across the site. There have been several highlights: Most popular page: Coalition of the Willing: 3767 hits. Runner Up: Monarchy Links: 3002 hits. Biography: Nguyen Van Thieu: 869 hits. Most popular project: Who's Who of Russian History and Current Events: 5320 hits. This year PWHCE has been linked-to by websites as far afield as Iceland, Sweden, Finland, USA, Britain, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany and Estonia, and read by people from dozens of countries (judging from the origin of Google searches). It has also been a pleasure to host numerous successful talks. We hope to make another leap forwards in 2004, revamping the page's format, publishing more articles including material relating to our editor Trevor Stanley's recent thesis on Islamic radicalism and of course hosting more talks. We will unveil an expanded board of trustees in coming weeks. We are currently seeking articles from our readers, to help relaunch the site in 2004. Once again, PWHCE and its trustees wish you a Happy New Year, and thank you for making PWHCE worth operating. Trevor Stanley, Editor, PWHCE. Saddam Hussein Arrested This Morning! Good news: The former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has just been arrested. A DNA test rendered his primitive disguise irrelevant and confirmed he was in fact Saddam Hussein, just as the country's soviet era military was defeated by the Coalition's 21st Century military machine and doctrine (see our April 2003 talk by Mr Michael O'Connor AM). In PWHCE's June 2003 talk, an Iraqi refugee (who must remain anonymous) spoke on 'Experiences from Inside Iraq'. When asked whether he thought Hussein was still alive, he said that the persistent guerrilla attacks in the north of the country would not be happening unless someone was giving the orders and supplying the money. Therefore, the erstwhile dictator's recent arrest promises an end to these guerrilla attacks. (Note: some media reports have already predicted an increase in guerrilla attacks.) A functioning totalitarian state can replace a leader while quelling dissent, but such a leader in isolation can only compel support from those who have something to gain by supporting him. It is now impossible that Hussein might expel the American-led Coalition and resume government as his Tikriti cronies and their allies might have hoped - instead he will be standing trial at the recently announced Iraqi war crimes tribunal. Incidentally, one wonders whether the timing of that announcement demonstrates that the net was already tightening on Hussein at that time. The interesting things to watch in coming weeks will be not only whether the guerrilla attacks end, but also whether the terrorist suicide bombings, which many believe may be a separate operation carried out by foreign Islamists, will also end. If the guerrilla and bombing attacks were both directed by Hussein, one expects they will both end. Otherwise, we should expect to see a rapid end to the guerrilla attacks, then a more gradual decline in terrorist bombings as the Coalition is able to refocus more resources against the terrorist cells. Another interesting issue to watch will be the media response. The jubilation in the streets of Baghdad at news of Hussein's arrest puts the lie to the claim that the guerrilla attacks are evidence of a groundswell of resentment of the Coalition forces by the general Iraqi (or Sunni) population. Many claim that the media (particularly left-leaning outlets such as the Guardian, Australia's ABC and SBS, and the ubiquitous small independent web publications) have shown persistent bias during the war. Indeed, the media presented the entire war as a unilateral adventure by America, opposed by Europe and supported by a sprinkling of 'small, Pacific islands' and 'bullied' Eastern European states. PWHCE's own analysis of the Coalition of the Willing demonstrated that in fact the anti-war countries were isolated. What consensus will emerge on the capture of Hussein? The absence of weapons of mass destruction will be raised. However, an entire squadron of jets has been unearthed in the Iraqi desert, and many of the most trenchant critics of the Coalition (such as former chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq, Richard Butler) are on record as believing the dictator possessed a vast stockpile of weapons as late as 2002. More intelligence linking Saddam Hussein's regime to al-Qaeda and to weapons of mass destruction continues to come to light. Make no mistake - Saddam Hussein's arrest is a major victory for the Coalition of the Willing, an important achievement for the Iraqi people, and a great step towards a world free from the ever-present fear of violence and injustice. Trevor Stanley. 