INTERPOL: Justice, Global-Style!!!
Huzzah for the good guys! Huzzah huzzah huzzah!…and help me find my way back to the hotel bar…I’ve been celebrating the recent snatch of a scumbag here in southeast Asia, Thailand to be exact, and I’m afraid I’ve gotten too caught up in the party to be able to navigate the back streets of Bangkok. I’ve got the Murray Head song “One Night in
Interpol launches public manhunt for pedophile
Interpol issues notice seeking arrest of Canadian suspected pedophile
Interpol detains 166 cross-border crime suspects in Tanzania
International Co-operation Leads to Arrest of Rwandan Genocide Suspect
Talk about global justice served! Man, I always get fired up when I see the good guys fighting for the global good getting their man…or in this case a total scumbag of a man. Interpol’s most recent incursion into current events came last week when they helped bag some Canadian child molesting shit-eater. Interpol specialists unscrambled an internet-posted image of this dude in the act. They then identified him, and sent out a worldwide information alert which helped track his sick ass down in less than a week, and he was subsequently arrested in
Oh, and I suppose I should respect the rights of judicial due process, and declare that this guy is innocent until proven guilty. NOT! I’m a vigilante at heart, but all that aside, the freak posted pictures of himself in the act! Hell no to due process! This twisted shit is guilty! The mere fact that a Canadian was caught outside of his country should be setting off alarm bells. But a single white male Canadian caught in Thailand with photos of himself on the web molesting boys?….um….yeah….that’s what we call an open and shut case…And I hope they open and shut the iron door right on his skull a few hundred times after the trial, if you get my drift.
A little Plaid Avenger tip to you world travelers: don’t get arrested in
In a nutshell: INTERPOL is an organization facilitating international police cooperation. And I do mean international! It is the world’s largest international police organization, with 186 member countries…making it the fifth biggest organization on the planet by membership. INTERPOL helps facilitate co-operation on affairs of justice even when diplomatic relations do not exist between particular countries. So even though countries like the US and Iran hate each other and have absolutely no diplomatic ties, both of those states participate in INTERPOL and therefore exchange information at least in the capacity of serving global justice. Everybody does INTERPOL man!
And what exactly does INTERPOL do? They support and assist all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime. The BIG thing they do is all about the information. Pooling intelligence, as it were. INTERPOL has the single biggest crime database on the planet…created by verifying, posting, sharing, and cross-referencing all the crime data from all its participating countries…which as I have pointed out, is pretty much the whole damn world! From their website: “One of INTERPOL’s most important functions is to help police in member countries share critical crime-related information using the organization’s system of international notices.”
But not all crime! Just the crimes and criminals that have an international dimension. In order to maintain as politically neutral a role as possible, Interpol’s constitution forbids its involvement in crimes that do not overlap several member countries. In other words, INTERPOL would never interfere in any judicial proceedings on a crime which occurred just in a single state—that is left to the locals to deal with. However, when any individual or criminal organization deals across two or more countries, then INTERPOL tracks and posts the data…and sometimes even gets more pro-active by physically going after the bad guys!
So data sharing is their main deal. They track and post lists of wanted fugitives who have fled across international borders. They post lists of stolen passport identities that all countries can access. They advertise photos and known aliases of criminals. All this data—and much more—is available across the entire planet to all police and government agencies who fight crime. Pretty fucking cool man. Unless you are a criminal of course.
And the criminals they focus on? Its work focuses primarily on public safety, terrorism, organized crime, war crimes, illicit drug production, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, trafficking in human beings, money laundering, child pornography, white-collar crime, computer crime, Intellectual Property crime and corruption. All bad shit to be sure. And all shit that has global dimensions on our world….which is why its so freakin’ awesome to see a truly positive form of globalization for a change!
