Albion Monitor Issue 149 SEPTEMBER, 2006
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LAST UPHEAVEAL BEGAN 1997 ASIA ECONOMY MELTDOWN
thailand coup
An editorial in the on-line version of the English-language daily "The Nation" said Wednesday, "The coupmakers are luckier than those before them in that much of society now believes they have done the wrong thing for the right reason. But the perception that this is something done in good faith will be extremely fragile," it added. "The slower the coupmakers are in the pledged transfer of power back to the people, the more Thaksin will look like a 'pretext' and not the 'reason' for the power seizure."

MILITARY COUP IN THAILAND

Many Thais are heaving a sigh of relief that Tuesday's military coup has so far been a non-violent one, but not far behind is the nagging question: Now what? Many Thais spent the first days off work, surfing the Internet or glued to television broadcasts over the army channel, going over the public pronouncements of the coup leaders, led by army chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratklin, who told diplomats and the press that an interim prime minister and cabinet would be named in two weeks and that elections are expected to be held by October 2007. Thus far, the coup leaders have banned political activities, made public gathering of more than five people for political discussion illegal, annulled the country's 1997 constitution and taken over legislative powers after ending the authority of the 500-member parliament. Similar restrictions have been placed on the media. In addition to summoning newspaper and television station editors to request that they present information to promote "national unity," the military government has also threatened to come down hard on those who violate new restrictions that place curbs on radio call-in shows, websites and text messages.

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Thailand Coup Sends Chills to Fragile Democracies

Thailand Hopes Military Will Keep Promises To Restore Democracy

Thai Military Clamps Down On Media After Coup

Thailand Uneasy About Economic Future After Coup

Thailand Worries About Life Under Military Rule

Military Coup in Thailand


Kissinger Is Bush's Iraq Strategy Advisor? FREE!


Consulting Kissinger on how to successfully 'win' a counterinsurgency is like getting advice from Mel Gibson on public relations

The Unfunny Side of "Borat"

 Borat
Premier George Walter Bush probably #1 fan of comic who makes Americans feel smug

Making it acceptable to laugh at portrayal of ignorant, non-Western cultures

Bush Lost a Generation of Muslim Good Will, Says Top CIA Analyst


"The once-touted model of a secular, democratic Iraq is all but forgotten"

Japan's New Leader An Admirer Of Pre-WWII Imperial Glory


Wants bolder military presence, revolk pacifist clause in constitution

Army Near Breaking Point, Needs 50% Raise, Says Commander


Refuses to submit budget in unprecedented revolt

Brit Officer Stirs Furor With Remark That Afghan War "Barking Mad"


"Now the ground has been lost and all we're doing in places like Sangin is surviving"

Vatican Fails To Defuse Muslim Anger Over Pope's Remarks


Quoting 14th century racist probably not good idea for outreach


  9/11 ALSO MARKED END OF PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM
FEMA Ground Zero
San Francisco fire fighters continue the search for survivors at Ground Zero, September 19, 2001. Many rescuers shunned masks after the President mounted the pile of rubble without respiratory protection, signaling to firemen, policemen, and volunteers that no one should worry about the towers having become a toxic waste-pile the likes of which the developed world hadn't seen since Chernobyl. PHOTO: Andrea Booher/ FEMA

THE REAL 9/11 CONSPIRACY

FREE! Karl Rove and George Bush saw an opportunity -- mounting the pile of World Trade Center rubble -- for a public-relations coup in devastated Manhattan that could instantly reverse the President's distinctly unpresidential day on 9/11 and his administration's previously weak polling numbers. Washington pushed New York Mayor Rudolf Giuliani and local officials to get with the program and re-open Wall Street (which the 9/11 attacks had shut down) faster than was advisable. City officials were told by administration emissaries that, despite the pall hanging over Ground Zero, all was well with the air and water in lower Manhattan and normal life should resume. Although nearly the entire city could, for months to come, smell the rancid co-mingling of burning plastics, asbestos, lead, chromium, mercury, vinyl chloride, benzene, and scores of other toxic materials as well as decaying human flesh, Bush's appointees in the EPA continually bombarded city officials with reports claiming that the air was certifiably "safe" to breathe. It wasn't

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A Modest Distance from Hell FREE!


On Sunday, the number of American military deaths in "the global war on terror" reached 2,974, officially exceeding the number of Americans and foreign nationals killed in the 9/11 attacks

Bush Admin Deceptions Help Fuel 9/11 Conspiracy Fantasies


1 of 3 Americans believe that the government knows more than it's telling about 9/11, or had some hand in it

Scientists Stunned by Arctic Ice Melt FREE!