14th December 2003. Final comment: The Age has run an article on the document linking Hussein's Iraq to al-Qaeda's Mohammad Atta. The article is entitled Atta linked to Baghdad in dubious document. Ten points to anyone who can identify the evidence presented in the article to justify the use of the word 'dubious' in the headline. (If the article had been entitled "Atta linked to Baghdad in genuine document", it would certainly make it onto "Media Watch"!) Al Qaeda strikes - but only electronically On Saturday the 18th of October (three days ago), al Jazeera broadcast parts of an audio tape purportedly of Usama bin Laden. The message contained therein was apparently recorded between the war in Iraq and Mahmoud Abbas' resignation on 6th September 2003. On the same day, al Qaeda and its allies initiated an electronic assault, reloading the al Neda webpage at http://www.cybcity.com/image900/index.htm Mirror sites were set up at numerous 'free webpage' locations, with videos and other files to download. Saturday is the ideal day from al Qaeda's point of view, because in many cases, the offices of these web hosting sites will not be open until Monday. There are a number of anti-terrorist 'good citizens', such as Internet Haganah, who track such sites, and inform the hosting services, resulting in the closure of the sites. Launching the new page on a Saturday keeps it open that much longer. This Saturday, the task was made even more difficult for Internet Haganah, (IH) as its own host-site, Hosting Matters, was struck by a 'denial of service' attack initiated, IH says, by pro-al Qaeda sites it has been tracking for some time. IH maintains that these sites were specifically discussing attacks on IH before the latest attack took place. IH has set up a number of mirror sites (click on any of the above links to see such sites if others aren't working - the first link is to the 'main page') One wonders at the co-incidence of the broadcast of the Usama bin Laden tape more than a month after it occurred, which coincided with the simultaneous upload of webpages at several sites and a massive denial of service attack on Internet Haganah on the same day, all conveniently on a Saturday. One wonders at the nature of the relationship between al Jazeera and its 'reliable sources' in al Qaeda. - Trevor Stanley. Credit: The first place we heard about the new al Qaeda tape and website was the Chechen-links-al-qaeda list. If you're having trouble viewing the al Neda page, try the following URLs to download videos: http://1.anwar-islam.com/v/11/1.rm (small, faster loading) http://1.anwar-islam.com/v/27/1.rm (larger, slower loading) There are six or seven files, simply change the 1.rm to the appropriate number. 11/6.rm and 27/7.rm (same file) contain an English-language threat/invitation to join Islam. All-in-all, the page seems strangely comical. Critique: From Black September to September 11: Blaming the Victims. 14/09/2003 Two years on from the 11th September terrorist attacks, blaming the victims for terrorism continues to be a standard approach of the left intelligentsiya. - Trevor Stanley. Al Qaeda: New Video. New Website. New Attack? Recently, Al Qaeda revived its primary website, (formerly called Al Neda, the page had been down for since June 2003 after repeated hacking of the page, followed by the death of its director), and published an four chapter book discussing the 11th September 2001 attacks and the recent Riyadh bombings. The site has since been shut down again. Then, on 10th September 2003, Al Jazeera published a video depicting Usama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri walking in the Afghan or Pakistani mountains during (Northern) late spring. Although the tape is clearly an old tape with dubbed-over voices, the decision to release the tape at this point is significant. Is the timing of the webpage-book release and the release of the video to Al-Jazeera merely intended to co-incide with the anniversary of 11th September? In the past, Al Qaeda has often increased the frequency of its 'press releases' and interviews before and after a major attack (for example, Usama bin Laden's interviews with John Miller (before) and Rahimullah Yousafsai (after) the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es-Salaam. Several interviews were clustered around those bombings.) The frequency of terrorist attacks today renders any prediction of 'impending attacks' somewhat superfluous, however this level of publicity does point to the possibility of a major attack, perhaps within the month. - Trevor Stanley. Some recent links: Comment on Afghanistan Perspectives on World History and Current Events, as the name suggests, endeavours to provide different perspectives which might be neglected by the 'mainstream' media. While we believe the American-and-allied intervention in Afghanistan has positive implications, it has to be remembered that westerners interfered in the Loya Jirga (Grand Council of Elders), preventing the rightful head of state from reclaiming his throne. Why did