AUSTRAILIAN SOLDIERS BEING SUED

An Iraqi family is suing a group of Australian troops. She claims that they had stopped their vehicle in front of the embassy and then they were fired upon, wounding her and her son. She claims that no warning was given. The soldiers however say that she had not stopped, and in fact was moving quite speedily, and despite several Arabic signals to stop and warning shots, she kept moving toward the embassy. So the unit commander fired 3 shots at the car. One hit the engine block, one hit the windshield ( the glass is what injured her son) and one hit the woman. They have now moved to Australia and are suing the troops.


This is ridiculous, they are just doing their job. And like its not hard enough now they are getting sued for it. That woman was somewhere she shouldnt have been, would not stop or listen to orders, and was a potential threat. Those troops did what they were trained to do and what they should have done.

NORTH KOREAN EXECUTIONS

North Korea publicly executed 15 of its citizens this week to set an example for the rest of its citizens. The people who were executed for trying to flee the country and take refuge in China. This has been a growing problem in recent years. North Korean people complain that they do not have enough food of money to surive there, so they try to go to China. Many of them want change but are to afraid to do anything about it. I think that they will continue to be scared and I dont think they will be rid of Kim Jong Il II until he dies.

EX-SOVIET CRACKDOWN

Many of the former Soviet states have been experiencing repressive crackdowns here lately. The latest of these to take place was in Armenia, following the ones in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgistan. It took place after the elections which the Atmenian people feel was fixed. So they went to the capital and began protesting peacefully. But even though the protests were peaceful the government used security forces to break it up. 8 people were killed, 130 were wounded and over 100 more were arrested. This is not good. It seems like most of the former Soviet countries, including Russia, are returning to their autocratic ways. I have a feeling that either the people will have massive riots and revolutions or they will return to dictatorships.

GIVE THEM WHAT THEY DESERVE

They give their all for us so give them someone who will give them his all, VOTE MCCAIN

A GLOOMY FUTURE

With the way things are shaping up, it looks as though we may be in store for some hard times in the future in relation to foreign policy. It starts with the Turkish invasion of Iraq. I am not saying Turkey should not have done it, on the contrary they shoud have, but it will strain our relations with them and the Kurds. Then, we now have the USS Cole off of the coast of Lebanon and may possibly send troops in to restore order and fight off some of the Syrian militias. Plus, with Syria threatening Israel again there is extra tension. Also, new sanctions were just passed against Iran, but Iran refused to comply and said they will now try even harder on their uranium enrichment program. Even Russia is causing some problems with the possibly fixed elections. And to top it off, Colombia, one of our long time allies, is facing a war with Venezuela and Ecuador. It looks as though we have a tough time ahead of us and will need a strong leader. I hope it is John McCain because he is the only one who will handle our national security how it should be.

WAR IN LEBANON

It seems as though war is now a real possibility with Lebanon. The US has recently stationed the USS Cole off the coast of Beirut. This follows after a long period of social and political unrest. This is coming at the same time that Saudi Arabia is boycotting the meeting of Arab nations in Damascus at the end of the week. I feel that we may have to move in to combat the pro-Syrian militias that are causing problems. I would not be surprised if there are not Syrian regulars assisting them. Tensions are already high after Syria promised to strike back at Israel for the death of one of their military leaders. I think it would be a good thing if we are there because then it would be much easier to protect Israel from attack and even serve a detterent to one.

WAR LOOMS IN SOUTH AMERICA

Not long after I posted my last blog about Colombia, a series of events occurred. And it is exactly as I feared it would be. Ecuador and Venezuela have started sending thousands of troops to their border with Colombia. They have also withdrawn their ambassadors from the country. I think that Jugo Chavez is just using all of this as an excuse to go to war with Colombia because they are an American ally and to gain more power throughout Latin America. As I stated in my last blog, Colombia has been a staunch American ally and they deserve our support if they are attacked. Plus this would be a good time to get rid of Jugo Chavez, now we see how far he is willing to take things. For both of the articles on this crisis you can go to The Christian Science Monitor.

COLOMBIA LAUNCHES STRIKE ON REBELS INTO ECUADOR

Colombia launched a strike on left wing rebels killing 17 of them. Including the highest ranking leader they have killed in 40 years. But Ecuador is furious because the strike was in their territory. They have withdrawn their ambassador to Colombia and said anymore incursions could lead to "the ultimate consequences". Jugo Chavez has stated that if that ever happens in Venezuealan territory that it will mean war. So tensions are very high.

PERSONAL OPINION
It is unfortunate that this is happening. I hope the tensions die down. Colombia has always been a very loyal US ally. While Venezuela is the complete oppositte right now. They are trying to unite Latin America against the US. Jugo Chavez is trying to provoke a war. If they do go to war we should intervene for Colombia.

TURKEY INVADES NORTHERN IRAQ: AGAIN

Turkey has launched an offensive into northern Iraq aimed at the PKK. The PKK is a terrorist organization made up of ethnic kurds who take refuge just across the border from Turkey and receive help and safety from many Kurds in the region. But most of the Kurds do oppose the PKK. But Iraq is outraged that Turkey has sent in troops to the one basically stable region of the country, threatening to destabalize it. The US called for a timetable but Turkey has refused saying that they will stay there until the job is finished. Many people fear that this will lead to large scale conflict between Turkey and Iraq. This is the 25th time Turkey has gone into Iraq. They are using US intelligence to target the PKK this time. This has strained the US-Kurdish relations as far as they will go.


PERSONAL OPINION
This seems like another difficult situation to deal with. We need the support of the Iraqi people, but we also need the support of Turkey. Hopefully we can satisfy both of them. While I can understand why we are asking Turkey to leave- the tension it is causing- I can also see the Turkish point of view. The PKK is launching attacks into Turkey. If this was done to the US we would do exactly what Turkey is doing. Plus the PKK is a terrorist organization and we have called for a global war on terror so it is hypocritical for us to critisize them. They are acting just as we would in a similiar situation. So both sides have very good points. We need to meet somewhere in the middle of understanding that our allies are getting attacked and therefor reacting and fighting terrorism; while at the same time realizing that this could undermine the hard-earned gains we have made in Iraq so far. And Turkey is a fellow member of NATO. Not only do they have the 2nd largest army in NATO, and have supported us throughout this long war, but they are the only Muslim nation in NATO. It helps us to prove that this is not a war on Islam when there is another muslim nation fighting with us. I have a feeling we will need there support in the future.