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July 4, 2008
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One Nation No More?Civics Needs a Boost, but Our Identity Endures
By David S. BroderThursday, July 3, 2008; A17
Washington Post
Just in time for Independence Day, a conservative think tank has delivered a controversial report asking whether America's national identity is eroding under the pressure of population diversity and educational slackness.
The threat outlined by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in its report, "E Pluribus Unum," strikes me as a bit exaggerated. But with Barack Obama and John McCain debating the "patriotism issue," having a coherent discussion of this matter -- and this short pamphlet is admirably written and well-researched -- is a useful contribution.
The takeoff point for the argument is an observation about the uniqueness of America that was made by Thomas Jefferson -- and by myriad other worthies in the centuries since. They all have drawn attention to the fact that the national identity of America, unlike that of other countries, rests "not on a common ethnicity, but on a set of ideas."
And so, the Bradley scholars say, "knowing what America stands for is not a genetic inheritance. It must be learned, both by the next generation and by those who come to this country. In this way, a nation founded on an idea is inherently fragile."
The ideas that define this country are found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as amplified by Supreme Court decisions and statutes in subsequent years. Those ideas have been tested in crisis and in war, and the leaders who steered the nation through those testing times are the heroes whose legacy we celebrate -- Washington, Lincoln, the two Roosevelts.
What disturbs the Bradley scholars is evidence that our generation is failing to educate the next one on the essentials of the American experiment. "On the 2006 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Civics Test," the report notes, "the majority of eighth graders could not explain the purpose of the Declaration of Independence. Only 5 percent of seniors could accurately describe the way presidential power can be checked by Congress and the Supreme Court." The authors also decry the fact that most colleges and universities allow students to graduate without ever taking a comprehensive course in American history and government.
On this point, I think they have plenty of company -- all across the political spectrum. But they have many other criticisms and a variety of suggestions. Some are trivial, such as scrapping Presidents' Day and bringing back Washington's and Lincoln's birthday holidays. Others are far-reaching and controversial, such as telling all colleges and universities to open their campuses to the ROTC.
When it comes to the treatment of immigrants, the Bradley team sees a real threat in such things as multilingual ballots and bilingual classes. Such accommodations to the growing diversity of the population could lead to "many Americas, or even no America at all," they maintain. "Historical ignorance, civic neglect and social fragmentation might achieve what a foreign invader could not."
That degree of pessimism seems unwarranted. The authorities quoted in this report, most of them drawn from conservative academia, manage to overlook the evidence that there is still plenty of vitality in the American system.
Young people may not know the Constitution as well as we would like, but they found their way to polling places in record numbers this year and joined enthusiastically in many campaigns. And they volunteer for all kinds of good works in their communities.
I have not worried about the fundamental commitment of the American people since 1974. In that year, they were confronted with the stunning evidence that their president had conducted a criminal conspiracy out of the Oval Office. In response, the American people reminded Richard Nixon, the man they had just recently reelected overwhelmingly, that in this country, no one, not even the president, is above the law. They required him to yield his office.
That is not the sign of a nation that has lost its sense of values or forgotten the principles on which this system rests. And that is something worth celebrating on more than the Fourth of July.
davidbroder@washpost.com
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The Enemy Detainee MessJuly 3, 2008; Page A10
Wall Street Journal
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has departed for summer vacation, but what a mess he's left behind, especially for the U.S. military. His 5-4 decision requiring habeas corpus review for foreign terrorists is already creating confusion and problems about how to handle these dangerous enemies.
The Bush Administration is currently debating how to respond to Mr. Kennedy's war-fighting ukase in Boumediene v. Bush, with President Bush set to make a decision soon. Some in the Administration want Mr. Bush to abolish not merely Guantanamo but even military commissions, the special tribunals set up to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others for their war crimes. This would compound the mistake of Boumediene, and do away with what has long been a useful tool of military justice.
It is already clear to nearly everyone in the Administration that it will be impossible for the U.S. to hold most detainees from now on. That's true not merely at Gitmo, but even in Afghanistan, Iraq and other foreign battlefields. Earlier this month, lawyers filed a lawsuit on behalf of a detainee held at the U.S. military prison at Bagram air base near Kabul. It's only a matter of time before suits are filed demanding habeas writs for anyone captured and held by GIs for any length of time anywhere in the world.
