Korean Job Discussion Forums

[igotthisguitar]

Ex-White House Lawyer Targets Spy Tactic
By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 2, 8:55 PM ET

WASHINGTON - A former top lawyer for the Bush administration on Tuesday said that parts of the President Bush's much-criticized eavesdropping program were ... 'illegal'.

There were aspects of the Terrorist Surveillance Program "that I could not find the legal support for," Jack Goldsmith, the former head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

But he would not say exactly what law or constitutional principle the surveillance violated. Goldsmith said the White House has forbidden him from saying anything about the legal analysis underpinning the program � key details long sought by majority Democrats and some Republicans.

cont'd ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/domestic_spying
;_ylt=AoaMHWgX_bkNWwUMHEDDVqADW7oF

[SPINOZA]

[Big_Bird]

[Big_Bird]

[igotthisguitar]

Myanmar Junta Hunts Dissidents
U.S. Diplomat Says People Pulled From Homes

By The Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar - Soldiers announced that they were hunting pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar's largest city Wednesday and the top U.S. diplomat in the country said military police were pulling people
out of their homes during the night.

Military vehicles patrolled the streets before dawn with loudspeakers blaring that:

"We have photographs. We are going to make arrests!"

Shari Villarosa, the acting U.S. ambassador in Myanmar, said in a telephone interview that people in Yangon were terrified.
"From what we understand, military police ... are travelling around the city in the middle of the night, going into homes and picking up people," she said.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/myanmar

[SPINOZA]

Isn't there a "miscellaneous" thread you can dump all that crap into, IGTG? This thread is about whether dictators are ever good or not. It's annoying scrolling past your shyte to posters I actually want to read.

[The Perfect Cup of Coffee]

I went with sometimes. Honestly I hate them though. But to throw some country to the chaos of democracy that has no tradition or experience is a bad idea.

[jkelly80]

I think in certain countries (Pakistan and Indonesia), dictatorships have stymied more radical elements and actually allowed certain elements of liberalism take root (free press, secular-ish govt, etc.). But in other countries (Iraq, Iran, most of Africa) its just a bunch of jerks brutalizing their people. The Saudi royal family have been walking a tightrope for years between placating the Wahabis they allied with in the twenties and keeping the US relatively mollified. But their society is completely schizophrenic because of it.

I also think Putin is pretty much the best we can hope for in Russia, seeing as how he's keeping the hardcore KGB apparatichiks from wielding too much power. He's certainly a thug, but he's the best that can be expected right now.

[igotthisguitar]

Arrested in Washington D.C.

For reading the AmeriKan constitution ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCLuYvBeq40

[igotthisguitar]

Suu Kyi Ally Dies In Myanmar After Torture,
Says Rights Group

YANGON (AFP) - A member of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party has died after torture and interrogation, a rights group said Wednesday, as possible talks between her and the junta failed to develop.

Win Shwe, a 42-year-old member of the opposition National League for Democracy, was arrested on September 26 near Myanmar's second city of Mandalay, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in a statement.

He was held along with four other people for joining anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks in Mandalay.

"He died as a result of torture during interrogation. However, his body was not sent to his family and the interrogators indicated that they had cremated it instead," the Thailand-based watchdog said.

AAPP is run by former political prisoners who now live in exile in neighbouring Thailand. The group monitors conditions in Myanmar's notorious prisons.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/myanmarunrest;_ylt=Assia3muT4_VSMIPwZp1xvkDW7oF

[igotthisguitar]

U.N. Human Rights Body Backs New Myanmar Probe
Fri Dec 14, 1:25 PM
By Laura MacInnis



GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. Human Rights Council told Myanmar on Friday to prosecute those who committed abuses during a crackdown on peaceful monk-led protests and free Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners.

In a resolution adopted by consensus, the United Nations forum called on the ruling junta "to lift all restraints on the peaceful political activity of all persons" and "to release without delay those arrested and detained as a result of the repression of recent peaceful protests."

