Hey UN, Shove It
UN officials expressed shock and disappointment that Syria is not cooperating in helping to prove that Syria murdered former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri:
The Syrian silence has "considerably slowed down" the work of the commission probing Hariri's death, Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari told the UN Security Council.
He refused to say explicitly that Syria had not cooperated.
No, because you wouldn't want to be indelicate in criticizing Arab states for willful violations of international law. Certainly not when you can spend the same time demonizing Israel:
The Palestinian economy has deteriorated sharply since the start of the uprising in 2000, and Israel's "separation" barrier in the West Bank will depress it further, a United Nations agency said on Thursday.
The economy shrank one percent in 2004, one in three Palestinian workers was jobless at year-end and 61 percent of households had income below the poverty line of $350 per month, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said in its annual report on the occupied territories.
"Put simply, in the wake of the past four years of Israeli occupation and war, the Palestinian economy invests and produces less and therefore consumes more imports, especially those from Israel," the report said.
Two points bear repeating: (1) the Palestinians started this war and (2) the overwhelming effective separation fence is meant to stop the war. But blaming the poor Palestinian economy on a nonviolent defense mechanism that cuts down suicide bombers by 95% apparently makes more sense than actually blaming the suicide bombers.
The Syrian silence has "considerably slowed down" the work of the commission probing Hariri's death, Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari told the UN Security Council.
He refused to say explicitly that Syria had not cooperated.
No, because you wouldn't want to be indelicate in criticizing Arab states for willful violations of international law. Certainly not when you can spend the same time demonizing Israel:
The Palestinian economy has deteriorated sharply since the start of the uprising in 2000, and Israel's "separation" barrier in the West Bank will depress it further, a United Nations agency said on Thursday.
The economy shrank one percent in 2004, one in three Palestinian workers was jobless at year-end and 61 percent of households had income below the poverty line of $350 per month, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said in its annual report on the occupied territories.
"Put simply, in the wake of the past four years of Israeli occupation and war, the Palestinian economy invests and produces less and therefore consumes more imports, especially those from Israel," the report said.
Two points bear repeating: (1) the Palestinians started this war and (2) the overwhelming effective separation fence is meant to stop the war. But blaming the poor Palestinian economy on a nonviolent defense mechanism that cuts down suicide bombers by 95% apparently makes more sense than actually blaming the suicide bombers.