Regrettably, the Administration will now have to let most enemy fighters go. The burden of gathering enough evidence to meet the habeas standards of U.S. federal courts is simply too great under battlefield conditions – and in any case is far too dangerous. This week a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the enemy combatant status of a Gitmo detainee captured after training in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. The press has reported this as if the Bush Administration had invented a case against an innocent shepherd. But the truth is that in the fog of battle it is impossible to gather evidence the way a Manhattan cop can. There's no "CSI: Kandahar."
While GIs gathered shell casings or interviewed witnesses to meet a U.S. judge's habeas standard, they would leave themselves open to counterattack or sniper fire. No commander – and no Commander in Chief – can ask his troops to put themselves in danger to satisfy Justice Kennedy's legal afflatus. This is what Justice Antonin Scalia meant when he wrote that Americans will die as a result of Boumediene.
Justice Kennedy won't want to hear this, but this means that some enemy combatants will be shot on the battlefield rather than captured. Most who are captured will be interrogated for a brief time and released. Some will be set free entirely, while others will be handed over to the tender mercies of our allies on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The U.S. will still require some kind of detention for the worst combatants – such as KSM, and others we will want to put on trial. But if Gitmo is no longer a prison, some U.S. domestic prison will have to house these men while they await a habeas hearing and trial. If a habeas court finds the evidence against them unpersuasive, they can then be held only for six months under immigration law before they are deported. If no country will accept them, the possibility exists that they will be released here. It will be fascinating to watch the Congressfolk who cheered Boumediene now saying "not in my backyard." What does Pat Leahy think about a Vermont destination?
That still leaves the issue of trials for those who are found to be enemy combatants. The State Department is arguing that Mr. Bush should now cashier the entire post-9/11 system, including Gitmo and military commissions. The argument is that the U.S. will get no diplomatic benefit from refusing to hold future detainees as long as the commissions continue. In any case, State's legal sages say, the Supreme Court will eventually declare military commissions unconstitutional too.
But we doubt even Justice Kennedy would disallow commissions, which have existed throughout American history. After the Civil War, they were even used against the KKK's attempts to defeat Reconstruction of the South. After six long years, about 20 enemy combatants (including KSM) are now set for the tribunals, and multiple trials are under way. If Mr. Bush shuts down the commissions at this late date, the military justice process would have to start over.
It would insult the 9/11 families if justice for KSM and the others who planned those attacks is delayed once again. Assuming they are convicted, they will have the right of appeal. But would five Supreme Court Justices really set free the men who plotted the murders of 3,000 Americans? As for diplomacy, those who dislike America won't bother to distinguish between military commissions and courts martial. They'll find any military trials unfair.
The killers of 9/11 need to be put on trial, and soon. Americans need to hear them revel in their jihad, boasting that they would kill again if they get the chance. Justice Kennedy needs to hear it too.
URL for this article:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121504362668624767.html
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U.S., Poland strike missile deal while Russia objects
Story Highlights
Tentative deal made to place part of a ballistic missile defense system in Poland
Poland's political establishment still has to sign off on the agreement
Anti-missile system may blunt Russia's nuclear deterrent
U.S. says system's intent is to protect Europe from possible Mideast attack
From Elise LabottCNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States and Poland have reached a tentative deal to place part of a ballistic missile defense system on its territory, a plan that has drawn sharp objections from Russia, a senior administration official said Wednesday.
Poland's political establishment still has to sign off on the deal and determine the next steps, the official said.
The agreement came after several days of negotiations and less than a week before a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The Bush administration has long pushed to base missile interceptors in Poland. The interceptor rockets would be linked to an air-defense radar system in the Czech Republic, where officials agreed in April to take part in the system.
The interceptors in the Czech Republic could identify and shoot down missiles fired by Iran at Europe or the United States. Russia fervently opposes basing the interceptors right across its border and says the system's real target would be Russian missiles, according to Time magazine.
The Czech Republic and Poland are former Soviet satellites, now members of the U.S.-led NATO alliance.
The United States has said the system is intended to defend Europe from a possible missile attack from the Middle East.
There was no immediate response from Moscow about the deal. But Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried said the United States has taken to heart Polish concerns over more U.S. cooperation with Russia and NATO on the missile defense shield.