 Arctic melt
Arctic ice has melted so much that a ship likely could sail from Siberia or Norway to the North Pole (PHOTO: NASA)

"This situation is unlike anything observed in previous seasons"

Russia Kicks Out Shell Oil From Mammoth Sakhalin II Project


Charges that Moscow eliminating competitors to national oil co

Suicide Bomber Cult Thriving In Pakistan


Tied to Pakistan's secretive government ISI, not madrassas religious schools

AT&T Secret Room Reveals White House Surveillance Game


Congress not about to stop massive domestic surveillance programs already up and running

Mexico: a Country With Three Presidents


Liberals name Obrador as country's "legitimate president," to form symbolic government

New Book Shows U.S. Media Downplayed Iraq Bad News


As Rumsfeld charges that terrorists are manipulating U.S. press

In Defense of 'Survivor' Racial Segregation


A reality show did not cause the real life reality of America's lingering and insidious segregation

Poppy Polices Why Coalition Losing Control in Afghanistan


Poverty caused by anti-drug policies has driven rural areas towards Taliban

Extreme Strain of TB Appears in S Africa


To date, 52 of the 53 patients known to have been infected died within about 25 days

Patient With Extreme Strain of TB Walks Out of Hospital FREE!


S African health officials scramble to find everyone contacted

Handmade Gravel Is Zambia's Growth Industry FREE!

 Maria Banda
Five year-old Maria works in a quarry on the outskirts of the Zambian capital(PHOTO: © Nebert Mulenga/IRIN)

Poverty and HIV/AIDS created an army of orphans and vulnerable children left in the care of aged grandparents or extended family members

Olmert Under Siege From Angry Israeli Press, Public


No enthusiasm for more unilateral actions, including withdrawl from sensitive W Bank areas

Bush Agrees to Follow Geneva Conventions - or Some of Them


14 so-called "high-value detainees" will still face Gitmo military tribunals

Election Court Decision Splits Mexico


Irregularities were recognized but downplayed by the court

Mexico Court Certifies Calderon as President-Elect


Liberal opposition vows struggle in the streets, to set up "alternative government"

Taliban Have Control Of Southern Afghanistan, Say Reports


Failed U.S. and UK-led counter-narcotics and military policies blamed


Iraq THE WAR IN IRAQ

Questions Over Funding Of Iraqi Kurds "Thank You America" PR


PR firm also guided right-wing talk show hosts on Iraq "truth tour"

U.S.-Iraqi Forces Looking For Shiite Death Squads in Sunni Neighborhoods


House to house searches, arrests, in areas victimized by outsider gangs

Iraqi Children Jailed With Adults FREE!


Held as terror suspects sometimes for years before being dumped back on streets

Mahdi Army, Not U.S. Forces, Now The Real Power In Iraq


Now powerful enough to make it impossible for the U.S. occupation to continue.

U.S. Resorting to 'Collective Punishment' Of Entire Iraq Cities


U.S. military cutting water and electricity, bulldozing entire blocks of buildings

Iraqis See Little Sign That Government Is Functioning


Little sign of government in Baghdad other than a heavy deployment of ineffective security forces

U.S. Appears To Have Lost Control Of Anbar Province


"We are talking about nearly a third of the area of Iraq"

Politics As Usual POLITICS AS USUAL

Fox Can't Spin Clinton's Slapdown


If Chris Wallace didn't want to provoke a tough answer, he shouldn't have impersonated a tough interviewer

Gingrich's "WWIII" Theme a Big Winner Among Right Wingers


Jockeying for 2008 presidential run by posing as tougher than Bush

Katherine Harris of La Mancha


Devout Christian GOP candidate condemned by both fellow Republicans and religious leaders

Bush Squandered Greatness For Partisan Gain


9/11 speech indulged in self-congratulation while ignoring the grim situation on the ground

BP's Alaska Problems Could Hamper Effort to Drill in Arctic Refuge FREE!


"We were assured that nothing like this could ever happen at Prudhoe Bay," Repub Senator complains

Time Runs Out on Bolton Nomination


Bush unlikely to try for another tour for hated UN ambassador in rocky election year

The Plame Game: Rove and Scooter Undermined National Security, Not Armitage


The only reason Armitage knew spy's identity was that he had read a negative dossier prepared for Libby

Democrats Have Lead As Mid-Term Election Season Begins


As Bush & Co. launch new fear campaign

  PROMISES UNFUFILLED IN NEW ORLEANS
FEMA New Orleans
A FEMA worker paints propery addresses on the street curb in New Orleans' 9th Ward although the homes in the vicinity have been demolished. PHOTO: Marvin Nauman/FEMA

KATRINA AT 1 YEAR

A year ago, the floodlights cast a pale, almost eerie light on famed Jackson Square in New Orleans's French Quarter as President Bush prepared to address a national television audience on Katrina. Now, every one of the more than half dozen reports on the Katrina anniversary tell the same grim story. Not one new house has been built from the billions Congress allocated for construction. Thousands of small businesses have still not received loans, most schools and hospitals are still shuttered and most buses aren't running in New Orleans. The debris and wrecked homes are still piled high in the blackest and poorest neighborhoods

