Category: Politics

Pakistan Coalition Fails to Agree on Restoring Judges

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Well, now that Musharraf is gone, we have Nawaz Sharif threatening to pull out of the coalition government, (see also here) because the phenomenally corrupt (even by Pakistani standards!!!) Asif “Mr 10%” Ali Zedari is trying to renege on the deal he had with Sharif to restore all the judges, particularly chief justice of the supreme court Muhammad Chaudhry:

The basis of Zardari’s opposition to Chaudhry rests with a fear that he might undo an amnesty agreement that absolved Mr. Zardari of corruption charges, lawyers said. The amnesty, which applies to bureaucrats and politicians who faced corruption charges, was part of a package arranged by Musharraf when Zardari returned to Pakistan after his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in December.

Chaudhry is viewed as a danger because he appears to be a serious and non-corrupt jurist, and an independent and clean judiciary is something essential right now in Pakistan, whether or not that Zedari ends up in jail as a result or not.

Howard Dean Makes “Gaffe”

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One wonders if this “slip” in an interview is a Freudian slip, or intentional:

If you look at folks of color, even women, they’re more successful in the Democratic Party than they are in the white, uh, excuse me, in the (chuckles) Republican Party, because we just give more opportunity to folks who are hard-working people who are immigrants and come from members of minority groups.

I’m hoping intentional.

In either case, I’m Matthew Saroff, and I approve of Chairman Dean’s message.

‘Phant Sleaze Update

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Yawn, another day, another scandal.

Put a Fork in Pervez Musharraf He is Done

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With a 2/3 vote of Parliament necessary to impeach Musharraf, Siddique-ul-Farooq, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party says the count is above 300 parliamentarians out of 440.

What’s more members of the PML-Q, Musharraf’s principal allies in the parliament are publicly calling for his resignation.

Given that the head of the military, has privately ruled out a coup, he’s done.

He has allowed the Taliban and al Qaeda to run roughshod over the tribal areas and Afghanistan, because like many in the Pakistani military establishment, he cannot see past a war with India, so I think that his exit will be a good thing for the US too.

Boeing No-Bid On Tanker?

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There are a number of possibilities as to Boeing’s response to the new RFP, but the possibility that Boeing would refuse to submit a proposal to the RFP.

While I don’t think that Boeing would be serious about a no-bid, it would be an interesting ploy to either get the terms and conditions reset to something more favorable, get a split order, or to get the Congress to give them the contract through legislation.

I actually think that this strategy is only marginally less likely than Boeing submitting a shortened 777, because I don’t think that they could meet a timetable for the bids or delivery with that.

H/T The DEW Line

Musharraf Faces Impeachment

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It looks like this was pushed by the fact that impeachment has increasingly seemed the only way that the ruling coalition would stay together, but I see it as a good thing, as Musharraf has been bad for Pakistan, bad for the US, and ineffective against terrorism in the reason.

Of the two political leaders, Asif Ali Zardari, and Nawaz Sharif, it has been Zardari who has been least eager to move in this direction, probably because if Musharraf is impeached, then his pardon of Zardari regarding his corruption might be called into questions.

It will be a close thing thouhg, as a 2/3 vote is required.

Musharraf is taking it seriously. He has canceled his trip to the Beijing games in order to marshal political support, which probably means getting support from the Pakistani military, though with the head of the military, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, repeatedly stating that he wanted the military to stay out of politics, I’m not sure how much support is there.

Tanker RFP Re-Released

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Well, the Air Force has released a new RFP, and already a Congressman from Boeing is whining, “Not Fair.”

You can look at the proposals (warning big PDFs) here and here

The good folks at Flight International have read it, and they note 3 major changes:

  1. Official credit for having fuel offload capacity in excess of the RFP minimums.
  2. Separating maintenance and fuel costs from acquisition, and giving more import to acquisition costs in the evaluation process.
  3. Extending the lifecycle period from 25 years to 40 years.

The first should favor Airbus, the second should too, because it pretty much locks out the Boeing 777, because it would require yet more development and have a higher acquisition cost.

The third might favor Boeing, because being a smaller plane, the 767 consumes less fuel, though it would likely be a wash on a per pound of fuel offloaded basis.

I still think that the Airbus offering brings a lot more to the table, but I thought that before the first award, and did not expect them to get it, because of Boeing’s political pull.

Break out the popcorn.

Truman’s Aphorism on Phony Republicans Applies to Germans Too

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As our 33rd president of the United States once said, “When people have the choice between a real Republican and a fake Republican, they’ll choose the real thing.”

It appears that Kurt Beck, head of the German Social Democrats, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, their most likely candidate for premier in the next election, are discovering just how right Truman was.

They are unable to do anything to lower Angela Merkel’s popularity, and the party is now hemorrhaging members to the “Left Party”, created from trade unionists and the ashes of the old East German communist party.

If they have any chance of returning to power, they will necessarily have to be in coalition with the Left Party, and probably the Green Party too, but the LP would require more concessions, if the GP’s time in the coalition is any indication.

The LP would likely require a roll back of some of the anti-worker and anti-safety net policies of Shroder, which are a much bigger deal than the GP’s focus on environmental issues.

There is also a pensioner party forming to resist cutbacks in government pensions which may grab a few seats in the next elections.

Because You Can Always Break Promises to the Little People

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So here we have an article where we see hand wringing because European governments are not being aggressive enough in reducing benefits for pensioners.

These generous pension deals were made as part of a very simple equation: The public accepted less generous wages in exchange for the pension benefits.

But now, its inconvenient for countries trying to emulate the US YOYO (You’re On Your Own) model, so they want to ignore their contract.

Shades of the big 2½ automakers, who cut the same deal in the 1960s, and now want to be releases.

It’s going to be expensive, but that was known when these deals were cut in the 1950s and 1960s.

Latest Bizarre Ruling in Wecht Case Overturned

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U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab had ruled, after a mistrial was declared in the politically motivated prosecution of Cyril Wecht, that the names of the jurors names were to be kept secret from the press, though political hack US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan sent FBI agents out to intimidate them.

Well, the appeals court just overturned that, saying, that their identification was a, “well-established part of American judicial tradition.”

Background here. Short story: there were allegations that Wecht used office staff and equipment for his private practice, including 24 counts involving the amount of $3.06 (no, I’m not screwing up the decimals).

FBI Looking to Close Anthrax Case, but the Evidence Seems Thinner Than it Should Be

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It turns out that the evidence pointing toward Bruce Ivins was circumstantial, which does not mean invalid, but is not necessarily definitive.

At least 10 people had access to the flask that is now believed to be the source of the letters, and there is nothing tying Ivins to the postbox from which the Anthrax was mailed.

The envelopes came from post offices in Frederick, but it’s clear that the Anthrax came from Detrick, and it’s clear from the article that the FBI has been a bunch of keystone Cops on this.

What’s more, we now have a report that the White House was pressuring the FBI to finger al Queida on the Anthrax mailings.

Additionally, Glenn Greenwald has a rundown on the person who requested a restraining order against Bruce Ivins, and notes that the order is only 2 weeks old, and the application makes reference to the FBI investigation, which is odd, so I’m wondering if the FBI told her that the guy was under investigation as the Anthrax mailer, or that Ivins, who she was counseling, told her that he was under investigation, and she freaked.

I’m not saying that there is a conspiracy out there, just that the FBI really wants to close this case, and that they might still operating at a Keystone Cops level competence.