Which is the real reason for today’s rant. When are all these politicians and ardent nationalists going to wake the hell up to how the world is working right now? We have a global economy, we have global trade, we have global movement of capital, global movement of people, global corporations, and even global warming. As such, we also now have global crime syndicates, global drug trafficking, global human trafficking, global arms trade…HOWEVER we don’t have any real global law, no global judicial system, and no real way to effectively stop global crime. Why not?
Because most of the countries on the planet refuse to cooperate in a single global law system due to conflicting cultural beliefs, personal vendettas against other countries, and mostly due to fear of loss of a smidgen of sovereignty. Oh shit! There is that sovereignty word again! It is always causing trouble! In particular, the most powerful states in the world—like the
We live in a globalized world people! Crime does not stop at state borders anymore! When nothing else on this planet is confined to state boundaries, why do we still insist that justice be so confined? And frankly, a lot of states are just being dumb not to support more global justice mechanisms.
Want an example? Drugs! No, I don’t mean take them, I mean think about them. Drugs are a global commodity, produced and traded and moved all around the planet by criminal organizations from at least a few dozen different countries. Why would a single state want to take on the burden of fighting a ‘war on drugs’ all by themselves? Its not even possible man! A truly global problem like drug trafficking simply demands a global solution…and a global justice system to try the folks you bust, and a global police to go and bust them.
Well, for now we at least have INTERPOL, which is a start. But I must be honest with you here…it’s not really that much. I think INTERPOL kicks total ass, but the reason that they mostly just deal with information availability is that they don’t have much of a budget or much of a staff to do much else. (Last year they received $59 million in contributions from member states; in contrast EUROPOL received $90, and Bill Gates used $120 million in 100-dollar bills just to wipe his ass.) So they don’t have a lot of coin, or a lot of international authority, to do too much.
What does INTERPOL not do? INTERPOL action is taken within the limits of existing laws in different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. INTERPOL’s constitution prohibits ‘any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.’ And while it makes for great fiction, INTERPOL generally does not have a bunch of detectives out searching for clues at the crime scene, and rarely sends agents to go apprehend a criminal. It works with the national and local police to get those things done.
It is still a cool concept to think about though, and you have probably seen reference to INTERPOL in a film or two as well. Ethan Hawke played an INTERPOL agent tracking down the Nicolas Cage character in Lords of War ;a movie about the illegal global arms trade. Inspector Gadget is supposed to be an INTERPOL agent. In the movie Mission: Impossible III, Ethan Hunt is told he is on INTERPOL’s Most Wanted list. My personal favorite—mostly because she is a hottie—is Agent Isabel Lahiri played by Catherine Zeta-Jones in Oceans Twelve.
Actually, Agent Lahiri was a EUROPOL agent—EUROPOL is exactly like INTERPOL except it is a collaboration just of EU countries under a common crime-fighting umbrella. However, Agent Lahiri is forced near the end of the film to turn over the Oceans Twelve suspects to a group of folks posing as…can you guess?…INTERPOL agents of course! Dude! That movie totally kicks ass! That was easily the best acting job I’ve ever seen Bruce Willis do…oh, wait a minute, he was playing himself. Hmmm, I guess that explains it. But I digress as usual…
So now you know INTERPOL and what it does. You also know its limitations, and limited use in today’s world…a situation which all fighters for global justice must help remedy! As Batman and Robin would say: “Support your local police”….as The Plaid Avenger insists: “Support your global justice system”, and for now, that justice is INTERPOL.
Crime is no longer just local, and so justice should not be either. Rock on, fighters for truth and freedom on the planetary platform!
India Says ‘Oh No’ to Nukes and ‘Oh Yeah’ to Oil; US says ‘Oh Shit’
Hello again fair and fanciful friends! It is I The Plaid Avenger, coming at you live from
Indian prime minister seeks more trade with oil-rich Nigeria
India’s ties with Nigeria, Africa enter new era
PM moots strategic ties with Nigeria
Manmohan To Bush: Difficulties In Implementing N-deal
Singh’s Nuclear-Energy U-Turn Lets India Down
Difficulties in n-deal operationalisation, Singh tells Bush
Our main man from
But dudes, we all know its about the dollars man! These two world leader cats were cementing trade deals and promising investment packages and doing everything they can to work together better.
