Blog about politics (mideast and pro-Israel, Canadian and local Montreal), world events, and random thoughts.

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The World I Know is updated on a semi-regular basis by segacs.

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9:17 AM
As if anyone thought this would work . . .

Hamas has broken off cease-fire talks with Mahmoud Abbas, who called for an end to "armed resistance" on Wednesday.

But now, precisely how intends to rein in the terrorists to achieve that end is a total mystery, as Abbas doesn't seem prepared to do anything but ask "pretty please":

Commenting on the Hamas move, Palestinian cabinet minister Ziad Abu Amr signaled Abbas would do his utmost to steer clear of armed conflict with the group. The government, Abu Amr said, made a commitment "not to resort to force" in internal affairs.

There's only one way to destroy the terrorist orgnaizations, and that is by attacking them head-on to dismantle them. As long as Abbas tiptoes around Hamas, he is only announcing that he has no real power. And the doomed-from-the-start "road map" will accomplish absolutely nothing except force Israel into further unmatched concessions.

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5:32 PM
What is it about Martha Stewart that makes her so satisfying to make fun of?

Martha Stewart took her defence straight to the public Thursday, writing in a newspaper ad "I am innocent" and "will fight to clear my name" despite federal insider-trading charges that prompted her to step down as head of her retail and media empire.

It's a big drop from giving home decorating tips to defending criminal charges. But the media has been gleefully all over this story since it broke. Unflattering photos abound on the front page of magazines, and on television. There's even a new TV movie starring Cybill Shepard, entitled Martha Inc., that tells the "unauthorized biography" version of Martha's life. I guess Martha Stewart is one of those easy targets that people love to hate.

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4:54 PM
Looks like SARS might have finally hit Montreal:

Doctors at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital are examining a patient who may be Montreal's first case of SARS.

A female patient who had been treated at a Toronto hospital where SARS had been identified was brought by ambulance to hospital Thursday morning with some SARS symptoms.

I hope people have enough sense not to panic about this. It's one case, it hasn't been confirmed, and the person is in isolation. If it is SARS, though, I hope it doesn't spread around Montreal, cause getting quarantined would really suck.

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3:15 PM
The new Harry Potter book comes out this month, and is being launched with a multimillion-dollar promotional campaign:

Billboards. Baseball parks. A countdown in Times Square. Scholastic, Inc., the U.S. publisher of J.K. Rowling (news - web sites)'s mega-selling children's series, has planned a $3 million-$4 million marketing campaign, more than doubling its budget for the release of the last Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," in 2000.

"I can't think of anything that compares to the budget for the new Harry Potter book, except for the budget for the last Potter story," says Laurie Brown, a vice president for sales at Harcourt Trade Publishers.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Harry Potter books. I think they're interesting and creative, especially for kids' books, even if they do have a few plot holes and whatnot.

But they became so popular in the first place based on word of mouth generated by kids who fell in love with them. The first book didn't need a $4-million dollar ad campaign to become popular. It caught on because it was good.

A lot of people have been using the word "classic" to describe the Harry Potter series, putting it in a league with the Narnia Chronicles and the Lord of the Rings series. Only time will tell if the books achieve "classic" status, but it makes me wonder whether C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien could have continued to produce high-quality books under the kind of media spotlight that is focused on J.K. Rowling. I know it sounds strange coming from me, given that I work in advertising, but I guess I still hang onto this idealistic notion that a true classic shouldn't need millions of dollars worth of advertising hype.

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2:51 PM
A call for a return to responsible journalism, perhaps? Senior New York Times editors have resigned over the Jayson Blair scandal.

Blair, if you recall, was the reporter who plagiarized stories, wrote from bylines thousands of miles away from where he was, and just plain invented facts. The Times' reputation has been taking quite a hit since this scandal came to light, needless to say.

But maybe it's precisely because the Times is such a high-profile paper, that this will serve as a wake-up call to other publications to clean up their act. With the line between fact and fiction getting blurrier by the day in journalism, it might be a much-needed jolt.

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12:05 PM
Bush is calling the outcome of today's meeting with Sharon and Abbas a "landmark" victory, as both made a commitment to work towards peace. But in case anyone was actually thinking this would work, the terrorist leaders worked quickly to dispel that notion:

"We will never be ready to lay down arms until the liberation of the last centimeter of the land of Palestine," Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi said. Islamic Jihad, another group sworn to Israel's destruction, followed suit.

Sharon can uproot every single settlement in the West Bank, and there will still not be peace. The Palestinians can get a state tomorrow, and there will still not be peace. Because the objective of the terrorists isn't peace with Israel, it's no more Israel.

Sharon knows this. He got elected - twice - based on his understanding of this. And yet he's still making disastrous concessions that will only come back to haunt him. All because Bush wants to get re-elected.

Peace has to be wanted by the people. It can't be rammed down their throats. In the meantime, concessions in a time of war are signs of weakness, and I fear Israel will pay dearly.