the Americans not allow a logical return to the highly successful system which prevailed until the 1973 coup? The symbolism of continuity and unity the pre-1973 King would have represented was apparently lost on our diplomats, and instead the instability of the Daoud regime was recalled by the placement of a treacherous relative of the King at the head of a government run by militant factions (many of them Islamist) who are sure to be at each other's throats. For that reason, PWHCE provides the following translation of a short message found on the German webpage Imperium Sacrum - Das Heilige Reich. A Charles Coulombe essay on the topic (entitled The Empty Throne) is also included on the site (in german) for those who wish to read further. US Terror against the Lawful State in Afghanistan Communists, Islamists and Democrats have joined forces hunting the legal ruler of Afghanistan, King Zahir Shah. In a cunningly subtle manoeuvre, the monarchical prerogative of the noble King was abused by Afghanistan in a typically democratic fraud. It is self-evident that the alleged "resignation" of the King can find no validity in law. US-Terror gegen den Rechtsstaat in Afghanistan Der von Kommunisten, Islamisten und Demokraten gemeinsam verjagte rechtmäßige Herrscher Afghanistans, König Zahirschah. In einem unglaublich raffinierten Manöver wurde die monarchische Potenz des edlen Königs von Afghanistan für typisch demokratische Betrügereien mißbraucht. Es versteht sich von selbst, daß der angebliche "Rücktritt" des Königs keinerlei Rechtskraft entfalten kann. If you would like to read more about the monarchy and Afghanistan, you may find our article, Afghanistan: The Road Ahead, written soon after the Northern Alliance recaptured Kabul, to be of interest. Latest PWHCE media critique: Critique: Terror's Myriad Faces Trevor Stanley critiques the latest carping, defeatist article by Guardian-Observer correspondent Jason Burke. Just as Mr Burke reported the imminent demise of Allied troops from the offices of the Taliban in October 2001, now he is attempting to shoehorn the sophistocated, well-planned, internationally co-ordinated Chechen-Saudi-Moroccan bombings into the fashionable theory that the disruption of Al Qaeda's base of operations in Afghanistan has led to dozens of new, small, unconnected cells. (This theory already suffered from the elementary weakness that a failure to disrupt the base of operations would in no way have prevented such a fragmentation from taking place.) Breaking News: Are the Saudi, Moroccan and Chechen Attacks Linked? Our special report examines the media slant on the current bombing campaign. More media critique: Coalition of the Willing War on Iraq Weekly quote not being updated. 23rd March 2003. You might notice that the 'InText quote of the week' has not changed for some time. My trip to Europe, followed by a move to a new address and then a series of computer system problems, has meant that weekly updates have been abandoned. Having now solved all these problems, I have to consider scaling back my commitments as I am writing a thesis. I will resume updates on the InText quote of the week, but it may become a quote of the month. Thanks for reading, Trevor Stanley, Editor, Perspectives on World History and Current Events. Chechnya Article Lowers Guardian's Standard Critique of Guardian article Moscow Reaps the Chechen Whirlwind - Theatre attack brings home failure of Kremlin strategy. Original article by Jonathan Steele, Thursday October 24, 2002. Steele's misleading 'blame the victim' article ignores a number of important facts.
Steele's Guardian article uses unbalanced language in representing Russia's war within Chechnya, and leaves out many details of the attacks against Russians - as if Yeltsin simply decided to invade Chechnya on a whim. The article indulges in conspiracy theories, repeating Russian street rumours that the FSB (Russian Security) planted the apartment bombs in a Yeltsin-Putin election ploy (would Steele dare to repeat the equivalent conspiracy theories about the CIA, Mossad and the WTC attacks?). The article is simplistic, as compared to this Moscow Times Article by Simon Saradzhyan, which explains the hostage taking as a failure of intelligence at a time when the Chechens have run out of military options. In other words, the military side of Moscow's strategy is actually working, contrary to Steele's claims. Guardian-Observer reporting has been of surprisingly good quality recently, eschewing the conspiracy-theory-laden, blame-the-victim dross which has become commonplace for many amongst the less respectable left. Let's hope Steele's article does not indicate a shift towards the morally lazy habit of supporting any group, no matter how evil or corrupt, which opposes America, the west, or liberal-democracy. -TS. 26th October 2002. |
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