The United States has also agreed to help Poland modernize its military, which it requested as a condition of its support for housing the missile defense system.
Fried told reporters earlier that Polish negotiators were tough and came to the table with "serious suggestions and positions," but that the U.S. was "quite satisfied" with the status of the negotiations.
Fried called Poland a "magnificent ally" who has sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. He said the talks have been "strenuous" but that the United States understood that this was important to Poland.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/02/missile.defense.poland/
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Secret Russian weapons stash found near borderRussian border guards reportedly found a weapon depot this week that even they didn't know about, on Russia's side of its northern border to Norway.
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The depot contained two "Osa" type missiles and a 76mm bomb at the site near Liinakhamary, just three kilometers (less than two miles) from the Russian-Norwegian border. Electronic detonators were also said to have been found at the site.
The weapons, according to BarentsObserver.com’s version of a Russian report on Russian web site Newsru.com,were found on Tuesday and were destroyed by the Federal Security service of the Russian Federation (FSB). The FSB is responsible for internal security within Russia, including border security.
FSB officials in Murmansk told Newsru.com that they did not know why the missiles were on the site or who put them there. An investigation was underway.
The Osa guided missiles have been produced since the early 1960s. A Norwegian military spokesman said the missiles probably came from a naval base in the area that was shut down a few years ago.
"This is really a maritime weapon, probably used on several of their vessels at the naval base," said Kjetil Eide of the military.
Others at the military research institute FFI criticized the apparent lack of control over weapons, especially near the border. "Missiles shouldn't just be left lying around" said Jan Erik Torp told Aftenposten.no, but he added that the discovery wasn't all that dramatic.
"This is probably old equipment, and unusable," Torp said. He said the OSA missile found had a range of only 15 kilometers and was "very ordinary."
BarentsObserver.com describes itself as "an open Internet news service," offering daily updated news from and about the Barents Region. The project is run by the Norwegian Barents Secretariat in Kirkenes, which long has been affiliated with the Norwegian Foreign Ministry and has invested nearly NOK 350 million in the region since 1993, through more than 3,000 grants and cooperating programs.
The Barents Secretariat is now run by the Norwegian counties of Finnmark, Troms and Nordland.
Aftenposten English Web DeskNina Berglund
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2520028.ece?service=print
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Medvedev: Russia is not leaving the G-8
By JIM HEINTZ – 8 hours ago
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says suggestions that the country be thrown out of the Group of Eight can't be taken seriously.
Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party's presidential candidate, has called for Russia to be booted from the group of the world's eight leading industrialized democracies.
But Medvedev said: "It's completely obvious that any kind of thesis about the exclusion of Russia appears simply unserious. The world 'eight' exists not because someone likes it or dislikes it, but because it is objectively the largest economies and the most serious in terms of foreign politics."
Medvedev spoke to G-8 media representatives ahead of next week's summit in Japan. The interview transcript was released by the Kremlin on Thursday.
The trip comes two months after Medvedev was inaugurated, replacing Vladimir Putin who is now prime minister. Yet with Putin remaining in a powerful position, there is wide uncertainty about who is running the country.
In the interview, Medvedev also reiterated his determination to fight Russia's endemic corruption, which he has made the focus of his first months in office. On Wednesday, he outlined an ambitious plan to combat corruption, which he said has become a "way of life" in Russia.
Medvedev said the plan includes tougher criminal punishment for corrupt officials, more rigid requirements for civil servants and judges and stronger controls by civil society. He said the new legislation must be in place by next year.
Combating graft should be a "matter of honor" for the government, he said.
The Russian president also said he will continue the policies established by Putin over the past eight years, but indicated he will aim for a different style than his often caustic and confrontational predecessor.
"The accents in domestic and foreign politics certainly will change. ... Every politician, every president, has his own style. Otherwise, people wouldn't be able to tell them apart and it would be boring," he told the journalists.
One of the strongest international criticisms of Russia under Putin — and the core of McCain's belief that Russia should be out of the G-8 — is that the Kremlin has stifled opposition and democracy.
Medvedev said he supports competitive politics, "but it must be rational. This is competition built on the basis of law."