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The President Drops By For A Bowl Of Gumbo


Bush brought warmth to the barbecue, but he didn't bring hope

Katrina Swept Away Bush's Efforts To Woo Blacks to GOP


A crushing majority of blacks still blame Bush's bungled response to the destruction not on incompetence but racism

One Year Later, Katrina Didn't Close the Racial Divide


The battle to "improve" New Orleans

Ethnic Media Rallied Together To Report On Katrina


They effectively became the "voice of the black diaspora" in the year following Katrina

Spike Gets It Right in 'Levees"


Biggest surprise of all: Spike Lee tells the Katrina story fairly

Katrina Victims Find Road Home Difficult


The heart of the tragedy was the failure of government at every level

Neo-Cons Argue With Intel Experts Over Iran "Threat"


Propaganda effort has to ignore evidence to sway public

Israelis Balk At Bush Vision Of Endless War


Don't want permanent jihad with Syria

UN Condemns Israel's "Immoral" Use of Cluster Bombs FREE!


Most dropped just before ceasefire

Right-Wing Media Hammers Away at "Fascism, Appeasment" Theme


New buzzwords used to encompass everything from al-Qaeda, Hamas, Sunni insurgents, Shiite Hezbollah and Iran, and secular Syria

Lebanon Saddled With Enormous Debt For Its Own Reconstruction


Like Palestine and Iraq, Lebanon now another "Destroy and Lend" nation

Israel Demanding Right To Choose Nationality Of Peacekeepers In Lebanon


Wants to keep out troops from Muslim nations that don't have diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv

AWOL Soldier Turns Self In As War Protest


An Army of One less

Serbia Lung Cancer Skyrockets in Nation That Loves to Smoke


Serbs smoke a billion packs a year

TV News Letting Pat Buchanan Rant Without Challenge


Not uncommon for CNN and other networks to let immigrant-bashers air views without balance

Haiti's Slums Again Awash In Violence


Campaign to purge the area of supporters of Haiti's former president Aristide

Hispanic Media Says Firing Of Anti-Castro Reporters Shows Double Standard


Freelancing, hosting radio shows different than Armstrong Williams' covert propaganda

Snubbed by U.S, Pakistan Making Nuclear Deals With China


Beijing eager to step into vacuum, help promote its own budding nuclear power industry

CO2 Levels At 800,000 Year High, Ice Core Samples Reveal FREE!


Levels are far above anything seen in past cycle and rate of change is alarming

Ties Between Elites and Child Sex Rings "Beyond Imagination"


Tapped phone calls show links between politicians, business leaders, and pimp arranging pedophile parties

Nervous Asian Governments Seek Greater Power To Regulate Press


TV station promoting "disharmony, enmity, hatred or ill will," could be forced off the air

Old Cell Phones Becoming Toxic Waste Problem In Latin America


Up to 90% use in some South America countries

Innocent Man Freed After 18 Years on Death Row Tells Audiences of Ordeal


Shocking first-hand account of despair, treatment of condemned prisoners


Columnists

MOLLY IVINS

Molly Ivins Detainee Bill Beyond the Pale

New News is Bad News

A Tortured Debate

The Testy Bush

Remembering Ann Richards

Cow Whisperers Against the War

ROBERT SCHEER

Robert Scheer A War on Intelligence

Rendering Unto Syria

Subverting Democracy With the Big Lie

Afghanistan High on Opium, not Democracy

Clinton Ended Welfare, Not Poverty

ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Alexander Cockburn Is The Anti-War Movement Dead?

The 9/11 Conspiracy Nuts: Are They Getting Crazier?

The 9/11 Conspiracy Nuts

What the Fortuneteller's Parrot Told Me

STEVE YOUNG FREE!

Steve Young Repub Child Molesters: A Punchline No More

Hey Bill! What About Me?

Talk Radio's Tortured Arguments

CBS's "Free Speech" a Rush to Judgement

Rewriting the Wrong Side of History

The Other 9/11 Anniversary

On September 11, 1945 Secretary of War Stimson told the president that the U.S. should share nuclear technology with the Soviets, and any attempt to use the bomb to change Russian behavior would only be resented and counterproductive. Bush has an opportunity, by courageously following Stimson's advice, to reverse a chain of disastrous American policy moves toward Iran dating as early as 1944 and launch a new beginning toward the development of a renewed relationship with a part of the Islamic world

Albion Monitor
(http://www.albionmonitor.com)
Issue 149

Editor: Jeff Elliott (editor@monitor.net)

The Albion Monitor is currently published as an ongoing newspaper by Wayward Press Inc, POB 1733, Sebastopol, CA 95473

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