Dollars and resources! And the one resource in particular that
Oh BTW, when countries talk about getting oil nowadays, they refer to it as ‘energy security talks’ Ha! I got something you can secure! What the hell ever! You guys are talking about buying and selling oil, and the Avenger knows this!
And Singh knows this too.
But wait…I thought the world was trying to get away from oil dependence? Why don’t the Indians just use some other type of energy? Well, as stated above,
Wrong! Check the other stories above for the ‘no to nukes’ bomb that Singh dropped today. Pun intended. US President Bush had to call back Indian Prime Minister Singh while he was in
Almost all the major world powers which possess nuclear weapons have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which basically states that they won’t proliferate or distribute nuke technology to anybody else. However, I did say almost all.
Just know this for now: if you aren’t signed up for the treaty, then you are not allowed to access civilian nuke technology or buy fuel for nuke energy production either. Which is why
Well,
In other words, the US will personally work with India to get them the goods (nuke energy technologies and fuel) and in return India promises to abide by all the major rules of the NPT (especially the ‘no proliferating’ part) and the IAEA—International Atomic Energy Agency—would also be participating to do inspections and enforce the rules.
Everybody was all about this shit man! Mohammad El Baradei of the IAEA thought it was a good idea. Prime Minister Singh thought it was sweet that
And the Bush Administration? Holy shit! They were tickled pink! Not only would the
Oops. Unfortunately it lost-lost-lost. That’s what the sad phone call from
You dig what I’m saying? The coalition is comprised of a bunch of different political parties that together form a majority. On top of that, this coalition that forms has the responsibility of electing the Prime Minister himself. Which means if enough folks in the coalition get pissed, they can actually crash the whole government by declaring a stalemate…in which new elections would be called for and a new Prime Minister picked.
Long story short, that is where our main man Manmohan Singh found himself over this Indian-US nuke deal. A main party named BJP declared that
Anyway, this rant is over. End game: Prime Minister Singh had to throw in the towel this weekend. If he would have pushed harder, there was a threat that the BJP and the commies could have gone for the government crash, so Singh let it drop. Singh has egg all over his face, because he swore this deal was going to go thru, and now he kind of looks like a dork. The Bush administration/The US takes a serious hit too because this was one of the only bright spots of foreign policy they have been able to muster for 7 years. They were really fired up to be making
Dalai Lama at Oktoberfest? Let’s Get Enlit!
From
Oktoberfest kicks off in Munich
Analysis: German-Chinese diplomatic crisis
Merkel Meets Dalai Lama Despite Chinese Criticism
China objects to Harper meeting with Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama renews calls for Tibetan autonomy
Dalai Lama meets with Austrian chancellor, irking China
The Dalai Lama is one dude who stays always on the move…which is made easier by the fact he has no place to call home! Just in the last couple of weeks, the Dalai Lama has visited the President of Austria, the Prime Minister of Canada, and the Chancellor of Germany, Miss Merkel-icious herself, Angela Merkel! And all these visits really piss off the Chinese government. Now, the Chinese may just have gotten hot and bothered when the Lama went to
I’m glad you asked my plaid friends, because that is the reason for today’s blog….well, that and about 13 quarts of
This particular Lama (his given name is Tenzin Gyatso) is the 14th of his kind: the successive Dalai Lamas form a lineage of allegedly reborn magistrates which traces back to 1391. The Dalai Lama position is to be the spiritual leader of a main branch of Buddhism referred to as Northern Buddhism, or Tibetan Buddhism. (This division is more geographic than dogmatic: it does not necessarily correspond to philosophical or doctrinal divisions among Buddhist worldwide, since they all share a common belief system and share most practices.) However, it is not his religious position that irks the Chinese: the Dalai Lamas have also been historically the ‘head of state’ of a geographic entity we refer to as
Now, there is no way to keep this brief without pissing lots of folks off….but I’m going to do it anyway. The area we refer to as
During the heyday of the Manchu Empire in
Long story short, once
The current 14th Dalai Lama seeks greater autonomy for
What is the Dalai Lama really up to? Well, the dude now tours the world—and he is the first Dalai Lama to go abroad—spreading the Buddhist message and preserving Tibetan culture. He does officially lead the ‘government in exile’ from
Anyway, as referenced in the stories above, the Budd-izzel Dalai Lama has been on a world tour this month, having just met for the first time ever with the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. Budd-izzel and Merkelicious…how delicious! And of course the Chinese are shitting themselves with rage. So pissed that they are claiming that it has destroyed Chinese-German relations.