"The system that was built on one party having the right to truth showed its weakness 20 years ago," he said, referring to deterioration of the Soviet Union.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hoRKoGZKUyZZz5XiKjqWI41LqJDgD91M9J4O0
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The Moscow Times » Issue 3936 » Frontpage Top
addthis_pub = 'ruslanTMT';
Why the Kremlin Is So Scared of Ukraine03 July 2008By Andrei PiontkovskyRussia and the West are losing each other yet again. The magnetic attraction and repulsion between the two has been going on for centuries. Indeed, historians have counted as many as 25 of these cycles since the reign of Tsar Ivan III. In the past, however, the Kremlin's sharp anti-Western turns were reversed -- usually out of simple necessity -- after relations reached rock bottom. Not this time. On the contrary, the current deterioration of the relationship has developed a momentum of its own. There are four reasons for this. First, the Russia's "defeat" in the Cold War -- and its loss of imperial and superpower status -- has created a deep and so far unresolved crisis in the collective mentality of the country's political class. Russian leaders continue to perceive the West as a phantom enemy, in opposition to which all the traditional mythologies of Russian foreign policy are being resurrected. Second, by the end of Vladimir Putin's second term as president, Russia's modernizing dreams had been shattered. Modernization, indeed, simply turned out to be yet another redistribution of property to those on top, particularly those who came out of the St. Petersburg Mayor's Office and the Federal Security Service The image of the West as an enemy has become the only ideological excuse for Putin's model of the corporate state. Third, the soaring price of oil has made the Kremlin believe that it is all-powerful. Today's Russia, which thinks of itself as a "great energy state," now laughs at the modest goal it declared before the oil boom -- of catching up with tiny Portugal in terms of living standards. Finally, a series of Western mistakes and misfortunes, a crisis in trans-Atlantic relations, a lack of leadership, and the growing threat of Islamic fundamentalism (in both the Middle East and Europe) have led Russian leaders to believe that the West is a sinking ship, to be abandoned as soon as possible. While this belief unfortunately does have some validity, there is one problem: Russia is part of that ship. Moscow can make advances to Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, and it can remind the Arab world that the Soviet Union helped it develop and offered it protection in the United Nations Security Council. But in the eyes of most Islamic extremists, Russia is part of that same "Satanic" West -- indeed, its most vulnerable part. Therefore, it is Russia, with the soaring birth rate among its Muslim citizens, that is the most attractive country for expansion and takeover. But Moscow's self-destructive confrontation with the West can be halted, and its centuries-old debate between Westernizers and the Slavophiles can be put to rest once and for all. This, however, will depend on Ukraine's success on the path of European development it chose in the Orange Revolution of 2004 and 2005. Ukraine does present a threat, but not to Russia's security, as Kremlin propagandists claim. The real threat is to the Putin model of a corporate, authoritarian state, unfriendly to the West. For the Kremlin it is a matter of life and death that countries that were once part of the Soviet Union but chose a different model of development -- Ukraine being the chief example -- should never become attractive to ordinary Russians. The example posed by the Baltic nations does not threaten the Kremlin much because they are perceived as foreigners. Indeed, in Soviet films, Baltic actors were usually cast in the roles of Nazi generals and U.S. spies. Ukrainians, on the other hand, are close to us in their culture and mentality. If they made a different choice, why can't we do the same? Ukraine's success will mark the political death of Putinism -- the squalid and bankrupt philosophy of "KGB capitalists." If Ukraine succeeds in its European choice, if it is able to make it work, it can settle the question that has bedeviled Russian culture for centuries -- Russia or the West? So the best way to help Russia today is to support Ukraine's claim that it belongs to Europe and its institutions. This will influence the Kremlin's political mentality more than anything else. If the Kremlin's anti-Western paranoia continues and its Eurasian fantasy of allying with China lasts another 10 to 15 years, Russia will end up seeing China swallowing its Far East and Siberia. Indeed, the weakened Russia that will be Putin's legacy will then also lose the Northern Caucasus and the Volga region to their growing Muslim populations. The remaining lands would then have no other choice but to attach themselves to Ukraine, which should by then have become a successful member of the European Union. After 1,000 years, Russia will have come full circle, returning to Kievan Rus after wandering on the roads of the Mongol hordes, the Russian Empire, Soviet communism and farcical Putinism. Andrei Piontkovsky is a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington. © Project Syndicate
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/articles/detail.php?ID=368718&print=Y
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Lithuania hosted in Utena the Senior age level (15-16) tournament for theEurope, Middle East and Africa regional tournament. In an amazingaccomplishment, the Lithuanians won the tournament, defeating Germany in thechampionship game. This means that the Lithuanians will be returning for thesecond time, back to back years, to Bangor Maine for the Senior WorldSeries. Most if not all the kids on the team are the kids that were with ushere in Orange County three years ago, I am sure you are as thrilled as I amfor one and all.Not sure how many Lithuanians there are in the Northeast, but if any can getto Bangor Maine August 10-16th know their support will be great appreciated
website is www.littleleague.org click on world series, then click onbaseball seniors. dates are the 10th thru 16th of August in Bangor MaineSam GriffithDirector of SaleseScrip, Inc.28182 CoulterMission Viejo, Ca 92692-4064
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Lithuania says no talks on hosting US missile shield
by Staff WritersVilnius (AFP) July 2, 2008Lithuania on Wednesday dismissed claims that it is in talks on hosting a controversial US missile shield, after Washington warned it could turn to other countries if negotiations with Poland stall.