It also urged Myanmar "to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and to investigate and bring to justice perpetrators of human rights violations, including for the recent violations of the rights of peaceful protesters."

The 47-member-state Council said its special envoy for Myanmar, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, should revisit the country and report back in March on the fall-out from the September suppression that captured international attention.

Myanmar criticized the resolution, backed by 41 countries including Britain, Germany, Canada and Korea, as "politicized."

"This clearly shows that Myanmar has been put under pressure by influential and powerful countries who have their own political agenda," Wunna Maung Lwin, Myanmar's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, told the Friday session.

Human rights groups welcomed the censure by the Council.

"This is a very positive thing," Juliette de Rivero of Human Rights Watch told a news briefing in Geneva. She said it was important for Pinheiro to return to the country "to do a more in-depth investigation of violations he has already identified."

Amnesty International said a second and longer visit to Myanmar could help Pinheiro carry out a full investigation of the circumstances before and during the crackdown, as well as reported abuses against ethnic minorities there.

EXCESSIVE FORCE

cont'd ...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/071214/world/international_myanmar_un_rights_dc

[daskalos]

I opted for sometimes, even though I hope I never have to live through one, because as often as not, dictators are invited in by systems that have failed miserably, and I don't want to live through that, either. And yes, I'm aware that a case can be made for the idea that I'm doing that right now.

I mean, that's how Rome got its caesars, isn't it? The Republic (really an oligarchy) failed to adapt its systems to the necessities of its empire. It wasn't working anymore and it wasn't going to work. It was hideously corrupt and was "free" only for the rich, whose votes were far more heavily weighted than the masses'.

Is a dictator ever "good"? If we allow that there's not a dime's worth of difference between absolute monarchy and dictatorship, then history is full of examples of "good" autocratic leadership. (Good at least by the standards of the day in question.) So, Sometimes.

Still, it's the haphazard nature of succession that ensures the concept its (deservedly) bad reputation, and is why "democracy" is, to paraphrase Winnie, the least bad system going. (At least among peoples who are relatively educated, but that's a-whole-nuther aspect of this question, isn't it?)

[Bryan]

Democracy and freedom are two different things. Pure democracy is dictatorship by the majority. See Palestine electing Hamas, or the story of Socrates.

The Founding Fathers of the US knew this and opted to make a republic, not a democracy. A republic, if they could keep it...

And it couldn't be kept. The US is now closer to a democracy.

If an unelected man chose to run a free country, that is certainly better than an elected politician violating rights. Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore are all relatively free (and thus prosperous), whereas Venezuela and Palestine have elected leaders and each country is a dump.

[stevemcgarrett]

igotthisguitar:

Ya know, you post suspiciously like ddeubel, who is noticeably absent from much of this forum these days. By this I mean that you post links and stories that are only marginally related to the thread topic and the OP's intent.

Get with the program, and drop from Cloud Nine.

Big Bird:

Good thread topic again: here's my take. Evidently the Leftists who opposed the war in Iraq felt that Saddam Hussein was entitled to remain in power. At least that's the impression they made with their ho-hum "let the Iraqi people decide their own fate" refrain. While I'm not sure we should have come to their rescue (given the reception we've gotten), it's interesting to me how those of different political and ideological stripes tolerate one of their own. Look at Chavez in Caracas: where is the outcry against his repeated attempts to usurp the constitution. Anyone except an utter idiot can see what he's after there.

But what I find fascinating in a morbid sort of manner is the resistance Russians have to democratic reform. Putin is indeed quite popular, even among many of the intelligentsia. Russians love a strong man as long as he is viewed as being on their side. I was surprised at how much disdain Russians had for not only Yeltsin but Gorbachev. I mean, if they really hankered for freedom, they'd at least acknowledge these two leaders' efforts to dismantle the harsher aspects of communism. Most Russians have an ambivalent attitude toward political leadership; as do many Asians (and they are part Asian in their thinking).

[Milwaukiedave]

I've talked to some Koreans that heap praise on President Park Chung Hee because of the economic development that took place during his time in office. Generally, no dictators aren't good.