The Plaid Avenger’s take on the Chinese position? How about this: move the fuck on
In fact, the Chinese-Tibet situation is extremely similar to another outdated, goofball relationship in the world…and that would be the one between the
But that’s enough Plaid rhetoric for now…I just mostly wanted you guys to know why the Chinese are currently so pissed at Germany, and why they will continue to get pissed at other countries in the future. Its because they are being goobers, and they hate how cool everyone thinks the Budd-izzel is. Jealousy is a bitch my Chinese brothers. Better to come here to Oktoberfest and chill down on some brewskies….
Which reminds me…Oh Fräulein! Another round at my table please! And wiener schnitzels! Bring me a shitload of wiener schnitzel! Stat!
The Sharif is BACK in PAK! Wait a second, where did he go?…
Hello Plaid People! The Avenger here, having just escaped Burma after pissing on a statue of General Than Shwe. Only wish I had done it on the dude in person. Now I’m in Pakistan to meet up with the former Prime Minister.
Former prime minister arrested upon arrival in Pakistan
Sharif in Saudi Arabia after Pakistan expulsion
On Flight to Pakistan, Sharif Sounded Defiant Note
A strongarm tactic that only exposes his weakness
Sharif was the prime minister of Pakistan–that is, until he overthrown, imprisoned, and eventually deported 8 years ago by General/President Musharraf. Sharif has been living abroad for the past seven years or so. Recently, he–like fellow exile Benazir Bhutto–has been positioning to get back into Pakistani Politics. Both Bhutto and Sharif sense that the General is losing power and popular support. And both are keen to take his place.
Last month, the Pakistani Supreme Court ruled that Sharif could return to
Anyway, so why the hell would I leave my true love Aung San Suu Kyi in the lurch
Sharif? Because I was expecting an ASS KICKING! I figured the Mush-man would go personally to the airport and challenge Nawaz “The Sheriff” Sharif to one of those crazy Michael Jackson knife fights. Shit if I was going to miss that!
But alas, the General decided to fight Sharif politically and not physically, by arresting and RE-DEPORTING him. That’s right folks… Sharif was only in
Anyway, So this airport stunt is sort of a big deal, because the Supreme Court said that Sharif could return, but the Executive-and-General said “get the fuck out”. By doing this, Musharraf is flagrantly ignoring an order that he–as President–is by law suppose to obey. Not such a good sign for
Or maybe it is. Maybe the population will not tolerate this breach of the law and will stand up. There are definitely a lot of pissed off Sharif supporters. Who knows! The moral of the story is to
keep watching
Also, a funny note, here’s what the US Government had to say about the whole matter: In Washington, a White House spokesman described the deportation as an “internal matter” but noted that upcoming elections should be “free and fair.” Ummmm… yeah…right. What a bunch of goobers… Why would the US go out on a limb for a guy who is obviously NOT a great example of democracy at work? Because Mush the Man is their biggest and best-est ally in the ‘War on Terror’ man! You know this! The US will defend Mush to the end.
