June 16, 2003

Protesting Iranian students post English-language web site

Iran, as we all know by now, is part of President Bush’s “Axis of Evil,” along with Iraq (pre-occupation) and North Korea. So the administration has been doing all it can to encourage student demonstrations against the government, which are now into their sixth consecutive night. “I think that freedom is a powerful incentive,” Bush said of the demonstrations. And I believe that some day freedom will prevail everywhere, because freedom is a powerful drive for people. And it's the beginnings of people expressing themselves toward a free Iran, which I think is positive." Though the administration has been harshy critical of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, he lately has dismissed suggestions that the U.S. may be preparing an attack there. Meanwhile, demonstrating Iranian students have put up an English-language website, which looks as if it may become a good spot to tune in on Iranian developments. Many of its links are still inoperative, however. Plain old preemption (as in Iraq) apparently isn’t good enough Or so suggests the South Korean paper Chosun Ilbo. It says the U.S. has proposed to its Asian and Pacific allies a new policy of “preemptive preemption.” Confused? So were we. According to the paper, the policy calls for denying such countries as Iran, North Korea, Syria and Libya the ability to ship weapons of mass destruction, or components of such weapons systems, by air, land or sea. For North Korea, the ban also includes narcotics, huge quantities of which it smuggles to Japan. Meanwhile, another South Korean paper reports that North Korea just shipped Iran six planeloads of missiles or parts for them.

Posted by tbrown at 01:03 PM

Who is Greg Packer?

No one we know, and normally we wouldn’t care. But the other day, the breathless Ann Coulter, she who is righter than thou (and perhaps anyone else on the planet), noted that Mr. Packer had shown up as a fan at a Hillary Clinton book signing. “It was easy for the Times to spell Packer's name right because he is apparently the entire media's designated ‘man on the street’ for all articles ever written. He has appeared in news stories more than 100 times as a random member of the public. Packer was quoted on his reaction to military strikes against Iraq; he was quoted at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Veterans' Day Parade. He was quoted at not one – but two – New Year's Eve celebrations at Times Square. He was quoted at the opening of a new "Star Wars" movie, at the opening of an H&M clothing store on Fifth Avenue and at the opening of the viewing stand at Ground Zero. He has been quoted at Yankees games, Mets games, Jets games – even getting tickets for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He was quoted at a Clinton fund-raiser at Alec Baldwin's house in the Hamptons and the pope's visit to Giants stadium. “Are all reporters writing their stories from Jayson Blair's house? … “ Nothing so sinister as that, it turns out. No, Packer is just a relentless self-promoter, sort of like Coulter, as the AP recounts.

Posted by tbrown at 12:05 PM