the Powers that Be .:.

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Wednesday September 22, 2004 19:29 by iosaf mac d. the ipsiphi and merrovinginvanjan. same place as usual in the spatial continuum - Barcelona - Catalonia "few nanometres south now actually"

Bush & Zapatero address The United Nations. Aznar gets a degree. and the Earth moves.

Yesterday President Bush (the 2nd) of the USA addressed the United Nations general assembly appealing for support in Iraq, insisting the invasion was legitimate and ruling out a military withdrawl - "we must win".

Shortly afterwards President Zapatero of Spain addressed the same general assembly of the UN appealing for a high level "alliance of civilisations" to stem the spread of terrorism and commit to the full development of true democratic values.

Not far away, only two hours drive through Boston and up to Washington's hinterland, Aznar, (ex president of Spain) addressed the academic staff of Georgetown University (who have recently awarded him a teaching qualification). In a speech entitled 7 theories on terrorism, Aznar attributed the March 11th bombing of Madrid to "Al Andaluz" rather than Iraq. "Al Andaluz" was the arabic name for the iberian peninsula and the etymological root of Andalucia, the last part of the peninsula to be ruled by an Islamic dynastic empire. Aznar in 2002 (readers might recall) sent the spanish military to retake an island (Laia in arabic) (Perejil in Spanish) (Parsley in English) from morrocan policeman who had (armed with a Morrocan flag) occupied the uninhabitated bird reserve 200 metres north of the Morrocan coast.
So Aznar knows all about Al Andaluz, which he maintains is the real cause of AlQda action in Spain. He reiterated his belief that the USA homeland will suffer an AlQda attack before the Presidential elections.

And in completely unrelated news, yesterday at 42º19'N and 2º26'E in the Catalan Pyrennes an earthquake measuring 4.1 on the richter scale occured at 17h48, being the strongest quake felt in this part of Europe for almost ten years. Felt as far away as Barcelona (where it registered 3.0 on the richter) to the south and Perpignan (in France) to the north. Animals were reported to very be startled at the epicentre, with damage to windows and houses reported.
[I know people from there and by chance they are in BCN a few days and had left their many cats behind, and are understandably anxious to return and comfort them and pick up bits of roof and stuff that might have been lost]
Curiously in Barcelona the municipal police force (Guardia Urbana) noted 553 calls between 17h30 and 18h30 in contrast to the usual 50 or 90. Most of these calls being along the lines of "my sofa just moved - was it Al Qda?".


Catalonia was the first country of the Iberian Peninsula to liberate itself from the Islamic Empire which founded Al Andaluz, in an era long before either the crusades ("the proper ones") ["with all the neccesary characters agreeing on the really important stuff"] and the most recent one of President Bush's so called neo-conservative ideology which in "street talk" reduces to -

"bomb 'em - buy 'em- they'll choose liberty"

The minister of the interior of the Catalan Generalitat Montserrat Turó today is touring the region inspecting damage and promising compensation and forward thinking proactive solutions.


.:.


Today's links are all to very well read or watched mainstream comercial and right wing news sites.

Earthquake-
http://www.informativos.telecinco.es/dn_15449.htm

Zapatero's alliance of civilisations at UN-
http://www.lasemanaquevivimos.com/noticias/noticia.php3?cod=5586

Aznar's "spains problem with Islam began in the 8th century"
http://iblnews.com/news/noticia.php3?id=115962

You may easily learn what Bush said by paying close attention to the Irish Independent or RTE.

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If you experience an earthquake, it is generally a good idea not to call the local police services as there is nothing they really can do. It is advised to take out insurance against these eventualities which are expensively classified as
"Acts of God". Consult your financial advisor.