Plaid Avenger final analysis: Mush the Man is not going to deal with any competition from Sharif–the guy he kicked out. My money is still on Mush teaming up with Bhutto–and what a coincidence: she is still planning to come back, but has been much more patient about the terms under which she will do it. I think we are soon to see a Mush match made in heaven….because by allowing Bhutto to come in as the Prime Minister, and by simultaneously renouncing his army leadership role, Mush can still pull off staying in power as President and overseeing the transition back to democracy…in his own terms. He really is running out of options, so its a safe plaid bet.
We shall soon see if the Mush/Bhutto love connection bears fruit, but one thing is for sure: Sharif has been ‘stood up’ on the Paki prime minister prom night. Sorry dude! Go have some of the spiked punch and try to get a date for next year. And as always:
Party on! In plaid of course.
Shake Shake Shake Your Bhutto: The Perv is Stripping for the Presidency!!!
Today’s story is the tip of an iceberg that will be floating your way soon global friends. I just flew into
Musharraf ‘to quit as army chief’
Musharraf said to agree to end his army role
Benazir Bhutto charges ‘to be dropped’
Bhutto and Musharrafy ‘reach deal’
Precariously Perilous Position: President Pervez of Pakistan
General Pervez Musharraf is easily the most totally fucked world leader on the planet right now—and his season of hell has no happy ending in sight either. Man, I wouldn’t wish his position on a broke-dick dog. What am I talking about? I’m glad you asked my plaid party posse, ‘cause you Americans really need to know this shit, especially since your government has a huge interest in Pervez and the whole precarious Paki predicament! Here we go:
General Pervez Musharraf is also President Pervez Musharraf of
And Musharraf is trying to pacify the wants and desires of 170 million Paki citizens—that’s the 6th biggest population in the world. It’s also a devoutly Islamic society, including the whole spectrum of religious views from the mainstream to the seriously extreme. It’s a society that has attempted to be a democracy since its inception back in 1947, with less than desirable results—the reason Mush took over the country in 1999 was because of massively widespread government corruption. And
There have been several assassination attempts, and violent protests always seem to lurk just below the surface of this society. The latest turmoil erupted over the summer when Pervez fired the leader of the Pakistani Supreme Court (the guy was just re-instated last week). This caused widespread protests by folks who were pro-democracy and felt like Mush has too much power. It also incited riots by pro-Islamist groups who want the whole state to become an Islamic republic like
With the attempted sacking of a powerful Pakistan Supreme Court judge and the rapid increase of shit being blown to bits throughout the country, his support is at an all time low and parliamentary elections are rapidly approaching. At hand is some crazy shizznit, stemming mostly from the Perv’s dual role as president and military chief. Since seizing power in a 1999 coup, Musharraf has held both positions, much to the ire of many – including Nawiz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, who happen to be former prime ministers now living in exile that are not known for their love for the Perv.
Sharif is certainly a critical part of this Paki saga, but let’s just talk about Bhutto for now, because she will soon be playing an important role in
So why is Bhutto—a critical, corrupt, exiled hottie—suddenly so important to the Perv? I mean, the lady isn’t even in
So the General/President can’t fake it this time. And he can’t win outright on his own either. So what to do? How about teaming up with a powerful, popular political party? Hell yeah Mush! Do that! The
Musharraf will strip his uniform prior to seeking appointment? Holy shit PA—a naked world leader?? No friends, but I have seen a few in my day (and, surprisingly, Margaret Thatcher did have soft, supple buttocks). What this means is that he will he will most likely step down as military chief prior to the end of the year, in exchange for Bhutto’s, and more importantly the
Long story short: General Musharraf will retire. President Musharraf will run for the presidency again. And Miss Benazir will shake, shake, shake her Bhutto into being the Prime Minister. At least that’s want the
Hmmmm…..speaking of Bhuttos, I need to get back down to the local hookah bar for some local action. Party on my friends.
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Issue 2: Battle For Burma
Well, the battle for the heart and soul of this country is on, but no one outside Burma seems to be able to do a damn thing about it! Why not?
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