"There are as yet no talks under way," Defence Minister Juozas Olekas told reporters.
Olekas said the issue of anti-missile defence had been on Lithuania's agenda for a decade, notably as part of discussions within NATO, which the Balkan state joined in 2004.
"That information is shared and there are consultations, but no talks are taking place," he said.
The United States wants to base 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a linked radar facility in the Czech Republic to ward off potential attacks by so-called "rogue" states, notably Iran. Prague has already agreed to host the radar.
Lithuania has found itself in the spotlight after being sounded out by Washington as a possible alternative host for the interceptors because talks with Poland have been sluggish.
Warsaw has been holding firm to demands for a massive military aid package in return for hosting the US silos.
On Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that Washington was "not at this point involved in any negotiation on alternate sites because the goal is to conclude an agreement with Poland."
But he cautioned that "if for some reason those arrangements don't work out, then I am sure we would look elsewhere."
Later, Casey pointed to "a resolution of this somewhere in the coming days."
His comments came as Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas visited Washington, although Casey stressed his talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the White House and Pentagon were not linked to the missile matter.
On Wednesday, Kirkilas also played down the idea that Lithuania could step in.
"Talks are currently under way with Poland, and are likely to come to a close this week, and we wish Poland all the best in the negotiations. This is our position at this time," Kirkilas told Lithuanian public radio.
Russia has blasted the US missile plan as a threat to its national security and has threatened to point missiles at Poland and the Czech Republic in retaliation.
Any US moves to talk to Lithuania would likely be even more sensitive for Moscow than Washington's negotiations with the Poles and Czechs, who joined NATO in 1999.
While Poland and the Czech Republic were communist satellite states, Lithuania was actually part of the Soviet Union from World War II until the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1991.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Lithuania_says_no_talks_on_hosting_US_missile_shield_999.html
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Lithuania Foots Bill for Sex Change
Lithuania has paid 40,000 euros ($63,000) for a citizen to undergo a full sex change operation because the government missed a July 1 deadline to adopt a domestic gender reassignment law.
The transsexual, born female in 1978, won a case last year against Lithuania in the European Court of Human Rights. The court ruled that the country had to enact a gender reassignment law, or pay 40,000 euros for the surgery to take place abroad.
A spokesperson from the country's justice ministry said that the whole sum had transferred, as no law was adopted.
Lithuania's government drafted a law to allow gender reassignment surgery and presented it to parliament in 2003, but the bill has not been passed.
Lack of political will
"There is a lack of political will to take action on the issue, and I do not know when there will be some," Elvyra Baltutyte, Lithuania's representative at the European Human Rights Court told Reuters news agency.
International human rights organizations have criticized Lithuania in the past for not respecting the rights of sexual minorities.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3456705,00.html
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Lithuanian truckers take up French tactics
Jul 03, 2008Staff and wire reports
VILNIUS - A convoy of trucks protesting rising fuel prices brought traffic near Siauliai, Lithuania’s fourth largest city, to a halt on June 27. Around 70 trucks were involved in the go-slow protest in Siauliai, according to Anatoly Yakimov, an official from the national truckers association. Lithuanian Radio reported that 30 automobiles joined the convoy, which ultimately stretched 3 kilometers.
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/20755/
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