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12:23 AM
An editorial in the Jerusalem Post puts the road map meetings into remarkably clear perspective:

If Bush wants to get anywhere with this, he must stop avoiding and accommodating Arab intransigence and deploy the moral clarity that has been his hallmark. He must call the Arab world to end the conflict it began, not in 1967, but in 1947, when it rejected the United Nation's partition of this land into "Arab" and "Jewish" states. Today, the issue is not Israelis who cannot utter the words "Palestinian state," but Arab leaders Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Mubarak who cannot utter the words "Jewish state."

Read the rest. I shouldn't even have to tell you.

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11:39 PM
The Road Map is gaining momentum, as Israel makes goodwill concessions and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas is expected to call for an end to violence in the Intifada in a speech on Wednesday:

Abbas will declare in his speech at the Aqaba summit on Wednesday, that the "armed intifada must come to an end, and (the Palestinians) will turn to peaceful measures". The draft of the Palestinian statement, which has reached diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, also states that "we will invest all our efforts, while using all the means at our disposal, to alter the intifada's military nature, and we will succeed".

But, lest anyone get their hopes up too high, the endless finger-pointing hasn't changed and probably never will:

Palestinian officials complained that Israel has not yet agreed to come out with an equally strong statement promising to end its military raids in PA areas.

Sometimes the conflict reminds me of a fight between two children who are playing up for their parents' attention:

"He started it!"

"No, she started it!"

"Mom, tell him to stop!"

"STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU"

"But Mom, that's not fair! He started it!"

Of course, that's not the reason the Road Map will fail. The terrorists will gladly make sure of that by launching attacks on more innocent Israeli civilians the minute it looks like anything is getting too close. Despite Abbas's being propped up by the US, he has no real power or popularity among the Palestinian people. Unlike Sharon, he was appointed, not elected, and polls show him with less than 2% of the public's support. His words are a mere drop in the bucket, even assuming he actually meant them.

But in the meantime, neither Sharon nor Abbas wants to be the first to throw a monkey wrench in the process, thus pissing off Bush. So it stumbles forward on its doomed path. And all I can do is hope that, unlike Oslo, this map won't lead Israel straight to more misery and that it won't cost nearly as many innocent lives.

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11:23 PM
There's an interesting article in the Jerusalem Report about the showdown between the IDF and the International Solidarity Movement:

But now, say Israeli officials, things had taken a major shift for the worse. Their inquiries showed that the two suicide bombers involved in the Mike's Place attack, both British nationals, had actually been hosted by ISM. "For us," says the Foreign Ministry's Information Chief Gideon Meir, "that was the turning point." Defying army bulldozers was one thing; providing cover for suicide bombers to slip into the country quite another.

[ . . . ]

We have nothing against the internationals," says a senior IDF officer. "But, as far as we are concerned, ISM is not an international organization or a peace organization. It's a pro-Palestinian organization, set up by Palestinians, funded by Palestinians and linked to Palestinian terror."

[ . . . ]

"There is no other country in the world that would have allowed these people so much scope, and in the end Israel gets blamed," complains a senior IDF officer who has been closely observing the ISM. He says the activists are divided up into three categories: human shields, witnesses and spokespeople. "It's almost like a paramilitary organization," he charges. "The human shields obstruct IDF work, while the witnesses and spokespeople give a deliberately distorted picture of what is going on."

The officer also accuses the ISM of deliberately protecting Palestinian terrorists. In late March, he says, an American ISM activist, Susan Barclay, 26, tried to prevent soldiers from entering the organization's Jenin offices where a wanted Islamic Jihad terrorist, Shadi Sukia, had sought refuge.

The Prime Minister's Office has come out with a report directly linking the ISM to terrorism in the case of the bombing at Mike's Place, and accusing the international activists of using elaborate cover stories that are coordinated in advance to get into the country.

I understand Israel's frustration with these very un-useful idiots. And I also have no doubt that they're right about the ISM's support and facilitation of terrorism. But, like the Jerusalem Report article states, this could turn into a giant PR disaster for Israel, since to the rest of the world, it's all too easy for ISM to put on that innocent, "non-violent activist" face and claim to be persecuted. As usual, Israel is making serious blunders in the media war that have already been far too costly.

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11:13 PM
When all else fails, hire a new GM.

Or at least, that's what the Habs' philosophy seems to have been lately, as they hired Bob Gainey as the new GM today. Granted, Reggie Houle made a total mess of the team, probably making at least 8 of the top 10 worst trades in NHL history. But Andre Savard has really not been all that bad. Even the team seems to think so, as Savard is being kept on as an assistant.

It's the oldest scapegoating trick in history. Team fails, so fire the coach or replace the management. Whether or not Gainey, a former Habs captain and multiple cup-winner, can inject new life into the lackluster team, will remain to be seen.

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11:47 PM
Went to see the Matrix Reloaded tonight, and I must admit I was utterly disappointed. Anyone else agree?

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